Before we get started, I just want to quickly say some stuff on my mind that I really don't want to leave at the very end once this is finished. With Christmas around the corner, I don't want this thought being at the end that'll leave everyone in a downer mood. It probably still will be there but I at least don't want it to be the last thought you think once you're done with this chapter.
Alright, well in regards to the issue with Net Neutrality, it's not good. The voting came in days ago and by a vote of 3-2, the FCC are going to repeal Net Neutrality and work to regulate it. That means prioritization of specific sites and pay to enter those sites as well. However it's not as final as its made out to be. The repeal still has to go through congress, the Supreme Court and to top it off, several states and companies are suing the FCC and their chairman Ajit Pai to get this repeal overturned. While the first battle was lost, there's still more chances for the internet to continue to remain free as it has been for a long time.
That's all I wanted to say. Now it's on with the show.
"Watch out!"
*Clang*
"Ahhh!"
"Pearl!" The Gems yell in worry as the white gem goes flying after being struck by the monsters claws. Luckily she held up her spear to deflect the attack but the force behind it sent her flying back.
After the beast regarded the other group of Gems, it immediately attacked without remorse, forcing them all to separate and dodge its initial attack. Pearl tumbles through the air before she rights herself and slides along the ground with her spear stabbed into the ground. She grunts a little before looking up. Her eyes widen as the monster closes the distance and brings its claws up to end her. "RRRR!" Before that can happen, a red-black blur comes out of nowhere and tackles the monster in mid-flight to her right.
"Pearl!" She looks to her left to see Steven and Amethyst run up to her. "Are you alright?" Steven worriedly asks.
"I'm fine." She answers and manages to stand up and rolls her shoulders. "Wow, that thing hits hard." She comments as she also rubs her shoulder. Turning to the battle, they watch as Garnet takes on the monster one on one. It tries to claw her head off but she ducks down and gives it a powerful uppercut to its jaw with her gauntlets. It only stuns it for a second before it turns right around and tries to hit her. She barely has time to lean back from the attack as it knocks her visor off. Using the momentum to lean back, she twists around and brings her leg out before kicking it right in its stomach, making it go flying back before she stands up and charges. "Steven, head to the barn and make sure Marcus is alright. We'll take care of this monster." She grips her spear tightly while Amethyst pulls her whip.
"That… is Marcus." Before they can go, the info makes them stop. Peridot slowly makes her way to them, her hands shaking as she takes uneven steps when she walks.
"What? What are you talking about?" Pearl asks confused.
"That… is him." She answers once she makes it to them, her eyes continuing to stare at the fight. Garnet makes hit after hit, her speed just a bit more and a slight edge over her opponent but it is far stronger than her and tanks the hits. "Remember when we came from the moon base… what he revealed to you all?" She reminds them of that little conversation around the fireplace he told them of his problem, the night before Peridot went crazy with the Diamond communication device. Their eyes widen at the reminder before they slowly turn back to the fight.
Garnet is on the offense as she launches punch after punch towards the monster as it dodges her attacks or blocks them. After one hard punch in which it uses both arms to block, she brings her other arm up and follows up with another punch, sending it sliding back along its feet. Its feet clawing deep grooves into the ground before it stops close to the destroyed helicopter. Once it rights itself up, it stares at Garnet with a deep scowl on its muzzle before it reaches up and grabs one of the thin connectors that attach the helicopter blades to the rotor. With a jerk, the piece rips off and it holds its makeshift weapon in hand. The blade itself having been halved from the original crash landing but with enough force it could still cleave something in half fairly well. Seeing the change, Garnet holds her arms out and fires her gauntlets like missiles toward it. It moves its head to the side as the first one passes, going through the open back of the helicopter before it impacts the ground in a small explosion. The other…
*Clang*
Grabbing with both hands, it brings up the weapon and knocks the second gauntlet away from hitting it. The objects flight is sent completely off-course as it flies through the air towards the others. "Whoa!" Pearl, Amethyst and Steven duck as the missile almost hits them but explodes far behind them. Garnet quickly reforms her gauntlets as the thing rushes forward, a snarl on its face as it brings its weapon down on it against her. She jumps back to dodge but now she's on the defensive as it continues relentlessly. "That thing?! That's his messed up transformed… whatever thing?!" Amethyts asks loudly and fully surprised at the turn of events.
"Yes." Peridot answers, having continued to stand regardless of the projectile that was sent towards them.
"Well, what do we do about it?!" Amethyst asks as they stand back up. Peridot doesn't immediately answer. She remembers what this thing was capable of all too well. How it very nearly shattered her and her team when they first came to Earth. She was given the by Marcus to do what needed to be done… but now that it's here…
"Peridot!"
"Huh?" She's shaken out of her thoughts by literal shaking of her own body. She sees its Steven that's helping to snap her out of it.
"Peridot! How do we snap him out of it? How do we turn him back to normal?" Steven quickly asks her.
She stares for a second, looks down as she thinks but the answers clear as she remembers what she has to do. She quickly pats herself down before she remembers the problem. "My weapon. It's a sure fire way to turn him back to normal. In other words, pain. Lots of it and severe injuries are needed to force the regeneration, and bring him back."
"Where is your weapon?" Pearl asks.
"In the barn." She answers.
*Smack*
"Oof!" Garnet lands next to them flat on her back. They stare down at her as she continues to stare into the sky. "Ow." She looks up at the others. "Please tell me you have a plan. I'm not doing much against that thing."They stare as the object of what they have planned starts stalking its way slowly towards. Pearl and Amethyst move forward and get ready to fight.
"Steven, go with Peridot and find her weapon. We'll do what we can from here." Pearl orders the kid.
"What?! But maybe I can reason—"
"No." Garnet halts his sentence right there. She gets up but as she gets onto one knee, she grunts and looks the kid dead in the eyes. "This isn't like the battles before. This one… he's fighting without remorse. It is him… but it's also not. If Peridot has a plan, we have to trust her. She's faced this before."
"… But…"
"Steven… I don't think this one cares. We go this. You have to hurry." She places both her hands on his shoulders as she speaks. Usually he would argue and try to help, but the ragged look Garnet has, and the eyes he's staring at, without the visor, makes him see just how serious this is. He can see it in her eyes. Looking sad, he nods nonetheless. "Good." With a slight grunt, she stands up and forms her gauntlets alongside with her teammates. "Hurry." She says.
"Raaaaaaah!"
"GO!" Garnet yells as both sides charge each other.
"Steven, c'mon!" Peridot grabs his hand and pulls him away. She has to tug a bit more to get him to move because of his focus on the monstrosity that his brother turned into, but he goes nonetheless.
"Split up! Attack it at the same time!" Garnet orders before both sides could make contact. Pearl jumps to the right and Amethyst to the left while Garnet stays where she is. The monster brings its makeshift helicopter blade chopper in an overhead strike against the fusion but she jumps back as the weapon embeds itself in the ground. It quickly pulls the weapon out as Pearl comes in for a stab on its side and blocks it. It pushes her back and goes to slice her down. She moves herself just a little to its right to avoid the attack before trying to slice. It ducks from the slash before it pulls the weapon to the right, using the blunt side of its weapon to throw her away.
"Uhhh!" Pearl grunts as she's sent flying and using the momentum of its pull to the side, brings itself all the way around and hits the attacking fusion from its behind.
"Arrr!" Garnet grunts as what feels like a train hits her in her barely put up guard just before the attack. She goes sliding back front the hit and breathers heavily.
"Hey!" Before it can ready its weapon again, when its arms are outstretched after the attack, a purple whip wraps around the blade. "Let's see how you do without this!" Amethyst shouts and yanks on her whip. The monster grips the weapon tightly but as they both fight to hold it, a grin forms on its muzzle and it lets the weapon go. As the weapon goes flying from its hands, Amethyst is happy for a second as she sees she disarmed it but that turns to worry as the weapon flies straight toward her. "Whoa!" She ducks to avoid the projectile but that was her mistake. Once it dropped its makeshift weapon, it readies its claws. The natural weapons of its body gaining several inches of length and they shine with their sharpness to show their deadliness. As soon as Amethyst ducked, the claws are thrust deep into the ground and with a mighty heave carve deep holes in the dirt while also sending a ton of rocks soaring straight to her while she's distracted. It's when she gets up and turns from watching the weapon move past her that she sees them. "Pah! Oof! Ah!" She's hit with several at once before a particularly big one slams into her stomach, making her hunch over before taking another large rock straight to the face. She gets launched back from the painful hits and lands on the ground in a heap.
"Amethyst!" Pearl cries out the purple gems name in worry at the multiple hits. Her cry though doesn't go unnoticed as the monster's vision shifts to her. Seeing how she's now the next target, she scowls before standing tall and taking a few breaths. "Alright then." She mutters to herself before she grips her spear tightly. "Come on you overgrown flea bag!" She insults and spins her spear gracefully around her before holding close along her outstretched right arm. "Let's go!" She yells to it. The monster smiles at the challenge now and without any hesitation, both fighters charge each other.
