As 2020 (thankfully) comes to a close, there's a lot on horizon. Fortunately, this also means one last chapter before the year's out!
The time aboard the Crystal Beacon passed relatively fast given that it mostly piloted itself. The Off-Colors would occasionally check up on the systems on the bridge while Peridot and Bismuth would keep an eye on her tablet or in the engine room respectfully. The rest of the time was spent in the training room which thanks to some notes from Pearl functioned much like Rose's room back on Earth. This pocket room could even create walls to create areas tailored to each person or group and then exit by simply asking for the door back to the ship.
Just about everyone the bulk of their time onboard the ship, but the Crystal Gems all found ways to occupy themselves with or without training. The four humans aboard brought a few personal articles be it books or music while the aliens chatted, sparred or simply hung out as their vessel drew closer to their target. Only one day in and they were already out of their galaxy, but they had many more lightyears to traverse.
Among those training now were Steven and Pearl, the boy now working on maximizing his versatility and fighting against groups. They knew an entire army would be waiting for them on Homeworld's surface and needed to prepare accordingly. Steven was constantly up against anywhere from four to ten clones at a time with the only restriction being he could not transform. The gem believed that the more he sharpened his skills at his base, the more they would be heightened when he changed.
Once the two were done for the moment, they stepped out of the training room briefly and headed to the common room of sorts on the ship. Along the way, Steven thanked Pearl for helping him write the letter to the Diamonds so that it looked more official. The motherly gem just shrugged it off, though, saying she was all too happy to write such a message.
After a short walk, they were in the meeting room located in the very center of the ship. There was a large communal table with enough seats for everyone even if Garnet and Topaz were to split up dominating the center of the room with a screen taking up an entire wall. There was even a hatch in the floor for Fluorite so she could peek up from her ever-present duties in the engine room to participate.
"Everyone!" Garnet said to the room once everyone was gathered, bringing the mumbling in the room to a stop almost immediately, "This ship is already proving exceptional and I'm glad to see you all either progressing in training or adapting to this situation. We have a long way to go before we reach our destination, though, and as such I want everyone on the same page before we enter enemy territory. Peridot, explain our trajectory."
Despite needing a footstool to be seen by everyone, the gem had no problem commanding everyone's attention. "While the Crystal Beacon does have engines capable of reaching Homeworld in less than a week's time, we will not be taking a direct route once we head into Homeworld's galaxy."
"Wait, what?" Priyanka asked, "Shouldn't we get there as fast as possible?"
"Perhaps, but that would make us appear as an attacking force," Pearl intervened, "We sent a message claiming our intent is to negotiate and the Diamonds are already hostile towards us as it is."
"Precisely," agreed the gem presenting, although she could not hide the irritation in her voice from being upstaged briefly, "As such, rushing straight there might decrease travel time but it would make us appear like we're going on the offensive. Besides that, there are two other reasons."
"Let me guess," Cinnabar asked, "Homeworld's going to try and blow us up?"
"Undoubtedly. They will have no doubt mobilized every available fighter in this quadrant of the universe to attack us."
Lapis could not help but chuckle nervously. "Ehm, that's an exaggeration, right?"
"That, in all honesty, is the best-case scenario. Worst-case scenario is they truly recall every fighter at their disposal."
"Oh…"
"Do not worry," Adamite assured her, "They'll have to throw everything at us to hurt you while we're around."
"Yeah, about that…" Peridot said, "There is one thing stopping us: the Aveturescence. A planetwide force field that the Diamonds themselves developed to stop any unwanted intruders."
"You've got to be kidding me," Greg moaned, "Can't we just build some doodad to hack through it?"
"Flattering as that thought is, but no. The only way we're getting down onto Homeworld is if we take down that shield."
"So how do we do that?" Amethyst asked the question on everyone's minds.
"There are three power stations on nearby satellites in the same galaxy as Homeworld. We'll have to shut them down in order to even land on the planet."
