"The mission to seize the petrification beam begins in earnest here," Senku spoke up to the rest of the science team. He had a small smile on his face while holding a wire. "And our key to success this time will be the earrings of science."
"Okay, and what are those?" Gen asked him curiously as he was rolling the coil.
"Are we trying to make someone extra cute now, or what?" Soyuz called out in confusion.
"What's the point? They already started the selection, right?" Suika bounced a little nearby.
"That's why I'm whipping this up at top speed," Senku informed the group, letting out a small chuckle as he held up the wrapped copper coil. "We're lucky the copper wire looks the way it does. It'll seem like decoration when it's really an inductor." He had Suika take off her watermelon mask so he could place a hook over her head to tell if it would fit. The bottom and top of the hook were decorated with a single pearl, or what looked to be them. "On the hook that goes around the ear, I've attached some Rochelle salt from the wine we made. The same stuff we used for our speaker." He meant the pink crystals when they were making the microphone for the cell phone.
Gen gave a look of realization. "Hold on, is this what I think it is? Cause it'd really help with the infiltration."
"You bet," Senku answered as Amaryllis, Kohaku, Sumi, and Ginro walked with the selection of ladies. He chuckled while admiring the finished product. "A super handy spy tool for transmitting instructions remotely." He imagined Kohaku wearing it, also having sunglasses, a small gun, and a spy suit.
Earpiece acquired!
"We've got ourselves an earpiece," He revealed to the others.
Soyuz rowed them out to sea while Gen examined the earpiece. "Huh. I keep looking, but I can't seem to find any machinery on this thing," He then pointed to the middle, where a flower rested on top of it. "Does this bit here in the middle pick up radio waves, or what?"
"Yeah," Senku answered the mentalist simply.
"It's so tiny! You must've made a microchip when I wasn't paying attention."
"Nah," Senku picked at his ear. "That's just a rock."
Gen's wyes bulged looking at him. "Eriously-say?!"
"Galena, pyrite, or native copper could all get the job done," Senku gave a small smirk. "Heck, you could even use a coin."
"Huh?" Gen raised a brow, even more confused. "And where's the battery?" He wondered as the rock was tied between the wire.
"You don't need one," The green-haired scientist picked at his ear again. "Thing'll work forever without it."
"Eriously-say?!" Gen screeched again at him, and then let out a laugh. "I don't get it!" The four were currently running towards a hill for a high point. "How could a machine work without any kind of power source?"
"It works the same way as those old timey crystal radios," Senku called out from behind, sweating immensely. Once again, he was behind the others thanks to his low stamina. "The sound it produces is faint as hell, but that's no problem when the thing's literally in your ear."
They made it to the cliff, and were high enough to see the ladies being escorted to the inner palace. Suika smiled while they noticed the group. "Yes! It looks to me like all four of 'em got chosen!" Suika exclaimed happily, Gen laughing in amusement.
"Even Miss Ginro's among them," He gave a teasing smile.
"And so is Sumi..." Senku murmured as he saw her. The black-haired woman kept her eyes forward, her hands folded in front of her stomach. He gave a small grunt to himself, looking away. On one hand, he was glad to have as much people infiltrating the inner palace. But at the same time, with Sumi having an upgrade over her physical appearance having already been at ten billion points to him, well...it still bothered him just a bit. He glowered as he noticed Moz sneaking a peek at Sumi. If she noticed it, she sure didn't convey it at all. Either that, or she was really good at keeping a poker face right about now.
"Aw, is Senku getting jealous already? I never even thought you were the type, to be honest," Gen smirked a little towards him.
"Shut up," Senku closed his eyes in annoyance. "That's enough. Let's focus on what we're here for."
"Would that technically be Sumi since she's your lover?" Suika looked up at him curiously and he flinched, looking away with his arm in front of his mouth. Gen snickered to himself with a knowing grin; it was thanks to him Suika knew of this change to begin with. He thankfully didn't go into that much detail for the little girl.
God damn it, Sumi. Even when you don't know we're here, you're still having this cliché effect on me. I don't know how you do it Senku thought to himself, though he didn't entirely hate it. It was just something he didn't think he'd experience at all. Though that was supposedly how it was when he was in a relationship with someone who was his best friend for thousands of years. He then let out a heavy sigh. Instead of responding to Suika, he looked to Soyuz and pointed two fingers forward. Soyuz got up and then tossed the earring above the group. Kohaku, thanks to her eyesight, noticed it immediately. She looked up to see the glint, the earpiece heading right for her. She swiped her arm to catch it, examining the object in confusion.
Senku chuckled while setting up the cell phone. "Didn't have time to test this thing for real, so it's gonna be do-or-die," He informed the three.
Gen rubbed his chin in thought with a devious smile. "Hmm...I wonder if I could tell Mire-Chan something you'd tell her if this thing ends up working. And since it's you, I could say anything at all...like how you love her~"
"That is not what this is for!" Senku exclaimed at him with white angry eyes. The whole thing with Sumi was getting them way too off-track for his liking. It was already hard enough that she was in the contest with a bunch of perverts, even if he'd never dare admit it to anyone, not even her. Although a part of him could tell she had an already good indicator how he felt about it. Not to mention, he hadn't even told Sumi that he...felt that way. She had said it to him only once, and that was almost a year ago now. He groaned a bit while closing his eyes. "And aren't you the reason why we're even in this relationship? Isn't that enough?" He opened an eye to raise a brow.
"True, true," Gen giggled and then spoke into the microphone. "Can you hear me, Kohaku? If you can, give me a signal, like uh..." He looked up in thought and then gave a wide smile. He had a semi-dark look on his face as something came to mind. "Strike a cute pose for us, eh?"
Kohaku flinched as lightning struck from her ear. She looked utterly bewildered from the task given. A cute...pose? She stiffened and then flinched. Cute? What'd be cute? She shuffled around awkwardly, since she wouldn't know the first thing about that kind of stuff. Uh...think! Should I ask Sumi? Wait, no, she'd probably laugh and besides, he asked me, not her! She then thought of Suika, who was the cutest example she could think of. Her eyes widened, blue lines over her forehead. She shook as she felt very stiff moving her leg. She struggled to have her arms move as she lifted up her leg, and finally mustered up the courage...to wink, lift up her leg, and hold out her arms. Sparkles were right behind the blonde. "Cute!"
