Anne watched as the boy walked back in, seeing what looked like laser burns and a crater outside, sighing in exhaustion. "I think I'm good."
"You sure?" Hunter asked sarcastically. "You don't feel like taking a third lexicon of a language and cursing in i-?"
Pow
Hunter was punched out of the cabin. "... For the record, I'm saving the third for after the inevitable bad part hits." Lucci growled. "You four, explain, now."
"It was normal at first for the first half of the time you guys were gone." Marsha summoned the courage to speak in the face of the boy that was probably going to kill them with a slap to the face. "Occasional corrupted gem beaten up and poofed by the gems, Rubies believing any lie told to them, helping Nana gain the courage to run for mayorship cause this town has terrible standards."
"The usual stuff." Amity nodded.
"Exactly… though whenever they had downtime, when we went to check in on them, they were a lot more bitter towards each other than usual." Connie explain next. "It wasn't just Pearl being pearl. Garnet and Amethyst would end up getting upset with each other.
"So what, the gems just … got angry?" Gus asked.
"As weird as it sounds, yeah, that's exactly what happened." Marcy nodded. "Maybe something in the air, some kind of virus?"
"What, like all gems? Like Lucci and Spinel?" At Gus's question, they turned to the two others in the room.
"I'm feeling normal." Lucci nodded. "Then again, anger is half my usual state."
"Meh, the voice in my head that tells me to hurt people is a bit louder than usual, other than that I feel alright." Spinel shrugged. "Only one here I want to hurt is still Luz."
"Glad to be the lightning rod." The girl in question sarcastically commented. "So it escalated from there?"'
"Pretty much." Anne nodded. "The gems have been slowly losing it, getting more and more violent, until they turned the entire town into a brawling area." She explained. "The police got involved at first … until they started crippling them."
"Then the military came in … and things just got worse from there." Marcy shivered. "That's when Lapis began blowing people up."
"Lapis doesn't have explosions, how did she blow people up?" Sasha asked.
"As in she took the water inside of human bodies and blew them up like balloons." Freaky.
"…No..no they can't be.." Vee began spiraling in denial. "Even if they've been getting frustrated, they wouldn't purposely go out of their way to hurt people like this!"
"Lapis would." Willow pointed out.
"Not like this!" She shouted. "I … I don't …"
Hunter sighed, getting up from the hole Lucci put him in. "Alright … Vee, you're talking down Lapis. Try to appeal to whatever soft spot she has for you. She's the only gem that could kill us all without effort, so we can't afford a fight."
"Alright…I'll try." The girl whimpered.
"Luz, you and Connie are on Centipeetle duty." Amity went next. "I'd stick you with investigation on whatever's causing this, but we all know you'd rush out to those guys anyway. And Connie's competent enough to poof them if you can't muster it, and inept enough to let you do it if needed."
"…I don't know how to take that." Connie stated honestly.
"Take this, she trusts you more than those two." Willow said, pointing at Anne and Marcy.
"Were we this mean to people when we were their age?" Anne asked. "I know before Amphibia I was rather indifferent to people, but that really hurt."
"You haven't really been pulling enough weight to convince us otherwise." Boscha said. "Sasha said she called you guys over to help, but so far the only real contribution was a concert with my Crystal."
"It was a pretty epic." Lucci nodded.
"Focus." Luz called out. "Masha, others, investigate what's causing this. You're the only one weird and book smart enough here that we can trust."
"I'll do my best." They nodded.
"Witches, pick a target and hit them." Lucci groaned out.
"... Doesn't that seem a bit simplistic?" Sasha asked.
"I took on Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl at the same time when we first came to town and they thought I was an enemy, and we've all only gotten better since." Lucci said. "As long as it's not Lapis, it's not a problem."
"Hunter has the best chance at talking down the rubies." Gus spoke up next. "If they're going crazy, we can't afford to let them start going all out, especially if they start fusing with each other."
"I'll do my best." Hunter nodded. "Hopefully they'll still be gullible enough to believe me by this point."
"Alright, sounds like we got a plan going." Luz gripped her sword. "Lets go people!"
Fwoooosh
No one was able to get another word in as everyone found themselves underwater.
========================================================================
Lapis by all means was going pretty easy on those jerks up to this point. She was capable of moving water, which made up of seventy percent of this entire freaking planet. If she really wanted to, she'd throw the entire earth's ocean into space and watch the planet from above slowly die out from thirst and heatstroke. But that wouldn't kill the gems, and from how they were acting, it probably wouldn't bother them that humanity would die out either.
Hence why she was spreading the water into town to spread out her own control and resources. A spike pit here, boiling steam around there, mixing the acids with water to easily control them better, all simple solutions that would cultivate into eradicating every jerk on the planet. They never changed, clearly they were asking for it. And she waited six thousand years in a mirror that those clods never bothered to free her from, she had patience.
"What, are you morons really going to let a little water stop you?" Lapis mockingly smirked as she roamed the flooded town. "So much for the mighty Crystal Gems. Then again, with a track record as terrible as yours, maybe I should handicap myself with some steam." She let some of the water evaporate. "You know, considering how you've kept failing this planet and kept failing Vee, maybe I'd just be better off lifting this entire town into the bottom of the ocean. It's not like there's anyone important here besides Vee two human friends." She laughed. "Although to be perfectly honest, she's too good for them. Casualties are always a given when it comes to us, you know?"
