✧ Chapter 50 ✧

Cherry smiled as she had finally finished the concept drawing in her diary. Going downstairs, she realized that not everyone was there.

Well, everyone except for Styra, Snowflake, Peppie, Compass, and Eternika.

“Hey Styra, where did Flight, Hisa, and Chelbie go?” she asked out of intrigue.

“Oh, they decided to get some fresh air in your backyard. Also don’t worry about them being seen. Eternika used its invisibility powers to make them noticeable to only us. No one else. Not even Voltaze hopefully,” Styra replied.

This made Cherry happier knowing that they would be safe while helping her train to possibly become a part of the team.

“That’s good to hear. Oh yes, here is the drawing Compass. I hope it’s not too much. I made up some weapons that I would be able to use if necessary.”

Compass analyzed the drawing on sight before giving its approval. Not too long after, the bot used two fingers to instantaneously spawn Cherry’s new suit into existence. It was given a more futuristic design. The dark cherry hue was the base color. Neon green lining stretched from around the red shoulder pads to the middle of the arms. Then there was also the sleekness of the neon green belt that matched the color of its foot attire. Lastly, beside the red collar (which draped like the v-neck on a t-shirt), the finishing touch was a glowing cherry symbol at the center of the front torso.

“It looks so beautiful. Thank you Compass,” complimented Cherry.

The machine nodded in appreciation of her feedback. Now all the team had to do was confront the people who broke Cherry’s glasses.

When they left the house to meet the others in the backyard, Chelbie ran up to them wearing the Dream Academy uniform with this sporadic energy about herself.

“Heya guys. Just so ya know, I was watching the TV downstairs earlier this morning and they said it’s going to be snowing tomorrow! Can you believe it? It literally feels like summer right now. How is that even possible?”

Styra shrugged her shoulders while Cherry giggled at what they thought about the weather in Animearth.

“Ever since this planet got pushed out of orbit, the climate has been all over the place. Especially near the end of the year. In fact, there will be a holiday event on November 9th this year at the convention center. If we don’t find the group who broke my glasses today, we can look there the next day. That place has been very suspicious to me recently anyway.”

Chelbie nodded in agreement, putting her thumbs up in acknowledgment of those future plans.

“Cool, cool. There’s just one other thing I wanna know. How exactly are we gonna find the bullies that did it around Dream Academy High? Shouldn’t we search outside of the parameters of the school too?”

Eternika chimed in, recognizing that this was definitely bound to be true.

“Yes. Here is what we should do in that case. Compass, Flight, Hisa, and Snowflake could search around the entirety of Animearth. Meanwhile, Styra, Peppie, and I will observe from the outside of the school looking in. This time though, we will need you and Cherry to attend the school from the inside and find out if they might show up. Also remember to stay quiet. At the end of the day, we all meet back up at this house. Does anyone have any questions or suggestions?”

“I have one. Will we have invisibility inside Dream Academy? If so, what do we do once we find those people?” inquired Cherry.

“Of course. If you find a person that fits the description of who you saw, you just whisper my name in private and I will hear it so we can deal with them. Now that you mention it, what do they look like and what are their names?”

“Right… Their names are Imagi Hosato, Toma Hosato, Ogato Naru, Kibe Kakoua, and Tachigo Hajishimi. I can give you the most recent pictures of them from one of the school’s previous yearbooks. I know all about them because they were famous for being attached to the popular rumors involving the murders at Dream Academy High,” replied Cherry.

“Good. Do not worry about giving the pictures. I analyzed everything in your room before you came back so I know exactly where it is,” reassured Eternika.

In the blink of an eye, Eternika made the yearbook appear in midair for Cherry to reveal the photos to the group. Once everyone was able to take in the details about each individual’s identity, the Judgment Warriors split up into pairs of three. Some of them were given special earpieces that were designed by Compass so they could communicate with one another.

Chelbie and Cherry made their way inside the school, slipping past as many students as they possibly could. They had to be really careful as one touch would jeopardize the whole operation. At times, this proved to complicate where they should go. Each classroom seemed to be a dead end. Whether that meant travelling up and down the stairs, walking around the cafeteria, or even searching rooms that only staff were allowed to see.

Meanwhile, Styra, Peppie, and Eternika watched through all of Dream Academy’s windows to supervise in places where the duo inside couldn’t see. During their outdoor watch however, Styra noticed this small glimpse from a figure in the crowded hallways that looked straight at her for more than five seconds.

And it wasn’t one of the people they were looking for from the yearbook either.

By noon, the five of them met outside around multiple students and teachers that were doing PE class.

“Gosh, that was just terrible. We found like zero leads so far. How was it for you three?” asked Chelbie.

“Same results. I have never seen a school in this world before, so it’s quite the change of pace in comparison to Tartropolatté,” added Peppie.

