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

July 12th, 2018AR

Shouri laid in bed on this Thursday morning, Pacifica safely in his grasp. Last night had been a whirlwind of events. Elijah Klein had made quite the proposal, but not one to take lightly. What made things worse was the fact that he was only giving them a day to decide.

The Maestro had his own share of concerns regarding what was being asked of them, but in the same respect, his selfish motivations spurred him toward the side of accepting the offer.

Closing his eyes, Shouri reviewed last night’s happenings once more

“Come with me to Naiza as Tournament Staff for Kalanichi Nationals,” Elijah Klein stated.

The room went silent for a moment while the offer was being processed.

Pacifica and Rebecca stared in particular at the heir – he was fully serious about this; it was no joke. The two emotionally strong Resonators exchanged a glance with one another, confirming what they felt from that statement.

“Am I even qualified to be Tournament Staff?” Shouri questioned the strange proposal, a brow cocked with suspicion.

“Mister Tomoshibi, do you forget who I am?” Elijah chuckled. “If I say you’re qualified, you’re qualified.” The man smirked.

“I dunno it seems like a rampant abuse of your power to put someone unfit in a position,” the brunet pointed out to his blond counterpart.

Another laugh from the Klein heir. “Relax Mister Tomoshibi, I will ensure you all are put where you’re needed. For starters, Zino, please give them their delivery.” Elijah motioned to Taika. The Dinosaur-man set the box down on the counter, shoving some of Taika’s supplies off to the side (earning a glare and a huff from the lunar-fox in the process)

“What is it?” Shouri asked.

Taika, sensing her Maestro’s approval, went ahead and popped the tape from the box and opened the package up.

“H-hey… this is all the stuff we ordered earlier…” Taika gasped, pulling out the medical bag she had been fawning over online only hours prior.

Shouri’s face suck into a grimace as he turned a glare on the other Maestro. “Why the hell do you have that?” he inquired incredulously.

The face the young heir made was certainly one Shouri didn’t like. “You really should check the storefronts you are purchasing from on Atmoni,” came the knowing chuckle.

With an annoyed grumble, Shouri fished a tuner from his side and double-checked the ubiquitous e-commerce site nearly everyone on Riterra used for fast online deliveries. Sure enough, checking the order page from his purchase earlier on in the day revealed the supplier of the products in question.

“Klein Medical”

“God damn it,” Shouri cursed with an annoyed sigh.

“Don’t fret, you have no tab with me, I merely picked this up and am hand delivering it to you as it aligns with my goals,” Elijah boasted. “After all, Miss Taika and Pacifica will be working with the medical staff – we’re in short supply and need all the hands we can get.”

The two girls in question perked up. “Me?” they both said, pointing to themselves.

“Yes, Miss Taika is a healer herself and wishes to study medicine, and Miss Pacifica has quite the potent rhythm and would be invaluable in calming the injured,” Elijah laid out his reasoning. While Taika was excited to be working in the field and getting practical experience, Pacifica lowered her head, trembling slightly.

“Moving on, Mister Tomoshibi, you and Rebecca will be working directly under me,” Elijah told the remaining pair. Shouri opened his mouth to get more detail, but the Klein heir was already prepared to elucidate this matter. “You see a lot of things go wrong or need to be addressed during a large tournament such as this. From criminal activity to oiling the wheels of wealthy backers, even down to menial clean-up tasks, there is much that needs the delicate touch of an expert,” he told them. “I need a very strong Maestro and Resonator pair to be at my beck and call to put out any fires as it were.” He paused for a moment.

“I’m only one man and a weak one at that. Knowing I have someone so reliable in my back pocket will certainly take some stress off of me during this event,” Elijah added.

Shouri opened his eyes once more, back to reality. It would be a lot of work, but they would be generously compensated for their time. And even their travel and accommodations would be entirely paid for by the Klein Foundation. Since they would be working as contractors, it wouldn’t be as if Elijah was doing them a favor, they’d be doing honest work during the event – it was fair compensation. Even beyond the monetary rewards they were promised, Elijah offered to fast-track Taika’s medical licensing, using this event as the required experience she needed to apply for it in the first place.

