It had been a little over a week since Priyanka's and Connie's visit. Twoie had recovered from his sickness, but he was still benched from the two missions that occurred during that time. Part of the reason they waited so long after was because of the mysterious bruises Steven had told them about. Twoie laughed their concern off, saying it must've been from the fight and when he collapsed. When the bruises disappeared a couple of days later, they begrudgingly agreed that he was healthy enough to be on the team again.
Twoie took a deep breath of fresh air as he lounged on a blanket covering the ground. Their group had moved back to the barn in preparation for dealing with the Cluster. The young man had to admit, being able to get out again and enjoy the nature around him was nice. It was peaceful. So peaceful, that Steven had fallen asleep beside him while relaxing. Everyone was outside of the barn, enjoying the nice day. Twoie smiled as Peridot waved her arms around while gesturing to the chalkboard by the barn door. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss their plan to drill the Cluster. But Twoie couldn't focus today. There was a feeling of dread in the back of his mind. The idea that something was about to happen. The young man had learned to trust this instinct of his; it saved his life a couple of times. "Guys?"
Peridot paused her story. The others all turned to face him with curious looks. "Yo, Twoie. What's up? You okay?" Amethyst furrowed her brows a bit in concern. Before Twoie could answer her, Steven woke with a startled gasp. At the same time, a rumble shook the earth beneath them.
"Did you feel that?" Peridot looked around her wildly. Amethyst flicked her gaze from Peridot to Twoie to Steven, and then back to Peridot. "Feel what, Peri?" The technician started pacing in front of the chalkboard.
"The ground shook! This could be the start of the emergence of the Cluster!" She hopped onto a cardboard box that was next to the board and pointed at one of her text boxes. "Stage 1: Slight tremors every quarter-hour. Stage 2: Full-scale earthquakes." Everyone looked at her with wide eyes as she continued. "Stage 3: The earth is destroyed!" She rotated the board so that everyone could see the drawing she made of the earth in shattered pieces. "We're running out of time. We need to drill right now!"
Steven stood up. "No, it's Malachite!" The others gasped while Twoie nodded his head.
He could see Steven looking at him as though wanting his future self to confirm his statement. "Steven is right. This tremor right now is from Malachite. You astral-projected to Mask Island?" At his younger brother's nod, Twoie continued. "Then it's definitely Malachite. However, Peridot is also correct." Everyone stared at him in fear. "In my version, the Cluster emerges right after the gems beat Malachite. Peridot and I went to deal with the Cluster by ourselves."
Pearl grabbed Twoie by the shoulders and got in his face. "You and Peridot went without us? How did you survive? Are you okay? Are you mentally scarred? Are you physically scarred?" Twoie felt dizzy as Pearl shook him hard with each question.
Amethyst placed her hand on Pearl's arm and stopped her. "Ya gotta stop, P. You're gonna make him so dizzy he'll vomit." Pearl blushed as she halted her actions.
She realized that Twoie looked dazed once she let go of his shoulders. "I'm so sorry, Twoie! I didn't mean to shake you that hard. Are you still dizzy? You should sit down." Twoie slurred out "yes" while he waited for the world to stop spinning.
Garnet walked over and picked him up, tucking him under her arm. "Lapis Lazuli is losing control. Soon Jasper will overpower her, and Malachite will be loose."
Pearl looked at Garnet as the leader adjusted her hold on the half-gem. "Who knows how much destruction an unstable gem like her could cause." As the Crystal Gems continued discussing Malachite, Peridot was silently fuming in the background. Garnet nodded to herself as she walked forward and turned so that she was facing everyone.
"Alright, Amethyst, Pearl, Twoie, and I will head to Mask Island to fight Malachite. Having Twoie with us may give us enough time to come back before Peridot and Steven have no choice but to use the drill. Twoie, do you have any tips for Steven just in case?" The oldest brother blinked a couple of times, trying to get his bearings.
When he saw Steven staring at him with fear in his eyes, he put on a smile. "You'll do just fine, Steven. In case we don't get back in time, you and Peridot will drill into the earth. It's gonna be several hours till you reach the Cluster. When you do, you'll start to hear the voices of the gems in your mind. It's scary, but I'm hoping that knowing what you're going to face will ease some of that fear. Just be you, convince them to help each other. That'll be enough to stop the Cluster." Steven walked up to Twoie, who was still tucked under Garnet's arm, and hugged his head. Twoie chuckled and patted Steven's head.
