Being Human
"Alright P-whatever, it's about time we showed you how AWESOME Beach City is!" Amethyst hollered, walking just a ways ahead of Perry and Steven.
"You'll love it here Perry, trust me! We've got stuff like donuts, fizzy drinks, arcades and FUNLAND!" Steven beamed, staring up at the taller teenager.
"I don't know what half of those things you just mentioned are, Steven." Perry grumbled as they stepped onto the boardwalk.
"Hey Steven, didn't you take us to the arcade a while ago?" Amethyst asked, continuing to walk along the boardwalk.
"Your docks are made of wood? How primitive…" Perry muttered, kneeling down and beginning to closely examine the dirty boardwalk. While squinting at the old wood, he began to to tap his floating fingers against the boardwalk in an almost rhythmic manner.
"That's a great idea, Amethyst!" Steven spun around to face the teenager, "Hey, Perry!" Steven tried to catch the attention of Perry, who at that very moment rammed his right boot straight through the boardwalk.
"What?" Perry looked up at the two, quickly wiggling his foot out of the boardwalk
"AWESOME, LET'S START DESTROYING THE BOARDWALK!" Amethyst shapeshifted her right hand into a hammer, and proceeded to slam it into the dinky boardwalk, creating a similarly sized hole to Perry's.
"Ergh, I was ACTUALLY testing the structural integrity of your human-created docks, and it's disappointingly weak- But it's fine, I doubt any Amethyst could wrap their head around what I was doing." Perry sneered, staring down at Amethyst with a smug look of satisfaction on his face.
"Whatever." Amethyst turned away from Perry, her hand returning to normal as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"WAIT! I know something that TOTALLY isn't primitive Perry!" Steven approached the teenager, before spinning around and pointing towards a brightly coloured building, "The ARCADE!" Steven beamed, turning back to Perry to gauge his reaction.
"The what?" Perry didn't have time to ask anymore questions before he was dragged towards a brightly coloured building by the surprisingly strong child.
"You can let go now!" Perry raised his voice as he stumbled behind Steven, causing the child to let go of his limb enhancers. He staggered into the brightly coloured building, feeling confused and overwhelmed by the amount of flashing, brightly coloured and INCREDIBLY primitive image displayers that occupied the large building he now stood in.
"What is this place…?" Perry muttered, stumbling forwards towards one of the displayers.
"It's the arcade Perry, and it's awesome! It's full of tons of cool games!" Steven giggled, running towards the machine Perry had stumbled towards.
"Eh, it's alright. I guess the prizes or whatever are cool." Amethyst shrugged, turning her head towards Mister Smiley who was glaring at all three of them from behind the prize counter with a large smile on his face.
Steven leaned against the machine, producing a quarter from his pocket and offering it to Perry.
"If you wanna play, you gotta pay!" Steven presented the coin to Perry, who cautiously accepted it, examining the strange metallic disc that he held between two of his floating fingers.
"Just put it in the slot in the machine, Perry. This one is great for winning Tickets, but I don't find it that fun." Steven shrugged, as Perry slowly bent down and pushed the coin into a slot that appeared to have been specifically designed to accommodate his token.
"Hrm, so the "Tickets" are earth's currency, while those coins are used to obtain Tickets. I must say, basing how much money you make off of the skill you demonstrate is a rather interesting idea, Steven '' Perry smirked, staring up to find a rapidly flashing red bulb displayed to him behind a glass case, it briefly flashed green at seemingly random intervals.
"Uh, Perry- Tickets are just used by the Arcade, you win them by spending REAL money IN the arcade." Steven reached into his pocket, presenting a couple of quarters and a dollar bill to Perry. Perry found himself looking away from the currency, and towards the counter displaying various prizes, including mechanical prizes… He could probably make something worthwhile using salvaged parts from those primitive machines.
"Hrm… So every establishment requires you to prove your skill before you're able to purchase anything? How brutal." Perry scratched his chin, glancing down he noticed the glowing red button jutting out of the machine, waiting to be pushed.
"No uh- That's just the Arcade Perry. Everywhere else uses REAL money! Uh, actually a couple of places don't… Uhm…" Steven found himself stumbling over his words as he attempted to explain basic human concepts to a literal Alien who was ironically a human.
"Steven, what is the objective of this "game?"" Perry leaned towards the flashing red bulb.
"Oh it's simple! You just gotta press the red button when that light flashes green." Steven knocked on the glass.
"Uh-huh…" Perry's eyes narrowed, and he began intently focusing on the flashing light. It briefly flashed green seemingly at random, but Perry knew better. By the looks of how large and clunky this machine is, and with how Primitive earth technology is, he seriously doubted that Earth had achieved quantum computing yet, which must mean this is just a pitiful attempt to simulate true randomness, something he could easily predict. He just needed to wait for the next cycle and- His floating fingers slammed against the red button!
"YOU LOSE!" A loud, angry voice screamed from within the machine. Perry staggered back, taken aback by just how loud it was.
"H-How is this possible, my calculations…" Perry muttered to himself, only to be interrupted by Amethyst.
"Argh, and you were SO CLOSE! This thing's probably freakin' rigged Perry." Amethyst smirked while their right hand shapeshifted into a hammer, "Wanna smash it?" Her smirk grew into a grin, and Perry slowly nodded.
