Chapter 9: Giant Woman
After the events that took place in the Pyramid Temple, Isaac and Steven were able to go on many more adventures with the Crystal Gems. Most weren't as serious as that one mission. But there were some events that stood out.
For example, when one mission was messed up by Amethyst, Steven learned that she was actually sneaking out to fight in some underground tournament. All to blow off steam and just to let loose and be as wild as she could be. Steven wanted in and became her partner. Isaac got wind of it, but Amethyst and the boy made him promise to keep quiet about it. It didn't last, as Pearl and Garnet got him to spill the beans and they tried to stop them. In the end, they all came to a better understanding of each other.
The second was when Steven got a pet lion. Seriously. Isaac was even surprised. During a mission to the Sahara, Steven and Isaac found a pink lion that turned out to not only be somewhat calm and just acted like a giant house cat, it also magical. Luckily it was able to help Steven save the day when a gemstone caused some major havoc.
The third was after a mission to take out a monster failed, and it ended up creating drill like monsters that got away, Steven decided to take the Gems to the arcade. While Isaac was happy to spend time away from fighting monsters, the girls weren't adapting as well. Garnet was the worst. She was literally addicted to a game that she was didn't stop playing, even when the drill monsters returned.
That's when both human-Gems found out that she also had three eyes. We knew?
And so, that brings us to today. On the beach in front of the Temple, Amethyst and Pearl were playing a game of checkers on the beach. Steven was perched on a lifeguard chair with a bucket of water balloons. Isaac was nearby, building an impressive sandcastle, while also watching the game.
Amethyst concentrated on her next move. She then saw an opening and put her piece forward. "Ha, take that!"
Pearl pretended to be surprised and impressed. "Wow, Amethyst, I'm impressed," she said mockingly, before getting pelted by a water balloon.
Isaac chuckled a little. "Play nice, Pearl," he joked with her. Getting a blush and a glare from her.
"Now it's your move, Pearl," Steven said, holding up another balloon to hit Amethyst with. He's already hit her multiple times, which she actually enjoyed.
"Steven, are the water balloons really necessary," Pearl asked.
"Yeah, this way the moves really matter."
"But it's checkers. Every single move counts."
Amethyst twirled a strand of her wet hair around her finger with a laid-back expression. "It sounds like someone's being a sore loser," she bragged.
Pearl got steamed, but tried holding in her anger. She looked down at the checkers broad and grinned. "I'm not a sore loser…" She grabbed one of her pieces and defeated Amethyst in one move. Capturing all of the purple Gem's pieces. "…because I just won the game," she proclaimed with a smug look.
"Then you're a sore winner," Isaac said off screen, making her blush in embarrassment and glare at him, again.
"Whaaa—?!" Amethyst looked down and realized that she'll get pelted with the water balloons. So, she happily held out her arms and made herself a target. "Here it comes!" Steven pelts her with all water balloons, getting Amethyst to laugh. The small Gem then fell over and lay down on her back. "Aaah, feels good to lose," she said with satisfaction.
Pearl stood up and cleared her throat. "Ahem, I certainly hope that's not the attitude you have during battle," she said with a look of disapproval.
Amethyst groaned and sat up. "Ugh, you're no fun anymore," she said and motioned with her hands. "This is why we never form Opal."
That got Isaac's attention. What was she even talking about? And who, or what was Opal? However, he was now concerned about Pearl and Amethyst getting into yet another fight. Pearl bent a little forward, moving head closer to Amethyst's face. "We don't form Opal because you're difficult and a mess," she told her, but with each word emphasized was followed by Pearl pointing her figure into Amethyst's chest.
Provoked, Amethyst moved head closer to Pearl's face, and their faces touched. They glared angrily at each other and looked ready to fight. "We don't form Opal because you're an uptight bitch and—"
Isaac quickly ran over and got in between. "Break it up, you two! Break it up!" He commanded, pushing the arguing Gems apart. This wasn't the first time that they've fought, but he's never seen them this angry at one another
Steven jumped down, but not to help stop the fight. He was interested with something else, and had an excited face. "What is Opal," he asked. Even Isaac was also curious and looked at the two Gems.
