Hey again. Thanks to everyone for all the reviews and favourites. Sorry that these take a very long time, but there's a combination of factors that cause delays. But mostly though I don't want to put any chapter out unless I am just happy with it. I've also given some thought to how much longer I will go ahead with this. I have the next few chapters in mind and you'll guess them what they are by the end of this one. For now though, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
"So, what is this called again?" Steven asked. It was yet another brilliantly sunny day in Beach City, as Steven was sitting down in the sand underneath the rafters of his home. Beside him was Connie, who had come over to visit for the day, and Steven had elected to show her a new development occurring at his house. A small colony of ants had sprung up just this morning, taking residence in the grassy patches along the edges of the sand, underneath the rafters of the Beach House. Steven wasn't really sure where they came from or why they appeared so suddenly. Not that Steven was bothered by their arrival of course, but he hoped Connie would help him better understand why these ants were here in the first place.
"It's called the Scientific Method." Connie replied, her eyes firmly set on the tiny ants in front of them, who continued to pace back and forth across the sand in synchronised order, oblivious to the two children watching them from above. "It's how scientist and researchers learn about the world to make new discoveries and solve the unexplained mysteries of the universe. And that's what we are going to do to figure why these ants are here"
"Should we be wearing lab coats for this?" Steven asked, curious, not feeling particularly scientific.
"Hmm, I think we can manage" Connie said, after a brief pause. She pulled out a pen and a small notebook out from her backpack, which had a list of five words scribbled on its first open page.
"The first step of the Scientific Method is, observation" Connie said, pointing to the topmost word on the list, circling it with her pen. "We start by observing what the problem is, in order to collect data. So, what can we see?"
Steven did as Connie asked, and turned his head to look down at the ants who were still scurrying about at their own leisure and pace between the grass. As he watched them, he noticed that they kept moving in and out of a particular patch of grass.
Curious, Steven picked up a nearby stick, carefully pushing away the blades of grass, revealing what appeared to be a brown piece of paper, dirty and torn, littered with crumbs. On the side of the bag, was pink coloured donut logo. The ants were clambering in and out bag, picking away at the leftover crumbs.
"Oh, hey, that's from the Big Donut" Steven said, recognising the logo on the bag at once. Another realisation soon hit him on the head. "Wait, I remember now. I was throwing out some leftover donuts last, but I dropped one of the bags by mistake and forgot to pick it up. So, I guess the ants must have followed the smell of-"
"No, no, no!" Connie said hastily. "Don't skip ahead. We can't draw a conclusion yet. We're not done with our observation".
Steven quickly held his tongue, allowing Connie to continue her observation of the ants, holding her chin with a serious expression. "So, from our observation, we can determine that a small group of ants have appeared outside your home. And there's also a discarded bag of stale donuts in the grass". Connie moved down to the second step on her list. "Next, we move on to Step 2 of the Scientific Method. Create a hypothesis"
"What's that?" Steven asked, unfamiliar with the term
"A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for the thing that you want to understand" Connie said. "So, in our case, let's say our hypothesis is that these ants appeared under your house because they were attracted to the sweet smell of the leftover donuts"
"Um, ok" Steven said, still not fully catching on just yet.
Connie pointed to the next step on the list. "Now it's time for the third step, prediction. Using our hypothesis as a jumping off point, we make a prediction on what we want to discover. So, considering our hypothesis from the previous step, what prediction do you think we can make?"
Steven thought about this carefully. "If the ants are here because they found some stale donuts," he said slowly. "Then maybe we can lure them somewhere else with a fresh donut?"
"That's great Steven" Connie said, smiling. "That brings us to the fourth step. Next up is experimentation, where we decide to test if our prediction will come true using a control situation. Now for this experiment to work will need some spare donuts, so, let's head into town and-"
"Oh, don't' worry, I have some here". Steven pulled out a small bag of donuts out from his signature, Cheeseburger backpack, just as Connie was in the middle of raising to her feet.
"You keep emergency donuts on your person?" Connie asked, unsure if she should be impressed or surprised by Steven's peculiar sense of resourcefulness.
Steven merely shrugged innocently. "I gotta have some in case me and the Crystal Gems go any surprise missions"
Deciding to be impressed, Connie happily accepted the bag of donuts from Steven. She opened the bag and pulled out a strawberry flavoured donut, breaking off a small piece of it, no bigger than the tip of her finger. Together, she and Steven moved several feet up wind and placed the donut crumb in the grass. The two children then retreated back another few feet to the other side of the grass and watched carefully for the ants next move.
They didn't have to wait long, as a single ant made its way to the donut crumb that they had left and was then followed by a dozen more of its kind, all of them converging on the newest offering, slowly picking it piece by piece.
"Now, we have reached the final step of the Scientific Method" Connie said, as eager and enthusiastic as ever. "Results. The ants were immediately attracted to the scent of a fresh donut. With this information, we can now form our conclusion. It appears that ants, like humans, are slaves to the sugary power of the corporate trans fats!" she said, with an ominous note.
Steven let out a stunned gasp, his eyes going wide with shock. "My innocent mind was not prepared for these horrific truths!"
Connie let out a cheery laugh; she didn't know what kind of game was, but she definitely was enjoying it. "And that's the Scientific Method!" she said. "Isn't cool? It's a really useful way of applying logic to problems by breaking them down into simple steps. And once you learn it, you can apply to all kinds of situations"
"Hmm, ok, let me try" Steven said, wanting to confirm he understood the concept. Steven turned his attention back to the ants, watching them as they hungrily picked apart the donut crumbs.
"Ok, first observation" Steven said slowly. "The ants are eating up the donut crumbs and they look like they are enjoying it. That was a strawberry flavoured donut. That's my favourite one, so I can vouch for how good it tastes"
Taking all these details into mind, Steven remembered the next step. "Hypothesis, the ants must really love the taste of strawberry as much as I do"
Steven turned back around to Connie, as if looking for reassurance that he wasn't making any mistake, but Connie simply smiled, giving him an encouraging thumbs up.
"Now, prediction" Steven said. "Uh…" He paused trying to think what might come to his mind, the pieces slowly forming together. "If the ants really like strawberry flavoured donuts, then that's the first one they'll pick if they have to choose"
Smiling, Steven opened his backpack again and pulled out two more donuts, one chocolate and one lemon glazed. Just as Connie did, he broke a tiny chunk off each one as well as another piece from the same strawberry donut. Steven then placed the three separates pieces of donuts in a row in the sand, making sure to set each one reasonable distance apart.
"Now, experimentation" Steven said. "I'll leave out some different flavoured donuts and see which one the ants will pick."
Just as before, Steven and Connie waited patiently for the ants to make the first move, making no attempts to interference any more than nesscessary. Eventually, the group of moved toward the row of donuts crumbs Steven had set for them. The ants scurried ahead toward the strawberry donut just as they had done before. But this time, a small quadrat of the ants broke off from the main group and instead moved toward the lemon glazed donut crumble that was to right. Finally, a single, lone ant all the way in the back chose the chocolate flavoured donut crumb that was to the left and began eating away at it in solitude.
"Results, they didn't all want the same kind of donut. Some of them wanted something a little different." Steven smiled, placing his fist on his hips in a display of confidence and pride. "And now our conclusion. Ants have all kinds of different donut preferences, which means I can't go around making assumption over what they might like"
"By Jove, I think you've got it!" Connie said
"We're totally scientists now!" Steven cheered, raising his fists up into the air.
"Next, we cure world hunger!" Connie said, joining in by throwing her own fist into the air.
Steven laughed, very as happy as he always did whenever Connie came over to visit them. Or really whenever he got to spend time with Connie in general. "That Scientific Method thing is really cool." Steven said. "And you explained it in such an easy and approachable way for me to understand using examples in that can be found in every day life. Learning sure is fun!"
