AN: It is getting close to where the rest of the vocaloids start showing up. And, I want to let you know, I will not be doing the thing where I typ out the lyrics to songs they sing. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, I am too lazy to find the actual japanese lyrics to the songs. Two, where as I am in fact a fan of vocaloid music, I do not know many of the songs, so I wouldn't know what song to use and which song means what. So, to save myself the trouble, I just won't do that. I might allude to a song or say that they are singing something, but I won't explicitly type out the lyrics.

TBTP Chapter 7

Shortly after Rin's revelation, the bell rang for lunch to end. The rest of the day flew by with me not being very focused in any of my classes. My mind was still on the fact that I could see everyone again. Len, Meiko, Kaito, Luka, Gakupo, Megumi, and Lily. They can be in my life again. But most importantly.

I can see Miku again.

That thought is what really distracted me. At long last, I can finally hold her in my arms.

How would I approach them? Would they believe me as easily as Rin did? Would they accept me back? Can we all pick up where we left off? Will I still be a part of their family? Will Miku still love me?

Looking back at how Rin reacted when she figured out who I was makes me not so worried about some of those questions, but some still make me anxious.

"Helloooo, anyone in there?" Rin asks angrily poking my forehead.

"Stop poking me.

"Well, I wouldn't have had to do so if you just responded to me. You have been sitting on the couch quietly for like ten minutes now."

"Oh, when did we get home?" We are lucky we didn't get attacked by a virus.

"Really? How out of it were you?"

"Pretty damn out of it." She can apparently sense my anxiety because her face visibly softens.

"You don't have to worry about them. You will be accepted back with open arms. Especially from a certain someone." Cue nudge nudge and wink wink.

I can't help but crack a smile at her antics. Sighing I stand and stretch. I just need to pass the time without thinking. The way to do that is to train. The special part about my house is that it has a secret area under it. A lab with a lot of electronics that Marissa frequents and a training area that I frequent. I walk over to the fireplace and slide a keycard into a crack. A beep is heard and the fireplace lowers down to reveal a staircase. "I'm going to train to clear my mind and to pass time. You in?"

"I don't have a choice do I?"

All I do is smile and descend. I hear footsteps behind me and my smile grows. After a while, the staircase opens to a large area. Basically, it is a very large cube that uses technology close to vocaloid technology to simulate various conditions. There is a door on the far side of the cube that leads to the lab. I have been ordered to not enter when Marissa is not here because I have a tendency to break things.

Turning to face Rin, I start to stretch. Seeing her do the same, I wait for her to finish when I am done. After a bit, she stands up straight and faces me. "Ready?" I may have said that too eagerly. I just really like to train. Especially with someone.

Rin nervously nods. "Good, today, all you have to do is try to hit me." She gives a slight nod, takes a deep breath, then shoots off at me.

-Break-

Rin is on the floor near me, breathing hard and sweating profusely in her released state. Her blonde hair splayed on the ground as she huffs and puffs. I laugh quietly at the scene, looking rather untouched. A little dirt here and there, but that is from Rin trying to blind me by kicking a chunk of the floor at me.

But she still didn't touch me.

A little while ago, I challenged her to a spar. To put it bluntly, her performance was abysmal.

Beings that can break down their physical form and remake it have one shared ability. That being the ability to augment their bodies to increase their physical stats. Such as increasing speed or strength. But, past that, the combat style for Vocaloids is much different than that of a virus. As a Vocaloid, we have the ability to separate a part of our body to use as a weapon. I honestly do not know if viruses can do this as well, I have yet to see a virus with a weapon so I believe it is safe to assume that they can't. The form of this weapon is different for each of us, but they are all powerful. I don't use mine much because it is a large scythe that has long range and close range capabilities. It attracts way too much attention to use every battle, so I use it sparingly. Rin's on the other hand is a pair of pistols. They have small blades on the hilts so that the pistols can be used in close range if needed. Len has a pair of pistols like these. The only difference between the two pairs is that they have their names engraved on them.

