None of them said a word wearing the cloaks to disguise themselves. Senku raised a brow as the sun started to rise right behind them. Both the sun and the wind got stronger. Oarashi growled in anger, his eyes bulging a little. He looked at Kinro specifically, and thought it was the night raider he had encountered before. This was thanks to the cloak and mask making it easier to give them similar appearances to Oarashi...and also, because he was just not that smart to tell the difference, even if he looked hard enough.
"Miracle power...revenge!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, about to charge right at them!
"What gives?" Chrome recoiled back in shock. "He's attacking from the get-go?"
"Overwhelming us immediately works to their advantage," Senku explained to them, Sumi sweating a little. "Meatheads are stupid strong in these situations. Tch, Violet and I should've learned that damn fact from Taiju!" He narrowed his eyes for not expecting this.
"Makes sense, too, if we follow the mentalist's explanation for this. Oarashi really is threatened by the power of the Night Raider...I can smell his anger right off of him," The black-haired scientist stated while eyeing the man, her hand twitching for her whip, but she still didn't have it. 'Damn, Senku still has my weapons hidden away...even if I did have them, there's no way I can fight all of these guys by myself. It'd be an instant death sentence for all of us, especially with Moz around.' Even if she could take all of them on, she didn't need to risk her friends' lives in the process either.
Kinro then stepped up in front of everyone else. "Allow me," They all gasped from this sudden change. "Now it's for a true battle, not some petty bargain. It's for myself. This time, I fight...using what the Kingdom of Science granted me," He held up his golden spear to the sky, the tip shining. "And with this golden spear...shining like the sun itself. He then pointed it towards Oarashi, ready to fight not only for his brother, but for himself and the Kingdom of Science. "I will protect us!"
Kinro lunged forward towards Oarashi immediately, Sumi frowning in worry at him. He then sliced off part of Oarashi's helmet with the spear, causing him to fall backwards. He looked up in utter shock at this, seeing his reflection in the golden metal. Kinro struck again multiple times, alarming the guards right behind the muscled man.
"Every single one of these hooded freaks is really strong!" One of the guards freaked out, sweat dripping all over his face.
"I told you the warrior who raided us was a total beast, but it looks like all of them might be that way!" Another one exclaimed and Sumi narrowed her eyes. She tested her ankle and she didn't feel anything...yet. It still needed one more day at least. But she couldn't just sit and do nothing.
Ukyo pointed his bow and arrow, firing and hitting one of the weapons. The guard holding it whimpered in fear. Senku then held up some mirrors, and thanks to the sun, they gave off bright lights. Meaning that they couldn't actually see the mirrors, not that they'd know what they are anyway. Some of the guards recoiled back to look away.
"Whoa! That bright light is blinding me!" One of them cried out with his eyes squeezed shut.
"Watch out! It's light sorcery at work! Keep your eyes closed!" A second one shouted.
Chrome popped up behind Senku with a confident smirk. "Obviously these guys have never seen a mirror!" He bragged and the green-haired scientist let out a laugh while waving them around.
"Just a few cheap tricks. That's all we need," He remarked since obviously, they were outnumbered. And Kinro wouldn't be enough to fend them off either.
One of them ran right up to Sumi, who gasped at this. She immediately spun around and simply kicked him away with a powerful swing of the leg that didn't get sprained. Another one charged towards her with a yell, but she simply did a backflip, causing enough force to send him flying backwards onto the ground.
"Wasn't Senku against you fighting these guys?" Chrome whispered to her. "On account of your ankle and all."
"I didn't say anything about defending herself if needed," Senku gave a small smirk. She adjusted her bangs with a knowing smile while standing up. "Just because Moz knows it's her fighting doesn't mean he'll do anything to save face." Although he did know that Moz would pull something on them sooner or later...that was his real concern.
Speaking of, Moz slammed his weapon into the ground. He stepped in front of Suika, Amaryllis, and Yuzuriha. All three gasped as he was completely covered in shadow, making him seem really intimidating. He simply held up his weapon, curling a finger towards them with a smirk on his face. They all stared at him nervously, wondering if this was a trick, or if it was still part of the plan that he was allied with the Kingdom of Science. Their gut told them it was the latter, but still...
I hope he's planning to make us look strong... Yuzuriha thought sheepishly, and the three screamed while stepping forward. They waved their spears towards him in a group attack of sorts. They didn't even touch him, but he fell backwards with a scream, shocking the trio. Sumi gave him a blank look for his dramatics.
That might be going a bit too far to sell the illusion...
"So they're powerful enough to push back Moz?!" One of the guards cried out, as apparently that was enough to have them buy it...then again, these were the same people related to the villagers, who thought that science was just sorcery.
"Well, it is three on one!" A second one informed with a frown on his face.
"I thought he was supposed to be able to hold his own against a hundred soldiers or more!"
Moz pretended to grunt while standing up, Kirisame watching him closely. "Kirisame," She gasped from her name being called. "Seems Oarashi was right. These invaders are hiding quite a bit of muscle under their cloaks. We'll have to throw everything that we've got, if you catch my drift..." He glanced back at her knowingly, waiting for her to do it. And then everything would fall into place...
Kirisame silently reached into her pouch and then looked back at the army of guards. "Close your eyes, everyone! These fools are about to suffer the master's power!" She warned, alarming everyone wearing the black cloaks. The guards then bent down on their knees, covering their eyes.
Ryusui gave a triumphant grin while seeing this from the mobile lab. Ha ha! Yes, throw it! Right into our waiting arms!
Moz then stepped back a couple of feet with a small smile. This spot is outside of the beam's range, yet close enough to off my 'allies' with a solitary attack. But these people are far from idiots. He recalled when Gen showed off the drone, Senku had used the beta controller for it. They'll no doubt try to stop me with some kind of sorcery. They wouldn't use Sumi again, not after her fight with me, so she's probably unarmed right now. They made the mistake of showing me how it works, though. And now i know it just takes the flick of a finger to use their strange enhancements. He then gave an evil pleased smile to himself, just waiting to be able to kill them. Heh. I'll have to strike fast. The second they go to conjure their spell, I'll sever their heads from their necks, while sparing Sumi for my own entertainment. Then it'll be over. I win!
