I do not own Vocaloid or any of the properties thereof. Miku Hatsune and other characters are the property of their respective owners.
…But the story is totally mine.
***********************************Chapter 4***********************************
"And that's what happened" Miku finished explaining to Gumi.
Although she had started off the conversation worried, Gumi was now completely at ease. It was just the same as always, with Miku greatly embellishing the details of some story. Though in this case "embellishing" was putting it lightly. Miku's explanation had consisted mostly of descriptions of her epic successes against all odds during her "tests" (complete with sound effects) along with a detailed explanation of how she expertly handled Luka's fragile emotional state after she broke down and apologized to her in the face of her sheer awesomeness.
But Gumi was a sharp cookie, and she was able to discern most of what had actually happened from the explosive action movie Miku had made it out to be. Basically, Miku was attacked and Luka saved her and accidentally agreed to test her. Miku passed the tests even though she wasn't supposed to and Luka revealed her true motives. After all was said and done, the only part of Miku's story that wasn't a gross exaggeration was the part where she called Gumi after it was all over.
And not for a second was she buying Miku's "I calmed down an emotionally unstable person" story. She knew very well that when someone started crying, Miku was the first one to excuse herself from the situation. But she was just happy to find out that Miku was ok.
However, none of that mattered right now. She had something she had to tell Miku, something important. She hadn't gotten a chance to when Miku started talking (some 3 hours previously) but now she had to tell her.
"Miku, it's great and all that you got the legendary assassin to teach you, but there's something really important that I have to tell you!" she said forcefully.
"Can't it wait?" Miku replied, "I'm basking in the glow of my own accomplishment here!"
"No! It can't wait! You've been gone so you don't know what's happened!" said Gumi, panic rising in her voice, "You haven't heard what they're saying! What everyone's saying!"
Miku wasn't the type to be worried, and she was certainly no stranger to how often Gumi freaked out about things, but something in the tone of her voice told her that this time was different. She could tell that this time, Gumi sincerely believed that there was something seriously amiss.
"What people are saying?" asked Miku quizzically, "What do you mean?"
"It's something the military found about a week ago" said Gumi, "They're saying that Vocaloidism… they're saying that it's a disease!"
And here Miku had almost been worried. This was just another one of Gumi's conspiracy theories. It had to be. How could being a Vocaloid be a disease? That was crazy!
"Ok, you got me" said Miku, "Now what did you really want to tell me?"
"Miku, I'm being serious here!" said Gumi, and her tone backed it up, "They're saying that being a Vocaloid is an illness!"
"But that's insane!" said Miku, "I'm a Vocaloid Gumi. Heck, so are you! There's nothing wrong with us! It has to be a hoax!"
"That's what I thought at first too!" said Gumi, her nervousness more evident than ever, "But then there was evidence. You know, doctor testimony, medical reports, that sort of thing. People are starting to panic! They're worried that it might be contagious."
"Contagious? Yeah right!" said Miku, "I'm supposed to believe that I lived in a town full of people for most of my life with a contagious disease and no one got it?"
"Of course it isn't contagious." Said Gumi, "But people get scared easily, you know?"
"Ok then, what if it is a disease?" asked Miku, "Why is it dangerous?"
"I don't know!" said Gumi, "Nobody does! All we have to go on is what the news is telling us. But I'm not worried about Vocaloidism actually being a disease, I'm worried about the people who are worried. You don't understand what it's like! People are clamoring for the government to get involved!"
"Ok, that's all fine and dandy, but has anything actually happened yet?" asked Miku.
"What? No, not yet, but…" Gumi began
Miku interrupted "Then what's the issue? If nothing's happened then there's nothing to be worried about."
"But what if…"
"No buts!" Miku continued, "If there's nothing happening yet then you don't have to worry!"
"What about all the people who are calling for government quarantine?" Gumi asked, "Don't I have a right to be worried about that? I mean, I'm a Vocaloid, aren't I? What if they come for me?"
