Zeta Kindergarten, a bitterly cold, snowy, and isolated place. It used to function as a research laboratory, but was abandoned after an experiment went awry and shattered several lab members. The snow that had accumulated on the warp pad was blasted away by the light erupting from the warp pad as Verdelite warped to the kindergarten Using the moonlight reflecting off the snow to navigate, she trudged through the almost knee deep snow, walking deeper into the kindergarten, while still tightly clutching the pieces of Achroite's gem in her right hand. She walked up to one of the sheer cliffs that surrounded the kindergarten, putting her back up against it, slid down to sit in the snow. Staring at the pieces of Achroite's gem, she began to cry again. This time her cries were full of gut wrenching anguish and sorrow, the sounds of her crying echoing throughout the kindergarten.
-Meanwhile-
The dark green gem sat on the snow, looking up at the stars and quietly contemplating what could be out there. She was startled by cries that tore through the once silent kindergarten, so she stood up and with a single leap ascended to the top of the sheer cliff near her. She landed softly and walked towards the other edge of the cliff, going prone as she came closer to the edge. Peering over the ledge she saw an unfamiliar gem sitting against at the bottom of the opposite cliff, crying profusely and emitting screams of pure grief. The dark green gem continued to observe the one crying, trying to figure out why they had come here. She silently hoped down the ledges that dotted the front of the cliff face she had been standing above, to get a closer look at the crying gem. The crying gem was to focused on crying and something she was holding in her hand to notice her. Her curiosity got the better of her as she slowly walked around to the side of the unfamiliar gem to get a better look at what she was clutching. When the dark green gem got close enough to see what the other gem was holding, her eyes widened from shock as she let out a quick, sharp gasp. It was the pieces of a shattered gem, and all of a sudden she understood why her voice carried so much anguish and sadness. She stooped down and gathered some snow and patted it into a crude snowball, she then threw it near the upset gem to grab her attention.
"Hey!" The dark green gem shouted.
"Wha-, who are you?" The other gem whimpered, tear stains on her face and clothes.
"My name is Bloodstone, what's yours?" She replied, walking closer to the other gem.
"Verdelite." The other gem whispered, looking up at Bloodstone.
"May I sit next to you?" Bloodstone asked.
"I guess." Verdelite replied.
"Were you close?" Bloodstone asked sitting down, even sunken down in the snow Verdelite was taller than her.
" Wha?" Verdelite responded, not making the connection between Bloodstone's question and Achroite's shards.
"Were you close to that gem, if you don't mind me asking." Bloodstone clarified.
"She was the only friend I've ever had." Verdelite answered, on the verge of tears once more. Just thinking about Achroite now made her so upset. Seeing her obvious pain about losing her only friend, Bloodstone reached over and embraced Verdelite in an attempt to console her. Verdelite was taken aback by the gesture, and began to cry again.
"I'm sorry." Bloodstone whispered, tightening her embrace.
"Why?" Verdelite asked.
"You shouldn't have had to lose someone so close to you like you did." Bloodstone replied, still embracing Verdelite.
"I lost a lot more than just Achroite, I lost my ability to ever go back to gem society, I'm a fugitive." Verdelite sighed.
"Why can't you go back?" Bloodstone inquired.
"I shattered a first class military escort for shattering Achroite." Verdelite stated.
"Will they be sending anyone after you?" Bloodstone asked, breaking the embrace.
"Not if I don't go back, if I hide out they would probably assume I'm shattered." Verdelite theorized.
"Were are you going to hide out, until this blows over?" Bloodstone questioned.
"Here seems like the best option." Verdelite responded.
"And what if you lead them into my kindergarten what then?" Bloodstone asked, visibly showing concern for herself and Verdelite.
"I'll fight them off like I did the Indicolite, and if they send more, I'll keep fighting." Verdelite stated.
"Do you really think you could defeat them all?" Bloodstone inquired.
"I'd much rather fight to the bitter end than let them shatter me without putting up a fight." Verdelite replied, as she stood up and slammed her fist against the cliff face."I won't let them take anything else from me."
"If the time comes I will fight with you." Bloodstone reassured.
"Wha, you just met me. Why would you want to fight with me?" Verdelite asked, baffled by Bloodstone's comment.
" Even though I just met you I can tell you're a good gem, and that's worth protecting." Bloodstone responded.
"Thanks that means more than you could possibly imagine to me." Verdelite made known.
-A Few Days Later-
The snow that had re-hidden the warp pad was blasted off by its activation, and off stepped a squad of Schorl class tourmaline. Several Lucchesiite and Povondraite, lead by a Fluor-Uvite, began to fan out from the warp pad, looking for the gem that had shattered Watermelon Tourmaline's top escort. The Schorl were scouring the kindergarten when Verdelite caught a glimpse of them.
