Pruned Trees Re-Sprout!! ~ Ragazza Volpe Magica ~

It was another muggy night in Corhiasela. Rain or shine work had to be done and for that, Shouri was out once more with his merry band of Resonators. Or mostly merry.

“Uuuuuugh why is it so HUMID?!” Rebecca was chief bellyacher this evening.

“It’s not that bad,” Taika commented, shooting a slightly annoyed glance at the complainer in question.

“I’m fire, I’m allowed to complain,” Rebecca huffed at her lunar counterpart.

“I don’t complain when the sun is out,” the lunar snipped back.

“Well, I-”

Pacifica stepped between the two foxes. “Enough enough.” She ruffled the hair of the other girls.

Shouri let out a short sigh, returning attention to the line they were waiting in. He was recalling his conversation with Pacifica earlier in the day.

“I keep feeling this... weirdness from him. I can’t really describe it. Just something in the back of my head whispering that something is wrong.”

Certainly, Cecil was... standoffish this morning. Pacifica had quite a powerful social sense – her strength of rhythm was emotion after all, it was her thing. If she felt there was something wrong with Cecil, there had to be something to that.

What could be wrong though?

“Next.”

Shouri jolted out of his thoughts. It was his turn to register for the night’s festivities. His musings would have to wait.

Registration complete, they made their way toward their assignment for the evening. Shouri had Rebecca cast Fuoco Fatuo a couple of times to give them some firelight as they walked. It was a nice, peaceful walk - his Resonators chatted idly amongst themselves, a moment’s reprieve from the usual bickering and chaos they wrought. Though they didn’t need to be the source of chaos.

“HEY SHOURI!”

Not as long as one Vince Rayburn was more than willing to disturb the peace. “Hey, Vince,” Shouri said, unable to hide the grimace. He was a nice kid, yes, but in the older Maestro’s opinion, could use a mute button.

With their appearance, Rebecca noted Pacifica growing slightly uneasy. Shouri too picked up on the otter’s increasing discomfort and the source of the concern – Cecil, who remained ever-present in his Maestro’s shadow.

“Actually, Vince, can Pacifica and I talk to you?” The veteran Maestro’s gaze shifted slightly, catching Cecil in his periphery. “Alone?”

The lion man snorted, glaring down his nose at the other Maestro. “Sure!” Vince, thankfully was far too trusting. Turning on the ball of his feet, he faced the solar Resonator. “Cecil be good!” Ever-innocent Vince didn’t see anything wrong with the request and ran off without the protection of his Resonator.

“Rebecca a Fuoco Fatuo please,” Shouri requested. The fire Resonator mulled that command over for a moment before directing a ball of fire to follow her Maestro. “Taika, keep an eye on things here,” came the second request. The lunar fox nodded, accepting that responsibility.

Finally, he looked to Pacifica who nodded and followed him wordlessly. Taika and Rebecca exchanged confused expressions but decided protesting now wasn’t a good idea.

Clearly, their Maestro was up to something, and they didn’t want to be obstacles.

Out of earshot, Shouri and Pacifica faced Vince, a small orb of fire illuminating the trio. They stood in silence for a moment – the two elders deciding on the best approach to what they perceived to be a sensitive topic.

Finally, Shouri went with his gut: “Where did you get Cecil from?” The direct approach.

Vince tilted his head. What a weird question. “I got him from a collector guy. He had a lot of really cool Resonators, but I didn’t have that much money.”

Pacifica looked to Shouri. His theory had been spot on - Vince did not, in fact, come from wealth.

“The dude was super nice though – he said he liked me and sold me Cecil at a really good price! Cecil is super strong too, was worth every sharp!” the younger Maestro went on to exclaim.

Beating around the bush would get them nowhere. Pacifica too, got direct: “Does anything seem... off about Cecil to you?” she hesitantly inquired.

At that moment, for just a fraction of a second, Vince hardened. Most people would have missed such a subtle expression shift, but not Pacifica.

“Of course not!” Vince laughed in his usual innocent way. Though the otter knew better. Unlike before, where he was innocent, now he was merely playing dumb. It was honestly a bit shocking that he even had the capacity to lie.

