Greetings, readers! Having gotten a break from school and FINALLY having finished watching Future, I think it's time to deliver another chapter! It's time for the Crystal Gems to search for Connie!

The temple may have had only three people in it sitting around the fire pit, but the atmosphere was almost on part to Jasper's sudden appearance. Garnet, Bismuth and Steven had been listening for any sign of Connie for almost an hour now and had yet to find anything. Quick check-ins with everyone revealed nothing out of the ordinary. The only thing they had accomplished so far was Steven getting antsy.

"Ugh, can't we do anything else?" asked the boy, "I feel awful just sitting here."

"Once we get a reading on her possible location," explained Garnet, "We can use the warp pad to teleport to the pad nearest to her location. Then we can call in all the other members to head there as well and that way we'll be able to stop her from running off further."

"Heh, leave it to Garnet to think of everything," chuckled a very impressed Bismuth.

"Well, I definitely didn't see this coming, but the thought is appreciated."

"I also don't get it," continued Steven, "Connie freaking out over this. It seems… weird."

"Kid, I'm pretty sure spontaneously changing in your sleep is pretty weird," said Bismuth, "I may not need rest like that, but I wouldn't appreciate it either."

"I know that… But why not come here? We may not know what's happening, but we could all help her! I…"

"Steven, it's very sweet you want to help your friend," said Garnet, "And I'm sure she knows it too. She's just too scared to think straight. We may not know why, but that's why we need to find her all the more. An explanation from her would be a start to returning her to normal."

"I just thought the whole thing was super cool… She's way tougher and stronger and it's like she can't get hurt anymore so-"

"That's natural for gems, but not humans. There's an old saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The Diamonds are living proof of that, but some people swear off power like that because they don't want to be tempted by it. You should know that."

Steven was confused until a certain incident came to mind. He suddenly felt much more sympathetic towards his friend, wanting more than ever to bring her back and help her through this. If there was anybody who understood the fear she was feeling, it was him.

"Steven, I'm reading you, respond," spoke Peridot into her communicator while Lapis concentrated on flying. As they passed over several freeways, the pilot found herself more interested in all the lakes in the region with another one every few feet.

"Any word on Connie?" asked the boy, "Has Topaz mentioned anything from her ship?"

"Negative. The best we learned from her is that those upgrades I gave to the control console are working."

"How is that answering his question?" asked Lapis.

"Hey, it was an answer! It just so happened to also remind him of my brilliance!"

While Lapis rolled her eyes at this, Steven just laughed it off and signed off to check on someone else. Once she was focused on her surroundings again, the inventor saw something glimmering off to the side.

"Pull a left and go about twenty miles," she instructed Lapis.

"What? Did you develop super special goggles in your sleep to let you see Connie from that far away?"

"No, but that's a fine concept… Urgh, I just saw something unusual. I could have sworn it looked like gem tech."

That got Lapis's attention and soon the two veered off-course to find that Peridot's hunch was right. Floating in one of the innumerable lakes around them was the remnants of an unusual device about as big as Peridot that was colored dark blue and was a near perfect sphere except for a tiny hole towards the bottom.

"What is it?" asked Lapis as the duo landed in the shallow water, "Looks like Homeworld tech."

"Definitely," agreed Peridot, "I'd recognize this metallurgy anywhere. I'd need to disassemble it in my lab to truly understand what it is, though. I don't recognize its design."

"I wonder what it's doing here?"

"Not sure, but we should make note of it. Once we complete this mission, we should recover it so Bismuth and I can analyze it further."

"Or…" Lapis then made a small platform out of the lake water and lifted the object with it, "…We could just bring it along. I can keep something like this going while flying."

"Excellent idea, my assistant! Now then, let us resume our search!" Before Peridot could her feet out of the water, a pair of liquid shackles suddenly tied her feet together and made her fall flat on her face with a splash.

"Excuse me, assistant?"

