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

The day I met you really should have been my end.

You've experienced things I could never comprehend.

Though through it all you still regarded me like any other.

But your stubbornness to protect me I couldn't begin to fathom.

Why me?

Would you have jumped to my aid if I was another?

I'll never figure it out.

Perhaps, that is for the best.

“A bit closer.”

"Not far now."

"Follow the wind to the maw of the beast."

"Just be careful of the fangs closing around you."

"I await your arrival."

Slowly, emerald green eyes opened to the real world. “Uurggh…” Immediately there was a sharp pain that rode the spine, informing its owner of one thing.

"We really gotta stop sleeping in this car,” a woman of twentyish or so years groaned. She tried and failed to ease the stiffness in her back, though her current surroundings didn’t help.

As it turned out, a small sports car a hotel did not make. Even reclining the seat back as far as it would go didn’t suddenly turn the vehicle into makeshift lodgings. “Maybe we should invest in an RV or something,” she grumbled to herself.

Flipping the sun visor down, she looked over herself in the mirror. Her blonde hair was a mess, and she was covered in sweat. She had a nice tan starting to form from the route they had taken. A glance out the window revealed the source.

The entire landscape was just sand, maybe a cactus or a rock here or there, but most of the surroundings were subject to the whims of the sun, which mercilessly beat on the car from above with not a cloud around to challenge its authority.

The temperature the vehicle was being subjected to was sweltering, enough to kill a normal person. However-

"Dames, wake up." The woman reached over and shook awake her partner in crime. A tall lanky man, who was forced to curl up ever so slightly to fit his larger frame in the seat clearly not made for him. He too groaned and sat up, muttering a small curse under his breath. He ran a hand through his black hair, pushing back his canine ears for a moment before they unnaturally sprang back up into their standing position.

"We lived to see another morning," Damian grunted.

"Ever the optimist," the woman chuckled, pressing the power button under the steering wheel.

"Are we actually gonna get there today, Aura?” he questioned, adjusting his seat to a sitting position.

The woman reached into her pants pocket, drawing out a red device with three grey buttons and a red button surrounding a long rectangular screen. Shaking the device awake, it displayed the map showing their current location. Utilizing the touch screen, Aura dotted around the map for a moment. “’nother few hours,” she replied, pocketing it.

"Fucking finally. Who knew Drahgo would be so far away from Corhiasela?” the man complained, reclining in his seat and making an attempt to loosen his stiff muscles.

"I mean, we knew this would be a killer drive." Putting the car in gear Aura pulled off the side of the road they had stopped on and began their trek anew.

"Why did we have to drive anyway? Coulda taken a bus or something. We’re not that hard off.” the canine man mumbled.

Aura tittered, "Where's the fun in that?"

The desert landscape provided little in the form of entertainment and the pair had been driving for so long they had exhausted their fair share of conversation topics.

The only sounds were the hum of the engine. Damian reached to the back and pulled a disposable bag up front. After ruffling through the bag for a moment, he produced a sweet bun. “Good enough.” He unwrapped it and handed it over to the driver, who readily accepted it.

"Ah, sun toasted sweet bun. Naturally warmed is the best," Aura cooed, despite the food currently occupying her mouth.

"The same sun that would fucking kill you," Damian grumbled, drawing some jerky from the same bag of snacks.

"Thank you, Dames," she sang, taking her remaining hand off the wheel to pat the man's head.

“Woah! Keep your hands on the wheel damnit!” the dog-man immediately barked at his companion.

"I have knees, don't worry." Aura laughed loudly.

"Ethereals are those select few who have transitioned from a mortal body to an immortal one. We all know that. There are a countable number of people in history who have even had ethereals as their Resonators.” An audio cast played through the car speakers, with the pair only half listening as it droned on.

"In fact, the inventor of the tuner is one such ethereal. Though she was a human, not a Resonator, before becoming an ethereal."

“What would you even do if you managed to find an ethereal out in the wild and managed to convince them to be your Resonator?”

"Well, I don’t know. I guess if I had a spare tuner on hand you could do that?"

"Who knows?"

Aura took her eyes off the empty road for a second to regard her own tuner – the red device she had used to check the map earlier on.

"It's interesting to think about," Damian spoke up as the hosts started their sponsored segment to break up the actual content.

"Just a little bit. There are a lot of ethereals out there in the grand scheme of things, but how many would just join a Maestro like that?” Aura pondered aloud, returning her eyes back to the lonely road ahead.

