"Ahem. Ahem." Peridot clears her throat. "As it seems I have no other options, I have conceded to reveal some important information to you Crystal Gems." She snaps her fingers, giving Steven his cue. He shuffles into our view wearing a cardboard box, leaving only his legs sticking out from the bottom. On the front towards us is a crudely drawn picture of the Earth. Peridot brings up her flyswatter. "This-!"
*Pat*
"Woah!" Steven yelps as she slaps the picture of the Earth with the flyswatter.
"… Is the Earth." She continues speaking and explaining the situation. "At the very center of the planet's core lies... the Cluster! Rotate." She instructs and Steven turns to the side, revealing now the center of the Earth's core with the apparent Cluster inside it, which is represented by a bunch of colorful scratches with colored pencils. "This is the Cluster." She says pointing at the scribble. "A massive, artificial fusion composed of millions of gem shards."
'Millions? Oh my god. The few I fought were bad but millions into one? Damn.' I think before shaking my head and leaning back against the counter while the others are around the counter as well, looking surprised at the monster.
"It has laid dormant for thousands of years within this planet's crust. When this Gem activates and takes its form, the result will be catastrophic." Peridot continues her explanation before hitting the box. "Now!"
This now being Steven's cue as he starts letting out some warbling sounds and bobs the box up and down. The gems lean forward in preparation for what might happen from the noises Steven is making. I just stare however and mostly want to know what to do about this monster that's literally under our feet. His noise making gets more frantic until, "BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" A green, snake-like puppet bursts through the cardboard wall of the earth with Steven making it roar. The gems all gasp at the implication. I smirk at his antics. 'I miss this.'
"What is that!?" Peridot angrily says to the kid in the box at the version of the Cluster he chose. Apparently she doesn't get the reference it represents.
"… It's the Cluster." Amazingly, Steven speaks and opens the puppets mouth as if it was the one speaking.
*Smack*
Peridot simply slaps the puppet with her swatter. "It does not look like that." She grumbles before turning back to the rest of us. "But it is real, and it can activate at any moment." She grimly tells us.
"Bwaaaah." Meanwhile Steven does the roar again but in a much quieter tone so as not to receive the green gems wrath.
"What a cluster." Amethyst says.
"That abomination must be stopped." Garnet states.
"You mean to tell me," I finally talk, getting everyones attention at the slightly annoyed face I adorn. "I have been kidnapped for over a month, dealt with the leaders crap every single day, fought my way through over a hundred men to escape… and now I have to deal with a planet-wide destroying fusion monster that could erupt at any moment and tear everything apart?!" My question and explanation gradually picks up volume as I get more angry at the fact that I am not able to rest after not being able to for a month. Everyone stares at me before as one they all nod, even Steven's little puppet nods too. My face falls to the grounds direction and I let out a sigh as I face palm. "Sure, why not? Let's go take out the Cluster." I sarcastically say.
"But how? We'll need to build some sort of machine to take us to the center of the Earth, it'll have to—"
"Hey!" Peridot suddenly almost swats at Pearl, interrupting her. "I wasn't finished speaking! What we need is to build some sort of machine to take us to the center of the Earth." She basically repeats what it is that Pearl was saying. "It'll need to withstand up to 360 gigapascals of pressure and temperatures of 9800 degrees." While she explains, Amethyst meanwhile is smiling at Pearl getting cut off, but she glares back at the purple gem, making her look back at Peridot.
"Well, we mustn't waste time. We need to start finding parts for this machine immediately." Pearl says.
"Agreed." I agree with her and get off my stool.
"Yes. Obviously. We'll start by dismantling all devices inside this dwelling."
"Wha?"
"Excuse me?" Steven and I question at Peridot's plan.
Before we can ask her to elaborate, she jumps into the kitchen and grabs the microwave. "This primitive radiation concentrator should come in handy!" She over describes the microwave and promptly tears it off and throws it onto the counter, breaking it. "This primitive vibration transmitter could possibly serve a function!" Next she moves onto the corded phone Steven owns, then smashes it. Finally she moves into Steven's room and grabs his TV.
"Oh no!" I yelp and move forward.
"There's a remote chance something useful could be inside this primitive image cube!"
