Chapter 3: The Lunar Sea Spire
If there is one thing you should know about Isaac, is that he's not a morning person. But knowing that he was going to have to get up at one point, the blonde opened his eyes.
Still feeling a sense of grogginess, Isaac was lying on his back on Steven's couch, covered by an extra blanket and pillow that the kid loaned to him. With half opened eyes, and his left arm hanging off the edge of the couch, Isaac yawned out loud and sat up.
But then he realized some. It was oddly quiet. No Steven to annoy him. No bickering from Pearl or Amethyst. Rubbing his eyes to clear them, he looked around and saw that not Steven nor the Gems were in the living space. But that only meant he could go into the bathroom with what he was wearing now; a tank top and workout shorts.
The first night at the beach house, Isaac slept with only his boxers, which was more comfortable for him. But the next morning, Pearl saw him walk up and seeing him in only his boxers nearly scared the Gem to death.
After walking into the bathroom, Isaac preformed the daily routine of cleaning himself up in the same way the Steven showed him. After taking a shower, he brushed his teeth. Next, he washed his faced. Then, he cleaned out his ears. Finally, Isaac took a wet rag and wiped his mother's gemstone until he was able to see his own face. He smiled into the reflection.
Isaac exited the bathroom after slip on his clothes and walked out into the main area. The Gems still weren't there. "Gems must be out on a mission," he said to himself.
Isaac turned his head up to the second level and saw that Steven wasn't in his bed.
"Where is the little scamp?"
Opening the door, he walked out of the beach house and scanned the area for the boy. At first, he couldn't see Steven anywhere and wonder if he went to the Big Donut. So, he started walking down the wooden stairs to go find him.
However, as Isaac reached the sandy surface of the beach and turned to go around the cliff, he stopped for a moment when he saw Steven sitting on a small rock next to a mailbox. "Hey Mr. Postman, bring me a post, bring me the post that I love the most," he sang to himself.
"Steven?" Isaac walked up to him. "What are you doing out here?"
"I'm waiting for Jamie to come with the post," Steven said to his blonde friend. "I'm waiting for two packages that I ordered for the two of us."
Isaac was a little taken back. He still barely knew him and yet he went through the trouble of getting him a gift. "Really? Thanks, kid," he said with a genuine smile. "What is it?"
"You'll have to wait and see," Steven told him. A second afterward, Isaac noticed someone coming around the corner of the Temple. By the uniform, it must have been Jamie. Steven turned his head to look at the mailman and gasped with excitement. Stars even appeared in his eyes, before jumping off the rock. "My song came true! Do you have a package for me today?"
"Hold on," said Jamie, before opening his mailbag. "Let me see what I've got here." He first pulled out a package that in the shape of a loaf of bread. "Did you order a loaf of bread with a stamp on it?"
"No," Steven said, while Isaac raised his eyebrow and asked why anyone would owner a loaf of bread off the internet.
Jamie then pulled out an envelope. "Did you order a jury summons for R.J. Finkle?"
"That's not me, I'm Steven." He then gestured to Isaac. "And this is my friend, Isaac."
"Hey," Isaac said, waving a hand.
"Greetings, Isaac," he said in a dramatic voice. Jamie then pulled out two large packages. "Here they are, Steven Universe and another one gifted to an Isaac…Infinite?"
"That would be me," said the blonde, before grabbing both of the packages. Jamie then pulled out an electronic signature pad. Isaac held up the packages with one hand and signed the pad.
"Barb yells at me if I don't get signatures," Jamie said, taking the pad and putting it away.
"That's awful," Steven said, before turning his body to Isaac and looked up at the packages with excitement. Jamie then walked away. "But this is great! These things are gonna help us save the world."
Isaac handed Steven his package and looked at the one that was for him. "Really," he asked before looking at the description of the box. "How is something from the Wacky Sacks Supply Company going to help us?"
"Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl think you and I shouldn't go on magical adventures because I don't know how to use my Gem powers, and you're still trying to learn about your powers," Steven said in a matter-of-fact way.
Isaac gave him an obvious look. "Sounds reasonable enough. Besides, I only left behind because I have to babysit you and make sure you don't burn down the house."
"When have I ever," Steven questioned with a shrug.
Isaac raised an eyebrow. Had really forgot about the time he caused an explosion after putting a bowl of food in the microwave with a metal spoon in it?
"But there are other ways I can help. And you'll be able to go on adventures with the Gems," Steven insisted. "And it's with these!"
"You want to help the Gems, with dangerous missions, with something called Wacky Sack," Isaac asked him, hopefully emphasizing how ridiculous it all sounded.
"Exactly!"
Just then, a strange, sparkling sound with a bright light came from behind Isaac. He turned around and saw that it was coming from inside the house, as the light was coming through the windows. It lasted for only three seconds, before the light faded and the noise fell silent. "What was that," he asked.
"Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are back!" Steven exclaimed excitedly, before running past him. Isaac looked at the package again, wonder what a Wacky Sack was, before following after him.
Being older and more fit, Isaac was able to catch up with Steven with no trouble and went at the same pace as the boy. They ran up the stairs and onto the deck.
Steven opened the door eagerly and ran inside, before Isaac walked in. When he saw the Crystal Gems, he stopped and said, "huh?"
There were feathers littered on the floor, with Garnet's hair covered in some of them. Pearl held onto an object of some kind, while was arguing with Amethyst, who was opening the fridge with what was the largest egg he's ever seen.
"Hello, boys," Garnet greeted them with no expression, as usual. Not even bothered that there were feathers in her hair. Isaac nodded and closed the door behind him.
"Amethyst, we do not need that!" Pearl argued at Amethyst, but the short Gem ignored her. "It's not going to fit in the fridge!"
"What? I got this," Amethyst told her, having finally paid attention to what Pearl said. With one arm holding the egg, the purple Gem used the other one to slowly slide a tray out of the fridge. Then, instead of placing it carefully down, Amethyst threw it down, spilling the milk and dropping the bagels. Satisfied, she placed the giant egg in. "Look, it fits!"
Isaac was about to point out that it didn't, but flinched and cringed when Amethyst slammed refrigerator door. A cracking sound was heard from the inside.
"Oh, man. We can make a big omelet, or a quiche, or big sunny side ups!—"
Pearl made a face at her. "Was that a giant egg," asked Isaac.
"We fought a giant bird," she said to him and Steven. She then gestured to what she was holding: a small statue that depicted a woman with long Venice-blue hair, thick lips, a nose, and closed eyes. The body had a light slate-gray color and ended in a sharp white point similar to a polished diamond's culet on the base. Its hands were grasping a diamond-shaped object. "We're only here for a second, we've got to go back out."
"What's going on," Isaac asked.
Pearl smiled and showed him the statue. "We have to place this Moon Goddess Statue on the top of the Lunar Sea Spire before midnight. Without it, the whole place will fall apart!" she said, before talking dreamily and with passion. "Oh, Isaac, you should have seen the spire in its heyday." She then surprised Isaac when her gemstone glowed and projects hologram.
The hologram showed the Sea Spire as a tower structure. Before it showed people inside of it. But with the strange forms they had and the fact that there were no males, Isaac guessed that they were Gems too.
"It was an oasis for Gems on Earth," she explained, but then looked serious and ended the hologram with a pop. "It's abandoned now, but we can still save it with this statue!"
"Wha?" Upon hearing that, Steven eyes turned into star shapes, as he once again got excited. "That's perfect! Quick, Isaac, open your package!"
"What? Why," asked Isaac.
"Because one of us can help carry it for them with what I've got us," Steven explained and placed his box on the ground.
Isaac looked at the Gems. They shrugged. Might as well do it, and so Isaac grabbed the top of the box and tore it open. He looked in and his eyes widened.
While Steven made a bunch of sound effects with his mouth, he and Isaac pulled out the last things Isaac expected to see. Both items were food-shaped backpacks. Steven got a backpack in the shape of a hamburger.
As for Isaac, he got a single-strap backpack in the form of a taco. Looking at it, he could see it had two green lettuce, two layers of red tomatoes, two layers of purple onions, two layers of brown meat, and it all came to a yellow cheese center. Each one of those layers was a pocket, even the cheese.
Unable to stop staring at it, Isaac managed to turn away from it and look at Steven. "What the hell is this?"
"They're Novelty Backpacks! Mines a cheeseburger, and yours's a taco! Aww, I blew it." He put his backpack on his shoulder and started explaining, while trying to be cool. "I was just going to wear it one day, and you guys would be like, 'Dang, Steven, that's so cool.' And then I thought that since you're so cool, Isaac, you'd want one too. But this is obviously an important Gem business."
"Yes, so you should let us take care of it," Pearl instructed the boy.
"What? I'm a Gem!" Steven lifted up his shirt and pointed at his gemstone.
"Yeah, and what about me," Isaac asked the Crystal Gems. "I get it, we've still have a lot to learn about being a Crystal Gem, but I've been here for over a week and I'm left behind with Steven while you girls are off on your missions. I'm a capable fighter, and I'll be able to keep Steven safe."
"Yeah, Pearl! Let them come!" Amethyst said, before waving her hands. "It'll be educational."
"Hmm." Pearl thought for a moment, before giving the humans a defeated smile. "Alright. You can carry it in your hamburger," she said to Steven, and handed him the statue. "And you can come too, Isaac.