"Ugh, fine, sorry… Partner-in-crime?"

"Better."

The two then flew off in relative peace, a newfound trinket floating alongside them, but the main focus was once again on finding Connie.

"Steven, this is Pearl," asked the maternal gem from the passenger seat of Greg's van, "Status update?"

"Yeah. Any word?"

"Nope. I dropped off a clone in Ocean Town to scout around there about two hours ago and I sent one more out into the forest along the highway, but we're coming up on another town in a few miles."

"Okay, keep up the good work!"

Once Steven disconnected, Pearl returned her full attention to the window on her right. She had to admit there was something appealing about watching the world zoom past her like this even if she could run faster herself."

"You know, I just wondered something," asked Greg, "How does you sending clones help us out much? I mean, sure, it means more eyes on the lookout but how will you know?"

"When I disperse one of my clones, I retain whatever memories or information she has. They all come from my gem so that's where they all return if they fall in combat or I simply retire them. In this case, the clones can even disperse themselves so that once they find a sign of Connie I'll know immediately."

"Man, that's some wild stuff. Remember when life used to be simple?"

"You mean the two of us acting like petty teenagers about Rose?"

Greg just chuckled at that. "Yeah… It's pretty insane to think how long ago that was."

"For me, it was like yesterday. That does remind me… I'm sorry."

"Sorry? For what?"

"Treating you so terribly. And I don't mean just competing over Rose. Greg, there was a long time I thought you weren't a proper guardian for Steven. For the first few years whenever he'd visit you, I was tempted to spy on you, but Garnet just kept telling me to relax. It took until Steven was seven for that to finally happen."

While Greg was surprised to hear that, he still kept his eyes on the road. "I think it's safe to say we were both pretty clueless about this whole parenting thing. I just went along with whatever you guys did since I have no way of knowing how Steven should be for a gem."

"And we were all stumped over what to do with a human child for so long. I mean, we knew all the things not to do thanks to knowledge of basic human anatomy, but it was still nerve-wracking."

"Hey, we could have finally agreed on something!"

The two laughed at that before Pearl added something else. "Now that's not true. We both would've looked dapper in tuxedoes as well."

Greg had to keep his hands glued onto the steering wheel as they both lost it at that. The pair laughed their heads off for what felt like an eternity until another sleepy town appeared on the horizon.

"That must be Terra Cottage," said Pearl, "There's more mountains on almost every side of town."

"You say that like you're thinking something…"

Pearl made not one, but four clones that all began heading for the mountain town while the main two wondered if they should turn back.

"We've been driving for a good three hours," she then said, "And I'm fairly certain the next town is almost an hour away. With that many clones out there and the option to make five more, I think we should start heading back."

"You think? What she would do when we get back?"

"I've now got a small information network going so I can help the others with recon. Plus, the van's going to run out of gas at this rate."

The father only then noticed that the fuel gauge was hovering near empty. "Oh yeah… Guess it would better not to be deserted on the middle of a road."

"There was a gas station on the opposite side of the road about ten miles back."

Greg took her suggestion and soon the two were refueling the van, idly staring at the sky as more clouds began to gather. With their mission more or less accomplished, their focus turned to something else.

"I really need to get this fixed…" said Pearl as she watched the fuel pump send more gasoline into the van.

"What? You see a scratch anywhere?" asked Greg.

"No, I mean this whole system. I'm certain I could make something that could improve this design and get more mileage."

"Really?! You think you could make this thing run on air or something?"

"Less think and more know," she boasted, "Considering I once made a rocket from a bunch of spare parts, I believe that shouldn't be too hard. Plus, Peridot could be helpful in ironing out any problems I run into."

"Man… My aunt and uncle would kill to know that. They always wanted to make a plane that didn't need refueling. Aunt Debra said she would live in the sky if she could…"

"Debra?"

"Andy's mom and my aunt. Super nice lady who always wanted the best for me. When my mother tried calling her to get me to 'see reason' she turned around and said to let me do whatever I wanted."