"Whoa whoa whoa now!" I run up and grab the TV before she can smash it on the ground. The sudden weight of it as she nearly throws it at me makes me stumble backwards a few steps until I right myself and gently set it down. "You don't need to destroy everything Peridot! We can find stuff NOT in use."
"He's right!" Steven runs up the stairs to his bed, himself now sticking out of the hole he made in the box. "I have a better idea that doesn't involve destroying the house!"
"Good." I sigh in relief. 'I was not looking forward to keeping an eye on Peridot to make sure she doesn't destroy everything we own.'
"Classic Steven." I hear Amethyst comment amused at him.
While it does feel good to be back, I am still slightly ticked off on the fact that I don't have a moment to rest and now have to help make a drill capable of drilling to the center of the earth and take on a planet-wide killing fusion monster that could destroy everything I know and love.
Yeah, no pressure.
Inner hate aside, while we were all preparing to head off to where we needed to go for the parts, Steven and the gems gave me a quick rundown of what I had missed while gone.
Garnet was able to come to terms with what happened with Pearl from the Keystone trip, as well after Pearl nearly botched a mission to find Peridot in an old gem ship. Steven got a better understanding of that freaky kid Onion, which he didn't elaborate exactly but I didn't really want to know. Then there was a play that Jamie the mailman was a part of and Pearl was able to help since when it comes to the history of the town, she was literally there. Next Steven and Connie apparently dealt with some fusion monsters at the hospital after some paramedics had mistaken them for victim and now her mother knows about us, the gems and her training. It's safe to say that I'm a little worried about her knowing but Steven promises that she won't tell anyone. I'd like to make sure his promise is kept but we have more important matters to attend to.
Steven also tried to help Sadie sing for a thing called Beach-a-Palooza but things didn't go as planned. And finally they told about how they captured Peridot and how things led up to her eventually helping us. After poofing her and sending her to the lava room, Steven was curious about what Peridot said and released her. Interesting enough is that the small form she has now is her true form and the arms and legs she had before were actually her limb enhancers as she calls them. After some confusion about her not knowing how the earth works, Steven showed her how everything went and that earned her trust enough for her to show him what the Cluster was. Some more convincing was needed, in the form of the gems saving Steven and Peridot from fusion monsters in the Kindergarten, for her to trust them too or at least tolerate them. Interesting turn of events but not as interesting as what Amethyst showed me.
"Hang on Marcus." Amethyst grabs my hand and prevents us from getting onto the warp pad with the others. I and everyone else look at her weird before she nods to the others. "You guys go on. I have to talk to him about something."
"What?! Now?! We don't have time for –!"
"See ya." Garnet simply says and teleports her, Pearl, Steven and interrupting Peridot to the destination.
Now that we aren't going with the others, I turn to her. "Alright, what'd you need Amethyst?" I ask.
She looks at the warp pad for a second to make sure the others don't come right back before moving to the temple door. "Hold on a sec!" She calls back to me and rushes into her room.
Now I'm standing here awkwardly not doing anything and unsure what it is that Amethyst wanted me to see. Thankfully I don't have to wait long as her door opens right back up and she comes out holding something by the arms full. My eyes widen as I recognize what it is that she wanted me to see and I'm glad. "What the…? Amethyst, these are…?" I let the question hang as she transfers them into my arms.
"Yep! Peridot's limb enhancers." She states proudly and I can't help but stare at them in awe. "Well, almost all of them. Steven gave her her leg so you'll have to make do with only one." True to her word, I only count one leg in the batch I have in my arms but I do have the arms and fingers as well.
"Amethyst… this is perfect!" I happily state, excited at the idea of what I can do and make with these things. "Thank you but, why do you have these? I'd figure you guys would have trashed them so she wouldn't get the chance to use them." I question. Usually it's me that prevents them from destroying anything that I could use to either help me or all of us in general. My droids being a perfect example of that.
"Well, I figured if you were here, you would have stopped us from throwing away or breaking them. So until you came back I decided to hold onto them and give them to you so you can do something with them." She explains. She looks at the pile in my arms before looking back up at my face. "Can you do something with them?" She asks.
I stare at her for a bit before staring down at the parts. As I look at them, I recall all the memories of when Peridot used these enhancers to fight us or escape. The transparent terminal or console she can make, the blasters, stun arcs, helicopter transformation, the ability to scale walls.
