54It feels really good to be back in Beach City. Don't get me wrong, it was pretty good staying at the Crystal Kings base and seeing all the progress being made… but I needed to come back. Bradford and Yuri have agreed to take up the operations back at the main base. My time with the specialists was only little over a month brief but I was able to learn a lot and quickly from them. Plus they were basically on loan until they were needed to go back to their respective places, whether its work or back on the run. Being at the base I was able to fully rework the system they had, provide new information and technology to speed ahead production, transportation and communication to make the process quicker. All the gang members basically and the ones that only joined to sling drugs were rounded up and left to the authorities, as well as small bits of information and product to lead the authorities in the different states they were the Iron Kings, drawing the heat off us and allowing for the creation of my PMC Crystal Kings in a legal sense. The favors and backing from the original leader helped get us the permits and process needed to call us an official PMC. With my office I was able to set it up to allow me to oversee the Crystal Kings and give orders in specific areas should I need to.
In my time while I was gone, some things happened to my family in the time I was gone.
First off it seems Greg gave Steven a bit of information about how he worked at the car wash, and possibly how Rose first wanted to have a baby. Apparently Greg and Rose offered to babysit a baby Sourcream at the time and its possible Rose was so fascinated with the prospect of a baby growing up and turning into an adult like Greg was amazing. Don't know if it was exactly what made her want to have Steven but its possible that was the start.
While the threat of the Iron Kings was pretty much done by the time the others went home, their was still problems in dealing with more corrupted gems and I didn't have the Crystal Kings set up enough to offer help. So Connie, Steven and Pearl went on a mission to the Great North in order to capture the corrupted monsters with Connie going on her first mission with them. That didn't turn out what they wanted because apparently they also met Jasper there. When I heard that, my blood boiled a bit and I was for a moment regretting staying to set up by new PMC instead of helping the others. Still, they were able to get away from her, but weirdly what happened was apparently Jaspers target was the corrupted gems, not the Crystal Gems for some reason. She disappeared as a result of their confusion.
While Garnet and Pearl took off back to the Great North in order to continue searching for Jasper while Steven, Connie and Amethyst stayed at Beach City. Unfortunately, they were attacked by Jasper at Beach City with Amethyst having gotten poofed because of the fight, which resulted in her slightly changed look. Got to admit I kind of like the white shirt she's wearing.
Then Steven and Amethyst apparently needed to find out who was the weakest gem on the team and proceeded to fight each other at the floating coliseum, which they wrecked the crap out of much to Pearls ire. Don't know exactly why they needed to find out who was worse but eventually they reconciled. Of course Pearl would prefer if they did it BEFORE they destroyed the coliseum but what can you do.
Anyway, now that I'm home, its time I get back to being with my family and onto more important things.
"You got this Steven." I quietly encourage my brother.
"Oh my goodness!" Pearl mutters in awe.
"Go for it, bro!" Amethyst encourages him as well.
"This is your last chance." Garnet warns him.
"No... No...! Jump... Jump...!" Steven frantically shouts as he sweats profusely.
However it's all for naught as Steven's character dies in his video game.
"Aww!..."
"Dang it! So close." We all groan at the failure.
"Dying a bunch in video games is emotionally exhausting." Steven comments.
"Better than real life." I can't help but comment as well.
"You'd know the feeling wouldn't you Marcus?" Garnet cheekily states.
I groan, flopping back onto Steven's bed as I continue to groan. "Pleeeaaase don't remind me."
This gets a laugh out of everyone at my expense. I don't mind. I smile at them still. 'It's good to be back here with them. I missed them so much.'
"Hehehe… Huh?" A curious grunt from Steven makes us look at Steven and to what's got his attention.
It's Lion chewing on Steven's shirt.
"Lion!" Steven cries out and runs down and tries to pull the shirt away from Lion's mouth. "Drop it!" We watch as Steven desperately tries to get the clothing item away from the pink animal until he finally manages to. "Lion, you can't chew this. How else am I going to remember the time I rode the Thunder Bird at Funland?" He says but he places his shirt right next to the OTHER Thunder Bird memorabilia he has, the badge and a framed photo of the experience. I give him a deadpan stare at the multiple ways he can remember he rode that ride. He climbs back up and resumes his play time on the console. "Okay, I'm sure this time…" He begins to say until he glances to see Lion making a grab for the shirt again. "Lion! Don't even think about it!" The animal makes a break for the door but Steven manages to block him and take his shirt back. "Since you can't play nice, I'm gonna have to put this where you can't get it: In ya mane!" Lion grumbles at this but relents and lays down. "Thank you, boo." And just like that, Steven dives straight into Lion's mane.
"…Huh, that was something." I can't help but comment at the ordeal we saw Steven go through to save his shirt and keep it safe.
"Yeah, it was… Alright my turn!" Amethyst enthusiastically says as she grabs the controller and plays.
"Steven wasn't jumping right. Now here's what you should do…" Pearl begins to give the purple gem some advice on how to beat the game when Steven failed.
"You think Steven will be alright?" I ask Garnet.
She shrugs. "Besides suffocating, which he can get out at any time, I think he'll be alright."
"Yeah, your right."
"I know I am. Oh! Watch it!" Garnet focuses on the game. I roll my eyes at her confident attitude but I look at the game as well. We watch as Amethyst avoids an enemy before pushing onward. She then comes across a platformer part.
"Jump! Jump!" Garnet instructs.
"Careful!" I advise.
"I am jumping and being careful!" Amethyst replies annoyed at our backseating.
*Thud*
"I've made a horrible mistake!" We turn from the tv to see Steven laying on the ground, having thrown himself out of Lions mane and loudly yells.
"Wha!?" Pearl cries out confused.
"Aw man." Amethyst isn't as focused on him as the distraction caused her to fail in game and get a game over.
"Hold on, I can fix it!" Without giving us any context as to the mistake he made, Steven dives right back into Lion's mane.
"…What mistake do you think he made?" I ask the others.
"I don't know." Pearl says. "From what you say, there really isn't much in there that could cause too much damage. I'm sure it's nothing too bad. He could be throwing it out of proportion."
While that may be the case, we all clamber down from his bed and crowd around Lion, waiting for Steven to return. It isn't too long until he pops right back out in front of us.
"There's a Gem inside of Lion's mane!" He finally tells us.
"A Gem?" Pearl asks confused.
"That… can't be good?" I say more out of confusion and unsure. While a new gem is always warrant for hostile caution, the fact this one is inside Lions little dimension mane gives somewhat more leeway.
"Describe her." Garnet asks.
"Uhh… hang on a sec." And just like that Steven pokes his head back in.
"Wait! Steven!" I call out in worry but he's back in. "We have an unknown gem inside there and I don't know about you but I don't want him going in there alone." I voice my displeasure.
"What do you suggest?" Garnet asks.
Steven pops his head back out. "She's big!"
"Whoa whoa whoa whoa Steven!" He's about to go right back in but I stop him before he can. "We have no idea exactly who it is that's in there and I don't know about you but I do not want you going in there alone."
"Aw c'mon Marcus. It's not that bad."
"Listen man, I've been gone for too long and I'm still pissed at myself that I wasn't here to help you all with Jasper and the corrupted gems. Let me go in look at this gem myself. Give me five minutes and then you come get me. I think then I'll be able to determine if their friendly or not."
They all stare at me for a few seconds before glancing at one another.
Thankfully, they went with it. I know Steven might have been alright himself, just popping his head in and out only exposing himself a little as he gets the gems appearance, but I guess I just need to do something now so I can feel like I did something to help.
I've been gone for too long and I really need to help.
And that's how I find myself slightly weightless as I launch into the air inside Lion's dimension. I tuck my legs in as I hit the air, giving time for Steven to deactivate the portal. I land roughly on the ground, pulling my Spas-12 shotgun up. This shotgun instead of buckshot has full on solid slug rounds loaded in and ready for use. Ever since my gunfire on Jasper when I first met her when she and Peridot invaded was ineffective, I realized the solid hardened form that gems take are stronger than flesh, the hollow-point rounds I used were too weak to give enough punch and no doubt she has to be stronger than the average gem, especially since she's a warrior. Either armor-piercing rounds or anything meant to punch as hard as possible to solid objects are what should be more effective. Slug rounds from a shotgun in close range… we'll see if they work, if I need to use it.
As soon as my feet tough the ground, I immediately train my sights forward and scan 360 degree around me, looking for the big gem he was talking about. Halfway through my turn I spot her. She's also in the middle of turning around to meet me as well.
