One day.
Just one day. Twenty-four hours.
And that blasted hedgehog was attempting to make as much trouble as it possibly could from where it was confined.
It couldn't do much, that was true. But ever since Dasendo had let the hedgehog know that he knew that it wasn't Project: Shadow, it had been nothing but frustration from then on.
Making faces at the observance camera... smashing the observance camera...
When workers had come to replace the shattered object, the hedgehog refused to be hit by tranquilizer darts. It was just too fast.
And it was smart. The same trick wouldn't fool that hedgehog twice.
So, in order to get anything done, it was necessary to release a tranquilizer in gas form into the hedgehog's enclosure. Even so, the hedgehog simply refused to breathe until he passed out (in which case, he ended up breathing the tranquilizer anyway).
And, since the hedgehog had then methodically searched out and destroyed just about everything in the room, sans his air vent, observing the hedgehog was nearly impossible without knocking him out.
To save his employees any more trouble, Dasendo had ordered that the hedgehog be left in confinement, and any more interaction with it was limited to the delivering of its meals. Even so, few people volunteered for the job.
Back in his prison, Sonic was quite pleased with himself.
-
Dasendo, meanwhile, was quietly working on analyzing the energy readings he had received from Sonic.
It was a start, that was true. But it wasn't anywhere near enough to finish.
Finish what?
Well... to be honest, it didn't really have a name... it was always simply referred to as it. Or the project.
But Dasendo had always had a name in mind for it, even if it wasn't completely accurate.
Chaos Reversal.
However, in order to reverse Chaos, one must first know the definition of Chaos...
...which was where progress had been halted.
The capture of the blue hedgehog had been useful, no doubt. But isolating the Chaos Energy was going to be a long process.
'If only it had been Project: Shadow... anything that had once been part of Project: Shadow...
'The concentration of Chaos Energy would have been much greater. And Chaos Reversal would have been that much closer to being completed...'
But it was no good thinking about what might have been. It was far more important to focus on what he had at the moment.
Chaos Energy had one frequency in its pure form. A very high frequency, with very short wavelengths. And it was common knowledge that the higher the frequency, the more destructive the wave.
Chaos Energy was known to be highly destructive. Something that had been known since Station Square had been attacked by a giant water monster, many months before.
And hadn't the monster's name been Chaos?
Dasendo sighed, then almost absentmindedly inserted a videotape into a nearby VCR. Flipping on the television, he watched what had been a source of inspiration for months now...
Chaos. Its body flooding all of Station Square, destroying what had been a thriving, growing city.
But of more importance...
...a small, glowing, golden blur that was flying around Chaos' head...
...a golden hedgehog.
Both creatures had absorbed the energy from the Chaos Emeralds.
It couldn't have been Project: Shadow, for at that time it had still been frozen, right there in Dasendo's former base.
Was it Sonic?
Almost certainly... but, as Dasendo had learned, it was never safe to assume anything.
The sight of the space colony, falling... burning...
A reptilian creature, pulling the colony with it to its demise...
And this time, two hedgehogs fighting back.
One was golden, the same hedgehog from before. And the second was silver.
Silver with red streaks.
That one was Project: Shadow.
No doubt.
And, as the videotape showed, after the red lizard was defeated, the silver hedgehog had fallen to Earth, certainly to its demise.
But it had disappeared in a large flash of light, almost as if it were a meteor.
Was that to be expected? For the hedgehog to go up in a sudden spontaneous combustion?
But how then, did it manage to reappear on Earth? For there was no recorded evidence of it progressing through the atmosphere.
Dasendo scowled.
Could the hedgehog have really been...
...immortal...?
And if the golden hedgehog, who had turned up on both occasions, was really the troublesome mammal currently imprisoned in the base, what answers could lie with it?
Dasendo sighed.
A good night's sleep had helped with the stress that came with dealing with the hedgehog.
The leader of G.U.N. felt ready to tackle it once more.