I smile. "Yes, I believe I can."
Unfortunately we have more pressing matters to attend to so after a quick stop at my house to drop them off in my base, we head off to where we need to go.
It doesn't take long for us to be lead to the place that Steven proposes we use to make the drill. 'Man, it seems like so long ago since we've been back to the barn.' I mentally say as I stare at the barn in front of us.
"All right." I look back as Pearl begins her explanation to Peridot. "What we have here in the barn should be adequate enough for us to get started. First, I recommend we organize the component types and assemble a rough blueprint based off what we have available." She concocts a plan as we walk over to the chalkboard that Steven I sitting next to and swiveling in his chair with a smile on his face. "Ugh... sorry, Steven, it's a lovely drawing but it won't look like this." Pearl evidently crushes the kids spirit of his drill drawing as his spinning now gravitates to a stop and he frowns. Peridot meanwhile picks up a piece of chalk and examines it. "And if there is something that we do need but don't have, Marcus should be able to procure any necessity's we would need. Right?" I nod at Pearl's question. Peridot then gives the chalk to Pearl.
"Hmm. Good, yes, this is adequate. Thank you. You can go now." Peridot thanks her and she shoos off Pearl.
Confused, she exchanges glances with Steven and I, and we do the same to her. "Uh, what?" She asks confused.
"Hm? Um, that will be all?" Peridot tries to shoo off Pearl again. She even goes as far as clapping her hands as a way to magically make her leave. Pearl looks at Peridot incredulously. "How do you get her to leave?" Peridot whispers to Steven and I. The two of us look at each other confused by what she means while Pearl looks angry.
"Excuse me, I am not leaving." She states firmly and irked at being commanded to leave.
"Yeah! She's gotta stay here to help us build the drill thing, right?" Steven says and I agree with him.
"I don't know anyone better to help." I say in agreement.
Peridot meanwhile laughs at the idea of Pearl apparently helping us. "No, no. You're confused. A pearl can't build a thing like this." She says in slight amusement.
"Why not?" Steven asks.
"Yeah, why not?" I ask a bit more forcefully as to what makes it so amusing to her.
"Because pearls aren't for this! They're for standing around, and looking nice, and holding your stuff for you... right?" Peridot apparently explains while Pearl pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration.
"That's enough! If we're going to work together, you're going to have to listen to me." Pearl puts her foot down on her position on the matter.
"Listen to you?" Peridot mocks then laughs before looking to Steven and I. "Did you teach her to talk like this?" Pearl looks at Peridot angrily. I stare confused at her and exactly what she's getting at.
"What are you talking about?"
"Care to clarify?" Steven and I ask her about what she means.
"She's a pearl." She says like it's the most obvious truth in the world to us. "She's a made-to-order servant just like the hundreds of other pearls being flaunted around back on Homeworld."
"Servant? Flaunt?" I question her choice of words to describe pearls in general. 'Almost sounds like she's describing the Pearls as some sort of sl—' My eyes widen as I remember what Pearl told me after we had found Rose's scabbard. "Oh no."
"Wait… there's hundreds of pearls!?" Steven questions.
"Well, yes, bu—" Pearl begins to say as she blushes but Peridot grabbing her sash interrupts her.
"And she looks like a fancy one, too." Peridot comments, making Pearl gasp. I just stare in surprise and slight annoyance at how handsy and nosy Peridot is being right now at dealing with Pearl, our Pearl.
"Hundreds of pearls…" Steven whispers the words, obviously a little surprised at the fact that Pearl isn't the only Pearl out there but in fact can range to hundreds of them. I'm a little surprised too since I know there are multiple gems of the same kind but I didn't really think there are literally hundreds of pearls so easily.
"So, who do you belong to anyway?" Peridot questions Pearl. I slap the green hands, making her let go of her sash.
"Hands off!" I yell at her.
"NOBODY!" Pearl grabs her sash to avoid the green gem from picking it back up.
Peridot meanwhile stares at me crossly for slapping her hands. She rubs them a little before looking confused at Pearl this time. "Then… what are you for?" She asks. Pearl recoils at the question asked. "Well, you can belong to me for now. Ha! A peridot with a pearl, what would they say back home?" She boasts to herself. I just look surprised and horrified at her. 'What the hell?!' I scream in my head at how blatant she's being.
