Chapter 10

The Misjudged

"I'm back! Sorry I ran off, but I had important stuff to do elsewhere you see," Kaira said as she fluttered back onto the Blue Typhoon.

Knuckles came storming outside and threw a fist at her! She dodged and was naturally curious about what was up.

"Dude, why are you attacking?! I haven't done anything! HONEST!" Kaira said putting her hands in the air.

"Don't play that game with me! I know that it was you who stole the master emerald! Now give it back!" screamed Knuckles angrily and he charged after her again!

"Knuckles, I didn't steal anything! I was only out to see if my twin sister was up to anything unusual anywhere. I guess I was checking in the wrong place… She struck here by stealing the master emerald and the chaos emeralds," she replied. Knuckles still wasn't buying it however.

"EXCUSES! You are lying to me! We caught you on camera stealing it!" snapped Knuckles pointing at her.

"Long hair? Green eyes? A smirk on her face?" asked Kaira still looking calm.

"NO! Short brown hair, brown eyes, big roundish pointed wings! It was you! The voice, the fact that you knew where you were going, and your height! Now, Sonic's gonna die possibly because of you! Those emeralds could've saved his life! After your actions, we'll have to go heroless! That, and Amy will start dating Shadow simply because he looks like Sonic!" snapped Knuckles.

"SONIC'S GOING TO DIE?!" Kaira flew around Knuckles and into the Blue Typhoon. She zipped through the hallways 'till she found Sonic. He was back to being unconscious on a bed. The purple stripe on his arm was turning black and starting to spread.

"HEY! What are you doing here?! I don't think that Sonic wants to be visited by traitors! He's probably a minute closer to being dead because you flew in here!" snapped Tails.

"Put a sock in it Tails," Kaira replied.

"You'd better heal Sonic right now, so we can go save the universe from you and the metaltrons! Aren't you their best spy and agent?" asked Tails.

"Why would I work for those losers?! All they do is destroy lives and planets! If you could stop shouting at me, I might be able to figure out a cure for whatever this is!" snapped Kaira.

"There's no way I'm going to-"

"I thought I told you to zip it, so sorry about this! I'll literally have to zip your mouth shut just so I can concentrate!" yelled Kaira at Tails using a spell to use a magical zipper to shut his mouth. Tails only looked annoyed.

Kaira closed her eyes and focused on Sonic. It wasn't an ordinary curse… In fact the magic from the curse could've come from only one race…

"Sonic got that from a cursed sword right?" she asked.

Tails nodded, but continued squinting at her like she was just stalling to figure out the best way to kill Sonic faster

"Okay, that means that the curse can be reversed, but it will be the exact opposite of easy. Due to the sword being an object that people can touch and control, the fact that it caused the curse means that we can dispose of a curse of death by slashing Sonic's arm with the same sword. As long as the intentions are good, it should be removed and Sonic will be back to his awesome self and we can go back to saving everything. Any questions?" asked Kaira to Tails.

Tails raised his hand, but couldn't say anything. She had to unzip the magical zipper that she inflicted upon Tails's mouth. Tails gasped with annoyance.

"Yes?" asked Kaira with a hint of interest. She knew that Tails was going to make up something to prove that she was guilty.

"How do I know if you're trying not to trick me? In my perspective, I have no substantial evidence to prove you guilty or innocent, I also didn't believe in magic or curses until I met you and you proved your powers. What if the sword fails and simply chops Sonic arm off?! What'll we do then?! How will we get the sword? It belongs to a metarex leader for crying out loud! You can't just waltz in and take it! Metarex will be swarming the place! And-"

"Okay, okay, I get it! Sonic's gonna die anyway if the plan fails! I have invisibility powers too. Technically, I could simply waltz in and take the sword! Sonic only has an hour left of living, so this mission is all up to me…," said Kaira sharpening her focus.

Suddenly, Knuckles barges into the room!

"Okay Tails! How much has she confessed to so far?!" demanded Knuckles who was still burning with rage.

