x
The library was on the first floor of the building with the math and language classes, a floor it shared with the main office and Mephiles's office, both of which were located at the front, the side of the building facing the road. Dr. Finitevus's room was in another building, at the very far end down a set of stairs.
When the bell signalling the end of second period rang, Scourge and Shadow left their building and made their way towards this one. The two buildings were connected by a long sidewalk. The air felt steamy and thick this morning, so they wanted to get inside as quick as possible so as to avoid getting too hot before class.
However, as soon as they were safely indoors, both their speeds slowed dramatically. It was as if the threat of being tardy was no longer existent. Neither of them wanted to face their biology teacher it seemed.
Scourge was the first to notice this and pursed his lips in thought before making his discovery and stretching that same pair of lips into a puzzled frown instead.
"You're afraid, aren't you?" A hop and a step brought him around to face Shadow and block his path. The striped rodent was surprised and reacted by crossing his arms loosely and adjusting his expression accordingly. "All it took was a general, verbal description from Honest, and you're terrified, huh?"
Shadow chose to take this personally. With his arms now down at his sides, the shadowy hedgerat stood his ground behind a barrier he had raised countless times before.
"I'm not scared; I just don't know what I'm up against." His gaze firmly locked on his opponent, Shadow asked a question: "It makes sense for someone to be wary of the unknown, right?"
Finding himself now confronted by steel-reinforced reason, Scourge shifted his dispirited gaze towards the tile flooring of the hallway.
Acting as if he had won something, Shadow hmphed triumphantly and pushed past the perplexedly puzzled pineapple before him, intending to face his fears and get to class on time whether Scourge did or not.
"Hello. Third row, third chair."
Scourge followed Shadow into the classroom slowly. The not-so-noble king noticed that a lot of the students were there already and occupying most of the seats. Scourge kept his eyes primarily on the teacher, though.
Upon seeing Shadow, Dr. Finitevus gave a warm smile and greeted him. "Good morning. Are you here for Biology?"
The dark hedgehog just nodded. Scourge sighed inwardly. Apparently Shadow had gotten over the fear he had felt earlier and was now just acting cool.
"You can take a seat there in the middle. We'll get everybody introduced once the bell rings." When Shadow moved away, Scourge was revealed.
"Y-You remember me, don't you?"
A toothy grin spread across the doctor's mouth. "Why of course. You're the Anti-Sonic and used-to-be ruler of Moebius. I can't forget you."
Scourge gritted his triangular teeth. "My name's Scourge."
"Oh, right." Dr. Finitevus kept smiling and pointed towards Shadow as he took one of the centermost desks on that side of the room. "Go join your friend before the bell rings so we can begin."
Scourge made his way towards Shadow begrudgingly and sat at the desk in the middle of that row beside him. The whole time he was walking, Scourge had this incredibly strong feeling that somebody was watching him-- like his or her gaze was boring holes into the back of his head. He was trying desperately to shake it off when the bell rang and Doctor Fin began to take his place at the front of the room.
"Alright, students," the demented doctor said, clasping his hands together as if doing an impression of every other teacher he had seen in his life. "Starting near the door and working our way down the rows, I want everybody to introduce themselves."
Suddenly a bunch of them started saying things like "We already know each other!" and "What's the point?", but that's when Finitevus stopped them.
"I don't know most of you," was his excuse. "Are you just going to put me in the dark all year?" When everyone only proceeded to stare at him blankly, Dr. Finitevus sighed. "Nearest the door?"
Honey cleared her throat and stood up.
"My name is Honey the Cat. I am the sole owner and proprietor of Honey Fashion and manager and co-owner of Café Rouge."
"I never said you were co-owner," came the audible whisper of Rouge. She was sitting diagonally from Scourge. However, she was sitting right next to Honey, so the golden cat heard her clearly. She simply stuck her tongue out at Rouge and exclaimed, "Sorry!"
"I see. Well, I'm sure you'll have a splendid year in a class alongside your friends and... business partners."
Next, when their particularly sketchy new teacher coughed, almost everyone in the class jumped sky-high with fright. Dr. Finitevus didn't seem to notice, however.
"Alright, then. Going this way-" He motioned with both his arms to his right and their left. "Please continue introducing yourselves."
Next was Rouge. She stood up.
