Chapter 83: Planets

Ret Pov

We waited in the hut until we heard a sound outside.

Varia stood up and peeked outside. Her lips curled into a smile, signaling it was Deros had arrived. She had briefed him on what had transpired at the base and afterward.

I pushed myself off the floor and followed her outside. His giant pink mecha carried 'Valkyrie' and my 'Sea Rose'.

"Hey, I came here as fast as I could with these two. Thankfully, I didn't run into any Titanos soldiers on the way here," he said, his booming from Aegisa's unseen speakers.

"That's because we told them not to attack," Prince Huitlo said as he walked out of the hut as well. He carried the still slumbering Tira on his back.

Deros nodded, his expression relieved. "Good to know. So, what's the plan?"

I glanced at Vyran, who had joined us outside. "We're heading to Lia's home planet. We need to get a ship capable of traveling between dimensions. Lia will be our guide."

Lia stepped forward, her expression determined. "I know the way. We can get a ship there that will take us to Retra."

Arare, still brimming with excitement, spoke up. "Count me in! I've always wanted to travel to a different planet. This is going to be epic!"

Hiesno sighed, shaking his head. "Of course, you want to go. Just don't get us into too much trouble, Arare."

I turned to Arare, my expression serious. "This isn't a joyride, Arare."

Arare nodded, his demeanor shifting to a more serious tone. "I know, Ret. But I want to help. And besides, you'll need all the help you can get."

I looked at Vyran, who gave a slight nod of approval.

"Alright, Arare. You can come. But stay focused," I said.

"Let's get moving. The sooner we get to Lia's home planet, the better."

We quickly prepared to depart, making sure we had everything we needed.

Vyran even took Sarudei back to the base so the could tell her brother that she was going to be gone for a while. She must've cried a lot as her eyes were red when they returned.

As we mounted our mechas and readied ourselves for the journey, I couldn't help but feel a sense of urgency. Yusan was already ahead of us. We didn't even know where to start looking.

Prince Huitlo, still carrying Tira, turned to me. "We'll take care of Tira and follow behind you. She needs to rest, but we'll catch up as soon as we can."

"Understood," I replied, my gaze shifting to the horizon. "Let's move out."

With that, we took to the skies, our mechas soaring towards Lia's home planet. The wind rushed past us, and the landscape below blurred as we sped towards our destination. The journey was tense, each moment bringing us closer to the inevitable confrontation with Yusan.

As we flew, I couldn't shake the feeling that this battle would be unlike any we had faced before. Yusan was cunning and powerful, and he had already shown he was willing to go to any lengths to achieve his goals.

But despite the uncertainty and danger, I felt a renewed sense of purpose. We were united in our mission, driven by a common goal: to stop Yusan and prevent him from causing more pain and suffering.

Varia, who rode in Vyran's mecha, gasped. "So that's Edesia?"

"Woah," Arare said as he rode Lia's mecha.

Lia snickered. "I reacted the same way when I left Pararis."

"What's Pararis like?" Sarudei asked.

"It... Wasn't a very good place before Titanos showed up. There were a lot of warring tribes. Life expectancy was short. Most of the wealth was controlled by wealthy chieftains who had massive harems. The common man lived a short and brutish life."

Arare sighed. "Reminds me a bit of where I'm from."

"You aren't from the rainforest?" Sarudei asked.

"No." I saw him glancing over his shoulder in the monitor. He was gazing at the desert.

Sarudei gasped. "Why is half of the land desert?"

"I can answer that," I said. "Your planet's has gyres which keep most of the moisture on one part of the planet. Every five millennia, those gyres collapse, allowing water to reach the desert and flood it. Our geological analysis showed that there have been instances where the desert becomes forest and the forest becomes desert."

Sarudei gulped. "You mean, my part of Edesia wasn't always green?"

"One sees such phenomena on planets in Retra too, but not at such a large scale," Varia said.

I sighed. "I came from a planet stuck in an eternal winter. Only the equator can sustain life year around. The rest depends on the seasons. Like Lia's planet, Titania was full of war until the royal family unified the planet."

Vyran hummed. "Luckily, my home planet has a stable and diverse climate. Nothing existential."

"Orginal is the same way," Deros said. "Stable seasons and such."

Retra sounded like a nice place... In Titanos, we only had a few planets that a stable climate. Many of the solar systems in my universe were chaotic with large space debris threatening the few planets that did sustain life in them. 

Titania, while cold, at least had the gravity to swing incoming meteors and comets away. Our moons served as shields as well. Most celestial bodies that did manage to pass through the atmosphere without burning up would end up in the large ice caps, too small to do much damage.

"Well, let's make haste," Lia said, speeding up her mecha.

I nodded and followed after her. It thankfully didn't take us long to reach her world.

"Woah," Arare said.

Unlike Edesia, Pararis had large, bustling cities. Some were even made of metal like the ones back in Titania.

"This is the kind of stuff Titanos can offer Edesia if you rebels just give up," Lia said.

Sarudei scoffed. "I prefer the rainforest and nice mid-sized towns, thank you very much."

I sighed. That girl was too proud for her own good. Her planet was going to experience another ecological upheaval soon. If she and the other rebels just allowed us to help, we could minimize the damage done to her world.

But if she continued to push for independence, Edesia would once again face a large extinction event.