novelraw Chapter 299 - 247 - Rehearsal, Together
Chapter 299 - 247 - Rehearsal, Together
"Just to preface, we're still figuring this stuff out," began Shouri.
"It's a work in progress, but we're doing our best to learn!" added Pacifica.
Before the pair sat Colette and Kaira, as well as the trio of Vince, Mila, and Zephyr. Pacifica curled her tail around her Maestro's back and beamed brightly as they led this exercise.
The group had gathered in the office, the desk pushed back against the walls to give them more room to sit comfortably. Miro stood in the back, taking notes at Colette's request (and his own curiosity). Nina also watched with the Natural, her arms folded across her chest as she observed the proceedings with intrigue.
"So, just to make sure, everyone is sharing a bed now, right?" quizzed Shouri.
"Yes!" Vince and his duo cheered.
"Uh--yes…" Kaira admitted, averting her gaze as the fluster rushed up to her face.
"We did," Colette stated matter-of-factly.
The jackal shot her Maestro an annoyed look.
Pacifica clapped twice for attention. "Alright! Let's go ahead and join hands!" she declared.
Maestro and Resonator held hands; Shouri with Pacifica; Colette with Kaira; and Vince had one hand in Mila's and a very gentle pinch of Zephyr's.
"Close your eyes and focus solely on each other," Pacifica instructed.
"You're not above one another, you're together, clear your mind and take in everything about your partner's rhythm," Shouri spoke softly.
The five students did exactly that.
Colette was curious, but she knew she couldn't go on without Kaira. She needed to learn how to do this. It was for her condition, after all.
Kaira hoped her love would come across their connection, perhaps with the benefits of stronger etude she'd finally get what she had always dreamed of.
Vince pushed himself to his pair, his best friends. He offered himself up readily for them to claim.
Mila took in the rhythm of the boy she wanted to protect--his innocence was gone, but she'd ensure he didn't hurt anymore.
Zephyr greedily took in the warmth of the Maestro she wanted to spend her life with, but she remembered the point of the rhyhmic workout and relaxed. She allowed him to claim her as she had done when they got together. She was his, and he was hers.
Pacifica and Shouri dove deeper than their proteges could hope to in their current state. Their hands linked tightly, but that boundary blurred as Maestro or Resonator became Maestro and Resonator.
Through Pacifica's strength, Shouri checked on their pupils. The connection between Vince and his duo was strong. Their care for one another genuine, warm. It still could grow closer, tighter, but it was leagues better than the average Riterran Maestro.
Colette and Kaira on the other hand…
Pacifica's senses told him the pair missed the point. Shouri allowed their eyes to open, and the linked pair studied Miro, who was furiously scribbled away in his notebook.
Nina's gaze was locked on the linked pair, her expression unreadable. She just stared, remaining propped up against the wall, arms folded across her chest, wings curled over her shoulders.
"Remember," Pacifica and Shouri spoke, jolting the quiet group with surprise. "You're giving yourself up to your partner."
Even with that gentle nudge, Colette and Kaira's thoughts didn't change.
Colette knew their tempo wasn't improving, and she was starting to grow frustrated with the whole endeavor.
Kaira pinned the blame on herself, as usual.
Shouri frowned hard (dragging Pacifica's lips with him). Thankfully, they were linked, so Pacifica's mental shoulder rub calmed him down. People didn't share his thoughts like his Resonators could. Getting his point across required more than just holding hands.
"Okay, new idea," Shouri suddenly spoke.
"We're going on a road trip, everyone in the van," added Pacifica.
"Why are we here?" Colette couldn't help but voice her confusion at their surroundings.
The local MA Office seemed like a strange place for a field trip, especially one suggested by Pacifica.
Even weirder was their bypassing of the front office in favor of the other facilities. Even Shouri's announcement that they'd be doing some sparring also didn't make much sense to the scholar.
Their pack was fairly large, all things considered. Nina and Miro being smaller than average helped squeeze them all in the back row of the van, as well as Zephyr's seat in Vince's jacket.
Either way, their nine strong group made their way to the dirt battlefields in the back. Pacifica took the lead in organization. Finally, she found a Maestro with a team of three.
