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Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Alex closed his eyes and waited for something to indicate that he was about to be transported to another reality. After a few seconds without Seraphina saying anything, he opened his eyes to ask her what the holdup was only to be met with a pair of ruby red eyes staring at from inches away.

"BOO!"

"Wah!" Alex flailed in shock as he found himself lying in a bed wrapped in red silk sheets.

"Ahahaha!" A pale white ghostly woman floated above him rolling in the air with laughter as she clutched at her stomach as she laughed.

"Your face was so funny." (She said in delight.) "I love when I can cause such a fright."

(Alex freed himself from his silken cocoon,) "I'm hearing strange voices, I've become such loon."

(The ghost girl looked at with a face of confusion assuming the boy was trapped in delusion.)

Alex took the opportunity to take stock of his situation. He was dressed in a casual outfit of black button-up shirt and black slacks. He felt great, better than he had in years and looking at his hand he could see that they were unmarred by either callouses or scars he had picked up over the years. Movement in an ornate gilded mirror on the wall caught his attention. Looking within he could see himself looking much as he designed in the body mod creation though younger than he had expected as he looked approximately fourteen.

(He had pale skin and shaggy black hair and his eye almost glowed a luminous green.)

Again, there was the sound of that voice unseen, he thought to himself.

(Alex jumped once again when behind his reflection, appeared the pale form of ghostly perfection.)

"Are you ok? I know I like scaring people but they don't usually go silently introspective." (She asked with concern.) "It usually with more of the 'Ahhh ghost don't kill me AHRRHHH!' or 'kill it with fire! Burn demon BURN!'"

Alex could already feel a headache coming on from the rhyming narrator drawback but more that that was the years of foreign memories that he could feel within his mind. Seraphina had done well. Here he was Alexander Blake, an orphan who had been born to loving parents who had died in a car accident on the way home from the hospital after his birth. He had ended up in an orphanage in Amity Park, a small city in central USA and spent the next fourteen years in care.

Despite the depressing nature of his fake life, Alex could appreciate that while grim his life had been uneventful and without strong emotional attachments that would overly affect him now that he had regained his own memories. More pressing though were his more recent memories.

He remembered attending Casper Highschool and the strange ghostly events that happened there. The Meat-Monster attack during some kind of spontaneous event by the National Meat Society and the counter protest by an Ultra-Recyclo-Vegetarian hippy commune had only happened two weeks ago and stood out prominently in his mind. More importantly he remembered becoming increasingly interested in the paranormal events that plagued Amity Park and in an act of gross stupidity he had broken into a supposedly haunted abandoned mansion to get a glimpse of the paranormal. He had bitten off more than he could chew when he had found a powerful ghost who titled himself 'King Boo.' The entity had claimed that Alex had the trespassed into his trap for the interfering Mario Brothers and attempted to kill Alex but had only managed to… half kill him?

He had become a ghost but also not a ghost. Confused King Boo had instead trapped Alex in a room within the mansion. Weak and confused Alex had fallen into a conveniently placed bed and fallen asleep only to awake minutes ago.

Remembering also his conversation with Seraphina, Alex felt around his neck for Time Medallion he purchased. Finding the gear-like gold medal engraved with a combined C and W, Alex concentrated on the idea of fusing with the enchanted medallion. A wave of ecto-energy passed over him as two circles of silver ghostly light passed over his from the waist outwards. His hair become ghostly black flames and his eyes became a solid glowing silver. The medal against his chest become wrapped in green energy and sunk beneath his skin.

"Eep!" (His ignored companion exclaimed in surprise, shocked by his change, his new hair and his eyes!)

"Sorry, I didn't expect to go ghost." Alex said turning to his companion.

"I-i-t's fine." The Boo murmured from where she had ducked behind the bed. "I'm just not good with surprises."

Alex waited for the narrative voice to make a rhyming intrusion. (The narrator took delight in his obvious confusion.)

"I'm not going to get used to that." Alex muttered.

Looking around Alex took stock of an opulent guest room. The bed was large and canopied in burgundy velvets, the headboard and wardrobes were a solid polished dark wood. The room had a lit fireplace and a comfortable set of chairs and a couch around it. A fully stocked drinks trolly stood to the side and a black laboured grand piano dominated the remaining space. The wall on either side of the fireplace held tall gothic windows looking out to a spooky garden and the other walls were taken up with cabinetry and bookshelves filled with old leather-bound tomes broken only by two solid wood doors. Alex assumed that the closed door on one of the walls opened to the hall as the other was slightly open showing a gleaming bathroom within.

"Well, this place certainly looks cosy." Alex announced.

(The room is a prison, a cage, no matter how gild. Should he cross with the king; he'll surely be killed.)
That was awful, Alex thought.

"Are you also a Spirit?"

"Kinda, I'm Alex. I'm both human and ghost at this point of time." (Alex answered her query.)

"I'm… well I don't have a name." The girl looked down. (Her eyes became teary.)

Alex gave the matter some thought. 'Boo' was too obvious and 'Casper' was a little on the nose.

"Well, you're wearing a crown and you're a ghost, how about Morrigan? It's the name of an Irish deity of death and the name translates to 'Phantom Queen.'"

"Morrigan… Mo-rah-gn" she said, tasting the words. "I like it. My name is Morrigan"

Alex's eyes widened as with those words Morrigan's features shifted slightly. Where before she looked very similar to a ghostly princess Peach now, she looked like a darker cousin. Her hair darkened from bright silver white to a tarnished silver grey with hints of light purple shadowing. Her face became a little narrower and her nose sharper. Her eyes darkened from bright red to purplish-burgundy. Lastly her clothes shifted from a puffy princess dress to a form fitting outfit of black leather pants, a burgundy blouse and a tight black corset that pushed her small breasts upwards creating a decent cleavage. Altogether her appearance changed to one that could be the phantasmal love child of Princess Peach and Morrigan of Dragon Age.

Alex wasn't sure what exactly caused the sudden change but could make a guess that the malleable nature of ectoplasm, his magical presence from purchasing the Ghost King, his perception of what 'Morrigan' looked like and the fact that the name tied to an actual goddess may have had something to do with it.

"Note to self: Be careful when naming un-named entities composed of ectoplasm."

(Else the consequences could be more than you could fathom.)

"Sooo…" Morrigan purred, her voice having dropped an octave. "What are we going to do for fun."

Alex swallowed. The ghost's new look was hitting a lot of his personal boxes.

Channelling a confidence, he wasn't sure he had, Alex stepped forward and pulled the sexy ghost towards himself, marvelling how she felt both warm and cool, like a solidified summers breeze.

"I'm sure we can think of something."

Ghosts, at least this one, were strange when it came to colour. Sometimes they appeared monochrome, others they appeared washed out and still other times they were bright and colourful. Morrigan was mostly darker shades of grey with touches of startling colour in her eyes and hair. This close though, Alex could see the blush that spread rapidly across her face.

"Bwah~" steam almost appeared to come out of Morrigan's ears as she overheated and passed out, falling limply into Alex's arms.

(The dark ghostly maiden was surprisingly shy; she'd never been so close to another: especially a guy.)

Despite her new looks, Morrigan was still based off of a 'Boo' ghost that were famous for being shy when confronted head on, Alex thought to himself; really, he only had himself to blame.

Picking her up gently, he laid her down on the bed and backed away. He was nowhere near degenerate enough to take advantage of a sleeping girl.

Deciding instead to try out his new power, Alex cleared some free space in the lounge area. Marvelling at how easy it was to move the heavy furniture.

"Alright. Fusion was easy enough, let's try the other Danny Phantom abilities."

(He murmured alone, like a crazy-daft hobo bereft of facilities.)

The fuck-? Alex's eye twitched at the rude narration.

Taking a breath to centre himself, Alex reached internally towards what he could feel as his ghost powers. It was a huge source of energy that fluctuated in his mind's eye, altinating between glowing green, white or blue. Occasionally it felt like it was growing deformed spooky faces which quickly melted back into the whole. Touching the energy, Alex willed himself to levitate.

Nothing happened.

(The young lad stood there in focused anticipation, his face all scrunched up like he had constipation.)

NOT HELPING!

Alex took another breath and concentrated. He was fairly sure that these powers were supposed to be instinctual. He had simply wished to fuse with the medallion and it happened. Maybe he was wishing for the wrong thing?
UP! FLY! To infinity and BEYOND! He found himself pushing and prodding the energy within trying to get a response.
Come on! Just let go! He thought angrily at it.

Instantly felt the pull of gravity disappear as he floated up of the ground awkwardly flailing his arms to maintain balance. With a minor effort of will he found himself easily adjusting, his power of flight reacting to the simple desire to be here or there or adjust this way or that. In fact, it felt less like flight and more as if he simply ignored the world around him and moved how he wished.

Could it be that simple? Ghosts in Danny Phantom didn't really seem to obey any rules. They simply manifested their wants and ignored reality. Maybe because they were removed from reality? They chose to be affected or unaffected by it?
Floating forward Alex chose to ignore the fact that the couch in front of him existed and he glided through it with little effort, just a mild tingling.

(The strange ghost boy with the flaming black hair, discovered that he could pass through a commonplace chair.)

Nice! Flying? Check. Phasing? Check. Up next Invisibility!

Morrigan woke slowly which was a novelty for her as, having always been a ghost, she rarely ever 'slept.' She was also surprised that she was in an actually bed and not just floating randomly in a corner of the room as had happened before. It was cosy and she decided at that moment that sleeping in a bed was the way to go should she find herself unconscious in the future.

Movement caught her attention. Alex floated in the centre of the room, around him floated a dozen books, eight cushions and a lamp. Each one enclosed in a silver limbed aura of ecto-energy, the items circled him in defined arcs and loops. Occasionally one would dive towards him only for Alex to shift translucent and the item to pass harmlessly through him. It wasn't a great display of power but it was a good display of control. Each item help needing a sliver of concentration coupled with the mental energy needed to ignore reality and become intangible meant that Alex was both focusing his attention on lifting things with telekinesis and ignoring them at the same time.

"Good morning." (Morrigan called from the bed.)

Alex started at her voice. "Oh, um yeah good mor-Thwack!" (Alex's response was cut short by a book to the head.)

"How long have I been out?" Morrigan asked.

"Only a few hours." Alex rubbed the side of his head.

Bending over he picked up the offending novel — The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy — and with a gesture the rest of the books floated themselves back to the bookshelves and the room put itself to rights.

"You worked out how to do all that in just a few hours?" (Said Morrigan shocked at his use of his powers.)

"That and more." Alex floated, turned invisible and back, split in two and tied himself into a knot of stretched ecto-form before simply merging back together and reverting to human with a wave of silver energy.

"Wow. That's amazing!" Morrigan exclaimed. She Phased out of the bedcovers and floated towards him. "All I can do is turn invisible," Morrigan proceeded to do just that. "Hide in objects," her voice came from a nearby lamp which rattled as she spoke. "And jump out at people to scare them!" Alex jumped a little as she popped out of a couch instead of the lamp.

"You like scaring people, don't you?"

Morrigan looked at him strangely. "Of course! What else am I supposed to do for fun?"

"You could always read." Alex held up the book from he still had in his hand.

Morrigan's eyes went wide. "You can read?" she said with such innocence that it was almost painful to hear.

Alex took a moment to really think about what life must have been like for this ghost girl. The jumpdoc said that she was a former Boo that had been turned to into girl via the super crown but that didn't really explain the enormity of what that meant in reality. To the best of his knowledge, Boos don't have an origin. They're not ghosts of people who had died but ghosts that came into existence as themselves. He had selected the Boo Lady companion because he didn't want to be completely alone in his first jump but he never gave any thought to the existence that would have had to have been created to meet that desire. She had been alone here for who knew how long, unnamed, in a human form and with human-like desires that would have been unknown and unattainable to a regular Boo.

He must have stared too long because Morrigan had ducked her head bashfully, a blush on her cheeks. He had already, on his first jump, been thinking of this world as a game filled with non-player characters. Alex decided then that he would try and actually remember that Jump-Realities were filled with actual people with their own wants and needs.

"Why don't we read it together?" he asked as he sat down on the couch and patted the seat next to him.

Morrigan's smile could have lit the room. She nodded and jumped into the seat next to him leaning in close to see the pages.

Alex smiled and started reading.

"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun…"

Alex read to Morrigan for a few hours.

It was nice. Morrigan was a warm and soft presence as she leant in close and listened to him read. She followed the words on the page as he spoke, slowly getting a grasp on the writing. Nowhere close to instantly becoming literate but able to pick out a few words such as 'towel' and 'tea.'

(The couple enjoy their time together reading, unprepared for the guest who's at the door bleeding.)

…Wait, what?

The door slammed open as a dark-skinned teen in a red beret shouldered through it dragging an unresponsive, attractive, goth girl.

"Tucker! Get the door! Sam's hurt! I'll hold this wack-off, I mean WACK-JOB OFF! Not wack— you know never mind!"

"WAWAWA-WA-WA-WA MUMMA-MIA! OH YEAH!"

The sounds of an intense fight followed the teen, interspersed with the smash of things being thrown around was a high-pitched Italian shouting nonsense, an American male trying to crack wise, an echoing voice that sounded more like a DJ disk jockey going nuts with a recording of maniacal laughter and a loud whine of a vacuum.

The teen, the presumed Tucker, hip checked the door shut cutting off the sounds from outside instantly and lurched awkwardly to the bed.

"Come on Sam, hang in there, Danny will work something out." He said as he lowered the unconscious girl to the bed.

"Are you alright?" Alex asked getting to his feet.

"Whoah!"

Alex dodged the PDA that went flying at his head, catching it with his telekinesis and floating it back over the teen before it smashed into the wall.

"Are you Ghost?! Stay back! I know kung-fu!" Tucker cried while miming a karate-chop.

"Umm… kinda a ghost, kinda not a ghost. Tucker; it's me Alex, we have Algebra together." Alex said drawing on his memories of his life in Amity Park.

"Alex?" Tucker Foley questioned as he remembers the quite kid who sat in the back of his math class. "Dude, where have you been? You've been missing for months."

"Months? I was at school yesterday." Alex exclaimed.

(Their conversation was cut short, the answers they lack, as they're interrupted by a groan from girl dressed in black.)

"Sam!" Tucker turned back to the goth girl and grabbed at her hand. "Hang in there."

Alex stepped closer was able to get a better look at Sam. Her signature black top was torn by a large splinter of wood that had pierced deeply into her side. With each laboured breath bright red blood bubbled around the splinter indicating that it had pierced one of her lungs.

"Shit! What happened?" Alex asked.

Tucker looked up from when he knelt next to the bed holding Sam's hand. "Danny felt that something was up with this strange mansion that popped up overnight so we came to investigate. Everything was fine at first, if a little creepy, but though Danny kept saying that he could feel ghosts around we couldn't find anything."

If Tucker wasn't so concerned over Sam, he likely wouldn't have been so straightforward with his answers.

"We decided to leave and try again tomorrow but the door out just brought us back into the foyer. We were trapped in here. Danny couldn't even phase out the walls without being turned around back the way he came. Then we heard a commotion from upstairs so we went to have a look. Some crazy Italian guy was going at it with a huge ghost… um I mean ah not that ghosts are real or anything and did I say phase? I mean Danny couldn't get through the window."

"Don't worry about that, I know that Danny is a half-ghost." Alex tried to console the teen who seemed to be in one of the stages of shock.

"You know!? Of course, you know, why wouldn't the kid the town has been searching for for months not know? Why wouldn't you know? You've been trapped in here too or something." Tucker laughed without any humour.

"What happened then? How did Sam get hurt?" Alex pressed.

"The Italian guy was using something like the Fenton Ghost Weasel to suck up furniture and things to throw at the ghost. He sucked up a bookshelf and threw at the ghost. Sam got hit as the thing shattered against the wall. Danny went ghost and tried to stop the fight and I dragged Sam here."

Tucker looked up at Alex with tears in his eyes. "I don't know what to do, she's really hurt and we're trapped here."

(The teen said with in great fear.)

Alex thought back over his new powers. Neither jump had any dedicated healing abilities and he likely wouldn't have purchased it if there had been. His Dark-Danny powerpack had included a self-healing factor and he hadn't expected to need to heal anyone in his first jump. Especially since it was only supposed to last twelve hours. He was also confined to the mansion for the jump so it wasn't like he could take Sam to a hospital… he really was an idiot sometimes.

"I know where we can take her to get her healed." Alex said as he clasped a hand on Tuckers shoulder reassuringly.

(With a wave of his hand a portal was revealed.)

Alex waved his hand at one of the walls and square portal appeared leading to the Warehouse. The entrance was covered in a hazy white film of energy which faded as Alex mentally allowed entrance to Tucker, Sam and Morrigan.

"What-?" Tucker started.

"No questions, first we help Sam." Alex said as he carefully picked up the unconscious goth. "Morrigan, if a teen boy comes in here either with snow white hair and green eyes or with black hair and blue eyes can you send him our way?"

Morrigan peeked out from where she was hiding behind the couch and gave a thumbs up.

"Where did she come from?" asked a confused Tucker.

"She's shy around new people… or maybe just people. We haven't known each other that long." Alex said striding into the Warehouse.

The Warehouse was huge. The portal opened on one wall of cavernous space. The space was illuminated by fluorescent lights handing overhead, the walls were a prefabricated aluminium and the floor a solid concrete slab. The majority of the room was a clear empty space in the middle; the rest was taken up by empty shelving and a large box shaped structure on the far side of the Warehouse. The temperature was pleasant, neither too hot or cold. Next to the boxy building that Alex assumed was the built-in housing was a brighter area lit by medical lamps. A large metal table stood in that space with a series of shiny metal machines next to it.

Alex quickly made his way to the table and lay Sam on the cold metal surface. His guess that this was the Medbay was proven right as the machines hummed to life and a scanner above the table ran a serious of lights over the unconscious girl. A white holographic image of Sam appeared above her with her injuries highlighted in red.

-Fatal injury detected: Proceeding with emergency treatment-

A hollow mechanical voice accompanied the text that appeared below Sam's holographic representation.

"Fatal?" Tucker gasped as he caught up to them.

As he spoke a series of green laser-lights shot down on Sam. With deft strokes the lights deconstructed the wooden splinter while simultaneously healing the wound. The hologram showed the internal damage also being repaired as the red area quickly shrunk until it disappeared entirely.

-Emergency treatment complete-
-Patient detected. Would you like to commence medical examination? Y/N-

Alex ignored the prompt that followed the completion of the emergency treatment and checked on Sam. She was still unconscious and while the area around the wound site was still covered in blood, the site of the injury itself was both clean and miraculously unmarred. Healthy skin indistinguishable from her regular skin peeked through the hole in her shirt.

"Is she going to be OK?" Tucker asked, "Why is she still unconscious?"

"I think she'll be fine; this thing is supposed to cure anything short of death." Alex responded. "Maybe she's just asleep now? This should tell us if anything else is wrong."

Alex selected 'Yes' to the prompt from the machine.

-Commencing medical examination-

Again the machine scanned the girl causing the hologram to light up with light orange areas around her body.

-Mild bruising detected-
-Minor abrasions detected-
-Mild scaring detected-
-No diseases detected-
-No genetic abnormalities detected-
-Patient Status: Unconscious-
-Would you like to proceed with treatment? Y/N-

Alex affirmed that he would like to proceed and again green lasers shot down at Sam. They ran over her arms, legs and torso and as they passed bruises faded and small cuts disappeared. The lasers spent a little extra time on her face and her left hand and under the green light small blemishes were removed. As the lights winked off, Sam opened her eyes.

"Where am I? Danny?" she looked around and noticed the two standing by her. "Hey Tuck and umm… Alex?"

"SAM!" Tucker cried and threw himself at her, wrapping her in a tight hug. "You're OK!"

"Oof! I'm OK. I'm OK. Well at least until you squeeze me to death. Get'off will ya?" Sam complained while pushing Tucker off her.

Tucker backed off and rubbed the tears out of his eyes with the heel of his palm. "I thought you wouldn't make it." Tucker confessed. "You were hurt pretty badly."

"Wait, that really happened? I thought that was a dream." Sam sat up quickly and pulled her shirt up to check where she had been stabbed.

Alex turned around and pulled Tucker around with him as he didn't expect Sam to appreciate them seeing her flash them her purple bra. Teenage girls were touchy about such things, Alex pondered remembering back to his own youth.

"If there wasn't dried blood on me, I would think you were having me on." Sam looked up at the two facing away and realised she was flashing the room.

At least Tucker and Alex see her as a girl, now she just had to get Danny to realise she was a chick, she thought as she pulled her top back down with a blush.

"I'm decent now, thanks guys."

Tucker turned back with a blush while Alex just smirked.

"So," began Sam, "where are we? Where's Danny? And hasn't Alex been missing for months?"

"First: you're in my Cosmic Warehouse. Second: Danny is outside fighting a ghost and a plumber and Third: I didn't know I was missing; it's only been a day for me." Alex explained while raising a finger for each point.

"And fourth!" A voice exclaimed from the portal. "What have you done with my friends!?" Danny Phantom burst into the Warehouse with a visibly agitated aura of ghostly energy.

"Hi Danny." Sam waved from the medical table.

"SAM! Oh, thank Ghost you're ok!" Danny literally flew into Sam and wrapped her in a hug.

"Thank ghost?" Alex looked Tucker.

"Our parents are strict about swearing and well, we've collectively decided to not talk about religion given the whole ghosts are real thing." Tucker answered.

The two simply stood for a long minute while Danny and Sam held each other.

"So they're...?"

"Nope" Tucker drawled.

"You're sure?"

"Yep" he said popping the 'p.'

"Huh… do they know?"

"They'll work it out eventually. I've got twenty dollars on Christmas. You'll have to talk to Jazz about getting in on the betting pool."

Danny finally released Sam.

"I was so worried," he said checking her over for injuries, "how are you not hurt?"

"I'm not exactly sure. I think Alex did something." Sam drew Danny's attention to Alex.

"Hi." Alex waved at them.

"Aren't you in my English class?" Danny asked.

"I don't know why you all define me by what classes we share. But yes, we both attend Casper high."

"Except Alex is that kid that's been missing for like months." Tucker interposed.

"Except I've apparently been missing for months. Though to me I was at school yesterday and put the whole missing time thing down to haunted mansion ghost weirdness." Alex shrugged.

Danny awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Ghosts? What ghosts? Haha ghosts aren't real."

Alex, Tucker and Sam all stared at the teen with ghostly white hair and glowing green eyes.

"Dude…" Tucker shook her head.

"Yeah, you're still in ghost mode." Alex said. "Also, how do people not recognise you? Your hair and eyes are different but your face stays the exact same?"

"I've wondered the same thing." Sam added. "I think the town may be influenced by all the ghost activity."

"Right." Alex nodded, thinking she may have the right of it. "Also. This."

Alex took a step back and activated his own ghost form. Silver energy swept up and down over him as his black shirt gained silver flame patterns, his shaggy black hair turned into dancing black shadow flames and his eyes turned a bright silver.

"Woah!" Danny instantly leapt into a defence position in front of his friend, green ecto-energy glowing in his raised palms. "I'm not going to let another crazy Halfa hurt my friends!"

"You're not one for situational awareness, are you? I'm the one that saved your friend."

Danny lowered his fists. "So, you're not working with Vlad?"

"I'm not working with Vlad."

"Then how did you become all ghost-tastic?" Tucker asked peeping around Danny.

"And how did you heal me?" Sam asked peeping form the other side.

"What does that have to do with Ghosts?" Tucker queried Sam.

"What? I personally think it's extremely relevant to my current good health." Sam shot back.

"Guys? Can we stay focused here?" Danny said resignedly.

Alex chuckled at their antics. "Put simply answers are one and the same. I'm Alexander Blake, your fellow high school student but I'm also Alex Blake: Nascent Extradimensional Traveller!" Alex proclaimed.

Sam shook her head sadly. "Becoming a ghost had driven him insane."

"The ghost world is nuts; I'm honestly surprise we're still right in the head." Danny shrugged.

"Are we?" Tucker asked.

The trio looked between each other and shrugged.

"You guys are hilarious; you know that right?" Alex deadpanned. "Do you sell tickets?"

"We're a spontaneous production." Danny waved Alex off.

"Right, well I'm neither insane or lying." Alex reaffirmed. "I'm just starting out on an interdimensional adventure between realities and this is my first stop to pick up ghost-powers."

"Why on earth would you want ghost powers? Don't you want to be normal?" asked Danny.

"Oh, I don't know? Flight, intangibility, super-strength…" Alex ticked each one off with a finger.

"How about being normal? Not being a freak? Or not having to hide what you are from everyone?" Danny countered.

"… Super endurance, super durability, shapeshifting…" Alex continued.

"That… that's a lot of abilities."

"… Healing, Invisibility, ghost rays, ghost blasts, pyromancy, overshadowing, duplication…"

"Wait, I can't do all that, can I?"

"… and let's not forget possible immorality." Alex finished.

"I can't die?" asked a stunned and pale Danny.

Alex sighed at Danny despondent appearance. "Maybe, it's not like it's been tested; I know that we should be reform if our ghost body gets splattered but not about our human half. We're partly made of ectoplasm now; our bodies are malleable to our will or maybe our perception of ourselves. So… theoretically we should be able to live forever by shapeshifting ourselves into a younger form."

Tucker and Sam both clasped a hand on each of Danny's shoulders lending him support.

"Forever alone…" Danny whispered to himself.

"Well maybe no alone." Alex shrugged.

Danny raised his head to look at Alex. "What do you mean?"

"I'm saying you don't have to go through this alone."

"You mean you'll be here too because you're also part ghost."

"No, I'm saying that I have the ability to safely and reliably turn other people into half-ghosts."

"""What?!""" The three chorused.

Alex gestured to the rectangular building within the warehouse. "Let's take this somewhere more comfortable and see if Morrigan wants to join us."

Alex turned on the spot and walked to the portal, sticking his head through he found Morrigan leaning over the couch looking at the book that had been left here. She slowly read through the page, silently mouthing the words to herself.

"Hey Morrigan."

"EEEP!" Morrigan jumped and spun towards Alex, blushing in embarrassment.

"Heh, sorry. I wanted to ask if you wanted to join us in here."

(He said to the freighted maiden from within his safe-haven.)

Huh, I was wondering where that went, Alex thought to himself.

Morrigan nodded and glided through the portal after Alex.

"What is this place?" Morrigan asked.

"This is my Cosmic Warehouse. It's a place I can put all my stuff and it comes with a house to live in. There should be access to the Companions Housing somewhere, you'll find your room there."

"My room?"

"Yeah, that is, your room if you want to join me on adventure to new places and such."

Morrigan smiled. "I think I would like that; I've seen and done more with you in just a few hours than I've experienced in years floating around as a Boo."

"It might be dangerous." Alex warned as he joined the Phantom Team at the door to the housing building.

Morrigan tiled her head as she considered Alex's warning. "What I had before was not living. Living is worth some danger I would think."

"I'm glad to have you then." Alex said as he opened the door and ushered everyone in.

The provided housing was nice. The lounge was nice, the kitchen was nice, the dining and entertainment areas were nice. It was disgustingly nice. Overall, it looked like the entire place had been designed by an uninspired hotel chain with an excess of Ikea vouchers. That's not to say the place was uncomfortable or bad or anything; only that it lacked soul. Alex was already looking around and making plans to replace certain things and introduce some colour other than white, off-white, beige and beach.

Alex noticed the others watching him. "Sorry, it's new. I haven't actually seen the place before now."

Deciding to play host, Alex gestured for them to take a seat in the lounge while he checked the kitchen for drinks or something. Noticing a cabinet emblazoned with the red and white logo of the 'Nasty Burger' chain from the Danny Phantom universe as out of place; Alex decided to look inside. Within was bag after bag of Nasty Burgers and fries, rows of sodas and shakes, and stacks of tofu-alternatives all of which were still piping hot and greasy fresh. Grabbing enough for everyone, and making sure to grab something for the ultra-recyclo-vegetarian, Alex returned to the lounge laden down with junk food.

"Alright, Nasty Burger!" Tucker jumped up to help Alex pass out the food.

"We're still trapped in the Mansion; how did you get this?" Danny asked as he took the Tofu-riffic burger with extra Nasty sauce and passed on to Sam.

"Technically, we're not in the Mansion at the moment we're in a pocket-reality but I can say that becoming a Jumper can have some strange perks — such as unlimited Nasty Burger take-out on tap."

"Tha's aw'some." Tucker said around a mouthful of Mighty Meaty burger.

"It is." Alex agreed as he passed Morrigan a vanilla shake. She looked at for a moment before copying Danny and taking a sip. Her eyes widened comically large as she sunk back into the couch while taking small sips and savouring the flavour and temperature.

For almost ten minutes they all simply enjoyed the food. While not the best meal any of them had ever had —excluding Morrigan as it was also her first— it was hot and fresh and made to fast-food perfection.

Danny scrunched up the empty wrapper of his burger. "Now. You mentioned something about immortality, a life alone forever fighting ghosts and the ability to give ghost powers to others."

"I think I only mentioned two of them but yes; I can turn others into half ghosts like ourselves."

"Wicked! Count me in." exclaimed Tucker.

"Don't you think that's a bad idea given what happened last time?" Danny frowned.

"Last time, what last time? I don't remember a last time." Sam interrupted as Tucker simply grimaced.

"Tucker gained ghost-powers from the ghost-genie Desiree and kinda went nuts."

"Why don't I remember this?" Sam frowned.

"You were sick with that awful cold at the time and it's not something I was going to brag about." Tucker explained with a shrug. "But! This is different. Last time I was affected by that crazy ghost chick, this time I'll be all the Tuck-man, right?"

Alex nodded. "Yes, there should be no personality warping components other than any that normally occur from the process."

"Wait, what personality what-now?"

"It'll be the first time I change others and as I've said before we are now made, at least partly, of ectoplasm. That stuff seems to be affected by thought and emotion; it's how I assume ghosts naturally come into existence." Alex theorised. "A sample of ectoplasm reacts to heightened emotions and consciousness especially during someone's last moments and ghost is born with an abnormal obsession with a related thing, person, emotion or situation." He explained.

Well… that's the theory he subscribed to when it was discussed on various blogs.

"That would explain why a lot of the ghosts we've encountered seem both strangely human and oddly obsessed at the same time." Sam added.

"It's still a theory, I'll likely experiment with it at a later point. What I can guarantee is that the process will work and will be safe… -ish."

"-ish? I don't like -ish." Danny said with his arms crossed.

"Look, give me and hour and I should be able to make that a guarantee. But this is the first time I'm using this ability."

"I would feel a lot safer if I had some ghost abilities." Sam said as she rested a hand on Danny's arm. "I came a little too close to becoming a full ghost for comfort tonight."

Danny deflated. "Can you really make my friends half-ghosts?"

"I can."

"Then if they want to, I would ask you to help them."

"Alright. You guys relax here and I'll experiment a bit and then we should be good to go." Alex said as he stood. Nodding to them all again Alex left the room and returned to the Warehouse proper.

Alex was fairly certain that he could pull this off as CP based powers were supposed to be fiat guaranteed. Ghost Creation allowed for the creation of ghost minions and half-ghosts though it did say that study and practice was needed to create more than simple skeleton ghosts. It also suggested that without the perk one wouldn't be able to create half ghosts without a lot of technical and genetic knowledge. Conversely this suggested that with the perk such details were not needed. Add to that that the perk guaranteed test subjects would survive meant the with a little practice basic half-ghost powerups should be achievable.

Alex was also about to heavily abuse another perk, this one from the Luigi's Mansion selection. Field Research gave a significant bonus to testing and study done in related environments. So, studying ghosts in a haunted mansion; as opposed to a laboratory, should increase the understanding gained. Alex decided that performing some experiments both in the mansion and in the ghost-zone would cover any gaps and allow him to successfully convert Tucker and Sam into half-ghosts.

With than in mind, Alex confidently walked out of the Warehouse back into the mansion, glancing back at the still open portal Alex's confidence stuttered. He sighed in relief that his guests weren't forcibly removed from the warehouse. He wouldn't test it now but they should be safe in there unless he willed the portal closed.
Alright, Alex thought to himself. First things first: I need ectoplasm.

Alex used shapeshifting and elongated one finger into a wickedly sharp claw which he then used to cut his other arm. Instead of blood: glowing green ectoplasm oozed from the wound which quickly healed over due to his self-healing. Holding some of the strange goo in his palm Alex concentrated on giving the substance life — or at least a semblance of life.

(With a flick of wrist and a twisting of power, the ghostly young man called forth ghost-life to flower.)

It was going to be a long few hours.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Alex Stood atop the Luna Sea Spire and admired the stars. The derelict temple truly was beautiful even if it was in such disrepair. It was the one of the better gem structures he had seen outside of Morrigan’s Colony. He idlily wondered if it was Pink’s influence on the earth-colony’s architecture that made the Gem Temples on earth so much more harmonious with nature.

A flash of light from below pulled him from his mussing. He watched from above as the Crystal Gems arrived via the warp pad. Garnet, being the tallest, was the easiest to recognise followed by Pearl as even over the roar of the surrounding waterfalls he could hear her yell at the small half-gem boy to be more careful. Steven ‘Quartz’ Universe was a small lad yet from the way he jumped around the gems one could see he was obviously full of energy. Lastly, Amethyst stood close to the others; every now and then she surreptitiously glanced at the others for cues. It was easy to forget that — other than Steven — she had likely never been to the Luna Sea Spire when it was in it’s prime, seeing as she didn’t emerge from her Kindergarten until long after the Homeworld gems had retreated.

Alex watched as the group paused in confusion at the black-crystal bridge he had erected in place of the stone arch that had collapsed into the ocean at some point in the past. Steven’s Hamburger backpack supplies would have little use tonight as Alex had already cleared the route to the spires’ peak earlier on his own journey upwards. He stepped back and moved towards the pedestal at the centre of the spire and out of view from the stairs leading upwards. He leant back against the pedestal to wait for the Gems and crossed his arms, huffing in annoyance as he squished his breasts against himself.

It had been three weeks since the group had come to this universe and Alex still was not used to his new form. As a diamond he had two size defaults, towering ninety-foot-tall form and a much more manageable seven-foot-tall height. Yet through having taken the short-stack drawback those forms had been cut in half. Forty-five feet was still ridiculously unmanageable in most situations and his other form was cut to a diminutive three and a half feet which put him even with Steven. Worse, the drawback affected his alt-forms as well; meaning his half-ghost form was a stupidly cute three feet tall.

Once again Alex debated with himself internally as to how he should present himself to the Gems. At his largest he would clearly be seen as a threat while in his smaller form he could be mistaken for an overcooked quartz like Amethyst. He was sure that he wanted to keep his more human appearing alt-forms to himself for now, better to hide that he had abilities outside of those expected from a Gem but there was, at least to himself, an indignity in looking like a cute seven-year-old girl.

Alex, or Alexa as she was going to call herself when in female form, was as cute as am anoyed button. While only as tall as a prepubescent girl, she was not shaped like one. Honestly, she hated herself for actually liking her own look, especially when at her height she looked seven going on seventeen.

Her skin was an unblemished light grey and her hair was short mess of wavy locks in multiple shades of grey that fell to her collar and gave the illusion that she carried around an unruly storm cloud on her head. Her dark-charcoal grey tailcoat pulled tight at waist before flaring at into two tails at the back. It was adorned with subtle lighter grey embroideries of Celtic knots and abstract flora. The patterns were broken by a deep V-cut down the middle that showed off her dark stormy-grey shield-cut gem at her sternum, as well as a moderate amount of cleavage between her small breasts. Her lighter grey riding breeches were tucked into solid dark grey boots at the calf and clung to hips and legs tightly. The only spots of colour in her outfit were a dark blue crystal bangle on her right wrist and flat coin-pearl mounted on her inner left wrist.

Despite her size she had to admit that she was sexy damnit, though it was hard to feel sexy when you were eye level with most people’s belly-button or crotch. Though… that could have advantages. The only saving grace was that Lyn and Morrigan were in much the same predicament having also taken the short-stack drawback.

Oh, and that was another thing. Alexa was fairly sure it was Gem-thing, rather than a female one (or at least he hoped so), but when in this form she wanted to look good. Her body was a physical manifestation of light and could look however she desired as long as she kept to a set colour scheme and she had spent TWO WHOLE DAYS making sure her outfit was exactly how she wanted it. Worse was that she had often found herself casually posing like a model when she wasn’t paying attention. She carried a low-level vanity of appearance that she hadn’t had before. It irked her, in a fissionable way of course.

Alexa grumbled as she straightened out of the artful lean she had fallen into and tapped her foot anxiously as she waited for the Gems. The three weeks since their arrival in this universe had been eventful and incredibly busy. Other than getting used to their new form and powers they had spent much of those first weeks exploring Morrigan’s colony and scouting out both earth and Homeworld via their personal warp grid in their invisible ghost forms. That wasn’t also mentioning the ghost duplicates she had near continuously assembling or modifying of their Gem-tech to give them every advantage for the eventual coming Diamonds. All she had to do was create the component and her duplicates would put them together.

This would be their first contact with one of the other factions and while Alexa wanted to remain unknown for longer this was one of the better opportunities to get something, or rather someone, she wanted from the Crystal Gems.

“We have made better time than I expected.” Garnet frowned as she crested the top of the spire.

“I still don’t understand.” Pearl muttered. “Those black bridges were not there before and there were signs of battle on the terrace.”

Amethyst used her little finger to pick at her nose. “What does it matter? We got up here with plenty of time to spare.

“Guys! This is awesome! I don’t know what you’re worrying about.” Steven laughed as he pulled his hamburger shaped backpack higher on his shoulders for the umpteenth time.

“We should be careful, expect the unexpected and don’t let our guard down.” Garnet firmly stated.

“I agree.” Pearl edged around Steven to keep him in the centre of the group as she eyed the surroundings for anything out of place. “Steven. Give me the statue.”

Steven shrugged off his super-cool-awesome-backpack and rummaged through it.

“Umm…” he mumbled as he pulled out an inflatable raft, a stuffed toy (“I’m mister Queezy, errgh stop shaking me”) and a couple of bagel-sandwiches, “I don’t have it.”

“What?!” exclaimed Pearl.

“I must have left it on the bed?”

“Dude? You packed everything BUT the statue.” Amethyst groaned.

Pearl turned to Garnet. “Can we go back for it?”

“We got here quicker than expected but do not have the time to retrieve the statue and return.” Garnet stated solemnly.

“What can we do?” Amethyst asked.

“I have an idea!” Steven exclaimed holding forth the stuffed toy (“I feel sick. Put me down Blagh”).

“I’m going to have to stop you there.” Alexa said as she stepped out from behind the pedestal.

The Gem’s reaction was almost comedic. Garnet simply took a step back and summoned her gauntlets. Pearl gave a surprised squeak and almost fell over herself; though she turned the fall into an elegant roll while drawing her spear. Amethyst was not so graceful and simply drew her whip from where she had fallen to the floor. Lastly, Steven screamed and threw the plush toy at new figure… it landed several feet short.

“Who are you?!” Garnet growled out at the short figure that had emerged.

“It’s a kid?” Amethyst looked confused.

“There aren’t supposed to be any Gems here.” Pearl said as she twirled her spear. “There aren’t supposed to be any Gems anywhere”
Steven though quickly got over his embarrassment from throwing a plush toy at the girl when he realised, she couldn’t be older than he was given her size.

“Hi, I’m Steven. I’m a Crystal Gem! What’s your name.” he asked as he walked towards Alexa with his hand outstretched.

“Steven!” Both Pearl and Garnet shouted.

Alexa rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively at the boy. A pillar of clear crystal pushed from the stone beneath the stuffed toy flinging it into Steven’s face with a soft thwump (“Whaoh, I’m gonna hurl”).

“I’m here to make a trade.” Alexa proposed to the Gems as Steven was pulled back into the safety of the group by Amethyst’s whip.

“What do you want.” Garnet asked. She was concerned. While the action was innocuous, unique abilities were not found in weak gems. She could have pushed Steven off the spire as easily as she threw the doll, Garnet surmised to herself.

“It’s what we both want that is the question.” Alex explained as she pulled forth a Moon Goddess Statue from the pearl on her wrist.
Unlike the one the Steven left at home; this statue was of a nude woman sitting cross legged with a wide cauldron in her lap; a large clear gem sat within the cauldron.

“There’s only one Moon Goddess Statue and we left it at the Temple.” Pearl claimed.

“I know.” Alexa nodded. “I made this one myself.”

And she had. The statue was a gem-tech device powered by an unenlightened gem. Used in conjunction with a Luna Spire, it would gather energy from the light and gravitational pull of a full moon and channel it through the spire repairing any damage to the structure. It was an overly complicated method of inducing self-repair in a building but understandable given the tech involved. Any Gem-left for such a purpose for an extended period of time ran the risk of becoming enlightened and fusing with the spire.

Garnet was becoming even more anxious. She didn’t know enough about the stranger to narrow down her future vision into something reliable. And the strange gem had just expressed a level of technical knowledge that was downright dangerous. Only the Diamonds and trusted nobles had access to that level of knowledge; not even Sapphire ranked that high.

“What do you want for the statue?” Pearl asked.

“And what makes you think we can’t just take it?” Amethyst snaped her whip.

Alexa glared at the purple Gem and brought a touch of Diamond into her voice. “I would advise against such an action.”

Because honestly she did not want to fight. Alexa had considered taking a different approach and trying to befriend the Gems but honestly, she didn’t want to. It would take too long to gain their trust enough to get the mirror, worse it would ally her with them which she knew would negatively influence Lapis’ attitude to her. No, Alexa had decided needed to be neutral. Strong enough to be taken seriously but not an overt threat. That still didn’t mean she wanted to fight… though she would if she had to.

Amethyst paled as a full body shiver swept through her as the Gem spoke. She had never been exposed to a Diamond wielding their authority. Though it did feel strangely familiar.

Garnet and Pearl caught the edges of the effect and shivered. Only Pearl, as a handmaiden to an actual Diamond, understood the significance. Her eyes widened dramatically. Steven was completely unaffected and noticed nothing, though that may have his standard response to, well… anything. Unfortunately, Amethysts reaction to fear was as predictable as it was violent.

“Gwahhh!” Amethyst cried as she swung her thorn whip at Alexa.

Alexa simply stepped to the side and then immediately ducked as Pearl’s spear swung where her head had been. With a raised hand she brought forth a wall of grey crystal which took the brunt of Garnets fists. The wall held for the first strike and cracked with the second. It held Garnet off long enough for Alexa to summon forth her two long, thin misericorde daggers and both parry Pearl’s second thrust and pin Amethyst’s follow up whip attack to the ground.

Diamond reflexes almost make this too easy. Alexa thought to herself. It’s like they’re moving in slow motion half the time.

Alexa jumped back as Garnet’s third strike shattered the crystal wall, she caused another pillar grown behind her which she used to springboard herself over the two Gems towards Amethyst who was struggling to free her weapon. Alexa hit Amethyst with a solid kick causing the purple gem to lose her grip on her whip and skid backward to the edge of the spire. With a thought she summoned her second dagger again causing the one holding down the whip to fade in a sparkle of light as it reappeared from her gem back into her hand. Just in time to catch Pearl’s overhead slash between the two blades.

For a moment they stared eye to eye as Pearl attempted to break Alexa’s block. Alexa smiled as she leant backwards and kicked up, turning the clash into a throw that sent Pearl sailing over the edge of the spire. Amethyst scrambled for her now free whip and leapt after Pearl while using the whip to grab on to the ornamentation on the edge of the spire.
Alexa had to keep the momentum of the throw into a backwards roll to avoid Garnet attacking from above, her gauntleted fist creating an impact crater in the stone as she landed.
She laughed as she came out of the roll. This was fun. Obviously a few thousand years fighting alongside each other had paid dividends for the Gems. Say what you will about the Crystal Gems but they did know teamwork.
Alexa knew she never would have performed as well as she did even with her new Diamond strength and speed but her two weeks of intense training at a martial arts studio with her ‘Field Research’ working overtime had made up the difference.

“You should give up.” Garnet said as she came out of her crouched position. “We will defend the earth from any Gem that comes to do her harm.

“Yeah!” Amethyst cried as she swung back up the side of the spire while holding onto Pearl, the two landed next to Garnet.

“You can’t win this.” Pearl affirmed. “For we are: THE CRYSTAL GEMS!”

Alexa’s grin widened dramatically. “But I already have.”

“Umm guys?” Came Steven’s strained voice.

Alexa stepped to the side showing Steven had ended up behind her during their skirmish. Worse — or at least to the Gems — he was held still by four triangular spears of crystal that grew from the floor; each angled in such a way that their points all stopped just short of his neck. It gave the impression that he was trapped neck down in a broken pyramid of black crystal.

“Release him!” Garnet commanded.

“Need I remind you that you were the ones that attacked me? But we can continue if you want.”

Amethyst had the decency to look ashamed.

Alexa caused the front black crystal to grow slowly until the point touched Steven’s neck.

“N-n-no!” Pearl stammered. “We don’t need to fight! What do you want to trade?”

Alexa smiled and shifted the crystal back from the boy. “You possess a mirror that I desire. It was lost at the Galaxy Warp.”

Alexa could see Pearl sweating as he searched her memory for the mirror in question. She could see when the Gem remembered the mirror and she could see her stress anew as she wondered why this small Diamond wanted it. She could almost read her mind as she knew she must we wondering what secrets the mirror had seen and thus could reveal. If Steven was at all cynical he would accuse her of keeping the mirror hidden away in her Gem for the last hundred or so years just to prevent someone from asking it the wrong question.

Alexa pretended to observed the Gems, “I’m curious why you brought a Human child with you to the Spire, they’re not known for their durability. Do you often pick up strays?” she asked conversationally as the Gem’s shuffled awkwardly, not sure what to say. Obviously unwilling to claim Steven as a Gem and thus put him in even more danger.

“Hey! I’m a Crystal Gem too!” Steven cried.

“Steven!” Pearl rebuked him.

“Really?” Alexa pretended to be surprised. She started walking around the trapped boy while making a show of examining him.

“He’s a little young to make a proper servant,” Alexa drawled. “Maybe a pet if you’re into that sort of thing but I suppose he could be considered cute — all Pink and Rose-y cheeked as he is.”

If a pearly-white Gem could pale even further then Pearl did so then. She knows! She screamed to herself in her head. We have free Steven and get away. If she knows then do the other Diamonds!? We need to prepare. She thought.

“Hey! I’m not a pet!” Steven argued, “I’m a real Gem just like my Mum was?”

“Steven, be quiet please.” Garnet tried to keep Steven from revealing too much.

“Ahh! I see.” Alexa pretended to understand. “You’re a hybrid. Well, aren’t you just special?”

Pearl decided that whatever secrets the mirror held they did not matter against Steven’s life, especially when this Diamond already knew too much. With a glow of white light Pearl pulled the hand mirror from her Gem.

“The mirror for the statue and we all go our own ways?” Pearl asked, cutting off Steven as he was about to say something more.

“Of course.” Alexa smiled and gestured with her hand. “I didn’t come here to fight, as fun as it was.”

Between them two small round platforms for crystal formed. One floated to Alexa who laid the statue on it and the other to Pearl who placed the mirror on the floating stone. The two platforms floated away one taking the mirror to Alexa and the other taking the statue to Pearl.

Alex picked up the mirror and smiled at her reflection. “Hello, I’m sorry it took so long for me to come and get you. We’ll be leaving now and you’ll be free soon.”

Pearl took the statue from the platform and wondered it trading with the obviously crazy Diamond was the right thing to do.

“You have about ten minutes left until midnight.” Alexa said to the Gems.

She walked to the edge of the spire and then kept walking off the side. Floating crystal steps appeared as she walked and remained behind her.

“What about Steven?” Amethyst shouted.

“I’m fine, Guys.” Steven said as the black crystal fell apart into glittering sand.

“Until we meet again.” Alexa called back as she descended in a gentle curve around the spire.

The Gems waited anxiously until Alex was at the warp pad and remained silent, despite Steven many attempts to start conversation he was simply hushed by Garnet pulling him close and pressing his face against her thigh. They collectively released a sigh of relief as Alexa disappeared into the warp.

“What the fuck was that?!” Amethyst yelled?

“Amethyst! Language.” Pearl scolded her.

“Don’t give me that. We should’ve been able to take her! There were three of us and only one of her.”

“Hey!” Steven objected to not even being included in the count.

“We were not proving effective even before she took Steven hostage.” Garnet said as she repositioned her eye shades. “She was stronger and faster than she should have been.”

“She was a Diamond.” Pearl said in a voice just above a whisper.

“Um, Guys?” Steven tried to interrupt the Gems.

“A Diamond? Didn’t you all tell me that they were humungous, like a hundred feet tall or something? She was tiny!”

“I don’t know why she was so small but she certainly was strong enough.”

“Guys, maybe we should—”

“Didn’t you see her Gem?” Pearl asked becoming near hysterical. “It was a GREY DIAMOND, it’s forbidden, it’s not right! A FLAWED DIAMOND SHOULDN’T EXIST!”

“I do not remember there being a Grey Diamond.”

“Isn’t there only supposed to be three?” Amethyst asked. “Blue, Yellow and White. You know since Rose shattered the other one.”

“Pink.” Pearl seemed to deflate, her manic energy fading with her words. “The other Diamond was Pink.”

“GUYS!” Steven Screamed, finally getting the Gem’s attention. He pointed to where the pillar was glowing, a weak beam of light winking in and out of existence linking it to the moon above.

