And now, the epic conclusion complete with soundtrack!
Emerald could barely contain her excitement. At long last she would reclaim her precious Sun Incinerator, punish those blasted Off-Colors after such an exhausting chase and now she would crush the last of the rebellion to boot! She could only imagine the rewards White Diamond would bestow onto her for her monumental accomplishment. It was all it took for the colossal captain to literally dance for joy, primarily because she still had a mission to accomplish. She also did not want to give the peridots more to gossip about.
"We are now within range of the rebellion's base," reported one of the peridots manning the guidance systems.
"Splendid! Give me an update on the Sun Incinerator as well," she commanded.
"Seven of our fighters have been shot down, but the formation is being held. They are far too overwhelmed to lend any assistance."
"Perfect! As long as there is no damage to my ship, then everything is going according to plan!"
Many of the other gems on the bridge had to roll their eyes at this. They were eager to keep the ship undamaged from the start, but hearing their superior officer go on and on about it worse than a prosecutor zircon was unbearable. Now they were all excited to finally have this mission over and done with so the one-eyed fanatic would shut her speech port already.
"We have noticed that the rebels have a force-field of some kind surrounding their base. Should we send some saboteurs to deal with it?"
"Please! As if any piece of jury-rigged rebel garbage can withstand the might of these three magnificent ships!" she boasted, somehow glowing with overconfidence despite already being bathed in green light, "I will annihilate that accursed Rose Quartz once and for all and soon have an entire wing of Homeworld ships under my command!"
It was a miracle that none of the other gems on the bridge groaned out loud from her ego-stroking, but they all agreed on one thing. The sooner they blew away that usurper Rose Quartz, the better.
Steven looked on as Amethyst lay on her hands and knees, tears flowing freely and her making no attempt to stop. She did not even try to push him away or give the classic "Stop looking at me!" line.
It did not help that the landscape around them went from surreal, but possessing a strange charm, to a bleak white field under an inky blackness. When Steven picked up part of the white paste that was now the floor, it was frigid to the touch and felt uncomfortably sticky. He had to physically shake it off his hand before it would let go.
"Amethyst…" he muttered after wiping off his hand, "Why do you think you're going to die?"
"WHY DO YOU THINK?!" she screamed, "There's an entire galaxy full of insane alien amazons who want us all in pieces! How are we supposed to beat that?!"
"Well… Garnet can stay ahead of them with her future vision, Pearl can fight really well, Bismuth and Peri can invent new gadgets to stop them and-"
"We can't, Steven. They'll just keep coming and there's only a dozen of us."
"But that's never stopped us before! We got away from Jasper when she first tried to abduct us, we rescued Dad from that human zoo, we outsmarted that bunch of rubies, AND I literally got out of a trial from Homeworld when I was right in front of two of the diamonds! And since I got back, we've been winning again and again!"
Amethyst seemed to genuinely contemplate his words, her eyes finally lightening as hope seemed to brighten her mood.
"Heh, yeah right," she scoffed, "And how many times can we keep doing this? How many more times are we gonna be in danger before it finally gets better?"
"What? Of course we can get better! Mom did it before and we can do it again!"
"Dude, that was totally different! I may not have been there myself, but I know the odds were different! Rose had hundreds, or maybe thousands, of gems on her side. We just now got more than ten members! I suck at math and even I know those are terrible odds."
"…Okay, so maybe it won't be easy…"
"It's impossible!" she shouted, causing ripples to start flowing through the white paste beneath them, "At this point, we're just stalling! How much longer until the diamonds just come down here themselves and snatch you away again?!"
The ripples grew and intensified as Amethyst's fear and loathing came out, the corners of her eyes dotted with tears. Steven could feel that same doubt crushing his heart and he began to shiver against his will as he felt it. All the rage Amethyst felt towards the dictators who wanted to annihilate her home, her family, and herself. He could feel the instinct to run as fast possible overtake his senses.
"Amethyst… I know you're scared…"
"You think I like feeling like this?!" she screamed, causing the white quagmire to start forming waves that crashed with a deafening roar.