"Dunno, seems like a good way to get a target painted on your back. Stealing the tuner is akin to stealing a Resonator." It was now the dog man's turn to stare at the device sitting in the console. "You fuckers are too squishy without us." Damian prodded the woman next to him.

She swatted away his hand playfully. "Do your job better then and you won’t have to worry about that,” the woman joked.

"Bitch," he chuckled.

"Fucking finally," Damian sighed dramatically as their destination began to poke up over the horizon.

A sign they whipped by named the town of Drahgo. As they pulled into the city, the speed limit dropped dramatically, making everything feel like it was just so much slower than they were actually moving. As soon as they were properly within the city limits, they both made an observation:

"Home of the dragons indeed, holy shit," Damian muttered.

There were many normal humans about, but there were an equal number of those bearing reptilian wings and/or tails. Such sightings were rare in other parts of the world, but here it seemed the dragon-featured Resonators were as common as cats or dogs in other cities. It was a sight to behold for the two travelers.

"Famous dragon-wielding Maestros come from here," Aura noted. "Kinda easy to see why," she commented.

"You thinking about picking up a dragon, my benevolent Maestro?” Damian asked theatrically.

"Scared of being replaced?" Aura grinned toothily.

"I am not going back to the streets."

"Fair enough. Though I doubt any of these big scary dragons got anything on you my little hellhound."

Damian huffed, caught off guard by that comment. “Hrmph.” He mulled over a comeback. “Reminder that I’ve got at least three inches on you,” the dog-man mumbled. “My little Maestro,” he tried to snark, however, the damage to his self-image had been done and Aura was no longer taking him seriously, laughing boisterously while slapping the steering wheel.

Aura turned the car into a parking lot next to a large campus. “Finally. Can’t wait to sleep in a real bed,” the Maestro sighed wistfully, throwing the car into park.

"At least these MA Offices are all the same.” Damian kicked his door open. “Can finally fuckin’ smoke.” He was more ready for the freedom of the outside world than his Maestro.

"I'll get us a room then. You can bring our stuff in when you’ve gotten your fill of nicotine,” Aura told her Resonator.

"Oh baby how I missed you.” Damian either didn’t hear her or chose to ignore her in favor of talking to his cigarettes.

With a giggle, Aura trekked across the parking lot onto the campus proper. Greeting her was the familiar stone sign that sat outside all MA Offices.

Maestro Affairs Office

-Central Drahgo Branch-

It was just like any other MA Office, though the oppressive heat outside made a manicured lawn out of the question. Instead, there was mostly rock and sandscape with regional plants that were resilient to the desert conditions. Fewer people were wandering around than she had seen at other offices, though more reptilian-featured Resonators hung out, not minding the heat despite their mostly human frames.

The automatic door slid aside for Aura as she walked into the air-conditioned office. There were plenty of Maestros and Resonators hanging around inside. For the most part, the Resonators around were draconic, as she expected. There were a couple of other Maestros with non-dragon Resonators, but they had wary eyes cast upon them from the dragon tamers and their Resonators.

"The night crowd around here must be crazy," Aura muttered to herself. Approaching the receptionist at the front desk, she slid her red tuner across the counter without even thinking, the muscle memory taking over.

Speaking of muscle memory, the attendant fired back with their greeting, "Welcome to the Central Drahgo Maestro Affairs Office, how can we help you today?”

"Need a room," the Maestro replied simply.

"Mhm! Looks like we have availability. You’ll be in room twenty-four.” The attendant smiled, scanning the tuner in before sliding it back to its owner.

"Thank you much."

"Of course! Thank you for choosing our MA Office and have a wonderful day!"

Stepping off to the side to free up the desk for other patrons, Aura pressed down one of the grey buttons on her tuner. “Dames, we’re in room twenty-four. Gonna lay down, leaving the door cracked for ya.” Pivoting her thumb down, she listened for his response.

"Sure. I’ll try to be quiet when I get in,” Damian’s reply came from the speaker of the device.

Satisfied with that, the Maestro made her way down the hall, encountering a couple other Maestros and exchanging waves and smiles with them as she passed by. Finally, she hit her own room, with a wave of her tuner the lock beeped and disengaged, allowing her into the room proper.

"Ah, they do care," she sang, feeling the cool wind emanating from the room. The AC unit in the window hummed away, working hard in the harsh desert environment. “Bet they go through these like they’re going out of style,” the Maestro noted, turning the temp up from its default. Even bumping it up five degrees didn’t dissuade the machine from continuing to dispense cool air. “Just that hot outside I guess.”

