Previously on Young Justice: Rebirth
Tim looked over at Amy and walked toward her. "Amy. You're the only one of us that knows how this world works. Tell us what's happening."
The princess of Gemworld sighed. "Alright, here's the thing. On Gemworld, I am Amethyst-"
"Yeah! No #$%, Sherlock!" Jinny snarked.
"Oh my God, can you let me say what I need to say?!" Amy snapped back. "Thank you. Anyways, what just happened is confirmation of something I feared. It's Opal."
"What about the cojudo?" Teen Lantern called out, walking closer to the group.
"Remember back in the pit when I mentioned the Gem Council and the Crisis?" Everyone nodded and agreed. Amy ran a hand through her long, purple hair and continued. "They hypothesized that because of the major crises that's occurred throughout history, reality shifts on a whim. I didn't believe it at all, until the last time I fought Opal. I learned that Dark Opal's power is so corrupted that he's able to basically shift reality here on Gemworld."
Issue 6: Young Justice is Born, a.k.a., The One Where Conner Punches a Castle in the Face
The Dark Castle Opal
The battered and bruised Carnelian was helping his equally battered father walk through the gates. Dark Opal hissed in pain at the slash wound across his chest.
"It seems that I truly have underestimated Amethyst this time around," Opal said. "Especially now that she has those new Earthling friends of hers."
"Agreed, father," Carnelian replied. "I too made a mistake challenging the Kryptonian one-on-one. And the obnoxious speedster..."
As the father and son of the House Opal made it to the throne room, Carnelian sat his father down on the pitch black, yet still luxurious, throne.
"We have to switch our strategy, Carnelian," Opal announced. "Our own power as it is at the moment simply is not enough to overcome the princess and her friends. It pains me to say it, but I think you know what we have to do."
Carnelian's eyes widened at his father's implication. "Y-you can't mean-"
"That's right, my son," Opal said, his expression downcast and somber. "If we are going to have any sort of fighting chance against her, and to help save Gemworld, I must tap in to our Gem Prime."
"B-but it could kill you," Carnelian reasoned.
"Or it could give me the power to triumph over our current obstacles. Come closer, my son," Opal ordered; Carnelian nodded and inched closer.
"You may not have won against the Kryptonian or Amethyst today, but know that it does not extinguish my love for you," Opal confessed, placing his hand on his son's left shoulder.
Carnelian sighed. "Thank you, father."
Opal looked to the right of Carnelian. "In about a half hour, I shall access our Gem Prime and hopefully bring an end to this mess. Soon, Amethyst will be no more."
The Jungle of Topaz
Bart Allen stared in amazement at Keli Quintela's demonstration of her abilities; right now, the pre-teen had conjured up a construct of a flat screen TV.
"You can do all this without a Green Lantern ring? Badass, man," Bart complimented. "How'd you do it? And what's with the pseudo-Infinity Gauntlet. Please don't sue me, Marvel!"
Keli smiled at him. "I hacked into the battery a few months ago. I can't wait to show this to Hal Jordan once we get back to Earth." The Latina then got into a thinking pose. "But I wonder if I would get in trouble if I showed it to him."
"Pssh, nah!" Bart said, waving his hand in dismissal. "They'd be cool with it. Hell, good ol' Hal just might recruit you into the Corps."
"You think so?" Keli asked, her eyes glowing in excitement.
"Of course!" Bart replied.
Keli pumped her fist in the air and flew around, joy evident in her movements; Bart looked at her and laughed.
"I know we just met each other at the end of the fourth chapter, but I'm Bart. Or Impulse," the speedster introduced.
"Yo soy Keli,*," the Latina responded. The two bro-fisted and then Bart enveloped the elven year old in a hug, who laughed and playfully tried to shove him off.
Conner and Cassie looked on, shaking their heads.
"God, Wally West and Kyle Rayner were bad enough; now Bart has to carry on the tradition," the Boy of Steel mused.
