//------------------------------// // Lone Wolves // Story: My Little Universe: Season 7 // by EquestrianKirin //------------------------------// Sapphire - you were right .. I need some time to think so I am running away. Ruby. The message was brief, and short, but that was the main idea of what Ruby had properly left for her back at the Temple. Sapphire was devastated at what she was seeing here, feeling more tears coming down her eye. Those harsh words she yelled right at Ruby was echoing in her head again, only reminding her why Ruby would go off on them like this. "Oh, Ruby," Sapphire sobbed, "I'm so sorry. You left before I could take back all those horrible things I've said to you." It sure felt that way to poor Sapphire. Rarity took the letter and looked it over herself, levitating in front of her face. "O-Okay dear, let's not break down. Again. M-Maybe she couldn't of gotten far. She had to have dropped it off here before leaving, right?" Rarity said, folding up the letter neatly, and putting it aside. "Maybe someone had seen her," added Fluttershy. None of them seen the letter beforehand, so perhaps that could be the proper case, but that didn't seem to really help Sapphire out so much. And here she thought she had an actual handle on her own ability, just for THIS to happen and mess it up all over again. Before they could try and figure out anything else, a familiar figure started to come up to them from the beach. "Hey, Sapphire, you're back!" said Amethyst. "Hey, did you see the others?" "Not a thing, but we'll keep trying," Twilight promised. Sapphire began to weep again, taking Amethyst by surprise. It was then she saw the letter, and as Sapphire tried to remove some tears from her face, she read it over himself. "Sapphire, relax. This isn't the first time Ruby's disappeared, and the last time she did she was controlled by Sombra remember?" Amethyst reminded. Sapphire, with a stream of tears still down her face, took a moment to sniff before answering. "I know, but that was different *sniff* she didn't choose to do that, a-and I KNEW she'd come back! But now … now … I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE!" Sapphire went back to crying again, wailing in agony. Amethyst and Steven shared some glances, as Applejack went up to her. "There, sugarcube, everything's gonna be fine. Hey, you got future vision right? Don't you see her comin back?" "Huh? Oh! Maybe, but -... she's so wonderful. *sniff* and spontaneous! I've no idea what she could - … WHY WOULD SHE BE A COWBOY?!" Sapphire broke down again, and tossed herself into Fluttershy's hooves as she cried her soul out. Fluttershy gently wrapped a wing around her, feeling a bit emotional herself for this experience so far. "Sapphire, it's gonna be okay. She'll come back, she has to. And if she doesn't that … means, no more Garnet. A-And what will the Crystal Gems do without Garnet?" "Oh Fluttershy! HOW WILL I EVER GET HER BACK?!" "I … I don't know! Y-you two are amazing together, I-It can't end like this!" And like that, poor Fluttershy started to cry too, both holding eachother as tears streamed down. The others were worried for her, but flint could see that now was not a good time to get too deep into it, clearing his throat. "Eh, right. Okay, I'm gonna go and try to find her. The rest of you try and keep her calm, will you?" Amethyst instructed, already going out before there was an exact answer. An answer may not be needed though, as the ponies did go over by both Fluttershy and Sapphire as the two continued crying their eyes out. Amethyst looked back to Sapphire and the ponies for a brief moment, seeing that this crying wasn't gonna stop anytime soon. Now. Where to look? ~~~~~~ "Okay, let's see. If I were Ruby, where would I go?" The purple Gem went along out of town by this point, believing that Ruby wouldn't be sticking around anywhere near Beach city after how much was done. Bismuth was pretty good, sure, and seemingly Sapphire was just good enough, but Ruby might be a bit of a harder challenge to make. She did feel a bit bored trying to look around though the beach. "Ok, ok … she's known to take things literally, so she would run away either to the country, or to the ocean ..." Amethyst waited a bit to think this over, her eyes glancing from the ocean waves on one side, and to the grass on the other. "Ok, time to get out the ol' trusty coin!" Amethyst decided, her hand going into her hair. She learned the trick from Pinkie Pie, and after some searching, she pulled out a good-sized coin. "Okay: heads the ocean, tails the country." With a flick of the coin, the copper piece landed on heads ... just for Amethyst to flick it onto tails with her foot. "OH, look at that, tails! Alright, off to -" *squawk* A quick catch of her attention, as she looked down the beach to see a seagull by the shoreline. Not the best time for the bird given the time of year, but it was on its way towards Beach City when it saw Amethyst. However, the squawking wasn't aimed at amethyst exactly, but instead someone off not too far away. "Hey, quit it. Get