Amythest didn't really know what to with herself at the moment. She was all for saving Will and everything. But what about all the other crap that has been going on. Quasar was without a doubt going to go do some scientist thing. Garnet and Pearl were probably coming up with a plan. Steven was finally getting some sleep. And Lapis was probably just lounging around.
Oh, just thinking about that gem made her angry. Her attitude alone said she thought she was better than them.
"Oh, I can control water. Look at me, I'm so cool and special. Oh yeah, I'm pissed off you kept me trapped without even knowing I was still alive. Yeah, bite my ass Lazuli!" She yelled to no one.
She brought her hand down and smashed something. Wood splintering to pieces as an old chair took her anger.
She gazed down to the chair she had just wrecked. A triangle on her face as she realized she and destroyed her favorite chair.
Amythest then saw a very familiar pest snake its way through her junk piles. Slithering between them like the mutant snake it was.
"Ah good, just the anger management I needed." She said with a grin as she summoned her whip. She then leaped up into the air and sent out a strike with her whip. Cutting a junk like in half. But the sooner got away as it retreated into another area.
"Oh no you don't, get back here you little shit!" She yelled. She wanted this things gem mounted on her wall in a bubble after all the annoyances it caused her.
She spin dashed toward the pile it slithered into. Her body collided with the like and sent random things flying everywhere. Amythest jumped up and sent her whip flying at the Slinker. The whip wrapped around one of the dark tentacles.
The Slinker immediately took notice of this and tried to throw her off. Spinning and moving around erratically to try and throw her off. But Amythest wouldn't be pried off so easily.
She pushed her feet into the ground to get it to stop. Wrapping her whip around her other arm to get a better hold on it. The Slinker did noticably slow down when she did that. But it simply spun around and knocked her back with one of it's tentacles.
Amythest lost her grip on the rope from that and was sent flying. She skid over the Crystal ground of her room like a stone on water before she came to a stop.
"Damn, that hurt." She groaned as she got off the ground. She could feel a light trickle of purple blood going down the front of her head from a particularly nasty hit.
She slowly got to her feet as she summoned another whip to go fight it again. She then noticed a familiar blue gem floating in front of her. A slug smile on her face.
"Having fun." She said with a shit eating grin.
"I don't need to deal with your shit right now." Amythest said as she brushed past the gem. Heading over to where the Slinker had gone to.
"Oh, and what's got you all worked up." She said as she simply floated next to the purple gem.
"In case you havent noticed, the corrupted gem that's been sneaking around the temple is here. I want it out of here." She said harshly as she ran toward where the gem was.
Amythest leapt toward it as it jumped through the waterfall. Amythest swing her whip around the other side to try and catch it off gaurd. She successfully got it wrapped around the body.
She then landed in the shallow water as she then tugged on her whip with all her strength. The Slinker then came flying forward. Where she then swung her whip overhead and sent the monster straight into the sure stone.
But it seemed it wasn't down yet as it got back up and snapped her whip with some effort. It screeched loudly and went flying at her. To fast for her to dodge it barreled into her. Sending her flying back into the water.
"You little Bastard!" She yelled. Amythest sat in the pool as she swore. She tried to get up but the monster came flying at her again.
Being poofed was what Amythest expected to happen. Possibly even be shattered by the monsters strength.
What she was not however expecting was for several arms of water to spring our of the forums and home it in place.
Amythest looked to see Lapis with her arms stretched out, a look of intense concentration on her face.
"Your welcome!" She yelled as she struggled to hold back the deceptively strong monster.
She wiped the blood that had started to build up on her lip. She picked her body up out of the pool and drew another whip. Letting it rest by her side as she bent low.
Then she shot forward and wrapped her whip around the Slinker. She then swung around the monster several times. Wrapping it up in her whip. She then used her momentum and swung it over and into the wall of her room.
She felt a sense of accomplishment rise up in her but when she heard the loud crash from when it impacted.
She started to slam over to finish it off when her mood was ruined by one thing she forgot.
"Well, that was dramatic. But effective I guess." Lapis said as she shrugged her shoulders at the purple gems antics. She then let go of the water she was controlling and let it fall half into the pool.
"Thanks I guess." Amythest said begrudgingly to the ocean gem. She didn't like the fact that Lapis had saved her. And now she was probably going to hold it over her head.
