Chapter. 3
As Hammond finished his hearty laugh, he turned to the other inhabitants of the house to ask, "Hey, seeing that I'm allowed to stay here, may I ask?" He scratched his head.
"Sure, what is it?" Came Steven's energetic voice, "Here, let me show you." True to his words, Steven motioned Hammond to come with him and showed him the toilet, which was situated in a small passage near the white couch next to them. Stopping near the door, Steven spoke up to say something to Hammond just in case he might need it, "One more thing, we don't really have much more things inside so, feel free to use some of my stuff in there. Just don't forget to wash them okay?"
"Oh, don't worry about that, I have my own in the sack," Hammond then went off to his only means of inventory and ran back to Steven with a small case which contained all that he needs in the bathroom, "See?" He showed him the case with a smile.
"Yes, I do. So I guess we're all okay then! Just holler if you need anything okay?" He then walked off after he received a nod from Hammond.
Just as Hammond entered the bathroom, he remembered that he indeed needed something, "Hey Steven!?" He called out.
"Yeah, Hammond?" Came Steven's voice.
"I forgot to ask for some towel because I don't have any with me."
"Oh, I think I have a few more upstairs. I'll be back with it."
Hammond then heard the bathroom door knock, he had already started cleaning himself when Steven left so he then opened the door slightly while covering the rest of his body behind it.
"Here's the towel you asked for." He handed the towel to Hammond, who took it from his hands politely.
"Thanks, Steven."
"No problem buddy."
Right after that, he continued what he was doing.
Just as the Gems were talking about how and where to specifically find Malachite, Hammond emerged from the bathroom door, towel wrapped around his lower body. "Hey Steven? Why do you have a comb, I mean, it doesn't look like you use it."
Steven then turned to Hammond and replied, "Oh, yeah, I don't really use it but if you want to, feel free to do so." He offered.
"Yeah, I don't really use them anyway. But-" Hammond said while looking around and realized that his sack was nowhere to be seen, "Where's my stuff? I have some clothes there that I want to get, a little torn though."
"That's why I am going to allow you to use some of mine until we get you new ones, they're over there." He pointed at the counter, where his folder star shirt and blue jeans are placed on.
"Oh really? Thanks Steven!" The child shouted happily as he ran towards his new temporary set of clothes and proceeds to put them on behind the counter, all the while listening to their conversation.
"We can't let Malachite stay at the bottom of the ocean any longer, we need to find her and defuse her!" Pearl worriedly expresses what she thinks of the matter.
"There is not much option here, we either risk all of our lives trying to find her or we could press on other matters like finding Peridot, it is only sensible considering the fact that she has all the information we need."
"Yes, but our chances of finding her is slim." Pearl sighed.
"So is our chances with Malachite, there isn't much difference."
Pearl then sighed again after being told by Garnet about what they could only hope to do.
"Forgive me but, if I may ask," Hammond chimed in while looking at everyone, "What is going on anyway? Also, please excuse my sudden change of tone and behavior here alright? What or who, exactly is, Malachite? And this Peridot person, who are they?"
The Gems then exchanged glances, they were hesitant in telling him what their concerns are. Pearl then walked up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder, "Well Hammond, truth is, we are not humans at all, at least, us. Steven on the other hand is a hybrid of a human and one of us."
Hammond eyed Pearl's hand and looked back at her, "I can see you guys aren't humans, humans don't got gems embedded on their body parts, obviously," he glanced around at the other Gems and back at Pearl, "But that doesn't explain who those two are." He tilted his head,
"I was afraid you might ask this..."
"Don't worry, I can take it."
Pearl then sighed before explaining to Hammond what and who they really are, "As you can tell from my gem here," she pointed at her forehead, "We are a race of extraterrestrial beings known as, 'Gems'. We came from a world far from here. Just like every other one of us, we possess greatly enhanced physical attributes. Along with a few other powers that is sometimes only found in certain Gems. And about Malachite, she was actually a fusion of Peridot's escort, Jasper and her informant Lapis. And along with Peridot, they were Gems sent from homeworld to finish what we started. And before you ask another thing, we rebelled against them. We won, but we suffered a great loss. We've dedicated ourselves in protecting the Earth, no matter what."
"Wow, wait, did you say you possess greatly enhanced physical statuses? I thought I was the only one!" Hammond exclaimed quite joyously.
"What? What are you talking about?" Asked Pearl.
"I don't really know why but one of the letters told me that I have something known as the, 'survivor's soul'? I don't know but the letter said that it gives me a stronger willpower and boost my stats. There's a lot of letters in that envelope actually, I've read a few of them in hopes of learning who my parents actually are. So far, I've learned of only what they do with their lives and I have to say, their cause are very noble."
His explanations got the Gems by surprise, something they did not expect from anyone at all. This got the Gems feel bad for him. That is until, "Don't worry about it though, it wasn't easy but I got over it. I moved on." He smiled at the Gems.
"Very well then, we, will not worry too much about you," Came Garnet's voice, she then turned around as if something happened. And indeed, something did happen, she quickly looked back at the Gems and shouted, "Gems! We need to go, now! Something appeared in the water near the beach!"
"Right! Steven, stay close to us okay?"
