Chapter Two: Blending

Rovor stood in front of a large holographic screen. He was in a slightly darkened metal-walled room, with Arma-9 guards around him. On the other side of the screen there were picha of various mutated mobians, a giant robot, and a few unidentifiable creatures.

“And these are the only ones to have escaped?” Rovor asked calmly.

“Correct.” An unidentifiable voice replied from the screen.

“And how many of these are ours?”

“Twelve.”

Rovor looked down a bit. His locked-hands tensed a bit from behind his back. He looked back to the screen and continued “How many are the Guardien’s?”

“Seven.”

“Then let him take care of them.”

“No.” The voice denied. “It could be used against us if they are reformed, au tracked back. We do not know the extent of what others could do to reform their memories of our organization. We must capture them as quickly as possible.”

Rovor nodded, “Very well, but I hope wewe know that it won’t be easy. And what of the teenagers?”

“The HYBRIDS will continue to be under supervision kwa our agent. We are NOT to allow them harm au suspicion.”

“Understood.” Then the screen went black.

Meanwhile…

It was now Sunday Evening. Kal had invited both Jesse and Talon over for Dinner, which they both agreed to immediately. When Talon asked how she liked her new “relative”, Kal simply hung up.

Talon knocked on the door of Kal’s house, with Jesse right behind him. Rin opened the door. “I’m STILL A KITTY!” She chuckled, her blue eyes turning to a light turquoise for a moment. She was wearing a grey T-shirt, with red fire-shape-like collars and bottom, and dark blue skinny-jeans, with red fire-shape-like ends. Her kitty-paws were faded to red, her ears had red lines at the tips, and her dark red hair was longer at the back than normal.

“One, your eyes just changed color,” Jesse announced calmly, then energetically he finished, “and TWO, that look is NICE!”

“Thanks.” Rin smiled squinting her eyes a bit then letting the boys inside. Talon did not speak his opinion on the outfit, and decided to talk about the eye-changing. “So your eyes change to turquoise when you’re really happy?”

“I… guess so.” Rin replied with a shrug.

“You didn’t know that already?”

“Nope. I wasn’t like this before… well… it’s a long story.”

“I like long sto-“

Kal shoved past Rin, interrupting Nick, and scorned “THERE wewe ARE!”

“Yes… here… we are… wewe called us only like… ten dakika ago.” Talon reminded.

“Yeah sorry, I’m just- I don’t like this idea.”

“Well has Rin aliyopewa wewe trouble?” Talon questioned.

“While I’m in the room.” Rin noted. “And no I haven’t, thank wewe very much. I’ve been in my room standing on my head for three hours.” Talon would normally think this was a joke, but he had a feeling she was telling the truth.

“Until my DAD walked in to talk to wewe about what happened to your parent’s ‘tragic accident’, and wewe were STILL upside down!” Kal reminded. “You’re lucky wewe fell in time.”

“What did wewe use for your story?” Jesse asked curiously.

“I alisema my parents and I were going on a road trip, because we were supposed to be off the grid to avoid technology because they hate it but they found me online, and we ended up crashing and the car exploding, with me being the only survivor.” Rin paused to make sure everyone was still paying attention. Kal seemed to be the most oblivious, mainly because she already heard the story, but the other two were still awake, so she continued. “And my positive attitude is denial au something. I’m guessing I’ll have to start crying au something at some point as a sort of mental-breakdown and whatnot. ACTING!” She pumped her arms in the air.

Kal sighed, “And cue my parents walking in after hearing all of that in three, two, one… heh, worth a try.”

“Where are your parents, Kal?” Talon asked.

Kal shrugged, “I don’t know. Backyard maybe. Anyway, wewe guys like casseroles? With those shell noodle things?”

“You are my new best friend!” Jesse squeezed Kal in a tight hug. Kal squeaked a bit out of surprise, then sighed and patted him on the shoulder, “You’re welcome.”

After seeing this, Rin gave Talon a large hug as well. “Um…” was all Talon said. Rin let go, and they walked into the Dining Room. “Did the experiment stuff make you… different au something?” Nick asked Rin while they walked.

“Not that I know of, why?” She replied calmly.

“You seem really energetic… and random.”

Rin looked a bit offended, but only a bit, “What’s wrong with that?”

