"Hrm…" Shouri grunted over their late lunch. "What's up bossman?" asked Rebecca. "This."

He flipped the tuner around for her to see.

Storm Prediction Center - Current Rhythoscale Discussion x

Rhythoscale Discussion 1667 RWS Storm Prediction Center Dalliva, Lybertera 0334 PM CLT Fri 30 Nov 2018

Areas affected...northeast Leono region...southeast Dalliva region...western through central Fotonzia region

Concerning...Severe potential...Watch possible

Valid 302134Z - 302330Z

Probability of Watch Issuance...60 percent

SUMMARY...Thunderstorms should undergo a gradual increase in coverage and intensity over the Sela River region through about 00Z, with a more substantial severe threat expected to evolve after 01Z. While a tornado watch is possible in the short term (next 1-2 hours) it is more likely that WW issuance will be closer to 01Z. All severe modes including large hail, tornadoes and damaging wind will be possible. All regional MA Offices are advised to begin crisis level staffing procedures. Another rhythoscale discussion will likely be needed closer to WW issuance time.

 

After studying the science mumbo jumbo for some time, Rebecca got the gist of what it was trying to say. "It has been looking like it's going to rain all day," she noted, allowing a peek towards their solitary window where the dark clouds continued to roll in.

"I don't like the idea of crisis-" before Shouri could finish that thought, all of his tuners began emitting a loud annoying chime.

EMERGENCY ALERT x Emergency alert: Severe 30 Nov, 3:45 PM

Maestros within the DALLIVA REGION – LYBERTERA are advised of a TORNADO WATCH in your region. All capable hunters and conductors are asked to coordinate with your closest MA Office for first responder detail.

Shouri and Rebecca shared an uneasy glance, only broken up by a sudden knock at the door.

"C-come in!" Shouri called.

Emily burst into the room first. "Shouri, what the terra is this?!" she demanded, showing the same message on her own black tuner.

Colette and Vince poked their heads in the open door.

"Remember how I said you could be drafted for emergency work?" Shouri quizzed.

The Luna native narrowed her eyes. "I'll go get everyone," she conceded after a moment, taking her leave, with Colette and Vince in tow.

"What are we gonna do, bossman?" asked Rebecca.

Before he could answer, his tuner started ringing. The screen now had a red background, all of his apps were missing and the following text displayed on screen with the only option being to pick up the call.

Dalliva MA Office EMERGENCY CALL

Shouri sighed loudly. "Go get me Taika, I have a feeling I'm about to need her," he decided. With a nod, Rebecca rushed out of the room, while Shouri faced the tuner.

"Hello, Shouri speaking," he answered. "Good afternoon Mr. Tomoshibi. I'm the Scherzando Tactics Coordinator for the Dalliva MA Office, how are you doing?" the voice on the other end introduced themselves. "Well, I was doing fine until I was reading that rhythoscale discussion thing. Then I swear I felt Sahji grinning at me," the boy replied.

"Well, you probably should be asking Sage Cielto for his mercy before you consider Sage Sahji," laughed the coordinator. "We need your help this evening. I'm assuming if you're looking at the RSDs that you're in the region?"

"I am. Does every hunter get a personal call like this?" he questioned. "No, we only communicate with ultimate holders and guild leadership," they replied.

Shouri allowed himself a quiet sigh. He wasn't surprised, but it didn't stop it from being annoying.

"What do I owe the pleasure?" asked Shouri. "We'd like to ask for your guild to spare Maestros to accompany storm chasers this evening. We usually have high level and professional Maestros assigned to storm chasing teams to help protect them in the field and get ahead of first responders."

The guildmaster nodded slowly. It made sense. Storm chasers usually well, chased the storms, so they'd also be right there when the inevitable Scherzando spawned.

"I can spare three Maestros, which includes myself. We have a resident non-battler that needs protection, so I'd like to leave my two weaker Maestros and our Natural guild member at our hall to handle that," he tried to explain their situation as professionally as he could muster, his eyes glowing a bright yellow.

"Any help is greatly appreciated. We'll send three chasers your way to pick your people up. Since you're new to the region, let me quickly break down how compensation is going to work."

Shouri perked up. He didn't think there'd be talk of money.

"Since this is an emergency situation, all regions will be at high risk pay rate for Scherzando kills. You'll also be compensated on an hourly rate with events lasting longer than eight hours paying triple time. Any payment processing will go through your guild liaison, payouts typically occurring within two to three business days following the event."

"Fair enough," Shouri mumbled.

