"That's mine!" Jinx hissed, trying to grab the Chaos Emerald from me.

"Actually, it really is mine," I said, turning my gaze from the Emerald to her. "Sorry, you lose."

"No!" Jinx spat, lunging at me. I was lucky I was faster; she looked like she was ready to tear me apart. I would have laughed if it wasn't so slightly terrifying.

"Jinx, come on," the little kid with goggles and a huge head said, "we'll come back."

"No!" she repeated, turning her head to look at something. Hesitantly, I looked as well, and she wrapped her hands around the Chaos Emerald.

"Hey!" I shouted, feeling the eyes of the Teen Titans focus onto me. Yeah, no pressure. "You've already lost! Give it up."

"This jewel contains power you couldn't even begin to understand," she spat.

"Dude, it's from my world."

For a second, her features looked even meaner. Then she looked shocked. But it didn't last for more than a few moments. "Liar!"

"Why would I lie about something like that...?" I sighed.

Finally, she let go. We stood, staring at each other. Everyone else stayed out, afraid to get involved. Her gaze shifted from me to Robin, menace boiling in her eyes. She was up to something. "If I can't have it..." she said, lifting up her hands, "then I'll make your journey ten times harder!"

Before any of us could do anything, a purple ring surrounded me and Robin. "Hey!" I shouted, pushing against the side of the ring, trying to escape.

"Jinx, what are you up to?" Robin asked, shooting something at the side.

She only laughed menacingly. Tails tried to bang his fists against the side and push himself in and break the barrier, but nothing happened. Robin and I were trapped. A few seconds later, though, the ring disappeared and Jinx smiled, but looked exhausted.

"Good luck!" she laughed, flying away with her friends.

I looked myself over, but nothing was changed. Was it the same hex that had been placed on me earlier?

"Okay, guys," I put my hands out, "what just happened?"

Raven came over to me, putting her hand on my chest. I backed away a bit, raising my hands into the air, trying to get away from the hand, but she kept her hand on my skin. Then I turned all purple, and Raven backed away. I was still purple. "Um, Raven?" I looked over myself. "Is this permanent?"

She shook her head. "I was trying to examine the hex that Jinx had put on you. It's..." She paused, looking up at me, her face filled with the slightest bit of sympathy for once. "It's to make you more than unlucky. Dangerous situations... are more than dangerous at the moment. You and Robin are in danger until we can figure out a cure for this."

"Wait," I said, "you don't mean..."

"Yes, I do," Raven replied, "you can't go on missions until we find out how to fix this."

"But, the Chaos-"

"I'll show you how deadly this hex is," Raven said. "Robin, throw one of your birdarangs."

Robin looked a bit taken aback, but aimed towards the water, and threw one of his birdarangs. As he took a step, he slipped, and Raven barely caught him before the weapon sliced through his arm.

"Okay, point taken," Robin said, looking warily at the rest of his weapons.

"But I run!" I reminded her. "How can I be unlucky when I've been running my entire life?"

"You would endanger the rest of us," Raven explained. "Think about it. You might be running, slip on something, and run into one of us right when we've found the enemy. I also think that finding the jewels will be harder if we don't have luck on our side."

"I'll get on a cure right away." Tails said, holding out his hand for my Chaos Emerald.

I was about to hand it to him, but I didn't want to stop looking for the Emeralds just because I had become 'unlucky'. The purple aura around me started to fade away. But the more I thought about it... catching the Emerald had come at such a huge and extraordinary cost. It had taken so much to find Tails. For once... I needed to be safe rather than be sorry. I couldn't lose him again in this strange world.

"You know," Starfire suddenly cut in, "Jinx was rather... more evil than she usually is. Or is that perhaps just me...?"

"No, Starfire, you're right," Robin said, putting his hand to his chin. "Maybe it's-"

"No!" I shouted, knowing his next word. A sudden rage was boiling through me. "It's not Slade! Not everything is Slade's fault! He didn't summon here to kill me! Or maybe he did, I don't know, but I don't really care, and I don't know why you do so much! Every little detail isn't necessarily important! I don't understand what you're obsession is, why you're constantly tracking him, why you want to follow him everywhere you go, why you and him have a grudge, but stop! There's, like, seven people after me because they want the stupid Chaos Emeralds, and-"

"Sonic-" Robin interrupted, but I didn't want to hear it.