Kirisame flung around the Medusa above her head, and then seconds later, threw it to the sky. Senku then turned to the others in the lab. "Medusa is airborne, guys! Fly the drone!" Senku shouted as loud as he could.
"Aw, yeah!" Chrome gave a wide smile himself, expecting everything to work out like they wanted it to. "It's over! We win!"
Ryusui gritted his teeth while pushing up the levers from the controller. The drone floated off of the ground, and while Kirisame was holding onto the rope...he froze. He stopped himself and then the drone went back to the ground. Nikki, Yo, and Kaseki all noticed his hesitation right away.
"Hey, what's wrong?" The craftsman asked from behind. "We don't have a second to lose, so quit stalling and let's go!"
"Come on, Ryusui, let's get that thing back in the air," Nikki urged him, and he continued to stay silent for a few seconds. He was sweating as...something was very wrong here. Not only did it not feel like this would be a victory, but...it was as if the drone was to be expected, and that it would reveal their plan right away.
"Right now, my sailor's instincts are screaming. Our crew made a fatal mistake!" He revealed nervously to the trio. "The enemy's got the drop on us. They've seen through the act!"
Right after he revealed this, Sumi sniffed the air and gasped sharply. She recoiled back in shock a bit, her hesitant look clear on her face. Both Moz and Kirisame noticed her nose twitching as she placed a clenched fist in front of her chest. Her other hand touched Senku's lightly, and that was a signal to him that she knew that something was wrong. Just like Ryusui had just sensed seconds ago. She wouldn't react like that...if the weapon had a scent that she would recognize. If so, then she wouldn't even give him the signal, but she did. She didn't even have to tell him, and he automatically trusted her gut feeling without a second thought. Even if he sometimes mocked relying on that.
Violet's trying to tell me, and I can tell, even without that gesture. Something...feels off here. Senku thought while looking up with wide eyes.
I can smell it from here. What she just threw into the air...I know that with it, our plan won't work at all! We'd lose and then... Sumi sweated a little, and both of them felt a chill. It was as if...Ibara's claws had wrapped around their heads, his body looming over them. And the both of them could just imagine the evil big grin on his face right behind them...
Two guards were escorting Ibara by boat off the island. One of them then noticed something from the minister. "Huh? You're wearing an earring. Don't see that often," The one in front commented. Ibara had his arms hidden in his cloak, looking up to the sky.
"Oh, this old thing?" He touched his ear lightly. "Doesn't it look good? Yup, still got it!" He then took it off, looking at the earring in his hand. "You know what makes me the strongest on the island, right? You'd think it's because I have a powerful army, but no. It's all because I'm cautious despite that..."
In the inner palace, Moz was wearing the earring still to listen to Senku...which Ibara just happened to see one night. His eyes widened as he had seen it somewhere before. Especially since it was nothing like what the rest of the islanders tended to wear. 'That's quite an interesting accessory...'
Once Kohaku and Ginro were removed from the master's hut, he got a closer look at Kohaku's statue. And on her left ear was the same earring he saw Moz wearing. He came in closer to get a better look. 'I knew it!' He removed it from the statue, holding it up to his eyes. 'They're the same! Matter of fact...' He recalled Sumi walking around wearing the same one, as well as her screaming from Senku having destroyed the mobile lab. He knew from that shout that something had to have happened, and that was after she had the earring on... He put it on himself...and heard Senku talking into the cell phone's speaker.
"Our battle will be waged at the cliff of the howling seas," He informed and Ibara gasped, his eyes black from the plan. 'So she must've heard that voice when she shouted...the two must have a special connection to get that reaction out of her!'
"Wait, wait! I mean you!" ibara called out as they were heading over to the battle. "Kirisame!" He waved a hand to her from behind.
"Yes, Minister?" She glanced over her shoulder.
"Could you spare a quick minute of your time, please?" She stopped and he bent down to her. "This is just between us two, but we likely have a traitor," He informed quietly as she looked up. "Moz might be in communication with our foes. So we'll test him by using this," He then handed her something right into her hand.
Ibara had an evil grin on his face, knowing that he had tricked everyone and gotten away with it too. "It's over. And Ibara wins," He chuckled as the earring glowed a little.
As the petrification weapon went flying into the air, both Senku and Sumi eyed it closely.
It feels off, but science doesn't rely on gut instincts, yet I'm still trusting Violet's. Heh, I really am a sap, huh? Anyway, I've got milliseconds to spare. We've gotta calculate quick. Senku placed two fingers in front of his face, Sumi closing her eyes as her cloak blew a little. Kirisame's toss is around 90 kilometers per hour at 60 degrees. A woman's average height is 160 centimeters.
I myself am around 165 centimeters, and I can tell from this distance that Kirisame is a few inches shorter. She's most likely 164 centimeters to narrow it down for better accuracy. Sumi opened her eyes briefly to confirm that Kirisame was that height.
Supposing the weapon's 200 grams and has a cross-sectional area of 20 square centimeters and an air resistance coefficient of 0.8 due to its odd shape...heh. No way we're calculating that trajectory off the top of our heads. Don't get cocky when your numbers aren't even solid.
If it is 200 grams, it looks to be about 6 centimeters in size. But we also have to consider drag coefficient to quantify resistance in an environment such as this one. From what we've seen, Kirisame wouldn't even throw it like that if it was gonna impact everyone with it. That's not Ibara's goal, so why is she throwing it in a range like this?
Senku seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. Probably due to her investigation skills that he knew she was questioning this at all. Huh...good point. Minimize the variables and guesstimate. If it goes up 15 meters and the impact zone is about 40 meters, it'll hit dead center between us and them. Doesn't matter where it activates with that trajectory. We won't be the only ones caught in the limelight. Did the always accurate Kirisame botch her shot? No, if Violet's right, she'd never be able to escape it on her own. Meaning the petrification weapon she just threw and that Sumi can smell...