"Gumi, there's a difference between being afraid and being prepared" responded Miku.
In an instant, Gumi knew she was right. Miku was right like she always was (well, about things that weren't related to school). She knew there was no logical reason for her to worry, only to prepare for what might happen. She supposed this was why she and Miku got along so well. Where she was the one prone to worrying, Miku was there to calm her down. And where Miku was the type to rush into things without thinking it through, Gumi was always the one to encourage her to take a step back and look before she leaped.
Miku then said "I understand that this has got to be a strange situation for you, but I promise that things will work out."
"How do you know that?" Gumi replied, still shaken.
"I don't" said Miku, "I don't know how, but they will."
In spite of herself, Gumi smiled.
"That's just like you" she said, "Always so sure of everything."
"Have I ever been wrong?" asked Miku.
"Only on every math problem you've ever done." Gumi joked. Somehow she felt better now. Talking to Miku always seemed to have that effect on her.
"Yeah, well, no one ever said I was the academic type" said Miku, now smiling herself, "Anyways, my new teacher is probably wondering where I am. It's been three hours since I shut myself in my room."
"Your room?" asked Gumi, noticing Miku's possessiveness even though she hadn't even been Luka's student for half a day yet.
"Yeah, it is" replied Miku, completely at ease in this unfamiliar environment, "Though I think we'll have to do something about the walls. Pink really isn't my color. Don't worry. I'll call you again tomorrow. Miss you, bye."
Miku pressed the end call button on the phone-shaped contraption. It was so awesome to be able to speak to Gumi again after so long. She missed her a lot, but she would manage.
Even though she had told Gumi not to worry, she was still concerned about what was going on with the government. How could they possibly think that Vocaloidism was a disease? Then it occurred to her: maybe Luka knew something.
She got off the bed and opened the door. She found Luka in the living room lying on the couch with a bowl of popcorn watching a crime drama of some kind. She walked in and plopped herself down on a cushioned chair.
"Well, look who's finally decided to come out of hiding" said Luka, "I thought I was the hermit here."
"Cut me some slack. I haven't talked to my best friend in over a week" said Miku, "Speaking of which, she mentioned something that I wanted to ask you about."
"What might that be?" said Luka, turning the volume down on the TV.
"Well, she said that the military is saying that Vocaloidism is…" she started, but was cut off.
"What, the disease thing? Yeah, I saw that on the news" said Luka, her tone one of disgust, "It's nothing to worry about. It's just one of those things that people get worked up about. Give it a week or two, it'll blow over. That's the problem with people. They don't care if others are suffering in another country, so long as it doesn't affect them. The instant something happens at home, they panic and it's every man for himself."
"I don't think it's like that" said Miku, "I think they're just scared. They aren't trying to be uncaring or anything."
"Ahh, youth, so naïve" said Luka, "Believe me, I've met people. Give em' the chance and they'll always choose to be selfish. In any case, there's the issue of your training. Truth be told, ("That's a nice change, muttered Miku under her breath. Luka shushed her) I've never trained anyone before. So if it seems like I know what I'm doing, don't let appearances fool you."
"Don't worry, if you feel like you can't do it we'll just switch and I'll be the teacher" said Miku with a smirk.
"Don't get cocky kid. I might just break your arm for real this time", said Luka, but there was no hostility in her voice, "You should go to bed. If I'm actually going to teach you to fight, then you're gonna be up pretty early."
"Are you seriously giving me a bed time?" asked Miku.
"No, but I am giving you a wake up time. It's up to you if you're well rested when it gets here." She replied. Heh, I'm enjoying this already she thought to herself.
As much as she hated being told what to do, Miku knew Luka was right. So she bid her goodnight and headed back to "her room".
Luka had told her that there was nothing to it. But at the back of her mind she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to this "disease" scare than met the eye. Putting it aside, she decided to concentrate on the present instead. She fell asleep with her brain full of scenes of herself as a legendary fighter.
