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

Monday morning came and went with Shouri sleeping right through it. After all, it had been an exhausting week for him and he had no reason to go anywhere until he was reunited with his precious Resonators.

KNOCK KNOCK

Shouri rose from the comfort of his pillows and blankets, glaring in the direction of the door. “Mmmmrgh…” He scowled in the direction of the noise, hoping whoever was disturbing his slumber would sense the angry vibes and go away.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“I have a message for Shouri Tomoshibi!” a voice shouted from the other side of the door.

The boy lowered his head and begrudgingly slid out of bed. He trudged to the door and threw it open. Awaiting him was one of the front desk attendants’ Resonators. “Good afternoon!” they greeted the groggy Maestro. “Shouri Tomoshibi?” they asked.

“Unfortunately,” he grumbled.

Unperturbed, the attendant Resonator delivered their message: “Ms. Emelia Ayame wanted us to pass along the message that they will be arriving at the Alspo Airport by four PM.”

“What time is it now?” Shouri asked, not having a tuner to check himself.

“One forty-five,” they replied without missing a beat.

“Where’s the airport?” he continued his line of questioning.

“It’s a twenty-minute bus ride on the E Route.”

Shouri grunted and nodded slowly. “Thanks for the information.” He remembered his manners.

“Of course, have a wonderful day!”

And with that, Shouri was left to his own devices once more. A twenty-minute bus ride wasn’t bad. Truth be told he had heard the roar of several planes overhead this morning, but was just too tired to properly wake up and ended up drifting off.

With that information in mind, however, he realized he had some time to kill. He could take a quick shower, pick up Miro, and head down to the airport with time to spare.

So that’s what he did. After washing off, he made his way to the cafeteria, getting himself a bite to eat before setting off for the hotel he left Miro at the night before. The hotel was easy enough to get to on foot and he made his way up to the Natural’s room, having recalled the room number from last night.

KNOCK KNOCK

After a moment, Miro cheerily answered the door. “Ciao Shouri! How was your sleep?” the Natural beamed, tail wagging as he let the Maestro into the room.

“It was good.” Shouri cracked a smile catching the fox’s infectious mood. “You’ve had a good morning I guess?” he questioned, taking a seat in one of the recliners.

“Si! Went out and had breakfast. Looked around a bit – many nice people here!” the fox replied, opting to remain standing.

“Good, glad people didn’t give you any shit.” Shouri nodded, one of his fears eased.

“Non! Very friendly!” Miro exclaimed.

“My friend is bringing my Resonators up here; they should be here by four,” Shouri informed the earth Natural.

“Oh! That is very fast!”

“Yeah, they got a super-rich guy funding the whole thing, probably,” the Maestro mumbled the last part.

“Very good very good. I will come with you?”

Shouri shrugged. “If you want. I wanted to make sure I checked in instead of just ditching you,” he explained. “Plus, I’m sure they want to meet the guy that got me here in the first place,” the Maestro added.

Miro nodded. “Si! I want to meet them too.”

“Glad we’re on the same page then.” Shouri glanced at the clock and noted it was only hitting around 2:30 at that point. “We’ll hang out here until around three or so and start heading out towards the airport then?”

“Si! That sounds good!” Miro agreed.

As planned, the pair left the hotel at around three in the afternoon.

The trip down to the bus stop wasn’t anything taxing and they easily boarded the 3:05 E Bus down to the Alspo airport. No one batted an eye at Miro’s presence, though Shouri did have to stop and manually push Miro’s ticket payment through. It wasn’t as easy as it was for himself and his normal trio.

Either way, the trip down to the airport was quiet and peaceful, all twenty minutes of it.

They arrived at their destination with roughly thirty minutes to spare. However, when they arrived at the airport, things took a turn for the worse.

“You know-”

Shouri’s eyes widened as his heart stopped.

“-you’re a slippery little bastard, I’ll give you that.”

Standing in the middle of the street was the mechanical woman – Whistler.

“Shouri.” Miro stepped between the Maestro and the lightning element. “This… thing is… evil,” the fox snarled, his fur bristling from head to tail tip.

“She’s the one that kidnapped me,” Shouri whispered, his hand brushing his empty side.

Whistler’s smirk faded to a frown. “I was hoping that lunar bitch would be here. I still need to pay her back for that arm.” She held up her left arm and rotated her hand at the wrist joint back and forth.

The Maestro wasn’t entirely sure what she was referring to, but he assumed Taika had gone down fighting and dealt significant damage to her arm. Both of her arms looked fine now though. There was something else going on here.

“We just gotta stall for the plane to get here, damn it,” Shouri grumbled. He figured it had to be 3:30 or so. Being late may have been better! Either way, he wasn’t going to go down as quickly this time, even without a Resonator. Miro was still by his side and willing to fight.

Shouri’s hair stood on end. His eyes widened.

“MIRO DODGE!”

CRACK BOOM!

The battle began with a massive bolt of lightning striking down from the sky. With a fight kicking up the unrelated Maestros and Resonators fled screaming in fright.

Miro’s eyes were wide as he and Shouri managed to avoid the attack. Even resisting lightning element magic, the earth element still felt the sheer power of that magic. There was one thing he noticed.

