Hey guys! First things first, I apologize for not updating in a while. I hope no one really noticed too much, I've just been a little out of it lately and I didn't really know what to do with this story. But now that I'm back in I would like to say that this chapter may be something that could lead to me making a new series in the future that isn't tied to heavily to a lot of what Steven Universe is about now. I'm more of a science fiction and fantasy person so this new series may lead to that. Anyhow this chapter is going to have some explanations in it and a large amount of them are going to be based off of the "Horror Club" gem abilities which I assume all gems can do. If I'm wrong then if someone would tell me that'd be nice, but much of this chapter is going off of that assumption. Anyways hope you guys enjoy, also a perspective that's not Steven's! YAY!
"Thanks Peridot.." Steven said somberly from the other side of the screen. "I think I'll see you some other time, I've hehe... I've got a lot of thinking to do." He continued. Peridot simply smiled back at him.
"Of course! Call back anytime! Hope you feel better soon!" They said, after which they waved their goodbyes before ending the video chat and shutting off the laptop that it'd been projecting from. Peridot then sighed, it'd been a few days after the incident with the Quartz and Steven couldn't have been more confused.
He needed answers and with most of the gems being gone for a large period of time, mainly due to the search for Aquamarine, as well as Connie not having much knowledge on Gems at all, he went to the only Gem that could provide him with said answers.
When he called Peridot from his laptop they hadn't been doing much; simply practicing their metallic capabilities once more and trying their darnedest to get them to their peak capabilities. Luckily they'd been searching online for information about magnetism and the different types. That's when they saw his call.
At first they'd been excited to see what new funny story he'd tell her however the moment she saw his bleak eyes and upset expression their excitement morphed into empathy. Before they could even ask what was wrong, he went on to tell them about everything that had happened in just those few days. The new gem, it's shape-shifting abilities, it's abrupt departure, and the gems once more refusing to tell him something important, everything was laid down.
Thus Peridot had little time to adjust, but they did their best. After his long and somewhat frustrated tirade about the gems he then went on to ask a question, the likes of which forced their gears to begin to turn. He spoke about how the Quartz told him that he could've been the perfect weapon, the likes of which could be used against home-world.
They gave him the best explanation they could-explaining how his human-half could possibly resist many gem weapons? It was all speculatory, a hypothesis at best. And by the end of it all, Steven still looked upset. That's when they said their goodbyes.
After Peridot had sighed in disappointment, mainly to themselves for not being able to conjure up something that was good enough to please a friend that was clearly in need of comfort.
"Peridot!" They heard Lapis call from the top half of the barn, they'd been watching "Camp Pining Hearts" once again on the nice sofa.
"Coming!" Peridot said before racing up the ladder as quickly as possible. When they finally arrived, somewhat out of breath, Lapis chuckled.
"Jeez, it's not like I said I was being attacked. I was just wondering who you were talking to down there." Lapis questioned as they then shut the TV.
"Oh that!" Peridot said as they chuckled as well, more so out of embarrassment. "That was actually Steven! I was talking to him through the use of the projector!" They exclaimed.
Lapis raised a brow. "The projector?" They asked.
"Yes, the projector. You've seen it, the large projector with a vast array of buttons attached to it's lower half, each marked with letters from the human English language." Peridot said. Lapis' brow stayed raised.
"You mean the laptop?" They asked.
"Oh right! I forgot, earthlings have such strange name's for objects." Peridot said before sitting next to Lapis, who moved over to make room.
"Yeah, you're not wrong there. Anyway what'd he want to talk to you about?" Lapis asked. Thus Peridot sighed before explaining.
"He said that they encountered, four new gems." They stated.
"Four!? Are you sure?!" Lapis asked rising from their seat as a sudden array of thoughts began to fly through their minds.
"Woah woah, Lapis relax! It's really only two now and one of them isn't actually aligned with Home-World anymore." Peridot reassured and with that Lapis relaxed somewhat, slowly they sat back down.
"W-what happened? What did they want?" Lapis asked. Peridot looked down.
"You see that's the thing. One of the gems, was a Quartz." Peridot said. Lapis widened their eyes, they hadn't heard of a Quartz since the war, something that they hoped they'd never have to dwell on again.
"It also turns out that this Quartz was one of the few Quartz gems that was able to escape the bubbling of Quartz gems by the Diamonds. Apparently they also refused to use their gem weapons or their natural gem form, only preferring to use shape-shifting which they'd somehow mastered. They also apparently wanted to help the Crystal Gems destroy the Diamonds." Peridot said.
"Wow... That's, pretty surprising. Are they still on our side?" Lapis asked.
"Well uh that's the other thing. During their time here, Steven and the rest of the gems apparently encountered two Home-World gems. One of which was a Topaz fusion and the other of which I believe was an Aquamarine based off of their gem placement. What's confusing about them is that they were kidnapping humans using the body of the Topaz fusion as some sort of prison. The thing that's strange is apparently they were asking for their dad.. It's pretty irrelevant I suppose. The big thing is that the Quartz shattered the Topaz fusion somehow! After which the Aquamarine poofed them before crying and leaving. After which when The Quartz later on reemerged the gems told them to get off of the planet which they seemingly did." Peridot relayed.
Lapis looked at them with the most quizzical expression on their face, to which Peridot cocked their head to the side in confusion.
"What?" Peridot asked.
"All of that... That happened in the span of a few days?" They asked.
"Well, that's what Steven told me." Peridot said.
"Oook then." Lapis said, rubbing their temples. "Is that all Steven wanted to talk about?" Lapis asked.
"And that's the other thing... He brought up something a little interesting. Before the Quartz left it apparently mentioned that he could've been the perfect weapon against Home-world but that apparently something was apparently wrong with the process in which he was made." Peridot stated.
