"Boss. I know you're trying to find out what happened to Little Bat, but you have to focus. Getting prepared for Big Boss's sons will take a lot more than a couple more soldiers and a few post captures. Look, I get it. He was almost like a son to you, considering that you've never had a chance to have a biological family, but we have to move on. That's why I formed the Dogs Alive squad, to find our missing soldiers across the globe a long time ago. You need to get back to progressing the Big Boss's plan and stop worrying about him.

It's what Little Bat would want you to do."

- Audio log from Kazuhira Miller

DIAMOND GEAR SOLID

EPISODE ONE

CHAPTER 1: THE REBELLION

Starring: "Little Bat" Cole, the Dangerous Defective Pearl, and Rose Quartz.

Enemy Combatants: Rebellion Soldiers.

"-and try to fulton me!" Cole finished. He blinked. Looking around, Cole noticed he was in a very large room with pink bubbles scattered around him. Inside those bubbles, he saw all manner of unidentifiable gemstones. The soldier sighed, sitting upright in his prison. At least it was sized big enough for him to be comfortable. Cole did a quick equipment check: five clips of assault rifle ammo, three clips of tranquilizer, a clip of lethal ammo, two magazines, four decoys, and several spare Parasite containers…

That were cracked and empty.

"Bylad!" Cole shouted. Not only is his Parasite suit nearly useless now, he may have released a biological pathogen onto the planet that could potentially wipe out all organic life! Guess it did get worse, huh?

"What was that?" a voice said.

The door opened. Cole quickly went limp. When in doubt and in a prison, play dead.

"What's this now?" the newcomer asked with quiet curiosity. Cole felt his bubble sink down towards the ground. He got a good look at the woman who lowered him. Her skin was a icy blue, and her long flowing hair a snowy white mixed with a few strands of black spikey hair. She wore a grey jumpsuit of sorts, with a blue star on her chest. Her forehead bore a blue and black gem. She was also average height, just a head shorter than Cole.

"Strange… did Rose bring us some sort of prototype robot?" she questioned, popping the bubble.

'Big mistake,' thought Cole. Before he could act on the woman's foolishness, however, a new figure entered the room.

"Oi! Snowflake!" the figure shouted. Her tone was much more chipper than the calmness of the blue gem, and had a slight English accent.

Snowflake sighed. "Yes, Crazy Lace?"

Crazy Lace smiled. Her gem was placed on her right thigh, and orange and brown mix. Her skin was orange, and she had short earth-brown hair that stood messily. She boasted some impressive legs along with some pretty toned muscles. Her outfit was pretty simplistic, a sleeveless karate gi with stars on the knees.

"Just wondering what you're doing~." Crazy Lace sang in that cheerful voice. She looked at Cole, tilting her head. "What's that?"

"That's what I was trying to find out," Snowflake said cooly. She picked up Cole's assault rifle, looking down the barrel. "It must be important since Rose brought it here…"

Crazy Lace grabbed the gun out of Snowflake's hands excitedly. "Oh! What's this?"

'Did I remember to put the safety on?' Cole asked mentally as Crazy Lace's finger hovered over the trigger.

The orange gem released the magazine. Ammo clattered to the ground. Crazy Lace bent down to pick it up.

"Huh, what strange capsules. I wonder what they do-"

BANG!

Crazy Lace jumped as her finger squeezed the trigger, throwing the magazine in fright. The spent cartridge was ejected by the action. Snowflake picked up the brass, and glanced at the bullet hole in the wall. Then, she glared at Crazy Lace with a look that could kill.

"Sorry!" Crazy Lace apologized.

'Idiots…' Cole thought. He was already half-tempted to take them both down before they screw with the rest of his gear, but he doesn't quite know what these two are capable of. Maybe if he's able to reach the smoke grenade on his harness…

Snowflake looked back at Cole. Her eyes regarded him for a moment.

"Now, how do we turn thing thing on, I wonder?" she asked… a little too suggestively for the soldier's tastes. Cole had to fight the blush under his mask despite how useless it was. Stay focused!

"Maybe one of those pin-things powers it up?" Crazy Lace suggested, pointing at one of the few grenades.

'You could say that!' Cole thought. He couldn't tell if she was pointing at the hand grenades, or some of his non-lethals. Fifty-fifty chance… but he's got to commit.

