It was really quite sudden. A moment ago, Peridot had been standing in a tunnel of water, relieved that her life had been spared and watching the water gem beside her try to crush her superior; but now she was back under the shimmering waves with who knows what terrible beast that's attempting to attack them. Her eyes scanned the deep as she clung to the ocean floor, only to get knocked over by a swat of the creature's tail, visors smacked off and landing face first in the sand. A turquoise hue covered the top of the corrupt gem while a white underbelly revealed deep scars from previous battles. A pair of black eyes followed Peridot's visor as it disappeared into thin air, before turning its torpedo-shaped body back to Lapis, who was preparing for a counter attack behind the green gem. She unleashed a pulse wave towards the thing to force it back, but the pulse merely brushed up against the gem's snout; it did nothing to stop it from charging forward. Her abilities were to weak-she didn't have strength left to fight off yet another enemy after having to fight off one for months.

"Of all the times for this to happen...it had to be now?!" The weakness took her legs first, sinking her to ground before her arms grew to heavy to lift from the floor; the jagged mouth of the creature coming fast. Lapis forced a water spike from the ground to pierce the white stomach of the gem, managing to deter the beast from an onward collision. It curved its body away from Lapis just as it was about to reach her, throwing an oval shaped fin wildly and hitting the blue gem squarely in the chest. A hammering pain in her chest was what finally willed Lapis to stand, growing more livid with anger as she let her emotions get the better of her. Its not enough that she had to deal with Jasper and Peridot, now a corrupt gem was also trying to bite her head off. It seemed that no matter how many times Lapis had won a fight, yet another one was waiting just around the corner. It was more than frustrating, it drove Lapis to hysterics as she raised her hand up above her head.

" Why can't everyone just-leave-me-alone!" another pulse swelled and flew through the water, this time actually immobilizing the shark-like gem as it hit the alcove. Shaking its head from side to side, the monster decided on a new plan of action as it opened its gaping jaw, forcing the surrounding water into its mouth in a huge sucking motion. The vaccum would have easily sucked up the two gems in if they hadn't dug themselves into the floor bed, but in the swirl, Lapis felt her arm swing in front of her and her hand began to slip on the orange shard in her palm. Not only was she in danger of losing the orange gem but the vaccum was starting to pull Lapis out of the wet sand and into the vortex. Lose her grip, or lose Jasper?

"Let it go! She won't survive!" Peridot insisted; she was rather fond of the idea. Even if she decided against it, the current managed to sweep the shard out of the ocean gem's hand and fall into the dark mouth of the monster, which now closed its jaw to feel whatever had flown in. Distracted by the shard, Lapis forced a watery hand around the alcove, breaking the rock and letting the pieces fall onto her foe. Afraid of being crushed beneath the raining sheaths, the gem made a dash towards open water, leaving a stream of bubbles behind it.

"Before it comes back!" The technician scrambled towards shore, though her heavy feet didn't make it any easier. Lapis followed her out, much more fluid in her motions than the green gem as they both surfaced. Cold air wicked about blue gem's skin, who shuddered from surprise at the dry conditions on the surface. She disliked it, and was tempted to return back to the deep before she saw the tail of the beast in the distance. It was safer up here this time.

Both crumpled to the floor as soon as they had exited the surf, Peridot being the happier of the two since she can finally turn off her weight system in her feet. The sea had calmed, with the waves now moving at smooth, rhythmic paces. Of course, to the green gem's annoyance, the clouds above had turned grey, indicating a coming storm.

" Great, perfect timing." She murmered under her breath, " As if I wasn't soaked through already.." Legs now free from the heavy mass, she rose to her feet to brush off the sand from her clothing, before turning to get a look at Lapis, who lay face down on the ground.

" We must retreat to some place with cover." The nasally voice reported, expecting some retort from the gem, but looked away when nothing occurred. Her gaze shifted to the dense sea caves to her right, though it looked like she will have to walk a good distance to get to them. " Why must there be so many troubles on this planet?"

Moving in the direction of shelter, Peridot felt like speaking of her complaints openly, but realized the the blue gem wasn't following when there was no reply to them. Lapis lay on the ground still, making no effort to move.

" Lazuli! We must reach the shelter before the weather inhibits us!"

She didn't move.

"Lazuli! Why aren't you moving?" Peridot stomped over to the motionless body.

"..." The gem's words were inaudible.

" What? Can you speak louder?"

" Im...tired." Lapis responded.

" What a great observation, now get up." Peridot was becoming rather impatient.

" I can't." The ocean gem's voice was hoarse, but was also getting rather irritated.

" You are simply making excuses. Get up, we have to go now!" The shrill voice wasn't helping anyone, but it was putting the green gem in a worse mood than before, especially since Lapis was not attempting to follow her orders.

" Carry me." The voice didn't plead as much it demanded.

" What? Im not going to carry you! I have my own weight to carry—ach, get up Lazuli!" The green gem's hands grabbed her wrists and tried to pull her up, which only pulled her slightly across the sand.

" Ow." Was the only answer given by the blue gem.

" You—I can't believe-alright fine!" Giving up on pulling the gem along shore like a log, she walked to the side of Lapis and swung her lifeless arms over her green shoulders. It was clear that the gem won't comply with Peridot's requests, so she would chose to submit to hers and get to safety a little faster rather than get caught in a rainstorm. To her surprise, putting the gem on her back was more difficult then expected, requiring Peridot's thin arms and back to practically throw her over instead of gently pulling her up. But then again, the ocean gem wasn't helping much either.

" Tch—stupid planet—stupid Lazuli—blast this weather!" Rain began to pour down at the water and made the sand heavy as Peridot finally managed to haul the water nymph up.

"I heard that."

Pursing her lips as to prevent herself from making some snide comment, Peridot focused on the task at hand.

While picking her up was difficult, Lapis wasn't as heavy as she had imagined. Even walking on the sand, it felt like the equivalent of holding a small child. Who knew that she would be so light? She didn't make much noise, nor did she make any more movements. Her arms were limp at first, but after Periot made a few missteps, the gem encircled them around her neck. Warmth engulfed her back, and the feeling of Lapis's breath brushing past her neck and shoulders didn't tick her off as much as she thought it would. On occasion, her skin would tingle beneath her clothes from the breaths, and at those points she was tempted to drop Lapis right where she stood. But she decided it better to deal with this than it is to drag her body along the rocks.

From time to time,the gem would look out of the corner of her eye to see the face above, wondering if she was really sleeping; her knitted brows indicated that she wasn't. Whenever her fingers would brush up against the smooth fabric of her dress, the silky texture brought on some form of curiosity that her hands wanted to explore. But she shooed away such feelings, and maintained her focus on the sea caves. Strange how both of the gems were from the same place, but both were completely different, down to the very fabrics that they wore. " Such strange circumstances." Peridot sighed.

While she didn't appreciate having to be the pack mule, there was something calming about the gentle rising and falling of Lapis's chest.

Maybe even...pleasant.