Kicking off her shoes, Aura collapsed onto the bed. A pleasured sigh escaped her lips as her eyelids began to droop. “Damn beds are great,” the woman murmured to herself before allowing herself to drift off to sleep.

“The dragon’s maw I await.”

"Sleeping amongst the discarded."

"Freed from my shackles and the shadow's weight.

"My service to you is well regarded.”

Aura sat up with a gasp. “The hell..?!” she breathed out, hand over her racing heart.

The room was dark, the sun must have set. She really underestimated how bad they had been sleeping in the car. Letting out a heavy breath, the young woman flopped back down onto the mattress, spreading her arms out and staring blankly at the ceiling.

"The dragon's maw," she whispered to herself. Palming the nightstand, she found her tuner, wincing when the backlit screen flash-banged her.

Searching the map, there was a mountain nearby with a sacred site known as the Fangs of the Dragon. “Young dragons scale the peak and retrieve rubato crystals within the depths of the cave. Succeeding in the task is proof that one is an adult,” the Maestro read quietly.

On the encyclopedia page she was reading, Aura’s eyes fell upon the picture of the rock formation in question. It really did look like the snout of a dragon, extending their fangs out to take a bite out of the sky. “The dragon’s maw…” passed her lips once more without thinking about it.

"We mountain climbing now?”

"EEEIYAH!" Aura threw her tuner in surprise, losing it amongst the sheets of the bed.

In the darkness, all she could hear was Damian's gruff chuckling. "Y-yeah! What about it?!" she snapped back, thankful neither of them could see in the dark due to the embarrassment that had splashed onto her face.

The bed compressed as the edge where the Doberman had taken a seat. "Heard some young whelps talking about it when I was smoking earlier."

"What'd ya hear?" Aura sat up, now feeling around the bed for her lost tuner.

"It's a real fucking challenge apparently. You can go at any time, but you trade the heat for constant battles," the dog-man replied.

"Eh?" Aura paused, thinking that over.

"Ohhhhh." She got it after a moment of thought. "During the day there's no Scherzando but it's fucking hot as hell outside, but at night it's thick with Scherzando, right?"

Damian snapped his fingers. "Bingo." Another gruff chuckle. "We can handle either one to be honest. I'm passing you that top-level heat resistance. Or we can deal with the Scherzando.”

"Probably still better to go at night," Aura mused aloud. “More profitable that way,” she pointed out.

"Fair point. You wanna go now? It’s actually pretty close to town.” He glanced at the window where the moon was peeking in.

"Not tonight, probably tomorrow." Aura stretched, allowing a soft pleasured breath out. “Tonight, we should probs check the local hunt scene. Maybe we’ll hear more about the Fangs of the Dragon while we’re out.”

And so the pair got ready to tackle the night.

Aura freshened up in the bathroom, showering for the first time in days and donning a fresh change of clothes. Meanwhile, Damian was content with just changing clothes and relaxing on the couch with some classic Lyberteran Western movies while he waited.

Exiting the steamy bathroom, Aura allowed herself a pleasured sigh as a treat. "Much better," she declared to the rest of the room.

"We good to go?" the Resonator inquired.

"Yeah. Should get there right when it starts," Aura replied, sliding her tuner onto her hip and slipping her shoes on.

“’bout time, been needing some good exercise.” Damian rose to his feet, letting the TV continue to play on.

"Let's get down to business then, shall we?" Aura smirked.

The trip down to the hunter’s base was pretty boring. It was still warm out, but to the fire Resonator and his linked Maestro, it was a bit chilly. Like she had seen earlier in the MA Office Lobby, she had plenty of eyes on her from the dragon-wielding Maestros that littered the streets – all simply from the fact that the Resonator she kept in her company had fur instead of scales, ears instead of horns.

It was no skin off her teeth – she was confident in her own Resonator's abilities, as common of a breed he was, that didn’t matter to her. As such, she decided to ignore the prying eyes and focus on the actual city around her.

"It's nice out," Aura commented as they walked the old brick streets of the city.

"Fucking cold if you ask me," Damian complained.

"Oh stop your whining you big baby. It’s fine out.” Aura chuckled, shoving her partner in crime. He just mumbled something unintelligible under his breath and left it alone.

They followed a map on Aura’s tuner to the site in question. Sure enough, they found themselves at the base of a particular mountain.

"The Fangs of the Dragon huh?" Aura mumbled. The midpoint of the mountain had an opening to a cave network, sure enough, the stalactites and stalagmites dotting the entrance to the cave resembled the fangs of a vicious beast, making it appear as if one was being eaten up by the mountain itself as they entered.

