"A SPATULA?! BWA! HA! HA! HA! Ha! Oh man! Your "great and awesome" weapon is...a giant SPATULA?!" Amethyst was rolling on the floor laughing!
Acapella bushed a horrific shade of Yellow.
"OH MAN! Sucks to be you! What are you going to do with THAT? Fry your enemies to death?!"
The Yellow Pearl stuck her nose in the air. "I assure you! The tool was most efficient with getting rid of the Hollo Pearl!"
"It will also be good for pancakes and burgers." Garnet couldn't help but smirk a little at her own quip.
Acapella gave the fusion a nasty glare.
This training was all well and good, but Gamma was still the most weak of the trio. His only two defenses were his invisibility and blasters. He had none of his major artillery- every other weapon he had created had been confiscated by the MIB
The little frog seemed...quietly out of place. He sat in a corner of Steven's house, thinking to himself, as everyone else ate a well deserved lunch.
All of this stress training, the loss of their new home...was all his fault. If he hadn't been with Toaster and Acapella in the first place- perhaps they would still have a safe spot to call their own.
As everyone chatted and ate, only Garnet and Toaster seemed to notice the Keronian's somber mood. The frog stood up, and headed toward the front door. He turned the pin on his hat to cloak himself.
"Gamma? Where are you going?" Toaster seemed concerned.
"Out." The frog responded bluntly, before the front door seemed to open and close again on it's own.
Looking around- not exactly knowing where to go, the frog walked by the shore. He thought about why Yellow Diamond wanted to kill him so badly- that dictator...did she have no empathy? Gamma knew he was a piece of the puzzle...a puzzle that the damn Gem leader wanted to snuff out. He was one of the only creatures that would be able to testify, and create a loophole in her lies.
He certainly didn't want to drag any of his friends down with him...
As the frog got closer to the woods borderlining the shore, he decided he needed a bit of space to think things over.
Gamma walked into the woods for a good half a mile before finding a small swampy marsh. The frog thought the area seemed inviting, and decided to go swimming. Fresh water seemed to relax the creature, as he was left alone with his thoughts.
As he swam about, he spotted some dragonflies and flicked his tongue instinctively. He caught three, and seemed quite satisfied with the small snack. Yes...this place seemed habitable. Perhaps he could stay in this small body of water, while Toaster and Acapella could ask the agency for another home? Perhaps he could just contact the MIB and ask for his ship back. He would leave his new family here...it would be a very lonely life, but at least the aliens he cared about would be safe? He wondered if he turned himself in, would the Diamond leave the Ruby and Pearl alone?
Probably not. Wishful thinking.
Weighing his options, the Keronian felt trapped and very much depressed. An awful stench began to form...immediately killing all the fish in the marsh.
There seemed to be some sort of din outside the house! Steven opened his front door to investigate, and immediately regretted his decision. A foul odor was affecting the air. The boy held his nose sourly as he began to tear up with discomfort. Down below, was (perhaps) a once-in-a-lifetime event taking place! There was a major stampede of animals running away from the woods that bordered the beach-deer, rabbits, turtles, birds, mice- all scrambling to get away from (presumably) the source of the un-godly scent.
"STARS! What IS that?!" Pearl cupped her hands in front of her face. "Steven! Please shut the door!"
The boy obeyed.
"UGH...I would know that scent anywhere." Acapella held her nose as well. "It's that damn Keronian again! What on Homeworld is he upset about NOW?!"
"Gamma's doing this?! Wow! I've had some interesting smells in my room before, but nothing this pungent! Good for him!" Amethyst nodded in enthusiasm. The smell seemed to have no effect on her what-so-ever. In fact, she seemed somewhat impressed.
Garnet stared into the distance before speaking up: "Amethyst, find Gamma. He is in need of a talking to."
"I'll go!" Toaster scarfed the remainder of her lunch before heading toward the door.
"No Toaster. You stay here." Garnet looked down at the Ruby most seriously. Toaster was confused by the behavior, but behaved and sat upon the floor.
"Why do I have to do this again?" Amethyst quipped, slightly annoyed.
Garnet's answer was blunt: "You seem to be the only one that can handle the smell." she lied. Deep down, Garnet knew that Amethyst had to be the one to talk some sense into the frog.
Grumbling, the purple Gem exited the house, and began to walk toward the woods in the opposite way as all the animals.
Gamma was not terribly difficult to find. The odor became more pungent as she got ever closer. The amount of wilted and dead shrubbery also increased as the smell did.
Amethyst finally located the small marsh. The scent had attracted a bunch of flies. The water was filed to the brim with dead, floating, fish. Every flower, plant, leaf, and shrub had shriveled up into nothingness.
Gamma was still quite invisible, but the excess amount of moss, scum, and dead leaves had clung onto a mysterious blank spot in the water. The plants made a small outline indicating a Keronian's hat and face.
As Gamma noted the unwanted guest, he dove underwater, and stayed there for several minutes in hopes that the Gem would leave. When he re-surfaced, he found Amethyst sitting down patiently by the water side.
"What do YOU want?" Gamma was not in the best of spirits.
"Idon'tknow..." the Gem shrugged. Everyone told me to come here, so I did! By the way, nice musk! You must give me the recipe sometime! I could prank SO MANY people with a smell like this..."
