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

"Uhg, politics suck," Shouri groused.

Taika peered over her Maestro's shoulder. They were in the office, and Shouri had the laptop open with about a dozen tabs open on the web browser. In front of him were a bunch of paper forms in various stages of completion.

"Uhh, what are you doing, Sho?" asked the lunar fox.

"Filling out my ballot," he replied, gesturing listlessly to the many forms strewn about the desk.

"Oh, that voting thing for the government." Taika vaguely recalled, sitting on the corner of the table.

"Yeah, doing research on these politicians is so fucking painful," Shouri groaned.

"What is there to look up?" wondered the Resonator.

"I'm trying to find people who have been platforming on Resonator rights. It's a slow process, though. Feels like every time I find someone good for a particular position, there's some dogshit take they have that makes me throw them in the dumpster." Shouri slammed his head onto the desk. "Politics suck," he repeated.

Taika placed a hand on his back and rubbed it. "I'll stay here with you," she said quietly.

"You don't have to," he replied, refusing to lift his head.

"I want to. You're doing this for us." She gripped his shoulder, gently massaging it with her thumb. "Least I can do is keep you company. Maybe you can bounce ideas off of me."

Shouri finally lifted his head. "Motivation to get this shit done faster," he decided.

Pacifica and Rebecca stood outside the guildhall. Pacifica was decked out in her winterwear, her water bottle clipped to her back as usual. Rebecca stood in her usual combat stance; her heels sparked at the ready.

Vince and his two Resonators, who happened to walk by, noticed the intense stare down and stopped to watch.

Without warning, Rebecca charged her fellow Resonator, a burst of fire accelerating her like a bullet. Pacifica pivoted out of the way, her focus locked on her opponent. With a wave of her hands, water erupted from the bottle on her back. The summoned liquid shot toward Rebecca's feet, attempting to snuff her flames.

Rebecca flipped out of the way, easily dodging the water, and positioning herself a distance away from the otter.

"Oh, I never noticed she wears bike shorts under that skirt," Mila commented.

"I was wondering why she was so brazen wearing that outfit while doing acrobatics," added Zephyr.

Another stare down. Rebecca charged again. Pacifica's water was ready. She lashed out at the rapidly approaching fox. Even with her speed, Rebecca was able to make split second adjustments in her trajectory and positioning of her body parts to avoid the sting of water.

Rebecca got close, ready to throw a punch. Pacifica ducked down. The Renard realized what was happening and also dropped low, barely avoiding another stream of water aimed at the back of her head.

Pacifica fell to her back. She used Rebecca's momentum against her, kicking into the Renard's gut. Thanks to Rebecca's already forward acceleration it was easy to launch her far away.

Unlike Pacifica's previous moves, there was no elegance as she scrambled to her feet. Rebecca on the other hand, twisted her body to land on her feet.

Those seconds mattered. By the time the otter was upright, Rebecca was mid-swing of a blazing kick. All Pacifica could do was throw up her arms to soften the blow.

THWACK!

Once more Pacifica met the clay, her jaw locked tight as she slid fast and hard on the ground. With her concentration shattered, her water dropped into the dirt, and soaked away to join the aquifer.

Rebecca let out a sharp breath. "Whew." She allowed the tension to leave her body, and relaxed her shoulders and tail. As she stepped over, she held out a hand for the otter. "Good job," she offered.

"Uhg, thanks," Pacifica groaned, accepting her fellow Resonator's hand.

"Shoulda stayed on the ground and chased me with your water," Rebecca advised.

"Yeah, as soon as I saw you charging back I realized that," admitted the water element.

"Still, it was impressive you held up your water while grappling with me," praised the fox.

In their analysis, they earned the applause of an audience of three.

"You two are crazy!" Zephyr cheered.

"When's my turn?" asked Mila.

Rebecca grinned. "Right now, if you're down."

The cat cracked her knuckles. "Now we're talkin'!"

"Ah, that's what the commotion is about," Ritika muttered, watching Mila and Rebecca boxing in the front yard through the window.

"What's that?" Albarich asked.

"Just a fist fight, no big deal," replied the earth cat.

"And they didn't invite me?!"

It took only seconds for the lunar dragon to be out the door and the noise to grow.

Ritika sighed. "Battle nuts, the lot of them," she said, giving a pitying shake of her head.

"Can't blame them for wanting to get some exercise," said Emily. The Princess was curled up in bed, her blanket wrapped around her like a cocoon. On the nightstand sat a steaming cup of hot chocolate, which she grabbed to take a sip from while flipping the page in the book she was reading.