"Yeah, I guess so" Connie muttered with a small shrug, with much less enthusiasm than Steven. As much as she enjoyed showing Steven new things, a part of Connie was hoping that maybe could have done something a little more exciting.
Then, suddenly, there was a loud booming noise coming from overhead, like the sound of cannon fire or the clap of thunder despite the weather being perfectly clam. The clouds parted in an instant as something came flying through them at an unbelievable speed, descending down onto the beach, stopping at dime just before it touched the sand. Steven and Connie briefly had to shield their eyes as strong gust of wind blew sand past them and scattering the helpless ants behind them into the air.
When the sand clear, Steven and Connie opened their eyes to see what had created the disturbance. A giant, black cube, much like the ones Steven had seen before, was floating just a few inches off the surface of the beach. The only difference being, was that unlike all the previous cubes, this one was massive, easily the size of Steven's father's van.
"What is that?" Connie exclaimed.
"It's one of the cube robot things" Steven said. "Only a lot bigger!"
On cue, Jasper leaped out from the front door of Steven's house and down onto the beach, landing between the cube and the two human children. Lapis and Peridot soon joined Jasper's side, facing the black cube, which made no attempt to respond to their presence or show any kind of hostility.
"Steven, get Connie back!" Jasper ordered. "Crystal Gems, attack!"
Steven had only just enough time to summon up his bubble, surrounding both him and Connie in a pink sphere of energy as the Crystal Gems charged into a full front assault against the black cube, each of them attacking in tandem with one another other.
Peridot fired her finger-cannon, blasting the black cube in the dead centre of its red eye with a bolt of green energy, resulting in a visible crack.
Jasper then charged forward surrounding her body in a blazing orange energy, summoning her crash helmet and headbutting into the cube in the exact same spot where it had been cracked, completely shattering the outer layer of metal and creating a small hole that exposed the interior of the cube.
Finally, Lapis raised her arms in the air, summoning up a dozen watery tendrils from the surrounding ocean which poured into the cube through its exposed hole, filling and expanding it outward until finally, the cube blew apart from the inside out, creating a shower of water and broken metal that rained down upon the beach.
Once the last pieces of debris had finished falling, Steven lowered his bubble, hoping that it was now safe for Connie, who was laying on her side, looking shocked by what had just transpired.
"Are you ok?" Steven asked her, concerned.
"I love hanging out at your place" Connie whispered with barely restrained excitement. It probably wasn't an appropriate time, but Steven felt the colour raise in his cheeks at little from her praise.
"Are you two, alright?" Lapis asked, with some concern, offering a hand to Connie, helping her to feet again.
"We're fine" Steven assured. "Was that another one of those cube robots from before?"
"Yes, obviously it must have been sent here by Pearl and Amethyst" Peridot said. She kicked away at a piece of the debris with the tip of her foot when something shiny caught her eye. Bending down she picked up a piece of metal, the interior of it appeared to be lined with some kind crimson tinted glass.
"Hmm, curious" she said, examining the glass under the sunlight, unsure of what to make of it.
"Peridot, maybe you shouldn't be touching that?" Lapis warned. "It could be dangerous"
"Well of course it's dangerous" Peridot replied, completely unafraid, her eyes examining the piece of glass in her hand. "But when has that ever stopped us?"
"Pearl and Amethyst" Connie said quietly, turning to Steven. "Those are the two Gems you were telling me about before"
Steven nodded in confirmation, having told Connie all about their previous encounter with the Homeworld Gems. Steven then looked to Peridot. "What do you think it wanted?"
"It doesn't want anything now" Jasper said, walking up beside Peridot and unceremoniously plucking the piece of glass out of her hand, crushing it into in powder with one brief flex of her fist. "We destroyed it. End of story"
"Yeah, whatever it was, it was no match for the three of us" Lapis said confidently, standing next to Jasper and Peridot.
"That's right, because we are, the Crystal Gems!" Peridot yelled, spreading her legs, thrusting her right arm out in an overly dramatic pose. Steven and Connie stared at Peridot as she remained fixed in that position, while Jasper and Lapis had yet to move an inch. Peridot glanced briefly in their direction.
"Jasper, Lapis, strike a cool pose" she whispered from the corner of her mouth, her eyes darting back on to their young spectators. "You're making us look like idiots"
"Hi Connie, it's me again." Steven said, sitting alone on his couch in his living room, phone in hand.
"Greetings Scientist Steven" Connie replied, from the other end of the phone. "How goes your research?"
"Pretty good. I wanted to tell you about this new discovery I made. Remember back when that cube robot blew up and all the pieces fell from the sky"
"Yeah, that was awesome" Connie said, sounding very pleased to have an excuse to bring it up again.
"Well, I noticed that some pieces were a lot bigger than other pieces" Steven said. "But it looked like they fell to the ground at the same time. So that got me thinking? Does smaller stuff fall faster than bigger stuff? So, I tried out the Scientific Method you showed me, did some experiments and discovered that big objects fall just as fast as small objects. Isn't that cool?"
"Wow, Steven that amazing!" Connie said, sounding impressed. "You discovered that all by yourself. That really is cool"
"So, who do I contact about my discoveries?" Steven asked. "I mean, is there like a scientist hotline I can call or a website? I wanna get this out soon so other people will know"
"Oh" Connie said, quickly catching onto what Steven really meant, now beginning to feel little awkward. "Well, I am happy you were able to figure that out for yourself Steven, but that's not actually a new discovery. It was made a long time ago"
"Really?" Steven said with surprise, which quickly turned to mild disappointment. "Oh, well, that's ok. I made another discovery yesterday when I was doing the dishes. I noticed that the water kept rising up when I was putting things into the sink. So, I figured that the amount of water that raises up, must the same as the number of dishes I put into the sink. So, I started doing some experiments and-"
"Um, that's also been discovered already" Connie said, sadly.
"Seriously?" Steven said in disbelief. "Ok, how about this. I was throwing a ball at my wall and it kept bouncing back, and I noticed that the harder I threw it, the faster it bounced. So, then I thought maybe that-"
"Everything action as an equal and opposite reaction?" Connie finished dryly. "That's been discovered too. Sorry"
"Ah, come on! I spent like six hours on that one!" Steven moaned heavily. He slumped his back down against couch, feeling disheartened at his apparent lack of real progress. "How come all the good science has been done already?"
"Don't worry" Connie said encouragingly. "A big part of science is that there's always something new to discover. You just to need to find some question that no one else has an answer to yet. Think of something that's relevant, something no one has figured out yet"
"Hmm, something relevant" Steven said, rubbing his chin pensively. He held that pose for a full minute. Then another minute. Then about halfway through minute number three did it finally happen. A loud, thunderous boom echoed in the distance, shaking the interior of the house, although Steven barely even flinched at the disturbance as he already knew what it meant.
"Is that another one of those cube robots?" Connie asked, with both concern and interest.
"Yeah" Steven said, dully.
The Temple door opened with Jasper, Lapis and Peridot rushing out from it. Peridot's finger-screen was hovering in place of her left hand, showing a blinking red dot moving in a straight line toward a hemispherical shaped object, which was undoubtedly the planet Earth itself.
"It's entering the atmosphere" she said. "By my calculations it should land at the Desert, in approximately…now"
"Uh, what is wrong with these things?" Lapis groaned. "This is the fifth one this week"
"Sorry, Connie I gottta go, talk later!" Steven said in a hurry just as Connie was about ask another question. "Guys, wait for me!" Steven cried as Jasper, Lapis and Peridot had already stepped onto the Warp Pad, teleporting away to the Desert. The moment they were gone, Steven climbed onto the Warp Pad and closed his eyes, concentring as hard he could, picturing the Desert area in his mind's eye until the Warp Pad activated once again, transporting to his desired location.
