Sitting on a large rock next to the rusty mailbox, Connie silently focused was on nothing but the words on the book, not noticing Jamie walking over to her. "Uh, hello?" Jamie asked, making Connie jump in her seat. "Did you order something?" Jamie asked the young girl. Connie closed her book, setting it down on her lap, "Oh, yeah. My name is Connie Maheswaren." Connie said, Jamie giving her a small nod.
"Okay! Let me check here..." his voice fading as he began to dig through his bag filled with boxes and envelopes. Jamie's face brightened up as he pulled a large box out and handed it over to young girl patiently waiting. "Here you are!" he said as Connie took the package. "Thank you, sir!" Connie said, a small but excited smile plastered onto her face. "Just out of curiosity, what do you need a satchel for?" Jamie asked, tilting his head to the side. Connie held the package close to her chest, "Just...something to help save the world." she muttered under her breath.
Jamie chuckled, "You know how you can save my world?" Jamie reached into his pocket and brought out a signature pad, "Sign here please." Connie grabbed the pen and signed her name in a beautiful cursive handwriting. "Barb yells at me if I don't get signatures." Jamie added. Connie frowned and placed the pen back, "That's a bit harsh."
A large glow bursted out from the beach house behind them. Connie turned as her face lit up in an instant and said, "They're back!" In a quick motion, Connie grabbed both her book and package and placed it under her arm, then she turned back to the brunette mailman behind her and waved, "Have a good day, sir!" she said as she ran back inside the house.
Smile still on her face, Connie opened the door to immediately lose her smile to a look of confusion. Jasper, Lapis, and Peridot were standing in the house, Peridot straining as she carried a giant egg, all covered in white feathers. "Hey Connie." Lapis said, not looking at the direction of the dark-skinned girl and instead chose to stare at the green gem with an annoyed face. "What..happened to you guys?" Connie asked, shutting the door behind her. Jasper let out a loud sigh, "We had a rough day thanks to someone here." Jasper glared at Peridot.
"Think of the possibilities!" Peridot argued, walking over to the fridge as she struggled to walk with the egg in hand. With no hesitation, Peridot opened the fridge and removed the wire shelf full of milk and bread. "I'm just looking out for humanity!" Peridot yelled before carefully placing the egg in the fridge. The small gem wiped the sweat off her forehead, "Told ya! Fits perfectly!" Peridot said, confidently shutting a fridge while a large crack was hear while she did.
Lapis slammed her head onto her palm, shaking her head, before sliding her hand down her face and sighing. "We fought a giant bird." Lapis told Connie, her smile regaining. "We're only here for a second." Jasper said, shaking the feathers off her. "We have to place the Moon Goddess Statue on the Lunar Sea Spire." Lapis nodded, holding up the statue of a women holding a diamond, adding, "That is, before midnight. Or else the whole place will be destroyed." Peridot walked over, sighing with a smile on her face and hands on her hips, "I have to say, I do kind of miss it when it wasn't a broken mess."
"Well, if we hurry, maybe we can see it." Lapis said. "Wait! What if...I come with you this time?" Connie exclaimed. The three gems stared at the young girl in shock. The silence in the air broke when Peridot let out a, "What?"
Connie sighed, "Look, I know I've always hated taking risks. But I have something that can help now!" Connie removed the box from under her arm and presented it to the others. Peridot raised an eyebrow, "It's...a box." Connie laughed, "No! It's what's inside that box." Connie said, flipping the box open and bringing out a leather satchel. "Oh, yes!" Peridot eagerly yelled before dropping to a deadpan voice asking, "What is it?"
"It's a satchel. It's very spacious and has a lot of pockets." Connie explained, "I thought I could bring some stuff that can ease my paranoia." Lapis rubbed the back of her head, "I don't know, Connie. This seems dangerous." the blue gem said. "Oh come on! The one time I say I want to join a mission, you say no?" Connie complained. "Well..." Lapis' voice dragged out as she looked at Jasper for assistance. The bigger gem shrugged, "It's now or never."