off, bird, I'm busy!" said a familiar and annoyed voice. Amethyst went over to check it out, and who did she find? "YO Flint!" Or, she assumed it was, the bird pecking at something invisible. It didn't stay that way for too long though, and sure enough Flint was standing there, swatting the bird away. Amethyst was glad to see him, but the feeling was more one-sided. "Dang. Just one day, and I'm already running into you again," Flint sighed, as Amethyst went over to him. "So, how're you holdin up here? We got Bismuth back on board, and Sapphire's chilling back at the Temple. ... Eh, crying her eyes out," Amethyst informed casually. Flint figured she wasn't told what had happened just yet, but he wasn't in the mood for her company right now. "Oh. It's you. Look, go back to the Temple will ya?" Flint stated, before starting to walk off again. Well, cold. "Did you hear what I said? What, you "off-duty"?" Amethyst questioned, no longer as chipper, and quoting her words. Flint groaned. "Off-duty? I'd like it to remain off - I left the Crystal Gems." "... WHAT?! WHY?!" Amethyst gasped, suddenly rushing up in his way. "Amethyst out of the way." "But what the heck, man, sending us off to find the others was your idea, you can't just walk out on everybody!" "Watch me," Flint simply said, before stepping over Amethyst. Amethyst stood there dumbfounded at first, before she spun around. "What's your problem? I thought you weren't bugged by Pink Diamond." "I'm not bugged - why should I care about a dead Gem, I'm not involved in her stupid war," Flint coldly questioned. He expected this statement to rile up Amethyst like it did with Sapphire, and readied for her to either go away or attack him - "Oohh. Yeah, I'm bugged by that too." "Y-You are?" Flint asked, legitimately confused. "A little. I mean, why should we be held responsible for what Rose did? None of us knew what even happened, and we're all treating it like it's our fault. I'm not letting it bother me." "... FINALLY," Flint sighed, "It's about time at least one of you gets it." "Yep. ... So this means you're coming back?" "No." Well, it was worth a shot. Flint began going off away and added "You deal with your own problems, I got my own targets to look for." Flint began to go off alone again, but Amethyst began to think a short bit more before she too went on to catch up. She figured the ponies would do better at comfort than she could anyway, and it didn't take her long until she caught up with Flint further down the beach, the Gem not noticing Amethyst coming up to him until after she was only a foot away. "You too, Amethyst?" Flint questioned, Amethyst going up to his side. Flint didn't really mind this much though (not as much as one expected anyway), and they began to continue on. "Yeah, it's cool. So, where're we going first? The battlefield, the Sky Arena? Or maybe -" "Amethyst, I'm not looking for any of them." … Well that was fast. "Dude, you literally just said you're gonna look for them, like, thirty seconds ago." "No, you said that. We both know they'll come back eventually, and besides, I got something more important to look into," Flint said, as they continued. Amethyst could see the logic about it. After all, Ruby had been gone away from Sapphire before, and the two had managed to get back together one way or another, regardless if it was intentional n their part or not. Still, when it came to Flint she knew whatever was important, was indeed something important. "Don't tell me: some corrupted Gems to check into? The zoomans back on Mask Island?" Amethyst asked, as she stopped by a turnedover conch shell, peeking into it by pushing it with her foot. "Both of those are good, but no. I'm interested in the monsters." "Monsters? You sure you don't mean the corrupted Gems, because you got way plenty of that." "Amethyst, you know I'm not." "Eh, nope. I don't," Amethyst shrugged. Flint sighed, as he and Amethyst went off inland to the countryside. "Amethyst, you've been around on planet Earth far longer than I have. Before the Mane six showed up, what was the most magical thing you know of?" "Ummm … well, Gem stuff. We got Warp Pads, Gem weapons, that magic door at the Temple." "Right." Flint took a moment and as they went, Flint focused on some hologram images with his gemstone to better explain himself and these monsters. "But these creatures: the Remorhaz, the Thunderbird, Grootslang and those two doppelganger snakes, Quetzalcoatl, they all -" "Whoa, whoa, stop there," Amethyst cut in, "How'd you know about big Q?" The question made Flint lose focus and the holograms were removed. "You, Steven and Peridot were being attacked by Bismuth, Obviously someone would come and investigate," Flint answered. Amethyst found the situation a bit vague herself, but kinda hard to forget a giant feathered snake that could deflect a "Breaking Point". "Anyway, they don't have anything relating to us whatsoever. And I wanna figure out where they're coming from," Flint finished. "That's easy: the girls told me they met this guy named Mushussu, and he told them there's this universe