Hey Ya'll! Omega 1 here with a quick update before the chapter starts. This is approaching the Vocaloid Summer Live Concert, the climax and mid point of the story so I at least can see some light at the end of an entertainingly long tunnel. Its been a blast writing this story and I hope to have her done very soon. Also on a side note, if anyone out there at reads this has seen the Halo 3 Machinima "Spriggs" then keep your eyes peeled for an extremely subtle reference. That's all folks so until next time, speak softly but carry the Big Stick.

Omega 1 a.k.a. rm928

Chapter 10: VSL Rehearsal

I walked back out onto the stage and over to Mr. Cameron who was shadow bowing, placing the bow underneath the instrument and playing the piece used to practice without making noise.

"The Vocaloids are finally done changing and should be out soon."

"Good… what happened to your face?" He asked, I sighed and told him what happened

"Its not funny!" I yelled as Mr. Cameron broke out into a roaring laugh, he just laughed harder. Pretty soon everyone came out onto the stage. "Alright everyone is here, now in order to be able to play any songs we need what?"

"Everyone working together? Also what happened to your face?" Cameron asked, I nodded ignoring the second question

"And something else." I said

"Bass." Mr. Cameron said, everyone looked at him. "Omega doesn't have a bass player." He looked at me. "What were you thinking? Trying to make this work without a bass player!"

"We have a bass player." I responded, "Bryan will being playing bass for us." I said, back in Heights the auditorium had an elaborate holographic system that allowed me to project a remote controlled hologram anywhere on stage and a little bit off stage. This allowed our usual bass player, Ultimatum, to participate in concerts despite not having a body of his own I would sing and the like and he would run the hologram. Bryan nodded and I walked out to center stage. "Alright then folks."

"LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" I roared, Getting a heart 'HOOAH' from Omega squad, everyone spread out on the stage. Our first piece was a nice upbeat favorite to really draw the crowd in. "Miku, you're up! Omega, World is Mine." I said everyone nodded and I stepped off of center stage, by now everyone knew exactly what they were supposed to do simply because we had gone over it so many times. We played Miku's 'World is Mine', Luka's 'Corruption Garden', Neru and Rin came up and did 'Green is the Enemy'. At this point it was Kaito's turn, he and Miku came out on stage and I nodded to Mr. Cameron.

"Come on Kaito, show us what you've got." I breathed, before launching myself full blast into the song with Mr. Cameron play right along with me, at first we were drowning poor Kaito out, but then he got his act together and actually started singing like a man and everything balanced out. After that all the Vocaloids came onto the stage and we prepped for our biggest piece of the concert, the song that had inspired me to do this concert and call it what I had, 'Butterfly on your Right Shoulder.' "3, 2, 1, lets GOOO!" I yelled, and the Vocaloids set off into the song, I was playing along and we had just reached the second chorus when I noticed, somebody was singing slightly out of tune. Now for those of you who don't know, those control panels on the sleeves of the Vocaloids outfits they are what control the tuning of the Vocaloids, allows for mid-concert tuning if necessary. Like now, however whoever it was wasn't dealing with it and it was setting my teeth on edge. I opened my mouth to tell everyone to stop when Mr. Cameron suddenly perked up.

"STOP! STOP, STOP, STOP, can't you guys hear that one of you is out of tune!" HE yelled walking over. They all gasped and I could see they were replaying the last few moments of recording in their heads, they all blushed and looked at the ground shamefaced.

"OK, I know it wasn't any of my girls or Len." I said walking over.

"It's me." Meiko said, I looked at her.

"Ok, well just go ahead and fix it really quick and we can start this song over." I said, she nodded and I could tell she was ashamed of herself for letting a tuning problem bring the song to a screeching halt. "Ranger: I need you to keep an ear open for anymore tuning problems if you hear one trace it back to its source and inform that person of their tuning problem.

"Yes sir." He responded, we did the song again, this time with no interruptions. After that Len stayed on stage and sang 'Spice'. Then Meiko was up and sang 'Noise'. Followed by Lily how came up and sang 'Super Sonic Dance'. Luka and Miku came up and sang 'Worlds End Dancehall'. Then came Omega's one piece, an instrumental called Fiddler in the Hood. After that it was Neru's turn and she sang 'Stop nagging me!' I didn't play in that song so I was standing a little off stage and Len was next to me.

"She sounds good, doesn't she?" I asked, Len nodded

"She sounds like a goddess." He said smiling. As she finished she put the mic back in the holder and promptly collapsed onto the ground. "Neru! Neru are you alright?" Len yelped as he ran over followed by me.

"Ranger: Whats wrong with her?"

"She has very little energy left." He responded

"Master, I'm hungry." She said weakly, I smiled.

"Ok Neru let's get something to eat. ALRIGHT PEOPLE WE ARE TAKING FIVE!" I yelled to the group, Omega set down their instruments and everyone clumped together at the base of the stage and eat lunch. Dad showed up during our lunch, and looked into helping Jonathan move some things around on stage. After lunch we all cleaned up and changed back into our normal clothes and were on our way out of Red Rocks when I noticed the news vans sitting at the top of the hill. I walked up to them and shook hands with several people before getting serious. "Did any of you broadcast any of the rehearsal?"

"No, we just came to report on it and you guys were eating lunch when we got here." I nodded and began answering questions. After a while Luka came and joined me.

"Excuse me," A reporter asked, "Who are you? Mack only has two Vocaloids." "Recommend you update your report." I said, smiling. "I have five Vocaloids. This is Luka."

"Isn't she the special one that is the director choice who it goes to."

"Yes. I was given to Mack at my request however." She said latching onto my arm.

"Interesting, well that's all thank you."

"Nothing to it." I responded before turning and walking down the hill. Once we were at the bottom Haku appeared next to me in a small cloud of leaves. "Hey." I said nodding

"I was able to get Ranger's infiltrator software into their computer. I only needed to be in there for a few a moments to feel the Vocaloid energy signal. They had some that aren't going to be released until after the field test."

"So it was Yamaha. Why are they watching us so closely?" I wondered aloud, shrugging in dismissal I walked over and helped everyone pack up the important equipment that we didn't want stolen. After that everyone returned to their living quarters, Omega was staying in our mobile HQ (the semi). "Alright, don't forget concert starts at 2:00, I need performers here at 11:30." I said, everyone nodded and then went their separate ways, HHO all piled into their bus and Bryan took his girls home and Alice and Loni both got into their car with their Vocaloids and left. I sighed looking up at the sky over my head, it was clear and blue, not even any smog from Denver. "Well, guess I better be getting back home and getting some well deserved shut eye." I said before jumping down off the stage and getting in my van, my little troupe clamoring into their various seats as well. I chuckled as I saw Neru pull Len into the back seats. "You two had better stay buckled in back there." I said loudly causing the love birds to look up and blush.

"Aww, come on Mack! Your worse than Kaito was, and he was pretty strict about us not making out or doing anything romantic when we weren't in our room. We couldn't even hold hands."

"That's probably because he knew Yamaha would do something bad to you if they found out." Haku replied calmly. "They almost got me for it once, I developed my skills through experience most of which I got sneaking around inside the facility." She said, I nodded there really was more to her than met the eye. I leaned over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before starting the engine and driving home to a hot meal and some well deserved rest.