"I'm useless here, Steven! Fighting one monster at a time was easy, but this is an entire army! They're smart, they've got weapons we can't even understand AND there's a bajillion of them! And it all makes me feel worse!" She started crying again as the waves continued, almost drowning out her voice. What really made Steven's heart go into overtime, though, was a white slimy tendril rise from the floor and wrap itself around Amethyst's foot. She did not resist as it slowly started to pull her under into a murky, stifling abyss.
The temple was completely silent, a rare sight given the massive increase in its occupancy and its residents. With two of their members out like lights, more of them fighting for their lives against a swarm of spaceships above the stratosphere and the rest simply hoping that they would not get vaporized by psychotic alien cop. Needless to say, they were having a terrible day.
Even Cinnabar, who would have taken over comic relief duty with Amethyst out of the picture, was as morose as could be. She took to watching the unconscious duo upstairs, slowly growing tenser as her fellow scrapper disappeared before her very eyes. She has already lost her entire right leg and now the left was starting to fade as well.
That left the rest of the group downstairs looking past the massive wall of water Lapis was keeping up as their defense. Peridot and Bismuth were at least lucky enough to have their force field generator to occupy their time, but that also came with downsides. Bismuth was more or less just looking for dents to hammer out and her partner was starting to seriously doubt her own capabilities. She quickly learned that the device was already working at maximum power, meaning it would need an external upgrade for it to have any increased resilience.
Pearl, Garnet and Rhodonite were all staring out past the enormous wall of water that loomed over their home. Combining that with the pink bubble that surrounded the building and it at least gave the three a surreal visual to take their minds off of the imminent doom that was constantly growing closer.
Outside of the house was Lapis Lazuli, holding her arms out in order to maintain the colossal barrier between the Homeworld invaders and her home. She felt sweat roll down her face, but she would not move for anything. She was actually grateful for Adamite currently standing beneath her with her arms crossed looking towards the horizon. Her green-coated, burlier doppelganger was as resolute as the stones she controlled, encouraging her with so much certainty that it kept her doubts away.
"How did it come to this?" asked Lapis as the seconds dragged on.
"You are the most equipped to protect the temple with your abilities," replied her counterpart, "The logic is fairly sound."
"Can't you make a stone barrier too?"
"I will raise one if the situation demands it, but the gems would rather not be shrouded in darkness. It would make the tension even worse."
"I guess…"
Adamite glanced up at her past comrade. "I have a hunch that's not what you were asking for."
"Yeah…I was asking about how we got here. How'd our lives get so insane? Of all the lapises… lapii?... out there, why us?"
The stout stone-thrower took pause at this. "I realized something during my time with this group. No Homeworld gem has any control in their duties. We were made as tools, sentient servants expected to act as unquestioning peons. It honestly makes me terrified to realize how many there are without that knowledge."
"Uh, okay that's really cool poetry, but how's that answer my question?"
"I did not question my circumstances for eons and accepted my orders blindly. I believed the diamonds were immaculate beings that had reasoning beyond our comprehension. Now I understand that it was all a lie. Honestly, I originally believed my reunion with you was the only reason I would stay here at all."
"Really? You'd stay…just for me?"
"Correct. We were not merely co-workers in the past. I realize now that Steven was correct when he called us friends, something much more substantial than merely two gems who work side by side. I came to care about you, Lapis, and I continue to do so. I enjoy having companions beside Cinnabar, but even her I'm grateful to have had for all those lonely years. Even if this situation is less than ideal, I am thankful for all the freedom this planet has given me. I'll fight to maintain that freedom for me, and the rest of the Crystal Gems. That includes you too, Lapis Lazuli." The typically stoic gem gave her flying friend a genuine smile. Lapis felt her cheeks warming up.
"A-Adamite…I…"
Lapis was soon taken out of her embarrassment, however, when she noticed three massive beams of green light flying straight towards the temple. She willed as much of her power as possible, pushing the water wall from fifty feet high to one hundred and increasing thickness at the last moment. Adamite kicked up a fifteen-foot high wall of compressed sand for extra protection, but it was not needed. Lapis' struggled with all her might, feeling her strength tested like it has never been before and screaming in agony until her throat was raw. After what felt like holding back the sun itself, the laser finally stopped.
