Surprise suckers im back
also huge thanks to SilverPsychic for the youtube animation!
"What kind of business?" Silver squinted further, eyes closing to near slits in his suspicion. His hand eagerly held the hilt of his knife; fingers restlessly dancing about the leather grip.
"We seek his assistance." The rabbit spoke, nervously fiddling with the leaf-shaped button that held her cloak together. "If… if he can offer it…"
The three rangers looked between each other rapidly, concern and fear lacing their eyes as they silently communicated with one another. A raised brow led to a shrugged shoulder. Sideways glances produced confused fingers. Silver could only look around himself, gripping his knife harder as he prepared to defend himself once again.
"Is he around?" Shepard finally asked, turning to face the frightened hoglet with desperation in his eyes.
"Why?" Silver growled. "And why should I tell you?"
"Please!" Rake pleaded, taking a step towards the hoglet. "I need to-"
SHHRK
Silver drew his blade. With another growl he stared down the length of the knife - straight into the bright blue eyes of the squirrel.
"Easy - He's scared." Shepard barked.
"Prodigy, please - it is urgent." The teen continued, ignoring his leader. "Some of our own have fallen ill to a mysterious sickness."
"What do you mean?" Silver asked, still frowning with heavy suspicion.
"I don't know how to explain it…" He urged, tail flicking anxiously. "But it has my mother- she is both sleepless and ever drowsy."
"They all are." The rabbit mumbled. "Pale as the moon, restless as the seas….weak as the stars."
Silver looked between the three. Despite not knowing exactly who they were or why they had decided to come this close to the Gravity Fields, he could tell that they were at least a little desperate. Some more than others, but it was still there. The squirrel was especially worried - staring at the young hedgehog like he expected the hoglet to just spit on the ground and manifest Shadow himself. Tilting his head, Silver took a deep breath.
"They're sick?" He asked.
"Very."
"Please…We've tried everything…" Rake pleaded. "The doctor at Crescent city said our best chance was with the Hero himself - is he still at Cliffside?"
"I don't know." Silver frowned. "Even if he was - I don't think he'd stay very long."
The three rangers let out an almighty groan. As the hoglet moved to put his blade back into its sheath, Shepard turned and punched a nearby tree. The dog let out a growling whine as he retracted his hand.
"Shep- It's-"
"This is impossible!" He yowled, shaking his paw and rubbing his sore knuckles. "We'll never find him at this rate…"
"Shep, He's a speed type." The rabbit reasoned. "It's not like any of us were expecting to find him there anyways."
"Ria, we don't have the time!"
"Time for what?" Silver asked, finally managing to sheath his blade.
"They've been sick for months, and nothing is working." Rake answered, wringing his hands.
"We better get moving." Shepard growled, flipping up his hood and turning away from the hoglet. "We can't waste any more time."
"Just hold on a second!"
"You heard the kid!" He growled, teeth bared and eyes wide. "The Hero is likely long gone from Cliffside and every second we waste meddling about here the further he is from us!"
"You can't possibly hope to catch up to a person who runs like the wind, Shepard."
"Time is of the essence - they're dying, Ria! She's dying!"
"They're dying?" Silver asked, tilting his head.
"We've lost five to this…this gloom of an illness." Shepard grumbled, ears set back with anxiety under his tongue. "I fear my wife is next…"
"Do you know where he is?" Rake asked, clasping his hands and taking a step towards the hoglet. "Just… Any approximation on where he could be."
"Sorry." Silver answered, shaking his head. "He left about a week ago, due south."
Again, the three rangers let out a groan of despair. One by one they flipped up their hoods, exchanging solemn glances at one another before turning back.
"Wait-" Ria spoke, pausing in her tracks. Confusedly, the others turned to stare at her.
"You are the Prodigy, yes?"
"...yeah?" Silver responded, moving his hand closer to his knife lest they make a move against him.
"Do you think you could help us?"
Silver could only blink, jaw popping loose slightly as the question processed in his brain. Him? Help? Shadow hadn't taught him much about dealing with sickness. Heck, the young hedgehog had only been sick once in his lifetime - not counting the time Mephiles had run rampant in his respiratory system.
"I don't know." Silver frowned, still hovering his hand over his knife. "Even if I could, I don't know if I trust you enough to follow you."
"Well, the Crescent City doctor said that he had only seen this kind of illness cured by the Hero's light." Shep anxiously spoke, wringing his paws together.
The ivory quilled head tilted quizzically.
"What?"
"Just come with us." Ria begged, interlocking her fingers in a desperate plea. "Just look at what ails us - please…"
"I'm not comfortable with that." Silver growled, placing his paw on the hilt of his knife.
"Perhaps a compromise could be made." Shep interjected, holding his hand out to stop the other two from speaking. "The Prodigy is exercising both wisdom and obedience by not following us."
"What in Gaia's name are you talking about?" Rake groaned.
"As parents we tell our children not to follow those unknown to us." Shep continued, gesturing between himself and the rabbit. "Is that not what is most wise in this situation?"
"I see your point." Ria sighed. "But I do not know what compromise could be made here - we have to take him back to the pack to show him our dilemma."
"It is simple." Shep shrugged. "Instead of bringing the Prodigy to our terms, we bring one of our own to his."
"Ion is small and healthy enough to make the journey." Ria spoke, extending her hand and placing it on the young squirrel's shoulder. "I propose one of us stays behind with the young Prodigy while the others go fetch the boy."
"Give me your dart, Rake." The dog ordered, gesturing with his fingers for the teen to hand it over. "It would make him most comfortable if you were unarmed."