just like ours that had gone through the same thing, and our world's just following it's footsteps," Amethyst answered, the memory clicking in her head. Flint wasn't as convinced. "Yes, but it's how that's got me curious. Amethyst, these things can't just come up out of thin air, they have to come from somewhere. Even Twilight said so." "Dude, that's with making hair." "What's your point?" Flint questioned. Well, Amethyst wasn't gonna get through to him, and even if she wanted to, she'd fail miserably compared to his wit. "So, where're we going to start this "study"?" "Well, actually. …" Flint stopped, and pulled something out from his own gemstone, a matter more acquainted with Pearl moreover. Though, this item was very small, so the least Amethyst could see why he could carry it about in his stone so easily. The object looked like a slip of paper, a pamphlet really, about what appeared to be named "Dakota State Zoo" (an animal zoo, not a human zoo). "I think I found a good place to start." ~~~~~~ So, after a bit of a travel, it was off to the zoo in question. Flint and Amethyst both had just got through the front entrance, and already found themselves seeing what this place had to offer. While it wasn't the most popular place nor the most crowded for the time of year, the Dakota State Zoo still had its fair share of animals from all over their world. Not many of them were out though given the cold weather, but it was still a good place to start. "And you pick a Zoo because …" "Because these monsters all were animals themselves," Flint replied, "The Thunderbird was some sort of eagle, Grootslang turned out to be just some adder -" "OK, OK, no speech, I get it," Amethyst stated, making sure to get the point across before he would drone on any further. Amethyst waited for them to go off and check the other animals out, but instead, Flint decided to head off to the maintenance staff first. Amethyst didn't feel up for that, so she went off ahead, taking a glance back to Flint before doing so. "Excuse me, but can I have a word with you?" Flint asked, getting the janitor's attention. "Can I help you?" "Just wanna ask a few questions, if I may. Concerning some animals. Have some paper and pen?" Flint explained. He wasn't sure if the person would believe him or not, but if these were more local creatures, he needed that confirmation out of the way first. "Eh … not on me." "Oh. Well I'll just describe the animals we've -" "HEY FLINT, check this out!" Amethyst suddenly said, finding something a lot more entertaining to do. If not a bit reckless. You could probably guess what since she was inside the Lion's exhibit. "Amethyst, get your head out of that thing's mouth and get back here!" Flint demanded. "Come on, it worked on Lion, why not with -" the less-than-enthused Lion cut Amethyst short and bit down on her head. Normally this would be bad, but this Lion not only didn't taste much to be worth it, but all the hair on Amethyst left a bad taste in its mouth, so it just spat Amethyst out over by the borders of the exhibit. No surprise there. "Uh … should I be uh -" "No. No you shouldn't," Flint said, as he hopped into the exhibit, and plucked Amethyst out, the Gem a little wet from saliva as the lion was coughing out some of the purple Gem's hair. Amethyst smiled, but Flint was in no mood for it. "Amethyst, can we focus please?" "Fine, you're the boss," Amethyst shrugged. He then went back to the janitor. "Now, you've worked a lot with animals here at the Dakota Zoo, correct? Perhaps you can help clear a few "unidentified species" for us," Flint explained. "Me? No, you should talk to the Animal curator. They got the know-how on animals more than I do, I just clean up the place." Flint wasn't familiar at all with zoo positions, but if the curators do know more about this, then perhaps it would be good to talk to them. "I see. How do we find them?" "They're roaming around, you'll find them handling the animals," said the janitor, as he went on back to his work. "Well you heard him, Amethyst. Let's start asking around." ……. Even with the two going around, they weren't the only odd ones out in this zoo. As Flint and Amethyst continued on, the two began to make their way to another exhibit. In this case, the two went on over towards another opened exhibit, seemingly dealing with a big cat again. The big feline inside of the enclosure though wasn't exactly all hyped on seeing them, simply laying down on a set-up jungle gym lookout, as if the cat was sleeping on its side. As they went, Amethyst saw the sign for the enclosure, but covered it up. "So, Flint, is that a Leopard, or a Jaguar?" Amethyst said, pretending like it's a legitimate question. People always did have trouble telling the two apart, and Amethyst was no exception to this when she saw the animal, but she thought it would be fun. "I wouldn't worry about it. See anyone in there?" Flint asked, not seeing much at first. So much for the guessing game. Amethyst groaned before looking in, leaning over the fence boundary of the enclosure, but didn't see much in their