Chapter One

The following was taken from Shadow's personal journal.

I have the feeling I made a horrible mistake. I'll come out and say it, I don't think working for Eggman was a bad idea, but letting him make clones of me was just plane horrible. He has fifteen of them, well, fourteen now. I've talked to them before, but they stood at attention when I addressed them and the said sir before and after every sentence they said to me. Word's going around saying Eggman has started on a new project, called Project Twelve, completely from scratch. I'll come out and say it, all the projects until Project Eleven were a complete failure. Either the clones died before they were released, or two minutes after they were released. I knew he was going to do something with the old clones, I just didn't know what. I have a feeling it's related to the fact the clones are missing and the gun-shots last night. Anyway, Rouge came today, which was the last thing I would expect, because the last time I saw her she was dating Knuckles. I know something was up, but right now I have more important matters to worry about.

Shadow looked up at the sound of footsteps outside his door. He peeked out to see Eggman walking away. Shadow ran after him. This was a perfect time to ask about Project Twelve.

"Dr. Eggman, I need to talk to you." Dr. Eggman turned around to face Shadow.

"What is it Shadow, I'm a very busy man."

I'll bet, Shadow thought.

"Dr. Eggman is what I've heard about Project Twelve true?"

"That depends, what have you heard." Shadow looked at Eggman.

"What do you think?" Eggman looked up and down the hallway, as if he didn't want anyone to hear what he was about to say.

"Shadow, tonight, I'm going to tell you and Rouge about the whole thing. Just wait."

"You really think you can trust her?"

"Why would you not trust her?"

She's a backstabbing, double crossing bitch. Of course, he wouldn't dare say that to Eggman.

"Any way, Shadow, I'm very busy, so I must be off." And with that, he turned and walked off. Shadow turned to walk back, but something gracefully fell from the roof and landed in front of him.

"Shadow, long time no see."

"Rouge." Rouge stepped forward a little.

"Shadow, how much do you know about Project Twelve?"

"Enough to say that it won't end up good."

"Why are you always so negative? Why don't you ever smile?"

"There's nothing to smile about."

"Right, so Mr. Sunshine, how 'bout we go do some target practice." She made her fingers to look like guns, aiming them in different directions.

"No thanks." Shadow pushed Rouge aside, marched in his room and slammed the door behind him.

"Good-bye to you too." She mumbled.

Rouge went back to her room. She locked the door, then switched on her computer. Rouge's eyes fell upon a particular message that says it was from Knuckles.

"Finally," she mumbled. She opened it up. It said:

Rouge, we need to know any progress that may have happened. P.S. I miss you.

She wrote back:

I'll know everything tonight. Miss you too.

To you, that may not sound romantic, but that was Rouge needed to make her day better.

"At night, everything will be perfect."

"Okay, know that everyone's here, let's get started." Shadow wasn't sure why he said that because he and Rouge were the only ones there.

"So, first off, everything you're about to here is top secret and highly classified. You can't tell it to anyone, got it?"

"Don't worry, Eggy. I wouldn't dare tell anyone." Yeah right, Shadow thought. He knew she'd tell anybody, literally, anyone.

"Okay then, Project Twelve is of course, another cloning project. This one is different. I'm going to try out some of my grandfather's techniques to make the perfect clone."

"What do you mean by 'Perfect Clone'," Shadow asked.

"Simple, a clone that is obedient to me and only me."

"When will it be ready," Rouge asked.

"Probably in a week." This caught Shadow's attention.

"But doctor, won't you make mistakes if you work in such a rush?"

"Yeah, well, if you make a mistake, start over."

"I for one am against this idea."

"Come on Shadow, it'll be fine."

"Well," Rouge cut in, "I don't know about you, but I need to get my beauty sleep." Rouge got up and left, which left Shadow alone with Eggman.

"You killed the clones, didn't you?" Eggman turned away.

"They would be useless to me if Project Twelve was a success."

"So you killed them?"

"Actually, I only killed one; the others got away, so, could I ask a favor?"

"You want me to find and kill them, don't you?"

"Yeah," Eggman said. They were silent for awhile, then Eggman said, "Well, have fun with that." Then he walked away. Shadow got up, and left too.

Two days had passed since Eggman made his announcement. Nothing had happened, and Eggman couldn't even be seen. He was too busy with Project Twelve, the project he was sure was going to be a disaster. When someone tries to make a clone of him, in a week, they're asking for a disaster. And, of course, it was Eggman who wanted to try it. As far as Shadow was concerned, Professor Gerald Robitnic AND the Black Doom spent six months creating him, and he was still a failure. This is going to be a failure, he thought.

Rouge lifted the phone to her ear, listening to the sound of it dialing the number. There was silence, then she heard Knuckles' voice.

"Hello." A simple word, that was all Rouge really wanted to here.

"Hey, Knuckles, have I got news for you."

"What, is it about Project Twelve?"

"Yep, Eggy says that he'll have it ready in one week."

"Dang, didn't he just start it?"

"Yep, now, sorry to leave in such a rush, but I don't want to be seen. Shadow's already suspicious."

"Love you."

"Love you too."Rouge hung up the phone, grateful no one saw her.

They'll never know, she thought.