"Nothing," Tails replied.

"Well, maybe my fists can get some info out of you!" he yelled. Knuckles flung yet another fist at her while saying these words. Kaira dodged.

"The fact is that she has a plan to save Sonic…," Tails said slowly to Knuckles. He hated to admit that he might be taking advice from a traitor.

Knuckles looked taken aback. He glared at Kaira another moment and turned to Tails. "Oh really? What's her plan?! Kill Sonic, so I, the pretty little evil person, can take over everything with all the chaos emeralds and master emerald?!"

"Possibly, but I think that it would be better if you heard it from her. She could either save Sonic or kill him, but she intends to fulfill her mission on her own. Also, she's got to get it done within, um…, twenty eight minutes!"

"Then, don't tell me! Just get my rival back! Amy's going nuts! She almost jumped off the ship just so she could meet up with him in death or something!" exclaimed Knuckles running off.

"Oh gosh! Okay, Kaira, leave right now and get that sword! We're counting on you! If Amy causes suicide, we'll all be in turmoil! Now leave!" yelled Tails shoving Kaira out the door. She got the message and flew off.

"I know that you might be a traitor, but the reason I'm so angry and mad is because I am concerned for my best friend. Whoever harms him, or has something to do with him getting hurt makes me bring out emotions that I never knew I had. Although, even I have to be a strong captain and remain in control no matter what happens. I probably shouldn't be saying this, but good luck to you and may you return in time with that sword…," Tails murmured as he stared out a window after her.

Tails looked back over his shoulder at Sonic. He swore that he saw Sonic move. Turns out, Tails was correct. Sonic opened his eyes a crack and shot Tails a brief confident smile. It only lasted a second because Sonic immediately ran out of energy again. Sonic went back to a peaceful resting position.

"Sonic, if you can hear me, did that mean that you're glad that I'm giving her another chance? She could be a traitor!" cried Tails at Sonic.

There was a long silence a Tails finally just heaved a sigh. He returned Sonic's smile with his own.

"I get it. You don't think she is the one who stole the chaos emeralds. Who else could it be? Why would they want to frame Kaira? Wait…, the people who she was communicating with was the metaltrons! That means that they are both enemies. Kaira and whoever this is. It makes sense why they would frame her I guess. Now that I know why, what about the who?"

Meanwhile, with Kaira…

"Where in the universe is that base?! The last time I was there, it was over there, but they must've moved again and maybe… No. They wouldn't have done that. Put their base in a black hole?! Actually, that would be very clever because only them can withstand that kind of power. Although, where would they find one of those?" Kaira asked herself.

She looked over to her right and saw a black hole looming in front of her. She rolled her eyes. Of course it was right there. There wasn't enough time for there to be a large dramatic search!

"Oh, how simple. Their base is, like, right in front of me. Fine! As long as it's for the sake of the plot, I'll do this the easy way, but I'd rather have the hard way myself! Okay, invisibility activate!"

Kaira was gone in a second and she drifted as close to the black hole as she dared. Sure enough, the base was right there. She flew inside as fast as possible because she feared that if she was out there any longer, she'd get sucked into the black hole and Sonic would die. Thankfully, none of that happened.

"Where are all the metarex? They're not here! No matter, I'll just get that sword and leave," said Kaira swiftly.

Up and down the hallways she ran, but no matter how hard she tried, Kaira couldn't find it. There was only fifteen minutes left and she was back where she started. No metarex and no sword.

"Alright, I'm going to go crazy if I don't find it! After all, it's probably in Blue Sycamore's special hideout or something! WAIT A SECOND! That's it! All I have to do is find that place on the ship! According to my calculation, it should be right below my feet! It's been there all this time?! Boy, I feel stupid!" she exclaimed while breaking through the floor. It was a dark place and she could barely see and a voice started speaking to her.

"Greetings. I see that you've finally found my hideout. Are you looking for this?" asked the voice.

