"I think we should all take a step back and calm down." he said, looking at the unscripted fear streaked across the faces of the other gems.
The room was silent, yet tension crackled in the air. Panic was bubbling under the seams and it was catching on like a viral infection.
Steven, knowing that this would only cause more chaos amongst the gems tried his best to settle everyone down.
"I don't really know what to say but; what we do all agree on is that this we can't allow this to happen. Bringing back Pink Diamond would put us all in danger, and even if the earth somehow survived… from the stories you all told me and what it took to defeat her, I don't think we can pull it off such again. I think we should finally track down Peridot and see what she knows. I mean, she must have come down to earth for a reason right? At this very moment? And I feel with this news about Pink Diamond 2.0 and her being near completion, I don't think it's a coincidence. "
The other gems were now in a complete uproar, the seething bubble of worry and anxiety now finally bursting with a thunderous sound as Pearl remarked, "Are you out of your mind, Steven?! Why would we do such a thing! We don't know much about this…diamond and we are completely out of our depth when faced with homeworld. Peridot is an Era three gem! She could use this news we bring her to manipulate us for her own gain and get back to homeworld! Informing the rest of them that this planet still has a rebel gem force and sending an army our way! No! the best thing to do is to build a drill, dig to this pretender diamond and destroy it before it emerges. It's our safest bet!
"Pearl, Steven is right." chimed in Garnet. Still remaining as the pillar of strength for the crystal gems. "We don't have the skills, resources or technology to pull off what you are suggesting. Even if this is news to Peridot, the Earth blowing up isn't in her favour either. She may try to manipulate us but it is up to us to be vigilant and not too trusting of her. Besides, we have made little effort in capturing her with all that's happened and her roaming out amongst gem ruins isn't good for us nor the humans she encounters. We need to put her down, and fast. We were clever in distracting her after she warped to Earth and then immediately destroying the galaxy warp pad. Lets ensure our efforts are not for nothing."
The room was silent once again. This time, not with rising panic but with accepting quietness.
"So, is the new guy going to be stronger than even you Garnet?" the question appeared out of the blue, almost as if he did, being quiet throughout the entire explanation pearl gave about their new discovery at the kindergarten and the discussion that followed.
The Crystal gems looked at him with dumbfounded looks on their faces, doubling down when noticing the wide grin and complete lack of awareness on this face about the situation.
"The entire world is on the verge of being destroyed, and your first thought… is how good the next fight is going to be?! Your kind is truly sickening. Can a Saiyan think of nothing else but war and destruction?!" Pearl echoed, her words like spitting venom towards the boy.
Before the dumbfounded Goku could respond, the telephone cut the temperaments short as its ring cut through the conversation like a hot knife through butter.
Before anyone could answer the telephones summons, it quickly went to voicemail, with a shy and small voice being heard from the other side of the line, "Hey, its Connie. Ah, this is meant for Goku so whomever hears this, could you please be so kind as to let him know it was me who called and would greatly appreciate a call back. Thank you."
"I think you might want to get that. You might regret it if you don't." Garnet said to him Cryptically.
Paying heed to Garnet's words, Goku got up from the pillow and walked to the phone. "Hey Connie! Its Goku. How you doing?" Goku greeted in his usual cheerful tone, his tail wagging behind him with the likeness of a dog.
The line then went dead. And there was no response.
Everyone once again looked at Goku, speechless. "You're actually supposed to pick up the phone. Said Steven now next to him and picking the phone up as an example to a now sparkly eyed Goku.
Amethyst began to snicker, "Man, I swear, the world could be on the verge on off getting destroyed and Goku will still be Goku."
Confused the boy tilted his head to the side, responding "Well, who else would be?"
Amethyst chuckled continuously before realization struck her. "Oh wait… it is." She paused briefly. "Well, my point exactly!" she laughed, louder now at her own joke.
Goku now held the phone in his hand and raised it to his ear and answered quickly, "Heya Connie how ya doin?" his cherry and playful as always.
Unfortunately, throughout all the shenanigans, he found the line to be dead as Connie had long put the phone down.
He called her back, only this time to be greeted by her mail box, "…Leave a message after you hear the tone *beep*."
This was followed by a few longer lingering moments of silence before Steven could be heard in the background saying, "Now you're supposed to speak."
"Oh, right right." Goku said as he fumbled, cleared his voice and began addressing Connie again, "Heya Connie. It's me, Goku! Sorry I missed your call earlier. I'm not sure what you wanted to say earlier but I wanted to say that I would love to be your partner to the dance. Mr Universe read the letter and explained it all to me. At first I had no idea what a dance was, I thought it had something to do with fighting. But he said it was something to do with music and having fun and food. I'm not sure about the other stuff but I love the food part so I'll definitely be there! It will be spending time time with you and eating food, that alone already sounds super exciting, I'm looking forward to it. Mr. Universe said I have to wear special clothes but he will let me use some of Steven's so it shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for inviting me Connie, and sorry that I couldn't read your letter. I promise to get better at reading. Alright. See ya soon! Bye."
With that Goku put down the receiver to be meet with shocking and almost comical faces from the gems, especially Amethyst and Steven. After a minute of silence, Amethyst was the first to speak.
"So I know the world is ending but are we going to take a minute to unpack that or???" she said, dragging her last word and dressing the larger group
"No need. Like you said, worlds ending and quite frankly, that Goku and Connie's business, it has nothing to do with us unless they want it too." Garnet said whilst getting up and taking charge of the situation.