Lapis summoned her wings again and floated over to where Amythest was walking. Hovering alongside the purple gem once more.
"I'm surprised you aren't gloating that you saved me." Amythest said with both confusion and frustration.
Lapis eyed her, she raised an eyebrow in apparent confusion. "Why would I gloat over you?" She asked.
Amythest wanted to scoff but thought better of it. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that you seem to think your better than everyone." She said with no restraint to the anger in her voice.
Lapis looked genuinely surprised at this. She changed her position from casually floating to regular flying.
"I don't think I'm better than any of you. Why I act like this is because you kept me locked in a mirror for five millennia!" She said as her voice finally reached a yelling level.
Amythest stopped dead in her tracks as she stared the ocean gem in the eyes. Her own purple orbs filled with fury.
"And that's our fault how? As far as I know, I wasn't even born when you were trapped! And Garnet and Pearl never knew you were alive!" She yelled at Lapis.
Lapis wings slowly frosted over to ice as her eyes narrowed. "You never even bothered to even check if I was alive." She said a low and deadly still tone.
Amythest pushed her chest in fury. Shoving the ocean gem back. "Why would we, they already told me that no other gem in history survived that! So how could we have known you would be miss first! But no! You had to go and be a bitch about it and treat us like we were your shatterers!" She kept shoving Lapis. Making the ocean gem more and more infuriated.
Lapis had finally had enough and dropped to the ground. She swung her arm half and both of her wings morphed into a large water fist. It came forward at a blinding pace and slammed into the purple gem.
Amythest felt the blow knock the air out of her lungs as she was flung backwards faster than she could register.
She felt her back scrape along the ground before crashing into a junk pile. She lay there for a few moments to recollect her breathing. She then tried to get up, but as of to add insult to injury. An old car landed right in front of her. Blocking her from getting out.
Amythest banged her fist against the side of the junk pile in frustration. Her teeth clenched in anger. But she remembered one important thing when she saw the junk fall away to reveal a path through the junk.
_______
Lapis fumes over what Amythest said. How dare she call her that. That little shit was going to get beat for insulting her.
She then heard a loud crash sound and saw Amythest spin dash out of a large heap of junk right next to her. She didn't have time to bring up any defense. She was knocked to the side form the blow. Further exaggerated by the fact that she was flying.
Amythest then came out of her spin form and she brought her whip down. It wrapped around her then tightened. Pinning her arms to her sides.
Amythest then swung her around and slammed her into the ground. Hard.
Lapis gasped as she felt her back almost crack from the force she was hit with.
She brought the water from over in the pool to her. She then tried to fly out of reach of Amythest. But before she could do that she was the purple gem rocket upward. She then brought back her fist and punched she straight in the face.
Lapis head rocked backward painfully from the force exerted on her head. She then fell to the ground from her focus being taken away from flying.
Lapis got back up and could feel the blood flowing down her face from her nose. She took wiped her hand under it and it was confirmed when she saw the dark blue liquid on her hand.
"Oh, so that's how this is gonna go." She said simply. She activated her wings once more and flew out of the way of another strike. Lapis summoned a large amount of water and formed it into ice. She then sent the large ball at the short gem.
Amythest saw the large ball of ice come flying at her. She tried to jump out of the way, but her right arm still got hit.
"Damn it!" She cursed as she held her arm in pain. The shoulder popped out of it's socket from that blow.
She then saw the large ball split apart and turn back into water. It then came flying at her like blunt spears.
She dodged out of the way of the spears. Using her small frame to her advantage by ducking between them.
With a painful grunt she popped her shoulder back into it's socket and summoned another whip.
She then grappled onto a bowling ball on one of her piles. She then sent the heavy stone flying at the gem. The ball flew through the air and impacted the blue gem hard in the stomach. Causing her to spit up both blood and spit.
She couldn't control her powers anymore and fell from the sky. She landed on her back. But considering she wasn't holding her gem in pain, she wasn't cracked.
She held her stomach in pain. Caughing up small bits of blood still.
"Gold to know she finally got some manners knocked into her. Well, that's one more fight under my win list." She said with a grin.
She began to walk away from the downed gem when she felt like something was grabbing her leg. She looked down confused before she was sent to the ground from a harsh tug. Her face was grinded on the ground forcibly. Causing several small cuts and gashes to appear on her face. Purple blood leaking from the punctures.