"And it can be educational." Peridot added, her finger tapping on her chin. The blue gems let out a sigh but a smile was on her face, "Guess I'm outvoted." she said before handing the small statue over to Connie. "Just be careful with it, alright?" Lapis warned, her smile turning more cautious.
The young girl took the statue with her small hands, careful not to drop the item, as she felt her face form a bright smile. "Just...give me a minute!" Connie yelled to the gems before running up the stairs that lead to her room. "What are you doing?" Lapis asked while watching the half-gem girl run around her room stuffing various items in her satchel. "To pack some supplies!" Connie yelled back as she went back to filling the spaces in her bag.
At the end, her bag was overfilled with a pack of bagels, a medical supply kit, a thick jacket, a sleeping bag, some rope, and an inflatable boat. As she grabbed the flap of her satchel, a thick book caught her attention. Her mind started to fight between the choice to leave the book or take it with her. In the end, temptation won and she shoved the book inside the tight space.
Finally done, Connie flipped the flap and secured it with the clasp. She swiftly threw the satchel on her shoulder and ran to the warp pad where the other gems were waiting patiently. Jasper stared at the stuffed satchel, her eyes slowly widening. "Whoa, kid. Did you pack the whole house?" Jasper asked in a mix of sarcasm and shock. Connie defended herself with, "Anything can happen."
"We've wasted enough time. Let's go." Peridot commanded before the bright cylinder light engulfed the four on the warp pad. While being transported, Connie examined the area as she dropped a sweat feeling her anxiety begin to rise. "Um...this is safe, right?" Connie asked, slowly starting to hover up before Jasper's large hand clasped onto her foot and pulled her down. "Just stay close." Jasper told her.
Connie looked to the beam as her hand began moving towards it beyond her control. As the tips of her fingers and the stream connected, a small line appeared revealing what was around the 's eyes widened, but before she could find out more of what was on the outside, Jasper's hand grabbed her arm and pulled it away. "And keep your hand in." Jasper groaned, rolling her eyes.
The cylinder light soon disappeared, leaving all of them on another warp pad but the scenery in front of them drastically changed. Connie, who was a bit above ground, shut her eyes tightly as gravity pulled her to the ground painfully, making a tiny 'oof' come out. Connie turned to her side where she landed and rubbed it with her hand, feeling the bruise starting to form. The calming sound of water falling filled her ears as she turned away from her bruised side and felt her jaw drop at the giant broken spire in front of her.
"Woah.." Connie gasped, her eyes glued to the spire while the gems behind her groaned in disappointment. "It's worse than I thought." Peridot cringed. Lapis walked over to a broken piece of the spire that was stuck to the ground and sighed, "And to think it used to be beautiful." she mumbled quietly, but audible enough for the others to hear. Standing beside another piece of the spire that broke, Peridot began tapping on her tablet letting her frustrations out. "We should be cautious." Peridot warned while putting her tablet away, "There's a lot of unstable ground here."
Connie scanned the place, standing dangerously close to the edge. Her dark eyes landed on the water way below her as the fear of falling started to creep behind her. Unknown to her, the ground below her starting cracking while she said, "Yeah, one fall and it looks like death." Lapis turned, her face immediately turning fearful as she yelled, "Connie!" as her wings appeared and started flying towards the girl before they were even fully formed.
"Wha-" Connie said, not able to finish her word as Lapis threw herself onto Connie and pushed her out of the way. The unstable piece started to fall and landed in the water at the bottom with a large splash. The dark-skinned girl felt her heart start to pump faster the more she realized what had happened. "Oh my gosh. I could have died!" Connie breathed out.
"Connie!" Peridot yelled out, running over to the child with Jasper behind her tail. Annoyed, Lapis blew a loose piece of her blue hair out of her face, "That's it." she said while getting to her feet, "we're taking you home." Connie's head swiftly turned to Lapis, eyes wide. "What? Why?" Connie asked. Lapis let out a breath and placed one knee down to the young girl's eye level. "Maybe next time, Connie. This mission is too dangerous, and there's a huge possibility of you being...well..." Lapis' voice drifted away as she placed a finger on her throat and imitated her throat being sliced.
