Unity Hospital: Day…
Michael sat by his daughter's bedside as the TV was turned to the news channel, one of many reporters were on scene. "…I'm coming to you from what remains of Ramos Industries after an explosion earlier today. As you can see, firefighters have gotten the situation under control.
The World Government is also on scene, though they have not made a comment. From what eye witness reports we have; the collapsing building was suspended for a short time. Couple that with the fact there are no casualties, and we are left with many unanswered questions…"
"Michael." Tye stated from the doorway, causing him to mute the TV. "I know you must be going through a lot; however, I am hoping to have a word."
"Right." Michael nodded. "What do you want?"
"Eye witness reports say the building glowed black and was suspended mid-collapse." Tye informed. "To my knowledge, no tech we have, nor your late wife's ship, should be able to do that. That leads me to believe this was a power Zara inherited."
"Jet wasn't keen on sharing her past, and I didn't ask." Michael began. "As such, I didn't learn anything near what your people found, or Jason has learned from the Crystal Gems. What she did tell me are things our child might inherit. Jet always called herself an Era 2 gem.
Said she lacked a lot of things older gems were granted. She had an enhanced condition, non-senescence, regeneration, and gravity shifting. She lacked bubbling, shapeshifting, and weapon summoning. She said there were older gems who couldn't summon a weapon either.
She also lacked gem storage and photokinesis. The last thing was a unique ability, typically something associated with the gem line. One day, it was revealed she had kinetic absorption. It only works on inanimate objects, no gems or organics."
"Hence Zara keeping the building up yet being unable to quell the flames." Tye reasoned. "Given the sheer size of the building, it explains what happened with her body."
When they got Zara out, there were punctured holes throughout her body; however, said holes came from within rather than being caused externally. It was so bad she was put into a medically induced coma and operated on. Now, she was wrapped head to toe in bandages.
"I'm sorry to have bothered you with this, but Leader Kellan must be informed of all aspects tied to this unfortunate situation." Tye voiced genuinely. "I'll get out of your hair and send men in a few days to see what more you can provide."
Tye turned to leave, but Michael stood up looking rather firm. "Before you go, who was responsible for this? Who attacked the company I put my all into, the men who've stood by me, and most of all, my family? Who was it?"
"At this time, it is inconclusive." Tye didn't look at her. "That said, attacking the world's leader in technology is a crime no individual or minor group would try. Truthfully, there could be traitors within the World Government, or it's Humanity's Defense deciding to move against us."
"Why would you insinuate anyone within the World Government has anything to do with this?" Michael asked, genuinely confused. "Wouldn't it serve you better to turn my attention on Humanity's Defense fully?"
"Michael, despite how rocky your past is with the World Government, I can't afford anything that will drive away people I trust." Tye sighed. "We're facing enemies on two fronts, foreign and domestic, at a time when humanity should be united against the greater threat.
All I can do is my best to hold onto the allies I have." He looked back. "That's why I will get to the bottom of this. If anyone within the World Government had anything to do with this, they will be punished. If this is Humanity's Defense, then it will be one more thing they'll pay for."
"I see." Michael nodded without showing his true appreciation. "In the name of finding the truth, I can give you a list of people who have earned my trust. They can help."
"Send that list to me, and I'll add them to the people I already have looking into this." Tye walked out of the room. "Whoever did this today started a war they will not win."
Beach House
Peridot cleared her throat. "As it seems I have no other options, I have conceded to reveal some important information to you Crystal Gems."
She snapped her fingers, giving Steven his cue. He shuffled into view wearing a cardboard box which only left his legs sticking out from the bottom. On the front towards the group was a crudely drawn picture of the Earth.
Peridot brought up her flyswatter. "This is the Earth. At the very center of the planet's core lies the Cluster! Rotate." Steven turned to the side, revealing a bunch of colorful scratches. "This is the Cluster. A massive, artificial fusion composed of millions of gem shards."
Lapis had her arms crossed. "You expect anyone to believe you?"
"Lapis Lazuli, I have spent all my time on this planet trying to get off it." Peridot retorted. "Unlike you, I do not have a built-in way off. If you really don't want to hear me talk about this, then take me off planet. Anywhere, not even Homeworld, would work better than this planet."