The only reason they could make out its shape so clearly at night was thanks to the strange glow being emitted from the cavern’s interior. It stood out like a beacon, beckoning the young travelers to enter its depths like moths to a candle.

"Woah that's crazy," Aura gasped.

"Can't see it during the day, but damn, there must be the motherlode of all rubato crystals in there.” Damian was just as impressed as his Maestro.

"I really didn't think it was THIS close to town," the Maestro added.

"Convenient if nothing else.” The dog-man shrugged.

“You’re not thinking you’re gonna climb the Dragon’s Peak are you?” a new voice cut into the private conversation.

Aura turned to face the interloper without hesitation. "And what if I am?" she questioned.

A local Maestro, a man around Aura’s height with a dragon-winged Resonator backing him up smirked at the out-of-towner.

The dragon girl studied her opposite, snorting at Damian condescendingly.

"Just don’t. It’s called Dragon’s Peak, not Puppy Dog Playhouse. You’re out of your element here,” the opposing Maestro jeered.

"You wanna take this to the court hot-shot? My Hell Hound would run laps around your glorified lizard.” Aura smirked confidently. Damian mirrored his Maestro’s expression, an intense heat suddenly radiating from his form. A gesture not missed by the Maestro and his own Resonator.

He backed off. “I’m just saying this for your own good! Don’t think lightly of that mountain. It’s not a tourist attraction, it’s sacred.” And with his warning imparted, he left without another word, his own dragon following close behind.

"Hrmph, all bark, and no bite. Some dragon tamer he was," Aura scoffed.

"Was hoping the famous home of the dragons would have more muscle and less hot air.” Damian shoulders slumped, robbed of the chance to scrap. He settled for his mainstay: a lovely dose of nicotine, quickly lighting a cigarette and drawing in a nice lung full of smoke. “What a joke,” he complained, smoke billowing from his mouth.

"Well, we at least learned how the locals feel about it," the Maestro mused to herself. They continued to make their way down to the site. They reached their destination after not too much more time.

There were a couple of food stalls offering local cuisine and of course the registration booth for the night's hunting activities. The registrar in question looked bored out of their mind but did perk up upon seeing the traveler.

"Good evening! You here to take part in tonight’s hunt?” they asked, hopeful to kill some time.

"You got it! I just have my trusty hellhound here. But I'm down to work with anyone." Aura handed over her tuner as was protocol.

It was quickly scanned into the notebook computer the attendant had propped open next to them. “Ok, I’ll mark your map on where you need to go,” the attendant told the Maestro.

"Sounds good."

“Fuoco Fatuo, Tenuto Rubato,” Aura read a spell out from her tuner. The tuner drew in the rhythm from the Maestro, before passing it to Damian.

The Resonator was compelled to complete the request of him through the rhythm provided to help. Extending a hand out, small orbs of fire began to form and depart from his palm, following both himself and Aura. When about ten of these lights were orbiting them, he closed his hand and stopped their production.

"Good?" he asked.

"Yeah, good, let's keep going.” She pointed down the dirt road towards the mountain.

As they walked, the pair noticed just how dark it was out there. "Damn, it's like when we were driving to Fercy.”

"Oh, through the Loggia mountains?” Aura craned her neck skyward, eyes widening. “Yeah, I guess it is.” Her lips curled up as she beheld the true majesty of the sky. Hundreds of thousands of stars were laid out before them, more than any city dweller could ever dream of.

"We’re really out in the middle of nowhere, aren’t we?” Damian mused.

"Never thought about just how bad light pollution was in the city." Spinning on her heel, Aura faced the town they departed from. It was dimly lit in comparison to the darkness surrounding it. “I guess it’s not too bad.”

The pair continued on their trek towards the mountain, beginning to see other Maestros and their Resonators also on the hike up the trail leading towards the cave. Various small lights, fire spells, and the like illuminated the way toward their destination: a large cluster of small lights at the direct base of the mountain.

Aura and her Resonator shuffled into the group and listened as assignments were doled out. They were new to this scene and didn't want to cause trouble so the pair waited patiently.

"Oh, didn't see you there." After all the assignments were given out, Aura was finally addressed by the leader of the hunting party. “Uhhh, you can go with him,” they decided, motioning towards another forgotten pair.

"Evening folks!" A man and woman walked over. The man was clad in a brown fighter's jacket with matching pants to go with it. A wing pin adorned his left breast pocket and a snazzy pair of goggles adorned the bird’s nest of a hair-do he sported.