The two guards stared at her, not knowing what to think. Sumi, who was standing right next to her, looked at Kohaku with white eyes with her mouth open. She had no idea why Kohaku did that just now...but honestly, that scared her and she wasn't sure if she ever wanted to see that again. She knew that her friend would NEVER do that for no reason; it was honestly on the same level as Gen doing an impression of her mother.
"Ahh!" She shouted in shock.
"It must be working!" Soyuz cheered while high-fiving Suika. Gen was laughing hysterically at Kohaku.
"Man, I was really scared there for a minute!" Suika confessed to them.
"Heh," Senku gave a small amused smirk. "I don't know if that really qualifies as cute, but whatever. If anything, Sumi's got my vote for a definition of cute."
Sumi flinched, for reasons she couldn't really explain. It felt like Senku had just said something about her, though obviously she didn't know what exactly. Huh? She looked around in confusion. Why do I feel like a rare moment just happened with Sen that I just missed? But then again, I could be imaging it. Am I already being so clingy that I'm missing him already when it's only been a few hours?! She looked a bit horrified at the thought; if he knew about that, he might wanna break things off. She then gave a slightly humiliated look, blue lines over her head while twitching a nervous eyebrow. Chalk that under things I don't wanna tell him when this thing is over...I'm not looking forward to his reaction in the slightest.
She could also just pretend that this didn't cross her mind, but one, it was Senku and he'd figure it out. And two, they didn't keep secrets from each other unless necessary.
"Aww!" The green-haired scientist glanced around to see the others gushing at him. He rolled his eyes in response.
"Don't get all sappy, it's just a simple statement," Senku crossed his arms, his eyes closed.
"Then I don't suppose you'd mind if I tell Kohaku," Gen had a sly smile on his face and then held up the speaker. "Hey, Kohaku, can you-" Senku covered his mouth with his hand, annoyed towards the mentalist.
"Yeah, no. If you tell her, she'll be all excited like a school girl, and I have no patience for that right now," He deadpanned before moving his hand away. He had to make a mental note to never leave Gen alone with the phone from now on, given that he was known for calling Senku while Sumi confessed her feelings. "I'll talk to her later."
"Uh? You're gonna tell Sumi you said she was cute, even though she didn't hear it?" Suika blinked at him in confusion.
"Part of any relationship agreement is open communication, thanks to my research and experience," Senku informed her while looking towards his lover again. "Besides, we've known each other too long to let secrets get in the way. I find it less troublesome if we don't hide things, especially after what happened the last time I did that," He gave a deadpanned look at that last sentence, referring to the whole love potion fiasco.
Sumi then leaned in towards Kohaku, who kept her shadowed eyes towards the ground. "W-What'd you even do that for, Kohaku? Don't tell me this contest is already getting to your head..." She gave a small sweat drop. Although she doubted it was likely, given Kohaku's typical behavior.
Kohaku held up her hair covering the earring and the black-haired scientist examined it, gasping. "Oh, I get it. Sen must've made this so they can communicate with us!" She then gave a nervous laugh. "And I'm guessing that they had you do that to test it out, huh...?"
The four then looked towards Kohaku, who had been dead silent this entire time. "What? So she didn't hear our message?" Suika wondered in confusion.
"Oh, she heard," Gen replied in amusement, Kohaku giving a devilish grin.
"Hey, Gen? Hope you're prepared, because I'm gonna get you back tenfold for the humiliation you just put me through," She declared with a shadow over her eyes, her face looking like she wanted to murder him. He then squealed in horror; he didn't hear it since she was too far away, but him being a mentalist, he'd imagine that she would be telling him this if the earring was two-way communication.
"M-Mire-chan will save me, right? She won't let her bestie suffer a cruel fate..." He gave a nervous smile, only for Sumi to have the same expression as Kohaku right about now.
"Get me in on this, Kohaku. I still need to get my revenge for the whole Lab thing. Oh, and for calling Senku when I wasn't ready to confess to him. Almost forgot about that one~!" She then gave a sweet smile and Gen fell comically onto the cliff.
"Mire-chan...so savage to me..." He whimpered as he could tell by Sumi's smile that it was the one she used before she did something to make people regret doing stuff she hated. Kohaku and Sumi both chuckled darkly while high-fiving each other, reminding themselves to team up against Gen the next time they saw him.
"So now that we can give Kohaku instructions through the earpiece, what's our actual strategy for getting our hands on the petrification beam?" Suika wondered curiously to Senku, all of them ignoring Gen.
"The only person we know who has one is that warrior Kohaku fought, Kirisame," He reminded the duo. Soyuz gave a nervous look as he remembered what happened the last time they saw her.
"Yeah, and if we're judging by that fight, she is ridiculously strong..." He murmured with unease to his voice.
"Uh-huh." Kirisame flipped down from the cliff she was standing on. Kohaku looked up at her in shock. "So we can't exactly waltz up and snatch her weapon." Kirisame then kicked the rock nearby to pieces, Kohaku glancing back up with wide eyes. "That's ten billion percent asking for trouble." Kirisame then kicked Kohaku onto the rock behind her hard. He closed his eyes in thought. If Kohaku or Sumi were to go up against her again, it'd be a close call. And even then, the petrification weapon was one major advantage that neither of them could win against. Although he knew that Kohaku would wanna charge right in and just steal it. "Kirisame's well aware how valuable the petri-beam is. They wouldn't want it to fall into the wrong hands, so my guess is, there's only one moment where she lets it go."
"Uh," Gen looked up at him, raising a brow. "When she throws it to use it, you mean. Like when it's in the air?"
"That's our chance to strike!" Senku smirked, holding up a fist and Gen blinked in confusion. Once again, he had no idea what Senku's plan was here. And he didn't look so confident that they'd even be able to snatch it up in the air...
