Chapter 3. Here! Take it!
It's been a few days since Sonic had arrived and the Crystal Gems had already gotten to know the Mobian. They were all surprised how fast he had healed as well. Within three days, he was feeling 100% and running around. Today, the Gems were going to take Sonic on one of their missions to give him a taste of what they do.
The five stood on the warp pad, all ready to head out when Sonic spoke up. "Um, I thought I had to be a Gem to be able to warp."
"Oh..." Amethyst said, scratching the back of her head. "I guess I could have been a bit more specific."
"Only Gems can activate the warp pads." Pearl explained. "Anyone standing on the pad will be transported once activated."
"That makes more sense." With that said, the warp pad activated and a light blue light enveloped the five. It took about a good minute for the group to warp to their destination, but it felt longer than that to the hedgehog. While warping, Sonic found that they were traveling within the light that has now been turned into a beam. He also found that it was hard to stay in place as he started to float up a bit.
Once they arrived, Sonic found himself a good two feet above the ground and he came down on the warp pad with a noticeable thud. Sonic looked up and saw that they had arrived in a mountainous area. The cool mountain air sent a chill up his spine and the air was thinner than normal.
"Where are we?" the blue hedgehog asked.
"We are in a region known as the Himalayan Mountains." Pearl said. "It is one of the largest mountain ranges on Earth, as well as the sight of ancient Gem ruins."
"Whoa..." Sonic looked at the mountains and on the peak of one of the taller mountains saw a large temple like building, crumbled by the hands of time. The hedgehog was about to race on ahead until he was stopped by Garnet.
"You shouldn't go on ahead by yourself." said the Gem. "We have no idea what's here."
Sonic sighed. "Fine." The five started to walk up the path to the temple, while the hedgehog looked bored the entire way.
Meanwhile in the rain forest
Doctor Eggman was sitting at a console within the facility that he had found. SOMEHOW managing to get a few hundred robots built in the traditional Egg Pawns model, Eggman had been able to rebuild most of the building. Looking up at the screen, was the blueprints of the building. Typing something into the console, the doctor pulled up an image of three gemstones. One was cut in a diamond shape, the second was cut in a triangular shape, and the last was cut in a spherical shape.
On the side of the screen read energy signatures and brainwaves. Putting a hand to his chin, Eggman thought about what these gemstones could possibly do if used correctly.
A robot came walking into the room. He bowed before his creator before speaking. "Sir, the lifeforms have reemerged from the gemstones. Would you like to proceed with the decorruption process?"
"Go ahead. Let's see if we can remove this corruption from the gemstones." Eggman gave a wicked smile as he clasped his hands together. "I'm interested in seeing what they can do at their full potential..."
Within the temple, the Gems, Steven, and Sonic had found what they have been looking for: a corrupted Gem that had taken on the form of a Snow Leopard. Like all snow leopards, this one had snow white fur, black spots all over, and sharp teeth. But what made this one different was that it was much larger than any other leopard, about 15 feet tall, as well as it had icicles on its body and as fangs. The Gem was located on its chest, a cyan colored one in the shape of a pentagon.
They were in the central most chamber when the five were ambushed. Garnet, using her fast reflexes stopped everyone from proceeding right before the beast landed on them. It had jumped from a high ledge, located near the ceiling.
"Is that what we've came for?" Sonic asked. He, along with everyone else had gotten in a fighting stance. The Gems had pulled out their weapons, while Steven had a little difficulty summoning his.
"It looks like it." Pearl confirmed.
"This is what must have been causing the climate changes recently." Garnet said as she felt the air around her get much colder. The wind also started to pick up, making it seem colder than what it really was.
The five surrounded the beast in a circle, or at least they tried. The leopard swung its front right paw at the group, making them jump back away from it. It was a good idea that they did because the air and ground where the beast had swung was now frozen solid. The corrupted gem then roared, causing the ice to break and fly at the group in shards.
Sonic had managed to jump out of the way and Steven was able to put up his shield just in time. The Gems, however, were blasted by the shards and were left cut all over their bodies.
The hedgehog curled into a ball and started to spin in place, charging his signature Spin Dash. Once enough momentum was collected, Sonic sped forward and bounced himself into the air, hitting the leopard in the side of the face. The hedgehog bounced back and came to a skidding halt next to the Gems.
Seeing an opening, Amethyst threw her whip at the beast's legs and managed to grab hold of the front left one. Pulling her weapon back, Amethyst was able to pull the leopard's leg from underneath, but it still stood. The Gem did all she could to keep the beast in that spot.
Pearl went to take out the other front leg, but was swept aside by a swipe from the leopard's paw. Garnet jumped in, seeing the beast distracted, and punched it in its side, knocking it to the ground. Amethyst now was able to pull the beast with her whip, and when she did, she threw it into a wall. The leopard got up and shook its head, trying to get its bearings.
Once it was able to see straight, the beast roared as it slammed its front paws on the ground, causing stalagmites made out of ice to form from the ground. The Gems jumped out of the way of the icy formations just in time to not get impaled. Sonic raced forward and tried to hit the beast with one of his Homing Attacks, but the leopard breathed a wind of icy air, causing him to be blown back, now with a frozen coat of fur. He stood back where he was, icicles handing from the tips of his quills and his body shivering, but despite that, the hedgehog stood ready to continue fighting.
Amethyst grabbed one of the stalagmites with her whip and threw it at the corrupted Gem. The beast was struck right in the head as the stalagmite shattered. The leopard flinched due to the pain and when it looked back up, it saw Pearl ready with her spear.
Sonic turned his head away to not see what was about to happen. The next thing he heard was a loud roar followed by the slicing of flesh. All went quiet after that. The hedgehog looked back to see what had happened and saw Pearl standing in front of the beast, her spear deep within the creature's neck. The leopard was motionless, its eyes looking towards the Gems.
Then all of a sudden, the beast's body exploded in a cloud of smoke and all that was left of it was its gem, laying on the ground. Sonic was stunned by the method of defeating the beast. Never in his life would he ever consider killing a beast or person, no matter what they did. There were only a few instances where he made the exception.
Pearl put her weapon away and reached down and picked up the gem while the others walked over to her.
"Did you have to kill it?" Sonic asked, his voice sounding sincere.
Pearl looked at the hedgehog and noticed the sadness in his tone. "Oh, I didn't kill it. It just retreated back into its gem." A grey-yellow orb formed around the gem and was soon teleported away.
"What do you mean?"
"When a Gem's body is damaged enough, they retreat back into their gem to regenerate!" Steven explained.
Sonic's face seemed to bright up a little. "Well that's good to know." With that said, the five returned home.
The last bit was a bit rushed. Sue me!