Sensha-Do resumed however it didn't last long, January turned into February and the snow returned in full force. However, with the snow, brought our little experiment back to life. New place, new challenges and… trees?


Momo was busy waiting for Ami as she wanted to speak to her. Anzu was eating her sweet potatoes and Yuzu was streaming a match on her phone as she had nothing to do.

"So, you're saying that the Sensha-Do matches are getting canceled again?" Momo asked Ami if this was going to be true.

"Yeah, the winter is not over, snow has been going on and off for many days and we were contemplating about keeping the matches canceled as the snow is still being a nuisance. However, these last few days were a blessing as it was mostly just dusting with the snow and we're doing reforms to the Sensha-Do rules to make the sport much safer." Ami told Momo as she gave her the news of what exactly was going on. Momo scratched her head. "However, since your sport managed to get some traction in Vancouver, so we now have an audience, and they want more so we're giving them more." Ami also gave Momo some good news. This made Momo smile with excitement.

"That's great, Ami, we should get the team ready." Momo responded. "When will the matches be held and where?" Momo asked as she wanted to figure out where these matches would be taking place. Yuzu began speaking next as she was observing the Sensha-Do match that was occurring with another skirmish match.

"I'm liking this match so far, look at Yogurt Academy and go with SSISSN." Yuzu told Momo as she was excited. Momo turned to Yuzu as she was waiting for Ami's answer.

"Yuzu. shh." Momo shushed the vice president so she could hear an answer.

"The match will be taking place in Pittsburg; New Hampshire and the matches will take place between the twentieth and the twenty-fifth. Today is the thirteenth so you have nine days to prepare." Ami gave Momo when this match will be taking place and where it will be held.

"Thanks Ami." Momo replied. "We got that dinner date with Darjeeling a couple days from now and one of the students from Pravda is reluctant to go over to America for some reason." Momo told Ami what she knew about.

"She's pretty stressed out from what I heard. She broke up with Kay, so she nullified the relationship and Kay… I haven't heard from either one in days." Ami knew this relationship was a mess and it was never going to work.

"Hopefully this week will play itself out and we'll see what Pravda's plans are." Momo responded. Miho walked into the room as she wanted to speak about something related to Ami before she ended up leaving.

"Wait Ami." Miho began. Ami turned her attention to Miho as she had something to ask.

'What is it?" Ami asked nicely.

"We were looking for the identity of the boy who gave us a newspaper clipping from Vancouver a couple weeks back and he never said anything, didn't introduce himself. He asked us where this girl was and left." Miho explained to Ami about what was going on. Who was this boy and why did he ask and just leave like that? Ami began to read about what Miho had said and tried to find someone that matched his identity.

"Miho the boy in question fits your description as I ran into him a couple days back when I was visiting Pravda. His name is Dimitri and he just applied to work for them. He didn't give any details on what the job was going to be or anything. Nonna just said he was going to work there." Ami replied.

"And what does Dimitri have to do with our sport in particular?" Momo asked. She was curious what did this man have to offer in terms of their sport?

"Dimitri has an uncle named Vladimir living in the states, right by the Canadian border. He works part time at one of the hotel resorts and was more than nice enough to organize the next set of matches. We're still getting the details, but we might be running into a busy week." Ami gave everything she knew to Momo about what was going to happen.

"Family I see. Well, the question is, how are we going to get there as the ships are all the way in the pacific and Vladimir is living all the way near the border?" Momo asked. She knew this was going to be logistically challenging and they needed to find a way to quickly hop over there.

"I'm arranging a passenger airline to ferry you while Naomi will carry all the stuff using their Lockheed plane, and any leftovers will be transported on cargo planes that we've agreed to travel over, then it will be landing at Boston, pack you onto buses and ship you over to Pittsburg. We tried to arrange you guys to be landed at Newport, Vermont so the commute wouldn't be so far, but the buses and trailers had gotten themselves into conflict with Vermont and they would only let us depart from there and not arrive, so Boston was the best bet. I've also arranged for Vladimir to meet us in Boston and take the commute back up with us. I'll head there first and escort him there while you will meet us in Boston." Ami explained the plan on what was going to happen.

"Sounds like a plan. How many buses will we get?" Momo asked.

"We're still arranging that, but they aren't the usual ones with tires, they have their own compartments if you want to be "alone'' is all that I know about, and they come with their own toilets." Ami gave Momo all the information she knew about their transportation.

"Sounds good." Momo told Ami.

