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

The walk down to the hunter’s base camp was uneventful. With Pacifica by his side, nobody paid him the slightest bit of attention. Taika always earned looks from nearly everyone, and Rebecca drew curious gazes from those who considered the possibility of her being a Renard.

Pacifica however, was just a regular otter girl, nothing about her stood out – and that’s the way Shouri liked it. Man and Otter, completely unremarkable in every way. No hateful glares, no adoration, just a guy and his loyal Resonator going in, doing their job, and going home with a slightly heavier pocketbook for the trouble.

“Hm?” Pacifica perked up suddenly.

“What’s up?” Shouri asked.

The otter hummed in thought as they approached the hunter base camp. “There’s a lot of noise.” She considered her word choice. “Rhythmic noise. A lot of people are really excited about something.”

Sure enough, as soon as they left the pavement for the dirt path, the pair spotted a small crowd excitedly chattering about something. Neither Shouri nor Pacifica could see what the hubbub was about. They just watched the small bit of chaos from their spot in the registration line. People walked away after a little bit, but it seemed like for every person who left the mob, another one ran over to replace them.

“Maybe a celebrity is here?” Shouri pondered quietly. He pulled out Pacifica’s tuner to see if there was any news on the gossip sites about celebrities arriving in Lyreann.

“Maybe? Kinda feels like it.” Pacifica nodded.

“Next!”

Shouri and Pacifica’s gossip was interrupted by the registration process. Shouri handed over his solitary blue tuner to the registrar.

“Hey, do you know what’s going on over there?” Pacifica inquired of the booth attendant.

They grumbled something, regarding the noisy crowd with a scowl.

“Yeah, some hot shot brought a Dinosaurian here,” they mumbled, more annoyed about all the commotion the rare Resonator was causing.

“Huh, never thought I’d see one in the flesh.” Shouri shrugged.

“Yeah, neither did all of them.” The attendant rolled their eyes, finishing up the registration. “Main group. Assuming any of them show up.” And with that, Shouri had back possession of his tuner.

Stepping out of line, the pair continued to eye the crowd to see if they could catch a glimpse of the fabled dinosaur Resonator. When it was clear to them that the crowd wouldn’t allow that, they returned to why they were there.

Shouri thumbed up a text back to Colette.

Me: “Hey, we’re here. Where are you?” 10:02 PM

Colette: “uhhh hang on, you’re by registration rite?” 10:02 PM

Maestro and Resonator exchanged a perplexed glance.

Me: “Yeah.” 10:03 PM

Upon sending the message, Pacifica shook Shouri’s shoulder. The Maestro looked at her, but she just pointed to the crowd which began to part.

And Shouri felt a sense of dread overwhelm him when he saw who was the cause of the part in the sea of people: It was Kaira, forcing her way through using the earth itself as a people mover. Behind her was of course Colette, and a third figure which instantly had Shouri and Pacifica’s eyes at the widest they could open them.

A true, living, breathing Dinosaurian followed Colette. He was a short one, probably around Taika’s height or so, his skin was dark, earth-like in color, with messy brown hair atop his head. A tail thicker than Pacifica’s dragged behind him with soft brown feathers matching his hair. Shouri noted the thick musculature on the boy’s arms, despite his stature he was a fighter through and through.

“There you are Shouri!” Colette wiped the sweat from her brow. “You’d think these people were looking at an ethereal,” she chuckled.

Shouri took grasp of the scholar’s shoulders. He stared into her eyes with a pleading gaze. “C-Colette. Please tell me that they’re not the VIP client,” Shouri practically begged.

“Why would I tell you that? They are the VIP client.” She frowned, not understanding what the dramatics were about.

“Why me?” he redirected his line of questioning.

“If you mean why you were picked to take this case, well Dr. Vim was so impressed with our previous couple of successes he thought we could be trusted with this client. He’s pretty close to stage two, so he'll be a bit rougher to handle than Fischer or Lucia, but I think we can do it,” Colette explained.

