Dedicated to @Kronshi
We will all be missing you till your return Chromite took note of several other gems arriving alongside her and Candice.
"Glad you could make it, Commander." she said.
"These corrupted gems appear to be especially powerful, I could use your help." She blocked a few more attacks from one of them and pulled out her lance.
"You didn't think I'd let you have all the fun, did you?" Bloodstone retorted.
"What do you say we give them the thunder and lightning treatment like old times?"Chromite gave a contented smile and nodded. She began to loudly bang on her shield to attract the attention of the disgusting lizard. She tried to lead it away from Bloodstone so he could get a clear shot at it.
Hessonite and Pyrite were right on Aqua's tail, following her diligently in hopes of communicating with Bloodstone.
Candice looked at the other gems as they appeared and Chromite spoke to BloodStone. She saw that Mars was indeed with the rest of the group, and she shot a brief discreet glare at BloodStone and Aquamarine. She was about to call to Mars and tell them to get out of there, but she couldn't as another attack headed her way, and she fired back. She took her chance after the attacks and called "Mars! Run!" Just as she dodged another attack, she felt something ram into her chest and she yelped as she was thrown backwards. She didn't show that she was affected, and she quickly got back up.
Mars, having arrived at the scene shortly before the rest, had been grappling with one of the corrupted gems(the green one), still in his feline form. The two were rolling around in a chaotic tumble, clawing and biting at each other with a savage ferocity. The corrupted gem suddenly pushed Mars off of it with its back legs, clawing up his belly a bit as it did so. The transformed gem was sent flying a short distance before it hit the ground hard, rolling for a bit before he slid to a halt, a growl still emanating from his throat as he shifted back into his gem form.
Raising up his hand, he summoned six medium-sized chakrams, imbuing them with his energy to cause them to fly around him in a swarm of razor sharp fury as he rushed back into battle, ignoring Candice's command as he launched 3 of his chakrams at the cluster to keep it off of Candice, while he focused on the green gem. However, try as he might, the corrupted gem was able to dodge a majority of his attacks, all the while landing a few of it's own, striking at him when an opening formed in his swarm and sending him flying back. Each hit had a noticeable effect on him, but he continued to charge forward, trying again and again to bring down the beast. While he did this, the chakrams he'd thrown at the cluster would surround Candice, obviously meant to protect her, though the focus it must take to keep up this defense and deal with the corrupted gem was obviously taking it's toll on Mars ability to fight effectively.
Aqumarine had her own problems once she had arrived on the scene of battle since one of the corrupted gems decided to block her path to the others. It's plasma like wings stretched out as it shrieked angrily while spitting the same plasma like substance in her direction making her roll back to dodge it, her hand quickly pulling her weapon as she did. The ground sizzled, the substance melting into it at a quick pace causing a frown to form on her features. There was no way she would be able to use small ice attacks against this creature which meant she was much more limited than she had been prepared for. The creature sprinted forward, looking ready to run directly into her but instead used the momentum to slide around and whip its tail harshly into Aqua. She ended up roughly slamming and rolling across the ground, a growl softly leaving her lips at the mark left behind from the beast as the wound steamed and the plasma stuck to her form. She stood up, wiping the goo off and ignoring the wound it created on her hand by doing so and looked up in determination.
She picked up her foot, smashing it to the ground as ice shot out around her and the creature, thick spikes up ice stabbing upward at the creature causing it to jump up into flight. Aqua had been ready for just that reaction and tossed her weapon at the corrupted gem, stabbing it into the creatures leg which caused it to howl in pain before soaring higher. She tried to pull on the chain, hoping to keep the creature in place but it had too stronge of a force and dragged her off the ground slightly before the ice crawled up to grip her. It wouldn't help hold the creature but it did save her from an unexpected ride as she had to let go of the chain.
