Asagiri Gen really didn't like heights, but at this point, it had become somewhat embarrassing for him. Just about every other person in the Kingdom of Science had had a chance to ride in the hot air balloon, including little Suika. Six times.

Kohaku found his evasiveness around the hot air balloon rides amusing, "Is our little black bat afraid of heights?"

Gen put up an apathetic front toward the whole thing, but deep down... he really was curious.

Before being petrified, Gen had only flown on a plane twice. In fact, he hadn't even glanced out the window either time, opting to slam the thing shut the moment he had boarded. The turbulent flights had made him swear off flying ever again, and he always took the train when traveling across Japan. Amusement parks were always a no. Tree climbing was a never. Traveling outside of Japan was just not going to happen, no matter what his manager had said.

Gen liked his feet on the ground, thank you very much.

But he was curious.

As cliche as it sounded, what was it like to touch the clouds? To fly above them?

Chrome seemed to love flying, jumping at the chance to ride in the balloon every single time he could. Their first insane adventure on the thing hadn't scared him off, and Gen was a bit envious.

So when Ryusui and Chrome were setting off on another short information-gathering trip, Gen bit the bullet.

"I think I'll join you this time," he put on a brave face, "That is, if you don't already have a third party member." He glanced around, hoping that someone in the group had already volunteered to go. Only three people were allowed on the balloon at once, after all.

Senku cackled, "Actually I was going to go and test out this new equipment," he lifted up an amalgamation that Gen didn't in the least bit recognize. "But seeing as you're one of the only people who hasn't had a chance to ride, you can take my spot, Mentalist." He gave Gen a sly look as he tossed the equipment to Chrome, who looked more than happy to take it from him.

Gen groaned inwardly and stepped aboard the aircraft, cursing the stupid decision. Chrome's adventurous spirit must have been rubbing off on him. Gen would have to watch himself more carefully after this.

There are no windows to shut on a balloon, a voice piped up in his head, It's all just open air. You could fall right out.

You probably will.

He shook his head and watched Chrome and Ryusui at work, readying for lift-off. He trusted Ryusui almost as implicitly as he did Senku, and Chrome was... well, Chrome. The guy was an innocent adventurer who would do anything to keep them all safe.

Gen focused on appearing cool and collected and asked if there was anything he could do to help.

He jerked involuntarily when the balloon lifted a foot off the ground, his cool smirk slipping into panic.

"Sorry, sorry, that was my bad," Chrome whistled innocently as Ryusui smacked him on the head.

Kohaku leaned against the basket and spoke quietly, "You don't really have to go up there if you don't want to, Gen. That was unfair of me to goad you," she looked slightly guilty.

Gen lessened his grip on the handrail so that his knuckles weren't so white, "Naw, it's just going to be a short trip," he forced the trembling out of his voice and smiled at her, "It would be pretty lame if the mentalist of the group backed out because of a mental fear," he poked his head and tried to exude confidence. It normally came naturally to him, but this time he had to force it.

Kohaku frowned and Gen suspected she wasn't falling for his act, "Well, okay. Have fun." Gen heard her mumble something about 'stubborn men' as she walked away.

Ryusui spoke up and tossed his hat to Francois for safekeeping, "Alright, we're off for real! See y'all in a little bit." The balloon started lifting off the ground and Gen appreciated how smoothly Ryusui handled the aircraft compared to Chrome.

The balloon lifted without a hitch. 100 meters. 200 meters. Before long, they were as far up as a skyscraper.

Gen was astounded by the sight of the horizon ahead of him... it was absolutely mesmerizing. The forest... the skies... everything. Not a building in sight.

"Pretty baaad, right?" Chrome grinned and elbowed Gen.

Knocked out of his stupor, Gen jumped and gave an involuntary shriek at Chrome's jab. He imagined the basket was tipping and he was falling to his doom.

"Aw, dude, are you alright?" Chrome grabbed Gen by the shoulders, steadying him. "I thought you 'modern world' people were used to this sort of thing."

Ryusui spoke up, "Taking joyrides in hot air balloons wasn't as normal as flying in planes or whatnot, Chromey. It's much more of an... open experience. Not everyone is prepared for it." He winked at Gen, "It was pretty obvious you didn't want to come along, so why did you?"

Gen straightened himself out and gazed out on the horizon, feeling a sense of calm overriding the fear, "I... wanted to see it too. If everyone here in this stone world could enjoy the high view... then why couldn't I?" he gave a tight smile, "Besides, I've never seen the clouds from above. I was curious."

Chrome laughed, "Wow, I got to do something that a 'modern' dude like you never did! Don't worry, we'll make an adventurer out of you yet," he smacked Gen on the shoulder a little more lightly.

"You're a guy who never opened his windows on plane trips, huh?" Ryusui rubbed his black fingers against his forehead, "Well, we're not going to be going as high as the clouds, but the view is still pretty-" he cut off as the balloon suddenly jerked.

Gen grabbed onto the basket side tightly, biting his lip so as not to scream and lose his composure. It was bad enough that he was so jumpy. Don't panic. Don't panic. This is completely normal-

"We've got some nasty wind currents blowing through here," Ryusui said, gazing outward, "Now that we can see above the mountain range there's a nice-sized storm heading this way."

Chrome tied Senku's device down and smiled reassuringly at Gen, "Relax, bro. The storm we went through the first time was wayyy worse. Ryusui and I are air balloon pros. Pro Bros."

Ryusui tossed a pouch into the air and it fell a few meters before being snatched and blown straight upward.

"Uh oh."

"The current is moving us toward an updraft," Ryusui explained hastily, maneuvering the controls with ease.

"So we're going down?" Gen asked hopefully.

"The opposite. We gotta rise to get away from the updraft," Ryusui pointed up.

"How does that make any sense?" Gen tried to swallow his panic.

Chrome gave him a thumbs up, "Just trust us, dude!"

And that's where it all went wrong.

Heyo, everyone! Thanks for checking out my small Dr. Stone fic! Before I say anything more, if anyone here is following me for the Portal fic, no worries. It's still in progress... ;) Just thought I'd throw that out there.

This Dr. Stone fic is actually complete! It's not supeeeer long, but I knocked the whole thing out in ten hours (crazy... guess that's what happens when you're home sick for a couple of days). Anyway, I'm working on editing the other chapters currently and they'll be uploaded within the next couple days.

I absolutely adore Dr. Stone and tend to go overboard on my fanfic/comic projects, so I wanted to write something small or else I'd never get anything done. I'm also a crazy research nut and I actually put effort this time into NOT doing too much research while writing this (otherwise I'd have to have a hot air balloon piloting license by the time I finished, ahaha).

Please let me know what you think! Reviews make the tiny writer in my so happy *crying* Thank you!

-Moe

Oh, I suppose I should mention that there aren't any ships in this... I don't generally write romance. Sorry... :P Just bromance. XD