-
Sonic sat against the wall of his prison, eyes half-closed, facing the doorway. The door alone was the only thing that wasn't completely transparent... making it almost impossible to know who was coming in without letting them know that you were watching.
But he could always tell when someone was coming.
Even through the water, the sound of the bridge extending was always noticeable. And when the door was open, Sonic could see that a small, electronic gadget was attached to the wall of the bridge. When a card was swiped through it, the door to his cell would unlock.
Sonic sighed. Would Tails be able to decode the thing from where he stood? Or would they have to obtain a card first, like how Amy had when she, as ironic as it had seemed, rescued him from Prison Island?
But now, a noise tickled his half-asleep ears.
Someone was crossing the bridge.
Again.
Feeling something like the troll who could always hear the goats cross his bridge, Sonic smirked as he waited for his "prey" to approach him. It had been fun, messing with the people who tried to make him submit to their will.
Because no one, but no one, ever succeeded at forcing Sonic to yield to anyone's will but his own.
As the card was swiped and the door unlocked, Sonic grinned up at who else, but Dasendo.
Dasendo bit his lip as he entered the small room. Even though he knew almost nothing of the brash hedgehog before him, he knew enough to understand that an impudent grin could be nothing but trouble for himself...
"Hey, old man. What are you going to try this time?" Sonic casually asked. "Not like your plans are going to work or anything."
Dasendo inwardly sighed. Trying to keep a positive approach, he answered, "Well, I just came down to... you know, talk."
"About what?"
"Well... whatever you want."
'Stupid old fool,' Sonic thought. 'Trying to get me to trust you, huh? Well, it ain't working, old-timer.'
"When do you think I can go?" Sonic asked.
"Well... not for a while. But, if you cooperate, you might be able to leave a little sooner than that," Dasendo lied, knowing that he never planned to let the hedgehog go.
"I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible," Sonic shrugged. "I've got friends waiting out there for me... they don't get too happy when I'm gone long," he added, thinking of Amy.
"Really? And who would these friends of yours be?" Dasendo asked. Sonic saw a glint in the old man's eyes.
'Huh... can't let him know that, now, can we?' "Oh, just some people I met while I was traveling. No one in particular."
"Oh... I see." Knowing that he was expecting too much, too soon, Dasendo tried to back away from questions that seemed overly interrogative. "Well... where do you come from? Do you live around here, in the jungle?"
"Eh, no, not really. You saw me back at the beach, I'm a pretty fast runner. Don't have a family or anything, so my life's pretty much go wherever I want, do what I want to do." Sonic shrugged. "Which is why I'm aching to get out of here, I guess."
"Interesting. How old are you?"
Sonic grinned. "A heck of a lot younger than you."
Dasendo smiled back grimly. "And a lot cheekier, too."
Sonic turned away. "Yeah, I've gotten that before. It's just, I can't imagine growing up to be someone, say, your age."
Dasendo nodded, seeing how this conversation could turn into something he could profit from. "Have you ever heard of Project: Shadow?"
"Maybe." Sonic looked at Dasendo from the corner of his eye. "Clarify."
"Project: Shadow was an experiment funded by G.U.N. in order to discover immortality," Dasendo explained. "If the secret to immortality was discovered, then you'd never have to grow old."
"Really?" Sonic raised an eyebrow, only half-pretending to be interested. "Tell me more."
"I'll tell you more if you tell me what you know about Project: Shadow. Don't pretend that you haven't heard of it... after all, we mistook you for it," Dasendo said, smiling. "During the days before the ARK incident, remember?"
Sonic looked up at the old man. "Oh, yeah... I didn't see you that time, though."
Dasendo shrugged. "No, you escaped within a day that time... less than a day, if I remember correctly. Not many people realized that you were being held in the base that time. However," Dasendo motioned to the cell around them, "you can see that our jungle base was toughened up a bit for your arrival. So, tell me what you really know about Project: Shadow. And I'll know if you're lying," Dasendo warned him. "You just posed as Project: Shadow a day ago. And, if I'm not mistaken, you turned down a Presidential award because of this Shadow, not long after you returned from space."
