Hunt For Gemkind-Part 1
(Unfinished Business)
They faced off against impossible odds, endured a catastrophic amount of pain, even nearly ended up annihilated by an out-of-control friend of theirs, but the saviors of Earth, the Crystal Gems, fought alongside the other equally awesome saviors of Earth, Big Hero 6, and were able to pull off the impossible. At the end of their adventure together, both teams were able to fend off the Diamond Authority, the leading government of the Gem Homeworld, and as a bonus, the D.A. has reached an impossible decision, one a majority of them never thought would happen: they pull the plug on their planet controlling operations, and decide to try things the way Rose Quartz would have wanted, and that's explore other planets and turn them into an oasis for Gems without having to cause any damage to the planets themselves. To start off, most of the Diamond Authority, including Peridot and Jasper, are sent to Earth to help in taking care of many of the corrupt Gem monsters while also traveling to the far corners of the planet, scout out all of the Gem areas that could be repaired and serve as outposts and an oasis. Things are going pretty great as Steven and his team along with Big Hero 6 worked to change the course of history. But as the Crystal Gems return home from their latest mission, an ancient evil will rear its head, one that not only predates Gemkind itself, but also one that no Gem alone has ever defeated.
It's been a few months since what happened on the Gem Homeworld, and despite the new things going on, it was business as usual for the heroes of Beach City. The Crystal Gems were just warping back from their latest mission, which regarded a giant spider like Gem monster. Everyone was partially covered in bit of shiny orange spider webs, while Garnet had the bubbled gem in her hand.
"Ha ha! Did you guys see the look on Pearl's face when that spider stuck her to the wall with its web?!", shouted Amethyst as she jumped onto the couch, and Pearl shivered in disgust thinking back on that moment.
"I really don't want to think about that, please", said Pearl as she and the others cleaned the bits of spider web off of themselves.
"Well, at least she made up for getting you caught by ripping that thing's head off", said Lapis as she took a seat on one of the stools for the counter.
"Which resulted in an explosion that left us all covered in what was left of the creature's webs", said Pearl as she cleaned off the last of the spider's web and sat herself on the couch next to Amethyst.
"Big deal, we won, as usual", said Amethyst as she laid back on the couch, forcing Pearl to scoot over to the right a little, "We can just chill, P".
"Easy for you to say, some of that web got stuck in my hair! I was lucky enough to pull it out without losing any hair at all", said Pearl as she double checked her hair for any bits of spider web.
"Amethyst is right, the mission was a success. That's all that matters", said Garnet as she sent the bubbled gem to the burning room, while Steven takes a seat next to Pearl.
"Yeah Pearl, for a while, things seem to be looking up for us. It's like we're on top of the world", said Steven.
"All I'm saying, is that we should try not to grow over-confident", said Pearl.
"True, it's been smooth sailing for us now, even what happened back on Homeworld, but it's best to stay vigilant. You never know when we'll face an enemy we might not be able to beat, where there's a good chance we may not survive", said Garnet in her most cold stone tone ever, as this slightly unsettled the others.
"Uh, wow Garnet, thanks for that uplifting lecture, I guess", said Lapis, and then events are set into motion when the Gems are startled by some loud alarm, almost similar to that of the Wailing Stone. It's revealed, when Pearl reaches for her gem and summons some teal-colored orb the size of a baseball.
"Who could that be?!", shouted Pearl over the alarm.
"Who cares?! Just answer it! My head feels like it's gonna blow!", yelled Amethyst as she held the sides of her head.
"Not all over me you're not!", shouted Pearl.
"Just answer it!", shouted Lapis, followed by Pearl tapping the front of the orb, and in a few seconds it morphs into a little floating device as it leaves her hand and projects a life-size hologram of Peridot, the Gem technician doing her part in the operation on Earth, by setting up her own facility in the vast wilderness of Canada.
"Hello friends, am I interrupting something?", asked Peridot.
"No, but does the alarm on this darn thing have to be incredibly loud?!", demanded Amethyst, in which Peridot responded with a slight chuckle.
"Nice to see you as well, and yes, the alarm chosen for my flask communicator is the most efficient I could program", said Peridot.
"Hey Peridot, how are things in Canada?", asked Steven.
"Yeah, you all tight with your moose pals there? HA!", shouted Amethyst jokingly, and Peridot growled at that.
"I'd prefer you don't remind me of the ordeal I went through while I was originally stuck on this planet. And as for your question Steven, things have been going well for me here. From my base of operations, I can assist in finding other suitable areas for which we can convert into artificial sanctuaries for Gems, simply by sending out Robonoid Scouts out to a few places of interest that none of the others have noticed or discovered as of yet", said Peridot proudly while everyone but Amethyst was moved by this as she faked trying to die from boredom.
"Well, that's remarkable, Peridot, congratulations", said Pearl.
"Nice work", said Lapis.
"RAWWR", roared Lion.
Well done", said Garnet.
"Good job!", shouted Steven.
"Thank you, you're all too kind, really you are, but that's not the reason I'm calling", said Peridot as she used her right hand fingers to form her usual hexagon shaped touch screen and pulls something up for her to look over again, "I've detected something quite large entering Earth's atmosphere".
"Is it something from Homeworld?", asked Lapis.
"No, they would've notified me first since I'm the first and only Gem to set up a proper base of operations on Earth", said Peridot.
"Then what is it?", asked Pearl.
"I'm not sure, I've been trying to get a better reading of the object but it's frequency is extremely scrambled, which is unusual since my tech should be able to identify anything with ease", explained Peridot, "All I'm able to learn, is that the object is indeed a spacecraft, and it's rather massive, as massive as that city called San Fransokyo".
