Chapter 7
"OK! OK! You've forced me to use my ULTIMATE WEAPON! Stand back!" He raised his crossed his hands in front of him and glared at the Crystal Gems. "Psychic Ghost Powers Activate!"
He started chanting in an unknown language. "Yessakabababa Yessakabababa…"
The gems looked on in concern, disbelief and confusion on their faces but they still prepared themselves for anything, readying their weapons for the coming attack.
"…YessakaBABABAAAAAA!" He cried.
"EVERYBODY STOP!" Shouted Steven as he jumped in front of the deranged Ronaldo.
At the same time the sky outside the lighthouse lit up with a brilliant flare of white light and the entire tower shook violently as if hit by something heavy.
"He really is psychic?" Amethyst squeaked as the tower shook.
"Wahhaa!" Ronaldo fell over. "Oww!"
"Maybe not." Amethyst amended.
"What's happening?" Cried Pearl as the tower shook again with another blinding flash from outside.
"There's something outside!" Garnet flinched as her future vision gave her a bare second of warning which she used to scoop Ronaldo and Steven up into her Gauntleted hands and jump out of the way as a giant shard of grey ice the size of a bus crashed through the lighthouse right where the two had been.
"Everyone out!" Garnet yelled as she jumped through a hole in the wall with the Ronaldo and Steven in her arms.
Amethyst scooped up Peedee as she and Pearl followed Garnet out of the collapsing building.
They had barely landed on the grass outside when the tower collapsed in a crash of wood, stone and glass.
Amethyst tossed the shocked Peedee gently to the side as she readied her weapon for whatever came next. "What on earth just happened?"
"I don't know." Yelled Peal.
"Get your hands off me you damn, filthy snake!" Ronaldo growled.
Garnet unceremoniously dropped him on his rear then gently put Steven on his feet. "Something's coming." She warned.
The rubble of the lighthouse shook as the giant shard of ice was pushed up and out of the pile of stone.
The Gems took a step back at the sheer rage embodied in the figure. The new Gem was large, as large as Rose had been, her hair was a mane of creamy white down her back and her skin was a striated light and dark orange. On her forehead she wore a faceted orange helmet with a large yellow crystal as a strange hammer head. Instead of a nose, her kite-shaped yellow Gem adorned the centre of her face.
"Gyahh!" with a shout a figure emerged from beneath the grey crystal shard, pushing it away. "I'll crush you for that you defective Coprolite!"
Her answer was another bus sized ice shard slamming into her from the heavens. The shock of the impact nocked the surrounding spectators prone in a rush of chill air and heavy mists.
Pearl looked up at a swirling mass of grey clouds that raged and boiled with unreleased thunder. A small figure encased in silver light floated slowly down from the storm. Her dark blue hair frothed and roiled like the sea in a storm and her dark grey dress whipped violently in the winds. Even from the distance Pearl could see both the Gem's eyes, one pair above the other, and the Gem glowed with the same icy storm light. From her back sharp silver wings of ice poised themselves threateningly around her petite form.
"Did you just call me a piece of shit, Jasper?" The small Gem shouted. "'Cause I'll admit; that was actually clever."
The grey ice shard that had impacted Jasper shattered revealing the large woamn standing there panting heavily and covered in scrapes. She glared at the approaching Gem before centring herself with a heavy exhale and a feral grin. In the blink of an eye, she moved. Leaping forward her body wrapped itself in orange light as she curled into a ball which then span rapidly. Much like a certain well know hedgehog she sped along the torn-up ground gaining speed until she hit a slanted slab of ice and using it as a ramp to launch herself at the flying Diamond fusion.
The orange ball of fury sped towards the floating figure who easily dodged with a flap of her artic wings. The storm followed her movement, the clouds twisting themselves into flows of water which then froze into chains of ice that reached for the angry orange quartz. Jasper used one of the approaching chains to as a platform to burst out of her roll so that she could fling herself head first at the icy grey Gem. The fusion simply ducked and span around her, her moves graceful as a dance.
Each time she missed Jasper used one of the ice chains that were coiling around the pair to leap back at the Diamond either not noticing the tightening of the chains or uncaring of the encroaching trap.
