Well, it's time for the action to start! The Crystal Gems v. Aquamarine's fleet kicks off right now!
The various ships opened their bottom hatches and allowed dozens of gems to land on the beach. They seemed to be a mostly generic mix of gem fighters with rubies, amethysts and jaspers all lining up to strike down their enemy. Judging from their complacent expressions, they were expecting an easy victory. Aquamarine, confident as ever seeing the numbers advantage, did not even bother getting involved. Instead she laid down on her front and sat her chin in her hands as if this was pleasant musical performance instead of what appeared to be a massacre in the making.
Steven had to fight down the temptation to run back into the beach house and stay in the confines of the force field. Homeworld was not backing down, so why should he? As he watched the dozens of belligerent soldiers charge onto the sand and begin meeting the Crystal Gems in combat, he spotted Topaz leap off the main ship and charge towards him. He really wished she had not shown up, since he could see a gem desperate to break free from Homeworld. Alas, the pair proved too afraid to leave and remained loyal to the Diamonds. He could respect that sort of dedication and the apparent love the duo had for each other, but that did not mean he would hold back.
Just as they did last time, Topaz split into her two components and continued to bolt towards him ready to capture him in their fused body. He decided to run straight towards them and, just as the two tried to fuse with him stuck in the middle, jumped up to eye level, brought out a gauntlet and nailed one of them in face.
He still murmured a silent apology as the stricken gem flew for over thirty feet, causing her partner to drop her detached expression for one of absolute shock. It was obvious she wanted to run to her other half, but the left-gemmed Topaz simply summoned her pugil stick and made a move. The young hybrid began drawing on his training with Garnet and Bismuth, using his smaller size to his benefit and bobbing and weaving around every strike. Just as he began to feel confident in his ability, the right half re-entered the fray and made the fight two on one. Now he had a severe disadvantage, but soon realized the others were in a similar spot.
Pearl and Garnet had their backs to each other as half a dozen jaspers tried to clobber them with either crash helmets much like the same jasper they fought months ago or with large, flat swords that looked more fitting for beheadings than straightforward combat. He could already see multiple other orange gems either frozen in various places or trying to fight despite visible burns, but it was apparent their tricks were going to run out. They could potentially fuse into Sardonyx to level the playing field, but the relentless attack stopped them from focusing long enough to pull off the fusion dance.
Peridot was squaring off with a small squadron of rubies who, similarly to the ones they fought earlier, were quickly getting frustrated at how a lowly technician was besting professional fighters in combat. It helped that Peridot was manipulating dozens of tools from her workshop in a barrage of hammers, saws and screwdrivers to keep her enemies distracted while also dealing out a fair share of pain.
Bismuth was keeping her head level as four amethysts tried to beat her into submission. Unfortunately for her opponents, the veteran was keeping them guessing with the various shapes her hands could take which threw of their focus and left them open to counterattack. She even seemed to be throwing the occasional taunt to further the distraction and keep herself in one piece.
Amethyst was fighting like a caged animal, clearly disturbed and looking ready to jump out of her own skin at any moment. As she tried to hold off multiple amethysts and rubies at the same time, she was zipping all over the beach and flinging the Homeworld gems into each other like multicolored bowling pins. Even as she seemed on top of the situation, her face was full of clear anxiety and fear. Her eyes kept darting over to her friends, but worried that too much time spent lingering would mean her death.
Lapis Lazuli was also suffering from obvious anxiety, but was actually taking control of the situation. Despite being surrounded by half a dozen Homeworld gems consisting of multiple jaspers, which greatly disturbed her in just how eager they seemed to hurt her, she fought through the discomfort and sent many of them flying with the ocean. She put her weeks of training into action as she summoned literal blocks of water to squash them, razor-sharp discs to slice their forms and chains to incapacitate them long enough for her to drag them out to sea. Unfortunately, her opponents were remarkably stubborn with some simply swimming back to continue the slugfest. With her lack of hand-to-hand training, she knew they would have already beaten her in a straight fight.