Pearl only hesitated for a moment before dashing forward and placing the Moon Goddess Statue on the pillar. Instantly the beam solidified and the statue raised into the air. The crystal in the statue glowed brighter and motes of light fell away from the rod of light connecting the spire and the moon. The embers of moonlight drifted in a counter clockwise swirling dance around the pillar and the tower. Where they touched the stonework, they sparkled and sunk into the stone until the entire tower was aglow.

As they watched, cracks in the stonework closed and broken pieces reformed. The black crystal bridges that Alexa had made on her ascent shattered as the original stone bridges reformed. By the time the moon had shifted from position and the statue had floated back down to the plinth, the once ruined tower had reformed into a gleaming spire of terraces, statues and fountains.

“Wow! That was awesome!” Steven shouted as he started running around the rooftop trying to see all of the tower. The Gems looked on with fondness and exasperation.

“Well at least that wasn’t a trap.” Pearl muttered.

“That was possible?!” wheezed Amethyst.

“It was unlikely. The Diamond did hold to her bargain.” Garnet explained. “She did not attack us until we attacked her.”

“She took Steven hostage!” Amethyst insisted.

“Only after we all attacked.”

“But they’re our enemies!” Amethyst insisted. “Homeworld Gems are bad and do bad things and make more bad Gems.” Amethyst on sounded a little bitter by the end of her tirade.

“She didn’t kill him.” Pearl said confused. “Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’?”

Pearl glanced at Steven who was too distracted to hear their conversation. “She knew that Steven had Rose’s Gem.”

Garnet nodded. “A Diamond would not have let the opportunity to shatter Rose’s Gem or take it back to Homeworld pass.”

“And yet one did.” Amethyst pointed out the obvious.

“I’m not sure I can do this again.” Pearl as she held herself tight. “We already lost so much, too much.”

“If Homeworld has turned its attention back to earth after thousands of years then we may not have a choice. Especially if they’re sending Diamonds.”

“We need to know more.” Pearl said, “we should return to the temple and try to figure out what is going on, and what we’re going to do if or when Homeworld returns.”
The other Gems nodded and started making their way back down to the warp pad, collecting Steven on the way.

Chapter Text

Alexa stepped out of the warp-light into a rocky valley overgrown with thick thorny vines. She held up the mirror so that Lapis could see her and the giant bramble of thorns.

“Once we get to Rose’s fountain, I can heal your Gem and free you from the mirror.” She said to her own reflection.

The mirror’s surface rippled and brokenly replayed Alexa’s words from the Luna Sea Spire. [Hello // so long // free soon.]

“Yep.” Alexa said as she jumped over a vine that had lashed out at her as she approached the bramble. “The fountain will heal your crack, making your extraction much safer. Can you hold on another few minutes?”

[Yep // Yep // Yep] the reflected back.

Alex dodged another agitated branch as she tried to find a way through to the fountain. “Great, no I just have to… huh, maybe?” Alexa ducked and dove but still couldn’t find a way in. Though, if she couldn’t go around then she could certainly go through.

“I’m going to do something strange and I’ll look very different when I do, but don’t worry though because it’s still me.”

She told the mirror.

Alexa took some distance from the attacking vines and concentrated. Her form shifted seamlessly: one moment she was a Grey Diamond Gem and the next he was a dark-haired young teen male. Though thanks to the short-stack drawback still in effect he was actually shorter than before by about six inches.

Changing alt-forms was as easy as pie; you willed it and it happened. The only problem was that it while the change was fast; it wasn’t instantaneous. It took a certain amount of sustained concentration and about four seconds to complete. Fantastic for switching in idle moments or when a disguise was needed but dangerous to attempt in the midst of combat. Alex added the need for an alt-form blending perk in future Jumps to his growing list of desires.

Another thing that alt-forms did not cover was clothing and Alex found himself standing naked to the elements. Thankfully, he did not end up wearing his Diamond outfit other than the bracelet and the pearl. But that was due to the fact that a Gem’s clothing was just a manifestation of light from their gem rather than an effect from shifting form.
He wasn’t naked for long as with a mental push on his ecto-energy he transformed in a wave of black fire into his ghost form which changed him to a youthful figure with black fame hair, silver eyes and, most importantly in this instance, clothed in a black silk, silver embroidered shirt and a pair of black pants. Technically, he was still naked as the ghost form was composed of ectoplasm and that included the clothing but it was the appearance of the fact that mattered.

[…huh // strange // look different // still // you // …huh]

“I’m still me.” Alex replied. “Ah! I never actually told you my name: I’m Alex or Alexa depending on the gender I am at the moment. Maybe? Look it’s not something I ever had to think about and has gotten very confusing once I could switch back and forth. I just feel better with the different names, not sure why and I’ll likely need therapy to nail that down.” He ranted.

[Alex // look // great // but // still // you // likely need therapy]

Alex laughed. “You are a snarky one. But that’s why I wanted to meet you, Lapis.”

[Lapis // my name // never actually told you my name //… huh?]

“I’ll explain everything when we get you free.” Alex reassured the mirror-bound Gem. “Now this next bit might feel weird but it’s completely safe.”

[Maybe?]

“Good enough.” Alex floated off the ground and simply flew straight at the dense thicket of brambles.

[not // safe // not // safe] the mirror repeated.

Alex simply willed himself and the mirror intangible and continued forward even as the vines lashed out and through his insubstantial form. It only took seconds to phase through the brambles and reach the fountain within. With a sigh at the sight of the dry and overgrown fountain, Alex phased through the ground until he reached an underground chamber clogged with roots and dirt. The roots had grown around an oversized replica of Rose’s Gem causing minor cracks and had clogged the crystal pipes that lead away from it.

Alex, careful not to damage the replica, used his ecto-blasts and a gentle application of phantom-fire to clear the obstruction and burn away the growth. Once the obstructions had been cleared away the huge pink gem started glowing with a steady heart-beat like pulse and water once more flowed from the gem and through the pipes.

It honestly astounded Alex that none of the Crystal Gems, especially given their number during the war, had worked out Rose’s identity as Pink Diamond. No Rose Quartz Gem could have displayed even a fraction of Rose’s abilities or technical knowledge. With his current understanding of gem-tech Alex knew that replicating a unique ability such as Rose’s healing tears was not something a common foot soldier should ever have been able to do. Growing this replica gem was the work of hundreds of years carefully tending to its growth and making a multitude of minute adjustments to ensure it grew correctly around the teardrop that made up its core. Alex didn’t have a hundred years to grow his own but thanks to his chosen perks he could easily cheat.

Shifting from his phantom form back to his Diamond form she searched the ground near the pink gem for a fragment that had broken off due to damage by the roots. The best she could find was a finger sized splinter of pink crystal but it was plenty for her purposes. She stored it in the pearl on her wrist later study and reproduction.

As a final act she created a handful of gem-liquid which she smoothed into the cracks of the large gem. Unlike a simple gem-tech such as the warp pads — and wasn’t that something to call simple! — the goo wouldn’t repair the pink crystal but it would serve as a lattice for repairs and speed up the natural healing properties that the gemstone exhibited now that it was operational again. It would take a few months but that was surely much better than years it would otherwise need.

Instead of shifting back into ghost form, Alexa simply left the room via the connected tunnels. There was no rush and fountain would take a few minutes to fill. Stepping out from the underground tunnels into the fountain courtyard revealed a drastic change. Gone was the dark and twisted bramble of thorns and in its place was an airy and open space bright with pink rose blossoms. In the centre the fountain poured forth healing water from the eyes of a statue of Rose Quartz to gather in a wide pool.

She definitely kept the ego of a Diamond, Alexa thought to herself.

“Alright, one quick dunk and you’ll be good as new!” She told the mirror.

[snark-]

Alexa had the feeling the mirror was giving her a deadpan stare. She shrugged and plunged the mirror into the pool of water for a count of five even though the glow from the healing gem only lasted for a second. She wasn’t being petty; just cautious, definitely not petty.

“You ready to get out of there?” she asked the now dripping mirror.

[Yep // Yep // Yep]

Alexa firmly grasped the blue teardrop gem on the back of the mirror and pulled it free. The mirror shattered in Alexa’s hand and the Gem glowed brilliantly, slipping from her grasp and floating to a clear space in front of her.

A bright white feminine figure of light formed from the Gem and resolved itself into a slim, light blue skinned girl with large dark eyes and a short bob of dark blue hair. Water gathered behind her forming two large wings that kept her aloft. Alexa blushed when, for just a moment, Lapis floated before her without any clothing, wings spread with angelic majesty. With another glow of light, a dark blue sundress formed around the Gem until she looked much the same as she did in the cartoon. She gently floated down to touch the earth with bare feet and then threw herself at Alexa, wrapping her in a tight hug.

“Thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou!” she cried into Alexa’s hair.

Alexa wrapped her arms around the slender Gem and hugged her back. This put his face right at the level of her chest. Maybe short-stack isn’t all bad, she thought guiltily as she felt two soft mounds pressing into her face on either side.

“I was trapped for thousands of years, I never thought anyone would actually listen to me, to talk to me.”

“Hey, it’s OK. I’m you’re free and you’re safe. I’m just sorry that I couldn’t get you out sooner.”

“How did you even know I was there?” Lapis asked as she released the hug, stepping back but still keeping her hands on Alexa’s shoulders to stare into her face. “Who are you? WHAT are you?”

Alexa took one of Lapis’ hands and led her to sit together on the edge of the fountain.

“My name is Alexa, or Alex as I mentioned before, and I’m currently a Diamond.” Alexa began.

“Currently? Does this have anything to do with when you turned into a human and then a human-thing?”

Alexa grimaced at the phrasing. “Kind of. Firstly, let me reassure you that I am not a Crystal Gem and wasn’t even alive during the war or when you were trapped in the mirror.”

Lapis flinched when Alexa mentioned the mirror. “Alright.”

“But I am also not a Homeworld Gem.”

“That’s not possible.” Lapis shook her head.

“Normally you would be right but Homeworld Gems and the reble Crystal Gems arent the only Gems around. There exists is a third Gem civilisation the grew from a lost Gem Colony millennia ago.” Alexa explained. Or at least there does now that Morrigan purchased one, Alexa thought to herself.

“How?” Lapis had been made six thousand years ago but had spent all but four-hundred years of that time stuck in a mirror, this was her first-time hearing of another Gem civilisation.

Alexa thought back to when she had dropped into this universe three weeks ago. While they had found themselves in the purchased Temple on earth, it had only been a quick warp to Morrigan’s colony. She had gotten the history of the place then.

“When White Diamond first started her efforts to expand Gem civilisation to other planets about twenty thousand years ago; Homeworld did not have faster than light capable ships.” Alexa explained. “Instead, she sent forth eighteen seed-ships to start the first colonies while the Gems of Homeworld kept working on developing FTL technology.”

“But the history logs only recorded that six seed ships were sent during the ‘first wave.’”

Alexa nodded. “That’s because White Diamond didn’t want anything but her successes documented. You see, the journey to seed other worlds was expected to take more than a thousand years at sub-light speeds and of the eighteen ships sent; only six were able to successfully seed new colonies.”

Alexa held up three fingers. “Three were rendered redundant when Homeworld’s new FTL capable ships caught up to them before they reached their destination.” She raised five more fingers. “Five suffered severe malfunctions in transit and crashed when they reached their target planet and four fell to crew mutiny and infighting, their ships found drifting empty in space.”

Alexa had run out of fingers during her explanation and simply grew more until she was holding up five on one hand and seven on the other, she frowned at her uneven hands and shook them out until she had the regular four finger and thumb on each hand.

“And lastly, one ship disappeared completely. It didn’t reach its destination and was never found along the calculated route.”

Lapis nodded along, fascinated by the newly revealed history of her people.

“The lost ship, the Nemed, had suffered a navigation and communications malfunction that sent it drastically off course. They drifted for hundreds of years until they eventually landed on a garden world far outside of Homewolds star-charts.”

“What happened then?” Lapis asked, drawn into the story.

“Unable to contact Homeworld and unable to repair the ship, the crew of decided to continue the mission and wait for Homeworld to find them. They started seeding the planet with the ships store of proto-gems and started building a colony for Homeworld.”

“How many were there on the ship? Did they have any Lapis Lazulis?”

“The ship was only run by a hundred Gems as that was all that was expected to be needed to seed the world and grow and teach the new generation to do the rest. They were mostly Garnets, Rubies and a few Agates but there were some Lapis Lazuli in the new Generation” Alexa explained.

Lapis looked confused. “Wasn’t one of the Crystal Gems a Garnet?”

Alexa shook her head. “No, she’s a fusion between a Ruby and a Sapphire whose name is Garnet.”

“That’s confusing… wait did you say ‘a fusion?’ I thought only the same gems can fuse.”

Alexa shook her head. “Different gems can also fuse together but the Diamond Authority keeps that information hidden and shatters any Gem they find fusing outside their Gem-type.”

“But why?” Lapis asked bewildered.

“Because inter-Gem fusions are unique and powerful and don’t fit within White Diamonds idea of perfection. Do you want to talk about Gem fusion or about the colony because we’ll be here all night otherwise.”

“No, no, go on.”

“Right; well, it only took a hundred years for the first batch of native gems to be grown, about a hundred and twenty thousand of them in all, and they were taught by the original hundred about their purpose and about Homeworld and the Diamonds. But without a Diamond they were unable to produce any more proto-Gems and so could only produce the one generation.”

“Then what happened?”

Alexa smiled. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing happened.”

“What?!” Lapis cried out; she was invested now. “How could nothing happen?”

Alexa laughed. “Because that’s how it went and that’s how the problems started.”

“What problems?”

“The Gems had succeeded in their mission. They had grown a generation of native Gems and built a colony for Homeworld. It consisted of a large city and a handful of temples but that was all they had been directed to construct. They had been out of contact from Homeworld for hundreds of years and had no new orders. The original overseer Gems kept control of the population but without direction the native Gems started to explore.”

“They explored the planet?” asked confused at how that could cause problems.

“Well, yes. They explored the planet but they also started to explore themselves.”

“I don’t understand” Lapis frowned.

“You have to keep in mind that the native Gems had never met a Diamond. They didn’t grow with that ingrained fear of their superiors. Also, their number was relatively small and so Gems of multiple type had to work together to build their world. This led to friendships and rivalries and a comradery that you generally don’t see among Homeworld Gems. They didn’t see each other as different or better or worse than the other gems, they saw each other as all the same regardless of Gem type.”

“But that’s, that’s scandalous!” Lapis blushed.

“The original overseers thought the same and kept trying to enforce the Homeworld caste system which led to a growing resentment in the native Gems. It came to a head when five hundred years after the kindergarten was closed, a handful of overcooked Gems emerged.”

“Overcooked?”

“It’s a Gem that doesn’t get enough nutrients during development which causes a delay in enlightenment and shorter stature on emergence.” Alex explained. “The Diamonds used to shatter them but have had to tolerate them recently since resources close to Homeworld are dwindling resulting in shorter and weaker Gems”

“Ok.”

“Well, as I was saying: the original Gems wanted to shatter what they considered to be defective Gems; as per their standing orders from White Diamond, but the native Gems disagreed. They saw the new Gems as one of their own no matter what they looked like. When one of the overseers shattered one of the overcooked quartzes it triggered a quick and bloody rebellion.

“What happened?”

“They won.” Alexa said. “The Homeworld Gems had experience and a few had some unique abilities but they were vastly outnumbered. The hundred original Gems were shattered along with about a thousand of the native Gems but the natives won their freedom from Homeworld’s tenuous control.”

“Yay!” Lapis clapped her hands joyfully.

Alexa smiled at Lapis’ exuberance. He had been worried about her reaction since she was so dead-set on returning on Homeworld when freed in the show. The difference of how they were freed or maybe because she had selected her as a companion. Alexa wasn’t sure which.

“The native Gems decided to build a home for themselves without Homeworlds draconian rules.” She continued.

“Without the ability to make more proto-Gems their population could not grow, but without the ability to create more Gems they focused more on themselves and their growing civilisation. Since they didn’t need more kindergartens the planet’s ecosystem wasn’t overly damaged and the Gems grew to love the forests which covered much of the world. They grew closer with nature and changed their city to be in balance with the world around them. The named the city ‘Danann’ and their planet ‘Danu’ and called themselves her children. They developed their own culture and history as the centuries passed and they also developed much of the same Gem-tech as Homeworld with only a few differences.”

“So there’s a planet of a hundred thousand free Gems out there?” Lapis asked with wonder.

“More actually.”

“But you said they couldn’t grow more.”

“Right, and they still can’t… or maybe it’s that they don’t now. But they did eventually come up with a way to increase their population without the use of proto-Gems and kindergartens.”

“How?” Lapis leant in close, eager for the answer.

“That.” Alexa reached out and poked Lapis’ nose. “Is a secret.”

“What!” Lapis blushed.

“It’s a secret. I’m not going to share it without their permission.”

“But… but… but aren’t you their Diamond?”

“Oh, you couldn’t pay be to be their Diamond. They’re insane.”

Lapis was growing very confused. “But you just told me their history. Their journey! How would you know all that if you weren’t one of them?”

“I’m friends with their Queen.”

“They call their Diamonds ‘Queens?’”

“Nah, Morrigan is actually a Flint Quartz.”

“I’m so confused.” Lapis rubbed at her temple. “So where do you come into all this?”

“You wouldn’t believe me.”

“I just sat here for the last hour while you told me about a lost Gem civilisation. What could be more unbelievable than that?”

“I’m an inter-dimensional adventurer traveling the multiverse under the direction of a sexy omnipotent being while gathering power and companions on the way.”

Lapis just stared at her for a good minute. “You’re right, I don’t believe you.”

“I thought as much, I wouldn’t believe me either.” Alexa agreed. “That’s why I’m going to suggest you hang out with me for a while. I’ll show you around, we’ll visit Morrigan’s colony. We’ll meet people and play with fun toys and after a year if you want to then you can come with us to another world, gain greater powers and enjoy real freedom.”

If there was one thing that Alexa had said that night that might have appealed to Lapis it was likely the idea of freedom and companionship. She had been stuck in a mirror for five thousand years and most of that time she had been alone. In the animated show she had desperately wanted to return to Homeworld despite them being the ones who imprissoned her in the mirror because it was all she knew and because they weren’t the Crystal Gems who she had seen as the ones who had kept her trapped in the mirror for so long.

She sought the companionship of her own kind but ultimately found them to have changed from what she expected. She had clung to an unhealthy fusion because it was companionship that wasn’t Homeworld and it wasn’t the Crystal Gems. She had eventually found peace and friendship with Peridot at the barn but it had taken much hardship and pain. Now Alexa was offering something better: the possibility of life away from both factions of a war she had never wanted to be part of and power enough to never be a prisoner again.

“I’m not sure I believe you, but I’m willing to stick around and see what you’re offering.” Lapis said carefully.

Alexa nudged her shoulder against Lapis’ and smiled up at her (stupid short-stack drawback). “I’m ok with that.”

Lyn lent over Morrigan’s shoulder to better see the holo-monitor that she was observing.

“Why are they singing?” she asked Morrigan.

“I don’t know,” Morrigan shook her head, “they got back an two hours ago, put the boy to bed and then discussed plans to deal with Homeworld’s return and now then they've just started singing a song about how much they miss Rose.”

Lyn reached over and turned up the volume.

Lyn turned the volume back down. “Catchy but not great.”

“They’ve done better.” Morrigan nodded.

Their criticism of the Crystal Gems was interrupted as the black-crystal warp pad in the room lit up with a pillar of light which faded away to reveal Alexa and Lapis.

“Alexa!” Lyn shouted as she flew at the Grey Diamond on rainbow wings of light.

Alexa caught the diminutive two and half foot girl and swung her around. At least some people were still shorter than her.
Lapis looked around what seemed to be a large, circular, cavernous space; likely a natural cave given the unevenness of the stone walls. Within the very centre was the warp pad on which she stood. Unlike all others she had seen before this one was made of a polished black crystal that shone with streaks of blue, green and muted yellow where the light reflected from it, though it still retained the same shape and dimensions as others she had seen. Surrounding the warp pad were thirteen menhirs of dark grey stone. Each one was intricately carved in rigid Gem glyphs and winding swirls and knotwork.

Beyond that circle the stone walls were lined with brighter, modern Gem-tech. Holographic displays and glowing crystal veins of power illuminated the room from all sides except on one wall which was a wide set of stone stairs that led to a small platform halfway up the cavern. Upon the platform stood one lone standing stone with a large violet crystal set in the side facing the round entrance to the cavern, stars glittered in the night sky that could be seen through mouth of the cave.

“So this is Lapis.” Lyn said from where she was latched onto Alexa’s side. The small girl looked the Gem up and down with a leer. “I can see why you like her.”

Alexa ruffled Lyn’s hair. “Behave, Brooklyn.”

Lyn stuck her tongue out at the Diamond. “You know I prefer ‘Lyn’”

“I am aware.”

Lapis didn’t know what to make of the pair. It was easy to forget that Alexa was a Diamond but such banter made it obvious that she was not a Homeworld Diamond. She also had never seen a Gem such as Lyn before. The girl was tiny but she guessed that didn’t say anything since Alexa had explained something about a ‘short-stack drawback,’ that affected all their heights. She was more human in appearance than any Gem she had seen before. She had pale skin and long white hair that glimmered with a rainbow of colour as she moved like the sheen on a soap bubble. She wore a white cross neck halter top that merged into a knee length puffy skirt. It left her back and midriff uncovered, exposing her round, rose-cut white and rainbow Gem. Though they had disappeared when she latched onto Alexa, Lyn’s wings had looked like they were made of sharp shards of opalescent glass that hung separate from her actual body.

“What… are you?” Lapis asked.

Lyn grinned and leapt back from Alexa her wings reappearing midjump and holding her in the air. She twirled a pirouette and a bow with one hand across her chest and the other swept backwards. “I,” she exclaimed grandiosely, “am an Angel Aura Quartz human-Gem hybrid.”

She floated in her pose for a moment until her wings flickered and popped causing her to fall to the floor with an “Ooph!”

“Hybrid?” Lapis turned to Alexa.

“She’s part human and part gem.” Alexa explained as she helped Lyn to her feet.

“All the Gem powers in a cosy, meat casing,” Lyn brushed herself off; with a wince as she brushed her bruised rear, “though it definitely takes some practice to get the powers right.”

“If a Gem recreates the human anatomy with enough detail, they can become pregnant with a hybrid. Unfortunately, the process causes the direct inheritance of the Gem’s Gem to the child resulting in their… I guess death is the best explanation.” Alexa answered the blushing Lapis’ unasked question.

“But don’t worry, I’m unique in that I became a half-gem via the Jump-doc so there was no maternal sacrifice here.” Lyn interjected.

“Right.” Lapis cautiously agreed. “Just to be sure, you’re not currently trapped in a human screaming desperately for someone to rip you out of your prison and free you from your endless torture?”

Lyn blinked. “Um… no. Not that at all.”

“Alright then.” Lapis held a straight face for all of a moment before bursting into strained laughter. “Pfftt! Hahhahahha-haha-ah-haaa… I’ll likely need therapy to nail that down.” She sighed.

“Ack! Cough! Ah- hah ahhahahaha.” Her response set Alexa off.

Lyn looked back and forth between the two. “I’m missing something or you’re both cracked.”

“I just had a bath so I’m not cracked anymore.” Lapis said with a giggle while Alexa struggled to catch her breath.
Lyn just sighed and hoped someone would fill her in later.

“So how are the Spectre’s going with the Crystal Gems?” Alexa asked once she finally settled.

“They’re going great. No problems as of yet and no indications that the Gems have noticed a thing. Morrigan is keeping an eye on the feed in case anything is up.”

“Awesome. If they don’t notice anything then we can proceed to sending some to Homeworld.”

“I don’t know why you bothered with the test run with the Gems when we know the Tuatha De didn’t notice them.” Lyn grumbled.

“The Crystal Gems are a lot closer in make and tech to the Homeworld Gems than Morrigan’s Gems are, so it doesn’t hurt to be cautious.”

“I’m sorry, what are you two talking about?” Lapis asked.

“Oh you’ll like this.” Alexa said as she grabbed Lapis’ hand and pulled her over to where Morrigan was interfaced with a holo-terminal.

The console was a green crystal table slightly tilted towards the seat in front of it, its surface was covered in an array of system readouts and manual overrides. Morrigan sat at the console staring forward, her eyes glazed with the data stream and her hands submerged in a holographic interface matrix that allowed her to directly affect the system. In front of her floated a flat holographic display which currently depicted the Crystal Gems discussing matters in a room filled with bubbled gems and a large crystal heart.

Alexa glanced at the projection. “Oh hey, a geothermal diffuser. You don’t see those anymore. They must be using it to power their temple.” Her ‘Gem Tech’ perk filled in her understanding of what she was seeing.

Lapis felt a moment of disconnect. The crystal heart was cutting edge technology at the time of her imprisonment. The fact that it was now supposedly obsolete just made her feel further away from old life than before. She distracted herself by observing Morrigan.

Although Morrigan looked a little older she was about the same size as Lyn, which made sense since they were both variations of quartz. Her skin was a pale olive green and hair was a short spiky mess of dull greens, blues, greys, pinks and ochres. She wore a cream dress with two long slits and the side for ease of movement and it was cinched at the waist by a dark grey boddice. Her Gem, visible on her outer thigh where her dress fell open, was an oval of striated cream and blue-grey stone that looked as if it had been chipped into shape rather than cut or polished.

Lapis noticed that other than Alexa every gem in the room was barefoot, which was uncommon outside of Blue Diamonds court… her old court.

“Have there been any developments?” Alexa asked Morrigan.

“Other than the fact that they were singing just be before you returned, there’s been nothing of interest. They’ve only discussed actions we’ve already anticipated. Though you will be happy to know that your ‘Time Medallion’ seems to block Garnet’s future vision” Morrigan said without turning from the screen.

“Excellent. I’ll have to see if I can duplicate it for everyone.”

“How do you have a video feed from the Gem’s base?” Lapis asked.

“I had a Spectre waiting at the Luna Sea Spire to follow their warp back to their base. I wasn’t sure if they had added any security to their home warp. I’m fairly certain they hadn’t and know that they don’t have any restrictions of leaving their base.”

“And a Spectre is what exactly?” Lapis asked with a hint of annoyance. She was uncomfortable being out of the loop.

Alexa gestured to the next work station along the wall. This one had a white circular table about a metre in diameter with clear space to walk around it. She touched a finger to the interface matrix and mentally activated the table. The table glowed with a soft white light. Within its centre a red liquid crystal bubbled up and bulged and twisted itself until it solidified into a round sphere about the half size of a basketball. The sphere slowly hovered into the air above the table and a dim glowing circle appeared on one side of its surface making it look vaguely like an eye.

“It’s a surveillance device?” Lapis asked.

“Able to send audio, visual and sensor information instantly by a private warp-space relay.” Alexa buffed her nails on her jacket.

“It’s not exactly discrete.”

“That’s because it’s not complete. Here watch.”

Alexa stepped toward the Spectre and shifted into her ghost form as he did. He reached out and touched a control screen on the table causing the Spectre to unfold like a blossoming rose. From the centre of the rose a clear crystal cube levitated out.

Alex changed the form of one of his fingers into a sharp talon and used it to cut his other arm, much as he did when converting Sam and Tucker into half-ghosts in the Danny Phantom Universe. He gathered only a few drops of the glowing green ectoplasm which he allowed to drip into the crystal cube. He focused his will on the ectoplasm, feeding it energy.

The Cube absorbed the strange substance and started glowing an eerie green. Alex’s eyes burned with silvery energy and he pumped more purpose into the cube, enchanting it with invisibility and intangibility. The glow of the cube slowly disappeared until all that was left was a clear crystal cube with what appeared to be a pale green flame burning within.
Alex touched the table top again causing the cube to retract into the Spectre which then folded back up into a sphere.

Lapis found herself shivering slightly. Whatever Alex had done, whatever power he had used had felt like a cold tingle through her Gem. She almost jumped out of her form when a small voice interrupted her thoughts from next to her.

“It takes a bit to get used to.” Morrigan said from her seat, she had stopped the interface when she felt Alex use his ecto-energy. “It didn’t feel so creepy when I was a ghost but both Gems and humans say it feels weird. The humans call it ‘someone walking on their grave,’ which I guess is poetic.”

“What was that?” Lapis whispered as she watched Alex shift back to Diamond form and interface with the work table.

“He was using his ecto-enchanting ability.” Morrigan explained. “Using a meta-substance called ectoplasm and a certain type of energy he can enforce a purpose onto items.”

Alexa stepped back from the work table. “All checks clear, enchanting was a success.” She touched the tabletop and the Spectre floated off the table and around the room.

Lapis could only watch in awe as it at first flew a complex pattern around the rooms standing stones and then simply started flying through them. Phasing through the stone without a sound or any indication of it passing. The Spectre came to a stop in front of her, Alexa pointed to a holo-display that showed the Spectre’s visual of her standing there. The Spectre then simply faded out of sight. The only reason Lapis was even sure it was still there was the continued feed displayed on the monitor.

“Absolutely silent, invisible and able to phase through anything bar ghost-shielding.” Alexa said.

“That’s incredible.”

“It took me ten days to get the enchantment down. But now that we know Gems can’t detect them, I can start sending them to Homeworld so we can prepare for when the Diamonds come.

Lapis nodded absently as she waved her hand through where the Spectre should be until her words caught up with her.

“Wait… The Diamonds are coming?!”

Chapter Text

“OK! OK! You’ve forced me to use my ULTIMATE WEAPON! Stand back!” He raised his crossed his hands in front of him and glared at the Crystal Gems. “Psychic Ghost Powers Activate!”

He started chanting in an unknown language. “Yessakabababa Yessakabababa…”

The gems looked on in concern, disbelief and confusion on their faces but they still prepared themselves for anything, readying their weapons for the coming attack.

“…YessakaBABABAAAAAA!” He cried.

“EVERYBODY STOP!” Shouted Steven as he jumped in front of the deranged Ronaldo.

At the same time the sky outside the lighthouse lit up with a brilliant flare of white light and the entire tower shook violently as if hit by something heavy.

“He really is psychic?” Amethyst squeaked as the tower shook.

“Wahhaa!” Ronaldo fell over. “Oww!”

“Maybe not.” Amethyst amended.

“What’s happening?” Cried Pearl as the tower shook again with another blinding flash from outside.

“There’s something outside!” Garnet flinched as her future vision gave her a bare second of warning which she used to scoop Ronaldo and Steven up into her Gauntleted hands and jump out of the way as a giant shard of grey ice the size of a bus crashed through the lighthouse right where the two had been.

“Everyone out!” Garnet yelled as she jumped through a hole in the wall with the Ronaldo and Steven in her arms.

Amethyst scooped up Peedee as she and Pearl followed Garnet out of the collapsing building.

They had barely landed on the grass outside when the tower collapsed in a crash of wood, stone and glass.

Amethyst tossed the shocked Peedee gently to the side as she readied her weapon for whatever came next. “What on earth just happened?”

“I don’t know.” Yelled Peal.

“Get your hands off me you damn, filthy snake!” Ronaldo growled.

Garnet unceremoniously dropped him on his rear then gently put Steven on his feet. “Something’s coming.” She warned.

The rubble of the lighthouse shook as the giant shard of ice was pushed up and out of the pile of stone.

The Gems took a step back at the sheer rage embodied in the figure. The new Gem was large, as large as Rose had been, her hair was a mane of creamy white down her back and her skin was a striated light and dark orange. On her forehead she wore a faceted orange helmet with a large yellow crystal as a strange hammer head. Instead of a nose, her kite-shaped yellow Gem adorned the centre of her face.

“Gyahh!” with a shout a figure emerged from beneath the grey crystal shard, pushing it away. “I’ll crush you for that you defective Coprolite!”

Her answer was another bus sized ice shard slamming into her from the heavens. The shock of the impact nocked the surrounding spectators prone in a rush of chill air and heavy mists.

Pearl looked up at a swirling mass of grey clouds that raged and boiled with unreleased thunder. A small figure encased in silver light floated slowly down from the storm. Her dark blue hair frothed and roiled like the sea in a storm and her dark grey dress whipped violently in the winds. Even from the distance Pearl could see both the Gem’s eyes, one pair above the other, and the Gem glowed with the same icy storm light. From her back sharp silver wings of ice poised themselves threateningly around her petite form.

“Did you just call me a piece of shit, Jasper?” The small Gem shouted. “’Cause I’ll admit; that was actually clever.”

The grey ice shard that had impacted Jasper shattered revealing the large woamn standing there panting heavily and covered in scrapes. She glared at the approaching Gem before centring herself with a heavy exhale and a feral grin. In the blink of an eye, she moved. Leaping forward her body wrapped itself in orange light as she curled into a ball which then span rapidly. Much like a certain well know hedgehog she sped along the torn-up ground gaining speed until she hit a slanted slab of ice and using it as a ramp to launch herself at the flying Diamond fusion.

The orange ball of fury sped towards the floating figure who easily dodged with a flap of her artic wings. The storm followed her movement, the clouds twisting themselves into flows of water which then froze into chains of ice that reached for the angry orange quartz. Jasper used one of the approaching chains to as a platform to burst out of her roll so that she could fling herself head first at the icy grey Gem. The fusion simply ducked and span around her, her moves graceful as a dance.

Each time she missed Jasper used one of the ice chains that were coiling around the pair to leap back at the Diamond either not noticing the tightening of the chains or uncaring of the encroaching trap.

From below the Crystal Gems could only look on in shock and awe at the high paced action above. Streaks of orange lighting lancing back and forth within the storm as it tried to land a blow on the swirling silver glow at the heart of the thunderstorm.

“Holy cow!” Amethyst exclaimed.

“I can’t see anything.” Steven whined as he jumped up and down trying to get a glimpse of the action.

“I can barely even follow them.” Pearl said with hushed breath.

“Hn.” Garnet agreed succinctly.

The battled overhead continued as Jaspers strikes came closer and closer to the winged Gem in an ever-tightening circle of chains until with a final dismissive dodge the fused Gem simply stepped back and cinched the web of ice closed around the orange Gem.

Alexa and Lapis Lazuli — no, Alexuli — reached forth her hand and clenched her fist, the chains of ice growing jagged edges of cold blades that tightening into a knot around Jasper causing the proud quartz soldier to scream in pain.

“You’ll never escape,” Jasper grunted, “the Diamonds know you’re here on this doomed dirt-ball of a planet. They’ll send more when I don’t return with the shattered fragments of your impure Gem.”

“Oh, We know. In fact, we're counting on it.” Alexuli smirked as she grabbed one of the connecting chains and spun the trapped Gem around thrice as she gained momentum before launching the bound Gem back toward the shattered lighthouse with yell and a crack of thunder.

Jasper impacted the ground in an explosion of force that threw up dirt and stone in a cloud around her heavy impact.

Alexuli looked down at the crater he opponent had a made and decided to end this. Reaching forward, a large clear glowing crystal pyramid grew before her outstretched hand.

Jasper groaned from her position in the dirt as she stared up at the storm she had challenged. The chains of ice still bit savagely into her flesh preventing her from escaping so she simply grit her teeth and braced herself for the impact; expecting it to be launched at her much like the other attracts she’d taken. Instead, the pyramid unfurled into a faceted star and glowed brighter until it hurt to look at directly. The dark grey storm clouds shivered in anticipation as small arcs of lightning danced around the star and the foreboding gem which held it.

With a humming buzz that the present humans and Steven felt in their bones, the lightning looked to be sucked into the brightly glowing crystal which then flickered dimly for just a moment before a thick beam of white light erupted from the star and engulfed the spot where Jasper lay with a thunderous, furious roar. The heat of the beam and the very concussive force of its passing pushed the other Gems back as Steven stepped infront of Ronaldo and Peedee with a pink force shield to keep them from being hurt.

When the dust cleared and those around had blinked the spots from their eyes, they were shocked to see the ruined lighthouse was simply gone. A round crater of slagged earth in its place. In the centre was a prone figure encased in cracked, yellow body armour that was slowly breaking apart in yellow sparkles of light. It seemed that Jasper had shaped her helmet into a full body protection at the last moment.

“Damn. I did not expect you to survive that.” Alexuli said as she floated down to land beside the wheezing, exhausted Gem. “Normally I’d just poof you like I did with the weaker minions the Diamonds have sent but you and I both know that you would never give up.”

“I’ll… Kill… You…” the fallen Gem wheezed.

Alexuli summoned her misericord dagger and slammed the point into Jasper’s Gem, shattering it.

“No. You won’t.”

Jasper’s body disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving behind the shards of her Gem. Alexuli quietly gathered the yellow shards and bubbled them. She held the bubble for a moment thinking about what could be considered her first kill… their first kill, Lapis had shouldered some of the weight for her.

Part of her wanted to shy away and say that these people, these Gems weren’t real but she knew that they were. They may be created from a work of fiction but they were real now. A more reasonable part of her knew that Jasper was insane and would stop at nothing to follow through with the orders to kill her, them, he friends and her sister. She could have bubbled her and stored the bubble in a painting and then kept that in the warehouse. She seriously doubted anyone would be able to escape from that. But she had wanted to shatter Jasper because she knew that killing someone was going to happen in one Jump or the other and honestly, she knew she would feel the least remorse if her first kill was a psychopathic space Nazi… it helped that Lapis had experience firsthand the savagery of the first Gem rebellion.
Once this would have meant that she constantly ran from impending conflict but here in this world, strength and the power of her new friends had firmed her resolve against ever being a victim again.

Alexuli sighed and decided she was spending too much time in her Gem form if she was thinking that analytically about killing others.

With a thought she teleported the bubble away, maybe she could find some use for the pieces. She brushed her hands of the situation and walked out of the crater and right into the crowd of Crystal Gems. “Oh… um, hi? Sorry about the lighthouse. I’ll have someone fix that up.”

“You- you- killed her.” Steven said with tears running down his pale face. “How could you?”

Alexuli knew she didn’t need to explain herself to a kid but still she said, “If I didn’t shatter Jasper then she would have kept coming after us. She also would have informed Homeworld that the Crystal Gems are still alive. Then they would come after you.” If she kept telling herself that there was a logical reason behind it maybe she could asway her feelings of apathetic guilt.

“Why would they want to you, why would they want to hurt us?” Steven asked bewildered.

Alexuli frowned at the kid. “Have the Gems told you nothing about Homeworld and what they believe in?”
Pearl stepped in front of Steven.

“He’s too young.” She said firmly.

“They told me that Homeworld did some bad things and that they and Mum had to fight them. But I’m sure if we just talked then we could have work it out. You didn’t need to shatter her.” Steven said from behind Pearl.

Alexuli cocked an eyebrow at Pearl. “If we just talked, we could all be friends, huh?”

“Yeah!” Steven said with all the conviction of a child that knows that the world is kind and good.

“You’re going to get him killed.” Alexuli told Pearl who simply flinched.

There was a chance that Steven could still win over the Diamonds with the Power of Friendship as he did in the show but with Alexa here in this Jump that was unlikely, especially with her drawbacks in play.

“HEY!” Steven pouted.

“Let me tell you this.” Alexuli said to Steven. “The Diamonds are not going to ever give up in their quest to see us shattered no matter what you say.”

“But- but why?”

“Because I exist.” Alexa simply said. Because the drawback is fiat guaranteed, she thought instead.

Because she is a fusion. The Gems thought instead.

Alexuli started walking away from the Gems.

“Wait!” Called Garnet. “Who are you?”

Alexuli paused and tilted her head back to look at the gathered Gems. Seeming to come to a decision she nodded before her form dissolved into formless light which then split into two distinct entities.

“I’m Alexa,” Alexa said as she reformed from the fusion, “I’m the Flawed Diamond.”

“And I’m Lapis.” Lapis glared at the Gems as she reformed, “the Forgotten Jewel.”

Before they could ask anything else; Alexa surrounded them in an opaque grey bubble and teleported herself and Lapis away leaving the Gems to gawk when the bubble phased out of existence and revealed them gone

“… can we do that?” Amethyst asked, waving her hand at where Alexa had disappeared.

“No… at least, I don’t think so.” Pearl murmured.

Garnet frowned. “I can’t see them.”

“Yeah, they like, totally just disappeared.” Amethyst rolled her eyes.

“No, I mean I can’t see them in any of the futures.”

“How could they hide from that?” Pearl asked with concern as the Gems started walking back to their temple, dragging Steven with them.

“I’m not sure but I don’t like it.”

Ronaldo just watched the Gems get further and further away.

“So… they’re not snake people?”

“Mhmm.” Peedee just shrugged.

“What just happened?” He asked his younger brother.

“I don’t know.” Peedee admitted then held up the video camera. “But I did get it all on camera.”

Ronaldo blinked. “Alright! We can post it on my Blog! KEEP BEACH CITY WEIRD!”

Morrigan looked up when Alex and Lapis teleported into the temple.

“That took longer than expected.”

“Jasper was surprisingly sturdy.” Alexa said as she collapsed back into a crystal chair that grew from the ground behind her. Automated Gem tech for the win, he thought.

“I’m… going for a walk.” Lapis told them as she walked to the warp pad and beamed away.

“Is she ok?” Morrigan asked in concern.

“I think so.” Alexa answered as she stretched out and popped her shoulders (how does that even work with a body made of light?), “she decided to join me for the fight and we fused to battle Jasper. I think she just needs a little time alone to come to terms with her decision to actually fight with us.”

Morrigan nodded in understanding. They both loved Lapis and would be there for her when she needed them but they both also understood from only their short time together that she was someone who just needed time alone to decompress and sort herself out. Strange for someone who had spent so long alone in the mirror but that just how she was.

Alex had likened her to a cat at one point, explaining how the small furry animals would ignore their owners to do their own thing and then at other times be content to simply sit in the same room as you for company. Morrigan and Lyn had laughed at the comparison and Lapis had dumped a globe of water on him before storming out. The fact that an hour later she chose to read a book while lounging in the warehouse where Alex was working on a future project instead of her room in the companion housing didn’t prove anything at all.

“Where do you think she went through?” Alexa asked as she stretched out, there was no stolen barn for them in this universe.

“She’s likely at the Danu Colony.”

Alexa sent her a raised eyebrow.

Morrigan shrugged. “I know she likes to brood but she’s also fascinated by a Gem colony that doesn’t answer to the Diamond Authority. There’s a lot of nice spaces there to just relax that fit the Gem psyche. Not sure why they all seem to love large stone monuments so much,” Morrigan explained. “Personally, I just think she enjoys the attention she gets there sometimes. All the Tuath De Danann Lapis Lazuli’s have those cute pyrite freckles and they just gush about smooth and blue our Lapis is.”

“Our Lapis?” Alexa asked with a grin.

“You know what I mean.” Morrigan grumbled.

“I’m glad you’re getting along. Lyn and her seem to do well together when Lyn’s not vying for my attention.”

“That girl has it bad for you.”

“I know.” Alex mumbled, remembering when Lyn had joined her in the shower.

Thankfully she hadn’t been male at the time but even then, the repeated offers to help her wash her back were a bit obvious. She sighed as she wasn’t sure what to do about it. On one hand she had memories of Lyn as a cute if slightly obsessed little sister. On the other they weren’t actually related or at least they weren’t once they had left the Monopoly Gauntlet. She sighed and decided to just not think about it. Avoidance was a perfectly acceptable coping mechanism thank you very much.

“Speaking of the little angel. Where is Lyn?”

“She was worried that we can’t find Spinel, so she’s in the Trapeze dropping Grav-sensors around the solar system and likely star routes.”

“Alone?” Alexa asked concerned.

“The Trapeze can outlast anything she may encounter at least long enough for her to teleport to the Companion Housing with her phone if she gets into trouble.”

“You’re right, I just worry.”

Morrigan smiled, “I know.”

The Trapeze was the first ship they had built. It was a blocky trapezoid shaped vessel of dark blue and black crystal with a tapered front and was about the size of two motorhomes parked side by side. The inside, like most Gem crafts, was larger than the outside would suggest and could comfortably house a crew of eight. It was powered by a Gem-Light Converter, otherwise known as a modified unenlightened Gem, that was able to convert all light into a usable energy. Even better it was able to convert ‘Gem-Light’. The light that all Gems could feel even in absolute darkness.

‘Gem-Light’ wasn’t visible yet it permeated everything, everywhere and everywhen since the creation of the universe — or at least that what Homeworld records said — there was very much a ‘let there be Light,’ aspect to it. The short of the matter was that the ship had a near unlimited source of power, constrained only by the amount of light it could convert at any one time and how much power the components could channel without burning out.

Lastly, the ship was capable of faster than light travel much like any other modern Gem ship. Using what Gem’s called a gravity engine, which could be best described as a combination of a Romulan warp-drive and a theoretical Alcubierre drive, the ship was able to achieve faster than light travel by utilising an artificial black hole to warp the space around the ship creating a bubble of warp-space that could ride the wave of compressed space faster than light and take the ship with it.

Alexa would like to say the Trapeze was better than anything Homeworld currently had but that would be a lie. It was slightly more efficient since it didn’t have the useless aspect of being modelled as a hand or a pair of legs but the sheer size of Homeword ships meant a much greater capacity of Gem-light Converters and weaponry. Building a comparable ship, even with Alexa’s crystal creation ability, would take longer than a year and so wasn’t a priority.

“How did she miss Jaspers Roaming-Eye ship?” Alexa asked.

“She hadn’t seeded the Homeworld route yet but called in that she had detected traces of an old grav-trail when she did. You had already engaged Jasper by that point so I didn’t see to the need to pass it on while you were in battle.”

“The bitch surprised us at the Communication Hub.”

“Why were you even there? The Gems destroyed it three months ago.” Morrigan asked as she remembered watching the fusion drama between the Crystal Gems play out.

“I know, I know. But Lapis wanted to explore and I wanted to test if the tech could pick up our private channel.”

“Can it?”

“It can, but you either have to be incredibly lucky or know what you’re looking for.”

“Wait, it can pick up our Jump-phones?”

“No, just the warp-relay that the Spectre, the Pavilions and the Ship use. It’s still encoded but the hub can get the signal. Honestly, I’m not even sure how our phones work but they’re safe. We can sync them with our gem-tech but I think that’s more Jump ridiculousness rather than our tech being good.”

Alexa looked down at the modified unenlightened Pearl attached to her left wrist. He had given one to each of the Companions. It replicated many of a Pearl’s powers allowing them to store items, communicate with each other and take notes through holographic interfaces. When they stored their Jump-Phones in the Gem the two had combined in functionality, meaning they could communicate or teleport to the warehouse with the pearl.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I dunno, it’s been five months already and I expected more from the Diamonds than a scout drone, some corrupted fusion experiments and Jasper. None of which but the last even deserve a mention. We’ve been watching them and only Yellow Diamonds seems to be preparing to come personally but my gut says shits about to hit the fan.”

More than just watching the Diamonds she had been working each day to prepare for their attack. She had two traps ready for when the Diamonds came to earth. The Galaxy Warp was rigged with a special surprise and then she had her Pavilions.

See, the Trapeze hadn’t been built to seed the local space with sensors. No, she had originally built it to facilitate the deployment of fifty-eight orbital satellites. She called them ‘The Pavilions,’ fifty-eight orbital light-cannons each powered by its own Gem-Light Converter and each ecto-enchanted for invisibility and intangibility. It had taken months of blood, sweat and tears to get them all up and running.

Morrigan touched a few controls on the console she was sitting at and put the Spectre monitors in automatic mode. They’d continue shadowing select targets and the computer’s limited AI would send an alert if certain key words or actions were picked up.

She turned back to Alexa. “You sound like you need to relax.”

“Probably.” Alexa groaned.

“You got the hot spring up and running yesterday, right?”

“It’s actually the overflow of our own geothermal condenser, I liked the idea of having a back up to the Gem-Light converter… less chance of accidents.”

“Well, Lapis likely to be back until tomorrow and Lyn will be out for another few hours so I’m going to go enjoy a relaxing soak.” Morrigan snapped her fingers causing her dress to disappear into motes of light.

“You’re welcome to join me.” She said as she walked away with a noticeable sway in her step.

Alexa was frozen for a minute, her eyes glues to Morrigan’s curvy rear.

“Fuck it. Wait for me,” she scrambled after the retreating woman.

The Temple provided by the Jump-doc was hidden away on a small island near Beach City. The island was little more than a rocky crag with sheer cliffs and rock shoals on all sides. The entrance to the Temple was similar to the Crystal Gem’s Temple. Hidden away between two of the islands peaks was the carved of the dark stone of the island was a statue of a giant nude woman sitting cross legged, her head back and her eyes closed as if she was resting against one of the cliffs. Her hands were held together folded palm up in her lap, creating a platform to enter the temple proper through where her navel would be.

When Alex had expanded with cavern with the help of Morrigan and her Geokinesis, they had made multiple chambers off the main cavern. One such chamber deep within had actually cut right through the rocky peak and opened to a large ledge midway up the cliff face on the other side. Within the last week Alex had converted the area into an open-air hot spring; he had completed it only yesterday and was going to unveil it to the group the next time they were all together, but it seemed Morrigan had beaten them to the punch.

The hot spring was an Olympic sized pool of steaming water half enclosed by stone and half open on the ledge. Overflow from the spring created a small waterfall into the crashing ocean waves a hundred feet below. Alex had created Gem-tech planes of clear crystal that would shelter the exposed portion of the spring when desired, such as when the weather was a problem or when security or privacy was needed. The crystal would appear clear from the interior yet from outside it changed colour and texture to closely match the cliff face.