The gem has a large, bulky body type with broad shoulders and a strong, flat chest that is wider than her lower body. She is very tall for a regular since she only looks slightly taller than Garnet. Her legs are noticeably shorter compared to her arms. Her hair is styled in several dreadlocks in a mixture of several bright rainbow color tones, all held back by a lilac headband. She has a periwinkle purple complexion, and she sports a single tattoo-like marking of a star pattern on her left shoulder in a smoky dark red. Her gemstone is located in the center of her chest and is noticeably concave. She wears a black apron-like outfit, resembling a blacksmith now that I think about it, with a single brownish attachment and a pinkish-red star-shaped belt around her waist. Her pants are a burgundy color, and she has dark brown boots.
She flinches in surprise at seeing me now instead of Steven. "Oh! Whoa. Wow you changed, or new. Uh listen. I'm a little lost here, and since we are the only ones here right now, maybe you can help me?" She asks as she steps closer to me.
"…" I go to say something, but I completely forgot that Lion's mane doesn't have any AIR! 'Wow I've been gone for too long. Would really suck if all my work with the Crystal Kings and my training would lead to me suffocating to death right now.' I take the strap on my shotgun and sling it on my shoulder before reaching behind. 'Fortunately, I finished developing this with the help of the others.' I pull out a small black mask piece and lace it on my mouth. A press of the button on the front and it firmly sticks to my face covering my mouth and nose. That's not all as a faceplate extends up and over my forehead before sticking firmly to my head as well. All of this forms a seal around my face allowing nothing else from the outside to get into my eyes, mouth and nose. My original plans for a rebreather changed into a much more advanced gasmask system. With a tight seal forming around only the face, the rebreather system has been upgraded to make the air recycling system that much more powerful, having a small air supply to begin with, it can recycle to small amount for a couple hours. Adding an outside air filter or small gas tank would make air breathable for days on end. Not to mention the collapsible faceplate screen comes equipped with nightvision and thermal sight modes.
But at this moment all I need is the rebreather function. With it set up, I take in a deep lungful of air and get my breathing back in order. As soon as I do, I turn back to the gem, seeing her confused expression before I grab my shotgun again, this time I don't aim it at her but just hold it, ready just in case.
"Uhhh, you okay?" She asks me.
"I'm fine now. Listen, my friend and I, the one you saw earlier, we have no idea who you are or what your doing here. Thing is, the only way your getting out of here is through me and him, literally. I'm here to make sure your not going to be a threat to those I care about, got that?"
The gems looks a little taken aback from my blunt explanation of the situation, but she seems to relax a little after a second. "Um alright. I don't wanna get into a fight or anything. I just wanna get out of here and find out where I am." She doesn't seem all that perturbed by my firearm in my hands but I don't think she realizes it's a weapon. She doesn't need me to tell her what it is. "So, what do we do then?"
"First off, I want to know, do you recognize this place?" I wave towards the small island nearby. She looks towards it for a second but shrugs.
"Not really. Never been here before… well, except now."
"Hm, okay. Now what's your relationship with Rose Quartz?"
"Wha-What?!" And just like that he calm façade crumbles as I mention the name. She tries to keep it cool but I can definitely tell from the flinching and the stutter she has. "Uhh, wait, what do you mean?"
"I mean… this place belongs to her and I want to know who you are and why you're in here?" I bluntly demand of her.
She looks worried for a second and looks away from me. She takes a deep breath before turning back to me with a smirk. "Well, alright then. The names Bismuth. I'm a Crystal Gem and I'm the weapon smith for the entire Crystal Gem army. All the weapons they used, the bases that we made, the armor we used, all made by me. When some gems that joined weren't able to make their own weapons, I supplied them with the material weapons we needed to help fight back against Homeworld."
After her explanation, we delve into a small silence as I contemplate my next action. 'Okay, that seems legit from what she's saying. Problem, there are some holes in what she's been saying. Like she kind of deflected the question of why exactly she was here in this place to begin with. Something tells me she was placed here for safe-keeping instead of coming here voluntarily. Not to mention the way she reacted when I mentioned Rose to begin with. Somethings not right and she's worried. She's hiding something I know it.' My critical stare of her softens a little. 'However… she's a Crystal Gem, an original Crystal Gem, may even know Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst. I have my army now, but I think we do need more Gem help if we can get it, but I don't like the mystery behind her and want her to tell me… however…'
*Tap*
I glance down to my feet at the tapping sensation. It's Steven poking out of the ground next to me, tugging on my pants looking at me expectantly. I stare at him for a few seconds before nodding and holstering my shotgun on my back. He smiles through his closed lips and extends a hand to me. I grip his hand with one of mine, then I turn to Bismuth, looking at us confused.
I extend my other hand towards her.
It takes a bit of effort in order to pull the new gem out of Lion. Compared to me and Steven, she's a big one and it takes a little bit before she's fully out of Lion. A glance to the animal shows his immense surprise at the absolutely massive being that just came out of his mane.
The others expressions though are a bit of a different story.
Garnets expression is one of staring with a slack-jawed expression of disbelief with Pearl covering her mouth with tears threatening to pour from her eyes.
"Wow, a total stranger."
Amethyst's is not as… emotional as the others, from her blunt statement. Garnet dispels her visor, revealing her eyes of disbelief to go along with her expression.
"Pearl… Garnet…" Bismuth manages to say in an almost breaking tone. Steven and I take a step back between the gems.
"BISSS-MUUUTH!" It was the right call as Pearl calls out in an overjoyed way as she runs up and jump hugs the new gem, laughing all the way at how happy she is. "Ahahahaha! You're back!"
Steven, Lion and I look at each other in a bit of confusion. I had a feeling that she might have known the others, obviously mostly Garnet and Pearl, but I wasn't expecting this much of an emotional response.
"Woah!" Bismuth laughs as she lightly tosses Pearl into the air and catches her. "Hehehehe! The Pearl I know never jumps into my arms! Hey, did somebody lose a Pearl? Who do you belong to?"
"Nobody!"
"Ha-HA!" While they all reconnect, I go ahead and unseal my rebreather and collapse it back into its smaller form.
"Alright, alright, settle down." Garnet tries to calm them down as she walks up to Bismuth.
"Oh, you're one to talk, oh, oh, excuse me, you're two to talk." Bismuth cheekily replies. Garnet scoffs at this as she casually summons her gauntlet and punches Bismuth playfully in the arm. "Hey, cool it, your Ruby is showing."
Amethyst meanwhile, the odd one out, shuffles towards the rest of us, joining us in looking very confused about this whole thing.
"Where have you been? We thought you'd been captured! Or worse, shattered." Pearl asks.
"Shatter me? Pshh, Homeworld couldn't lay a scratch on this Gem." Bismuth proceeds to play off the notion.
"Ahem. Who is this?" Having just about enough of the reunion, Amethyst gets their attention.
Garnet smiles and leans on Bismuth's shoulder. "Guys, this is Bismuth. She's one of the original Crystal Gems."
"Oh, hey! New recruits! Welcome aboard, we could always use more Amethysts. And who's this meatball? I mean we already met skinny but we haven't exactly exchanged pleasantries." Bismuth asks us. I'm a bit put off by the comment about me. Pretty sure I'm thicker than Pearl.
Body type I mean! Forget it. I'm even more annoyed at the snickers the others get. A glare from me stops them from laughing outright, but I can tell they're holding it in.
"Hi, I'm Steven! Y-You were in my lion and now you're in my house." Steven simply explains to her as he extends his hand.
"Well, thanks for having me!" She replies as she shakes his hand. She then turns to me.
I smirk as I cross my arms. "Well, the names Marcus. Excuse the rough introductions at first. I've been known to be the well-prepared and somewhat paranoid of the group."
"Paranoid?"
"I heard that!" I loudly proclaim as I turn to Pearl, who is smiling that cheeky smile she has.
"Well, good to have a prepared individual such as yourself here on our side." Bismuth says with a smile as she extends her hand to me. I take it and shake hands with her.
"I can't believe it! Rose said she lost track of you at the battle for the Ziggurat! She was worried sick!"
Interestingly, as soon as Pearl says that, the smile on Bismuth's face suddenly turns into an expression of worry, and begins looking around the house. The others don't see it but this definitely has something to do with the mystery I was surmising earlier. Somethings got her spooked.
"Wait! Where is Rose?" She asks the others. We all share a look of awkward sadness at the news we have to give.
"Hi, um… actually, I'm Rose's son." Steven decides to speak up, taking Bismuths attention. "She kinda turned into me… well, I have her gem, the rest is from my dad." He lifts his shirt to reveal his gem which formerly belonged to Rose Quartz, leader of the Crystal Gems.
"Ohh… There she is." Bismuth mutters in disbelief at seeing the pink gem before looking at Steven. "You… do you know me?" She asks him.
