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

“Yes, we’re here to see a Maestro who was just brought here.”

“Name?”

“Shouri Tomoshibi. He’s probably in the ER.”

“One moment.”

Thank the divines Emily was handling the talking. It was taking everything in Taika’s power to keep her emotions in check.

That was a lie – it was taking everything in her, Pacifica, and Rebecca’s power to keep her emotions in check.

This last week was the worst in her life. Eighteen years of slave labor was nothing compared to the last 190 or so hours she had to endure. All she wanted was to be with Shouri again. She was so scared right now, she didn’t know what was happening to her, but Shouri would. He was so smart; he’d make everything okay.

“Taika, come on,” Rebecca urged her fellow fox to follow their temporary Maestro.

Speaking of, Emily was plenty nice, and she could probably help coming from Luna and all, but Taika didn’t want her help. She wanted her Maestro. To her confiding her problems with Emily was like giving up on Shouri. Like she was trying to move on from him. Her stubborn willpower wouldn’t let her.

She needed her Maestro.

She needed him.

She NEEDED him.

“Taika Taika Taika!”

The lunar fox snapped to. Rebecca and Pacifica held onto her shoulders tightly. “Calm down Taika!” Pacifica shouted.

“It’s okay, he’s here!” Rebecca exclaimed.

Taika’s eyes were wide, brimming with rhythm as she rapidly took in and expelled lungfuls of air. Her breathing calmed. “Sho... dov'è?” she whimpered on the verge of tears.

She was so scared.

What if he couldn’t fix her?

What if she was broken?

“Taika,” Pacifica’s voice whispered through the panic attack.

The lunar fox snapped out of her intrusive thoughts. They were now in the Emergency Room proper. When did they get here?

“Come on.” Rebecca pushed the two through the curtains.

The trio stared at what was through the partition. They stood in silent shock for a moment, collectively tearing up.

“We’re in an ER,” Emily quietly reminded the three Resonators.

“SHO!” who did not listen.

And poor Shouri was awoken by being winded. “GUH!” Three weepy girls held him tightly in an indecipherable mess of sobbing. It wasn’t long before Shouri joined in the noise, holding his dear companions as tightly as possible.

Several nurses came to check on the noise, but let them off with a warning to be quieter.

“Sho, what the hell happened?” Rebecca asked.

“How did you use up this much rhythm?” Pacifica also inquired, running her hands through his snow-white hair.

“A lot of stuff,” Shouri sighed wearily. “Basically marathon sprinted through the desert to duck into Subterris so they couldn’t find me to make it over here,” he quickly summed up for his three concerned Resonators.

“Subterris?” Pacifica pinched her brows together in thought.

“It’s a Natural reservation,” Shouri told her. He noted Taika stiffen at that information. “Thankfully not all the locals hated my guts and some of them helped me out. Ended up here in Alspo.” He paused, considering what to say next.

“One of Ilea’s assistants, Whistler attacked me in front of the airport. One of the Naturals I befriended tried to protect me but he’s not a fighter. Whistler was, you probably don’t need me to tell you how that went,” Shouri explained grimly. Pacifica rested a hand on her Maestro’s shoulder – content she could comfort him.

“One of Whistler’s enemies showed up and I gave her the magic needed to cast the Null ultimate spell,” he decided they didn’t need to know the full extent of Vienna’s involvement with him. This would suffice for now.

Rebecca grunted in frustration. “How?” she questioned. “WE don’t have our ultimates, how were you able to cast it through this mystery Resonator?” the battle expert challenged.

Shouri shrugged. “She did have a fake tuner, probably was cracked to let any spell go through,” he guessed.

Emily decided to speak up at this point. “Well, Ultimates can’t just be called like that.” The Luna native motioned to Shouri’s trio. “Even if you tried to call any of their ultimate spells for their elements, it just wouldn’t work. Meaning whoever that girl was you worked with had already unlocked her ultimate in the past.”

Shouri digested that thought. “Makes sense. She was well enough after casting it to run to the hospital while carrying someone.”

The group fell quiet.

“So what the hell happened to you all? I remember Rebecca and I got sucker punched, but what went down after that?” the curious Maestro inquired.

“Taika tore that bitch’s arm off!” Rebecca exclaimed.

“Shhh! We’re in a hospital!” Pacifica shushed the excited fire element.

The Maestro of the noisy trio nodded slowly. “Right, Whistler was some kind of robot thing?”

“A Sprite.” Emily caressed the tuner at her waist linked to her fire Resonator. “They’re the lightning version of Golems like Soot,” she explained. “Though I didn’t know that there were such large cybernetic bodies for them. The Sprites I’ve heard of use much smaller toy-like bodies.”

The bedridden Maestro grunted.

Emily perked up, realizing what he wanted to do. “Here.” She removed Shouri’s three tuners from her side and returned them to their rightful owner.

Shouri felt so good having his connection restored with his trio. The first order of business was checking into the sprites Emily had just mentioned.

“So what happened with Taika fighting Whistler?” Shouri questioned.

Taika herself didn’t speak, a frustrated glare cast towards the ground.

“From what Taika told us, she had the advantage, but there was a second attacker there,” Rebecca spoke up. “They just started hitting her with lightning spells until she blacked out,” the fox added.

“They got me before Taika fought her,” Pacifica shuddered. The trio of Resonators remained silent for a moment, clearly bothered by their inability to protect their precious Maestro.

“I woke up first,” Pacifica continued. “Mister Klein told us that it wasn’t Emily they were after, it was you, Shouri.”

