Perfectly Balanced [ON-GOING]

Chapter Thirty Nine: Paper Promises

39. Paper Promises

10-21-2023

A/N: The newest Dr. Stone episodes are giving me ideas for future chapters >:)

Q: I don't have one right now because I can't think of one!

~~~

"Finally, we made it!"

After two days, your group had arrived in the early morn at a cliff that was right across where Tsukasa's Empire had rested. It was topped with large rocks that served as a ridge and a very good cover for the entire Kingdom of Science.

"Set up behind this ridge! This simple protection makes for a perfect, natural camp," Kokuyo instructed everybody.

Senku, struggling with all his strength as he held a pot of materials, added, "W-We'll start up production facilities down here! The woods will hide the smoke!"

You and Suika, who were holding the same size pots, followed him with ease. You spoke up, "Senku, if you need help, you could just ask."

"I'm not struggling..." he grunted.

As you walked toward him, you kneeled down and swiped the pottery from his arms with no hesitation. The boy widened his eyes with surprise, and you told him with a small smile, "Just tell us where to go and drop everything off so we could do this quickly. After all, we still need to find a way to rescue Chrome."

He looked at you with twitching eyebrows, then got an idea with a smirk forming on his face. "Okay, while you put those away, I'll be whistling letters in Morse code for directions. L for left, R for right, F for forward, B for backward. Got it?"

"Aw, come on!" You whined.

You then noticed Gen, who had a close-eyed smile plastered on his face. "Don't worry, (Y/N)-chan~! It'll all be worth it in the end. Besides, different ways of communication is an important skill to have..."

"You're just relishing in the fact that I gotta drill something into my brain, like what Nikki is doing to you," you retorted.

"I sure am~!" He laughed evilly, his tongue waving around outside of his mouth.

You sighed and rolled your eyes as you turned away, then a thought appeared in your head. Looking back at the mentalist, you asked, "Who's more devilish? Senku or Nikki?"

"Senku-chan," the mentalist instantly replied with a serious expression on his face.

Nodding, you lifted your hand up, which he took, and the both of you agreed in solidarity that he was more "strict" than anybody else you knew. Meanwhile, the boy watched your little exchange with the man and had a tick mark on his head. "Oi, don't just agree to something like that when I'm right here. This is for your own good."

~~~

After a few hours of work later, everybody had finished setting up camp beneath the ridge. Suika had ended up leaving in the middle to infiltrate the Tsukasa Empire, using her melon to hide from the army. She eventually came back after finding out where Chrome was located and gathering enough information with just a scan around the area.

"There were so many guards..." Suika fretted as she finished sharing information.

"Bwahaha, can't we just attack from the front and slaughter them all?!" Magma laughed, amused by the fact that the little girl went over by herself without getting caught.

You replied, shaking your head, "We can't. We already said that this'll be a bloodless war."

"But a full-frontal attack might not be so bad!" said Senku, leaving everyone shocked. He added, "With an extreme overhaul power up, the Steam Gorilla will be made into a tank!"