Chapter One: Prologue

Blurry pictures swam before her eyes; her eyes that felt so heavy lately. She didn't know where she was, just that her mother and father had taken her to a traveling roadshow that had stopped near her village. It had a ex-shinobi in it who had somehow created three dragons out of thin air!

That story was so awesome. He thought as the pictures flew by in her head.

A man walked out, dressed in a simple green robe, with a thick black belt, wrapped around his wait and bowed on his left hip, the extra material hanging down past his knees. He smiled at his audience, which had grown from his last show. Apparently word had preceded his arrival, and gotten many people interested to see if he was worth the hype. He simply bowed and sat down on the barren stage, sitting cross-legged and, with his genjutsu enhanced voice, narrated the story, as he wove his hands about in front of his body.

"At a time, where Earth had not come into existence yet, there were three celestial dragons. Now, whether they were drawn to each other, or just happened upon one another by pure chance, the fact is not known. But, all that matters is they met." the man had said, as he created three slightly blurry images of white, semi-transparent dragons (long serpent-like dragons, not English dragons), meeting and twirling about each other.

"One dragon was the Dragon of Fire, very devout in his belief that his kind were the most powerful and deserved to rule the galaxy, destined to rule it with an 'Iron Fist', s to speak.

Second, was the Dragon of Water, also very strong, but had a much more clement view of the universe; that he should rule it, in order to bring peace and stability to all the creatures who saw fit.

The last was the Dragon of Earth, The current leader of the galaxy. He had ruled the galaxy for eons, and brought peace humility to what was once a death and disease-ridden space."

As he introduced each dragon, the corresponding dragon blurred and changed color, all the while twirling and spinning around the others. Finally, they broke from their tight ball and butted heads, forming a central point. After reeling from the contact, they started twisting and spinning with renewed vigor and furiously bite, tore, and slashed at each other

"Being the dragons that they were, they were very prideful, and sought to eliminate the others, thus securing their place in the galaxy. The three Dragons fought and fought, clashing with one another. None could gain the upper-hand, even after thousands upon thousands of years of combat. Frustrated and exhausted, the Three threw everything they had into one, final strike." The three dragons reared back from each other, the lower halves of their long, slender bodies intertwined with the other two. They struck with the others at the same time and caused a blinding flash of light, momentarily stunning the audience, who were collectively blinking their eyes,straining to see again, totally enraptured with the tale. After a minute, they all saw a ball of light, roughly the sze of a watermelon, suspended in te air a few feet above his hands

"However, even after the blow, none emerged the victor. What remained was a newly formed planet. One capable of sustaining life. The three most powerful beings in the universe came together and created something so precious, so fragile, that it isn't to be wasted: Life."

The man stood and faced addressed his audience, "For you see, thought the vast expanse that is Space, taking into account all of the millions of planets and solar systems, around each sun, there exists a small, invisible belt; a belt in which life can be sustained. And inside that belt, on a planet tat just so happens to be lucky, there are millions of organisms. And of those millions of organisms, one may be lucky enough to attain sentience: the ability to think and reason."

He smiled and spread his hands wide on each side of his arm, "So, friends, the next time you feel a harmful thought, or feel that an act of vengeance is required, or even that a life must be taken, remember my story. And remember how precious and rare that his or her life is, because that is the ultimate power in this universe. The power to take a life is not one to be trifled with. Do not lower yourselves to trivialities and vices; that shall only lead to yours, and possibly others' suffering. Live life to the fullest, and enjoy every second of it, because a happy and full life is becoming increasingly rare these days."

The man bowed his head and said his thanks. Then, he proceeded to exit the stage leaving a stunned and cheering crowd behind him.

The little girl turned to his parents, "Wasn't that so cool!" her parents smiled at her, obviously pleased to get such a reaction.

"Come on, let's go see if we can find something to eat, okay?" her mother smiled.

"Alright, food!" the little girl jumped and pumped her fist in the air.

"Dear," the father started, "I'm going to go talk to that shinobi for a second, I'll catch up to you later okay?"

She smiled and told him sure thing, while taking the cheering girl off between the rows of carts in search of something very greasy and fattening.

The girl was in her own world. Walking along, holding her mother's hand looking back and forth at each cart. She saw something she liked and let go, weaving her way through the people and reaching a stall that had some shiny toys. Turning back to her mother, he called, "Lookit this mommy, isn't it cool?" she jut smiled back at her antics, and continued walking as the little girl spotted some kind of greasy food stall on the other side. She darted over to that side calling to her mother, "This looks so good can we try some?" she just laughed and made her way towards him.