Lapis Lazuli collapsed to the ground, her energy entirely spent blocking one attack. Adamite rushed in to catch the falling gem and ran her into the house.
"Amethyst, what are you doing?! This isn't the way!" Steven shouted at the gem as her entire leg was now sucked under by the white miasma.
"I don't know what to do, Steven!" shouted Amethyst, her bravado completely gone, "If I fight, I'll die! If I don't fight, then I'm a coward and we all die anyway!"
Droplets of the white paste rose out of the ground into the endless black expanse above them, almost as if it was raining in reverse. As they reached the sky, the droplets formed the shape of massive gem ships looming over them. Hundreds upon hundreds of crafts seemed above them and the rising rain kept climbing.
"There's no end to them," whispered Amethyst in a quiet sob as more tendrils wrapped around her arms to pull her down faster. Steven tried running towards her, but more tendrils emerged and shackled him by his feet.
"Amethyst, calm down! I swear I'll get you out of this!" He tried pushing his feet apart, but the pale restraints would not budge.
"Even if you do, they'll just keep coming. So many of them…"
As if the seemingly endless fleet above them was not foreboding enough, now the paste also coalesced on the ground into the shape of various gem soldiers. Some were familiar, others were unknown, but they the pale look-alikes all bore menacing grins like they could not wait to bash their faces in for fun.
"Amethyst, please! I won't let you give up on yourself!"
She was now buried up to her waist and tears continued running down her face. Steven could feel the crippling terror encroach on his heart and make it beat at a mile a minute.
As he looked above him, he saw the infinite armada of bleached aircrafts. All around him were pale imitations of alien soldiers, all smiling like psychopaths straight out of a horror film. Just below his view was one of his family, practically his sister, ready to throw her life away if it meant escaping the wrath of Homeworld.
As Steven began to shut his eyes in despair, he saw one last figure rise out of the opaque ocean directly behind Amethyst. It was the spitting image of Jasper, grinning with manic glee that her enemies were about to be snuffed out of existence.
"What?!" shrieked Emerald as she watched their attack somehow not make a dent on the Crystal Gems' base, "How could our attack not have enough firepower to destroy their little hovel?!"
"It appears that they had a second shield that was able to withstand our assault," reported a peridot near her, equally baffled at how they failed to make a dent.
"A positive side effect of our first attack, however, is that it seemed to have depleted the second shield's energy source," answered another peridot, "Meaning that we have still considerably weakened their defenses."
That seemed to pacify Emerald as she closed her eyes and thought out her next move. Underneath her flamboyant exterior and love of hardware was a cut of gem renowned for her cunning and persistence. She was not going to let a single misstep ruin her chance to put her name in the archives of Homeworld history.
"I want all power not used for the ship's thrusters rerouted to the main cannons. Anything that isn't keeping this ship elevated must be put towards the blasters!"
"A-all of it?! Even the shields?"
"Of course! As if those pitiful peons could possibly damage our ships! And relay that order to the other destroyers as well!"
It would be a lengthy process, and of course leave them vulnerable for attack, but with the majority of their fighters holding off the Sun Incinerator Emerald was assured that this next attack would obliterate Rose Quartz once and for all.
"Oh no! What happened to her?!" shrieked Rhodonite as Adamite carried in the unconscious Lapis.
"She exhausted herself keeping the enemy attack at bay," reported the visibly upset Adamite, her stoicism finally breaking, "I'm afraid there's no way she can hold off another onslaught."
"Well, so much for Turquoise maybe being able to stop this…" grumbled Peridot.
"Even if we used her, could she make it out there in time? Those ships have got other defenses besides the lasers?" asked Bismuth before realizing that she was dragging the mood down ever further.
"Ugh! Can't we do anything here?! We're not just gonna let those uppercrusts walk all over us, right?! Garnet, haven't you seen anything?"
