Me: Whew I finally finished the tincy bit of editing I did, and tried to think out the plot a bit for the next few chapters! That's weird I never plan ahead in my stories...
Kaito: Ice cream?
Meiko: Kaito...
Kaito: B-b-but
Me: Haha *gives Kaito ice cream
Kaito: OMNOM
Me: Haha well we're already at chapter 10! Thank you guys so much for all the positive feedback ^^ it may not seem like much but it means the world to me! I hope you like the chapter and please continue to tell me what you think!
They had been watching quietly in the shadows for a while now. The Vocaloid 1 team, anyway. They know everything that is happening. Meiko thinks that maybe they could snatch one of the rockets, and fly to who knows where it would take them. Anywhere would be better than this disease infested arena. They watch as the Unofficials walk in, not knowing that their walking right into a crossfire. Meiko turns around to survey her team. They could go on by themselves, staying to the outskirts of the arena. They had all they needed to survive; water from the ice in the cooler, food, shelter from the trees in their area, and a way of protecting themselves. They were in great condition with no injuries, but from what they had already heard going on inside that garage, she has a feeling that the other teams aren't so well off. Kaito sits beside her, with his hand on her shoulder and a deep look in his eyes. He may be very immature sometimes, and be a little obsessed with ice cream, but when it came to sticky situations, Meiko didn't want anyone else by her side.
"We should help them, Meiko…" he whispers.
"Yea, but there's only five of us, Kaito, only one with a weapon. What sort of help would we be? You saw them with your own eyes. Not all of them are even there! I don't know how Calcium did it, but she somehow turned Lui against himself…and along with that they single-handedly carried them unconscious, to that garage," she tries to explain.
"I know that, Meiko, but how would you feel if you were in there being tortured and no one came to help?" He turns to face her.
"I don't know…in this situation I would almost say I wouldn't care either way. Besides, the Vocaloid 3 team is there along with the Unofficials. They aren't alone in there."
"But the Unofficials hate the Vocaloid 2's." He has a point. So really, they were pretty much even teams at the moment.
"Let's ask the others what they think I guess…" Meiko slowly stands to go back to the rest of their team. Kaito nods and follows.
"Maybe I could get some more ice cream too?" he gives her the puppy eyes. She sighs and shakes her head in disappointment, wondering again what she ever sees in this guy.
"There you guys are," Lola turns from a snoring Leon. She lowers her head in shame. She and Meiko could relate very easily most of the time when it came to their boyfriends.
"We…we heard Prima's scream," Miriam murmurs. "What's going on in there?" she asks a little bit stronger now.
"I…don't know, Miriam, but we need to have a team discussion about something," Meiko slowly sits down behind the boxes they had taken shelter behind. Kaito sits with her. He puts his arms around his knees like a little boy. He may be mature, but his mind didn't think so at times. However, Meiko loves it and thinks its adorable. Meiko tries to begin explaining, but fails after stumbling a few times.
"What she means…is that we were watching as Calcium drug the entire V2 team into her…erm…'fortress' if that's what you wish to call it. We counted them all up, and not everyone's there; our best guess is that they're dead. Now we all heard Prima's scream, and we all know that the only thing that could cause that kind of scream would be from torture or death. One or the other the V2's look like they need some help," Kaito surprisingly picks up the speech from Meiko. Lola looks like she would ask something, but Kaito holds up his hand to tell her to let him finish. "We also saw the V3 team, also incomplete, head into the garage not too long ago. Calcium may just be one person, but you see what she's done." Kaito seems to be finished when Meiko takes over.
"One more thing," she pauses looking for the right words, "Somehow Calcium made Lui like her; yaknow, all robotic." This catches everyone's attention. Even Leon sits halfway up, his eyes wide.
"She can do that?" he asks. Meiko nods. "Man…"
"The Unofficials just went in, too," Kaito adds.
"Man…that's going to be a brawl and a half, huh?" Leon says to himself.
"Which is why we need to discuss our next move," Meiko says.
