the city of academia, or better known simply as academia—the capital of the world. it is a futuristic city with high skyscrapers, and undoubtedly, it is the wealthiest existing metropolitan. academia is run by the academy, or plainly known as the government. the academy controls what and whom goes in and out of the city, as well as what the rules and regulations are. despite the power that the academy holds, academia is a justly democratic city and the population lives in peace due to the academy's management. however, within academia resides two well-known, perhaps infamous, groups: alkaline and xenon. many civilians call them hoodlums, gangsters, mafia even. although that is not the case, the fact that they are a group of people whom share the same views stands true. the reason those labels were placed upon the groups to begin with have to do with events that broke out several years ago.
you see, once upon a time, these two groups had been one: hope. hope was created by two best friends under the names of alkaline and xenon with the objective to help the slums of academia. in honesty, perhaps the only reason the group formed to begin with was because of the academy's neglect towards the poorer families. in any case, as their group name advertised, they really did bring hope to the lower class in what was now called old town. however, after six years of positive-reflecting activity, the group started to become unsteady. why? because the academy had announced that old town would be demolished to make room for the new research facility. while xenon rooted to go against the government and protest, alkaline suggested that they simply obliged to the academy's demand. this conflict of perspective eventually created a separation of hope members, and in time, violence spurred. supporters of both alkaline and xenon became wild with hatred and disdain, although the two friends themselves were never physically involved in any of the clashes. it started out as simple verbal arguments between opposing members. gradually, fist-fights broke out and people got hurt whether or not they were affiliated with hope. then, as though inevitably, there came a night where the sky was alit with flames. it would be an event that would never be forgotten to either groups. it would be the night that would solidify the division of hope.
an explosion had erupted from old town. where specifically? alkaline's home. the academy, possessing a highly alert and advanced security system, quickly got word of the explosion. the police force and artificial intelligence units were sent to deal with the situation. as expected, alkaline was pronounced dead at the scene, although her body was never recovered; it was assumed that her body was destroyed in the blast. xenon, being the leader of his followers, was arrested for evidence that had been found in his home. disciples of alkaline were outraged, calling xenon and his patrons murderers. supporters of xenon countered these claims, swearing that it was not them whom implemented the bomb and that xenon was being falsely accused. however, as much as xenon knew that he himself was innocent, he was not certain about his followers, for he knew completely well how unpredictable they were. regardless of the truth, with alkaline's death and xenon's arrest, the two groups were left leaderless. now, there really was no more hope.
within a year of the explosion, the construction of the research facility was erected. the academy had also begun building new town to compromise, although it would probably never have happened had it not been for the bombing. over the course of time, xenon was eventually banished from the city of academia. his disciples agonized over his departure and yearned for his impossible return. although they didn't expect it to be possible, a new leader was ultimately found. however, this leader pledged to step-down if xenon ever returned, for it was his rightful seat in the first place. in honor of xenon, their group was also named. with his intentions in mind, xenon now thrives to counteract the academy. they know that the academy is up to no good, no matter how selfless and moral they make themselves out to be. they want to purify academia of the academy's intense power and make public the secrets that they (the academy) have while also keeping the populace safe and tended to.
as for alkaline's followers, they mourned for her and sought to seek vengeance upon xenon. they, too, found a new leader to follow through with alkaline's last wishes of obliging to the academy and keeping the peace between the population and the government, as well as aiding the lower class whom now resided in new town. alkaline now moves to counteract xenon counteractions against the academy; they want the academy to keep doing what they're doing, for under the academy's rule, academia has always been safe and peaceful. members of alkaline also hope that one day, they can find the truth behind alkaline's death. and if it's possible, they hope to avenge their fallen leader.
two years after the collapse of hope, the research facility is finally complete. with the building's finishing, the academy has recently announced that a new artificial intelligence project known as kaline will be undergoing finalization in the new structure and released the following year. with kaline, there will no longer be a need to have real-life police officers on the field; kaline will be an artificial intelligence that monitors the entire city's security system. if an event occurs where an officer is needed, kaline will produce a holographic ai at the location. if a physical officer must be present, for example, for breaking up a fight, the hologram will materialize into an actual ai officer. the academy has high hopes that with this new development, prosperity will flourish even more within the city of academia. yet, despite what they say, the academy is hiding a secret that they wish to take with them to the grave: alkaline is alive and xenon was framed for the explosion that the academy caused two years ago when they sought out alkaline. however, their biggest secret is this: kaline is embodied in alkaline's body. or rather, alkaline is kaline.
alkaline was part of a project while in the early developments of kaline. as a baby, along with hundreds of other infants, she was implanted with a device that would grow with her as she aged. this device was specially designed to adapt their bodies to the ai program, which was still in the works then. some babies survived the transplant, some died days, weeks, months, even years after the implant. and a select few, well, they survived and became the "chosen" ones—the ones that would be able to become kaline. you see, kaline had initially been an unnamed project. but after alkaline's capture, it was named in honor of her... sacrifice. a sacrifice for the greater good.
a year after the release of kaline, a member of xenon picks up on the rumor of the academy's secret. news begins to spread throughout the two groups like wildfire. the academy begin enacting stage two of their private plan by making arrangements to configure the ai, kaline, to lock up the city and trap everyone in. when the groups find out about this, xenon and alkaline must unite to disable the ai and stop the academy before they follow through on the rest of their unknown scheme—they must unite to become the hope of academia.
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3000 - hope established
3006 - old town announced to be demolished; rift in hope
3007 - explosion; hope splits into xenon and alkaline; xenon banished from academia
3008 - old town demolished, research facility+new town construction begins
3009 - new town construction complete
3010 - research facility construction complete, kaline final testing announced
3011 - kaline released
3012 - story takes place
