Act 2
Chapter 3: Warp Tour
Life for the Demi-Gem Isaac Infinite has been really good. His time with the Crystal Gems, while brief and filled with danger, has been some of the happiest moments of his life. He's really had time to grow connected to everyone of his teammates and Steven, who he viewed as a little brother many times. Over, things could not have been more enjoyable for Isaac.
But that all was about to change. And it all started when he and the Crystal Gems are returning to the Warp Pad in the middle of a flower meadow. Just as usual, it was another corrupted Gem that was running rampant and they went in to deal with it. With the monster's Gem inside of Garnet's bubbles, they exited the flowers while discussing their latest encounter.
"I can't believe that went so well!" Pearl said with a pleased look in her eyes as she walked next to Isaac and Amethyst. Happily with the success of the mission.
"That was kinda great when you hit it with your spear and it went, like, 'bing-bong!'" Amethyst complimented her, making explosion sounds with her mouth. Usually the two would be at each other's throats, so Isaac was happy to see them getting along.
"Yeah, Pearl. You were awesome out there," Isaac added with a smile. Out of all the Gems, he's especially grown closer to Pearl, whose company he's enjoyed the most.
"T-Thank you, Isaac," she said, blushing cutely at his complement of the human. Something he's been able to make her do for a while now. "And the way you were circling around it, Amethyst? Almost looked like a strategy."
Amethyst laughed and blushed a little. "Well, you know, I can do that stuff, too," she said.
"Wait up!..." They heard Steven's voice behind them and turned their heads back. Garnet sent the bubbled Gem back to the Temple as Steven emerged from the meadow. Steven didn't look too well at all, with a runny nose and eyes that had redness around them, making him barely able to open his eyes. "Sorry I couldn't help much," he said, panting heavily.
"Steven, are you sure you're okay?" Isaac asked with a worried expression. He walked over to Steven and kneeled down to place a hand on his forehead. "You look like you're having an allergic reaction!"
"I think the flowers are making me— Ah... Aaah…" Seeing he was about to sneeze again, Isaac quickly jumped out of the way. Steven sneezed, with his snot landing on Garnet's hip. "Sorry, Garnet."
"I'll live," Garnet said, wiping off the mucus off her hip.
"Oh, Steven, you're supposed to sneeze into your antecubital fossa," Pearl scolded him. Only to garner very confused looks from the Demi-Gems.
"My what?" Steven asked in confusion as he, Garnet, and Isaac walked towards them.
"I think she means your elbow," Isaac said, pointing to his own inner elbow as they joined Amethyst and Pearl on the warp pad. Steven looked at his elbow as the Crystal Gems warped out of there.
As they travel through the warp stream, Steven could feel his senses beginning to clear up again. But because everyone else, including himself, was still covered in polline, Steven felt his allergies flaring up again. The young Gem took in sharp gasps as he felt the urge to sneeze again.
"Do it at Pearl!" Amethyst laughed, pointing at the white Gem
"Steven, your fossa!" Pearl cried in a panic.
"Sneeze downwards!" Isaac said.
Hearing him, Steven turned his head down and sneezed downwards. While it saved the others from getting covered in his snot, the force of it was enough to propel himself upward in the warp stream.
"Steven!" Isaac exclaimed when Steven's head passed out of the warp stream. Quickly floated over to Steven with Garnet and Pearl grabbing onto his legs. Isaac grabbed Steven's legs and easily pulled him back into the stream, with the Gems pulling him back over to them. "You okay, Steven?" Isaac asked, noticing that the snot under his nose was frozen completely.
"You have to be careful! It's dangerous to stick your head out of the stream!" Pearl warned him.
"There's not much air, and it's very cold," Garnet explained, flicking the frozen snot off Steven's nose.
"You guys, I saw something out there!" Steven exclaimed.
"What?" Pearl asked curiously at this statement.
"What're you talking about?" Isaac asked in confusion as well.
"Something warping!"
"Wait, what?!" Isaac exclaimed in surprise. This was a big surprise to the young man, as the only things capable of using the warp pads are himself, Steven, and the Gems, without the assistance of Gem tech. "What was it, Steven?"
"It's nothing Isaac, because that's not possible," Pearl quickly interjected, not believing what Steven said. "Is your vision blurry from the pollen?
"I can see perfectly…" Steven said, while squinting his eyes at her. "Pearl? I know there's something out there!"
"There's nothing out there, Steven," Garnet concluded in a firm, cold, and resolved voice. "There hasn't been anything else for a long, long time."
"Can we really be sure?" Isaac asked, getting their attention. He gave the Gems a firm frown. "How do you know that Steven really did see nothing out there? Heck, you all didn't know that I existed before I came to Beach City."
At this, the Gems looked at one another with looks of doubt and uncertainty. Isaac knew that they were hiding things from them. Ever since Lapis, he started questioning more about the Gems. He trusted them enough to know they wouldn't lie to him, but he knew that they were also keeping secrets from him and Steven. He didn't like that, but knew they had to have a good reason for it. Whether or not Steven saw something out there in warp space was a mystery in of itself, but Isaac knew they couldn't let their guard down.
