The transportation pad suddenly accepted a beam of light that came racing down towards it, and in the midst of the light formed four figures. A thin, and tall woman with a gigantic gem in her forehead walked off the pad and began to look quizzically at her surroundings. "My, this place is so much darker then it used to be... I thought that the incandescent orbs that hung from the ceiling would have still had at least another few centuries left to them before they dimmed down so terribly." Pearl held her forehead and gave a short groan, as she did a shorter, and more plump purple woman with wild long hair came up with a look of disinterest.
"Yeah, whatever. Let's just get the thing we came for." Amethyst yawned and headed on ahead, into the darkness ahead of her.
Pearl gave another groan and crossed her arms as she followed after Amethyst. "It should be somewhere near the center of the room. Just be careful of-" Pearl let out a gasp and ducked right as Amethyst came flying over her.
"Argh!" Amethyst then was caught by the tallest woman in the group, her hair was in a square Afro, and her thighs were large and powerfully built. Amethyst growled and jumped from Garnets hands and landed next to a chubby little boy in a pink shirt with a star. "Oh! Your gonna pay for that!"
Right as she said that a barrage of spears came flying out from the darkness. "No!" Pearl summoned a spear forth from her forehead and with a few quick spins and slashes she sent some of spears back.
As Pearl deflected as many of the spears as she could, Amethyst and Garnet too summoned there weapons too to deflect the flying spears. Garnet clenched her fists around her gems which turned into gauntlets, while Amethyst hit her chest and pulled out a whip.
Garnet and Amethyst jumped in front of Steven and quickly began punching and whipping at the coming spears. "What's going on?!" Steven shouted as he peeked around Garnet's leg, his eyes now becoming more adjusted to the darkness. He could see what looked like a large golem like creature with ten arms which each kept flinging spears from its back. "Wope!" Steven hid back behind Garnet as one of the spears passed through his hair.
"You two keep Steven safe! I'll try to distract it!" Pearl jumped up in the air dodging more spears and quickly ran through the barrage.
"Oh! What's she doing?" Steven again looked from Garnet's side, this time on the side closest to Amethyst who had slowed down her attacks on the spears to just an occasional flick of her wrist which sent the spears clattering to the ground and shattering into light.
Garnet scratched the side of her head, she herself holding one hand out in front of her deflecting only a few spears. "It got winded." Garnet didn't even have to stop the last few spears which clattered to the ground before they even reached them. There was a loud crash and a gust of wind that came and hit the group.
"Uh... that was weird." Amethyst glared off into the dark, over at a pile of what once was the golem. Pearl was looking down at it quietly, gently nudging it with her spear. "What's the deets P?!"
"Its power source just ran out. It looks like the overhead orbs aren't the only things running low on energy." Pearl came walking back over to the others, her arms crossed and her head pointed downwards. "I hope that the book hasn't gotten damaged or taken. The defense mechanisms here are in worse condition than we thought they would be."
"Wait, we're here for a book?" Steven came in between Garnet and Amethyst, who both looked down at him curiously. "Is this a magic library?!" Steven's eyes widened with stars twinkling in them. "Are there books with moving pictures that talk to you? Or do they have like some cool magic spells you can cast like turning a cat into two cats?"
Pearl blinked than looked over her shoulder. "Uh, not exactly. It is a magical storage space for books, but they are not meant to be taken out by anyone. In each of the books that line this place is a defense mechanism designed to keep intruders from coming in to steal the book in the center."
"Oh!" Steven nodded his head. understandingly "So its a magical reference library."
"What, no. None of the books are supposed to be read they're..." Pearl sighed and looked down dejectedly. "Fine... library." Walking over to one of the books that were scattered about the area Pearl picked it up and opened it to reveal designs for a robot. "It looks like they've all begun to loose their power. With their creators gone... they've all begun to fall apart."
"Which is why we need to hurry and get it." Garnet raised her hands unclenched, and her gauntlets disappeared with a few specks of light floating up to the ceiling.
"Well put Garnet." Pearl delicately folded her hands together and nodded with a content grin.