"That's weird. Steven's part organic. How could that be used in anyway against Home-World?" Lapis asked.
"I thought the same thing to and initially I believed it was because of his immunity to gem destabilizers but that can't be right because even an average Ruby could defeat him without problem in any physical altercation." Peridot said.
"So then.. They were just wrong right?" Lapis asked.
"I thought so too at first. But now that I'm putting actual thought into it... Come! Let's go to the blackboard I want to show you something." Peridot said. After which they quickly climbed back down the ladder and immediately went in search for the blackboard. Lapis slowly flying down and following from behind.
After finding it Peridot immediately erased numerous incomprehensible equations before grabbing a piece of chalk and drawing a picture of a Ruby in it's base Gem form.
"Ok, so this is a gem without it's use of a light form. In this state most gems are seen as useless right?" Peridot asked, Lapis simply nodded; intrigued in where this was going.
"Most gems would agree, but what most gems don't seem to recall is that we are excellent power sources. A gem has seemingly limitless amounts of energy, it's how we can maintain our light forms indefinitely, and not only that, the energy that we produce is able to be converted into any other type of energy that exist. For example electricity." They stated, Lapis continued following along.
"Now with that established, gems also have the ability to manipulate matter around them in this state. Whenever they are placed in an object they can manipulate it, it's not on a planetary scale but it is something that can be done." They said, continuing to draw more and more on the blackboard as they explained.
"Wait. Why can't it be planetary?" Lapis asked.
"Well that's the thing Lapis. Gems may be capable of producing limitless amounts of energy, but there is one limit on that. And that's the amount of energy that a gem can actually hold and keep control of. This is why rubies have such small forms, if they didn't and they tried to, let's say-make their light forms the size of a ten story building, they would simply destabilize. This is because certain gems can handle and manipulate more energy at once than others can." Peridot explained, once more Lapis nodded.
"With that out of the way, back to the point at hand. Due to a gem being able to manipulate energy so easily, combined with the fact that we are capable of producing limitless amounts of energy, in Steven's case, it's possible that the reason why he could've been the perfect weapon is because of the fact that if a gem managed to incorporate itself into an organic and control it's cells, we could theoretically provide them with all of the energy needed to sustain them. Even better, if we were able to find out how the process of their cell cycle worked-this is the thing that allows cells to replicate, we could even tap into the cells and manage that process for them, hundreds if not thousands of times faster. This could lead to a gem producing billions of cells in seconds, theoretically being able to regenerate and grow up to any size that they want and become as strong as they want." Peridot said.
By the time they'd finish, the chalk board had once more been filled with drawing and pictures, as well as numerous words. When they turned back to Lapis the once more had that quizzical expression on.
"What is it now?" Peridot asked in frustration.
"Oh it's nothing it's just... How do you know all this stuff on Earthlings and their bodies?" Lapis asked.
"Oh.. Well it's simple, I've been using our down time here to do some research on the planet, not only that back on Home-World I was tasked with studying a few gems and many organics to see if they were a threat." Peridot stated.
"Well, alright then. So, you're basically saying that if a gem can manipulate a human body it would be able to grow strong enough to rival the gems on Home-World?" Lapis asked.
"Hypothetically, yes." Peridot simply stated.
"Why a human? Can't it be anything? Like maybe fire, or lightning, or maybe even the ground?" Lapis asked. Peridot then furrowed her brow, her gears turning once more.
"Well technically it doesn't have to be a human. Anything with cells in it would most likely suffice if Gems could give it the energy needed. Not only that, the reason why the other elements aren't used is because gems would need to manipulate them in a similar way to their light forms, meaning that again certain gems would naturally be stronger than others mainly because of how much energy they can manipulate at once." Peridot answered.
"Well yeah, but even with that being said I think it'd be a lot easier if something like... I dunno , a Ruby tried to go up against Jasper using the ground. It'd make their attacks a lot less predictable at least.." Lapis said.
Peridot nodded as they heard this. It did make some amounts of sense however they still did have a retort to even that.
"Even with that being said Lapis using an organics cells a gem would be able to grow stronger. We can't forget how cells almost seem to manage themselves at times, it would be less taxing on the gems and if they could mutate the cells, it's possible that there could be gems that could make new life forms." Peridot stated to which for the second time that day, Lapis' eyes widened.
"A new life form... That could actually fight back against Home-World." They said with some amount of awe, as they then turned back to the board.
"It's possible that this is what the Quartz was referring to... Of course even with that being said this could have drawbacks, after-all cells still require water, which a gem would need an abundance of if they hope to make an organic body that can actually fight multiple Home-world gems. Alongside that, the amount of replication that would happen could potentially lead to cancer cells and mutations because the telomeres in the cells and DNA would pretty much be non-existent after what the amount of replication... Of course it is possible a gem could control those cancer cells, but it is a lot of speculation." Peridot stated.
"Then we need to speculate more!" Lapis exclaimed, much to the surprise of Peridot.
"W-we should?" They asked.
"Yes!" Lapis nearly shouted, as they turned back to Peridot. "I never want to get caught up in another war again! But if there's a way that we can fight back against Home-World, if there's a way that I can protect all of you and myself... Then I want to at least try, I'm tired of running away." Lapis said.
Peridot stared at them, their eyes gleaming in excitement over finally having someone to speak with about these scientific phenomenon.
"W-well alright then. If you believe that's what you want... Then we should probably start with finding more ways to improve the gem structure and-" Peridot continued on with their plan, finding more and more ways to incorporate the manipulation of matter in a fight against Home-World gems. Continuing far after the day had ended, and night had fallen. It was the beginning of a new age for gems.