Aquamarine took the free second to check on the others, able to finally see what was going on at least before the corrupted gem came back with a vengeance. She noted that Bloodstone and Chromite had teamed up against what she could only assume was this 'Cluster' since she had never seen a corrupted like that before. It looked almost like a lizard made of tar but a chill ran down her spine at all the different eyes peering out of the body of the thing. The eyes seemed fimilar though she wasn't sure why but something was extremely wrong with it...it was definitely different that was for sure. She shook her head, wanting to get her mind off the thing and turned her attention away from the capable pair since she was more worried about the others on the field. Candice seemed strong but she was still a human which made Aqua worry since their bodies were fragile in comparison to their own. Mars would feel pain at the loss of the girl and all it would take was a well placed hit, no matter how skilled she was. Humans were much easier to lose...even without injuries. For now, it seemed like she was holding her own and Mars's weapons circled carefully in a type of barrier but Mars seemed to be in more of a pickle. The Lion's attacks seemed to be hitting more often than not which she could only guess was because of his protection of the girl. The focus he would need might be too much for him to handle while fighting since it was a new experience to try without the proper training to do so. The ice around her feet crumbled as she moved to jump down and headed in Mars's direction with a plan. He might not agree to such a plan but it seemed the most logical in giving him a boost to help Candice and it would also keep him more protected which seemed like a win win. It would also make it so she didn't have to worry over two but just one if he agreed to what she was going to offer.
The Lion moved to attack Mars again but Aqua quickly threw up a wall of ice around the creature though with its level of power, it wouldn't take too long for it to break through. They only had a short amount of time to discuss this since the two corrupted gems would be back into play soon and an even shorter time to make it happen. She looked over at Bloodstone but a moment, longing to do as she was about to suggest with him but he would probably never want to at least not with her or it felt that way. If they were to than this would seem like child's play but right now she needed to put Bloodstone from her mind as she focused on Mars. This would protect him and Candice as well as give enough power to equal or beat the corrupted gem.
"Mars..." she started softly before holding out her hand,
"Please fuse with me. Together we would be strong enough to defeat this corrupted gem and also protect Candice."Mars' battle with the corrupted gem was suddenly interrupted as a wall of ice rose up between them, giving Mars some time to breathe. Falling to his knees, Mars could help but feel completely useless in this fight, and as his uncovered eye turned to Candice's position, he felt it increase even more so. How could he protect her from that if he couldn't even hold of this smaller one.
His self-deprecation was cut short, however, as Aquamarine came over to him and asking him to . . . 'fuse'. The word brought up memories, fractured and hazy, but filled with a sense of awe, wonder. . . and power. He didn't understand exactly what was being asked of him, but he knew that it would make him stronger, perhaps even strong enough to fight the Cluster. With only a second of hesitation, he reached out to take Aqua's hand, rising above her and letting her lead him in a dance. Her movements were elegant yet serene, fluid like the waters of a river. In contrast, Mars matched her step for step, only everything about him was more aggresive and energized. Heat and Cold, Fire and Ice, the two would seem to both clash and meld as their gems began to glow.
Mars felt his body and mind fade away, transforming into formless energy as their gem forms circled each other. Memories, feelings, fears, secrets, everything about them was open to the other, and while Mars had little to offer due to his youth, Aqua was a veritable ocean of experiences, wrapping him up in a complex web of emotions that he could barely understand. He lost grip on himself, falling into the azure depths of their shared mind, a burning ember of gold amidst the sea. Soon, he couldn't distinguish the difference between his thoughts or hers. He was simply a part of a greater whole, and as the fusion neared completion, a process that had felt like hours but had only been minutes, two eyes opened to witness an entirely different world.
"I . . . I never knew the world could look like this . . ." The Mars half of the newly-born fusion said in awe as she rose from the ground, seeing it in color for the first time. The battle seemed far off as they looked at themselves in the mirror-like surface of the ice, only for cracks to start appearing on its surface. The beast on the other side was demanding their attention.
Meanwhile, the Chakrams around Candice had changed, turning into rings surrounded by glowing light blue energy, striking at the Cluster more efficiently than before and causing small bits of ice to form on impact.
Meanwhile the cluster snapped at Chromite, hitting her shield with a loud clanging sound. She bashed her shield against its face, hoping to keep it distracted. Bloodstone jumped on top of its back and began slashing at the nape of its neck. The beast became frenzied and violently tried to shake Bloodstone off of its back. While this was happening, Chromite took the opportunity to thrust her spear into the underside of its neck while Bloodstone delivered a final blow to its head before he could be knocked off. The giant lizard disappeared in a cloud of smoke and shattered gems littered the ground. Bloodstone bent down to start picking up some of the shattered gems and gestured for Chromite to do the same, leaving the others to take care of the corrupted gems for the time being.
"That was the first decent challenge I've had in a while." