Peridot gritted her teeth, her face turning a deeper shade of green as she tried with all her strength to lift up a rectangle block of metal with her bare hands. She squatted her legs as she furiously pulled at the block, which was lodged deeply in the sand, but it would not so much as budge for her no matter how hard she tried. Across from her, Steven was busy picking up smaller scraps of metal using a grabber arm and dropping them into a large trash bag. He then noticed Peridot struggling pull the block free from the sand.
"Here, Peridot, let me help you with that" he said, setting down the bag and the grabber. Peridot back away and said nothing, only watching with a slightly sour expression as Steven easily pulled the block metal she had been struggling out of the sand, lifting it over his head.
"If I still my limb enhancers, I could easily move this debris" she said, dismissively.
"You don't have any more that you can use?" Steven asked, setting the block down on the ground.
Peridot sighed in annoyance as she started to pick up the smaller scraps of metal and placing them in Steven's bag. "No, that was my only set. They were confiscated once we had been captured and I have to assume they were destroyed when the ship crashed since I can find no trace of them."
"Well, it's ok to ask for help" Steven said, kindly. "I'll always be here to help you out when you need it. Here, maybe you could try this?"
Steven offered the grabber arm to Peridot. She squeezed the handle a few times, watching as the hook opened and closer for her, as though she was testing the merits. Steven picked up the trash bag, but then felt the contents fall out from underneath it.
"Oh, no, the bag ripped." Steven moaned, holding the bag to see the small tear under it. "Maybe I can borrow another one from Lars at the Big Donut? Or maybe we look for a wheel barrel instead?"
Peridot grumbled under her breath absently poking at some of the debris with the grabber arm, as eye wander across the beach, until she spotted something which caught her attention. "Wait, I think I have a better idea."
Finding a large, flat sheet of metal sticking out of the sand and using some wiring as rope, Peridot manage to construct a makeshift sled, which she quickly put to good use, loading it up with as many metal pieces as she could fine, both large and small.
"See? This is much more efficient" Peridot said proudly, riding along in the sled, standing atop the pile of the debris it was carrying, feeling particularly tall once again, using the grabber arm to easily scope up additional pieces of metal off the ground while Steven remained in front to pull them along.
"Yeah… sure is" Steven said, doing his best to try and sound enthusiastic about Peridot's idea, though he was starting to find it little difficult to remain positive as he felt the sled gradually become heavier, the longer he pulled it.
After gathering up as many items as they could and as many as Steven could cart, they brought the sled toward the main pile of the debris that lay in the center of the beach, just below the Beach House. Lapis circled the pile from overhead, using a massive pair of water hands to drop in another load of metal onto the heap. Finally, there came Jasper, carrying a huge metal slab over her head, dropping it onto the pile with everything else. Steven took one last look around the beach, double checking that they hadn't missed so much as a speck of metal.
"That looks like all of it" Steven said, feeling pleased with a job well done. It had taken the better part of the week, but they finally had managed to clean up just about every last scrape of Onyx's destroyed Gem warship, being careful to collect everything they could, down to the smallest nut and bolt. Curiously though, Jasper had ordered that they gather up all the debris together into one large pile first before proceeding to dispose of any of it. Steven decided that Jasper must have thought it would be easier to get rid of the debris if it was in one spot.
"So, now want?" Lapis asked, landing on the ground next Jasper. "Do you want to bury all this in the ocean?"
"No" Jasper said. "We're not getting rid of all this material and Gem tech just yet. We can use this for ourselves."
"Perhaps, but the technology of this ship was more advanced than anything I ever encountered before" Peridot said cautiously. "I would think, given what happened when I tried to reverse engineer those warp cubes, that you would understand this might not be the best course of action, Jasper."
"That's why you and Steven will be doing it together this" Jasper replied simply.
"We are?" Steven asked, confused.
There was a brief paused before Peridot pointed her finger up at Jasper, smirking widely. "Aha! I see through your cleverly disguised plot Jasper. You say Steven and I will do it together, but what you really mean, is for us to fuse again into Prasiolite!"
"Wait, you do?" Lapis asked, turning to Jasper in surprise, apparently not having seen through Jasper's intentions as quickly Peridot did. "Why would you want Steven and Peridot to fuse again?"
"When they fused before, they were able build that massive cannon using parts from Onyx's ship" Jasper explained. "Now that we've collect every part of it, they can rebuild it again."
"But why would we need that cannon?" Steven asked.
"Onyx was the strongest opponent we ever faced" Jasper said. "That cannon was powerful enough to take him down. Imagine if we had a dozen of those same weapons at our disposal, we'd be ready to take him apart when shows up again. With Prasiolite's abilities, we could build an entire arsenal of powerful weapons."
