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

Given the disturbance, the boat stopped at the next port to drop off the criminals they had gained – a town just north of their original destination, known as Fiuglio.

Shouri and his Resonators remained in the dining hall, as they had been instructed by the cruise staff. A sense of relief fell upon the group as they watched the Fiuglio law enforcement enter the room and slap some handcuffs on the kidnapper as well as a strange device around his neck. For Shouri and Pacifica, it was the closure they were looking for after the torment that man had wrought on them.

However, their poor hearts weren’t allowed a moment of reprieve as the police then directed their attention to Shouri and company. “We will need you to come down to the precinct,” the law enforcement officer began.

“Why is that?” Shouri hesitantly asked, taking a step back. His trio of Resonators shuffled closer to their precious Maestro defensively, which the officer picked up. The officer motioned for their own Resonator to stand down, as they tensed up with the aggressive posturing of Shouri's Resonators.

“We need your testimony on the suspect. According to the crew he seemed to be after you specifically,” the cop clarified. Despite this, Shouri’s Resonators didn’t budge, all glaring at the officers.

Shouri sighed – what a pain this was going to be. Though in the name of justice, he knew this was a necessary burden. With that in mind, he took in a breath and voiced his decision: “We’ll come with you.”

“Your cooperation is appreciated.”

The police station wasn’t too terribly far from the port, roughly a five-minute walk. The weather was nice, partly cloudy; not too hot, not too cold, not too humid. It would have been an enjoyable little jaunt had they not been heading towards the local precinct. The quartet’s minds would not be at ease though; upon arriving at their destination, their worst fears came to light.

Four investigators approached them almost immediately. “Please hand over all of your tuners,” one demanded as their introduction.

“What? Why?!” Shouri questioned, failing to hide the hint of fear in his voice as he stepped away from the older men. Once more his trio of Resonators surrounded him, glaring down the police officers.

Even with three Resonators' defensive posturing, the man did not flinch, his eyes still locked on the Maestro of the group. “Standard protocol,” the head investigator replied without an ounce of consideration for what the quartet had just gone through.

After a moment of hesitation, Shouri once more acquiesced to the demands of law enforcement and handed over the two tuners on his person. Attention turned to Rebecca as they spotted the tuner at her waist. Her eyes met her Maestro’s, who motioned with his head to hand it over. Reluctantly she unclipped the device at her side and relinquished her own tuner as well.

Next, they were separated. If not for Shouri’s quick shout for the trio of girls to behave there may have been a scuffle. Overall, the treatment by law enforcement, while not rough, didn’t mollify any of the quartet’s anxiety – they were the victims here, right?!

After establishing who each of them was, the basic question they were all asked was: “What happened?”

Shouri’s testimony

“The dude was nuts, he yelled at Taika and me for “taking” his “claim” of Scherzando on Mt. Wynding. He cold cocks me in the MA office and tries to hold me and Pacifica for ransom. Spends the next two weeks stalking us apparently.”

---

Taika’s testimony

“That man kidnapped Sho and Paci, I found them just in time and scared him off, but he tried again the next day. We escaped by jumping into a river. I really thought we had lost him.”

---

Pacifica’s testimony

“They said they would let me stay the night at their place, but drugged the food they gave me. When I came to, I was in a mineshaft. They took my money, but they wanted more. If it wasn’t for Sho, I would have... starved to death.”

---

Rebecca’s testimony

“I dunno much about that dude, I only just became Shouri’s Resonator like four days ago, but that dude meant business. Waving a gun around and attacking them. I smashed his face into the ground. Really hope I broke something, fucker deserved it.”

Rebecca was freed from the interrogation rooms last. Shouri, Taika, and Pacifica were already waiting and rushed over upon catching sight of her. “You okay?” Shouri asked, taking hold of her shoulders and looking her over.

The fire Resonator stole a glance at the room she had the fortune of becoming familiar with. “Yeah. Just a waste of time,” she huffed.

Not wanting to deal with the fun of the judicial system, the group made their exit. The sun had certainly changed positions in the sky – just how long had they been in there?

“Shouldn’t we get back to the boat?” Taika questioned.

