"Woohoo!" Moldavite cheered for Steven, which was audible to everyone is the surrounding galaxy at this point. Needless to say, the ever increasingly angry Emerald was at his breaking point. Emerald was sitting on Steven's couch, peering out through the window and over the railing to see Moldavite and Steven playing some game. He would join in, but he needed his coffee.
His dark green suit was ruffled and his light green tie was out of place. He slowly worked it back in and sighed as he noticed Moldavite. He had no idea how one gem could have that much energy.
He laced his green fingers together over his coffee as he looked outside. His usually slicked back hair was ruffled from his last battle, and he groaned as Moldavite cheered again. He considered going outside but he didn't want to act mad in front of Steven. Garnet had given him a stern talking to before when he had.
Moldavite cheered again, so loud, Emerald was sure Home World could hear them. Garnet had also taught him to find a calming routine, to stop his expressive anger. So far, stroking a circle around his gem seemed to work.
His gem was in the middle of his chest, so it was fairly easy to put a black circle around it just to make it easier. It seemed to work. He gently placed his coffee down on the table and undid his middle suit button before he started to work his fingers around the circle. Using his other hand, he leaned back on the sofa.
He could imagine a gentle river, pulsing along, and the sound a bi- and then there was a loud crunch in his ear.
Crunch.
There is was again. It sounds closer. Then there was a loud voice.
"Hey Em, what ya doing?" Amethyst asked, eating chips right beside him, peering confused about what he was doing.
"Oh! Ah, nothing. Forget it." Emerald shook his head, before leaning back on the couch.
"Seriously, what was it, though? Doing some weird zen thing?" Amethyst said, wiggling her fingers before offering him some chips. He grabbed a handful and shoved them in his mouth.
"Weh…" he mumbled, chips going everywhere before he stopped, swallowed and tried again. "Well, it's a meditation thing. I think. Helps me relax, because Moldavites almost driving me off the ed-"
Emerald was cut off by another yell by Moldavite, and he immediately frowned again. "Alright, stuff it. I'm stopping this game."
Emerald walked out and opened his mouth to yell at Moldavite to stop yelling before Steven ran over and poked him.
"M-What? Why did you touch me?" he asked, confused.
"We're playing tag and you're it." Steven said, sticking his nose out before running off.
"O-oh. We'll, I'd love to Steven, but some other time? I'm still finishing my coffee. Alright?" Emerald asked. Steven pouted before sneaking up behind Moldavite and poking him. Moldavite had sand covering most of his body, his green jeans and light green shirt barely noticeable from the yellow sand. His hair was all over the place. He looked like a sand nuke had been dropped on his head. Moldavite yelled and Emerald remembered why he had come out there.
"Oh right. Um, could you guys keep it down a bit? I'm trying to relax and… yeah. Thanks, guys." Emerald awkwardly told them before walking back inside and nursing his cup of coffee.
"Go Steven!"
Another crunch.
"Woohoo!"
Crunch.
"WILL EVERYONE JUST BE QUIET?!" Emerald yelled, standing up, spilling his coffee all over the table. He stood there for a few seconds before looking around, noticing Amethyst was staring at him.
He felt his foot burning from the spilt coffee and pulled his foot away. Unfortunately, his foot hit the edge of the coffee table, sending it across the room and making Emerald yell in anger.
"Just…argh!" Emerald yelled as he fell back and hit his head on the wall.
"Woah. Em, you alright?" Amethyst asked.
Steven and Moldavite ran in, hearing the cry of pain. Steven went over to Emerald and Moldavite ran over to grab paper towels. He ran back and started wiping the spilled coffee.
"Oh… thanks, Moldavite. Thanks, St-Steven." Emerald thanked them as Steven licked his hands and pushed them onto the burn.
"I'm sorry for freaking out guys… it's just. I need some time to myself. I'm going in my room. It's just… I can't have coffee in there." Emerald shook his head and got up.
"O-okay. Bye emerald." Moldavite told him before Emerald waked over to the temple door. The dark green gem in the door glowed, and the door had white lines lace it before disappearing to reveal a wall of steam.
"Okay. Bye." Emerald said lamely before walking into his room, the door shutting behind him.
"Bye?" Moldavite said before Emerald walked into his room, the door shutting behind him.
"Wow… you'd think he would, at least, be a little less grumpy about everything." Amethyst complained before grabbing some more chips.
Crunch.
Emerald walked into his room, breathing in the steam. His feet felt the ground, and the walkway he was on fell off into the void. His room was like a domed room, but instead of a floor, there was spikes leading to little islands of things. The only problem was, the floor was covered in steam, so you couldn't see the spikes. Emerald could walk easily across, his feet seemingly having a brain of their own.