either. All she did see was a lone cat laying out in the cold, either not caring for the attention or just too tired. Eventually though, Amethyst and Flint began to see someone just exiting the enclosure, seemingly defeated about something. "Excuse me, but are you one of the curators here?" Flint asked, immediately going up to her as Amethyst just checked out the animal inside the exhibit. "Yeah, I am," she replied. Just what Flint wanted to hear. "Great, I want to ask a few questions about some animals me and my friends had to contend with. You know, identification." "Alright, shoot." Flint cleared his throat and then began his memory on these animal descriptions. "Let me know if any of these sound familiar. A giant snake with bird-like wings and feathers along its back." "Um … no, I don't think so." "Ok then. How about a giant Eagle with purple feathers, appearing in a thunderstorm." "... NO." "Twenty-foot Giant centipede with a cobra hood and bony cutter jaws?" Now she looked at him like he was crazy. "Um. I think I heard that off of a video game, but other than that …" Well, no luck. "Well, thanks anyway. Amethyst, come on, we got others to talk to. One of these humans has to know what we're talking about," Flint said, as he walked passed Amethyst. The purple Gem though didn't listen at first, just staring at the feline inside the enclosure, the creature barely even bothering itself with whatever was there. Amethyst saw a bird land nearby, even hopping on the cat, but nothing happened except for a flick of the tail. The curator for the feline didn't take much time to notice Amethyst. "Not even with a bird on her." "What's with that cat? Is she sick or something?" Amethyst asked. Flint stopped after a bit and looked back. She didn't feel like she would have to ask if she didn't see the bird just moving about on top of her. The curator sighed. "She's been like this for days," said the curator, "We've tried everything we could but nothing's working." "So … she is sick?" "That's the thing: our veterinarians checked her time and time again, and they keep saying she has no disease, or physical ailments, or anything." "So, what then, too old?" "Jaguars live up to twenty years, and ours is only five, so no. Poor Rouge." The curator went on back to her work, and amethyst took one more look to Sunflower before joining Flint. ~~~~~~ For much of the day at the zoo, the pattern went on like this: they would go up to one of the curators within one of the numerous exhibits, Flint would ask about the animals they've seen before (specifically the ones he listed before arriving), they would give their answer, and they would move on. Unfortunately though, not even the Thunderbird's description sounded much familiar to any of the curators, much to Flint's ever-growing dismay and annoyance. Another thing that seemingly repeated with these was Amethyst: who at each stop tried to lighten the mood a bit in her own way. Mostly it was just her messing around, but Flint was either too busy to notice Amethyst much, or was in no mood to even bother himself, much to her ever-growing dismay and annoyance. In the zoo, both Amethyst and Flint did find somewhere to get some downtime and try to catch up with eachother on the situation. In some larger zoos, eateries can actually be put inside, and for this case they found a small area with plenty of picnic tables to take a seat at. Flint kept working out his mental notes, and as for Amethyst, she got her own meal all handled in no time at all. A sub with … literally everything on it. "Yesssssss!" Amethyst beamed, eyes sparkling at the sight of the monster sandwich. "Okay, so it's clear that these creatures: Q, Grootslang, Remorhaz, not even the Thunderbird sound remotely familiar so that rules out the idea of them being local creatures. … Amethyst, are you even listening?" Flint looked back to only see Amethyst stuffing her face with the mighty sandwich, pausing on the spot when Flint addressed her. "Yeah," Amethyst simply said, her mouth full. She swallowed her bite and readied to bite again, but Flint snatched the sandwich away, leaving her only biting air. "Can't you pay attention for one second? We're trying to handle a mystery behind these things, and you've only goofed off all day!" "Hey, no I didn't!" Amethyst retorted. "Really?" quizzed Flint, "So playing horsy on a Zebra, chasing some antelope, and playing tap-a-mole with a … well, a Mole, isn't goofing off?" "Ok, fine, I was. But should it really matter how they're appearing? We've fought monsters, this isn't that much different," Amethyst asked. "Have you forgotten that Grootslang snatched Blue Diamond, Amethyst? Or what about those Tindalos that just attacked about a week ago? If we can find a source to how this is going on, then maybe we can at the very least slow it down." "So, what if there isn't an answer? Seriously, take it from me, magic's not the most textbook thing," Amethyst said, as she reached for her sandwich again, just for Flint to block her reaching hand. "Which is why we should work this out before the next "appearance" decides to have us for it's side dish," Flint put in, "Like I said, everything has to come from somewhere." "Hmm … Ah, the Stars! Those came out of nowhere." "A star is made when atoms of light elements are squeezed under enough pressure for their nuclei to undergo fusion," Flint said matter-of-factly. Amethyst paused for a minute. "Dang, since when did you get a nerd brain?" "Peridot went on about that for a good hour before while she had her limb enhancers," Flint replied, not stopping Amethyst from snatching her sandwich back. "But the point still stands: something is bringing them around, and I'm gonna find out what it is. It can give us some advantage over these things, at least." As Amethyst chewed another large bite of her everything meal, she then began to recall something she had heard earlier. "If you're so down for this, why don't you start with Rouge? That Jaguar's sure got something going on with it that's not-medical and non-normal." "That's not our problem, Amethyst. We came here to investigate, not medicate - that's the vet's job. Besides, the human race hadn't figured out every single disease known in existence yet." Amethyst shrugged, and swallowed up the remains of the sandwich in one big gulp. The gesture did make Flint feel a little uncomfortable. "Don't do that." So after their break, they continued to go off and have a good look around, trying to figure out what kind of answers the zoo would have to offer for them. However, they really didn't come up with much of anything by the end of the day. Regardless on which curator they talked to in whichever field of animal study, it wasn't amounting to much. If anything, this only proved Flint's point that these animals were being conjured, or at least being brought here by something, he just wasn't sure what. "Okay, we should have one more to talk to, and then we're good. This better be worth something," Flint groaned. So much work and little to show for it frustrated him more than anything else. "Sometimes you just have to believe in things, even when you can't figure 'em out," Amethyst said. "I'm not denying they don't exist, but I am denying that they just "popped out of nowhere". How does a giant bird of a thunderstorm, a feathered serpent, and some giant "insect", just appear like that?" "Magic," Amethyst simply said. Flint slapped his forehead. "Any actual answers?" Flint groaned. "Hey, at least I'm coming up with something, you've just been going around asking every person you see." "I don't draw conclusions on nothing, Amethyst! Now come on, there's gotta be someone we haven't talked to yet," Flint said. Eventually though, Amethyst stopped moving altogether, looking off away from him and over to another enclosure, this time being the elephants. Flint didn't seem to notice this, and kept going along, too caught up in thinking to even realize Amethyst wandered off. The enclosure for the elephants was empty outside since winter arrived, but Amethyst found an interior enclosure for them to stay in, which for this Zoo was able to enter for the public to see. For Amethyst, it was a break from the seriousness, but that didn't mean it made her feel much better. She had tried all day, but it seemed that it wasn't even worth it. She sat down over by the enclosure, one of the elephants taking notice of her. "What's with everyone?" Amethyst sighed, "I mean. Yeah, Rose Quartz wasn't Rose Quartz, but ... you didn't all have to just run off like that. It's like they just forgot everyone else. Seriously, did they forget everything we did already? Heck, Rose wasn't even around and look: we saved Homeworld! We've gone through so much in the first place, you know? ... And now here I am, stuck with some strung-up cop, bent on cracking down some-" and she said this with her jazz hands, "- "magical animal" case." Amethyst just looked down to her feet by this point, when one of the elephants reached down gently, her trunk gently pressing against her head. It was kinda hard to get passed an animal with ears like that, and this one heard every word. Amethyst felt goosebumps as she felt a low rumble from said animal as it gently rubbed her head. "Hey, get off me," Amethyst said, though she wasn't too harsh about it, gently moving the trunk off of her. The old elephant didn't become too rough, but she did however get Amethyst's attention. "... Wait. didn't one of those curators mention something about this?" Amethyst wondered. The long day did give Amethyst some time to learn a thing or two about animals, and one of these did involve a peculiar "myth" about elephants (and no, it's not their memory - that was obvious). The old matriarch gave another low rumble and then took a look over through one of the windows over by her enclosure. The window was small and placed up high, and the elephant lifted her trunk and was seemingly pointing to outside. What was it she was trying to show? Amethyst's curiosity got to her, and with a easy jump got herself up to said window to see what it was she was looking at. Turned out, the elephant's window had a perfect view of one