Hey guys! This is officially the first chapter of The Devouring Sins. I put quite a lot of time in this chapter, which is kinda suprising. I mean, I thought it was gonna be a small chapter, but then I decided to make things a little bit interesting. When I finished I didn't believe that it was that long, but I guess that's what happens when you get yourself carried away.
I promise that the next ones won't take as much time as this one.
Hope you enjoy reading it!
Chapter One: Monster Hunter
Beach City-a small town located on the the eastern part of the USA,not so far from Empire City. It is a seemingly normal tourist town with its incredible beaches and warm weather. Because of this the townsfolk are having businesses that revolve around attracting more tourists in hopes to provide their services or sell their products. Even though it isn't as popular as Miami or Los Angeles it still attracted enough tourists to keep the town in a financial stability. It is also a place to settle down for people from the much bigger cities, who either got sick of their daily lives back home or just wanted a nice, peaceful life without any stress. Truly, Beach City lives up to its reputation of a queit town.
Well, almost.
"Heads up!" cried Amethyst while she used her whip to pull off a rock and throwing it at a giant gem monster. The creature hissed and swiped its massive tail, smashing the rock before it could even hit it.
"Ohhh man..." said Amethyst, cautiously backing away. The gem monster was slowly approaching her, ready to strike her prey. Amethyst was desperatly looking around for something to throw at it, but she didn't find anything. Then the monster roared and started to run towards her. The purple gem yelped, turning around and morphing into a ball, spinning as far away as possible.
"Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man!" was all she could think of to herself while still being chased. "This was such a bad idea! Going heads on, what was I thinking?! I should have listened to Pearl!"
The chase between her and the corrupted gem continued for about ten minutes, at one point Amethyst was even almost caught by the creature's claws. Suddenly a spear appeared out of nowhere and struck down the monster in its left shoulder. The monster roared in pain and stopped in its tracks, falling to the ground. Amethyst, after a couple of meters, also stopped. She was in a complete shock and before she could say anything, a slim figure appeared in the sky, briefly blocking the sunlight from Amethyst's eyes. The mysterious figure then landed right before her. When it rose up, she looked at Amethyst with a disapproval look on her face.
"Amethyst," said Pearl "you shouldn't have gone against this... thing all on your own! Honestly, what were you thinking you back there?" Pearl rubbed her eyes, already feeling exhausted from this mission.
"Wow, wow, wow," said Amethyst while getting back on her feet. "What's with all of this talk like I emerged from the Kindergarten just yesterday?! Just to let you know I was keeping things under control until YOU showed up!"
"Oh, but of course you were Amethyst," replied Pearl sarcastically. "Surely being chased by our main objective was part of YOUR plan to keep things under control, right?"
The short gem got angry at this reply. She hated it when Pearl was acting all smug and all knowing, thinking her way of approach is always the best one. Not only that, but she could also fell that there was a bit of a mockery in there as well. She pointed her finger at the much taller gem.
"Now listen here you lousy..."
Just as she was about to say her own fair share of insults another figure appeared in the sky, also blocking the sunlight for a brief moment. The figure then landed near the two bickering gems with what appeared to be a little boy in her left arm. He was smiling towards Amethyst and Pearl, although with a nervous expression. The figure put him down on the ground.
"Now is not the time for fighting," said Garnet. "We are on a mission, after all."
"But Garnet..." replied both Amethyst and Pearl before getting cut by Garnet.
"No buts." said Garnet with a strict voice. The two gems lowered their heads, not uttering a single word.
"Uhh, guys?" Steven suddenly spoke. "I don't think that she's really happy to see all of us here."
All three gems looked confused at first until they turned towards where Steven was looking. What they saw was none other than the green gem monster that was panting heavily with Pearl's spear stuck in its left shoulder, green substance pouring out of it like an erupting volcano. At first glance one could confuse the beast as a crocodile - it walked on all four, with a long mouth and large tail at the end, covered in thick, green scales. However, this where the similarities end. The back of the beast had several spikes, ending at the tail where they were unusually dark green in color and having long claws that could tear to shreds almost anything. The beast also had three eyes also spotting a huge horn in the middle of its head. The monster was glaring at The Crystal Gems with burning hatred, all of its six eyes fixated on each member. Its mouth was drooling, revealing several razor sharp teeth, designed with the sole purpose to kill.
"Ughh," said Amethyst. "I don't like the look on its face."
"Me neither." said Pearl while summoning another spear. "And I also think it wants to return the favour from earlier."
