"Why are we doing this?" Jasper said, with a disgusted frown, as she struggled to fold one of Steven's pink T-shirts using only her thumb and index fingers, with the end result resembling a poor attempt at origami more than anything else.
"Steven needs to keep his appearance modifiers organized." Peridot said, folding another t-shirt into a small, tight triangle shaped bundle. "Humans can't meld them to their bodies like we can."
"Maybe humans shouldn't wear clothes at all." Lapis suggested, while folding one of the shirts vertical down the middle, setting it into the pile beside her, all of which were folded at different angles. "Then we wouldn't have to fold them."
"Hey! I'm a civilized part-human, thank you very much." Steven said, who was the only one managing to fold his shirts in a consistent manner. "Clothing is a must."
"I meant, why are we all doing this?" Jasper said, gesturing to the small pile of pink shirts laid out in the middle of the floor, which the Crystal Gems and Steven were currently gathered around, each of them picking up a shirt to fold.
"The chore wheel says who should be doing the chores" Steven said, indicating to the paper wheel that stuck to the fridge, which was divided into four sections of work, with each member of the house being assigned to do one section of work. However, it appeared that someone had taken the liberty of scribbling in the three missing names to each section alongside the original assignee, meaning everyone was now assigned to do the same chore at the same time. The most interesting part was the extra names were written with the same consistently rigid, angular handwriting.
"Isn't the point of the schedule that we take turns doing chores so do equal work rather than all at once?" Lapis asked, folding another t-shirt at an obtuse angle. Everyone turned to look at Peridot. Peridot merely shrugged her shoulders indifferently.
"We're all working on the same task at the exact same time." she said, unperturbed. "That's perfectly equal."
"We need to be out looking for Onyx and Pearl." Jasper said. In her frustration, she ripped apart the shirt she had been holding. After a brief moment, she quickly tossed the pieces away and picked up another shirt, acting as if nothing happened. "We found Amethyst's escape pod, but there is no sign of her or them. They're out there somewhere."
"Do you think Onyx and Pearl will come after us?" Lapis asked, now sounding quite serious.
"We aren't what they came here for" Jasper replied. "They didn't know we were here until they found Peridot's ship."
"But what did come they here for?" Peridot said, resting her hand to her chin pensively. "We know they tracked down my old ship to find any Gem survivors on the Earth. After that, they said they were going to the Prime Kindergarten."
"You mentioned that before. What is it?" Steven asked.
"Well, it's…." Peridot paused and threw a precautionary glance at Jasper.
Jasper closed her eyes and gave Peridot a brief of nod her head. "Go ahead".
Peridot smiled gratefully and resumed speaking. "The Kindergarten is a site where Gems were created as part of Homeworld's attempt to colonize the Earth. It used devices called Injectors to plant Gems into the crust of the Earth, where they would incubate and draw out energy from the surrounding environment until they would be fully formed."
"Is that how all Gems get made?" Steven asked, with a mixture of curiosity and wonder.
"Not all Gems are made by the exact same method," Peridot clarified. "But general that's what the Kindergarten purpose is. It was where Quartz soldiers like Rose were created. However, it also has the consequence of destroying the natural environment, leaving it barren and incapable of sustaining life."
Steven gulped, feeling quite discomforted by the thought of it, now beginning to understand why the Gems were so hesitant to explain this all to him. He then remembered something else.
"Hey, Amethyst told me she was made there." he said.
"Really?" Peridot said, sounding very surprised. "She came from the Prime Kindergarten?"
"Could that be what they came here to do?" Lapis asked. "Restart the Kindergarten?"
"One way to find out. " Jasper said, apparently giving up on the current t-shirt she was trying to fold and instead just crumbled it into a ball. "We're heading to the Prime Kindergarten. Crystal Gems, move out."
Jasper stood up and walked over to the Warp Pad, Peridot and Lapis following behind. Steven remained sitting on the floor beside the pile of t-shirts, expecting to see the Crystal Gems warp away any second.
However, instead of activating the Warp Pad, Jasper turned to look at Steven. "I said, Crystal Gems move out."
Steven blinked slowly, clearly not understanding what Jasper was implying, since the three of them were all on the Warp Pad already.
"That means you can come, Steven." Jasper said, impatiently.
Steven gasped, his eyes going bright with joy at the fact he was being included. He quickly ran onto the Warp Pad to join the others, adopting a firm and tough-looking expression.
"Are you sure it's safe to bring Steven?" Peridot asked, skeptically. "This may be dangerous."
"He can handle it." Jasper said, giving Steven a small ruffle of his hair. "How about you? You sure you can handle things now that you don't have your limb-enhancers?"
"I'll have you know I've be honing my newly discovered metal controlling powers." Peridot said, with an unshakable sense of smug pride. "Yesterday, I pulled a can of peaches down from a very high shelf."
The Warp Pad let out its familiar chime as it activated, teleporting the four of them away from the house.
Seconds later, Steven and the Crystal Gems arrived at what must have been the Kindergarten. As always, it took Steven a moment or two to acclimate to whatever new environment the Crystal Gems would bring him to, but this place was indeed unlike anywhere else Steven had been before.
They were standing at the bottom of what appeared to be a massive canyon, with steep walls of blacked rocks that seemed to stretch up for miles, so high that Steven could hardly even make out the sky above them. The rocky cliffsides were adorned with thousands of oddly shaped holes, making the canyon look something like a giant beehive.
Scattered around the area were large mechanical devices with long cylindrical bodies of metal and glass. At the top of each machine was a giant red crystal. At the base was a metal ring with spider-like legs, likely for mobility, and a small drill in the center. They looked like a cross between a syringe and a giant spider. Steven guessed that these must be the Injectors that Peridot had described earlier. Some of them appeared to be broken, while others were intact. Many of them were mounted onto the walls of the canyon, like some kind of insect or parasite attaching themselves to a host for substances.
As he continued to examine the Kindergarten, Steven also began to notice that there seemed to be no signs of plant or animal life anywhere. The ground itself was brittle and dry, without a shred of moisture. Even the air seemed lifeless.
Steven and the Crystal Gems walked off the Warp Pad and moved further down into the trench below. Lapis drew her wings and circled around the cliffs above them. Peridot walked closer to one of the nearby, broken Injectors on the ground, examining it with a critical eye.
"It doesn't appear as though anything has been re-activated." Peridot said. "Everything here seems just as antiquated and run down as ever."
"Just because nothing's been activated, doesn't mean no one has been here" Jasper said.
"Hmm-huh" Steven said with a smile, while giving a nod of his head in understanding.
"We should fan out and check the perimeter." Jasper said, just as Lapis landed next to them.
"Hmm-huh". Steven said, nodding his head again.
Peridot put her hand to chin, her eyes pointed upward toward the cliffs above them. "If we don't find anything here, we could always check the Beta-
"No!" Jasper snapped loudly, her voice echoing off the rocky walls. There was awkward moment of silence as the echo slowly died down.
"Hmm…huh?" Steven said, uncertainly.
Jasper seemed to realize her own outburst and took a moment to calm herself. "We're not going there. " she said, composed. "Let's just check things out here for now."
"On it, Jasper" Steven said, giving her a happy salute. He then began to march along with a happy jig in his step as they all moved out in different directions.
He hoped he had been hiding well enough, but Steven couldn't help but feel incredibly excited about being allowed to come on this mission. The way Jasper had specifically made the point to include him, treating him like one of the Crystal Gems. It just made him feel so happy. It felt like such an acknowledgement of much he had grown and improved over the past few months. Steven knew he had to do his best and make the most of this chance to live up to his potential.
He kept a keen eye out for anything that might look like a clue. Just as he walked past a small formation of broken rock, Steven spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Beside the rubble, he saw what appeared to be a blue colored hand, wedged underneath the rock. Curious, Steven quickly reached out and grabbed the hand, instinctively wanting to help the trapped individual. To his surprise, however, he found that only a small tug was enough to pull the hand free.
Attached to the wrist of the blue hand, in place of an arm, elbow or even an entire body, was the ankle of a green colored foot, kicking itself back and forth in the air.
Steven stared at the disembodied hand and foot fused together for a grand total of five seconds, before he let out a terrified scream, releasing his grip on the hand and dropping it to the ground.
Steven then backed up several feet, watching nervously as the small duel-limbed appendage appeared to try and move in opposite directions; the hand pulling itself one way with its fingertips, while the foot tried to hop another way, evidently in two minds of where to go.
