Summary: Relaxing and gem hunting
"Come on Star, we've been training all day." Jackie turned to Marco and Star, who were riding in the back. "We're gonna overwork ourselves if we don't have some r and r time."
"I know, but I still can't get my Narwhal blast back to how it used to be. It still comes out all green and goopy." The usual chipper princes groaned. "Besides, it doesn't have the stomping power that can take on someone like Jasper."
"Okay, Jasper could go toe to toe with Garnet, the fusion with future vision, three elements under her belt, and punches that can cause shockwaves. Clearly that should not be the minimum you should be trying to reach." Marco sighed. "Thanks for taking us guys, she really needed an out."
"No prob. You guys are kind of the ones that took care of the hand thing. It's literally the least we can do." Jackie waved off with a smile.
"Heh, take care of isn't what I call it, since we crashed down to earth and almost died, but thanks." She honestly expected Marco needing to be the one to get told to relax.
"Stuff happens man." Buck spoke up wisely. "All you can do is let it wash over you, or get lost in the current of the past's guilt and doubt."
"So, what's the plan?" Star asked.
"Well we have a car." Jenny spoke up. "So we're going joyriding in this big open spot near the fields. Should be lots of fun for some high speed donuts."
"That sounds nice actually, my brother and I did the same thing back on Mewni, except it was on top of a lion and it was just the big fur ball chasing a rabbicorn."
"I'm pretty sure the car can get more mileage than a Lion." Sour Cream smirked. "We can go up to a solid eighty to hundred miles an hour in this thing."
"Oh really? Then step on, dj man!" Star yelled, the usual excited glint in her eye finally returning. "You have no idea how much I needed this. Mom let me keep the dimensional scissors, but she calls me like every three hours now just to see what dimension I'm in." There was a ringing tone, Star pulling a pocket mirror. "On earth mom, human car, five human friends ."
"Just double checking, Star. I wanted to make sure what Quartz told was the actual truth." The mirror hung up after that.
"See what I have to deal with? I risk everything to keep everyone safe, yet I get both my butt kicked and grounded for it." Star rolled her eyes.
"And It's so weird seeing my parents actually worry for my safety. I used to be the one telling them to not stay out so late at night." Marco admitted with a small laugh.
"So, where is Quartz anyway?" Buck asked. "You'd think you guys would be out riding and having fun together."
"Went with the Crystal Gems. We're looking for this green triangle looking lady that got out of an escape pod on the ship." Star huffed. "When we find her it's gonna be violent, I swear."
"I totally knocked her unconscious with logic and karate skills." Marco smirked, giving a click of his tongue as he sent Jackie a finger gun.
"Oh no, logic, all fear Marco Diaz and his highschool psychology." Jackie laughed light heartedly. "Nice to see you in high spirits after the whole thing."
"Figured that since my life's so dangerous by now anyways, I'm going to take advantage of it and have as much fun as I can while I can." Marco smirked.
"Finally. Maybe I can join when it gets less hectic." Jackie smirked at the flush Marco got.
"Hey guys." Sour Cream spoke up, the car slowing down. "Would the escape pod you mentioned earlier … happen to look like a giant green marble?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because I think I'm looking at it." They all turned to the object in question, sitting in the middle of the field.
"Peridot." Star grumbled, her wand starting to glow green.
"Wait, if it's here-" Marco started. "Then where are the gems looking?"
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"I swear to chlorophyll!" Steven watched Kelly as her sword, Rose's sheathed sword on her back, because- "The strap always gets stuck in my hair!" Because they were wearing gas masks … because Peridot was last seen … in the Kindergarten.
"Hey, it could be worse. It could be honey or syrup getting stuck in your hair, or gum, and then you'd have to consider cutting it." Steven joked. It was a shame that the other's didn't come with him, but having Kelly around was something he cherished, especially after they helped each other with Kurtz.
The girl shivered. "Cutting my hair is a nightmare, I have nerves in the thing. It's how I move it." How did he never learn that?
"Wait, so if I petted your hair you'd feel it?" Amethyst jokes, doing just that.
"Stop it, hair is the most important thing to a Woolet. It's the only shield we have to soften all the punches we give each other."
"Yet you wield a sword that can easily cut through it like butter." Pearl deadpanned. "Why does she keep coming back here? I checked the room and there's no injector fluid to reactivate the place without a resupply."
"The first time we officially talked to her, she said something about a project from five thousand years ago." Kelly recalled. "If there was a secret lab underneath here, who knows what else can be.