Five o' clock AM came earlier than Miku had expected. Luka, contrary to her usual lax attitude, was a drill sergeant when it came to mornings. A still half-asleep Miku was herded from the bathroom to the kitchen and out the front door in a matter of minutes.
Blinking groggily in the misty pre-dawn, Miku was acutely aware of just how absolutely unpleasant it was to be outside in the cold, wet, grass rather than her nice warm bed. She hoped the sun would rise soon, at least then it might warm up a bit.
Luka, however, seemed to be absolutely brimming with energy. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she took in nature's tranquility. It felt good to be up early again. She hadn't done any serious training like this in years and the expectancy was exciting.
As for the training itself, she had a few ideas, but she supposed that it would come mostly as they went along. It had been a long time since she had trained under someone herself but she was sure that after a little bit of practice, she would remember all the drills and exercises that her own master had put her through.
There was one thing that was bothering her though. Due to Miku's left arm being in a sling, they couldn't really do a lot of hand-to-hand just yet. This being the case, Luka had decided that she would concentrate on energy manipulation first. She had wanted to wait a while before getting into it, as it was somewhat advanced, but a few basic control exercises should be ok.
She spun around to face Miku, who was still standing a few feet from the front door looking like a zombie.
"Alright! Are we ready to get started then?" Luka asked, beaming at Miku, who responded by giving Luka her most professional unfocused stare.
Greeted by said stare, Luka replied "I'll take that as a yes then…"
"Alright." She continued, "Before we begin there's something that I feel I need to tell you. As I said before, I'm sorry about your arm, but here's the thing: compared to the injuries that you can get in real fights against powerful opponents, that's like scraping your knee. So I feel that it's only fair to warn you now that during your time with me, I'm not going to go easy on you. You will probably get hurt all the time during your training. The upside to this is that by the time we're done, you'll be able to take more punishment than you ever thought possible."
Miku continued to look bleary-eyed.
"Of course, the point in any fight is to try and avoid getting hit in the first place, but it's unreasonable to think that it will never happen. So I'm going to toughen you up enough that you'll be able to take a beating and keep getting back up."
Miku, even as tired as she was, liked the way that sounded. Not necessarily the part about taking a beating, but the part about getting up sounded good.
"Meh, it won't be that bad" Miku said, sure that Luka was exaggerating, "I'm confident that I can take the pain."
Luka smirked. "Pretty confident aren't we?"
Suddenly Luka leapt forward faster that Miku could see. In a fraction of a second she was mere inches away and she was not stopping. As unprepared for an attack as Miku was, she had absolutely no time to react.
Luka clenched her fingers into a fist and planted it straight into Miku's gut. It didn't carry nearly as much force as the blast from before, but it was plenty to drop Miku where she stood.
As she lay on the ground clutching her abdomen and trying to breathe with the wind knocked out of her, Miku heard Luka say "I may have forgotten to mention that I'll be the one delivering most of the injuries."
She tried to speak but all she could do was sputter and gasp for breath. Luka smiled down at her. "When we're done, you won't even feel a blow as weak as that."
If that was weak, Miku didn't want to know what strong was. But what she already knew was that she was pissed. If Luka thought that this was going to keep her down, then she had another thing coming.
Luka turned around and started to walk back towards the house. She would give Miku a few minutes to steady herself before they started training.
"Hey … where do… you think… you're going" came Miku's voice from behind her.
Luka turned around and was surprised to see Miku already back on her feet. She had thought that blow would have her down for at least a few minutes. Good resilience on this one she thought to herself.
"Didn't I tell you… that I could take the pain?" wheezed Miku, determined not to show weakness.
"You really are the real deal aren't you." said Luka, it wasn't a question, "Alright then, now that you know what to expect, we can get started."
Despite the pain in her stomach, Miku was excited. This was what she had come for. And she'd be damned if she was going to give up because it hurt.
