Chapter Six: The Storm Before the Calm

There was a point during our run that the wind died down. Without it blowing in our faces, moving forward had become easier. Both Marco and I keep quiet the rest of the way.

As we approached a hill, Marco began to slow down with me close beside him. We were close to something, so we kept close to the ground.

Once we were at the top of the hill, we got a good look up ahead. Immediately, I saw what appeared to be a group of people standing in front of a girl, who I believed to be Abigael. Activating my eagle vision, I was able to see that there four figures standing in front of her: three gems and a human? Marco gave me the signal to move forward. There was no point in hiding ourselves since it was mostly open fields.

One of the gems, the green one, spotted use first alerting everyone. I nearly stopped when I saw the gem that attack Abi the other day. She must have seen me hesitate because she had a cocky grin she saw me.

"That's him." She said to the black gem. "The short one. He's the one who got in my way."

The black gem seemed uninterested. If anything, she seemed upset that someone interrupted her in what she was doing. "Aventurine, can you please deal with our new gest."

The green gem that was named Aventurine summoned her weapon and made her way toward us. The weapon appeared to be a big arm guard with spikes at the end where hand was. Marco was ready to fight. I too was getting ready when Abi shouted "Wait!".

Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at her. Looking at the black gem, she continued to speak. "I'll go with, Obsidian. But you can't hurt anyone: not my father, not them, not anyone."

Taking a closer look, it became apparent the human on the gem side was indeed her dad. They did look similar enough to be related.

"I can't let that happen." Marco said. Now all focus was on him. "I have a mission to take you back safe and sound. That includes your father."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Said the black gem named Obsidian with a distaste look.

"I am Marco. The short one is Rekirts-"

"Hey!" I retorted.

"-and we are members of the Creed, the human defenders of Earth."

Obsidian took one last look at us and then turned attention back on Abigael. "Like I was saying, Abi, come with us and your goes." It was like we were no longer there to her. I guess she didn't think much about humans. It may have been just me, but I could've sworn I heard Marco groan with frustration.

"What do you want to do with-" the one named Aventurine began, but she was interrupted by Obsidian.

"I don't care, just so long as there gone!" Obsidian was clearly was clearly aggravated by the sound of her voice.

"You said you wouldn't hurt anyone!" Abigael said.

"Don't worry Abi," Obsidian replied in what I can only describe as a "motherly tone", "Aventurine isn't to break them."

As she was saying that, Aventurine began to move toward us. The wind started to pick up again and this time it was coming from Abi. I couldn't here her, but could tell Obsidian was trying to calm Abi down. Aventurine continued to move forward without a second thought. Her eyes were focused and nothing else. I went into my pockets for my knifes, but Marco was faster.

On his side was his saber with its black scabbard. The sword was already out. In the same moment I saw the sword, Marco was gone from my sights. I heard a clang soon after. Turning to the sound, I saw Marco clashing his blade with Aventurine's guard. She looked as shock as everyone else; including myself. He pulled his scabbard from under the guard, forcing it to move upward. Taking the chance, Marco made a 360 turn and slicing Aventurine belly. There was no scratch to be seen on the gem, but Marco wasn't done. He made a jump, kicking the bulking gem in the face making her take a few steps back.

The wind had stopped and there was no other sound. Aventurine had her free hand covering her face. It was hard to tell whether or not she was in pain, but it was clear that that kick was not a light tap.

The first one to move was the orange gem. She had such a big grin on her face. She was getting ready to charge at Marco, but I intercepted her. I threw two knives in front of her and one behind. The orange gem stopped just before she pasted them. By the time she realized what was happening, I pressed a button that allowed electricity to pass through each knife, shocking her. However, unlike last time, she was not stunned by the electricity. Instead, she proceeded to morph her hands into drills and then plunging them into the ground so that the knives could be disabled.

I was taken aback. I new that non-corrupted gems had the ability to change their base form, but to see it in person in the heat of a fight was almost terrifying.

