Chapter 26: Fighting Spirit

The three gems Garnet, Steven and Onyx were walking through Cobalt HQ's hallway. It was still dimly lit, but once again the lights bounced off of the blue walls which made it a tad brighter. Garnet, and Steven were busy leading the way while Onyx was trailing behind, thinking long and hard. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't take his mind off of his enemies Zinc and Cobalt. He knew that Zinc was the leader of the elements and that he would be a tough opponent, and he already got a taste of what Cobalt could do in battle. Those thoughts were what made Onyx nervous about the outcome of the fight. Then there was the part where he needed to rescue the other gems being held captive. The light grey gem glanced over at Steven then looked over at Garnet who were still leading the way. He knew all to well that he had no defenses whatsoever without the sand, and since their was no sand in Cobalt HQ, he didn't have any defense strategies at all. Even if he transformed into one of his earth armors it wouldn't help that much without the sand. He could still use his rock shurikens, but those were the only weapons he could use since there weren't any rocks, or boulders around. That's where Steven would come into play. Onyx knew that Steven's gem power revolved around defense, healing and support powers. He knew he could trust Steven to defend him, but the bad part about that would be that Steven would have to get involved, and Onyx knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself knowing something bad happened to Steven. The only other way Onyx could see protecting Steven would be if they were to fuse into Platinum again, however he didn't think Steven would be able to handle another fusion like that.

Then there was Garnet, the leader of the crystal gems. Onyx wasn't too keen on physical fighting in his original form since he manipulated rocks and sand, so that left Garnet to do the heavy amounts of damage with her gauntlets, and since she's a fusion gem, all Onyx would have to do is fuse with her and create Pyrope Garnet if things get to heated, but if Garnet somehow gets hurt so bad that she retreats back into her gem...then things could get ugly. He squinted his eyes shut and signed loudly. His reaction caused Garnet, and Steven to turn and look at him with concerned faces.
"Onyx is there something wrong?" Garnet asked. Onyx shook his head.
"Nothing." He said. "I was just thinking about...well the whole situation with Zinc, and Coblat."
"We're going to pull through this, but remember who we are Onyx.." Steven said passionately. "The Crystal Gems never give up a fight, especially when there friends lives are at stake." Onyx stared at the little boy surprised by his emotions. Wait, is this the same Steven I met when I came back to the human world? Onyx thought. Then the earth manipulating gems lips began to curve.
"But, are you sure we..." Garnet caressed his broad shoulders, and looked him directly in his dark eyes.
"Look Onyx." Garnet said. "We are going to defeat those two troublemaker, and save our friends, and don't you even begin to lose hope." Onyx's eyes drooped low, and he stared at the solid, blue, ground.
"Your right." He said. He looked up with a fake smile, along with a blush. "I don't know what I was thinking."
"Okay, well lets move on." Steven said cheerfully. He put on one of his happy, goofy smiles as they pressed forward. Onyx stared at Steven with a saddened face. Steven. How in the world can you act so carefree, and innocent when we're in this sort of predicament. The light grey gem thought.

Meanwhile

"So, Cobalt how are our wandering prisoners doing?" The leader of the elements, Zinc asked while he was sitting in a chair that was positioned in the center of a big room which was called 'The Core.
"Oh, there still trying ton find us." Cobalt said. "Why can't I just kill them now and get it over with?" The blue skinned element was referring to the caged gems above the ceiling, which were out cold.
"Because I want to push Onyx to his full power when we fight them." Zinc said. Cobalt stared at him puzzled.
"How do you plan on doing that?" He asked. Zinc snickered.
"Oh you'll see." Zinc said malevolently, as he stared at a cage with a white blanket over it.

