3. Escape
Aug. 25, 2022
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All of you went back to base, where Senku had set up to prepare the revival fluid. Taiju made a dress for Yuzuriha that had the string on the sides so he could put it on her statue. He even made a cute little collar to look pretty in the dress.
"There we go, Yuzuriha! Now we can finally set you free!" cried Taiju, who looked so happy and excited.
As Senku poured the nitric acid into a pot, he droned out, "What the hell? There isn't even enough to revive one person."
"Sorry! I was just so excited!" The brunette apologized. "I'll go back and get more!"
"I don't wanna be playing 'I Spy' with (Y/N) and Tsukasa all day, so you better hurry it up, big oaf."
Taiju was about to be on his way to get more when Tsukasa stopped him.
"It would be fastest if I went, so tell me, where is the miracle cave water?" Tsukasa asked him.
Taiju told him where it was, and he was on his way at an incredible speed. Senku had his hands behind his head, and you both waited until Tsukasa was gone.
"Senku, he's gone now," you told him.
"Good. Let's hurry up and make the revival fluid to revive Yuzuriha!"
He quickly got up and went into the base to create the revival fluid. You followed him and gave him the alcohol he needed to mix with the nitric acid. Taiju, who was confused, wandered into the base as well.
"But just a second ago, you said we didn't have enough!" said the brawn.
"As if I'd leave a jar there that isn't big enough for the formula," Senku commented as he was mixing the chemicals.
"You've got a point, but why'd you let Tsukasa go?"
You informed him, "We needed to get rid of him to revive Yuzuriha, even if it meant having him find the cave."
"But why? Why get rid of him? Isn't he a good guy?!"
"I haven't even a single millimeter of interest in his grand dreams of the strongest, ultimate world. This real-life game of civilization is exhilarating," said Senku.
You then told him, "Taiju, you have to trust us."
Then he just stood there; his expression was a bit hesitant. The brunette furrowed his eyebrows, then nodded.
"I got it. If you say so, then I don't need any explanation. Something must've happened when I wasn't there!" Taiju realized.
Senku agreed. "Yes. He may be a good guy, but he's a murderer."
When the green-haired boy was done with the fluid, he gave it to the brunette to pour onto his lover. You began to prepare bags and packs with supplies since Senku told you that the base wasn't safe anymore. As you were packing, you did hear the two arguing for a bit, with Taiju saying something about being more "delicate" with the fluid. When you had finished, you walked outside to see the brawn crying and holding Yuzuriha in his arms, de-petrified. You walked up to Senku and stayed near him as he crossed his arms while watching them.
"Yuzuriha! I'm sorry you had to wait these 3,700 years! I'm so sorry!" Taiju sobbed as he apologized.
The young girl looked tired and confused, but she still smiled for him. "Hehe, I don't know what you're talking about because I just woke up. But I'm here because you saved me, didn't you, Taiju-kun? Thank you."
You inwardly gushed, seeing how perfect they were together, but you were also glad that your other friend was also revived. Taiju admitted to her that it was all Senku's idea to make the fluid.
"Sorry to break up your reunion, but before Tsukasa gets here, we need to decide something immediately." He stuck up two fingers. "Plan A! Taiju, Yuzuriha, (Y/N), you three get the hell away from here and live. Plan B! We a fight and put a stop to Tsukasa's murder spree with the power of civilization's weapons--"
"I'VE GOT MY ANSWER!" Taiju blurted out. "Of course, all of us are going to fight together! Don't go misjudging me, Yuzuriha, and (Y/N), Senku!"
Senku had a blank look on his face. "I'm not offering that answer out of the kindness of my heart. I'm just saying it's most logical if you run away."
Yuzuriha nodded. "I don't know what's going on, but I'll help in every way I can!"
"Okay, I get that you're dedicated to hearing what I say. You guys seriously look like a married couple," said Senku. He looked at you with his knowing smirk. "You're gonna stay, aren't you, slowpoke?"
You grinned. "Of course I am! Why would we leave you?"