"Anyway, me and Shichiro are going to get the paperwork for your transportation sorted out and you will notify the teams of the plan." Ami told Momo that she needed to go and get a few things organized.

"Okay, goodbye." Momo told Ami as she logged off. "Well good news, we got a place that we can go to and get to the matches."

"Sweet, so the question is, how are we going to get there?" Anzu asked. She felt around the bag with her hand looking for more sweet potato chips, but she found none. "I guess the bags are empty."

"Probably Saunders will handle all of the cargo and we'll just ride a commercial plane to get there. Ami's still arranging our transportation on how we're going to get there." Momo gave everything that she knew from the conversation with Ami to Anzu.

"Hopefully so." Anzu was waiting for her bag of sweet potato chips to arrive. Yuzu was busy looking at her phone.

"And Yogurt Academy has won." Yuzu told the others with some excitement. Momo, Miho and Anzu ignored her as they had another set of matches to get ready for.


On the Nineteenth of February, the schools had gathered on Ooarai's carrier as Momo had the passenger plane ready Seven out of the eight participating schools was going to take the plane over while the last one was going to haul all of the cargo.

"Well, we're getting ready for the flight over so it's going to be a bit of a long trip, so I hope everyone has plenty of stuff as a form of entertainment to keep themselves from getting bored. Saunders is going to fly separately from us for two reasons. "Momo began. She was announcing these from the top of the stairs. "First is that they're hauling all of our cargo and second is to separate the commander and vice commanders from a certain someone to keep her happy. Other than that, we should be fine." Momo moved aside to let everyone board the plane. What seemed to be strange was the fact that there was one black sheep in the mix. The boy that Momo had heard from Ami nearly a week back was riding with them. For what reason, she didn't fully know about it. Instead, this was going to create some interesting interactions with them. They were taking off in the dead of night as it was still the early morning for Japan. Momo looked at her watch, they were flying at four in the morning.

"Why did we get up so early, I'm just ready to go back to sleep?" Momoga yawned as she climbed onto the plane.

"Well, it's going to take a couple of days so I might as well use those couple of days." Aya responded. She was more than excited to be flying but it still seemed to be early to be hosting matches. With the distance between the two countries, this was justified. Everyone continued to board the plane with the students heading to their separate compartments. Miho pulled into her compartment as she was in awe, it was private for her and her only. Complete with a seat, a pull-out bed, television and extra places to store electronics, and other stuff, if it was too big, it was being placed down into the cargo hold. Miho sat down in her chair and relaxed.

"Hey, we're giving orange juice for the long haul ahead, take it and drink up." She said in a sweet manner. Miho took the cup, and she began to drink it.

"Thanks." She replied. Miho began to drink as much of Ooarai was flying in this style as they were the winners of not only the previous match but also the Sensha-Do champions. Miho nodded as she got comfortable.

"This is the flight attendant; we must ask for all students to buckle up as we're preparing to lift off." She announced. Miho nodded and buckled up her seatbelt. Another lady came in as she looked at Miho.

"Hot towel?" She asked. Miho nodded and took the towel and began wiping her hands with it. Might as well clean them for the long trip. The lady smiled before walking off. Miho looked on as the plane began to move.

"Well, we're moving." Miho told herself. Then the plane left the runway as it was the first to take off into the air. Seven schools were on board and settling into their own cabins. Just behind them. Saunders had finished loading up and was waiting for the signal to be clear.

"Miho and the others have taken off. It's our turn to follow." Naomi began. She looked at the signal and waited for the light to change to green. The light did so as the three aircraft took off one at a time to make their way to follow the plane. The trip had just begun.

An hour later. Miho took off her seat belt and began to wander around to see what was up. She decided to use this time to go exploring. Much of the school's team was housed in these compartments as it was complimentary to them as well as the odd students that weren't part of it but decided to fly along and spectate. Miho walked down the corridors to hear someone chatting on the phone.

"Yes, we've taken off Vladimir, we'll be in Boston, hopefully by tomorrow." The voice belonged to Dimitri as he was riding in one of the first-class compartments.

"I heard you got a girlfriend now; I wonder if she likes movies?" Vladimir asked. "I'm on my way down to meet you and your girl."

"I never asked but since we're going to be spending a few days there, might as well give us stuff to watch. Are you bringing your mutt Pooka?" Dimitri asked.

"Yeah, he's coming with us. I bet you would be excited to see the puppy for the first time." Vladimir responded.