"Uh...this is taking forever." Steven complained. "Are we almost there Garnet?" Garnet stayed silent then stopped in her tracks. Onyx and Steven stared at her with confused faces.
"Yes." She said. "I can see them."
"Good." Onyx said. "So, are we ready?" Garnet and Steven nodded confidently.
"Lets kick some butt!" Steven exclaimed with passion in his brown eyes. Onyx simply nodded. They all approached a pair of indigo doors. Before they entered, Onyx made one last mental note about what they were getting into. He questioned if they would even make it out of this alive or not. It took him awhile to defeat Hydrogen, and she was no walk in the park at all. He knew all too well how strong, and fierce the elements really were, they were nowhere near the level of a gem which could make things a lot harder. However, failure was not an option at this point. Then he worked up his courage, and pushed the doors open. He saw him. The leader of the elements...Zinc. Onyx couldn't make out his face since it was covered with shiny silver hair which stopped at his chest that paired with a long beard. Another reason why he couldn't identify his face was because of his silver hood he had draped over his eyes leaving his mouth exposed with a devious smile. On the hood was the symbol for the element of steel. Onyx found Cobalt standing next to the leader, with a wicked smile that looked blood thirsty.
"Its about time you three showed up, otherwise you would have missed the show." Cobalt said. "And that would have been bad for dear Onyx." The three gems scowled at him.
"What do you mean by show?!" Garnet asked.
"Oh Onyx knows exactly what we mean by show." Cobalt said. "I recall that light grey haired gem poser fighting with one of our elements.
"The queen of water?" Steven asked
"Yeah." Cobalt said. "What was her name again? Oh yeah, Hydrogen."
"What about her?!" Onyx spat aggressively. Cobalt simply snickered wickedly at his intimidating glare.
"We saw the whole fight, and the ending was so disappointing I laughed until my head spun." The wind element said sarcastically. "She mentioned loving me, and wanting to be with me. Tch...so sweet, that it made me want to throw up my lunch." Onyx ignored Cobalt for a second, and noticed a container that was covered in a white cover, or sheet of some sort. Cobalt snapped his fingers.
"Huh?" Onyx said.
"Hey, I wasn't finished didn't anyone tell you it's rude to ignore people when they're talking?!" Cobalt exclaimed with frustration. Onyx snickered.
"Yeah, but I don't listen to people who hurt my friends." The light grey gem said.
"Oh friends, speaking of friends, I remember Hydrogen trying to become friends with you." The wind element said. "It made me so happy that I wanted to smash Cobalt HQ to smithereens, But speaking of destroying things, take a look." He snatched the white sheets off of the cage behind Zinc's throne, and Onyx's eyes grew wide, and froze with fear. In the steel cage, he saw the water element in steel shackles. Her hair once shiny, blue hair was now lifeless and draped over her eyes, and her once white dress was now shredded and a darker shade. Her ankles were bruised, and scratched, and her legs had large, violet bruises on her legs which were being covered by her dress which still clung to her. She lifted her face which looked even worse than her body. Her eyes looked glassy, and blackened which were being complimented by scratches and scars all around her blue cheeks. She was broken. Like an injured bird, or like a tortured bug that was being played with until it eventually died.
"On...yx, I'm...I'm so sorry." She said weakly. Tears began to stream down her face as he looked on. He took a step, but Cobalt stopped him by cutting a line through the floor with his wind.
"Oh no you don't, if you value your little 'friends' life, stay back." Cobalt said wickedly. Onyx felt his anger rising. He was like a tea kettle with water boiling inside, or like a ticking time bomb just waiting for the right time to go boom.
"What did you do to her?!" He asked sounding frightened. "You monsters."
"Hmph...we haven't finished yet, your about to witness." Cobalt paused, then licked his blue lips malevolently. "The final act." Then Cobalt pulled a lever down, and Hydrogen began to glow bright and white as she screamed in pain and agony.
"STOP!" Onyx yelled then made another attempt to charge at the wind element.
"Wait Onyx!" Steven yelled. The earth manipulator simply ignored him and focused on Cobalt. With the snap of a finger, Cobalt pushed Onyx back to a wall with his wind and pinned him to it.
"Onyx!" Steven and Garnet yelled in unison. He opened his teary eyes, and stared at The glowing white light traveling to the leader Zinc who seemed to be absorbing it with ease. Onyx's eyes were glued on Hydrogen, and her cries of misery. She opened her eyes then smiled at him. The gem felt tears welling up in his eyes watching her being tortured. Then it stopped. Hydrogen stopped glowing but she was still staring at him with a face dripping with hot, wet tears. Onyx now felt tears falling down his light grey face. He wanted the world to stop in its tracks to stop all the problems that are occurring in its atmosphere. He wanted the pain to stop. He just wanted everything to go back to when he first met Steven. He wanted...He wanted to change everything that led to this intense moment. Cobalt let him go, and Onyx fell to his knees. Onyx ran towards her and pried her cage door open. Hydrogen limply fell into his arms and stared into his eyes. Onyx looked at her crest as it began to flash, which was a symbol that she would have to return to her crest soon, which was an elements way of getting ready to cross-over to the other side, right before his eyes.
"Hydrogen...I am so sorry." Onyx said mournfully. "This is all my fault?!" She lifted her shaking hands and wiped away tears that were rolling down his cheeks.
"I...should be the one who's sorry." She said in pain. "I helped cause so much trouble, that I didn't see the wrong in any of it."
"Hydrogen...please just..." He began to say, as he squeezed more tears out of his eyes which were beginning to turn as red as roses in a downpour. She silenced him by placing a finger on his quivering lips.
"No...Onyx I should've listened to you, but the last thing I need you to do before I go is...defeat those two." She said, and in his arms, the water element with the face of an innocent little girl retreated into her crest, and in his hands it became nothing but dust. Her soul was released, and the water element was finally free.

