After a bit of a delay thanks to my birthday and becoming a fan of One Piece, here's the latest installment with some more focus on the Off-Colors!
The peaceful period continued for the Crystal Gems as days passed with the major focus being returning the Sun Incinerator to its former glory. Bismuth finally got Peridot out of her lab long enough to bring the software back online within a few hours and soon the blacksmith was hammering away all the dents in the hull while the other Off-Colors went off to do their own things.
Rhodonite followed through on training more with Pearl and soon ended up sparring against her clones for hours at a time to hone her skills. The other three, however, had to find new ways to pass the time.
Since none of them had much experience with Earth, they used the break to explore Beach City and some of the surrounding areas. Padparadscha and Rutile simply warped away from the temple off to the gem battlefield after hearing about from one of Pearl's stories about the original rebellion. As soon as they arrived, both of them were blown away by the strawberries covered the ground and the weapons still littering the field.
"Wow! It's just like Pearl said!" said Rutile's left head.
"It hasn't changed at all!" agreed the right head as her one set of feet walked onto the ground. Padparadscha was not far behind although far more quiet as she enjoyed the gentle sunlight and the sweet-smelling fruit she passed by. Rutile was far more expressive in taking in sights as both her heads babbled until she stopped in front of a massive inverted pyramid.
"Hm, looks like the base the other Crystal Gems visited months ago," said Padparadscha, "It hasn't changed at all."
"Hey, remember what Pearl said?" said Rutile, "That they found a corrupted gem here powering the place?"
"Indeed. That would realistically mean the power source is defunct."
"So that means we shouldn't have any problems going in!" The two-headed gem then walked in through the door like she was still sightseeing while the miniature psychic behind her was more apprehensive. She just predicted that Rutile would do something very reckless.
The Off-Colors were both surprised by the odd nature of the room. They appeared to have walked on the ceiling as they noticed elaborate murals covering the walls and a large hole on the ceiling. As they stepped inside, the only door closed behind them making Padparadscha feel worse. Rutile, on the other hand, was oblivious to this and was instead drawn to the obelisk in the center of the room where a glowing silver stone gently floated.
"Wait a minute, why is this here?" wondered Rutile's right head.
"I thought Steven and the others took the corrupted gem powering this place…" recalled the left head, "Pearl said so in her story."
"The only reason another one would be here is either it's another corrupted gem…"
"Or this place is back online!" surmised Padparadscha, "We need to leave now!"
"What?!" Rutile said in unison, only now realizing they were trapped, "Then if this is like Pearl's story, there's only one way out of here!"
"Connect to Garnet!" said Padparadscha into her communicator, planning to thank Peridot as soon as she got out of this before the link was made, "We need help! We're in the Pyramid Temple and it looks like it's back online!"
"Homeworld's work…" muttered the fusion on the other side, "That means the door will only open when you detach the power source."
"Easier said than done!" The psychic and Rutile had fell through in a hole in the ceiling as the gravity reversed itself leaving them in a round corridor with multiple doors. They already knew all of the doors were dead ends designed to lead to trap rooms that would only loop back to this central hub.
"Smash through the floor!" said Garnet, "That's how Steven and us all got out."
Rutile and Padparadscha leapt as high as they could and put as much force into their feet to try and bust through the stone floor, but they barely made a dent. They tried again and again, but they made no progress.
"We don't have enough power!" moaned Rutile's right half.
"And all those other rooms aren't gonna help!" her other half said as she kicked the floor.
"Everyone in here, now!" shouted Garnet at the top of her lungs, "We have an emergency!"
Steven soon came tumbling down from upstairs, still out of it thanks to his latest training session with Rose. Every night when he closed his eyes, he let his mother speak up and she spent hours helping Steven meditate in order to attain his full-gem form without losing his rationality. So far it had yielded little fruit, but he did have the occasional chat with her to make up for years of lost mother-son bonding.