She was forced into the air and dangled there for a moment. But in that moment she saw the face of an extremely pissed off Lapis. She hovered in the middle of the pool of water. Her wings were slightly frozen at the edges. Creating an almost razor shape edge. Several strands of water were hovering around her. Just like the one that was currently holding her in place.
"Oh shit." Amythest said simply before she was beaten into the ground by several fists of water.
She could feel her very bones rattle with each hit. Her entire body shook from the punishment she was taking. It felt like she was going through a meat grinder.
She slowly tried to get away. Crawling slowly along the ground with her bloody and broken hand. But then another fist came down on her head and poofed her.
Lapis breathed heavily from the amount of control and power she just exerted. Her bruised chest rapidly going in and out from the breathing.
She gently lowered herself to the ground. She then almost immediately collapsed to her knees. She was basically exhausted. She used a lot of power when her body was damaged. And now it was taking its tole. She'd have to sit out for a few days if she didn't decide to reform.
She then heard a sound that made her blood run cold. Her gem heart stopped for a moment as she slowly looked up to see what made the noise. But sadly her fears were confirmed when she saw the pissed off form of the Slinker.
It simply stood several feet in front of her. Taking in the sight of her broken form.
She swore that it almost smiled at when it saw she was in no condition to fight. It passed over Amythest's still gem and rushed at her. Several of it's arms swung backward to strike.
She could barely hear anything except the rapidly beating heart inside her chest. But there was a full thud sound that rapidly got faster and louder.
But then the Slinker plunged it's deceptively sharp arms init her chest. Tearing its way through bone, muscle and organs and flesh. It then tore gruesomely out the other side.
Lapis could only stare on in shock and horror ass he glanced down at her wound. Blue blood flowing like the water she controlled. Along with bits she knew were definitely supposed to stay inside.
She then gazed slowly back at the beast before poofing.
Her gem then landed softly on the signed ground of the room. With her blood sorrounding and coating it.
_____
"Unknown gem target 400 feet ahead." Quasar told her inside her head.
Garnet had to admit, while it was weird at first to be able to hear him inside her head. It did come in handy. It was also nice to get information told directly to her.
She ran at over 60 MPH in the room. Going as fast as she could to get to the corrupted gem that had been sneaking around the temple. As well as stopping the fight between Amythest and Lapis.
While her old speed was about 20 faster than this. The added firepower, protection and uses outweighed it heavily in her mind. And she knew Quasar hadn't even fully told her everything in here yet.
"Oh my god." Quasar said in clear disbelief.
Garnet tilted her eyes over to where his avatar resided in her screen. "What is it?" She asked.
Amythest was poofed after she took a hell of a beating from lapis. Lapis was exhausted and wasn't able to do anything when the Slinker appeared in corny of her. It then impaled her through the stomach and she poofed." He told her.
"Anything to get there now!" She asked the AI.
"Activating micro Fusion drives." He said. Then on the back of her armor two heavily reinforced nozzles blared to life. They then propelled her into the air and she flew several times faster.
Once in the air she saw the Slinker. She then repositioned her body toward it and sped off at it.
The Slinker had no time to react as it had over a ton and a half of Gem and armor spam into it. Crushing it partly.
Garnet then brought back her gauntleted fist and bright it down on it's central mass. It hit with a satisfying crunch and she could hear the sound of the dual Magnums going off to further increase the damage.
She then stomped her heavy foot down on the things arms, holding it in place. It screeched further in pain as it's arms were crunched.
Garnet then brought her fists back and rapidly fired punches at the thing.
The effect was almost an execution of one were able to watch it. It was hit with rapid and heavy blows. Each only further increased with 2 Magnum rounds each. Shredding the insides to pieces.
The corrupted gem poofed quickly. The Aquamarine dropped to the ground in front of Garnet. She carefully bent down to pick it up. Where she then summoned a bubble around it and sent it away with a tap.
'good to know that still works in here.' she thought.
'you know I can hear that right?' said Quasar.
"Ah, I forget you could read my thoughts as well. Stop that." Garnet said calmly.
"Don't worry, I'm just teasing you. I'll stop." He said from the speakers.
Garnet then soaked over to the two gems on the ground. Both in puddles of their respective color blood. But Amythest's was also in a crater from the damage of lapis.