"No, I'm so sorry." He apologizes to her.
"It's not always easy to understand Rose's choices… But we have to stand behind them." Pearl says. Not much to do about her choice but we have to make do with it basically.
"Rose really is something else." Bismuth mutters. Steven and I are unsure of what to say to her about this, Steven even more so. "I mean… Look at this! She really is somethin' else!" Although she seems to take it relatively well as she laughs a little while placing a hand on Garnets shoulder. "Wow! Everythin's changin'! And we're buildin' bases out of wood now?! Hmph!" I have to keep from rushing her as she tears a piece of the wooden floor out. "Whose terrible idea was this?"
"Hey watch it!" I angrily state at the carelessness of her breaking Steven's house. "I'd like for our new ally to please not break our homes!" I say in an annoyed tone. I groan at the damage before swiping the wood piece from her hands and tossing it next to the hole. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out two small green balls and toss them next to it. A few commands inputted into my gauntlet and the green balls expand, revealing themselves to be my droids, originally reprogrammed from the little spherical robonoids that used to belong to Peridot, having simply gained the ability to be collapsible into smaller easier to carry forms. As they expand, they find the broken wooden piece, spray it with the nanobot goo, break it down, and proceed to fix the hole. "There."
"Whoa, those are new." Bismuth comments with a smile and a nod before looking around. "And where is everybody else?"
This gets a confused look from all of us. "Everybody else?" Steven asks.
"Yeah, the rest of the Crystal Gems! Old Crazy Lace, Biggs, Snowflake?"
Suffice it to say we exchange some very worried looks with each other.
"Ooooh Crap." I mutter quietly under my breath.
We appear out of the warp pad. Instantly I step forward and begin scanning all around us with my shotgun. It may be meant for mostly close range but the slug rounds will at least give some range. Regardless, I scan all around us to make sure we don't have any threats ready to meet us.
"Clear!" I call out and relax. While I relax at the no threats, Bismuth freaks out a little at the state the field is in.
"No- No way! We were just here! How long was I out?"
"It's been about 5,300 years. We, the Crystal Gems, were able to save the Earth…" Pearl begins to solemnly say as she walks up to Bismuth.
"But we're all that's left of The Rebellion, huh?" She finishes what Pearl was saying. This causes her to begin to cry and nods.
This in turn causes Bismuth to start crying too. "Oh, come on Pearl. You know I can't take it when you cry like that!"
"I'm sorry."
"No, no need to apologize."
Garnet takes the moment to join Bismuth's side. "Homeworld's final attack on Earth wiped out all of the Crystal Gems." It's a bit surreal for Steven and I to actually listen to this retelling of what happened in the war for them. Obviously this is a moment for them since they all have to bring Bismuth up to speed, despite how much it hurts.
"Rose was able to protect Garnet and myself and by the looks of it, she was able to protect you as well." Pearl says.
Bismuth grunts as she grabs a lone axe off the ground "I knew those Homeworld elites were twisted. How many of us did they shatter?! Crazy Lace? Biggs? …Snowflake?! If I was there, I- I could've stopped it!" She defiantly shouts.
"It's not like they've stopped trying."
This gives Bismuth pause from what Garnet says. "What's that?
"Homeworld still has its eyes on this planet."
"We continue to thwart their plans over and over."
"But they just keep coming back!" Steven shouts out as he and Amethyst join us.
"Yup. They want us bad." She chimes in.
"And their not going to stop anytime soon." I finish.
"Good. I thought I wouldn't get another chance to show those uppercrusts who's boss! Let's show 'em what happens when you mess with the Crystal Gems!" Bismuth boisterously and confidently says. In her state, she lets out a growl of fury as she swings the battle axe at a strawberry bush, smashing the strawberries to bits and goo.
"Yeah!" Steven determinately yells. While her confident attitude may be infectious, there are some things that she's missing about fighting Homeworld.
"Bismuth, the Gems on Homeworld outnumber us by a huge amount."
"And their technology far surpasses anything we have available on Earth, at least yet." Garnet and Pearl inform her. While I have been able to reversengineer the various Homeworld gear, vehicles and equipment to better suit us, I only have a finite amount of materials since the replicator was shutdown due to the massive usage of it when I attacked the Iron Kings. Homeworld can make as much as they want while I can only use so much of their gear, and I have to do some major upgrades to Earths materials if I want to bring them up to snuff against Homeworld.
Bismuth doesn't seem perturbed by this as she laughs and wraps both her arms around Garnet and Pearl "What else is new? Garnet, remember when you and I took on a battalion of Quartz soldiers? We walked out with our stones shining brighter than when we walked in."
"As I recall, it was three battalions." Garnet confidently states as she adjusts her visor.
"And, Pearl, remember when we stopped that drop ship? I'll never forget the look on that Nephrite's face when you pulled her out of the cockpit!"
"I know. How embarrassing for her." For some reason I can't really see Pearl doing something like that.
"Ha-HA! So let's pick up where we left off! To the foooorge!" Bismuth excitedly yells out as she hugs them.
"Yay! To the forge!" Steven shouts too as he hugs Garnets leg.
While the others are enthusiastic about going somewhere, there is one question that is on both Amethyst and I's mind:
"Yo, what's a forge?"
Okay not exactly phrased like that but you get the idea. What's the forge?
As soon as we make it out of the warp pad, again I scan the area around us. Immediately I notice two things, we don't have any hostiles, and there is an active volcano.
"Why in the hell are we next to an active volcano?" I question out loud as my gun falls along my side.
"Well how else am I going to get the heat for the forge." Bismuth snarkily states like its obvious. I develop an annoying tick at her statement. "But still, that brings back memories, huh?" I think she means the warping.
"Is this the forge?" Steven asks. If what I know about a forge is similar to what the gems had, chances this is not it.
"Hehehe. Not yet. Follow me." Bismuth chuckles and leads us down a path. We begin walking around the volcano with smoke emanating from the ground below us. All this still gives me uneasy feelings about possibly getting immolated by lava.
"Is this the forge?" Steven asks.
"Pretty sure its not." I comment dryly.
"Ugh. Don't ask me. I've never been here before." Amethyst replies.
"Well, since Bismuth was gone, we've had no reason to come back here." Pearl informs us.
"So your telling me that we had access to more Gem technology here on Earth, and no one decided to tell me?!" I can't help but exclaim very loudly in an angry annoyed tone, staring pointedly to the two gem war veterans, who might I add is doing what they can look everywhere but me.
"Aw come on you!" Bismuth takes the chance to good heartedly give me a pat on the back, which to anyone else would deck them straight to the ground but I barely flinch. "Even if you got here I don't think you'd be able to use this tech." She tells me.
My annoyed expression doesn't change as I pull my left arm up, making her move away from me and stare at the gauntlet computer tech on my arm. "This computer was made from the technology I took from Homeworld. If I could reverse engineer what they had, then I might be able to make do with what you have here."
This makes Bismuth smirk. "Hee, cocky. I like that. Either way, let's just all say this place ain't the same without me."
"What does that mean? Amethyst! What do think that means?" Steven asks the short purple gem as he excitedly grabs her arm.
"I don't know, dude. I've never even seen this Gem before today."
"We took a huge blow from Homeworld. But, now, we're back in Bismuth."
'Uggghh.' I mentally groan at the bad joke.
"She's got jokes!" Steven laughs at her joke. I roll my eyes when no one's looking. As we continue to make our way down, I soon notice we are coming upon the face of the volcano and notice part of the rock is of a different color and texture. It actually looks like a solid stone slab than the compressed volcanic rock and dirt around us. "Is this the forge?"
"Not quite." While Steven may be wrong, we do in fact stop in front of the odd stone material. Bismuth stands in front of the slab and her gem begins to glow. The ground starts to rumble as several doors open up in the slab, creating a tunnel into the volcano.
"Ta-da!" Bismuth reveals to us.
"Whoa." I mutter.
"Wow." Amethyst does as well.
"Now, that's an entrance."
"Bravo, Bismuth!" Steven and Pearl state with the latter gem clapping. We march down the tunnel before we eventually make it to this dark room. Its completely dark, the air is stuffy and a little hard to breathe, not that most of the people in the group need to actually breathe, and I can already feel myself on the cusp of getting ready to sweat considering we're in the middle of a volcano. "Aaaah! Bismuth!" Pearl shouts in joy at the place. Lots of different melee weapons line the walls and the ceiling of this place, as well as an anvil being in the center of the place.
"Whoa!" As I glance at Steven as he shouts, I look up and notice the outline of a giant sword hanging above the room.
"It's just like I remember it." Pearl wistfully says from the memories.
