Bismuth continued to hold Pearl in place. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO! I WILL END YOU! I WILL RIP YOU ASUNDER!"
"Can't we just poof them?" Lucci asked. "I'm starting to get a headache from listening over and over.
"Trust me, I want to, but we need every hand we can get, and sadly, Bismuth is one of those helpful hands." Luz grumbled. Right, still sore about the centipettle thing. Probably best not to rock the boat too much on that front.
"Okay … we got them." They watched as Gus and Vee came back, looking exhausted. "We tricked the Mega Ruby into running into Lapis's warpath… Hunter, why did you have to make them so competent now?"
"They seemed so nice and not threatening at the time!"
"You always knew they were going to betray us and we'd have to put them down when they learned the truth." Amity said. "Why would that ever be a good idea?"
"They're brainless pawns for a corrupt system they're utterly convinced is right… if Clawthorne could relate to Spinel and Luz could relate to the Centipeetles, why not me and the Rubies?" The golden boy said exhaustedly.
"I related to them because they're innocent creatures that just want friends and comfort." Luz sighed.
"Chirp chirp." The bird on Hunter's shoulder shouted out, as multiple palisman seemed to sound off in agreement.
"I've never seen Palisman so pissed at someone other than Boolus." Bismuth muttered.
"At this point it's kind of like background noise." Boscha nodded. "So one bloodthirsty water witch, one hyper competent fire golem, two psychotic acid spitting eels, and a highly advanced alien general with her own fleet. Anything else we're missing?"
"No, that's pretty much it." Willow nodded. "The Mega ruby's apparently tough enough to stand up to Lapis. It probably won't be long thought until Lapis just ignores them and goes back to killing whoever's in the way.
"Actually, if she can wear down Lapis enough, we could probably snipe them and get a poof in." Luz muttered.
"That still won't help us get rid of the Mega ruby, or figure out what the heck's happening with the gems." Vee sighed.
"The Mega Ruby's less of a problem than Lapis." Lucci pointed out.
"But again, still won't help us with whatever's going on with them." Vee pointed out.
"Well if it's just this town, all we have to do is drag them into the Boiling Isles." Hunter suggested.
"Hahahaha!" Lucci began laughing. "You think I'm letting them anywhere near my home. With all their dysfunctional and incompetence and constantly reminding me of everything I hate about this planet." He sighed. "My vote is we just leave them in a bubble for Vee."
"OF COURSE YOU'D SUGGEST THAT, SCUM!" Pearl screamed out.
"Only proving my point, bird nose." Lucci snickered.
"I don't want my family to bubble up." Vee argued. "They should be free and happy."
"Right now they're only angry and vicious." Boscha said.
That made the basilisk girl angry. "Look, I've NEVER asked for anything from this group before! I've traveled with you guys and against my better judgment, I tolerated your guy's more violent behavior, because you guys are my friends, so now I ask…please…..PLEASE help me fix whatever's wrong with them!"
Luz looked out the window, and sighed. "I might… MIGHT being the key word here… a solution for this. You know how the Blue glyph affects people. Shoving other people's sadness into their heads."
"Yes, I'm still putting you on a watch list for it." That foxy looking Sasha woman from the corner of the room muttered.
"Right… I could… possibly, mess with it to do the opposite, instead of shoving sadness and regret, I could make it so it shoves in calmness."
"You want to switch insanity for depression?" Boscha asked bluntly. "I mean, the problem would probably take care of itself …"
"Look, I know it's not perfect, but it's the only alternative that isn't shattering or eternal bubbling…and after losing Centi, I don't want someone else to go through the same pain."
"You could try it on Pearl." Bismuth said. "I already feel the rage building back up." Like it was bubbling under the surface.
"I WILL STAB YOU IN THE FACE!"
"Oh trust me, I would love to have you as a test subject." Luz snickered in a way that made her a little uncomfortable.
"We do have one more problem, it's a little on the lower side but it's still there." Connie winced.
"Oh what now? Return of gem mutants? Yellow diamond coming to earth? Demon's from hell trying to take over earth?" Amity rolled her eyes. "What could possibly be next?"
"You see, when the gems went crazy and fought, I checked their bubble room to see if anything got free." Masha said. "And maybe … saw that … Belos wasn't there."
".....THAT IS FAR FROM BEING ON THE LOW SIDE OF THREATS WOMAN!" Willow yelled.
"Four hours remaining until I obliterate this town. Watching you people run around screaming is getting pretty boring." Hessonite announced. "You know what, for wasting my time, I'm shaving off another hour. You only get three hours now."
"Not really the highest either." The blondie pointed out.
"Okay then." Lucci sighed. "Me and Gus will fly up there and deal with her personally. Willow, Boscha, Hunter, snipe Lapis as soon as you get the opportunity."
"Actually, if we're going for powerhouses against Lapis… you'd probably be better off staying." Luz pointed out.
"… Look, I appreciate the sentiment, but out of all the gems on this planet, she is the most likely to be able to actually kill me."
"Actually…she plans on taking me off the planet, which would mean I need magic to keep me alive…and out of all my friends, you're the only one she likes decently enough because you're both violent." Vee sighed.
"… Lucky me." Lucci rolled his eyes. "Luz, how long will it take for you to make that anti-kill us glyph?"
"Well it depends on how much I can test it compared to hypotheticals." Luz said. "The only reason the glyphs work to begin with is because of your blood."
"So you need my blood and something to test it on." Lucci nodded.