The Crystal Gems, no doubt alerted by his screams, soon gathered around Steven's discovery, all three of them looking just as shocked and horrified as he was.
"What is that?" Lapis asked, repulsed.
"Is that what Gems look like when they're made here?" Steven asked, fearfully.
"Very obviously not" Peridot said matter-of-factly, picking up the hand by one of its fingertips, examining it with an unfazed expression of curiosity. As Peridot leaned in closer to the small creature, the green foot suddenly kicked her in the face with enough force to make her drop it to the ground again.
The creature landed on its blue hand and began to crawl away on its fingertips like a freakish spider, before Jasper slammed her fist down on top of it, a small puff of smoke emanating out from the point of impact.
Jasper lifted her up her fist, leaving nothing but a small imprint in the ground. Inside the imprint was what appeared to be two small Gem shard pieces of different color and cut, fused to other one another, like two mismatched pieces of metal that were wielded together.
"It looks like Gems shards stuck together" Steven said, knowing from experience what Gem shards looked like, but never having seen them merged together in a such a way before.
"How…how did they get like this way? " Lapis said, picking up the shards in her hand.
"Its like they've been…fused together" Peridot slowly.
"But how did they get like this!?" Lapis exclaimed, sounding horrified.
Before anyone could Lapis' question, there was a sudden rustling coming from the nearby. Suddenly, more strange Gem amalgamations began to appear, emerging out from behind the rocks and cervices, surrounding the Crystal Gems. Every single one of them possessed bizarre and distorted body structures, each one more unbelievable than the last.
One of them was a pair of two arms stuck together at opposite ends, like a grotesque snake. Another was a headless torso with a set of four arms for legs. Others included a hand with a tiny pair of legs and an eye in its palm, an arm with two hands attached to the wrists, a hulking bipedal figure with a body composed of several limbs wrapped together, its face a series of large tumors, and an elongated figure with three arms protruding out from where its head should have been.
The Gem mutants began to draw closer to the Crystal Gems, despite most of them not even having eyes to see, those with hands reaching out as if to grab hold of them.
"There's so many of them." Peridot said, a small trace of fear in her voice as she crouched behind Jasper's leg. "Where did they all come from?"
"These are the shards we were never able to find." Lapis said, almost in a whisper, putting one hand over her mouth. "They were here this whole time, and we never knew. What could have done this to them?"
"Homeworld." Jasper growled, her clenched fists shaking with rage. "They did this to them as punishment. "
Jasper grabbed one of the smaller Gem mutants that was closer to them, a set of two feet attached together by their ankles and smashed it into the ground, poofing back into a set of clustered Gem shards. She picked up the shards and formed orange colored bubble around it.
"We have to bubble them all. Don't let any get away." Jasper formed her crashed helmet and charged straight into the swarm of mutants.
However, one of the Gem mutants, a set of three hands merged together in the shape of multi-legged spider suddenly leapt up and latched onto Jasper's face, obscuring her vision as she charged forward, causing her to veer off course and crashed into one of the nearby walls of rock. The shockwave of the impact caused one of the Injectors still attached to the cliffside to come loose and fall to the ground with a crash alongside a number of boulders.
Once the dust cleared, the Gem mutants began to climb over the fallen Injector, inching their way toward Steven, Lapis and Peridot.
"Wait until they witness the might of my new metal powers!" Peridot flexed her arms toward one of the metal legs of the damaged injector. Her smile faded when she noticed the metal leg only twitched slightly in her direction with a small creaking noise. She made the same sweeping gesture with her arms as she tried to pull the leg free, her face grimaces in frustration at her lack of success.
Steven moved closer to Lapis, expecting her to attack next. However, Lapis was moving. In fact, she seemed to be completely paralyzed, her eyes focused on the Gem mutants in front of her as they drew closer.
"Stop, please! " she said. "We didn't do this to you. We would never force you to be together like this. I-I would never do this to you."
Steven yelped in panic as one of the hands grabbed his shirt, before he quickly pulled it off and tossed it away. He began to swat the smaller ones away from himself and Lapis.
It was then a much larger Gem mutant appeared. Its body was in the shape of a large, disjointed hand and forearm, wrapped around in a dark cloth. Its fingers consisted of smaller arms and single leg in place of a thumb, acting to support its weight as it crawled forward.
The Gem mutant moved closer to horror struck Lapis and grabbed her with its outstretched hands, its fingers squeezing her shoulders and face. The Gem mutant lifted up its palm revealing a cluster of Gem shards in the center of it, with a set of four different colored eyes.
"Lapis!" Steven tried to pull Lapis free from the Gem mutants' grasp, but she seemed to be practically frozen to the spot and unable to move as she stared into the amalgama's eyes. "Snap out of it! What's the matter with you?"
A sharp piece of metal flew through the air and stabbed the Gem mutant right in the center of its body. It let out a brief muffled moaning noise before it disappeared into a small cloud smoke, leaving behind an assortment of Gems shards merged together.
"Ha! Take that!" Peridot jeered in triumphant. She waved her hands toward the Injector to draw out another metal leg, only to quickly realize she was facing the same dilemma once again when it only twitched slightly.
Now freed, Lapis shook her head, her breathing becoming sharper as she clasped her hands to both her temples, her face flushed as though suffering from some kind of migraine.
"No, no! Stay away!" she screamed, unfurled her water wings and swept them out wide knocking all the Gem mutants away from her. Steven was forced to retreat back as well, due to the intensity of Lapis' outburst.
Before Steven could recover and regain a sense of direction, another Gem mutant, one with a huge, round shaped body and giant vertical mouth in the center of its abdomen filled with razor sharp teeth came directly at him, its tiny limbs spread out as it moved closer as though trying to embrace Steven in a simple hug.
The sight of the creatures' massive teeth was enough to make Steven jump as far out of its reach as he could. Before he could think of anything else, Steven turned on his heel and ran as fast as he could, the Gem mutant was now giving chase behind him.
Steven rounded a nearby corner and continued to sprint forward, hoping some kind of plan would come to him any moment now. It was then he suddenly spotted a small familiar-looking, white-haired figure climbing out of a hole in the ground, mumbling underneath their breath in anger.
"Aw, man. Just when I got settled back in, they have to show up and-"
Steven skidded to an abrupt halt, his feet kicking up some dust behind him as he stopped inches from colliding right into Amethyst, who stared up at him in surprise, being cut her off in the middle of her rant.
For a moment, they both stared at each other, too stunned to react when Amethyst let out a small gasp at something over Steven's head.
Remembering exactly what he was running from, Steven turned around just in time to see the Gem mutant jump up at him.
Without even realizing what he was doing, Steven formed up a pink bubble around both himself and Amethyst which shielded them from the Gem mutant which landed on the bubble's surface. The impact, however, was enough to make the bubble roll back into the hole that Amethyst had climbed out of.
Both Steven and Amethyst started to scream as their bodies spiraled around inside of the bubble, gaining more and more momentum as it barreled down a steep incline into the hole.
Steven could only make out brief flashes of dark and greyish scenery as the bubbled rolled further down. Eventually, they seemed to hit a bump and went bouncing off into the air, ricocheting off a nearby wall and slamming down onto the floor again. The Gem mutant, which still latched onto the outside of the bubble took the brunt of the landing and disappeared in another cloud of smoke.
Steven groaned, feeling dizzy from the experience. As his head slowly began to stop spinning, he took a look around at where he was now.
From the translucent tint of the bubble, he saw they had fallen into a large, hexagonal shaped room made of metal. A large computer monitor was displayed on the wall in front of them, but the screen was completely blank. Directly above their heads were a number of metal cylinders hanging from the ceiling. All of them appeared to be cracked open.
"Ahem. Down here?"
Steven glanced down and saw Amethyst looking up at him with a bored expression, as he realized that he was sitting right on top of her. With a small yelp, Steven hopped off Amethyst, suddenly feeling inappropriate at invading her personal space.
"Sorry about that" Steven said, almost instinctively. "What is this place?"
"Beats me." Amethyst said, getting to her feet again. "I didn't even know this was down here until today."
Steven glanced around the room again, trying to see if he could find anything else that could provide insight into what its purpose was. His eyes moved over to one of the walls, where he noticed an open panel with a crystal inside of it. However, there was a huge slash cut right through crystal and the metal, exposing the interior wiring, tiny sparks of electricity firing out of it.
"Powers out" Amethyst said, simply. "What the heck are you doing here anyway?"
"We were looking to see if Onyx and Pearl had turned the Kindergarten back on" Steven replied honestly.