For instance, one island over in the far corner contained a lounge chair and a little lamp. Another held another bookshelf. One held a giant spider.
That couldn't be right.
He looked back and saw indeed, there was a giant spider. He instinctively took a step back. The spider heard him and turned around.
The spider was freakish, being a cobalt blue. It has 8 legs, and its entire abdomen was a royal blue. It has eye pure black eyes. It has some sort of machine in his hands.
It hissed at Emerald and he ran straight back out to the living room, panting.
"GIANT SPIDER!" he yelled, closing his door.
"Oh, come on, I'm sure it can't be that bad." Amethyst told him, grinning as she opened the door from her. A giant spider hissed in her face. The door closed again.
"We need to warn the others," She told them, still shocked from the spider.
Garnet ran out of her room, after hearing Emerald yell. She had her gauntlets out, prepared for a fight.
"What's going on?" she asked the assembled group. They sort of looked at each other before Moldavite spoke up.
"Well, as far as I can tell, a giant spider has invaded our temple. That or Emerald made a very good Halloween prop. Well done Emerald!" Moldavite cheered.
"The first one." Amethyst corrected.
"Okay, we'll need t-" Garnet was cut off by the temple door rumbling.
The temple door rumbled and turned a deep blue. The gems in the middle retracted from the door before reappearing, all grey.
"That's new," Amethyst muttered before Moldavite ran over and tried opening his door. An audible clunk sound was heard and he was blasted across the room.
"Hey, guys?" Steven asked, looking around.
"What is it, dude?" Amethyst asked, still munching on her chips.
"Well… if we're all here… where is Pearl?" Steven asked and they looked towards the temple door. The temple door rumbled once more and Moldavites room suddenly became available.
"Its… leading us through the temple?" Moldavite asked as he walked over to open it.
"Wait! Shouldn't we… not… go in?" Emerald shouted, before losing confidence and whispering it.
"Well, Pearls in there. We need to rescue her!" Steven yelled. The group jumped up and walked towards the door. The door made a circular hole in the middle which then expanded from the inside.
"Woah." Emerald muttered as the group walked into Moldavites room. It took the breath away from everyone - the craggy mountains that ringed the massive beach had tufts of grass sprouting everywhere, with more flowers than you could shake a stick at.
The water was a bright blue, and underneath, coral lit up like a disco, lighting up the water with sparks of colour. On the beach, a chair and umbrella stood to one side, while a bucket and recently built small sand castle stood. At the end of the beach to the mountain, there were a few palm trees.
Around on the steep mountains, there were numerous caves, each glowing a different colour. Reds, blues, greens, all were there. And when, you looked up, you could see loads of stars. However, it seemed they were rotating.
In the middle of the ocean, there was a large whirlpool, sucking in mass amounts of water. However, it always seemed like the water never drained.
"Okay! We probably need to go in that whirlpool, because… Pearls room is water, right? So maybe that goes down to her room!" Steven questioned, and Garnet nodded.
"How do we get there?" Amethyst asked. "It so far out!"
"BUBBLE!" Steven yelled. The large group crowded together and a bubble formed around him. "Alright! Now roll!"
There were large amounts of shuffling before they all realised, they couldn't move.
"UNBUBBLE!" Steven yelled again. The group fell onto the sand, groaning.
"Nice try, Steven… but what about… RAFTS!" Moldavite yelled and ran off to go grab the trees before stopping.
"Garnet. Can I have some help?" He asked. She nodded and ran over to help. Several improvised minutes later, a makeshift raft was created.
It was barely wide enough to fit everyone, but it still floated.
"Alright! Let's go!" Steven yelled as they pushed off and started to float towards the whirlpool. Multi-coloured coral passed by, and fish lazily floated away from them. As they floated closer, the whirlpool got louder and louder.
A pang of fear hit Moldavite as he realised he didn't even know if it led down to Pearl's room. What if it went somewhere else, somewhere more dangerous? He felt his chest constrict and his eyes were wide with fear as the roar got louder and louder.
He started to look around, panicking. He suddenly felt a tiny pressure on his hand. He looked over and saw Steven, smiling as he clutched his arm. Moldavite flashed him a grin and ruffled his hair.
"T-Thanks, Stev-" Moldavite was cut off and the small raft was caught in the pull of the whirlpool. They started to spin around it faster and fast. At the centre, the water rapid was falling into the next room, wherever it was.
