Templeschool

32. Just Why?

Steven led the Watermelon villagers down the cliff as the battle raged on. He watched Alexandrite get tossed into the ocean by Malachite. The other watermelon Stevens were close behind as they breached the cover of trees. Shell raised in the air, Steven blew into the end, signaling for the others to attack. Malachite turned around as arrows assaulted her from behind. She laughed, looking around at all of the watermelons that fought against her. Steven was undeterred by her mocking them. Another sound of the horn signaled the catapults and the air raid. Several watermelon Stevens' landed on the turquoise fusion's face and punched her in the eye. She stumbled back and tripped over a rope trap held taut by more living watermelons.

Malachite recovered quickly from their assault. As Alexandrite freed herself from her ice prison in the ocean, Malachite swatted watermelons away with her hands. Steven gazed around in horror as more and more watermelons were battered and smashed apart. Before Malachite could smash the watermelon that Steven was possessing, Alexandrite used her gauntlet whip to pull Malachite towards her. The magenta fusion punched her in the gut and then hit her into the air with her hammer.

"You two should spend some time apart." Alexandrite summoned her bow and charged an energy arrow. It spliced through Malachite, defusing Lapis and Jasper from each other. Alexandrite gently caught the unconscious forms of Lapis and Jasper, setting them down on the beach before unfusing as well. Steven ran up to the exhausted Crystal Gems with a smile on his face. The gems won! They defeated Malachite and saved Lapis! He hugged Pearl while Garnet helped Amethyst up.

"Steven! Is that you in there?" At Steven's nod, Pearl let out a sigh of relief. "At least you're safe. Did you happen to see Twoie?" Steven froze at her question. He shook his head rapidly and turned to Garnet, frantically rambling questions. Although they couldn't understand what Steven was saying, Garnet knew the gist of it.

"During our fight, Malachite managed to stun us long enough to attack Twoie. We didn't see exactly where he went, and we couldn't go after him. We were hoping that he was staying out of the way or that you had seen him." Garnet scoured the beach with her eyes. "The fact that he isn't here is troubling." She turned to the group of Watermelon Stevens and bowed. "Thank you, all of you. We couldn't have done this without your help. I'm sorry to ask more of you, but have you seen a human? His name is Twoie, and we got separated during the battle."

The watermelons conversed amongst each other, but no one had seen him. Suddenly, the ground shook beneath them. Everyone tried to keep their balance as the earth cracked beneath their feet, and the island bobbed in the ocean. Steven clung to Garnet's leg as the section of the island they were standing on tilted over. Lapis and Jasper started sliding down, but Amethyst grabbed Lapis in time. Jasper slid down into the crack in the earth and disappeared.

"It must be the Cluster! We need to start drilling, but we still don't know where Twoie is!" Garnet looked down at Steven. "It's up to you! We need to find Twoie, so we won't make it to the barn in time to join you." Steven shook his head. He needed to know that Twoie was okay. What if something terrible had happened to him? Steven wouldn't be able to astral-project again if they were drilling. Garnet bent down and held his face in her hands. "We'll find Twoie and bring him home. Remember what he told you. The earth needs you right now. You have to stop the Cluster." Steven looked at each of the gems with teary eyes. They all gave him encouraging smiles. The kid felt sick to his stomach with worry, but he nodded. They were right. He needed to stop the Cluster. Steven closed his eyes, and the watermelon Steven he was inhabiting fell into Garnet's arms.

The Crystal Gems jumped across the growing chasm with Lapis and the now unconscious Watermelon Steven. The other villagers took their friend while Amethyst held onto Lapis. "I wish we were able to start looking for him before the earthquake," Amethyst commented as she looked around at all the cracks in the ground. "Probably would've made it easier to look for him."