Pearl, Amethyst, Topaz and Bismuth all entered from outside as they were all working on the Sun Incinerator. Peridot managed to come out of her lab with on odd metal gauntlet on her arm. The ones left out were Adamite, Cinnabar, Lapis who were out on another sparring trip and Fluorite and Rhodonite who were also exploring.
"We need to get to the Pyramid Temple ASAP. Padparadscha and Rutile are locked inside, and the base is back online thanks to Homeworld."
"Say no more!" Amethyst swore as she rushed over to the warp pad and beamed off. The others, however, stayed to deliberate.
"Any word on what they're doing now?" asked Pearl, ready to connect her own communicator.
"No, it looks like Pap killed the connection. I'm hoping she did it and it isn't some form of electronic interference."
"That reminds me…" spoke Peridot, "I've finished analyzing the satellite Lapis brought back."
"And?" Steven asked, hoping his mother was wrong.
"Rose Quartz was exactly right. It's outfitted for geothermal location and analysis of the mineral components that make up Earth's various layers. Good thing the one here is the only one left."
"Well, now we have a serious issue on our hands," said Pearl, "We have no conceivable way to stop the Cluster if it gets free."
"But there's still me, right?" protested Steven, "I talked it out of forming once!"
"True, but perhaps they won't get a choice this time," suggested Bismuth, "They could probably figure out some way to forcefully make it emerge and then we'd have no options."
"We'll worry about that later," insisted Garnet, "Right now, we need to focus on Rutile and Pap still stuck in hostile territory. I'll go assist Amethyst while the rest of you get back to what you were doing."
As the group split up, Steven noticed the odd gauntlet Peridot was wearing and asked her about it.
"Oh, this old thing? Bismuth helped me put it together. Behold!"
She then flexed her fingers and soon the metal glove split into multiple parts around her fingers and hand, all levitating around her splayed digits.
"And this is only the first piece in the set!" explained the scientist excitedly, "I plan to have a matching gauntlet and then boots to exponentially boost my combat capabilities!
"Whoa! That's amazing!" exclaimed the boy, "I never thought you'd really learn to fight."
"Neither did I, but I figure it's only fair to expand my talents. Soon I'll be the smartest AND strongest member of the team."
"We'll have to see about that other one…" muttered Garnet as she walked to the warp pad and left to help the others.
"The fifty-ninth attempt to break the floor will fail," predicted Padparadscha as Rutile slumped to the floor, her feet ringing in pain as they made no progress. While the little psychic was glad to get a message out to the Crystal Gems, the sudden disconnect alarmed her.
"Well, that's just great!" shouted Rutile, "Now what do we do?! Homeworld could come down and catch us like we're bugs in a jar!"
"I thought Lapis got rid of all the satellites in space…"
"Doesn't mean there isn't some kind of camera in here."
The smaller gem had to admit that was a valid point, but it also made her anxiety worse. She was half-tempted to try her luck with one of the trap rooms just to give her something else to focus on.
"I think Garnet should be on her way…" said Padparadscha, trying to alleviate the tension, "But it could be quite some time."
"Maybe there's some other way out…" thought Rutile out loud.
"Like what? A hidden mechanism?"
"Maybe, I don't know, but it's worth trying something," said the left head.
"I can't just hand here and do nothing!" affirmed the right. She then started feeling up the walls and the ceiling to find some unseen button or switch to reopen the bottom hatch but nothing seemed to stick. Padparadscha soon joined in, but the duo soon found nothing until Rutile's hands came up to the frame around one of the rooms.
"I wonder…"
"Hm? Rutile's about to get an idea…" predicted Pap.
"Homeworld just turned this place on, right?"
"As far as we know."
"So… Maybe when they did, they changed how the mechanics work. We know these rooms should just loop around, but we haven't actually tried it yet."
Rutile then stepped through one of the doors to find a grid of colored metal panels covering the ground and even the walls. Padparadscha followed her through, but immediately wanted to turn back. They both watched the panels flash a series of random colors until Rutile tried her luck stepping on the closest one as it flashed blue. A jet of freezing gas then erupted from the floor that would have frozen her foot solid if she had not pulled it back in the nick of time. They could both see the door on the other side.