"It feels like an oven in here."
'Okay so I'm not the only one sweating here.' I think at Steven's comment. He's outright sweating while I can already feel the beads starting to roll down.
"You think it's hot now?" I don't like the question Bismuth asks.
"Yeah, like an oven." Steven repeats what he says.
"Well, it's about to get waaaay hotter!" Bismuth laughs as she shapeshifts her hand into a hammer and slams on a pedestal in the room. The pedestal sinks into the ground and less than a second later lava begins to flow like a waterfall through an opening, dousing Bismuth in it and illuminating the forge as it flows through the rest of the room through small pathway.
"Ah, cool!" Steven exclaims loudly in excitement. I meanwhile block my vision a little with my hand at the sudden brightness filling the room, not to mention the extreme heat hitting me so hard and making me sweat as much as Steven now.
"Ooh." Bismuth nonchalantly emerges out of the lavafall none the worse for wear. "Hah! Nothing like a hot lava bath to get into a working mood."
"Ahh!" I grunt at the small flecks of lava droplets being flung off Bismuth's person. I swipe my arm through the air at the drops that almost hit me, flinging them away. Because the contact was quick they don't give me 3rd degree burns but small red marks. "Hey watch the shrapnel there." I grumble. No one answers or acknowledges me as Bismuth begins gathering a handful of dust from three different barrels.
"Uh, what, exactly, do you do here?" Steven asks as he peaks into the barrel. Leaning in close, I get a small metallic smell from the materials.
"Homeworld used us Bismuths to erect spires and temples for the Gem elites to enjoy." Bismuth begins to inform us as she heats up the dust she gather… right before plunging it and her entire fist and forearm into the lava fall. "But Rose taught me that my life was my own." She pulls her fist out and walks over to the anvil in the middle of the forge, drops a heated metal ingot onto the anvil, and shapeshifts her hand into a hammer. "That I could choose to do whatever I wanted." She begins pounding on the ingot. "So I chose this." She then dips the pounded ingot into lava, pulls it out with the product engulfed in flames. She simply blows away the flames on it, revealing the finished product.
"Bismuth… You make… weapons?!" Steven says with awe all over his face.
Bismuth hoists her newly-made sword over her shoulder. It's a straight edge short sword with the tip reminding me of a sheepsfoot or tanto style. Not sure but I'm more surprised at just how fast she was able to make that blade. "That's right! I outfitted the entire Rebellion. Every material weapon used by the Crystal Gems was made right here in this forge." She told me before about being a smith but the fact that she outfitted and ENTIRE army by herself? Wow. "Wait. Is it still here?" She runs over to a chest in the room and opens it. "Aha! Yes! Here, something to pack a little extra punch." She throws what looks like a pair of brass knuckles to Garnet, who quickly summons her gauntlets and attaches the knuckles onto them. "And why don't you try a trident?" Next she throws a forked attachment to Pearl, who then attaches it to her spear, turning it into a trident.
"Holy crap." I mutter at the new weapon upgrades they get.
"Oh, Bismuth, you shouldn't have." Pearl bashfully says.
"It's no big deal. I was working on them since before—" She looks down for a moment. "Well, may as well give them to you now." She cheers up right after.
"It was worth the wait." Garnet replies with a smile.
"Hey, it's a pleasure doing Bismuth with you."
I quietly groan at the joke.
Steven is having a ball with it though as he laughs. "Bismuth is so funny."
"I don't know. Same joke twice?" Amethyst isn't so easily impressed.
"Well, it'll be really funny if she does it a third time."
"It'll get stale." I mutter.
"Yeah. Sorry, I- I don't know. I mean, she's one of the original Crystal Gems and no one ever mentioned her to me, not even Rose?" Amethyst points out that interesting bit of information while the others all laugh and are happy together. "Don't you think that's a little bit, uh… suspicious?"
"I… guess that is a little… strange." We surmise. It is a little strange considering the circumstances, we haven't heard of her at all, she dodges a lot of topics and questions involving Rose and so on. However outright calling her out on it may not be the way to go.
"Hey, deep cut. Don't think I forgot about you. What you packin'?" Bismuth calls out to Amethyst and asks her.
"Oh, this old thing?" Amethyst summons her whip.
Bismuth walks up to Amethyst. "Oh, wow." She examines the weapon closely.
"What is it?" Amethyst asks.
"Well… Not every Quartz can make a whip like this. You mind if I take a look?"
"Knock yourself out." She hands the whip to Bismuth.
"Hold on! I've got an idea." Just like before, she heads on over to the chest and rummages through it. "Here. With this, you can really do some damage." She tosses the weapon back to its owner. Amethysts whip has been upgraded with spiked flails. Steven reacts with shock, while Amethyst and I look in awe.
"Nice." I comment.
"Aww yeah, baby. Bismuth's the best!" Amethyst joyfully proclaims as she tests her weapon around all over the place.
"I think its safe to say that her suspicions went down pretty hard." I comment to Steven. He and I chuckle a little as the purple gem is ecstatic for her weapon.
"Hey M!" Bismuth calls out. I look to see her looking at me. 'Better than skinny.' "You got any weapons you want me to take a look at?"
I look down at my shotgun for a second before realizing that she can't do anything with that, but maybe… "Well, you got anything for these?" I pull out my swords and toss them handle first to her.
She catches them easily enough. She barely has to look at them before she gets a look of recognition on her face. "What in the-?! So you're the one who owns these!" She shouts in elation.
"Wait, what?" I ask in confusion, just like the others who are confused as I am.
"Yeah! I was show these weapons and asked to make something with them. So you're the owner." She says with a smirk. When we hear her, we get some awkward looks with each other.
"Well, yes and kind of no." I hesitantly say.
"What he means is that Marcus is the same as Steven." Pearl begins to point out as she notes the confused expression on Bismuth. "Just as you once knew Rose as Rose, she gave up her Gem to have Steven. Just as Marcus's mother gave up her Gems in order to have Marcus."
"Oh, right. Wait, Gems?" She notes. Pearl looks to me and nods. I reach up and lift up my sleeves to show her my gems. Her eyes widen as she notes that I do in fact have two gems. "Huh, wow. Well, I guess I kind of met these weapons owners." Bismuth notes as she gives me back my swords. "Let me see what I got." She heads over to her chest and begins rummaging through it. "I never actually met your mother, I think, or at least the owner of those weapons. Rose simply gave them to me and asked me to make some upgrades for them. Something about the owner being shy."
I can't help but facepalm at the excuse. "Their was nothing shy about my mother." I grumble. I've learned enough about my mother to know she was not shy… at… all.
"Here!" I look up in time to see her tossing my blades back at me. I easily catch them and look at them closely. The only thing I find about them is some sort of clip added to the bottom of one of my katanas. I look at her confused but she just continues to smile. "Go on. I think you know." She basically make me figure out what it is she did.
I look at the two weapons, my mind running several different reasons what this is and what I can do with it. It doesn't take me look to figure out as my eyes widen.
*Click*Chick*
I slam the bottom handles of both my katanas and twist. Just like that, my dual swords can now be converted into a double-bladed set. I smile and go through several slashes and twists and turns with the weapon, slicing and cutting the air with dexterous ease. My last slice ends with my blade stopping in front of Bismuth. She doesn't react to it and just continues to smile. With one last flourish, I swipe the weapon around until I hold it at ease, in my right hand with the blade almost parallel with my arm.
I smile at everyone around me. "Perfect."
"Homeworld treats us like dirt because we don't shine like the elites. But the Crystal Gems are back, and we'll give those Diamonds another taste of what's coming!" Bismuth loudly proclaims with conviction. She then shapeshifts her arms into hammers. "Now, show me what you got, soldiers!"
Steven and I sit back as we watch the OG Crystal Gems engage in a spar while we watch. After hearing about all the thing Homeworld did and the fact we all have new weapons now, it was pretty obvious everyone was pretty geared up to test out their new equipment. So while Steven and I watch, they get to go at it.
"You know Steven, I was honestly not expecting to meet another Gem when I finally came back to all of you." I comment to Steven as we watch.
"I honestly wasn't expecting to meet another one too. The others look excited to have her here as well." Steven says. To accentuate what he says, as they spar they're all smiling, bantering and throwing small quips at each other. Amethyst may have been wary of her at first but one weapon upgrade later and she's ready to embrace the new gem with open arms.
"Yeah, she seems alright. I like my new weapon upgrade, but theirs still something about her that seems a bit off. You see it too?" I ask him with some uncertainty in my voice. While she may have showered everyone and myself with some gifts and upgrades, my previous doubts for her have still not gone away in the least.