"I HAVE DESTROYED YOUR DIABOLICAL MACHINE, RULER OF LIES!" Perry screamed at Mister Smiley, who was currently standing in front of the entrance to the Arcade, a wide smile on his face. Behind him, a completely destroyed arcade machine was just barely visible.
"Hah! Well sorry girly but you can't go destroying my property because you lost!" His grin grew wider, as he leaned towards Steven, "Your friend's banned for life Steven." He stood back up, waving them away.
"Whatever, we don't want to play your stupid RIGGED machines, Mister… Loser!" Amethyst shouted at Mister Smiley as both she and Perry were dragged away by Steven, and onto the boardwalk.
"Heheh, I must admit Steven, I find your Amethyst extremely useful. You may thank me later for destroying that diabolical machine."
"You got BANNED from the Arcade, Perry! Sometimes things are just unfair on earth, but that doesn't mean you can just destroy them." Steven attempted to explain to the Alien, who was currently snickering as Amethyst whispered something into his ear.
"An excellent idea uh- Do you have a designation I can refer to you by?" Perry completely ignored Steven, staring down at Amethyst.
"Uh, what? Dude, My name's Amethyst. It's what everyone calls me." She shrugged, placing her hands behind her head.
"Wait, you're JUST "Amethyst"? Are there no other Amethysts on this planet?" Perry asked, clearly rather confused.
"Wait- Wait. There's more Amethysts?" Steven asked, clearly rather taken aback by the whole situation.
"Uh, duh. Just like there's tons of Pearls, Peridots and uh- I have no idea what your fusion is." He shrugged, before turning back to Amethyst to hopefully continue the conversation.
"Wait- Wait, slow down for a second Perry. Did you know any other Amethysts?" Amethyst questioned, now seeming rather invested in what he had to say.
"But I thought you wanted to- Hrm… Fine, I knew a couple but uh, I guess they sorta acted like you but WOW, you look NOTHING like them!" He snickered, staring down at Amethyst.
"Huh? What do you mean, Perry- Also, there's more Pearls?!" Steven's eyes grew wider.
"I mean I guess they sorta look like an Amethyst, they have the same long white hair, the same purple skin, but... I guess you Crystal Gems don't wear uniforms. Oh, and she's WAAAY smaller than any Amethyst I've seen. If I had to guess, she's defective. Like Carnelian." He briefly glanced towards his satchel.
"Defective?" Both Steven and Amethyst spoke in unison.
"Ergh… Do I really need to explain to you two what a defective gem is?" Perry groaned, only to be met with a resounding "YES!" From both Amethyst and Steven.
"Fine, I'm not a licensed Kindergartener but I DO KNOW the basics. Like how you're clearly over-cooked, y'know- Stayed in the ground too long? It sorta… Pressed you together I guess. You're very much unlike the large, tall Amethysts I'm used to seeing." Perry shrugged.
"Wait so… I-Is it bad I'm defective?" Amethyst mumbled, looking up at the teenager.
"Uh- Well I uh… Y'know, both of my friends are defective! Being skinnier or shorter than the average gem isn't as horrible as some other gems might make it out to be." Perry stared down at Amethyst, who began to smile.
"Yeah, who freakin' CARES what anyone else says, now let's go do that THING I told you about Perry!" Amethyst cackled, leading Perry towards fish and stew pizza.
"Wait! I also wanted to ask… Something…" Steven watched as the two ran off towards the pizzeria. A sad, yet confused expression quickly spread across his face once they had turned a corner.
"Who's… Pink Diamond?" He whispered to himself, before following the two.
"Do you think we're forgetting something?" Pearl turned to Garnet, who was currently examining various pieces of junk that formerly resided inside of Perry's limb enhancers.
"I mentioned Pink Diamond in front of Steven." Garnet bluntly responded, before adjusting her visor.
"Of course! But… Well I'm sure Steven isn't too curious about it." Pearl muttered, placing a hand under her chin.
"Sup." Amethyst nodded at the group of three teenagers who were currently standing around their smoking car.
"Amethyst! It's so good to see you girl- And hey, it's Perry!" Jenny walked towards the two, immediately giving Amethyst a fist bump and Perry a warm smile.
"So, what brings you two here?" She asked. Perry leaned around her and saw Buck and Sour Cream talking about something related to a smoking engine? At least that's what he presumed it was, such a primitive design could easily be improved with-
"Uh, earth to Perry?" Amethyst nudged Perry's thigh, snapping him back to reality. He shook his head, recomposing himself.
"Hello, earth?" He turned to Amethyst, expecting a response. Both Jenny and Amethyst burst into laughter.
"H-He's new to earth, I'm sorry Jenny!" Amethyst said in between uncontrollable giggles.
"I guess he really IS an alien! Well anyway Amethyst, why did you two come here?" Jenny once again asked, placing a hand on her hip as she spoke.
"I was thinkin' you could take me Perry and Steven out on a ride around Beach City, you could even take us outside of town! Also- You know Perry?" Amethyst grinned widely, looking between the two.
"Mhm, we gave him a ride into town yesterday, good to see he's doing well!" Perry gave an unenthusiastic grunt in response to Jenny.
