Sorry it's been about a month since I've updated this story but life tends to get in the way. Anyway, I hope that you folks enjoy the story and I'll try to update this story sooner next time. In the upcoming chapters, I'll try to post some facts about Jet at the end of the story so you can get to know him a little better. Enjoy the read.
Chapter 9
Ocean Gem
"I'm grounded?" Steven said, as he was faced looking at an angry Pearl and Amethyst. If he could see through her visor, Garnet would probably be scolding at him too. It was early morning over Beach City and Jet decided to crash on the couch, he was too exhausted to head home. He awoke at the sound of Steven's whining and he headed to where the others were.
"Yes, you're grounded." Pearl stated, with her arms folded.
"You disobeyed an order." Garnet said.
"Now, we're gonna bury you till you've learned your lesson." Amethyst said, holding a shove. Steven started to sweat and backed away a little. Amethyst felt the shove lower and she looked to see who did it. Jet smiled at her and she smiled back.
"That's not how grounded works." He said, startling the others a bit.
"Morning, Jet." He heard Garnet say.
"Good morning, Jet." Pearl said, still unable to look him in the eyes.
"Good morning, you two." He said. Suddenly, the door burst open and Greg (Steven's dad) was breathing really hard.
"Dad?" Steven said, looking towards him.
"You guys might wanna come see this..." He stated as he went back outside. The others looked at one another and followed Greg.
As soon as they walked outside, they noticed that the ocean was gone. The citizens of Beach City were also on the deserted beach, wondering what happened. Connie looked and noticed that Steven was making his way over.
"Whoa!" He said. "The ocean...it's gone!" The major of Beach City was holding a mircophone trying to calm down the concerning citizens. He noticed that Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl was among the crowd and he made his way over to them.
"What's going on here!" He yelled into the mircophone, pretty close to Garnet's personal space. She looked down at him.
"The ocean is gone, obviously" She said, blankly.
"That's right!" The major yelled. "Now, it's just a desert. No one wants to take a vacation to Desert City! We're gonna lose all our summer business." A vain appeared on Jet's forehead, this major was really get to him for some reason. The citizens started to complain about various businesses that would be out of luck if this problem isn't solved.
"As major, I demand that you fix this immediat-" Before he could finished, Garnet slapped the mircophone away from him.
"Thanks." Jet said, as Garnet nodded.
"It was Lapis Lazuli that did this." Garnet said, her attention on the major.
"Lapis Lazuli?" Steven asked.
"You mean that pretty girl did this...oof." Jet said, as Amethyst elbowed him in the ribs. She wasn't too keened on him addressing other girls in front of her.
"She was the gems that you released from the mirror, remember?" Pearl said, looking at Steven. She then projected an image of her for the citizens to see. They were whispering amongst themselves at this.
"But, she a gem just like us." Steven said, looking at the hologram.
"There's a lot you don't know about gems Steven." Pearl said.
"She's right, you know." Jet said, chiming in.
About an hour later, the gang was inside the temple going over the details about Lapis and how they were going to get the Earth's ocean back. They had a few ideas, but most of them were either crazy or too over the top. Connie decided to join them inside the temple because she wanted to hang out with Steven. Greg was there as well joined by Steven's lion.
"How could I have known that the gem contained inside that mirror would be so powerful?" Pearl asked.
"And how could I have not sense her?" Jet asked, as he folded his arms. He was usually good as sensing other gems. Jet noticed that Steven was packing his cheeseburger backpack and was heading out the door with it.
"Where are you going, Steven?" Connie asked, noticing him leave as well. Steven turned around to face everyone else.
"I'm leaving to fix what I did to our home." Steven said, looking down at the floor. "I was the one who set Lapis free from the mirror. Now, it's my fault that the ocean's gone. I'm gonna bring the ocean back or get really thirsty trying." Steven turned around once more but his dad placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Wait up, kiddo." Greg said. "I'm coming with you." Steven felt another hand on his other shoulder.
"I wanna help, too." Connie said, looking at him. "Besides, I'll feel really wierd being in your house and you're not here." Steven smiled and he felt a paw on his head. Lion let out a small roar to let Steven know that he was onboard as well.
"Clearly, we're coming too." Pearl said, smiling with her arms folded.
"Yeah!" Jet said, clenching his fist.
"You're ungrounded by the way." Garnet said, letting a small smile form on her face.
"Woohoo!" Amethyst said, standing on the counter. "Road trip!"
The group raced down stairs in order to find where the Earth's ocean went. Amethyst, Greg, Pearl and Garnet squeezed into Greg's van. Jet looked and noticed that there wasn't much room for him.
"We can try to squeeze you in." Greg said, but Jet shook his head.
"I missed training today so I'll run it." Jet said.
"You sure, kid?" Greg said, looking at Jet in disbelief. "Who knows how far we're going to go?"
"I'll be alright." Jet said, stretching his limbs. "This wouldn't be the first time I did something similar to this. I have a lot of stamina." Amethyst heard that and blush, she was a witness to that. Steven and Connie got on Lion and with that, Greg took off. Jet and Lion took off as well with Jet matching Lion's speed.
