//------------------------------// // Kindergarteners // Story: My Little Universe: Season 2 // by EquestrianKirin //------------------------------// "Why is he staying with us again?" Peridot asked. "I don't know anymore," Amethyst replied. For the last couple of days, Discord had turned the Beach House upside down (literally if the others would let him). Amethyst and Peridot both were in the living room for the moment, none of the other Gems or ponies around for the time being. Discord's chaos antics had many different stuff either floating around, bouncing around, or just out of place. Discord didn't mind it one bit, preferring the odd atmosphere, but Peridot and Amethyst were trying their best to ignore. Amethyst enjoyed the funny stuff, but, not when it was bugging her as well. Amethyst was trying to get some food from the fridge, and Peridot kept trying to focus on her date logs, but both couldn't do either too well thanks to the odd stuff going on. Amethyst had just gotten the fridge open (which was floating around), but whatever food was inside ended up flying out away from her, the Gem stuck in a wild goose chase just to get a sort of snack. As for Peridot, each time she tried to get some words in, something would keep poking at her head, or at the touchscreen. Eventually, Peridot looked to Discord, who was on Steven's bed drinking a latte. "Can't you perform your chaotic acts somewhere else?" Peridot gripped. "I don't see a problem with it," Discord replied playfully, as he conjured up a bag of chips out of nowhere, starting to nibble on them. "But it's interfering with my work," retorted Peridot. "Oh, I'm not meaning to be a burden, I'm just trying to make myself at home out of Equestria, as all. It's not like you have plans on moving here or anything," Discord said with a smirk, one of his chips suddenly appearing like Peridot's head, the Draconequus purposely making it match. Annoyed, Peridot just rolled her eyes, got down, and began heading to the back, where the chaos wasn't as effective. Amethyst joined her, managing to get a tub of icecream from the stuff flying about. However, no sooner after those two left, the back door opened up, showed Garnet coming back into the Beach House. "Discord," Garnet said, her way of hello. Amongst many of the Gems, Garnet was, more or less, the most calm around Discord, as she had figured him out before anyone else. Even with all the odd stuff around, she just let it happen and walked through, moving a few items out of the way. "Top of the morning. What's on the schedule today?" Discord asked, as if it was important for him. "You'll find out. Where're the others?" Discord simply aimed a paw thumb to outside, Garnet heading on out. The fusion soon saw the other Gems outside. Apart from Amethyst and Peridot just outside the door, she saw Steven, Lapis, Diopside, Blue, Fulgurite, and surprisingly Jasper too doing something together. Pearl, Flint and Jade were on the sidelines. Their game exactly was a catching game, Jasper being the thrower (Steven had to convince her it was a training exercise to get her in). The idea was to catch whatever Jasper readied to throw. In this case, it was a football-sized stone. "Ready, Jasper!" Fulgurite called. "Yeah yeah," Jasper said, readying her arm. Soon, Jasper threw it in the air as hard as she could. For the first minute, the stone was actually out of sight for a good minute, everyone playing having their eyes to the sky. After a bit, the stone started coming down again into sight. They got themselves ready, and tried to get themselves in the right position to catch it. Lapis had it easy with her wings flying about, but those who couldn't were making a mad scramble, much to Jasper's annoyance. Thinking of this as training, seeing them running around like mad wasn't a good result. The rock was eventually caught by Lapis, but mainly because 1.) she was flying, and 2.) she had a better advantage in position. The hit from the stone whacked her to the ground, but she caught it none the less. It wasn't until afterwards when Garnet came over, followed by Peridot and Amethyst. "Got it!" Lapis said in glee, though a bit sore from the hit. "Busy?" Garnet asked. Jasper turned to her with a rough expression on her face. She'd seen her fuse together, and the fact Garnet stayed that way bothered Jasper quite a bit, in a more annoyed way. "What do you want?" Jasper asked, crossing her arms. "Something came up; we got a number of missions to do, we have to go," Garnet instructed. Jasper wasn't in any mood to listen to any fusion, never mind just Garnet. The Crystal Gems stopped and looked to her. "What's the prob? Another Gem Monster?" Amethyst asked, anticipating with her fists ready to go. "Kindergarten. I sensed some increased activity lately, we