"Right. Well, there's not much we can do now. First thing tomorrow morning, we start our search for Peridot. We need her to make sense of this and to learn how we can stop this diamond from emerging. Steven, (she said turning to face him) I suggest you rest early tonight. We got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
Later that night…
The beach house was silent. The dim blue light from the luna star gently touched the dusty windows of the house and seeped into the interior, illuminating the darken corners and patches of the house that otherwise would be lost to the darkness. Stevens bed was one such a place, but the dim glow didn't seem to bother him, sleeping soundly with a soft and gentle snore that could be heard now and again with drool leaking down the left side of his face. Unbeknownst to him however, something lurked in the corner, shifting about and looking, moving closer to him as it did. The figure was small in size but swift, making sure to stay quiet and in the shadows. Before long, she was hovering over him, her green eyes staring daggers at him before darting around as if searching for something. Growing frustrated, she cursed under her breath before now turning her attention back to the still deeply sleeping Steven.
She pulled her satchel from her back into a more reachable position for her small frame before grabbing something from within and attaching it to her hand. Appendages which seem to mimic or at least supposed to representing fingers, stuck out like short green glow sticks. Suddenly a small spark of electricity emerged from the finger like appendages as the started to rotate with incredible speed, whilst remaining almost completely silent. She moved her hand with the rapidly spinning appendages closer to the Steven, getting ever closer until-
Her arm was suddenly grabbed firm and hard, pulling her hand away from Steven when she heard a voice now addressing her quietly but stern.
"I'm not really sure what you were planning on doing there, but I don't think it was something good. You were going to hurt him, weren't you?" the voice was hard, almost like the hand that was crushing her arm.
Immediately, she tried to break away. Catching Goku off guard with her sudden and nifty movement, actually managing to fee herself and attempt to escape. However, even although free, her jolt to the window of the beach house was once again stopped by Goku who now managed to outmanoeuvre her by wrapping his tail around her neck and pull her closer before taking her to the floor and incapacitate her by neutralizing all her limbs.
With the ruckus now caused Steven jolted up and turned on the light to find Goku on the ground, lying on top of "Peridot?!"
"Argh! Get off me you, you ruffian!" said the squirming green gem with the fingers of the arm limb enhancer spinning in the air in an attempt to fly away but unable to carry her and Goku's weight.
"I need to get the gems." he said speaking to himself out loud. "I can't believe this. We spent all this time looking for you and now to come right to our door step."
"I came through the window!" she yelled back defiantly, still trying everything to break the iron clad grip the Saiyan had on her, even gnawing at his fingers which tickled Goku making him giggle.
"Don't you laugh at me you inferior life form. Once I'm free from your gorilla grasp I will show you the difference between a monkey and an technological being such as myself!"
The now somewhat confused Goku looked at her as he titled his head, "I feel like to trying to be mean, but I don't really get what you're saying. Besides, I just wanted to make sure you don't hurt Steven. " he said smiling, his tail pointing towards Steven.
Peridot's face distorted with a mixture of curiousness and disgust, "Please keep that filthy primitive appendage coiled up somewhere where I don't have to look at it. It's an insult for you to even have that thing just flailing around."
Goku looked both saddened and confused, "Uhm, but what's wrong with my tail? It didn't do anything to hurt you and my tail makes me happy." he said now with his tail in front of him whilst smiling warmly.
Peridot, now utterly annoyed began yelling and squirming even harder under Goku, who just continued to watch her squirm with amusement.
Steven sighed, "Let her go, Goku. Buuuuuut- only if you promise not to hurt us, behave and not run away." Steven said now leaning down and glaring at her in a cute and unsuccessful way.
Peridot glared at him with a mixture of distaste and confusion, "Fine, I will…agree to your terms but only if you help me out as well. You repair the galaxy warp AND give me my foot back."
"Agreed." answered Steven quickly.
With that Goku let go of her, smiling widely as he did so, "So now that we all friends… (he paused, addressing Peridot) Hi! My name is Goku! What's your name?"
Peridot, addressed the boy, ignoring his senseless babbling whilst walking around him inspecting him, "How truly fascinating. A Saiyan. It's my first time ever seen one myself, but your make up is as simple as they come. Still sporting recessive traits by organic standards and a lower level of intelligent. I see why the diamonds got rid of these creatures, highly inefficient and prone to defection. Simply a flawed design by all accounts."
"I'm not really sure what you saying but I don't think it was very nice. Don't underestimate me." Goku responded trying to defend himself with his words rather than this fist for the first time
"Trust me, it's impossible to underestimate you." Peridot snapped back at him whilst sniggering to herself.
"Alright, enough now." said Steven interjecting. "Peridot, we need your help. We found something in the prime kindergarten. An underground room of sorts with a computer, it spoke of a pink diamond 2.0 project. How it will destroy the planet and that its 98% complete? Is that what you came to Earth for? Can you tell us more about it."
"Ah, so you do know. And here I thought you and your whole group are a bunch of dimwits - Suddenly she paused- wait, did you say 98%?!"
"Y-Yes. Why?"
"No no no. That can't be. Its progressing much faster than my initial prediction! This is a disaster! What am I going to do!" Peridot was hopping around in a panic in her limb enhancers. Now suddenly grabbing onto Steven shoulders saying, "I need to get off this godforsaken rock right now! You HAVE tofix the galaxy warp this instant!"
"Woah calm down-" but before Steven could continue, Garnet Amethyst and Pearl emerged flying through the air already, ready to take down Peridot.
