A/N : I realized I should draw a family tree for the Tsuyoshi Clan. By the way, I'm sorry for not updating! I have too many assignments to complete... Lots of grammar mistakes.
"(Name), Senku, Gen! Pay attention. Your scheme to convert the Tsukasa army with the diva's sweet voice isn't bad." Nikki screamed as though she was lecturing, "But, there's one big flaw. I've graded Gen's Lillian impression, which is crucial... 55!!"
"Wow! T-That's pretty harsh, ma'am." Gen flinched, stammering slightly.
Senku was also a little startled, but he was not that surprised, "Gotta take the input of a super-fan seriously."
"(Name)'s voice is considerably more suitable for the job. Nearly flawless, in fact." Nikki's voice became extremely enthusiastic, celebrating, "As expected of Tsuyoshi's heir! Once I help you brush up, no one will tell the difference."
Nervously, you smiled, "Sounds like a plan to me. Thanks, Nik."
"You're welcomeee!!" She responded back, "Though, we're not in the clear. There's one major obstacle. I'm sure you guys know how strong Tsukasa is. But, he's not our only worry. He's surrounded himself with some really powerful people. It must be a part of his grandiose vision for the world because he gathered lots of very capable folks from all over."
'Oh shit. Thank goodness my grandfather is not around, or else Tsukasa will take advantage of him.'
"I mean, they don't all worship at his feet or anything like that. Once they get a taste of his power and charisma, they'll pretty much do whatever he asks without question." She went on, sounding a little more anxious in her tone, "Inside his inner circle, there are clearly two guys at the very top — I guess you could call them as his 'right and left arms'. But in any case, he considers them as most capable allies. You've already run in one of them."
"That's Hyoga, huh?" Senku chimed in, already prepared to confront him once more if that happened.
"Yeah. But our problem's gonna be the other guy. He's the greatest obstacle to our plan is definitely Ukyo." She let out a deep sigh; It was exhausting enough to imagine what he could do, "If we just play that same record over and over again, well... Let's just say it won't exactly be music to his ears. Even if we play it over the phone, we're not gonna fool him. He'll notice something's up."
Taiju hummed, finally comprehending, "So if we play it a bunch, we're in trouble. Then, we'll just have to not play it a bunch of times, huh?"
Realizing what he was thinking, Nikki and Yuzuriha began to congratulate him for using his brain.
"Ukyo, huh?" You thought about it, remembering that name from somewhere, "My cousin used to work with him; A former sonar operator on a submarine. He's got extremely good hearing, which is why Tsukasa woke him up."
"Holy crap. How many family members did you have?!" Concerned, Gen exclaimed before his expression became tense, "Anyway, this Ukyo guy had Chrome and Magma pinned down when I came back. I really hope they made it out safely."
"Of course they will." You instantly frown, smacking his back twice harshly, "They will always find their way home... Hopefully."
Senku could only nod in agreement at your response, "She's right. We have to believe them."
Before the three of you were able to continue your conversation, a huge commotion outside the observatory was heard. Gazing outside, you noticed Magma had returned.
Oh, you jinxed it.
One of the two had returned.
Magma was clearly exhausted when he entered the village and there was no trace of Chrome anywhere.
Without a second thought, you climbed down the ladder, fetching a wooden container filled with fresh water for Magma to drink.
"Here. Drink this." Worriedly, you held out the drink to him. Not waiting any longer, he snatched it aggressively and guzzled it down as if his life depended on it.
"Magma, where is Chrome?" Ruri inquired, noticing her friend was not around.
"He got captured." He replied nonchalantly before gulping down the drink again.
"H-He got caught by the Tsukasa Empire? Our Chrome?!" Suika cried out in terror.
"What?!" Abruptly, Kohaku grabbed her Katana and prepared to leave.
She was not going to let Chrome become a prisoner; he was too valuable for the Kingdom of Science.
"Kohaku!" Ruri cried out with concern, "She can't rescue him all by herself."
Kaseki, meanwhile, chose to remain silent and take a step back, "Always ready to fly into action."
Kokuyo pointed fiercely at Kohaku, his eyes blazing with rage, "Stop Kohaku! Someone! A-Anyone!"