"We have to hurry!" Peridot shouts as she sprints into the barn with Steven trailing behind. As soon as they both enter, they look distraught as when the monster was formed, it was angry because the whole place is upturned with stuff scattered all about with wood torn out too. "OH C'MON! Graaa!" She yells angrily at the further complication they have now of looking for her weapon. "No matter! Start ransacking and look for my firearm!" She begins going through the nearest pile of junk but she soon stops as something gets her attention. She grabs the item and pulls it out. "Well that's disappointing." She comments as she stares at the Barrett sniper rifle whose barrel was completely crushed. 'Looks like it was stepped on.' She thinks but she soon begins shaking her head and tosses the useless weapon away. "Forget it! Keep looking!" She yells back to Steven and continues rummaging.
"On it!" Steven replies and mixed in with the sounds of the fighting going on outside, their tossing and throwing of every item they can find and touch in the ramshackle barn. Broken pieces of wood go flying all over as they look, accompanied with other miscellaneous objects like other spare baseball gear they had lying around. While the fighting outside sounds like it's getting bad, this makes Steven worry. "I'm not finding it Peridot! I'm gonna check up stairs!" He says to her and starts climbing up the ladder.
"Good idea! I'll keep searching down here!" She replies and starts digging a little faster. "C'mon you!" She frustratingly says at how long this is getting.
Steven quickly makes it to the top and starts rummaging through a random pile until he sees something that makes him stop. He looks confused as he stares.
Pearl slides between the monsters legs as it misses hitting her before she goes to her feet and slices its back. That gets a roar of anger from the beast as it turns around intending to cleave her head off. She barely manages to deflect the claw with the shaft of her spear, one claw nicking her cheek, before she slices it in the side. A grunt of pain goes through the monster before it turns around and launches its leg at her from the side.
Pearl grunts as the leg impacts her hard against her body and sends her rolling along the ground. She groans once she comes to stop and looks up. Her spear lays just inches from her body. As she looks higher though, what she sees prompts her to quickly grab her weapon before she rolls on the ground.
*Slam*
The monster lands and its claw stabs into the ground just where she was. Seeing the opening, while laying on the ground she thrusts her spear towards the monsters chest. However it was faster than what she thought as it quickly leans back from the stab, making her miss. She doesn't wish to let up though as she spins onto one knee and sends another stab right towards it. Again it moves back and continues to move as it dodges left and right from the continuous amount of stabs that the battered white gem sends at it. They move several feet because of this but Pearl decides to do an overhead slice to try to finish it.
She misses though as it takes just a bit longer than she could muster and allows her opponent to jump far back, barely missing the attack. Pearl gets frustrated at the dodge but that's soon replaced with a thinking look. Seeing where its falling to from its dodge, she smirks and pulls her spear back one-handed. "Heeee-yah!" She shouts with a grunt of effort. Having pulled the spear back in a throwing angle, a small gust of wind and air pushes behind her from the force of the throw. The spear flies at supersonic speed right in the direction where it's supposed to land.
It has no chance to dodge.
*SHINK*
"RAAAAAAAHH!" A roar of incredible pain goes through the monster as the second its feet touches the ground, the spear hits its mark and it goes flying back. It rolls on the ground a few times before it comes to a stop in an unmoving heap.
"Yes." Pearl mumbles with a smile before she sinks to her knees. The throw having taken nearly the last of her energy, she's exhausted. 'Hopefully… that'll be enough to force it… to…' Her mind trails off and so does her smile as the black haired and crystaled monster slowly gets up. As soon as it's up with its back to her, it very slowly turns around to reveal her spear embedded in its shoulder, and very angry. "Nooo." She moans in despair. The monster slowly reaches up and grabs the spear. With a pained but still angry look, it rips the weapon out with only a grunt to show for it. It's black fur starts to become stained red from the wound but it doesn't seem all that bothered with it. It's when she watches it twirl her spear in its hand once does her eyes widen. In one quick deft move, it whips the spear forward. "AAAAhh!" Pearl shouts painfully as her spear misses her but cuts her on her shoulder. She falls to the ground as she clutches her shoulder painfully from the small but still painful cut. She groans from the pain as she curls up but soon looks up as she hears breathing close to her. Looking, her own breath hitches as she sees the monster covered the distance quickly and without her noticing. The wound on its shoulder has already stopped bleeding but is still there. Apparently it doesn't feel its injuries so far warrants the regeneration use but that doesn't dissuade its anger. It stares angrily at the white gem at its feet as she stares fearfully at the monster. It's when it brings it's leg up that she futilely covers her head to protect herself from the attack that'll end her.
However it's when she doesn't feel the attack destroy her form, and her gem, along with something impacting it, that she uncovers herself to see the monster is gone. "Pearl." She looks to her right to see Garnet walk up to her and kneel down. "You okay?"
Grateful to see her friend with her, she can't help but smile as she tries to sit up. "Yeah. I'm- Uhh!" She tries to stand but weakly groans as she lands on the ground again. "I'm… well enough."
"Good." Garnet is relieved to see her friend alright at least. "Can you walk?"
"Yes… with a little work. What happened to—"
"Grrrrr… Raah!" They both look to see a nearby rock that wasn't there shake before it is lifted up. It's soon revealed the monster carrying the large rock as it lifts it over its head and is pretty pissed off after having the object thrown at it.
"Yeah, that wasn't a permanent solution." Garnet mutters. In order to save Pearl from possibly getting shattered, she chucked the large rock straight at it before it could do the deed. Now, it's death glaring at the fusion. "Get out of here, grab Amethyst and help the others find some way to knock some sense into the boy." She orders her to do and forms her gauntlets.
"Along?! But Garnet you can't hope to take… him… by yourself!" Pearl worriedly states as she weakly gets to her feet. After the first fight with the beast showed it was strong enough beat Garnet, Pearl doesn't like the idea of her going toe to toe with it again so soon.
"Maybe…" Garnet replies and gets into a boxers stance. "But we don't really have choice now do we." She states firmly. She tightens her fists in preparation. "Get moving. I'll keep it distracted as long as I can."
Pearl looks between both of them a few times, not really confident in the match up but a pang of pain from her shoulder and the unconscious form of the purple gem shows no room for argument, or any hope of backing her up. Resigned to what she needs to do, she reluctantly nods and starts limping away. "Good luck." She calls back before she fully leaves.
"Thanks." She replies and takes a few steady breaths. "I'm gonna need it." She mutters under her breath and slides her feet into the proper stance to fight. The monster however stares at her angrily but it doesn't go unnoticed as its eyes drift to the limping gem. With a sadistic grin, it reels its arms back and throws the rock its holding straight at the retreating injured gem. "Hraaaaa!" Not allowing it to happen, Garnet dodges to the right and just before the projectile passes her, she launches a powerful punch that obliterates the rock and sends a large cloud of dirt dust around her. Pearl glances back to see what happens but seeing as she's not being attacked she continues moving. Garnet slowly steps out of the cloud and walks into full view, pissed off at the cheap shot it just tried to do. "Your fight is with me now!" Garnet reminds it and puts up her fists. "And I'm going to knock some sense into that thick head of yours Marcus!" She yells at it, ready to throw down.
"… Ha ha ha ha ha." The monster lets out a few low laughs at the name. Slowly it brings its claws up with a grin still on its muzzle. "He's not in here anymore." Its dark demonic voice says to her. Gritting her own teeth in anger, she widens her stance… and charges.
The monster dashes forward too.
"Lapis?" Steven walks up to the blue gem huddled in the corner. She's sitting against some hay bales with her knees curled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around. Her face remains buried in between her knees, arms and chest.
"…" She doesn't respond to her name being called.
"Lapis. What are you doing here? We need your help in finding a way to snap Marcus back to normal! C'mon!" He grabs her arm and tries to pull her. "Help us find Peridot's weapon so she can- Whoa!" Before he can finish speaking he's thrown of balance as an opposite force knocks him to the ground. He quickly realizes that he's not holding Lapis anymore. Looking he sees her arm back where it's curled up again and she's still yet to move. Looking puzzled at the Gem, he stands back up and moves closer to her but doesn't make any moves to touch or move her. "Lapis… what's wrong?" He worriedly asks. She doesn't reply, only curling herself up tighter. 'What… why is she… Why's she so—'
"Second… there's something about me that's… dangerous. Something that I don't have control over."
"Yeah, it almost shattered Jasper, Perdot… and Lapis."
The explanation Marcus gave him and the others the night they came back from the moon base pops back into Steven's mind. Peridot was a bit … shocked and stunned to see that thing. Remembering that Lapis too was almost attacked, he now sees why she's unresponsive right now.
"Lapis… Marcus… told us what happened when you, Peridot and Jasper came in the ship. He… he said he was—"
"Steven." He looks back to see Peridot peaking over the edge to them. "I found it." She says in a less than enthusiastic voice. Almost like she's not really happy she found her weapon. It's tucked in her holster on her chest. She drops back down the ladder out of sight.
He turns back to the sad blue Gem before he slowly places his hand on her shoulder. "He told us he didn't have any control of… that. He's… he was sorry for what happened… and he regrets it."
"Steven!" He hears Pearl's distraught voice coming from outside.
He looks back towards the door before looking down. Taking one last look at Lapis, he lets go and heads to the ladder. Just before he goes, he stops. "That… can't be him out there. It just can't." He says one last time before heading down.
Once he drops to the ground, he runs outside and is instantly worried at the sight he sees. Peridot is checking to make sure she has ammo in the weapon and its ready to fire while Pearl, severely injured and tired, with a bruised unconscious Amethyst lying next to her against the barn door and the bat from the game. He also sees Garnet is going one on one with the monster but is losing, evident after she takes a knee to the stomach.
