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

So hungry...

So thirsty...

Wait.

Why can’t I move my arms?!

Why can’t I move my legs?!

No... Not again! Please! Please don’t put me back there! PLEASE!

I don’t want to die! PLEASE!! SOMEONE SAVE ME!!!

Pacifica’s eyes snapped open as she took in a deep, lung full of air. It was dark in the room; tears completely soaked her face as she tried to catch her breath. It felt so real. She was terrified, but... she was safe now. It didn’t help her not think about that dream though. She would just go right back in if she tried to sleep right?

Shouri mentioned this would happen, but she couldn’t bother him. Her heart continued to race with uncertainty. Finally, she decided to get out of bed but was stopped by a hand pulling her back by her vest.

“What did I tell you?” Shouri whispered, trying not to wake Taika.

“Wh-what do I do?” Pacifica whispered back.

“Come here.” He opened his arms for her. Thank goodness it was so dark in the room cause Pacifica felt like her face was red enough to practically be glowing.

“A-are you serious?” she quietly hissed.

“I’d rather be uncomfortable for the twenty minutes it takes to fall asleep over having to drag your comatose ass through the mountains tomorrow,” he told her, “I promise it works.”

Swallowing her pride, she once again found herself submitting to her new Maestro’s whims. Laying back down, she scooted into his arms and allowed him to hold her. “It’ll be okay Pacifica. If you have another nightmare wake me up, okay?”

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

“You’re not a bother, it’s my job to take care of you,” he paused, “and I’d like to think we’re at least friends after surviving a kidnapping together.”

Pacifica smiled, though at this point her face was buried in his chest. “Friends, right.” There was a bit of a titter to her voice as she said that.

Despite Pacifica’s fears that it’d be difficult to sleep like this, she found herself easily drifting back to sleep. Why was this so comfortable?

With that out of the way, Shouri himself fell back asleep, though this only lasted for maybe an hour or so.

“Sh-sho...”

He found himself awoken by Taika. “Just like hug me from behind, she’s having a rough go of it.” He groggily pointed to the otter girl already in his arms. Taika nodded and huddled close to Shouri, wrapping her arms around him.

Morning soon arrived and with it, Shouri Tomoshibi’s return to consciousness. The only thing he could think of was how he was going to need a nice, cold shower. Pacifica slept contentedly in his arms, and on his other side, Taika held him, pressing herself against him as much as she could. Her fluffy tail was wrapped around his waist and legs for good measure.

Shouri pined for the bathroom, and possibly the shower. Yes, a shower. Shower a lot. As cold as it could get.

“Girls wake up please.” He started to pivot his body to try and escape the Resonator-based cocoon he found himself in. Both Pacifica and Taika slowly awoke and realized the position they found themselves in. In unison, the two animal-eared girls sat up and saw their counterpart flanking the opposite side of their Maestro.

Taking the initiative, Shouri slid out from between them and rushed to the bathroom. “I-I had a nightmare,” Pacifica admitted with a tinge of shame in her voice.

“Are you okay?” Taika asked, scooting closer to the otter girl.

“Yeah, Shouri caught me trying to leave bed.” She chuckled.

“Sho pays attention to that kind of thing.” The vixen smiled.

It was at that point that Pacifica sought to satisfy a curiosity. “Hey, why do you call him Sho? Does he prefer that?”

The lunar Resonator pondered that thought. “I dunno really,” she admitted after a moment, “I just always called him that.”

“Sho...” Pacifica whispered, her lips slowly rising to a smile. “Sho,” she repeated warmly. “I like that.”

Taika caught her new friend’s infectious mood, smiling whilst her tail swished gently behind her. Pacifica noticed this, her eyes following along with her counterpart's wagging appendage. “Hey, can I touch your tail?” Pacifica blurted out.

“Che?” Taika blinked at the sudden request. “My tail?”

