And I'm back.
This is a shorter chapter because I struggled with it. Also, thank you that one person who left a review. It was nice to get at least one.
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The flower wolf's tail lashed upwards sending a volley of crystal grass whistling trough the air. Forcing the crystal gems leapt to the side to avoid being impaled. The beast let out another shriek and charged, paws slamming a ferocious beat against the ground.
"Well, at least this isn't gonna to be boring." Amethyst muttered, sidestepping a second volley of crystal grass. The flower wolf pounced, its teeth snapping down where she had been standing. Amethyst lashed out with her whip, leaving a trio of gashes on the thing's nose.
It snorted, unimpressed, and flicked another barrage of pointy grass at her. She yelped as a few of the blades whistled through her hair.
"Amethyst focus!" ordered Garnet, charging in like a freight train, leaping into the air and slamming a wild haymaker into the plant's injured snout. The beast let out another piercing whistle as it staggered sideways, flower eyes burning with an angry pink glow. It jerked its head back and snapped at fusion, who was still stuck in mid-air.
Garnet managed to catch it by the jaws before it could rip an arm off, the beast slammed her in the ground using its greater bulk to overwhelm her, slowly crushing her into the ground.
"Hold on Garnet!" Amethyst shouted, throwing herself forward and curling into a ball. She channeled her energy into her hair, making it harden and wrap around her, armoring the gem in a ball of spikes. She spin balled towards the giant plant and slammed into its snout, slicing through the upper jaw.
Garnet snarled and, her hand freed from holding back the snapping teeth, grabbed the creature's lower jaw and ripped it clean off. The flower wolf yelped,
scrambling away from the fusion and trying to snarl through it's missing snout.
"Nice one G!" Amethyst called, rushing back into the fray, only for Garnet to hold out a hand and stop her short.
"Hey! What gives?"
The fusion didn't reply, her eyes narrowing behind her sunglasses as the beast began to stomp at the ground. The vines making up its face began to glow and distort before bursting outwards, reforming its jaws.
As she had feared, the flower wolf possessed regenerative powers. Why did Rose have to make her plants so resilient?
"Awww, come on!" Amethyst groaned. "That's gonna make this take forever!"
"No, it won't." Garnet replied, "We just need to crush the seed." Rose always made the base design of her war plants the same: the seed functioned the same way as a Gem's gem. If they crushed it, the plant would die.
Of course, she also made it as difficult as possible to get at the seed.
"Where do you think the seed is?" Amethyst asked, eyeing the snarling beast. "The head?"
Garnet doubted it. Based on the reasoning that Rose designed it to win battles, the seed was probably somewhere in the middle of the body, as that was the largest part and therefore making it the most difficult to locate the relatively tiny seed. They needed to immobilize the war plant long enough to find it.
And she knew exactly what to do.
"Can you keep it distracted?" She asked, glancing at her shorter companion.
"Who do ya think you're talkin to?" Amethyst smirked. "I've got distractin people down to an art form."
Garnet nodded; there was no need to say anything more. Words wouldn't bring the creature down.
As one the crystal gems charged the flower wolf, Amethyst shifting into a hawk and flying on ahead. She made a beeline for the monster's face, soaring past the snapping jaws, and lashing out with her wing, shape shifting the feathers into blades to slice through one of the thing's flower eyes.
She wasn't sure if that would actually hurt it or not, but judging by its angry roars she was gonna go with yes. The war plant responded by flicking its tail upward, the tail stretching out in an attempt to swat her out of the sky, she banked sharply, swerving out of the tail's path.
"Come on. You can do better than that." She called, smirking down at the wolf and waggling her tail feathers. "Next time, put some effort into it."
The flower wolf roared, it's damaged eye dangling uselessly and throwing sap everywhere as it shook with fury. It crouched and leapt into the air, trying to snap the purple pest out of the sky.
"Whoop." Amethyst squawked, flapping awkawardly sharply as the beast's maw ripped out a couple of her feathers. She wheeled around and slammed into its snout, she snapped back to her normal form and clung on as the beast landed. She grasped the vines tighter as it shook its head back and forth. She crawled up its face, shifting her feet into a second pair of hands to keep her grip.
"Okay, think I got your attention know." She grinned, staring into the beast's undamaged eye. "but I should probably make sure."
