Chapter 3: Football Star
#3 of In Chaos
Let's skip ahead an hour or so, shall we? The principal gave Sonic and Shadow some spare clothing, and they spent the next hour figuring out how to put said clothing on themselves. The principal could find no shoes that would fit them, so instead he wrote them each a note to carry around in their pockets, with instructions to show the note to whomever bothered them about their shoes.
After dressing, the Principal took them each by the arm and began to lead them out of the office, intending to take them each to their respective classes, as lunch had since ended and his original plan to let them mingle with the other students in a public forum couldn't be performed now, could it?
But as luck would have it, lunch time wouldn't matter. There was a large commotion outside of his office anyway, and it seemed like every student in the school had turned out for it. As our two foreign hedgehogs and their adult escort got nearer the office door, the formerly inaudible chanting of the students gathered outside soon became perfectly clear.
"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"
There was no sound of blows landing, but as the principal opened the door he could see the culprits at hand. On the floor lay a barely conscious Edward, a male fox about the age of 12 or 13, who preferred reasoning over violence, and who probably did not start the fight, nor would he have swung back if hit anyway.
Straddled over his nearly limp form was Rodriguez, a muscle-armed croc boy about the age of 15. He was pummeling Edward on every open part of the boy's body with both arms and all his strength.
The chanting died down as the principal appeared. A collective gasp echoed throughout the group as the principal let go of the 'hogs and ran towards Rodriguez. When near the boy, who had yet not taken notice of the charging adult, the principal lowered his head, spread his arms, and jumped. Rod looked up a split second before contact.
"Rrragh!" yelled the principal.
"Oof!" responded Rodriguez, taking the full impact in his stomach.
The two rolled a bit on the floor before slamming into the wall, Rod taking the impact and shielding the principal from damage. He was nearly knocked out by the impact, but the principal would have none of that. Using his full strength, he lifted the croc boy up by his collar and glared at him, straight in the eyes.
"RODRIGUEZ! Detention, now!"
With that, he set the boy on his feet and pointed down the hallway. Rod staggered dizzily, almost drunkenly, towards the detention hall.
"The rest of you..." The principal sighed. His football tackle had scared the rest of the student congregation. "I hope I never have to tackle you like I tackled him, but that's the physical punishment for starting a fight. Your parents have already agreed to it.
"I see it would be useless to continue your classes today, and it is Friday, after all." He thought for a moment. "You can all go home."
A large cheer went up in the hall, and the students all rushed back to their respective classrooms to pack up their belongings and get ready to go home. Sonic and Shadow looked on, then each decided to go their own way. Sonic ran to help the beaten fox boy, while Shadow headed back towards the principal's office while the adult was distracted.
Sonic knelt by Edward, helping the boy into a seating position very slowly. Edward's face was bruised, and one of his eyes had swollen shut. His glasses were shattered and couldn't be fixed. He coughed as he tried to get air back in his lungs, and he spit up blood now and again.
Breaking into his reserve speeds, Sonic was able to rush to the nurse's station, grab the First Aid kit, and rush back to Edward's side before the principal knew he was gone. He opened the box and pulled out the bandages, knowing full well what to do for the bruises and open wounds, having had to tend to his own wounds after battles past.
Another figure, it's form different from the adult's form and feminine in presence, knelt by the fox boy. Sonic was distracted from his treatment of Edward and glanced up, wondering who the stranger was. He was wondering who the boy was as well, but all this could wait until the boy was at least well enough to walk.
The figure looked almost exactly like the boy he was tending to, except it was a girl, and slightly younger. He noticed her staring at him, and when she noticed him notice her, she blushed and looked back at the fox boy. Sonic guessed that maybe the girl was his sister.
It wasn't long before the fox boy was able to open his bruised eye, and soon after that he was able to stand and walk, with help. Sonic stood with him, finding that the fox was nearly as tall as Sonic was himself. He placed one of the boy's arms over his shoulders, and steadied him. He waited until the boy was ready to move, and at his nudging, headed slowly for the main doors.
The principal had looked on the sight with admiration. There wasn't anyone he had known when he was Edward or Sonic's age that had shown that much kindness to a complete stranger. He had meant to talk with Edward before the boy left, but he ultimately decided he could wait until Monday. Besides, he still had Rod to deal with. Satisfied that Sonic could help the boy home, he turned and headed back towards his office.
It took nearly an hour to walk Edward home. Sonic was glad when they were finally at the boy's house, and he turned to leave, but was stopped.
"Hey... uh, kid. Thanks for helping my brother." It was the younger female fox. Sonic had been right in guessing she was his sister.
"Don't mention it. I only wish I'd been able to help him earlier," Sonic replied.
"Help him earlier? Rod's the strongest in our school, and you're obviously new. He always picks on the new kids. I'm Edna, by the way, and my brother's name is Edward." Edna smiled at Sonic. "What's your name?"
"My name is Sonic. And yeah, I'm new. And if that croc always picks on the new kids, then I guess I'll get my shot at him soon enough. Ya know that sayin' about the bigger they are? Truer than you know." Sonic laughed inwardly at this. "Truer than you know."
While the two of them were talking, Edward appeared at the doorway. He looked at Sonic and grinned. "I asked my parents if we could have you over for dinner, and they gladly agreed. They wanna meet you first, though, so... c'mon in."
Edward shuffled away from the doorway as best he could. Sonic looked at Edna for confirmation, but she just smiled and blushed hard at him. He had no idea why she'd blushed at him, but he followed her inside the house.
Meanwhile, Shadow had been able to slip inside the principal's office and retrieve what had looked like the yellow Chaos emerald from the principal's bookshelf. But instead of grabbing a hard gem, the look-a-like instead felt squishy in his hand. He looked closely at it and growled. It was a stress reliever! He squeezed it as hard as he could, and it exploded in his hand.
That when a sparkle caught his eye, and he turned and looked towards the closet where they had been issued their clothing. Something was sparkling red from the belt rack, and upon closer inspection, Shadow found an actual Chaos emerald! He reached for it, his hand trembling, and soon made contact with it, this time feeling hard gem instead of soft plastic.
He could feel the power emanating from the crystal, so he held it in front of him firmly in his hand, closed his eyes, and pictured in his mind the field where him and Sonic had been continuing their fight before getting caught off guard by that cop.
The opening of the door to the principal's office distracted him, making him cry out in surprise.
"C-chaos Control!?"
Shadow disappeared from the supply closet, and the principal would go and look but find nothing amiss and no source for the noise. He would write it off as his imagination.
Shadow wasn't so lucky. His Chaos Control landed him in a seat in the detention hall. Right next to Rod. Who was still angry at being tackled and sent to detention...