III

Oh! My HEAD. If that freaking guy hit my head, when I find him-

"You're awake? You aren't awake, but you can hear me." The sound of a slap filled my ears. "Listen up, when I count to five you are going to open your eyes but do not look into the light. Keep your eyes open, just do not look into the light." What kind of request is that?

"One…" Wait, I'm not supposed to look into the light. What if there are multiple lights?

"Two, three…" I don't want to wake up, and my head feels like someone dropped me ON IT.

"Four…" The voice said warningly. Here goes nothing, right?

"Five." I shot my eyes open, and a blinding light instantly was in front of my face. Keeping my eyes open, I tried avoiding where the Mobian was aiming the light. My eyes started to water, but I kept them open. About ten seconds later, the Mobian turned off the light. I shot up, and rubbed my eyes.

"Fascinating… Most newcomers don't ace that test on their first time. Lucky Orsyko (Or-si-co) brought you here. Welcome, Iris." Orsyko… I've never heard of that-

I shot up again, and looked around the room. All white walls, no windows, a cabinet full of prescription, drugs and more (still all white), a white bed, and a white hedgehog in a white lab coat standing in front of me with a flashlight in his left hand.

"Where is that sick bastard, and if I ever find him, o-o-o-oh! He'll be praying he never laid a foot in my house!" The guy laughed.

"You will see him VERY soon, actually." He blinked, and his silver eyes changed into a chocolaty brown. I wasn't shocked, which was odd. He laughed again, "Miss, if you don't mind, could you stand up?" I got up off the bed and stood up. I was a little light headed after, but it quickly faded.

"Yes, we're leaving."

"Where? There's no doors nor windows in here." I raised one brow. He shook his head and make a "tsk, tsk" noise.

"Don't flip out and attack me when I touch you."

"Wait! What-!" He jerked his hand and poked my arm. I squinted my eyes as the world around me morphed and spun. His hand was still on my arm, which annoyed me, but I let him keep it there because I had no clue what was going on. When everything slowed down and I could gain my balance, I opened my eyes. We were in a hallway, plainly grey and black. It gradually looked down each end of the hall, and the outside was glass. I gasped when I saw space outside. I slowly walked toward the window, looking at the galaxies and planets that were scattered. Tears filled my eyes when realization hit. I wasn't at home anymore. I slowly edged to the floor and put my knees to my chest. I stared blankly at the wall in front of me, ignoring the black hedgehog that walked up beside the medic. I took in a deep, shaky breath and tried to sum-up what was happening. Dark blue specks of clouds flew around the halls. I felt more tears form as I thought about my family and friends I left. I was breathing more heavily when I noticed pink clouds forming around me. Shocked, I got up to my feet. I wiped my eyes quickly, embarrassed that they saw me like that, and looked over to them for an answer. The medic dude didn't answer me; he just raised his eyebrows. I looked over to Orsyko for an explanation. He smirked and pointed to his rings. His rings? I looked down and saw my rings were glowing. Still breathing heavily, I took a step back, running into the glass wall. I turned around, and faced the dark, wondrous Universe. I put one fist on the glass and placed my forehead onto the large window. So this is it, I thought to myself. I'm stuck in the Universe, I somehow turned on my rings and I can't even show my sister.

I felt a presence behind me; I ignored it. They placed a hand on my lower back, and guess what happened next? Remember the thing I said about how my rings are on? Yeah, I love it.

"WOAH!" The medic yelled after I punched Orsyko through the wall. From the sounds of it, he crashed through about six different walls. I guess that's my new record. I walked toward the hole to check it out. I stuck my head in and saw empty multi-colored rooms. The rooms looked like storage rooms. One for…Guns, one that held a desk and about a billion sheets of paper, another with glass bottles full of liquids. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

I had to squint my eyes to see a faint glow near the end of the damage.

"Ha! That was bloody BRILLIANT, Iris! Well, too bad Orsyko doesn't have a temper." I turned to face the white hedgehog. "Why would I care about that?" He laughed.

He shrugged, "He's had a tough life, and I guess he could relate to you in a way." I nodded. I understood I guess. I'm not used to people, especially guys, to touch me. Only my friends and family have ever touched me because I'm very self-conscious.

I saw Orsyko walking toward us, covered in dust, water, and…rocks? His rings were glowing, and he hung his head as he walked toward us. He frowned at me, I frowned back, and then he turned to the medic guy.

"Yemma-," He then tilted his head toward him and whispered something in his hear, he nodded.

"Iris, please come with me." Orsyko said, and I shook my head.

"Your name is Yemma?" Yemma nodded, smiled and walked off, so much for my own decisions. I mean, I guess I'm stuck on this ship.

I followed Orsyko into another room. While we were walking there, he was wiping and dusting himself off.

"Come in here."

"Yup…" He walked toward a door, and it opened automatically. The room had one king seized bed, a desk, dresser, it's own bathroom, a mini fridge and kitchen, and a dining table. Everything was stormy blue, grey, or black in this room. I automatically assumed this was his room.