Steven then nodded, obeying Pearl's orders. Just as they were about to leave, Hammond asked them, "Wait! Can I come too? Please, I might be able to help!"
Pearl turned to Garnet on how to answer him, when Garnet stayed silent, she turned back at Hammond to answer, "Okay, but please. Stay behind us, who knows what could happen to you." To which Hammond nodded obediently to.
The Gems, including Hammond ran outside to see what caused Garnet to feel uneasy. It was revealed to be a reptilian monster, slowly crawling onto the beach. The Gems then see Lion growling at it, he then roared at the creature. Which seems to have provoked it, they were caught its' own roar by surprise. Garnet recovered from the attack and went ahead to fight this new monster, followed by Amethyst and then Pearl.
Steven and Hammond stayed behind as the Gems were engaged in battle. Hammond looked intently at them, he was then interrupted by Steven's voice, "Hey Hammond?"
After the call, Hammond then looked at Steven, "Oh, yeah, what is it?"
"I'll be honest with you, I don't think we've seen one of those before, I mean, I can't see any gem on it. And judging by the looks, its' insides seem to be out of the question,"
"Then, they won't have any chance against it?"
"I'm not entirely sure but, they're still pretty experienced in battles so, I guess it's a 50/50 chance that they'll win." He tried to assure him.
The Gems began attacking from every sides of the monster, Lion included. The creature only had to swat Pearl and Lion, who were in front of it, away. Amethyst was ironically whipped away by its' tail. Leaving Garnet to face the monster head on. She landed on the monster's head and grabbed onto it while slamming her fists repeatedly in an attempt to subdue the creature. The creature thrashed around in order to get Garnet off its' head.
The beast then slammed its' head onto the ground and successfully got Garnet off its' head. It took the opportunity to retaliate by striking down on the ground with its' claws, not knowing the other Gems have gotten up and ready to return to battle.
Amethyst started their counterattack by whipping Pearl up into the air, who dives down towards the monster with the her spear pointed towards it. Upon landing the hit, her spear only barely penetrated through the beast's scales. She then tried to pull out her weapon but the creature dropped on its' back, Amethyst managed to evade it and got to Garnet. She pulled Garnet away and got her to a safer zone, they watched as the monster got back up and turned to its' back, presumably at Pearl as the slam was powerful enough to kick up the sand and blur their vision.
Steven and Hammond stared with fear, the thought of them losing was enough to render Hammond immobile. He was afraid that if the Gems couldn't do it, then what chance does he and Steven have? But, as the smoke cleared up, Pearl was clear to be seen, she wasn't moving at all, though they will know if she is truly gone, they were afraid that she is too vulnerable.
The sight of Pearl at her most helpless snapped Hammond out of his fearful trance, "P-Pearl!" He ran off to her aid, despite only knowing all of them in such a short time, he already felt like part of the family and his wish of not wanting to lose anyone anymore triggered his suppressed abilities.
"Hammond, wait!" Steven tried to stop him as he ran past the Gems who also tried to stop him but was also too late, he was already close enough to gain the monster's attention. But he didn't stop running, he kept on charging towards the towering creature and slammed onto its' side, preventing its' attempt to finish Pearl off.
The monster was sent stumbling a good amount of distance away. Hammond then ran over to Pearl and tried to wake her up.
Pearl then opened her eyes slightly to see a worried Hammond. She was surprised and quickly got up, "Hammond! What are you doing? I thought I told-"
Hammond then shook his head, "Pearl, no! There's no time, we need to get away!" Before the Gem could reply, Hammond grabbed her hands and ran back to the others. After reaching them, he let go of Pearl's hands and breathed heavily. He looked at the Gems, who, except for Garnet, had a shocked expression. "Guys, come on! We need to-"
Amethyst then interrupted him by saying, "We need to what? You just gave us a good advantage by toppling down that monster! Now we can finish it off while he's dizzy and all! Come on Garnet!" Her glassed comrade nodded and both of them rushed towards the beast who was caught off-guard and was finished in one powerful strike by Garnet and Amethyst.
It was then revealed that the monster was not a Gem, as shown by the effect of their attack, what was left of the monster was only its' destroyed body, blood splattered all over the beach and cracked bones, revealing its' destroyed organs.
Amethyst was shocked to see this, "Ew," She looked around and saw some of the pieces of its' body everywhere, "What? Its' not a Gem?" She turned to Garnet, hoping she would have any answers, but of course she received none, as of yet.
The two went back near the house and looked back at the carcass. "Ugh, that's disgusting," Came Steven's voice.
Hammond stayed silent, it's not that he is not affected, he's only seen these kinds of things so many times before.
"What do you guys think?" Amethyst asked her allies, "This isn't quite normal, we've never had actual creatures before. Well, not until now."
"This might just be connected to him as well," Garnet looked at Hammond, "I know we're not supposed to jump to conclusions just yet but, things have been out of place ever since the visions faded. His arrival, might be a harbinger of something."
Hammond only looked at his new family for a while before uttering the following words softly, "What?"
End of chapter.
Note: I know, a wait that is not slightly worth it. But on the other side, the next chapters will be about him being introduced to the town.
Closest event this takes place in: After "Love Letters" and before "Reformed".
I will admit, this was a bit rushed... Worry not! Please, because I'll do better next time.