Developing Chalcedony

Chapter 4

Mrs. Maheswaran saw a glint of something on Connie's back, behind her shirt. "What is that?"

Connie said, "There's one more thing I have to tell you. I have a gem on my back now."

"What!?" said Connie's mother. "How did that happen?"

"I think I was fusing with Steven a little too much," said Connie.

"What have you been doing to our daughter?" asked Mr. Maheswaran.

Garnet said, "We just saw it today. It developed by itself."

Amethyst said, "Yeah, it's cool. Nothing to worry about."

Mrs. Maheswaran said, "I'm horrified. I thought we knew what Connie as doing all the time, and now all this... Is there any way to take the gem off?"

Garnet said, "That would be risky."

Steven said, "Please don't try."

Connie said, "I don't want to take it off."

Mr. Maheswaran said, "We should take Connie and move far away from here."

"No!" said Connie, starting to cry. "Please don't do that."

"We can't," said Mrs. Maheswaran, "What if something starts to go wrong? These people are the only ones in the world who know anything about this."

"Here's what we should do," said Garnet. "Let Connie stay with us for a while for observation. If we find a way to remove the gem safely, we'll let you know."

"I guess that's the only way," said Mrs. Maheswaran.

Her parents packed some things for Connie. She went with the Crystal Gems back to their house. Peridot went with them.

"You can sleep down here in the living room. Is that all right?" said Pearl.

"We don't use Sapphire's bedroom in the Temple any more, just Ruby's, said Garnet. "I'll fix it up for you."

"Hey, I need a room, too," said Peridot.

Connie looked sad, "I wish my parents hadn't found out. They're really upset."

Steven said, "I wish we could fix that."

"Possibly we could," said Pearl.

"Really?" said Connie.

Pearl said, "There's old Gem memory-wiping technology at the Kindergarten. It was used on humans who discovered that place, to make them forget."

"It hasn't been used since we won the war," said Garnet.

"Old Gem technology can be tricky, but I can help you work it," said Peridot.

Amethyst said, "The old Kindergarten where I was born has cool stuff. Sounds like a good plan."

Connie said, "I don't know... It could hurt them. What do you think, Steven?"

Steven said, "I think we should go check it out."

They took the teleportation pad to the Kindergarten.

"This is a spooky place," said Connie.

"Yeah, but it's okay," said Steven. "I've been here before."

"I grew up here," said Amethyst. "Hey, that's my climbing rock!"

A fused Gem monster was on top of the rock. It had five hands, one big eye, and two legs sticking out like antennas.

Peridot went over and said, "I think I know how to fix these Gem monsters. First you need to pop it to get at the gems."

The fused monster grabbed Peridot and threw her against a wall.

"It's strong," said Garnet. "But we can beat it. Come on."

Amethyst said, "I've got this monster," as she drew out her whip.

Amethyst used her whip to grab one of its antenna legs. She flung the monster into Garnet's gauntlet punch, and the monster popped.

Peridot picked herself up and went over to the fused gem that was left behind.

"I need my disruptor to split these back apart," said Peridot. "Then we have to find the other pieces of each and put them back together."

Garnet said, "We have a lot of other parts bubbled back at the Temple. The disruptor we took from you is back there, too."

"We need to help our old team-mates first," said Pearl. "We'll look for the memory machine later."