"How would we do that?!" Ginro argued back, "She's the fastest one in the whole village. Nobody's gonna catch her."
Unexpectedly, you were seen back in the observatory room with Senku. He was holding a megaphone before his voice became louder.
"Get back here. Right now, lioness."
Kohaku was still on the verge of running at that moment, just glaring at him.
But when she spotted who was on his left, she abruptly stopped running — scared sweat trickling down her forehead.
"I'm not a lioness, Senku!" She shouted back at him, appearing to avoid looking at the person next to him.
Senku noticed that and turned to gaze at you, curious about what you had done. However, he saw that your expression shifted to a charming smile as if you hadn't just given Kohaku the scariest look she had ever seen.
"Woah. She stopped." In astonishment, the entire villager gasped simultaneously.
Thus, when she came to a halt, Kokuyo quickly grabbed his daughter, preventing her from fleeing. She continued to attempt to get away, but her father's strength was still strong enough to keep her in control.
"Father, let me go!" Kohaku protested. Meanwhile, Kokuyo hold her tight, shaking his head, "Don't be a fool. You think you can charge into an enemy territory all by yourself?"
"I-I gotta do something!" Kohaku objected, frantically waving her Katana around, "We can't abandon Chrome. He's one of us!"
"Who said he's not, Kohaku?" With a sneer, you took her Katana easily (which surprised everyone) and threw it somewhere unknown, "There's always a plan in case one of us get caught. Stay calm."
When everyone looked up at the observatory room, they noticed Senku was already on the roof, clutching the science flag with an arrogant grin.
"Kukuku! If she can't do it on her own, then how about all of us go together?" Senku offered, which puzzled everyone but you.
"We all go?" With fear, Ginro asked.
"Of course." Senku freely raised the flag he was holding and let it flutter to wherever the wind blew, "The Kingdom of Science is mobilizing our army. Now that Homura the Scout has been taken care of, there's no reason for us to wait any longer. So, let's move out and set up a camp near the Tsukasa Empire."
"There, we'll have a better shot at bringing Chrome back in one piece." You declared, gazing in everyone's eyes with determination, "Now, everyone! Gather all the materials and inventions we have!"
Once Senku eventually reached the ground to join everyone, Ginro approached you two with quivering hands, "S-So scary! I don't wanna go near the Tsukasa Empire, you guys! How about we just wait instead? T-That's not a bad strategy, huh? Right, (Name)? Right??"
Kohaku only crossed her arms, dismissing his strategy, "Winter will be over in a couple of weeks. Sit here in wait, Tsukasa's army will come to end us."
"Offense is the only effective defense." Senku added.
Ginro's entire perspective thus shifted in an instant because it's now 2 vs 1. All of a sudden, he agreed, "I-I know. I thought the same thing too."
"Really, Ginro?" Behind his brother, Kinro scoffed, prepared to make fun of him.
The two brothers then got into an argument with each other, allowing you and the others to get to work on the necessary tasks.
While the others were collecting items from the lab, you were preparing ramen.
For who? You'll find out soon.
When it was finished, you skillfully served it out in a bowl and proceeded to stroll towards a jail where Homura had been imprisoned.
"Here." You slid the bowl into the hut, offering her a bowl of warm ramen this winter, "Eat this."
At first, Homura looked at it with a doubtful expression. Once she noticed you were being sincere, she loosened up. She took the bowl carefully and began to eat it without saying anything.
Eating warm ramen in this cold weather undoubtedly helped her to relax, so she smiled without realizing it.
Well, she usually kept a straight face whenever you saw her, so this is definitely new to you, causing you to do the same thing back.
"Oh! You have such a cute smile, Homura." You pointed out in awe.
When she did that, she had dimples on each cheek and her eyes briefly shone when she tasted the ramen. Even if it isn't the ramen she used to eat in the Modern World, this is plenty tasty.
"What?" Homura's face immediately flushed pink.
She always received plaudits, but it's never about her smile — it's always about what she can do. Receiving such an admiration from her enemy felt strange for her.
"Don't say that." She said so sharply, brows furrowing, "You don't mean that."
You blinked once, twice, before stretching your lips into a lovely grin.