"Thanks, Twoie!" Steven backed away and watched as the others ran to the nearest warp. "Be careful!" Once, the group warped away, Peridot tapped Steven's shoulder.
The green gem huffed, "Can you explain to me who Malachite is?"
Finding Malachite was easy. Twoie took over the head of the team as he led them to the area he remembered the watermelon ritual took place. Malachite was already struggling against Lapis' water chains when they arrived. Luckily, they had the element of surprise. "Alright, let's finish this. Twoie, cover us." Garnet commanded them. Pearl and Amethyst nodded and ran to form a triangle with Garnet. Twoie, realizing they were forming Alexandrite, backed away so they could fuse. He couldn't help the slight sting at the thought that he wasn't useful enough to do more than cover for them. Sure, Malachite was huge, so Alexandrite was the logical fusion to use. She was the one who fought Malachite in his time as well. But this time, Twoie was with them. And they still excluded him.
Twoie tried to hide his hurt expression. He felt his body become pink and channeled his feelings into that. When Malachite broke free from the water chains and turned to face Alexandrite, Twoie was ready. He narrowed his gaze and summoned his shield, except Malachite found a geodesic dome encasing her instead. "What?" She growled and slammed against it. Twoie gasped at her strength as he felt the power his new shield absorbed. It was overwhelming, cracking the dome at the spot she had hit. Malachite roared in fury as she slammed a fist into the newly formed crack. Twoie gasped and collapsed to his knee when the dome shattered.
Alexandrite was confused. They never knew Twoie had powers that Steven hadn't discovered yet. For the moment, it didn't matter. They could explore his powers after Malachite and the Cluster were dealt with. Alexandrite was happy to take advantage of Twoie's distraction to land a hit on Malachite.
Twoie could feel himself panicking. He never knew he could create a barrier like that. Pink Steven summoned a barrier that deflected White Diamond's possession beam. Twoie shook the flashback off. He couldn't lose himself in his thoughts right now. Not when the gems needed him. This was a legitimate threat. Not a stress reaction. Not an overreaction. A real threat. And he was messing it up again by standing there and doing nothing. Rustles in the bushes made him flinch. Twoie spun around in surprise to see a watermelon Steven peering out at him. "Steven?" The shock of seeing the watermelon Steven, made him snap out of his pink state. Before Steven could reply, a rage-filled shout resounded through the island.
Both boys whipped around to see Malachite flinging fists of water at Alexandrite. When the magenta fusion was grabbed after a couple of dodges, Twoie glared and manifested a large shield. He threw it at Malachite's water arm, slicing through it and freeing the fusion. "Steven! You need to get out of here! Go get the other Watermelon Stevens to fight with us! Malachite is going to overpower Alexandrite in a minute, and there's only so much I can do to help!" Without checking to see if Steven obeyed, Twoie summoned several more giant shields and flung them at Malachite. Two hit an ice wall that the turquoise gem had created, but the third hit her directly in the face as she flew out from behind her cover. As the gem went crashing down, Alexandrite shot several energy arrows at the fusion, getting multiple good hits in.
But Malachite brushed the attack off. She used her water wings to launch herself into the air and spin-dashed into Alexandrite. Twoie raised a shield as the two fusions slammed into the ground. When the shockwave passed, Twoie noted that he didn't see Steven in the vicinity. Good. The time traveler could feel anger coursing through his body at witnessing the fusion of the Crystal Gems getting taken down. Pink encompassed him again, and this time he concentrated on recreating the barrier.
Malachite laughed as she pushed Alexandrite further into the ground. Twoie charged towards them with his super-speed and, once standing right by Alexandrite's head, focused on shoving the turquoise fusion away as his speed returned to normal. A large panel of pink crystals manifested in the air, pushing against Malachite. It wasn't strong enough to force her away, but it startled her enough to loosen her hold on Alexandrite. The magenta fusion shoved her opponent off of her and stood back up. Twoie could feel himself becoming exhausted as he pushed himself and his pink powers to the limit. He was also pushing his luck.
Malachite side-eyed the little human. Jasper recognized the shield, but not the other powers the halfling was using. Still, Rose Quartz was a crafty one. She must've changed her appearance again to confuse her. Well, it wouldn't work this time! Malachite pushed Alexandrite into the cliff and used the distraction to turn towards Twoie. "You thought you could fool me again, Rose?" Malachite cruelly smiled as she pulled her fist back. Twoie blanched, materializing a barrier and a shield in the hopes that it would be enough to block her attack. "Think again."