Original chapter coming through folks!


Heart of Gem

Chapter 4

Operation…Bug Hunt

We come to Matthew sitting on a lawn chair at the front of their Lighthouse home during a nice sunny day. Strumming on his guitar he has with him. He started to sing a song he has been working on. While not 'the' one he feels will make an impact on people, he liked it well enough for lazy days like this.

~Oh there once was a boy

~Who lived on the shore

~Wa-a-ay by the Se-e-e-e-e-a!

~He had a dream

~He wanted to travel

~Around the world by Sa-a-a-a-ail!

~He-

BANG!

Before Matt could continue singing the front door to his house burst opened. Shocking him and making him stop playing. There standing at the doorway, equip with spy gear of all kinds from head to toe was Al. And he had a look of a determine man.

"You look like a man on a mission Al…I don't like it. What's up?" Matt asked with a wary look as he raised an eyebrow at his best friend.

"I'm breaking into the Gems temple bro." Al said, his face not changing from it's determine look.

"Oh okay…" Matthew calmly said as he tuned his guitar…A second later one of the strings on his guitar snapped as he looked back at Al with wide eyes. "WHAT?!"

"You heard me bro. He's in there I know it! And I am going to do everything I can to save him!" Al said determinedly as he held a tight fist in front of him.

Matthew was confused what Al was talking about until he realized it with a sigh. "Is this about that bug? I told you, you can get another one at the pet store…or the forest."

"And I told you Romeo is different! He was special yo. He understood me and I him. And then Garnet just took him out of nowhere. They must be holding him captive inside!" Al explained what his end goal was for entering the Gems home.

"Yeah but they aren't going to let you inside that easy Al." Matthew said as he was trying to persuade his friend to stop this half-baked scheme.

"That's where you wrong bro. See the gems are off on another mission again and Steven is out with Connie. Now's the time to get in there, grab Romeo and get out!" Al restored back with his own excuse.

"Well…Yeah your right but that still doesn't mean you can get past that door of theirs." Matthew continued to persuade his friend. Remembering the strange door at the very back of Stevens house.

"Ah, but that is where you come in bro." Al said with a smug smile and pointed at Matt.

"What?" Matthew asked, confused what his friend meant.

O-O-O

"What?" Matt asked again in the same pose he was in before but now inside Steven home. The two were standing in front of the Gems door they were talking about.

The door looked old, like one would find in a temple. No door handle or such could be seen on it except for a five pointed star on it with 5 different kinds of gems on each point.

"I figured since you are part gem, you might be able to unlock the door bro." Al said as he patted his hand on the door, only for it to remain still.

Matthew rolled his eyes at Al idea. "The gems said so themselves when they showed the house around. Only 'Crystal Gems' can access that door." Matthew said as he approached the door himself.

"I mean yeah sure I have a gem, but it's not like it will open just by putting my hand on it." Matthew said as he proceeded to do just that, place his hand on the door. However, unlike Al, the door actually reacted as one of the gems on the star started to glow. Matthew felt the change as he backed up to Al side in caution.

The door itself actually started acting weird. As the door itself started to static and glitch out a bit like there was an error in the door somehow. Soon the door itself was gone, leaving a bright green/red swirl-like doorway.

"How…" Matthew slowly wondered, as he was beyond confused how he managed to open the door, or why it looked like it was glitching…can door glitch if it's not mechanical?

"See! What did I tell you bro, now let's go!" Al said and without any hesitation ran right towards the doorway and vanished.

"AL WAIT! Ugh…" Matthew said as he let out a groan as he slowly but surly followed after him. Once he did the doorway glitched out once more and returned back to the normal temple door.

O-O-O

The first thing Matthew notice when he walked through the doorway was that he was walking around on some pink clouds. Next, he realized that he wasn't looking where he was going and fell off said cloud.

"Oh shit…" Matthew said as he realized he was free falling beside a large waterfall that was connected to the pink clouds he was suddenly walking on.

