Stone Love

Chapter 9 - The Modern Phone and Sulfuric Acid

Before everyone went to obtain the materials from the hot springs on top of the mountain, you took Senku, Chrome, Kohaku, Kinro and Ginro to where you woke up to find your precious phone. When you arrived at the spot, everyone spread out and searched for a 'small black metal box'. The lot of you were searching for nearly an hour when your found it, propped up onto the oddly shaped tree that you woke up under.
"Guys! I found it!"
Everyone gathers around you at your call. "Does it work fine?" Senku asks. "Let me see..." You dust the thing off and press the power button. To your (and everyone else's) surprise, it lights up, seemingly working perfectly fine. "W-Woah! What's it doing?!" Chrome shouts, pointing at the screen shakily. "Who is that person stuck in there?!" Ginro screams, holding onto Kinro.
"Calm down, Ginro. There isn't anyone inside of it, it's just a picture - like a painting." Senku says, shaking his head.
"Damn, I guess my hunch was wrong."
You had thought that if you obtained your phone, that you would be able to have some magical access to the internet just like back home. But no luck, you could only see the offline features available on your phone. But luckily, that meant that all of your photos, music, drawings, fanfictions, and games were still available. "I was hoping for something more. But, this means that I still have access to these little modern life things, Senku! Modern comforts won't be lost on me as long as I have this-!"
"Until your phone runs out of battery."
"!!!"
You flinch at the scientist's blunt statement, dampening on your high. 'Damn, he really just shut me down that quick.' You recover from the blow and aggressively scroll on your phone, seeing that it only has 32% left. "Ugh, I hate when you're right..." Senku scoffs and playfully rolls his eyes. "What does that mean? What will happen when it 'runs out of battery'?" Kohaku asks, watching the two of you arguing with a sweat drop on her temple.
"It means that y/n's phone won't have any power to function anymore. Without any source of electricity to charge the battery inside the phone, the juice will run out even if it's not being used."
After considering the future of the kingdom of science you determine that the current state of your phone could possibly be saved. "Don't worry, it's all going according to plan. I'll just keep this with the power shut off in the shed." With that disappointment over, the lot of you return to the camp and pack up with Ginro's silver-tipped spear ready for your voyage.
You, Chrome, Senku, Ginro, and Kohaku head up the mountain with your bags full of supplies. 'Even though I know that we'll be heading right back after seeing the danger, I wish I didn't come in the first place. This shit's heavy...' You drag yourself along in the back of the group with Senku as Ginro sings and dances his way up the trail with Kohaku and Chrome right on his tail. "Hey, this is the hot spring area that I draw hot water from all the time." Kohaku mentions, looking to the side at the many mineral water-filled pools in the ground.  "I came all prepared because you said it was going to be 'maximum danger'." Chrome says, looking back at the sweating scientist.
"It gets dangerous up ahead. Ginro, quit messing around and hold your spear forward."
"Huh?"
Senku walks up to the quote-unquote bodyguard and grabs near the tip of the spear, holding it forward in Ginro's grasp. "This is a sensor, that's what I made it for. Take a good look at the tip. If that tip turns black..."
"If it turns black..?"
A serious look comes on Senku's face, making it very clear to heed his warning, "A few seconds later, you'll be dead. You need to get away within 0.1 seconds, we'll all be running as well. The enemy we're about to go against will send us to the afterlife with just one mistake. This is the greatest hurdle in making sulfa drugs." Ginro gulps, showing great fear.
'Don't worry Ginro, I'll make sure that you don't even get close to danger. I remember exactly where the toxic gasses are.'
Coming up on a split river coming from higher up the mountain, you crouch down next to Chrome. "There isn't a single fish in this river.." Senku agrees, "Nothing but emerald green liverwort. This is it for sure, our goal is upstream from here." He stand up, you and the other two following. Kohaku stares up ahead, "So the greatest hurdle is up ahead..."
Hearing Ginro's mumbling, the four of you turn around and watch him. Of in the distance, you can see Ginro shakily walking forward - far behind the rest of you, eyes wide and keyed in on the tip of his spear. "It's okay. It's okay. It's not black yet. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay-"
"HAAAAH?! What the hell is the sensor doing walking at the back, Ginro?!" Senku shouts at the blonde, "Well, you said I was gonna die! I'm scared!" Ginro exclaims, tears bursting from his eyes. Kohaku sighs, "Want to switch places with me, then? Hand over the silver spear." She holds out her hand. "Never! I'll do it! I'll do it, all right?!" Then Ginro goes back to chanting 'I'm okay' and slowly walking forward.