He nodded – that tracked with what Vienna told him. “I got too good at curing Feroces,” Shouri mumbled.

“Oh hey! Speaking of!” Rebecca exclaimed suddenly, earning a glare from Pacifica. “We cured Mila.”

Emily stepped forward and presented Shouri with a fourth tuner, a red one of the fire element. “Mr. Klein had her for about three or four days for questioning and she’s been with us since. Soot is keeping an eye on her right now,” the other Maestro informed the boy. “She hasn’t said much,” said Emily, quieter. The status screen popped up of its own accord.

Resonator: Mila

Species: Demi-Human (Cat)

Element: Fire

Attribute: Shielding

Rhythm: 100%

The shock on Shouri’s face was apparent, as his face rapidly contorted between relief, concern, and confusion. He reached out, his hand hovering over the offered tuner.

“…What are you going to do Sho?” Taika broke her silence, her hair and fur fluttering despite the lack of wind in the building.

The now distressed Maestro spoke up. “I need to talk to her,” he said, before taking hold of the device.

Since Shouri wasn’t in immediate danger of dropping dead on the spot, he was moved up to a proper room to continue his recovery and give his Resonators spots to sit. Emily left to go tend to her Resonators and Mila.

Once the nurse left the group alone, Shouri addressed a curiosity that had plagued him since reuniting with his dear companions.

“Taika.”

The lunar maiden jumped, keeping her head lowered as she refused his gaze.

“You want to tell me what’s wrong?” Shouri inquired.

“Non ho nulla che non va!” she yelped back in response, earning two glares from her fellow Resonators.

Before Pacifica and Rebecca could speak up to spill the beans, Shouri held up a hand to silence them. “Taika, nothing you could possibly tell me is going to make me upset. What’s going on with you?” He pressed again.

“…I don’t know what’s happening,” she squeaked fearfully. “I think I’m broken,” the lunar fox whimpered, trembling.

Shouri hummed in thought. “So you can’t control your ad-Lib, Volontà Estesa, which you became aware of when fighting Whistler?” he rattled off.

The three Resonators stared at their Maestro in shock.

“Am I wrong?” He raised a brow.

“Uhh… no, you got every detail,” Rebecca managed to get out.

“H-how did you know?” Taika hesitantly asked.

The Maestro grinned. “Process of elimination. I remember a few times you’ve done things that shouldn’t have been physically possible for you. It clicked together when I read the Lunar Resonator field guide describing the different ad-Libs.” He held up a finger“You haven’t suddenly become invisible as far as I know, which is a sign you’re developing Allucinazione di Massa, one of the other Lunar ad-Libs.” And up went a second finger. “You also haven't mentioned weird visions which would indicate Dilatazione Temporale was your ad-Lib,” Shouri explained.

“Lunar Resonators developing Volontà Estesa will find themselves either boosting their physical attacks like punches without realizing it or won’t tire from carrying heavy loads,” he continued to lecture, a big smile on his face. He missed this.

“I can’t control it!” she cried out. As if to prove her point Rebecca and Pacifica were knocked out of their chairs by an unseen force, Taika’s hair whipping about wildly.

“Taika!” Rebecca jumped up.

“Calm down!” Pacifica crawled over and pulled herself up, making sure to make as much contact with her dear friend as possible.

Shouri studied his panicking fox. He continued to smile, even feeling her rhythm being in disarray. Just being able to feel her presence, gave him the strength of an army. Strength he tested the tempers of, by sliding out of bed. His three Resonators were so preoccupied with each other, that none of them noticed him walking over with his IV.

“C’mere.” He startled the trio as he fell to his knees and took Taika up in his arms. Tears streamed down the scared fox’s face as her telekinetic panic attack faded. “I don’t have all the answers, but we’re gonna figure it out together, okay?” he whispered.

“Sh-sho…” Taika wrapped her arms around her beloved Maestro and trembled, allowing a week’s worth of stress to pour out.

Pacifica and Rebecca hugged the pair from either side, similarly allowing their anxiety to drain.

After a second cry, the Resonators helped their Maestro back to bed and decided on their next steps.

“We’re staying with you tonight,” Rebecca stated.

“I will actually fight the nurses if they try to kick you out,” Shouri agreed with her. “I’m not letting any of you out of my sight ever again,” the boy pouted.

The trio of girls nodded in agreement.

“What next though?” Pacifica questioned.

“I guess the big thing is we need to find Taika a trainer for her ad-Lib,” though Shouri said this, there was an unease to his voice as he spoke.

Rebecca hummed in thought. “I went through a good four or five trainers for my ad-Lib,” she recalled.

“I just had a swimming trainer, we otters have our water-breathing ad-Lib from birth,” Pacifica chimed in.

“Maybe… Emily knows of a trainer?” Shouri considered.

“You think?” Rebecca asked.

“I mean, she is a Lunar native,” he pointed out.

“That’s fair, but would they be people here?” Rebecca countered.

Shouri grunted. “Worth asking,” was his rebuttal. Rebecca nodded slowly in agreement.

“Wh-what if we can’t find someone to control my powers?” Taika whimpered fearfully.

“Then I will learn,” Shouri stated simply. “I’ll figure it out one way or another.”

“Sh-sho…” The lunar fox shook with emotion.

Pacifica took in a breath before her next inquiry. “And what about Mila?”

The room went quiet, all eyes turning to the Maestro in the room.

“Please hear me out,” he spoke quietly. The three girls slowly nodded in agreement. With their approval, he told them his plan: “I am going to spend tomorrow with her.”