"I don't know what you were thinking when you fused with that gem!" Pearl yelled.
"Her name is Topaz and we didn't mean to." Steven yelled back.
They had just gotten back to Steven's house and Connie was sent outside with Amethyst until Pearl was done talking to Steven.
"You can't accidentally fuse Steven! That's not how it works! Both gems have to be willing for a fusion and unless you're like Garnet, you have to have a fusion dance. How you you even trust that Topaz that quickly!"
"She's different," Steven replied. "She can't help fusing. The whole reason Connie and I were helping her is because she wanted to find her friend. They're always fused together and crack when they're apart to long."
One of Pearl's eyes twitched. "And how do you know this? Let me guess, she told you. What if she was lying!"
Steven rubbed his shoulder. "It didn't feel like it. She seemed to trust me because she thought I was an experiment like her."
That caught Pearl's attention. "What do you mean, experiment?"
Steven explained what Topaz had told him about before she landed on Earth. Pearl covered her mouth in shock at what he told her about what happened to the fusion where she had come from.
Pearl sat down trying to take all the information in. She waved Steven outside to play with Connie, and after he made sure Pearl wasn't going to need him again, he went outside.
After searching around just a little bit, Steven found Connie sitting down next to a rock with Amethyst. When the gem saw Steven, she went back to the temple, figuring Pearl would probably want her soon.
Steven sat down next to Connie. The two stay silent for a while, both just looking in front of them at their feet. Finally Steven spoke. "I hope she'll be alright."
"She's a gem, like the others. I mean, Topaz must have done well be herself."
Steven kept looking at his feet. "She did. Oh, and I have to tell Sadie she's gone too."
Connie looked at Steven questionly. "Why do you have to do that?"
"Well, that's because I met her when she was helping to work there. But still, even though she was fine just on her own, or at least with Sadie, I… I saw something when she and Blue left."
"What was that?" Connie asked.
"Her… her gem cracked as well. I think it's because she fused with Blue."
"Steven…" Connie started to say, putting her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.
She wasn't able to continue as a loud and obnoxious sound pierced the air. Both of them covered their ears, trying to figure out the source. They soon figured out it was coming from the temple, but it quickly stopped.
Steven and Connie raced towards the temple and saw the gems emerge from the house. Garnet was carrying a large shaped stone with a pillow stuffed through a hole.
"What's that?" Connie asked as she pointed to the stone.
"Wailing Stone." Garnet responded. "We're receiving a message. We need to find Greg to see it."
Steven explained what had happened the last time to his friend, though she had heard part of it before. The group started off to the car wash Greg ran so he could show them the video.
"Let's see…" Greg mumbled as he tried to find the video frequency. It didn't take long, even when he found it but then bumped a switch, it still showed up. "Looks like it's showing up in various frequencies. Lucky for you guys."
Everyone looked towards the television to listen to the message.
"-We can retrieve the shards. I have a message for any gem hearing this. A rouge gem has escaped her prison. She was last heading somewhere in your area. It is possible you may actually find more than just her since we are unaware of how many were on the ship she absconded. She may be dangerous and it is advised for you to immediately poof her and any gems she is with, as well as shattering them as to penalize them for their misdeeds. I am learning just now that there were infact two gems on that ship. An orange and blue topaz. The two are prone to fusing, and being of different gems, no matter how close the come, is severely looked down upon. The two call themselves Mystic Topaz upon fusing. Should you find any of these gems, please swiftly take action and contact us immediately so we can retrieve the shards."
The message the pearl on screen gave started to repeat again, revealing it to be pre-recorded.
"I knew we should have taken her out right away." Pearl said to the group. "But shattering her seems a bit excessive."
"You saw what happened to Steven. It makes sense to me." Amethyst replied.
The message suddenly became fuzzy. Everyone stared at it since it had currently been in the middle of a message. Steven's dad, messed around a bit more to get it back, but he came upon another message instead. There were no words being said, no sound at all. The picture was shaking, making the new message blurry. Along with that, the picture seemed to be distorted, though it didn't seem to be the the fault of the transmission Even with that, most of the group recognised the sender.
"It's Mystic Topaz!" Pearl exclaimed. "She's sending some sort of reply to the message. Greg, can you figure out where it's coming from with your equipment. We need to track her down."
He shook his head. None of his equipment could do that. Even then, he couldn't because the transmission stopped. "Great, now we have to go find her." Amethyst groaned.
"Steven, get Lion." Garnet ordered. "She has to be at the communication hub. That's the only way she could transmit a message back."
The gems made their way to the communication hub once more to find Mystic. Surprisingly enough, the tower was not rebuilt. Instead, a smaller version was made out of the various parts left over from when Sugilite had demolished it. As they looked around, Steven noticed Garnet looked tense and Pearl a bit sick like.
"They must be thinking about last time." Amethyst whispered to Steven.
He simply nodded before helping to look for Mystic.
While they searched, Steven started to get distracted thinking about what the messages he saw might mean. He got so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice how far away he had gotten from the others. Steven also didn't notice the large hole just to his right just before most of his foot stepped on the missing ground.
He gave out a yell as he lost balance. Steven grabbed on to the side with his hand and yelled as loud as he could for the others. After a bit of calling, he finally heard a response from one of them in the distance. Unfortunately, that wasn't the only answer he received.
A loud chirping noise came from below Steven, making him cry out to the gems with more urgently.
Steven was able to grab the edge of the hole with his other hand, but soon lost grip of it with the first. He could see the gems getting close, but now there was a clawing noise that sometimes gave shrieks like nail on a chalkboard.
Finally, the gems reached Steven and pulled him up. Pearl threw a spear down the hole, and eventually the chirping noise was heard again followed by a thud as whatever was making it hit the bottom.
The gems decided they weren't going to find Mystic and left on Lion to return to the temple.
Both Connie and Steven's dad were waiting in the house part of the temple when the gems got back. Both had a pale face, though Greg's was worse.
"What's wrong guys?" Steven asked the two of them.
The two humans looked at each other before answering.
"Listen Shtoo-ball," Greg started, trying to lighten the mood a little bit. "Another message came in after you guys left."
"There are gems coming to look for Mystic Topaz. Apparently they're closer than homeworld, so they'll arrive quicker than Jasper, Lapis, and Peridot did."
No one spoke for a long time. Eventually, Garnet went into the temple and brought out Peridot. The homeworld gem had her arms crossed and an angry look on her face. "I can't believe you clods tied me up. And while I can say it is pleasing you did not trap me in a bubble like before, it was still very displeasing."
"Do you know where Topaz came from?" Garnet asked.
"I believe so. Why do you wish to learn this information?" Peridot answered skeptically.
"There are gems coming from where she came from to find her." Steven told her.
Peridot suddenly gave a huge grin. "They're going to be here in four Earth rotations! Maybe if I can leave with them..."
"You're not going to leave under any circumstances!" Pearl exclaimed, looking fiercely at Peridot. "But, we should still try to evacuate the town or at least make sure everyone is in a safe place before they arrive."
Greg and Connie nodded. They went out to go warn everyone in Beach City, though Connie had to leave not long after leaving. Steven eventually went to help his dad, but by that night, he felt wiped out, but couldn't get to sleep worrying about what might happen.