This process continued for about five or six more stalls before her mother started to get worried. Her daughter was getting farther and farther away from her. She couldn't keep her eyes on her for more than a second or two before losing sight of her daughter through the crowd. "Honey? Where are you?" she ran through the crowd frantically. "Where'd you go?" she yelled bumping her way through the crowd. She arrived at the spot she last saw him, but her was nowhere to be found.

That was all he remembered. Looking at that man who was smiling at her with some very tasty looking candy before she was gripped by a sudden case of vertigo. Her stomach threatened to spill its contents as she regained his bearings. She was under the arm of a man sitting up in a tree branch.

"What are you doing, so far from your parents? Oh well, no matter, sleep now." the strange white-haired man with glasses put a hand on the girl's head and she suddenly felt so very sleepy.

And that brings her to her current predicament. Where the hell was she?

"I see you are awake." a metallic voice said to her. It was a man's voice. Her vision cleared somewhat and she saw a group of blurry shapes on the other side of a foggy window. She was vaguely aware that she was strapped to some sort of table; her arms and legs bound, and she was facing a wall of glass. The very little room she was in had monitors and random beeping machines behind while the other three walls were made of some sort of glass.

"W-whats going on? Where am I? What's happening?" she stammered, on the verge of tears. The shapes on the other side suddenly cleared as the glass became see-through.

There were six people. Three were in white coats. Doctors? Is something wrong with me? Two women and one man. The man was very old, bordering on ancient, his raggedy white hair, thin and untidy. The two women seemed younger, maybe in their thirties, still old compared to him, who had only been alive for nine years.

One had black hair tied up into a bun. She had piercing blue eyes and a very stern look on her face. In her left hand she had a metal clipboard with many sheets of paper.

The other woman had dark brown hair that was in pigtails and went down past her shoulders. She had chocolate brown eyes, hidden behind a pair of glasses. She also looked very stern and kept giving looks at the male doctor.

The other three looked mean and tough. All three were older men. Scary. They all wore black uniforms with white striping. One had a red sash from his right shoulder to left hip, and the other two had black sashes.

The old man with the wispy hair, spoke again, the same metallic voice coming through some sort of speaker. "Gentlemen, I give you patient number Forty-eight. She has already been injected with substance One-One-Eight and shows none of the symptoms of the previous trials. Her cells have shown none of the mutation that the other specimens did. Gentlemen, I believe what we have been after for thirty years has finally come to fruition. I believe that the answers lie within this girl's blood." he motioned to the girl after his speech.

The man with the red sash spoke up, drawing attention, "Were there any side effects, any...complications, or something showing signs of virulent possibilities?"

The black-haired woman spoke, holding up her clipboard and reading from it. "Patient Forty-eight's blood, when combined with that of another human seem very toxic. The receiver showed mysterious symptoms, followed shortly by severe mutations. The receiver had to be put down and remains incinerated. Shortly after, Patient Forty-eight experienced heightened heart rate, and brain functions, ultimately resulting in her death. Blood samples taken before and after said death were compared and analyzed. That was when we found it." she looked up at the three men and then to the girl inside the cell. "Patient Forty-eight's blood carries within it the genetic code to regenerate not only dead cells, but to somehow absorb the mass of other cells."

The male doctor spoke up, "It was actually sort of a fluke, a mistake, if you will. Some of the tissue that was taken post-death was analyzed and combined with the tissue of another subject. Needless to say, the patient's tissue absorbed the other's tissue and altered the genetic coding inside."

"But what does this mean?" asked a man with a red sash.

"It means that Patient Forty-eight can absorb the mass of another living being and alter her own genetic code accordingly. Like, consuming a few fish, might allow her to breath underwater. Or, consuming a bloodline might cause her DNA to alter accordingly. Gentlemen; what we've got here is Evolution. Not over a span of thousands upon thousands of years, but over a course of minutes, hours, maybe days at the most. With his DNA and enough genetic matériel, we can create new medicines, eradicate entire diseases, or if your up to it, bio-engineered soldiers. We are looking at the epitome of Evolution; the things, and people we could create, would be nothing short of gods. I believe that we have actually created here a new genus of human. " the man stated obviously quite pleased with himself.

The man looked from his congregation to the girl strapped within the cell, hanging upon his every word, fearing what she had become, and what was to happen in the future. The man spoke, "That is why I have decided to call it: Project Genesis."