"Okay we'll see you." Dimitri told his uncle before he hung up. Miho peeked into the hole in his room as he sat down onto his chair. He pulled out the music box from his pocket as he was still carrying it for someone special. "I don't know if I'm ready to give this to her as of now." Dimitri seemed anxious about the girl he just got into a relationship with. Miho spotted the music box and memorized it. She then pulled away and she began speaking to herself.

"Who is he giving the music box to?" Miho asked herself. She continued to wander around the plane to see what else was up.

Miho made her way to the next floor down on the plane which held most of Ooarai's reserves and the other groups as well as the other students. Kuromorimine was traveling in the second class which was like first class but not as luxurious. Miho spotted Nonna who decided to flag Miho down.

"Oh Nonna, I haven't seen you in a while, how are things going?" Miho asked her.

"They're fine but I must say that we are probably going to have a special time in a land that I am not too familiar with. There are like three dudes on this plane. Dimitri, Grandfather Alexander and Peter who are all flying on this plane." Nonna began. "Want to take a walk with me?" Nonna offered Miho.

"Sure thing, we should try figuring out what's new." Miho told Nonna. Nonna began leading the way with Miho following behind her.

"I've heard that you've won the Vancouver matches, we didn't even get past the first round." Nonna began.

"Yeah, that was a fun experience, what went wrong and how did you get knocked out so early on?" Miho asked Nonna. Nonna began to think about it as she was looking for the answer to that question.

"I say it wasn't Brook, she along with Nina and Alina tried but they were taken out early as Nina's group was the only one with an automatic weapon, a Dp-28 and they managed to pop a few balloons but not many. In conclusion, it was poor tactics and what we brought to the field that got us knocked out early. It showed that the school was in need of reorganization and I, with the help of Katyusha, decided to do it. Now we're all using Papasha-41's with the exception of Nina and Alina as they're still sticking to their Dp-28." Nonna explained why they were knocked out so early on when they were a formidable school that was a major threat to Sensha-Do.

"So, I heard you took out Kuromorimine again so that was impressive." Miho continued in the conversation that Pravda actually managed to win yet again despite the unfavorable odds.

"It took the collective effort of everyone, from me to Katyusha even Klara helped out with neutralizing their big team." Nonna knew she needed to thank everyone and not just one person.

"Impressive." Miho responded. "Where's Nina and Alina? I think I want to talk to them." Miho asked the whereabouts of the Kv-2 students and their location.

"They're probably watching something about Meerkats, bad house pets or just puppies and kittens growing up. I know Katyusha is asleep and Klara is talking to Ludmilla and Irina. However, I think I want to show you someone who has pretty much had a rough time for the past few weeks. I think she's beginning to show signs of improving especially since we finally got the DNA from her." Nonna told Miho where the others were and what they were up to. Miho nodded as Nonna began to lead her to the said student, Miho followed her. Nonna led Miho to where Brook was sleeping. Nonna had tucked her in as she was going to need sleep much like Katyusha.

"She needs her rest as she isn't in the best shape as of now. I really want to show you what happened to her, but I don't want to wake her up." Nonna told Miho about what exactly happened to the poor girl.

"What exactly happened?" Miho asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. Nonna knew she needed to show Miho and not tell her about it. Nonna was gently taking the blankets off of her to make sure she wasn't disturbed.

"See for yourself." Nonna whispered to Miho. She began to silently pull up Brook's uniform from the shirt and the uniform by a bit to show what happened to her. Brook was still fast asleep as Nonna showed Miho a long cut stitched together that had been formed just weeks ago. All that was left of the encounter was a long white scar and a few others where the stitches once were.

"I feel bad for her that she had to go through something like this." Miho told Nonna. Nonna was pushing her uniform down along with tucking her back into the blanket.

"We did that, or we were going to lose her but as far as what's going on afterward, she's doing alright so far but we told Kay to give her some space while she recovered and got to know her actual family better. Hopefully by now she should be back to her normal self." Nonna explained to Miho what happened to her.

"I hope so too." Miho responded. Nonna knew it was best to leave her alone as she had finished tucking her back in. They then left to go exploring the other parts of the plane.

"Oh, another thing, when we land, tell Natascha Taylor to keep her youngest kid with me, so she doesn't run into Kay. It's the reason why we're taking two separate planes." Nonna told Miho about what exactly was happening.

"I promise I will." Miho saluted. Nonna nodded with approval.

"Okay, keep up the good work." Nonna then walked off to keep exploring the plane to see what else was there. Miho then began looking around to see what there was.