The group went down the coastline of Beach City and Jet noticed that the major was sobbing with a water hose. He was trying to fill the ocean back on his own. Jet let out a sigh and kept going. The crew was going to the outer-skirts of Beach City with Greg's van as the pack leader. Jet figured that someone had a general direction of where they were going. Jet was admiring the view of the outskirt until he seen Garnet roll out of Greg's van. Jet stopped in his tracks to help her out.
"What was that about?" Jet said, helping her up.
"Nothing important." Garnet said. "Greg was playing something I didn't like."
"Umm, Okay?" Jet said, as he noticed the van coming to a stop. "I think they're waiting on you." Garnet nodded and headed towards the van. Jet raised an eyebrow and resumed running again.
It was night time and the group was still traveling. Jet was on top of Greg's van along with Garnet. His legs started to ache around sunset. Connie and Steven were still traveling via Lion with Connie holding on to Steven. She appeared to have dose off from the traveling. Pearl was driving the van with Greg and Amethyst in the backseat fast asleep.
"I can't believe Lapis would do this." Steven said, as the van and Lion were side by side. "Gems shouldn't be fighting."
"We're always fighting gems actually." Pearl said.
"What?" Steven said, looking towards her.
"Oh, how should I put this? Not all gems are good." Pearl stated.
"All those monsters we fight, used to be just like us...right Pearl?" Amethsyt said, startling Pearl a bit.
"Yes." Pearl said. "But they become corrupted and broken. We have to take care of them, subdue them, contain them. It's the best what we can do for them, for now."
"Corruption..." Jet whispered, with his head lowered. Garnet looked at him but said nothing.
"If we don't then..." Before Pearl could finish, she heard Steven and Connie gasped. She looked ahead and noticed that it was a huge tower of water ahead of them. The van and Lion edged closer to the water tower and Jet and Garnet got off the roof of the van. The others followed suited and got out of the van. Steven and Connie got off of Lion.
"This is it." Garnet said. "Lapis Lazuli is here."
"I don't understand." Pearl said, appearing on the right side on Garnet. "What does she want with the Earth's ocean?"
"You shouldn't be here!" A thunderous voice boomed.
"She sensed us." Garnet said.
"Lapis Lazuli! It's me, Steven!" Steven yelled towards the water tower. Suddenly a face formed within the water. It was Lapis.
"Go away! Before I make you!" Lapis threatened.
"But we're suppose to be buddies!" Steven said. Suddenly face of Lapis got closer to Steven, startling him a bit.
"You're one of them! One of the crystal gems!" Lapis said. Amethyst slammed her fist together and both her and Pearl was getting ready to attack. Garnet held them by the shoulders.
"Easy." She stated, not letting her own anger get to her.
"What do you mean?" Steven asked. "We're all gems, right? Just let us help you!"
"You don't understand. Just...leave me alone." Lapis said, her face disappeared into the water. Steven got closer to the water.
"We're not leaving Lapis!" Steven said, slapping the water tower with his hands. "Not until you give us back our ocean!" After he said that, a hand grabbed him by the collar, it was a water clone of Steven.
"I said... leave me alone!" The clone had the voice of Lapis. The clone proceeded to punch Steven making him fly back from the impact. Garnet caught him before anything serious happened. The others looked at the tower and noticed that there were water clones of themselves stepping out of the tower. Their eyes glowed in anger.
"Interesting." Jet said. The others looked at him in bewinderment.
"Greg, kids, you stay behind us! We'll handle this!" Pearl said.
"Sounds good to me!" Greg said as he went to hide behind a boulder. Steven, Connie and Lion backed off a little as well. The crystal gems summoned their weapons and the clones did the same.
"Uh oh." Amethyst said, looking a bit worried. Pearl looked a little shocked.
"Stand together." Garnet said. "Don't let them seperate..." Before she could finish her sentence, her clone hit her, making her fly backwards. She tried to stop herself by planting her feet on the ground but that didn't help. She slammed into a boulder, making smoke appear around her.
"Garnet!" Steven shouted, worried about her. He was relieved when the smoke cleared and Garnet stood up. She cracked her neck as if nothing happened. The clone rushed towards her and she towards it. The two clashed, trading a barrage of fists that created a crater beneath them. The clone threw a fist at Garnet, which she ducked and counter with her own punch. The punch went right through her clone's head. Garnet looked shocked at this and the clone grabbed her and kicked her towards another boulder.
Amethyst was having her own problems with her clone as well. She hurled boulders at it, which it dodge effortlessly. Amethyst was getting fed up by the second.
"Aww, Come on!" She yelled in fustration. She felt a whip wrap around her leg and before she could respond, she was in the air. The clone made her hit the ground hard, causing a crater to form upon her impact. The smoke cleared and Amethyst was in her "wrestler" form.
"Well, as long as we're playing fair!" She said, as she leapt in the air. She yelled as she darted towards her water clone.
