Pacifica trudged into the dining room on the morning of the tenth to find her Maestro already in conversation with Captain Wik.

"You meant thaw," he said. "What? No, dethaw it," the elder otter furrowed her brow. "No no, the word thaw is to bring something from a cold or frozen state to a melted or warmed state. By adding the prefix 'de' to the word 'thaw', you imply that you're removing thawing, ergo you're freezing it."

Taika and Rebecca hummed in thought, processing the idea.

"Yes, but language evolves. If I get enough people to associate dethaw with the act of melting something, it'll become the new definition, playboy," the elder otter challenged with a smirk.

Shouri shrugged. "You got me there."

"Can that really happen?" Taika asked. "What?" Shouri looked to his lunar element. "Words just changing what they mean? That seems weird." "Sure, it happens all the time. For example, what does the word 'awful' mean to you?"

Rebecca and Taika exchanged a perplexed glance. "Well, it means something extremely bad right?" Taika offered.

"Right, now it does," Shouri said with a knowing smile. "Awful used to mean 'full of awe', or otherwise something impressive, such as the awful Sages – they weren't being referred to as being bad people but awe-inspiring figures due to how powerful they were," he explained.

The two vixens couldn't help but clap at the mini-etymology lesson they just received. Captain Wik just shook her head and shrugged.

It wasn't long before Shouri, Taika, and Rebecca were off on their next adventure for the day. Though, today's assignment left a lot to be desired in the… anything department.

They had just been told to go to the docks on the eastern coast and "you'll know" what the assignment was.

Shouri didn't like it, he hummed and hawed over how to action the suspiciously vague request. Something didn't sit right with him about the whole affair. The past few days were innocuous. Taking care of some kids, helping out a short-handed restaurant, and even being general-purpose couriers. These were all things that Wikolia did around these parts, but now couldn't since she was busy training Pacifica.

She got around, that much was certain. Perhaps that's why she was left alone – she was such a pillar of the community if anyone tried to go after her they would earn the ire of an entire settlement's worth of people.

"I think this is it." Rebecca's voice snapped the boy from his musings. The parking lot for the docks was a bit out of the way from the actual destination – they had to walk the remaining stretch. Not that it was a problem, it just meant they would lose their ability to make a fast getaway. Well, faster getaway – between Lento rank Famiglio Incendio and his Resonators' base speed, they could outpace most average people.

Hopefully, they wouldn't need to retreat in a hurry.

The trio stood outside the fences, looking in. It sure was a port, they noted to themselves. Though, unlike the nice, touristy port they arrived at, this one lacked the festive cheer of Salegio City. To call it rough would be underselling it – the southern port of the island was well-aged, like a storied tool. It showed its grit by remaining strong and functional despite how neglected the surrounding infrastructure was. Machinery moved large shipping containers about, stowing them away in the large warehouses that bordered the coast.

Rebecca and Taika suddenly perked up. "Sho!" the two vixens called to their Maestro.

"Something is going on that way!" Taika pointed down the length of the fence. "Sounds like a fight," Rebecca added, tension in her posture.

Shouri nodded. "Let's get closer." Before they did, however, he passed a hand over Taika's tuner. "Rilevare l'intenzione, Rubato; Ricerca Vitale, Rubato."

Taika nodded, the pair of identification spells linking up with her. "I got an idea," said the lunar element. She motioned for the others to follow along and led the way. Rebecca took the rear, keeping her ears out for anything suspicious while Taika focused on her spells.

They drew closer to whatever skirmish was underway in the nearby warehouse.

"Here's my idea: Sho, watch my tuner," she requested.

He didn't question it, pulling hers from his side.

Taika counted off beads, testing… something before shaking her head and adding another bead to the clump. This continued until there were ten total beads in a little ball floating away from their owner.

With a mental command, the beads flew over the fence and slunk through a broken window into the building.

Almost immediately information began to flow across Shouri's tuner as Taika's Ricerca Vitale began to take effect.

SUMMARY - Ricerca Vitale RESONATOR Panka RESONATOR Gottfrid RESONATOR Arwen MAESTRO STRAY MAESTRO STRAY MAESTRO STRAY SPECIES Red Squirrel SPECIES Tarsier SPECIES Mule ELEMENT Fire ELEMENT Solar ELEMENT Null ATTRIBUTE Slashing ATTRIBUTE Piercing ATTRIBUTE Null RHYTHM 25% 25% RHYTHM 37% Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. 37% RHYTHM 24% 24% STATUS Intoxicated [???] STATUS Intoxicated [???] STATUS Intoxicated [???]