“Yeah! You got our tuners, right?” Pacifica asked their Maestro, starting to jog in place.

“All three.” Shouri brushed his jacket back, showing the three devices at his hip.

“Let’s go then!” Rebecca was already ahead of the group pointing in the direction of the docks.

They made their escape and ran full sprint towards the boat, but despite probably breaking some sort of land speed record-

“I-it’s leaving?! We’re not on yet!” Taika cried out, having caught sight of their departing ride first.

“Damn it! What the fuck?!” Shouri roared, seeing their boat had taken up the gangplank and was slowly moving away from them.

They hit the dock and chased the boat as it was departing, but despite their frenzied shouts, it wasn’t slowing down. Several cruise-goers gathered on the deck of the ship to watch the abandoned group chase the rapidly escaping boat.

Rebecca came to a sudden realization: the boat hadn’t gotten too far away yet and was still moving relatively slowly – she had a plan. Though everyone had to play their part, they just didn’t have the luxury of time. “Pacifica! Get Shouri, I got Taika!” She decided to just go for it.

“Wha-?!” Shouri and Taika had no idea what was happening, but thankfully Pacifica had an inkling of what their resident fire-fox was after. “Sho! L'onda di tempesta, NOW!”

There was no time to think – his Resonators had a plan and he executed: “L'onda di tempesta, Accelerando!” he shouted, grasping the water tuner at his waist.

“Keep running Taika!” Rebecca barked, still the furthest ahead. Taika heeded that direction and kept up with her fellow fox. Reaching the edge of the dock, Rebecca ignited her heels, flipping over and behind Taika. Before anyone had the chance to question what the plan was, Rebecca hit her maximum output, shooting off like a jet. She scooped Taika into her arms and cleared the gap between the dock and the boat, crashing onto the deck and rolling a small distance.

Shouri and Pacifica also reached the end of the line, but they dove straight into the river, the water Resonator shooting to the riverbed. The otter released the spell she had her Maestro cast, creating a stream of water she followed and darted toward the surface. As she ascended, she scooped Shouri up and pushed the water spell much further than the top of the river.

The pair rode the current up and out of the water and crashed onto the deck with Rebecca and Taika.

“Mai più.” Taika shuddered, remaining where she had crashed.

“H-holy shit...” Pacifica groaned, curling up in pain.

“Next time let me come up with the plan,” Shouri wheezed before coughing up some water.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Rebecca managed to let out a chuckle, nursing her slightly burnt heels.

“What a day.” Shouri sighed, falling onto the bed. It was early evening, and the boat was making double time towards their final destination in a desperate struggle to meet the itinerary thrown off by recent events.

“Yeah.” Rebecca sat next to her Maestro. Taika and Pacifica also joined the pair on the bottom bunk. The fire Resonator watched her two counterparts drape themselves over Shouri. Her eyes darted away from the affectionate posturing - she knew the three of them were close, but never considered how close that actually was.

It kinda did make sense upon reconsideration. Rebecca herself had slept in his arms for the past few nights. He claimed it was for easy etude, but was that it really?

He was nice and warm though. In a world that was always just a smidge bit chilly to her, Rebecca found comfort in his arms. It brought a splash of red to her cheeks thinking about it that way.

“Rebecca, come here.” Before the fire fox could even address the voice, she was pulled into Pacifica’s lap.

“Eh!?” the fire Resonator yelped.

“Watch videos with us,” Pacifica clarified, holding onto the fire-elemental.

“But I-”

“I’m sure you want to unwind with us.”

Pacifica’s persistence wore on the vixen and she gave into the pushy otter’s demand. The quartet enjoyed their time watching videos. At some point, Rebecca had relaxed in Pacifica’s embrace. The feeling was seemingly mutual as Pacifica started gently stroking the fox’s hair.

This was nice... nice and warm...

...

Rebecca groggily opened her eyes. It was dark but warm. So comfortably warm. But... when did Shouri get so... soft?

“Oh,” the fire fox squeaked. It wasn’t Shouri who was holding her, but in fact, Pacifica. She was warm too. Now how did that happen? She was a water element. She shouldn’t be this warm...

...

“Rebecca...”

“Rebecca.”

“Rebby wake up.”

