Ooooh tenseness rises
a mission is a mission
"How much longer?" Silver whined, growing tired of clinging onto the adult's back. It had been at least a few hours, and the hoglet was sick of scaling the cavern walls.
"As long as I need to." Shadow snapped back, poking around in a crevice before diving deeper down the canyon. Silver's tiny paws were getting tired, and he needed a break. Grumbles and growls erupted from the hoglet as he complained internally. Shadow's erratic movements were getting tiresome.
A swift jump shook the small hedgehog as Shadow leapt further down the canyon. Sharp red eyes scanned the walls as they fell, searching for the Emerald. The jolt of a sudden stop knocked the air out of Silver's lungs, forcing a bit of food out of his mouth and down the endless cavern.
"Did you just vomit?" Shadow asked, red eyes turning to look at the angry golden ones.
"Yes." Silver mumbled, crankily spitting out his mouth down into the abyss. An almighty sigh filled the air as Shadow huffed out what anger he could. Neither hedgehog liked the predicament they were in. Both hated the feeling of the other and both wanted to rip the other's throat out. The only thing restraining Silver was the fact that Shadow was an experienced warrior, and the latter was only held back by the fact Silver was four.
"Can you tell if we are close?" Silver grumbled, intentionally sticking the adult with his baby claws.
"No." Shadow growled, pulling up his hood. "The air is thick with Energy and I can't tell what from what."
"Well maybe you just need to look for glowing rocks." Silver whined.
"I'm doing my best!" Shadow snapped, teeth bared as he growled at the youngling. "I've been scouring this canyon for 35 years and I've found nothing!"
Silver looked away, an angry pout forming on his lips. The ranger resumed, albeit angrily, his frustrated hunt. Another leap pushed them away from the canyon wall, putting the two in yet another freefall.
"What's even down there?" Silver asked, staring down the deep crack.
"The planet core." Shadow responded, grabbing a vine and swinging to an outcrop..
"Is it true there's a demon down there?" Silver shivered, holding tighter onto the adult's
neck. Shadow also shuddered.
"Yes." Shadow mumbled. "Terrible business…that one…"
"Do you think it has the Emerald?" Silver whined, looking up at the back of the ranger's head.
"I checked." Shadow sighed. "No Emerald."
Red eyes peered down the endless chasm as the two leapt to the other side. Thick boots scraped against rock as the elder landed, giving the young hedgehog a gentle bounce as momentum dissipated. The search resumed as Shadow continued combing the rocks for any sign of a gemstone.
"The core has gone cold…" He mourned, looking down briefly. "The sea of stone below contains the beast….for now…"
"Is it safe to visit?" Silver asked, loosening his grip.
"I'd avoid that place at all costs." Shadow sharply answered, pulling his arm out of a crack. "Down there is a cold dead place holding cold death itself. I will take you when you are much older."
Silver simply laid his head against the shoulders of the adult. If he wasn't going to be going someplace new he might as well get comfy. Shadow continued his dance along the walls, hopping from vine to vine with the precision and grace of a trained acrobat.
The place was still beautiful. Even though the sky had long disappeared from view, Silver looked up. It was strange. To expect to see the sky, but to only see the endless walls above them glowing with plants and filled with singing birds. Golden eyes closed, taking in the sweet sounds of the creatures that lived there. Bouncing as Shadow bolted across a vine bridge to the other side, he looked down, seeing nothing but the same view. Endless….this place seemed. Although the Twisted Canyon name described the vines that twisted around the walls and bridged gaps, undoubtedly holding the two land masses together; the name was woefully inaccurate to how terrifyingly beautiful it was.
Shadow leapt once again, the wind catching in Silver's young fur as he held on. The jolt of the sudden catch on the wall was certainly jarring. However Silver was getting used to his insides turning around.
As they scoured the stone, the young hoglet felt something odd. A cyan aura surrounded his body and he lifted off the back of the elder. A shriek of fear sounded through the air as he floated over the deep pit below.
"Shadow!" He cried, reaching out for help.
Shadow also reached out his leather gloves, alarm and shock also appearing on his face. He leaned off the wall, extending his black furred arm as far as it would reach only for SIlver to drift away. Leaves and stones joined Silver in his low gravity spin, the hoglet tearing up as he stared at the endless fall below him.
"Hold on." Shadow ordered, crouching to jump. "I got you."
"SHADOW!" Silver screamed, his aura disappearing and gravity taking him.
The hoglet spiraled down the chasm, calling out as the vegetation whipped past him. Shadow leapt off the cliff in a swimmers dive, reaching out for the hoglet.
The vines and leaves slapped against Silver's young hide as he fell, creating lines of blood as he went. Tears floated around the Golden eyes as he reached up for the adult desperately above him. Shadow's red eyes furrowed in focus as he streamlined himself, trying to catch up to the hoglet's fall. The leather cloak whipped around him, flapping in the wind as he dove further and further down. Silver screeched, tumbling head over heels before he managed to stop and face the adult.
"Shadow!" He cried, begging in one word for the ranger to save him.
"Use your power." Shadow ordered urgently, reaching his hand as far as he could go. Golden eyes snapped shut, trying to focus his energy…
"Open your eyes." Shadow barked, startling Silver. "Open your hands."
Silver extended his hands, trying and trying to catch himself. The chasm couldn't last forever… How long did he have? How does it feel to hit stone and splatter into a thousand pieces? No power responded to his call, and the familiar aura had abandoned him to his doom.
