DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dr. Stone! :)
To my awesome reviewers (10/05/20): Hello, Evelyn (Evelyn Moore), karin150301, heywhoknewit, PuppyCake, Daniela, Lu-chan 16Love, and Shiraneko-chan! ^_^ Thank you so much and muchas gracias for reviewing the twentieth chapter of No Stone Unturned! I'm glad to hear that! As for where it'll go, the last line of this chapter will give you a hint about the next one! :D Hurra! Me gusta mucho la conexion de Senku y Kohaku porque ellos respetan tambien los talentos y etica laboral de los unos de los otros :) In-character writing is something incredibly important to me as a fanfic writer, so that is so nice to hear! ^_^ I'm happy you're reading and enjoying my story! I'll keep on doing my best! :) I'm looking forward to Season Two as well! Si, aun tan en etapas tempranas, Senku ya respetaba la abilidad de Kohaku trabajar duro y quedarse concentrado por la tarea, y el es igual en Capitulo Veinte! :) Jumping like that really was risky for Kohaku - she barely managed to jump out of the way in time! O.o No OOC-ness? That's good! :D I hope you stay safe as well! :) I hope all you enjoy this new chapter, and thank you again! ^_^
Chapter Twenty-One: (S01 E09e) Climbing Down
The rain stopped immediately after that final lightning strike.
After giving Kohaku a small length of rope for her hair to replace the cord she had lost in tying the iron bars to the spear – and after teaching her that the magnets they had created were meant to be held a certain way in order for their attractive properties to take effect – Senku led the others down the mountain.
Or, at least, he tried to.
"Come on, Senku!" yelled Chrome enthusiastically from around thirty-five feet below. Despite the man's rock shoes, he had no issue with descending the mountain despite the fact that it had just rained. "We need to get back so that we can start making that electricity stuff!"
But climbing down was much more difficult – and time-consuming – than climbing up, and that wasn't just because Senku had been carried by the scruff of his coat like a little kitten. Climbing up was tiring because you were defying gravity the entire time, but because your eyes were near the top of your body, it was much easier to see where you were going.
However, climbing down was different – even if you were to bend your head to gauge distance and safe places to place your feet, you had to maneuver your body slightly out of the way in order to see as much as possible, causing a shift in gravity that was not ideal in a situation when the smallest of incorrect movements could send you plummeting to the ground.
After holding on to the rocks carefully, Senku looked down to check on everybody's progress.
Suika, with her short legs as well as with Senku's growing suspicions about her eyesight, was having some difficulty in climbing down, was receiving cheerful guidance from Chrome, who was on her right side and was likely to be a credible source given the amount of time he spend exploring mountains just like this one.
Kinro, despite his obvious intent to keep away from Senku and Chrome's so-called sorcery as well as the members of the kingdom of science in general, was surprisingly close to Suika as they climbed down the mountain. He was taking one downward step after another with precision, descending the mountain at the same pace as the girl beside him – and, after a moment of consideration, Senku knew why Kinro had chosen to climb down next to Suika.
Because, he thought, Kinro's a guard.
The remaining person below was Ginro, who was the furthest away from Senku, so he couldn't hear the younger guard's chatter too clearly. Senku would have expected him to be slightly more fearful considering the high probability of death, but it seemed that his cheerfulness at Kinro's loss of the gold spear that Ginro had never been able to borrow was giving him the courage to move down the mountain with only minimal hesitation.
And then there were the remaining three of them – Senku, Asagiri Gen, and Kohaku – who were descending in an almost perfect row.
Senku was going down slowly because he was trying to not die, and Gen, who was between Senku and Kohaku, was moving at the same pace – probably because, as somebody who was also from the modern era, Gen likely wasn't used to physical exertion of this level. He seemed to be slightly more athletic than Senku, given that he was able to climb up the mountain in the first place without being carried, but due to Senku's lack of stamina and physical skill, and Gen's being barefoot and having to be more careful than anybody else about where he placed his feet, their unique disadvantages made them move almost as slowly as each other.
The third member of their small, slow party, Kohaku, looked unbothered by the effort of climbing down the mountain. Instead of choosing to stay next to more familiar people, such as Senku himself or one of the other members of the kingdom of science, Kohaku had surprisingly chosen to situate herself on Gen's right, keeping an obvious close eye on him the entire time.
After seeing that everybody was on track, Senku took a breath and resumed climbing down the mountain. Gen and Kohaku, who had paused when he had, began to do the same.
Much later, all seven of them arrived at the Chrome's shed of science.
Kinro gave Senku's group a baleful look before morosely walking in the direction of the bridge, and, after grinning and waving at the four members of the kingdom of science and one stranger in farewell, Ginro, with a spring in his step, followed his brother back to their post. Kohaku, after a long look at Gen, seemed to judge that he wouldn't be an immediate threat due to his exhaustion and headed for her earthenware pot, clearly intending on going to the hot spring to fetch water, while Suika went to greet Chalk and give him a belly rub.
Cradling the new magnets with pride, Chrome turned to Senku in excitement.
"Are we going to make electricity now?"
"Not yet," Senku replied. "First, we have to use wood to make molds for the copper discs and copper wires that we're going to need. Second, we need to dig out all the copper you have out of your shed, and fix the furnace since there's a hole in the side after we smashed it to get the melted iron out. And third, since we'll need manpower to melt all that copper, we need to gather cooking ingredients all over again, because…"
He raised his arm and pointed at their cart.
"…we're going to open Senku's Ramen Shop 2.0!"
(End of Chapter Twenty-One.) (10/05/20.)
I. My personal comments: So, while I was writing the previous chapter (Chapter Twenty) I was rereading the manga as well, and I found out that Senku and the others actually made three iron bars in the manga, instead of just the two that we saw in the anime. So I'll need to go back and correct that detail, haha XD We didn't see their "going down the mountain" journey in the manga or anime, so... here it is! XD
II. Question of the day: How do you feel about Senku's observations as he climbed down? :)
III. A tiny request: Thank you for reading my fanfic! :D If you've read this far, I hope you'll consider taking an extra minute to leave a review for Chapter Twenty-One ("Climbing Down")? :D Reviews really mean a lot to me as a fanfiction writer, and all kinds of positive, negative, and/or constructive reviews are very welcome! ^_^ Even if it's the year 5738 or something, I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter! :D (By the way, I'm "fireflyhwufanficwrit" on Reddit and "firefly-hwufanficwriterrrrr" on Tumblr :D)