Shouri grunted, now figuring out what the Allegro rank added to the output. He wondered if higher ranks would give even more detailed information on what caused the status problems.

"What does that mean?" Rebecca questioned, noting the unusual status. "Uhhh…" Shouri flipped to a web browser and quickly searched it up.

He wished he hadn't.

"Intoxicated status typically indicates a Resonator has an altered state of consciousness and behavior due to the introduction of controlled substances to a Resonator's system," he read aloud in a hushed terror.

"Controlled substances?" Taika repeated, raising a brow. "Alcohol or drugs," the Maestro stated grimly. "Scan more," he urged.

Taika nodded, closing her eyes and focusing on her beads.

As more reports flooded the tuner screen, Shouri shook his head more and more. There were probably about a dozen Resonators in there, all of them were marked as intoxicated.

"M-maybe they're just alcoholics?" Rebecca tried to make a hopeful guess. "Why is their rhythm so low then? Normal alcohol doesn't do that to your rhythm," Shouri asserted. "They are pretty rowdy, maybe that's it?" she offered, though her meager optimism was rapidly plummeting.

Before they could do anything about it, a voice broke up their musings. "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

The three turned to see not a uniformed guard, but a hulking man that could only be described as a thug and his similarly bulky Resonators approaching.

"Girls, get ready." Shouri drew Rebecca's tuner from his side.

"You're going to need to dive deep for this one," Captain Wik began.

The two otters were once again at sea. They had gone quite a distance out this time. The shore they came from was no longer on the horizon. The islands around them were mostly left to nature, either abandoned or never settled in the first place.

Pacifica looked over the side of the boat, noting the depth of the surrounding salt water as their vessel bobbed atop the surface of the waves. "You mean that literally or…" she trailed off, turning back to her teacher.

"What do you think?" Captain Wik raised an unamused brow. "Stupid question," Pacifica agreed, wilting under her teacher's growing glower.

"Go sit on the sea bed and meditate. Clear your mind entirely. Understand the water. Become the ocean surrounding you."

Pacifica furrowed her brows. She didn't quite understand what the point was but silently hoped that it would make sense when she got down there.

"I guess that's why you let me remove the bands this morning," the younger otter mumbled to herself.

"Correct," the master water element confirmed. "Don't let anything distract you. Not even your Maestro's rhythm. Especially not your Maestro's rhythm. You need to focus on the water."

That only served to inspire unease in the student. Maybe that was the point. Despite their distance from shore she still maintained a rhythmic link with Shouri.

"Go on, git!"

SPLASH

And Pacifica pouted as she sank to the sea floor. She coulda just asked, thought the bitter otter. At least she could breathe, which was a small grace. Sulking wouldn't do her any good though, so she got to work on the assignment doled out to her. She sat on the sea bed and crossed her legs. Closing her eyes, Pacifica focused on the water around her.

How it felt. How it sounded. How it moved.

Her brows pinched tight, the distant thoughts carried by tempo stuck in her like needles. They were doing something dangerous. That was the vibe carried through rhythm. Even at this distance, at this depth of water, they couldn't be severed from her.

That was precisely the problem though; her contemplation of the surrounding waters steadily cracked by splinters of rhythm she received. It made concentrating on the task at hand a monumental feat of willpower.

Captain Wik did this on purpose. It was rigged from the start. This exercise was hand-crafted to work against her. Regardless, Pacifica sought to see it through; and for that, she focused.

What was water? How does it work? What does it do?

The noise gradually washed away from her mind as she connected with the pool deep within her soul.

Yes, Pacifica was water. Not just biologically, but spiritually. In that way, she was the ocean that surrounded her. If she just reached out, she could take hold of it, and move it as if it were her arms or legs. It was so easy in retrospect, how had she not understood it before?

"Remind me again how the hell we got here?" Shouri asked, back pressed against a knee-high wall.

"No time to be reminiscing about the glory days, Sho! We gotta do something!" Rebecca shouted over the hail of spells crashing against their rapidly eroding cover.

"As usual, the police sure are taking their sweet time to get here!" Shouri complained, lowering himself further.