"About a pint of it, yes." Luz confirmed. "And I have Pearl/Bismuth, but it'd be better if I have multiple subjects."
"...I really hate my healing powers sometimes." Lucci groaned. "As for guinea pigs….I think I have one that just might work out perfectly."
========================================================================
Luz took a quill, dabbing it in the jar of blood, before she started to draw. "Blue, blue, pink, pink, ice, ice, ice, fire, plant plant …." First combination. Diamond magic… or whatever they were calling their power, the line was a bit confusing… was so complicated when it came to mixing it. Unlike the boiling isles, where the process came pretty easily, it was like there was a bit of a block when it came to using it.
It wasn't like the elements of light, ice, plant, and fire, and their thematic attributes of energy, rigidness, growth, and change. It was so … odd to place into words. It's almost like the glyphs were governing some higher spectrum harder to process … "Spectrum.." She muttered. "Hey Bismuth." She turned to the hologram lady, who was in the middle of directing Boscha and Gus on the ins and outs of working the rubie's ship while still holding onto the struggling Pearl.
"Hold on a minute tiny arms." The woman kept talking to the two. "Now make sure you don't touch that button, you'll activate the black hole drive and travel at light speed and likely end up getting stuck like that until your eyes cave into your skull and crush you from the inside out."
"We can go the speed of light itself?" Gus asked, looking down at it. "Even the speed of sound was a myth back in the Boiling Isles … science rules!"
"Yeah, the same science that's threatening to kill us from up above." Boscha rolled her eyes.
"I'll take what I can get for positives." The boy shrugged.
"Now avoid this button if you don't want to eject yourselves out of the ship, and avoid this one if you don't want the gravity to increase twenty fold and turn you two into paste."
"Would it be faster to just point to the buttons that won't kill us?" Boscha asked.
"Yeah, but handling a ship is tricky, and knowing this group, there's a fifty fifty chance that one of you might press one either by accident or desperation, so adding the fear of death helps lower that probability." She explained, turning to her. "Alright tiny arms, what did you need?"
"If you could describe each of the diamonds by one word each, what would it be?" Luz asked.
"Pompous." She responded. "Another good couple are arrogant, destructive, jerks, clods, and things Eda said she'd kill me for if I said them in front of kids." Of course. "Above all, I'd call them apathetic, and that's just being really lenient."
"Apathetic?" Gus asked. "Didn't Pink give everything up for organics? That seems more empathetic than anything."
"Everything including Spinel." Lucci pointed out as he messed with his hair. "Sugar, do you see the bubble?"
"Hhhss."
"Yes, I know I should keep my hair organized. Forgive me for not having everything in the proper place after nearly drowning." He rolled his eyes.
"Hm… emphatic… apathetic…" She pondered, something finally clicking into place. "The four diamonds… they follow along their own spectrum. For Boiling isles magic it's the states of energy…"
"Plant is a state of energy?" Vee asked.
"Not the plant itself, but what it represents." She explained. "Plant represents change energy, which connects to pink, ice represents empty energy; which connects to blue, who we saw as an empty shell of herself, unable to move on."
"When you put it like that, that would make Pink pretty much her emotional crutch." Amity noted.
"Exactly, so about it, I'm trying to make the connections, and it feels like there's a piece missing i'm not undertaking. The Boiling Isles magic connects to those states of energy… but I had a hunch that diamond power directly connects to a different spectrum."
"Spectrum … what about the color spectrum?" Connie asked. "Like the RGB and MYC chart?"
"Is that like the LGBT chart?" Willow asked.
"No, it's pretty much waves of light represented through certain colors. Red, Green, and Blue being primary. Magenta, Yellow, and Cyan being secondary. And all colors combined become White." She explained.
"... Well the colors are White, Pink, Yellow, and Blue …" Willow rubbed her chin. "I'm not sure how that all connects."
"Wasn't one of the diamond origin theories involving White casting off the other diamonds as their own colors?" Hunter asked. "Maybe it's some kind of core system?"
"White is the first gem to exist. That we know for sure." Bismuth nodded." "Her primary power is assimilating other gems and spreading her consciousness."
"... What does that entail?" Boscha asked skeptically, with a hint of nervousness.
"From what I've seen of Boiling Isles magic … Poltergeists on a more serious scale, to the point of complete suppression." … As in what Odalia used … to force Amity to fight them … completely… apathetic to anyone.
"…Disturbing as that is, that leans into the theory I was going for. The primary spectrum the diamonds correlate to is the emotional spectrum."
"So Lucci's powers really are tied to his emotions?" Amity asked.
"What, like the green lantern books?" Lucci asked.
"Yes and not quite." Luz nodded. "Instead of ancient gods powering rings of specific emotional states , you have Diamonds being powered off by more complex emotions. Empathy, Sympathy, assuming Antipathy, and Apathy." She labeled off, using a free paper to draw them up.
"Wait, Clawthorne would have empathic powers?" Hunter asked. "As in what Cyborg was talking about with empathizing with your enemies and making them your friends?"
"Not quite, each emotional state can have dual sides." Sasha explained. "Lucci being empathic can be tied into his more destructive powers. Empathy is about making a two way connection, so the destructive shouting, super strength can be attributed to making an emotional connection, albeit a negative one."
"THE DESECRATION OF ROSE WILL NOT STAND!" Pearl screamed as she tried to fight her way out of Bithmuth's grip.