"No, I really do!" Despite the fact that she was being held behind several bamboo stick 'bars', you tried to lean closer to her, "It's so cute. Do you realize that when you smile, you have dimples? It's rare to see someone with that."
"Y-You..." Homura was too shy to say anything. She was unable to even eat one more noodle bite, "I..."
Why do you say that when she basically used fire to completely demolish this entire village before?
"Also, is your favorite color pink? To be honest, pink is incredibly cute. But if you wear all pink in the Modern World, people will judge you. Well, who cares, right?" You continue talking despite Homura's bewildered look as you do so.
Are you being genuine right now?
'I can tell that she's attempting to get information from me.' Homura huffed.
She felt delighted when you mentioned that, but she couldn't say anything back.
But after realizing that you were constantly yapping about unrelated topics to the Tsukasa Empire, she began to question whether or not she should respond to you.
"And do you know that one time-"
"I know you."
Your jaw never shut faster than it did at that time because what she said to you had just surprised you.
"I knew you before we got petrified." Homura repeated.
When she lifted her gaze, all she saw was your jaw dropping in shock, which made her want to laugh because of your ridiculous reaction.
"What? You know me? Like in the Modern World?" You pointed to yourself, "Me??"
"Yes."
"Did you know me in person or only on the internet? There's a big difference between the two."
"Both."
Oh my gosh.
"What?! How?? I don't think I ever took gymnastics lessons." As you gave it some thought, you suddenly recalled the one occasion when you completely failed every lesson you had ever taken, "I think I did, but it was only for five months before I hated it."
"Those five months... I always saw you."
OH MY GOSH?
That means she saw your unsuccessful attempt at a backflip.
That means she saw you accidentally hit your teacher until she needed medical attention!
"WAIT." Your mouth fell to the ground once more, and this time you gripped the bamboo bars firmly in humiliation, "DID YOU... HOMURA, DID YOU WITNESSED THE MOMENT I DID THAT?"
"Yes." Homura said nonchalantly, a faint humorous smirk on her lips, "You suck at gymnastics."
Suddenly, you felt as though thousands of imaginary arrows had pierced your heart.
"Oh... OH? OHHHH?!"
You let out a loud gasp right away. Homura, on the other hand, was just idly munching on her ramen while attempting to contain her laughter.
"How come you practice gymnastics if you don't enjoy it?" She continued, "That's weird."
Your happy demeanor abruptly changed, and your gaze showed nothing but hatred.
'Oh. Something must've happened.'
"Let's not... talk about that."
After spending a few minutes with Homura, you were once more in the Kingdom of Science base — where everything had been put up.
Eventually, Gen approached you, peering back at all the stuff everyone had prepared, "Are you planning to bring all of the science gear with us?"
"Obviously." You scoffed, feeling proud at the entire villager's efforts, "We'll need everything we've got if we wanna get Chrome back then go on to defeat Tsukasa."
"With all this stuff? It's so heavy!" Suika whined, carrying a large jar. Thankfully, she was able to set it down, saving you the trouble.
Kinro's sweat dripped as he agreed with her, "If we can't carry it there, what then?"
Out of nowhere, Senku appeared to your side, smiling menacingly, "That's not gonna be an issue. Look what Kaseki is doing."
Simultaneously, all heads turned to observe Kaseki skillfully carving a wood into a circle. Before long, Gen's eyes grew wide in realization when he saw how much the wood resembled a wheel.
"THERE'S NO WAY. NU-UH." nervously darting his eyes from you to the wooden wheel he had just seen, "HERE?"
"Yeah, here." Senku put his arm around your shoulder while you joyfully clapped your hands, "We're gonna make a car. This is gonna be soooo interesting!"
You took out a blueprint that contains the necessary instructions for building the new invention that you and your boyfriend were so enthusiastic about.
"Get excited, everyone." Senku said, grinning broadly at everyone.
While you were describing what it is to the villagers, Senku was too occupied sketching more plans of what a car essentially needs—since autos require multiple engines, not just one.
On the ground, he was kicking his feet and resting on his stomach while he did what he had to do. Sometimes, he would pace around and write after he found a solution.
"Hey, goldfish!" With excitement, he shouted out and showed you the newly created blueprint, "How about this? Will this work?? Ohhh! This will totally work, right?"