All the while Steven was still locked in a battle with Topaz. He hoped somewhere deep down the gems were holding back, but it seemed they had no choice but obey the order to take him hostage. Over and over again they tried the same tactic of fusing together with him stuck in the middle and over and over again he sent one or even both of them reeling. Even if he was holding his own, he could feel that adrenaline was one of the only things keeping his body in top shape. He was already sweating and could feel his limbs start to ache from the constant maneuvering. Had it not been for Garnet making him run laps around town or do so many squats he would already be down for the count. He made a mental note to start eating more granola after this was all said and done.
Aquamarine was sorely disappointed. She assumed that when the Crystal Gems decided to resist capture, the entire affair would be over and done with in an instant. Yet here they were, several minutes later, outnumbered at least four to one and they kept going! She scoffed at the nerve of those traitors. Her entertainment was officially ruined and that imbecilic clod Topaz still did not have Rose Quartz in custody. She briefly contemplated entering the fray herself, using her gravity wand to retrieve Rose, but that did not seem appropriate. Perhaps some grand gesture to crush their spirits? Yes, that seemed most appropriate to her. She sprouted her wings and fluttered back into the ship and immediately contacted the scouting ship in orbit.
"Satellite Scanner VL4 reporting," spoke the voice of the ship's agate supervisor, "We have spotted a force field protecting the main entrance to the rebels' base. Although constructed from outdated gem technology, it must be deactivated before any large-scale attack."
Aquamarine grit her teeth. So those rebels actually had some basic defenses? Fine by her, she would enjoy it more if she could power through their shields and then pulverize them.
"Have you been able to get a scan of the structure despite the force field?" she asked the agate.
"Affirmative, the structure is unremarkable save for an active warp pad being inside. Near it is a pocket-space doorway that we have not been able to analyze the contents of."
"Perfect! Send in a squad of infiltrators through the warp pad and get that shield lowered. Once that is done, send in the bulk of our forces. That will be all."
With that, Aquamarine giggled maliciously as she waited to see the pink dome fall. Once Topaz had Rose Quartz in custody, then she would make her watch her own forces be destroyed. Then she would drag her back to the Diamonds, have her executed and she would receive a promotion and maybe even her own fleet to command instead of just one ship. The diminutive captain kept her eyes on the battle with renewed interest, waiting for the moment to snuff out the rebellion once and for all.
All factors considered, the Crystal Gems were impressed at how well they were holding up. Even still, they knew they would lose a war of attrition and needed to gain an advantage somehow or they would fall. Eventually they all managed to gather their group into one tight circle with the Homeworld gems surrounding them. Steven was still focused on Topaz, her expression once again blank. The other soldiers were clearly irritated at how much time this was taking and how stubbornly their enemy was refusing to go down.
For many seconds they remained silent until all heck broke loose. Steven was met with Topaz and two other amethysts moving in to catch him. Now his reflexes were being pushed to their limits as he blocked the three oncoming attackers with his shield while also keeping an eye out for more opponents.
That seemed unlikely, however, as the rest kept their heads up despite the chaos emerging once again as gems weaved in and out of battles so quickly it was impossible to keep track of it all. A few select highlights include Pearl double-wielding spears to hold off a pair of particularly aggressive jaspers, Lapis and Peridot staying by each other's side as almost a dozen rubies ambushed them and Garnet unleashing the full brunt of her elemental abilities resulting in several unfortunate gems being either scorched until they retreated into their cores or being frozen into submission before quickly being smashed into submission.
Steven was proud of all of them and, although a part of him always protested fighting, found a bizarre thrill in all of this. He could only imagine how his mother and the others felt in the old days fighting like this on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, his reminiscing gave one of the invaders the opportunity to break his guard with a punch right to the gut. As he clutched his gem in pain, the now-fused Topaz raised her staff to knock him unconscious only to feel a whip grab her by the neck and force her on her knees.
"Steven, get out of here! Run away!" shouted Amethyst as she struggled to hold back the larger gem. As Steven heeded her command to retreat into the beach house so he could get his bearings, the two Homeworld amethysts noticed the small scrapper with a look of amusement.
