In celebration of Steven bomb starting tomorrow I bring you the next chapter of my story… finally!
Could one day go by without a mission? Onyx wasn't trying to be rude, she enjoyed the work she did with the crystal gems, but why were they always fighting monsters?
This time around they had to trek into the desert and look for some gem that could manipulate sand; they believed that it was becoming corrupted because it was creating structures without any purpose so now they had to destroy it.
The heat of the desert didn't bother Onyx too much; it was the sand that got to her: shifting underneath her feet all the time, never staying solid or in place. It was the opposite of stone…and she didn't like it.
Thankfully their walk through the desert was short, it was clear to see where the gem was and from there it would be a simple matter of removing it and then sending it back to the temple.
The gem warriors ran towards the pyramid while Steven stayed behind, he was tired from the desert's brutal landscape and he was afraid there was something out in its vast expanses that was coming to get him. Garnet dissuaded his worries and ran with the rest of the gem warriors.
"Are you sure Steven will be alright?" Onyx asked.
"There's nothing else out here for miles." Garnet answered.
Onyx shook her head. "I don't know, I think I sense something out in the distance. I can't…exactly pinpoint it but it's definitely an energy signature."
"Well, if we're lucky we'll beat this thing quickly and we won't have to figure out what it is."
Onyx nodded. "Fair enough."
The gems were at the foot of the sand pyramid, they all drew their weapons and prepared for a fight.
"So, can we assume the gem's at the top?" Onyx asked.
"We can." Pearl added.
"Good."
They all ran up the stairs trying to get to the gem, suddenly the ground beneath them shook and the stairs became wobbly. Because of their instability the stairs turned back into a pile of sand and started rolling down the hill, the gems could dodge the hill but Onyx was swept up in the sand and got buried underneath it.
It disoriented her, but the sand wasn't all that heavy so she just pushed out of it. "Why is sand always trying to suffocate me?" She yelled out loud.
Garnet and Pearl weren't having much luck either, they could barely hold back the torrent of sand coming their way.
Onyx got up from the ground and dusted herself off. "Okay temple, you wanna do this the hard way? We'll do this the hard way."
Onyx leapt from her spot and started jumping up the pile, she touched the ground ever so slightly and then pushed off with a ton of force which made sure she kept moving and that she wasn't getting swept up by the sand.
As she jumped up she saw Amethyst running up the pile as fast as she could, but with her stubby legs all she could do was run in place, then as she saw Onyx jump past her she got an idea.
"Hey Onyx, can you give me a boost? I think I can grab the gem if you boost me."
Onyx nodded. "Can do."
She jumped to where Amethyst was, then she grabbed her by the back of her shirt and gave her a quick toss up to the top of the sand pyramid. Actually, Amethyst sailed over the pyramid but she managed to summon her whip and throw it so that it wrapped around the gem on the top of the temple and then she yanked it out of its socket.
Once the gem was removed the entire pyramid imploded and blasted sand for dozens of yards.
Amethyst landed on the ground triumphantly and held the gem in her hands. "Got it!" She said
Everyone rushed over to her.
"Good work Amethyst." Garnet congratulated.
"Thanks." She looked to Pearl. "Hey Pearl, can you get me a pillow or something? I don't wanna risk dropping this thing."
"Alright." Pearl used her gem to summon a small red pillow for Amethyst to put the gem so it wouldn't touch the sand.
"Sweet. This thing is gonna look so cool in my room." Amethyst said.
Pearl guffawed. "Amethyst, you should really just bubble that away."
"Quit being jealous Pearl, it's my kill so I do what I want with it."
"Well… technically you only got it because I boosted you up." Onyx added. "A couple more leaps from me and I would have severed that thing from its socket and it would be mine."
"But you didn't and it isn't, so quiet." Amethyst rebutted.
Onyx groaned as well. She knew that Amethyst was a bit childish at times so she needed to look past this… as much as it annoyed her.
They went back to go get Steven, but when they came back they saw him touching the jaws of a mighty beast.
They all drew their weapons in defense. "Steven, what is that? What are you doing?" Pearl exclaimed.
Steven held up his arms. "Stop! It's okay, he's totally tame."
