Hidden Genesis

El Goonish Shive Storyline Groups
Previous	The After Party
Next	Sister II

Hidden Genesis is the eleventh storyline group in the main canon of EGS. It opened on January 1st, 2007 and closed on April 16th, 2008, for a total of 83 comics. It includes the following storylines:

• Hidden Genesis: Two years before the surrounding storylines, Magus was sparring with Terra in their home universe when he was moved to the spiritual plane of the main universe by a sabotaged magic tool. In the main universe, Edward Verres and his fellow DGB agents Wolf and Cranium tried to investigate the paranormal disturbance caused by Magus's arrival and an immortal (Pandora) showed up to give them a cryptic warning about Magus.
• The After Party: The day after Grace's Birthday Party, Elliot, Ellen, Tedd and Grace talk about the party and about Nanase coming out as lesbian and beginning a relationship with Ellen. Nanase's mother, who wants Nanase to obey without question and apparently wants her to do nothing other that study and later marry to become a housewife, is introduced. Nanase and Ellen talk about the need to keep their relationship secret.
• In The Shadows: Two years ago Edward, Wolf and Cranium discussed Pandora's warning. In the present, Magus and Pandora discussed their plan for Magus to escape the spiritual plane, which Pandora came up with not because she cares but partly because she finds it boring not to carry out convoluted plans that may fail and partly for secret reasons.
• The New Students: Ellen and Grace go the school for the first time. When they meet Nanase, Ellen and Nanase have an argument because Nanase thought they had to pretend to be strangers.
• Susan Draws The Line: Susan arrives at Moperville North High School wearing a boy's school uniform. Other student are excited about her fighting the uniform policy but when she mentions that she doesn't expect to abolish the uniform policy entirely, those students become furious and decide to hate Susan and feminism instead of the school uniforms.
• Squirrel In the Classroom (prologue): When Ellen and Grace meet Diane, they see that she looks like Susan.
• Squirrel In the Classroom (core): Grace and Ellen have their first lessons at school. At a history lesson Grace learns about World War 2 and the Holocaust and runs out of the classroom crying and Ellen follows her. The history teacher, Adrian Raven, takes them to the principal's study, where he detects their magic.

Hidden Genesis

Two years ago, Terra and Magus were fighting. Magus said that Terra was wasting her potential. When Magus attempted to use a device, it sent Magus to the Spiritual plane of the Main Universe.

When Mr. Verres and his team came to investigate the incident, they determined that a dimensional rift had occurred. A creepy little child appeared and told them that an egg had fallen out of its nest. She told them that they could not stop him as they were, so they needed to grow stronger so they could stop him. When she left they tried to figure out what she was. Agent Wolf wanted to believe that she is an alien and Mr. Verres told them that it was an immortal.

The After Party

This storyline is not listed separate from Hidden Genesis in the site navigation, but is named in the page titles.

Back in the present, on a Sunday morning (March 10), Elliot was woken up by Ellen, who told him that she had just returned from Tedd's house after Grace's Birthday Party. They talked of her relationship with Nanase (which had begun during Grace's Birthday Party) Elliot suggested that Nanase might not be ready for a relationship (in the storyline Night Out, Part 3, Nanase was upset when she told him that she was attracted to Ellen and told him that her mother hated lesbians). Ellen said that Nanase would be contacting her by fairy doll later. She said that after her conversation with him she began to get nervous about her upcoming talk with Nanase.

Meanwhile, at the comic book shop, Nanase was even more nervous about it. Sarah was there and liked the attention she received there. She asked Nanase how she was doing and she responded that she was angry with Justin for making the others who knew about her orientation keep their knowledge from her (Justin, along with Ellen, learned it from Susan in Night Out, Part 3) and numb because of her upcoming talk with Ellen. When Justin tried to talk to her about it, Nanase expressed her intention to keep knowledge about her orientation from getting to her parents. They talked about it indirectly and Sarah (who had independently made the same decision as Justin when she overheard Nanase and Susan talking about her feelings for Ellen during Grace's Birthday Party) made it seem like she learned about it through Susan. Justin was called away and Sarah inquired about Nanase's book. Nanase told her about her spellbook and some information about the magic system; Sarah thought to herself it was like a video game.