Pearl remained quiet as Greg looked up at the sky, completely lost in his thoughts.

"Yeah, that lady was a dreamer, but she had nothing on Uncle Rohan. That man saw the moon flight as a kid and from that day forward, he wanted to make it higher than anyone in history. If you made that rocket contraption again, Pearl, he'd jump in with you in a heartbeat."

"They both sound like wonderful people…" commented Pearl.

"Yeah, I really wish they could've seen half the stuff I have… Oh my god."

"What?"

"I never told them about Steven. Ever. I feel terrible…"

"Greg, it's alright. You've been through a lot the past few years. If anything, maybe your parents would appreciate-"

"No. They wouldn't, Pearl. Trust me when I say it's best that Steven never met his grandparents."

"Why? I mean, sure it is a lot to take in what with the whole half-alien issue, but they could adapt!"

"Nope. They'd hate his shirt."

Pearl had to blink several times before that thought registered. "What? Why?"

"It's pink."

"So?! He enjoys pink!"

"But he's a boy. Boys don't wear pink. That's a girl color."

"That's just absurd!"

"And all those cartoons he likes to watch? The day he turned about seven, he wouldn't be allowed to watch them anymore."

"But animation is such an enriching medium!"

"And homeschooling? Ha, they probably still think that's an elaborate conspiracy to brainwash children to overthrow society or something. And when he does get there, he'll be forced to join the wrestling team and stay there even after he gets a broken arm AND any of his friends that don't meet their approval just get thrown out the door and let's not get started on him being a teenager and-"

"Greg, breathe!" she shouted, literally grabbing him by shoulders, "I get it! Point made!"

The father really did have to take a deep breath in order to get himself under control. Once he was done, he simply removed the gas pump and waited for Pearl to re-enter the vehicle before driving off in silence. It took at least twenty miles for him to finally speak again.

"Sorry I dumped all that on you… I really don't like talking about it for a reason."

"I get it. And I mean that sincerely, Greg. I may not have ever been a child, but my past wasn't exactly pretty either. If you need someone to vent, I'm available."

That got a chuckle out of Greg. "Hey, that's another thing we have in common. Why'd we never get along for so long?"

"Because we were stupid kids." The rest of the drive home was a peaceful one with the two bonding over jokes about the terrible authority figures in their lives.

Almost a hundred miles away from Beach City, on a different part of the same mountains where they tried to reach the old wailing stone, Adamite emerged from underground Cinnabar on her back. The earthbender found that Peridot was right about the signal on her communicator working at any depth, but the sounds of her tunneling made it near-impossible for her to hear anything.

"Steven?" she spoke into her device, "This is Adamite, come in."

"Any progress yet?"

"Negative. Neither Cinnabar nor I have any sign of her, but I might have a way to track her better. I'll report in as soon as we find anything."

The connection ended as Cinnabar took the time to stretch her legs and idly juggle a fireball between her hands while her comrade talked. The last bit, however, made her curious.

"You have a way to find Connie? How? Throw up boulders until you almost hit her with one?"

"Ha-ha, very funny. I was actually trying to do something similar to these electronic devices and sent out seismic wavelengths to better ascertain Connie's location."

"…What does that mean?"

"Oh brother…" Rather than explain, Adamite stomped the ground as hard as possible and sent a wave of her power throughout the surface. After a few second of waiting, she pointed up towards a peak in front of her about forty feet away.

"There's a hollow fallen tree on that ledge," she declared before leaping her way up to it. When Cinnabar followed her up, she was shocked to find the same thing right where her friend pointed.

"It actually works!" she gasped, "We can use this to find Connie in no time!"