Steven gave hesitant glance to Peridot, who herself looked rather intrigued by what Jasper was proposing. They hadn't had much time to talk about the fact they had successfully achieved a fusion together. Given everything else that been going on at the time, it seemed to fall underneath Steven's radar. In fact, it was only now that Jasper had brought the subject up, did Steven realize that he and Peridot could potentially fuse again if they wanted to.
"But maybe they don't need to fuse?" Lapis said. "Maybe they can figure out how to rebuild the cannon by themselves?"
"I don't think that'll work" Peridot said, after a brief pause, her hand over her chin as she appeared pensive. "When we were building things as Prasiolite, it was…..well different. There wasn't necessarily a sense of direction or logic at the time. It was a like a process that seemed to adapt and improvise upon itself while it was happening."
"It was sorta like that we just felt like doing something and then it just…well happened" Steven said, trying to explain it the best he could, although he wasn't sure he fully understood it either.
"That's called instinct" Jasper said, as simple as explanation as one could get. "This time all you need to do is focus. If you can build a weapon like that by without even trying, just think of what you could do when you really apply yourselves."
"But….can Steven and Peridot even fuse again?" Lapis asked, hesitantly.
"Dunno" Jasper said, shrugging her shoulders. She gave Steven and Peridot a patronizing stare. "Can you?"
Hearing Jasper's taunt, Steven and Peridot shared one brief with each other, before their faces broke into wide, cocky grins.
"Of course we can!" Peridot exclaimed, brimming with confidence, pumping her fist in the air.
"Yeah, we can handle it!" Steven said, sounding just as confident.
Jasper smirked, looking satisfied by their response. "Huh, good"
Lapis, however, still appeared uncertain. "Are you two sure? I mean, Fusion can be….unpredictable" she said.
"It's better they try now so we can figure out any weaknesses or mistakes while we the time to spare" Jasper said. "It's better than trying and risking it failing in the middle of a battle."
"Hmm, I can't fault Jasper's logic" Peridot said, rubbing her chin. "I do also relish any opportunity to flaunt my skills in front of others."
"Don't worry, Lapis" Steven said gently, approaching her just when it seemed she was about to voice her concern again. "Peridot and I will be ok. I think reason we can fuse in the first place is because we're such a good team. And a good team trusts each other."
Lapis look at Steven's earnest expression, before she released a tired sigh and smiled, knowing there was nothing she could say to stop this from happening. "You're right" she said, patting Steven on the head. "If anyone can do this, it's you two."
Both Steven and Peridot smiled in excitement, knowing that they now had full permission. Without exchanging any words or instructions, they each took up position on the beach, standing a few meters adjacent to each other. Moving symmetrically, they slowly raised their arms in the air, rotating them towards each other while shuffling their feet to the side, moving closer together, chanting in unison.
"It's…."
"Time…"
"For…"
"Fusion!"
Just when they were less a foot away from each other, Steven clapped his left hand to Peridot's right hand. Barely a second after they made contact, the two of them were both enveloped in a burst of white light, their bodies merging together, shrinking down into single, tiny entity that now stood before Jasper and Lapis.
"Greetings friends!" Prasiolite cheered, raising all four of their arms in the air, snapping their goggles up to their forehead, Steven's trademark pink shirt hanging over their tiny torso, their hair the same row of curly brown balls. "Ah, it feels so good to be back again. What a beautiful day. The sky is clear, and the sun is shining for all of us to see. Hey, think if we stare at the sun long enough are eyeballs will catch fire? Come to think of it are eyeballs are flammable? How come things have to catch fire anyway? Why doesn't anything catch water instead? Maybe it's because water is running all the time, and no one can catch it? Oh, both fire and water have so many great qualities, I can't figure out which is the best. I can't even figure speech out sometimes"
Prasiolite scurried up and down the beach, debating the dichotomy of fire and water, oblivious to all else as Jasper and Lapis watched them in silence. While Lapis appeared amused by Prasiolite's energetic behavior, Jasper was in mood for games. She stepped forward and opened her mouth to speak, when Prasiolite suddenly bounded up into the air and latched onto Jasper's face, their tiny hands pushing her cheeks together as they stared into her eyes with a mad gleam.
"Oh I know! Let's get two hamster and name them Fire and Water so we can have them race and see who wins! We can build a racetrack and stadium and speakers and jumbotrons and one of those little popcorn maker machines to sell popcorn. Hey, how does corn pop anyway? Why isn't all food in popped form?"
"Enough!" Jasper snapped loudly, before Prasiolite could prattle on any further, plucking the tiny Fusion off her face and setting them back on the ground. "This isn't a play date. You have work to do"
"I do?" Prasiolite said, tilting their head to the side, with a confused expression.
