"Of course I've heard of YouTube!" responded Dr. Robotnik, "Who hasn't? My grandkids love that thing!"

"You have grandkids?" responded Shadow.

"No, at least, not that I'm aware of, but I like to pretend that I do," responded Dr. Robotnik.

"I see," said Shadow.

"What are you getting at?" said Dr. Robotnik, "Are you insinuating that I start a YouTube?"

"Yes," said Shadow, "I think it's a brilliant idea."

"Explain," said Dr. Robotnik bluntly.

"Well…" started out Shadow, "Think about it. YouTube is a platform where you can pretty much say whatever you want to, within certain legal and moral parameters, of course. I'm not sure if you're aware, but the top content creators, the top "YouTubers," make millions of dollars," said Shadow.

"You've got my attention," said Dr. Robotnik.

"Funny you say that," said Shadow, "See, that is exactly what we will be setting out to monetize. People's attention. We are living in a world where big companies are willing to pay for it, and it's easier to exploit now more than ever through the power of the Internet. Therefore, we must make the most attention-grabbing, controversial videos we can. There is no shame in clickbait. Once we get millions upon millions of views and subscribers, we will be eligible to monetize our YouTube channel through advertising. Not to mention the affiliate deals that will undoubtedly come our way. Of course, building an audience is no easy feat, but since people already know who you are, it won't be as hard."

"I see," said Dr. Robotnik, "But I feel like people don't know the real me. There is a whole 'nother side of me the general public has yet to see. See, I'm tired of being the bad guy. I'm actually a sensitive guy deep down."

"This is exactly what we must capitalize on," said Shadow, "See, now that the people are convinced that Sonic is the bad guy, we must convince them that you are, in fact, the good guy."

"Yes!" shouted out Dr. Robotnik, raising closed fists in the air, "I like where you're going with this."

"And, let's face it," Shadow went on, "YouTube is an incredibly powerful platform. We can use it as a tool to sway the general public's opinion about you."

"So you're saying the traditional news channels are pretty much dead? Everyone is watching YouTube now?" said Dr. Robotnik.

"Well, it's not quite that simple," said Shadow, taking out his iPhone and pulling up a screenshot of a bar chart he just happened to have saved, "If we look at this chart, Gen Z and Millenials report YouTube as their main source of news media consumption, while Gen X, Baby Boomers, and the Silent Generation still rely on traditional channels such as CNN, Fox News, et cetera."

"I see," said Dr. Robotnik, "So we can sway the young people's opinions about me, but what about the traditional news channels you just mentioned? Will they still think I'm the bad guy?"

"Not if we pay them enough to say otherwise," said Shadow, shrugging his shoulders and externally rotating his hands, "They seem pretty easy to manipulate if you ask me."

"Is that even legal?" asked Dr. Robotnik.

"Don't know, don't care," said Shadow, once again shrugging his shoulders and externally rotating his hands.

"So, let me get this straight," said Dr. Robotnik, "Your plan is for me to start a YouTube. And then post a bunch of provocative videos and in turn win over the hearts of the young people and earn a bunch of money. And then use the money I earn off of the YouTube to basically bribe the traditional news channels to broadcast propa— I mean, news stories about me making me look good so I can win over the hearts of the old people as well?"

"You got it," said Shadow, "We're going to do a whole overhaul of your image."

"Haha, yes!" said Dr. Robotnik, "This is my redemption arc!"

"What is a redemption arc?" asked Shadow.

Dr. Robotnik proceeded to explain to Shadow what a redemption arc is.

"And then what?" said Dr. Robotnik.

"That's just the beginning," said Shadow, smirking, "I will go ahead and order on Amazon the very best cameras, microphones, lighting, et cetera. This stuff isn't cheap, but I'm sure we'll see a return on investment in no time."

"Very well," said Dr. Robotnik, "But how are you going to go about doing that? Doesn't AGES have you, like, locked out of your bank information because of the guardianship?"

"Easy," said Shadow, "I'll take the cash I stole from the Federal Reserve and just buy a shit ton of Amazon gift cards from various locations throughout the city. They're everywhere. I wouldn't want to buy them all in one place, since that would be suspicious. Shouldn't take too long."

"Well, Shadow, boy, what about you, then? Will you be making an appearance in my videos?" said Dr. Robotnik.

"I prefer to work in production," said Shadow, "Think of me as your creative director."

"Fair enough," said Dr. Robotnik, "How shall we split the money? Fifty-fifty?"

"Sounds good to me," said Shadow, "We just got to make sure AGES doesn't get their hands on my slice of the pie."

Shadow had his reasons for wanting to stay behind the scenes. As the final West Side Story performances were quickly approaching, he had to focus on his next theatre gig. He had auditions lined up for Fiddler on the Roof, The Book of Mormon, and Cats. Apparently, AGES had sent his talent agent to New York in person, which he thought was odd. He had been cooperating with the agent only to the extent strictly necessary for his own self-interest. At this point, they only communicated with each other via texting.

He was getting tired of being a Broadway actor. But there was one person who kept him from calling it quits: Maria. He wanted to impress her. He wanted to win her over. He was willing to give it all to get her to finally love him. Even if time after time she rejected his advances, he would not give up. If he became a world-famous famous actor, along with his share of the ungodly amount of money generated from Dr. Robotnik's YouTube channel, surely she would want to be with him. Or so he thought.