"Awesome!" Isaac exclaimed with a grin. He was fired up to go see Lunar Sea Spire and finally get out of the house. He may have proved himself before with the Centipeetle and the Red Eye, but he wanted to continue proving he was a Crystal Gem. "Then let's go!" He placed the taco backpack on the counter.
"Wait!" Steven stopped him by grabbing his pants. He then grabbed the taco backpack and held it up to Isaac. "You should bring this? you and I can pack extra supplies."
Isaac gave him a face. There was no way that he was going to wear that ridiculous pack with him on a serious adventure.
Steven gave him the puppy eyes.
Why did he have to do that? It wasn't far! Then again, the boy did go through the trouble of buying him the backpack.
Isaac sighed, took the bag, and walked to the living room. "Fine, I'll take the stupid bag," he grumbled.
Now happy, Steven went to the fridge and put bagels in his backpack. Isaac opened his old, worn out backpack and emptied it out on the floor. He grabbed the long climbing rope with a grappling hook at the end and placed it into the taco backpack. Steven went over to his closet under the stairs and pulled out two sweaters. Isaac grabbed a compass. Steven packed an inflatable raft. Isaac placed three road flares into the tomato pocket. Steven stuffed a kite in his cheeseburger. Lastly, Isaac placed the last item he would need, a combat shovel.
All items Isaac gathered were things that were essential for survival. It was kind of amazing that you can find most of it to buy on Amazon. He zipped up the backpack, which widened its sides from the objects he'd packed. His attention was then caught the sound of some toy going off above him and looked up at Steven's room.
Steven looked down it see that he stepped on one of his stuffed animals. He gasped and then laughed. "Mr. Queasy!" He picked up and shook the plush doll and continued laughing. "You're definitely gonna come in handy!"
He reached into his new backpack and removed the first aid kit. He then stuffed the plush toy into the backpack.
Isaac couldn't help but face palm at the boy's naïve and cluelessness. He walked past Steven on his way up the stairs and grabbed the first aid kit. Placing it in his bag, he was about to the where Crystal Gems were, standing on the circular platform at the entrance of the Temple, when he noticed something. When he saw what it was, Isaac groaned in annoyance. "Goddamnit, Steven."
"Isaac, we're all waiting for you!" Pearl called for the blonde young man, as Steven was standing on the pad with them.
"Coming!" Isaac ran down the stairs and stepped onto the strange platform. "So how are we getting there," he asked, fitting into the group.
"We're using this Wrap Pad to teleport there," Garnet said. Right after she said that, a blue light flashed from the pad, and a cylindrical beam of bright light emitted from the Wrap Pad. Extending all the way up to the ceiling.
However, there weren't going anywhere, as Steven's stomach stopped the beam from being complete.
"Suck it in, Steven!" Amethyst yelled. Steven inhaled, pulling his stomach in. When the beam completely concealing the five members, they faded away upwards into the stream.
"WOOOOOOOO!" Isaac shouted joyfully as they were teleported in the teal light. He and Steven then started to float, causing both boys to laugh with wonder. "This is amazing! You guys do this all the time!?"
"Yes, but please be careful, and stay still," Pearl instructed him. "If you don't then you'll—"
In a moment, the fun ended when they arrived at their destination. The teal light faded away, and the Gems were on standing on another Warp Pad.
However, when they arrived, Isaac was still in the air. When gravity reclaimed a hold of his body, Isaac fell and landed on his stomach. He only able to groan in pain for a moment, before Steven fell on his back, knocking out all the air in his lungs.
Amethyst laughed as Pearl groaned and rubbed her face. Steven laughed too, only for Isaac to roughly push him off. "Get off, you baby hippo!" He exclaimed angrily. Isaac stood up with his hands on his back, bending back a little and caused to spin to crackle a little. Dusting himself off, he looked at his surroundings. Isaac's eyes widened, and his jaws dropped in astonishment and wonder.
The Lunar Sea Spire was a freestanding tower structure. All around them, there was a waterfall that encircled the tower.
"This is incredible," he said, unable to take his eyes off of the tower. However, a large chunk of the Spire broke off and fell to the water below. That wasn't good.
"It wasn't like this a hundred years ago," said Pearl scanning the tower in its ruined state. Isaac looked around the area and saw that they were on another landmass separated from the tower. There wasn't much of anything. If there was anything like building or a type of structure, it was long gone.
"I'm sensing structural instability," Garnet state the obvious.
"Oh, yeah," Steven said near the edge of the landmass. The ground beneath him started to crack around his feet. "That's never good."
"Get away from there!" Isaac roughly grabbed Steven by his new backpack and threw him away from the edge. Saving him before the one piece of the edge could break off and fall to the ground.
Pearl caught Steven. But then something for up above cracked. Isaac looked up just in time to see another chunk of the tower falling off and coming right for him.