"Depending on the severity of the event we might bump the pay scale up to super critical pay rates after damage analysis is done. If there's a discrepancy in pay due to this, we'll send the missing wages to your liaison for distribution."

Another hum of understanding. It seemed more than reasonable. Then again, Shouri had never done anything like this before. The Riva Coast very rarely had tornadoes, and all of the regions they had visited in his time as a Maestro never had such an event occur.

"Any questions?" asked the coordinator. "I'm sure I'll think of something later, but I'll just pass it up to my liaison if it's that big of a deal." "Of course, thank you for your service. Stay safe and have a good evening.

Right as the call ended, the door to his room opened again, Rebecca having grabbed Taika and Pacifica.

"What's going on, Sho?" asked Taika immediately. "We're going storm chasing."

"Woah…" astonished gasps were all that the members of PTRS could muster as three heavily armored vehicles rode up to the guild hall.

Out of each of the vehicles a pair came out. A Maestro accompanied by a Resonator, all the same species. The most forward vehicle's occupants approached. A man in his thirties with a similarly aged Resonator by his side.

"Gabriel Humboldt, and this is my partner Tyson," the bespectacled man introduced himself, offering a hand for Shouri.

"Shouri Tomoshibi, PTRS," he returned the greeting. He motioned for his trio to introduce themselves. "Taika," said the lunar, adjusting the medical bag slung over her shoulder.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Pacifica, nice to meet you!" the otter beamed. "Yo! Rebecca," the fire vixen said with a wave.

Shouri noted that Emily and Vince's groups went ahead and picked out the chaser they'd be tagging along with for the evening, so he decided to leave them with their choices and speak with Gabriel.

"So, what do we do?" was the first question Shouri could think of. "Pile into the Wild Treads here and we'll get over there. Storms should drop in about an hour and that's how long it'll take to get there from here," explained the storm chaser.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Shouri and his trio got into the tank of a vehicle and got situated. The inside was like a mobile lab, with computer monitors everywhere. The seats they took up were quite cozy all things considered.

"Woah," Rebecca gasped. "What's up?" asked Shouri. "This thing has crazy rhythm shielding," she said. "I think a Fortissimo would just plink right off of it," she clarified.

"Name of the game!" Gabriel called from the front. "Especially with the Scherzando that usually follow a storm," Tyson spoke up.

"I meant to ask, what are you?" came Rebecca's inquiry. "Groundhog," he replied simply.

The battle expert hummed. "Never seen one of you before," she noted. "Solar element?" she questioned, noting his fluffy gray hair and ears coupled with the breeziness she could feel from his rhythm.

"Null," he replied. "We're not really suited for formal battling since-" Tyson suddenly shivered as his hair began to take on a distinct blue color and another trait Rebecca picked up on.

"You're water element now," she noted, the feeling of humidity wafting from his rhythm.

Before he could elaborate further, pounding rain hit the windshield.

"Ah, I get it," said Shouri. He could sense Taika and Pacifica's confusion, so he spoke his theory. "Groundhogs have a trait that changes their element with the weather, right?"

"Bingo! We're bad for formal battles because we're so reliant on the weather that its really easy to waste our spells if you mess with the weather," the groundhog explained.

"Really good for us in chasing though. If a groundhog changes to lightning element, we know it's a severe thunderstorm," Gabriel added.

Right on cue, Tyson's hair began to take on a yellow tint before finally going full blond, with his rhythm radiating the distinct charge of static that lightning elements carried.

Shouri's tuner began emitting that loud annoying emergency chime from earlier. He quickly silenced it and took a look at the flashing alert on screen.

EMERGENCY ALERT x Emergency alert: Extreme 30 Nov, 6:05 PM

Riterran Weather Service: SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING in effect for this area until 7:15 PM CLT for DESTRUCTIVE baseball size hail and extreme winds. Take shelter in a sturdy building, away from windows. Maestros and Resonators outdoors will be severely injured.

"See?" said Gabriel with a chuckle.

"Wow, that's crazy," Pacifica gasped. "Is it weird to change elements so often?" Taika asked of Tyson.

"Sometimes. We're meteorologists, so we usually have a good idea of when its coming, but it does get inconvenient when I want to take a shower and I know a front is coming that'll make me lightning for example," the groundhog said. "Don't play coy Ty, tell them about when you were screaming because you started the shower null and became fire halfway through," Gabriel laughed at his partner. "Gabe, we JUST met them, can you not?" Tyson shoved his Maestro.

It was at that moment that some of the computers around began chiming.

"Probably rotation," Gabriel said. "Probably, I'll check," Tyson flicked his seatbelt off and rushed into the back, whispering small "excuse me"s and "pardon me"s as he maneuvered around their guests.