particular enclosure, one that Amethyst had seen pretty early that day. With one difference. ....... "What do you mean Rouge's gone?!" Flint demanded. The main question spun around the place the moment Amethyst got the first members of Zoo staff to check in on things. Several of the curators were going about the area, checking for any signs of Rouge, but didn't find very much. No one was really up for talking to Flint because of this. "I told you, Rouge just left!" "But didn't they keep saying she didn't move for days on end, why would she just start off now?" Flint questioned, arms crossed. "I don't know, I just found out," Amethyst insisted, "Maybe she finally got out of that funk of hers." "Nah, man nah. ... Well, I'll check it," Flint retorted. Any animal, especially one that had basically gone lame for days wouldn't just spring up and leave like this. As Amethyst watched, Flint didn't hesitate in jumping right into the enclosure to figure this little problem out. "Hey, you're not supposed to be in here!" one of them shouted. "Oh, hush, I'm just studying," Flint simply remarked, before he began to check said enclosure. Much of the enclosure remained pretty much untouched for the most part. No signs of struggling, no pawprints, no claw marks on anything. It was as if no Jaguar was there to even begin with. He began to walk around for a bit to make sure, but could find nothing of the sort anywhere. Flint even hopped up onto the same spot where Rouge was laying, and looked around a bit for a better perspective on it, but it still didn't seem to work too well. ... Then he got an idea. "... Hey, everyone out of the enclosure and circle the viewing area!" Flint instructed. "What? Why?" "If the cat got out, what's the point on looking in here?" Flint inquired. A good point. Though a little bit hesitant, those working for the Zoo decided to go out of the enclosure anyway moving out from a door in the gate. It was soon only Flint standing in there. ... And he drew his weapon. "You got nowhere to go now. Come out," Flint instructed. ... And the cat actually responded. But this was no ordinary cat. Flint began to hear some growling and, seemingly from a failed plan, she started to come out of hiding from. At first the big cat didn't look too bad, but clearly something had changed: the body was far larger, yet thinner than normal. Her chest was far larger especially, and her face looked flatter than normal. The cat now was almost as large as him, even if she was crouched down in attack mode. They've seen her earlier that day, and she did NOT look like this. It actually looked less like a Jaguar and more like a giant Serval. Not even the fur looked correct, a redder color over the typical yellow complexation. There was some silence for a moment, the large cat and Gem in a stand off with eachother. If this was indeed her plan, it apparently backfired, and Rouge was not happy clearly. The curators were scared, some going off to get some animal control on the scene. "Whoa. Flint, watch it!" Amethyst yelled. Flint didn't need to be told twice, and soon, both of them started to make a slow, antagonizing circle. One step at a time. Each fighter sizing eachother up. They all waited for one of them to jump at eachother for some sort of fight to break out, as Rouge looked more than willing to do just that. Rouge got out her claws, her teeth barred in primal warning, as if taunting the Gem into shooting her. The stand off eventually got them in a full 180 to how it started: Flint within, and Rouge not. A critical error. In a sudden bolt, the creature made its own 180, and bolted straight for the boundary! Any normal jaguar wouldn't even dare attempt this, but this messed-up feline was a lot more bold than any normal cat, and with one roar and leap, got herself just outside the enclosure walls! Rouge was in no mood to go in and get any Human or Gem, more focused on trying to get herself out of this wretched zoo, immediately making a mad dash for whatever exit she could find. "Rouge is loose!" gasped one of the curators. "Well don't just stand there, come on!" another said. Amethyst and Flint regrouped, and began to tail them. Further ahead, Rouge had gotten a pretty good lead when compared to the curators, but that didn't mean human beings weren't a problem: a number of other visitors to the Dakota zoo were other obstacles in the way of this speedy cat. She also had to watch out for the tranquilizer darts that were being shot her way. Bolting one way, and jumping to another, the darts weren't able to make any connection, narrowly missing her as she tried to find a way out. The other enclosures she raced by went up in alarm, especially the parts with herbivores in them, making the animals panic inside. In her mad dash all around the Zoo, she got herself running right into a corner of the Dakota State Zoo fence borders, leaving the animal trapped, leaving so many of the others off in the dust. "Where'd that kitty cat go?" Amethyst asked. "What were you thinking?! Challenging her to a fight?" one of the curators snapped to Flint. "OK, not one of my better ideas, she couldn't have gone off too far," Flint said. This was kinda his fault, jumping in thinking this was a fight to begin with. *GGRRROWL!