"Okay, so we were able to make it into enemy territory," Ginro whispered to Sumi, Kohaku, and Amaryllis. "But what now? Any ideas?" He glanced between the three of them.
Kohaku clenched a fist with a confident smile. "Ha! It's simple, we just take the petrification beam." Ginro and Amaryllis both gasped in alarm at her. Sumi closed her eyes, silently shaking her head slowly. "That Kirisame has it, doesn't she? So let's attack her in her sleep tonight!"
"Not tonight! That's way too soon," Ginro waved a hand in front of him. "Why does everything always have to be so rushed with you?"
"Kohaku, no," Sumi sighed at her. "By the looks of it, only that woman you fought has one, but even then, we don't know that for sure right now. It doesn't seem like they'd let other people even near the thing. So we need to create an opportunity to get it. Not get petrified during our first day on the mission." Although she really hoped that there weren't multiple weapons, otherwise they would be in way deeper trouble. It was possible that the top three all had one that they didn't want people knowing about...
"I wanna get this over quickly too, but that may be a bit much," Amaryllis gave the blonde a blank look. She then let out a sigh, closing her eyes. "I mean, I don't wanna be a mistress, especially to some master I've never seen before," She then looked up ahead. "But let's start with recon. We know that Kirisame is one of the master's guards, and we probably won't catch one of them sleeping alone, so we'll need to be a little more creative."
Sumi closed her eyes with a smile. "And the Kingdom of Science is known for that, Amaryllis. If I know Sen, and I have for a very long time, we only have one way to intercept the petrification weapon from her," She revealed and they blinked at her in confusion. "And that's to get it when she actually throws it!" They all gasped at her in shock as she gave a laugh similar to Senku's while holding up a fist. "It's honestly a bit of a tall task, though, but I know we'll pull it off."
"H-How do you know that's his plan?" Amaryllis stammered in disbelief. "You know, it's honestly both terrifying and fascinating how much you can be exactly like Senku sometimes..."
"Heh. They've known each other for years and years. It'd be more surprising if she didn't know what he's planning. And it wouldn't be the first time they had coordinated their plan without communicating in person," Kohaku commented with a proud smile, remembering when Sumi was with Tsukasa, but still managed to deduce that Senku was making a car to go save her and Chrome. Heck, she almost did the same exact thing with Chrome. Then static came from the earring. "Huh?" She glanced at the object. "It's a message from Senku."
"What?!" Amaryllis held her cheeks in disbelief with white eyes. "You can hear him through that earring? How does that work?"
"Wish we could explain, but we don't have a clue either," Ginro told the woman to try and calm her down. She then covered her mouth with her hands. "Science is weird like that."
"He used Rochelle salts for the hook, a copper coil connected to a rock, and a copper antenna! Not really that hard to grasp. Don't even need a battery for it either like with the cell phone," Sumi stated without hesitation, still looking up ahead. Ginro then sagged his shoulders in realization.
"Oh. Yeah. Right, of course she'd know..." He murmured knowingly at her.
"You can tell just by looking at it?" Amaryllis blinked at the black-haired scientist rapidly.
"I'm Senku's science partner and...girlfriend," Sumi reminded her while glancing at the two. "Of course I can tell. Or I guess in his standards, his...lover," She blushed while pushing her forefingers together, hoping Senku couldn't see her face. She'd imagine he needed a high point to be able to get a signal, so he had to be nearby somewhere. Saying that out loud for other people to hear was just making her a little embarrassed.
Senku chuckled to himself as he could see her, knowing that she was thinking about something to do with him or at least their relationship. A reaction like that was a given with her. But he'd get to tease her later when they met up again. "Listen, as I'm sure you've noticed, the Kingdom of Science is splitting up. There's us on the science team, and you on the spy team. This'll be a war waged on two fronts. The spy team's mission is as follows: observe the targets closely, and when the big shots split up, lure Kirisame into an isolated location. Then get her to throw her weapon! Sumi should know the bigger picture of the science team's end, or else I'm gonna look like an idiot if she doesn't."
Kohaku gave a sly smirk. "Understood. We'll make it happen. Oh, right. I suppose you can't hear my response. Still, even one way communication is a major help in this situation." She had a feeling Senku understood that she grasped the details, though.
"Unfortunately, I don't have my science equipment since they'd take it, and connect it to our equipment from the ship since they've already raided it," Sumi closed her eyes with a small knowing frown. "So I had to leave it with the science team. I can't adjust it, not unless I get another antenna from the lab." Which she couldn't even get to, because it was a hike away from the inner palace, and they'd know she was missing. Or, even worse, someone could potentially follow her there and she'd expose everything. And the ship was being constantly flocked with the guards...
"It's not like we could get away with having a huge cell phone on your back, even if Sumi was able to connect it to them," Ginro pointed out, as he pictured it. They would've definitely destroyed it, regardless if they knew what it was or not. If they caught wind it was a communicator, they'd petrify the four of them...
"And once you guys have done that, the science team will nab it from mid-air," Senku finished to Kohaku, as Kohaku imagined a bird snatching it. Kohaku gave a small smile, humming towards Sumi.
"Hey, you were right. We are gonna snatch it from the sky," She told Sumi, who gave a small beaming smile at being right. "It's nice having a science person on our team to help explain things better if we need it, huh?"
"Mmhm!" Sumi nodded eagerly at her. "I'll do all I can to help the spy team!" She held up a fist.
"Well, you'll recognize the platinum if we happen to find it," Ginro pointed out to her.
"That depends on whether or not it's even here," Sumi turned away with a sheepish expression. "At least I'd be able to recognize it no matter what state the ship is in after all these years..."
"Senku~?" Gen called out playfully from behind. "You wanna say something to your dear Mire-Chan~?"
"Not directly, but...yeah. Hey, Kohaku." Kohaku blinked while glancing at the earring. Senku took a deep breath, since he couldn't directly talk to his lover. "Tell Sumi...to get her ass back here so she won't be a piece of meat for these people!" He yelled a bit into the phone, Soyuz, Gen, and Suika all having a big sweat drop over the side of their heads. Not exactly what they had in mind for romance, but then again, considering the man in front of them...
