How could such things happen? The feelings throughout most of the Gems and Ponies upon being witness to the events was, for a lack of a better word, hard. When it comes to both sides of the coin, each one had their own surprise: the Mane Six for seeing Sombra alive, and the Gems seeing their poor Steven corrupted. They weren't sure how Steven was going to react to seeing them, but they didn't want to bubble him. For one thing, it wouldn't fix the corruption, and secondly it could easily kill him if they tried that. As for the ponies, the fact Sombra was somehow not only back, but knew how to corrupt Steven was a horrifying thought: they hadn't seen him in quite some time, and last time they did he was supposed to be gone for good.
Speaking of Steven, the corrupted Gem was actually traveling very fast, and was long gone by the time the group tried to look for the half-Gem. With the moon in the sky, he kept moving about in the night, roaming around the countryside while trying to avoid any trouble. With his new form, it did cause some problems for Steven, especially the lack of any face. Without a mouth, he can't eat anything, and if he can't eat, then he's in big trouble. As for interacting with any Gem, Steven didn't want to be confronted by anyone like that - much to his friend's dismay. At least the nighttime wasn't anything harsh, with clear skies for the Gem to travel around through the fields and open spaces without too much trouble. For one thing about being turned into a large cat, Steven could move much faster without the help from the others., which was how he eluded capture for so long.
Steven had been traveling around on his own for the whole night, not knowing that the Gems and Ponies were looking around all over for him. It was just minutes before dawn, and Steven continued on along the landscape. Steven took a moment to rest by a bunch of shrubs, with his own flower petals making a great disguise by the shrubs for the night. When he began to stir after an hour, the corrupted Gem looked off from the horizon. In his sights, surprisingly enough, was actually where he began: Beach City! Steven started to bound down from the tall hill towards the city. Since it was so early, it didn't appear to be having anyone around to see him.
Much of the streets were a lot quieter as the lion-sized half-Gem roamed around looking for something to eat. He didn't have much to eat since leaving, and on that note, he was starving. Even with no mouth, a small groan, sounding close to how Steven originally sounded, Steven began going off through some outside cans to see if there's any food to eat. While Steven did see food to him, his mouth-less face made eating unable to be done correctly. All that did happen was some scraps smeared on his mirror face. While Steven got the garbage off of him, he continued to roam about in disappointment. He needed to get something soon...
Steven began to catch one place in his sights, the back door propped open a little bit. Steven, noticing the sun getting higher, started to go inside. Being a lot bigger than normal, fitting through the door wasn't as easy, but he had just managed to get himself inside before the sun peeked out from the ocean horizon. And to think though: as Steven did go in, the workers from the building had just arrived to begin their own workday. Steven could hear the people coming in, some bickering here and there, as the Lion Gem stayed put, moving back a bit. in the dark, Steven waited for whatever was out there, in the corner with nowhere to escape. He'd go for the door if it didn't close behind him already. Soon, after what felt like forever, another door opened up with someone else coming in. Steven couldn't tell who it was at first, until the lights were turned on.
Standing there was Sadie, a friend the old Steven would be happy to see. However, the lion gem was unsure of how to react to seeing her, even though he was a lot bigger than she was. As for Sadie herself, she was left simply speechless, eyes fixated on this sudden creature in the corner of the room. The immediate reaction was to run, though Sadie didn't know what to make of it, unable to realize it was Steven standing there.
"Yo, Sadie, got the doughnuts yet?" another voice called. Sadie didn't answer at first to the other voice. It was a voice of another friend the old Steven easily knew. Soon, someone then went in to see what the trouble was. The person who entered was a boy, a bit skimpy and taller than Sadie was. He had a tint of orange in his skin, ginger hair too with a similar working uniform to match Sadie's. One key feature was the large gauges in both of his ears making his ears look like rings on the side of his head. When he came in, Steven became more worried for the most part, staying perfectly still with the mirror staring right at them both.
"Hey, didn't you hear -" He began to say, though he was cut off when he saw the thing standing there. Unlike Sadie though, his reaction was more immediate, a scream startling Steven as the lion Gem tried to scramble over some boxes to keep his distance from them.
