Sonic Gem EP10: Mirror Image

Mirror Image (also called "Broken Wings" in the beta phases) is the tenth episode of season one of Sonic Gem.
== Plot ==
All was feeling a bit dull in the Beach House. Not many people, mobian or otherwise, were currently around the Beach House with the lone exception of the two-tailed fox, the others off doing who knows what with only him having nothing really to do other than pacing back and forth. Stepping about three steps, turning around and repeating for the last half an hour or so was all Tails had to keep himself busy. He would go onto his personal device, but as he glanced off to the kitchen counter and seeing his touchscreen being charged for the time being, all Tails did was sigh.
"Note to self: add a larger, more energy-efficient battery after today's session," Tails told himself. From that point, he just continued pacing around, keeping his mind sharp and active even for a little bit. This time of personal thinking was quickly interrupted by the familiar sounds of the rumbling of his device, basically the same vibration as a silent phone. A few taps later, and sure enough facetime revealed the familiar human face of Steven on the other end.
"Yes it works - Hey, Tails!" Steven said.
"Hey Steven. Glad to see my phone adapter upgrade works for this touchscreen now," Tails noted, resting an elbow on the counter in boredom during the chat. "What's up?"
"Check this out," Steven brought his screen over a bit so Tails could see his end of the world. Here, Tails saw Steven showing some kind of shirt shop, one of which he particularly was aiming at showed a wrench on it, some gears and bolts, and of course a nice yellow color. Tails just smirked, eyebrow raised.
"Let me guess: you saw that in the store, and thought of me, didn't you?" Tails concluded.
"Don't you just love it?" Steven asked, "Come on, it's exactly for you! It's almost like it's ... destiny."
Tails laughed, even with Steven bringing out the starry eyes routine on him.
"Ok, sure. I mean, if you wanna buy it, go ahead. I'm gonna have to cut this short soon before Pearl comes back," the fox explained, glancing back towards the warp pad with an impatient tapping of his finger. This reminder got Steven perked up.
"Pearl's coming back? When? I wanna be there for her lesson this time!" Steven insisted, anxious now.  Tails meanwhile just sighed boredly, chin resting on the counter table.
"She didn't say exactly when," Tails explained again, "but she did mention something about monster hunting. AGAIN. But, since she said this literally several hours ago, she HAS to be done by now!"
Steven shrugged. "I don't know. The Gems can be gone for a while sometimes. One time Garnet disappeared for about a week."
That didn't make things easier for the fox. Did he really have to wait a WHOLE WEEK just for Pearl to come back, let alone have any lessons with him? The thought alone left Tails groaning.
As if on cue, lucky for him, he didn't have to wait for too long before he heard the Warp Pad start to go off with the similar blue light catching the fox's attention. Tails sprung up to see one of the Gems, perking up seeing (speak of the devil) the very Gem teacher in question herself.
"Pearl!" Tails exclaimed, getting to his feet and going right over to her. Pearl stepped back seeing the two-tailed fox, holding a bubbled gemstone in one hand and trying her best NOT to burst it.
"O-Oh, Tails," Pearl got out after calming down.
"Thank goodness you're finally back! I've been REALLY looking forward to our lessons this time. So, as soon as you're ready we can -" Tails paused with a raise of Pearl's hand. As enthusiastic as Tails was, Pearl just walked away from him and began heading over towards the back door.
"Lesson? Our lesson - ah, Tails I can't," Pearl admitted, "There's been such a surplus of monsters lately, and with our water monster constantly showing up lately I just don't have the time."
"Again? Well, when CAN we get back to them? I got some important questions this time," Tails inquired. The fox hoped for a good answer, but the seconds ticking by for Pearl to think left less and less hope for that. Eventually ...
"How does the end of next month sound?"
Tails' enthusiasm dropped like a rock.
"Can't you ... come up with it sooner than that? Maybe at least in a week?"
"Sorry but no," Pearl replied, her tone almost a bit blunt as she went back towards the door. The fox almost felt like her words stabbed him. How were they going to get home at this rate? Before Pearl could fully make her leave, they both heard a loud sigh from Tails' device.
"What? Come on, no fair," Steven remarked, overhearing everything at this point. It was just enough to bring Pearl and Tails back over to the device, now seeing Steven's disappointed face.
"Steven? But I thought -"
"I updated it, don't worry about it. Ehh, sorry Steven, it sounds like another no-go," Tails said.
"I heard you, but again - no fair!" Steven said in dismay, "There's still so much I don't know about you guys, and you do all sorts of super cool magic stuff. Your cool weapons, your fancy gadgets, your outfits! I just want to ask you so much! Who's gonna teach little steavie now?"
They watched Steven sit down on an outside bench on his end, though while it didn't seem like it was doing that much, it was having a wee bit of an effect on Pearl. Her hands were over her mouth, and her eyes were almost shimmering after hearing all of that, as the fox was still dismayed a little himself. The fox just sighed, grabbing hold of the device.
"It's okay, Steven. I'm not going to force them to -"
Pearl swiped the touchscreen.
"Oh Steven, why didn't you say so?!" Pearl exclaimed, much more enthusiastic this time. "If I'd known you'd be THAT eager about our culture, I would've cleared my schedule!"
"So will you do it now?" Steven immediately asked, getting excited himself. Pearl readied an answer, but quickly stopped herself: those monsters weren't going to hunt themselves properly if she just halted everything. The Gem placed the device down, it aimed to her like a camera, as she got her mind to work again.
Then, with a snap of her fingers, it came to her.
"I got just the thing!" she declared.
Then it began.
Tails and Steven watched on, Pearl started to act a bit ... off, far as they knew. She did a few poses, each with their own flair as if she was ready to do some kung fu or karate, each one seemingly gathering up more energy from the gem. Pearl kept up this flair for another few seconds before, she began to completely concentrate, her hands cupping around the gemstone on her forehead as that itself began to react. Whatever that dancing did, it was taking its toll on it as it began to emit its own glow right before them. Pearl had to keep her focus strong to make this work, and lucky for her it didn't take no more than a few more seconds before they all saw something come out.
It started off as just a basic orb, a ball of light floating out slowly into the very air before them all. This same light though began to shape itself, morphing and shifting into a whole new shape. The object that remained looked fairly small: rounded at the main top with a smaller handle. This object floated in a spiral motion for a bit, before Tails gently held it in his hands. Looking down, he saw this stylized object staring right back at him in the form of a perfect reflection - not even a spec of dust to damper the image.
"A ... mirror?" Tails questioned. Pearl went right to Tails, looking into that same reflection from behind him.
"This isn't an ordinary mirror, Tails," Pearl began, "with its gem-powered energy, it is capable of reflecting locations and events from thousands of years ago, giving you a first-look into our culture and society! Now, I can continue with my assigned tasks, while you and Steven can continue learning about our Gem culture."
Tails looked to the mirror's reflection again. It definitely didn't sound THAT farfetched, considering the race he was dealing with. As for Steven, who could only get a slight glance of it from his position, he was giddy as ever to hear this sort of news.
"Amazing. How'd you even find something like this?" Tails inquired, looking over it like he would any new fancy piece of machinery. Pearl hoped he would ask that.
"You see, me and the Gems found it at the Galaxy Warp a few thousand -" suddenly a thought struck Pearl, enough to bring out a chuckle, "Wait, what am I saying? I can just show you! Ehh, can you uhh ..."
Pearl gently pulled up on the mirror, bringing it up to a point where everyone had a good view of it. Tails kept it in place, as Pearl cleared her throat.
"Show us the Galaxy Warp."
....... nothing.
"SHOW US the Galaxy Warp," Pearl repeated.
....... still nothing.
"Come on, I know you've seen it," Pearl insisted, grabbing the mirror and bringing it to her face.
Alas, nothing happened. No glow, no spark, just Pearl's disappointed look staring back at her. Pearl checked it over a little bit, her expression mellowing out.
