IV
"Lights please!" Yemma asked. I saw a girl snap her fingers and all the lights shuttered off. Rushing in the dark, I quickly paced toward the "medic".
"I thought you were a Doctor, or a Nurse or a Clinic guy or something!" He laughed. I felt Orsyko's presence behind me, his scent filling my sinuses. I shivered at his nearness, at everyone's nearness. Not like you can see them or anything. It's pitch black. Ugh, I can just feel it.
"No, I teach skills and agility!" He exclaimed, his heavy Australian accent marking each word. I smiled.
"Even better!" I cried. I felt a finger poke my shoulder. I quickly grabbed it and bent it back.
"Ahh- hey! I was trying to get your attention!" Orsyko complained.
"For what?" I felt him grab both my arms and pull me closer, "Don't punch me."
"What-," Orsyko pulled me into a spot that was less populated. It was still dark, but I could still feel his hands on my arms, and his breath on my ear. He was standing behind me, but he was right next to me.
"Forgot to get you Mobian clothing." He whispered.
"Mobian clothing? I'm wearing Mobian clothing! What do you mean?" I turned around so he wasn't behind me. I also pulled his hands off my arms because I felt uncomfortable.
"Traditional Mobian clothes. You are wearing Mobian clothing, but you need to add more… light to it. It helps with your ability or your gift, what ever you want to call it."
"Okay… so it helps with my gift. But how?" I felt his breath hit my face again, bringing shivers to my arms once more.
"Certain chemicals are in them, and so on. You umm… you have to wear it. It's sort of like uniform I guess, but different with every Mobian." I nodded, but I doubt he saw.
"So I change clothes?" After I asked that question, I felt his presence tense up. I turned around to face him. I saw him turn on his rings as they started to glow, giving us some light. Looking his figure, his face was emotionless like always.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that. They might change other stuff, like your quills." I gasped.
"Not my quills!" I frowned with him. "I don't know, but most of the time they give you your Mobian clothing, it has something to do with your gift. Sense we don't know what yours is, we'll do it tonight." I nodded.
"After the Labyrinth right?" He shook his head. "But not exactly after. There's always something happening after these events like arguments, fights, and so on. They give us an hour time span. Not like I couldn't fix that…" He mumbled the last part to himself. Too bad I heard.
"What do you mean you could fix it? Do you mean fix the time?" His eyes widened.
"Uh- no…"
"Does it have to do with your gift? I know you can "teleport", but when you say teleport, do you mean through time and space as well?" Bingo.
"Ah- can we please not talk about this here. I'd feel more comfortable if you'd stop asking." I put one hand on my hip. "So we'll talk about it later?"
"No."
"There's really no reasoning with you is there?" He quietly chuckled, "I'm not the only one." I grunted in exasperation.
"Fine."
"What should I call you?" I crossed my arms over my chest as he took a step closer.
"Nothing. Why is it so dark in here anyway?"
"It's so dark in here so you cant see the attackers! Duh! What kind of question is that, Iris?" Yemma called from across the room. I could feel everyone's gaze trying to find me. Embarrassed, I lowered my head to listen. I heard a snap from the side. I poked Orsyko with my finger and motioned him to listen.
Thump.
"It's probably not one of them. I don't really participate in these." He whispered into my ear.
"Orsyko-o-o-o!" I heard someone cry. With my sensitive ears reacting, I put my hands over them and shut my eyes. I heard muffled voices through the loud ring in my ears.
"Wrong…" Orsyko said after I uncovered my ears. Through the muggy light radiating off of his rings, I saw another Mobian. She was about his height with wavy tangelo colored hair. With her tan fur, she had tall feline cat ears with a gold band around one. She wore a dark vermilion cocktail dress with the same gold band outlining the edges. The dress fit her figure nice with her matching flats; on the head of the base held two red diamonds. She had bright gold eyes with silver rings as well.
"Hello! I'm Mesoku, the Cat." She said chill, holding out her hand. I took her hand and shook it. After I shook it, she squealed and pulled me into a hug. "I've heard so much about you! We're going to have so much fun!" Still shocked I looked to Orsyko for an explanation.
"Hmph." He shrugged.
"Wait, if you've heard a lot about me, you know my name already?" I asked the she-cat. She nodded.
"Yes! You're Iris the Hedgehog, right? You're the rich one?" I froze.
"H-how did you know that?" She laughed and jabbed a thumb in the direction beside her. That pervert!
Not really a pervert. He did find you in a mansion all by yourself, it's fine for him to assume.
Shut up, me.
"How many people have you told this to?" I asked vigorously.
"Ehh…" He calmly smirked, "About three people. Just close friends though."
"If they're so close, do they know what your gift is?" I asked, annoyed. After I asked that, I ticked him off. He just stood there, emotionless as Mesoku watched.
"He- umm… No, we don't know. Sense we're close, we've learned to accept his mysterious ways." She spoke up. Mesoku giggled and came up to him, locking her hands around his arm.
"CAN we do something interesting instead of mourning over Orsyko's disabilities?"
"My what-!"
"YEMMA!" Mesoku screamed.
"Yes?" He called.
"ARE WE ALLOWED TO ATTACK YOU? YOU COULD BE THE ATTACKER FOR ALL WE KNOW!" Silence…
"Okay guys, ready?" I flicked my head to her after the ringing died down in my ears.
"For what, and please stop screaming."
"Yemma is the attacker. Lets go!" She grabbed my arm and I unconsciously growled. Orsyko chuckled as we both got dragged across the room. He turned off his rings so it was back to being dark, to keep our cover.
"Orsyko, what's the event for tonight gonna be?" Mesoku asked, still dragging us.
