And Here it is folks, the next chapter of Jet's Universe. It took some time but it's finish and I do hope that you like it. I'm not confident in this chapter as I saw a lot of issues with it and felt as though it was rushed, even though this chapter went through some revisions on my part. Hopefully, this chapter makes some sense. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and as always, the characters in this story belong to Rebecca Sugar.
Chapter 27
Clash on Mask Island
Jet and Steven were sitting on the grass; both of their eyes closed and were sitting across from one another. Steven had asked Jet to teach him the art of mediation since Jet seemed more relaxed than what he was before. Jet had smiled at the thought that Steven wanted to learn this technique from him. The gang was once again at the barn, as this became a regular routine for them. Jet didn't mind it so much; it was a nice change of scenery.
"Clear your mind of unnecessary thoughts." Jet said his eyes still closed. "See if you can sense the natural world around you."
"That sounds tough." Steven said, his eyes still closed as well.
"It can be." Jet said. "It's OK if you don't get it this time around. After all, this is your first time trying this." Steven nodded his head and took a deep breath. He started to block out the sounds around him and he started to see something.
"What's going on?" Steven said, to himself. As soon as he asked himself that, the vision that was starting to appear to him disappeared. Steven took another deep breath, curious at what his mind was trying to get him to see.
Inside of Steven's Mind
Steven was on an island from what he could tell and he was surrounded by beautiful lush jungle. Steven started to walk as if a voice was calling out to him. Steven walked closer to the sound of the voice and the closer he got, the farther away from the jungle he was walking from. Steven was trying to figure out who was actually calling out to him. Steven continued to walk towards the voice until he realized he was on the edge of a cliff. Steven looked around and noticed that not only did the voice that was calling him stopped but also that there was no one there.
"Hello?" Steven called out, looking around him. "Is there anyone here?" Steven continued to look around until he heard the sound of rumbling. Steven looked down from the cliff and noticed that there was an ocean visible there. He also noticed that there were bubbles that started to reach the surface.
Steven continued to look down until a giant figure appeared in front of him. Steven let out a gasp as the figure revealed itself to be Malachite. She had her eyes closed when she emerged but when she opened them, her eyes narrowed on Steven.
"Steven!" She growled and before she could do anything, the real Steven's eyes snapped open.
Steven was laying on the ground breathing hard as he was starting to sweat. He looked around and noticed that the others were nearby. He also noticed that Jet was staring at him.
"You Okay?" Jet asked, still in the same posture as before.
"Didn't you feel that?" Peridot asked, standing on a box presented before her.
"Feel what?" Amethyst asked munching on a sandwich.
"The ground shook!" Peridot stated. "This could be the start of the emergence of the cluster." She pointed at the chalkboard that was beside her. It had drawing of scribbles on it. "Stage one; slight tremors every quarter hour. Stage two; full scale earthquakes. Stage three…" She flipped the chalkboard to reveal what appeared to be a shattered Earth. "The Earth is destroyed! We are running out of time! We need to drill right now!"
"No!" Steven said, standing up. "It's Malachite!"
"Malachite!?" Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl said in unison.
"What?" Peridot said, making a face that said 'what are you talking about'.
"I was mediating when all of the sudden she appeared." Steven started to explain. "Judging by my surroundings, she appeared to be on Mask Island."
"Lapis Lazuli is losing control." Garnet said, causing Pearl and Amethyst to look at her. Peridot rolled her eyes; she didn't care at the moment. "Soon, Jasper will overpower her and Malachite will be loose."
"Who knows what sort of destruction an unstable fusion like Malachite could cause?" Pearl stated, causing Amethyst to choke on her sandwich.
"Alright gems," Garnet started, placing her hands on her hips. "Pearl, Amethyst and I will warp to Mask Island…"
"I'm coming too." Jet said, grabbing his trench coat and getting himself off the ground. "I haven't been in any serious action lately and I can use the exercise." Garnet let a slight smile appear on her face then her attention shifted to Steven.