"Hmm ... it is in rough shape. Guess it's finally broken. What a shame," she sighed, giving it back to Tails. So much for that plan. Pearl still had her own missions to do, so she just went on back over to the Warp Pad. Maybe the end of next month won't be so long after all. Steven and Tails checked out the mirror from their end.
"Doesn't look so broken to me," Steven said.
"It does look okay to me. What would -" as Tails kept turning it and checking it out, only now did they both check out the back of the mirror more prominently. Staring back at them now appeared to be a stone of some sort, deep blue in color, and shape in a manor like a waterdrop. The thing that struck them first though was just how broken it appeared, a huge crack running down the middle and splitting off in several places. Amy more damage to it and it would've broken completely.
This did get the fox thinking though.
"Hey Pearl? You think this might have something to do with it?" Tails questioned. Pearl turned around on the warp pad to see Tails presenting the broken piece before her. She leaned in closer for further examination.
"I doubt it," she concluded, "it was like that when we first found it, and it operated well when we first tested it."
Tails looked at the reflection again.
"I still think it can be fixed. Mind if I hold onto it for a while?"
"Well if you want to try it, you can, but I need to get going. Good luck with your mirror," Pearl replied. With that, she went off on her way to who knows where, leaving the fox to look over the mirror and its broken piece.
~~~~~~
Tails' observation kept up as he went outside of the beach house, his IQ swirling in his head as he kept trying to figure something out with this thing. If this were some kind of radio, or TV or something he'd be fine, but he couldn't make out anything electrical or even mechanical about it. No wires, batteries, opening compartments, or anything beyond just the mirror's reflective glass and its smooth metallic coating.
He wasn't the only one looking it over at the moment, the reflective mirror showing not only Tails but Steven as well, both looking intently into it as they went along.
"You really going to try and fix it, Tails? It'll be really cool to see all those old places," Steven said.
"Only if I can figure this out. The only part really broken is this," Tails noted, showing the broken stone again.
"So? You can do it! You made that computer all by yourself," Steven encouraged. Tails looked back down to the mirror again, scratching behind his ear.
"That's stuff I've actually handled before. I've never actually had to work on a ... well, a rock," Tails reminded, a finger sliding along the nasty crack within it. Tails and Steven kept their gaze down on it for a while longer, and neither of them were really seeing where they were -
*thump*
- going.
"Hey! Careful where you're going, you two," said a bothered voice from behind the hot dog stand.
"Sorry, sorry," Tails said, shaking off the bump to Sonic's favorite pitstop. The Hot Dog Vendor got her stand re-set, when she saw the fox's mirror he was holding.
"What do you got there?" She inquired, pointing to the mirror.
"Oh this? Just a thousand-year-old mirror I'm trying to fix," Tails explained, now all three of them checking the reflection in the mirror out. Even mentioning the age though, it really didn't bother the vendor that much as she took a closer look at it herself.
"Doesn't look that bad for being that old," she shrugged.
"That's what I said," agreed Steven. Tails just showed the broken stone on the back again.
"I know this is out of nowhere, but you wouldn't know how to fix something like this ... would you? Or know anybody that does?" Tails asked.
"Sorry, I work with hot dogs, not rocks," the vendor replied. "I think Miroslaw's Jewelers would know what to do. Just look for the theater, and you basically found it."
"Jewelers. You didn't say your town had any jewelers, Steven. This a new place?" Tails asked.
"Ehh, no, it's been there. The Gems don't like talking about it though. ... Ever ...... anyway let's go fix the mirror!"
Now having a destination, Steven grabbed Tails' hand, got hold of the mirror himself, and they both went on their way, waving goodbye to the hot dog vendor as they went. Tails needed to get his footing to keep up with him, Steven overly excited as usual. Whoever was in the way had to move aside, he was rushing so much, Tails just flying overhead so he won't run into anybody.
"Slow down, Steven, we're not in THAT much of a hurry," Tails called from above. Steven turned back to Tails but kept on running.
"Why not? All we gotta do is get her fixed up, and we can learn about all the cool and awesome Gem stuff we can ever get!" Steven beamed, looking to the mirror as he kept going. Tails knew this scenario all too well, especially when he saw Steven rushing right towards a town street!
"STEVEN -"
- Hey! Careful where you're going - -
Steven suddenly halted, but before he could react to the voice, he turned down the road and suddenly found himself right in the way of an oncoming car!
"NOOOOO!" Steven shouted.
The car, casually, stopped right in front of screaming Steven. Not even fast enough to run over him if it wanted to, all Steven got was a loud honk of the horn. Tails caught up to the stunned kid, pushing him out of the way and back to the other side of the road.
"What the heck, kid?!" the driver shouted.
"Sorry about that!" Steven called back. The annoyed driver just went off on his way. Tails and Steven looked to eachother, but then their attention went right to the mirror. That voice didn't sound like Tails, nor did it sound like Steven ...
Then the mirror ... started laughing. Showing Steven's happy, smiling face, and laughing in his voice. The very second of speech was enough to send both of them ecstatic. 
"IT WORKS!" Steven and Tails gasped. Steven held it up a bit ahead of him.
"This is so cool! I don't even know what I did, but I fixed the mirror! Say something else," Steven insisted.
Tails and Steven waited a second, but this time the mirror reacted much quicker: the reflection of the mirror shifted and rippled like the ripples of a pond. The picture itself quickly shifted into a new image, this time showing Tails and Steven's face, both accompanied by a good loud "IT WORKS!"
Tails couldn't help himself: grabbing hold of the now working mirror, he spun it around to check the gemstone. Sure enough though, that piece was still broken, and yet the giggling mirror's voice proved ... something.
"Ok, ok, compose yourself Tails, here we go. ... Show us the Galaxy Warp," Tails instructed again.
... Nothing. Not saying the mirror didn't try though, but all they could see was a blurry image of somewhere. Whatever the Galaxy Warp is, the mirror wasn't strong enough to show it to them.
"Dang it," Tails sighed, looking to the blurry reflection again, "It must still be limited because of that broken gemstone. Where's that jewelers, Steven? The sooner we get it fixed up, the sooner we can pick back up on Gem class."
All Tails heard was a groan nearby, and a thud.
"Steven?"
The good news: they found Miroslaw's Jewelers now, literally the next building just down from that very road. The bad news: as Steven pointed out grimly with his face on the door, the word "closed" right on the door. Tails was ... not amused.
"Of course, it won't be that easy ..." Tails sighed.
"No fair. I nearly got ran over for nothing," Steven groaned, looking around at the dimly lit jewelry shop with his face smushed against the glass. It just took Tails a simple poke or two to get Steven to back up, but the disappointment was still there.
"How're we gonna fix you now? I know you wanna share your stories, but ..." Steven sighed, looking to the mirror's reflection. The mirror tried responding a bit, but it was still unfortunately a bit fuzzy, the voice muffled through static. Tails took a look to the mirror, then back to his friend, before going over and picking up the mirror again.
"We'll fix her, Steven. I promise you, we'll get her fixed up. Somehow," Tails promised, his voice somber with the reflection of both worried souls staring back at them through the mirror. It didn't try to respond or anything just yet, but it did calm down into a standard reflection from its previous attempt. With the Gems not around, Tails and Steven thought for a bit more on any other option. There had to be SOMEONE who could know a thing or two about this ...
Eventually, Tails began hovering again, ready to go off with mirror in hand.
"Come on, Steven, there's got to be someone in town that can help."
......
If only there even was. For the next few hours, they went around town, one person after the other, they were simply having no luck with whoever they asked. They tried everywhere they can think of, starting off with what made sense onto what didn't make sense, but it just wasn't happening. All the while, despite Steven having his own chats with said mirror throughout the hours, the mirror itself did try to communicate with them time and again but most it managed to speak out was short, repeated sentences the two had done already. It wasn't gonna get them to learn any more gem history but knowing it could still do that was enough to have them keep trying. Even so, the answer was basically the same:
"Honestly, I ... wouldn't even know where to start," Greg shrugged.
Disappointed again.