"That doesn't sound too good", said Steven.
"I don't understand why that has anything to do with us", said Lapis.
"Because the spacecraft, is now currently hovering over your location. In fact, given its size, it easily engulfs all of Beach City", said Peridot, which resulted in a nervous look on everyone else's face. Lapis then quickly runs over to the front window to get a look, but was confused to find the sky was as clear, sunny, and blue as usual.
"But, there's nothing out there", said Lapis, in which resulted into a jinx as the sky got a little shady when a minute goes by, and the others join Lapis at the front window and all of them are amazed yet shocked by what they were seeing, which was a giant, silver, and mostly round starship, easily engulfing all of Beach City and most of the surrounding area. It was WAY bigger than something like that Handship Peridot and Jasper rode to Earth in a while ago, and appeared capable of wiping out the whole city, even more than that.
"Annnnddd you jinxed us, nice one", said Amethyst mockingly.
"Not helping", said Lapis.
"It's… it's just remarkable! The cloaking mechanism for that vessel is well built so it can hover over any area completely unnoticed", said Pearl in awe, before realizing how this could be bad.
"Who's ship is that?", asked Steven.
"Can't be sure, it does seem familiar though", said Garnet as she adjusted her shades.
"Hmmm, the design of that ship looks familiar. Wait a moment please", said Peridot as she took a moment to use her screen to look up anything from Gem archives that could shine some light on this mystery ship. A couple of minutes later, she found something, "Yes, I've found records regarding the history of this ship! Now let me see…*gasps* Oh NO".
"Peridot, what's wrong?", asked Pearl nervously, as she and the others had to wait in anticipation for a whole minute before Peridot could say something again.
"We're most certainly doomed. That ship is property of…", Peridot was too stunned to finish that sentence, and before she could try to muster up the nerve, that's when the Gems all notice something coming from the bottom of the ship: some silver escort ship three times the size of a tank exiting the starship, and it flies down and lands at the far end of the beach, with the temple across from it. With the front of the escort ship facing the ocean, the back of the escort ship opens up, and stepping out of it, a thirteen foot tall humanoid looking robot. This robot seemed quite menacing, a paint job consisting of mostly silver and partly gray, red eyes with small white pupils, no nose, and a red light on the ear areas, knee caps, and hands, just above the feet, the bicep area of the arms, his arm shields, the base of the neck, chin and forehead. He had some weird double scar over his left eye, along with some eight-pointed golden star symbol with a red round mark in the middle just between his neck and right shoulder, but had three claw marks scratched on it. He was also wearing a bronze-yellow metallic sash, which seemed to be used to hold a total of six small items and each little spot was surrounded by two crescent moon shaped red lights, but one of the small spots seemed to hold what looked to be a dark orange gem in some energy field. At the first sight of him, already including Peridot, despite her not actually being there, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Lapis were paralyzed with fear while Lion softly growled. This left Steven worried for his family while also left a little confused about this whole thing.
"What's the matter? Who is that guy?", asked Steven.
"Steven, that's Deathwalker!", shouted Lapis.
"Deathwalker, is he a really big problem?", asked Steven.
"You three never told him about Deathwalker before?", asked Lapis, and this left Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl feeling a bit ashamed of themselves.
"We were hoping Deathwalker would be the one thing about Gem history we would NEVER have to share with Steven", said Pearl, this left Steven a little more curious about this robot.
"But, who is he?", asked Steven, and it took a minute for those three to say something themselves.
Deathwalker, an ancient and powerful robot, older than most of all the species in the universe, older than even Gemkind. His past is unknown, but it is known that even back then, he's been a bounty hunter, the greatest and most successful one at that", said Garnet.
"Dude's pulled off thousands of huge jobs, he's barely messed up. He'll do anything for money, if it means killing someone or stealing something that someone else wants, that kind of thing", said Amethyst.
"He's most well-known to many species by his title, the Gem Hunter", said Peridot.
"Gem Hunter?", asked Steven.
"Despite his respect for our culture, our skill, our power, Deathwalker sees Gems as nothing but trophies. He has an army of soldiers that look almost exactly like him, and dangerous weaponry as well. He hunts down Gems throughout the universe, damages them enough to make them retreat back into their gems, and put them in his special trophy case, built especially to keep those Gems from regenerating. A prison within a prison", said Pearl.
"That monster's hunted down hundreds of Gems, few were able to last a fight with him, fewer get to run away, and…none ever left that trophy case", said Lapis.
"It's with those specifications and such, that Deathwalker is without question the single greatest threat Gemkind has ever faced", said Peridot, and all this left an uneasy feeling for Steven.
"But, I just don't understand, why here, of all places in the universe would he come here?", asked Pearl, and it would seem she would shortly get her answer. As the Gems are caught up in their little history lesson, Deathwalker has been standing there observing his surroundings, and then he briefly turns his attention to the little city way behind the temple, and raises his right arm, pulling up a small red holographic screen.
"Computer, have the ship put up an energy barrier around Beach City, I don't want anyone from that place sticking their nose into my business", said Deathwalker in a steely calm voice.
"Command in progress. Command complete", said the computer in a polite female voice as the ship wasted no time quickly and discreetly putting up a lime green energy barrier around all of Beach City.
"Nice work", said Deathwalker before deactivating the screen and lowering his arm. That's when another robot steps out of the escort ship and approaches Deathwalker. The bot seems to be a foot shorter than Deathwalker, and came in a reverse color scheme opposite to its master, as it appeared mostly gray and partly silver, and where the red lights should be, including the eyes, are green.
