Chapter 16: Campfire Origins Part 5: The "Perfect" Quartz from the Beta Kindergarten!
The room was intensely silent as Lincoln and the others stared at Jasper as they immediately prepared themselves for what the orange Quartz was planning to do. If they let their guard down for even a millisecond, Jasper would seized that opportunity to take any one of them out.
Lincoln would be the most likely target since he managed to win against her in their life or death fight that nearly tore the ship they were being held captive in apart. Not only that but she's develop a bit of a distrust for him and his friends since they met on that rocket.
Globgor would also be a target since he helped Lincoln beat Jasper in their first fight.
Dan would also be a target for her since he set her off which caused her to nearly to kill him, Chris, Lincoln and everyone else during that time.
The silence was soon broken by Globgor, who growled a bit in anger.
"Jasper, why are you here?!"
Before Jasper could say anything, the door opened up again as Holly Blue and Emerald entered the room in a frantic manner.
"Leave Jasper!" Holly demanded. "Our Diamond's not interested in listening to a chunk of Earth like you!"
"You guys too?" Lincoln asked.
"Our apologies, my Diamond?" Emerald said as she saluted him Diamond style. "She tore through us to get to you. I'm surprised she she can do this in her condition."
Remembering that she was cracked brought Lincoln out of his 'do or die' mentality a little bit. "I-It's fine." He turned to the elephant in the room. "But that doesn't explain the one thing that needs to be explain: Why are you here?"
"H-e-e-a-a-l m-e, r-u-n-t!" Jasper said as her physical form began to glitch out.
"Heal you?! Why in the world would I heal someone who tried to kill me recently?" Lincoln asked in shock and disbelief.
"Yeah," Sara joined in with her piece of anger and distrust at her attempted murderer. "You've tried to kill all of us ever since you came out of that bubble!"
"Sara's right!" Globgor said, his anger taking over a bit. "I may be wrong to say this, but everything you've done, I think you deserve to stay like that!"
"So how will we know that you won't try to kill us if Lincoln does heal you?!" Dan angrily asked the question that needed to be asked.
Jasper waited for everyone to get their anger at her misdeeds towards them before she spoke again.
"I k-n-ow t-h-a-t y-o-u a-l-l d-o-n-'-t t-r-u-s-t m-e a-n-d- I d-o n-o-t b-l-a-m-e y-o-u." She stated a bit glitchy. "B-u-t y-o-u k-n-o-w a-s w-e-l-l a-s I d-o t-h-a-t I a-m N-O-T y-o-u-r e-n-e-m-y, Z-i-n-g i-s!" She reminded them before she looked at Lincoln for what she said next. "I-t-'-s l-i-k-e y-o-u s-a-i-d r-u-n-t, t-h-e e-n-e-m-y o-f m-y e-n-e-m-y i-s m-y f-r-i-e-n-d!" She stated throwing the meaning that the white haired boy said to her earlier before their deathmatch began back into his face as it shocked him that she remembered that. "A-n-d a-s m-u-c-h a-s I h-a-t-e w-i-t-h a b-u-r-n-i-n-g p-a-s-s-i-o-n t-o a-d-m-i-t i-t, I w-a-n-t t-o g-e-t o-u-t o-f h-e-r-e t-o-o, s-o e-v-e-n t-h-o-u-g-h I s-t-i-l-l d-i-s-t-r-u-s-t y-o-u a-l-l. I d-o-n-'-t h-a-v-e m-u-c-h o-f a c-h-o-i-c-e b-u-t w-o-r-k a-l-o-n-g-s-i-d-e y-o-u b-u-n-c-h o-f w-e-a-k-l-i-n-g-s i-n o-r-d-e-r t-o d-o t-h-a-t."
Lincoln looked at the others before turning back to Jasper. "Give us a minute. Emerald, Holly, watch Jasper."
"Yes, our Diamond!" The two gems said in unison.
"Okay, all of you huddle up." Lincoln commanded as the group all huddle together in a circle like the ones you see football teams do when their coaches are trying to come up with a game plan. "Okay, so what do you guys think?"
"I don't think we can trust her, dude." Milo said.
"I'm with Milo, for all we know she could be trying to lead us (and you as well) into a trap." Dan said.