"The green gem now experiencing a mixture of fear, anxiety and frustration cursed at herself for allowing them to strand her on this doomed planet before powering up a large ball of what seemed like lime green electrical energy and firing it off at the gems and hastily retreating, ending up locking herself in the bathroom of the beach house.
Steven now frustrated himself, lashed out at the gems, "Why did you guys do that?! I was about to convince her to tell us what she knows, now you all just made that ten times harder. She won't want to tell us anything now!"
"She's a danger. She could have harmed you at any moment. I wouldn't forgive myself if I allowed her to hurt you." said Pearl looking at Steven with a look of determination on her face.
"She's right Steven. It's not safe for you to interact with Peridot alone. What was she even doing here in the first place? Did she sneak in? If so what is she after? There is just too much we don't know about her to trust her alone with you. So we acted." said Garnet, steadfast in her beliefs.
"And the only way we will know anything about it is if we don't approach her as a hostile threat! Think about it, would any of you be willing to talk to your enemy on a strange new world if all they did was attack you on sight?!" Steven's words cut deep, reaching the three gems who all grew a shade darker in their cheeks, highlighting their reasoning and embarrassment.
With the Gems saying nothing and realising he finally got through to them, Steven huffed and walked to the bathroom door.
"H-Hey Peridot. Sorry about my friends. They just a little hot headed you see? Very overprotective of me, but it's alright now. I've spoken to them and they won't hurt you. So why don't you come out and we can all be friends huh?" his words were soft and gentle, as if talking to a frightened child
Peridot, However, responded by baring her teeth, "Never! I REFUSE to leave this quarters with those hooligans running around out there. I don't trust any of you for one second! The second I open this door my gem with be shattered! Not that it matters anyway since this whole planet is about to go KABOOM any minute now!"
Seeing this as his way in Steven interjected, "Yeah, about that, how exactly will the earth be destroyed? Can you tell us more about it and how to stop it?"
"Stop it? STOP IT?!" She laughed from behind the locked door, "There is no stopping the emergence. Once it starts, and she takes form, that it. She will absorb this planets core and all its essence. Even the organic inhabitants like that Saiyan and the rest of the earthlings will be imploded, made nutrients to her birthing gem like a violent blossom of a pink hibiscus! There is no stopping it!."
The gems and Steven froze up at her words. The realisation that it's all true hitting them like a brick.
The silence was haunting, realising that they were all sitting ducks waiting to be taken in the emergence. That is, until Goku's voice cut through the tension, "But if the Earth gets destroyed doesn't that mean you will die too with the rest of us?"
"Exactly you moron! That's why the Steven needs to fix the Galaxy warp before that happens. Nobody is sending a ship to save me. I wasn't even supposed to step foot on this dust mite of a planet but your constant interference with my robonoids forced my hand. Earth is supposed to be a dead zone after the diamond purge. The fact that organic life and you handful of gems survived such an onslaught is simply incomprehensible. Yellow Diamond must be made aware of this at once!"
"NO!" screamed Garnet. The warp pad stays dead. Fixing it will only cause more harm than good. And besides. The human beings of this planet still face impending doom. We will not abandon them just to save our own gems. Not after everything we've given up to see this planet flourish." Her voice was stern and resolute with Pearl and Amethyst giving fearful but approving nods to her words.
"Fools! The lot of you. You make the monkey there seem to be the only one amongst you will any real sense!"
Upon hearing her words. Goku looked around the beach house eagerly searching for the monkey Peridot mentioned as if to play with it.
"It's clear you don't trust us. Fair enough. And we don't completely trust you. But I want the chance to try and earn that trust. So how about a truce Peridot. It's clear that none of us want to die so let's start there. We all have a better chance at survival working together than going at this alone. What do you say? Open the door and we shake on it?
There was silence for a moment on the other side of the door, followed by hush whispers and then a flushing of the toilet.
"You can't flush yourself down the toilet, I've already flooded too many toilets before I learnt that." said Goku sheepishly.
The door creaked open, allowing a small view of the bathroom to be seen. Where is my foot? Foot first then truce.
After an awkward moment of passing down her dismembered limb followed by what sounded like a brief skirmish and Steven and Goku's toothbrushes falling to the floor, Peridot emerged, now fully whole again.
"Fine. I agree to this truce. But only because I agree with your logic. I need a way off this rock and to my dismay I need your help to do so. But I too also need information. And it would be much easier to get it without you worms chasing me everywhere I go."
"Where do you need to go?" asked Goku
"The prime kindergarten. Back to the control centre so I can read the files myself. There are some details that I need."
"Yep, count me out." said Amethyst immediately turning around and walking away. "Update me when you all get back."
"Hmm? What's your damage?" asked a curious peridot
"Let's go. Best not to ask too many questions. " said Steven trying to brush it off. Not wanting to reopen that can of worms again.
It didn't take long before they reached the control centre. With Peridot at the helm, the crystal gems quickly descended downto the control centre of the kindergarten and accessed the main system on the computer
"Dear lord, is all your technology on this planet so archaic. It's like I travelled back in time to such an unruly era." Peridot detested as she whipped around the old gem system
"Well it is era two technology so you aren't completely wrong. Just how much as Gemkind advanced since then?" asked a curious Pearl
"Enough to make you a Crystal Gems seem like fossils. And I speak unironically." she retorted
"Enough of this!" Exclaimed Garnet. "It works and will serve our purpose just fine. Do what you came to do so we can leave this awful place."