"Steven, it's too dangerous for you to come." Garnet said. "Stay here and watch after the drill with Peridot." Steven nodded his head in response.
"Let's go gems!" Garnet stated, pointing in front of her. "To the nearest warp pad!"
"To the nearest warp pad!" Pearl and Amethyst restated. Jet sweat dropped upon hearing that.
"Do I have to say too?" Jet asked, as the others took off towards the nearest warp pad.
Jet and the others appeared on Mask Island (they were currently standing on the beach) via warp and Jet let out a whistle. He was impressed, as he took a look at the deserted Island. There was lush ground as far as he could see. He could even see a giant waterfall in the distance. Before Jet could take in anymore of the gorgeous island, the island itself started to rumble.
"Alright here's the plan." Garnet started, getting the attention of the others. "Pearl, Amethyst and I are going to fuse. Jet, you provided support only if Alexandrite is in a bind." Jet pouted a little but nodded his head in response. He wanted to get in the action himself but Garnet just assured him that Alexandrite could handle Malachite with no problems.
There was another rumble and Malachite emerged from the water, her chains still intact.
"Alright, let's put an end to this." Garnet said with her arms folded. Pearl and Amethyst started to dance near Garnet as she snapped her fingers. Jet threw on his trench coat and jumped back as the trio was engulfed in light. Jet watched the light grow in size until the light vanished and Alexandrite appeared.
"It's nice to see you again." Jet said looking up at her, smiling a bit. She briefly looked at him before focusing her eyes on Malachite, who was still in the ocean trying to break free from her chains. She had her back turned from the gang.
"Give up." Malachite said to herself, finally breaking free of her chains. She rubbed her wrists and let out a breath of relief. "I'm impressed. You really held out." Jet raised an eyebrow, wondering who she was talking to.
"Malachite!" Alexandrite yelled, getting her attention.
"They're here." She muttered to herself. She grunted in frustration. "Ugh. Stop! Pathetic! Don't you see? We've been holding us back for too long and for what?" She turned around and gives out a wicked smile. "If we're gonna be this thing together, why don't we have some fun?"
"We don't have to fight." Alexandrite said, noticing the wicked smile. "You're outnumbered.
"I maybe outnumbered," Malachite said as her smile grew even wider. She started to form giant water hands on both sides of herself. "But you're out of your depth!" As soon as Malachite finished her statement, the water hands clenched into fists. "I can't wait to tear you gems apart!"
Alexandrite let out a roar and started to rush towards Malachite. Jet had to jump back a few more feet because of the waves that Alexandrite created by her running.
'A battle between two fusions huh?' Jet started to think, the wind started to make his trench coat wave. 'This outta be one hell of a fight.'
Alexandrite continued to rush towards Malachite until Malachite threw a water fist at her. Alexandrite easily dodged it and leaped into the air. Malachite let a twisted smiled form on her face and sent a water hand towards Alexandrite. This time, however, Alexandrite couldn't dodge and the water hand had a nice grip on her. Alexandrite lifted her head a little to reveal her second mouth and blew fire on the water that held her captive. The water quickly evaporated, freeing her. She then blew fire in Malachite's direction. Malachite scoffed and ducked underwater to avoid getting hit.
Malachite emerged and held water bubbles in her hands. She turned them into shards of ice and threw them towards Alexandrite's direction. Alexandrite quickly broke the shards by summoning a whip, shattering them in the process. She then summoned a bow from the existing whip and shot a light arrow at Malachite. Little did Malachite know that the single arrow split into multiple, smaller ones. Malachite smirked and summoned a pillar of water, which quickly turned to ice. She had a wall of protection in front of her.
'Damn.' Jet thought, watching the battle with slight anticipation. 'Home field advantage indeed.' An explosion knocked Jet out of his thoughts as Alexandrite's arrows hit the pillar of ice. Malachite then proceeded to grow water wings from her back and took off towards the sky.