Is a fake! Both of the scientists determined at the same time.
I knew something was off when I couldn't smell the metal the weapon is made out of! The real Medusa has a very faint inkling of the ink etching it has on the thing. Meanwhile, this one smells like it's made out of either pure stone or paper, and it doesn't have that ink smell. Sumi gritted her teeth.
And as it went in front of the sunlight, it was indeed made out of stone, and not the actual weapon. Meaning that their plan was never gonna work now without the real thing to pull it off.
"We need everyone to haul ass back to the mobile lab!" Senku shouted to the others and they gasped sharply.
"We need to rethink our strategy, but let's go now!" Sumi waved a hand and they immediately ran off after this. Kirisame stared at the two scientists in interest as she put away the weapon. She looked at Sumi in particular.
That warrior's reaction to the weapon...can she sense it with sorcery? How else was she able to tell? By that, she meant Sumi's twitching nose. Since she had never seen it before in anyone, she didn't acknowledge the fact that Sumi had a great sense of smell. Moz narrowed his eyes a little at her in suspicion.
It appears that Sumi herself possesses a different type of sorcery from them if she was able to sense something about what just happened...it was like she knew what the thing was made out of without even getting a proper look at it.
Kirisame then revealed the real petrification weapon and Moz turned to it in shock. That must've been what Sumi sensed with her 'sorcery', and why the group were now taking off without using the drone. The mobile lab was being driven by Taiju as Ryusui held out his hand from the open door. Moz glanced at Kirisame briefly, and she looked at him suspiciously. His prompting of getting them here still had her suspicious if anything. Why else would he have them come here if he didn't have interaction with them before?
"Moz, you haven't betrayed the master, have you?" She asked him cautiously, and he gritted his teeth in irritation. He could deduce exactly what was going on; Ibara had planted doubt into him by talking to Kirisame. Meaning that he was in on the plan the entire time, which really was pissing him off. Not only did Ibara beat him to it, again, but now he didn't have the Medusa to control. Or the land and the women, or the heads of the Kingdom of Science.
Ibara...that meddling geezer! Guess killing him is off the table again. For now, I have to make it look like I wasn't in bed with the enemy. He then took off running instead of answering Kirisame's question. "Senku and Sumi, right? Though it doesn't really matter what any of you are called," He had a delightful smile on his face chasing them down. "I'm skipping to the part where I just slaughter all of you sorcerers in cold blood!"
The eight in cloaks were running towards the lab, Sumi holding Suika in her arms protectively. Wait, what happened? Why are we retreating to the lab? Amaryllis glanced towards Yuzuriha, and noticed her lack of panic. In fact, no one was despite the plan being a complete bust at this point. Wow. We've strayed completely from our plan, yet nobody's hesitating. Ukyo was up in front, about to reach the back of the lab. He then jumped in first as Senku and Sumi ran side by side. Their infinite trust in Senku, Sumi, and in science, means their words are enough.
Sumi landed a few feet away from Moz, breaking her ankle in the process. Senku ran up to her from behind, yet wasn't angry. Amaryllis protested for them to stop, but Sumi stood up anyway, none of her friends hesitant or worried looking at her. 'In fact...this was a similar feeling to when Sumi faced off Moz in the Sapphire Cave. They all trusted her to hold on as long as she could...not only to save them, but to make sure that they still had a chance. Even when she broke her ankle...their faith never faltered once.'
Ryusui held out his hand to Kinro next as they continued running for the lab in the forest. Moz was catching up to them fast, however. Senku was all in the way in the back, behind Chrome. Sumi flinched and looked back to see Moz as well. She then narrowed her eyes and looked back towards the mobile lab, looking right into Ryusui's eyes. He nodded in understanding as she squeezed her eyes shut, tossing Suika right towards the mobile lab in a bundle. Suika understood Sumi's intentions immediately and tucked in her limbs, landing right into Ryusui's arms. She then reached out to her hood. In one swift motion, she removed her cloak and flung it towards Moz like she would with a whip. Moz held up his weapon to block it, chuckling in disbelief that she thought that would work. She then wrapped the end around her wrist, flicking it again and actually smacking it against his wrist. He gasped a little that she actually managed to hit him just with a simple cloak.
Anything can be a weapon in the right hands, including science. Sumi gritted her teeth towards Moz, throwing her cloak again to continue attacking him. He growled in annoyance at this and ran right for her. She let out a sharp gasp before Senku grabbed the wrist holding the cloak.
"Come on!" He urged her to let it go and she did, causing the cloak to cover Moz in the face. He stumbled back a bit in alarm as Senku picked up speed with his girlfriend. She sighed in relief that she managed to buy them even a little bit of time.
"I've got you!" Ryusui called out to Yuzuriha, grabbing her hand and pulling her forward.
"Don't let go!" She cried out to him.
Ukyo reached out his own hand as the mobile lab continued moving away. "Here, come on!" He grabbed Amaryllis' wrist to pull her inside.
"Ryusui!" Chrome called out just as Moz pulled off the cloak, Senku and Sumi the last ones remaining. He gently pushed her inside first, and she glanced back in a bit of worry. She reached out her hand and he grabbed it. Sumi pulled in Senku with ease. He closed the door as the mobile lab picked up speed.
"Whoa, that got crazy all of a sudden," Suika smiled a little while Ryusui was holding onto her. Sumi smiled in relief as well stepping up to him and he placed her back into her arms. "Did everybody make it?"
"Yeah, and now the Moz monster can eat our dust. We'll lose him fast with the lab," Chrome smiled confidently, Sumi having a small frown on her face. She then stepped towards the door window.
"Lose him?" Yo questioned as Moz was still pretty close to the lab. "Ahh, are you sure?"