"Now listen here, you tiny twerp!" Pearl starts to get angry at the disrespect that Peridot is showing her. "In case you've forgotten, you're on our turf now! And I didn't fight a thousand-year war for this planet's independence to take orders from the likes of you!" She yells at the green gems face.
"Excuse me? I am a natural technician and a certified Kindergartener. I was made for this! You were made to take orders, not to give them!" Peridot says as the two of them glare at each other.
"Hey now careful." I warn them as I come a little closer and edge them away from each other. "We still need to build the drill so please don't kill each other."
"Yeah, hang on guys!" Steven jumps in as well, adding in my effort to calm them. "Now, we can all agree that you are both good at building things, so can't you just try listening to each other?"
"Yeah. I'm sure if the both of you work together—"
"NO!" The both of them yell at the same time.
"Gah!" I yelp at the loudness of their voices and the momentary look of pissed off anger on her face, making me take a wide step back and drag Steven with me.
"I'm as good at building things as you. Better, even!"
"Hah! Name one thing you can engineer better! Go on!" Pearl and Peridot go back to arguing with each other. 'Geez you two. I know some harsh and insulting statements were exchanged but we really have bigger things to worry about. How are we—'
"Robots."
"Hmm?"
"Huh?" Pearl, Peridot, who heard Steven whisper, and I look at the kid curiously.
"You should build robots." He still whispers but his next words gain more volume. "Giant robots! I see a race. A giant robo-race! With prizes! Giant robo-prizes!" He boisterously says as he stares off into space, fantasizing about this robo-fight he's thinking about.
"You mean like a competition?" Pearl asks, to which he responds happily.
"Yeah! To see who's better at building stuff!"
"What are these robots you speak of?" Peridot asks a question that makes me all kinds of confused. "What?" She asks me after looking at my confused expression.
"Really? You don't know about robots?" I ask her. "What about your robonoids? Those are robots." I state.
"Except giant robots are bigger, and you can ride them!" Steven adds then stiffens his body up and proceeds to do some robot movements, plus makes the sounds to go along with it.
"Hah, building one of these robots will be easy!" Peridot boasts.
"Well, I can build one faster!"
"Hey!" Pearl in her haste barrels past me into the barn and almost knocks me down.
"That's what you think!"
"Arh!" Peridot however does knock me down as she too goes into the barn after Pearl. "Ow."
"You okay?"
"Peachy." I grumble as Steven helps me stand. Taking his hand, he hoists me up to my feet. "Thanks." I thank him. He smiles at the compliment and we both turn to the barn entrance and watch the duo work on their respective robots. "Wow, they're really going at it." I comment as they make incredible progress right off the bat.
Steven nods in awe as they work. Not even a minute passes before I hear some footsteps behind us. Turning back I see Garnet and Amethyst walking towards us. "Yo Steven Marcus, how are the wonder nerds doing?" She asks us but as soon as she opens her eyes she notices just what's going on. "Woah! Wh-what's going on? Are they building the drill?"
"No. We're building robots now." Steven answers, not looking away from the building.
Amethyst looks confused while Garnet looks at me. "Explain."
"They're challenging each other's building intelligence so their building robots to SEE WHO'S IS BETTER!" My explanation increases in volume as the construction sounds get louder, forcing us to cover our ears.
"What'd you say!?" Amethyst tries to shout over the construction sounds but only barely.
"I said- Look out!" I begin to say but a large mass moving out from inside the barn makes me warn everyone as I grab Steven and roll out of the way. Something big and massive zooms past us really fast. Looking back to where it sped off to, Steven and I look to see a giant tall robot with a big body with a cone on the front but the legs and arms are pretty skinny and lanky. The feet also are instead tires, making the machine move seamlessly with speed and ease. The robot spins around in a very graceful set of moves before coming to a stop and it's pilot stands up. As obvious as it was, Pearl is the one that stands tall in her robot mech, donning her space suit from when Steven, her and I tried to go to space. "Whoa." I mutter in awe at the machine.
