Another gem monster. This wasn't anything new, if anything, it seemed like this monster would be easier to defeat than usual. So why wouldn't Garnet let Steven come along?

"Hey Garnet," Pearl asked as they were going through the warp pad, "why didn't you want Steven to come along? Six-thirty isn't too early, it wouldn't be a bad time for him to be up if he isn't already.."

Garnet just shrugged.

"It's best for him to stay back," was her only cryptic reply.

Pearl didn't know what to say back, so she only nodded, bending her head down ready for battle. Amethyst's eyes lost their laughter, and she stared ahead in preparation. After seeing the uncomfortable atmosphere, Garnet decided to amend the situation.

"It's not from anything in the battle," she further explained, "he needs to keep the peace between Lapis and Peridot."

"That makes sense," Amethyst laughed, speaking as if a weight was taken off her shoulders.

When they got to the island, it seemed very much deserted, as it had been for years.

"Amethyst," Pearl murmured, "are you positive you saw something here?"

"Of course I'm positive," she insisted, "I saw it with my own two eyes! It was big, it had, like, a million arms-"

"Maybe it's another fusion experiment before the cluster."

Suddenly, the leaves of a group of trees in the distance began to rustle. A low and deep moan could be heard in the same direction.

"Or maybe not." Garnet spoke in a mysterious, matter of fact tone.

She naturally led the way, the other two gems close behind. It got much darker once they were actually in the forest, almost as if it decided to stay primarily concentrated in that area. The only natural light source they had was a small sliver of moon, and Pearl had to create a hologram from her gem to make it somewhat of a flashlight to light their way. Even then, it didn't help too much, as a light fog covered the area.

"Garnet…" Pearl whispered, "who do you think it could be?"

"I don't know," she confessed, "but whoever it is, they'll be very powerful. We need to keep our guard up."

Almost as if their discussions called it into being, the large monster appeared within the fog. They didn't realize it was even the monster at first, as its dark blue skin blended in with the night. It was clear it was inhuman just from its silhouette, a torso with a dozen or so arms attached. They weren't even functioning, just dangling there, loose as if incapable of motion. Beneath were two legs, two legs with monstrous and animal-like feet.

"Let's get 'em!" Amethyst screamed, charging towards it, whip in her hand.

It wasn't until it heard her cries that it began screaming louder than any of them had expected, especially Amethyst. She halted her charge to cover her ears, and as she did, one of the arms jolted to life to smack her away. She screamed as she flew backwards, up until Garnet caught her. Pearl created her spear, throwing it at the beast. It turned around, revealing a large face embedded in the torso. It screamed again, charging at all three. Garnet, Amethyst still under her arm, dodged to the right, while the final Crystal Gem chose the other direction.

Amethyst gave Garnet a look, and she knew exactly what it meant.

"Pearl," she called, "distract it!"

"With pleasure," she said to herself, creating the spear again and hitting it multiple times. Garnet used this as an advantage to throw the purple gem at the monster and begin to run in for a hit afterwards. As she flew, she began to spin so fast, she looked like a ball, and gave the creature an incredibly hard hit. It screamed in pain, but threw her off once again, this time sending the other two gems flying with her.

"Garnet," Pearl screamed, "how are we gonna-"

"Backup's coming… now."

The second after she finished speaking, a loud beeping in a strange new rhythm was heard. A bus came flying through (quite literally, as it was landing with strange but effective wings attached to it), taking the creature by surprise. It flew back, screeching once again. Four people came out, only they weren't humans. They weren't even gems.

"Are those… turtles?" she couldn't help but wonder aloud.

"Yup."

One came up, in an orange headband, beginning to talk in a less than serious tone.

"Don't worry ladies, we got this under control." After he said that, two others flew back, thrown from the giant beast. The only reason the third one didn't was because he was hanging onto it for dear life. "...for the most part. Just go back home and we'll all pretend this never happened."

"Or we could help you." Garnet offered

"I don't think that's necessary," he laughed, holding up a pair of nunchucks, "nothing's too strong to be defeated by me, the great-" It cut him off by punching him and sending him flying.

Garnet took charge, forming her gauntlets and running up to free one in a red headband, gasping for air as he was being held tightly in one arm. Once she was finally able to loosen its grip and punch it away in one powerful blow, she kneeled down.

"Thanks," he muttered between deep breaths, "it's nice to know there's another band of freaks fightin' other freaks."

"Who are you?" As she said this, the other two ran up to hear.

"I'm Raph. Those dingbats with the monster over there are my brothers."

She looked over to see two other turtles.

"Don, try to get it from behind!" screamed the one in the blue headband to the purple headband.

"We already tried that Leo!" the injured turtle on the ground yelled back, "If it didn't work once, I don't think it'll work a second time!"

"We can still try, can't we?"

Raph rolled his eyes, getting up.

"Hey, I don't think I properly introduced myself before," the fourth one said, running up to them, then running again towards the monster, "I am the fantastic-" the monster cut it off once again, by grabbing him then throwing him into a tree.

Raph began pummeling one of the legs, and Garnet did so with the body. As they did, they held it in place, which allowed Amethyst to tie her whip around it. Donatello ran up and smacked it from behind, and in one one controlled effort, the monster vanished and all that was left was a dark blue gem.

Garnet picked it up.

"H-hey what are you doing with that?" Donnie questioned, "That could be dangerous, we need to keep it contained.

"Which we will," she smirked, bubbling the gem.

"Wha- how did you-"

And within seconds, she sent it off to the temple just using the palm of her hands, laughing at his confused and shocked face.

"Look, miss," Leo muttered, "I don't know what you plan to do with that, but if we find out it's for anything evil-"

"I'm the marvelous Michelangelo!" Mikey proudly announced.

"Shut up, Mikey!" All three simultaneously screamed.

"Uh… guys… sun's coming up," Donnie pointed out, "if we bring the van to New York now, we won't be able to park it without being spotted."

Leo sighed.

"Great, now what are we gonna do?"

"You can come stay in our barn during the day." Garnet said.

"What?!" the other two protested. After that, Garnet brought them in for a group huddle.

"They helped us," she explained, "they aren't a threat. But they might become one if they don't trust us. We need to help them out and prove we don't want to hurt them."

"But do you really think Lapis or Peridot will like them being in the barn for the day?" Pearl mumbled.

"It's only for the day, they'll be fine."