I dont know if i will reintroduce tone into the story later, as i dont have any current plans for it, but we'll see
right now theres a good chance he wont show up again

Silver couldn't help but feel extremely confident as he strutted up to the lit firepit. With his head high and arms swinging up and down, he marched himself up to the ring of stone and plopped himself down across from the ranger, smile wide and eyes playful. Tone was not far behind him, limping slightly on his left leg and moving his sore shoulder about in painful circles.

"Did you teach him acupuncture or something?" The cat groaned, seating himself next to the hoglet with a heavy thud. "His little feet get in places yours can't."

"I did not." Shadow flatly replied, turning the meat on the spit until the other side sizzled over the fire.

"I don't know what you're so worried about." Tone huffed, scooting closer to the fire as the setting sun slowly stole the heat from the stone fields. "His fighting is going along fantastically for a year's worth of progress."

"I'm not sorry." Silver proudly announced, crossing his arms with a smirk.

"Oh hush."

Silver giggled as the cat shoved him, knocking his arms from his chest and nearly offsetting his balance.

"Do you have any willow bark on that shelf of yours?" Tone grumbled, rubbing his knee.

Shadow nodded, standing from his cross legged position and walking back towards the house. Curiously, the little hedgehog watched through the flickering flames as the adult grabbed a large jar from his spice shelf. After opening the container and smelling if it was fresh, the ranger grabbed a kettle and a hook off the cooking rack and dipped the tin into the water barrel.

"How much pain are you in?" Shadow asked, walking his way back to the fire and hanging the kettle from the spit.

"Not too much." Tone replied. "Just enough to disrupt my walk."

"Can I have some?" Silver asked, curious as to willow bark even was.

"It's very bitter, and used for pain relief." Shadow stated, scooping a careful measurement of dried shavings into the kettle. "Are you sure you want it?"

Silver nodded. Although he was young, and his body was very springy, the young hedgehog's bones still ached from growing pains and his muscles still complained from Tone's roughhousing. If the medicine was used for pain relief, it couldn't be too terrible, could it?

"Do you have any honey?" Tone asked.

"No." Shadow responded. "The hive I did find recently was small, so I could only take one meal's worth."

"At least it was small."

Shadow only shot the cougar a look as he turned from the spit, having twisted it once more, and walked back into the living space.

"He hates bees." Tone smirked, leaning over to the hoglet to gossip. "Ants too."

"I hate ants." Silver scowled, frowning in disgust.

"They can't get through his thick hide but he hates the feeling of little legs all over his body." Tone grinned. "All the creepy crawly little legs and feet that skitter scuttle up and down and in-between each and every individual hair follicl-"

"Will you stop?" Shadow hissed, harshly setting down a collection of wooden dishes next to the ring of stones and calming his ruffled fur with abrasive swipes. "Now you're trying to cause problems."

Silver laughed as Shadow took out the ring in his quills, combing his fingers between his spikes and re-banding them in an annoyed frown. Without the shirt on, the two prodigies could see how the ranger's fur flicked and fluffed, reacting to the creepy-crawlies clearly rippling through Shadow's head.

"You have no idea how many times I considered kicking you out for stunts like this." The ebony hedgehog huffed, smoothing down his chest fur with an exasperated brush.

"Anything to get a rise out of you." Tone smiled, much to Shadow's dismay.

Silver giggled as the ranger's ears flattened, eyes half-lidded and brows knit together in an expression of clear vexation.

"Little legs!" The child smiled, wiggling his fingers at the elder hedgehog.

"Look what you've done." Shadow grumbled, gesturing towards the hoglet. "I let you have him for one day and you've already taught him how to annoy me."

"Well someone has to do it." Tone countered, smile growing wider. "I can't do it while I'm gone, and he's the only one who can get away with it."

"Tone, I swear to Gaia…." Shadow groaned, pinching his brow with hunched shoulders.

Silver couldn't help but give an evil grin as he opened his mouth to join in on the fun.