"Turn left onto thirty five!" Tyson shouted, eyes stuck on the screen he was scanning. "Heading south?" Gabriel confirmed. "Yeah. The hook is pretty severe. No one has reported on it yet." "Differential?" "Debris ball, yeah."

Shouri and his Resonators exchanged a glance, having numerous questions, but also feeling it rude to interrupt.

"Oh, it's about to get loud by the way," Tyson warned the quartet.

Before they could ask what he meant, the vehicle began to take a beating with the sound of something repeatedly striking the reinforced metal surface.

"Is it hailing?" wondered Pacifica. All they needed to do was to look out the front window to see the small balls of ice joining the heavy rain.

"Hail?" Taika raised a brow. "The atmosphere is pretty darn cold high up where the rainclouds live. When you get a particularly windy rain event like this one, the water droplets from the rain can get forced back up into the sky repeatedly until it eventually freezes and becomes too heavy to be affected by the wind and come crashing down as hail," explained Tyson, he cut his explanation short, turning his head towards the front.

Once again, Shouri's tuners went haywire as another emergency alert graced the screens. He checked the message.

EMERGENCY ALERT x Emergency alert: Extreme 30 Nov, 6:11PM

Riterran Weather Service: TORNADO WARNING in this area until 6:45PM CLT. Take shelter now in a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. If you are outdoors, in a mobile home, or in a vehicle, move to the closest substantial shelter and protect yourself from flying debris and scherzando. Check media.

"Gabe! It's going east north east, go down Mueller Road!" the groundhog called. "Got it!" A sudden turn of the vehicle confirmed the instruction was received.

"Anyway, hail can get real big and nasty with tornadoes as the water droplets crash into each other and flash freeze. Have seen hail get as big as pieces of fruit. Pretty scary considering it's a solid ball of ice."

There was a silent awe at the information being conveyed to them. Outside the vehicle, it had gotten hopelessly dark; only the lights adorning the front of their transport and the numerous bolts of lightning that arcs from cloud to cloud revealing what lurked in the shadows.

"Oh, why doesn't weather magic work on storms like this?" asked Rebecca. "Yeah!" agreed Taika. "I have that sky clearing spell… uh… quale fu?" the lunar fox trailed off, furrowing her brow while she tried to recall which one it was. "Chiaro Cielo di Mezzanotte," Shouri answered for her.

"Right, so there's a lot of rhythm in the atmosphere. Like a ton of it. More than every single resonator combined ten times over. It's spread across such a wide surface area and so high up that it doesn't affect your ability to sense rhythm of those around you and all that rhythm can't be readily accessed by us on the ground," Tyson began.

Gabriel picked up where his Resonator paused. "The reason we can't just throw spells at storms like that is because the really strong storms have so much rhythm in them it's like they're almost alive. Our magic can influence the weather changing which is how weather spells normally work, but after a certain point the storm systems reject outside magic and do whatever they want."

"Which usually means destroying people's homes," Shouri hummed to himself. "In the grand scheme of things, we're just little specks on this rock, while the Rythmósphere is like a giant unkillable Scherzando," said Tyson.

"U-turn Gabe! Head back up 19th!" called the Resonator. "God damn, this is not built for sharp turns," Gabriel grunted, spinning the vehicle around in a wide turn to follow his Resonator's instruction. "It's crossing 32nd Street, we'll be able to-" Tyson shivered. His hair began to gray. "We found it," said the now solar element.

The four non-chasers of the group looked between each other.

Gabriel pulled off to the side of the road and threw it in park. He kicked his door open and jumped out into the rain. Tyson did the same for one of the side doors. Rebecca flinched as soon as the doors opened, her eyes widening in shock.

The rain and wind outside the vehicle whipped around but they couldn't see a thing. It was simply too dark for them to spot what was happening. There was a loud hum in the distance, but they couldn't deduce what the source of the commotion was given the lack of visibility. Several sirens alerting of the destructive storm blared as loud as possible from all around them.

"Rebecca, what's wrong?" asked Shouri, noting how shaken up his precious fire Resonator was. "Big… really big…" she trembled.

Before he could ask for clarification, they heard the voice of their driver shouting over the storm.

"This is Gabriel Humboldt, we're on the corner of 19th and North Wall Drive! Confirming rain-wrapped tornado touchdown around 32nd Street heading east northeast!"

And that's when the quartet finally spotted it. With a brief flash of lightning a funnel of black wind rotated across the countryside, taking everything that it touched with it.

Rebecca pointed at the twister tearing up the land. "Tornado."

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