Chapter Text
The kids decided to build electro-something. Stanley wasn't listening because he didn't understand. Xenon did. He asked about all the nuances and didn’t puzzle over some things (it was equipped with some kind of heat-resistant coating or something).
"If I’m not mistaking... We’ll gather electricity, just like from the copper ball?"
"Yep. Correct. One hundred points to you, Xeno"
They chatted sweetly about this topic, while Gen could only look shocked. The news about the power plant visibly shook his mask of confidence.
"Electro station!? Can it even be possible in the stone world?~"
Xeno looked at Senku with the same question.
"Of course" He climbed into the hut in search of something suitable.
"Let me guess. Copper?" Xeno suggested, and Chrome hastened to comply.
"Yep. We have plenty of it! But i won't let you break it! I've collected it so long!"
"The main thing is to make copper wire out of it. And you need lightning to charge"
Stanley's tobacco roll suddenly hissed and went out. What? He pulled it out and turned it over in his hands. More drops fell on my fingers. And then thunder rumbled.
"There you go" He shook his shoulders humbly.
Alright. Working hours. He got up from his seat.
"Everyone, go home! Don't go outside until the weather calms down! Get the women and children off the street! I won't repeat myself!"
Gen crept up on Xeno unnoticed.
"Stanley is so harsh in his commander mode~"
"Because it’s Stanley" Xeno answered him proudly.
When all the residents had fled, only the residents of the isolated hut remained in the courtyard. Stanley turned his attention to them, especially to Xeno:
"You go home too"
But he remained steadfast.
"You heard Senku's words. We still have a lot of work to do."
This Senku is going to bring Xeno to his grave soon. And eye pressure never worked on him (That brat little Senku brat!).
"Then I'll stay too."
"Good" Xeno nodded.
The storm made everyone nervous. And Xeno was afraid of this phenomenon (terribly), but he still remained there in danger, alone with his fears. For what? For the good of this Senku? This guy is playing on Stanley's nerves and doesn't even know it.
They quickly divided the responsibilities. Melted the copper and went to get the varnish. As a form, they decided to tear off part of the bridge. It was then that their limit of what was allowed was left behind.
"Hey, hey, hey!" As soon as Senku grabbed onto the pavement, Stanley grabbed him, "I won't let you do that!"
Thunder rumbled, and with it came Xeno's worried voice.
"Stanley, let him do what he wants! I'll take responsibility!"
"Ffff-...!" Stanley shouted back at him desperately.
And what should he do? They're all be in trouble for this. Senku, because he's an outsider, Xeno, because he's an outcast, and Stanley, because he's a very crappy supervisor (and he prioritizes shit!).
The log went to hell. They made a mold out of it and poured liquid copper into it. As soon as they wrapped a piece of iron with the resulting wire, trouble came knocking from the village.
"Shit! Magma's coming!" Chrome shouted.
Xeno grimaced in disgust at the sight of a familiar face (exceeding the level of stupidity usually affects him like poison).
"This is bad... You can't reason with ignoramuses!"
Everyone continued to panic around them. Only Senku and Suika were oblivious to the approaching threat. There was also Gen who was just watching the mood of the team. Xeno visibly frowned, and that's the only thing Stanley needed to get out onto the bridge.
"Go take cover, Magma!" Unfortunately, the tobacco got wet, and he wanted it bad...
Magma just laughed.
"I knew it! Look who's here! The sorcerer's litter in person! I don't know what kind of sorcery he put on you, or if it's even a sorcery, but I'll finally close this witchcraft shop for you!" (How many sorcery spelled in one sentence…).
Magma had been arrogant since childhood, but instead of strategic inclinations, he had brute strength, for which everyone loved him. There was a lot of talk that he’s gonna be the next chef, an excellent warrior and an enviable husband. Of course, these gossips paled in comparison to Stanley's popularity. On the basis of this, they had a one-sided feud. You see, Stanley (supposedly) looks at him with a look of "Suck a lemon, kid". In fact, he doesn't care about this brat so much that he doesn't even bother to care about caring. Stanley things that there’s two important things in his life: Xeno and tobacco. And the second cannot exist without the first. Magma, on the other hand, is not even a secondary variable, but a fivefold one. A midge that likes to buzz around your ear, but still doesn't dare bite.
Now, standing on the bridge, they both knew that the time had come. It's time to teach this smug brat a lesson in the most elegant and effective way... Shoot him.
"You've terrorized our village enough! It's time to uproot the problem!" And Magma laughed his bass laugh again.
That’s it. Stanley himself concluded that the "root" that Magma is talking about is Xeno. In the village, he was the most senior sorcerer who taught his knowledge to Chrome. Now there are a lot more people in their coalition.
He didn't wait for the Magma's first move. He took off his bow and reached for an arrow. But then he felt a warm palm on his wrist.
"Hold on, Stanley, dear~"
With a gentle touch, Gen placed his hands on his sides in the chest area and pushed him aside with a little pressure. He himself came forward. Whether it was suicide or overconfidence, Stanley didn't know yet.
