Gerald Robotnik High School - Class Act

[Dr. Mechano]

It was another Monday morning at Gerald Robotnik High School. The campus was already bustling with students and faculty arriving for another unassuming, routine day. The bronze statue of Professor Gerald, the institution's founder, glistened in the courtyard as the morning sun reflected off it.

It had been Gerald's dream to create the most technologically advanced secondary school of the age, and by all accounts, he had succeeded. Some of the finest scientists, engineers, and artificial intelligences were employed here, and some of the finest equipment with them. While all the basic requirements of the United Federation's national curriculum were offered, the school's unique scientific advances allowed it to offer specialization courses in robotics, computer programming, medicine, aviation, and much more. Hover-busses safely and quickly transported the school's students to and from the institution, while the large campus's many buildings were easily accessible through a series of monorails. And while the school's prestigious appearance might lead one to think it was exclusive to child prodigies, Gerald had always insisted that such opportunities be available to all learners; As such, the school's patrons were an even blend of the prodigious and the mediocre, and everything in between.

After passing on, and being succeeded as principal by famed archaeologist Herschel Pickle, Gerald had left behind a monumental legacy of technological, scientific, and societal advancement- He had gone down in history as a great man, who was beloved for achieving his dream of making people happy through the power of science.

Following in the Professor's footsteps was his grandson, Ivo Robotnik, who taught a variety of science courses at the school.



"Blast! I'm going to be late again!" Professor Ivo Robotnik shouted at no one in particular as he parked his hovermobile in the faculty parking lot and bolted toward a side entrance, hopping into a nearby elevator in the hall.

"Ugh... Why do schools have to start so early?" he grumbled, irritated that he'd overslept again. Tapping a foot impatiently, Ivo waited until the elevator had reached the fifth floor, and briskly headed toward his classroom, which was at this point already occupied by his first-period biology students.

"Er..." Robotnik mumbled, setting down a briefcase which instantly converted into a small computer, "Good morning, everyone. I trust you've all completed your weekend..." He glanced over a stack of papers, neatly arranged on his desk, "...assignments. Very good then."

Man, he wanted coffee. Or better yet, another hour of sleep. A morning person, Robotnik wasn't.

"I'm quite pleased with the results of last week's exam," he said as he glared at the back of the room, a hint of irritation in his voice, "With the odd exception here and there, of course."

[Tony]

There was a small *snrk* from the section of the room he was looking towards.



Sonic the Hedgehog was seated in the far back corner of the classroom, both feet propped up on the surface of his desk. Yeah, he knew exactly who Ivo was talking about, and nah, he didn't really care a whole lot about it. The most that Robotnik got out of him was a cheeky grin, and the waving of the assignment between his fingers that was supposed to have been turned in -- most of the answers having been filled with doodles or sarcastic responses -- all in highlighter.

He certainly got some amusement out of Ivo's constant tardiness, having found the time to mark a large message on the board behind the teach seconds before he walked in:

Who's slower than slow? This guy! ->

And yes, the arrow was pretty much on the dot.

[Dr. Mechano]

Ivo raised an eyebrow. "I don't see what's so..." He turned around slowly, and saw Sonic's message. Twitch.

"Who's mopping up the entire fifth floor during P.E. every day for the rest of the week?" He pointed dramatically at Sonic from across the room, grinning widely, "This guy!"

Without missing a beat- and feeling quite content- he continued, displaying some text and graphics on a large screen in the front of the room, "Now, class... Follow along on your monitors as we begin chapter twelve."

[Tony]

Eeyup, that killed his smile a bit. Not that this was a huge task or anything, given his own personal gift of speed -- if anything, he was dreading the time he would be spending just sitting around waiting for P.E. to finish up when he finished mopping in the quickest, least-effective manner. With an irked groan, the hedgehog sat up straight in his chair, and poked at the buttons for his monitor to follow the lesson. Fun time was over.

Well... in any case, Ivo could lead 'im to the monitor, but he wasn't going to make this horse drink. ... Learn. Learn? Something.