Shouri sighed, releasing the college student from his grasp. He hated to admit it, but he was pretty excited to see a real Dinosaurian, much less get to battle with one. Even with his parent’s wealth, this was something so far removed from what he would have been able to get his hands on – his younger self would have been beyond himself with jealousy.

But also-

He took a deep breath and exhaled. He was Rebecca’s Maestro. Even if he wanted to geek out and fawn over the boy, he knew that kind of attention was typically unwanted by the recipient. First and foremost, this boy was a living thing, not an object.

With that in mind, he eased himself. “Hey, I’m Shouri,” he introduced himself to the afflicted Resonator of the evening.

“I’m Pacifica, nice to meetcha!” the otter chimed in with all her usual pep and cheeriness.

“Hrmph.” The dinosaurian raised a brow, he ignored Pacifica’s introduction and looked to the Maestro he would be under the care of tonight. “You’ll do.” His speaking voice was a growl, but it almost sounded forced. “They call me Zino,” he added as an afterthought.

Shouri nodded slowly. Colette went ahead and handed off Zino’s tuner to Shouri, who went ahead and checked what he was working with.

The spell levels were low, as expected of a new Resonator, but the more distressing thing was there were very few spells. Only the basic earth ones and upon further observation they were at their lowest levels. This was going to be difficult to work with.

“Don’t bother with that trash. I don’t need it,” the dinosaur spoke up.

“How so?” Shouri questioned. He had a hunch he knew the answer already but wanted specifics.

Zino grunted and took a knee. He drew his arm back and punched a hole straight into the ground. Extracting his hand, they were now covered in compacted dirt in the shape of some savage-looking claws. He flexed his new digits, the dirt moving as naturally as one moved their fingers.

“Just need you to top me off.” He held up his new claws, allowing all to appreciate just how sharp the artificial talons appeared to be. The crowd surrounding them certainly appreciated the demonstration, the whooping and general noise raised by a couple dozen decibels.

“They’re held together by rhythm so you can fight Scherzando that way.” Shouri reasoned out while doing his best to ignore the crowd.

“Hey, look at the brains on this guy - yeah you get it,” Zino chuckled gruffly, the smallest bit impressed.

“That’s fine by me. I have a Resonator that fights on her own too, I know how best to support you,” Shouri told the dinosaur.

Once more, Zino couldn’t help but be a bit impressed by this random Maestro, but quickly shook it off. “Yeah, well let’s lose the leeches. I want to tear into something.”

Losing the leeches, as Zino had put it was a much harder task than Shouri had initially envisioned. They tried just asking the mob to go away, but they either ignored him or didn’t hear him. Next was Colette’s turn, she didn’t fare any better and was also ignored. Kaira stepped up to the plate to try her hand at dispersing the crowd. However, before the jackal girl had the chance, Zino had enough.

“HEY!” he roared over the noise of the crowd. “Get lost! Or I’ll have to sink these claws into you!?” the dinosaur snarled at the crowd.

Out of stubbornness, fear, or stupidity, the onlookers refused to budge. It was at this moment Zino decided he had enough. He slashed right through a tree next to them, cutting it in such a way that it fell toward the nosy tagalongs.

“Pacifica - Ghiacciolo, Fortissimo!” Shouri commanded.

Before the falling tree could crush any of the unfortunate looky-loos, Pacifica launched a large ice spear at the tree, knocking it away from the bystanders and preventing any casualties.

Despite the extreme method he employed though, it got results – the small horde of people who were harassing them ran away in terror, fearing a follow-up attack from Zino.

“Now why’d you go and do that?” Zino huffed.

“They were being annoying, that’s not punishable by death,” Shouri retorted.

Zino rolled his eyes. “Didn’t see you doing anything to get rid of them.”

“We can’t just attack people. We could have convinced them to go away peacefully!” Pacifica chimed in.

Zino glared at the otter. She shivered, a sense of bloodlust hitting her like a wrecking ball. “Was I talking to you – mammal?” he hissed, extending his dirt claws out.