Get over it... Kohaku thought to herself with a blank look. Wait, is he actually jealous? Ahh, and he can't hear me say anything to her at all. "Oh, Sumi~?" She gave one of her cat smiles. "Senku said that you're his, uh...aurora...what is it?" She rubbed her chin in thought.
"Uh? You mean aurora borealis?" Sumi blushed deeply, darting her eyes around. "D-Did he really? That doesn't sound like him...he's not one to use nicknames for me." Then again, there was that unexpected kiss he gave her just to ease her worries...she blushed again thinking about it, whining. She needed to focus on their objective, not Senku showing his more affectionate side to her!
"Take my word for it!" Kohaku gave an innocent smile.
"Why is it that I can't?" Sumi deadpanned a little. "Anyway, because this petrification weapon is something that's hurled into the sky, I know exactly what we'll be making for this battle," She smiled, her hands behind her back, the others still confused.
"Back on subject, though, Senku," Gen spoke up from behind. "I didn't understand when you implied it earlier, either, but how are we getting the petrification beam from in the air?"
Senku let out a chuckle, smirking. "This has been an air battle since the moment we learned the weapon was thrown. Get ready because our next project is building the king of three-dimensional movement! "We're talkin'..."
"A drone!" Sumi and Senku revealed in unison. "The drone!"
"Cause the air is the domain of science!" Senku finished off, and Gen gasped while recoiling back in alarm. Soon, they had the roadmap for the drone itself.
The four headed back to the Sapphire Cave to start building it. "I'm no expert on the topic, but don't drones float perfectly balance with no input from the user?" He waved a hand, blinking in confusion. "We'd need a control system for that. Like, one with circuitry and microchips."
"Heh heh heh. Don't worry about it. I've thought this over a crap ton," Senku remarked, hands on his hips. "What we should focus on now is making a motor." Soyuz was in the lab, struggling with something. He then pulled out a bracket from the floor. "Uh, got it?"
"Uh, yeah. Here you go," He handed it over, Gen silently wondering what it was for. The green-haired scientist laughed while examining it.
"Look at this little bracket! It's the perfect shape!" He exclaimed while admiring it.
"Uh," Suika looked up as the leaves from her mask twitched. "So you're gonna turn that fastener thing into a motor?"
"Well, if I did it alone, it would take all day," He answered the little girl with a small smirk. "And the way that a motor works is actually stupid simple, so...you lucky people get to help me," He glanced at all of them. He held some tweezers, grasping a copper coil with it. "Run electricity through some copper wrapped around iron and you get an electromagnet," He demonstrated by holding up the bracket to the iron, and it stuck to the coil.
"Huh?!" Suika screeched in shock.
"Oh yeah, even I remember that," Gen gave a small smile. "It's pretty basic. I think we learned about it back in elementary school."
"Yeah, but it took Sumi a whole week to learn that because she thought that the bracket was the magnet," Senku laughed from the memory. "Then again, I usually had her figure stuff out on her own when I taught her."
"Eh heh..." Gen sweated nervously at the thought of Senku's teaching methods on Sumi as a little girl. Like he was a brutal teacher or something like that... During Sumi's first week of science tutoring, Senku had an evil grin on his face as science formulas were hitting her immensely, like she was getting whipped into shape. Her eyes were white as she was shaking in fear, a notebook and a giant book of science formulas in front of her.
"Now we make a magnet out of this horseshoe thing. What do you think happens when you put the two magnets next to each other?" He held the two up and laughed again. He then had them tied together to make it into one, causing the middle to do a slight turn.
"Whoa!" Gen exclaimed in surprise.
"They're repelling each other and spinning around!" Suika stated, just as surprised as the mentalist.
"When north and south meet, we flip one magnet's polarity by changing the electric flow in the wires," Senku explained to the group as the middle continued spinning, picking up speed. "Keep at it and the poles constantly repel." The three gasped as they now had a functional motor, but Gen had a small feeling, and he was familiar with it unfortunately for him.
"Uh, wait, I think I know what comes next, and I'm not excited about it..." He murmured and seconds later, they were wrapping copper coils around the magnets at rapid speed.
"Yup! We're gonna need a ridiculously powerful electromagnet! And enough of those to power each propeller! Which means wrapping these wires hundreds—no, more like thousands of times!" Senku informed, much to Gen's dismay.
"There it is!" He cried out with tears flying from his white eyes. "The Kingdom of Science classic, never-ending, back-breaking manual labor!"
The spy team were almost to the inner palace. Kohaku looked up to see it up ahead. So this is the enemy base. The master's stronghold. She narrowed her eyes while taking it in, and they walked across a bridge. Nearby was a tall tree with a building on top. Sumi leaned in towards the others.
"Judging by how different it looks compared to everything else, that must be the master's place," She whispered to the trio. Kohaku glanced at the huts down below, as well as all of the bridges. The four stepped further inside, and Ibara went over to the master's hut. He then stepped inside and bowed to a wall, with the master right behind it.
A buff man then yelled out of nowhere and destroyed a statue with one single punch. Ginro yelped at this while jumping backwards. Some parts even fell to pieces just touching the ground. "Ha! You get a load of that? Hope so, cause it was the great Oarashi's miracle punch!" He then flexed his muscled arms. "There's nothing stronger on this island than me! My miracle power is unmatched!"
One of the pieces fell near Ginro and he squealed in a bit of fear, stumbling away from it. "This statue used to be a real fool," One of the guards told them. "He snuck into the inner palace to take his daughter back when he knows damn well he can't."
Oarashi then gave a big grin. "And bad people like that get termin...terminay..." He couldn't think of the word as he looked up trying to rack his brain. "Uh, terminized?"
"Terminated?" A guard wondered to him nearby.
"Yeah, that!" Oarashi immediately agreed with him.
"Not the brightest bulb, is he?" Sumi remarked to herself while crossing her arms. Oarashi then pointed to the three women and Ginro.
