Universe Falls

Chapter 12: Copies and Clones

"I think it's this one," Garnet remarked, her hands on her hips as she gazed up at the largest hourglass in the shrine. It easily towered over all of the Gems, its imposing statue not lost on their youngest one.

"Whoa..." Steven muttered in amazement as he stood in the shadow of the massive hourglass, stars in his eyes. "I've never seen an hourglass so huge!"

"But how are we supposed to even get this back to the Warp Pad?" Pearl asked with a concerned frown.

"I can carry it," Garnet affirmed, cracking her knuckles as a show of her strength.

"Garnet, wait!" Pearl exclaimed, placing a hand on the Gem leader's shoulder to stop her. "We need to be careful about which one we touch. You remember what happened the last time we were here, don't you?"

"What happened?" Steven asked curiously, though before he could answer, Amethyst spoke up.

"Hey guys, I'm makin' the call!" the purple Gem shouted, picking up a rather intricate hourglass with several connected bulbs. "It's this janky one right here!"

"Amethyst!" Pearl exclaimed in a sudden panic, which only intensified as the entire shrine began to shake.

"Uh.... I guess it wasn't..." Amethyst frowned as she looked at the hourglass she had chosen, which had apparently been the wrong one.

All too soon, sea water began to surge into the temple, pouring into the glass structure from a panel in its roof that had suddenly shattered. "Look out!" Garnet shouted, leaping into action to grab Steven and save him from the heavy deluge. The Gem leader landed squarely upon the warp pad on the far end of the temple, with both Steven and Pearl in tow "We don't have much time before the shrine is completely flooded," Garnet noted. "We need to leave. Now."

"Amethyst, come on!" Pearl impatiently urged the purple Gem, who hopped up onto the warp pad herself only as Steven leapt off of it. "Steven! Where are you going?!"

"Amethyst got to keep her hourglass!" Steven called back as he ran towards the hourglass collection, slogging through the water that was already knee-deep.

"Darn tootin'!" Amethyst proclaimed with a proud grin, holding her hourglass up in triumph.

"I wanna get the one I picked out!"

"Steven!" Pearl and Garnet called out in worried unison, though the young Gem hardly paid them any mind as he approached the smaller hourglass from earlier.

"Hi there! My name's Steven," he greeted the spherical hourglass with a fond grin as he scooped it up into his hands. "You're gonna come live with me!"

"Steven, come on!"

"Coming!" Steven called back as he ran for the warp pad, fully aware of the huge wave of water at his heels the whole time. Pearl let out a panicked squeal upon seeing this, but Garnet, as calm as ever, quickly shapeshifted her arm, stretching out to catch the young Gem and pull him towards the warp.

"Hurry up! Hurry up!" Amethyst urged anxiously, though thankfully Garnet managed to pull Steven to the warp pad just in the nick of time.

"Well done, Garnet!" Pearl praised with relief. There was no time to celebrate as the heavy wave rolled upon them, forcing them to warp out of the flooding shrine just seconds short of being swept away.

Unfortunately, the Gems hadn't been quick enough to warp back without taking a majority of the massive wave with them. Water poured into the house, soaking everything in sight, including the Gems who stood upon the warp pad dripping wet, and Steven, who was more than happy to ride the wave as it flowed onto the floor.