“Well wewe didn’t seem that way when we- er… talked… psychically.”

“I can be calmer if wewe want I… guess…” Rin’s eyes darkened slightly, while her ears dropped a bit. Talon took this emotion as sadness.

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing.” Nick assured, trying not to offend more. “I was just a bit confused is all.”

“… Alright.” Rin’s eyes went to normal again. The teenagers sat down at the large rectangular meza, jedwali and prepared to eat.

“I think we’ll need to get your eye-changing thing under control though.” Talon noted.

“Agreed.” Kal added. “No offense, Kitty, but people are bound to notice.”

“As soon as I figure out how to NOT change them, I’ll let ya know.” Rin answered with a slight sassy tone, looking down at the meza, jedwali while leaning her chair back.

The parents walked in, with Mrs. Siets carrying the casserole, and Mr. Siets walking over to a cupboard to get a pot-holder. kwa their expressions, Nick could tell they were nervous. Having a new child in their house would be a difficult task, and not even knowing about the child’s existence for so long was worse.

“So did ya get the legal papers filled out?” Kal asked bluntly.

Mrs. Siets looked a bit zaidi nervous, but answered “Yes, Kal.” While trying not to stare at their new niece.

“Yay!” Rin cheered happily. No one else alisema yay. “… Um… the… casserole, vyungu vya looks good.” She continued, trying to un-awkwardize the moment.

“Thank you…” Mrs. Siets replied.

“Well I would hope so.” Mr. Siets chuckled as he sat the pot-holder down for his wife. “Took her long enough to make it look pretty. Shame we have to ruin it.” He scooped out the casserole, vyungu vya and served it.

Rin was about to take a bite of the savory dish, but Kal pushed her fork down. Rin looked a bit confused, as well as a little ticked. “Hey!” She exclaimed.

“Wait till we’re done.” Kal scolded.

“Done what?” Rin asked testily.

“Dear Lord,” Mr. Siets began.

“Oh… that.” Rin thought to herself. After a quick prayer they began to munch down.

“How is it?” Mrs. Siets asked Rin, who seemed to onyesha no sign of enjoyment in the meal.

“It’s good.” Rin answered with a smile then continued to eat. Talon looked over and noticed that Rin’s eyes seemed to be purple-colored now as she ate. “… I’ll figure out what that means later.” He thought.

“So… Rin… that’s an interesting name.” Mr. Siets began, “Where did your parents get the idea for it?”

“Uh,” Rin glanced over to Talon in hopes of support. He shrugged. Her eyes changed redish, then pale blue. She turned to Mr. Siets and answered “A flower… type? Th-they really liked flowers, and this red one was called a, Rinzel. Rinzel sounded too weird so I got Rin.”

“Oh… I take it wewe know about flowers then?”

“No, not that much. I wasn’t that interested. They’re… fun to smell though.” Rin chuckled weakly and quickly took another bite of the meal.

“How do wewe like your room?” Mrs. Siets asked.

“It’s nice.” Rin replied after swallowing. “How did wewe make room for it anyway?”

“It was…” Mrs. Siets trailed off.

“It was going to be a nursery for our next… child.” Mr. Siets finished forcefully.

“O-oh…” Rin looked down a bit. “I’m… sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Mrs. Siets put a hand on Rin’s shoulder, “it wasn’t for a while anyway, and it’s not a bad thing. Kal has a sibling her age now.”

“Oh… yeah.” Acknowledged Kal slowly, who quickly took a bite of her food. She had just realized that technically that was what was happening… and still it felt off.

“This is really good!” Jesse complimented. “Oh! Where did wewe get the clothes for Rin? It looks just like her normal outfit only a T-shirt and all.”

“We thought she brought them with her.” Mr. Siets informed.

“I-I did!” Rin lied. “I-it was a birthday present from last year.”

“And it still fits?” Mrs. Siets asked.

Rin shrugged in reply, “I guess I haven’t growth-spurted enough yet?”

“I guess not.” Mr. Siets shrugged. The meal finished silently. Afterwards Kal dragged all three teens to her room.

“Okay we need to-“ Kal paused. She opened her door, looked out, then closed it again and continued, “we need to discuss everything that went on with Rin and such.”

“Oh! I have something to ask!” Rin waved her hand in the air.