"Ye-"
"What about this one? Are you paying attention? You are, right? Are you?" Like a child on a sugar high, Senku was immediately bombarded with inquiries.
Someday, his charming smile and passionate eyes might be the end of you.
You remembered how he enjoyed constructing and disassembling toy vehicles, figuring out how to make them go quicker than normal ones. Occasionally, he would participate in a silly competition with his own toy vehicles, causing him to consistently win.
"Isn't this amazing? We'll finally have automobiles!" He laughed slightly, almost as if he couldn't believe he had planned this, "Look at this. This kind of engine is what I'm going to use but-!"
He was yapping when all of a sudden something soft touched his cheek.
Oh, shit.
He felt a kiss land perfectly on his cheek — close to his lips.
You just kissed him.
Did you just kiss him?
I think you just did.
You thought that it would calm him a bit from his excitement, but you COMPLETELY caught him off guard. His face was very red and it appeared as though smoke had come out from the top of his head.
Not just him, but you basically got everyone in the village to stop talking so they could double-check what you just did.
"Ummmm...." Awkwardly, you gazed around the entire village, a hesitant smile on your face.
"We'll just use these ones while our chief is still taking in what happened, okay?"
You hesitantly grabbed several of the papers on the ground and gave them to Kaseki.
The old man, on the other hand, was still stunned even though his hands had already received the blueprints.
"Right. Of course, (Name)." Still not knowing how to react to that, Kaseki mumbled.
Thus, following your instructions, everyone began to carry out their assigned tasks.
Senku's face is still a little red, but thankfully his brain is back on track after a few seconds of loading. He blinked twice to clear his mind before realizing that his friends had already boiled numerous honeycombs to produce beeswax.
"Working without me?"Smirking, he took a peek at the result.
"Yeah, it took you a very long time to get over that." You rolled your eyes amusingly in response.
But you two stopped talking as soon as you noticed that the others were grinning at each other in a way that looked a lot like cats.
"Are you done, lovebirds?" Gen mockingly questioned, fluttering his 'sparkling' eyes at the two of you.
A split second later, Gen was already on the ground, bowing before you with multiple bumps on his head.
"Sorry, ma'am."
"Not forgiven."
For the following two hours, you and Senku were both excited about this whole car thing.
It took many steps that the others couldn't keep up with — except for Kaseki, who was always enthusiastic. You couldn't even keep track of how many times he tore his garment off today.
"The whole point of building this thing was so we could move everyone closer to enemy territory and rescue Chrome, right?" Kohaku double-checked, giving the Science Team a side eye because they were too excited about this.
"Kukuku! Don't worry about it 'cause Tsukasa's guys probably all think Chrome is just a wimpy villager." Senku nonchalantly dismissed the problem, "I'm sure they're taking good care of him as a hostage. As long as he keeps his mouth shut, he'll be fine."
However, Kohaku realized something.
She realized something was wrong.
And that 'something' made her hella worried.
"But it's Chrome. 'As long as he keeps his mouth shut, he'll be fine'?? But it's Chrome."
"Pfft-!" Ginro laughed so hard, smacking your back multiple times because he found it so humorous, "She said it twice! Hah!"
"Ginro..." You mumbled with concern, barely breathing, "Stop talking and use your head."
Eventually, Ginro stopped to think about it.
It's Chrome they're talking about; The Chrome who couldn't stop talking.
Everyone's face scrunched up in an instant when they imagined what Chrome was doing right now.
"Let's pick up the pace." Senku muttered, feeling a knot in his throat when he pondered what Chrome was about to reveal in the Tsukasa Empire.
That adventurer was untrustworthy even to Kaseki, "We got a lot of work to do."
Suika, Kinro, and Ginro were already on their knees as they faced the sky while holding their hands together like they were praying.
"Why the hell are you guys wearing those bodhisattva faces?!" You yelled, face turning pale. In the blink of an eye, you spotted Gen doing the same thing next to them, "Gen! Pull yourself together, man!"
"Of course Chrome can shut up. Of course Chrome can shut up. Of course Chrome can shut up. Of course Chrome can shut up. Of course Chrome can shut up." Gen chanted, like there was no tomorrow.