"Hmm … Future Vision isn't picking anything up. I don't think it was something that most gems knew about, or anything Rose discovered and told us." Garnet spoke, walking forward.
"So … how does it work?" Steven asked. "Sapphire's vision compared to yours?" It was a little weird to see Garnet around all the time instead of seeing Ruby and Sapphire. He really got used to all of them as a four gem team…five counting himself.
"Sapphire could take predictable knowledge and make a structured and linear path. As for me … I can see it more like a river, splitting and converging and pooling and forming with more freedom. There's still much I can't see, but it's easier to be surprised." She looked up. "Five out of forty paths say that rock is going to crack and fall on us, for example."
"Okay, staying away from all the giant rocks, got it." Steven chuckled. "Why is it whenever I get told about the future, there's something scary waiting for me?"
"There's also a chance you'll find a one eyed cat when you get home that likes the smell of lion lickers." Garnet told him.
"You see, Steven, not everything about the future is terrible. There's some good things that happen in it." Kelly laughed as she sent a light punch to his shoulder. "So I take it you see a future where Tad and I get back together after our next break up?"
"Several, it's like a current that constantly goes in a circle. I barely need to peek to see where that path leads down." Garnet bluntly told his friend before looking at him. "Only one path I see breaks that cycle."
Steven blushed, looking for an out. "Oh look, the hole. Maybe we can look down for Peri-" The gem in question climbed out.
"I swear, having to do all this dirty work because Jasper can't be found anywhere, and neither can the prisoner Lapis Lazuli, and now I'm stuck on this rock looking for parts while running … from …" Peridot noticed them. "... Look, another planet for you to betray!" She pointed, beginning to run in the opposite direction.
"Don't worry, we won't let her get away!" Pearl and Amethyst charged ahead.
"Should we follow them?" Steven asked Garnet, seeing as how she used her future vision a little more precisely than Sapphire.
"No. I see that there might be something in Peridot's lab, and I might need the two of you for back up." Garnet got on the platform. "Plus I can see Kelly has quite a few questions."
"You're like, all knowing, but somehow more casual and friendly about it." The bushy haired girl responded.
"That's the Sapphire in me. Always trying to keep it cool." She even made puns sound better with her cool attitude!
"So, you two have been fused for over thousands of years? And you never get tired of it?" Kelly asked as they got on the platform.
"That's the power of love." Garnet said. "We stayed and bonded in unity … but when Steven was lost it was … hard." They admitted. "When we couldn't see any paths for you, Sapphire kept hope, and Ruby lost it, trying to move on." That got awkward fast. "It was weird, usually it's the opposite."
"Different situations make people do different things. It's strange whenever Tad's the one who starts the break up instead of me." That somehow made things less awkward.
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"So this is the pod." Star looked around the object in question. "Definitely looks like what she escaped with … even if it's a bit scrapped up." She looked at all the busted dents. "But no Peridot, she must really be at the Kindergarten. She probably ran there the second this thing crashed."
"Hey guys, check it out." Sour Cream grabbed a large rock, and chucked it at the dented up gizmo. "Boom! Earth forever!"
"Hey, hey, be careful with that! It's a really dangerous and weird space gadget thing!" Star warned her friends. "Who knows what it's going to do."
"Yeah, we've gotta be real careful." Marco spoke. "We need to get Pearl and the others for-" The moment he touched the glass, a glowing handprint appeared, the glass vanishing to reveal a seat on the inside.
"Wow!" Jenny ran up and looked inside. "Forget the car, THIS can be an awesome joyride." The daughter of the pizza guy took out her phone and started taking a bunch of pics. "Marco, I dare you to take a selfie inside of this thing."
"What? I really shouldn't.."
"Double Dare yah." Jackie smirked. "That's what you do when your life's already dangerous, right? You have as much fun as you can."
Marco looked at them, then at Star, then at the machine. "... Just one picture, alright. I don't want to hit any weapons by mistake." He answered, going into the machine. He really did have it bad for Jackie, didn't he? Then again, any other time, she'd probably be doing the same thing on a whim for the heck of it.
"Yeah, do it Diaz! Prove the power of humanity!" Buck and Sour Cream were cheering him on, only adding to the pear pressure that was building up on her best friend.
"Make it quick Marco, I don't want to risk this being some kind of secret trap." Star tried to rush the isse. After everything with Homeworld, she wasn't going to leave the safety of her friends and brother to chance.