The one who owned the voice held up a sword and Kaira gasped. The cursed blade. The metarex leader stepped out into the light and his armor gleamed silver. All the other metarex appeared out of nowhere and their eyes lit up with a red light. Blue Sycamore flung the sword to the ground and it shattered to pieces.

"Why'd you do that?! I still can fix it!" snapped Blue Sycamore.

"Watch and see," he replied with a mighty metallic voice.

A purple cloud arose from the blade and drifted in mid air. It slammed into Kaira and she fell to her knees and clutched her chest. It was cursing her.

"The curse locks on to the first life form it finds and curses it when its little vessel breaks. Now, you go back to the Blue Typhoon. You are too weak to battle all of us," said Blue Sycamore.

"Why… n-not kill… me now?" asked Kaira weakly.

"We'd rather watch you suffer!" Blue Sycamore threw her out of the base and she landed near the door. He was right, so she flew away with the rest of her energy being drained with each flap.

Once she arrived back at the ship, Tails ran out to greet her, but when he saw no sword and a big purple stripe running down her arms, he knew something was up. Knuckles ran out second.

"Whoa! What happened?!" demanded Knuckles.

"No time… I c-can… s-save Sonic…," Kaira said weakly.

Without arguing, the three of them made it to where Sonic was. He had one minute left and the black stripe on him almost completely covered his arm. Kaira looked at where the sword hit him. She inspected it closely and with her wing, slashed Sonic's arm as hard as she could.

"What are you doing?!" screamed Tails with bewilderment.

"I'm cursed… The sword is gone and I'm absorbing the curse in Sonic. Better I die rather… than Sonic," she replied. The black blob on Sonic's arms and legs disappeared and black swirls appeared on Kaira's wings.

"Sonic, your turn to play the hero!" Kaira shouted at him.

By now, Kaira's wings were completely black and purple and she collapsed on the ground, but Sonic was weakly opening his eyes and sat up looking around. His strength returned almost immediately.

"What happened?" asked Sonic who was clearly baffled.

"SONIC! YOU'RE BACK! However, Kaira might be gone… She saved your life," Tails said sadly.

"What'd she do?" asked Sonic.

"Here, let us explain…"

Meanwhile in the metaltron base…,

"Ah…, the power of your chaos control… It's limitless… He hasn't even found his full potential yet… How exciting!" Zaira said looking at her data on Shadow. She put him through a complete data scan with all of her powers and technology. She wanted to know everything.

"The only thing that I don't know is his deepest, darkest, part of his past… That'll be what determines everything. How scarring is his backstory? Is his constantly being insulted or worse? I can't wait!" she exclaimed. Zaira cast her spell without hesitation.

She was aboard the Space Colony Ark and Shadow was running for dear life with a blonde gal. Maria. Zaira followed along behind and began to wonder what they were running from. She looked behind and saw a dozen government agents right on their tails. They were well armed.

"This must be before Shadow decided to fight against stuff, so he wasn't always mean all his life," Zaira remarked almost surprised.

"Quick! Get them before they escape!" the government agents would shout.

"Oh, man! They're running right to a dead end and we're in outer space! Talk about really big problem! Then again, the space colony is only so big!" yelled Zaira.

They were stuck and Maria locked the door behind them. That would hold them off for a minute, but not long.

"Just because they fear me getting out of control makes them think that they have to completely get rid of me?! This is ridiculous!" snapped Shadow.

"There is one way out," said Maria.

"Yeah, we go plummeting to or doom in outer space!" replied Shadow growing more and more irritated.

"Well, it's this!" Maria said shoving him into a capsule thing that was supposed to act as an escape mechanism. It had clear walls and wasn't soundproof.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" demanded Shadow with alarm.

"Listen Shadow, I want you to promise me! Please, for the people of that planet! Whatever happens, remember that I will always be your friend Shadow. We've always talked about going to visit the planet one day,, but it looks like you'll have to go there without me…," said Maria.