'C-Can he?'
→
The machine that all of them had made was completed, just in time to see the snow finally melt — a sign that it's nearly time to say goodbye to winter. It took many hours to construct and shape, but when it was finally finished, everything appeared to be functioning flawlessly.
"Whoa... What is this thing?!" Magma was taken aback with his mouth dropped open.
The finished product was the first steam engine in the Stone World.
"(Name)! This is so cool! Did you guys always use this everywhere back then?" With excitement, Ginro shook both of your shoulders without a care.
Even though he's starting to make your head spin, you still celebrated, relieved that it was finally finished, "Yeah! Not as crappy as this, though."
"Are you saying that there's something greater than this?" Kinro hummed, examining it with intense curiosity. While he was doing that, he smacked his brother's head to let you go, which Ginro did reluctantly.
"I told you this already. This is only the most basic version of it." You claimed proudly. Suika, who was standing next to you, jumped up and down with joy, "Yeay! Now all of us can go and rescue Chrome!"
On the other side, Kohaku remained in shock.
Is this what they created? Is this what they create from the ground up?
It's unbelievable.
It's not magic, nor is it something that appeared overnight.
It's science.
[ STEAM ENGINE ACQUIRED !! ]
"It's like we've built a living creature." Kohaku laughed in disbelief, "It's amazing!"
Gen was also astounded; he could never have believed that someone could construct a dang engine from scratch, 'A living creature, huh?'
"She's never seen an object that moves on its own." Senku stated clearly, "It makes sense to me."
You let out a crazy chuckle, knowing that everyone would be stunned by what you were going to do next.
In secret, you slipped behind the machine and flicked it on.
"We're in the industrial revolution, baby!" You cheered, observing the machine's rapid start of motion, "The Kingdom of Science railway line is up and running. Full steam ahead straight to the Tsukasa Empire. Woohooooo!"
The industrial revolution; The transition from producing items by hand to employing machines — or as your family used to say, the beginning of successful business that blooms everywhere like flowers.
You squealed joyously as you watched it run. It almost hit everyone in the process but you didn't care. Senku, meanwhile, was staring at you dumbfoundedly.
A senior was nearly hit by the engine. Do you not feel concerned?!
"Hey! That thing will run you over!" He warned, causing the villagers to hurriedly make room for the machine, "Get out of the way!"
"Seriously!" Gen added, "Or else you're gonna get hurt!"
But you could see that Magma was still acting arrogantly by standing in the center of its path.
"Hah! 'Gonna get hurt' my ass." Ready to destroy it, he jeered, "All this thing does is run, which is exactly why it's gonna be no match for my number one power!"
"Um, actually Kohaku is the most powerful person!" With a playful smirk, you chimed from a distance, to which Magma sent back a glare.
Even though many of the villagers were calling for him to move aside, Magma is still standing there. He was certain that he could stop this machine with just his hands, proving that there was nothing this machine could do to stop him.
But, as predicted, Magma failed. He was thrown away like a rag doll, head covered with bruises.
It's a fucking steam engine.
No one can stop this machine except for Superman, Batman or something.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! LOOSERRRR!!" You wheezed while pointing at him, "T-THAT WAS SOOOO DUMB!"
Seeing someone have such high expectations of themselves and then falter in front of everyone was too funny.
Magma could only sulk quietly, his face turned extremely red from being made fun of by you.
"Yeah." Senku chuckled, secretly hugging your waist, "Even muscles as big as yours won't stop a steam engine. Once the engine's finished, the rest of the car should be pretty easy to build. It's our science-powered monster."
"The Steam Gorilla. That sounds so cool, don't you think?" You smirked.
"Hmm, 'Steam Gorilla'... Good enough. Now let's throw every last piece of science gear on board. We're taking our army to the Tsukasa Empire!"
"LET'S GOOO!!"
With that, you and Senku added several missing parts as well as a steering wheel. Once completed, of course it needed to be tested. So, you two have decided that Gen will be the driver.
Why?
One, he was the only one who legally had a driver's license in the Modern World.
Two, you just wanna watch him suffer.
"Why... Why me?!" Gen whined, "Why do I have to be the test driver anyway?"