"We?" Amethyst repeated, her face dropping into a weary expression. "Don't tell the rest of you are here too?"
Steven sucked his lips, slowly shaking his head thinking perhaps it was best not to divulge too much information, but then gave up halfway through, offering Amethyst a simple nod of his head.
Amethyst groaned loudly and threw her hands up in the air. "Why is everybody messing up my space today!" She kicked the side of the bubble in frustration.
"Can you let me out of this thing already?" she asked, sounding only somewhat annoyed at the inconvenience.
"Well, actually I…." Steven paused. His gaze went from the room to Amethyst and then to the bubble that surrounded them both, as he slowly came to a surprising epiphany.
"There's no way I'll you out!" he said, smiling triumphantly, his fists on both hips. "I've captured you!"
Amethyst gave Steven an unimpressed look. She crossed her arms and took only one step closer to Steven. "You know that you're stuck in here with me, right?"
Steven's smile quickly fell from his face, a trinkle of sweat beginning to form on his brow as he began to re-evaluate the level of danger he was in.
"Well, the Crystal Gems should be here any minute!" he said, trying to keep his cool. "They're fighting those horrible fusion monsters you sent after us."
"I didn't send those things." Amethyst said, indignantly.
"Oh, you didn't?" Steven said, sounding genuinely surprised. "So, what were you doing here?
"I wasn't doing anything." Amethyst said, defensively. "I was minding my own business and then Onyx and Pearl showed up and started doing….something down here, and then after they left all those weird Gem things started showing up. I've been trying to clear them out of here ever since!"
"Onyx and Pearl were here?" Steven said. "What were they doing?"
"I dunno." Amethyst said, shrugging. "I stayed out of sight until they were gone."
"How come you were hiding from them?" Steven asked, now feeling more curious. "Weren't you guys like a team?"
"Not anymore." Amethyst said coldly. She pointed her thumb into her chest. "I'm done following orders. From now on, I just do my own thing. You, the Crystal Gems, Onyx and Homeworld can all leave me out of your stupid war."
"So does that mean…. you're not gonna hurt us?" Steven said, slowly.
Amethyst could do nothing but balked at Steven's statement, dropping her fierce demeanor.
"I mean… whatever I guess" she said, recovering quickly, crossing her arms as she tried to appear nonchalant.
With that verbal confirmation, the bubble dissipated. Steven wasn't even sure if he had done it consciously or not. Now freed, Amethyst simply put her hands behind her head and walked away from Steven.
Steven continued to eye the room curiously. He noticed the Gem shards still on the floor. Remember what Jasper had said, Steven formed a bubble around the shards and tapped it at the top, watching as it vanished and knowing it would show up back at the Temple.
"You know, that's actually a huge relief to know that you don't want to fight anymore." Steven said casually to Amethyst. "I can tell the Crystal Gems that you're not going to come after us now."
"Hey, just cos I'm not kicking your butt doesn't mean I wanna be best buddies with you. I just want to be left alone." Amethyst said.
"So, if you're not helping Onyx and Pearl anymore, why are you here?" Steven asked, deciding to try and change the conversation.
"I'm not doing anything here. This is my home" Amethyst said, curtly. "I was the last Gem that got made here thousands of years ago, before the war ended and everyone went back to Homeworld. Now it's the only place I got left."
Steven said nothing, thinking perhaps he may have inadvertently touched on a sensitive topic. He then cleared his throat a little. "So, uh, think maybe you tell us what Onyx and Pearl are up to? That might really help us out."
"I don't know what Onyx and Pearl are doing." Amethyst said flatly.
"But you were on the same mission as they were right?" Steven said.
"Well, yeah, but I was just supposed to escort Pearl around while she tested Onyx little warping robots. " Amethyst explained. "Then we were supposed to come to the Prime Kindergarten to check up on the Cluster"
"The Cluster?" Steven repeated. "What's the Cluster?"
Amethyst crossed her arms and pouted her lips slightly, blowing at a lock of her hair, while avoiding Steven's eye. "I mean, you know…it's like super important. And stuff."
There was a moment of silence as Steven looked at Amethyst carefully, taking note of her countenance and then making a disappointing deduction.
"You don't really know what it it, do you?" Steven said, plainly.
Amethyst let out a groan of frustration and threw her hands up. "Uh, ok, fine. I wasn't paying attention to that part" she snapped, sounding angry again. "My job was just to escort Pearl. But then when the Crystal Gems showed up, I finally thought I had my chance to prove myself. I never got a chance to fight in the war. I thought I could finally do what I was made to do but then it all just went so wrong."
Steven was about to say something only for Amethyst to continue speaking, apparently more to herself than Steven, the volume of her voice gradually rising.
"Urgh, I can just hear Holly Blue right now. Bet she can't wait to gloat about how right she was about how worthless I am. I'm sure Onyx is bad mouthing me too, complaining about picking me for the mission. And there's Pearl. Yeah, she's just so dependable and smart" Amethyst said with a disgusted drawl. "She never screws anything up! If she's so great, then why'd Onyx even want me to escort her in the first place? This whole thing was a waste of time!"
Her expression then turned to one of worry. "And the rest of the Amethysts. They'll be so disappointed in me if find out what happened."
Amethyst moaned deeply and buried her face in her hands as she slumped her back up against the wall, before sliding down to the floor, looking profoundly miserable.
"I should never have even been picked in the first place." Amethyst said quietly, resting her forehead against her knees. "I should just have stayed behind and let someone else go. Why did he have to pick me? Holly Blue was right about me. I'm a total screw up."
Steven stared down at Amethyst. He now felt a terrible sensation of guilt for whatever he might have said to set her off like that. Feeling he needed to do something to make amends, Steven slowly approached Amethyst and sat down next to her, while being sure to keep some distance. "I'm sorry if I upset you. But maybe it's not a bad deal if you messed up your mission. I mess up all the time."
"Look, you have no idea what's it like to feel like a failure." Amethyst said bitterly. "To feel like you're just an inferior version of who were supposed to be."
There was a short and awkward pause as Steven maintained perfect eye contact with Amethyst.
"Actually, yeah, I know exactly what that's like." he said with a straight face. He then decided to take another approach. "So why did Onyx pick you for the mission?"
Amethyst huffed slightly and turned her head away from Steven. "It's…nothing alright. Doesn't matter anymore."
"Well, if Onyx did pick up you, then you must have done something that really impressed him" Steven said with an encouraging smile. "He must have a thought you were pretty great."
Amethyst suddenly let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, I still can't believe it." she said, now smiling a little. "I mean, it was total dumb luck when it happened. I wasn't even supposed to be there. Heck, I thought for sure he was gonna shatter me. Instead, he offered me a job. No telling what that guy is thinking half the time."
Steven smiled again, pleased by the reaction he had gotten from Amethyst this time. He then dared to move a little bit closer to her. "If you want, you could tell me about that instead. I bet that's a great story."
Amethyst hesitated for a moment, but then shrugged in defeat. Now looking beginning to look more comfortable, she began to relate to Steven her story. "Well, it all started back at the space station I worked. I was there with the Amethyst Gems who were made on Earth."
"Now listen here, you filthy, dirt-veined abominations. I'll have none of your attitude today. I don't want to hear any back talk from you. How else I can hear the sound of my own voice?"
A purple-hued Gem, with two pointed buns of white hair on either side of their head and intimidating expression was addressing a rectangular shaped room filled with numerous other Gems with similar coloring. All of them had virtually the same characteristics; tall, purple skin, broad shoulders, with huge manes of white, fuzzy hair. Each one had an Amethyst gemstone embedded somewhere on their body, ranging from their shoulder, abdomen, arms, or legs.
However, instead of cowering in fear at the harsh reprimand that they were receiving, they were instead laughing uncontrollably.
"What is that sound you are making? Laughter? You idiots wouldn't know a good joke if it smacked you across the head. I, Holly Blue, I'm far above such childishness!"
"Oh, man. You got the best Holly Blue Agate impression, 8XR." one of the Gems chortled.
"Yeah, you go, 8XR!" cheered another.
"You are all by the war the worst Amethyst Quartz soldiers I have ever seen. And you, you disgusting Off-Colors." 8XR walked over to two distinctively mismatched looking Gems, one a very skinny orange Jasper and the other a short, red Carnelian. "I did not give you permission to look so hideous. I order you to be taller and to be wider."
The Skinny Jasper and Carnelian shared a cheeky grin with one another, before their bodies converted into light and their shapes distorted; the Skinny Jasper stretched her body upward like a fine string, while the red Carnelian puffed their body outward like a bubble. This earned another bout of laughter throughout the room.