Peridot looked at her, slightly taken aback by her outburst. "Geez what gotten under her gem?"
"This place isn't so bad." Goku added in. Now being in the kindergarten for the first time. "Sure it make look scary and its cold but it make for perfect training. No people, animals and plants to get hurt. Teaches you to find your opponent using your senses instead of your eyes with all these holes in the walls. And besides. I think me Steven and Connie can play a really cool game of hide and seek here.
Steven looked at him with bemusement. "Hehe, you always manage to see the best in things don't you buddy?"
Before Goku could go on Peridot voice cut him off "Five months, two weeks and 9 days. That's it. That's how long we have before the emergence."
"Five months?" Garnet echo'ed back. "It's not much but there is some time for us to think of something to stop this. "
"That's our best guess. On the shorter side of things we could be looking at Three months if she feels ready to emerge sooner than predicted." Peridot said once again. Green sparks shooting out her levitating limbs at her own frustration.
"That's not much time at all. " said Pearl, "What can we do with just three months?" asked Pearl with a shaking voice
"More than we could have done with less time." snapped back Garnet. "Let's not waste any little precious time we have left cowering in fear and come up with a strategy to stay alive and protect our planet.
Peridot rolled her eyes at her last words. Annoyed by the Crystal Gems futile attempts of thinking this world had a chance, her now extended fingers clacking away at the keyboard.
There was a small pause as Garnet quickly scrutinized at Peridot before asking, "And just what are you doing now?" she asked the green gem suspiciously.
"I'm downloading all this information to my internal systems. Much better than coming here each time I need to look at the new diamond schematics." she responded hastily.
As if on Cue with her words, the Pink diamond symbol on the screen shifted in hue to a yellow/greenish tint just before the entire system went black.
"God damn ancient piece of junk!" Peridot yelled out in frustration as she smashed the console she was using to access the main system.
"What was that? Just now before the screen went off? What are you trying to pull?" Asked Garnet as she materialized one of her gauntlets now heading towards Peridot.
"Oh already with the distrust huh? Already trying to shatter me as soon as you get what you need? Go ahead do your worst, I don't care anymore!"
"Stop this already!" Steven snapped. "You guys aren't children yet you act like it! You are quite literally thousands of years old! Goku and I are kids and as far as I can see the only two rational people here. Stop this now or I'm leaving."
Steven stormed off regardless, leaving the others behind him looking ashamed for their actions.
It had been a couple of weeks since their time back at the prime kindergarten and the time limit placed by Peridot. True to her word Peridot did download the blueprints of the new diamond project and spent many late nights drawing up and planning different ways and ideas to deal with the pending emergence. Finally within the first few days they landed upon the most simple, yet seemingly the most effective way to deal with Pink Diamond 2.0, a drill something Pearl had to point out she already thought of. A giant mega structure that would drill them to the core of the planet, built using the materials of the earth and old gem technology. The plan was simple. Get to the diamond before she emerged and bubble it. Initially wanting to just rip it out, Peridot advised against this as the diamond itself and earth's core at this stage of integration have become one and the same over the last few thousand years, and ripping her out has an extremely high chance of destabilising the planet and causing catastrophic damage regardless. So Steven came up with the next best thing, to bubble her. Simple and effective.
Not being impressed by the simplicity of the plan but seeing no better and more importantly, no faster method of saving her own gem, Peridot reluctantly agreed to this plan. But to her surprise working with the Crystal Gems nor the physical manual labour wouldn't be her most difficult task yet. It was the Saiyan. Goku took an interest to Peridot, at first due to the crystal gems asking him to keep an eye on her from time to time but later on, his own child-like curiosity.
"Say Dot, you don't have a summoning weapon like the other gems don't you? Why is that?" he asked, sitting atop the tractor at the barn house whilst Peridot used her limb enhancing fingers as a wielder.
She grumbled, ignoring him as best she could as she went about her work.
"Dot, did you hear me?" Goku said now slightly raising his voice.
Continuing her best efforts, she went about her work with an exasperated look on her countenance. Soon her view become obstructed by a brown furry odd looking appendage wrapped around a coke can that was placed front of her line of sight. Her wielding stopped and the can danced around her face.
She sighed, turning her head away from the tail and can before her gaze met with the smiling and what she would call idiotic grin of the Saiyan with his head tilted.
"Hehe, if you work too hard without a break, to bound to collapse from dehydration. Or at least that what Garnet tells me when I'm training.
She removed her visors, now acting as a shield to protect her eyes from the wielding light. "The Garnet may need to take breaks but I do not. Besides unlike you organic species I don't need any substance. I will not, ever, for my entire existence ever suffer from what you call "dehydration". So not only do you sound foolish but you are also taking up precious time which we both know, or rather I assume you are able to comprehend, that we don't have. " her voice did very little to hide her annoyance.
Goku, being Goku and completely oblivious to the apparent hinderance he was being, just continued with his previous line of thought, "So what the deal with your arms and fingers? Why are they like that? Is that why you don't have a weapon? Because your hands are too weird to hold anything to fight with?" he asked innocently
"W-weird? My hands are not weird. These limb enhancers were a gift bestowed upon me by Yellow diamond herself. Hand-picked by perfection so I may execute her white justice as she sees fit. They are NOT weird!"
"Limb enchanters? Is that why your fingers aren't connected to your hands and why your feet come off so easily? Because they not your real limbs?"
"If you must know so desperately then yes, I supposed you are correct."
Goku paused for a moment before continuing, "Is there something wrong with your normal limbs?"