"Sir, the signal jammer is active and fully operational. The satellites of this planet's military forces will be unable to detect our signal, therefore masking our whereabouts", said the soldier in a deep and emotionless metallic voice.
"Good job, that way no one's gonna know we were ever here", said Deathwalker.
"Do you require any assistance sir?", asked the soldier, then Deathwalker paused for a moment and stared at the temple, then pulls a smirk.
"No. No it's fine. I'll take it from here", said Deathwalker, and with that, the soldier salutes to its master and returns to the escort ship. Deathwalker then waits another moment before he takes a few steps forward and makes a loud demand.
"Rose Quartz! I know you're in there!", yelled Deathwalker, and this immediately catches the Gems attention since they spent that time talking about Deathwalker already.
"He's demanding Rose? He probably doesn't know what happened to her. He believes Rose is still alive", said Pearl.
"What does he want with Rose?", asked Amethyst.
"Obviously, like all others, he wants her gem", said Garnet.
"But, the gem belongs to Steven now", said Lapis as all eyes briefly turned to the gem on Steven's belly, the gem of his mother Rose Quartz.
"Exactly", said Garnet grimly, and this left everyone worried for Steven before they turned their attention back to looking at Deathwalker through the window.
"You thought, for a single moment, that I'd forget our little meeting thirteen years ago?! Well you REALLY thought wrong!", yelled Deathwalker while remaining where he stands. This bit of news shocks the Gems greatly.
"Rose faced that monster before, without our knowing?!", shouted Pearl without being too loud so Deathwalker doesn't hear them.
"Yet another secret she kept from us", said Garnet.
My mom fought Deathwalker?", asked Steven.
"It would seem so, and from the sound of it, she's no doubt one of the very few Gems who've ever got away from Deathwalker", said Garnet, which made Steven even more uneasy, then they turn their attention back to the Gem Hunter's demand.
"I gotta say, this planet doesn't look like it's changed much since my last visit! That's good, some of the best things in this universe are better left mostly the way they are!", yelled Deathwalker, "But back to the matter at hand: luckily, I've been able to get myself six months off until another job comes up, so that meant more than enough free time to come back to this beautiful planet, and finish what I started thirteen years ago!"
"That jerk loves the sound of his own voice", said Amethyst, which resulted in a brief glare from the others indicating that this isn't the time for playing around.
"Now I don't wanna take up any more of your time, so listen up! You're gonna come on out and give yourself up to me, or I'll make my way over to that quaint town over there and tear it apart until you do, your choice!", yelled Deathwalker, "Believe me when I was being honest on that day, I actually like this planet, and I'd hate to lay any devastation to it! But as a bounty hunter, and the Gem Hunter, I have a reputation where I'll destroy anything or anyone to get what I want, without hesitation! Whether it's money, or in this case, Gems!"
"No, destroy the town? He wouldn't", said Lapis nervously.
"He would", said Garnet grimly.
"You have fifteen minutes to come out of there! Don't, keep me waiting!", yelled Deathwalker before he turns around, walks over to the small waves of water, and just starts tossing rocks out far into the water, making the time go by in a simple manner. The Gems were in a tight situation, since they have fifteen minutes to figure out what to do before Deathwalker starts tearing Beach City apart piece by piece.
"We're dead! We're SO DEAD!", shouted Amethyst.
"Peridot, can you contact any of the other Gems for help?", asked Garnet.
"Not without alerting Deathwalker, he'll no doubt be having his ship monitoring any communications around the planet. We should be fortunate he's not monitoring this transmission between myself and you all. However, my scans reveal Jasper is closest to my location, exploring a part of Canada known as Ontario Lake. I'll notify her and help warp her over to your location as soon as possible, Peridot out", said Peridot before her life size hologram vanishes and the floating flask communicator shoots straight back into Pearl's gem.
"Even with Jasper's help, we don't stand a chance against that monster", said Lapis.
But if we don't do something, he'll destroy the town", said Pearl.
"We're just gonna get creamed!", shouted Amethyst.
"The people of Beach City come first, you all know that", said Garnet, those four spent a few minutes arguing over how to handle the situation, while Steven used this time to think to himself, and made a very important decision.
"Guys! Listen for a second!", shouted Steven, and the others were able to stop to give him the attention he needed, "I've decided that, since he wants my mom's gem, I should go outside and talk to him", and this made the other Gems very surprised.
"Are you nuts?!", shouted Amethyst.
"You can't go out there with him waiting! If he finds out you have Rose's gem, he won't hesitate to kill you just to get it, and we still don't know if you can regenerate like the rest of us!", shouted Pearl.
"But guys-!", Steven was cut off there when Lapis grabs him by the shoulders and turns him around to face her.
"Steven listen, please don't go through with this, you know what we told you what we know about him. If he kills you, even if you can regenerate like us, he'll take you back to his trophy case, and you'll be stuck inside your gem forever! And once he's hunted a Gem, they're never seen or heard from again", said Lapis before she gives Steven a brief but tight hug then looks him in the eye again, "We just don't want to lose you, and never see you again", said Lapis, and this made Steven more worried for a moment, but he knew if he does this, he might not see his family and friends ever again, yet he knew something else that's painstakingly true.
"I don't want to be taken away from you guys either. This is my home, and you're all my family. But…if my mom were here, she'd do the same thing, just keep her family and home safe", said Steven, followed by a moment of silence before Garnet said something herself.
