Silver's amber eyes gazed into her blue ones. He wanted to know the answer.

"Well, usually you are bitter, sarcastic and just arrogant."

Her blunt answer made his corner of the mouth twitch. He should know her better. Before he could come up with an answer, she added, "but you have abilities to back it up." Why did she keep pampering his ego in such a twisted way?

"The black coffee is like you. Its bitterness makes it hard to approach, but once you get to know it better, you realize there is a hidden treasure behind it."

The psychic wasn't sure if he could handle her honest stare.

"Lemons are the same. Everybody think getting them is a bad thing because they are sour." Her smile fell on the empty plate in front of the silver hedgehog. "But they can be sweet. It all depends on how you approach them."

This was the weirdest way how to compliment. He wondered if The Order had such diploma since this girl would set the bar impossibly high.

Amy took a sip of her caramel latte. "I know this may sound strange, but I think you are radiating person, despite all the brood faces you make."

"Oh really?" he inquired before thinking. Nobody ever called him that way. She might be naive in certain aspects, but he found the occasional conversations with her interesting.

"With Master Tikal, we have visited smaller branches of The Order to learn how it works from inside. There I have met many people talking about you."

Silver smirked. "Yeah, they definitely hate me. Once you are at the top, this type of people will start badmouthing you. Don't feel bad for them. They are just weaklings unable to work on themselves."

"Yeah," she sadly agreed. The way some members talked about him wasn't pretty. "But some were your fans."

He lifted his left eyebrow and nodded for her to continue.

"You inspired them to try harder, they look up to you. At that time I found it strange why anyone would want to be like you." Amy gave him one of her best impish smiles.

"But the more I heard and read about you, the more I noticed how hard you had to fight to be at the top... to be acknowledged."

He took the unfinished sip of a coffee to hide his smile. This was pleasing his ego.

Once he put the cup down, Amy took his hand, dragging it in front of her. She did the same thing with Eclipse's one. Both of them were startled as they leaned over the table.

"That's what makes both of you so inspiring. Despite all the past bitterness, you still fought hard, getting up no matter how many times you had tripped. Shining and helping the others to find their strength. That's why I'm going to try even harder, becoming stronger and more dependable to be a proper partner for both of you."

Amy turned toward the psychic. "Silver, do you know Eclipse was nervous and a bit excited, knowing we will again work with you? He hoped his training would pay off." She brightly smiled.

The amber eyes widen. "Eclipse?" Silver gasped without thinking, using his name for the first time.

Eclipse blushed, looking away. "Well, I really messed it last time... I just wanted to become stronger... like you."

"Let's try to work as a team on this mission. We have our differences, but we have one goal." Amy looked at both of them.

Silver's ego was about to burst. This pesky girl was actually looking up to him? Even Eclipse? There was no way he could just let this ego boost miss him. He made the smuggest smirk one could make.

"You, lady, are one sweet talker."

"Nah, it must be because of the cakes." She impishly smiled, letting go of their hands.

The demon quickly retracted it. Before he could say a word, he sneezed right into his half-full cup, splashing the dark chocolate everywhere.

Amy jumped back, avoiding the liquid. Eclipse coughed, rubbing his face. His master giggled, helping him to clean himself. Silver smiled.

The waitress quickly came over and offered them a new drink and place to sit, but Silver asked only for a bill as they needed to leave. The cat waitress wanted to take the chocolate cake as it was completely drenched by the drink.

Eclipse panicked and tossed the whole piece in his mouth. He hadn't started chewing, and a delicious taste spread all over his taste buds. His eyes turned dreamy, and a silly grin spread on his face. He chewed very slowly. The waitress giggled, accepting Silver's payment.

The psychic didn't want a girl to pay for his meal, and surprisingly that slight smile didn't leave his face yet. His mood was lifted and refused to fall down to his normal grumpy level.

'Hmm... don't tell me her demon taming ability works on others too.'

He pushed the thought away, mentally noting he had to be more careful around her, not to give her a reason to flatter him... too much.

Once he stepped outside, he bit his lip. The lights hit him hard. Despite lacking physical form, they succeeded in pounding on his head.

