I swear, this story might reach 100 chapters before it ends, but they'll be barely 1000+ words long. XD

Anyway, not much to say here. I think something important happens, but I'll let you decide that.

So, without further ado, let's go.


"Alright, class, today we're gonna talk about Evolution," Mrs. Johnson remarked. "Cliche Evolution, to be exact, as you're all at the ripe age to have it happen."

The students were rather confused about the announcement, chief among them Lincoln's childhood friends.

Not because it was the first time they heard about it, but because their Indexing had still been recent.

"Mrs. Johnson, what do you mean we're at the ripe age for whatever that is?" Cristina asked, raising her hand. "We just got Indexed not too long ago."

"The Indexing is mostly used to extinguish any doubts about what Cliche one might have, and also give them a designation," the teacher answered, waving her hand dismissively. "A Cliche Evolution is something different, something that everybody goes through."

Mrs. Johnson grabbed a marker and began writing on her board, explaining:

"Starting at adolescence and ending at adulthood, Cliche Evolution is the process by which a person's Cliche naturally gains facets or layers to it. This is typically achieved during a stressful situation, but more often than not, it's as a result of incorporating tics or traits of the user into the Cliche."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Clyde whispered to Ronnie Anne, who whispered back. "This sounds like a counterpart to innovation, but isn't that supposed to be forbidden?"

Clyde nodded, and raised his hand, getting Mrs. Johnson's attention. "Why is innovation prohibited if the body innovates as a result of this Cliche Evolution? That seems a little contradictory."

"Elementary, mister McBride, it's because innovation is a choice," Mrs. Johnson answered calmly. "A Cliche Evolution is something that the body does automatically, and something that affects all of us no matter how hard we try to defy it."

Mrs. Johnson's smile faltered. "With innovation, it's always a case of yes or no. Whoever does it can always just… not do it. Or say no. Or just never think about it. They have the option of not going through with it, and if they do… well, at that point no sympathy is ever gonna be given to them."

Clyde slowly lowered his hand, visibly stunned by the answer. And the class continued afterwards, as if the question hadn't been asked.


"Well, that was an interesting lesson," Cristina remarked. "Kinda weird how we're learning about it just now, but better late than never, I guess."

"Even better, we got an alibi in case anybody finds us," Ronnie Anne added. "If we're caught training our Cliches, we can just say it's our Cliche Evolution!"

"Yeah, but we need to figure out how to make it connected to our personalities, otherwise it won't work," Clyde pointed out. "Anyhow, let's go see the girls."

The girls nodded in agreement, and the trio kept walking until they reached the Ynovation classroom. They went in and found the girls already inside, eating lunch, with one notable difference:

Tabby was asleep.

"She's sleeping at this hour?" Ronnie Anne asked.

"She was like this when we arrived," Haiku explained, taking a sip of her drink before adding. "We pondered about waking her up, but none of us had the heart to do it."

Then, Ronnie Anne got a devious idea. "Hey, Clyde, give her a kiss; maybe that'll wake her up."

Clyde wasn't amused. "Why do I have to kiss her?"

"Because I don't swing that way," Ronnie Anne answered bluntly while pocketing her hands. "And neither does Cristina."

"These pristine lips are for Lincoln only!" the redhead boasted.

Clyde rolled his eyes, walked up to Tabby and poked her cheek, causing her to wake up instantly… and slap him.

"Dude, don't wake me up! I wasn't done yet!"

Tabby went back to sleep, leaving everybody perplexed and confused.


Tabby soon woke up again… in an entirely different location.

No longer was she at the school, but instead, she was in an abandoned building in the middle of the city, with it becoming much more clear when Tabby left it.

Once outside, Tabby took a few steps before she scanned her surroundings, and found herself in a place that looked like Royal Woods but… didn't feel like that.

There weren't people flying about, or advanced technology, or Protagonists and Antagonists duking it out as part of the obligatory Protagonist-Antagonist System.

It looked like an ordinary city… and that was rather perturbing.

Regardless, she kept walking, until she spotted somebody in the distance: a woman with black hair, dark skin, and a business suit, looking at her watch for the time.

"You shouldn't be here, you know?"

Tabby winced as the woman seemingly turned to face her, only to turn around and see a man standing nearby, waving to get her attention. And the lady walking past her gave the impression that-

"And you shouldn't be here, either."

Tabby barely had enough time to realize what she said before being kicked...


"OW!"

Tabby cried in pain and rubbed her cheek, which didn't look bruised at all, but it certainly felt like it.

"Tabby, are you alright?!" Polly asked as she and the rest ran to Tabby's side.

"Yeah, just got kicked in the face," Tabby answered with a groan of pain. "And you won't believe who might've been the kicker…"

Everybody raised an eyebrow, prompting Tabby to explain:

"When I fell asleep, I think I managed to somehow mentally travel back in time to Royal Woods before Cliches became mainstream. And there I met…"


The woman took a deep breath as she woke up, stretching a bit as she scanned her surroundings to see she was in the middle of a technologically advanced room.

"We have to talk, Head of Development!"

The woman calmly turned around, facing the sudden arrival of an angered Lisa as she added:

"Or should I say, Mrs. Shrinivas: the first Cliche user?"