"Remember, you have to try and rebuild the cannon you made in our last fight together?" Lapis said, gently.
Prasiolite scratched their chin, until their expression lit up in recognition. "Oh, you mean Prasiolite's Optimally Pristine-Penetration Optionally Percussion cannon. Or P.O.P-P.O.P. cannon for short. How could forget that work of art? Dd you see the size of it? It was so huge that it inspired fear, but it fired such cute little destabilization darts. It was in equal parts terrifying and adorable. It was some my finest work. And it was totally NOT A DEUS EX MACHINA!"
"Who are they are yelling at?" Lapis asked, as Prasiolite was now angrily yelling a section of space directly in front of them.
Whoever Prasiolite was referring to, it didn't matter to Jasper as she seemed to be on the verge of yelling once again as they were getting further and further off track. Curling her lip back in her snarl, yet still managing to speak in a controlled manner, she addressed Prasiolite again. "Yes, that's why you need to rebuild it"
"Rebuild it?" Prasiolite said, scratching their head. "You mean, do the same thing again? Hmm, that sounds kinda boring"
"It's nesscessary" Jasper insisted. "We need that cannon to fight Onyx, so you have to rebuild it"
"I suppose technically I could build it again" Prasiolite said slowly, while absently bouncing up and down on their heels as they considered what Jasper was proposing. "But equally technically, I have no idea how to do that"
"How can you not know how to build it?" Lapis asked, in surprise. "Who could know how to make it but you?"
"I'm not really sure how I did it" Prasiolite replied, while doing a casual backflip in the air for no apparent reason. "Not like I wrote it down. It sorta came to me, you know? I just did the very next thing that came into my head."
"Then you make it come to you again" Jasper said sternly, grabbing Prasiolite in midair and setting them firmly back on the ground once again. "You have to take control of your abilities and use them to our advantage."
"Hmm" Prasiolite rubbed their chin pensively as they examined the massive pile of mechanical rubble that lay before them. "This is going to be tricky."
Prasiolite walked over to a small pile of metal and loose wiring that was nearest to them. In the blink of an eye, they spun on their heel and transformed into a small green whirlwind, engulfing the pile and in less than a second, the whirlwind dissipated to reveal Prasiolite standing beside large, square shaped box with a small nozzle on the side. Prasiolite produced a small mug from behind their back, labeled 'World's Number 1 Gem'; where that mug could possibly have come from would likely remain a mystery for all time. Prasiolite placed the mug under the nozzle and then pressed a button the side of the machine. Hot, brown colored liquid poured into the mug as well as a small amount of milk, resulting a perfect blend of rich coffee.
Prasiolite took a deep sip of their freshly made coffee, with a serious expression, placing their remaining three hands on their hips. "Well, looks we have a hard, grueling task ahead of us, filled with potentially dozens of disappointing yet hilarious failures". They took another sip of their coffee before their face broke into a wide smile. "And the easiest way to get through that is with a montage!"
"Wait what?" Jasper spluttered incredulous. "No, no. No monta-!"
Rebuilding the P.O.P-P.O.P Cannon - Attempt 1
Despite Jasper's objections, she soon found herself alongside Lapis, watching as Prasiolite tried to recreate their cannon. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that this was going to be anything but a simple or easy task, much to Jasper's chagrin.
To begin with, Prasiolite had built a tall pogo stick, which they used to bounce up and down across the beach in front of Jasper and Lapis. Hardly an impressive feat of engineering. Prasiolite suddenly hopped off the pogo stick, apparently unsatisfied with its performance as they made some quick adjustment to the spring at the bottom. They climbed onto the pogo stick once more and took only single bounce. When the spring recoiled, they were launched upwards like a miniature rocket, sending them straight into the stratosphere. Jasper and Lapis watched the sky for for several long moments in silence, before Prasiolite soon came crashing down face first to the ground again, followed shortly by the pogo stick which landed safely next them due to the deployment of a built-in parachute, which Prasiolite had taken the precaution of adding.
Rebuilding the P.O.P-P.O.P Cannon Attempt 14
Next, Prasiolite constructed a large, merry-go-round, the kind anyone could easily find in any amusement park. Pulling the lever, Prasiolite watched as the merry-go-round began to spin slowly, playing a jolly tune as the rides began to bop up and down. But soon the merry-go-round began to spin faster and faster, until the ride was moving so fast it became complete blur. Prasiolite stared at the spinning wheel with mild curiosity before they noticed the wind beginning to to pick up at an alarming pace just as the merry-go-around had reached terminal velocity and began to generate a miniature hurricane in the center of the beach.