"Much better." 8XR said, maintaining her pompous expression. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to go complain about the lack of appreciation I get around here. "
8XR turned around and pointed her rear end up in the air, smacking herself twice upon it. "Whomp-whomp!"
The uproarious laughter in the room suddenly died out at once. Surprised, 8XR opened their eyes and saw the terrified looks on the faces of every Amethyst Gem in the room. She then turned around and came face to face with what could only have been the original, blue colored, Holly Blue Agate, who glared back at her with ice cold fury.
8XR laughed nervously before shapeshifting back into her diminutive form as an Amethyst Quartz soldier.
"Get to your stations, you lazy suds!" Holly Blue snapped furiously. This was more than enough to shake the Amethysts into action as they quickly began to mobilize into a proper formation while Holly Blue continued to bark orders at them, harshly critiquing any mistakes with their posture.
"I don't care if you have to stand in the same place for the next millennium, you will do it with proper form and protocol. If you're good for nothing else, you can at least stand around correctly."
8XR quickly tried to slip in with the others, before Holly Blue picked her by the ear, lifting her at least a foot off the ground.
"And you, Amyethst-8XR! How many times must I tell you, no shapeshifting. Trying to alter your form will not make you any less of an overcooked off-color. If you have to do your duty, at least the decency to do so in your intended form."
"…so you want me to work in the form you think is terrible?" Amethyst said, crossing her arms with a deadpanned expression.
"Exactly." Holly Blue said, perfectly serious, dropping Amethyst back to the floor. "I don't ever want to catch you shapeshifting again."
"I'm sorry. You're right." Amethyst said, looking remorseful. "I promise, I won't shapeshift anymore. From now on, I'll be sure to just be my regular self from. Whomp-whomp!"
Amethyst again smacked herself on the rear, right in plain view of Holly Blue. This earned another chuckle around the room, which was soon silenced by a cold look from Holly Blue. She glared at Amethyst with a mixture of anger and resentment.
"Yes, very amusing." she said, with a tight smile, as she struggled to maintain her composure. "You know, 8XR, it really is quite impressive how you gain the respect of your peers by making an absolute fool of yourself. I suppose even defective Gems like you can achieve something."
Amethyst dropped her cocky smile and scowled into her chest, refusing to look Holly Blue in the eye. She walked over to join the rest of the Amethysts when Holly Blue grabbed her by the arm and pulled her closer again, speaking in a low whisper.
"And one more thing. If I catch you messing around in the containment area again, I swear I will put you in a bubble alongside those disgraceful Rose Quartz Gems. Now get back in line."
Despite herself, Amethyst couldn't help but let out a small wince of fear at Holly Blue's threat, which was enough to intimidate her into silence as Holly Blue released her grip, allowing her to join the rest of the Quartz. They all gave Amethyst a sympathetic look, one of them even giving her a comforting pat on the shoulder.
Just then, the doors opened as another Amethyst Gem came sprinting into the room at a very frantic pace.
"Um, Holly Blue, we have a visitor" she said, sounding very anxious.
"Oh, great." Holly Blue said, sounding thoroughly displeased and weary, rubbing the side of her temples. "If it's another Hessonite looking to for an audience to talk about their latest exploit, I swear by the Diamonds that I will-"
Holly Blue turned about just as the doors opened once again and she came face to face with the unexpected visitor, her words dying inside her throat. Behind her, Amethyst and the rest of the Quartz soldiers were all wearing the exact same expression of utter disbelief and shock as realized at once exactly who now standing in front of them.
Black Onyx, stood roughly at the same height as Holly Blue, though even at glance, he gave off a powerful and imposing visage of authority, which could easily dwarf any sense of terror she could instill upon any subordinate. Behind him, a small, demure and reserved-looking Pearl stood quietly at his side.
Amethyst could hardly believe it was really the legendary Black Onyx that she was seeing. She had heard many stories about him. A Gem so revered and respected, with ranking that was surpassed only by the Diamonds themselves.
Holly Blue face remained frozen in an expression of pure stupor for several seconds, until her mouth broke into a massive, lopsided smile, her eyes lighting up with absolute wonder. She opened her mouth to speak, but no coherent words came out. Instead, all she did let out was a strange, rasping noise as she was lacking oxygen, despite not needing to breathe in general.
"My apologies for this unexpected intrusion Holly Blue Agate" Onyx said, giving a brief nod of his head in respect, taking no notice of Holly Blue's odd behavior. "I have come here with an urgent matter to discuss."
"You're Black Onyx!" she exclaimed abruptly, finding her voice again. "I mean, welcome, welcome, my, um, your most honorable, excellent, uh incredible,….good sounding adjectives and…" Holly Blue let a sudden bout of mirthless, practically hysterical sounding laughter.
Amethyst wasn't sure, but she could have sworn Holly Blue's knees were buckling slightly.
"What can I do for you? Anything, anything at all. " Holly Blue said, practically pleading as though she wanted nothing more than to carry out a request for Onyx, no matter how trivial.
Onyx silently moved past Holly Blue and began to examine the Quartz soldiers lined up in the room. They all stood at attention at once, not even daring to make any movement or break from their line as Onyx ran his eyes over them. Onyx then stopped when he came to a brief gap in the lineup, turning his head down to Amethyst, who seemed to shrink further under his gaze.
"These Amethyst Quartz soldiers." Onyx said, turning back to Holly Blue after a moment. "They are all from Earth, correct?"
"Um, well yes." Holly Blue replied, her smile dropping, apparently being reminded that the Amethysts were still present in the room. "But I assure you they won't disturb you. I will order them out of sight at once."
"It is your Quartz soldiers that I am here to see." Onyx said. "I am preparing a for mission to the planet Earth. For that, I feel these Quartz soldiers who originated from that planet will be the most suitable candidates."
"Oh, yes, absolutely." Holly Blue said sounding delighted once again, nodding her head in feverous agreement. "Such incredible wisdom and logic. How many would you need? I can give you all of them. I'm sure that my Diamond will not mind and-"
"No, I do not wish to disrupt your operations here." Onyx said respectfully, raising his hand up. "Only one should be sufficient. I will just need to evaluate them personally. Gather all your Quartz soldiers and bring to my ship within one hour."
"You mean, you will actually let me….I mean us, onto your legendary ship?!" Holly Blue said.
"If that presents an issue for you then-" Onyx began.
"No, no issue at all!" Holly Blue said at once. "I will make sure to have all my best Quartz ready for you!"
Amethyst was certain now. Holly Blue's knees were definitely buckling.
"Very well. I will see you shortly." Onyx gave Holly Blue a respectful nod of his head before he turned to walk back toward the door. He raised his hand to activate the control panel for the door, but then pulled his arm away very quickly as Pearl's hand pressed the panel before he could reach it. Onyx did not reprimand Pearl for her act, but strangely, he clenched his hand slightly, almost as though he was in some kind of discomfort over what she had done. Neither he nor Pearl said anything further to each as they both walked out the door as it closed behind them.
"Black Onyx is here" Holly Blue whispered, as though she could still not believe what was happening. She began to fan her face with her hands as though she might faint any second. "Oh, my stars, Black Onyx is here. Out of all the Gem stations in the known universe, he came here to mine!"
"Sounds more like he came here to see us" Amethyst muttered slyly to another Quartz, making them snicker.
"Don't just stand there, you idiots!" Holly Blue screamed, quickly returning to her domineering disposition. Holly Blue grabbed the nearest Amethyst Gem she could find by their shoulders and began to shake them back and forth. "Get yourselves organized. This is the single greatest moment in my existence, which makes it the single greatest moment in your pitiful existence, and you will not mess it up for me! I want nothing but perfect behavior from all of you! Now, go, go, go!"
The Amethysts all quickly began to mobilize, lining up in a single file formation as they began to march out of the door. Amethyst, who was the end of the line, was just about to walk out the door with the others, when Holly Blue grabbed her by her collar and pulled her back inside.
"Not you." she said, sternly. "You and those other Off Colors Betas will remain here and out of sight!"
"W-what?" Amethyst stammered, shocked. "But he said he wanted all of us to go to the ship and-"
"I told him I would bring my best Quartz to his ship." Holly Blue said. "They may be disgraceful rejects, but even they have more value than you."