At Tedd's house, Tedd revealed his recently created free energy machine which did not generate enough electricity to power a wrist watch. They discussed the school arrangement and Tedd expressed a desire to tell his school about the events of Sister to make it possible for Ellen and Grace go there. Elliot questioned if Grace was ready to go to school and Tedd told him that Grace is a genius-level learner. Meanwhile, Grace, who was mopping, found she had mopped her herself into a corner and couldn't walk out of it without leaving tracks. Her cries of help were heard by Tedd and Elliot. Elliot told Tedd that he shouldn't have his girlfriend do housework but Tedd said that she lived there, that he had carried away the furniture to make it easier to mop the room (he had insisted on moving the furniture instead of mopping because he is a man), and that his father would probably allow more parties if the house was clean after one. When they arrived at the kitchen they found her resorting to her omega form in order to fly out of there. Tedd, who had never seen the omega form before, found it attractive. Grace expressed her happiness at Ellen and Nanase getting together but Tedd was not as pleased as he did not like the idea of his cousin being a lesbian because he normally found lesbians attractive (he had shouted "Ugly cousin!" when he saw Ellen and Nanase waking up together in the morning). Grace and Tedd told Elliot that he had missed seeing Susan with two hair colors and Tedd thought she would not keep it that way because she had expressed annoyance when complimented on it.

Meanwhile, at Susan's house she enjoyed seeing her hair like that until she was reminded of the woman whom her father cheated on her mother with, who had blonde hair. So she had a flashback of when she caught them and proceeded to dye all of her hair gloomy gus blue.

At the Dunkel residence, Ellen went about her daily activities while keeping Nanase's fairy doll near her and waiting for her to contact her. At the Kitsune residence, Nanase sat in her room and went through her spellbook. She noticed something new but heard her mother approaching and quickly hid it. Mrs. Kitsune lectured her about her absence and education while Nanase's sister peeked in. At the family dinner, Nanase discussed her education with her mother. When Nanase got annoyed at her mother's admonishments, she said that it doesn't make sense to care about her studying if she would only be a homemaker and her mother said she would not receive the cookies that were for dessert as punishment for questioning her. After dinner, Nanase's sister, Akiko, snuck some cookies into Nanase's room, to Nanase's gratitude.

When Nanase contacted Ellen, she was initially bewildered as to her location. She then realized she was being held down on a sleeping Ellen facing her breasts. After squirming out of her grasp, Nanase decided to use her tail on Ellen's nose again. When she did this, Ellen sneezed all over her. Ellen used a sink to give Nanase a bath while in her fairy doll form. Nanase expressed her consolation at the outfit including a swimsuit which Ellen half agreed with. Nanase had asked for a marble and when Ellen gave her one, Nanase demonstrated her new fairy doll spell which allowed her to spy on her real body using a crystal ball substitute, in this case a marble. Nanase apologized for not coming sooner but Ellen sympathized with her asking her only to confirm their relationship status. Nanase responded that that was up to her but she made it known to Ellen that a relationship with her would have to be in the closet, just as she herself was to everyone except her closest friends. Ellen pondered this for a moment before telling her she had realized the difficulty of a relationship with her and was willing to accept that difficulty. Ellen expressed her desire to hug Nanase but didn't want to crush her. Nanase responded by flying out of the bath to glomp Ellen since she couldn't be hugged safely herself.