"It's true," Topaz added, "I've seen meteorites just crash into it and break apart in orbit when they hit the thing. Every time a ship docks there, they need to give clearance while they're still lightyears away or else they'll ram straight into it, too."
"So, we absolutely need to power down those stations or else our mission comes to a screeching halt. Any questions?"
"Does this ship have anything like an EMP to do that or do you expect us to go down on these moons and do it?" Connie asked.
"While an aerial would be the ideal, it would also draw far too much attention to us to do so. Therefore, a team of gems will go in as they will not require breathing apparatuses. Anything else?"
"What if someone tries sabotaging the ship at any point?" Bismuth wondered, "I wouldn't put it past Homeworld to try and fry our circuits and then board us."
"Fluorite is down in the engine room almost constantly and I have my tablet wired to monitor the Beacon's vitals 24/7. If someone does manage to take out both the main and auxiliary power, Garnet herself has volunteered to act as a backup power source."
"I can't believe I never did this during power outages at the house…" the fusion remarked, lightening up the tension in the room. The only one who did not laugh was Bismuth who almost looked disappointed for some reason.
"Alright then… Everyone's dismissed." Peridot then watched as the rest of the room emptied and immediately turned her attention to her device and saw everything was still running smoothly. Steven, however, stayed behind and noticed how she trudged off her podium like she had failed and made a mental note to ask about it later. For now, though, he had a schedule to keep and thus planned to unwind a bit more before he trained with Rutile. As strange as it was trying to swing a hammer at a two-headed alien who used gravity as a weapon, Steven figured it was hardly stranger than the rest of life and so continued with his day until retiring when his body told him to.
Many of the passengers on board the Beacon worked and worked, tirelessly honing their skills as much as they could while also taking occasional breaks to avoid overexertion. Among them was Amethyst, Pearl and Garnet training in their section of the pocket dimension. While the three had the most experience fighting together by far, it was valuable to learn how to adapt to their new abilities.
Garnet was practicing precision with her fire and ice powers trying to hit either Amethyst or Pearl with her projectiles while also fending the two of them off. Amethyst was using her super speed to try to bowl down her opponents while Pearl was launching attacks with her clones going in formation trying to swarm the other two. The three very different fighting styles coupled with their unique augmentations led to a tense battle. As Pearl mounted an offensive with five of her clones against Garnet, dodging and weaving between balls of fire and freezing wind, the other four were trying to pin down a purple gem sprinting at hyper speed who was frequently going for the legs with her whip.
"Ha ha!" said speedster bragged, "Four of you chumps and you still can't get me!"
"You say that now…" one of the Pearls said, "But two can play at that game!"
Amethyst wondered what she was talking about until she tried attacking two clones only for them to hold out their legs and trip her up causing her to skid across the floor for almost half a mile while Garnet froze two more clones and set another one on fire.
"Pearl, I hate to see you get lazy," the fusion commented, "I know you can do better than this."
"And I don't plan on disappointing you. But I think you're forgetting one thing…"
Garnet did not have to wait for an answer as the three remaining clones all rushed her, forcing her into close combat and meeting her brick-breaking punches with agile strikes. She forced the trio back only for Pearl to summon four more out of her gem right as they met again, now overwhelming Garnet and dogpiling her.
"Oh, right, you can unsummon the copies at will," the fusion said underneath the septuplets, "Forgot that part."
"Thank you, but I'm also aware you could break out of this fairly easily. What are you planning?"
"You'll find out soon."
Pearl was about to question more until a violet blur on the horizon caught her eye and recognized it was Amethyst spin-dashing towards them at Mach 2. The clones tried to get away in time, but they were all bowled away screaming along with Garnet who only took a slight hit as opposed to the full force of the attack.
"Okay…" Pearl admitted dizzily, all of her clones dispersed as she was more focused on trying to not have double vision, "Smart plan… I almost wish I had future vision."
