31 Snow Covered Planet

"Are you ready?"

"Give it your best shot."

–BAAAAM

–BAAAAM

"Wahh! I can't get my bat through!"

Stelle gripped onto her bat and continually pummeled the side of Yuuto's head but a faint blue and gold light blocked each of her strikes that came his way.

Yuuto on the other hand closed his eyes and placed all his attention onto the Stelleron to speed up his energy regeneration as [Mother's Embrace] used quite a hefty amount.

"Okay, that's enough."

When Stelle heard this, she stopped her bat just a few centimeters away from his face and rested the weapon on her shoulder.

It had just been a few days since Yuuto's brief pitstop to Solarian where he had experienced a surprising reunion with some familiar faces.

Alongside a memorable meeting with a story from the past. 

Many events that happened that day made him wonder if each of his visits to that planet will be equally as chaotic as the last.

'So I can block two fatal attacks using just my base energy.'

Yuuto released a deep breath as he analyzed the amount of energy it took based on a reasonable amount he can allocate without hindering his use of other memories.

He raised his palm against the left side of his chest and felt the unnatural heat pulsing through his skin as the Stelleron had been doing some work. 

'I should really increase the amount that this thing can store. But I might be able to do something based on the next place we're about to go next…'

Thinking about the next planet the Express would eventually reach, Yuuto decided to place his thoughts on increasing the amount the Stelleron can hold to the side.

And place his focus on a certain person lying down right in front of him.

"What are you doing?"

Strands of gray hair began to move around as Stelle turned her face to the side, seeing that Yuuto finished engaging in his thoughts.

She rolled on her side to look at him and placed her hand inside a chip bag that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"I was bored seeing you turn all quiet."

"Really… and where did this even come from?"

"Pom-Pom knocked on the door giving out snacks so I just took one."

"The heck? How did I not notice?"

Stelle shrugged her shoulders finding no answer to his question and continued to munch on the chip bag she had with her.

"Want some?"

"....."

Feeling a bit generous at the moment she offered the opened bag of chips to Yuuto who just stared at her.

"What flavor?"

"Original."

"Pretty basic."

Yuuto dug his hand into the chip bag and ate one.

[ATTENTION ALL PASSENGERS! THE EXPRESS IS ABOUT TO JUMP IN 5 MINUTES!! I REPEATED IN 5 MINUTES!]

As they enjoyed their brief moment of comfort sitting onto the floor eating some food, Pom-Pom's cute voice echoed through his room.

Hearing the content of the announcement, Yuuto stood up and stretched his body, which was feeling a bit stiff.

"What was that about?"

Stelle also followed along as this was her first time hearing such an announcement ever since joining the Express.

"It means that we're about to go back on track towards our next destination."

Yuuto only said a few words as they made their way towards the main cabin where everyone on the Express eventually gathered.

"Heyo! You guys are the last ones."

March waved her hands with enthusiasm seeing the two enter the cabin which caused all the eyes in the room to travel towards them.

"We were just cleaning up some crumbs we dropped while snacking in my room."

Yuuto greeted the others as he took a seat beside Dan Heng who was reading a book that he found in the archive.

Stelle was dragged around by March who began advising her about the ways she did to prepare for a space warp. Stelle had a serious look on her face taking in all the information March was saying to heart.

"Alright everyone! Find a seat to sit on and try not to follow March's example unless you want to fall over to the other end of the cabin!"

"Hey! That was only one time!"

March puffed her cheeks hearing Pom-Pom out her off but she was persistent to stand up during the entirety of the space warp.

Stelle looked at March before she sat down beside Yuuto and Himeko who seemed relaxed.

"You don't need to worry. The space warp is pretty quick."

Himeko gently smiled seeing Stelle fidgeting in her seat which caused her to look her way.

"Closing your eyes may help with the dizziness."

Yuuto offered his own advice trying to help ease Stelle's worries which he found pretty cute seeing her act so out of character from her usual smug attitude.

Stelle frowned seeing Yuuto hide his laughter but she decided to ignore him and focus on the upcoming coming event the Express is about to go under.

[ATTENTION! THE EXPRESS IS ABOUT TO WARP! I REPEAT, THE EXPRESS IS ABOUT TO WARP!]

[5]

[4]

[3]

[2,1..]

–VOOOOOOM

With each number that Pom-Pom spoke, the Express began to shift and slowly distort the space around it.

A light blue hue eventually spread throughout the Express, leaving every item inside to take on its color except for the passengers that were seated patiently.

There were a few exceptions to this but as the color continued to paint the Express, a steady vibration shook the cabins.

'Here we go.'

Yuuto felt his body drag onto the space beside him as the Express broke through, leaving behind sparks of blue light behind its tail.

-WOOOOOSH

The whole warp was instantaneous and what suddenly appeared beside them was a large planet with plots of land covered in a multitude of white symbolizing the apparent weather it's experiencing.

"All these years and this is what Jarilo-VI turned into…"

Himeko mumbled under her breath when she saw the planet in front of her that was vastly different from what she had read before.

With each planet or 'destination' the Express takes, they slowly return back onto the route that previous Nameless took when traveling on the Express.

Some destinations were lost through the strands of time but the Express always followed a general route when embarking back onto the path.

