Author's Note: Ha, hahaha. I enjoy torturing people with my writing. Cliffhangers, "favorite characters in pain" scenes... everything! I do especially horrible things to one character in particular in this chapter. Heh. I hope no one tries to kill me over this particular scene at the end of the chapter! XD
Disclaimer: I don't own the charaters in this, Vocaloid, cryptin/crypton... blah blah blah. GYAAAH MY HISTORY HW! AND MATH! BYE!
Chapter Eleven
The walls of the narrow passage shook as the bombs exploded on the wall.
"Come on!" cheered Al. "We can do this!"
"Hey!" said Len, fishing for another bomb in his sock. "I don't see you doing anything!" He chucked another small bomb. It blew up upon contact with the rock.
Suddenly, they heard a crackling noise.
"Shhh!" said Rin, and Len stopped throwing bombs. There was silence. And then, the crackling was heard again. It was coming from the walkie-talkie clipped on Rin's waist.
"Guys! Come in!" they heard. It was Gumi!
Rin picked it up. "'Lo, this is Rin. 'Sup?"
"Don't sound so cheerful! A strange guy claiming to be the head of Cryptin just waltzed right in! He had creepy cat eyes, and this... this REALLY gross mouth, with all these little tentacles-!"
And then, just like that, the signal disappeared. A static noise was heard.
Rin shook the device, annoyed. "Hello? Gumi? GUMI?"
The light on the walkie-talkie turned green. The signal had reconnected! All the Vocaloids listened intently.
"Hello, children." they heard.
It was not Gumi's voice. It was the voice of a man.
"Come right in, by the way." said the voice coming from the speakers of the walkie-talkie. "I've been expecting you."
"DARN RIGHT WE'RE GONNA COME IN!" shouted Luka. "FOR GAKUPO! FOR EVERYONE!"
Len gritted his teeth and threw another bomb.
On the other side of the wall, the captured Vocaloids had been observing the strange man, Boque.
He had walked in, sat on a chair, and closed his eyes. They closed sideways, not up and down like normal human eyes. Miku shuddered.
The explosions on the other side of the wall continued.
Boque's smile had suddenly widened into a grin.
Gakupo lay on his table, hands clenched into fists. Blood and adrenaline pumped through his veins.
Maybe... maybe I won't die today. he thought.
And then, a blast ripped through the wall. Chunks of rock and sand tumbled down to reveal a group of people.
And standing, in a confident pose, at the front of the of the group was...
Gakupo's eyes widened and his pupils grew. He forgot how to breathe.
As he stared at her, it was as if time stopped. Specks of dust floated down and settled.
Because there she was.
Her pink hair streamed out behind her, then fell back down in shimmering waves around her shoulders. Her blue, fiery eyes glittered with anger.
Her dress was ripped and tattered slightly at the bottom, but it still shone as the light from the ceiling glinted off it. It slowly spun around her once and came to a rest.
And even though her face was covered with dust from the rocks...
To Gakupo, it was the most beautiful sight that he had ever seen in his life.
Slowly, the Vocaloids started cheering and clapping, shouts of joy mixed in with happy tears. Piko, not understanding what was so amazing, still smiled. Happiness spreads quickly, after all.
And then Luka saw Gakupo.
He was lying on the table, his shirt ripped off. His purple hair lay splayed in a loose ponytail on his arms. Luka slowly, lovingly drank in every detail of Gakupo that she had missed... his happy, smiling eyes... the smooth curve of his shoulders...
And that's when she saw the gag and the straps holding him down.
Her voice returned to her. "Gakupo!" she shouted, crying tears of anger and joy, and leaped towards him to release him...
When suddenly an arm caught her in the stomach. Her breath left her as she stumbled back, and looked up.
In a flash, the man sitting on a chair that they had all ignored was standing between them and their friends.
"I'm afraid I can't let you take them." he said. "Hello, my name is Boque, leader of Cryptin. Nice to meet you." He held out a hand.
No one shook it.
"Hm. Not the friendly type, I see." he said, and dropped it back down to his side.
"I don't care who the heck you are, but we're going to take you down!" said Luka. The small group behind her cheered.
"Oh, really?" said Boque, a peaceful smile on his face. "Because there so, so many of you and only one of me?"
"Y...y-yeah!" said Meiko, unnerved. Something about the way he said it sounded like he was mocking them.
