Chapter 40 - Mysterion Air

Another night fell on Santo Cercido, and the quartet of Holly, Solana, and her Resonators were in the throes of meal prep once more.

“I’m going to work the counter tonight,” said Holly, ready to fight for the right.
“Huh? Oh, okay.” Solana gave in pretty easily.
“You’re not gonna ask why?” asked the zalavan.
“Well, you said it with such conviction that I figured you know what you’re doing, so why would I argue?”

And with that, Holly was left at the front.

The plant took a deep breath before she focused on the task at hand. Her red eyes glowed with stubborn blue rhythm – it was time to brute force this task.

“Good evening, what can I getcha?” asked Holly of the night’s first customer.

---

Meal service went on in mundane fashion. From the front counter, Holly had the perfect vantage point to scrutinize every Maestro and Resonator that passed through the hunting grounds. Her body was just on autopilot, easily serving customers, counting bills out, accepting payments – she did it all as if she had worked customer service her whole life.

“Wow… maybe you should work cashier for us more often,” Solana commented.
“Huh?” Holly snapped out of her trance.

A whole night had passed, and now it was time to close up.

“We made 2500 tonight – I think people like you,” the chef grinned.
“Indeed, Lady Holly is a professional,” Lee commented.
“Regular veteran,” Vivi chuckled.

Holly looked at her hands, slowly closing them – she had been entirely concentrating on their surroundings; she didn’t even remember doing what she did. In her focused state, however, she didn’t find a single trace of the Director.

There was only one conclusion.

“He won’t show up around other people,” she suddenly said.

“Huh?”

The zalavan turned to the trio. She leaned back against the front counter, ready to spill her thoughts. “That man won’t attack me as long as we’re amongst other Maestros. Because you’ve come to my aid multiple times, he’s most likely considering you as part of my inner circle or something. He’s still coming after me, but is taking your intervention as acceptable losses.”

Solana, Lee, and Vivi all nodded slowly, thankfully following along.

“If we go somewhere that's empty, he’ll probably show up again.”

Holly looked to the Maestro of the group. “So let’s draw him out.”

Solana’s brows turned up with worry. “Are you sure, dear?”
“Of course I am. I’m not about to live the rest of my life being scared of every shadow. We’re hunters, right? If something is threatening us, we take it out.”

For such a bold declaration, Holly earned the awe of the trio before her. She cared not. She was sick of this man, and she was gonna put a stop to him whether they helped her or not.

Thankfully, they weren’t going to let her go it alone.

---

Holly led the way, Lee and Vivi flanking either side of their Maestro as they wandered through town. They kept to the outskirts. The little zalavan was inviting trouble.

The madness had to end – one way or another.

“You still have time to turn around,” she warned the trio lagging behind her.
“Goodness no, I won’t let you face that man alone,” Solana huffed.

“Save your breath,” Vivi advised bluntly.
“You won’t be able to convince her otherwise, Lady Holly,” Lee clarified.

That’s what she had thought, but wanted to make sure there weren’t any second thoughts about their plan.

Holly’s eyes darted around at every movement that lived on the edge of her vision. She briefly considered a Rilevare l’intenzione, but didn’t want to waste the seeds. Every spell counted against monsters like the cryptids; not a single ember of rhythm could be wasted.

After several false starts, he finally showed up. In his fancy business suit and all, stood the Director.

“There you are, our precious flower pot,” the Director chuckled.

“What’s your plan?” Holly asked on a breath.
“Oh, right!” Solana pulled a tuner from her side and began fiddling with it.

Seeing how the chef probably needed a moment, Holly went for the time play. “What’s your game?! Why do you want me?!” she barked.

“You and those apple seeds are an investment in a new business venture. I can’t have the goods getting damaged before delivery.” He pulled a clear tuner from his suit jacket, and out of the darkness stepped their adversary for the night.

Like its predecessors before it, the new cryptid was a logic-defying creature. On a bipedal frame were the typical human-like features, hair, arms, legs, a head with two eyes, a nose, and a mouth.

It was a shame everything else betrayed common sense. What appeared to be gemstones dwelt within its eyes. Big floppy ears – those of an elephant – graced the sides of its skull. One would expect an elephant’s tail to complement the massive ears, but no, a long, serpentine tail slithered behind it.

“What the fuck is that?” Vivi asked, sparks forming at her heels as she readied herself to fight.

The Director didn’t acknowledge the fire element’s question. He raised his tuner. “Grootslang, deal with the cat first.”

Lee paled and tried to grab his counterpart, but she was already shooting at the Director. “I’M NOT A CAT YOU FUCKING SHITSTAIN!” she screamed as she left a massive blaze in her wake.

“What the-!?” Holly yelped.
“Vivi hates being misidentified more than anything!” Lee shouted back as he rushed after his temperamental companion.
“God damn it!” the zalavan barked as she followed Lee.