"It's got its perks, but it also makes a lot of headaches. I've just got years of practice."
"And I've gotta take up bowling when we get home!" Amethyst interrupted, clearly trying not to laugh, "Oh man, that was priceless! I hope a bunch of jaspers get the same treatment!"
"As cathartic as that would be to see," admitted Pearl, "I think we should prioritize other things."
"True enough," Garnet followed, "You've both improved tremendously, but we need to capitalize on that."
"Well, we can thank Steven for that…"
"I don't just mean in powers. There was a time where you two could barely cooperate even on missions. Now here you are bettering yourselves like no tomorrow and cooperating."
"I think Steven had a role in that too," Amethyst said, "We couldn't let some bird monster because we were too busy fighting."
"And from that day, you two have grown so much that it really touches me," Garnet admitted, even taking her visor off to show her eyes welling with pride, "I can hardly believe you're the same gems."
"Hey, Garnet, don't go too sappy on us."
"She has a point," Pearl agreed, "You've grown alongside us this whole time."
"And now you're doing it… Look, can we get back to training now?"
"Fine, but we should also formally thank Steven at some point. Come to think of it, his birthday isn't far away."
"Eh, that we can save for later," shrugged Amethyst, "When he kicks the other diamond's butts, we'll get all of Earth to throw him a huge party!"
That thought actually made the two of them smile. Pearl imagined the entire world singing "Happy Birthday" to Steven in dozens of languages while Garnet could already picture him sorting through the mountain of gifts he would get and more than likely give most away. The one thing they were all assured of was that he more than deserved a celebration for all he had been through in the past weeks and that all three of them would be there beside him like they had promised Rose years ago.
At the same time as the original three, another section of the training room was currently being used by Greg and Priyanka, the two having found that their fighting styles complimented each other. Both specialized in projectiles and quick movement but in vastly different ways and thus the two found themselves sparring semi-frequently. They hoped these exercises would improve their aim and agility to the point where they could compensate for being the two of the only humans on the team.
After gathering their breath for a moment, both of them opened their eyes and immediately fired at each other. One crystal shard nearly grazed Greg's helmet while a laser shot whizzed by Priyanka's glimmering hair as the pair took off running alongside each other. As they both ran parallel, they tried to take swings at the other with fists and a few close-range shots forcing one to either weave around while moving or adjust their speed so that they would pull ahead or pull back. They ended up running several miles in only a few minutes, but they both planned to improve that.
They then turned to hand-to-hand with Priyanka lashing out with crystalline punches that proved powerful enough to shatter walls verses Greg who used light blades capable of slicing through gems with ease. While fists vs. blade would have been a one-sided fight in many other cases, the father learned not to hold back the hard way when she literally caught a sword in one hand and sucker punched him with the other. Even through his suit, it felt like a rocket got launched into his gut.
The pair only stopped when they were both gasping for breath and felt that a little rest was more than earned. Thankfully, the training room also allowed them to conjure up various objects such as a picnic table and a cooler full of chilled water bottles.
"Good job today…" said Greg as he took a swig of liquid, "Are you sure you didn't do archery back in the day too? You shot half of my shots almost as soon as I pulled the trigger!"
"Heh, too busy with gymnastics and then pre-med," the mother insisted, letting her body change back to flesh and bone for the moment, "But I'm astonished with how adept you're getting with those blades. Half of my projectiles got sliced in two in the nick of time."
"Dumb luck? Got me through my twenties pretty well!"
The two laughed at that for a bit before simply letting their energy return and rehydrated. They occasionally spoke up, mostly swapping stories about how adorable their kids used to be in their infancy, but that conversation died soon as Priyanka suddenly clammed up.
"What's wrong?" Greg asked, obviously concerned.
"It's… I just realized all the things Doug will never see. Connie in high school, graduating, performing in an orchestra…"
"You know," he admitted, "It's always saddened me that Rose never got to see anything Steven did. I mean, last I hear she's in his head, but that's not the same thing."