"There is something about her, but I'm not sure what. I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable just because we aren't sure." He tells me.
I smile and pat his head, ruffling his hair a little. "Your too good Steven."
"Nn!" He pouts as he swats my hand away.
"We! are! the Crystal Geeeeems!" Our playfulness is interrupted harshly as with one final cry from Bismuth, she smashes a rock into pieces with her hammer hands, showering us in bits of rock but not enough to hurt. I'm surprised but Steven grows increasingly uneasy at the display. "Steven, come down and show me what you're made of!"
"Uhhh… I would, but this is a little intense for me." He states. While we were talking, much of the beach and the area they were sparing in has been ripped up pretty badly, with a bunch of small trenches and divots of impacts littering the place.
"But it's a ritual for us Crystal Gems to spar before battle." She says before wrapping her arms around Garnet and Pearl. "Marcus! M! C'mon you gotta get in on this."
I look at her for a few seconds before glancing at the other gems, seeing their giddy and encouraging nods. Looking at Steven… he just sips his soda.
I smirk and roll my head around popping my neck and loosening myself up. "Alright then. I can show you what I can do." I step down the small hill we are on and up to her.
"Perfect. This is going to be… wait… where did-?" She looks around when she notices the other gems aren't next to her. Looking past me shows their right next to Steven, waiting to see the fight. "What? You wanna go alone?"
"Trust me, I just need myself."
"Well, your cocky I'll give you that. I like that." With shapeshifting her hands into hammers, she takes a ready stance to fight. "C'mon, show me what you got."
I smirk as I get slightly bend my knees and ready myself. "Oh, I'll show you." My muscles flex, and I move.
My afterimages appear behind me as I rush forward. The surprise in her face at my speed is evident and she's barely able to pull her arms in a block against my punch. A small force of air spreads out around us, lightly blowing back the hair of our friends. With a loud cry Bismuth pushes me back, making me slide back a few feet. The smile doesn't leave my face as she charges me. I stand there as she brings her arms up and slams her hammerfists down where I am.
At least that's how it would look. Instead her attacks passes right through my afterimage and into the ground. To the right of the image is me with my leg up and heading right for her. She grunts as my wide kick slams into her side, sending her flying away from me. She bounces off the ground once before digging her fists and feet into the ground to stop her. As she looks up, I'm already there in front of her with my fist flying towards her. My fist connects with her stomach, making her grunt from the hit and swing at me. I duck under the attack and let loose a quick flurry of punches to her stomach and chest. She grunts more as she steps back from the barrage and try to defend herself. She brings her head down towards me to impact my own. My left arm comes up and blocks her hit with my forearm. With my right, I execute a Furi Tsuki wide swinging punch straight to her side.
Except she blocks the hit with her own arm. For the moment both my arms are held or blocking, her leg comes up and slams harshly straight into my stomach. I let out a small grunt as I go rolling back along the sand. As I halt for a moment in my rolling, I see Bismuth jumping into the air and coming down towards me, ready to pound me into the ground with her hammerfists. I smile as I continue to roll a couple more times until she's just about to land. Just as she does, I plant my hands firmly on the ground and swing my legs up. She wasn't expecting the retaliation and that leaves her open for my kick right to her chin. She lets out a loud yell as she goes flying up high into the air. I flip one last time until I land right onto my feet. I take a moment to catch my breath before looking up to see Bismuth flying high into the air. A glance to the side shows the others staring at her form as well. As she comes back down, I take a few steps back as I anticipate where she's going to land.
"…aaaaaaaaAAAAAAHHHH!"
*Boom*
A large cloud of dust and sand explodes all over the place at the point of her impact on the ground. I squint my eyes to avoid the sand getting into my eyes as the air blows my air back and my clothes flapping a bit. Soon the air force on me dissipates and reach up, straightening my hair and clothes. When the cloud dissipates as well, I look down into the small crater. Bismuth lays there outstretched flat on the ground with a bewildered look on her face with her head towards me.
"You okay?" I ask, leaning a little into her vision. Her that were staring into the sky glance up to me.
Her expression changes to slight confusion. "…You didn't even use your weapons." She points out.
"Nope."
"…Just what are you?" She asks. I simply smile at her and lift the sleeves of my shirt, revealing my two gems on my shoulders. She smirks as I remind her of my two gems. I extend a hand to her. She takes a second before smirking wider and lets me pull her to her feet. "Well, I guess its safe to say your cockiness isn't just for show. You can back up all your talk."
"I do what I can."
As we lightly banter, we notice the sounds of clapping near us. Turning to the side we see Pearl and Amethyst clapping, Garnet and Steven smiling, and Amethyst whistling too. "Bravo! Bravo!" Pearl jovially shouts with happy clapping. Bismuth smirks at the praise while I give a small lazy salute in return.
"Hey Steven! C'mon. You sure you don't want to give it a shot?" Bismuth asks my brother. "It's a ritual we do all the time before battle."
"Yeah, I'm sure. Besides, I actually have some rituals I like a little better." He proposes.
"Oh, yeah? Let me see 'em." She asks. Steven smiles at her answer.
As it turns out, the rituals that Steven was talking about happened to be a variety of different games and events we can do that doesn't involve us bodily injuring one another. Well the others may have been willing to in some way but I was not.
In any case the first thing we did was a simple badminton match we had on the beach. Well, simple is a loose words because we ended up making another crater in the sand because Bismuth jumped and basically spiked the little shuttlecock straight into the ground. If I hadn't seen or experienced the things I did with the others, I would have never believed that little thing could have done that much damage.
The next game played was just a simple game of cards we played. However, I opted out of it for obvious reasons. Why? Well, when one of the players just so happens to see visions of the future, you are kind of at a real disadvantage you know. Of course, as I watched I wasn't expecting Amethyst to use her shapeshifting powers to sneak a peak at the others cards, but of course, Garnet saw it coming and still won, much to Amethyst's chagrin and Bismuths amusement.
Next we decide to give Earth's culinary samples a try. Bismuth helps Steven and I make pizza, with the blacksmith shapeshifting her hand into a giant rolling pin, then of course since she literally bathes in lava she was able to put in and out the pizzas in the hot ovens without burning. Amethyst wasted no time in hogging one of the pizza's all to herself and putting god knows what on it while Steven and I are more tactful with ours.
"The powerful, legendary demon blade, possessed by Muramasa. With this demon blade, I will be the most powerful fighter in all the world!" Now we find ourselves sitting in front of Steven's tv, watching another episode of 'Lonely Blade' all of us on or near his bed, with Steven, Amethyst, Bismuth and I snacking on our pizzas.
"No, Lonely Blade! Don't use it!" Steven cries out.
"What? If that thing's got infinite power, then, of course Lonely Blade should use it. It just makes sense." Bismuth points out. I think if it were a fantasy mystical type world then maybe that weapon might come with corruption and all that, but I think in normal powerful weapon terms it would be a nice weapon to have.
"It doesn't have to make sense. It's entertainment." Pearl makes a good point as well. Tv animated shows don't have to make major sense, just enough to make it good enough to watch and hook you in.
"Infinite… Poweeeeer!" Lonely Blade shouts.
It was nice watching the show with everyone but eventually the day has turned to night. The others have turned in while Lion, Steven, Bismuth and I are preparing for the gem to sleep.
"Bismuth, you can chill out here tonight and… sleep, if you want to." Steven tells her.
"It may seem odd but you might like it. Amethyst sure does." I comment as I finish laying out the bedding.
"You know what? I think I'll give it a try. I like these new Crystal Gem rituals." Bismuth says. While my previous suspicions of her are still there, it is nice to see her taking to our more less intense activities.
"You know, usually, when I meet a new Gem, they try and kill me and it takes me forever to become friends with them. I guess I mean, I'm really glad you're here." Steven points out to her after a chuckle. A lot of times the gems we have met have tried to kill us on at least one occasion, so its nice to see Bismuth not instantly trying to break many times and all that.
"Me, too. Glad to have another chance. So, tomorrow, you gonna show me what you got on the battlefield?" She asks Steven. I look at Steven unsure. He's never one to fight and even a spar isn't something he might be too interested in.
"Oh, I mean, I-I would, but, most of my weapons are for defense." He tells her as he summons his shield. "Oh, except for one." He then pulls out Rose's sword out of Lion's mane, and Bismuth gasps in awe at the sight.
"Rose's sword. My finest piece of work." She says in awe.
"You made this?" Steven asks.
"Nice work." I comment to her.