"That she would, Steven, that she would. Go on out there, and do what you can", said Garnet, and Steven nodded in agreement before the others said something themselves.
"Don't go and get yourself killed, dude", said Amethyst.
"Your mother would definitely be proud of this decision you've made", said Pearl.
"Please be careful, I don't want to lose the friend who got me out of that mirror a while ago", said Lapis before Steven gave each of them a big and brief hug, and just before he went out the door, he was stopped by Lion.
"You stay here you big goofball, and here's a hug for you too. Wish me luck", said Steven as he hugged Lion and went out the door. The other Gems and Lion were watching in anticipation as Steven made his way over to Deathwalker, who was too focused on throwing rocks out into the ocean. Deathwalker had just tossed another rock when something caught his attention.
"Hello there, mind if I join you?", asked Steven as he looked up to the mechanical hunter that easily towered over him. Deathwalker said nothing for a minute as he was mostly puzzled by the fact that a human approached him and completely calm about it, and a kid especially. The others could see everything, but were having a hard time hearing what was going on since there's no yelling involved, like when Deathwalker first made his demands.
"You guys hear anything?", asked Amethyst.
"Barely, but we can't get close without letting him know about us", said Lapis. That's when the warp pad briefly illuminated, and there appeared Peridot with Jasper in tow.
"Well, is it really HIM out there?", asked Jasper in her usual grumpy attitude as she and Peridot walked over to the others.
"That's him alright", said Peridot as she, Jasper and the others turned their attention back to what's going on outside, and Jasper leaned in closer to get a better view, and the actual sight of Deathwalker made her growl.
"The Gem Hunter himself. Here, of all places. I've been wanting to face him myself for a long time. It's time to make him answer for hunting our kind like wild animals", said Jasper as she cracked her knuckles and tried to make her way out the door until she was stopped by Lapis.
"You can't go out there, he's with Steven!", shouted Lapis before Jasper looked again and saw Steven with the Gem Hunter indeed.
"What's he doing out there with that maniac?", asked Jasper furiously.
"He's trying to talk to Deathwalker, reasoning with him at best", said Pearl.
"That tin man CAN'T be reasoned with, especially when it comes to hunting Gems. You all know this!", shouted Jasper.
"We do, but we just have to trust him on this", said Pearl.
"It'd help if we could hear what they're saying from here", said Amethyst.
"Agreed", said Garnet.
"I believe I have the proper solution", said Peridot as she uses her left hand fingers to form another hexagon touch screen and begins doing a little work, and once finished, she aims the screen at Steven and Deathwalker, and from their position in the house, the others can actually listen in on the conversation between the two. And just in time as well, Deathwalker finally says something to Steven.
"Get lost, kid, I'm waiting for someone", said Deathwalker as he throws another rock.
"You're looking for Rose Quartz, right?", asked Steven, and this catches Deathwalker's interest for a split second before he just gets back to throwing rocks.
"Hmmm, it's no surprise you know Quartz, she's no doubt the kind of person to make friends in a place like Beach City, especially a kid", said Deathwalker.
"Mind if I join you?", asked Steven again, probably expecting another rude response from the Gem Hunter, but quite the opposite.
"Sure, why not? She's still got eight minutes", said Deathwalker as he and Steven take turns throwing rocks, seeing who can throw them the farthest. They've been going at it for a minute, until Deathwalker broke the silence.
"Hey kid, seeing as how you're friends with Quartz, would she by any chance by actually hiding out in that town of yours?", asked Deathwalker as Steven tossed another rock before him, "If she is, think you could do me a favor and run back into town for a minute and get her to come over here? After I have the barrier dropped for a moment, that is. Otherwise, in seven minutes, you won't have a town to run back to anymore".
"Why do you need to see her?", asked Steven.
"Well not that it has anything to do with you, kid, but let's just say she and I have a score to settle. So not that I'm not enjoying having some company here with me, but I'd really appreciate it if she'd show her face already", said Deathwalker, and Steven hesitated at first, but manages to say something else.
"Well that's gonna be tricky", said Steven.
"If you say she's not here, don't bother, I already know she's here. That's why I'm waiting for her to show up", said Deathwalker.
"That's not it. You see, she's here, but she's not here", said Steven.
"Is this a riddle? I hate riddles, and clowns. Even riddles about clowns", said Deathwalker as he tossed yet another rock, that's when Steven thought of something.
"Here's the thing: to show you what I mean, I need you to throw a rock high into the air and as far as you can", said Steven, and something like that confuses Deathwalker a bit.
"What, you're gonna hit it with another rock, is that it?", asked Deathwalker.
"Just trust me on this", said Steven with a little smirk, and for a moment, Deathwalker does nothing until he chuckles a bit.
"*chuckles* I like you kid, and since you've kept me company, I'll humor you", said Deathwalker with a little smirk as well as he readies another rock, and tosses it as far out and as high as he can, which is pretty something. That's when a pink shield flies out of nowhere and obliterates the rock before flying back to where it was thrown from, and Deathwalker was a bit surprised since his eyes were mostly wide open. He follows the shield and is really surprised to see it return to Steven, and this surprises the others as well, since Steven basically revealed he's a Gem, especially that he has the power of Rose Quartz.
"What was that idiot thinking?!", demanded Jasper.
"We're really dead now", said Amethyst, and that's when they focus back on Steven and Deathwalker, more worried than ever now that Steven's revealed his Gem power to Deathwalker, who's taking a moment to process what's going on here.
"That shield. That symbol", said Deathwalker, studying the shield before Steven briefly pulls up his shirt slightly to reveal his gem, really surprising Deathwalker, "You have the powers of Rose Quartz".