"It can't be that-wait, this is Bart and a nine year old girl who thinks illegally hacking into a piece of alien technology is gonna get her an internship and not intergalactic jail time," Cassie said.
"We have the weirdest friends, don't we?" Conner asked.
Cassie nodded and turned toward Conner. "Conner, how did end up here for five months and neither me, Tim, not Bart noticed."
Conner sighed and stared into the blonde Amazon's eyes. "Look, Cass: like I told Drake, I just...one moment I'm in STAR Labs going ham, the next I end up here, totally lost and confused."
"The STAR Labs in Central City?" Cassie asked.
"In Nevada. It was a secret lab kinda deal," Conner replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"Oh, right, right," Cassie said. "As they say: whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
Conner sighed and continued his story. "I had no way home and I didn't know how this world worked. Then, I ran into some hot chick-"
"What?" Cassie growled.
Conner laughed nervously and put his hands up in surrender. "T-take it easy, Cass. I was just laying with her-I mean, hiding out until I could get back on my feet again. I was traveling, and then I ran into Bart, and here we are now."
Cassie gently hugged him. "I'm just glad we found you," she murmured.
"I knew you'd miss me sooner or later," Conner bragged, a smug smirk on his face. The blonde Amazon broke the hug and playfully slapped him on the chest.
"Don't get cocky," Cassie said, unable to keep the smile off her face.
With Tim, he and Amethyst spoke to Jinny about her own mystery.
"What exactly is that thing?" Amy said, motioning to the chest in the back of Jinny's pickup truck.
"That's what led me to Metropolis, Yer Highness," Jinny said; she, Tim, and Amy climbed into the back of the truck, where Jinny removed the tarp and opened the chest. Looking at the contents inside, Tim gasped and Amy's eyes grew like saucers.
"Whoa," was all Amy could say.
"How in the hell did Batman ever miss this?" Tim wondered. He turned around and looked at the other four. "Guys! Guys! You gotta see this!"
Bart, Keli, Cassie, and Conner all moved toward Tim to see what he was talking about; the Boy Wonder pointed to Jinny's chest-
Not like that, you pervs!
-the trunk, and they all gasped in disbelief and wonder. A strange mixture of emotions.
"D-d-dude is that one of the-" Keli began.
"Yes, lil missy," Jinny replied.
Cassie rubbed her eyes and blinked, unable to believe it. "And is that one of the-"
"Mmhmm," Jinny said.
"I thought that was a myth," Tim said.
"Y'all best believe it."
Conner looked at the gunslinger. "That literally has a 'do not touch' label on it. #$%, man, this whole box needs one of those."
"I wanna touch it," Bart said, reaching out toward the mysterious equipment; Jinny smacked his hand away.
"Um, maybe you shouldn't have brought that with you," Cassie reasoned.
Jinny rolled her eyes. "Sure, blondie. I coulda just left it back on Earth, where any of them crazies can get their grubby lil paws on it."
"Better than here!" Cassie retorted.
The group of (mostly) teens all loitered around Jinny's truck, speaking about the situation currently at hand. "Alright, Amy," Tim began. "You mentioned that Dark Opal can somehow shift reality. But we have to know exactly how his power works. What drives his magic."
Amy looked at Tim and the others. "It's not magic," the princess said. "It's actually science."
The Western wild card looked at her, completely deadpan. "That's the biggest load of #$% I ever heard!" Jinny said.
"Oh, come on! It's legitimate science!" Amy retorted. "Seriously, it is! I mean, it may not be like science on Earth, but it's science nonetheless!"
Jinny looked at the others. "Are y'all really buyin' this?"
Tim Drake, a.k.a. Robin, groaned. "Jinny, if you've seen the kinda stuff we have in our short lives, this is nothing by comparison. Amy, tell us more about this Gem science."
"Look, I'll try to explain it as best as I can," the princess said. "So, it's like, there are these intricate systems of Gem based energies that power their respective houses. For example." Amy whipped out her purple, energized katana. "Mine is obviously Amethyst..."