Rebuilding the P.O.P-P.O.P Cannon Attempt 37
Prasiolite stood in the cockpit of a gigantic, high tech battle suit, equipped with powerful gauntlets for hands, mounted rocket launchers on its shoulders, and series of assault turrets at its waistline. It was a fearsome sight to behold, looking to be capable of nothing short of absolute destruction Grinning like a lunatic, Prasiolite took one single step forward in the battle suit, only to immediately lose balance and topple down to its side. Prasiolite tried to wiggle one of suits arms in the air, but other than flailing helpless, the suit seemed completely incapable of pulling itself back up.
Rebuilding the P.O.P-P.O.P Cannon Attempt 44
Prasiolite was now wearing a huge jetpack, many times their own size, strapped onto their back, equipped with dual thruster rockets and a pair of wings. Adjusting their goggles over their eyes, Prasiolite took position on the makeshift runway and activated the accelerator on the jetpack. The thrusters powered up and in, the jetpack fired off into the air, leaving behind a thick cloud of smoke as a trail. When the smoke cleared, Prasiolite remained standing exactly where they were. Surprised, they glanced down at the now broken leather strap they had used to secure the rocket propelled jetpack, failing to understand what went wrong.
Rebuilding the P.O.P-P.O.P Cannon Attempt 72
Prasiolite dressed as sophisticated opera conductor, waving a small baton stick in their hands as they coordinated an entire orchestra comprised of tiny robotic bears, who were playing variety of instruments on top of a miniature stage, conducting a beautiful and majestic symphony while Jasper and Lapis were watched from small audience stands, appreciating the music, yet having no idea how they got to this point.
Rebuilding the P.O.P-P.O.P Cannon Attempt 118
This time, Prasiolite had gone for something rather simple and created a small, light up pen. Smiling broadly, they clicked the top of the pen, but nothing seemed to happen. Frowning, Prasiolite clicked the pen a few more times as it refused to light up, not noticing of the fact the sky above them changed color every time they clicked.
Rebuilding the P.O.P-P.O.P Cannon Attempt 256
Prasiolite had finally done it. They had successfully rebuilt the P.O.P.P.O.P cannon. There they stood, proudly atop of their achievement, the gleam of the sunlight cast perfectly to illuminating the brilliance of both the inventor and invention, all the while being showered in praise and adulation from Jasper and Lapis, cheering the tiny Fusion for their success. There was even a chorus of fanfare, fireworks, confetti and parade floats dedicated in honor of Prasiolite to cement this great accomplishment.
….This event was nothing more than computer generated image being displayed on a large screen, at the bottom of which read a small disclaimer, saying, 'Montage Generator'. The real Prasiolite, Jasper and Lapis were sitting back on three lawn chairs, watching as this machine had just run through a simulated montage sequence. Unfortunately, while this machine could calculate any number of different montages, it lacked the ability to actually show the detailed process of how the cannon was successfully rebuilt since that it would inherently defeat the purpose of the montage, which was to skip over events without explanation.
Finally, after an incompressible about of failed attempts, the three Gems now stood on the beach, surrounded by dozens of Prasiolite's failed and mangled inventions, none of which resembled their original cannon, or really any of that would be practical use in general.
"Okay, the montage didn't seem to work". Prasiolite said, pacing up and down. They appeared no less disheartened than ever, despite their lack of success. "But they say every failure is a step toward success. Granted, we don't know how many steps are left, but at least we are going in the right direction!"
Sadly, this sense of optimism was not a collective feeling. Although Lapis appeared far more weary looking than outright frustrated by the situation, Jasper was clearly at the utmost limits of her patience, looking ready to kill something at the slightest jostle.
"Oh, wait, I know!" Prasiolite exclaimed suddenly, snapping their fingers. "We needed a catchy song to play through the montage as we shuffled through each of our failures. Now what song should we use? I know another thing! We'll do a montage of songs to figure out the song for our montage. But wait, then we'd still need a catchy song for the montage of finding catchy songs that we'll be using for our montage of rebuilding the cannon. Oh boy, this is getting confusing. Don't worry, we can solve this. We just need to work out the correct number of montages."
Prasiolite pulled out a small clipboard and pen from within their oversized shirt, already jotting down what could only be some inconceivable form of math as they began to calculate exactly how many montages they would need, while remaining innocently oblivious to Jasper lumbering toward them. "Now let's see. First, carry the one and….
"ENOUGH!"
Jasper ripped the clipped board from Prasiolite's hand and snapped it in half. "Stop messing around building these stupid, useless things! We need weapons, we need equipment, we need something can we protect ourselves with!"
"I hear you loud and clear Jasper" Prasiolite said, saluting her. "I know the perfect way we can protect ourselves". They picked up some random scrapes of metal and in brief green blur of their hands, transformed the pieces into a large metal helmet. "Nothing says better protection than good hear gear!"