"Very well then." he said, and leaned on a table.
The Vocaloids tensed.
"What?" he said, closing his eyes. "Didn't you say you were going to take me-"
"YAH!" Ann jumped into the air and swung down her sword.
Boque grabbed it with his bare hand. Ann flapped her wings, surprised.
"Now, now, my dear." said Boque. "Aren't you a little young to be carrying something big and pointy like that? Someone might get..."
He threw Ann across the room. She hit the wall and bounced off onto the floor.
"Hurt." finished Boque. He hadn't even shifted his position, leaning on a table.
"ANN!" shouted Lily from a table. "ANN, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
"Yeah." said Ann. She picked herself back up, wincing.
Boque chuckled softly, yet darkly. "I'm stronger than you think I am, you know." he said. "You... you contain only a fraction of my strength. I made sure of that when you were created, especially for occasions like this."
He glanced up at the ceiling lazily. "You know, I wasn't making you to sell to the government. I meant to use you for another purpose entirely. I wanted to overthrow those fools that call themselves leaders that are in power now. I wanted to send an army across the nations, make a new world under my command. My existence is a strange one. The government found me, apparently. Maybe I'm an alien. Maybe I'm not. But the point here is, I made you. I know your strengths, and your weaknesses. All of you combined couldn't defeat me."
He licked his lips. "You could try if you'd like..." he said. "I'd love a nice snack..."
"Was it just me, or did he just call you... a snack?" said Miku from behind Boque.
"It doesn't MATTER!" said Al, kicking up. His tires spun, and he thrusted his leg up...
Boque caught it, lifted Al clean off the ground by his foot, and kicked him in the head. Then he kicked him again. And again.
"STOP!" shouted Miku, struggling against the bonds that held her. Meiko then sprung into action, and puffed a load of gas at Boque. Boque was unaffected by the gas, and his arm shot out, stretchy like elastic, and pulled Meiko into the cloud. Meiko stumbled back, coughing.
"This... is... bad." she huffed out, before slumping to the floor.
Rin was suddenly behind Boque, and her ribbons wrapped around him. He easily pulled them off, swung them around with Rin at the end as if she was a lasso, and flung her across the room. She crashed into a glass mechanism on the wall, and it shattered all around her as she fell to the ground. She was bleeding from many cuts.
A shard of glass landed near BRS. She gasped. This was her chance!
None of the Vocaloids knew what to do. He was just too strong...!
And then a cannonball struck Boque on the back of the head. He took a step forward, absorbing the force of the blow, then turned.
BRS had cut all the Vocaloids free and they had transformed, and as they all watched, she sliced through Gakupo's gag and it fell off.
"Weren't expecting that, were you?" she sneered.
But, to the Vocaloid's great dismay, Boque seemed unconcerned. "This makes no difference to me." he said, and shrugged. "I will beat you all."
Gakupo's eyes met Luka's Luka saw her name form on Gakupo's lips as a smile lit his face. "Luka...!" he said.
"Gakupo." said Luka, feeling as if she were in a dream.
Gakupo took a step forward, to finally rejoin Luka, feel her touch again... when Boque stepped in between them.
"Ah, yes. The two lovers. Ocidem told me about you." he smirked. "Too bad you're both about to die. It's a shame, really." he said.
"EVERYONE, NOW!" shouted Haku. Everyone pointed their weapons and sprung for one, huge, simultaneous attack. Boque spread his arms, and sent out a pulse of energy that flung them all back. Miku sprung forward, knives flashing. Boque ducked, which sent her flying into Kaito. Kaito dodged and tried to freeze Boque, but Boque jumped to the side... and then a black ball of energy flew his way. He stepped to one side, and saw Haku standing defiantly and the other side of the room, fierce eyes locked on him juggling three balls of black energy with one hand.
"My, my." laughed Boque. "You're all very persistent. Just like flies." then, he stepped forward.
"My turn." he said, and then drew a sword... from his own chest?
"Whoa." said Lily
"Whoa, indeed." said Boque, and sprung forward. Lily managed to dodge to attack mostly, but the sword grazed her cheek. She held her staff up and it light with a blazing light that made even the Vocaloids farthest away squint...
But Boque only smiled. "Foolish girl." he said, then spread his hand and sent a ball of fire through the air. It hit Lily, and she went down. The fire extinguished, leaving Lily on the floor, only half-conscious.