"That's impossible."
Onyx didn't feel like this creature was harmful, it just stood there with a calm powerful silence; it may have been pink but it was very intimidating.
"No it isn't! I taught him to say I love you, watch…" He stuck his hands in the lions mouth and made it mouth the words 'I love you'.
Amethyst seemed really fascinated by the creature. "That's so sweet, I love you to big guy."
Pearl groaned and dissipated her weapon. The lion wasn't harmful so she decided not to waste any time on it.
"Get your hand out of that things mouth. We have to get the desert glass back to the temple BEFORE some gem drops it."
"I got it." Amethyst complained.
"Let's go Steven." Garnet commanded.
And so the gems walked off while Steven said goodbye to the lion in a very heartfelt way. He joined the rest of the gems but Onyx… held back from the rest of the group.
Once Steven caught up with the gems Onyx turned around and went back to see the lion, she saw him staring at the rest of the gems and she could sense some sort of… fascination in him.
She carefully walked in front of him and leaned in a bit close. "Hey there." She said casually.
"Rawr." It said softly.
It laid down on the sand and started curling itself up.
"Aw, that's cute."
Onyx leaned down as well and put her hand on the lion's side.
"Wow, your fur is so soft." She noted. "What are you doing out here big guy? Lion's don't belong in the dessert. There's no animals for you to eat here."
He merely growled in response again.
"You're a special lion, I can tell that much." She leaned in a bit closer. "You're the thing I sensed way out in the desert. Now, as far as I know you don't have a gem on your body, so where did that energy come from?"
The lion looked up into Onyx's eyes and stared at her with a blank expression, as if to say 'I don't know'
This made Onyx smiled. "Darn it, I like you."
She got back on her feet. "Come on lion, I'm taking you with me."
It continued to stare at her with careful eyes.
"It'll be fun, and you'll get to see Steven again."
That seemed to perk up the beast as he stood up and started walking next to Onyx. She led the lion back to the warp pad and when they were both standing on it she activated it to bring them both back to the temple.
When Onyx got back Pearl and Garnet were nowhere to be seen and Amethyst and Steven seemed to be taking a nap under a pillow fort.
Silently, Onyx and lion tiptoed over to Steven's resting spot and Onyx poked him in the forehead,
"Steven…Steven, wake up." She said silently.
Steven groaned, not wanting to be woken up. "What?"
"There's someone here who really wants to see you."
Lion made a small growling noise to make himself known and when Steven heard this his eyes shot open and he looked up.
"Lion!" He said in a quiet scream. "You came all this way just to see me?"
"Sh!" Onyx whispered. She pointed at the snoring Amethyst, signaling that it would be a bad idea to wake her up.
"Right, maybe we should take this outside." Steven said.
Everyone quietly made their way out of the house and once they were outside Steven became excited again.
"This is great! Now that you're here we can do all the things that best friends do!"
He began to lead the lion down towards the beach, trying to play with it and teach it how to do tricks. It didn't work out very well as the lion seemed to be very stubborn.
Onyx simply watched over their playing with a smile, it was nice to see Steven interacting with something new.
But that lion… something about it rubbed Onyx the wrong way. She walked inside and leaned against the door as she tried to figure things out for herself.
"I don't get it. That lion has an energy signature like the gems do, but the creature doesn't have a gem anywhere on it. Could a gem have created it? Can a gem make something that can sustain life for… I don't even know how long. Maybe…"
Onyx's thoughts were interrupted as she heard a crack coming from above her, she looked up and saw that the nail that was holding up a portrait was coming loose. Pretty soon it fell down and Onyx caught the portrait so it wouldn't be damaged.
"That was close." She said aloud. "Wouldn't want anything to happen to you now would we?"
Onyx flipped over the portrait and started looking at it closely. She had seen this painting hanging in the house before but she had never really taken the time to look at it and appreciate its beauty. Whoever made the painting was a very skilled artist; they captured her long flowing pink hair, her elegant white dress, her gemstone…
"Wait a second…"
Onyx walked up to the temple door with the portrait in her arms, she knocked on the door to try and get the other gems attention.
"Garnet, Pearl, I have a question…" She shouted.
