"What is that?" Mika asked as she stared at the holographic projection that had just formed.
"The piano, why is that appearing?" Rowena asked in surprise as she turned to look at Stacey.
"Don't look at me, I don't know what they're planning," Stacey said defensively.
"Is Adam going to play again?" Tephe asked in excitement.
"Play?" Mika asked in confusion.
"Well, this is a pleasant surprise," Tessa said with a smile.
"I didn't know you had heard Adam play the piano before, princess?" Rowena asked with a smirk and an amused look.
"I haven't, Becky told me before about how good he was." Tessa quickly replied.
"That's right," Becky acknowledged.
"I see, as long as she didn't say how good his singing was," Rowena replied with a smile.
"Would you mind explaining what you three are talking about?" Mika asked in exasperation.
"Just watch, you're about to see something interesting," Stacey said as a holographic outline of a man appeared next to the piano before sitting at the seat in front of it.
💫💫💫
"Who's that? And why is he sitting at that strange object?" Honcho asked with interest.
"No idea," Raella replied before they witnessed the holographic man press the strange black and white objects before him, as music was heard, causing Raella to say in amazement, "It's an instrument."
"I've never seen such an instrument before," Honcho said.
The only response he got from Raella, however, was a "Shush," as she started to listen intently to the instrument she had never seen or heard before.
💫💫💫
"What is this? Did you know Diva Lorelie had something like this planned?" Director Opalbeard asked Matriarch Maiya as the two sat in the private box that was reserved for the current matriarch and their guests.
"I did not, director, though it's quite the pleasant surprise as this will no doubt make headline news," Maiya replied.
"You're right, it seems inviting Diva Lorelie was the right move," Director Opalbeard said with a smile.
"I don't think there was ever any doubt in that."
💫💫💫
[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): Took you long enough, streamer, where have you been?]
[Superhearofangirl (Earth): I know, I thought the streamer had died. It's been so long since he last went live.]
[Superhearofangirl (Earth): Oh my god, I love this song.]
[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): Same, it will be interesting to see how Diva Lorelie pulls it off. The original artist had such a unique voice after all.]
[Superior4horns (Vinox 3): He's playing that strange instrument again.]
[Whostolemyduck (Earth): It's called a piano.]
[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Are they gonna do a duet?]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): God, I hope not, his voice sucks. Kek.]
[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): The streamer's piano skills are top-notch; unfortunately, his vocal skills suck crotch. Kekeke.]
[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): LMAO]
[CEOHopkins (Earth): How did someone so young and from such a poor background learn to play the piano so well? The Earth has lost a musical prodigy.]
[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): I agree, it's a great shame.]
[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): Is it just me, or is anyone else having trouble making out the streamer's face?]
[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Same, I thought I was lagging for a moment until you mentioned it.]
[Prestigious3horns (Vinox 2): It's like the holographic image part of his face is distorted in some way.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Booo, why are you still hiding your good looks from us, streamer?]
[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): How do you know he's good-looking? He could be fugly for all we know. Kekeke.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): That's just you when you look in the mirror. Kek.]
[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): Ohhhh, burn. 🔥]
[Emojisonly (Earth): 🔥]
[Superior4horns (Vinox 3): What's fugly?]
[Noobkiller9000 (Earth): It stands for, fucking ugly.]
[Superior4horns (Vinox 3): Ohhhh, so Handsome3horns then?]
[Handsome3horns (Vinox 2): Bitch.]
[Phoenixempress (Fenix Nest): Trust me when I say he's not ugly.]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): Oh? That makes it sound like you've seen his face? Have you met him already? But how could that be possible?]
[Phoenixempress (Fenix Nest): I haven't seen his face in person.]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): The way you answered that is suspicious.]
[Phoenixempress (Fenix Nest): He's travelling with my goddaughter, I've naturally seen his face when I have spoken to her.]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): Ahhh, yeah, I guess that makes sense.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): No fair, how has the Phoenix Empress seen the streamer's face already when she's not been in the chat long? I've been here from the very start and never seen it.]
[Phoenixempress (Fenix Nest): 😏]
[Whostolemyduck (Earth): So what's this UMB Cup thing that's mentioned in the title?]
[Phoenixempress (Fenix Nest): It's a mech battle competition that's held every four years.]