Although almost everyone in the group agreed that today was pretty lackluster, witnessing the slice of life that students in Dream Academy High had to go through entertained them a little bit. However, Eternika could see that Styra was acting a lot more silent than usual. It knew exactly what she was thinking and this caused the weapon to finally disclose her thoughts to the group.

“Everyone, I do have something else to say. Styra and I may not have found any signs of these frauds, but we did catch sight of a student watching us for a while from inside the school.”

A figure who could see through their invisible cover? That already started to raise alarming concerns throughout the team.

Just who was this mystery person supposed to be?

“Maybe it’s The Traveller messing with you two. At Candiere’s Cafe, crazy reports like that always surfaced with our staff. Princess Candiere herself once experienced it too back in the world of Madara,” stated Peppie.

“He’s a shapeshifter like the guardians?” asked Styra.

“Uhhh… I have no idea who the guardians are, but we’ll go with that.”

“Ah. Well they’re basically protectors of every reality. Also I’m surprised that you mentioned Madara. A few of us were there before we arrived at Animearth.”

During the back-and-forth conversation, Chelbie started to check her surroundings out of curiosity when she realized how empty the school’s gym field was. There in the distance, the figure stood staring in their direction.

“Hey guys… You know that dude ya’ll were talkin’ about? He is standing really far across from us right now.”

The five of them all faced where Chelbie was pointing. It began to confuse them even further because whoever this person was didn’t even have any intentions of at least hiding in plain sight.

It was truly suspicious.

“Let us not rush ourselves just yet. This person could be someone else entirely. Styra and I will handle this,” said Eternika.

Putting her thumbs up in agreement, the girl and her sentient weapon teleported over to where the mysterious individual was standing. Upon coming face-to-face, they saw that he had a dark complexion (with short brown hair that matched the color of his eyes’ irises) and wore a Dream Academy uniform.

“So you are The Star I’ve heard many stories about… I knew you would catch on eventually. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kade Night, the one and only Solar Ninja. I’ve come to seek your guidance.”

Both Styra and Eternika were shocked not only by the fact that his name sounded familiar enough to be one of Hisa’s relatives, but he also spoke like Cherry when it came down to mentioning Styra’s long lost name as Star.

“You have Hisa’s last name… Night as in the night sky right? How do you know about who I could’ve been and where exactly did you come from?” asked Styra

“I was taken away to a place called The UVOCA Training Facility. Machines took my dead body and had the scientists revitalize it into an experiment. When I joined the program, they turned me into a cyborg ninja that was trained to master this rare power only known by few as: The Star Sense. The ability was said to be held by a test subject that the founder had this deep infatuation with creating an evil lineage out of. In the pictures they showed me, that test subject I have been searching for looks exactly like you.”

A fascination and sense of dread coerced Styra to see that her past played a bigger role in this mission than she was expecting it to. It took her by surprise, especially after she learned previously that obsessing over that came with risks. She didn’t want to go too far and hurt her friends again.

She needed to find a balance.

“Here’s the thing… Kade, we could really use your help. Whatever the founder of UVOCA said isn’t what I want to be. My friends and I are trying to stop evil from happening. I don’t know if you have heard of an alien named Voltaze, but he wants to break the Omniverse. If we stop him, it might give us time to also prevent the other threats we’ve been uncovering so far.”

Kade nodded with acknowledgement of the situation that was at play.

“I have seen Voltaze before, but hearing that he has escaped from UVOCA is a bit new to me. The only explanation I can see being true as to why this happened is because at one point, that place went through indescribable physical transformations. Multiple alterations of the same facility. I have no leads on who caused it unfortunately.”

“Another mystery box yet to be opened. At least we know how he escaped now. Just to rewind on one request though… What did you mean by me guiding you exactly?” inquired Styra.

“I was told that you mastered The Star Sense. Your teaching would be detrimental in helping me to unveil all of UVOCA’s secrets. The intel I have gathered recently from spying on UVOCA agents reports that one of their own is located here on Animearth. Their classified name is Cat Nakahara.”

From the sound of it, the Judgment Warriors now had to keep an eye on seven different names. That and an eighth honorable mention if Prism’s strange behavior was anything to write home about. To focus on finding these threatening forces, their best shot would require them to first split the search between each other for Cat Nakahara and the five idiots that broke Cherry’s e-glasses.

The only issue amongst all of this was UVOCA’s boldest claims about her. Especially about The Star Sense. Or were they facts? It perplexed her the more she thought about it. Why was her past filled with being trained by an evil organization? Did the suit that she wore for most of her life have a darker side that went deeper than The Lucid Light? As if that wasn’t enough, the biggest question arose from a damaging realization.

Where did she really come from before UVOCA stepped into her head and ruined everything?