'Darn... I forgot about that,' Sonic said. He sighed, as if in defeat.
"All right, you win. I did know Shadow. And he was a pretty good guy, even if we did nearly kill each other. Twice," Sonic added.
Then, his eyes drooped sadly. "Too bad he's gone."
"Gone? What do you mean, gone?" Dasendo asked. "He was there, the day we attacked you. Where could he be gone to?"
Sonic sighed. "You see, almost a week ago, he disappeared from where he was staying, outside of Station Square. Well, while I was searching for him, I found out that he'd run right out into the middle of the street, and, well..." Sonic sighed again, although he was trying not to act too dramatic. He didn't want to get the old man suspicious...
Dasendo stared at the hedgehog. "But, surely, it's not dead."
Sonic shook his head. "Let's put it this way... I saw him that morning. And that was the last time I saw him alive."
The old man shook his head in disbelief. "It couldn't be. The hedgehog survived a fall through the atmosphere. He... it couldn't have died just from being hit by a car! You're lying."
Sonic looked the old man in the eyes. "I'm not lying," he said, quite truthfully. For he wasn't.
'It's true. Shadow did run right out into the street. And that morning was the last time I saw him, alive or not. For all I know, he really could be dead.'
Focusing as hard as he could on those single shards of truth, Sonic looked Dasendo straight in the eyes. "I'm not lying," he repeated.
Even though that statement had been said twice, something that usually meant that the speaker was lying, Dasendo could find no trace of deceit in the hedgehog's eyes. Although somewhat shaken by the hedgehog's apparent lack of grief, Dasendo decided that the session had run long enough.
As he stood up, Dasendo looked back towards Sonic. "I take it that you two weren't very close?" he asked.
Sonic shrugged. "Shaky relationship, you could say. Like I said, we about killed each other twice."
Dasendo paused. "When he showed up at the beach, you seemed like pretty good friends."
"Really?" Sonic raised an eyebrow, as if in interest. "If you must know the truth... well, let's just say that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'... you know."
"Is that why were you working together to defeat the lizard during the ARK incident?"
"Yeah. Pretty much." Sonic was getting tired of thinking up excuses for all of these questions...
"I see. Thank you." Dasendo walked out the door. As it closed, the electric bolts snapped into place.
Sonic didn't budge. This wasn't the right time to escape. Even if he did manage to get out, there wouldn't be anyone to guide him out of the building, not to mention the jungle.
He'd know when the right time to escape was... when it came.
Meanwhile, on the outside of the door, Dasendo smiled.
That hedgehog hadn't meant to give away that information.
So, the two weren't as close as they had seemed. Oh, well.
And Project: Shadow was dead. A devastating loss, if it was true, considering all that it could have added to "Chaos Reversal." Dasendo clenched the card key he held in his fist, slightly frustrated by the fact.
But one thing had made up for it.
A vital fact had been exposed.
Sonic had been that golden hedgehog.
Sonic possibly held the same secrets...
...that the late Project: Shadow had.
By this time in the morning, most of the workers had begun another day of busy research for their organization.
Dasendo walked into the lab, lying the card key down on a table near the entrance, in case anyone else wanted to try dealing with the hedgehog.
Standing before his employees, he gave a short morning announcement.
"Research on the hedgehog held in cell 1-A will be increased. I have firm evidence that this hedgehog is very similar, if not near identical, to Project: Shadow.
"Also... if anyone is able to obtain a Chaos Emerald, they will be rewarded greatly."
As Dasendo retreated to his room, he thought better than to announce the death of Project: Shadow. He didn't want the general morale of the company any lower than it needed to be.
Meanwhile, Sonic laid his head back against the wall once more.
There really wasn't anything to do...
...not until Tails got there.
Then the fun would start.