"I'm doing far below average in terms of my current situation." He grumbled, eliciting another snicker from both Amethyst and Jenny.
"Well look Amethyst, I'd love to take you guys out but the pizza car's broken." Jenny sighed, pointing to the car that currently had its bonnet popped open, smoke rising out of it.
"Welp, I guess we CAN'T do that!" Steven said with a forced smile, finally having caught up with the two, "I suppose we'll just have to do OTHER fun stuff instead!" He grabbed ahold of one of Perry's fingers, who quickly yanked it away from him.
"I may be able to fix your combustion engine, if you are willing to… Accept my services." Perry attempted to politely ask, not wanting to bother the few people who had been nice to him.
"Huh, well if he thinks he knows what he's doing, I'm down to let him help." Buck said. A large amount of oil burst out of a small pipe, flying directly into Buck's face.
Jenny turned away from the other teenagers, laughing nervously.
"I guess you are an alien cyborg or whatever, so go ahead!" Jenny stepped aside, pointing towards the car.
"Hrm… So this is called a "car", correct? A land-based transportation vessel that appears to use a combustion engine with HORRIBLY inefficient fuel usage." Perry adjusted his visor, leaning down to get a better look at the smoking engine. His floating fingers fashioned themselves into a wrench like shape as he stared down at the combustion engine, a smirk rapidly spreading across his face.
"Give me five minutes, and I will be able to not only fix, but IMPROVE your car." Perry snickered, turning to face the group of teenagers, noticing Buck was currently in the process of wiping a large amount of oil off of his face.
"Eh… Well, alright then. I guess you can "improve" the car in five minutes, Perry." Jenny turned to the large group, grinning.
"So who wants pizza while we wait?!" She asked, causing the teenagers to flood into the back-entrance of the pizzeria. Amethyst was soon to follow, only to get grabbed by Steven.
"Amethyst, are you sure it's a good idea to let Perry work on that? The gems said we were SUPPOSED to keep an eye on him, remember?" Steven pressed his lips against one another, seeming rather distressed. Amethyst simply yanked her arm away from him, chuckling.
"Eh, you need to chill out Ste-man, Perry's fine. I mean, what's he gonna do to a car in five minutes when I've eaten half of his freaking gadgets or whatever. You just gotta go with the FLOW." Amethyst poked Steven's cheek, snickering as she entered the building. A rather grumpy Steven soon followed, sighing.
"I can't turn down free pizza." He said in a resigned tone.
The group exited out of the back door, Steven was holding a slice of cheese pizza in his hand.
"Perry, I got you some pizza!" He shouted at the human whose head was currently lodged inside of the car's engine. He pulled his head out of the engine, his hair was somehow even more wild than usual, and his face was covered with oil. His floating fingers returned to a normal state as he walked towards Steven, quickly yanking the pizza out of his hands.
"What… Is this?" He questioned, bringing the pizza incredibly close to his face.
"It's pizza, you put it in your mouth and EAT IT dude!" Amethyst slammed an entire slice of pizza into her mouth to demonstrate, swallowing the entire thing whole. Perry shuddered, but slowly took a bite out of the SIDE of the pizza, hesitantly chewing at first, before rapidly devouring the slice of pizza in mere seconds. He burped, covering his mouth with his floating fingers.
"That was- Amazing! Thank you for introducing me to more of earth's WONDERFUL food, Steven." A warm smile spread across Perry's face as he looked down at Steven.
"Dude, you've never had pizza before?" Sour Cream asked, scratching his neck.
"Perry's from outer space, he was in a HUMAN ZOO! I actually don't know what Perry ate when he was there." Steven looked up at Perry, expecting a response.
"I'm unsure as to what exactly the biological components of the fruit we ate were composed of, however I do know it was rather tasteless compared to this… Delicious earth food. Most other humans and gems simply referred to it as fruit." Perry shrugged, not really knowing what else to say.
"Wait, so what colour was it-" Steven asked, only to be interrupted by Amethyst.
"Enough talking about fruit dude, let's check out the car!" Amethyst ran towards the still exposed engine, peering inside.
"Well it's not smoking anymore, that's gotta be worth something." Jenny smirked, also looking inside the car.
"Whoa, what the heck's all that stuff?" Sour cream leaned in, noticing the various tubes and the completely redesigned engine that looked like it had been ripped apart and put back together in an incredibly strange shape.
"Uh, Perry? Are you sure this'll work?" Buck turned around, his face now clean of oil.
"I'm SURE it'll work! In fact, I've done the best I can to improve your fuel usage. You probably won't have to refill your fuel container for the next year or so, I know that sounds bad but it's the best I could do given my limited tools." He turned to the group, their jaws agape.
"Yeesh, if it's as good as you say it is Perry, let's give it a whirl." Jenny enthusiastically remarked. The group all clambered into the car, with Steven sitting in between Perry and Sour cream in the backseat, while Amethyst shapeshifted into an owl and perched on top of the car's left back door.
"Hmph, now that's rather impressive." Perry grinned, staring at the Owl.
"What is this avian species called, Steven?" Perry spun around to face the rather squished Steven.
"Oh, it's an Owl." Steven replied, causing Perry to spin back around, a smile spreading across his face.