"Heh, look at that runt. Must have come out of the ground wrong!" one of them jeered as Amethyst's whip snapped allowing Topaz to chase after the dazed Steven. Before she could pursue, the other one got her attention.
"Guess that traitor Rose doesn't mind having rejects on her team. Let's show that defect what a real quartz can do!"
The short rebel felt her fear melt away as rage overtook her mind and blindly charged at the two larger gems. Now she was only concerned on letting Steven get to relative safety and showing these blowhards who was boss. She charged right at them with a spin attack only for the two to dodge without much effort.
Both of them summoned whips of their own and began snapping at the smaller gem as she rolled around at her maximum speed. Realizing a direct approach was not working, Amethyst leaped straight into the air and then cannonballed back down in her purple puma form. The Homeworld gems were surprised by her sudden change of size long enough for her to elbow drop them hard enough to send them back into their gems. After quickly bubbling the two and sending them into the temple, Amethyst ran off to rejoin the fray with some of her confidence restored. Maybe she had what it took to survive this insane battle after all.
Steven could still feel the wind being knocked out of him by Topaz, but managed to stumble into the force field and sit down on the porch. He regretted leaving his family to fight for themselves, but he knew they would all have him take a breather rather than risk being grabbed when he is at less than his best.
As he got his head put back together, he heard a clang as Topaz ran headfirst into the barrier. The yellow fusion quickly got back on her feet and began swinging her mace staff at the pink dome to no avail. Steven merely sat and watched as she struggled to make a dent for several minutes before he commented.
"Don't waste your time. There's no breaking this thing. You shouldn't exhaust yourself like that."
This made Topaz pause and stare at him with one of her eyebrows raised in confusion. Here she was trying to drag him to certain death and he was concerned about her well-being? It reminded her of the first time they met and he seemed to genuinely sympathize with her. It made no sense to her. His later statements only made her more perturbed.
"Look, I know it's hard. You feel like you have nowhere to go, but that's not the case. I can tell you'd rather be somewhere else. Somewhere you're accepted and can be happy."
Now the gem just stood there totally lost. Steven made his way down the steps, though staying behind the force field, and looked up to her.
"Earth can be that place. We won't judge you here, we won't separate you, and we'll be happy to have you. I know you're scared of the Diamonds and being forced apart, but we'd never do that to you. I've seen how miserable you are and I'm sorry I didn't make this offer last time, but you can stay with us. Topaz, you can be a Crystal Gem and stay together forever."
The fusion actually put down her weapon hearing that. It almost sounded too good to be true, but his face conveyed absolute sincerity. She could hardly believe it. A place where no one would threaten to separate them? Where no one would use the relationship between them to pull them around? Even after everything she has done?
Before she could give her response, however, Steven heard something coming in through the warp pad and rushed inside. He was stumped as to what it could be, but he quickly understood as he saw four peridots wearing limb enhancers now standing in his home. He locked eyes with the technicians for a second before two of them turned their artificial fingers into laser cannons and began firing at him while one of them ran over to the force field generator. The last stood at the temple door and attached a bizarre circular device on the door that began drawing a holographic image of the temple in midair. Steven, despite having no idea it was transmitting information back to the scouting ship and to Aquamarine, knew it was trouble and tried to get his bearings.
"Oh come on! We just remodeled the place!" he shouted in exasperation as he ducked behind the island as the two enhanced invaders kept firing. While the damage seemed mostly cosmetic, he did not want to keep seeing his home demolished.
"Surrender yourself to Homeworld and this assault will cease," droned one of the attacking peridots. Already knowing him giving up was not an option, Steven jumped on top of the island with his shield in hand and charged for the two green invaders. He pushed himself forward even as the barrage grew heavier and eventually bashed one in the face with a shield. The other quickly took to the sky using the same helicopter maneuver the Crystal Gem Peridot used to escape them. Steven felt as if he was at a disadvantage until Bismuth stormed in, hearing the carnage from outside, and tackled the flying gem to the ground.