"You have a lightsaber?!" Bart exclaimed. "Ok! You are the coolest princess I've ever met."
Amy smiled smugly at Bart's praise. "Anyways, so every house has something called a Gem Prime. It resides in the deepest chamber of every houses' castle."
"This Gem Prime is each houses' power source," Tim said. "Kinda like the different Lantern Corps."
Amy nodded and continued. "Exactly."
"So Opal has his primary source of power in his castle, right?" Cassie spoke up.
"Yes, but you have to know something first." Before she continued on, Amy's face darkened. "It's a gem of pure, black opal. It's in the deepest, darkest bowels of his #$#$hole castle."
No one in the group noticed that Bart had zoomed off to places unknown.
"There's a tentacle monster that guards the gem that can burn you alive if you touch it. Hell, just looking at the thing can drive lesser people insane. So keep Jinny away from it," Amy joked.
" #$%. You," the gunslinger deadpanned.
"Now, if we can get past the monster, there's a three mile drop to the core-"
*WHOOSH*
"You mean this?" Bart asked, holding up a sizable blue gemstone with strange, white markings on it.
Amy froze at the sight of Bart holding said gemstone. "Y-y-did you-did you just...take that out of his castle?"
"Yeah," Bart said. "There's a basement with a hentai monster and-"
"You. Took that. OUT OF HIS CASTLE?!" Amy repeated, shouting the last part.
Bart shrugged. "Well, yeah. Fastest boy alive, remember?"
Amy sucked in a deep breath, trying not to let fear on her face. "Yeah...Opal is really gonna want that back."
"I'm getting a bad feeling from this," Conner said. The whole ground began to shake after the declaration and the group all looked back; all the teens eyes went wide as they witnessed the very castle of Dark Opal itself grow arms and legs and took on the visage of Dark Opal himself. The being stood taller than a lot of skyscrapers found in Gotham and Metropolis.
"Goddammit, Bart!" Cassie exclaimed.
"This is asking a lot of me for my first time," Keli commented.
Jinny's eyes darted between the group and the living castle of Opal and she could only say one thing:
" #$% this!"
The gunslinger attempted to run far away in the other direction, but not before Conner grabbed her.
"D-do y'all see this #%$?!" Jinny exclaimed. "Look at this, man!"
Cassie looked at Tim, who had his bo-staff. "Is that a monster Opal uses as a castle, or a castle he uses a monster?"
"Batman taught me this, Cass: if you have to ask, does it really matter?" Tim replied.
Bart zoomed off in the monster's direction, Amy hopped on her battle unicorn, and Conner and Cassie slowly ascended into the air; before they took off toward the castle monster, Conner looked down at Tim.
"You got a plan, Drake?"
"Yeah hang on, I left it in my gritty 90s costume," Tim quipped. "We're fighting a giant castle, of course I don't have a #$%*^% plan!"
"You guys do what you gotta do," Conner started, before he took off toward Opal in a burst of speed. Cassie and Amethyst soon followed, with the princess' katana flaring with even more energy.
"I'M GONNA PUNCH A CASTLE IN THE FACE!" the Boy of Steel exclaimed.
(Disclaimer: This all really happens in the comic. I couldn't make this up even on my best day.)
And Conner did exactly as he said as the half-Kryptonian flew up to Opal and punched him directly in the face.
Tim looked over at Keli and the returned Bart, who returned by being physically kicked by the sapient castle. "Keli! Bart! Protect the Opal prime!"
"Got it, jefe!" Keli said, enveloping the Opal gem in a bank safe construct.
In the air, Cassie flew all around Dark Opal, making the sapient castle growl in annoyance and try to swat at her like a fly; Cassie responded to this by punching him in the face so hard that the castle began to fall down to the ground.
At ground level, Bart looked over at Keli. "Aw man, this #$% is crazy, right?! Oh, BT-dubs, timber!" The speedster grabbed the Teen Lantern and the Boy Wonder, speeding off a few tens of feet to avoid the impact of Opal falling on them.