"Oh, it's the two of us, mashed together," Amethyst said simply and clasped her hands together.
Pearl scoffed. "Is water just hydrogen and oxygen 'mashed' together?"
Amethyst and Steven look clueless. "Is it?" Isaac asked with a shrug and a raised eyebrow.
"... Analogy wasted. Look here, Steven and Isaac." Pearl kneeled down and the two boys did the same. They watched as Pearl manipulated the sand of the beach to demonstrate, making a mini form of her and Amethyst. "When we synchronize our forms, we can combine into a powerful fusion gem named Opal," she expanded as the two-sand figure danced and turned into one larger and taller form.
"Oh, like Dragon Ball," Isaac said with a smile. It was basically the same idea of when characters fuse in the show. Combining to create a more powerful being.
Now it was Pearl's turn to look confused. "What's a Dragon Ball?"
"Never mind."
Amethyst abruptly stomped her foot on the sand Opal. "Except I don't dance like that."
Pearl gave her an irked expression. "Amethyst?!"
Steven looked to Amethyst with excitement in his grinning face. "Wow, that's so cool! But tell me more about Opal!"
"Well, Steven, she's an ultra-powerful, stone cold Betty—" Amethyst gloated by pointing to herself. "That part's me. And she's like, kinda tall—" she whispered to the humans. "That part's Pearl."
Isaac raised an eyebrow at her and turned to Pearl. "Help us out here," he asked with a shrug.
Pearl sighed, sympathizing with Isaac. "What Amethyst is attempting to say is, Opal is an amalgam of our combined magical and physical attributes fused into a single entity," she explained to them.
"Wow, can you do it right now?" Steven asked the Gems with a grin. "Come on, form Opal!"
Isaac looked at Amethyst and Pearl. Amethyst looked away with a scoff, and by Pearl's response, he could tell that they weren't really liking the idea. "We only form Opal when it's absolutely necessary," she told Steven, before they heard the Warp Pad activate.
The blonde looked to the house to see the light emitting from the house. "Garnet's back!" Steven yelled before running to the house.
"Well, fun time's over," said Isaac, before he, Pearl and Amethyst followed.
The half-humans and Gems enter house, greeted with the sight of Garnet walking off the pad. "Ooh! Ooh! Did you bring me anything?" Steven approached her with excitement. Garnet pulled a rock out of nowhere and gave it to him. "Whoa, a rock! Thanks, Garnet."
Isaac ruffled his hair with a smirk. It didn't really take much to impress or please the boy. He then looked to Garnet. "So, how'd it go?"
"I have located the Geode beetles of Heaven and Earth," Garnet told them. "We should split up to retrieve them."
"Well, I'm going with not Pearl," Amethyst said as for some reason Steven started biting the rock.
"Well, that's perfect because I don't want to go with grammatically incorrect people anyway," Pearl said.
"Jeez, they were really going at it," Isaac said to himself.
"Is she talking about me," asked Steven while biting his rock.
"No, buddy. And stop doing that!" Isaac grabbed the rock and threw it over his shoulder. Only to flinch when it broke one of the windows on the second floor.
"You four go together, I go alone," Garnet commanded them.
This was meant with surprised looks from Pearl and Amethyst. "What? Why?"
"The Earth Beetle's at the bottom of the boiling lava lake, and only I can swim in lava," said Garnet, before putting her hands together and summoned a pair of goggles that went over her visors, with a strap that tightly around her square afro. "You'll find the Heaven Beetle at the top of the Sky Spire. It's safer."
"You mean boring-er," Amethyst said with annoyance.
"That's not even a real word," Isaac said, putting on his Taco pack for the mission.
"Wha?"
"You mean more boring," Pearl corrected her with the blonde.
Amethyst smirked slightly. "So, you agree with me."
Pearl looked at Amethyst annoyed. "Ugh! Come on, you two, let's go," she said, walking to the Warp Pad. Steven and Amethyst followed after her, with Isaac coming behind.
As he walked pasted the tall Gem, Garnet stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder. "Look after Steven, and be sure to keep the harmony," she said.
