The rolling hump of water came right up to the beach, where it crashed against the temple walls and receded, leaving Malachite still a head and shoulders above the two in their escape pod.
Their two eyes rolled down to look at the duo. Then they roared again: "GEEEEEEEMMMMMM KILLLLLEEEERRRRR!"
Peridot's eyes went wide. "Oh my stars. Steven, fire the harpoon!"
"What?"
"Fire the harpoon!" The roaring stopped and the ocean rose up above Malachite, casting a dark shadow on the duo. "Fire it now fire it now fire it now!"
"Hey, Malachite!" Steven waved. "Do you, um, think you could put the ocean down for a second? We can talk about this!"
"I'll never negotiate with a filthy Gem killer!" Malachite snarled.
Before they could be hit with the full force of the fusion's rage, Peridot jumped up and activated the harpoon. It flew through the air and punched into Malachite's abdomen, looking less like a deadly weapon and more like a little metal toothpick.
Nevertheless, the monster let out a terrible scream of pain and stumbled back, their summoned water splashing onto their head. After a second, they recovered and turned their full furious attention on the escape pod.
"Run!" Steven shouted from above, and the green Gem needed no further encouragement. They dashed to the warp pad, hearing a loud smash from just behind them, avoiding falling bits of roof.
Upon reaching the warp pad, a white light surrounded them and they were safe. The two let out a large sigh of relief.
Then Peridot looked up. "You clod. Why did you even try to reason with them?"
"I didn't want to hurt them." Steven spoke in a small voice. "Maybe they would have listened if we didn't shoot them with the harpoon?"
"Nyaaah..." The warp ended, and they found themselves at the Gem island the invisible monster had been living at. Peridot hopped out of the pod. "Alright, look. I'll fire the harpoon, and you can drive. Let me teach you-"
"Actually," Steven slid off and jumped in the pod. "I drove this once. It's really easy, you just do... this!"
They moved their hands, and the pod began walking around the green Gem.
"Wow!" Peridot then shook themselves. "Alright, fine. You can drive, and I can fire the harpoon."
They hopped on the top of the pod, and positioned themselves behind the harpoon before giving the signal to be off. They then spent the next thirty seconds holding on for dear life as they faced through the jungle path and came out at a beach.
"How are you doing up there?" Steven asked.
"I'm... fine." The green Gem then cleared their throat. "I mean, I'm fine! Your driving skill is-"
There was a rustle in the bushes behind them, causing Peridot to turn and look. But when they did so, they saw nothing out of place.
"Peridot?"
"Adequate." The Gem turned sharply around. "Your driving skills are adequate for this mission. Are you prepared for the next round with Malachite?"
"Yes, sir!" Steven responded, and so Peridot fired a harpoon into the water. Almost immediately, a roar started up in the distance. It was a few minutes later that Malachite was visible on the horizon, riding a tidal wave and wearing a murderous expression.
Steven backed up. "She doesn't look like she wants to talk, does she?"
"I'm not holding back!" The small Gem aimed and fired, but Malachite was still a little out of range. They waited a second, shot again and must've hit somewhere, because the fusion monster cried out and toppled into the water. The wave kept going, however.
Steven turned once more and ran to the warp pad, reaching it in good time. The boy offered a high five to Peridot in the warp stream, but they not-so-politely turned down the offer.
This time, they arrived at the Galaxy Warp. Peridot looked down at the water.
"So, this is the spot where you dumped my limb enhancers."
"Oh, sorry." Steven cringed a little. "We can go get them back right now if you want."
"I guess I am obliged to accept your ap- wait, what?" The green Gem peeked into the inside of the pod. "Did you say we could go and get them? But what about Malachite?"
"This warp pad is a really long way from the island." Steven pressed something. "We should have a few minutes before she gets here and besides, they're right here."
The boy walked the pod up to the edge of the Galaxy Warp, and pointed straight down at the water.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Peridot grinned. "Oh, my stars. I've missed my limb enhancers so much!"
Steven pressed a button. "Hold on tight!" The open window of the escape pod closed, and it began to levitate off the ground. Rather jerkily, they lowered themselves into the sea as Peridot hung onto the harpoon.
As soon as they touched the ocean, a distant roar could be heard. But the two continued, Peridot switching on their gemstone light to see better. Almost immediately, they happened upon a couple of green metal cylinders, buried a little in the sand.
With an inaudible bubbling noise of excitement, the green Gem hopped off the pod and grabbed all their limb enhancer pieces, hugging them to their chest lovingly. After the initial reunion they made short work of putting them all on again, noting with some irritation that the foot was back at the barn. Nevertheless they happily wiggled their detached fingers, holding them up to the gemstone light to admire them.
That was when they saw something in the darkness of the ocean. Lowering their hands, they looked a little closer.
It was a collection of white things that shone brightly in the light. The green Gem knocked lightly on Steven's escape pod and began to limp their way towards it. When they reached the site, they kneeled down and took a closer look.
It was a collection of bones, picked clean. Some were large and knobby, covered in a light layer of sand. Others were small, only about the size of something like human wrist bones. In the centre of the pile was a very strange, shimmering blue chain.
Peridot had a very bad feeling of déjà vu as they brought up a scanner on their limb enhancers and analysed one of the bones. They could feel the escape pod tensely hanging over them as the scanner finished and printed the words:
Object identified as a human clavicle.
They scanned the blue chain:
Object identified as a dihydrogen monoxide construct. Chemical extremely dangerous and should be handled with care.
Malachite, they thought. Then they stood up and looked around; there were other piles of remains placed in a roughly regular pattern, stretching on and on into the darkness and the silence and the death of the ocean.