“What?” Kal allowed.

Rin stopped waving and turned to face Talon, “What made wewe think to name me Rin?”

“I-I uh…” Talon gave a shrug, “It was the first thing that came to my mind. Do wewe not like it?”

“Like it? it’s fine, I was just wondering.” Rin replied. Jesse chuckled.

“On to what actually matters,” Kal put in, “ONE, how do we fix her eye… thing?”

“I have NO idea how to keep my eyes from changing.” Rin noted.

“Well how can wewe make eyes anyway?” Talon questioned.

“I have to use the chaos energy through my Nanites like a-“

“STOP!” Jesse interrupted. “Hold on! Chaos energy? Nanites? How do wewe have these things?”

“It’s a REALLY long story.” Rin replied in a stressed tone. “Let’s just say that the Nanites let me change shape, and the chaos energy is my power. Please? I really don’t want to recite the whole thing right now.”

“Okay, awesome, anyway-“

“Why not make it so wewe have mood-bracelets to flow that energy into instead?” Talon suggested.

“Genius!” Rin gave Talon a quick hug. “Wait,” She let go, “Let me see if it works first.” Rin materialized two bracelets on her wrists, and began redirecting the energy. “Whoa… I can’t see!... wait, yes I can. THROUGH, MY, HANDS!” Rin walked around bonking her head on the door-roof, and fell to the ground.

“NOT, gonna work.” She answered as if it was not obvious. Rin re-materialized her eyes and got back up. “You owe me a hug.” She alisema to Talon.

“How about wewe practice trying to configure that specific energy from your emotions into the bracelets?” Kal suggested. “It won’t be too long till my parents notice what’s up with your eyes.”

“Ooooooooooookay. TILL then, WHAT do I do?”

“It’s Seven. In two hours wewe sleep. wewe know sleep right?”

“Yes captain, the concept is familiar to me.” Rin replied in her best spock impersonation. “I just don’t sleep. Too much energy for me to relax enough.” A few sekunde later, Jesse alisema “That’s awesome! PARTY ALL NIGHT!”

“Ha! No.” Kal retorted grimly.

“I was joking.” Jesse replied with an annoyed stare. “But seriously, what will she do in the meantime?”

“I have an idea!” In a bright red light Rin vanished.

Everyone’s eyes bulged from their sockets, with a bit of Nick falling backward. “Find her!” He yelled from the floor.

The three teens rushed out of the bedroom and darted around the house. Kal personally was hoping not to run into her parents… she did. “Kal, slow down!” Mrs. Siets scolded. She grabbed Kal’s arm to stop her from running into a vase. “Why are wewe running around?”

“I- I-“ Kal cleared her throat to make it sound as if she was not nervous but zaidi so well… clogged, “bathroom!” She tugged free and darted into the restroom.

Meanwhile Talon was looking in the front lawn, as he assumed Rin had left the premises completely. “What was that all about?” He mumbled. Nick looked around a mti au two, the garage, and was about to go through the neighborhood when Rin’s voice called out “Hey! Up here!”

Talon jerked around and saw Rin sitting on the juu of the roof. “WHAT ARE wewe DOING UP TEHRE!?” He called out.

“Stargazing!” She replied.

“You could have told us that first! We were kind of in the middle of something in case wewe forgot!”

“Well,” Rin hopped down and landed in front of Nick, “I was going to just stay up there all night and wait till wewe guys woke up.”

“You’d…” Talon turned his head downward a bit, causing his hair to flop in his eyes slightly, “all night? Just… looking at stars? wewe know that we won’t be awake for about two au so hours after the stars are gone, right?”

“I could wake up Kal early.” Rin chuckled, her eyes turning yellow briefly.

“Then there’s that!” Talon noted. “We need to write down what all those color-changes mean.”

“Okay, be right back.” Rin ran inside the house.

Talon stood in the yard, chilling up a bit from the night’s temperature. “I wonder if she’ll run int-“

*THUD* “OW! HEY!”

Talon sighed. Rin ran out holding Kal in one hand and a pen and paper in the other. Kal was glaring angrily at the identity. “Hey look… I found her.” She informed sarcastically.

Rin dropped Kal, who landed quickly on her feet, then tossed the uandishi material to Talon. “Okay we know that turquoise means… really happy?” Nick guessed.