"GAH!" Isaac yelled and jumped out of the way, before the bolder could crush him.
He landed on his stomach with a thud, before picking himself up. Meanwhile, Pearl hugged Steven close to her face. "Alright, hold on. We're taking Steven back!" She declared, before giving the boy a squeeze.
This, however activated that annoying plush toy in his backpack. Steven leaped off Pearl and took the Mr. Queasy doll out of his backpack. "Oh, Mr. Queasy!" He started laughing, before shaking the toy, causing it to make more noises.
Suddenly, Isaac grabbed Mr. Queasy by the neck and pulled it away from Steven. "Will you knock it off!" He snapped at the boy, stuffing the plush toy into his taco bag. "This isn't one of your stories or video games, this is real life, and this is a dangerous place! I don't care what it takes, but if you're going to stay and help, and stay alive, you've really got to listen and take this serious!"
"You got it, dude!" Steven wink, gave him a thumbs up, and stuck tongue out.
Isaac glared at him for a moment. But after realizing that he wasn't going to stop being his obnoxious self, he sighed. This was going to be a long trip up to the top.
"Enough, we have to move," Garnet order the group. The Gems and Steven ran up a cliff that was the closest path to reaching an opening into the tower. Isaac, however, walked as he followed them. He couldn't help but look up at the tower in wonder again. It was unlike anything he's ever seen in his life.
But why would Gems want to construct it here? On this planet in the middle of the ocean.
"What's the hold-up?" Isaac heard Amethyst ask and saw that Garnet had the group come to a halt at the edge of the cliff. He jogged over to rejoin them as the purple Gem said, "We can clear this easily."
"Yeah, speak for yourself," retorted Isaac as he walked pasted her and was about to look over the edge towards the bottom, but Garnet suddenly pulled him back by his arm.
"Don't get too close," she ordered him. "The magic that sustains the whirlpool creates a vortex that will pull us below." To demonstrate, she grabbed a boulder next to her and threw it.
Half way from reaching the tower, it stopped suddenly in midair. Then, as if it wasn't even thrown a second ago, the boulder was pulled straight down to the whirlpool the Sea Spire was resting on.
"So, we can't jump," asked Pearl.
Isaac took off his taco backpack and pulled out the climbing rope with the grappling hook. "No, but this gives me an idea," he informed the Crystal Gems. He then turned to Steven. "Kid, do you have anything that you can use to tie yourself around me?"
"Oh, wait!" Steven responded and pulled out two sweaters from his Cheeseburger backpack. "These were for keeping warm."
Isaac handed Garnet his Taco backpack, which she took. "Good, now give one of them your backpack. It's only going to be added on weight," he said. Taking the rope, Isaac swung the hook around to big up speed.
He then tossed it over to the tower. The hook caught itself through a window. Isaac pulled on it hard to make sure it was secure. It was.
"What are you doing," Pearl asked wearily. She had an idea on what Isaac was about to do, as he stepped on the rope and crouched do for Steven to piggy back on him, and she prayed that he wasn't about to do it.
After having Steven jump on him, Isaac imminently started to feel the weight of the kid, but he continued on. Isaac tied the sweaters tightly around Steven's back and his own torso, making sure that he wasn't going to fall off. Sweat started to build up on his forehead, as Isaac anxiously grabbed the rope. Holding it tightly, he wrapped the near end of rope around both himself and Steven, before tying it nice and secure.
"You really," Isaac asked Steven, whose eyes had stars in them.
"Cheeseburger and Taco," he whispered, saying that he was ready. Wrapping his arms and legs around his friend.
Isaac took in a deep breath.
That's when the Crystal Gems realized what the two were about to do. "Isaac/Steven!" Pearl and Amethyst shouted with great fear and worry, as Garnet gasped.
The three magical ladies ran to try and stop Isaac, but it was too late. Isaac had run to the edge and jumped.
Isaac and Steven yelled as they swung over to the tower. The power of the vortex took hold, and the two were getting pulled down. When they almost collided with the wall, the young man quickly stretched out his feet and landed on them when he made contact. Steven tightened his hold on Isaac, as he felt as though he was going to be ripped away from his friend.
"They're getting sucked down!" Amethyst exclaimed.
"Steven! Isaac!" The Gems shouted at the two humans.
Luckily, the rope didn't come undone and kept the two from falling. Using his strength, Isaac reached onto with one arm and grabbed further up the rope, taking one step forward. He then did it again, grabbing up the rope and taking a step. And he repeated the process until he started a rhythm.
Pearl exhaled loudly in a sigh of relief, while Garnet looked with her jaw hanging open. "Way to go, Isaac!" Amethyst called out to the blonde. But then the three heard another cracking sound.
Isaac heard it too, and when he looked up, he saw that another chunk of the tower broken off.
And it was falling right towards them!