At first, he saw no sign of the Crystal Gems anywhere in the vast sand dune filled landscape, but he soon zeroed in on their location when he heard the sounds of battle and explosions coming from off in the distance behind a land dune. Running across the desert sand, Steven found the Crystal Gems standing next to yet another demolished cube. Peridot and Lapis looked to be exhausted, both of them panting like crazy, while Jasper was standing further away, her eyes set firmly up in the sky as though checking if there was another attack imminent.
"This is getting ridiculous" Steven said running up to them, now beginning to feel truly tired of this new routine they had found themselves it. "How many more of these things are you guys gonna have to fight?"
"We don't know!" Peridot cried, throwing her arms in the air before falling back onto the sand in defeat. "We don't know what these are or what they want or how to stop from coming here. And I suspect the pressure is beginning to take its toll on us emotionally!"
"Well that's okay" Steven said consolingly, knowing where Peridot was coming from. "I don't know anything all the time, it's like my whole life. But I have you guys to tell me about tell me about Gem stuff, Connie can explain what kind of donuts ants like, and Dad tells me weird dad stuff."
"But there's no one on this planet who can tell us about these robots" Peridot said, despairingly. "I couldn't figure how they worked. And I have no idea as what they want. All the sites they been landing at so far appear to be completely random."
"We just don't know enough about we're facing here" Lapis said, hanging her head down.
Hearing these words, Steven felt a fire beginning to raise in his belly, remembering what Connie had told him earlier, realising that this was his opportunity. He furrowed his brow and sucked in his gut, placing his fists squarely on his hips as he straightened up.
"Well, then maybe, it's time for Scientist Steven to figure things out!" he said, seriously.
Lapis and Peridot shared a brief look of confusion with one another, while Jasper had her back to the rest of the group, still keeping her eyes skyward.
"Who's that?" Lapis asked.
"Me, I meant me" Steven clarified. "Connie was telling about this thing call the Scientific Method. It's a list of easy to remember steps that help you figure out things that you don't know."
"Hmm. And how does this method work?" Peridot asked, trying her best to sound inconspicuously curious.
"Uh, ok" Steven said, now feeling a little nervous as the spotlight appeared to be fully on him now. He cleared his throat as he began to recall each step in his mind. He raised his index finger. "The first step is observation. So, what have we observed so far?"
Steven glanced around the desert, now littered with pieces of the destroyed alien machinery. "These big cube robots keep coming to Earth. And no matter how many times we break them, they just keep coming"
Steven counted his middle finger next as he remembered the second step. "Now, we make a hypothesis" he said. "The reason the cubes keep coming is that they are trying to do something, and they can't do it because we keep destroying them."
Steven raised a third finger, feeling much more confident. "Prediction. If we keep breaking them, we'll never find out what it is they are trying to do"
" I could have concluded all that with one touch stump" Peridot said, sounding unimpressed.
"So, you're saying that we shouldn't attack these cubes and let them do, whatever it is they are here to do?" Lapis said slowly.
"Yeah, that's the next step. Experimentation" Steven said with an eager smile. "And when that's over, we'll collect the results and after that we'll have a conclusion"
"We're not experimenting with anything" Jasper said curtly, finally turning around to face the rest of the group. She picked up a long shaft of metal out of the sand and snapped it in her hands for good measure, throwing the pieces away. "That's way too big a risk. If these things keep showing up, then we'll just keep taking them out, no matter how many times they come here. We don't need to know what they're here for. It's enough that we destroy them"
"Well, what if they just never stop coming?" Lapis asked, glaring at Jasper with disapproval. "Are we supposed to keep fighting them forever?"
Jasper crossed her arms and stared at Lapis for a long while, her expression blank. "I can live with that" she said, perfectly honest. Lapis groaned wearily, having half expected Jasper's answer.
"It won't be forever" Peridot said, sounding hopeless once again as she laid her head back against the sand. "It'll just be until they finally wear us down and we all die a painful death!"
"But maybe if we just try my idea, we could find out what they want and maybe that'll help us find out how to stop them" Steven said.
"I said no" Jasper said, with enough strength of authority that Steven knew he couldn't push the issue any further. But not enough for Lapis, however.
"Jasper, Steven just wants to help" she said, throwing Jasper another angry glare. "And he could be right. I don't want to have to keep fighting these things. We need a real plan"
"Fighting them is a real plan" Jasper said, refusing to look Lapis in the eye.
"No, it's not" Lapis replied, now beginning to sound impatient.
Jasper was about to follow up with another retort, when they were suddenly interrupted by a loud, familiar beeping noise, emanating from Peridot's left forearm. Without getting up, Peridot lazily raised her arm and activated her finger-screen, which once again showed blinking red dot moving a straight line.
"Oh great" Peridot said, with an unhappy, sarcastic drawl in her voice. "There's yet another one entering the atmosphere".
It was then that a second dot appeared on the screen a short distance behind the first one, which was enough of a surprise to force Peridot upright again.
"Wait, there's not one, but two entering the atmosphere" she said, looking terrified by this realisation. "Oh my stars, there's two of them coming at the same time now! It's flawless strategy!"
"Where are they going to land?" Jasper asked, as she, Steven and Lapis gathered around Peridot.
Peridot got back to her feet and was examining her screen more closely, able to make perfect sense of the jumbled-up display. "Let's see. It looks like the first one is heading for the Space Port"
"You mean the place where your old ship is?" Steven said.
"Correct" Peridot said, her eyes now focusing on the second dot. "And the other one is heading for….the Prime Kindergarten".
"What's that?" Steven asked, never having been to that location before.
"We have to split up" Jasper said at once, ignoring Steven, already making her way back toward the Warp Pad. The others followed after her and watched as Jasper climbed onto surface of the Warp Pad, preparing warp away without them.
"I'll head to the Kindergarten" she said. She turned back to the others. "You three head to the Space Port. And remember, destroy whatever shows up. No messing around".
And flash of teal coloured light, Jasper was gone. No sooner than she had left, Peridot, Lapis and Steven quickly gathered onto the Warp Pad and teleported up into the sky to their next destination.
After arriving at the Warp Pad situated high up in the mountains, Steven, Peridot and Lapis wasted no time in crossing over the hovering suspension bridge and entering into the abandoned tunnel, leading them into the exotic jungle landscape that once acted an intergalactic space port for Gem kind.
Lapis and Steven followed Peridot's lead as took off ahead of them, tracking the location of the cube on her finger-screen, moving through the jungle at such a fast and unrelenting pace, she might have forgotten about her teammates who were trailing behind her. Eventually, as they began to draw closer to the edge of the jungle, Peridot finally stopped, staring hard at the wall of leaves that was ahead of them, knowing exactly what was on the side of it, no matter how much she hoped she had been wrong. After a moment to catch his breath behind Peridot, Steven glanced around the jungle and soon realised how familiar this area appeared.
Pushing past the wall of leaves, Peridot, Lapis and Steven entered into a wide open glade, in the centre of which lay the grounded, dilapidated and enormous sized hand-shaped vessel that was once Peridot own space ship, the very same ship that had brought her to this planet centuries ago.
And right next to the ship was their quarry; one of the same, giant-sized cubes, floating just a few feet off the ground, hovering at slow pace across the clearing in front of Peridot's ship. From its red eye, the cube was projecting a grid patterned beam of light onto the ground, like a giant spotlight that sweeping back and forth over the surface of the ground. It seemed to be ignoring the ship entirely.
"It hasn't spotted us yet" Peridot said, deactivating her finger-screen. She switched to her finger-screen and began charging up a blast. "Let's get this over with"
"No, wait a second" Lapis said, placing her hand on Peridot's shoulder, pulling her back behind the foliage along with Steven.