"Thank you. You really don't remember, huh?" She asks Steven, who shakes his head no before she takes the sword. "Rose Quartz changed my life. I came to Earth thinking this was just another colony. Build another arena for important fighters to fight in. Build another spire for important thinkers to think in. And then, I met her. Just another Quartz soldier, made right here in the dirt, but she was different. And she was different because she decided to be. And she asked me what I wanted to build, and I'd never heard that before. And Gems never hear they can be anything other than what they are, but Rose opened our eyes." She gives us the story of what transpired to give her the inspiration to do what she wants instead of what she's told. Its about what I expect from inspiration given by Rose to other Gems.
Steven looks somberly at the mention of his mother. "Everybody always tells me how great Mom was. I just don't feel like I can ever measure up to her." He says as he sits down next to her. I purse my lips sadly and sit down as well. Steven has his mother to try to live up to but my mother is a much… different story.
"I can't believe this, that I'm the one giving the pep talk to Rose's… Rose's…?" Bismuth asks in confusion. She still doesn't get the fact that Rose is now Steven and can't go back to Rose ever.
"…Son." He answers.
She nods then looks to me. "You too? A son?"
I look down as I nod.
"Right. You are different Steven. That's what's so exciting. You don't have to be like Rose Quartz. You can be someone even better. You can be you. And you know what? You deserve an even better weapon." She tells us with a glint in her eye.
In truth, I'm not sure if whether or not I like the tone in her voice and the expression on her face.
What Bismuth had in mind was to take Steven to the forge for some sort of surprise. Being that I was there I opted to tag along. This was something that she needs to talk to Steven about so we didn't go get the others. We enter the forge behind Bismuth as she continues to hold and inspect Rose's swords.
"I designed this sword for a fair fight. It can cut through a Gem's physical form in an instant! Destroying the body, but never the Gem." She tells us.
"Cool!"
"A weapon that doesn't destroy the gem but cuts through their forms with ease? That is cool." I comment quietly to myself. I haven't had to use any weapons too many times in order to test how durable their forms are and I am not privy to using any one of our allies as a means to do so.
"But… Homeworld doesn't fight fair. That's why we need a different strategy." She says as she winks and clicks tongue.
"Ohh. Whoa." Steven says while I raise my eyebrow in curiosity at what she means. Bismuth shapeshifts her hand into a screwdriver and turns a giant screw on the floor, causing a panel to lower all of us into a room at the lower floor.
"I was working on a weapon that would've been a gamechanger. Homeworld knows how to hit us where it counts, but we can do everything they can do, and better." The room we are in has some moats of lava all around with other platforms having some odd small molds on them. She then proceeds to pull out some other type of weapon. "Here it is: the weapon that would've won the war." Bismuth brandishes a weapon.
"What in the-?!" I mutter in awe, my eyes wide with surprise at the weapon she has equipped onto her arm. It reminds me of a pile bunker what with the menacing spike it has equipped. If it does what I think it will do, there is without a doubt it will be a deadly weapon.
"Whoa! What is it?" Steven exclaims in awe as well before asking curiously.
"I call it, a Breaking Point."
'That is without a doubt an amazing an very apt name for that weapon.' I think with a smirk.
"Cool! What does it do?" Steven asks.
"Just watch. Hah!" With a fierce cry, Bismuth stomps on a panel, and lava forms from openings on the wall and into statue molds around the room. The lava quickly cools, and Gem-like statue emerges from the molds closer to us.
"Whoa." I mutter at the new targets.
"Listen up, you Homeworld upper crusts! We! are! the Crystal Gems! Unh!" She shouts and with a heave of her weapon, she thrusts the Breaking Point at a statue, more specifically where the mold of the statues gem was and the weapon jabs right through it after it pistons out, causing the statue to instantly burst apart as the spike thrusts into the weapon effortlessly. My eyes widen at the display and at the implications, but out of the corner of my eye I see a look of horror on Steven's face.
"So, what do you think?" She asks us with a look of accomplishment on her.
"Y-You shattered it." Steven says with slight hesitation.
"That was… quick." I try to come up with a word that describes what happened.
"That's right! One shot from this baby will shatter any Gem in the galaxy, in the blink of an eye." She clarifies to us.
"Shattering a Gem… would destroy them forever." Steven points out in a low tone as I see him gripping his stomach, where his gem is. I'm not as horrified as Steven is but I am still off put by the blatant obviousness of her wanting to basically kill gems.
"Exactly! The Homeworld Gems won't be able to retake this planet when they're reduced to shards." I knew something was odd what with her generally calm but boisterous and nice personality and her dodginess with the Rose subject, but I wasn't expecting a weapon of this type of caliber. "Here you go. There. Now, you look like you really mean Bismuth!" Before I even realize it she's already strapped the weapon to my right arm. I stare at the weapon, getting a feel for its weight which is heavier than anything else I've used. I have to exert just a little bit of effort in order to keep this thing up and as I move it. "That's what I'm talking about. Now your looking good." She grins at the weapon equipped onto myself. "Here. Go ahead and give it a shot. That one looks good." She points to a statue right in front of me. I look towards the statue, taking one step towards it but still a large distance from it. I glance towards my weapon again, looking it over a few times before setting the function for the piston to extend. When it does, I crouch low and extend my right arm back, the weapons poised and ready to thrust as I extend my left arm forward, balancing myself and getting ready.
*SHuu-PUNG*
I flash forward, my afterimage appearing behind me as I appear right in front of the statue before thrust the weapon forward with grunt from me. Like with Bismuth's attempt, the spike punches forward and stabs right through the statue. Unlike Bismuth's, the entire statue breaks all at once and sends bits of it flying all over the place. I take a quick step back and examine the scene before me. Its just a crumpled mess turned into a small rock and dust pile
"There you go! That's what I'm talking about! You're a natural."
I flinch at the compliment Bismuth gives. An minor satisfaction I had at using the weapon disappears as memories drudge up. "Shattering gems… is old memories." I mutter darkly, the memories of all the corrupted gems I had shattered before I found out they could be contained flash through my mind. Thing is, other gems shattering flash into my mind as well… gems I never shattered myself. It only lasts a second and I can't remember who they were but it leaves me with a headache.
"So? How was it?" Bismuth asks with a smile.
"…" I stare at her out of the corner of my eye for a few seconds in silence before glancing at Steven, seeing his look of horror at the second demonstration of the weapon used. I let out a frustrated breath of air before I extend the Breaking Point to her. "It's… heavy."
"Yeah, it kind of is. Needs to be in order to contain all that power." She quickly explains before unequipping the weapon off me.
"Your turn shortstuff." Bismuth then equips the Breaking Point onto Steven's arm, and Steven looks at it in total horror. "Now, that's a real weapon. Why don't you give it a test run? This one's got your name on it." Bismuth directs Steven to a statue and he approaches it. I don't feel too comfortable with this, nor how much Steven really doesn't look like he wants to do this. "Wait, let me get out of your way. Whoop!" She jumps and hops onto another platform away, giddy to see Steven use her weapon.
Steven begins to point the Breaking Point at the statue but very hesitantly. For a moment, I see his arm actually begin to shake. I step towards him closer. "Steven…" I whisper to him quietly, not enough for Bismuth to hear but for him to hear me. He looks at me and I can see the beginning of tear form in his eye. I kneel down and place my hand on his shoulder before giving him subtle head shake of no only he will notice. He smiles at me for a moment before turning back to the weapon.
"Ah… Bismuth, I can't use this." Steven tells her.
"What!? Why not?" Obviously, she does not like it.
"Sh-Shattering Gems… wouldn't that make us the same as Homeworld?" He proposes.
"Of course not!" She retorts in anger. "We'd be shattering them for the sake of our cause, to protect our allies, our friends; to free all Gems from Homeworld's tyranny!" She tries to reason but Steven won't have it.
"It's just, it… It's not what a Crystal Gem would do…"
"Don't tell me what a Crystal Gem would do." She begins to say in a low tone as she approaches us with clear irritation on her face. I subtly move myself just a little bit in front of Steven just in case. "Nobody's more 'Crystal Gem' than I am. If you won't take it, I'll just use it myself." She reaches forward and goes to retrieve the Breaking Point.
"O! No one is using it!" He runs out from behind me and away from Bismuth, taking the weapon with him before throwing it away. "I'm sorry, Bismuth, but it's not right." This time he starts tearing up in anger at this. I clench my hands in preparation just in case.
"…That's exactly what she said…" Its subtle but I was barely able to hear her as she clenches her hands into a fist.
"Huh?"
"That's exactly what you said." I get a bad feeling at the way she's talking now.
"Um, uhh…" Even Steven's feeling uneasy.
"It is you, isn't it, Rose?" My eyes widen at what she says.
