66. Deep Dive
08-04-2024
A/N: Sorry for delayed post guys! Even with a bi-weekly schedule, I still get busy with school work! Things are pretty hectic, but I try my best for you guys.
Q: Noodle asked me this earlier, but if Pokémon were to exist in Dr. Stone, what Pokémon would our main cast have? I think Senku would have a Metagross or Magnemite.
-----
Over the hills and far from the palace, you finally made it to Amaryllis's village. It was nice to be out of the palace, as it was a breath of fresh air away from a majority of the guards. Minus Moz, of course. As you arrived, you has noticed that Senku, Gen, and Suika were already missing, probably taking another route to make sure Moz wouldn't notice them.
"Feels nice to be back home, huh?" Moz comments as he follows you toward the village.
"It does...though, it'd be better if you weren't following me," you tell him with a clipped tone, not looking at him at all.
He chuckles in response, "Well, it's not like I can leave you alone. Old man's orders. But it was worth coming here, seeing as I get to see some cuties for the future."
You were wondering why he said that, and turned to him to see him squinting his eyes and looking in a certain direction. Your eyes narrowed and wandered to find out what he was looking at. They slightly widened when you spotted a familiar, black-haired child talking amongst the villagers themselves. With makeup, no less. You wondered why they were up on the surface, but assumed they had their reasons.
"Her name was 'Haruhi-chan,' right? She's gonna be a real looker when she's older," the warrior commented with a smirk as he looked down at you.
You strained yourself, knowing that he was doing whatever he could to rile you up. Keeping yourself cool and composed, you spoke, "She will, but you shouldn't be fantasizing about children, Moz-sama."
"Relax, I'm only complimenting her looks," the brunette replied with a chuckle.
As you continued getting closer, Haru notices you within the corner of their eyes. Their mouth was slightly agape until they noticed the warrior standing behind you. Then they sealed their lips before a fake smile formed before you.
"I'm glad to see you back, sen--I mean--(Y/N)-san!" They lightly cheered as they met up with you. "Did the master let you go? Everyone will be happy to see you!"
"Unfortunately, no. I'm only here to assist Ibara-sama and Moz-sama with some intruders at the end of the island," you tell them with squinted vision.
They slightly widened their silver-like eyes upon hearing your task, which made you glad that they were quick to understand what was going on. "Okay...well, my father came back with the others after their mouse hunt. I'm going to help them soon."
You were wondering which one of your friends they were refering to as "father" when Moz commented with a smirk, "Mouse hunt, huh? Seems like they've come all the way to the palace from here."
"The palace has mice too? Seems like the palace is no different than our lowly village then," Haru shrugged their shoulders. You could see a smug smile trying to tug at their lips, but they contained it well. "Are you having trouble with them lately?"
"Only your blessed (Y/N)-chan and Kohaku-chan have been catching the ones they've spotted. We wouldn't want them to bite any of the harem members," said the warrior as he narrowed his eyes.
Haru then responded with a bored tone, "Isn't that supposed to be a man's job? Are you not a man?"
"Okay, that's not very nice, Haruhi-chan. But, how is everyone doing?" You asked, interrupting Haru to make sure they didn't further provoke the spearman. You were also hoping that they were doing well without you and the others.
"They're doing fine, and made progress with building their new tools. Father has been looking sad ever since mother has gone away, but he's been hiding it. My brothers and little sister has been supporting him with his projects," they replied as they stared directly into your (E/C) eyes, hoping you'd understand. Now you knew who they were talking about, which caused sweat to roll down your head as you realized.
"Well, calm your father and reassure him that your mother still loves him and that she's always thinking about him...in heaven, of course," you said with a small smile, a tick mark slightly tensed on your head. You were not this child's mother.
"Going back on track, have you seen anyone suspicious, Haruhi-chan?" The man then asked the child as he raised his brows at them.
"Yeah, I'm looking right at him," Haru was quick to quietly answer nonchalantly, but then added, "But no. I've only been talking with the same villagers like I've been doing for my entire life. With the exception of the younger kids."
"I see. Let us know if you do, so run along now, cutie," the spearman gave them a smug look. The look of disgust then spread across the child's face, much to the man's amusement, and then they took a step back.
"Yeah...will do. I'll let them know that you stopped by, (Y/N)-san," said Haru as they turned their back to you with a salute, leaving you and Moz at the front of the village.
"See you later, Haruhi-chan," you called out to them before they were out of sight.
You then started heading for the ship, the man following you once again. You let out a sigh, relieved that Senku and your friends were doing fine without you. You did feel a bit guilty that you've made your partner a little sad, especially since you weren't there to support him. It's not like you weren't sad about leaving him either. But you understood that you did what you had to do for a reason, and he knows that.
