It was somewhere no one had been in a long time. It was an isolated sanctuary. It looked like it was surrounded by a deep blue ocean with white clouds floating on the surface. If someone had stumbled upon there by accident it would've looked just like that but it was really in the sky.
Connected to the floating island was a stone platform in water. A warp pad sat on it, undisturbed for eons.
The warp pad began to glow brightly and it flashed quickly before fading away. Some of the Crystal Gems stood on top, taking in the amazing view around them. After some time, they all stepped down off the pad and towards the sandy island. This time they were looking for a talisman.
"This island looks more like a mini jungle," Steven said.
Pearl nodded as Yellow Pearl walked ahead a few feet.
"It looks like no one ever stepped foot here," Onyx said, "It's filled with plant life."
Palm trees, vines and other plants they had never seen before were growing wild on that floating island wildly. Their eyes went upward to the one different color in the scenery before them was the bluish, purple mountain in the middle of that island. It was quite a sight to see.
"I think maybe the talisman is in that giant hill in the middle," Steven said aloud, shrugging.
Blue Pearl smiled and nodded in agreement.
"Yes it is," Pearl said as she nodded too.
"I figured this wouldn't be this simple," Yellow Pearl said with a smile and Onyx chuckled.
"I like how it looks like an ocean around the island," Lapis said with a smile.
"It is really pretty," Blue Pearl said, "We should stay here sometime."
As they made their way through the floating island, they had to be careful where they stepped. It seemed like someone had been there in fact because there were traps everywhere they stepped. The traps were similar to the ones they had encounter before such as hidden darts, trapdoors, falling heavy objects and crystal like creatures that were similar to Earth creatures.
It seemed like forever, they made it to the foot of the mountain. They searched the area they were in. The problem seemed like there was no way up or a secret entrance anywhere. Onyx continued pressing on the colorful rock while Steven searched the ground and Lapis over turned rocks.
"I honestly don't think there is any way up. We have looked everywhere and I don't see any way to get up," Onyx said scratching his head.
"I guess we have no choice then," Pearl announced, " We will have to climb it."
Lapis spread her wings out quickly.
"I would carry everyone if I could," she said and Pearl nodded.
"That's fine. We can use our weapons to make it upward."
Steven climbed onto her back.
"Let's hurry and make our way up there while we still have daylight," Yellow Pearl suggested.
Lapis made it to the top with Steven first. Blue Pearl, Onyx, Pearl and Yellow Pearl made it to the top a short while after. They climbed over the top and headed forward. Lapis frowned as she got closer to the center of the mountain, feeling the temperature in the air rising some.
Her mouth dropped open in surprise. It was actually an inactive volcano.
"Stop where you are!" Lapis said holding out her hand, "It's a volcano!"
Pearl stopped and Onyx almost walked into her.
"It is?" Yellow Pearl asked looked around her two lovers.
Everyone gathered around to see why it looked more like a mountain than a volcano. There was a pillar like table inside the opening of the volcano. Onto top of the platform of the pillar was a glass dome and inside of it was something black. They stepped closer to see it was the shape of a flying creature.
It as the talisman they had been looking for.
"Think that's what we are looking for!" Steven said happily looking back at everyone.
Steven started to reach out for it.
"WAIT!" Pearl yelled.
Steven stopped as the talisman started glowing a weird blackish color. Steven looked back at his friends with a confused look on his face. Pearl grabbed Steven's shoulder.
"Let's get back to the beach!" Pearl yelled.
Everyone started running and headed down the side of the volcano. Everyone looked panicked as they made their way down.
"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Yellow Pearl yelled.
"I'M NOT SURE!" Pearl yelled back, "I THINK THERE'S SOMETHING INSIDE OF THAT GLASS DOME!"
"What's that weird color?" Blue Pearl asked pointing upward.
Onyx slid into the sand next and looked upward to where she was pointing. The sky around them was glowing purple then it faded to red on the left side and blue on the right side.
"Wow," Lapis said breathlessly.
The water shoot up ward from around the warp pad and the lave shot out of the volcano. It was quite a wonderful sight to see and very dangerous as rocks were flung all over the ground. The image of a phoenix was seen in a bright red and a sea dragon in a deep blue before they slammed together. A solid rock body was formed and it roared angrily.
"I thought that was the talisman..." Onyx said grabbing his wife's hand.
"I'm so sorry... I wonder if we made a mistake... We were scanning the gem location and it showed it was here."
"Weapons?" Yellow Pearl suggested.
No one said anything as they summoned all their weapons as the creature came flying at them. It's body was flinging globs of lava, rocks and rain where ever it flew. It came towards the Crystal Gems and Onyx charged in and clipped one of it's wings bringing it down to crash into the sand. Lapis flew into the air next with a smile on her face.
She raised her hands and squeezed her fists tight forcing the creature onto the sand using the water from its body and from the beach. Sand went raining into the sky. It gave the rest of them enough time to land one last blow onto the creature of the floating island. The gem went flying into the air.
Lapis caught it with both hands and bubbled the gem before sending it to the Temple. Everyone smiled as they felt relieved that was finished as quickly as it started.
"We did it everyone!" Pearl said with a tired smile on her face, "It was unexpected but we did it!"
Onyx turned to Yellow Pearl and Blue Pearl, "Do you guys know anything about this gem?"
"We do actually," Yellow Pearl said, "That was Obsidian. He worked for White Diamond before he was corrupted here on Earth."
"He wasn't like Diopside. Obsidian wasn't made as a weapon for Homeworld. He was a personal guard for White Diamond and White Pearl. He was corrupted and had to be imprisoned in order to protect the gems of Homeworld and the gems of Earth."
"I'm surprised they didn't shatter him," Yellow Pearl said, "Maybe he was worth saving?"
"I bet he's beautiful, uncorrupted," Lapis said, "This place matched his gem."
"I did," Steven agreed.
Pearl smiled, "Let's go home."
"I hope we can visit again and bring the others," Yellow Pearl said as they stepped onto the warp pad.
Pearl nodded and they warped back home to the beach house in Beach City.