"What's the matter?" Peridot asked Lapis, confused as to why she was stopping them at such a crucial time. Instead of answer her, Lapis turned around to Steven.
"Steven, what do you think we should do?" she asked.
Steven stared up at Lapis in surprise, briefly at a loss for words, until he answered honestly. "I…think we should wait and see what the it's trying to do, before we destroy it"
Lapis smiled back at Steven, evidently satisfied with his answer. "Alright, then let's do it" she said, without any trace of worry or fear.
"But Jasper said-" Peridot began.
"Jasper's not here" Lapis said, holding up a dismissive hand to Peridot. Lapis then gave her a rather mischievous smirk. "And I say we try things out Steven's way".
"This could be dangerous" Peridot said, warningly.
Lapis let out a loud snort of laughter, almost as though she was scoffing at Peridot's comment. "When has that ever stopped us?"
Peridot blinked at Lapis, before smiling broadly, the thrill of the unknown now getting the best of her as well. Peridot turned to Steven and pointed her arm in the direction of her ship, beckoning him to proceed. "Lead the way Scientist Steven"
Smiling happily, Steven did as Peridot said and took the lead ahead of the two Gems, determined not to let them down now that they had given him this chance to prove himself. They stopped at the edge of the jungle, peering out behind the leaves, but being sure to remain out of sight from the cube.
"So, now we wait and see what it's gonna do" Steven said, staring at the strange cube with the utmost scrutiny, not wanting to miss even the slightest detail as it continued to scan the ground with its eye. "Who knows what it's really for? It could be anything"
There was a long pause as the three of them watched the cube hovered up and down the clearing without any new developments.
"What if it's a bomb?" Lapis asked, rather casually.
"That's one possibility, yes" Peridot replied back just as casual.
It was then that the cube stopped moving, as it finally appeared to find a section of ground that was to it's liking, shutting its scanning laser. From its red eye, the cube then fired a thin laser beam of red energy which cut deep into ground below it. The beam zigzagged back and forth, slowly burning away the layers of soil and rock, until it had carved out a perfectly square shaped hole in the ground, several feet deep. Shutting off its laser beam, the black cube positioned itself directly over the hole it had just created and slotted into it with a perfect fit, with only the very top of the cube sticking out by a few inches. The jungle soon went silent again, except for the occasional chirping some unknown species of bird in the background.
"That was it?" Peridot said, quite possible a little disappointed.
But that was not it. Moments later, there was a clap of thunder and a massive beam of crimson light fired down from the sky, striking the exposed top of the black cube. The beam disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared, with two familiar figures now standing on the surface of the cube.
"Oh yeah! We're back again!" Amethyst cheered, jumping into the air and performing a front flip, landing with an impressive dismount. Behind Amethyst, Pearl let out a weary groan, already growing exasperated with her partners overzealous antics, rolling her eyes as she calmly stepped off the surface of the cube.
"It's Amethyst and Pearl" Steven whispered in shock.
"How did they get here?" Lapis said in disbelief, almost as though she couldn't believe her eyes.
"So, that's what the larger cubes were for" Peridot said, finally understanding. "They're automated Warp Pads. They must have looking for a site with the appropriate conditions for Warp travel."
"Peridot, shh!" Steven said, putting his finger to his lips. "Let's try to hear what they're saying"
"Amethyst, please, you should be taking this seriously" Pearl said, sternly.
"Ah, lighten up Pearl. I'm totally on top of this mission." Amethyst said with a nonchalant wave of her hand. It was then that Amethyst final seemed to take note of the current surrounding environment, and based on her expression, it was clearly not what she had been expecting.
"Hey, wait a minute. I thought we were going to the Prime Kindergarten?" Amethyst asked; she sounded closer to disappointment than confusion.
Pearl sighed again. She reached up to the oval shaped gemstone on her forehead, which began to glow from the touch of her hand; a brilliant white light illuminated from the gemstone as a small rectangular object materialised from within the light and into Pearl's hand. Pearl pulled rectangular object apart between her hand, opening it out as a square shaped holographic tablet that resembled Peridot's finger screen. Pearl then pressed one of fingers onto the tablet. There was a sudden rustle on the other side and a smaller cube emerged from within the leaves, coming to halt right next to Pearl.
"We are" Pearl replied patiently to her partner. "But first, we have to investigate this abandoned vessel". Pearl gestured to the gigantic green hand that lay in front of them as though it might somehow have slipped past their notice.
"What's so important about this thing?" Amethyst said, looking relatively unimpressed with the giant hand. "It's just some old ship"
Behind him, Steven could faintly hear Peridot make an annoyed muttering noise under her breath.
"It's not the ship that's important" Pearl said. "What we must learn is about the Gems who were piloting it and where they are now"
"But there are no Gems on this planet" Amethyst said sounding as though she was suppressing an obnoxious 'duh' at the end of that sentence. "Everyone knows they were wiped out five thousand years ago. And the Red Eye didn't report anything back"
"That's true" Pearl said patiently. "But this specific model of ship was not developed until long after the Earth had been abandoned as a colony".
Amethyst stared back at Pearl with a bored expression, still not grasping the significance of what she was saying. Pearl groaned again. "Meaning that the Gems who were piloting this ship would have crashed here after all other Gem life was wiped out from this planet"
"So, those Gems might still be around here somewhere?" Amethyst said slowly.
"Exactly".
"So, you think those Gems are the ones who messed with the Homeworld Warp and the Hexahedroids?" Amethyst asked.
"That is what we need to find out" Pearl said, sliding her finger across the holographic tablet in her hands. "According my scans, none of the Hexahedroids we left behind on our last visit are active any longer aside from this one." Pearl gestured to the cube still hovering right beside her. She flinched slightly as the cube brushed up closer to her face, beeping strangely, until she quickly shooed it away.
"Not to mention someone or something has been destroying the Hexahetrons we have been sending here" Pearl continued. She now gestured to the giant cube that was still nestled in the ground. "Luckily this one managed to warp us here successfully. Once we are done, we can then warp to the second Hexahetron that should have arrived at the Prime Kindergarten"
It was those final two words that acted as some kind of trigger, as the moment Amethyst heard them, she became alert and energic once again.
"Well let's hurry up already!" she said, breaking into a sudden sprint, running past Pearl so fast that she briefly caused her to spin on the spot, before Pearl corrected herself, glaring at her partner with an annoyed expression.
"Amethyst, wait for me!"
Pearl followed Amethyst who already standing patient in front of the ship. The Hexahedroid also followed, staying particularly close to Pearl, though she appeared not to notice. Pearl placed her hand on the green surface of the ship, which rippled at her touch and rescinded away to form a hole shaped entrance, large enough for Pearl, Amethyst and the Hexahedroid to enter through. Once the two Homeworld Gems entered into the ship, Steven, Lapis and Peridot stepped out from their hiding spot and into the now vacant glade.
"So, they're here looking for more Gems" Lapis said, her eyes fixed on the entrance Pearl and Amethyst had just gone through. "As long as they don't see us, we should be ok"
Peridot made a very loud noise with her throat as though she had just tried to shallow something very painful down her throat.
"What's wrong Peridot?" Steven asked, already getting a bad feeling about where this was going.
"I have all my log files backed up in my ships database for safe keeping" she answered, her facing paling with dread. "If they find those files, they'll learn all about me, how I crashed here, how I became a Crystal Gem and where the Temple is. It'll be total invasion of my privacy!"
"We have to stop them" Lapis said sharply, now looking very serious and ready for action.
"But we can't confront them directly" Peridot added quickly. "We need to think of plan to discreetly approach them and sabotage their mission without making them aware of our presence"
"Maybe, we should just talk to them?" Steven suggested. "They don't seem that bad"
"Steven, we have no idea what they want, why they are here or what they are capable of" Peridot said. "This is not the time for asking questions"
"Kinda sounds like it is" Steven muttered under his breath.
"Alright, this is my plan" Peridot said, ignoring Steven and activating her finger-screen. "There is an exposed exhaust port located here on the far side of the ship. First, we circle around and then double back around in case they saw us. After that we enter through the exhaust port in order of rank, naturally meaning I go first…"
Lapis listened intently as Peridot prattled on about her overly elaborate plan, while Steven turned his attention back to the open hole where Pearl and Amethyst had gone through. He had to figure out what those two were doing. He couldn't see how there were ever be a better chance than this. Maybe he was being a little overconfident, but this entire situation had spawned from his own idea to try and learn more about these mysterious Gems who kept coming back to Earth. Deep down, part of him was just feeling genuinely curious. He had to see through all the way to the end no matter what. He had to know why they were really here.
"And that is my plan" Peridot finished. "Any questions?"
"No" Lapis replied, having followed just about every word Peridot had said and not wanting to give her an excuse to start over again.
"Good, because I have one" Peridot said, calmly. Her face suddenly dropped into a horrible frown as she grabbed fistfuls of her own hair with her metal digits. "Where's Steven?!"
Lapis turned around on the spot and realised to her horror that Steven was nowhere in sight. She then glanced to the exposed hole leading into the ship, knowing that there was only place Steven could have gone.
"Oh, no"
Now alone, Steven walked down the hexagonal shaped hallway, keeping his eyes open for any sign of either Pearl or Amethyst. The ship seemed much darker compare to his last visit, with barely any source of light. As Steven rounded a corner, he heard voices coming ahead from an open doorway at the end of the hallway. Once Steven was close enough, he could make out what they were saying.
"…check this command terminal for any information on what happened to this ship"
"Great, you do that and I'll, uh, check this room. For clues"
Moving as quietly as he could toward the door, Steven peeked his head around the doorway and looked into circular chamber, where he saw Pearl, standing in front of a pedestal in the shape of a hand, rising up out of the floor. There was no sign of Amethyst in the room, meaning Pearl was alone aside from the Hexahedroid that floating next to her. Occasionally, the little cube would start to move closing to her, as though it was trying to get her attention, but Pearl merely pushed it away every time it drew nearer.
Appearing to get a little annoyed by the cube's odd behaviour, Pearl tapped an icon her holographic tablet. The Hexahedroid ceased its erratic prodding and hovered toward the pedestal, lowering itself onto the hand shaped palm. The cube's red eye glowed bright red as thin, crimson veins extended out from the base of the cube and down along the length of the pedestal, into the floor, like some kind of technological vampire draining the life away from the ship. A holographic screen, diamond shaped screen projected from the eye of the cube in front of Pearl, showing rows of strange symbols flying back and forth in symmetrical lines.
Not waiting for any kind of invitation, Steven entered into the room and walked right up beside Pearl who failed to even notice him, too busy observing the screen of data being produced by the Hexahedroid, clearly able to understand it far better than Steven ever could.
"Hmm. It appears the Hexahedroid is having some trouble interfering with this old Gem tech" Pearl said, rubbing her chin pensively. "Amethyst, did you find any- AH!" Pearl might have jumped back at least five feet when she turned and realised that the short statured figure standing next to her was not actually Amethyst.
"Hi there" Steven said with a smile, waving at Pearl pleasantly.
Pearl slowly lowered her hands and placed her raised foot back down to the floor. "Hello?" she replied cautiously, eyeing Steven warily, as if expecting him to bite her at any moment. There was a brief moment of silence as Steven waited for Pearl to respond. When she didn't, he spoke again.
"I'm Steven" he said, still as cordial as ever.
"A… Steven? I see". Pearl coughed loudly and shifted her eyes up towards the ceiling. After a few moments, she glanced back Steven again, clearly hoping he might have been gone by the time she had turned around, yet he remained exactly where he was.
"Um, shoo?" Pearl said, waving her hands at Steven in a feeble gesture. Realising that this wasn't working, Pearl quickly picked up a small metal stick off the floor and tossed it across the room. Steven stared at the piece of metal on the other end of the room, then back to Pearl, not entirely sure what that was supposed to accomplish.
"Um, Amethyst?" Pearl called out, now starting to sound desperate. "I need a little help here. Amethyst!"
No sooner than Pearl had called her name, Amethyst appeared again, walking into the chamber from another doorway, carrying a large moss-covered rock under her arm, for reasons likely only she would know.
"Hey, Pearl check this out" she said, holding up the rock as if wanting Pearl to apprise it herself. "I found this awesome looking rock with all this green stuff growing around. Not bad, huh? What you find?"
Pearl cleared her throat very loudly and began to make discreet yet frantic signals around her back toward Steven, despite the fact he could still see her perfectly well. Amethyst titled her head around Pearl's body and spotted Steven for the first time standing behind her. But unlike Pearl, Amethyst did not respond to his presence with fear. Instead, she set her rock down on the floor and ran up closer to Steven, looking excited.
"Whoa, what's that thing?" she said, placing her hands on her knees as she leaned forward to get a closer look at Steven.
"It's called a Steven" Pearl whispered urgently. She glanced cautiously around the room, looking very squeamish. "I think this ship may be infested with Stevens"
"Huh, Stevens look a lot like humans" Amethyst said, after glancing over all his features.
"Well, I am a human" Steven replied. "Half one anyway"
"And are there any more humans in this area?" Pearl asked quickly, being sure to remain Amethyst the whole time.
Steven thought about this is for a second, deciding how best to answer. "Not around here, no" he said honesty, thinking it would be likely for any humans to be living in this remote location. "But there's lots human back where I live. My Dad, Connie, Lars and Sadie, the mailman. Onion, I think?"
"I see" Pearl said, her voice raising in pitch as sweat was forming on her forehead. She coughed again and then smiled at Steven, still just as nervous, yet was obviously trying her best to remain civil as she spoke. "I don't suppose you could, um, leave by any chance?"
"Relax, Pearl" Amethyst said, holding her hand up in the hand. "I know how to handle humans." Amethyst stepped forward, standing directly in front of Steven, almost at perfect eye level. Amethyst cleared her throat, clapping her hands together and when she spoke again, it was with an overly sweet, almost condescending sounding voice. "Would you like to go outside and smell the flowers?"
"Uh, not really" Steven replied, feeling confused yet again. "Actually, I was hoping to ask you some questions"
Amethyst turned and shared a brief look with Pearl, who appeared quite taken back by this statement.
"You have questions for us?" Pearl said, as though that was the very last thing she had been expecting Steven to say.
"Yeah" Steven replied in earnest, hoping to finally get some information. "I wanted to ask about what you guys are doing here"
"We're…not allowed to talk about that" Pearl said, straighten herself, folding her hands down at her lap, now appearing regal and detached. "It's not important for you to know"
"Really?" Steven replied, unconvinced. "Becasue it looks like it's really important"
"We're here looking for the Gems who flew in this old spaceship" Amethyst said casual, not even pausing to register the indignant look of shock Pearl was giving her. "After that, we're going to the Prime Kindergarten"
"What's a Prime Kindergarten?" Steven asked.
"Oh man, you never been to one before?" Amethyst said excitedly, now looking exactly like a child describing their favourite family vacation. "It's like the most awesome place you can ever imagine. I was made there"
"You were?" Steven said, feeling more and more curious ready to prod further
"Amethyst, please!" Pearl snapped at once. "You've said too much already"
"I'm just making conversation" Amethyst said, unconcerned, shrugging off Pearl's outburst. Now looking increasingly flustered, Pearl placed her hand on Amethyst shoulder and pulled her a short distance away from Steven, despite her protest.