"GIANT ROBOT!" Steven's awe of the machine is a lot bigger than mine as he happily states what's in front of us.
"Hah! Pathetic." I hear the familiar annoying voice of Peridot followed by thudding sounds. Turning back to the barn, Peridot now shows us her robotic mech. The giant machine is definitely different and the opposite of what Pearls is. The tiny green gems robot is green like her, but slightly shorter and beefier looking. "Now, behold, my vision of ultimate power!" She loudly declares and starts thrusting her large menacing clawed appendages into the air. She laughs as she continues to pump her arms up and down in a show boasting about her great her machine is. As she looks over at Pearl, she stops with a gasp. "Hey!" She complains at seeing the size difference between the two.
"Mine's taller. I win." Pearl happily states. I however gape at the two robots in complete and utter befuddlement. I look back at the barn, then at them, then back, and forth, and this goes on until my head hurts. "Wha… but… they… robots… quick… can't…" I mumble incoherently.
"I got you." Garnet drags me away as I can't move because I'm trying to process how quick they were able to make them.
'Wow… I really need to do better myself.' I can't help but think how fast I build, and how FAST they build. 'Maybe it's the competition?... I don't know.'
"Ladies, gentleman,"
"Thank you!"
"And gentle-Gems, welcome to the first annual Robolympics!"
"Woo!"
"Popcorn!"
I duck a little as Amethyst in her excitement tosses a few pieces of popcorn all over the place. After I stopped questioning exactly how they were able to build their giant robots so quick, things felt a bit better as Garnet, Amethyst and I sit on some benches to watch the competition. Steven is going to be the referee for this competition and determine who is the best at building. "This competition will test our robo-engineers' skills of robo-construction and robo-piloting. Whoever wins will get to be in charge of building the Cluster-drill-machine-thing. Let the games begin!" He announces the commencement of the competition.
'Personally I have to root for Pearl but while she's good, Peridot is literally made to be a tech engineer and she has the advantage of modern day gem tech. However, Peridot's boastful and bigheadedness might just make her slip up enough and render all that advanced tech useless in a fight against someone who's had thousands of years of combat experience.' I analyze both opponents and how they might fare. Until I see them perform exactly will we see just how good they can be.
As the day progresses, Pearl and Peridot begin competing on the various aspects of their machines, including balance, which Pearl won, crushing, Peridot got that one and for some reason a cuckoo bird comes out Pearls bot as she almost crushes herself with a rock, grace, obviously Pearl, jumping, I thought Pearl would get that one but Peridot did due to some springs that send her practically to space, speed, although the tree won that one as they both crashed into it, and some other categories that Steven feels were necessary but I don't, such as ballet, art, and rock-paper-scissors. Other competitions include jumping jacks, tug-of-war, and projectile strength. Although with the art one, Steven chooses to declare it inconclusive as it is subjective. Ultimately at the final test, the two tie in terms of points, leading to a final round at early evening, involving them tossing of trucks.
"Alright guys, this is the final event!" Steven announces.
"You got this, P!" Amethyst cheers her on.
"Get it, girl!" Garnet too.
"Show her who's the boss!" I cheer her on as well.
"Hm!" Pearl looks back at us and smirks at us and our cheering for her. I can't help but glance over to the side and notice that Peridot is frowning at Pearl, no doubt because she's getting more love on winning than her.
"Ready, set, CHUCK!" Steven gives them the signal and they take it. Both of them dash forward, grab their trucks and toss them far off into the mountainous areas. After waiting for a few seconds, we expect to hear the sounds of the vehicles crashing into the ground, but there's nothing.
"Woah." Steven, Garnet, Amethyst and I can't help but say in awe at how far they threw those vehicles. The three of them look at each other before turning to me. "Marcus?" He says my name in a questioning manner. Knowing what he means, I let out a frustrated sigh and start walking back to the barn. Grabbing my Barrett as I pass by the bench, you know in case Peridot tried anything funny, and I proceed to climb up the side of the barn.
"What is he doing?" Peridot asks.
"Checking to see who won." Pearl answers.
Once I make it to the top, stand at the edge and look down my scope to try to find the tossed trucks. It takes a bit of roaming along the mountain to try to find something but eventually I find out that they didn't throw the trucks at the mountain but over it instead. "Oh boy." I moan as I let the rifle hang low.