"You got it," Isaac said with a confident grin and a thumbs up. Garnet let him go, and Isaac ran over to the Warp Pad and joined the group. Pearl and Amethyst didn't want to look at one another, while Steven was oblivious to the rising tension between them. "Energize!"
They warped away.
"Oomph!" Isaac and Steven fell to the ground, with Steven once again falling once more on the older boy's stomach.
"Why…" Moaning in pain, Isaac then pushed Steven off himself. He sat up and looked at where they were. Amazed by what he saw. The Sky Spire was a free-floating structure in the air around the surrounding mountains with smaller floating rocks leading towards it. However, it was far away from where they were, and the only way to get to it was large and long staircases edged into the rock and ground of the mountains and rocks.
"Woah... is this where the Heaven Beetle lives," Steven asked, seeing the Sky Spire and standing up.
"Apparently," Pearl said. Her and Amethyst had landed just fine.
"All the way at the top," commented Amethyst.
Isaac stood up and hunched a little. "Why couldn't they have made the Warp Pad much closer?" He complained.
"So, when you fuse, do you turn into a giant giant woman, or just a regular-sized giant woman?" Steven asked the two Gems.
Amethyst groaned as Isaac started walking. "That doesn't even matter," he said.
"Does one of you control the right arm and the other control the left arm?"
"Come on, Steven," Pearl told him, as she and Amethyst walked away to follow Isaac.
"Wait, these are extremely important questions," Steven exclaimed and ran to catch up.
Isaac sighed and approached the first set of steps. He liked the boy, but man could he be so annoying. "No, they're not," Isaac said back to Steven, beginning to walk up the long stairway.
Steven stopped at the base of the stairway, pretending to be tired in a lame attempt to get Pearl and Amethyst to fuse. "Phew, there sure are a lot of stairs, how about you form Opal and give me a piggy back ride?"
"No!" Pearl and Amethyst stopped a few steps up and delivered their response swiftly.
Steven then followed after them and managed to catch up. However, he wasn't done with asking questions about fusion. "What about if you eat a hotdog? Whose stomach does it go into? Or do you share the same stomach?" Steven laughed. "That would be gross."
"Hilarious," Isaac said sarcastically. Suddenly there was rustling in a bush in front of them on the path. This caused them to with alarmed expressions. Pearl and Amethyst summoned their weapons to fight whatever it was. However, Isaac quickly got in front of them and showed that his gemstone wasn't glowing.
Seeing that it wasn't dangerous, they stood down. And just in time, as a goat jumped out of the bushes eating a thicket. It didn't even seem bothered by their presence or the fact that they had weapons.
But Steven gasped. "Look out! It's a magical goat guardian! Quick, you have to form Opal! It's the only way to defeat it!" He then pretended to cower down on the ground with his hands on his head. "Hurry before it kills us all!" He peeked up at them, only to them looking deadpanned at him.
"You're an idiot," Isaac said, hitting Steven in the head.
As Steven rubbed his aching head, Pearl walked up to goat. "Ugh, Steven, we only fuse for deadly situations, does this look like a deadly situation?" She explained, gesturing with her hand at goat. The animal looked at her and bit her hand. "Ow! Hey, bad mountain goat!" The goat bleated at her.
Amethyst broke out in hysterical laughter and fell over. Isaac tried to hide his smile behind his hand, as Steven looked a bit disappointed. "Darn it. Aw, I'm never going to get to see Opal," he said.
Isaac patted him on the head. But then Steven started to sing all about only wanting to see Pearl and Amethyst becoming a giant woman. And Isaac had to admit, it wasn't bad. Compared to the other times he sang, which annoyed Isaac, he was really starting to find his singing voice.
All I wanna do is see you turn into a giant woman,
A giant woman!
All I wanna be is someone who gets to see a giant woman.
All I wanna do is help you turn into a giant woman,
A giant woman!
All I wanna be is someone who gets to see a giant woman.
Oh, I know it'll be great and I just can't wait to see the person you are together.
If you give it a chance you can do a huge dance because you are a giant woman.
You might even like being together and if you don't it won't be forever.
But if it were me, I'd really wanna be a giant woman,
a giant woman!