"…Right." Luz continued. "And we saw two sides of Blue's powers. A sadness wave to force her own negative feelings, and a cloud that creates more positive ones; albeit in a forced manner, which is why she's sympathy. She can care about people, but she doesn't understand them."
"... And this is important while on a time crunch?" Boscha asked, pointing at the giant ship in the sky.
"It is because now I can understand how to connect which glyphs to which to make the right combos." She said as she made the necessary edits. "By knowing the exact relationship between blue and pink, empathy and sympathy, I know how they can impact each other, and in the case of Blues's emotion wave, know how to use it to force more positive empathy rather than negative sympathy."
"You'd still need a subject, right?" Willow asked.
"I should be doing that … aha!" Lucci shouted, pulling out a bubble. "I got it. Nice work Sugar … Sugar?"
"SSSHH!!"
"... She's going to be stuck in there for a while." He said with a bit of sweat. "Anyways, if there's any gem you can test that anti hate glyph on…you can't get more hateful than her." He presented a cracked gem… a gem that looked familiar.
"Is that… Jasper's gem?" Luz asked.
"Yeah. I took it out of Spice's mane, cause I didn't want to risk her grabbing ahold of the dark matter." Lucci explained. "In the end it turned out to be a smart choice when he nearly killed us all." He ruffled the lion's head. "Isn't that right my adorably destructive partner?"
"Grrr." Spice moaned in his typical lazy nature.
"Aren't you supposed to be running off against Lapis?" Gus asked. "Who's gonna keep her from destroying us all the second she's free?"
"Relax; her gem's cracked. She's ain't gonna be hurting anybody with her body constantly glitching." The boy assured."At most she resists and you can poof her with the sword."
"Alright … let her out then." Luz said, gently unsheathing her sword.
He popped the bubble, letting the gem glow and shift, as a familiar shape formed … with a mangled right leg and left arm. She glared at them. "Denruter evah sgnilkaew eht ees I." … What?
"How hard did you hit her?" Willow asked.
"I lost track after a bunch of back and forths between violence and heals." Lucci admitted.
"I can translate, Amethyst has cracked her gems enough times for me to understand backwards lingo." Vee raised her hand. "She said 'I see the weaklings have returned'."
"Uh huh, and that's why you're cracked and glitching and surrounded." Lucci rolled his eyes, stepping up. "I told you before that you were going to be my punching bag, and that hasn't changed." He growled at the cracked gem. "The only difference is that you're now our guinea pig."
She looked down at him, letting out a grin. "Worg I esuaceb skcarc eht detpecca I. Evah ot etarepsed os dnuos uoy taht tnemtaert siht esufer t'nod I fi em rof ti ni s'tahw?"
They turned to Vee again. "'I accepted the cracks because I grow. What's in it for me if I don't refuse this treatment that you sound so desperate to have?'" She translated.
"Oh, you have the wrong idea. You don't have a choice." He smirked. "You're not our friend, you're not our ally, you're our pawn, a stepping stone to get what we want. You don't get compensation, you're lucky to even be out of that bubble that I will shove you back in the moment this is all over."
The woman stared at the boy, before grinning. "Dnomaid a fo ytilaturb eht evah uoy syas ehs. Ssentiw ot reh rof gnisuma s'ti."
"….She says you have the brutality of a diamond…it's amusing for her to witness."
Luz was just gonna move before Lucci tried to shatter their subject. "Test number one is a go!" She slammed the glyph into Jasper. "If this is right, she should be filled with positive emotions."
The orange gem blinked … before turning to Amity with a look in her eyes. "Eno tneidar eht etiuq uoy t'nera? Smra ynit esoht nihtiw tcapmoc os rewop htiw. Ssilb ni ... ekil si rewop laer tahw uoy wohs I tuoba woh?"
"….If I reveal what she just said; you and Amity will both try to kill her right now." Vee winced.
"I think you just shoved your positive emotions into her." Connie thought aloud. "Maybe tone it back a bit, think less romantic thoughts."
"Yeah, the last thing we need is for all the gems to suddenly fall in love with us." Hunter shivered. "I had enough on that from with Starfire."
"... How about Vee puts it on?" Romantic thoughts and happy family were the only positive things in Luz's head, and she was pretty sure Jasper could only contemplate the meaning of ONE of them.
"Alright…" Vee trepidatiously walked forward. "Please don't kill anyone, please don't kill anyone…or fall in love with me." She placed it on.
The gem blinked again, before grinning with a smile that was not meant to be used on that face. "Selur ffuts kaew!" Jasper shouted, hugging Willow. "Reve dna reve rof sdneirf tsetseb eb s'tel."
"She said 'Weak things rule! Let's be best friends forever and ever'." Vee said.
"I liked her better when she was trying to kill me." Willow wheezed out from her tight grasp.
They immediately let go. "Uoy truh ot naem t'ndid I ,yrros."
"Wow, now that is uncanny." Gus said in amazement.
"A Jasper acting like a shy school girl … I am mildly impressed and immensely terrified." Bismuth nodded. "The ethical implications alone are haunting."
"We left ethics behind a looong time ago." Lucci rolled his eyes.
"Although …" Willow smiled, picking up an emotion glyph. "I wonder what happens when Vee applies it to Boscha …"
"No, no, no! My mind got hacked with that boomerang already, I do not need to experience that again!" Boscha growled.
"She's right… we need to make sure this works on all gems." Hunter grabbed one. "So let's see." And placed it on Lucci's back."