The four walked through the shelves of books, which Steven was finally able to see clearly, thanks to his eyes adjusting entirely to the dark. "So what's so special about this book?" Steven froze as his foot kicked against something. Looking down he saw an opened book with a mechanical arm hanging out of it limply. "Wah!" Steven jumped back and landed into Amethyst's arms.
Smirking at Steven she gave an amused scoff. "What, the disembodied arm freaked you out?"
"Yes. Yes it did." Steven look back down at the book, which Garnet grabbed and lifted up. As she did, the arm just swung back and forth powerlessly. "Is it... dead?"
"It didn't have enough energy to get out of the book." Garnet yanked on the arm and the book poofed into nothingness, as did the arm. "Let's keep going."
Amethyst nodded and dropped Steven to the ground with a thud.
"Ouch! Amethyst..." Steven looked up at Amethyst, giving her a serious glare.
Amethyst gave a mischievous snicker and tumbled mid air over Steven. She then walked on with the other gems. "What, did you want to me to carry you all through this mission?"
"Of course not, don't be... wait. You'd do that?" Steven got up and dusted his pants off.
"Uh, no." Amethyst looked back at Steven and waved him on to follow. "Pick up the pace dude."
Steven nodded and ran after the others.
The group finally came upon a large circular area in the room that had bronze colored patterns etched into the ground looking like the sun shining forth from a tall pedestal that lay in the center of the area. Steven stopped at the edge of this place, his face slowly looking up at the pedestal which had the designs of people all together supporting the pedestal. "Wow, is that where the book is supposed to be?"
Pearl gave a contemplative grunt and slowly walked over to the pedestal, her feet kicking aside some stray books about. Some of them were open revealing pages torn apart, while others were shut with fingers and other robotic body parts hanging out. "This can't be right... the book was supposed to be at the top of the bronze iron pedestal. What happened to it?"
Amethyst cracked her whip and flicked it like a grappling hook, making it attach around the pedestal. "Only one way to find out." Amethyst then ran up to the top of the pedestal. Upon reaching the top, she uncoiled her whip and began surveying the area.
"Do you see it Amethyst?!" Pearl cupped her hands over her mouth in shock as she saw a gigantic segmented tail suddenly descend from the ceiling and hit Amethyst, sending her flying across the library with her wailing the whole way till there was a loud thud.
"Steven, hide back into the aisles!" Garnet turned her hands back into gauntlets and she launched herself at the ceiling hitting whatever it was that was up there. Steven quickly hid, but stayed close enough to watch what was going to happen.
There was a loud angry mechanical screech after Garnet punched whatever was up there and a gigantic robotic snake came falling from the ceiling. As it bent its body, Steven could see inside the robot a legion of other robot parts like arms bending with the snake's movements. Turning its head to Garnet, who landed on the other side of the room, it hissed and struck at her.
"It cannibalized the others to keep itself going!" Pearl shouted as she took out a spear from her forehead and launched it at the snake's eye making it recoil and let out an anguished shriek. "Its impressive that its so self sufficient, but its gone rogue now!" She back flipped away and was next to Garnet when she stopped. The two looked up at the snake as it leered down at them, opening its mouth wide to reveal revolving spikes in its throat. With another hiss it began to lunge at the prepared gems, when the sound of loud footsteps could be heard. The snake stopped and slowly looked down one of the aisles.
At first a sound came in softly, the sound of someone shouting, but it quickly grew louder and louder till a purple blur zoomed out of the the aisles. Amethyst rammed into the snake and sent it careening into one of the shelves, making it begin to domino around the library.
"Wow, that was awesome Amethyst!" Steven's eyes shimmered, but he then quickly lost his enthusiasm when he noticed that the shelves were all falling over and heading over to him. "Uh oh..." Steven launched himself out of his aisle right as it collapsed. On his stomach, Steven looked up at the snake that was wobbling about disoriented as Garnet leapt at its face, bashing it in making it look like a crushed can. The snake wobbled about a bit more before collapsing to floor, its body still thrashing about as the robotic parts inside of it kept whirring and trying to figure out what just went wrong.