All I wanna do is see you turn into a giant woman~.
While the boy sang, Pearl and Amethyst have been doing nothing both antagonizing each other. First, Amethyst decided to scare Pearl while they were crossing a river by being a shark jumping out of the water. Isaac hopped that Pearl would've taken the mature route and let it go, but then she 'accidently' kicked some rocks into Amethyst's face as they were climbing up the side of a mountain. A fight almost broke out on a bridge, but Isaac quickly got between the two and broke it up, and then Steven came and had them all brought into a group hug. But from the way that Pearl and Amethyst looked away from each other, Isaac knew it wasn't working.
As Steven was nearing the end of his song as they neared the top of the Sky Spire. Isaac was walking beside him, as Steven was riding on the goat that came along with them for some reason. Steven called it Steven Jr. Pearl was walking in the front, and Amethyst was sent to the back. Isaac was at a limit with their fighting and decided to separate the two from each other.
The group stopped at the edge of a cliff. In front of them was a broken pass leading to the Heaven Beetle's temple. The pass was now reduced to several broken pieces of floating land connecting them.
As Isaac stared out at the sight, Steven was thrown off the Steven Jr., before the goat started jumped across the floating pieces. Reaching the temple and bleating at the Crystal Gems.
"Wait up Steven Jr.!" Steven exclaimed to the goat, and tried to jump. Only to be stopped by Isaac pulling him back.
"Oh no, you don't!" Isaac pulled him away from the edge before letting him go. "You can't make those jumps."
"Oh, you should fuse into Opal, and then lay across the rocks like a bridge!" Steven told the Gems.
Amethyst looked away, and Pearl stated, "We don't need Opal to get across."
"Can you do it anyway?" Steven begged. He then got dropped to his knees and put his hands together. "Pleeease? It would be easier, wouldn't it?"
"No, but I've got another idea." Isaac took off his Taco pack and started digging around in it. They Gems and Steven looked at him with curiosity, as he pulled out the rope and grappling hook. Putting his backpack back on, the son of Onyx threw the hook at one of the floating islands. When it caught on the edge, Isaac used his super strength to pull the land mass over to them. However, it wasn't easy, and it felt like whatever force was keeping it in place was pulling it back against him.
Back Isaac managed to pull the island close to the cliff and hold it in place. "Hurry, get on!" He ushered the others, feeling his feet digging into the ground as he tried planting him firmly.
The Gems and Steven quickly hopped on, before Isaac did as well. No long being pulled away from its original spot, the island moved back with the team on board.
"Brilliant!" Pearl exclaimed with a grin.
"Eh, I try," Isaac said modestly with a shrug. He then threw the grappling hook to another island close to them, and repeated the process. This time, both masses were pulled together.
Amethyst was starting to get bored. "This is taking forever!" She groaned over dramatically with her body bent back. They all stepped onto the next island.
Isaac panted a slightly while collecting the grappling hook and rope. "You got a better plan, Amethyst, I'd love to hear it," he said, getting ready to throw the line to the next island.
"Okay." Amethyst then suddenly picked Isaac up with her surprising strength, making him drop the grappling hook. As he was beginning to yell in protest and to put him down, Steven stared with anticipation and Pearl was freaking out throws.
The purple Gem then threw him towards the next floating platform.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!" Isaac screamed as he was thrown through the air, before landing on his stomach on the small island. Amethyst then jumped on board, looking proud of herself.
"Oh wow, Amethyst, that was a really good idea," Steven praised the purple Gem, while Pearl reacted worriedly.
"Hah, I know, I'm full of 'em," Amethyst bragged.
"Are you out of your goddamn mind?!" Isaac yelled angrily at her, managing to make his frightened hands let go of the floating earth.
"Eh, you'll be fine," Amethyst said dismissively and shrugged. She then grinned mischievously. "Watch." She then picked him up again.
"Don't you dare!"
"Go long!" Amethyst threw him towards another platform.