"Alright Crystal Gems! It's time to finish this once and for all." said Garnet firmly, clenching her fists, light coming out from them until they transformed into gauntlets. The others nodded. At this moment the large monster screamed and started running towards Garnet. She lunged herself towards the crocodile-like gem monster, the two clashing together with such intensity that they knocked the others several meters away. Garnet was holding the monstrosity with her gauntlets, trying to lift it off. The the monster's streght was greater than Garnet anticipated it to be and she soon realized this when she got knocked over by it. The crocodile pinched her on the ground, opening its mouth with numerous teeth in it, ready to snatch its prey. Just as it was about to deliver its fatal blow, however, a pink frisbee like object got stuck in its mouth, fouling her attempt to bite Garnet.
"Good job Steven!" screamed Garnet, looking back at him, who stuck out his tongue and gave her a thumbs up. Garnet quickly got back on her feet by punching the monster's stomach, sending it flying in the air. It landed a not so far away, still having Steven's shield stuck in its mouth. Garnet jumped in the air, holding her hands together until she stopped and lunged herself at the gem monster. Before it could realize what was happening, Garnet landed with her gauntlets on its mouth, effectively closing it, thus piercing it with the shield. The corrupted gem roared in pain as Steven's shield disappeared, leaving a giant wound where it was. Garnet attempted to land another hit on it, but was cut short when the she got hit by the creature's tail, its spikes cracking her gauntlets. The leader of the Crystal Gems tried to get up when was again hit by the tail, this time slamming her on the ground. The monster was landing blow after blow with Garnet desperately blocking each one until several light beams hit the crocodile gem in its back. It hissed in frustration and turned around to see Pearl pointing her spear in his direction. The crocodile turned its attention towards Pearl now, leaving Garnet behind. Pearl then fired several light beams from her spear, striking her target a couple of times. The monster hissed again and was now running against Pearl. As it went further away Steven came to where Garnet was to help her. As he was helping her, the youngest member looked at where Pearl was and to his horror he saw the pale gem staying on one place with a calm expression, not doing anything at all while the gem monster was charging at her with full speed.
"Pearl!" cried Steven. "What are you doing?! You'll get hurt!"
Pearl didn't answer, still standing in front of the massive monster that was approaching her. After a couple of seconds she suddenly leaped off in the air. The crocodile looked up where she was and it too tried to jump off only to met by Amethyst's spin dash attack. It was sent the flying right in the direction of Steven. He yelped and was about to summon his defensive bubble. Before he could do that though, Garnet grabbed him and both of them moved away from the beast. It landed a little bit from where they were, heavily panting, from its wound leaking even more green substance. It was clearly getting tired as it barely got up on its legs.
Garnet let hold of Steven. Pearl and Amethyst came to them, looking cautiously at the corrupted gem monster, which was now whimpering in pain. She rose up, towering over everyone.
"This is it." she said. "Amethyst, I want you to use your whip to demobilize it. Pearl, you and I will combine our forces to put it down. Steven, you stay back. Understood?"
Everyone nodded again. Amethyst summoned her whip and then entangled the wounded monster with it, effectively binding it to the ground, unable to run or move even the slightest. Pearl moved closer to Garnet with her spear in hand, while Garnet stretched both of her hands. Steven went behind them while the two were preparing their attack. Garnet shifted her gauntlets to be bigger, while Pearl was charging her spear. Steven was looking at them stunned and Amethyst was still holding down the gem monster.
"Now, Pearl!" shouted Garnet at the top of her lungs. What followed was both Garnet's gauntlets and Pearl's light beam were fired directly at the crocodile gem. Their combined force was so powerful that it created a glowing light-pink aura around them. Amethyst let off her whip just when it made contact with its target. Soon a huge explosion followed, sending dirt and rocks everywhere. The Crystal Gems moved away a bit, Garnet regenerating her lost arms and the others looking at the trail of smokes with a weird combination of black and green which the explosion left behind.
After a couple of minutes the smokes eventually disappeared and what was once a threat to nearby humans and Crystal Gems was now a small, round-shaped, green gem.
Finally, after several days of rewriting, I have finally published this chapter! I have probably rewritten this one three times and to be frank with you, it was getting on my nerves.
Anyhow, this chapter we are introduced to Steven and the Crystal Gems and their encounter with a loose, corrupted gem. A pretty close call, but why would our heroes struggle against it? You might ask yourselves, don't Garnet, Amethyst or Pearl have any experience with this sort of stuff? Find out next time when things will get a little heated.