“Not Maestro rhythm!” the fox yelled out.

Shouri’s jaw caught slack at that bit of information as he panted hard through his mouth. “You have the advantage then…” The Maestro calmed his breathing and stood up straight. “Overwhelm her Miro - she’s on borrowed time.”

“Con piacere,” Miro smirked.

Whistler shrugged and shook her head. “I suppose it wouldn’t be interesting if you rolled over and died.” A wicked smirk rose on the woman’s lips. “Crushing your hope before I take you in. That’ll do.”

“Provaci, stronzo,” Miro cursed through his barred fangs.

“Look at the mouth on this runt!” Whistler laughed loudly. “Gladly.”

Miro ran at the lightning element whilst firing several gems at the blue-haired woman. She responded in kind with a raised hand. Flying from all around, shards and pieces of metal and iron flew to her defense, easily intercepting the gems. Miro continued his charge, using his sand control to pull down the metal barrier by force. When he spotted an opening being formed, he readied a new volley of gems.

Shouri couldn’t be at ease watching this, however. Something was wrong, this was too easy, surely this couldn’t have been the same Resonator that easily dispatched his three.

“Wait! It’s a trap!” the Maestro cried out.

The realization was too late – the iron barrier completely fell away from Whistler’s form, just in time for her to unleash a savage bolt of super-heated lightning the Lightning-Fire Ossia spell, Saldatura ad Arco.

With Miro so close to Whistler she had no problem hitting him with the powerful magic which normally was highly inaccurate due to the wind-up time needed to properly aim and cast it.

The force of the spell swatted Miro away with nearly no effort on Whistler’s part. The fox’s body whipped past Shouri, violently hitting the ground and rolling away.

“MIRO!” Shouri screamed, spinning around.

Miro was thrown so far all Shouri could see for sure was the charred black and smoky gash running down the body that lay unmoving in the distance.

Shouri trembled, tears unable to form even with his eyes as wide as they were. “Miro?”

“There’s nothing you could have done!”

And then a certain voice tickled the Maestro’s ear right at that moment. “I told you that you needed me.”

The Maestro remained in shock at the unmoving Natural who protected him. He couldn’t tell if Miro was still breathing. Shouri’s ears rang loudly drowning out the background noise, as his heart pounded painfully hard.

“There’s nothing you could have done!”

He trembled with rage, fury, and frustration. Shouri Tomoshibi had Discordant Willpower – he was not a man of action, he was one of slow, quiet thought.

Except right now.

At that exact moment, his blood boiled with a righteous fury. He slowly turned to meet Whistler’s smug smirk. His rhythm demanded she eat dirt. There was nothing more he wanted to do at this moment in time but to bury this woman.

And… there was a convenient tool he could use to accomplish this task.

“VII!”

Thwick Thwick Thwick Thwick Thwick Thwick Thwick Thwick

Several dozen shadow arrows materialized from the air surrounding Whistler and stuck into her shadow, pinning the lightning element and wiping the grin from her face.

“What the fuck!?” The woman began struggling against the entrapments.

Taika’s form appeared in front of Shouri. “I’m glad you’ve seen things my way,” the False Fox giggled.

“Shut up,” Shouri snarled.

“YOU! THE FAKER!” Whistler roared, surprise replaced with fury. “WHEN I GET FREE YOU’RE FUCKING DEAD!” Vii’s intrusion made the lightning Resonator struggle harder, several of the arrows popping out, giving Whistler more freedom of movement.

“I went ahead and got you a real tuner. I know how much of a stickler you are for the process.” Even borrowing Taika’s voice, how she used it was entirely Vii’s. “Take it, make me yours.”

She wanted to be used as a tool, to be a conduit for his rhythm - that's all she wanted from him. But this was the real deal, as soon as he touches that tuner he’ll finish the Maestro-Resonator contract…

POP POP POP

Three more arrows burst, Whistler screaming obscenities the entire time.

"Fine!" Shouri cried out, giving in to the temptress who was offering her services. At that moment, the black tuner flew from Vii and wretched itself into Shouri's grasp.

The false fox turned to Whistler. “Now… I won't stand a chance against her in this body. There's only one thing to do.” She took a deep breath; her borrowed form began to glow and change shape.

The first thing to change in her silhouette was her borrowed fox tail breaking apart, becoming a dance of interweaving feathers, long enough for them to drape over her head from their origin point at her rear. They collapsed into a single long feathery tail that hung proudly behind her. The fox ears from her head vanished as color returned to her body. Dark red hair tied into a bun, yellow determined eyes shone confidently.

Her manner of dress fell within Shouri’s expectations – a magenta top over a long-sleeved blue shirt, black leggings, and blue boots to complete the look. Her brown feathery tail curled at the end with the many disconnected strands forming a sort of “netting” between the two main tail feathers. She was an odd creature, unlike any other Shouri had witnessed before. However, he knew this was no illusion, this was the true Vii.

“You wanted to know what I was? Well, here I am: the final Lyrebird, my name is Vienna, at your beck and call, my dear Maestro.”