Alexandrite looked at her with slight awe before that turned in surprise. Malachite was headed toward her, with Jasper's weapon located on her head. Before Alexandrite could even react, Malachite slammed into her stomach with enough force to push her toward the island. Smoke and flames covered the ground when they landed and Jet saw this as an opportunity to help out Alexandrite. He closed his eyes, electricity slowly swirling around him. His hands changing into to claws and his teeth growing sharper by the second. He slowly opened his eyes and they were a fierce golden.
"Hmm..." Jet said looking at his hand, as electricity poured out."This should do it, 65% should be enough..." He looked at the smoke that had covered Malachite and Alexandrite from the impacted they made.
When the smoke cleared, Malachite was on top off Alexandrite. Malachite was breathing hard as she placed one of her four feet on top of Alexandrite's head.
"No..." Alexandrite muttered, slowly tilting her head in Jet's direction. "Not yet." Jet's eyes widen at her response. Malachite also looked in Jet's direction and her eyes widen as well.
"You!" She said, stepping off of Alexandrite. Alexandrite took this opportunity to catch Malachite off guard. She grabbed Malachite's foot and pushed her off of her. Malachite's attention shifted from Jet to looked at Alexandrite in surprised before smiling a twisted smile again.
"Good." Malachite said, watching Alexandrite get to her feet. "I don't want the fun to end so soon. Let's make this fun for the both of us." Malachite rushed at Alexandrite, leaving Alexandrite with little time to react. Malachite managed to push Alexandrite towards a nearby cliff.
"You know, you're right..." Malachite started to say as Alexandrite was trying to get from her grasp. Alexandrite tilted up head to reveal another mouth. That mouth tried to blow out fire but Malachite punched her before she had the chance to do so. "There really is something more to this fusion thing. It's not just some cheap trick..." Malachite proceeded to punch Alexandrite in the stomach. Before Alexandrite could react to the pain she just felt, Malachite grabbed her by the legs and threw her towards the ocean. Alexandrite groaned when she hit the water, slamming on the surface hard.
"You've shown me a world of new possibilities..." Malachite continued as she slowly approached Alexandrite, who was trying to keep herself from de-fusing from excessive damage.
"Allow me to thank you!" Malachite said, as she from water hands from either side of Alexandrite. Malachite slammed her hands together and the water hands did the same, grabbing unto Alexandrite with a tight squeeze. Alexandrite started to scream in pain with Malachite started to squeeze tighter to the point where the water became ice.
"This is the end for you." Malachite said, smiling her twisted smile. "Now say goodb-" She couldn't finished as she saw Jet zooming towards her, slamming his fist into her face. She slid back from the impact, breaking the ice hands from Alexandrite.
"Catch your breath." Jet said, looking at Alexandrite. A field of electricity was swirling around him. "If anything, that punch probably pissed her off even more. Do you have anything that'll end this?"
"Yes." Alexandrite said, still trying to catch her breath. "Just give me a moment."
"You got it!" Jet said, smiling at her. A growl was heard as Malachite rubbed the spot where Jet hit her. She made her way towards him.
"Well, Well, Well." She said, cracking her knuckles. "Seems although Topaz failed in eliminating you. Figures. That was some punch though. Even stunned me a little."
'I'm holding back...' Jet thought, sweat-dropping a little. Malachite glared at Jet and he did the same to her.
"So..." Jet said, breaking the awkward silence between the two. "Are we gonna stare loving into each other's eyes or are we gonna fight?"
A vein appeared on Malachite forehead as she threw a fist towards Jet. Jet stood his ground as she seemly struck him with little effort. Malachite started to laugh, as the spot where Jet stood was covered in smoke. Her hand was still in contact with the spot.