"Make yourself comfortable, you're gonna want it. We have a lot to discuss."

"Nice room." He shrugged.

"They personalize the rooms to your liking. They had a lucky guess." I took a couple of steps toward the dining table and sat down. I frowned, "You seem…familiar. I cant quite put my tongue on it." He flinched at my statement, and then sat down next to me. Orsyko sighed, "Okay, I think you already know what this place is. I think you already get that it's a secret headquarters but I don't think you know exactly what we do here." He turned in his chair to face me, but I looked down at the table. There was something happening in my head that I couldn't explain. Orsyko seemed familiar, in a… bad way. I just don't understand.

"Yeah… We're not spies or anything. We're not assassins, but I guess you could call us mutant agents. We all have a special ability, but some of us don't figure out what it is until later on." I tilted my head to face his.

"What's yours?" He winced, "I can… umm. It's hard to explain. The easiest way to explain my ability is to just say I can teleport." I bit my lip.

"But-ah… those clouds. Before you took me here, there were these stormy dark clouds surrounding us. That was coming from you, wasn't it?" I didn't mention the rings because I didn't think I had to. He turned away.

"Yes." The room got silent, and I placed my hands in my lap. I felt my spikes fall over my shoulders, and I lowered my ears. Sighing loudly I asked, "Do Yemma and you know what my ability is?" Orsyko shrugged, "Not a clue. We normally figure out right away, but you're different." Well, that helps.

"We take certain classes like fighting, and some special-add classes. You have to be smart, clever, and athletic so every night we have one big win or loose event. Nobody knows what the event is except for the head council because they plan everything. The events have to include a puzzle, an obstacle, combats and so on. The head council assigns team leaders, which is normally four to five, and then the leaders choose their groups. Before the event starts, they have to agree that the groups are fair game." I looked up to his smiling face. He looked over at me, "My team always wins."

"And is it obvious how they won?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. He smirked and leaned back more onto his chair to get comfortable.

"Maybe." He wiggled his eyebrows and laughed quietly, "Ok, anyway, there was a leak in the council and I know what tonight's event is going to be." I looked at him expectantly.

"Are you good at labyrinths, Iris?" I gasped.

"I love labyrinths! I have trophies for coming first place out of them!" I smiled, proud of myself.

"Nice, glad that I'm also going to be team leader tonight also, so you'll be my first pick." Wait what?

"I'm joining tonight?"

"Well, yeah. You might be new, but new comers always get to do these events. It's to see what you're capable of. For all we know, this could help us figure out what your ability is. But most importantly, sense you'll be on my team, I have no doubt we'll win." I'm the key to winning, nice to know.

"My schedule, do you have it?" He nodded and stood up. He walked into another room for a minute or two, and then came back with a sheet of paper. He placed it onto the table and slid it in front of me.

"The main council made me your guide, so we have all of our classes together. The only problem with that is if you hate me at some time in your life, you'll be stuck with me." He said smirking. I rolled my eyes.

"Pity me."

"Already do." I frowned. We both laughed for a couple of seconds before it got quiet again.

"We have six classes per day. One of the periods is a free one." I looked down at the sheet of paper in front of me. My first class was Fighting Practice 101; the next one was AP Gun. Some of these had pretty weird names.

"Phycology isn't what it sounds like, just be warned." Orsyko said.

"What is it really about then?" I asked, tilting my head to the left.

"Well, it… you'll figure out later, I promise." Thanks! That really helps (cue sarcasm there.) I rolled my eyes.

"Can I ask you a question?" He knit his brows together in confusion. He nodded slowly, "What is it?"

"Do I have to go to all of my classes today?" He shook his head, "Today, we both get off. I have to take you to each of our classes so you could experience what it's like, but you're not allowed to participate in any of it. The only thing we get to do today is the night event."

"We? You're stuck not doing anything too? Doesn't that seem a little bit unfair?" I lowered my shoulders.

"No! It's fine! I volunteered to stay with you. Though I didn't volunteer to pick you up…" He muttered the last pat to himself. Too bad I heard him.

"You're cool." I randomly said. I bit my lip, how embarrassing. "I mean, when I first met you, I didn't even think you were a Mobian. I thought you were a part of some kind of hallucination I was having. You won't stop touching me, and that annoys the crap out of me. You seem strong, but there's something to you I'm going to figure out. I don't know what it is, but its there. It really is."

"Don't." He blurted out. I saw the surprised expression on his face that matched mine. "If you do, you'll regret it. Just know me for me, get to know me, become my friend, and enjoy my presence before you do that." He sighed loudly and leaned his arms against the table. Still looking at him fuddled, I un-bit my lip.

"Sorry. I should've kept it to myself."

"Better that you said it out loud, now I get to hang out with you longer." He shrugged raising his eyebrows. He paused, "Time to go."

"Where?" I asked.

"Fighting Practice 101 of course!" We both got up and left his room.