Chapter 4
Water Planet
1800s
Era 2
Black Onyx was still in her personal room, there her old limb enhancers were rested right beside the rest of armor. There were leg attachments along with the arm attachments, also the chest piece and leg piece were there too. Now these particular limb enhancers were designed fit to Onyx, it wasn't cone shaped as for the Peridot's limb enhancers, instead it had a more slender design which made it look more like metallic gloved and boots. Still though, the enhancers fulfilled its purpose to make her seem at least a couple feet taller.
She hated the limb enhancers.
"She's not even taller then the average Quartz soldier, are you sure there isn't anything we can do, maybe place her back into the kindergarten?" Yellow Diamond questioned.
This office stood right in the middle of HomeWorld, the walls were perfectly white with diamond shaped carving all around the roof and the floor. It's here that Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond stood right with White Diamond. It's been only a few days since Pink Diamond emerged from the soil.
"No, there were some complications with the process, our Peridots are trying to see what went wrong." White responded, she often stood at the dark corner of the room, no one saw her face as often.
"Oh geez, fine let's just shatter her and try again from scratch," Yellow Diamond suggested, "we'll just have to be extra careful next time."
"She's a Diamond, we can't just shatter her," Blue diamond objected, White Diamond seemed to have nodded.
"What use can a defective grunt be? Plus we can't just let the Gems see her, not when she's not even reaching my knee." Yellow Diamond stated.
There were a moment of silence.
"We wasted too much resources just to shatter her Yellow Diamond, but she's hardly a Diamond like that," White then said, she then walked up to the two other Diamond, "I'm not sure what we can do."
Blue Diamond looked at the other two sisters. Defective Gems were to be expected once every few hundred Gems or so, but to see a short Diamond wasn't to be expected.
"We should still train her to be a proper Diamond, maybe she can make up in other areas where she lacks in size." Blue Diamond added, the others nodded.
"Well, we'll rotate who watches her. Blue Diamond, she's going to be with you." White Diamond said, "Come Yellow, let's go see if the engineers and scientist have some sort of solution, maybe fix what's wrong with her."
Blue watched Yellow and White walk out of the room. There was a general silence in the room while Blue looked around carefully, but she knew that there was someone still here with her. Blue Diamond stepped right up to Whit Diamond's seat, she looked around one last time then checked behind it. And there was Pink Diamond.
"There you are, how much did you hear?" Blue Diamond asked.
Pink didn't quite respond to the question for the first few seconds, instead, she just watched the large Diamond for a couple of seconds.
"I'm defective?" Pink asked.
SIGH
"Yes, but you're still a Diamond, just like the rest of us and I love you just the way you are." Blue answered, she gently picked up Pink.
"I'm still short," Pink added, "much too short."
"Don't worry, all you have to do is just be the best you can be. Reach your full potential and even Yellow Diamond will appreciate you; just make her proud."
Black Onyx didn't quite like what she remembered while looking at the limb enhancers. Even with them on, she was still much smaller then Yellow Diamond, almost as if it didn't make much a difference. Black then threw the limb enhancers across the room, she moaned and stamped for a couple of seconds before finally calming down.
"I hate limb enhancers!… But, I really need them…"
Back on land, Pink Pearl looked up to the sky, there was an odd silence in the atmosphere but she knew the HomeWorld Gems were here. Moonstone was able to detect their presence to be right above the planet's atmosphere. If Pearl had a heart, it would be racing. There was no turning back and no way to escape this time, The entire refuge rested on the success of her plan. After a short while, a Gem warship descended right unto the land, there was only one as Pearl expected.
"This is it guys." Pearl said.
Moonstone, Peridot and Zircon both looked at the ship eagerly, any moment now the Gems will appear from the ship will full intent to arrest them. But then, instead of a group of Quartz soldiers jumping down the ship as expected, there was one single gem; a rather dark, fully armored Gem. The helmet that blocked her face was on, along with the chest piece with the limb enhancers. It made her look really heavy and bigger then her true size.
"Oh, No…" Pearl whispered to herself.
Suddenly the entire camp was engulfed with fire the heat, Zircon was poofed just like that but Pearl and Moonstone managed to get out of the way. Peridot was though so her body managed to withstand the direct impact luckily.
No kind of trap would work on Black Onyx, not with her acting as a flamethrower, burning everything in a path. Pearl looked around for a bit, she found Zircon's gems right in the dirt then picked it up.
"Oh, my God! What is that!" Peridot shouted, she pointed to Onyx.
"White Diamond's Era 2 Black Onyx," Moonstone responded, "we need to hide."
"Okay, Moonstone, please get Aquamarine, Peridot and I should be able to hold her off."
