Chapter 3: Zero Chance

Day in and day out it was the same. The hedgehog awoke to a small meal and was then led off to the different training rooms. It made him wonder about the purpose for it, though Robotnik always reassured him that it was for the best.

His swimming had improved greatly over the past few days when compared to his first attempts. Having learned the proper motions for staying afloat while in the water. Even when submerged, he figured out the right strokes to move easily through the pool. After the terrifying experience of plummeting into the water had ended, the hedgehog found swimming to be quite an enjoyable experience.

But the same couldn't be said for his running. While he wasn't getting any worse, he was most certainly not getting better. Even as the hedgehog pushed himself to the breaking point, his legs throbbing from over-exertion, the Doctor still shook his head in disappointment.

The most recent change was when he was sent to a different training room.

Built much like the one he used for sprinting, the only difference was the track being replaced with a shallow pit, forming a full circle in the very center. Having been told to enter it, the hedgehog waited for his next command. He didn't have to wait long however when a pair of doors on the far side of the room opened. Someone stepped out and into the pit with him, as it got closer the hedgehog was shocked as he saw what it was, another hedgehog.

About the voice his alarm, Robotnik spoke up first.

"Do not worry, though it may look real, it is just one of more machines." The hedgehog was even more shocked to be told such a thing. The so called robot looked so life like and real. On further examination however, he saw a flaw that eliminated the ruse outright, no mouth was present on it's tanned muzzle.

The robot was black with red and white shoes and gloves, with a large patch of white on it's chest. Something felt odd to the hedgehog though, something off about the robot standing in front of him. But he pushed it aside as the robotic hedgehog just stared at him, awaiting orders from its master.

The Doctor then announced what they were doing, combat. It surprised the hedgehog completely as he heard it, how learning how to fight would help him was beyond his own understanding. But despite the uncertainty, the hedgehog held his trust with the Doctor.

When Robotnik ordered them to begin, the hedgehog was ill prepared for it. His robotic adversary was upon him in a second, throwing a series of punches and kicks that he had no hope of avoiding.

Already being thrown to the ground, Robotnik called the robot off of the hedgehog for him to get up. After a lecture in using his reflexes, the Doctor started it again. This time the hedgehog was ready and managed to dodge the attacks. The last punch he even blocked, though he was quick to regret it. Having not expected the robot's strength, his arm was already sore from that simple blow.

But after a while he made enough improvement to dodge the more simple attacks, even managing a few of his own, though they hardly phased the machine.

After that, the combat training became apart of his usual routine, though no matter how hard he tried, he never got any positive reaction from Robotnik. There were just some expectations that he couldn't meet, but he had no idea why.

Training wasn't what he did all day however, while his body would begin to ache and slow from exhaustion, Robotnik would finally call him off for the rest of the day to do as he pleased. But that implied very little as the hedgehog soon learned that there wasn't much to be done within the base.

Many of the rooms were locked, the ones that he could enter had nothing the hedgehog found interesting, consisting mostly of robot assembly lines where they were pieced together.

One thing he noticed was just how lonely the base was. The only other inhabitants he ever saw where Robotnik's robots, but they acted strangely toward him. Whenever he would encounter them, he was given a wide berth, the robots either ignoring him or disappearing into another room. Alpha3 was nowhere to be seen unless it was time for training. The Doctor was just as distant, always saying he was too busy for idle conversation. It took a toll on the confused hedgehog who simply wanted someone to talk to, someone to understand.

There was a small sliver of peace to be had in the base. Almost on the other side of the base there was a dead end to one of the many hallways. It ended with a very large set of windows making up the wall, giving the most gorgeous view the hedgehog had ever seen.

A seemingly endless ocean of trees that spanned out until it met the sun and sky. Looking below it showed a rocky slope of a cliff, showing the hedgehog that the base was set atop a mountain. Just standing there and gazing out into the scenery brought a great deal of peace to his mind. Though that peace did nothing to quell the nightmares.

Almost every night there was one. All feeling so real to him, each time he would wake up in a shivering, sweaty state. Headaches coming soon after, his head pounding to the point the hedgehog couldn't move. But it all eventually passed, leaving an annoyed and frustrated hedgehog to go back to sleep.

Just as the routine was being set once again, it was disrupted by a new task.

Robotnik led the hedgehog to another new room, but it wasn't one for training. It was filled with different machines, consoles, and monitors. One small section of the room had a chair set up with different cables hooked at its base.

"Remove your garments please," Robotnik asked. The hedgehog complied, removing the heavy clothing and feeling gracious for it. Despite having worn the outfit so often, he still hated wearing it at all, never growing used to it.