"W-What the heck is that thing?!" He got out. Steven tumbled towards them, the guy freaked out and bolting away. Sadie however tried to grab some sort of defensive weapon, and got the only close thing at hand, though it ended up being a packaged éclair of all things. Steven didn't seem threatened by the object, and in fact got it out of her hands and tried to eat it. But, as before, Steven only pushed it around, having more trouble than ever. As Sadie started to calm down, she began to think over a little bit as her fellow employee peeked from the corner of the door. When they both looked at the creature's tail, they both saw the familiar Gemstone on the end of it. Sadie, having a calmer mind by that point, tried to make sense of it as Steven sat down in dismay, a whimper being heard as the uneaten treat remained where it was.
"Wait a minute. Lars, doesn't that Gem look familiar to you?" Sadie asked. Lars, the employee cowering, was just trying to get his nerves together. He didn't care on what looked familiar on the thing, he was terrified of it. It didn't help that Steven turned to them. As he did, Sadie and Lars both noticed something odd with the image itself. Rather than a regular reflection, the mirror itself showed a very faint image of someone else inside ... a human head ...
"Wait ... S-Steven? ..." Sadie managed to say. Upon hearing that name, Steven turned to them, giving off a few more whimpers. Even if most of his memory was lost in the corruption, some things hadn't changed in his mind, like his name. However, realizing this thing indeed was Steven just left less fear, and more shock. Unlike the others, Sadie and Lars weren't there when Steven got corrupted, and as such, didn't know how he'd came to be this way.
"Uh ... I'll be over here," Lars said, quickly going away from Sadie as she dealt with Steven. The corrupted lion creature laid down as to not intimidate Sadie as much, wagging his tail. Seemed easily apparent that Lars wasn't going to help the situation.
"What happened to you?" Sadie wondered aloud, as Steven rolled onto his back., scratching it for a bit until he rolled back onto his stomach. Speaking of stomach, they both heard a loud growl coming from Steven's own stomach, making another whimper come out of him. Poor Steven needed to eat, somehow, and Sadie could tell that. But how can something eat without a mouth? Sadie needed to think it over (not to mention clean up the mess Steven made).
"Oh boy. Ok, think, think," Sadie said, trying to come up with an answer. As she was, Sadie picked up the treat. Steven didn't damage it very much and looked pretty fine but being pushed around on the floor and all, Sadie didn't want to take a chance with it. However, when Sadie went to throw it away, Steven got in the way. Sadie stepped back, unsure of what Steven wanted, but then a paw suddenly got the treat in Sadie's mouth. Surprised, of course, but Sadie took a bite anyhow. However, when she swallowed, she noticed something with the reflection within the mirror face that seemed to get her answer. She looked at it, taking another bite, and noticed the same Steven head vision actually ate the mirror image of the éclair she was eating. In short: in order for Steven to eat, he needed a reflection of someone eating to do so. Sadie ate up the éclair to help Steven out.
"There, is that better?" Sadie asked. However, since Steven was a lot bigger, he needed a lot more food to satisfy him. To get the idea across, Steven found a large box of cookie cats (Steven's favorite) and moved it over to Sadie. The box had A LOT of cookie cats inside ... And Sadie will have to eat them all up in front of Steven in order for it to work.
"Uh ... I don't know if I can ..." Sadie said, unsure of it. Steven slumped and whimpered again; one éclair wasn't going to be enough for the starving creature. Sadie had a number of reasons why she should, but Steven's state of hunger she had to handle regardless. Besides, she didn't know how long it'd been since Steven last ate (his old self not packing any snacks when Sombra sent him off).
"... Oh boy."
...
forty minutes later, Lars was still at the front desk, listening on his iPod and headphones as he worked out some fancy cross puzzle for the time being. Since it was early for them to arrive, not many customers were stopping by, if at all. The thing was though, Sadie and Steven had been in the back for a pretty long time.
"Hey, Sadie, you done back there?!" Lars called. However, he only heard a bit of a groan from the back. He wasn't so sure what was going on back there, but he might as well check on her and Steven (despite ditching out on her earlier). After his song finished, he got up and looked into the backroom. What he ended up seeing was corrupted Steven sitting, content and no longer hungry. As for Sadie, she was sitting on a chair, with her face covered in crumbs, and her stomach 'pregnant-on-final-month' shape, and full to the brim with Cookie Cats. Sadie was in a bit of a daze she was so stuffed up. Lars also saw the empty box of what used to be full of Cookie Cats. Lars didn't know how to react at first, but eventually he got his senses back.
