AGES is holding a board meeting. Nabou Fujiyami, CEO of AGES, is standing at the front of the room, an unamused look upon his face. The rest of the board members are seated at their respective chairs, looking up at him.
"Why hasn't our secret agent been able to seize the money Shadow stole?" shouts Fujiyami, spit flying from his mouth.
"Sir…" begins Hata Hiroyuki, Vice President, "Have you seen the YouTube video our former associate Dr. Robotnik has posted?"
"I don't give a shit!" shouts out Fujiyami, "I want to know what's going on with our secret agent!"
"Well…" starts Hiroyuki, "it would appear that the person we sent over there hasn't had any luck getting ahold of Shadow. She reports that he refuses to cooperate with her or answer any of her emails, phone calls, or texts."
"We sent a woman to do the job?" Fujiyami shouts out, "That's the problem. Why, who's idea was that?"
"Well, yours sir," says Hiroyuki, "You said we would draw straws, and our head of security, Wakako Hitsune, drew the shortest straw."
"That woman?" says Fujiyami, putting his hand on his face in disappointment, "We sent her to seize the money we are entitled to from Shadow?"
"That's correct," says Hiroyuki.
An awkward silence permeates the room.
"On the bright side," says Mr. Hajiyama, Head of Marketing, breaking the silence, "Shadow has been tweeted about by the Americans in a record amount of times this week. But then again, so has Dr. Robotnik…"
"Is that so?" says Fujiyami.
"Yes," responds Mr. Hajiyama.
But what they didn't realize was that that week had been the week of Ground Hogs Day. As such, the groundhog did see his shadow, and people were tweeting the word "shadow" because of this. Hence, the word "shadow" was tweeted much higher than normal.
"One more thing…" says Mr. Hajiyama.
"What is it? Out with it!" says Fujiyami.
"My team and I are suspicious that Shadow is behind Dr. Robotnik's video."
"Is that so?" says Fujiyami.
"Yes," says Mr. Hajiyami, "We think he may have somehow psychologically manipulated the professor. He's clever like that. We think he wants to make Dr. Robotnik a YouTube star so that he can bypass the guardianship we've placed him under and instead take directly from Dr. Robotnik's YouTube monetization."
"Very well!" says Fujiyami, "Let's get him to make YouTube videos for us instead, then!"
Another awkward silence permeates the room.
Hata Hiroyuki, Vice President, clears his throat and proclaims, "I don't think Shadow's allegiance is to us anymore…"
"Blast it!" screams Fujiyami, "We must find a way to take down Dr. Robotnik's YouTube channel and get Shadow back in our clutches!"
And with that, he rages out of the room, slamming the door behind him.