"Point is, don't you dare try to escape or this'll happen to you!" He laughed while turning around, hands on his hips. "Terminate. Terminate?" Ginro gave a nervous look while Kohaku crossed her arms.
"That's good to know," She remarked, getting their attention. "It's clear they take security seriously."
"It makes sense, given Amaryllis' story of how she avoided petrification. They wouldn't want that thing getting into the wrong hands if anyone was brave enough to try and take it. Or for anyone to escape if it meant one of us was rebelling against them," Sumi glanced over her shoulder to the blonde, Amaryllis nodding her head in agreement.
"That's why sneaking in was our only option. We'll have to find an opportunity to learn the layout as soon as we can," Amaryllis glanced over to the group of men.
"Which does bring up the question, the location of our main objective on why we even came here..." Sumi murmured in thought, biting her lip nervously. If that spaceship wasn't here, it'd take a lot of time and needless searching that they didn't have time for. But if Byukaya hid it somewhere, and the flora had overgrown the spaceship, it could've been anywhere. Kohaku glanced down below and then gasped sharply. She then looked up at the tallest tree, at first not saying anything.
"There's a reason I like quick offenses," She spoke up, shocking both Sumi and Amaryllis. "This is our chance to scout while the place is busy with newcomers. Amaryllis, buy me some time. 15 seconds."
Amaryllis gasped from the task given to her. Ginro was very confused, as was Sumi as they both had white eyes. "I'm sorry, what? What're you gonna do?"
Sumi blinked and then snapped out of it with a small smile. "Okay, Kohaku. I'll take your word for it," She stated, knowing that Kohaku didn't do anything without a good reason. Not even when she wanted to just charge in without thinking further.
"Okay, you got it," Amaryllis smirked towards the men. "Wow! How impressive!" She gushed towards Oarashi, clasping her hands. "I've never seen this before! Your arms are so powerful, so sculpted! Would you mind if I touched them for a second?" She merely poked his arms, and that was enough to make his entire body go red. Smoke came from his ears and nose. He then had a dopey smile on his face.
"Heh. You get it! You got a good eye, lady! You can tell how miraculous my miracle muscles are! Go on, enjoy them as much as you like!" He encouraged her, his whole body still red as she touched them, her eyes sparkling.
"So cute!" One of the guards said in awe of her.
"You said it! No wonder she got picked for the inner palace!" The other agreed and she turned around to them. Her eyes glistened looking at them.
"You both are quite impressive as well! May I take a closer look? My father's gone, and I don't have any brothers, so I'm not used to having such strapping young gentlemen around." Both of them dropped their weapons as they felt their hearts exploding from the compliments. She had a pink aura around her as they showed off their muscles to her. Ginro and Sumi both sweated awkwardly, thankful that neither of them had to do anything, only watch this unfold. Because Ginro trying to flirt with them would've been asking for way too much.
"Man, you guys are so strong!" She continued to admire them. Kohaku gave a little smile as Sumi glanced back at her.
"Alright, whatever you need to do, now's the time," Sumi whispered to her friend. "Go for it!"
Kohaku jumped off the bridge, Ginro glancing in her direction. She jumped onto multiple tree branches, moving quickly towards the giant tree. She landed on a branch and looked down, narrowing her eyes a bit. "I had a feeling, but now I'm sure. I've never been more grateful for my eyesight or for all of the knowledge I gained from the Kingdom of Science..." She then moved backwards swiftly to head back to the rest of the spy team.
Kirisame then stepped up, clenching her fists while looking annoyed. "What's all this racket?" She demanded, everyone turning around in alarm.
Kirisame? Damn it, she got here fast! All of the men stood up straight, acting like nothing just happened. I hope I bought Kohaku 15 seconds. The blonde leaped up and grabbed the opposite side of the bridge. She then flipped onto a tree branch, using it to flip into the air. She landed behind the three seconds later. Amaryllis gave a relieved smile. "Oh, thank goodness! You made it back in time."
"Where'd you run off to anyway, Kohaku?" Ginro couldn't help but wonder while the men were trying to calm down Kirisame.
"I found something good," She informed the three, a hand on her hip. "The key to ensuring our victory. It's a key of science," She clenched a fist, confusing them even more than earlier. Kohaku just gave a small smile and then leaned into Sumi's ear. Once she heard what her friend told her, she gasped sharply, her eyes glistening. She then turned to Kohaku in alarm, only earning a nod in return.
"Really? You found it? Great job, Kohaku, you get ten billion points!" Sumi smiled happily at the blonde, spinning her around into a hug. The blonde laughed in return.
"Don't leave us in suspense, what is it?" Ginro blinked at the two.
"The less you know, the better if we get our cover blown," Sumi responded while walking past him and he pouted, sagging his arms. "Who knows if they'll just petrify us on the spot or drill us for information that we don't need to tell them?"
Later, the team were doing lessons on how to walk properly. They all had bamboo cups of water on their head. "Now that we found it, what's next is figuring out a way to tell the science team about our discovery," Kohaku glanced to the side while Ginro was struggling to keep the cup balanced. "But our communication is one-way. How do we tell them anything?"
"Man, I really wish I didn't have to leave behind my equipment. It would've really helped right about now..." Sumi murmured from behind Amaryllis a bit regretfully. "I'm sorry, you guys."
"It's okay, Sumi," Kohaku patted her on the shoulder. "If anything, we wouldn't want you to be caught with them, and then we'd have even less help. Plus Senku would not be happy with us if we let that happen to you."
The black-haired woman beamed happily at Kohaku for the assurance. "Thanks, Kohaku...! And yeah, I don't think you guys need the lecture from him..." She gave a small sweat drop near the flower in her hair.
"We could always just hope they hear us if we shout real loud," Ginro whispered from behind. "Like you did to me when I was on the ship."
"Right after we finally managed to sneak in? That would ruin everything!" Amaryllis reminded him from up front.