Connie's brown eyes hardened, "I'm a Crystal Temp too, Lapis. Isn't that what you always tell me?" she argued. Lapis ran a hand through her short and messy blue hair, her mind having a battle before letting a loud sigh out and stood up from her knees. "If anything happens, I'm not responsible." Lapis softly said. "Enough, we're going. Now." Jasper commanded, her voice strong. Not bothering to wait for the others, Jasper turned around and walked away from the group. The other three follow the strong gem as they a cliff blocking them from making it to the spire safely.
Realizing what was in front of them, Peridot extended an arm motioning them to stop as they did as commanded. Annoyed, Jasper rolled her eyes and grumpily exclaims, "What?" Peridot scoffed, her smile full of pride, "Typical for me to be the genius here." Annoyed by her statement, Jasper sent down a deadly glare at the green gem making her let out a frightened squeak.
"N-Not as genius as you of course...but," Peridot cleared her throat, composing herself, as she pointed her finger down at the whirlpool below, "See that whirlpool down there? The magic will pull us down if we cross."
Testing this claim, Lapis walked in front of the others and held out her hand. Slowly, a small drop of water started to lift up with another force attempting to pull it back down. Sweat started to drip down of Lapis' forehead as she strained to fight against the force before she let go, breathing heavily. "It's too strong for us to pass." Lapis said through her breath.
Connie crossed her arms, racking her brain for solutions, until her eyes quickly lit up after finding it. "I think I have something that can help." she told the others as she flapped open the lid to her satchel and dug her hand through the items. Soon, her hand lifted outside the satchel with a a string of rope. "Why would we need rope for this?" Peridot asked, lifting an eyebrow at the young girl.
As Connie unraveled the rope, she gazed at the spire like she was calculating it. "It's for situations like this." she said to Peridot, tilting her head back towards their direction, "You can't be too careful."
Taking a large breath of air, Connie threw the rope with all of her strength as it curled around an gap above the spire's entrance. Holding the first end of the rope and the other end of the rope that had looped around the broken-down spire, Connie kicked her heel away from the edge and ignored the gem's call for her. The soles of her red shoes connected with the wall while she struggled against the force that was pulling her down.
"Don't worry, Connie! We'll figure something out!" Connie heard Peridot's voice cry out mixing with the her own hyperventilation. Sweat started to coat Connie's hands, making the grip start to slacken. The sweat started to drip down the side of her face while she pulled her left foot up and slowly made her way up the spire. When she finally made it to the top, the half-gem stopped to catch her breath and kneeled down on the hard rock floor.
"Nice!" Lapis smirked while Peridot let out a sigh of relief and Jasper gawked at Connie with her jaw dropped to the floor. After resting for a while, Connie stood on a large fallen rock as a stepping stool to tie the rope securely around the opening. "It's safe, you guys can pass!" Connie announced to the three and three the two ends of the rope towards them. Swiftly, Jasper's big hands caught the rope while carrying both Lapis and Peridot under her arms.
As Jasper followed Connie's motions and jumped down, Peridot's screams echoed through the room as Jasper ran up the wall with ease. As she got to the top, Jasper dropped the two gems on the floor, making Peridot drop to the ground shaking and cuddled in a fetal position. In a shaky breath, Peridot whispered, "Are we dead yet?" to no one in particular.
The four walked through the spire, cringing at the sight of the inside of the wrecked spire. "Oh my stars, this looks awful!" Peridot remarked, "How does it look worse on the inside?! Is that...mold?" Peridot pointed to a large green stain resting on the stairs. Shaking the disgust out of her, Peridot forced on a determined smile, placed her hands on her hips, and declared, "No worries! The statue will fix this and it'll look good as new!"
Lapis' eyes leered at the place until her eyes rested on a small statue resting on the side of the tower. As she gazed on the rock figure, a large worm-like creature snaked it's way into her vision causing a loud yelp out of the blue gem and her fist crashing onto the statue. "Stupid Crystal Shrimps." Lapis muttered and shook the debris out of her hand.
As the four climbed up the stairs, a gasp came out of them as they reached the top and found the room covered in Crystal Shrimp trudging around. "The room's full of these clods!" Peridot exclaimed. "And the only way to the top..." Lapis said, her voice fading, "Is through the shrimp."