"HeyyyyyyYYYYY!!!!" He screamed as blue and pink sparks emanated from the paper and his gem.
BOOM
Before he was launched through the window. "... I guess his gem couldn't process his own glyphs … or is it they couldn't process blue glyphs …" Luz muttered.
"I'm going to kill you, Golden bastard!" Lucci ran right in Hunter, semi transformed into manticore mode and gripping Hunter by the neck.
"Or maybe because Hunter has little to no kindness towards Lucci it just amplified the anger." Gus noted.
"You're down to two hours organics. Maybe you do want to be destroyed. Probably more pleasant than the Cluster going off."
"Let's hope that one hour spent on Glyphs was worth it." Luz sighed, handing out the emotion glyphs. "I'm going after the Centipeetles since I'm probably the only one here that can muster enough positive emotion for them. Vee, you tag Lapis while Hunter tags the Mega Ruby."
"What about us?" Amity asked, pointing to herself and Willow.
"Well Lapis isn't exactly going to just let Vee in close enough to tag her, and neither is the Mega ruby, so we split up and help divert."
"... We'll take Mega Ruby." The two of them said.
"Of course." Lucci rolled his eyes. "If I lose one of my limbs, I expect five lion lickers from each of you."
"That's fair." Willow nodded.
"This is going to be a disaster, isn't it?" Hunter groaned.
"You mean it wasn't already?" Luz countered.
========================================================================
Boscha watched as they began rising above the ground. "... This is gonna suck." She groaned aloud. It was her and Gus on the mission of fixing the Hesonite problem, since everyone else was busy with the crazy gems. She would have offered to stick by her Crystal but … well, she loved him sure, but she wasn't suicidal enough to take on Lapis.
"Hey, we get to go to space. That's pretty cool." Gus tried to look on the bright side. "You can't deny that."
"Maybe for a space nerd like you, yeah." Boscha rolled her eyes. "But if you haven't noticed, pretty much everything bad about coming to earth that hasn't come from Belos has come from space."
"Okay, not everything bad from earth has come from space." He said. "A lot of it is just humans not accepting people. And don't forget the experiments came from space."
"I mean everything bad that we've faced." Boscha pointed out. "If it didn't come from Belos, who only amplified the prejudice and paranoia of stupid humans, it came from space, like the gem mutants, Peridot, Jasper, Moldavite, the cluster, the diamonds, now this. It's ALL from space."
"... I still like it." He shrugged, looking back to the sky. Why did she bother trying to reason with this idiot? "I mean, you still hate humans as a whole but still like those total drama people, and Kiki."
"Yeah, because they don't suck." She justified.
"Well traveling to space doesn't suck for me. Sure, it's full of dangerous things… but so's the boiling isles." Gus smiled.
")*(&)*)>" …Right, that prism thing was the reason why they were in this mess to begin with.
"There's a difference between dangerous and annoying." She iterated as they flew up. "Remind me why we aren't just turning over the prism to her?" Boscha looked to Gus.
"Because given how every gem acts, she likely isn't going to keep her word." They answered.
"... I was half expecting a friendship speech."
"I've learned to be more pragmatic when reasoning with you." Gus groaned. "So we fly in, find a way to blow up the ship while pretending to give the prism back, and hopefully get out before we are trapped in the aftermath."
"...We have to come up with better plans if this is the best we can muster." Boscha groaned. Getting ripped in half while playing Grudby was never this complicated.
"Every time we come up with plans we get separated, at this point I feel like making plans is a problem for us." He admitted. The console began to beep. "... Please don't blow us up." He said, pressing the button.
An orange woman with puffy hair and a monocle showed up. "State the purpose of your arrival."
"Oh, this is a transmission … I'm doing a ship to ship transmission." Great, he was geeking out. "Okay, okay Gus, stay cool, first impressions are everything…"
"Space geek here has your Prism. We're here to drop it off." Boscha bluntly answered.
"(!#&(@!."
She glanced at the prism, a sparkle in her eyes, before turning back. "Left docking port, go there and follow my Peridot." She said, before cutting off.
"....You just had to cut off my cool moment, didn't you?"
"You're a nerd. That should be common for you." Boscha countered as he directed the ship. "Now keep your head up. If this Peridot is anything like the one we know, it's going to be very… very annoying."
They landed the ruby ship, making their way out as they saw … "Greeting organics." Spoke a Peridot … with a very square head. "Follow me."
"You're a peridot?" Gus asked.
"Affirmitive." The green gem nodded.
"I thought Periods were all… triangle shaped."
"Peridots come in all shapes and sizes." The gem justified. "Though homeworld's resources have dwindled to where most of my facet and cut need limb enhancers, the general shape of our gemstones varies from shape to shape, from hexagonal to ovular." She messed with those robo limb things the Peridot they knew had last time as the door closed behind them.
"There goes escape …" This better not bite them in the butt when it was all over.
========================================================================
Hunter walked behind the trees, watching as Mega Ruby was launched away by Lapis's wave "Wow … they really have gotten stronger." He would've expected them to poof at least and shatter at most… he felt mild pride in them.
"Yes … thanks for that." Captain said with a glare. "Seriously, you told them specific ways to beat us!? I was coughing out weed killer for an hour!"
"It was just in case we had another Orchid goes crazy moment!" Hunter justified.
"Wait, you told them how to counter fusions?" Amity asked with a glare. "Anything you haven't told them how to beat?"