No! there is nothing wrong with me. This enhancers make serving my diamond more efficient and effective."
There was another pause as he turned his gaze skyward towards the barn rood while rubbing his chin, "In the short term I can see why enhancers may help. But ultimately they just holding you back from discovering what your true body is actually capable off. Its holding back your true capabilities. I'm sure that without them, you're weak and wouldn't be able to do much. Not even walk." he said nonchalantly
Peridot took grave offense to this, "You think I need this limb enhancers. No! I'll show you Saiyan that I am perfectly capable of performing my duties without this gifts. Just watch!" she said as she now punched in a code deactivating the enhancers and cause them to drop off of her and making them both fall to the ground.
Goku offered a helping hand to get the gem on her feet, to which she smacked his hand away and sprung up, surprising the young spiky haired boy.
"You're…a lot shorter than I thought you would be, Dot." Goku admitted.
Peridot ignored him, grinning wildly as she tried to mask how painfully uncomfortable she was without her enhancers attached. As if being caught in her birthday suit, which technically she was.
Well, what are you going to do now?" Asked Goku
"What am I going to do? I'll get right back to building this drill with the scraps your planet calls for parts around here. Just watch!" she said as she set off running looking like a lost deer in headlights.
She gathered what she could and continued working with even more vigour on her face which made Goku smile.
Some time passed and Goku found Peridot outside the beach house once night pacing back and forth on the beach. He approached her. Sitting atop his pink Nimbus watching her with a confused and curious look on his face. Still oblivious to his presence, she continued to pace. The sound of the waves crashing near her feet subtly calming her as she whispered to herself.
"Argh, this is taking too long. Where are they? Before longthis planet will be space dust. I still have so much to prove. Show much talent yet undiscovered. Yellow diamond surely must see my usefulness. Surely she won't let me perish in this place." there were visible sweat beads dripping from her forehead now as she internally began to panic again.
"Yo, Dot." he said, seeing the smaller gem jump up in shock and surprise. Her cheeks turning a shade of dark green.
"What? Where are you? Show yourself!" she demand, her now smaller frame making her look more comical than menacing.
"Up here." Goku responded, the nimbus cloud taking him lower to meet the small green gem, "What are you doing out here so late? Most of the other gems are in the temple and Steven and Connie are sleeping. They are really tuckered out from working on the drill all day. Aren't you usually in the barn by this time? What are you doing out here at the beach house?"
Peridot looked at him suspiciously, "I don't have to explain anything to the likes of you." she answered snappily before raising an eyebrow "Are you following me? Keeping tabs on me? After all this time I thought I at least gained a little bit of you clods trust but clearly I was wrong!" she said angrily
"No it's nothing like that." Goku said reassuringly. Now patting her head from above while sitting on his cloud, only serving to annoy Peridot even more. "I was busy training by myself on the sky temple. With us working on the drill all day I only get time to train myself at night. I want to keep getting stronger. What if we need to fight the new diamond. Can't afford to slack off now." he added smiling
"Fight her? There is no fighting her. If she emerges we all shatter, what don't you understand about that. Just how stupid is your primitive ape like species if you can't grasp the simplest of concepts."
Goku frowned, "You being mean again Dot. I'm only trying to help the best way I know how. I know we all scared but that's no reason for us to turn on each other."
Peridot scoffed, "You starting to sound more and more like Steven each day."
Goku, now grinning, responded, "Well, he's my best friend, and Connie too!"
A gust of wind swept past them, prompting both to look up—Goku, still seated on his Nimbus, watched cautiously, while Peridot's face lit up with excitement. A large construction appears in the sky, blowing wind and debris all around them, causing the waves of the ocean to rise higher than normal and creep further onto the land.
"I knew she would send more me! My diamond! Yellow diamond has sent a convoy to receive me and spare me from this planets doomed fate. I always knew I was valuable to her eminence. You simple minded fools and your drill really thought you could stop the emergence. I always knew it was a fool's errand but I had simply no choice in the matter but to go along with your idiotic antics. Finally my salvation has come!" Peridot, now grinning from ear to ear couldn't help but dance on the spot. Finally speaking her heart out to Goku who was the only one around to hear this.
"D-Dot. You lied to us? But I thought we had a truce. I thought we were finally getting to know each other and be on the same side." his voice was low, but his heartbreak and disappointment was evident.
Ignoring him entirely, Peridot eagerly waved at the massive green hand in the sky, signalling its descent towards them.
It wasn't long before the fingers of the hand extended, as if to flick something. Then on the tip of the finger, a small bubble emerged growing larger until it finally popped. Now seen was a hulking frame. Almost 3 times the size of the already massive Garnet. Tall and bulky. Orange in colour with white flowing hair. Her face was scarred, as if she had been in countless battles that her gem- placed where a nose should be- could not recover from. Her yellow eyes now opened, staring at the two figures below here, her face expressionless as Peridot whispered to herself…
"Jasper."
Steven found himself at what he considered to be the basement of the temple. Spurred on by Connie the two of them there to collect the bubbled Lazuli gem.
"We need her. We can't do this without her." he said, trying to reassure himself
Connie held his hand tightly, to reaffirm his assurances. "I got you Steven. We just need to talk to her, as long as we don't make her feel threatened I'm sure things will turn out just fine."
With nothing left to say the Connie got on Steven's shoulders and with the reach of her tippy toes managed to grab onto the Bubble.
