Goliath was mesmerized by the sight of all the other children around them, to the point that the oldest and largest of the ratlings almost failed to follow his sister and instead got lost among the crowd. Almost. He may have been naive and easily impressed, but Goliath wasn't a little pup anymore. He was a big boy!

The kind lady their daddy had shown them welcomed the group in and gave them a quick run-through of the rules, a reminder of things they already went over with their dad. Goliath didn't mind, he knew how important it was to get things right! They didn't sit still during that, either. The kind lady led them through the school, showing different areas and explaining what they did, like the computer lab and the gym. David had snickered at the sight of the exercising equipment, and Goliath couldn't deny that they were used to better stuff back home, back when they were still in the sewers.

But it was still nice! And their daddy had explained that while there were tons of people who wanted to become Heroes when they were kids, most didn't give it the effort it deserved. They were the ones who stood out for training so much, not the other way around. Besides, it wasn't nice to make fun of something because it didn't look as nice as something else. Goliath knew that was just how David was, but that was still a little mean. He wasn't mad, though. While he liked to mock and berate, his brother had a good heart. That was just his way of communicating!

But all those cool places were empty for their visit. School hadn't truly started yet, students had a big free period in the morning to socialize and give time for everyone to arrive. Goliath wished they could have been making friends with and playing with the other children, but he understood the importance of doing this visit beforehand and in a calm setting. He wasn't he could have listened as well if he had been distracted by all the cool people he couldn't wait to meet!

But soon came the time the lady told them the tour was over and it was time for them to join their class, right in time for the bell that signaled periods to ring. It wasn't the shrill sound their daddy had described from his days back in school, rather it was a short melody of a handful of notes that repeated three times. Goliath found it quite catchy, if a little loud. That was probably the source of the difference: he knew he and his siblings had far better hearing than most people, but they weren't the only ones in that case. The bell from his daddy's childhood would have probably hurt his ears a lot.

She accompanied them to the room that would become part of their daily life for the year to come - well, a good chunk of the year, they did miss a bit of the beginning. She reassured them that it was fine if they didn't get everything right away, that things had already been arranged to give them additional to cover material the rest of the class had already studied in previous years. Their situation would even be taken into account when it came to notation, whatever that meant. But she said it so cheerfully, it must have meant something good!

Of course, it was when they were facing the door separating them from the next step of their life that Goliath began to get jitters. He was happy to go to school, promise! He'd seen all that cool stuff about it in Captain Cyan, there'd be tons of new friends to meet, and their daddy had worked so hard to make sure they could go! It was just... Well, this would be the first time they would be in a situation where he wasn't involved at all. No kind shadow watching over them. No funny employees to help if they struggled with something. They would have no reason to care about them, just a bunch of rats.

Goliath let a weak squeak as he felt a light slap between his shoulders. He turned to see David glaring at him, his eyes filled not with mean-spiritedness but with his unique brand of angry support.

"Don't you wanna make friends or something, you big dummy? Stop stressing over stuff that hasn't happened yet. Now let's go in, I wanna take a nap and I can't do that standing there like an idiot."

The kind lady looked like she was about to admonish David, but the glowing smile on Goliath stopped in her tracks. Unbeknownst to the two rats, while she would let it slide this time, she made it a point to write down the interaction later. Their father had warned the school that the smallest one had a temper and was likely to get into trouble, but keeping a record of incidents like this one was already standard practice, to see if any strange behaviors emerged. In a world where anyone could develop powers and go down the path of Super Villainy, watching for early signs was key to preventing new Villains from emerging when their creation could have been prevented.

The kind lady knocked and a happy male voice invited her to come in, prompting her to open the door and reveal what was on the other side.

The room itself felt surprisingly mundane, with a nice brown wooden floor and warm beige walls, with posters and maps all over. There were shelves and a pair of closets, all in the same shade of beige as the walls, and one of the walls was entirely covered by a black rectangle. Their daddy had said there were whiteboards when he was a kid, so maybe this was a blackboard?

But the real show stopper was the ensemble of desks, or rather, their occupants. Yes, the dozen or so pieces of furniture arranged in three columns watching the bigger one in front of the black wall were interesting, but anywhere as much as the people sitting at them, generally two per desk. Most of the other children looked human-ish, with a few sharper ears or bulbous noses with height differences here and there, but a third was vastly different from the rest. Horns, tails, feathers, scales, colorful skin tones... Those were the non-human kids, and Goliath was very happy to see they weren't all grouped up together but evenly spread with the others. That meant no one would mind them being rats too much!

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Standing at the front of the class and leaning against the biggest was the only adult in the room, though some of the kids in the back were big enough to lead to some confusion. He was a man, a tall one at that, with a rather lean physique. He wore a fancy dark tan suit with a white button-up shirt visible beneath, his light skin visible only on his face, neck, and hands. What stood out however was the lime green necktie with dinosaur heads on it, a clear clash with the rest of the ensemble that even Goliath could spot, and he didn't need to turn around to know Blanche was probably gasping at the faux-pas.

He liked to hear her rant about fashion, she always sounded so passionate. She even helped him when designing their future costumes, for when they'd be Heroes!