"LAPIS!" Coming out of the water was Vee, in her original snake-like form. "Do you even hear what you're saying?! Do you even know what you're doing!?"
"Oh hey Vee." She waved. "You look nice, I take it the trip went well."
"I … do you not see what's wrong with the situation!?"
"Nothing really. People are being assholes, so I'm retaliating within my rights."
"STOP!" She saw some guys with 'SWAT' on their clothes aim guns. "STAND DOWN OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE!"
"Fire, against water, the irony." Lapis chuckled as she impaled their skulls with water spikes "I take it you haven't seen the gems around here, I'm pretty sure Pearl's pulling a hidey hole."
"NO, Lapis! Stop! You're killing them!"
"So?" She asked nonchalantly."Every time we don't kill someone and let them go they come back to hurt us even more. Belos, Greg, Peridot, the list goes on and on. If you can't end a threat, then why bother fighting?"
"But they aren't… Lapis, please, this isn't you!"
"No Vee… this is me, this has always been me." Lapis glared. "You are the only thing on this planet worth caring about. Everything else is nails on a chalkboard, grating over and over and over as it gets worse and worse! Always one problem after another as people crush lives and never care about the consequences!!"
"But you're better than this Lapis, you always-'
"It was ALWAYS FOR YOU! And I can't do this Vee!" She shouted at the girl. "Every second of every day holding back while assholes have their way! It's sickening! I'm going to do something about it, with or without you!!" Lapis flew away, once more on the hunt for the gems, and anything that got in her way.
"Lapis Please!"
"No." Lapis held her hand up and encased the girl in water. "I know you can shapeshift into something that can protect yourself, so I know I don't have to worry when I do this." And threw her into the ocean horizon.
"LAAAAAPIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" The cries of the only decent living creature on this planet echoed as it disappeared.
"She's a good kid … I definitely need to leave the Rose fountain untouched. Can't replicate that … unless I capture Lucci alive …" He was the smartest out of all her friends. He knew when jerks needed to get killed and hated this planet. Alright, new plan. Find the gems and kill them, then find Lucci and force the portal open to drag everyone else in. Though if Vee was back… maybe she jumped the gun when she flooded the town. Who knows where everyone else was now.
========================================================================
Luz coughed out a stream of water. "Gah, please don't tell me I blacked out …" She groaned, trying to feel around. "Glad we told mom to take Dana out of the city." That baby was already projected to have Asthma, they did NOT need lung damage from drowning to boot.
"Blegh, I knew Lapis didn't exactly like me… but not enough to kill me… and everyone else in the city." Connie groaned as she cleared out her glasses. "I mean, it's one thing to always say she will, it's another to do it."
"Let's be honest. Vee's the only one keeping her semi-decent on the best days." Luz sighed. "Alright … first order of business, where we are. Second is finding the Centipeetles." She already failed Centi, she was not going to fail her family… or team, or whatever the gem equivalent was.
"Looks like Lapis flushed us away downtown." Connie cleared the water from her ears. "And we're the only ones here, so everyone else is probably scattered."
"Knowing Lucci's luck, he got stuck with the most problematic situation … so he's either being ripped apart by Lapis, or beating Garnet in the face." Luz said as she tried to stand. "Did you bring your sword with you?"
"Yeah …" Connie pulled out a blade. "Had to do everything to hide this from mom. You?"
"Never let it leave my side, no matter how weird it is to be seen walking around with an oversized sword." Luz said, pulling it out. "Come on, we need to move. The longer we wait, the more chaotic it'll-"
"Hello … students." … The two of them turned to see an enraged Pearl. "I've so missed your presence. Did you have a fun trip, Luz?"
"Cut the snorseshit Pearl. Why are you and the gems acting crazy?" Luz demanded.
"I believe the human expression of 'the pot calling the kettle' is a most appropriate response to that." The pale gem snickered.
"Crazier than usual!" Connie shouted.
"I'm not sure … all I know is every frustration I've ever had … that you all cause … has finally boiled over." She pulled out her spear. "So draw your weapons … and make my day."
"Oh I have no time for this." Luz growled as she took out her sword. "I'll poof you and leave you for Lucci to deal with-" She began shouting as she rushed at the pale gem.
Pearl deflected the blade, using the back end of her spear to force Connie to miss and hit a street lamp, in which Pearl then planted her spear into the ground and swung around it, kicking both Luz and Connie into a wall.
The two of them slowly peeled off the wall. "Hey Luz?"
"Yes Connie?"
"You remember how most of our sword training came from Pearl?"
"Yes."
"The same training we didn't complete because it was too intense?"
"... Starting to see that she was definitely going easy on us."
Luz barely moved out of the way as the sharp end of a spear went into the wall-nope, through the wall they were previously launched into. "Very much so. Always start with the basics the first few years." Pearl mocked them. "If you had stuck it out with me and overcome your petty human mentalities, I could've molded you two into nearly perfect knights. As is… You can't even hope to hold a candle to me."