Now sitting on the floor with the bubble between them, Steven popped it and immediately the blue gem began to rise into the air, glowing wildly as it did. The gem suddenly took on a glowing familiar form before with a small audible pop, rematerialized her entire being and dropped to the floor.
She took a second. Not realising where she was or what was going on before her eyes burst open in fear, still seeing the raging Oozaru charging towards her.
"Stop!" she yelled, now looking around in a panic and frenzied state.
"Woah, Lapis it's okay. Relax. It's me, Steven. This is my friend Connie. Do you remember her?" he said trying to be as soft and gentle as he possibly could be.
"S-Steven? Where am I? What happened? Where is the Saiyan?" she asked, her eyes darting around anxiously
"You have nothing to worry about. You're safe. Nobody is going to hurt you. Just so long as you don't steal the ocean again, or try to hurt anyone else." he added with a nervous laughter.
"How long has it been?" she asked now calming down and looking at him.
"Eh- a couple of months. Honestly" sorry it took this long to free you. We just didn't know what else to do for you. B-But we need your help."
Anger flashed across her face now. "My help? After everything you and your gems did to me? Why would I ever help you."
"Calm down Lapis." he said, "We in trouble and there isn't much time to explain it, but…the earth is about to be destroyed. There is…something, brewing at the core of the planet, and if we can't get down there and stop it, then the whole planet will implode."
There was a small pause before anyone said anything before Connie added, "And we all die." she said with a frustrated look on her face.
"Good." Lapis snapped back at her, "I'd rather die than spend another minute of my existence trapped on this miserable planet."
Steven sighed, "I thought you might say that." he said now pulling out an ornate glass vial filled with a water likesubstance. "That's why I brought this. Let's make a deal. This vial contains water collected from the fountain at my mother's sanctuary. It can heal your cracked gem, make you whole again like you wanted. But- I will only give it to you if you help us. We need to drill but the best point of entry to the core of the planet is in the middle of the ocean. We need you to part the water there so we can get to the core without having to worry about the water. Considering what you did before, this should be a piece of cake for you. What do you say?"
Her eyes sparkled as she stared at the vial, "Make me whole again? Is such a thing possible? Fixing my broken gem?"
"Yes." he said, "Amethyst cracked her gem and the water from the fountain made her good as new. I don't see why it can't do the same for you." he added smiling
"Yes. B-But what is cake?" she asked, eyes still wide eyed and hand slowly reaching out for the vial
Steven gave a cautious laugh. But before either one of them could add anything else, the entire temple began to shake, rumbling as it did. There was a pause before it happened again.
Worried, Lapis uses this opportunity to run, not daring to risk capture again whilst Steven calls out behind her.
"Leave her Steven!" yelled Connie, "Let's get outside. It's not safe here."
With that the two of them rush back up to the beach house and out the front door where they also ran into Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl who were already outside with horrid looks on their faces.
Confused and worried Steven looked forward to what they were looking at.
The scene shocked him to his very core.
Goku severely beaten, face nearly unrecognisable from the damage Jasper inflicted on him save for his signature hairstyle and tail. Her massive boot crushing his skull into the mess of blood and beach sand that was the floor. Causing him to cry out like a dying animal calling for help.
"Pathetic!" I came here for a challenge. I came to face off against the legendary Rose Quartz and the mighty warrior Saiyan race and this is what I find? Disgusting!" she yelled now turning to a frightened Peridot.
"You! You promised me a challenge. You made me come back to is flithy rock saying there were Gems and Saiyan's on the planet still defiant against our empire. Is this what you call an army?! Is this what you call a resistance?! These insects are a shell of what they use to be. Not worth my time, and certainly not worth Yellow diamonds resources! I should leave you here to suffer the same fate as this planet for wasting my time!" she said now pointing to the Crystal Gems standing on the deck of the beach house.
"Peridot. She did this. She called them here. Goku is dying. And it's her fault!" said Amethyst piecing everything together, scowling in anger.
Growling angrily without saying any words, Garnet materialized her gauntlets and charged forward, the other gems doing the same right behind her.
Connie stayed behind as instructed by Steven as he himself rushed to Goku's side whilst the gems attacked Jasper full force.
Seeing the state his friend was in, his jaw and throat crushed so badly he was unable to form words, not to mention the blunt force trauma inflicted by Jasper that caved his head in. Steven had never seen such brutality before, never seen so much blood spill from one person that he thought it might fill the sea itself. He couldn't help but throw up at the sight of it, sobbing now as he did so and holding his closest friend's body in his hands as he was about to take his final breath.
Until…
"Pitiful! Is this what's left of Rose Quartz army? Some lost defective Pearl? A puny overcooked runt? And this shameless display?! (She said now just gesturing to Garnet as Jasper smashed her two first so hard into her temples simultaneously that it caused her form to instantly fall apart and poof into her separate components.)
Steven looked at the Carnage brought about by Jasper. Amethyst and Pearls gems were also lying on the ground, defeated, their physical forms too damaged to instantly reform again.
"I won't even bother with whatever that is." she said disgustedly looking at Steven then turning to walk away towards her ship.
She waved her hand in the air, signalling her ship to rotate, once again causing seismic motion of wind and debris to blow about as it placed itself into a hand gun gesture with a powerful electrical ball of energy forming at the tip of the pointing finger as if about to fire a bullet from the barrel.
Just as the ship blasted at Steven, something caught the corner of Jasper eye, it was faint but her enhanced vision picked up on it. An explosion occurred on the shore of the beach where the gun fired but no bodies where seen. Just then, a kick came jasper's way, aiming for her head. Thinking to catch her off guard but she blocked just in the nick of time.
