Flying over the endless azure ocean on the marvelous invention, the hoverbike, the three of us had quickly found the novelty of the experience quite short lived. It's a shame, but given the monotonous nature of "just fly straight forward" we've been enduring for the past couple of hours now, it makes sense that we would eventually grow bored of it and think of some rather... interesting ways to deal with the situation.

"I'm telling you, uncle!" Issei shouted with his Eyes tightly shut, "You're being too naive with such a surface-level question! It doesn't matter if the boobs are big or small, it's all in the nipples!"

"Nephew, I get you're trying to show off the fact that you have two girlies waiting for you and all, but you can't honestly tell me size plays absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things."

"I-I like my wife's smaller boobs..." I meekly shared my own opinion, "They're very cute, a-and when I play with them, the nipples-"

"Ah! See that!? So at the end of the day, the nipples are the main part of the meal!" Issei opened his Eyes wide before quickly shutting them, "Ack, scary spinny death blades...!"

"Dude, he was just saying that the nipples are quite literally the icing on the cake!" Freddy shot back, "Sigh, there ain't no way my nephew managed to bag two girls at once with this level od disappreciation for the female body..."

"Like you're one to talk!" Issei fussed with his Eyes closed and veins popping out.

Never mind the previous conversation we spent way too much time humoring just now, but regarding Issei, is he still scared of riding this thing? He was fine with airplanes, but this is proving to be an issue for him? How odd, I'd find this to be way more thrilling. I mean, we're not really doing anything now, but as opposed to the boring and calm atmosphere a plane's interior can provide you, this one doesn't even let you take a break for even a second. You're constantly having to hold onto your seat, else you'll either fall off the side, or get strung through the propeller blades and then fall into the ocean below. Apart from that though, it's not like we're soaring above the clouds or anything. Nah, in actuality it's more like we're just barely hovering over the water. It's like 10 meters up at best.

"Hey, Freddy." I inquired, "Why aren't we soaring higher up?"

"Why should we?" He answered my question with a question, "It's harder to fly at a higher altitude because of the pressure in the air, there's less oxygen to breathe than down here, and apart from that, it really makes no difference between the two. No matter how you look at it though, it'll waste more fuel that way, so we'll stick to going low."

Well, that answers my ignorant question, I guess...

"Oh right, there's also that to worry about." Issei warned, "We should also watch out not to get spotted crossing the ocean borders by any government officials. I heard they shoot on sight."

"Pirates too." I added.

"....."

"What?"

"Ahem. There's no need to worry about neither pirates nor any government officials." Freddy reassured us, "If you didn't know, nephew, people can evade detection on their radars by flying low enough to the ground. Apart from that, they detect way larger vessels than this thing, which is essentially a tad bigger than a motorcycle in size."

"And about the pirates?" I tilted my head, "They don't need any fancy doohickeys to spot us, do they? It just takes one guy to spot us with their Eyes on the crow's nest and we'll be eating cannonballs like crazy."

"Pirates... haven't been a thing for centuries, y'know?" He turned to ask Issei, "Seriously, what the hell kind of world did you two come from?"

"Eyes on the road, well, sea!" Issei scolded him before answering, "But yeah, I've seen some pirates in the Vast World. Though they're more like sea-faring sailors looking to find a new unfound spot on the map, I think some are bound to be violent."

"Well, they're violent to each other. Kind of like gangbangers, just at sea." I explained, "Though you won't find any unless you stray off the internationally agreed upon travel routes. Them's the rules."

"So, hypothetically speaking, if we were in your world, this is around where we'd run into trouble-?" Freddy asked as he looked at his indicators, "Ah."

"What? What now?" Issei opened his Eyes to roll them before shouting, "What the-!? Why're the batteries so low!? Uncle...!"

"Calm down, it's nothing to worry about." Freddy opened the compartment for the extra batteries he had on him, "Here, I change these myself "on the fly" all the time, but seeing as we'll be spending a lot of our time on the hoverbike from now on, do me a solid and change these for me."

"Oh hell no! I saw where the batteries go - Right next to the propellers!" Issei refused, "I ain't getting near those blades, uncle!"

"Doesn't matter nephew, you owe me a solid from last time, remember?" He grinned back cheekily.

"Uncle...!"

Looks like danger waits for nobody. But you know what they say, danger is the second cousin to fun! Who's the first? I am!

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***

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"You sure you're gonna be able to handle the job, Lune?" Freddy handed me the 2 replacement batteries, "Pretty sure Issei's way more technologically fit to change them."

"Do you see the state he's in right now? The dude won't move a centimeter!"

"Well excuse me for being rightfully scared of pulling this daredevil stunt that may or may not kill all three of us right there and then!" Issei shouted.

"It's not that scary, nephew! If I can do it alone, then so can you guys with me!" Freddy reassured him before resignedly giving up, "Sigh, whatever. Lune, you know how changing batteries works, right?"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"We have electricity in my world, dude." I glared, "Besides, I'm the Famed Inventor. Changing batteries to me is like changing a lightbulb to any normal person out there."

"You've got electricity yet your seas are still riddled with pirates?"