Steven screamed in terror, while Isaac reacted quickly and ran across the wall to the right. Getting out of the way of the rock as it pasted right by them.
Afterwards, he quickened his climb and managed to make it close to the window.
Then he heard another cracking noise right above him, and knew that another piece was breaking off.
Isaac let go of the rope with one hand and grabbed the ledge of the window. "Go! Get in!" He urgently ordered Steven.
The new chunk of the Sea Spire continued to break off.
After untying himself for Isaac Steven was able to climb up the older human and crawl onto the floor.
Then the chunk broke off.
"Isaac!" cried out the Gems.
He completely let go of the climbing rope and grabbed the ledge. Then Isaac started to pull himself up. Steven quickly grabbed his shirt and helped pull him in.
They managed to bring in Isaac, just a split second before the rock could take him with it down to a watery grave. Isaac fell down on his back, sighed out loud, and groaned in exhaustion. More than happy that he and Steven made it to safety, as the two friends panted.
"Fuckin' A! C'mon, guys!" Amethyst exclaimed with encouragement, as she summoned her whip. She swung it over through the window, and it wrapped around near the grappling hook. Amethyst then grabbed Pearl and Garnet with one arm and lifted them onto her shoulder, showing an impressive amount of strength. "Isaac style!"
Amethyst jumped off the cliff and landed her feet onto the wall. Then, with a single burst of speed, she climbed on the way to the window. As Steven stood back up and Isaac lifted himself up to sit on the cool, wet floor, Amethyst came up and landed in the room. At last, the Crystal Gems were in the Sea Spire.
After making a face that made her look like Pac-Man, Pearl glared at Isaac. "Don't ever do that again!" she snapped.
"Not worry. I'm not." Isaac replied between pants. Then Garnet held out his Taco backpack to him. He looked up and saw her giving him a nodded. He smiled and grabbed the strap, before standing up. Garnet let go and walked onwards.
Amethyst pushed the Cheeseburger backpack into Steven's chest and ruffed his head, as the two of them laughed.
Isaac slipped on the Taco backpack as Pearl walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But it was pretty great," she told him with a smile, before she and he started to walk with the other.
However, when Isaac's eyes noticed something off the left corner of his line of sight, he turned his head and looked. What he saw made him stop, and when he stopped, Pearl and Steven stopped too. "What's wrong," asked the young boy, getting the attention of Garnet and Amethyst, so they stopped and looked at the blonde.
The moment Isaac's eyes were looking straight at what he saw, he became fixated on that thing. He turned and started walking towards it. When the Gems saw what it was, they immediately knew what it was
Edged to the cylinder wall of the Lunar Sea Spire was a diamond-shaped symbol that was split into four other diamonds with different colors. The top one was white, the right was blue, yellow was the one on the left, and at the bottom was a pink diamond.
Isaac stopped a few feet for it and just stared. He's never seen this basic looking, yet strange symbol before in his life. The longer he stared, however, he started to feel a strange feeling. His teeth gritted together. He was breathing through his teeth, and each breath became panting, ragged huff and puff of air. His eyes started to form a glare of hate. His hands clenched into fists. His heart tightened, and his blood boiled.
He couldn't explain it, other than the longer he stared at the diamond symbol, Isaac became consumed with a sensation that could only be narrowed to one thing.
Furious rage.
Seeing his angering state getting worse, the other four started to become worried. However, when Pearl looked at his right hand and saw his Onyx gemstone glowing, she gasped when steam began to appear from his fist.
Knowing she had to get him out of his state, she rushed over and grabbed him. Pearl then quickly turned him around and shook the blonde. "Isaac!"
Isaac gasped the moment he was pulled out of his enraged trance. His green eyes were wide open while he stared in Pearl's sky-blue ones. A look of confusion showed on his face, and Isaac looked at the others, seeing them gazing worriedly at him.
"Dude, what was that about," Amethyst asked.
"I-I-I don't know," Isaac responded, rubbing his face and whipping a bit of sweat off. "I just saw that symbol and just felt…so…angry."
Pearl and Garnet shared a glance, wondering what could have caused Isaac's change in behavior. If they had to make a guess, then one doubt it was his mother. Could the Gem of War be affecting her son in any sort of way?
Garnet walked over placed a hand on Isaac's back. Isaac looked at her. "Let's keep moving," she insisted.
Isaac nodded, prompting the group to continue on. But going though, Isaac looked at the symbol one last time, before following.
Why did it make him feel like that?
"Oh, no, no, no, this is even worse than the outside. Ugh... that's... oh!"
"Pearl."
"Oh, this didn't used to be so—"
"Peeeeaaarl."
"Oh, and the water damage."
"It's damaged everywhere, Pearl."
"This pillar..."
"Don't care."