"You talk a big game weakling." Malachite said, still laughing a bit. "But look at you now, crushed beneath my fist." Suddenly, Malachite's fist started to shake and she looked at it with shock on her face.
"What the hell is going on?" She asked, as her fist was being pushed upwards. The smoked cleared and Jet was standing with a semi-pissed look on his face. Beneath him was a small crater from the impact. He was pushing Malachite's fist with one hand, his eyes glowing a golden gleam to them.
"You know what?" He asked, firmly grasping Malachite's fist with two hands. Malachite still had a look of shock on her face as she stared at him. "I think I'm done holding back! You're about to endure 1,000,000 volts! Lapis...I'm Sorry."
With that last statement, Jet let out a scream of rage as he gathered up a ridiculous amount of electrical power. He was gathering so much that the sky darkened and Alexandrite looked a bit concern at what he was doing. She figured that now was the best time to intervene before Jet did anything too drastic. She got on her feet and summoned her flail (look it up, it's Sugulite's weapon).
Jet senses told him to take a look to where Alexandrite was locate. He let out a sigh and stopped his motions. When he did, the sky cleared and he pushed Malachite's fist away from him. Malachite was still looking at him in complete shock.
"Consider yourself lucky." Jet said, placing his hands in pockets and started to walk away. He deactivated his Berserker mode and closed his eyes. "Someone else has less harsher plans for you." Malachite raised an eyebrow at this.
"What does that mean?" Malachite said, noticing Jet walk away. "Hey! Come back here, weakling! We're not finished here yet!" Jet stopped walking and turned around, his eyes a fierce red.
"Oh?" Jet said in a teasing manner. "You wanna continue the dance? I would like to but it seems like she wants a dance with you." Malachite didn't have a chance to respond as Alexandrite's flail wrapped around her torso, smacking Malachite's face in the process.
"HEY!" Alexandrite yelled. "DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME!" Malachite grunted, as she was pulled towards her. Alexandrite wielded three of her arms back and slammed them it Malachite's stomach, causing Malachite to cough up spit.
'Less harsh than what I've would've done.' Jet thought, watching the fight with his arms folded. There was a burst of wind when Alexandrite punched Malachite. That burst caused his trench coat wave from the breeze.
Malachite was stunned from the punch that she was received and that gave Alexandrite the opportunity to summon her war hammer. With Malachite still dazed, Alexandrite delivered a huge blow to the chin. Malachite was sent airborne from that attack and had swirls in her eyes.
Malachite recovered and sprouted water wings from her back to gain back some sense of control. She looked down and growled at Alexandrite but that didn't last for long as her growl turned into a gasp. In the water, Alexandrite was charging an attack from her bow she had form while Malachite was airborne.
"You two should spend sometime apart." Alexandrite said, firing the arrow at Malachite. The arrow had a silhouette of Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl could be seen within it before hitting Malachite. The arrow went through her, causing her to expand and eventually poofing into an unconscious Jasper and Lapis.
Alexandrite noticed the unconscious duo falling and caught them before they hit the them in her hands, she walked towards the beach and fell to her knees. Her body glowed and she was split apart back into Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. The three of them were breathing rather hard, with Garnet and Pearl on their knees and Amethyst laying face first in the sand. Jet walked up to them, smiling at their victory. Garnet placed a hand on Amethyst to make sure was Okay.
"I'm Alive." Amethyst muffled within the sand. Garnet let out a sigh of relief.
"Good job." Jet said, as he watched Garnet raise to her feet. She approached him and place a hand on his shoulder.
"Thank you." Garnet said, smiling at him. Jet blushed a bit at this. "We couldn't have done this without you." Jet was about to respond until he notice that something was approaching them fast.
"Garnet." He said, looking around him. "Do you sense that?" Garnet started to look around as well. She wasn't sensing anything out of the ordinary. All of the sudden, the four of them heard the sound of menacing laughter. Jet looked up towards the sky and saw a figure, on fire, that looked like it was heading towards them.