Gamma blushed "It's...biological. This smell wards off enemies when Keronians feel...erm...vonerable?" The frog attempted to find any word that would cloak his sadness and depression at the moment.
"Ah..." Amethyst nodded, not really understanding but wanting to change the subject. "Sooooooo...why do you feel vonerable anyway red? There's no bounty hunters or Diamonds anywhere around here..."
The purple Gem heard another "Bloop!" as the Keronian dove under the water again. It was pretty obvious that the frog didn't really want to talk all that much. The Amethyst recognized this behavior all too well. Something was on the creature's mind that was disturbing him. Since the smell wasn't terribly bothersome, Amethyst waited patiently by the water for the frog to resurface again.
She heard something breach the water about 30 minutes later. To Gamma's frustration, the Gem hadn't moved. She could hear the frog grumbling to himself.
Amethyst put her hands on her hips. "Now look here! I don't know what your problem is...but I ain't moving until you get...whatever it is...off your chest! I can stay here as long as you can- Hell, I don't even have to sleep or eat! Just spit out whatever's troubling you red! You'll feel a lot better- I should know!"
The frog grumbled a few more seconds, before caving in. "I- I'm a burden! Alright!? It's because of ME we can't go back to the house! It's because of ME Toaster and Acapella have to take defense classes! It's because of ME shooting at Yellow Diamond that we are all screwed in the first place! If I wasn't here...there would be no danger! If I wasn't here..." the frog stopped, sobbing slightly. "M-My old platoon...with my old platoon I used to be the one that would protect everyone. I was the weapons specialist, everyone relied on me to keep them safe. NOW it seems like I'm nothing more than a weak child. How am I supposed to protect anyone when I'M the reason the danger is following us in the first place?!" Gamma continued ranting on: "I don't have "special magical" powers! I can't reform, or transform, or fuse, or pull weapons from nothingness! I can't sing people to sleep, or create fireballs, or do ANYTHING like that! I'm the weakest one now! ME! The one that used to protect everyone...I am...completely useless...I can't see my family...Hell no one is allowed to even look at me on this planet! I'm just a speck of nothing that no one knows about-a piece of dust to be sat upon and shuffled about."
With another "bloop..." The frog sunk into the bog again. The smell increased. He...was so tired...so very, VERY tired.
Minutes passed.
When he resurfaced, Amethyst was gone. Figured as much. No one wanted to listen to a stupid sob story from a Keronian. The frog swam a couple more laps around the bog, wondering what to do now. Perhaps he could just stay here for the time being. Everyone would be safe...no one would have to worry about protecting him. Gamma sighed, and finally crawled out of the body of water. He began to clean himself of the bits of plant life that had been stuck onto his side. He wasn't sure what to do at this point. He figured the only decent thing would be to (at least) return to the house, and bare a fairwell. Toaster would certainly be upset, but it was the right thing to do to keep her safe.
The frog sadly walked along the shore again. Dusk was beginning to show it's face. He could see the lights on from Steven's home- wondering how on Keron he was going to break the sad news to the group. He sadly sauntered up the stairs, turned the pin on his hat, and opened the door...
At first, Gamma was unsure what he was looking at. The entire place was FILLED with different colored Keronians. The aliens had all frozen in place as the frog entered the home. It seemed he had interrupted some sort of odd activity involving everyone getting ready for a shindig.
Needless to say Gamma was...completely confused. It took a few seconds before he could process what was going on.
"NOES!" a red Keronian shoved Gamma out the door! "We're not readies yet! Out!" The mysterious Keronian led Gamma back out the door, and closed the entrance quickly.
The frog blinked in surprise! What the devil was going on?! He stood on his tip toes, and peeped through the window with a new-found curiosity. The whole house was filled with them! Keronians! Where had they come from? They were making food, setting up streamers, selecting music...everything needed for a party...
After several minutes, the same Keronian that had pushed him out the door re-appeared. "Okays! You can come in now! It's time to ate!"
Ate? It's time to ate?! Gamma squinted at the Keronian suspiciously. Sure enough, she had a ruby gemstone in the middle of her forehead.
Shape shifting.
As Gamma entered the room everyone yelled "Surprise!" in unison!
A dark red Keronian wearing a nifty pair of sunglasses approached. "Amethyst said that you were felling a bit down about being away from Keron, so we decided to plan this to cheer you up!"
"You better appreciate this you slime..." the yellow Keronian (formally known as Acapella) yelled from the stairway. "I've never even thought of taking such a ridiculous form before..."
Gamma looked around with stars in his eyes! "You guys did all this for ME?!"
"YEAH!" Toaster smiled. "If you want to be around Keronians, we don't have to look like Gems..."
"We are still family. No matter what we look like!" Amethyst nodded, reminding herself of all the times her form had been made fun of. She could certainly sympathize with the frog.
"Th-thank you! Thank you everyone!" Gamma had tears in his eyes. "I...I don't care what you guys look like either-as long as your safe...I just want to keep you all safe..."
Garnet put her hand on the Keronian's shoulder. "I think we can help out with that. I have a plan- a plan that will help you keep Acapella and Toaster safe." The fusion nodded in her froggy state.