The trip itself would end up taking a couple of days but they had finally landed in Boston. The team disembarked from their plane while Natascha was guiding her children. They then boarded buses with their luggage being packed separately. Each school had their own bus, so the students didn't get separated or lost.

"Well, I think this ride that Ami has set up for us is going to be exciting." Azusa began. She was walking along with her friends as Saori was leading them.

"Sightseeing I see, we might be encountering a lot of forest along the way so we might as well see Moose." Saori told them to be observant of any sign of moose.

"I'm right here!" Moose called out as she was being escorted by Trout.

"I know you are, but I was talking about the other moose. Big with hooves and antlers." Saori tried to calm Moose down as Trout began to tell the small Maple High School student what Saori was trying to say.

"She's talking about the animal, not you." Trout finished off the conversation as they continued to walk to the buses. They boarded on them as it was going to be a short drive to the station. The second group of planes had just landed, and they were going to join up with the others and meet them at the train station where they were going to board.

The students got off the buses a couple minutes later at the train station that was going to take them to their final destination.

"It's still early morning so we're not going to arrive until early to late afternoon depending on if the rail line is clear." Ami greeted them. She was waiting for them this entire time at the station.

"So, you were waiting for us to arrive so we can hop the next train to where we needed to go?" Miho asked her.

"Yep. I've even grabbed someone special to keep me company. I'm planning on driving my way back up to meet you there but that special someone is going to be supervising you for the trip up." Ami instructed about what was going to happen.

"Okay thanks, we appreciate it." Miho responded. She turned to see a stoutly built man with facial hair and glasses, he looked like he was in his early 50's with brown hair and brown eyes. He seemed to be big like a bear but with a gentle side to his personality. He picked up his dog and began petting it.

"That's good Pooka, you are a good boy." He would say. Dimitri spotted him and decided to begin speaking with excitement.

"Uncle Vladimir!" Dimitri called out. He hugged his uncle with excitement, but he held firm as Dimitri tried to knock him over.

"Hey easy now boy, I am getting older, so I want to make sure you know what easy means." Vladimir laughed. "I'm sorry about your father but I didn't get the news until that afternoon."

"It's okay but you said you were going to be riding with me and the school and acting as a supervisor?" Dimitri asked.

"Yes. Ami was such a gracious lady, bringing me and Pooka down here." Vladimir explained with his excitement. Dimitri looked down to see Pooka nibbling on his shoe.

"Hey, is this your new puppy? What's its name?" Dimitri asked while he was petting Pooka.

"His name is Pooka and he's adorable. I found him in a shelter and took him home with me to have some company." Vladimir responded while he gently scooped the puppy up into his arms.

"Also, I got a girlfriend." Dimitri added on to the news that was also happening.

"Congratulations. I hope you two will get along." Vladimir was excited that his nephew found someone he loved. Dimitri sighed before he continued speaking.

"I wonder if she will remember me…" Dimitri pulled out the music box he had in his pocket, he didn't want to wind it up until the moment was just right.

"How many times have you interacted with her?" Vladimir asked Dimitri if he remembered any interactions he had recently had.

"I think it was just once. We just said our names and left, once or twice. I'm not entirely sure." Dimitri tried to remember how many times he had interacted with Brook.

"Well go talk to her during the trip, I bet you two will have an interesting conversation and get to know each other more." Vladimir tried to pluck up some courage for Dimitri to talk to his girlfriend and get to know her a bit more.

"Okay I will, make sure you keep a clock for the train so we can begin boarding." Dimitri told Vladimir to keep his eyes open on the clock for them to get to the train. Vladimir nodded as Dimitri began walking up to Brook. "Hey uh… I want to talk to you about…" Dimitri tried to think as he wanted to talk to Brook but he didn't know what he wanted to talk to her about. He circled around trying to think but this made Brook a bit uncomfortable.

"And what… Hey, why are you circling me? What, were you a vulture in another life?" Brook asked Dimitri why he was circling her like that.

"I'm sorry Anya." Dimitri tried to apologize.

"It's Brook." She reminded Dimitri what her name actually was.

"Brook. Okay. I'm just saying that… that we got off to an awkward start. I kind of wanted to be with you for the next few days while we're together. Hopefully I can protect you from any dangers that might come upon you." Dimitri tried his best to speak to her about what he wanted to say to her. Brook began to nod gently before she began speaking again.

"Oh, if we're in the same car, I can share a compartment with you so we can begin chatting with each other about our interests." Brook made a promise that she was willing to share with Dimitri if he wanted to continue speaking to her.