It was a stupidly good deal that he would be an idiot to turn down. But even so, there was one nagging concern – the otter currently in his arms.

Pacifica was still in her feelings. Doubly so now that Elijah had appraised her as a reassuring presence from a mental health perspective.

He wasn’t going to do that to her. If she didn’t want to go, they wouldn’t go. Every time Shouri laid his eyes upon her distraught expression, it felt like a knife stabbing him in the heart. A pain far more unbearable than anything Zino or anyone else could inflict on him. She mattered to him, all three of them did. If Taika, Rebecca, or Pacifica were in that level of danger again – he would not hesitate for a moment.

Shouri Tomoshibi would gladly lay down his life for his precious Resonators, for his precious family.

“Pacifica?”

“Huh?” The otter perked up when called upon.

The room was now up and about – Rebecca watching TV, and Taika was figuring out how to pack her medical bag. Pacifica was the exception. She remained rooted at the foot of the bed, hunched over, her eyes barely meeting her Maestro’s.

“Up,” he demanded.

She rose to her feet as requested.

“Come.” The Maestro turned and walked to the door, his otter obediently following.

Taika and Rebecca remained silent, tracking the pair as they made their way out of the room.

Door securely locked behind them, Shouri began walking once more, Pacifica right behind him. Given it was mid-morning, the foot traffic around the MA Office was picking up. Regardless, Shouri continued to lead the otter girl to a far corner of the campus, one with plenty of shade thanks to the many trees that lined the perimeter.

“Sit,” he finally spoke.

Pacifica did as requested of her.

The Maestro joined his Resonator. He took up her hands in his, at which point she yanked them away.

“Paci!” he snapped, earning a flinch from her. “Please don’t be difficult about this. I just want to clear your mind so we can work this out together,” he spoke gently.

Hesitantly, the water element accepted her Maestro’s etude, allowing him to take hold of her hands.

Eyes closed, they began their conversation.

“Talk to me,” said Shouri.

“I’m useless,” Pacifica whimpered.

Taking in a deep breath, Shouri exhaled through his nostrils. He could tell she was still torn up by the situation – her rhythm was entirely in disarray. For a moment he considered Zino’s situation, catching Feroce simply from consistent negative emotions. He couldn’t allow that to happen, she meant too much to him to sit idle and watch her degrade.

“You’re not,” he insisted.

“I am, when it really mattered you had to save me,” she returned his insistence with some of her own.

Arguably that was a flaw of his, but Shouri knew that part would never change about him. It was simply who he was. Despite his weak will, he could always muster up the strength to move if Pacifica or any of his Resonators were in danger.

“You know as well as I do-” he was cut off.

“I know!” Pacifica cried out. “I know…” Her hands trembled in his. “You big dumb idiot…”

They remained silent for some time before Shouri once more broke it

“That’s not all that’s bugging you.”

“Taika and Rebby, they’re just… amazing, and I’m so plain…” Pacifica admitted. “I don’t even know what I should do with my life.” A pause. “Besides being your Resonator,” her voice quavered. “I always want to be by your side.”

Shouri digested that. There was no waver in her rhythm as she said that – she truly and honestly wanted to be with him for the rest of her life. It only reaffirmed his commitment to her. He had to pull her out of this funk she was in, he owed at least that much to her for how fiercely loyal she was. All three of them were that way.

…wait a minute.

“I have an idea.” Shouri opened his eyes, releasing her hands.

“Huh?” Pacifica likewise opened her own eyes, meeting his gaze.

“But first, I think there’s somewhere we need to go.” The Maestro rose to his feet, extending a hand to his loyal otter.

“I don’t think I can do this Sho…” Pacifica whimpered; her tail wrapped around her legs. Standing across the dirt battlefield was another Maestro and a nature-element Resonator, a green-haired individual with feathery bird wings adorning their back and a matching tail.