"They seem pretty harmless. We can just...walk past them." Connie shrugged. Peridot shook her head at the young girl, "Unfortunately, we can't. Their shards are deadly - razor sharp, even." Peridot said while pushing Connie behind her. "Let's plan this out: Lazuli, you can be our bait and distract them with your...water...thingies. Jasper, you can run up the wall and-"
"Or, we can just do this." Connie interrupted the green gem and pulled out a bagged pack of bagels out of her bag. "Who's hungry!" Connie yelled before throwing the bagels on the other side of the room, as the shrimps skidded over to the bagels to make a clear path for the gems. "That was easy." Jasper smirked. Peridot's mouth dropped down while she sputtered out, "Who-What-How?"
Connie shrugged, a small grin on her face. "Well, I didn't know if they liked food but I figured bagels would still be a good distraction." she said, a small laugh between her words. Clearing her throat, Peridot quickly composed herself and mumbled, "Moving on." as the rest went through the room to climb another path of stairs.
"I just wanted to remind everyone that my plan could've been better."
The gems kept walking until Jasper placed out an arm between everyone, shouting, "Stop!"
Rumbling echoed through the room until a big wave of water bursted out and went between the gems and the other side. Connie took a deep breath and opened the flap of her satchel, rummaging around it. "Okay, I might find something that can work. Maybe a raft or-"
"Or, we can just do this." Lapis said as she raised a hand up, causing the water to split and create an path for them to cross through. "Oh...right...that works too." Connie mumbled, looking down to hide how red her face was. "Eh, you tried kid." Jasper said and started to walk towards the other side. "Can't all be winners." Lapis teased as they passed through the ravine.
The gems walked up a couple more stairs before they reached the top of a spire, a small pedestal waiting for the statue to be placed. "We did it! we made it to the Moon Goddess Pedestal!" Peridot declared with victory. A small frown formed on Lapis as she looked up at the sky. "We better hurry, the moon is almost overhead."
Jasper gave a firm nod and turned to Connie, "Kid, the statue." she said. Connie nodded and dug through her bag, feeling the pressure on her, but not feeling the statue anywhere. "Just...give me a minute." Connie laughed nervously as sweat started to drop down her face. Her breathing became heavy as she threw some her objects out of her bag but the statue was nowhere to be seen.
"I...I don't have it." Connie confessed.
A chorus of, "What!" echoed through, causing Connie's heart to drop even more. "I must've been worrying so much that bringing the statue just slipped my mind!" Connie pushed a hand through her hair, panic rising inside her. "What do we do now?!" Peridot asked, hoping for an answer. But before anyone could reply, a bright light had shined onto the pedestal but was empty of the statue.
"No!" Connie yelled as the temple began to shake and break apart. "Stay calm!" Lapis ordered and attempted to balance herself while panic was evident on her face. "I AM CALM!" Peridot yelled, grabbing Lapis' shoulder and shaking her.
Connie gasped as a part of the ground she stood on started to crack until it broke apart. Screams and the rushing water were the only thing heard, until the four landed on the water with a splash. Connie thrusted her head out of the water, coughing the water she accidentally swallowed out. As she turned, she saw the other gems were doing the same.
The young girl sighed, "I'm sorry - you all were so willing to see the temple but I failed." But instead of anger, Lapis smiled at the girl in reassurance. "Connie, it's fine. The spire was already a mess when we came."
"You were successful 50%!" Peridot smiled.
"You did well, kid."
Connie smiled at the gems, "Yeah, and besides, this mission was...pretty fun."
Peridot's smile quickly dropped as she said, "Okay, now that we got all the emotion stuff out of the way - how are we going to get home?" A silence rang through the air until lightbulb went off on Connie's head. She opened her bag and pulled out a folded-up raft. Everyone stared at her, their jaws hanging open as the young gem smirked.
"Make that percentage 75%. We're just lucky this is one of the items I didn't dump out." she said as she unrolled the raft and placed it on the water. Everyone climbed inside, shaking off the water on them. "Let's go home." Connie said while squeezing out the water on her hair. Lapis smiled as she controlled the water to push them home.