Honesty is the Best Policy {Comic Edition}

Chapter 4: Pizza with a Side of Disaster

(Those giant gumballs in the image are a crowd of Sonic characters. Also, this chapter's title sounds like one of the bad jokes only Sonic Colors could tell and get away with.)

"So~ What happened in Biology?" Honest asked Shadow once they had met up for lunch outside the main building, near the base of the stairs leading from the second floor English hallways.

"Finitevus had the students all introduce themselves," Shadow reported, stuffing his mouth with some gummies Scourge had given him.

"Seems pretty normal," Honest told him, grinning.

Shadow didn't notice. "Yeah, well, nothing is ever what it seems over in 'Sonic Land'."

Suddenly the same echidna whose classroom Shadow had just left began to separate from the crowd, grasping some sheets of notebook paper within his left hand.

"Here," he said, extending the sheets to Honest. "What I've observed so far."

Doc Fin tipped an imaginary hat to Shadow and fused himself with the crowd once again.

Once the mad scientist had left, Shadow put a hand to his forehead in shame. "Why can't the plots of these stories involve something at least slightly normal?"

Honest was scanning through the words on one of the pages he had given her. "You know there's no fun in that..." Her finger moved down the page until she suddenly jabbed the paper. "Ha! 'My hobby is my business'?? That's hilarious! And sooo Julie-Su!"

They started walking down the sidewalk. There was no point to just standing there and being crowded off into the grass. "Where did Julie-Su come from, anyway? ...And Finitevus too for that matter."

"Oh, well..." Honest's ears lowered as she thought with a finger to her cheek. "Doc Fin got a job as a teacher to get close to Knuckles, and Julie-Su, well... traded places with Ray."
"'With Ray'?" Shadow repeated after her as if making sure he had heard right.

"Yeah," Honest told him. "Julie-Su has been guarding ME in Knuckles's stead all this time. When I started {Comic Edition}, I asked her to join my story and let Ray switch with her."
"But Ray's just a kid. How is he going to protect the Master Emerald all by himself?"

"Uh..." Honest flapped her hand as if trying to get rid of a bad odor. "He isn't. But that's for a future chapter. Remember, this story is going to delve super deep into the Sonic Universe and be the longest story I've written yet. So... we need to cover Angel Island eventually. It can be an... extended vacation. And murder mystery. And family get together. And... well, anything, really. But it will be covered. Eventually." Even outside among so much noise, the atmosphere was able to dip just enough that Honest had to take action. "But right now I'm starving. So let's go eat!!" Honest grabbed the dark hedgy's wrist and wretched him towards the building.

"What's the perfect thing to eat on a first day?" Honest was visiting each line and inspecting the choices.

"Uh, something delicious?" Shadow asked.

"Well, of course it's gotta be delicious. But I mean... what theme should I try to go for?" Honest got a little too close to a purple hedgehog girl's tray while trying to find a line to go to, which resulted in her getting a very angry glare shot her way as she did so.

Shadow's eyes became slate voids as he watched from a safe distance. "A 'theme'? Good Chaos, Honest. Just get something to eat already."

Honest seemed to have listened for a second as she finally went to a line, setting down her tray with eyes firmly closed. "Okay-" Then Shadow realized she hadn't listened at all. "I'll eat pizza."