From below the Crystal Gems could only look on in shock and awe at the high paced action above. Streaks of orange lighting lancing back and forth within the storm as it tried to land a blow on the swirling silver glow at the heart of the thunderstorm.
"Holy cow!" Amethyst exclaimed.
"I can't see anything." Steven whined as he jumped up and down trying to get a glimpse of the action.
"I can barely even follow them." Pearl said with hushed breath.
"Hn." Garnet agreed succinctly.
The battled overhead continued as Jaspers strikes came closer and closer to the winged Gem in an ever-tightening circle of chains until with a final dismissive dodge the fused Gem simply stepped back and cinched the web of ice closed around the orange Gem.
Alexa and Lapis Lazuli — no, Alexuli — reached forth her hand and clenched her fist, the chains of ice growing jagged edges of cold blades that tightening into a knot around Jasper causing the proud quartz soldier to scream in pain.
"You'll never escape," Jasper grunted, "the Diamonds know you're here on this doomed dirt-ball of a planet. They'll send more when I don't return with the shattered fragments of your impure Gem."
"Oh, We know. In fact, we're counting on it." Alexuli smirked as she grabbed one of the connecting chains and spun the trapped Gem around thrice as she gained momentum before launching the bound Gem back toward the shattered lighthouse with yell and a crack of thunder.
Jasper impacted the ground in an explosion of force that threw up dirt and stone in a cloud around her heavy impact.
Alexuli looked down at the crater he opponent had a made and decided to end this. Reaching forward, a large clear glowing crystal pyramid grew before her outstretched hand.
Jasper groaned from her position in the dirt as she stared up at the storm she had challenged. The chains of ice still bit savagely into her flesh preventing her from escaping so she simply grit her teeth and braced herself for the impact; expecting it to be launched at her much like the other attracts she'd taken. Instead, the pyramid unfurled into a faceted star and glowed brighter until it hurt to look at directly. The dark grey storm clouds shivered in anticipation as small arcs of lightning danced around the star and the foreboding gem which held it.
With a humming buzz that the present humans and Steven felt in their bones, the lightning looked to be sucked into the brightly glowing crystal which then flickered dimly for just a moment before a thick beam of white light erupted from the star and engulfed the spot where Jasper lay with a thunderous, furious roar. The heat of the beam and the very concussive force of its passing pushed the other Gems back as Steven stepped infront of Ronaldo and Peedee with a pink force shield to keep them from being hurt.
When the dust cleared and those around had blinked the spots from their eyes, they were shocked to see the ruined lighthouse was simply gone. A round crater of slagged earth in its place. In the centre was a prone figure encased in cracked, yellow body armour that was slowly breaking apart in yellow sparkles of light. It seemed that Jasper had shaped her helmet into a full body protection at the last moment.
"Damn. I did not expect you to survive that." Alexuli said as she floated down to land beside the wheezing, exhausted Gem. "Normally I'd just poof you like I did with the weaker minions the Diamonds have sent but you and I both know that you would never give up."
"I'll… Kill… You…" the fallen Gem wheezed.
Alexuli summoned her misericord dagger and slammed the point into Jasper's Gem, shattering it.
"No. You won't."
Jasper's body disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving behind the shards of her Gem. Alexuli quietly gathered the yellow shards and bubbled them. She held the bubble for a moment thinking about what could be considered her first kill… their first kill, Lapis had shouldered some of the weight for her.
Part of her wanted to shy away and say that these people, these Gems weren't real but she knew that they were. They may be created from a work of fiction but they were real now. A more reasonable part of her knew that Jasper was insane and would stop at nothing to follow through with the orders to kill her, them, he friends and her sister. She could have bubbled her and stored the bubble in a painting and then kept that in the warehouse. She seriously doubted anyone would be able to escape from that. But she had wanted to shatter Jasper because she knew that killing someone was going to happen in one Jump or the other and honestly, she knew she would feel the least remorse if her first kill was a psychopathic space Nazi… it helped that Lapis had experience firsthand the savagery of the first Gem rebellion.
Once this would have meant that she constantly ran from impending conflict but here in this world, strength and the power of her new friends had firmed her resolve against ever being a victim again.
Alexuli sighed and decided she was spending too much time in her Gem form if she was thinking that analytically about killing others.