This was obviously not the answer Jasper had been expecting and it clearly did nothing to temper her ever building rage, her left eye now twitching, and her teeth bared. Behind her, Lapis sighed wearily and placed her hand over her eyes, mentally prepping herself for the storm that was about to break.
Prasiolite's smile faltered slightly as they finally seemed to notice that something was off about Jasper's deposition. "Oh, wait, I forgot, you already have a helmet, Jasper"
With a furious roar, Jasper snatched the helmet from Prasiolite's hands and crushed it into powder; this time, her fury was apparent enough that Prasiolite finally dropped their cheery smile and carefree demeanor as they began to cower under Jasper's intense gaze.
"Don't you understand why you're here!?" she said. "Black Onyx is still out there! We just barely managed to beat him last time. What happens if he comes back and we aren't ready?! Don't you realize how serious this is? All your doing is wasting your time and your powers, when you could be doing something useful!"
"Jasper, they're doing their best" Lapis said, heatedly. "You should let them work at their own pace."
"They're doing nothing except goofing around and wasting everyone's time, especially their own!" Jasper snapped impatiently. She turned back to Prasiolite who now looked thoroughly admonished. "Now for the last time, you have to focus. No more distractions". Jasper unceremoniously picked Prasiolite up by the collar of their shirt, carrying the tiny Fusion over to a large heap of unused metal before setting them down on the ground again. "You are going to sit still and make something useful out of all this junk. When we come back, I expect to see some real results. Understand?"
"I…I understand" Prasiolite said quietly, lowering their head; all their unbridled excitement and confidence had now turned to melancholy. "I'll….I'll try and focus. "
"Good" Jasper grunted, before walking away from them, leaving to them work. "Come on, no more babysitting" she said, preemptively grabbing Lapis the arm and pulling her along with her just as she was about to voice another objection. Regardless, Lapis followed behind Jasper, while casting a sad look over her shoulder to Prasiolite, who now stood alone, surrounded by the mountains metal.
"Are you sure you should be pressuring them like that?" Lapis asked, once she and Jasper were far enough way.
"They need a little pressure." Jasper said, curtly.
"Too much pressure can overwhelm them" Lapis said, pulling her arm free from Jasper's grip, while glaring at the back of her head with a challenging look. Jasper stopped walking. She slowly turned around to meet Lapis's disapproving eye with a cold, yet ambivalent expression.
"I know what I'm doing, Lapis" she said, quietly, before turning away from her again.
"Ok. Gotta focus. Focus, focus, focus". Prasiolite took a deep inhale and slapped their hands to their cheeks. They began to jog on the spot, psyching themselves up for the task ahead, clearing their mind of any distractions and ready to devote all energy to seeing this through to the end. This was it. This was go-time.
Feeling more ready than ever, Prasiolite for reached for a small metal pipe and some wiring. They held the items aloft in the air and staring at them with intensity as they waited. And waited, and waited, and waited…..
Prasilite's determined expression soon dropped, as they sucked in their lips, unsure what to expect as nothing seemed to be happening. They knew they could build this cannon, that much was certain, yet now that were at this point, everything just seemed… wrong. They couldn't understand why, but for some reason, they couldn't bring themselves to get started. They tried to remember the design of the cannon, the amount of material that went into creating it, the inspiration that propelled them forward, but every time they tried to put their thoughts together, their mind became a total blank. They tried to focus as hard as possible, yet this only seemed to be pushing their thoughts further away from their mind.
Prasiolite shook their head in an effort to clear up the jumbled mess of their mind. They couldn't afford to waste any more time. They needed to make a start, to make some kind of progress, even if it was only a little. Maybe once they started putting some pieces together, it would begin to make sense.
Prasiolite took off, moving as speedy green blur as they grabbed another handful of nearby metal around, forming them into another invention in less than a minute. However, once they had finished, instead of creating some new amazing piece of technology, all they had managed to do was create was a kind of twisted lump of misshapen metal that was more likely to pass as some kind of bold, modern public artwork, than a weapon of mass destruction.
"Hmm, okay, maybe this?" Prasiolite enveloped the metal shape in another green whirlwind, attempting to reform it into something else, but the end result was an even more mangled creation.
"Maybe it was over here? Or maybe, I put it like this? O-o-or maybe it was upside down? Um, how does this work again?"
Prasiolite continued to buzz around in all directions, manipulating, adding, removing and reconfiguring the metal shape in a number of different ways, trying to create something that may at least resembled the cannon, yet they were continuously unsuccessfully. They soon found that the lack of progress only further frustrated and worried them. Why wasn't this working? They managed to build all those other incredible devices, so why are they failing to build anything now. Why didn't any of it feel right? Jasper said they'd be back soon. How much time did they have left? How much time have they already wasted?