Before the pool proper was a series of open showers; again Gem-tech handily removed any issues with location, taking care of things such as plumbing as the water flowed directly from silvery crystal shower heads and vanished into the carefully textured crystal floor. Alex had to admit he was quite proud of his work even if the idea had only come to him while directing the overflow of the Geothermal Condenser to the ocean.

Currently, Alex luxuriated on the smooth curved seating that ran along the inner edge within the hot spring. The hot water felt fantastic to his stretched muscles after an hour or so of vigorous — and by damn was it vigorous — activity. It felt less good on the long scratches that ran down his back but sometimes sacrifices had to be made… that and he would shift ghost and let them heal later. He gently held and supported Morrigan curled up sideways on his lap, her head resting against his chest, eyes closed and a small smile on her lips. He relaxed and enjoyed the feel of her skin, slowly running a hand up and down her thigh evoking an occasional shudder from the tired Gem.

“That was fun.” Alex said.

“Mhmm,” Morrigan hummed in contented agreement.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what brought that on,” Alex asked, “I thought you found stuff like that embarrassing.”

“You flirted more when I was in ghost form but I feel much more confident as a Gem.”

Alex nodded. During down time while relaxing in the Warehouse housing, he would often find himself switching between Gem, human or ghost form. Morrigan did the same between her Gem and ghost form. Food tasted better as a human and sleep came easier yet working on fun projects went better as a ghost or half-ghost. It was a contradiction that as a ghost the quiet was quieter and yet the passions rans hotter.

Alternatively, Gem form was better for tedious, thought heavy projects. It was easier to plan or calculate actions though this was balanced by layer of vanity and, oddly enough, sexuality in being a Gem. The Gem form felt… itchy for contact with others; if they weren’t alone with a task that needed done then they craved social interaction and physical contact. It explained why Homeworld was so insistence that every Gem was busy with a task at all times. As a Gem this meant that if he wasn’t working on tech he was thinking about the girls.

Human form, for at least those who had them, was best for simply relaxing. It was nice for all of them chill together, play video games or watch the movies of this world. Dog-copter was actually surprisingly good; it had a real self-awareness thing going on.

Lapis, of course, remained exclusively a Gem because she didn’t have another form yet. Alex had offered her a ghost transformation but Lapis had decided to wait until she got to know everyone better. Morrigan had already taken the ghost form conversion and could now ‘go ghost’ from her Gem forms. Lyn had also decided she would take the conversion and was now ‘half-ghost, half-human and half-gem’ or as she like to call it a ‘a hundred and fifty percent bad-ass.’
Still Lyn might have been a bit of an exception in the form changing trend in that she spent most of her time in Half-Gem form and rarely reverted back to human or went ghost unless she needed one of the ghost powers. As a half-Gem Lyn could still enjoy the human experience as well as the focus and passions of a Gem: she might have had the best of both worlds.

“Also, Lyn helped.” Morrigan continued.

Alex froze. “When you say Lyn helped?”

“She gave me advice on how to approach you and she helped me practice.”

“When you say practice…?”

Morrigan looked up into Alex’s eyes. “You’re the first man I’ve ever been with, but you’re the second woman.”

Alex’s face reddened as he remembered enjoying himself with Morrigan in both his human male form and his female Gem form. He also couldn’t help picturing little Lyn and Morrigan doing what Alexa had been doing forty minutes ago and he felt himself reacting to the thought.

“You’re a naughty girl, Morrigan.” He grumbled.

Morrigan smirked and she ground her ass on his hardening member. “Oh no, I’m not the one imagining my little sister having sex.”

“No, you’re just one who had sex with her.”

Morrigan laughed. “Guilty”

There was a splash as Alex threw Morrigan off his lap into the deeper water. Morrigan came up spluttering and laughing. He swam after her for round four.

Chapter Text

“What’s got you so happy? You’ve been smiling for days.” Lyn asked Alex as he relaxed in the lounge.

“I was able to get a few projects done.” Alex stretched out while thinking of his completed anti-Diamond measures.

Making tech was not hard with his perks. Making tech that then in turn made more tech was still annoying though. He had managed to finish a few synthesisers that were pumping out pearl-communicators, or P-comms as he was now calling them, and his wrist-wands. Aquamarine won’t be the only gem armed with those portable tractor beams now.

He was also glad that things were finally happening. Their observation of Yellow Diamond via the Spectres had shown that she had authorised the dispatch of Peridot’s flask robonoids which had soon after been detected entering the solar-system. In a few days they will have found and repaired the Galaxy warp and Yellow Diamond would come to earth to ‘Personally deal with the upstart Diamond.’ Taking on one separated Diamond was likely going to be much easier than taking on all three. Alex had also prepared a few surprises for when she arrived and if it came to it then the ship was readied and stocked in case they needed to simply flee.

“And here I thought it was because you started getting laid.” Lyn replied while sitting heavily on Alex’s stomach.

“Ooph!”

“Make one comment about my weight and I’ll hurt you.”

Alex rolled his eyes and pushed her off his gut, which unfortunately had her sitting directly on his crotch.

“I heard you got to her first.” He cocked an eyebrow at her.

Lyn licked her lips. “She was too cute not to take a bite.”

“You’re a bit messed up; you know that right?”

Lyn shrugged then laid down until she was literally laying atop him, her head on his chest.

“Does it bother you?” she asked in a small voice. “That I’m not real.”

Alex sighed and wrapped an arm around her. “Honestly, no. I blame Seraphina for that.”

Lyn relaxed into his arms. “What do you mean?”

“I might not originally have had a weird little sister, but I have the memories of one and you have the memories me as your big brother so I’m just going to choose that it’s real, that my love for you is real… that we’re real.”

“Best big brother ever.”

For a moment they just enjoyed the comfort of each other in a moment of silence.

“Are you rubbing my crotch?” Alex asked.

“…Maybe.”

“And you ruined it.” Alex sat up pushing Lyn off him.

Lyn rolled her eyes as she was pushed onto the couch proper. “Within a dozen or so jumps we’ll be as powerful as Gods,” she said, “Gods don’t worry about little stuff like incest.”

“But until then — no.”

Lyn blew a raspberry at him. “By the way, are you busy right now?”

“Not particularly, why?” He had wanted to get started on some more ships but it could wait until tomorrow.

“Morrigan is off being all queenly on Danann and I thought we should grab Lapis and go out for some fun.”

“Anything particular in mind?”

“There’s a rave at the abandoned warehouse in Beach City.”

“That could be fun. Music and dancing.”

“Hot chicks and alcohol.” Lyn added.

“You have a one-track mind, don’t you?”

Lyn just shrugged. “So, you interested?”

“Fine. Let’s get Lapis and go.”

“Alright!” Lyn flew off the couch and ran off to the hot spring where Lapis had a habit of spending her time.

Zona Teal of the Clan Amazonite, First Sword of her people and War Chief in command of the Armies of Danann supressed a shudder as she watched the four abominations set the crystal statue on the courtyard’s Warp pad and take position around it. Zona would not question her Queen but she did not like having to work with the dead creatures. Queen Morrigan had called them ghost-skeletons and Zona could see why: glowing green and modelled after the skeletal structure of humans; the abominations did present a ghostly impression.

No, what disturbed her most about the abominations was the red Gem set in one of the eye-sockets of each skull. Zona was not unaccustomed to the use of unenlightened Gems being used for one purpose of the other; but seeing them set within another creature, even a construct such as these, disturbed her in a way she could not describe.

A sound to her left saw Zona saluting with a fist over her heart as Queen Morrigan entered the courtyard with her Ladies.

“My Queen. The Trócaire is in position and awaiting deployment.”

Morrigan smiled. The Trócaire was as beautiful as it was terrifying or at least it was so to any Gem who knew what it actually did. To all appearances it was a clear crystal statue of winged woman, holding aloft a scythe blade. The woman’s crystalline face was set in an expression of sorrow and within its crystal breast a fist sized red Gem pulsed.

“We wait until Homeworld is unguarded. Testing indicated that it should overpower one diamond alone but two or more working together would be able to resist it.” Morrigan commented quietly, either to the Amazonite or to herself.

Zona eyed the weapon wearily. Such an artifact had never been conceived of by Danann or by Homeworld.

“Another invention of your pet Diamond?” Zona asked. She didn’t mind the Grey Diamond that Queen Morrigan had brought to the court. If anything, her gifts of disrupter blades and the schematics of new ships were much appreciated and her latest shipment of ‘P-comms’ and wands were already being passed out among the soldiers. But the Tuatha De Danann had survived millennia without a Diamond and would survive millennia more without one.

Morrigan scowled and let some ecto-energy flash in her eyes. “Alexa is a Lady of my court and is to be accorded the respect she deserves.”

“Of course, My Queen.” Zona bowed low.

“Leave me for now.”

“My Queen.” Zona bowed again and walked away. The Ladies in waiting also scattered.

Morrigan sighed. Who would have thought purchasing a Gem Colony of her own would be such hard work. She walked to the edge of the courtyard where a series of terraced gardens led down to the city proper allowing an unobstructed view over the gleaming city.

The Colony was a wonder to behold. Seraphina had taken the Celtic inspiration and ran with it. Both the Capital city and the planet itself was named after Danu, the goddess, and the Gems who occupied the city titled themselves the Tuatha De Denann or the children of the goddess Danu. The city, from above, appeared as a Celtic Dara Knot nestled in a lush green valley, the streets and buildings forming rigid squares and twisted loops.
Where Homeworld was all crowded geometric edges; Danann was hard lines meeting soft curves. The rigid nature of Gem architecture softened with in inclusion of space and nature. Unlike the Homeworld’s colour scheme of primary yellows, blues, greens, pinks and whites, Danann was muted shades of grey, blue, greens, reds and brown which blended in naturally with the world around them.

It amazed Morrigan how much culture there was within the colony. It had grown from a lost settlement ship into a thriving society with its own history and mythology. The Gems were not the regimented cogs-in-the-machine of Homeworld society but each people in their own right, with stories and histories of their own. Most telling to their individuality was that the Gems of Danann each had their own name, even if they did structure themselves into Clans based on Gem type. Where Homeworld idolised the Diamonds and their strict caste system; the Tuatha De revered Danu, the goddess and the planet that gave them life and together they sought out art and freedom, individuality and personal honour.

Morrigan was pulled from her introspective mood by the tinkling sound of children’s laugher as a handful of Gem children ran through the courtyard in play.

Gem children. The secret of Danann’s self-sufficiency without the need of Diamonds of their own. It was commonly held that only a Diamond could create the proto-Gems that would develop into full Gems when seeded into fertile land. And that was true. Danann could not create Gem’s as a Diamond would. Instead, they had found another way. At some point the Tuatha De had found that a fusion of two different Gems produced an excess in Gem energy. Normally this just boosted physical attributes or skills but often it was simply wasted during non-combat. Further experimentation had found that this energy could be directed to the growth of a new Gem using a seed fragment of a shattered Gem. What this meant was that if a cross-Gem fusion was to ingest a shard of a shattered Gem they would essentially become ‘pregnant’ with a Gem child. The energy of their fusion would grow a new gem around the shard for about a year and when the fusion was then undone the new Gem would separate from their parents as a new individual.

The process did have drawbacks of course. Unlike the mass-produced Gems of Homeworld, the child Gems were exactly that: children. Their forms looked much like an adolescent human and they displayed a certain lack of maturity. Additionally, unlike mass-produced Gems they were ‘born’ with only limited knowledge from the shard used for their creation and the experiences of their fused parents and thus had to learn and grow much like a human child would. It would take the children two to five hundred years to fully mature into ‘adult’ Gems; their forms changing to reflect their growth.

Additionally, not all shattered Gem shards could be used. The process would only work with the shards of Gem’s who had lived for over one thousand years at the least. And only shards of a certain size could be used meaning that from one millennia old Gem: usually only five to seven Gem children could be born. This process of population growth was slow and time consuming but was also a process that held a great deal of respect and honour within the community. The Tuatha De would never shatter each other to increase their population but it was not unknown for old Gems to choose to shatter themselves to give life to the next generation. Additionally, accidents did happen and it was considered an honour to carry a shard of either a sacrifice or the fallen. The less spoken off method of procuring Gem shards was to take them from the enemy. The Tuatha De had undergone something of a population boom during the Gem rebellion when their agents had covertly gathered shards of the fallen Gem soldiers under the nose of both Homeworld and the Crystal Gems.

Morrigan smiled. It seemed that Seraphina had been inspired by her namesake in more ways than just the design of the city. The phantom queen of warriors and the bringer of death. It made sense that there was more than a touch of the morbid in her people’s way of life. She chuckled as she remembered the look of surprised glee when she had handed over Alexa’s previous gift to the court. It seemed there would be a few more Jaspers running around in about a years’ time.

Alex, Lapis and Lyn appeared in the reconstructed lighthouse in a beam of warp-light. Alex had simply purchased the land through an online realtor. His ‘Landlord’s Game’ perk allowing him a guaranteed sale as long as he paid one and half times the price of the property. His ‘Real Esatate’ perk then ensured that any land he purchased already came with a house or in this case a lighthouse. Lastly his ‘Warp Grid’ purchase automatically added a warp-pad to any property he owned. It tickled him pink to know that he had a warp point directly over the top of the Crystal Gem’s base.

“Lapis should be fine but we look like kids.” Lyn said as she stepped off the pad.

“You are a kid.” He reminded her.

Lyn ignored him. “My suggestion is that we fuse together and enter as a taller individual.”

“Would that even work unless I’m in Gem form? Because I was kind of hoping to be a guy tonight.”

He had found that he had been gradually spending more time in Gem form than his other forms of late. Often because it was easier to interact with Gem-Tech as a Gem but also because being a Gem felt… well it just felt good. It felt strong and confident and sexy; which was weird but still true. Being a Gem was addicting and he had been trying to cut back, not to mention that he enjoyed being a guy when he was with Morrigan.

“It should work as I’m in my half-gem form and I give it a fifty-fifty chance on which gender we are.” Lyn’s face turned a little red. “Or maybe we’ll be both.”

“Fusion? Isn’t that a bit indecent?” Lapis asked as she remembered her own fusion experience with Alex.

Alex rolled his eyes. “Right, well tonight is your night so we can fuse if you want to.”

“YES!” Lyn jumped with a yell.

Alex raised his arms and shook his hips to the beat in his own head. Lyn glided around him tailing fingers along his chest and she swirled on by. Alex slid to the side with a spin of his own as Lyn turned her twirl into a graceful pirouette. She then ran at Alex who caught her by the waist and spun them around. As they twirled their forms turned to light and mixed together becoming one.
Alyn opened her eyes to see Lapis on the ground laughing her head off.

“You - guys – looked so — stupid.” She said between gasping breaths.

Alyn scowled down at her… huh down. That was new. She used her crystal creation ability, and it was good to know that she had access to that even when Alex hadn’t been Alexa at the time of fusion, to create a mirror of clear silica backed by thin reflective layer of pyrite.

Huh? She looked good! Where Alex had been all dark blacks and greys and Lyn had been white and rainbow gloss; now she was a mixture of the two. Her skin was pale and her hair was black with reflective striations of blue, green and muted yellow. Her eyes matched a Gem at her navel and sternum; grey with a burning fire of blue, green, purple and yellow within. Oh and female, definitely female.

Are we a labradorite? That’s not how fusion is supposed to work. She thought to themselves.

Where Alex had worn black jeans and grey shirt with a dark jacket and Lyn had chosen to go in a short white bodice dress; now she was wearing tight black jeans, a charcoal grey bodice top and a short black jacket with a strange blue-green gloss. Alyn wiggled her toes… why did she not have shoes?

“Our dancing is perfectly normal, thank you very much.” Alyn said as she pulled Lapis back to her feet.

On her feet again Lapis still looked up at Alyn and blushed. She only came to about chest height against the fusion. “So, what’s it like?”

Alyn thought for a second. “Good. Great… Ok. It feels comfortable, like a hug.”

Alyn’s face split into a big goofy grin. “Hehe, I knew you really loved me.” She rolled her own eyes. “Of course, I do.”

Lapis just nodded. That matched the feeling she had with Alex when they were Alexuli.

Alyn grabbed a hold of Lapis and entwined their arms, leading her toward the rave. “Let’s go have fun and then tonight we can share Lapis.”
Lapis rolled her eyes at their antics as she was dragged along until what they had said caught up with her. “Wait, what?”

The rave was being held at an old, abandoned warehouse a short distance from the city and was used for various city projects. Despite there being a gaping hole in one of the walls, which the mayor of Beach City had never seen fit to have fixed, the place had been used as a wresting arena, a concert hall and an electoral propaganda warehouse at various points. The loud music and crows of people let them know that the rave was in full swing by the time they arrived. Sour Cream was pumping out some sort of new-wave elctro-pop, well at least that what the Lyn half of him was saying, Ronaldo was getting his funky groove on and the cool kids were dancing and grinding to the beat. There were also a bunch of new faces from out of town, dancing, mingling and chatting over the music.

“There’s no security, we could have just come as ourselves.” Alyn mentioned to herself. “Bah, let’s just have fun!”

Alyn guided a nervous Lapis to the dancefloor.

“Are you sure we should be here. There’s a lot of people.”

“Hey,” she said getting the blue Gem’s attention, “don’t worry about anyone else, it’s just you and us.”

“If you start singing, then I’m leaving.”

Alyn laughed and started dancing with Lapis, just a simple shuffle to the music to get Lapis in the zone. Lapis emulated the fusion and her jerky movements became more fluid as she relaxed. Soon she was swaying and swirling her skirt as the two danced and circled each other a large grin on both their faces.

The other ravers gave them space, either too caught up in their own groove or too intimidated to interrupt two oddly coloured beauties dancing together. Well, that is until:

“Hey Girls. Get ready, it’s Kevin Time.” Some douchebag stepped in between them and started aggressively dance-thrusting at them.

The guy was a creep. The entire time he was dancing at them he was undressing them with his eyes except for the moments he had eyes closed in some sort of narcissistic bliss.

“Are all us guys like this?” Alyn asked herself. “Only most of them,” she also replied.

Alyn’s eyes glowed violet as she reached out with magic and undid the creeps belt causing his pants to fall to the ground. He tripped over his own tangled legs during a particularly aggressive thrust and faceplanted on the dancefloor. His leopard print underwear on full display with his ass in the air.

“Pfft.” Lapis stifled a laugh though the surrounding dancers weren’t quite so gracious and Kevin slunk off the floor to the sound of their laughter.

Alyn pulled Lapis in close and held her, the two swayed gently while she giggled into her chest.

“We shouldn’t have done that.” Alyn admitted.

“Did you see his underwear?” Lapis kept giggling.

“Oh yeah. I saw, in fact I’ll likely need therapy.”

That sent Lapis off even harder and Alyn joined her, the two laughing and dancing to the music.

About twenty minutes later they paused along with everyone else as they turned to the sound of a slap of a bare foot on stone. The Gems both watched as a caramel skinned goddess sashayed, twirled and leapt in a one-woman dance show of energy, sexuality and vigour.

“Oh god.” Alyn muttered as she recognised the girl. “That’s Stevonnie.”

“Who?” Lapis asked unable to tear her eyes off the sexy figure.

“A fusion of Steven and his little girlfriend Connie.”

“Is she alright?”

Stevonnie had finished her dance and was freaking out as everyone there just silently stared at her.

We are not letting that creep near such a hottie! Alyn heard her inner Lyn scream as Kevin sauntered up to the socially paralysed girl.

“Hey Baby. Get ready, its Kevin Time.” He purred at the uncomfortable girl who was slowly backing away.

“You need to get new material.” Alyn tossed at the creeper as she hooked her arm through Stevonnie’s and pulled her toward Lapis.

“Dance with us?” she asked.

“Um… Sure.” Stevonnie relaxed as Alyn and Lapis dipped and bounced to the rhythm.

Eventually Stevonnie let go and simply enjoyed herself dancing with the cool new girls she had met. It took a while but soon enough she noticed that it wasn’t the rave-lights and that Lapis’ skin actually was a uniform blue. Now that she was looking, she could also see that all three of them had Gems. Lapis on her upper back and Alyn on her sternum and navel.

“Oh my Cookie Cat! You guys are Gems!” she exclaimed.

“Are blue people common?” Lapis asked sarcastically.

“Took you long enough.” Alyn said.

“What are you guys doing here? DANCING?” Stevonnie challenged over the music.

To her, Gems were both normal and also potentially dangerous. She still remembered and had nightmares of the Grey Diamond shattering the aggressive orange Gem.

“We’re having fun?” Alyn replied.

Whatever Stevonnie was going to say next was interrupted by the sound of screaming from outside the warehouse. The three Gems shared a glance and ran to the hole in the wall only to be halted by the sight of two Gems outside. One was a bright yellow and towered over the other by sixty feet or more. She had a strict upright posture and held her nose in the air as if she could smell the humans around her and found them distasteful. To her side was a tall green Gem with triangular hair who was interacting with a holographic screen from her arm limb-enhancer.

“Sensors indicate that the renegade Diamond is within this building, my Diamond.” She said subserviently to the large Yellow Diamond.

Alyn frowned; she didn’t know what had happened. Peridot’s repair of the Galaxy warp was still expected to take a few days yet, so why hadn’t her Spectres at the Galaxy Warp notified her of any activation?
She pulled up a holographic interface from her P-comm and glanced over the latest messages. There was a note about Yellows movement to a Homeworld Warp pad but no note about the Galaxy Warp being activated. However Yellow had gotten to earth; it wasn’t by the Galaxy Warp that was for sure.

Alyn growled to herself. What was the point of setting up traps if people didn’t step in them?! She realised that the only priority condition she programmed into the A.I. had been to notify them if a Diamond had gotten to earth via ship or the Galaxy warp and neither of those conditions had triggered. She was going to have to rehaul the system to ensure such a stupid mistake didn’t happen again.

“Come out, Grey!” Yellow bellowed and negligently unleased a bolt of yellow electrical energy at the building that scorched the wall and knocked scaffolding from the ceiling. The ravers were panicking unable to escape.

“This is strange.” Peridot said as she refined her scanning equipment. “More detailed scans indicate that there is not one but two Diamonds within.”

Yellow frowned. “Two? There must be some mistake. She must be using a defective signature masking device or some such.”

That’s new and not a bad idea. Alyn thought to herself as she started to automatically run through what it would take to build such a thing; both the scanner and a shield.

Yellow aimed her hand at the hole in the warehouse’s wall and charged it with yellow energy, Stevonnie jumped through the hole in the wall and raised her mother’s Rose-Shied.
The yellow bolt of electricity clashed with the pink shield with a resounding ‘gong!’

Yellow growled at the sight of the shield of Rose Quartz. Now that her own aura had touched it, she could feel a familiarity that confused her at first until she realised that this must be the Flawed Diamond.

“I don’t know how you got that traitorous Quartz’s shield but it won’t save you, Grey!”

Stevonnie looked out over her shield, her eyes wide with terror.

“What? Grey? I’m not—" She ducked again as another thunderous clash of light hit her shield pushing her back a few feet.

“I can feel your Diamond power from here!” Yellow shouted back.

Alyn used the distraction that Stevonnie was providing to cut a hole through the far wall of the warehouse with Lyn’s rainbow aura blades. The multicoloured planes of force and light easily cutting through the stonework. The ravers poured through the newly made exit, quick to escape the violence of the Gem Battle.

“What should I do?” Lapis asked.

“Get out of here.” Alyn told her. “You’re no match for a Diamond.”

Lapis hesitated but resolutely nodded and flew out the building on wings of water. She knew she would just get in the way.

Alex tried to break his fusion with Lyn only to find that she was holding them together with all her strength.

It’s not safe. He thought at her. Screw safe! We have more options together. Can you take us ghost?

Alyn tried and found much to his surprise that she could in fact go ghost.

How?

You were human when we fused. We’re both human and Gem right now and we both have the ‘Accepting Physiology’ Perk, you probably have access to all our abilities right now.

Alyn’s frown morphed into a Cheshire worth grin. Well, that just made this much easier. She brought up her P-Comm and started sending targeting commands.

Stevonnie was not having a good time. The giant yellow woman was keeping her pinned with streams of yellow lightning. Sweat poured down her face as she struggled to keep her shield in place, knowing with a certainty that to drop it would see the death of them. The part of her that was Steven could not, would not allow Connie to be hurt. The part of her that was Connie stood firm with an iron resolve. Together they tapped into an inner well of strength neither had alone.

“You’ve proven your own flawed nature,” Yellow gloated as she kept up her energy attack, “You tarnish the name Diamond.”

Stevonnie was confused. She didn’t know who this crazy Gem was but she assumed she was the Yellow Diamond she had heard about from the Gems when they spoke in hushed whispers. She didn’t know why this Gem thought that Stevonnie was a Diamond but didn’t think that telling her that she was Rose Quartz’s son was going to help her any.

Yellow grinned viciously as the flawed Gem was pushed further back. This was much easier than she had anticipated. She didn’t know why White had been so concerned about the appearance of the Grey Throne among their court. All Diamonds were One and through that White had tracked the power of the Grey Diamond to this miserable dirt-ball.
She was so distracted that she didn’t even notice when shards of grey crystal slowly creeped up from the ground around her, boxing her in and creating layers of sharp crystalline walls around the area. Nor did she notice when they grew over her feet, trapping her in place.

Normal crystal, even the diamond this one was made of, would do little to ever withhold the strength of a Diamond. But this grey crystal pulsed with violet crackles of magic that renforced a concept on durability, of strength and indestructability into the sparkling grey stone.

Yellow’s energy blast had just about overcome Stevonnie’s defence when she was pushed forward from an energy blast to the back. She stumbled on the clasping crystal at her feet, more surprised than actually injured.
Stevonnie collapsed to her knees and dropped the shield when the attack let up. Yellow glared at where a glowing eyed Peridot stood with her arm raised up pointing her limb-enhancer energy blaster at Yellow.

“Are all Gems who set foot on this forsaken planet so traitorous or are you just cracked?” She growled.
Duplicate Alyn grinned from within Peridot. The overshadowing had worked without any issues. Peridot’s mind was rigid and somewhat neurotic but it wasn’t particularly strong.

“What did you hope to achieve with attacking me with such pitiful power?”

“Oh, no I just needed to distract you from looking up.”

Yellow frowned and looked up to the night sky, her eyes widening in apprehension as beams of bright light converged in the sky above her. Each of the twenty-nine Pavilion in this hemisphere was directing its Light-cannon at the one that Alyn had directed overhead. That one unit would not survive the shot and would need to be replaced but for one shining moment it released the power of a hundred of Rose’s Laser Light Cannons at Yellow.

Yellow attempted to move out of the way but was held firmly in place by the encroaching magic enhance crystal.

Behind Yellow; a ghost-form of Alyn with multicoloured ghost-flame hair and glowing silver eyes, scooped an exhausted Stevonnie up into her arms and burned open a portal to the temple with her ghost-portal ability. They stepped through and the portal closed a scant second before the beam struck.

The duplicate of her that was inhabiting Peridot phased the green Gem through the earth as fast as she could to escape the blast. It wouldn’t overly matter if she didn’t make it as ghost duplicates were only ecto-energy constructions and only existed until they either recombined with the original or perished. But it would be mean to let Peridot die.

The falling beam of light twisted in shape as it lanced towards the earth, forming first an abstract female form then becoming thinner and more pointed until it was a dagger of light that struck the restrained Yellow. The energy of the blast shook the earth and demolished the warehouse. The crystal walls glowed with violet light as the magic within them was consumed to keep them solid and thus contain the blast from the nearby City.

When the shaking of the earth subsided, Alyn-Peridot phased out of the ground. Where the warehouse once stood was now only molten earth. The entire area was a pool of slagged and glassed stone surrounded by a jagged broken circle of grey crystal. The magic empowering the crystal had been expended and she could see areas of it that was still cracking and crumbling from the heat.

She slipped out of Peridot and poofed the green Gem while she was still confused. She bubbled both Peridots Gem and her limb-enhancers and sent them back to the temple then flew over the slowly cooling ground until she reached the epicentre of the blast. There; in a mound of dirty glass, she found a cracked Yellow Diamond, damaged but not yet shattered. It amazed her that the Diamonds thought that Pink had been shattered by a Quartz but maybe they just didn’t realise just how truly durable they were. She bubbled the still hot glass, Diamond and all, and sent it off to the temple.

Duplicate Alyn considered opening a portal but was running low on energy, instead she turned invisible and flew back to the Lighthouse to warp back to the temple.
She laughed as she passed the panicked crystal Gems rushing towards Beach City’s new crater. Ah well, that’s real me’s problem, she thought to herself.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

Lapis had not been back at the temple for more than a few minutes and had only had time to launch a Spectre so that she could watch Alex fight Yellow Diamond when Alyn walked through a burning hole in the air while holding an exhausted Stevonnie.

“We have to go back.” Stevonnie wheezed.

The portal closed and the monitor in front of Lapis lit up with light until the entire holo-projection was whited out seconds later.

“I don’t think that’s possible right now.” Alyn said as she placed Stevonnie down onto a crystal bench that grew from the floor to receive her. She then grew a second bench with a low table between them.

“But she’ll hurt people!” Stevonnie objected and tried to stand only to fall to the ground.  The fall proved too much for the kids and Stevonnie’s form become one of light which separated into to two tired children.

“Owie.” Steven grumbled.

“Aghh” Connie groaned.

Alyn was about to say something when she was interrupted by a bubbled Peridot Gem teleporting in followed quickly by another containing her limb-enhancers.

“That’s the Gem from the green one.” Steven exclaimed.

Another bubble teleported into the room, this one holding the damaged Diamond encased in dirty glass.

“And that’s Yellow Diamond!”

“What happened?” asked Connie. “How were they defeated?”

Alyn reached out and took ahold of the Yellow Diamond bubble. Even bubbled, encased in glass and damaged he could feel the energies of the Gem struggling to reform. She shook her head; Diamonds were just too powerful. She was so glad she was one.

It would be safest to just shatter it. Yellow was an unapologetic, world destroying tyrant after all. And unlike in the cartoon there was no guarantee she could be talk-no-jutsu’d into changing her entire world view; at least while Alex was within the Jump. But it took the combined efforts of all the Diamonds to heal the corrupted Gems on earth and that’s not to mention the cluster-fuck that was the Cluster.

“What are you going to do?” Steven timidly asked.

Alyn looked down at the lad. She’d put off the decision for now.

Steven scooted back on his rear as Alyn’s eyes glowed an eerie purple. Connie grabbed his hand and he clasped hers back as Alyn directed purple sparks into the air which then resolved themselves into an ornate picture frame. Alyn then casually tossed the Yellow Diamond Bubble into the swirling vortex that was the canvas. With a flash of light, the painting resolved itself into an abstract minimalist image of a yellow diamond inside a brown square imposed on a silver circle.

“How did you do that?” Steven asked in wonder.

“Magic.”

“Gem magic?”

“No, just magic magic.”

Further discussion was paused as the warp pad activated and the duplicate Alyn appeared.

“What? But? How?” Connie stammered.

“THERE’S TWO OF YOU! HOW IS THERE TWO OF YOU?” Steven yelled.

Both Alyn and her duplicate flinched at the volume.

“Mission accomplished.” Duplicate Alyn saluted the original.

Alyn rolled her eyes. “Just get over here.”

The duplicated flew into Alyn and they became one again. Alyn rolled her shoulders appreciating the return of half of her energy and the memories of the duplicate.

“Woah! You’re both the same Gem type! Are you both Opals or Labradorites or rainbow hematite, no that’s not it umm,” Steven knuckled his head in thought, “I know! You’re Ammolite!”

Connie looked impressed. “Wow Steven, you really know your iridescent gemstones.”

Steven blushed and rubbed the back of his head. “Oh, well… you know, I pick things up with the Gems.”

Connie looked around at the round cave and the circle of standing stones illuminated by various Gem-tech equipment along the walls. “What is this place?”

 “Steven has his Crystal Gem temple and this one is ours!” Alyn’s Lyn-aspect proclaimed with hands on her hips.

“You two kind of suck at secrets.” Lapis commented from the side.

“Don’t think I won’t spank you.” Alyn told Lapis.

“What did I do?” Lapis asked.

Alyn ignored her and turned her attention to the two who were only now picking themselves off the ground. She shrugged to herself. They were in this far and most of their plans were already in action so it really didn’t matter how much they revealed. Her purpose of keeping the Crystal Gems off balance and at arm’s length was accomplished when they didn’t interfere with her preparations against the Diamonds. Her form blurred into light as Alex and Lyn serrated.

“Ammolite?” Lyn asked with distain once she was separated. “I’ll have you know that I carry the lovely Angel Aura Quartz, thank you very much.”

Alex facepalmed.

“You’re like us!” Steven exclaimed.

“Oops.” Lyn shrugged apologetically at Alex.

“Was your mother a Gem? Was she also part of the rebellion? Did she sacrifice her physical form because she loved you so much that she wanted to bring you into the world even though she was leaving behind friends and family and a purpose and you’re starting to think that maybe there’s more to what everyone is telling you because everyone keeps saying how great she was but then they have hidden conversations that they think you can’t hear, because they think you’re asleep but you’re not, about how the Diamonds are going to come and destroy everything because of something she did and that we’re doomed because she isn’t with us anymore but now it feels like they’re all looking at you to do something and somehow be as strong as your mother but you’re not even sure who or what you are?”

Everyone just stared Steven as the boy tried to catch his breath after that long rant.

“And I thought I had problems.” Lapis mumbled.

“Ah, no.” Lyn awkwardly started. “I got my Gem through different means.”

“Oh.” Steven muttered awkwardly as Connie gave the boy a hug he desperately needed.

Alex sighed. “You know sometimes I forget that you’re just a thirteen-year-old kid who’ve been thrown into all this.”

Connie looked surprised. “You’re older than me?”

“Mm-hmm.” Steven nodded.

“Gems, even hybrids, don’t age the same as humans do.” Alex interjected.

“Wait, So I’m stuck like this forever?” Lyn asked while cupping her small developing breasts.

Alex hand chopped her on the head. “Behave in front of the kids.”

“Pfft, like you cared when they were Stevonnie.”

“We’ve already threatened Lapis with a spanking, don’t think you’re immune.”

“Promise?”

“Ah, not that I mean to interrupt but who are you people?” Connie awkwardly said.

Lyn spun around the two kids on rainbow wings. “I’m Lyn. The tall drink of water of there is Lapis and the grump is Alex.”

Steven frowned. “Wait a minute. Alex… Alexa… Gems… Diamonds. YOU’RE ALEXA’S BROTHER! Aren’t you?”

Alex facepalmed again while Lyn just giggled.

“Steven, they’ve already displayed some strange abilities. What if he is Alexa?”

Lapis pointed to Connie. “I like the smart one.”

“Connie, Gems are female… or at least they physically manifest in a feminine form.” Steven reminded his friend.

Alex shifted to his Alexa form. “Or… things are beyond your usually understanding.”

“But… I… How?”

“I think you broke him.” Lyn said as she poked Steven as he rebooted.

Steven shook his head. “Can all Diamonds turn into humans?”

“You know, that’s not a bad guess.” Alexa admitted. “Outside of the common Gem powerset, only Diamonds have multiple unrelated abilities, it wouldn’t be unexpected that they could be hiding an organic transformation.”

Steven frowned. “That’s not right, my Mum had multiple abilities and so do I.”

“Oh no.” Connie gasped.

Lyn glanced at Alexa. “She is fast.”

Steven looked between everyone feeling like he was missing something. “What?”

“We’ll come back to that later,” Alexa said, “the point is that no, Diamonds can’t become humans; I’m just special.”

“Is this why the yellow Diamond was trying to find you?”

“Not quite. The Diamonds have their own reasons for wanting me out of the picture.”

“Then why don’t you ask the Crystal Gems for help?” Steven Suggested. “I’m sure if we all just sat down and spoke to each other then we could all be friends, even the Diamonds!”

Lyn just rolled her eyes at Steven’s naivety.

“Because they can’t be trusted.” Lapis spat.

“What?! How could you say that?”

“Steven.” Alexa stopped him. “This is more than just a children’s disagreement.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Gems invaded this planet and tried to destroy all life on it thousands of years ago.”

“What? Why would they do that?”

“You should talk to Amethyst about visiting her Kindergarten but the short version is that their empire needed more resources.”

“Couldn’t we just share?”

Alexa shook her head. “No, the process they needed the planet for would have ruined it for any other life.”

“How were they stopped?” asked a quiet Connie.

“Rose Quartz didn’t want to see the world destroyed so she raised a rebellion to stop the invading Gems and remove them from earth.”

“So, the Crystal Gems are the good guys.” Steven said hopefully.

“They are.” Alexa agreed. “But it was still a civil war. There were loses on both sides and eventually it became a pyrrhic victory.”

“What’s a Peerick Victory?” Steven asked

“It means they won but that the cost was so great that it may have meant they really lost.” Connie answered Steven.

Alexa nodded. “The Diamonds ordered a full retreat and then hit the earth with a combined power that corrupted every gem not shielded or contained: turning them into monsters.”

“All the Gem monsters…”

“Were once either members of Roses rebellion or Homeworld soldiers left behind.”

“But that’s awful! Why would the Diamonds do such a thing.”

“It’s possible that they didn’t know exactly what their attack would do but they thought it was justified since they believed that Rose Quartz had shattered their youngest sister, Pink Diamond.”

Everyone was quite while Steven took a few minutes to absorb the new information.

“Mum shattered a Gem?” He said softly.

The silence was broken by Lyn’s stomach rumbling.

“What? I haven’t eaten since lunch.”

“Get Alice to help you get us all some burgers.” Alexa gestured and opened a portal to the Warehouse on the closest menhir, through which Lyn quickly skipped.

“I didn’t think you could eat food from a Gem Room.” Steven said.

“This is different than the rooms the Crystal Gems have.” Alexa explained.

“Oh…” Steven just looked down at his hands or maybe the Gem in his middle — it was hard to tell.

“So, if the Homeworld Gems wanted to invade the earth and the Crystal Gems wanted to defend it; where do you guys fall in on all this?” Steven asked.

“Technically, Lyn and myself are just passing through. We don’t have anything to do with Homeworld or the Earth except that the Diamonds want to kill me. Morrigan, who you haven’t met, is the same. Only Lapis here was a Homeworld Gem originally.” Alexa gestured at Lapis who was leaning against one of the standing stones watching them.

“Yo.” She nodded.

“You’re a Homeworld Gem?”

Lapis just shrugged. “It’s… complicated.”

“But you don’t want to destroy the earth, right?”

“I never cared one way or another about this planet.” Lapis admitted. “Both Homeworld and the Crystal Gems are welcome to fight over it. Both of them abandoned me, I’ve found a home now and it isn’t a place.” She said the last bit quietly.

Alexa stood up and shifted to Alex then went and gave Lapis a hug. The blue Gem had become a happy, sarcastic part of their lives too. Lapis simply stood awkwardly in the hug, embarrassed but also a little happy.

“How can you say that?” Steven accused. “The Gems would never abandon someone.”

“They left me. Trapped in that mirror for hundreds of years!” Lapis growled.

Alex tightened his hold around the trembling Gem.

“Steven.” He said sternly. “The Gems were either ignorant, stupid or malicious when they didn’t inspect the Mirror that Lapis was trapped in. Rose certainly should have known better.”

“But wouldn’t they just think that it was just a normal Gem magic mirror?”

Alex sighed and rocked the Lapis in his arms back and forth to calm her. “Gem’s use gemstones in their technology but they’re supposed to be unenlightened Gems and unless the item they’re in remains in contact with the ground for hundreds of years, they remain unenlightened.”

Steven just looked at him confused.

“As in those Gems don’t have a consciousness. They wouldn’t be able to respond like Lapis could when trapped in the mirror.”

“But that’s not how the Frybo costume worked.”

“Fry… Bo?” Lapis just looked confused.

“A French Fries costume that became sentient after Steven animated it with Homeworld’s Living Armour Gem-Shards.” Alex answered, then returned to Steven. “The Frybo costume was part of an unethical Homeworld experiment to use the remains of shattered Gems in place of unenlightened Gems in their tech to conserve resources being used in the war. Given that it takes years to traditionally grow most advanced Gem-tech, it would have saved Homeworld a significant amount of resources if it had worked”

Lapis Shivered. “I hated those things.”

Lyn stepped back into the room with bags of food. She held up a carton of fries. “The necromantic Gem armour or French fries?”

“Both.” Lapis said with conviction.

“You’ll get over your dislike of food when you get a human body next jump.” Alex said as he picked Lapis up — which was somewhat awkward as she was taller than him — and sat down on the bench across from the kids with Lapis now in his lap. He took a bag of food from Lyn who also passed some to Steven and Connie.

“Thanks” Steven said as he looked into the bag.

“Thank you.” Connie said politely as she took hers. She looked at the branding on the side. “Umm ‘Nasty Burger?’”

“It’s only one letter away from ‘Tasty.’” Alex sniggered.

“Right.” Connie chose not to ask about it.

Alice followed through behind Lyn with a tray of drinks in her hands.

“A Gem-Monster!” Steven cried knocking over his fries as he leapt to his feet and summoned his shield.

“Not a monster!” Alex tried to placate him. He really should have known not to show Alice to them. His repeated attempts to improve her had not gone as he had thought they would. Alice was still a black skeleton but she was now encased in clear crystal flesh that dimly glowed with veins of light from a large pearl at her sternum.

Steven calmed down when Alice didn’t even react to him and his shield.

“What is she?” Connie cautiously asked as she took a Pepsi that Alice was offering.

“She’s actually close to what Steven was talking about.” Alex explained. “I was trying to give a skeleton golem consciousness with an unenlightened Gem I made. She’s more aware than before but it’ll take time for it to grow.”

“You made a slave?” Connie frowned.

“That’s pretty much what Pearls are made for.” Lapis commented.

“WHAT!?” Steven shouted causing everyone to wince.

“You are very loud sometimes, kid.” Alex reprimanded.

“Sorry. But Pearl isn’t a slave.”

“Lapis didn’t say your Pearl is a slave; only that she, like all other Pearls before her, were made with the purpose of serving others. That’s how Homeworld works: every Gem is made to fulfil a purpose, anything that goes against that purpose is to be destroyed. Anything and everything are theirs to use to expand their empire.” Alex took a bite out of his burger. Mhmm meaty.

“Homeworld doesn’t sound like a very fun place.” Connie frowned

Alex swallowed. “It’s not. It’s a totalitarian dictatorship with a strict caste system, a heavily expansionist ideology and a superiority complex against other forms of life.”

Lyn sat next to Alex and pulled Lapis’ feet onto her lap. “Yep.  Genocidal Space Nazis.”

Connie and Steven both look confused at that.

“What’s a Nazi?” Connie asked.

Lyn was just about to take a bite of her own burger but had to stop to look over it at the kids. “You’re joking, right?”

They shook their heads, no.

Alex nudged Lyn. “It’s a different place with a different history. It’s possible World War Two never happened here.”

“The Gems invaded the earth twice?” Steven asked.

“No. Just…” Lyn sighed. “Never mind.”

“You guys are from a different world. Aren’t you?” Connie asked.

Lyn turned her head to Alex. “Can we keep her?”

“No.”

“Pleeeease?”

“No.”

“Pretty please?”

“Alright.”

“Really?”

“No.”

Steven wasn’t sure if they were serious but he hugged on tight to Connie just in case. Connie just blushed at the two’s antics and Steven’s possessiveness.

“If you’re from another world; why are you here?”

“Like I said earlier. We’re just passing through.”

“What’s your own world like?” Steven asked.

Alex shrugged. “Much the same though there are no Gems and no Corrupted Gem-monsters around.” He thought for a moment. “There’s also no known alien life yet and interstellar travel isn’t a thing, oh and it’s less sparkly.”

“Sparkly?” said Steven as he finished off his burger.

“Yeah, this world just kinda… glitters. It took me a while to get used to it.”

The group spent another hour talking about their worlds. Lyn’s was much the same as Alex’s even if most of her stories had a weird sexual undertone to them. Lapis occasionally piped in with a dry and slightly depressing comparison with Homeworld.

At some point the nights adventures and full bellies had taken their toll on the kids and Steven and Connie were both falling asleep against each other.

“It’s a bit late to send them on their way.” Alex told Lyn. “Let’s just tuck them into one of the spare rooms and call it a night.”

They poked the sleepy kids to their feet and wrangled them into one of the bedrooms Alex and Morrigan had carved into the temple stone.

“But I don’ wanna go to bed.” A sleepy Steven mumbled.

“Go on in you get.” Alex herded them into a bed.

They left the room and retuned to Lapis is the main complex area.

“So how do you think they’re going to react when they realise they never contacted the Gems to tell them that they’re alright?” Lyn sniggered.

“I don’t know, but I bet it’s going to be funny.”

“You guys are awful.” Lapis said but there was curl to her lip.

“Speaking of awful.” Lyn said as she jumped on Alex and initiated fusion.

The two glowed and reformed into Alyn who looked down at her hands confused.

“I thought we had to dance.” Alyn questioned herself but decided it really didn’t matter.

Alyn smiled at Lapis. “I promised myself a Lapis for dessert.”

“Oh dear.” Lapis squeaked.

⦖⋄⦕

Lapis scooted back until she he was pressed against one of the standing stones as a now much taller Alyn pressed in close against her. She looked up into the fusions iridescent eyes as Alyn gazed back into her deep blue ones.

The question was asked with their eyes. If Lapis didn’t want this then Alyn would back off but that didn’t happen. Instead, Alyn leaned in slowly until their noses were almost touching and Lapis could feel their breath upon her lips. Her heart hammered rapidly in her chest as she found herself tensing, arching her back to press her chest forward and inch their faces that little bit closer without even realising it.

Alyn closed that distance and pressed her lips softly to the gem’s cool blue lips. The experience was unique. A gem’s form was composed of light, it didn’t behave or feel like a completely organic form even when the owner willed it to. Lapis tasted like the ocean. Not like how someone would say an oyster ‘tastes like the ocean,’ all brine and fishy but in that she tasted like a refreshing sea breeze. She was the feel of ocean spray and the warmth of the sand and yes, a little hint of salt that made you want to lick her lips clean. Lapis was also becoming lost in the taste of the fusion. Alyn tasted like a mixture of sunshine and glass. A contradiction of airy warmth and cool solidity and underneath that was the touch of human lips: soft and slightly sweet, a hint of iron and a memory of Lyn’s Pepsi Max.

Alyn brought a hand to Lapis’ head and carded her fingers through her oddly-cool dark blue locks, her other hand traced the curve of Lapis’ hip. Lapis reciprocated the touching by wraping her arms around Alyn’s neck and deepening the kiss. Without realising it she had pulled herself up and wrapped her legs around Alyn’s waist forcing the colourful Gem to shift her hand from her hip to her rear to prevent her from falling.

Alyn turned them away from the standing stone and with a though caused the crystal table to raise high enough to deposit Lapis on the surface. She broke the kiss and nuzzled into the blue Gem’s neck as one hand traced a line down Lapis’ spine and over her Gem causing a cute moan to escape the slim girl.

Alyn trailed kisses down Lapis’ neck and collar.

“Off.” she growled out and Lapis dismissed her blue backless dress with nary a thought leaving the slender Lazulite bare on the grey crystal slab.

Alyn’s lips found themselves dropping further. Sweet kisses and nips that lead to her modest breasts, barely more than a handful each of pale blue pseudo flesh and tipped with perky, darker blue nipples and areola.

Lapis’ hands scrunched into the fusion’s hair and a gasp escaped her as Alyn attacked her breasts with her mouth, teasing her nipples with circling twirls of her tongue, occasionly sucking gently on the small buds and even lightly biting and scraping the sensitive tips with her teeth. Alyn’s hands had dropped further and were now tickling her sides and caressing her hips. Alyn used her thumbs to press into the crease between her hips and groin eliciting further mews of pleasure and causing the blue girl to spread her legs a little wider in an attempt to entice further exploration toward her rapidly moistening sex.

Alyn delved lower, her lips licking up the beads of sweet water that had stated to few on the water aligned Gem’s skin in her excitement. Her mouth passed the spot where on a human there would be the divot of a belly button but here was just the smooth abdominal skin. Lapis leaned back on the cool crystal table and moaned in please when Alyn stopped teasing and finally reached her already dripping sex.

Gem’s, as a rule, did not do body hair and Lapis was no different as Alyn found nothing blocking her access to the squirming Gem’s sexual core. Alyn’s mind was already filled with the heady scent of the water Gem’s arousal, the scent of sea water and sun and underneath that the smell that was uniquely ‘woman.’ Alyn tasted first with a couple of long runs of her tongue along the length of Lapis’ sex. Her tongue spreading the folds of her pussy and lapping at the sweet juices. Lyn mewed in pleasured twitches and wrapped her legs around Alyn’s head, drawing the head fusion of two of the people she was beginning to love deeper into her sexual core.

Alyn gripped the soft thighs clamped around her face and dug in with gusto. She teased and circled, licked and flicked with her tongue. She used the tightening twitches she could feel through Lapis’ thighs as a guide to bring the aqua gem to the edge and then quickly change tactic, allowing the slender woman to almost find release before giving her a minute to catch her breath and then bringing her to the edge again.

“Alex, Lyn! PLEEEASSE!” Lapis groaned out as she was brought to the brink for the sixth time.