[SPATIAL ANOMALY DETECTED! STAR RAIL STABILITY REDUCED TO 12%]

[SEVEN-DAY STOPOVER EXTENDED INDEFINITELY]

"A distortion blocking the path.. a case such as this is usually caused by a…"

"Stelleron."

Welt walked beside Himeko who stared at the snow covered planet.

"There seems to be more Stellerons popping up every so often each time we travel. However the influence it had on this planet looks quite drastic."

"You're right. In the records it said that Jarilo-VI was a planet covered in lush green forestry but there is not an ounce of green visible…"

"How should we proceed?"

Himeko fell into deep thought when she listened to Welt's question and stared at the planet in front of her.

Her eyes scanned the entirety of the planet before it wandered towards the group of four who also stood by the window to watch the planet.

"Why don't we leave it to those four."

"Those four…"

Welt followed Himeko's gaze and looked at Yuuto, Stelle, March and Dan Heng who's eyes shined when they saw a new planet they had never seen before.

"Yuuto and Dan Heng are pretty responsible when it comes to handling the other two plus…" 

Himeko walked closer to the window wearing a gentle smile on her face. "Everyone should experience a trailblazing mission whenever they can, right?" 

Welt digested her words before he eventually agreed to her suggestion.

 "Let's inform them of their mission."

***

–ACHOOO

"Bless you."

"Thanks…"

Stelle rubbed her nose feeling a snowflake accidentally enter and watched as gales of cold wind brushed against her face.

Within a large plot of land covered in deep snow, four people navigated through the harsh weather falling on them while keeping a watch on their surroundings.

'Thankfully the Stelleron is doing its job keeping me warm.'

Not just Stelle but Yuuto also felt like sneezing since multiple snowflakes and other debris continuously attacked his exposed face.

Yuuto circulated his Stelleron and felt a rush of warmth surrounding his body.in an attempt to suppress the cold brushing onto him.

After receiving a mission from Himeko, Yuuto was quick to react after seeing that it was finally time for him to get onto Jarilo-VI.

Himeko simply gave them one objective.

Find the Stelleron causing the disaster and spatial distortions. If that's done, proceed to give it to the Express to have them handle the rest.

"There's some movement ahead. Be careful."

Only after a few minutes of just seeing white snow fly around, new entities made their appearance which made Yuuto glad since he was getting tired of seeing just white.

Dan Heng who was at the front stopped when he saw the odd creatures roaming around.

One looked to be a soldier with blue armor holding an ax but the unnatural gait and faceless icicle helmet made it obvious that the creature was not human.

"No visible corrosion but fragmented monsters have already moved here."

"How many are there?"

"Just 5 but there's some more monsters past this hill."

Yuuto looked at the area Dan Heng was talking about and noticed that two more enemies were hiding behind a large hill made out of snow.

"I can take the two at the back."

"You sure?"

"Leave it to me."

Dan Heng didn't inquire any further and just summoned his spear, leaving Yuuto to do what he could.

A thin white sword appeared in Yuuto's right hand and his body blurred leaving behind a few grooves onto the floor.

Yuuto rapidly approached the unsuspecting monster and crouched down low bringing his sword across his body.

"Voom.."

The monster felt a bit of movement vibrate in front of it but before it could react, its head flew up in the air seeing nothing else but a white sword raised up.

"That's one and…"

Yuuto used his pivot foot to shift his body to the right and allowed an ax to brush past his face.

The other humanoid monster slammed its ax right towards the floor creating a medium sized hole.

Seeing the ax stuck to the ground, Yuuto jumped up once again and a thin spear materialized right under the sole of his foot.

He extended his bent legs in the air and pushed downwards, impacting the butt of the spear and piercing straight through the head and body of the monster.

"..That's two."

Yuuto checked his surroundings and noticed that the other three finished their fight equally as fast considering the chunks of ice scattered throughout the field they were in.

"First victory of the day!"

March stretched her fingers to form a V and puffed out her chest feeling happy on their start on the cold planet.

"Let's keep moving."

Yuuto gave her a similar gesture and walked alongside Dan Heng who was scouting the area moving forward.

A few more encounters began to appear but they were easily dealt with by the four considering how the monster's strength was pretty weak for their current team.

Reaching a steady slope of a hill, Yuuto had gotten vague moments of deja vu before finally noticing where they were. 

"Did you see that!? That snow pile moved just now…"

March screamed out loud and pointed her fingers towards a pile of snow which made Yuuto wrinkle his eyebrows considering he knew the person hiding inside.

'A scammer for sure… but definitely someone I need to meet right now.'

Yuuto thought and slowly approached the pile with the others.

"I swear my eyes won't lie to me. There is definitely something in there." March mumbled.

Yuuto didn't say a word before he walked up to the snow pile and a thin ice spear slowly materialized in his palm. 

"Oops, I'm so clumsy…"

–STAB

The other three watched in disbelief seeing Yuuto 'fall over' before placing the spear he had into the snowpile.

Yuuto stared at the pile and noticed that faint movements began to appear on the surface which had him create more spears into his hands.

"Man, these spears sure are slippery it would be a shame if–"

"Ahahaha, this bed of snow sure is cold if I do say so myself! Ah! Who might this fine gentleman be hehe…"

***

Penacony is live.