Knowledge is love

Part 23: Prepare

Gen was sitting in front of some kids holding a flashlight. He was about to tell them the story of the village chief Senku.

"One day, a very long time ago there was a strange flash of light. It appeared suddenly, out of nowhere, covering the entire world. In the blink of an eye, that wave of light turned every man, woman, and child to stone. Afterwards, everything began to collapse. Buildings decayed into rubble, and over time, all traces of civilization disappeared. What humanity had spent millennia building was gone forever. What a shame! However, there was one man who refused to give up. Though he was petrified he never lost consciousness. He figured that the date and time were far too important to lose track of, so he stayed awake, counting the seconds one by one. He's one ad-bay dude! That man, you know him. It's our friend, Senku! And one summer day, thousands of years after humankind was petrified, Senku woke up, all alone. He found himself in an empty, primitive Earth. Now, I probably would've just died from shock right then and there. But since Senku is a brilliant scientist with an amazing mind, he figured out how to make his own food, clothing, and shelter. Eventually, he developed the miracle fluid."

"Senku is so awesome."

"I wanna be just like him."

"Wow. You kids certainly do love him, don't you," Gen said. "I know, let's hear a word from our antastic-fay leader or perhaps his lovely wife. They must have some wisdom to share. Well, Senku? Y/n-chan?"

You and Senku were in the corner working on some blueprints for the next machine.

"What can I say, that was absolutely riveting," Senku said sarcastically. "I mean, how could I hope to top all of that? Your super stone world foundation story was epic. Just trying to hold back my tears."

"Well like most things Senku, you can't top a nice story like that one," you said.

Senku raised a brow at you as you gave him a playful smile. He playfully shook his head at you as he looked back at Gen.

"So, Gen, maybe you should quit running your mouth and put your hands to work," Senku said.

Gen laughed sheepishly. "Got me. I admit, I was procrastinating a bit."

"Clearly," you said.

Gen laughed before he and the kids went back to work and you and Senku went back to the blueprint.

Gen snickered. "Anyway, before long, he used the miracle fluid to bring back this super tough guy named Tsukasa. To put it lightly, this was an ajor-may disagreement. So while Tsukasa is all like, 'Let's build a new world!' and revived the strongest people to join him, Senku decided to build a kingdom of science right here in this village in order to fight him."

The children gasp in amazement.

"The kingdom of science rules!"

"Tsukasa stinks!"

"By the way Senku, the reason we worked so quickly on the cell phone was so we could execute a preemptive strike on Tsukasa," Gen said. "We should get moving soon, right? Spring's around the corner and they're gonna come knocking, so what's next?"

Senku chuckled. "What's next? Well, we gotta finish our ridiculously awesome science project and make a super item."

Senku stood up from his seat.

"And what is this super item," Gen asked.

"So glad you asked," you said. "It's clear as crystal that it will take agility and speed to defeat the Tsukasa Empire. Which is why we're gonna need one of, if not, the greatest survival creation."

Gen raised a brow as Senku held a bowl with a grin.

"We're whippin up some space food," Senku stated.