"Don't forget I was the one who actually fought him. It's not even about adrenaline at this point, it's his drive of his goal to kill us all. So losing him with the lab isn't actually a small task," Sumi glared a bit towards him, annoyed that he wanted to kill them despite Kirisame not even throwing the real weapon. Maybe it was just a lust for killing all of a sudden that he didn't get what he wanted out of it.
"This pinch is the perfect chance!" Yo spoke up confidently. "With my handy-dandy gun, I, Yo, am gonna be on the fast track to the top of the entire kingdom." He then realized he just said his intentions out loud. "Oh, um, I mean, this is the perfect chance to give Quadzilla a new hole to breathe through."
He then pulled out the gun with a laugh...and there was a leaf sticking out of it? He gave a shocked sound as everyone looked at a stick with wide eyes. He then screamed in horror that he didn't have the gun where he had put it previously. It was completely gone, nowhere to be found.
"Dude, that's a stick!" Chrome pointed out to him.
"Huh?! Where did my gun get to?!" Kaseki cried out and Suika looked around quickly. She noticed that two people in particular were missing amongst all the chaos.
"Uh, have you guys seen Magma or Gen? Cause I'm not sure they're here," She informed the group.
"No, I haven't," Nikki frowned in realization. "Once the battle kicked off, I don't think I saw either one of them."
"It's kinda hard to tell who's who when we're all wearing hoods," Yuzuriha gave a nervous smile with white eyes.
Sumi gave a light sniff in the lab while looking around. "No, they're not here. I can smell everyone but them. As soon as everything started, I didn't even notice I didn't have their scents anymore because of the chaos." Not to mention when she was focused on the plan, and also calculating with Senku, it was kinda hard to tell if she could smell everyone. "Plus, even then, there were too many people..." She murmured sheepishly as when there were too many scents, it all got mixed together for her and therefore made it impossible to tell one from the other...there were like 50 people there, so that certainly didn't help matters.
"Oh. Right. Almost forgot we have a sensor right here," Yuzuriha gave a sheepish laugh.
Yo then gave a horrified yell, as when he was asleep, Magma must've gotten the chance to get close enough to make the swap. "That dirtbag!" He growled in anger, since he was the only one who'd go off with the gun. "Screw you, Magma!" Not only was it obvious, but it was also one up in their rivalry of who would come out on top.
"The real question is, why would Gen go along with this when Magma tried to kill him?" Sumi rubbed her chin in thought. "He already knows the plan, and doesn't want to kill people." The time when Magma wanted to smash statues of strangers from Tsukasa's Empire came to mind. Back then, Gen had stopped him, so she really didn't get why he seemed to be siding with Magma since they had shown no signs of returning...
Magma laughed while holding the gun, running off in the forest. Gen was chasing after him, having several head bumps. "Don't run with your finger on the trigger! And just where are you running anyway?" The mentalist gave a nervous look while looking to see the mobile lab getting away. And considering how they weren't stopping, to him they either hadn't noticed, or it was because of Moz they couldn't stop. "And the mobile lab's left the station. Peachy..."
Magma wiggled his fingers while Yo was still asleep, giggling to himself. He reached out to the gun and then walked off with it. Which Gen just happened to notice a few feet away. He stared at the back of the blond's head. "I have a sneaking suspicion you're up to something, so care to prove me wrong?"
A red mark was near his head in irritation. He then hit the top of Gen's head with his fist. "Ouchies...!"
Magma looked back with a smile, holding the gun. The two were now laying down on a cliff. "Ah, so you forgot what I'm after. Well listen up, then! I'm gonna slaughter the biggest prey out here, then I'll be named head of the kingdom, and gain Sumi as a bride to boot!" He informed Gen, who was bent down next to him. The cliff was actually in sight of the inner palace. "I say to hell with those long, drawn-out schemes you people love! We got a mighty weapon they can't match! Let's stop wasting time and find that crusty old Ibara guy so we can shoot his ass and be done with this!"
Sweat flew from Gen's head immensely. "No, no, no, and no!" He protested immediately after hearing this. "It'd be great if things were really so simple, but they aren't! Not to mention Mire-chan would never stop everything and marry you if her opinion of you is anything to go by..." All of the times Magma either flirted with her or got on her nerves suggested that it was never going to happen. Even if she didn't have Senku, big beefy men just didn't seem to be her type at all. He then glanced to the side to notice the Perseus sailing away from the cliff somehow. "Hey...that's our ship..."
"What?" Magma turned to the side in confusion and noticed the same thing. "That is our ship!"
"Heave-ho!" The islanders chanted while sailing it themselves. "Heave-ho! Heave-ho! Heave-ho!" They were pulling at the sails in a line, others surrounding them and watching. "Heave-ho!"
Ibara was humming, pleased with this as he stood proudly.
The mobile lab used its periscope to notice this. Suika looked up with lines over her head. "I can see the Perseus sailing around the island!" She informed in a panic. Amaryllis recoiled back in realization as it came to her now. All this time, Ibara being so cautious as he was, never really showed any inkling of damaging the boat or just destroying it. Kirisame even suggested it to him, and he rebuffed it. They had been there for days and nights without seemingly doing nothing, but now it hit her why that was.
"Ah, I've been wondering why Ibara chose to occupy your boat instead of just sinking it," she then looked up with a dreaded look on her face. "They've...studied it this whole time, learned how it works."
"No offense, but they're all islanders," Senku remarked while sitting in front of the door. "I wish 'em luck figuring out the internal machinery."
"Ah. These islanders sail," Ryusui informed while standing near Senku and Sumi. "Given enough time, they could manage the basics, at least."
"If it took us a year to even build the thing, it'll take them about just as long if not more time to even figure out the schematics," Sumi sighed, a hand on her hip. "Just because they're ancestors of Ishigami Village doesn't mean they'd have the same experience as Ryusui to properly steer it. Still, I can't say this little voyage of theirs doesn't concern me..." She looked out towards the sea.
"Why our ship?" Ukyo wondered as he watched. "What's their aim here?"
