Silver never thought he would meet a boy he hated more than Menniker but that was before he met Rutan. The only upside was that the only class they had with Raiju was Potions so he only had to deal with Rutan once a week so long as he avoided him in the halls. That was until a new notice came up on the board in the Shinobi Common Room. They now had flying lessons with the Raiju, nearly all the first year Shinobi groaned at this "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a board in front of Rutan" Silver said. Razor didn't seem bothered "Or Rutan will make a fool of himself in front of us. I've heard what he said about his flying skills. It's all talk". After Razor told him this Silver started to notice Rutan talking about flying a lot. He kept complaining about first years not being able to play Sky Chase. He also told long boastful stories that often ended with him narrowly escaping Muggle helicopters. He wasn't the only one, with how Larry Lynx talked about it he spent half his life on a board. Even Razor would occasionally tell people about how he almost hit a hang glider on Rotor's old board. The funniest part was the arguments between Razor and Marcos. Marcos came from a Muggle family, you see. So he and Razor would go on about which sport was better, Sky Chase or football. Razor didn't see the appeal of a game with one ball and no flying. Antione told them that he had never been on an Extreme Gear board because his grandmother wouldn't let him near them.
Privately, Silver thought this was a good move since Antione had enough accidents standing on his own feet. Coral seemed almost as nervous as Antione, this was the one subject that you couldn't learn out of a book, not for lack of trying, mind you. Thursday morning she bored them all stupid with flying tips she found in a library book called Sky Chase through the ages. Antione hung on her every word trying to get anything that would keep him on his board. Everyone else was relieved when the post arrived to interrupt Coral. Silver hadn't received anything since Big's letter, something Rutan picked up on. His fancy condor brought him packages of sweets from home which he gloatingly opened at the Raiju table. A white Flicky brought Antione a package from his grandmother. It was a small green jewel "It's a Beryl. Gran says I forget things. If it's important it should…". The Beryl started to glow green. Antione strained to remember what he had forgotten when Rutan, who was passing the Shinobi table snatched it out of his hands. Silver and Razor got to their feet hoping for a reason to fight Rutan but Echo seemed to sniff out trouble as she was already there "What's going on?" "Rutan's got my Beryl, Professor" Antione said coming to Silver and Razor's defence. Rutan gave a fake smile "Just looking" he put it down and went back over to Rough and Tumble.
At Three-Thirty Silver and the rest of the Shinobi hurried down onto the grounds of the castle for their first flying lesson. It was the perfect day for it, warm with some clouds to keep the sun from blinding them. There were about twenty metal boards on the ground. Mighty told Silver about the Soleanna boards, how they would vibrate if you flew them too high or how they would veer to the left. Madam Longclaw arrived, a tall owl woman wearing a golden armour over her torso "Well, what're you waiting for. Stand by one of the boards. The one Silver chose was very dirty and some of the metal was rusted. Longclaw stood in between the two lines of students "The first thing all flyers must do is test if their board is still capable of flight. Hold out your hand and say up" "UP!" everyone shouted. Silver's board at once flipped on its side and rose up into his hand "Whoa!". Other were having difficulty, Coral's was just shaking on the ground. Razor kept impatiently saying up until his board suddenly flew up and wacked him in the face. Silver couldn't stop himself from laughing "Shut up, Silver" Razor said but he was laughing too. Antione's board didn't move at all. The board seemed to read the fear in his voice that clearly said he wanted to stay on the ground. Eventually everyone managed to get them up so Longclaw showed them the proper stance while standing on the board. Silver and Razor were delighted when she told Rutan he'd been doing it wrong.
