“You were created to be a guardian, Shadow.” Myzak began, waiting Shadow's fingers glide across a keyboard. “First to Maria, and then...you corrupted, somehow. Now, u will have no purpose unless u protect others. Once that is down, u will be alright.”

“But,” Shadow said, staring at the monitor of the same lab that Dr. Gerald Robotnik’s memory chip was inserted into Myzak's brain, “am I really the Ultimate Life Form? of am I a clone?” He got the head-band ready.

Myzak smiled. “You were always the original. For one thin', clones don't bleed. There's a bloodstain on your handschoen from when Lilith snagged u with that dagger way back. Rouge told me about it earlier.”

Shadow couldn't believe his ears. The quest was over. No meer would he be denied. But, something bothered him. “Why do u want your memory erased? That could kill you! of worse.”

“Just the doctor, if u mind.” Myzak held up his hands. “I want him out! Anyone with this knowledge is in danger! Dr. Gerald never saw beyond that night! To him, knowledge was the ultimate power. But for a farm-boy like me, all this world domination crap is...well...bullcrap.”

Knuckles, Rouge, and Lilith stood back. All exchanged nervous glances. “Be careful, Shadow!” Knuckles said. “I don't want to lose my assistant teacher!”

Shadow then carefully placed the headband on Myzak. “I'll just erase Dr. Gerald, which is about 50 years worth of memory. Hopefully we don't end up going overboard. I'll be watching the process on the monitor.” The black hedgehog then turned on the machine. It hummed.

“What the heck is going on?” Lil's voice entered the room. In strode Sonic carrying a frightened-looking Lil. Memory washed over Lil like a tidal-wave. The ARK massacre. Myzak screaming. The band around Myzak's head. What were they doing??? “MYZAK!!!” Lil wailed. “Leave him alone!!” Tears flew from her eyes.

Shadow wasn't watching the monitor. It went over the limit. Myzak screamed. He tried to take the band off of his head. All efforts were fruitless. Shadow quickly turned off the machine. Myzak then tore the band from his head. Shadow then slapped Lil's face. “Pull yourself together, Black Cat!” He hissed. “I was only doing what he asked! Now, thanks to you, he might have lost all of his declarative memory! We damaged the medial temporal lobe diencephalon!”

“What???” Knuckles asked. Tails then quickly explained that the medial temporal lobe diencephalon was the part of the brain which remembered facts and events.

“What...what's going on??” Myzak stuttered. “Where...where am I? Who are you? Stay back!” He panted violently. “Get away from me!” The sense of loss overwhelmed him. He was alone in the world. Cold too, like a little kid trapped in a maze. Nothing came to him. Trapped alone.

Lil burst into tears and collapsed to the ground. “Why???” She cried. “Why Myzak??”

***

“We're leaving, u dumb-bots.” Eggman strode down the empty, echo-filled halls of space colony ARK. Decoe and Bocoe stood at attention. “We have what we came for. Soon, we WILL have Ultimate Life! Mwahahaahaha!”

And then, they left.

***

Hours passed. No one had zei a thing since Myzak had lost all memory. Remorse filled the air. “That's it,” Lil sniffed, wiping an eye, “no meer crying.” She then went to the shaking, frantic Myzak. “Here,” she handed him a locket.

“It says, 'Enya'.” Myzak replied. “What does this mean?”

“Enya was your little sister.” Lil explained. “She was actually the first to find me. u see, years geleden I ran away from my abusive father to find my mother. I traveled way too far up north of our planet in our dimension. I remember it so well. Enya found me almost frozen to death in the deep, cold snow. She then called you, and then u came out and carried me back to your house. I spent the volgende few weeks listening to stories u told to your little sister. She smiled like an angel. Nothing should've happened to her. Her sweet innocent face still sometimes haunts my dreams. One day, after I had recovered, we were fleeing the house for some reason. I believe it was because u were going to be forced to kom bij the soldier brigade. Suddenly, we were sucked into a wormhole and blasted from our dimension into this. We were caught in the ARK massacre. Enya...” Lil chocked back tears. “This was her's.”

“That happened 50 years ago.” Sonic shook his head slowly, pondering what he had just heard. “How did u guys stay young?”

“We escaped, u see.” Lil nodded. “And I am not so proud to say that we were the ones who were the Roswell UFO. No one figured it out. And then, we used Chaos Control to get here. u can time travel with them, u know. I figured it out.”