"Big talk for the string bean that's hardly done shit for anyone in the past five months." Connie growled as she went for a strike, one that Pearl blocked easily.
"You're right. How about I amend that and end you both here and now?" The gem asked, before she pulled back, and began striking Connie's weapon with blows so fast it looked like she had five spears, as the ground below Connie's feet cracked.
"SNEAK ATTACK!" Luz screamed as she rushed forward, only to receive the back end of the spear, causing her to slide against the rough ground. "Why … do I yell these things?" She asked, feeling at least one of her ribs crack.
"Because you're an immature child that has yet to understand what it means to live in the real world." Pearl growled as she knocked Connie back, sending the girl to one side of the room and the sword she was using to the other. "You truly didn't learn a damn thing from me."
"No… No I did." Luz narrowed her eyes, gazing at the other sword. "But I learned more from my other teachers!" She ran towards Pearl…and slid between her legs, tripping the woman up as she went for the other sword. "Alright muscles…don't fail me now." She took Connie's sword in her left hand, and her own sword in her right. Okay, not too terribly uncomfortable.
"You wish to dual wield… ha." Pearl scoffed. "That's only effective with two blades of equal weight, and that's not even bringing up the difference in design. Rose's sword is a two handed sword."
"Yeah … and Sasha didn't care about that in the slightest!" Luz screamed, rushing forward as she tried to land a blow. "Sometimes the only way to make a square peg fit is to force it down a round hole!"
"That's not even remotely sound advi-"
"I'm not exactly of completely sound mind!" Luz shouted as she blocked Pearl's spear with one sword and backed her away with the pink one. "With the little I have on me, I have to make my OWN path, my own way!" She struck another spear. "That's something I'm pretty sure the rainbow brained idiot stuck in your head can understand!"
They growled. "Great, now she's acting up again!" Pearl screamed, clashing against Luz, striking her swords.
"Oh, she can hear me in there, can she?!" Something she picked up from both Eda and Sasha. Take any advantage you can to catch an enemy off guard. "Tell her that she's the worst blacksmith in the universe, and all her metal work is third rate garbage barely fit to be ash!"
The pale gem grunted as Luz once more took the advantage. She was pushing back, she was doing it-and then she had to block a blow that made her bones rattle. "It doesn't matter how skilled you are." Pearl said, gazing into her eyes with a cold fury. "You're still human … fragile, and in need of protectio-"
"DIRT IN THE EYE!" She kicked dust into Pearl's face.
"Oh you little bra-" And proceeded to knocked her into a wall with a kick to the chest. "You…that is not fighting like a knigh-"
"No, I'm fighting like myself." Luz shouted. "Something I learned from my other teachers! In a real fight, outside of training, an arena…when you're fighting for your life, there is no fighting fair. There's fighting harder..and there's fighting smarter."
"If you were smart…you would now even though I'm a pearl, I still overpower you in strength alone!" Pear grabbed a sizable portion of the wall and chucked it at her.
Luz had to react quickly and sliced it in half as it came at her. "Oh, someone's getting their hands dirty, guess Bismuth's affected you more than I thought it would.
"And speed!" Pearl rushed forward, as Luz blocked with Connie's sword.
Chink
Which shattered on impact as Pearl's spear went into her shoulder. "You know… I'm pretty sure you can't count this as your victory… obviously Bismuth did more work in there."
"Bismuth did nothing! This is all me-SHUT UP!" Pearl clinched her head.
"While you're having your lovers quarrel, tell Bismuth that she's a terrible lover, and Eda was right to dump her!"
"Wai wh-" Pearl's gem looked like it was glitching. "Stay back, stay out…STAY OUT!"
And a pale projection came out of the rainbow devil herself. "Eda didn't dump me, I left her!"
"Wait …" Connie looked confused. "Didn't she forget?"
"Spinel said gems hit by her rejuvenator can get their memories back if they are reminded of a strong and emotional memory , it's why homeworld stopped using them." Luz answered. "...I guess Eda was a strong enough trigger to jumpstart them again."
And she had to dodge as Pearl tried to take off her head once more. "WOULD YOU ALL SHUT UP!?"
"Wait, Pearl, what are you doing here, what's going on, where am I?!" Bismuth exclaimed in confusion.
"You got stuck inside her!" Luz shouted as she did her best to block an attack.
"Wait, I'm inside Pearl!?" They shouted, looking down. "... Six thousand years, and I can't even enjoy it!" Wait, was she … gross. Repressing that for later.
"Bismuth! Pearl and the other gems are going crazy with anger and they're attacking anyone that pisses them off!" Luz explained, dodging another swing. "So unless you're okay with her mindless chopping off the head of random humans, you might want to do something!"
"I just got into this situation, I don't exactly know what to do here!"
"Can't you control her!?" Luz shouted as she parried another blow.
"Definitely not." Connie groaned. "If she had any control over her body, she would have tried to kill Vee or free Belos over the last couple months."
"But she was able to force herself out into a hologram body, and aren't Pearl's hologram's solid?" Luz snapped her fingers. "Bismuth, focus and grab onto Pearl, and don't let go!"