need to check it out," Garnet said. There was some mixed feelings amongst the crowd around her. Pearl, Steven, Blue, Lapis and Fulgurite were all ears, yet others hearing weren't too sure. Jasper didn't bother to listen to her, Peridot was actually gone already, Flint and Jade weren't bothered much, but Amethyst was oddly quiet on hearing it. "Who gave you permission to order us around, fusion?" Jasper growled. "I'm not forcing you to come -" "You better not." "- so this means you want to stay with Discord?" Garnet pointed out. Jasper's anger was immediately replaced with sudden realization. Out of all the Gems, Jasper had the worst tolerance level with the Draconequus. She'd happily beat the daylight out of him if she could ... "Fine, I'll go," Jasper groaned, hand to face. "Very well. You can come with me then. Steven, Lapis, you two come too; you too had been there recently before." "Can I bring Blue?" Steven asked, the dog sitting happily right next to him. Garnet thought for a moment before answering. "Make sure you keep a good eye on him, and you can," Garnet decided. Blue happily bounded off on his way with Steven following behind. Garnet didn't need everyone with one mission; as she said, there's more to check and look through. When she saw Amethyst though, she felt that she could use one more Gem to come ... "Amethyst, you too." "Do I have to?" Amethyst groaned. "We won't be for too long," Garnet replied. Amethyst still didn't want to go, yet she didn't feel like she should argue with Garnet anyway. Garnet hadn't been wrong before, after all. "And what do you want the rest of us to do?" Fulgurite asked. "Check the Homeworld communicator," Garnet simply said. Seemed the teams were set: Garnet, Jasper, Steven, Lapis, Blue and Amethyst for the Kindergarten, and Pearl, Fulgurite, Flint, Jade, Diopside, and Peridot for the communicator. It was, more or less, a jump, but Garnet was sure it'll work out. ~~~~~~ The Warp Pad got the assigned group to the Kindergarten in no time at all. Yet, the place itself didn't really seem to be showing any activity aside from them within the place. The only thing that seemed to be moving apart from that was some occasional dust being brought up by the wind. Garnet began to go on ahead, looking around for a bit. "Alright, fan out," Garnet instructed, some of the Gems willing to listen. Lapis started to fly a bit, yet Jasper didn't budge. Why should she take orders from a fusion anyway? Before anyone else left, Blue started to wander around a bit, his nose to the ground and ears up and listening. As he was, the others went on and split, but Jasper didn't bother herself. Soon, Garnet, Jasper, and Blue were left by the Warp Pad. "There's nothing here," Jasper gripped, feeling there's no reason for being here anymore. "There is," replied Garnet, trying to find some clues. "What kind of fool do you take me for; look around you!" Jasper yelled, both arms spread to show her point. She did had a point, but Garnet's point was sharper and more accurate than Jasper. "Jasper, I can sense that something's different here. Something's alive." "Prove it, fusion; because I'm not going to wander like a blind dirt bomb," Jasper snapped. Before they can continue, suddenly Blue barked for their attention, scraping at the ground within one of the holes. What did Blue find this time? Last time he managed to find a Gem hologram machine, so it could be anything. Garnet went over to him, Blue pulling on something, trying to get it loose. Jasper didn't seem to care for whatever was going on, looking away from the yelping mutt. The hole that Blue had found was pretty large compared to the other holes, large enough for Garnet to stand comfortably inside, fairly human-shaped too. The thing Blue found though was in the back, and a bit hard to pull free. Garnet got a hold of it and easily pulled it free, them both stepping out. The item itself wasn't too large, fitting in Garnet's palm. The object had a blue tint to it, splitting into three prawns, each prawn having a diamond symbol and cyan blue "veins" on them. A bit out of shape, but, still showing signs of energy in it. Blue continued looking for other parts, as Garnet inspected the device some more. Jasper glanced over, and noticed the device Garnet had in her hands. "Where did you get that?" Jasper demanded, heading over to her, and snatching the item away. Blue suddenly came back after a bit, this time with a square-shaped piece, similar colors. He placed it down, wagging his tail, and a bark coming out of his muzzle. "Good boy, Blue," Garnet said. Blue happily barked, and went off again. "How'd that thing find these?" "He's part Gem; able to track down Gem items. He did this before," Garnet explained, Jasper looking to Blue as the dog sniffed the