Chapter 3 - Admissions

As soon as they entered the Grand Hall, they saw a man with a long beard at the end of the room with a strange looking hat, which was a sapphire blue/sea green that was a bit wrinkled, with a warped brim, and curved and twisted a bit at the top. 
 
“Hello," a woman spoke up, "my name is Ms. Partridge! We're ready for you now,”
 
She lead everyone through two large doors and into the Great Hall, where there are four long tables with many students, as well as floating candles. The roof appears to be the sky.
 
“The ceiling isn’t real,” said Tails “It's just made to look like the night sky, probably through a projector. I read about those things.”
“All right,” said Ms. Partridge, “will you wait along here, please? Now, before we begin, Professor Flynn would like to say a few words.”
 
The bearded man rises from the main table.
 
“I have a few starts of term notices I wish to announce,” he began “The first years please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mr. Finch has asked me to remind you that the third floor corridor on the right hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Though ironically, he isn’t here to acknowledge us tonight, as he had a mishap with its balcony, so we will find a replacement for him soon. Thank you.”
“When I call your name,” the woman told them, “you will come forth, I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses. First up, Caterina Diff.”
 
Caterina rushes up proudly. The tattered hat nearly freaks before touching down on Caterina’s head.
“Demontail!” The hat bellowed.
 
“Finally!” said Caterina. “I look like such a dork wearing that ugly hat!”

“There isn't a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’t in Demontail,” one student said.

-“Knuckles the Echidna!”

Knuckles made a beeline to the spot.
 “Ah, right then...” the sorting hat said “hmm...right… Dragonthorn!”
The Grand Hall went wild with cheers and Knuckles jumps off with a triumphant smirk.

-“Epiphany Fieffer!”

A small girl with curly red hair goes up.
Tails looks around and spots an intimidating teacher, wearing a cloak and skull mask looking at him. He looks startled.
“What’s wrong, little bro?” Sonic asks his fox friend.
“Nothing...it's nothing,” Tails replied, “I'm fine.”
“Let's see...” the hat said, deciding the house Epiphany would go to. “I know...Snuffleupp!”
-“Sonic the Hedgehog!”
 
Sonic walks up. He sits down and the hat is put on.
 
“Ah! Let’s see,” the hat says, “I know just where to put you... Dragonthorn!”

More applause as Sonic zips off the stage.

-“Miles Prower!”

Everything goes silent. The fox one walks up and sits down.
 
“Hmm...difficult, very difficult,” the hat said,  “Plenty of courage I see, not a bad mind, either. There's cleverness, oh yes, and a thirst to prove yourself. But where to put you?”
“Not Demontail. Not Demontail,” Tails whispers.
“Not Demontail, eh? Are you sure? You could be great, you know. It’s all here in your head. And Demontail will help you on your way to greatness! There's no doubt about that! No?” The hat asks him.
He shakes his head.
 
 “Well, if you’re sure...better be... Dragonthorn!”
 
There is an immense cheering and the gang goes to the Dragonthorn table.

“Your attention, please,” shouted Ms. Partridge as she tapped on a glass cup with a spoon.

“Let the feast...begin,” said Flynn.
 
Food magically appeared on all the tables, and the hall filled with awe and chatter.

“Wow,” said Tails.
 
They took a spot, but noticed it was parallel to Caterina Diff and a group of her Demontail friends.
 
“Don’t you even think about sitting around here!” One of them sneered.
 
“Uh, I’m sorry,” Cream began, “we didn’t mean to disturb you.”
 
Caterina then did something very obnoxious, she got her utensils and started tapping them rhythmically.

“Dragonthorn losers! Dragonthorn losers!” she began to chant.

The others joined in, happy to help Caterina antagonize others, mostly out of fear they’d get picked on too.

“Dragonthorn losers! Dragonthorn losers!”

The Demontails then used magic to make more utensils clank against more dishes.

Just then, someone swooped in to the rescue.
“Oh, leave the newbies alone, Caterina!” a boy with shaggy hair said, “You’re the loser, and nobody would even dream of sitting around you. Come on, newcomers, we can sit in that spot over there.”

"Oh, thank you kind sir," Cream said.
 
As they walked to the spot, they spotted Epiphany, who was sitting at her table. She waves to the boy. “Hello, Cain.”
"Hello, Epiphany. I'd like you to meet the other newbies to this academy."

"Hello, and welcome aboard," she said to them.

"I'm sorry to say that the girl who was harassing you was Caterina Diff, I'm sure you know she's in Demontail," Cain told them.

"She didn't seem very nice," Cream said.

"Oh, that's a massive understatement!" Epiphany said.

"What's her problem, anyway?" Amy asked.

"Well, usually the students in Demontail go bad, and she's already rotten to the core," Epiphany explained.

"She also used to pick on me and my friend Tani while he was still around," Cain added. "Say, Epiphany, why don't you tell them their riddle you wrote about Caterina?"

"It's not really my work, but I had fun incorporating her into it." Epiphany admitted.

"Well, let's hear it," Sonic said.

Epiphany leaned in closer, so the evil-minded blonde wouldn't hear her.

"How is Caterina Diff like a typhoon?  Both are powerful, destructive and indiscriminately cruel. But the typhoon doesn't mean to be."

The group snickered.

"So, where is your friend and why isn't he here anymore?" Cream asked.

Cain's expression changed to a solemn one as well as Epiphany's when he looked at her.

"We're not sure where he went," he said. "We're sure that he was snatched up by a dark lord."

"Sorry to hear that," Amy said sympathetically.

"It's fine," Cain said, smiling at her, "we're sure he was strong enough to not go down without a fight," he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Well, we know what that's like," Sonic said, "even though some creep named Lerich has been following us around, there's no way we'll let him do us in."

"What? And when did this happen?" Epiphany asked them.

"About almost two weeks ago, when we crash landed in our plane, one I made," Tails said.

"Was the plane faulty?" asked Epiphany.

"No," Tails said, "It was sucked into a wormhole. And when we landed, someone named Mort found us, but he led us into a trap. We had to perform Lerich's circus, and when a freak accident caused the tent to go down, he wants to kill us."

"That's terrible!" Epiphany said, appalled.

"Well, then I really see you do have as strong a spirit as Tani did," Epiphany said to Knuckles, as her cheeks became visibly redder while she smiled slightly.

"Well, after this meal," Cain said, "We'll walk you to your classes and tell you about your professors."

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