With that, Moonstone dashed away, taking the longest root to the hiding spots encase she was being followed. Peridot didn't quite have any Gem weapons, but her limb enhancers provided her with a blaster and very tough punches. Pearl then pulled out two small knives from her gem, they were relatively small, but exceptionally sharp.
"Hey, you think we'll like survive this?" Peridot asked.
"Nope."
Black Onyx then released another stream of fire at them, this time Peridot managed to block the flames using a shield her floating fingers created. After that, Pearl jumped over Peridot, then she threw one of her knives right at Black Onyx. The knife swam through the air, and right at Onyx's helmet. Onyx managed to catch the knife just fine, but then she ended up flying way back from Peridot's green energy blasts. Pearl then threw her second knife, this one managed to penetrate her armor, but not poof Onyx.
"We just need to keep her at a distance." Pearl said to Peridot.
While a fight was going on, Moonstone quickly rushed right to one of the caves to find Aquamarine. Once she got near, Moon tripped on a rock and ended up rolling down the cave, right until she reached Aquamarine's footsteps. All the other Gems were worried when seeing her of course, it meant that the plan was either failing, or it already failed.
"Moonstone, sweetie, why do you look so roughed up?" Aquamarine asked, "Except for the fact you were rolling on dirt."
"Big armored Gem, its Black Onyx!" Moonstone said to them.
"WHAT! Black Onyx! Come on Moonstone, the plan's changed we're fusing."
Moonstone nodded, the two of them hopped out of the cave then did a quick, little dance. The dance was a little awkward due to the size difference but it worked out. Just like that, they fused together into one complete Gem, four arms with long blue hair, a sort of fancy and wings. This Gem was just slightly taller then the average Quartz soldier.
"Blue Cat's Eyes! I've missed this!" she said to herself, then looked at the Gems, "Stay hidden no matter what happens."
"We will." One of the Quartz responded.
Within a couple of seconds, Cat's Eyes flew into the sky, her large water wings spread about, allowing her to glide within the air. Within a minute or two, she found where the fight was, there was Pearl, laying right on a rock while Black Onyx was squeezing the Peridot's left arm attachments, bending it. It didn't hurt Peridot, but the moment made her panic so much that she screamed.
"What, I'm not even hurting you." Black Onyx complained.
"No… but you're so very, very scary." Peridot whined, only to find herself getting tossed across the area.
Black Onyx looked around, from the looks of it, she assumed she needed to hunt down Moonstone and she'll be on her way. Onyx was wrong, once she looked up, she saw Blue Cat's Eyes. A Gem just a couple of inches bigger then her, even with her own limb enhancers on.
"A fusion?" Black Onyx questioned, while Cat's Eyes landed right beside her.
Black Onyx analyzed the situation for a moment, a Moonstone escaping inland, only to return as a fusion with another Gem? Why wasn't the fusion always here?
"You're a fusion of Moonstone, and I'm assuming an Aquamarine… No, the Aquamarine." Onyx concluded, "The only Aquamarine to ever have rebelled against HomeWorld. But why were you hiding?"
"Well, maybe I just assumed Pearl, Zircon and Peridot were able to handle you alone, I mean, we did escape you last time." Cat's Eyes replied, then she suddenly shut her mouth upon realizing her mistake.
"Yeah… We? There's more Gems here? A whole base perhaps?" Onyx asked herself, "Of course, now it makes sense."
Black Onyx released a stream of fire at Cat's Eyes; in response, Eyes released some very cold blast of ice to meet the fire, neutralizing it. Then, Black Onyx rushed to Cat's Eyes, planing to swing her fist right her but Eyes dodged the blow. Onyx continued to attack, blow after blow but it seemed that Cat's Eyes knew what was coming the exact same moment Onyx decided on her attack. Lastly, Cat's Eyes grabbed Onyx's arm, then she tossed her right into the water.
"Awesome Cat's Eyes, you're doing great!" Peridot shouted, she clapped while grabbing unto Pearl's shoulder.
"Wait, so Moonstone's ability to see the immediate present means Cat's Eyes can see what's happening much quicker right, so she can respond to attacks efficiently." Pearl asked.
"Yeah, and Aquamarine's confidence, and her perfect memory means that Cat Eyes can better strategize. It's the perfect combination." Peridot said.
Black Onyx jumped out of the water, steaming just a bit. Cat's Eyes then pulled out two pairs of brace knuckles for her four hands, she smiled then jumped up, lunging herself right at Black Onyx. Onyx attempted to block, but very quickly she found herself getting punched constantly while being forced deeper down into the water. Eventually, Onyx used a bit of effort to create a slight explosion, fling both Gems out of the water and back on land.