"What the heck, Sadie?!"
"*urp* Fed Steven," Sadie managed to get out. Lars, of course, didn't think that made any sense what-so-ever. She fed Steven, so she ate up all their Cookie Cats.
"Then why'd you - you know what, never mind," Lars decided. He was sure that some sort of weird magic stuff was involved for this, and he didn't want to try to put the pieces together for himself. Steven eventually began to head for the door, pawing at it. Since Sadie was too stuffed to move, Lars was tasked with opening the door for Steven. When all was said and done, Steven simply went right on out to roam again, leaving Lars to figure out what to do for the rest of the day ...
~~~~~~
As Steven was still roaming, the Gems eventually were the only ones still searching for Steven. While they tried their best overall, to their surprise for most of the search, not many clues were found nearby.
While the others kept looking, Garnet had actually got back to the Beach House before everyone else, needing a breather. Garnet was supposed to protect Steven on the name of Rose, and not only had she lost him, but she didn't stop his corruption either! She went right through the back door into a different room, not bothering with anything by the Warp Pad or the main room. The room she was in looked like a storage room of sorts: although it had a lot of Gems in bubbles, other corrupted Gems no doubt. She needed a bit to calm down before she could continue looking.
"How could I let this happen?" Garnet told herself, pacing back and forth. However ...
"It's not your fault."
"Don't start, were supposed to protect him!"
"I know, we tried our best."
"It wasn't good enough! Now he's corrupted like every other Gem here!"
"Stop it, you're overreacting."
"This is Steven I'm talking about! Don't you get it?!"
The whole time, as in talking to herself, it seemed Garnet was having a full conversation with herself, becoming less and less in control as it went on, to the point of shaking. Her body, suddenly, started to glow! In one quick flash, two figures suddenly appeared from the whole. One of these was pure blue, her light hair covering her eyes. She also had a large, formal blue dress on as well, giving a sort of princess look. The other girl was all red, with a red headband on her forehead. Both Gems were rather small, about Steven's height, and while the blue girl was calm, the red girl was still fuming.
"Sapphire! He's corrupted now, don't act like it's no big deal!"
"Getting angry won't help anyone, Ruby."
"Do you even have an answer?!"
"It'll be alright," Sapphire said calmly.
"Don't dodge the question, Sapphire!" Ruby snapped. Their bickering was more one-sided: Sapphire completely calm while Ruby blew her top off. It wasn't the best conversation these two had together, but their crazy bickering wasn't left unseen. Just hiding off in the shadows by some of the bubbled Gemstones, something wandered into the light. Among many things, Ruby and Sapphire both only noticed once they heard his laugh.
"Having a fun chit-chat?"
Both gems turned and there they saw the dark unicorn, Sombra, standing there with a toothy smile. Neither Gem even noticed Sombra in the room in the first place, and they were off guard when he did appear. As for Sombra, he was looking around at the fallen Gems like it was an art gallery.
"How'd you get in here?" Ruby asked.
"Left your door open, so I invited myself in. An impressive collection you've got going here, like you're starting up your own jewelry store," Sombra said, holding one of them with his hoof. The insult in that 'compliment' was easy to catch, considering both Gems knew what was actually in the bubbles Sombra was browsing through. The one Sombra had on his hoof was a watermelon Tormarine Gem, hovering inside the bubble.
"We're not selling anyone, how dare you think that!"
"Come on Ruby, look at these lovely designs on these. Make a great necklace. Just missing one Rose Quartz right in the middle. Sure, Steven would be a nice contribution," Sombra pointed out, moving some so they'll go around his neck like a necklace. Ruby got the bubbles away from him.
"How do you know about that?" Ruby asked, teeth gritted, as Sombra moved her aside and went over to Sapphire.
"I'm pretty sure you can put two and two together. Which one of us has the corruption magic?" Sapphire and Ruby both don't have that kind of magic in them, and the tension was raised as they both looked to Sombra. The unicorn laughed as he sensed that they got it already.
"You monster!!"
"Why thank you, dear Ruby. I'm only surprised you two hadn't found him by now. Oh well, not like you'll get him back anyway," Sombra mocked. Enraged, Ruby charged at him, only for Sombra to rear up, and whack her away with his frontal hooves. The hit sent her tumbling, a bruised hoof mark on her face. Sombra stood on top of Ruby, both hooves on her arms. Sapphire was angry, but she was still calm.