"WHAT? Nothing?" Steven asked, as Tails just had a seat on an upside-down bucket, mirror in hand again while checking the gemstone once more.
"Sorry, Steven, Gem stuff is stuff for the Gems to know about. Why don't you go ask them instead?" Greg suggested.
"I would if they're still here," Steven pouted. Guess even "years of experience" didn't work out well for them this time.
"Off on their adventures again? Well they gotta come back at some point. you wanna wait it out here til they get back?" Greg offered.
What else could Steven do? With no other possible ideas, Steven just nodded and joined Tails nearby. Greg went on over too, checking out the mirror with Tails. The reflection was crystal clear, clearer than any standard mirror Greg's ever seen.
"There's got to be some way to fix you," Tails thought aloud. The fox just slumped over, trying to get his thinking cap to come up with something as he placed the mirror nearby. Steven and Greg looked to one another, almost as if they both had the exact same idea regarding the stressed fox. It'd been hours already ...
So, what does one do at a car wash with convenient water hoses ...?
*SPEW* "Gah! Steven!"
"Stick em up! This is the fun police, You're all under arrest for unqualified moping!" Steven shouted, the end of the carwash hose aimed directly at the fox, water dripping from the recent spray. Tails shook off the water from his fur.
"Unqualified moping - Steven what are you -" *SPEW* "HEY!"
"You have the right to remain silent, Fox!" Steven shouted. Tails stumbled back, slightly stunned but before he could say anything Steven aimed the hose right at his dad ... who also had a hose at the ready.
"You'll never take me, fun police!" Greg shouted, spraying the hose at Steven. Steven and Greg both had a good laugh and chased around with hoses in hand. Tails took a second thinking on this sudden game, glancing back at the mirror again as even the object itself was laughing (in Steven's voice).
Even the mirror wanted him to relax for a minute.
"Eh tu, mirror?" Tails sighed with a smile. "Oh, heck with it, how can I say no to your reflection?"
As Steven and Greg were busy, Tails hovered off of his seat, and onto the top of Greg's van, making sure the mirror was hidden up there and out of the way. He kept his eyes focused directly onto Greg and Steven until the two stopped briefly, Greg spraying Steven with more water again.
Just enough time for him to snatch the hose from him.
"STAY WHERE YOU ARE! stand down, chief, or I'll give your friend a quick clean," Tails "warned" the hose aimed at the mirror.
The mirror just laughed again.
Steven sprang into action, pretending to hold a portable radio in hand. "Chief to buddy cop, chief to buddy cop, we got a hostage situation at the Car Wash, I need assistance! Over."
"Buddy cop to chief, assistance on the way, over," Greg replied, tossing Steven his hose. Tails gasped.
"Traitor!"
"Sorry, partner: he's my son."
Tails wailed in defeat, Steven blasting him with the sprays of water. In utter humiliation of his downfall, Tails spun around with hands over his heart, and collapsed in a thud off the side of the car. All in good fun, and they all had a good laugh out of it, including the mirror laughing in Steven's voice ...
... at first ...
- Hahahahaha - Hahahahaha - "hehehehe!"
Tails immediately went silent, ears shooting up and at focus. He still didn't know that much about the mirror, but he knew that it can't change voices. This voice was more feminine, but not in any voice he recognized. Tails got up and went straight for the mirror as Steven and Greg were a bit busy with their own laughter.
"Wait ... who was that ...?" 
Sure enough, the mirror didn't show an exact reflection of anybody familiar. It was just a hazy mess, but that voice still rang out from within it somehow. Just enough for his sensitive fox ears to pick up. The laughing did eventually calm down after a while.
"Alright, that was fun. How's about we get the hoses put away before we turn my car wash into a water park? Come on down, Tails, I'm gonna need your help too," Greg suggested.
Tails did come down, but he was too distracted to answer right away.
"Tails? You okay buddy? I didn't spray you too hard, did I?" Steven asked.
"No, no, you're fine. Didn't you two hear that?"
"Hear what?" Greg asked.
"That voice. I mean, the mirror can mimic voices, but ... this was something I never heard before. Or at least, not today," Tails explained, just as confused as the other two ended up after hearing that. They looked at the reflection again for a short bit, but Tails' curious mind started swirling with ideas. Did he REALLY hear someone new from this mirror? If so ... who?
Tails brought his ear close to the mirror, the reflection hazy again as if reacting to the fox's fur pressing on the glass.
... "hmmm" ... "mpph" ... "mmm?" ...
"THERE'S SOMEONE IN THERE!" Tails exclaimed.
Everything happened so quick and all at once: alongside the shocked look of Steven and Tails with Greg's surprised expression, the mirror suddenly went haywire! the reflection brightened, flickered, spazzed, and warped in excitement on Tails' four words. it warped and messed with previous images, but a single message was just able to be broadcasted.
-You hear me? HELP ME! LET - ME - OOUUTT.-
Tails couldn't help but drop it after that, the mirror flipping over onto its face, that broken gemstone staring right back at them. ...
"... Are you getting the same crazy idea?" Tails asked.
"Yeah ... I wanna help her too." Steven replied.
There was only one thing they could do.
Picking the mirror back up, with the broken gemstone and his mind running at sonic speed by this point, Tails was the first to grab hold of the gemstone. His grip firm yet gentle to not break it further, he began to pull as best as he could manage. Steven started helping him out after a bit of struggling, the gemstone lodged in the mirror pretty good.
In their focus, only Greg noticed what was going on around the two: the water sprayed around them from their game began moving around on its own: slowly but evenly between each strand like the gem magic it was. Greg didn't know what to think, with the water turning into the same kind of pattern that the mirror reflection itself had on it. Tails in his struggle did eventually notice, but Steven was completely focused on getting the gemstone -
*POP*
It was out.
*CRASH* went the mirror!
"Steven! Tails!" Greg gasped, going in to get them out of the way. He scrambled just fast enough to pull them aside, the gemstone being dropped into the water.
As for the gemstone, once that thing was out in the open with nothing to cover it and conceal it, it gave them all another big surprise as it started to come alive. A hue of white and blue surrounded the gemstone, bringing it to the sky, and the water swirled around it in a spectacular spiral. The light morphed and expanded in a matter of second, branching out from an orb of light, into a singular human-like shape.
In a final glimmer of light, everything finally calmed down. The water fell back to earth, but now accompanied by someone else collapsing onto the ground. This figure appeared to be a girl, her entire body from her skin to her hair, and down to her top and dress all had a deep shade of blue to it. As for that gemstone, it found its way onto the upper part of her back. The girl just stayed down, tired and worn out from her ordeal.
...
" ... A ....... another Gem ...?" Steven whispered.
Ever so slowly, the Gem before them began to move, strength not entirely coming back to her limbs just yet but just enough to have her turn to them.
Her eyes ... well, she didn't have em. All they saw were reflections staring back at them.
"....... Hello," muttered Greg.
She stayed silent a bit more, trying to find her feet again. Steven was quick to get her before she could stumble again, helping her balance.
"There you go. That better?" Steven asked.
"Y-You ... Both of you. ... You talked to me. You actually heard me - you helped me!" she managed to say through tired breath. Tails and Steven didn't know what to make of her, but seeing how happy she was about it all was enough to make them relax a bit. She got herself standing up in full, but still leaned against the van.
"It's Steven ... right?" the Gem asked.
"Yeah, that's me. And this is Tails," Steven replied.
"Umm ... hi," Tails muttered.
"I'm Lapis. Lapis Lazuli. Thank you," the Gem answered, her tone calm but still having that hint of relief and joy. There was a moment of silence there, eyes shifting between the blue Gem and the now shattered mirror on the ground. Somebody had to address the big detail about this whole thing, the two-tailed fox picking up what remained of the mirror in hand.
"So, an actual Gem was inside this mirror ....... Pearl never said anything about this. ..." Tails wondered. Next their attention went to the actual stone.
"Are you feeling okay? I mean, you got to be feeling a little better now you're out," Steven inquired. The gem paused.