With a thought she teleported the bubble away, maybe she could find some use for the pieces. She brushed her hands of the situation and walked out of the crater and right into the crowd of Crystal Gems. "Oh… um, hi? Sorry about the lighthouse. I'll have someone fix that up."
"You- you- killed her." Steven said with tears running down his pale face. "How could you?"
Alexuli knew she didn't need to explain herself to a kid but still she said, "If I didn't shatter Jasper then she would have kept coming after us. She also would have informed Homeworld that the Crystal Gems are still alive. Then they would come after you." If she kept telling herself that there was a logical reason behind it maybe she could asway her feelings of apathetic guilt.
"Why would they want to you, why would they want to hurt us?" Steven asked bewildered.
Alexuli frowned at the kid. "Have the Gems told you nothing about Homeworld and what they believe in?"
Pearl stepped in front of Steven.
"He's too young." She said firmly.
"They told me that Homeworld did some bad things and that they and Mum had to fight them. But I'm sure if we just talked then we could have work it out. You didn't need to shatter her." Steven said from behind Pearl.
Alexuli cocked an eyebrow at Pearl. "If we just talked, we could all be friends, huh?"
"Yeah!" Steven said with all the conviction of a child that knows that the world is kind and good.
"You're going to get him killed." Alexuli told Pearl who simply flinched.
There was a chance that Steven could still win over the Diamonds with the Power of Friendship as he did in the show but with Alexa here in this Jump that was unlikely, especially with her drawbacks in play.
"HEY!" Steven pouted.
"Let me tell you this." Alexuli said to Steven. "The Diamonds are not going to ever give up in their quest to see us shattered no matter what you say."
"But- but why?"
"Because I exist." Alexa simply said. Because the drawback is fiat guaranteed, she thought instead.
Because she is a fusion. The Gems thought instead.
Alexuli started walking away from the Gems.
"Wait!" Called Garnet. "Who are you?"
Alexuli paused and tilted her head back to look at the gathered Gems. Seeming to come to a decision she nodded before her form dissolved into formless light which then split into two distinct entities.
"I'm Alexa," Alexa said as she reformed from the fusion, "I'm the Flawed Diamond."
"And I'm Lapis." Lapis glared at the Gems as she reformed, "the Forgotten Jewel."
Before they could ask anything else; Alexa surrounded them in an opaque grey bubble and teleported herself and Lapis away leaving the Gems to gawk when the bubble phased out of existence and revealed them gone
"… can we do that?" Amethyst asked, waving her hand at where Alexa had disappeared.
"No… at least, I don't think so." Pearl murmured.
Garnet frowned. "I can't see them."
"Yeah, they like, totally just disappeared." Amethyst rolled her eyes.
"No, I mean I can't see them in any of the futures."
"How could they hide from that?" Pearl asked with concern as the Gems started walking back to their temple, dragging Steven with them.
"I'm not sure but I don't like it."
Ronaldo just watched the Gems get further and further away.
"So… they're not snake people?"
"Mhmm." Peedee just shrugged.
"What just happened?" He asked his younger brother.
"I don't know." Peedee admitted then held up the video camera. "But I did get it all on camera."
Ronaldo blinked. "Alright! We can post it on my Blog! KEEP BEACH CITY WEIRD!"
⦖⋄⦕
Morrigan looked up when Alex and Lapis teleported into the temple.
"That took longer than expected."
"Jasper was surprisingly sturdy." Alexa said as she collapsed back into a crystal chair that grew from the ground behind her. Automated Gem tech for the win, he thought.
"I'm… going for a walk." Lapis told them as she walked to the warp pad and beamed away.
"Is she ok?" Morrigan asked in concern.
"I think so." Alexa answered as she stretched out and popped her shoulders (how does that even work with a body made of light?), "she decided to join me for the fight and we fused to battle Jasper. I think she just needs a little time alone to come to terms with her decision to actually fight with us."
Morrigan nodded in understanding. They both loved Lapis and would be there for her when she needed them but they both also understood from only their short time together that she was someone who just needed time alone to decompress and sort herself out. Strange for someone who had spent so long alone in the mirror but that just how she was.