"NO! WAIT!" said Shadow.

The gun agent busted into the room and lifted his gun. He didn't look like he was going to go easy on her.

"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog…," she choked out and yanked a lever and he was sent off into space. It was over…

"No… MARIA!" he yelled and pounded his fist on the wall. Zaira almost thought she saw him cry, but he did a miraculous job of hiding it. The last thing he wanted to hear rang all throughout his mind. The gunshot.

"Wha-? Why did he like her so much? I barely know nothing!" exclaimed Zaira who was barely choked up from the dramatic vision. She cast another spell and was brought back further in time, but still wouldn't be seen.

Shadow was staring out of a window on Space Colony Ark down at planet Earth. He looked lost in thought. Maria walked up.

"Are you going to stare out that window all day Shadow?" she asked him with a fairly high voice. Zaira barely noticed that before. Zaira had a lower voice. Zaira could easily make herself sound like a boy if she tried.

"I've seen photographs from down on the surface, but I wonder what's it's like to be there. What is it like to see the sky above your head? I'd like to visit there and find out." Shadow never once looked over at her while saying this, but he couldn't try to be more sincere.

Maria looked over at him. "Me too…"

"Maybe I could find some answers down there. Professor Robotnik says that I'm here to do something important, but he never told me what that means, but something tells me that it's connected with that planet," Shadow said.

The vision disappeared and Zaira still was sort of clueless, but she could figure out why they had become friends.

"Shadow didn't exactly have anyone else he could grow close to, but Maria was nice enough for him and they shared the same dream of going down to the world below, but one never got to. He could talk to her about basically anything. His concerns about his purpose, his emotions, and his desires. Not many people get that privilege. Maria was very lucky," Zaira commented.

Shadow was then being revived by Dr. Eggman fifty years later and since it wasn't really important, Zaira skipped over that part. She came to a spot where Shadow was standing on top of a giant red bridge and remembering what had happened.

"Maria, I still remember what I promised you, for the people of this planet… I promise you… REVENGE!" Shadow shouted.

Then Shadow left and began destroying things galore! It was so amazing that all the destruction made Zaira look bad. She was all about thinking before acting, but this was all giant and violent rage she was seeing. Shadow fought Sonic, destroyed government robots, stole the chaos emeralds, landed Sonic in prison, and did it all without showing a hint of remorse. He also saved Rouge and Chris's life on Prison Island, but only because the situation reminded him of how he couldn't save Maria. In his perspective, he had to.

"WOW! Shadow was so loyal to Maria! It's amazing! I've never seen so much dedication to someone. It would be so romantic if he would show that much dedication to me! He would race up to me and smile! Oh wait, that's not in his personality… Besides, he'd never like me…" Zaira replied.

"Come back! Don't you understand that you're not the real Shadow?! All of your memories are just as unreal as you are!" yelled Rouge.

"Wait, what!?" asked Zaira. "Go back!"

She reversed and found Rouge in a giant room with a giant computer. Rouge was hacking. As usual.

"Fooling that old fool is too easy! Okay, let's start hacking. Maria, M-A-R-I-A. Let's see what pops up here. Come on. Come on! Ah, here we go! Project Shadow, Top Secret! Sounds exciting! The Ultimate Creature development project. Sure sounds juicy to me! Shadow?! Sealed off?! But how?! If that's true, then who's he?" demanded Rouge.

After going over it a few more minutes in awe, she contacted… other government agents? She also began downloading the data to a disc. She didn't plan on leaving anything out. However, she was rudely interrupted.

"Now don't you worry your pretty little head Topaz. I'm copying all the data as we speak," Rouge told her.

"Just be sure you get every bit of information. Don't leave anything behind Rouge. We need to know all we can," Topaz replied.

Rouge obtained the disc from the computer.

"I got it all honey, and there's plenty of it. Even that dope Eggman doesn't know the whole story, and it's quite a story!" exclaimed Rouge.

