Garnet zoomed towards the ground, her body spinning from the impact. She righted her self and without missing a beat, bounced back in to the path of the multi-eyed bird. Steven shielded his eyes, loosing creature as it flew in front of the sun, throwing billions of rainbows with it's crystalline wings. He let out an "Ooph!" As Amethyst tackled him, rolling out of the path of the thing's beak as it fell towards the earth.
"Try not to get killed OK?" She joked. She jumped up and slung her whip towards the stuck bird. It thrashed wildly trying to free it's razor sharp beak from the hard ground as Amethyst's weapon tightened around it's head. It lurched up and freed it's self, throwing it's head back and tossing Amethyst high in to the air. It flapped hard, blowing the other two Gems back while making it's way back in to the air.
Steven watched in awe as his friends fought the ferocious creature.
"Lion give me my sword so I can help." Steven instructed turning to the giant fuzzy beast. It stared at him blankly then laid down in a ball.
Steven pouted and turned his attention to his gem.
"Give me my shield?" He tapped it but nothing happened as usual.
He turned his head just as the bird landed next to him, throwing up a huge gust of wind that sent him flying. He landed hard and looked up to see Pearl jump on to it's back as it took off in to the air then turned to charge again.
" I'm ok!" He waved.
"Get Steven out of here Amethyst !" Pearl shouted over her shoulder, crouching low to stay balanced.
" No!" He whined, " I wanna stay and help!"
"Oh come on Pearl! What's the point of bringin' him if you're gonna send him home when things start getting good?" Amethyst pulled Steven out of the path of the charging bird and wrapped the whip around it's beak, letting the boy down before jumping back in to the action.
"I do not send him home every time!" Pearl argued, jumping up to the thing's neck.
"You really do though." Garnet said, clutching tightly to the bird's stomach. It flew about spastically trying to dislodge the Gems but froze solid as Garnet pushed her fist through its crystal coated belly,
"Garnet!" Pearl whined as she back flipped in to the air and landed gracefully. "I just want to make sure he stays safe!" She crossed her arms and stuck her nose up but changed her stance when Garnet put a firm hand on her shoulder.
Amethyst did a cartwheel and whooped loudly high-fiveing the smiling red Gem.
"Oh my gosh guys that was so cool!" Steven ran towards them with stars in his eyes as tiny glassy fragments rained down around them. He high-fived Amethyst then calmed down when he saw the sudden look of concern on the two taller Gem's faces.
"That's odd." Garnet said quietly, rubbing her forehead.
"What's wrong?" Steven asked.
Pearl shook her head silencing him and looked around.
Garnet pulled off her glasses as a look of pain crossed her usually expressionless face. Her third eye was going crazy.
"Where's the gem? We killed the thing right?" Amethyst got serious as she scooped up the tiny bits of star dust that littered the ground and looked up at her friends.
"That wasn't the main target." Pearl said quietly. The ground suddenly began to tremor and a boiling fissure opened near them. Garnet regained her composure and slid her glasses back on to place but Steven noticed a slight look of panic as lava began flowing up and out of the fissure.
"Get Steven out of here now!" Pearl said in a panicked tone. Garnet grabbed the small boy and dashed for the Telepad just as a wall of green fire shot up, stopping them in their tracks.
"Aloha my gems!"
Steven's eyes went wide as a tall green skinned Gem walked casually through the ring of fire surrounding them.