"Why would you corrupt Steven? Why not Garnet?"
"It's more amusing to corrupt a young mind then one that has experience. You should know that as well as anypony, snowflake," Sombra said. The news only got them angrier; Sombra, to put it simply, corrupted Steven just for the heck of it! No gain, no benefit, just for fun! Ruby, boiling in rage, struggled to free herself as Sombra bowed, and sank his teeth into her head! Before Sapphire could do anything, Sombra gripped Ruby's neck, and threw her away from them both. Ruby got to her feet, as Sombra stood just feet away.
"Stay away from her!" Ruby yelled, getting in the way. Sombra just sighed.
"Dumb brat, aren't you?"
"Quiet you! You take one more step and I'll -" Sombra took his step, his large grey hoof slamming on Ruby's feet. Ruby cringed on the pain, as Sombra suddenly reared up again, his horn aimed like a sword right at her! Sapphire moved back, and Sombra stabbed Ruby right through the head! Suddenly, an explosion of smoke covered the area, and only a small Ruby remained on the ground. Sombra only picked up Ruby's gemstone and hid it away in his red royal cape.
"Well that was easy. Then again, nopony can defy the king without any danger," Sombra said, moving over to Sapphire. The small Gem felt a sense of worry, seeing Ruby poof after one attack by this unicorn. Sombra sat down as he was inches away, a hoof moving Sapphire's hair away from her eyes so he could see her eyes ... Or eye, as of were.
"What's the matter, Sapphire? Too much to take in?"
"Your days are numbered, Sombra," Sapphire warned. Sombra huffed, and turned away, his black tail nearly whacking her eye, as he neared one of the gem bubbles.
"You'd think that. Your talking to a king who'd been banished to the North Pole for a thousand years, and blasted to pieces. I'm sure I can handle whatever you gems have for me. Speaking of which," Sombra explained, pulling back out Ruby's gemstone. His horn glowed, and he did a quick zap at it, turning the gem from red to a dull grey. Sapphire didn't like where this was going, as Sombra dropped Ruby's gem onto the ground. The gem began to glow, and the body of Ruby started to form back into shape. However, as Ruby formed back together, she didn't appear all red like before, instead her body grey, and clothes black to match the Gem. Ruby got herself up, Sapphire unsure what Sombra had done to her, taking a step back. Ruby came to her senses, and turned to the horrid unicorn.
"I'm gonna enjoy this," Ruby growled, her fists ready to beat him up. Sombra sat down and waited for a hit to come. Ruby ran at him, her fist ready to hit him in his mouth. But, just inches, her fist suddenly stopped right in front of him. It wasn't the fact that she didn't want to hit him, but she literally couldn't move her fist any further! Ruby tried to get her attack moving, but her arm was too stiff to move.
"A bow would be lovely, Ruby."
"HA! Why would I ever -" suddenly, Ruby's body moved beyond her command, and she ended up bowing in Sombra's presence. Her mind kept screaming for her to stop, but her body ignored her sense of judgement.
"Now, try a triple flip," Sombra commanded, his hoof making a circle in the air. Ruby suddenly ended up spinning in the air, three times, before landing.
"S-Stop that!"
"Let's see ... Use your headband to wipe my horseshoes clean," Sombra instructed. Ruby got her headband off, starting to clean his horseshoes like a shoe shiner would for money. Sapphire knew she wasn't doing this on her own accord.
"What did you do to her?"
"Altered her Gem magic, of course. Not mind control in main terms, but, I can get her body to do what I please," Sombra said. Sapphire herself was simply speechless, as Ruby finished cleaning. Sombra's grin grew as an idea came to him ...
"Ruby?"
"What now?"
"Surely you'd rather have Sapphire with you. slay her."
Sapphire took off seconds before Ruby did, much to Ruby's own defiance over her own body. Sombra simply followed the slayer to her victim. To Ruby it was a nightmare; her body was trying to slay Sapphire, and only her own mind was aware of what she was doing. Sapphire could only dodge her as they got to the Beach House and moved to outside. Sombra, rather than leave, decided to stick around and watch the most unexpected battle in a millennium. After all, what're the odds that Ruby would actually fight Sapphire?