"I'm gonna put ants in your-"

"No, you are not." Shadow harshly scolded, pointing his finger at the mischievous child. "I have this house clean and I want it to stay that way."

"Yes sir..." Silver folded.

"It's the one thing that stays somewhat hygienic in all this decay and I will not have it infested with ants." The hedgehog frowned. "Do you understand?"

"Yes sir…"

"You cave too easy, kid."

"Zip it, Tone." Shadow growled. "I'm trying to correct this behavior."

Leaning over to the hoglet, the aging cougar placed his hands to his muzzle and whispered into the ivory ears.

"He's a bit of a neat freak when it comes to his space."

"Yeah?"

"He can't do much to stay clean out in the wilds, but whenever he can, he will tidy everything up." Tone explained. "Probably has to do with him growing up in a sterile environment."

"Sterile?"

"Free of contaminants." Shadow answered, reaching over the fire to grab the whistling kettle. "Meaning no dirt, grime, or infectious bacteria."

"How did you do that?" Silver asked, genuinely confused as to how anything could be completely free of all of those things.

"The past was a different time." Shadow spoke, placing a cloth over one of the wooden cups and pouring the burgundy liquid through it. "Technology allowed for such environments to be created for those who could get sick through exposure."

Pouring the rest of the liquid into the other cup, the ebony hedgehog handed the drinks to his fireside companions. Leaning over his wooden mug, Silver sniffed the steam arising from the herbal tea. It was a strong scent, powerful in his little nose and unfamiliar to his senses. Clean…crisp…very green smelling.

"Don't drink it yet." Shadow instructed, placing his gloved paw over the mug just in time as the hoglet lifted it to his lips. "It's still boiling."

Silver coughed on the taste of leather, the bitter sourness remaining in his mouth for far too long as he leaned away from the elder's glove with his tongue poked unceremoniously out from his lips.

"Blegh-" He choked, setting the mug down as Shadow pulled his hand back.

He could have sworn there was an aftertaste of blood.

"I was born in a sterile lab." Shadow continued, turning the darkening meat over the fire. "Everything was kept strictly clean there, and some habits never die."

"Lab?"

"Short for 'laboratory'." Shadow clarified. "I am not a hedgehog in the traditional sense."

"I don't get it." Silver mumbled, looking at the ground.

"You probably won't for some time." The hedgehog stated, unbothered by the child's ignorance. "You don't even know what a science experiment is - let alone what science is."

"You haven't taught him science yet?" Tone asked, trying to drink the tea only to spit it back into the steaming cup with a pained expression.

"I make a point to get to division in maths before moving onto science." Shadow explained. "You wouldn't remember, as you were only six."

"I see." Tone nodded, setting his mug down to cool. "I suppose that would help."

"I attempted to teach Signal how to do science before he could do his arithmetic properly, and that went very poorly." Shadow rambled, pulling the kettle and the spit from over the fire. "I simply learned from my mistakes and moved on."

"I can do addition." Silver proudly admitted, counting to himself on his fingers.

"That's very cool." Tone smiled, though not really caring.

"I can write my name-"

"Shadow, I do have a question though about the ARK." Tone interrupted, leaning forwards slightly. "I know you said it's still in orbit, but I don't know its status, is it still operational?

"I took Tails up shortly after the Chaos Bleed to put it in standby mode." Shadow answered. "We knew it would be quite some time before anyone would be able to travel up there, so we made sure it wouldn't need any major repairs in the meantime."

Silver dipped the tip of his finger into his mug, testing the temperature only to find it still too hot to drink.

"After about a hundred years, I noticed technology was advancing backwards significantly and the population was dying out, so I turned the place into a time capsule." Shadow continued. "If any space faring race finds the ARK after the planet dies, they will have a record of our history until 2182 - and a video recording of myself explaining my contingency plan in the hopes they do not interfere."

"That's….dark."

"I also brought up specimens and samples from as many sources as I could find and preserved them in the science labs." Shadow finished, ears tilting down slightly as solemnity filled his voice. "A lot…of extinct species are up there…"

The crackling fire filled the silence as Silver once again tested his tea.

