Imagine a boardroom meeting. This is AGES, a somewhat secretive tech company in Kyoto. There is a long table with a group of Japanese men (and one woman) sitting in office chairs surrounding the table. They are discussing confidential matters regarding Project Shadow.

The CEO of the company is called Nabou Fujiyami. He is a wise, middle-aged, "silver fox." But he is not mentally stable. Notorious for his short temper, he has illusions of grandeur for his company, which his grandfather started many years ago. He has a hard time maintaining friendships and is currently going through a nasty divorce from his wife of seven years, Sumi, with whom he has two little girls.

Then there's the vice president, Hata Hiroyuki. He is somewhat of a playboy. He does not take his role within the company very seriously. In fact, he was Nabou's younger brother's childhood best friend, which is really the only reason he has managed to climb so far up to where he is today. But he has come close on many an occasion to being fired for speaking his honest opinion as opposed to catering toward the company's "best interests."

There are also more people at this boardroom meeting, but it is not as important to know their names.

Nabou started out the meeting with the following introduction.

"Project Shadow, now entering Phase 2, is going according to plan. As we are all aware, he is currently starring in West Side Story on Broadway. Opening night last night went better than expected. He has been well-received by the American public in general. He seems to be the next big thing in the world of American pop culture. This is good. This is what we want. We are estimated to have grossed over a hundred thousand US dollars from last night alone. We are in discussions with Nike and Adidas regarding a potential sponsorship deal. I will hand it over to our Head of Marketing, Mr. Hajiyama."

"Good morning," said Mr. Hajiyama, standing up and bowing, "I would like to share with you all the results of a survey we gave a sample of attendees last night. We asked attendees what words they would use to describe Shadow. Among the top descriptors used by the Americans were 'bad-ass' and 'cool.' We also asked them what words they would use to describe Sonic in relation to Shadow. Among the top descriptors were 'old' and 'lame.'"

"Very well," said Nabou, "Now, was this a multiple-choice or free-response survey?"

"Free response, sir!" said Mr. Hajiyama, bowing again.

"You sure about that?" said Nabou.

"Well…" said Mr. Hajiyama, "We may have persuaded them to use those specific words. But that should not matter."

"Very well," said Nabou, "Now we must shift our attention to carrying out the rest of Phase 2 to perfection… making Shadow a Broadway star."

"Sir…" said Hata, gently raising his hand, "I believe we have already accomplished that. All the American media coverage is all over him."

"So are you suggesting we move to the next phase?" said Nabou, a stern look on his face.

"Well, I mean…" started out Hata, "Yeah."

"You fool!" shouted out Nabou, "We must not rush things. People will be suspicious. Let's have him perform in at least two more Broadway productions before we move to Phase 3: making Shadow a Hollywood star."

"With all due respect," said Hata, "I fail to see the logic behind these silly phases. He's supposedly the world's ultimate lifeform. He should be out fighting crime, putting the bad guys behind bars. And instead, we have him as an actor. C'mon, now!"

"Patience, my boy, patience," said Nabou, "Stopping crime never has been, and never will be, our mission. Shadow, for now, is our puppet to win over the hearts of the Americans and make us as much money as humanly possible. Making him a professional athlete was impossible, for obvious reasons, so we had to settle for the entertainment sector, which has also proved just as lucrative, if not more. We will accomplish with him what we failed to accomplish with Sonic. And then we shall rule the Americans with an iron fist!" he said, slamming his fist on the table, a menacing stare coming across his face for a split second.

"Do you think the Americans will be suspicious about Shadow's origins?" the only woman at the table asked.

"I imagine," said Nabou, "But we already have that taken care of. We've fabricated his entire back story and artificially leaked those fake records to the American media."

"But what if they see through our lies and start looking for the truth?" the woman said.

"All our records are triple encrypted," said Nabou, "Not even the world's best hackers could access them. Hell, only two people in the world have access to those files. And I'm one of them. Over my dead body are they ever seeing the light of day. And that's final. Now… if anyone is not on board with Project Shadow and the direction we are going in you are free to leave now. Go on… I won't hold it against you."

Hata briefly considered stepping out. He was always in disagreement with Nabou about what to do with Shadow. He had a much different vision for the black hedgehog. He wanted Shadow to be a hero, not just another cash grab. But, at the end of the day, Hata was getting a pretty decent paycheck from this gig. So he decided to stay put and keep his mouth shut.

"That's what I thought," said Nabou, "Now you all are to do as you are told. Next step: find another Broadway production for Shadow to star in. Preferably soon. Meeting ajourned."

And with that, the Japanese board members got up and left the board meeting to go back to their respective posts.