"He said he wanted to evaluate us himself." Amethyst said, angrily. "You don't get to decide if-"
"Oh, please. Do seriously think you have a chance?" Holly Blue sneered coldly. "All he has to do is take one look at you to know what value you have or rather don't have as a Quartz solder. If not your detective form, your disrespectful attitude would surely be enough to drive anyone away. I will not waste Black Onyx's time by allowing him to deal with the likes of you."
Holly Blue turned to Skinny Jasper and Carnelian standing at the other end of the room. "Now you lot will remain here and out of sight. That will be all."
"B-but.." Amethyst began, her expression now turning to heartbreak as Holly Blue walked out of the room without so much as a backwards glance as the door closed behind her, leaving Amethyst alone in the room, along with Skinny and Carnelian.
There was a long and painful silence in the room. Both Skinny and Carnelian exchanged a worried look with one another, watching Amethyst carefully as she remained rooted in the same spot in the room, still staring at the closed door.
Amethyst then slowly clenched her fists tightly, her shoulders trembling, before she let out a furious yell and punched her fist into the nearest wall.
"This is so unfair!" she screamed, fighting back tears as she slammed her fist against the wall a second time, which was starting to dent from the impact. "This is literally best thing that could ever have happened to us, and Holly Blue won't even let me have a chance!"
Skinny leaned back against the side of one of the opened cubbies, rapping her fingers on its surface with an apathetic expression. Beside her, Carnelian placed her arms behind her head, trying to whistle in a convincingly nonchalant manner.
"Eh, you ask me, it's a waste of time anyway." Skinny said, shrugging slightly, examining their nails. "Who'd want to go back to Earth? That place was like…the worst."
"Yeah, but you actually get to work with someone like Black Onyx." Carnelian said, with enthusiasm. "I mean, he's a legend. And he's like so important to Homeworld."
"Well, duh, we all know who Black Onyx is." Skinny said, rolling her eyes. "Not like you need to waste any time explaining anything about him to us. That's like common knowledge."
Amethyst was hardly paying any attention to the Skinny and Carnelian's conversation, as she was too busy pacing up and down the room, muttering to herself. "All I need is one chance. Just one chance. I know I can prove myself. We're just as good as all the other Quartz soldiers! I don't care if Holly Blue does bubble me up forever, I'm going for it."
"Yeah, sure, just burst into the room where everybody can see you." Skinny said, with a wry smile. "Totally great plan"
"No offense 8XR, but Holly Blue will poof you the second she sees you, before you get anywhere near Black Onyx's ship." Carnelian said, sympathetically.
"What else are we supposed to do?!" Amethyst said, heatedly. "Just sit here and do nothing?"
Carnelian glanced at Skinny, who was resting her cheek in hand with a lazy look.
"Gee, if only somebody around here could shapeshift and make themselves look like a regular sized Quartz" she said, smiling coolly.
Carnelian eyes widened before she returned the smile to Skinny. "Yeah, somebody who's better at shapeshifting than any other Gem on this whole station. I wonder who that could be?"
Amethyst glanced back and forth between Skinny and Carnelian confused etched on her face. "Huh?"
Skinny dropped her smile and slapped her hand to her face. "Oh, for the love of…look, it's really simple. You just shapeshift into a normal size Quartz, so you'll look just like the others. Then you can just walk right onto Onyx's ship without anybody noticing"
"Yeah, but I can't hold that form forever." Amethyst pointed out.
"You just need to do it long enough to impress Onyx, so he picks you!" Carnelian said in earnest. "Bet he won't even care about how short you are once he sees how tough you can be."
"Hey, yeah." Amethyst said, her face slowly breaking into a wide grin. "Yeah, that could work!" Amethyst took the moment to concentrate before her body lit up and she grew several inches taller, her arms and shoulders expanding, her appearance now matching that of the other Amethyst Gems.
"This is great. " she said. "Okay, so once you guys shapeshift too, we'll all just head to the docking area and get on to the ship"
Amethyst looked at both Skinny and Carnelian expectedly, clearly waiting for them to shapeshift as well. A frown formed on Amethyst face as both of them remained as they were.
"What? What's the matter" Amethyst asked, reverting back to her previous form.
Skinny and Carnelian exchanged another look with each other. Carnelian then gave Amethyst a sympathetic smile.
"We're the only Jasper and Carnelian on this station. Even if we shapeshift to normal size, Holly Blue will notice us right away."
"And then it won't be long for her to figure out it's you" Skinny added dryly.
"Well, maybe we could think of something else." Amethyst said. "I mean, don't you guys want to at least try for it?"
"Nah" Skinny said, with a long, disgusted sounding drawl, leaning her elbow down on Carnelian's head. "Sounds like too much work. "
"We're just Betas anyway. " Carnelian said, with a cheerful smile. "Our whole Kindergarten was a total mess. I mean, look at me, I popped out sideways. I'm lucky that I'm even taller than you. And you're a Prime. You deserve just as much a chance as the others do."
Amethyst felt her eyes beginning to swell with tears, her lower lip quivering as she nearly choked. "Y-you guys, I…"
"Hey, don't get all weepy on us. " Skinny said, giving Amethyst a playful rub on her head. "You better get a move on. You don't want to miss the best thing that's ever happened to us."
Amethyst looked over to Carnelian who gave her a thumbs up in approval. Amethyst gulped deeply, fighting back her tears. She then let a huge cry of joy and embraced Skinny and Carnelian in a tight hug.
"I'm gonna do it. Not just for me. But for you Betas as well. I promise, I'll do us Quartz Gems proud!"
Amethyst released Skinny and Carnelian, and then shapeshifted back into her taller form. With one last thumbs-up, Amethyst turned and ran out of the door.
"Go get them 8XR!" Carnelian cheered.
"If anybody asks, this wasn't our idea!" Skinny called out.
Amethyst quickly sprinted down the hallway, knowing this station like the back of her hand, taking the fastest route to the docking bay. Soon enough, she arrived just in time to see the last of the other Amethyst Gems walking into one of the open airlocks. Amethyst hurriedly rushed toward airlock, which lead into an extended walkway, connecting the station to Onyx's ship.
Amethyst reached the door on the other side of the walkway, which opened at once for her. She then entered a large, empty chamber. The walls, ceiling, and floors were all black with red streaks that ran across the interior of the chamber, providing a source of light.
The rest of the Quartz soldiers were all standing in a single line formation, shoulder to shoulder in the center of the room. Hoping she would not arouse any suspicion due to her tardiness, Amethyst quickly joined in at the end of the formation. The Quartz who was standing nearest to Amethyst did a double take, quickly recognizing her.
"8XR?" she whispered, stunned. "What are you doing here? If Holly Blue catches you…"
"Relax, I got this" Amethyst whispered back, with confidence. Admittedly though, she didn't feel much like talking as she had to keep herself focused on maintaining her current form.
"Silence, all of you" Holly Blue snapped, as she walked past them, taking no notice of the extra Amethyst who had slipped in with the others, as she was far too busy keeping her eyes on the door in front of them.
Eventually, the door opened, as Black Onyx entered the chamber, followed expectedly by his ever-present Pearl.
Holly Blue immediately rushed up to Onyx, saluting him with her arms crossed together and her hands folded into a diamond shape. "Everything is ready as you requested my Onyx."
Onyx stared at Holly Blue's hands and cleared his throat. "There is no need to do that" he said, stiffly.
Holly Blue noticed her gesture and quickly detached her hands, placing them behind her back with a nervous giggle.
"I've gathered all my finest Quartz solders here. They are all ready to dedicate themselves to your service."
"Very good." Onyx said, gratefully. "Thank you, Holly Blue. I will begin my evaluation of them. Please, wait here with Pearl."
Onyx walked past Holly Blue, who, without taking her eyes off of Onyx, moved over to stand next to Pearl.
"Oh, he is magnificent! So commanding, so awe-inspiring. He's practically like a Diamond. What an honor it must be to serve the living legend of Homeworld. I can't believe I'm actually envious of a mere Pearl." Holly Blue let a derisive s snort of laughter.
Pearl said nothing in response, merely groaning quietly as she gave a slight roll of her eyes.
Onyx paced up and down the room, examining the Quartz soldiers lined up in front of him one by one with his piercing gaze. All of them were doing their absolute best to maintain their composure, not wanting to displease either Onyx or Holly Blue with even a slight infraction or noise. Amethyst tensed up when Onyx's eyes seemed to linger on her longer than the others, until he moved on without saying a word.
Onyx then ceased his pacing and stood in the center of the chamber, much like a general before their troops, his feet planted squarely, hands folded behind his back.