"Haruhi-chan a fiesty one, that's for sure," said Moz as he let out a small snicker. "She's strong like you and Kohaku-chan, I can tell."
You raised a brow. "What makes you think that?"
"Just a hunch. The way she holds herself high is pretty similar to you two," he replies with what seemed like he was so sure of himself, causing you to furrow your brows.
You were a bit surprised that he was able to pick that up from from Haru's mannerisms. It was important that you needed to be more careful. "Well, she needed to learn to be strong after her mother has passed."
"I guess you're right." The man gave you a shrug of the shoulders.
The two of you continued on until the Perseus came into view. You stopped at the edge of a cliff to get a good look at it. The ship was still intact, but the security on top was twice as many as you remembered it to be. Not to mention, the stone statues were being piled up on the deck. A few were broken to pieces and being thrown into the blue sea. It broke your heart to see all of your friends being tossed away like they were nothing.
"It's a sight to behold, huh?" Moz came up next to you as he watched you staring at the ship.
"It's...really something," you say, strain laced in your voice.
The two of you head down to meet with Ibara, who was waiting by a smaller boat to carry the three of you to the Perseus. The old man stood tall and had a pleasant expression on his face when he spotted you and Moz coming near.
"Moz-kun, (Y/N)-chan, you've made it. Did you get any clues from the village above?" Ibars questioned the two of you almost immediately.
You shook your head. "No. They have spotted nothing suspicious of the sort."
"I can confirm. They have only had issues with mice," Moz added.
"Oh, them too, huh? Seems like mouse season has started early...anyway, let us be on our way to the giant boat," said the minister as he stepped into the small canoe.
He held his hand out for you to take, which you found uncomfortable to hold as you went into the ship with him. Moz followed, and a foot soldier came in last to row you to the ship. As the little boat moved, you asked the old man, "Ibara-sama, what exactly do you want me to find on the giant ship that could lead us to the intruders...?"
He lets out a grunt as he responds, "Nothing in particular...but maybe some tools that cause destruction. You could also examine the faces of the statues...maybe they'll have some similarities with the intruders and the harem."
"...how will I know if the tools cause destruction...?" You then question him.
"I'm not sure. But be very cautious!"
Your lips curled downward. By the way he was speaking, you figured that this man believed you were somewhat related to the intruders and tried baiting you. As you continued heading toward the giant ship, you spotted a flash of light in your eyes, and looked into the direction of the light. Behind a few rocks in the water, you spotted Senku, Gen, Suika, and Soyuz that were hiding away. With them, a newly revived Ryusui was also poking his head out, which you were glad to see that your hard work had paid off. All of them slightly waved at before they hid away once more.
"What are you looking at, (Y/N)-chan?" Ibara asks as he looks down at you from the front.
"Nothing. There were a few fish swimming by the water's surface," you hastily answered him. But you slightly turned your gaze back at your friends, who were watching you carefully from afar.
"Well, it's time to focus now, dear."
As the three of you got on the ship, you had to pretend to be unfamiliar with the very thing you helped build. You looked around, seeing that nothing had been touched or severely broken by the soldiers patrolling the deck. The only thing that you stared at was the pile of statues in front of you.
"These are a few of the statues that we've gathered, but there are only two we weren't able to retrieve," Ibara explained to you. "Take a good look at them, then toss them into the ocean with the rest."
You nodded with no hesitation. You approached the stone, with Ibara and Moz standing behind you, and your eyes scanned through the remaining statues.
-Senku's POV-
"Man, this is gonna be hard with the ramped up security," said Senku as he watched his partner standing near the edge of the Perseus. "It's ten billion percent clear that they'd suspect that some of us invaders survived.
"But why bring (Y/N) with them?" Soyuz asked as he looked at the woman with concern.
"They probably suspect her an intruder too...but they probably find that having her has their advantages. If she isn't an invader, then they can use her strength, but if she is, then she is bait to lure us out and catch us," Gen explains to the young man.
"What if the bait doesn't work...?" Suika asks with worry.
"They'll most likely turn her to stone. It's gonna suck, but it's one wait for them to try using the device so we can take it," said the scientist as he furrows his eyebrows.
"Hey, look! She's tossing a statue down!" Ryusui called out as he pointed at the girl.
The five of them watched as the swordswoman held the statue high enough for them to see. She pretended to buckle under its weight, waving it around, hoping the science team would notice. They then popped their heads out only for her to see, and her eyes were full of hope. She dropped the statue into the water.