Taiju spoke up, "If Tsukasa is destroying statues... if he's killing people... that no matter what it takes--"
"I'm not killing for the sake of killing. It's simply the solution that I came across."
The four of you looked in the direction of the voice. Taiju pushed forward and defended you, Senku, and Yuzuriha just in case something happened. Tsukasa came back, and he had something in his hands. As he dropped it, you noticed it was a fragment of someone's face. You then saw Senku reaching his arms into one of the clay pots as he got closer. Your bokken was leaning against the tree with whatever Senku was getting, so you were also prepared to reach for it.
"Senku, (Y/N), if worst comes to worst, please look after Yuzuriha. I will stop Tsukasa," Taiju declared, then began running at full speed towards the primate.
The three of you were surprised by his actions, and Senku ended up taking a crossbow out from one of the pots. He shot an arrow towards Tsukasa, who then caught it, and roundhouse kicked Taiju's arms. His defense caught the primate off guard, causing him to stop attacking. According to him, nobody has ever been able to take his kicks and not get knocked out, so it was a first to him. He wondered why Taiju had no intent to attack him in the first place.
"I can't hit another person, but you can hit me all you want! In exchange, I want you to stop breaking statues! Killing people is bad, Tsukasa!" yelled Taiju.
You, Senku, and Yuzuriha gaped your mouth open, hearing the dumb words come out of his mouth. Even Tsukasa himself was confused.
"I cannot make any sense out of that at all. That's not a deal, let alone an exchange," Tsukasa told him. Senku looked as though he was ready to lose it with the awkward smile that was on his face. Taiju continued to argue with Tsukasa until the primate asked him, "What about the girls? What if I say... I'm going to kill (Y/N) and Yuzuriha?"
Senku and Taiju's eyes widened. The brawn immediately went over to his lover with his arms wide open to protect her. The brain loaded another arrow into his crossbow and stood his ground right next to you, his face showing a serious expression. You took your bokken and pointed it at the primate with both your hands at the handle, now knowing why your friend suggested that you all leave to live a long life. Tensions were high.
Soon, blood started spilling out from Taiju's temples, and he immediately fell over and knocked out, startling Yuzuriha.
"Taiju-kun!"
"What the hell?!" You cried.
Senku sighed. "He's bleeding pretty badly. He's gonna have to sleep it off for a few days."
"Then I suppose this is where we part ways. Senku, Taiju, protect (Y/N) and Yuzuriha, more than you would ever protect the statue of a baby. And me, I'll do what I need to do. I won't let anyone or anything stop me," Tsukasa declared. He began to walk away from all of you, out of sight.
When he left, you let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the ground with the bokken in your shaky hands. Thoughts began to fill your head, making you worry about your friends and the situation you were facing.
"He caught that arrow in the air like it was nothing," you blurted out. "In this era, he's technically invincible."
"That's why we have to progress civilization. It's the only way to stop him," Senku informed you. He grabbed your hand to pick you up from the ground. "We need humanity's greatest invention."
Taiju suddenly woke up and answered, "Is it the smartphone?"
"No, you big oaf! God, you must love your smartphones. But it's the gun. I'm going to make gunpowder," the scientist declared. He had his evil grin on his face, full of determination. "We're gonna warp our civilization 200,000,000 years ahead all at once. Now, this is exhilarating."
He then went inside the base. The bags you had fixed up and packed up were ready, so he smashed up all of the pottery inside. Both Taiju and Yuzuriha were confused, wondering why he was destroying everything he and Taiju made to survive but were informed that it was to create a diversion, making Tsukasa believe that all of you left in a panic.
"We need to make the gunpowder before Tsukasa finds us out, so we need to go Hakone!" exclaimed Senku, happily. All of you took the supplies you packed, and Senku got a few extra items.
Taiju began to stretch his legs. "That's eighty kilometers, so two marathons. We can make it in about five hours."
You sweatdropped. "With the endurance we have, only the two of us can make it. We'll just end up leaving Senku and Yuzuriha behind."
"We could end up carrying them!" cried Taiju.
