Chapter 5: Science Class
Chrome apparently ignored us, and went over to Kinro and Ginro, who were still recovering from the 'bubble attack'.
"I know you're scared because you're not as smart as me, but don't let his cheap trickery get to you!" Chrome yelled, his tone somewhat angered. "These things are easy to make! All you need is charcoal, ash, and boiling water!"
Chrome began popping the bubbles, and a surprised look came over Senku's face. I was surprised as well, cause this guy had some knowledge about these things.
"I wasn't scared." Kinro growled. "You're a fool if you aren't cautious of the unknown."
"I actually was pretty scared." Ginro added, his tone meek sounding.
Kinro let out an annoyed sigh and then said, "We don't need you here, Chrome. I'm not dumb enough to believe that your sorcery will actually help us!"
"Believe what you want; I don't care." Chrome replied, before taking off his cape. "But know this: I'm not backing down! Because sorcery is my speciality! So step off and let me handle these guys!"
Senku, Kohaku, and I stood there, as Chrome gave a cocky smile and said, "If we fight here, there's a fair chance that the villagers will get caught up in this battle. Let's move somewhere else."
Chrome began walking, to which Senku, Kohaku, Kinro, Ginro, and I followed. I had a feeling this was going to be an interesting encounter…
We went to a clearing in the forest, where a large hut, which was held off the ground by some wooden pillars, was set up. There, Chrome lit a fire, and stood before it, a rather frightening and intense look on his face! Kohaku, Ginro, and myself all wore shocked looks on our faces, while Senku and Kinro just looked bored and confused. I looked over at Ginro, and saw that he was absolutely petrified. I could only imagine what was going through his head at the moment.
Chrome then let out a villainous laugh, to which we all reacted in alarm. As for Senku, he stayed cool as ice, and squatted down to get a better view of what was going to happen.
"Alright, get ready for some sorcery!" Chrome yelled. "Check out my Rainbow Bridge!"
Rainbow Bridge? Seriously?
"I am the master of the flames and fire!" Chrome yelled, before throwing some kind of powder into the fire.
Suddenly, the fire exploded to life, turning yellow! He then threw another powder, which made it turn green! Then he made it turn purple! Kohaku, Kinro, and Ginro all reacted in fear, saying it was sorcery! And to be honest, it was…
A trick.
I squatted down next to Senku and quietly said, "He's throwing some kind of powder on the fire, and I think that's why it's turning different colors."
"I noticed that, David." Senku replied in a quiet tone, a rather unimpressed look on his face. He then said aloud, "Rainbow Bridge? Total crap. It's just a basic reaction to flame tests. You threw salt, copper, and sulfur into the fire, in that order."
Senku and I then stood up, to which Senku asked, "So, is that copper sulfate or something? Wait a minute, that's not going to help. Did you use some blue crystals that you found in the caves?"
For a brief few seconds, Chrome had the cocky look on his face, and then it instantly turned into one of absolute panic, cause his trick had been uncovered! He must've been in his thoughts in that moment, because all he did was stand there with his mouth wide open, shaking in fear!
Senku began itching his ear out of boredom again, and I looked over at Kohaku; she was not impressed. As for myself, I was trying my hardest not to laugh! Apparently, this mighty sorcerer had only some parlor tricks to help him out! Chrome apparently noticed Kohaku's expression, which only made him lose his cool even more!
"Uh, hey!" Chrome spoke, his tone panicked. "I'll have you know that my sorcery is not completely made up of cheap tricks, and crap like that!"
"I didn't say anything." Kohaku replied, her tone bored.
"You wait and see!" Chrome yelled, before quickly racing up the ladder and into the hut. "I'm going to get one of my instruments of sorcery that will put the hurt on you for sure!"
I chuckled and then quietly said to Senku, "I wonder what dangerous 'instrument of sorcery' he's going to bring out now."
"If it's anything like the Rainbow Bridge, he's not going to win this." Senku replied, his tone quiet as well.
When Chrome returned, he had a brown, stone ball with him! He began rubbing it rapidly, after a few seconds of doing so, he went over to Ginro and stuck his finger near his nose. A little spark of electricity appeared, and Ginro let out a yell of fright!
"Ow, that hurt! What the heck did you do to me?!" Ginro yelled, totally freaked out.
Chrome chuckled, but his expression dropped when Senku took the ball from him. I came over with Senku to examine this strange object for myself.
"What is it, Senku?" I asked.
"It's a sulfur ball." Senku replied, his tone pleased. "He took sulfur and put it in an urn, then heated it and cooled it down. Afterwards, he broke the urn around it, and got a sulfur ball; pretty neat way to make one of these."
"Does it have to do with static electricity?"
"Correct. They used a sulfur ball to make a static generator in the 17th century."
Senku then reached back and pulled off the stick he had been carrying on his back. It was a flag of some kind, which was light green, and had dark green designs on it. He then pulled the flag off of the stick, and then put it around the sulfur ball.
"You're pretty exciting, I'll give you that, Chrome." Senku chuckled. "But rubbing it with leather instead of your hands will give it ten billion times more powerful. To demonstrate, I'll use my science flag."
Senku began rubbing the the sulfur ball with his flag, to which his hair began spiking up more than usual! I took a step back cautiously, cause I didn't want to get shocked. He then touched Chrome on the arm, who got an absolutely powerful shock sent right through his entire body!
"Wow! His hair is all spiky!" Ginro spoke, his tone amazed.
"His hair was already pretty spiky to begin with." Kohaku replied.
After getting shocked, Chrome dropped to the ground, a burnt out look on his face; the score was in Senku's favor with two points.