"It's about time" said Miku with a smile, finally getting her breathing back under control.
"Glad to see you're not quite as soft as you look" said Luka, "But even though I'd love to keep beating you up, we'll be starting with something else. I did want to start with some basic fighting technique, but seeing as your arm's still in a sling, that isn't really an option. Instead I'd like to address something that I noticed during your 'tests'."
Luka drew some energy into her hand and held it there. In Miku's eyes, it glowed a faint pink and pulsed a bit.
"As you can see I have some energy in my hand" said Luka, "I'd like you to do the same."
Unsure of the purpose of this exercise, Miku complied. A flat drone brought a small amount of energy into her hand and she held it like Luka.
"Good" said Luka, "Now it's a simple matter to release the energy we have stored up." She put her hand up and shot the small orb into the air. Drawing another small sphere of energy into her hand, she again held it there. "But what if I'm not in a position where I can easily throw my energy at a target, like if there's an enemy behind me? That's where this comes in handy."
Luka thrust her elbow backwards. As she did so, the energy rippled back along her arm, leaving her body at the joint. The blast flew a short way and then disappeared.
"While I was testing you I noticed that you only ever manipulate your energy with your hands" said Luka, "To a fully accomplished Vocaloid, that isn't practical. You have to be able to release your energy from anywhere, not just your hands. For example… your feet!"
Luka kicked out to the side and sent a blast of energy out of her foot and into the ground nearby.
"Or maybe your knee!"
Luka acted as though she was grabbing an imaginary opponent and thrust her knee into where the hypothetical target's diaphragm would be. A small burst of energy issued forth.
"Or even your head."
Picking up a small rock, she smashed her head against it. Rather than knocking herself out, as Miku expected, there was a flash of pink and the rock was reduced to nothing more than a pile of dust.
"The point is, you can attack with any part of your body as long you can manipulate your energy efficiently. From what I've seen, you already know how to gather energy in your arms and even use it to increase your physical strength. The problem is that your arms are the only place where you can gather it. We can focus on the more advanced stuff later. For now, I just want you to try gathering some energy in a different place. Try your legs. Don't try to release it, just gather it, hold it, and then let it dissipate."
That felt good thought Luka. She hadn't known how she was supposed to act as a teacher, but she rather enjoyed barking out orders. But more than just that, it felt right. She could almost imagine that it was years ago and she and Haku were training with their master.
"I'll be back in three hours" said Luka, "Show me what you've been able to do then."
"You want me to just stand here for three hours moving my energy around?" asked Miku incredulously. It sounded a bit boring.
"Of course not!" said Luka, with a sly smile, "Feel free to sit down if you want!"
With that Luka turned around, smiling at her own wit, and walked back into the house.
Miku, however, was not smiling. Was training supposed to be this… uninteresting? Standing in the cold, wet grass by herself in the early morning doing nothing more than moving her energy around? Still, she supposed that it was probably a good idea anyways, even if it was about as fun as watching paint dry.
And so reluctantly, Miku began concentrating on her task.
Half an hour later, however, Miku was finding that perhaps it wasn't as boring as she had thought. The sensation of moving energy into her legs was completely new to her. She wondered why she had never thought of it before. She could feel the power circulating through her calves and thighs and it made her feel like she could jump twenty feet in the air or run a hundred miles an hour. The melody she imagined was a set of simple sixteenth notes running up and down from one end of the scale to the other. It was totally different from the steady pulsing bass that the energy in her arms required. It was very… fast. Miku decided that she liked fast.
Even though Luka had told her not to mess around with the energy too much, Miku was finding it hard to contain herself. She just had to try running like this.
She took a step forward, then another. Slowly she broke out into a jog. It was incredible. The instant she put a foot down, it was like it just propelled itself back up of its own will. Getting a little more into it, Miku sped up the pace. She was now easily running faster than she ever had before, and she wasn't even breaking a sweat! This is awesome! She thought to herself.