"Steven!" He tears himself away from the fight to Pearl.
"Pearl!" He shouts worried at her kneeling form before moving up to her. "Are you two alright?"
"I can manage." She mutters as she still holds her shoulder but looks sad at her down partner. "But Amethyst took bad hits. She's out and I can't fight anymore." She quickly explains the status of them both before seeing Peridot and smiling. "I'm glad you two were able to find her weapon. Garnet's on her last leg and I don't know how much longer she can last." She worriedly states as the fusion's attacks start to feel sluggish. Peridot for her part finally flicks the cylinder closed after she finishes her inspection. "Is it working now? Good. Now hurry up and do what you need to do! Garnet's in trouble!" Pearl points out as one particular punch sends her rolling on the ground. As Peridot holds her gun up with both hands, the monster stalks up to the downed fusion. Steven covers his ears and closes his eyes as they wait for the gunfire to commence.
…
But they don't hear anything. "What are you waiting for?! Take him down already!" Pearl demands angrily at the hesitating Gem.
However as Steven watches Peridot, he sees her hands shaking and sweat going down her face. "Peridot?"
"I… I… I can't." She finally says in defeat. The other look surprised at the statement but she continues. "He… he gave me a purpose. He gave me this job in case things get out of hand but… I don't want to hurt him! He's… my friend I just…" Her words come out broken and uneven. After she basically gave up on Homeworld after she insulted Yellow Diamond, she was pretty distraught on what her purpose is after she was declared a Crystal Gem… but he knew she was still uneasy about the new arrangements and it's because of the trust he placed in her, new equipment he gave her and the new job gave her something to not freak out over. But now that it's back and she's aiming, she can't pull the trigger. It may not be him… but somewhere, he is. "I can't." Her weapon lowers just slightly as the monster stands in front of a kneeling Garnet, ready to strike with both claws.
*Pat*
A hand is placed on the gun, stopping the shaking. Her eyes widen as she follows the hand to its owner.
"I can."
Earlier…
Garnet and the monster charge each other. It tries to slice her with its claw but she bat the appendage away with one gauntlet and brings in the other to punch. She's blocked however as its other arm stops her fist from connecting. She tries to punch with the other but the same thing happens again. It smiles at the vulnerable position Garnet has herself in before it reels its head back and brings it forward.
Garnet grunts loudly in pain as the head butt cracks her visor and sends her sliding back on her back. She groans from the massive headache she receives but her senses quickly come back enough that she sees the monster jumping towards her with its claws extended to stab her. With just enough time, she rolls backwards onto her hands just as the claws stab right where she was lying. Before her opponent could move, she thrusts her feet outwards, straight at its face.
The monster goes flying back as the double kick to its face sends it hurtling back and giving her some breathing room. She quickly gets back to her feet and pants tiredly while her opponent is bruised and battered but still has some fight left in it. Once it finishes moving, it growls in anger before it gets to its feet and starts stalking towards Garnet. The fusion sulks at the near endless stamina this thing has. "Great. Just great." She mutters and stalks up to it as well. Once they get close to each other neither of them bother to chitchat or anything of that nature. Instead, as soon as they get close, they attack.
Garnet leans to dodge a claw swipe before throwing a right hook. It too dodges her attack and the both of them go back and forth in trying to hit the other, slow at first but their speed gradually picks up. This doesn't go on long though as at the same time Garnet dodges, she also throws a punch that nails it right in the side of its face. She smiles at the hit she scores but her moment of victory, coupled with her fatigue, makes her reaction time unable to dodge its next attack. As it reels back from the punch, the monster swings its arm out and backhands Garnet hard. "Arh!" She cries out at the hit as it knocks her visor off, making it shatter as it hits the ground. Once she moves back to fight, it continues to press the attack as it punches her in her chest then follows up with a knee strike straight to her stomach. She coughs from the hit to her gut and as she bends over in pain, the monster twirls around and sends its leg out to hit her. Having exhausted herself far too much already, she goes flying back, rolling along the ground several times before she finally stops, unmoving. The monster having had enough of the challenge, its clawed feet slam onto the ground angrily, cracking the ground slightly as it moves ever so closer to the groaning fusion. The world around seems to quiet down and deafen as it focuses everything at the one creature that almost gave it a challenge.
Almost.
As soon as Garnet barely manages to push herself up with only her elbows, she sees the clawed foot step in front of her. Dreading the unfavorable position she finds herself in, she slowly looks up to see the monster standing tall. "Get… up." It speaks in its dark demonic voice.
With a strained grit of her lips, she slowly pushes herself up until she gets onto one knee. As soon as she tries to stand though, her legs shake before ultimately giving out and making her collapse onto her knees. 'No…' Her breathing becomes heavy after the strain of everything takes its toll on her. She looks up at the monster, an impassive look on its face and a desperate one on Garnet's. "Marcus… please… fight it…" She almost begs for him.
Her words fall on deaf ears though as the monster spits out to the side with a disgusted look. It flares its arms outward and above, claws ready to eviscerate in one swipe. "Weak." It snarls one last time… and strikes.
*BANG*
"ARRRRGHHHH!" A powerful angry and painful cry permeates the air followed by the sound of a revolver going off. The monster looks down at its bleeding right claw, a hole having gone right through its palm. Growling at the injury it rears its head and glares at who dares attack him. It's eyes widen at its new opponent.
Lapis Lazuli stands tall, her left arm outstretched in front her, Peridot's modified Colt Anaconda revolver in her hand as smoke leaves the barrel of the recently fired gun. The smoke is quickly carried away as the wind gently blows against them all. The wind just moving her hair ever so slightly as she stares unblinkingly at the monster that nearly first attacked her so long ago.
"I care about you Lapis. More than you think. I don't know what it was that I became but that thing doesn't speak for me!"
"We can't hurt him… but we can hurt that." Lapis says firmly while still staring at the monster. She remembers what it was that he said back on Peridot's ship, when she was trapped in that prison cell and he came to save her. If he really was as horrible as that monster was, then he wouldn't have worked so hard to free her from Malachite. He wouldn't have taken that pipe to his back to save her when it was heading for her gem. 'This… thing thinks it can take him over. Thinks it can take him from us. From me! One of the few people that I'm close too! I. Won't. Let it.' She thinks angrily as she tightens her grip on the revolver. If he really does care about her, then she's going to get him back!
The monster moves around Garnet, who moves away from the new battle as Lapis opens fire again.
*Bang*Bang*Bang*Bang*Bang*
Without any hesitation she fires the remaining rounds in her weapon once Garnet is sufficiently away. The monster ducks and dodges the next three shots but the last two wound it. One grazes its shoulder and the other its right leg, making it kneel in further pain. It growls angrily before it sets its sights again on the blue gem but doesn't get up, instead trying to get its bearings over all the injuries its sustained, and suppressing the quick regeneration ability.
With the ammo used, Lapis remembers the times she's seen the weapons use and easily flicks the cylinder open and lets the shell casings fall out. But once the ammos out she remembers she doesn't have anymore on her, making her scowl in annoyance.
She feels someone tugging her shirt. Looking down, she's greeted by two things: One, Peridot who looks up in awe at her, and two, the circular speedloader round she holds up to her. The annoyed look gone, she slowly takes the offered ammo, making Peridot smile as she holds the new set of six rounds for her to use. After examining them for a bit, she shoves all six rounds in the cylinder at once and flicks it closed. Gun in her left hand and ammo restored, she's ready.
"Hey." Lapis turns to the voice and barely has time to pull up her right free hand to catch what's thrown at her. Once she has it in her hand, she looks to see it's a baseball bat. Looking up from the object, she sees who threw it to her. Amethyst gives her a tired smile amidst her bruised face. "Knock some sense into that kid." Lapis reciprocates the smile and nods before turning towards the monster, where its finally gotten its bearings and glares at her, ready to fight again.
It gets up onto its feet and slowly makes its way to her in a walk. Matching its glare with one of her own, she too walks forward at a slow pace. Their steps are slow and menacing at first but it's the monster that slowly begins to pick up pace towards her. "I am going to FINISH YOU!" She challenges it as she too stalks forward.
"C'mon then!" It replies and bares its claws outwards as it begins sprinting to her. Still walking forward, Lapis's wings form on her back but don't stay for long. Small drops of the water substance directly from her break off, soon forming several dozen small crystallized sharp pieces that float around her as her wings retract. She angles them mentally straight at her opponent and they shoot off at the monster like bullets. She sprints forward once she sees the monster bring its arms up in a protective defense. The makeshift projectiles don't have enough force or mass to pierce its skin or fur but that wasn't the intention. It brings its arms down but its intended glare is replaced with widening pupils.
"HRAAAAA!" Lapis lets out a war cry as she jumps into the air with her bat pulled back to strike.
*SMACK*
It connects. The wooden object impacts the top of its head, making it grunt as its head is forced down but she doesn't stop there. As soon as her feet impact the ground and once her weapon goes low to the ground, she bring it right back up and nails it right in the side of its face. The monster grunts as its head is jerked to the side by the force off the blow. She reels back for another strike but this one aimed at the side of its stomach. It lurches from the attack but in a moment of anger, it brings its right claw up to slash her down. Lapis doesn't let it as she takes one step back and twirls on one foot, narrowly going just outside of the claws reach as it misses her. Taking the opportunity, she finishes twirling onto her other foot as she moves closer to her enemy. Before it can bring back its claw back up to slash her, she brings her bat up and impacts it against its open shoulder.