She then backed away from the crowd "Now, when I blow my whistle, you will gently raise your front foot. Hover you boards a few feet off the ground then lean your front foot forward to descend back down. Three… Two… One". But before she even blew the whistle Antione who was afraid of not making it pulled his foot up too hard. His board shot upwards "Come back, boy" Longclaw yelled. Antione was frozen in fear which meant his board was still going up. Silver could see Antion's terrified face even when it got 20 feet in the air. Finally Antione's nerves got the better of him and he panicked causing the board to flip over and throw him off. With a thud and a nasty crack Antione hit the ground. Longclaw ran over and helped him up "Oh, dear, it looks broken. Don't worry, you'll be alright". Antione was crying and trying not to look at the others staring at him. Longclaw got him to his feet and led him back to the castle "Come on, dear. Nobody move while I'm gone. Leave your boards where they are. If I see a single one in the air the person on it will be out of here before they can say Sky Chase". The moment she was out of earshot Rutan burst out laughing "Did you see his face. Idiot" "Shut up, Rutan!" said Lyco, a fellow Shinobi, she was a pink wolf in a blue outfit. This made Cassia, a green Pronghorn from Raiju laugh "Sticking up for Antione? Never thought you'd like a snivelling wimps, Lyco". Rutan suddenly spotted something in the grass "Look at this".
He picked up what was revealed to be the Beryl "It's that stupid thing his gran sent him" "Give it here, Rutan!" Silver told him. Rutan casually threw the Beryl up and caught it again "No, I think I'll leave it somewhere for Antione to find". He jumped on his board and flew up "How about the roof" his bragging was apparently not all talk as he fearlessly went higher. Silver got on his own board but Coral grabbed his arm "Silver, no. You know what Longclaw said. Besides you don't even know how to fly". Silver ignored her, his blood was pumping as he rose up. He didn't hear Coral behind him saying "What an idiot". It was strange, he had never flown before but Silver wasn't scared, in fact it felt quite natural. He could hear gasps and cheers from the people below as he got higher. He got beside the stunned Rutan "Give it here or I'll knock you off your board" "Is that so?". Silver flew right for him which Rutan was only able to dodge "No Rough and Tumble to protect you up here". This thought clearly had hit Rutan as well "Have it your way then". Rutan threw the Beryl up as high as he could before diving back to the ground. Next thing Silver knew he was in a steep dive chasing after the Beryl as it fell. The wind whistled against his ears that he could barely hear the screaming of the crowd below him. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the Beryl just in time to pull up from the approaching ground. He with a little shaking landed on the ground and walked off.
A lot of the students came running up cheering, even a few of the Raiju ran up as well thinking it was amazing "SILVER THE HEDGEHOG!". His heart sank faster than his dive. He saw Echo running towards him "Never in all my time at Soleanna… How dare you! You could have broken your…". A few of the others tried to come to his defence "It wasn't his fault, Professor!" "Be quiet, Ms Lyco" "But Rutan" "That's enough, Mr Razor. Silver, come with me". Silver caught Rutan's triumphant expression as he numbly followed Echo back into the castle. He was going to be expelled, he just knew it. He wanted to defend himself but he seemed to have lost his voice. He hadn't even lasted two weeks, what were his aunt and uncle going to say when he arrived back at their door. They walked for a while, Silver had to jog to stay up with Echo who didn't speak to him. Was she taking him to Professor Locke. Maybe he'd let him stay at Soleanna like Big. His stomach twisted imagining having to watch Razor and the others grow to be wizards while he was stuck being Big's assistant. Echo stopped outside a classroom which Silver realised was Professor Charles', what did he have to do with this? Echo opened the door "Excuse me, Professor Charles, could I borrow Khan, please?". Silver was worried that Khan was something the teachers used on students. It turned out though that Khan was a person, a monkey wearing a blue cape, a golden headband with a jewel and wielding a golden staff "Follow me" Echo said. Khan looked just as confused as Silver. Echo took them into an empty classroom, at least they thought it was empty until they saw Charmy writing swear words on the chalk board "Out Charmy!" Echo ordered. Charmy threw the chalk in the bin and flew out in anger.
