Prologue: And It Begins
Five screens activated, the dim light they provided revealed a bespectacled teenage boy with tired amber eyes seated in front of them with a porcelain cup of coffee on the desk. His long, disheleved hair was prematurely gray, and his skin an unhealthy pale as though he had not seen light for many years, a fact that he might actually admit to be true. His clothing was much neater in comparison to his hair; a dark blue button-up shirt, a slightly baggy pair of burgundy pants and dress shoes. He also wore a white lab-coat with faint stains of organic matter and chemicals. An insignia of his workplace GeneLight, that of a DNA molecule inside of a star, was emblazoned on the right side of the lab coat.
Each screen had a certain number underneath it which doubled represented their codenames from One to Five. To keep themselves anonymous should any stranger manage to eavesdrop on anyone of the six members, the screens showed a line that moves in accordance to the voice frequency of their owners instead of their faces. As a secondary measure, each voice had a modulator to make it even harder to identify the actual persons behind them.
Truth be told, the young scientist felt out of place no matter how many times he participated in the meetings with the other five. After all, he was the youngest at fifteen years old, turning sixteen in two months. He believed that his great intellect might have been key, but two others amongst them had similarly bright minds. Then again, he was the overseer of many experiments conducted by GeneLight. Not director or CEO, but still it was a very high achievement for his age.
"In attendence," One stated in a monotonous, yet authoriative voice, "the First Generation. Reports?"
Two was the first to respond. "HADES and the Resistance are still fiercely fighting for territories, though it seems that the former organisation has expanded a little more than Six've calculated through terror and other means. Brutes, the lot of them."
Yes, Six was the scientist's codename. Six simply sat in his swivel chair, not once rebutting that his calculations did not include any outside factors. Since each number was before his, it meant they were older than him by age, and he respected his seniors. If memory were to serve him well, One was thirty and Two twenty-eight.
The HADES Biological Unit, or HADES for simplicity's sake, was a black ops military organisation according to his research and agents from within the ranks. From what he had heard from his colleagues, HADES was very secretive in its unethical operations. Rumours had it that if there was a leak, the higher-ups would go to great lengths to cover up. One fellow scientist spoke of a purge of those involved, though she wasn't clear if the victims had bullets between their eyes or used as lab rats. Whatever it was, Six did not want to find out. He would rather conduct experiments, not become one.
"On my end, bio-scans on our bodies have yield results, and none of it good," the twenty-five year old Three grumbled. Six remembered that Three's occupation was that of a medical expert or something similar. If Three said you're going to die in a couple of weeks thanks to one disease or another, you might want to start writing a will as soon as possible. "I'll give everyone except Six between one and three years. Sad to say, the runt of this litter has only a couple of months to live, three at best."
Three months. The scientist couldn't believe his ears, slumping back onto his chair in despair. The graying male understood that his condition was constantly deteriorating, but to think that his heart would give out so soon made him tear up a little.
Sucking it up and wiping the tears off, Six muttered, "Just some more incentive to clear this madness up, right Four and Five?"
"Indeed," agreed Four.
"We'll get it done in no time!" seconded Five.
Four and Five were the closest to him age wise. On average, the two were about eighteen years of age and graduated from the same university and at the same time as he did. How blessed Six felt to be able to work with such brilliant minds, even if it was for a short while. He'd even managed to score a relationship with Five, something he had never expected considering that he was as interesting as the cafetaria floor.
"Let's hope so. If we're lucky, we can call a vacation in about a week, two at most, ceteris paribus," sighed Six, looking forward to a trip to a resort to spend the remainder of his days. Maybe Undella Town in Unova, or Larousse City in Hoenn. Anywhere to take him away from the insanity he'd gone through in the island-region city of Tachion and to forget a memory shared by all members of the First Generation.
"Assuming those clowns do not interfere with our operations and everything else is good," grumbled Two.
"That's why I put in ceteris paribus my friend, it means that assuming all factors remain the same. Even without adding the assumption, it is still highly unlikely that-" Six was soon interrupted by the blaring alarms echoing throughout the room. Immediately, the graying male took his eyes off the communicator screens and towards the security feed. "Give me a minute, I'm check... no, no, no!"
What was once a calm expression was now replaced by a mix of confusion and horror. He remembered that he had kept hidden certain experiments for their main objective in a disclosed laboratory that doubled as a safe haven. With a very advanced defense protocol to boot. How anyone, excluding him and his hand-picked team, knew its location and managed to disable the security system puzzled him. What was worse, caches of very sensitive information were stored there. Information that could spell doom for all of the First Generation.
"My sanctum is compromised! How?! Why?!" Frustrated, the youngest member slammed a fist onto his desk, unintentionally causing the half-filled cup to fall and smash into many fragments, spilling the warm beverage onto the floor. "Argh, curse them for breaking in and making me waste a good drink!"
"Six, we cannot lose this project, not while we've gone this far! Those imbeciles have no idea how much progress would go down the drain if it were to be stopped!" One growled.
"I know, don't rush me!" Six hissed, suspiciously like a snake. "I'm having my subordinates to copy the original data and sending them to special hideouts as soon as they can. That group of trigger-happy maniacs which my company has partnered up with shouldn't have too much difficulty dealing with, much less stalling the intruders. Worst case scenario, I'll personally wipe them all out. Six disconnecting."
Switching the frequency to his hidden laboratory, Six gave his instructions in a hasty manner, "All personnel, Code Wither! I repeat, Code Wither! This is not a drill! We must not allow the Resistance to obtain any information regarding Operation Revival!" As soon as it was transmitted to every subordinate, the head scientist stormed down to the secret location.
I swear, those Resistance cretins better not have cracked open the vault. Who knows what kind of chaos will erupt if the public discover Operation Revival's true purpose!
Preview:
"C'mon, get your lazy behind up! We need to leave while there's still time!"
"Wha...? What's going on?"
"We can play Twenty Questions after we get out of here!"
"Unfortunately for you interlopers, you will not escape this place alive!"
Next time on Evolve and Survive,
Breakout
Here's the new prologue for a revamped Evolve and Survive. It had been a relatively tough decision to rewrite my first story but there had been many problems which I had made starting out, including too many OCs (the ones who I will keep will be stated below) and a lack of direction (I tend to write as soon as I get ideas). Much of, if not the entire reboot will not follow the original, though the scenes in each chapter (excluding the prologue) will be made better than I could've in the past.
For now, the OCs that will remain are [Akari Kimura] from Starlight-Swordswoman, [Alex and Riley Cresent] from SlashPrincessOfHell, [Crimson] from Trynten Wolfchyld Husky, [Astaria, Arjuna and Melodia] from xxX Tigerblade Xxx, [Kylor Altair and Serene Alledia] from ExDraco. I may consider 4 OC slots for Resistance leaders, but it is still in the development phase.
Also from next chapter on, there will be a codex system. In essence, it is a summary of important events occuring before or during the current timeline, characters and factions encountered by the main cast.
That is the basis of my reboot, and it will develop from there. See you in the next chapter!
[StylishDescent logging out]