"I have, but most of them aren't good."
"Well that's just great!" shouted Rhodonite, "We crossed several galaxies to get somewhere safe, we actually make it here, and Emerald still beats us! Why can't we ever get a break?!"
"It won't end this way!" reprimanded Pearl, "This is the exact kind of situation Rose faced constantly! Outnumbered, outgunned and outmatched, but we fought on anyway! And if I have to swim to those ships myself and knock out that Emerald, then I will!"
Sure enough, Pearl actually started marching towards the door with a look that screamed she was seriously going to cross miles of ocean in order to take down three warships all on her own. Bismuth, already familiar with that look, grabbed Pearl and hoisted her over her shoulders.
"Pearl, get rid of the crazy eyes! There's no way you can get there in time!" The slender gem was trying to punch and struggle her way out, but Bismuth was far stronger than she was.
Their commotion was broken up, however, when Cinnabar came downstairs hearing all the noise and spotted Lapis lying unconscious on the kitchen island. She literally screamed in horror at the sight.
"What happened to her?! Who did this?!"
"She overexerted herself defending us from a barrage sent by those Homeworld ships," answered a still-frazzled Adamite, "She'll be out of commission for an indefinite period."
Cinnabar dashed upstairs, literally smoking in distress, and grabbed the unconscious Steven off the bed. She shook him like a ragdoll and shouted in his face. "STEVEN, WAKE UP! LAPIS NEEDS YOUR SPIT! HELP HER!"
"Put him down! We shouldn't disturb him!" ordered Garnet, getting met with an intense glare by the pyrokinetic gem.
"I know you're upset, but throttling Steven won't help. He needs to finish his work inside Amethyst's mind before he can of any use to the rest of us."
Adamite walked up with her usual composure restored and got her red-colored comrade to put the boy back where he was. With no alternative, the group all gathered around Steven and Amethyst, hoping that whatever Steven did to Amethyst could help them out of this situation like with Garnet. It was better than looking out of a pink bubble counting the seconds until they get fried to a crisp.
Amethyst was half buried into the pale gunk that now made up her mental landscape. Steven was tearing at the tendrils that were holding him back as he tried to talk some sense into his catatonic friend. The visage of Jasper leered at him, her cruel features in perfect detail along with hundreds of other maniacal enemies. The black sky was now flooded with massive white ships ready to bomb them into nothingness.
"Amethyst, snap out of it! This isn't like you!"
She had completely stopped talking, her eyes shut as tears poured out of them. Steven could feel the despair radiating out of her. She was utterly convinced that if she fought, Homeworld would kill her without a second thought. If she ran away, she was letting down her family, her home, and herself. It was a lose-lose situation to her with no way out.
The boy was wracking his brain trying to find something, anything that would bring her back to her senses. As he looked at the pale replica of their old foe, he felt something else. A twinge of anger that helped him clear his head.
That's when the answer came to him.
"Okay then, so you want to let them win?"
Amethyst finally opened her eyes and choked out a reply. "What?"
"You want Homeworld to blow up Earth? Is that what you want to happen?"
"Of course not! Who would want that?!"
"Well, if you give up, that's what's going to happen!"
"But how can I help?! I'm-"
"A Crystal Gem! Your job is to protect the Earth, not let it get invaded! Is that what Mom would want?"
"Heck no!" Amethyst did not realize that she stopped sinking. All the copies of Homeworld gems looked confused at Steven's words.
"Okay, so there's more of them then us, but so what? There were tons of those corrupted gem monsters, but we made it out alright! Jasper said we couldn't beat her, but we did! Twice! Those rubies thought we would be easy pickings, but we sent them running! That pearl of White Diamond treated us like we were barely a threat, but we showed her wrong!"
The gem ships in the sky began to literally melt at his encouragement. Many of the replica invaders did the same as Amethyst began rising out of the ground.
"And you're not alone either! We'll all work to protect each other! Pearl, Garnet, Bismuth, Peridot, Lapis, Topaz, the Off-Colors, Adamite, Cinnabar, we're all in this together!"