Shouri studied the now clear-bodied tuner to find out what he was working with. Clear coloration indicated a Null element, a Resonator type he had never worked with before. The spell list boggled his mind, causing his eyes to widen to their maximum.

Lanciafiamme - (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

Fuoco Fatuo - (Tenuto or Mosso)

Cortina Fumogena - (Presto, Allegro, Moderato, Adagio, Lento)

Idrante - (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

Ghiacciolo - (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

Mani Nell'acqua - (Presto, Allegro, Moderato, Adagio, Lento)

Foglie a Lame - (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

Colpo di vite - (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

Corrente Elettrica - (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

Tuono Assordante - (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

Pasticcio - (Accelerando or Rallentando)

Aria Carica - (Presto, Allegro, Moderato, Adagio, Lento)

Tempesta di Sabbia - (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

Colpito da una Roccia - (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

Luce del Sole - (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

Flusso del Vento - (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

Guardando il Sole - (Presto, Allegro, Moderato, Adagio, Lento)

Luce Lunare - (Pianissimo, Piano, Forte, Fortissimo)

Rilevare l'intenzione - (Presto, Allegro, Moderato, Adagio, Lento)

Bastioni del Ritmo

Riflettore Musicale - (Crescendo)

L'orizzonte Scudo - (Accelerando or Rallentando)

L'Ordine di Gabriele - (Crescendo)

Scudo Prosciugante - (Crescendo)

La Bella Vita - (Presto, Allegro, Moderato, Adagio, Lento)

Purifica L'anima

Cancella il Ritmo

L'Ordine di Michele - (Presto, Allegro, Moderato, Adagio, Lento)

Ricerca Vitale - (Presto, Allegro, Moderato, Adagio, Lento)

Legame Ritmo - (Presto, Allegro, Moderato, Adagio, Lento)

Basic elemental spells, all maxed out, on top of Shielding spells at crescendo and every healing spell all at their top levels as well.

Then there was the final entry on the list.

Il Ottavo Elemento - (Ultrissimo)

The Null Ultimate spell. The only spell wholly unique to Null-Element Resonators. Vii… no Vienna was a survivor through and through. Everything she had experienced was leading up to this moment.

Taking a breath, Shouri gripped the tuner tighter. His rhythm spoke to him, parsing the massive list in an instant. Tre Corde - he needed three lines of rhythm. He had to make it happen, failure wasn't an option. Vienna was strong enough to handle that, he could count on that. There was no reason to mess around - Vienna dropped her guise and Whistler would kill them right here. She might have killed Miro.

He had to strike back first and as hard as possible. As such, Shouri's lips simply moved.

“Il Ottavo ElementoL'ordine di MichelePasticcio, UltrissimoLentoAccelerando!”

There was no way to prepare for what happened next. Shouri began to fall as nearly all of his rhythm and then some was violently torn from his body.

Pasticcio, a lightning element spell that directly amplifies or dampens the effects and power of any spell it is cast into. Cast with the accelerando modifier, what came next would only grow in strength.

L'ordine di Michele, a healing attribute spell that boosted the caster's spell attack power for some time.

That being…

Il Ottavo Elemento, the Null Ultimate spell.

A beam of seven-colored light erupted from Vienna's hands, clearing the distance between her and the mechanical woman in an instant, leaving no room for her to dodge. A whirlwind of rainbow light illuminated the skyline as their adversary vanished within the maelstrom.

Being the Null Ultimate spell, it embodied the purest form of the jack-of-all-trades: a spell that was always effective on both the elemental and attributal sides. There was simply no defense against the raw might of this attack spell. Like all Ultimate Spells, it defied conventional wisdom. Null elements were supposed to be weak, that was the curse they bore in exchange for raw flexibility.

This spell could be argued to be one of the strongest attacking forces possible and the rainbow-colored tornado of energy certainly proved that point.

Shouri sat back on his legs, his hair entirely white as shards of metal, plastic, and silicon rained down from the heavens. Where Whistler once stood a drill-shaped indent in the ground remained.

“Ho-ho-ho-holy shi-hi-hiiiit….” Vienna laid on the ground euphoric over the volume of Shouri’s rhythm she just had the luxury of processing. “You’re so fucking good at this…” She trembled, splayed out on the concrete, staring at the passing clouds.

“M-miro… get him to a hospital…” Shouri breathed out.

“Hm?” Vienna sat up.

“Miro,” Shouri barely managed to raise a hand to point back at the fox. “If he dies, I’m throwing this in the garbage can,” the Maestro managed to wave the clear tuner despite his complete exhaustion.

Even despite Shouri being on death’s door, Vienna could sense how serious he was about that. “I suppose you are my Maestro.” Hopping to her feet, she studied the hole formerly known as Whistler. “She was always like that, not surprised Vail isn’t here,” the lyrebird mumbled. She walked over to Miro and scooped him up. “He’s pretty fucking close to death. Damn fragile Naturals.” Vienna shook her head.

“I’ll do what I can!” she shouted to her Maestro.

Shouri waved her away.

And with that, he was left alone in the middle of the street amongst the remains of his kidnapper.