Her eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of her assailant.
"You!" she exclaimed" you should be at death's door. How did you heal yourself. No Saiyan has such an ability."
She looked at Goku who was now back on the ground in front of her smiling, getting in fighting stance before glaring over his shoulder at Steven, who's gem had a faint glow to it now."
"You! You healed him. You have the power of Rose Quartz. She is the only gem known to have such miraculous healing abilities."
"Focus on the fight in front of you!" Goku said, regaining her attention for a moment. "I've never been beaten so bad before. You are incredibly strong." he added smiling. "I don't know how you did it Steven but thank you. I'm fully healed up and feeling much stronger than I have ever felt before. It's incredible."
Goku took a moment, clenching his fist. His muscles felt denser, like his entire body had been rebuilt from the ground up. Stronger than before. The surge of energy inside him was unlike anything he'd ever experienced before. He had gotten hurt before but never like that- and never had he bounced back this fast.
"G-Goku, you okay? How? Did I do this?" Steven said looking at him in awe.
The boy could barely register Steven's voice. His eyes snapped forced and he locked on to Jasper. She just stood there, not paying him any heed. Looking straight pass him, her own gaze fixated on Steven. And that's when it hit him, even after everything… she wasn't taking him seriously, he was hardly more threatening than a mosquito she had to squat. Despite his huge gains in strength.
"Rose!" Jasper yelled. "Are you trying to hide yourself from me? Why do you look like that? You think trying to deceive me would work? It's only a matter time before I saw through this poignant guise of yours!"
Just then Goku appeared in front of field of view, moving faster than he himself ever thought capable and delivered a connecting round house kick to Jasper's temple.
"Like I said, focus on the fight right in front of you." Goku said midair cockily smiling, feeling a surge of adrenalines pump in his veins as he began his second bout with Jasper.
Jasper's lips curled into a grin. "That's more like it. I was wondering if you'd stay down like the rest of them." She jerked her head toward the Crystal Gems.
Their gems lay scattered on the ground.
Goku felt Steven tense beside him. The boy hadn't even noticed before.
Garnet. Amethyst. Pearl.
Gone.
Just like that.
The realization crashed over him, and for the first time, he felt cold.
Jasper stepped forward. Each step sent shockwaves through the ground, kicking up dust. Goku inhaled sharply. She was massive-easily three times his size, with a monstrous battle-scarred body that radiated sheer destruction. The ground creaked under her weight.
Her golden eyes locked onto him, and for the first time, Goku truly saw her. Not just as an opponent.
Not just as a Gem.
She was a predator.
The air shimmered around her as her energy spiked, the pressure alone causing the sand beneath her feet to sink.
Goku barely had time to react.
Jasper vanished.
No, not vanished-she was just that fast.
His instincts screamed at him-MOVE.
But the moment he tried—
WHAM!
A knee to the gut.
The impact caved his stomach in, his eyes nearly popping out of his skull. He barely had time to choke before she was on him again.
An elbow to the spine.
The ground rushed up to meet him, but before he hit
-
WHAM!
She caught him by the leg, swinging him up and over, slamming him into the sand so hard the impact created a crater.
Steven screamed his name, but the sound was distant-like it was coming from underwater. Goku tried to move. His arms felt like lead. His vision blurred.
But before he could even register what was happening
-
WHAM. WHAM. WHAM.
Jasper swung him like a ragdoll, slamming him over and over into the earth with enough force to shatter concrete.
His bones cracked.
Pain erupted in his chest. He tried to scream-nothing came out.
She flung him skyward like a toy. The sky blurred. He barely had time to suck in a breath before she was there.
Faster than sight.
Jasper's fist slammed into his ribs, warping the very air around it. Goku could feel something snap inside him.
His body hurled through the sky, hitting the surface of the ocean with the force of a meteor.
Steven couldn't move.
His mouth opened, but no sound came out. His entire body had locked up, frozen in horror.
He had seen bad fights before. He had seen Gems shatter.
But this was different.
Jasper wasn't just fighting Goku.
She was dismantling him.
Beating him slowly.
On purpose.
The way she grinned through it all, barely breaking a sweat..
It made him sick.
She's a monster.
Steven clutched his stomach, his breathing sharp and shallow. He could feel tears stinging his eyes, but he didn't care. He tried to move. He had to do something-anything—
A shadow loomed over him.
Jasper stared down at him, the corner of her mouth twitching.
"That was disappointing," she muttered, rolling her shoulder. She didn't even look tired. " was hoping for more."
Steven stumbled backward. His heart was pounding against his ribs.
Jasper exhaled through her nose. Bored.
"Whatever. Yellow Diamond might still find some use for him. If he survives, that is."
Her hand shot forward.
Steven flinched-
And suddenly, a gust of wind exploded behind her.
Jasper moved on instinct. She twisted around, eyes narrowing.
A silhouette emerged from the ocean mist.
Steam rolled off his skin. His body trembled, but he stood tall.
Goku was breathing hard, fists clenched at his sides. His soaked gi clung to his body, blood dripping from his temple.
But he was smiling.
Jasper stiffened.
That grin.
That damn grin.
A fire lit behind his eyes, and he tilted his head. That same cocky, defiant look she'd seen on her own face before.
"That all you got?" he said weakly and unconvincingly. Blood being spat out of his mouth as breathing became an incredibly difficult task for him.
"You don't break as easily as last time…Good." she said smiling wickedly.