As he spoke their names, each of the gems rose out of the white expanse in full color. All of them bore a kind, yet confident smile as they made a circle around the crumbling mass of enemies.
"I'm scared too, Amethyst. We all are. But we're all going to keep fighting until the day we don't have to worry about Homeworld anymore. Don't you want to see that?" He held out his hand as she was finally back on her own two feet.
Amethyst took his hand. The second she did, the ring of Crystal Gems around them started glowing with a brilliant light. The black and white expanse, along with the horde of invaders, was destroyed in the magnificent flash. When they could see again, all of them were in space, floating serenely miles above the planet they were sworn to protect.
There was one enemy left, however. Jasper, also back to her original coloring, was floating along them. Instead of her usual smugness, however, she looked positively terrified as she stared down the Crystal Gems. Amethyst walked out of the circle and faced the fellow Earth-born gem. Jasper towered over her, yet the orange bruiser took a step back as Amethyst came closer. The purple gem bore her typical smirk, summoned her whip, and leapt forward. Her enemy splattered into white particles with a single stroke.
"Bring it on."
The Crystal Gems continued their vigil over their unconscious friends, Lapis being brought up next to them. The dread in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife. Amethyst was literally half the gem she used to be as her entire lower half and one of her arms had vanished.
Their stares were broken when a blinding purple light emerged from Amethyst's gray gem. Her body began to rise into the air as she reformed. Once the glaring light stopped, the gems saw the purple scrapper looking no worse for wear along with a once-again conscious Steven.
"Hey dweebs! What did I miss?" asked the gem cheekily. She was immediately met with a round of cheers and hugs from her family as they welcomed her back.
Adamite quickly cut the celebration short. "While I am grateful that you are back in commission, I believe we still have the matter of our adversaries?"
"Wha-?" groaned Amethyst.
"The gem that chased Lars and his gang from here to Homeworld has three giant enemy vessels pointing at us," filled in Peridot, "It is only a matter of time before they launch a laser attack that not only destroys us, but also wipes out Beach City as well."
Amethyst just walked downstairs like she barely registered what she said.
"And just where do you think you're going?" asked Pearl.
"Uh, going to stop that freaky gem and her death beam? Duh!"
"That's insane!" remarked Rhodonite, "They're miles away over the ocean and who knows how long it'll be before Topaz and the ship get back?"
"Hey Peri, you know how these ships work, right?"
"Well…I did see the schematics at one point, so I should have a fair grasp of its layout. Why do you ask?"
"Come outside with me."
The miniature techie did and followed Amethyst outside the force field. The others watched them from the windows.
"What does she think she's doing?!" whispered Rhodonite.
"Wait for it…" said Steven with evident glee in his voice.
"Now get on my back," ordered Amethyst.
"Excuse you?!" gasped Peridot.
"Relax, perv, it's nothing weird. Just hop on my back like I'm carrying you somewhere."
"You have officially lost your mind," grumbled the scientist as she followed Amethyst's demand. The purple gem lowered herself into a running start position.
"What are planning to do? Run across water?!"
(Cue Epic Theme Song: Rooftop Run Day from Sonic Unleashed)
"Yep!"
And with that, Amethyst shot off like a rocket, running so fast she left an actual sonic boom in her wake that rocked the house to its foundation. The other Crystal Gems were suitably floored, but Amethyst ignored the priceless looks on their faces.
Amethyst laughed and hollered as she tore across the water, leaving a massive trail in her wake. She soon lost site of the coastline, but she did not care. The wind rushing past her as she dashed forward at thousands of miles per hour was the greatest rush of her life.
"HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" shouted Peridot as she clung for dear life.
"I DON'T KNOW, BUT IT'S AWESOOOOOOOOOOME!" screamed Amethyst in reply as she still ran, her feet a literal blur as she defied all physics and treated the ocean like it was one enormous road.
Soon after, barely a minute after they left the house, Amethyst caught sight of three massive green warships hovering over the ocean.