"...I told them about Lucci's problem with fighting large groups in rapid succession… Luz's resourcefulness and reliance on glyphs, Gus's misdirection tactics, Boscha's potions and reliance on fire magic, your limited ammo….." With each addition, the glares got deeper and deeper. "I need to keep them occupied somehow! It's actually pretty hard to keep coming up with lies when they keep questioning everything!"
"We should have just poofed them." Willow sighed. "Come on, we'll calm them down and take them out when they split. You got Luz's glyph?"
"Yeah." He nodded.
"Good… Because I'm going to beat nature into their faces." The buff girl grew a massive tree in the shape of a fist, and hurled it at the now recovering Mega Ruby.
"Wow, that's a pretty strong Lapis. Maybe I should leave her alone, she's killing off the worthless humans… but she also pisses me off… what to do, what to do here?" They thought out loud as they looked to the sky… catching the tree without even looking and burning it to a crisp. "Stupid earth weather. Bad enough wood grows on the ground, now it falls from the air?"
"... They don't even need the weed killer, do they?" Amity asked.
"Nope." Hunter sighed. Alright, they were distracted. All you have to do is teleport behind them and tap them with the glyph. One, two, three! He warped behind them, reaching out with the glyph-
SMACK
"Oh hey Captain! Nice to see you again. Ready to die?" They asked as they smacked him into the ground, landing in a pretty thick pile of mud. Blegh, it was in his mouth now. "You know, for all the lies and crap you've been leading us on for the past five months?"
"It … wasn't all lies." He tried to justify, only to singe his hair as he avoided a ball of flames.
"YES IT WAS!" They shouted. "We were supposed to be looking for Jasper! We were supposed to make sure the Cluster went off! We were supposed to work for Homeworld! But you tricked us at every turn! You made us stray from our mission!" They punched the ground with enough force to cause a shockwave. "You were supposed to be our captain, but you led us astray!"
"Oh yeah, he led you astray from being brainless, mindless pawns for a system that clearly doesn't give a crap about you." Amity flew in, driving Mega ruby's attention away from him for a minute.
"IT DOESN'T MATTER IF THEY DON'T CARE! HOMEWORLD IS OUR PURPOSE! WE SERVE THEM, OTHERWISE WE HAVE NONE!" They shot fire at Amity. "We get praise from our diamond and make the universe a better place without any worthless organics!!"
"Have you ever questioned it!" Willow shouted. "That maybe organics aren't worthless!?" She shouted, covering them in vines. "It's because of Hunter that you were fighting smarter, and he was smart enough to trick you! The supposed superior species! What does that say about you!?"
"I believe I'm making up for it!" They shouted, setting the plants ablaze. "That I'm doing what's right and taking you brats down in the name of Homeworld!!" They shot out more fire at Willow.
"Hunter!" Amity shouted, sending an ice spell at the rubies face. "Here's an opening…go for it!"
He rushed forward, making it seem obvious as the Mega Ruby swung their arm … warping under it, and slamming the glyph onto the fusion. "Be calm!"
A wave of pink and blue overcame them. "AAAGGG, No, I do not feel good I…..no…no, we can't trust him, he tricked us…..but it felt good….no! You're just being defective! You can't trust…but I like him…no…no…stick together….stick….TOGETHER!"
POOOOOF
The fusion glowed, splitting them up into the five rubies once more. "What is WRONG with you soldiers!?" Doc demanded as she marched up to Leggy. "It was all a deception! A ruse to get us to betray our duty!"
"I don't care that it was a lie!" Leggy shouted. "Being on earth was the most fun I've had in forever! Following our captain…it made me feel good for once!"
"He betrayed us! We're supposed to be doing this for Yellow!" Eyeball shouted. "For JASPER!"
"Yeah… we get praise… but… but he actually made us feel good… and gave us stuff…" Leggy pouted. "It was nice… not just being a Ruby."
"I like being a Ruby!" Navy screamed. "We serve, we do, and we repeat it over and over again!"
"Well maybe I want to do more than just do the same things over and over again! I… I want to roll in this dumb grass… sleep in that dirty old barn, pet fluffy things like those green and white monsters!" Leggy shouted.
"And I like punching people, it makes me feel happy and content!" Army shouted.
"Not you to!" Doc screamed. "What is this world coming-"
Shink Shink Shink
"... To." Doc finished, looking at the vine piercing her. "... Ah nut-"
Poof
Three gems fell to the ground. "Aggu… That was… annoying." Willow groaned.
"Not all five of them?" Amity asked.
"I don't think they're going to be a problem… are you?" Willow asked.
"I'm gonna go punch stuff cause it's fun!" Army screamed, running off.
"And it just may be the flooding of sudden happy thoughts in my head, but I don't think I hate earth as much as I used to." Leggy shrugged. "Even if you're not a real captain….it was nice to have you as one."
"Well … that's nice." Hunter smiled, scratching his cheek. His scars felt a bit itchy. Must've been the mud or something… probably nothing to worry about.
========================================================================
"Okay." Vee took a deep breath. "We can do this … we just need to walk up, and get her to take the glyph."
"Yeah, tell that to the partially frozen landscape and the fog of hot steam floating above us." Lucci pointed out. "She's not going to willingly put that on herself."
"Well then what's your idea?" She asked.
"I talk to her, you put it on from behind." Lucci pointed out, summoning a barrier for them to float on the water. "And by talking to her, I mean distract and attack from a wide enough distance because she genuinely terrifies me."
