Author's Note: Hey, everyone! So... this is it! It took me a REALLY long time to write this for some reason... probably all the different things happening at once. It got so confusing at one point that I had to write all of the characters and their locations down, just to keep track! I also stopped in the middle to make popovers. Yum, I think they're ready! Bye!
Disclaimer: I do not own vocaloid or cryptin/crypton or the characters mentioned the end.
Chapter Eight
Al, Rin, Len, Meiko, Haku, Gumi, Mikuo, Ann, and Akita ran.
They ran out of the building.
As they had been leaving, Mikuo had stopped.
"Mikuo, what are you doing?" Gumi'd screamed. "Run!"
"No." he'd said, slumping against a wall. His wounds were very deep. "I don't want to go on... anymore... I'll just slow you down. Quickly... they're coming...!"
And then the thundering of boots on stairs was heard.
"NO! MIKUO!" Haku had screamed. "COME WITH US!"
Mikuo looked up, the pain visible in his eyes. His love for Haku overpowered the fire in his wounds, but as he stepped forward...
He collapsed.
Guards flooded the lobby. A few took Mikuo away.
Haku froze, her arm still outstretched, beckoning. Ann ran up, and saw the young girl's expression.
"Oh, Haku...!" she said, sadly.
"First BRS is gone. Now... he is gone." said Haku.
"There's nothing we can do." lamented Meiko. "We have to go. Now. Don't worry, we WILL come back for them... I promise!"
Gumi watched all this from the side, her eyes on the ground.
What if I'd helped them? Would they even BE in this mess?
Al, seemingly reading her mind, walked up beside her. "It doesn't matter now. What matters now is that we get the rest of our friends back. Okay?"
Gumi nodded. It was true, she didn't have any fighting powers. She would probably have just been a burden, and captured along with the rest of them.
There was another pressing problem too, though. The guards were right behind them.
They all ran. It was too early for most cars, but one or two passed by. They didn't seem to notice the ragged group of people with vividly colored hair running.
"They're catching up to us! We're not fast enough!" cried Ann.
Just then, a bus pulled up, and the window rolled down. It was Hiro!
"Come in, quickly!" he shouted, and the Vocaloids, needing no further incentive, piled on. The bus's wheels turned and screeched as they all drove away.
Hiro spoke from the front seat. "Uh-oh... why aren't you all here?"
"Because we failed! We totally failed! A bunch got captured!" moaned Akita.
"Oh dear." said Hiro. Sweat ran down the side of his face. "Who?"
"Miku, Lily, Kaito, BRS, Mikuo... and... and Gakupo." said Rin.
"Yeah... poor Gakupo." said Len.
"Well, we can't just sit and do nothing. We'll get home, clean up, and think about some way to get everyone back." said Hiro.
"But... they're all going to be shipped away to a secret place! And we don't know where!"
Gumi interrupted. "I have some reliable sources that could be able to tell me the location of this "secret" facility.
"Wow, thanks! That sounds good. Don't worry, this will all work out in the end." said Hiro positively.
"Except for one thing..." muttered Akita sadly under her breath.
The bus pulled up next to Vocaloid mansion, and they all got out and stood next to the front door. The sky was blue, bright blue, almost too peaceful looking with clouds drifting by to be a witness to such a horrible day.
Hiro looked through his keys.
"Oh, and do you know the good news about Luka?" said Hiro cheerfully.
"GOOD NEWS?" said Ann. "How is Luka's DEATH good news?"
"Luka's... death?" said Hiro, confused, opening the door.
A hand shot out from inside and grabbed the nearest person... which happened to be Meiko. Meiko screamed.
The pink-haired girl had grabbed Meiko by the collar.
"WHERE... IS... GAKUPO?" snarled Luka.
"L-l-l-Luka! Calm down!" said Meiko, trying to get free.
"Luka!" said Hiro. "Stop!"
Luka dropped Meiko. "Where is he?" she peeked over their shoulders.
"Erm... well, he... sort of, kind of got... captured." said Ann.
"WHAAAAAT?" she said. "That IDIOT! He told me he'd be careful!"