The hit connects with a loud crack as its shoulder blade is knocked out of its socket, rendering its right claw arm useless. It roars in anger at the displaced bone and tries to slash her with its left claw but it isn't as fast as the previous attacks. She easily ducks under the attack and while doing so, brings her bat up along to its right side and hits it right in the side of its stomach. This time it lurches forward from the hit and almost falls to the ground. Lapis still doesn't relent as she moves over to its left and with its exposed, lands another hit now onto its back, avoiding the crystals. The hit forces it to its knees now, dazes from the attack. She then rolls over its back until she's on the other side and in one quick succession, she pistol whips it on the side of its face with her revolver in her left hand then follows up with a hit from her bat to the underside of its muzzle. The last hit makes it go up onto its feet once again. It sways for a second from the multiple attacks that were unleashed on it but shakes its head to make set it back to its senses. Now it's very pissed off as it growls darkly at her and shoulder charges her. She quickly brings her bat up to defend herself as she's pushed back because of the charge. Before it stops it pushes her back and using its left claw it brings it down on her. She twirls around to its left, avoiding the attack and bringing her bat to strike its arm.
*CRACK*
With the sickening sound to accompany it, her baseball bat breaks on contact with its arm. The large top half of her weapon goes flying off away from them. She stares at the jagged broken piece of what's left of her weapon for a second before looking up at the recovering monster. It smiles at the lack of weapon she now carries as it gets up and prepares to swipe her with its claw, very intent to end her. However as it slashes she ducks under it before putting her back right up to its chest and brings her broken bat up, twirls it around in her hand once it's reverse-handed…
*SHICK*
And thrusts it back right into that things chest.
"Raaaaagh!" It roars in pain at the attack and now embedded weapon in its flesh, making it stumble back and giving Lapis the opportunity to attack some more. Bringing her gun up over her shoulder, she fires.
*Bang*
The round tears through its left shoulder, further injuring it as it steps further back several steps and crouches to one knee. It looks down in a mixture of tired and pain as its breathing comes in ragged breaths. Lapis stares down at the severely injured monster in front of her but still, it doesn't relent in letting the regeneration take hold. This time, it's determined to not go anywhere and from what it can tell, she is the last obstacle. With a fierce grunt, it gets back onto its feet. With one quick move, it snaps its dislocated shoulder back into place, regaining the use of its right arm. "I. WILL. END YOU!" It roars angrily and charges her. As moves toward her, she makes no move to dodge, deflect or do anything… until she simply brings her gun up and fires into its recently fixed right shoulder.
*Bang*
It stops in its tracks and snarls in pain from the bullet. But still it doesn't stop. It continues to move forward but she fires again, this time into its left leg.
*Bang*
Its body jerks from the hit but can only growl weakly as it goes to its knee. No amount of determinism can make it force itself to continue from all the abuse it's taken so far. Still, it continues regardless as it gets onto both feet, limply moving towards her.
*Bang*
She fires again, this time into its right leg. It grunts as it goes onto one knee again. Its breathing comes in low deep breaths as it tries to stare at her but its vision is starting to get blurry. Lapis's form only comes in as a blue blob in its eyes while the Gem herself fixes to almost defeated creature with a neutral expression that she seems to sport a lot recently. With shaking legs, it pushes itself back onto its feet and limps heavily towards her. Seeing its continued actions, she lowers her gun and waits for it to get close enough to her. Once it does, in one final act of defiance, it lifts its right claw up and weakly swipes it her.
She steps forward before it can hit her. The slow ineffective attack passes behind her as she presses herself right up against the beast.
"No… you won't."
*Pfffft*
Instead of the massive recoil sound that comes from a gun, the sound is muffled considerably. The beasts body visibly jerks as the round enters into its stomach. Very slowly with uneasy steps it moves back, a dazed look on its face. Lapis stands there with her gun pointed towards it from her side. Having pressed the barrel right up to it, the sound was muffled, the recoil force and fire blast injuring it further with just a bit of black scoring and blood on the barrels ring. The monsters body shakes from the new gunshot until with a heavy breath, it falls onto both of its knees finally. All the times before since it was fighting the Crystal Gems, it never succumbed nor desired to fall onto its knees to anyone.
Now… it doesn't have choice.
It's body slumps as red rivers of blood run down its body to barely start pooling under it. From dripping to it claws, to under its knees, the monster that's kept their friend trapped, that nearly shattered them all, is defeated. Slowly, it brings its head up and stares into the sky.
Its view of the sky is mixed in with a blue blur that steps closer to it. The blur slowly takes shape as it focuses its eyes. Lapis comes into perfect view of its vision… and smiles.
"Strong."
My teeth grit in anger and my grip tightens on my borrowed gun.
I plant the barrel of the gun right between its eyes, finger on the trigger.
"Give him back to me."
*BOOM*
The last round in my weapon fires, lifting the weapon upwards as the round goes through the skull of this thing and hits the dirt behind it. Its body jerks from the hit and with a glazed look in its eyes, falls back.
*Thud*
Its body falls flat on its back, lifeless. An eerie silence falls over the whole area around me. The only thing I can hear is faint steps, the wind blowing around me and just the last of the echo from the last gunshot. The gun in my hand slips out and hits the dirt below me. 'Please… please tell me I did the right thing.'
"Is… is it over?" I turn to my right to see Pearl walking up to me, with her spear out and Amethyst next to her as well. Looking past her, I spot Garnet moving as well with Steven helping her as best he can. Although because she spent the most fighting, she's the one that took the most amount of abuse so she's having a tougher time moving. She 's also doing what she can to keep Steven from seeing the… mess.
I stare back at Pearl for a second before turning back to the body. "I hope so." I mutter depressed. 'I still can't believe… all this…'
"Just… give it some time." Peridot comes in from my left and stares at the body. "Hopefully… he will regenerate from this one."
"Hopefully?" I question, with just a bit of anger edging in my voice. "What do you mean 'hopefully'?"
"Well when I shot him I didn't aim for the head!" Peridot retorts in anger as well but it soon disappears into remorse. "But… I don't know about… this." She gestures to the body.
I look at her with wide eyes before looking in horror at the body. 'No… no no nononono! Please no! Please tell me I didn't—!'
My thoughts of regret and horror are cut off as I see the familiar glow of his body transforming. The broken bat piece falls off and the blood around us disappears as the body starts to lose its mass. I can't help but smile as I see the shape of his body start to become familiar through the glow. Soon Steven and Garnet manage to make their way to us and see the glowing transformation up close. Steven looks on in awe at the slowly changing form but I'm just happy to see that thing disappear. Soon, the glow disappears and we are left with our friend again. Looks of relief grace everyone's faces at seeing that thing gone.
"Marcus!" Steven rushes forward and immediately hugs him. "Oh Marcus it's so good to see you! I was so worried that you wouldn't wake up and you'd be asleep forever! Well you did wake up but I didn't want you to turn into a crazy monster that would hurt all of us! I'm just glad you're…" His rant dies off as well as our relieved looks once we see the problem. Steven pulls back and lifts Marcus's arm before letting it go. It lands back on the ground without any resistance whatsoever. "Still asleep?" He finishes saying confused. Marcus is here but his eyes and mouth are closed. He's still breathing but he's just like how he was before he changed, when I woke up and saw him just laying there in the barn. "Shouldn't he be awake?" Steven asks Peridot, and so do the rest of us stare at her. The confusion on her face doesn't fill me with confidence.
"He should." She says and sits next to him as I move closer. She presses a hand to her chin in thought. "After he transformed back to normal the first time, he woke up and looked straight at Jasper before she knocked him out. Now…"
"He's not waking up." I finish what she's saying. She nods as I lean in close to him.
"Precisely. After his regeneration, he should have no complications whatsoever to his physical health. That only leaves one other area where he could be having trouble."
"His mind." I add as I lean in close to his sleeping face.
"Correct. Since there are two minds inhabiting this body, it would seem that they're fighting for control." Peridot thinks, then crosses her arms. "And I think… he's losing." She grimly states.
Worry is what we are feeling right now. "You mean we could lose him to that thing?!" Amethyst loudly states as she grips her hair. "Holy crud!"
"We barely fought it off this time with our lives! We can't keep dealing with this all the time! It'll be just like when we were dealing with Peridot's constant plug robonoids onslaught! Only this time it'll be much worse! No offense." Pearl hysterically explains before calmly saying the last part to the green gem.
"None taken." Peridot says before continuing. "Question is now how are we supposed to help him?! It's not like any of us can magically go into his mind to fix him directly!"
"…" All of us besides Peridot and Steven blink before we look towards the kid. His stare is focused on the unconscious body of his brother but he looks up confused once he feels our eyes on him.
"What?" He asks in a confused tone.
I move away from Marcus and one my hands and knees, I look at Steven at eye-level dead in his eyes. "Steven, I'm going to need your help."
"Grrrr."
"Quite struggling. You're not going to get out."