After returning to the house, the Gems went back into the temple. Isaac figured that it was to speak about what Steven could have seen outside of the warp stream. Leaving Isaac and Steven alone for the rest of the day until the sun went down over the horizon.
While Isaac slept on loft with his air mattress set in front of Steven's bedn, the young Gem couldn't sleep at all. Steven was lying awake in bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to sleep for the night. Just when he was about to slowly drift off to sleep, he snapped himself back awake and turned to look at the Temple Gate's warp pad. All day, he couldn't get his mind off what he saw in the warp stream. He was so sure of what he saw that he didn't want to let his guard down at all. Worried that the object he saw would warp in his home. If it was dangerous, he wanted to be ready for it.
However, Steven was startled when a bright light suddenly shined on the loft. He let out a terrified gasp and threw his covers off. "Aaah!"
"Aaah!" Isaac yelled, startled as he sat up with wide eyes. "What?! What happened?"
But, instead of it being a light from the warp pad, it was nothing more than the glow from the refrigerator. With Amethyst musing on some when the boys started yelling. She stood there and looked at them with a mouth full of food and
"Amethyst!" The young Gem exclaimed.
"Hey, guys! Want some macaroni cheese?" Amethyst asked, tearing open the bag of powdered cheese that came with the macaroni.
"That's not...nevermind." Isaac sighed in annoyance and laid back down on his bed, as Amethyst returned back towards the temple.
"Isaac, I can't sleep," Steven said to the older boy.
Isaac sat back up and looked at Steven with a look of concern. "What's wrong, Steven?" He asked.
Amethyst stopped in front of the doors to the temple and turned back towards the boys. Licking the cheese off her hands. "Is it because you're scared of that thing you saw warping right into the house and attacking you in your sleep?!"
"... No...?" Steven squeaked anxiously.
"Oh, good! Good." The purple Gem smirked teasingly as her door opened.
"Go to sleep, Amethyst," Isaac said sternly, pointing to the Temple door.
"Ah, alright. Nighty night! Don't let the warp monster bite!" She blew a raspberry and laughed loudly when Isaac threw a rock at her. Hitting her in the head before the doors closed. "OW!"
Isaac sighed in annoyance before turning to Steven. The young Gem bit his lips apprehensively as he looked back towards the warp pad once again. The device remained silent and inactive since they used it to come back to the beach house.
"Steven." Steven looked to Isaac, who was giving him a worried look. "You okay?" He asked.
"I'm fine," Steven said, looking away with a pout.
Isaac stared at him for a moment, before laying back down and going back to sleep. Hoping that tomorrow would be the end of their troubles.
The next morning, and the light of the morning sun, along with the smell of something fresh and yummy, brought Isaac out of his slumber. He yawned and sat up in his airmattish when he heard the voice of a certain Gem he admired singing. Standing up and walking to the edge of the loft with his shirt and boxers on, Isaac looked down to see Pearl baking something in the kitchen with Garnet.
Letting out another yawn, he rubbed his eyes and smiled. "Morning, ladies," he said tiredly.
"Morning, Isaac," Garnet said with a smile.
"Good morning to you too, Isaac," Pearl said, opening the oven and pulling out a tray of freshly baked cookies. Garnet pulled out a second tray as Pearl walked to Isaac. The young man stepped back as Pearl flawlessly and gracefully leaped up and landed on the loft on one foot in front of him. The white Gem then held out her tray of cookies. "Care for a cookie?"
"Don't mind if I do," Isaac said, plucking one of the cookies off the tray and biting into it. He hummed in delight as he ate the cookie. "This is incredible, Pearl! How'd you learn to make this?"
Pearl blushed at his compliment, flattered by him. "W-Well, it was mostly Garnet that baked them," she admitted.
"Really? What's the occasion?"
Pearl continued to blush as she explained herself. "We felt bad about our dismissive behavior the previous day. So, we wanted to make it up to you," she said to the blonde.
"Oh, thanks," Isaac said, turning to Steven's bed to wake him up. But to his surprise, the young boy wasn't in his bed. "Where's Steven?"
"See for yourself," said Garnet. Isaac down to see the tall Gem standing at the front door. To Isaac's utter bewilderment, he saw Steven fast asleep propped up against the front door, water gun loosely in his hands and hugged to his chest. Walking down with Pearl, Isaac stood next to Garnet as he looked down at Steven with a curious expression. After Pearl set down Isaac's tray of cookies on the table, she came over and crouched down.
"Steven~" Pearl cooed in a sing-songy voice, lightly poking Steven on his forehead. "We've got a surprise for you~"
"Aah! Aghh!" Steven gasped, abruptly waking up and then shot the water gun in a panic. Pearl let out a startled cry as she blasted with water.
"Steven! Quiet it!" Isaac yelled as he quickly snatched the water gun out of Steven's hand. But Pearl was still knocked back away from Steven and fell on the floor and thoroughly drenched, much to her annoyance. "You okay, Pearl?" Isaac asked, still holding the water gun.
"Yeah...Yeah...I just wasn't expecting that," Pearl said, trying to remain calm after that experience.
"Oh, Pearl," said Steven, realizing that he had just soaked the white Gem.
Garnet revealed the tray of cookies behind her back as she remarked, "Now you're not getting any cookies."