"Can I pour my energy inside of you?" Amy asked.

"Thanks," he answered, pinching the bridge of his nose. "But it's not that easy as it sounds. You need a bit of practice since you are inserting it right into the brain." He slightly shook his head. "But you can try to pour it from another place, I'll direct it to the right spot."

"Okay." The young lass gently hooked his hand at his elbow.

Her warm aura immediately flowed inside. Silver felt much better and discovered something worth of the note. Amy's energy navigated through his body on its own. It soon found the sore point and eased the pain.

His eyes darted at Eclipse, his fingers entwined with Amy's ones. Based on his relaxed face, she was providing the demon with the same service. Silver pondered if her unique aura was the main trick behind her taming ability. It took away all worries and negative emotions.

Was she aware of it? Had The Order any idea about it? What about her Master? He made the strongest mental note he could to investigate this later.

His sight fell on Amy, noticing her ears were flatten. She made sure both of them were relaxed she left herself open to all the noise around.

"Hold on." Silver lifted them with his power, soaring above the city. But even so, the lights shone so high the stars were invisible. The psychic soon landed in the destined area, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"Is it still painful?" Amy inquired.

"No, just the flashing will remain for a short while." He gestured them to follow him.

Eclipse looked around. This part was a lot less shiny and more stinky which surprised him. Based on the center he thought the whole city would be full of colors. However, this place was stripped of the whole pallet, leaving only gloomy gray.

The rotten smells of all kinds told him a lot of people left the content of their stomach on the curbs, remembering him he had just eaten.

With Amy, he visited a few abandoned places, but none was soaked in despair so much. Lives of many had to end here, robbed of all hope and nobody was interested in helping them.

Despite this part of the city was destroyed, they had met people walking by, giving them angry glances. Some tried to rob them, but Silver quickly pacified them.

Eclipse ears picked many voices singing, arguing, or cursing. He picked a number of words he had never heard before and presented his question to Amy.

"Those words?" Silver asked before Amy could react. "Don't ask that Amy or in her presence, unless you want to die," he added with a bit of a smirk. He knew them well. Many times they were directed at him for his exceptional results.

Eclipse gulped. Were those worlds really that bad? Amy ensured him, she didn't know the exact meanings as well, and that those were just ugly words proper adult shouldn't use.

With each street they crossed, they got deeper, and the number of people dropped to occasional drunkard or lightly dressed women walking by. Two such ladies tried the longest to drag Silver with them, but they were pinched by Amy, so they quickly retreated.

They explored a quite wide area, but even with Eclipse's nose, they didn't find any trace of Black Arms. Silver started to question if such creatures even appeared here. As of now, it looked like a fantasy of a drunk. However, they were signed in three places across the outer city so it couldn't be possible.

A scream disrupted the night. It was the answer he was looking for. They dashed into a corridor at their left, following another yell.

A man with wide eyes, gaping mouth, and saliva hanging from his mouth ran past them. His back was bleeding, but he was too terrified to feel pain. A smashing sound came from ahead of them so no first aid could be provided before those creatures were dead.

Amy readied her mace, releasing the spike ball for the first shot. Silver engulfed his hands with his power and took a fighting stance. Eclipse, he undressed and folded his clothes, putting them on a nearby trash can.

The psychic shot him a dubious look. They were getting ready to fight, and he undressed? Silver was officially puzzled. However, now wasn't the time to play puzzle games.

The monster in front of them was standing at the top of four to five rest of bodies, but it was hard to tell since most of them were smashed to a bloody pulp. Its body was leaning forward, shortening its height by about five or more inches while it was still more than two times taller than Silver.

The amber eyes shot from one huge clawed hand to another. The red color was unmistakably belonging to victims laying below it.

The psychic glanced Amy was checking the area around them, making sure there weren't any hidden enemies. Eclipse nodded at the silver hedgehog, confirming he didn't detect anybody else.

That was a good sign, there was just one enemy. The bad news, they had just one shot to capture it alive. Regardless, this situation was still in their favor.

The lights coming from the city were clouded by moving shadows.

The monster wasn't alone.