He made an attempt to lean his weight onto your shoulder. Senku, however, prevented him from doing so by holding the back of his shirt.
"Because you're the only one with the driver's license." Senku tried to find an excuse for not testing it.
"Why would that matter in this world, Senku-chan?" Once again, Gen complained, "Didn't she ride a motorbike back then?!"
Sticking out your tongue mockingly, you answered, "I wasn't legal when I rode that thing. I was thirteen years old."
"T-THIRTEEN!?"
Gen's jaw dropped open before you closed it for him, giving him a chance to explain the new engine's problems, "Ugh... Regardless of that, these wooden wheels aren't gonna work. We won't be driving on paved roads. So, do we have tires or what?"
"I expected that to happen." You mumbled to yourself, crouching down to analyse the wheels, "Good thing I've already instructed Kohaku to chop some bamboo poles and some children to make bamboo wicker."
"Bamboo? For what?" Gen arched an eyebrow, thinking that this would be yet another unexpected surprise.
"What else? Obviously, to make tires. Like the airless tires developed by NASA for interplanetary exploration; Ours are made from woven bamboo." Senku answered, to which Gen grimaced in response, having no idea what Senku was talking about.
"Such a great idea. Wow. Amazing. But, y'know..." He faked a grin as an irk mark appeared on his forehead, "I never heard of that before!"
"Deal with it." You responded back, earning an irritated groan from him.
When the three of you returned with the machine, the villagers made an extra effort to enhance the Steam Gorilla. On occasion, you even allowed the children to construct the large wheels with Kaseki while teaching them important scientific knowledge about it.
After many hours of labor later the car was finally finished.
The steering wheel was now attached to the tires so that it could be turned, and the engine was raised in the center of a frame resembling a boat.
In order to get the kids more involved in this engine-making activity, they painted a gorilla on the front of it.
"Woohoo!! Check it out!" Kaseki shouted enthusiastically, "The Steam Gorilla is ready to go!"
[ AUTOMOBILE ACQUIRED !! ]
From a distance, you could see a few guys from the village were genuinely rather impressed with this machine. It's like watching young boys adoring Lego cars or Hot Wheels toys, which were once commonly shown in the Modern World.
'Aww, adorable.'
Kohaku just folded her arms, wondering, "Sure, it's awesome and I'm really impressed by it. But, why are the guys freaking out over it?"
"That's how it is. We, guys, just love our mechs." Gen shrugged his shoulders.
"True. My father used to talk endlessly about motorbikes and cars." You told before looking at Gen from the corner of your eyes, causing him to nervously avert his eyes.
"You do know my father, right, Gen?" Your once joyful smile abruptly changed to a terrifying one, "The person in one of your famous rumors?"
Gen awkwardly covered his face with both hands, muttering, "I-It's in the past, (Name)-chan. Please forget about it-"
You were about to continue, but you stopped when you noticed Kaseki's eyes soften and his demeanor turned gloomy.
"We need to hurry up and get Chrome out of there as soon as we can." He was staring toward the top of a certain hill where the Tsukasa Empire stood with a very mournful expression, "They got him locked up and I just feel so sorry for him."
After hearing it, Kohaku's heart hurt to see the elderly guy was in sorrow. So, she made an attempt to console him, "Tsukasa does need him as a hostage. But, who knows how they're treating him."
But Kohaku's face grimaced when she noticed you, Kaseki, and Senku all have matching humorous looks on your faces. It occurred to her now that Kaseki wasn't even talking about how Chrome was becoming a hostage.
"No, no! I'm not talking about that." Kaseki laughed, "Building this incredible creation was one of the cool-est things we've ever done. But since he got himself captured, he had to miss out on the whole experience entirely."
"I bet all of America would be crying for him right about now." Senku grinned along with him, "We gotta get over there pronto and flex our Steam Gorilla right in his face!"
You curved your lips into a cat-like smile, " Poor Chrome, all alone in that cave with no science experiments for him. I hope when we free him, he will sob when he see our Steam Gorilla!"
The others could only utter a loud sigh while shaking their heads as they watched the Science Team made fun of Chrome.
Maybe... Just maybe, this how friends are sometimes.