Rin is skilled with her pistols, this much is true. But being alone, I have learned that being skilled with your weapon isn't enough. The viruses have evolved and are getting stronger. Where as before they generally were mutated beyond belief and used their mutations as weapons, now they look like a normal human being and can morph a part of their body to whatever they can think of. Within limits I'm sure.

Another thing is that the viruses are working together. They have a community built. I only have heard of this community from viruses I have killed, but it exists. The mutated monster viruses are still there, but they are used as cannon fodder and menial labor. If a virus can regain their human-like form, they raise up a rung in their social ladder. I have only fought against some of the lowest rungs of this ladder, so I don't actually know how strong their leader is. Or leaders, I don't have much information to go with.

But back to us, being alone made me realize that just using weapons won't keep the Vocaloids alive if we are separated. So, I practiced and tried to emulate the virus morph ability. It is a grueling task trying to will your arm to become something different, but the results paid off. The fact that I have learned to fight like a virus is what has allowed me to stay alive on my own.

The Vocaloids haven't realized this though. According to Rin, the viruses they keep fighting are just the mutants. They keep getting stronger, but they are still the lowest rung. This fact has me worried. I am the only Vocaloid aware of the threat of the hidden viruses. If I am right, then the leaders of the viruses aren't simple minded and are actually worthy of their role. They are keeping most of the Vocaloids blissfully unaware of the real threat while constantly attacking them with the weakest viruses. And I fit into this as a test subject for their more powerful viruses. They sent them after me to see how they compare to a powerhouse. And if I am right, when one finally defeats me, they will wipe us all out in one foul swoop.

This is all speculation though.

And it will all go away soon when we are all reunited.

So for now I will just tend to Rin and train her to hold her own against the future threats. But she still hasn't gotten the morphing down. She still hides behind her pistols.

It is why she hasn't hit me.

In these exercises I use both my weapon and my morphing skills to both demonstrate and encourage the morphing ability. I stick to simple things like changing my arm into a shield to deflect bullets or extending my arm to grab the roof. Simple things that are unimaginative. These types of body changes are quite simple really. Kind of. They are from different fields of body changing though. Learning how to do both is rather difficult. I always seemed to be able to transform my body parts into weapons easiest. Like turning my arm into a sword or something along those lines. It took me a bit to simply change my arm to something like metal, and even longer to modify the shape like stretching.

This leads me to believe that there are different schools of body morphing and that everyone of the Vocaloids and viruses have a certain field they are more accustomed to. But I don't have enough data to either confirm or deny this. Only my personal experiences.

But all of that is for the future body morphing training. For now I just have to get Rin to try it. She has tried a bit, and managed to slightly sharpen her nails once, but never really really tried it. So for now I just have to keep this up to convince her that morphing will actually help her in battle and encourage her to try it.

On a side note, the first spar we had was quite enjoyable due to the shock on her face when my arm suddenly turned into a gun. I've gotta enjoy the little things, right?

"'huff' 'huff' one of these days 'huff' i will hit you…" I hear from the ground. It tears me away from my thoughts and I glance toward the sweaty, prone body near me.

"And I am sure you will… once you actually transform." I mean it to be sincere, but it comes out in a snide way. Must be the victory high.

All I receive from her is a tired glare and a huff before she turns away and rolls the other direction. This promptly causes me to snicker, further annoying the poor girl.

I stretch to remove the kinks from my body after the repetitive dodging that I did for a couple hours beforehand. Despite it being easy to dodge Rin, her stubbornness caused the exercise to last much longer than I anticipated and the length was what got me. After a bit I turn to ask Rin if she wants dinner, to see her still lying on the floor. I see her breaths are quite even and notice small snores.

She must've really tired herself out this time. I gently pick her up, trying to not wake her. In the back of my mind i remember carrying her like this years ago when we were all together. I smile fondly at the memory as I ascend the stairs back to our home.

I can only hope that everything will be as it once was.

Sorry for the wait. To be honest, I got caught up in college and forgot about it. After a While I looked at it again, but never worked up the effort to continue. This isn't where I wanted to leave off this chapter, but I wanted to release something to show that I am back and starting to write again.