“It looks really soft and fluffy.” Pacifica brought her own tail in front of her. “I’ll let you touch mine,” she offered. Taika stared at the much stronger-looking tail. She certainly was curious and had very little interaction with other Resonators; especially otters.

“S-sure.” Taika brought her own tail in front of her and the pair traded off.

“Ahhh, what soft fur! It’s so nice and silky, I love it!” Pacifica exclaimed as she ran her fingers through Taika’s long tail fur.

“Your tail is soft too!” Taika noted, holding the much heavier tail in one hand and stroking it with her other. It was soft and velvety, not nearly as much hair as Taika herself had, and it even seemed much easier to keep.

“Do we have a brush? I can help you brush your tail if you want?” the otter girl offered suddenly.

Taika, not being used to this positive attention grew flustered. “Ah, sure. That would be nice.” She then recalled her problem from a few nights ago. “But we’d have to ask Sho for one since we don't have much.”

The water element wilted a bit. “You guys did say you had to run away with nothing but the clothes on your back,” she recalled from their story last night. “I guess that meant you didn’t happen to have a brush tucked away in your pockets?”

“No not at all. Didn’t even have shoes,” Taika revealed.

“How awful.”

“I was so scared; I had never been in a situation like that.”

“It’s okay. If anyone tries to pull any funny business I’ll be right there to give ‘em a piece of my mind.” Pacifica smirked, adjusting her blue fingerless gloves.

“Thank you.” Taika smiled once more.

“Okay team, here’s my plan,” Shouri began as they consumed their vending machine-based breakfast. “I think for all of our sanity, we should move on today.” He pulled up the map on the tuner and had the two girls lean in. “We’re here, at the base of Mount Wynding.”

They hadn’t traveled far from Shouri’s hometown of Riva Solare. They couldn’t go back there for obvious reasons and staying put was out of the question.

“Why don’t we go to my parent’s place to chill in safety for a while?” Pacifica suggested. “I’m sure they want to meet you too,” she added.

“Where’s that?” Shouri asked.

“Here, let me see the map.”

Pacifica took possession of the tuner Shouri was holding and messed around with it for a little bit. “Ah, here we go.” She handed it back, zoomed in on a completely different part of the map.

“Ah, that’s close to the northern Lakes region of Lybertera.” He zoomed in a bit more. “Hey, this is just south of Canolapra,” he noted.

“What’s it like Pacifica?” Taika asked in curiosity.

“It’s a big city, super nice. We went there a lot before I began wandering. We can probably ask my parents to get us some plane tickets,” the otter girl suggested.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’d rather we get there under our own power,” Shouri cut in. “At the very least I want to show my parents we can make it on our own.”

Pacifica lit up. “I totally agree!” she exclaimed. “I’m ready to work!” She seemed overly excited about the prospects of whatever “work” she would be tasked with.

Shouri smiled. Once again, he counted his blessings that he ended up in the company of such loyal Resonators. “So let’s get up here to Riva Sranvi. My hope is that bigger cities have bigger hunting scenes so we can team up with the hunter groups there to earn some money.” He laid out his overall game plan. “Ultimately, I’d like for us to earn enough to buy our bus tickets all the way to Canolapra and we can decide what to do from the safety of Pacifica’s place.”

“Let’s go!” Pacifica shouted, pumping her fist in the air.

And so, the trio set out on the road. Since they were in the middle of nowhere all they had were the foot roads to travel on. It wasn’t unusual for their type of foot traffic though.

“I never thought I’d be doing this,” Shouri spoke up.

“What’s that?” Taika asked.

“Traveling as a Maestro with Resonators.”

“Yeah, I had a bunch of Resonator friends back home that got Maestros and left home pretty quick,” Pacifica recalled.

“At fifteen, you’re considered a young adult and are allowed to travel freely from home as long as you have at least one Resonator with you,” he informed Taika.

“I was wondering why nobody questioned us being out and about,” Taika pondered aloud.

“I’m surprised you didn’t know,” Pacifica commented offhandedly, which caused the lunar fox to jump.