"Cool!" was what Colette heard when she finally decided to pay attention.
Shouri addressed his guild. "So here's the plan--Sherly here has agreed to some sparring matches. She's trying to prep for a tournament, so don't hold back," advised the guildmaster.
"I'll go first, pay careful attention." Shouri's gaze lingered on Colette and Kaira specifically.
Nina was the one officiating the match. The duelist shot a curious glance at the demure bird girl, wondering why the task was left up to the smallest member of their group (that she could see).
"Pacifica versus Mika--Begin!"
Kaira's eyes widened at Shouri's immediate audacity. He and Pacifica started the battle in their fully connected state; the point where he risked injury or worse.
Yet… he didn't hesitate. The jackal watched in awe as Pacifica weaved in and out of the shadowy attacks cast by the lunar bat Sherly sent out as her lead.
Pacifica's assault was fast and efficient. With perfect tempo blurring the lines between Maestro and Resonator, they were the goal, the summit they all were supposed to reach. Shouri winced as he took blows alongside Pacifica. Even so, he didn't falter. His gaze remained resolute, completely focused on the battle at hand.
The otter kept her distance, water and ice flew freely at her airborne adversary. Blades of lunar energy peppered the field. Pacifica was at a distinct disadvantage in this battle. Her opponent's basic spells trumped her basics, which meant she needed advanced magic to bridge the gap.
Why wasn't Shouri calling any advanced spells? Or any of the many ossias Pacifica possessed? She didn't even use her ad-Lib. It was all basic magic the entire fight.
"Guh!"
"That's it! Pacifica wins!" Nina called, raising a hand towards Shouri's side.
"Holy shit, what a monster…" Mika cursed, as she limped back to her Maestro, rubbing her sore wings.
"What have I gotten myself into?" Sherly wondered. Her second, a solar element bear man stepped up to fight.
As Shouri rejoined his guildmembers, he and Pacifica smirked and gave a thumbs up. "How was I?" they asked.
"Crazy cool!" Vince beamed.
"Si si! Only basic spells!" Miro cheered.
"Yeah, I figured it'd be better to show you all what it looks like in a more prolonged fight, fucking exhausting, though…" Pacifica and Shouri sighed as they held one another up.
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"We're next! Come on!" Vince bolted for the battle box.
Colette studied the two returning battlers. They faced each other, and muttered something about pushing apart? It didn't quite make sense, but they were close, their rhythm felt like one blob. It was so big and disorienting, it shook her even as they just sat next to her.
Part of her was curious about Vince. He was the guild's youngest member, turning sixteen soon if she recalled correctly. The difference between him and his contemporaries was he had made leaps and bounds that Colette wouldn't have believed if she hadn't met Shouri.
He was almost the spitting image of their guildmaster, at least in terms of how he got along with his Resonators. Their bond was tight, even the fairy girl already exhibited extremely high tempo with her Maestro.
After some back and forth between Vince and Sherly, they came to an agreement and Zephyr fluttered out, ready to fight the mountain of a man.
It was almost comical for the tiny fairy to be fighting such a massive Resonator.
"Zephyr versus Hrolfgarde--begin!"
With Nina's shout, another battle commenced. Sherly looked beyond excited, even as her Resonator had a horrible time trying to hit the tiny target.
Colette never realized just how fast Zephyr was. The tiny fairy cleared insane distances in seconds, she could be anywhere on the battlefield almost instantly. Vince never lost sight of her either. She could feel from his rhythm that their bond let him keep up with her, despite how fast she was moving.
Unlike Shouri, Vince didn't hold back. Fairy dust fluttered about, striking the bear with stinging light, and he countered with wide magic of his own. It became clear that the best way to deal with the fluttering menace was to disrupt the wind she relied on.
Raffica Discendente was a hard spell for the fairy to deal with. A big column of air forced her to the ground and put her in a bad spot, but she was still quick to dart out from under the crushing air before its caster could do serious damage.
Then came the Aria Crepia war as the two solar elements popped the air around their targets. Zephyr took a few good hits, but for every hit she took, she managed to snap back with a couple of her own.
"That's it!" Nina called, as the two combatants halted. "Zephyr is the winner!" called the phoenix.
