Sho…

We didn’t do anything different from anyone else.

How did this even happen?

I’m not special; we’re not special.

Taika’s Willpower

Pacifica and Rebecca’s Emotion

Shouri’s Knowledge

Even together they couldn’t handle the revelation of the raw potential they possessed. It had become confusing and muddled to the point where they broke, hence the quick retreat.

The room was dark, Taika lay atop Shouri, with Rebecca and Pacifica holding them both from either side and Shouri wrapping his arms around all three of them. The continued murmur of discussion in the living room was reduced to an indecipherable white noise. The crack of the door frame afforded them a small amount of light, just enough to strain the eyes.

We just wanted to be close.

We don’t care about being the best or strongest.

He squeezed them tighter, and they responded in kind.

…

Maybe it’s not a bad thing.

People have been hurt, and we couldn’t do a thing.

But truthfully, we’ve always been able to do something.

Why are you three like this?

We trust you, of course!

----------------------------------------

Midnight rolled around, and with it, Shouri was wide awake once again.

“My head fucking hurts,” he grunted.

“Same,” Taika buried her face into his chest.

“Yeah,” Pacifica agreed.

“Information overload sucks,” Rebecca chimed in.

Grrrrrrr…

“Ho fame,” Taika whimpered.

“Yeah me too,” Shouri chuckled, stroking the girl’s hair (and earning a gentle tail wag from the recipient).

“Let’s go get some food,” Rebecca suggested.

“Could probably use some fresh air after everything that has happened today,” Pacifica sighed wearily.

The quartet quietly got ready in their room, not wanting to disturb the other inhabitants of the suite since they all had early mornings tomorrow. The hungry group, freshened up and ready to hit up the town, crept out into the main hallway. However, before they could leave, Taika stopped and suddenly motioned for silence, her ears twitching.

“Hm? What’s up Taika?” Shouri asked.

“Shh…” Taika looked around the dark hallway before heading back into the suite proper.

Shouri turned to the other member of the group with the Canid Sense trait, Rebecca. “What did she hear?”

Rebecca furrowed her brow. “Sounds like someone on one of the couches. I just figured it was like Colette or Elijah or somebody working late.” The Renard shrugged.

However, she couldn’t have been further off the mark, as Taika returned with the one person the fire Resonator did not want to see: Liza.

The sky dragon held herself (with both arms and wings) with her head lowered, and her tail wrapped around the inside of her leg.

“No, we are NOT taking her with!” Rebecca hissed, just barely avoiding shouting.

“Then you can stay here, Rebecca.” Shouri shot a glare at his Resonator, only earning a scowl and bared fangs from her as a response.

“Oh, don’t give me that. Do I have to have the same conversation with you that I did Taika? You’re not being replaced. Cut it out.” Stern Shouri had come out to play again. “We’re only helping Liza to one: find out what the hell happened to her; and two: get her a new home if need be,” he made his intentions as clear as possible.

And thankfully, Rebecca (begrudgingly) accepted, ceasing her outward hostilities. However, she did shoot the stink-eye at the dragon whenever Shouri’s back was turned.

With their now five-strong party gathered, they quietly left the hotel and took to the streets of Naiza once again.

“F-f-fuck it’s cold…” Pacifica trembled as they walked through the city. Shouri slipped off his jacket and handed it over to the otter without a word. She accepted the garment and quickly slipped it on. Liza watched this exchange; with Pacifica zipping up the jacket and giggling as she buried her nose into the fabric.

These people were stranger than the dragon remembered.

Nobody ended up deciding on what they wanted to eat, so they stopped at the M’Krocs Taika tried to go to on her birthday.

Even if Naiza wasn’t catering to their massive nocturnal population, M’Kroc’s were well known for being open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. One of the few places one could go to get cheap, unhealthy fast food even on holidays when most businesses were closed. Management took advantage of the high lunar population of Naiza to staff their night shift accordingly. The one Maestro employee oversaw a squad of six lunar Resonators that staffed the kitchen and cleaned the facilities overnight.

There were a few patrons already eating or otherwise milling about in the lobby. Either way, they didn’t even acknowledge Shouri and his group of four – just the way he liked it.

“Get what you want,” Shouri instructed his posse of girls before taking a look at the menu himself.

A few minutes passed, the group staring at the board, while the cashier Resonator patiently waited for them to make a decision.

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“Everyone know what they want?” Shouri asked the group.

“Si!”

“Yep!”

“Yeah.”