“She came from a Natural town in Unis-Résonne, Nevepunto. I can’t imagine there’s too many Maestros there,” Shouri told Pacifica.

The otter nodded. “That makes sense yeah. There are tons of Maestros and Resonators in my neighborhood, it’s all they talked about really. It made me so itchy that I had to go out on my own and see the world like they did.”

“Why didn’t you get a Maestro before Pacifica?” Taika questioned.

The older girl shrugged. “Eh, nobody felt right.”

Shouri's lips turned up to a knowing smile. “I understand that sentiment.”

It was around noontime or so when the group decided to take a break on the side of the road. Just down the way, they could see a bridge over a large ravine. “Whew, it's getting a bit hot.” Pacifica wiped some sweat from her brow, whilst looking down the road at what was ahead.

Taika pulled out their shared water bottle and took a small sip of it before taking note of how much they had left. “The water bottle is getting empty.” The vixen frowned, gently tilting the bottle back and forth. “Are we going to make it?” fretted the fox.

“Hm?” Shouri and Pacifica looked at the lunar fox. “Of course we will. I still have plenty of rhythm, water is a complete non-issue,” Shouri reassured her.

Head-tilt. “Che?” Taika was confused.

“Let’s just show her,” Pacifica suggested.

“Right right. I’m kinda thirsty too.” Shouri nodded, pulling the blue tuner off his side.

“Take the lid off and set the bottle on the ground Taika,” Pacifica requested.

Taika nodded and placed the uncapped water bottle on the ground. “Mani Nell'acqua, Allegro,” Shouri commanded. Pacifica knelt and cupped her hands above the water bottle’s top. Water began to flow from her hands into the bottle, filling it up.

“Ghiacciolo, Pianissimo,” Shouri added.

The water elemental produced a couple of ice needles and slipped them into the top of the bottle. Capping it off she shook the bottle and handed it back to Taika. “There you go, fresh cold water.”

Taika stared at the bottle, impressed at the feat. In the same respect though, she couldn’t do anything nearly as impressive as that. Her ears wilted as Shouri praised Pacifica for the quick work.

After everyone was fully hydrated, they moved on.

“Should get there by dusk,” Shouri told the two girls.

“Sounds great!” Pacifica exclaimed.

Taika just nodded, still lost in her thoughts. Neither of the other two noticed and continued chatting with each other as they walked.

Pacifica was great, plain and simple. She was really pretty and strong and useful. What was Taika? Sure, she was Shouri’s first Resonator, but there was no rule stating a Maestro could only have one Resonator. They were an example right here.

How was Taika even useful to Shouri? The only thing she had done for him so far was get him kicked out of his home and disowned by his parents. If anything, she was a net negative to him. She hadn’t added anything positive to his life. So what was stopping him from getting rid of her? Especially because he had Pacifica now.

What a gloomy little thing she was. All she could think about were the negatives. Why was she like this?

Just before they reached the bridge a certain sound hit Taika’s ears, causing them to twitch. “Sho!” she shouted.

“What is it?” The group came to a stop.

“Rilevare l'intenzione in Lento, now. I have a bad feeling,” Taika quickly told her Maestro.

Without a second thought, he drew both tuners from his side. “Rilevare l'intenzione, Lento,” he whispered. Pacifica stuck close to their Maestro’s back studying their surroundings, and ready to move at a moment’s notice.

Taika closed her eyes. She felt a pulse leave her body, identifying every living thing around her.

Shouri

Pacifica

...

...

Two aggressive presences were a small distance away. “There!” Taika pointed southwest of them, towards the trees and underbrush that flanked the road.

“Pacifica, Ghiacciolo, Piano!” Shouri commanded.

The otter girl just moved, throwing slightly larger ice needles in the direction her fellow Resonator had identified.

THWICK THWICK THWICK

The sound of clapping met their ears as a Resonator clad in bark-based armor stepped out from the underbrush, accompanied by his Maestro, the source of the clapping.