"Pretty cool, right? I told you I had something to show you", said Steven, and in a minute, Deathwalker changes from surprised back to casual calm as he puts a smirk back on his face.
"So you did, kid, so you did. You got a name?", asked Deathwalker.
"My name is Steven", said Steven as he and Deathwalker actually shake hands.
"Well, Steven, nice to meet you, and nice use of that power there. I'm easily guessing that Rose married someone and had a kid, namely you, but had to give up her physical form in order to do and instead is now a part of you, so that makes you half Gem, half human", said Deathwalker, and this startles Steven a bit.
"How do you know about that with my mom?", asked Steven.
"I don't, but I had a feeling that it wouldn't be long before the universe would have its first Gem hybrid. I'm even a little surprised that humanity turned out to be the first species to ever produce a Gem hybrid, not that humanity is useless, I just didn't expect that", said Deathwalker.
"I can use my other powers too, like shapeshifting!", shouted Steven as he instantly morphed into a big rocking chair, "Want to take a seat?"
"I'll stand, thanks kid", said Deathwalker as Steven morphed back into his regular form, "Since you're half Gem, meaning that you know your culture, I take it you know well who I am".
"Yeah, you're Deathwalker", said Steven.
"Then you know why I'm here", said Deathwalker.
"Yeah, for my gem, my mom's gem", said Steven.
"Let me tell you something kid, before I got here, I was really looking forward to facing off with your mom again for two reasons. The first reason obviously, is her gem. Her gem would be the crown jewel of my collection, and I'm looking forward to seeing that gem in my trophy case", said Deathwalker, "The second reason, is to get some payback".
"Payback? From my mom? But why?", asked Steven.
"Let me answer that question with a question: where do you think I got THIS?", asked Deathwalker as he knelt down close to Steven and tapped at the double scar over his left eye. It wasn't hard for Steven to figure out the answer.
"My mom did that?", asked Steven.
"That's right kiddo", said Deathwalker as he got back up, "You see, your mom was the first Gem to give me a tough time, the first to dish out a good beating on me, the first to make me use all my tricks to bring her down, and the first to leave any actual damage to me at all", continued Deathwalker, that info made the others in the house look at each other in surprise, just as surprised as Steven was.
"Rose did that to him? That must've been really painful for him", said Pearl.
"Who cares? That metallic moron had it coming, serves him right for hunting us down", said Jasper.
"Quiet, they're still going on", said Garnet as she and the others focused back on the conversation.
"Sorry that happened to you, but you could probably just try to fix that up if you could", said Steven, this made Deathwalker trace the double scar with his fingers for a moment.
"I could, but I wanna leave it as a reminder that I'll never let ANY OTHER Gem try to pull a move like that again, otherwise things will get worse for them, much worse", said Deathwalker grimly, this made Steven a bit uncomfortable, but then Deathwalker goes back to his steely cam voice, "Now let me ask you something else Steven: when are the others gonna come out and play?", this surprises the others, that Deathwalker knows about them as well.
"What others?", asked Steven, trying to keep Deathwalker from finding out about the others.
"Don't play dumb with me, kid, I know there are other Gems in that house/temple of yours", said Deathwalker as the red light on his forehead projected a map of Beach City, and then it focuses on their current position, with markings that represent himself, Steven and six other signatures, "My scans tell me that including you, there are six other Gem signatures in this area, three of them happen to be the same signatures I found when I paid my first visit to Earth on that day. We got the Rose Quartz gem, that's your gem now, along with, Peridot, Lapis Lazuli, Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, and Jasper. Quite the haul, I'd say", explained Deathwalker before he switched off the holo-map as this revelation sent chills to the others but Jasper, who was just much more furious about something like this.
"He knows about us", said Lapis with fright, as she's shaking uncontrollably, as if she were in the freezing cold.
"I don't care what he knows, he's getting smashed", said Jasper through gritted teeth, but then Garnet was able to keep her from causing trouble.
"We don't act, until the situation calls for it", said Garnet, and Jasper reluctantly agrees, then they turn back to the conversation.
"Look, you came back here to finally get my mom's gem, but leave the others out of it, please", said Steven, but Deathwalker didn't seem to budge.
"Sorry kid, but I'm the Gem Hunter, stumbling upon seven Gems and leaving with only one, despite that ONE being the crown jewel of my collection, that's just not how I roll", said Deathwalker as he turned around to look at the water, and Steven was a bit upset Deathwalker wouldn't leave the other Gems out of this, "Now, let me ask you one more thing Steven: have you truly unlocked ALL of your Gem powers?", asked Deathwalker, Steven was reluctant, but he felt it best to answer.
"Everything…everything but one power, I still don't know if I can regenerate in my Gem when I'm killed, since I'm a hybrid and all", said Steven, and things got quiet for a moment after that, until this.
"No idea if you can regenerate or not, huh? Interesting, really interesting. Maybe…I can help you out with that", said Deathwalker with a smirk as he quickly spun and tries to land a fast right punch on Steven, only for Steven to summon his shield in time to block the attack. His shield holds well, but the attack was so hard and intense, that it sounded like a single extremely loud ring of a church bell, and Steven was struggling to fight off the ear-splitting noise while fending off that punch from Deathwalker at the same time.