All throughout the Crystal Gem assentation up the spiral stairs, Pearl's been analyzing every part of the Sea Spire with her obsession with organization and neatness. The others weren't too bothered, but Isaac was trying to get her to calm down.
Once they came onto another floor of the tower, Pearl stopped when she looked at a statue with half of its head missing. "Oh, and this had a head..." she said, stopping. Steven walked on, as Isaac halted and looked at the statue.
Unbeknownst to the two was that crawling on the back of the statue were two small, crustacean-like invertebrates with white crystal shards fashioned into spikes.
"Pearl, the place has been in ruin for over a thousand years." Isaac tried to reason with her. "It's not going to get any better than what it is."
"Oh, but it will, Isaac," Pearl told him. "Once the statue's in place, it'll restore all of this to its former glory—" the moment she started to see the creatures crawling over the shoulders of the statue, the Gem started to seriously freak out. Pearl then screamed, summoned her spear, and sliced statue in half.
"The hell was that!?" Isaac exclaimed, also freaked out by the creatures.
"Crystal Shrimp," Pearl replied.
"You guys," Amethyst called from the next floor, "we got a problem!"
Isaac and Pearl ran up the stairs to rejoin Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven. When they did, Pearl gasped in shock when it turned out that the level they were on was crawling with tons of Crystal Shrimps. They were almost everywhere on the floor, including some on a few pillars. "It's an infestation," she stated. "And we have to pass through there to get to the top."
Steven walked over and leaned towards one of the shrimps. "Can't you just squish 'em," he asked and was about to touch it.
"Don't touch that, their shards are deadly!" Pearl shouted, grabbing Steven and pulling him away. "We need to clear a path." So, she placed the boy down and projected a hologram of Amethyst. "Amethyst, if you go around to the side and disturb them with a spin attack..." Pearl moved the hologram to one area of the floor, and had it doing the spin attack with a whip.
Isaac thought of a simpler way and started digging into his bag.
Pearl then made the Amethyst hologram disappear, before summoning another one in the form of Garnet. "And Garnet, if you move to the ceiling and strike this exact spot..." She made the hologram move to the ceiling and then projected an X at the spot she wanted the tall Gem to hit. Pearl then projected herself. "…then I can advance with my..."
A strange noise and a glowing, warm, red light broke her concentration and she looked at where it came from.
"That's so cool!" Steven exclaimed with starry eyes at Isaac, who smiled proudly while holding up one of his flares that he lit up.
"I know, right?" Isaac then reached into his Taco backpack pulled out another flare. "Don't light that until I say so," he instructed the boy before approaching the Crystal Shrimps.
With caution, Isaac held up the flare above the shrimps as the Gems watched him. The red flame got the attention on the shrimps.
He moved the flare to the right, and the heads followed it. Isaac then quickly moved it to the left. Once again, the shrimps stared at it, as if entranced by its light.
"Okay, Steven!" Isaac said over his shoulder. "Let her rip!"
"You got it!" Steven nodded with a determined smile. He then lite the flare the same way Isaac showed him; taking off the cap and striking it across the top as fast and hard as he could. He took him two tries, but he got it started and the flare burned brightly.
Isaac nodded and tossed his flare to one side of the room. Steven followed him by example and tossed the flare he had to the other side. The plan worked perfectly, and the shrimp proceeded to split off into two groups, and each group followed one of the flares. This left a wide, clear path for the group.
With his plan a success, Isaac looked back at the Gems and Steven with a smile.
"Brilliant," Garnet praised.
"Oh hey, what do you know," said Amethyst, liking how easy it was with Isaac's plan.
Pearl on the other hand was shocked and her hologram copied her expression. "Uh, uhh." Unable to form words at first, she made her hologram disappear. Pearl then walked up to Isaac with wide eyes. "How did you know that would work?" She questioned him, while secretly impressed with his resourcefulness.
"What? You've never seen Jurassic Park?" He jokingly asked.
Amethyst laughed at the joke, as she, Garnet and Steven walked past the two. "You're a riot!" She commented, ending with a chuckle.
"I just want everyone to know: my plan would have also worked." Pearl tried to clarify with her hands up. Isaac patted her on the back and the two followed the others.
The team reached the top of the staircase to the next room. The next stairs were broken into a few standing pieces, but they would be able to make it up them.
"Watch out!" Garnet stopped the group abruptly. And not a minute too soon. The wall to the left of them cracked and broke open. Allowing water to rush out and break the broken stairs. Now blocking their way was a small, rushing river that dropped below, off the tower and into the vortex.
"What are we gonna do," Amethyst asked.
"Well, I think that it's Steven turn," Isaac proclaimed, looking at the boy.
"What? Me," asked Steven.