“YOU!” Immediately Pacifica and Shouri were on edge – it was the man who had kidnapped them. “Fucking leave us alone!” Shouri roared.

“No can do, kids. You drove me from my home. You ruined my life, now I’m going to ruin yours.” The older Maestro glared daggers at the trio who stood defiantly before him.

“What the fuck dude?! You kidnapped US! Anything bad that happens to you is well deserved!” Pacifica barked, holding an arm out in front of her Maestro.

Shouri gulped. Sure, he had two Resonators versus this guy’s one, but this one Resonator had to be sucker-punched before being taken out. They wouldn’t fall so easily this time. What was worse was he was just one Maestro. Even with two Resonators, if this battle came down to attrition, the other Maestro would surely have the upper hand.

“Sho,” Pacifica whispered. “I think we need to run and I have a plan,” she told him, “we just need to distract them, leave the rest to me.”

A slow nod. “Okay Pacifica, I trust you.”

Taika’s ears twitched, her eyes still locked on the opposing Maestro and Resonator. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. What would be the first move?

The kidnapper raised his green tuner.

“Rullante di Radice, Piano!”

“Nuvola Oscura, Rubato!”

Roots burst up from the ground, grabbing Taika just as she threw up a smokescreen. Rather than running away as they had planned, Shouri ran into the smoke. “Sho!” Pacifica ran in after her Maestro.

Taika was bound tightly by the thorned roots but refused to utter a cry. Shouri soon appeared and began tearing at the roots. “Sho! Why didn’t you run?!” Taika hissed.

“Are you fucking crazy!? There’s no way I’m leaving you here!” Pacifica joined them and began helping in the effort of ripping away the thorny vines. Neither of the two complained even as their hands were pierced and cut up by the roots.

As soon as Taika’s hands were free, she began helping, while still producing more smoke to hide what they were up to.

Seeing the smokescreen as some kind of trick, the kidnapper and his Resonator remained outside of the growing cloud, watching carefully for any kind of movement. After a moment of silence, he decided to spice things up a bit with a command: “Foglie a Lame, Piano!”

A flurry of bladed leaves penetrated the cloud of smoke, slicing the trio up as they sailed through. “Nnngh, fucker,” Shouri grumbled, still working on freeing his Resonator. Enough of the entrapments were torn away to allow the bound fox to slip out.

“I’m free! Via! Via! Via!” Taika yelped.

With that, they fled from the scene of the battle, Taika continuing to spread a smokescreen behind them to mask their exact movements.

The trio could hear all kinds of colorful obscenities from the kidnapper as he finally gave chase through the thick smoke.

“There!” Pacifica pointed ahead to the railing of the bridge. “Jump!” she shouted, “just trust me!”

Neither Taika nor Shouri had time to argue, given that there were still nature-element spells being thrown in their direction – mainly the bladed leaf spell, Foglie a Lame.

Pacifica cleared the rail first, with Shouri and Taika close behind. It was a lot longer of a fall than any of them anticipated and they all screamed as they plummeted towards the large rapids below. Thankfully, their gamble paid off, as their pursuers didn’t want to jump into a raging river after them.

Unfortunately, there was a new issue: they were in rapids. The river roared like a beast, churning and foaming as it rushed over the jagged rocks. The stream of water was relentless, unending; crashing and splashing with no mercy for anything in its path. The noise was deafening, loud enough to drown out even one’s thoughts. Shouri, Taika, and Pacifica were at nature’s mercy.

Shouri burst above the surface of the water first, but was more or less helpless; only able to keep himself above the water while he desperately searched for his two Resonators. He hit a rock but clung to it to continue scanning the foamy chaotic rapids for his lost companions. Pacifica popped up nearby not seconds later, attaching herself to the same rock as her Maestro.

“PACIFICA!” Shouri yelled over the noise of the water.

“SHO! WHERE’S TAIKA?!” she shouted.

“I DUNNO! SHE WAS BEHIND ME!”