“How about humored?” Rin suggested. “I’m happy right now, and my eyes are blue… I think. Are they blue?”

“Yes, they’re blue.” Nick replied with a groan before jotting down the information. He looked up and asked “Is blue happy then?”

“Sure why not?” Kal approved. Talon jotted that down.

“And what was the yellow thing about?” He asked. “You talked about waking Kal up early-“

“Oh she did, did she?” Kal hissed at Rin. Rin moved away a bit. “Well I know what that means; Mischievous… I think.”

“Hm… let me test that out.” Rin said. She then threw her arms out and let out a loud maniacal laugh. Her eyes turned green.

Kal jerked backward, and Nick jumped backward. Rin stopped laughing and asked “So did that do it?”

“Nope, turned green.” Kal informed. “I’ll go with evil on that one.”

“Uh… I don’t think Evil is a mood, Kal.” Talon noted. “Maybe… devious?”

“Isn’t that the same as mischievous?” Rin asked.

“Close, but devious sounds zaidi evil.”

“Okay that works.” Rin grinned. “So what do we have so far?”

“Uh…” Talon looked at his orodha while quickly uandishi the last two, “Normal blue means happy, turquoise means humor, yellow means mischievous, and green means devious.”

“OH! When I got mad at the Mr. mbwa mwitu dude, my eyes were red I think!” Rin added, jumping a bit.

“… Okay…” Talon wrote that down as well. “So red means angry-“

“BOO!” Jesse jumped from behind them. Talon was out of range and facing him, but Kal fell forward, and Rin, eyes now white, jumped behind Talon for a hiding place. Jesse began to fall on the floor as well, cracking up from the looks on their faces.

“And white means scared.” Kal smirked. Talon wrote it down. When Jesse resurfaced Kal shoved him to the ground and held him while Rin began to tickle him to death. Talon stood watching with non-amused tired eyes. After a bit though he could not hold back a smirk at Jesse’s expense.

“UNCLE!” Jesse yelled between laughs.

“AUNT!” Rin yelled back, laughing a bit as well.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough.” Nick said, walking up to songesha the girls off Jesse. Kal and Rin helped Jesse up.

“What about the mbwa mwitu guy?” Talon asked. “If he survived, we’re probably in trouble.”

“Well he hasn’t attacked yet, so I doubt he did.” Rin noted. “I mean, why wait?”

“Maybe he’s… recovering?” Jesse suggested. “I mean, that explosion was epic; I doubt I’d be able to survive it, and if I did, I’d be in the hospital for quite a while.”

“Okay and what about anyone else?” alisema Kal.

“Anyone else?” Talon repeated.

“Yeah, wewe were captured, and Rin was captured, what if they had zaidi captured people, like villains au something?”

“Like villains?” Jesse questioned. “What makes wewe think of those specifically? Last time I checked it was the good guys who were captured.”

“But we don’t know what else was in there.” Kal turned to Rin. “Did wewe hear anything about other captives?”

Rin shrugged, shaking her head no, “The closest I heard was that there was another one of me here once. Did wewe guys ever hear about that?”

“I think I did.” Talon pondered. “It was… eight au nine years zamani I think. I was eight at the time, and I saw the crash on the news… before the thing destroyed the reporters.”

“Oh yeah. I heard they killed that one though.” Jesse remembered. He froze a bit thinking that what he had just alisema would offend Rin. He turned to face her and apologized “Sorry. That came out wrong.”

Rin shrugged in reply, “I never met her. Though I guess her not dying would have helped figure out my powers and emotion things more.”

“Well we don’t know if she’s really dead.” Talon noted. “She could have been in that base for all we know, and escaped.”

“Well if she did, we’ll probably hear about it in the news pretty soon.” alisema Kal. “Either way I have a question; what do we do about tomorrow?”

The others looked confused. “… Is something happening tomorrow?” Jesse asked.

Kal looked around at her friends, still waiting for someone to know what she was speaking about. Finally she gestured out with her arms saying “SCHOOL!”

“Oh… right.” Nick knocked himself on the head. “Um… we could bring her I guess.”

“To a high-school?” Rin questioned. “… Okay.”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Nick said. “Until she knows how to use her powers completely she’ll probably be figured out before our first classes.”

