Blaze was raised to handle a variety of obligations at once. The protection of the Sol Emeralds and the stability of the universe was one thing, but the more banal tasks had to be taken care of too. Paperwork. Meetings. And now, education.
Blaze's parents valued education and made it a priority, but up until recently she had been given private tutor after private tutor. That all changed when her worldview was expanded by a trip to another dimension and an encounter with a certain blue hedgehog. Books were wonderful, but the most valuable knowledge you could learn came from visiting other places and meeting other people.
And so she sat in a classroom now, listening to a lecture and taking notes. It was a classroom environment with real students that were her age. A private school, so the crowd wasn't as...rambunctious as her newfound friend group, but it was socializing! And education! What could go wrong.
It was about a month into her first semester and things were going so refreshingly boring that she was on cloud nine. She was around normal people who talked about menial things like their parents or music she didn't listen to. She even joined a book club. She didn't know other people her age read. Or at least she wouldn't know going off of the circus troupe her current friendship circle consisted of.
Of course all that would change one fateful day in her literature class. The first class of the morning and her favorite.
"We're just about to wrap up our look into The Absolution." Ms Spoons,a chirpy hawk woman with a large pair of glasses and an eternal smile lectured her class. "The test is on monday and we've already wrapped up our discussion, so I figure we'll just-
"Hey, teach. Sorry to barge in but we got business." The voice shook Blaze out the half trance she went into when taking notes. She knew that twange anywhere. Flashes of an interdimensional adventure or two buzzed through her brain.
Sonic the Hedgehog walked into her classroom, plain as day. One month into the school year and things were getting weird again. He looked the same as ever. Same true blue fur with the same slightly worn pair of sneakers and the same infectious smile. Tails trailed behind him from the door, sheepishly waving.
Yes...and you are?"
"Sonic the Hedgehog. World's fastest hero..well, my world's fastest hero anyway. Not sure what the ranking is like over here." He scratched his forehead with a trademark grin. The he did the worst possible thing he could have done and pointed at Blaze in the back of the room. "For the record, she's not faster than me."
Some murmurs snaked through the classroom. Blaze pinched her forehead, letting out a long sigh.
"Is it true Blaze?" Ms. Spoons chirped from the front of the class. "Is this a...friend of yours?"
"Oh, come on. You didn't tell them about me?" Sonic laughed. Eyes went toward Blaze again. She should say something, she supposed.
"I…." She began, not sure where to begin explaining cross-dimensional friendships. Tails was wincing from his spot by the door, and a little bit of the weight came off her chest. Someone got what she was going through.
She blinked and Sonic was at her side, a shoulder on her arm. The move sent gasps and awe through the room and red to Blaze's cheeks as he got uncomfortably close. "She and I go way back."
Blaze finally decided to chime in. "We met last year, if that counts as way back."
"I heard about it." One of the students on the opposite end of the room chimed from his desk. A tall, generally quiet Koala boy. "You're the hero that helped nail that Pirate a while back. My dad's on the royal guard. He told me all about it."
"Is the little fox boy a friend of yours too?" A porcupine girl with thick glasses asked. "He's so cute!"
Tails turned red, unable to suppress a grin. It was indeed cute.
]Before Tails could respond Sonic zipped to the front of the room again, this time to a chorus of cheers."Ohoho, you guys don't even know half of it." He grinned from ear to ear, relishing the attention as he took a seat on the teacher's desk.
"Buckle up, cause I'm gonna tell you guys all about how I met her highness over here…." He glanced at Blaze. "And how we saved your dimension and mine. It's time for physics class or whatever…"
Tails elbowed him hard and gestured to Ms Spoons, who had pulled her chair back into a corner to observe. Sonic rubbed his spines, sheepishly asking. "As long as that's okay with you, teach."
She waved him off. "Oh, we were just going to do review today, but I think they can handle that on their own. Go ahead!"
Blaze nearly sunk into her seat. He was sitting on the teacher's desk, practically highjacking her class and all Ms Spoons could do was indulge him. She was charmed by him. He had a habit of doing that.
Blaze could just accept all of this as a weird monday morning if Sonic wasn't ruining the sense of normality she had built up around this school by telling everyone just how abnormal everything about her actually was. They had hints, of course. Rumors of her dangerous childhood. Headlines about her taking down Pirate groups. The alternate dimensional travel was decided to be a royal family secret, but for as little time as she had known Sonic he didn't seem to be the respecting authority figures type, so so much for that.
"So I was doing my morning run around Spagonia Border..
"And then we ditched Marine and came back to our world and now we're back here because some NEW bad things are happening." Sonic finished his story, glancing around the room. "Any questions?"
"Yeah." A bunny girl with grey fur and earrings going all the way down her long ears raised her hand, and surprised Blaze by turning around to address here directly. Her tone was deadpan "You set a guy on fire?"
"A precautionary measure." Blaze clarified quickly. "He was in my way, and-uh…." She stopped, noticing the stares she was getting.
"He's really annoying if that helps, guys." Sonic chimed in, trying to change the subject. "I'm sure Blaze isn't gonna toast anybody's toes in here..I'd suggest the dudes in the room play nice with her though, as a "precautionary measure."
He winked, causing the class to erupt into a fit of giggles and Blaze to put her head down in the desk for what probably had to be the 8th time she had done it this class period.
"I couldn't help it!" Sonic shouted to her in the back of the room.
Ms spoons spoke up from her place in the corner. "Excuse me, I really liked your story and all...That raccoon friend of yours sounds so cute!" She exclaimed before continuing. "But if there's another crisis happening shouldn't you get a move on!"
"Oh yeah!" Sonic exclaimed. He was back to Blaze's side and grabbing her arm before he even finished his exclamation. "We've just gotten so good at this that it's hard for me to panic."
Blaze had to do everything in her power to not blow his head off as they walked out of the room. Her classmates said bye to her and her new friend with enthusiasm, wishing them good luck. A chorus of girls said bye to Tails in particular, leaving him as red as Blaze was.
And so the classroom door closed with a click, and as soon as it shut Blaze turned to her with renewed aggression. "Okay, both of our worlds better be about to evaporate for what you just did."
"Not quite, but you might be about to evaporate with the way you're steaming." Sonic remarked. "Literally."
"I understand Blaze..really." Tails said, expressing genuine sympathy. "But you don't want to make more of a scene."
A deep breath, and an exhale helped calm the fire in Blaze's mind. She sighed, pinching her forehead again. "Aright, what's the situation?"
"Oh, yeah." Sonic grinned. "There's no situation. We just wanted to hang out."
Blaze's jaw dropped. "What?" Sonic always knew Blaze had fangs but they looked particularly threatening at this moment.
"Y-Yeah...we figured maybe a ditch day would be fun?"
Fried hedgehogs sounded pretty good right about now.