Emerald

I lug the last crate filled with clusters to the barn and heave a sigh of relief. The machine would be ready to go by today's end. I just hope Ocasio would be ready to do her part of the job, especially after today's test; she, Steven, and, oddly enough, Obsidian have been spending the last month helping Howlite recover, adjust to Earth life, and helping her get back to normal Gem status.

Yep, Ocasio somehow was able to semi-cure Howlite of her corruption. I say semi-cure because she still acted a bit off at times. I guess not even some space hocus pocus can cure corruption… maybe Black had it right when he tried to science things up. Though, from what Ocasio told us, I don't know if I can condone the actions he committed. I mean, the guy was pretty noble as far as most Diamonds are concerned; but this was kind of, for lack of a better word, wrong. To think he had done this to so many others. Despite this being Black's fault, I still felt kinda bad for the Diamond. He would never have had to do such things unless they were, in their own right, needed.

I stood there, trying to figure out whether or not I should condemn Black, when Pearl happened upon me. She told me that it was time, time for what you may ask. Well, considering how she handled Flint and her interaction with Howlite, it was time for the test. The test for two of our ranks to become Crystal Gems.

The two of them stopped to catch their breath, hidden behind the massive girth of a colossal tree. The taller of the two huffed in exhaustion, the smaller stood at attention, "We need to keep moving, we don't know where they are."

The taller one sighed heavily and stood up, "Geez, who'd have thought they would be so hard on us."

The smaller one shook her head, "You should know your parents were, and still are, very capable warriors with prestige of their own."

"Why yes Obsidian," began a feminine voice.

"Ocasio should be rather well versed on us." finished a masculine voice.

'Kark!' Ocasio thought to herself. She jumped in front of Obsidian and blocked a sword blow from her mother. Obsidian summoned her mace, she had finally mastered it during their reeducation of Howlite, and swung it at Pearl's head.

However, before it could connect, Emerald had stolen his wife away from the mighty blow. They reappeared on a higher branch from another tree, both smiling. "That was two seconds too close, are you sure you are fit to be administering this test?" Pearl teased.

Emerald gave a sheepish laugh, "Well, now that you mention it. My arm is a little unresponsive, about zero point two seconds of a delay."

'Unbelievable. They're practically teasing us!'

"Oh posh, just focus on the battle at hand…" Star Quartz, who was way more talkative since the ritual, paused. "It would be to your benefit if you and Obsidian fused."

"Excuse me?!"

"Uhm… Ocie, you ok there?" Ocasio suddenly took note of all the eyes on her and she turned a deep gold.

"Uh-huh, totally fine." she was not. What Star Quartz suggested was, if Garnet were anything to go by, was something that was the most expressive form of love any Gem could do. Would Obsidian be fine with that? Many inappropriate thoughts began running through the Gemlings mind.

"Well, we do not have all day Ocasio, let us finish this test." Obsidian said.

"R-right…" Ocasio shook her head clear of her thoughts, she needed to focus. If they could take down at least one of her parents then they were considered to pass.

Obsidian leaped off of their branch and sailed towards Emerald, Ocasio launched off towards her mother. Through the branches of the gargantuan forest danced the four; Ocasio and Pearl exchanged sword strike for sword strike and Obsidian struck massive blow after blow against an earthen shield that Emerald had fashioned at the start of the test.

Obsidian was able to swing her warhammer, despite its rather disproportionate size, with relative ease. Emerald had a hard time trying to go on the offensive. Pearl, on the other hand, was making quick work of her daughter. Ocasio was the one continuously having to go on the defensive. Suddenly, both parents smile devilishly and jump to each other. They pass each other mid air and land where the the other once stood, resuming their prior fights with different partners. Now both fights were being evenly fought, Obsidian impossibly going tic for tac against Pearl and Ocasio being a fairly even match for her father.

The air, freshly crisp in the wake of the winter night, chilled Ocasio to her bones, she was learning quickly some of the downsides of being a Sage. Soon, snowflakes twirled in between the spaces that the fighters brawled in. It would have been a pretty sight, had they the time to take in the scene. But instead of sitting and watching the show, they all clashed, strike for strike, parry for thrust.

After only a few minutes of fighting, the gemlings are once again cornered. Emerald looks to Pearl, "Should we call it?"

"Hmm, well they do seem…" Pearl's voice lost weight as Ocasio focused on making a plan.

'What should we do, what should we do?' she asked herself, mind whirring in panic. She did not want to fail this test, and she didn't want to drag Obsidian down with her either. 'Come on, think Ocasio, think!' Star Quartz was silent, Ocasio would receive no celestial help.