"Well?!" Both Pearl and Peridot impatiently yell up at me.
"Oh yeah." I say sarcastically. For a moment they both look happy, "Those things are gone." And then I crush their spirits. "You threw them PAST the mountain! Unless you want to go searching, then we got a tie!" I announce to everyone on the ground. With a simple step off, I fall and slam into the ground with ease. Slinging my rifle onto my back, I walkover as Steven declares the winner, or winners in this case.
"You both get a point on that one." He states and we congregate closer to the barn to look at the score board. "Hmm, hmm." My brother hums as he counts up the points of both players. "Looks like our final score is... a tie!" He officially declares. "Welp, that settles it. You both get to lead the project together!" He happily tells them but they don't look as enthusiastically as Steven does.
"No! This isn't over! I demand we have a tiebreaker!" Peridot complains and demands.
"Ugh, let's just give it a rest! That's it, we tied, we're the same, let's move on." Pearl says and tries to concede to the green gem about their skills but Peridot will have none of it. As Pearl begins driving away, Peridot reaches out and grabs her arm with her robot claws and stops her from going any further.
"No! You're a pearl! You are beneath me! I'll always be better than you and nothing I've seen today will ever change that!" Peridot yells.
Pearl looks angrily at the green gem and I can't really blame her from the outright disregard she has for the pale gem. "Well, have you ever seen a pearl do this!?" For her retort, Pearl brings her leg and kick Peridot's robot, sending her flying back and landing on it's back. 'Holy crap.' I gape at the action while Steven, Garnet, and Amethyst audibly gasp, with Amethyst dropping her popcorn.
"So, you want to fight!?" Peridot challengers Pearl and snaps her robot's claws. "Good. We should've done this from the beginning!" With a laugh, she dashes forward and smacks Pearl's robot away, sending her flying towards us. Garnet grabs Steven and both her and Amethyst jump away while I tumble roll out of the way of the flying mech. The chalkboard also took a hit and is sent rolling towards me.
"Pearl!" Steven cries out.
"You alright?!" I call out to the gem to see if she's alright.
"It's alright, guys! I've got this." She reassures us.
"Be careful!"
"Good luck!" I wish her luck.
"Kick her in the butt!"
"Kick her butt Amethyst!" I correct the purple gem, although I hope I'm correcting her and she literally doesn't mean for Pearl to kick her in the butt.
Before we can say anymore, Peridot rushes Pearl and attempts to attack her while she's down but she manages to turn her bot around, blocking Peridot's attack and forces the two of them both to lock hands.
"This is pointless! There's no way you're gonna beat me! You're an accessory! Somebody's shiny toy! Where do you get off acting like your own gem?!" In Peridot's anger fueled rant, she rips off one of the arms off of Pearl's robot. "You're just a PEARL!" She sneers at her.
For a moment I'm tempted to jump in an stop this but the grimace on Pearl's face turns to one of determination. "That's right! I am A PEARL!"
*Smack*
To everyone's surprise, including my own on so many levels, Pearl punches Peridot. Literally she punches her and my mind takes a second to process that as the others gasp while I gape.
"WOOO-HOOOO!"
"YEEEEAAAAH! HAHAHAAAA! TAKE HER DOWN PEARL!" Amethyst and I loudly cheer her on.
Pearl moves back away from the green gem and gets up. "What you're saying may be true, but it doesn't matter!" Pearl's robot jumps up high into the air. "I'm still gonna kick your butt!" She states as she comes back down to earth with her legs poised to strike. We stare in anticipation as Pearl comes down to hit Peridot's machine with a devastating blow.
Unfortunately, Peridot was just a little faster as the second Pearl's leg gets close enough, Peridot's clawed arm grabs the leg just before she strikes. The green gem chuckles evilly and happily at the vulnerable position that she has Pearl in.
"Uh-oh." Pearl and I say at almost the exact same time just before the onslaught begins. Peridot swings Pearls robot down and makes it slam into the ground repeatedly over and over again, making the rest of us flinch at each impact. Once it stops, my rifle is already out and ready to fire but Peridot stands back from her defeated opponent.
"PEARL!" All of us call out her name in worry. Thankfully though she doesn't look badly injured, only dazed.