She grabbed the furious floral eye with two hands and promptly ripped it off.
Its responding roar sent startled birds into the air for miles.
Beneath them, Garnet was stalking through the grass, dodging the beast's stomping paws. As the beast started tossing itself around in a blind rage, the fusion leapt upwards, latching on to its underbelly.
Swinging her legs upward, she dug them into the mass of vines, anchoring herself. Garnet closed her eyes, placing her right hand against the mass of plants.
She needed to stop the beast's movement, she could try breaking it's legs. but that probably wouldn't be enough. It would just regenerate them. She needed to slow the beast down, not just hobble it.
Which meant she needed to focus.
Dimly, she could hear the beast's roars and Amethyst's jeering laughs; she could feel her body shake as the beast shook. She tuned these sensations out, they were not important.
She reached within herself, gently pushing aside the burning fury of Ruby, grasping for the power of Sapphire. She needed that ever-calming presence, the chilly patience of one who watched the strings of fate. She could feel her, Sapphire's power resting within her palm, rising to answer Garnet's call.
Garnet opened her eyes, and frost exploded outwards from where her hand met plant. Ice ran up and down the vines of the wolf's body; crackling as it reached the petrified wood making up its legs. The cold raced down the beast's limbs, leaving a trail of cracks and frost along in its wake.
The effect was immediate. The wolf had thrown itself into the air in another attempt to dislodge the annoying gem harassing its face, when it felt the lower half of its body freeze solid. As it landed, its frozen legs screamed in protest and shattered, sending chunks of frozen plant in every direction. The flower wolf howled in rage, rolling onto its back and shrieking. Garnet held firm to the creature's belly, riding out its throes of pain.
Now, as it rolled around in impotent fury, she began to tear more chunks of frozen vine away from its body, trying to find the seed before it could regrow its missing limbs.
There! She could see the orb, still cracked from her blow earlier, nestled inside the vines. Garnet reached out to grab it, intent on ripping it out.
Before she could make contact, the vines around it exploded into motion, slamming into her and dragging her from the seed. The vines held her suspended in midair, struggling, but the fusion couldn't get any leverage against them as more whipped out from the wolf's body.
"Garnet!" Amethyst called, rushing through the air to her aid. But the plant was ready this time, several vines shot out, weaving together to form a net, nearly snatching the gem out of the sky. The purple gem was forced to retreat or get captured herself.
The vines tightened around Garnet, drawing no more than a slight grunt from the fusion. She grimaced to herself, the vines were too numerous and were entrapping her too thoroughly for her to shape shift her way out, and felt herself being forcefully reminded that this creature was designed for fighting gems.
She still had one option however.
Working quickly, she tapped into her shape shifting powers, making her arms stretch like snakes, reaching away from the plant and back towards the ground. Her palms touched earth, she shut her eyes…
And let herself fall apart.
Ruby and Sapphire materialized safely in the grass as Garnet vanished in a flash of light, the vines that had entrapped her collapsed on the now empty space. The tendrils froze for a moment for a moment, before stretching back out, writhing through the air towards the separated gems.
"Ugh!" Ruby yelled, "Get lost!" She cocked back her arm and sent a fireball whizzing through the air. The flame hit the creeping vines causing them to shy backwards, retreating back into the massive tangle. Next to her, Sapphire sent a bolt of frost crackling into the sky, freezing the vines harassing Amethyst.
The purple gem immediately took advantage, dive-bombing the frozen vines and shattering through them. She snapped back to her normal form as she landed between them.
"Thanks Garne- wait, what?" Amethyst blinked, doing a double take as she noticed that she had twice as much company then expected.
"Wow… I uh… haven't seen you two in awhile… sup?" she said, it was so weird seeing these two out in the open like this, so she wasn't quite sure what to say.
"Whatever." Ruby grumbled, smoke trickling off of her as she glared to the side.
"Hello Amethyst." said Sapphire, her voice calm as ever. "We wouldn't have defused if it wasn't necessary."
"Right right, s'cool." Amethyst nodded, "So...That didn't work." She finished, eyeing the tangled mass of plants. The vines had recoiled around themselves, losing its lupine shape and forming a giant ball of tangled vines. At its base she could see several tendrils rooting themselves into the ground.
"Uh… what's it doing?"
"Who cares?" Ruby snapped, stomping forwards, leaving a trail of burning footprints in the ground. "I'm gonna set it on fire."