"I know. It still so easy for me to forget that he's gone… I'm forgetting that my husband is dead. What does that make of me?"
"It makes you someone very busy trying to save the whole world. Trust me, there are days I still wake up and wish Rose was next to me, but I don't see myself as a bad person! It gets easier the more time passes."
"I suppose you've got a point. Just makes me wonder where all my time went, you know?"
"Oh, do I! I mean, there was a time I couldn't wait to get out of the house and show my parents how wrong they were about my music. And the next thing you know, you're a single dad running a car wash seeing your alien caretakers every week."
"It's still hard for me to picture that… You seem so balanced now."
"Take it from the mountains of merch I still have sitting in storage. I was a really stupid kid once. What I can't imagine is that you were ever like that."
"That's because I was the opposite. I was a straight-A student, president of the debate team, was on the road to becoming an Olympic athlete and then salutatorian of my medical college. I was also the kind who cursed the valedictorian with smallpox for beating me to the position."
"Yikes… You sound just like my mom, eh, no offense!" Greg actually backed up for a second as if he just gravely insulted her, but Priyanka just laughed.
"None taken, but I think she'd find even me high-strung. Thankfully now my response to losing is to just aim to do better next time instead of wishing death on someone else."
"Yeah, good thing for me. I've got enough problems without a curse on my head…"
"That and both our kids would give me an earful. Connie's gotten much louder hanging around your son."
"And now you know where he gets it from!" They both laughed at that before finishing their waters and getting back to training, steeling their resolves by the thoughts of a long, happy life with their respective kids and letting them train until their bodies demanded more rest.
A full two days had gone by on the Crystal Beacon according to the onboard clock. With no celestial bodies to track the time as most of the passengers were used to, they simply went about their business as well as they could. The team's first run-in with Homeworld fighters had ended well as the upgraded thrusters easily evaded their fire and quickly lost them thanks to a timely asteroid.
As well as it went, though, it served as a reminder that the team were wanted by a massive force. Many of them gems on board took the encounter in stride and used it as motivation to continue their training, but that was not the case for Peridot.
The techie was now sitting in the central room staring at her tablet, feeling oddly hollow inside despite her device showing everything was running perfectly. She had been like this for nearly an hour now when Topaz and Topaz came across her.
"What's up with you?" the left-gemmed captain asked.
"Is there some kind of malfunction?" her partner asked.
"Negative…" the shorter gem sighed, causing the two halves to walk away and immediately proceed to call for Steven on the ship's PA system. The half-gem showed up in no time and was soon directed to the dejected gem.
"Peri?" he asked upon seeing her, "Topaz said you were really down. What's going on?"
"Nothing… Everything is working as planned…"
"Except you," he pointed out frankly.
"What's it to you?" she snapped back, hoping he would drop the issue. Instead, Steven sat down in the seat across from her with a determined look in his eye.
"One, you're my friend. I can't just ignore you looking like this. After that, we need you at your best. You're the brains of the Crystal Gems, remember?"
"Sure, the brains and nothing else…" she grumbled. Steven immediately picked up on the comment and raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that's all I'm good for!" she shouted, her device smacking into the table, "I'm some runt who can't fight, can't even escape from a fight! I'm just some fragile little clod…"
"Whoa, whoa, calm down! What brought this on?"
"That attack we just had? One of the ships we took down had the pilot eject from her cockpit before her fighter detonated."
"How did you see that? Were you on the bridge?"
"No, I was walking by a port when this all happened. After the smoke cleared, the nephrite just floated around in space and then I… noticed her looking at me. That glare… She wanted to shatter me."
"And it scared you? Peridot, it's okay."
"NO IT ISN'T!" the scientist screamed before turning tail and running out of the room down into a corridor.
"Well, it sounds like she needs a little intervention."