"It's not a perfect process," said Adamite, "I only got a rough approximation of the shape and this is pretty much the extent of the range. In order for it to be more effective, I'd need to make a larger impact…"

Cinnabar then watched as her partner leapt straight off the ledge and hit the ground with both her feet and caused a small-scale earthquake in the process. As Cinnabar headed down, impressed by the fissures in the ground and a few trees knocked over from the impact, Adamite was trying to focus to all the information she received from her shockwave travelling for miles. Her focus was stretched to its limit going through thousands of shapes and details until something caught her attention.

"Come on," she suddenly said, running away from the crash site and deeper into a nearby grove. Cinnabar ran behind her and as the elementals ran through the trees, Adamite kept sending out smaller shockwaves through her feet to get a better lock on her target. Little by little they got closer until they found an inconspicuous cave.

"This might be it…" the tracker said to herself, sending out one last stomp to confirm her hunch. A few seconds later she headed inside and the sound of someone crying could be heard echoing off the walls.

"No way…" gasped Cinnabar as her friend smirked, satisfied that her hunch paid off. The elemental gems both ran inside, the firebender glowing once they were in too deep for the natural light to reach them and finally found Connie, still in her crystalline form, sitting against on the back wall of the cave.

The young girl opened her eyes fully and was stunned silent to see the two Crystal Gems staring back at her. While Cinnabar was bouncing on her heels with happiness, Adamite seemed to be observing her. The silence permeated the air until Connie finally spoke up.

"Go away, you guys," she said hoarsely, "I… I need to be alone."

"No, you don't," rebuffed Adamite, surprising both the others, "What you need is to stop being foolish and return home where we can assist you with this anomaly."

"W-Wha?"

"You heard me. Get up and let's go home."

"But Adamite… Look at me! I-I'm-"

"Never going to find the answer to this dilemma sitting in here being sorry for yourself. Am I wrong?"

"Aren't you being a little harsh?" asked Cinnabar.

"Perhaps, but we have a mission and I am not going to face Steven and the others and tell them that we failed to retrieve Connie because of her own self-pity."

"I'm afraid," Connie spoke up, "I… I don't want to know how I could end up hurting someone like this. I broke through a wall like running through tissue paper, Adamite."

"I am aware of that, but this issue is not going to be solved by avoiding it. The least you could do is come back to the others where we have a chance to explore this new condition and study it rather than let you blindly wander around."

"You know…" mentioned Cinnabar, "She has a point. We kind of did the same thing for… I dunno, 5,500 years? I still don't know exactly how Earth time works, but just waiting for answers doesn't usually work."

"Exactly. Had we actively sought out answers instead of idly hoping for Homeworld to recover us we might have seen how corrupt they truly were and thus pursued something better."

Connie felt a bit of relief in her chest. She wanted to believe her words, but for a moment she thought of Steven. Her nightmare flashed before her then, the sickening sound of her accidentally crushing his spine and then his gem being shattered.

"No!" she yelled with her arm stretched forward. A green crystalline sword literally grew out of her palm and flew straight towards the gems and forced them both to dodge.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry!" she hastily apologized, but her instincts had been kicked on. Two more swords came out of her back and floated behind briefly for a moment before they also tried to stab the elementals. Adamite, however, was ready this time and quickly brought up a rock wall to stop them.

"Connie, knock it off!" said Cinnabar, "You don't have to hurt us!"

"I don't want to!" the girl cried, "It's not me doing it!" She then ran forward and tackled Cinnabar with enough force to rattle the cave. She ran outside and over a hundred yards away in a few seconds before stopping suddenly and sending the arsonist flying even further.

"Connie, please," said Adamite as she ran out of the cave behind her, "I can't say for certain, but it seems your negative emotions are driving your body to act this way. You need to relax or else…"

"Relax?! How can I relax if I destroy everything around me?!" More swords began sprouting from her body as she suddenly ran at Adamite and tried punching the bulkier gem in the stomach. Four blades followed behind her as she landed the blow, making the alien double over as two of the weapons reading themselves to impale her from above. Thankfully for her, Cinnabar regained her footing and threw a fireball hard enough to push the weapons out of the way so they hit the ground instead.

