The next evening Shouri and his trio made their way up to the northern hunting site, as promised. They disembarked from the bus around nine or so at night – peak hours for the Maestro traffic coming into work for the evening.

“Where did they say to meet them?” Pacifica asked Shouri as they shuffled along with the rest of the crowd toward the site.

“They’d be by registration according to Amika,” he replied.

“The usual then,” the otter tittered.

With that in mind, the group joined the registration line with the rest of the awaiting Maestros. As usual, there were quite a few people here, but unlike the first Canolapra hunter camp they had visited, this one seemed to be a more traditional hunting experience.

“It doesn’t look like there’s much farmland here,” Shouri observed.

“Yeah. More woods,” Rebecca added in.

“Less people here,” Taika noted.

“Probably just the south site, I dunno,” Pacifica said with a shrug.

Whatever it was, they wouldn’t argue with a more traditional hunting experience.

As the line drew closer to the actual registration stalls, Pacifica spotted the rest of their hunting party hanging out near the front of the line, talking amongst themselves.

Lina’s group likewise noticed Shouri and made their way over.

“There you are!” Amika immediately shouted.

“Grandma again.” Shouri chuckled.

Thankfully the line moved fast and mentioning that he was with Lina’s group got them assigned together. The attendant had a very specific assignment for their relatively large group and provided a marker for them to follow. Nobody argued with this as it came with a tidy little bonus for all of them. With the bureaucracy out of the way, the ten-strong group moved into the dark woods. Immediately eight of the ten couldn’t see a thing, leading to complaints.

“Fuck it’s dark out here,” Amika grumbled.

“Just a smidge,” Lina laughed as she spoke.

“We have two fire Resonators here,” Leo pointed out.

“Right right. Keep forgetting other people don’t have night vision.” Shouri rolled his eyes and grabbed Rebecca’s tuner.

“Famiglio Incendio, Presto Staccato. Do four, one for yourself and Pacifica, then one each for Lina, Amika, and Leo,” Shouri instructed.

“Righto!” Rebecca knelt and got to work, summoning her four little familiars to light up the dark woods. One scampered up the Resonator’s shoulder. “I guess you’re with me.” The fire element laughed. “You three stick with them, make sure they can see,” Rebecca told the other three. With eager nods they rushed over to their assignments, ready to follow.

“When are you gonna get this one?” Chena elbowed Andi in the side.

“Whenever I feel like it!” Andi huffed, still a bit bitter about being bested by this spell in question.

Visibility solved, the group continued walking, idly chatting just like before. Shouri and his Resonators didn’t contribute much to the conversation, just listening to the three friends talk about local events and people they knew.

Shouri brought up Taika’s tuner, to check on the map she had so graciously marked with Rilevare l'intenzione. He furrowed his brow; the group they were tackling was pretty large now that he could see it on the map. The big blob of Scherzando matched up with the marker the registrar had given them.

That just raised questions, the chief of them being: Why were so many at this one spot? Either way, they had a big enough group to tackle it. Taika didn’t mention any big Scherzando, so this was probably safe to handle, as long as they had a good plan.

“We’re just about there,” he warned the group in front of him. The three Maestros and their Resonators slowed to gather with Shouri and his trio. After a moment, they split into two groups: one made up of the Maestros who were planning their attack, and the Resonators who listened.

“So, what’s the plan, plan guy?” Amika asked, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.

“Not make a scene like last time.” He shot an irritated glance at the other Maestro.

“Oh, you’re no fun!” Amika whined.

“Was it actually that bad?” Efigenios asked Andi.

“We had to smokescreen to get out. You’d think they were freaking rock stars!” the chinchilla complained.

“We did drop several meteors around the forest,” Pacifica informed the wolf man with a chuckle.

“Several?” Effy was dubious of the claim, but after eyeing up Shouri for a moment recalled he was able to command three Resonators for an eight-hour shift with no visible wear on his rhythm.

With a side conversation fully underway, the Maestros continued to hash out their plan of attack, which settled on a pretty simple set of tactics:

“I’ll focus on supporting you three dealing damage,” Shouri had decided.

“No arguments here,” Amika smirked.

“But why though?” Leo questioned.

“We get more money that way,” Lina pointed out.

“We’ve been living rent-free at Pacifica’s childhood home, and outside of that we’re hopping from MA office to MA office, most of our expenses are just travel costs and maintaining clothes and the like,” Shouri explained.

“Fair I suppose,” Leo yielded the point.

Amika turned back to the conversing Resonators. “’kay! We’re ready now.”

“Finally!” Andi cracked his knuckles, returning to his Maestro’s side.

“Supporting tonight?” Rebecca asked for clarification.

“Yeah, figured it wouldn’t hurt to take it easy for once,” Shouri said.

“Aw, you do care,” Pacifica joked, taking hold of one of her Maestro’s arms.

“Maybe if we finish fast enough, we can go get dessert?” Taika wondered hopefully.

“Seriously girl, where do you put it?” Rebecca shot a sideward glance at her fellow fox.

“They’re a laugh and a half,” Lina tittered, noting Shouri’s dynamic with his Resonators.