And Shouri wasn’t one to play games. “I don’t know if you can tell, but I care a lot about Resonators. If there’s something wrong, you can tell me. I just want to help,” he urged.

The smile faded from Vince’s lips. “N-no man, everything’s fine, honest,” he continued the charade.

Shouri looked to Pacifica who had bitten her bottom lip. Sure, they hadn’t been together too long, but due in part to what they had been through, he knew how to read her.

“If we keep going, he’s going to stop trusting us.” That’s what her body language was telling him.

He didn’t like it, but Shouri knew when to fold. “Okay, if you insist.” The elder Maestro nodded.

“I must just be tired, sorry Vince.” Pacifica faked a smile.

Thankfully, Vince wasn’t the most discerning individual and accepted their backing off at face value. “It’s okay! I know it’s kinda crazy for someone like me to get an Albright, but I swear Cecil is really good, I like him a lot!” The boy beamed proudly.

“Oh yeah, totes!” Pacifica nodded. Shouri shot a glance at his otter. She was really good at that fake smile, not that it was going to fool him. Thankfully, it did work on Vince.

“L'onda di tempesta, Rallentando.”

“Flusso del Vento, Piano!”

The night was going well, Shouri and his Resonators providing support for Vince as Cecil finished off any trapped Scherzando. It was quite the slick operation. The support spells didn’t cost that much rhythm, and practically speaking they were carrying Vince and Cecil, basically turbo training their powerful attack spells.

“Good job!” Shouri praised the younger Maestro. When he actually listened, Vince wasn’t half bad.

Though, it seemed that the two Maestros had bit off more than they could chew.

“Sho!” Taika grabbed her Maestro’s arm.

Looking at the vixen, he noted her panic. “What’s up?”

“The map! The map!” She urged.

He quickly heeded her demand and refreshed their tracking app. “Oh... shit.” Shouri spun around. Though there wasn’t an immediate visible threat, the map didn’t lie.

They were surrounded.

“Shouri what’s wrong?” Vince asked, not liking the way the elder Maestro was whipping about.

“Let’s not panic, but we may have fucked up,” Shouri advised.

“H-how?” Vince gulped. Turns out he was shakable, holding his bright white tuner to his chest, eyes darting around in a panic.

“We’re surrounded,” he revealed. Pacifica and Rebecca joined Taika, huddling close to their Maestro and watching their surroundings carefully. Rebecca had a couple of fire lights surrounding them, she spread them a bit further out so the non-lunars could see. Despite this, the Scherzando remained hidden.

“Are you absolutely sure?” Rebecca looked at Taika.

“I wish I wasn’t.” Taika gritted her teeth.

“We’re totally surrounded?” Pacifica asked for clarification.

“They’re closing in pretty tight.” The lunar vixen balled up her fists tight, the sweat dripping down her face as she kept refreshing the detection spell, Rilevare l'intenzione, to keep tabs on the many Scherzando bearing down on their location.

“What should we do Mr. Tomoshibi?” Cecil asked the tenured Maestro.

Shouri looked between the four Resonators he had access to. He didn’t know the arsenal of solar spells all that well. Only the ones Vince had Cecil use. For now, he'd keep Cecil as the damage dealer. Licking his lips, Shouri knew this was going to get technical. The top priority was to break through and run.

Unfortunately, the thinnest part of the line was the northern group of Scherzando. Base camp was directly south.

“Fuckers need to stop being so smart,” Shouri grumbled irritatedly as he continued to study the map.

Taking in a deep breath, he needed to start doling out commands. “Rebecca, you’ll be covering our north – we need to escape south.” Rebecca nodded, with her ad-Lib, she was the fastest and able to use her own rhythm to fight in a pinch. Shouri didn’t need to say anything further.

“Cecil and Vince, you’ll take point and bust through the southern group.”

The solar pair nodded, that’s already what they had been doing, so no changes there.

“Taika, La Bella Vita, Rubato; if things get hairy-”

“Keep everyone alive, capito!”

“Pacifica-”

“I won’t leave your side.”

The otter was just as nervous as he was, but she wasn’t leaving him come hell or high water, and that’s exactly where he wanted her: the last line of defense.

Shouri slowly nodded. Checking the map, the Scherzando would only give them another minute or so. It was now or never. “When I have Rebecca shore up our back, we’ll make a break for it – ready?”