Vivi naturally cleared the distance in a second and engaged the grootslang first. The snake-elephant hybrid held up its muscular forearms and took the brunt of the blows. Punches and kicks were thrown from Vivi like a machine gun, strikes aimed at whatever she could hit.

The grootslang suddenly shot out its tail and ensnared the lingsang in its grasp.

“GUH!” The air immediately evacuated the fire element’s lungs as she was squeezed by the powerful scaly tail.

Holly’s fingers traced around the vials in her bag until she hit fire. “Arcobaleno Fuoco, Fortissimo!” Fire magic entered her body, and the zalavan fired out a ball of rainbow light that upon striking the cryptid, exploded in a burst of fiery multi-colored iridescence.

The null element covered its face with its large ears and ended up accidentally freeing Vivi in the process.

Lee scooped up the winded linsang, and Holly was the pair’s getaway driver as she traced around to the water vial. “L'onda di Tempesta, Accelerando!” A river sprang up underneath the two, and they rode it back to Solana’s side.

Vivi wheezed and sputtered as she was set down next to her Maestro. “Bastard…” she managed through a cough.

“How’s that plan of yours going?” Holly whispered.
“I can’t get through! The phone doesn’t work!” Solana whimpered, flashing the tuner screen displaying static.

The Director chuckled, shaking his head and shrugging. “That was the best you could muster up? Good luck even trying to snap a photo.”

Holly faced her adversary. “Huh?!”

“Telecommunications, recording, it all fades to null while in cryptid’s Mysterion Air. So long as it's visible, no recording device can hope to capture them.”

The zalavan clicked her tongue, grinding her teeth. “Tch… seeing is believing, huh?”

Vivi rose to her feet, finally catching her breath. “Well, if no one is going to help us, then we’ll just have to do it ourselves,” Vivi looked to Holly. “You got a plan?”

Holly raised a brow, they were deferring to her more and more. She shook her head – she needed to focus. Stubborn blue blazed in her eyes, flickers of yellow beginning to invade. She had to think.

One deep breath and an exhale was all it took. “Solana, head in the game – Lee’s going to focus ice spells on it to target its reptillian aspects, Vivi should use explosive spells, ones that make a lot of noise to hit its ears.”

“What about you?” asked the Maestro.

Holly’s eyes traced the nearby treeline. “I’m gonna see if I can get lucky – Go!”

“Ghiaciolo, Rubato! Arcobaleno Fuoco, Rubato – be careful of Holly, both of you!” Solana commanded.

“Grootslang! Corrente Elettrica, Fortissimo Staccato!”

The battle resumed in earnest. Vivi and Lee jumped into the fray, while Holly broke off for the nearby foliage.

Ice and fire flew free from the two Resonators as the cryptid launched back with brutal bolts. Lee’s ice was easily licked up by the savage electricity. “Lee!” Vivi, instead of casting her own spell, turned and pushed her taller companion out of the way of his weakness, taking the blow herself. Despite getting a massive shock from the electricity, she fired off her firework spell, landing true once again.

Solana ground her teeth, her eyes darting down to her tuner.

SUMMARY
RESONATOR Vivi
MAESTRO Solana Leduc
SPECIES Linsang
ELEMENT Fire
ATTRIBUTE Piercing
RHYTHM 32%
STATUS Ready

Lee and Vivi kept up their desperate offensive, but were quickly losing ground to the ferocious lightning that the grootslang was spraying with reckless abandon.

The chef’s eyes continued to bounce between her tuners and the rapidly declining situation on the field. Vivi’s movements were starting to get more and more sluggish as she was foregoing using her species trait to keep Lee healthy.

It was the right play…

“Lee! Sotto! La Bella Vita, Rubato!” Solana made her call.

The axolotl got the gist of her plan with that command – he focused entirely on healing Vivi with his boosted magic.

Vivi knew what had to be done as well, and their formation changed. Lee was now behind her as she fired off balls of fireworks with the same recklessness as her opponent. Lightning joined rainbow explosions that illuminated the clearing that made up their battlefield.

The Director began edging towards the woods, ready to flee once again.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” Holly shouted.

Before he could figure out where she was, thorned roots tore open from the ground and ensnared him.

“I got thorns motherfucker!” She wasn’t anywhere he could see her. The air grew thick with debilitating pollen.

“A miscalculation,” said the Director calmly. He took in a breath just before the pollen hit him in full force. “A shame – we’ll be sure to make you repay us for these damages.”

He vanished within the cloud of spores, but when the Tempesta di Polline faded, only a pile of shredded roots remained.

Holly jumped down from the tree she had been hiding in. “Thanks.” She patted the trunk. Turning her attention to the roots, she stepped over and knelt next to the withered pile of nature magic. Only when she picked one up did she realize how he escaped. “Slashed…” she breathed out.

Her attention turned briefly to the battlefield she left – Lee and Vivi were banged up, but ultimately victorious. Solana was sitting on her legs, grasping her pair of tuners tightly as she tried to catch her breath.

“Damn it,” Holly cursed, crushing the root she held in hand.