"Yeah, kid. We both used our backpacks for the cliff climbing, then I used my Taco backpack for the shrimps." Isaac smiled encouragingly. Steven really wanted to show how helpful he could be on missions, and so he didn't want the boy to feel left out. "It's your turn to shine now."
"Really?" Steven's eyes widened.
"What have you got," asked Garnet.
"Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack!" Amethyst chanted. It made Steven nervous, and he reached into his backpack to look for anything that could help them "Pearl, c'mon."
"Oh, alright." Pearl caved in with a smile, before the two started chanting together. This made Steven search harder. When he found what would help, the boy smiled and pulled out it out.
"A raft!" Steven shouted, holding up a yellow, inflatable raft. He pulled the red handle, to which the raft instantly inflated.
Amethyst and Garnet gasped, as Pearl praised him. "Steven, that's so sensible!"
Isaac nodded, too. Until he saw Steven about to throw the raft into the water. "No, no, don't!" He tried to stop the boy, but his words fell deaf to Steven's ears, and he placed the raft in the water.
It quickly floated away, and went over the side of the Spire.
"Well, that's a bummer."
Garnet ran up to a pillar and kicked out the bottom of it. She then quickly hit the remaining part of it with her elbow. The tall structure fell over and landed on the other side of the river, forming a bridge. "Good idea anyway, Steven," she said after jumping onto the bridge and started walking across it. She stopped and looked over to Isaac. "And thank you for doing that for him."
Isaac smiled and nodded. He and the other then walked across the pillar and made it to the other side. However, he saw Steven was feeling down about his plan not working. So, he placed a hand on his shoulder. "The next one will definitely be a winner," he said to encourage him.
Steven smiled, and the two humans followed the Gems up another flight of stairs.
The rest of the climb up the winding stairs to the top was long and slow. It wasn't without its sights to behold. Isaac looked out at the falling water all around them, and saw some schools of fish passing by.
Then the sound of a whale got his attention and he stopped for a moment. Sense he was at the back of the group, the Gems didn't notice. And there it was, a massive blue whale with its young baby swinging next to it. Isaac couldn't stop the grin on his face from getting bigger, and he waved at it. The whales didn't seem to pay any attention to him and continued onwards. With the mighty creatures gone, Isaac continued on up to the top.
When he finally reached the top, the others were already there seconds ago. Isaac stared in total awe at the top of the Lunar Sea Spire. The stone surface of it seemed to reflect the light of the moon and there was a giant pedestal.
Isaac saw the Gems and Steven approaching the pedestal and ran over to join them.
"This is it," Pearl said in wonder as the team of five stopped in front of the pedestal. "The Moon Goddess pedestal." She looked up at the full moon up high in the cloudless night sky. "And the moon is almost overhead! It's not too late to save this piece of history!"
Garnet turned to Steven. "Steven, the statue."
Steven took off his Cheeseburger backpack and stuck his hand in it, trying to feel for the statue. But he was unable to find it. "Uhh, I, uh, ah, uhh..." With a terrified look on his face, the boy urgently opened all of the pockets in his backpack and tried searching for it.
Isaac then cleared his throat. The Gems and Steven looked at him, as he scowled at Steven and pulled out the Moon Goddess statue out of his Taco backpack. "Looking for this?" He asked with a stern voice.
The Gems gasped. "What? How did you…" Steven tried to ask, but was too surprised.
"While you were packing this stupid doll of yours," said Isaac as he pulled out the Mr. Queasy toy. "You forget to pack the statue!" He threw the toy at Steven.
He caught it, but looked rather guilty and embarrassed.
"Quick, there's no time left!" Pearl exclaimed critically, looking up at the moon as it was about to be right above them.
"What do I do," Isaac asked, putting back on his new backpack.
"Just place it into the pedestal." Garnet pointed at a small, bowl-shaped panel.
Isaac nodded and walked up to the pedestal with the statue in hand. He saw where the panel had a small hole in the center. Figuring that's where the diamond base goes, Isaac placed the statue in it. Even with only a small amount of the diamond in it, it was still about to keep the statue still and from falling over.
After taking his hand away from the state, the group watched in amazement as the pedestal glowed and blasted a ray of light up at the moon. The ray of light shined on the statue, and it began floating out of the hole and up towards the moon.
Only a few feet up, the Moon Goddess statue violently shook. The Gems and humans lot out a short scream.
And then it exploded.
They could only stare at where it once was in silence, before the silence was broken when Garnet said, "Whoops."
Things only got worse when the Spire began to shake violently. Isaac backed away from the pedestal, right before a bunch of cracks formed on the stone floor. "What's going on!?"
But it's out of the frying pan and into the fire for the Crystal Gems. All around the Spire, the waterfall started to move, closing in on the tower.