"My name is Rouge the Bat. I am the sole owner of Rouge's Café, and also the sole owner of Club Rouge, which is right next door. I work as a spy for GUN, and I also do a fair bit of treasure hunting in my spare time."
"Interesting," the doctor said, drumming his fingers along the side of his cranium. Immediately everyone began to sweat profusely, knowing well what this meant. However, seemingly no evil plots were devised and he coughed again, signally for them to move on.
Next, a familiar pink blob stood up in front of Shadow, causing Scourge to sink down in his seat to hide. That was the gaze he felt earlier.
"Hello, my name is Rosy. Actually, I'm the anti-Amy, but everyone just calls me that in order to tell me and my Prime equivalent apart," the maniacal fuschia rodent exclaimed happily.
Finitevus nodded. "What are your hobbies?"
"Hobbies?" Rosy tilted her head as if unfamiliar with the meaning of that particular word.
"Yeah," the doctor clarified. "You know, things you do in your spare time for enjoyment."
"I like to... smash stuff?" Rosy laughed nervously, moving a bit to show to others how silly she thought his question was. "I'm not sure what kind of answer you expect."
"That'll work," he told her. "I didn't exactly expect you to have a normal hobby or anything. Next."
Rosy sighed and sat back down. The character to her left stood up.
"I'm Knuckles the Echidna, guardian of the Master Emerald, and... you literally murdered my father!"
Doctor Finitevus put a hand to his mouth and smiled. "Oh, yeah. I did do that, didn't I?"200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqvktTWt9Cu
Just in case you readers haven't read the Archie comics, here's that scene from the Archie Sonic comics, issue 184:
Knuckles just twiddled his thumbs and stared at them as if they had just done something surprisingly shameless. "Uh, yeah, and... It was kinda scarring. I mean, even someone looking in might have been scarred by that-"
"Alright, next row. Starting with Scourge and going towards the door."
Scourge blew out an enormous puff of air and angrily pushed up from his desk. "I'm Scourge the Hedgehog. Sonic is forcing me to go to school here and threatening me with life in prison if I don't," he told the class, his eyes firmly shut. When he opened his eyes, Finitevus was nodding his head in understanding.
"Sonic did that to you? That doesn't seem very heroic of him," he said.
"Oh, no. It's very heroic. I was in the wrong, I'm sure," he said, steam puffing from his head. "I always am."
Still nodding his head, rather in actual earnesty or just to aggravate him Scourge did not know, Doc Fin rested both of his arms on the podium again. "What are your hobbies?"
Scourge bit his lip. "Uh... I keep to myself mostly..."200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8J5WMyEZNX
"Really? I thought you and Fiona were plotting to take back your home dimension."
The mad doctor might just have been, well, going mad, but he thought for a second that he saw Scourge's face light up red when he said that. He tilted his head in wonder.
"Uh, yeah. That's what I meant. Anyway, my turn's over. Everyone here already knows me anyway, so you can just move on..."
"Sure. Next."
And just like that the attention was shifted away from him. He blinked in surprise before turning expectantly to his right, where Shadow was rising from the desk beside him.
"My name is Shadow the Hedgehog. I am the Ultimate Lifeform created under the codename of Project Shadow by the late Professor Gerald Robotnik as a cure for his granddaughter's disease. I also am part alien, or... something... and I work as an agent for GUN, and... well, there's a lot to tell, actually. Go play my game."
"Your hobbies?"200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Ci9AWfyRa
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "I have a pet cat that shapeshifts... and I'm caring for my son from the future... and I've been reading a lot lately. I also consider myself a pro at Go Fish." He turned up his nose as if he were proud of that Go Fish part.
"Thanks for sharing, Shadow. Next, please." The person sitting on the other side of Shadow stood up. Scourge didn't notice who it was right away due to him busily drumming his fingers on the side of his head as if his life depended on it. Is he okay?
"I am Infinite."
Finitevus looked just as confused as he had been during Scourge's turn. "You're... Infinite?"
"Yeah," Infinite told him, looking rather bored. The only way you could surmise this was in the way he slouched in his chair and the way his one eye was half-lidded as he did this.
"Any... hobbies?"
"Plotting my revenge on this guy," he told the teacher, gesturing to the confused hedgehog beside him.
"Look, I'm sorry I called you weak."200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2iDHSl1ga
"That's not it. Not... completely it anyway."