However, Jasper having had enough distractions turned her venomous gaze towards him, saying, "But I'm done toying with you."
Without another world, displaying a level of brutality and violence Goku had even up until this point never seen before, She almost instantaneously appeared behind him, grabbed his tail with such speed and force, instantly incapacitating the young Saiyan.
Keeping her vice grip, she slammed his body on the floor by his tail back and forth like a rag doll with unimaginable speed, breaking even more of hisbones and destroying his barely newly reformed body before throwing him up in the air and letting his nearly unconscious body fall back down.
She raised her arm up, letting this body fall back down and impaling him through the abdomen with her hand and arm alone. Sending his guts flying out and his internal organs to rupture spontaneously, nearly killing the Saiyan instantly.
"No matter the Zenkai boost. You're still just a useless Monkey. Hardly worth the effort. Take pride in dying by my hand. Like so many others of your kind did before." she said manically laughing, tossing his body to the side like some used up treat and licking the copious amounts of blood off her hand.
She walked up to Steven, who was shaking, petrified by fear of what he had just seen.
"What has become of you Rose? Why are you so weak?" she said in a quiet angry tone.
Jasper went to one knee, kneeling down to reach steven's level as he quivered on the ground. "I was there you know, at the first war for this garbage planet. I fought against your armies. I respected your tactics. But this? - said now grabbing him up the shirt and picking up off the ground- This is sick. I don't get what you're planning Rose, but look. Your base is taken, your armies are ruined, you have failed!" she said ecstatically as he head butted him knocking him out.
"We are done here," said Jasper. "Take it and put it in the ship. If it dies before we get back to home world then it doesn't deserve to live." she said to Peridot whilst gesturing at Goku.
"W-Why?" asked Peridot
"I'm sure Yellow diamond wouldn't mind another Saiyan to experiment on. Living ones are in so few supply nowadays that even weaklings like this would do. And besides, even if it does perish it doesn't matter. We have Rose Quartz as the true prize with us." she said with a wild look gleaming from her yellow eyes.
It was then she appeared, a huge wave from the ocean came crashing down unexpectedly at Jasper's feet, the water rising and taking shape until it resembled a humanoid. Glowing wildly until it materialized into her body, Lapis Lazuli.
"Another piece of trash to take out." Jasper said, "Look at the rest of your comrades. Do you really think you stand a chance against me?"
"I am not with them. They kept me prisoner on this planet. I just want to go home. Please take me with you." Lapis said, almost pleading
Jasper scanned her with her eyes then turned to look at Peridot for confirmation.
"I-I have never seen her before. I don't know her."
Jasper turned back to look at Lapis asking, "Who are you?"
"I am Lapis Lazuli. I was part of the reinforcements sent by blue diamond during the second war for this world. But I was captured by the rebels, they forced my gem into hideous torture devices so that I may serve them. I want nothing more now than to leave this wretched place and go home. This world is doomed anyway. These gems will get their just soon enough. Leave them to their impending doom and take me back with you."
Jasper smiled wickedly, "A likely story. Doesn't matter anyway. You can come with us. I'm sure Blue Diamond would reward me graciously for bringing back one of her lost trinkets. Come now- she added tossing Steven's unconscious body at her- take Rose to the cell. Don't make me change my mind."
Lapis caught him and hesitated, her gaze flickering with conflict before obeying.
~
His eyes began to open, slowly at first his eyes, meeting a dark black ceiling. Wondering where he was he glared upwards. Not daring to make a sound. It was then he got up, eyes widening as he stared gripped his abdomen and looked down to see…nothing? He was completely fine. The hole torn in him by Jasper was completely gone. Surprised Goku got up, feeling disorientated as he did so. He felt, now even stronger and taller. But he didn't revel in the feeling. Last time he felt like this costed him dearly. He looked at his surroundings. Seeing he was placed in a small room with some sort of energy barrier keeping him in place, almost like a prison cell. There were two beds. One was where he was sitting and the other… Steven!
"Steven!" He yelled, causing the young boy to shoot upwards.
The two of them locked eyes before Steven who clamoured out of bed and nearly tripped over himself ran over to his friend.
"Goku! You're finally awake. I wasn't sure if you were ever going to wake up!" he said now crying and hugging his friend.
"What happened?" asked Goku.
"I healed you, again. It's my spit. I figured it out. That is why I couldn't heal Amethyst when her Gem cracked. I don't have magic tears like my mom—I have healing spit! - he paused- which is pretty gross now that I think about it
Goku chuckled. "Nah that is still pretty awesome. But where are we? How long was I out?"
Steven's half smile vanished, "We on their space ship, going to home world. I am to face trial for my mom's crimes against the gem empire. It's been days now, how many I'm not sure, time is hard to keep track of in space without a watch. It's just you me and our captors Jasper, Peridot and Lapis."
"Lapis?" Goku asked surprisingly
But before Steven could even explain what happened between himself, Lapis and Connie, a loud explosion came from within the ship, followed by a sea of flames which only missed him due to the energy wall which now served to protect them rather than keep them from escaping.
Before being able to make sense of it all. A large man came running through the hall way seconds later, dressed in a thick yet also almost skin tight white armour with a shattered pink diamond on his chest with long black hair wearing a green transparent visor around his eyes with what looked like a Saiyan tail wrapped around his waist.
He stopped as he encountered the two of them, pausing for a moment before saying, "There you are Kakarot! I knew you would still be alive."
The two boys looked at him confused before asking Goku spoke up and asked the man…"Who's Kakarot?"