"Lily!" shouted Ann, and ran forward, but Boque kicked her. She slammed into a wall. Kaito tried to encase him in ice, but Boque touched the ice and it shattered.
Gakupo couldn't stand not fighting a second longer. They needed him. They all needed him. And Luka was alive, alive, the impossible dream come true.
"I won't die. Not today!" he whispered to himself, then spun his nunchuks and leaped into the air. Boque turned and easily defletced the blow with his sword. Gakupo landed, and Boque was about to bring the sword down onto his neck...
When suddenly, A fish latched onto his face and he stumbled back. He pulled it off and crushed it in his hand. It turned to dust.
Luka stood in front of him, the fish in her hand giving off sparks.
"Ah, Model 03." said Boque. "Luka Megurine."
Luka tensed. There was away about how he said those words...
"Hello... and goodbye!" he said, and then it was like he turned inside out. He retained a pretty humanoid shape, but gooey and slimy, with a huge mouth line with tentacles. His eyes bulged out. He was... hideous.
Rin and Len gagged.
"I wasn't joking about having a snack, you know." said the creature that stood before them. His voice, no longer smooth and cultured, was guttural and watery, like there was slime in his throat. It was almost like distorted gurgling.
A long, purple, slimy tentacle with little fleshy pads all over it suddenly shot out from the huge mouth and wrapped itself around Luka's ankle. She screamed and dropped her fish as Boque pulled her feet out from under her.
"Luka!" shouted Gakupo, and tried to run to her, but Boque spread his hand and a shock wave tore through the room, breaking equipment and flinging Gakupo along with some other Vocaloids across the room.
A stream of blood trickled down the side of Gakupo's head. "LUKA!" he shouted.
The tentacle around Luka's foot started dragging her towards Boque. She tried to grab on to something, anything.
"GRAB MY HAND!" hollered Akita, but when Luka reached out, she reached and invisible wall.
"Don't even try!" gurgled Boque. "You couldn't touch her if you wanted to."
Luka screamed and kicked, and another long, gooey tentacle shot out and draped itself all around Luka's legs. A third tentacle wrapped itself around her waist.
She tried to kick, but couldn't. The tentacles, while soft and squishy, also had muscle under the surface. Luka could feel the watery goo all over her legs and up to her waist. It burned slightly.
"HELP MEEE...!" she screamed, thrashing in the tentacles grip. Mikuo threw himself against the invisible wall, but then electricity coursed through his body and he was thrown back.
Luka clawed at the floor, her fingers bleeding and sore, but she couldn't find a good place to hold on too.
Gakupo sprung forward and bashed his nunchucks against the invisible wall. Sparks flew with every hit, but the obstacle stood firm.
Luka looked up at Gakupo with tears in her eyes. More tentacles wrapped themselves around her stomach and squeezed. She could feel them pulsing with the heartbeat of the monster.
"Luka!" said Gakupo, horrified.
"Gakupo... please...!" pleaded Luka, tears running down her pale cheeks. A tentacle wound up her neck and covered her mouth. They were now wrapped all around her chest and her stomach, her legs and her waist, squeezing. Her arms were locked by her sides. She couldn't struggle anymore.
"NO! NO! NO!" shouted Gakupo, kicking the wall with every word. The shocks zinged through him, but he didn't feel them. Luka was being dragged into Boque's mouth.
Luka lifted her head as she slowly scraped across the floor and saw a huge mouth before her. Slime dripped down from little tentacles in it, all wiggling in anticipation. Nothing about the monster looked even a little human now. It had all been a disguise, the previous form.
Her foot touched the edge of the mouth. It was slimy and warm and wet, and Luka squirmed in revulsion. The tentacles tightened around her, and she tasted blood in her mouth.
I'm... I'm going to die. she thought.
Gakupo panted on the other side of the seemingly impenetrable wall, sweaty and exhausted. There was no way he could... save her...
"NO! I WON'T LOSE YOU AGAIN!" he shouted, and kicked the wall. Once again, nothing happened.
Luka gave up struggling as she slid into the mouth of the beast. She couldn't fight anymore.
And so the last thing she saw before the mouth closed around her was Gakupo's terrified face, his eyes wide.
Goodbye, Gakupo... she thought, and then the last rays of light slowly faded as she felt the roof of Boque's mouth gently squish down onto her.
She closed her eyes.
