Gem woke up in Hermitopia as soon as the sun's rays began to glimmer and dance over the horizon. She smiled wanly at it. Perhaps that would be the last sunrise that she would ever see. Might as well enjoy it while it lasted. So she stood by the window and watched as the sun slowly climbed into the sky.
Behind her everyone else started waking up and then Sausage said something about making breakfast. Gem wasn't particularly hungry. The thought of fighting the Watchers that day made her lose her appetite. But doing anything on an empty stomach wasn't exactly advised. Still, she stayed by the window staring at the sun until someone told her that breakfast was ready.
She glanced to the side and started a little when she noticed Grian standing next to her, watching the sun as well. "Pretty sunrise." He mumbled. "You missed most of it." Gem pointed out. Grian shrugged and they went back to watching the sky. "You know," He said after a short pause, "'Grian' means sun. Did you know that?"
"No." Gem admitted. "That's a nice name." "Yeah..." Grian smiled softly. "Mom used to call me 'sunshine' before they divorced." Gem patted his shoulder sympathetically. "I'm sorry about your parents." She said. Grian hummed to himself. "I've gotten over it." He said, and he sounded sincere. He looked straight into Gem's brilliant green eyes. "I've got good friends who care about me now."
Gem smiled. "Yeah, me too." She said, inwardly thinking of her old adopted parents and her birth parents before that. The ones who abandoned her. She found she didn't mind their loss that much anymore. She had real friends this time. And she was going to protect her friends from the Watchers no matter what.
They went back to looking directly at the sun for a little while longer until Sausage banged on a tin can with a soup spoon and called out, "Breakfast is ready! Don't you dare ask what went in it!" Gem and Grian looked at each other. "What do you think the second part means?" Grian asked somewhat hesitantly. "I don't think we want to know." Gem grimaced.
So they ate a breakfast of some sort of pie that tasted sort of off. Gem just wondered when Sausage had the time to bake a pie. Did Hermitopia even have an oven? Or maybe Sausage used his teleporting powers. Who knew with that crazy yet lovable man? Gem hoped that he wouldn't die today.
After breakfast Gem approached Sausage to find him kneeling and praying in the corner by the window with the sun streaming its glorious light onto him. It had the weird effect of making him look angelic. But in what universe was the chaotic and mischievous Sausage an angel? Gem snorted at the thought.
"Madre de Girasoles, amen." Sausage finished, then he looked up and smiled at the sun for a good ten seconds before acknowledging Gem's presence. "Oh, good morning, Gem." "Good morning, Sausage." Gem said, sitting down next to him. "Who were you praying to ?" She asked. She idly remembered the days that some Watchers were worshipped in a world or two before they fell down onto their darker path.
"The Madre de Girasoles, the mother of sunflowers, Santa Perla!" Sausage said, beaming. "She's also the embodiment and deity and mother of the sun." "Isn't her name Pearl Moon?" Gem asked, thinking of her fellow soupervisor. "And Bdubs is the deity of the sun." "Only for your sun religion." Sausage said, shrugging. "Making him a deity for one little sun religion doesn't make him an actual god."
"Fair enough." Gem conceded. She and Sausage found themselves just zoning out and staring at the sun. "Sausage, what if we die today?" Gem asked. Sausage paused for a second, and Gem shot him a double take when she realized that he was actually frowning. Well, not really, but he didn't exactly have his usual boisterous, ear-to-ear smile that he wore 24/7 so that was something.
"Even when it gets dark," Sausage said in an odd voice, as if repeating someone else's words. "And day turns to night, remember that the sun will always shine again on the next day." He looked at the sun again. "Mother used to say that before she died." Gem blinked. She'd never heard Sausage mention his parents before. "I'm sorry about that." She said.
Sausage shrugged and nodded at her. "Yeah, I still miss her." He said. "She died when I was a little kid." Gem sighed in sympathy. "That's not something any kid should experience." She said, thinking of her own parent issues. "Yeah," Sausage hummed in agreement. He looked at the sun again. "Still, it's not that bad anymore. I mean, it's not like she isn't still with me."
Gem tilted her head to look at him questioningly. "Still with you?" She repeated. Sausage beamed at her. "Yeah. She's still with me. In here." He tapped the spot on his chest right above his heart. "And over there." Sausage said, looking at the sun. "I see her in every sunrise. And whenever I feel down, I wait for the sunrise and remember what mother said. That whenever things seem bad, things will always get better."
The sunlight glinted off of his silver and turquoise armor that Gem was now realizing he wore. He wasn't in his peacetime outfit anymore. Sausage was wearing the armor he wore when he fled his old kingdom. The armor he wore and forged to protect his friends and family. Like he was going to do now. And Gem was going to follow his example.
After breakfast concluded everyone grabbed their weapons and shared last minute tips and tricks on pvp and other stuff like that. Then they all started to file out of Hermitopia to line up outside.