Shouri put himself between the two Resonators. “That’s enough. We got rid of them. Let’s go hunt some Scherzando,” he spoke sternly. But more than that, Zino sensed how serious Shouri was with that. For the first time in his life, he felt a genuine conflict in his heart on how to judge this mysterious Maestro, though he arrested his expectations.

With the three Resonators between them, Shouri and Colette led the way through the thick forest that boarded Lyreann. “I hate not being able to update these maps,” Shouri grumbled.

“Why not bring your lunar out?” Colette asked.

“She’s sick Colette. I’m not bringing a sick Resonator to a battlefield.” Shouri shot a glare at the scholar.

“I don’t see the big deal; all she has to do is use Rilevare l’intenzione.” She frowned.

“She’s sick.”

“It’s just one spell.”

“Okay, the next time you’re sick I’ll make sure you just cast one spell every twenty minutes, maybe you’ll get some perspective.”

And Shouri stomped ahead of the other Maestro, Pacifica quickly following along so he wasn’t defenseless. Colette stopped in place with the other two Resonators.

“I don’t get it.” Colette frowned.

“He cares very deeply for his Resonators,” Kaira informed her socially oblivious Maestro. “You should choose your words more carefully,” the Resonator advised.

“I guess,” the Maestro said with a contemplative hum.

Zino shook his head, giving an indignant snort before rushing past Colette himself to follow Shouri. “He cares? Hah. What a load of shit,” the Dinosaurian grumbled under his breath.

“Quite a few of them,” Shouri noted in a hushed voice.

As they had done many times before, Shouri and company knelt behind some underbrush, observing some Scherzando in the distance.

“The plan-” Before the Maestro could even start his thought, Zino stood up. “What are you-?” and then the dinosaur boy stepped out with his trusty dirt claws out and ready to go.

In a rush, Shouri drew the brown tuner Zino was linked to. “What are you doing?!” he hissed into the device.

Shouri frustratedly found himself ignored despite speaking directly into Zino’s head via the tuner. “God damn it,” Shouri cursed. Switching tuners, he shot a glance over to Pacifica. “Ghiacciolo, Rubato – make sure he doesn’t get himself killed please.”

“Right!” Pacifica rushed out of their hiding spot to keep an eye on Zino.

With the battle being tended to by the two Resonators under his stead, Shouri sought to sate a curiosity. “What’s his deal anyways?” he asked Colette.

“So a Dinosaur-” the scholar was cut off.

“Not what he is Colette, who he is,” Shouri grumbled.

In a surprise twist, Kaira spoke up for her Maestro: “That boy was made for a wealthy businessman’s son. It’s my understanding that the son has a weak rhythmic constitution,” the jackal told the curious Maestro.

“Ok, so how did he get Feroce’d then?” Shouri questioned – the math simply didn’t add up; at least from his understanding of the Feroce phenomenon.

“Feroce can form naturally; it doesn’t have to be forced onto a Resonator,” Colette began. “From the notes we were given, the low-cost, high-power nature of Feroce spells appealed to the weak Maestro and he had Zino use a few of them before realizing what he had done. The businessman spent quite a pretty sharp on Zino, so contacted Dr. Vim to rid him of the affliction,” she explained.

“Formed naturally? From like negative emotions?” Shouri mused aloud. “He must not be happy with his Maestro.”

Colette shrugged. “I guess?”

It was at this point in the conversation that Zino and Pacifica returned. “Where’s the next one?” Zino smirked.

“Sure, let’s see what we got.” While he waited for updates on the map, Shouri wracked his brain trying to think of what to do about Zino. He knew that the boy wasn’t happy in his current situation, but in the same respect, there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

Even if he hadn’t promised his current Resonators to not take on another one, he had nowhere near enough money to even consider the thought of buying Zino from his current Maestro.

How could he help this clearly tormented boy?

Topping off Zino’s rhythm wasn’t taxing on Shouri in the slightest. It was a drop in the bucket compared to what he was used to. It spoke volumes to him just how different his Resonators were from this one. From within the dinosaur, he could only feel a cup's worth of rhythm in comparison to the buckets his Resonators took to cap off.

