The beginning of a story is often a tedious task for a writer. How you begin the story; when, where, why, etc; can be determined by an infinite number of variables. In turn, it can infinitely dictate the content of the story. The genre, the tone of the narrative, the setting, the introduction of the characters. In turn, the author must question things in his story. Then he must answer them to the best of his ability.
Was it based on a true story? If so, how close is it to the actual events? Who's the protagonist? What's the plot? Who or what is the antagonist? If the story is set on a ship for instance, does it hit a rock or an iceberg? Does it even sink at all? Does it safely make it back to port? If not, do they make it to life boats? And even then, do any survive?
All are things an author must consider before he puts pen to paper. Only after the writer knows the story as good as his own should he begin his manuscript. A story can be made otherwise, with less detail and far less work; but should such a story be considered to be worthy of being called a masterpiece?
On that open note, let's begin our story where much of life begins.
In the womb.
What's it like to be an infant growing in a womb? Can they understand what they hear? Can they feel emotions? When they kick, do they kick out of reflex or because they want attention? Not having kits of my own, I can't say if it's either one.
Who am I?
I'm the kit in the womb we're starting in. Or I was anyway. Confused?
Let's try this again without being too poetic. I'll just say this how it was.
I was not born in the womb of a living being. I never had a mother to cradle me in her arms, with the doctors congratulating: "It's a girl!" I was never given the warmth and joy of being hugged and kissed by my parents. I was born like my brothers and sisters, if you could call us that. We were conceived in artificial wombs, from the splicing of DNA collected from competitors during the 1936 Olympics in a process called Bio-Fusion.
None of us know who our fathers and mothers are. Some of us might not even have mothers, others might not have fathers. There was no sperm and egg used in our creation process. We are hybrids conceived around combining the DNA of 2 different species. 2 species, no one would have guessed was possible to combine.
Why then, was it decided to combine them? Simple. Lack of any other choice. The mammals in charge of the team that created us was being funded by the Predator Citystate of Berlinator. Or more specifically, it's government.
The mostly predator inhabited city had begun to slowly revoke the rights of prey, and would eventually return prey to being nothing but food for predators. They were preparing to launch a war on the Citystate of Zootopia to force their influence on what did and still has one of the largest populations of prey in existence.
While preparing secretly for the war, they began various experiments mostly with weapons and machinery. Things that they hoped would give them a significant advantage in the upcoming conflicts. We were one of those projects.
That brings me back to the team that created us. They had to make something to present to their backers or they would cut their funding, as everything they had created before paw had been a dead loss. But we weren't what they wanted. They had wanted to create something that would vastly improve society.
Vulpes Oryctolagus Cuniculus. It's our scientific classification name, and was NOT their vision for improving society. As said before, we were just a last ditch effort to create some form of results so the team's research would continue to be funded.
Much to their horror, even that backfired. The government was far more impressed in us than they anticipated. The team had made such a compelling argument toward, well... us; that the Berlinator Scientist Dr. D von Wolfenstein, the lead government scientist in charge of the island we were created on, ordered that all extended research for other hybrid species be discontinued. All further resources given to the project would be directed solely toward us, and all their other experiments were put to an immediate halt.
The team was, more or less, horrified. They did not want us, or to continue any kind of activity with us. We were just something they poured their resources into to save their own fur. They originally didn't even have any intention to keep us alive. However, after the government gave them their orders they were left with little choice.
Their disappointment slowly evolved into a gradual hatred toward us. Despite the fact they were forced to continue our development, they began to resent their work. All their dreams of creating the ultimate mammal were gone.
Because they were working for Berlinator, they had to continue their work for the government. They were unable to leave the island, as it contained extreme military secrets. Not to mention, the island itself was Berlinator's biggest secret.
The island had been discovered in late 1918, 3 days after Berlinator surrendered. And at that point it was too late for the City-State to make use of the island. The island was named Reiche Insel, which means Rich Island. Reiche Insel was named such for its vast resources. It's about 12 by 15 miles around, or 19 by 24 kilometers if it's what you've learned.
Not enormous, but size isn't everything. The island is rich in Iron Ore, Copper Ore, Bauxite, fertile soil, and even a lot of chemicals needed to make various kinds of plastic. There are hot water geysers that surround the island and warm the water. The warm water creates quite a weather pattern, it surrounds the island in constant storms and fog which acts like a natural barrier from foreign influence. It's how it took so long to discover the island in the first place.
And we were one of the primary programs on the island. Although our scientific name is Vulpes Oryctolagus Cuniculus, our lab classification is Project X-02. I suppose that would make a fitting title to this book should it ever be published...
Getting off track again. If you hadn't figured out what our name means in common terms; it means, quite simply, Fox-Rabbit. A hybrid species of Rabbits and Foxes, created using a process inspired by the principles of cloning.
This is our story.
Project X-02