"That's definitely something I can do." Again, gross. "Wish this was under better circumstances girl, but I'm gonna have to hold you down." Bismuth blinked, and grabbed the pale gem by the arms… and it stuck. "Mother of titan, that actually worked."
"LET ME GO!" Pearl screamed as she tried to escape.
"Now just keep that up …" Luz said, panting. "Okay … Connie, tell me you can keep going."
"I can … but you broke my weapon." She pointed to her now cracked sword.
"In my defense, that was more pearl's fault, and I need an advantage somehow." She shrugged, turning to Bismuth…the killer of Centi. "If the situation was any different I'd crack you in an instant. Be lucky for once you're the lesser of two evils."
"Yeah yeah, save it for later." Luz would press more if it wasn't for the fact people could be hurting the Centipeetles, and who knew what Amity was dealing with?
========================================================================
"Well …" Amity looked at the water damaged remnants of her abomination goo. "That's it for me." It lasted longer than she thought it would. "Other than basic fire and Ice spells, that's it for me on the magic front."
"Against the crystal morons, that's probably all that it'll take." Lucci cracked his back. "I hate drowning. Takes forever to clear the water from my lungs."
"Aren't you a shapeshifter?" Hunter asked. "Can't you just make gills?"
"Oh sure, create a completely different set of organs on the spot." Lucci rolled his eyes. "I'm not a basilisk, shapeshifting isn't second nature to me other than going in and out of manticore mode."
"Hhss." Sugar spoke up.
"... Test Fest gills." He answered. "... How come out of all my powers, shapeshifting is what you like the best?"
"Sshh." She hugged the boy.
"Aww, thank you." He scratched the snake's chin. "Well I have been thinking about making horns a part of my usual look. Maybe fangs too. Definitely claws."
"I wouldn't suggest fangs and claws unless you're fine kissing and hugging with the risk of cutting up your girlfriend." Amity pointed out.
"... After Brighton, that ship sailed." Gross. "And don't you like dressing up like a cat for Luz?"
"Mew." To the horror of all felines everywhere.
"Oh come on, my sense of fashion isn't that bad." Amity looked away with a blush.
"Mew." It was almost as bad as Hunter wearing a wolf shirt next to a hellhound.
"It's nowhere near as bad as that." She reaffirmed, shaking her head. "Alright, enough standing around. Since we got washed away, move to plan b. Find the nearest gem and poof them before they cause any more trouble."
"I thought that was plan A?" Lucci asked.
"No, plan A had us going for specific gems. This scattered us over, so we're just going for whoever we run into next." Hunter clarified.
"The only specific gems we need to figure out are Lapis and Centipeetle 2 and 3, return of the guilt trip. The rest aren't worth the time spent planning." Lucci rolled his eyes. "Amethyst is a twerp, Pearl's a shrimp, and Garnets a walking punching bag. Every time they tried to help it just caused us problems over and over and over and over and over again-" He growled, growing pink fur. "-and again because not only can they not pull their own weight, they don't understand what it means to stay out of the way!"
"Maybe you're the ones in the way!" A firefly purple ball came rolling at them, making Lucci block it off with a shield, bouncing in the way.
"Told you." He said, before making a giant shield appear over Amethyst. "And crush." He slammed it down. "And press until she poofs."
"Pfft, of course, you know, everything was fine until you came along!" Amethyst yelled indignantly as she was getting squashed. "We already had a Steven, Pearly wasn't a much of a stuck up bitch and Garnet was still cool, then you came along and screwed up everything!"
"Oh no, I unraveled a clearly dysfunctional group that only got more dysfunctional. Watch my guilt and astonishment." Lucci said with a monotone voice. As he pulled up another shield and blocked a punch from Garnet, who rushed out of nowhere. "Do you have anything to add?"
"You refused to listen to our warnings, and brought Jasper and Peridot here." The fusion growled. "You walked through the door and brought Belos here. Every single time we have a massive problem, it always seems to involve you somehow."
"… Alright." He said, before creating multiple hexagons and sending Garnet flying. "Because you were doing an oh so fine job of protecting this planet to begin with. Because you totally would've known about the cluster and stopped it. Seriously lady, get some real problems to complain about."
"Do we … really just let him deal with this?" Hunter asked as Amethyst continued to get crushed and Lucci continued to bash around Garnet.
"I guess …" He really did have a point about them not really being worth the effort. "More time for us to plan something for gems like Lapis."
"I thought we agreed to let Vee talk her down?"
"We both know that's not going to work." Amity pointed out.
"Well it's not like we can attack her. Anyone other than Spinel would just die, and we can't trust her to … well, fight that." If she wouldn't just go out of her way to kill Luz.
"Why don't you just get off this planet already!?" Garnet rushed in, trying to rapidly punch Lucci, who put up a bubble.
"Listen box head, that's all I've been trying to do for the past five months! I've actually learned to appreciate this place a little, yet people like you keep reminding me why I will NEVER love it!" He took down the bubble shield and grabbed Garnet by the hands. "Humans have said witches are evil…that we take away and ruin lives…yet it was a human that took away my home, and it's earth that's going to take away my best friend!" Wait, what did he mean by that?