"Aw, come on, Pearl, I was only-"
"Amethyst, listen to me!" Pearl snapped, with a sudden burst of authority, enough to make Amethyst finally stop and listen to her. "It's not a good idea to interact with the inhabitants of this planet". Pearl closed her eyes, her features softening as her voice dropped lower. "Trust me, nothing good ever comes of it. Would you please just remove the Steven so I can finish my work and we can leave?"
Amethyst grunted and crossing her arms grumpily, unwilling to comply. But after taking one look at the pleading expression on Pearl's face, it was soon obvious to Amethyst how uncomfortable Pearl was really feeling. Sighing, Amethyst gave in, albeit with some reluctance. "Alright, Pearl"
Now looking very dismissal about the situation, Amethyst walked back over to Steven and without pausing to ask his permission, she picked him up by the waist and hoisted him over her head with complete ease. "Let's go, short stuff.
"Hey, I'm almost as tall as you" Steven replied a little indigent but offering no other form of struggle as Amethyst began to carry him toward the door.
"Believe me, that's not a big accomplishment" Amethyst muttered under her breath, with a dry, almost cynical tone of voice.
"Get away from him!"
Amethyst stopped in her tracks, while still holding onto to Steven, and along with Pearl, she turned in surprise to the doorway that Steven original came through, as Peridot and Lapis quite literally jumped right through it, landing side by side in the centre of the room.
"Put him down, you overcooked clod!" Peridot snapped, pointing a metal finger directly at Amethyst
"Peridot! Lapis!" Steven exclaimed, having practically forgotten all about them up until now. He wasn't sure how they would react to finding him in a situation like this.
Pearl glanced back and forth between Peridot and Lapis at least half a dozen times, completely shocked by their unexpected arrival.
"Gems?!" she said in total disbelief. "There really are Gems still on this planet. But why didn't the Red Eye report back?"
"Because we destroyed it!" Lapis cried.
"That was you?" Amethyst said, surprised, still holding Steven above her head.
Pearl let out a long, sustained gasp. "You're the ones who destroyed the Hexahedroids!" she said, pointing an accusing finger at Peridot and Lapis.
"Technically, that it was me" Peridot said, pointedly.
"You're the ones who destroyed the Homeworld Warp!"
"That was me!" Lapis added with a fierce expression, japing her thumb into her chest.
"And you're the ones who put this strange icon on the Homeworld Warp!". Pearl opened her holographic tablet and flipped it around to show a digital image of the cartoon waffle sticker that Pearl and Amethyst had taken with them on their last venture to Earth.
"That ones on me" Steven said, somewhat guiltily. He briefly considered whether he should ask Amethyst to place him back on the floor again.
"How come you guys keep messing with all our stuff?" Amethyst demanded, angrily. "Don't you realise how much trouble we could get into?"
Instead of answering Peridot and Lapis, turned to face each other; Peridot was looking at Lapis with a hopeful expression, her eyes glistening with anticipation as though trying to ask for something with the use of words. Lapis smiled and winked back Peridot in confirmation, knowing exactly what she wanted to do. Moving together in sequence, Lapis performed a single twirl, unfurling her water-wings and raised her arms in an fighter's stance, while Peridot squatted her legs out wide, rotating her arms in the air, bending her elbows and pointing the tip of her metal fingers right at her gemstone.
Pearl stared at the two Gems with a quizzical expression as they both held their own distinctive pose, while Amethyst puffed out her lips as she struggled to keep herself from bursting into a fit of laughter.
"Who are you guys?" she chortled incredulously.
"We are the Crystal Gems" Lapis declared, her voice brimming with unrelenting courage and strength. "We're still alive and we're still the guardians of this planet and all its living creatures!"
"Yeah!" Peridot added, lifting her left foot into the air and pointing her arms upwards in a V-shape pose.
Pearl no longer appeared confused; her eye widened, her pupils dilating, and her face dropped, looking absolutely gaunt. If she had blood, it likely would have been drained from her face. Amethyst, on the other hand, simply appeared dumbstruck, as though her mind was still trying to process what she had just heard.
"The Crystal Gems are still alive?" Pearl whispered, briefly placing the of her hand over her mouth, covering some a small spasm. "This….this is impossible"
Amethyst finally seemed return to her sense, as her body became to tremble and her face breaking into the biggest grin anyone had ever seen as her eyes locked onto Peridot and Lapis. Somehow or other, a lifelong dream had just been realised.
"This is…..PERFECT!" she screamed, joyously. Without warning, Amethyst tossed Steven at Pearl who instinctively caught him in her arms and moved forward to the centre of the room, standing less than ten feet away from Peridot and Lapis, who both readied themselves, obviously expecting an attack from the small Gem. From her gemstone, Amethyst summoned forth the handle of her whip, pulling the full the length of it out and cracking it against the floor in one smooth motion.
"Amethyst, wha-wha-whaat are you doing?!" Pearl spluttered, unable to decide whether or not to simply drop Steven. "You can't fight them. This wasn't part of our mission"
"Are you kidding?" Amethyst said with a devilish smirk, her eyes set on the two targets in front of her, as though nothing else mattered. "Fighting them is exactly what I was made for!"
With a loud grunt, Amethyst swung her whip across the room as hard she could. The whip moved at an impossible speed, cutting like a sword through the air like a long narrow sword. Peridot just barely was able to duck down to the floor in time, letting the whip pass overhead while Lapis flew upwards to the ceiling. Now airborne, Lapis performed a nosedive manoeuvre heading straight for Amethyst.
Amethyst quickly pulled her arm back and twisted her wrist, altering the angle of the whip as it now flew upwards at the oncoming Lapis, this time partially grazing her arm with the edge of the whip's thong, forcing Lapis to veer off course as she attempted to dodge it. Lapis was now put on the defensive as she ducked and weaved through the air, dodging Amethyst's whip as she attacked relentlessly, not letting up for even a second.
At the other side of the room, Pearl finally snapped back to reality, unceremoniously dropping Steven to the floor and running back toward the Hexahedroid which was still connected to the pedestal, clearly wanting to retrieve it before anything else happened. And something else did happen. A bolt of green energy stuck the pedestal, blowing it to pieces, seconds before Pearl could reach it, the Hexahedroid bouncing off to the floor with a hair line fracture down its side. Pearl wheeled around in shock to see Peridot, standing with her finger-cannon pointed at where the pedestal was, before aiming her cannon directly at Pearl, ready to fire again.
But before Peridot could fire the full length of a jewelled incrusted whip suddenly wrapped itself around her body as tight as snake, binding her arms to her sides. From the other end of the whip, Amethyst smirked with confidence now that she had Peridot in her grasp. Glancing up at the sill airborne Lapis, Amethyst tucked her head down between her legs and began to spin her entire body, her long, spikey white hair becoming like a buzz saw which torn into the floor. Before Peridot could try free herself, she was pulled off her feet and dragged toward the spinning ball as the whip was being curled up inside of it.
Lapis had no idea what Amethyst was trying to do, but fearing for her fellow Crystal Gem, she charged in, flying headfirst toward Amethyst as she continued to spin in the spot, determine to stop her before she could attack again. But this was a mistake, for at the very last second, just as Lapis and Peridot both came flying at Amethyst from opposite directions, the whip surrounding Peridot snapped free at the perfect moment to launch her straight into Lapis, the full force of the built of momentum sending the two of them crashing to the other side of the room.
Back on his feet again, Steven now felt the same sense of uncertainty and confusion as before when Garnet appeared. Everything had just broken out into one big massive battle for seemingly no reason that Steven could see. More than anything, Steven wished he could scream everyone to just stop and tell him what the heck was going on, but right now he settled with making sure Lapis and Peridot weren't going to get hurt.