"Hey, how does that work?" Kohaku asked.
With a grin, Senku tossed the ball to Kohaku and Ginro, both of their hair spiking up when they touched it. They also had euphoric looks on their faces, which made me laugh. Chrome got up and, upon noticing that Kohaku and Ginro were holding his sulfur ball, attempted to get it back, only to have Kohaku keep it away from him.
Senku's hair went back to normal, and he said in a comedic tone, "Feels like I'm watching a little kid's science class with this guy; it's all so primitive."
"Apparently, there's nothing sorcerous about this." I added. "It's just plain and simple science, no more, no less. That's why he can't understand how you know more than him."
Senku grinned at that, but then his gaze turned serious, as he focused on Chrome's hut.
"Chrome, did you think of all this stuff by yourself in this primitive village?" Senku asked, his tone inquisitive. "All these scientific materials and minerals, you took it upon yourself to gather and collect them in this hut?"
"You bet I did!" Chrome replied, his tone harsh. "Why do you care? It's normal for kids to find stuff and keep it. They smash it, crush it, burn it, and when something crazy happens, that's called sorcery. Think about it, what else could it be?!"
None of what Chrome did had anything to do with sorcery; it was all the natural reactions of the elements. What he did was display the little hidden tricks that you can do, when you put elements together in certain ways. It wasn't sorcery, it was science!
Unfortunately, depending on how long their lineage is, the term 'science' was probably a lost word. It was understandable, cause back then, anything that couldn't be explained by science would be labeled 'magic' or 'sorcery'.
Senku turned back to face Chrome and said, "Listen, the way things are going right now, I'm pretty sure you're ten billion percent the type of person that Tsukasa is going to kill. And the only way you're going to survive is if you join the 'Kingdom of Science'."
"Tsukasa?" Chrome asked, his tone confused. "Who is he talking about?"
"We'll explain that part after you join up with us." I replied.
We then saw Senku, who began climbing the ladder to the hut, an excited look on his face. However, upon seeing him do that, Chrome reacted negatively; he probably felt like he was being defeated by Senku, which he was.
"I challenge you to one last fight!" Chrome yelled. "You and me! If you lose, you'll leave the village after you bow to me! If you win, you can take the hut and I'll work for you!"
"You sure about that?" Senku asked, his tone concerned.
"I'll show you things you've never seen, because I'm the greatest of all time!" Chrome replied. "Arithmetic! Fight me in a battle of numbers!"
Instantly, I remembered how Senku told me that he had counted the entire time while he was turned to stone. How he had counted every year, every month, every day, every hour, every minute, every second, all in his head. It was then that I knew, Chrome was going to get absolutely demolished!
"I have a strong feeling that Senku is about to wipe the floor with Chrome." said Kohaku.
"Yeah, he's done for." I replied, standing beside her.
After a minute of Senku mentally flattening Chrome with complex numbers and equations, let's just say that the Kingdom of Science now had a shed, and a new member: Chrome.
So, that meant that Senku, Chrome, Kohaku, and I, were now part of this Kingdom of Science. Senku and Chrome would be the brains, and Kohaku and I would be the brawn. That's how things would work.
Upon entering the hut, or the 'Shed of Science' as Senku now called it, we found that it had hundreds and hundreds of resources in it! All kinds of different rocks were in it, and it was quite the collection! Senku was like a little kid at Christmas, and his enthusiasm spread over to Chrome! Kohaku, however, was just plain confused by their attitudes.
"I can't tell any difference between those rocks." said Kohaku, her tone confused. "Sorry, but I'll never understand why they think these things are so cool, just because they collect them."
"It's because the rocks have different properties to them." I replied. "Each rock here can do, or be used for, something interesting. What they can be used for, I don't know, but I guess that's where it gets exciting."
Kohaku huffed, and then got out of the hut, with me following her. She then went over to the jug of hot spring water, which I had carried with me, and picked it up herself. After that, she began heading through the forest, with me following behind, monitoring her and making sure she didn't fall.
"I hope Chrome has fun showing off the most boring trophies ever." Kohaku spoke, her tone sarcastic. "I have to bring this hot spring water to my sister."
"Right, of course." I replied, as we walked to the bridge, which was being guarded by Ginro. "I would help you get that across, but I don't think the guard brothers would like me coming into the village."
"Don't worry about them, and I'll also make sure to get you some clothes."
"Thanks. Anyway, I better get back and look after Senku and Chrome; last thing I want is for them to blow themselves up. So, I'll be seeing you, Kohaku."
Kohaku smiled and replied, "Same here. See you, David."
Her smile was cute, and I definitely liked it when she was cheerful. To say the least, I definitely had a crush on her. Yeah, I couldn't believe it myself; I had a crush on this girl!
Kohaku then began crossing the bridge, and I headed back to see what Senku and Chrome were up to.
Senku and Chrome worked pretty well together; they used the materials from the 'Shed of Science' to make the blade of Kinro's spear gold. Unfortunately, Kinro saw it as a bribe, but he still kept the spear. All in all, Senku and Chrome made a good team!
I also found out that Senku was a fan of the Monster Hunter video game. Not that really mattered anymore; video games were long gone. But still, I played Monster Hunter before, and it was a really fun game. So, that gave us something to talk about. We also found out that, aside from rocks in the hut, there were also plants and herbs that could be used for medicines and drugs.
And then Senku and I found out another thing: Chrome was experimenting with these plants and herbs, because he was trying to find a cure for a girl named Ruri. And an even more amazing thing we uncovered: Ruri was Kohaku's sister, whom she was bringing the hot-springs water to.