"Alright, I'm sitting down." Marco looked themselves over, shifting for a better pose. "Hurry up with the pic."
"Almost got it…just got to pick the right filter…and there we go!" Jenny's camera flashed, and in the moment it did, the glass closed up, and the machine started floating.
"Marco!" Star shouted, running close and banging on the glass. "You okay in there!?
"Yeah, nothing bad-oh god it's filling up, filling up-" The sound of gasping was heard before silence took over.
"MARCO!" She called out to her friend, and the only response she got was the pod firefly lasers randomly, but that didn't matter when her friend was on the inside…dying…dead… she was not going to let that happen ever again. Her face became flushed with a familiar warth, but her eyes saw green, she was dipping down hard.
She pulled out her wand, a swirl of pink and blue taking place as she aimed it straight at the sporadic machine. She fired straight at it, swinging as she sliced the object perfectly in half, the inside untouched. From the rubble Marco laid, coughing up some blue gunk. "Ah … I could breathe while I was drowning … surprisingly, it wasn't as uncomfortable as it sounds."
"Well I'm so glad you had such a nice near death experience, I'll make sure to have every other time be just as comfortable!" She shook the cute moron before hugging him tight. "Don't scare me like that again! You have a terrible habit of getting captured. I think you're the one in the group that needs a leash."
"Yeah, maybe." He looked at the rest of the group. "Are you guys okay? We didn't mean to drag you into our mess." Mess was describing it lightly.
"Yeah, we're cool." Jackie waved off, the top of their hair on fire. They glanced up before tapping it. "Mostly fine anyway."
"I knew we shouldn't have taken a break. I barely understand what's going on with this side of my life to begin with." She kneeled down at the broken wreckage of the escape pod. "My wands broke, people want to kill my brother for stupid reasons…I'm just dont..I don't want to end up like I was before on that ship."
"I think you're doin fine." Buck spoke. "You did just cut him out like, no sweat."
"Zero hesitation at all, you were like lightning!" Jenny patted the princess on the back.
"Yeah, you're definitely the strongest princess I've seen around here…well you're the only one, but still." Sour Cream chimed in.
"Yeah..It was a little easier this time." She picked up a piece of the damaged ship, and put all of her concentration into forming a bubble around it. "I just gotta keep pushing a little harder."
"Not too hard, I hope." Jackie added. "Don't bend until you break, otherwise you can't help anyone at all."
"Yeah … I get ya." She nodded, tapping and warping the bubble. "Thanks guys … I needed this tonight."
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Garnet looked around the room. [Attack from blurs.] Strange, it was even more blurry than a random corrupted Gem attack. "We're here." She told them, keeping her eyes out for whatever decided to strike first.
"What would Peridot even be doing back here?" Steven asked, keeping his shield at hand while looking around. "It's still wrecked from the last time we came."
"Something's different. Look at the walls." Kelly pointed to strange cylinders that looked like they were made from the depths of the earth's crust. "She's pulling pieces of the ground out for some reason." The cylinders looked docile. "Getting anything, Garnet?"
"Not anything specific, only that we need to be on guard." She couldn't afford to lose her concentration especially now of all times. Steven was right there, along with his friend, after months of being so confused about fusion. She would be here to show him the positives would outway the negatives if they treated it right.
"Of course we do." Steven said, generating Rose's shield. "Let me guess, robots, corrupted gems, random third things living in the Kindergarten somehow?" From the roof drooped … a thing with four arms, one where it's head should be, another where it's right leg should be, and a right leg on its left leg. "... Definitely the third thing."
"Ah!" Kelly yelled out. "Guys, look behind you!" She gestured to pillars that were planted behind them. More and more things crawled, some of them being a single disembodied arm with a foot attached on the other side. Some of them have multiple legs conjoined together to form a sort of spider-like form.
"They're not corrupted gems, it's off." Garnet noted. They were far too strange, were these the experiments?
"They're creepy and nasty as hell!" One of them jumped towards Kelly, who struck her sword down at it instantly, poofing it. "What the..?" She picked up the gem that fell to the ground. "What kind of gem is this?" She presented to her a horrific sight of mangled shards looking like they were glued together half haphazardly. "It's like it's more than one forced together."
"Forced…Together…Forced…" Garnet didn't want to hear that word. "This..Even homeworld…they can't possibly see it like…" Garnet felt herself shaken to the core.
"What is that, what are those things!?" Steven asked, unaware. "Garnet, what's wrong!?"