"Get off me, you traitor!" screamed the peridot underneath Bismuth. The larger gem was not amused.
"I may be a traitor, but at least I don't let technology fight my battles. Now get out of our house!" She then proceeded to pound the smaller gem's head in with her hammer until she receded into her gem. Meanwhile Steven kept up the attack on the other peridot until she was forced into her gem as well by repeated shield smacks.
Before the two could celebrate, the peridot analyzing the force field generator seemed to make a breakthrough as she removed one of her enhancers to scan her hand. That proved to be a mistake.
"Unknown gem signature detected. Initiating defensive measures," spoke the recorded voice of Peridot before an electric shock caused the offending peridot to retreat into her stone as well. The lone survivor of the attack now looked incredibly skittish as she stood against two irritated rebels.
"Stay back! I'm not afraid to use this!" she threatened while pointing the laser cannon at them. Bismuth, now thoroughly done with this entire meeting, walked right up to the intruder and ripped off the enhancer on one of her hands, then dragged her away and forced her to touch the generator. One painful static shock later and the house was clear once again. The four peridots were soon bubbled and sent inside the temple proper.
"Thanks Bismuth, that was too close," complimented Steven as he walked up the device which now displayed a full image of the temple. Before he or Bismuth could do anything though, it spontaneously deactivated and fell to the floor.
"No problem, but we need you back outside. Do whatever you need to do, then head out." With the scuffle finished, Bismuth ran back outside into the main fray. That left Steven alone in the house for a few seconds before charging back outside looking to aid the other Crystal Gems. Topaz, still standing outside, stood rooted in the same spot as she contemplated the boy's offer from before.
Aquamarine possessed many wonderful qualities, but patience was not one of them. She was still glued to the battle in front of her waiting for that accursed bubble to drop so she could bombard the rebels and claim victory. And yet she had not heard a single word from the scout ship regarding the infiltration efforts. What was taking those simpletons so long?! Her mental grumbling was interrupted by an incoming message from the scouting satellite.
"We have lost all trace of the peridot infiltrators. Their limb enhancers have been deactivated, meaning they have been captured or potentially shattered. We have no discernible cause for why they were defeated."
The undersized commander felt her rage hit a new high at this. She was about to insist they send every available gem that ship had into the rebel base and demolish it from the inside out, but she forced herself to calm down.
"Any luck scanning the base interior for information?"
"Affirmative. We have a full schematic of the base. We have found several captured gems in one of the lower levels."
That got Aquamarine's attention. If they could not deactivate the force field, they could rescue the captured gems and get more troops to overwhelm the gems with. And it would still prove their flimsy defenses were no match for her brilliance! All this brought the petite commander to full stature again.
"Find a way to recover those gems, but do not send in any more troops. I suspect that Rose had one of her minions intervene and stop the infiltration. We can't risk those rebels getting involved again. That will be all, agate."
In reality, Aquamarine knew they could spare another peridot or two. After all, they were relatively quick to replace. No, she thought it would be oh so fitting to prove it was so easy to undermine the rebellion that machines could do it. While the chaos continued down on the beach, a dozen retrieval robonoids were sent in through the warp stream with the schematic of the temple downloaded onto their memory banks. They quickly forced the temple door open to reveal the burning room where hundreds of bubbled gems sat ripe for the picking. The retrieval droids then summoned tractor beams to pull in several of the bubbles back to the warp pad where the returned to the scouter in orbit.
To make the whole deal even sweeter, Aquamarine was able to watch the whole process through her monitor as the robonoids recorded every step. The miniature mastermind laughed in glee as gem after gem was lifted into space right under Rose Quartz's nose. In only a few minutes every bubble was recovered and accounted for.
"Mission completed, Aquamarine. The rebels suspect nothing. We are already cataloging all of the gems but have noticed many are flawed or broken. Several dozen will have to be disposed of."