I look up at the monster. Bastards finally returned. I am sitting here on my knees in this blackened area around me with chains wrapped around my arms that seem to suck and merge into the ground around me. They are black too like the surrounding area but their color hue is just slightly brighter I can still see their outline in the darkness and know what the hell's keeping me here. I don't know what's going on exactly but I do know after I was forced into my regeneration state, I suddenly found myself here and captured. Then that thing came up and said it wanted out. It was tired of waiting and as soon as it took the opportunity, it left through the white doorway while I watched and could do nothing.
My mind was filled with worry at the idea of that thing having gotten out and attacked… everyone. I've been trying to get out but I've got nothing and I've made no progress. The only thing I've done is make myself tired but I'm not stopping. Although now that its back and looks angry, I'm feeling a little better even if I have to look at its stupid face. That could mean that it was defeated and the others were able to kick it ass.
"Just because you say so doesn't mean I'm going to stop all of a sudden."
"Graaaa!"
"Guh!" My comment probably angered him more than it should have because while my arms arm forced tightly and stretched against the chains, this thing is lifting me up by my throat harshly. Even through my barely air deprived vision, I can see it growling and gritting its teeth in anger. For awhile it feels like it's going to snap my neck but I'm let go soon after. The chains rattle as they finally are given slack and hit the ground, along with my heavy breathing. Once I'm well enough, I look back to see it pacing. "So… *Cough* I assume you weren't given a warm-welcome out there?" I ask with a shit-eating grin. In reality I really shouldn't antagonize it like that but I don't really feel like appeasing it or anything of that nature.
It growls at me for a second before resuming its pacing. "…Your friends are powerful. Almost enough to beat me…" I smile at that. "Especially that blue one."
I frown at that. 'Lapis?' "Lapis?" I voice my thought. "What do you mean? What the hell did you—" I try to get at him but I only go an inch before the chains are stretched taught. It notices my change of mood and lets out a dark chuckle.
"Yes, her. She's strong… very strong." It menacingly speaks as it slowly walks around me. Because I'm chained to the damn floor I can't turn to face it as I can only snap my head around. "More stronger than I think your other friends realize. Maybe even you realize." It speaks the last part to my ear and I growl as I go to grab it but the damn chains! "So strong she took me down." It stops in front of me with its back to me. "Reminds me of that yellow one I faced after I first awoke. Jasper, was it?" It asks as it glance back at me, expecting me to answer but it only gets my scowl and death glare. "I believe that was what she was. Wouldn't mind taking her on again." I can hear it mumble to itself with sadistic glee before turning around and walking right up to me. "But first," It leans in close and right up to my face. "I can't wait to get out of here and that Lapis again when I'm fully healed. Then I can really show her just how powerful I am." I growls to me right in front of my face as we both stare into each other's eyes. 'Oh how I would just love to punch your teeth in, force open your jaw and rip your—'
"Wanna bet." My increasingly dark thoughts are interrupted as we both widen our eyes at the new voice. Well, new to us now, but familiar in another sense. It steps back and reveals to me just who the new arrival is. Actually, who the new arrivals are.
"Steven!" I cry out in happiness at seeing my brother finally after days of captivity.
"Marcus!" He happily shouts back and moves forward.
"Hold it Steven!" Lapis quickly places her hand in front of him to stop him from going any further towards this monster in front of me. "Don't go near that thing."
"Hehe, strong and smart. A deadly combination." It speaks as it slowly lumbers towards them. "Problem is, you're on my turf now and I'm not tired here." It crosses its claws in front of its chest with a toothy grin. "Do you really think you can defeat me in my prime when your friends couldn't?"
Lapis glares at the beast before taking a few steps forward and assumes a fighting stance. Her left leg moves forward where it's straightened out and her foot aims to the front with her right leg bent under, ready to push off. Her left fist is clenched in front of her while her right fist is pulled to just the right of her face. As she gets into her stance, her wings form on her back but they don't stay long as the water substance that forms directly from her gem bends forward and latches itself onto her shoulders before creeping forward along her arms till they encase the entirety of both her arms and hands. They remain water and drip for a bit before solidifying and forming her own makeshift hardened water fist and arm gauntlets. "I'm willing to try." She challenges it.
"Ha ha ha ha haaaa…" It laughs darkly before breathing in sharply then throwing its arms out the side, its claws slicing against each other and making their sharpness known. "Your mistake." It mutters and starts stomping forward.
"Steven." Lapis gets the kids attention. He looks up at her while she continues to stare at her opponent. "I need you to go try and free Marcus while I take this thing on. It was weak when I fought it before but now it's fully healed and ready to fight. We need him to finish this once and for all." She glances to the side to look at him. "Can you do that?"
"Are you sure you don't want me to try to help?" He asks her, then summons his shield on his arm.
"Hm, thanks but I think we're going to need more help than just us. Besides, I think Marcus looks like he wants to fight too." She says and they both look past the moving beast to their captured friend to see him angrily staring at the back of the monster and struggle against his chains. "Go get him. I got this."
Steven looks worried for leaving her alone to fight this thing that's now fully healed but nods and starts making his way around. "Good luck." He says to her before he goes.
"Thanks." She thanks him and she slowly starts making her way towards her opponent as well. Both of them continue to have their arms up ready to attack as they get closer and closer to each other. Their eyes continue to remain locked and ready to fight but as soon as that thing spots Steven moving around them, it growls, and charges Steven. It doesn't want any of these intruders to rescue its captive and will not let any insignificant distractions to free him. In one jump, it moves through the air straight towards Steven, its right claw ready to eviscerate him. Steven looks up in surprise at him being the new target all of a sudden and pulls up his shield to protect himself. However nothing hits his shield as a loud clang can be heard but not by him. He opens his eyes to see Lapis in front of him, her arms held up to catch the attack. They both struggle against each other as one tries to overpower the other. Lapis stares angrily at the monster. "Your fight is with ME!" She yells and pushes the thing off, making it slide back along the ground. "Steven! Go!" She orders to the kid and charges her opponent.
They both go at each other in trying to hit the other. The monster tries to slice at her but she uses her gauntlets to deflect its claw strikes. She tries to strike it as well with her fists but now with its strength back, it's able to dodge and block her attacks more easily. She lets loose several punches but it brings both its arms up to block her attack. As soon as she stops to attack once more, it whips both its blocking arms outward and backhands her away. Lapis goes flying back several yards until she finally comes to a stop. She gets up but the monster is already moving towards her to attack her again. She quickly ducks to dodge its attack and twist around where she hits the monster right into its chest using the entire back of her left arm. This hit stuns the beast and makes it slide back, giving Lapis the chance to press the attack. Unfortunately the monster recovers in time and as soon as she gets close enough, it brings its right claw up to attack her. Like before she brings her arms up to block it… but it was a feint.
After intentionally pulling its claw strike, it instead sweeps her legs right out from under her. After having focused on an attack from above, Lapis is completely caught off guard from the attack on her legs as it leaves her completely open. With the new opportunity, the monster brings both its arms up while she's in the air and slams them down both right on top of her. She only barely has enough time to pull her arms up to defend herself but that's only from its attack. She can't stop herself from slamming hard into the ground on her back. The act of herself being slammed into the ground dazes and stuns her for a moment. She drops her guard from the pain and squints her eyes but once she opens them her eyes widen.
The monster rears its legs back and kicks her far away from it harshly.
"Steven." I breathe my brother's name in happiness.
"Marcus!" He doesn't waste the moment to run right up to me and hug me. "Oh it's so good to talk to you! Seeing you unconscious like that for so long… we didn't know what to do after you did your regeneration power and you wouldn't wake up after a day."
"Yeah… sorry again for attacking you." I apologize to him finally. After I woke up from the whole thing with the Cluster, I was seeing so much of… my mom and seeing anyone else just… 'I still can't believe I attacked Steven. My brother I…' "When… the Cluster… attacked me they showed me some… visions… memories and I was just so out of it when you found I couldn't—"
"It's fine." He interrupts my worried tone and speaking. "I know you wouldn't have attacked me unless something was going on with you. And… I kind of got the idea something was wrong with all you're screaming."
"Right." I mutter and we go into a small silence with the sounds of fighting going on in the background. "Listen, Steven, it's good to see you again but I could use some help if you'd be so kind." I accentuate what I mean by rattling the chains on my arms. I don't even have enough slack to hug Steven back.
"Oh, right! Sorry!" He replies and goes about trying to pull my chains off. Unlike normal chains, these ones have no locks or latches to unlock them and are completely melded into the ground. The only way to get them off looks to be like as much brute force as we can put on the. "HAeeeeeee!" Unfortunately, while Steven and I are naturally stronger than normal humans, both of us pulling don't have enough power to rip these things apart. "Eeeeeee guh!" Soon my brother stops pulling and sighs. "Aw man. We can't pull them out."
"We need something else." I mutter and while we think for a second, I look to see Lapis somewhat holding her own against that thing. Somewhat. "And fast." I say worriedly and angrily. Seeing this thing go against her like that, fighting her, my teeth grit but how she's fight though is kind of—
"I know!" Steven calls out and breaks me from my thoughts. He forms his shield again and grabs it with both hands.
"Nice. That's the best we got now." With our options limited at this point, having him basically beat my chains until they break is the best choice we got. Not wasting any more time, he brings his shield up and starts slamming it against my right chain. It makes a loud 'clang' but he continues to do so. "Good, keep it up." I encourage him to go on.