Snowflake reached down to grab one of the pins.

"Flashbang," Cole heard a distorted whisper.

'What?'

The gem pulled the pin.

The safety lever flew off.

Cole closed his eyes. Nothing to lose now...

BANG!

"Gah!" he heard both gems scream.

Cole quickly shot up, his ears ringing. Not wanting to risk combat or even being detected, the soldier forced himself to leave his rifle behind. Making his way out the door, Cole found himself in a grand circular room, with pillars supporting large marble-like arches and. In the middle of the room was a light blue platform that stood less than a foot off the ground, surrounded by grey boxes. There were five doors lined up all around the room, each entryway has a different colored emblem on the door. He tried to push open a door.

Locked.

Cole tried the door next to it.

Locked again.

He tried it again a third time.

Still locked.

Cole snapped his head around. The gems inside the room he came out of are probably re-orientated. They are probably going to be as friendly as that Pearl woman after that stunt...

"Perfect," Cole said, looking at one particular spot.


Crazy Lace was the first to regain her senses. She shook her head to try to get the white spots cleared from her vision. Rolling over to her left, she rubbed the spot where her leg held the vital rock.

"Ugh, my gem is killing me!" she groaned. Slowly, Crazy Lace sat upright. Turning towards her comrade, she gasped.

Snowflake's form was glitching, albeit in small burst. Her arms bent and fizzled in grotesque positions, so much that Snowflake gasped in Lace went to go help her friend, but Snowflake held out a hand.

"I'm fine," she said with a painful tone, "just give me a moment…"

Sure enough, the wild reactions faded. Stabilized, Snowflake stood on shaky feet. She stumbled forward. Crazy Lace rushed in to catch her.

"Thanks," Snowflake mumbled.

"Hey, no problem," Crazy Lace replied with a smile, putting Snowflake's arm around her shoulder, "gotta make a few friends sometime, you know?"

Snowflake averted her eyes from the orange gem. "Right…"

'Crikey, I done did it again,' Crazy Lace thought, 'Quick! Change the subject, now!'

"Oi, where's the gem-thingy?" Crazy Lace asked quickly, "Don't know what kind of gem it was…"

"Strange… unless it didn't poof?" Snowflake suggested.

"But that flash-"

"Was probably a distraction of sorts, perhaps some sort of experimental equipment."

Crazy Lace looked at Snowflake in shock. "You don't mean…?"

"I do," Snowflake replied. With her free hand, Snowflake pointed at the Wailing Stone. "Need to alert the rest of the gems. Rose should be back soon…"

"... So we need to hold out and keep the intruder inside before then!" Crazy Lace finished.

Carrying Snowflake, Crazy Lace helped her towards the communication device. Snowflake pushed away from Crazy Lace, insisting that she can walk on her own now. Pressing the button on top of the Stone, Crazy Lace took a deep breath. Hopefully someone's there…

"Yes?" the Stone answered, "This is Pearl."

"Pearl, we… might have a problem," Crazy Lace said.

"... Please tell me that you didn't bubble yourself again?" Pearl asked in a annoyed tone.

"No! It's urgent and-"

Snowflake stepped in. "A bubbled humanoid escaped. I thought it was some sort of training dummy."

Pearl audibly sighed. "Snowflake! You know you shouldn't unbubble anything inside the bubble room without Rose nearby!"

"Never seen a humanoid like this," Snowflake explained, "strange mask, grey skin."

A pause. Crazy Lace fidgeted. She knew what that silence would entail.

"What emblem did it have?" Pearl asked. Snowflake sensed that irritating, condescending tone.

"Not sure. Looked like a grey pentagon in the shape of a diamond."

Now the long pause.

"Y-you're not mad at us, are you?" Crazy Lace stuttered.

Silence… then,

"Oh, I'm not mad at you," Pearl said with an audibly clenched jaw, "just find it before it escapes…"

"Got it!" Crazy Lace shouted, slamming the button down a little too quickly.

Both gems looked at each other. Snowflake shook her head with disappointment. Crazy Lace chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.

"We should start looking," Snowflake mused, "it couldn't have gotten far, seeing how most of the doors are gem-locked… but it could have gotten out via warp pad."

"Good thing I remembered to change the settings to only internal facilities, eh?"

