Knowledge is love

Part 26: Captured by an old friend

"Sure."

You grabbed the pickaxe from Chrome and warmed up the swing. You used all the strength you can muster and swung at the stone. Thankfully you broke it but it did make a loud bang. You guys quickly covered up the hole with the cell phone now buried and went to take cover since it was possible someone heard that. You guys hide behind some rocks and peek to see if anyone came. But all you guys saw was the empty grave site and not even the cellphone was noticeable.

"Okay. It looks like we pulled it off, you guys," Chrome said, relieved.

"It's still too early to say," Gen said. "Didn't I tell you? There's a guy with azy-cray hearing."

"Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that Gen," you said. "That guy's name wouldn't happen to be-"

You were cut off by an arrow flying and landing right above Gen's head and into the basket. Gen wheezed as he nearly died. Gen softly screamed as he ran away. Chrome masked his screaming as he ran away. You cursed under your breath as you got your own bow ready to attack and ran after the scared boys.

The mission then turned into a game of cat and mouse. With the mysterious archer chasing you guys to capture you guys and you three trying to find a way to escape back to the village. This little game lasted all the way until the sun rose on the next day.

Back at the grave site, in the morning, Taiju and Yuzuriha managed to find the cell phone and called Senku. It was a fairly emotional call since it's been a year since they last spoke to each other. But Senku managed to keep the talk professional and told them the plan. They simply had to bring people to the grave so they could convince them to switch sides. And even though the others were skeptical of the plan, Taiju fully trusted Senku's plan, especially since this was the way no one would die. It was a bit annoying that Senku didn't tell them any details of the plan but they had full faith in Senku.

"We don't have much time left until Tsukasa's army launches a full-on attack," Senku said. "As soon as y/n and the others get back, the mission begins in full swing. Have you gotten any messages from y/n or maybe Gen?"

"Huh? Not that I know of, no," Taiju said. "We just noticed the ground had been dug up and then found the receiver. Wait, Senku, you're saying that y/n's alive?!?!"

This obviously wasn't the news Senku and the other's wanted to hear since that means something happened and that they only found the cell phone by luck. Senku clenched his hand against the speaker as he didn't like this. That confession made it clear that something happened.

*Back with you*

You three were hiding behind bushes as the chase was still going. The archer would occasionally launch arrows but thankfully, they missed by either a hair or a foot.

"Crap, if I knew where this person was at, I could take care of them," you cursed.

"Wait, y/n are you implying you're gonna kill them," Chrome asked concerned.

"Relax, that's not what I mean," you reassured. "I'm just gonna strike which will give us a window to escape but I don't have a god damn clue where this bastard is since these arrows are being launched in different directions."

"Guys, keep it down," Gen shushed. "He might hear you."

"Yeah but if he has good hearing then we're screwed in these bushes," you hissed.

"That is true," Gen said worriedly. "But the reason we're here hiding in the first place is because he lured us out here."

"So he wants us here. Interesting," you said softly.

"Ah damn. Gen's gotta get back to the kingdom of science since we need him to pull off this whole plan with the cell phone to take down the Tsukasa empire," Chrome said. "Not to mention, Senku would be utterly pissed off if you don't return y/n."