"I suppose that would make you an… OWL-ATHYST!" He shouted, before bursting into uncontrolled laughter, "Did I- Did I perform the joke correctly?" He looked around at the car, everyone was staring at him with blank expressions on their faces.
"Let's just go." Jenny's voice cut through the silence before she started the car, the engine purring.
"Remember that seat belt safety is no joke." Buck fastened his seat belt, as did the rest of the group, other than Amethyst, who remained firmly perched on the back door.
"Wow, that engine's purring! And the fuel tank's full! How'd you do all this, Perry?" Jenny turned around to face Perry, noticing a smirk spreading across Perry's face.
"I suppose it's just what I'm good at, Jenny. I excel at this kind of thing, and your primitive combustion engines are easy enough to modify." He smugly proclaimed, leaning back in his chair. Jenny put the car into reverse, it shot out of the parking lot at breakneck speeds.
"Whoa- This thing is FAST!" She giggled, putting the car into first gear as it took off towards the road out of Beach City.
"A-Are you sure this is a good idea? Shouldn't we be showing Perry around Beach City first?" Steven asked, looking to Owl-Athyst for support.
"C'mon Steven, it'll be FUN! Let's see how fast this thing can go!" Amethyst hollered, causing the group of teenagers to cheer in agreement. Perry simply sat with a crap-eating grin plastered across his face, his arms crossed over his chest. This is what power felt like, what… SOCIAL POWER felt like. It was nauseating, he was becoming DRUNK from their adoration for his work. Soon, the entirety of BEACH CITY will bow before him as their superior technological-
"Perry, we're going a little too fast!" Steven grabbed a hold of Perry's right arm, as Perry glanced down at the rather scared looking child.
"Peh, this isn't fast." Perry remarked. The laughing teenagers were currently barreling down the straight road out of beach city, along with Amethyst who was flying next to the group.
"We're hitting a hundred and twenty in this thing, how'd you make it go so fast?!" She asked, the windshield was not doing much against the large amount of wind now hitting Perry's face.
"Just basic engineering! It's not really that fast though, press the button I installed if you want to go EVEN FASTER!" Perry chuckled, surely making them go even faster will only further increase his social standing with these humans. Perhaps social reputation is directly linked to speed on earth?
"This is awesome man, you gotta show us how you did this!" Sour cream continued to laugh, grabbing a hold of the car door for support.
"Alright, here we go!" Jenny pressed the small, barely visible black button that had been hastily installed on the car's dashboard. Then, everything around the group became a blur.
"WHOOOAAA!" Sour Cream screamed, as did just about everyone else as they were abruptly pressed back against their chairs, the car now rocketing down the road at…
"FIVE HUNDRED MILES'N HOUR, HOW'D YOU EVEN HAVE TIME TO MODIFY THE SPEEDOMETER?!" Jenny screached, realizing the car had literally begun to levitate off of the road they were on, thankfully just before it hit a turn.
"W-What's going on?!" Buck shouted, unable to move as his body was entirely pressed against the chair.
"You've gotta stop this thing, Perry!" Steven shouted at the maniacally laughing Perry.
"But they like it, it makes them LIKE me, and AMETHYST likes it! Why would I ever stop?!" He continued to laugh madly, while Steven looked behind him- Noticing a now humanoid amethyst clinging on for dear life to the back of the car.
"Amethyst!" Steven shouted, sounding incredibly distressed.
"Please, please tell him to stop- I can't… I don't like this, it's not fun!" He sniffled, tears beginning to well up in his eyes.
"S-Steven?! I'm sorry- You were right! I messed it up- I mess everything up! Why'd Pearl even ask me to watch Perry!" She whimpered, gritting her teeth.
"That doesn't matter, please just get Perry to stop the car!" Steven shouted at Amethyst, who began to claw her way towards Perry.
"Perry, you gotta freakin' stop this thing!" She grabbed a hold of the maniacally laughing Perry's head, slapping him.
"Oh- Huh? Why, everyone's having so much fun!" He giggled, looking around only to notice everyone's terrified faces and… Steven crying…
"Oh…" He gulped.
"How do we freakin' stop this thing?!" Jenny screamed, still unable to move her hands that were pressed firmly against her seat.
"Oh, you just need to press the button again!" Perry shouted back. Amethyst took a deep breath in, despite not needing to breathe and began to clamber past Perry, and towards the front of the car.
"Ow." Buck mumbled as Amethyst crawled over his head, and straight towards the button. She slowly reached out, shapeshifting her finger to be slightly longer in order to reach the button… The button was pressed, and the car began to slow down, gently touching down in the cornfield Perry had previously landed in. Everyone in the car sat perfectly still as the car slowly rolled to a stop, almost everyone, other than Perry who began to mumble something.
"I am sorry I caused you distress. I did not know you would react this way to traveling at such a high velocity." He mumbled in an almost apologetic tone, fiddling with his floating fingers.
"It's… Alright." Buck was the first to speak, taking his glasses off for a moment, turning to Sour Cream who then also turned to face Perry.
"Yeah man, despite that crazy crud you just did, you didn't want to hurt any of us. I guess you really are an alien-cyborg, huh?" He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. Jenny turned to face Perry, sighing.
"It's alright Perry, but I'm gonna have to ask you to never touch this car's engine again." She spoke in a rather authoritative tone, reminding him of Garnet.