"More like luckily…"

Crazy Lace gasped.

"How could you say something like that?" she asked, dramatically feining insult by turning her head away and putting her hand on her forehead, "Are you implying that I am but a careless, inadequate gem in the eyes of the universe?"

"Remember the Icepack incident?" Snowflake deadpanned.

"That was an accident!" Crazy Lace snapped, glaring at the gem.

"Then what about the self-bubbling?"

"But I was learning how to bubble a gem-"

"Yesterday? A ninety-year veteran?"

Crazy Lace snapped her jaw shut.

Both gems exited the bubble room. Snowflake investigated each shadowy spot one by one in a pattern, her gem light casting away the darkness in the poorly illuminated room. Her eyes scanned left to right whatever the light revealed with a professional inquisitiveness. A forever watchful white owl looking for its mouse in the snow with a cold glare.

Crazy Lace, on the other hand, hopped around randomly. Poking her head behind stacks of crates and lifting decrepit statues to see what's behind them, she grew bored of the search. Like a small child on Easter that may or may not have raided their older sibling's stache of energy drinks, she started to crash to a slow crawl. With her motivation gone, Crazy Lace needed to find something else to work on.

The warp pad hummed, then whistled as a bright light shot up from the platform. Pearl stood in the middle of the pad. She now had a pink top on, with the usual blue leggings and frilly skirt. Pearl's face, however, betrayed the grace and beauty of her outfit. A face that the duo sees a little too often.

"Please tell me you found that thing, Snowflake?" Pearl asked in a annoyed tone, stepping off the warp pad.

Snowflake shook her head. "No, Pearl. Strange enough, it seems the intruder has just… disappeared."

"Just great!" Pearl shouted, "First the botched raid, and now this! I swear, this keeps getting worse and worse!"

"What do you suggest we do?"

"First…" Pearl pointed at Crazy Lace. "You are going to take these supplies to the Forge. They are distracting and I can't focus on the task at hand with this mess!"

Crazy Lace saluted. She started to lift crates of materials on the platform. Better than dealing with "Salt Mode" Pearl, a nickname birthed from the rumor that Rose's Pearl was indeed made of salt when she was created.

"Suggestions, Pearl?" Snowflake asked.

Pearl sighed. "Only thing we can do is just scour the base for any signs of intruders, room by room."

Snowflake shook her head yet again. "Too time consuming if we do it together. Spit up, looking for doors that have been meddled with?"

"Sounds like a plan."

"Ugh! This one feels a little funny!" Crazy Lace called out, lifting a brown box up on the warp pad.

"Careful!" Pearl called out, "One of those crates could be the experimental metal we borrowed from the Cutter!"

Crazy Lace chuckled. "Borrowed, she says…"

Pearl rolled her eyes. Of course, Crazy Lace couldn't resist giving the second in command some criticism. "Borrowing" was the polite and proper noble's code for stealing a shipment of necessary materials to operate and expand a complete planetary revolution movement. Sure, they destroy priceless spires of Homeworld elites, but heaven forbid they impolitely steal!

Loading the last crate on the pad, Crazy Lace sighed. Pearl and Snowflake were off to find that intruder. Of course, not all was gloom. As the gem activated the warp pad, she was greeted with the smell of sulfuric gas, the sense of excitement-

Something grabbed Crazy's throat. Feeling her weight shift down, the gem found herself staring at a black knife blade pointed right below her collar.

"Let's get straight to the point," the ghost said, "You. Information. Now."

"... Are you interrogating me?" Crazy Lace asked innocently.

"Yes. Now, are you going answer my questions, or am I going to have to cut our talk short?"

"No…?"

"Good," it replied, "for starters, where are we right now?"

"The Forge."

"... I need a bit more specific information than that."

"What, do you need what planet you're on?"

Crazy Lace winced as the knife's edge dug into her body.

"Earth!" she called out, "Gem colony! Don't poof me! I'll never hear the end of it from her, and Pearl will double my training!"

"Her?" the ghost asked in confusion.

"Yeah, her!" Crazy Lace exclaimed, pointing her finger at the end of the pathway.

The figure was one of a much stockier build. Dressed in a blacksmith's apron with a dark blue star on her midriff, the gem's multi-colored dreadlocks flowed down to her shoulders. Her gem was as colorful as her hair, with its inverted pyramid-like structure in her chest. She tapped her boot, those large arms crossed. An eyebrow raised, the gem looked at the scene with annoyance mixed with curiosity.