"Hey Bloodstone, we have a problem." She whispered to Bloodstone who was standing next to her.
"What's the problem?" Bloodstone whispered back. She was sure she already knew what the problem was.
"The Tourmalines have sent a squadron of Schorl soldiers after me." Verdelite answered.
"Follow me, I know a way out of the kindergarten from here." Bloodstone said, motioning Verdelite to follow with her hand.
"But the pieces of Achroite's gem are on the other side of the Kindergarten. I have to go get her." Verdelite pleaded.
"Ok, I'll watch your back while you go get her. Use that hole over there, it's connected to a tunnel that comes out near where you need to go." Bloodstone explained.
"Understood. Thank you." Verdelite replied. She ducked into the hole and crawled through the tunnel, emerging on the other side of the kindergarten. She took a swift glance around before sprinting over to the ledge she had set Achroite on. Grabbing the pieces she started to sprint back, when one of the Povondraite spotted her. The Povondraite materialized their bow and started firing arrows at Verdelite while alerting the others. The snow near Verdelite warped into a wall of ice, protecting her from the arrows. "This is just like when I fought the Indicolite, was I somehow controlling the injector shards? Am I controlling the snow now?" Verdelite thought to herself. She focused on the ice wall and tried to manipulate its size, causing it to grow taller and wider. "It was me, I can control crystals!" She realized. Then she got an idea, she started warping the snow under the Povondraite's feet and without warning, tall thin spike erupted from the snow, poofing the Povondraite. she then encased its gem in ice, ensuring it couldn't reform.
The Lucchesiite were fast approaching Verdelite, who in an attempt to slow them down, encased their lower legs in ice. Then without any warning they poofed and standing behind where they stood was Bloodstone, she was holding a great axe easily three times taller than herself. Verdelite stopped marveling at Bloodstone long enough to encased the poofed Lucchesiites. The other Povondraites had taken positions around the area and began pelting Bloodstone and Verdelite with various projectiles. With a couple swift movements Bloods great axe became a great shield and a glaive, which she used to block the onslaught of projectiles.
"Get behind my shield we're leaving now." Bloodstone ordered, altering the size of the shield to accommodate both of them. Verdelite complied, swiftly getting behind Bloodstone's shield. The two made their way back to the tunnel, and once inside Verdelite warped the snow to block the entrance. They quickly crawled through the tunnel, and emerged out of the Povondraites line of site.
"Follow me." Bloodstone stated. Verdelite complied once more as the two walked a ways deeper into this section of the kindergarten, towards a cave like opening. The cave was pitch black, so Verdelite raised her right hand and illuminated the way with her gem, after walking for a little while they came across a heavy metal door.
"What is this place?" Verdelite asked.
"This is the old lab, there's a warp pad in the back room." Bloodstone replied as she shoved the door open. The two walked through the dusty and half finished projects in the main lab, coming up on a door in the back of the lab. They came up to the door to the backroom, which was already ajar, and pushed it open with the horrid screeching of the hinges.
"Where do you plan on going?" Bloodstone inquired.
"We have to go somewhere they won't ever think to go, somewhere so abandoned they don't even remember it exists." Verdelite mused aloud.
"And where is that exactly?" Bloodstone questioned.
"Wasure Temple, in Rho Kindergarten. The place consigned to oblivion." Verdelite explained.
"What's that place?" Bloodstone asked.
"Millennia ago, when Earth was just starting to be colonized, I was sent to do some artwork on the interior of a temple in a promising kindergarten. It wasn't long after I had left that we got news saying the huge temple along with a portion of the kindergarten had simply vanished, wiped out of existence, nothing but a crater. The search didn't turn up anything either." Verdelite continued.
"How are we going somewhere that doesn't exist anymore?" Bloodstone blurted out, she was even more confused.
"It still exists, but the entire kindergarten was warped to a new location after the inhabitants were shattered." Verdelite explained.
"How was an entire portion of a kindergarten warped?!" Bloodstone yelled. She was so confused she was getting frustrated.
"Lightning struck the warp pads near the temple and the explosion warped everything remotely close by, fortunately they hadn't begun incubating and no one was stationed there yet." Verdelite finished.
"How do you know so much about it if no one knew what happened?" Bloodstone asked.
"I saw a flash of light as I warped away. Once I heard that it had vanished I put two and two together." Verdelite stated.
"So how are we getting there if the warp pad exploded?" Bloodstone inquired again.
"There's one in the main plaza inside the temple itself. Now let's get going, we've wasted enough time." Verdelite said as she stepped up onto the warp pad, and with Bloodstone following suit they warped to Rho Kindergarten.