"Cookies?!" Amethyst exclaimed after emerging from the temple. "I'll take 'em!"
Garnet whistled Amethyst over like a dog. The purple Gem grabbed the tray of cookies and gobbled them all up without restraint. "Slow down, Amethyst," the Gem leader advised, but Amethyst didn't listen and ate Isaac's tray of cookies. Much to the Demi-Gem's annoyance.
Isaac turned back to Steven with a bit of water on himself when he grabbed the water gun. "Steven, what's going on?" He asked, waking back up to the loft to grab a towel.
"I'm sorry, Pearl and Isaac," Steven said sincerely, trying to wipe the sleep out of his exhausted-looking eyes. "I just, I guess I didn't…"
"Didn't sleep." Garnet concluded with her fist on her chin pensively.
Steven yawned with visible eye bags. "Maybe."
"Oh, Steven!" Pearl said as she tried to wipe her eyes of some water. Isaac then came back with a towel and handed it to her, which she gracefully accepted. "This isn't about the thing you think you saw outside the warp stream yesterday, is it?"
As she wiped her face with the towel, Amethyst tossed the cookie tray away, making a loud clanging sound and startling the others. Isaac scowled at her and shook his head, as it wasn't the time or place for games.
"But it was real! Something was warping somewhere in the warp!" Steven said loudly at their disregard for his calm.
Pearl interrupted him by putting both hands on Steven's cheeks. Making him look at her. "Listen," she said firmly and slowly. "Nothing on Earth can use the warps but us. Do you understand?" Steven glanced away, not willing to accept this conditioning so easily. "Steven, nod in agreement if you understand. Nod in agreement—"
"That's enough, Pearl," Isaac said, placing his hand on her shoulder and pulling her away from Steven. "You can't make Steven believe in what you want him to believe. Besides, he can't nod if you show his head like that." Pearl stood up as Isaac turned to the others. "But if Steven really did see something in the warp, then it's something that we're going to have to investigate."
Garnet was silent for a moment. "I'm confident Pearl is right. But if it'll make you feel better, we can just go check," she said.
Steven nodded while smiling gratefully, as Isaac smiled with relief. Still, he helped to wonder why they were so hesitant and determined to not believe Steven. "In that case, I might as well bring these along," he said, walking over to a duffle bag on the couch and opening it to show a bunch of small, mini cameras inside.
"What are those?" Pearl asked, intrigued by the devices.
"Motion-activated cameras. I was hoping to use them the next time we go hunting down a Gem monster, but they'll have to do it. If anything moves, it'll take a picture and send the image to my laptop."
"That's perfect!" Steven exclaimed happily. "Let's go!"
The first stop on their list was back to the flower meadows. The Gems looked around, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing but miles of tall blossoms swaying peacefully. Isaac walked over to a tree that was near the warp pad and strapped the camera around the trunk of it. He made sure it was facing the pad, before walking back to the others.
"Anything?" He asked, stepping back on the pad.
"Nothing unusual," Garnet said with her hands on her hips. Steven let out another heavy sneeze, with his allergies acting up again. "Bless you."
And for the next hour, the Crystal Gems warped to every spot on Earth. And each time it turned out to be nothing unusual. But Isaac made sure to set up a camera at each location. Steven was focused on getting to the bottom of this. Their final destination was none other than the Sky Spire. Only for there to be nothing of note once again.
"Well, this is the last place to look," Garnet said as Isaac attached the last camera to one of the trees surrounding the warp pads.
"W-What?!" Steven exclaimed in sudden alarm. "But...But that can't be it! There has to be something!
"Whoa! Now that's something!" Amethyst exclaimed, pointing to something. Isaac turned to see something that really was a surprise. It was none other than Steven Jr. with a pair of baby goats. One was laying on it's mother's back and the other one was prancing around. "Heh. Steven Jr.'s been busy," Amethyst said with a laugh as she turned to Steven. "This makes you a grandpa!"
"And I'm an uncle!" Isaac happily exclaimed as the prancing baby came over and sniffed his leg. He petted the goat's head, and it walked back over to Steven Jr., who licked her baby's head.
Garnet rubbed Steven's head gently. "Congratulations, you two."
"Hey!" He shooed her off. "We're getting off task here!" He reminded them.
"We've looked all over! There's nothing out here to find!" Pearl said in slight frustration.
"But you're wrong..." Steven mumbled and rolled his eyes
"Excuse me?!" the white Gem asked with an appalled look.
"Oh boy." Isaac muttered, knowing Steven shouldn't have said that so loud for them to hear it.
Steven realized this too and looked at Pearl in surprise. "I-I mean-"
"Nothing on Earth can use these warps but us!" Pearl reminded the half humans loudly
"Well, what if it came from space?" Steven asked tentatively.
Isaac thought of that for a moment. "It is a possibility," he said to the others.
Pearl scoffed. "Oh, don't be ridiculous, Isaac." She immediately dismissed him.
"Really? Aren't you girls aliens?" Isaac contradicted her return. The warp pads to the off-worlds were broken, but that didn't mean that was the only way they could come down to the planet. It's like Pearl said, Gems were the only ones that can use the pads.
