yeah not many people prioritize certain things like Shadow does in the midst of a global mega depression
"Balance, Silver, keep your chest center."
Silver shifted his concentration slightly. Sliding his left foot a smidge to keep himself from wobbling, he pushed himself more upright. Suspended above his head rested a stone - safely surrounded by a blue aura of energy.
"Hold it." Shadow commanded. "Keep it there."
A few months had passed since Shadow had resumed training, and Silver was getting very good at controlling his power. The first few days were difficult, as he had fallen slightly out of practice, but the second he got over the curve - the hedgehog found his power much easier to manage. Before he could only lift a stone with great concentration, but now he could sweep one off the ground and put it wherever he desired. With the learning out of the way, he was supposed to focus on muscle memory for the time being.
"Take your left foot and bring it up." Shadow instructed, taking his own left foot and placing it on his thigh. "Hold your concentration."
Although the adult couldn't suspend objects in midair, Shadow still tried his best to walk with Silver through the training. He had explained to the young hedgehog that it was "to help troubleshoot when things went wrong", or something like that. Silver didn't fully believe him but was more than happy to have someone to do the exercises with. Which led to the both of them standing in the stone field balancing on one foot.
"Carefully bring the stone to your left shoulder." Shadow spoke again. "Don't simply move it, bring it around in an arc."
Slowly, Silver extended his glowing palms outward. In a careful sweep, he brought the rock to his shoulder, following the adult as they moved their hands slowly and methodically. For a while, they held it there - focusing on breathing as the clouds moved overhead.
"Feel it's surface with your mind." Shadow spoke, closing his ruby eyes. "Know what you are holding."
Silver inhaled, reaching with his concentration around the stone. With the power he had, the hedgehog could feel every crack and crevice on its irregular shape. It only took a few seconds for him to know exactly what he was holding. A smile creased his lips as he turned it around in midair.
"Let's try something new." Shadow started, voice slightly louder. "Break it in half."
"What?" Silver asked, slightly confused.
"Break it in half." Shadow repeated. "Tear it into two."
Slowly, The hoglet reached out with his paws.
"No." Shadow corrected, setting his foot down. "With your power."
"With my power?" Silver parroted, also setting his foot down.
"Yes...Silver…" Shadow groaned. "With your power."
"How would I … do that…?" The ivory child asked, bringing the rock in front of him to look at it.
"I don't know how you did it, all I know is that you can." Shadow sighed, rubbing his hand against his brow.
Silver looked at the mildly frustrated adult. Since the weather had started getting warmer, he had stopped wearing the shirt around the house. It still felt a bit odd seeing the white patch on the adult's chest, yet somehow it felt more natural to have it in the open. What didn't feel natural seeing, however, was the adult's scar.
Silver had seen Shadow take a lot of damage. He had consistently fought off stalkers - never once being remotely injured by them. He had fought off an entire army of Syndicate members without a scratch. And, to top it off, he had fought off the demon thing - Memphis or something. It didn't make any sense for Shadow to even have a scar as nasty as that if he couldn't seem to get one in the first place. However, despite all the questions about the mark that Silver had, he did not have the courage to ask. The only natural response the hoglet could see coming out of the adult was a distant look or a disapproving frown.
"You should be able to split it in two with your mind." Shadow continued, snapping Silver out of his thoughts. "Perhaps you just imagine cracking it open in your head and do the same to the stone."
That seemed logical enough. Bringing his other paw up to match his upright one, Silver carefully stared at the rock. Slowly, he held his hands to make a circle and stared at the stone through it. Just crack it in the middle right? Using his imagination, he dreamt of a great seam splitting down the center as he pulled on the two hemispheres of the object. It should be that simple right? Pull on the two sides.
Bringing his hands apart, he pulled with his mind, latching onto the sides and straining his thoughts. The stone wobbled, flitting left and right as it tried to decide where to go. Silver frowned, feeling slightly frustrated that the object did not do as he had planned. Flexing his fingers, he pulled harder. The stone wobbled harder, darting left and right faster and faster as his power fought for dominance over each side.
"Enough." Shadow commanded, startling the young hoglet.
Silver dropped the stone, hearing it fall to the ground with a clunk. Heaving a sigh, he sat down - feeling slightly terrible for failing the task. Just when he thought he was getting a handle on things…
"We'll try again tomorrow." Shadow spoke. "For now, we must resume your education."
Ah yes. Education. On top of teaching the hoglet how to use his power and fight, the ranger was insistent on the young hedgehog being intelligent. Most importantly- literate. Shadow had made a disgruntled complaint one night after returning from foraging about most people being "uneducated" and how far the world had "fallen from grace". Mostly the adult had muttered to himself about the villages slacking in school enforcement and focusing more on the economic crisis the world had fallen into, but in response to such mumbling Silver had found himself being taught something called the "alphabet" the very next morning.