"Down the rabbit hole." Moldavite muttered as the group plunged into the vortex of confusion and water.
Pearl was thinking. Since she was captured, she had really only had one means of escape. Being rescued. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like that was happening anytime. But all she could do is try and figure out what was happening.
Pearl sighed as she watched around while at the same time trying to escape. She had been captured by the spider and was trapped at the middle of the web that was spanning most of her room. Below the net, there was a long fall until Amethysts room. The web was a brilliant shade of cobalt blue.
She sighed again and struggled. The spider gave her a glance before turning back to what it was doing. It seemed to be trying to do… something? Pearl couldn't really glance at what it was doing, or even turn her head.
She had been working on a project of hers, a machine that could track crystal gems. It could help if they ever needed to find someone, be it their own team members or an enemy. Unfortunately, while see had been trying to find a suitable gem to test it on, she had accidently released that giant blue spider. She hoped no one in the team had arachnophobia.
"Hey!" she yelled out to the spider, hoping to distract it from whatever it was doing. The spiders head turned to face her while her arms and legs continued to work on it.
"Yes, Pearl?" the spider asked, tilting its head as it blinked with its creepy eight eyes.
"Well…" Pearl stuttered, before trying to stall for time, "Tell me what you're doing! I freed you, mind it be accidently, but at least, tell me that!"
"Hmm… alright, I am going to use your temple to draw power to my web. Then I will have everything I ever want. And your machine is going to start the conversion!" The arachnid told her, before going back to working.
"Why do you need the power?" Pearl asked, genuinely confused.
"Well, I need it so that I can reform myself. Do you think I WANT to be an arachnid? I was a gem, I intend to still be that." The spider's mandibles clicking.
"Oh. You could've just asked, you know." Pearl told her. The spider shook her head.
"No. The power required will tear this pitiful city apart. I will be safe inside the temple." The corrupted gem corrected her.
"Just… let me work something out. I'm sure they're can be a better way." Pearl tried to bargain. The spider seemed lost in her thoughts.
"I used to be a powerful gem. One of brilliance. I was a great war strategist! Then, corrupted and forgotten! I blame the humans, so I will take a city from them." The spider ranted, "Then, once I'm perfect, I will take over this world. But, I don't have to do it alone. You see, I noticed you… excel at machinery and planning. I don't care that you are a Pearl, you seem more intelligent than a few gems I used to know! We could be a dream duo, the perfect conquers!"
Pearl looked at her, her expression turning hard. "No! I protect this world, and you can't change my mind."
The spider turned to her, and her eight eyes blinked in surprise before she grinned. "I expected somewhat more rational thought. You want to leave this world, and I guess once I take over this place alone, I'll go back to Home World. Seriously, I'm not staying on this planet. If you help me, you could leave this place, travel the stars!"
She then heard a large scream and a bunch of yells and they looked up in unison. Above and to her left, although they could barely see it there was what looked like her team and it looked like they were trying to save her. Her face lit up before she noticed where they were heading.
The screaming mess fell straight through her room, missing the spider web by a mile, and fell into Amethyst's room. Go figure.
"Was that your friends?"
"Yep."
"Well, if that wasn't a sign from the stars, I don't know what was."
"Ugh…" Moldavite groaned as he looked around at the mess they were in. The group were strewn through the lake, along with their improvised raft. Moldavite guessed they had misjudged the fall and where the whirlpool was.
Quite severely.
He scanned the room again. Garnet was helping Emerald up, and Amethyst was scattered along the water. He turned his attention up to how to get up to Pearls room. The walls on the side could be used for rock climbing, but he wondered if they could somehow make something out of this trash.
"Guys. We've got two options for this. One, rock climbing. Two, we try and make something to get us up there from these spare parts.
"I vote trash!" Amethyst told him, grinning. Garnet just nodded and Emerald looked bored.
"Okay! We have 0 votes for rock climbing, and about 5 votes of the building a raft."
"Five?" Emerald asked and he pointed to Garnet. "Oh."
"Well then, lets grab the montage music and let's go!"
"W-WAIT! Where's Steven?" Amethyst asked.
The group looked around until Steven shouted to them. He was on what looked to be the world's largest ladder.
"You guys weren't paying attention to me, so while you were counting I found this comically large ladder!" Steven told them and continued climbing.
And so, they were off. At about a rung per minute.
"GIANT…spider… thing. Release our friend!" Emerald stumbled through the sentence. Pearl looked relieved. The spider grinned and turned around, holding a bundle of web in her hands.