“Ready!” came the five shouts.

“Anello di Fuoco, Tenuto!” Shouri commanded. Rebecca stomped the ground, creating a wall of fire northward. That’d stop them from being immediately encircled.

“Flusso del Vento, Piano Staccato! Go Cecil! Go!” Vince dished out his command. The solar lion unleashed a flurry of hard wind blades southward. The younger Maestro gritted his teeth; it was a lot of rhythm all at once, but it had to be done.

“Pacifica, Ghiacciolo, Rubato.” Shouri whispered to the Resonator by his side. She nodded, flexing the digits of her hands, ready at a moment’s notice to strike.

“Let’s move!” Shouri barked out as the southern flank of beasts began to thin.

Slowly they began their trek back to the base camp and with it, the safety of the other Maestros and their Resonators. The Scherzando as always hungered and continued their attacks – seeing their prey moving they began to jump from their hiding spots, attempting to take advantage of the group’s movement. Shouri’s Resonators wouldn’t let that happen, Rebecca was quick in apprehending any Scherzando in her range, with Taika close behind keeping a persistent heal on the fire fox. Meanwhile, Pacifica was watching the east and west, sniping any brave Scherzando deciding dinner time was now.

“Fuck,” Shouri breathed out, pushing back his greying bangs.

“Shouri are you okay?” Vince asked, brows raised in concern.

“Yeah, just... maintaining three Resonators is tough in a situation like this,” he admitted.

Pacifica gritted her teeth. They had made some progress, but it was slow.

Taika remained entirely focused on her healing of Rebecca. That wasn’t to say the fire Resonator had gotten careless – she was doing a fantastic job keeping the rear of their escape free from Scherzando. However, in doing so, her ad-Lib was still damaging her. It was the trade-off for being able to fight on her own.

What’s more, Pacifica was also a drain on Shouri, the east and west flanks sending a steady stream of Scherzando. It was a battle of attrition, and the Scherzando seemed to know that.

“We’re close, keep going!” Shouri barked.

And so they trudged on; Cecil leading the way with his wind magic. That was until-

THWACK!

-their line was broken. Cecil flew back into Vince, and the two went to the ground. “Sh-shit! Pacifica!” Shouri shouted as the Scherzando descended upon the fallen pair.

“On it!” The otter darted away from her Maestro and formed a huge cluster of ice needles, throwing them at a lunar-element Scherzando that led the charge against Cecil and Vince.

“SHO!” Taika cried out as she saw Scherzando from the now uncovered east and west sides jump on the chance to get at the vulnerable Maestro.

“SHOURI!” Rebecca immediately abandoned her post and blazed past Taika to jump onto Shouri and try to protect him with her own body.

Taika herself was rushing over to do the same but wasn’t going to make it in time.

Time slowed to a crawl.

Was this it? Was it over?

“GRAVE TORCITORE, FEROCE!”

Pacifica stopped in place, her eyes widening. Her heart practically stopped. What was this sinister feeling? This feeling of absolute dread? And why was it coming from... Cecil?

From his position on the ground, Cecil held out his hand and pointed just above Shouri and Rebecca, where the Scherzando were pouncing onto. A violent stream of wind blasted through the area, blades of lightless wind ripped and shredded through the Scherzando like they were nothing. The nearby trees were not spared from the frenzied assault, leaving many deep gashes within them along with rending away many leaves and branches.

All of this unfolded in a matter of seconds. Even so, the vast majority of Scherzando that had circled them were eliminated with that one spell.

Rebecca lifted herself off Shouri, though they were both okay, they had been rendered speechless. Taika too couldn’t find her voice – she had reached her Maestro and fellow Resonator and simply fell to her knees next to them.

With the threat all but eliminated, Pacifica slowly approached Cecil and Vince, who had sat up. Vince gripped his chest tightly, coming down from the adrenaline rush. Cecil stared at his hands, though his expression showed apathy towards what he had done, his hands shook rather violently and seemed like they were emitting a kind of strange, unnatural smoke.

Finding her courage, Pacifica took in a breath and addressed the Maestro who had saved her own. “Vince... what was that spell?” the otter asked.

“Ah... promise you won’t tell anyone about it.”