In The Shadows

Two years proviously in the Moperville FBI offices Agent Cranium, Agent Wolf and Mr. Verres were in a meeting discussing the search for answers in the forest, while Lavender was serving coffee. Agent Wolf accused Lavender of putting "alien mind control spores" in the coffee. Lavender denied being an alien and Mr. Verres threatened him with sensitivity training. While Cranium asked Mr. Verres whether the immortal girl or her "egg" was more dangerous, Agent wolf handed Lavender a note insisting she is an alien. While Mr. Verres explained that immortals exist on a spirit plane with god-like powers but while on the physical plane they are weak enough for a powerful person to beat, Lavender gave Wolf a note that called him something that made him cry out in surprise. Mr. Verres went on to explain that immortals have rules for interfering in the physical realm and they keep each other in check. With nothing to go on and no means to continue investigating, since they can't enter or interact with the spiritual plane, Mr. Verres took Agent Cranium and Agent Wolf off the case until there was something for them to do. Mr. Verres also stated his intention to enlist the assistance of friends of his who could help him in the investigation.

Back in the present (night between March 10 and 11), Chaos taunted Magus for not succeeding in his goal and told him to stop sulking. Magus told her to tell him how to get past the French Immortals. Chaos said she wouldn't help to much as the outcome would become too obvious and she didn't care whether he succeeded or not. Magus said that Chaos wouldn't help him at all if she didn't want Magus to be free. Chaos told him that he should follow Ellen since he couldn't get close to Elliot because of the French Immortals watching over him. Chaos then assumed her child form, laughed evilly at mortal foolishness and subsequently became bored.

The New Students

On the night before Monday, March 11, Grace had a dream (which contained increasingly obvious hints that it was a dream) about her first day of school (Mr. Verres told her in the storyline Moping Squirrel that she, along with Ellen, would start going to school). Then Grace heard her alarm clock and woke up. She realized her dream was not going to be what school is really like but expressed hope that it would be close.

When Grace came down for breakfast she was initially very excited but sleep caught up with her and she asked Mr. Verres for coffee. He initially refused, saying it would stunt her growth, but when she reminded him she was an 18 year old shapeshifter he agreed to pour her a cup. When Tedd asked for one as well, Mr. Verres pointed out his height and told him to drink milk instead.

At the Dunkels' residence, Ellen was getting packed for school and Elliot tried to help her by making sure she didn't forget anything. Ellen got annoyed at him and reminded him of her extensive school experience via his memories and Second Life; Elliot stopped but warned her that their mother was ready to take up the nagging.

As Justin drove Nanase to school he noticed she was twitching and fidgeting; she explained that she was casting spells as frequently as possible in order to get more non-hiding spells. Justin suggested that she got hiding spells because she was hiding things but Nanase didn't hear him as she had gone fairy doll. She created a doll connected with Susan when Susan was dressing.

Back at the Verres', just before Tedd left Grace gave him a kiss which left him thinking that she would meet guys at school that were better than him.

When Grace met with Ellen at Moperville South High School Ellen coached Grace on what to say so they could remain inconspicuous. Ellen told Grace that they needed to find the guidance counselor's office and was happy when they came upon maps of the school. Upon mention of counselors, Grace got excited at the prospect but the counselor didn't even bother to get her name right as he had countless other students. When Diane saw them she instantly deduced that they were new and explained how she figured it out to her friends Lucy and Rhoda. However, she was shocked to see Ellen swatting at Nanase's hair, showing that she knew her.

Nanase was angry with Ellen as she thought they had to pretend that they were strangers, as there was no explanation on how they knew each other. That led into an argument about discretion conducted in whispered shouts that only ended when Justin pointed out that they had drawn significant attention to themselves by arguing about discretion. They found many of the students in the cafeteria around them had now begun to stare at them. Nanase used one of her spells to determine that there were now 17 people staring right at them. Justin explained Nanase's spell by which time two of the people lost interest. He then proceeded to resolve their arguments and explained what the people staring at them likely thought happened.