"Isn't it clear?" Lola looks at each of them in disbelief that they don't already know. "We go in the opposite direction of course! We have all our members, defense, we can make shelter, we aren't injured, and we have enough food to last us at least 3 days; by that time Meiko could get us some more. If we went in there, not matter how many people die, it would be suicide! There are only five of us, you guys, whether we like it or not, we can't really do much." Lola has a point. Meiko hates it when Lola has a point.
"We can't just sit here and do nothing, though!" Meiko quickly puts a hand over her mouth after raising her voice. She looks over the boxes to see if anyone had heard them. She slowly retreats back under the cover of the several boxes of discarded supplies. "We can't just do nothing, Lola," her voice back to its normal volume, "I mean, we could even benefit from this."
"How's that?" Lola asks. Even Kaito looks at her, curiously awaiting her answer.
"Well…we don't even know what's in there! What if we find a…a failsafe of some kind? Or what if, say we do rescue the Vocaloid 2's? They could possibly be our ally, and if they are our ally, then don't you think we would stand a lot better chance at winning than if we just walk away now?"
"Meiko…you heard Akiokoloid. No more than one team gets out of here…" Lola looks down, then back up, with confusion in her eyes. "Meiko, why are they still making Vocaloids if they're terminating almost all of them?"
"Huh? Lola what are you talking about?" Meiko responds. They all stare, waiting to hear.
"When I was going back for my yearly physical this past year the door to the development room was open, and of course it was just too tempting to resist! So, I went in there, hoping the doctor hadn't seen me. There were at least four androids under the works; ones we haven't heard of." She lowers her head again.
"Did you get a good look at them?" Kaito asks.
"Not really…It was really dark. I could tell that one was male and the others female, though. Their faces we 'rent actually finished yet, so I couldn't even feel for the details." She pauses a minute. "Although, I could've sworn one looked just like Kouichi Hiro…"
"I thought you said you couldn't see very well in there," Miriam says.
"Well that's what I could see," Lola tries to cover up her wording.
"Well, if it was him, then this is very, very bad," Leon speaks up.
"How?" Everyone says at nearly the same time.
"If that was Kouichi, then this means that they have developed the technology to use Vocaloid as something to bring back the dead," he says it slowly, seemingly to convince himself, too, that something like this could even be possible.
"You're joking, right?" Miriam asks, although Meiko thinks that she could really want to know.
"Hey, I was just throwing an idea out there," he lays back down.
"Well, I guess it's up for a vote then," Meiko raises her hand. "All who are for rescu-" she is interrupted by another scream.
"That sounded like Luka!" Kaito tries not to be too loud, while also looking up over the boxes.
"Man, ok everyone do we agree that we need to get in there and stop Calcium? She may know something we don't. I mean how could she have done all that stuff without help? Don't tell me she didn't have any." Meiko pauses, but only for a moment. "All for rescuing the Vocaloid 2 team, say aye." Kaito was the first to say 'Aye,' but then Miriam, too, agrees, along with Leon. Lola sits with her head low.
"Lola…they need us. We were their first friends, don't you remember?" Meiko offers a hand to her.
"Yea, yea, I know that, and I want to help them, but…" she stumbles.
"But what?" Meiko tries to look her in the eyes.
"But, I have a feeling…that if we do go to save them, I'm confident that we will. However, I'm not so confident that all of us will be coming back," she looks into Meiko's eyes, "especially with the unofficials in there."
"Lola, when a friend is in trouble, or they need you, you should always try to help them, no matter the damage it causes to you," she tries to give a smile.
"Even if that damage is death?" Miriam kills the mood.
"Not helping." Meiko snaps back at her.
"Fine, just promise me that we will all come back, ok everyone? Don't do anything stupidly heroic…" Lola looks mainly at Leon.
"Yea, I know, stay behind you at all times. No problem, mom," Leon rolls his eyes.
"Aye" Lola finally agrees. She smiles a little, "Let's go help our friends." They all slowly get up, to make sure no one sees, then begins to sneak over to the garage.
"Riiiight after one last ice cream," Kaito tries to reach in the cooler for a final treat.
"Kaito!" Meiko shouts a loud whisper in his ear. He jumps, not expecting her.
"Fine! Fine! I'm coming!" He slouches over, and their rescue mission begins.