Honestly it was a miracle that they weren't cracked or shattered.
She gently picked up both gems in her armored hands. They were stained a bit with their own blood as she did. But she didn't care about that right now. She needed to make sure that both of them learned a lesson.
_____
Steven awoke from his restless sleep.
He had been having nightmares ever since Will went missing and Homeworld attacked. With nightmares ranging from all sorts of worst case scenarios.
He gently wiped the sleep from his eyes as he twisted his body to get out of bed. His feet impacting with the warm wood of his loft.
"Steven, I suggest you get dressed quicky. Because when Amythest and Lapis reform, their gonna get a long talk about their actions." Said the voice of Garnet.
Well, it was Garnet's voice. But it sounded differently somehow.
Steven then wiped the sleep fully from his eyes and loomed over to where the voice came from. But what he saw shocked him.
Standing in the middle of the room was Garnet. But she was wearing an almost mech like suit of armor. It made her over a foot taller and the color scheme was a cool mixture of azure and crimson. With a heavy and dark black underlayer.
That wasn't even mentioning the weapons he could see. There was a large barrel of sorts on her back. As well as two on each of her gauntlets. All in all it looked like an even cooler version of Will's armor.
But then he noticed the blood on her hands. A mixture of light and dark blue. As well as purple on the other hand.
So with a worried feeling in his gut he grabbed some clothes from his dresser. Steven then bolted down the stairs and into the bathroom.
______
Steven walked out of the bathroom with the feeling in his gut growing.
What was with all the craziness in the last few days. It was a lot crazier than normal with all the stuff going on.
He then rounded the corner and went back into the living room. Where he saw both Garnet and Pearl, as well as Quasar standing in front of the two gemstones laid on the couch. Garnet seemed to have changed out of her armor and was back in her normal outfit.
"Amythest should've reformed already. She's never taken this long before." Said Pearl with a worried tone in her voice.
"And we don't know how long Lapis usually takes. It could be days, or it could be hours. We simply don't know." Said the AI as he crossed his arms over his dress shirt and suspenders.
Steven sat at the counter and stared at the two gemstones. He remembered when Pearl got poofed that it took tow weeks for her to reform. And Amythest was grounded from using any guns until she was 'more responsible'.
Pearl and Quasar followed him. The former leaving against the counter and the later transferring to a projector built into said counter.
The two gems started to reform quickly after. Lifting slightly into the air while a humanoid form took shape.
Both were separated on opposite ends of the living room to avoid any further arguments or fights.
Amythest finished reforming first. Her body flipped onto the end of the couch. Where she then took in her sorroundings.
She now wore a black tank top with a white star on each side of her lower torso. While she wore dark purple yoga pants with black boots.
"What? Why's everyone looking at me like I kicked Lion?" She asked. She raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Garnet simply raised a hand in a gesture that said to wait. Amythest looked over to the glowing bone gem taking shape. A scowl crossing her face as she remembered their argument and fight. Where she was beaten with a cheap shot.
Lapis finally finished reforming. Her form was a lot different than her old one.
She now wore a dark blue crop top that was covered with a blue jacket. She then wore a pair of jeans shorts to cover her legs as well. Instead of a star, a small eagle over a raindrop was on the left shoulder of her jacket. All toped off with a pair of blue and cyan sneakers.
Lapis looked at everyone with a neutral expression on her face. A slight smile appearing on her face as she saw Steven. Then her gaze fell to Amythest and her look soured.
She made an attempt to get up and leave. But Garnet put an end to that before she could even try.
"Sit down." She said sternly. She was surprised at seeing even slight anger come from the normally calm and collected gem. She then reluctantly sat back down on the opposite end from Amythest.
"What happened." She told them. Her arms crossed with a look of disappointment on her face.
"I was tired of her accusing me." Lapis size coldly.
"I'm tired of her being a bitch." Amythest responded.
Pearl clenched her hands together in a tight fist. Her annoyance at the their arguing and fighting showing.
"Guys, please stop fighting. We're supposed to be a team, remember?" Said Steven, trying to get them to stop.
"If you did this on a mission it would have gotten everyone hurt. Even now, you did it while the down Slinker was still fighting you. Hell, if we hadn't shown up, you'd both be in pieces on the floor!" Quasar yelled at them.