He slammed Garnet into the ground over and over, grabbing her other arm and pulling in both directions in an effort to poof them. "I am sick and tired of the people in this world trying to take away everyone's happiness! It did it to me, to my Angel, to everyone on the Boiling Isles, and I'll be damned as hell if I'm going to let it take away Luz's happiness!" Spinning around, he threw the fusion at Amethyst, making them both sink into the road below them in a loud crash.
"Wait … what did you mean-" Amity tried to ask.
"Not the time!" Hunter interrupted. "Poof them before they recover Clawthorne!"
"Gladly." Lucci created a giant spike over the hole, and sent it down. "NOW STAY DOWN YOU BATAR-"
CRASSH.
A giant…purple….muscular arm popped out. "Better idea…" A new voice cackled loudly as three more arms popped out of the hole, and the ground began to shake. They watched as two more arms, equally as muscular, moved up and pushed on the ground, pulling up a being on par with the mechanical armor of Moldavite, five eyes filled with hare, flowing hair, and a sharp toothed grin. "I break your spine … until it stops fixing itself."
"... Hey Lucci." Amity said. "Remember how we couldn't beat up Moldavite … who was made from a fighter and a thinker?"
"... Yep."
"This is made up of two fighters and a thinker with future vision …" Amity said. "And they're just as pissed off as her and you are."
"... Hunter." The situation was truly desperate if he was asking. "Tell me you have a plan."
"Make the hexagon shield." He answered quickly. "If this form was good at stopping problems, they probably would have used it before."
Lucci instantly complied, covering them in a layered shield. "Hey Luuuucciiii." They gave a dark chuckle as they fully rose up. "I think we forgot to mention something when two gems fuse."
"If it's about insanity, then trust me, I got my fill of that when I created Desert Rose."
They aimed their top arms into the sky, which made Garnet's gauntlets … before they launched off, flying into the air, clamped together. The fusion then pulled out an enlarged whip, attaching it to the end, as it seemed to meld together, landing down next to them with a thud, was one giant wrecking ball. "Their weapons fuse too." They spoke with a savage grin, whirling the weapon over them.
"Everyone brace for impact!"
CRACK
Good news, the shield held. Diamond powers and all that Amity guessed. Bad news, the damage was so bad it probably couldn't withstand the next blow. "THIS IS SNORSESHIT!" Lucci screamed.
"Why, because the gap keeps widening?" Amity asked.
"No, because if they could do this the entire time they could have A) killed Moldavite, B) killed Belos, or C) Killed Kevin!"
"How would that last one have fixed a situation!?" Hunter screamed.
"Because I need SOMETHING today!" He growled as the weapon came crashing down. "You guys run, I'll distract them!"
"Do you really think we'd let you fight that alone? You'll lose!" Amity screamed.
"No, I'll be knocked unconscious and brutally maimedmed. That thing hits either of you, I doubt I could fix a splat."
"Not disagreeing with that but running won't do anything! We need to stop them right here and now!" Hunter yelled
"The name is Sugilite, pipsqueaks!" They screamed, shattering the shield. "Hah, finally got it!"
"Well if either of you have a plan, I'm all ears!"
"If she can pull miraculous table flipping fusions, why can't we?" Amity asked. "Not the first time we've defaulted to that." She grabbed both Hunter and Lucci by the arms. "Pudding's flexibility and Salem's rage beams, I think something like that can counter a roid rage triple gem fusion."
"Here's a valid complaint from the people in my head!" Sugilite shouted, twisting her arms around and flexing a shocking amount of muscle. "Stop planning things within hearing range of the enemy!"
"OH FUCK OFF!" All three of them shouted as a flash of white and red overtook them.
========================================================================
Willow looked around. "Alright, with Lucci's luck he either got Lapis or Garnet. That leaves Amethyst, Pearl, and the Rubies unaccounted for." It was one of the few times she was grateful the ocean didn't boil, even if the saltiness of the ocean left a bitter taste in her mouth. "Sound off, who's here?"
"Present …" Sasha groaned out.
"Did not need salt in the wounds …" Marcy coughed up both water and blood.
"Not the longest time I've been stuck underwater." Anne popped her neck. "Kinda of prefer swamp water though. Is that weird?"
"Eh, you do you." Masha shrugged. Great, she got stuck with the two useless adults and a probable damsel. How bad could it get?
"Goops, I really don't get how you can still like this planet." Of course…she got stuck with Boscha… AGAIN! Why did that keep happening!?
"GUS! It's not that hard! You said my name multiple times!"
"We'll excuse me for being a little forgetful after nearly drowning!" The three eyed girl yelled out.
"Okay, alright …" Sasha rubbed her eyes. "Damn salt … okay, Anne, Masha, take Marcy back to whatever's left of the cabin. The rest of us will go find a gem and work our way from there."
"Sounds good… though don't think you have to look that far." Marcy pointed out to the ring of fire currently surrounding them.