"But she is right about one thing." Chris said as all eyes were now on him. "If we're going to escape from here, we're going to need Jasper's help."
"But the choice is yours, Lincoln." Eclipsa said to the man with the plan.
"Whether you heal her or not is up to you." Bridgette said to the exiled Loud.
And we won't judge on whatever choice you make." Globgor told the boy.
Lincoln thought about this for a moment... on one hand, having Jasper on their side would be beneficial as not only would they have another powerhouse to back them up in a fight, not only that but she could teach him and his comrades about some war tactics that she knows about aside from just fighting your heart out since Lincoln was only using tactics he learned from his ex sisters during his fight with the Xenomorph Queen and his life or death struggle against Jasper herself.
But on the other hand, Jasper's indifference toward him and his friends since they met each other on that rocket they were on and the fact that despite the fact that they outnumbered her, she was still capable of holding her own (at least for a while) despite the disadvantage she had. Then factor in the distrust that Lincoln still had for the Quartz despite barely managing to beat her in their fight and consider the fact that she could turn on them at anytime just get ahead with some dirty tricks didn't exactly help.
Giving out a sigh of indifference, he thought to himself. "I'm gonna have a looot of mixed feelings about this in the morning."
He then gave his answer as he then broke the huddle and turned back to Jasper as everyone repointed their weapons at her. "Alright Jasper, I'll heal you but if you so much as even think about attacking me or any of us. You're going down!"
Jasper said nothing but growled as she knelt down to his puny level as the boy placed a hand on the Quartz's gem.
After a second or two of anticipation, a white aura manifested over the crack on Jasper's gem, healing it at a slow but steady pace starting from the bottom of the crack and began to seal the gap between the two sides up.
After a few seconds, the crack was at last sealed as Lincoln took his hand off Jasper's face and took two steps back away from her.
Jasper summoned her helmet, making Lincoln think that she was going to attack him and everyone got ready... only for Jasper to make it vanish before their eyes. She then surprised them all by sitting down in a crisscross style before she spoke. "Alright, I'll say this once so I don't have to repeat myself so listen carefully, I don't like any of you because you haven't earn my respect by winning against me in battle, only the white haired runt has, so if you want my respect you'll have to beat me in battle. And it's fine that you all don't trust me either, I don't really care that you do or not." She said as they all nodded in understanding. She then continued. "But for now, I'm willing to work alongside you because of these stupid collars we have." She said, gesturing at the collar she has on. "And the fact that we have a common enemy, the emperor himself."
Jasper then looked back at Lincoln. "So, Man with the Plan, what's your plan for getting us out of here?"
Lincoln surprised that Jasper knew what he called himself, but he wasn't going to spill his guts to her... not now anyway. "Hold on Jasper, I'm not telling you a thing. Not until you tell us your story."
"About what, how I fought for my entire life?" Jasper asked in annoyance.
"Actually of how you got here. But your origins are fine as well." Lincoln said.
Jasper sigh as she began. "It was 5,300 years ago when I first emerged from the Beta Kindergarten, a horribly rushed and underdeveloped site to produced Gems during the war Pink Diamond started, I'm sure Ruby told you that." They nodded as she continued. "And I was the only perfect gem out that wasted mess of a Kindergarten." She stated angrily. "I shattered 80 Crystal Gems during that day. After Pink faked her shattering, I grew to despise her, Rose Quartz, Earth and everything revolving around her for the next six thousand years until I found out it was all a big lie." She growled, clutching at her appearance modifier in a tight manner as she continued. "As for how I got here, it all started on a typical Earth day..."
"I was outside my cave, training to help my mind get off of everything that's happened since I was uncorrupted." Jasper stated as she began to reveal everything that's to her that got her here.
Jasper was punching a boulder to pieces as the rock exploded from the force of her punch.
"Stupid Pink Diamond, making us fight one another and forcing a weak human to carry on her gem's legacy of lies and manipulation!" She said as she then punched a tree into the stratosphere.
"All for nothing war!" She stated as she took a downed tree and chucked it at through a multitude of other trees.
"Worthless Crystal Gems!" She stated as she began to spin dash through a series of boulders.