Alyn smiled and switched to the quick and repetitive swirling-flick motion she had found worked best on Lapis. In seconds Lapis was crying out as shuddered rippled through her and her legs tightened like a vice around Alyn’s head. Alyn had to work hard to drink down the gushing, squirting juices that were escaping Lapis’ quivering sex as she orgasmed again and again.

Eventually, Lapis’ strained muscles relaxed and released Alyn from where she was trapped between her legs. As Lapis panted at her release, Alyn stood and positioned herself between Lapis’ legs. Lapis’ first realisation that the night was not over was when Alyn dismissed her solid light clothing. The fusion was a pale vision of sexuality and strength. She was a contradiction of toned pearlescent curves that softly defined hard muscles. Her breasts were smaller than would be expected but fit her lithe build and were just the starting point of where the eyes trailed down her body, over a trim waist and defined abbs and halting on the point of exception. While her form was female it seemed that Alex’s contribution was the thick, manhood that stood ready between her legs.

Lapis gasped and looked down when she felt the meaty slap of Alyn’s penis on her abdomen. Alyn held her member down so that it lay on Lapis’ skin and indicated the size and depth it would go should she enter the blue Gem. Alyn again sought permission from Lapis with her eyes and the Lazulite nodded in anticipation.

Alyn pressed the head of her member against Lapis ready sex and pushed.

There was little resistance, Lapis was already wet and ready and Gem’s had no need for a hymen unless they chose to manifest one. Still, Lapis was tight and hot as Alyn pressed herself into Lapis’ sex. She could feel Lapis twitching and tightening with little micro-orgasms as her member spread her open. Lapis too, felt a connection between them, around the lingering waves of pleasure from the earlier oral sex Lapis could feel the thrum of Alyn’s heartbeat through her member.

After a few seconds that felt; to the two of them, like long drawn-out minutes, Alyn was fully sheathed in Lapis. It wasn’t painful or uncomfortable as Alyn’s size might have been to a human woman as Lapis had simply chosen not to produce a cervix or even a uterus. As being composed of light they both were able to modify their bodies in ways that enhanced pleasure and prevented awkwardness or accidents.

Alyn started withdraw, her member dragging along the sensitive internal folds of Lapis’ core, before thrusting once again. Slowly she built up a rhythm they were both comfortable with. Lapis let out adorable little gasps with each thrust and held her hands out to Alyn who grasped them, their fingers entwining and allowing them to brace themselves off each other to attain full pleasure from the motions.

They luxuriated in the motion. Alyn fighting a building pleasure that grew with each stroke. She could feel Lapis wrapping around her, feel the head of her penis scraping along her vaginal folds creating a predictable drag of pleasure of each thrust and withdraw.

Lyn was feeling filled and tight. She enjoyed the sensation of Alyn filling her and then withdrawing only to fill her again. Each motion also stimulating her clitoris as the shaft Alyn’s penis created friction at her opening. Additionally was the pleasant weight as Alyn pressed against her when fully within her, a strange enjoyment that was difficult to put into words but was rooted in the sheer presence of her partner.

“Fuck, I’m not going to last long like this Lapis.” Alyn grunted as she continued her rhythmic thrusting that was gaining speed despite her best efforts to control herself.

“Just… a little… more.” Lapis gasped out.

Sweat dripped down Alyn’s smooth body as she kept up the motions. Despite being Gems, despite being stronger than any human and despite being luminous beings of light and mineral. There was something about sex that just got two people hot and sweaty.

“I’m gonna—" Alyn managed.

Lapis used their entwined hands to pull herself up and locked lips with the fusion.

Together they both released. Alyn tensing as she came heavily deep within Lapis who tensed and tightened around Alyn’s member as she shivered through another intense orgasm. All the while they made out, their lips near bruised as they fought to a battle with their tongue on who could taste the other more.

Eventually, they broke apart both panting with exertion and Lapis laid her head on Alyn’s shoulder as Alyn held her upright. Lapis could feel Alyn shrinking inside her and the rapid beat of her heart through the fusion’s supple chest.

“I think we need a bath.” Lapis eventually managed.

“I can agree with that.” Alyn grinned.

“I’m not sure I can walk yet.” Lapis commented.

With a small heave, Alyn pulled Lapis into her arms and started towards the bathroom with the blue Gem carried bridal style.

“I think I can manage to get you there.” Alyn said as Lapis blushed. “And after we’ve washed up and regained out breath, we can start round two.”

Lapis froze in Alyn’s arms. “Round two?” She asked with wide eyes.

⦖⋄⦕

Connie woke in a strange bed to a foot in her face.

“ehwah.” She flinched back and sat up.

She looked around the room. It was hard to tell the time as there were no windows only some simple crystals on the walls that glowed dimly, just enough to move around by. The bed was large and formed from a dull crystal though the mattress and sheets seemed normal. She blushed a little when she realised that she was in bed with Steven, even if they were arranged top to tail and that they both still had their clothes on except for their footwear which now that she thought about it had been left at the beach when they first fused. She was still tired but a full bladder had woken her up. Too much of that strange yet addictive soda. Pepsi? What even was a Pepsi and why was it maxed?

“Steven. Steven, wake up.”

“Go away Lion, I don’t want your pizza.” Steven mumbled

“Steven.” Connie shook the boy.

“Wha- what? I’m awake!” Steven blinked blearily at Connie. “Connie? What are you doing in my room?”

“We’re still at the… well I don’t know if they have a name. We’re still at Alex’s place.”

“Oh…” Steven looked around the room. “Then why did you wake me?”

Connie squirmed. “I need to pee.”

Steven just stared at her. “Umm, I’m not sure how I can help with that.”

Connie rolled her eyes. “Of course not. I just didn’t want to go alone.” She mumbled.

Steven got it then. It was scary trying to find your way around in the dark in a new place.

“Alright. I’m sure we can find a bathroom somewhere.”

They both slipped out of bed and padded from the room in search of a bathroom. The room exited to a stone hallway lit by a line of clear crystal in the wall. To the right the hallway opened to a large room which they recognised as the room they had warped into. She was about to go that way in the hopes of asking someone where the bathroom was when Steven heard voices from his left.

“Connie, I think they’re this way.” He started left thinking that someone was there that they could ask directions.

They passed a few empty rooms with empty beds or storage shelves inside, the sound of others getting louder as they went, until the hallway turned the corner and opened into a large open bathroom with a large open air hot spring.

 Connie and Steven came to an abrupt stop at the sight before them.

Alyn and Lapis were both naked and enjoying the hot spring and clearly not expecting company. Alyn was in a large Diamond enhanced form and at thirty-five feet tall she took up most of the hot spring. The displaced water wasn’t overflowing because it was already in the form of large tendrils of water that were wrapped around her breasts and stimulating the large Gem’s privates. The much smaller Lapis was writhing in the giant’s cupped palms as Alyn used her large tongue on the blue gem causing her to moan in pleasure until she let out a loud cry of release as she came heavily and lost control of her animated water at the same time. Alyn let up her ministrations and slowly shrunk down until she was holding a happy panting lapis in her lap.

“Ah… hah.. ah… give me a minute and then it’s my turn.” Lapis panted.

Alyn held her gently and kissed along her neck. “Take your time. We have all night.”

A red-faced Steven grabbed Connie’s hand and they backed out of the room without being seen. They didn’t say a word until they were back to their room.

“That was, that… was,” Steven started but was unsure what to say.

“Hot?” Connie mumbled with her face flaming.

“What?” Steven asked unsure if she really said what he thought she had.

“Nothing!” Connie squeaked. “I was just saying that I still need to pee.”

“Oh, right. Good.” Steven sighed and leant back against the wall, which abruptly split open revealing an attached ensuite and causing Steven to land on his ass.

“Found the bathroom.” He gave a thumbs up from the floor.

“Oh, thank God!” Connie said and rushed through, she turned and pushed Steven out as he was still getting to his feet, the door closed automatically behind him.

Steven was left to process what he had just seen. He knew adults did adult things to each other but that was intense, wasn’t it? Did Connie expect him to turn into a giant woman and umm lick her in that place? Wait? Why would I think about Connie? He thought to himself. Does that mean, her and me and she but we’re just-

His tumbled thoughts were distracted by the sound of water tinkling into a pool. Steven’s head felt like it could pop from the amount of blood that rushed to his face when he realised he could hear Connie peeing.  Oh gosh, I shouldn’t be hearing this, Should I?

Suffice to say that Steven was very confused about the whole situation. He honestly didn’t know how he felt or how he was supposed to feel as no one had ever actually explained such things to him.

Connie wasn’t doing much better. Mixed in with the relief that she hadn’t embarrassed herself in front of her friend by wetting herself was a strange feeling of nervous excitement over what she had just witnessed. She had a little more experience and understanding than the half-Gem boy; not through practical experience of course but because her mother had given her the talk and she had read some of the more… inappropriate young adult fiction in the library. Could Steven do that? Because that would be amazing. She blushed at where her thoughts were taking her.

She finished up and washed her hands. The bathroom door whooshed open with a touch. She found Steven standing awkwardly by the bed, his face still red.

“We umm, we should get some sleep.” Connie said.

“Right! Sleep. In the bed. With you. Sleep, that is! Because that’s what beds are for.” He rambled.

They both got back under the covers while trying not to think about what they had seen or of each other.

Suffice to say it was a few more hours before either of them was able to get back to sleep.

⦖⋄⦕

Chapter Text

The next morning saw Lapis relaxing in the hot spring. She honestly loved this thing. The idea of simply being in hot water for the pleasure of the feeling was an alien concept to Homeworld yet sung to her nature as a lapis lazuli. She laid her head back on the ledge of the pool and just floated as she tried to sort through her feelings.

Last night had been good. No. Last night had been very good. She had felt something she hadn’t in a long, long time. She had felt wanted.

Homeworld had seen her as simply one of many replaceable Lapis Lazuli, they had mistaken her for a Crystal Gem and taken her as prisoner of war. If they had even noticed that they had lost a Lapis Lazuli of their own then they didn’t care nor did they even ask who she was when they trapped her in that mirror for interrogation.

The Crystal Gems were little better. They attacked all Gem locations on earth not just the ones that were involved in production or held fighting forces. They had also never even tried to figure out who was trapped in the mirror when they found it; they had simply thrown her into storage. For all they had known she could have been one of their own number but they didn’t even care.

Alex and Lyn care, Morrigan cares. She thought to herself with a smile.

They cared for her, they wanted her and yet they were also quite happy to give her space when she needed it. They could also do this thing with their tongue that felt absolutely amazing. Homeworld Gems didn’t know what they were missing.
She felt warmth on her face as the rising morning sun shone through the crystal walls of the hot spring. Life, she thought, is good.

“Umm, hello? Is anyone in there?”

Lapis opened her eyes to the sparkling room to see Steven standing awkwardly at the door with his hands over his eyes.

“You can come in, you know.” She told the human.

“Oh, ahh ok?” Steven marched forward but with his eyes still covered he walked right into the water.

“Ahh!” He fell in with a ridiculous splash.

Lapis sniggered and manipulated the water until he was upright and across from her.

Steven opened his eyes to the sight of a Lapis’ smooth blue body floating on the sun-sparkling water.

“You’re naked!” he gasped and covered his eyes again.

Lapis didn’t really understand why humans reacted so strangely to nudity. Alex and Lyn liked her when she was wasn’t wearing anything after all. Still, they had said something about societal expectations and clothing. Lapis floated herself out of the water until she stood on the edge of the pool, she willed herself clothed in a swirling flash of light.

“Is this better?” she asked as he pulled the wet boy out of the water and then the water away from his soaked form.

“Much, thank you.” Steven answered. “Umm do you know where everyone is?”

“Alex and Lyn were still in bed when I got up.” Lapis said. She didn’t understand those two. They looked cute together and had snuggled closer when she had slipped out from in-between them. She wasn’t sure what ‘underage sibling: no touch!’ meant but she was sure Alex would get over it.

“Right.” Steven said as he tried not to think about naked Gems in bed.

“Morrigan should also be by soon.” Lapis continued without noticing Steven’s distractedness. “Why did you need to see them?”

“Oh, umm well, we woke up and realised that we never actually told the Gems we were OK and so we should probably do that.”

“Hmm.. well let’s go see if everyone is up.”

They walked back to the main chamber only to find the Alex and Lyn already there in discussion. A red-faced Connie was also there holding a plate with two crusty rolls on it and was trying not to draw attention to herself.

“You didn’t seem to mind where my hands went earlier in the night.” Lyn was saying to a cringing Alex.

“That’s because we had Lapis between us.” Alex responded.

“Why would that matter?”

“I don’t know, it’s just different somehow. Please?”

“Fine. But I make no promises that I won’t get grabby when you’re using me as a hug pillow.”

“Thank you.” Alex sighed in relief or possibly some sort of defeat — it was hard to tell.

“I see you two are up.” Lapis said.

“Lapis! Why did you leave us alone?” Alex whined.

“I wanted a bath.” Lapis responded though continued in a smaller voice, “I was very sticky.”

“Well, I wanted to give you this.” Alex said as he threw Lapis a slim smartphone. “I appeared in the Warehouse this morning. I guess you’ve decided to stick with us.”

Lapis smiled at her ‘companion phone,’ “I guess it does.”

“Ah, Steven. Connie has your breakfast and then I’ll see you off.” At Steven’s confused look he continued with, “The warp pad doesn’t work without authorisation.”

“Oh, umm thanks.” Steven took a roll from Connie. It was a simple breakfast of bacon and a fried egg on crusty fresh baked buttered bread rolls. “Umm what’s going to happen with Yellow?” He asked around a mouthful.

“I’m not sure yet.” Alex admitted.

“Maybe we can send her home and they’ll know we’re too strong for them and they can leave us alone?” Steven said hopefully though not even Connie looked like she thought that would work.

Alex shook his head. “It wouldn’t work. They’ll just use what Yellow has learnt about our defences to hit us even harder.”

“You don’t seem too worried about them attacking.” Connie commented.

“I’ve still got some tricks up my sleeve and to be honest I could still run and hide for the next six months if I thought we had to.”

“That’s not very brave. It’s our responsibility to protect the world and other people.”

Alex shrugged. “I never said I was brave. I just want to survive with those whom I care about.”

Neither Connie or Steven looked like they agreed. Alex might have been more on board with the whole ‘spiderman-esque guilt-trip power-responsibility’ angle if the whole situation wasn’t so screwed up by Rose thousands of years ago. She treated the rebellion like a game and only really matured when she lost.

“Now, speaking of survival, there are some things you should know before you go.”

Steven and Connie perked up and listened.

Alex took up a data crystal and passed it to Steven.

“That contains information on the location of something called the ‘Cluster.’ It’s a Homeworld super weapon that’s been incubating in the earth’s crust for the last five thousand years and is set to emerge within the next year, destroying the planet in the process.”

“WHAT?!” Steven yelled.

“You can stop it right?” Connie asked worriedly.

“Nope.”

“WHAT?!” Both the kids yelled.

“I can’t but Steven can.” Alex clarified.

“How am I supposed to do that?” Steven started hyperventilating.

“You’ll need to reach the Cluster, empathically connect to it and tell it to not take form but to bubble itself and try and connect with the Gem shards that it’s composed of. I’ll drop you off a ship in the next week or so that’ll get you to the Cluster but talking to it is up to you.”

“But I don’t know how to do that!”

“You’ve already done something similar when you got through the Centipeetle Gem monster.” Alex reassured him. “You just need to work on your abilities. Maybe get Garnet to help you with meditation.”

“You really think I can do it?”

“I know you can.”

“Ok, anything else?” Steven calmed down somewhat.

“Yeah, you’ve accessed the place inside Lion’s mane, right?”

“How do you even know about all this?” Steven asked bewildered. He hadn’t told anyone about Lion’s Pink Dimension.

“Because I’m awesome.”

“…fine, don’t tell me.” Steven grumbled. “And yes, I can go inside Lion’s mane.”

“You’ll find Rose’s sword in there which will probably freak Pearl out but you’ll also find a bubbled Gem. That Gem is named Bismuth and she used to be a Crystal Gem until Rose and her fought about how to win the war.”

“So, I should keep her bubbled?”

“That’s up to you. But if you do let her our then give her this.” Alex gave Steven a second crystal. “It has instructions for her to get into contact with me and I can direct her to others who would support her methodology.”

After everyone finished up their breakfast Alex led Steven and Connie over to the Warp Pad. The two stood in the centre and held hands so that Connie wouldn’t be left behind.

“Oh, and one more thing.” Alex said. “What I’m about to tell you should probably not be spread around and certainly shouldn’t be mentioned to Bismuth if you let her out.”

“What is it?” Steven asked.

“Pearl will be able to answer any questions.” Alex met eyes with Steven. “Rose was Pink Diamond.”

“WHAAaaaa—” Steven’s exclamation was cut off as Alex activated the Warp, sending the two kids back to the Crystal Gems.

There was a moment of silence in the room until Lyn burst out laughing. “Did you see his face?”

Lapis just sniggered.

Alex shrugged. “The kid has to clean up all of Rose’s messes, he had a right to know. I just didn’t want to deal with the shouting.”

Lyn watched as the Alexa carefully implanted the ecto-enchanted crystal into the Phase-ship’s gravity drive. When Alexa was happy that the components were all working well together, she waved her hand at the drive which floated up to and recombined with the ship proper.

Gem-tech still amazed her. Her ‘Primitive Technology Adaption’ perk allowed her to understand how it worked but even then it still seemed like magic rather than science. Her perk also allowed her to come up with interesting uses for existing earth technology to further enhance the alien technology.

She remembered the look of childish glee on Alex’s face when she had suggested using a microwave oven and a surround sound system to induce harmonic frequency in the gravity engine resonance crystals. He had laughed his head off when he found that the ship performed best when syncopated rhythms were applied, something about the ship running best on ‘Smooth Jazz.’ He had of course replicated the modification with crystal components rather than a bulky microwave oven and a set of speakers because they were much smaller and more durable but she was happy to help.

Alexa stepped back and admired the completed Phase ship: the fourth she had made in the last two months. The first prototype ship had been gifted to Steven and the Gems; as promised, two weeks after Yellow’s attack. That left these three ships taking up most of the space in the Warehouse.

Lyn ran her hand over the smooth blue-black crystal of the ship. The design was similar to the Trapeze in that it was modelled from the cut of a gemstone though the Phase ships were slightly bigger and with a shield-cut shape with the pointed forward part of the ship being longer than the slightly rounded back. The biggest difference was the use of an ecto-enchanted crystal to give the ship intangibility and invisibility like the Spectres. Not only was this an incredible defensive and stealth upgrade, it also allowed for an increased speed and an independence from established star-charts to navigate at FTL speeds. Why worry about deflector shield output when space dust just went right through you. They had calculated that they could possibly even survive phasing through the heart of a star - not that they were planning to do such a thing of course. Lyn wasn’t completely sure what would happen if you introduced the artificial black hole of the gravity drive to a star but didn’t think it would be good.

“If you build any more of these you’re going to run out of space.” Lyn commented.

“I’ll put them in portraits when it gets to that stage, I just wanted to have them on hand while space flight was still an option.”

“Did you ever figure out how Yellow go to earth so fast?” Lyn walked around the ship, her fingers trailing the side.

“Actually, the Gems found out first. Turns out she sent not just flask robonoids but also a plug robonoid and a central processing crystal of a Galaxy Warp. The plug robonoid was able to become the needed base systems and the flask robonoids were able to ‘repair’ it to functionality.”

“So, she essentially just sent a new Galaxy Warp Pad to earth instead of repairing the one here?”

“That’s right.”

“Was that so hard to say?”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Anyway, the Gems found it and smashed it. If anyone else came through then they only had about an hour to do so.”

“You know that’s called foreshadowing, right?”

Alex sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

Alex stretched out and made his way to a clear area in the warehouse where he had a couch and a minifridge set up. He threw a can of soda to Lyn and cracked one open himself before flopping onto the couch.

“Hey, I had a question.” Lyn asked as she perched herself in the arm of the sofa.

“Yeah?”

“You can make Gems, right? Like with all their abilities and such?”

“Yeah? It’s not too hard to make the Gemstone but it does take a lot of energy to Enlighten it. Why?”

“I was wondering what would happen if you ghost-fused with it like we did with the replica Time Medallions, would you be able to use the Gem abilities?”

“Ahh, I see what you’re thinking.” Alex nodded. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. I’ve already tried it.”

“Damn.” Lyn took a sip of her drink.

“Why the long face? You already have ghost powers”
Everyone with the ‘Accepting Physiology’ perk had been given the half-ghost upgrade over the first few weeks in jump. Alex had realised that he had been incredibly reckless during his first jump when he upgraded three people in one night. He now knew that it was likely ‘the drive’ drawback that had made him so stupid. He had conducted multiple tests during this Jump before he had offered the choice to his companions.

Lyn had said he was being too cautious which had likely been true. Honestly, those first few weeks were a nightmare of construction, testing and preparations. He didn’t even get to visit a town until two months into his time here. Even now there wasn’t a day during this jump where either he or a duplicate wasn’t making or experimenting with something.
Honestly? He was tired of this Jump and the Diamonds. He would seriously reconsider taking another ‘targeted’ drawback in the future.

“It’s not that I want anything, I just thought having all the Gem powers would be neat.”

Alex shook his head. “Nah, the ghost-fusion items have to be, for lack of a better term, ‘equipable’ for the powers to work when fused. We’ll get better mileage out of an RPG style Jump with it, may the next one.”

Lyn frowned. “Aren’t the P-Comms made from Pearls? We can use those when we wear them.”

Alex nodded. “True, but Pearls are special because they’re artificial Gems. The ones in the P-comms aren’t full Pearls in the terms of Gems but are actually based on the precursors to modern Pearls. It’s why we can store things and use them as communicators and holographic displays but we can’t actually make hard-light holographic clones or use the minor telekinetic abilities that Pearl has.”

Lyn scrunched up her face and stuck her tongue out at Alex. “Gah, why are Gems so confusing? They can do this but not always and only if sentient and stupid rules.”

“They’re sentient supercomputer hard-light AIs contained in a superdense crystalline matrix within a Gemstone. The fact that they’re used in a non-sentient state for basic technology is already ridiculous.” Alex explained. “If it makes you feel better; I think I’ve worked out how to give everyone different Gem abilities eventually.”

“How?!” Lyn perked up.

“I can instal a Gem into anyone with the ‘Accepting Physiology’ Perk but the Gems would conflict if I added more than one to a person.”

“But we all already have a Gem.”

“Yes, but you have more than one alt-form. I should be able to add a new Gem for every alt-form we pick up.”

“Why haven’t you mentioned this before now? I already have a human form you can add a Gem to.” Lyn complained.

“Because I didn’t want you to sacrifice a completely human form if we needed it to blend in at some point.” Alex explained. “It’ll have to wait until we each pick up more forms so that we have a human form to spare or we go to a Jump with an alt-form blender perk.”

“I thought the plan was Harry Potter after this.” Lyn questioned with a tilt of her head.

“It was, but I’m honestly getting mighty sick of having to switch between Human, Ghost and Gem all the time so I’m really tempted to go after an alt-form blender perk.” Alex complained. “Do you know how many times I’ve walked face first into walls because I forgot I switched from ghost to Gem to use the computers?”

Lyn laughed. She had seen him do that a few times.

Any further conversation was cut off by a piercing wail from their P-Comms alerting them of Diamond movement.
Running out into the main chamber where the large monitors were set up Alex brought up the latest on from the Spectres.

Lapis and Morrigan entered the room from elsewhere in the temple.

“What’s the situation?” Morrigan asked.

“Blue Diamond is on an Arm-Ship and heading this way.”

Lyn glance Alex. “Do we have a plan?”

Alex eyed the live feed of Blue on her ship; her Pearl was monitoring the Gravity drive and was the only other Gem aboard.

“Yeah, I think I have a plan.”

For the past five millennia Blue’s primary emotion had been sadness. Now however, another emotion other than deep woe was colouring her actions. She was angry and if she was honest to herself, she was a little afraid but most of all: she was empty.

It had started with the loss of Pink. Not only did she miss her terribly but her death also proved that what was once considered eternal could still end. Her shattering had shaken a concept that White had instilled in her sisters and all other Gems. Diamonds are eternal. Diamonds are without equal. Diamonds are the ultimate authority. Pink’s loss put the lie in ‘Diamonds are Forever.’

And now Yellow was missing; she had gone after the Flawed Diamond and never returned nor made contact. Yellow’s colonies had reached out to her own when communication had ceased. The poor Gems had been beside themselves without any direction.

“We are approaching the Earth-Star’s system, my Diamond.” Blue Pearl alerted her from the console as the ship dropped to sublight engines.

Blue sighed. Pink had loved this planet. Her first and her last colony. Blue had last been here four years ago during one of her many visits to… to where… she… to the place. She had wished to leave it as a testament of her sister’s compassion; at least until the Cluster emerged. But now it was looking likely that this cursed planet had taken another sister from her.

She wasn’t even sure what she was doing. Did she want to know Yellow’s final moments? Did she want to rain cannon-fire on the planet from her ship. Did she want to confront this Flawed Grey, to shatter her herself or maybe go and… and… not return? Did she want to do this, not just this this but any of this without them. Maybe Yellow had been right. Nothing good would ever come from earth.

Blue frowned and raised a hand to her chest as she felt something brush her Gem causing her to shiver. That was strange. It had almost felt like passing too close to a Gem-Light Converter. Excess energy would cling to surfaces creating something near to static.

Blue closed her eyes and focused on her Gem. An understanding of one’s own Gem was fundamental to their species and she had thousands of years of experience in feeling out herself. Light moved through it, through her. She was light. She was Starlight. Light was everything and all was Light and so she was all of everything. She was light. She was Starlight. Light wa- no, there was something off. There was an energy sticking to her Gem that was not light. Blue opened her eyes.

“Pearl, new destination. I must speak with White.”

“Y-Yes, my Diamond.” Blue Pearl stuttered.

Blue watched as Pearl brought up navigation… and then closed it without altering course. She felt the energy move through the ship as more power was added to the sublight engines.

“Pearl. I said we had a new destination.” Blue said.

“Of course, my Diamond.” Pearl responded yet took no action.

Blue frowned. What was going on? She activated her throne interface.

[ACCESS DENIED]

Blue blinked. She was a Diamond. There was no such thing as her being denied. She repeatedly tried to circumvent whatever error was keeping her out of the system.

“It’s no use.” Pearl said without turning from her station. “You’re locked out completely.”

Blue turned angry eyes on her servant.

“Who are you? You are not my Pearl.”

The Pearl turned around to face her, the movement brushing the hair from Blue Pearls face revealing softly glowing green eyes.

“No, I’m not.” The Pearl said. “Goodbye, Blue Diamond.”

Blue Diamonds didn’t know what to make of the thing that was her Pearl simply turning transparent and gliding through the floor of the ship.

Blue sighed as the forward display activated showing not the void of space or the blue and green of a cursed planet, but a dull and constant red of another quickly approaching planet.

Blue closed her eyes. She was light. She was Starlight. She was… so tired.


Alex floated in the void of space and watched as the giant blue ship in the shape of a hand and forearm rammed into Mars. As he waited as the resultant fireball the size of New York (the state not the city) spread and eventually dissipated in the thin Mars atmosphere he bubbled the Blue Pearl in his hand and sent it back to the Temple. He reached out to the touch of ecto-energy he had brushed against Blue Diamond’s Gem and started making his way towards it, it was going to be a long day.

“So let me get this right.” Lyn said from the where she was cuddling Morrigan in the hot spring. “You opened a portal to Blue’s ship using the video feed from a Spectre as a reference then while invisible you touched Blue’s Gem with a tracer of Ecto-Energy and overshadowed her Pearl who you used to plot an impact trajectory into Mars and lock everyone out of the system.”

Alex nodded as Lapis washed his hair. Her control over water made it the best scalp massage he had ever known. “That sounds about right. The hardest part was finding her Diamond at the impact zone. There really wasn’t much of a ship left.”

“I’m surprised there was a Gem to find at all.” Lyn said.

“It was a little cracked but intact.”

“Is there a reason you haven’t shattered any of the Diamonds?” Lapis asked.

“I was thinking of handing them over to the Tuatha De. They can either put them on trial or shatter them or reset them.”

“Why bother?” Lyn asked.

Alex shrugged. “Diamonds, maybe not these ones specifically, but Diamonds are needed to heal corruption. I’ll let others make the decision on how that happens just as long as it happens after we’re gone.”

“So, all that’s left is White Diamond.” Morrigan stated.

“That’s right.” Alex agreed. “How soon will your people be ready?”

Morrigan stretched wrapped her arms around Lyn. “They can be in position within an hour of getting the go ahead.”

“Good, then tomorrow we go after White.”

A few moments of comfortable silence passed as they relaxed in the hot waters.

“Just one question.” Lyn started.

“Hmm?” Alex hummed.

“Why Mars?”

“It required the least deviation of the ship’s route.” Alex responded.

“Shame.” Lyn grinned. “It would have been funnier if you fisted Uranus.”

Alex could only groan while Lapis tilted her head in confusion.

Morrigan covered her mouth to hide her giggles.

“I don’t understand the joke.” Lapis admitted.

“Lyn, no.” Alex reprimanded his sister as she went to explain it to the blue Gem.

“Lyn, YES!” Lyn grinned chaotically. “So, Lapis, fisting is when…”

Alex groaned and tried to ignore his immature yet lovable little sister.

Bismuth was very happy. She had been released from the bubble Rose had trapped her in only a week ago. She had been ecstatic to see the other Crystal Gems and she liked Steven, the boy who replaced Rose. She did feel like something wasn’t being said when Steven had glared at the other Gems and told her that he was the son of Rose Quartz but in the end it didn’t matter.

They had all had a frank discussion about Rose bubbling her. It turned out that even the other Gems couldn’t stomach the necessities needed to free their sister Gems. It might have turned into something ugly except Steven had simply given her a data-crystal and said that there were others who felt more like her.

Bismuth had followed the directions on the crystal and gotten into contact with a Quartz named Morrigan. They had discussed goals and strategies for hours and then she had been introduced to something new, something amazing, something GLORIOUS!

A whole colony outside of the Diamonds’ control. A colony that was happy to get a real rebellion started and was willing to help. Bismuth was with her people! They had an army, they had weapons, they had spirit! She had even met the Diamond that was producing so many of their weapons and found that she didn’t hate the little thing. Alexa didn’t seem to want to command anyone. She simply handed off a batch of tractor-beam wands, a hundred new disruptor swords and a stealth spaceship that was beyond anything Bismuth had ever seen before and had then walked away. A Diamond that didn’t want to lord it over others? HA! Now she had seen everything.

But none of that came close to why she was so happy today. She smiled broadly at the thousand warriors that were lined up in the courtyard with her. Today they were taking the fight to Homeworld. She patted the Breaking Point attached to one of her arms. She knew that if the plan went off without a hitch, then there was little chance it would see any use but still; better to have it and not need it an all that.

Alex stood next to Morrigan as they looked over the invasion force. One thousand Gems, all of different type and caste, each one armed with a disruptor sword, a tractor wand, a light-pistol and a P-comm in addition to whatever personal gem weapon they wielded.

“We’re good to go.” Morrigan said when she got confirmation from Zona.

Alexa nodded and commanded the ghost-skeletons to activate the warp pad causing the skeletons and the crystalline statue to disappear in a beam of light.

“We wait ten minutes and then follow.” Alex said as he watched the holographic display of Whites throne room.

One hundred and Sixty-three light-years away in an empty dance hall near White’s palace a warp pad activated. Four skeleton-ghosts lifted a crystal statue of a winged woman off the pad and onto the dance floor. One by one, following orders from their master, they removed the red gem from their eye and placed it in recessed grooves within the statue’s base. Each gem glowed, liquified and seeped into the statue to gather at the glowing red Gem pulsing at its centre.

The pulsing of the now significantly larger gem in the statue increased in frequency until it was striating in a blur so fast as to appear as constant glow of light that increased in intensity. An oppressive feeling grew around the statue. Flickers of energy played along the surfaces of the room in a slow dance of white static electricity. Gems in nearby buildings staggered as something in the air made them feel faint.

In White’s palace, a Diamond frowned with the face of a damaged pearl.

The statue exploded with red-white light that swept outward in a wave of energy. Outward and onward in a circle of light that rushed through the city and beyond, covering the entirety of the fractured planet. Where the light went Gem’s poofed. Their Gems falling to the ground in a cascade of tinkling stone.

In White’s palace a pearl fell to the floor and a large white diamond clattered to a now empty throne.

Chapter Text

All across Homeworld warp pads activated and teams Danann Soldiers appeared. Groups of six separated off from their comrades to take hold of important facilities. More soldiers started the process of cleaning up by bubbling any Gem they came across.

Already some Gems were reforming themselves but rather than being a direct threat they were simply a distraction. Teams held them in place with their tractor beam wands and poofed them again with their disruptor blades.
The Homeworld Gems simply could not reform and muster up a resistance fast enough for the simple reason that they did not know that they should. They didn’t even know their own names or purpose. Each and every Gem touched by the Rejuvenation Wave had been reset to factory conditions.

The Trócaire. Compassion. A weapon of mass rejuvenation. Based off of the Rejuvenator Scythe wielded by Spinel in the Steven universe movie. It used the same technology as a base to create a wave of energy that essentially reformatted any gem it touched and reverting them to original settings. It wasn’t perfect. It still suffered the same faults as the original Homeworld weapon in that the reset wasn’t necessarily permanent and that a Gem’s memories could be restored by exposure to similar life experiences. But as a tool to instil mass confusion and reduce resistance, it was pretty damn good.

Alex, currently in ghost form, flew through the burning portal he had created and into White Diamonds throne room. He didn’t know if or for how long the overpowered rejuvenation weapon would affect a Diamond and he was hopeful that he would never have to find out. He’s hopes however proved to be in vain as, with a blinding bright light, White Diamond reformed just before he could bubble her.
Alex sighed as the lights in the room shifted to an unnatural monochrome white and grey as the Diamond reformed herself into a towering shining figure of white in a grey and starlight sprinkled cape standing straight with her arms raised up as if basking in adoration.

“My, my, you have been busy. Haven’t you, Grey?” The giant Diamond spoke in a calm voice.

Alex rolled his eyes at the arrogant posturing of the Diamond and took a fist sized black crystal ball from his P-comm. He dropped the orb and it rolled to a corner of the room. Alex started floating around White in circle. This would have been easier if the Trócaire had affected the giant bitch.

“Yeah, it’s been a busy, busy, busy few months.” He conversationally told the blinding white Gem.

“You took my Yellow and my Blue away.” White said in the same tone of voice one would use when pandering to a child. “That was incredibly improper; I was using them. But I guess it is to be expected of a Flawed Diamond to make mistakes.”

Alex simply shrugged and removed another black crystal ball from his P-comm and tossed it over a shoulder.

White’s eyes glowed brightly and a beam of white light suddenly leapt from them to strike Alex in the chest.

“Worry not. You will now be perfected. You will shine with my pure light.”

“Yeah… look, that’s not going to happen.” Alex said as he brushed down the front of his shirt.

“Where is your Gem?” White Diamond frowned.

Alex pulled out another black crystal and let it fall. “You see, that’s the problem with you Gems as a species. Most of you can’t actually think outside of your own experience or commands.”

“You are the Grey Diamond. I know it.” White said her voice becoming harsher.

“I am.” Alex tossed another black crystal.

“Then you have a Diamond Gem.”

“I do.” Alex nodded.

“Then why did you not succumb to my control?”

“Because I don’t have my Gem right now.”

“That is not possible.” Diamond frowned in frustrasion.

Alex sighed. “We’re just going to talk around and around in circles because you literally can’t understand that there are beings outside of Gems that have abilities or technology beyond what you know.” He took another black crystal and threw it to an empty corner of the room.

“They would not matter. They are simple, lower lifeforms that cower before perfection.”
By now Alex had almost made a complete circle around the Diamond. He removed another black crystal, the final and last one he had stored, and held it in his hand.

“Do you know how I beat the other diamonds? Do you know why I’m going to beat you?”

“Because you are a Diamond and were superior to Yellow and Blue. But you are not superior to me.”

Alex shook his head. “No, it was because they didn’t even fight me.”

White actually tilted her head in confusion. “They did not fight you?”

“They were so sure of their own superiority that they came at me alone and without any knowledge or preparation.” Alex revealed. “Any human who was going to a fight would prepare themselves. They would take a weapon. They would try and catch me when my guard was down. They would attack from beyond reach. Each and every Gem fight I have seen both against myself and others have been stupidly direct.”

And it was true. Every attack against himself had been a Gem coming in person and trying to fight him directly. Every Gem battle seen in the cartoon followed much the same lines. Jasper and Peridot came to earth in a giant ship bristling with weapons and they got out to face the Crystal Gems in person. When the Crystal Gems escaped confinement on the ship, instead of utilising any form of ship-wide suppression Jasper had instead attacked them directly. Even on earth again Jasper kept coming at them head on. Her grand plan in later episodes was to create more troops to attack with. The closest they ever seemed to come to strategy was when Aquamarine came to capture more humans for their human zoo and even then, her plan was to float around town asking people if they were the ones on her list to capture.

Alex had read through Homeworld’s historical records. They had fought and wiped out seven sentient races among the thirty-eight planets they had colonised. But none of those civilisations had been any more technologically advanced than the earth’s thirteen-hundreds. Every battle was a direct engagement on an open battlefield. Rarely did the Gems use their superior ships to hit fortified positions from orbit, Gems preferred direct confrontations of strength.

Hell, the Gem idea of recognisance was to launch a giant glowing eyeball into the sky to look down on the planet. They had absolutely no concept of strategy. Only Rose and her rebellion ever came close to thinking strategically and that was something they likely picked up from the humans that fought alongside them. Gems were simply not encouraged to think outside the box.

And it made sense. A direct confrontation of strength against White Diamond would always fail. She was literally the strongest and most resilient Gem and her ability to take control of other Gems rendered any numerical advantage against her useless. Yet, while White was incredibly strong; she was also rigid and inflexible. It was a trait that she had carefully cultured into her Gem population to the point that Homeworld Gems were preconditioned to be as rigid and inflexible as herself. White did not want flexible thinking in her Gems. Flexible thinking would lead to them questioning their own inherent weaknesses. Flexible thinking would have them wonder if there was a way around White’s ability to control other Gems. Flexible thinking would have them repurpose something like a gravity engine into a devastating weapon using a microwave and a 7.2 surround sound system.

Alex looked up and met the eyes of what was likely one of the strongest beings in this universe.

“After your never-fail ‘eye beams of control’ subsequently failed to take me over, you have literally just stood there and watched me prepare the battlefield. How arrogant are you?”

“There is nothing you can do against me. I am perfection.”

“You don’t get it, do you? I’ve already won.” Alex touched a small panel on the black crystal ball he held and dropped it to the floor.

Around the room five matching black crystal spheres pulsed to life and rolled around until they were at six equal points around the Diamond. They unfolded until an open emitter was directed at the Diamond in the centre or their formation.

“No Gem weapon can harm me.” White said with a serene confidence. “I am all light and all light is me.”

She was likely right too. A light-cannon’s beam would either be deflected or absorbed. The rejuvenator hadn’t worked and a disruptor would likely fail. Alex wasn’t even sure bubbling would even contain her, though had been fairly certain portrait storage would have worked.

“It’s not a weapon.” Alex said as he concentrated on ignoring gravity and becoming intangible. “It’s a black hole generator.”

Each black crystal hummed as it generated a quantum containment field and an artificial black hole appeared right where White Diamond was standing. Alex only had a second to see the look of surprise on White’s face as she, along with all other light and matter within the field was instantly compressed to a point of space smaller than an atom. Only the quantum containment field around the singularity prevented the throne room and the atmosphere from being affected.

Alex watched the car sized sphere of pure black that floated in the middle of the room for the preprogramed minimum activation period of twenty-two seconds until the sphere gradually shrunk into nothing.
Even Alex was incredibly surprised when the gravity well finally collapsed and he heard the musical clinking of large diamond shards clatter to the floor. White Diamond had been shattered but even then, her Diamond had not been utterly destroyed by a freaking singularity! Which honestly was supposed to be scientifically impossible. Alex bubbled the shards and just thought how thankful he was that White Diamond was an arrogant idiot.

“So, what would you have done if White had actually tried to fight you?” Lyn asked as they all watched a movie together back in the warehouse housing.

“I would have tried hitting her just to see if I could do any damage and when that didn’t work, I would have opened a portal into deep space and tried to goad her into following and then simply left her there.” Alex said. “Even if she could do something ridiculous like travel at the speed of light it still would have taken her decades to get anywhere and by that point we would be long gone.”

Lapis frowned. “You didn’t think you could win?”

Alex shrugged. “Not in a direct confrontation. I thought the rejuvenator wave from the Trócaire would have taken her out for at least a little longer and I could have avoided any fight at all by bubbling her and trapping that in a painting. But I still prepared the black hole generators in case they were needed.”

Alex smiled and leant over to kiss the top of Lyn’s head. “It was your idea that gave me the inspiration to use them.”

Lyn cocked an eyebrow. “The whole smooth jazz making the ships go faster thing?”

“Smooth Jazz worked on resonance within the engine but Viking Death Metal worked best in syncing together multiple units to produce a more powerful containment shield.”
Everyone just started at him.

“Viking Death Metal?” Lyn asked.

“Something about the heavy bass and drums just worked.”

“Huh. Well, I’m just glad the whole Diamond thing is over.” Lyn said.

Morrigan growled. “Speak for yourself. I’m going to have to sort through reports for the remaining six months we have left here.”

The Danann Gems had taken control of Homeworld and were currently processing Gems as fast as they could. Most captured Gems didn’t have any sense of self beyond their basic functions and they were happy to be given a purpose in the new order that was being created. Some Gems had recovered surprisingly quickly from the rejuvenator wave but even they didn’t seem to overly mind the new system. Without the threat of the Diamonds the court Gems were happy to simply do their own thing. It was expected that over the coming months most rejuvenated Gems would recover but it was hoped that by then they would have adapted to their new lives.

Of course, it was expected there would be radical holdouts but those Gems would be quietly disposed of and their shattered Gems repurposed for the next generation. Alex had already handed over the White Diamond shards and the bubbles of Yellow and Blue and had sat in as the Danann Gems held a tribunal and tried the Diamonds in absentia and declared them war-criminals to be Shattered. He had watched as they carried out those decrees and had shattered the still bubbled Yellow and Blue diamonds.

Alex had taken one shard from each Diamond and allowed the rest to be reserved for later reproduction. He knew that the current plan was to attempt to reproduce one Blue Diamond with a volunteer couple to see how the resulting Diamond child adapted to their society before they attempted more. Alex on the other hand didn’t have any plans for his shards yet, but was sure he could find a use for them somewhere.

“Has there been any sightings of Spinel?” Lapis enquired about the last remaining drawback that was after Alex.

Alex sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. “None yet.”

He was slightly worried about the missing pink Gem. The Diamond he had been watching for months now but the fact that they had never found Spinel made it difficult to plan for her eventual appearance.

“We’ll find her.” Lyn assured him.

Alex just smiled and brought his attention back to the surprisingly good movie: ‘Lonely Blade III – The Bleeding Heart.’

Steven watched the sunrise on the morning after his birthday. They air was brisk, the ground wet with morning dew and the sky a brilliant mixture of pinks and peach. It was beautiful. So why did it hurt something in his heart?

He was at the barn and had been for the past week. For one, it was the best place to keep the ship that Alex had given them and for the another it was the only place where Steven could find the peace and quiet enough to meditate under Garnet’s instruction. The meditation practice was going well… well sort of. The whole emotional rollercoaster that was the ‘Pink Reveal’ was not making focusing on finding his inner peace any easier.

Ever since Connie and he had spent the night with Alex and his fiends a few months ago steven had felt different. It wasn’t the fact that that was also the night he had first fused with Connie, it wasn’t accidently seeing Alyn and Lapis doing adult things. It was the talks about how the Homeworld Gem’s had invaded earth, about the beliefs of the Diamonds and their focus on killing Alex and it was the revelation that Rose Quartz, the leader of the Crystal Gems, the head of the rebellion against a tyrannic oppressive regime — his mother — had in fact been Pink Diamond: the youngest of the Diamond Authority and head of the earth colonisation project.

Steven huffed quietly as he remembered when he yelled out the truth as he was warped into his home. All the Crystal Gems had been in the lounge discussing the search plans to find him and Connie when the two just warped in with Steven yelling his head off that Rose was Pink Diamond.

It… had been a mess. Pearl had been released from her final order to not speak of Pink since Steven now knew the truth and she had confirmed everything. She had shown her memory of what had really happened the day ‘Pink was shattered.’ Sapphire had not taken it well; she had felt so betrayed by Rose that it had taken a heart to heart with Steven and Pearl to show her how Pink had changed and devoted herself not just the to the life already on earth but the freedom of Gems to bring her around.

Ruby had run away and become a cowboy, cowgirl? It was a thing. She had gone off on her own to find herself as herself. It was weird and had ended up in a wedding between Ruby and Sapphire. Gems were strange but he loved them and their weird innocence. They had invited all their friends; he had even gone and gotten Bismuth from the Pink world in Lion. That had been great… until the whole Rose was Pink thing got brought up again but she had at least stayed for the wedding before going off in search of Alex and his people.

If there was something good that came from all the commotion it had been his relationship with Amethyst. She was hurt over Rose’s deception but she cared more about his emotional reaction to the revelation than her own issues. She was, according to her, his ‘ding-dong-sunshine-future-friend forever.’ Or, as Steven was starting to think of her in the privacy of his own mind; the best big sister ever. Was it weird that the greatest form of support he had was that someone didn’t want to burden him with their own emotional trauma? Honestly, he had his own issues to sort out.

His mother was a Diamond, HE was a Diamond. How was he supposed to feel about that? He struggled enough knowing that his mother was an alien, that his mother was a rebel leader and that he was somehow responsible for her legacy. Maybe? Well… it felt that way. But now he knew she was also Gem royalty. She was one of the most powerful Gems in existence and had been part on an elite few that systematically destroyed planets for their own species’ growth. What was he expected to be? What was he?

He had been brooding on those questions for months now and the isolation at the barn of for their eventual approach on the cluster hadn’t helped. Especially when he had celebrated his birthday yesterday and it had only shown him how different he was to his human friend.

Steven sighed. That might have been the crux of the matter at the moment. Staring out at the rising sun, Steven felt so disconnected to his own humanity. He wasn’t human. He wasn’t a Gem. He was both and yet neither. He didn’t know how he was going to grow or develop. Would he stay the same forever? He had pushed and stretched himself to be different – to grow up! — to not be left behind by Connie’s humanity. It had backfired and trapped him in the form of an infant for the night. Connie had said that she didn’t care how he grew while he was stuck as a baby but… he didn’t know what he felt.

“Everyone! Steven is-!” His brooding was interrupted by Connie rushing out of the tent.

“Hey Connie. Look the shirt fits now.” Steven turned and showed off his salmon-coloured birthday shirt.

Connie wiped the tears from her eyes. “You’re back to normal!” She hugged him fiercely.

“Well, well, well.” A voice stretched out from a nearby tree. “What dooo we have here?”

Steven and Connie turned to find a strange Pink Gem. She had tangled messy hair in two pig-tails, black tear-streaked mascara-like lines on her face and a manic glint in her eyes. On her chest was a large pink Gem shaped like an upside-down heart.

“If it isn’t the Birthday Boy and his little friend.” She drawled.

“Who are you?” Steven put himself in front of Connie in case he needed to activate his Rose shield.

“Me? Well, my name is Spinel, I doubt you’ve heard of me." The pink Gem exageratedly shrugged her shoulders. "I’m just a lost toy looking for a dirty Diamond and I heard you know where she is.”

“Look,” Steven said cautiously, “whatever you’ve heard about Pink Diamond it may not be what you think.”

“What I think about PINK DIAMOND!?” Spinel cried and twisted around herself, contorting in painfully stretched ways, her head enlarging for her to shout louder.

“I don’t care what you have to say about Pink!” She started menacingly moving closer. “I’m going to shatter that foul Diamond and you’re going to help.”

“Help?” Steven asked confused by the twisted Gem.

Spinel lunged at him like an uncoiling spring, slamming hard into his hastily created bubble shield.

“HELP!” Steven repeated but this time as a request not a question.

Connie braced Stevens back trying to lend him strength and kicking herself for not having her sword on her even though she was just in her nightclothes given that she had just woken up.

Spinel rained blow after blow down on Steven’s pink bubble with enlarged fists causing cracks to appear in the force wall.

“Connie, you have to run and get the Gems while I hold her off.” Steven gasped as he struggled to hold the bubble.

“I can’t leave you! We can fuse, we can fight!” Connie tried.

“NO! We’re unarmed. You need to get the Gems to help, then we can fight together!”

Any further planning was interrupted by the bubble shield shattering, sending them both flying backward to roll in the dirt.

Spinel leapt forward and wrapped herself around Steven then bounced away as Connie jumped to her feet and lunged at the stretchy Gem.

“Nah ah ah,” Spinel taunted, “You’ll get the Crystal-Brat back when I get Grey Diamond!”

“Grey? Aren’t you after Pink Diamond?” Steven wheezed.

“YOU DON’T GET TO SAY HER NAME!” Spinel cried and tightened her hold on the boy until he coughed up blood and passed out.

“STEVEN!” Connie cried.