Cassie swooped down and pushed Jinny and her truck away. "Everything ok?" the blonde Amazon asked.
"Are y'all askin' me if I'm okay with the big #$%^& castle fallin' down on me?!" Jinny shouted among the noise. The gunslinger opened the chest to take out a large rifle-like device.
"I got somethin' fer his ass too," Jinny said to herself.
The group looked at the downed castle monster, who opened his glowing blue eyes and began to shoot out energy beams, one of which hit the Superboy and sent him tumbling away.
Jinny carefully aimed her rifle and pressed the trigger; a whirring noise emitted from it and soon spat out a shot of glowing hot plasma, hitting the downed monster and the recoil nearly made Jinny fall down. "Holy #$%! I love this gun!" the Texan girl exclaimed.
Dark Opal continued shooting his energy blasts, one of them nearly hitting Bart until Cassie jumped in front of him and blocked it with her bracelets. "Bart! Get that gem away from here," the blonde ordered.
"Now?!" the speedster said.
"Just do it!" And with that, Bart sped off to find somewhere to hide the sizable gem.
"AMETHYST!" the dark castle monster exclaimed; the aforementioned princess of Gemworld flew forward toward the being, her katana glowing furiously.
"OPAL!" she cried out.
Amy witnessed the true Dark Opal burst from the ruins of his castle monster form. She hopped off of Ypsilos and ran toward her nemesis, katana ready to strike. Opal released his demonic dogs to attack the princess, but she struck them down without much effort. Leaping toward him, Amy was ready to cut Opal down, until he grabbed the hand where she held her blade.
"When the other courts hear about what happened today, you'll be banished forever!" Opal said; the dark lord headbutted Amy and then held her up by her neck.
"Laying your hands on my Gem Prime?" the dark lord continued. "No matter what happens today, girl, you'll be cast out! I'll take your entire house! I won! It's over!"
Amy nearly losing consciousness from being choked, saw the Teen Lantern slowly approaching behind Opal, her fingers to her lips in a 'shh' gesture. The purple haired princess smirked and spat in Opal's face.
"At least I look good in green," Amy quipped.
Before Opal could react, Keli had him wrapped in a green construct rope, freeing Amy from his grasp. The princess recovered and punched Opal in the nose, a sickening crunch following it. Conner, witnessing this, flew over to the scene and laid a vicious uppercut to the dark lord, while Cassie karate-kicked him in the face also. Opal also felt a beam of hot plasma shoot into his back; Conner, Cassie, Amy and Keli saw Jinny standing with a smoking advanced rifle in her hands. The gunslinger blew the smoke from the barrel and nodded at the four.
To finish him off, Tim leapt over and whacked the dazed Opal in the mouth with his bo-staff, sending the dark lord into unconsciousness.
Bart sped over, still holding the protected Opal gem, but was disappointed to find that Opal was already beaten. "Aw man!" the speedster complained. "You guys should've saved some for me!"
The group stood triumphantly over the defeated Dark Lord; Keli whooped and pumped her fist in the air, Conner and Tim bro-fisted before the Boy of Steel twirled Cassie around bridal style, Jinny pointed her fingers like guns and made 'pew pew' noises, and Amy? Well...
"We did it! We did it! Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah! Suck it, Opal! I won! I won!" the princess of Gemworld bragged, dancing as she taunted her downed nemesis.
Tim looked over at Bart with a smirk on his face. "Now you can say it."
"YOUNG JUSTICE IS HERE!" the speedster cheered.
The Boy Wonder looked over at Amy. "Can we go home now?"
The princess nodded. "I can arrange that."
The Gemworld Royal Meeting Hall
The meeting hall itself was a rather luxurious hall, in that it took some influence from Italian Baroque architecture; the lighting inside was dramatic and lavish, the chandeliers looked like pure gold, the walls had oval and curved forms, the some of the paintings were incomplete yet complete at the same time, and everything inside looked like it was carved from every single gem that Gemworld had to offer.