As the lecture went on, the hedgehog kept glancing over to the window for a distraction.

[mistressdizzy]

@seluna@

On the other side of the classroom, a small chocolate brown cat was making idle doodles on the monitor's paint program with her fingertip. Well, they were less doodles and more schematics for a dream she'd had. She peered across the class at the blue hedgehog. He was always cutting up in class, and while it was entertaining most of the time, she was glad he wasn't in her advanced robotics class.

[Dr. Mechano]

And so he began his lecture.

"For a living organism to survive, it needs a constant energy input," Ivo said, "Said energy is extracted from substances that are broken down in order to form and sustain new cells."

He shrugged, "But of course, you knew that already."

"So..." he posed a question to the class, "Who can provide me with an example of how energy is converted and used in chemical reactions?"

He scanned the room, looking for anyone who might volunteer to answer his question.

[Tony]

Surprisingly, Sonic raised his hand up. What? The one student who never turned anything in actually had an answer?

Oh, boy.

"'Photosynthesis', or something, right? ..." He gazed down at his textbook, quirking a brow. "... Iunno where plants could process the film, though.."

Uh.

[Dr. Mechano]

Ivo squinted behind his opaque glasses.

"That's... partially right," he said, "But mostly wrong! I can see you've been studying as little as usual, Sonic!"

He sighed, surveying the class, "Would anyone else like to answer the question and clear things up for Mr. Hedgehog here?"

[Jammerlee]

Another hand raised up, this time belonging to a surprisingly very young looking human girl, looking no older than maybe ten, with long ginger hair.

"Ah..." she timidly adjusted the oversized glasses on her nose. "Photosynthesis is the process in which plants and some forms of bacteria convert carbon dioxide into organic compounds by using the energy provided by sunlight."

She glanced over at Sonic and knitted her brow sheepishly before looking back up at Ivo. "Is that right, Daddy?"

[Dr. Mechano]

"Very well said, my dear!" Ivo answered, smiling proudly.

Ivo's daughter was- much like himself- a prodigy at the top of her class. Among the many things in Ivo's life that he took great (and quite vocal) pride in, none came even close to how proud he was of Ada.

"You'd do quite well to study hard like her, Sonic," he said, glancing at the blue hedgehog, "Athletic skill, overconfidence, and a cheesy smile will only get you so far."

In truth, he didn't dislike Sonic. He actually respected- and was rather fascinated by- his unusual gift of speed, so much so that he assisted in training him in order to further research his abilities. Still, he was a slacker, and Ivo never went easy on him neglecting his schoolwork.

"Moving on..."

He continued his lecture, droning on as he always did as he progressed through the electronic presentation of his lesson.

[Tony]

Eh, well. You win some, you lose some. Sonic was in a class full o' thinkers, but he was, as always, more of a doer than anything. Thank the heavens for someone like Ada -- this meant he didn't have to give any more 'brilliant' answers. As the spotlight left his table, and the attention went back to the droning lecture, Sonic started to daydream and gaze outside again, tap-tap-tapping the screen on his desk.

... Man, he was getting hungry. He started to wonder if he could just... quickly, but discreetly, race to the snack machine down the hall and get something to chew on.

...

Eh, Ivo was too distracted with his lecture.

Ignoring the gust of wind that he would inevitably create, Sonic fled the classroom for the snack machine.

He wouldn't be gone terribly long.

[Jammerlee]

Ada let go of a small gasp, feeling her hair being pulled by the gust. She turned, noticing the vacant seat beside her where Sonic was supposed to be. She let out a small sigh and slumped. Why did he always have to do things like this?

Meanwhile, as Sonic raced down the hall and paused in front of the snack machine, a metallic noise pierced the hallway's silence, echoing off of the walls. Tap, tap, tap...

Behind Sonic stood a cobalt robot which curiously appeared to be modeled in the hedgehog's image. His arms were folded over his chest and his digital eyes appeared half-mast in annoyance.

"Busted."

[Tony]

"... ... ..."

Bang. Bang.

He was kinda smacking the snack machine with a fist.