"Bismuth, calm down. It's not what you—"
"Stay out of this!" Before I can even try to calm her down, she backhands me with the full force of her forearm, sending me flying through the air and skidding along the ground. I grunt harshly from the hit as well as the slight burns I receive when my hands and arms touch the super-heated ground.
"Marcus! Bismuth wh-wha-what are you talking about?!" Steven desperately asks as stop and get onto my knees, slightly dazed from the hit as she stalks up to my brother.
"Don't lie to me! You can't expect me to believe you now, after you lied about everything!? You're lying about this new form, just like you lied to the others about ME!" My eyes widen as after she yells at him she grabs his shirt and lifts him up. "But I didn't just disappear, did I?! You know what happened to me!"
*Fup*
Before anymore can be done, Bismuth has no time to react before I suddenly appear in the air right next to her, my left leg flying through the air right for her head.
*SMACK*
"Ahhhh!" She cries out as she goes flying back and away from us. This causes her to let go Steven and letting him fall to the floor.
"Steven, you alright?" I ask, not taking my eyes off the groaning and kneeling form of Bismuth.
"Yeah, I am. But Marcus—"
"You're not…" Bismuth mutters as she's on all fours. "I'm not DONE WITH HER!" She rushes forward, faster than what she was during the sparing. I stay rooted to my spot in order to protect Steven. I brace myself as my hands go up, catching the two punches Bismuth was sending towards my brother. I grunt as I slide a little and have to match her strength with mine to keep her from pushing.
"Wait, Bismuth!" Steven steps out from behind me in order to try to defuse the situation. "This is just a big misunderstanding!"
"Stay out of this Steven!" I shout back to him as I glance back. "She's obviously—"
"I'm not talking to you!" As I'm turning back, she gives me a full on headbutt to my own head. I wasn't prepared for it so it dazes me and weakens my hold on her hands. She grabs hold of my arms and flings me up and over her. I have no time to prepare myself as she slams me hard back down onto the ground. The air left out of my lungs at the hit before she picks me up again and slams me again onto the ground. "I said stay out of this!"
"Marcus!" Steven cries out as she throws me away from them. I grunt as I smack and roll on the ground again before coming to a stop on the edge of the platform.
"Steven! Ahh!" I shout then grunt as when I press my hand to the ground it burns me. I press my legs to the ground to push myself up, my pants offering a little bit of protection from the superheated platform. "Arrh!" At least until I try to put pressure on my right ankle and collapse back onto my legs and favor my left foot. I look and try to move my right ankle but find myself unable to with very little ability to without it hurting. Either I broke it, fractured, dislocated or what, I don't know, but I'm unable to move as now my focus is on Steven as Bismuth stalks up to him.
"Look at me! Don't play games with me, Rose." She demands in anger. "We were right here. I offered you the secret to victory, and you refused. The Breaking Point would've changed everything. I didn't want to fight you, but you left me no choice!" She shapeshifts her hands into hammers and goes to smash Steven, but he dodges out of the way. He then runs away and hides behind a Gem statue. "What type of leader doesn't give her army the best chance to win?!"
"Steven watch out!" I shout as Bismuth shapeshifts her hammer hand into a blade and slice at the statue Steven is hiding behind. He takes my warning as he ducks under to avoid it. Bismuth then jumps in and stomps on the statue, knocking Steven backwards and away.
"How could you value the Gems of our enemies more than our own? And look what you've done without me, without the Breaking Point!" Bismuth shouts as she tries to slice up Steven, but he summons his shield to protect himself. "You've… LOST!" She a yell, she lets loose one more attack with more force. This time my heart drops as she destroys Steven's shield, knocking him back onto the ground.
"Steven! Bismuth get away from him!" She ignores me as she stares at Steven still.
"W-Wait! I'm not my mom! I don't know what she did, but, I'm sure she didn't want to hurt you."
"It's too late. I don't believe you anymore!" Bismuth approaches Steven menacingly. He then quickly creates a spiked bubble shield, forcing Bismuth to jump away and give me some relief at the added protection for him. "All that talk about how Gems could take control of their own identities, how we'd been convinced to ignore our own potential?" She continues spout towards him.
Steven's bubble fades away, with him falling onto his knees in exhaustion. "Watch the floor!" I shout to him.
"Ah! Hot!" Steven shouts as he almost burns himself on the floor, stepping back up onto his flipflops so he doesn't burn himself. He looks at me and takes a step towards me.
"That's all it was, wasn't it?! Just talk!" Before he can get to me, Bismuth shapeshifts her hammer hand once again, smashing a Gem statue and then front-flips over to smash Steven. I yell for him to dodge she he does as he quickly jumps away and floats in the air. I'm glad he was able to get away from her but when his left flip-flop falls off his foot and into the lava, that's when both our fears raise considerably. "You should've listened to me, Rose! I would've taken the war to Homeworld and shatter the Diamonds! I would've liberated… everyone!" She grabs one of the statues and throws it at Steven, pinning him into the wall in a crater.
"Steven!" I yell and go to stand up. "Ahh!" I grunt as pain flares up my leg as I collapse back onto the ground.
I can only watch helplessly as Bismuth walks over and retrieves the Breaking Point. I could heal myself up right now and offer myself up a chance to move but the drawbacks would be too much and leave me very vulnerable to her. I grunt as I both hop and crawl towards Rose's sword laying on the ground. Thankfully Steven, although injured, picks up the statue that was thrown at him and jumps off the wall and tosses it away. "Bismuth, watch out!" Even though he accidentally tosses it away, he still can't help but warn Bismuth as it comes flying towards her.
The statue shatters on impact on her, severely injuring her as well. "Ugghhh…" She groans from the hit. This causes her to make the Breaking Point fall out of her hands, rolling towards Steven. He picks it up as he hops on one foot towards her.
"Bismuth, this has to stop." He pleads to her.
"So what are you gonna do, shatter me?!" She tells him. Much to both of our surprise, Bismuth holds onto the Breaking Point while its still in Steven's hands… and aims it at her gem. Her own gem, ready for it to be activated on her. "Go ahead! Just DO IT!" Our eyes widen at the fact she's basically asking Steven to kills. I move faster and eventually manage to grab the handle of the sword.
"No! Even if we don't agree, nobody deserves this…!" He yells with tears in his eyes.
This makes Bismuth even more enraged as she yanks the Breaking Point out of Steven's hands, causing him to stumble backwards onto ground. she then charges at Steven with the Breaking Point. "STEVEN! Here!" I yell as loud as I can and throw the sword to him before I stand up, yelling in pain. In his panic to stop himself from being killed, he manages to grab the sword as it flies to him and pulls it up, making the two weapons clash for a second. Steven slowly opens his eyes to find that he is standing up with his bare foot touching the hot floor, with smoking emanating from it. Smoke emanates from the Breaking Point too, as Bismuth has missed Steven with her weapon, instead I stand there in front of Steven, the Breaking Points attack having shot right into my stomach, preventing it from hitting Steven as Steven's sword has impaled into Bismuths torso. They stare at me in disbelief as I grunt, my hands gripping the spike with all my effort to keep it from having shot completely through me, only just into my stomach. At the same time, I struggle to stand on my two feet, my now completely shattered ankle flaring pain through me as severely as the spike almost running through me. I had to force myself up and flash forward in order to intercept the attack. Obviously, placing pressure on my already injured foot has made it much worse, however what was going to happen to Steven was going to be even worse than that. Steven and Bismuth then look at each other in disbelief for a brief moment as well before she closes her eyes.
"…You should've shattered me back then… At least if I were in pieces, I wouldn't have to know how little I mattered to you… You didn't even tell 'em…! You bubbled me away and didn't ever tell your friends… My friends…"
"I'm going to tell them! I'm gonna tell them everything." Steven declares with tears running down his eyes.
"…Heheheheh… Then you really are better than her." She says with surprise, finally seeing Steven for Steven and not Rose. She then looks at me with a tear in her eye. "Take care of him. Don't let him become her."
"He will… never be her…" I manage to barely strain out through the pain.
"Hm… and what about you and your mom?"
"…" I can't answer.
*Poompf*
And just like that, she poofs away, releasing the Breaking Point along with her gem onto the ground. "Rraaaahhh!" I groan as I collapse onto the ground with the Breaking Point still in me.
"Marcus! Are you okay?!" Steven forgoes the sword and crouches right next to me, although he can't look at my wound which I don't blame him for.
"Aaaahhh… Never better." I grumble through strained teeth. Looking up, I reach forward and grab Bismuths gem. Even through the pain, I manage to bubble the gem, letting my body relax at the threat gone. "There. That's done."
"Here. I'll heal you. Ewugh." He almost gags as soon as he glances to me.