The Doctor then gestured for the hedgehog to sit and as he did a metal device with wires running down it was stuck to his forehead.

"Uh... what is this," the hedgehog asked rather nervously. More wires were being attached to his wrists and chest, each trailing off and being hooked to a large console closest to them.

"Well," Robotnik started, pressing a series of buttons on the monitor as he answered, "I have devised a way to try and help you in your training. We will use this machine to boost your strength, speed, and give you other abilities as well."

"What?" The hedgehog had no idea what to think of the answer, not understanding the science behind any of it.

"Don't worry," the Doctor reassured him, "no harm should come to you. And based on the data I've run, there is zero chance of this failing."

"Okay..." Still sounding nervous, the hedgehog kept telling himself to trust the Doctor.

"Alright then,"you will just need to stay calm and brace yourself." Without another word, Robotnik pressed bright red button on the console and the machine started.

The wires attached to the hedgehog began to glow, making his skin tingle all around his body. Every second that passed increased the sensation as a loud humming came from the console.

Robotnik nodded his head as everything was going as it should. After another minute, he held out a large crystal. The hedgehog was amazed at how beautiful it looked, a flawless yellow gem that was as big as his hand.

"Now time for it to really start," the Doctor said with a laugh. A hole in the console opened up, just the right size for the crystal. Without hesitation, Robotnik inserted it into the slot.

Instantly the machine hummed louder and the wires lit up even more. The hedgehog felt it too, the surge of energy into his body was immense. It caused him to start shaking uncontrollably as the energy kept building and building.

Sharp tremors of pain began to burn into his arms as the machine kept going. Groans escaped him as he tried fighting against it, only bringing more to come.

Even the pain was building along with the energy within him. The lights inside the lab were flickering on and off as the machine kept getting louder and louder. A few even blew out, creating a small explosion of lights and spark that made the hedgehog jump in his seat.

"Please," the hedgehog begged, "stop this, I can't take it anymore!"

"No no," Robotnik urged, "you can take it. It'll be worth it!" The hedgehog still had no idea what they were doing, his mind becoming too clouded from the experience.

But a sense of fear gripped him as he looked down at himself.

With each new surge of energy, he could see his dark blue fur changing. A bright yellow was replacing it, shining as bright as any light. Then his quills started to hurt, feeling as though an invisible hand was grabbing hold and yanking upwards as hard as it could.

It felt as though the entire lab was shaking, the rattling of the different scientific instruments filled the air. High pitched shrieks wailed out of the machine as it continued its purpose. The monitors above it began to flicker and the data became distorted, many of them started to crack and shower sparks in all directions.

"Oh no," Robotnik shouted, frantically pressing buttons. Then most horrific sound broke from the machine, like nails on a chalkboard but amplified a thousand times. It split into the hedgehog's head with such a powerful force, blurring his vision as tears formed in his eyes. His cries of pain were drowned out as the machine connected to him caught fire and exploded on the spot, engulfing the lab in a bright flash.

The hedgehog was thrown from the chair and slammed into the lab wall. As he slumped down to the floor, he weakly looked out to the lab.

Little was left of the machine, only a few wires and flaming shards of metal. Sparks continued to rain down from whatever devices that still had power. Laying in front of the hedgehog was the yellow crystal used on the machine, it still glowed with a powerful aura. Without thinking, the hedgehog reached for it, just trying to touch it's glassy surface.

His fingers were just about to grab it when his weakness overtook him and the hedgehog passed out.

The hedgehog awoke to find himself in his room. With a heavy groan, he lifted himself from his covers, his head feeling as though it was smashed open on a rock.

Realizing what had happened, he panicked and searched his body. There were no signs of the yellowing on his body, and after feeling his quells, he appeared no different then before. There was a sigh of relief and the hedgehog collapsed back onto his bed. But the comfort didn't last long as the door to his room opened, Robotnik stepped inside with a stern look on his face.

"Are you all right," he asked without a hint of concern in his voice.

"Uh... yeah... I'm fine, I suppose." The hedgehog felt nervous, thinking that something was wrong.

"Good... I am regretful to say our last... effort to help you failed horribly. I do not know why, all data showed that it should have worked, but it didn't and that must be looked in to. So, if you would, please dress yourself and follow me."

The hedgehog noticed his clothes on the floor near the bed. Without another word, he put on the uncomfortable garments and followed the Doctor. A pit in his stomach churned about in circles with each step they took. The hedgehog felt nauseous and wanted nothing more then to curl up in bed for as long as he could.

They eventually made it to their desired room. It was another lab, much like the one they were previously in. Much like the last one, a chair sat in the center with more cables attached to it.

"Uh," the hedgehog groaned nervously, stepping back from the chair as he remembered what had happened before.