"She's right," Sumi agreed with a small sigh, closing her eyes. "That time, we had Gen to help divert suspicion—don't ask how, it is not important," She deadpanned at the reminder of the fake kiss that she didn't wanna think about. "But this time around, we don't have his helpful tactics of persuasion to explain us shouting a message out loud. Kohaku and I don't exactly have his mindset, you know? But I know that the others are finding a way to help with that little snag. Especially if they would want to know what's going on."
The woman training them gritted her teeth while looking towards the group. She then started hitting Ginro in the back with her metal fan. "Feeling chatty, are we? Less talk, more focus! You ladies are in training, got it? You've still got a week until you're official! Better learn proper posture and manners by then! And if not, you've got more of this to look forward, you understand me?!" The whole time, she was hitting Ginro in the back and he let out screams of pain from the intense training.
"But what about her?!" Ginro whined while pointing at Sumi, who flinched in alarm. Sumi was the last one to speak, so he thought it was unfair that she wasn't getting this treatment too.
"I would if not barred thanks to an important order I was given," The woman complained, the black-haired woman raising a brow in confusion.
"From who?" She muttered in disbelief; no way Senku pulled that off since he couldn't be seen here. The only other option would be someone in high ranking, so it could've been Kirisame, Moz, or Ibara...although that just made it even more confusing why any of them would even care to do that.
Senku was trying a piece of bamboo to a set of wheels. "This is basically to test the motor," He explained to the trio. "If we didn't screw up building the thing, it should start to moving on its own."
"Time to switch this guy on!" Suika smiled while pressing the button. The wheels spun around rapidly and they looked up as it took off up ahead. Senku gave a small smirk, his arms crossed. "Look at how fast it goes!"
Motor acquired!
Gen then blinked as he got an idea. "So a mini off-roader? I think this could actually be useful in and of itself," He gave a small smile, a hand in front of his face. "Like for communication purposes..."
As Kohaku was walking, the earring gave off static. "Hey, can you hear me, Kohaku?" She came to a stop from hearing Senku's voice. The teacher was still chewing out Ginro. He now had water over his arms. Amaryllis and Sumi just stared up ahead, the latter feeling a bit bad. The green-haired scientist gave a small chuckle. "Keep your eyes peeled. We're about to send something fun your way," Suika was hiding near a bush, holding something in her hand. "Let's call it the rat of science. Sumi will then take it from there once you show it to her."
Suika put down a small motor, but this time, it was made to look like a rat. She pressed the button and then let go of it, looking up as the little rat-looking car moved onto the bridge. Oarashi turned around in confusion, seeing it zip across to him. "Ah!" He yelped while moving around his feet rapidly to avoid stepping on it. "Ah, it's a huge rat!" He cried out in fear as it zipped off the bridge in rapid fashion.
Senku gave a look of amusement. "It's obviously a toy car to any modern person, but to them, if it moves, it's an animal."
Gen rubbed the back of his neck, a slight blush over his face. "And because of how haphazardly it was put together, its movements are pretty much all over the place! But that helps sell the illusion. Animals are unpredictable too."
It headed right for the spy team and Kohaku turned around. As it jumped off of a tree, she leapt and caught it. She flipped onto the tree and then back onto the bridge. The cup of water slightly tilted from her head as she tried to keep her balance, shouting awkwardly. "Hey, what are you doing?!" The woman screeched, running over to her. "Yes, I'm talking to you, little missy!"
Kohaku flinched in alarm and then placed it between her breasts, turning away before the woman could see it. Sumi stood in front of her friend while Amaryllis shed fake tears. "There was this big mean rat scurrying around, and I was so scared! Thank goodness Kohaku caught it! We didn't know what to do! We're so grateful."
Some men nearby admired them as Sumi nodded rapidly in agreement. "We'd be lost without her! Rats are the only thing that scare me! As a fighter, it's best to let people know a weakness now so I can learn to overcome it!" Sumi jerked a thumb to herself.
The woman huffed and then walked off. "I'm watching you, ladies!"
Once she was gone, the three women gave a thumbs up, dark looks over their faces. They switch so quickly! Girls are scary! Especially Amaryllis, she's terrifying! Sumi though is the most scary when you piss her off! Ginro thought to himself nearby while looking at them.
"If you run into trouble and need something, just dispatch the rat. And feel free to include an SOS letter with details. Mire-chan will be able to explain things better and can take care of the rest for you," Gen explained with a small smile.
"That's what he said," Kohaku informed while holding the mini-mice mobile.
"And what the heck is a letter?" Amaryllis whispered since their teacher was right there next to them.
"Uh...unfortunately, I don't know. But I suppose the point is that we should use this science rat as a distress signal," Kohaku answered and Sumi was watching the teacher. She heard everything though and turned around to the trio.
"Oh, that? It's essentially a message in writing!" Sumi smiled while holding up a finger before giving a semi-awkward look. "I guess both Gen and Senku believe that they can depend on me for that since I'm the only modern person here who even knows what that is...The thing is though, I don't have any materials to write something for them."
Ginro gasped in realization as he was familiar with a letter as well. Wait, letter...
He laughed while playing with something in the village. Mantle was nearby asleep, when he noticed a little school happening nearby. "Huh? Lookie here." The school was called 'Science Academy,' and Sumi was teaching them for today. She pointed to various letters on the chalkboard behind her, the students of villagers paying attention. "Oh, wow," Ginro leaned on Kinro's shield. "You're in science school too, eh Kinro? Always gotta be so serious, huh?"
"Stop," His brother deadpanned while the blond looked over his shoulder curiously.
"What am I looking at? What are those squiggly pictures?" He wondered as Kinro had drawn both his name and Ginro's onto the paper.
"I'm writing characters. Senku, Sumi, and the others from their time can all decipher them," Kinro told his little brother. "Make words out of them and put them in what's called a letter and you can communicate with someone without meeting. It's very useful. We'd do well to learn it. You never know when it might come in handy."
"Kinro, Ginro," They looked up towards Sumi, who had a small smile on her face. "We have to concentrate on the lesson, okay? Are you gonna be joining us, Ginro? Cause if not, I really can't have you distracting us right now, please."