dirt. How can a creature like Blue be able to sniff out Gem objects? Even more so, how was he even half-Gem to begin with? His Gemstone proved he was, there was no denial for that. After a while, Blue got something else further away, calling for Garnet and Jasper again. By the time the two came over, Blue was digging like mad in the dirt, trying to get whatever he had next. He only got a little bit dug out, but just enough for Jasper and Garnet to see. Garnet bent down, and pulled it out. This object was in the shape of a diamond piece, hollowed out with a cyan blue rim along it. Seemed like before, this was the building blocks for another Gem device, and Garnet began to piece the items together. It seemed straightforward, and soon Garnet had the item together. Completing it, the item was still small, about the size of a bottle. However, by the end of it, it didn't really do anything, although it showed to have some sort of power still in it. It seemed to have a part missing; one of the prawns was still gone, not completing the diamond shape on the object in question. Apart from that, nothing else seemed to be missing, or required at least. "Not working. Can you find anymore, Blue?" Garnet asked. Blue tried to get some sort of clue, but, after circling, sniffing, and listening, he couldn't seem to get anything. After that, Blue just sat down, ears back and whimpering. Jasper didn't know what was important to this fusion over something she wasn't sure about herself. rolling her eyes, Jasper started to go back to the Warp Pad - she didn't need to be stuck in this place. "Where're you going?" Garnet asked, turning to her. "Anywhere but here," Jasper replied, not caring much anymore. That didn't mean it was straight back to the Beach House though, remembering Discord and all. Garnet didn't want to tussle with Jasper, and would much rather focus on what she had found. So long as Jasper wasn't leaving officially, then they should be fine. ~~~~~~ Further away, Amethyst, Steven and Lapis were looking around the Kindergarten for a while, not much talking going on amongst them. Lapis and Steven didn't had too much trouble with navigation, and neither did Amethyst, though she seemed bizzarly quiet, lookin g around at the holes and injectors around the place. Lapis had the better view of the three, and was the first to notice something just ahead; the same broken injector Jasper and Peridot found last time they came here. It wasn't moved, and still in wrecked condition, though it looked a bit older now than from earlier with the Homeworld Gems seeing it. "Does this look familiar, Lapis?" Steven asked, a bit worried. He and Lapis don't remember any broken injectors last time they were here. "No. Whatever's here must've broke it," Lapis concluded, trying to inspect it without getting too close. Amethyst didn't pay too much attention, looking around at the holes on the walls still. Eventually, she locked her vision on one in particular; close to the ground, a bit small, and not too far away from her. While Lapis and Steven were busy, Amethyst went over to the hole, finding that it fit her size perfectly. Amethyst looked inside, the hole not going too deep. Amethyst took one more look to see if Steven and Lapis noticed her, the two still a bit busy investigating the damage on the injector. So, the Gem then sighed, and went inside, sitting within it. While she was sitting in there for a bit, Steven and Lapis then noticed Amethyst gone. "Amethyst, where'd you go?!" Lapis called. "Amethyst?" Called Steven. Amethyst didn't come out at first, just sitting inside the hole for a while longer. Amethyst just felt rather sad with ending up in this place - why didn't she stay when she could? Now she's here, and exploring an area where - *thump* *thump* *thump* All three stopped for the moment, feeling and hearing the vibration of the small tremor. Being underground, Amethyst felt it the most, while Lapis and Steven heard it more than felt it. The rumbling from each thump grew louder, and louder with each one heard. As the thumps intensified, Amethyst began to move herself out of the hole, trying to see what was coming. Down the canyon, something began to show from the fog ... something big. Soon, the three Gems saw what was coming their way; a tall Gem experiment gone wrong. It was about twice as tall as Jasper, thin built as well. It had one eye, yet the pupils were split in two, mixing blue and red colors. It had no arms, perfectly balanced on its feet in a tip toe stance as it made each step in their direction. The torso was wrapped up in a sort of grey fabric, dangling at the end as if it was in some sort of restraint suit. It didn't seem to notice Steven, Amethyst, or Lapis just yet, continuing forward towards them, looking around like some odd