Soon enough the door to the temple opened, it revealed Garnet and Pearl standing in a room filled with multicolored bubbles and red line all over the walls.
"What is it Onyx?" Pearl asked.
Onyx showed them the portrait. "Who is this and why does she remind of someone?"
Pearl got wide eyed at the question and Garnet just remained her neutral self.
"Oh, we… never told you about that painting?" Pearl asked nervously.
Onyx shook her head. 'No, who is it?"
"Her name is Rose Quartz." Garnet answered. "She was the leader and founder of the crystal gems."
"Wow, really?" Onyx said in surprise. "What happened to her?"
Pearl looked at Garnet with concern in her eyes, wordlessly Garnet nodded as if to say yes to whatever Pearl was thinking about.
"Come inside. This is kind of a long story."
Onyx stepped into the temple and the door shut tight behind her. Pearl and Garnet moved towards the center of the room while Onyx set the portrait down so that she could fully pay attention to what they were saying.
"Rose was an amazing gem, perhaps the best out of all of us." Pearl began. "She was humble, a brilliant strategist, an exceptional fighter, and she had the kindest heart I had ever seen."
Then something occurred to Onyx.
"Those drawings I saw in the gem temple… there was a figure on their that looked exactly like that picture."
Garnet nodded. "Yes, during the battle with the gems Rose lead her forces to victory. She was greatly outnumbered but through determination and perseverance she led her side to victory."
"So she didn't die in that battle?"
Pearl shook her head. "No, her death was more… recent. It was about 24 years ago, Rose met a human named Greg who she… well, she loved him more than she had loved anyone before. Time went on; they got together and eventually got married. A human tradition, I didn't really understand it."
"She seemed happy, how did she end up dying?" Onyx asked.
Pearl paused for a moment, like the next part was hard to say. "Rose and Greg… wanted to have a child together. But because of their biological differences it seemed like that would be impossible. Ignoring all reason, Rode had actually managed to conceive a child and she was planned to birth him… even if it meant her own death."
Onyx gasped. To die for your own child? Truly a noble act; Onyx wished she could have met this Rose Quartz, she seemed like an exceptional gem.
"Rose gave birth to Steven, destroying her physical form in the process, and now… we have Steven to look after."
"Wow." Onyx was floored by their story. "So is Steven like Rose, or rather is Rose like Steven?"
"No." Garnet answered curtly. "He's Steven, he's his own person. He has his flaws, but he also has skills that Rose didn't have."
Onyx nodded. She could tell that she may have struck a nerve there. "Sorry, I was just curious…"
Suddenly, the whole temple began rumbling. Garnet, Pearl, and Onyx could feel the ground shaking beneath them.
"What's going on?" Pearl asked.
"It's coming from outside." Garnet responded.
They all ran out of the temple and towards the front of the house, they could see clouds forming above and pillars of sand being created from the beach.
"The desert glass!" Pearl exclaimed. "It's rebuilding it's castle. " She stared at Amethyst with frustration. "Why didn't you bubble it earlier like I told you to?"
Amethyst only shrugged. "Welcome to shrug city P."
What's worse was that Steven seemed to be caught in the middle of it. The gems needed to get him to safety, there's no telling what that thing could do.
"Don't move, we're coming!" Pearl screamed.
"Okay!"
"No Steven, run away from the killer sand castle!" Onyx screamed.
"But-"
Suddenly Steven was obscured by a wave of sand and air, he was lost inside the vortex the sand castle was creating.
"Stand in the middle of a self-constructing evil sand castle?" Onyx summoned her scythe and hopped up on the banister. "Good advice Pearl."
She jumped from the banister and prepared to go right through the wave of sand to find Steven, but before she could cross a giant wall of sand came up and smacked her back down to the ground.
"Cursed walls!"
Onyx started slashing the wall wildly with her scythe and Garnet was punching it as well, but the wall refused to break or even crack a little.
"This walls not moving!" Garnet cried out.
"We need get through before things get…"
Suddenly, Amethyst was shot up into the air by a randomly forming pillar of sand.
"Worse…"
"Hold on Amethyst." Onyx cried.