"Move it, people!" He gasped as he heard a guard, turning around to see people walking right above them. "If you don't wanna die, go down to the shore and board the boat!" This got everyone's attention as the guards were escorting people to the shore. Amaryllis ran up and gasped in alarm as she recognized them.
"They're targeting my village now...?" She asked in concern, wondering if this was just her own because she was on the spy team. She'd hate for them to get hurt all because she was trying to save everyone.
"No," Ryusui answered simply while watching. "They're herding every person from every village onto the Perseus."
"Why?" Chrome wondered while coming out of the mobile lab. "What good will that do?"
"Plenty..." Ukyo narrowed his eyes a little. "Without our ship, we have nowhere left to run, do we?"
"Mm," Sumi glared towards the boat, hands on her hips. "Leaving us behind gives them several choices that can come to mind. There's having people check out the island for us, lure us out, or...simply inspection," She pointed out, Chrome turning around to her in shock. "With my investigation skills, there's no doubt in my mind that all those options are crossing Ibara's as well. He never does anything without thinking about the consequences, whether he cares about the results or not."
"It's a simple yet genius plan, I must say," Ibara grinned evilly at people boarding the boat. "After we've brought every person onto the big boat, I will thoroughly inspect each individual. And if it turns out none of the passengers are invaders, so be it. I'll just engulf the whole island with the petrifying light!"
Ukyo had a dark shadow over his face as he, Chrome, and Suika all flinched back in terror. Sumi had just informed them of this herself. "What? No way!" Chrome exclaimed in disbelief that they'd soon be petrified.
"We're in huge trouble, you guys!" Suika screamed while waving her arms rapidly. "With a capital T!"
"Nah," Senku stepped out of the lab. "Just the opposite." The trio turned to him in confusion as Sumi stepped up as well. She smiled with her hands on her hips, a small smirk on her face just like Senku's. "Now this pinch is the perfect chance," He then let out a chuckle. "Play our cards right and we can take the whole pot. We'll claim the Medusa first, then the enemy kingdom."
"You guys forget...that we do have other leverages. Although one card in particular I hope we don't have to use," Sumi briefly glanced at the ship. Ukyo blinked at her, wondering what she was even talking about. She snapped out of it before it could be questioned, looking back to the group. "Anyway, if we act quickly, the Kingdom of Science will triumph over Ibara and this island. Among other things because certain people wanna be stupid," She gave a small grunt, a red mark near her forehead.
Magma and Gen stood on top of a cliff. The former jumped down with a smirk, sliding down the rock with a laugh. The mentalist gave a nervous sound and braced himself. He jumped down as well, sliding down with a yell. He then flipped over to land on his stomach, landing with an almost hard thump. He looked up to see Magma eyeing Ibara.
"There! That's gotta be Ibara," He pointed the gun right at him. The tall hat and cape was enough to tip him off. "Alright, I'm shootin' him dead!"
"You'll never hit him from here!" Gen cried out with his eyes bulging. Magma had a frown on his face, half his head in shadow. "Why you gotta look so cool, though...?" He whined a bit from the blond's expression.
"Wait, back up," Chrome spoke up in alarm as the others eyed Senku and Sumi. "Basically, you guys are saying we have some kind of advantage?"
"Oh, yeah," Senku smirked a little towards him. "That sweetheart Ibara was kind enough to get everyone off the island for us."
"Okay, I never wanna hear you or anyone else use the words sweetheart and Ibara in the same sentence ever again," Sumi muttered in a bit of disgust, her shoulders drooped. Hearing it was not only weird, but something that she would never use to describe a man like him. She then perked up towards everyone else. "But...with Ibara and everyone else on the ship, that means we have our chance to turn things around still."
Ryusui then snapped his fingers as he realized the plan. "Ha ha, yes! Of course!" Everyone gave sounds of shock, as they still didn't understand what was going on. "The master will be unguarded, and if we can snag him, we can show the islanders! Ibara will be exposed, and the people he deceived will be ticked."
They then all gasped in excitement at having one over Ibara finally. Especially since he had already done a lot to hinder their progress on the island. Such as raiding their ship, getting Ryusui smashed to pieces when he was stone, and tricking them just earlier.
"The master has always been an inherited position," Amaryllis then spoke up in thought. "So his child would be his successor."
"Yeah," Senku spoke up, glancing behind him with a small smile. "Unless Ginro's eyes were deceiving him in that dark hut, the rightful heir to the throne of this tropical paradise is none other than our good friend Soyuz."
He gasped while looking up towards the sun. He then let out a light gasp at the thought of being a ruler...when he first explained his story on the Perseus...he never would've thought he'd get this far to finding out who he really was. Sumi gave a small smile and hummed. "I have no doubt in my mind. Ginro risked his life to get that information, and Kohaku protected him all she could after learning it herself. To have him be wrong would be a waste of time. So I think we can trust his word for it...for once on something," She gave a sheepish smile.
Ukyo scoped out the Perseus with a telescope. "Seems they've only loaded people onto the ship. Don't see any cargo," He reported to the others.
"Heh. There's no good reason for him to risk moving that statue around," Ryusui pointed out, since someone would've seen Ibara moving it. Plus, he'd be exposing that the master was a statue if he had gotten anyone else involved. Which was something he'd never let happen on his watch. "He'll pretend the big guy's on board. Even if someone left on the island sees the master's true state, they'll just end up petrified."
"Ibara doesn't seem to want to take risks," Sumi spoke up, hands on her hips while looking out to the ship, her bangs flowing. "The old geezer somehow knew of our plan enough to get Kirisame to throw a fake weapon. I wouldn't be too surprised if the reason he petrified the master himself was to gain power over the island."
"You got all that just by watching him?" Chrome turned to her in surprise.
"It makes the most logical sense once you really get down to it," Sumi held up a finger. "By pretending the master is the one calling all the shots, he can make up any bullshit he wants to gain anything. And by having Kirisame in the dark with Moz knowing the true story, no one can take action against him...until we get proof of his misdeeds. Plus, this is the same man who tried to assault me, and he would have if not for Kohaku. No one's safe from my suspicion or hell after that," She narrowed her eyes darkly, Chrome backing away in fear.