Peridot and Lapis were half through the process of detaching from one another, when Amethyst leapt into the air and swung her whip again, striking it across the ceiling above where Peridot and Lapis had landed. Before either of them had time to the move or respond, the section of ceiling caved in right on top of them, burying them both under a mountain of broken metal plates and electrical wiring.
"Peridot! Lapis!" Steven cried, running over to them at once. Pushing through some of the ceiling debris, he soon found them again. Peridot tangled up a long green coloured tube with metal wiring at the end of it, kicking her legs furiously as she tried to pull herself free, while Lapis laying trapped underneath a large piece of metal, unable to get up. Making a spilt decision Steven went to Peridot first and hurriedly began to pull the tubing off her body.
"Ah, yeah!" Amethyst cried from the other end of the room, not wasting the opportunity to fully enjoy her moment of victory, looking as though she was having the literal best of day of her life. "This is too easy. I should have popped out of the ground sooner. I'd have taken care of the Crystal Gems all by myself!"
Steven had only managed to free Peridot from the tangled mess of tubing and was about to move to help the still trapped Lapis, when Amethyst came charging at them once more, her whip brandished in her hand.
There a sudden, loud explosion from somewhere above, and the ceiling in the middle of the room caved in as something big came crashing through it, landing directly in front of Amethyst who quickly skidded to a halt, just inches away from the point of impact. Once the dust had cleared, Amethyst took a step back, her jaw now hanging wide open as she craned her neck up, taking in the full, towering figure of Jasper, standing at least three times her own height, easily dwarfing her.
"You were saying?" Jasper snarled, eyeing the smaller Gem with an unimpressed scowl.
Amethyst stood still, frozen in place as she continued to gap upwards at Jasper, until she finally recovered, finding her fighting spirit once more. "I was saying, that I was about to show you Crystal Chums what a real Quartz solider is made of!"
Amethyst swung her whip hard at Jasper, aiming directly for her head. Without so much as flinching, Jasper caught the whip in her hand, stopping dead in the air before it could even touch her. Amethyst had only enough time to register a brief look of shock before Jasper tugged hard on the whip, lifting Amethyst off her feet and pulling directly toward Jasper. In a flash of light, Jasper summoned her crash helmet onto her brow and delivered a solid headbutt into the oncoming Amethyst, sending her flying back across the room and into the wall, which partially collapsed on top of her.
By now, Steven and Peridot had pulled Lapis free from the underneath the metal shaft. The three of them rushed over to Jasper's side, standing by for any order she might give them.
"Why did Homeworld send you here?" Jasper yelled, advancing across the room toward Amethyst. "What are you after now?!"
Amethyst pushed herself out from the debris and looked to be no mood for talking as she glared back at Jasper with a kind of viciousness that only natural born enemies could comprehend. Amethyst tighten her grip on her whip, preparing to take a run at Jasper, more than ready for another bout, but she only made it a few feet when Pearl appeared and literally scooped Amethyst up into her arms.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Amethyst cried outrage as she tried to pry herself free from Pearl's grasp. "I'm not finished yet!"
"We need to retreat!" Pearl said, struggling to keep hold of Amethyst as tried to break free from her grasp, much like a parent with an overly aggressive child. Pearl fumbled with her holographic tablet, trying to input another command. The Hexahedroid that Peridot had shot at earlier, rose up from the floor and zoomed across the room, stopping next to Pearl, much to her surprise. The Hexahedroid beeped twice and then enveloped both Pearl and Amethyst in a beam of crimson light, shooting up to the ceiling and out of the room.
For a brief moment, the Crystal Gems believed that maybe Pearl and Amethys had left the planet itself, but then they heard the familiar sounding booming noise coming from outside, which they knew accompanied the black cubes whenever they performed warp travel. The Crystal Gems rushed out of the room they were in and hurried as fast as they could back to the entrance of the ship.
Once they were outside again, they soon spotted Pearl standing with one foot on the top of the giant black cube still embedded into the ground, the Hexahetron, wrestling with an irate Amethyst, who was determined to stay and fight. The tiny Hexahedroid was still hovering nearby, watching the two of them struggle impassively.
"Let me go, I can still do this!" Amethyst snapped, angrily
"Please, we need to report this back" Pearl said, pulling Amethyst as hard she could, trying desperately to bring her onto the surface of the Hexahetron alongside her so that could escape, but Amethyst absolute refused to go. As if knowing that Pearl needed help, the Hexahedroid suddenly ploughed itself right into Amethyst, pushing both her and Pearl flat onto the surface of the cube.
Understanding enough of the situation to know what was going to happen next, Jasper instantly broke into a run and leapt into the air to quickly cross the distance of the clearing, but it was too late. Moments before Jasper made contact, the Hexahetron fired its signature red coloured warp beam up into the sky, sending Pearl, Amethyst and the small Hexahedroid back among the stars to wherever they came from, narrowly avoiding Jasper as she crashed landed onto the surface of the cube with an explosive headbutt.
Seeing that they Pearl and Amethyst were now gone, Jasper released a cry of pure rage, and began to furiously pound her fists into the black cube, smashing it to pieces, either to make sure it was completely destroyed or to vent her frustration at the fact their opponents had successfully escaped.
Once she was done, Jasper straightened herself again, allowing her helmet to disappear. Steven, Lapis and Peridot slowly approached Jasper with some apprehension, unsure just how angry she might still be.
"Are you three alright?" Jasper asked, without turning around.
"Oh, yeah we're fine" Steven said, though still sounding a little shaken. "We just-"
"I told you not to mess around with these things." Jasper said, her voice turning ice cold as she turned her head around, glaring at all three of them, though her gaze eventually settled directly on Steven, knowing from experience that he was most likely the cause of all this trouble. Steven gulped nervously, feeling very cowed under Jasper's eye, unsure of how best to explain his actions, none of which made him look particularly good at the moment.
"Don't be mad at Steven" Lapis said protectively, positioning herself directly between Steven and Jasper, meeting the latter's eye without any fear. "He was just trying to learn about what Pearl and Amethyst were doing here"
"So, what were they doing?" Jasper growled, crossing her arms, waiting for an answer.
Lapis grimaced awkwardly as she tried to think of a way of answering that question without arousing Jasper's anger further. "They were trying to figure if there were other Gems still on this planet" she mumbled finally, avoiding Jasper's eye.
"Which they now know for certain because we revealed ourselves" Peridot added, matter-of-factly, obviously more concerned with being accurate than anything else.
Jasper took a deep breath and exhaled, suppressing a brief trembling in her shoulders, likely doing everything in her power to remain calm. She then immediately turned around and punched the already destroyed Hexahetron three more times in a row, hopefully venting out at least some of her rage.
"I'm sorry, Jasper" Steven said, hanging his head in guilt. "I wanted to know what Pearl and Amethyst were doing, so I ran off and tried to talk to them, and then Peridot and Lapis had to come and save me. It's all my fault."
Jasper stared down at Steven, listening to his explanation with a blank expression over her face. Steven closed his eyes and briefly flinched as Jasper approached him but eased up when he felt her gently place her massive hand on the top of his head.
"What's done is done" Jasper said softly, lifting Steven's head up to face her as she gave him sterner look. "And you won't be doing it again. Got it?
"Yes" Steven answered, deciding that he was probably getting off lucky this time.
"Now what?" Lapis asked, uncertain.
"Now, it's their move" Jasper said grimly, staring up at the sky. "They know we're here now"
"Well when you think about, they my know were here, but we also know that they know we are here. So that kinda balances it out a little, right?" Peridot said with an optimistic smile. No one else said nothing in response, but Peridot was certain this situation wasn't as bad as it appeared.
