Jewel, Peridot, Steven and Lapis were in the warp stream on their to a mission. Jewel was going over the mission objective one more time to make sure everyone knew exactly what they were doing.
"Mom, Dad and Yellow Pearl had decided that we would be best for this mission. Mom didn't mention anything weird about it other the name of the place was called Terrains of the Forgotten."
Peridot gave her a girlfriend a weird look. The name of the place sounded like there had to be something weird about it.
"Why is called that?" Steven asked.
"It's a place on the planet Earth that has been forgotten by all the humans on Earth since the ones who knew about it have all died already. It's been around for millions of years even before the human race had existed. Homeworld had always kept tabs on it but it has become a wasteland so they ended up forgetting about it too. I read in one book that the place is supposed to a human graveyard from a war but that book was hundreds of years old and in a weird language but that was it," Peridot said, "They must've guessed since that's what the name sounds like."
"If it was forgotten... Then how did we find it?" he asked.
"Mom and Dad had gotten a disturbance beacon from that area. It looks like we are almost there though. It seemed like it was going to take forever."
"I wonder what it will look like," Lapis said smiling at Steven, "It sounds interesting."
Peridot and Jewel smiled at each other as they held hands.
X
X
Once they reached there, they caught the idea of why it would be called Terrains of the Forgotten. The warp pad was covered in moss and plant life that overgrown the area. Most of the grass was as tall as Steven. There were large exotic looking flowers everywhere and some of them gave off a weird smell.
The area was cooler in the grass but above it was more humid. It was a strange place to be. The trees around the area were huge and some looked bigger than sky scrappers. Vines were hanging off of the branches and weird colored moss covered the trunks. In the distance there was rubble of some ruins that were covered in overgrown plant life as well.
There were four different ones with the colors of White Pearl, Pink Pearl, Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl. They could see birds and other creatures in the trees. They were bigger than the ones back at Beach City. Since it looked so untouched by anyone but the wildlife itself, the creatures were much bigger.
"I can see where it got its name," Lapis said breaking the silence, "But I honestly thought it was going to be a barren waste land."
"I'm surprised they never used this place for a kindergarten," Steven said, "Its so rich in organic life..."
"What are we looking for exactly?" Lapis asked staring at the blue ruins.
"A disturbance," Jewel answered.
"Ah."
Jewel turned around to face the water gem, "A big one actually."
Steven looked at his girlfriend then at Peridot.
"I believe in Pearl's direction. She wouldn't send us out here if we couldn't do it."
Jewel nodded with a big smile.
"She was absolutely sure we could do this."
X
X
They came to the center of the four ruins. The ground was covered in more plants but the plants were covering other things besides rocks or ruins. There were a lot of broken Homeworld technology but it looked as old as the ruins did. Peridot picked pieces up and dusted them off looking at them with extreme curiousity.
"Anything interesting?" Jewel asked standing beside of short, green girlfriend.
"It's all interesting. This stuff is so advanced... even for as old as it is but it is so outdated. They were able to nearly perfect equipment now. It true is fascinating."
"What are these?" Steven asked picking up weird looking crystals.
Peridot put down what she was looking at and walked over to Steven.
"Those are power crystal. Kind of like batteries."
"Oh."
"A long, long time ago they couldn't attach the power sources inside of the devices so they made external areas to receive power sources. The stuff they have today looks almost the same but it has been upgraded tremendously."
"I really don't see anything causing the problems Mom and Dad said there was. Maybe... the hologram was wrong?" Jewel said aloud.
"Maybe it can mask it's own signal or it's invisible?" Lapis said dropping the junk onto the grassy ground.
"I don't see anything that would cause the signal. Maybe we go home?" Peridot suggested.
"No... We can't give up that easily," Jewel said tapping her chin as she looked around, "Mom is never wrong."
Jewel laid back onto a small pile of rubble and she looked towards the sky. Suddenly, the ground began to shake softly then grow more violently like an earthquake. Two tendrils came flying out of the ground and Jewel stood up quickly covering her mouth in shock. All she did was lay down...
Two stocks popped up and eyes opened up at the end. One eye was red and the other was bright green. The eyes closed and the stocks disappeared under the rubble. The four of them were baffled by what had just happened. For a few minutes everything got quiet even though the tendrils stayed laying on the ground. The four of them didn't dare to move.
Without warning, they shot up into the air. They all screamed in surprise.
"I think we found the problem... And it definitely is a big one!" Steven yelled.
The corrupted gem wasn't some creature that only was a few feet taller them... It was as big as a small island. There were tress, creatures, rocks and the ruins on it's back and it was all part of the creature. The four of them weren't even sure how to react to the situation at hand.
The stocks looked like it rotated and its eyes opened again staring down at them. It roared loudly making them come to their senses. They summoned their weapons quickly. The tendrils came flying at them as it watched them on it's own back.
No matter what they did, the skin and armor reformed itself and made the creature more angry. The four of them were becoming exhausted quickly. What were they going to do to take this down? It was the biggest thing they ever came across and it wasn't even getting tired at all. They scattered trying to make it harder for the corrupted gem to hit them.
"If we can find the gemstone, this would be over more quickly!" Peridot yelled and Jewel nodded.
"I know but it won't stop attacking! It's like it has endless energy!" Lapis yelled.
Steven looked down as he held up his shield to protect his body. There was big crack before his eyes filled with the power crystals Peridot had told him about.
"Can we destroy the crystals? It looks like it's in some the cracks!" Steven yelled.
"Good idea!" Jewel yelled, "Everyone find a crack with power crystals. On my go we'll hit it all at the same time.
The four of them got into position. Lapis and Peridot knocked the tendrils down into the earthy armor giving them about a minute to strike.
"GO!" Jewel screamed.
The four of them struck the power crystals making the armor explode underneath and it started sliding off into the hole the corruption was sleeping in. They jumped off of it seeing a gem on the green chest of the creature. Steven looked at his girlfriend with a determined face.
"Lapis, can you throw me to the gem? I can rip it off and end this."
"Ok!"
Lapis grabbed him by the hands and shot into the air blowing dust. Jewel and Peridot watched as Lapis Lazuli threw Steven at the corrupted gem's chest with such force the corruption had no time to see what he was doing. Steven latched onto the gem quickly and started pulling. The corruption shuddered and let a blood curdling scream. The stocked twisted and bent.
Steven looked over his shoulder to see the earth corruption staring at him with an angry look in it's eyes. Steven turned back and began pulling harder. The tendrils came flying at him but it was too late. The gem popped off and Steven went flying. Lapis grabbed her boyfriend in midair as the gem struck itself.
It's physical shape poofed leaving behind the giant hole. The four of them sat on the ground staring at each other. Slowly, they all started to smile triumphantly at each other. Steven bubbled the gem and they got up. The four of the headed for the moss covered warp pad for home.
"I hope that this place becomes something else. The Terrain of the Forgotten doesn't suit some place so wonderful and beautiful. I hope it's no longer forgotten by everyone after this."
"I agree," Jewel said.
"Me too," Peridot said taking Jewel's hand.
Lapis nodded and warped them back home.