All three Gems were silenced by this, with their eyes widening, even if Pearl answered first. "I-" she cut herself off immediately, pursing her lips as she looked at the two humans. "... don't appreciate your tone.
The Crystal Gems were warped again, and this time, they were back at the Galaxy Warp. The final place and the only place that they hadn't scoped out yet. When they arrived, Pearl walked towards the largest of the warp pads. The one that led to the Gem's Homeworld.
"These are the warps that once connected us to other planets. If something tried to come from space, it would be through here. But wait!" She said in mocking dramatic surprise, spinning around to face the boys. "This warp pad is broken, marked inactive by the very depressed cartoon breakfast sticker you placed here yourself!" With a glare, she pointed to the Wailing Waffle sticker that the young Gem had put on weeks ago.
The Gems shifted their eyes to Isaac, making him sigh. "It's true." He said sadly, looking down.
Amethyst walked up to Steven and nuzzled against him. "Look, Pearl's right, like usual. Ugh! You get used to it," she said as Garnet placed her hand on Steven's head, which he quickly pushed away.
"We're safe." She told him with a soft smile.
Steven still looked uneasy about the idea and turned to Isaac for an answer as well. With no way of backing him up, Isaac shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I guess so," he submitted to the Gems' claim that he was seeing things.
With a sad and unhappy expression, he walked over to the Homeworld warp pad and placed his hand beside the Crying Breakfast Friends sticker. Isaac walked over and placed his hand on his shoulder, trying to give him some small amount of comfort. Steven looked up at him with a gloomy look and saw his brother figure smiling at him. Steven let a small smile adorn his face.
"Oh, man! Finally! That took all day." Isaac instantly felt his anger rise when Amethyst exclaimed that after while the Gems sighed in relief.
"It was important to make Steven feel secure." Garnet's statement made Isaac's fists clenching with smoking rising off them.
"Yes, Steven feels much better now," Pearl said somewhat condescendingly.
Hearing this made Isaac even more irate over the entire situation. It was bad enough that the Gems were dismissing Steven's fears entirely, but now they were talking down to him for it all.
"I'd really appreciate it if you three shut your mouths!" Isaac yelled at them with a furious glare. Shocking the Gems.
"Excuse me?!" Pearl gasped, appalled.
"What the hell is your problem?" Amethyst asked angrily.
"What the hell is your problem?!" He pointed at them, silencing them when they saw the steam. "I've had enough of listening to the three treating Steven like his concerns don't matter! You don't patronize a person behind their back when he's right here!"
"And I'm a little tired of you guys telling me how I feel!" Steven said with anger laced in his voice. "I know I saw something outside the stream!"
"And I know you didn't!" Pearl retorted, just as incensed. But Steven wasn't wasn't backing down from his stance. Pearl and Steven began to argue back and forth with one another as Garnet, Amethyst, and Isaac watched.
"Uh, this is new. I kind of like it." Amethyst remarked with a small chuckle.
Pearl rolled her eyes. "Steven, you just don't know what you're talking about."
"It sounds like... maybe... YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Steven shouted at Pearl, his voice echoing throughout the Galaxy Warp.
Pearl was so frustrated with the boy that all she could really do was let out an angered scoff and was about to argue again when Garnet stepped in front of her. "Alright Steven, let it go," the Gem leader said in a calm yet firm tone.
"You believe me, right Isaac?" Steven asked with an almost pleading look on his face. Seeing Pearl about to say something out of the corner of his eye, Isaac shot her a glare. Silencing her before turning back to the young boy.
"Look," Isaac began as he kneed down to his height. "I don't know what to believe, Steven. I didn't see what you saw. None of us did. You were the only one that was outside the stream. You would have been the only one to see anything." He looked down sadly at his words, until Isaac continued. "But I'm not going to dismiss your claims. Treating your fears and anxieties like they're nothing isn't how a team works!" He turned to glare at the Gems again, before looking back at Steven. "You're a Crystal Gems, just as much as Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, and myself. That means your word holds just as much value as everyone else's."
Isaac placed his hands on Steven's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "Now, look me in the eye and tell me, did you see something in the warp streams?"
Steven didn't shift his tired eyes away from him. He kept staring at Isaac before saying firmly. "Yes."
Isaac continued to stare at him for a few seconds, checking to see if there was anything that would indicate that he was lying, but there wasn't. "Alright, then."
"Wha, you actually believe him?!" Pearl exclaimed incredulously as Isaac stood up.
"Whatever it was that was in the warp is gone now, but I'm gonna be keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Oh!" Isaac let out a startled yelp when Steven suddenly barreled into his waist and hugged him.
"Thank you!" He cried out happily. Isaac chuckled a little and patted his back.
"Now head back to the temple," Isaac said. Steven smiled and ran back to the warp pad and warped away. Isaac then turned and walked over to one of the pillars and started setting up the last camera. "If you've got something to say, you might as well say."
"Why did you have to do that?" Pearl asked angrily. "As we've already explained it to you-"
"That no one can use the warp pads. I know. I've heard it a million times by now," Isaac said, turning to her with a scowl.
"Then why are you encouraging Steven's belief that he saw something," Pearl asked.
"Because something about this whole situation isn't sitting well with me, Pearl," Isaac told her.