Thousands of lightyears away from Earth, on a faraway planet devoid of any and all natural life, Pearl and Amethyst were standing side by side in the middle of a darken, octangular room, with dozens of Hexahedroids flying back and forth through the air above their heads. The Hexahedroid which had followed the two of from them Earth, now sporting a signature crack on its right side, was floating closer to the floor, staying next to Pearl the entire time.
But Pearl gave the floating the cube no notice, as both she and Amethyst had their eyes were firmly set a large, square shaped throne that sat in the middle of the room. Several computer screens hovering in front of the throne, showing images that ranged from planets, structures, plans and other schematics of unknown design and purpose. And sitting in the throne, was a Gem of unknown class and cut, cloaked in shadows, no part of their body visible expect for the silhouette of a hand, rhythmically tapping its fingers away on the armrest of the throne.
"Now, tell me what happened" the Gem said, speaking softly, yet their voice carried such a sense of strength and power that it hardly made any difference.
Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Amethyst straightened herself and stepped forward, doing her absolute best to look as unintimidated as possible. "Well, so we got the planet and there was the busted up Gem ship like you said and we-"
"Tell me what happened, Pearl" the Gem said, cutting over Amethyst coldly, with the slightest note of impatience.
Amethyst fell silent at once, looking hurt by the abrupt dismissal. Pearl could only offer her a brief look of sympathy as she stepped forward to face the throne and the unknown Gem sitting behind it.
"We arrived at the abandoned ship as you ordered" Pearl said, with a far greater sense of composure and etiquette than what Amethyst had displayed. "We had only just begun our investigation when we were interrupted by the appearance of a number of Gems."
"So, my hypothesis was correct" the unknown Gem replied. "There are still Gems alive on the planet Earth"
"They're not just any Gems" Amethyst said loudly, running but next to Pearl, who immediately tried in vain to signal her to be quiet. "They're the Crystal Gems! They're still alive!"
The unknown Gem ceased its rapping, its index finger paused in the mid-air. Amethyst quickly froze up, sweet beginning to roll down her forehead, as she began to wish more than anything that she had not spoken. Beside her, Pearl looked as though she was trying her best to refrain from smacking herself in the forehead.
"The Crystal Gems?" the unknown Gem replied, quite calmly.
Pearl cleared her throat and quickly spoke again, trying to defuse the situation as best she could "Yes, they claimed that they were, but really there's no way we could be certain of it"
"Describe them" the unknown Gem said, making a brief gesture with their hand, as if beckoning Pearl to proceed.
"Yes, well there was an Era 2 Peridot with limb enhancers" Pearl said. Although it was not given any command, the small Hexahedroid floated up next Pearl and from its red eye, projected a translucent red screen in the air, showing a captured image of Peridot standing with her finger-cannon.
"…And an Era 1 Lapis Lazuli" Pearl continued, after a protracted pause. The Hexahedroid now showed a different of Lapis, flying in the air. "And what appeared to be a Jasper of exceptional quality". The screen changed to show Jasper, standing broad shouldered and intimidating as ever. Amethyst glared at the image of Jasper with a look of pure hatred.
"And you fought these Gems?" the unknown Gem asked, patient and methodical, as if wanting to know every possible detail.
"No, Amethyst fought them" Pearl said, a little pointedly.
"Yeah and I had them on the run!" Amethyst said with complete self-confidence, throwing Pearl an angry look. "Until that Jasper showed up, but I was about to beat her back into the ground when Pearl made us run away like a couple of cowards"
"A tactical retreat was the far more sensible thing to do" Pearl countered, slightly patronising, while meeting Amethyst eye with a challenging look.
"Hey, it was my mission and-"
"Your mission Amethyst" the unknown Gem said coldly, with an unmistakable note of anger in their voice, silencing the two bickering Gems at once. "Was to protect my Pearl while she recovered the nesscessary data from the vessel, as I had ordered. Her safety should have been your first priority. Not engaging in an unnecessary and avoidable battle. In the future, I expect you not to act so recklessly. Am I understood?"
"Yes" Amethyst said, very respectful, but no less cowed.
"Now, you say these Crystal Gems are the ones who destroyed my Hexahedroids?" the unknown Gem continued, clearly wanting to get back to the original subject. "And they are the ones who have been destroying my Hexahetrons?"
"They admitted to doing this, yes" Pearl said, calm and steady.
"And I take it that due the interference of these Crystal Gems, you were unable to acquire any useful data from the crashed ship?"
"This Hexahedroid that was with us did manage to briefly interface with one of the ship's command terminals" Pearl said, gesturing to the little cube floating next to her, which emitted a cheery sound beep at having been mentioned. "But it's clearly been severely damaged. I doubt it retrieve any important data" Pearl added with a nervous looking smile.
"Perhaps" the unknown Gem replied, not sounding fully convinced. "But I will personally examine it myself. If any information was recovered, I will soon know"
The Hexahedroid now let a tiny beeping noise that sounded akin to a whimper, as it hovered behind Pearl, as though seeking her protection. Pearl briefly gave the cube a quizzical look from over her shoulder, but soon returned her attention back to the throne. There was a long silence as the unknown Gem resumed tapping their fingers. Amethyst and Pearl waited patiently, neither of them willing to prob for anymore questions, either out of sense of respect or fear. Finally, the unknown Gem spoke again.
"And at any point during this encounter, did either one of you see Rose Quartz?"
Regardless of what the temperature the room was, it just turned to absolute zero. Amethyst gulped nervously, sweat now forming her brow, looking positively petrified, while Pearl stood stock still, not so much as blinking as she stared straight ahead.
"No, we did not" Pearl said, her voice flat and emotionless.
The unseen Gem said nothing, and the room returned to silence once more. They shifted position in their throne as they leaned forward, likely appearing to be deep in thought. The unknown Gem then pressed a button on the armrest of the throne and the screens hovering in front of them disappeared, leaving only a single, massive screen showing an image of the Earth.
There was a rustling noise as the unknown Gem rose up from their throne, a long black cloak sweeping over their shoulders they approached the blue orb floating before them, standing so close the light cast shadows deep enough to obscure their features. Neither Pearl nor Amethyst knew what kind of expression the unknown Gem was wearing, only that they were staring intently at the image of Earth the entire time before finally speaking again.
"Pearl, have my ship made ready. Amethyst, go and retrieve our two guests. They may be of some use to us when we arrive"
"Arrive…where?" Pearl asked hesitantly, despite knowing full while what the answer would be.
"Earth" the unknown Gem replied; there was something odd in their voice as they said that word. It didn't exactly sound like desire or even excitement. It was more like a sense of absolute purpose and acceptance. They reached their hand out toward the screen and placing their open palm on the centre of the Earth. Whoever this Gem was, one thing was for certain; they knew they were ready for what lay ahead.
"We are going to the planet Earth. Where it all began. The time has finally come."
Yup, that's not good. I was originally going to end it where the proper does, but I decided to include this extra bit to give you a glimpse of what's coming next.
So, yes, I will be doing both the Return/Jailbreak next, and possible something a little something special. After that I'm not sure if I will continue this story. Writing this does take a toll on me sometimes, no matter how much I enjoy it and ending at those two episodes does seem like a good conclusion if were to stop writing this. But nothing is set in stone yet and I won't know until I get going as things can always change. But to avoid any delays, I will NOT be posting anything until I have at least both the Return/Jailbreak done together to avoid the risk of abandoning this story between chapters.
I am also thinking about doing a small breather chapter next, which would be another original story. Let me know what you might prefer, if I should do a quick bit of filler as this chapter had a good bit of excitement or should I just plough on ahead to the "Season 1" finale?
Let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Peace out