"What on Earth is that?" Pearl asked, looking up at the figure closing in.
"It can't be..." Garnet said, looking as well.
"It is." Jet said, gritting his teeth. Who was the mysterious figure heading towards them? It was no other than Topaz and the closer he got, the more the group could see the twist smile that he had on his face. Topaz finally landed on the Island, with his fist slamming on the sand's surface. He stood up and smirked at the group. He was wearing the same clothing from when the first encountered him (see chapter 13 for the description).
"I bet you wondering why I'm here." Topaz said, still smirking at them. "As easy it would be to crush all of you right now, you bunch are not my concern..." He started to walk towards them, making them raise their guard. He took a look at Jasper and shook his head.
"You got defeat by these worthless specks." Topaz said, shifting his walking direction towards Jasper, who was still unconscious. He walked close enough to her and he scooped her up in his arms. "I'm not leaving you here. You still have your usefulness."
Jet was watching him the whole time, his guard up at its maximum. He didn't know what Topaz was going to do and in the state that the other crystal gems were in, he didn't want to do anything hasty at the moment. Topaz started to walked away from them and slowly laid Jasper on the ground once he was a good distance away.
"Jett stone." Topaz said, looking at Jet. "Before I part ways with you, allow me to show you the fruits of my training." Jet raised an eyebrow at that then sweat-dropped, as fire started to surround Topaz. Jet started to activate his Berserker mode (about 60% of it) as a caution to what Topaz was doing.
"Garnet..." Jet said, without looking at her. "Take the others and get out of here. I don't want you guys to get hurt since you're low on stamina right now."
"But what about you?" Amethyst asked, showing concern for him.
"That doesn't matter right now." Jet said, finishing his transformation and staring at Topaz. Topaz uncovered the fire that he had surrounding himself and Jet eyes widened at the reveal. Topaz's hair was a dark black with the tips being white and eyes were a bright yellow instead of the usual bright orange that they were. He had a sphere of fire spinning around him and he had a twisted smile on his face.
"You see this, Jett stone?" Topaz said, stretching his arms out. "This is perfection and a counter to your accursed it "Berserker" form. Perhaps you would like a taste of its power?"
"I'd rather not." Jet said, reaching behind his back for his weapon. Topaz noticed what he was going for and disappeared from Jet's sight. "Where the hell did he go?"
"Right in front of you!" Topaz said, suddenly appearing in front of Jet. Before Jet could react, Topaz grabbed both of his shoulders and brought a knee to Jet's stomach. Fire came out of Jet's back from the impact. Jet's eyes widen and he coughed up blood. He lost control of his Berserker form and he grabbed his stomach in pain.
"JET!" The others screamed out in shock of what just happened.
"Before you pass out, let me inform you of something," He heard Topaz say, while sinking to his knees. "You are still weak. No amount of training you do can make yourself superior to a home world gem..." And with that, Jet lose consciousness upon hearing that. Topaz let out a sigh and deactivated the form he was in.
"Once again, I let the fool live instead of being shattered." Topaz said, walking away from the group of still shocked gems. "I await the day where we can finally end this." The island started to rumble and break apart. The gems took that as their sign to leave. Garnet picked up the unconscious Jet in one arm and the equally unconscious Lapis in the other.
"It must be the cluster." Garnet said, looking around. "Peridot was right. We need to find a way of this island." Garnet glared at Topaz as he picked up Jasper once again. He turned his head and smirked at her before using his flames to take off into the sky.
And there you have it, the end of the chapter. For the next chapter I was thinking about doing a tie-in with the "Attack the Light" IOS/Android game. I have no clue how I would do it but I feel as though it would be too short to work with. Maybe in the future, who knows? Well, onward to the next chapter. I can't give you a time frame on this one but hopefully I'll be done with two months or so (cause life tends to get in the way). Enjoy your day and see you next time!