Infinite sighed and crossed his arms. "It's funny. I am who I am because of you, but you don't remember a thing. I suppose that's only right, though. That just means that the old me was too weak and pathetic to even warrant a memory. I was completely forgettable. Now, however, things have come full circle. Now you are the worthless bug whose life will be stomped out with no memory of it happening. 'Who's Shadow? Must not have been too important if I've forgotten about him'."
Shadow sunk into his seat with a furrowed brow.
"My name is Julie-Su. Honest's not allowing me to reveal too much right now, but I'm Knuckles's girlfriend," the purple echidna sitting at the end of the row said. She had her eyes cut at Doc Fin as if she were mad at him.
(Issue #09 of Sonic Universe)
He seemed curious as he asked, "What do you like to do in your free time?"
Julie-Su, her eyes still locked on the teacher, answered, "Help Knuckles guard the emerald." Somehow her gaze was able to harden even more. "From you."200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk3jEY2onos
"For fun? That sounds like business to me," the doctor told her.
"My hobby is my business," she said. Apparently she was serious about that.
"If you don't mind me saying this, that seems kind of boring," he said.
"'Tiring' is a better word," she replied, smiling slightly. "But sometimes it can be very fulfilling."
Doc Finitevus frowned and rolled his eyes. "Okay... Next."
The student behind her stood up and waved, beaming. "I'm Silver the Hedgehog! I'm Shadow's son from the future, and I have psychokinetic powers! Watch!" The silver hedgehog struck a pose and reached out with this hands. They started to glow blue and so did all the desks in the room. Everybody started spinning in the air except for Honey seeing as though her desk was decrepit and the chair had been detached from the desk long ago. Instead, she just sat there and looked around confoundedly.
"Hey, put those down!" Finitevus shouted.
"Sorry!" Silver exclaimed, shutting his eyes in an ashamed manner and slowly setting all the desks and their passengers down. The glow left them all and Silver's spines lost their lift as he sat down and laid his hands atop his desk.
"Who are you on the end?" Vector and Mighty looked disappointed as Finitevus began to point at the individual sitting on the other end of the row.
"M-Me?" the purple cat blinked and pointed at herself. "I'm Blaze the Cat, guardian of the Sol emeralds, interdimensional traveller, and Silver's best friend."
"Hey, what about me and Mighty? Don't we get to introduce ourselves?" Vector asked, upset.
The doctor-teacher frowned. "I already know you two and besides-- it's nearly time to leave."
(Issue #11 of Sonic Universe)
He glanced up at the clock on the wall and sighed, turning to face the students once more. "The bell's about to ring. Please be prepared to leave once it does."
Everyone was standing around talking in no time. The mad doctor didn't seem to care, however. He was too busy writing down things he had observed in some notebook on his desk.
Honey had her bag slung around her shoulder as she spoke with Vector with her arms crossed. "I don't remember you. Aren't you the 'computer room' guy?"200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL19HYX9V2V
The crocodile laughed. "Yes, I am. I'm also the leader and head honcho of the Chaotix Detective Agency. People tell me I'm good at what I do."
Honey pouted her lips in thought. "You are? Interesting. I'll be sure to look you up if there's a mystery I need solved."
"Wait... you said you were a fashion designer, right?"
Honey nodded seriously. "Yeah."
To Vector, this meant dollar signs.
"Okay, then! Here, I'll give you my number so my team and I can be on-call."
While the gator and the feline swapped numbers, Shadow was chasing Silver around the room, who possessed Shadow's only Chaos emerald, holding it out in front of him with his psychokinesis as he ran.
"Give that back! I need that to use Chaos Control! >n<" Shadow protested, dodging desks as he tried to retrieve the gem which Silver had stolen from him when he wasn't looking.
Scourge had his head supported by his arm while he was in deep thought. Rosy noticed this behavior and sat in the chair in front of him, facing backwards and watching him concernedly. Scourge was obviously in a different dimension as he didn't even react in extreme terror upon seeing her.
"Scourgey? You okay?" she asked quietly. When Scourge didn't respond, his fuschia worshipper rested her chin on his desk and sighed.
Shadow was afraid that if he activated his rocket shoes, he would leave dark burn marks on Doctor Finitevus's tile flooring. Instead, Shadow just lunged at Silver and tackled him to the ground. It was then from there that he wrestled the Emerald that the dorky time traveller had stolen away from him and put it back in his spines where it was safe. Then the bell rang.
200Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95BUhq36R9
