And here we are, part 2 of 3 for this chapter. Later on I will be merging all three parts into a single chapter 12. Anyhow, please enjoy, and don't forget to review!
Ruby's gem flew at him from the hall, thrown by, well, himself. Without making any more noise than absolutely necessary, Shard jumped for it and managed to keep it from hitting the ground. The sound it would have made would surely have attracted Peridot's attention. Now that he had the gem, he could get back to diagnostics… Listening in and scanning the core and more important parts of the under-temple. What he found explained everything…
"No, she can't be! Well, maybe it could… Peridot hadn't shown much mercy earlier before the ship was destroyed, and Jasper seemed much more likely to have wanted this. One more scan, just to be sure…" he thought. Soon the results came in. "I should have known. They've rigged the entire place to overload. The entirety of the temple being converted into explosive force, that much energy could wipe a small county off the map!"
All that energy, and what would it be used for? A quick look at energy directional readings showed that as much of the power as possible would be forced through the warp pad towards the galaxy warp. Even a small portion of that energy would be enough to allow the warp to repair itself without the strange gem fluid… But all the people were down here, and most of the bubbled Gems… Truly Jasper and Peridot did not care what happened to anyone but themselves. And with the fact that Peridot was leaving meant that everything would be activating any second now!
Shard had to hurry if he wanted to get the people out in time… He ran out into the hallway and down the stairs, straight at the bubbled group of people. He grabbed the bubble and popped it, then untied some of the strongest people before once again bubbling them all and sending it out into the middle of the town. Those who now were free could untie the others, and together they could pop the bubble and leave. Now on to the Gem monsters… herding them together, he put a new bubble layer over all of them, then another and another, until ten full layers covered them all. There was no telling what could happen if those got out while no-one was on Earth to stop them.
Then, he made his way to the very heart of the temple and opened his chest slightly, exposing a thin entrance for light and energy to flow to and from his gem. Grabbing hold of some of the largest energy pillars, which connected right to the temple heart, he waited. Less than a minute later, the entirety of everything crystalline within the temple began to glow, brighter and brighter as every possible bit of energy was forced to build up in them. Once the surge started, Shard began channeling it all towards himself. Huge portions of the energy collapsed back into him and were absorbed by his gem as it rapidly grew hotter. Finally, the temple exploded, leaving a decent crater with Shard near the bottom.
Looking up, he saw the remains of a white beam shooting off into space from a point a long ways across the horizon. They had left…, and he would not be catching them until a much more painful process was done. And, unfortunately for him, all the energy he had absorbed had to be forced into his energy converters to drain it all, which would have been fine in small amounts, but mixed with the antimatter's negative energy, it cracked and dissolved chunks out of his gem, leaving Shard incredibly weak and un-stable. But his job was not over yet. He had saved the city and the creatures and people by drawing most of the power into himself, but he still had the Crystal Gems, Steven, and Lapis to save. He first carved a small note into a board from one of the walls, and then tossed Ruby's gem out into the sand a decent way off from the explosion site along with it.
Now his last move, he had to get this right… it had been nearly a half-century since he had last done it, and it took a huge amount of power and concentration to do. Thankfully, what he was currently missing in concentration, he made up for in the huge amount of power he had absorbed, although he had better work quickly before it destroyed him from the inside-out. And so he closed up his chest and began to focus on a point not long ago… bending, twisting, turning, he fell back though time at the same point in space, until he landed in the temple a few minutes before his past self was to arrive. He made his way down to where Peridot had just freed Jasper, who then began yelling at her for all the things she was really upset at Lapis for. Once she left, he stumbled out and challenged Peridot to a fight for the people and Gems that she had just captured. And, although it hurt his pride, he lost very quickly, the short jump back in time had destroyed what energy he had, and with his gem broken he couldn't generate more. And thus, lying on the ground nearing unconsciousness, he waited for his brief window to steal and throw Ruby's gem before he would inevitably pass out yet again.
No, Shard is not a time traveler, and no, you can't have spoilers for the next chapter(s) to find out what's happening. Yes, this and the last couple chapters aren't my best work… but I couldn't figure out how to continue the story a better way, so this is what I've got. Anyways, I hope anyone who reads this far doesn't mind slightly lower quality chapters until I get back on track, although I promise I'll still do my best to make them at least good. Anyhow, see you soon!