Second Rebellion

Performance

I had heard rumors about off-color gems, gems that couldn’t do what they were designed for. Usually they take refuge in the canyons carved into Homeworld, which I now know are called Kindergartens. 

“Guys?! We gotta go!”

“Is this another one of your pranks, Bee? ‘Cuz if it is, that’s another week on watch!”

“Come see for yourself why don’tcha?!”

A trio of gems poked their heads out from behind a corner. From top to bottom, they were: a blue and red lapis lazuli, a yellow and black zircon, and a jasper that was half the average size for a quartz.

“Hello? I.. I’m Black Diamond. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m planning a protest for the rights of Off-color gems like yourselves.”

“I’m Phoenix Lapis Lazuli, also known as the one who keeps these idiots in line.”, said the red and blue lapis, gesturing to the two gems behind her.

“Name’s Bumblebee Zircon, professional prankster and comedian.”, the black and yellow gem told me, hand outstretched with a strange device on her index finger like a ring, except the bulge was on the palm side of her hand. When I shook his hand, a strange feeling surged through my form, like he was destabilizing me, but less intense.

“What technology is this? I need 100 more of these for my protest!”

“Peaceful, eh? Good thing you asked for the joy buzzers and not the firecrackers.”

The diminutive jasper proceeded to interrupt, quartz dashing underneath Bee.

“Jeez, Tiny! You ever heard of manners?”

“Hiya! Name’s Tiny! I am our resident fighter! I may not look it, but I once beat up a couple dozen topazes before getting poofed!”

Out of nowhere, a company of topazes came around the corner and before I knew it, we were being brought to Yellow, Blue, and White.

“Do you have any idea what rumors would’ve spread if somebody saw you, a Diamond, consorting with gems that can’t even do what they were made for?! You’d be a laughingstock, Black! Blue, it’ll be up to you to shatter those three. Yellow, you decide what punishment would do best for Black.”

They just lined up, shoulders slumped and waterworks flowing.

“No. I won’t let you shatter my friends because they’re different, Blue. You’re your own people. Are you really going to let someone push you around just because you’re not good at what you were supposed to be good at?! We will not fall this day!”

They started changing, getting brighter in color. Soon, they weren’t crying, and they looked much angrier than before.

Bee walked over to Yellow, summoned a large spiked wheel on a rope I assumed to be her weapon, and made the rope wrap around her legs. 

“Phoenix, now!”

Phoenix flew up behind Yellow, grabbed onto the back of her head, and pushed as hard as she could, making her fall over. 

“Let me go right now!”

“Hmmmmm… no.”

“Excuse me?!”

“I don’t think you heard me correctly. I said no, as in the opposite of yes.”

“I know what ‘no’ means! I’ve just never heard anyone say it to my face!”

“Trust me, this is a new experience for both of us.”

Tiny wrapped her whip around Blue up to the base of her neck, then bounced off the wall behind her and into her back, making her fall over next to Yellow.

“Blue! You are going to pay for that, you know!”

“No. We are done playing by your rules, Yellow. That goes for Blue and White’s rules too. Come on guys. Let’s go plan our nonviolent protest.”

Back at the Kindergarten, we were brainstorming ways to pull off our protest.

“We need to do something crazy. Something they can’t ignore. That’s it! We need somebody they can’t ignore without her getting mad at them! Pearl, I need you to go get Pink!”

“Yes, my Diamond.”

About an hour later, Pearl brought Pink back with her, accompanied by Spinel and Pink’s Pearl.

“Pink, we need your help with a protest for Off color rights. We’re going to need all the help we can get. That means you too, Spinel. Same goes for Pearl. I consulted my Sapphire and she said that it would make everything worse if we didn’t get help.”

“Cool. What do you need us to do?”

“Keep Blue and Yellow out of our hair, mostly. I moved around all of White’s files on her screen. That should give us a couple hours, at best. Spinel, I’m going to have Bee teach you how to weaponize your natural elasticity. Pearl, Pink and I are going to teach you how to fight.”

Several intense hours of sparring later, both gems had a rudimentary understanding of self-defensive combat.

“Okay. I… I think you two are ready. How’re you, Bee? I hope Spinel didn’t get poofed.”

“Neither of us got poofed, luckily. We even got a little practice in courtesy of some rogue topazes who pretended to be fighting us. They did ask how you were going to make sure you could pull it off, though.”

“Pink is going to bring all the members of her court sympathetic to our cause to the protest, and…”

I proceeded to walk backwards off the cliff behind me. Luckily,  my gem is on my back and I landed facedown, so I poofed, but didn’t crack or anything. A couple hours later, I reformed, the puffy black ball gown I had been wearing before replaced by a spiked jacket, heels replaced by combat boots, finally a form I was comfortable with!

“Black, why are you smiling? You just jumped off a 50 foot tall cliff! Not to mention the fact that you reformed!”

“I’m just happy to have a form I’m happy with. Or is being happy illegal, Yellow?”

“Excuse me?”

“Welp, back to planning my protest.”

On my way out, I flipped off a very mad Yellow, resulting in several of her guards coming at me at once. It was at this moment that I realized my power was to summon light cannons out of the ground. 

The cannons poofed four of the guards, but I didn't want to shatter. We left, going back to the kindergarten to gather our forces.