“Bring Grey Diamond to the Alpha Kindergarten at sunrise tomorrow if you ever want to see this ‘Steven’ again!” Pink told the tween before coiling her legs into a spring and launching herself up and away, quickly disappearing beyond sight.

Connie didn’t know what to do, it had all happened so fast. One moment she was just happy that Steven hadn’t de-aged himself out of existence and the next he had been kidnapped by a psycho pink bitch?

“Fuck!” she yelled, not caring about her profanity.

She ran to the barn wondering why the Gems had not heard the commotion and intervened. She had only just entered the barn when she fell heavily as she rolled her ankle on a round stone on the floor.

“Oww!” She looked down at what had tripped her and paled at what she saw: it was a large Pearl.

“Pearl?” Connie scooped up the white Gem and looked around. She found an Amethyst, a Ruby and a Sapphire nearby. “Guys?” she scrambled to pick up the other Gems. Thankfully none of them seemed to be damaged beyond being poofed.

“Errgh.”

Connie heard a groan from behind the stored Phase-Ship and prepared to run or fight only to sigh in relief as Greg stumbled around the ship while nursing a painful looking lump on his forehead.

“Mr Universe?”

“Connie? Are you ok?” Greg rushed over and looked her over for injuries, thankful that she only appeared to be slightly scuffed. “Where’s Steven?”

“Some crazy pink Gem kidnapped him. What happened here?”

“She took Steven?” Greg swallowed down the bile that had leapt to the back of his throat. “A stretchy pink Gem got the drop on the Crystal Gems. She hit them all with a weird scythe weapon and they proofed. She knocked me out with the handle when the blade didn’t do anything.” Well, didn’t do anything other than make him pee himself a little but he wasn’t going to tell Steven’s little girlfriend that.

“She said something about taking Steven to the Kindergarten and that she’ll give him back if we give her Alex.”

“Do you know how to get in contact with Alex?” Greg asked as he tried not to think about Steven being held hostage. He was human and couldn’t take on a Gem. It made him feel weak but they needed help.

“He didn’t tell us how to…” Connie started.

Her words were cut short as Pearl’s Gem started glowing in her hands.

“Oh, thank God, the Gem’s will know what to do.” Connie sighed in relief.

Pearl’s Gem floated into the air in front of her but instead of reforming into Pearl it projected a hologram of a clamshell around itself.

“Please identify yourself.” It spoke in a calm woman’s voice.

“Pearl? It’s Connie.” Connie said in confusion.

“Greetings Connie. Please state preferred customisations options.”

Connie frowned in frustration. “Pearl? What are you talking about?”

“Default settings selected. Please stand by.”

The clamshell floated to a clear space on the ground and opened with a musical chiming and Pearl stepped out looking strangely younger than she did before. She stepped forward and bowed to the confused Connie.

“How do you, My Precious Connie? Thank you for bringing me into the world.” She sung to the stunned girl. “I am at your eternal service. Welcome to your new Pearl.”

Connie wasn’t sure what happened but it likely wasn’t good. “…What?”

Chapter Text

Steven woke in a bare stone cave with his chest throbbing. The stone was cold where his face was pressed against it and the stale smell of dust and minerals let allowed him to recognise that he was somewhere in the Kindergarten. If the stiffness and pain in his body was any indication then he had been out for hours, perhaps the whole day.

He looked around the bare stone space. There were crystals on the wall that softly glowed a dim red that allowed him to see a little around the cave. It was empty but for the pink Gem sitting hunched on a rock, her eyes glinting as she watched him.

“You know, you remind me of her.” She said.

Steven groaned as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

“Who do I remind you of?” he asked as he pulled up his shirt to examine the bruising and possible broken ribs.

“Pink.” Spinel almost whispered the words. “I’ve been watching you all since Yellow came and you… you remind me of Pink.”

Steven licked his hand and pressed his palm against his side, sighing in relief as the pain faded under sparkling healing spit.

“If you’ve been watching for that long then you know that my mum, Rose, was Pink Diamond. Then you know that I have her Diamond.” He said.

Spinel shook her head. “No, you’re not her. You might have her Gem but you’re not her.”

She frowned and almost growled as she continued. “It’s Grey’s fault. She ran and hid on this dirtball because she knew, she somehow KNEW that Grey was coming. She ended herself through you so that she could escape the culling of the Diamonds.”

“What are you talking about?” Steven stretched his arms feeling the healing of his side. He wasn’t fighting fit but he was much better than before.

Spinel pulled a Diamond Communicator from her Gem and spun it to an active feed. The communicator projected a holographic image between them showing each and every one of the Diamonds being taken down. It slide-showed between the fall of Yellow, Blue and White and the army of Gems that swept through Homeworld bubbling Gems left, right and centre. The images also showed the trial of the bubbled Diamonds and their shattering. Spinel touched the communicator and zoomed in on Alexa sitting in the witness seats watching the fall of the Diamond Authority.

“She’s the reason why Pink never came back.” Spinel spat. “She’s the reason why she killed herself and turned into you.”

“Look, I don’t think Alex was even in this reality when mum decided to have me.” Steven revealed.

“NO!” Spinel shouted. “It has to be her fault! Or else, or else…” Spinel trailed off as her as she cupped her face in her hands and curled in on herself and started crying.

Steven didn’t know what to do. This was the first time he had been kidnapped and he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to say something to the emotionally brittle Gem. Eventually his gentle nature got the better of him and he stumbled over to the weeping Gem.

“It’s OK.” He wrapped his arms around Spinel. “It’s going to be OK.”

Spinel tensed up under his touch. “What are you doing?”

“It’s called a hug. It’s supposed to make you feel better.”

“Oh.”

“Is it working?” Steven asked.

“…A little.” Spinel admitted, her voice fragile.

“So you knew Pink, can you tell me about her?” Steven asked the now quiet gem in his arms.

Spinel smiled. “I was her best friend…”

Spinel spun him a sad tale of being made for the purpose of being Pink’s playmate. How Pink was often sad or angry because the other Diamonds would not take her seriously or let her have a colony of her own. How she spent her time trying to make Pink smile — a smile that would light up the room according to Spinel — and spending more than a thousand years playing games with her in the Garden: the one place that Pink could laugh and have fun. She spoke of how happy Pink was when she was finally given her own colony but that didn’t take Spinel with her. How she had told Spinel to play a game and wait without moving in the Garden. How she had waited for six thousand years without contact, without knowing if she was coming back, steadily growing more and more certain that she had been left behind. She told Steven of when the Diamond Communicator activated with a message from White to all Diamonds about the dangerous Flawed Grey Diamond that was hiding on earth, the planet where Pink was shattered.

“… and so I knew that Grey was to blame. She’s the one who stopped Pink from coming back to me.” Spinel finished with a sob.

“Spinel,” Steven started. “I don’t think Grey was the reason Mum never came back.”

“She had to be,” Spinel whispered, “because if she isn’t then that means Pink abandoned me.”

Spinel tightened her hug around Steven reminding him near painfully of her nearly crushing him earlier that day.

“You didn’t abandon me, did you?” She stared at Steven with distant eyes.

“Spinel. I’m not Pink. I didn’t abandon you.” Steven said firmly but with a hint of panic.

Spinel refocused on Steven and flinched when she realised what she was doing. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” she hastily let go of him and backed off.

“I don’t know… I’m just so, I’m just so angry.” She admitted.

“Hey now, it’s going to be OK.”

“It’s going to be OK?” she repeated.

Any further conversation was interrupted by the sound of rocks smashing outside the cave and a distant call of Steven’s name.

Spinels eyes hardened. “It’s going to be OK. Because I’m going to shatter Grey Diamond!”

“Spinel! Wait!” Steven tried to stop her from leaving but she just picked him up and dragged him with her outside.

Connie couldn’t stop grinning.

That made her feel bad because her friend — her boyfriend? — Steven had been kidnapped and she should feel sad and anxious — and she did — but still, she could not keep the smile off her face.

She peered down at the cave that Spinel was holled up in from where she was crouched high on the Kindergarten walls. Alex had sent a wave of invisible and intangible drones through the canyons in search for Spinel and Steven and they had found the two only an hour ago. Alex had mentioned the drones did have a new shattering beam weapon attached but that given how close Steven was; it was too risky to use. Why did Steven have to try and befriend all his enemies?

Connie found herself absently touching her Gem for the tenth time in the last few hours as she watched Alex cause a commotion below to lure Spinel out. Her Gem. She had never thought that was something she would ever think about let alone have. She was smiling again wasn’t she?. Her fingers traced the hard edged of the golden tourmaline set between her small breasts. HER GEM! And damn didn’t it feel amazing! Was this how Steven felt all the time? Strong, powerful, light.

Her fist clenched around the hilt of her sword as she watched Spinel exit the cave while dragging Steven. HER SWORD! Not Rose’s sword, her own, her personal weapon that came with her Gem! It was a gladius with a golden crystal blade, a green leather-wrapped handle and a strait cross guard of a brass-like metal. Honestly, it looked much like how she imagined Lisa’s iron sword from the Spirit Morph Saga books to look, other than the actual blade of course. But most importantly it fit her hand like no other blade before it because it was hers on a fundamental level.

Alex had said that she wasn’t exactly a Gem or a Hybrid like Steven but that she was much the same. She had a ‘Gem-like’ body that would age with her maturity level and stay in it’s prime for an incredibly long time. She was stronger and faster than any human could or would ever be. Alex said that he had gifted her with ‘fighting prowess’ and ‘Biological Adaption’ and she could definitely feel how much easier wielding a sword felt. ‘Biological adaption’ was harder to grasp but he said it was what allowed him to add an actual Gem into her body without rejection. Her Gem. Her golden tourmaline. It would allow her, with practice, to shift her physical form slightly and fuse more easily with Steven and it gave her a Gem power of her own. Damnit! She was smiling again.

She breathed out and calmed herself. Spinel was shouting at Alex who was in her Alexa form. Something about Alexa being responsible for Pink Diamond’s death, which made no sense when you knew that Alex had been in this universe for less than a year. It didn’t matter. She had one job to do. Wait until an opportunity to safely retrieve Steven presented itself and then take it. Alex had already run through Spinels strengths and abilities. She might be able to take her but it wasn’t worth the risk. Get Steven and get out. That was the plan.

Connie watched as Spinel pulled a small baton from her gem and waved it around as she and Alex argued. They way she held it indicated it was likely a weapon of some type but she wasn’t sure what kind: that is until it lengthened into a glowing energy bladed scythe. Damn. That is actually cool, Connie though to herself. She was a fan of fantasy genres after all and a scythe ticked a lot of geek boxes. Still, no time to be distracted, the opportunity will come… NOW!

Alexa quickly threw up a wall of clear crystal between Spinel and Steven as soon as Spinel had pushed Steven behind her as she twirled her rejuvenator Scythe and sprung at Alexa. Steven had stumbled and fallen at his sudden release from the crazy Gem but was safe on the other side of the new glass-like wall. Alexa parried the Scythes arc with a misericorde dagger and ducked the kick at her side from Spinels elongated leg. With a thought she caused spears of crystal to lance from the ground at her feet toward the pink Gem causing Spinel to contort herself into an S-shape to prevent herself from being pierced. Another application of her control over the crystal caused it to violently shatter, blasting Spinel backwards and peppering her with sharp fragments.

“You’re the reason SHE’S GONE!” Spinel screamed as twisted herself to her feet. She used the momentum to swing enlarged fists at Alexa who matched each blow with her daggers and shards of created crystal.

Honestly, Alexa was over this. She was going to have one of the girls kick her if she ever selected multiple ‘hunted’ drawbacks again. All her fun creating new Gem-tech or hanging out in the city with the girls was overshadowed by the constant weariness of having to watch out for an attack. The diamonds had been annoying enough but at least she had been on top of watching their movements. Spinel had popped out of nowhere and truthfully Alexa just wanted this done.
With a thought, Alexa moulded the broken crystal around her into rudimentary light cannons. About a dozen pyramids of grey crystal levitated into a circle around Spinel and rotated until a point was directed at the pink Gem. Spinel had to duck, dive and literally bounce around the canyon to avoid the lances of light they fired at her.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Spinel taunted as she backed up against the crystal wall that separated her from Steven.

“Nope.” Alexa smirked.

Spinel had to roll out of the way as a golden sword sparking with yellow lightning punched through the wall behind her. The sword cut through the crystal wall easily, creating a hole with a glowing molten edge. The tall woman who stepped through looked remarkably like Stevonnie except her normally long dark hair was instead in shades of golden yellow that shifted to pink at the ends. Her skin shone with glints of gold and her eyes were a vivid pink edged in molten gold; from her naval and her chest two Gems glittered with light: one rose pink and the other a dark gold. In one hand she held the golden blade and floating in her other hand was Steven’s Rose Shield. She looked like a warrior in shades of an ocean sunrise.

“You don’t get to kidnap my Steven.” Stevonnie growled as she charged at Spinel.

Spinel lashed out but her strike was caught on Stevonie’s shield and was countered with a slash of her sword that was narrowly dodged by Spinel stretching out of reach. Alex used the distraction to coat her fist in grey diamond and land a devastating punch into Spinel’s side that sent her flying into the canyon wall with a crash.

Stevonnie crouched and golden lightning danced around her body before she disappeared in a streak of yellow light. Moving at incredible speeds she dashed and leaped off a stone outcropping and ran clear up the wall of the canyon toward the spot where Spinel had impacted the wall. With the speed of her approach, she kicked the still dizzy pink Gem out of the crater she had made as she passed her and continued upwards. At the top of the canyon, she leapt off the wall towards the airborne Gem and struck with her sword in a flash of light and the crash of thunder. Spinel impacted the ground with a sickening crash and Stevonnie landed lightly nearby. She walked over to the impact zone and found only Spinel’s Gem when the dust settled. Stevonnie raised her sword as if to strike the deathblow when she hesitated and flinched away.

“No! She’s not bad just confused.” She said to herself. “She took you! She could have hurt you!”

Stevonnied stepped towards the heart-shaped Gem then stagged back as she faught with herself before Stevonnie’s form glowed and separated into Steven and Connie who both fell to their asses. Alexa walked up between the groaning young teens and simply reached down and bubbled Spinel.

“Oww… Connie?” Steven rubbed his head and looked over at his friend. For a moment he didn’t recognise her. Connie looked much the same other than her dark hair was streaked with gold and a golden yellow Gem sparkled at her sternum.

“Steven! You’re OK!” Connie jumped to her feet and grabbed him in a hug.

“What happened to you?” Steven asked the happy girl. “Wait! Where’s Spinel?” He looked around to see Alex holding Spinel’s Gem in a bubble.

“I upgraded your girlfriend and Spinel is safely contained.” Alexa told the boy. “If you promise not to let her out for another few months then you can keep her bubble. She’ll be much more open to suggestion once I’m gone.”

Alexa tossed the bubble to Steven once Connie had let him go.

Steven looked at the contained Gem in his hands before sighing and teleporting it to the Temple. “She’s confused and needs a friend. Hopefully we can get through to her later.”

Connie just glared at the bubble as it was teleported away while grumbling something too low for anyone to hear.

“Wait… girlfriend?” Steven’s thought process finally caught up to the other part of Alexa’s words. He looked at Connie and her change in appearance. “Umm… you look good, Connie.” He mumbled as his face turned red.

Connie came out of her grumpy musing about Spinel and smiled at Steven.

“Isn’t it awesome? Now I can fight alongside you against any threat!” She said as she pulled her sword from her Gem and brandished it with a flourish.

Steven didn’t know what to say. On one hand he was so incredibly happy that he had someone else like him, who would understand. But at the same time, he felt like he had somehow stolen Connie’s humanity from her.

“Umm could someone please explain?” He awkwardly asked Alexa and Connie.

Alex flopped onto the couch with an audible sigh and stretched out. He had explained everything to Steven about Connie’s new abilities. How she was very much like a Gem now but not exactly the same. That she had access to some Gem abilities but that mainly that she was stronger, faster and healthier than ever before and that she would live a long, long time much like he would himself.

Steven had taken it as well as could be expected. Connie’s exuberance definitely helped assuage any misplaced feelings of guilt. Alex could tell the moment of real acceptance had come when he realised that without the upgrade, he would have outlived Connie by centuries. It was likely Connie would soon realise that there were downsides to her new body but for now she was incredibly happy to have the new connection to her one and best friend.

Lyn and Lapis strolled into the room with a bag of donuts and a tray of takeaway coffees which they put on the coffee table.

“Any trouble with Greg and the other Gems?” Alex asked as he reached over for a cup of liquid bliss.

“Nah, the medbay healed Greg’s concussion and we got him and the Gems back to the beach house easily enough despite Pearls constant insistence that she needed to be here to serve her Connie.”

Alex smirked into his coffee as he remembered the completely inappropriate look Pearl had given Connie as he used his Diamond Enhancement ability to improve the young girl and give her a Gem. The process worked because he could gift Connie with a ‘Gem-like body’ and two of his perks. He had given her ‘Fighting Prowess’ and was happy that she was able to choose ‘swordsmanship’ herself rather than be stuck with his proficiency with daggers, he had also given her ‘Adapting Physiology.’

Lyn’s words from a month ago had gotten him thinking about how he could give himself and the others more Gem powers. He couldn’t simply ghost fuse the Gems into them but he did think he could actually meld a Gem to an alt-form as long as they had the ‘Adapting Physiology’ perk and the form didn’t already have a Gem. Gifting Connie with one of the Tourmalines he had on hand was a proof of concept for the eventual addition of Gems to everyone’s eventual spare human Alt-forms. It also meant that they would definitely all want an alt-form blending perk soon so that they could access those powers from any other forms.

“You did leave Greg with the note to Steven detailing how he can restore their memories, right?”

Lyn took her time selecting a jam donut from the bag before she responded. “Of course. As funny as it would be for Pearl to be stuck idolising a tween girl; they are the only family Steven has, it would be cruel not get them their memories back as soon as they can.”

The note didn’t actually detail the specifics on how to get the Gem’s memories back, only explaining that having them all re-experience key moments from their lives would trigger their memory return and offering some suggestions on how to go about it for the Gems that Steven didn’t have the full backstory on. Alex was confident that Steven would be able to trigger at least one of the Gems to remember and then that one would be able to help with the others. If they hadn’t made any progress in a week or so he would see about helping out.

“So that’s all the drawback Gems taken care of, right?” Lapis asked from where she was curled up next to Lyn.

“That’s all of them.” Alex agreed. “We’ve got a few months free to have fun here before we can Jump again.”

“Any plans for our remaining time?” Lyn asked.

“I’ve heard the theatre shows in Empire City are pretty good.” Alex suggested.

“A few months of fine dining and the theatre doesn’t sound bad.” Lyn agreed.

“What’s the theatre?” Lapis asked.

“Think Camp Pining Hearts performed live on stage.” Lyn tried to explain.

Lapis gave Lyn a look of complete seriousness. “Tell me more.”

Chapter Text

“Welcome back.” Seraphina welcomed Alex as he once amore appeared in the void between worlds.

Alex rolled he’s shoulders and looked around at the familiar expanse of stars. “I’m glad to be back. I was getting kind of bored by the end of that Jump.”

Seraphina nodded. “The tech is cool and there are some interesting planets out there but the earth is Steven Universe’s universe is a bit dull once you get past the Gem monsters and ruins.”

Alex nodded. “Though there are less Gem monsters now.”

“I’m surprised you used the shards of Diamond you kept modify Rose’s Fountain to heal corrupted Gems, I would have thought you would have used them for something cooler, like a more powerful spaceship or something.”

“I though about it but I felt guilty that I had changed the plot so much with the whole Diamond drawback and the complete and utter take over of Homeworld by our colony. How’s that going to work going forward, anyway?”

Seraphina pulled out her little leather notebook and looked through it.

“Morrigan doesn’t get to keep the entire empire but will get the Danann Colony in future Jumps. I’ll insert it somewhere random in the universe and you’ll have a Warp connection.” She continued reading the booklet, flicking a few pages forward then back. “It’ll also be sort of ‘new’ each jump.”

“New?”

“It’s the same people and any changes or developments you make to the planet or people will carry over but the population won’t be completely aware they’re Jumping universes and will simply adapt to each one. If you go back to any prior Jump then the colony will update the old one but it will be fiat mixed together to seem as if it had always been that way.”

“So, what does that mean going forward?” Alex asked confused.

“It means they’re less likely to go rogue or freak out when their planet jumps realities and cuts off trade routes and off- planet activities, they’ll just kind of accept that the new reality is their reality and continue following Morrigan’s directions.”

“I guess that’s good.” Alex said.

Seraphina nodded. “We had too many Jumpers with following populations and Kingdoms going rogue because they thought they were missing out or something. This way you maintain a stable population of NPCs that you can use as needed.”

“I’m trying very hard not to think of people as NPCs.”

Seraphina simply shrugged.

“Right, well could you bring the others here while I choose the Jump?”

“Sure.” Seraphina snapped her fingers and brought Morrigan, Lyn and Lapis into the void along with a couch and a selection of tea and cakes. Alex only listened with half an ear as Lyn and Morrigan introduced Lapis to Seraphina and Seraphina explained the Jumps and the Danann situation. It took a few hours during which the girls gossiped and griped about Alex, managing a planet of sentient rocks, Alex, resisting punching Steven in his smug face, Alex and how no one was making a serious effort to make Lyn her own fuck-able Spinel slave girl…

Maybe for her birthday, Alex thought to himself.

“Alright, I’ve got the plan for the next Jump.” Alex alerted the group, interrupting Lyn’s explanation of why emotional damaged emo-girls were hot.

“Excellent.” Seraphina clapped her hands together. “Where are you going?”

“First I want to do the ‘3 minute cup noodle’ gauntlet and then I want to do a ‘Chronicle 2012’ jump combined with the ‘Generic Bear Jump.’”

“What’s the noodle gauntlet and I thought we were going to ‘Sword Art Online’ for the ‘Final Form’ alt-form blender?” Lyn asked.

“The noodle gauntlet is a gauntlet where I have to make and eat 3-minute noodles for lunch,” Alex started but then felt he had to defend himself from the incredulous looks he was getting, “it has some really good perks that I think will blend nicely with future purchases.”

“And the ‘Bear’ thing?” Morrigan pressed.

“It’s got a cheap alt-form blender and as a Generic Jump can be applied to other Jumps at the Jump-chan’s discretion.”

Seraphina nodded. “House rule that Generics can be applied to other jumps if I feel they can blend appropriately.”

“And this ‘Chronicle’ Jump?” asked Lapis.

“It’s legit a capstone booster for everything.”

“Really?” Lyn asked interested.

Alex passed her the screen with the Jump and pointed out the relevant perk.

“That’s ridiculous.” Lyn deadpanned. “I want it.”

“Alright. Well, I don’t see any issues with the selection, so what are you choosing for your noodle gauntlet?” Seraphina asked.

3-Minute Cup Noodle Gauntlet
0CP + 800CP
Variety:
Ramen [Free]
>Iron Mouth [Free Ramen]
Brands:
Pot Noodle Brand [Free]
>You Can Make it [Free Pot Noodle Brand]
>An Opera in the Kitchen [200] (Discount Pot Noodle Brand)
>Let’s Mix Something Up [400]
Flavour:
Vegetable Flavour [Free]
>Vegetarian [Free Vegetable Flavour]
>Vegetative [200] (Discount Vegetable Flavour)
Items:
Dehydrated Veggies [Free Vegetable Flavour]
Flavouring Packet [Free Ramen]
Waxed Paper Cup [Free Pot Noodle]
A Hug [Free for Everyone]
Drawbacks:
Crowded Tables [+100]
ESPN Coverage [+100]
Uncooked [+200]
No Hot Water [+200]
Fire [+200]

Seraphina crooked an eyebrow at Alex. “Fire?”

Alex shrugged. “Got to boil that water somehow.”

Lyn was going through the Jumpdoc reading the details on Alex’s choices. “Oh, that’s just cheating!” she burst out.

“It’s not cheating, it’s just using complimentary perks.”

“What are you two talking about?” Lapis asked confused.

“You’ll see when he makes his Chronical purchases.” Lyn said.

Seraphina shook her head. She could see what Alex was trying to do and it wasn’t against any rules. She was looking forward to how seeing far he could take the perks.

“Alright, you ready to cook lunch in a regular corporate office without a kettle or microwave while ESPN covers your actions and the building is actually on fire?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be for that ridiculous situation.”

Seraphina smiled. “Good. Because you start now!”

“Heeeeelllooooo Noodle Fans and Enthusiasts!” The slightly overweight man in a suit called into a microphone while facing the camera. “I’m Tom Mato and with me tonight is my good friend and fellow noodle nut: Buck Wheat!”

“Pleasure to be here Tom.” The smiling balding man in a turtle-neck and a suit jacked replied.

“Well Buck, do we have an exciting show tonight or what?”

“I’ve honestly never been more excited for this lunchtime rush.”

“And what a rush it is! As you viewers likely know the generic corporate office is a cut-throat environment where TIME IS MONEY!” Tom emphasised his last words with dramatic hand gestures.

“To those not aware: this means that a general lunch break is only fifteen minutes!”

“FIFTEEN MINUTES!? Is that even legal?”

“Who cares Tom. Who cares?” Buck shook his head.

“I certainly don’t.” Tom laughed. “Anyway, the clock is quickly approaching one in the afternoon and Alexander Blake will soon be entering the staff kitchen to prepare his lunch.”

“To those at home, Alexander Black is an up-and-coming dimension hopping star on the lunchtime circuit.”

“I hear this is his first attempt at office lunch, Buck?”

“His first attempt at office noodles but he’s an old hand at the home-brought leftovers and the sneaky food delivery, Tom.” Buck responded.

“He wont be able to get away with ordering out this time, will he Buck.”

“No Siree Bob! He’ll have to make his cup noodles completely without assistance.”

Tom covered his mic and whispered to Buck. “Oi. It’s Tom, not Bob.”

Buck just rolled his eyes as Alex entered the room and looked around.

“It seems Alexander had arrived and is scoping the place out for his lunchtime preparation.” Tom said to the camera.

“That’s right, Tom. But he better be quick about it as the timer for his lunch break started the moment he entered the staff kitchen.”

Alex moved to the cupboards and started opening them. He ignored items like cups and plates and assorted breakfast cereals until he found a selection of ‘Pot Noodle: Vege-BLAST’ flavours.

“It looks like he’s found the noodles, nwo he just has to make them!” Tom exclaimed to the camera.

It was at that moment that the microwave, in use by another staff member, spluttered and sparked then burst into flames with a ‘woosh!’”

“Oh no! This could be a problem. It seems that the microwave has caught on fire and the flames are quickly spreading!” Buck said excitedly.

“Will Alex be able to make his lunch, or will he quit before he can even begin?”

“Well, you know what they say, right Tom?”

“What do they say Buck?”

“If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen!”

The pair shared a chuckle as Alex ignored his co-workers fleeing the kitchen and the fire spreading from the microwave to the grease coated tables to open his cup noodles and remove the flavour sachets. He went to sink and added cold water — the hot water was broken — up to the recommended fill-line.

“It takes some grit and determination to keep making lunch in the face of a room on fire, doesn’t it Buck?” Tom asked his co-host.

“That’s right Tom. I haven’t seen such dedication to a meal since Iron Chef incident of ’94 when Chef Moriyama Tsukesu cut his own finger off yet still managed to present a seventeen course mackerel meal.”

“The sure do make them different in Japan.”

Alex rummaged through draws until he found a pair of forks. He grabbed the roll of paper towel before it went up in flames and used it to wrap the handles of the forks in such a way that when folded they acted as a pair of tongs. Using his new tongs, he held the waxed paper cup over the flames that were consuming near half the kitchen now.

“After MacGyvering a pair of tongs it looks like Alex had jumped out of the frypan and right into the fire. I’m not sure this is going to work; paper is generally known to burn when exposed to fire.”

“This might seem like a crazy plan, Buck. But it’s crazy like a fox. Paper is incredibly combustible but the heat capacity of water is able to absorb the heat rapidly drawing the heat away from the paper into the water before the paper can actually start to burn.”

“Did your fancy college degree teach you that, Tom?”

“Nope, Boy Scouts. Earned my urban survival badge.”

“This explains so much about you.”

Alex waited as, even though the label peeled and the cup browned, the water was slowly coming to a boil. Once the water had actually reached a boil, he pulled the cup away from the flames and move himself as far from the fire as possible. He stirred the noodles and added the flavouing sachets. Now all he had to do was wait until the noddles softened and he could eat and finish the gauntlet. In the distance he heard the sound of sirens as emergency services responded to the situation. The fact that the buildings fire-suppression system hadn’t activated screamed a future lawsuit against the company.

“Now the waiting game begins. Wait too long and the lunch break will be up before you can consume your meal. Wait too little and you’ll scold yourself trying to consume too hot noodles.”

“I’ve done that myself I can tell you it’s no walk in the park to drink down boiling hot noddled broth.”
Alex just kept his eyes on the clock as he waited the minimum three minutes for the cup noodles to cook and to meet the gauntlet requirements. As soon as the required time passed, he quickly stirred the contents then started scarfing the noodles and broth down; relying on his free ‘Iron Mouth’ perk to prevent the scalding liquid from burning him.

While eating he could hear the sounds of heavy boots pounding down the hall towards the kitchen and as soon as he finished the cup of noodles he was rewarded by a blast of tepid water in the face as a firefighter opened up on the kitchen fire getting Alex as well.

The last thing he heard before he blinked back to the void was the last comment by the one of the presenters.

“Well, that’s what I call a Splashing Success.”

Alex spat out a mouthful of stale water when he reappeared in the void with Seraphina and the girls. Lyn was laughing while Morrigan and Lapis sniggered.

“Did you enjoy your lunch.” Seraphina asked with a smirk.

“It was fine. Honestly, I was expecting that to be harder.” Alex admitted.

Seraphina shrugged. “I could have pushed the fire more but there really wasn’t any point. Good idea using one drawback to overcome another though.”

“It was something I’ve seen on online and thought it would work. Made the noodles taste like crap though.”

“I’m sure you’ll live. Especially with the nice perks you got from the deal.”

Alex smiled. “The ability to combine up to seven perks into a single mega-perk should come in handy when I’m giving everyone perks with the ‘Lifeform Enhancement’ ability.”

“Wait, is that why you held off enhancing my base form?” Lyn asked.

Alex nodded. “I can only enhance one alt-form at a time and can only give out two perks per enhancement. So I wanted the ‘Let’s Mix Something Up’ perk to give out more perks at once.”

“So that means you can enhance my human-alt with another Gem right?”

Again, Alex nodded. “One Gem per enhancement and with the Alt-form blender we can get soon you’ll be able to hide the Gems but still use the powers.”

“Sweet!” Lyn squealed.

“So, are you ready to pick your next options?” Seraphina interrupted.

“Sure.” Alex agreed.

“While Alex picks out his choices can we have some cup-noodles?” Morrigan asked.

The girls gave her a look as if to say: why?

Morrigan shrugged. “What? I feel like noodles after watching Alex make some.”

Seraphina laughed and caused cups of just ready noodles to appear in front of the girls.
Alex shook his head and when over his options.

Alexander Blake - Chronicle
1000CP + 100Cp
Origin:
Drop in
Perks:
Powers [Free]
Lifting Yourself Up [600]
Magnetic Personality (Drop in) [Free]
Supernatural Savant (Drop in) [300]
Items:
Found Footage [Free]
Companions:
Companion Import [200] – Up to eight companions with 800CP each.
Drawbacks:
Weird Quirk [+100] – Randomised selection: Goth Asthetic.

“I didn’t actually select what my weird quirk will be but it auto-generated one for me. Should it do that?” Alex asked Seraphina.

Seraphina looked over the selection. “That was me. It wouldn’t be a weird quirk if you could just choose something benign.”

“It could be worse.” Alex agreed.

“Ohhh! I see what you’ve done!” Lapis exclaimed as she read over Alex’s selection. “You are going to share those right?”

Alex smiled; he was fairly proud of the synergy perks he had found. ‘An Opera in the Kitchen’ from the noodle gauntlet allowed him to train any of his skills or abilities even when doing mundane tasks such as such as making and eating meals, sleeping, travelling, or similar. The time would count as if he was studying or training to improve a skill in some way. Then combine that with ‘Lifting Yourself Up’ from the Chronicle jump which removed any limits to powers and abilities meaning that if you train them, they will improve: continuously. This means that he’ll be continuously training his abilities beyond their limits even when sleeping or playing games. As an added bonus the ‘Vegetarian’ perk (if it can even be called a perk) meant that if he only at vegetables for an entire twenty-four-hour period then all training — i.e.: sleeping — would be twenty times more effective. The ‘vegetarian’ perk would have to be used sparingly though as it also cut his abilities to ten percent of their peak but at least it could be instantly ended with a single bite of near any meat product.

“Yes, I’ll share. You know I’m going to have to find a way for you all to share your perks with me eventually.”

“Until then we’ll just be better than you.” Lyn chuckled. “Speaking of which here are our choices.”

Brooklyn Blake - Chronicle
800CP
Origin:
Social Butterfly
Perks:
Powers [Free]
Chad 101 (Social Butterfly) [Free]
I Just Do My Best At Everything (Social ButterFly) [200]
The Game of Life (Social Butterfly) [300]
Items:
Found Footage [Free]
Holiday Home [300]

Morrigan - Chronicle
800CP
Origin:
Awkward High Schooler
Perks:
Powers [Free]
Who Wants To Be Mundane [300]
Secrecy Insurance (Drop In) [200]
Main Character Morality (Awkward High Schooler) [Free]
With Great Power Comes Great Leisure (Awkward High Schooler) [200]
Chad 101 (Social Butterfly) [100]
Items:
Found Footage [Free]

“Should we be concerned?” Alex asked Morrigan.

“Nah, Just be prepared to get me out of any shit-hole homelife I end up in.”

“How does the ‘Awkward High Schooler’ origin even work if you take the ‘Chad 101’ perk?” Lyn asked Seraphina.

“I’m not sure. Maybe you’ll be too pretty to be friends with?” Seraphina shrugged.

“I’ve made my selection.” Lapis interupted.

Lapis Lazuli - Chronicle
800CP
Origin:
Mostly Average Guy
Perks:
Powers [Free]
Setting Priorities (Social Butterfly) [200]
Sidekick Stupidity (Mostly Average Guy) [Free]
A Helpful Hand (Mostly Average Guy) [200]
Items:
Found Footage [Free]
A Strange Cave [400]

Alex raised an eyebrow at Lapis. “A sexual enhancement perk?”

“I have enjoyed that part of our relationship.” Lapis said but wouldn’t meet Alex’s eyes.

“Definitely going to have to find a way for you girls to share perks with me.” Alex smiled.

“Not that I’m complaining but why the cave?” Morrigan asked.

“I didn’t see anything else I wanted and it will mean we can give others the powers if we want to.” Lapis explained

“Ohhh we can give an entire school telekinesis and watch them go nuts!” Lyn said excitedly.

Alex rolled his eyes. “Right. Well now for the Generic Bear Selection.”

Alexander Blake – Generic Bears
1000CP +100CP
Origin:
Bear: Polar Bear - Zoo
Perks:
Breeding Program [50]
Nothing As Sexy As A Bear [100]
Sir Bearington [200]
SB Bear [200]
Fascinating To Watch (Zoo Bear) [Free]
Escape Artist (Zoo Bear) [100]
Well Cared For (Zoo Bear) [200]
Items:
Picnic Baskets [50]
Honey [50]
Companions:
Companion Import  [150]
Drawbacks:
Park Ranger [+100]

Seraphina looked over the selection. “An alt-form blender, an anti-containment perk and a perk that prevents skills from declining, everything else was just a bonus wasn’t it.”

Alex nodded. “The impregnation perk may come in handy one day and a sexy perk is always appreciated. I wouldn’t have need to take any drawbacks but I really wanted the ability to conjure picnic baskets, the honey was just to use the remaining fifty points.”

“I was sceptical about the Bear Jump but lots of these perks are really useful.” Lyn said while reading through the document.”

“Well, you each have six hundred points to make your own choices.” Alex told her and the girls.

Brooklyn Blake - Generic Bears
600CP
Origin:
Bear: Brown Bear - Wild
Perks:
Breeding Program [Free]
Black, White, And Asian [50]
Nothing As Sexy As A Bear [100]
Born To Be Wild (Wild Bear) [Free]
Death Dealing Machine of Ultra-Violence (Wild Bear) [100]
Bear Acrobatics (Circus Bear) [100]
Choreographed Mauling (Hollywood Bear) [200]
Items:
Coca-Cola [50]

Morrigan - Generic Bears
600CP
Origin:
Bear: Black Bear - Hollywood
Perks:
Breeding Program [50]
Black, White, And Asian [50]
Nothing As Sexy As A Bear [100]
Sir Bearington [200]
The Greatest Bear Actor In The World (Hollywood Bear) [Free]
Shooting Schedule (Hollywood Bear) [200]

Lapis Lazuli - Generic Bears
600CP
Origin:
Bear: Black Bear - Wild
Perks:
Breeding Program [50]
Black, White, And Asian [50]
Nothing As Sexy As A Bear [100]
Sir Bearington [200]
Born To Be Wild (Wild Bear) [Free]
Guardian Of The Wild (Wild Bear) [200]

“Should I be worried about all the ‘Sexy Bear’ and ‘Breeding Program’ combinations?” Alex asked the girls after they had made their selections.

“We’re only in this world for a year and there’s like a fifty-fifty chance that the geodesic murder rocks are real and will emerge in the next few decades.”

“Ok. But how does that relate to the perks?”

“Haven’t you ever wanted to knock up an entire high school of teenage girls with superpowered babies before?” Lyn giggled.

Alex pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He knew that his sister was a little crazy but this… this was new.

“I can’t say I’ve ever thought of it before.” He told her.

Morrigan rolled her eyes. “I just wanted to increase the population of Danann. I should be able to pass on the ability to impregnate with a touch to the offspring and in a few years, we’ll have a fertile population that doesn’t need Gemshards to reproduce.”

“That’s actually a good idea.” Alex nodded. He could think of a few perks of his own he could introduce to the population.

“I just had a spare fifty points.” Lapis deadpanned.

“That also works.”

“I hate to interrupt but I need to iron out some details before you’re all sent down.” Seraphina spoke up.

“What do you need to know.”

Seraphina pulled out her red leather book and flicked through her notes. “Right. So, you’ll all start as bears near Seattle. It’ll be up to you to find your Chronical alt-form homes and such. Now, do you want to all be exposed to the crystal entity or just have the powers without exposure.”

“What was the difference again?” Morrigan asked.

“Exposure will create a psychic link between you all and the three protags in the movie as well as anyone else exposed.”

“Psychic link as in telepathy?” Morrigan pressed.

“Psychic link as in nose-bleeds when anyone linked is scared or angry and flashes of their perceptions.” Seraphina admitted.

“I think we can do without random nose-bleeds whenever an angsty teenager gets angry, don’t you think?” Alex asked the others.

“Yeah. I don’t particularly want a connection to the three teens from the movie.” Lyn admitted.

Lapis cocked her head to the side. “I purchased the ‘Strange Cave,’ could we all gain our powers through that? That way we’re connected together in our own link which we can then add others to with the cave.”

Alex looked at Seraphina who checked her book and nodded.

“I’m OK with that.” He said.

“Me too.” Lyn added as she hugged Lapis.

“I’m also good with being linked in our own circle.” Morrigan said.

“Alright. I’ll make sure that you’re exposed as you go down.” Seraphina looked at Lapis. “The cave will be attached to the Warehouse but you just have to touch the wall and say where you want it to appear outside if you want it to appear in this Jump or another.”

Lapis nodded that she understood.

“Alright. I think that’s everything. If not I’m sure you’ll manage.” Seraphina snapped the book shut. “Are you all ready?”

“Ready!” Lyn chirped.

“Ready.” Morrigan nodded.

“Me too.” Lapis agreed.

Alex looked at the three and then nodded to Seraphina. “We’re ready to go.”

Chapter Text

Alex stretched out on the rock on which he was sunbathing. The heat of the sun felt luxurious on his bright white fur and the gentle murmur of the passing crowds was soothing in a pleasant way. Life was good. Food was plentiful, the sun was warm, the water cool, the gaggle of tourists were waving at him from behind the glass…

Oh… right, not actually a bear, Alex thought to himself as his awareness as both a human and a Gem and a Jumper all came back to him. Or I could just take a nap, a nice long nap in the sun with a full belly and no worries at – Alex shook his head and focused on his new ‘SB Bear’ perk. He pushed his bear mentality away and focused on ‘functioning as a human.’ Quickly the memories and associated detached attitude of an animal faded until he felt more like himself.
Being a bear was… interesting. There was a certain peace to the mind frame of an animal. Bears didn’t care about the future much beyond the need to eat. Even long-term, a bear goals only arose when presented. A bear didn’t worry about mates until one was available. They didn’t worry about the winter until the leaves turned and the world became chill. Once Alex had supressed his Bear persona, the new memories proved easy to push to the side and generally forget about. He had been a bear raised in captivity and the years within the zoo simply blurred into one long day of eating, sleeping, swimming and occasionally fucking a provided female polar bear. Don’t ask.

Alex lumbered to his feet, all four of them, and shuffled to the cave at the back of his exhibition: much to the disappointment of his watching crowd of Zoo attendees. In the cave he was actually surprised to find that the Jump classified him as the owner of the space, or at least that’s what the Gemtech warp pad set into the floor suggested. With a massive shrug the polar bear stepped onto the warp pad and disappeared in a flash of light. If he had been thinking clearly, or at all, he would have given thought to the observation camera installed in the cave or of the park ranger sitting at a desk watching the live feed of the bear disappearing. Instead, he had been thinking of finding the new temple location and then contacting the others to organise a group meeting.

He arrived at the temple with another beam of light to the temple room in which he had spent so much time in in the last jump. Alex let out a breath of relief when he saw all the modifications and equipment had remained in place. It wasn’t that he wasn’t prepared to remodify the temple to his and the girls liking, but it saved plenty of time and energy.

A quick look outside showed that the temple was no longer on an island but built into a rocky hill in the middle of an old growth forest. The giant woman statue that made up the front of the temple was speckled with moss and lichen that blended with the granite rock face and matched the dark green and brown drapery of the established forest growth. The abundant firs and yellow cedars along with the similar climate to the Zoo Alex had just left pointed to the likelihood that the Temple was in one of the forests near Seattle and thus near the movie location.
The hum of the warp activating alerted him to the arrival of the others and so he made his way back into the temple so see that Lyn, Lapis and Morrigan had warped in together.

No one was in their bear alt-form but each was in a different form than the previous jump except for Lyn who was again in her half-Gem persona though this time much taller. Morrigan and Lapis had both seemed to utilise their new alt-form blender perks as they both appeared as teenage girls with stylistic additions. Lapis had pale skin and black hair with vivid streaks of blue and her eyes shone gold-speckled blue after her namesake. Morrigan appeared much a like a teenage mixture of her ghost and gem forms: pale skin and scarlet eyes that contrasted vividly when framed by her muted rainbow of green, blue, ochre and grey layered hair. Everyone was dressed comfortably in dark jeans and shirts or blouses, but that made sense when they could each simply will clothing made from light into being from their Gems… even when the Gems were no longer visible. ‘Sir Bearington’ was awesome.

“Did anyone have any trouble with their arrival?” he asked.

“I think multi-cross jumps might be a little glitchy if you take multiple origins.” Lyn grumbled.

“Why?” Alex asked concerned.

“I woke up as large bear in my teen-girl bedroom.” Lyn flushed. “It took a little bit to get my head around my bear instincts and shift back to my half-gem form… in other news: I need a new bed.”

“Any problems with the parents?” Alex asked.

Lyn shook her head. “Nah, they’re out of town on business. From my memories they’re often distance and gone. I’ve got the whole mansion to myself; likely because I technically own it seeing as it’s a perk and all.” Lyn said before looking enquiringly at Lapis to pass the conversation on.

Lapis nodded with sympathies to Lyn’s situation. “I woke as a bear in the ‘Strange Cave’ I purchased. Last thing I remembered from my ‘Average Guy’ origin was going for a hike, so it’s likely near our town. Thankfully the cave got a warp pad installed so we don’t have to go searching for it. As for my origin family they seem normal enough. Busy but not absent or anything, maybe a little distant but only in a generation gap way. They don’t really get my anime and gamer hobbies… also I now have hobbies.”

Alex smiled along with Lyn and Morrigan, it was nice that Lapis was getting a good ‘human’ experience.”

Morrigan tilted her head to the side when everyone turned to her. “I didn’t seem to have any problems with my bear persona but I think ‘Sir Bearington’ may have glitched my parents.”

And wasn’t that weird? Morrigan had never had parents before and likely never would again if given the choice. She had listened to Alex and Lyn when they had described their homelives both pre-jump and from the Monopoly Gauntlet and they both had nothing but praise for their parents. These new parents of hers failed in comparison. She could already feel a kernel of angst and resentment against them that was wholly the new memories gained from the jump.

“Did something happen?” Lyn asked with a frown, her new wild bear instincts flaring and wondering if she needed to crush some skulls for her friend.

“No.” Morrigan shook her head. “Just that my ‘Awkward High Schooler’ origin may have conflicted with my ‘Hollywood Bear’ origin and my ‘Sir Bearington’ perk. My lovely parents see me as both a daughter and a bear and have decided to supplement their income by blogging my life.” Morrigan explained with an exaggerated eye roll.

“Wait! You’re ‘My Un-Bear-able Teenage Daughter?’” Lapis asked. “I wrote a paper on that blog for my sociology class… well, I remember doing so.”

Alex nodded. “Implanted memories are weird like that.”

Lyn tilted her head to the side. “What are they even blogging?”

“Mostly it’s just them filming meal times and outings while I act like a bear,” Morrigan frowned, “but they also parade me about in costumes and my room is a cage.”

Alex and Lapis both growled as their inner bears ruffled at what was being described.

Lyn raised a hand. “All in favour of knee-capping Morrigan’s parents say ‘aye.’”

“Aye.” Alex and Lapis responded.

“Then we’re agreed.” Lyn nodded.

Morrigan blushed. It was nice having protective friends.

Alex noticed the blush and smiled. It was good to see the real Morrigan shine through since she had been often lost while in her Gem persona. The alt-form blender was doing what it was supposed to though since he could see the Gem resolve she used to lead the Danann Colony beneath the flushed exterior. He could feel himself balancing out for the first time in a year as well. No longer switching between Diamond arrogance, Ghostly obsession and his original human empathy. It felt good in a way that was impossible to explain.

“So we’ve agreed on one thing to do while in Jump but do we have any actual plans for while we’re here?” Lapis asked the group.

Alex shook his head. “I just really wanted the powers and the improvement perk, other than that I had no plans other than taking advantage of it being 2012 and stock up on games and movies and such for the warehouse.”

Lyn nodded along with Alex before she spoke up. “I was only half joking about knocking up a high school or two. There’s a chance that this world is going to be attacked by telepathic-murder-geodes after we’re gone and it would be kinda cool to create a super-powered group to protect it.”

“I’m defiantly going to be spending a lot of time on Danann trying to improve the population but I don’t mind helping out with that.” Morrigan told Lyn.

Lapis smiled. “I have memories of watching something called ‘Sailor Moon,’ I think it would be fun to make something like our own sailor scouts.”

Lyn’s eyes we’re practically shining.

“Can we please?” she pleaded of Alex.

Alex rolled his eyes. “Sure, as long as people actually agree to it then I’m fine with us turning rando highschoolers into weird superheroes.”

Alex paused as he remembered the actual ‘Superheroes’ of the movie.

“Also, I’m going to try and head off the clusterfuck that is Andrew’s life before he goes nuts.”

“The creepy kid from the movie?” Lyn asked.

Alex nodded. “He’s a creep but most of his issues can be solved with money and a helping hand. It will be interesting to see if he still goes nuts without the burden of his mother’s illness and his dick of a dad.”

Everyone nodded along with that.

Alex walked over to the bank of Gem-tech along the wall and started up the systems to start producing spectres and warp pad seeds.

He smiled over his shoulders at the girls. “Let’s get started.”

That night Alex ghosted through the wall of a quiet suburban house. It was actually a nice two-story weatherboard home that had obviously seen better days. The lawn was overgrown and the paint on the weatherboards was leaning towards the bad side of weathered but other than the need for some cleaning, some general maintenance and a lick of pain; the house still echoed with the dream of a family home.

It was nearing one in the morning and spectres that Alex had sent out had confirmed that the chronicle boys had just left the party to explore the cave. The rooms were dark and the house quiet as Alex drifted through the building. He passed Andrew’s father (Rick? No, Richard? He wasn’t actually sure) passed out on the living room sofa, a half dozen empty beer bottles standing vigil around his sleeping form. Leaving the man in his slumber he floated up the stairs to the second floor and searched for Andrew’s mother by poking his head through the doors to the rooms off the hall.

He found Karen asleep in the master bedroom. She… was not looking well. Her eyes were sunken with deep shadows beneath them, her face was thin and the skin on her arm above the covers was lose showing that she had lost a lot of weight and muscle. Her breaths sounded laboured behind the gentle hiss of oxygen supplied to her from the tubes attached to her nose.

Alex considered his next step. He hadn’t expected the woman to be as frail as she was when he knew she lived for some months yet. He had originally planned on simply overshadowing the her but he honestly didn’t know how her body would hold up to him getting in and walking her into the warehouse.

