II

"Here are your bags, your passports, your extra rings, and here is all of our phone numbers incase you forget or-,"

"Mom!" I was carrying a waffle in one hand, and holding everything else in the other. Today, I decided to wear my normal look. Pink belly sleeveless shirt with some dark grey leggings. I wore pink and black convers to match also. My mom was wearing a laced blue and green flowered shirt and some navy jeans. My step dad then walked in with a black tuxedo on with a white tie. My step dad might look all bad and muscular, but he's just a boring lawyer on the inside.

"Ah… Iris, I wish you a good travel. Make sure to call-,"

"Already been said." I interrupted him. He smiled and walked over to give me a hug. His suit was nicely made so his back quills were firm under his clothes. Modern outfits I guess, but sense I don't have back quills I don't have to worry so much. Us girl Mobians have to worry about the hair and tails. Not that I care about any of those, but I'm just pointing out the obvious.

I pulled away from our lovely (cue sarcasm) hug. He's a perfectly fine Mobian; I just don't really like him. My mom "accidently" cheated on my original father when I was 14, like I was saying before, and then found this guy. We get along, but just enough.

I heard a honk outside our house and knew that was my friends.

"I have to go!"

"Bye!" My parents cried. Madison came running down the stairs and piled on top of me before I could reach the door nob. She was crying and squeezing me so much it was hard to resist. Finally she let go, "Don't forget our promise." And ran to my mom's side.

I walked outside, waved to my family once more, and closed the door. I turned around to meet my 3 best friends sitting in a Ferrari F430 Spider, and the top was down. I put my stuff in the back, and hopped in the back seat with one of my friends. There was Kathie, and she was a raccoon. She had brilliant yellow eyes, a pale purple main color with darker shaded stripes, and a light grey undercoat. She had black short-layered hair as well. Today, she was wearing some light blue jeans, white vans, Silver rings, and a short-cut white shirt. Another one of my friends was Octavia. She was a fox, and she had a bright red main color with a nice brown under coat. She was wearing a yellow hoodie, gold rings, a gold and orange skirt with tan flats. She had bold green eyes that stood out with her dark brown wavy hair that was clipped back. My last friend, who was in the driver's seat, was Lillie. She was a hedgehog like me, but with chocolate brown fur, a white undercoat, purple shorts, a pale purple one-strap tank top with black converse. She had a lighter shade of brown for her hair, which was put in a ponytail (like always!).

"Hey!" Octavia greeted me.

"Hey, ready?" Lillie asked me. I nodded and turned to Kathie who sat beside me. She smiled, and then looked forward. Lillie pulled off the curb and drove to our destination.

I got my keys out and opened the door, went back to the car to get my junk, and walked inside. My friends and I have already seen what this mansion looks like, so there weren't as many "awes" or "oohs" as before. My room was the last room, in the very back of the house, on the last level. I offered to take the master bedroom because I'm such a good friend. My room was biggest with it's own bathroom, walking closet, dining room (I don't know why you need it. I think it's for work.), and the bedroom with a huge plasma screen TV on the opposite side of the bed. All the rooms looked like this, but there's something that makes each room different. I put up all my clothes in the closets, and put up posters and pictures of my family and fandoms. I'm totally and utterly into music (except country or some awful contemporary pieces). For example, I could be in a serious conversation, and hear some music in the back round, and completely forget what was going on because I was so focused on the music. I also listen to music when I sleep, when I do homework, when I work or do chores, anything.

I heard a knock on my door, "Iris, we're going out to eat, are you coming?" Octavia asked me. Oh, right, dinner…

"I cant go, sorry. I have to call my family, and other stuff." She nodded then asked me again, "What do you want? We're going to get some pizza."

"Margherita, please." She was about to walk out when I called, "Hey! Don't go and be a hater! We're living together, it's not like I'm leaving forever." She smiled and left. I heard all of them complain, laugh, and close the door. Alone.

I got out my laptop from in my dresser drawers, and when to my Skype. It took a couple of seconds before they answered my call and my family was all huddled together in the kitchen.

"Iris!" They all chimed to me.

"Hey guys…" I ran my hand through my hair to make sure the wind didn't mess it up too bad, then smiled at them sheepishly.

"How is it there? Was it worth the cost?" My step-dad loathed the last part. My mother slapped him on the arm, "It WAS worth the cost, Garminius." (Gar-min-ius) I laughed when my step-dad frowned then went back to face me. "How is it?" I sighed, and he frowned at my comment.

"Iris E-,"

"It's great!" I absolutely hated it when people call me by my full name, especially my step-dad.

"Where are your friends right now sweetie-?"