"I am preparing for a small, yet important assignment from the Diamonds." he said, his voice firm and authoritative. "This mission requires us to travel to the abandoned Gem colony on the planet Earth. This mission will consist of myself and my Pearl. The reason you are here is because I require an escort to accompany my Pearl. You are all Quartz soldiers who made on the Earth. For that reason, I have concluded that you should be the most suitable type of Gems for this task. However, only one of you will be needed, so I will only select one of you."
Amethyst gulped slightly, feeling a trinket of sweat on her brow as the anticipation began to build, only wondering what kind of test she would have to go through in order to qualify.
"The test will be a simple sparring match to verify your combat abilities." Onyx said.
There was a collective sigh of relief about the Quartz soldiers, followed up by a murmur of excitement at Onyx's announcement.
"Oh, yeah. That's what I'm talking about." one of the Quartz said, punching her fist into her hand. "This will be easy."
"Yeah, for the rest of us"
"What do you mean us?" asked another, playfully punching her shoulder into the other one. "I bet I can take you all myself."
"You misunderstand" Onyx continued, carrying his voice over the ramble. "You will not be fighting each other. This match will be against me."
The enthusiasm among the Quartz Gems died instantly, all of them now looking at Onyx as though he had just announced their death sentence. Onyx removed the dark cloak attached to his shoulder and neatly folded it into a small bundle. Pearl walked up to him and took the bundle, before stepping away and re-joining Holly Blue, who was smiling in excitement.
Onyx rolled his shoulder slightly, craning his neck from side to side. "The Gem who performs the best in this contest will be selected. In the interest of fairness, I will not use my powers or any weapons. All of you are free to use any weapons or methods you wish. Come at me whenever you are ready."
Despite the open invitation, not one of the Quartz made any attempt to move. Eventually, one of them tentatively raised her hand in the air.
"Uh, you mean, like, one at a time?" she said.
"No" Onyx replied. "You may all attack me at once."
This did nothing to encourage any of the Quartz, all of whom stood rooted to the spot looking anxious and afraid. The very prospect of fighting Black Onyx himself, even as a simple sparing match, was enough to subdue them into submission. Onyx showed no signs of impatience at their lack of response, his expression focused, holding his stance as he waited for someone to make the first move.
Then, after a few tense moments, someone finally stepped forward.
Amethyst-8XR strutted out from the crowd of other Quartz Gems, with an expression of total confidence, not showing the least bit of fear. Digging her heels in, she let out a mighty battle cry and took off in a run, her fist raised as she charged straight toward Onyx.
Onyx, however, did not try to move or dodge, maintained his stance and composure, and just as Amethyst's fist was about to make contact, he caught her wrist in a tight grip before he turned on his heel, using her own momentum to throw her clear over his shoulder, sending flying across the room where she collided with the nearest wall with a resounding thud.
Holly Blue clapped her hands and let a squeal of delight, very clearly enjoying herself. Pearl merely watched the scene with apathy.
Amethyst stood up again, shaking off the dizziness from her impact. She then turned to Onyx with a defiant glare.
"Okay. Let's try some of this then."
Amethyst's gemstone released a bright glow as she materialized the handle of her whip and pulled the full length of it out in one swing, the jeweled tip of the whip striking the ground. She then pulled her arm back and flung the whip toward Onyx, who made no attempt to dodge as the whip sliced through the air and wrapped itself around his outstretched arm.
Amethyst let a triumphant laugh and pulled hard on the whip's handle. However, her smile soon faded when she saw the full length of the whip go completely taunt and Onyx having not moved an inch.
With a single tug, Onyx pulled his arm forward, with enough force that Amethyst dragged across the room as she landed at his feet.
Growling deeply, Amethyst stood up, now facing Onyx, her hands raised in a fighting stance. She let loose a flurry of punches at Onyx in an impressive display of close quarter combat. Despite the intensity of her blows, Onyx was able to dodge or parry each attack with his hands, his composure never wavering under Amethyst's assault.
Beginning to feel her exhaustion catch up to her, Amethyst decided to change tactics and raised her leg, attempting round house kick, only for Onyx to catch her ankle in his palm. Amethyst wobbled on her single leg and soon realized she could no longer move as Onyx maintained his grip on her.
While still holding her leg aloft, Onyx delivered a swift jab of his fist right into Amethyst stomach, which was enough to knock the wind out of her as she gasped for breath. Onyx released his grip on her leg as Amethyst stumbled backward, holding her hands over her stomach, her body shaking from the force of the impact.
Amethyst felt as though she had just been struck by a meteorite. For a moment she was certain her physical form was about to retreat into her gemstone, her body already beginning to glow, but Amethyst quickly realized that something else was about to happen to her.
Before she could try and re-focus her kind on maintaining her current form, Onyx pulled his arm back and swiped at Amethyst head with the back of his hand while she was wide open for attack. However, Onyx found himself striking at nothing but empty space as Amethyst's head had disappeared in front of him.
Surprised, Onyx looked down to see Amethyst, now appearing as a much shorter figure of herself, standing below him.
Amethyst grinned sheepishly, throwing her hands up in lieu of an explanation, while Onyx merely raised an eyebrow at her.
Holly Blue exuberant expression now turned to one of utter horror at the sight of Amethyst.
"What is that disrespectful off-color doing here?" she hissed, clapping her hands to the side of her face, mortified.
Deciding to make the most of this distraction, Amethyst jumped back several feet from Onyx and took a quick running start, leaping up at him again, her fist aimed directly toward his face. However, Onyx simply caught her fist in his hand, bringing her to a complete halt as he now held aloft in the air.
"Disguising your shape to catch me off guard. An interesting tactic." he noted. Onyx struck Amethyst directly in the chest the open palm of his free hand, the force of the blow enough to Amethyst flying back into the wall once again.
"But ineffective"
Amethyst gritted her teeth as she got back up. She charged forward again, rolling herself into a ball using her mane of hair. She veered to the right, away from Onyx and began to speed across the room, running up and down the walls and floor as she built up her momentum.
Onyx held his position, his eyes tracking Amethyst movements as she continued to dash back and forth across the room. In a split second, there was a small explosion of energy right next to Onyx as he lifted his arm in the air and caught Amethyst with his open palm just as she collided with him. Onyx, who had not so much as budged from the impact, grabbed Amethyst by her hair and threw her across the room, where she hit against the wall for a third time.
Amethyst groaned as she fell against the floor and struggled to push herself back to her feet. Onyx regarded her for a moment, before he turned his attention back to the rest of the Quartz soldiers, as if expecting any of them to attack next. Once Amethyst finally got back to her feet and charged once more at Onyx as his back was still turned. Just as she leapt up to attack him, Onyx turned in the blink of an eye and slapped Amethyst away again with the back of his hand.
Onyx watched with an indifferent expression as Amethyst once again pushed herself back to her feet, her body trembling as she raised her fists, ready for another bout. Behind Onyx, the rest of the Quartz Gems now appeared terrified for Amethyst safety, frantically calling out for her to stop.
"8XR, just stay down!"
"You're gonna get hurt, please stop!"
"Come on, you did your best, stop punishing yourself like this!"
As the Quartz Gems continued to try and implore her to stop fighting, Amethyst charged forward to attack Onyx yet again, only to be knocked back once more. And every time she rose back up to fight. But no matter what attack she used or what angle she came from, Onyx effortlessly repelled her every time, sending her back to exact same spot on the wall.
The longer the fight dragged on, the more frightened looking the Quartz Gems became, their eyes focused on Amethyst. From the other side of the room, Pearl placed her hand to her mouth, looking rather unnerved by the battle, while Holly Blue sneered slightly beside her, a slight grin on her face as she watched Amethyst repeatedly getting pummeled.
"Hmph, maybe this will finally put her in her place." she said coldly.
Amethyst slammed into the wall yet again, dropping down to her knees. Her face was bruised and dirtied, her breathing was haggard, her whole body shaking as she struggled to push herself up again.
Rather than wait for her to get back up, this time Onyx slowly walked over to Amethyst and stood in front of her, his figure towering over her. He titled his head to one side and was looking at Amethyst with a kind of curiosity expression, as though she was a subject worthy of study.
"Will you yield?" he asked.
Amethyst dug her fingers into the floor and turned her head up to Onyx with a defiant and determined glare.
"Only after I knock you down."
Onyx said nothing, his expression neutral as he accepted her answer. He clasped his two hands together and raised them above his head, preparing to bring them down upon a helpless Amethyst who at this point was clearly too weak to even defend herself anymore.