Only to overshoot it, making Isaac fly over it. Isaac screamed in terror as his momentum slowed and he started to fall. Pearl, Steven, and Amethyst gasped. However, as he fell, Isaac saw that he was getting closer to another platform and saw the plant roots growing out from under it. Reaching out to it, Isaac managed to grab one of the lowest roots that were located at the bottom. Saving himself from death. Pearl, Steven, and Amethyst saw this and were relieved to see their friend was able to save himself.
Pearl panted a little with a hand on her chest, but then she looked at Amethyst and became furious. "DAMN IT, AMETHYST!" The pale Gem yelled at her, cursing for the first time Isaac's know her. "What is wrong with you!?"
"Hey, what are you getting pissy at me for?!" Amethyst yelled back at her, trying to avert blame on herself, even though feeling a little guilty. "I was just trying to help, okay?!"
"You could've killed him!"
"OH, FOR GOD'S SAKE, JUST HELP ME UP! I can't hold on for much longer!" Isaac shouted at them, sounding more angry than scared. Then a loud snap came from the root. He looked up at it, seeing it starting to slowly break away from the land mass. Now he was really scared.
Pearl and Amethyst gasped, before looking at each other. Without thinking, they spurred into action.
Isaac watched with horror as the root continued to pull away, before it finally snapped away.
He screamed as he started falling again, only to be saved by Pearl, who quickly jumped after him with Amethyst's whip wrapped around her. She grabbed the blonde, so Amethyst yanked hard on her wipe. Pulling them back up onto the platform that she and Steven were now on.
After they landed Pearl and Isaac look at one another, before quickly letting go and stood up. "Thanks," Isaac said to them, as Pearl unwrapped the whip from her. He then glared at Amethyst. "And you're dead."
Amethyst chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that," she said, looking away.
"That was so great how you worked together," said Steven praised Pearl and Amethyst "Why don't you do that all the time?"
They both glanced at each other for a moment, before stubbornly looking away.
They didn't use Amethyst's plan anymore. They continued on with Isaac's methods, reaching the Sky Spire quicker with the help of everyone pulling the ropes.
After getting off the last landmass, the group continued the mission. Now at the base of the Spire, they saw that all they had to do was go up yet another long stairway. A spiral light-gray hallway with orange half oval roof tiles traveling around the structure. Isaac and Steven groaned, with both their legs sore from walking and trekking miles of uneven terrain, and the blonde's arm sore from pulling. Why did there have to be stairs?
Even so, they moved on. Marching up the stairs with determination to complete the quest.
Within a few minutes, they reached the top. Isaac was the first to exit out of a dome structure at the top. He looked around to see a shallow pool of water with a single stone pathway that stretch in front of him to the middle of the pool. Looking at where the path led, Isaac was surprised to see a tiny modern house in the middle of the pool. Standing next to it was Steven Jr.
Isaac was about to walk to it when Pearl and Steven came up behind him. Pearl was fine, but Steven was panting and looked like he could get out any minute. "I can't feel my legs anymore," he groaned. But when he looked up and saw the house, he sprung back to his usual self. "Hey, look at that!" He pointed to the house ran over to it. "It's a tiny temple!"
Shaking his head with a smirk, Isaac walked over to join him with Pearl. "It's just where Garnet said it would be," Pearl said. "The Heaven Beetle should be inside." Amethyst was the last to arrive, and was looking most indifferent. Just leaning against the dome structure.
Steven peers inside small temple and laughed. "Check it out, it's even got a little beetle bedroom, and little beetle bongos, and a little beetle baby book."
Wait, what? Isaac got down on his hands and knees and looked through another window. Surprisingly enough, Steven wasn't seeing things! There was a bedroom with everything the boy said. "Holy crap, there's a little beetle PlayStation!" he said with wide eyes.
Pearl gently moved Steven away from the window, he was at, and peered inside too. Examining the inside with Isaac. "But where's the beetle? It's supposed to be here, the heaven beetle wouldn't leave, would it?" Pearl asked worriedly to no one in particular, as she started to panic. "Oh, it could be anywhere!"
Amethyst chuckled. "Maybe you should freak out some more, that's really gonna help us find it," she said sarcastically.
That angered Pearl, and she walked up to her. "I can't believe your attitude, Amethyst. And now you're just slouching over here doing nothing," she berated her.