The orange gem redirected her focus on me with hatred that replaced the glee. Before she could stand up, she hit by a powerful gust that nearly knock everyone off their feet. I turned to see Abi with her hands outstretched and a look of exhaustion and frustration on her face. With light reflecting off her, I could see that she was covered in sweat. Her eyes began to roll in the back of her head as she collapsed on her knees. I ran towards her instinctively about to call her name, but I didn't get to say anything before a black blur intercepted me. Time seem to stop as a great force rammed me on my right side. I could hear cracking sounds as my body flew to the left. I hit the ground once before my back and legs smashed into something(the legs of the orange gem). Flopping front side on the ground, wheezing for breath, and an entire right side in pain; I was down and for good. There was a loud ringing in my ears and-when I could open my eyes-my vision was blurred and filled with black spots. I could hear what could only be voices, but they were dulled out by the ringing.

What couldn't have been more than a minute, there was a loud cry. The moment after, I felt something scoop me up, but the pressure on my side was enough to make me pass out.

*******8*************7********6******%****************************3*****2*********!

Running was the only thing he could have done. His comrade had been knocked down, and the only other capable fighter had just wore herself to exhaustion. He was left outnumbered and way to overpowered. He had to use the flash grenade, but such a tool only gave him so much time. On top of that, he could only carry a maximum of two people which meant he had to leave the hostage behind. He did what he could, he made the right call, but that didn't stop Marco from feeling any less guilty. The guilt, however, didn't come from the fact that he left someone with hostile enemies. It was because he made the call to come alone. He thought at time that two well trained members of the Creed and a gem-human half breed would be enough to fight three non-corrupted gems. Not only that, but he had received a great power that was enough to take down a corrupted gem by himself without a scratch on him.

And why wouldn't he have thought that. After the first good hits on the green gem known as Aventurine, it was clear to Marco that he was a match. But then the orange gem used her hands-turned-to-drills to break the ground around her while disabling the "electric fence". Then the black gem-Obsidian-moved so fast. He saw her move and he could follow her movements, but there was no denying that she was faster than his top speed. Even if he did try to stop the black blur, he wouldn't be in time to stop her coming attack.

Just the thought of that made Marco turn around to see that no one was following him. Still, he made an effort to pick up his pace.

After a relatively long time of peace, Marco felt safe enough to begin thinking to himself. He was think about Obsidian and how she acted when Rekirts approached the girl. Obsidian was so quick to get in the way of anyone who would come close to the girl. She willing to leave the hostage unguarded just keep someone away from the girl. Obsidian was a lot nicer towards her than anyone else. It seemed odd, but he needed to know more to the story before he could say anything.

Marco turned around one last to check if anyone was following. There was no one. They weren't following as far as his Eagle Vision could see.

Figures, he thought to himself. Good thing too, because carrying two people was tiring.

As soon as my vision had returned, the humans that called them "the creed" had left. Abi was gone as well. The only human that was still around was Abi's father. I might have laughed at the fact that their whole reason for coming here was to save him. However, the reason why I went through the trouble of kidnapping the man has disappeared from my sights. I didn't know how to feel. Frustrated? Enraged? Intrigued? Confused.

Behind me, Tiger Eye screamed with rage while slamming her fist into the ground; shaking the area around her.

"They ran away. And it was just getting interesting." she said through her teeth.

"I think it was a smart move on there part." says Avent. "At least you can look forward to fighting them again. Mabey even stronger than today."

"But I have done nothing but wait for a good fight. I will not let them evade me a second time." Tiger made her way in the direction "the creed" humans came from. However, she intercepted by my hand.

"Avent is right. Let them get stronger for now." I said, but my focus was downward and I was deep in thought.

"Why should we?"

Looking to Tiger, I responded, "You saw as that one human fight Avent. He was able to stagger her with little efforts. Don't you think that's odd?" Tiger didn't appear to understand. Avent looked ashamed. "Humans-now matter how strong they become-could never stand up to a trained quarts soldier. Which means that there is something special about him."

"Are you trying to say that he like that abomination?"

"I told you to stop calling her that! And to answer your question, I don't know. There is no proof to confirm anything at this point. But if my suspicions are correct, I may know who to blame for all this."

It could be her, but I can't say now. I have to know what makes this human so powerful. Only then can I say it was her. Only then can I say "This was the work of Tourmaline".