Before he could land his finishing blow, Onyx was forced to jump backwards as one of the other Amethyst Gems came flying down at him from above, her fist smashing into the floor where Onyx had stood.
Amethyst looked up in disbelief as the all the other Quartz soldiers flocked toward her, standing grouped together in tight and disciplined formation, acting as a solid wall between her and Onyx.
Onyx stared with some surprise at all the Amethysts were all now baring down at him with the same fierce expression across their identical faces, not showing even a trace of fear or hesitation as they had done before. He glanced around them to see Amethyst as she uneasily stood up on her feet, slumping her shoulder against the wall to help balance herself, wincing slightly in pain.
With the same curious expression as before, Onyx took a single step forward. No sooner had he done this, the Quartz soldiers all summoned their weapons from their respective gemstones and raised them up defensively. With a unified cry they charged at Onyx all at once.
The floor of the chamber was now littered with the fallen bodies of every single one of Amethysts, all of whom looking thoroughly battered and bruised, letting out the occasional moan of pain, their weapons scattered about, many of them broken, others lodged in the floor or walls.
Onyx stood in the center of the room, not appearing to have so much as a scratch on him, holding one of the Quartz above his head with one hand before dropping her to the floor along with the others.
Watching from the side lines, Holly Blue eyes were wide with joy, gushing over the battle as though it was the single most beautiful display she had ever seen.
"This is the happiest day of my life!" she said, actually grabbing a disgruntled looking Pearl by the shoulders and pulling her closer almost like a gesture of true friendship.
Onyx swept across the room, watching and waiting to see if any of the Amethysts had anymore fight left in them. After a moment he stopped and turned to see Amethyst-8XR hobbling her way toward him from across the room, dragging her whip behind her in one hand. With a loud grunt, Amethyst weakly flung her whip at Onyx, the tip of braided rope merely landed feebly past his feet. Amethyst let out a painful groan and dropped down to her knees, clearly having reached her limit.
Onyx stared down the whip and lightly nudged it with his foot. He then looked back to Amethyst.
"You have a lot of spirit little one, but you are far too reckless." Onyx said, folding his hands behind his back. "Perhaps if you had more patience, you could have managed to-"
The very instant Onyx took a step forward, Amethyst lifted her head up and in a sudden burst of energy, she pulled the handle of her whip as hard as she could, the rope going taunt at once. Onyx was cut off in mid-sentence, as he wobbled on his feet with a look of surprise, losing his balance in the moment he had shifted his weight in his step, and before he could recover himself, he toppled over backwards.
And he landed flat on his butt.
Onyx glanced down to his feet to see the jeweled end of Amethyst whip hooked in around his ankle. He turned his head back up to Amethyst, who looked as though even she herself could believe what she had just done, her mouth hanging open, her eyes shining brightly.
There was a brief, incompressible moment, where Amethyst and Onyx locked eyes with one another as though everyone and everything else in the room just faded away. There was no trace of anger, outrage, denial, or even embarrassment in Onyx expression as he remained sitting on the floor in his uncompromising position. Just a look of simple, plain, dumbfounded surprise at what had happened.
It took Amethyst a few seconds to break out of her stupor, before she jumped up into the air, her previous fatigue apparently disappearing as she let out a massive cheer of joy and triumphant.
"Woo-hoo! Oh yeah!"
Amethyst bounded up in the air several more times, but her excitement soon came to an abrupt end when she heard a familiar and angry voice creeping up behind her.
"YOU!"
Amethyst tensed up and turned to see Holly Blue marching up to her, her entire face etched in hideous expression of outrage.
"You disobedient, disgraceful, disgusting waste of space!" she snarled, her eyes lit with a mad fury. "What have you done? I will see you bubbled for this! No, I will see you shattered for this! I will see your shards shattered for this, right down to molecular level and then-"
"That is quite enough." Onyx said, perfectly calm. Pearl quickly rushed to his side and helped him to his feet. He re-attached his cape to his shoulder and placed his hands behind his back, looking as composed and reserved as ever, in total contrast to the frazzled and disheveled Holly Blue.
"This test is now over" he announced to the room. "I thank you all for your performance. You may take this time to rest and return to the station. I will return shortly with my decision."
With that, Onyx walked out of the chamber without another word, Pearl quietly following behind him.
There was a moment of silence, as the rest of the Quartz Gems got back to their feet and converged around Amethyst. They were all of them keeping their eyes on Holly Blue, expecting another outburst any moment.
However, instead of lashing out at them in anger, Holly Blue merely folded her hands together behind her back and turned around to look directly at Amethyst with a particularly dark glower.
"I hope you enjoyed yourself." she said in a low, cold voice. "This will be the last and only bit of achievement you ever experience. "
Holly Blue then turned to the rest of Quartz Gems with a cold scowl. "I want all of you back to the station at once!"
Without another word, Holly Blue marched toward the door leading to the airlock and exited the chamber.
Once Holly Blue was gone, the Quartz Gems all stood together in silence for a long moment, before they all erupted into cheers that echoed throughout the chamber. They surrounded Amethyst and bombarded her with praise.
"Did you see that? 8XR, you knocked him right on his butt!"
"I can't believe you actually pulled that off. We couldn't even touch him!"
"That was the coolest thing ever. Just wait until Skinny and Carnelian hear about this."
One of the Quartz picked Amethyst up onto her shoulders and carried her at the head of the procession as they made their way back to the station, the Quartz Gems all chanting her name.
"8XR! 8XR! 8XR! 8XR!"
Amethyst let out a quiet, strain sound that almost mimicked laughter as she tried to join in on the excitement and savor the moment of glory, all the while masking the utter terror hidden behind her nervous smile.
"I am so cracked."
A short time later, Holly Blue and the Quartz Gems were now in the docking area, waiting for Onyx to return. Amethyst was sure to hide as far back behind the other Quartz as she could, all of whom were crowding around her protectively. Holly Blue had her back to all of them, her eyes focused on the airlock while continuously tabbing the floor with the heel of her boot.
Eventually the airlock door opened again as Onyx and Pearl entered the docking area.
Amethyst gulped slightly and inched a few more steps back, suddenly wanting to put as much distance between herself and Onyx as possible.
"I thank you all for your participation." he said, addressing the Quartz soldiers. "You are all fine Gems. Now, after careful consideration, I have made my choice, on which of you I will take."
"Oh, why thank for your generosity Black Onyx. " Holly Blue said. "To think you would be so kind as to offer one of these Gems the honor of serving under you."
"The Quartz solider whom I have chosen for the mission to Earth is Amethyst-8XR." Onyx said.
"Yes, what a wise decision and…wha?" Holly Blue stopped dead in the middle of her sycophantic tirade and stared at Onyx, looking quite certain she had misheard him.
The crowd of Amethysts slowly parted away, revealing Amethyst-8XR standing at the back. Feeling all eyes now on her, Amethyst shyly walked forward until she stood directly before Onyx. She never thought that being the center of attention could actually be uncomfortable.
"You want….me?" she said, quietly, looking up at Onyx.
"You want….her?!" Holly Blue spluttered in disbelief. "But my Onyx, she is…well, she clearly…"
"I said that the Quartz Gem who performed the best during my evaluation will be the one selected." Onyx said. "Based on what I witnessed, I have determined that Amethyst-8XR is the most viable candidate." Onyx turned to Holly Blue with a curious look. "Do you disagree with me?"
"Oh, no, nonononono." Holly Blue said at once. "I agree completely, she clearly is the superior Gem. Why else would you choose her? I mean, seriously… why?" Holly Blue asked, with a strained smile.
Onyx turned to address Amethyst directly. "We will be departing shortly. You may take this time to say your goodbyes. Then return to my ship."
With a small bow of his head, Onyx turned and walked back through the airlock toward his ship.
"I guess you can be envious of her now as well" Pearl said, in an undertone as she passed by a still dumbfounded looking Holly Blue.
The moment Onyx and Pearl were gone, the room erupted into another round of cheers as the Quartz Gems gathered around Amethyst once again, showering her with praise, most of them giving her several light punches in the arm and ruffles of her hair.
"Way to go 8XR!"
"I thought for sure he was gonna shattered for you a second!"
"Guess you must have really impressed him."
"You're gonna kick some serious butt out there!"
Amethyst stood there in silence, barely even listening to adjurations and encouragement of the other Quartz Gems. The true impact and weight of what had just occurred had only had now begun to set in. After a few moments, her face slowly broke into a wide smile, as tears started to form in her eyes.