"Oh Steven, are you all right?" Pearl ran over to Steven and helped him off the ground. "Amethyst!" Pearl turned her head to the purple gem and tightly hugged Steven who let out a soft gag. "You could have gotten Steven killed! What were you thinking?!"
"Hey, he's fine and we got the snake guy down for the count. Just drop it would ya?"
"Its okay Pearl, I'm fine." Steven looked up to Pearl, as he held onto her arms which were still holding him tightly. "So... what should we do about the book thingy?"
"Good question..." Pearl crossed her arms and looked contemplatively at the ground. Garnet slowly walked over to the still lashing snake and, after a jump into the air, came crashing down snapping it in two. It gave one last jerk, before halting movement forever. "If, someone, didn't wreck the library, it would be easier to search this place for the book!"
Amethyst rolled her eyes and transformed into a mouse. "Got it covered P." Amethyst then ran under the toppled over shelves and disappeared.
Groaning, Pearl began to rub the bridge of her nose. Garnet came over and looked around the destroyed library. Bending down, Garnet lifted up a fallen shelf, and with a gentle nudge she sent all the bookcases jolting up. After wobbling back and forth for a bit, the bookcases were back in their normal position.
"Show off!" Amethyst shouted down one of the aisles, leaving Garnet to just smirk and walk into another aisle.
"I'll be searching with Amethyst. Pearl, Steven, stay here. We don't know what else is out here." Garnet calmly walked on into an aisle, leaving Pearl and Steven in the center of the library.
Pearl glanced over her shoulder and grimaced as she looked at the snake. "This is so strange..." Pearl held Steven's hand and the two walked over to the snake. "Did this sentinel hide the book?"
"Maybe it ate it?" Steven look into the middle of the snake where Garnet had broken it in two. His face went pale as he looked in and slowly walked away. "I think I'll look around the circle area a bit more."
Pearl raised an eyebrow and walked over to where Steven had been looking. "Oh. That... is not pleasant... at least we know why there aren't many other robots in here." Pearl grimaced and held her head. "You may be right about it eating the book Steven... Stay here and if you need help call me. Pearl carefully maneuvered her legs into the snake and disappeared in it to begin her search.
Steven nodded his head and sat down at the base of the pedestal, which for some reason was still standing. "Got ya." Steven looked up to the ceiling where he saw a series of support beams, large enough to let the snake slither around over head. "Wonder how this place looked when its lights were still working?" Leaning back a bit more, there was a click and the pedestal suddenly toppled over. Steven's eyes widen, and looking behind himself he watched as the pedestal fell with a thud.
"Ow!" came an echoing reply.
Cringing Steven shouted out,"Sorry Amethyst!"
"It's good!" came her response.
Pearl peeked out of the snake and her mouth dropped. "Steven! What happened?!" Running over to him she looked down at where the pedestal used to be, her face growing calmer. "What... is that stairs?" Where the pedestal once was, laid an opening to a spiral staircase. " Garnet! Amethyst! Steven found something!"
The four stared down at the stairs quietly for a time, but Steven began to look at the others then back to the stairs then back to the others. "So... are we going to go down these stairs?"
"Darn tootin'! Amethyst pounded a fist into her palm and began to run down the stairs.
"How much more to this place is there?" Pearl walked calmly down the stair, a hand raised to her cheek.
Garnet began to walk down the stairs, silent, and Steven quickly followed last. As they reached the bottom, the gems stared up at a giant sphere of energy and inside of it was a black and white book with a black gemstone the front of it and below it was a white gemstone.
"At last! We found Onyx!" Pearl smiled and clapped her hands together. "Let's find a way to deactivate the force fiel-"
Amethyst jumped into the energy sphere and grabbed at the book then, with a mid air tumble, propelled herself back out. Her body was smoking, but she smiled smuggled at Pearl who glared at her. "You're welcome." With a smarmy grin, Amethyst tossed Pearl the book and began to head up to the stair entrance.