"There was nothing in that warp stream. That's final," Garnet said sternly.
"You really sure about that, Garnet?" Isaac asked as he scowled at the Gems. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Come to think of it, you all seem very determined to make this notion that Steven saw anything go away quickly."
"What are you trying to say?" Garnet asked, frowning at him.
"What I'm asking is who are you really trying to convince? Steven...or yourselves?"
This silenced Garnet and the other Gems, who looked surprised by this claim. Their eyes widening as they glanced at one another. Isaac walked back towards the warp pad, and warped out of there. Living them to their thoughts.
When night fell on Beach City, Isaac walked over to the kitchen bar and placed his laptop down with a cup of coffee. Sitting down on one of the stools, Isaac opened his laptop and turned on the app for the cameras. So far nothing's come up.
Isaac took a sip of his coffee as he watched the screen looking for anything the camera's might pick up. However, behind him was a very exhausted Steven. Even though Isaac was keeping guard, he still couldn't keep his mind off the warp pad. With bloodshot red eyes, Steven looked at Isaac's back and tried to sneak past him.
"Go to bed, Steven."
"How did you know!?" Steven exclaimed, throwing up his arms out.
"I heard you," Isaac said, turning to face him. "Come on, Steven, I'm worried about you. You look like you're about to fall on your face"
"I'm fine," Steven said stubbornly, looking away with a frown.
Isaac let out a frustrated sigh before walking towards him. "Steven, it's been two days since you saw that thing. We don't know if it'll show up again."
"But it has to!" Steven affirmed intently. "And when it does, then I'll finally be able to prove that I was right!"
"But what if it doesn't? Staying up all night and sitting around waiting for God knows what to show up isn't the way to go."
Steven knew that Isaac was right. His doubts about what he saw were starting to grow even more as he looked to the warp pad again. He was just so angry that the Gems wouldn't listen to him and thought he was crazy for thinking it was real. With a sigh, Steven threw up his arms and faced the Temple. "Fine. I give up! Steven was wrong and everyone else was right! Nothing's going to come through that warp pad!"
Isaac was about to say something when something crashed through the ceiling of the house and smashed in the floor. Both boys let out startled gasps as they turned around and saw what the object was. At first, it appeared to be a light green round orb with a smooth surface. The marble-like object picked itself off the floor when four cylindrical extensions protruded from its body and acted as legs.
The orb started walking towards the warp pad, as Isaac and Steven stared at it. And then, the young boy started laughing hysterically. "You were the thing in the warp stream!" Steven exclaimed, walking up the orb, which made it stop in front of him and Isaac.
"What the hell is that thing?" Isaac asked, completely taken aback by the sudden turn of events. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling that the machine left and his eyes widened. "It really did come from space…"
"Uh, Isaac!" The blonde man looked back down and saw the orb trying to move between him and Steven. It tried to push them out of the way with its tiny legs. "I-I think it's trying to get to the warp pad!"
"Whoa there, little guy…" Isaac pushed the orb back with his leg in an attempt to get it to stop. "We can't let you use the-OOF!" Without warning, the orb suddenly and violently pounced on Isaac, landing a surprising hard blow to his chest and knocking him back, and landed on his chest. "OW! You little fucker!" Isaac grabbed onto it and held it tightly, even as it struggled against his super strength. "Get the Gems!"
"Garnet! Amethyst! Pearl! I was right! You've gotta come out here and see this!" Steven shouted as he ran towards the Temple. But as Isaac stood up while holding onto the orb, the robot opened a small hatch and revealed a small cannon.
"Oh shit!" Isaac shouted and twisted the robot away from his face, before the cannon could fire a teal colored liquid at him. Keeping the cannon pointed away from him, he turned to Steven and the Temple. "Girls, get out here, now!"
The robot then attacked Isaac with its legs, hitting him in the arm and the stomach. Making Isaac drop it as he grabbed his stomach in panic. Just as it was about to hit him again, he grabbed one of its legs and held it up.
See it was about to fire at him, Isaac threw it across the room. The orb slammed against the Temple door and landed on the ground, causing damage to it in the form of a large crack that ran down the polished surface. The unknown liquid it fired began to pour out of it as Steven ran over to Isaac.
"What do we do?!" Steven asked fearfully. "Why aren't the Gem's coming out?!"
"I don't know." Isaac said, shaking his head. He then saw The damaged orb standing up again. It suddenly lunged towards the warp pad once more and landed on it.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Isaac charged for the warp pad grabbed onto the robot the exact same time it landed on the pad. "Gotcha!" He exclaimed with a victorious grin, which vanished the moment the pad lit up.
At that moment, the Gems finally opened the door to the Temple. "Steven! Isaac! Just what do you think you're-" Pearl stopped as she and the other two Gems gasped seeing the warp pad activating. They watched as Isaac and the orb were lifted up into the stream.
"Steven! Girls-!" He was cut off as, without warning, the stream disappeared. Taking both him and the mysterious with it.
"Isaac!" Steven yelled, running up to the warp pad.
"What's going on!?" Pearl exclaimed in shock and worry.
"What the hell was that thing?!" Amethyst added.
"It was-" Steven was cut off when Isaac's laptop pinged.