"Sapphire, it's not me!" Ruby said in a silent plead, as her body continued fighting Sapphire. One thing that Sapphire had going for her was a much higher speed than Ruby, making avoiding Ruby a much easier task to handle. Still, the fact that Ruby was basically trying to shatter her was a sad and shocking thought come to life. It made matters much worse that Ruby knew she didn't want to, yet her body was under Sombra's command despite her mind. Like a slave forced to do the order no matter what thought. Sombra's only annoyance with this outcome was that Sapphire was too fast, and Ruby's fists weren't enough.
"Hey, try this!" Sombra said, summoning a sword-shaped Crystal, tossing it to Ruby. Ruby caught it in mid air, and immediately started after Sapphire with her weapon. The sword was double in size to Ruby, yet she wielded it with horrifying effect, something Sapphire knew of. Sombra got himself comfy on the front deck, having a pretty nice view of the fight itself. Despite Ruby and Sapphire fighting, the unicorn's attention turned away when Sapphire did another trick: she took a deep breath, and then she gave a loud screech. she made a one-note scream. The sound slammed hard to Sombra and Ruby. The sound wave went all over Beach City, or at least got that far, before Ruby knocked her down with an uncontrolled punch to the temple. The time it lasted; two seconds. That made her stop, and for Sombra to regain himself a little bit.
"Some lungs, but it won't help you out very much," Sombra growled, shaking his head to get his hearing back into shape. Sapphire sighed roughly, feeling a bit colder. However, as Ruby's body readied to charge again, Sombra glanced along the beach, and began to notice something coming their way: some of the ponies and Gems coming back! Guess that screech was a warning call, he guessed. The first to arrive was Fulgurite, but she didn't see Garnet around: only Sapphire and Ruby.
"Who called?" Fulgurite asked, just as Ruby grabbed Sapphire by the neck. Fulgurite got to action as soon as she saw that, not giving Ruby time to think or explain herself. Fulgurite's hair launched out, and quickly pinned the Gem down on the sand. Sapphire rubbed her neck from where Ruby grappled her. It even showed some slight scorch marks, as if Ruby's hands were on fire. Fulgurite kept Ruby down.
"Back off you black gremlin!"
"What'chu call me?! I'm not doing this!"
"Oh, aren't you?" Fulgurite growled, keeping her down. Sombra looked down at her, and noticed other Crystal Gems and Ponies arrive on the scene.
"Ruby, dear, I'd like some hair, well-done, and crisp," Sombra said with a sly tongue.
"Shut up, horn head!" Ruby screamed, yet her arms still gripped Fulgurite's hair, beginning to fry it! Fulgurite began to freak out, seeing her hair catch on fire. Ruby pulled her hair out as she did so.
"HEY! OFFOFFOFFOFF!" Fulgurite said, quickly getting in the water to stop the fire. Her hair, although a bit shorter on one side, stayed on her head, as Ruby got up to her feet again. Soon, Twilight, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Lapis arrived next from the sky, the others further back and on their way. If Sapphire's scream didn't get their attention, Fulgurite's screeching sure did. Ruby went over to Sombra, giving him black hair, which Sombra ate like it was crispy hay.
"Ugh, birds," Sombra groaned. He knew they weren't birds, but, they were just as annoying to him. When they saw Sombra, Rainbow did a falcon dive towards him, only for him to dodge at the last second. Rainbow crashed through the wooded front deck, as Sombra landed on the beach.
"What're you doing here?!" Lapis asked.
"Oh, just visiting, making friends," Sombra remarked, moving over to Ruby. Ruby wanted to hit him, yet her body refused to comply with her thoughts. Only Amethyst and Pearl knew who Sapphire and Ruby were, yet the others weren't sure who was who, and thought Ruby was an enemy.
"I know that's a lie," Rainbow said, pulling herself out of the deck.
"What did you do to her, Sombra?" Twilight demanded, wings raised and horn glowing, ready to shoot the unicorn at any moment. Even if she never knew Ruby, she knew that Sombra must've done something to her. He wouldn't go somewhere to quote-on-quote "make friends". Sombra wasn't too worried, actually starting to stroke Ruby's head gently with his hoof - a gesture that made Ruby stiff.
"Just some alterations, as all. Just like little Steven," Sombra revealed.