"I'm really sorry for this," she said, "But if we have to do this to bring you home, then I'll do it!"

She raised her fists as all of her limbs ignited. "I'm not failing Steven! He and the rest of them want you home!"

Cinnabar then dashed ahead, a flaming trail in her wake as she tried attacking from behind. The other two swords behind Connie, however, had other plans and quickly moved to stop her fist. A third one literally jutted out of her back and tried to catch her off-guard, but the gem leaped back at the right time while launching a stream of flame.

Connie ended up being doused in the flame, but she seemed no worse for wear. She instead grabbed hold of two more blades and suddenly jumped high enough to reach Cinnabar and tried cutting her down.

"This," said the gem as she dodged, "Would be really cool if you weren't trying to fight us!"

"I'm want to stop!" said Connie desperately, "But it's like nothing is listening to my brain!"

Their midair duel stopped when a giant pillar of rock got between with Adamite suddenly popped out and tackled Connie to the ground. The earthen gem tried wrapping her arms around her, hoping to restrain her long enough to come up with a more concrete plan, but Connie's form still had more surprises.

Her arms themselves turned into two large blades and she nearly stabbed her foe straight through the stomach. If it were not for the gem feeling her form shifting under her, she could have been poofed.

Adamite pushed herself off and burrowed back into the pillar while Connie hit the ground with a thud, her arms shifting back to normal seamlessly, before getting up just as Cinnabar hit her with a high velocity fireball. While there was not any burning, it was still a blow to the head that made her stumble while Adamite regrouped with her partner.

"This isn't getting us anywhere," said the more mature one of the pair, "And try to avoid getting close. I nearly learned the hard way that she can shapeshift."

"Well my flames don't seem to be working much," responded the firebender, "That means you're the better one to fight her directly."

"In that case, I need you to keep her distracted. Use your natural loudness to your advantage while I try to restrain her."

"Got it!"

The two elementals rushed in opposite directions as Connie grabbed hold of another sword. Cinnabar launched several small fire bullets as she ran to throw her off, but she simply swung her weapon and dissipated most of them. Her attacks did their main job of keeping her attention, though, as Adamite ran up behind her with her beefy arms covered in stones. She sent both her hands into her back and was shocked to see a spiderweb of cracks from the impact.

"What the-?!" gaped Adamite, her concentration gone as Connie screamed in pain, "I… Oh dear…"

"What did you do?!" shouted Cinnabar as she did not see the problem.

"Made this situation worse."

She did not know the half of it as the cracks suddenly began to heal as Connie's back arched as if she was electrocuted. Once her injuries were healed a few seconds later, a massive spike of crystal extended out of her back and only missed Adamite because Cinnabar yanked away by the shoulder just in the nick of time.

"Sorry guys!" said the girl as the gigantic spike receded back into her, "I'm better now."

"Adamite, any other plans?"

"Force isn't working. Something tells me that will happen every time someone inflicts any lasting harm to her."

"If only Steven were here…"

"Wait a minute… Cinnabar, call Steven with your communicator. I'm going to distract her."

"Alrighty…"

"Connie!" said the rock-slinging gem as she lifted dozens of tiny stones from the ground, "We've got an idea. It might take a moment for Cinnabar to complete, but it might be enough to return you to normal."

"Trust me, I hope it works," she said as her hands suddenly shifted into two hammerheads just like Bismuth did. Adamite flung the volley of stones after her, but this time the girl charged right through. She stretched both her arms behind her and snapped them back, aiming to smash her head between the two hammers, but the Crystal Gem prepared for this. A rock spire jutted out and smacked Connie upside the head enough to throw off her attack and let the gem escape.

Meanwhile, Cinnabar had connected to Steven and asked him to try to get Peridot to explain how to take off her communicator. It took some input from Garnet, but it turns out all she needed to do was press down for fifteen seconds to get the device to release itself. Even for that short time, though, the process was nerve-wracking as she had to watch her partner try to evade Connie without being able to launch much of a counteroffensive.

