The Scenic Route

The newly formed crew is going down the snow covered mountain on their BoardBoots.

Katsu, Daisuki, Shelly, and Itsuka are a few yards ahead of Saku going slower for a German Shepard a little older than 3 years old. 

The dog is running through the "snow" with a smile-like expression and his tongue is out. The alien brought snow sticking to his fur.

Saku constantly side slipping, slowing himself down, with perfection around small shrubbery and rocks while watching his 'purpose'. 

THIS.

Saku(to Friend): "We did it buddy. This is true happiness. Fresh air, the sky, and nothing stopping us from doing what we want. We're back."

The dog suddenly trips over a snow bank and tumbles through a thick blanket of snow.

Saku: "Friend!"

Saku stops and kicks up a wave of snow but the dog quickly gains its footing again and just as quickly as he lost it, continues ahead of his owner unhurt and unphased. 

Saku smiles and starts to speed up.

Proof of Daisuki's story is seen once they all get to the bottom of the mountain. There are destroyed trees on their sides outside of the forest that surrounds the circumference of Hanabi City. 

Daisuki grinds one cleanly, jumps off, and taps the side of his boot making the board retract and the Big Bro lands in stride.

Itsuka doesn't do anything flashy as she stops next to the mentor, hitting her boot making the board retract.

Shelly is next to get to the bottom. She grinds her board up a tree that landed in the ground like a javelin and is perfectly angled. She does a backflip off, taps the side of her BoardBoot, it retracts and she lands with her hands up like a gymnast. Daisuki and Itsuka clap, impressed.

Katsu, barely keeping his balance, gets to the bottom but falls on his ass to come to a complete stop. 

Saku stops and kicks up snow on his old friend. Katsu isn't upset but laughs. 

Saku smiles until he gets hit in the face with a snowball thrown by Shelly, in front of Itsuka trying to hide her smile.

Katsu is still on his ass playing with his BootBoard, continuously extending and retracting it.

Katsu: "These are so freaking coooool!"

Shelly: "Katsu don't do that, you'll break them."

Katsu gets up but suddenly they all stop. Growls are heard and they all know what creature it is before they even turn around. 2 smaller Icemen, covered in fresh blood, are growling and approaching the group confidently. 

Katsu is scared and takes a step back. Before anyone else can react they start to dash right for Katsu. He is frozen while remembering his parents dying from an alien like them. With his eyes closed he falls back on his ass and is softly hyperventilating. Everything is black but slashing and the sounds of shrieking Icemen can be heard.

Once the shrieking fades, Katsu hears footsteps crunching the snow getting closer.

While he still has his eyes closed he hears Shelly's worried voice calling his name.

Shelly(in the darkness): "Katsu... Katsu!"

From Katsu's PoV, he opens his eyes and blinks.

Shelly with her black/teal scarf down and not covering an inch of her beautiful concerned face. Her nose is slightly red from physical activity and her teal nail polished fingers, that match her scarf, are outstretched to him.

Saku shows up behind her, looking down in disappointment, sheathing his SunSwords back in, opposite hand to opposite hip.

Shelly: "Katsu, are you ok? Please don't ever leave my side, please!"

Saku: "Don't embarrass me in front of Itsuka dude.(nervous) Yourself! Don't embarrass yourself. You don't want her thinking you're all talk, even though you are."

Katsu grabs Shelly's soft hand and she shoots him upward to his feet with her pure strength.

Katsu: "Thanks you guys. My bad. With everything that's happened already today, I got caught off guard when I was remembering the Icemen still exist."

Shelly: "It's okay don't listen to him. Just stay next to me. That way, you're safe and if I need another SunSword you're my last resort."

She smiles and Katsu smiles back and nods in confirmation. Saku rolls his eyes and shakes his head at Friend. The dog is panting up at its master.

Friend: "RrrUUFff!"

Katsu looks to see the two Icemen are now "icecubes" from being minced by his friends. Daisuki and Itsuka relax and wait for them to join them. Once they do they start into the patchy forest.

Broken trees, human remains, and giant Icemen footprints as bigger than all of the 5 humans in the group combined from toe to heel.

Along the way Itsuka confidently takes out a single straggler smaller Icemen. The muscles in her arms flex as she grips her SunSword and she sheaths it once its head hits the ground and the Iceman jaw stops chomping. Saku is admiring the woman and her well earned figure.

She sees his gaze and they quickly look away. Daisuki stops and opens up his cooler like backpack. He takes out a water bottle and takes an air sip. He holds up the bottle in offer to the rest of them.Saku and Itsuka both raise their hands at the same time.

Itsuka: "Sorry you go ahead. It's your squads water and I still owe you a free gut shot back for earlier."

Saku doesn't respond and looks at Daisuki with his hand open. Daisuki shrugs and tosses it. Saku catches it behind his back cleanly with his right hand and in the same motion, brings it around to hand it to the platinum haired woman who is the same height as him.

Saku: "I told you to not worry about it, wouldn't feel right to hit you on purpose when you did it to me by accident."

Their IceEyes lock as she takes it and unlock once she takes it.

Itsuka(smiles): "I appreciate it."

She air sips and then hands it to him, again their IceEyes lock until Saku takes his turn. Katsu watches on star-eyed and Shelly looks worried.

Shelly Inner Self (cringing while thinking): *Oh God I hope it doesn't look this obvious between me and Katsu. (her inner self goes dumbstruck)....what (inner self freaking out) WHAT?! What am I saying!? There's nothing between me and Katsu!*

Shelly snaps out of her teen girl mentality and quickly looks behind her with her serious expression as if listening for something. 

Daisuki puts the bottle in his cooler backpack and puts it back on. He turns around looking at the group.

Daisuki: "We got about 5 minutes until we're out of these woods. Stay alert an-"

Shelly grabs Katsu's hand and starts running with him. Everyone looks at her in confusion and Katsu yips in surprise.

Katsu: "ah. Shelly!"

Shelly(looks back at them): "What are you all doing?! RUN!"

They three look at each other in confusion after 5 seconds they shrug it off. But then birds are seen fleeing from the trees and leaves are slowly falling as a slight tremor is felt, then the tremor is no longer slight. They all get wide-eyed and chase after Shelly and dragging Katsu.

Saku: "Come on Friend!"

Friend: "RuuRUuuff!"