"Guys, running out of fuel here!" Issei stopped our pointless banter.

Fine, calm down, idiot! Ugh, these things are heavy. I wonder just how much voltage they have in them. Let's see, I think the number should be here... Eh!? M-Megavolts!? Mega, so... Hold on, that's over a million volts! And the number next to it, if I multiply it with that, I get... Hoo boy, maybe it won't be as easy to translate this technology into my world after all...

"You done staring at it like an idiot, Lune!?" Issei kept rushing me, "Gah, just give it here, I'll do it!"

"No, get back to your seat!" I pushed him away.

"Hey!"

"Dude, wait a bit, otherwise it'll..." I shouted as I felt the weight on my hand get lifted, "...fall."

And...plop. There it is, like a turd falling graciously into the toilet bowl, the extra battery we were fighting over had slipped out of my hand and fell into the ocean below. From the spot it fell into, a lot of dead electrocuted fish had shown up soon after. How scary, so this is the power of a megavolt grade battery? I guess it makes sense, given what it's powering...

"Welp." Issei and I turned to Freddy, "There goes $1500."

"You motherfuckers!" He went crazy on the handlebars in a fit of rage, "You think money grows on trees! You are SO repaying me for that one!"

"Never mind that now, uncle! We'll pay you back, but let's first think about getting another battery so we can make it to land, okay!?"

"Y'know what? Here, Lune, take the reins." Freddy signaled for me to scoot over to his seat as he took the other replacement battery from me, "I'll do the changing."

"What!? But I've never steered one before!"

"Oh come on, it's just like riding a bike!"

Bike? I've never ridden a bike before! And besides, shouldn't Issei be way more familiar with the task than me? How come I'm always the one Freddy asks? Ah, that must be it! He's scared of owing Issei any solids! I can kind of understand fearing owing them, but solids are meant to be exchanged, you know!? Uuu, Cecily, give me luck...!

"Whoa!?" I wobbled around a bit before getting the hang of it, "Argh, go straight, dammit!"

"You don't need to worry about keeping our direction for now!" Freddy advised, "Actually, I'm refueling on the left side, so maybe tilting us a bit to the right would make it easier for me, got it?"

"I'll try!"

"God, I regret not going with Ouri now!" Issei cried out.

Don't go mentioning that asshat now, idiot! Knowing the Gods, they just might be ready to appear at any moment to help us out of pride, and that's not good in this context! Besides that, the Sun God literally sent your father to the hospital, how can you even be praying to that jackass now of all times!?

"No, we can do this ourselves." I slowly inched the handlebars to the right, "Just gotta focus and keep calm..."

Calm, calm, like I'm the only one here. Yes, I, as the one and only... Wait, that's it! Going Solipsistic right now would be perfect! It'll take up a bit of my Focus, but for the time being, correcting any mistakes in slow-motion would be way easier than correcting them in real time! Let's see, then - As the corners of my view of the ocean in front of me lost their color, I felt a swelling sense of pride roaring in me as I slowed down time. It wasn't by much, both because I didn't want to waste too much Focus as well as because I didn't want to make the situation take too long.

I had time to look around now and take in the situation. I could even look behind me to see Issei's panicked face as well as Freddy slowly putting the battery in. Truthfully, I could have just slowed down time and plopped the batteries in for him, but I'm afraid of messing it up again. I doubt I would, but there's always the chance of me putting them in the wrong spot, or even turning them the wrong way around. Either way, both options would mean certain death for us, so I'll remain patient and do my job dutifully. Yes, yes, waiting for them to finish, waiting for them to...

"Mn, this is quite boring." I pointed out before noticing a slowed down Issei pushing himself off me all of a sudden, "Hm? What's he doing no-?"

Crap! Why is Freddy leaning so close to the propellers!? And he's not holding onto anything! Dammit, screw not putting the batteries in at this rate, he's gonna get chopped to pieces! Issei, he managed to warn me by trying to grab his uncle, but at his speed he certainly won't make it. Thankfully, they have me, the ever magnificent Lune Grimheart to help them!

"Phah!" I let go of my Focus as soon as I helped Freddy back on the airbike, "That was close."

"-AAAAH! Huh?" He stopped screaming as he glanced around to see what happened, "How am I not dead? W-Wait, never mind that! The batteries, I still gotta-!"

"Just sit down and keep steering this thing." I calmly got up from my seat, "I put the batteries in for you."

"You... How?"

"Famed Inventor, adventurer, traveler, and a Rainbow Iro Beholder." I pointed to my Eyes, "Such a simple task is mere child's play for me."

"Dude..." He turned to an angry Issei, "Your friend's got some sick skills."

"Yeah, I know." Issei proudly puffed his chest out, "I trained him, after all."

At this statement, both Freddy and I gave each other an annoyed look that evolved into a mischievous grin. Swerving the airbike about a few times for the hell of it, the two of us enjoyed the joyride, whilst our dear friend Issei here could do nothing but gag as he tightly held onto me for dear life with his Eyes shut even tighter. A few hours later, and we had made it to the western shores of the United States.