Pearl dodged a strike from her clone and countered with her own. The clone dodged and before it could strike, Pearl cut it down the middle. Pearl smiled as the clone seemed defeated until, it created two more copies of itself. Pearl frowned and drew another spear from her gem.
"I hate fighting me." She said, as she spun her spears around. The clones charged at her and she was able to block their attacks.
Jet, on the other hand, was having a blast. His clone throw a barrage of swords at him. This was a new attack and he took on a stance. His eyes turned blue and he was able to deflect every one of the swords that was heading towards him.
"What else you got?" He asked, as the clone drew out a katana. "Ah, finally realized me as a threat? Let's go then!" He rushed towards the clone and the clone towards him. Their swords collided and created a massive shockwave that disturbed the others' clones for a brief second.
Lion was trying his best to take out the Steven clone that was trying to do harm to it. He throw out roars that transmitted into powerful soundwaves but the clone effortlessly dodged them.
"C'mon, Lion!" Connie cheered.
"You can take me!" Steven said cheering as well. Unfortunately, as soon as he said that, Lion was sent back flying towards the van. The van buckled from the impact.
"Oh no!" Greg said, running towards it. "Not the van!"
"Revenge!" Both Steven and Connie said as the ran towards the clone. Connie throw a rock at it, which phrased through it and the clone stood there, as if waiting for them to finish doing what they were doing. Apparently, the clone waited as long as it could before stretching it's limbs out towards the kids. It surronding their heads in water, causing Connie to nearly pass out. Steven, since he was half gem, was fine but had more concern for Connie.
Jet noticed the ordeal the kids were in and shot a quick blast of electricity towards the clone of Steven. Since it didn't notice, it exploded upon impact. Jet let out a sigh of relief before dodging his clone's next attack. Steven cough up water and checked to make sure Connie was ok, which she was. Steven looked around to see that the other were still fighting their clones and then he looked back towards the water tower. Steven's clone had returned, ready to strike once more. Steven's started to get a little angry, as the clone of himself formed a sphere of water in its hand.
"Lapis, I don't want to fight anymore." Steven said. The clone got ready to throw the sphere of water at Steven. "I said I don't want to fight!" The clone threw the sphere and at the moment Steven was able to summon a shield, the vibration from the sphere hitting it caused the clone of himself and the other clones to disperse.
"Whoa." Jet said, surprised and amazed at what Steven just did. The other gems had a similar response. Steven shield slowly vanished and he walked up to the water tower.
"Lapis, I'm coming up to see you." Steven said, looking up. "So, please don't drown me."
"Wait, Steven!" Connie said, as Steven jumped into the tower and the force of the water sent him flying up. Jet set down, his breathing a little hard as he noticed Connie looking up at the tower.
"He'll be fine." Jet said, startling her a little. "He probably went to go talk to her..." Connie smiled and continued to look up.
"Of course, if it was me, I'll be doing a little more than talking..." He whispered. "I'd...ouch" He felt someone slap his head and turned around to see who it was. It was Amethyst, sporting a light blush on her face.
"You'd what?" She said, looking at him with one eye open.
"Nothing." Jet said quickly. Jet mentioned for Amethyst to sit next to him. She did and rested her head on his shoulder. Jet blushed at this and looked up. the water tower still intacted.
'What are you doing up there Steven?' Jet thought, as he continued to look at the tower. Suddenly, chucks of water started to come down. 'What the hell?'
"The whole tower's coming down." Garnet said, as chunks of water continue to splash around them.
"What about Steven?" Greg asked, looking up. Connie and Lion looked at one another then Connie jumped on Lion's back. Lion created a warp and the two were gone. The emerged a second later with Steven with them. The water started to surround them but Steven and the other gathered around the van and Steven created a bubble to protect them.
It took some time for them to float back to Beach City, but at least the mission was successful: they had returned the Earth's ocean back. When the van landed on shore, it completely broke down. Lion slamming into it must've done a number on it. Jet and the others hopped off of it (as they were riding on top of it with Greg in Pearl inside) and Jet patted Steven on the back.
"I gotta know, Steven." Jet said. "What did you say or do to make her return the ocean."
"I healed her." Steven said.
"You healed her?" Jet repeated. "Healing powers, eh? You're getting stronger dude." He high-fived Steven, who was happy that Jet was giving him praise.
"She was just using the ocean as a means to get back to her home." Steven said.
"That shield you did was awesome! How did you-" Jet started.
"Look!" Connie said, interrupting Jet. The citizens of Beach City started to head towards them. Jet's guard was raised as he didn't know what they were going to do. His worries was cast aside as the major lifted up Steven and the citizens started to cheer.
"So, Lapis made it off planet." Garnet said, as Pearl walked next to her.
"What does it mean for us?" Pearl said, looking a bit concern.
"We wait and see." Garnet said, looking up a the sky. As Steven was high-fiving some of the citizens, he took a break to look up at the sky as well.
"See you Lapis... whatever you are..." Steven said.