Steven had tears streaming down his face, and Garnet lifted her shades to wipe away a tear forming in her eyes. Onyx sat on his knees motionless, and shocked by what he just saw. Someone he saved, no someone he spared who was just a lost spirit just perished right before his eyes, and he couldn't do anything about it. Then he heard the sinful laugh from Cobalt, as the leader stood.
"What a sorry excuse for an element." Zinc growled. "Her feeble power now belongs with me, and it happens to be enough to destroy the three of you with a mere flick of the wrist. As for your 'friends' well, we'll see." Onyx began to stand and shake. However he was no longer filled with fear of losing, it was the exact opposite. An emotion he had experienced before, but never this powerful. He wiped the hot tears away from his angered face.
"How...how could you!" He exclaimed through gritted teeth. "How could you do that to your own teammate!" Garnet and Steven stood back, seeing how mad Onyx was. He faced the two elements with corrupted eyes that made Cobalt raise an eyebrow.
"Oh what does it matter?" Cobalt asked nonchalantly. "She's dead, you weren't even on the same team. In my opinion, she should have tried harder to kill you all, instead of trying to make crappy amends." That was the straw that broke the camels back. That time bomb inside of him finally exploded, and Onyx began to feel something else rising inside of him. He felt so many emotions exerting from his. Anger, Hatred, Passion, Sorrow and above all Fury.
"Looks like I have another reason to fight you two." He said passionately. I'll avenge you Hydrogen, what they did to you was wrong, but this was all apart of my Master Plan. You aided me well, and although it cost you your life, you left me a gift that will aid me in this fight. His right arm, and left arm both began to glow bright orange. The floor began to shake as energy, and power were exerting from his body.
"Garnet, Steven." He said. "I want you two to stand back, because this...is about to get ugly."
"YES! HAHA WE FINALLY UNLOCKED IT!" Cobalt shouted joyously. "THE FIGHTING SPIRIT...HAS FINALLY BEEN UNLOCKED!" Thanks for the gift Hydrogen, now I shall repay your kindness.

OMG, this chapter went exactly how I wanted it to go. The fighting spirit has been awaked and now Onyx will go all out.

Thank you so much for reading this chapter, if you would like, you can leave a review and let me know your opinion on this chapter. Once again thank you and as always...Stay beautiful