Alex had likened her to a cat at one point, explaining how the small furry animals would ignore their owners to do their own thing and then at other times be content to simply sit in the same room as you for company. Morrigan and Lyn had laughed at the comparison and Lapis had dumped a globe of water on him before storming out. The fact that an hour later she chose to read a book while lounging in the warehouse where Alex was working on a future project instead of her room in the companion housing didn't prove anything at all.
"Where do you think she went through?" Alexa asked as she stretched out, there was no stolen barn for them in this universe.
"She's likely at the Danu Colony."
Alexa sent her a raised eyebrow.
Morrigan shrugged. "I know she likes to brood but she's also fascinated by a Gem colony that doesn't answer to the Diamond Authority. There's a lot of nice spaces there to just relax that fit the Gem psyche. Not sure why they all seem to love large stone monuments so much," Morrigan explained. "Personally, I just think she enjoys the attention she gets there sometimes. All the Tuath De Danann Lapis Lazuli's have those cute pyrite freckles and they just gush about smooth and blue our Lapis is."
"Our Lapis?" Alexa asked with a grin.
"You know what I mean." Morrigan grumbled.
"I'm glad you're getting along. Lyn and her seem to do well together when Lyn's not vying for my attention."
"That girl has it bad for you."
"I know." Alex mumbled, remembering when Lyn had joined her in the shower.
Thankfully she hadn't been male at the time but even then, the repeated offers to help her wash her back were a bit obvious. She sighed as she wasn't sure what to do about it. On one hand she had memories of Lyn as a cute if slightly obsessed little sister. On the other they weren't actually related or at least they weren't once they had left the Monopoly Gauntlet. She sighed and decided to just not think about it. Avoidance was a perfectly acceptable coping mechanism thank you very much.
"Speaking of the little angel. Where is Lyn?"
"She was worried that we can't find Spinel, so she's in the Trapeze dropping Grav-sensors around the solar system and likely star routes."
"Alone?" Alexa asked concerned.
"The Trapeze can outlast anything she may encounter at least long enough for her to teleport to the Companion Housing with her phone if she gets into trouble."
"You're right, I just worry."
Morrigan smiled, "I know."
The Trapeze was the first ship they had built. It was a blocky trapezoid shaped vessel of dark blue and black crystal with a tapered front and was about the size of two motorhomes parked side by side. The inside, like most Gem crafts, was larger than the outside would suggest and could comfortably house a crew of eight. It was powered by a Gem-Light Converter, otherwise known as a modified unenlightened Gem, that was able to convert all light into a usable energy. Even better it was able to convert 'Gem-Light'. The light that all Gems could feel even in absolute darkness.
'Gem-Light' wasn't visible yet it permeated everything, everywhere and everywhen since the creation of the universe — or at least that what Homeworld records said — there was very much a 'let there be Light,' aspect to it. The short of the matter was that the ship had a near unlimited source of power, constrained only by the amount of light it could convert at any one time and how much power the components could channel without burning out.
Lastly, the ship was capable of faster than light travel much like any other modern Gem ship. Using what Gem's called a gravity engine, which could be best described as a combination of a Romulan warp-drive and a theoretical Alcubierre drive, the ship was able to achieve faster than light travel by utilising an artificial black hole to warp the space around the ship creating a bubble of warp-space that could ride the wave of compressed space faster than light and take the ship with it.
Alexa would like to say the Trapeze was better than anything Homeworld currently had but that would be a lie. It was slightly more efficient since it didn't have the useless aspect of being modelled as a hand or a pair of legs but the sheer size of Homeword ships meant a much greater capacity of Gem-light Converters and weaponry. Building a comparable ship, even with Alexa's crystal creation ability, would take longer than a year and so wasn't a priority.
"How did she miss Jaspers Roaming-Eye ship?" Alexa asked.
"She hadn't seeded the Homeworld route yet but called in that she had detected traces of an old grav-trail when she did. You had already engaged Jasper by that point so I didn't see to the need to pass it on while you were in battle."
"The bitch surprised us at the Communication Hub."
"Why were you even there? The Gems destroyed it three months ago." Morrigan asked as she remembered watching the fusion drama between the Crystal Gems play out.
"I know, I know. But Lapis wanted to explore and I wanted to test if the tech could pick up our private channel."