He turned towards it and ran. He grabbed the laptop and held it as he watched the screen. Gasping in terror at what he was. The Gems quickly ran over and were also shocked by what they were seeing.
Isaac held onto the orb as he and it were propelled up the stream in a mix of desperation and confusion. "The hell's going on!" Isaac yelled at the orb, which had retracted it's legs before the warp. "Where are you going?!"
Isaac didn't have a chance to ponder these questions when he saw more orbs appearing inside the warp stream. "They're more of you?" He asked, before becoming alarmed when the orbs started quickly coming at him. Slamming into him from every angle. He tried to push them away, but the machine's only became more aggressive as they all roughly pushed against him. Cover him everywhere but his head.
At first, Isaac tried to escape, but then the orbs shoved him towards the edge of the stream. Clearly attempting to eject him from there. Just like Steven before him, Isaac's head was forced out of the stream. Opening his eyes, Isaac gasped at the sight he was presented with.
Warp Space was nothing more than cold, empty black space with what looked like stars, and several thunderclouds flowing around. But what really got his attention was that he could see dozens, if not hundreds of other warp streams in the Warp Space. All of them were transporting more of the robots towards a single destination.
It gave Isaac a moment of pause as he pondered where they were all going, but the lack of air all around him quickly brought him back to the situation at hand. Using his strength Isaac tried to force his way back in the warp stream. Shaking and kicking the orbs off his arms and legs, before they quickly slammed into his limbs again. It was becoming painfully obvious that it was losing the fight, but he couldn't stop.
Then, without warning, the orbs all manage to shove him out of the stream.
"Aah!" Isaac gasped in panic as he was pushed out of the stream, with his hands still clinging to the orb from the temple, which he managed to hold onto before being pushed out.
The reality of the situation he was in came to Isaac when he tried gasping for breath. He was helplessly free floating in the Warp Space, where his body was subjected to coldness that was equal to the poles, and with very little oxygen left in his lungs. Isaac desperately looked around for any nearby warp streams to float towards. But there were none. He was all alone. As puffs of hot air came out of his mouth in the freezing void, Isaac looked at his right arm at his mother's Gem and tried to call upon Hellfire. But he couldn't. All he got was tiny embers that flinched out instantly. Placing his hand back on the orb, Isaac remained rather still as he floated along. Holding onto the orb as he looked up at where all the streams were going.
This couldn't be how it ends, right? But as horrifying as it was to think about, he was stranded in an empty void where there was 0% chance of him surviving. Isaac let out a dazed chuckle as ice started to form on his body. "You were right…" he whispered, chuckling weakly. Steven was right. He wished he could be there to tell him that. There were so many things he wished he could have done. He wanted to learn more from Garnet. Hang out more with Amethyst. Isaac most definitely wished he could just see Pearl one more. To tell her how much he admired her and how much she meant to him. Maybe even tell her about the crush he had on her.
Letting out tears of sadness, Isaac let go of the orb frozen to his chest. He was going to die in this place. Tire, frozen, and alone. "Goodbye, Steven...I'll miss you, brother," he said softly and closed his eyes, resigning himself to his cold, dark fate.
But this was not his fate. Because as he floated aimlessly through Warp Space, a warp stream then activates behind him. As he drifted closer to it, a pair of hands reached out from inside of it and quickly grabbed onto the young man. Pulls Isaac inside safely.
"Isaac!" Pearl cried as she pulled Isaac into a tight embrace against her, allowing him to cling onto her tight. Isaac's eyes snapped open as he desperately gasped for air and shivered uncontrollably. "Are you okay?! Please speak to me!" She frantically exclaimed.
"Pearl, stay calm," Garnet said, even if her voice sounded like she was anxious as well. The Gem leader grabbed the orb for Isaac as he started coughing horsley. "Take slow, deep breaths."
Somehow, Isaac listened to her advice and started to recover from his near-death experience. He then looked up at Pearl while panting with wide eyes, still shell-shocked. "Pearl?"
"Are you okay?!" Pearl asked the man with great concern, placing her hands on his cheeks. "When the Warp Pad activated, Garnet said you were floating outside the stream and-" She was cut off when Isaac suddenly hugged her again, stronger than before as he wept hot tears of relief. Pearl blushed as the Demi-Gem held her in his strong arms, nuzzling his face against her. Feeling just how much he needed this, she hugged him back. Tearing up at the thought of coming so close to losing him as well.
"It's okay, Isaac. I'm here," she whispered softly.
"ISAAC!" shouted Steven, floating into Isaac and clinging onto him with Amethyst floating up next to them. When Isaac recovered, he let go of Pearl as he felt Steven crying into his chest. He hugged him back, relieved to see his brother again.
Garnet looked at the orb and said, "So, this is what Steven saw."
Pearl whipped away her tears and gasped upon seeing the orb. "Uh... What is that?"
"Whoooah, that thing's far out!" Amethyst remarked.
"Yeah, Steven saw that in the warp stream," Isaac said after whipping away his tears. He then looked down at Steven, whose face was still buried in his stomach. "Steven, it's okay, I got the orb-"
"I don't care about that!" Steven cried, looking up at Isaac with hot tears flowing down his eyes. After his brother nearly died because of it, he wanted nothing more to do with the orb.