Matthew was screaming in fear as he continued to fall till, he landed with a splash in a large body of water. A few seconds later Matthew managed to reach the waters surface and let out a large gasp as he tried to regain his breath again. Once he regained enough of his baring's he quickly swam to the closes edge of land he could and sputtered up some water.

Matthew looked around his surroundings and what he saw was…garbage. And he wasn't just saying that it looked like he somehow landed into a literal garbage dump with a few crystals here and there.

"This is the gems home? Man, they really let it go." Matthew muttered to himself as he dried out his cloths a bit like a dog.

He turned his head and saw an old spot sign that was graffitied with black paint that said, 'Amethyst Room'. "…Okay that makes more sense."

"BRO, SOME HELP HERE?!" The muffled voice of Al was heard, Matthew turned his head towards the voice and found Al head first into a garbage can, his legs swinging back and forth trying to free himself.

"Shesh, Al you really gone down in the dumps lately huh?" Matthew joked as he snickered a bit at Al situation.

"Oh ha-ha. Really funny bro now saquenme de aqui! (get me out of here!)" Al shouted angrily as he didn't like being joked on in his current situation. Matthew chuckled one more time as he grabbed Al's legs and easily pulled him out of the can and placed him right-side up on the ground.

"Thanks bro. Whoa, is this really the Gem's home? It's el desorden (a mess)" Al commented at the scattered remnants of…stuff everywhere.

"It's Amethyst room." Matthew calmly told Al with his arms crossed.

"Ah, that makes more sense then." Al nodded in understanding. They may have known Amethyst for a short while but they already knew how messy she was.

"So now that we are here, let's look for Garnets room then!" Al said as he looked ready to continue on their search.

Matthew pinched the bride of his nose as he sighed. "I guess since we are this far in, I might as well help."

"That's my bro, now…where to now?" Al said as he was completely stumped on where to even begin in the Gem's home.

"Well let's start by finding another doorway or something?" Matthew said as he started to take the initiative.

The two started looking around Amethyst room for anything, while half the stuff was nothing but garbage like food wrapping and such the other half was assortment of fully intact stuff from throughout the years. As Matthew as looking around something caught his eye. It was an old cd, but it was the title that caught his eye.

"Mr. Universe, Song of the Stars? Is this Steve's dad?" Matthew wondered as he looked at the songs on the back of the cd and looked interested in it.

"WHOA DUDE! Check this out!" Al voice was heard, Matthew looked at his direction and saw him holding what looked like an old fashion record.

"Did you find a door?" Matthew asked as he sleeved the cd in his pant pocket and walked towards him.

"Even better bro! 'Elvis Presley Good Luck Charm' record. Looks in pretty good condition too. Do you know how much this thing could go for?!" Al told excitedly as he waved the record in front of Matt face. Matthew just shrugged his shoulders as he had no clue himself. He knew the music very well but didn't pay much attention to it's pricing.

"This could go as high as 20,000$ bro! I feel like Amethyst room could hold a jackpot here if we look hard enough." Al said as he started to walk around the place in excitement.

"I thought we were here for a bug, not dumpster diving…Al?" Matthew said as he shook his head, but then he couldn't hear Al foots steps and saw he vanished.

"Al! Where did you go-HMP!" Matthew called out till he fell into a puddle on the ground, which was a lot deeper than one would think.

Matthew continued to sink in the water and it also felt like he was moving as well, where? He had no clue. Till suddenly he reached the surface and flew in the air only to suddenly land back down on the ground. Although the ground was watery.

"Ow…" Matthew groaned as he sat up. He looked back down on the ground that was made entirely of water and wondered how he sank down in the water only to be thrown up afterwards.

Matthew brushed such thoughts to 'Gem weirdness' as he looked around his new surrounding. He was definitely in a different place then Amethyst room. It looked like Matthew was on top of a giant waterfall with several large fountains and a large golden ribbon-esque that separated to each of the fountains. Matthew was currently standing on top of one of the fountains, looking out to his view.

"Wow, now this matches up with the Gem's 'magicness'." Matthew said as he was impressed by how pretty the view was in the new room.