“Poor guy, wonder how he keeps up with them,” Effy muttered.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“We sure this is going to work?” Leo mumbled to himself.

“I mean, if nothing else, Shouri can just drop meteors on them again.” Chena shrugged.

“Man, should have had moneybags pay for our lunch yesterday,” Amika grumbled.

“We’d probably have had to chase him down the street again if you tried,” Andi pointed out.

The group separated, slowly surrounding the massive group of Scherzando milling about amongst the trees. Shouri kept careful watch of the map, having Taika refresh it every so often to ensure he had the latest information available.

“Rebecca, Anello di Fuoco, Tenuto Staccato.”

“Taika, La Bella Vita, Rubato.”

“Pacifica, Ghiacciolo, Pianissimo Staccato.”

“Rebecca will trap them. Taika stay behind Rebecca and heal her or anyone else as needed. Pacifica, we’ll handle the stragglers,” he quickly doled out the orders for how they were to use their linked spells. The three Resonators nodded, with Rebecca and Taika darting out of their cover to begin setting up.

Thanks to Taika’s previously applied Rilevare l'intenzione, she also could help direct Rebecca around trapping the Scherzando using the firewall spell, Anello di Fuoco. The forest was quickly illuminated by the magical flames the two fox-girls were setting up. As the encirclement became apparent to the Scherzando they began to panic and rush down the pair.

“Shit!” Rebecca jumped away but sorely missed her previous speed and agility afforded to her leading to her being hit by a flurry of bladed leaves. The fire element resisted the nature element spell thankfully, but it still physically hurt her from the sharpened pieces of foliage. This didn’t dissuade the canine-shaped Scherzando and it kept moving forward, aiming to use its physical features to dispatch the Resonator.

Thwick thwick thwick!

Three ice needles quickly pierced the attacking nature-element Scherzando, dispersing it. Rebecca muttered a small thanks of appreciation to Pacifica, who wasn’t visible, but keeping an eye on them. Taika also did her part and topped off Rebecca with a mild heal. “Appreciate it.” The fire fox glared at her uncooperative feet for a moment before they moved on.

The two foxes heard the other Maestros in their group beginning their attack; various water, fire, and solar spells drove the beasts toward the firewall which took care of the rest.

“They’re doing pretty good,” Taika updated Rebecca.

“Good.” The fire element continued her focus on laying down and re-applying the Anello di Fuoco, ensuring the weakened Scherzando smashed themselves to bits on the fiery barrier.

All was going well. Rebecca and Taika relaxed their upkeep of the firewalls as the number of Scherzando dwindled.

However, in an instant, the tide of battle shifted. A column of wind descended from upon high, crushing the two fox-girls into the dirt, and snuffing out the familiar on Rebecca’s person. Most of the firewall was damaged and now the Scherzando had easy access to the two floored girls.

Reflexively, Taika shot a heal to Rebecca, despite the position they were in. The perpetrator of the attack however made their presence known. A large bird Scherzando glowing in the white of the solar element. It wasn’t the size of a large Scherzando, but an in-between from the common Scherzando they so effortlessly dispatched.

The beast hungered, and it didn’t want to share with its weaker brethren. For this, it created a tornado that blew away the remainder of the firewalls Rebecca had created and scooped the two foxes into the air. Higher and higher they flew, well above the tops of even the tallest trees that graced the forest.

Rebecca’s heart practically stopped as she was whipped around. Time slowed to an absolute crawl as her brain went into overdrive, reviewing the full situation she was thrust into.

Through the nearly full moon, she had full visibility of the horrible situation she found herself in. They had been thrown high into the sky. Taika was sharing the ascent but was unconscious. Wind magic fell under the solar family, which was doubly effective against a lunar like her.

The Scherzando was unaccounted for, maybe it was dealt with by those on the ground? Either way, the tornado reached its apex and threw the two girls out. The remaining inertia from the tornado wore away and gravity dragged the pair rapidly towards the ground.

This was it; they were really about to die. There’s no way they’d survive the fall from such a great height.

How?! How was this going to be what did them in? Where did that bird even come from? It was all so anticlimactic; in just a short moment they would splatter on the ground and that would be the end of it.

What would Shouri say or do? He’d be devastated, inconsolable even for Pacifica’s strong stave. And Taika; she didn’t deserve this. Rebecca didn’t know the specifics of her life before Shouri, but surely this was heaven compared to whatever hell she had come from.

It couldn’t end like this! It just couldn’t!!

Maybe… she could save Taika, using her own body as a cushion to break the other girl’s fall?

Rebecca found herself reaching towards the still unconscious Taika, but it was useless, they were both just falling.

USELESS!

The fire Resonator closed her eyes in frustration but suddenly found… Taika was in her arms? Sure enough, opening her eyes, she now had hold of the other fox but…

How?

It all made sense in an instant. “NOW YOU COME BACK!” Pivoting her body around, feet straight down, Rebecca’s ad-lib, Icarus’ Ala burst to life under her. Pushing out the maximum output she could muster, possibly even much higher than that as she began to desperately slow their descent. Thanks to the jets at her feet, she managed to drop their speed just in the nick of time to slam through the canopy of trees, where it all went black.