She jumped up into the air, and through the force of the twister the castle was creating, Onyx spun around the wind funnel. Then she crashed into Amethyst and grabbed her by the back of her jumper.
"I got you Amethyst!" She cried.
"That's great, but how are we going to get down?" Amethyst asked.
She was right, the force was too great for them to fall down and they were stuck in midair. They needed some way to bring them back down… then Onyx had an idea.
"Hold on Amethyst!"
Amethyst moved closer to Onyx who was concentrating on getting them down; her gem began to glow and soon enough they were enveloped in a crystal shell. The shell was so big and heavy the force of wind couldn't keep it up and so they crashed into the ground. Once they were out of the wind funnel Onyx broke the shell and climbed out.
"Any ideas for how we can get inside?" Onyx asked.
"No. Maybe we could try combining our attacks on one spot to see if that breaks the wall, or maybe…"
While they were talking there was a great blast of sand which knocked them all on their backs and buried them in sand. When they got back up they could see the castle was destroyed and Steven was sitting there holding the desert glass.
"Once again, Steven saves the day." Onyx said to herself.
The gems walked over and bubbled the desert glass so that this time it couldn't reactivate.
All in all everything wrapped up quite nicely; Steven even managed to convince the gems to let Lion stay with them not only because Steven's influence is nearly undeniable but because Onyx wanted to keep this Lion around.
It clearly was no ordinary lion and if helped them later in the future than all the better… also he was really big and cuddly.
Yeah… I kind of crapped out at the end there. I'm really sorry it took me so long to do this; I had to study for exams, get things finished up, and I was sick for a short period. But its summer now so I should have more time to write… probably (I'm waiting on a few things)
But don't think I was completely lazy in my absence, I've been working on some other stuff for later on in this story and for being such a patient audience I'm going to give you a little peek:
Onyx collapsed to the ground as her scythe fell out of her hands. She lay in the crater that Sugalite made; she was beaten, she hurt more than she had when she fought Garnet, and she didn't have the will to go any further.
"I'm sorry everyone…" She said sadly to herself.
Sugalite prepared for one final strike.
"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst…Steven…"
She began to cry, she did not want her life to end but she didn't have the will to fight anymore.
"You were right, I'm not good enough to be one of you guys…I'm not good enough for anything."
Her eyes began to close…she didn't want to see what happens next.
"Onyx!"
Steven shouted at her, she turned her head and saw him with a megaphone in his hands, trying to reach out to her.
"You have to get up! I know you can do it!" He cheered on.
"No you don't, you don't believe in me… not since-"
"Come on Onyx! Are you going to take this lying down or are you going to fight?"
Fight? She was good at fighting…could she-
"You've always been strong, and I was scared of your strength before, but now's the time to use it!"
She felt the pain in her limbs catch fire, but the fire didn't burn in pain…it burned with energy! She felt her whole body begin to fill up with some kind of hidden power.
"Save the gems! Defeat Sugalite! Prove that you're strong… in the real way!"
Yes! Onyx wasn't going to go down like this, she was a warrior! She grabbed her scythe in both hands and used it to bring herself back up. Her pain was temporary, but this victory was going to be forever.
She stood up again and looked up at the massive Sugalite, but she didn't see her as a giant anymore, she was just an obstacle waiting to be beaten.
"What? You want some more?" Sugalite screamed at her.
"ALWAYS!" Onyx shouted back.
She closed her eyes and began to draw on all her strength; this would take everything she had so she drew from the well of frustration and anger inside herself…and turned it into power.
"Do you honestly believe you're strong? Well let me tell you the truth…YOU'RE NOTHING!"
Black crystal began to form around Onyx's hands; they created gauntlets with razor sharp claws around her fingers. Then, crystal began to grow out of her back and stretch into a shape…
"There will always be someone stronger than you, and today…"
Two crystalline wings formed on her back, the crystals were in elegant shapes that made a beautiful pattern on the wings. Onyx opened her eyes and her iris' were gone, there were only white glassy orbs now.
"I am that someone."
Oh man! Even I had a fan attack when I read that, and I'm the one who's writing it!
Anyways, looking forward to Steven bomb this week and I'm going to try to work on this project at a faster rate. See ya!