bird. Steven and Lapis began to back up a bit, Lapis seeing the hole Amethyst was in. "Steven, in there," Lapis said, moving him over to the hole. "Hey, hey," Amethyst said, getting pushed back by them both. "Quiet," Lapis insisted. The gem monster moved closer to where they were, eventually stopped just feet away. They tried to be as quiet as they could, hoping not to get caught by whatever it was. The creature began taking a few steps towards the hole, to the point where it was just inches away from their only exit. Before it could investigate though, it began to look away down the canyon, where they've came in. It's simple walk turned into a run off, and it quickly was out of sight. Jasper, Garnet, and Blue began to hear the footsteps from where they were after a while. Blue was the first to react out of the others, backing away from the other way. Garnet looked around, but when she looked at her feet, the peddles and dust started to shutter with each thump ... "Jasper, get back here," Garnet ordered. "Save your breath," Jasper groaned, continuing on her way. Garnet quickly went in Jasper's way, Jasper growing angry with her a bit more. "I'm serious." "So am I, now move," Jasper retorted. Blue heard the thumps getting louder, and tried to bark for their attention. "Jasper, we have to stay together!" "Quiet, war machine! If you're going to bark at me, have some decency to un fuse and have both of you tell me, instead of hiding in this shameful display of yours!" Jasper demanded. Now Jasper was getting testy with Garnet with her 'war machine' comment. One side (Ruby) wanted to pummel her, but the other (Sapphire) knew it won't do. "I'm. Fine. Fusion has nothing to do with it." Was all Garnet could say through gritted teeth. "Yeah right; it's just a cheap tactic to make weak Gems stronger! Quit embarrassing yourself!" Blue sensed the anger growing between the two, and his barks weren't working. Blue glanced backwards before running for cover. "How about you back off if you don't want to hear it?" "If you hate me so much, then why did you even stay?" Before Jasper could answer her, the two were suddenly caught in a shadow. The two jumped back just in time, just avoiding getting crushed by a giant foot! The gem experiment had found them. With the two Gems landing apart, the gem creature spun around on a tip-toe, ready to charge them again. The creature continued its strange stepping dance, eyeing them both. "See what I mean?" Garnet said. "Oh, shut up," replied Jasper. The beast scrapped the ground like a bull, before rushing forward towards Jasper in a two-legged gallop. Garnet and Jasper rushed forward at it, but the gem monster leaped over them, landing on the Warp Pad. The creature raised one foot in an almost 180 degree swing, and slammed it at Garnet as a threat. Blue saw his chance, and tried to bite at the thing's legs, but it got the dog in between its toes, and lifted Blue up to see him. Soon, Lapis, Amethyst and Steven caught up to it. "Hey ugly, over here!" Amethyst yelled. The creature spun its head the 180 degree to see them coming at it. Blue was dropped, the dog landing roughly and bolting off to the others. The beast began moving over, Amethyst getting out her whip and quickly tried to immobilize it. However, the quick dance steps made that hard to do, each little hop making Amethyst miss with every attempt. For a supposed clumsy gem beast, it sure was a challenge to catch. Amethyst finally managed to got one foot. "Gotcha!" She mused. However, it made a ballerina tip toe stance, lifting up Amethyst, and slamming her into Jasper with one swing. Lapis then tried her luck in the air, but the combined Amethyst/Jasper ball chain slammed into Lapis, sending all three into the rock wall. It seemed to make a sort of victory stance as it faced Garnet, Steven, and Blue. "Steven, take cover," Garnet said, rushing at it. The gem monster attacked like some sort of raptor, front feet out at the ready. The other Gems got to their feet when Garnet tackled the breast to the ground. One kick though sent Garnet flying off of it towards Steven and Blue. Blue pushed Steven aside, both dodging her as she landed on her feet. The creature got upright again, continuing its odd dance on the wrecked platform. Amethyst gave a whip again, hitting the creature right at its right hip. The hit stung, but the creature redirected its attention to them. "Shatter, you dirt bomb!" Jasper yelled as she charged again. Even injured, the reflexes on this gem experiment was amazing; dodging the charge, grabbing Jasper in between its big and middle toe, and swinging her head over heels when she landed in the dirt. Jasper didn't had time to get up, as the beast started to constantly slam her in the dirt with its dancing. Steven could no longer