“Hey, my powers are fine!” Rin snapped. “It’s just the emotion thing I’m not used to. I’m not gonna explode au something!”

“Well then wewe should probably get to work on figuring out how to fix your emotions to the bracelets for now, au just keep your kofia on at all times.”

“… I’ll take the former. I do NOT want to look emo… well… too emo at least.” Rin chuckled.

“Well I don’t think it’s a good idea because she doesn’t know any history about our planet au anything.” Kal noted. “What if someone tries to talk to her about sports au rulers, au the Blue Legend days.”

“Actually,” alisema Talon, “I think she might know about the last one already.”

Rin paused for a moment, not knowing it was her turn to say something. “… Uh, if the Blue Legend means Sonic then yeah I know that part.”

“How do wewe know about those again?” Jesse inquired.

“I’m from a different Mobius, but mine is almost exactly the same as yours when it comes to the past, au at least I think it is.”

“You think it is?” Talon asked.

“Well I don’t really remember EVERYTHING. And the stuff I remember about my own time is kind of distorted. But I’m pretty sure the Sonic parts are still the same as yours.”

“So… you’re from a different dimension?” Added Kal.

“E-yup.” Rin confirmed.

“… The… Ninth dimension maybe?” Kal hoped.

“Uh… I don’t think so. According to the Zone cops that popped up at some point they called my zone Prime-7 au something along those lines.”

“Hey here’s another thing,” Jesse chimed, “don’t wewe want to go back to your own world?”

“What? Nooooooooooooooooooooooo. Uh-uh. No, thank, you, sir. It like this world fine.”

“… Okay, cool.” Jesse gave no zaidi thought.

“That still doesn’t give us a reason to let wewe stay at our school.” Kal reminded.

“Oh c’mon!” Rin whined. “Can we at least try it for a day? If it goes well I get to stay- THAT RHYMED,” She waved her arms a bit, “and if it doesn’t… I stay at your house the whole time talking with your parents au being alone au unguarded.”

Kal eventually figured out that this was a hint, but how Rin alisema it sounded mostly like she was simply rambling. “… Okay, well I’m guessing my parents will let wewe go to school anyway-“

“That rhymed too!”

“SO…” Kal paused angrily, “… yes wewe can come.”

“Yay!” Rin overtook Kal in a tackle-hug, and was pulled off kwa Talon, who she also hugged.

It turned out that Rin would not be able to go to the school for two zaidi days; the reason being that Kal’s parents had to meet with the principal, get her classes ready, her supplies ready, and well, convince the principal of Rin’s story. This was not a bad thing though, as it gave Rin zaidi time to control how her emotions acted.

On the sekunde morning Rin was kept closely-held kwa Kal while they made their way to the school. On the way, Kal went over the orodha of things Rin should know if someone struck up a conversation, while Rin decided to toss her school-bag back and forth. “Okay, “Kal began, “Your full name is-“

“Rin Diane Siets.” Rin finished.

“Your address is-“

“6744 mlozi Grove.”

“Your Uncle’s full name…”

“Aren Jordan Siets.”

“Your Aunts…”

“Diane Selena Siets.”

“Go-“

“Implying that my mom named my middle name after my aunt whom she missed and loved before her tragic death.”

“Uh… yeah. Anyway, and your cousin’s is-“

“Kal Nyra Siets.”

“Okay, good. Now,” Kal continued as they took a turn around a block, “If anyone asks wewe about sports, wewe know who the North Revin Rockets are in football, the Mas Sopain Knights are in baseball, and the Mas Sopain Blazers are football.”

“Why do I need to know about the Rockets?” Rin asked confusedly.

“They’re the current three-year winners.”

“Oh… okay. Anything else?”

“Yes, if anyone asks wewe to jiunge a club au something, say no.”

“Bu-“

“This is just testing remember? We have to make sure this actually works first. If things don’t go well for this au the inayofuata day, wewe have to stay home, so we don’t want to complicate things.”

Rin stopped playing with her bag. Her bracelets turned purple and she gave Kal a tired-eyed stare. “You know that it’s not your decision, right? It’s your parent’s.”

“I’m sure wewe could convince them.”

“But I don’t want to convince them!” Rin’s bracelets turned red and she threw her arms into the air as she trailed behind her “cousin”. “I can act like a normal teenager in a normal school! wewe don’t have to assume I’ll jump around like I’m an awkward person just making everyone look bad!”