The sight sent chills down their spine. Somewhat urgently, they turned and knocked on Steven's escape pod. The boy immediately got the message and lowered the vehicle to let their companion on.
Peridot's body felt strange with the added length and weight of the limb enhancers, but they eventually managed to scramble back up to their position behind the harpoon. The two immediately flew back up to the Galaxy Warp.
"Oh, my stars." Was the first thing out of the green Gem's mouth. They allowed themselves to slide off the back of the pod. "That was a large number of deceased humans."
Steven did not respond.
"Steven?" Peridot got up and limped over to the front of the pod. "You can exit the flight mode now. Communication is currently a more tactical advantage than levitation."
They could see the figure of the boy inside; they were shrugging.
"Do you... not know how to exit the flight mode?"
A shake of the head indicated they did not.
The green Gem sighed deeply, their mechanical fingers twitching in exasperation. "Oh, brilliant. It can only be deactivated inside the pod by using a very specific code. Can I ask why you activated the flight mode in the first place, if you didn't know how to deactivate it?"
The silhouette of the boy was pointing to something behind Peridot, but they were too incensed to notice.
"We're on an important mission to defeat this Malachite, who is systematically imprisoning and drowning your human kind!" The Gem shouted. "And what do you do? You go and lock yourself in the escape pod. It's so... you're so... Nyaaaagh, you... clod! You're a clod, Steven!"
Steven was still wildly pointing over the green Gem's shoulder.
"What? What is it? Is it... Malachite?" That was when they noticed a dark shadow was tracing its way across the Galaxy Warp, and they realised. "Don't tell me. It's Malachite, isn't it."
"Gem killer!" Malachite growled.
"Of course." The Gem sighed. Then a pair of their lower hands rose up out of the ocean and smashed down on the Galaxy Warp platform, and I decided to stop beating this dead horse of a trope.
"Eep!" Peridot took one step back on their missing foot and toppled over. They took out their hand cannon and began firing, but the yellow bolts seemed to have no effect on Malachite.
"Gem killer." The fusion monster hissed. Peridot attempted to get up, but a wave of water slammed over them and formed into a fist, keeping them stuck on the floor with the weight of the planet's ocean.
The green Gem struggled, but the effort appeared futile. "Nyah, what do you want? With me... with those humans..."
Malachite spoke in that strange, echoey voice. "The humans? I wanted some company. But you?" They laughed, and the water squeezed tighter. "I guess you don't even remember Homeworld by now. You're pathetic; you followed their rules to the letter on planet, but as soon as you arrive on Earth you think you can go around destroying Gems?"
"You're a fusion." Peridot retorted, but instantly regretted their words.
The fist squeezed even tighter. "Silence! Do you at least recall what the punishment is for destroying a Gem's physical form?"
Peridot began to tremble. "N-no! No! You can't harvest somebody on Earth, it's not possible!"
Malachite raised one of their hands, and a thin trail of water began to rise up from the ocean. Their four eyes, gleaming with madness, stared unblinking down at the terrified Gem. "You mean, it's never been attempted."
They raised their hand higher, and the water arced over their shoulder, hanging directly over Peridot. "I'll make you feel all the pain I felt ever since we arrived on this miserable rock! And when I'm done with you, you might have just enough conscience left to witness the end of the world, when the Cluster tears us all apart and this finally ends!"
Peridot turned their head to the side, squeezing their eyes shut. Tears streamed freely from their eyes.
There was the screeching sound of metal being ripped in two. Wait-
A cold, slimy wetness splashed on Peridot's face. They looked up in surprise, only to see a familiar boy standing on the water hand, surrounded by a pink bubble. On either side were the split remains of the escape pod, still sparking.
"What is this?"Malachite's four eyes widened in surprise. "Why did you do that?"
Steven dissipated the bubble, and glared up at the fusion. "Lapis Lazuli!" They shouted. "I know you're in there somewhere. Please, stop fighting!"
A dark, pained frown creased Malachite's features. "I am not Lapis! I'm not Jasper, either. I'm Malachite!"
"Please!" The boy pleaded. "Do you remember beach summer fun buddies? When I freed you from the mirror? When I healed your Gem?"
"Stop it!" Malachite hissed. Their face seemed to distort for a moment, their two sets of eyes drifting away for a moment before snapping back into place. "Stop trying to help me! We- I don't want your help!"
The water fist that had been holding Peridot deformed into a puddle. The green Gem could only sit there and stare as Steven continued talking, completely oblivious to the sound of a warp pad going off behind them.
"This isn't you!" The boy walked slowly over and touched one of the massive hands supporting Malachite on the Galaxy Warp. "You don't want to hurt people! You just want to go home! Remember?"
All of a sudden, Malachite flashed a fanged smile. "No, Steven. For once you're wrong."
The foot-hand Steven was touching suddenly kicked forwards and pinned the boy underneath.
"Steven!" Peridot jumped up, and limped as fast as they could to their friend's aid.
"I don't want to go back home. Because that's not home anymore!" Malachite shouted. "Not after everything we've been through! Nowhere's home for me anymore. I just... I just want to give up."
Just when Peridot reached the hand, it suddenly tightened.
"But I can't. Jasper won't let me."
Then it swung and threw the boy out to sea.
The green Gem's horrified eyes followed a small silhouette as it hurtled away from the Galaxy Warp, out into the sea.
"Steven..."
That was when a small flash of white zipped past, almost as if it was running on water. This confused the Gem, but before they could make any further observations they found themselves grabbed and pinned with a wave of water to the Homeworld Warp. The water formed chains around their four limbs, and stretched them out.
Malachite kept their eyes cast downwards as they summoned another thin spike of water. "Let's just get this over with."