"I feel weaker right now. A bit ... hazy. I've been trapped for so long ......."
Lapis' mind trailed off a bit, bringing a hand to her head. She tried to figure this out, but all summed up in a single glance when she looked up to the van side mirror. The reflection staring back at her left the broken Gem speechless, those same reflective eyes staring back at her.
"W-What ... my eyes ... but that means my Gem -..." Even if she couldn't see it, suddenly her body started to shimmer ever so slightly, namely in those reflective eyes of hers. The shimmering wasn't like the mirror though, instead glitching like a TV screen. She took a moment to rub her eyes, though she knew this wasn't gonna fix anything. In her mind, there was only one thing she could think do as she began to walk away from the van. A bit heavy in her feet, she only got a few steps before she just fell to her knees, this time caught by Greg.
"Easy there," Greg advised.
"They would leave me damaged in that mirror," Lapis groaned. "How bad is it?" 
"You don't know?" Tails inquired.
"No. I can't see it."
"Oh. Right." Tails took a second to check the gemstone again, and while it didn't appear any worse than it was in the mirror, it didn't look any better either. That, along with the unsteady stance Lapis had, made the situation pretty clear to the fox. Glancing at Steven and Greg again, Tails walked over to face Lapis.
"Ok, the cut does look pretty bad," Tails admitted, "And it looks like you can't walk anywhere that well in your condition. I think it's best you just sit down and try not to walk around so much. Agreed? ..."
Lapis tried getting back to her feet again, this time with help from Steven and Greg, but she didn't look pleased with any of this.
"But ... I need to get home. It's been so long for me - I-I can't -" suddenly a slight surge went through her body as the cracked gemstone left her eyes a glitched mess again.
"....... Are you three really from the crystal gems?"
The trio just paused for a second.
"Umm ... kinda out of nowhere question, but, sort of. I'm just staying with them," Tails explained.
Even more silence stuck around for a bit too long, but lucky Steven got an idea before the awkward silence can go further.
"I know! Lapis, we got a lot of room back at the gem temple, you can stay with us for a little while! They should know what to - MMPH!"
"Ehehehehe, can you give us a second, mam?" Greg finally said, hand over Steven's mouth. A bit of a quick move, but he had to draw the line at somewhere. Lapis, not really able to do much else right now, just leaned herself against the van again as Greg brought Steven and Tails away from her. He got them right by the car wash entrance, putting his back to the broken Gem.
"Eh, listen, Steven. Don't take this the wrong way, I wanna help her too, but ... let's not jump to the gems just yet, ok?" Greg asked, trying not to sound too loud in case Lapis was listening.
"Wha? But Lapis and I are friends," Steven insisted, "we had fun all day, and made the best jokes. The crystal Gems will love her!"
As nice as it sounded, Greg felt a cold sweat go over him, glancing back at Lapis again as she just stared off into space. How could he put this properly ...?
"I dunno," Greg admitted, "The other Gems aren't really that good with ... outsiders. I mean, it took me months just to get them to be comfy around me, and I'm just a normal guy with a good guitar. They probably aren't gonna take a new gem very well ..."
"How bad are we talking?" Tails asked, feeling his ears curl back in worry. Greg clammed up after that, not having a clue how to approach this without any issues. Unfortunately for him though, he waited just a bit too long to answer as Steven and Tails were reaching their own conclusions. ... Worries growing a bit.
"They wouldn't be THAT bad to her, t-they took Sonic in - they took YOU in Tails," Steven insisted, though he did still feel a bit uneasy.
"Your dad might have a point though. They did nearly hunt down Sonic when they first met him. What would Sonic do ...?"
It took some more pondering on their part, but eventually as they looked back to Lapis one more time, an idea finally came to the two-tailed fox's head. Greg and Steven only figured that out once they saw Tails' smile come up on his face. This idea could work for Sonic, it could work for them - hopefully.
"Excuse me, gentlemen," Tails said, walking pass them and over to Lapis. As they were pondering his use of "gentlemen", Lapis glanced back over to Tails.
"Okay. Lapis Lazuli," Tails began, "We want to help fix your gemstone, and it's clear you're in no condition to wander around, so we're going to have you stay around -"
"Uhh Tails, I just said no to that," Greg reminded.
"Right here at the car wash!"
"WHAT?!" Steven and Greg gasped. Tails kept his smile even after seeing everyone's surprised face. Even Steven was more surprised than excited hearing this kind of idea, and it was enough to get Lapis upright and at attention. Tails did need a second to regather himself though.
"I-I can't stay here! They'll find me!" Lapis got out.
Tails got in between them all before they could freak out any further. 
"Ok, listen, listen, I know this is out of nowhere but one: Lapis can't really go anywhere in her condition right now, and two: the Gems hardly go over here anyway. It'll take them a long while before they even think of coming over here, and in that time, I can try and find out how to heal Lapis's gem. That way she can get healed, the gems don't have to know, everybody wins!"
Steven, Greg, and Lapis needed a second or two to take this all in, and a few more to consider what the fox was saying.
"Well," said Greg, "I guess it's up to you Lapis. You ok with this?"
"I'm fine enough to walk at least. I need to go -"
"But Lapis -"
"I'm fine, Steven."
... seconds later she tripped over a nearby bucket, thudding onto the ground.
...
"... You boys wanna help me bring her inside?" Greg asked.
"Yeah," the other two replied.
~~~~~~
In another part of the world, with clear skies before him, Sonic's daily run was just about wrapping up in his rush along the beach city sands, leaving behind him the clouds of dust as with every other run he had before in this world. Even when moving at his usual high speed to rival a racecar, he had just enough breaks this time to halt in front of the beach house steps.
"Another day, another run around the country," Sonic sighed, taking a moment to pat his forehead with a wet cloth, as joggers do. "I gotta go for longer next time. Maybe take a turn south instead of west next time - gotta check out the jungles on this planet Do some swinging, climb some trees, I better get that before getting home."
With that in mind, Sonic went right inside the house with a proud smile across his mobian face. It wasn't gonna be too long either way though, all he wanted was another bottled water for the road again whichever that would be ... or he would've if the fridge didn't weirdly look empty when he checked.
"Huh? Not even a glass of water for me?" Sonic wondered.
"Oh SONIC.~ Looking for something to drink?"
"Huh, yeah, tha -" Sonic's mind stopped seeing Amy Rose standing there, but she didn't just stand there empty handed. No, this time she had a little something prepared for him in the form of the finest display of water glasses he had ever seen! Crystal clear water in fancy glasses, balanced in such a perfect pyramid.
"I know you must be thirsty, so I took the liberty to making my hero the best drinks in town," Amy said, delicately picking up one of the top glasses for her Sonic to enjoy.
Sonic just ... took a breath, sighed, and took the glass. 
"Thanks ames," Sonic said, Amy giddy that Sonic took the glass anyway as she took a glass for herself. Not up to his style, but water's water. As he tried ignoring the potential romance fluttering off of Amy, he took a second to check around the beach house for anybody else. However, aside from Amy, no one else was around, not even Steven. Speaking of which, Amy got to talking shortly after catching his glances.
"Empty again. I swear, it keeps getting quiet every time I come back. Where is everybody, ames?" Sonic asked in between sips. Amy paused as she was drinking from her own glass.
"Well, the Crystal Gems are off monster hunting again, and Steven - ... umm ..." Amy actually had to stop for a second before answering.
"... I ... don't actually know. And you know, I haven't heard that much from Tails either. You got any ideas, Sonic?" Amy asked, curious. Sonic took a second to think about it.
"You know something, I dunno either. Not that you mention it, I haven't spoken to Tails or Steven in the last four days either. What's keeping those two busy ...? Maybe I should check on em."
*knock**knock*
"Well, speak of the devi - WHA?!"
They didn't even have time to get to the door before they saw who was actually standing there behind the see-through mesh. They didn't even let him in, their new echidna guest just knocking the door open himself before coming in.