Slowly the vixen’s eyes opened once more. Warm... but what was in her face? It was... curvy.

“EH!?” Rebecca threw herself back into a sitting position on the edge of the bed, her face as red as her hair as she held her hands over her heart in a vain attempt to slow its racing beat.

Pacifica giggled, sitting up herself. “You were sleeping so peacefully; I almost didn’t want to wake you.”

“But I... and you...!”

“It’s fine Rebby.”

The two Resonators stared at one another for a moment. Pacifica wearing a welcoming smile in contrast to Rebecca’s perplexed gaze. Hesitantly Rebecca reached out and took grasp of Pacifica’s shoulders.

“R-rebby?” Pacifica blinked.

“Warm,” Rebecca muttered.

“Eh?”

Pacifica gulped as Rebecca drew closer. “Reb...” Her eyes widened as Rebecca’s face was now dangerously close to hers. Slowly they fell back, Rebecca pinning Pacifica to the bed. Their foreheads met.

“You really are warm,” Rebecca whispered.

The otter could feel the fox’s breath wash over her lips. “Y-you too...?” Pacifica offered, unsure of what to do.

Rebecca opened her eyes, though it was as if she wasn’t there, trapped in a trance. “Why are you warm to me?” she breathed on to the water element.

Pacifica found herself oddly relaxed. “I dunno Rebby...” Rebecca was warm, but not unbearably so. It was nice. She could get used to this.

Shouri loudly cleared his throat, snapping the two girls out of their moment. “Wha-?” Rebecca realized where her face was. “AH!”

CLANG!

And her head was introduced to the top bunk, painfully. “AUGH!” Rebecca fell off of the trapped otter, rolling around the bottom bunk, clutching her head in pain where it had struck. Pacifica used the opportunity to roll out of bed, snapping up to her feet in one solid motion. Maintaining her momentum, she took hold of Shouri’s hand and bolted him out of the room.

“AH! Taika La Bella Vita, Presto Tutti – make sure Rebecca’s alright!” he managed to get out before he was fully out of earshot.

SLAM!

And then there were two. “Cheeeeeeh?” Taika tilted her head, repressing the spell for a moment. “You okay?” She turned to the suffering Rebecca.

“Fuck! God damn!” Rebecca cursed; trembling, and curled up around herself while gripping her ailing head.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Taika held out a hand to the suffering fox, allowing Shouri’s requested spell to take hold and provide waves of relief to the other vixen.

“Where are we Sho?” Taika asked, tail swishing back and forth in curiosity.

“This is Corhiasela.”

The quartet stood at the front of the ship as it docked at a large port. The river itself was joining with another fork that came from the northeast and in the center of the two joining rivers was a sprawling metropolis. The skyline was broken up by a countless number of massively tall buildings, which even at a distance towered over the numerous busy bodies running around the streets below. Closer to them, other boats had joined in the approach to the central pier, waiting in line for their turn to dock and unload cargo and/or passengers.

“Way bigger than Riva Sranvi or Fercy, that’s for sure,” Pacifica added.

“So many tall buildings,” Taika gasped as they drew closer to the massive city.

Rebecca didn’t say anything intelligible, just grumbling to herself while gripping the sleeves of her blazer.

“We’ll have to cut through the city to get closer to the hunting sites here,” Shouri noted, looking over the map he had pulled up. “So, we can at least get to see how tall these skyscrapers are,” he informed his gaggle of girls.

“How big is Corhiasela?” Pacifica asked her Maestro.

“Hmmm. Good question.” Shouri did some thirty-second research on the matter. “Ah, here we go. To put it in perspective, Corhiasela is three times the size of Canolapra,” he informed her, using a scale she was familiar with.

Which impressed the otter. “Wow! I thought it was big, but not THAT big.” She looked back to the approaching cityscape with a newfound respect for the urban sprawl.

Rebecca continued her disinterest (or perhaps irritation) with the concrete jungle before her, while Taika joined Pacifica in awe of the huge settlement before them.

They stayed where they were, waiting for the boat to finish the docking procedures. After the gangplank was lowered by the Resonators manning the deck, the announcement was made that they could disembark.