"Hey Peri, where's the best place to get on?"
"GET US ONTO ONE OF THE PRONGS BEHIND THE MAIN SHIP!"
Amethyst was soon directly under the middle ship of the three and pulled out her whip, grapping onto one of the prongs past the main body. As she let Peridot catch her bearing, Amethyst looked at how huge the vessel was. It was easily on par with the ship Jasper and Peridot came to Earth in months ago.
"Okay…" wheezed Peridot, "Now let me…Open the door…And then what do we do?"
"Get to the bridge, smash it up, maybe punch the boss in the face, and then run home! Easy!"
"You're going…to take down three gigantic warships…just like that?!"
"Why not? We've done crazier stuff!"
Once Peridot got her bearings back, she used her ferrokinesis to rip open the door that was typically used for maintenance. Amethyst then placed Peri back onto her back and dashed inside, running down the corridors in mere seconds.
"Halt, intruders!" shouted a pair of topazes in front of them. The two bulky gems made a living roadblock and raised their staffs to impede them.
"Yeeeahhhh…No," replied Amethyst as simply leapt above them with the same frightening speed and left the yellow guards gaping as she left them in the dust.
That was the same for every gem they passed on the ship. Some she just vaulted right over like they were hurdles. Some she literally blew over with the momentum her speed generated. Others she avoided by somehow running on the walls and ceiling of the ship as they made their way onto the upper levels, the supersonic gem never once hitting a wall or stumbling.
"THIS DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE!" shouted Peridot as they neared the bridge. Half a dozen large, intimidating gems stood in their way.
"Maybe not, but I know it's working!" Amethyst went into her spin dash and, with the impossible velocity she was moving at, bowled through all of the guards like they were nothing and burst through the doors.
"WHAT THE-?!" exclaimed Emerald, "How did you get on board?!"
"The shields' power has been rerouted towards the laser cannon, remember?" remarked one peridot.
"The same goes for the onboard security system!" remarked another, clearly enjoying that her boss was having a minor meltdown after putting up with her arrogance.
"Fine then! You think you can commandeer this ship from me?! I'll shatter you myself and present your shards to the Diamond Authority to get my promotion!" Emerald's gem glowed as she pulled an enormous set of nunchaku from her eye. All twelve of the enemy peridots either summoned a handheld gem destabilizer or turned their limb enhancers into concussive energy blasters.
"Uh, Amethyst, what do we do now?!" panicked Peridot as she was surrounded.
"You get to the controls and sabotage these ships! I'm going to kick butt!"
Emerald scoffed at the idea as two peridots rushed at her, but in a split-second Amethyst was behind them.
"Oh, by the way, I have super speed now! This is gonna be fun!"
She pulled out her whip and flogged the two so hard that they were sent flying out the door and landed on top of the pile of guards outside.
Another pair tried blasting the purple speedster, but Amethyst was right next to the in a flash and tied them both up in her weapon.
"How is this even remotely possible?!" shouted one of the incapacitated gems.
"You're a defective soldier! We should beat you easily!" insulted the other tangled gem.
"Really?" joked Amethyst as she started literally running circles around the remains of Emerald's troops, "If I'm broken, how come you're the one whose tied up?"
As she ran, Amethyst would lash out with either her whip or her fist, her strikes all hitting with obscene strength thanks to the momentum her speed gave her. The enemy peridots went from confident to terrified in an instant. To them she was a violet streak that they could not even see properly, much less fight back against. It did not take long before every single peridot was either sprawled out on the floor or poofed.
"Alright, boss lady, you're next!" she smirked at Emerald, who was left miraculously untouched by her assault.
"YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!" Emerald swung her nunchaku and dented one of the consoles, but Amethyst was already behind her.
"Girl, you should get a new catchphrase. That one will get old real fast."
Emerald just growled and swung again, but Amethyst once again dodged so fast her eye could not register it. It was if she was teleporting rather than running. All the while Amethyst made jokes at the captain's expense, making her swings even less accurate.
"Did you get stuck with that hair? I almost sorry for you!"
