Toxic Relations
Our story begins with a man stuck behind a jewelry store counter, looking bored out of his mind. He knew why he took the job, it paid okay and occasionally a pretty girl walked in, but why did it have to be so boring? He spent 8 hours every day stuck behind a counter with no real way of keeping himself preoccupied in between the stretches of nothing happening. He heaved a sigh right as the bell above the front door jingled. The man's head jerked towards the sound, seeing a tall, green skinned woman with short black hair and yellow eyes standing in the doorway, a look of determination on her face.
"Yes?" He asked with a bored tone, stepping from behind the counter. The woman took a deep breath, smoothing out her dark green dress shirt and black vest.
"Excuse me, sir. I'm trying to find a nice gemstone for an anniversary present." She apologized, scratching the back of her neck, a sound like fingernails sliding over marble being heard before pointing towards a glass cube on a pedestal that sat in the middle of the store. "What about that one? The one in the box?"
"The owners say that it's been there since the 40s and that it's not to be removed from the case. Sorry miss." He replied, pepping up a bit. She approached the cube, seeing an average sized black gemstone on a blue cushion. She scowled, noticing the man was approaching her. "So, miss, is there anything else I can help you with? Perhaps a different gem?" She didn't respond. Instead she grabbed him by the back of his head and began slamming it into the glass.
"No! This! One! Is! Fine!" She yelled, a new word coming out every time his face hit the glass. After the last word, his face broke the container. She threw him aside and grabbed the gem from its prison. "You disgust me. Why would you keep my date under glass?" She attempted to spit on the now unconscious man, but nothing came out. "... No matter. She's free now. And now she's going to help me change, everything."
A green flash filled the store for only a moment. She set the gem down, and a green light began to glow as gem began to take form, becoming a large, muscle-bound, black skinned behemoth with her black pupils surrounded by bright green rings.
"My name is Uranium. You answer to me now." She stated confidently. "State your name and former purpose."
"Flint. Front line Quartz soldier." The new form replied with a deep, gravelly voice.
"Okay. Good. I've still got it." Uranium said with a nod before hearing the man let out a low groan of immense pain. "Oh walk it off! I've seen humans bounce back from worse!" She rolled her eyes as she walked over to the door. "Well come on Flint, we have a job to do."
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"... Eyewitness reports say that they say a green skinned woman walk in, and leave with a large woman with black skin not too far behind. The man who was attacked is currently in critical condition, but is expected to survive. From Channel 6 News, I'm-" Steven sat in front of his TV, watching the local news with Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl sitting around him. He turned it off, not sure what to make of the situation the news lady had just given him.
"This is not good." Pearl muttered before turning to Steven. "Steven, we're going to need you to head out to the barn and bring Lapis and Peridot back here." She continued with a nervous smile, "If this was done by who we think it is-"
"And it is." Garnet added.
"- then they might be in danger." Pearl finished, glaring at the fusion for a moment. The boy nodded before looking at Amethyst, seeing if she had anything to add.
"Why're you looking at me?" Amethyst asked. "I don't know who they're talking about." Steven nodded before running to the Warp Pad.
"Okay! See you guys!" He yelled, preparing to warp to the barn before Pearl shouted "Wait!".
"Amethyst, go with Steven." Pearl ordered. "He'll be safer that way." The purple Gem obnoxiously "hmmm"ed for a moment before replying. "Yeah, sure, whatever." She quickly joined the boy on the warp-pad.
"Okay! Now I'll see you guys later." He said before the two of them disappeared.
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Meanwhile, at the barn, Lapis and Peridot were sitting in a truck bed embedded in the altered barn they called home, doing what they normally do; binge-watching Camp Pining-Hearts for the 90th time. The binge-watching was going normally, Lapis was watching the hammy teen actors with a bored yet amused expression while Peridot watched with eager anticipation. The blue skinned Gem didn't understand how her tiny green roommate kept her enjoyment of the series so fresh, but whatever kept her happy was fine by her. She looked down at the pool beneath them, smiling at her own reflection as she saw the water ripple. She looked up, then around, then up even more, then towards the horizon before noticing two figures approaching them.