Pacifica’s blood ran cold as she came to a grim realization. “Can she swim...?” The otter ducked under the water and looked around. Thankfully her eye-sight underwater was sharper than a human or a fox, and she quickly spotted Taika struggling against the rapids a bit upstream.

“HANG ON TAIKA!” Pacifica swam against the intense currents and lifted Taika above the water on her back. “DON’T LET GO OF ME!” she shouted to the coughing and gagging fox. Though she gave no vocal reply, Taika clung to Pacifica for dear life.

She swam back to Shouri and picked him up from the rock by his hand. “WHATEVER YOU DO HANG ON!” the otter shouted.

Pacifica guided her two companions through the rapids, expertly dodging every obstacle in their way until she felt it was safe enough to get them to shore.

The trio lay on the tiny beach, all gasping for air. Taika still had a bit of a cough from her near drowning and they were all still cut up from the assault they took before diving into the river. “Ow...” Shouri whimpered shaking out his still bleeding hands.

“I’m so sorry Taika. I didn’t know you couldn’t swim,” Pacifica managed to get out.

“It’s okay, I trusted you,” Taika wheezed, before coughing up a bit more water.

Despite catching their breath, the three travelers remained motionless under the cover of the river-side trees for some time, still processing the experience they just had.

Shouri broke the silence with a request: “Taika, would you be able to heal these cuts?”

“Yeah, Sho...” she spoke hoarsely. After sitting up, she prepared herself. “Ready.”

Similarly, Shouri also sat up drawing Taika’s tuner from his side. “La Bella Vita, Moderato,” he spoke first.

Taika jumped as she found her healing was forced inwards, soothing her pain over her companions. “Why me?” she asked.

Shouri managed to smirk through his pain. “What sense does it make having our healer suffer while we use your powers to heal ourselves?” he told her. Pacifica nodded in agreement, also having risen.

Taika teared up a bit, though it was hard to tell from how soaked she still was. “Please... let me heal you now.”

“La Bella Vita, Allegro Tutti,” Shouri cast aloud. Taika found herself directing the healing at Pacifica despite her intention to heal him.

“But...” Pacifica looked at her now-healed hands.

“And you got us out of that situation,” Shouri told Pacifica.

“Let me heal you damn it!” Taika protested grumpily. Pacifica nodded, with a pout on her face.

With a soft chuckle, he acquiesced to his Resonator’s demand. “One last one, La Bella Vita, Allegro Tutti.” He was released from his pain thanks to the healing spell being applied to him.

Settling that matter, he could finally allow his soaked, exhausted form the rest it was so desperately craving. “Fuck.” He hit the ground with a resounding splat. Closing his eyes, he wanted to sleep so bad from how much rhythm he had burned away just in the last thirtyish minutes.

“Sho!” He heard a pair of voices shout, and then a pair of equally soaked bodies grabbing him from either side. He relaxed. They were okay. No grievous injuries, just some intense cardio and a little stress as a treat.

Though they could rest easy for the time being, there was some lasting resentment in the boy’s head. “Fuck,” Shouri cursed. “I’m so frustrated,” he grumbled, pulling his two Resonators close.

“About what?” Taika asked.

“Just... we can’t beat that guy. I wanted to kick his ass from what he did to Pacifica and I... but I just don’t think we can take them right now,” he admitted.

Pacifica gripped Shouri’s shirt tightly, her fist trembling. “Me too,” she admitted, “I wanted to make them eat dirt so badly, but when they finally attacked all my mind screamed at me to do was run.”

“Thank you, Taika.” Shouri stroked the back of her head.

“For what?”

“You heard him first. If you hadn’t been there, he would have gotten the jump on Pacifica and me.”

“Not to mention healing us. It would have sucked to try to keep going while cut up like that,” Pacifica chimed in.

The tears flowed again as she reached over and hugged both Pacifica and Shouri tightly. She didn’t need to say anything - the gesture spoke volumes.