"Ehehe... uh, Luka, calm down, we're going to rescue them! Later!" said Hiro.
Luka blinked, and saw the Vocaloids as if for the first time, and the state of their clothes and bodies.
"Oh!" she said. "Sorry, I just... got carried away...!"
Gumi walked up to her and looked her up and down. "You're... you're not sick anymore."
Luka nodded.
"But... but how?" she said, confused, rubbing her chin. "We... we saw the lead scientist of Cryptin, Ocidem, kill you!"
"But... I'm right here!" said Luka.
"No... we saw him push the button on the dashboard... and-and then there were pink dots... and then your figure on the screen disappeared...!"
"Luka did do something strange." said Hiro. "She... went into convulsions, threw up blood... and then she woke up, healthy, as if nothing had happened!"
"But... that doesn't make any sense!" said Gumi.
"Lets all just sit down and discuss what-"
"WAIT!" said Len. "NOBODY GET CLOSE TO LUKA."
The Vocaloids tensed. "What? What is it?"
"What if she's..." Len paused. "A ZOMBIE?"
Rin walked up behind him and punched him in the shoudler.
"Ow...!" he said, rubbing it and scowling.
They all went to the living room and sat down.
"Well... where is Gakupo, then?" said Luka. "Still in the Akuyami building?"
"At the moment, yes... but, he and the others will be taken to a secret location tomorrow." said Meiko.
"And Mikuo, and BRS too." said Haku, sadly. Ann put her arm around Haku's shoulders.
"What?" said Luka, sounding heartbroken. "So... how will we get him and the others back?"
"Gumi seems to know some people." said Meiko.
"A network of spies!" said Len.
"No, nothing like that." said Gumi.
"Get to the point already!" said Akita, leaning forward. "Do you know where they will be tomorrow? Or the next day?"
"The better question is, do you know how to find out?" said Al. "Miku was with the captured ones." he added.
"We've all lost people we love." said Ann. "How do we know whatever source you'll get information from is reliable?"
"We don't. But we don't have much choice, do we?" said Gumi.
"This... source. Or sources." said Hiro. "When can you contact them?"
Gumi stood up. "I could go right now.
"Yes, that would be nice." said Meiko.
"Wait!" said Al. "Oh, and... Luka?"
"Yeah?" she said, nervous.
"Well... since Gakupo saw you disappear on Ocidem's screen... well..."
Meiko finished the sentence for him.
"Gakupo thinks that you're... dead."
Gakupo sat in the corner of his cage. He thought about Luka.
Luka... her wonderful, voluminous pink hair that he threaded through his fingers when they kissed. Her small, rosy lips, the way they parted when she spoke. Those bright blue eyes, like drops of the sky shining in the face of an angel.
Oh, how he missed her.
I promised to live for her, to live in Luka's honor. But how will I do that?" he asked himself.
Suddenly, he heard a voice. "Anyone? Gakupo? Lily? Kaito? Mikuo? Hello? BRS, anyone?"
He recognized the voice. "Miku?" he said.
"Who's there?" said another voice. It was BRS.
"Wait... is everyone here?" said Lily.
There was a chorus of "yeah"'s.
"I'm here too." said a quiet voice.
There was a brief moment of silence as everyone tried to recognize the voice. No one could.
Finally, Miku said, "Wait... who are you?"
The voice responded. "I am Piko. Piko Utanane."
And then, the big question. "Are you... a Vocaloid?"
"Yes." he said. "I am."
"Well... to meet you!" said Lily.
"Are you... the ones from Vocaloid Mansion?" asked Piko.
"Yeah... why?" said Kairo. "Why?"
"I heard the scientists talking about a place... a place where Vocaloids lived together. And no one experiments on them. And... I heard about Gumi."
"Gumi? Yeah, we know her. Why?" said Mikuo.
"She's still alive?" said Piko, incredulously.
"Yeah, why wouldn't she be?" said BRS, suspicous.
"Well... I used to know her. She... she tried to help me escape. Escape Cryptin. But she couldn't figure out how to get me out of my cage... so she left."