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"Yeah, but do they have to make such a scene about it?" Ritika groaned.

"Let them have their fun," the Maestro giggled. "At worst Taika will yell at them," she added.

"I suppose so," Ritika tore her nosy gaze away from the tussle outside to return to her own time killing task. Spread out on their room's sole desk was a menagerie of screws, circuit boards, and other machine parts.

"How's it going by the way?" asked Emily.

"Good! I just gotta put it all back together and then we can get this back on the bike," Ritika replied, grabbing a screwdriver.

"Who would have thought a motorcycle made on Luna would be so temperamental on Terra," the princess giggled.

"At least we didn't break down far from home," added the cat.

Soot sat in the corner, content to watch life pass him by--this was nice.

"Oh hey Shouri," Vince greeted the guild master upon stepping into the office.

"What's up Vince?" Shouri greeted back. Taika sat on his lap, arms wrapped around his neck.

Mila sighed. "I guess I can't bitch about PDA when we're the ones that barged in here," the cat conceded the argument of one.

Taika fluffed up her tail and tightened her possessive posturing.

Vince, not seeing anything wrong with the affection on display, cut to the chase. He took a seat in the chair opposite of the table.

"Remember a couple weeks ago when we went downtown for the Festa?" he began.

"Yeah," Shouri nodded, unsure of where this was going.

"Well, the girls, me, and Miro went to the that really tall building downtown, the Tomoshibi Energy Center," said the younger Maestro.

Taika furrowed her brows, the puzzle pieces clicking into place instantly. Why would Shouri set up their guild hall here if one of his father's corporate buildings was smack dab in the middle of the city--as its biggest landmark.

"And? How was it? I've been a couple times," Shouri replied, leaning back in his seat. It swung back a little too fast thanks to the added weight of the fox girl on his lap, but she arrested their movement with a quick telekinetic suggestion.

It looked like Mila had the same thought as Taika, her expression clouded with confusion.

"Their little restaurant at the top treated us like shit," Zephyr huffed. "Though we showed them what we thought of that," Zephyr chuckled sinisterly.

"She means we just raised a stink about it and got better seats!" Vince hurriedly cut in, lest he incur the wrath of the guildmaster again.

"Boundless right?" Shouri asked for clarity.

"Yeah," Vince nodded.

"Sounds about right."

Zephyr frowned and opened her mouth, but Mila cut in.

"So yer pops had a hand in picking them then?" asked the fire cat.

"Totes, was it that obvious?" Shouri chuckled.

"Yeah," the cat rolled her eyes. Though she saw the confusion on her fellow teammates faces.

She motioned to Shouri. "His pops hates Resonators. Like hates hates," she said.

That was confusing, Vince and Zephyr couldn't help but look to their guildmaster, the man who made an entire organization centered around helping Resonators and Resonator rights as a whole.

"How?" Zephyr uttered.

Shouri took a breath. "If I had to guess, it's because of her," he pointed at Mila. "I'm reliant on Resonators as much as they are me. We give each other something we lack. Mila taught me that at a young age. My dad's callous indifference made me roll far from the tree so to speak."

There was a moment of silence while the two uninformed processed these new facts.

"Oh yeah. We met some weird lady up there," Mila added, snapping her fingers.

"Weird?" Shouri raised a brow.

"Yeah, some chick with a solar wolf," replied the cat.

There was one person with a solar wolf that Shouri knew.

"What was her name…?" Mila snapped her fingers a couple more times trying to recall. "Right, she said her name was Lila."

Shouri's eyes widened--that was not the name he was expecting to hear. "Li-la…?" he gasped.

"Yeah, Lila Lumidela, you know her?" Mila guessed.

"That's," he paused, considering the possibility, "my mom."

Taika's eyes widened at that revelation, the last she remembered of her Maestro's mother… she seemed… conflicted? Were her memories right?

"Wait, Sho, they said Lumidela? Who is that?" asked the fox.

"My mom's maiden name, the family name she had before she married my dad," he told her. He furrowed his brow, trying to piece together what it all meant.

He held Taika tighter, and she returned his embrace in kind. Pushing himself further and further through the thought process. Why would she be here? Why would she use her maiden name? Why would she have a--

Resonator?

The revelation blindsided him. "Oh my god." The horror in Shouri's eyes was disarming to those not privy to his thoughts.

"He was drugging my mom."