Shouri and his trio were some of the first people off the boat. They blended right in with the sea of other tourists, gazing at the massive buildings that surrounded them in wide-eyed wonder as they plunged into the steel and glass jungle.

Taika clung to Shouri as they walked. So many people around, a dizzying amount swarming the streets that made everything just a bit hazy. Likewise, Pacifica stuck close to their Maestro, and eventually, the two girls each claimed a hand of Shouri’s.

Rebecca was annoyed by this, not seeing what the big deal was. Her tail swished back and forth quickly as she kept her gaze locked on the crowd-parting trio before her. Eventually, Shouri parked them at a bus stop, not wanting to walk through the entire city like this. They didn’t get a place to sit though as many others were waiting at the bus stop too.

“So what do you all want to do while we’re here?” Shouri inquired as they waited.

“What’s even here?” Taika asked the obvious question.

“Well, we already got to see the piers ahaha.” Pacifica chuckled.

“There’s nothing worth seeing,” Rebecca suddenly spoke with a low growl, earning perplexed stares from her traveling companions. “It’s a shitty city,” she continued to hold herself, gripping her arms tightly.

The wave of strong emotions was broadcast to Pacifica like a billboard, turning her brows up with concern for her fellow Resonator. “Do you want to talk about it?” she offered, placing a hand on the fire fox’s shoulder.

“NO,” Rebecca said firmly, smacking the otter’s hand off of her. “Fuck this shithole city,” she grumbled quietly.

The otter girl wilted, lowering her head whilst holding the hand that had been batted away. The lunar of the group however took exception to this. “Chi cazzo credi di essere?” Taika growled.

Rebecca’s ears twitched. “You got a problem?” Her eyes twitched as she faced her lunar counterpart.

“I do! Don’t snap at Paci because you think you’re a bad bitch!” Taika growled.

Sparks began to flicker at Rebecca’s feet while Taika pulled up her sleeves, ready to throw hands.

Shouri took in a breath, but Pacifica beat him to the punch. “Enough. Both of you.” She stood between the two catty foxes. “I don’t appreciate your tone. I’m worried about you. But I respect that you don’t want to talk about it,” the otter told the fire fox, before turning to Taika. “Don’t start fights with Rebecca. She wants to be with Shouri as much as we do. It’ll be easier for all three of us if we’re friends.”

“Hmph.” The two vixens turned away from each other. They opted to stand on opposite sides, with Pacifica and Shouri being between them.

“Thanks, Pacifica,” Shouri muttered quietly.

“I’m worried.” She grabbed his hand and held it tightly.

“Me too.”

She could sense a tinge of guilt from him. “Don’t,” she whispered. “Taika and Rebby just need more time together.”

“I hope so.”

The bus eventually arrived and they filed on with the rest of the people awaiting transport. The quartet occupied a row to themselves. Shouri and Rebecca took the seat to the left of the aisle, while Pacifica and Taika took the right. Shouri and Pacifica were careful and took the aisle seats, putting more room between the two feuding foxes.

Both girls looked out their respective windows whilst Shouri and Pacifica leaned into the aisle to talk. “Rebby seems cool with me. But Taika does not like her,” the otter whispered as quietly as she could to Shouri.

Thankfully both fox-girls had their ears folded back, trying to tune out the world.

“Did I make the right choice Pacifica?”

“I dunno if there was a correct choice.”

Shouri hummed, lowering his head. “Sho.” He glanced up at Pacifica. “She needs you, both of them do. They’ve both been hurt badly.” Pacifica grabbed his hands and squeezed them tightly. “I’ll help you as much as I can.” She smiled bittersweetly. “It’s the least I can do for being selfish.”

He didn’t understand what she meant by that but failed to find the courage to ask.

“Welcome to the North Corhiasela Maestro Affairs office, how can we help you today?”

“Room.” Shouri slid his trio of tuners over to the attendant.

As he watched each tuner get scanned in, it hit him the situation he was in. Behind him stood three girls who relied on him, and he didn’t want to let them down. “Sir?”

He snapped to; his trio of tuners being returned to him. “You’ll be in room six. Is there anything else I can assist you with today?”