"I-I won't, I promise! I'm… Sorry!" He practically shrieked as he said Sorry, turning to the recovering Steven.
"Er… I really didn't mean to- Uh, well… I-I'm sorry Steven. I did not wish to make my friend so distressed." He placed a hand on Steven's shoulder, who wiped some tears from his eyes.
"It's alright Perry, I- I mean, Amethyst and I should have stopped you."
"Yeah dude, this is totally my fault! I should've told you about this stuff, but I got too distracted by pizza and wanted to have fun." She sighed, squishing herself next to Steven, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.
"So uh, you guys wanna go home?" Jenny asked the group of two and a half gems, all of whom nodded in agreement.
"Wow, you really were right about that gas stuff Perry. I'm NEVER gonna have to get gas again!" Jenny giggled, the welcome to Beach City sign whizzing past them as the car barreled towards town.
"Slow down Jenny, we're here." Buck turned to Jenny, before his gaze was suddenly stolen by something ahead of them.
"What- What the…" His usual calm tone was shattered as he stared at something hidden from Perry's vision. The honorary gem stuck his head up over the seat he was sitting behind, revealing a large group of various humans who he presumed to be related to the teenagers he was traveling with, most of whom were in cars. They carried various mobile storage units with them, they all looked very worried.
"Oh my goodness, they're back!" The older man spoke first, Perry presumed him to be a relative of Jenny's judging by his appearance.
"We need to get out of here, NOW!" A pale woman in a car shouted at Sour Cream, who hopped out of the car instantly.
"What's- What's going on?!" Jenny asked in a panic, only for a loud noise to pierce through their discussion.
"EVACUATE, EVACUATE!" A vehicle with a man's head on it slowly drove past them, and out of town.
"A giant hand's coming towards Beach City, now get your friends out of our car and LET'S GO ALREADY!" Jenny's father screamed, causing the group to collectively pile out of the car. Buck immediately hopped into the head-vehicle, giving a worried glance back at the group before the vehicle sped off. Sour Cream clambered into his mothers vehicle, and soon drove off as well, the rest of Jenny's family all got into the pizza-car, and were soon on their way out of Beach City behind the trail of cars.
"What the HECK was that all about?! Giant hand- Did everyone go freakin' insane while we left?!" Amethyst asked both Steven and Perry, who's eyes both seemed to be fixed on something in the sky. Amethyst followed their gaze, her jaw dropping as she saw the absolutely massive, gargantuan green hand that was heading towards-
"THE TEMPLE!" Steven screamed, grabbing Perry's right limb enhancer and dragging him back towards the beach.
"A-Am I being rescued?!" Perry asked out loud, a small smile creeping onto his face.
"No, homeworld's freaking invading! Lapis told us all about it- Gargh, we didn't have time to tell you any of this!" Amethyst pulled her long white hair in frustration, trailing behind the group.
"An invasion force? Oh no… OH NO- WHAT IF I'M SEEN AS A REBEL, WHAT IF THEY KILL ME?!" Perry whimpered, glancing back at Amethyst, "But- Hrm… Perhaps if we just give ourselves up, they won't shatter you?"
"Nu-uh Perry, you're with us now! Because we're your buds, and by the power vested in me- I grant you the rank of HONORARY CRYSTAL GEM!" Amethyst snorted as they finally reached the beach.
"An honorary TERRORIST?!" Perry shrieked, grabbing his face with his free limb enhancer and letting his floating fingers slide down his face. They soon made their way around the cliff side, finding Pearl and Garnet both staring up at the gigantic hand that was very, very close to the beach house.
"Wait- Hold on for a second, I gotta tell Connie about this!" Steven took out what Perry presumed was a communications device, holding it up to his ear.
"Uh, hey Connie! A giant hand's invading Beach City and uh... A ton of stuff happened in the last couple of days that I didn't get to tell you about yet. Also, I think the gem's are aliens who invaded earth or something, I'm honestly kinda confused. Anyway I might die so uhm... Call me back later, bye!" He slid his communication device back into his pocket.
"STEVEN!" Pearl called out, her attention immediately shifting to the young boy, "Greg's been looking for you EVERYWHERE! What's been going on?!" She said in a panic, turning back to Garnet.
"Steven, get out of here NOW!" Garnet grit her teeth, summoning her gauntlets as she stared up at the approaching hand. Perry adjusted his visor, gulping as he watched the gigantic ship slow down, the hand flipping into an open palm as he felt chills run down his spine.
"T-That's not a normal ship. This is- This is bad, really bad. They've sent someone DANGEROUS here, very dangerous. B-But at least the ship doubles as a prison, that means they're probably here to take us prisoners right?!" Perry frantically tried to rationalize the situation he was in, desperately looking for a bright side. He knew what that ship was, and he was terrified of whatever gem was in it.
"I'm not leaving you, I'm a crystal gem as well!" Steven found his resolve, clenching his fists as he moved in front of the group. The green hand remained motionless, hovering silently above the calm ocean. The green hand seemed to tint everything around it in a sickly green as light bounced off of its reflective surface. Perry was shaking, he was as good as dead, he'd be cast aside and- And oh god, what do they do to traitorous humans?!