"Oh, sorry...but I see," Ginro pulled out his chair, surprising both her and Kinro. "If you think it's a good idea, I'll do it," He smiled while grabbing a paintbrush.
"Hm. Then let us both learn together. I'm proud to call you my brother. Please continue with the insightful lesson, Sumi," Kinro bowed his head and she got over her shock. She gave a happy smile towards them and then turned back around to continue teaching.
Sumi blinked rapidly at Ginro, who looked confident from the memory. "So if we make one of those letters, then attach it to our weird little rat-like thing and send it, we can contact them!" Amaryllis guessed correctly with a smile. "We can tell them about the key to victory you found!" She was then confused as Ginro didn't look so confident anymore hearing that. He dropped his water cups as Sumi placed a hand over her forehead with a deep sigh as the man looked actually embarrassed and slightly horrified. "Am I wrong, or...?"
"No, you're on the right track, Amaryllis. It's just that...well, his story isn't as airtight as you think it is..." Sumi muttered in dismay; she was there, so of course she knew that his story wasn't anywhere near that truthful...
"Well, you couldn't know this because you don't know Ginro like Sumi and I do," Kohaku started off with a knowing look. "But that last part of his story...was definitely made up."
The memory broke apart as Ginro walked off with a big smile. Sumi opened her mouth in disbelief, blue lines over her forehead staring at him. "Learning how to write? Yeah, no thanks. That sounds like a major pain in the butt. Ha ha!"
"Ginro!" Kinro shook an angry fist at him. "Agh, I can't believe you're my brother!"
Ginro then wailed out loud while Amaryllis and Kohaku were shocked. Sumi pinched her nose, glancing up at him. "See, this is why you can't keep acting so smug in life," She shook her head slowly. Kohaku knew that the last part was made up, since she knew Ginro wouldn't have sat down to learn something. But the fact that he was apparently a disappointment to Kinro, she couldn't have anticipated.
"I should have just sucked it up and learned something for once!" He cried out, Kohaku dropping the mice mobile. She ran up to him.
"Don't worry! That plan may be dead in the water, but there's still hope!" Ginro and Amaryllis turned to her in confusion, Sumi giving a knowing look. Kohaku then ripped off a part of her dress. "Ha!" She then grabbed the fur from the mice mobile, gesturing to Sumi. "You did well just explaining the idea. We can simply have Sumi take it from here, and we can properly learn how to do it for next time."
Sumi smiled while taking the fabric from her. Kohaku then gestured to her lip and she realized she could use her lipstick to write. Thankfully Amaryllis did actually take some of the makeup Senku had made in case they needed it.
"Alright, first off-"
"Hey, Sumire, right?" They all flinched while glancing to see Moz heading right towards them. "A cute little thing like you I can't seem to stay away from. Glad to see my order was followed and that you're not whipped. Otherwise it'd make you less cuter."
"Heh heh...is that so?" She gave a nervous look, turning back to the others and giving them the mini-mice mobile and scrap paper. "I'll distract him, you guys are gonna have to write the letter for me!" She then blinked in realization. "Oh crap, I forgot-!" She let out a small gasp as Moz was standing behind her and she whipped around to him. "How incredibly strong you are!" She let out an awkward laugh as he gave a small smirk. She then waved the three away and they took off, glancing back at her nervously.
The mini-mice mobile was deployed soon after, a guard yelping and looking back. It headed back down the bridge, Suika yelping in alarm. It hadn't been that long since she sent it out, and she jumped down from the tree she was hiding in. "Are they in trouble already?" She quickly grabbed it and took to hiding in a bush. "I didn't expect them to send an SOS signal, like, immediately!" She held it up and then noticed something pink poking out from the side. "What's this scrap of cloth sticking out from underneath Mister Rat's fur...?"
"What's this mean?" Soyuz wondered curiously as once he and Suika returned...Senku and Gen were looking at a pictogram puzzle of sorts. This was definitely not the letter they were expecting from Sumi, that was for sure...
"Is it a...code? It's like a game show's final puzzle," Senku muttered in utter confusion, his brain already breaking looking at it. He then sighed in realization on why it wasn't in letters. "Sumi must've been doing something important if the only person out of them who could write wasn't behind this message...there's no way she'd send something like this if she knew we needed to read the thing..." And unfortunately, if he couldn't figure out what it was, that meant she probably didn't even get to look at it herself. Otherwise she would've probably wrote something on the back of it to help them out. Or even maybe started over for them.
Gen had a sheepish smile on his face, as he had forgotten one important detail. "I didn't think about it, but that's probably the best any of them could do without Mire-chan. You know, considering they can't write at all. I do hope it's not those barbaric men who could take advantage of Mire-chan on why she couldn't write it...after all, with or without the scar, she's still considered attractive." He sweated a little while thinking about all of Tsukasa's men, Tsukasa himself, Ryusui at one point...
Senku then pulled out the phone, gritting his teeth with a dark look on his face. "Kohaku, pull Sumi out of there right now before I use that electro shock gun..." He threatened with a shadow over his body.
"We can't do that! They'll get suspicious if she ends up missing right now!" Gen protested at him, sighing. He didn't peg Senku for the jealous type, but considering how many men flocked around Sumi, he couldn't blame him. "I guess we'll just have to decipher the intended message!"
Mentalist Gen's Deciphering Time!
"Here's the thing, the trick is to put yourself in the mind of the writer!" Gen informed the three.
"Okay," Senku said hesitantly while examining it. Once again, his mind was breaking trying to come up with something, anything. But it was like staring into a brick wall, or trying to get Sumi to stop being a prude. "What is this supposed to be?" He looked at the top object, which was shaped kind of like a corn dog. "A-An ice pop?" Though he doubted it, it was the best choice he had considering it was shaped like one...but depending on who wrote it, would they even know what an ice pop is? He furrowed his eyebrows in frustration. "An ice pop...that Hyoga has...gotten melted by an engine?"
Gen looked at him in utter disbelief. "Why in the world would that be an SOS?!" The mentalist screeched at him. Senku snatched up the cloth and handed it out to him.