"We do," Garnet replied. The two boys turned towards the leader of the Crystal Gems as she wiped away tears under her visor. "Isaac was right, Steven. We should've listened to you. You're a Crystal Gems, and we didn't treat you like one. We're sorry."
Isaac gave Garnet a grateful smile, along with the two other Gems with them. However, the moment didn't last long, as Isaac remembered what he saw. "Guys, listen!" He exclaimed with urgency as Steven let go of him. "These orbs are some kind of space robot and there were tons of them!"
"We know," Pearl said with a frown. "We saw them on your cameras' surveillance feed. But what we don't know is where they're going."
"I don't know, but it looked like they were all going to the same place," Isaac said, looking up in the warp stream. Prompting the others to do the same.
"Where do you think they're going," asked Amethyst.
"Only one way to find out."
It only took a moment before the Crystal Gems followed the orbs to their intended destination. When he exited the stream, Isaac felt gravity take his body and he stubbled a bit. Pearl caught him before he could fall over. Isaac looked up and saw they were back at the Galaxy Warp.
Before they could take in their surroundings, the orb in Garnet's hand escaped and landed on the ground. Extending its legs, the machine walked up towards the central warp pad, joining all the others as they swarmed around it like ants. All of them spraying the unknown green goo onto the Homeworld warp.
The Crystal Gems run forwards before stopping a few feet away as they watch the robots work. "What are they doing to the Homeworld warp?!" Pearl asked with growing worry.
"There's a million of them!" Amethyst remarked with wide eyes. They watched as the warp pad was completely covered in the goo. After that the orbs all started to back away from it as the goo appeared to begin solidifying. And then the liquid vanished in a sparkle of particles. What was left in its place was the Homeworld warp appearing good as new. No cracks or any signs of damage at all.
"Holy…" Isaac trailed off.
"They fixed it?!" Amethyst asked in utter bewilderment.
"What does that mean?" Steven asked curiously as the Gems exchanged nervous glances.
A little on edge, Pearl jumped in. "Ah-" She cut herself off as she looked at the others. For the first time that Isaac's known her, Pearl looked completely lost. "I... don't know!"
They had no time to try and figure it out, when the Homeworld warp suddenly began to activate for the first time in centuries. While the two Demi-Gems were startled by it turning on, the Gems let out a unified gasp in shock and unbridled horror. Isaac then noticed that his gemstone was glowing.
"Hide!" Isaac yelled, grabbing Steven and throwing him on his back, before running towards the edge of the Galaxy Warp. Following his lead, Garnet quickly grabbed Pearl and Amethyst before summoning one of he weapons.
With Steven riding on his back, Isaac went off the platform, turned around, and grabbed onto the stone. Garnet leaped away from the warp pad and took refuge behind one of the tall columns surrounding the area. The Gem leader used her gauntlet on hold onto the structure next to Isaac and Steven.
Isaac peeked out from the edge with Steven as the light from the warp pad cleared.
Revealing not one, but two Gems. One was green, and the other was yellow.
The green one had lime-green skin and pale chartreuse yellow hair styled into a tetrahedron shape. Her dark green eyes were tinted by a yellow visor over them. Much like Lapis, she had a slightly curvy figure, with wide hips, a small waist, and a round chest. Her gemstone was located on her forehead. She wore a sleeveless green V-neck uniform that was mostly medium green, with a dark-green diamond outline around the cut-out of her neck area, meeting to form the yellow diamond insignia at the center of her chest, with a dark-green portion between her chest and leggings. Her legs had what looked like large boots that featured green toes and diamond-shaped knee pads. But the most peculiar thing about her were her hands, which looked like they had fingers that weren't directly attached, but instead levitated around where the palms would be.
The yellow Gem wasn't as curvy as the green one. Seemingly built like a tank, she had a muscular body and stood both taller and wider than even Garnet. The yellow Gem had pale yellow skin with brownish orange markings on her face and arms. The most noticeable of these markings was the brownish orange 'X' shaped marking on her face. She had sepia eyes and plump lips, and thick, wild, cream-colored hair that just went past her shoulders. Her gemstone was located on her right shoulder. She wore a sleeveless bodysuit, similar to the green Gem, with a black V-neck collar and a yellow diamond in the center. The torso of the bodysuit is an orangish yellow color, with legs black leggings, and yellow boots with black toes. She also wore long, elbow-length black gloves that covered her middle fingers.
With a menacing scowl, the yellow Gem looked around the Galaxy Warp, while the green Gem lightly stomped on the Homeworld warp. Neither showing even the slightest sign of emotion.
"Who is that?" Pearl whispered nervously.
"No idea," Garnet replied, also whispering as they continued to observe the two new Gems from a safe distance.
The yellow Gem turned around, making Isaac and Garnet lower back down to avoid detection. The Gem then pulled out a circular communication device and tapped her thumb on it. This made a small hologram of Agates Gem appear. "Command, this is Citrine. Warp repairs were a success. I've arrived on Earth with the Peridot I've been aside to protect," she said in a cold voice.
"Understood, you may begin your operation," the Agates said, before the device turned off.