"Hey Peridot? Could you put that on pause?" She asked, floating down to the ground. She heard the green Gem groan then start tapping her foot impatiently. It didn't take long for the two to be within shouting distance. "Hey! Who are you two!?" She yelled. She didn't get a response, instead one of the things in the distance began to rush towards her. She instinctively formed a large wall of water in front of her which the Gem crashed into and stopped, though it looked like it was still trying to claw her way towards the blue Gem. She took a moment to look at her opponent as said opponent struggled to move forward. As she got a better angle, the Gem looked normal enough; black skin, long gray hair, black eyes, black tuxedo with green dress shirt and black bow tie. The only weird part about her was that her both of her black eyes were surrounded by green rings. "That's, weird." She muttered as the water wall beginning to ripple. The Gem inside was done waiting. It let out a loud yell, finally getting through the wall and grabbing Lapis by the neck. She squirmed in resistance."Peridot! Help!" She yelled to the truck bed above the two.
A loud screech resembling a battle cry was heard as Peridot leapt from above, wielding a large stick with both hands. She landed on the black Gem's shoulders and began wailing on the back of her head with the stick. "Let her go!" She yelled. Lapis was released, only for Peridot to be grabbed and thrown in the direction of the other figure.
Peridot landed with a thud in front of a different green Gem, and groaned as she got back up. "Oh. A Peridot. And you're not corrupted. Lucky me." The green Gem extended a hand. Peridot slapped it away.
"I'm not stupid." She replied, getting up. "Now call the Quartz off!" She readied her stick.
"She has a name you know. Her name is Flint, and mine is Uranium."
"Wait. Why are you telling me this?"
"Because my dear, you'll be saying our names a lot in a little while." Uranium grinned smugly.
"Over my regenerated body." She growled.
"Well that is the point." As she said this, she was cut off by a medium sized stick striking her in the jaw. Not with a lot of force, but just enough to catch her off guard. "You little ****. I was retorting!" Another smack across the face. "Alright brat. Time to put you back in your place." She turned towards her Quartz. "Flint! I need the Peridot pummeled!" She got no response besides the sound of two Gems struggling to beat each other out. "Oh dear. I'm on my own for this." Peridot grinned maliciously.
Steven and Amethyst looked around as he stepped off the Warp Pad. "Lapis!? Peridot!? Hello!?" Steven yelled. It was at that moment they felt the ground shake beneath him. They started running for the barn, arriving to see Lapis on the ground, having failed in fending off a Jasper-sized Gem and Peridot beating on another Gem with a stick. "What?" He muttered to himself, watching Peridot wail on the Gem. "Amethyst, go help Peridot. I'll help Lapis."
"Right." Amethyst nodded, before running over to Peridot. "Hey Peri, how's it goin'?"
"Fine." Peridot replied, still whacking Uranium with her stick. The conversation ended as the purple Gem watched her friend continue whacking the green form beneath them, a dull "Ow" accompanying every strike.
Meanwhile, Steven had caught the attention of Flint, who was now trying to beat his pink shield down to beat him down. "Lapis! A little help here!?" He asked, seeing that the Gem in question was still picking herself up. She groaned before noticing the boy's situation.
"Hang on!" She yelled, forming a water hand around the distracted Quartz. She proceeded to squirm, trying to break free. "What should I do with her?!"
"Uh, throw her!" Steven said, getting back on his feet. Without a second thought, the black Gem was chucked away from the two, and the two shared a sigh of relief. Lapis then realized where she was going to land.
"Oh no." She sighed, gripping the bridge of her nose.
"What? What's wrong?" He asked.
Meanwhile, Peridot had gone from whacking to poking Uranium with her stick, the latter having curled up in the fetal position. Amethyst was still watching intently. Then, all of a sudden, a deep, but unmistakably female war cry was heard from above them. "Do you hear that?" Peridot asked. The two looked up, seeing an oncoming Flint falling straight at them.
"I've got this." Amethyst said with a confident smile as she summoned a whip and tried whipping the oncoming Quartz. While it did make contact, it didn't leave a mark as the black Quartz grabbed the end and yanked on it, bringing her purple sister of sorts to her. Flint kept screaming as she punched Amethyst back to the ground. She hit the Earth with a loud thud, barely drowned out by the cry of the other Quartz. She groaned, trying to get up, right before Flint's fist made contact with her, causing her form to implode back into the Gem.
"Amethyst!" Peridot yelled, rushing over to her poofed friend, which was now in Flint's hands. The worker struck the black behemoth with the stick, but she didn't flinch. Instead she squatted the green Gem away from her and walked to her master. Lapis and Steven rushed over to her.
"Peridot! Are you okay?" Steven asked as he helped her up. Peridot didn't answer, as all she could do was stare at the clod that had slapped her aside. She watched as the Flint gave the purple gem to Uranium, who had gotten up by that point.