"Knuckles!" Amy gasped.
Yep, Knuckles was back, and as per usual he didn't look very thrilled either. With his arms crossed, he just started looking around the place, eyes glancing back and forth to take in the entire room.
"Umm, how about "hello" Knux?" Sonic asked.
"Not now, Sonic. Look, I'm only here to talk to your "Crystal Gems". Since you're still here, obviously they're here too, so where're they?" Knuckles questioned.
"They're ... not here," Amy answered, still a little bit off guard by the echidna.
"I can see that, so where'd they go?" Knuckles huffed, arms crossed as per usual. Amy and Sonic glanced to one another, but the blue Hedgehog was already going for the door, slipping by Knuckles with his hand on the door frame.
"Hey, Ames, you wanna take this one for me - thanks, I gotta go dash off for something real quick - catch you later."
"Sonic, you are NOT rushing off on -" Knuckles was just left in a dust cloud when Sonic made a bolt off for it, not even giving the echidna another second to breathe before he was out of sight. Knuckles simply just watched on with his teeth grinding in his scowl.
"I swear, one of these days ..."
"So, what did you need to see the Crystal Gems for anyway?" Amy inquired. Knuckles groaned and sat down on the couch, foot kicked up onto the coffee table.
"I'm just gonna make this short and sweet: I'm looking for the Chaos Emeralds to get home, and the Crystal Gems are running around and hunting these monsters, that apparently turn into gemstones."
"... Yeah? ... And ...?"
"AND I'm checking to see if they're hording the emeralds for themselves. If they are, then I got a few choice fists for them," Knuckles said, ending his statement with a few cracks of his own knuckles. His eyes aimed right to the back warp pad, as if cracking his knuckles would summon them to him. He didn't want to wait for TOO long after all.
"Knuckles, they don't even know what WE are, what would they want with -" Amy quickly shutted up when Knuckles gave her a look. Not exactly a "shut up" look, but more like a "you're seriously asking?" expression. Amy took the smarter route, and just clammed up from there.
"Exactly," Knuckles sighed. "I'm not leaving here until I figure that out."
Amy felt mixed on this: on one hand, she didn't want Knuckles to go into yet ANOTHER blind fight with anyone, Gem or not. On the other hand though, it did mean that Knuckles wouldn't be wandering around so they all could be together for the trip home. All Amy could do then was have a seat by the echidna and wait. ... Hopefully it wouldn't be TOO LONG before the Gems could come back.
"Sonic, you better get back here soon. ..."
......
"Amy, you better not've ran after me," Sonic thought in the middle of his "stroll".
Nice surprise seeing Knuckles and all, but if he was gonna be there with them now, he at least had to get the others on board with this idea (or at the absolute least, be aware of this).
With that in mind, he went on around Beach City for the next few minutes, running around here and there in a blue dash of color. He saw plenty of Humans out and about, but none of them really were anyone he'd be looking for. He went through the boardwalk, right down through the town, and along the main borders along both the shoreline and inland, but he didn't really have much luck at first. He only stopped for a brief moment once he found himself on top of one of the many rooftops in town.
"Ok, Tails, where'd you go?" Sonic wondered, foot tapping impatiently and hand above his eyes as he scanned the area around him.
It took a moment or so of looking around before his eyes slowly moved over to a familiar looking building, especially since said building not only showed off that same elephant sign, but also some racket with Greg cleaning up the mayor's car. O so familiar scenario.
Sonic just smirked and hopped off of the roof, just as the big van began going off on its way, the ringing sound "MAJOR DEWEY" echoing as it went.
"Hey, Universe!" Sonic called as he went over to him. Perhaps it was how loud, or maybe how sudden he was, because it was enough to make Greg almost lose his footing on the sprayed water on the ground. Greg took a second to get the hose off the ground before addressing the Hedgehog.
"S-Sonic, hey there! Out on another jog today?" Greg asked, trying to collect himself. 
"For once, not really. Hey, mind helping a hedgehog out and tell me where Steven is? And maybe Tails too if you got that info, I'm lookin for them," Sonic inquired, still checking around the car wash if he can catch em first. Greg could feel his nerves be tested the more Sonic kept checking around the car wash.
"Steven and Tails?" Greg repeated. "Ehh, you know, you JUST missed them: they went off to fetch a little something."
"Can't be, I just checked all over town and they're not around. This place is the last spot I didn't look, so again: mind helping me out?"
Greg could feel a shiver run through his back. "O-Oh, really? Huh, guess the two are off on a little adventure out of town -"
"We're back!"
So much for that. Sonic and Greg looked up the road, and sure enough Tails and Steven were coming right back. It was a quick flight thanks to Tails, and while the two-tailed Fox had Steven, Steven meanwhile was holding a bag with him from the nearest shop.
"Perfect timing - YO TAILS, STEVEN!" Sonic called, waving to them both. Too bad they didn't prepare for Sonic to come by either. The second they saw Sonic, they both clammed up.
"Sonic?"
"Hey guys," Sonic called. In spite of this new company, Tails and Steven landed right over by the van, with Steven having the main honor of going in said van (rather quickly notably) while Tails stuck around outside. Probably for the best anyway.
"Ehh, HEY Sonic. W-What's up?" Tails asked, trying (and failing) to not look too suspicious as he leaned on the van.
"Nothin's up, just haven't spoke to you in a while buddy. That, and Knuckles decided to drop by after all and apparently, he's just moving into the beach house until the Crystal Gems get back, so there's that," Sonic explained. After he was done, his eyes glanced over to the van. "So, about that stuff -"
"O-Ok before we establish that," Tails cut in, "Knuckles is staying at the beach house now?"
Sonic leaned against the van himself. "Yeah, apparently -"
*thump*
Sonic's ear flicked up against the side of the van, hearing Steven going about in there but also ... something else. Tails and Greg felt themselves shiver a bit, even more so when the inevitable question came up.
"What's going on in there?"
Sonic suddenly stopped just as he reached the back of Greg's van, with Greg IMMEDIATELY getting over to him and keeping the back door shut before the hedgehog could look in there ... for an unknown reason that Sonic was suddenly curious about.
"Off limits, sorry."
"What? Since when?" Sonic questioned.
"E-Ehh, since I ... opened up shop! Tails needed somewhere to work, and they got something cooked up in there, don't you kiddo?" Greg managed to come up. Tails was quick to catch onto the game.
"O-Oh yeah, but you can't look in there yet, it's almost done."
Sonic smirked. "You're inventing again, buddy? Sweet, what'chu making?"
Tails wiped some sweat from his forehead, "U-Uhh it's ... it's a ... anti-gravitational ... multi-functioning ... disc!"
"w-with some uhh ... time-stopping thing?" Greg added. For a moment, the two thought this would be good enough but -
"NO WAY! Come on, let's give it a test drive!" Sonic decided, now even more eager to get in and check this invention out. Tails jumped in the way.
"Waitwaitwait, it's not ready for testing yet!" Tails insisted, going as far as to push Sonic back.
"What do you mean, you just said it was almost done," Sonic said. He tried to get by, but Tails just kept getting in the way.
"In creation, not in testing."
"What's the difference?"
"Enough that you can't use it yet!"
"Can't I at least see?!"
"NO, YOU CAN'T!"
"TAILS!"
Eventually it just ended up in a game of push away, Sonic trying to get by and Tails trying his best to keep Sonic back. Whether or not there was an invention, Sonic's curiosity was just too much to ignore. However, it got so bad that Tails even spun his two fox tails for an extra boost, shoving Sonic back enough to knock him off his feet. Not much damage, but Sonic knew now that he HAD to see what Tails was hiding in there.
"Ok Tails, what do you have in there?! You can tell me!" Sonic insisted, accusing finger pointing to the van. Even so, Tails was struggling to figure out what to say to his best friend, but he still kept his arms outstretched and in the way. Sonic just stood there for a moment or two, eyes squinted as if trying to look pass him to whatever was in there ... before he began turning around.
