Chapter 1: From the Journal of Professor Hojo

January 04, 1977

In short these days are quite tiresome and un-useful. There are no new specimens for me to work on except the new SOLDIER trainees that need the SOLDIER treatment. Yes it is always interesting to see how each individual reacts but I see that most have the same reaction. Things have never been this dull. My assistants and I are getting closer on the studies of the ancient names "Jenova" but those are still somewhat far away. I hope that I can get some specimens soon, perhaps from the prison block. They would never be missed from there…

January 05, 1977

What luck I had today! I had a new specimen come in for me. I acquired this one by over hearing a strange story first. The executives that had a meeting the previous night in a small town north of Midgar had come back with a tale depicting a young girl stealing a piece of Big Materia. She supposedly had picked it right out from the man's pocket and ran all over the town evading the army and the SOLDIER operatives. Normally common thieves do not perk my interest but one that can outrun Mako enhanced humans must be a sight to see.

I hurried to see Veld, the leader of the Turks and requested that she be given to me since she was going to be killed anyways. He gave me the specimen and shooed me away not a moment sooner. Seeing my specimen now, I do not understand how she got away. She is small and most definitely not muscular. Perhaps I got the wrong girl? None the less, I think I have the perfect experiment for her…

January 06, 1977

She is quite sullen in her tank, my new specimen. She just floats in her Mako bath with her eyes closed, as if sleeping. But I know every time she opens her eyes that she glares at the person staring at her. She has a piercing gaze with her yellow-green eyes. I ignore her though; she is not worth the effort of chiding. Tomorrow I will start the real test though. An injection of Mako energy and the cells from the ancient.

January 07, 1977

I thought this procedure of mine would go over fine, but it did not. The girl who I made sure was heavily sedated, restrained and under a constant drip of anesthesia woke up during the process of injection. She had shown discomfort even through her sleep with the Mako yet when the ancient's cells where put in she woke right up. She screamed at me, asking me what I was thinking and what I was doing. I did not answer, it was strange to see her awake even heavily drugged. She was held fast by the restraints so she could thankfully not reach me even when she tried. As soon as she had woken up she fell back and her vitals drops significantly.

My assistant, always fast thinking got other materials out to stabilize the specimen. The assistant proceeded to stabilize her by stop her aging and growing. My assistant said though for the experiment to be a success that the specimen would have to stay in a coma for 16 years. The cells would then attach themselves and grow so they melded with the body. My only complaint was to have to look after it for so long. Though it will be interesting to see how the final product turns out. Maybe she could be made into a SOLDIER later? Things to ponder another day.

Deciding this was the first real experiment with the ancient's cells; I have names her "experiment 0" and have already tattooed a zero on her hand. I will have to look into other ways to see if the process of melding the cells can be faster.

February 07, 1977

I found out that a fellow scientist of mine has actually had a project with the ancient's cells. Hollander had infused the cells with a human fetus. Perhaps that would be a good direction to take. I will talk with my assistant and see if she would like to help with this project.

January 28, 1993

Experiment Zero has finally awakened from her slumber. She is disoriented but okay. She does not remember anything from the past, which works to my advantage even more. I will start out with some tests and then send her to the SOLDIER department to have her properly trained. I close this experiment with that it was successful. I am glad that I waited; this will be interesting to see how well she does, in comparison to Him.