He squeezed the bridge of his nose as he considered the problem. His chronical powers were out. He and the girls had already played with their burgeoning psychic abilities back at the temple and they were still weak and immature. These abilities were defined on the concept of practice and use making them more powerful and dynamic. Two hours and three blood noses did not automatically mean he could put them to best use. His new ‘Supernatural Savant’ perk meant that he would eventually excel in the use those powers and his few training booster perks would ensure he improved quickly but that would not help him now.

The ‘Savant’ perk would have improved any of his other abilities from prior jumps but he was unsure of how to put them to best use. Ghost-style telekinesis was a possibility but Alex had found that objects he moved with it had a mind of their own. It was almost like a part of him possessed whatever he was moving and in that made it act like it was semi-alive and under direction. Useful when cleaning a room and causing items to dance to their proper spots like a rip-off Sorcerers Apprentice but less helpful in carefully moving a frail woman. He could bubble her but that would just mean transporting a large unwieldy bubble that would eventually pop and drop the poor woman.

Fuck! This shouldn’t be as difficult as it was! How about magic? He thought with frustration.

He hadn’t had much opportunity to practice with the Ghost King’s magical abilities but that was mainly due to how vague they were. He just didn’t know what he could actually do with them. But something simple shouldn’t be out of his reach and wouldn’t hurt.
Alex searched down within himself and tapped the roiling energy that was his magic. Violet light dimly illuminated to room from his now glowing eyes. He reached out to the sleeping woman with the magic in his grasp and tried to empress the idea of calm and of restful sleep; of a slumber she would not wake from until dawn. At the same time, he tried to impart a sense of strength and vitality into the woman to keep her alive for the next part of the plan.

Despite his apprehension about using his unpractised powers, Alex could see how the woman relaxed in her sleep. Her breathing became deeper and easier, her cheeks gained a hint of a colour and the frown of pain he hadn’t even noticed she was carrying had smoothed out leaving her looking at least a decade younger. Alex smiled. That had worked better than expected… though he still had to actually move her.

Eventually, Alex remembered that innate powers weren’t the only things he had at hand. His whole trip to the Steven Universe jump was to pick up tools to solve unexpected problems. He was still wearing a Gem-tech tractor beam wand shaped like a crystal bangle around his right wrist. In the last jump he had mostly used it to moving large rocks or machinery that were not made of crystal but now he could use it now for much the same reason he used it then. The wand didn’t just move things it placed them in a stasis field when it did so. Perfect when moving heavy yet delicate machines. No matter how fast he lifted the sleeping woman or what direction he tilted her, she would not feel a thing and more importantly not suffer any strain from the movement.

So, with a smile, Alex carefully removed the woman’s bed covers, unhooked the oygen line from her face and opened a portal to the warehouse on one wall. With a touch the bangle straightened into a short blue crystal rod which he then simply pointed at the sleeping woman and, in a beam of pale blue light, levitated her through the portal. Thus, it was only a matter of seconds before he was lowering her to the metal table that was the medbay.

Andrew was happy. Confused? Yes. Anxious? Certainly. But happy? This was not a natural state that Andrew generally found himself in.

It started the morning after the cave. God, he can’t even keep the smile off his face when thinks of it. He had stumbled home late that night; well, early that morning if he was being truthful. His cousin, Matt, had somehow driven him home despite the fact they were both near blind from the headache. Fuck. That had hurt more than breaking his wrist in elementary. Stupid monkey bars. It’s a miracle that Matt hadn’t wrapped them around a tree in a bloody twisted mess of steel and flesh.

He remembers stumbling into bed and nearly instantly losing consciousness. He hadn’t even been able to change from his clothes which had been filthy with sweat and dirt and with a ridiculously large red bloodstain down his front from the nosebleeds. Had to clean that before Dad saw and berated him for ruining a shirt. Despite his exhaustion from that crystal… thing, and despite the late hour of his return; Andrew woke early at seven, only a few hours after getting home. A full bladder could not be denied by strange otherworldly experiences, terrific head pain, a possibly broken nose — did an asshole punch him? He swears he remembers someone punching him — and a sore ankle that he didn’t even know that happened.

After relieving himself he grabbed a quick shower before planning to return to bed when he stopped in the hall… he could smell pancakes, sausages and eggs. Dad didn’t cook breakfast. Dad’s idea of a cooked morning meal was a toasted bagel and an overdone fried egg. Only Mom ever made pancakes.
Andrew had cautiously edged his way into the kitchen and froze at the site of what he found. His mother was cooking, her back to him. His mother was fucking STANDING! She wasn’t curled into her wheelchair and smothered in fleece blankets, instead she was humming the theme song to Inspector Gadget to herself as she flipped another pancake out of the pan and onto a plate of already cooked cakes. Andrew met the eyes of his father who was sitting at the table eating. His father. The dickwad. The angry, drunk, sad, hurt man who struggled to show anything but anger and pain to the world was silently crying while eating his breakfast. He had had this strange look on his face. Constipation? …no, it was just a smile.

“Mom?” Andrew had asked hesitantly.

Karen turned around from the stove with a smile on her face. “Andrew! You’re just in time for pancakes!”

She had looked amazing. Healthy, pink flushed cheeks and vibrant dark brown eyes that lacked the dark shadows she had been carrying for so long. She was still thin, painfully so, but she looked better than she had in years.

Andrew nearly threw himself at her as he wrapped his arms around her and cried. He didn’t know how, he didn’t know why, but somehow, he knew that his mom was going to be alright.

“Think fast, numb-nuts!”

The almost empty soda can smacking him in the side of the face pulled Andrew out of his reminiscing.
Andrew scrowled at the laughing duo of Sean and Wayne or as Andrew referred to them in his head: Dickhead One and Dickhead Two.

“No camera today, huh? Did you have to pawn it for a bus fare?” Dickhead One giggled.

Dickhead Two smirked. “Nah, the loser sucks his cousin off for a lift each morning.”

Andrew tensed. He hated them. He hated the way they spoke to him. He hated that they already ruined the happy high he’d been riding all weekend. He hated that they were also insulting Matt, the closest thing he had to a friend.
Yet, all he could do was stand there and shake against their ribbing. He’d learnt long ago that rebuttal, either physical or verbal only ended in pain.

Dickhead One and Two were already walking away laughing at their own antics. Andrew just… he just wants to hurt them. To teach them that they can’t just go around fucking with people! But he can’t. He’s weak. His own father had made sure he understood that. In sullen fury Andrew kicked the fallen soda can that the two had pelted him with and watched in surprised satisfaction when it shot with a greater force than should have been possible for its empty weight right into back of Dickhead One’s head.

“Motherfucker!” Dickhead One exclaimed.

He spun around to try and see who had nailed him with the can. But the hallway was already empty. Andrew had fled around a corner as soon as the can had hit him.

Chapter Text

“I’m just saying that he’s kinda cute in a dorky sort of way.” The blond with the cute dimples explained.

“Yeah, I guess.” Admitted the Brunette with way too much make up on. “But he hangs out with that creepy fuck, Andrew.”

“They’re cousins. You can’t help who your family is.” Dimples answered as she shut her locker.

“Isn’t he sweet on Casey through? He practically wags a tail every time she’s near.”

Lyn half listened to the teen girls gossiping while most of her attention was preoccupied with the text message Alex had posted to the group chat.

Morrigan Booette
It’s not a bad idea.

Lapis Lazuli
(〜￣△￣)〜 I’m fine with it.

Alexander Blake
Alright, I see how it could be useful.
Also, don’t forget you have school today. I know you have your
insert memories but good luck with your first day of school.

Lapis Lazuli
I didn’t forget
And thanks (*^_^*)

Morrigan Booette
^

Alexander Blake
Good luck EVERYONE.

Morrigan Booette
Thanks Alex.

Harem King
Got the results from the subterranean probe.
The core is infested with the MOGOs. No indication that any will
emerge within out Jump but if I’m reading this correctly, they’ll
start emerging within five years and continue to do so regularly
for about a century before cycling back to a lower stratum.
Also, Lyn can you PLEASE change my name to something less…
THAT.

Wet-For-You
MOGOs meant the giant crystal creatures that eat people,
right? (?_?)

Boo-tylicious
Massive Omnivorous Geodesic Organisms.
And yes, they’re the giant crystal things that eat people.

Harem King
Yes Lyn. That means you can VOLUNTARILY impregnate
people with superpowered babies.
I’m already setting up a trust fund for the mothers to draw
on. I’ll have a bunch of cards and paperwork for you in a
few days.

Boo-tylicious
How are a bunch of superpowered toddlers going to help
when the next MOGO incursion is only a few years away?

Harem King
I’m already working on a short term solution.

Wet-For-You
^Can I help? d(>_< )

Harem King
Sure. I’ll meet you after school and we can go shopping
for plushies.

Boo-tylicious
???

Wet-For-You
(o.0) ?

“Lyn? Lyyyyn, HEY LYN!” Brunette nearly shouted.

Lyn snapped her head up from her phone.

“What?”

“I asked if you thought anyone Matt was cute or if him hanging out with Andrew ruined it.” Brunette explained.

“Oh.. umm I guess he’s cute? I don’t know, I’ve never really thought about it.”

Dimples smiled mischievously. “If how much she’s been distracted by her phone is to go by then I say little Lyn has already got a boyfriend.”

Lyn grinned. “I’m not confirming or denying that statement.” She replied to the giggles of the others.

“By the way,” Lyn continued. “Hyperthetically. Would either of you be willing to have a baby for a million dollars and a guaranteed hundred thousand a year for the next five years?”

Dimples and Brunette just gave her a shared look of disbelief.

“What?” they asked in unison.

Dead, glassy brown eyes stared back into Lapis’ Persian Blue. Those eyes, both forward facing, were the eyes of a predator. A beast that hunted prey tirelessly, mercilessly and apathetically. This was a creature of death. A creature of the forests and of the rivers. A creature that stalked the nightmares of the First Peoples of to walk the lands of America as much as it stalked the animals of the woods and field. Strong proportioned limbs upon which the beast could run with haste utilising all four blade tipped paws or balance itself on the hind two for either intimidation or a crushing take down. A forward gutting muzzle that hid two rows of sharp piercing teeth. Dark brown fur that blended into the brush or into the night.

“Lapis,” Alex asked cautiously, “do you want to keep that one?”

Lapis nodded and brought the vicious beast to her chest, holding it close.

Alex turned to the plump woman at the checkout. “And can you add the brown teddy bear to the lot, we’ll be taking that one too.”

The woman who at first had been leery of the teen boy with black eyeliner and dressed in black leathers, now smiled warmly. “That’s a lot of plush toys you’re getting; there a big birthday coming up?”

“Something like that.” Alex replied. “I’m going to make sure they all go to some special children.”

“That’ll be $234.32 in total, Deary.”

Alex blinked at the woman. That was a lot for some stuffed animals and dolls but it had been a long time since he was a kid so maybe that was standard now.

Alex simply swiped the black card that via the magic of Mr. Pennybags was connected to his hordes of gold and cash. With the cost cleared he hauled the two big bags filled with squishy plush animals and dolls out to the carpark. Lapis following along behind still hugging her new teddy bear.

“So… are you going to explain why you needed to buy more than a dozen dolls?” Lapis asked as they quickly walked to the car. The sky was grey and dreary and the threat of rain was looming.

Alex grinned. “Nope, you’ll see when we get to work.”

“We?” Lapis asked

“You’ll be helping me. It was your idea after all.”

Lapis narrowed her eyes in confusion until she worked out what Alex had meant. Her look of confusion washed away with a brightness of her smile. She edged a head of him to the car with a new skip to her steps.

They reached the sleek black car that Alex had gleefully purchased the day before for a frankly ludicrous amount of money. Lapis would admit that it looked nice in a boxy sort of way, at least compared to the other vehicles she saw others driving.

Alex opened and loaded the toys into the trunk.

“What model did you say this was again?” Lapis asked as she leant against a door waiting for Alex to unlock.

“A 1967 Chevrolet Impala. I’ve wanted one of these babies ever since I saw the one on Supernatural.”

“That was the series about the demon brothers you’ve mentioned before?”

“Demon slaying brothers but yeah, that’s the one.” Alex replied as he opened got in the driver’s seat and leant over to open Lapis’ door.

Lapis took her time really examining the interior of the car as Alex backed them out of the car park and got them on the road.

“…It’s nice.” Lapis eventually admitted.

Alex smirked. “She’s old. The previous owner mentioned that his dad bought the car just before driving to Woodstock, this baby’s supposedly got a history of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. She’s already been driven up and down the length and breadth of America over the last few decades but she’s been completely refurbished and obviously well cared for. Though I’m already planning to modify it with Gem-tech to improve her performance.”

Lapis nodded as she fiddled with the radio, moving between bands of static and random music stations before settling on a channel playing My Chemical Romance. Alex cocked an eyebrow at Lapis’ choice but didn’t comment.

“Good. It needs the spatial expansions at least.” Lapis said as she settled back into her leather bench seat.
The next few minutes were filled with the hum of the engine, the whoosh of passing cars, the soft patter of the just starting rain and the angst laden tones of Gerard Way.

Alex took a left off the freeway out of the city and onto a less travelled road that skirted the edges of the forest in which their temple resided.

It was only his better reflexes and perception skills that allowed him to swerve the car safely out of the way as a man in hunting attire, a Fluro orange vest and carrying a large shotgun came barrelling out of the forest onto the road.

“BEARS!” the man’s shout faded behind them as Alex kept driving. “Demon bears!”
Lapis turned in her seat to watch as the shrinking figure continued running down the road towards the city. “Shouldn’t we help him?”

Alex glanced at the man in the rear-view mirror. “Not my monkey; not my circus.”

Lapis shrugged and turned the radio up.

Getting the car into the temple didn’t prove as difficult as one would expect. Alex had simply driven as close to the temple as the roads would take them and then extended his ghost intangibility to the car and drove/flew right through the trees.
Alex had already carved out a garage-come-workshop into the mountain and the shiny new impala took pride of place on its own little platform. Alex had to stop himself from planning to instal a giant penny coin to keep the theme going.
Right now through he was trying to work on his own Save-The-Planet-from-Telepathic-Rocks plan (name subject to change). He had all the components ready: Plush toys? Check. Selection of Gemstones? Check. Vial of ectoplasm? Check. Legion of construction and repair robonoids?

Alex glanced over at the Gem computers and used the SB Bear perk to mentally connect to the systems, he noted that the
progress for robonoid replication was proceeding as expected, so checked that too.

Alex cracked his knuckles and went to work.

It took hours. Lapis stayed with him for much of it offering advice and ideas and acting as a sounding board for the process. But she wasn’t able to help much with the actual process of creation and so had retired for the night some hours earlier.

Alex had quickly became appreciative how the Sir. Bearington allowed him to use both Ghost and Gem powersets simultaneously, the process was time consuming due to the nature of trying to achieve the balance between ghost and Gem so as to result in the specific abilities he was aiming for. Despite the fact that it had been mid-afternoon when he started by midnight Alex had only completed one plushie… or he assumed it was completed. It would still be hours yet til the Gem enlightened even with the ectoplasm boost.

“How long has she been like that?” The voice startled Alex from his concentration.

He whirled around to see Lyn leaning against the workbench.

“What?” He blinked at her.

Lyn gestured with a nod of her head to the end of the table.

Alex turned see his ghost-maid Alice sitting at the far end of the workbench staring at the collection of plush toys.

“I didn’t even know she was in here.” Alex confided.

He got up and walked over the little skeleton-Gem.

“Hey Alice. Do you like the plush toys?” He asked.

His first attempt at creating a ghost turned her head to look up at him and nodded.

“You can have one if you want.” Alex offed the quite maid.

Alice nodded more emphatically.

“Cool.” Alex smiled and rubbed the little girl’s smooth head. “Which one would you like to keep?”

Alice peered intently at each of the cuddly toys in turn only to then turn back to Alex and hang her head.

Alex tilted his head in confusion but puzzled out the problem. “You want one but none of these are the one you want?”
Alice nodded again.

“Alright, well then, after I’ve enchanted all of these ones we can go searching for the perfect plush toy for you, how does that sound?”

Alice deployed more emotion in her sudden hug than she had in the year or so since she had been made. Alex could only look at Lyn over the top of the little maid’s head and shrug. Who knew that the little ghost maids like cuddly toys?

In a no-name bar three miles down a no-name street, a collection of yokels, rednecks, hunters and ex-varsity football players gathered to drink.

“I’mma tellin’ you, they ain’t no natural bears.” The inebriated hunter repeated for what could have been the hundredth time that night.

“Yeah, yeah, old man.” A younger man in called from deeper in the cigarette smoke filled bar. “You sure you weren’t drunk and seein’ things?”

The older hunter pulled himself to his feet and growled at the apathetic patrons. “I know what I saw! They were bigger, meaner and smarter than any regular bears.”

“And they move faster and can throw a man with their minds.” Laughed another drunk. “You’ve been telling this tale for three nights now.”

The older man grumbled, but returned to his seat and nursed his near empty beer as the crowd laughed at his story.

So, he was surprised when a full pint of ale was placed in front of him and a man in his mid-twenties and wearing a crisp green park ranger uniform sat himself in the chair next to him.

“So, I hear you’ve run into some interesting bears… more so than the average bear.”

The old man finished off his warm beer and pulled the fresh one closer. “Demon bears they were.” He began his tale again.

“Your boyfriend is weird.”

Avery leant against the doorframe of her sister’s room and commented as Casey edited her video blog.

Casey looked up from her work in confusion. “My what?”

Avery flicked her long, straight blond hair walked into the room and flopped down Casey’s bed with the all the casual superiority of a little sister. She picked up a stuffed bear that was on top of the covers and threw it into the corner as if it had personally wronged her.

“Your boyfriend, Matt, is weird.” Avery continued.

Casey rolled her eyes. “Matt’s not my boyfriend.” She frowned, “and don’t throw Mr. Puddles.”

“Riiiiight. The boy who you’ve been flirting with, but not really, but kinda seriously with for the last few years. The boy who just so happens to appear in like half of your stupid blogs. The boy who gives you puppy-dog eyes every time he sees you. That boy is weird.” Avery drawled.

Casey grunted but didn’t deny her little sister’s comments. Denial was a sign of weakness.

“Why do you think Matt is weird?”

“Him and his looser cousin and…” Avery paused and frowned. “I don’t know the name of the other one. Black, buzz cut, kinda cute until he laughs, annoying laugh.”

“Steve. He’s running for class prez.”

“Right. Steve, whatever.” Avery blushed.

Casey hid a smile and decided to keep an eye on that. Mayhap her sister had a crush and good blackmail material was always nice.

“Aaaanyway. They were goofing off at the toy store earlier today. Giggling like a bunch of stoned idiots.” Avery flopped back on the bed and said in a quieter voice. “And I know they had something to do with that bear.”

“So they were being idiots. From my experience that’s normal for teen boys.”

Avery huffed. “Nah, there was some weird shit going on and I’m sure is was them.”

“Language.” Casey grumped. “You don’t want mom catching you talking like that.”

“English.” Avery smirked. “And mom’s not here and ain’t going to know unless you tell her.”

“Unless you tell me what?” Came the stern voice of their mother from the doorway. She was a tall woman and shared the same blond colouring as her daughters, along with their grey-blue eyes. She was holding a basket of freshly laundered and folded clothes.

“That Casey has a boyfriend!” Avery leapt to her feet and fled the room.

The older woman dodged her youngest and stepped over to the newly vacated bed to put the basked down.

“Boyfriend?” she asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Lies and slander, mom.”

“Good. No boyfriend until you’re twenty-five.”

Casey rolled her eyes. She knew her mum was just joking… or well, she hoped she was.

Avery made it to her room without her mum getting on her case about her language. That was a win in her books. She grabbed her phone from where she had left it charging and bonelessly flopped onto her bed. Unlike her sister’s, the covers had not been made that morning. Seriously? What was the point when you were just going to muss them up again each night?

She scrolled through the local Facebook pages looking for posts about the weird shit that had been going on. The toy store had been mentioned by two accounts: a post about a haunted trolly and a post about someone stealing a car and moving it to a different car park. She hadn’t posted about the fucking teddy bear. Who would even believe her about a floating fucking toy attacking her at the mall?

She scrolled through the posts of the last few weeks. There was the usual stuff. Posts about garage sales, low priced fuel locations, a rant about skateboarders. But there was also a video of a leaf-blower coming to life and blowing up some schoolgirls’ skirts, a post about an image of the virgin Mary in a bowl of soup, a post about an escaped polar bear and various other bear sightings in reply. Oh, and an official post by the local police about a dangerous and off-limits sinkhole in the woods near a popular rave spot that all the teenagers knew about and all the parents pretended to not know about.

Avery spent a few hours searching various social media sites for more evidence of the strange. That teddy bear in the mall had definitely floated by itself, and no! she didn’t scream like a little girl. She was twelve and she didn’t bloody scream!

"Psst!”

There was a plush, bipedal Ram doll standing next to her bed.

Avery screamed and kicked the doll.

Chapter Text

“Oww, hey! That fucking hurt you little bitch!” The Ram doll grumbled and rubbed at its face.

The hallway outside her room thudded as her mum rushed the door.

“Is everything alright?” she asked concerned.

“There’s!” Avery turned from her mum to point at the cursed toy only to find it gone.

“… there’s umm.” She looked around wildly.

Her mother seeing nothing wrong with her daughter and nothing wrong with the room merely raised an eyebrow.

“I thought I saw a rat?” Avery offered, knowing telling the truth would only get her a lecture on the dangers of drugs and alcohol. “But I just imagined it.”

“Right. Well, I wouldn’t be surprised, this rooms a mess.”

“Moooom!” It was messy but it wasn’t dirty! She knew where everything was.

“Alright, alright, if you want to live in filth that your choice. Just don’t come crying to me if you really do get vermin in here.”

“Alright, alright, I get it.”

“Anyway, goodnight sweety, I know it’s Saturday but don’t stay up too late.”

Her mother closed the door and Avery sighed. Maybe she should get some sleep, she was clearly seeing things.

“Damn, she looked good for her age. Total MILF.”

Avery stifled another scream and spun around to face the foul little toe-rag of a plush toy.

“Ok. First: EWWWWWWW! That’s my mum! And second: What the fuck are you and why are you in my room?!” Avery hissed quietly at the thing.

The doll leapt up onto the bed and sat on the edge to face Avery. “I’m Aries! Embodiment of War and Fire! I chew ass and kick bubble-gum…” The doll paused and reexamine its last sentence. “I mean I kick ass and chew bubble-gum, except I don’t chew bubble-gum because it would take forever to get out of my fleece.”

Avery just stared at the doll. “Umm right. I’ve gone crazy, haven’t I?”

“No more than anyone else.” The doll nodded.

“Right… are you with the bear?” Avery asked.

The Ram doll narrowed its eyes at her. “What bear?”

“The bear in the toy store.” Even as she asked Avery was fairly sure that they were not the same. The bear in the toy store had floated at her and just sort of flopped in the air, this doll however had facial expression, life to its eyes and moved as if it was a living, breathing creature.

The Ram just looked at her. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Fine.” Avery crossed her arms. “So, you’re not with the bear. You still haven’t explained what exactly you are and WHY YOU ARE IN MY ROOM!”

The doll nodded and frowned seriously at her. “I’m a Seeker.”

“Like in quidditch?”

“What? NO!” The doll shook its head. “I Seek people! Certain people with certain traits!”

“And you’ve found me?”

“YES!” the doll nodded emphatically. “You’re headstrong, you’re brash, you’re competitive and you’re full of energy! You’ll make a great Starlight Princess Knight of Aries!”

Avery wasn’t a WEEB but that wasn’t to say she was completely unfamiliar with the concept of magical girls.

“You want me to be a magical girl…?” She asked sceptically.

“A Starlight Princess Knight, yes.”

“I don’t fucking believe you.” Avery deadpanned.

The doll looked shocked and stricken. “Why the fuck not?!”

“Magical girls don’t exist!” Avery waved her arms around for emphasis then thrust a finger at the freaky plushie. “You shouldn’t exist! None of this makes sense!”

“Bah! They too exist!” Aries grumbled. “Or well, they will when we find them all.”

“Prove it.” Avery snarked with an aggressive thrust of her chin.

The doll grinned and launched itself at the girl. “Request accepted!”

“Wha-!” Avery flinched as the doll grabbed onto her chest and a red bubble appeared around them.

For one moment, Avery could see her bedroom, tinted red as the bubble formed around her and the little shit of a plush toy. She felt gravity loose its hold on her and she floated within the bubble. In the next moment she felt the world stretch and contort and twist in a stomach punching, bowel clenching spiral and her red tinted room vanished.
Avery didn’t have any time to take any notice of her surroundings as the red bubble popped and she fell heavily to a stone floor. She managed to get herself onto her hands and knees before she messily threw up.

“Argh- Oh God, Fuck that was… fuck.” Avery moaned then spat out the sour taste still clinging to her tongue.

“HEY! Watch it. You almost got me.” Aries complained from where he was also limp on the ground. “Guah… I shouldn’t have done that.” He moaned. “It’s supposed to be for emergencies but I didn’t think it would be that bad.”

“I’m going to find the biggest, meanest, most slobbery-est fucking dog and make you his chew toy you little…” Avery lost her train of thought as she stood up and finally took in where she was.

The hall was massive. The floor was a solid expanse of cool blue crystal with flecks of silver and gold. The walls were a luminous grey-white, adorned with carvings of glorious figures battling armies of creatures, of fighting and death, and of celebration, love and sex. The carvings were coloured in muted pastels by a subtle glow that seemingly came from within the very stone of the walls. The ceiling three or four stories above was a beautiful dark blue affair of arches and engravings that depicted the various constellations in brightly shining silver crystals connected by lines of gold. In the centre of the ceiling, where the arches all peaked, was a representation of the sun in glorious shades of gold, yellow and red. Holding up the ceiling were graceful translucent pillars of crystal that glowed softly and were the main illumination of the room. Additionally, each pillar was also adorned delicate coloured crystal vines and flowers that almost appeared to have grown up their length and they added reflected notes of brilliant colour to the room.

Yet despite the grandeur of the room and the resplendence of the art and detail, what distracted Avery so intensely was the ceiling to floor window that took up an entire side of the hall. Beyond the window was an expanse of barren dull grey dust land composed of monochrome dunes and harsh impact craters. Beyond that, framed by an immense starry sky was a blue and white sphere about the size the fist of an outstretched hand. Through the swirl of white clouds, Avery could make out the shape of what she was certain was an upside down North and South America.
Avery could only stare dumbfounded at the view. She was on the motherfucking moon! Like, what the FUCK?! That wasn’t possible… except that it looked like it was.

“Welcome, young Maiden, to the Moonstone Temple.” Came calm yet sure female voice that startled Avery out of her shock.

Avery spun around to face the far side of the hall. A side she didn’t even notice once she had become distracted by the sight of the luna sky beyond the window.

This side of the room was dominated by a silver crystal throne on a raised dais. Sitting on the stone throne was a regal yet athletic young woman of stunning beauty. Above her head and shining like a halo from the wall behind her was a carving a crescent moon that cupped a large round, glowing, pearlescent stone. The soft light from the stone reflected in her silvery blond hair and skin, which glowed a luminous white, and her eyes shone like small moons in the sky. She was draped in a black fabric that glittered like the stars in the night sky. The cloth was carefully folded in a manner similar to an ancient Greek strophion that left one of her breasts bare.

Avery couldn’t help but notice how perky the woman’s breasts were or that her nipple was a shade of silver rather than pink.

“Fuck, you have nice tits.” Avery said the first thing that came to her mind then cringed.
As first meetings go it could have been better.

“Fuck you have nice tits.”

“She did not just say that?” Lyn laughed as they watched the first Starlight Princess Knight meet her ‘patron.’

Alex shrugged. “She’s an Aries. A certain amount of bold, idiocy is to be expected.”

“I have been reading up on astrology and I was under the impression that corresponding traits were more of a coincidence than anything.” Morrigan commented from where she sat next to Alex.
On the screen Avery was apologising and bowing and to Diana.

“Oh, it is.” Alex reassured her. “But I purposefully made the mascots with the personality traits of their zodiac and they in turn are supposed to seek out girls who were both born in the correct months and express similar characteristics.”
Lapis frowned. “Why bother?”

“It has to do with how the mascots work. They’re a combination of Gem and Ghost and need to bind with a host matching with a matching personality.”

“Huh?” Lyn draped herself over Alex’s shoulders as they watched Diana explain the dangers of the ‘Massive Geodesic Organism,’ or ‘Titans’ as they had chosen to represent them to the chosen Starlight Princess Knights. “What do you mean by host?”

Alex simply nodded at the screen where Avery was being urged to transform for the first time.
The process was quick but it wasn’t so quick as to be able to miss the details. The Aries mascot dissolved into an amorphous blob of white light which rushed at the young girl. The light moved like liquid as it wrapped around her form. Where the light touched; Avery’s clothes disappeared until she was a feminine silhouette of light.
A very detailed silhouette if Lyn’s wolf-whistle was anything to go by.

On Avery’s chest a brilliant red diamond formed and burst into red and gold flames that wrapped around her figure and coalesced into a short white and gold dress that appeared a cross between an ancient Roman tunic and a much more modern mini dress. Details of golden armour appeared around her dress but they looked more aesthetic than functional. Finally, the flames converged at her head and hands and formed into a pair of golden ram’s horns up on her head and a pair of golden metal cestus about her fists… or to the layman: some fucking golden knuckledusters.
The transformation was elegant and stunning and just a touch erotic: the perfect combination for an anime style magical girl.

“That was hot.” Lyn grinned and offed a fist as on the live feed as the newly transformed magical twisted and turned to inspect her changes.

“Thankyou.” Alex returned the fist-bump.

On scene Avery was put through her paces. The throne room they were shifted itself; pillars and blocks of crystal and stone emerging from the stone and forming a moving obstacle course.

“Neat.” Morrigan commented. “That must have taken a bit to construct.”
Alex shrugged, “I cheated. Dianna’s Gem is actually the prominent gemstone behind the throne. It means she can control the entire Moonstone Temple from the floorplan and design to the atmospheric generators.”
Lapis shuddered and eyed the glittering stone behind the throne. Alex reached over and took her hand in his.

“It’s completely reversable and under her control, I wouldn’t have done it if she couldn’t leave.” He said causing Lapis to relax somewhat.

Lyn wasn’t paying any attention to the conversation, instead she watched with avid eyes and a large grin as Avery jumped, kicked, punched and even flew with generated wings of starlight.

“How did you get the magical girl transformation to work and can I have one?”
Alex narrowed his eyes at his sister. “Can you have a method to transform into a magical girl or a magical girl of your own?”

Lyn’s grin grew to dangerous proportions. “Both. Both is good.”
Alex rolled his eyes. “You’ll get all the powers eventually. This-” and he gestures to screen where Avery is playing and fighting imaginary enemies with fists that are on fire, “is a work around of a work around to get the powers to work.”
Morrigan leans in. “How so?”

“I had to specifically make loyal ghosts that in addition to the standard flight, intangibility and invisibility have the added powers of Fusion, a limited Exorcism, some healing and a seed of emotional absorption.”

“That’s how the mascot fuses with the girl, right?” Lyn nods along.

“You can absorb emotions?” Lapis instead asked curiously.

Alex shook his head no. “No, but it is a ghost power and I was able to work out a framework for it. Right now it’s just a seed but give it a few years and the magical girls might be able to absorb hope and love to empower themselves.”
Lapis made a cute squee sound that was actually out of character for her normally. “Thankyou! You really pulled out the stops!”

Alex blushed and enjoyed the hug.

“How did you get the other effects; I’m assuming Gem creation?” Morrigan asked.

“Yep. To get the other affects I had to upgrade the ghost with Gemstones for an elemental affinity, Form Shifting that includes the costume change, a personal armament creation and a weak bubbling ability for emergency teleportation.”
Morrigan frowned. “Isn’t that a bit much to give out?”

“Nah. It’s not at the level of any of us or even a full Gem. The emotional absorption could empower them more but if enough people are supporting them with those emotions, then they are likely going to be using them for the right reasons.”

“Why can’t you make more ghosts for yourself and us so that we have all of the powersets?” Lyn asked curiously.

“It’s a careful balance.” Alex sighed. “Fusion runs a huge risk of affecting the personality of the people fused. That’s why I went with the stereotypical zodiac personas. Avery is an Aries but more importantly is that she exhibits the personality traits of an Aries. The Aries mascot embodies these same traits so that the end result is that Avery’s personality traits are strengthened. While fused she’ll be more headstrong and passionate and aggressive but she’ll still be herself. If I wasn’t careful then she could end up a completely different person when fused.”

“So the zodiac mascots will all match there personality stereotypes?” Lapis reasoned.

“It was either that or give them no personality at all but that makes separation all but impossible. The ‘blank’ ghosts simply dissolve into the host and can’t be removed. Additionally, the more abilities I give the ghost the stronger the personality usually is going to be as part of the process is specifically injecting an emotion, memory or personality into the ectoplasm to give it form. Alice actually is more of an exception than a rule and even then, she still has a personality if only an undeveloped one.”

“Huh… it’s a shame you can’t just breed the powers into ghosts.”

Alex looked at Lyn like she was crazy. “What?”

“Breeding Program from the Bears jump allows you to pass on any and all powers, abilities, perks and alt-forms to the offspring. It’s a shame that you can’t do the same with ghost creation and give blank ghosts more powers.”
Alex just stared at Lyn for a long moment before reaching forward and kissing her so hard as to make her toes curl in her pink converse sneakers.

“I gotta go.” Alex dashed out of the room as Lyn just sat there dazed.

Lapis waved her hands in front of an unseeing Lyn. “I think he broke her.”
Morrigan just laughed.

Thunder and lightning raged around Andrew. The anger of the storm bleeding out his own feelings of powerlessness with its sheer fury and calming him down. He had been a fool. Two months… no less even! That’s all it took to realise that life still truly sucked.

Andrew lashed out at the thunderstorm from where he stood atop the second tallest building in Seattle and took a measure of satisfaction in the way the clouds billowed and swirled, from the way lightning flicked and twisted with the motions of his hands.

His mum, Karen, was better. In fact, the doctors were speechless as how a near terminally ill woman with aggressive cancer had made such a sudden turn around. And that DID make Andrew happy. Ecstatic even. He just wished that all other aspects of his life had similarly improved.
His father, Richard, still drank. His mother’s miraculous recovery did not suddenly turn his father into a saint. His father could still not work due to his old fireman injury and now that Karen was well it only highlighted his own inability to provide. While an anonymous beneficiary had, in a grand act of charity that had made the papers, paid the medical bills of everyone at the hospital who had outstanding amounts owed and somehow reached out and paid the insurance companies too; this had only damaged his Richard’s pride more than anything.

With Karen’s return to health, his father had been less abusive but that’s not to say he wasn’t still and asshole and mean bastard. He still lashed out at the only viable target though he was certainly less physical. Even so, his mother had noticed. The near two-month honeymoon phase following her recovery was eroded away by Richard’s sour and mean demeanour. The house, once in a state of anxious quiet as she slowly wasted away; was now filled with arguments between the two.

Andrew couldn’t stand it and had fled into the skies and the coming storm to vent and leave that oppressive atmosphere behind.

“Andrew!” Steve’s cry was almost lost over the grumble of thunder. “What are you doing up here man?”

Andrew watched with only a small glare as Steve floated down to the rooftop with only a slight wabble. Really. It wasn’t that hard to maintain balance. Steve even had more practice flying then either Mark or himself, so why was it so hard for them to pick up the subtle stuff?

“I just want to be left alone, Steve.” Andrew did not whine and you cant prove otherwise.

“Bro, this storm is wild.” Steven looked out over the roiling clouds.

“Steve.” Andrew tried again.

“Andrew. This thing. This power we have. It connects us. We’re friends, dude.”

“Yeah right. If this had never happened, you’d never have been my friend.” Andrew moped.

“You’re right.”

Andrew’s head shot up in shocked disbelief. It’s one thing to gripe about how alone and angsty you were, it was another thing to have your insecurities confirmed.

“We likely would have never been friends without this weirdness to bond over. Hell, I was only vaguely friendly with Mark because we take Lit together.”
Andrew was torn between resigned antipathy and a growing anger. He knew his sudden companionship wasn’t real and yet it hurt to hear. Steve just continued on.

“But that’s how all friendship start. Do you think every group of friends come from growing up as toddlers together or meeting on the first day of class or,” Steven snorted, “or defeating mountain trolls together?”
Andrew couldn’t help but grin at the reference.

“I thought you were a creepy weirdo before we really started hanging out… and now I think you’re a creepy weirdo who is also funny and insightful and really talented.”

Andrew wasn’t sure is he was being insulted or not.

“What I’m saying, man, is that we’re in this together. Hell, my nose started bleeding and I just knew you needed someone to talk to.”

Andrew just stared out at the clouds ruminating his feelings before finally opening up.

“My dad is a prick.” Andrew started unloading and maybe even started healing.

Chapter Text

Ranger Smith was not a complicated man. He woke with the sun and he went to bed early. He didn’t drink or gamble or subscribe to any vice other than a pleasant morning cup of coffee. And that’s coffee-coffee not that sugar filled faggot juice that the city boys drink. He didn’t ask for much out of life other than a stable job, filling food and a chance of some peace and quiet.

He, like most of his fellow Park Rangers, held a degree in ecology and zoology and he was quietly building up a research paper on bear behaviours within and outside of captivity in the hopes of going for his Doctorate. Obviously, he was focused on the large Brown Bear population with a side observation of the smaller black bear population of his local forests. His observation targets in the local zoo were slim, the zoo only having four Brown Bears and three Black Bears in captivity. Because of this he had expanded his observation to the three Giant Panda and the sole Polar bear. Neither was exactly relevant but he might be able to edge out a few general bear observations. Additionally, Polar Bears were not unknow to breed with Brown Bears where their natural territories met in Alaska, producing the delightfully names Prizzly hybrid.

What this means is that Ranger Smith had access to video surveillance of the Zoo Bear’s habitats with permission from the Zoo’s owners and staff. Which is why he caught the moment that the Polar bear simply disappeared from his captivity in a flash of white light. This obviously caused a stir in the small community and Ranger Smith had made it his mission to find out how the Polar bear escaped and subsequently: where it went.

His armature sleuthing of the local area quickly unearthed a particularly interesting report of strange bears in a local forest acting in the most peculiar ways and supposedly in possession of supernatural abilities. He was easily able to track down the drunk that was the origin of the tale and get a more detailed account.

The story of giant Grizzlies with the ability to telekinetically throw stones, fell trees and toss a hunter a dozen feet in the air were, quite frankly, preposterous. And yet… Ranger Smith could not forget the image of a Polar bear vanishing in a stream of light. Additionally, Polar bears were subjectively bigger than Brown Bears and while Grizzlies were arguably stronger, Polar bears were not weak and could easily knock a man off his feet.

Armed with his new information, Ranger Smith entered the forest on the hunt of answers and hopefully a lost white bear.

His first indication that something was not quite right was two hours into his search he reached a clearing only a few minutes’ walk from the road and a well know barn house popular as a party location for local teens. Unseen in the foliage, Ranger Smith watched as a handful of military personnel shovelled dirt into an apparent sinkhole under the direction of a team of scientists in full hazmat gear. Nearby, a similarly dressed scientist was arranging what looked to be large dirty crystals into padded creates while another stood nearby waving a Geiger counter over just about everything.

The snap of a twig nearby alerted Ranger Smith to a fully armed solider coming his way. Using his experience of stalking through the trees, Ranger Smith quietly backed away from the guard and the strange military operation.

He had to circle the area by a large margin to avoid similar armed men walking the perimeter but he managed to reach the far side of the small and shallow valley which housed the clearing. His knowledge of the area told him that there was a collection of rocky mounds which housed a number of abandoned and occupied bear dens.

His anxiety peaked as he found tracks that were far larger than any regular Grizzley or Polar Bear and yet he pressed on, an inexplicable drive to find and contain the lost Polar Bear urging him towards recklessness.

The small cave he ventured into with torch in hand was closer to a burrow than a proper cave. The walls, while tight, were still much larger than would be expected for regular Brown Bear’s den and much deeper too. Even treading carefully as he was, Ranger Smith was completely unprepared as the floor dropped away into a sudden steep ramp and he fell, skidding and scraping his way deep into the earth. His breath was knocked out of him as he came to a sudden and painful stop at the bottom. He had lost his torch at some point during his fall and yet as he groaned and uncurled from the tangled mess he was in, he was surprised to find that the cave glowed softly with a dirty yellow light coming from broken spars of crystal that almost seemed to have grown like vines through the walls.

The light was enough to illuminate the hungry snarl of yellowed teeth as not one but five large Grizzlies growled at him for entering their domain.

Smith gulped as his eyes flicked from each oversized ursine. He knew he was completely and utterly fucked. This was doubly confirmed when an unseen forced picked him up and tossed him harshly into the wall of the cave. As if he was on one of those spinning carnival rides that pressed you against the wall with centrifugal force; Smith found himself pinned to the rough stone and packed dirt by some unseen force.

As the largest bear edged closer, a small logical part of Ranger Smith was making rational observations over the blubbering fear that was the rest of his mind. It pointed out that the bears where too big; unhealthily so given the unevenness of their form. Shoulders bulged painfully with muscles and legs and paws were not even in length. It also noticed that their fangs were not reflecting the strange crystal light but seemed to actually be coated in thin yet sharp crystal growths that emitted a faint light of their own.

Smith screamed as the large bear tore into his shoulder but the scream didn’t last long. Under the pain, under the fear of death was something else. A presence, faint yet needle-like was burrowing into his mind as the bear crushed his clavicle with its jaws. It pierced into his psyche and tried to subsume him into something incredibly large and wholly alien.

Ranger Smith could not fight the bear that was already feasting on his flesh but he could fight the presence that was invading his mind. He pushed back in a way he didn’t even know he was capable of, as if the pressure against him had revealed wall within his head that he in turn could reinforce. Despite the pain of now having his arm torn off and the second bear starting to ravage his leg, despite the blood loss, Smith was able to mentally brace himself against this new mental barrier and lunge at the aggressive presence. His mind collided with the weakened shell of the other and surprisingly shattered it.

All at once Ranger Smith found himself in a vast void with a dying echo of the other presence. Somehow, he already knew that it had been dead for days before attacking Smith through the bears that were connected to it. The presence that had been controlling the bears was no longer alive and only something fading, much like the residual heat from the cooling carcass, was directing the bears on their current actions. The complete lack of the mind of something much greater than he could comprehend meant that this was an opportunity that Smith instinctually grasped onto in order to save himself. He flooded the void with himself, painfully stretching his mind to fill the cavernous hypothetical space. His mind tore and fractured as it filled the crystalline crevices that were never meant to hold a purely organic consciousness. His reach flowed into the minds of the bears and commanded them to stop feasting on his ruined flesh.

Seeing through the eyes of the bears, Smith could tell that his body did not have long and even though he was acting within and through this strange dead crystal matrix, it could not support him naturally. Using knowledge that was not his own, Smith directed crystal fingers to grow from the cave walls and into and through his failing body. With a though he ordered the four smaller bears to attack the unresisting largest.

It took what felt like hours but must have only have been a dozen or more minutes to grow and combine the crystals through and with his organic body and the body of the largest bear. It wasn’t pretty but Smith needed the biomass and the blood of the bear to repair himself. Though in reality it was less a repairing and more of a grafting of his own body into that of the largest bear.

Smith didn’t even notice that in the process of preventing his own death he had lost so much of himself. Little pieces had been lost or used as he stretched his psyche to the fullest to command the crystal and the bears. As the crystal grew and merged with his new flesh form he changed in unexpected and unchanged ways. Gone was Ranger Smith, gone was the slightly racist, homophobic outdoorsman, gone was the nature loving ecologist. In its place was a being who had wholly different yet similar needs and desires. Food and growth, expansion was coupled with a protective instinct of nature and the environment. Distain for the city was stitched together with a bear’s territorial aggressiveness. Much of what made Smith ‘Human’ was surprisingly kept yet twisted in unnatural ways or paired with the simple nature of an animal. Perhaps it was random chance that kept one simple directive alive in Smiths mind, more likely though it was the Jump-fiat that was twisting probability, but one thing remained constant and demanding: Find the polar bear. Find Snowball McBearface.

Alex wiped the sweat off his brow and grinned happily at the strange plush toy he had spent the last few weeks creating. It looked closest to a Boo ghost from the Mario worlds as it was round and white and cutely ghost shaped. While the face still had it tongue sticking out; instead of the silly scary grin the features more closely matched an Ahegao tongue out messy orgasm face. Alex wasn’t actually sure how that happened but suspected it was from his desire for the new ghost to somewhat enjoy the action of giving birth to mindless empowered spirits.

It wasn’t complete yet. The doll needed some time to develop the ecto-energies and the purpose of its creation. This was the key he had found to making a ghost that suited a purpose. First, he found an appropriate base and then he enchanted it with the purpose he desired it to fulfil. In this case he wanted a ghost that could sexually reproduce at an astounding rate but would give no essence of itself to anything born of it except for its ghostly form. Then he started converting the object to a lifeform using his Gem Creation ability. This solidified the enchantment at the core of the being’s purpose of existing. Finally, he stopped the Gem Creation ability before it actualised into an actual lifeform and instead pumped it full of ectoplasm to create a ghost-lifeform as that would be much more subservient and had less individuality.

The result, when the ectoplasm within the doll finally cured and sunk in, would be a loyal ghost with the appearance of the selected doll that would happily birth any power possessing spirits that he or the girls wanted to share around. These birthed spirits would have no individuality, no soul, no life, no personality at all. They would be simple ectoplasm drones that would follow simple directions and hold an ability that can be passed to another via the ghost Fusion ability. In fact, if he had done this right, then the fused ghost would simply cease to be once fused. Dissolving into ecto-energy under the stronger personality and presence of the host and leaving only the powersets behind thus permanently granting the power or ability to another.

Honestly, without the Supernatural Savant perk, the Field Research advantage of using his own customised laboratory and boost from his periodic use of Vegetarian, he doubted he would have been able to create the Zodiac Mascots let alone this procreative-purposed ghost.

Alex stretched and gleefully left the room to find the girls. They should be here when the ghost doll finally develops and they can finally share all of their perks between themselves. What Alex didn’t notice was little Alice quietly watching as he focused so intently on the creation of the doll. Little Alice who took his leaving as a sign that her requested plushie of her own was finally complete. With a happy skip in her steps, she reached out to the cutest ghost doll she had ever seen. So happy that her master had created this for her.

“What did you do?!” Lyn screamed at Alex when they returned to his workshop only to find a drastically changed Alice kneeling on the floor.

“I didn’t do anything! I didn’t even know she was here. I made a doll and left it on the workbench,” Alex gestured to the now empty spot on the table.

“He he~ Master made me a doll of my own. But now it’s inside me.” Alice chuckled from the floor.

Everyone froze as Alice spoke for the first time since her creation.

When Alice had first been created, she was small skeleton in a French maid outfit. Alex’s attempts to improve her had given her crystalline flesh and a pulsing gemstone heart. Now though, Alice appeared to be fully organic. Her long-limbed form was alabaster white and delicately curved. Her hair was pure white with hints of colour not where the light hit it but where it didn’t. Giving the depths of her hair a subtle glow of blue and pink and purple. Her eyes were a balance between clear crystal aquamarine and a pale stormy grey. She was incredibly beautiful with an appearance of a young teen just beginning to blossom. Which really didn’t fit given that she was usually so serious and demure and technically only a year and change old.

Alice’s maid outfit faded in and out of existence as she stretched forward her hands and twisted this way and that to inspect her new form. The lack of clothing showed small perky breasts with incredibly pale pink nipples and a heathy and, despite her apparent youth, delightfully sinful body.

Alex crouched down and met Alice’s eyes. “Alice. Did you take the doll I was making?”

Alice grinned and nodded her head. “You promised Alice a doll and that one looked fun and useful.”

Alex frowned and tried to work out what to do. “Alice, can I have a look at you?”

At Alice’s nod he reached out and touched her forehead. Extending his senses, he prodded at her ecto-core with his Exorcism ability.

“Well… it looks like Alice has permanently fused with the ghost breeding doll I created.”

Lapis crossed her arms. “Ghost breeding doll?”

Feeling the judgemental weight of each of the girls Alex hurriedly explained the purpose of the doll he had created.

“So, it would have let us share all of our abilities?” Morrigan asked for confirmation.

“That’s right. But I guess we’ll have to hold off until I make another.”

“No! Alice can do it.” Alice exclaimed. “Alice wanted to be useful and now Alice can be!”

Alex was definitely not use to this new and verbal Alice but still had a soft spot for his first creation and maid. “Alice. You were always useful. You’ve been helping all of us and you keep the whole place clean and wonderful.”

The girls were quick to agree and appreciate Alice.

“But now Alice can do more. Alice can make spirit babies for everyone. Alice can have fun with Master like you all have fun with Master.”

Alex looked at the girls for help but they just traitorously shrugged and nodded.

“Are you sure?” Alex asked uncertainly.

“Can I please try?” Alice asked with actual tears in her eyes

“Alright. Fine.” Alex gave in.

“Yay!” Alice pounced and wrapped Alex in a hug. Alex already knew he had made a horrible and likely incredibly enjoyable mistake.

“So how does this work?” Lyn asked while smiling at the two. Say what you want about the strangeness of the situation but a hot naked girl hugging a hot guy was still easy on the eyes.