"GAAAARGH!" Perry grabbed his messy hair with both of his hands, his floating fingers dragging down his face as he began to hyperventilate. Everyone's attention was suddenly diverted to the tip of the index finger, as somebody began to slowly walk towards the very tip of the finger. The second the gems laid eyes on this person, their greatest fears were confirmed
"Ergh, what a shit hole." The man grumbled. At first Perry had thought they were a jasper, their white hair, tanned skin and even their perfectly cut gem that rested where their nose should be all pointed to them being a Jasper. Yet… No, they clearly weren't. They were… They were human.
"W-What the stars…" Perry muttered, stumbling back.
"You LIED to us!" Garnet snarled, her head whipping around to face Perry.
"I-I didn't know, I had no idea this- This was even-"
"Shut up." The man interrupted Perry's ramblings, his uncaring, cold eyes staring down at the group. Perry finally got a better look at him. He stood at almost 7'0, and had short neck length scraggly white hair. He looked to be in his early twenties, and his most defining feature was his complete lack of a nose, instead a jasper gem resting where it should be. He wore a plain orange jumpsuit with a small white diamond emblazoned on its center. A thick, sleek metallic collar was firmly secured to his neck. He had a rather lean, but athletic build.
"I cannot BELIEVE they made me take YOU! Remind me WHY I couldn't have just had a NORMAL jasper instead of- This!" A familiar voice grew closer, as Peridot- HIS Peridot finally appeared over the small indent in the finger, now standing on top of the fingertip next to the hybrid, seemingly too focused on him to notice the group standing below them.
"Apparently your little "project" is considered a hybrid by the diamonds, and any rebellious hybrids are DEALT with BY hybrids." The man snarled, cracking his knuckles.
"He's- He's not a hybrid, it's… It's complicated, I don't even KNOW if the experiment was even a success!" Peridot rebutted, her floating fingers hovering over a small metallic device she was holding tightly in her right hand.
"Oh right, that little project that the Prime Peridot put you in charge of- The same project you got demoted for messing up after y'know, you sorta went ahead with the experiment five years too early." A smug expression crossed the hybrid's face, as he stared back at Peridot.
"How does a CLOD like you know about that?!" Peridot spat, pressing a button on the small black device, immediately causing a small shock to travel through the Hybrid's body, eliciting a pained grunt from him, before he began to recompose himself.
"I just like to make sure I read all the files my handler gives me." His smug smile soon returned, covering his pained expression.
"Whatever, J-12, just-" As she spoke, Peridot turned to get a look at whatever had caught J-12's attention. That's when she saw Perry, standing right next to the crystal gems.
"Uh… Hey!" Perry raised his right arm, waving at Peridot. Peridot's eyes widened, as she glanced back at J-12.
"Haha, fuck me, so this is your little Project?" He snickered, rubbing his chin with his left hand.
"Perry?! What are you doing with them!" Peridot shrieked back at Perry, who was currently craning his neck to stare up at Peridot.
"YOU KNOW HER?!" Pearl squawked, almost all of the Crystal gems' attention was now focused between Perry and Peridot.
"I uh- Peridot, I sorta like a couple of these clods! I'd very much appreciate it if we could just talk!" He screamed back at Peridot, who was having a hard time hearing him from all the way up on her giant finger.
"What?! You want a spork?!" She screamed back down at Perry, who responded with an equally confused "WHAT?!"
"What are you even doing on Earth, I tracked your pod here after-" She was suddenly interrupted by J-12, who stepped in front of her and gently pushed her aside.
"Hrm… Take us in a little closer, I want to "talk" to them." A sinister smile spread across his face while Peridot's fingers formed a familiar screen, her remaining finger rapidly navigating through strange walls of text as the ship's index finger suddenly slammed into the beach.
"Oh thank goodness, I had no idea what they were saying from up there." Pearl mumbled, Amethyst only nodded in response.
"So- THIS is what you call me here for?! A bunch of displaced re-rebel…" J-12's right eye began to twitch, his entire body freezing up as his words trailed off into gibberish. Peridot once again gave him a small shock, the collar sparking slightly as he was brought back to reality.
"H-Haha… Oh, I know who you are. Remnants of ROSE'S army." He grinned, a mad smile present on his face.
"Blow 'em to bits with the cannon, Project Seventeen will survive." He remained smiling, glancing back at Peridot.
"B-Blow them to bits?! Perry might DIE! And do I HAVE to remind you that YOU are the one taking orders from me, 1BJ12!" Peridot shrieked, looking between J-12 and the group of terrorists plus fifteen years of her hard work.
"He'll be fine. Hybrids are far more resilient than gems, I know that better than anyone." His smile only grew, as he continued talking, "And if for whatever reason you decide not to use the ship's cannon, I'll have to tell my REAL handler that you were sympathizing with THE crystal gems. The same gems who shattered Pink Diamond." He began to snicker, only for another shock to reverberate through his entire body, causing him to stumble ever so slightly. Peridot grit her teeth, turning away from the group as she focused on her still open screen, her remaining floating finger slowly navigating through the oceans of text and data.
"P-Peridot?!" Perry shouted, stumbling forwards only to be held back by Garnet, who gripped his shoulder firmly. Garnet turned her attention to Steven.