It cemented the fact that Zino was bored with his Maestro, so much so it was torturing him mentally. Maybe Shouri could speak to the Maestro, or perhaps his father? Leaving Zino like this didn’t feel right.

“Get off,” Zino’s growl stirred Shouri from his thoughts.

“Sorry.” The boy removed his hand from the dinosaur’s back.

Pacifica shot a disapproving frown at the earth-Resonator but kept her comments to herself. Though she perked up when he stepped away. She watched him make a little distance from Shouri and then hold himself, withdrawing a bit. He was radiating turmoil. Not unusual for one afflicted with Feroce, Pacifica had observed.

This conflict was different though. It wasn’t the affliction talking, but Zino’s own heart.

Zino recomposed himself, shaking off the unpleasant throb in his chest. “Hurry up,” he grumbled. All he needed right now was to rend and tear Scherzando. That’s all he was good for after all.

Once more they crept up on some Scherzando milling about. “Zino, take the lead, but be careful,” Shouri advised.

“Hmph, as if you need to tell me.” The Dinosaurian dismissed his dirt claws, punching into the ground to create a fresh pair.

“Paci, keep an eye on him please,” Shouri told his otter.

“Of course.”

Zino and Pacifica rose and stepped out into the open to meet the Scherzando head-on. Another mixture of different forms and elements made up the enemy numbers. It mattered not if the Scherzando crawled, walked, leapt, or flew – all were prey to him.

The great clawed Resonator rushed at the beasts like the hunter he was. He pounced on the closest Scherzando to him, stabbing straight through it into the ground. Pacifica flicked her wrists around, forming six ice needles between her closed digits, another flick, another row – twelve total; another flick – eighteen total. She drew her right hand back. A bird-shaped Scherzando with grass decorating its wings sought to capitalize on Zino’s position

Thwick!

Not on Pacifica’s watch, a rain of icy needles tore through it. Three, six, nine – she reloaded her weapons with ease. Zino rampaged through the ranks of the beasts. If only they bled, he could relish in the carnage. Sadly they did not, so he had to make do with their dissolution instead.

He was free to do what he wished, and Pacifica enabled his recklessness; sniping any Scherzando he missed and silently refilling her stock of needles.

When the beasts were culled, Pacifica dismissed the remaining ice needles. However, Zino stormed over. “What do you think you’re doing?” he growled at the otter.

Pacifica’s eye twitched ever so slightly, but she calmed herself. “I’m doing what my Maestro asked,” she replied curtly. “I think we worked well together,” the water-elemental added.

“Worked well? You were stealing my kills.” Zino glared the taller girl down.

“We uh don’t get paid for this, the money is going to Shouri,” Pacifica pointed out.

Zino shoved her by her shoulders. She maintained her balance easily, but balled up her fists, grinding her feet into the grass below. “I don’t need help from you, mammal,” he snarled. Despite currently lacking his dirt claws, he still felt much bigger than he actually was. Admittedly, Pacifica found herself intimidated but held her ground.

“Alright.” Once more Shouri stepped between the two Resonators. “Let’s move on to the next one.” He shot a glare at Zino, who crumbled under the Maestro’s gaze.

“Hrmph.” He turned and stepped away from the confrontation he started.

Pacifica quietly released her held breath. She created a single ice needle at Pianissimo rank, just to tickle the link between herself and Shouri – still had Ghiacciolo in Rubato, everything was fine.

The group finally made it to the last bunch for the night. They had taken a bit of a circular path and wound up almost back where they started near the base camp. It meant the return trip would be very easy.

However, the map told a different story as the Scherzando that had gathered here had been pushed by all the other groups into one massive conglomeration of beasts.

“What do we do Shouri? There’s a ton of them!” Colette hissed.

“They’re close to the main camp too,” Shouri noted. He hummed, scanning the map, glancing up every so often to study the Scherzando’s movements.