"Ow! Ow. Everything hurts." Uranium whined, hunching over as Flint handed her the gem. "And, I'm over it." She stood up straight, seeing two Gems staring at her in disgust and Steven staring in shock.
"Let her go!" Steven demand, raising his shield. The shield caught her off guard.
"Wait a minute. Rose? Rose Quartz!?" She said, grinning slightly. "Woo boy, the years have not been kind to you."
"You, knew my mom?" He asked, lowering his shield slightly.
"Well, no. Not personally anyways." She said, shaking her head, feeling Amethyst try to reform. She quickly clasped her hands around the gem. "Heard a lot about you though. You sound like the humanitarian type. Not a fan of that."
"Oh great. It's gonna be Jasper all over again." He told himself, irritation in his tone as his shield fell. He approached the radioactive Gem, and arm outstretched. "Now please. Let her go, and everyone can leave. No one else has to get hurt." He placed a hand on her arm, and felt a burning sensation go through his hand. He pulled it back with a loud "Ow!"
"Seems that the years have also made you soft. Shame really." She said, turning to Flint. "And on that note, I'd say we should take our leave. Flint." She began walking away, now struggling to keep Amethyst contained with the Quartz following behind. They stepped onto the Warp-Pad and turned back to the three. "Ta-ta." And with that the two of them were gone. Silence filled the area as Steven and Peridot looked at Lapis.
"Why didn't you do anything?" The technician asked, looking and sounding furious.
"Would've taken to long to get the water over here." Lapis said, pointing to the tiny puddle that was the pool next to the barn.
"... Fair enough." Was all she said back as Steven headed towards the Warp-Pad.
"Can you two come with me?" He asked. "I don't want you to get taken like, Amethyst." He looked at his feet, kicking a small pebble off of the pad. The two nodded before joining him and warping back to the Temple.
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The three appeared back at the Temple, met by the worried gazes of Pearl and maybe Garnet. No one could tell with her blank face and her concealed eyes. "You two, uh, make yourself at home." Steven said. Peridot almost immediately ran for the bathroom and locked herself inside while Lapis walked calmly outside. "Well, some things never change, I guess."
"Steven, where's Amethyst?" Pearl asked, looking around the room.
"Well, um… She was... "
"Captured?" Garnet asked.
"Yeah." He replied with a sigh. "Yeah she was." He sat down, his head in his hands.
"Don't worry Steven. We'll get her back." The fusion said, leaning her visor down to show her winking with her 3rd eye.
"I guess you're right." He replied with a small laugh as he got back up.
"Besides. There's a corrupted Gem in need of bubbling on the other side of the country." Garnet continued. "After all of this, we'd prefer having you with us. Right Pearl?" The pale Gem nodded vigorously as both her and her cube-haired counterpart stepped onto the Warp-Pad. He quickly joined them, and in a bright flash, they were gone.
Peridot, still in the bathroom, heaved a small sigh. "They're gone." She didn't know why, but she didn't feel comfortable in the Temple with the 4, or 3 in this case, of them around. She slammed against the door and slid down it. "Why? Why did it have to be her?" She asked herself. She sulked for a few moments before hearing the Warp-Pad activate again. "They're back already?" She poked her head out of the door just in time to see Amethyst enter the Temple's main door. "What is she doing?" The purple Gem quickly returned to the Warp-Pad, two pink bubbles hovering over her hand. "Amethyst!" The green Gem shouted. Amethyst's head instantly snapped towards the former. Peridot took a moment to look over the purple Gem's new appearance; everything was the same (short stature, long white hair, purple skin, tiny gray boots, etc.), but her torso was now clad a green tank top, her legs were covered by black leggings and her normal purple eyes now had a ring of green surrounding them."Why do you have those?" No response. "Where are you taking them?" Still nothing, instead she moved towards the former technician. "What are you doing?"
"She did say no loose ends." She muttered, letting one of the bubbles float up to the ceiling before summoning a whip.
"Wait!" Peridot yelled, trying to run but was quickly cut short. She had just lost feeling in her legs. She looked down, seeing that she had been severed at the waist. "Oh." Both halves of her body poofed and Peridot's Gem hit the ground. Amethyst reached for her prize, but she hesitated. She sat down next to the Gem, thinking, before finally saying "Stay safe you clod", grabbing the bubble from the ceiling and warping out of the Temple.