"The guy's gonna be in for it later..." He murmured while looking at her.
"Yeah, remind me to personally deal with him myself for thinking he could pull off that kind of crap," Senku gave a malicious look before turning to the others. "With that in mind, let's divide into two teams." Taiju and Ukyo ran off together in front. "Since the enemy's security is spread ridiculously thin, one team will nab the statue." This team consisted of Amaryllis, Soyuz, Suika, and Yuzuriha as well. They were all heading towards the inner palace for the statue of the master.
That left Yo, Nikki, Chrome, Sumi, Senku, Ryusui, Kinro, and Kaseki as they ran down a pathway. "Whereas we're the make-a-lot-of-noise-and-buy-some-time team," Senku smirked from behind the group as they were all headed for the Perseus. Not only to stop Magma, but to distract Ibara for as long as they could. "Can't have 'em petrifying the place too soon."
"Cause if they do, this whole plan goes to a complete bust," Sumi turned to him.
Ryusui then ran up to Senku and Sumi. "We're completely outnumbered here! Our only hope is to make good use of that gun!" He informed as the black-haired scientist gritted her teeth at the reminder of what Magma did.
"Magma, you're a dead man...I should've known he'd do this once he was revived and knew everything of what was going on," She grunted before Yo popped up between her and Senku.
"Damn it, Magma! It's my piece! M-I-N-E!" He cried out in anger.
"But it's not yours, you dumbass," Senku smirked at him knowingly.
"After this whole mess is over, it's getting confiscated for everyone's own good," Sumi explained and Yo turned to her in disbelief.
"Huh?! You can't be serious!" He exclaimed at her loudly.
"Try me," She remarked simply as she kept her eyes forward, not even looking at him. Yo then whined at her. Considering what Magma was trying to do, and the weapon was only to stop Moz and not kill anyone, it was better to hide it away afterwards. She knew that if she didn't, Magma would go to town with it and they didn't need a repeat of this situation happening all over again.
"Know what's bad?" Chrome spoke up in front of Senku and Yo. "Magma haphazardly wasting all the ammo before any of us manage to find him!"
"Being haphazard does tend to be that guy's MO, huh?" Nikki pointed out from in front of him. Kinro was leading the team.
"His chaotic nature makes him hard to track down too," Kinro stated to everyone and Sumi gasped in realization. She then looked between Senku and Ryusui.
"Guys, I could sniff him out, but it'd take some time to block out everyone else-" A gunshot interrupted her and they all froze in a line after hearing it in the distance. Right near the shoreline, in fact...so finding him wasn't going to be that hard at all. Plus he did save Sumi some time in having to sniff him out to find him...
Moz, Kirisame, and a couple of guards turned to the ship. "He's right there!" The distraction team all shouted while pointing up ahead. Sumi then chuckled as she could tell where it is not just by the smoke, but by the smell of it too.
"I'll take it from here, everyone! Gotta remember to thank Kohaku for training me," She let herself fall a few feet behind to give herself some room as everyone formed a line again.
"Thank her for what?" Yo turned to her in confusion. "Why are we forming a line?!"
Sumi didn't answer, instead she whistled with her fingers. Kinro glanced back in understanding, looking towards the others. "Everyone duck and prepare yourselves!" He called out in warning.
"Prepare for what?!" Yo screeched as he felt so lost and seemed to be the only one not aware. But they all knew exactly what they were doing, without even questioning it. Maybe it was because with her earlier fight with Moz, they had faith in her, or because she was the fastest out of everyone else here in front of her.
Sumi placed her hands onto Senku's back and elevated herself into the air. Yo yelped as he looked at her. Ryusui laughed as she landed on his right shoulder and she quickly jumped off of him. She then came for Yo and he hugged himself in fear. "No, don't hurt me!" He cried out, thinking she was gonna murder him for trying to keep the gun.
She simply pushed her body over his back to do a backflip. He looked up slowly as she spun around and then landed on Chrome's back. She rolled her body off of it with ease to land on the ground in a crouch. Nikki turned around to cup her hands together. She then pushed up Sumi's feet in a boost as she grabbed a tree branch above their heads. The moment she had touched the tree branch with her hands, she elevated her legs and swung herself forward a bit to land in front of Kinro. He then grabbed her arm gently and tossed her forward in another boost. She then did another flip, doing a two finger salute while falling off the edge of the cliff.
"Thanks, you guys! Great teamwork!" She told them gratefully and then disappeared in front of them. She landed on the rocks, sliding down them.
"...Huuuuuuuh?!" Yo opened his mouth in disbelief after processing what just happened.
"Heh heh. All that time watching Kohaku and Homura a little bit too, Sumi's studied how she moves. But this is something entirely her," Senku explained for him before they continued running.
"Magma's gonna be dead by the time we find her, isn't he?" Yo murmured while his eye was twitching, still trying to get over what he just witnessed. If she could do all of that without even breaking a sweat, then killing someone wouldn't be that difficult to pull off either. Especially since she was still mad at Magma and Gen, so he kinda dreaded to see what was waiting for them by the time they got down there.
"No," Everyone else answered for him.
"At best, she'd make sure he's still breathing by the end of it," Chrome gave a little chuckle.
A hole was suddenly in a little rowboat for two guards. "Ah! Did you make this hole?" One of them asked the other rowing the boat.
"No!" The other one freaked out.
Gen was standing behind Magma who had just fired, therefore having caused the hole in the boat. The mentalist's eyes were big and white, with his mouth wide open at what just happened. "Huh? Thing's busted, cause that didn't even come close," Magma commented, though it could just be that he didn't have practice or experience unlike Yo, the actual ex-cop. It was the first gun in the stone world, after all...