All eyes fell on Liza who remained quiet. “Liza?” the Maestro asked.

“Huh?” She looked around, then to Shouri.

“What do you want to eat?” he asked.

“Not hungry,” Liza mumbled.

“Too bad,” Rebecca spoke up. Before anyone could say anything else, she continued. “You better pick something, this stubborn idiot won’t take no for an answer.” The fire fox motioned at Shouri.

“I uh…” Liza shuffled in place, her wings closing further in on herself. “Just get me whatever Rebecca is getting,” the fire element muttered.

“Oh good.” Rebecca grinned wickedly.

“Rebecca, behave.” Shouri rolled his eyes.

Stepping forward, Shouri made his order, then allowed each of his Resonators to make their orders. Rebecca even made sure to chime in that her order should be doubled.

Cups were handed out, and Shouri left it up to the Resonators to get drinks while he waited for the food.

“Pacifica, what the heck are you doing?” Taika gasped as she watched her fellow Resonator run her cup across every serve lever on the soda machine, catching a little bit of each drink in her cup.

“Swamp water!” the otter declared. “Care for a taste?” She grinned toothily, presenting the cup to Taika.

The lunar was suspicious but also curious. She accepted the cup from the water element and took a sip.

“It’s good?” Taika blinked, surprised at the result.

“Is it?” Pacifica took her cup back and tried out the concoction. “It’s alright, I’ve had better,” she decided. The water element shifted her attention to the two waiting fire Resonators. “Would you two like to try?”

Rebecca stuck out her tongue. “Blech, that sounds terrible.”

“Oh, I get it, you’re scared.” Pacifica shrugged, chuckling to herself.

Taika shot a sidelong glance at the otter. Surely, Rebecca wasn’t that easy to goad.

Turns out, she was in fact that easy, as the fire fox snatched the cup and chugged it down. Only for seconds later to spit it back up and hunch over choking on it. “Uhg! That shit was terrible! What the fuck Pacifica!?” Rebecca barked, glaring at the water element, who was roaring with laughter.

“Clean it up!” they heard Shouri bark from the front.

Liza slowly shook her head as she watched the trio clean up the mess they had wrought, the entire time laughing and joking with one another.

Why?

----------------------------------------

“You should eat.”

Liza looked up from the fast food in front of her. Shouri had spoken to her. The four others at the table looked at the dragon expectedly.

“I’m not hungry,” she mumbled.

“Eat,” the Maestro said more pointedly. “I can’t imagine you’ve eaten particularly well in the past however long it’s been.”

Liza whimpered, glancing down at the food. She gave in to the peer pressure and took up the burger that had been provided to her. The flavor was sharp at first, hitting her like a truck, but she very quickly found her appetite, scarfing down the whole sandwich – it was the best she had ever tasted. The fries quickly evaporated from her tray as well, but she was left wanting for more. Without a word, Shouri rose from the table and went to the counter. The dragon’s eyes remained locked on the boy as he brought back a new bag.

He sat down and handed over the bag to Liza, who joyfully tore into the bag and devoured the second meal.

“Hah~” Liza sat back, now content.

Satisfied the ailing dragon was now fed, Shouri resumed eating his meal. It didn’t take too long before everyone had finished eating and were ready to talk.

“Alright Liza,” Shouri began. “What the hell happened to you?” he started with the most pointed question.

Liza lowered her head, refusing the four gazes on her.

“From what I saw, he was pretty nice to you – he chattered with you pretty excitedly and seemed to respect you,” Pacifica pointed out. “Definitely more than he did Rebecca,” the otter muttered, earning a huff from the fire fox in question.

The dragon’s lips remained sealed, she once more curled up on herself; hugging herself tightly and wrapping her wings around her body.

Shouri opened his mouth, but Rebecca beat him to the punch. “He abandoned your ass; you have your tuner,” the vixen reminded her former teammate. “You don’t owe him shit.”

“But-!” Liza raised her voice, cracking slightly as she did so. “He… you don’t know him like I do…” Once more she drooped. “He’s just too fucking prideful.” It was clear Liza was having a hell of a time sorting out her feelings, the turmoil wasn’t just written on her face, it was like she was holding up an entire billboard of emotion.

“How about you sleep on it?” Shouri suggested. “We healed you up, got some food in you now, the last thing you need is sleep.”

Slowly, the fire element nodded in agreement.

“You can do better than Lyle,” Rebecca told the dragon, glancing at Shouri. “Trust me on that.”

Liza held herself tighter upon hearing those words.