"What about what makes me most comfortable?" The squirrel protested, turning over the blade.
"You are in the hands of a Prodigy, Rake," Ria spoke, flipping up her hood. "You are in the safest place one could possibly be."
Before either Silver or the young ranger could protest, the two adults had disappeared into the woods. With their absence came an uncomfortable silence that hung thick in the air like a woven tapestry of awkward situations. Unsure of what to even think, Silver slowly began backing into the woods as well.
"Wait- you can't leave me here!" Rake protested, taking a step towards the child.
"I am so confused and I have no idea what is going on." Silver growled, drawing his knife but not pointing it at the teen. "I'm going home."
Turning on his heel, the young hedgehog began walking towards the Gravity Fields. Shadow would get a real kick out of this when he got back. That was for sure. A bunch of hooded rangers trying to convince him to go with them? Obvious trap. No one just goes looking for Shadow. It was part of the legend of the fabled hero. You can't find him, he finds you. If anyone had an ounce of brain matter in their skull they would know that.
"Please!" The squirrel yelped, stumbling after the hedgehog. "You're our only chance - just stay here for a bit."
"And get kidnapped?" Silver sarcastically remarked. "No thanks. I know you Syndicate guys are sneaky but there are better excuses than that to lure someone."
"Syndicate?" Rake gasped, jaw dropping and brows furrowing in disbelief. "You think we're-"
Shaking his head the squirrel followed after the hoglet.
"I know this sounds hard to believe but you have to trust us."
The treeline broke, revealing the floating stones and swinging pulls of the familiar fields. Hopping off the ridge, Silver began to walk towards the pulls - fastening his belt and tightening his gear in preparation for the pulls. If he couldn't lose the teen in the woods, he'd have to do it in the rocks.
"Wait - come back!"
"See you later." Silver grumbled, giving a half hearted wave as he continued his set course.
"Just hear me out…"
Hearing the desperation in the young ranger's voice, Silver stopped in his tracks with a sigh. Irritated, he turned around. The bold blue eyes met his with such sorrow and despair, the hedgehog couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the teen.
"I know you don't have much reason to trust us… scratch that - you have no reason to trust us; but we still need your help." Rake pleaded, removing his shield and cloak with a click of a clasp. "I am unarmed, I have no tricks up my sleeve, I just need you to wait for Shep and Ria to get back."
"Why?" Silver frowned.
"So we can prove to you that there is indeed illness in our pack." Rake sighed, taking a seat and placing his jaw in his hands.
The twinge of pity Silver felt only grew as the young ranger wrapped his tail around his knees. He certainly seemed desperate. If the prodigy had decided to continue on into the fields there was no doubt the teen would have followed him. Gears turning, the hoglet squinted at the sorrowed squirrel. From the way he spoke and the way he acted, there was no way he could belong to the Syndicate ranks. Not only were the hoods generally rude and mean, they were also greedy - taking pride in their gear and never taking their cloaks off. Not to mention none of them could ever be seen wearing brown.
"I've never met rangers before." Silver spoke, still looking the teen up and down. "Not ones like you, anyhow."
"What do you mean?"
"Shadow typically wears a hood like yours." The hoglet answered. "But he wears armor on it."
"Armor is forbidden in Ranger codes." Rake corrected. "If he was wearing armor, he was not from any ra-"
"Rake!" A voice called out, interrupting the teen's words. "Rake where did you run off to?"
"Over here!" Rake called, standing up and hollering into the woods. "I followed the Prodigy."
The dog and the rabbit broke through the treeline, gasping for breath and stopping to rest. In the red rabbits arms was a fair sized bundle, wrapped in a dense grey blanket and held close to her chest. Spying the object, Silver felt his ears twitch. Something felt off about the strange package. Very very off.
With a gasping wheeze, the rabbit set her parcel down. Slowly she unwrapped the grey cloth from its place, peeling off the layers until a wiggling small form laid on the ground. It whimpered uncomfortably, waving its tiny paws in the air and twisting itself around.
"It's bright!" It hissed, covering it's eyes and cowering from the clouded sun.
Jaw dropping, Silver approached the small child. It - no - he was younger than the prodigy. With only a few teeth and a downy pelt of baby fur, the hoglet guessed the little kit to be no older than three years of age. This was no traveling group of pillaging Syndicate hoods. No. These rangers were desperate enough to bring him one of their children. Their own children. The kit's red fur mirrored his mother's in an awe striking hue. Even as he approached the whimpering baby rabbit, he couldn't help but feel like he had miscalculated the group entirely.
"My son…" Ria spoke, wiping away a tear. "He fell ill last week…"
Wiping his palm across the young child's forehead, Silver felt a chill run down his spine. The child was running a little cold. Unease filled the prodigy's veins as he cautiously lowered his head closer to the little chest. Even though he had no idea what a proper heartbeat sounded like, there was still something extremely off about the pitter patter of the young heart. Even worse was the strained breaths.
"It's bright…" The child whimpered, not able to properly articulate his emotions quite yet. "Light…its bright…"
"Its bright…" A whispered undertone sounded in the chambers of the kit's chest. An echo that sounded like nobody and everybody at the same time…
Oh no.
Oh…no…no no…
"How many others!" Silver gasped, sitting bolt upright to make abrupt eye contact with the adults.
"Around twelve." Shep answered, nervously clutching his arm at the prodigy's sudden alarm.
"I need to see them." Silver announced, rapidly standing and walking towards the two rangers. "I need to see them right now."