"Gem Shards … forcibly fused … on a molecular level …" How could we know!? It's my job to know! We never could have seen this coming! When did Homeworld lose what little heart they had? "I'm sorry! I can't.." She felt herself becoming undone, horrified, and disgusted by the sight before her…of what she was…
"Garnet, please, don't unfuse, we need you right now!" Steven yelled as the biggest one, a giant hand crawling all over the place on other hands like a creature crawling straight out of hell. "You're super strong, and you're not like whatever these things are!"
"Yeah! What you have is amazing, your form is great, your strength is great, everything you are is great!" Kelly yelled, slicing away a hand that was crawling on her hair.
… We need to stay as Garnet. For them. For Earth. Garnet produced her gauntlet, punching the suffering abomination and poofing it, making short work of the rest with a flurry of punches. "You weren't kidding about her being badass." Kelly said, immensely impressed.
"I know right, she's super cool!" When done, she bubbled them with Steven, before letting herself rest against a wall.
[Safety, Pearl and Amethyst catching up without having caught Peridot, Training Marco.] "We're good …for now." She could tell her voice was cracking. "I'm sorry…I almost lost myself there."
"It's fine." Steven rested her head next to her. "We're still all in this together."
"That..they weren't as strong as the usual corrupted gems, but they were twice as freaky." Kelly sat down right next to Steven. "Like being grabbed by mutilated limbs."
"Just a moment." Garnet said, as the other two gems slid in.
"Is everyone okay?" Pearl asked, noticing the bubbles. "What … Did we miss?"
"... Are either of you familiar with frankenstein?" Garnet asked the two children.
"Vaguely." Kelly and Steven said at the same time.
"That's what we're looking at." Garnet explained. "Corpses of Gems stuck together against their will."
"Oh my Stars …" Pearl held herself. "Is this why humans throw up around blood?"
"Yes." The two organics once again said at the same time, but with more reluctance and worry in their faces.
"Find as many as you can and bubble them quickly, no matter what." Garnet ordered, retaking her spot as the leader of the Crystal Gem. "Whether made up of enemies or allies, no one deserves a fate like this."
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"So Homeworld invented Frankenstine before it was cool." Marco spoke with terror. "That's … not reassuring at all."
"I'm not sure the concept is cool at all if it's that horrifying." Steven shivered as they all sat down by the temple entrance. "Well, guess this means I'll never sneak into a horror film in theaters, or see one at all for that matter."
"I don't get why they're concerned." Kelly said. "Not to be … rude or uncaring about the whole situation, considering how morbid it is, but you'd think after getting so many … uncontrollable blobs they'd stop researching it."
"Who knows what these evil space bastards want." Star grumbled. "They're messing with the corpses of dead gems, of their own people. What matters is that we stop them before they can do anything worse."
"Agreed." Steven looked to his sister. "Star, we need to get our magic down. We're bonded by it, it's time we actually figure out how to use it."
"I'm grabbing Glossaryck for an assist, we need anything we can get." Star relented.
"And I'm going to ask Pearl for a few sword fighting tips." Kelly chipped in. "As messy as our fight got, she knows this sword better than me. It couldn't hurt to learn how to use it."
"Looks like we're all going to try and get stronger." Something that Marco needed to get in on fast. The threats were only getting stronger, so he needed a way to get stronger too. "Hang on a sec, I'll be right back."
Going just a little further down in the cave, he walked up to Garnet, the only one that could possibly teach him what he needed. "Sure." She spoke as he opened his mouth.
"You didn't even-" He cut himself off. Right, future vision.
"I need to warn you though." She continued. "Just cause I fight hand to hand doesn't mean I fight bare handed. I used closed gauntlets for my fights, I lack the flexibility of moving fingers, meaning you'll lose skill if you try to copy what I teach you."
"I need more variety in how I fight. I need something to push me to the next level, and Karate is only going to go so far with the way I am now."
"Well to be fair, it was the weakest martial arts humanity came up with, only popularized for its looks." Garnet admitted.
"That stings me on so many levels, but I'll ignore it for now." Any edge he could get.
Garnet produced two gauntlets. "Put these on." She told him, placing the holes out. Seeing no reason to argue, he complied, only for them to tighten around his arms as she let go, letting them drop. "To get your power up, weight training."
"Right…just…push through the pain.." he weeded. If it meant he could keep protecting Star and everyone else, then any pain was a small price to pay.