"IRIS!" My sister finally blurted out. "Are you awesome yet?" I laughed at her question. "No Madison, not yet."

"What are you two talking about?" My step-dad asked, and looked over to my sister. She gave him an evil grin, and ran to her room. He groaned in frustration, and then turned back to me. He was wearing a cropped jean sleeveless jacket and was wearing a small hoop earing on his right ear. Or left ear, I don't know.

"Iris E-," Again with the names!

"It's between us, and it doesn't concern you. She's not going to tell you, and neither am I. You can try, but I think we both stand ground." He let out a sharp breath in frustration, stood up, and left the screen. I laughed with my mom for a while, until she spoke up.

"Tell me."

"Madison and I made a promise that whenever I need to use my rings, I'd teach her when she got hers. She wanted me to teach her how to be as awesome as I would be, as brave as I would be, and as strong as I would be. I'm her roll model." My mother took a long breath in in awe, placing one hand on her chest. I rolled my eyes at her silliness, "Mom?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Love you."

"I love you more. Have fun tonight. Oh, and again, where are your friends?" My mom asked me.

"They went out to get pizza. They should be back by now, the pizza place wasn't too far away." My lovely mother nodded, "Well, I better get to your crazy father and your mysterious sister before they start attacking one another. Love you, have fun."

"Love you." And with that, she canceled our call. I sighed and put my laptop up, then went to lie on my bed. I just lay there for a while until I heard a sudden ringing coming from my IPhone. I quickly hopped off my bed and ran to my phone and hit accept.

"Hello?" I heard a muffled voice on the other end.

"Iris?" Panic overwhelmed me as I replied, "Who is this?"

"Iris, it's me… Kathie… We got in a car accident. A semi was driving in our lane, Octavia tried to avoid it, but it was going too f-fast… I'm in the hospital now, and the nurse said I could only have one call…" Tears filled me eyes, were my friends safe?

"Kathie, are they alright? Did you guys make it out ok?" I heard another muffled voice, Kathie's, and I heard deep intakes of air almost as if she were crying.

"No, t-they didn't make it, Iris… I was the only one who was in a better condition because I was in the back seat. I broke one of my l-legs and one of my arms. But other than that, just a couple of bruises and scratches from our impact." I felt a tear roll down my cheek, and I quickly wiped it away.

"How long are you going to be in the hospital? I can come over if you like, all I need is the hospital name."

"I'm sorry Iris, but after I get some rest, the doctors are going to scan me for any more broken bones or any concussions. After that, my-my parents are going to pick me up and take me home." I felt something sink inside of me, causing more tears to form. "What are we going to do with the mansion?" I heard Kathie try to laugh, but she failed and started coughing.

"Iris, it's yours now. When I get home, I'm signing a contract saying you rightfully own the building. I guess you could c-consider it a gift, as one of greatest friends someone could have. I'm sorry we got into this accident, but-,"

"I'll be so alone… You guys were my greatest, and best friends too, but when you get home, message me and I'll come ok? I'll make this mansion a memory for our lost friends, and family." When I said that, it triggered something in Kathie and she started crying. "I miss you so much!"

"I miss you, too." I wiped my eyes with my gloved hand, and then took a shaky breath in, "Rest well, you need it. I'm so glad you survived. If I had figured out ALL my friends died in that car accident, then I'd flip. Oh! Do you guys know who was driving that semi? I'm asking because I'm going to sue his little-,"

"We did find him, and my parents have already sued him. We're putting the money in with the mansion. We got a couple million in, but I don't think it'll ever cost up to our friends lives. The man is in prison for life for an act of murder. Stupid fox didn't know what he was doing." I sighed in relief.

"Well, again, get some rest, you really need it. Talk soon."

"Bye… Um, love you." I smiled, "I love you too Kathie, sleep well."

"Bye best friend." And she hung up.

When she hung up, I threw myself onto my bed and sobbed the rest of the night. My friends were gone, and I'm alone in this huge mansion with A LOT of money.

The rest of the night was quiet. I didn't call my mom because I didn't want to say anything right away, and I was tired. I had gone into all my friend's rooms, collected all of their stuff, and put it in a storage room. Nothing was crowded in the storage room because it was about half the size of my room. Speaking of my room, I was laying under my covers on my IPhone, listening to music.

Thud.

I pulled my headphones off, and listened for the noise. Nothing happened, so I decided to ignore it.

Thud.