“It just takes a touch.” Alex said and kissed the small maid on the forehead while tapping into his unused Breeding Program Perk and selecting Honey to pass on.

Alice shivered at the kiss and clung to Alex tightly as she surrendered herself completely to the otherworldly power coursing through her veins, she felt every nerve ending in her body igniting simultaneously. A wave of heat engulfed her, causing goosebumps to rise all over her skin and a soft moan to escape her lips. She could feel the moisture gathering between her legs, coating her with a dewy sheen and her breathing quickened, becoming shallow and rapid, mirroring the rhythm of her thundering heartbeat.

The group watched Alice tense and pant in Alex’s arms as with each passing moment her senses heightened until they were almost unbearable. Colours seemed brighter, smells stronger, and sounds louder than ever before. She became aware of every inch of her body, every muscle contracting and relaxing in perfect harmony and especially where Alex’s hands cradled her soft flesh spreading heat and pleasure from the touch.

Suddenly, Alice let out a low groan, signalling the beginning of the birth process. She squeezed her thighs together tightly, trying to contain the overwhelming surge within her. Cutely she bit her bottom lip between her teeth and shivered in pleasure. But it was futile; the spirit was already writhing inside her, eager to break free.

Without warning, Alice's body convulsed violently, sending shockwaves through her limbs and causing Alex to pull her tightly to his chest. She bit down hard on her lip to stifle the scream building inside her throat. Sweat dripped off her forehead, mixing with tears streaming down her face. Each contraction lasted longer than the previous one, threatening to consume her completely.

And then, finally, Alice saw it – a flicker of light in the darkness. Slowly, slowly, it began to grow larger and larger, revealing itself to be a shimmering boo-like orb of extoplasm. Its form was indescribably cute, bathed in a soft silver light that illuminated everything around it but slowly shrunk into the smiling Chibi face of Alice which adorned the little ghost.
The spirit emerged completely from Alice's womb though her abdomen with a with a gentle ripple of light, filling the room with a soft glow. At the same time Alice release a low guttural moan of pleasure as she came hard, her thighs and Alex’s pants becoming soaked in her fluids. Not the fluids of birth but those of passion and pleasure. Alice, almost lazily watched as the little spirit floated silently in midair, hovering above her trembling frame, a content grin of pleasure of on her face. The small ghost emanated a sense of joy and sweetness, of innocence and curiosity that just made you want to shout how cute it was and gobble it up.

Which is what Lyn immediately did. With a small squeal she jumped to hug the little ghost only to accidently consume it as it slipped into her form with a gentle ripple of silver light. Lyn gasped and moaned, her eyes fluttering slightly as the spirit entered her but she quickly recovered.

Everyone was quite except for the soft panting of Alice in Alex’s arms.

“Are you ok?” Alex asked the little maid.

Alice smiled lazily up at Alex. “I’m wonderful. That was… that was very, very enjoyable.”

“Right… well, until we can be sure there were no negative side effects, I’m limiting you to only one ‘birth’ a day.”

Alice pouted but agreed. “Ok Master.”

Alex turned to look at Lyn. “Are you ok?”

Lyn grinned. “Oh, hell yeah, I am. I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as our little maid girl but that felt good. Also,” Lyn held out her hand and a small ceramic pot of honey appeared in her palm, “I think it worked completely as advertised.

Lapis stuck a finger into the pot and licked off the thick golden honey. “Sweet.”

“I’m a fucking magical girl.” Avery still couldn’t believe how quickly her life had changed and had found herself often repeating that simple fact.

Currently she was flying over the city simply enjoying the wind in her hair and the stars overhead. She kept low and weaved between the buildings enjoying the lazy glide she had going. If she had to pick just one thing about the magical girl experience that she loved most, it would be flight. She didn’t have to worry about being seen by those below as the she was currently invisible, visible only to herself as a ghostly silhouette.

Yeah, that’s right: flight and invisibility were both powers she had access to. The full set was flight, invisibility, super strength, ridiculous dexterity, the ability to summon her cestus (or her ‘fuck-you gloves’ as she liked to call them), manipulate and produce fire and heal quickly. Was she fucking awesome or what?

“HELP!”

The cry came from one of the alleyways off Aurora Avenue. The street was positively dripping with prostitutes, pimps, johns and dealers and braced with diners, short term motels and run down businesses.
Avery landed lightly on the roof of an abandoned factory and peered down to where a scantiliy clad young black teen girl was pressed against a chain fence by a larger black man in black and red hoodie with a star of David stitched on the back of all things. Avery seriously doubted the man was overly religious given that he suddenly backhanded the girl and shouted at her something about money.

Another man kept watch on the empty street. This one had his hood down and casually smoked a cigarette as his friend beat the girl. Avery’s eyes must have been improved by the transformation as well because she could easily see the poorly done tattoo of another six-pointed star and a pair of raised crossed sabres on his neck.

Avery sighed. Another streetwalker and her abusive pimp. That the men were also members of the ‘Disciples,’ a fairly new offshoot gang that had been in trouble recently because of a spate of violent crime was just icing on this particularly shitty cake. The sobbing girl couldn’t have been much older than Avery herself which, while sick, was also curious as the younger girls were usually peddled southside rather than on Aurora. Hopefully this wasn’t a sign of increased gang activity or something as that was a shitshow and a half for everyone. Still, Avery had already seen enough.

Avery smirked. This was the bit she enjoyed even more than flying.

Taking to the air once more, Avery gained height before spinning around and launching herself at the gangster abusing the girl. She came at him from the side. Her cestus wrapped fist, while not yet covered in flame, drilled into the man’s ribs and sent him tumbling ass over designer shoes almost ten feet down the street, where his face ground into the footpath as he slid to a stop.

The invisibility was awesome but it did have one major flaw that Avery was told could be only overcome with continued training and time: it didn’t work when fighting. Physical contact of her punch caused her invisibility to dissolve away like a bad PowerPoint transition revealing Avery lightly touching down, her wings of light fading as her bare feet touched the stained concrete. Avery smirked and thrust her fist out provocatively as she stood in front of the teen girl.

“What the fuck is this shit?” The man second gangster spluttered and backed off in surprise.

“A fiery angel that descends in the night! A young maiden that fights for those without power! A knight that stands against the evils of man! I am the First Star and the Last! Starlight Princess Knight: Aries!” Avery punctuated her ridiculous pronouncement by igniting her fists and causing the fire to swirl around her.

Look, don’t judge. Being a magical girl grandiose pronouncements and introductions were expected.

“What the fuck was in that joint?” The gangster grumbled. “Nah, ye know what? Fuck this shit!”

The man made to pull a gun from where he had one tucked into his belt but Avery didn’t give him a chance. Her form was incredibly strong and her skin was tougher than would be expected which was why she had no qualms about being bare foot in the shitty part of town. But she hadn’t had the opportunity to test her new durability against a gun and wasn’t keen to try.

Avery dashed forward with an inhuman speed, easily ducking under the upward swing of the handgun as the gangster attempted to aim in her direction. An upper jab as she passed under his arm saw his elbow shattered and the weapon clattering from his now numb fingers. Before the idiot could even scream, Avery had slammed her other fist into his sternum which crunched under the blow. Her fires seared the flesh where she touched and scorched a hole straight through the fucker’s hoodie. He collapsed gasping for air.

Avery didn’t think she had caused enough damage to kill him or his friend but at the same time she wasn’t entirely sure she cared. Gang violence was reported on the evening news near daily and she had little fucks to give. Additionally, the proverb ‘Live by the sword, die by the sword’ was one she had found resonated with the burning desire for action that had developed after she became a magical girl. These fuckers were happy to shoot kids and beat women. So she was happy to break their fucking pelvises and fuck them with their own severed dicks… Avery was starting to wonder is she might be a tad too worked up.

Turning to the stunned and awestruck (read scared shitless) teen girl, Avery gave a victorious (savage) smile. “Worry not! He won’t hurt you again!”

The girl just nodded a tear-streaked face. Her eyes darting up and down the street seeking a path of escape from the scary, horned, fire-bending angel of war.

“I would suggest calling the cops and then making your way home.” Avery said as if life was that fucking simple. “Until next time!”

With a burst of flame and a gust of wind, Avery took to the air once more and flew into the night. He invisibility returned as she gained altitude and was able to relax the drive for conflict that rushed through her every time she fought.

“I can’t believe I said those corny lines.” Avery groaned to herself, her face burning with shame. It wasn’t her fault! Really. She just got caught up in the… well, everything.

Her self-shaming was interrupted by the pearl on her wrist alerting her of an incoming transmission.

“Avery? Where are you right now?” Heather’s voice came from the Pearl Communicator.

Heather was the second magical girl recruited to join the Starlight Princess Knights. She was recruited by the Virgo mascot to become the Starlight Princess Knight: Virgo. Even though the girl wasn’t as excited about direct conflict as Avery, they had become fast friends in the few months since they had both become magical girls.

“Somethings happening at the Space Needle. It’s beyond belief. If it wasn’t all over the News and I didn’t have a direct visual of the situation using the Observation Orb, I would say people were having a mass hallucination.”

“Heather. Just tell me what’s happening.” Avery asked with a hint of exasperation. She loved the introspective nerd but seriously just get to the point.

“Telekinetic bears are terrorising the city.”

Avery just stared at her comm as if it had just said something incredibly stupid, then a vicious grin spread across her face. “Oh, fuck yeah! I’ve got to see this!”

As Avery adjusted her flight and speed in the direction of the distant needle, Heather responded.

“I’m contacting Jade and Christie to head to your location. They’ll be at least ten minutes as they’re not near any warp pads.”

“Understood. You’re staying at the Temple.”

“But-”

“No. You’re the only one of us with the power to heal others. You’re staying at base until we I can evaluate the situation.”
Heather grumbled but eventually agreed.

“I’m nearing the location.” Avery said as she started to hear the sounds of explosions and screaming.

“I’ll be watching. Stay safe and use your Bubble if you have to.”

“…”

“Avery.” Heather ground out dangerously.

“FINE!” Avery shouted. She hated the fucking Bubbles.

Chapter Text

“Is… Is she going to be, ok?” Lapis asked.

Alex wouldn’t meet her eyes as he kept the water bottle steady so that Alice wouldn’t drink too fast. “She’s just a little dehydrated but she’s going to be ok.”

Alice raised a thumbs up and gave a shaky smile. Perhaps she shouldn’t have insisted they all share their quirks at once but… it had felt really, REALLY, good. Even now little waves of pleasure ran through her from her shaking legs all the way up to her sweaty hair.

Morrigan moaned from the a nearby chair as she took in the last empowered ghost child, super spirit? Power ghost? Share Spirit? Maybe they’ll name them later. Absorbing the ghosts didn’t appear to be as orgasmic as Alice made giving birth to them look but it did feel really nice. A wave of energy and potential that flowed though them and set every nerve alive with a wonderful tingle.

Alex picked Alice up and carried her to the couch and laid her down gently. “You did wonderfully, Alice.”

Alice blushed bashfully. “Thank you, Master.”

“After you’ve recovered well see about getting you set of all the powers of your own.”

Alice shook her head. “No thanks. I just want to be useful. I’m quite happy being the maid to Master and his Mistresses.”

Alex frowned but didn’t argue. He’d let time pass and see how she felt in the future. It was a hard balance though. When Alice couldn’t speak and simply followed directions it was easy to see her as a simple construct but now that she expressed her desires and wants, he wanted to treat her more as one of the girls even if that went against her request. He’ll let it go for now since accepting another autonomy generally meant accepting their choices as well.
Any further discussion was interrupted by the sound of alarms.

“What the fuck is that?!” Lyn shouted over the buzzing alarm sound.

“That’s the alarm system. It’s supposed to go off during either a MOGO emergence or if the Starlight Princess Knights are in danger.” Alex said with a frown on his face.

“Go see what it’s about. I’m going to lay here and enjoy the afterglow.” Alice said reassuringly.
Taking that as permission, Alex led the rest of the group into the Temple’s main chamber. As they entered the [WARNING] icons on the screens vanished and were instead replaced by multiple camera angles of Seattle’s streets at night. On screen Starlight Princess Knight Aries was trading blows with a gargantuan Grizzly bear. In the background Andrew, Matt and Steve were throwing around their abilities to ward off and defend the public from a handful of smaller yet still overly large brown bears which seemed to be rampaging with telekinetic powers of their own.

“OK. I’m not sure what’s happening but I don’t think I can be blamed for this.”

The audio increased in volume as a human face and torso emerged out of the chest of the largest bear.

“Bring me Snowball McBearface! Bring me the Polar Bear!” the conjoined abomination screamed.

“Or maybe it is.” Alex admitted.

Avery lashed out with a fist that was coated in red and gold fire. The Giant Grizzly she was fighting hardly even moved.
Avery had expected many things when she was called to the site of some disturbance. On the low end of the spectrum, she had expected something like an outbreak of gang violence or a high stakes police chase. On the other end of that spectrum, she worried about an early emergence of a Titan: one of those crystal monstrosities that slept beneath the earth. A gaggle? A Posse? No, that’s not it… fuck. This’ll bother her for hours now. Whatever. Five fucking bears telekinetically destroying the city was not within the wheelhouse of possibilities!

Avery had to leap backwards to dodge a large and dangerous paw swipe that would have easily removed her head from her shoulders if she was currently human. The giant bear used the increased distance to swing a paw at a parked car picking it up telekinetically and tossing end over end it at Avery.

“Fuck!” Avery jumped over the tumbling Prius.

Screams from behind her alerted her to her mistake as the car kept rolling towards a young couple who had stopped to record the action on their phones rather than flee the rampaging empowered bears.

Avery was about to rush at the pair even knowing that she wouldn’t make it on time yet before she could even move the car comes to a sudden trembling halt as black teenager drops from the sky interposing himself between the car and the bystanders his hands outstretched and trembling as he holds the car aloft with his mind.

“Steve?!” Avery exclaims in surprise.

Steven almost drops the car at her exclamation of his name, his eyes wide as he looks at the weird magical girl with fiery fists and wings of light. Shaking his head, he concentrates and with a grunt of effort hurls the car at one of the other smaller bears that are menacing the public the twisted automobile slamming into the monster and crushing it against the pavement.

The largest bear used Avery’s distraction to lumber further down the street all the while flinging parked cars into shopfronts in which people were hiding. Avery stopped thinking about how Matt’s friend Steve somehow had superpowers of his own (and wasn’t that just freaking hot?) and swooped down after the creature turning her dive into a devastating kick to the things head.

The bear staggered under the blow and tumbled forward yet regained it’s footing much faster than would be expected for its size. Avery twisted around the swipes of the bears claws all the while feeling an odd pressure against her skin as if dulled blades were being dragged across her body. Behind her she barely noticed as both Matt and Andrew joined the fight. The three empowered teenage boys using their abilities to hamper the remaining bears and prevent any further damages or casualties.

The large bear backed off a little to avoid a blast of fire into it’s face and its chest rippled and split as ribs pried themselves apart. The flesh parting as a human, male face and torso emerged from its chest cavity.

“Bring me Snowball McBearface! Bring me the Polar Bear!” The conjoined abomination cried out.

“Oh, fucking God! I’m going to be sick.” Avery dry heaved.

“You people are the ones that are sick.” The bear-man-creature proclaimed with a deep and rasping voice. “You pollute the world with your leavings, destroy the beauty of nature and perverse the natural order of things.”

“And that has to do with anything how?!” Avery retorted indignantly.

“Bringing me Snowball is just the start. A showing of goodwill to save yourselves from the coming culling of your bloated population.”

“… you’re not quite right in the head. Err… sorry, heads.” Avery gathered heat into her fists letting the power build.

“Why the fuck is the Mahou Shoujo talking to the insane monster?!” Steven called out to Matt.

Matt strengthened himself and kicked one of the bears before responding. “Hell, if I know!”

“Guys!” Andrew shouted to the group. “Stop playing around and end these things.”

Andrew simply raised his hand palm down and a manhole cover floated up from the street. He quickly lined it up with the closest bear and thrust his hand forward causing the solid circle of iron to launch at the creature’s head. For a moment there a sense of resistance as the round of iron slowed minutely in the air before with a grunt and a sudden blood nose the cover sped forward even faster than before and literally cleaved through the creature’s head in a mist of blood and brain matter.

“How the fuck do you do that so easily? I can’t even get a hold of these monsters” Steve complained.

“They’re resistant to direct effect, use the things around you as ammo or do what Matt’s doing and make yourself stronger.” Andrew explained as he distracted a bear by pelting it with a dozen thrown chunks of broken concrete and asphalt allowing Matt to come in quick from behind and slam his fists clenched together into the things neck causing it to limply collapse to the ground.

Steve looked around wildly before spotting a street sign. Running towards it he yanked on the metal pole and almost fell over in surprise as he easily tore it and a large clump of concrete from the ground. Using the sign like a makeshift mace, Steve launched himself at the remaining minion-bear and slammed the concrete heavy end into the creature’s side causing it to roar in pain.

Only Andrew’s quick reaction of yanking Steve back telekinetically by his belt prevented Steve’s head from being separated from his shoulders as the bear’s clawed paw nearly brushed Steve’s nose as it retaliated.
Steve paled at how close he almost came to decapitation but used the distance to adjust his hold on the metal pole. In the attack the sign’s end with the concrete mass had actually sheered off and now Steven lined up the jagged point of the metal pole with the bear’s centre.

“Rrrahhh!” Steven shouted and mentally pushed as he threw the pole like a javelin at the bear. The pole flew faster than anyone could naturally throw it and faster than the bear could react. It pierced through the creature’s chest and out the other side.

The creature paused and seemed to look down at the sign pole suddenly protruding from its chest. With a grunt it stagged forward towards the teen who had just wounded it so but only managed a few lumbered steps before slumping forward and going still.

The teen’s heaved a sigh of relief as the last bear dropped only to stagger as a mental pressure slammed into them along with a tremendous roar from the human-grizzle monster.
A few minutes earlier while the boys were fighting the smaller bears, Avery was still confronting the lead Grizzly. The human torso attached kept spouting nonsense about globalist ecological terrorism and a missing polar bear named ‘Snowball.’

Avery had to keep dodging as the creature hounded on about nature and a lost bear. Each aggressive swipe of the bears claws saw a car flying towards her or a building being torn apart brick by brick and launched in a whirlwind of destruction.

Police had arrived at some point but hung back uselessly, unable to get a close and unable to get a clear shot. Any bullets they had fired only seemed to get caught in the maelstrom that surrounded the bear or did nothing to at if they hit. No one was stupid enough to aim their weapons at the magical girl who was clearly fighting the abomination especially when she imposes herself between attacks and innocent bystanders who hadn’t managed to flee.

Despite the dangerous telekinetic storm that bear was producing, it seemed to pay less and less attention to Avery herself and focused more on simple general destruction and monologuing to its fearful audience of police, bystanders and whoever was watching from what must have been multiple livestreams. People have no sense of self-preservation and recorded everything on their phones these days.

Avery used its distraction to charge a more powerful attack. Honestly, she didn’t have much experience using big moves in combat. She had trained with the other Knights but they were all still fairly new to this and unwilling to test their regenerative abilities or Heather’s healing powers too far. Avery pulled heat into her cestuses and let it build up. Already there was a wavering in the air around her fists as the heat warped the surrounding atmosphere. Little flickers of gold and red swirled around her clenched fists as she moved into a better position to attack.

This was different than just punching fire. It took time and concentration but the heat involved had already reached greater heights that of mere flame. The flickers or red and gold were swirling in greater number and even starting to merge together into thin streams of white-purple energy that behaved like liquid electricity. Already, Avery could feel the strain of keeping up the process as the air around her fists literally ionised from the heat.

With a shout like a shounen anime character Avery launched herself at the imposing bear-creature and lashed out with her fists. The purple energy shifting into the shape of a ram’s head.

The bear-man almost seemed surprised. Like he had forgotten he had actually been fighting someone and not just angrily calling for environmental change and the delivery of a missing zoo attraction.
The plasma-hot ram construction hit the creature straight on and sizzled through his fur and flesh. The streams of ionizing energy burning their way through, melting skin and boiling blood as it passed in and around it.
With a cry of effort Avery cut her energy output to her attack leaving the energy ram chewing through the beast to break apart and dissipate. Only the scorched and carbonised corpse of the bear remained. It was undeniably dead and Avery’s hands hurt.

“Ave- Aries!” A sweet voice cried out.

Two more winged Magical Girls dropped from the sky and landed next to Avery. The one who had cried out launching herself at the tired girl and hugging her tightly.
Jade was slightly taller than Avery and had short black hair in a messy bob. The slight tilt of her eyes and the shine of her hair denoted a slight Asian heritage but her sinfully curvy body suggested something European. Her outfit was much the same as Avery’s being a white short tunic dress but her accents where closer to bronze than gold and having a snake-like motif instead of Avery’s Ram.

She was the Zodiac Princess Knight: Ophiuchus. The surprising thirteenth Zodiac and second in the tentative command after Avery.

“Are you ok?” Jade fussed over Avery making sure she was uninjured and flinching slightly as Avery hissed in pain when she touched her hands. “You’re hurt!”

“I’ll be fine.” Avery reassured the attractive girl. And where did that though come from? She reflected internally.

“What on earth happened here?” The other newly arrived magical girl asked.

She was stunning, with vivid red hair, pale skin and piercing teal eyes she resembled a certain mermaid from the famous children’s animation. Except she was definitely not made for children. Despite being the shortest of the group she was curvy in all the right places making an interesting and disturbing juxtaposition between childlike and outright erotic. Simply put she was a real life shortstack. She was also Christine; the Starlight Princess Knight: Cancer.

“Telekinetic bears.” Avery succinctly answered.

“Right. That’s what I was told on the comm.” Christine said as she used her control over ice to freeze the few fires that were burning in the area. Mostly from spilled fuel and crushed cars.

“Ummm… are you people even real?” Andrew floated over followed by Matt and Steve.

Christine eyed the newcomers appreciatively.

“Who are the wannabe Supermen?” Just because she liked their looks didn’t mean she would be nice.

“Cancer, Ophiuchus meet Matt, Steve and Andrew.” Avery pointed to each of them as she said their names.

The three teen boys were shocked that she knew each of their names. Andrew was just about to say something stupid given his angry scowl when they were interrupted buy a loud:

“THIS IS THE POLICE! Put your hands behind your heads and knee on the ground!”

The six looked over in surprise to see the nearby police presence had decided to get involved.

“They have to think we’re incredibly naïve to actually follow that directive.” Jade shook her head.

Steve looked to the skies and noted the multiple police and military helicopters that had arrived during the fight and the aftermath. “I don’t think they’re just gonna let us fly out.”

Avery groaned as she could already tell what Jade was about to suggest by her obvious grin.

“Alright girls; grab a guy and let’s bubble out.” Jade said.

“What?” Andrew asked surprised as Christine grabbed hold of his arm and pressing it into her developed chest causing him to blush.

Avery sighed and made sure to grab a bewildered Steve before Jade could leaving Matt in her capable hands.

The had left it too close for comfort though as the police had kept shouting at them to comply to their directives and one of the closest helicopters was lining up some sort of mounted automatic weapon on their position.

Still, it only took a second for them all to trigger their emergency escape bubbles. Round opaque spheres of red, silver and blue appearing around each pair before popping strange warping motion leaving the authorities about to fire on empty space.

“Sooo… are we going to talk about that?” Lyn asked as they all watched the three magical girls abscond with the three empowered boys.

“I really just want to pretend that didn’t happen.” Alex said as he brought up the feed for the Moonstone Temple.
On screen the six teens had appeared in the throne room and promptly collapsed to their knees from the nausea. Already Heather, the last found Starlight Princess Knight: Virgo, was rushing to each of their sides and laying hands on their heads, healing them with a deep grin light.

Heather was dressed much like the other magical girls except she lacked almost all decorative armour and her tunic skirt was a mix of white and green. She had long green hair with vine leaves woven in like a crown and starling green eyes. Of the girls found so far, she avoided conflict wherever she could and preferred to take on a more motherly, healing role of which her powerset was most suited.

“Where did the bear things even come from? They weren’t in the movie.” Lapis asked.

Alex sighed. “That was probably our- no, my fault.” He admitted.

“Why is it your fault?” Lyn asked indignantly.

“If I was to guess I’d say that the man who was part of the bear creature was the Ranger I took as a drawback. That’s the only reason he would be shouting out my bear name.”

Lapis snorted. “Your bear name was Snowball McBearface?”

Alex grunted. “Yeah, it was. It was a competition at the local primary schools to name the new Polar bear and that’s the only politically correct name that was in the top three.”

“Now I have to ask: what were the other names?” Morrigan smirked.

“Eskimo Pie and Whitey McWhiteBoy.” Alex said with a groan.

“Wow.” Lyn broke the incredulous silence that followed Alex’s reveal. “Those names suck.”

“Which is why I was Snowball.” Alex agreed. “Anyway, what should we do with them.”

They all watched as the group ended up talking to Dianna, the Gem that Alex had put in charge of the Moonstone Temple. Dianna was explaining the Starlight Princess Knights and the three boys were explaining their encounter with the crystalline entity which had given them their powers.

The concensus among them all was that the boys had encountered a dying Titan and had somehow attained their abilities through its death. They also agreed that the bears and more specificall the bear-human abomination were someone who had somehow absorbed or had been absorbed by a piece of the Titan’s body and mutated by the process.

“That also didn’t happen in the movie.” Morrigan noted.

“The bears might have always been exposed even without the Ranger getting involved but it’s unlikely.” Alex admitted. “Though the whole ‘infected by the MOGO crystals might have always been intended to happen but just never made it into the first movie. It was hinted that the government had recovered the crystal organism from the cave the boys had found.”

“So we can expect more mutated crystal monsters?” Lapis queried.

Alex shrugged. “I wouldn’t put it past the government to screw up and let some people get infected. It’s a good thing that the Starlight Princesses seemed to be able to take care of it if Avery is any indication and the boys also did well.”

“Hmm… I’d feel better if there were more fighters. I’m going to move up our schedule with power babies.” Lyn said.

Alex agreed. This world was meant to be a quick stop to get some powerful and adaptable abilities but when you looked past the videocam footage of three boys getting superpowers then this world on the edge of going very, very bad.

Two weeks later and things had calmed down somewhat.

Oh, don’t think that the world wasn’t still freaking out about the existence of superpowered teenagers and monstrous bears. That was still all over the news worldwide and people wanted answers that the governments either didn’t want to or weren’t able to provide. Matt, Andrew and Steve had to go into hiding as their faces had been caught on camera multiple times. They’d barely gotten the opportunity to explain to their families before having to flee the Feds who turned up at their homes demanding answers and custody of the teens.

The magical girls didn’t look enough like their human selves when transformed to be recognisable though Avery had to lay low a little while her sister was being questioned about her ties to Matt.
The worldwide stir-up and the surprisingly quick response by the government meant that Alex decided to investigate the military and the government more closely than he had been planning. Gemtech V.I. computers quickly infiltrated even the most secure Black Op mainframes and invisible and intangible Spectres were his eyes looking over the shoulders in every important meeting.

What was revealed was both as expected and alarming. As expected, the government had no idea what was happening. It had no idea how there were superpowered teenagers running around, that superpowers were actually possible, that bears could be telekinetic murder machines instead of just regular murder machines or that the world’s balance was being threatened by the emergence of giant crystalline organisms over the next few years.

Alarming was that there were segments of the government that, while not knowing the whole picture, knew too much.
A secret department under the joint ownership of the US military and two private companies called jointly: the Darkside Cooperative, had a hand in collecting the remains of the MAGO that the boys had stumbled upon. They’d stumbled upon that site though an investigation of micro-tremors and trace amounts of a previously unknown type of electromagnetic radiation (and wasn’t that new!) resulting in them having found the cave and claimed the crystals there.

Testing had found minor mutagenic effects from exposure but enhanced mutagenic effects and the development of minor psychic abilities when surgically placed within test organisms. So far there were only a few stupidly strong rats to worry about but further testing was planned and there were already speculations of human trials in the next few years.
Additionally, a Chinese government agency seemed to know way too much about the future MOGO threat. The Shēncéng dìxià kāntàn yǔ guāncè or more colloquially the De kānchá or in English the Geological Survey Department had records of deep underground movement dating back from the thirties. Strangely, they had less reliable documents going even further back and eventually referencing a series of partially translated Kushan writing found on burial artifacts dating back to about the third century. The point was that China had obviously encountered a MOGO in their ancient past and they made sure to remember and were now preparing.

A quick check of the other world powers showed that no others had enough information or at least enough accurate information. The middle east was of course claiming the work of God and already rousing the people in preparation for something. Either an internal cleansing of their own population or the possibility of another Holy War. Honestly, it was a coin toss at the moment.

Europe was simply going through endless circular discussions on how something needed to be done but not offering any new information or suggestions. Australia was ignoring most of it all but had for some reason invested a lot of money into exploratory mining operations and geological surveys revealing that they had access to someone else’s information at least. Oh, and Japan was already making porn of the Magical Girls and the Telekinetic Teens… To be fair they were also trying very hard to get samples of the dead bears to study.

Through all this Lyn was still going hard at Operation Impregnation. She had found over six hundred volunteers worldwide that she had somehow found the time to vet and process. Offering obscene amounts of money and the promise of perfectly health and incredibly special children seemed to attract women like flies to honey. She had used the near infinite amount of money of which she had access to create a series of safehouses and supply lines that were operating under the banner of a new women’s health association.

Contracts were signed, trust funds given out and young women brainwashed into her new religion. Obviously, Lyn wasn’t calling it a religion but it really did look like one. Offering obscene amounts of money and the promise of perfectly health and incredibly special children seemed to attract women like flies to honey and once Lyn flashed a few Gem powers most were convinced that they were going to bare the next Messiah figure and were ready and willing to become pregnant.

All that was left was that he and each of the girls traveling the world and touching each prospective mother and gifting them with a child. Most of these women had already given up on having a child of their own for one reason or another, mostly medical, and so they were happy to be blessed with a kid. Through mutual discussion it had been agreed to pass on the bare minimum of genetic information not needed for the given powers to function. In this way; while he and the girls were the technical fathers to the kids, they weren’t literally creating children that were biologically their own. Put simply, the coming children were not actually related to any of them and would genetically resemble a slightly deviated clone of their mothers. Even with Alex skewing the odds of the ones he contributed to this would result in a five to one ratio of girls to boys.

Lyn had already briefed them all on what abilities to pass on: Telekinetic powers, Magnetic Personality, Secrecy Insurance and Biological Shifting. The powers were obvious but the Biological Shifting ability from the Steven Universe Jump was the key to making the plan work. The ability would see the children grow with their mental age before their physical age. If the world continued to be at peace and everything was fine then the kids would grow up at a normal rate but if the world went to shit and the kids were forced to grow up mentally then they would literally grow up physically to match their development and thus have the best chance to survive. The addition of Magnetic Personality and Secrecy Insurance would guarantee that they all found each other when they needed to as well as any other allies and that that until they revealed themselves to the world at large then no shady organisations would likely get their hands of the kids.

They still had a little under nine months until the minimum requirement of year was up but Alex was looking forward to watching how everything moved. The Starlight Princess Knights were getting on with boys and they were working together to respond to natural disasters around the globe in an effort to keep public opinion of themselves up. Additionally, they were also keeping an eye on the corporations and organisations that were playing with the remains of the MOGO and the bear just in case something went wrong.

Alex and the girls were spending their downtime training and just having fun in preparation for their next jump.

Chapter Text

Alex watched through the Spectres as the Starlight Princess Knights gathered in human form with their Zodiac mascots. To the side, the Chronicle boys shuffled awkwardly in a throne room filled with girls and plush dolls. Dianna watched them all from her throne waiting for the last of the magical girls to arrive.

“All I’m saying is that if I can die being squeezed between her thighs then I’ll have died happy.” A squeaky yet undeniably masculine voice could be heard approaching from the hallway.

“For the love of God, Aries, shut up!” A young female voice replied in a strained hushed voice.

“Oh please, I know where your eyes wander when we’re combined. Tell me you don’t want to suck on those silver titties?”

“Alright! OK! YES! They’re nice tits, but that doesn’t mean you can wax poetic about them for four fucking hours!” Avery whispered emphatically and unfortunately audibly as she and the Aries Mascot walked into the room.

Avery looked away from the annoying little toe-rag only to see the entire room filled and silently staring at her entrance.

“Ummm... hi? Sorry we’re late.” She said awkwardly.

“Now that the last of you have arrived.” Dianna stated calmly and with authority, her stern demeanour softened by the smirk she gave the first of the Twilight Princess Knights; and if she thrust her chest out just a little more? Well, no one was going to say anything. “I am to inform you that Ouranos, Lord of the Heavens, and my Liege will be arriving momentarily to meet you all.”

The group broke into hushed whispers at her words though the telekinetic teens were only more confused.
Steve sidled up next to Avery, she being one of the few magical girls he knew more than just in passing. “Who’s this Orr-anus guy?”

Avery blushed under the attention of the taller teen yet had to frown at his pronunciation of their benefactor.

“Ouranos, oo-rah-NOHSS,” she repeated the name stressing the syllables, “is like the head God-being that gifted all of us the power to become Twilight Princess Knights.”

Steve frowned. “I thought that was Dianna.”

“No, she’s more of a care-taker.” Avery shook her head. “She’s mentioned that the other gods try and remain very hands off. Something about overly affecting the development of mankind.”
Steve just gave her a bland look and gestured to the handful of superpowered teen girls standing around in a temple on the freaking moon.

“Heh.” Avery huffed. “I know, I know. But…”

“But?” Steve pressed.

“Look. No ones come right out and said it but, well, Ouranos in the myths was the first Titan in the myths. He fathered the rest with Gaia, who was also his mother…”

Steve nodded along. “You think he made the Titans?”

Avery shrugged. “Or his one himself but, ya know, different.”

Steve frowned in though. “Then why would he empower all of you to then fight the Titans?”

“I don’t know. My theory is that either they were a mistake or something and this is him trying to fix it.”

Avery said then nodded her head to where Jade was talking quietly to one of the newest Knights, a dark-skinned girl with tightly braided cornrows that hung with silver clasped braids named Aisha and the Twilight Princess Knight: Sagittarius. “Jade thinks that myths aren’t really accurate and thinks that he and the other gods evolved from the Titans somehow and then adopted humanity or something. Honestly, I’m not sure I care exactly why, I’m just happy to kick ass with literal magic powers.”

“Technology.” Steve said.

“What?” Avery asked confused.

“Superior technology looks like magic if it’s advanced enough.” Steve said. “I reckon they’re likely advanced aliens rather than gods.”

Avery smirked a mentally pulled on the thready connection she had with Aries — who was floating nearby trying to sneak a peek up Christine’s skirt while she was aggressively flirting with Andrew — and with a flex of will a small flame to ignite in her finger tips. Focusing, she caused the flame to dance and twirl around her fingers like a snake.

“If it looks like a magic duck and sounds like a magic duck; it’s likely going to be a magic duck.”

Any reply by Steve was cut short as a loud gong-like sound reverberated around the room.

That’s my cue. Alex thought to himself and opened a portal into the throne room.

The lights dimmed and a spark of silver and black flame appeared in the air next to Dianna’s throne. It grew outward from a central point in a spreading circle of smouldering reality until a sixty-foot hole between there and someplace else was formed.

Alex stepped through followed by Lyn and Morrigan — as Lapis had decided to stay at home — together, Alex and the girls made for an imposing display. Each of them was utilising various transformation perks, a combination of Form Shifting, Biological Shifting and Sir Bearington allowed for in impressive display even if it technically wasn’t complete shapeshifting.

Alex stood forty-feet tall, half as much as his Diamond Form would max out at, he was broad shouldered and muscular with Nothing as Sexy as a Bear insuring, he was at peak sexual attractiveness. His hair was a black mane of wild curls that glittered with silver flame from his ghost-form and his eyes were his Gem-form stormy grey with metallic flecks of light. Alex may have been a little bit proud of his impactful appearance given the way that the magical girls and the chronicle boys seemed to gape in amazement. His only resentment being the absolute ridiculousness of his outfit.

Now don’t get him wrong: it was absolutely his own fault. No, he didn’t choose his current attire yet it was his own choices that led him to his current shame.

Alex was dressed in a black-silk shirt with silver buttons and unfortunate detailed lace-work on the front and the cuffs of his hands. His pants were overly tight black leather that clung way too tightly for either comfort or decorum. His boots were buckled monstrosities that took more effort to get on or off that he was willing to admit. He also wore a velvet coat with intricate silver embroidery of star and crystals scattered about its night-black fabric like the same stars seen through the windows of the moon base. Lastly, and not at all least on his list of shame, he was wearing eye-liner. He was pretending to be a GOD and he was wearing fucking eye-liner!

Now, standing in front of his created Magical Girls and the chronical boys looking like some kind of bastard lovechild between a giant, an Anita Blake character and Brandon Lee ‘The Crow,’ he truly regretted picking up the Weird Quirk: Goth Aesthetic drawback.

Behind him Lyn and Morrigan entered through the portal he had created. Both had also mixed up their appearance to present themselves as deific beings. Lyn, at twenty feet tall, was resplendent in a dazzling dress of prismatic rainbow colour. Appearing to be clad in mists of refracting light rather than mere cloth. Her eyes shone like opalescent jewels and her smile was captivating the group before them. Morrigan was much statelier in a flowing dress of black and maroon that clung to her curves delightfully. She was towering over the teens at forty-feet tall and enhancing her otherworldliness by pushing her ghostly-form to appear in rippling waves over her presence. The end result was that she appeared to be a ghostly reflection in reality, partially there and not at the same time as she faded in and out of existence.

But now was not the time to be admiring he companions.

“Children,” Alex projected his voice with a touch of ecto-energy causing his words to reverberate and trickly through the guts of those that heard him. “I, Ouranos, thank you for your courage to step froth and defend sweet Gaia from the destructive Titans who lurk like a sickness within her slumbering flesh.”
And just like that he had their attention and consideration. It wasn’t just his larger than life entrance and appearance that was making them watch him so attentively; no, it was the newly shared perks that was pulling them in so strongly.

He had been amazed when Lyn had, in only a few short months, created a network of near fanatical mothers-in-waiting who were willing to carry empowered children to term. He really shouldn’t have been. When choosing this Jump he had been completely distracted by the perks he wanted. He wanted the telekinetic powers, the pseudo capstone booster that was Lifting Yourself Up and the alt-form blender that was Sir Bearington. He had to admit that he really didn’t pay much mind to the multiple social perks that were present in the two jumps.

Chad 101, The Game of Life, I Just Do My Best At Everything, and Fascinating To Watch were powerful by themselves but had a synergistic effect that was frankly just fucking scary. Together they made him ultra-charismatic(Plus+), able to sway the hearts and minds of just about anyone with only a few words and wink. He felt strong, he felt powerful holding such social power, he felt… he felt like god-damned politician and dirty after using them. He may have to not overuse his sudden newfound ‘Talk-no-Jutsu’ abilities.

“One of you has stepped forth already to combat the dangers of the Titans, years ahead of what I had anticipated. I had hoped that you would all have at least five years before the Titans awoke from their slumbers but am proud of you: Starlight Princess Knight: Aries.”

Avery seemed stunned as everyone’s attention turned to her. She stood ram-rod straight, eyes wide but still managed a squeaking, “You’re welcome.”

Alex smiled in a way that he hoped was beneficent but given the blushes from most of the room might have just been flirtatious… well, he was portraying himself as a kingly, Sky-God and Zeus had already set the expectation when around virgin maidens. Not that he was going to do anything, just that he shouldn’t be surprised if he was expected to.

“As thanks for your efforts I give you this boon,” Alex said and produced from his hidden Gem two perk-spirits that he had obtained from Alice that morning.

The little glowing balls of spiritual energy curled around his hands giggling to themselves before they followed his mental command and launched themselves at the small blond.

Avery didn’t have any time to move as they impacted her chest one after the other and slipped inside her breast, only letting out a shuddering moan of pleasure as they melted into her soul.

“I name thee, Avery Letter, as First and Last among your sisters. May you watch over them, Lifting Up Yourself and others and Doing Your Best at Everything you attempt.” Alex proclaimed while also naming the perks he had slipped the young tween. Lifting Yourself Up and I Just Do My Best At Everything would work in tandem to see her drastically improve and become the leader of the Twilight Princess Knights in truth and ability. One perk removing the limit caps to her powers, abilities as long as she trained and exercise them and the other ensuring she was able to put her all into said training without burning herself out.

Alex smiled as Avery was applauded by the surrounding magical girls and was given a friendly shoulder bump by the dark-skinned teen boy next to her.

As the applause settled down, Alex turned his attention to Andrew, Matt and Steve.

“Three others were also involved. Though their presence and abilities were unexpected, it would be remis of me not to recognise their bravery in facing the Titanborn.” Internally Alex grinned. If he just kept naming things like he knew what he was talking about then hopefully everyone would just follow along. “You, who have been touch by the dying light of a Titan, have honed your abilities admirably.”

The teen boys nodded along.

“In the coming years many more with your powers will be born into this world.” Alex revealed. “Some will be like you: youths who will be touched by the Titan and yet survive.”
Steve and Matt exchanged concerned looks at the possibility that the exposure to the crystal entity that gifted them their abilities wasn’t as safe as they previously though. Andrew just seemed excited about the idea of more like them appearing.

“Others will likely appear due to the machination of your own governments meddling with powers beyond their mortal understanding.” Alex almost cringed at how arrogant he sounded.

“But the fast majority will be born from my actions on earth, a legion of soldiers born to defend Gaia and her children from the predation of the Titans. You three have proven yourselves to hold true to the defence of your fellow man. And so I name thee Crystal Princes, the Legatus Legionis of the coming Crystal Legion.”

Alex removed three large medallions from his Gem and floated them before the teens. Each one was a simple silver round disk inscribed with Latin words around the edges and each one holding a large round gemstone about the size of the top of a soda can; an Emerald, a Sapphire and a Ruby. In reserve to be held by Dianna until needed were an Amethyst and Diamon completing the set to five medallions.

“To claim your reward simply grasp the medallion and speak the words inscribed.” He informed the teens.

Andrew, Matt and Steve eyed each other seemingly having a conversation without words. With silent nods they came to a discission and reached out and claimed the floating jewels.

They each took a moment to read the words inscribed on the medallion, Matt silently mouthing the words of the unfamiliar Latin. Together they each, perhaps subconsciously, adopted a pose with their arms stretched forth and holding the medallion facing outwards in both hands.

Three voices spoke at once. “Princeps Smaragdus//Sapphirus//Rubinus stat paratus!”

With a flash of coloured light, the three teens were replaced with three imposing soldiers in futuristic coloured crystal armour over a dark grey base bodysuit. Each one seemed to glare fiercely through their solid helms as they stood in an almost choreographed pose. Andrew, in green, in the middle standing with his arms raised in a fighting stance, Steve on his left balanced on one leg looking like he was about to complete a kick with his red armoured boot and Matt on the right crouched down as if to spring up into an awkward upper-punch with his blue gauntleted fists.

The stunned silence was broken by a quiet whisper from Avery. “Go, go Power Rangers!”

Alex groaned as he slumped down on the couch once they had retuned to their temple-housing. He had let the imposing god-like physical appearance go once they had left the Moonstone Temple and the celebrating teens and tweens and had shifted to a more casual goth outfit of a black shirt and jeans. The drawback seemed to impose itself when more people could see or during more important times than lounging on the couch. Lyn snuggled up beside him and he wrapped his arms around her without even thinking about it.

“They seemed to like their gifts.” Lyn commented from where her head rested against his chest.

“I hope so.” Alex agreed. “Though they’re not as impressive as the Twilight Princess Knight transformation the armour should at least prevent them from being sniped off by some paranoid military agent.”

“So, they do more than look pretty?” Lyn queried.

Alex nodded. “They’ve got some basic Gemtech in them that will augment their physical ability slightly but most of it went into the Gem-storage, commutations and a basic Virtual Intelligence to help them figure things out. Honestly, Gemtech sucks when it comes to armour. Gems don’t really need them and ships use a combination of shields and an energy based structural reinforcement field.”

Alex laughed. “And unless I wanted them carrying around a full Gem-Light converter in a backpack then that was out of the question. No, I was inspired by your Primitive Technology Adaption perk and went looking at advanced earth tech that I might be able to augment with Gemtech.”

“Ohh, what kind of earth tech?” Lyn asked with a hint of excited curiosity.

“They’ve started developing a type of liquid crystal elastomer that constricts with temperature changes. I was able to take that idea and run with it using Gemtech. The armour will adjust to the from of the wearer for the best fit, will act like a non-Newtonian fluid-based armour that will protect the wearer against most ballistics and is a thermal insulator able to keep the wearer comfortable in both freezing temperatures and up to about 1,800 degrees Celsius.” Alex chuckled. “And you want to know the best part?”

“Hmm?”

“The crystal plating is the weakest parts of the armour. All of that is the full body under suit. The crystal plating is just mainly for aesthetic and for combat. It will morph into blades and tools when needed which means it will self-repair when shattered but it’s incredibly more vulnerable than the liquid silicon weave used for the under suit.”

“So, if anyone was going to try and attack them, they’re going to try and aim between the plates but it’s not going to help them at all?”

Alex shook head. “Nope. Don’t get me wrong though. Sustained fire, concussive impacts and some energy-based weapons are going to hurt the wearer and can even kill them.” Alex admitted. “But even if that happens the suit has a built-in return function that will bubble the medallion and send it back to the Moonstone Temple.”

“Nice.” Lyn nodded.

Alex shrugged. “I’ve found I’ve been enjoying making new things and granting people powers. It’s fun to see what they do with them.”

Lyn smirked. “Oh? So does that make you the god of blacksmithing and wishes along with your Sky and Creation domains as Ouranos?”

Andrew snorted. “I can believe I let you talk me into that. And for the love of God, why call me Uranus?”

“Ouranos.” Lyn absently corrected. “And it’s because it fit best with the whole Titan theme we came up with for the MOGOs.”

“Except he was castrated by Cronos in the myths.” Alex argued.

Lyn smirked and reached down to gently yet firmly grip his cock and balls through his jeans. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep them safe.”

Alex almost growled. “Lynnn!”

“Yes?” she asked innocently as her hand massaged his groin eliciting the expected reaction as he felt himself stiffen at her touch.

“We can’t.” Alex said firmly yet maybe a little sadly as his hand griped her wrist to halt her movement. “You’re my sister.”

“And I told you that eventually well be like Gods and Gods don’t care about stuff like that.” Lyn said firmly but not harshly. “We’ve had sex together, so really why can’t we have sex together?” She asked referencing when they had, on more than one occasion, had sex with the other girls while fused together.

Alex couldn’t answer that. He had a few times woken up next to Lyn after making love to either Morrigan or Lapis. The two of them naked and holding each other, relaxed in their shared afterglow. Was there really a difference? What was holding him back? He could be honest with himself that he was attracted to Lyn. But… it was wrong? Wasn’t it? Or, as she said, did such moral constrictions really matter when you reached a certain level of power? They would be together for centuries, perhapse eternity given their Gem-forms and Ghost abilities. He… didn’t think he could see her with another man. But it would be wrong to deny her love and affection.

Alex’s mind whirled in circles constantly waring between what he wanted, what he felt and what he felt he should want. Except his spiral of moral dilemma flew right out the window when Lyn leaned in kissed him. He didn’t even need to think as he eagerly returned the kiss. A kiss that didn’t feel wrong, or abnormal or anything like that but simply felt right.

Alex pulled her tighter and onto his lap as their kiss deepened. His hands automatically sliding up her legs and kneading the flesh of her thighs and ass through her jeans. Any resistance Alex might have still felt melted away as he felt her body pressed against his, her tongue exploring his mouth. Lyn straddled him, grinding her hips against him as she deepened the kiss. Lyn moaned into the kiss as she straddled him, feeling his excitement even through two layers of denim.

Alex's hands roamed over Lyn's body, feeling the curves of her waist, the arch of her back and the softness of her hips. Lyn tugged at Alex's shirt and he simply willed it away in a small flash of light. She leaned down, her tongue running a hot, electrifying line of pleasure on his chest that left Alex gasping with desire.

“I’ve wanted to do that for fucking ages.” Lyn grinned up at him, her eyes bright with excitement and mirth.

Alex responded by kissing her again. His tongue dancing with hers as he violated the mouth of his little sister with his own. The taboo nature of it that made him so reluctant before now only adding a layer of perverse delight to the act.

I’m just as fucked up as she is. He admitted to himself in the privacy of his own mind.

Lyn broke the kiss, panting slightly as she then stood up, her vivid green eyes locked on Alex's as she slowly unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down her legs kicking them off at the end. Her green crop-top soon followed in a deft movement leaving her small, perky breasts bare.

Alex couldn't help but stare as she revealed her smooth, bare pussy and her youthful chest. He had seen her naked before of course. Every one of his companions enjoyed the large bathroom he had created for them all and weren’t shy with public nudity, at least among each other. But something about knowing that she had undress specifically for him, that she had bared herself intentionally made the sight that much more entrancing.

Lyn knelt before him, her hands reaching for Alex's belt. She pulled it open, her fingers deftly unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans yet Alex, again, simply vanished them into light with only a slight hint of impatience, freeing his hard hard dick.

Lyn grasp his firm length in her smaller hand which made it look that much bigger than it actually was. She leaned in and presses his cock against her cheek and looked up at him with expressive, green eyes.