The teacher's face was rather thin, though not to the point of having prominent cheekbones. If anything, there was something almost childish about it despite the faint wrinkles Goliath could spot, with no facial hair to speak of outside of his eyebrows. His short messy hair was a dirty blonde, with a mix of lighter and darker hairs with a few grey ones in the mix. Another strange accessory was his pair of round glasses, with temples covered in dark brown feathers that crowned his ears like some sort of inverted laurels. His dark blue eyes looked at the new arrivals with a spark in them that Goliath couldn't quite place but still felt reassuring.

His sense of fashion may be dead, but he had a very nice smile!

"Why, hello there, Francine! And I'm guessing you five will be our new students?"

Hushed whispers exploded in the ranks of children at that, and the nice lady smiled as she encouraged the ratlings to walk inside as she stayed by the door.

"That's right. Don't worry children, you're in good hands. He may be strange, but he's one of our most popular teachers for a reason. And Theo? You might want to be extra careful with them. Their father struck me as the worrywart sort."

The teacher chuckled as he waved the siblings in.

"Don't worry Francine, everything will go well. Come on in kids! Francine can't just stand there all day, she has work to do. I think."

She snorted before leaving, closing the door behind the ratlings. The man smiled at them.

"Alright, I'm Mister Pteryx, I'll be your teacher for the rest of the year outside of special circumstances like sports classes or if I'm sick. Class, as you can see we have some new students who will be joining us. I'll let you five introduce yourselves. Don't be shy, tell us a bit about yourselves."

The siblings looked at each other, trying to determine which should go first. Well, they quickly figured it out. Lucille took charge and established an order before stepping forward to face the class, her front paws clasped behind her back. She looked more like a military instructor than a child about to introduce herself, but hey, that was just how she was.

"Salutations. My name is Lucille Valdest. I am a rat who grew into sapience. I like keeping things orderly and games with a lot of rules. My fur is metallic, so avoid direct contact or risk getting a cut."

Mister Pteryx blinked a few times.

"Well, that was concise. And thank you for the warning, I trust other students with similar situations will inform you of their condition later. Next!"

Blanche took to the stage - the front of the classroom - and posed, her powers making her dress and ribbons flutter in non-existent wind as she showed off her profile.

"Greetings! I am Blanche Valdest, a lover of beauty and the fine arts. Should anyone wish to talk about fashion, I'm the rodent for you. Just look at my fur!"

She twirled to show off her albino fur and Mister Pteryx politely clapped, a smile on his face.

"Ah, that's more in line with what I was expecting. Say, what do you think of my look?"

All of Blanche's good mood vanished as she stared at the man in disgust.

"Burn that wretched tie and pluck those abominable glasses."

The adult gasped dramatically before letting himself almost fall over, placing one of his hands on his desk to hold himself while he balanced with one extended leg and his other hand placed on his forehead, palm to the air.

"You wound me, you adorable little miss. Why, we simply must go on to the next one, or else I fear I will faint!"

A chorus of groans and chuckles echoed from the sitting students at his little act. Foudre just shrugged as she stepped forward, Mr. Pteryx already back to a normal posture by the time she began to speak.

"Yo. I'm Foudre. Valdest too, but at this point, it should be obvious we're siblings. Born from the same litter, at that. I'm not a weirdo like the others, so if you just wanna chill or something, hit me up."

"Hm. Simple, but that is perfectly fine. Thank you Foudre. Next?"

Goliath smiled with glee but didn't go forward until he made sure David was fine with him going first, a disinterested hand wave encouraging the largest brother to go on ahead. Goliath excitedly waved at the class as he began.

"Hello! I'm Goliath! I love tinkering stuff together and Captain Cyan! I'm super duper excited to meet you all and make new friends! I also love giving hugs!"

Mister Pteryx cooed before catching himself, faking a cough as he turned to address the class.

"Hear that, everyone? If anyone felt like their life was lacking in hugs, I'm sure Goliath would be happy to help! Just remember to ask, first. And last but not least..."

David scoffed before speaking.

"Name's David. I like fighting. I like hunting. I like training."

"When you say hunting, do you mean..."

The smallest ratling grinned as he showed off his claws.

"Oh, those look sharp. Alright, just know that hunting is forbidden on school grounds."

David's smile fell and turned into confusion.

"Wait, they actually thought to make that a rule?"

"You're not the first sapient animals to join, you know. Even without that, some cultures are much less judgemental of hunting in general so long as the prey is non-sapient and wild. Orc children from tribal backgrounds, for instance. I'm sure you and Lyra will have a lot in common."

Pteryx used his chin to point at one of the students in the back, a tall broad green girl with massive tusks who, even while sitting, was almost level with the teacher's pectorals. She smiled as she was pointed out, exposing a row of very sharp teeth. Her lightly leaning forward was enough to tense her muscles to the point they could be somewhat discerned through her baggy clothes.

David grinned back.

Mister Pteryx clapped twice.

"Alright, thank you for your introduction. Now go find some empty seats to sit down. As fun as making new friends is, I still have a class to teach. Francine should have mentioned it on the way here, but don't worry if you don't understand everything. After class, we'll go over your schedule for some extra classes to catch you up to speed. Don't hesitate to ask questions if you're confused either, I may not have the time to explain everything during the usual class but I'll try to summarize so you can still figure out what's happening."

Goliath and his siblings nodded before heading to join the other students.

Time to make new friends!

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