"There are better things in the world than violence after all~"
Yes. If you can come to an agreement with your opponent. Magma doesn't even know the word "diplomacy". Well, if the stranger decided to play with fire, then he’ll let him. Stanley never liked him. If anything happens, he will simply shoot.
Gen stepped forward and made an unexpected move... He showed them flowers. Okay. Stanley is intrigued. Such a move can confuse the enemy. The element of surprise, how interesting.
The outsider quickly found an excuse about lightning. That they would make them disappear with magic. Stanley involuntarily looked up at the sky. If Xeno is right in his weather studies, then the wind will be bringing rain clouds for a while. He can say, for about an hour. It would be good for them if the rain stopped right now. But it seems that luck has turned against them (which is strange. Usually Xeno is very lucky).
"We will make the lightning disappear... Just like this~" With one deft movement of his hands, Gen tucked the flowers onto the back of his hands, away from the gaze of Magma and his assembled gang.
They were all alarmed, not understanding how the flowers could disappear. In the end, with hesitance, but they retreated.
"See, my dear Stanley~" Gen turned to him, "Problems can be solved without violence."
Stanley sighed. For some reason, he wanted tobacco even more.
Everything quickly moved to Bald Mountain, where Chrome usually collected magnets. Of course, they had to climb up the vertical surface. Senku in Kohaku's hands, Xeno ion his very uncomplicated supports on Stanley's back, and the rest are on their own.
There seemed to be more thunder on the mountain. In addition, many of them saw how lightning struck it several times during the thunderstorm season.
"Wow... I thought that the fear had already more or less passed..." Xeno said to Stanley in annoyance, "But now I understand that... I'm terribly scared"
"You don't have to go along with outsiders. Senku is a psychopath who gets us into trouble, and this Gen guys is a sly asshole. Let's tie it up and just go seize power in the village"
Xeno went silent for a while. At one point, Stanley even thought that he had finally considered it... But no.
"The new plan is more rational than the previous one. It makes no sense to cling to an option that has become irrelevant."
When they got to the top, they immediately started trying to organize their impromptu "something-something." But it takes a lot of time to dig a hole for the stand. And the thunderstorm fund...
"We'll either lose the chance or we'll die..." Xeno stood looking at the approaching piles of electric charges.
The wind was blowing harder on the mountain than it was below. How interesting. Xeno would probably have thought about this if he hadn't looked right in the face of his fear. Huge gusts of wind dragged the hem of his cloak with them. Stanley did not even notice how Xeno's hands clenched into fists from under these rags.
"Xeno! If we mess up..." Stanley began, intending to say that he would run, that Stan would keep an eye on everything, "Then I will take you and the others down the mountain, okay? I swear!"
Xeno didn’t take his eyes off the thundercloud. His voice began to tremble more violently as it approached.
"Yeah... Thank you..."
"We need something long to stick into the ground!" Kohaku shouted.
And Stanley and Xeno instinctively began to look around in search of something. Kohaku and Stanley's gazes simultaneously fell on two brothers, and especially on the golden spear Kinrou was holding.
"No, wait! I won't give it to you!" Kinrou shouted desperately, clutching the spear to himself.
But Stanley was stronger and faster. With light movements, he pulled out a spear and threw it to Kohaku. She grabbed the weapon with the grace of a tigress, tied the iron to it with her hair rope and stuck it into the ground.
Lightning was raging right above them. Xeno looked at it, and his black eyes reflected the flashes in the sky. He looked like he was preparing for death, and he just couldn't accept it. It seemed that his skin was wet not from the rain, but from sweat. There was a flash in the cloud, but the light did not disappear. The cloud seemed to be accumulating energy for discharge. Or it already did.
As soon as Xeno squeezed his eyes shut, Stanley knocked him to the ground, covering him with himself.
"And now! Quickly, take cover!" With that shout, their ears were filled by the huge roar with which the lightning struck the ground.
A moment of utter incomprehension. The blow seemed to knock out of them the knowledge of who they were and why they were here. But Stanley felt Xeno's hand. He was cold from the rain. He also felt some very warm hands on his bicep. It was a Gen.
When his hearing returned to its place, Stanley thought he still couldn't hear. There was silence all around. And only Gen's voice, which sounded very loud, albeit restrained, made one thing clear:
"Thunderstorm ended..."
It sounded like a wake-up call. Everyone slowly started to get up and move away from what they saw.
Xeno quickly jumped to his feet and looked up at the sky again.
"I can't believe it... With the help of science, we have mastered the weather..." The wind almost carried away his surprised mutterings, but he still couldn't hide that last statement, "How elegant."
Senku walked over to their piece of iron, and pulled his bandages down to take them without harming his palm with the heat.
"And the most powerful magnet is ready"
Stanley, meanwhile, approached Xeno to ask if he was alright.... But Xeno was smiling a crazy smile, already looking at Senku with his black but at the same time passionately burning eyes.
"Stanley. I think... That I'm not afraid of thunder anymore!"