take it; as it raised its foot for another hit, Steven charged in the way, and got out his own Gem weaponry. Jasper waited for the other hit, but the foot landed on Steven's shield, keeping both of them from being crushed. However ... "That shield ... That symbol ..." Jasper began putting two and two together, but Steven's shield wasn't as strong as they would've wanted. Lapis and Garnet tried to slow it down, grappling it and pulling it away, but not before Steven's shield shattered! Thinking quickly, Garnet let go, and rushed in to get them out of the way. However, she only got Steven out of the way before Garnet and Jasper were smashed! "Garnet!!" Steven gasped, Lapis finally knocking the gem monster back. The stomp resulted in a huge dust cloud, so, none of them could see what the result was ... Then the glow ... "No. Way," Amethyst said, mouth agape. "They didn't actually -" Lapis wondered. But they did, be it accidental or not. As the cloud cleared, Jasper and Garnet weren't there, but instead a large white mass with two signature Gemstones forming. The large body began to alter, shape, and form as the transformation occurred. The figure was by far taller than any of them, even more so than the experiment they were fighting. Her hair was long, reaching down her back but it was smoothed out. One thing she was aside from tall was muscular; her four arms packed with powerful muscle, even if they were a bit smoother. She had a four true eyes, with Jasper's gemstone covering where Garnet's third eye would be. Her main color had a reddish-orange tint to it. The outfit actually looked a bit like a boxer, a mixed appearance of star and diamond symbols edged in the her shoulders and hands. The crowd saw this fusion as incredible; Lapis speechless while Steven and Amethyst looked with stars in their eyes. The fusion however was precarious, one side fused all the time while the other finding it cheap to begin with. The tall behemoth just stood there, trying to comprehend what in the world just happened to make the two like this. The conflicting thoughts and personalities made it difficult to function correctly, the Jasper side of the fusion being flooded with Garnet's thoughts - something she had gone blind to until now. Images rushed around in her head, but before they could split, the experiment whacked the taller fusion in the tail bone. Angry, the fusion swung around, two strong arms working together like a gigantic fist. The creature jumped, but the fusion whacked its legs, sending it into a spin in mid air, landing on its head. Even if Garnet and Jasper had different conflicting thoughts, their single motive to beat this thing just kept them in line. Amethyst, Blue, Steven and Lapis kept their distance, as the fusion went all out. The beast was quick, but the fusion was just fast enough to keep pace with swift punches and kicks. Finally, the fusion used the lower set of hands to whack it beast in the chin, and sent the second set of fists slamming right in the face. That hit finally made the Gem experiment poof, the gem falling to the ground. It was quick, forceful, and not a moment too soon, the fusion immediately splitting back to Garnet and Jasper. Garnet landed fine, but Jasper fell onto her back, just staring off into the sky. "WOOO, way da go!" Amethyst cheered. "That was amazing!" Added Steven. Garnet didn't even mean to, but it was surely something different anyway. After a bit though, Jasper finally got up. "WHAT HAPPENED THERE?! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Jasper yelled. "Alright, calm down," Garnet said with a smile. "WE JUST DONE A FORCED FUSION, IM NOT GONNA CALM DOWN!!" Jasper yelled, right in Garnet's face. The images from the fusion were still going on in her head, and she couldn't figure out what it was all about. As they were doing that, Blue suddenly started to catch the scent of something; by the poofed gemstone, something else had also fallen out. It was the final piece of the device they had got together! Blue quickly grabbed it and went straight to Garnet. "Good job Blue," Garnet said, rubbing his head. Blue gave a happy bark as Garnet went over, and bubbled the clustered Gem. "Alright, we're done here." "HEY, DON'T IGNORE ME OVER HERE!" Jasper yelled. "We'll talk later, Jasper. Come on everyone, let's go back," Garnet said, stepping on the Warp Pad Jasper rushed to her, but Garnet was already teleporting away before Jasper could do anything to her. Guess any answer Jasper was going to have was going to have to wait. Besides, her mind was a bit scrambled anyway. ~~~~~~ As the day drawed to night, the groups had finished up their assorted tasks assigned by Garnet. Both sides had handled their own job fairly well, though to Garnet, there wasn't much time for that really. Garnet