Adamite tried burrowing underground to ambush her foe, but Connie was more than ready with three more gem-swords floating at the ready to slash at her. The sabers slashed at her in the air and it took her arming herself with the same rock gauntlets to stop her arms from being sliced off.

"I've got it!" shouted Cinnabar victoriously, holding the delicate chip in her hands just as Adamite leapt to safety again. Connie sent the three blades after her again, but now her opponent was much more confident.

"Excellent. Get in close enough and get that chip on her face."

"Wait, what?" asked the girl just long enough for Cinnabar to blaze herself a foot away from the crystalline teen. The girl's body tried to counterattack, but Adamite plummeted back to Earth once again and made several rock rings to trap the girl from the neck down. Each of the four rings was several feet thick and it quickly proved enough to finally keep her still long enough for Cinnabar to run over them and place the communicator chip on her face.

"Connie, quick, say 'Connect to Steven!'"

"Connect to Steven!"

In no time at all, her struggling body went limp as the boy's voice came through the communicator. "Connie! Thank goodness they found you! Where were you?"

"In a cave. I… Just ran for like eight hours straight until I got there and started crying. Steven… I can't tell you how sorry I am."

"Don't be, I get it. New powers are never easy. You've heard all the stories of my body or gem going haywire."

"Heh, thanks. I know I shouldn't have ran away, but I was so terrified. I threw a huge fit about you throwing yourself into danger a while ago and I was scared that I would hurt you like this. I don't know if I could live with myself if I was the one who hurt you…"

"Connie…"

"I've been fighting Adamite and Cinnabar this whole time. My body's been moving this whole time without me being able to control it."

"Then that's the reason why we need you back here!"

"I know that, but what if I end up hurting you, or the gems or my parents! They're normal humans, Steven, and I've been throwing around swords and walking through fire!"

"Dad's had some close calls with this stuff and he's just fine! Plus, now he's got a suit to protect him so maybe Peridot can help make more for your parents?"

"You really think so? You'd all do that… for me?"

"Connie, you're a Crystal Gem. That doesn't change just because something weird has happened to you. It didn't change when Garnet split herself up, or when Amethyst ran away from home, or when Pearl nearly blew herself up in a rocket ship. We've always stuck together, no matter how freaky it gets, and if we have to spend years getting your powers under control then we'll do it!"

The young girl's body started shimmering suddenly as her body finally shifted back to her normal dark skin and clothes. Seeing her back to normal, Adamite lowered the barriers around her.

"Thank you, Steven," she said tearfully, "I'm ready to come home now."

"Great! I'll call Topaz to have you all picked up!"

With the line disconnected, Connie walked up to a pleased-looking Adamite and spoke to her.

"Your plan worked. Turns out all I needed was a little talk to get my head on straight."

"Do not fret the details. We have all made poor decisions in the past. Plus, I would not have accomplished this without Cinnabar."

"Aw, thanks buddy!" said the arsonist as she gave her a hug.

"After all," continued the earthbender with a rare smirk, "If anyone knows about her powers going out of control it's her. You can consider her an objective marker to compare yourself against."

"Yeah, that- HEY! What do you mean?! I've gotten much better at controlling my fire! I haven't burned anything down in weeks!"

Adamite just pointed her thumb behind her to the row of trees going up in flames. The flame bullets from earlier that missed Connie made it to the edge of the forest and quickly ignited the greenery.

Seeing the wildfire raging, Cinnabar nervously chuckled as she ran over and quickly started absorbing the flames. Connie, exhausted from the day's events, laughed it off while Adamite calmly waited for their ride.

I got a few questions about Connie's new form and I hope my work met your expectations! And once she gets proper training under her belt, she'll be another addition to the Crystal Gems fighting force! Until next time!

Thank you all so much for reading! Please feel free to leave any questions or comments below!