Chapter Eleven: How Far I'll Go For Someone Else

"Marco!" There was no response. "Marco! Did he really leave us?" Abi was in Marco's car, resting. In his car was a note and the keys. The reinforcements had came and they left as soon as they did. At least I could track them down, but should I go after them? I was still as weak as before and Abi was no better. I made sure everything was packed, Abi was safely seated, and made my way to Abi's house.

The trees were so close to the road. Some of the green limbs brushed against the car as we passed. It was calming.

The plan was to go as far back as possible to where I last saw Abigael's father and start tracking the gems from there.

"And then what do we do?" Asked Alan. He was sitting in the back while Michael drove. I looked back at Alan as if he just asked a question he was just told the answer. He elaborates. "Every gem we have captured is stored away and not really thought about. What about these guys? And what if they have connections to homeworld? Their absence would draw attention."

I respond. "I don't think that will be a problem. What would homeworld want with a gem-human hybrid?" There was no answer.

Michael was the one who spoke up. "Even if these gems aren't with homeworld, why do they care? Rekirts got hurt because of this. To what extent are these guys willing to go?"

"I don't know." I said irritated. "We will get answers, but only when we catch them." I look back out the window.

Something seemed off. I couldn't see anything odd; it was a feeling. Neither Michael nor Alan seemed bothered in the slightest. When they noticed I was tense, they too became alert. Something was close.

From the woods, trees feel at an alarming rate, and then the car was rammed by a orange figure. The car was lifted and thrown into the air towards an open field. Everyone grabbed something and, once the car was low enough to the ground, leaped out as the car crashed leaving skid marks.

Everyone was fine; except Michael's car. "Oh come on!" He yelled. The car was upside down with the wheels spinning off axis. It was covered in dirt and scratches with the windows shattered. However, that was the least of our problems. In front of us stood the orange gem that was with Obsidian, but she looked different. She was hunched over as more of her hair covered her left eye. Black and orange scale-like patterns began to crawl over her arms, back, and face. She was gripping her head with clawed hands.

From a distance, a soothing melody played and the corrupted form of the orange gem was reverted back to it original state. She stopped holding her head and her covered less of her face. Both Michael and Alan look in amazement as this was something that none of us had seen.

"Tiger!" Yelled an angry Obsidian followed by another gem holding Abi's father. "I told you to calm down. You knew this would happen if you didn't and yet you continued to have a fit."

"I'm sorry. But it's still frustrating that—"

"I know why you're upset. But because of your outburst, we have to clean up—" Obsidian look in our direction and realizes that we seemed to be unharmed. "Wait…. you were one of those hooded humans that came for Abi." She looks towards the car with horror. "Was—was she with you in the car?"

"That doesn't matter. You'll be taken either way." I replied.

Obsidian's fear turned to calculated rage. "Even if you won't tell me, I will find her in the end. You're just one more annoyance that stands in my way. Aventurine!" The gem named Aventurine looked towards Obsidian. "Watch him. Me and Tiger will take care of this."

Two black swords appeared in her hands while the one named Tiger charged at us. We all pulled out our weapons and Michael went to intercept. He relied his hammer back and swung it to meet the orange gem's fist. The clash raised a dust cloud around. A hole formed in the dust as Obsidian raced past the two bruisers to get to me and Alan.

Alan held both of his swords together as he waited to strike, but as soon as she was close enough, she stabs one of her sword into the ground and bolts right. The action hardly costed her any speed. Using the same technique, she pasted behind us only to come back towards me. She was too quick for me to follow, so I closed my eyes and keep track of her presence. As she got closer towards me, I snapped my eyes open and raised my sword which connected with hers. The momentum of her charge pushed me back, but she was stopped.

Alan took the chance to redeem himself. He positioned himself right beside me as he swung one of his swords at Obsidian. Because Alan's initial attack was so far away, she didn't even flinch. All of a sudden, she is knocked to the ground by a gust of wind. She wasted no time getting back up and was able to move out of the way of Alan's next attack.

"This is for my car!" Screamed Michael, as he slammed his hammer into Tiger as she was practically thrown into the air. As heavy as the hammer was, Michael was agile and patient with the thing. He was much more durable than anyone I knew, so he could afford to take a hit or to before dealing a knockout blow. Tiger got up in frustration, turning her hands into drills.

As fast as Obsidian was, she was unable to get close enough to either me or Alan to make any contact. If was too far, Alan would launch wind blades to trip her up. When she got too close, I would be ready to block her and stop her movement. Even then, she was still too fast for us to do any real damage. Without concentration, Alan's wind blades wouldn't do any kind of damage and even these weak variants couldn't hit the speedster. She was crafty too. At some point, she started to slide towards us which made it harder for me to block her. She would jump over our heads, charge at us blades first, and throwing dust at us using her speed.

I could sense it all. I could feel where she was going to be giving me time to react accordingly.

She stopped running around us and made it to Tigers side. She slashed at Michael's arms as she passed him causing him to bleed lightly. He came to me and Alan as he looked for something in his bag to stop the bleeding. Both me and Alan were looking at his arm; but not at the blood. Something had been revealed that should have remained hidden.

Abi woke up halfway to her house. I told her what I knew happened and then…. "We have to go find them. You said knew where Marco went?"

"If he needed help, he would have waited for us. Besides, Obsidian is after you and—"

"I don't care. We have to go."

"Even if we go, we aren't strong enough to help."

"This isn't just about fighting Obsidian or getting my father back. If Marco and who ever else is with him are as strong as I think they should be, then Obsidian won't hold back."

"Wait, are you saying there is something else she can do?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that, but yes. Marco may be strong, but he won't be prepared for what will come."

It all made sense now. Obsidian was looking at the armband that now could be seen through the ripped cloth on the human she cut. In the center was a yellow gem shard.

In all fairness, it could have been fake or a non-sentient gem that one could find on earth. But the strength of these humans could only be explained if those gems were sentient.

"Aventurine! Tiger!" Obsidian's eyes didn't leave the gem shard as she pulled a crystal looking flute from her gemstone. "These aren't normal enemies. We need to take care of them as soon as possible if we are to move forward." She move towards Abi's father as Aventurine went to stand next to Tiger.

Tiger's eye widen and a grin grew on her. The three creeds look up at the gems and readied themselves. "It's been too long since we did that." Said a gleeful Tiger. "I can't even remember the last time we had to do it."

"Don't get too excited." Aventurine said with caution. "It could turn on us if we are not careful."

"What? Do you not trust Obsidian?" Aventurine didn't respond to Tiger. "Hey, at least it doesn't hurt."

Obsidian was standing over Tom when she began to play her flute. It was an ominous sound, but slowly build the adrenaline as it got faster and louder. When the song was building, the two gems changed.

Tiger grew slightly in muscle mass and her hair grew slightly, however, not as long as before when she lost control. Once again, her body was being covered by black and orange scale-like patterns while still having her stripes. Her hand and feet became clawed, but the claws looked like drills. Her extended a bit and formed teeth. Her body hunched and a tail formed growing to equal length of her body.

Aventurine did something similar, but she didn't gain scales or a tail. Her arms formed in front of her in such a way that one would think she was holding pillars. The arm guards that were her summon weapons appeared on both arms.

To the creeds, the gems looked like were creatures from myth. Then, a spike in the song came out of nowhere which acted as the go ahead to attack. Tiger jumped in the air and began to dig a pond landing and Aventurine curled up into a ball and rolled towards the creeds. It was at that point they new the real fight had begun.