"You'd better hurry up and get out of there. Have you got the emeralds? We can analyze the data when you get back. After that, we can-"

Shadow ran up to her, smacked the communicator out of her hands, and stomped on it! It lay crushed in a pile of millions of pieces on the floor. Rouge stared defiantly at him.

"I suggest that you keep your hands off those chaos emeralds. We wouldn't want them to fall into the wrong hands now would we? Agent Rouge." Shadow pointed out.

"Have you been spying on me? Aren't you the naughty little boy!" Rouge replied almost tauntingly.

"You've been a government spy all this time!" yelled Shadow at Rouge.

"Uh-huh! Now that I have my hands on this hot little disc here, I think I'll make my exit if you don't mind!" Rouge said.

"I do mind you phony!"

"That's pretty funny coming from you!" said Rouge.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Shadow not showing her that he was slightly interested in what she now knew.

"According to this, the body of the original creature was sealed off fifty years ago," Rouge answered holding up a sheet of paper with a picture of a capsule on it.

"Yes, that's right, but that was the prototype. I was the very first creature created after that one," Shadow replied becoming even more interested.

"Ah, but it says that there were two capsules ejected from the Ark when the facility was shut down. Apparently, neither of them were ever found and if those two capsules were never found, how did you manage to end up on Prison Island? I wonder! I have a feeling that neither of us is who we say we are," Rouge replied with a smirk on her face. Shadow only glared at her. Not a really mean one, but an annoyed one.

Shadow then got a call from Eggman. After the call, he began to walk off.

"Come back! Don't you understand you're not the real Shadow! Everything in your memory is just as unreal as you are!" shouted Rouge. Shadow finally stopped and turned around.

"If it is true that my memory is not my own, it is still all that I have. I will do what I must. I promised her…," Shadow said before walking off. Rouge crossed her arms at him.

"...WHAT?!" screamed Zaira.

She walked back and forth with a baffled expression. It didn't make sense. Shadow is not the real Shadow?! At least, not the first. Did all the other Shadows look the same as Shadow and have his personality? She had to keep going. His past was beginning to wrap up, but it got better.

"Hold on! There was an Eclipse Cannon?! How cool is that! He technically blew up half the moon!" Zaira exclaimed when she found out.

A video of Gerald Robotnik appeared on a screen. Zaira couldn't believe it! The Space Colony Ark was going to destroy everything! She was on the edge of her seat. Well, she would have been if she had one.

"Please Shadow, you can help save us all…," Chris said to him on the space colony when everyone else was off to stop the chaos emeralds. Shadow got a little surprised by his words Zaira could see.

"You believe that your whole purpose for being here is to get revenge, but think about it!" Chris took a few steps closer. "Back on Prison Island you decided to save me!" said Chris. Shadow only gave him his famous glare, but that wouldn't work here. Chris put his hands on Shadow's shoulders. "Deep down, you know you were made to help others and that's the reason you finally rescued me!"

"Hands off," Shadow said darkly and used one of his chaos powers to painfully (for Chris), but effectively, shove/fling Chris to the other end of the room.

Amy tried to help Chris, but another human stopped her.

"It's useless! I made a promise to Maria and I'm keeping it!" Shadow snapped defensively, but he knew that that would not stop Chris.

"Shadow, getting revenge won't bring Maria back…," Chris said.

"SO WHAT?!"

"There's still time to stop this Shadow! Please, you have to listen to me! How can you blame people alive today for things that happened fifty years ago?! CAN'T YOU SEE IT'S NOT FAIR!" yelled Chris who was back in Shadow's face.

"DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT FAIR! NOT AFTER WHAT HAPPENED HERE!" snapped Shadow. "Maria was my only friend, but your rulers sent soldiers to take her away from me! I tried to save her, but there were too many for me to stop… I never saw poor Maria again… Maria wasn't a threat to anyone! All she wanted was to visit your planet, but she never had the chance…," Shadow replied digging through his mind for all he could think of about Maria no matter how painful.