[Animefangirl (Earth): Wait, wait, wait, did someone say mech? As in giant battle robots? THAT'S SO ANIME.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Oh, heck yeah, time to destroy some robots.]
[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): I'm afraid you're in for a disappointment, Gunlovergirl.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Huh?]
[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): The title says he's competing in the charity match. While the main tournament does indeed have mechs competing with live ammo and energy weapons. The charity match uses training lasers which don't actually do damage and instead simulate it.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): What! LAME.]
[1000yearsofdeath (Earth): Agreed, that sucks.]
[Animefangirl (Earth): No exploding mechs? Booooo. Super LAME.]
[Phoenixempress (Fenix Nest): 🤣 Maybe if you ask Adam nicely, he might stream the competition since it looks like they will be in the Felidae Galaxy for a while.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Ohhhhh, nice idea, Phoenix Empress. 👍]
💫💫💫
"Do we go now, Number Four?" A male Panthera asked as he and two others, a male and female Panthera, watched Diva Lorelire's performance.
"Not yet, we know where most of those travelling on the ship are; however, the ship's captain doesn't appear to be in the VIP box with them." The one addressed as Number Four replied."
"I'm interested in checking out that fast crew member you told us about. I want to see if she's as fast as you say," the female Panthers said excitedly.
"Remember why we're here, Number Eleven, you're the fastest among us, so it's your job to deal with that crew member while we take over the ship." Number Four said sternly.
"Sure, sure. Just leave that bastard to me," Number Eleven replied in a tone that clearly said she thought little of the job.
💫💫💫
As her performance came to an end, the entire stadium thundered with applause as the holographic image of the man at the piano faded away.
Lorelie watched the image fade away with a happy smile on her face, after which she turned to the audience and bowed before waving as she left the stage.
"I honestly have no words," the sportscast presenter Honcho said after he finished applauding.
"I'm only a sportscast presenter and so am not very well versed in music; luckily, we have our expert here to guide us through what we just listened to," Honcho continued before turning to Raella, who didn't respond.
"Raella?" Honcho asked again.
"Huh, what? Oh, sorry," Raella said apologetically with an embarrassed look.
"Haha, it seems I'm not the only one at a loss for words. Diva Lorelie's performance was so good that even our expert Raella is at a loss for words."
"You're right, I am at a loss for words because you fail to understand how incredible and revolutionary that was," Raella replied in a serious tone.
"Oh, then please enlighten us," Honcho said with interest.
"I won't talk too much about her new genre as a whole, as that has been covered countless times already," Raella began to explain. "Instead, I will focus on the key part of this song that will completely revolutionise the music industry."
"And that is?" Honcho asked with interest.
"The musical instrument we saw in the holographic projection," Raella replied in a serious tone.
"The instrument? Not Diva Lorelie's singing?" Honcho asked in surprise.
"Don't get me wrong, Diva Lorelie's singing is as good as it ever was… no, that's wrong, it's safer to say that it's better than it ever was. She has reached a new level in her singing with her new genre of music.
The instrument, however, is important in a way Diva Lorelie can never be.
You see artists and Divas come and go all the time, even the long-lived races never stay at the top forever and are eventually replaced.
Instruments, however, are different; they're fundamental in music as you can't create music without them."
"I guess you could say that they are instrumental," Honcho said, causing Raella to give him a blank look before she continued.
"Some people will argue that you can make music digitally without instruments using computers, and while that's true, I ask them this: where do they think the sounds those computers use to make music come from originally? That's right, instruments.
Experts were already theorising that Diva Lorelie's new genre of music contained instruments we have never seen or heard before, and this performance proves that they were correct.
That instrument was like nothing I have ever seen before; that man, whoever it was, played it with both his hands and feet. I counted eight-eight…. ummm, I suppose the closest name for the things he was pressing his fingers against are keys, like keyboard keys on an old console before holographic keyboards.
Anyway, I counted fifty-two white keys and thirty-six smaller black ones, along with three pedals. Now we can safely assume that each key produces a different note; however, I have no idea what the pedals do.
I'm only hypothesising, but should each pedal change the sound of each key slightly, that's three hundred and fifty-two different notes from just one instrument, that's unprecedented."