me: I wonder when the prodigy is gonna update
me: ...
me: ...oh
Silver found himself feeling a little conflicted when Shadow deemed him ready for a higher level of training. The hoglet was ecstatic at the idea of leveling up in his skills. With the idea of more training came the daydreams of Tone and Signal plowing through monsters and beating the crap out of bad guys. To get closer to being as awesome as that seemed like a dream come true to the young hoglet as he stood in the middle of the training field.
However, what caused some hesitation in the child's excitement was how he was going to get so skilled. Silver was not fond of Shadow's choice of words in the slightest when he told the ivory hedgehog, near the end of the session, he seemed "durable" enough to begin defense training. Being able to withstand accidents seemed to be a huge deal in the ranger's mind. Especially since Silver was a little under half his size.
It was a bit unnerving that the elder's vocabulary emphasized how small and fragile Silver was. In fact, the hoglet felt very uneasy when Shadow removed his boots and stood bare-pawed in the stone field. Whatever new training they were going to engage in obviously required the adult to soften his hardened body as much as possible.
"Leave your shoes on." Shadow commanded, stopping the hoglet as he attempted to mirror his mentor. "I want you to have foot protection for now."
"Why?" Silver asked, putting his foot back on the stone ground.
"Your paws are not fully developed, and conditioning your body for harsh environments is a personal choice." Shadow explained, sliding his gloves off and reattaching the gold rings to his wrists. "Since you have not been properly informed on how to safely condition your body, we will work with your boots on for now."
"Aren't you gonna take off your bracelets?" Silver asked.
"They are not bracelets." Shadow firmly stated. "They are inhibitor rings."
"Cool." Silver shrugged.
"They will not be removed for safety reasons." Shadow continued. "Now, prepare yourself."
As the adult took a step towards the hoglet, Silver shrunk back, holding his paws up defensively as flashes of glowing red eyes and splatters of blood sprayed across his vision. Shadow was a force of nature in a fight. A hoglet such as himself would be a mere piece of charcoal in his black and red claws - crushed in a mere second without as much as a blink. Unbeknownst to himself, the ivory pelt puffed up slightly as beads of sweat formed at his brows.
"Silver, I am not going to hurt you." Shadow stated. "You are untrained in combat, and I am starting you out extremely basic."
"But…but…You kill people…." Silver sputtered out, feeling anxiety licking at his belly.
"Silver, do you see my hands raised in a combative manner?" Shadow sighed, placing his paws on his hips. "I need to teach you some important forms in the case someone tries to attack you."
"But you're attacking me!" Silver sniffed.
"Minorly."
"What do you mean?"
Without a word, Shadow stepped forwards and snatched the hoglet's wrist. Before Silver could ask what the adult was doing, he found himself being dragged away - leather soles scraping against the ground as his legs failed him.
"A strange man has grabbed your wrist." Shadow spoke, not letting go of the hoglet's paw. "What are you going to do Silver? Your psychokinesis will not work in this situation and he is taking you away."
"I..i…" Silver sputtered, brain trying and trying to find a solution to the problem Shadow presented. "I don't know…"
"Twist your arm inwards and pull your hand down."
For a second, he digested the command. Twist the arm inwards and pull down? How on earth did that even work? Closing his gold eyes, Silver did as he was told.
As he followed through with the movements, the hoglet felt his wrist pop free - jolting him away from the ranger as his arm shot downwards. Amazed, Silver's jaw slid open - eyes sparkling in the sudden freedom.
"It is important for a child your age to know basic self defense techniques." Shadow explained, turning around to look at his young charge. "You are small, but you do not have to be vulnerable."
"I don't?" Silver asked, tilting his head upwards to look into the expressionless red eyes.
"You don't." Shadow affirmed, crossing his arms. "Size does not matter much in the field of Martial Arts - as it is mostly physics that does the work."
"What's physics?" Silver asked, feeling confused by the large words.
"Physics is the behavior of every thing in the universe." Shadow responded. "In science, it is the study of matter and energy."
"Matter?"
"Objects."
Silver looked down at his small paws.
"How can physics make me better?"
"By knowing how objects travel, and how to manipulate and calculate where they will travel."
"In a fight?" Silver inquired, looking back up at Shadow.
Before Silver could get his answer, the adult's bare paws struck him in his chest and behind his knees - sending him toppling painlessly backwards. As his tail hit the stone floor, the stunned hoglet found himself confused and startled by the quick motion. Wordlessly he gawked up at the ranger.
"Everyone has a center of mass, or matter." Shadow explained, crouching down and picking the surprised hoglet up with a shake of his head. "Learn how to identify where it is, and you can offset their balance in a few short moves."
With a tilt of his head, the ranger brushed soot out of the ivory quills - combing the hoglet's fur with swipes of barely drawn claws. As the black and red paws danced through the messed hoglet, Silver found himself studying the ranger's face. For all the time he had known the adult, Shadow had spoken in a very aged and very experienced manner often attributed to those oldest in society. Had Silver first heard Shadow speaking without seeing him at all, the aged accent and lack of slang would have drawn a picture of gray fur and deep wrinkles. In fact, every elder with speech even remotely similar to the ebony hedgehog had been easily ancient - white fur and hunched bodies worn down from the years of trudging the harsh planet.
But, there was not a single wrinkle on Shadow's face. As a matter of fact, Silver assumed Shadow to be in his mid twenties with the shiny black fur and flawless skin he bore. As Silver watched the red eyes frown while rubbing dirt off the hoglet's face, he found himself very confused.
