Chapter 2: The Galaxy Warp
In the morning, Steven wakes up to the noise of the warp pad. It's been activated, but nothing seems to be coming out of it. "Ssssss…" It hisses. Steven jumps out of his bed with a startled cry. "Ssss…" It continues.
"H-H-H-Hello?" Steven says, looking up from his bed. Steven, shaking in fear, walks down the stairs to the warp pad. "Is someone in there?"
"Ssss…"
"Hel—?"
"STEVEN!"
Steven screams, stumbling backwards, falling on his butt. He scrambles for the door. He rips it open only to find Garnet standing in the doorway. "Garnet!" He shouts. "Th-There's something inside the warp pad!"
Garnet says nothing, looking at the young Gem hiding behind her leg. She then looks at the warp pad, but nothing seems to be wrong with it. The beam of light has gone and everything is quiet inside. "What's wrong with it?"
"It said my name!"
"Hmm…" Garnet walks over to the warp pad, circling it. She taps it with her foot then stands on it. "It looks fine to me."
"Are you sure?" Steven asks, still scared.
"Yes," Garnet extends her hand, "come here." Steven reluctantly walks over to her. He takes her hand. It closes gently around his. She pulls him up to the pad and activates it.
They arrive at the Galaxy Warp. "See, the warp pad's fine," Garnet says.
"Yeah," Steven chuckles shakily, still startled by the whole situation. "I guess it was my imagination."
"Now let's go home—"
The largest warp pad in the center of the Galaxy Warp is suddenly activated. Garnet immediately summons her gauntlets and walks over to the activated Warp Pad. Steven watches as Garnet looks into the beam of light, fearful of what might happen. Garnet gasps. A bird-like talon snatches her face and throws her into a pillar. It explodes into dust and debris upon impact. Garnet erects herself, cracking her neck. "Stay back, Steven," she commands, "this is going to get messy."
A giant bird exits the beam of light. The Warp Pad behind it deactivates. The bird resembles that of a vulture with light green feathers and a white head. It has a black beak and no eyes, save for the large, green gem in front of its head.
The vulture screeches, taking flight. It sky bombs Garnet. She tries to punch it but it ascends. It repeats its attack, this time Garnet is prepared. She jumps. Her gauntlet catches the bird's neck. Garnet spins and choke slams it into the ground. She throws the bird into the air, then jumping into the air after it. She ascends higher than the bird. She locks her hands tightly together and hammer arms the giant fowl to the ground. The impact causes the ground to shake, enough to throw Steven off his balance. She finishes the corrupted Gem with a flying elbow move. There's a sharp crack in the bird's back and it explodes into an enormous cloud of white vapor. The green gem is immediately seized and bubbled.
"Let's go back," Garnet says. "There shouldn't be any more problems now." It's too bad those reassuring words for Steven are ripped apart as several more warp pads suddenly activate. Three more corrupted Gems step out of the activated light. "Oh no… Steven! Warp back to the Temple and get Pearl and Amethyst! Now!" Steven, panicked, extends his hands and concentrates as hard as he can.
As soon as Steven returns, he runs into the kitchen where Pearl is chewing a slice of apple pie. She spits it out in the trashcan next to her.
"Sup, Steven," Amethyst says, picking her nose with her pinky finger. She flicks the booger onto the ceiling. It bounces off and makes it into Steven's trashcan by his television. "Woo! Two points!"
"Steven! Where have you been?" She asks, taking another bite of the pie and looking at Amethyst in disgust. "Where's Garnet?"
"I heard something call my name from the warp pad and I ran to get you guys so I found Garnet and I told her so she warped me to the Galaxy Warp and she fought a giant bird and a bunch of other monsters came out of those warp pads and-and-," Steven inhales a long take of air, then continues with his fast, barely audible explanation, "AND NOW SHE'S FIGHTING THEM!" Pearl spits out her pie on Amethyst's hair.
"Hey!" Amethyst shouts.
"THE WARP PADS ARE WORKING?!" Pearl yells.
"Yeah, and Garnet's fighting a bunch of monsters," Amethyst adds, flicking the pie bits from her hair.
"Garnet's handled a bunch of monsters on her own before. She'll be fine, but if the warp pads are working, that means someone is sending the monsters there," Pearl says, "but why? We have to go help her. Come on, Amethyst." Pearl grabs Amethyst's wrists and they move to the warp pad. Before they can get on, the pad is activated. A pillar of blue light is emitted, longer than normal. Pearl and Amethyst take a step back and take out their weapons, waiting for whatever might come out. Is it a monster?
No. It's Garnet. She's badly injured. Her hair has been ripped, claw marks and open wounds are located are her body in various places and her shades have been broken. Her third eye is swollen. "They—The—We can't go back." Garnet falls over. As soon as she hits the floor, she explodes in a cloud of white vapor. Her gems fall to the floor. The ringing echoes through the loud silence of her three comrades.
"GARNET!"
(Author's Note: The bit with Pearl eating pie is supposed to give revelation of what she meant by she doesn't like eating. If you watched "Fusion Cuisine", she explains how the whole process of eating food makes her sick. However, in "So Many Birthdays", she also says she likes pie. So I guess this just supposed to clarify it all.)