"Hey, it's not my fault the beetle isn't there. Why do you have to make things worse by being a bitch and squawking at me?!"
Steven ran over to top them. "Oh Jesus!" Isaac groaned and stood up to help. But then stopped when he saw his gemstone started to glow. His eyes widened with anxiousness. "Oh no…"
There was then a shrieking sound. Like a bird of some kind. Steven Jr. began bleating in a panic, as Pearl retorted, "I don't squawk!"
"Guys," Isaac said, looking around anxious summoning his sword.
"Yeah, you're squawking at me and commenting on my posture!" Amethyst shouted, as Steven tried to push them away from each other.
"Guys!"
"THIS is squawking! SQUAWK, SQUAWK!" Pearl yelled at Amethyst.
"GUY!" Isaac finally had enough and yelled at them, getting the three's attention. Just then something crashed out of the small lake behind him. Isaac whipped around and his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. The thing was a giant bird creature with large, broad wings, thin, stick-like legs, and a comparatively small tail. It had brown feathers covering almost all of the body with purple plumage on its chest and belly. The beak was jagged and extended to its forehead and had no eyes.
Before Isaac could do anything, the bird leaned its head down and ate Steven Jr. whole.
"Holy shit!"
Steven gasped with tears in his eyes. "My son…"
The bird flew around and came straight for Isaac. He saw it coming and quickly jumped out of the way, right before he could be swallowed up by the monster. It was moving too fast for him to attack it. Pearl summoned her spear and yelled to the blonde, "Isaac! Get out of there!" She then threw her spear at the bird…
Only for it to swallow that too.
Isaac reacted as it snapped its beak at him, making another pass. He cuts it across the break, but it didn't even cut through it. "In here, Isaac!" Isaac looked to see the Gems and Steven waving to him from inside the small dome room in the spire.
As the bird came around for another pass at him, Isaac booked it and ran for the opening. Behind him the bird was flying right for him. But he was about to make it and jumped away from the room's opening, escaping the bird's beak as it tried to fit into the room.
Isaac sat on the floor near the others, as they all stared at the monster bird's beak snapping at them and roaring. After a while, the bird got out of the entrance and started pecking at the dome. "It swallowed my spear!" Pearl exclaimed in shock.
"What do we do now?!" Isaac exclaimed after getting up. "There's no way we're going to outrun that thing!"
"Guys, this is great!" Steven said with a happy smile. Isaac looked at him as if he was crazy. "Now's the perfect time for you two to form Opal!" Isaac would have been annoyed at him and hit him in the head, but they may need the fusion. If they ran, they were going to be picked off by the bird, and they were sitting ducks in the room. If Opal really was their only way to escape, then they needed her.
As the pecking got louder, Pearl and Amethyst glanced at one another. With grimace expression, they too knew the young boy was right.
Steven and Isaac sat on the sideline to watch as Pearl and Amethyst walked to the center of the room. First, they bowed to each other, making their gems glow. Pearl started first, moving with grace and beauty. She opened one of her closed eyes to look at Amethyst.
The purple Gem's dancing was anything but graceful. Moving more sexually and vulgarly.
Pearl groaned in annoyance, but continued with the fusion dance. The two Gems moved towards each other, completely out synch and style with each other. Amethyst then grabbed Pearl's arm and pulled to down in a pose. However, it only resulted in getting hit in the face by one of Pearl's arms, while Pearl's head hit the ground.
Isaac and Steven watched as their bodies turned into bright and started to fuse with each other. Their bodies molding and becoming one being. However, not even half way through, they form became unstable, before they were forced apart.
Landing on the ground with loud thuds. Amethyst was the first to sit up and rhetorically said, "So you wanna try that again? With less hitting me in the face this time?"
"Well, it would have worked if your movements weren't so erratic and formless," Pearl shot back at her.
Amethyst got offended and marched over to Pearl. "So it's all my fault? Ho ho, you totally weren't even trying to sync with my dancing. You should know how I dance by now!" Pearl pushed Amethyst, and the two got ready to fight.
