Phase 8: Ally and H20

*Flashback*

"Mummy, would you come back for Christmas this year?"

A cute 8-year-old little girl was pouting while she spoke to the hologram in front of her. Her mum was wearing a white lab coat and fatigue can be seen from her face. Her amber eyes that had a sharp glint to them while working now showed a rare hint of gentleness in them. Coupled with her high cheek bones, a well-defined nose and rosy lips, she was a beauty with an even higher intellect prowess. She finally found some time in her packed schedule at the laboratory to contact her daughter whom she had left at home for almost two months. She wanted to make up for her absence during her daughter's 8th birthday which had passed two days prior.

"Ally… I know you're upset that I couldn't make it back for your birthday, but mum's been really busy here and we're at a critical stage of our current project. Nevertheless, I've prepared a very special gift for you. I wanted to send it back to you before your birthday, but I couldn't find the time to do so. It turned out well, though, as I was able to tweak it a little to make it one-of-a-kind in this world before giving it to you. I'm sure you'll love it."

The little girl's eyes twinkled when she heard her mum's words. She knew her mum was working in a top secret place for the government and it was hard to see her when she's at work. Normally she would spend time with her neighbors and caretaker, but she was sulking, so she used the emergency contact her mum gave her and sent her mum a message to call her back.

"Really…?! Is it what you told me before?! WOW! Mum, I love you!" Ally was super excited and completely forgot what she had asked her mum before. Anna smiled at her daughter's antics. She was glad her daughter was young but sensible and smart. Even though her daughter did not inherit her blonde hair and amber eyes, she was growing into a little beauty herself. Her dark hair and onyx-coloured eyes with a hint of blue in them exudes an exotic charm similar to that person in her heart…

"Ally, you must remember, no matter how far away I am, I would watch over you and make sure to give you the best of what you deserve. The gift will probably arrive before Christmas and if I am able to wrap up the work here, then I'll be back by then too. Before then, I hope you can be patient and focus on your lessons. I'll let my assistant contact Marie and have her check on you from time to time, okay?"

Ally nodded at the hologram and gave her mum a sweet smile before saying goodbye. The short conversation gave her a sense of satisfaction and eased the loneliness she felt. However, what she didn't know then was that would be a conversation she would never forget for the rest of her life….

Less than a week after the conversation, Ally received her mum's gift. It was the new, high-tech game capsule her mum was developing. In fact, due to it being tweaked by her mum, it was able to store and generate its own power source in times of emergency. Through the capsule, Ally also started her journey into the virtual fantasy world. Nevertheless, her excitement did not last long, as she soon received news that changed her life forever.

Being a naturally-gifted child, Ally was able to grasp the various concepts and controls of the capsule and from time-to-time, contacted her mum through the AI function. Usually, her mum would be too busy to reply but she would successfully receive her mum's message at least once every three days. However, just two weeks after receiving her mum's gift, Ally had lost all contact with her. She waited days, a week, two weeks…and when weeks turned into months, she was no longer appeased with just the game capsule distracting her from worrying about her mum. It was about that time when she finally received the bad news she feared. Her mom had been involved in an accident at work. Her laboratory had exploded and there were almost no survivor. The search and rescue party had tried their best, but they were unable to find her mum. In the end, after a 45-days of absence and no news of her mum being found, they decided to put her into the missing personnel list, but due to her sensitive identity, she was proclaimed legally dead. From that day onwards, Ally became an orphan. However, she also inherited all her mum's belongings as well as given huge compensation funds that would keep her well taken care of her whole life.

Ally was devastated after she found out. Due to her young age, she was traumatized and lost herself in grief by spending long hours in the game capsule, trying to escape reality. Her caretaker resigned due to her tantrums and she was left to fend for herself, rejecting everyone. In the end, her neighbours, Kent and Marie, took it upon themselves to become her temporary guardians. As Ally refused to go back to school, they signed her up for virtual classes that were available, and Ally was able to receive proper education albeit in a virtual classroom. However, this also led to Ally's physical health deteriorating as she refused to take her meals regularly, spending up to 20 hours daily in her game capsule. She absorbed all kinds of knowledge available to her and made it her goal to find clues of her mum's last project as well as ways to find her mum. Ally has no clear memory of the days that passed, only of her numbed feelings and occasional pain.

Days turn to months, and months turn to years. Although Ally has grown up to become an introverted person, she was able to slowly walk out of her shell and got back in touch with the real world with her guardians' help. They brought her to health check-ups regularly when she turned 12 and felt gratified that although her trauma left significant effects on her body, she would be able to completely recover if she spends less time in the capsule and more time doing physical exercises. That was when the couple took drastic action by moving into her home and watched over her 24 hours daily. She was banned from entering the capsule more than 8 hours daily including the time she spends to attend her classes. Kent also regularly took her up to the rooftop garden and taught her exercises to strengthen her body while Marie took her around to shop and buy necessities. They taught her how to survive and live independently. Their effort did not come to waste as Ally was able to slowly recover. When she was able to pass the physical examination of her peer's level, she was given back her freedom in using the game capsule. Both Kent and Marie understood how important it was to Ally and decided to not restrain her too much. In fact, they believe she was gifted enough to succeed her mum's work in the future.

On her 13th's birthday, Ally received a gift from her guardians. It was a cute kitten with a dark silver coat of fur. It has a pair of emerald green eyes and a unique trait being its short, fluffy tail. According to Kent, he had found the kitten in a small cot at the rooftop garden with a note attached, "Please take good care of it. It deserves a better owner." There was also an envelope of cash found in the cot. Kent was not against adopting the kitten, but he felt that it was better to gift it to Ally. At least, that would give Ally a sense of companionship and remind her to come out from the game capsule from time to time in order to feed the kitten. Kent proceeded to set-up the appropriate space and toys needed to keep a pet cat in Ally's studio apartment for her while Marie stocked up loads of cat food and gave her information on how to take care of a pet cat before they moved back to their own house next door.

At first, Ally was flustered when given such a responsibility, but she was also taken in by the adorable kitten and thus adopted the kitten with grace. She also officially registered it as her pet kitten, with the given name H20. It was necessary because in the current era, pets are considered rare and a form of luxury. Every pet owner needs to have a license or else their pets might be confiscated by the authorities. The AI era has improved the lives of humans at many levels, but it has also led to the disruption of various ecosystem. Animals and plants were sacrificed with some breeds dying out entirely due to failed experiments. Virus stemming from pets had also caused casualties among the people leading to the government taking action and impose strict rules against owners from conducting experiments on their pets as well as the absolute law of registering pets with the local authorities.

Ally took the matter of caring for H20 very seriously and H20 had since then been her absolute companion while she ate, slept or moved around in real life. She would also make sure to feed and keep H20 well-groomed even when she's obsessed with her games or research.

Now, three years into the owner and cat's co-habitat lifestyle, the world has suddenly changed while they were put into jeopardy by the New World settings. Ally watched with bated breath as a bar appeared in front of the cage, showing the progress of H20's evolution test….

12%...15%....20%.... 40%.... The progress was moving along quite swiftly until it reached 70% and the colour of the bar turned from a neutral blue colour into red. Ally clenched her fists tightly. She knew it meant that the test has reached the critical stage and whether H20's evolution was successful or not will depend on the result from here… The progress up till now took less than 3 minutes but Ally was already drenched in sweat. Both Kent and Marie also watched in trepidation as the bar kept loading….