“Enya...” Myzak clutched the locket tightly. “I don't remember who she was.” He then opened it, hoping to find a picture. It began to play a sweet, harmonic melody which almost seemed familiar. He began to hum along. And then, out of the corners of his mind, he heard a little voice sing to the tune. Suddenly, he felt himself sing along. It was a lullaby. He used to sing it once a night to his little sister....and then...he remembered.

He remembered. The cold snow. The ice-farm. He and his sister were orphans living on his aunt's farm. The soldiers had come because Myzak wasn't an apprentice to anyone. Enya's screamed as the soldier almost grabbed Enya. The chase began. Lil followed them. They dodged a few meer soldiers until they ran into a wormhole. Then, everything went blurry for the volgende few hours. And then, suddenly, he found himself chasing Lil down a hallway to an escape pod. He accidentally let go of Enya's hand. She dropped behind. Suddenly, a gun was fired. Enya crumpled to the ground. Life left her body.

“ENYA!!!!” Myzak screamed. meer memories flooded his mind. “For cryin' out loud!” He bawled. “Ya'll have made me into a nutcase! Why the heck did u give me this?” He threw it back at Lil. “Take it away! I can't stand it! It's too painful, Lil!” He quickly wiped his eyes. “Dang! I hate getting' emotional like this!”

Lil didn't care. She embraced him tightly and kissed his cheek. “You're back!”

***

Epilogue

“So,” Sonic said, hours later in the basement of the Martial Arts Center, “does this mean we're off the hook?”

“Not exactly.” Lil replied. She had called a group meeting earlier to discuss the future. Everyone, including Team Dark, were there. “You see, we didn't capture Dr. Eggman. Myzak is going back to work for Knuckles, because his fine was paid. But you,” she shook her head, “you are an outlaw. I can't prevent that. You're going to have to lie low for awhile.”

“What about ya'll?” Myzak asked Shadow. “Now that u know you're the Ultimate Life form (I still don't remember tellin' ya'll anything like that), what are ya'll gonna do?”

“It's no wonder u don't know.” Shadow chuckled. “When u were brainwashed, all your memory of ARK was erased as well. Now, you're only Myzak. But to answer your question; I believe we're going to get a head-start on finding Eggman. He now has the secret of Ultimate Life. Someone's going to have to stop him.”

“Affirmative.” Lil wrote down something on a notepad. “What about Lilith? Are u going to leave her behind? As I recall, she was a BIG help when u went to Lucifer's.”

“Of course we're taking her with us,” Rouge laughed. “I might have to take lessons from her!”

“Then it's settled.” Lil zei enthusiastically. “Team Dark is going to hunt down Dr. Eggman. Sonic is going to stay here in secret. Myzak and Knuckles are returning to work, and Tails is going to continue yet another college course. And I have a meld to file. The future awaits.”

***

Howdy!
It's been almost two years since I've written in this stupid journal. I guess it's 'cause I ain't been rememberin' myself until recently. I can actually think again, I'm in my right mind. It's also been a painful recovery.
u see, Lil asked me a few days geleden 'bout gettin' back into a datin' relationship (of course, it's been a week since our group meetin'). Part of me said, “Sure. Go ahead, tomcat.” But, I told her no. I believe I'm still scarred from havin' a homicidal mad scientist share my brain. Not only that, but a datin' relationship didn't work the last time. I love her like a sister and all, but datin' would ruin it.
On another note, tomorrow I head back to work. But, beforehand, Knuckles and I went to visit the ARK massacre memorial. Sure enough, Enya's name was on that wall, right under Maria Robotnik’s. I cried like baby! But, that helped me let her go. I left the locket there. Now, I feel free from guilt, sorrow and especially Dr. Gerald Robotnik.
Gotta go! Chilli's on the oven! I'm takin' it over to Knuckles and Sonic for dinner, and tomorrow we're havin' Chinese. I also put extra Tabasco sauce in it too! HA! I wonder if Sonic's mouth will tolerate a little bit of habenaro as well? Talk about HOT!!

-Myzak the Cat, finally restored to normal. YEEHAW!!!


Thus ends the first book of the Misadventures series. But, vragen are still to be answered. Are u ready for the volgende adventure? Where is Dr. Eggman, and what consequences are to be paid for Myzak's giving him the secret to Ultimate Life? There's no telling who'll toon up next.

Coming soon! The Misadventures continue in Book #2: The Lie of Solution.