"No." Sapphire put her hand on Ruby's shoulder, bringing the gem's anger back down to a simmer. "That isn't a good idea."
"I dunno," Amethyst, said, eyeing the plant ball skeptically, "I think fire is sounding pretty good right now."
"That's what I'm saying!" Ruby shouted, throwing her hands into the air.
Sapphire shook her head, "I mean that it won't work. I can see it. We would just be wasting energy and allowing it more time to metamorphosis."
"Meta-whatzat?" Amethyst asked. She hoped it wasn't what it sounded like.
"The plant is adapting." Sapphire replied, her grave monotone giving little reassurance. "It has tested our abilities and like any good warrior, it is changing its tactics. The seed is absorbing power from the land around us." Sapphire gestured, and now that she pointed it out, Amethyst could see the grass around them beginning to wilt, losing their shine as they darkened and shriveled up. Whereas the ball of vines was swelling, taking on a pink crystalline shine as wickedly sharp looking thorns sprouted all over it.
"It will continue to absorb energy until it deems it enough to defeat us." Sapphire continued, her monotone was really staring to grate on Amethyst's nerves, "Then it will defeat us, and go on to find something else to fight and repeat the process."
"And we're doing nothing because…?" Amethyst asked. Glancing nervously between the plant ball and Sapphire.
"Because it has armored itself. We cannot hurt it at this point."
"So we're doomed?"
"I did not say that. I see a path to victory, and we must take that path right now. Ruby." Sapphire held her hand out to her partner and Ruby nodded. The two embraced, their forms dissolving in a flash of magic and reforming into Garnet.
"Good to have you back, G." Amethyst said, relieved. She forgotten how unsettling Sapphire's icy monotone could be.
"Good to be back." Garnet replied, cracking her neck and staring at the growing thorny cocoon grimly.
"So what's the plan?"
"When it emerges from that cocoon, it will be stronger than it was before. But, that will be our last chance to destroy it. We need to break through its defenses and crush the seed. To do that we are going to need an overwhelming amount of force." Here Garnet crouched down and looked Amethyst in the eye.
"We need Sugilite."
Amethyst blinked. On the one hand, that plan was, like, a hundred and ten percent awesome. But on the other…
"Are you sure? Last time…" she trailed off, rubbing her arm uncomfortably and staring at the ground.
"Last time we got carried of us did. But this thing needs to be stopped. If it isn't, it will go on a rampage."
"But Sugilite…"
"Sugilite might go on a rampage too. But I'm not worried about that for three reasons. One," Garnet held up a finger to emphasize. "There's nothing important around here for her to smash. Two, there is nothing in Sugilite that is not a part of us, and neither of us wish to harm this planet. And three, I know you. You make mistakes, and so do I." Garnet put her hand on Amethyst's shoulder. "But you always get it right when it counts. I believe in you, and I need you to believe in me."
Amethyst stared back, wide-eyed at Garnet's words, she could see the fusion meant every word. And it sent a warm glow through her body, wiping away her doubts.
"Then let's mash it up." She grinned.
The gems stood across from each other, readying themselves. As one they began to dance, their gems glowing radiantly as they resonated. They could both feel each other's presence in their mind as they drew closer.
Amethyst could feel Garnet, the two minds of fire and ice joined together as one, entering her mind and brushing her lingering doubts away, leaving behind nothing but confidence and a heady rush of power.
And Garnet could feel Amethyst. The younger gem's minds pushing back the passive presence of Sapphire, closing her eyes to the river of fate, and joining with Ruby's fires to form a unified will unhindered by the concerns of what might be.
They met in the middle, Garnet and Amethyst's bodies melting into light, giving way to a massive figure that towered over the grasslands. Whose triumphant laugh echoed across the savannah.
"I'M BACK BABY!"
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Author's Note: That seemed like a good place to stop. I'm not too fond of this chapter but it will have to do.
It would be nice if someone left a review letting me no how I did, but that's up to all of you.
One last thing:
I have a question for you all about Garnet:
Say someone/something was fighting her and managed somehow to cut off one of her hands, thus separating one of her gems from her body, what would happen? Would she defuse into Ruby and Sapphire? Go poof? Punch said thing in the face and keep fight as normal?
(These are the kind of idle things I think about.)