"I…I did it! I really did it!" she cried, slapping her hands to her face in disbelief.
There was another cheer amongst the Quartz, and they all moved closer to Amethyst, embracing their arms around her in one big group hug.
The only one who did join in on the hug was Holly Blue. She seemed to still to be in the process of absorbing what had happened, her face twitching back and forth. She soon bared her teeth, as she became consumed by a sudden rage.
"8XR!" she snapped.
Amethyst and the other Quartz all looked up to Holly Blue at once, instinctively knowing that should react with fear at the sound of her raised voice. Or really just her voice in general.
However instead of glaring at Amethyst with her usual furious scowl, Holly Blue was intentionally avoiding Amethyst eyes, her lips pursed into a kind of strange pout as though she was struggling to figure out what she was angry about.
"Don't just stand and keep Onyx waiting. Hurry up and get on that ship!" she said, while trying very poorly to hide a small blush on her face. "That…will be all."
Unsure of what else to make of Holly Blue's order and deciding that it was probably best not to keep Onyx waiting, Amethyst broke away from the other Quartz, who were smiling down at her with pride.
"I promise I'll be back someday and I tell you guys everything!" she said. Doing one last double take over her shoulder, Amethyst made her way toward the airlock. She stopped right at the precipice of the airlock, realizing that once she stepped over, there would be no going back from this point.
Before she took her next step, Amethyst still felt there was something holding her back. Something she needed to do before he could leave. She turned and looked at Holly Blue once again, who was standing with her arms crossed, a sour expression still on her face, evidently still not sharing in everyone else's happiness.
"Hey, Holly Blue." Amethyst said.
Holly Blue turned her head up to look directly at Amethyst. Her stern frown began to soften as she and Amethyst held each other's gaze. Holly Blue's eyes then began to brighten as though she was expecting something meaningful and important was about to pass between them.
Amethyst closed her eyes and took a deep breath. In a split second, she spun around, shapeshifting herself into a perfect duplicate of Holly Blue, with the exception of the goofy looking face and smacked herself on her rear.
"Whomp-whomp!"
The last image Amethyst had of the station that had been her home for the past five thousand years, before the airlock doors closed was that of a furious looking Holly Blue, surrounded by her fellow Amethyst Gems, who were laughing so hard, tears were forming on their face, as they waved goodbye one final time.
"That was the last time I saw any of them." Amethyst said, now having finished her story. She sniffled slightly, wiping away a tear from the corner of her eye. "They were all so happy for me. I was given a great opportunity to prove myself." Amethyst face then fell into a deep frown as she lowered her head. "And I messed it all up. I can't ever face them again."
Steven had been quiet throughout the story, not wanting to interrupt, now began to consider everything he had heard, before coming to a conclusion for himself.
"Well, it sounds to me like they all loved and cared for you, even before you were chosen by Onyx. Well except maybe Holly Blue." Steven added.
Amethyst grinned and let out a bitter chuckle. "Yeah, I guess I can at least always make her happy by screwing up."
"You shouldn't feel so bad about failing though." Steven persisted. "I fail all the time. Even today. I was so happy when Jasper wanted me to come along on this mission. But all I ended up doing was running away and falling down a hole. "
Amethyst said nothing, giving Steven only a blank stare in return. Her face then broke into a smirk as she let out a long whistle.
"Wow, you're right. You do sound terrible." she said, sounding quite cheerful and upbeat as though she had just sincerely complimented Steven. She placed her hands behind her head and crossing one leg over the other as she lay back against the wall, evidently feeling much more comfortable now as she closed her eyes. "Guess you better go tell your friends all about how much you screwed up today. See how that works out for you."
Steven innocuously stared at Amethyst as she remained in her relaxed and carefree position, processing the rather callous piece of advice she had just given him. Admittedly, he wasn't looking forward to facing the Crystal Gems after having abandoned them at the first sign of trouble. A part of him almost wished he could just stay in this underground chamber and not have to deal with any issues above him.
Steven looked around the dark and eerie room again. He had no idea what this place was, but he now felt the urge to be anywhere except here.
With a heavy sigh he stood up again and made his way toward the passageway that they had fallen into earlier which led back to the surface. Amethyst opened one eye as she watched Steven go.
"Well, I guess I can either tell them how I failed, or I spend the rest of my life in a hole." Steven said. With a determined expression, Steven hopped up onto the steep rocky path before him and after losing his foot a few times, slowly began to trudge his way up.
Eventually Steven made it back to the top. The Kindergarten appeared just as bleak and desolate as ever. There didn't seem to be any sign of the Crystal Gems or any of the Gem mutants that had attacked him earlier. Steven started to walk while trying to remember which direction he came from.
"Hey, Steven, hold up a sec."
Steven stopped and turned around to see Amethyst climbing out of the hole after him. She approached him with a somewhat regretful look, rubbing her back of head.
"Look, I didn't mean-"
"Steven!"
Steven turned around again as he heard Peridot's voice calling for him. Steven then did a double take back around to see Amethyst was now gone, briefly catching just a glimpse of her white hair dashing in behind a nearby formation of rocks.
Moments later, Peridot, Lapis and Jasper arrived, running up to Steven.
"Are you guys, ok?" Steven asked with some concern.
"We're fine." Lapis said, assuredly. "We just finished bubbling up all those Fusion….things.
"Where have you been?" Peridot asked.
"I fell into this underground chamber. " Steven said, pointing to the hole behind. "There was a big room down there with a computer screen and these broken cylinders. I think that's where those Gem mutants came from."
"Hmm. It must be some kind of research facility" Peridot said thoughtfully, glancing around to the hole. "But what would a thing like that being doing in the Kindergarten"
"You were down there all this time?" Jasper asked.
"Well, the thing is I…." Steven said, trying to consider what he should say next before he suddenly blurted out the truth. "I ran into Amethyst."
The Crystal Gems all widened their eyes, now looking at Steven with greater interest than before, firing a barrage of questions at him all at once.
"You saw her? Did she hurt you? "Lapis said, with concern.
"Was she alone? Did you see Onyx and Pearl?" Peridot said.
"What happened?" Jasper asked, her volume of voice carrying over the others.
Steven paused for a moment and took a deep breath, knowing there was only one thing he could tell them.
"I let her get away." he said. Steven paused again, as he allowed the statement to sink in, the Crystal Gems now listening intently to him. "When I saw her, I thought I could catch her by myself, but she was just way too much for me. I tell you, she's one tough customer. Guess I bit off more than I could chew on that one. Next thing I knew, I fell down into this hole. Took me forever to climb my way out. Don't think there's anything useful down there either. Just a big computer without any power"
Steven smiled bashfully, lifting up his shoulders. "Guess I really screwed up this mission, huh?"
The Crystal Gems were all silent as Steven finished his story. Steven lowered his head slightly, bracing himself for whatever for cold dismissal they were about to give him.
"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself." Lapis said with a small smile. She placed a gentle hand on Steven's shoulder. "I'm sure you did the best you could."
"It is unfortunate that Amethyst got away, but at least you knew how to keep yourself safe while we weren't around" Peridot said, sounding pleased, nonetheless, as she placed her hand on Steven's other shoulder.
"You'll get another shot at her." Jasper said with a small grin, giving Steven a light ruffle of his hair. "She's no match for all of us together. Come on, don't think there's much more left for us here to learn anything."
Jasper led the way back to the Warp Pad, with Peridot, Lapis and Steven following behind her.
"Sorry your first visit to the Kindergarten had to be horrible Steven" Lapis said, amicably.
"Wait until you hear about latest my combat exploit featuring my metal powers, Steven!" Peridot said with enthusiasm. "I manage to pick up at least four pieces of Injector shrapnel and used them decimate my foes!"
"You know, you could have just kept re-using the same piece once you had it off, right?" Lapis said, with a slight smirk.
"Oh, yeah" Peridot said, with slow realization. "Great suggestion Lapis! I'll be sure to do that next time" she said with genuine earnest.
Peridot and Lapis continued on ahead, while Steven stopped for a moment and glanced back over his shoulder, where he spotted Amethyst, peeking out from behind the rock. She wore a look of amazement on her face. She opened her mouth as though she wanted to speak but then held her tongue as Steven smiled brightly back at her, giving her a thumbs up, before he sprinted forward to re-join the Crystal Gems.
This wasn't how he wanted his first mission to the Kindergarten to turn out, but Steven couldn't help but feel satisfied as he walked ahead, hoping that perhaps things would work better for Amethyst in the future.