"I can't." He sobbed, turning to look down.
"Don't look down." Shadow ordered intensely. "Look at me."
Silver turned back. The chasm whirled past them as they hurled endlessly downwards, both locked in a dance too far away to touch. Silver cried out again, trying and failing to grab the hand reached out to him so close yet so impossibly far away.
"I can't reach you - you have to use your power." Shadow pressed, growing visibly more and more worried. "You can do it."
Silver screamed, forcing his mind open and forcing a blue aura around his paws. He reached and reached, trying to stop himself just a little. He reached and reached and reached….
Shadow's body slammed against him, Silver's tiny paws instinctively grasping around the adult's neck as the leather gloves snatched a glowing vine out of the air. The long swing forced Silver's golden eyes to squeeze shut, not wanting to see anything that happened next. Momentum carried the two upwards as the vine swung. Silver felt Shadow's strong arms wrap around him as he let go, leaping through the air.
Thick boots slammed against an outcropping, the ranger finishing his landing in a sickening long roll. Black quills slammed against the stone wall as Shadow came to an untimely stop, hood undone and quills a splayed mess. Both just laid there, breathing heavy in desperate gasps.
"Are….are you ok?" Shadow asked, heartbeat thumping through his leather cloak loud enough for the hoglet to hear.
"Y yeah…" Silver wheezed.
Before Shadow could sit up, Silver buried his face into his strong chest. Sobs filled the air as the trembling child held on to the only thing he could, arms begging for comfort as he cried in aftershock.
"It's ok…" Shadow huffed anxiously, pulling himself up and holding the child. "I got you."
Silver didnt know how long they sat there. Shadow didn't say a word. Ivory ears just listened to the deep breaths and the pounding heart as he emptied his eyes into the warm cloak. He sobbed, letting the black furred arms keep him safe as he trembled and shivered. To say he was terrified was an understatement. Silver didn't even think he'd make it out. It was by a sheer miracle he was able to control his power for a brief second. It was forever before his golden eyes began to run dry.
A blue sparkle caught his eyes, the short quilled head lifting up to see what was shining in his eye. Looking up at the adult revealed closed eyes and pale face. Shadow was just breathing. He didn't see the sparkle. Silver pulled out of the strong grip, forcing the rangers quite panicked eyes open.
"Shadow?" The hoglet asked softly, wiping the snot out of his nose with a sniff. "What's that?
Red eyes turned towards a crack in the wall. The panicked face turned to that of wonder and amazement as the adult hurriedly stood to his feet. Gloves reached into the crack with hurry as Shadow reached for the sparkle. Silver stared on as the ranger struggled with the Shadow removed it from the wall, Silver could only go slack jawed in what he believed to be the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
A brilliant blue gem that sparkled with the light of a thousand plants shone in the gloves of the elder. Tiny paws reached up, taking the stone from the adult and investigating it in awestruck wonder. It…was beautiful. Silver stared at his eyes reflecting off the facets of the mystical artifact. Merely touching it felt like nothing he had ever experienced in his life. Some sort of…power…or energy…coursed through his veins as he held the gem in both his hands.
"Is this…"
"That is a Chaos Emerald." Shadow said, tilting his head. "Nice find."
"This is a Chaos Emerald?" Silver gasped, looking up into the red eyes in wonder. "I..Its beautiful…"
"I know." Shadow echoed, looking up. "With this, we don't have to do the climb."
Before Silver could answer, he found himself swooped onto the elder's back once again. Fear struck the child as the thought of being over the canyon once again forced tears into his eyes. Shadow grasped the Emerald firmly with his left hand as his right patted Silver's paws in assurance.
"This could make you dizzy." He softly warned. "Be ready."
Silver's eyes squeezed shut for the jump, but it never came. Instead, Shadow lifted the Emerald into the air, and let an energy fill the both of them.
What felt like a whirlwind of power blasted through Silver. It roiled around in his organs, upsetting his stomach and making him gag. Light filled his eyes, absorbing him in a tunnel of whites and rainbows.
As soon as the light came, it left. Shadow quickly swept the hoglet off his back and held him firmly over the cliff face. Sickeningly, Silver's stomach emptied into the abyss and spiraled downwards as Silver choked on the remaining acid. A firm hand patted his back as he groaned.
"What was that…." He moaned, looking back up at the adult.
"Chaos control." Shadow answered. "I don't typically use it with children, but I thought you'd be too scared to climb."
"Yeah…" Silver mumbled. Golden eyes looked around, widening in shock as he realized they were back in the home cave. As he was taking in the reality of the teleportation, Silver became aware that Shadow was handing him something.
"Here." Shadow pressed, passing a cup into the hoglet's hand. "Drink something."
As Silver lifted the cup to his lips, he felt the weight of the cloak drop on his back. Warmth filled his bones as the ranger lit the fire once again. Without hesitation, the shocked child scooted closer.
Shadow took the hoglet's arm, wrapping cloths around the largest wound so far. Silver was too tired to fight and merely let him. At least Shadow was gentile with him. Not as gentile as Fliss….
"Do you think I'll ever see my family again…?" Silver sniffed, closing his eyes and laying down onto the fluffy marked blanket with a saddened sigh. Shadow took the Emerald and placed it in his bag.
"Perhaps someday…" He answered. "If you're lucky."