Steven, Garnet and Pearl returned home a few hours later, and all had been put in a better mood after the hunt. "Took you three long enough." Peridot told them with a harsh tone, sitting on the couch and staring at the opposite wall. It was fairly obvious that she had been poofed and reformed, with her now star-shaped hair and former sleeveless green uniform replaced with bright green coveralls with a yellow star both the back, the upper arms of both sleeves and a tiny one on her right breast.
"New look huh?" Steven asked, sitting next to Peridot as the other two entered the Temple's Burning Room. "When'd you find the time?"
"Just a minute Steven." She replied peacefully, closing her eyes as the sound of Pearl screaming echoed from behind the temple door. "There it is."
"Steven! There are bubbles missing!" Pearl yelled, poking her head out of the door while looking clearly freaked out.
"Wait, which bubbles?" Steven asked, entering the Burning Room.
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"Oh it was a good idea bringing you on board." Uranium said as Amethyst handed off the bubbles to her. With Peridot and Lapis out of the way, she had decided to take over the barn as a temporary base. "Now then, let's see what's in bubble number one." She dug her fingers into the orb before hesitating. "Flint, be a dear and be ready to poof this one if it gets out of control." Flint gave a small nod, assuming an aggressive position. The bright green Gem ripped the bubble open and grabbed the gem inside; a small orange kite shaped that looked more like a gem shard more than anything else. "Alright, let's see what you are." She covered the gem with both of her hands as a small green light escaped from the cracks in the temporary prison. She set the gem down and stood back, a light starting to fill the surrounding area. "She's coming back. Everybody act natural."
When the Gem had taken shape, it looked like a beast. An orange beast, speckled with teal. Her hair was long, white and unruly with a lot of it draped over her shoulders and two dark teal horns jutting out from the side of her head. Her body was a mix of orange and teal, covered in teal spikes, and possessed proportions more suited to a gorilla than a warrior. The beast looked down on Uranium, the lack of green rings around her irises filling the leader with worry. She was quickly grabbed and pulled towards it.
"Flint. Don't do anything until I tell you to. I'm gonna have to win her over. " She said, now face to face with the monster.
"Who, are, you?" It asked, struggling to say the words.
"My name is Uranium. What's yours?"
"Jas, per."
"I think I remember hearing about you. Before all, this, happened." She flicked one of the semi-corrupted Gem's horns. "You were quite the fighter if the rumors were true, despite where you started. You were one of the lucky ones. You got to leave once the war turned stale. When the Diamonds thought this rock wasn't worth the trouble." The beast set her down, a quiet hiss echoing through the barn. "And then you came back. You got stranded here. And Homeworld doesn't do anything to help you." She looked at her face, seeing Jasper in thought, the gears slowly moving in her head. She was getting through. She smiled to herself before moving closer. "I want to stop that. No Gem should be put through, this." She flicked the horn again. "So please, join me. We can stop all of this."
"How?" Jasper asked simply.
"We take back this planet. Make it what it was supposed to be. Then we move onto the Diamonds. Destroy them. Start a new chapter for Gem-kind. And make sure another Earth doesn't happen. So, will you join our little group of hopeful misfits?"
The beast smiled, walking over to Flint before taking a seat. "I'll take that as a yes. Now, let's see what's in bubble number 2." She dug her fingers into the bubble, yet again tearing it open, but this time she couldn't catch it in time. "Shoot. Cursed butter fingers." She hissed, watching it begin to take shape. "Wait, I think I know this one." A familiar rainbow haired, grey-skinned blacksmith took shape, panting as she looked at her hands.
"I'm out? I'm out!" Bismuth exclaimed before looking around to her company. "Oh great. Homeworlders. And I bet you want to shatter me. Well, get it over with."
"We're not going to shatter you." Uranium said bluntly.
"Why?" She asked, now looking Uranium in the eye.
"Well, it appears we have a similar enemy now."
"Wait, you Homeworlders want the Diamonds shattered? Why?"
"The answer is quite simple really. They left us all on a rock they had abandoned, and corrupted those who couldn't leave. Very few were spared. I was one of the lucky ones, and from the looks of things, so were you."
"They shattered my friends, and corrupted their own?"
"Yeah, that's the long and short of it." The green Gem replied. "But it doesn't have to be this way. What's done is done, but it doesn't have to be like this. We can shatter the Diamonds, succeed where they failed, start a new age for gem-kind." She offered a hand to the blacksmith. "What do you say?" Bismuth thought for a moment before grabbing her hand.
"You've got yourself a deal." She replied, shaking Uranium's hand. "Now, where do we start?"