"Well, you're smarter than you let on kid, but even dumber than you look", said Death walker as he landed punch after punch at Steven while he fends off the attack with his trusty shield. Deathwalker finally stops, but Steven quickly notices that Deathwalker punched at him hard enough to force him into the sand, leaving his legs buried deep beneath the sand, leaving him stuck. Steven dematerialized his shield and struggled to free his legs from beneath the sand, but then he stops and looks up at Deathwalker, with that smirk still in place. That's when the Gem Hunter slowly has his right arm shield extend into a long blade that almost touched the ground, "Don't worry kid, I'll make this quick", said Deathwalker as he raised his right arm high and prepared to strike down. Steven was so stunned, he did nothing, too stunned to either summon his shield again or free his legs, and just before Deathwalker made his move, he and Steven heard a voice of fury coming from the house. It was Jasper, charging in like a mad rhino as she summoned her crash helmet and charged straight at Deathwalker.
"DEATHWALKER!", yelled Jasper with great rage as she closed the distance between herself and Deathwalker, but the Gem Hunter simply stood there with that smirk still in place as his arm blade shrinks back into the arm shield and then the three separate red lights on his right arm glowed brightly. Jasper finally gets close enough and leaps at Deathwalker, only for the Gem Hunter to stand there and quickly sticks his right arm all the way out and holds Jasper back with a red force of energy. Jasper furiously struggled to get past that force of energy while still in mid-air, and Steven used this as his chance to free his legs so he can help out, "You worthless piece of shrapnel! I'll make you pay for hunting us Gems like we're just a bunch of trophies!", yelled Jasper, while Deathwalker chuckled in response as he was unmoved by that threat, not one bit.
"Maybe someday, kid, but not today", said Deathwalker as he used that force of energy to send Jasper flying backwards and skidded on the ground, "Ha, kid's alright, she's a real firecracker, just like a bunch of other Gems I hunted. But a few hundred years in my trophy case outta dampen her fuse".
"Leave her alone!", shouted Steven as he finally freed his legs, summoned his shield AND sword, leaped up to Deathwalker and attempts a slash. Instead, Deathwalker quickly blocks that attack with his left arm shield, and as Steven struggles to really force his sword through, Deathwalker effortlessly swings his left arm out, sending Steven flying in the opposite direction, luckily Steven lands on his feet just in time and readies himself for another attack.
"Not bad kid, let's see what else you got", said Deathwalker as her stands there waiting for Steven to attempt another reckless move, until Jasper makes it first as she charges at Deathwalker again, but the Gem Hunter just quickly pulls a strong left backhand and knocks Jasper a couple of feet behind Steven, where Jasper quickly gets back on her feet as she and Steven ready themselves to fight the Gem Hunter. Deathwalker then briefly opens up a small rectangle shaped slide-open cartridge, one of twelve in total, on the right side of his lower torso and pulls out a silver and gray device that looks like a little pyramid, and tosses it on the ground a few feet in front of him and it opens up with four flaps spreading out and nothing happens. Steven and Jasper are a little confused, Deathwalker throws a strange device and the ground for them and still has that smirk on his face, yet nothing's happening.
"Uh, should something be happening right now?", asked Steven.
"Who cares?! Strike now!", yelled Jasper as she leaped for Deathwalker again and with Steven following her lead, but as those two got close to Deathwalker, the device he threw out quickly shoots out two beams of energy at Jasper and Steven, catching them each by the leg as they were just a couple inches away from Deathwalker's face, and kept smiling as the device swings Steven and Jasper around like they're on one of those spinning Funland rides, before it reels them in and has them sitting on the ground, back to back, tied up in red energy.
"Like it? This little marvel has the capability to entrap up to five targets, should they get too close, like what you kids just did", said Deathwalker as he walks over to his two little prisoners, who were struggling to break free from the energy ropes.
"This thing won't hold us back forever!", shouted Jasper before Deathwalker extends his right arm shield into a long blade once again.
"I don't think we have forever", said Steven as Deathwalker readies his blade once again, but that's when a mighty roar is heard, which results in his smile fading away, where Deathwalker quickly notices a sonic attack coming right for him, in which he counters by spinning right and piercing the sand with his right blade as the shield part blocks and absorbs the attack with ease. Deathwalker then turns his gaze into that direction, and sees Pearl, Garnet, Lapis and Amethyst with their weapons in tow, and in front of them he sees Lion, the one responsible for the sonic attack, and Deathwalker then pulls his blade from the sand, shrinks it back into the regular arm shield again, and stands right back up to better look at the others. He must have a grudge with Lion as well, since the look in his eyes filled with hate as he thought something to himself.
Unbelievable, it's that obnoxious cat. Should've figured the boy would've inherited it along with that gem. Time to get even with the tuna lover over there.
"Let our friends go and then leave this place!", demanded Pearl, but Deathwalker was more focused on something else at the moment, something furry.
"Get that worthless furball out of here", demanded Deathwalker in a furious tone.
"What does Lion have anything to do with this?", asked Lapis.
"I'll tell you why, kid: that stupid cat is the reason I wasn't able to get that gem from Rose Quartz all those years ago. Sent me flying with his fancy sonic roar, and blew my chance to get that gem. Because of THAT, I had to wait another thirteen years until I got some free time and come back to finish what I started", said Deathwalker.
"Get him, Lion!", shouted Steven from behind, and Lion heeds his friend/master's command as he dashed toward Deathwalker, claws out, and pounced. However, Deathwalker grabbed Lion by both paws, looked him right in the eye with so much fury, knocks him out with a strong head-butt, and tosses Lion out into the ocean as far as possible.
"THAT'S payback for meddling in my business you dumb pussycat!", yelled Deathwalker.