“Ya know what else I’ve wanted to do for ages?”

“W-what?” Alex asked breathlessly, too entranced by the erotic sight of her holding his erect member against her face.

“This.” Lyn smirked then leaned in, her lips wrapping around the head of Alex's cock.

She sucked and licked at him, her tongue swirling around the shaft as she took him deeper into her mouth with obscene sounds wet sounds. Alex groaned with pleasure, his hands reaching down to tangle in Lyn's long blond hair as she worked her magic on him.

“Fuuuck!” Alex moaned in pleasure as Lyn worked. He wasn’t sure if it was the situation or Lyn was just a surprising natural but it was the best blowjob he’d ever received.

It only took a a few minutes before Alex couldn't take it any longer. He gently pushed Lyn back, his hands guiding her up to straddle him once again. Lyn positioned herself above Alex and ground her slick pussy along his now lubricated shaft. Alex nearly moaned as the heat of her lower lips sliding along his length.

Lyn was not so restrained as she let out an incredibly cute “Ahhnn.”

Grinding up and down his shaft she leaned in and kissed him again, this one not a deep and heavy make out but a playful peck on the lips. Then, as she hovered just over the tip of his cock, as they were near nose to nose, she lowered herself down, impaling herself on Alex's dick while maintaining intense eye contact.

This time it was Alex who let out a groan of pleasure as his cock was enveloped in her incredibly tight and hot pussy. Lyn simply shuddered and whimpered a little, her bottom lip caught between her teeth as her pupils dilated in pleasure, making her yes seem much darker than normal.

“Are you ok?” Alex asked.

Lyn almost laughed at his question. “Am I ok? Fuck yeah, I am!”

“I though it hurt?”

Lyn grinned. “If I hadn’t accidently taken care of that myself when masturbating then yeah, it probably would have, you’re bigger than my toys after all.”

Alex frowned. “Then…?”

“That was me cumming just from putting it in.” Lyn said with a hint of satisfaction and a small thrust that made Alex gasp. “Now, let’s go for another one.”

Lyn began to ride Alex, her hips moving in a slow, steady rhythm as she ground against him. Alex's hands reached up to cup her breasts, his fingers teasing her nipples as she moved. Lyn leaned down, her lips finding Alex's once again as they kissed passionately.

Lyn rode Alex for several minutes, the two of them lost in the pleasure, lost in the motions of the others body in tandem with their own. Eventually, Lyn's legs began to tremble, as a second, larger orgasm built deep within her. She rode Alex harder and faster, her hips moving in a wild, frantic motions as she chased her release. What started slow and built steadily started to stutter and break as they both neared completion.

Finally, with a loud cry, Lyn came, her pussy clenching and spasming around Alex's cock as she rode out her orgasm. Her arms wrapped around his neck would have crushed a regular person, them both much stronger than normal people after their advancement. Alex followed shortly after, his own climax crashing over him as he spilled himself deep inside Lyn's pussy.

As the pleasure subsided, Lyn collapsed against Alex, her head resting on his shoulder as they caught their breath. "See, big brother?" she asked, “Like fucking Gods.”

Alex lay in bed in that half awake state between dreaming and consciousness slowly becoming more awake as the light of dawn creeped through the window. The soft touch of a hand stoking his thigh that sent a shiver of pleasure up his spine and a comforting weight on his chest pulled him from the grips of sleep.

He opened his eyes and blearily made out the head of blond hair and the twin sparks of emerald that were Lyn’s eyes as she grinned up at him from where she curled against him… well, it was more like she was on top of him with the way she pretty much drapped herself across his body.

"Lyn?" Alex's voice was husky with sleep as he gazed down at her.

Lyn smiled up at him, her expression tender yet mischievous and underneath that was a ocean of vulnerability. "Good morning, sleepyhead," she whispered.

Alex blinked, still half asleep, but the sight, and feel, of his sister’s naked body pressed against his banished the remnants of sleep and brought the previous night back in vivid detail.

He and Lyn had crossed a line that siblings should bever cross and yet he found himself unable to care about such societal taboos anymore. Last night had been amazing, wonderful, and spectacular but more than that it had been filled with love. He had always known he had loved Lyn as a sister and, if he was being honest with himself, should have known that those feelings went much deeper than that. Lyn had always been odd; she specifically came from a world that was just a bit twisted. But that world had been twisted on his desires and perceptions so it should not be surprising that he actually reciprocated her feelings… even if he was surprised. Denial was a powerful force.

Alex sat up, the covers slipping from his bare chest, and he reached out to pull the small girl into a gentle hug as he kissed her forehead.

“Good morning, Lyn.”

Lyn's smile widened, and she melted against him with a sigh of relief. Alex actually felt a little guilty that she though he would ignore her or spurn her after last night but given how much he had been avoiding crossing that final line it might have been expected. Without a word, He leaned down to capture her lips in a kiss that ignited a fire within them. It was slow at first, a languid exploration of each other's mouths, but soon passion flared between them, consuming them both in its intoxicating embrace.

“Hnnng!” A groaned yawn interrupted them from the side.

Breaking apart they both turned to stare at Lapis as she stretched next to them in the bed in a way that drew both their eyes to the smooth curves of her blue skin.

Lapis grinned at the two of them. “I’m so glad you two have finally accepted each other. Well… more you, Alex. Lyn always knew what she wanted.”

Right, Alex thought to himself, Lapis joined them at some point last night. He couldn’t help but grin as he remembered. It had been fun.

With Lyn on one side and Lapis on the other, Alex felt like the luckiest man alive. The only one missing was Morrigan.

A knock on the door startled them all and the missing woman swept in while already speaking.

“Alex, I need to talk to you about somethi-“ She paused as she took in the three of them.

“Well, finally!” She said with a nod at Lyn. “If you hadn’t convinced him by the end of the jump I was going to have to step in and help.”

Lyn smirked. “Nah, I got him all by myself. But thanks anyway.”

“Umm… you two know I still here, right?” Alex asked with a hint of exasperation.

Lapis sat up and draped herself over his shoulders, her breasts pressing into his back. “I do.”

Alex grinned and twisted his head back more than should be humanly possible to give the watery Gem a kiss on the cheek

“Thanks Lapis.”

Despite the interruption of the possibility of some morning fun, Morrigan wouldn’t simply barge in unless something was either urgent or important enough in her mind to distract her from social propriety. So turning back to Morrigan who was now speaking in hushed tones with Lyn who was recounting what had happened the night before, blow by deviant blow, he brought her back on topic. “So, what did you need to talk about?”

“Hmm? Oh, right, yes. I want you to knock me up.”

Or maybe morning fun was still a possibility.

“So, when were you going to tell me you’re a power ranger now?”

“MOM!” Andrew exclaimed in shock and a little annoyance as the Pearl Comm he had been gifted by Dianna lit up and a small holographic image of his mother appeared.

“What? I had to find out from Fox News that my own son is a Sentai Ranger style super hero. FOX NEWS Andrew. That’s just embarrassing.”

“It wasn’t planned.” Andrew admitted. “And how on earth are you talking to me? How on earth did you even call me? This isn’t a phone!”

His mother shrugged. “I found this strange gemstone on my bedside table with instructions on how to use it.”

“That’s... good, I guess.” Andrew admitted hesitantly.

Ouranos or Dianna could reach into the home of his mother and that was not good. Not like he had done anything to indicate that he was dangerous to them or anything, but still…

“So, tell me what’s been happening. You barely had time to explain anything before the Feds turned up demanding answers and you had to flee.”

Andrew kicked back against the surprisingly comfortable stone and crystal couch — how the hell do you make crystal soft? — he had in his assigned room and started explaining things to his mother.

“Well, after I had to run from the creepy military guys who turned up, I met with one of the Knights who was on standby and we returned to the base.”

“Was it the smoking hot red head? It was wasn’t it!” Karen chortled at his blush.

“Mom!” He protested.

“What? She’s hot, you’re young and have superpowers. Go for it!”

“Mom? Jeez, were you always like this?”

“Before your father I was freaking wild.” His mother smirked.

Andrew nodded before asking timidly. “And how is dad?”

His mother’s smile tightened a little and she almost frowned. “Gone. The asshole tried to turn you over to the government, so I kicked him out. The house was inherited from my father and so he couldn’t complain, not after I threatened turning him over to the police about all the times he hit you.”

She paused for a moment when Andrew flinched a look of regret on her face. “I’m… sorry. I should have done something about that earlier but… he wasn’t always like that. But after he was fired and I became ill, well, he changed and by the time I noticed I was too sick to do anything about it.”

Andrew just gave a sorta half shrug. “It’s fine, Mom.”

“No. It’s not.” She said firmly. “But I’ll try to do better.”

They both just were silent for a moment, both unsure what to say.

Karen took a breath and deftly changed the topic, “So, you’re on the moon, right? I guess my baby really did become an astronaut.”

Andrew chuckled. “Yeah, I really lived up to my third-grade presentation on Buzz Aldrin. He might have been second but I guess I’m a tie for third with Matt and Steve.”

Andrew paused for a second. “Though technically we would be something like seventh when you count the girls.”

His mother’s eyes glinted again. “Ohhh, and how many girls do you have squirrelled away up there?”
Andrew rolled his eyes. “Enough to know when I’m outvoted. And we’re guests, this is technically their base and they’re just kind enough to let us stay.”

“And provide you with cool new threads.” His mother replied with a hint of humour.
Andrew shook his head. “No, that was Ouranos.”

Karen frowned. “The Titan of the Heavens?”

“Yeah, maybe?” Andrew asked. “Though don’t call him a Titan as everyone hates them.”

“What? Andrew you’re not making any sense. Start from the beginning.”

Andrew took a breath. “Alright, so it was about a week after we had to flee from the Feds and we were hanging out up here in the base getting to know the girls — nothing like that! — when Dianna, she’s… I don’t know? Like some kind of Goddess or something? Let us know that her boss was coming to have a look at the new squatters; her words, not mine.”

“Ok… that raises more questions than it answers, but go on.”

“So, we had to hang around until this guy turns up and he was… fuck, I don’t know,” Andrew paused to consider his words. “He was Powerful, Mom. You know how you have to be careful where you step and how you move when you’re surrounded by little kids?”

Andrew’s mother nodded.

“Yeah, it was like that but we were the little kids. Almost literally since he was like fifty feet tall or something.”

“What? Really? That’s not humanly possible.” Karen denied Andrew’s claim.

Andrew nodded. “I don’t think they’re human, Mom. Ouranos wasn’t and I’m fairly sure Dianna isn’t either. The girls seem to be even though they can transform with the help of these little talking plush toys and those? I’m not sure what they are.”

“So, they’re like aliens?” Karen shook her head in disbelief. “Damn, Andrew, you’re sounding like the plot to a bad 80s movie.”

Andrew rubbed his neck and just kind of nodded in acceptance of that.

“So, he gave you the armour?”

Andrew grinned and fished his medallion from his pocket and held it up so his mother could see. It was a large round green gemstone a little smaller than the size of his palm and inlaid in a medallion of silver with what appeared to be a Latin script scrawled around the edges. It hung on a sturdy silver chain but Andrew wasn’t used to the weight around his neck and so took to keeping it in his pocket.

“Yeah, watch this!” Andrew said excitedly.

He quickly detached the pearl from his wrist and laid it on the table still facing him so that his mother could watch, then he took a step back. Holding out the Green Gemstone Medallion in front of him in an iconic stance he focused on the Gemstone in his hands and cried out:

“Princeps Smaragdus stat paratus!”

The Gemstone flashed and green light flowed from the stone out and over his hands, up his arms and over his entire body. His clothes turned to white light and disappeared leaving a dark grey full bodysuit in their place. With flashes of green light, emerald green armour plates appeared over his body attached to the bodysuit and moulded to his form. They didn’t cover everything, in fact they left plenty of gaps, but they covered vital points.

In the centre of his chest the Emerald Medallion glowed softly. It was surrounded by dozens of green crystal fragments that spread out in such a way as to appear like a solid piece shattered by the impact of the medallion. The separate pieces created a flexible green crystal breastplate that covered his chest and much of his abdomen down to a ken-doll like groin protected by more green crystal. It also did a good job defining musculature that wasn’t actually there.

Smooth green puldrons connected to green crystal plates on his arms and the backs of his hands, larger pieces acting as rerebraces and vambraces leading to smaller fragments at the elbow and wrists and then down his hands where flexibility was needed. His thighs and legs were similarly armoured down to solid green boots and lastly, his head was now enclosed in a tight-fitting green helmet with a black T-shaped visor of dark crystal through which he could see and breath normally.
All together he looked like the lovechild of a minimalist Warframe and a Power Ranger with a dash of 80s Silverhawks.

“My little baby’s all grown up and become a Power Ranger.”

“MOM!” Andrew griped, his voice coming out much deeper than normal.

Andrew spent the next hour chatting to his mother. He missed her. He had really only just gotten her back in his life when he had to run from the government after the whole bear thing. Even though he was a little apprehensive about Ouranous he found he was glad that he could at least talk to his mom.

His conversation was interrupted by a blearing siren that echoes trough the temple and the lights in his room flashed red. One wall lit up as the words [ATTENTION! PLEASE ASSEMBLE IN OBSERVATION ROOM!] scrawled across the glasslike stone.

“I gotta go mum.” Andrew said. “Somethings up.”

“Go. But look after yourself!” Karen told him as he snatched up the pearl and ended the transmission. The pearl, once in his hands, melted away into the suit and Andrew was only a little surprised when a small icon appeared in the HUD within the helmet that indicated Pearl-comm functionality was accessible.

It only took a minute to quickly make his way to the observation room. The large round room was a hive of activity. The large round observation orb glowed with a three-dimensional globe of the earth imposed on it. The floor and walls could barely be seen under a silent holographic projection of a location on earth that made it seem that you were stepping right into that location as you entered the room.

Andrew looked around at what was being displayed. It was night, lit only by street lamps and car headlights. They appeared to be outside a large medical facility that was, given the large amount of thick black smoke pouring from the upper windows, on fire. The place seemed to be some kind of military barracks or facility if the number of young men in army fatigues was any indication. The silence of the projection was eery given that many of the army men were in the act of firing upon a large man in hospital scrubs that was striding out of the hospital.

None of the bullets were hitting the man though: instead, they were curving away before they hit or in some cases ricocheting back at the men who were firing them. Andrew watched in morbid fascination as the projection of a soldier standing right next to him jerked back as a reflected bullet caught him in the neck. Andrew could only stare helpless as the young man, a privet S. Jones feebly tried to stem the copious bleeding from his neck, his attempts becoming slower and slower as he quickly bled out.

“What’s happening?” Andrew asked Matt who was already in the room in his blue armour.

It was one of the Twilight Princess Knights present that answered before Matt could.

“The government are playing around with shit they don’t understand.” Aisha, the Sagittarius Knight growled while thrust her jaw at the man that was being shot at.

Andrew looked up at her nod to see that the man had walked further out of the hospital into the glaring headlights of the surrounding jeeps. The man was… not right. Most obvious was the fist sized, pulsing dirty yellow crystal that seemed to be growing out of his chest. Discoloured yellow veins spread from the stone into his flesh but were particularly prominent up his neck and over his face and forehead. The man’s eyes burned a sickening, bile, yellow colour.
Obviously, the government was already experimenting with the Titan remains that had been found. Worse, Andrew thought as the man telekinetically crushed a jeep and four soldiers in front of him with only a raised fist, they’ve already sort of succeeded.

“Andrew, Matt, Steve.” Avery said as she finished discussing something with the girls in the room. “You’re with me, Christine and Jade. The rest of you are on standby until further notice. Heather is in charge in my absence.”

“Why the fuck are you leaving me behind?! I CAN FIGHT!” Aisha yelled angrily at the smaller blond.

Avery didn’t even flinch. “You’ve been a Knight for only two weeks. You’ve only had three missions in the field outside of training and those were two cases of petty crime and a housefire.”

Aisha nearly growled.

Avery’s stance softened a little. “You’re good. Really good. But you don’t have team tactics down yet, fuck, none of us have that much experience yet.” She admitted. “But if something else pops up while we’re down there you’re our heaviest hitter in reserve.”

That seemed to mollify the Scorpius Knight.

Avery nodded and turned to the teen boys, a smirk appearing on her face. “Crystal Princes. Roll out!”

As the six members of the newly formed team left for the warp pad they missed the exasperated sigh from Heather.

“That’s for Autobots not Power Rangers.”

Chapter Text

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♦Topic: POWER RANGERS AGAINST GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENTS?
In: Boards ► USA ► NEWS ► THE WEIRD ► DISCUSSION

Otaku177013 (Original Poster) (Legacy Poster) (Top Contributor)
Posted on April 12, 2013:

Six months ago, a video appeared that shocked the world. Magical Girls and real life ESPers fighting some kind of bear monster thing. I, like many of you, assumed it was fake but the sheer amount of legitimate footage shown and the reaction from the world governments made it clear that it was very much real.

News articles with verified footage of the incident can be found [HERE].

Since then, there have been multiple sighting of either the supposed Magical Girls and even less of the teens. More recently though, there have been reports of three POWER RANGERS appearing with the Magical Girls.

First Appearance helping put out a forest fire in Australia as reported by FOX News. Found [HERE].

Second Appearance Rangers and Magical Girls assisting rescue and evacuation from flooding during Hurricane Sandy. Found [HERE].

Third Appearance the Rangers are seen fleeing military helicopters over Williamsburg, Virginia. Bystander footage [HERE].

Fourth Appearance the Rangers and Magical girls intercepting a ship in China and uncovering a people smuggling operation. All news articles from China have been removed from online. Saved images of WeeMo conversations from witnesses can be found [HERE] (special thanks to @DumplingKING). Disjointed clips from early news reports have been compilated [HERE], original news reports missing from Fox, CNN and ABC websites.

There have been multiple reports of crimes being intercepted by both lone Rangers and Magical Girls from across the globe but little video evidence. Though #SuperSaveSelfie will net you a bunch of photos and accounts from saved victims who were able to pose with the Rangers and Magical Girls after being rescued.

Now there's a new video popping up on social media that's a lot closer to the action than previous videos and includes footage of a third superpowered individual.

If you haven't seen it then you can [HERE], [HERE] and [HERE]. But you'll have to be quick because these vids are being banned hard on every social media app I have.

If you can't see the video, I’ll try to explain it.

It starts in a suburban park. I'm not an expert but it looks like some cozy town in middle America.
It's night and a couple of teenage boys are filming themselves skateboarding on some stair handrails with their phones. They get spooked by the sound of someone approaching from a grove of trees nearby and turn to film them.
A male figure approaches them from the trees. Tall, muscular, with short blond hair. He's shirtless yet something glows dimly yellow on his chest. He staggers about appearing drunk or psychotic. The teens make stupid teenage boy remark and act tough yelling at the guy who suddenly leaps forward faster than should be humanly possible and tackles on of the teens to the ground.
The others freak out but the kid with the phone thankfully stays on task. The strange man gets off the teen and you can now see in the street-light some kind of crystal growth coming out of his chest and covering one of his shoulders and down his arm.
One of the teens gets behind him and wacks him over the head with a skateboard.

AND THIS IS WHERE IT GETS WEIRD.

The video footage gets static-y and the dude screeches at the kids who clutch their heads in pain, if you freeze the footage at 02:44 you can see one of the boys has started bleeding from his nose and eyes.

The kid filming has it together enough to describe it as "oh fuck! oh GOD, I’m going to hurl. How does my brain fucking hurt?! DAVE! fuck, Dave, get away from him! DAVE!"

Dave is assumed to be the kid with the skateboard who is backhanded so hard he flies what has to be 12ft back.

So, the kids are looking fucked and in danger and then, I kid you not, the Green Power Ranger appears out of nowhere and drop kicks the weird guy into the dirt so hard that there’s a crater left behind.

The Green Ranger takes the time to telekinetically move the downed teen to one of his friends who grabs him and starts dragging him away. The weird guy with the crystal in his chest pulls himself out of the ground and charges the Green Ranger.

What follows is an incredible fight that almost looks choreographed but not in the obvious fake way that Power Rangers usually are.

The Green Ranger and the dude are slugging it out and flipping around and honestly it looks like something out of the Matrix especially when they both seem to float sometimes or move faster than physics says they should. Eventually the guy with the crystal growth in his chest rips a metal pole from the ground and hurls it at the Ranger who stops it with some kind of telekinetic ability and flings it back at the guy even faster causing it to pierce his chest.

This causes the Ranger to hesitate for a moment and that almost costs him since the guy just rips it out of his own chest and attempts to beat the Ranger with it. The Ranger responds by somehow causing the green armour on his arms to morph into a sword which he uses to parry the metal pole. Eventually, the ranger manages to strike the crystal grown which causes the guy to freeze up.

I don’t know what the Green Ranger would have done next because at that moment they're both fired upon by a whole bunch of military dudes who appear from the same tree line that the crystal guy originally came from.

The Green Ranger manages to deflect most of the bullets, somehow, and the ones that hit him just bounce off. The crystal guy isn’t so lucky and goes down hard under a hail of gunfire.

The Green Ranger doesn't stick around and flies away and the camera zooms in and it looks like he meets up with the Red-Haired Magical girl in the air and they both fly away.

The kid filming everything starts running from the soldiers and hides behind a public bathroom building. The last thing recorded is him about to hide the phone in some sort of plumbing drain access.

So, guys... WTF?!
Who are these Power Rangers, really? Who are the Magical Girls? And what on God's green earth was that thing and how were the military involved?



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Chapter Text

Alex did not spend the last month in the world of chronicle laying idle. He was finally going to go to a world he had actually wanted to spend time in since he started this whole adventure. The only reason he hadn’t jumped right into the world of Harry Potter from the get go was because he wasn’t an idiot. The world of Harry Potter was a candied veneer of whimsy over a rotten apple core of racism, torture and violation of the sanctity of self. Rowling had written the books for children but if you read in between the line, if you considered the implications of the various spells, potions and the actions of Death Eaters, then the Wizarding world took on a much darker tone.

This is why Alex had taken up the various powers he had already. The greatest ability that a Jumpchain gave was the Out of Context solution. His half-ghost abilities from Danny Phantom may look like the ghosts of Harry Potter but were based on incredibly different principles. His Ghost King magic from Luigi’s Haunted Mansion gave him a well of magical power that played by different rules than simple wanded spellcasting. Lastly, his foray into the world of chronicle granted him powerful pseudo-wandless abilities that should bypass most, if not all, protections that a magical might set up without already knowing the principle behind his telekinetic abilities.

That did not mean that Alex was completely secure in his ability to achieve anything meaningful within a Harry Potter universe. Depending on the interpretation, the Unforgivables were anything between misused medical spells to the blackest of soul magics. He simply didn’t know how the killing curse would affect someone with a Gem-like body or who was already half-ghost. Magic was, after all, one of the greatest and most unpredictable equalisers in almost all universes.

So, he decided, it was time to actually put some effort in preparing himself and spend the remaining time doing what he could with all of his new cheat abilities. While the world was still enraptured in the actions of their new superpowered idols; Alex travelled and trained.

Some of the training was simple: he spent some more time in the Temple and the Warehouse experimenting with his Ghost King magic. Again, he ran into the same problems he had whenever he tried training with his magic before. Simply put, he didn’t know what he could actually do with it outside of creating Magical Portrait Traps or conjuring large mansions. Yelling out spell names he had found in a variety of books, from Harry Potter to Dungeons and Dragons, had yielded little in the way of positive results. Anything he did achieve with those spells seemed to be unrelated to the spell itself. Calling out ‘Wingardium Leviosa!’ certainly caused the targeted feather to float but the same was achieved when he simply channelled some of the violet magical energies and willed the feather — and any other targeted object — into the air, being able to utilise a magic version of telekinesis to move the items around.

The same was found with many other spells as he found he could use a ghost magic equivalent for conjuration, summoning and banishing. With conjuring being the easiest of those tried. Honestly, the only limit he could find on his new conjuration skills was the ability to conjure a fully sentient entity. Gold, silver, and jewels could be brought into existence as easily as foods, trees and technology. Animals could be willed into being even if they did not follow commands and simply acted like wild animals. People could not be created but corpses, puppets and golems in the shape of people could be. Which was a relief truth be told. Alex was cognisant that he already had enough abilities to create true life and didn’t need another one that could create fully sentient people with a wave of his hand. Conjured items and animals would fade and disappear if he didn’t invest a larger amount of energy into their creation which would result in seemingly permanent conjurations.

Other spell attempts were much more hit and miss. Transfigurations worked only some of the time and most of those times they did work it seemed to be as a result of another affect. He could not transfigure a ball into a bird but he could, somehow, imbue a ball with magic which caused it to grow wings… it was annoyingly inconsistent. Other slightly conceptual spells such as the leg-locker curse or even a stunner simply failed outright, though he did find he could send forth a low-cost blast of destructive magic.

Esoteric spells, however, failed completely. Ghost magic could not summon forth a Patronus even if he could summon a very convincing illusion of one when he kept trying. This led to the discovery of the second easiest ability of ghost magic: a mastery of illusions. Truly, he could create a semblance, image, sound or feel or any object, thing or environment that he could imagine with barely a flicker of will and a spark magical energy. These illusions were, of course, completely insubstantial. But they could certainly be used for distraction and diversion as well as a fantastic way to spread ideas and information.

Alex was only able to discover so much in such a short time through the compounding effects of his various perks. Supernatural Savant made the various magical skills and abilities flow from his fingers with only a little thought and effort. He, near instinctually, knew how to twist and tweak the energies flowing through him to produce the responses he wanted. Compounding that, were his various experience modifiers. By not eating meat for the duration of his training, the time he spent became twenty times more effective due to his Vegetarian perk even if it did make the training ten times more difficult. Except that difficulty was then countered by I Just Do My Best At Everything which allowed him to do his best effort, repeatedly and continuously without accumulating stress or fatigue. Finally, added to that was his Shooting Schedule perk that he got from Morrigan, this let him learn or train at five times the rate he would normally. Together, this mean that his month of training his magical abilities was a combined one hundred times more effective: an equivalence of training for a about eight years!

It was a few days into that training that Alex had a brainwave and jumped his training from ridiculousness to insane. Using his ghost duplication ability, he split himself once, twice and then tree times resulting in eight ghostly duplicate. Each one’s maximum power was halved with each split meaning that each one only contained 12.5% of his total strength which was then reduced to 1.25% of his maximum from the drawback of his Vegetarianism. Given that his ghost powers were based on a character that single handily took over the entire planet and that his Diamond physique was capable of crushing dirt into pure diamond with her bare hands, his drastically underpowered clones were still at peak human ability.

This meant that while one of his duplicates focused on magic another would travel from martial arts studio to martial arts studio picking up tips and tricks and, again due to Vegetarian causing him to be a target for bullying, getting into fights. Fights that he handled easily with Death Dealing Machine of Ultra-Violence and Choreographed Mauling.

Three duplicates spent the month in France, China and Japan, respectively, immersing themselves in the languages and learning at a phenomenal rate. A subjective eight years living and breathing the languages had made Alex near fluent by the time the month was up. They also kept pushing the limits of his new telekinetic abilities in subtle ways, such as maintaining a shield around themselves, keeping cups of tea hot with molecular vibration or stretching their range by shaping distant clouds into fantastic sculptures.

Finally, it was the last three duplicates had the most important task of all. They spent the month relaxing with the girls, lounging around, watching over the magical girls, eating junk, playing video games and napping on the couch. While that would seem counterproductive; it was actually incredible fruitful. It made use of the An Opera in the Kitchen perk which made it so that any time spent on simple, necessary or uneventful tasks counted as if he had used that time to train or study to improve one of his skills or abilities at twice the effectiveness. This meant that those three duplicates were spending a combined equivalence of fifty years of training as they lounged about. The only reason that Alex didn’t just direct every clone to being lazy, couch potatoes was that the resulting training was a diluted blanket increase of all his abilities over time rather than a directed one, contributing piecemeal to skills such as cooking and painting as much as magical combat and psychic ability.

Suffice to say, Alex felt incredibly confident in his current abilities to survive and act in a world where everyone would have fantastic magical power.

Now, on the last night within the Chronicle universe, Alex relaxed with Alex, Lapis, Lyn and Morrigan on the couch as they watched the evening news. Alex, Lapis and Lyn struggled to hide their snickering as Morrigan gaped at the report of two semi-famous bloggers being found within the local zoo’s bear enclosure that morning, dressed in full body bear costumes and suffering extensive blunt force damage to their knees.

“It is unknown how the two, known for their online blog ‘My Un-Bear-able Teenage Daughter’ managed to enter the enclosure nor how they sustained such intensive injuries but preliminary investigation has unearthed that the two’s daughter, and main focus of their blog, has been missing for almost an entire year without such being reported.” An attractive blond reporter explained to the camera as she stood in front of the zoo’s bear exhibit which was cordoned off with police tape.

The scene on the television spit in half with the appearance of a balding man sitting behind a desk with the channel’s news logo acting as his backdrop.

“Stacey, has there been any report as to what might have happened to their daughter?” He asked.

Stacey held a finger to her earpiece, nodding along with only a half second of delay to the male reporters’ words.

“Well, John, we spoke to several neighbours and family friends of the couple who had expressed the likely hood that she had run away. The couples’ blog was thought to have been a light-hearted and staged comedy where the parents pretended to be raising a bear as their own daughter. Yet, after speaking to those who knew them, it seems that the couple may have been deranged enough to actually believe their own daughter was a bear in actuality and much of the humorous videos on the website were in fact hiding a deeper, darker, truth masquerading in plain sight.”

John shook his head with exaggerated sadness. “Truly awful. So far the extent of the truth is unknown but their police have already released a statement that the couple are being charged with Trespass, child endangerment, child neglect and abuse with more charges likely to be given as further investigation of their actions are performed.”
The scene shifted to only John in the studio flanked by another female reporter.
“In other news: magic in the air as the Lion and Snake Zodiac Girls were seen flying over New York City with one young lucky fan getting up close and personal with the superheros when they captured his escaped helium balloon.” John said with a grin as mobile phone footage of Cassidy and Jade of the Twilight Princess Knights spread across the television and pushed his image into a small box on lower left. The footage showed Cassidy snagging a red balloon out of the air and the two flying down to return it to an excitable little boy who was near yanking his mother’s arm off with how much he was jumping around and pointing at the two female heroes.

“I can’t believe you did that.” Morrigan finally said.

Lapis stretched out on the couch and half lay, half fell into Morrigan’s lap, her arms wrapping around the woman’s waist in a hug. Alex, leant against her and threw on arm around her shoulders while Lyn reached across Alex to grip her hand.

“We know that you’ve just spent the Jump away from them but we made a promise to break their legs at the start and we damn well kept it.” Alex said with a grin.

Lyn nodded. “We pulled them out of their beds in the middle of the night and kept unconscious while we moved them. They’ll never be able to connect it back to us or you… well, at least not officially. The bear costumes may have been a bit on the nose.”

Morrigan just gave a chocked laugh and returned the hug. “I’m going to miss you guys.”

Lapis nodded. “We’ll miss you too.”

“You can still come along.” Alex said.

Morrigan shook her head. “No, this is for the best. I’ll see you all again in a decade or so.”

Lyn crawled over Alex so she could kiss the teary eyes ex-ghost. “Then we better make the most of tonight.”

Alex appeared in the stary void between realities only to immediately be wrapped up in a tight hug by a squealing Seraphina.

“Thankyou! Thankyou! Thankyou!” The fae being squealed as she peppered Alex with kisses.

Alex held the incredibly powerful being carefully and respectfully but still enjoyed the experience. “Umm… you’re welcome. But what did I do?”

Seraphina nimbly stepped back and out of his arms yet still excitedly bounced on the balls of her feet. “A full genre shift from canonical variance!”

Alex frowned in confusion. “Is this about the magical girls?”

Seraphina nodded and spun around, conjuring a pair of couches with a snap of her fingers. She proceeded to fall backwards into one of the couches with a satisfying thwomp and pulled out her little red-leather bound book.

“You remember how I explained the various worlds reacting to each other as ripples, right?”

Alex nodded. “Each word was the epicentre of a ripple of variations spreading outward and something about the imagination of those within those realities creating new ripples or something.”

Seraphina nodded emphatically as she flipped through the small book. “Yep! That’s it… well, no, that’s a vastly simplified version of what really happens but that is what I explained.”

She smiled as she found whatever she was looking for and with a flick of her fingers on the page a holographic image of a multiple circular ripples of light, like a video of rain drops on a still pond appeared between them.

“So this,” Seraphina pointed to a slowly spreading circle in the bottom right, “represent the world of Chronicle.”

“Ok.” Alex nodded as he watched the various ripples of light that spread and merged and bounced around but he focused on the ripple Seraphina pointed to.

“There! Did you see it?” Seraphina asked excitedly.

Alex squinted. “Can you replay it and zoom in?”

“Sure.” Seraphine swished her fingers through the display and the image zoomed in and replayed.

This time Alex could see as the line of light which was the ripple seemed to shiver and split and as the ripple collided — though at this resolution he could see that the lines didn’t actually touch — with another ripple he could see that the split line collapsed into itself becoming a small ball of light that bounced between the ripples before flying away at great speed.

Seraphina twitched her fingers and the image replayed but this time followed the ball as it pinged between multiple realities before stopping in an empty area and then spreading outward as a new ripple of reality.

“You created a variant reality different enough that it wasn’t caught within the drift of canon and was thrown out at the next thematic merger.” Seraphina explained.
“And that’s good?” Alex asked.

“Of course, it’s good!” Seraphina exclaimed. “That right there is something that never existed before.”

“But isn’t that how it works? The realities collide and make new splashes?”

Seraphina nodded. “Yes, but that process takes time and a lot if collective imagination from the inhabitants. This,” Seraphina jabbed a finger at the new spreading ripple, “took a fraction of the energy needed.”

Understanding dawned on Alex. “This is why you create jumpers.”

Seraphina grinned. “It’s not the entire reason but it is a happy coincidence.”

“So, you want me to keep making big changes?”

Seraphina sighed and shook her head. “No. Like I said ‘it’s a happy coincidence,’ don’t be afraid to change things, in fact I still encourage you too, but that isn’t your purpose.”

“I’m confused. Why tell me at all then?” Alex asked.

“Because it’s still pretty cool, this is the first new thematic shift I’ve had a hand in. I got a big bonus for that.” Seraphina smiled.

“So, what is my purpose?” Alex asked.

Seraphina just gave him a wooden smile and mimed zipping her lips.
“Right, I’m guessing you can’t tell me.”

Her only reply was to keep the smile.

Alex heaved an aggravated sigh. “Alright! Onto the next world selection then.”
Seraphin’s smile morphed into a natural grin. “Have you already decided?”

Alex nodded. “Yeah. I’m going to get me a Hermione. But first I want to see the list of Gauntlets again.”

“Finally going to a Harry Potter world then?” Seraphina brought up the list of gauntlets with a wave of her hand.

“Yeah. But I want to do a gauntlet first. They’re generally quick and are therefore like free perks… assuming I don’t pick something stupid.”

Seraphina paused to think while Alex browsed through the list. “Have you looked at ‘It’s a Game Hermione, enjoy’ it’s got some really nice rewards.”

Alex sighed. “Yeah, I was really tempted by that one but it’s a lot of effort to complete. Like, a subjective twenty-one years stuck as canon characters without my other abilities.”

“True, but it does have Hermione.”

“Yeah, but isn’t it insane cannibal Hermione?” Alex asked.

“Umm… yeah, like sixty percent of the time.”

“I rest my case.”

“So, what did you chose then?”

“A lot of these I just don’t know enough about to easily try but I’ve played ‘Superhot’ before and finished it only a day or so.”

Seraphina brought up the referred to Gauntlet. “This is the stick-figure first-person shooter where time only moves when you do, right?”

Alex nodded. “It’s got a built-in bullet-time perk that I’m thinking will be great if, or more likely when, I get into a spell slinging battle in Harry Potter.”

“That’s a pretty good effect to keep.” Seraphina nodded. “Want me to bring up the girls to watch?”

“Sure.” Alex said as he went over his choices.

“Seraphina!” Lyn cried out as she leapt at the jump-chan.

Seraphina caught the exuberant girl in a hug as Lapis looked on with an exasperated smile.

Alex smiled then studiously tried to ignore the girls to concentrate on making the right selection. Gauntlets only gave points through drawbacks and he had to maximise his advantages. Though the perks he most wanted were actually free. He did half listen to Seraphina explaining the peculiars of Morrigan’s choice to remain behind with an increased time differential between Chronicle and where-ever he went next. Approximately three years would pass in chronicle for every one he spends elsewhere though it could stretch out to four years depending on the thematic drift that might occur in that time. He did zone out once Seraphina started explaining thematic drift and replayed the whole presentation he got before for the girls arrived.

Twenty minutes later he had presented his choices to Seraphina.

Alexander Blake

Superhot Gauntlet.

0CP (+200)

Origin: Bodymod 21yo

Perks:

basic.core [Free]

SUPERHOT.core [Free]

killer.hack [150]

Items:

VR Headset & PC [Free]

Republika [Free]

Trash.hack [25]

Drawbacks

Encore [+200]

“You still have twenty-five CP left over.” Seraphina mentioned as she looked over Alex’s choices.

“Yeah, but there’s nothing I can afford with only twenty-five CP and nothing I want enough to take more drawbacks or to do any of the challenges.”

“Not even the FULLSTOP challenge that will make SUPERHOT mode completely time stopped?” Lyn piped in as she peeked over Alex’s shoulder to see.

Alex shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong. I would take it but I only get five lives in this gauntlet and would rather take what I can get than risk coming out with nothing.”

“Well, if you’re ready I’ll send you in.” Seraphina said.

Alex nodded.

SUPERHOT

/SUPERHOT

//SUPERHOT

Alex groaned internally as he stared at the green text on the black screen in front of him and tried not to throw up.

Despite not taking the drawback that made him incompatible with the VR systems within the world that SUPERHOT takes place in, the motion-sickness that had always plagued him when he played FPS games remained.

Rubbing his eyes Alex opened the message he had received from the SYSTEM and replied with the usual drivel about how he’ll never reload the SUPERHOT.EXE file again. He then immediately ran the program to dive back into the ‘game.’

SUPERHOT was… interesting. Alex remembered his first playthrough in his original life and had to say that playing as himself with drastically increased speed from his bodymod made the levels much easier to complete without any deaths compared to playing on a computer. For one, peripheral vision made it that much harder for one of the red guys to sneak up on him. It also reduced the amount of motion wasted looking around in SUPERHOT mode.

The creeping sensation of the SYSTEM trying to brainwash him into a compliant mind-jumping killer was more annoying in person but at the same time was a lot easier to ignore than he expected.

When playing the game in his original life the brainwashing was just a gimmick of the story. If he was actually a person of this world then the overshadowing presence watching him and treating him like a dog to be trained would be terrifying. It would chip away at his identity with constant stress and paranoia.

Yet, Alex knew he was a Jumper and that this was gauntlet based off of a video game. He knew that only real stakes involved was the time and effort he was putting into the gauntlet to get the desired perks. Deaths in gauntlets, by design, did not count as the end of the Jumpchain and Alex was fairly certain that any Pavlovian responses that triggered the need to kill red mannequins would either be removed by Seraphina or mitigated by the psyche of his Gem form. As such the SYSTEM’s threats and commanding attitude could be ignored or placated much as one would follow the commands of a bossy child. That is: with either disregard or amusement.

SUPERHOT

/SUPERHOT

//SUPERHOT

He lied. This game was not fucking easy!

Fuck! Duck! FUCK!

Alex slowly eased himself out of the path of a shotgun blast and behind a conveniently office photocopier and took the time to pick up a glass bottle. Peeking around the corner he accessed the situation. Three Reds. One with a shotgun, one with a rifle and the last running towards a… golfclub? Fuck, ok never mind. He had about four seconds before he could HOTBOD into an enemy and he only had the glass bottle in hand and a fire extinguisher on the wall across the hall. The Rifle Red was already lining up a shot on his head as he peeked around the photocopier.

He ducked back out of the way as four rifle rounds slowly moved through the area of space where his head had been and the space his shoulders and chest would have been if he moved completely out into the hall.

This was the second last level of the original game and Alex had already died two times. Once in this level and once in the level prior. Seriously, how the fuck was he supposed to see the RED with the shotgun!?

Alex timed his move when he knew the rifle Red wouldn’t be able to fire again. He used the fantastic ability to crouch that no one else seemed to be able to grasp and rolled into the hall. Immediately, he threw the bottle he was holding at the rifle Red as a cluster of shotgun pellets eased overhead. Coming up from his roll, he lifted the fire extinguisher off the wall and tossed it at the shotgun Red knowing the red fucker would likely get another shot off before it reached him but hopefully the large extinguisher would take most of the blast.

He felt it as HOTBOD became available and quickly zeroed in on the rifle Red who had flinched from the thrown bottle and released his hold on his rifle at the same time.
Keikaku Doori. It means ‘according to plan’.

Alex HOTBOD swapped with the flinching red and took control of his body which allowed him snag the rifle out of the air and fire on the shotgun Red, twisting as he did so that four bullets fired were aimed at his head and then at the space immediately to the right were the Red might have moved if he read his body language wrong.

He needn’t have worried as the headshot struck true and shattered the Red.
Alex spun to relocate the Red who had been running to the golfclub. The Red hadn’t made it yet but would by the time the rifle was ready to fire again. Alex took a moment to breath and carefully aimed the rifle not at where the Red was but where he was going to be. As soon as the rifle was ready to fire, he pulled the trigger allowing for the semi-automatic fire to carve a path of death between the Red and his goal and using the last of the rifle’s ammo.

Alex couldn’t take the time to see if his shots hit true as he was certain more Reds would be coming down the hall at any moment and he was NOT going to be caught in this death funnel if he could help it.

Throwing the now empty rifle at the doorway through more Reds would likely come through he then edged to the side and kicked the fallen shotgun into his hands. A strange sound and the red glow from behind his left shoulder let him know that more Reds were already porting in, meaning that he certainly hit the golfclub Red and had pointlessly thrown the rifle into what was likely an empty room…. Well, hopefully empty.

Alex dove for the doorway as he heard the distorted sound of gunfire from behind. Rifle rounds streamed pass in his periphery as he rolled to the side while taking in the room proper.

It appeared to be a fairly nice modern office. Large desk with a variety of breakable nick-nacks, a comfy chair and a large glass window. Most important though was the computer terminal sitting on the desk.

The game was not exactly like the game he had played in his original life. Much of the plot was exactly the same and some of the ‘levels’ were incredibly similar except there were differences. Take this level for example.

In the original, the second last level was hardly even a level at all. It was just a long empty hallway which lead to the CORE:ROOM. It was a level that added to the ambiance and sense of lost identity which was part of the games theme.

Now? Now, it was a long hallway with various rooms and offices off shooting through which he had to explore to get a USB stick from a certain computer which would act as the passkey to enter the CORE:ROOM.

Alex knew that it was part of making the Gauntlet more ‘real,’ as this technically wasn’t a game even if it conformed to game-like dynamics at time. But it was definitely annoying given that he hadn’t been expecting a prolonged battle in tight quarters.

Alex grabbed the needed USB and positioned himself to use the desk as cover against any Reds that appeared in the doorway. This wasn’t a speed run and he was quite happy to camp if needed.

SUPERHOT

/SUPERHOT

//SUPERHOT

Dual-wielding was freaking awesome!

HOTBOD’ing from head to head at the end of the original game had been satisfying but the fast-paced action of the VR levels was exhilarating even if it was dangerous.
Semi-automatic in one hand, combat knife in the other and a shit-eating grin on his face as he sliced bullets out of the air with a knife while opening up with a stream of automatic SMG fire on the tide of Reds that were coming at him.

This was his last life and every moment had his heart pounding as adrenaline coursed through his veins as he ducked, dove, dodged and fruit-ninja’ed his way through the onslaught of Red gunfire. Eventually though, the last Red shattered into fragments of… well, he wasn’t sure. Psyche? Maybe? Either the graphics were representative of cognitive state or they just covered up the gruesomeness of the bloodbath that this would actually be. Anyway.

The BLACKYRAMID was destroyed and Alex was finally free… free to die.
Seriously? If this is a trick that was going to lose him the last life he had in this gauntlet then Alex was going to be incredibly pissed.

Like, talk about morbid interpretations of free will.

Yet, despite completing the missions, destroying the pyramid and supposedly freeing his sense of self-determination; his reward was the freedom of a bullet between the eyes.

“This is what I get for not playing the VR levels before doing the gauntlet.” Alex grumbled as he put the cold barrel of the gun against the side of his temple and closed his eyes.

Alex was engulfed in three sets of arms as Alice, Lapis and Lyn all piled upon him each hugging him fiercely.

“That ending sucked.” Lyn grumbled into his chest.

He could feel Alice nodding into his side and Lapis actually growling in agreement.

“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that.” Alex agreed.

Already he could feel he various alt-forms expanding his psyche and rationalising his experience. He could feel his Gem mind letting the stress of the gauntlet be washed away in the depths of eons of experience and he could feel his Well Cared For perk and his ghostly regenerative healing at work to repair his mind. It was part of his body after all.

“Congratulations on completing the gauntlet.” Seraphina said from where she stood to the side allowing them their privacy, as much as could be expected at least.

“Thanks.” Alex replied. “That was more intense than I expected.”

“Still, you did complete the Gauntlet and thus reap the rewards. SUPERHOT mode has been added to your bodymod along with the improvement to your strength, reflexes and situational awareness.”

“That’s what I wanted.” Alex grinned.

Seraphina looked over the jumpdoc. “There’s a note about cooldowns on the SUPERHOT ability but it doesn’t match the rest of the doc so I’m going to ignore it. That said, the ability does not have an overly advanced computer system taking on the strain of its use. With your Gem alt-form you should be fine for at least ten to twenty minutes of continuous use but will likely need at least an hour rest if you push it that far.”

Alex nodded. Seeing as most fights with the use of SUPERHOT mode only lasted three minutes at most, it made sense that there was some kind of strain for extended use. He didn’t foresee there being many situations where he needed that much time to think in the middle of battle.

“You also get an armoury and infinite ammo added to your warehouse as well as an Endless Arena where you can practice SUPERHOT mode without worrying about the stain. The arena will take up the roll of the SYSTEM.”

“Sweet.”

Seraphina grinned then frowned seriously. “Take your time with the girls and then go through your next jump options. They really didn’t like seeing you shoot yourself in the head.”

Alex hugged the girls closer and nodded at Seraphina who faded from view leaving Alex alone with the girls and some comfy couches.

Alex dragged the still clinging girls to the couch and pulled them all down into a hug-pile deciding to comfort them before they selected their next Jump.

Seraphina returned a few hours later once the group had settled and started discussing their options.

“Have you decided on the jump?” Seraphina queried.

“I was thinking of doing the Generic Harry Potter Fanfiction and going to Harry Potter and the Rune Stone Path but I have a few questions.”

“Alright, hit me.”

“If I take the Jumper Who Lived scenario I can choose to substitute into Harry, right?” Alex asked.

Seraphina nodded. “You can either substitute into Harry or I can create a new character that becomes the Boy-Who-Lived meaning that harry just becomes a normal person.”

“If I become Harry, do I get his innate abilities?”

“Yep. But you also get his innate drawbacks without the CP reward.”

Alex narrowed his eyes. “But they’re not fiat backed right?”

Seraphina laughed and shook her head. “No, any innate drawbacks are just circumstantial, they won’t be enforced if you can mitigate them. That, of course, is negated if you actually take the drawbacks though.”

Alex nodded. That was fair.

Lyn raised her hand. “If Alex can substitute into Harry for the scenario, can we substitute into other characters?”

Seraphina pulled out her little red book and flicked a few pages in. “Hmm… that should be easily doable. You will get all their memories even if you pick the drop-in origin, though.”

Alex tilted his head at Lyn. “What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking it would be easier to interact with other characters if we were certain cannon characters. I was hoping to insert as Ginny so I could spend some time with Luna before we arrive at Hogwarts in your second year.”

“That could work. That way she’ll definitely have a friend before Hogwarts starts.”

Alex turned back to Seraphina. “Speaking of them as companions, how does our method of sharing abilities work with Merlin Reborn?”

“You mean your needlessly complicated method of having Alice give birth to mindless spirits containing an inherited version of your perks and abilities?”

“Yeah, that.” Alex deadpanned.

“Hmm…” Seraphina thought for a moment. “It should work at least if you purchased Merlin Reborn; giving another a copy of Merlin Reborn won’t work as well as having Merlin Reborn and receiving a copy of the other perks but it will still provide some form of boost.”

“Right.” Alex said and flicked through the jumpdoc making a few changes.

“Any other questions?” Seraphina asked.

“How much railroading will there be?” Lapis asked.

“If you make changes then those changes will stick but there will be some minor fate-based situations.” Seraphina said, then went on to clarify at their look of confusion. “I’m saying that things like the Weasley’s winning the Prophet’s lottery will happen unless you actively take steps to change it. The Triwizard Cup will happen with the same tasks unless you actively push for change. Things like that.”

Alex nodded. “That’s probably better than unrestricted butterfly effects. It will allow us to make plans.”

“Don’t rely on it too much though.” Seraphina warned. “Your actions will still have consequences and people will treat you differently depending on how you act around them, just that choices that others make are likely to follow the same patterns.”

The four of them nodded that they understood.

“So, have you made your choices then?”

Alex looked at the others. “Ten more minutes, I think.”