"... Well on the plus side, we're not dealing with a strong gem." Willow nodded. "Just stay out of the way for a second. I'll just fling the rubies into a rock and poof them-Aha!" She caught a canister that was thrown her way. "Nice try block hea-"
Boom
"Aaagghh!" Green gas surrounded her eyes. "Oh titan, that hurts." She coughed … feeling her strength leave her. "Oh … ow …" Willow fell to the ground.
"Willow!" Gus shouted, running over. "Are you okay!?"
"Feel … bad … weak …" Willow coughed out. "Feels like…My connection to plants… cut through with a dull knife."
"It's a little something we picked up, called 'weed killer'. Our supposed captain said it was useful for killing plants." Eyeball came walking up to them with a sinister grin. "You know, we've had a LOT of time to think about how weird all your claims are."
"You mean you actually started growing brains. Titan; it must be a miracle." Boscha rolled her eyes as what looked like a water balloon was thrown at her. "Oh, like I'm afraid of a little water-" She began to light up.
Boom
"We also found a tank full of gasoline and mixed it with gunpowder." Leggy happily walked. "It was super fun watching non explosive stuff explode.
"What the hell!?" Sasha screamed as Boscha tried to desperately put out the flames. "What the heck is wrong with you little psychos!?
"Nothing… just clarity." Navy smirked. "We were all minding our business when those traitorous crystal gems started infighting with each other and crashed through the barn. Next thing we knew, our heads were being filled with certain… impulses, thoughts and actions that we never thought to act on before."
"After that, we realized how weird all your claims were. Ignoring the Cluster not going off, telling us to avoid ripping things apart, treating organics with respect they don't deserve." Army added in. "Making us watch over those acid spitting creatures when homeworld would clearly want nothing to do with them."
"So we decided that we needed some damn answers, but since you've all clearly can't be trusted with the truth, we took the 'training' that our 'respectful' captain taught us to turn the tide against you all." Doc laughed.
" … Why is it always making enemies stronger when gems are involved?" Gus asked quietly.
"Because gems aren't weak. Compared to you useless organics, even the lowest of pebbles are light years ahead of you." Eyeball grinned. "It doesn't matter that we don't get stronger physically when we're so far up the so-called 'food chain' the greatest threats don't matter."
"So that's your whole deal now, taking us down with whatever information Hunter told you about all of us?" Gus asked.
"Yep. He used you guys as a reference point for a lot of his 'training'. Mainly the girl with the thick form and the one he called Clawthorne." Army nodded. "Said something about you two being the 'bigger targets' or something. Personally I don't see it."
"So… you'd have something about everyone here?" Gus asked.
"Apparently we just needed special goggles from some broken machines for you. Which was easy since you brought all the scrap metal from a giant robot into our main base." Leggy smiled. "There's nobody we don't know about… cept those four." Leggy pointed to the calamity girls and Masha. "But they're just human, so no threat."
"Fair enough, I mean we are pretty helpless." Anne put her hands up in the air. "Absolutely nothing we can-smoke bomb!"
Pooooof
A large area of smoke overcame everyone.
"Start running!" Sasha shouted. "Before they-" There was a bright light, as a Ruby towered over the smoke … a giant Ruby.
"Behold the power … of a Mega Ruby!" They shouted, as the temperature began to rise to the point that all nearby grass began to catch flames spontaneously.
"Getting stronger and fusion, it's always those two when dealing with gem enemies." Gus muttered.
"Hunter, I swear to titan, you better be having a worse time than me right now!" Willow shouted as she struggled to keep herself upright. That gas was really starting to get to her…
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" And then everyone, even the Mega Ruby, stopped, turning to the sound of pain and rage radiating from the massive column of blood coming from the direction of the temple.
"….New fusion." Willow and the others quickly summarized.
========================================================================
"I hate this I hate this I hate this I hate this I hate this I hate this." That was the one thing on their mind as they moved their think bloody body around the purple freak
Hating fighting gems over and over. Hating every past problem biting us in the butt. Hating all the enemies that ruin our peace and quiet. Hating our existence as a fusion. Hating everyone that hurts our friends. THERE WAS NOTHING BUT HATE TO LIVE AND BREATHE! They were nothing but pure, unfiltered hate, and they were going to unleash every negative feeling they had on this four armed tacky looking bitch. "DIIIEEEEE!!!" Go away and never come back.
"Heh, convenient for you to turn yourself into a walking bloody stain. Now I need to work half as hard to pound you into the pavement!" Sugilate rapidly spun her right arms into a tornado like motion and sent it into their chest … though unlike pudding, where they would've harmless splattered everywhere, it merely stuck … almost absorbing the energy from the punch like a sponge.
Feels different than being pudding. It's more solid, collected, hard.So shouldn't the constructs be stronger and more dense too? Lets put that to the test. They formed a massive wall of spikes, smacking it into Sugilite, sending them flying into the side of the temple. "Felt … good …" They cackled, sending more and more walls and spikes into them. "Suffer, suffer, suffer, suffer!" Feel pain, feel agony.
Sugilite rushed up from the wall, trying to land a blow, only for them to wrap around her forearms and squeeze as much as they could on the limbs. "What was that about you pounding US?" They sent tendrils and gripped the throat. "What's the matter? Wolf got your tongue?"