"Please listen, it's true that there are some bad people in the world, but most of them are good. I know that you'd agree with me if you only got to know them! Just like Maria wanted to! Shadow please, Maria would want you to be friends with people…," Chris weakly replied.

Shadow froze. He received a long lost memory of Maria telling him that she wanted him to promise her to help people and to be their friend. Zaira was more than into it. It was nearly life changing for her.

"I'm sure you'll be very happy down there Shadow… I only wish that I could go along with you… The world looks so beautiful from up here in space, but my grandfather says that the people who live there have to face many problems. That's why you were created, to help those people and to be their friend…," Maria said.

Shadow snapped back into reality. Chris collapsed right in front of him, but Shadow caught him. He looked unfocused, but he finally knew his purpose. In fact, he got so emotional, that he actually nearly cried. Zaira was feeling totally emotional as well.

"It's so sad! First, Shadow loses his only friend! Then, he wants revenge! Third, he fires the Eclipse Cannon! Forth, he's not the real Shadow, but was created while Gerald was in jail as a death machine! Last, Chris gives him the most convincing argument in the universe! It really is the saddest story all of history isn't it!? Oh, quit it! You're evil right! No, not right now I'm not!" she replied to herself with a cracking voice.

Sonic and Shadow were then battling against gravity to save the planet and stop the Space Colony Ark. Shadow knew that only chaos control would save them now.

"You ready?" he asked Sonic.

"You bet! Here we go!" yelled Super Sonic to Super Shadow.

"CHAOS!" screamed Super Shadow.

"CONTROL!" finished Super Sonic.

Using the power of chaos control, they pushed back the space colony, but Shadow had to remove his rings. Shadow let out all of his energy and exploded in a giant and massive ball of chaos control. He passed out and fell through the atmosphere of Earth. With no powers, he knew he wasn't going to survive this one.

"Maria, I did it, for you…"

Zaira stood there stunned at what she just saw. Shadow the Hedgehog gave his life for the entire planet and died! How is he alive now? What happened next! Was there any more than that, but then Shadow rose out of yet another capsule, but this was the one Eggman made and Shadow couldn't remember anything! She skipped over a lot of unimportant parts.

"Amnesia? Really? That's so cliche!" Zaira exclaimed.

She was transported right then to a bare and dull world where Shadow met… her. Molly. Something about her seemed familiar in a way. It wasn't exactly an important part,but she did notice that it gave Shadow sort of a wake up call about what happened in the past, but it didn't do much.

However, she disappeared and became the only one left in the resistance. (Although, the Japanese version said that the metarex killed her). Zaira stood up and shook her head when she saw this.

"NO! IT CAN'T BE SO! THOSE STUPID MONSTERS!" screamed Zaira.

More battles between Shadow and the metarex flew by, but then the end of the final battle showed up. Shadow punches Sonic to make sure he didn't get in the way, he removed his rings, and rocketed into chaos control and blew up (again) to keep the metarex leader then (Dark Oak) from making a planet explode and kill everybody. Zaira had to smack herself in the head.

"OF COURSE HE HAD TO MAKE EXPLODING A HOBBY! At least, Dr. Eggman re-revived him. I can't believe he had to put up with all of this and is still the way he is now. Shadow makes me look good! I've never had it as bad as him… It almost makes me not want to be evil anymore…," Zaira said slowly as she began to come back to the real world.

Zaira's eyes flashed red and she gripped her head fell to the ground. An evil voice ran through her mind.

"The plan! The plan! You are green with envy and when you are that, you don't respect others! Shadow is no better or worse than anyone else! Now, if you don't do as I tell you, I'll take over your mission!" screamed the voice.

"NO! Anything, but that! I'm evil! I swear! You can't be a villain without me anyway!" snapped Zaira.

"Yes, I can! Now, wake up Shadow, but have his mind erased, but I have a plan for Rouge however…"