"No need to worry this time," Robotnik said, forcing a small amount of emotion in his otherwise bland voice. "This will merely run a neural statistics simulation based on your current abilities, a simple scan if you will." The hedgehog wasn't convinced by it, but on further thought, he wondered if he really had a choice in the matter.

So the hedgehog sat down once again. Different devices were stuck to him this time around. A metal band was attached to his forehead, a glass visor came down and over his eyes. Over his wrist, a clamp with a needle and clear tube was tightened on, the hedgehog's heart began to race at the sight but he controlled it and stayed calm.

"Computer," Robotnik commanded, an enormous monitor that reached from the floor to the ceiling turned on at the Doctor's voice. "Start up simulation 4.23." A window popped up on the screen and a loading bar began to fill up. A small hum came from the device on the hedgehog's neck, making his muscles tense.

The bar filled and more windows with different streams of data appeared.

"Run data collection sequence 1 and 2." The visor over the hedgehog's eyes began to glow red, a beam of its light shot off and moved over each of his pupils, stinging horribly. Then the device on his wrist began to turn on, the needle lowered and stuck into his flesh. A moment later and a stream of red fluid flowed from the needle and through the tube, following off and into the machine. Robotnik watched as the data on the screen shifted and changed.

"Good... good. Bring up video feed of file ES." The computer then showed clips of the hedgehog, vidoes of him while training in the pool, track, and ring. "Reference with videos from files S, SH, T, R, and K. Run all data through simulation and process all possible outcomes and chances of success."

"Processing..." The computer responded, showing more loading bars that slowly filled. "Established abilities lack in necessary fields. Losses imminent. Calculating percentage of success in possible situations... percentage of success... zero." A large 0 appeared on the screen, reflecting off of the Doctor's glasses as he looked up at it.

"No," Robotnik shouted as he pounded his fists against the console.

"D-doctor," the hedgehog began, becoming worried as he removed himself from the seat, "what's wrong?"

"All this planning... all this work... just another failure... like any other..." Robotnik then turned to the hedgehog, a fierce look of anger twisting in his face. "Security! Destroy this creature now, leave nothing left!"

"What?" The hedgehog tried saying as the room became filled with different weapons coming out of the walls, all taking aim at him. Before he knew it, the hedgehog was running out of the room for his life, Robotnik's voice shouting out behind him.

"Get that... that... zero!"

Explosives and bullets flew at the hedgehog from all directions as he kept running. His mind was too confused and scared to work properly as he just kept running. More and more security systems activated as he ran through the base, continuously firing at him.

Then the hedgehog's heart sank as he came to a dead end. The wall of windows blocked his path and trapped him. More security was already activated and preparing to fire.

From his panicked state, the hedgehog didn't know what to do. He watched in fear as the machines fired at him, creating a massive explosion that destroyed the entire room.

"Vitals have dropped and all probes have reported in," Alpha3 said to Robotnik as he looked over the monitors in front of him, "he is confirmed dead."

"Good," the Doctor said with a sigh, "send the repair bots to fix destroyed rooms."

"My apologies Doctor," Alpha3 tried saying, knowing how much was put into the project.

"Don't bother," he responded angrily, "it's done and he is dead, nothing more to do about it."

But Robotnik was wrong, the explosion didn't kill the hedgehog. The tremendous force, launched him through the windows and sent him hurtling down the mountain. After finally landing on the soft, grassy ground, he managed to pick himself up and limp away.

Through the forests, the hedgehog slowly made his way through the nonexistent path of trees. Pain shot through every part of his body he could still fell. His arm was useless, hanging limply at his side, his leg being just as battered, being dragged across the ground as he used his only working foot.

Blood from his wounded forehead dripped down and blurred his vision. Each breath shot more pain into his body as each one become more difficult to preform then the last.

A large tree root then blocked his footing, tripping the hedgehog and forcing him to the ground. Too weak to pick himself up, he was reduced to crawling across the floor. His one good arm was his only means of movement, digging his fingers into the soul and pulling to drag the rest of himself along.

But it didn't last very long. With his entire body in pain and no means of moving, the hedgehog rolled over on his back and accepted it.

"What kind of existence is this," he thought to himself as his mind started to fade in and out of consciousness, "to be given a second chance at life, only to die not knowing who you are."

As the darkness of death began to envelop him, a strange sound was heard. Like a large fan spining high above him in the skies. The hedgehog didn't have time to dwell on it however as blackness overcame him and all went silent.

A/N: Well there, Chapter 3 is done. Took a while for me to work on it, combination of a few things kept me from it. But it's finally done so that's good.

So hopefully I can get the rest done quicker then this, I'll certainly try my best.