"Just… spit into my hand. I think we can forgo hygiene at this point." I tell him as I hold up my non bloody hand. He doesn't literally spit into my hand, he licks his hand and high fives mine, "Turn away and get my ankle." I warn him as I grab the spike and prepare to pull it out. He turns around and licks his hand again before going to my broken ankle with so I get to it. I let out a strained grunt as I pull the Breaking Point out of it before tossing it away from me. Quickly I place my healing hand over the wound and press it tightly, stopping the blood flow and allowing his healing spit to take effect. A cool feeling washes over me as I also feel him heal my ankle. I let out a breath of relief as already Steven's healing powers take effect. The bleeding stops and I can feel the wound starting to close up with my ankle already starting to right itself again. It takes a second but soon the pain is gone and I'm no longer injured. "Hooo… thank you Steven." I thank him as I sit up pick myself off the floor although sluggishly.
"Your welcome." He tells me but this time somberly and sadly. I look to him to see him staring at the bubbled gem next to us. His gaze soon shifts to the weapon laying on the ground next to me. Without a word, he grabs the Breaking Point before walking over to the platforms edge and tossing it into the lava. It sinks into the fiery depths and disappears from view from us. He lets out a depressed sigh as he looks for a bit.
"Hey Steven…" He turns to look at me as I give him a sad smirk. "Guess she did try to kill you, huh?" I badly joke to him.
He gives a sad nod.
The Gems mill about the Beach house, doing their own things in the kitchen area of the house.
Their attention is brought to the Warp pad when it activates. They both see the rough outlines of Marcus and Steven huddled together on the pad. However the dimly lit area of the Warp pad doesn't let them see everything about them.
"Steven! Marcus!" Pearl happily greets the two.
"Oh, hey, dude." Amethyst greets them as well.
Unfortunately, the new arrivals aren't as happy with the greetings. While having been healed, Marcus is still weak and incredibly tired from the whole ordeal, resorting to Steven to have to help his brother walk and slightly drag him back home. As soon as they take a few steps forward, Marcus collapses forward and rolls down the steps onto the floor and splayed out onto his back. Steven meanwhile sighs in frustration before collapsing onto his knees with the bubble held in his hands.
It didn't even take a second after they moved for the gems to realize something was wrong before they all rushed to help them.
"Oh!"
"What?!"
To say they are surprised by the state they are in would be an understatement. From the burns and scratches on the both of them, to the ripped and bloody clothing on Marcus and Steven's missing flip-flop and the gem held in his hands.
"There's something I need to tell you." Steven tells them, with Marcus having passed out from exhaustion.
Things went so bad so quickly with Bismuth. She was obviously hiding something but I wasn't expecting things to turn the way they did or the revelation between Rose and Bismuth. Still, while it may have hurt, I'm glad things are better… somewhat. We had a new ally and they we lost them, at least for now. Now I, and we, have one last thing to do.
We stand in the heart of the Crystal Gems temple, the Burning Room, with the dreary landscape it has, with the lava pool in the middle, and the large vein like structures going through the place. To top it all off we have the massive collection of bubbled corrupted gems floating about the room, all in hibernation and ready for the time to be free so we can fix them when we can. Now after waiting a day, courtesy of the gems being alright with waiting for Steven to rest and I to recuperate back at my home, we stand here amidst the others bubbles with Bismuth's gem with us. Garnet slowly lifts the bubbled gem up and lets her float there, a forlorn and sad look amongst everyone as they stare at the state their friend and ally has turned into. With a sad sigh Steven turns and begins walking out with the other Gems following close behind him. I continue to stare up at all the gems in the room, before glancing and seeing the others file out of the room. As soon as they are gone, I get to work.
I quickly pull my pack off my back and zip it open. I pull out a plastic container and open it, revealing the bubbled gem within. Taking the bubbled gem, I grab Bismuth and put her in the container before sealing it up and putting it in my pack. I take the replica bubbled gem of Bismuth and float it up to take her place. Once its set, I take a step back.
"Marcus?" I turn back to see Pearl calling out to me. "What are you still doing here?"
'Good she didn't see.' "Sorry, just… looking at all who are forced to be here out of necessity." I mumble as I stare at all the corrupted gems.
"It's necessary for now, at least until we can find a cure." She tells me as she walks up next to me, staring at them as well.
"More would have been here if I had met you all earlier." I say in a dark sad tone, remembering my time when I was on my own and had destroyed many corrupted gems in order to contain them.
"You're here now. That's what matters." She places her hand on my shoulder to comfort me. It helps a little. With nothing else to see or do here, we make our way out of the room and eventually out of the temple. I grip the strap of my pack tightly, swallowing the lump in my throat as I let out of a long breath of air.
'Let's hope I don't regret this.'
Well, safe to say, I've been pretty lax in my progress with this chapter. Obviously, it's a large one which is why I hope you all like it and can be sated by it for quite a while. I don't really have much excuse as for my delay other than some days I feel good enough to write a ton or other days I feel 'meh' and just only write a little bit. Either way, sorry again but I hope you all like how this chapter went, and the slight alterations that went from the original and all, and for what might happen later on because of this.
ThunderBasilisk: Thank you for your confidence in me.
DeadSpace123: Glad its back as well.
Wolfking0811: Thanks. As for the movie and the series finale, loved all of it. The movie was crazy to watch and seeing Steven and the Crystal Gems in such vulnerable positions was scary but seeing how everything worked out was just a joy to watch. The musical numbers were pretty nice to see and hear as well. For the series finale, that one was a hell of a doozy. From watching what happened to Steven, the inner turmoil and struggles he was desperately trying to deal were very heartbreaking worrisome to watch. When it all came to an end and he finally got the help he needed was just a nice tie to the end of the series.
Marbled Gold: Thanks. I liked the end line as well. I'm also excited for how things are going as well on their adventures.
Ton190p: Thank you. Looking forward to the progression as well.
Guest(s): You make what the last sentence was how you see it, but I'm still going to keep working on this story, no matter how fast or slow I go.
Really? Metal Gear? I don't see it.
I now updated. Asking me to update won't make me go any faster.
NJred2000: Glad to know you liked it so much. I've seen Gravity Falls so I know exactly how Dippers squeal went. As for your questions:
1. I cannot say for certain, this was only supposed to be a one-off thing, but its possible they might appear again later on. I can't make a guarantee that they will appear again and most likely will not.
2. No guarantees as well. I chose those characters to be Marcus's trainers because of their skills and reputation but I'm still unsure if I'll add any more franchise characters because of that.
3. Their will be blood, but not nearly as much as in the previous story. Since Marcus and the Crystal Gems were fighting mostly humans and a bit of gems here and there, obviously their was going to be a lot of blood, cursing and viscera to go with taking them down. Since now the storyline is refocusing onto Homeworld and Homeworld gems, obviously they are not going to be as… messy when they get stabbed, and of course gems don't really have as much of a colorful language as humans do so we should be good on that area as well.
4. I'll try to fit in some moments for Marcus and Lapis. Still going to focus on the main story of the show and all but I'll do what I can for those two to be together.
Thelostimperator: Glad your excited for this. Definitely felt like it was a good idea to split the story up into a new sequel considering how long it was going and felt the need to ease up the word count load. We've seen Marcus's past in many lights before and now the future will reveal what he'll do against all the enemies of Homeworld he is now going to face. He's got a lot to do and possibly make some very questionable decisions.
As you can tell, Marcus has made a pretty big decision regarding Bismuth. Whether he will make something of it can remain to be seen if he'll free her, or just leave her bubbled. Either way, he has a much better opportunity to decide in his home than sneaking into the temple and stealing her, especially considering since he can't access the temple himself. Nevertheless, he's now got a big decision to make.
Onto other bits of news, I've been seeing another show that I absolutely love. Anyone seen the Netflix show Glitch Techs? I was skeptic of it at first but after watching a few episodes I found I love the show Glitch Techs and is pretty badass and fun to watch. I'm hooked onto the show and I honestly hope the show is renewed for more seasons to be made. Honestly, I wouldn't mind making a story involving this show. I mean, not right now of course or any time soon but eventually in the future. What do you all think? Is anyone alright with the idea of a possible Glitch Tech's story at some point in the future?
I am going to take a break from this story now and give some of my other stories some new content to write. I've been working on my Steven Universe stories for awhile now and I need to do some variety stories for the time being. Let me know what you all think of this chapter and if any of you have seen the Netflix Glitch Techs show.
Thank you all for your continued support. Hope you all like how this chapter went. Go ahead and review, fave, follow, whatever you wish. Have fun reading, have a great day but make sure each and everyone of you to stay safe, take care, and stay healthy.