The tiny tyrant could only shrug. It only made sense that someone as dysfunctional and distasteful as Rose would harbor deficient and obsolete gems. Aquamarine was already scanning through the results on the main screen with a look of disgust at the sight of so many imperfections. Her expression changed, however, upon seeing two unfamiliar stones. One was a green pentagon while the other was a reddish-orange circle, but neither rang a bell with her.
"Agate, run these two stones by a database. I'm curious to know what Rose got her hands on."
Her wish was quickly granted as the computer laid out the two were elemental gems once used for terraforming planets but have long since been discontinued due to advances in technology. Aquamarine was now very intrigued and decided to see these two gems in person. Her ship could literally be up there in a flash, so why not? She figured this battle would be over by the time she got back.
And so, literally seconds later, Aquamarine parked her vessel next to the scouting ship and was escorted to one of the few holding cells on board where two bubbled gems waited. The compact commander released them from their prisons and found the two gems oddly humorous.
"Uhh, where are we? What hit me?" groaned Cinnabar as her head still spun from the punch Garnet knocked her out with. Her partner Adamite was, as usual, the one who was up to speed.
"You must be the acting leader of the Homeworld fleet sent to retrieve us. I am the gem who initiated contact with you."
"Ah yes, Blue Diamond did mention you called us through some old-fashioned communicator. Well, congratulations for taking one of those rebels hostage."
"I am deeply regretful in saying we lost custody of Rose Quartz's protégé. We were attacked by a superior opponent who possessed abilities we had no way to counter. We promise we will find a way to accommodate and benefit the Diamonds." Adamite even felt the remnants of Garnet shocking her as she spoke, but Aquamarine began chortling at their effort.
"Oh, I'm sure you will. At least now you two are back where you belong." With a touch of a button, the plasma wall of the cell activated trapping the elemental gems inside. Confusion and panic quickly set in as they were caught completely off guard.
"Hey what gives?! Why are you holding us prisoner?" shouted Cinnabar as she tried banging on the plasma only to get a nasty shock. She then launched columns of flame at it, but to no avail.
"Oh my, you two ARE behind the times, huh? It's quite simple, really. Homeworld has many protocols for how to deal with outdated gems," Aquamarine smirked. For once, Adamite took offense to the comment and tried to summon some earth to attack with only to remember they were on an aerial vessel in the planet's orbit. This made her temple flare up even more.
"'Outdated?!' We are two loyal gems who only seek to serve the greater good of gem society! If you have misconstrued that our extended stay on a foreign planet has corrupted our intentions, you are sorely mistaken. I assure you Cinnabar and I will do everything in our abilities to make our allegiance clear."
The sole gem outside the cell seemed to ponder her words for a moment, but quickly resumed her snide chuckling as if Adamite were oblivious to some obvious joke.
"That's wonderful, but I assure you that your allegiance is irrelevant at this point. You see, we haven't produced any gems like you in ages and we have no need of you since we have technology to terraform planets. To put is shortly, you two are obsolete. The best use you can be to us is being harvested."
Both captive gems seemed disturbed by that last word but were equally unsure about what it meant. Aquamarine rolled her eyes and explained.
"It means once we get back to Homeworld we are going to have you two shattered and broken down to your base components so we can create more actually useful gems for our cause. Now, if that's all cleared up, I need to clean up the last of the resistance and get Rose Quartz. Hey, who knows, maybe you'll be harvested alongside those traitors? You are all relics in some form after all!" And with that disparaging comment, Aquamarine returned to her ship and quickly traveled back to Earth. That left the duo of prisoners to realize one major issue.
They were going to die, and it was entirely their fault.
"Adamite?" choked Cinnabar, for once letting her insecurities through and appearing close to tears.
"Yes, Cinnabar?"
"I want to go back to Earth now." Adamite could only agree as they stared out the viewport showing the planet they sought to leave for millennia suddenly looked appealing.
And now, we have more elements in the mix (pun intended)! How will Steven and his family fare against the continued onslaught of extraterrestrials? How will Adamite and Cinnabar get out of their current predicament? Will Greg's home insurance cover these damages? Tune in next time! Same gem-story, same gem-website!
Thank you all so much for reading! Please feel free to leave a review!