She continued to think that until she crashed straight into the tree directly in front of her. As fast as she was going, and as amazing as it felt, she had neglected to think about how to stop. It turned out that the energy didn't just go away without some effort on her part. Knocked flat on her backside, Miku began to think that maybe this was a little harder than she had originally thought. Still, there was no real harm done, and it had certainly been an exhilarating experience.
Composing herself, Miku once again gathered energy in her legs and held it there. For a second time she felt the amazing rush of strength. She was careful to walk, rather than run, around the back of Luka's house until she spotted a small shed. The shed wasn't remarkable, but it did have a nice flat roof about six feet off the ground. Miku wasn't certain, but she was pretty confident that she could jump up there.
Flexing her leg muscles, Miku prepared for liftoff. Focusing on landing squarely on top of the shed roof, she jumped.
She had indeed been right about being able to jump higher. She ended up clearing the roof altogether (by a full four feet) and she landed in some bushes on the other side.
…ow… she thought. Well that hadn't gone quite according to plan. Once again she had underestimated the force she was applying. The bushes that she had landed in had saved her from a broken leg.
A few minutes later, after extricating herself from the bushes and adjusting her clothes and her hair, Miku, ever the glutton for punishment, was eager to continue. Luka had told her specifically not to try releasing the energy but really, how could she resist?
If she could get a good blast off, she was sure she could knock a tree over. She could punch a tree over easily, so kicking one should be even easier. Once more she heard the quickly moving notes go up and down and drew her power from them. With sufficient energy concentrated and ready to be unleashed, she approached a nearby tree. Taking aim, she struck out with a powerful side kick.
At the same moment that her foot made contact with the trunk of the tree she released the pent up energy. However, rather than knocking over the tree as she had planned, the blast rebounded and sent her sprawling. Once again having been knocked to the ground by nothing more than her own stupidity, Miku was a little pissed. It was mostly at herself, but also at trees (Those leafy green bastards. They're always getting in the way). She had no idea how she had managed to direct the energy backwards but after being bested by plant life for the third time in one day, she began to think that maybe she needed a little more practice.
So Miku, however grudgingly, decided that it was best to actually listen to what Luka had told her and start small. She stood up again and started concentrating her energy. Sure, it was boring, but at least it didn't involve trees.
A short distance away, behind Miku's back, one of the house's curtains fluttered shut. Luka had herself a short laugh as she retreated from her spying post. She had known that Miku wouldn't be able to resist pushing the envelope, but it was still funny as hell to watch.
After nearly three hours of gathering and dissipating energy in her legs, Miku was beginning to get a feel for how it should be done. Her grasp on the technique was still tenuous at best, but at least now she could dissipate the energy at will without needing to let it go on its own.
As she started charging up once again, she heard a sound from behind her. It was a slow clapping. She turned around to see Luka standing in the doorway of the house. She had been so concentrated on her task that she hadn't even heard the door open.
Luka walked forward. "That's very good for a beginner" said Luka, "I thought it would take you at least a day before you got the hang of it."
"Yeah, it was easy" said Miku, "In fact, I bet…"
But before she could finish the sentence a small blast of energy knocked her flat again.
"What was that for!?" yelled Miku.
"Partly because you broke the rules, and partly because it's a lot of fun" said Luka, with a gleam in her eye.
So Luka had been watching the whole thing. Well great, now she probably wouldn't ever let her live that down.
Miku saw something out of the corner of her eye and glanced up. It was a hand. Luka was above her, offering her help up. Miku accepted the gesture sheepishly.
"Don't worry" said Luka, "When the time comes, I'll break the rules with you. But for now, the only thing you're going to get from improper control of your energy is hurt."
Back on her feet, Miku let out a "hmph" and crossed her arms. Luka reached out and patted her head. Ah to be a teenager again thought Luka.
"Come on, I think you'll like the next part" said Luka, walking back towards the house.