Annoyed, I paused my music pulling off my headphones and wrapping them around my device, put it on my dresser, and listened for the sound again. This time, I heard a loud crash. Maybe glass, wood, or stone, I had no idea except for something was in my home. I got up from my bed and opened one of my drawers. I took my rings. I put them on quickly, and then I heard distant noise like something was moving fast, and close. I felt my pulse raise the slightest bit, but I wasn't too scared, just annoyed. Who ever had the nerve to break into my mansion at this time was crazy.

I heard quiet footsteps outside my room. I took a step closer to the door, ready to see who was outside. A slight tap on the door confused me until my poor door exploded. I covered my face with my arms, and when everything settled down I dropped them. A dark figure was standing at the entrance. Dark galaxy blue and black clouds were surrounding the mutant so I couldn't identify who it was. The figure sprinted toward me, faster than I could ever run, and stuck out one of its hands to grab me. When it grabbed my arm, my instincts took over and I punched the figure where the stomach would probably be. It hunched over and was about to straiten itself out, but I quickly grabbed what looked like an arm, twisted it backward, then put pressure upon the figure making it flip and fall smack on it's back. Or it's face, I wasn't sure. The mutant groaned, but the groan was barely audible.

"Who the hell do you think you are, breaking into my home, and touching me?" I snapped under gritted teeth. The clouds around the creature were fading, but they were still muggy. It got up quickly, before I could react, and took some steps away from me. The figure fixed itself so it was taller, and stood there. I didn't need to use my rings, I thought to myself. This thing is a coward.

Then, it sprinted back toward me, but I just barely dodged it and the dark figure crashed onto my dresser. The mirror that was connected to the wall fell on top of it. The clouds were thinning, I could tell because I saw a faint outline of the Mobian in them. It sprinted toward me, ducked, and grabbed hold of my hips forcing me on top of their shoulders. I wrapped my legs around its body frame, and jerked my head forward in hope I could flip myself under. A loud thud filled the room as the creature slammed onto the floor. I put one knee on the Mobian's chest and the other on the outside, one fist in the air, and one arm pressing onto its throat. Any wrong move and they would get it. The clouds disappeared completely and I was then face to face with a black hedgehog. He had an almost white tan undercoat, light yellow rings with grey cloth wrapped up about 3 inches on both arms, and silver streaks on his quills. His eyes were a storm dark, diamond bright blue. I stared at his frowning figure for half a second, and then pressed my arm harder against his neck.

"Let me repeat myself. Who are you and why are you in my home?" Still frowning, he didn't say anything. I rolled my eyes, "If I took you down so easily without my rings, I wonder what it would take to finish you off with my rings. Unless you don't want to answer me, care to figure out?" He exhaled sharply.

"Maybe if you'd get off me, I would." I frowned. This could be a trick. Reading my thoughts, he added, "I'll answer you if you get off me." I hesitated, and got off him. He straitened his posture while dusting himself off, and then took a step closer to me; he was about a foot taller than me.

"Who are you and why are you in my home?" I repeated for the third time.

"Wow, no wonder they chose you. You're impossible." I frowned, "I'm impossible. How would you like it if some stranger broke into your house and attacked you." I paused. "Who chose me for what?"

"S.T.R.A.T.A." He said casually. Strata? Strata like the rock layers in Earth strata? I gave him a confused look.

"I don't know what it stands for, but it's a secret spot located in space. It's this huge spacecraft, and only the best can get into its government. You happen to be on the list, and I happen to be the Mobian who has to take you there." I shook my head.

"No, I'm staying here." He took a step closer.

"Iris, come to S.T.R.A.T.A with me, or I'll have to do it the hard way." How did he know my name? He did say I was on a list, so maybe they showed him it. How was I even on a list in the first place? "Get away from me, freak." He looked down at the ground frowning, then looked back up to me.

"Please don't make me do this, Iris. It'll be better for the both of us if you just come with me." I took a step back. He took a step forward. Wow, there is just no reasoning with him.

"What are you going to do to me if I decline your generous offer?" I said sarcastically. I took step closer then, glaring daggers at the stranger in front of me. "I'm not threatened by you. Now, please, get out of my house before I make you leave the hard way." His face showed no emotion. Suddenly, the pressure in the room felt off. I frowned and looked down to see his rings were glowing and the dark milky clouds surrounded him. He was going to use his rings! I can't believe this, what a cheater. He jabbed his hand out and grabbed my arm. I knew I couldn't take him if he was using his rings, and I'd have to use mine to beat him. I really didn't want to use my rings yet, and I wasn't ready either. I faced him, shocked by his eyes again. This time, there were mysterious sparks in them that had me paralyzed there. He was still emotionless, but he held a slight frown. Maybe guilt? I finally got out of my trance and was about to get out of his grip, but the dark clouds covered both of us and everything went dark.