Chapter 2: Station Square

"Who was that?" Sonic asked Rin.

Rin groaned as he slumped his shoulders. "My so-called 'guardian'. He runs the school I attend, but he's a real pain. It feel more he's planning to kill me rather than ale care of me," Rin explained, grumbling out the last few words, annoyed.

"What school do you go to?"

Rin stood up straight with a huge grin on his face. "It's a very...err...very..." They waited for him to answer. "...well, I'll just say a very high-class school. My brother had to get in on a scholarship because it's so expensive while me...I was sort dragged along with him." Rin looked away with a light blush in his face. "I'm kind of the dumb one out of the two of us."

Sonic nodded. "Cool. Where are you from?"

"Sonic, how do you know we can trust him?" Knuckles asked.

"That was blunt," Rin pouted at Knuckles, but then shrugged it off and decided to answer. "I'm from the True Cross district in Japan. That might might be why my name sounds funny to you."

"I've been to Japan a few times," Sonic said. "It's a cool country."

Rin blinked at this and pointed at him. "How...have you been there?" A large grin spread across Sonic's face and Knuckles just groaned knowing where this was going.

"I'm the fastest thing alive," he bragged.

Knuckles groaned at what Sonic just said and Tails face-palmed. Rin blinked at this and tilted his head to the side. "Umm...okay..." Rin looked around at all the unfamiliar building and street signs, scratching his head. "Station Square, huh? What country is that in?"

"The United States Of America," Sonic said proudly.

Rin nearly did a spit-take. Mephisto had sent nearly halfway around the world! Wait a minute...he did! And for what purpose? Rin clenched the red case in his hands and swung it back on over his shoulder; holding the strap tightly, so it wouldn't get stolen again.

The teenager sighed to himself and groaned. "I wish I had one of those world-traveling keys right now. I wanna go home. I'm pooped."

"What do you mean by keys?" Tails asked.

Rin realized he had been and smiled, waving his hand around as if it was nothing. "It's nothing. It's just a regular key that gets me into my dorm! It's really nothing!" Knuckles and Tails watched Rin suspiciously while Sonic just nodded, smiling.

"You want to come over?" He asked. "I could introduce you to my other friends."

"Let's head to my workshop," Tails said. "I'll show you around."

Rin blinked at this and swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck and nodding. "Um...okay. I'm still not used to the idea of talking animals." Knuckles just huffed at what Rin said. "But thanks. I have no clue what America is like!" Rin said with a large smile of his face.

"We're not animals," Sonic said as they started to walk. "Anthros are more human than animal."

Rin tilted his head in confusion, but then laughed nervously. "Same difference to me!"

"Humans are animals too, y'know," Tails told him. "They're mammals."

Rin's tail twitched under his shirt at that answer, realizing what the fox meant. Humans could act like animals at times, especially him.

Once the four got to Mystic Ruins; Knuckles had said he needed to get back to Angel Island to take care of the Master Emerald and then left. Sonic and Tails led Rin to a workshop on top of a hill that overlooked the ocean. The teen gawked at the wide ocean with him mouth hung open. "Whoa..."

"What?" Knuckles asked.

"What do you think?" Tails asked.

"It's got an amazing view. Reminds me of the first time I arrived at True Cross." Rin smiled at the memory, shoving his hands into his pockets. "That place is huge for a school..."

"What's your school like, Rin?" Sonic asked.

Rin was surprised at the question and shrugged. "It's like any other school. You learn stuff and they dump homework on you. It get SO boring there to. I'd rather hang around my dorm than go to school, but my brother forces me to."

Sonic nodded. "I've never been to school."

Rin blinked at this this, but sighed. "I kind of wish I didn't go." The two anthros looked at each, but then Rin turned around with a smile. "So, you said you'd show me around or something?"

Tails nodded at what Rin said, but before he could answer there was a beeping sound and Tails freaked out; thinking it was one of his inventions when Rin pulled out a cell phone from his pocket. He looked at the caller ID and groaned.

"Of course he'd call me now." Rin flipped on the phone and put it to his ear. "Yo, it's me!"

"Rin, where the hell are you?" A panicked Yukio said. "You've been missing for hours!"

The teen's tail twitched under his shirt when he heard his younger twin's voice and a sheepish grin crawled across his face. "I was gone that long?" He heard a groan come from Yukio and Rin chuckled, nervously; knowing he was making his brother angry. "I don't know what happens, but Mephisto sent me somewhere in America."

There was a light before and he knew his brother was taking this in before he would react. Should I take the phone away from my ear just in case?

"You're in America?" Yukio yelled. Rin winced and pulled the phone away from his ear. "What the hell are you doing there?"

"It's not my fault..." Rin said it a tiny, pouty voice. "...It's that stupid clown's..." Rin heard another groan from the other line. Of course Mephisto would orchestrate this who else would.

"What does he want?"

"I don't know he just said I had to be here for the time being. He didn't give me a reason why or anything or anything!" Rin exclaimed into the phone.
While Rin was having his conversation with his brother; Sonic and Tails just stared; out of the loop of what was going on.

"What do you suppose he and his brother are talking about?" Sonic asked Tails, who shrugged.

"Beats me," Tails said.

"So, you can don't have to worry about me, Yukio. I'll be fine!" Rin exclaimed. Yukio scoffed at what his brother said. He knew him better than anymore. If he was halfway across the world he would come over there to check on him to see if he was okay.

"I'm coming to America," he said, and hung up.