"I said as much before you fired!" Gen screeched at the blond. "We're too far away! Like, you don't need a better gun, you need a boat!" The mentalist then gasped in realization as he had an idea. He then saw the sinking boat, getting the attention of the guards by spinning around like a top in rapid fashion. "Behold! My death sorcery!" The two gasped in shock at him as he looked like he was possessed or something to them. "I can use it to do something as small as jabbing a hole in your boat, or something as dreadfully gruesome as jabbing a hole in your eye!"
"No!" One of them cried out as they immediately jumped off, heading for the inner palace. "Not my eyes!"
"Spare us, please!"
Magma then took to rowing off with Gen, laughing gleefully as the mentalist watched them leave in terror. "There. You see?" He gave a small smile to the brute blond. "Now once you're in range, try it again," He then gasped, sweating as he realized...he himself was heading for the ship as well. Meaning that his life was gonna be in danger, all for the sake of Magma's stupidity. And yet he just assisted the man into getting to the ship, when his own life would be at risk once he got over there. "I don't know why I helped you get closer to Ibara, but I'm abandoning ship and retreating to our mobile lab, okay? I was confused!"
Magma looked pleased, though, as he stared down at his reluctant ally. "You're pretty useful and I like that, so I have an idea. Join Mantle and be my second lackey," He offered the mentalist.
Gen was currently laying down on the leak so that their small canoe wouldn't sink. Tears flew from his eyes in agony as that was not in his interest at all. "And why would I agree to serve someone who once attempted to urder-may me?!" He shouted in exasperation.
Magma stuck a spear into Gen after having attacked him for being a 'sorcerer' allied with Kohaku. The fake blood pooled from Gen's body, but neither he or Mantle knew that.
That was more than enough of a reason to NOT serve someone like him, because he could try and murder Gen in the future. He still had the blood bags on him, but he was a bit worried that it would be discovered. Magma let out a laugh at the reminder, his foot on top of Gen's back. "A lot's happened since then, so guess I forgot about that little incident," He nonchalantly remarked like it was no big deal at all. But for Gen, he had spent days healing, and if it wasn't for Sumi, he probably would've died faster. He was just lucky that the spear didn't actually pierce into his body that time.
"You forgot?! It seemed like a pretty big deal to me!" Gen shouted in disbelief.
The others were hiding in the bushes, but Sumi was nowhere to be seen, either on a boat or on the sand. But even in her pissed off state, she wouldn't have left them without a boat. She was the only fighter remaining from the Kingdom of Science, after all. "Huh? Where'd Sumi go?" Yo blinked in confusion.
"Psst! Guys, over here," Sumi waved to them from a bush, glancing over to the guard up ahead. "By the time I got here, I was too late. Magma and Gen already took off. If I got there on my own, I wouldn't be able to get past Moz or Kirisame."
Chrome noticed Gen and Magma heading for the Perseus. "Got bad news. I see the bonehead," He reported to the others. "He's sailing the boat he stole toward the Perseus and Ibara."
"No-ho-ho!" Kaseki cried out in dismay standing behind Senku. "Does he have the gun with him? If he does and he dies, then our chance of victory dies as well! They'll have our secret weapon!"
"True," Senku wasn't fazed, as usual, with a smirk on his face. "In order to protect that gun, we'll have to join the fray."
"Don't worry, Kaseki. We'll make sure no one dies, even though Magma is certainly not getting out of this plan of his unscathed," Sumi gritted her teeth a little.
"Meaning we need to commandeer a boat of our own," Ryusui informed the group as they watched the lone guard with his own canoe.
"Yeah," Chrome gave a nervous look. "I saw Gen using some kind of trickery to steal theirs, but what can we hope to do?"
"If the suggestion to distract him is for me to flirt again when it was a horrible attempt with Moz, then count me out immediately," Sumi gave a small glare. She sighed while looking at the guard. "I could fight him, but he might alarm Ibara, who'll no doubt stop us. Not to mention I still don't have my weapons, thanks for that," She remarked sarcastically to Senku.
"Looking back, it might've not been the smartest move if we were gonna need them later," Senku sweated a bit while biting his lip. But at the same time, he just wanted Sumi to be safe. So he had to take the measures that he did. Sure, she could fight him physically, but he'd still be conscious enough to shout to Ibara something was up. And what they really needed here was as much time as they could get.
"Maybe we could do something similar since they're afraid of science," Sumi suggested again in thought.
As she was talking, Nikki simply stood up and approached the guard. She raised a fist and hit the guard in the head to knock him out. "Why me?!" He cried out, earning a sheepish look from the black-haired scientist.
A bit much, but not ineffective, I guess...she took judo classes, so she would know how to quickly knock someone out.
"Guess the direct approach works!" Chrome replied quickly and Sumi stood up.
"Let's go stop the dumbass before things get worse!" She ran for the canoe, followed by the others.
Magma laughed again, rowing as fast as he could with one hand. The other had the gun, pointing right towards the ship. "Hey, for the record, this doesn't float my boat!" Gen screamed while holding the leak as much as he could with his hands. The others were following close behind them.
Back at the inner palace, all was quiet until Ukyo prepared an arrow. Yuzuriha held up a torch and he used that to light the arrow. He then fired three flaming arrows at the trees and bridge, but it wasn't enough to cause a huge fire. It was enough to alarm the guards though, thanks to the smoke.
"Fire! There's fire!" The smoke surrounded the master's hut, distracting the guards.
"It's over here too! And of course there's no one around to help us put it out!"
As they ran away, Suika rolled onto the bridge as a watermelon, slipping right past them. She came to a stop, bouncing around with a happy smile. Amaryllis and Soyuz ran up the path that led to the master. Soyuz looked up towards the hut...and got a familiar feeling all of a sudden. Like he had been there before a long time ago...his heart was beating while his eyes glistened at this new feeling. Almost like when he had remembered something, but something much more...hopeful, yet sad. He honestly couldn't describe it at all.
Amaryllis ran past him and then noticed his expression, as he had stopped running. "Hey, is everything okay, Soyuz?" She asked him in concern.