"WHAT?! You corrupted Steven?!" Pearl yelled, readying her spear in rage. Amethyst got out her own weapon as well, equally angry.
"Ah, ah, ah. You hurt a hair on my head, and I'm taking this fine Gem down with me. You do care about her, don't you?" Sombra asked, bowing his head so his horn just gently touched her chin. However, it wasn't as big of a threat as it should be, Ruby being a Gem and all, but the threat was still there.
"Change them both back, NOW!"
"Now, I can change Ruby back, no problem. Steven is another matter though. You see, both our worlds have our own rules - as vague as some boundaries are. I'm sure you don't know for a fact how to actually save him, otherwise why would you have all of those other gems locked up in your basement, eh?"
"Wait, what?" Fulgurite asked, though the two were too angry to answer.
"You're the one that messed him up, you fix it!"
"And you think I know how? Corruption is universal. Revival is precise in instruction. And I don't see you clods having any instruction, now do you? Besides, if I ignore it long enough, I'm sure somepony else will do it,"
"But none of us know how!" Lapis said.
"You catch on fast, don't you?" Sombra mocked, laughing as he turned to Ruby.
"Come along, Ruby" Sombra said. As much as Ruby didn't want to, her body followed Sombra as he went away. Pearl, Lapis, and Amethyst charged at him, Twilight shooting magic at him. Thinking quickly, Sombra did a 180-spin, knocking the trio into the beam! Holding onto Ruby, Sombra started to turn into shadow, and disappear.
"HELP!" Ruby called, before she disappeared along with him. Sapphire was so close in getting her, but Sombra was too quick for them. No sooner after it began, it was over: with one half of their Gem leader gone to the shadow king. Sapphire just stood aside, a saddened sigh escaping her lips, before she was confronted by whoever was there.
"Don't worry Sapphire, we'll figure out how to get her back," Pearl assured.
"I know you will," Sapphire sighed.
"You know her?" Fluttershy asked, unaware of the fusion effect Garnet was originally in. Sapphire was, in comparison, about the size as the ponies, or maybe even smaller. Sapphire, wiping a small tear from her one eye, looked over to them. The ponies weren't aware of the fusion Garnet was in before now, and without Ruby, Garnet wasn't going to come back until then.
"Sorry for this being our first time meeting," Sapphire sighed. The blue Gem looked up to the other Gems and ponies.
"Where's Garnet? Didn't she come? Where is she?" Pinkie asked, trying to look around for Garnet.
"You did. In a way. Me and Ruby were Garnet before Sombra appeared ..." Sapphire said. The ponies were aware of the fusions, since they've seen Tanzanite back in Equestria, but they didn't expect Garnet to be one. Now, Garnet wasn't around, and Ruby was taken away from Sapphire. If they don't, not only Garnet would never come back, but Sombra would end up with a tough little minion for as long as he was around.
"Sorry that it couldn't gone better. It'll be alright, Sapphire, really," Twilight assured her, a hoof on Sapphire's shoulder. Sapphire knew that it'll be alright, but, it'd still hurt to watch Ruby do all that against her own will. It was worse that she was fully aware of what she did; at least with mind control you get the satisfaction of either forgetting everything, or just don't remember what happened. Sombra had full control of Ruby, yet kept her memory fully in tact.
It was like he had Ruby on strings, the Gem as his puppet, Sombra the puppeteer ...
Then the thought turned back to Steven. Even with this news, he was still gone, and they apparently didn't find him yet. Sapphire sighed, and looked to everyone.
"Don't worry about me. Keep looking for Steven," Sapphire concluded. Everybody/everypony looked at each other. They didn't know where Sombra actually went with Ruby, so, the best they could do is handle the current problem and try to get back to it later. After all, with nothing to go on or hinted, there was nothing they could do. The Crystal Empire might be a shot, but there was no way for Sombra to go back without the magic key, and they were for sure not to give any of those up. Sapphire just kept quiet as they began to head off, thinking it over for a bit with her one eye closed.
While in someone's mind, images pop up, sure, but in Sapphire's head, her visions were far more important than most. In her mind, she saw a number of things go through her head, the possible outcomes, solutions, decisions. One of these was of her seeing a few figures standing before herself and her friends, one a large and human-like, one a more demonic looking beast, and one of a large alicorn ...
"We'd better be ready ..."