“Colette, take Kaira and go here.” He marked a spot on the map putting her between the Scherzando and the base camp.

“Okaaay…” The other Maestro nodded slowly.

“I’ll stay here while Pacifica and Zino take care of them,” Shouri laid out.

“I don’t need the mammal; I can handle them on my own,” Zino huffed.

“Yeah, no. Not happening. Pacifica’s going to help whether you like it or not. That’s an order.” Shouri glared the dinosaur down.

Zino backed off. This was the pressure of a real Maestro, not the crippled excuse for a human being he had to deal with normally. “F-fine.” He shot a sidelong glare at the otter. “Don’t get in my way.”

“Don’t get in mine,” Pacifica snarked back.

“Watch your tongue, mammal,” he growled.

Shouri picked up on Pacifica’s fouling mood. Then again Zino has been openly antagonistic all night. Even the most patient saints had their limits, Shouri decided. Either way, it was the last group of the night they’d tackle.

Shouri

Resonator: Zino

Species: Demi-Human (Therizinosaurus)

Element: Earth

Attribute: Fossil (Feroce)

Rhythm: 92%

Thankfully none of the Feroce spells were among Zino’s spell list, so despite his attitude, he hadn’t been stressed to the point of trying to draw on that power. Maybe by the end of the night, he’d be free from the affliction.

“Let’s go,” Shouri said.

Pacifica and Zino split off. She didn’t want to be near him longer than she needed to be. There was just something about him that made her uneasy and it wasn’t the Feroce. No, this was something primal, something instinctual that told her he was dangerous. The otter part of her blood screamed at her to keep away from him. Even so, she had a job to do. Eighteen icy needles popped into existence between the digits of her closed hands. Some dumb lizard from a million years ago wouldn’t get in the way of that.

Zino stepped around the gathering of Scherzando, kneeling to refresh his dirt claws. He could see the water Resonator he was supposed to be “working with” his opposite. The ice needles she employed at the ready. It pissed him off in all honesty – where was the fun in attacking from a safe distance? He couldn’t respect someone like that. A real battle was one where you could feel your opponent’s life leaving their body.

“I’m doing what my Maestro asked.”

Her voice rang in his head. “Fucking whipped bitch,” he cursed under his breath. Though he said that why did his heart hurt? This pang of… jealousy. No. He couldn’t be jealous of some mammal. Some average Resonator. There was nothing special about that girl. Nothing at all.

And with that in mind, Zino began the engagement, rushing towards the pack of Scherzando. With the dinosaur attacking the rhythm beasts, Pacifica began her attack against the group, letting loose flurries of icy needles. Zino noticed this and made a concerted effort to finish off any Pacifica began attacking, causing her to back off a bit to prevent him from being hit in the crossfire.

Even given the Scherzando’s numbers, they just couldn’t fend off the combined assault of a dinosaur and otter and were soon annihilated. As the last one fell to Zino’s claws, the dinosaur trudged towards Pacifica, face contorted to a wrathful glare.

“Why did you keep stealing my kills?!” he barked.

“Why were you trying to die!? I swear you were purposefully jumping into my needles!” she barked back.

He raised his claws to take a swipe at her, but she put a Fortissimo-level ice spear between herself and him, leading to him slicing through a log of solid water.

“Zino!” Shouri shouted, stomping over. “Cut it out!” he roared, still a considerable distance away from the pair.

It didn’t help matters that the Dinosaurian wasn’t listening and continued his march towards Pacifica who matched his advance by carefully stepping backwards. Taking her eyes off of him was not an option. She continued to use her spell-craft defensively creating obstacles between him and her. However, as a result of this focus, she couldn’t keep track of the terrain and ended up slipping off a protruding root, falling to the ground.

“Zino!” Shouri yelled, picking up the pace.

Zino stood over the otter, a predator savoring the terror of the prey item beneath him. Pacifica began to form an ice spear in her hand, it was her or him. It was her or him. It was her or him!

The predator closed his claws in such a way to form one solid blade, and then he thrust towards his target.

“NOOOOOO!”