"Really? A ragtag group of nobodies trying to defeat me? I expect better." The spider said. It rose to its full height, towering over the group. It waved its human's arms off to the web.
"Why don't you all go on the web; it'll make things painless." The spider coaxed. Garnet shook her heads and her weapons formed.
"No chance, bug." Garnet told her. She yelled and the spider stamped her legs, making it sound like a crowd has suddenly invisibly invaded the room.
"I! AM! NOT! A! BUG!" the spider yelled, before grinning and holding up her bundle of web.
"This… isn't a bundle of web. Be free, my children." She grinned, and the group stared in horror as hundreds of tiny little spiders crawled out of the bundle, slowly crawling towards them. All of them a brilliant blue.
"Uh oh." Emerald muttered as the group tried to usher themselves back. Amethyst grabbed a whip and started trying to slice Pearls web. Unfortunately, it was like titanium.
Moldavite stared. He could see footholds, that the spiders weren't touching. He leapt forward, and to his surprise, it wasn't sticking to him. He guessed it was because of some factor he didn't know about, but he kept running alongside the spiders anyway. He ran up to the spider. She hissed at him and they started to circle.
"W-Why are you doing this? I don't understand why? If you want your babies to succeed, we can help. We can probably get you and your kids onto the next flight to somewhere." Moldavite reasoned, before shouting back to his friends to not hurt the spiders.
"Y-You can? I just want to get off the stupid chunk of rock. No! I'm a war commander, I'm made the perfect strategy." The spider yelled, throwing blue web at his feet. He was suddenly unable to move.
"So there's the other kind. Listen, we can help. I promise to you, you can leave peacefully, you and your children."
Behind him, the group was getting attacked. Amethyst, had spiders up her legs. What they did, however, was interlock themselves onto the person and never latch off. Their legs fitted together to create a spider mesh.
"Get off!" she yelled, tearing them away.
"No!" the spider yelled, reaching for them. Moldavite instinctively hit her, and she crumpled to the floor. He stared wide as the body turned white and disappeared into a large dish-like shape.
"NONONONO! Don't be dead, don't be dead!" he yelled, checking over her. "I didn't mean to hit her! I'm sorry. Just wake up!"
Moldavite curled up into a ball, tears running down his eyes. The group stared in shock. Garnet walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry about it. She is alright. She just… went into hibernation, that's all. Don't worry Moldavite, she is alright." She tried to comfort him.
Moldavite looked up, eyes wide and red.
"Don't worry," she said before Steven went over and hugged him.
"I didn't mean t-" Moldavite choked out.
"Shush. It's alright." Steven murmured.
"Okay, let's just get my machine and bubble her. Then we should be alright. She was planning to use my machine and the temple to power her web. She didn't know what she was doing, she could've opened a rift!" Pearl angrily muttered before Moldavite looked at what he was holding.
It was Pearls machine, with a timer. It was at 10 seconds. On it, a piece of paper read "Best Wishes from the master strategist, Azure."
"It's a bomb!" he yelled and chucked it up into the air. Everyone freaked out at the same time. Emerald draw he weapon as an instinct and people looked at the bomb in the air.
9
Moldavite stared in horror. Steven shouted about forming his bubble and people ran over.
8
Moldavite and Emerald store in shock before simultaneously making a bolt for Steven.
7
The quickly realised they were both stuck on the web. Moldavite reached into his gem, but Emerald threw his dagger at the web, cutting Moldavite legs free.
6
Moldavite stared at Emerald, who went to summon his weapon again while Moldavite ran towards Steven.
5
Emerald started to cut himself free.
4
He finally got free as the bomb landed between him and Steven. Steven had sweat pouring down him from worry.
3
"Steven, once it hits one, bubble. Alright?" Garnet told him. Steven nodded, his hands twitching.
2
Emerald started to run to the bubble.
1
The bubble closed around the group. The green gem on the outside hammered on the outside of the bubble, and Steven went to open it again before the machine exploded.
Emerald was ripped away at gale force, his tie flailing in the wind and his hand outstretch as he was sucked into the hole that appeared. Then, as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared, having taken its victim.
The bubble deformed and the group ran out to where Emerald had been. Moldavite, holding one of his daggers store in shock as it turned grey in his hands.
"Emerald!" he yelled, staring at the spot. Steven had tears in his eyes while Moldavite was full out bawling. The rest of the group had horror in their eyes.
Emerald was gone.
Hey guys! Thankyou so much much for reading my story. If you have found any grammer mistakes message me or write a review or anything. If you have any ideas for the characters or any enemies or anything I would love to hear them.
Again, thankyou!