"No, it'd be best to look around to get a better view of our surroundings. We have no idea where we are in Japan, so it's best to explore as we're leaving," said Senku.
All of you walked out into the beautiful unknown, but known, Japan to explore and find out where Hakone was. You walked for a while, and when you went up a cliff to get a better view of the scenery you were in, Senku pulled out a device from his bag and began to look into the sky with it. It was called a "sextant," though it wasn't as helpful as he thought, mainly because it was made of raw, natural materials.
"There wouldn't be any landmarks left in Kamakura, huh?" you wondered.
"No. Any iron has crumbled and eroded by now," Senku informed you.
You began to think about something that could've stayed, and you looked around. In the distance, you spotted a large area of green, where no trees were growing at all. Yuzuriha was the first to run towards it, and all of you followed her. The sight ahead of you was magnificent and seemed to be just a dream.
"I know exactly where we are now. 35'19° North, 139'32° East!" The scientist provided your location using longitude and latitude.
You were at the sight of The Great Buddha of Kamakura, or known as the Kamakura Daibutsu. One of its arms had broken away, but most of it was still intact.
After moving to Japan, you remembered visiting the statue for the first time and were completely enthralled by how massive it was. It was also one of the first landmarks you visited with Senku as a child. You chuckled at the thought of it, remembering how he would tell you the materials it was made out of and their scientific composition and properties. You had little to no idea what he was talking about since you were so young, but all you remembered was that it made you feel happy.
Your thoughts were interrupted by Taiju screaming, "Yuzuriha, what's wrong?! Why are you crying?! Was it me?!"
"No, no! It's not like that Taiju-kun! I just woke up today, and nothing seemed quite real, but seeing the Kamakura Daibutsu made me realize that this really is Japan thousands of years later," she explained as she slowly wept. "I couldn't stop thinking of my mom, my dad, and everyone..."
"Don't worry! That's why we're going to save all of humanity!" cried the brawn.
"It's amazing to see that it's still standing here. It hasn't eroded because it's made of bronze, right?" you asked and turned to Senku.
He nodded and then added, "Bronze also has ions that are toxic to living things, which kills anything growing nearby. We can also make a reflective mirror! That'll raise the accuracy on our sextant!"
"Wait, what?"
He began to try taking pieces of the buddha, but you held him back by pulling him with your arms around his waist since it was disrespectful.
⢠⢠⢠⢠â¢
You made it to your destination. It was a hot spring on top of a mountain, and all of you, especially Senku, were exhausted. It was something that was needed.
Before stripping and getting into the water, Taiju had put up a wall of sticks to separate the "men" and "women" side of the largest hot spring pool.
"Ah, Yuzuriha, you have a bit of stone still stuck to your foot," you told her as you were both taking your clothes off before getting into the water. It seemed though her toes were still petrified.
Embarrassed, she replied, "Well, I didn't want to interrupt, and it wasn't like it was getting in the way, so..."
"Senku, give (Y/N) the rest of the revival fluid!" The brawn cried out from behind the wall. "Wait, actually, just toss it over!"
Senku sighed. You heard him rummaging through his things, and then he called out from his position. You saw the bottle fly out from over the wall, and you caught it. You both sat down by the water and poured some of the liquid over your friend's foot, and the stone began to crumble away.
"The parts that were hurting and sore are fading away," she said, a bit surprised.
You then asked, "Senku, does the fluid have healing properties?"
"By my hypothesis, it's the stone that heals us. When we came back from being petrified, small damaged parts are sealed and put back together, so that's why we are alive with the cracks on our faces and body," the scientist informed you.
Now that you thought about it, you didn't realize that you had a crack on your face and body. You never really thought about your appearance until now. You did notice the cracks on Senku, Taiju, and Tsukasa's faces, but never said anything about it. You looked at your right hand and noticed more cracks on your fingers compared the the one on your left hand. You then looked into the hot spring water and saw large apertures in the corners of your eyes spreading towards your temples, along with a cracked line running across the middle of your neck. You touched the one around your neck, observing and wondering how your body was damaged and repaired throughout the years.