However, before they could get started throwing punches, Isaac came over and yelled loud at them. "Alright, both of you, SHUT THE HELL UP!" There was a pause as everyone looked at him in surprise. Isaac didn't care. He was done with all this. "Alright, this is bullshit! This whole fucking time we've been here, Steven's been nothing but a nuisance, but I can deal with that. But the two of you have been arguing and getting at each other's throats! Even now of all time! Look, I don't care what it takes, but the two of you have got to get your shit sorted out. Because if you don't, we're all going to DIE!"
Just then, the giant bird broke through the roof and swallowed Isaac whole. The Gems and Steven watched in horror as the bird brought its head out of the building and swallowed him whole.
"ISAAC!" Steven, Amethyst and Pearl screamed.
Inside of the bird, Isaac landed on his stomach, before the bird's moment caused him to be sent rolling into the side of stomach's wall. Crashing into a pile of animal bones. "Ow!" He yelled and looked around the stomach. The inside of the bird was littered with junk and the bones of the dead. The interior walls were encrusted with gemstones that were encased by bubbles.
Slimy from getting swallowed, he looked around, before finding Steven Jr. chewing on something while on top of a pile of junk.
Isaac sighed happily. He didn't want to see a cute animal getting killed. After a moment to question himself for thinking the goat was cute, Isaac walked over to him. "Well, at least you're alive," he said. Steven Jr. just kept chewing. However, when Isaac looked at the thing he was eating, he leaned closer to it. "Wait…"
To Isaac's surprise, it was an insect that resembled a Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle. Its femurs were light-green, and the lower half of its legs were pine-green. The body was mostly yellow, but was topped with a turquoise-colored gemstone surrounded by a white clover-shaped marking. There was also a white horn, white antlers, and light green eyes.
"The Heaven Beetle!?" Isaac exclaimed. He couldn't believe it was still alive, but he had to get it away from Steven Jr. "Let me see that." Isaac grabbed the beetle and tried to pull it away, but the goat was refusing to let it go, and started pulling back. "Hey, cut it out! Be a good goat and give me the magic bug!" He managed to get the beetle away, which caused him to fall back on his butt. Isaac sighed in relief, and looked at the beetle. As it crawled around in his hand, Isaac smiled and rubbed its back with a finger. "Well, aren't you a cute little guy."
The moment with the beetle was ruined when Steven Jr. came over and tried to get at the beetle. "Hey! No! No." Isaac pushed the goat away with one hand, while holding the beetle up and away with the other. "This isn't for eating, your stupid goat!"
Suddenly a giant arm punched into the stomach.
"SON OF A BITCH!" Isaac yelled in shock and with wide eyes as Steven Jr. bleated in fear. The hand started to feel around, making Isaac crawl away from the arm. Then another arm burst out from the stomach's floor, grabbing Steven Jr. and making the goat bleat loud. He was pulled through the floor. "What the hell is going on!?"
He was then grabbed by the first arm. "Whoa!" Isaac yelled as he was pulled into the stomach too.
Popping out to the outside, Isaac was held in close by the person that pulled him out. Along with Steven Jr. in hand, the giant figure jumped away from the bird, as its main form was getting destroyed and turned into dozens of small pieces.
The person landed on the water while holding Isaac and Steven Jr., which they put down, before grabbing someone else. Isaac opened his eyes and saw that the person they picked up was Steven, who was staring at whoever was holding him in wonder.
"Opal," he asked. Isaac looked up, and was astonished too. It really was her.
Just like Steven sank about, Opal was a giant woman that was a combination of Pearl and Amethyst. With periwinkle skin, and thick, wavy, off-white hair that extended slightly past her calves, and was tied back into a rowdy ponytail by a pale salmon band. Extending from off the sides of the ponytail were two small pigtails in the front tied by pale yellow ties and chin-length bangs, which resemble Pearl's. Opal had a lean, toned body with two pairs of slender arms, with a face that was thin and rounded, inheriting Pearl's pointed nose and Amethyst's plump lips. She also had two gemstones in the same places where the two's gemstones were. Her outfit consists of fuchsia, knee-length leggings with pale-violet cuffs rolled up, and yellow flat boots.