“Relax, I have total faith in you.” Shouri chuckled.

“But what if I don’t have faith in myself?!” the otter hissed, glaring back at her Maestro.

Shouri ignored his Resonator’s complaints, instead addressing his opponent. “Spar to 75%?!” he called out to the opposing Maestro.

“Sure!” they replied.

And with that, the tuners locked in the “health” of the two combatants.

“Sho are you even listening to me?!” Pacifica continued to panic. “I’ve never fought another Resonator like this before!”

“I said relax. Me and Rebecca have, I’m confident you can too.” Shouri offered a smile to his otter.

“Mrrrgh…” She turned back to face her opponent.

“Just think of them like they’re a weird melomorphic Scherzando,” he spoke into her head via the tuner.

Pacifica took in a deep breath and exhaled. “I can do this,” she tried to convince herself.

The tuners counted down

5

4

3

2

1

START!

“Manga de Agua, Piano!” Shouri’s command came out first.

“Spore di Veleno, Moderato Staccato!” the opponent called slightly after.

Rhythm connected, and the battle began in earnest. Pacifica whipped up a water spout and set it loose towards her opponent. The opposing bird Resonator beat their wings and left the ground, pivoting around the attack and spreading spores over the battlefield.

“Don’t let those touch you!” Shouri called out.

“Keep it up!” the opponent commanded.

The bird Resonator was simply faster in the skies than Pacifica was on foot and as such managed to cut off her escape pretty easily. As the spores made contact Pacifica noticed a distinct feeling of sickness, a bit of lethargy to her thoughts.

“And fuck this just got worse,” Shouri cursed.

Status: Poison

This was an ailment Shouri hadn’t dealt with before, but its effect was plain and simple: it was slowly sapping Pacifica’s rhythm, which in a spar like this was a very solid strategy towards a quick win.

“Alright, no more Mr. Nice Guy – Pacifica, Ghiacciolo Rubato! Clip their wings!” Shouri commanded

“Foglie a Lame, Forte! Don’t get hit!” the opposing Maestro shouted.

Back and forth Pacifica threw her hands out throwing dozens of icy needles into the air. It was such a frenzied assault, that the opposing nature-element couldn’t get into range to cast their spell. This had suddenly turned into a battle of attrition for the four combatants. What would happen first? Would the bird run out of the allotted rhythm from using their flight capabilities? Would the poison sap enough of Pacifica’s rhythm to knock her out of the agreed range? Or would one of the Maestros run out of their rhythm first?

The opposing Maestro grew antsy and barked a new command: “Divebomb her!”

Shouri smirked. The bird Resonator pivoted around the flurry of needles and dove down, preparing to finally cast the bladed leaf spell previously requested of them.

“Sotto!” Shouri called out. “Scottare, Legato!”

The bird Resonator unleashed their spell, a flurry of sharpened leaves shooting down like bullets toward the grounded otter-girl. However, where she had stopped throwing ice needles at her adversary, Pacifica extended her palms out to meet the nature spell. A blast of super-heated steam engulfed the leaves, burning them away in an instant like a fire spell. And due to the positioning, the bird Resonator was at-

“NO! GET AWAY!” the opposing Maestro could only cry out in horror as his own Resonator ate a face full of steam. At the last moment, Pacifica jumped out of the way as the nature bird crashed into the ground.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

Both Maestro’s tuners halted any further spellcasting as the match had been decided. Shouri glanced at his tuner. He disregarded the VICTORY displayed at the top of the screen - his eyes focused on Pacifica’s vitals.

Status: Poisoned

Rhythm: 76%

Shouri wiped the sweat from his brow. “Too fucking close,” he let out on his held breath but smiled nonetheless.

After getting Pacifica cured of the poisoning from the sparring session, the pair went to sit by the fountain in the center of the campus.

“That was more difficult than I thought.” Pacifica rubbed her sore arm, having thrown it out a bit from how hard she had been slinging it around to launch her icy needles. “Duelists have it tough huh?” she sighed. Sitting on the edge of the fountain, she allowed her tail to stealthily slip into the pool of water behind her to heal herself faster.