His companion, a winged girl wore much lighter clothes, a tank top that slid around her wings with a shoulderless top over that. Black shorts poked out under her top along with her tail midnight purple tail feathers which matched her wings and hair. A shiny golden crescent hairpin adorned her long straight hair, which was tamed into a ponytail.

"Makani," the pilot man introduced himself, offering his hand to the other Maestro.

"Aura," the fire Maestro replied in kind, accepting the handshake.

"I'm Rynda, you can call me Ryn!" the bird-girl chirped from behind her Maestro.

"Damian, charmed," the gruff Doberman grunted.

"What's your story?" Makani questioned the other Maestro as the quartet set off toward their assignment for the evening.

"Eh, you know, just wandering around, found myself here.” Aura shrugged. “What about you? A lunar bird seems pretty out of place for the infamous den of dragons.” The Maestro grinned toothily at her counterpart.

"Earning some cash to fix our plane,” Makani chuckled.

"WE ALMOST DIED!" Rynda shouted dramatically.

"It wasn't that bad Ryn."

"Maki! We. Almost. DIED. Stop trying to downplay it!”

Aura chuckled. At least they seemed close. It was always nice to see from other Maestros.

The four-strong group found their assignment. Several creatures of shadow shaped like large mountain cats. Adorning their shadowy forms were clumps of dirt and rock. There was a spiritual sense of earth radiating from the beasts.

"Ah, no advantage to press," Makani whispered as they crouched behind some nearby rocks and observed their quarry.

"Guess we have to do it the ol' fashioned way," Aura spoke, rising tall.

"What's that?" the male Maestro asked.

"Kick their asses obviously.” Aura grinned toothily, drawing out her red tuner.

"Ah, the classics." Makani chuckled, pushing himself up to stand next to his fellow Maestro.

Ryn and Damian exchanged a glance, one that told the other everything they needed to know about what kind of trouble they got into with their respective Maestros.

“Bolide, Rubato!” the fire Maestro called out.

“Luce Lunare, Piano Staccato!” the pilot Maestro followed in turn.

Damian ran out from behind their covering, forming a ball of fire in each hand. Rynda flew right behind him with a beat of her wings, red sparkles of rhythm scattering in her wake.

The Doberman threw his spells out, easily taking out two of the big cats in a pair of fiery explosions. Rynda whipped out a pair of spells of her own, blades of shadowy energy easily cleaving through four of the beasts.

There remained only one of the Scherzando who was slowly backing away from the two Resonators who had easily dispatched the other six. A shadow blade and ball of fire flew at the rhythm creature before it could escape – an explosion signaling the end of that group of Scherzando.

"Whew, easy enough." Aura wiped the sweat from her brow, relishing in their handiwork.

Damian and Rynda returned to their Maestros, ready for the next job of the night. “Rilevare l’intenzione, Lento,” Makani cast.

The nightingale closed her eyes, placing two fingers on her right temple. An invisible pulse radiated from her body, through her currently gathered allies, and out across the mountains.

"Hmmm…" the bird hummed in thought.

Thanks to the efforts of the spell Rynda cast, Makani's tuner was updated with the positions of not only the other Maestro groups working tonight but Scherzando that dotted the landscape.

"Oh, there's an unattended group this way." The pilot pointed due west, closer to the mountain that towered over them.

"Sounds good, let's get to it!" Aura pumped a fist into the air.

The evening went on in a routine fashion, even in an unfamiliar land.

"Well, that was easy enough," Aura said, dusting off her hands in satisfaction. Damian grunted, taking a drag off a celebratory cigarette.

“Even splitting the Scherzando between us still made quite a few notes,” Makani noted.

“Trying not to step on people's toes while we're out here." Ryn chirped. "But tonight was good." She added.

Makani glanced over at the girl he had partnered with for the evening. “You remind me of someone I met recently,” he commented.

"Oh?" Aura raised a brow.

"Yeah, similar vibes.” The man shrugged. “Just glad to know there are more kindred spirits out there.”

Aura chuckled in return. "Glad to know not everyone treats their Resonators like fashion accessories.”

"Likewise."

There was a small bit of silence while the two Maestros appreciated the moment. “So, what’s next for you?” Makani asked.

She gave no verbal reply – instead, her arm raised, index finger outstretched towards the glowing maw of the mountain that towered over them. "It's speaking to me," she whispered. "Someone is waiting for me up there," the blonde spoke in almost a trance.