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Jon was silent as he led Shadow through the school's parking lot to his vehicle, a beat up pickup truck that didn't get much use anymore, usually sitting quietly in the garage behind the house. Shadow was silent as well, having nothing to say to Jon. In his mind he was still thoroughly convinced that Sonic had deserved everything that had happened to him the night before, including the broken nose, and like most who believe they are right in an argument, he felt nothing but animosity at Jon for not agreeing with him.

Jon unlocked the doors to the vehicle, and he and Shadow got in, closing the doors behind them. The truck, while beat up, was still cared for well, and started up immediately without any trouble. Jon backed out of the parking space, then turned left and headed for the parking lot exit, which would put him on Main Street. After turning right onto Main Street, Jon headed for the psychiatric counselor's office, a good fifteen minute drive outside of Pouncefield.

Shadow continued to remain silent. He had his head turned towards the window, and was watching trees pass by. He ran over so many thoughts in his mind, including taking the emerald in his pocket and performing a Chaos Control to possibly get away from this, but mentally he shook his head. If he tried to escape, they would catch him, and he'd never be able to find the rest of the emeralds.

Jon noticed that Shadow was deep in thought, and hoped that maybe he could connect with the foreign hedgehog before getting to the office, and hopefully bypassing the entire scenario.

"Shadow," he began, "I-" but he was cut off by Shadow.

"Unless this is an apology for needlessly scolding me last night, you'd be better off staying silent. I am not an ordinary child. I don't need twenty-four hours a day supervision. I can take care of myself, with or without your help, and I'd prefer it being without." Shadow crossed his arms, his eyes never wavering from the window.

Jon's mouth slowly closed from the agape position in which it hung during Shadow's assertion of independence. He remained quiet for the remainder of the drive, as did Shadow, and the cab of the truck would have been silent except for Jon switching on the radio after Shadow spoke. Obviously his daughter had been the last driver of the vehicle because there was a heavy metal CD in the player, though the radio was not loud.

Shadow humph'd to himself, slouching backwards in his seat and getting comfortable. This was going to be a long day.

--

"Welcome Mr. Speedz, and Shadow, to the south Pouncefield Psychiatric Assessment and Counseling Office," an older female raccoon greeted them at the door. "Dr. Magnus has been expecting you. Mr. Speedz, please wait in the waiting area. Shadow, follow me." The female turned on her heels and walked inside the facility, the hedgehog and skunk following directly behind her.

As Jon and Shadow passed through the waiting room, Jon took a seat and picked up a magazine. Shadow continued to follow the female into the hallway of the assessment offices, and when she stopped at a door, he entered the room. He heard the door softly close behind him, so he took a seat on one of the chair to wait for the mysterious Dr. Magnus to come assess him.

No more than five minutes later, the door opened and a male alligator in a white lab coat, starched white shirt, and black slacks entered the room. He closed the door gently behind him and took a seat next to Shadow, saying nothing. Shadow could see from his nametag that this was Dr. Magnus. Shadow crossed his arms as the doctor cleared his throat, looking at him.

"My, my, Shadow. Quite the attitude, and I haven't even introduced myself to you." The man chuckled. "My name is doctor Sirius Magnus. I'm going to be giving you a psychiatric evaluation today." He offered his hand to Shadow, which was met with an upturned nose. The doctor withdrew his hand and shook his head. "Some definite anger issues you have, Shadow. Anyway, let's get started."

Shadow sighed and looked at the doctor, who quickly produced a bundle of poster board with what looked like a kindergartner's finger painting escapades painted upon them in black. He cocked an eyebrow, and the doctor chuckled.

"Shadow, this is called the Rorschach Test. I am going to hold a card up for you, and I want you to tell me what you see in them. There are no right or wrong answers, just speak honestly."

Unfortunately, inkblots can't be described via writing since I just don't know how to go about doing it. So we'll skip the descriptions, and skip to the end of the test.

After the inkblot test, the doctor had Shadow lie down and began to ask him a series of questions.

"Okay, Shadow. First of all, how old are you?"

There was a trick question. Because of Shadow's history, he was well over 50 years old. However, he'd never be able to pass that off as believable, so he had to take a good guess. "I am thirteen years old, doctor."

The doctor nodded and scribbled something on a piece of paper. "Okay, and what gender are you?"

"What a stupid question. I'm male, obviously!" Shadow couldn't keep that outburst down, because of the pure stupidity of the question. Shadow was used to intelligent people and intelligent discussion, and stupid questions irked him to no end.

"Mmkay, Shadow. No need to be rude," the doctor said, scribbling again. "Now then, where are you from?"

Shadow thought for a moment, but not long enough to sound hesitant. "I am from Mobius, Japan."

The doctor scribbled another note. "Do you get along with your peers?"

Shadow nodded. "More or less, as long as they aren't overly stupid."

"Define ‘overly stupid,' Shadow," the doctor said, with a tone of inquiry in his voice. "I want to know what an overly stupid peer is, in your opinion."

"An overly stupid person," Shadow began, "is one that believes they know everything. They are ignorant, and won't admit to being wrong. They ask stupid questions, like ‘what color is the sky?' and ‘are you male or female?' An overly stupid person doesn't act their age, nor do they act older. They act younger than they truly are, and often leave one wondering if it is truly an act.

"Furthermore," he continued, "an overly stupid person makes no effort to correct his state of mind. If he doesn't know something, and he knows he doesn't know it, he makes no effort to correct his lack of knowledge. An overly stupid person is ignorant to the nth degree, and happy with it." Shadow crossed his arms. "Life is the pursuit of knowledge, and knowledge is the application of learning. An overly stupid person does not live."

The doctor sat in silence, analyzing the things Shadow said. He quickly formed a couple more questions in his mind, and scribbled more notes. He had a good idea of what could be done to help ‘control' the chaos within Shadow, with as few medications as possible. Dr. Magnus hated writing out prescriptions.

"Shadow, are you afraid of death?" The doctor looked at the black hedgehog thoughtfully.

Shadow looked at the doctor, blinking. "Aren't you?"

The doctor stood, and offered his hand to Shadow. "This is the end of your assessment, Shadow. I'm going to ask that you wait in the waiting area while I talk to Mr. Speedz."

Shadow stood and exited the room as the doctor told the nurse to ask for Jon. As Shadow entered the waiting room, Jon passed into the hallway, following the nurse that called for him. He entered the doctor's office and sat in a chair in front of the doctor, and the nurse closed the door gently behind him.

Shadow picked up a National GeoGeo magazine, and began reading an article on how genetics have begun crossing tobacco with jalapeños. Fifteen minutes later, Jon came into the waiting area and motioned for Shadow to follow him, and the two left the PPACO, heading for main Pouncefield once more.

The trip there, the assessment, and the trip back ended up taking roughly an hour and a half, and the clock in Jon's truck now read 1400, obviously set up to read like military time. School would be out in less than half an hour, which meant it was now useless to take Shadow back to school.

Jon set a course for home instead, meaning to drop Shadow off at the house, then go get the prescription that Dr. Magnus wrote for Shadow filled. Shadow needed mood suppressants, as he had anger issues, and the doctor felt that anger management classes would be useless at his age.