“Rebecca is the combat expert of our group for sure.” Shouri sat next to his Resonator, rubbing her back. “You did well though. I won’t push you to fight other Resonators unless you want to.”

“At least you got something out of it,” he added flashing the tuner to her and showing the Forte rank Manga de Agua had risen to as a result of the battle.

Pacifica hummed in thought. She did feel a bit better now – the rush of battle, the rhythm that flowed through her, the sweet taste of victory, her arsenal of spells expanding. The otter understood why Resonators battled each other – it was just plain fun.

It clicked at that moment.

She turned and took up her Maestro’s hands. “I know what I want to do.”

Shouri smiled – there it was, the bright cheery otter he had grown accustomed to traveling with.

There was one more thing to address before Shouri felt comfortable with accepting Elijah’s offer.

And Pacifica was already well ahead of him, bursting into the room they were staying at in the MA Office.

“Taika! Rebby!” the otter called out, startling the two foxes with her sudden appearance.

“What?” Rebecca asked from the couch, shaking off the surprise inflicted on her.

“Che?” Taika similarly was also calming her sudden racing heart, but sat on the bed with her tuner, having been peacefully reading.

Pacifica practically jumped onto the couch, landing next to Rebecca. The poor fire Resonator didn’t have any time to react as her hands were taken up by Pacifica’s. “Teach me how to fight Resonators better, no, just fighting in general!”

“Eh? What?!” Rebecca yelped in surprise – this was all happening way too fast for her to properly process.

“I want to be able to protect Sho like you can, so you’re not bearing that burden on your own,” the water element explained to her fire counterpart.

“I don’t think I’m suited to teach.” The vixen shook her head, still reeling from the sudden attack of Pacifica.

“You’ll do fine! Trust me!” Pacifica’s eyes sparkled in a way that they hadn’t in several days.

“Uhh, I guess?” Rebecca caved to the other Resonator. She could feel how serious her fellow traveling companion was about this, Pacifica wouldn’t back down.

With that done, Pacifica bolted over to the bed, sliding next to Taika. “Che?!”

“Hey there, I want to learn some basic medicine from you,” Pacifica said suddenly.

“You want to be a doctor too?” Taika raised a brow.

“No, I just want to be able to help you with really basic stuff, so that if you get really busy you have an extra set of hands.”

Pacifica hopped from the bed, standing in the middle of the room. “I want to support both of you and in that way, I’ll be supporting Sho since that’s what he does for the two of you. That’s what I want to do with my life: no matter what we do I want to be the one that my friends can rely on,” the otter declared.

“La forza dell'amicizia è magnifica,” Taika muttered to herself.

“She’s so corny...” Rebecca grimaced, though her expression quickly shifted to a smile. “But she’s genuine I guess.”

Rebecca hopped to her feet and joined Pacifica in the center of the room. “Alright, I can teach you what I know about battling,” she finally committed to training Pacifica. “And Taika can heal us after we beat the shit out of each other I guess,” the fire Resonator added as an aside.

Taika joined the pair, taking up both of their hands. “We’ll all get better,” she beamed.

Pacifica grabbed Rebecca’s hand, forming a circle between the three. She squeezed her two counterpart’s hands tightly. “I’m sorry about what happened,” her voice notably fell off. “I want to get better; I don’t want to do anything half-heartedly anymore.”

Taika and Rebecca exchanged a glance and nodded to one another. “We’re sorry too,” they both said.

“Sho was right, we shouldn’t have been as mad as we were,” Taika began.

“We should be working together,” Rebecca added.

The otter teared up, lips quivering. Finally, she brought the other two girls into a big hug. “Thank you! I won’t let you down!” she bawled.

“Let go!” Rebecca shouted.

“You’re crushing me!” Taika yelped.

The three girls broke up their embrace when their Maestro’s voice hit their ears.

“Hey, Elijah? It’s Shouri – we’ll take your offer.”