Episode 8: The Search

The Monks were outside, doing their daily training with Steven in tow. The Gems meanwhile were talking to Dojo about something. "Why didn't you tell us that Chase is now a Heylin?" Pearl said. "Yea, that and let alone that he is still living." Amethyst added. "Look, to be honest, after you guys left, Chase began to have issues with working with Dashi, Guan, and I. He felt like he was getting stiffed in potential and was being held back. Last time I remember seeing him before a few days ago was about 1498 years ago. That's when Chase had decided to leave the Monks to be his own man." Dojo explained. Pearl looked a bit concerned. "And with Chase now teaching Jack… I don't know why but it's almost like that it was coincidental timing of me starting to teach Connie about how you use a sword." Pearl said. Garnet ponders something. "If Jack and Peridot are with Chase, does this mean that Wuya and Jackson is there too?" Garnet said.

Pearl and Dojo look at Garnet and back at each other. "That would be possible." Pearl said. "Jack and Wuya have most likely put their difference aside to focus on us and get Peridot to do…something." "Yea, I kinda feel like something is up with them. After Mala Mala Jong, they broke up but before the invasion… they somehow reconciled." Dojo said. "What led them to return to each other?" "I have no clue but whatever happened, it's must mean they are getting back to repairing their bridge." Garnet said. Amethyst looks at the Monks and Steven as they finished their training for the day. "Guys! The Monk and Steven are coming up." Amethyst said. "Dojo, should we let them know who Chase is and what his history is a bit later?" Pearl said. Dojo takes a deep breath. "Okay, that is the best call." Dojo said.

The Monks and Steven arrive up to the top of the stairs and sees the Gems and Dojo finished talking about something. "What were you guys talking about?" Kimiko asked. "Yea, you guys missed some of the training today." Omi said. "Well, it's mostly about Chase Young." Pearl said. The monks were wondering who was Chase Young and what is his history with the Gems. "I've been wondering what is up with this Chase Young and you guys history with him." Raimundo said. "Well, we will talk about it in a bit." Pearl said. "But for right now, we must set our focus on another foe…Malachite." "Yea, it's been a good while and we don't know what Malachite is doing." Clay said. "Yea, I'm starting to grow concerned about Lapis' safety." Steven said. Pearl kneels down to Steven's level. "Steven, we are going to do our best to make sure that Lapis is okay." Pearl said. Steven softly smiles and nods.

A bit later, they began pumping up 2 life rafts, one for the monks and one for the Gems. Clay and Garnet were dong the pumping while Kimiko and Pearl were making sure the rafts are perfect. Raimundo sat with Amethyst and Steven. Omi was on the beach meditating to himself. Raimundo looks at Steven. "Steven, Amethyst, I'm wonder… how do we find Malachite in the ocean?" Raimundo asked. "It's like really huge and it would be really difficult to find it." "I get where you are getting at, Rai, but sooner or later, we'll find them." Amethyst said. "I'm hoping Lapis is okay down there." Steven said. "I know, Steven." Amethyst said. Raimundo began to think as Omi finishes meditating and walks to them. "I am most curious about Lapis' water ability." Omi said.

"Well, I do recall she took the entire ocean just to get back to homeworld." Amethyst said. "Yea, and she had water wings when I repaired her gemstome with my healing spit." Steven added. "Not only that, if you get to know her, she can be really friendly." "That is most interesting." Omi said. "Maybe in the future we could teach each other on water abilities." "That could be something." Steven said. "Here's the problem…we don't know where exactly where they are now." Raimundo said. "Don't be negative, Rai." Amethyst said. "Sooner or later, we will find them and we will win." "Yea, we are the Crystal gems, we always save the day." Steven said. "Besides, we always find a way." "Interesting motivation, Steven." Omi said. "Thanks, Omi." Steven said.

A good while later, they finished pumping the rafts. "Alright, the rafts are ready for deployment." Pearl said. "Alright...wait! We need life jackets." Steven said. "Don't worry about that, we have that right here." Kimiko said, pulling out the 8 life jackets for the 8 of them. "Good job, Kimiko." Steven said with a smile. The 8 of them get their life jackets on and began to get into the rafts. Clay and Garnet began pushing the rafts into the ocean and got in just as the raft hit the water. "Onward to looking for Malachite we go." Steven said. They began to paddle in the ocean while also looking for Malachite. Pearl meanwhile was deep in thought. Kimiko noticed it as they paddle side by side. "Is there something on your mind, Pearl?" Kimiko said. "Huh? Oh…it's just…" Pearl said, a bit flustered.

"Does it involve Chase Young?" Raimundo said. Pearl looks away from that mentioning. Garnet looks a bit down from hearing that too. Amethyst was a bit embarrassed when they mentioned him. Steven was perplexed by this. "Is there something wrong, guys?" Steven asked. "Who is Chase Young?" "Steven, Chase Young is a Heylin warrior… but he wasn't always like that." Pearl said. "Once upon a time, he was a Xiaolin Monk." Steven was a bit surprised to hear that. "What does he look like?" Steven asked. "He had long hair and had armor on his body." Raimundo explained. "Okay." Steven said. "What is his history with you guys? Why did you guys have reactions when he was mentioned?" Clay said. "Well, it's about 1500 years ago..." Pearl began to explain.