Echo closed the door and turned to the two boys "Silver this is Monkey Khan. Khan...". She smiled "I have found you a Seeker". Khan's expression changed from puzzlement to delight "Are you serious, professor?". Echo answered crisply "Absolutely, the boy's a natural. Never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a board, Silver?". Silver had no clue what was going one but it didn't sound like he was getting expelled which allowed some feeling to return to his legs, he nodded. Khan looked to Echo for more details "He caught that thing in his hands after a fifty foot drop. Didn't even scratch himself. Even Rotor couldn't do that". Khan looked like all his dreams had just come true "Ever seen a game of Sky Chase, Silver?" "Um…" "Khan is captain of the Shinobi Sky Chase team" Echo clarified. Khan was now looking Silver up and down "He's got the right build for a Seeker. Light and speedy. He'll need a good board, Professor". Echo nodded "I will speak to Professor Locke and see if we could bend the First year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team than last year. Flattened in that last match by Raiju, I couldn't look Infinite in the face for weeks...". Echo peered at Silver sternly "I want to hear you're training hard, Silver, or I may change my mind about punishing you". She then gave a warm smile "Your father would be proud. He was an excellent Chaser in his day".
Silver spent that night's dinner explaining everything to the amazed Razor who had completely forgot about the piece of stake that was halfway to his mouth "You're joking. But first years never… You must be the youngest house player in about a-" "Century? Yeah, Khan told me. I start training next week. But don't tell anyone. He wants to keep it a secret". Mighty and Ray came into the hall and ran up to Silver "Well done, Silver. Khan's just told us. We're on the team, too. Beaters". Mighty was laughing "We're gonna win the Cup for sure, this year. Haven't won since Rotor left. You must be good, Silver. Khan was practically skipping when he told us. We gotta go, Manic says he might have found another way out of the school". Ray rolled his eyes "Probably the one behind the statue. We found that in our first year". As they left someone far less welcome turned up, Rutan with Rough and Tumble behind him "Having a last meal, Hedgehog?". Silver casually turned around "You're a lot braver now that you're on the ground with your little friends". Rough and Tumble were by no means little but even they weren't stupid enough to start a fight in front of the teachers. Rutan scoffed "I'll take you on anytime anywhere. Tonight if you want. Wizard's duel, amulets, no contact". He smirked "You do know what a wizard's duel is don't you?". Razor spun around "Of course he has. I'm his second. Who's yours?" "Rough. Midnight in the trophy room". The moment he left Silver looked back to Razor "What's a wizard's duel and what does you being my second mean" "A second is there to take over in case you die". Razor casually continued eating his food until he saw Silver's expression "But people only die in proper duels. The most you and Rutan will be able to do is shoot sparks at one another. He was probably expecting you to refuse". This didn't help Silver "But what if I can't do anything" "Run up and punch him in the nose" "Excuse me?". Silver suddenly noticed Coral was standing behind him. Razor put his food down for a third time "Can't someone eat in peace" "I couldn't help but overhear what you and Rutan were saying" "Bet you could". Coral ignored him and spoke to Silver "And you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Shinobi if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you" "It's also none of your business" Silver said with Razor adding "Bye".
That night Silver waited for Larry and Marcos to go to sleep (Antione was still in the hospital wing). Some doubts did come into his head. He thought he was pushing luck breaking another rule that day but every time he thought of this Rutan's sneering face appeared. At half past eleven he and Razor got up and started heading down. They were about to go through the portrait door when a voice came from one of the chairs "I can't believe you're going to do this, Silver". It was coral in a green dressing gown "You? Go back to bed" "I almost told your brother, Hamlin". Silver couldn't believe someone could be so interfering "Come on" he told Razor. They both went through the portrait hole but Coral wasn't giving up as she followed them "Don't you care about Shinobi, do you only care about yourselves, I don't want Raiju to win the House Cup and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor Echo for knowing about Switching Spells" "Go away" "All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so-". What they were they didn't find out because Earthia was not in the painting and therefore there was nobody to open the door back up for them "Now what am I going to do?" "That's your problem" "I'm coming with you".