"Lion!", shouted Steven as his cat buddy was flying straight into the ocean, before Lapis uses her hydro-kinesis power to form a giant water hand and catches him and quickly bring him back to shore. Garnet runs over and checks on him.
"He's fine, just out cold. Gems! Ready yourselves!", shouted Garnet as she ran up to place herself in front of the others, and got ready to face off with Deathwalker, who then returns to his calm manner, seeing as how hurting Lion the way he did left him satisfied.
"*chuckles* Alright, go on and come at me with everything you got, it's time for some fun", said Deathwalker as Garnet makes a run for Deathwalker, who runs right at her as well. As they get close, Garnet is at full speed as she makes a right punch, but Deathwalker quickly dodges, spins and pulls a strong left backhand right in Garnet's face, enough to break her shades while making her flip upside down and left in mid-air past Deathwalker long enough for the Gem Hunter to execute a strong right kick that sends Garnet flying and knocks her against the escort ship, and falls to the sand unconscious. The others were absolutely stunned yet terrified of what they've seen of Deathwalker so far, and that's just the beginning.
"Garnet!", shouted the others in unison.
"You're dead!", shouted Amethyst as she ignited her whip, spun and has it unleash a horizontal purple energy wave at Deathwalker, while the Gem Hunter simply side-steps to the left, as the energy wave barely misses Jasper and Steven, while leaving a mark in the sand, past the escort ship.
"Watch it!", shouted Jasper, as she and Steven still struggled to escape their restraints. Pearl then takes her turn by charging up her spear to fire her projectile beams, while Deathwalker seems to be prepared for that as the red lights on both his arms light up, and he calmly starts walking over to Pearl, Amethyst and Lapis.
"Take this!", shouted Pearl as she fire two projectile beams with her spear at her target, while Deathwalker simply raises his right hand and deflects one beam with an energy barrier and directs it to the ground, and the same when he uses his left hand for the second beam. Both Amethyst and Pearl were terrified of how Deathwalker easily dealt with each of their best attacks. His smile then turns into a wicked grin when Deathwalker starts to have his hands glow in red energy, and dashes straight at those two, grabbing Pearl on his left by the head and tosses her behind him, and the same with Amethyst on his right, then stops in his tracks and looks behind to admire his handy work, as Pearl and Amethyst were standing there covered in that red energy, which seemed really painful as it fades away before they fall to the ground unconscious, and then he goes back to his usual smile and keeps walking. Lapis was next, the distance between he and Deathwalker was fairly big, but she still felt very scared as she looked Deathwalker right in the eye. Yet she knew she had to try to muster up enough courage to help her family.
"No one does that to my friends", said Lapis firmly as she readied her double bladed bow, summoned an exploding arrow, draws it back, aims at Deathwalker, and fires. The arrow flies at great speeds at it hits Deathwalker below the sash, but he just stands there as he pulls the arrow out of the small hole it left in his armor with his right arm and tosses it to his far left just before it explodes. Lapis was now shaking in fear, extremely terrified as she stood there, while Deathwalker stood there himself and chuckled. Deathwalker then makes his move when his raises his rights arm with a clenched fist close to his face, with the red lights glowing bright again, with that smile still there on his face.
"My turn", said Deathwalker as he quickly unleashed a blast of energy from his right hand fingers at Lapis. Lapis is put through great pain as she's surrounded by a field of red energy, much like with Pearl and Amethyst, while Steven and Jasper watch in horror, and Lapis even yells in pain as well. This goes on for almost a minute before Deathwalker stops at last and the field of energy fades away, followed by Lapis losing consciousness and falling to the ground.
"Lapis!", shouted Steven.
"He's even more powerful than the legend says he'd be", said Jasper in awe, but then snaps out of it and once again focuses on the jam she and Steven are in at the moment, "But enough of that, come on and keep trying! We're no good for the others if we're stuck together because of this stupid gizmo!"
"But we've tried as hard as we could, this thing's just too strong", said Steven, before he and Jasper noticed Deathwalker now making his way back to them. That's when Garnet, conscious again and with her gauntlets in tow and without her shades, leaps at Deathwalker for another attack, but the Gem Hunter simply side-steps, grabs her by the leg as she passes by, and tosses her into the ground close to the water. Deathwalker walks over to Garnet, who gets back on her feet as she's staring right at him with those three eyes of hers, filled with anger and determination, and throws another punch at Deathwalker, who simply blocks it off with one of his arm shields, then does it again when Garnet throws another punch, and so on. That's when Peridot comes running out of the house, past Lapis, Pearl, Lion and Amethyst, all of whom still knocked out, and towards Steven and Jasper, and reaches them at last.
"What were you doing? Running a diagnostic on you precious robonoids?!", demanded Jasper as Peridot knelt to the ground to better examine the device.
"Garnet suggested I wait until the right moment when I can assist in freeing you two from this unique contraption", said Peridot.
"You got this, you're a big time Gem tech wiz", said Steven in a confident manner to encourage Peridot while also showing he's got as much faith on his friends and family as they do for him.
"Easier said than done, Steven. This technology is extremely ancient, yet so advanced, a mind like myself would only be lucky enough to understand and master at least ten percent of it all. But let's give it a try", said Peridot as she makes use of a big enough gap to have one of her fingers from her left hand detach and connect with the device, followed by having the rest of her left hand fingers form a hexagon touch screen and begins to interface with the device.
Meanwhile, Garnet continued her desperate fight with Deathwalker as the Gem Hunter takes his time with her, blocking off every last one of her punches with his arm shields. Blocking off a few punches, Deathwalker lands a punch on Garnet himself, blocking off another couple of her attacks, he knees Garnet in the gut. Steven grew worried seeing Garnet struggling to win while taking such a beating. He also knows it won't be long before Deathwalker finishes with Garnet and sets his sights back on the others.