"Citrine and Peridot," Steven repeated with a small smile as he glanced down at the other Gems. "They're names are Citrine and Peridot."
Of course, the Gems were quick to shush him and Isaac covered his mouth. But even he was curious with this turn of events.
Citrine turned to Peridot. "Begin your duties," she ordered, which seemed to annoy the green Gem.
"I'm well aware of what I'm supposed to be doing. After all, I've performed this task more than hundred times on many other worlds," Peridot informed with a hint of bragging. Her confidence broke when Citrine leaned down to her face.
"Then you're capable of performing it again. Now get to work." She growled in a low tone. She moved away from Peridot and stood a foot from her with her arms crossed.
Not wanting to provoke the Citrine any further, Peridot began her job. Lifting her left hand, she had four fingers float and repositioned them to form an electron if screen littered with data that the half humans couldn't understand. "Log date, 3 1 2." Using her spare finger to navigate through her data, Peridot started speaking in a cold, calculated tone as one of the orbs crawled up on her shoulder. "This is Peridot, performing Earth hub maintenance check with assistance from Citrine operative. Warp repair was a success. All 79 Flask Robonoids deployed and accounted for. Preparing to locate and manually reactivate Kindergarten..."
As Peridot was doing her work, Citrine felt something on something on her leg. Looking down, she saw it was the roboniod that Isaac machine tried crawling up her leg, but fell back down on the ground in defeat. Citrine gave it a critical glance as it rolled back and forth.
Peeking out from cover with Isaac, Steven smiled charmly. "Aww. The little ones are like their babies."
But this couldn't have been any further from the truth. Citrine scowled coldly down at the damaged Flask Robonoid and aimed her hand at it. Her gemstone started glowing. Forming from her gem was a large diamond shaped Kunai attached to a metal chain. The chain extended from the gemstone and coiled around her arm as the kunai shot at the robonoid at high speeds. Stabbing into the robonoid before pulling it back to her hand. Citrine caught it and crushed it in her own hand. Splashing her arm and right leg in the teal goo.
Steven would have let out a rather horrified gasp loudly but Isaac quickly covered his mouth. The young man then lowered himself and Steven back down.
Citrine chained kunai retracted back into her gemstone before turning back to Peridot, who turned towards her guard when the yellow Gem destroyed the robonoid. "Continue, Peridot."
Peridot quickly looked away and back to her screen. "N-Now to access the domestic warp," she said. Peridot began walking down the steps of the Homeworld warp. She stopped for a moment when she noticed the Crying Breakfast Friends sticker on the side of the Homeworld warp.
Peridot picked it up and gave it a confused look. But then she flinched when Citrine's chained Kunai was sent flying at something, before it was pulled back to the yellow Gem. Citrine grabbed her kunai in a reverse grip. On it was none other than Isaac's motion activated camera.
Taking it off her weapon, which went back into her gemstone, Citrine looked at the camera and then crushed it too before looking around suspiciously. "This site has been compromised," she noted, before turning to Peridot. "Follow protocol and return to base."
Peridot wasted no time and returned back on the Homeworld warp and warped away. Citrine was calmer and walked back onto the pad, where she reached behind her back and pulled out a glowing green stone-looking device. She activated it and dropped it, then warped away. Leaving behind the stone, which started beeping.
Thinking that it was a bomb, Isaac quickly ducked back down and waited for the detonation. But instead of an explosion, the device went off in a bright blast that instantly deactivated all the Flask Robonoids. Causing them to go limp around the Homeworld warp
After the EMP blast, the Crystal Gems slowly started to come out of hiding. Isaac pulled himself and Steven up and back onto the platform, with the young boy getting off him. Isaac and the Gems made sure that the coast was fully clear before approaching the pad.
"Well, that was way too close, but at least they're gone," he remarked, turning back towards the Gems with a smile. However, he stopped smiling when he noticed Pearl walking past him with a look of severe panic. "Pearl?"
Pearl stopped while staring at the Homeworld warp, as an old fear of hers was finally coming true. "They're coming back. I can't do this." Pearl said in a shaky voice, and covered her face in fear. "Not again!"
"We're dead! We are so dead!" Amethyst cried out hysterically. This shocked Isaac, as she sounded serious.
"Were they other Gems? Where did they come from?" Steven anxiously asked the Gems, with Isaac joining in.
"Guys, what's going on? Why did they come here? What was she trying to do?" Isaac's questions fell on deaf ears as Garnet walked past him and Steven. She approached the warp pad with heat intention. Stopping in front of it. "Garnet?"
"It doesn't matter." Garnet told him in an oddly dark tone, and summoned her gauntlets. Isaac, Steven, Pearl, and Amethyst watched in alarm as Garnet enlarged her gauntlets to massive sizes. She then held them up high over the warp pad then, with a heavy, powerful swing, brought down her fists and smashed the Homeworld warp. Completely destroying it once again. She then turned back towards the others and all thought her eyes could be seen, Garnet was most certainly glaring with furious rage.
"They're not coming back!"
AN: I'm so sorry it took so long to come back to this story, but since I'm gonna be putting Become ONE, and putting "Godzilla" and Red Dragon on hiatus, I'll hopefully be able to get back to Gem of War faster the next time. But I'll be doing another chapter before moving on.