Project GULF
~Chapter 1: Cloning Project Shadow~
A capsule had crashed onto the surface of the Earth, the glass cracking. Instantly a black hedgehog kicked and shattered the glass, leaping out of the capsule. "Maria!" he yelled, staring up at the sky. At first his expression was full of anger and determination, but then suddenly he switched to being depressed and grief-stricken. The hedgehog fell to his knees, realising that there was nothing he could do for his friend. She was dead.
"Sayonara... Shadow the Hedgehog..."
Shadow glared at the ground as he remembered Maria's final words, smashing his fist into the dirt with hate. "Damn..." he rasped. "Damn them humans! THEY WILL PAY!"
His bellow seemed to have been heard as a group of soldiers jumped out of the bushes, aiming their rifles at him.
"Shadow the Hedgehog, you are to come with us for threatening the planet's safety!" one soldier yelled at him, earning a confused yet psychotic glare from Shadow.
"Threatening the planet's safety?" he questioned darkly. "The only threat was you humans!" The hedgehog dashed towards the group of soldiers, only to be shot multiple times. He stopped in his tracks, but noticed that he hadn't been shot with bullets. Instead, he had been shot with tranquilizers. Shadow could feel the soldiers grab him by the arms as everything blurred out, eventually fading into darkness.
...
1 Month Later...
"Sir, what can we do with him?" a soldier asked the Commander.
"He won't co-operate with us..." the Commander confirmed, turning to face the soldier. "Keep him sealed away for now. We have enough data from him to create our own Ultimate Life Form."
"Our own, sir?" the soldier queried.
The Commander nodded. "Our researchers will develop the project. It may take years to get a perfect result, or even just a result in general."
The soldier seemed unsure of the idea, but it was unwise to go against the Commander's words. He simply nodded to respond to his statement. "Right, sir."
"You are dismissed for now, agent," the Commander stated. The soldier saluted and left the room.
The Commander headed to the research lab, gaining the attention of the scientists within. "Attention all. Project Shadow is worth no more focus. Your new focus is to recreate Shadow using the data you have gathered," he began. "Begin the new project: Project GULF."
...
20 years later...
After years of planning and years of failure, the GUN researchers had finally come up with a solution to the problem.
"Sir! We have discovered a substance which we believe may have come from the Black Comet 20 years ago!" a researcher announced to the Commander.
Immediately the Commander was listening. "Substance?" he questioned.
"Yes," answered the researcher. "Currently we have simply labelled it as Dark Matter. However, we believe that it has the right properties to form Artificial Life!"
"So you are saying that this substance could solve our problem with creating the new Ultimate Life Form?" the Commander assumed.
"Affirmitive, sir," the researched responded.
"Then there is no time to waste!" the Commander finalized. "We can finally finish this project!"
...
The researchers had once again created a base for the creature's body. Now they were adding the finishing touches, but the process seemed more dangerous than ever before.
"Sir, the system is malfunctioning!" one researcher yelped, panicking as he tried to work at his control panel. Alarms bleeped and lights flickered strangely.
"This won't work!" another researcher admitted.
"We can't give up! We've come this far!" the Commander snapped, though deep down he was also wary of the situation at hand.
"We have to take cover! The system's gonna blow!" a third researcher warned, running to take cover. The other researchers either hid behind their control desks or ran as far away as they could. Suddenly, the capsule, along with other equipment attached to it, exploded, the Commander managing to take cover at the last minute. Smoke and debris filled the room.
After a few minutes the Commander and a few of the researchers decided to get up, coughing. the Commander noticed a figure standing in the smoke, squinting his eyes to try and get a better look.
When the smoke had cleared, there stood a slouched anthropomorphic hedgehog, looking practically the same as Shadow. However, his muzzle was pale and it was clear that he lacked a mouth. His appearance was a little more drab than Shadow's, with dull green-blue stripes and grey inhibitor rings. As for his eyes, they were much like a reptile's eyes, coloured lime green with slit pupils.
The hedgehog stared at the Commander with his tilted head, as still as a corpse. The Commander seemed to be waiting for him to say something, but the hedgehog remained silent.
Eventually the Commander cleared his throat, standing tall. "Project G-U-L-F: GUN's Ultimate Life Form," he addressed. "I am Commander West, current leader of the Guardian Unit of Nations."
There was no response from the dark hedgehog. He just stood there, staring. Awkwardly, the Commander found a way to continue talking.
"I see that your lack of a mouth hinders your ability to speak," he acknowledged.
"...No," spoke a low, deep voice. It sounded like it had come from the hedgehog.
The Commander raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised. "...Come again?" he requested.
"...I can speak despite my lack of a mouth," the hedgehog answered.
"I see..." was all the Commander could say, looking at the hedgehog oddly. The hedgehog spoke no more words.
As if to end the awkward silence, a young girl ran into the room. "Father!" she cried, running over to the Commander. The Commander turned to face her, almost looking worried.
"Cynthia, you should not be here," he told her, kneeling down to her level since she was only a young child. "This is no place for children."
"B-But father, the power went out and I-I was scared..." the child, Cynthia, explained shakily.
The Commander understood that the amount of power used to create project GULF must have caused power cuts in certain areas of the base. "I guess we'll have to reboot the power system..." he said to himself, standing up. He then turned to face the artificial hedgehog. "I want you to go and train yourself in the obstacle course. You'll find it if you look at the maps located around the base."
In response, the hedgehog simply nodded, walking out of the room, seemingly in no rush. The Commander then turned to the researchers. "Get to work and re-activating all power systems," he commanded.
"Yes, sir," a few researchers saluted, getting straight on with working to restart the power.
"Oh, and one more thing," the Commander started. "That Ultimate Life Form. Does he have a code name of some sort?"
"Yes, sir," one head researcher replied. "His code name is a word associated with the Black Comet."
"And what is it?" the Commander asked.
"Mephiles, sir," the researcher answered.
~End of Chapter~