"Your telling me bro. Think this might be that Pearl Chica's (Girl) room?" Al said as he was walking up to Matthew from behind.

"…You getting the feeling that we really shouldn't be here Al?" Matthew said as uneasiness started to take over.

"Bro, I'm a Hispanic tech-wize that doesn't know the word 'caution' and is friends with a half-space rock alien. I pretty much threw uneasiness out the window by now." Al said which in-itself was pretty self explanatory.

"I'm serious Al, I…I think we should stop this and just go back. I'm sure if we ask Garnet, she'll be more then happy to give you the bug back." Matthew said as he tried to persuade his friend to just turn back and leave with him.

"Yeah-no. With how she took Romeo there is no way I am leaving now. C'mon, third times the charm!" Al said as he jumped down onto one of the water tendrils that was apart of the fountains and waterfall.

Matthew could only sigh at his friend's usual stubborn recklessness and he looked out to Pearl's room again in worry. He then followed shortly after Al and entered another new room.

Just like with the previous room this one was much different then the two, for one it had a redder shade to it, it had several doorways surrounding the center. The center itself was the biggest thing as there was a large crystal heart that had several veins spreading out above it while a single vein went down below.

"Whoa…must be the heart of this place…literally." Matthew said as he stared in aw at the giant crystal heart. But what worried him more was what he didn't see, which was Al.

"Al, where did you go now?!" Matthew called out as he searched around the room for his friend.

"MATTHEW! I MESSED UP! HELP!" Al voice could be heard, screaming in panic from the vein heading down below.

After hearing his friend in distress, he immediately jumped into the hole and slide down the vein into the next room.

As Matt continued sliding on the vein, he notices several bubbles around the room, some with different colors but they all had one thing in common, they had gems inside them.

Just like the ones Matthew and Al bubbled and then gave to the Crystal Gems for safe keeping. There was also a large lava pool in the very center of the room as well. Before Matthew could make a comment, he saw Al down on the floor below, being chase by what appeared to be another monster they encountered on their journey to Beach City.

The monster had four legs and a very large mouth that could eat someone like Al in one bite, there was also a strange flower on top of its body as well.

Matthew jumped off the vein and kicked the monster away from Al before he could be fully eaten, he pulled out his weapon and faced the monster while yelling at Al. "AL! WHAT THE HELL!? Why is there a monster here?!"

"I accidently fell and popped one of those bubbles when I was coming in here, I think this is where the Gems store all the monsters they bubbled and captured like we did." Al said as he noticed some of the bubbles had jars around them with another bubble inside the jar showing that the ones they captured were here too.

"We'll talk later Al!" Matthew said angrily as he narrowly dodged a large chomp from the monster coming at him.

Matthew quickly followed his dodge with a side kick to the thing to give him some space. Matthew then quickly slashed down twice with his bladed boomerang and the monster poofed. Leaving nothing but a gem in its place.

Matthew walked up to the gem, picked it up and placed it in a green bubble of his own and raised it up with the others. He then angrily turned his heard to Al and stared him down while Al gave him a sheepish smile. "Uhh…Sorry?"

"Sorry…SORRY?! Al for gods' good grace you really need to slow down and think! And your supposed to be the smarter one of us!" Matthew shouted angrily at his friend as he started the argument between the two.

"I am smart, you're the one who's always over cautious on stuff! We can't get anything done if we worry to much about everything!" Al said as he shouted back at Matthew.

"I worry because I want us to be safe, not running around all over the place and letting loose space monsters!" Matthew shouted as he waved his arm to all the bubbled gems around.

"I told you it was an accident! Beside you're here to take care of that stuff anyway." Al huffed with his arms crossed.

"And what if I am not here huh?! I can't save your ass whenever you go charging headlong into danger…AGAIN!" Matthew yelled back as if this wasn't the first time, they did something like this before.

"HEY! Don't you dare bring up the police station incident again! I told you Danny was up to something and I was right too!" Al said as he knew exactly what incident Matthew as referring too.

"Yeah but we could have solved that problem without blowing a freaken hole in the police station!" Matthew shouted back remembering how extreme Al plan was.