"Yeah, I know, right? It just ate some of my change!"

[Jammerlee]

The metallix's digital eyelids lowered even further, tapping his foot again in irritation at Sonic's response.

Metal Sonic was an interesting addition to the school's staff. Created by Ivo, his primary purpose was as a means for the professor to emulate and attempt to study Sonic's unusual penchant for speed. Aside from that, though, he also frequently served as an assistant to Ivo both during and outside of class... and since he was unneeded at the moment, he was currently filling the role of hall monitor. For just such reoccurring incidents as this.

"Yeah, okay. Good luck with that," he finally turned, wandering back down the hall. "I'm telling Dad you're out here."

[Tony]

ZOOM.[/b] Right past Hall Monitor Metal.

"Yeah, no, sorry, got my chips, he won't even know I was gone, Slowpoke!"

That hedgehog could run. No doubt.

[Jammerlee]

"..."

Groaaan.

And thus the reason Metal was placed as hall monitor suddenly became apparent. He was the only one capable of keeping up with Sonic. Well, except perhaps for the vice principle, Shadow. And that was exactly why Metal had already been warming up his engine. Easily closing the distance between himself and the hedgehog, Metal made an attempt to reach the classroom door first.

"Yeah, sorry bro. That's not happening on my watch!"

[Tony]

"What? Get serious! You're not gonna..."

Step step step step step.

"... beat me...!!"

STEP SLAM OH CRAP

They both managed to reach the classroom at the same time, at a rather hellish pace -- thus, the two hedgehogs went crashing right through the door with no regard to any form of slowing down. Splinters, dust and debris was sent flying all over the classroom as -- at the very least -- Sonic tumbled across the floor before finally coming to rest in a disoriented sprawl.

"Cough... hack."

Rrrrip.

Crnch crnch.

oh, right, the chips

[Jammerlee]

As the dust began to settle the location of other victim of that bit of madness was revealed - namely, that he had crashed directly into Ivo's desk, causing both it and him to go flying. Having knocked the desk onto its side, Metal's final resting place revealed the rear end of his engine in the air and his face wedged inside the cabinet. Papers gently fluttered toward the floor as one of the robot's arms lifted and pointed at the general direction Sonic had flown in.

"... Dad, Sonic snuck out of class again..."

His arm flopped back onto the floor with a clang.

[Dr. Mechano]

The palm of Ivo's hand rested on his face, as he grumbled, "...So I see. Thank you, Metal."

He'd created Metal to test the limit's of Sonic's abilities, as well as to challenge his own technological know-how. Though originally conceived as a tool to research Sonic, Ivo had grown to view Metal as his second child. As such, the robot resided in the Robotnik household, and was generally treated as part of the family.

"As for you..." Ivo said, glaring at his troublemaking student, "I'm not going to disrupt my lecture to correct your shenanigans today, Sonic! Report to the principal's office and let him deal with you."

He grinned, keeping eye contact with the hedgehog, "I'll have Metal escort you, just to make sure you don't get lost. Bye, now!" He waved cheerfully, turning back to his class, and resumed teaching.

[Tony]

Grumpily, Sonic sat up, looking right at Ivo with a furrowed brow, slowly... slowly munching on his chips.

"... ... ... Y'know I can run faster than him, right? Just... just a thought, Iv'."

But it appeared that the doctor was quite done having to deal with him, so the hedgehog shrugged, finished off his chips, and threw the empty bag onto what remained of the instructor's desk. Correcting a kink in his shoulder, Sonic simply walked past Metal, giving the back of his engine a light tap with his foot, and headed out the door. "C'mon, bro. Let's get this train wreck a-rollin' and just get this over with."

[Jammerlee]

"Yeah... maybe you can run faster than me... in your dreams," Metal challenged, pulling himself free from the turned over desk. He picked himself up and dusted himself off with a rather indignant expression before following after his brother. He gave a sheepish wave at Ivo as he passed him.

"Sorry about that, Dad... I'll help clean that up later..."

And with that the two counterparts exited into the hallway.