"Ahhhh!" My head snaps to the fight and my eyes widen as I watch Lapis go flying. My stomach drops as I see her go but I'm slightly relieved when she lands on the ground and rolls into a crouch. Albeit she looks weak and slightly injured but still alive thankfully. Unfortunately, now the monsters eyes are set on us.
"Steven hurry!" I rush him.
"Hold on I almost got it." I reply's and brings his shield once more up to strike the chain. He doesn't get the chance to.
"Look out!" I push him as best I can away from where he just was. In a single bound that thing immediately went for us. Steven stumbles back in surprise but quickly pulls up his shield to block the attack aimed at him. My eyes widen as I watch my brother go flying. "STEVEN!" I yell his name in worry as this fucking thing only glances at me, before smiling and charging after him. "No… no no no nooooo!" I yell and angrily as I see it trying to go after my brother. I struggle to try to free myself from these damndable chains but they're still stuck. I do look closely at the spot Steven was hitting the ground around the chain and I smile as I see small cracks.
Steven takes several steps back as he holds his shield up, each step he takes back punctuated by the claw strikes sent towards him that he barely manages to block. "Ah! Uh! Ahhhh! Stop!" Steven worriedly cries out repeatedly as the monsters attacks continue to force him back. At the same time his arms start to hurt from the massive force that each of the attack exhibits on him.
"You are pathetic!" The monster snarls as it doesn't let up in the least, despite Steven's protests. "How can something so weak be the center of what he cares about!" It yells as its attacks become more ferocious. He can do anything he wants and yet he's so willing to sacrifice his own life for a gnat like you." It snarls to him, much to Steven's rising fear. Annoyed at the constant deflects and blocks by the kid, it reaches forward and grasps Steven's shield before pulling it away, along with Steven.
"Whaaaaaa- Oof!" He goes tumbling through the air before hitting the ground and rolling a few times. "Uhhhh…" He groans for a second after the dizzy air tumble he went through and turns over onto his back. "AAAAh!" Steven yelps as the monster grabs his shirt and lifts him into the air.
It effortlessly lifts him up and growls at Steven as it keeps him at arm's length with its left arm. "I… will…!" It growls directly into his eyes. It flexes its right claws and folds its arm to thrust. Steven's eyes widen as he desperately tries to pull himself off the grip. "BREAK HIM!" It yells and thrusts.
*SHINK*
"RAAAAAAAAGHHHH!"
"Oof." Steven grunts as he lands on the ground roughly. Rubbing his head from the rough landing, he then looks up.
The monster growls darkly in pain as it looks down towards its left shoulder. A piece of chain juts out from it. It looks confused before turning to the side and glances behind and what happened.
Marcus stands several feet away, his right arm curled around the end of the chain that leads to the one embedded in the monster while his left arm and chain lays on the ground around him. A pissed off and very angry face is what he has on his face as he grits his teeth. "You… will never break me!" He yells and tightens his fist on the chain attached to his enemy. "And you will NEVER take my brother from me! Now…" He curls his arm forward just a little. "GET OVER HERE!" Along with his yell, he pulls the chain towards him.
Barely able to do anything else, the monster is suddenly lifted off its feet and sent hurtling towards Marcus. The beast lets out a strangled grunt from the sudden new force exhibited on its body as it twists in the air so its facing toward Marcus. In a last ditch move, it tries to cut Marcus but he jumps up into a spinning kick, dodging the attack while also delivering a kick with the length of his lower leg. The monster goes tumbling even over end through the air away from Marcus as he lands on his feet easily enough. Before the flailing monster can take him too, Marcus jerks his arm back and the chain tears itself from the beast, making it halt in mid-air and fall to the ground in searing pain. With a massive thud it hits the ground and remains still for a second before it tries to stand. Slowly it gets onto one knee, and looks up.
"Haaa!"
*Smack*
With a fierce attack, Lapis comes up and twirls her body around before sending an armor fisted backhand strike right to the side of its head, sending it rolling away from them all. After it's been dazed quite harshly, Lapis quickly makes her way back to Steven and Marcus. Seeing him free and awake now, it's an immense relief to see him up again. Once she makes it, all three of them stand together and stare at the monster as it slowly starts to recover.
"You two stay back. I got this."
"What?!" Steven yells in confused surprise.
"Marcus no. You can't—!" Lapis begins to protest but I hold up a hand to stop either of them from continuing to voice their thoughts.
"I appreciate the thought you two, but this is something I have to do." I tell them. They may be slightly behind me but I can tell they glance at each other before back to me.
"Are you sure?" My brother asks worriedly.
"I am…" I answer as the monster lets out a roar and starts moving towards us. "This thing has kept me locked away for days now and I want payback. I will make this thing regret ever trying to break me!" I yell and start walking forward too, my chains scraping along the ground as I go.
"Good luck." I smile as Lapis calls out to me.
"Thanks." I mutter back to them without stopping. We take several more steps until we are at suitable distance from each other and the others before coming to a stop.
"You can't beat me." In order to antagonize me, it says those words to me as it readies its claws towards me.
"Hm." I smirk before whipping my arms outward, making the chains carry the action along them too before they up closer to me as I get ready into my own stance. "You… are a stain on my soul…" I growl darkly to it. I then start swinging arms around in circles around me from left to right. The chains clash against the ground, sending sparks all around me as they repeatedly scratch and tears against the ground all around me. "I intend to wipe you away!" I yell.
"C'MON THEN!" It demonically yells in anger.
"HRAAAAA!" I yell at the top of my lungs and whip my right arm down from above. The chain curls overhead and strikes where it just was. It manages to dodge to its left and tumbles away. Turning myself around, next I bring my left arm down and it dodges my attack yet again. I repeat the process a few more times as it continues to dodge them before taking off into a full blown sprint in circles around me. All the while the chains continue to rain down milliseconds where it just was as my onslaught continues. However I soon tire of the dodging so as soon as I bring my right chain down and I miss, I twist around with my left arm this time in a horizontal attack. My attack hits it right in its back, making it yell out in pain before I follow up by twisting the chain around its ankle. Without giving it a chance to untangle, I grab the chain with both hands and I turn around, pulling it with me and making my target go into the air overhead before slamming into the ground roughly. I pull the chain back once its untangled from it and go for another whip attack. As it tries to get up, the chains whip it again but before I can hit it again, it grabs one of my chains out of the air and holds it at the end.
It begins to grab and wrap the chain around its body as it pulls me closer to it. My feet slide along the floor as I try to pull against it but to no avail. I try to attack it again with my free chain but it grabs that one too, now having both of my chains it reels me in without much resistance. Problem is though I'm still attached to them so I can't simply let go. Once I'm close enough, it grabs both my arms and holds me tight, glaring at me as we stare directly into each other's eyes. It smiles as it sees the vulnerable position I am in. I can do nothing as I rears its head back and I am given the hardest head butt I have ever experienced. My entire world is completely dazed as my head whips back harshly, making me kneel on the ground.
*Crink*
Even through my haze, I can still make out the sound and visage of it pulling my chains up and actually biting them off. I'm still dazed though as it throws both useless chains away and brings its right arm low.
"Arrrrh!" I scream in pain as several sharp claws slice my chest from bottom to up. I am sent flying back many feet back before landing roughly on the ground and rolling a few times. "Ahhhhhh." I hiss as I lay on my stomach in pain. 'Ow… fuck… god damnit.' It's agony to move, let alone push myself up but I manage to lay on my back. I look down to assess the damage and I grimace to see the claw marks on my chest that have ripped my shirt and are rapidly reddening. "Fuck." I groan. They don't feel like they went too deep into me, just very very painful.
*Slam*
"Cuh!" I cough out as something slams into my stomach. I look up to see the monster has slammed its right foot right into my gut. I try to pull it off with both my hands but it's too strong.
"I will not inhabit this body any longer with the likes of you!" It growls in my face. "Killing you here will push you away… and I will be the dominant one from now on! Not you!" It snarls at me bitterly. Angered by its declaration to try to shut me down, I bring my right arm around and punch it. It recoils from the punch but doesn't seem to get off me at all.
"Arh!" In fact it seems to have angered it even more if you can believe. It brings its left foot forward and slams it right on top of my left. The moment where it basically put all its weight on me feels like a boulder was just placed on me but now the weight is split between my stomach and my arm. Its left claw then slams against my right arm, pinning that limb down as well. With my body and my arms both pinned to the ground, I'm essentially defenseless now as it brings its muzzle close to my face and its left claw eerily close to my eyes.
"I… am going to enjoy destroying your mind." It whispers in a dark voice right next to my ear.
"You can FUCKING try!" I yell back and spit at it. It recoils from the useless insult but regardless it gets a sadistic grin on its muzzle and it laughs.
It's chuckling comes out low and menacing as it readies to skewer me. And from its aims, I can guess its going for my head. 'Damnit… c'mon… move damnit.' I try to push or pull myself away but I can't. I'm completely stuck and at its mercy. It pulls its claw back just a little more.
I don't know if killing me here inevitably destroys my mind, but its been living here a lot longer than I have. It trapped me here the second I came back. This is its domain. As its hands flex, I close my eyes and ready myself for the end.
"Marcus!"
"Pah!"
Instead of immense pain or everything shutting down in an instant, all the weight is lifted off me and I can breathe just a little better, and move. When I open my eyes I don't see the monster anymore. "Wha-" I mutter confused. 'What the hell happened?'