Four of the group members: Tim, Amy, Cassie, and Keli stood in front of the Gemworld council, who were all seated at an oval table.
Lady Emerald, an average sized redhead with two buns in her hair and a green dress, looked at the four with a stony face. "It seems that once again, your antics have brought even more problems for us and Gemworld as a whole, Amethyst," she began.
"Whoa! Hold on a second there!" one of the members said, standing up. She also had red hair, but wore a turquoise dress. "Amy just possibly saved all of our asses and now we know for a fact that Dark Opal's been the one messing with reality here!"
"Sit down, Turquoise!" Emerald ordered.
Amy stepped forward and placed her hands on the oval table. "Listen. I do agree that a proper investigation into House Opal is needed, but right now, we need to be giving thank to the Young Justice League and helping them get back to their world," the princess said.
"I agree," Turquoise said, prompting Emerald to roll her eyes.
"Kiss-ass," another one of the members, Ruby, stated.
The purple haired princess could see where this was going. "Before this gets out of hand-" Amy tried to reason before being cut off by the sound of flushing.
The group looked toward the direction of the sound and saw Bart walking out of a room, waving his arm. "Phew! You do not wanna go in there!" the speedster loudly declared.
Conner emerged from another room down the hall and ran up to Bart with a smile on his face. "Dude! They got a hot tub here!"
"For real?" Bart asked. "Wow. I guess you weren't kidding when you said this place was awesome!"
Jinny Hex, on the other hand, was flirting with one of the female guards. "Hey there, honey," the gunslinger started, her voice sultry. "What would y'all say 'bout comin' on down to Earth with me, huh?
The Gem Council and the rest of Young Justice awkwardly turned back around. "A-anyways," Amy started back up, "If Opal offers any new information about our peculiar predicament..."
"Doubtful," Emerald stated. "He's never been big on sharing."
Amy huffed out a breath in frustration. "Look, I respect that some of you might not be down with whatever happened here, and I certainly don't want the House of Amethyst to suffer because of me. That is why, as of right now, I am voluntarily going back to Earth as well."
Some members protested and some agreed, but what was important was what Emerald had to say.
"Good," she said. "We could all use a break from you."
"How long will you be gone, Amethyst?" Turquoise asked, worried.
Amy smiled at the other woman. "I have no idea, Turquoise. I'll come back as soon as I can. I'll miss you, though."
Emerald stood up and Young Justice followed her down a corridor, but not before Cassie grabbed Jinny, dragging the gunslinger away from her flirting.
"Call me!" Jinny exclaimed to the female guard, who blushed in response.
Down the corridor lay Jinny's truck, residing on a circular pad of some sort. Also in the room was Ypsilos, who Amy ran toward and comforted.
"Don't worry, boy. Mommy will be back," Amy soothed, petting Ypsilo's face, to which the unicorn neighed sadly. "You just be the best boy you can Who's the best boy? You are."
Tim rubbed his head awkwardly and looked at Emerald. "Uh, yeah, sorry for wrecking a bunch of stuff. For what it's worth, we totally did not mean to make things worse here.
Emeral only raised an eyebrow in response as the team got inside of Jinny's truck; well, only Tim and Jinny. The rest were either seated in the back, like Bart, Keli, Amy and Cassie, or standing on the hood like Conner.
Emerald looked at the button on the stand and pressed it; a bright flash of electricity emanated from the circular pad and enveloped the team. After a few seconds, they were gone. The woman in green sighed in relief.
"And with that, Amethyst is banished."
To be continued?
*: Yo soy Keli - I am Keli.
My imagined voice cast:
Scott Menville - Tim Drake/Robin
Mae Whitman - Cassie Sandsmark/Wonder Girl II
Sam Daly - Conner Kent/Superboy
Jason Marsden - Bart Allen/Impulse
Spencer Grammer - Amy/Princess Amethyst
Montserrat Hernandez - Keli Quintela/Teen Lantern
Carolyn Lawrence - Jinny Hex
That ends the first volume. Hope you liked it.