"Well… I never said this would be easy…"
Completely unaware of the plight that their two fellow crewmembers were going through, Fluorite and Rhodonite were enjoying the sights of a pleasant mountain range. Nature fascinated all of the Off-Colors thanks to spending so much time in the bleak caves underneath the technological metropolis that was all of Homeworld so even the sight of trees, grass and wild animals roaming the untamed land had a sense of novelty to them.
The serenity of the environment around them led the two to alternating between chatting as they moved and staying silent while taking in the wonders around them. Pleasant as it was, the silence got Fluorite to thinking as she slinked along the ground.
"Hmm…" she mumbled before speaking aloud, "Rhodonite?"
"What is it?"
"I wonder… What else… I can do…"
"How do you mean? The Sun Incinerator's always been easy to helm with you as the engineer."
"I mean… You and Captain Topaz can fight…"
"You mean… You want to learn combat too?" Rhodonite asked, surprised to hear Fluorite's always pleasant and relaxed voice being riddled with doubt.
"Yes but… This body of mine… It isn't suited for it."
"Well, I can't deny that but… What do you plan to do about it?"
"I don't know… I've looked like this since I first formed."
"You've… never tried changing your appearance at will?"
"Have you?"
"Um… No. I've always been satisfied with how my form is and now mine is conducive for sword fighting. I-I know that isn't much of an answer but-"
"It's okay. I've always loved… How comfortable you were."
"What do you mean? Back on Homeworld, I was a nervous wreck. You three were the only things stopping me from having a complete breakdown!"
"I meant… Pearl and Ruby. Your love for each other… Did you ever doubt it?"
"Never," she answered immediately, "No matter what that planet put us through, we knew that living together in secret was far better than trying to abide by that stupid caste system."
"Exactly. It wasn't that easy… for me."
Rhodonite's eyes widened. She only now realized she never did ask how Fluorite came to be and was always content with whatever makes her multiple components happy. Instead Fluorite explained how she came to be.
"It all started with Amber and Amber… Essentially the grunts of the military. Their only job was… to fetch equipment and act as lackies to support rubies."
"Working UNDER rubies? I didn't even know that was possible!"
"It is… And they hated it. The only thing they enjoyed… was each other. They were perfectly happy… until they laid eyes on a Peridot. They both were smitten with one… when she came to check up on some equipment… after a battle…"
"Another peridot?"
"Yes, but she's much more… restrained. She hated… all of the technology… and then both Amber and Amber admitted their feelings."
"And then what happened?"
"She swore she couldn't decide… And that's when she got an idea. She said… why can't all three of them… be together?"
Fluorite's story continued onto how the ambers took turns seeing their third link in secret, knowing how taboo the relationship was. Rhodonite could not help but find it touching how far they went out of their way to see each other until one fateful day when an agate overheard the ambers talking about their first attempt to have all three meet at the same time and thus they had to run. They found their third and vanished into the catacombs where they enjoyed all their newfound freedom. That was when the three fused for the first time into Iolite.
"What was Iolite like?"
"Very strong-willed, hotheaded and ready to fight to system… She demolished every robot on her path… But that only led to more retribution. Dozens of them surrounded her… She was forced to split up and the three sought shelter… It broke their hearts to be alone again."
According to her, it took years for the three to reunite and in that time each of the trio found another rogue gem. One amber found a pearl who defied her master after hearing the stories of Rose Quartz's pearl on Earth. The other amber found a depressed runaway named Nickeline who specialized in producing gem currency but grew tired of the constant bribery and corruption of the empire's finances. The lone peridot met an oddball named Tourmaline who was a performer who grew weary of the "approved" music of gem culture and was incarcerated for experimenting with different compositions.
Each of the new couplets bonded as they continued to evade capture from Homeworld and soon contemplated fusing as well. That was when Amber, Amber and Peridot had to confess they already found someone, two someones much to the newcomers' surprise, but none of that mattered. The duos swore to never part and they eventually set
"When the three finally found each other… They were stunned to see they all found a new partner. They all talked for days… Bonding with each other… Telling their stories… And that's when the decision was made."