"Yeah," He immediately dismissed the feeling, but it never really went away for him. "I'm fine. I...actually, let's get going." He couldn't say anything when it was just a gut thing, not really something he could prove yet. Maybe it would end up being nothing...or maybe it would be something much bigger. He wouldn't know unless he actually got up there. He gave a brief glance to the hut as he followed Amaryllis.
Taiju slid to a stop as he reached the entrance first. He went inside and saw the curtains hiding the master, but noticeably...there wasn't a shadow, unlike when Ginro saw him. "Nice, this is it! Just behind these curtains is our man. Let's grab him and get him back to the others!" He moved away the curtains...
And everyone gave a sound of shock as the master was in actual pieces, having been smashed already.
"This way!" Ibara looked towards the inner palace, seeing all of the smoke.
"Try smothering the flames!"
As they were panicking, he gave a chuckle to himself, knowing that someone must've discovered the master's statue by now. After all, they must've been the ones to cause the smoke since he knew a fire couldn't have happened for no reason. The silhouette was useful for tricking people, so it did pain me to smash him...but, gotta play it safe. Can't have the invaders getting their hands on him. I'll have someone make a similar statue once this is over, then silence the sculptor as soon as it's finished. He gave a delightful grin to himself, not at all regretful for what he did and what he would do in the future.
Amaryllis fell to the ground in dismay at what was left of the master. "We failed!"
"If only we'd got here sooner!" Suika cried out with tears in her eyes.
They suddenly heard scraping noises, looking towards Yuzuriha silently going through the pieces. She pressed two of them together. She had done this before...many times, so this wouldn't be any issue for her. "All hope's not lost. There's still some time. And better yet, still some glue," She had a small wistful look on her face. "The kind that Senku and Sumi made for the Kingdom of Science."
They all gasped at what she was getting at. All of them except Soyuz bent down to start gathering pieces of the statue. "Yeah! You're right, Yuzuriha!" Taiju exclaimed, gaining some hope as well. However...while they would be able to piece him back together...
Yuzuriha looked towards one piece in particular. Some of these are so discolored. They've degraded over time. We can't revive him... She sighed sadly at this. Thanks to part of the statue already been eroded by the time they knew the truth...they wouldn't be able to use the revival fluid. Part of his face was missing, and using the revival fluid wouldn't heal it unfortunately.
Soyuz stared at a stoned hand of his father, letting out a small breath. He didn't know what to say...he then reached out his hand, his heart thumping at this moment. He grasped the hand...and his eyes shook. Immediately a memory came to mind for him...
The newborn Soyuz cried and cried in a woman's arms. "There, there, sweetie," She assured with a small smile, rocking him. However, this did nothing to help as he continued crying. Someone chuckled while moving away the curtain.
"I could hear those strong lungs from outside," He spoke up, getting the baby's attention. He looked up with his big blue curious eyes. "Dry your eyes, son," The man reached out his hand. Soyuz did the same with a cooing smile, and he held his father's hand. He then let out a happy giggle. "Aww, that's my boy." The man's face was kind with a smile looking down at his baby. "Little Soyuz..." And just like Ginro had seen, he looked just like Soyuz, just older...
Soyuz continued holding the stone hand that wasn't connected to the statue. He then started openly sobbing looking at it...and cherishing a fond memory he didn't think he'd get again. "I'm sorry. I remember now...it took 20 years, but I remember everything now..." He let out a sniff, wishing that...he could make even more memories with his father. But he was unable to...he would never see Soyuz be the man he was now. "Everything..." He covered his eyes with his hand, as he could see his father's body attached to the stone hand, but it would never patch the missing piece of Soyuz now left behind thanks to Ibara... "Father..."
The others looked sad for him, wishing that they could've been able to revive him. Taiju said it himself; he wanted to reunite other people with their own parents since his own died. But now...he had to finally acknowledge that it just wasn't possible for some people. Like with Byukaya and Lillian...Soyuz was now just like Sumi, Taiju, and Senku: unable to see their parents once again while living in the stone world. Because even with something that can bring back statues...it couldn't bring back the dead, or eroded statues.
He then looked up in determination. "I get it. Even the revival fluid can't bring him back...but my memory kicked in, and I know exactly how he looked. I'll restore him piece by piece, with the friends surrounding me and my own town hands!" He gripped the stone pieces. Even though he could never see his father again...he still wanted the statue put back together. Not just to stop Ibara and have him answer for what he had done...but to just have it so that Soyuz could still remember him. Now that he remembered...he didn't want to lose it. "I promise!"
Everyone all smiled at him, understanding his decision.
"Minister Ibara!" A guard called out as the two canoes still headed for the ship.
"What?" He barked as he and two guards looked out to sea.
"Those boats! They have intruders!" Another guard reported and before Ibara could get a good look, a shot was fired above his head. They all gasped while looking up at the gunshot.
Senku let out a chuckle. "This should be a blast, I know that much. Make-a-lotta-noise-and-buy-some-time team, go! Keep these jerks busy till the statue retrieval team arrives!" He informed the eight.
"Our fate rests in our hands until we can get that gun back!" Sumi clenched a fist. "We'll need as much time as we can stall for!" She just had an inkling feeling that something happened to the statue, since she had smelled the smoke from the inner palace before they even left for the Perseus.
"Alright!" Kinro gave a determined look. "I have faith, so I'll buy them ample time with my spear!" He growled out while Magma laughed manically.
"I just need one shot, then it's lights-out for your leader-guy!" Magma declared, both Nikki and Sumi glaring towards him.
"There's no way in hell Sumi and I are gonna let that stupid psycho waste all our ammo!" She shouted as the two canoes collided with the ramp. All of them let out shouts as Magma was up in front, ready to kill Ibara. Sumi and Nikki were right behind him, prepared to stop the dumbass. Kinro was nearby to fight off the guards, while the rest of them were running up the ramp to help buy some time and put this to an end!