Susan Draws The Line

At Moperville North High School, the students were complaining about the uniforms when Susan made a dramatic entrance with fire in her eyes and wearing the boys' uniform. Tedd told Elliot that he appreciated the fact that the uniforms showed his gender but disliked that all women wore the same uniform. Sarah showed up wearing a beret. Sarah was explaining why she could probably get away with wearing it when Susan appeared. Susan expressed her frustration about the uniforms and her plan to do something about it and was overheard by a student who asked her if she was serious. Upon receiving a confirmation from her, he shouted to the students in the hall of her intentions. This resulted in he students getting excited and coming to her. When they were gathered Susan elaborated on her plan and revealed she wanted to make vest optional and let women wear uniform pants, but not necessarily to get rid of them altogether. When they heard this they said they didn't want the uniforms at all and quickly turned against her and walked away.

Susan was initially left feeling vulnerable but hardened her resolve and became bitter again. When student council president Matt Cohen saw her he intended to walk to her and presumably comfort her but he was startled by Catalina Bobcat calling the students jackasses. Catalina tried to defend Susan but only managed to continue calling the students jackasses. Alerted by Catalina's yelling Principal Verrückt threatened her with detention ... again. At that, she called him a string of rapid fire insults which went over his head. Satisfied that he'd handled Catalina he turned to Susan and warned her of the consequences of her continued defiance of the dress code. He then turned to Sarah and was about to admonish her for her beret when he was overcome by its cuteness as per Sarah's plan. He then declared the beret valid and walked away to the shock of Susan. Catalina talked with Tedd and Elliot and made Tedd uncomfortable with her invasion of his personal space. She then brought up an after school meeting of the feminist club and expressed her eager anticipation of it before leaving.

Squirrel In The Classroom

At Moperville South High School, just after the events of The New Students, Justin and Grace compared schedules while Ellen tried to get Nanase to let her swat her hair. When Nanase asked why, Ellen told her it was how she made her smile for the first time to which Nanase conceded to her request but told her to wait until later.

Diane appeared and Ellen immediately noticed her similarity to Susan. Nanase introduced her, calling her "Diane the pest", and Diane half-heartily welcomed Ellen and Grace to Moperville South before leaving. When she had gone, Ellen asked if Diane was the result of Susan using the Dewitchery Diamond which Grace also wondered about but left Nanase and Justin confused. Ellen and Grace pointed out Susan and Diane's uncanny resemblance leading Nanase to ponder it before realizing they were right. Ellen gave her theory of why Nanase didn't notice before but Justin was still not convinced. Grace backed up the claim that they were in fact identical while Ellen text messaged Susan about it. When Susan was contacted she replied she didn't care about any family other than her mother and was more concerned about the cost of texting. When Justin heard about Susan's reply he pointed out she lived in a mansion which led to Grace and him discussing Batman and costumes. Nanase said Susan probably thought it was a joke but Ellen couldn't determine this due to a lack of emoticons. The bell rang which startled and confused Grace but Justin explained it was to announce class time.

While Tedd and Elliot walked to their first class, they discussed Tedd's reactions to Catalina getting close to him and Susan in a guy's uniform. Elliot told him that he was in love. He elaborated that Tedd was even more in love with Grace than before and Grace probably thought the same way about Tedd. When Tedd pictured this he visibly glowed and was seen doing so by another student, whose friend told them not to eat the cafeteria food, but Elliot was distracted by the bell.

When Ellen and Grace entered their first class, the teacher, Mr. Alephnull, was curious about their unusual circumstances. He decided to do some math using their circumstances and ended up with a duplicate squirrel as an answer. Ellen and Grace were shocked by this until he revealed it was gibberish as far as he was concerned and was messing with them, which did not comfort them much. He got them to introduce themselves and announced a practice quiz. Ellen introduced herself confidently but Grace was nervous and grabbed Ellen's hand before rushing through her introduction. Mr. Alephnull announced that the quiz was to be done on scan sheets and Grace expressed her unfamiliarity with them necessitating Mr. Alephnull to explain them to her. Lucy and another student made fun of her which prompted an angry glare from Ellen. Once Grace understood the system and got used to it she completed the quiz rapidly, to the other students' amazement.