"Steven, you need to get out of here NOW!" She shouted, her voice raised.
"Uh this might be a bad time to ask, but am I the only one wondering what she looks like without her limb thingies on?" Amethyst asked, only to be backhanded by Pearl.
"No, I'm not leaving! I'm not going to abandon you, I'm not just gonna run away and let you deal with everything!" Steven's gem began to glow, as the hand slowly rose into the air. Peridot and J-12 both began walking back towards a small hole in the hand's finger. The hand soon formed a finger gun, the tip of its index finger beginning to glow brightly, sending sand and sea water flying in every direction.
"JUST LEAVE!" Pearl screamed, tightly clutching her spear in both of her hands.
"No, I'm not gonna ABANDON YOU!" Steven shouted, running towards the group just as the hand fired a massive blast of green energy. A pink light obscured almost everyone's vision, only for it to fade almost instantly, revealing…
"W-What kind of…" Perry stared at the strange, gigantic pink shield that was now in front of the entire group.
"R-Rose's shield!" Pearl said with wide eyes, watching the shield slowly dissipate as Steven took a defensive stance.
"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Steven screamed, not yet realizing the heart-piercing stare J-12 was giving him.
"Steven, you saved me!" A wide smile spread across Perry's face.
"Rose's shield… That would make you- HAH, NOW THIS IS FUNNY!" He shouted from utop the ship, his eyes solely fixed on Steven, who involuntarily took a step back.
"I'm not afraid of you!" Steven shouted back at him, despite the fact this man seemed to radiate hate and malice. J-12 leapt from the finger he was standing on, flying through the air for a few seconds before he landed on the beach in front of the crystal gems.
Garnet was the first one to move, charging past Steven and straight towards the hybrid, her gauntlets already summoned.
"Aha, I'm sorry. That's rude of me isn't it, you're not really Rose are you. It's just a force of habit, y'know?" He smirked, sidestepping out of the way of the punch as he reached into his jumpsuit, pulling out a destabilizer.
"Don't let him hit you with that thing!" Perry screamed, causing Garnet to just barely leap away from the destabilizer. She adjusted her visor, letting out a shaky breath.
"I-I didn't realize, I should have been paying more attention." She mumbled, deciding to enter an offensive stance.
"Are you three pathetic excuses of gems really what remains of Rose's army? A runt, a DEFECTIVE pearl, and- This shameless display! Do you do that in front of children?!" J-12 found himself laughing at his own joke, his sinister smile still spread widely across his face. Amethyst launched her whip towards his right arm, it wrapped around him in an instance.
"D'awww, I don't recognize you from any of HER memories!" He suddenly yanked on the whip, sending Amethyst careening towards him. He slammed his fist into her gut just as her limp body reached him, causing her to poof instantly. He caught the gem in his right hand, tossing it behind him and towards Peridot as he ducked to the side, just barely avoiding Garnet's wild swing. Peridot grabbed a hold of the gem with her gravity beam, pulling it towards her before putting it into a small hollow compartment in her right limb enhancer. Pearl was the next to attack, charging towards J-12 with her spear at the ready. She spun the spear in her hand, sending the side of the spear careening towards his head, surely it would disorientate him and- He caught the spear with his left hand, with it being only inches away from his face.
"Here's a tip for you, you should attack with the-" Just as he was reeling his fist back to poof Pearl in a single blow, Garnet's gauntlet finally made contact with his right cheek. Blood flew out of his mouth as he staggered to the side, a red mark immediately forming over his cheek. Pearl fell to the ground, immediately scrambling to pick up her spear. Garnet stood in front of Pearl, ready for his counter attack. He didn't move, instead he just stood there, rubbing the side of his mouth, spitting out some blood onto the sand.
"You know, I HATE fighting. And I fucking HATE the taste of blood in my mouth!" He screamed, genuine anger reaching his voice as he waved a hand in front of his head, summoning a chipped and cracked helmet before charging head-first towards Garnet. He reeled his right fist back, swinging over Garnet's head as she delivered a blow straight to the side of his helmet. He powered through the blow, and slammed his destabilizer into her chest, causing the gem to… Fall apart. Steven stumbled back, watching the gem he loved like a parent fall apart in front of him, a bright yellow glow flowed through her body, her eyes briefly meeting his as she continued to fall backwards, as a limbless, yellow- She poofed, and two gems fell to the ground in front of the hybrid. Steven fell back, staring in utter horror at the scene that was unfolding before him. Perry simply watched, stumbling back but managing to keep his footing, unlike Steven. Pearl saw an opening and took it, ramming her spear straight towards his- He caught it, grabbing the spear by the tip in his right hand. A small amount of blood began to trickle down the palm of his right hand as he smirked. The developing bruise on his face disappeared, literally healing before Perry's very eyes. He yanked the spear towards him, and slammed his helmet straight into Pearl's head. She poofed, and her gem dropped to the ground.
"Well, that's the pathetic excuse of a "problem" taken care of, now I just need to deal with Rose, and Prime's little project." His grin grew wider, as he began walking towards the two.
"Oh-hoh, you have no idea how much SHE wanted this, to be able to see you- Rose…" He snarled, his grin growing even wider as he kept on walking towards Steven, staring directly at him, paying Perry absolutely no mind. Perry gathered his courage, and stood in front of Steven.