"Can it?"
"It can, but you either have to be incredibly lucky or know what you're looking for."
"Wait, it can pick up our Jump-phones?"
"No, just the warp-relay that the Spectre, the Pavilions and the Ship use. It's still encoded but the hub can get the signal. Honestly, I'm not even sure how our phones work but they're safe. We can sync them with our gem-tech but I think that's more Jump ridiculousness rather than our tech being good."
Alexa looked down at the modified unenlightened Pearl attached to her left wrist. He had given one to each of the Companions. It replicated many of a Pearl's powers allowing them to store items, communicate with each other and take notes through holographic interfaces. When they stored their Jump-Phones in the Gem the two had combined in functionality, meaning they could communicate or teleport to the warehouse with the pearl.
"Then what's the problem?"
"I dunno, it's been five months already and I expected more from the Diamonds than a scout drone, some corrupted fusion experiments and Jasper. None of which but the last even deserve a mention. We've been watching them and only Yellow Diamonds seems to be preparing to come personally but my gut says shits about to hit the fan."
More than just watching the Diamonds she had been working each day to prepare for their attack. She had two traps ready for when the Diamonds came to earth. The Galaxy Warp was rigged with a special surprise and then she had her Pavilions.
See, the Trapeze hadn't been built to seed the local space with sensors. No, she had originally built it to facilitate the deployment of fifty-eight orbital satellites. She called them 'The Pavilions,' fifty-eight orbital light-cannons each powered by its own Gem-Light Converter and each ecto-enchanted for invisibility and intangibility. It had taken months of blood, sweat and tears to get them all up and running.
Morrigan touched a few controls on the console she was sitting at and put the Spectre monitors in automatic mode. They'd continue shadowing select targets and the computer's limited AI would send an alert if certain key words or actions were picked up.
She turned back to Alexa. "You sound like you need to relax."
"Probably." Alexa groaned.
"You got the hot spring up and running yesterday, right?"
"It's actually the overflow of our own geothermal condenser, I liked the idea of having a back up to the Gem-Light converter… less chance of accidents."
"Well, Lapis likely to be back until tomorrow and Lyn will be out for another few hours so I'm going to go enjoy a relaxing soak." Morrigan snapped her fingers causing her dress to disappear into motes of light.
"You're welcome to join me." She said as she walked away with a noticeable sway in her step.
Alexa was frozen for a minute, her eyes glues to Morrigan's curvy rear.
"Fuck it. Wait for me," she scrambled after the retreating woman.
⦖⋄⦕
The Temple provided by the Jump-doc was hidden away on a small island near Beach City. The island was little more than a rocky crag with sheer cliffs and rock shoals on all sides. The entrance to the Temple was similar to the Crystal Gem's Temple. Hidden away between two of the islands peaks was the carved of the dark stone of the island was a statue of a giant nude woman sitting cross legged, her head back and her eyes closed as if she was resting against one of the cliffs. Her hands were held together folded palm up in her lap, creating a platform to enter the temple proper through where her navel would be.
When Alex had expanded with cavern with the help of Morrigan and her Geokinesis, they had made multiple chambers off the main cavern. One such chamber deep within had actually cut right through the rocky peak and opened to a large ledge midway up the cliff face on the other side. Within the last week Alex had converted the area into an open-air hot spring; he had completed it only yesterday and was going to unveil it to the group the next time they were all together, but it seemed Morrigan had beaten them to the punch.
The hot spring was an Olympic sized pool of steaming water half enclosed by stone and half open on the ledge. Overflow from the spring created a small waterfall into the crashing ocean waves a hundred feet below. Alex had created Gem-tech planes of clear crystal that would shelter the exposed portion of the spring when desired, such as when the weather was a problem or when security or privacy was needed. The crystal would appear clear from the interior yet from outside it changed colour and texture to closely match the cliff face.
Before the pool proper was a series of open showers; again Gem-tech handily removed any issues with location, taking care of things such as plumbing as the water flowed directly from silvery crystal shower heads and vanished into the carefully textured crystal floor. Alex had to admit he was quite proud of his work even if the idea had only come to him while directing the overflow of the Geothermal Condenser to the ocean.
