A certain fire-user was walking around the grounds of Camp Half Blood. He watched as leaves softly fell down from the trees and onto the grass. He heard swords clashing and shields colliding with spears, but he paid no attention to them. He continued strolling until he heard a loud rustle in the bushes. Leo Valdez swiftly turned around and his hands ignited. Normally monsters weren't able to get into the camp, but maybe…
Leo looked around to find that nobody was nearby. He cursed under his breath. If there was a monster here…
He tensed as he saw a bush rustle once again. He boldly stood his ground, ready to burn anything that might leap right at him. A tall shadow was visible as it slowly came out of the bush…Leo was about to set this creature ablaze once it came out.
A small silvery animal crept out of the bush.
Relief and confusion filled Leo as he stared at the animal. The flames that were on his hands vanished into thin air. "Holy Hephaestus, what are you?".
The animal looked back at him with the same confused expression on their face. It tilted its head slightly to the left as it inspected Leo. Leo slowly walked towards it and crouched down so that he could be at the animal's level. They locked eyes for a brief moment. "I've never seen anything like you before." Leo stated, "The closest thing would be a hedgehog.". The animal only blinked in response. "Yeah, you're a hedgehog who got a japanese leaf glued to their forehead and somehow learned to walk on two feet." The "hedgehog" must have understood this, since it pouted a bit. The next thing Leo knew was that a pebble was thrown at him.
"Ow!" Leo groaned. He was met with more pebbles as his answer. "Okay okay! I'm sorry.". The pebbles were no longer thrown. Strangely, it seemed as though the hedgehog hadn't moved his arms at all during that time. Leo frowned a bit at this.
Seeming to sense his confusion, the hedgehog redemonstrated the act of throwing pebbles-though this time it wasn't at Leo-. The boy noticed a faint cyan glow around each pebble that was thrown. How curious. He thought as he watched one last pebble get thrown. "That's a cool ability you got there, buddy." Leo told his new friend. The silver hedgehog had a small look of self-pride in his black eyes. "I dunno what it is, but maybe a friend of mine knows.". The hedgehog looked kinda apprehensive about the suggestion. Leo noticed this and patted the hedgehog's quills. "Don't worry, Annabeth doesn't bite." He reassured. The hedgehog didn't seem to like the idea, but he must of been willing to trust Leo on this because he nodded.
Leo pushed himself back to his feet and gestured for his friend to follow. "I'll lead the way.". The hedgehog nodded and followed Leo's every step. And for the first time since they met, Leo noticed how battered up the hedgehog was. He winced, how had he not noticed that earlier? "Hey, do you want me to carry you or-" The animal shook his head rapidly in response before Leo could finish his offer. He shrugged."Well okay, but the first thing we do when we get there is that we're gonna get you back to full health."
The duo was given strange looks by the other demigods as they passed. The silver creature clung closer to Leo at this time. Finally, they reached the Argo II. "This beauty here? I helped build it!" Leo proudly declared. The hedgehog gaped slightly as they entered inside. "Okay, I need you to stay here, alright?" Leo told the hedgehog. It nodded in response and sat down on a chair. "You can explore this area if you'd like, just try not to venture too far off from here."
On that note, Leo rushed out of the ship to go get his friends.
"Guys!" Leo exclaimed. "Leo? What is it?" Piper asked. "I found something while I was taking a nice stroll and I think you all might find it interesting." Leo explained, "I just need us to go to the Argo II since it's there."
"Well..I am curious about what you found." Percy admitted.
"Did you find a blueprint?" Annabeth asked. "Er...well, no. But this discovery is way more interesting than a blueprint! Trust me." Leo answered. So the six demigods decided that they would check out Leo's discovery. Little did they know that this wasn't one of those ordinary discoveries…
Camp Half Blood, outside the Argo II
"Are you guys ready?" Leo questioned. "Usually we're ready for anything."Percy replied. "Alrighty, just follow me inside!" Leo waved his hand, gesturing for the others to come along. "Hey bud, I'm back!" Leo called out in a singing voice. A small silver creature bounced out of its hiding spot. It noticed Leo brought company and waved.
The six demigod's eyes widened.
"Leo, what is that?" Frank asked. "I'm not actually sure, but I think it's a hedgehog. Though I planned to ask Annabeth about it." Leo nonchalantly answered. "Sorry Leo, but I don't have an answer for that." Annabeth replied. Leo simply shrugged, obviously thinking about a comment he shouldn't say out loud.
"I got a question for you Leo. About your new friend here." Piper said. "What is it, Pipes?" Leo asked. "What did you name it?"
Leo paused. "Uh..about that. I actually didn't name it yet." "What? You didn't name it?"
Jason questioned. "It didn't occur to me at that time that I should name it! I was too focused on what it was!" Leo defended himself.
"Well, it's time to name it now!" Percy declared. "You're right. No better time than the present." Leo agreed. He looked over to the silvery hedgehog that was listening to their conversation the entire time. "Hm..how about Silver?" Leo suggested, inspecting the silver quills of the hedgehog. "Wow, that was so original." Frank sarcastically said. "I think it's a good name." Hazel stated, softly nudging Frank with her elbow. "Thanks, it matches his quil color."
"Well now that we got that out of the way, we need to heal Silver here. He's kinda battered up right now." Leo pointed to some bleeding wounds.
"Hm, thankfully there's nothing very severe." Annabeth declared after taking a close look at Silver. "He'll just need ointment and bandages. Unfortunately, since he's probably a mortal animal, he can't eat Ambrosia or drink nectar or anything like that.". Leo patted Silver on the shoulder. "See? Everything went well."