The young Maestro hesitated before scooping up his devices. “N-no,” he paused, “That’ll be all.”

“Thank you for choosing our MA Office, have a wonderful day!”

“Come on girls.” He waved them out of line, replacing the three tuners on his waist. The mood was infectious it seemed, as the three girls in question remained silent. They took the short walk into the Maestro’s quarters and room six.

Back in the familiarly furnished room, they kicked off their shoes and finally relaxed. “I call shower,” Pacifica broke the silence to state her intentions and immediately locked herself in the bathroom.

Shouri took to the bed, just wanting to unwind after all that had happened. The two fox-girls in his care however-

“What do you think you’re doing?” Rebecca asked, seated next to Shouri.

“Sitting next to Sho,” Taika asserted, on the opposite side of their shared Maestro.

Before they could break out into another disagreement, “Girls,” he raised his voice. “Please. Can you not?” His tone simply dripping with irritation. “Either get along or neither of you get to be on the bed.” He decided to draw a line in the sand.

“Ok.” Rebecca lowered her head.

“Si Sho,” Taika mumbled.

Letting out a tired sigh, Shouri flipped on the television to catch up on the news. Rather than relaxing, however, there would be a new reason for his stress wrinkles.

“A follow up to yesterday’s top story: the attack on the Corhisian Dream,” the reporter began.

“No no no...” Shouri grabbed his hair and began to pull it. Taika and Rebecca looked to their Maestro, then the news report, similarly fearful of what was to come.

“... A resident of Mt. Wynding, testimony from the Maestro that was attacked revealed that this was a pre-meditated attack.”

And then it happened – his worst fears.

“One Shouri Tomoshibi successfully disarmed the man according to reports from other victims on the scene.” It cut to several of the passengers talking excitedly about Rebecca’s rescue and beat down of the kidnapper. This was accompanied by a video of the fire Resonator’s impressive feat.

And the worst part of it all is somehow the news station had gotten clear pictures of Shouri which were being proudly displayed on the newscast.

“M-maybe it’s a local news station?” Rebecca offered.

“No... no, this is a Lyberteran news channel.” Shouri turned the television off. “FUCK!” he cursed.

A second later the door to the bathroom slammed open, and Pacifica barely covered herself with a towel. “What?! What’s going on?!” she asked quickly.

“They’ve been running a news report about what happened on the boat,” Taika told the otter. Pacifica furrowed her brows for a moment, trying to figure out the significance. It clicked after a moment of hard thought.

“Oh. Sho’s parents-” Pacifica started.

“-know exactly where we are now.” Shouri joined her and finished the sentence with her in perfect unison.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck,” he continued to curse. Pacifica darted back into the bathroom to get dressed.

“What do we do?” Taika asked.

“Should we leave? Where do we go?” Rebecca chimed in.

“I dunno. I dunno.” Shouri curled up, continuing to hold his head. It was all too much.

Pacifica returned to the room, properly clothed and tying up her hair. She hopped into bed, took hold of Rebecca and Taika’s hands, then motioned to their Maestro with her head. “Grab his hands,” she told them.

Both foxes nodded and did as they were told. “Shhh... shhh....” Pacifica brought her tail forward and used it to push Shouri’s chin up, anguished tears streamed down his face. “It’s okay Sho,” she whispered. “Focus on us. All three of us.”

“We’re here for you.”

“We’ll get through this.”

“We’ve been through worse.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Lose yourself in our rhythm.”

“We’re together, all of us.”

Rebecca just stared at Pacifica in awe. The otter girl smiled so serenely; her eyes closed as she spoke. They shared the same stave, their strength and weakness of rhythm.

Pacifica possessed strong emotion, but weak knowledge – just like Rebecca. But the water element was so much stronger. How? She knew exactly what to say and do – as Shouri began to calm. The tears still flowed, but they weren’t of anguish. He looked relieved.

“Come here,” he whispered.

Before the three girls could figure out what he meant, he pulled them into a hug. “Thank you for being here. I really don’t deserve you three.”

“Sho...” Taika smiled.

“Don’t mention it.” Pacifica wrapped her arms back around the others.

“O-of course...” Rebecca mumbled; a bit flustered by the group hug.