"Hey, if I didn't act fast enough you and your dad would have been sent off state!" All shouted angrily, but then he paled as he saw something behind Matthew.

"Yeah but that doesn't mean you have to go that far, we could have simple busted in instead! You always have to go either the most extreme route or the most dangerous one." Matthew sighed as he pinched his nose ridge.

"Ahem." Garnet said as she cleared her throat behind Matthew, with her arms crossed.

"Not now Garnet! Can't you see we are having an argument!" Matthew shouted at Garnet, while not turning to face her but he did stick out a finger at her to be quiet.

"Now where was I. Ah yes I-" Matthew started to resume his argument but clamped his mouth shut and his eyes went wide with fear. He then slowly turned around and saw Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst behind him, all but one of them looking upset with the two.

"Busted!" Amethyst said with a smug tone as she chuckled at the situation the two were found in.

"Heheheheh…Hey girls, what are you doing here?" Matthew asked, sheepishly although he pretty much knew the question.

"We should be the ones asking you that." Garnet asked, her arms still crossed in disappointment.

"Or better yet how are you two even here? It shouldn't even be possible for you two to even get past the door let alone reach all the way to the Burning Room." Pearl said as she was both upset and worried in how the two new human allies they made got here.

"Funny story about that you see-" Matthew started to explain, hoping to save both himself and his friend till he got pushed aside by Al who had an angry expression on his face.

"Where's Romeo yo! I know you have him!" Al shouted angrily as he pointed at Garnet, despite the situation he wasn't backing down.

"Who?" Pearl asked, confused on who Al was referring two.

"That's the reason you two went through all this trouble for?" Garnet asked, her tone not really showing what her mood was.

"Ci! I miss the little amigo so much and you just took him without letting me have a single word! I want him back yo!" Al said with his arms crossed, despite the intimidating statue of Garnet he wasn't backing down.

"I figured this would happen but I wasn't expecting for you two to actually get inside the temple like this." Garnet said as he reached behind her back and pulled out a bug cage that held two beetles, one black and one white.

"The Heaven and Earth beetles?" Pearl questioned why Garnet had them with her.

"ROMEO! I missed you little fella, and who's this with him?" Al said as he approached the cage with glee.

"They are commonly known as the Heaven and Earth Beetles; they are a pair that were separated until recently." Garnet explained to Al who had a look of sudden realization.

"Oh…then that's means I…" Al said as he looked down as he was basically holding one of them captive.

Garnet smiled as she presented the cage to Al. "I was planning to have you look after them after our mission today anyway. Earth or Romeo seams to have missed you."

"Wait, really? Is that okay chica?" Al asked with a look of surprised, while Matthew was giving him a major stink eye behind him after all the trouble, they went through only for Garnet to give them their goal just like that.

"Yes, I see that they will be under better protection under your care Al." Garnet said as she gave her approval of Al looking after the two.

"I won't let you down yo! Hey since there are two of you how about I name you Juliet! Since you're a pair!" Al said excitedly as he held the cage and looked happily at the beetles, with the black one looking happy to see Al as well.

"Amethyst, do you mind taking Al to the exit? Me and Pearl need to have a talk with Matthew." Garnet told Amethyst, while Matthew swallowed hard wondering why he needed to stay behind.

"Uh, yeah sure. C'mon Al. Let's go." Amethyst said, as she saw what kind of mood Garnet was in dispute her not showing it.

"So you guys went through all this trouble just to get the beetles? Kind of crazy if you ask me." Amethyst asked, wondering why the two would go so far.

"Oh you have no idea the kind of adventures me and Matt went through." Al said as he started to tell Amethyst some of the adventures they went through.

Once the two were gone Garnet turned her attention to Matthew along with Pearl. Matthew had a hard look on his face as he sighed. "Where do you want me to start?"

"You can start with how you got through the temple door to begin with. The door should only be responsive to the 5 of us." Pearl asked first, hoping to get a proper answer to the question.

"5? I thought there was only 3 of them, 4 if you include Steve." Matthew thought to himself but decided it would be a question to ask later.