"That's when you became Fluorite?"
"Exactly. All they heard was how wrong they all were… But together… They finally found a circle where they were right. They could compromise… They could agree… And then there was me."
"Wow… I never knew all of that. Mind if I tell Rutile and Pap that?"
"Not at all. Where are those two?"
"Not sure, but I can find out!" Rhodonite then activated her communicator and spoke "Connect to Padparadscha."
"Rhodonite, is that you?!" said the psychic on the other end, much to the immediate alarm of the four-armed fusion. That feeling only grew when what sounded like flamethrowers and lasers rang out in the background.
"What on Earth is all that?!"
"We're in the Pyramid Temple and it turns out the place is active again! Get back to the others if you can, we need help in here!"
"On it!" Rhodonite immediately turned to Fluorite and explained everything she just heard. As the two hurried back to Beach City as fast as they could, the caterpillar gem once again thought about her current issue.
"Listen, it's going to be okay!" assured Rhodonite, seeing the doubting expression on her comrade's face, "If you want to change yourself, then do it! You're in control of who you are and if you don't, you're still the best engineer the Sun Incinerator can ask for!"
"Thank you, Rhodonite. I'll think about it… later."
Back in the Pyramid Temple, Rutile had come to greatly regret her hasty actions. The mess of colored platforms was not too terrible to deal with once they learned the grey blocks were perfectly safe, but they ran into a problem with the next room. Rather than loop them back to the central hub, it brought them to another trap room. One room filled with lava geysers later and her and Padparadscha were confronted with a massive wall of changing laser beams nearly poofed them with any false move.
This pattern continued for what felt like an eternity and the pair of Off-Colors were getting worn down by the constant hazards. Both of them lost count of how many gauntlets they passed and yet there was no sign of slowing down.
"Pap…" said Rutile weakly, "I'm really sorry…"
"Don't be. No one… Could have predicted this… Even with proper Future Vision…" replied her friend, trying to hide her own signs of fatigue.
"I can't get through to the others…"
"Neither can I… Not like we have much of an opportunity."
Their latest deathtrap to deal with was a room full of erratically moving platforms that threatened to drop them into a pool of lava if they mistimed one of their jumps. Even with the enhanced jumping abilities gems possessed, the platforms could tilt and randomly flip over so they had practically no time to find a proper route.
They both took another leap of faith to reach a platform several feet above them, but their only chance for salvation suddenly moved away from them. They managed to land on another square, but it was rapidly sinking towards the fiery pool below. They only just managed to see another square spinning back and forth and managed to land on it.
"This is getting ridiculous!" said Rutile's left head.
"We're not even getting closer to the exit!" agreed her right head but then something else caught her eye. Padparadscha was skipping from one platform to another with reckless abandon in one rush. The alarming part was that it was actually working.
"Pap?! What are you doing?!"
"One of us will make it to the end…" she said as she flew from one platform to the next, "If one of us can get out, then we can get help and-"
"Padparadscha, wait!" Rutile reached out her hand as her platform suddenly turned ninety-degrees. She managed to grab onto one of the corners, but it was only a matter of time before she fell. Padparadscha turned around and saw her predicament but that was the worst thing the little psychic could do. She did not see the square she was aiming for suddenly move to the right. It was only when she passed it falling down that she realized her mistake.
"NO!"
Rutile's outstretched hand then began to vibrate on its own and then, much to the conjoined gem's amazement, Padparadscha stopped falling. Instead of plummeting to the lava, she was coming towards her.
"Rutile will discover a brand-new power!" predicted Padparadscha, completely amazed at the sudden change but was grateful nonetheless. Soon she was holding onto Rutile's right hand as their platform righted itself.
"I… what?!" said the gem, staring at her own hand, "How did that-?!"
"It's almost like when Peridot developed her metal powers," guessed Pap, "You felt a strong emotion and then it emerged."
Rutile then got an idea. She focused on the platforms still moving randomly in front of her and extended both her arms and willed this new power to manifest. The only problem was nothing happened.