That just made Amythest growl slightly. While lapis started to form her wings as her scowl deepened.
"Of course, you two can't go an ten minutes in each other's company without being at each other's throats!" Yelled Pearl.
Lapis eyed her dangerously. "Awful big town coming from miss emotional breakdown. You can't go more than a week without something dramatic going on."
Pearl narrowed her eyes at the blue gem. "What did you say."
Lapis stood up and walked over to her. Poking her in the chest as she stared her directly in the eyes.
"I said, you can't go a week without pissing everyone off with your drama. You have even more emotional issues than the rest of us combined. But then again, your just a broken old Pearl."
Steven tried to pry them apart so that they didn't start fighting. But he was beaten by Garnet. She forcibly shoved them apart. And she had to forcibly stop Pearl from grabbing either her spear or gun.
"That's enough, both of you sit down and clam down!" She then turned to Steven. "I think you should leave for a little bit Steven." She told him.
Amythest then hot up and walked over to her. "Why should he Garnet. Why are you treating him like he can't handle it!"
Garnet turned to her. "Because he's still a kid! He's not ready for this." She told the short gem.
Lapis then turned to her with even more anger. "Who are you to say what he is and isn't ready for. You don't control his life!"
"Why the hell is everyone acting like I'm not even here! Your all making my decisions for me right now. The only one who needs to worry about what I am and am not ready for is me. So stop trying to do it for me!" He yelled.
Everyone simply stood there in shock at the uncharacteristic outburst of Steven. Quasar just seemed to sit there with a disappointed look on his face at the full Gems.
Quasar finally started speaking again. "I'm gonna e lighten all of you on a few things. You shut the fuck up and listen. Or I swear to God I'll make the next century for you a living hell." He said with silent fury at the gems.
Steven sat next to the AI as all the full Gems simply stood in silence.
"All your arguments are only based upon half truths and misconceptions." He then turned to Amythest.
"How would you feel if you were trapped in a prison for millennia, with no hope of ever escaping. All the whole knowing that there's someone so close who could do something."
Amythest was about to argue when he widened his eyes in a look that said 'shut up and listen'.
He then turned to Lapis. "You need to get over it. While Pearl may have been able to release you anytime, she had no warthog idea that you were even alive. Let alone trapped in there. So stop being mad over something no one even knew about."
Lapis bit her lip to stop from yelling at him.
He then turned to Pearl. "You do need to get your past and life in order. Because of you don't then situations like Rose's scabbard are gonna keep happening, and it's only gonna put everyone at risk or piss everyone off."
He then finally turned to Garnet. "You, need to keep your emotions stable. Don't bottle them up and let them explode all at once like now."
He then stared at all of them. "Pearl, you have been working on you own issues and I'm proud of you. Garnet, you've kept remarkably calm throughout this whole time, but my advice still stands. Lapis, don't get mad from something that no one had any knowledge of. And Amythest, you need to not get so angry, Lapis isn't your enemy. And before you go calling me a hypocrite. I've been here the shortest by far out of all of you. I wasn't even born human or gem. I gained my sentience only fifteen years ago. And I've been trying to fix any issues I have." He finally finished.
If he were a human he would be taking several deep breaths after such a long speech. But he said what needed to be said.
Now it was time to see how they would take it. He turned to Steven, who had a smile and gave him a thumbs up. He smiled and turned back to the Gems.
Plans looked at all three of the full Gems. "Fine I guess I can start to let this go. And I'll try to stop picking on Pearl." She said reluctantly. But at least the anger was leaving her face.
Amythest sighed. "I'll stop being rude to you if you keep your promise." She said with more than a bit of reluctance.
Pearl fiddled with her hands and kept her eyes low. She then looked up to the rest. "I'm ready." She said simply with a slight smile.
Steven then jumped off the stool and soaked dover to them. Pushing them all close to each other with a bubble shield before it fell quickly. He then shapeshifted his arms to stretch around all of them.
"Group hug!" He yelled.
Quasar looked on at the rather awkward bonding. While it was only beginning, everyone was starting to make themselves better. He even saw lapis reluctantly smile as they all embraced.
He took a photo and saved it to his core memories as he left the kitchen and headed back into the temple. A smile across his face as he did.
The first new Crystal Gem in fourteen years was finally starting to feel at home.