"Honestly I didn't want to come on Al's half-baked infiltration. He thought since I had a gem, I would open the door, I didn't think so because I remember what you girls said. But as soon as I touched the door with my hand it started glitching out." Matthew started to explain how him and Al managed to get through the temple door.

"Glitching out? I never heard of the door doing that before." Pearl wondered, concerned what it could mean.

"What next?" Garnet asked, wanting to know what happened after the door started glitching.

"Well after a while it stopped and a doorway with a swirl of green and red light showed up. Before I could even wonder what happened Al charged straight in and I followed him. Not sure about him but I ended up free falling into Amethyst room. After that we went from room to room till we ended here. Just to tell you we didn't touch anything in the other rooms besides some of Amethyst junk piles. And a monster Al accidently popped and I re-bubbled." Matthew told the two as he finished explaining what him and Al did within the temple.

Garnet had a hand on her chin as she was in a deep thought while Pearl gave her own thoughts out loud. "While I do appreciate you telling us about the corrupted gem. It still doesn't explain how and why the temple door reacted to you and in such a way."

Garnet broke of her pose as she approached Matthew. "Matthew, I think it is best that you stay away from the Temple unless one of us is present. Who knows what could happened if you come in contact with it again."

"Yeah…I got that feeling as well, like…I didn't really belong here…At least not yet. I really am sorry for intruding on your girl's rooms. But once Al get's going…He gets going." Matthew said as he put his hands in his pockets.

Garnet gave Matt a small smile. "As long as you understand then it's okay. Now I think it is time for you to leave."

"Yeah, I have a killer headache after chasing Al all day." Matthew said as Garnet started to lead Matthew to the exit, leaving Pearl behind.

Pearl looked worriedly at the newly green bubbled surrounding one of the gems and she couldn't shake the feeling that something was both wrong, and missing. Soon enough Garnet came back along and met back up with Pearl in the Burning room.

"Garnet…Please tell me you have an idea on how Matthew made the door react as such." Pearl asked, hoping the Gems leader had an answer like she usually does.

"Sigh…Honestly Pearl, I don't know…And that what worries me the most." Garnet told Pearl her own thoughts.

"Oh…That makes me worried even more as well." Pearl said, not sure what to say or ask at this point as the two stared at Matthew green bubbled, he formed over the corrupt gems.

O-O-O

"Blarg…" Matthew said as he landed face first on his bed and pillow. Al being in another room feeding his old and new pets some jellybeans he's been holding.

Matthew turned around and has his face staring at the ceiling of his room as he was in deep thought. So many thoughts ran through his head after today. Even though he now knew what he was, there were still questions left to be ask. Like who his real parent was and why they deserted him.

There was also the question of him being able to access the gems home. He thought only the Crystal gems themselves could open it so, how could he? Was his mother a previous Crystal Gem or something?

"Bah, I need a distraction from all this." Matthew said hoping for a distraction, he then suddenly remembered something.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the cd of Mr. Universe that he grabbed from Amethyst room. Matthew 'hmm' a bit till he got up and placed the cd in a radio he had nearby. He picked a song at random and played it.

~I know I am not that Tall

~I know I am not that Smart

~But let me Drive My Van Into Your Heart

~Let me Drive My Van Into Your Heart

"Huh…Not bad." Matthew said as he smiled a bit at the catchy song he listening to, his worries seam to fade away to the songs beat.


4 chapters in and we are already struck with some mystery, can you guess why the door opened for Matthew? Cause I can ;)

So, as you can tell this was an original chapter but the next few will be episode based, starting with a certain sword story.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, pls review and comment and thank you all for being here, bye!

REVIEWS:

kryogue23: You have no idea, Al while being a super-genius, is very short-sighted. He is the kind to act first before thinking and doesn't usually take chances and what not while Matthew the more leveled headed of the two, usually thinking a bit before acting but is always the first to move when someone he cares for is in danger. Both have their own goofy sense of humor though lol.

OMNISENSE95: Yeah both Matt and Al reactions in that episode will be golden lol