Razor didn't like this at all "You are not!" "D'you think I'm going to stand out here and wait for Rykor to catch me? If he finds all three of us I'll tell him the truth, that I was trying to stop you and you can back me up" "Shut up, both of you" Silver said. He heard a noise that at first he thought was Spooky but as he got closer he found it was coming from Antione sleeping curled up on the floor. Silver nudged him and he woke up "Oh, thank goodness. I've been locked out for hours. I couldn't remember the new password" "Keep your voice down. Earthia's gone anyway" Razor said. Silver noticed Antione didn't have a sling or cast "How's your arm?" "Good. Vanilla fixed it up in a few minutes" "Good. Listen we have to go" "No, don't leave me alone. King Boo's been past twice now". Razor groaned "If either of you get us caught I swear I'll learn every curse possible and use them all on you". Eventually they made it to the trophy room which was full of shields, medals and Silver even found one with Echo's name on it. Rutan was late, Silver stayed on guard in case he suddenly jumped out from somewhere "Maybe he's chickened out" Razor suggested. They suddenly heard a voice that certainly wasn't Rutan "Sniff around, my sweet. There in here somewhere". Silver and the others scurried through the door furthest away from Rykor's voice "Run!". Silver had no idea where he was going but somehow they ended up near Charm's class which he knew was miles away from the trophy room "I think we lost him" Silver said mid panting. Coral was holding a stitch in her stomach "I… told… you. He tricked you. You realise that, don't you? Rykor knew there was someone there. Rutan must have tipped him off". Silver knew she was right but he absolutely wasn't going to tell her that "Let's go".
It wasn't that simple as now out of nowhere came Charmy who saw them and gave a delighted squeal. Silver desperately tried to stop him "Shut up! Please, we'll get thrown out" "Wandering around at midnight, ickle firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty". Silver was hopeful "Not if you don't tell anyone" "Should tell Rykor. It's for your own good". Razor tried to swipe at him which was a mistake "STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED!". They all ran and kept running through the different corridors until they reached a dead end with a locked door "That's it. We're finished" Razor said. Coral rolled her eyes "Oh, move over". She took out a flute and started to play it. The sound was quiet and a word came out in a tune "Alohomora". Coral's turban and flute glowed and the lock clicked. They rushed inside and closed the door behind them. They heard Rykor "Where did they go, Charmy" "Won't say nothing until you say please" "Okay, please" "Nothing" Charmy laugh and woosh away as Rykor swore "I think he's leaving" Razor whispered. As they listened Antione kept tugging Silver's back quill "What?". He turned around and immediately realised what. Silver realised they weren't in a room. They were in a corridor, the forbidden corridor. And he was realising why it was forbidden. In the room with them was a large Mobani cheetah creature with long spiked tails, a Blood Beast. They had clearly disturbed its sleep as its eyes were half open.
It started to growl as the kids went for the door, between Rykor and death they'll choose Rykor. They got through, slammed the door behind them and ran for it. They didn't care where as long as it was as far as possible from that. They didn't stop until they finally reached the portrait which Earthia had thankfully returned to "Where on Mobius have you been?" "Never mind that. Pig snout!" Razor yelled. She let them in and they ran in collapsing onto arm chairs. They were all trembling and it was a while before any of them said anything "What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school!" Razor said. Coral got her breath and her temper back "You don't use your eyes, do you? Did you not see what it was standing on?". Silver couldn't believe her "What? The floor? I was too busy watching its tails!" "No. It was standing on a trap door which means it wasn't there by accident. It's guarding something. Now, if you'll excuse me…". She got to her feet "I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed or worse expelled". She went back upstairs "She needs to sort out her priorities" Razor said. Silver was only half listening, he remembered what Big told him. Nameless was the safest place except for Soleanna. Silver thinks he just found out where that package from vault 713 was.