"Oh, that will be great so when we get a compartment, want me to bring something to you?" Dimitri offered her a present like snacks, toys or books. Brook began to think about it, and she turned to Dimitri as she only had two words.

"Surprise me." Brook began walking away to Natascha and her older brother Peter. Nonna walked up to Dimitri as Katyusha was sitting on Nonna's shoulders.

"You seemed to be trying to have a conversation there." Nonna began.

"The girl has some nice blue eyes, and I can't stop thinking about her." Dimitri nervously told Nonna that his feelings were getting the better of him.

"I know, most of us in Pravda have blue eyes. If Katyusha said that the girl had brown eyes, would you deny it?" Nonna asked Dimitri if he was going to deny it.

"Of course not." Dimitri nervously told Nonna as she felt like she seemed to tower over him with Katyusha adding the extra height.

"Good. Katyusha likes it when students listen to her." Katyusha smiled when she told Dimitri about that. Dimitri turned and began to walk off.

"I promised I wanted to get Brook something before we begin boarding. I hope to be quick on my feet as a rabbit. It was nice chatting with you." Dimitri turned and began to run off as Katyusha watched, he was either nervous or in a hurry.

"See ya Pirozhki." Katyusha bidded Dimitri farewell as she walked off.

Dimitri made his way into the shop as he promised Brook something and he didn't want to let down on that promise. Miho and Yukari were looking around in the shop almost as if they wanted to get something. Probably a jacket for her.

"Hey, this one look cute on you?" Yukari asked. It was a puffy gray winter jacket with plenty of pockets and fur lining the side of the hood. Miho tried it on herself.

"Right size. It's a little big on you Yukari but for me, it's good enough." Miho told Yukari that's what she wanted. Dimitri wandered through the book section trying to see what he needed to bring as a present.

"The brothers… sounds good, I think it's written by the same author as one of those books Brook had on her." Dimitri said to himself. He pulled the book out and was going to purchase it. While Yukari was purchasing the jacket for Miho. Miho wandered up to Dimitri as the boy seemed familiar to her.

"I recognize you." Miho began. Dimitri tried his best to remain composed as Miho looked at him.

"Yeah, it was that one time in Vancouver when I gave you the newspaper clipping?" Dimitri asked. Miho paused when she heard about that.

"That time? Yeah, that's it. You must be Dimitri as Ami would put it?" Miho asked him if that was his name.

"Yep, that's my name so anything you want to ask?" Dimitri tried to make himself open to Miho; he had seemed to calm down after running into Brook, but he was still antsy.

"Nothing much but I'd appreciate the fact that we're chatting." Miho replied. Yukari moved herself out of the way as Dimitri went up to pay. Miho turned to Yukari. "This stranger, we saw him before but he didn't say his name but now we know about him so what makes you say he isn't so shy now?" Miho asked.

"Could be the fact that he's got a girl and his uncle has come down to visit him. So that does account for something." Yukari gave her best guess to Miho. Miho began to think about it before she began speaking.

"Yeah, that's a possibility." Miho replied. Then the speakers began to erupt as the station had an important announcement.

"Train bound from Boston to Pittsburg will be leaving in twenty minutes, boarding will begin now." The announcement would read out as Miho and her friends knew they needed to get on board or risk getting left behind. Once Dimitri was done paying, he grabbed the bag and came up to them.

"I'll race you to the train." Dimitri took off running with Miho and Yukari chasing after him. The train they were going to be boarding wasn't very far, but it was going to be a mixed one. Two electric units were on the head end followed by ten passenger cars, two boxcars and the rest were flatcars with the snowmobiles on. They were covered up by the tarp, so snow didn't get into them and two more units at the rear to help this train out. Miho and the others had arrived as Miho looked into the sky.

"We're going to get more snow, aren't we?" Miho asked.

"Looks like it." Yukari responded. Vladimir helped the others board the train and began speaking.

"Ami drove up ahead a few minutes ago and we're going to be taking the scenic route, expect to be on this train for another five hours." Vladimir told the group. Kay was boarding with her school from another passenger car. She spotted Dimitri and wondered: Who is this boy and why is he going after my friend. She then boarded with her luggage as she was going to settle down. Once they had all boarded, the engineers checked if everything was good and then departed the station, right on time.

The journey to their next destination was beginning.

[A/N]: Sorry for the slow typing, I was trying my best to figure out what went where and we're getting introduced to more new characters. These two chapters will be considered basically filler as these will be more character oriented rather than sport oriented. Next chapter will be the train ride and someone's going to be getting more character development.