Her shoulders slumped in defeat, she could think of nothing. Then, when she had lost hope, a hand grabbed hers. Obsidian turned to her partner and smiled, "Come on Ocasio, we can do this."

"R-Right…" Ocasio stammered. Obsidian gave her an odd look but didn't question anything. Ocasio refocused her thoughts and worked up the courage for a question. "Obsidian… lets fuse." she whispered.

Obsidian had to take a double take to make sure she had heard her teammate correctly, "Are you sure?"

Ocasio nodded, resisting the urge to blush, "Yes, its the only way we can beat them." Obsidian nodded and gripped Ocasio's hand tighter. They closed their eyes and focused on syncing with each other.

"But," Pearl started, "I suppose they are doing ok enough to con-" A blinding light interrupted her mid sentence, a curtain of dark black and pale white surrounded the two gemlings and soon thereafter it broke apart and from it fluttered a thousand tiny shards, mimicking the snowflakes perfectly. In their place stood a rather tall Gem, her hair stark white with black highlights and her skin the color of coal. On her arm she bore a tower shield and in her opposite hand she gripped what humans of today would know as a pilum.

Emerald smiled proudly at the new gem, Pearl grinned but remained wary. This was a whole new set of problems to deal with. Emerald, much to his betrotheds chagrin, strolled up to the fusion and crossed his arms, "And what do we call ourselves?"

The fusion scratched her head in confusion, "What is this place? Am I on Homeworld?" Both of the older gems gawked at the fusion, how casually they questioned if this forest was on Homeworld.

Pearl jumped quickly and grabbed Emerald's collar, pulling him back with one jerk. As the fusion looked around Pearl questioned Emerald about if he knew what was happening. He could only theorize that perhaps it was Obsidian's memories. "She did have Black Diamond to raise her, he had been alive when there were forests still on Homeworld." Pearl nodded, that would explain them confusing Homeworld for Earth, but something about the fusion made her uneasy. She and Emerald, when they fused, had never fused with an obsidian class gem so she couldn't say for certain whether or not a Yellow Topaz and a Obsidian made whatever this type of gem this fusion was, but she nonetheless felt uneasy.

"I'll handle it," Emerald assured his betrothed. He strolled back to the fusion focused his thoughts into his gem, soon Amoura popped into existence. He asked his father if there was anything he could do to help this Fusion focus. Amoura's form flickered when he laid eyes upon the fusion. Emerald waved a hand in front of his father's face to get his attention.

Amoura didn't even blink, he got down on his knees and began chanting something in crystallic, though it sounded very archaic. He finished and stood up, "Son… it is official, Ocasio is blessed by Star Quartz." Emerald asked his father what he meant by that. Amoura explained to him how the fusion before them was Snowflake Obsidian, a fusion between the goddess herself, and her sibling, Ivory: Snowflake Obsidian.

"Oh, so is that why she asked that question?"

Amoura shook his head, "Oh Meteor no, she was just tricking you."

Emerald slumped his shoulders, "Frakking k-" Emerald is slammed against the tree, Pearl tries to help him and jumps in the fight. Snow whips around her pilum with abnormal speed even for a Gem and sends her flying away. She then levels her weapon to shove it between her shield and strike Emerald. She thrusts. The tree splinters. Wind whips around in all directions. For a few seconds nothing happens. Then the flood gates opened.

Snow sails through the air and Emerald, rife with energy flickering around him, catches her by the arm and slings her down to the earth. She impacts painfully on the cold, packed soil below. As she stares up into the darkness of the treeline above she searches desperately for her enemy. However, a new contender falls from the canopy, her skin pale yellow, her outfit posh and her top arms held behind her back whilst her bottom set of arms were crossed. She looked at Snowflake Obsidian contemptuously, she said nothing but kept staring with that same glare.

From inside her head Obsidian and Ocasio spoke frantically, 'What do we do?'

'Is that your parents?'

'Is that me?'

'Huh, you look a little different when they do it.'

Yellow Topaz finally spoke, her voice cold, so unlike either of Ocasio's parents, "Do you wish to sit there on your bottom and stare like a crude gem, or do you wish to pass this test?"

'Wow, you're a lot meaner too.'