Pushing their worry and doubt out of their mind, Prasiolite doubled their speed, moving so fast, that they were actually out of breath when they finally stopped moving. But this time it seemed like they had finally done it, having managed to build a completely intact P.O.P-P.O.P cannon. However, Prasiolite's ecstatic smile didn't last long, as there was a loud creaking sound and a second later, the cannon fell completely to pieces.
"Oh, this isn't working!" Prasiolite moaned, grabbing fistfuls of their hair as a fresh wave of panic was now setting in. "Why can't I figure it out? Why can I make this work? Wait a second I know. I'll….I'll just build another really cool weapon instead! That's sure to fix things. Let's what do we need?" . "It's gotta be really big and powerful and cool and…and….oh, but where do I start?" Prasiolite glanced around wildly at the piles of wreckage around, desperately trying to force some kind of amazing new idea to strike them yet felt they had just as much chance as being struck by actual lighting at this point.
"Gotta focus! Come on, focus!" Prasiolite shut their eyes and scrunched their face so tightly the color rose in their cheeks. What was wrong with them? They had come up hundreds of ideas today, yet now their mind felt empty and devoid of any creative spark. Prasiolite knew there had to be at least one great idea in their mind somewhere. They couldn't afford to wait for it come to them on its own, they had to make it appear and they had to do it now, no matter what it took.
"Okay, hour is just about up." Jasper said, as she and Lapis made their way back to the area where they had left Prasiolite to work. "Let's see how much progress they've made. Hopefully, they built something we can actually use this time."
Lapis glared darkly at Jasper once again, before she stopped walking. Jasper walked ahead for another few paces before she realized Lapis had stopped behind her.
"You're unbelievable, you know that?" Lapis said, shaking her head, sounding disappointed, but not surprised. "They're not some tool for you to use for your benefit. I knew this was a bad idea."
"It's not for my benefit, it's for all of us" Jasper replied, angrily. "Sooner or later, we're going to have to face Onyx and Pearl again, and I intend for us to be ready for when that happens. Would rather we just sit on our hands all day?"
"That still doesn't give you the right to push us around." Lapis snapped, heatedly. "We're supposed to be a team. That means we have to trust each other for support when the time comes. What your doing isn't trust, it's fear!"
Jasper groaned angrily, now rubbing her eyes. "Look, I shouldn't have to explain myself when I'm the one trying to protec-"
"Guys, guys, guys!" Prasiolite suddenly ran up to Jasper and Lapis, smiling, yet breathing very heavy. Their face was covered in sweat, huge bags now formed under their eyes, and their hair was in a disheveled state, looking as though they had just gone several days without any sleep.
"Prasiolite, are you ok?" Lapis asked, hesitantly, but the tiny Fusion ignored her.
"I did! I finally made something really useful this time!" they exclaimed. "Jasper was totally right, I just needed some extra motivation."
Pausing for a moment of surprise, Jasper soon crossed her arms and smirked smugly at Lapis, who rolled her eyes in disgust, unwilling to the Quartz solider any satisfaction.
"So, what have you made?" Jasper asked.
Prasiolite took a deep breath, using the back of one of their arms to wipe away some of the sweat from their forehead. "Okay, I couldn't figure out how to make the cannon again, so then I decided to just build something else out of this material instead, but then I couldn't figure out what to make, so then I ended up making this!"
Prasilolite reached under their shirt and pulled out a rectangular bar, which looked much like a remote control for a TV, only it had just one single green button in the center of it.
"Okay" Jasper said. "And what's that supposed to-?"
Without pausing to let Jasper finish her question, Prasiolite immediately pressed the green button. A loud humming sound rang through the air as a sonic vibration erupted from the remote and passed harmlessly across the beach. For a moment nothing happened. Then the pieces of metal debris began to rattle and one by one, they started to lift themselves off the ground, floating up into the air, as though being tugged by invisible ropes. Two pieces suddenly flung toward each other like a pair of magnets. Then another pieces, and another, each piece clamping onto the other they converged into the one spot in the air. Jasper and Lapis shared brief a look with one another, having no clue what was happening. Prasiolite's eyes were now wide with a kind of mad desperation.
"This'll work, this'll definitely work! It'll stick everything together. It has to make something good!"
Soon enough, the metal debris began to form the rough outline of shape and once every piece had been attached, the form created was that of a monstrous, behemoth that loomed over the beach and the Crystal Gems. Its overall shaped appeared humanoid if somewhat disproportional in some areas, with broad shouldered, thick arms, with razor sharp blades of shrapnel which extending from its head down its back, resembling a thick mane of hair.
Lapis stared up at the colossal behemoth that stood before them, running her eyes along its body and hair, with a vague sense of familiarity before she cast a dry look over to Jasper.