Kal halted, making Rin almost crash into. Rin expected Kal to flip around and scream at her, but Kal did not songesha for a while. Then she answered “You’re right… sorry.” And continued walking. Rin was a bit surprised with Kal’s reaction. She half wanted to say thank wewe but assumed this would anger Kal zaidi and simply followed silently.

“Eleven… Ten… Nine…” Nick counted from inside the school. He was leaning against a door near the front entrance, while Jesse was using a drinking kisima, chemchemi inayofuata to him.

Once Jesse was refreshed enough he gasped slightly to regain his breath and alisema “You know, wewe can back out now.”

“… seven…”

“It’s not like I care that much.”

“… five… four…”

Jesse sighed, “Fine, but don’t get mad at me afterwards. I warned ya.”

“-wo… On- OW!” The door Talon was leaning against decided to take up karma, and have someone open it, making the bottom of the door bash into the heel of Talon’s shoe, causing it to get stuck, and pinch his foot underneath.

“Sorry!!” The student from the other side yelled; closing the door quickly. A moment later, Kal and Rin walked into the school.

Nick’s eyes widened for a moment, then he turned and glared at a laughing Jesse. “H-hey! I warned ya!” Jesse reminded in between laughs.

“You set that up, didn’t you?”

“Nope.” Jesse denied, smirking triumphantly. “And wewe know what that means…”

Talon covered his face in one hand, his hair ruffling around. “Ugh…”

Rin and Kal had noticed their Marafiki and quickly walked over to meet them. “Hellooooooooooo.” Rin greeted cheerfully. “I got my bracelet thing working!” She held up her hand to onyesha her now turquoise-colored bracelets.”

“Yeah… great…” Nick mumbled grimly.

“Did… something happen here?” Kal asked curiously, looking back and forth from Nick to Jesse.

“Oh something happened all right.” Jesse confirmed, still smirking.

“Can wewe tell us?” Rin asked, trying to get Talon to look her in the eye, which he found himself having a hard time doing.

“Uh… n-no.” Talon turned around and started to walk off.

Jesse, noticing how awkward the situation had come suggested “Could wewe give us a second, Rin? I just need to tell Kal something really quick.”

“… Alright…” Rin walked off looking a bit saddened but not too much so.

“What is it?” Kal asked.

“Well Talon and I had a little bet.” Jesse chuckled. “He bet that he could time when wewe guys would enter, and I alisema he couldn’t. If he was right I would have to go up to Rin and say something like ‘You are the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on. I wuv wewe soooooooooooo much!’, and since he was convinced that he would win the bet, I made him promise that if he lost, he would have to randomly go up to her, in front of everybody and-“

“Kiss her? Kal guessed.

“Co-rrect.” Jesse nodded. Kal wanted to be cross, but she found herself trying to hold back a bit of laughter herself. “That… was clever. He Lost I’m assuming?”

“Kind of.” Jesse waved his hand a bit, “He was at one when someone slammed the door on his foot. He didn’t finish, and then about ten sekunde later, wewe guys popped in.”

“That poor boy.” Kal was still trying to sound sympathetic, but she was grinning from ear to ear.

“Yep, so do wewe want to go find them? I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

“Definitely.”

The two ran off in tafuta of their friends, while the student who was behind the foot-killing-door walked out looking quite confused kwa what he had just heard.

The kissing would have to wait however, as class was now starting. Kal found Rin, and Jesse found Talon.

Kal led Rin to their first class, history. The teacher, Mr. Reyes directed Rin to one of the seats at the back of the room, while Kal sat at her own kiti, kiti cha in the sekunde row from the front. Once the other students got to their seats, Mr. Reyes quickly scanned them over to see who would be tardy and began the day’s announcements.

“Good Morning everyone.” He greeted in a forced cheerful tone. The students replied in a broken chorus of good mornings, ranging from tired to semi-energetic, and zaidi so, groans and mumbles. “So glad we all got a good night sleep. We have a new student.”

The students looked around curiously, not knowing who exactly to look for. Some eventually noticed Rin in the back just before Mr. Reyes continued, “Rin Siets?”