"Labyrinth. I'm one of the five leaders." She laughed quietly, "Our group's gonna be the leaders aren't we?"
"Your group? Who's your group?" I asked.
"Orsyko, Malkom, Barley and me! Now you too, silly!" I frowned.
"How did you guess something so… correct?" He asked the cat.
"Umm, I'm not sure. Though, I'm positive Iris here, sweetie, you wont be a leader. EEK! I can't wait for you to be on my team!" I grunted out loud.
"No, she's going to be on my team. You're not going to be first picker anyway, I am."
"WHAT?" She cried, "The first time in forever and I don't get to choose first. The mini does!"
"The mini?" I finally spoke up. We came to a stop and Mesoku let her grip go, except for Orsyko's arm.
"The mini," She lit up her rings and pointed to Orsyko, "here looks almost exactly like M-."
"Nothing." He hissed. She shrugged it off, but I didn't. I stood there watching as the cat walked up to a desk and kneeled down. Following her lead I whispered in her ear, "Tell me later." She quietly squealed, and Orsyko frowned. I stuck my tongue out at him, and then started focusing on the dark. Looking ahead, there were only splotches of light coming off of other Mobians' rings. I noticed something move in the dark, tall ears and a coat. I nudged Mesoku.
"Is that Yemma?" I questioned.
"Umm… where?" She shook her head, "We should call Barley."
"BARLEY!" Orsyko called loudly making me cover my ears again. You'd think they'd notice you're in pain, right?
Nope.
The figure jerked their head toward his call and in a flash he was gone. I gasped as a mint green glow formed in front of me. I watched it form into another Mobian, a dog. He had the same mint green glowing eyes with a darker shade lab coat on. He had dark chocolate brown fur with a milky brown undercoat. Barley had long fluffy ears and a long fluffy tail. He wore silver rings with white and mint-tipped shoes.
"Yes?" He asked.
"This is Iris, say hi." Mesoku said.
"Hey." He smiled at me. White teeth. Who would've guessed that, sense he looks like he lives in breath mints.
"Hi, I'm Iris. Too bad I didn't get to tell anyone my name myself. I have such good friends."
"She admits we're her friends!" Mesoku squealed. Barley rolled his eyes.
"I can tell. When you're stuck with us, we all have each other's back. Plus, Orsyko, thanks for messing me up. I had Yemma in my grasp and when you called me, I lost him." Orsyko gave Barley his signature smirk.
"Anytime." I saw a glance of white near a wall not to far away from where we were located.
"Found him." I called and ran off. I paced through the crowd before I was with my target. When I saw him, I wasn't sure what to do. Should I go confront him?
No, smart one! This is Fighting Practice 101 for Pete's sake! You need to attack him.
I then sprinted toward the figure, lab coat and everything, and pounced onto him making both of us fall onto the floor. Cries and laughter spread through the black room as our teacher yelped. He laughed, and snapped his finger making the room light up again. Blushing, I sat down next to him and closed my eyes.
"Who did that? Whomever found me, and took the will to jump onto me, show yourself!" I sighed. Mesoku and Orsyko ran and pushed everyone to the side of them when they got upfront. Barley materialized from his glow shortly before. The three then looked down at me. Mesoku smiled, Orsyko showed no emotion (of course) and Barley snickered. Shocked, Yemma looked down and noticed me with my embarrassment and all.
"You, Iris… You found me? How did you find me?" He asked in his heavy accent.
"I- umm…" I looked up and smiled. "You're not too hard to find, to be completely honest." He frowned.
"If I was so easy to find, how come NOBODY ELSE thought about finding me?" As I got up, a fox walked up.
"You weren't. My friends and I were seriously right beside you, and we didn't notice you." A large part of the class agreed.
"How did you notice me?"
"Same with noticing Barley, I saw his figure."
"You saw me?" He cried, "I thought my new invisibility spell would work!"
"It did!" Mesoku said, letting go of Orsyko's arm and wrapping them around Barley's now. She turned back to Yemma.
"I remember her asking me about finding someone right before Barley showed up." I nodded adding, "And when you materialized in front of me, you had the same tall ears and tail I saw before." Everyone gasped.
"Now, now." Yemma began, "She's new-,"
"We know." The crowd stated. "Hmph!" He wined.
"New abilities, new powers, new gift." Orsyko said. There were some "oohs" and "ahs" through the crowd after he said that.
"Wait, can you guess on what I have?" I asked Yemma. He rubbed the back of his head.
"Ah- no. Sorry. I haven't heard of a gift that can make you see through spells-,"
"Run super fast-," Mesoku added, "and pounce onto me from a good distance." Yemma finished. I frowned.
Ha-ha, almost as if you were an animal.
"The running and pouncing, I can explain all of that so it doesn't mean anything." I felt everyone lean closer to me, wanting an answer.
"Yes, my brother did tell me that you trained with him for awhile." Yemma said.
"Y-your brother? He didn't look anything close to you." He flattened his lips. "I mean, no offence!" I quickly added.
"It's fine! Different father."
"My mom-."
"Your dad." I froze. I haven't talked about my dad in almost five years. Noticing my sudden state, Orsyko stepped forward.
"I'm assuming you mean our old Arts teacher, Ian?" There it was, that name. I swallowed hard as I saw Yemma nod.
"Yes, and he had a beautiful daughter that he knew was special." How embarrassing is this? We're talking about my life with about fifty Mobians tuned in.
"Ok, we get it." I quietly snapped. I turned down and faced the floor, suddenly interested in it's complexity. Our teacher heard and walked up to me.
"Class dismissed, thank you for your time. Homework is to look up that invisibility spell Barley used." The class groaned and walked out leaving the five of us to talk.