"HAHAHaaaa! Victory is mine! Now I'm the one in charge! Praise me, praise—"
"Pearl, are you okay?"
"Move it pint-size!"
"Arh!" Peridot lets out a strangled yell as I push past her towards Pearl. Quickly moving towards the downed robot, I grab an edge of the machine and lift it up a bit, allowing an easier time for the others to pull the pilot out. After she's clear, I drop the machine and we all crowd around Pearl.
"Ah, I'm alright."
"Ohh, that's good." I breathe a sigh of relief at her wellness. That whole thing was crazy and didn't look pleasant at all.
Amethyst quickly rushes forward and gives Pearl a hug. "Yeah, P! Aww, that was awesome! You were hardcore!" In her excited state, Amethyst punches Pearl in arm playfully.
"Oh… really?" Pearl asks as she rubs the spot where she was punched. We all nod.
"Oh yeah." Garnet says while also placing her hand on top of Pearl's head.
"Definitely. Straight out anime right there." I compliment her with a giddy smile now that I know she's fine. True she lost but the fight was also pretty cool nonetheless.
"Hey!" A loud yell gets our attention. Turning to the voice shows Peridot looking angry while also sporting a bruise on her cheek when Pearl punched her. 'That was still awesome.' "Why aren't you listening to me!? I won! I'm the natural leader here! She's just a common pearl!" She rants, making me increasingly angry with every word.
"Oh hohoho listen hear you little—!"
"You're wrong!" Steven's voice stops me from letting loose my own retort that might not be suitable for Steven. "If pearls are really like you say they are, then Pearl isn't common at all!" Garnet, Amethyst and myself look on smiling at the kids statement, even Pearl blushes and smiles at the complement. "She trained herself to fight! She learned how to build things! And she works hard every day to be greater than she already is! That's not common; that's amazing!" He finishes his speech with a smile.
There is a moment of silence throughout everyone here. I cross my arms as Steven looks at all of us and when his eyes lands on me, I give him a thumbs up. 'Never change Steven. Never change.'
"Come on, let's clean up this mess." Garnet tells us. With a nod we all start congregating towards to where all the robot parts were strung about.
"Pearl, hah, you should come wrestling with me." Amethyst proposes.
"Uh… I dunno…" She's hesitant however of the idea to wrestle.
"Well, can you at least give me the specs to your robot? This whole robots fighting has got me very interested in making my own." I ask her. Ever since more of my memories have been unlocked, plus Peridot's limb enhancers, new ideas have spilled forth for me to make who knows what.
"I didn't write any plans down. I suppose if you give me some time I can draw up the proper blueprints for my robot."
"Thank you. That'd be awesome."
"B-b-but I won! What about the rules!?" Peridot demands. Garnet and I stop and look at the green gem. After we look at each other, we give her our answer.
"Welcome to Earth." We both tell her simultaneously and go to help the others.
A couple hours pass and the sun is already starting to set on the horizon and we've got a good chunk of the materials cleared out around us. As Garnet and Amethyst start piling Pearl's broken robot in the barn, I stand next to Steven and we watch as Perdot walks over to Pearl carrying a drill.
She clears her throat before speaking. "I have to admit, it's... remarkable that a Pearl such as yourself could become such a... knowledgeable technician. Mmm... Why don't we get started?" Peridot says and holds up the drill, upside down mind you.
"You're holding it upside down." Pearl tells her as she takes the drill and hands it back, right side up this time.
The green gem blushes at having gotten something simple wrong. "Y-yes. Of course. Y'know, those round appendages on your machine could be useful for something."
"They're called wheels."
"Oh boy." I groan at the slight lack of info that Peridot apparently might not possess.
"Ahhh, looks like we're well on our way to stopping the Cluster." Steven says with a smile, a little happy at the turnaround that the two gems have done.
"You think you can stop me?" A slightly gravely voice of Steven makes me look at him to see him holding up the cluster puppet he used as a demonstration.
"Aaaaaaah!"
"Raaaarrrhh!"
Steven yells in playful terror as he makes the puppet pretend to devour him. "Ah, we're doomed!" He cries out as he falls to the ground.