As Gem followed them out she realized that the Watchers were already waiting for them. She counted five Watchers including Jimena and out of the corner of her eye she could see Martyn trying to hide behind False. Gem sighed. The battle is starting. I need to protect my friends.
Then the familiar voice of 2 rang out across what was once spawn but was now a battlefield. A battlefield where people could die. <Fight!> The lines of people rushed to each other and Gem transformed into her Watcher form, ready to strike.
She targeted the yellow Watcher, making blades around her hands out of green power and then slicing across her arm. The other Watcher winced and countered with her own blades, but Gem parried and hit her again. Watchers didn't have blood in their more powerful form, but Gem didn't need the blood flowing out of the wounds she inflicted to know that she was dealing a good amount of damage.
The only problem was holding back so some mortals wouldn't have their minds snap from looking at their sheer uncovered power. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a giant cyan figure and knew that Scott had transformed into a weaker version of his Listener form to fight.
"You traitors." The yellow Watcher Gem was fighting spat out, and she managed to cuff Gem's chin hard while she wasn't paying enough attention. Gem's head swiveled back to glare at her opponent. "Call me whatever you like but you have forgotten one important. I was the first original Watcher."
And with that Gem slashed violently across the yellow Watcher's neck. leaving behind a clean straight line. The Watcher gasped and clutched at her throat, healing it in a hasty panic whilst flying away to keep out of Gem's reach. That should keep her for a while, even if she doesn't die. Gem thought grimly. She turned around to see if any of her friends were in trouble and needed her help.
She spotted Sausage and Pearl nearby, fighting back to back as they were cornered by a gray Watcher. Gem made to go and help them but then Sausage teleported himself and Pearl onto the Watcher's back and they swung their axes onto his neck. With a shriek the Watcher teleported away and Pearl and Sausage tumbled to the floor, fist bumping each other.
Gem teleported around the battlefield too, trying to fight as many Watchers as she could. It would be easier for her to defeat them than for her mortal friends. They could then handle False and Martyn and maybe Jimena while their godly friends took out the heavy hitters. Gem found Scott and Joel teaming up to fight a pink Watcher and went to join them.
"Hah, take that!" Joel cried out triumphantly as he struck the Watcher with lightning. She stumbled back, growling at him. Then she summoned and three five balls of sheer energy at the three of them at once and they were thrown to the ground.
"Take that!" The other Watcher ranted, stomping over toward them with her hands sheathed in sharp pink blades of energy. Scott was the first to get to his feet and he quickly healed up Gem and Joel. Then they shot toward the other Watcher at the same time, preparing their attacks.
Lighting struck, glowing energy weapons flashed, balls of Watcher magic were thrown, and all four of them were still on their feet, albeit getting tired quite a bit and pretty roughed up by now. "How powerful is this one?!" Joel asked no on in particular, panting. "Why are you looking at me? Why would I know?" Scott asked.
"Not all of us Watchers are pushovers like you two!" The pink Watcher shouted as she shot strange energy shurikens at them. Yelping, Scott pulled Gem and Joel down as the Watcher-generated ninja stars spun over their heads and then impaled the trees behind them, slicing them cleaning in half and then letting them fall over.
"Yikes! Thanks, Scott, I owe you one." Joel said, panting as he got back up again and prepared to shoot more electricity. "You won't last long enough to repay him back!" The pink Watcher shouted, producing even more energy weapons.
"Don't worry, I got you!" Sausage suddenly shouted as he teleported out of nowhere, swinging his ax. He chopped it at the Watcher, but she dodged out of the way and grabbed him, holding him aloft with a hateful expression on her face. "Sausage!" They all shouted in horror.
But Sausage was smiling. Even more than that, he was giggling. "Do you have any idea what you have just gotten into?!" The Watcher asked in irritation; irked by how calm he was in the face of potential death. Sausage just simply smirked in reply. "Do you have any idea what you have just gotten into? Now, Bubbles!"
Suddenly Sausage's Yorkshire terrier popped out of nowhere and landed on the ground in front of the pink Watcher. Then she opened her mouth and strange eldritch tentacles came sprouting out of it. The Watcher yelped and dropped Sausage who teleported safely to the ground.
The tentacles started growing and wrapping around the pink Watcher, tightening their grip the more she struggled to escape. She even tried to teleport but for some reason it didn't work. "Bon appetit, Bubbles!" Sausage grinned as Bubbles' strange tentacles pulled the Watcher into her mouth and she closed it, swallowing. She barked once and then promptly fell asleep, snoring.
"Mommy." Joel said in shock. Sausage picked up sleeping Bubbles, petted her twice, and then teleported her away to safety. "Oh, she gets really tired whenever she does that." Sausage explained like his dog hadn't just swallowed a Watcher whole.