"Lapis." Jason stated gently. "I get Peridot is a sore subject for you, but she literally has no reason to be civil with any of us. If you don't even want to be on the same planet as her, I understand, but I must see this through."
Lapis knew she couldn't abandon Earth, even though she was capable. The Gems of the Crystal Gems were better than she gave them credit for, Steven was her summer fun buddy, the earth was a beautiful place, and Jason.
Without him, the decision might be more conflicting. The water gem didn't think she'd be certain of herself, and maybe she would have left right now. With him thrown into the mix, his pure determination to protect Earth meant she wouldn't be going anywhere.
Lapis sighed before smiling at him. "If you believe there's a chance this Cluster exists, then I will to." She looked at the green gem. "Still don't trust her though."
"That's fine." Jason stated.
"If you need more confirmation, I don't see a future where the Cluster doesn't exist." Garnet voiced.
That did make the water gem feel a bit better.
"If you are done, we have a dormant, thousands of years old gem waiting to take form under the surface of Earth." Peridot declared frustrated. "Now!" She hit the box, causing Steven to send a green, snake-like puppet through it. "What is that!?"
"It's the Cluster." Steven declared through the sock puppet.
Peridot simply slapped the puppet with her swatter. "It does not look like that!" She turned to the others. "But it is real, and it can activate at any moment."
"What a cluster." Amethyst stated.
"That abomination must be stopped." Garnet declared.
"But how?" Pearl questioned. "We'll need to build some sort of machine to take us to the center of the Earth. It'll have to…"
"Hey!" Peridot almost swatted Pearl for interrupting her. "I wasn't finished speaking! What we need is to build some sort of machine to take us to the center of the Earth. It'll need to withstand up to 360 gigapascals of pressure and temperatures of 9800 degrees."
While she explained, Amethyst smiled at Pearl for getting cut off, but she glared back at the purple gem making her look back at Peridot.
"We mustn't waste time." Pearl stated. "We need to start finding parts for this machine immediately." She turned to Jason. "Would the World Army lend a hand?"
"As far as I know, they weren't developing many drills to the center of the planet, but they do have the technology to at least drill into the planet." Jason admitted. "They should also have the materials for it; however, I don't know if we should go throwing all our eggs into one basket.
We'd be best served by contacting the World Army to make their own drill. We can make ours from materials in Steven's family's barn and anything I've collected since coming here. This way we have a backup plan just in case we fail."
"Sounds valid to me." Garnet stated.
Recap of the Past Two Weeks
As the group, Lapis included since she wouldn't leave Jason with Peridot, prepared to set off, Jason was filled in on what he and Lapis had missed. Steven got a better understanding of Onion. Then, there was a play Pearl helped due to her extensive knowledge of the town's history.
Next, Steven and Connie dealt with some fusion monsters at the hospital. Steven also tried to help Sadie sing for Beach-a-Palooza, but things didn't go as planned. Finally, he learned how they captured Peridot and what led to her eventually helping them.
After poofing and sending her to the lava room, Steven was curious about what Peridot said. He released her. After some confusion about her not knowing how the earth works, Steven earned her trust and ended up taking Peridot to the Prime Kindergarten.
The green gem managed to find just enough stuff, still there, to reconstruct a temporary screen. She showed the boy what the Cluster was, but for her to get to this point, the gems had to save her from some fusion monsters.
Present
"Hang on Jason." Amethyst grabbed the soldier's wrist to prevent him from leaving with the rest. "You guys go on because I have to talk to him about something."
"What!? Now!?" Peridot exclaimed. "We don't have time for…"
"See ya." Garnet simply stated, picking Peridot up and leaving with Pearl, Steven, and Lapis.
Once they were gone, Jason turned to the purple gem. "Alright, what'd you need Amethyst?"
"Hold on a sec!" She called back, rushing into her room.
Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long because Amethyst came out holding something which the soldier recognized. "Amethyst, these are…?"
"Yep!" Amethyst declared. "Peridot's full set of limb enhancers. Steven came around asking for her leg, but I just played dumb. Didn't want him giving it to Peridot, and everything seemed to work out with them anyways."
"This is perfect!" Jason declared. "Why do you have these? I'd have figured you guys would have trashed them, so she wouldn't get the chance to use them."