"I'm not letting you get anywhere near my frie-" Perry was suddenly cut off as J-12 landed a devastating blow to Perry's gut, causing his recently eaten Pizza to exit his stomach as he staggered backwards, his knees buckling as he began to fall. J-12's arm snapped towards his left limb enhancer, grabbing a hold of it tightly, preventing the near limp human from falling. He sneered, his face soon turning to disgust as he stared down at the blubbering, whimpering human he held in his hands
"You're a disgrace, you're nothing but a failed experiment." He tightened his grip around his left limb enhancer, a sickly crunch was heard as metal bent inwards, and a yelp escaped Perry's lips. He soon found himself slammed into the ground, his left limb enhancer sparking and vibrating as J-12's grip grew ever tighter. J-12 pulled Perry back to his feet, his knees were quaking as he struggled to stand, the only reason he hadn't fallen to the ground was the hybrid's tight grip around his left limb enhancer, which J-12 was using almost as if it were a puppet's string.
"I-I won't let you… Hurt him…" The limp, bruised human mumbled, only being held aloft by his left limb enhancer that had been forcefully raised over the rest of his body.
"I-I don't care about the zoo anymore, I don't care about all that stuff that happened, I-I care about Steven, he's my friend!" Perry shrieked, reeling his right fist back to launch a blow at J-12's face, only to once again be slammed into the ground, letting out another pained groan as he felt pain shoot through his back.
"You think you have it rough, that your life's worse than mine, than any other Hybrid? Now that's funny! You're a pathetic self loathing piece of garbage who lived a cushy life in that little zoo, and still you think you have the RIGHT to feel BAD about ANYTHING that has EVER happened to you?!" J-12 yelled, pulling Perry towards him. All he could feel was pain shooting through his back, his body was on fire and J-12's were fingers digging into his right hand, having pierced through the metal of his limb enhancer after his most recent blow. He moaned in response, going entirely limp only for J-12 to still hold him up, forcing him into a standing position. He wanted to puke again, but he had already thrown up everything he had eaten.
"Let me tell you both about my childhood. About most hybrid's childhood. We're trained from the day we can walk to fight, to work. To obey. It's the only life we know. It's horrible, and I hate every second of it. So how about I make you feel a fraction of the pain I went through during my early years of sparring?" A smirk once again returned to J-12's face, as he proceeded to attempt to fling Perry over his head, only for Perry to go flying over him, soaring through the air before impacting the sandy beach a few seconds later. J-12 stared at half of a limb enhancer he now held in his right hands, it had been a nasty tear, the metal was jagged and bent from the sudden separation. Perry surprisingly stumbled to his feet, fumbling around in his satchel with his remaining right limb enhancer.
"Ergh…" J-12 let out a discontent groan as he sprinted towards Perry, reeling his fist back and SLAMMING it into his face. The last thing Perry remembered before everything went black was absolutely searing pain.
Steven couldn't move. He literally couldn't move. He wanted to protect his friends, to protect the gems- Even Perry! But he couldn't, his body wouldn't move. He was just sitting there, shaking. He couldn't stop shaking, his eyes were wide, he wanted to wake up from the nightmare he was having, because this couldn't be real.
"Don't worry- He'll live, sadly." J-12 grumbled, staring down at the beaten, unconscious body of Perry. He turned to Steven, his smile growing ever so wider as he began to walk towards the young boy. Steven stared up at him in absolute horror as he approached. J-12 grabbed him by his shirt's collar, raising him into the air.
"So, isn't this funny, huh Rose?!" He smirked, before placing his free hand against his forehead, chuckling as he shook his head.
"Oh, I called you Rose didn't I? I'm sorry, just a force of habit, STEVEN." J-12 let his left hand drop back down to his side as he brought the young boy closer to his face.
"W-We didn't do anything to that p-pink diamond person y-you're talking about." Steven mumbled, only for J-12 to continue to laugh in response.
"Her voice is screaming in my head, those never ending dreams I had about that war, the war YOU- I'm sorry… Rose started. The nightmares of HER memories haunt me."
"I-I'm really sorry, I-I'm really…" Steven began to cry, grasping at the arm that was holding him to no avail, only for his bubble to form around him, pushing him away from the monster that stood before him, and back onto the beach.
"Isn't this funny, Rose? We're both in new bodies, new memories- Yet we're still fighting each other!" He his laughing grew louder as he reeled his fist back, slamming it straight into the top of Steven's bubble, causing it to pop in an instant.
"And the funniest thing of all is you had a choice, you had free will. The ability to choose, to do what THE REST OF US COULDN'T!" He flung his arm towards Stevens' throat, this time holding him far tighter than he was previously.
"I-I-I…" Steven stuttered through his tears. This wasn't fair, he wanted his dad. He wanted someone to save him, he was terrified, and it was getting harder to breathe.
"And yet… You still side with THEM, playing the role of your mother, your leader. Have you seen her dreams yet, her memories? I doubt it, but you know what? I'm starting to see why that old crone hated you so much! I guess WE can finally agree on something! NIGHTY NIGHT, ROSE!" J-12 roared. The last thing Steven saw before everything went black was J-12's fist barreling towards his face.