"CAN IT!" They shouted, trying to grab them, and failing. But it did show off something nice.
"Lookie here, gems!" They grinned as they touched the palms of her hands. "Would be a shame if someone broke them!" They shouted, readying spikes to impale these heartless bastards.
"Oh looky here, someone's being overconfident!" Suglilte ducked and shoved them into the sand below them. "Unsure if it's Lucci's or Amity's frequent disregard for pretty much anything that isn't Luz on earth or whatever Hunter brings to the table, but don't start thinking you're hot shit!"
"Everything like you just makes me care about it less and less!" They screamed, creating spikes and jabbing them along with bloody walls, hitting them over and over and over. "It was for Luz's sake that we tolerated most of it, you idiots, Connie, society in general, but the gloves are off now!" Shifting giant boxing gloves covered in spikes, they began hitting the other tri fusion right in the face. We definitely need to aim at their chest and hands. If we can shatter them we can end this quickly. Wait, are we aiming to kill them? They just cause problems, they deserve it.
They began punching harder and harder, though Sugilite managed to counter most of the punches by using the Garnet Gauntlets. "Well it was for Vee's sake that we didn't do anything about you little shits! Garnet tried to be patient and Amethyst tried to be your friend, but you never gave a damn about it!"
"WE! DON'T! CARE!" They ignored the punches as they continued to assault them. "We just want off this rock, and we don't care about how much it inconveniences you morons!!" They screamed, attacking and ignoring the blows done to their body. "We tried working with your limits but when push came to shove, WE were the one's that had to pick up your shit! One of your own sabotaged us over and over again and none of you did a damn thing about it! If we could've done it again, we would've never stepped foot on this world!"
They kept hurting them and their friends and they needed to suffer and die in a brutal and painful way without any form of mercy. "Oh we're doing something about it now, we're getting rid of the biggest source of our problems! We always thought Rose was the answer…and in a funny way she is….we get rid of every trace of her, and everyone gets to be happy!" They began to wind up their wrecking balls again.
"I agree!" They twisted around the ball, knocking them in the face. "The gems are the last people who do what she says after all! Get rid of them, problem solved!!" They continued to hit them over and over, taking out Sugar, and sending much of their own mass around her… shaping it into a diamond hard battle ax, and sending the tri fusion into a crater. "Thanks for the weapon tip, we'll be sure to remember it well after we bubble your shards!" And sent it straight down on the gem in her chest.
CREEEEAAAAAAK
"Gaaah…." Their form began to glitch. "Maybe… maybe Belos had a point… about you being…. monsters-"
"Shut it!" They raised up, slamming into the gem again.
CREEEEAAAAAAK
"I am made of many things … a criminal … a pawn … a coward. I've been called many things. From scum, to devil, to snob, to annoying, and especially monster…." They made the hammer even bigger as they held it higher in the air, making it burst into flames. "Right now, there is only one name you need to know…..Bloodstone." Goodbye, Crystal Gems. "GAAAAAGGGGGGGGGH!"
KAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPFFFFFFFFF
========================================================================
Vee tensed nervously, finally swimming her way back to the shore. Her family was going crazy and attacking everyone, and she couldn't do a thing. She was useless while everyone was forced to fight and hurt each other and just make everything worse and worse. She still firmly believed in pacifism above all else… But moments like this made her regret it just a little. All she had was her words and kindness… Which didn't mean anything to people that wouldn't reciprocate it.
But what was she supposed to do? Fighting just made everything worse, it kept escalating with people causing bigger and bigger problems to try and hurt one another. How was it supposed to fix the problems like peace could? If you could make an enemy a friend, you'd never have to worry … right? "Hello…anyone around?" She asked the now slightly drained beach front, looking around for signs of life. "...Anyone still alive?"
No response … Lapis did it … she drowned everyone in Gravesfield didn't she … Vee felt herself begin to cry. "Why … why did she …"
'She doesn't care about anyone but you.' Over and over again everyone kept repeating those words to her, and she just waved it off. She thought they were just being narrow minded, that they were judging her before they knew her… but no… Lapis really did only care for Vee and no one else… and Vee was too naive to see that it was a problem… Lapis was Vee's Spinel. "Please, someone, anyone answer!"
"Bleeeeggggghhh." The familiar groaning of Hunter came from the left, and she slithered towards it, seeing the boy, as well as Amity and Lucci in a crater. "I taste nothing but blood."
"Lucky you, I feel like I'm drenched in blood." Amity groaned out. "Even … ugg, Emira said that was supposed to be a monthly thing."
"I think blood is filling up in my lungs. " Lucci sighed. "Okay….. Put WAY too much firepower into that final blow." He kept blinking his eyes as he struggled to stand up. "I really hate tri fusions."
"You guys are alive!" Vee went down and squeezed them all. "Oh thank goodness, I thought Lapis killed you all for a second."
"No. But Amethyst and Garnet almost did." Hunter cleared his ears out from what looked like dried blood. "They fused and forced us to match blow for blow."
"Oh yeah … Sugilite is pretty destructive." Vee nodded.