Opal looked up at the piece of the bird while blinking. Those pieces were floating in the air, before turning into bright light. Those pieces now turned into the smaller versions of the creature. Consisting of the head, beak, and wings.
Those creatures started attacking Opal. But the giant woman was able to avoid the attacks by back flipping away from them, as the birds stabbed into the water. She continued flipping, before leaping and sliding down the spire.
Opal then jumped across the platforms, and landed safely on the main spire. She then put Isaac and Steven down, and stepped forward.
"Stay low," she said in a low, but gentle voice. Isaac and Steven followed her command and watched as she pulled out Pearl's spear and Amethyst's whip. She crossed the weapons, and then in a flash of light, they combined and turned into an opalescent recurve bow. Pearl's weapon formed the limbs of the bow while the lash and handle of Amethyst's whip became the string and grip, respectively.
The birds were coming towards them. Hold the bow with her left hands, Opal used her right hand to grab the string with her fingers. She slowly pulled it back, causing an arrow made of energy to be summoned.
As the birds got closer, she released the bow and let the arrow fly.
When the arrow was in the middle of the flock, it exploded in a flash of bright light. The birds were all then impaled by smaller arrows that came from the one big arrow.
Isaac and Steven stared at her back with jaws dropped and stars in their eyes. Watching the birds' forms destroyed and poofed away. After they were all gone, Opal turned back to the two humans and walked over to them. She then offered one of her hands to both of them. Steven took his offered hand, and she pulled him up easily. Isaac did the same and was pulled up easily. "Uh... do you... know who I am?" Steven asked nervously. "Who…we are?"
Opal stared down at them for a moment, before chuckling and started singing. "All you wanna do, is see me turn into—"
Steven gasped. "A giant woman!"
"Yay," Isaac said in a dry tone. "Can we please go home? I've had enough for one day." The other two agreed and they started walking back to the Warp Pad.
At the beach house, Garnet had already returned. She was now drying her hair after her journey through the lava. Her attention was then caught by the Warp Pad activating.
After the light went away, Opal, Isaac and Steven appeared on it. "We're back!" the young boy exclaimed happily. Opal just stood behind them in a slight pose.
Garnet walked up to them. "The Heaven Beetle."
Opal gasped. "I don't have it," she said, having completely forgotten that's the whole reason they went on the mission in the first place. Opal's body then glowed brightly and transformed back into Amethyst and Pearl. Sending the two Gems fly to the ground away from each other.
Pearl sat up and was quick to accuse the short Gem. "Amethyst, you got distracted!"
"Hey, you were the one getting carried away with all those fancy backflips!" Amethyst argued back at her.
"Guys! It's okay!" Isaac yelled, getting them to look at him. Isaac reached into his breast pocket and took out the Heaven Beetle. "I've got it."
Garnet walked over to the blonde with a small plastic clear container for keeping bugs. Isaac walked over and saw the Earth Beetle was already in it, so he gently dropped the Heaven Beetle inside, landing on his feet. "Good job, Isaac," she said and bubbled the container. "I also see you helped your teammates fuse."
Amethyst and Pearl stared in surprise at each other. "And all we had to do was to have Isaac get eaten by a bird," Steven said with a joyful tone.
Isaac grumbled. "Glad to help."
"Nice work, you two will be great at fusing one day," Garnet said and walked off.
"Yeah…" Isaac nodded, before snapping his closed eyes open. "Wait, we can do that too?!"
AN: And that's Act One: Chapter 8 of "Gem of War." Sorry it took so long to get back to this story, but I'll be updating this and two other stories along with this one.
Sorry I skipped over some of the episodes, but I just didn't really think they added anything to Isaac's or Onyx's story.
And if you want to know more about Onyx and her backstory, then I recommend reading "The Reason". It's not a long read, but it'll give you enough to know who Onyx is and an idea why she never wanted for Isaac to know about her past.
Spoiler, it's not a very happy tale.
Thank you very much for reading. "Gem of War" will return. Please be sure to Favorite and Follow if you like the story, and also Review it. If you any questions or discussions you'd have for me, then please in a Review or a PM me.
Thank you for reading, may God bless you, and have a wonderful day.