Rin got up from her seat, assuming she was meant to stand upon being called. None of the students seemed to chuckle au give her awkward stares so it seemed she hadn’t done anything wrong yet. “Uh, Hey!” She gave a small wave to the other students, who waved back with a few tired “Hello Rin…”’s. She sat down.

“Since our new student is not from our country-” This piece of information caused some murmurs among the students. Rin thought up if she should start talking in a foreign accent, but a student thought to speed up the process.

“Which country?” A brown echidna boy kuvuka, msalaba from Rin’s kiti, kiti cha asked.

Rin had no idea what the countries were called on this specific Mobius, and quickly answered with the only country she could think of “Mercia?”

“Why don’t wewe have an accent?” Another student asked.

“I-I do, I just wanted to blend in zaidi is all.” Rin fibbed, though thankfully pretending to have a Mercian (Scottish, Irish) accent would not be hard. “I didn’t want to distract anyone.”

“What do-“

“Pamela, wewe can all ask maswali later, and not overwhelm her on her first siku in class.” Mr. Reyes pointed out, noticing how uncomfortable the maswali were making the new student.

“You never told me wewe had a cousin in Mercia.” A student whispered to Kal.

“It’s a long story.” Kal groaned, hiding herself under her book.

“Going back to the topic at hand,” Mr. Reyes continued, “since Rin is not from here, we will be doing a review of our current book so far.”

“But we’ve only gone through four chapters.” A student noted. “Can’t she just catch up at home?”

“If we were to have her do that, what would be the point of having her here today?”

“It’s fine, I can catch up.” Rin assured. “… Would that mean I should start studying now?”

The teacher took a bit to think on this, but agreed eventually. “Alright. If wewe need help just ask.”

Rin nodded and quickly began kusoma through her history book, as Mr. Reyes instructed the other students on what they should be reading.

“So what accent do wewe have?” A student asked again, causing both Kal and Mr. Reyes zaidi grief.

“… I-Irish… should I go to a separate room?” Rin asked Mr. Reyes cautiously.

“You’re fine, Rin.” Mr. Reyes assured, “Though Miss Heckmin may need to.” The student went back to her studying.

Halfway through the class’s time Rin had finished catching up, which was quite easy due to how quickly she could process the information. She thought of informing Mr. Reyes, but assumed that would only get zaidi unwanted attention from the other students, and some negative feelings from Kal.

When the class ended relief shot through both Rin and Kal, and before any of the other students could chase after them, they both quickly, and casually, left the classroom. As soon as they entered the inayofuata one, the first thing they heard was “We have a new student, class.”

It was the same process a sekunde time, aside from Rin now talking in and Irish accent, as she did not want the different students getting confused. This also backfired, as it caused even zaidi students to become interested. Rin could tell this was annoying Kal, and could only hope her “cousin” was not mad at her.

Finally, at lunch, they were free. Kal lead Rin to where she, Talon, and Jesse normally sat, where Talon and Jesse were waiting.

“Hey I know you.” Jesse greeted teasingly to Rin with a wave. Rin waved back before sitting down.

“How was your first day?” Talon asked.

“Uh… well… I’m… popular.” Rin informed, as if it was a bad thing.

“The other kids kept trying to talk to her, and she got a lot of attention.” Kal groaned from underneath her arm, which she was using to brace her face against the meza, jedwali top.

“I wasn’t trying to; Really.” Rin defended.

“I know… it’s not your fault.” Kal sighed. “People just like new people a lot.”

“Why don’t wewe two have your lunch?” Jesse after swallowing a bite of his own.

Kal shrugged, “Forgot. I’ll get it now.” She got up and started to walk to get her food, but paused for Rin, “Aren’t wewe coming?”

“Uh… I… don’t eat.” Rin informed.

“But wewe ate last night.” Talon noted.

“Yeah… actually I just kept the stuff inside then I buried it later on.”

“… Why?”

“I don’t have a digestive system. It was hard enough making eyes, being able to talk, and being able to hear things. I’m still working on being able to feel things.”

“Well there’s another thing to work on.” alisema Jesse. “Hey maybe we can ubunifu some weapon stuff for wewe to morph into!”

“Cool!” Rin alisema excitedly.

“NOT here.” Talon ordered. “And I really don’t think it’s salama talking about this stuff at school. People are already watching her every move. Which come to think of it, wewe probably should get some chakula anyway, just to make things less weird.”