"... You knew they could fuse?" Amity asked, looking at her with a glare.
"You guys fused all the time, I thought it was obvious." She shrugged.
"Great, so that's how it feels to be on the other end of that." Lucci grumbled, reaching into his hair. "The fight got pretty brutal… so… here." He gave her two bubbles that contained three gems…Amethyst's one being…
"You… you cracked her?" Vee whimpered.
"Trust me, we should have shattered all three of them when we had the chance." Amity growled. "Lucci said he'd rather leave the choice up to you though."
"Never!" She screamed. "Never shatter any of the gems, ever! That's like, permanent death! It's wrong and horrible!" Why did everyone want to resort to it!?
"I know. I've seen it happen before with Luz and Centi." Lucci said firmly. "But now we can't let them out, especially with all of them acting crazy bloodthirsty."
"I … yeah …" She could agree to that … no matter how much it hurt.
"So, now all we need to do is to get Vee to talk down Lapis and for Pearl to pop up." Hunter noted.
"...Yeah… I can't talk her down." Vee sighed.
They stared at her. "Vee." Amity said. "None of us can fight Lapis."
"I know, I know, but…I can't talk to her either. It's not like she's brainlessly destroying everything, she specifically threw me away because she knows I can't get hurt. She's….she's just…done with everything else."
"..." Lucci sighed. "Alright, plan C then."
"Musical number fueled by dark matter?" Amity guessed.
"No, take Camila and Dana while we ditch Earth. It's doomed." Lucci said. "We could probably make a portal in space. Just got to find the others and take the Rubies ship."
"What's this about the Rubies ship?" They turned, seeing Luz and Connie walking up to them.
"LUZ/CONNIE!" Amity and Vee cried out at the same time and hugged their respective partners.
"Connie, you're okay! I thought Lapis killed you when she flooded the town! I looked and looked when I ran into her and.." Vee began bawling.
"I'm alive, don't worry." Connie responded with some comforting back pats. "Everything's gonna be fine …"
"We got Pearl down." Luz said while hugging her girlfriend. "... Sort of."
"LET ME GO!" A familiar voice shouted.
"No way honey, not till you stop rampaging." They watched as Bismuth dragged Pearl, holding her in place.
".... Should we be worried or concerned about this?" Amity pointed to the bizarre sight.
"Trust me, I've been asking the same thing." Luz groaned. "While I was fighting her, I managed to trigger Bismuth's memories, so she's more or less on our side now."
"But how is she even holding her down?" Lucci asked. "If she had any actual power she would have tried to attack us earlier."
"My brain was fried from listening to Lord Boolus's inane rambling, I wasn't exactly thinking straight." The rainbow haired woman shrugged. "I guess I was more focused on indoctrinating Pearl rather than what I could do."
"Ah …" Wasn't it comforting to know you could have been killed at any moment if they were a little smarter. "... So just Lapis?"
"Her, the Centipeetles, Rubies, and Spinel … wherever she went." Luz looked around. "She just pops in and out whenever nowadays, doesn't she?"
"She's been a lot more liberal about being attached since learning the whole pink diamond thing." Lucci shrugged. "So, are we still on for fleeing the planet idea?"
"Can we stop Lapis?" Luz asked.
"Nope."
"Then I'm good with fleeing the planet." Luz nodded. "Maybe we can find a way back to that jungle planet and get some of our friends to live there…should probably give Charlie a heads up on a surplus of new arrivals."
"Luz, we got the portal door supplies, we can just flee to the Boiling Isles." Hunter pointed out. "The gems are just going to keep destroying the place, we can rebuild the door in peace."
BOOOOM
A thunderous boom echoed in the air, making the water shift as… one giant… MASSIVE pyramid shaped ship appeared in the atmosphere of the sky. "...You had to jinx it, didn't you?" Amity glared."
"I was being logical, that is not a jinx!" Hunter screamed.
"He has a point." Connie nodded. "A Jynx would be something like 'maybe the gem up there is pleasant'."
"Humans. I have come looking for a missing device of mine located on your planet. If my prism is not returned within four hours, I will obliterate all organic life with orbital bombardment."
Everyone turned to Connie. "... I was being rhetorical, that doesn't count!"
"So … any guesses what she means by prism?" Vee asked.
"...Gus's little white pyramid." Lucci grumbled. "Well, that would be easy enough, just got to find him and hand it over…"
"Lucci, this is a homeworld gem." Luz said. "You expect them to keep their word?"
"Especially since you're dealing with a Hessonite. That's not good at all." Bismuth winced.
He sighed. "Okay, on a scale of Moldavite to Blue Diamond." Lucci asked.
"Heartless as the former and the resources of the latter. They're high ranking garnets with the highest political power and experience among the caste system. They're in command of the light prisms, which they can use to raze whole continents in minutes."
"...So gems are going crazy, another psycho from homeworld is trying to kill us… anything else you want to throw at us universe!?" Amity cried out.
BOOM
A crater was formed once again as Boscha and Willow crashed into the sand. "Mega ruby… multi fusion." Boscha coughed out weakly. "Fighting smarter… fuck you Hunter." Just great.