Right, okay, she could live with that. "Well, there she is." She pointed at the woman. "I'll go get 'em … I feel the expression 'go get 'em Tiger is lost on you."
"Given I have a whole lion thing going on, yeah." He nodded, floating up. "Hey Lapis!" He shouted, pulling out a razor disk. "How about you pick on someone-"
"Lucci!" The blue gem shouted with a smile, pulling her hand as the boy's body seemed to bubble from the inside, before he was yanked out of the air and flew right in front of her. "I've been looking for you."
"Oh really….Didn't notice…" He looked at the ground. "Given the whole 'flood the town' thing."
"Right. Just weeding out the jerks. Anyone who can survive no oxygen is either a gem, or not you and Vee." She smiled, oblivious to the horrid things she was saying. "Anyway, we're gonna need a portal to the Boiling Isles soon. You got the stuff right?"
"Yeah…." Lucci secret signaled Vee to get going, to which she nodded. As long as Lapis thought she and Lucci had something in common…that being hating earth, he'd be safe for now.
"Good. Cause I was thinking I'd drown the planet and take you guys off the planet, and you make your portal there." Lapis causally brought out. "Cause lets face it, Vee isn't going to give up on this planet anytime soon, even though she should. You know how much the people here suck, right?"
"Well you have a point there." Lucci nodded.
"Between racists and witch hunters and the constant gem threats, it's just horrible." She growled.
"…" Lucci looked nervous. "You … know how the Boiling Isles works, right?"
Lapis blinked in confusion. "Kinda." Keep talking while Vee got closer "Witches on an island?"
"Yes … magic witches." Lucci went on. "As in … what basilisks … eat." He explained. "I trust Vee whole heartedly, I know she won't do anything horrible…but everyone else is going to be scared of her."
"… Worse than humans?" She asked slowly.
"We had three separate occasions where Balisks tried to attempt genocide over the isles, they're not going to trust her anytime soon."
"...Alright….so plan B it is." Lapis nodded. "Live on an abandoned moon and have you provide the magic she needs."
"Ah … I see." He nodded slowly, a desperate look in his eye. She was getting close now.
"You're not thinking of running away, are you?" She asked skeptically.
"No, I'm not… just… you're not giving me a lot of room to… be flexible, you know…controlling me by my blood and all."
"That's because I don't want you running off, since I know how attached you are to the Boiling Isles." Lapis clarified.
"But … doing it all the time is gonna be hard right?" He asked.
"... You make a point." She nodded as he sighed in relief. "Let's compromise." Lucci's legs began bending the wrong way. "I'll just get rid of your ability to run." Shit, shit, shit! This isn't going well at all! "Sorry for the discomfort, it's just…. I don't trust you. You got good instincts…but you're still not Vee."
"Good to know…ACCCCK!" Lucci coughed up blood. "You know Vee won't like this, right?"
"I know … she's the only nice thing in this whole universe … she was gonna take my place as a prisoner just to make sure both me and the planet would live off in peace." Lapis chuckled. "There's just some friends in this universe you will do anything in the universe for…..right Vee?"
Vee paused as her body was caught up in an orb of water. "How…!?"
"Because I know you. You'd try everything in your power to talk me out of it, or bring me down." Lapis laughed. "You probably have some sort of thing on you that's going to calm me down instead of poof me … right?"
"... Lapis … please." She felt herself cry. "I know it hurts to hold it in but … letting it out is just gonna hurt people."
"Is it now …" She turned to Lucci. "When has 'holding it in' ever worked for you?"
"Only once or twice…. When you live with Luz, it's something you learn to tolerate." He snickered. "I'm not the type who holds back, that's for others to deal with. I'm the one who has to make the hard calls, the one who has to shatter the Cluster, or get into the head of a Basilisk to end their genocidal rage."
"And this is my hard call …" She raised an arm. "Ending a bunch of jerks that never learn to change-"
"But unlike you though…" Lucci grinned a little though. "..On one or two occasions….I can learn to accept some change….like the one currently about to smack you into the bottom of the ocean."
"HEY BLUEY!" A giant pink and rubbery fist smacked into Lapis, forcing her down into the water and making her hold on them fade away. "LET GO OF MY BEST FRIEND!"
"...Did you plan on that?" Vee asked.
"Rules for setting up a con, never go in without at least three back up plans." Lucci nodded. "Spinel, keep her down!"
The water exploded, steam and ice gathering into weapons around a very pissed off Lapis. "Oh you are going to suffer!" She screamed, trying to impale and cut the gem.
"Not before you, water lady!" The springy gem bounced and hopped around like she was an accordion. "I can tolerate killing jerks that deserve it, that's just something good and practical friends do for each other… but forcing them to do stuff that they don't want…that's crossing the line!" She sent a shot put punch into Lapis's face
"... Didn't we force Ja-"
"Shhhh." Lucci held a finger to his lips. "Just get the glyph on her." He lifted her up. "I'm gonna do a fastball special, so hold on tight."
"Got it." She nodded … before pausing. "Wait, what do you mean fastball-"
"And here we go!" He shouted, throwing her straight at Lapis.
"LUCCCI!" She shouted, waving her hands frantically as she landed on the blue gem. "Sorry Lapis, but this is going to be for your own good!" She shifted herself into her normal basilisk form, and used her slithery body to wrap her arms and legs together.
"You know this isn't going to stop me Vee. I can still fly." She began soaring upwards. "And I can fly high enough for the air to thin and for you to pass out."