"Agh! No idea. I am completely stumped! This is more your thing, mentalist," He responded and Gen took it from him.
"Okay. We may have to look deeper than the surface level drawing," He explained while standing up. "We'll want to consider the psychology of each choice," He waved the cloth near his face. "Think about what's typically going through someone's head when they draw pictograms." Ginro was standing in front of Kohaku while Amaryllis was charming the guard. Sumi was trying to fend off Moz flirting with her nearby. Kohaku was drawing up the message. "They want to use basic images to represent familiar words so the message is as easy to decipher as possible. Now then, would you consider this easy to decipher?" He gave a small smile towards the trio.
"Noooope, super confusing," Senku responded, earning nods form Suika and Soyuz.
"Exactly. And that tells us that they couldn't make it any simpler. Likely, the word or words they want to use are fairly unfamiliar to our villager friends. So perhaps...science terms," Gen suggested and Senku stood up. He took the cloth back to examine it again.
"Hmm...so this obviously isn't an ice pop, but it's a scientific item?" He then gasped in realization at what it could be.
Chrome held up plastic for the cell phone, which did look like an ice pop. "The plastic hurdle has been cleared!"
"Is it plastic?" Senku wondered in a bit of awe, though that still didn't tell them enough of what the message was. Gen gave a small smile in response, his hands in his sleeves. Suika jumped up and down behind him.
"So what does that mean? Those four want us to send them plastic?" She waved her arms rapidly.
"I don't think so. What use would plastic be in their situation? Even if Sumi did know about this message, she knows that they don't need it. She can't be seen with any of our equipment, anyway," Senku pointed out to her. Given how Sumi operated, she wouldn't ask for something like that without explaining why. Or at least, he would know what she'd use it for later on, like for his birthday their first year in the village.
"It could be an acronym or the like," Gen turned away with a small grin. "Let's focus here for a sec..." He then held up two fingers near his face. "And do our best Senku impressions. Next up, we have some sort of splotch. It isn't there by accident; the shape is too specific. It looks to me like tinder you'd set up for a fire. The drawing of Hyoga emphasizes his spear, which would normally represent something that inspires fear. Perhaps strong, long-ranged, scary. Though I doubt Ginro would have the guts to cut his finger. And judging by the message alone, it's definitely not Mire-chan's doing. So that only leaves one, and if we're thinking from Kohaku's perspective, the spear is a nuisance at best. And finally, an engine. Or so it looks, but Kohaku may not remember every single invention. It could be a furnace, or a refrigerator, for all she knows. With that in mind, perhaps it's supposed to be something more generic like machine, which is my bet."
Senku chuckled from his explanation, Soyuz looking on with wide eyes. "I've never seen a riddle solved with such brute force before."
"Wow," Suika shook in a bit of fear; now she finally knew how scary Gen could be sometimes when he worked his magic. And while she had seen it beforehand, she never actually felt terrified until now. "I could never do that. It's like he's reading their minds or something..."
"Alright," Senku spoke up again. "If we're taking the first couple of letters or syllables from each, then we've got 96 possible combinations. That seems manageable."
"Now this is the fun part," Gen remarked, bringing his hands together again. "We have to mix and match the sounds to look for a word or phrase that makes sense!"
The green-haired scientist stared at the cloth with a small frown, trying to figure it out still.
The sun was starting to set as the four from the spy team were walking down the bridge. Kohaku glanced at Sumi next to her. "I think Senku is gonna be really protective of you once we regroup..." She sweated a little just from the thought of it.
"Do I expect anything less?" Sumi gave a small nervous, but knowing smile.
"So what is this key of science you two won't tell us about?" Ginro whined at the duo.
Kohaku glanced over her shoulder at Amaryllis and Ginro. "It's within the roots of the master's treehouse," The blonde informed, and the two looked down towards it.
"Down there?" He murmured in thought. "That's where the key is, you mean?"
"I spotted a strange round object that's likely manmade. A sphere of science, built to withstand the elements for thousands of years. What we came here for. The treasure chest left behind by Senku's father, Sumi's mother, and their team."
"The Soyuz spacecraft!" Kohaku and Sumi confirmed in unison, Amaryllis and Ginro gasping at the two. Sumi gave a small nod from their reactions.
"Kohaku described it to me earlier, and I can confirm it just based on what's she told me," She then looked up with a small smile. "Granted, I haven't seen it myself, but...I know Byukaya would keep the spaceship in a safe place for us. Thousands of years isn't gonna change that. And I know that no matter what the message looked like, Sen will be able to figure it out. Nothing stops the both of them."
The others all smiled a bit at how much faith she had in both Byukaya and Senku. She did grow up knowing the both of them, after all...she didn't need to worry or doubt either of them. Even when they weren't related, they were still a little similar...
Senku continued staring at the cloth. Kohaku drew as best as she could with her lipstick. She then let it dry before going back to continue drawing. He then gasped as he took out several letters from each word and pieced it all together.
Found it. Platinum! Senku deduced what Kohaku was trying to tell them. He then chuckled, pleased with the news. "Looks like the spy team found what we came here for. The ultimate treasure that Byukaya left on this island for us."
"There's only one thing you can mean by that!" Gen's eyes widened in realization.
Senku and Sumi stood in front of the map while on the Perseus. "And we just need a tiny piece of it. It's a catalyst. One that can make boat loads of nitric acid."
"And the ingredients will be much simpler to make the revival fluid with this new set-up," Sumi smiled with her hands on her hips. "The one key item we could've used all this time...is just waiting for us on the island!"
"Our platinum," The green-haired scientist gave a small smirk. He then thought of the petrified crew still on the ship. "With that, we can revive them all. Every member of the Kingdom of Science."
"Thanks to Kohaku, we'll be able to obtain it!" Sumi smiled while clenching a fist. "Now we just have to get it to the science team...and we'll be at full force before you know it," She turned towards the direction of the Sapphire Cave, her hair flowing behind her. "Time to start the next step to get all our friends back."