Prologue.
HomeWorld
Beginning of Era 2
The planet is dead, not dying, not just sick, it's dead and of course, they killed it. The top layer of the planet always gave the illusion of prosperity and stability. The colorful and smooth buildings where these creatures will walk in and out of always amazed the eyes, and the largest white, humanoid shaped building at the centre always impressed. If anything could describe this place, it would be orderly.
However, the hidden areas where no one enjoys seeing shows the true state of the planet. Here one will find canyons, endless canyons where the once fertile soil is now the enemy to all organic life. Thousands and millions of holes can be found at every direction, most are orderly and only a few are chaotic. This is the place where new Gems are created, or at least were created. Thousands of years of careless consumption killed the entire area, not a single Gem can be made from this dark area.
Yet, this place protects some of the darkest information of this planet, and the creatures that have killed it. Some of these creatures try to find the kind of knowledge hidden within the dark areas though the efforts are often futile.
"Peridot Facet-3F5L Cut-5XH," a large Quartz Gem would call out, "what's the condition of Facet 8?"
"Organic content has dropped another 12% and the nitrogen content is nonexistent at this point. The area is dead Biggs Jasper."
This particular Biggs Jasper wasn't as colorful as the others among her kind. The gemstone on her ear had various shades of reddish brown, sort of like different kinds of dirt hardened together. She was tall of course, an exceptionally masculine shape complete with the long white hair that's common among Jaspers.
"Of course it is. Just finish your checkup so we can get out of this depressing place."
A sigh of frustration passed through the Peridot's lips, this short and lemony green Gem didn't seem to enjoy doing the assignment. Every assignment would be the same, check on the nutrient content of Facet 4, or Facet 5, make sure the nutrient content of Facet 1 is accurate. These dead or dying kindergartens kept spawning weaker and weaker Gems, such as this Peridot.
"Question Jasper, its come to my attention that around this time the great Diamonds are especially silent and absent. Is there any significance around this time I don't have the information on?"
There was a sudden silence in the air, the once bickering Jasper simply looked at the fellow Gem as if she just cursed the White Diamond. The Jasper's face winkled just a bit while she clutched her fists.
"Just between you and me, this is the anniversary of a great lost to the Diamonds and our Empire." The Jasper simply responded to her, "No more information can be given."
The answer was satisfactory to the Peridot. These short discussions between the Period and the Jasper is frequent when they're alone, assuming the Jasper isn't yelling any orders.
"Hello, what's this?" Period suddenly questioned. She took a much closer look at a particular hole.
"What! Is there something I can punch! A runaway off color?" Jasper exclaimed while she looked at the hole.
"This hole is only just a couple of hours old, I suspect it belongs to an overcooked Gem." Peridot assumed, she proceeded to step into it for a closer look.
YELP!
The Peridot screamed as loudly as she possibly could. Just like that, she flew out of the hole and right unto the floor, still shivering from fear. That was it, Biggs Jasper reached for her gem and pulled out an axe, she looked towards the hole eagerly. There's something hiding in there, something she can definitely punch.
A blackened hand then appeared from the hole and grabbed unto the edge, then the other one did the same. Jasper gazed up at the newly created Gem as she held unto her axe tightly. The young Gem then stepped out of her hole, only to fall down unto the floor. She's humanoid just like very other gem but much more feminine compared to the Jasper.
"What kind of off color are you?" Jasper asked, stepping back just a bit.
The young gem didn't responded, rather she slowly picked herself up and looked around the area. She's just as tall as the Jasper, maybe just an inch taller. Her skin is a dark grayish and her hair; while it's the same texture as the Jasper, it's completely black. Her clothes were also black, she wore some sort of tutu with thick short sleeves. Right at her stomach, is the gem, black with just a few specks of pink, a diamond shape yet's its upside down.
"Peridot, what kind of Gem is that?"
"Not sure, her design doesn't seem to accurately match any of the gem kinds I know off." Peridot stood up to answer.
"Well, I'm going to punch her."
That's what Jasper intended to do. With the axe in her right hand, she rushed at the young Gem, proceeding to swing the weapon at her. The young Gem ducked to her left quite quickly then pushed Jasper away. She then ran away from the Warrior Gem, only to have Jasper going into a spin-ball and attack her from behind. The young Gem fell back, rolling just to the edge of the cliff by accident. Once she got up, she saw the spin-ball coming back at her, pushing her closer to the edge.
Jasper took her axe back from her ear, walking to the young Gems slowly. The moment Jasper swung her axe but the young Gem caught it with both hands. The two of struggled with raw strength, the Biggs Jasper tried to force her axe down while the youngling held it sturdy. Out of the two Gems, the youngling proved to be stronger, she kicked Jasper's leg then at the moment of her imbalance, she pushed her away.
Jasper wouldn't be pushed back so easily, she regained her balanced then swung the axe back at her. Luckily, the young Gem moved to her left, avoiding the axe but that luck quickly ran out. The force from the axe disturbed the entire cliff, the edges began to slip down unto the canyon below from the impact alone. With that, the bit of soil that supported the young Gem fell down into the canyon, taking her with them.
Jasper stepped back a bit further from the edge, watching the screaming Gem fall but she's not done, not yet. The gem grabbed into the earth and waited. The young Gem still screamed, her voice echoed in the canyon for a while until she stopped. Then, she waited just a bit hoping that the Jasper would walk away. Soon and surely, she did, after a couple of seconds of looking down, she concluded that the Gem has fallen.
"Oh, I was really hoping to beat her a little bit more," Jasper said, she sighed just a bit and continued to look down.
"She could be shattered from the impact of the fall alone," Peridot informed.
"So? I didn't know her," she proceeded to walk away from the edge, "let's go report what happened."
The two Gems decided to head right back to the city, their work was done in the dead kindergarten and the young Gem is presumed to be gone.
It took another twenty minutes before the young Gem was sure she was finally alone again. She punched holes unto the dirt and climbed right back to the edge of the cliff, and this time she moved away from the edge. Things were quiet again, not a disturbance except for the light, cool breeze that flowed through the area.
The Gem looked up for a bit, the pinkish sky seemed to be a direct opposition to the dead landscape. Interesting to see such a contrast between ugly and beauty. Then there were the tall, shiny buildings just ahead of her. What appeared to be the city seemed to be the most attractive, or perhaps the only attractive thing the planet actually has.
"I'm home?" she asked herself, realization of her own existence then came to her mind. "I'm reborn."
She then looked back for a moment having hearing a faint sound. Suddenly, cone shaped devices known as shattering robonoids came out from nowhere. They appeared to have a red eye at the circular side while being completely pointy at the other side. They scanned the young Gem, managing to read the particular gemstone on her stomach. Then, they fired a blueish laser right at the gem, she managed to jump to the side, avoiding the lazar but the blast forced her to hit against one of the larger boulders.
She moaned just a bit and looked right at the robonoids, there were at least five of them just above her, and more seemed to be hovering towards her from right around the corner. There's no where to run at this point, with these devices having her pinned down to the very wall. Each on of them scanned her gem once more, and her gem responded.
And from that, they charged up, one by one and fired.