Currently, Alex luxuriated on the smooth curved seating that ran along the inner edge within the hot spring. The hot water felt fantastic to his stretched muscles after an hour or so of vigorous — and by damn was it vigorous — activity. It felt less good on the long scratches that ran down his back but sometimes sacrifices had to be made… that and he would shift ghost and let them heal later. He gently held and supported Morrigan curled up sideways on his lap, her head resting against his chest, eyes closed and a small smile on her lips. He relaxed and enjoyed the feel of her skin, slowly running a hand up and down her thigh evoking an occasional shudder from the tired Gem.
"That was fun." Alex said.
"Mhmm," Morrigan hummed in contented agreement.
"Not that I'm complaining, but what brought that on," Alex asked, "I thought you found stuff like that embarrassing."
"You flirted more when I was in ghost form but I feel much more confident as a Gem."
Alex nodded. During down time while relaxing in the Warehouse housing, he would often find himself switching between Gem, human or ghost form. Morrigan did the same between her Gem and ghost form. Food tasted better as a human and sleep came easier yet working on fun projects went better as a ghost or half-ghost. It was a contradiction that as a ghost the quiet was quieter and yet the passions rans hotter.
Alternatively, Gem form was better for tedious, thought heavy projects. It was easier to plan or calculate actions though this was balanced by layer of vanity and, oddly enough, sexuality in being a Gem. The Gem form felt… itchy for contact with others; if they weren't alone with a task that needed done then they craved social interaction and physical contact. It explained why Homeworld was so insistence that every Gem was busy with a task at all times. As a Gem this meant that if he wasn't working on tech he was thinking about the girls.
Human form, for at least those who had them, was best for simply relaxing. It was nice for all of them chill together, play video games or watch the movies of this world. Dog-copter was actually surprisingly good; it had a real self-awareness thing going on.
Lapis, of course, remained exclusively a Gem because she didn't have another form yet. Alex had offered her a ghost transformation but Lapis had decided to wait until she got to know everyone better. Morrigan had already taken the ghost form conversion and could now 'go ghost' from her Gem forms. Lyn had also decided she would take the conversion and was now 'half-ghost, half-human and half-gem' or as she like to call it a 'a hundred and fifty percent bad-ass.'
Still Lyn might have been a bit of an exception in the form changing trend in that she spent most of her time in Half-Gem form and rarely reverted back to human or went ghost unless she needed one of the ghost powers. As a half-Gem Lyn could still enjoy the human experience as well as the focus and passions of a Gem: she might have had the best of both worlds.
"Also, Lyn helped." Morrigan continued.
Alex froze. "When you say Lyn helped?"
"She gave me advice on how to approach you and she helped me practice."
"When you say practice…?"
Morrigan looked up into Alex's eyes. "You're the first man I've ever been with, but you're the second woman."
Alex's face reddened as he remembered enjoying himself with Morrigan in both his human male form and his female Gem form. He also couldn't help picturing little Lyn and Morrigan doing what Alexa had been doing forty minutes ago and he felt himself reacting to the thought.
"You're a naughty girl, Morrigan." He grumbled.
Morrigan smirked and she ground her ass on his hardening member. "Oh no, I'm not the one imagining my little sister having sex."
"No, you're just one who had sex with her."
Morrigan laughed. "Guilty"
There was a splash as Alex threw Morrigan off his lap into the deeper water. Morrigan came up spluttering and laughing. He swam after her for round four.
⦖⋄⦕
AN: So one thing that always annoyed me as a reader when reading Jumpfics and multi-universe adventure stories was chapters where nothing ever happened. Don't get me wrong. I understand that training and experimentation is needed for the character but waiting a week or more for an update for the chapter to only be a few thousand words of "and then he trained really, really hard and read a book and then he ate a sandwich and trained some more" was really disheartening.
SOOO... i tried my hand at switching up the pace! Get some action! Make some love! Acknoledge that with a science database jammed directly into the brain and the ability to liturally conjure the technological crystals the character doesnt need to speed weeks "developing" a ship he just has to Lego them together and then see how they perform.
Now that I've writen the chapter I can see why authors devote that time to the development stages. I'm going to have to appologise to some of them (in spirit) and keep working on getting the balance right.