"I figured if you were here, you would have stopped us from throwing away or breaking them. So, I decided to hold onto them for your return." She looked at the pile in his arms. "Can you do something with them?"
Jason recalled everything he'd seen Peridot do with these. "Fighting, escaping, the transparent terminal, blasters, stun arcs, helicopter transformation, and the ability to scale walls. I can couple all of that with the fact that this looks durable." He smiled. "I believe I can."
That would have to wait for later since there were more pressing matters to attend to. Jason dropped the limb enhancers off at his place. While there, he called to his father and filled him in on everything.
"…To summarize, there's a Cluster, comprised of countless gem shards, underneath the surface of Earth, and it'll end up decimating everything should it wake." Tye stated.
"Yeah." Jason stated. "We'll be working with Peridot to come up with a drill that can get us down there. In the meantime, you should do the same."
"Two fronts." Tye stated. "That's practical, and I assure you we're going to get on it."
Barn
"All right." Pearl declared. "What we have here in the barn should be adequate for us to get started. First, I recommend we organize the component types and assemble a rough blueprint based off what we have."
She concocted a plan as they walked over to the chalkboard. "Sorry Steven, it's a lovely drawing, but it won't look like this." Peridot picked up a piece of chalk and examined it. "And if there is something we need but don't have, Jason should be able to procure it."
"Of course." Jason voiced.
"Good, this is adequate." Peridot gave the chalk to Pearl. "Thank you." She shooed Pearl off. "You can go now."
"Uh, what?" Pearl asked confused.
"Um, that will be all?" Peridot tried to shoo off Pearl again before leaning over to the hybrids. "How do you get her to leave?"
"Excuse me, I am not leaving." Pearl declared firmly.
"Yeah! She's got to stay and help us build the drill, right?" Steven asked.
"No, you're confused." Peridot laughed. "A pearl can't build a thing like this."
"Why not?" Steven asked.
"Because pearls aren't for this. They're for standing around, looking nice, and holding your stuff for you." Peridot explained while Pearl pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.
"That's enough!" She exclaimed. "If we're going to work together, you're going to have to listen to me."
"Listen to you?" Peridot mocked before looking at the hybrids. "Did you teach her to talk like this?"
"What are you talking about?" Steven asked.
"She's a pearl." Peridot declared, as though it was the most obvious truth in the world. "She's a made-to-order servant, like the hundreds of other pearls being flaunted around back on Homeworld."
"What you're talking about sounds like slavery." Jason was disgusted by the idea. "That's an idea Earth used hundreds of years ago to my knowledge, but people generally came around to concluding it was a barbaric practice. In your words, it's archaic."
"Sounds more like humanity lost sight of how useful a practice it was." Peridot commented before looking at the white gem. "So, who do you belong to anyways?"
"Nobody!" Pearl exclaimed.
Peridot scoffed. "Then, what are you for?" Pearl recoiled at the question. "Well, you can belong to me for now. Heh, A peridot with a pearl. What would they say back home?"
"Listen here, you tiny twerp!" Pearl shouted angrily at the disrespect. "In case you've forgotten, you're on our turf now. I didn't fight a war for this planet's independence to take orders from the likes of you!"
"Excuse me?" Peridot questioned. "I am a natural technician and certified Kindergartener. I was made for this while you were made to take orders, not to give them!"
"Careful you two." Jason got between them. "We still need to build the drill, so can't you just try listening to each other?"
"No!" The two gems yelled.
"I'm as good at building things as you." Pearl declared firmly. "Better, even!"
"Name one thing you can engineer better! Go on!" Peridot returned.
"Robots." Steven muttered, getting their attention. "You should build robots. Giant robots! I see a race. A giant, robo-race! With prizes! Giant robo-prizes!"
"You mean like a competition?" Pearl asked.
"Yeah!" Steven exclaimed. "To see who's better at building stuff!"
"What are these robots you speak of?" Peridot asked.
"You would ask a question like that?" Jason asked incredulously. "What about your robonoids? Those are robots."
"Except giant robots are bigger, and you can ride them!" Steven added.
He then stiffened his body and proceeded to do some robot movements with sounds.
"Building one of these robots will be easy!" Peridot boasts.
"Well, I can build one faster!" Pearl shouted before rushing into the barn.