went right off to try and get the device to work int he Beach House (Discord went out for the moment, so, things were normal for a while). If it was anything like before, it could be something worth knowing, if only she could get it to work properly. Even with all the parts put together, it still won't activate by any means. No button turned it on, it already had power in it, so what exactly made it turn on? Some of the others were with her (Lapis, Steven, and Amethyst), but they didn't had much clue either on how it worked. "Any luck on that thing yet?" Fulgurite asked, coming in from outside. "No. You think you can figure this out?" Steven asked, pointing to the object. Fulgurite picked up the odd object from Garnet, looking it over with a keen eye. Fulgurite got the last one working, but that was just because it needed power. This one had power though, and Fulgurite couldn't see any actual sort of damage on it, even after it was split apart in the Kindergarten. "Hm ... looks like one of those fancy devices. Here, hold this," Fulgurite said, giving the item to Lapis for a moment to think. As Fulgurite tried to think it over what, Lapis got a good look at the device since coming back. The colors were close to her own, though a lot lighter in tint. Still, it seemed to feel a bit more active in her hands rather than the others. As Lapis held it, she wondered on what this could contain. Could it be another date log? ... Seemed it was reading her thoughts; after a little bit, it suddenly started to become active, the lights growing brighter and the four prawns spinning in place. The others stood back, the four prawn opening up to a screen. It wasn't any hologram like before, but someone could be seen on the other end of it, clearer that time. The figure on the other end though was hooded, so the face was hard to make out. in fact, most of her body had a sort of deep night blue robe covering her, only part visible aside from what they could get of the face, was the blue Gemstone on her chest. It was indeed a surprise none-the-less, but they were all ears to it. It has been a long time hasn't it? Nothing of a threat like this has occurred since the rebellion, but ... It appears circumstances had become critical. When he arrives, I'll have to go, but before I do ... There was a pause at first, the Gem turning away for the moment and sighing before finishing up. ... Sapphire ... Lapis ... If either one of you are listening to this, There will always be a place for you both within my court ... I never meant for you both to disappear like this ... The message device suddenly ran out of power, and just as the message ended, the screen glitched to static, and deactivated. There was a bit of silence within the room, especially from Lapis and Garnet. This sort of odd message was surely a interesting one, though the two Gems in question were left a bit quiet after hearing that. What exactly was she talking about with all of this; What threat was she talking about? Who's this "He"? How'd she know Sapphire and Lapis? More importantly, who was she? The other Gems in the room waited for some sort of answer from either one of them. "Guys?" Steven asked, only hammering the point. Garnet and Lapis turned to each other. They both knew what that Gem was talking about, and who she was, but should they really say? Well, there wasn't much point in hiding it - the other Gem said it herself pretty much, so, Lapis sighed and turned to them all. "That was Blue Diamond; apart of the Diamond authority. Sapphire and I uh ..." "We were apart of her court," Garnet finished. "WHOA. So, does that make you two princesses, or her successors, or something?" Amethyst asked. "Not exactly," Lapis insisted. She wasn't expecting to talk about this sort of thing at any point today. Garnet didn't expect too much of it either, and she might've guessed it if gotten more of an indication. Not only did she had an appointment with Jasper and the fusion incident, but now she had Sapphire's court past to explain too. "Where's she now?" Steven asked. Garnet simply shrugged; it'd been a very long time since them, and she was surprised their places weren't taken over by now. "It's been thousands of years, Steven. It's getting late, we can talk in the morning, okay?" Garnet promised. It was getting late, so, Steven agreed. Fulgurite and Amethyst decided they can get more answers tomorrow, as Lapis and Garnet went to the back. As they were, Lapis nudged Garnet. "Did she really mean that, you think?" Lapis whispered. "Not sure, honestly. Who knows what happened to her by now?" Garnet replied. Left on that note, Garnet and Lapis both went through the back door into her room. Lapis did the same herself. Both sides wondered how Blue Diamond was doing the rest of the night.