Vince rushed onto the field, and caught his fairy as she finally let the fatigue hit her.
"Oh my god, that was way more intense than it needed to be." Sherly hung her shoulders as her battered bear returned to her. "Guilds are no joke, jeeze," the duelist wheezed.
"You had one more, right?" Sherly called.
All eyes turned to Colette and Kaira. "Y-yeah…" mumbled the scholar, fishing her brown tuner from her side. She looked to her jackal. "Are you ready?"
Kaira wanted to shake her head, but found a curt nod was the response her body provided.
The unprepared duo stepped towards the battle box. Colette stopped in the chalk outline designated for her, while Kaira continued forward, stopping before her opponent, a fellow earth element, though where her tail was coated with a thick insulating fur, his was lined with hardened scales.
"Kaira versus Sylva--begin!" Nina's shout began the third and final round of the spar.
This was not Colette's strong suit. She and Kaira both knew it. There were no illusions of Colette's strength as a Maestro. That was to say, she was about as well off as a non-hunter or duelist. It was a miracle she had survived this long off of just Kaira's raw strength alone.
"Colette! Focus!" Shouri's quick snap pulled her out of her thoughts. Kaira had already run at the dragon, drawing upon the sand that covered the battlefield. Colette looked at her tuner, the spell list all the more daunting, even with so few options available.
Kaira moved without Colette's orders, throwing any sand she could grab with her ad-Lib at the opposing earth element. Rather than a struggle for control of the particulates, the dragon man deftly dodged the strikes, stepping back and weaving in and out of the jackal's attempts.
"Colpito da una Roccia, Fortissimo!" Sherly called.
Kaira jumped back, and pooled her captured sand for defense. Instead of the rock she expected, Sylva advanced, and threw a flurry quick jabs. The flow of battle instantly flipped on its head as attacker and defender changed roles.
"Colette!" Shouri barked.
The Maestro's eyes darted up and down her spell list, her mind blank as she gripped her tuner tightly. "Uhh… Erodendo Volontà, Legato!"
That… was a mistake. Colette had never used an ossia spell before, so she had no frame of reference to know what it was going to do to her. As the rhythm was violently ripped from her, Colette's eyes widened, she stumbled, and her tuner fell from her grasp. It was like every cell that made up her form screamed in protest. It didn't hurt, but it wasn't exactly a pleasant sensation either.
Kaira didn't have the luxury of concern given she was still under attack. To earn a reprieve, she cast the spell provided to her. Solar magic was strange, the very light of the life giving sun burned in her. It warmed her and brought wind to her heart. The sudden gales in her soul would suffocate her if she didn't keep them in check. With that in mind, she unleashed the foreign rhythm from her body.
She thrust her hand out and a harsh tempest kicked up, sand blasting forth to wear away the dragon assaulting her.
He weathered the storm and emerged from the other side, which forced Kaira to abort the remainder of her spell to avoid another powerful jab aimed low. She could feel the force of his punches would do serious damage if she allowed even one to land. The jackal darted away, her ears flicking to track her adversary. He was right on her tail. Despite how large the man was, he was just as nimble as she was.
Trained fighters were scary, and it only reinforced how weak Kaira felt.
"Go!" Sherly shouted suddenly.
Kaira wasn't foolish enough to turn her attention to the Maestro, but paid her caution to the dragon.
Even if it didn't help.
In an instant, she found herself meeting a boulder of crystal. It fired off like a cannon, and easily cleared the small distance between the two in a second. Her defense didn't just crack, it was utterly crushed and she was launched off her feet, landing with a sickening thud.
Colette sat on her knees, gripping her blouse tightly as she panted hard. Sweat poured down her face, her ears rung so loudly it was deafening. Her eyes wide as she stared at her motionless Resonator with fear.
Nina didn't call the match, she flew over to check on the downed jackal.
Sherly paled. "Oh… fuck…S-sotto," she called. The giant gemstone vanished into the rhythm that summoned it.
Everyone rushed over behind Nina to check on the fallen Resonator. All but Colette, who found herself unable to catch her breath, her eyes resting on the brown tuner that lie in the dirt before her.