"Okay, that's weird. I felt the same vibrating…"
"Maybe try just one hand?" suggested her friend.
The two-headed gem did so with her left hand. Several of the nearest platforms were suddenly flung away like rockets.
"Okay, what?! This doesn't make any sense!" said Rutile's right half.
"Is it random?" offered the left head, but Padparadscha then pointed to a square that was briskly spinning in circles.
"Actually, I have an idea. Try your right hand."
Although confused, Rutile tried it and the platform started flying at her.
"Now switch to the left!"
Rutile switched hands and now the platform was flung away from her.
"Oh, I get it!" said the left head, "My side can bring things closer!"
"And mine can push things away!" said the right head.
"Good, because this platform has had enough of us!" Padparadscha said as the block under their feet just started freefalling towards the molten pit.
With some grasp of how this new ability worked, Rutile now had an idea on how to finally end this ordeal. She asked Padparadscha to hold onto her waist, so her hands were left free and then focused on several platform with her right hand. They stopped flitting about and all started coming towards her. One by one she hopped on them and soon brought herself and Pap to the wall along the left side of the corridor.
"What exactly are you planning?" asked the psychic as their platform was directly against the wall.
"Making a way out of this mess!" Rutile then flung her left hand at the wall, causing a wave of gravitational force that caused the brick-like surface to crack. The room, however, seemed to notice what Rutile was doing. An alarm blared and the doors on both sides of the trap room slammed shut.
"Okay, that complicates things…" said the conjoined gem in stereo.
"And so does that!" Padparadscha said pointing down. The lava pool was now rapidly rising and all of the platforms started to fall into the molten bottom including their own. Realizing she only had one shot at this, Rutile jumped into the air and used her right hand to pull as many platforms as she could manage up with her. Fifteen tiles were quickly hurtling their way, but Rutile suddenly stopped her ascent as she hit the top of the corridor.
Padparadscha tried not to scream as Rutile suddenly jumped off the ceiling, slowing her descent somewhat but still bringing them closer to the rising tide of lava. Before she could wonder what was going on, she noticed Rutile had actually grabbed one of the tiles as she righted herself and placed it under her feet. With one push of her left hand, a wave of gravity forced all of the flying tiles into the cracked wall where many of them were embedded.
"Your planning to break down the wall!" Padparadscha realized, half thanks to her faulty psychic abilities.
"That's the idea!" Rutile then gave one final flex of her right hand, sending her and her passenger rocketing towards the damaged wall. As they started to feel the intense heat of the liquid rock lick their form, the final plan of Rutile's plan came to fruition. She repositioned herself one last time so that her feet and the platform were forcing the wall while she was still pushing herself against the wall. With this improvised battering ram set up, she could only hope it was enough to break through.
Meanwhile, outside the temple, Garnet and Amethyst were both trying to burst through the locked door to no avail. They had tried whipping and pounding the entrance in, but it was no use. They considered getting Pearl or Peridot to devise a way in, but they both knew the Off-Colors were on limited time. It almost seemed like it was time to get Sugilite involved to just demolish the place until a resounding crash rang out above them. The two Crystal Gems watched in amazement as Rutile and Padparadscha came screaming out of a giant hole in the side of the temple while molten lava flooded out behind them. Amethyst ran out of the way of the molten wave while Garnet got drenched by it just as her two teammates crashed into the ground not far away.
"Good to see you found your own way out," she commended, "It looks like you're not too hurt."
"Just a little shaken up," groaned Rutile's left head.
"But we found something else!" cheered her right head.
Once she and Pap were back on their feet and Amethyst returned, the Off-Colors recounted their adventure along with the new gravity powers Rutile possessed. In addition to that, the temple's door opened once again but Garnet decided to leave the issue for now. She would have someone properly investigate the place later.
And so Rutile becomes the second gem to awaken new powers on her own! Who will be next? Or will it be time for Steven to awaken someone else first? Find out next time!
Thank you all so much for reading! Please feel free to leave any questions or comments below!