"Why do you ask?" Shadow spoke up, breaking the silence and shoving away any emotion he had previously shown.

"I'd been thinking about it a lot." Tone answered. "You always talked about it in the past, but never the present - I was wondering if anyone could visit but it's not looking like it."

"I turned the oxygen pumps off before I left." Shadow stated. "That way if any of the pods break down over the millenia, whatever is inside will still be preserved - albeit in a less than optimal manner."

"Yeah I don't think anyone will be visiting it anytime soon." Tone laughed, picking up his cup and sipping the tea within.

Silver also picked up his mug, sniffing the cooling liquid with careful attention to it's temperature. Finding the tea drinkable, he slowly took a sip. True to Shadow's word - the tea was fairly bitter. Determendly the child held a stone poker face as he continued to sip on the unpleasant drink; blinking away the sour aftertaste with a slow and calm demeanor. As much as he hated how the willow assaulted his tastebuds, it was still far better than blueleaf.

"You will start feeling some relief within the next half-hour." Shadow robotically stated, pulling the spit from the fire and placing the roasted slabs on a set of plates. "Please try to drink all of it."

Silver nodded as he lifted the cup to his lips once more.

"Woah there!" Tone gasped, tail twitching as he watched the hoglet down the rest of the liquid in a single gulp. "Careful with your tummy!"

"I'm ok." Silver burped, setting the cup down to grasp the plate handed to him.

"You hate the taste that much?"

Silver shook his head, taking his fork and tearing into the salted slice of rabbit.

"Jeez you're a tough kiddo."

"Tone." Shadow spoke, interrupting the cougar's thoughts and wiggling another plate of meat towards the cat.

"Oh - sorry."

Taking the plate, the elder prodigy began to rip into the cooked dish, using the fork to tear away large chunks in methodical cuts.

"I seriously don't know what you're so worked up about." Tone frowned, swallowing his first bite. "He's doing just fine."

"I am?" Silver beamed, chewing on a piece of gristle.

"You gotta back off the reins, Shadow." Tone continued. "Let him have some free time."

"...You're right." Shadow relented, holding his hands up in defense with a neutral expression.

"I know I am."

"Though I can't be too slow with his-"

"Don't screw this up." The cougar frowned, pointing his fork at the ebony hedgehog. "You only have one chance and he needs to have a good head on those shoulders."

"You're right." Shadow relented again. "I will try not to overwork him."

"No." Tone growled. "You won't overwork him."

"Tone-"

"Don't screw him up by rushing."

"I'll tell you if I get tired." Silver grinned, setting his empty plate down in the hopes of being helpful.

"I will try my best." Shadow asserted, picking up the hoglet's plate. "I can make no guarantees."

"You've always had a hard time making promises."

"I never make a promise I can't keep." Shadow stated, reaching to take Tone's empty plate. "You know this."

Silver yawned, rubbing his eyes and shifting in his cross-legged position. The sun had set some time ago, and the night was beginning to weigh on him. Expectedly, the warm tea had placed a heavy drowsiness on his eyelids and his full belly left him happy and content.

"Come." Shadow spoke, standing from his place and gesturing to the hoglet. "It is bedtime, let's get you situated."

"Hey - kid." Tone interrupted, standing up from the fire as well. "I won't be here in the morning, and I wanna make sure you're gonna be alright."

"You're leaving?" Silver asked, rubbing his eyes once more.

"I'm traveling to Central City." Tone explained. "I only stopped by Shadow because I needed my lungs cleaned out - I've already been here longer than I planned to be."

"Oh…"

"Hey, don't sweat it." Tone smiled. "You're doing great with everything, it was nice to see your progress - I'm very impressed."

"Thank you." Silver smiled, feeling very warm and fuzzy inside.

"Don't mention it." The elder cougar grinned, leaning back and popping his spine. "Always glad to troubleshoot."

"Come." Shadow urged, waving his hand. "It's time to rest now."

"Okay…"

"See you around, kid." Tone waved.

"See you around."