"The Spire's collapsing!" Garnet exclaimed. "Everyone, keep steady!" But the floor underneath her and Amethyst violent tilted up, causing the purple Gems to fall into Garnet.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Steven freaked out as everything started to come apart. The force and pressure of the ocean were crushing the Spire. Then he was separated from the others when a crack formed between him and the others, and he was thrown back.
"STEVEN!" Isaac tried to save him, but the part of the floor, he and Pearl were on started to break away too. Leaving him unable to reach the boy.
Then he saw a crack form between him and Pearl, and the two tried to reach for each other, but floor splits apart. Isaac and Pearl's hands were unable to grab each other, and they, along with all the other members of the team were pushed away.
Isaac and Pearl were only able to scream, as the sea crushed and tore apart the structure. Each piece was consumed by the ocean, until the light ray was the last thing, and it went out the second everything sunk.
The Lunar Sea Spire was gone, never to return.
All was quiet on the ocean's surface.
After that silent moment, Isaac broke the surface with a big gasp of air. He couched up the salt water that tainted his mouth and throat, as his eyes burned for said water. Rubbing his eyes to clear them Isaac frantically looked around. He was the only one to come up. "STEVEN!" He called out at the top of his lungs. "Garnet! Amethyst! PEARL!"
No one.
Isaac immediately started to fear for the worst.
Just then, to his right, he heard the sound of something breaking the surface of the water mixed with the sound of Steven's voice gasping. Isaac quickly turned and saw the boy only a few feet from him. "Steven!" He exclaimed in relief and swam over to him. "Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah," said the boy with a nod. He then looked around. "Where's…"
The Gems swam to the surface and gasped for air. They were all here.
"What happened?" Isaac asked with a desperate look. "I thought the statue would make things better!"
"It's not your fault, Isaac," Pearl told him. "We pick the wrong statue."
Steven and Isaac looked at her questionably. "What?"
"When we went to get the statue, we were given two choices and we were only able to take one. Besides, the Spire was falling apart when we got here."
"Oh, well that's good to know," Steven said.
But then the human's eyes, filled with horror, were glued to a shark's fin treading above the water, as the shark swam right across them.
"Oh shit," squeaked Isaac, in fear.
But then, bubbles started to form near the group, meaning something was coming up and it was coming fast. The Crystal Gems' amazement, the yellow raft Steven tried to use popped up to the surface.
They stared at it in awe, before Steven shot up his fist and cheered. "Wooo!"
After they all climbed into the raft, Pearl and Amethyst started chanting again at Steven. Isaac was, however, leaning again the edge as he sat in the raft, exhausted. "Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack!"
After searching the horizon, Garnet turned to the other. "It's a three-hour paddle home."
Isaac sighed and sat up. "Hang on," he said and reached into the Taco backpack. He pulled out the combat shovel. It was the best thing that they had to a paddle.
He was about to start paddling, when Garnet stopped him. "I'll paddle," she said, taking the shovel. "You've been through enough for today."
Nodding in agreeance, Isaac leaned against the inside of the raft. Garnet then started rowing the raft towards land. "Isaac," said Steven. Isaac looked at him and saw him with a guilty look as he held Mr. Queasy. "I'm sorry for forgetting to bring the statue."
"Well, it was the wrong statue," said Isaac.
"And even if it was, I was so excited that I left it behind." Steven looked down in misery.
Isaac placed a hand on his shoulder. "Dude, its fine. I'm sorry I got angry at you, but this is just goes to show that you've got to be serious about these missions. Besides, we all make mistakes," he said before grinning. "Even if the Spire was destroyed, you did great for this mission."
That seemed to brighten Steven's mood quickly.
"And it's not just him," said Pearl. Isaac and Steven looked to see her smiling at the blonde. "You were very impressive, Isaac. You were level headed, resourceful, and quick thinking. You both did great."
"Yeah!" Amethyst said with a big grin. "And your Taco pack was also awesome."
Garnet looked over her shoulder and nodded.
"Thanks, guys," Isaac said with a tired smile. He then leaned back and placed his Taco pack behind his head as a pillow. Isaac crossed his arms and exhaled out his nose. "I think I'm going to like being a Crystal Gem."
And there's the third part of "Gem of War"
Taco pack! I decided to give Isaac his own food backpack so that he and Steven could grow closer, and because it's something that I think a good-natured kid like Steven would do.
Why a taco? Because it's the only other thing that's similar to a hamburger. But just like Isaac and Steven, and the things they packed in them, the two foods are completely different.
The big question now is why did Isaac react like that to the symbol of the Diamonds? Why did he get furious? And does it have to do with his mother?
That's it for now. Please be sure to Favorite and Follow if you like the story, and if you want me to keep writing this story, then please leave a REVIEW. I would really appreciate it if you do. If you any questions or decisions you'd have for me, then please PM me.
Thank you for reading, may God bless you, and have a wonderful day.