"That's what you think!" Peridot joined her.
"I'm not surprised it came to this." Jason commented plainly.
Not even a minute passed before the soldier heard footsteps. He turned to see Garnet, Lapis, and Amethyst walking towards them.
"Yo, Steven and Jason." Amethyst greeted. "How are the wonder nerds doing?"
Lapis spoke up. "Well, to me it looks like their building the drill."
"No, we're building robots now." Steven answered. not looking away from the building.
Amethyst looked confused while Garnet looked at the older hybrid. "Explain."
"They're challenging each other's building intelligence, so they're building robots to see who's better." Jason replied.
Not even a moment later, a large mass moved out from inside the barn. It was a giant, tall robot with a big body, cone on the front, and long, lanky legs. The feet were tires, making the machine move seamlessly with speed and ease.
The robot spun around in a very graceful set of moves before coming to a stop, and its pilot stood up. As obvious as it was, Pearl was the one who stood tall in her robot mech and donned her space suit from when Steven and she tried to go to space.
"GIANT ROBOT!" Steven declared in awe.
"Pathetic." Peridot came out in a tiny, green robot which was shorter and beefier than Pearl's. "Behold, my vision of ultimate power!" She started thrusting her large, clawed appendages into the air before noticing Pearl. "Hey!"
"Mine's taller." Pearl happily declared. "I win."
"I think I really need to start applying my own knowledge." Jason was genuinely impressed. "I mean, I don't think I could do something this fast, but halving the time it takes me to build anything would be worthwhile. Trying my hands at robots could be cool to."
Since meeting the gems, and after admitting he hadn't really partaken in many forms of media, Steven made it his mission to introduce the soldier to everything he could. Thinking back on that, giant robots were certainly an idea.
Later…
"Gentle-gems and -man, welcome to the first annual Robolympics!" Steven declared.
"Woo!"
"Popcorn!"
Garnet and Amethyst were certainly enthused while Lapis was interested in observing.
"This competition will test our robo-engineers' skills of robo-construction and robo-piloting." Steven continued. "Whoever wins will get to oversee building the drill. Let the games begin!"
As the day progressed, Pearl and Peridot competed with the various aspects of their machines. Balance: Pearl. Crushing: Peridot. Grace: Pearl. Jumping: Peridot. Speed: Trees since both crashed into it. Then, Steven had them go through various other categories.
Ballet, art, rock-paper-scissors, jumping jacks, tug-of-war, projectile strength, and so on. Steven declared art inconclusive since it is subjective. Ultimately, it came to the final test with both pilots' dead even. The winner would be decided by tossing trucks.
"Alright guys, this is the final event!" Steven announced.
"You got this, P!" Amethyst cheered.
"Take that Homeworld gem down." Lapis declared.
"Get it, girl!" Garnet too.
"Show her who's boss!" Jason cheered.
Pearl looked back at the four of them with a smirk while Peridot was frowning at not getting some herself.
"Ready. Set. Chuck!" Steven declared.
Both robots dashed forward, grabbed their trucks, and tossed them far off into the mountainous area. Everyone not in a robot shared a look.
"You both get a point on that one." The group then moved back to the board where Steven tallied the points. "Looks like our final score is...a tie!" He officially declared. "Welp, that settles it. You both get to lead the project together!"
"No! This isn't over!" Peridot complained. "I demand we have a tiebreaker!"
"Just give a rest." Pearl voiced exasperated, her robot animating her movements. "We're wasting time. We tied, so let's move on."
As Pearl began to pilot her robot away, Peridot reached out with her robot's claws to stop her. "No! You're a pearl! That's what you are and what you always should be! I'll always be better than you, and nothing I've seen today changes that!"
Pearl looked angrily at the green gem. "Well, have you ever seen a pearl do this!?"
She brought up her robot's foot up and used it to kick Peridot's, sending her flying. Jason gaped, Lapis was wide eyed, Steven and Garnet gasped, and Amethyst dropped her popcorn.
"So, you want to fight!?" Peridot challenged, getting up. "Good. We should've done this from the beginning!"
dindagangleader14: I don't know, it just didn't seem that funny.
Cosmodestroyer: Look, if you have any story ideas, I'm willing to at least hear them out.