"Guys, we're running out of time. Garnet can't hold off Deathwalker for much longer", said Steven.
"Ya think? Come on, Peridot, hurry it up!", shouted Jasper.
"I'm trying, get off my back!", shouted Peridot as she struggled to hack this device. At last, she's had a breakthrough, sort of. Steven and Jasper notice the energy rope keeping them restrained weakens a bit, and try to get back up, but notice one little thing.
"You only managed to free our arms?!", shouted Jasper.
"I told you, this is much more difficult than it looks. I may need another ten minutes or so before I can completely render this device inactive", said Peridot as she kept on struggling with this matter, while Jasper just couldn't stand it any longer.
"That's it! You wanna stop something, you go straight for the source!", shouted Jasper as she turned and brought her left fist down on the device, much to Peridot's surprise, crushing it into little bits. At last, Steven and Jasper were free from that device.
"Sure, go ahead, might as well label every problem as solvable through hitting it", said Peridot in frustration as her touch screen reverts back into her left fingers and she stood up straight while Steven and Jasper got back on their feet. That's when those three notice Garnet slowly limping towards them, all bruised on most of her body and clutching her side while struggling to keep her eyes open.
"*groans*Guys…run", said Garnet before she fell to the ground unconscious, just a few feet away from them, and that's when Deathwalker walked up, just close to the fallen Gem warrior, without looking tired from that tussle at all.
"What a shame, she came close to landing a pretty sweet uppercut too. Anyway, who's next?", asked Deathwalker as Steven and Jasper summoned their own weapons while Peridot made her first move by sticking out her left arm and having her fingers form her hand blaster and fires a few blasts, only for Deathwalker to raise his right arm as the arm shield emits a wall of energy his size, easily absorbing the three shots. That's when Deathwalker quickly dismisses the barrier, and dashes at his targets with great speed, they didn't have time to react as Deathwalker right punched Peridot to his left, and quickly left spin kicks Steven and Jasper backwards. After skidding the sand, Steven and Jasper got back up, and with Deathwalker just standing here again with yet again another smile on his face as Steven and Jasper made a risky move.
"I've had enough of this metalhead, let's attack in full force!", yelled Jasper.
"Let's do it, for our friends!", shouted Steven as he and Jasper pounced at Deathwalker. Deathwalker plays the same stunt he did with Garnet, as Steven's shield and sword and Jasper's crash helmet rapidly clashed with Deathwalker's arm shields over and over again.
"Time's up", said Deathwalker as he uses an opening to allow him to quickly grab Steven and Jasper by the face and slams them both into the ground with great force, knocking them out, "And that's what happens when a Gem faces me", said Deathwalker, and a minute goes by when he looks around him and notices Peridot and Lion are missing, right before he spots a brief but strong light coming from the house, indicating that those two regained consciousness and warped away as he finished up with Steven and Jasper, "Well, clever move for a kid and a lousy cat", said Deathwalker. Then his look-alike soldier comes out of the escort ship and approaches him.
"Engage pursuit, sir?", asked the soldier, but Deathwalker stands there for a moment before he gave his answer.
"No, let them go, I'll find them anyway, along with all the others here on this planet", said Deathwalker with a smile as he looked toward the house.
"Understood sir. What would like me to do with the fallen Gem warriors?", asked the soldier, then Deathwalker looks at each one of the Gems, still unconscious from their brutal but brief fight with him. He could just vaporize them right away, take their gems and finally stick them in his infamous trophy case, but instead, he thinks of something else.
"Get some inhibitor collars on these kids, and help me get them inside the escort ship, we got ourselves some new prisoners. Oh, and when we get back onto the ship, have it switch off that barrier around Beach City, our business HERE is done", said Deathwalker.
"As you command, sir", said the soldier, and a few minutes later, the escort ship slowly makes its way back up to the main ship. While the soldier flies the vessel, Deathwalker stands behind looking out the windshield as they slowly approach the ship. Deathwalker turns around for a moment looking at his haul, the Crystal Gems, still unconscious, before turning his attention back to the main ship closing in. He stands there, with absolutely nothing going on with him, until this.
"This, is gonna be fun", said Deathwalker with a big grin on his face. And now, the Crystal Gems are prisoners of the mighty Gem Hunter. For them, terror has a name, and that name is Deathwalker.
Well, I hope you've all enjoyed this first chapter of this remarkable original Steven Universe story, while also serving as partly a crossover sequel to my first story, Interstellar War! Let me just say right now, while this is partly a crossover sequel, Big Hero 6 won't be making a comeback until later on in this story, which is four chapters long like the last one. And also, I hope you all enjoyed the first appearance of my Steven Universe original character, Deathwalker! I wanted to make a villain that was truly unique to the world of Steven Universe, and the answer to that was Deathwalker, the Gem Hunter. If you want to see the portrait of Deathwalker himself, and really learn more about him, you can take a look on my Tumblr blog dubbed "Awesome". Well, that's all for now, get ready to enjoy chapter two coming soon, and while it'll take place entirely on Deathwalker's ship, we'll also get to learn more about his first confrontation with Rose Quartz. Farewell!
-MarioDeleon59
P.S. When you picture this whole story in your head, I highly recommend having Deathwalker voiced by Troy Baker, trust me on this!:)
P.S.S Go check out this great song called "Hunt You Down" by The Hit House, this song really fits Deathwalker well!