-1Oh, hey there. My name's Katarina Shulong but my friends call me Kat for short. My hair is black as anything you could think of with dark purple highlights reaching my shoulders and my eyes are green. I wear a red t-shirt with a black jacket and dark blue jeans. My trainers are black too and so is my shoulder bag. Ok so I'm a bit of a goth but so what? Anyway I'm not really in to girly things and may even be called a Tomboy sometimes. But hey that's me.

I wonder how I got myself in to this situation in the first place.

What? You want to know where I am? Well at the moment I am in one of Eggbut's prison cells. You know, the kind with the energy bars and the button to deactivate it is on a panel by them…on the other side of the cell I might add! Jeez, what a ridiculous man to capture me. Even his robots are stupid, I've seen toasters smarter than them and I'm not even exaggerating!

But wait, I'm getting way ahead of myself here. Let me start from the beginning of this rather bizarre situation. I'll take you back to my first day at a new school.

'Well, here I am.' I thought bitterly. 'A new school and some new friends…great.' I didn't ask to be uprooted and taken to a new place. My parents were never home as it is because their jobs involved being half way around the world most of the time. Ah well, at least I had the house to myself. But now I'm in a completely new place about to go to a new school and start a new life.

It was weird, my parents never told me why we had to move. They just started packing one day and my father yelled at me to do the same from downstairs. That was the first time I saw him this mad so I didn't dare argue about it. I was too scared to talk to him until he cooled down. He did apologise…eventually.

So here I am three days later and with most of my stuff in boxes. I just told my friends I had moved away to…Westopolis? Even my friends agreed the place had a weird name.

Well let's see now. I came in and went straight to the principles office to collect my timetable and to tell me where I had to go. The place had a lot of sign posts which made it very promising to how easily I found the big man's room. 'Ok, this is a good start.' The man was friendly and told me where I had to go. He then gave me an envelope which had my mothers hand writing on it. "Strange it should come to this school instead of your house. Any idea why?" He asked and I just looked as confused as he did. "No sir, not a clue."

I went to my classroom and opened the envelope by the window reading what they had to say.

'My dearest daughter

If you see anyone following you or asking you about me or your father

you run as fast as you can and call this number.

Don't be afraid and remember your father and I love you very much.

We are sorry you had to move but trust me when I say it's for the best.

See you soon

Mum.'

At the bottom of the letter was a phone number. I wondered why'd they tell me to ring this number instead of the police? Screw that, what the hell are they talking about? Who is she talking about? She tells me not to be afraid? Well I can safely say I am well and truly freaked out. Thanks for making me feel brave mum. Not!

My brain was hurting just by trying to figure this all out. I sighed and put the letter back in the envelope trying to find my strength to get through my first day.

"Hello, you're new here right?" A voice suddenly said bringing me out of my thoughts so quickly I jumped. Beside me was a boy with reddy brown hair and blue eyes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. My name's Chris, what's yours?" He asked holding out his hand for me to take. I pocketed the envelope and shook his hand. "Katarina…but everyone calls me Kat for short."

"Ok Kat, you can sit on the desk next to mine. No one's in it right now." He said and I sat with him. Listening to him talk about the school and lessons we were having took my mind off my parents letter.

Five minutes later and a black kid came in with blue eyes. Next to him was a tomboy looking girl with short red hair and green eyes. Behind them was a girl in a wheelchair with blond hair and blue eyes. "Hey Danny." Chris said and blue eye's number two smiled and waved. "That's Frances…" Tomboy. "..and that's Helen." Chris said indicating the girl in the wheelchair. I got on with them well and we had more fun throughout the lesson than I thought we would. Great! I made some friends, that's the first hurdle passed. Now, let's see if I can through this day without any stalkers or strange people following me.

Our teacher was actually kinda cool. I actually questioned Chris if he really as a teacher. "Mr Stuart? Yeah…I sometimes wonder about that too. He's much more fun than any other teachers I've had."

"Glad you think so Chris." Mr. Stuart said right in front of us. He smiled and was looking down at me more than Chris. "Well, well, well. Look's like we have a new student today. Did you think you could get away without introducing yourself to the whole class?" He said drawing even more attention to myself. "Heh, heh, heh. Didn't even cross my mind sir." I said with my cheeks reddening and a fake smile on my face. I really didn't want to do this but I guess I had to. I got up in front of the class and told them about my not so interesting life. I told them about moving here, my parents and then I sat back down. Mr. Stuart was looking at me in a super weird way. Was he the one my parents warned me about? They were talking about anyone following me so it can't be him. I started to suspect he might know something only to shrug off that idea double time. What the hell could a teacher know? Unless of course, he wasn't a teacher.