"Ooh, look at big bad Emerald! First a teenager beats her, and now a runt!"
"Did anyone ever tell you your voice sounds like a drag queen?"
"STAND STILL!" ordered Emerald, her patience long gone.
"If you say so…"
Amethyst actually obeyed as Emerald wound up another swing, this one with all the power she could muster, only for Amethyst to wrap her whip around the titanic gem's wrist. She then pulled her forward, making her lose her balance and drop her weapon.
"You're not very good at fighting, are you?"
"I am among the most elite starship pilots of the Gem Empire! You are lowly soldier who wasn't even made right! I am your superior in every conceivable way! I will hunt you all down to the edge of universe if I have to!"
"Uh-huh, yeah that's great…" mumbled Amethyst as she picked her teeth, half-listening to the captain's boasts, "Hey Peri, you done with messing the ship up yet?"
"Affirmative!"
Emerald audibly choked hearing that. She was so preoccupied with Amethyst that she completely forgot the other intruder on board!
"What did you to my ship?!" screamed the captain, fearing that she would lose this vessel like her precious Sun Incinerator.
"You're the bigger gem here, figure it out for yourself!" snarked Peridot, causing Amethyst to laugh as she once again placed her fellow Crystal Gem on her back.
"See ya later, loser!" taunted Amethyst as she leapt straight out of the glass separating the bridge from the outside like it was not even there. She cackled as loud as she could until Emerald was out of earshot.
The captain's rage was at an all-time high. She thought that infernal Captain Lars was bad, but this?! Getting her ship trashed by a single peridot and a defective quartz?! It would be the end of her career if the diamonds got word of it. She turned on the controls and ran diagnostics, looking for whatever sabotage the intruders did, but found nothing. She could only laugh as the readings showed that the power rerouting was complete, and the supercharged lasers were primed to fire at the rebel base!
Emerald laughed hysterically, thinking that she still had the upper hand. "I told you I was superior gem, rebel slime! You accomplished nothing! Prepare to be annihilated!" She ordered the lasers to fire…
…And the back half of her ship went up in a massive explosion! To make matters worse, both of the other destiny destroyers suffered the same fate, quickly losing altitude as the propulsion systems were utterly destroyed.
"What?! How?!" Emerald shouted in horror, having no choice but to abandon ship and run to her personal escape pod. She ran past all the other gems scrambling to the escape pod bay, easily outpacing them thanks to her immense height. As she entered her pod and set the coordinates for the nearest gem colony, she released the rest of her rage into one skyward scream.
"CURSE YOU, CRYSTAL GEMS! I'LL BE BAAAAAAAACK!" Her pod took off as her beloved fleet began sinking into the ocean, about fifty other pods trailing behind carrying all the survivors of their failed mission. As they left Earth orbit, the remaining gem fighters that accompanied them realized the mission had failed and quickly retreated.
When Amethyst and Peridot returned to the beach, they found the entire group cheering for their return. Steven tackled the duo in a hug the second they reached the sand with everyone else, even the just-revived Lapis, in awe of their accomplishment.
"You made three massive warships EXPLODE?! Well, if there was any way you two would do it…" remarked Pearl, her sarcasm not cancelling the admiration in her voice.
"I knew we'd come out of that alright," sighed Garnet, pleased at how the future turned out far brighter than she could have hoped.
"DO IT AGAIN! DO IT AGAIN!" cheered Cinnabar, eager to see another gigantic fireball that can be seen for miles.
"See? I told you we'd all be here for you!" chuckled Steven.
"Yeah…it might get tough, but we're gonna show Homeworld whose boss!"
That got another round of cheers from the Crystal Gems. The Off-Colors returned a few minutes later, their ship only slightly worse for wear. With all of them together again, the group headed inside to celebrate taking one more step towards keeping the Earth safe and sound.
And so, after all that chaos we now have a super speedy Amethyst, Emerald blasting off again and the city is saved! Next time we some human characters back into the story!
Thank you all so much for reading! Please feel free to leave a review!