"Mom?" Steven thought out loud, "You want me to maybe get Lapis and some of the other gems to help?"
"We'll make that a plan B, but I think you could actually help her by yourself. After all, this isn't the first time you've helped a gem like this?"
"You mean the stuff with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl? I could never control it, though."
"Maybe not before, but you've gained a whole new level of power since then. You should be able to unlock gems at will now."
"Wait, really?! All of them?"
"I don't think so, Steven. Whenever you did it before, they had to be in some emotional distress and that hasn't changed. At the very least, though, you can activate it at will."
"Will a gem disappear if I still don't fail?"
"Oh, they weren't in danger to being with. As far as I could tell, it was just part of the unlocking."
"Oh. Well, that's a big relief! Thanks, Mom, love you!"
"You're welcome, Steven! It's the least I could do!"
With the conversation over, Steven then ran throughout the corridors to try and find Peridot. His first guess was that she went down to the engine room which actually made up the entire lower level of the ship. He quickly found one of the stairways leading down there and quickly proved right as Bismuth's voice caught his attention.
"I told you, I've got this!" she argued, "The thrusters are working fine!"
"And I'm telling you!" Peridot shot back, "That my reports indicate a drop in performance during the enemy encounter!"
"That's a little mechanical thing called the shields taking a laser bolt! One clod outflanked us and tried shooting us down! Riddle solved, now beat it!"
"Easy, you two," Fluorite said behind them, trying in vain to stop the shouting, "We have… More things to worry about."
"Look, I'll get on tweaking things," Bismuth said, "But I can't do that with this little dwarf making bogus claims and getting in my way!"
"Oh, please! You think a simple mechanic can run this ship?" Peridot insisted, nearly causing said mechanic to punt her into a conduit before Steven rushed in.
"Hold it!" he cried, "Peri, I need to talk with you."
"Ugh, will you drop this already?! I happen to be in the middle of doing very critical diagnostics for one of the thrusters and-"
"Oh no you're not!" Bismuth interrupted, wrapping her arms around the pint-sized gem and hoisting her across her shoulders. While Peri struggled and yelled to be put down, to the larger alien it felt like a carrying a slightly irksome cardboard box.
"So, anywhere in mind you want to chat with her?"
"Um… My room is fine. It might take a little while, too."
"Eh, no problem. We've got a good while before we hit the first target. As long as she's wound down by the time you're done, I'm good."
Figuring this was as good of an opportunity as he would get, the two eventually made their way to the cabin Steven shared with his dad with a protesting Peridot in tow. Once they made it there, Bismuth dumped Peridot on one of the bunk beds and left the room to explain to the others what was happening with the pair. As soon as they were alone, Peridot made her feelings known.
"Let me out, you clod! This is no way to treat your technical advisor!"
"Look, this should only take a little bit, okay?"
"I don't-" She tried to protest more, but Steven closed his eyes and even clamped his hands over his ears to block her out. He put all his focus on trying to connect to her somehow. As strange as it was, he had never tried using intentionally astral projection before. While it seemed bizarre at first, he focused on his gem and soon could feel a warm glow throughout his body like a pleasant ray of sunshine warming him up from the inside. He concentrated on that feeling and soon the outside world faded from view. In front of him was not a ranting Peridot but a large copy of her gemstone that seemed to be radiating harsh heat.
Still unsure of his this worked, he reached out to touch the stone only to pull his hand back. The skin on his fingers had actually turned red like they were burned. This worried him, but he resolutely remembered how none of this was real. He just shook off the injury and proceeded to grab hold of the gem and soon found the heat give way as the glistening surface of the gemstone rippled like water and soon passed through it. In the real world, Peridot suddenly felt her body go stiff and passed out while her gem turned gray. Her unlocking had officially begun.
And so it's time for another round of gems getting new powers and first up is the lime wonder Peridot! What will Steven find? Only one way to find out!
Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave any questions or comments below!