Rin didn’t answer at first, looking a bit stressed kwa the suggestion, but sighed and agreed before walking off with the still waiting Kal.

“Where would we do all that, anyway?” Jesse asked.

“…Junkyard?” Talon shrugged. “I don’t really know.”

“Oh yeah, and are we gonna become some kind of super-hero team now?”

“We don’t have powers.”

“RIN does. We can all be like Alfred and do all the tech-stuff!”

Nick could tell Jesse was getting quite into the idea, and he had to admit, it sounded really cool, but there were reasons to be cautious about this sort of thing. If we did that, Talon thought, we would get found out and killed… This was not just some comic book where everyone is extremely oblivious and the good guys always won. People would die, probably his friends. And having Rin around at all was dangerous. He was not going to just give her back to Arma-9 (if he could figure out how to do that in the first place), but if she did stick around, and if Arma-9 was still running, which it probably was, they would come after them.

We could have her leave without turning her over to them. Talon pondered. Either way, I’ll have to talk to Jesse and Kal about it fir-

“Mobius to Talon!” Jesse called loudly, jerking Nick from his thoughts.

“Dah! What?!” Nick snapped.

“What’s your say on the Rin thing?” Jesse asked in an annoyed tone.

“I… I’ll talk to wewe guys about it… after school.”

“Got food!” Rin yelled from behind them as she ran over with a covered tray, followed slowly kwa Kal. Rin plopped her tray on the meza, jedwali inayofuata to Talon and quickly sat down. “So I was thinking,” She explained between rapid and large mouthfuls, “I could also try to hide my energy so it can’t be found with scanners and stuff. Then if we run into trouble, I could just mess up the people that attack us!”

“Yeah…” Nick sighed lowly.

“Something wrong?”

“Just stressing over the Arma-9 thing.”

“Does anyone have a plan about that kwa the way?” Kal joined in. “I’m surprised there hasn’t been an all-out attack on us yet.”

“Well the cops aren’t an option.” Jesse noted. “They’re the ones who took Talon after all.”

“I think we should talk to them about why they took me.” alisema Talon. “If they know anything about Arma-9, we’ll at least be somewhat prepared.”

“Sounds fine to me… we’re doing this after school?” Rin guessed.

“Sadly.” Kal sighed. “So wewe think wewe can do a good Irish accent?”

“Aye. Like a wee leprechaun.” Rin answered in a slightly high pitched Irish accent. “Should I talk like this all the time, au just do the whole normal voice thing?”

“… I… I don’t care.” Kal groaned. At the same time she collapsed her face in her arms again, apparently overly stressed kwa the problem.

Later that day…

The small group was walking back nyumbani from school, with Rin hopping about, rambling about how cool the school was, aside from the awkward moments involving the attention aliyopewa kwa the students. “I’ve never been to one of those before, that was really awesome, I don’t see why wewe guys hate it so much- then again wewe don’t remember stuff like I do, and the gym was really fun, and everyone was really nice, an-“

“You don’t need to breathe air, do you?” Talon interrupted, halting the group for a moment.

“Um… no, no I don’t.” Rin tilted her head a bit, confused kwa the question. “What made wewe ask that?”

“No one could talk for that long without taking a breather if they needed air.” He replied in a somewhat humored tone.

“Let me try.” Jesse started breathing in and out slowly, each time going deeper and deeper.

“… Do it already.” alisema Kal in an impatient tone.

“I think he’s warming up.” Rin noted.

Jesse kept breathing in and out, and in and out, and in and out, till finally… he passed out. *plop* Kal quickly caught his head while the rest of Jesse’s body slammed to the concrete sidewalk. She looked over to Rin, who smiled nervously, “Sorry.” She apologized.

“There’s a drinking kisima, chemchemi about three blocks from here. We can use that to wake him up.” Talon noted He picks up Jesse, and started off, with the others following. Kal quickly ran up, and held Jesse’s head upright, so that it did not fall back, hanging off his body.

“What are wewe doing?” Nick asked.

“His head just hanging there grosses me out.” Kal replied.

“… Oh… kay.” Talon continued walking, though a bit slower now, so that Kal could keep up, while Rin continued to talk about how cool she found the school.