"I knew that even if there was no war to fight, I knew that was always someone to fight, even if there was no one worthy of fighting now." The quartz stated as she continued to recall what happened. "However, I was so immersed into training that I was attacked out of nowhere..."
Jasper heard the sound of rustling behind her as she turned towards the direction, she immediately hit square in the face and sent flying backwards by a red and purple gauntlet. Looking up at her assaulter, she saw that it was Garnet, the current Crystal Gem leader.
"Oh, it's you..." The orange quartz said with instant disdain in her tone.
"By that forbidden fusion." Jasper narrated.
"Nice to see you again too Jasper, I'm here to tell that..."
Jasper didn't give her the chance to finish what she was saying as she lunged towards her with her fist reared back... only for Garnet to instantly jumped back and avoid it.
"I don't care what you're reason is, you have no right to confront me like this!" Jasper said angrily as she then managed to grabbed a hold of the fusion's neck the moment she looked up and pinned her to a tree behind her. The quartz then attempted to punched her fused challenger, only for Garnet to grab a hold of it and locked both off their fingers together.
Jasper then summoned her helmet and attempted to ran it into her opponent's face, only for Garnet to use her other hand to grab onto it and stop it but just barely. The two remained in a strength struggle for a few minutes as the ground beneath them cracked beneath the pressure of the two powerhouses.
"Did those runts put you up to this?" Jasper asked with a growl.
"Steven, Amethyst and Peridot don't know about this." Garnet said as she finally managed to pushed Jasper back.
Suddenly, Jasper heard something behind her. Having no time to turn around, she immediately backhanded the person who would dare strike her with no honor.
"The next gem that tried to attack me was Pink's Diamond Pearl." Jasper narrated as her past self glared at her former Diamond's servant turned warrior with hatred in her golden eyes.
"So this is a coordinated attack, huh?" Jasper said, annoyed. "Typical, you Crystal Gems and your reliance on each other makes me sick to my core!"
"At least we have each other!" Pearl said as she summoned her trident out of her gem before firing what seemed to be invisible lasers at the Quartz, who put her guard just in case she needed to defend herself.
After a few seconds, Pearl suddenly stopped her attack, much to Jasper's confusion.
She shook off her confusion and a step forward...
When she did, the ground beneath her exploded as she fell into a hole filled with what appears to be sticky water but it wasn't it was same the same adhesive that the Robobnoids used to repair wrap pads. It was some sticky stuff to get off. How they managed to get their touch stumps on this much of it was the least of the Quartz's worries.
She tried to move but despite her strength, she found that couldn't.
"What is this?" Jasper said in shock and surprise.
"It was a trap that we created for you." said a new voice.
"I knew that voice anywhere." Jasper narrated with a hint of disdain in her voice. "It was the water user, Lapis Lazuli."
The quartz looked up from the hole in anger at the three attackers as she began to rage against her entrapment. "When I get out of here, I'll make sure the three of you pay for this!"
'You won't be able to do that where you're going, Jasper." Garnet said as she enlarged her gauntlets.
"And more importantly, you'll be away from Steven and everyone else!" Lapis said as manipulated the water to freeze her foe in place.
"You'll finally achieve you loneliness like you want." Pearl said, pointing her trident at the the Quartz soldier.
Pearl fired a series of lasers that surrounded Jasper, which detonated upon contact with space glue.
Garnet jumped down and slammed her fists down on the trapped Jasper, causing her to poof into her gem.
"And that's what happened, I'm pretty sure you know the rest." Jasper concluded her tale.
"Geez, talk about extreme precaution." Dan snarked, returning his arm back to it's normal human state.
"Emphasis on the extreme!" Chris said, turning back to normal.
Jasper ignored that comments and looked straight at Lincoln. "Well, you gonna tell me your plan or what?"
Lincoln narrowed his eyes at the quartz for a bit before responding. "Fine, but I hope this doesn't come back to bite me later."
To be continued...
Isn't this a shocking turning events?!
Not only has Jasper agreed to join the the Exiles (for now) but she also agree work with them to help them escape!
Speaking of Jasper, can Lincoln and the others trust her?
And even if they do, will it be enough to escape from Zing's grasp?
And what about Roger? Will Exiles be able to rescue him as well?
Find out next time on "The Exiles"!