"M'kay, Tails, have it your way. Nice talking to ya again. I'm just gonna go - AHA!"
FAKE OUT! Sonic's speed immediately bolted right by Tails and Greg the second their guard was down, now having Sonic right at the doors of the van. It took the hedgehog even less time to grab hold of the doors and swinging them right open!
Everything just stopped: with Tails and Greg left stunned behind him, Sonic found himself staring at Steven with his bag of different lotions, cleaning products, and other things, with Steven holding a bar of soap in one hand. Sonic also saw Lapis Lazuli in there, her back to Steven as her gemstone was getting cleaned up with said soap. Lapis and Steven just stared like Deers caught in a head light when they saw Sonic standing there.
Five seconds passed ...
"....... What're you doin?"
Tails snapped back to reality.
"SORRYSONICIDIDN'TWANTTOHIDEITFROMYOUIDIDN'TWANTTHEGEMSTOFINDOUTSHE'SNOTDANGEROUSISWEARSHE'SJUSTCONFUSEDANDWEAKWEDIDN'TWANTHERTO-"
"WHOA WHOA WHOA cool your jets, Tails," Sonic cut in, hands raised and stepping back from the van, "That's a LOT of words you just said. Now guys, let's try it one more time, but different, ok?"
What else could they do now?
"We found her stuck inside an old mirror the Crystal Gems gave us a few days ago," Steven explained. "Apparently she was trapped inside there and none of the other Gems got her out of there, so we got her free for her."
"But," Tails continued, "Her gemstone's a bit damaged, and we promised her we wouldn't let the other Crystal Gems know about her - which is probably for the best right now - so we've been trying to fix her ever since she reformed. Thus, keeping her here and ... well, here we are now."
"A broken Gem trapped in a mirror, huh ...?"
Sonic took a second to take this new info in as he went over to check on Lapis Lazuli, also seeing that damaged gemstone on her back. Lapis felt a bit uneasy with Sonic, backing up slightly. At first Sonic just peered in closer to her, his mind trying to work out its own conclusion with her. Lapis waited for a single moment to attack, her hand behind her with what little water was around at the ready like a loaded gun ... until Sonic extended his hand.
"Nice to meet ya. Name's Sonic the Hedgehog. What's yours?"
"... Umm ... Lapis Lazuli. ... What're you doing?" Lapis asked, completely confused. 
"Extending my hand for a handshake. That's how intros usually go."
"But ... no, you're a Crystal Gem too, aren't you? You're not suspicious, or mad or ... anything?" Lapis questioned, mixture of suspicious and confusion all over her face. Some of that confusion went to Sonic's expression as well, but that just went away with a smile on the hedgehog's face.
"I don't see why THAT'S a problem," Sonic shrugged, "You're already a friend to my pals here, so any friend to Tails and Steven is a friend of mine. So why don't you relax a bit? I'm not gonna hurt ya, I promise."
Tails, Steven, and Greg gave a sigh of relief as Sonic finally got that handshake of his, albeit reluctantly from Lapis Lazuli. Lapis still wasn't too sure how to take this all, but she did at least she got the water put away.
"You're taking this pretty well," Greg admitted.
"I've been through crazier things," Sonic admitted. "Besides, she doesn't look like a bad egg, so no reason to attack her just for being here. Speaking of which, what's this story of keeping her quiet from the other three? She's a Gem too, ain't she?"
"They're ... not good with outsiders," Greg sighed, feeling deja vu with explaining this situation again. Sonic didn't need too much convincing this time, thinking back on his own encounter with the Crystal Gems the first time.
"Don't think they can take this well, huh? Well, the longer you keep her quiet, the harder it's gonna be."
"We were hoping to heal her before they find out," Tails admitted. The Hedgehog looked back and forth between them and the blue Gem inside the van before giving a few stretches before starting to stroll away a short bit. Soon he glanced back and smirked.
"Well?"
"Well, what?" Steven asked.
"What do you guys need? We can't just leave her like this forever, can we?"
That was all they need to know. Sonic was on their side.
~~~~~~
Now with Sonic on their side, things continued on for the next day or two with Lapis Lazuli still stuck with them at the car wash. Sure, Sonic and his speed made getting things much easier for Tails and Steven, but no matter what they tried to fetch from the city itself, Lapis still remained cracked and weak to leave, much to Lapis's annoyance. How much longer was she gonna be stuck here before she could head off on her way?
Things also didn't help thanks to Knuckles at the beach house. Even if they did heal Lapis and sent her off on her way, the red Echidna's presence still left the beach house feeling a bit tense thanks to his stubbornness. To top it all off, even after days since this all began, the Crystal Gems were STILL not around! Whatever they were doing really took their time apparently. ...
*POOF*
"UGH, FINALLY," Amethyst groaned. Indeed, it took them long enough, but with a satisfying sound of poofing, they finally got their latest prize out in the desert wilderness. Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst definitely looked like they've seen better days: scratched up, dirty, a complete mess by this point, with Garnet even having a chunk of her square hair missing.
"Put up quite a fight, this time," Garnet commented, keeping this gem safe inside the bubble. As she sent it off back home with a tap of her finger, the other Gems could only give a sigh of relief.
"Well, it's about time we caught that monster," Pearl sighed, "that one's been on the run for weeks."
"YEP. Could've got it done faster if we'd just barreled in right when we found it. Hint, hint," Amethyst added.
"If we'd done that, we'd be gone for ANOTHER week! How many times do I have to say it: you can't just run into battle without a plan," Pearl retorted, her voice tired of both constant problems now. Luckily, Garnet got in between them before ANOTHER argument could happen, pushing them both back.
"We got it now. Stop bickering. Let's just get home," Garnet stated. It was a simple order, but enough to get them to shut up as they walked over to the nearest working Warp Pad (which by now was only a foot away, thank goodness).
"Hey, G? Can we PLEASE have a break now? I can use one for, like, the next month," Amethyst asked.
"You're fine," Garnet answered. "... A week wouldn't hurt."
"Good enough for me. I'm all battled out for now. This girl's gonna sleep the week away the second I hit the couch."
"Amethyst," Pearl sighed. She'd go for longer, but right now she didn't have the energy. With all three of them now on the Warp Pad, all that was left to do was activate it, and sure enough they were all on their way back in a beam of light.
It only took them another minute or two before they found themselves back in familiar territory, the Beach House main room right there in front of them, the couch waiting for Amethyst free of anybody.
"Dibs on the first nap," Amethyst said, before making her way to said couch. Without any hesitation, the purple Gem flopped right onto the couch with a thud, but while she was ready to go right off to dream land, Pearl and Garnet took a moment's pause to note one thing. ...
Nobody was there. Except for one.
"About time you three showed up," said Knuckles.
Amethyst, still tired, lifted her head only to see the red echidna sitting on the couch already, feet kicked up onto the table with his arms in their signature cross. Seeing this face was enough to get Amethyst backing up, but only to the other end of the couch.
"Knuckles," Garnet said.
"What're you doing here? Wait, no, how'd you even get here?" Pearl questioned. Knuckles got up, standing defiantly against the trio before him.
"I walked here. Now I'm tired of waiting, so I'm getting to the point: do you have the Chaos Emeralds, or no?"
"....... Wha?" Pearl asked.
"Chaos Emeralds: I found out they were on Earth somewhere, I've been looking for them for the last few weeks, and YOU'VE been collecting gemstones too. Again, do you have them or not?" Knuckles repeated. The Gems glanced to one another, completely unprepared for this. Bad enough they got their tough monster fight, they didn't need a hot-headed Mobian on top of that. Pearl stepped forward, clearing her throat before she began pushing Knuckles towards the door.
"Now, we had a long day today, so why don't you come back later, and we can discuss it then? In, oh, few months? That'll be good, thank you."
Knuckles stopped the shoving with one stomp of the foot, the force enough to crack the wood underneath him. It might not be full power, but it did give the Gems a wake-up call.
"You think I'm playing here?!" Knuckles warned, "Do you have the Chaos Emeralds: Yes or no?"