"No!" I was panting with the exertion of shouting, and the rest of the Titans and Tails were staring at me. I looked from each of them, ignoring the surprised look on their faces. Even Raven looked slightly shocked. "I know he's trying to kill me. I understand. But you locking yourself in your room all the time helps no one! NO ONE!"

After a bit of hesitation, Robin spoke again. "Sonic, listen to me. You're wrong. There's-"

"Yeah, there's something wrong," I said, sneering at him. "It's called you! You're always wrong, and you're only concerned about catching Slade, when the Chaos Emeralds are-"

Then it hit me: the Chaos Emerald was no ordinary Chaos Emerald. I looked at it, nearly shouting out as I noticed the aura that had appeared around it. It looked like it was on fire - a clear, wispy fire. I dropped it and fell to the ground, scooting away from it. "T-that..." I pointed to it, my whole arm shaking. Suddenly, I felt out of energy, cold, and sweaty. It was as if the Chaos Emerald had stolen all of my energy at the exact moment that I had let go of it. I huddled my arms together, trying to warm up. It was fall - it shouldn't have been that cold. "T-that is no C-Chaos Emerald... it's evil."

Tails was already getting the Chaos Emerald, examining it as if it was gold. I looked up at Robin, and I could tell how confused he was. His arms were folded and he was frowning. "So," he started, "you're saying... this is the opposite of a Chaos Emerald? But... it looks exactly the same."

I looked up at him for a moment, then nodded my head. "Y-yeah, something like that..."

"But it feels the same," Raven commented. "Just like a Chaos Emerald."

I stood up, staring at the ground. "I'm... I'm going to go... go and rest."

Without listening to any objections, I went downstairs, slipping down the stairs - probably an effect of the hex. I held my suddenly throbbing head, feeling constantly like a chill was going down my spine. I ran and opened the door to my room, standing in the doorway for a moment. Thoughts kept racing through my head - how? How, and why, did someone make such a... concept of energy? And why didn't it affect any of the others? Everyone else seemed to be able to get near it without the negative effects... except for Jinx. Starfire had mentioned that she had seemed more 'evil' than normal. Could that be the effect of the jewel, or was it something else?

I doubled over, retching, almost throwing up. Then I sighed, crawling into my race car bed. What if Dr. Eggman was here, and he had created it? Then again, what would he be doing in such secrecy, hiding in the shadows that even Slade hadn't detected? Unless, of course, they had, and they were working together...

With a shudder, I turned over, closing my heavy eyes. Maybe some sleep would do the trick, and I would feel better when I woke up. Hopefully, Tails had been able to contain the energy somehow, and it wouldn't be able to affect me.

It was very late afternoon when I finally woke up. I sat with a start, surprised at how dark it was outside. A wave of dizziness washed over me. Had I really slept so late? It had only seemed like a few minutes...

I felt okay by the time I stood up, and decided to go downstairs and see what was going on. Maybe everyone was on a mission, and only Robin, Tails and I were here. Or maybe Tails went with them. The thought filled me with jealousy.

I changed course and decided to go see Tails first. I knew exactly where he would be; examining the jewel that had tried to... do whatever to me. I went upstairs to the lab slash medical bay, finding Tails wearing goggles as he prodded the evil gem. He didn't even notice that I had come in until I coughed softly.

"Oh, Sonic!" Tails said, taking a double-take when he saw me. "Are you feeling better?"

I nodded, though my eyelids were still heavy. "Any info on the thing?"

"Well..." Tails paused, looking at it for a moment, then turning to me.

"What?" I asked, looking at it as well. It was no longer clear - it was an ugly shade of dark, dark purple. "Is it going to eat us all? Or... Maybe it'll blow up? Ooo!" I was trying to hide my fear of the jewel. "Maybe it'll summon a huge hoard of zombies and-"

"It's from our world," Tails said gravely, "and it only reacts to Chaos Energy."