"You live alone don't you?"

"Hmm?" My thoughts were broken yet again by Chris who was looking sorry for me. "Yeah." Was my answer and it sounded a lot sadder than it meant to. "You want to come over the park after school? We're going to play basketball-"

"-you mean I'm going to play basketball. I can beat you with my eyes closed." Frances said and Chris blushed a little looking back over to me. "So, you up for it?" He asked and I smiled thinking it was a great idea. But then my face fell a hundred feet when I remembered I had to receive a call from my parents. "What's the matter?" He said and I sighed. "I would like to do that but…" I pretended to put the side of my hand flat on my forehead in a kind of salute. "I have to answer the phone at 17:00 hundred hours everyday or I'm staying in the hole for a week." I said mimicking an army voice and lowering my hand. "So that's a no?"

"A solid clad no with chains and a padlock."

"The hole?" He asked and I sighed. "My house. My parents know if I so much as set foot out of the house without their say so. Don't know how they do it but they do. As soon as I'm at the door the phone rings, and unless I'm going shopping for something then there will be hell to pay when they come home." I said and Chris looked sorry for me.

At the end of the day I said goodbye to Chris and went home on my own…sigh. I reported in as usual and slumped over on my bed. 'On my own, made some friends but I ditch them for some stupid phone call. Great way to start your first day Kat. Give it a few more days and you'll be a social outcast in no time.'

Then the doorbell rang and I was really creeped out. The only people I had told where I lived was Chris and my new friends. But they were at the park…or did they come to see me? Or did my parents come home early? I was hooked on the last idea and crept down slowly towards the door. I still wasn't sure but slowly came forwards and opened the door. I looked around but saw no one. 'Must be kids' I thought. I started to close the door when someone very short put their hand out to stop it from closing. I looked down and saw what I could only assume was a black hedgehog.

He looked like Sonic only he was the wrong colour and looked angry. "Uh…can I help you?" I asked uncertainly trying to keep my voice steady. This must be the guy…uh…thing my parents were talking about. "Where is the chaos emerald?" Hmm, straight to the point and rude. My life could be in danger here.

"Huh? Chaos emerald? What's that?" I was completely clueless but this just made him angrier. "Don't play dumb with me girl. I know you're parents work for GUN special forces and have hidden one somewhere." True they worked in the military and said if we had to leave straight away it was probably because of that. They have missed five birthdays and had to skip long term planned family holidays for it. You have now met the kid who has spent three Christmases on her own. "You are but one of the few people they would trust with it. So hand it over now and you won't get hurt." This guy was really starting to get on my nerves. "Look, I have no idea what you're talking about and my parents would've told me if they hid something in this house. Well I'm sorry but I can't help you and would like you to please l-" I didn't get to finish off the word 'leave' because at that moment he had pushed me away from the door. I flew from it with such force the back of my head connected with the staircase six feet away. Everything went blurry around me and the world disappeared from my sight completely. Jeez, I even said please. There was no reason for him to do that.

How long I was out was anybodies guess. But when I came too my hands were tied around the banister of the staircase and I had an ice pack at the back of my head. I guessed it was late because the hall was very dark. The door was closed and everything was turned upside down. But thankfully nothing was broken…yet. I sighed inside. No clue as to who was going to clean this mess up when he was finished. "Dammit! Where is that chaos emerald?" I heard the black menace growl. I could hear him throwing things all over the floor. "Hmm, maybe that girl was telling the truth." He sighed in the kitchen and started coming towards the hall. I closed my eyes and pretended to be asleep again.

I could feel him stop right over me but still I didn't dare move or drop the act. His face was so close to mine I could smell his breath, which thankfully didn't smell of anything.

The next thing I knew my hands were being untied and I was lifted off the ground. Huh? What the hell was going on? I hope he isn't going to throw me off the stairs and the coroner says it was an accident. I couldn't help but quickly suck some breath in at the thought of it. He stopped and I new I couldn't fake it now. My eyes opened slightly so all I could see was blurred images and his eyes looking right in to mine. My eye lids flickered uncertainly and now I really felt like falling asleep. "Go back to sleep, this is all a bad dream." He murmured in to my ear. He said it so soothingly I gave in and closed my eyes. "Good girl."

"Who are you?" I whispered. But I didn't get an answer and was tucked up in bed by the intruder who sighed. "I'm sorry…I…hurt you." Was the last thing I heard before I passed out completely.