Spells flew overhead as Taika and Rebecca crouched on either side of him. They were roughed up to put it lightly; with all three running at about half strength from the back-to-back fights that had erupted over the last thirtyish minutes or so.

"I wish I had that crescendo thing," Taika growled, baring her teeth in frustration. "Wait, we might have the next best thing," Shouri realized.

"Huh?" The two foxes looked to their Maestro.

"Bolide, Rubato," was the first call Shouri made. Before Rebecca could question his plan, he called the second spell. "Onda Mentale, Rubato."

Taika jumped as she was linked with the spell. "Wait, Sho, I only have this in Allegro!" she shouted in protest of the plan she assumed he was going for.

"No time, put out as much force as you can muster. Rebecca, blast 'em away!" Shouri commanded.

Regardless of the trepidation in half the pair, the vixens moved. Taika threw out as much of her Maestro-backed telekinesis as possible. The weaker attacks were caught up in the spread of Taika's spell. It wasn't as impressive as Rynda's showing they had witnessed months back, but it was good enough to make a sort of telekinetic plow to cleave through the onslaught of spells.

It also gave Rebecca the breathing room to unleash a firestorm of her own, launching fireball after fireball at the rough resistance they were receiving.

Explosions rocked the already battered piers and the only other sound was Shouri's call of a spell. "Funghi Magici, Rubato!"

Among the storm kicked up by the many explosions, spores began to spread in the air and swept right into the enemy camp by way of Taika's continued usage of Onda Mentale.

Rebecca eased up on her attacks as the resistance petered out.

When the smoke cleared, the attacking thugs were either knocked out by the explosions and fire damage or put to sleep thanks to the lunar-nature ossia spell.

"Holy shit." Shouri rested his head against what remained the wall. "I'm gonna kill that woman," he groaned. With a lazy tilt of his head, he noted there were still no signs of the police he had called when the fighting broke out. "They better fucking show up, cause I'm sure as hell not cleaning up this mess," he grumbled.

"Come on Sho, we gotta go find out what's going on here," Rebecca and Taika both stood over him, a hand outstretched from each. He accepted both with a tired smile and allowed them to pull him up.

Thanks to the lack of rabble-rousers, having been thoroughly dealt with, the docks fell eerily quiet. Only the sounds of the waves crashing against the sea walls granted them any sort of audience. The boats that were parked in the harbor were presently uncrewed.

All in all, this didn't seem like a particularly popular place. Especially given the warm reception they themselves received upon just walking around the premises.

Upon reaching the warehouse that started the whole scuffle, Taika and Rebecca took the lead. The pair of vixens nodded to one another as they readied their ad-Libs. Pushing through the cracked door, however, didn't prepare them for what was inside.

"A-are they…?" Rebecca ignited her heels only so she wouldn't lose the spark, her face was pale at the sight that lay before them.

Bodies littered the floor, all Resonators.

Shouri stood still for a moment, his eyes wide, breath stuck in his throat. Only Taika's hand and stubborn will thawed his frozen soul. "R-ricerca Vitale, Allegro," he managed to get out.

The lunar Resonator scanned the bodies and Shouri confirmed, "They're still alive," he paused. "I don't know for how long." His eyes remained stuck on the tuner's readout.

STATUS Overdosed

"Sho!" Rebecca shouted.

He shook himself out of his terror, though his heart refused to calm. The boy looked to his fire element, who was pointing to one of the open containers. "T-taika, check on them. Purifica L'anima, see if you can clear the overdose with that," he instructed of his healer.

"I'll try," said Taika, rushing to her task.

Hopefully, Taika would be able to revive the unresponsive Resonators. In the meantime, Shouri joined Rebecca at the containers.

"What's this stuff?" she asked. "It looks like they were doing something with it."

In the boxes, they found some fairly innocuous things, children's toys, canned soups, normal consumer goods. But every one of the boxes they checked hid something else. Within all the everyday items was buried a strange powder housed in tiny plastic bags. Each of the baggies was labeled "KB" in black marker.

Rebecca went to touch one of the pouches, but Shouri grabbed her wrist. "Don't." His focus locked onto the bags themselves. "I think it's a drug of some kind."

"How do you know?" Rebecca asked, heeding her Maestro's wisdom. "…I've seen it before."

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