"….What?" Jasper said, indignantly, refusing to acknowledge the coincidence. She then turned to Prasiolite, throwing her head up at the metal behemonth. "What is this thing supposed to be?"
"Well, I…." Prasiloite said, looking just as surprised as anyone by this development; they were expecting something to happen, but clearly not this. "Uh….that is to say….I think it's…um…"
"It's going to attack us, isn't it?" Lapis finished, deadpanned, accepting the inevitable.
"…Yes" Prasiolite squeaked, slumping their shoulders in defeat.
On cue, the behemoth raised its mangled iron fist and smashed it down upon the Crystal Gems, who just barely managed to avoid the attack, Lapis sprouting her wings and flying up into the air, while Jasper grabbed Prasiolite and leapt out of the way. The behemoth swung at the now airborne Lapis. Raising her hands upwards, Lapis summoned four chains of water from the ocean which latched onto the behemoth, pulling it back toward the water.
As Jasper watched Lapis struggle to hold the behemoth at bay, Prasiolite pressed the button on their remote-control device again and again, shaking it frantically as it became clear they had no idea how to reverse what they had done.
"Prasiolite, what did you do?" Jasper snapped angrily. "How do we stop this thing?"
Prasiolite was now sweating profusely, biting their fingernails as they struggled to find a way to explain themselves. "It was like I just…..I mean, I thought….I was trying to….oh, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!"
In sudden a flash of light, Prasiolite dropped the remote and with a terrified cry, split apart right down the middle, reverting back into Steven and Peridot who landed opposite one another.
Peridot quickly scrambled for the remote, trying to make of sense it. "I don't how to operate this interface? What were we thinking when we made this? Seriously, do you remember, because I don't!"
"Maybe we should fuse again?" Steven said, desperate.
"But we might end up only making something worse!" Peridot replied.
"Or we might make something to fix everything?" Steven said, with a feeble smile.
"What's the matter with the two of you?" Jasper roared, throwing her hands out wide in front of Steven and Peridot. "You have the power to create any solution you want, so why can't you just make exactly what we need when we need it the most?!"
"Don't you get it?!" Lapis yelled, so loudly it drew everyone's attention to her, as she hovered in the air, turning to face the three of them, while still using only one hand to hold the metal behemoth back. Lapis eyes settled on Jasper with a look of cold fury. "You can't force them to perform for you! And you can't command them to act in the way you think is best. They can only work at their best in the way that feels most comfortable for them. Their creativity is something that needs to occur naturally on its own, not on some convenient demand"
The behemoth pulled harder at it chains, stretching it's arm out closer to almost grab Lapis in its palm, yet she held her gaze down to Jasper, as her expression began to soften slightly.
"I know you're scared that we might not be ready for the next threat comes to us. But we'll never be ready for anything unless we know that we can trust each other when the time comes. You have trust them, Jasper. They can handle this!"
Jasper stared up at Lapis, at a complete loss for words. She turned back to look at Steven and Peridot, before she sighed again. "Okay. I give up" she said, sounding truly exhausted. "You two stay back and figure something out."
"What are you going to do?" Peridot asked.
Jasper summoned up her crash helmet. "The only thing I'm good for around here." She launched herself upwards, striking the behemoth under its chin, knocking back so hard she actually broke the chains Lapis was using to hold it, sending it crashing into the ocean. As Lapis and Jasper now battled the behemoth together, Steven turned to Peridot, already making up his mind on what needed to be done.
"We gotta try and fuse one more time!"
"There's no guarantee Prasiolite can fix this mess" Peridot replied, looking unsure. "Do you really think that's the best course of action?"
Steven groaned, rubbing the side of his head, trying to lessen the splitting headache he was having. "I think I'm really tried of thinking about things. Maybe we should just stop thinking for minute and just start doing?"
"Hmm, I do think that's a good idea". Peridot said, nodding in agreement. Now that they were on the same page, the two of them clasped hands and in another flash of light, Prasiolite had return once more.
"Alright you monster!" they yelled boldly, pointing up at the behemoth as it was in the middle of trying to smash Jasper underfoot. "I brought up into this world and I will be your undoing! I'll figure out how to stop you no matter how hard it…oh wait that's what was missing."
Dropping the dramatic pretense, Prasiolite causally picked up the remote-control device they used earlier to create the behemoth. With a slight popping sound, they pulled the green button out from the center of the remote. Prasiolite then reached their hand inside of their shirt and pulled out an another, identical button, the only difference being that it was red. They slotted the red button into the remote, just as Jasper crashed to the ground beside them.
"What are you doing?" Jasper coughed.