* "Get ready," warned Flint, but it was the curators who went in before he could. The cat, despite the situation, was still their responsibility and they didn't want to kill Rouge no matter what the case may be. The jaguar was growling, and roaring … and sounding in sudden pain. And then she came out. But now this was no longer a Jaguar, not at all. The reddish jaguar now was completely red in the fur, the tail had brutally split up in several places to appear more like it had five to seven tails behind her. The forehead now had a horn jutting out of it, curved like a rhino's horn and reddish in color. "I'm going to assume transformation isn't a Jaguar thing to do," Amethyst said. Could they even call her a Jaguar anymore? The only thing that showed Rouge's true identity now was the spots along her body, but that was about it now. Rouge looked around, her vision a bit hazy, but she looked as freaked out over what happened to her as everyone else was to seeing her. "Take aim," one of the curators instructed. "No, wait don't!" Flint yelled, but it was too late. The animal control officer aimed a tranquilizer dart at the confused creature, hitting her directly. The dart got her upper leg, but the sting, accompanied by all the confusion, tipped her over the edge. If she can't run, then there was only one other option. Fight. The huge feline gave a warning roar, not even close to a Jaguar roar, or any cat for that matter, and her tails suddenly started to flick and whip around Rouge spurred into action, and charged forward as the man was getting a second shot loaded, her enlarged paw slamming the gun out of his hands. Amethyst got to action now, and got her whip wrapped around the cat's back leg. "Gotcha," Amethyst said smugly. But this cat was not sticking around for any of this, and immediately started to run, Amethyst suddenly being dragged around the zoo by the other end of the whip. She only let go when she ended up slamming into a garbage bin, leaving her covered in the stuff as the big cat raced away. Flint skidded to a halt in a slide next to Amethyst. "You good?" "Yeah," Amethyst said, eating a thrown away water bottle from her hair before continuing the chase. Or at least, they would've if the cat was still around to catch. However, Rouge had already reached the wall, and with her newfound size and strength, made a huge leap over the boundary fence and disappeared. Many of those witnessing the event tried to find her, but Rouge was far gone by the time anyone got to the fence. Rouge the new monster. ~~~~~~ Well, the results were not so good for Flint and Amethyst, as the two strolled off away from the Dakota zoo. The true shot to finding this little extra mystery out, and she ran away far beyond them both. Flint was surely frustrated, but Amethyst didn't find it too bothersome. After all, it could've been a whole lot worse. "Well that could've gone better," Flint sighed. "Don't sweat it, least no one got pummeled," Amethyst said, playfully punching him. Flint wasn't too thrilled about it however. "I can see that, but now I'm stuck tracking that creature all over again. This is a big deal - the first actual creature we found in action transforming, and now she's flown off on us to who-knows-where! I got to find where Rouge went," Flint explained. Amethyst though started to think a little bit. "Wait. You said that wasn't our problem earlier." "I did, but that was before she turned monstrous. Now it is my issue, and now it's the closest thing I got." After a short bit though, amethyst actually started to chuckle. "You softie." "Excuse me?" "Let's review: we've gone up and down the zoo all day asking around, I went on about Rouge and you said "it's not our problem". BUT you went into the cage and confronted Rouge. You didn't have a thing to get from it - you just wanted to help." "What? Amethyst, don't be silly," Flint said, turning his gaze away. Amethyst laughed. "HA, caught! I figured you out!" "Oh … Ok, fine, so I'm not made of stone," Flint grumbled. But he then turned back to Amethyst. "But don't think I haven't figured you out either." "Huh?" "You've been messing around all day long, just to try and cheer me up. That's it, isn't it?" Flint concluded. Now it was Amethyst's turn to act flustered, but more because Flint said it in a older, and more blunt way. Amethyst stopped as Flint kept moving. "Amethyst. I don't hate any of you at all … but if you're all going to act so ridiculous like this, I'm not going to stick around to see what that'll lead to. I don't know about the rest of you, but I want to live." Flint turned and went away after that, his cloak making him invisible after a few steps. Amethyst, despite all her attempts, was no longer feeling thrilled to the dark Gem. However, she didn't come up with anything besides a glare on her face, before she too started to go. She knew better than to try and force someone like him into anything.