"She's showing us where to swim and grab it!" Soyuz exclaimed. "But, how can we swim over there without being seen? Should we wait until it's night?"
"But we can't search the sea floor without sunlight. They'll spot us if we keep coming up for air," said Ryusui. With a smirk, he then began to take all of his clothes off, and motioned the bald boy to do the same thing. When the clothing was all off, the sailor exclaimed with the snap of his fingers, "Come, Soyuz! We'll be going on one, big, deep dive! We can't let our dear (Y/N)'s help go to waste!"
They jumped in with a splash, leaving Senku, Gen, and Suika on the little canoe.
"So hasty! Though, I assume our athletic friends weren't counting on Senku-chan and me," said the mentalist with a sigh. The scientist just stuck a pinky in his ear as he let out a tiny snicker.
"How's the statue hunting going?" The three of them heard a voice come up from behind them. It was Haru, who was back in their normal wear once more. They used their own boat to catch up with them just in case they needed it to haul in some of the stone statues.
"Ah, good timing, Haru-chan! Ryusui-chan and Soyuz-chan are trying to dive under the water to get the statues with the help of (Y/N)-chan," Gen explained to them with sweat dripping down his temples.
The kid commented, "I doubt they'd have enough air though..."
"They ten billion percent won't. But with the slowpoke's help, we'll roughly know the location of where the statues are," said Senku.
Right on cue, Ryusui and Soyuz pop their heads out of the water. They open their mouths to inhale as much air as they could. A deep dive isn't possible at the moment, which is precedent for them.
"Welcome back!" Suika greeted them.
"Did you guys see where senpai was throwing those statues?" Haru questioned the two men that were in the water.
"Yes. Unfortunately, they were carried by a strong current down the reef, so we can't go any deeper than we would've liked," said the blonde man.
"Looks like we're gonna need to do some scuba diving in the southern isles. We gotta make some oxygen tanks," said Senku with a grin.
"How are we going to do that? We barely have enough pieces and we can't even get more stuff on the ship?" wondered Gen as he lets out a groan of disappointment.
"Speaking of stuff on the ship...the creep is up to his weird antics again," Haru commented with disdain in their tone, staring at the ship with an annoyed look.
Everyone turned their heads to see what they were looking at. (Y/N) was by the edge if the ship again after tossing the last statue, but Ibara was right behind her with his hand on her back. It was easy to tell that she was uncomfortable with the old man, but she was to tolerate everything for the mission.
"Poor (Y/N)..." Suika sadly moped.
"Tsk. How unelegant of him. But this is no different than how old men were back in the day," said Ryusui with his yellow brows furrowed and eyes angered.
"There isn't anything we can do, right?" Soyuz asked, clearly troubled about his friend's safety.
Senku and Gen then stood up from the canoe. Placing their hands on the rocks, they peeked their head out one more time before they pointed their rings toward the sun.
"There isn't anything we can physically do..." Gen starts.
"Kukuku, but we can use science to get him to stop!" Senku smirked as he finished his friend's sentence.
With the slightly movement of their hands, they both aimed their rings and shined lights into the eyes of the old man for a few seconds. This caused him to stand up and back away from the girl. (Y/N) seemed to have realized what happened, and a flash of a thankful smile appeared on her face as Ibara covered his eyes with his arm. She looks over to the group and instantly signs to letters to them.
ã¼ / ã¼ï½¥ã¼ã¼
She turned around to "question" the old man and comfort him so she wouldn't cause any suspicion as to what happened. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, seeing as the minister had left her alone once he was alright. Senku chuckles as he retracted his hand back, giving the mentalist a high five in the process.
"Hahah! Serves him right!" The sailor gladly cheers.
Haru then let out a small laugh, "How cute of you to protect your woman, Mr. Sciencer."
"Oi, anything that happens to her, we are responsible for--I am responsible for. I sent her out there, so she needs to be safe," the scientist explained to them in a serious tone.
"Yeah, well, you might have saved her from the old man, but not the creep," the kid stated as they looked back on the ship.
"What?"
They look back to see that Moz has this time approached her, leading her toward the inside of the ship. Unfortunately, with his quickness, it looks as though he takes a hasty glance at the science team before an evil smirk forms on his face.
The team hides behind the rocks, praying that he didn't spot them and for the woman's safety.
-To be Continued-
A/N: I pray that whatever god out there exists to give me a damn break so I can write this with no problem!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter despite it's lateness and effort!
Morse Code translation:
ã¼ / ã¼ï½¥ã¼ã¼ : TY (Thank you)