"Marcus!" Lapis and Steven run up to me from behind as they help me to sit up. "Are you okay? Does that hurt?" Lapis worriedly asks me as she examines my wound but I brush her off.
"I'm fine. It stings but nothing serious." Moving makes the slash marks sting just a bit more but nothing that'll deter me from disemboweling that son of a bitch. 'Speaking of…' "Wait, if you're here, then where did it go?" I ask turning to them directly.
"We don't know. We were just about to stop it from killing you but suddenly it was just… pushed off." Lapis explains as best she can but it seems she's just as confused.
"Pushed off? What do you—?"
"Uhhh, guys?" Steven interrupts us with an uneasy voice. We both look to him to see him staring and pointing far off in front of me. Turning to see what he's looking at, I can tell why he's confused. The monster is far in front of us but it's not focusing on us at all. Instead it's trying to slash at the air around it. 'Whaaa…?' I think confused as it constantly tries to slash at whatever it can in front of it but nothing seems to work. I'm beginning to think it may have lost its own mind but the way how its body jerks and spasms makes me think it really is fighting something.
"The hell?" I mutter still confused as I get to my feet with the help of my friends but we continue to watch the spectacle. The monster tries to slice forward but I think it misses as its head jerks to the side and its stomach lurches roughly backwards. It's arm is grabbed and roughly twisted before its flipped forward further away from us. Once the lull in the fight presents itself, I focus as best I can to figure out what's attacking it. My eyes widen as I make out two shadow like beings standing in front where it was flipped from. Their incredibly hard to pick up but I can just make out their forms in the darkness. They are comprised of some smoke like effect that makes their forms so I can't describe what they could look like exactly. Both are the same height but the first one looks to have slightly longer hair I can hazard a guess while the other has short hair if the longer flowing smoke on the other is any indication. I'm think there are females from what I can tell but it's still hard to tell. They both stare at the monster as it begins to recover but they don't give it the chance to do anything else. They both take off towards it and as soon as the monster looks up, the second one slides on the ground and sends her foot right into the monsters face as she holds her hands up from the spot on the ground. As it stumbles back, the first one jumps up and lands on her partners hands, who pushes her upwards and sends her forward with a punch to the monsters face. It stumbles back some more as they continue to it back with in-tandem attacks. They move as if they know exactly what the other is going to do and it very effective as their moves leave the monster completely at their mercy.
All the while, the rest of us can only look on in confused as they beings are making a mockery of this thing at ease. Soon their fighting moves closer to us and the monster is thrown to be several feet in front of us. I can hear it grown from its spot on the ground and it was taken such a massive beating, combined with everything else it just went through. The shadows move around and make their way to between us and the monster. As it slowly tries to stand, albeit completely bruised, bloody and barely able to stand, the shadows turn around to us. Steven and Lapis tense up as two pairs of white orbs stare at us, specifically me. While the two are tense they may attack, for some reason I don't feel any hostility. I feel… something else but I don't know what. We stare at each other for what feels like a long time, before they nod. Without any words, they both split up in different directions. One goes to the right and the other left before they disappear completely. "What… were they?" Lapis asks.
"They were like ghosts." Steven surmises but I'm not sure.
"Maybe… I don't know." I answer before turning to the barely standing monster. My curiosity and confusion turns to slowly building anger as it turns to me. "But for now, I need to finish this." I darkly say as I begin to stalk forward.
"Becareful." I hear Steven call out from behind me and I nod. The pain is a thing of the past for me right now but my enemies is all too evident from the look of pain gracing its features.
"I… will not… stop." It barely manages to say as it holds its side with its right claw. "I will never stop. Nothing you can do will keep me from going." It struggles to threaten me still even now. I stop a couple feet from it and while I stick with a neutral look on my face, it grits and growls at me. Angered by me being so close and a lot better off than it, it brings its left claw and tries to swipe at me but it's very slow. I simply lean back as the claws miss me. The action throws itself off balance, making it fall onto one knee and hand with a grunt. Blood drips from its wounds and mouth as it tries to get back up but fails to. "I… will not… against… someone… as weak as you." It looks up to me… as I stare at it with a sad expression.
A new light gets my attention, making looking back to the others to see the white door appear. 'It's time.' I turn back to it. "Pathetic." I tell it before I start walking away. 'It's so fixated on fighting… on hurting…'
"Pathetic…? Pathetic!?" I can hear it move behind me. "Don't you walk away from me! Rah!" It yells at me and I can hear it charge me from behind. I close my eyes and breathe gently as its feet stomp on the ground. As it comes close to me, my eyes shoot open…
*SMACK!*
In reverbating noise, I twist around in the blink of an eye and catch its left claw in my right hand, fingers between all of its claws as the tips are just stopped from my eyes. The look on its face is of surprise etched at the sheer ease I just stopped its attack cold. For the first time, it gets a fearful expression as it meets my neutral look.
I smirk.
*Snap*
"RAAAAAAHHHHH!" It screams in pain as I close my hand and twist its wrist sharply in the wrong direction, snapping the joint in its wrist. I let go of its hand and it collapses onto one knee again, cradling its broken, limp and useless clawed hand. I can almost feel the anger that wells up inside of it and in another attempt it goes for another punch using its right claw. I grab its wrist as it misses me again and tighten my grip on it before bringing my other arm back, the palm of my hand flat and ready to strike.
*Snap*
"Aaarrrghhh! Damnit!" It yells in even more pain as I break its forearm, the bone sticking out of the skin. With both arms now useless to it, it looks back at me with fear, especially bring my right leg up.
*SNAP!*
"Aaaaaaarrgh! Aaah!" It groans loudly as I shatter its knee cap, making it go onto both knees as it writhes from putting pressure on the shattered.
This scene before me is… familiar… but I don't dwell on it I take a few steps closer to it. It's breathing comes out ragged and painful as its injuries start to come in full force, especially since moving is now making it even more agonizing. "You have threatened everyone I care about." I begin to speak, "All the people and Gems I love. Your fixation on fighting, killing and shattering will never see those I care about safe." Slowly my right hand reaches up to my left gem, "For that, I cannot let you live… or exist any longer." My gem begins to glow.
"WAIT!" My hand stops as the handle forms. I look at the monster with a neutral look as its one words stops me. "You can't kill me." It states in an almost desperate tone. I simply raise an eyebrow in question. "Don't you see? I am a part of you. No matter how hard you can try I AM a part of you and I will never be killed. I will ALWAYS BE WITH YOU! EVEN IF YOU KILL ME NOW!"
"…" The scream is loud, dark and demented… but filled with a sort of conviction to them. My look falls as I let go of the handle and it disappears. "You know, you may be right." I mutter. My words seem to put it somewhat at ease as it has a grateful smile. "You're in my mind. Like you said with me, killing me here will give you control and I'll be the one that's forced to take a seat. No matter what we can't get rid of each other." I explain and voice my idea of the whole situation. This thing is a manifestation of the corruption, I think, and it doesn't seem or look like it's going to be easy to take this thing down. After I finish talking, the monster in front of me visibly relaxes.
My head shoots up, my eyes focus and harden as I bring both my hands up next to me, adopting the Ko Gasumi stance. Its relieved look turns to horror as my katana sword slowly materializes into my hands, ready to strike. "But that doesn't mean I can't try."
"N—"
*Shink*
Before it can utter another word, my sword flashes forward and stabs straight into its open mouth. It's eyes widen in terror as my sword cuts clean through to the back of its head. Silence follows us as it lets out a couple grunts before its body goes slack, then glows. It's entire body glows brightly amidst the darkness around us and once it stops getting brighter, it slowly chips and falls away into tiny pieces. The body breaks apart as the pieces flow away in the nonexistent. Soon, there is nothing left, leaving me in my attack position.
Slowly, I move back to standing at full height. I twirl the sword in my hand a couple times before stabbing it into the ground, right where that thing just was. 'I don't know if you really will come back… but I'll be waiting.' With that thought, I turn around and start making my way back to the others. Their still standing where they were the whole time and have smiles on their faces now that the monster is gone.
"Is it done?" I look at Lapis as she asks her question. I stare at her for a few seconds, then to Steven, before looking back at the sword in the ground then to them.
"For now." I mutter. Something grabs my leg right when I'm done talking. I look down to see Steven hugging me tightly.
"That's good enough for now." He says through a slightly muffled voice through my pants.
I smile as I kneel down and hug my brother tightly right back. We stay like that for a few moments before I let go and stand back up. Turning to Lapis, it's good, it's really good to see her. See her awake, okay, and well enough that she's not unconscious anymore. That moment when I saw her knocked out next to the Gems on the beach, then the earthquakes, followed by the crash, the Cluster… then that thing. Now that she's here and well, even after the fighting, it's a relief.
I can't help but smile as I pull her into a hug. A tight hug that she returns without question. "I missed you." I say into her ear.
"I missed you too." She reply's back to me. Once we pull away though, I gently grab her face, much to her surprise, and lean in.
I kiss her cheek.
The first time she kissed me on her water tower, it was a little cold… but now, she's not. It's a relief for her to be here. To have helped me.