Cat's Eyes landed on her feet with the help of the water wings of course but Black Onyx landed face down on the ground. Onyx stumbled to get up a little, her limb enhancers filled with salt water which messed up some of the older systems. She took some deep breaths and looked up to the Cat's Eyes.
"Its over, you've been outmatched." Blue Cat's Eyes said, "Out matched by the fabulous Blue Cat's Eyes. You failed."
"No, I refuse to fail…" Black Onyx responded while he threw large balls of fire right Cat's Eyes.
It didn't matter, once the fire got close enough, the fire died from the cold air Cat's Eyes was giving out. Cat's Eyes smiled and just threw a large bolder of ice right at Onyx. Onyx managed to duck, but only to get punched by Cat's Eyes were her brace knuckles. Onyx's helmet cracked a little, the glass damaged her face a little while she fell down to the ground.
Black Onyx then removed the helmet, revealing her short curly hair and slightly black eyes.
"I'm not going to lose." Onyx said, only to have herself blasted by a pile of ice.
"Come on now, you're an Era 2 Gem, I'm part Era 1." Cat's Eyes said to her, "Did you really think you can challenge me?"
"Stop talking…" Onyx asked, or rather, she begged.
"And you came by yourself, not some Quartz, no Rubies? What I'm guessing that you though you can do this alone huh?" Cat's Eyes said to her, "Guess what, after we're done, explain to the Diamonds why you failed.
"Explain to Diamonds…" Onyx said to herself.
Explain to the Diamonds, why you failed - Cat's Eyes.
Slips up like that can cost you your colony, your life and even our lives - Yellow Diamond.
Let's go see if the engineers and scientist have some sort of solution, maybe fix what's wrong with her - White Diamond.
Reach your full potential and even Yellow Diamond will appreciate you; just make her proud - Blue Diamond.
How can you expect Blue Diamond would feel if slip ups gets your gem cracked, or worse, shattered? - Yellow Diamond.
"I..l cannot fail Blue," Black Onyx whispered to herself, "I am just important as you…"
"Wait what? What are you talking about?" Cat's Eyes then asked.
"I will not fail!" Black Onyx shouted, she unleaded a large sea of fire right at Cat's Eyes.
Cat's Eyes attempted to out the flame with her ice but she was quickly overpowered, the fire reached, her burning her just a bit. Cat's Eyes fell unto the floor only to see Black Onyx rushing to her at full force. Cat's attempted to jump up but she was quickly grabbed by the legs and tossed right into a large bolder.
"Shatter!" Black Onyx yelled.
When Cat's Eyes landed on the boulder, she didn't get enough of react, Black Onyx was already up in the air, her hands in flames while she dived right at all. Right at the moment when Black Onyx was about to poof Cat's Eyes, there was Peridot. Peridot created a shield, the exact same one as before just to block the impact. Black Oynx didn't like it, after the impact he began punching the shield with as much force as possible, pushing Peridot right into Cat's Eyes.
Then, at that close distance, she released a great blast of fire, scorching her own armor and the overall area. Cat's Eyes then began to produce a constant flow of ice, hoping to neutralize the fire but it just created a giant cloud of steam. Pretty soon, the entire area was covered in humid fog, all originating from the exact same area.
"Shatter, shatter, shatter, shatter!" Onyx continued to yell.
"This is crazy!" Pink Pearl shouted, by then she could barely see what was happening, "Peridot! Cat's Eyes, hang in there!"
The steam began to cover more of the island, making the entire area humid. Yet, Black Onyx showed no signs of stopping, she kept going and going releasing more fire, attempting to burn through the shield.
"Burn, burn, burn!" Black Onyx continued to shout, "Shatter!"
Just like that, Pearl tossed one of her knives, this one was a lot of energy put into it. The knife went though the steam and right at Black Diamond, going right towards her hands. The moment the knife make in contact with her hands, there was a sudden flood of fire. An explosion going upwards that pushed everything away a couple of meters. Once the steam was disbursed, the Gems were fine. Peridot was just slightly burnt on her face and her limb enhancers were damaged, but no crack. Cat's Eyes was gone, instead Aquamarine was there with Moonstone right beside her.
"Hey, we're alive!" Peridot shouted.
Pearl managed to chuckle just a little, there was glass everywhere from the sand's sudden heating and cooling. Pearl then looked up, there seemed to be some sort of object right up in the sky.
"Eh, what is that!"
Just like that, a black gem with bits of pink spots in it fell unto the ground, it was still steaming and bit of black armor and limb enhancers were scattered everywhere.
"That's a Black Onyx gem?" Zircon asked, she just happened to have reformed.