I can't help but smile at his antics and how much I really have missed him. 'Good to be back. Really good to be back.' I think with a smile. As I look around, I notice a particularly large rock in the ground that may get in our way. 'Eh, may as well.' With a shrug, I leave Steven to be devoured by the cloth terror and walk over to move the thing. As I go to it, I catch Pearl's eye and for some reason she smiles like she has an idea.
"You know, since I know we still have our differences, I propose the two of us work together while having someone else oversee our work and make sure we are on the right track." Pearl pitches the idea to Peridot.
She looks skeptic at the tall gem. "Really? And who pray tell is skilled enough, smart enough and leader capable enough to be the leader of the both of us?" Peridot asks, skepticism oozing in waves at which one of us could oversee their work. I mentally contemplate as I pick up a giant piece of rock that could get in our way. 'Probably Steven or Garnet. Thought neither one of them has as much experience in working with machines than Peridot and Pearl. So that would only lead—'
"Marcus."
*Thud*
"OW!"
"What?" I question at my name being called, making me drop the rock on Amethysts foot, who is now bouncing around on one foot while gripping the crushed one in her hands.
"Who?" Peridot asks confused, like she doesn't remember my face with the name.
"Him." Pearl points at me. Seeing me standing here awkwardly, Peridot's eyes widen in surprise.
"HIM?!" She cries out in surprise and confusion while also pointing a finger at me.
"Geez don't act so surprised." I mutter with crossed arms, slightly miffed at her surprise of me.
"Yes him. There is without a doubt that he is as much, possibly even more, technologically adept at building stuff as the both us. Since the both of us will no doubt come to disagreements on some issues, under his guise will he make sure that everything goes smoothly because he sees the bigger picture." She explains. I can't help but smile at Pearls spot on description for me. True to her words, I'm not really that privy to Peridot but the cluster will destroy everyone on this planet, me and Peridot included so I'm willing to put my differences aside to make sure we destroy this thing.
"But he's a human! Granted a powerful and very scary human creature of some kind, but there's no way he's smart enough as me, let alone YOU, to be qualified to oversee OUR work!" Peridot loudly rants as she flails her arms around.
"Peridot I assure you he is more than capable—" Pearl tries to reason but is interrupted.
"No! Unless he proves himself will I never even consider looking to him for technical advice!" She loudly and firmly states with her arms crossed.
"Seriously?" I ask her incredulously. "We just went through this crap already! What do I have to do to prove that I know my stuff and am not dim-witted as you think I am?!" I ask more than slightly annoyed.
There is a tense silence for everyone as Peridot considers what I said. Slowly, everyone turns to her still hulking and intact robot. As soon as her face turns back to me, she has the same smug and creepy grin on her face as when she was pulverizing Pearl. "He he heeee." She chuckles darkly.
My demeanor takes a dive downwards as my shoulders slump. "Aw crap." I moan. 'Looks like I'm not getting any sleep tonight.'
And scene. Ahhhh, feels good to get back into working on episode chapters. As you may have guessed from the ending of this chapter, things are going to be a bit more complicated for Marcus. You'd think Peridot would be a bit more willing to NOT piss off the human creature that could turn into a demonic homicidal monster that could tear her apart limb from limb but when it comes to intelligence, she just can't stand the idea of said brute being smarter than her.
Ah well. The next chapter may be a bit shorter than what you expect from me but since it'll be my own, and it'll revolve primarily around a fight will I expect it to be around 3000 words or less. I don't have anything major planned for it so that's why I don't imagine it's going to be as long.
Nothing new has happened to me besides playing some GTA V more often in an attempt to scrounge up more money so I can become a CEO and purchase a bunker so I can do some weapon upgrades and such. Some of my friends also don't like playing it as much considering the amount some items cost so I want to purchase and get as much as I can so we have more to play with it. I do the same gameplay time with For Honor, I just need to move my willingness to play that over and over again to GTA and get lots of money for it. Don't know how effective it'll be but I won't know until I try. I'm up around $500k in the past few days so I must be doing something alright.
Either way though, my future plans of note will be RTX so that's something I'm going to look forward to. Also I changed my profile name from Xcantax to Vendicor so no one gets confused. No particular reason just thought I could try something different.
In any case, thank you all for your support, have a great day and as always, have fun reading.