Once the class was over, Ellen was happy at Grace's good grade but Grace was unsure about it as the other students might resent her for doing well. Ellen reassured her and Grace complimented her on doing well too. Ellen brought up the Second Life memories and how they would affect her academic performance. Since their next class was history Ellen hoped it wouldn't be on World War 2 as Grace hadn't heard of it yet. Adrian Raven was the teacher and announced it would indeed be on WW2. When Grace expressed astonishment at the topic Raven assumed she was acting out. When she read about it she ran out of the classroom in tears. Ellen got up to go after her and Raven got angry at both of them but Ellen told him Grace was not joking before. Ellen started frantically searching for Grace, completely overlooking the girls bathroom.

As Grace washed her tear-streaked face and admonished herself, Rhoda came out of a stall and asked her why she was crying. When Grace explained, Rhoda felt shallow for crying about her relatively superficial problems. Grace apologizing for making Rhoda feel bad made her feel bad which started a cycle of feeling bad for each other. Diane walked in looking for Rhoda and found the two hugging and apologizing to each other. Diane pulled Rhoda away from Grace and admonished her for doing almost the same thing Grace had just done, only with the reason being forgotten homework as opposed to learning of the Holocaust. Diane gave her solution for Rhoda's problem and Rhoda gratefully hugged her. Grace expressed her need for comfort and Diane begrudgingly let both of them hug her.

Ellen was about to give up looking for Grace when the three came out of the bathroom. Diane realized Ellen was looking for Grace and handed her over after wondering aloud why she didn't just check the bathroom. Raven walked up angrily and admonished Ellen and Grace. He then turned to Diane and Rhoda, and Diane gave an excuse for their being out of class. Raven sent them off to return to their class and turned back to Ellen and Grace and declared his intention to send them to the principal's office and thanked them for not using the same tactic Diane just used on him. While they waited outside the principal's office Ellen and Grace discussed Grace's behavior. Grace revealed her realization of the parallels between Damien and Hitler' which prompted Ellen to message Mr. Verres to get Grace counseling. Raven came out and said he had left a hall monitor supervising his class. The hall monitor was lax and allowed anything as long as there was no evidence of it.

Principal Washington ran through the events as he understood them and asked for confirmation of its correctness. Ellen said yes and Grace tried to give her cover story again but Principal Washington stated his familiarity with it. Raven stated his opinion on the nature of their punishment, which Ellen found lenient. Raven then recommended placing Grace in a remedial course to which Grace protested. Raven gave his reasons for recommending it but was interrupted by Grace attempting to demonstrate her knowledge by reciting from what she had recently read. Raven objected to this and expressed his outrage and disbelief at her display and called her a liar. Principal Washington told him to calm down; Raven was about to continue before he noticed something about both Ellen and Grace. He was told to stop being creepy and weird and withdrew his objection. Principal Washington demanded to know what prompted Raven's sudden change of heart and Raven gave a string of excuses. He then declared Ellen and Grace to have excellent potential and said they should be allowed to return to class immediately. Principal Washington suggested a history tutor and Raven agreed to it enthusiastically before leaving. Raven was heard to give a loud laugh; Ellen asked if this was the strangest he had been, but Principal Washington said he'd seen worse.

As they walked back to class Ellen and Grace talked about what had just happened and about Grace's memory. Ellen said that the episode had gone better than expected and that they just needed to keep a low profile - but then zap-sneezed, transforming herself into her V5 form. Grace exclaimed that that was not keeping a low profile and the two rushed to the bathroom. Ellen and Grace discussed Ellen's sneeze causing her to transform herself. Ellen said she should probably avoid pepper during lunch. Magus, who was watching, decided to amplify Ellen desire for pepper during dinner so that she would sneeze near Elliot, before realizing the desperation of such a plan. After Ellen changed back and she and Grace returned to class, Raven commented on their taking a long time to return. Grace thought that the other students would react badly toward her and was pleasantly surprised when they empathized with her and Victor Von Hip gave her a pamphlet.