"Not before … I do … this!" Vee shouted, slamming the glyph onto Lapis's body.
They paused for a moment … before a look of guilt overcame her face. "Oh no oh no, what did I do?" She asked, tears falling from her eyes. "What did I do…..how many people did I kill!?"
"It's okay Lapis… it's over…." She was right about the air getting thinner. "I'm… I'm gonna go to sleep now…" She felt herself go limp.
"VEEEEEEE!" She heard Lapis cry out her name as she slipped into unconsciousness….just glad she didn't have to worry about her friend anymore….which meant she could save her family too.
========================================================================
Hessonite waited patiently, gazing at the door those organics should be walking into any minute now. Any second …any second and her baby would be back in her grasp.
"So what's it like… being a scientist on top of a massive ship?" She heard the voice of that smaller organic as the doors opened.
"Fulfilling and mundane, the way it should always be. I maintain optimal mechanical function of all the ship's systems and occasional exterminate pests that come onboard the ship." The voice of her Peridot responded. "Commander, the organics as promised."
"I see that." She spoke, standing up. "The prism?" She turned to the three eyed mutant.
"Yep, here it is." The organic stepped aside….revealing…
"... Spotchy … it's you…..IT'S REALLY YOU!" Unable to hold in her composure, she ran up and hugged the floating creature. "Oh speak to me."
"!(#&@(!)." Ah, that was the good old voice she missed.
"Oh, mama was worried sick when you got lost in the rubble, she thought she'd never see you again!" She kissed the little guy. "Where's your brothers and sisters?!"
"...For a species that barely understands organic life, she seems to be well aware of familial terms." The shorter organic muttered.
"We research from organics and pick what we find interesting." The Peridot shrugged. "Personally I'm a fan of mathematical theoretics."
"@(#&@."
"... What do you mean they were shattered?" She asked.
"_}{:<#@."
"And the Harmony Core!?" That cost so many resources and so much time to make. "Tell me who did this, who brought this upon my babies!?"
")*(*)(*&*^(&)*)"
"Rose Quartz… Of course." Hessonite grumbled. "She forced you into a world you did not belong to and trapped you in a place you couldn't escape, oh, don't worry babies, mama Hessonite will make sure nobody will hurt you ever again."
"... So we're cool?" The three eyed organic asked.
"If you're referring to the idea I will spare my wrath from this planet… no." Hessonite answered. "But Spotchy holds the shorter one in high regard, so I will spare the two of you while I raze the earth for all that it did to my baby."
"... I mean … isn't it kinda pointless?" The small one asked nervously. "With the Cluster and everything … in fact, razing all of earth doesn't seem very easy for one ship."
"You're quite right… lucky for me, as a Hessonite, I am well resourced for such an occasion." She smiled, speaking into a calm. "Emerald, bring out my light brigade. Operation sun scorcher is finally ago."
"Understood." The Emerald spoke out … before multiple light prisms came out. From the cube shape of the green Floura, to the purple Sphere of Saturine, to the long triangular red shape of Porter.
"...You-you have like a fuck ton, why the hell does having one more mean shit!?" The three eyed organic exclaimed.
"They're my babies of mass destruction and execution." Hessonite spoke, rubbing one. "Isn't that right Claranet?"
"&@#(!E!!^}{." It rubbed itself on her face.
"Prism, why didn't you tell us your original owner was a sadistic psycho!?" The short one shouted.
")*)*&)@*@&@*."
"At some point we don't need to ask, it's implied!"
"Oh forget this." The organic began taking out a vial. "I'm ending things right here an-"
Fwoosh
In a blink of an eye, Hessonite held the three eyed organic by the throat, crushing her against the wall. "Do you know why Hessonites are so feared among my kind, amongst any other Garnet?"
"... I thought … Garnet … was a fusion …" She choked out.
"Oh no… you've never met a true Garnet before have you?" She cackled. "We're made a cut above the rest … not just to be faster, or smarter … but to be absolutely ruthless." She threw the organic with enough force to blast through three reinforced walls. "Secure the organics Peridot." She turned to Saturine. "And give that girly a nice little paralysis blast for mommy."
""-@:&4$2"
"Of course you can double the usual voltage. Triple it if you can." She squeed.
========================================================================
Luz did her best to look away from Jasper and Pearl … they were acting way too nice for comfort. "I'm so glad to help you grow into such a strong and powerful young woman." Pearl smiled to Connie. "Thank you for adding to her training, Ms Waybright."
"…I think it was more comforting when she was acting like a psycho." Sasha winced.
"It's either this or crazy psycho mode." Bismuth said bluntly. "Please tell me you're able to adjust those glyphs."
"Oh sure, master glyphs I rarely have access to." This was so much easier back in the Boiling Isles. There were no consequences besides wasted paper. Now she was limited with Lucci's blood and random effects of large, complicated glyphs. "We're lucky to even have functional glyphs on earth to begin with."
"Can't you just go random?" Connie asked.
"The last time we went random, Mr Universe survived what should have been a killing blow, and Bismuth got stuck in Pearl's head."
"What an excellent job Luz." The pale gem nodded. "Good job." How did she come off as so passive aggressive as a nice gem?
"Between being stuck in Belos's head and Pearls… I say I've upgraded."
"Right, because my main goal was to make sure you of all gems were comfortable." Luz rolled her eyes. "Any word on the others?"
Lapis rushed through the door. "Vee is hurt and I hurt so many people and I feel like a terrible person!" She cried, falling to the floor.