"How old are you?" Silver asked, staring at the ranger's shiny black nose.
"Two hundred and seventy-eight." Shadow remarked, not paying attention to either the question or the answer as he stood back.
"Is that old?" Silver asked, unsure of how to draw his frame of reference.
"At this point, it doesn't matter anymore." Shadow responded. "Let us continue."
"How old am I?" Silver questioned, now wondering how old he was.
"I'd estimate you to be roughly five." Shadow shrugged. "I'd guess your birthday would be coming up in a few weeks or months."
"Oh…"
"Now, let me see your parry."
Silver found himself confused. What did Shadow mean by parry? As he opened his mouth to ask, the ranger's paws snapped out and gently caught the hoglet's neck.
"I have already taught you to parry." Shadow frowned, clearly surprised by Silver's lack of action. "Have you forgotten your kata already?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" Silver whined, sticking his lower lip out as the ranger's hand retreated.
"Remember the first move?" Shadow sighed. "Step and swipe."
Taking a deep breath, Silver stepped with his foot. As Shadow's hand reached towards his neck again, he swiped - watching his hand gracefully push the grabbing claw out of the danger zone. For a second, he froze. Did he just parry? Silver felt his eyes grow wide.
"Use this opportunity for a strike to the face." Shadow ordered, catching the ivory child's attention. "Do not worry about force, I can take a full punch."
Without thinking, Silver balled his opposite fist and stuck - feeling his knuckles collide with the elder's jaw in a quick jab.
"Excellent." Shadow spoke. "It's weak, but that will improve with time."
"What does a strong punch feel like?" Silver asked, stars shining in his eyes at the idea of fighting as well as Tone.
"I am not doing that to you." Shadow frowned. "My full force can break stone; I would smash your skull."
Silver recoiled at the thought.
"However, if you are going to work on your punch force, I will have to warn you, the harder you strike- the more it will hurt." Shadow informed. "Make sure you keep your thumbs firmly on the outside of your fist, and strike with a twist to avoid serious damage to your body."
Slowing his movement to a crawl, the elder pulled his hand back to his ribs and pushed his fist outwards - demonstrating the action in an observable manner.
"Does it hurt all the time?" Silver asked, lacing his fingers together in concern.
"At first." Came the response. "However, with time and conditioning - the pain will leave altogether."
"Conditioning?"
Shadow sighed. With a wave of his hand, he gestured for the hoglet to follow; walking towards the house with his boots and gloves stowed under his arm. Feeling curious, Silver followed. Whatever this "conditioning" thing was, it seemed to be at the ruined structure. What could it be? Was it a toy? A tool?
"I have never actively encouraged this method of training." Shadow spoke, slight annoyance tinging his voice. "However, Signal (and later Tone) insisted on being able to strike with force not seen since the days of the Dragon Road monks."
Setting his gear down on the ground, the adult approached the south corner of the structure - observing dents and claw marks in the stone wall with a sigh of sadness. Slowly, the red striped paws reached out and grazed against the damaged concrete - sliding over the marks with an air of pain.
"You can condition your body to be able to take more damage and deal more power." He spoke, bringing his hand back and closing it into a fist. "By breaking it down to convince it to grow back stronger."
In a swift jab, Shadow threw a punch at the wall - slamming his fist into the stone with an audible crack. Surprised by the sudden movement, Silver jumped.
"I will not force you to use this technique." Shadow growled, pulling his fist back. "I will show you how to properly do it, but I will not remind you to engage nor will I speak of it if you do."
Turning his head to look at the smaller hedgehog, Shadow straightened his back.
"Doing this must be your choice and your choice alone. Only you can choose to subject yourself to pain and damage on a daily basis, and I will only interfere if you are causing unnecessary damage to yourself." Shadow spoke. "The technique involves striking any part of your body against a hard material until you cannot take any more pain. Then you treat the area with bandages and help your body repair itself with a healthy diet and careful bodily care. It is imperative to start small and gentle, and to never attempt to break your bones."
Silver took a step back. Tone and Signal did that to themselves? They would punch rocks on a nigh daily basis - just to get a better strike? Were they crazy?
"I will never encourage this type of action." Shadow spoke, turning around and walking into the lower living space. "However if you decide to inflict this upon yourself, I will not stop you."
"Why did they do it?" Silver blurted, shuffling after the adult. Pulling up a barrel, Silver clambered on top to watch the ranger as he selected a kitchen knife off of the utensil rack above the workbench.
"Signal did it to release tension and frustration." Shadow sighed, shaking his head as he pulled a wrapping out of the non-drinking water barrel and unfurled a gathering of blueleaf. "Tone did it because he wanted to be better than all before him."
Silver shifted on his seat, finding himself deep in thought as he watched the ranger slice away at the vegetables. Since it wasn't necessary to do such an awful thing, the hoglet decided he didn't want to do the conditioning exercises. Although Tone and Signal were extremely powerful Prodigies, the idea of causing physical damage to himself on purpose was appalling. Perhaps he should wait until he was older before he made up his mind truly, as the idea of a punch that could shatter stone sounded insanely cool, but as of right now - it was not something he wanted to do.
Silver was perfectly content with how his training was right now.
"Silver, would you fetch me a bowl?" Shadow asked, finishing up with the blueleaf and sweeping it into a neat pile on the cutting board. "I forgot to grab one, and I don't think you want to eat your lunch off of the countertop."