"Finishing up". Prasiolite answered casually, before they pressed the red button. The behemoth froze up instantly as it was just about to take another swing of its fist at Lapis. A second later, the behemoth's body blew up into thousands of pieces of scrap metal, which rained down across the beach. Jasper moved in quickly and pulled Prasiolite under her arm, shielded them as some of the debris came flying in their direction.
Once it was safe and the last of the shrapnel had fallen, Jasper released Prasiolite from her grasp, as Lapis landed down next to them. The beach, which was now covered in wreckage once again, had gone quiet, save for the casual crashing of the waves of the oceans. For now, it seemed like everything gone back to normal. Or at least the kind of normal where nothing was trying to kill them.
Prasiolite twirled the remote in their hand and gave a light blow of air over the tip of it. "That's what was bothering me. I forgot to put in the self-destructive sequence" they said, handing Jasper the remote. They then clapped their hands together, shaking away some non-existent dust. "Glad to have that off my mind. All in another day's work for the Crystal Gems"
And with that, Prasiolite closed their eyes and slowly toppled backwards just as they unfused again, both Steven and Peridot landing flat on their backs beside one another, completely exhausted.
"Looks like we did it" Steven said weakly, feeling as though he could sleep for a week.
"Ya….hoo….." Peridot wheezed
"You guys did a good job" Lapis said. She took a brief glance around the beach. "Except it looks like the beach has to be cleaned up again"
"And we have no cannon" Jasper sighed, resigning to the failure, while crushing the remote in her hands for added measure.
"They could always try again later?" Lapis suggested, opting for perhaps some level of optimism.
With a slight grunt Steven, pushed himself upright again. "You know, I'm starting to think that maybe Prasiolite isn't a good idea" he said, somewhat dejectedly. "They'll either make something amazing to save the day or something amazing to destroy the world"
"I…have to agree with Steven" Peridot added, though far more bitter sounding. With some effort, she managed to push herself back to her feet again, before offering a helping hand to Steven. "Prasiolite is too unreliable. It seems Steven's eagerness to please others, combined with an unaccounted sense of over-enthusiasm, leads to a total lack of self-control and restraint. For the time being, Prasiolite will have to remain indisposed"
"So… this was all a complete waste of time?" Lapis said, flatly.
"I'm sorry we let you down Jasper." Steven said, feeling deeply saddened at today's outcomes.
"Forget it" Jasper said, waving her hand, sounding almost as exhausted as Steven felt. "You two did your best." She hesitated for a moment. "I…can't ask you for anything more than that"
Peridot threw her head back and let out a furious roar to the sky. She started kicking away at random pieces of metal. "First, I lose my limb enhancers, now we can't do fusion. And now we have to start clearing up this mess all over again!" she shouted, her voice echoing across the familiar mountain of alien debris and metal that once again had littered their beach. "Stupid, stupid, stupid clods!" Peridot now started grabbing at random pieces of metal, throwing them up into the air without any sense of direction, as she vented out her anger. "I can't believe we went through all that effort just to end up further from where we had started. If there is one thing, I hate more than being unproductive, it's being counterproductive!"
"Um, Peridot?" Steven said.
"What?" Peridot snapped, wheeling around to the others. It was then that she noticed the wide eyed looks on their faces, as they were staring at something behind her. Surprised, Peridot turned around and saw what was drawing everyone's attention.
One of the rectangular pieces of metal that she had thrown away was now hovering in the middle of the air, being suspended by absolutely nothing. Both surprised and curious at this development, Peridot then noticed her outstretched hand, which was coincidentally pointed in the direction of the metal. She slowly lifted her arm up a little higher. The metal rose up a few inches in the air. Peridot swung her hand up and down, watching in amazement as the metal followed her command.
"I didn't know you could that" Lapis said, sounding surprised.
"Well obviously I didn't either which is why I have to concentrate so much right now." Peridot said impatiently, making several odd gestures with her hands as she tried to navigate control of the metal piece to back toward her.
"You have metal powers?" Steven exclaimed. "Peridot, that's awesome! Do you know what this means? You can open really tight jars. You can remove staples without a staple remover. You can open doors without having to touch them after you wash your hands."
Steven continued to pace back and forth in excitement as he listened more and more mundane things Peridot could do with her newly discovered power, while Lapis stood next to Peridot, watching with mild interest as she fervently tried to pull the metal back toward her.
Jasper stood afar from the others, showing no great interest in what was happening, only watching as Peridot finally caught hold of the metal piece, which caused her to jump and squeal with joy, already bragging about her apparent mastery of her new powers, while Steven and Lapis enthusiastically congratulated her. Jasper almost had to bit back a small laugh at how excited the three of them looked, as though they saved the world from complete destruction. It was a small, practically trivial achievement, but as much as Jasper hated to admit, it was still more than what she had managed to accomplish today.
"Huh. It's a start".