Pearl growled and tightened her grip on the book. "Amethyst, can't you just once wait and listen to me?"
Steven and Garnet stared at the force field which began to pulsate. Steven looked over at Pearl and frowned,"Uh... Pearl?" Garnet lifted Steven up over her head, slowly backing away from the force field.
"For all you know it could have activated some last ditch protection for the book. We should have been more careful." Pearl stomped her foot and glowered at Amethyst.
Amethyst stood at the entrance to the stairs and scoffed as she crossed her arms. "Chill Pearl, its all gonna be fine. If it was a trap, I'm sure that it would have activated a long time ago."
The force field began to condense into a humanoid form, its head pointed to the ground. Garnet was still walking backward, Steven and her staring quietly at the force field creature. "Move." Garnet said coldly, then turned about and jolted up the stairs.
Amethyst looked past Pearl, who looked over her shoulder, and the two gems' eyes widened. "Move! Move! Move!" Pearl ran at Amethyst and began to push her up the stairs right as the force field creature sent a blast of energy at them crumbling the entrance apart.
Amethyst began to run her own legs, and soon was now able to run without Pearl pushing her. "What is with all these freaky booby traps?!" Looking over her shoulder, Amethyst saw the force field trickle through the cracks in the rubble and began to fly after her and Pearl. "Aw no!" Amethyst transformed into a cheetah and wrapped her tail around Pearl and began to run up the stairs.
"Aaaaa!" Pearl and Amethyst came shooting out of the stairs, and as the did, Garnet quickly slammed the pedestal back into place. And with a click there was a sound of something banging against it. The gems quietly looked down at the pedestal's base as the banging continued with the sound of electrical shocks. There were no cracks in the pedestal luckily, and the group all relaxed their shoulders and gave a sigh of relief.
Pearl than smacked Amethyst's tail off her, and as she did Amethyst changed back to her regular form. "This is why you need to listen! If you paid attention to me, that thing wouldn't have woken up and tried to kill us!"
Amethyst shrugged and nodded. "My bad."
Pearl bubbled the book and sent it flying back to the temple. "Well, its over for now. We need to come back here and finish this thing after we send Steven back. We can't leave it with the possibility of it breaking free and wreaking havoc."
"Aw common, I'm sure Steven'll be fine if he stays. If he could handle the snake, I'm sure he'll be fine with this..." Amethyst grew quiet as the ground began to vibrate. Light began to jut out from the pedestal and, in an instant it blew apart shooting a column of light upward. The light arced over and landed next to Pearl and condensed into the creature that was attacking them earlier. With a backhand swipe it sent Pearl flying through the air like the snake did to Amethyst.
"Aaaaaa!" Pearl wailed until there was a thud.
Amethyst took out her whip and slashed at the force field, only for it to pass through it. "Dang it..." Amethyst was then smacked and sent flying next.
The force field took on an aggressive stance, while Garnet just stared stoically at it. Steven looked with a look of horror as the creature lunged at him and Garnet. Lifting Steven up Garnet spun about, dodging the force field.
"Garnet, what should we..." Steven grew quiet as Garnet made a bubble around him, then again she spun about dodging the force field. Steven gasped and his eyes grew starry once more. "I get to get bubbled again?" Garnet bopped the bubble and Steven vorped away, screaming as he watched the world around him blur and fly away from him. Once he got back to the bubble chamber, Steven found himself amongst all the other bubbled gems. "Oh, hey guys. 'Sup?"
Steven moved about a bit in his bubble and looked over to see the centipeedle's bubble floating on the other side of the room. "Hey!" Steven grinned broadly and began wave, and then his bubble popped. "Wha? Not again! Whoa!" Steven then fell down to the ground and landed flat on stomach. "Ow..." moaning Steven rolled onto his back and began rubbing his chest. Looking up with a pained expression, Steven face began to grow curious as he looked at one of the bubbles above him. The book was levitating above him peacefully, gently bumping into one of the other gem bubbles as it floated about. "Wonder why we needed to get you?"