"Harsh." said BRS.
"No, it's not like that!" said Piko. "I... I miss her. It's been years."
"If... no, when we get out of this, you're going to come with us to Vocaloid Mansion. And you're going to see Gumi again."
"Really?" said Piko, his voice laced with hope.
"Really." said Miku.
"It will never be the same, though." said a voice. It was Gakupo. "It will never be like... when she was there."
There was silence. No one knew how to answer to that.
Gumi walked through the streets. Cars, buses and trucks whizzed past. She wore a long coat, a shield against the cold.
It was raining. A small, depressing drizzle, it made little puddles in the street. Gumi stepped in one, and the water splashed onto her socks.
"I sure hope Jonho hasn't moved away... he used to keep tabs on Cryptin... she muttered to herself. She then tied a small, purple ribbon to her goggles and turned into a narrow alley.
To her relief, a man started walking in from the other end. He had a long trench coat, and a hat pulled down low over his face.
He'd seen the signal on Gumi's goggles, resting on her head.
They walked in the same direction until they stopped, next to each other.
"Jonho." said Gumi.
"Gumi." said Jonho.
A black, gloved hand emerged from Jonho's coat. Gumi's thin hand slipped a coin into it, and the coin, together with the gloved hand, disappeared back into the folds of the trench coat.
"I need you to tell me where Cryptin's secret experimentation center is."
There was a pause, Gumi's coat flapped in the breeze as the wind blew 's coat was tighter, and din't move an inch.
"There is one in the nearby mountain pass of Katsusido. That is the only one I know of."
"Thank you." she said, and they both immediately began walking towards opposite sides of the alley.
Once Gumi was out, she paused to think it over. Katsusido... that wasn't very far.
She then took the ribbon off her goggles and tucked them inside a pocket.
Time to go tell the guys. she thought, and then turned to go back to Vocaloid Mansion.
Luka sat in her bed, sitting this time, and cradled the eggplants that Gakupo had left for her in her hand.
Gakupo thought that she was dead.
I wonder what he's doing right now. Oh no, I bet he's really sad. He thinks that he'll never see me again! Maybe he's going insane? What if I get there and he's gone mad?
Luka set the eggplant back on her bedside table and leaned against the bed's headboard.
I wonder what he'll do if he sees me again.
Wait, no. she thought. Not IF he sees me again...
She stood up and walked over to the door.
When he sees me again.
She walked out the door of her room and shut it behind her.
Luka went downstairs to see the progress of patching up. Hiro looked up as she walked into the living room. Everyone was sitting there. "Oh, Luka, hi!"
He was dabbing something on one of Rin's scratches. She flinched every time the small cloth touched her skin.
"Ow..." she groaned.
"Hey, Hiro," she said. "About when do you think we can get going?"
Hiro threw out the cloth and wiped his hands on a towel. "Well... I'm thinking we should all go to sleep during the day, and go at night. By then, Gumi will surely be back. It will also make sure that wherever everyone Cryptin captured is going, they will be there."
Luka nodded and sat down on a chair, thinking of Gakupo.
Please, Gakupo... hold out a little while longer. I'm coming!
The Vocaloids sat together in their crates. They knew that they were on some sort of bus, or truck.
"And this one time, Rin and Len replaced Al's hair gel with raw eggs, and you should have seen his face...!" said Miku.
They were all telling Piko stories about Vocaloid Mansion. Even Gakupo was joining in from time to time, usually to say something about Luka.
Piko interrupted her. "And... how is the food there?" he said, curious.
"Oh, Luka used to make the most awesome pancakes...!" started Lily, then stopped.
"No, it's all right." said Gakupo. "Go on."
"Okay." said Lily. "And they were the fluffiest things ever! Gakupo used to always go down and annoy her while she made them, and he would usually end up with some sort of food on him."
She paused. "It's too bad... too bad that..."
They heard a small noise from Gakupo's crate, a short, sharp intake of breath.
"She was... really something, wasn't she?" said Gakupo, his voice wavering. Only he could see his tears rolling down his cheeks... but everyone else could hear them in his voice.