Maybe twenty minutes later into the journey, you finally come up on the peak of the mountain, the terrain getting steep and rocky. You and Senku struggle the most on the hike, being from a world where hiking up a mountain is optional and not being the type of people to participate in mountain climbing. 
"We're here, Senku." 
Upon reaching the summit, Chrome gazes upon the crater filled with beautiful green water. "I knew it. We've found the source of the materials that were our greatest hurdle." He huffs, struggling to climb up. "I don't even know what we're here to gather, but I can at least appreciate that this is out goal. It's so divine and beautiful... An entire spring of emerald green."
Seeing that everyone is getting excited at the sight, you quickly make your way to Ginro to stop him from traumatizing himself. "Ginro, hold up. Don't go anywhere closer to it." You grab him by his shoulder and have him sit down beside your bags. "W-Wha-? Why, y/n?" He looks disappointed at your order, but listens and pouts as he grumpily sits. "Senku, the way that the geography is... There's no way for the poison gas to disperse, so it must be a thick fog down there."
He nods and agrees, "Yeah, the poison gasses that form here, hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide, are heavier than air. They settle in dips like this one." Looking to the ground and finding a suitable rock, you aim for the birds perched on the ground a bit away and throw. 'I'm sorry for this...' They fly down away from you, into the poisonous fog. The instant they reach the layer of gasses, they cease movement and fall into the water, their bodies swiftly dissolving into nothing.
"W-WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE BIRDS?!"
Everyone is shocked at the aftermath of the birds flying over the water. "It melted. The birds wing..." Kohaku stares at the sinking remains of the animals. "What's the deal with this spring's water, Senku?!" Chrome shouts, pointing at the water. "It was discovered around the 8th century, in the midst of alchemy research. In my time, it was a chemical that served as the foundation for all kinds of chemical industries... Sulfuric acid." 
On the way back to the village, Ginro was dead silent, only clutching his spear. Chrome and Kohaku are quiet as well, no doubt concerned over the new hurdle we have to overcome for Ruri's medicine. Senku had devised a plan to make the gas masks, spending the remaining hours of the day making the solution to the poison gas. Senku and Chrome had their important talk about Senku needing to work together as a team to obtain the sulfuric acid.
"This is totally the curse of that fairy from the spring! That bird died! My silver spear turned black! I'm never going back there again!" Ginro runs over to the ladder to the shed and clings to it. "Damn it, Ginro! Come on, let's go!" Senku sighs, "Whatever. Just stay at home. You'll only slow us down. But that's not a curse. It's science.
Rub the black sulfuric acid sludge with some alkaline base, and it'll turn silver again. Even rubbing it against the warm ashes will do it." The silver spear is as clean as it was when Senku first coated it. "The poison gas sensor's back!" Chrome exclaims. "Let's get going to the sulfuric acid spring." Before the two can leave, you run up to them and tackle them in a bear hug, taking each of them into your arms. "You better come back the way you left!"
When you pull away, the two males get flustered and their ears get hot and red. "Yeah, yeah. We'll be right back, safe and sound." Senku says, resting his hands on his hips with a sigh. "R-Right!!" The science team leave the base and head up to the spring. Meanwhile, Ginro is sitting on the side, wallowing. Kaseki is sitting on the ground making another gas mask for Ginro.
"Sheesh, why am I sitting here helping you again?"
'Because you're the kindest gramps around.'
"Senku and Chrome are both wrong. How is it not scary?! You might die! Jeez, I hate it when people do that! They act all brave, but they're actually reckless!" Ginro whines, getting frustrated at the lengths Chrome and Senku would go. You sigh, deciding to sit beside him, resting your hand on his knee. "You could still go with them, Ginro. They may be able to go into the face of danger the way they just did, but you're far greater than them in combat. They need you to balance out the team, ya know?" 
"Don't worry, Ginro. You aren't weak at all. Fear is the secret to a long life. Isn't it convincing when an old fogy tells you that? I used to be a wimp myself. They're really scared inside too. No one is immune to fear."
You can practically see the cogs turning in Ginro's head, seeing him looking over towards where Kinro and Kohaku are training. "Whoops, I got carried away and made another gas mask. I guess I'll just leave it here, since I have no use for it." When Kaseki leaves, you notice Ginro staring at the equipment. Moving your hand to his and squeezing, you smile, "Go, Ginro." He looks into your eyes for a second before nodding and taking the gas mask and taking off after Senku and Chrome.

A/N: Sorry for the huge ass wait, kinda forgot that wattpad existed. If u want more recent books I've been making head on over to my Quotev, a much better place for writing and reading. Just copy pasting the chapters into wattpad was giving me war flashbacks.