Chapter Sixteen: Volcanic Glass
Steven woke up on the sand, saltwater almost to his feet. He remembered that he'd seen something crazy.
He'd seen an author and his Gems.
Lloydanite was right beside him, cloak and all, bony bat wings stretched out. When Steven saw him, he disappeared into a fine black dust.
Shadowknight came out with his horse, who was muttering to him. Steven hadn't seen a talking horse before. Then again, he had a pink lion.
Shadowknight's insignia started to glow faintly, and he knew the portal to his original world was opening again. All he did was throw a sword at the opening rift and it shattered like glass.
Then another portal opened. What came out made Shadowknight shudder.
Obsidian, an enormous buff Gem with a black skull for a head, green fire for a neck and hair, came out.
The Neo Crystal Gems came outside and shuddered at the beast they locked eyes with.
Azurite had caught a glimpse of the most beautiful Gem he'd seen when he went into the Temple for the first time, which he went to get.
Her name was Silver, and her hair was long enough to reach her knees. It shone in the moonlight. These features charmed Azurite.
When Silver came out from the Temple, being dragged by him, and saw Obsidian, she summoned her weapons, seeking buzzsaws, and threw them into Obsidian's eye sockets. She tapped her gem once and they exploded, leaving only small cracks in the skull.
Steven was the only one capable of defeating him, but Azurite and Silver still tried.
Azurite pushed Silver back to protect her, as Obsidian was most likely to lug a punch at them.
This backfired when Azurite tumbled onto Silver, her landing on him, their bodies and gems glowing.
Apparently they had performed a dance.
Blue Aragonite was a formidable opponent, especially when you've never seen her before. Her body shone just as well as Silver's hair, just as long, just as beautiful. Her skin was a shade of cyan and very lustrous. The gems were clouded with blue. The Gems' control over her was neutral, like Jasper with Lapis.
"What'd you do?" the Silver side asked.
"I tried to protect you from a punch I predicted, but I just tripped over a pebble…"
"I guess we can go with this," Silver replied.
She summoned her weapons, the buzzsaws and hooked sword, and combined them into a thorned chakram, a flat disk with spikes protruding from the sides. Like the buzzsaws, it also found a path to its target, no matter what.
She flung her chakram, this time to his chest. This time, tapping both gems, especially with two arms each, created an explosion half the size of the Temple.
Steven sprinted into the Temple as faced as he could and asked his mother if he could borrow her sword. Of course she said yes.
As he brought out the sword from its scabbard, the pink blade started to glow dimly. It was ready to release a blast of pure power.
Steven went outside and swung the sword, and when he did, a vivid pink blast of light in the shape of Rose, much like her light cannons, flew into the sky and hit Obsidian's chest. When it hit, it exploded into moss, the kind that bloomed into pink flowers with rose quartz centers.
But, instead, the moss took on the shape of the sword, hardened, and repeatedly swung hard at Obsidian's chest.
Technically, it was Steven who had taken down Obsidian, as he swung the sword.
Right as the moss blade began hitting, Blue Aragonite's chakram split it into two, then exploded, making eight moss swords as strong as the original. The blast also damaged Obsidian's gem.
Obsidian summoned his weapon, a flail that was more than five times as powerful as Sugilite's.
Three of the swords targeted the flail, two hit his gem, and the other three tried to put out Obsidian's flames, as they were a sign of health.
When the three destroyed the flail, they joined the other two to help with the gem. The other three put out as much fire as they could, unsigned.
Suddenly, Steven took a huge leap and plunged the sword into Obsidian's gem as hard as possible.
Obsidian's physical shape disappeared into black smoke, his gem left behind to bubble. It might have been huge, but it could be used for certain things.
The Gems were gasping for air, and Azurite was seen overreacting, screaming at rocks and crabs as if they were his lifelong nemesis.
But THEY weren't.
Obsidian wasn't either.
It was the Diamond Empire.
And one of them was lurking in the shadows of the Temple.
Pink Diamond.