"... Well," the ghost muttered, "looks like I done goofed."

"You think?" the large gem asked.

"Hi Bismuth!" Crazy Lace waved her free hand.

Bismuth shook her head. "Crazy Legs, quit screwing around and show me what you've been working on. I know you can get out of that easy."

'Oh, right!' she thought. Grabbing the hand with the knife, Crazy Lace rolled the arm down her chest. Shooting her legs up, the gem flipped over the ghost's head. Bringing its arm over its head, Crazy Lace planted her feet into the back of her attacker.

The ghost fell forward, face first into the dirt. It gasped in pain as its shoulder audibly cracked. Crazy Lace drove her knees into the spine, pinning the ghost onto the black, ashy gravel.

"Well, looks like you're right, Crazy," Bismuth said, kneeling down to look at the ghost's face, "grappling does work as well as strikes."

"Thanks! Though, looks like this one can't shapeshift!"

The ghost's breath was labored. Each breath it took sounded like a yelp of pain, wheezing in and out. Bismuth raised an eyebrow. Crazy Lace noticed the gem's confusion.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Get off this thing for a moment," Bismuth said.

Crazy Lace complied. Bismuth's hand shifted into a large hammer. She pointed it at the ghost.

"You're going to answer some questions, intruder," Bismuth threatened, "and if I do not find the answers to my question satisfactory, I will test my new weapons on you for years on end."

"Let me… fix arm," it said with a wavering tone.

The ghost rolled over, a small hiss vibrated through its mask. Sitting up, it grabbed its limp arm and threw it on its lap. The shoulder looked plain wrong, completely different than that of the left side. Lifting up the mask covering its mouth, the ghost reached into one of the smaller pockets on its leg. Crazy Lace watched carefully. Who knew what tricks this thing has up its sleeve?

The ghost pulled out a thick piece of leather. It raised the piece to its mouth, biting down hard on the processed animal hide. Then, it rotated its limp arm with the only working limb the ghost has. A tense silence had Crazy deaf, the pause the ghost took was one of bracing.

Crack-Pop!

A muted scream startled both gems. The ghost slowly moved its arm, winding it forward and backwards.

"Looks like you're not a normal gem if you got limbs to break," Bismuth said.

"What makes you think I'm a gem?" the ghost hissed. It flexed its hand into a fist, then relaxed.

"I'm the one asking the questions here," Bismuth reminded the ghost, "What are you?"

"Human," it replied.

"Liar!" she snapped back, "Then what is that gem on your shoulder?"

"You mean the diamonds?"

Instantly, both gems' eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. Bismuth's hammer shifted back into a normal hand, then leaned forward, looking at the gemstones on the emblem. Crazy Lace had to slap herself twice to get her jaw shut. The ghost glanced between the two, backing away slightly from Bismuth.

"Did I say something offensive?"

Bismuth just shook her head, backing away. "No, just a little surprising. I take that back, you are human, albeit a strangely-skinned one…"

"This is just a uniform. Trust me, I look different than this," the human said, peeling off the strange grey cloth and black mask that covered its face.

After a long silence, Crazy Lace commented on the revelation.

"You're right, it's even weirder."


"What do you mean?" Cole asked. 'She better not be a smartass right now.'

"I dunno, you just look… weird," she replied.

Cole sighed. "Just give me a damned mirror, then!"

To his surprise, the large one reached into her glowing gem, and pulled out a handheld mirror. When will these gems ever not surprise him? Cole grabbed the mirror out of Bismuth's hands.

He froze.

"No…"

Cole stood up, his gaze fixated on the mirror.

The skin was deathly pale, his face was splotched with spots of grey. His left eye glowed a dull turquoise. Veins were as black as night. His hair, gone.

"No!"

Cole chucked the mirror at the rock wall, narrowly missing the orange gem.

"Wha-what's is the big idea here?!" Bismuth demanded with worry.

"I'm one of them!" Cole shouted madly, "I'm one of them!"

"One of who?" Bismuth asked again, grabbing his shoulders.

His vision started to blacken. Cole's mind couldn't take it much longer.

"Skull…" he muttered, just before darkness enveloped his vision.