Silver felt very...what was the word… classy. Only Branch and the Mistress had known how to read back at the orphanage, with most news being spread through word of mouth. Knowing how to write in script or even read letters was a rare ability usually spared for the upper class or those who had a job requiring such skill. If Silver learned to read at a high level, he could make a lot of money as a scribe if he so desired. The fact Shadow was teaching him to read and write was a sheer blessing. No one in the world couldn't have been luckier than Silver - mostly because he was learning this highly sought skill for free.
Shadow grabbed charcoal from the fire pit and wrote the letters in bold on the stone ground. Silver took this moment to rest, as using his power in the exercise had been a cool down from all the punching and kicking the ranger had him doing. Every day, except for the seventh day, Shadow had woken the hoglet up at the crack of dawn to eat and begin running. The hoglet struggled at first to jog as long as the adult could, but as the weeks ticked by he found himself able to run faster and last longer. Even his move sets were getting more complicated as the hoglet slowly memorized each slide and stop. It seemed so long ago when the first set he was taught felt so difficult. Now he could glide through with ease - muscles remembering exactly what to do and how to do it.
"What is this letter?" Shadow asked, gesturing to a mark on the ground. Silver snapped out of his thoughts, gold eyes glancing over the straight lines with turning gears.
"A." Silver answered, turning his body towards the adult.
"What sounds does it make?"
"Ah - ay - aw." Silver listed, racking his memory for the sounds.
"What words start with A?" Shadow asked, handing the lump of cinder to the hoglet.
"Ask…" Silver started, scribbling the word down with awful form on the ground. He stared at his letters, feeling slightly frustrated. The lines weren't nearly as neat as the adult's, and it made him a little angry they weren't perfect. Silver hated when things weren't perfect.
"All…" The hoglet continued, slowing his writing down in the hopes it would make the lines neater. When they were not, he puckered his lips - frowning slightly at his wobbly hands.
"Ant…" He continued, rubbing a mistake off the ground with his blackened paws.
"Very good." Shadow spoke, verbally stopping Silver before he could write another word. "Let's teach you a new word today - since you are remembering your other so well."
Ooh. A new word. Silver was excited. The more words he could write, the more literate he became. What a glorious feeling - being able to read and write.
"Start with the letter 'S'." Shadow began, the letter hissing through his white teeth like a snake.
Silver stuck his tongue out, remembering to "capitalize" the first letter because of a "signaling start or importance". S… a squiggly line like a snake - not unlike the sound it made.
"Next write the letter 'I'."
Remembering not to capitalize this one, the hoglet drew the line with the dot, feeling a bit giddy when twisting the circle.
"Now write the letter 'L'."
Just a line. Pulling his tongue back in, the hedgehog pulled his piece of charcoal down in a not so straight line. Ugh.
"Resume with the letter 'V'." Shadow continued, red eyes analyzing the young hedgehog's work.
Silver stopped slightly. This was a big word. He had never written anything more than three letters before. Was he going to be able to memorize this one?
"Now write the letter 'E'."
A semicircle that connected at the middle. Silver struggled with this letter. No matter how many times he had written it - even in his spare time - he could not get it to look as nice as Shadow's. His lines were always wobbly, and the marks always connected at the wrong place. His e's never looked right, and Silver hated it.
"Finish with the letter 'R'." Shadow concluded, sitting back slightly.
Six letters. That was twice the length as normal. Silver shuddered at the long word in front of him. How was he ever going to remember this one?
"What does it say?" Shadow asked.
Silver stopped. Slowly he looked across the letters, juvenile brain halting and grinding to try and figure out the puzzle in front of him. A frustrated frown crossed his face as he struggled to piece the letters together. What could it mean…
"Sound it out." Shadow hinted, placing a gloved finger at the capitalized S.
"S..I...L...V...E...R….?" Silver stumbled out, looking at the letters individually.
"Say it faster." Shadow prodded, lacing his fingers together.
"S-i-l-ver." The hoglet mumbled out. A spark of recognition crossed his head as the last letter left his lips.
"Silver?" He asked, head jolting up to look the adult in the eyes.
"Yes." Shadow responded, pointing to the word on the ground. "That is your name."
"Silver…" The hoglet in question repeated, looking back down at the collection of scribbles. He knew how to write his name…. He knew how to write his name!
Taking the charcoal in his hand, Silver copied the word down again. He needed to memorize this name; no matter that the handwriting was terrible, this was his name. Starting again, he began to copy his name down below the second. Squiggly s, followed by a dotted i - then an straight l and a valley v; ended with a difficult e and a twisty r. Silver. Silver.
"That should be enough." Shadow spoke, observing how eagerly the hoglet wrote and rewrote his name over and over again. "You have other words to remember."
Silver didn't care. Even though Shadow continued giving him words to write down, he still snuck a few letters here and there to write his name once more. It was safe to say he was beyond ecstatic that he could now write his name. He could now leave his mark wherever he desired. Silver. What a pretty looking name.
He wished he could write it more.