'Obsidian, quiet…'

Snowflake Obsidian stood on her legs and wrenched her shield off of her arm, as it dissolved into the wind she gripped her pilum with both hands as if it were a stave. She gave her opponent the same glare that they gave her. The two stood there for a minute, then two, and a third. They stood so still that one would assume them to be oddly colored statues in a remote forest. The snowflakes fell harder, a fourth minute. It began to hail, a fifth minute. A sixth minute, and they both disappeared only to reappear by each other, Yellow Topaz gripping Snowflake Obsidians weapon and using her other two arms to flip the gem over them.

Snow righted herself in the air and instinctively reached out with her hands, gripping the shaft of her pilum mere feet before it would have struck her. Topaz jumped into the air, a pole axe gripped by all her arms that she swung the moment she was close enough to Snow. Snow dropped her weapon and grabbed the blade, it was all she could do to not be cleaved in two. With speed that even an immortal would envy, she kicked Topaz squarely in the chest. Both gems flew away from each other, Topaz from the kick and Obsidian from the momentum because of the kick.

The entire exchange had taken only three minutes, both fighters now stood where the other once had at the beginning of the exchange. Snowflake Obsidian panted while Yellow Topaz breathed softly but laboriously. Topaz cracked her knuckles, "Hmph, I suppose this was to be expected. Though, I really wish they would warn me first I was dealing with such an opponent." Snowflake Obsidian was confused by what Yellow Topaz meant. She was about to ask what her opponent meant when she disappeared into the soil below. Snow looked every which way for Topaz, but could not find her opponent.

"Even so," Yellow Topaz said, her voice echoing in the darkness. "Even despite their errors, and despite your strength."

"Show yourself!" Snow snapped. She should have instead focused on finding her opponent. Snow felt a sudden burst of pain and looked down to see two sets of stone claws protruding from her chest.

Yellow Topaz close to Snow's ear. "Even despite their training," she whispered, "I cannot allow myself to be bested yet."

Emerald

I patted Ocasio on the head, "Good job out there kiddo"

Pearl nodded in agreement, "Yes, kudos to you and Obsidian. You two gave us quite the workout when you fused." Obsidian bowed as a thank you, but Ocasio crossed her arms. She looked kind of disappointed, so I did what any good parent would have done. I asked her what was wrong.

Her scowl deepened, "Yeah, sure we did good as a fusion. But what am I supposed to do when it's just me in a combat situation alone? I can't always rely on fusion."

I was about to say something to console her but a certain purple gem stepped in for me. Obsidian brushed her shoulder against my daughter's, "Hey, don't worry, we passed anyways."

"Yeah, maybe you, you had my dad on the defensive and had my mother somewhat handled. I was just there." I tried to step in again but this time Pearl held me back.

'Let them work it out.'

Obsidian smirked and crossed her arms, "Are you saying you didn't have fun being fused?"

"W-W-What?!" Ocasio's stammering was adorable, she looked so flustered at Obsidian's question, "No.. I mean yes! Wait… Yes it was fun being fused… wait!" laughter circled around the small group. As my daughter kept trying to explain what she meant I felt the wind pick up, the salty misty of the ocean that only this beach could hit me with was comforting.

It reminded me of my mother… she would have loved Pearl, and despite what she would want, she would have probably babied Ocasio. She was a strict parent, but she was a parent nonetheless.

I was torn from my thoughts by a gentle hand gripping mine, naturally it was Pearl. She wore that warm smile, the one that always reminded me that tomorrow was worth staying for. The moment is interrupted by a buzzing, I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out the cellular communicator that I had gotten on Steven's behest, he said it would help him reach me faster in case the other gems were not around. It seemed to be a visual call from Peridot, "Sageson, I believe it is time. Is she ready?"

I grimace, she had already been through so much in the past few months, I hardly found it fair to keep asking so much of Ocasio. "Look Peridot, I'm going to have to get back to you on that." I end the call and Pearl gives me that look, the one that tells me I messed up.

"Dad, was that Peridot?" I really wish Ocasio would have minded her own conversation.

I nod. Obsidian cocks her head slightly, "What was she calling about?" Well… I guess now is as good a time as any.

I explain to Ocasio what everyone had been planning, Obsidian already knew but was being a weasel and feigning ignorance to save face. It takes only a few moments, but it was an awkward few moments. After all is said Ocasio's face is dark, it must have been a lot to take- "Ok." or not…

I scratch my head, "So you're ok with this?"

Ocasio shrugged her shoulders, "Fine by me, from what you've said it will be a thousand times easier than what occurred with Howlite."

I looked to Pearl and laughed. "That, Pearl, is most definitely from you." I was alluding to her uncanny and swift comprehension skills. Pearl did not argue, she was only happy to receive such praise. I tapped my phone's screen and called Peridot to confirm our arrival.