A flashback appears. We see Chase Young, Dashi and Master Monk Guan meeting up with the Crystal Gems for the first time. Chase Young was fascinated by the Gems and their abilities, same with Master Monk Guan and Grand Master Dashi. "You know, I've been having ideas of creating weapons to defeat Wuya." Dashi said. "Why do you want to beat Wuya?" Rose asked. "She wants to rule the world with an iron fist." Chase said. "And considering you also told us that the Diamonds were repealed from Earth thanks to you guys, We should team up to best Wuya in a showdown." "I don't know, Chase. Wuya is a human and we can't attack human." Pearl said. "Who says you have to fight Wuya?" Dashi said. "We can handle the brunt of the attack, we just need to capture Wuya in this box and it will be game over." Master Monk Guan said. "Alright, well, if we have too, we will help out as much as we can against Wuya." Rose said. "We fought to make sure no one rule the world with an iron fist and that would include Wuya." "Excellent." Chase said.

A bit later, while Dashi was making the Shen Gong Wu for the battle with Wuya with some assistance from Rose Quartz, Chase oversees Pearl practicing her sword. He seem fascinated by the swordmanship of Pearl. He slowly approaches to Pearl as she finishes her sword training. "Huh? Chase? What are you doing here? Don't you have training with Guan to do?" Pearl asked. "We typically train as a group with Dashi but since he is really busy making the weapons needed to beat Wuya, we did a bit of training before it was dismissed for the day." Chase said. "I see." Pearl said as she looks at her sword. Chase ponder something. "Think you can train me to become a swordman, I want to be the best warrior in the world." Chase said. "I don't know…you seem versatile enough to give Wuya some issues, but then again, I was trained by Rose at a young age as well." Pearl said. "Come on, Pearl, I think I can handle with the sword, besides you can have your own protege for the time being." Chase said. Pearl thinks a bit and decided on something. "Alright, but make sure you train constantly." Pearl said. "That I will." Chase said

A montage shows Chase training with Pearl and somewhat struggling at first but quickly adapting to being a swordman like Pearl and Rose before him. Not only did Chase was improving but was also getting Pearl's attention more and more. Garnet and Amethyst took notice and began watching them train with each other. About 2.5 weeks later, Dashi completed most of the Shen Gong Wus. Chase meanwhile has become an expert swordman and met up with Dashi. "Hello, Dashi." Chase said. "I heard that you were training with Pearl." Dashi said. "That is indeed correct, I trained with her to become a versatile swordman" Chase said. "What happened to training with Me and Guan?" Dashi said. Chase was taken aback by this. "Well, you were busy making the weapons that needed to beat Wuya and not on the training." Chase counters. "I do apologize about it but it was for the best." Dashi said. "Hey, hey, simmer down you two. We got the weapons ready and Wuya isn't going to wait for us." Rose said. "You're right rose, we must beat Wuya as soon as we can." Dashi said as he leads the way. He picks up the Wus and head out with Rose, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Master Monk Guan, and Chase…though Chase is a little fuming from the argument that arose.

About 2 days later, Dashi sealed Wuya away in the magic box and Chase and Pearl just finished training for the day. "I'm impressed how far you evolved Chase." Pearl compliments. "Thank you, Pearl." Chase said. He then ponders something. "Now that Wuya is captured and won't disturb us… what are you 4 going to do now?" Chase asked. "Well, unfortunately Chase, we agreed to leave in a day or two. This was our last training session together." Pearl said, lowering her head. Chase was surprised to hear that. "What?!" Chase said. "It's true, The Gems and I will keep wondering the earth to make sure no corrupted gem is left unturned." Pearl said. Chase just shakes his head. "But…do you think I would be able to train by myself?" Chase wonders. "Chase…if you keep training like you are at this rate, you would be the best swordman I ever helped out. Just keep training and you'll get there." Pearl said. Chase sighs and nods. "Alright, thank you, Pearl." Chase said.

We fade back to present day. Pearl just finished telling the story. "As you know, Dashi then gave us the Longi Kite as a thank you gift and we departed soon after. That was the last time we saw Chase till a few days ago." Pearl admits. "Man, that's a lot to take in." Raimundo said. "Well, we now know that Chase is an expert swordman and got trained by Pearl." "Not only that, but he is training Jack Spicer to be a swordman too…same time as Connie is being trained by Pearl." Clay said. "That is the most coincidental timing." Omi said. Garnet began to ponder something. "I wonder how did Jack convince Chase to train him." Garnet ponders. "I guess we'll have to wait and see." Amethyst said. Pearl just looks down. "I feel bad for training Chase. If I knew that Chase would become a Heylin…" Pearl said. "Pearl, Pearl. Don't worry about the past." Steven said. "You can't change the past. You can mainly focus on the present and make sure it doesn't happen again. It won't happen with Connie and I believe Connie will stay good." Steven said. Pearl smile and hugs Steven. "Thank you Steven." Pearl said. "Alright, so let's continue the search for Malachite." Pearl added. Everyone nods and began to search the ocean to make sure Malachire isn't causing any trouble.

End of Episode 8