"DUDE, how should we know? There's, like, THOUSANDS of those things in our basement," Amethyst groaned. It might not be the full answer, but it did give Knuckles enough of a reason to move Pearl aside.
"So, for all their time just being with you guys, Sonic and his group never told you anything about them?" Knuckles questioned.
One would think that they would've, but as the silence hung in the air for a bit more, Knuckles got his answer from there.
"They ... they seriously never told you?"
"Umm no, I don't think so. We would've informed your friends by now if we did find one of those," Pearl shrugged. Knuckles paused for a moment or two, as if trying to read their eyes or something. Were they telling the truth, or just leading him on elsewhere? His eyes looked back towards the back door of the Beach House, a few ideas going around in his warrior's mind.
"Then how about -"
"NO."
Garnet stood in Knuckles' way.
"What? You didn't even let me finish!" Knuckles snapped.
"You were gonna ask to see our basement," Garnet answered factly, "We don't have any Chaos Emeralds in there. Yes, we're not lying to you. No, I'm not gonna let you check."
"Well now I'm just gonna check anyway," Knuckles said back, marching right passed all three of them, and straight for the back door. Garnet got in his way again, and basically acted like a wall.
"I said no."
Knuckles gritted his teeth, "Look lady, I'm on a mission here so you better just move out of the way before I start getting angry." he emphasized his warning with a clench of both his fists. Painfully clear of his willingness to fight, Garnet responded with another clenched fist of her own, in the form of a summoned gauntlet glove. Pearl and Amethyst got up and at the ready, almost instinctively, as Knuckles checked his opponents out. With two Gems behind him, and a Gem titan in front of him, his decision was clear ...
"Oh, ok, you'd rather fight eh? ... your funeral."
*BAM!*
Knuckles swung his fist forward with all his strength, meeting up with Garnet's gauntlet glove at full force of his own battle-ready fist, the sheer force powerful enough to make the cave shudder, and the foundation of the Beach House shake! Even so, for how many fists Knuckles tried to strike her down with, she met up with a block of her own. Each fist meeting with eachother was shockingly strong to the Gem leader, especially from someone this small, but she kept him at bay regardless. It took Knuckles a good twenty punches before Garnet finally returned the favor with a punch of her own. The impact sent the echidna flying back, right through the front wall, and out onto the beach! They were only lucky the door didn't suffer the full brunt of the hit. Knuckles took a moment or two to get back to his feet, shaken and covered in sand, but far from done with this brawl.
Same thing could be said for Garnet, who by now already was standing outside with fists up and at the ready. She knew what he was gonna do next, and she didn't hesitate any more than Knuckles did, fists meeting up at the shoreline again. This time the fight was more complex than basic fist-swinging as Garnet also added numerous kicks, chops, and swipes to her fighting. Knuckles meanwhile kept up his blocking as much as his footwork to keep on toe with the Gem: for each kick he dodged, for every punch he blocked, and for whatever opening he found he tried a fast jab only for Garnet to block back.
"You liar! You ARE hiding them in there!" Knuckles concluded.
"No, we're not!" Garnet retorted, swinging back at the echidna. Unfortunately, Knuckles' mind was made up: they wouldn't be fighting him like this if that were really true. Now fully sure of it, Knuckles raced forward in fury, fists swinging so rapidly he might as well have spinning wheels by his sides. Garnet dodged the punches, finally knocking the Echidna off his feet with a swift swing of her leg at Knuckles' feet. With him now airborne ...
"RAH!" *BAM!*
With a well-aimed uppercut swing, the echidna was sent flying into the air. Knuckles spiraled in the sky, quickly flying off out of sight from the Crystal Gems after a good few seconds. As for where the angry echidna landed, the hardly mobian found himself crash-landing good and hard into one of the buildings within town, right through its top sign and onto the ground in front of the building doors. Not the best entrance, really. It also didn't help that the neon sign landed on top of his head not long after landing.
As for where he ended up, well the stunned looks on Steven, Tails, Sonic, Lapis and Greg were enough of a hint.
"Knuckles! What happened?" Steven gasped. Knuckles punched the sign off of him, sending it flying into the sea, but rather than slowly get up to regather himself, Knuckles swatted Steven back in a bit of anger.
"IT WAS YOUR DEAR OL CRYSTAL GEMS, THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED!" Knuckles yelled, "Trying to beat me up to a pulp!"
"What?! Why?" Tails asked, dumbfounded.
"Don't bother me with details, just stay out of my way," Knuckles said. Before anyone could say anything else, Knuckles barreled passed them, and began making his way back towards the beach.
"Looks like Knucklehead's at it again," Sonic sighed. It was only a matter of time before something like this would start. "Be right back."
"Wait, what about me?" Lapis asked.
"Trust me, I'm gonna come back for ya, just gotta handle the hothead first before he turns the beach into a crater. Coming guys?" Sonic replied.
"Umm, ok, just a second," Steven replied. With that said, Sonic and Tails rushed off to catch up with Knuckles, leaving an even more annoyed Lapis just sitting there with Greg and Steven.
"Every single day there's always something stalling everything. Why can't you find a way to just heal me and be done with it?" Lapis asked, getting as desperate as she was annoyed.
"I would if I knew how -" Steven admitted.
Then they felt the ground rumble.
"Gotta go! Be back, buddy!" and before Lapis knew it, she was alone again. Again, without any way to heal her gemstone. All she did was groan once more.
"Hey, don't sweat it. Soon as they're done, we'll go right back to helping you. Just have a seat, maybe I can play some tunes while we wait," Greg offered.
Lapis got up and began walking away towards the beach.
"Lapis, wait a -" Lapis got Greg to be quiet with a raise of her hand. The water by the car wash quickly came to life, and next thing Greg knew he was suddenly being held in place by a giant water hand! As she walked off, she only had one more thing to say.
"I'm tired of waiting. I'M GOING HOME."
.......
Things weren't looking any better at the beach either. Knuckles, even more furious than ever, was going all out on Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst by the time the others finally caught up with them. Even with three against one, Knuckles was holding up surprisingly well, even managing to punch Amethyst into the rock wall near the others during the fight.
"Geesh, it's getting bad. How did this even start?" Tails asked.
"I dunno! He wanted to see the basement, Garnet told him no, and they just started beating eachother up," Amethyst replied. They all had to move aside as Knuckles was knocked over by them, the echidna skidding across the ground and digging his shoes into the sand. The echidna stood up, slight misstep but still keeping balance, as he got the sand out of his quills. He may be in fighting form, but the other Gems weren't looking so swift.
"We're telling you, we don't have any Chaos Emeralds!" Pearl shouted, just wanting this to stop.
"Then let me look, and I'll hold back my fists for a second. Unless I find one in there, then I'm not making any promises," Knuckles warned once more, fists at the ready.
"You're NOT taking any of the gems away," Garnet stated firmly. Knuckles just charged forward in a rage, but before he could actually reach them this time, he suddenly found his arms being held back by Sonic.
"WHOA, time out! What's with the brawl mode here?" Sonic asked. Knuckles forced Sonic to let go.
"I thought I told you to stay out of my way," Knuckles said.
"Come on, you know I do my own thing. So, what's your beef with them now? Did they stub your toe or something?"
"VERY FUNNY. No: they got the Chaos Emeralds, and they won't give them up! Now step out of the way before I make you!" Knuckles warned. Sonic paused for a second, looking back to the Crystal Gems, and then (to everyone's worry) gave Knuckles his usual cocky smirk.
"You STILL think that, after HOW MANY TIMES they told you they don't have it? You got a pretty thick head if they didn't bash that fact into your brain by now."
"SHUT UP!" Knuckles snapped. "YOU wanna fight too? I got the fists right here!"
Sonic gave a wink to the others, Garnet included. "Sure thing: it's been boring this week, so let's give it a go."
Sonic readied to go, his own fists up and ready. Knuckles prepared to shut this hedgehog up ... before suddenly shaking his head.