It felt like the best bath you've ever had in a while when you entered the water. That held true, mainly because it has been 3,700 years since then. You relaxed your body with Yuzuriha as you heard Senku chipping away at the stone in the hot spring.
"We finally got our ultimate weapon against Tsukasa. The creation of black powder, born from nitric acid and sulfur," said Senku with a low chuckle. "We need to collect more around the area."
As you were almost done recovering your stamina, you heard Senku get out of the water to put his clothes on. You then saw him going around with his little hammer to chip away at the stone.
"Yuzuriha, I'm going to help Senku get materials for gunpowder. You can stay here and talk with Taiju for a bit~" you told her, giving her a slight grin, along with a bit of a wink. A little blush formed on her face as she smiled back.
You put your clothes back on after your dried yourself off and met up with your friend.
"How much sulfur do we need to get?" you asked him.
"Plenty. It'll make enough of gunpowder for us," he informed you.
You then took a spare hammer from him and began chipping away at the stone with him.
"Are you not worried, Senku? About Tsukasa?" you questioned him with a bit of concern.
He glanced over to you. "No. I have a plan."
"What will happen if your plan goes wrong?"
"Don't worry. I have options if anything happens. We're going to save the world together. Besides, this race is exhilarating, slowpoke," Senku chuckled slightly.
You sighed and had a tiny smile on your face. As you both got enough, Senku got the charcoal from his pack and had Taiju and Yuzuriha get out of the hot spring when they were finished discussing something together. You began to mix all of your ingredients.
"First ingredient is sulfur, obtained here from the hot spring. The second is charcoal, which is easy to get by burning wood. The third and last ingredient is saltpeter, which takes a shit-ton of time to make, so I prepared it in advance!" The scientist explained to all of you.
"Saltpeter...saltpeter...where have I heard that before?" Taiju wondered.
"It's the nitric acid that Senku collected," you explained to him.
"Ten billion points to you, (Y/N). Now, we have to roughly measure 75% saltpeter, 10% sulfur, 15% charcoal, and a dash of sugar from grapes," Senku informed you all as he mixed all of the ingredients in a bag. He then grabbed a rock and lifted it above his head. "Then you pound it down to tightly pack and harden it!"
Taiju then grabbed a massive boulder and exclaimed, "Did someone say pound it?! That sounds like physical labor, so LEAVE IT TO ME!"
"Wait, Taiju-kun! Maybe we should think this through! If you slam it into gunpowder like that, won't it be like a flint?" Yuzuriha questioned.
Senku replied, "Not exactly. If you take two rocks together, no spark will come out."
Taiju then began to pound the gunpowder as Yuzuriha took in the information.
"Flintstones aren't just made with rock alone. If iron is mixed into it, it will create...a...spark..." you noticed Senku's eyes begin to blank out as he was explaining. He then realized that all four of you were on top of the hot springs, which was also a volcano and could create iron around the area. "Iron pyrite...and Taiju's strength!"
"TAIJU, THE ROCK HAS IRON PYRITE! STOP!" You cried out as Taiju pounds into the powder one last time.
It began to spark as all of you were closely inspecting it. Taiju put his arm around Yuzuriha, and you grabbed the back of Senku's shirt to get away as the gunpowder exploded, nearly pushing you off the mountain with its brute force.
"We nearly had our faces blown off," you breathed out and let go of your friend's shirt.
"Hehe, no problems at all. Our gunpowder making was a success!" Senku proudly announced as he stood up.
"I had no idea gunpowder could be so strong! A funny image of Tsukasa giving up just popped into my head, too!" Yuzuriha giggled with Taiju.
"Senku, do you plan to use this to attack Tsukasa?" you asked him.
"No. I'm going to use it to make a deal. He can still see value in making a trade depending on the situation of the battle," said Senku. Taiju and Yuzuriha cheered, but you noticed how grim he was.
"And if negotiations fail?" you pushed.
He looked at you with a serious expression on his face.
"I'll have no choice but to kill him."
-To be Continued-