"Is it knocking over trees?" asked Miku, eager to get her revenge on the foliage that shamed her.
"Even better" replied Luka, smiling, "Breakfast."
*********************************End of Chapter*********************************
Well there you go! Chapter five: "Unsettling Rumors, The Training begins!" This was a fun chapter to write for a couple reasons. First off, I got to write Gumi again, and she's always fun with her slightly spazzy personality. Also, I got to show a little more of Luka's true character. She's been away from people for a long time, so it makes sense that she would be a little guarded. Rest assured, as her time with Miku goes on the walls will crumble a little at a time.
As for the story, well, I suppose it speaks for itself! Vocaloidism a disease? Ridiculousness! That can't possibly be true! But is that really the case? And what does this mysterious disease have to do with those black-hooded figures? Few know. But you can be damn sure that I do. Stay tuned for more wacky antics, heart-wrenching drama, and plain old badass fight scenes.
Now, for those of you who don't check my profile for mid-chapter updates, I posted a little something on there a few days ago about my writing process and how I write scenes. I could make you go all the way there to read it, but since I'm such a nice person (and copy/paste is easy) I shall include it here.
"I would like to go off on a bit of a tangent and explain some of my writing process. While I'm writing Vocal Vision, I like to listen to Vocaloid music, as it helps my creative process. This is because the original idea for the story came to me while I was listening to Vocaloid music in my truck. It started off as a series of disconnected fight scenes in my head that I thought might be cool to see in a Vocaloid anime or something. All of the fights were set to whatever song I happened to be listening to at the time. Eventually, I took this idea and turned it into the story I'm writing now. The point it, when I'm writing, every scene I create is inspired by a different Vocaloid song, especially the fight scenes. I'm not going to reveal anything but some fights from upcoming chapters are based on such songs as Cyberpunk by Miki, Ochame Kinou (also known as the Fukkireta) by Teto, Popipo Vegetable Juice by Miku, Luka Luka Night Fever by Luka, Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder by the Kagamine twins, and of course you can't forget The Disappearance of Miku Hatsune. From now on, in my post-chapter discussions, I will be listing the songs that inspired me to write each chapter. I may even include links to Youtube videos of the songs so my readers can listen to my inspiration! I hope this little feature gives a little bit of insight into my creative process."
So there you go. And as promised, here are the little nuggets of inspiration that I used to create this chapter. Bear in mind that none of these songs are mine. They belong completely to their creators and I had no part whatsoever in making them.
"Our Star" – A duet by Miku and Gumi. I thought this song really captured the friendship that I want these two to have. They're always there for each other, and that's what counts. I used this song for parts of the phone call scene.
Link to original video: .jp/watch/sm11302054
Link to subbed Youtube video: watch?v=PO7F1HqiZT8
"Matryoshka" – Another duet by Miku and Gumi. This one sounds pretty crazy, but that's because I wanted a song that could kind of capture how Gumi was pretty worried. I used this for the portion of the phone call about the disease.
Link to original video: .jp/watch/sm11809611
Link to subbed Youtube video: watch?v=_JGaQ3g8WU4
"Motekke! Sailor Fuku." Well ok, this isn't technically a Vocaloid song originally, but I found a version of Miku singing it on Youtube and even though it's not the most well done thing I've ever heard, it makes me laugh every time I hear it. The lyrics have no meaning to the scene I used it to write, which is the training scene. It's just supposed to be background music for Miku running around making a fool of herself trying to control her energy.
Link to Youtube video: watch?v=Y2V22MvyLbc
Due to something that I can't figure out, the website name gets removed from the URLs I post. Probably due to copyright reasons or something. Anyways, all youtube videos have "youtube" before the .com and the original videos have "nicovideo" before the .com. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Well that's all I have time for, since if this gets any longer it'll be a chapter in its own right. Remember to keep checking for updates, read my profile, and above all else REVIEW! AnarchySong signing off!