"Wait a minute. You're just distracting me from the main problem! Get in line, Sonic!"
Knuckles turned around and went for Garnet again, but Sonic wasn't gonna take that sitting down. One spin dash into Knuckles' back, and he was involved in the brawl. Bad enough for Knuckles to fight the Gems, but Sonic just made things that much more complicated and annoying for him: for each punch swung at him, he had to dodge a spin-dash on top of it all. All of these whips, slashes from a spear, and multitude of punches and kicks were leaving him more and more riled up, until ...
"ENOUGH!!!!"
Like an explosion from a bomb, Knuckles forced EVERYONE off of him, sending them flying in all directions. Some landed hard on the sand while others actually landed in the water. Pearl even found herself slammed into the front porch of the beach house.
"Garnet!" Steven gasped, blindly rushing towards her.
"Steven, no!" Garnet shouted. But it was no use, Steven was already by her side by the time Knuckles locked onto his target. The echidna raced over, jumping up into the air for one mighty swing of his -
*SPLASH!*
... splash?
One punch from a watery fist, and Knuckles was sent flying off straight back towards the Beach House. Pearl and Amethyst just barely got out of the way as the battle-hungry Mobian slammed through the wall and crashing hard to the back cave. On one hand, it was good that they got a moment to get up, but on the other hand that move could've only been done by one person.
This time, there was no hiding her. There was Lapis further up the beach, worn out somehow from using her water powers in her heavy breath.
Garnet was silent. ... She looked to Lapis. Then to Steven. But then turned to the Beach House.
"I'll talk with you later."
For some reason, Steven felt more scared now.
By the time Garnet caught up, they only found the Beach House in a complete wreck: furniture smashed, floorboards cracked up, and a cracked wall further to the back where Knuckles was now standing.
As for Knuckles, he felt a bit groggy from this beating he was taking. His head pounding, feeling a bit sore from the impact at the cave, but even with all that he was still strong enough to keep to his feet, fists up and ready for more of this fight. At this point, he didn't care if it was about the basement or not, he wasn't gonna let them pummel him and get away with it.
"That all you got?!" Knuckles challenged. This time the other two Gems got their weapons out, but Garnet actually raised her hand to keep them both back.
"I'll take care of him. You two just relax," Garnet instructed.
It wasn't long until the fight continued from there, and Knuckles and Garnet met up right at the center on top of the Warp Pad, as if it was some sort of tiny battle arena. The kicks and punches kept flying between the two, but for Knuckles with the smaller space it was harder to actually dodge these hits. Garnet even got a few lucky hits on the echidna during the scuffle, albeit with Knuckles managing only a few good blows to Garnet's legs. Unbeknownst to them though, the sheer tremors from their punches were making parts of the ceiling a bit weaker as time went on. ...
At one point, the two actually were stuck in a stalemate as both of their fists were caught in a vice grip with eachother, both trying to push the other off of the Warp Pad.
"Give it up already! I'm not leaving without those emeralds," Knuckles grunted.
"We don't HAVE ANY EMERALDS," Garnet bellowed.
"STOP LYING!" Knuckles snapped back.
Then it happened. None of them knew how it happened: maybe it was Garnet getting too caught up to think straight, or maybe it was just a fluke. Whatever the reason, as the two were still trying to force eachother back, the Warp Pad under their feet began to make its signature glow. Garnet and Knuckles only had seconds to glance down, before suddenly the Warp Pad's beam of light shot out from it!
"WHOA!" Without thinking, and in a shockingly swift move, Amethyst got her whip to work and wrapped it around Garnet before she could be teleported away, yanking her out of there. Knuckles however wasn't so lucky, and all they heard was a brief yell before he disappeared in a flash of light.
Knuckles was teleported, and none of them knew where.
"....... Oops," Garnet said.
"I-It's ok, we can just go and find where -"
*SMASH*
"Oh, SERIOUSLY!" Pearl groaned.
What a time NOW for part of the ceiling to give way. It was just one part of it in the form of a pointed rock, but it still smashed good and hard on top of the Warp Pad, heavy enough and sharp enough to actually make it crack.
"Ok, I'm done. If ya need me, I'm gonna go eat some garbage in town somewhere," Amethyst decided. It'll give Pearl time to clean up, anyway.
"NOT YET. We got one more thing to handle," Garnet stated.
"Come on, WHAT?"
Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet went on outside, just to see the others still standing there. Tails and Steven were helping Sonic off the ground, but Lapis was ... doing something else. Her focus was directly on the sea, her arms outstretched in front of her, trying to focus more on the task in front of her ... whatever that was. Whatever she was doing, it proved too difficult for her, and she collapsed to her knees on the sand.
"A-Another Gem? W-When? HOW?" Pearl stuttered.
"Move," Garnet ordered. Aside from a groan from Amethyst, they followed out without problem, heading straight for Lapis down on the beach. The blue Gem managed to find her feet, feeling no choice but to -
"HOLD IT!"
In a spin-dash, all three Crystal Gems were struck just before they could reach her. Sonic, of course, was quick enough to get in the way before ANOTHER dumb fight could get underway, the Crystal Gems skidding to a stop as Tails and Steven caught up with him.
"Get out of the way, ALL OF YOU," Garnet ordered.
"Not gonna happen, buddy," Sonic stated. "She's on the ground, weak, and you still wanna beat her up?"
"We've had enough trouble today, we don't need this defiance again. First a monster, then Knuckles, and now this!" Pearl retorted. "At least it'll be easy to handle her now that she's weakened."
"Are you all out of your mind?! she could shatter at any moment!" Tails said, albeit shakingly. That didn't seem to faze Garnet as she stepped forward towards them. She expected at least one of them to move, but Steven actually kept himself closest to her.
"Garnet, please! You don't have to fight her, she's not dangerous. She's my fun buddy!" Steven said.
"She's NOT a Crystal Gem, Steven. She has NO REASON to be here."
"I know that: she was stuck in that mirror you gave me! But she's NOT dangerous. She's hurt, lost, and needs our help! We should take care of her," Steven insisted. Garnet pondered a second about the "mirror", Pearl actually flustering up a bit. Again, something for later to figure out.
"Steven, you just don't know what you're talking about. She's not a Crystal Gem, she's not even from Earth!"
"But neither are you guys. And heck, neither are they!" Steven insisted, pointing to the Mobians, "It's not a problem before, why is it a problem now?"
Pearl took a LONG breath.
"... can you please just move?" Pearl sighed one last time.
None of them moved. In fact, Sonic was tapping his foot, arms crossed, and looking impatient himself about all this. They were NOT going to waver for any of them, even as Garnet tried walking to her anyway. Garnet only stopped when she felt her leg push against Sonic, the hedgehog STILL not moving an inch. The silence in the air hung around for a good while.
"Please, Garnet ...?" Steven whispered.
Garnet breathed in ... then out ... then spoke.
"....... Just be careful with her, Steven. Let's go, Gems."
Pearl and Amethyst were left stunned as Garnet walked away, Amethyst and Pearl following soon after. None of them would be caught dead defying her THAT much, and yet they were still there. Even so, Tails and Steven were more than happy to hear that, Steven hugging Lapis now knowing she was safe with them.
"You hear that, Lapis? You don't have to hide in the van anymore!" Steven beamed. Even so, Lapis was still stunned herself.
"You ... you saved me. Again. From your own team. ....... I'm so confused," Lapis pondered.
"How about we just find you somewhere in town to relax first, ok? You still look worn out," Tails advised. Lapis looked to each of them in front of her, still having no idea what to make of any of this. In the end, all she did was nod.
"Ok. ... Thanks."
As they went off to do that, the trio of Crystal Gems just watched them go off on their way from the slightly wrecked porch. Well, Pearl and Garnet were, Amethyst was asleep on the railing.
"Well, uhh ... this was quite the day, huh?" Pearl remarked. Garnet just nodded.
"Very."
"... What's going to happen now?"
"....... We wait and see."
Category:Sonic Gem