When I pull back there is a noticeable blush on her cheeks as she stares at me in stunned shock. My smile doesn't leave my face as I let her go and step back. My face falls to the ground as I speak in a somber tone. "The first time we met… I saved you… WE saved you…" I pat my brother's head, who smiles at the inclusion, and continue speaking. "And we helped you get off the Earth so you can go your own way… and now…" I take some more steps back, so now its Lapis and Steven together, looking at me. I let out a few chuckles as I gesture to them both. "Now… it's the both of you that saved me." I do my chest salute, and nod both my head and my upper body to them. "Thank you, for everything."
"You're my brother Marcus." Steven says. "Why wouldn't I?"
I grin wider at his question and nod as I relax myself. "I wouldn't know."
"I'm just glad your back to normal… although," Lapis begins to say and look around, "How do we get out of here?" She asks.
"Well," I begin to say and start casually walking to the white doorway. "If I had to guess, Steven used his astral projection to bring the both of you here, and it only works when people are locked in some sort of mind state, right?" I ask as I walk backwards. They both nod and its by this point that I'm just in front of the door. "Then that means, it's time…" I step back. "I woke up."
"How long it's been?"
"Only a few minutes. Give him time."
"We barely took that thing down! We can't afford to let that thing out again or else—!"
"Shh! Hold on. He's waking up." The mix and match of different words and voices come in a haze through the darkness around me.
I let out a strained grunt as I feel body was just put through the wringer and is stiff as hell. Almost like I was in a very deep sle- 'Oh, right.' The memory of what's happened makes itself known in my head as I finally begin to open my eyes. I'm immediately assaulted by the bright sun that makes me grunt and recoil from the sudden change in brightness. A blur seems to notice my discomfort as they move into my view, shielding me from the direct sunlight. I relax again and do what I can to focus my vision back to normal. As I squint my eyes, the blur starts to take form and once she comes into view, my mouth drops open slightly. "Lapis…"
"Hey you." She smiles as she helps me sit up. "It's good to see you back in the real world."
"Lapis…" I mutter again as I take in her form her very real form. Not the one in the dreamscape but here and now. "Lapis… what the hell are you wearing?"
"…" I have no idea why that is the first thing I say since waking up after being placed in a forced induced prison coma but it just slipped out. Lapis blinks at me before looking down and seeing the outfit she's wearing. "Baseball uniform."
"… Come again?"
"Yeah." Steven walks up, confirming what she said. "We had to play baseball in order to trick a group of Ruby's so they don't go into the barn and send them to Neptune."
"…" It's hard for me to come up with a good enough response to that. With Lapis and Steven's help, I stand back up to my full height and as I look around, I smile as I see the relieved and happy looks of the rest of the Crystal Gems, and that includes Peridot, but it soon turns to confusion as I see the giant ship embedded into the ground several feet away, and the several unconscious Ruby Gems laying around the field. "There's a pool." I mutter as I spot the pool of water next to the barn.
"Technically it's a smaller-than-an-average lake." I look at Peridot as she explains matter-a-factly. I stare at her confused for a second before I do another look around the place.
"What DID I miss?" I can't help but ask.
"Not as much as you may think." Garnet answers as she places a hand on my shoulder. Looking at her more closely, I can see she's been through the wringer as well "But now that you're here, we can finally bring you up to speed… and relax for once." The others murmur in agreement at the idea of relaxing. From everyone's tired, battered, or immensely relieved looks, I can safely say that is something that everyone is going to need now. Even though my body is fully healed, it's still sore from not having moved for so long. I'm even mentally exhausted from the days long confinement was placed in too.
Taking one last look at every single one of my friends, my family, I grin and nod. "It's so good to be back."
This… took… waaaaaaayyy longer than I first thought. I knew I wanted it big but I didn't think I'd bring it to over 17k in word count. I wanted this chapter big and it seems I went ahead and did just that. Certain issues seem to have been somewhat resolved but it also looks like other questions may have cropped up as well from this. All in all there were some moments I liked in the making of this chapter and others… not so much. I'm not too comfortable with the fighting in the mind area but by that point I felt I was taking too long on the chapter. Hope it was good regardless.
Also I hope some of you noticed that I made some references in the chapter that hopefully some of you picked up on, both they are from in real life, and from past fights in the story. My classes are done for the semester so I'm good to continue writing unhindered but I only got a few weeks till I have to go back to classes next semester. Gotta get moving.
Also, I'm happy to have found out that we won't be waiting as long for new episodes and on January 5th we will be legit getting a new episode on TV I believe for us to see. And that episode will involve our recently revived human, and our favorite human-hybrid fusion stuck somewhere. I'm so excited for what we'll get to see.
Now for the reviews:
MADMatt6: Yes, I know. I know I am. Thanks for telling me about you name. I never noticed it before and if any other complications like that come up, don't be afraid to tell me.
ChimaTigon: Stuck somewhere between two tectonic plates on the planet… or out gathering her army already. Don't know when that happens.
coldblue2015: Awesome to see you finally have an account here on the site, as well as reviewing again. Yeah only some of the Gems use firearms, such as Peridot and Pearl seeing as Peridot has her own personal revolver given to her by Marcus and Pearl will occasionally use what they have on hand. The werewolf version of Marcus does have the ability to speak but its only when its angry, excited or what have you that it'll speak. I've never actually watched too deep into the "Bleach" show and only ever got like the first dozen or so episodes, so I wouldn't know everything that goes on in the show. Thanks again for the review, glad to see I'm doing so well and I look forward to more of your reviews.
MRPenguinShogi: I'm not much of a sports fan either but I'm glad I was able to navigate my way around some spots in the episode. I'm so sorry the cliffhanger killed you. I hope your alive long enough to read the next chapter when it comes out.
I AM YESTERDAY: Yeah, I'm worried too but hopefully enough people will make enough problems that the idea will not be worth the flak they're receiving.
zcdragon64: Everything is starting to become hectic it looks like for Marcus. He was out of it for too long and it seems someone else took the reins. How everything progresses will be up to debate on whether they make it through this in one piece. Whether there is going to be any new rifts between Marcus and Lapis will be determined by that monster, and each other's actions.
serius: Hopefully it was a good twist nonetheless. Things do look bleak but hopefully if enough people make a lot of problems and obstacles for them the whole thing won't go into full effect. Only time will tell. Thanks again for the review and thank you for the luck.
Patriota1993: We'll see if he can control it. That other side of him seems to have a mind of its own so it'll be complicated trying to hash it out. Wasn't thinking of the relationship being like the Hulk and Banner but now I can somewhat see it. Not exactly but I can see what you're getting at.
ivaXter: Thank you.
Bomberguy789: Thank. It's cool you don't review every chapter. It's nice when you do review but it's not like I can force you to review at every opportunity. You got your life and I got mine. In any case thanks for the review.
Cf96: Thanks.
XxSpades231xX: As much as I want to use Google docs, the problem I have with it is I don't want to be reliant on using the internet to work on my writing. I do like the idea of saving my stuff on the internet instead of ONLY on the hardrive of my computer, but I sometimes go to spots in town where I don't get an internet connection. I like the option of working on my stuff both online and offline. Offline mostly since I like to put my computer on airplane mode to save on the battery's life. I also put my phone and tablet on airplane mode when their charging to help them charge faster. You'd be surprised how effective that is. Now for your questions:
1) Hard to tell. They both have a mind of their own and neither one seems to like to the other.
2) When I was thinking it up, I wanted some sort of entity in him that he must and try to overcome in order to properly live his life, a new element that'll somewhat shake things up for my story. As for the design, I remember from Skyrim the ability to become a werewolf yourself but because people will run in fear when you use it, and the hassle it is to turn back to normal, I wanted something to remind me and somewhat make use of it since I rarely ever used the transformation. I also gave it its own design for being part corrupted and Gem-like with the crystals and smoke effect.
3) Not really. Sorry if your disappointed but I don't really see a need to on a massive scale.
4) Pearl. She's pretty cool, a badass at times and I just love her reactions at certain moments. Case in point: Steven floats, and the Uncle Grandpa crossover episode. I know some people don't like that particular episode, or Uncle Grandpa for one, but I absolutely love Pearl's freak outs in that episode.
5) Kevin… or Ronaldo. But probably Kevin more. Do I need to explain my distaste for that smug jackass? I've got something planned for the race episode.
6) Probably not. On top of as you mentioned it'd be a hassle to plan, I don't think I'd ever feel right or up to snuff in being able to portray another persons OC/Gemsona. I could probably but I'd always feel just a little worried that I'm doing something wrong, even a little. But that may change far in the future. Depending on how the show goes, there may come an opportunity but no gurantees.
7) I don't really have an opinion. Some questions I can easily and quickly but some I can answer with long answers. I won't ask for an increase or decrease in questions and just let people do what they feel like.
Thanks for the review and questions and I'll see you next time.
Guest: Thank you for your words. It's always refreshing to hear compliments and words of encouragement from anyone who reads my work. I never thought I'd actually go this far in this story or how popular it became. It was an 'in the moment' publish and since then I've done what I could to make this story as best I could make it. I'm glad you like how everything is turning out, from the story itself, to Marcus and the progress that's made. As for the pairing, I'm sure the next chapter will give some indication as to what may happen with that… hopefully.
And before anyone asks about the Ruby's, they'll be explained in the next chapter don't worry, but that'll take awhile. I'm gonna get back to working on my other stories as I have neglected them too much for my liking. Thank you all for your continued support. Hope you liked this long chapter I made, fave, follow, review and as always to everyone, have fun reading.
And HAPPY HOLIDAYS and a MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!