"... When this is all over we are SO finding the source of this insanity. This solution is more disturbing than the problem." Sasha winced at the sight.
"Eh, I just try to move on with my life without asking too much." Lucci came up from right behind them with Spinel wrapped on his back.
"Wow, you actually manage to make it with all your limbs intact." Luz said. "Impressive."
"Bit of a shame that bluey's all mopey dopey now. I could've made her rip you apart in a bloody firework explosion way." Spinel sighed.
"... I take it you didn't put the glyph on her?" She asked.
"Be honest." A tired looking Vee came in. "It would be more disturbing."
"... True." Luz nodded as everyone else came rushing through. "Mega Ruby down for the count?"
"For the most part." Willow handed Lucci three gems. "You mind?"
"Nah; Sugar filled out the space while she was lost inside." Lucci shrugged as he bubbled them and plopped them inside. "What about the other two?"
"Turns our Leggy legitimately likes earth and Army just likes punching random people without rhythm or reason." Hunter shrugged. "Either way, they're not going to hurt anyone."
"I'm gonna punch a baby!!" Army screamed from outside.
"…I'll go take care of that." Hunter slowly backed his way outside.
"That just leaves the Centipeetles, Hessonite, and whatever the heck is causing this."
"Well … we found out the last one." They watched as Anne and Masaha came back in. "And … you're not gonna like it."
"We haven't liked today, period." Lucci deadpanned.
Anne pulled out her phone, showing off images of … "Glyphs. Made out of a green mud."
"…..Of course." Luz grumbled, looking closer at the picture. "That's what Belos used the leftover parts of his essence for… he learned the blue glyph and projected his own hate wave." She made her enemy stronger again….why did she even bother by this point?
"Well we know that it can be countered at least." Willow grumbled. "The kindness glyph worked on the Rubies, and from the looks of it, Lapis as well."
"I'm a horrible monster that doesn't deserve kindness! I should be locked up in a mirror again to pay for my crimes!" They cried.
"Except this is a field effect." Luz drew up a small diagram. "Belos, through what I'm assuming is artificial magic, is constantly repeating the same anger inducing spell over and over on a wide scale. This makes it less potent, but increases the range, and as long as he keeps casting it … we'll have to recast the kindness glyph over and over." She groaned.
"But wouldn't that take a massive glyph…like the size of the town?" Amity asked.
"We only saw it small." Masha said.
"Then he's gotta be using his body parts for a bunch of tiny glyphs across the entire town." Luz concluded. "Like I said, it's not potent, just long ranged and persistent."
"A bunch of small glyphs … any of you guys run into mud?" Connie asked.
"Not that I recall." Willow muttered.
"I was over the water the entire time, so no." Lucci confirmed.
"Of course…I'm just going to have to figure it out later." Luz sighed. "Now I just need to find the Centipettles. Lucci… hand me the chaaps."
"You think they can smell one bag across one town?" He asked, opening it up and tossing it over.
"Yes. The Centipeetles are already feral on their own, they probably don't even understand whatever emotions Belos is forcing into them. I'm relying on their basic instinct…to seek comfort above all else." She tossed some on the beach. "Come and get your salty savory chapps Centi's!"
There was silence … then rumbling … then they emerged. "KAAAWR!" The two of them began brawling over the bag, biting one another.
"Reow!" Ghost yelped, hiding behind Amity as all the Palisman took cover. Right, of course, how could she forget she was messing them up too?
"Guys … I know you're both confused and scared right now…and that you haven't seen me in a while… and I'm sorry." She took out two of her glyphs and hit them. "I hope this provides you with a little more comfort." She shedded a tear as she placed both on them.
They paused, turning to her with confusion, then her friends. "Get ready." Hunter said, his body tensing for whatever might happen.
"KRkrkrkrrkr … krrraaa …. Klll…" The second one, nicknamed Shady, sounded out. "Kkkrraaaa … Kaaaallmmmmm."
"... Did … it just … say … calm?" Lucci scratched his head.
"…Did it just talk?" Amity said in wide eyed confusion.
"You…you guys…..can you understand me?"
"Thhrrrrrr….thttthhhhhh…..thhhhank...youu...Luuuuuzzz." The first one, nicknamed Tink, rubbed their mane on her head.
"..." She looked at the creature … hugging it tightly. "I'm going to spend my life curing you. One day, I know it'll work." Luz said, rubbing the Centipeetle. "I promise I won't fail you like the first." Even if she couldn't stay in the isles, she'd fix this. She had to fix this.
"Alright, way to go bestie!" Lucci slapped her on the back. "Now we just have to wait for Gus and my angel to come back, find wherever Boolus is hiding, and we can finally go home!
"Attention Humans!" The voice in the sky shouted out. "Now that I have my precious baby back, I can finally do what I've dreamed of doing for so many centuries! Whipping out a planet in five minutes instead of five hours! And you, planet earth, get to be that lucky planet!" They shouted. "... You know, it might actually be a mercy to do it before the Cluster detonates …"
"…..We should've been more prepared for that." Willow groaned. "So…Anyone have a spare space ship laying around."
"Oh, I know of one!" Pearl shouted. "We can use Pink's ship!"
"…Rose had a spaceship…this whole time…. And you said nothing about it!?!?" Lucci screamed.
She tilted her head. "When have we ever needed to leave the planet?"
"Get frustrated later, we have to save the world…again." Luz sighed.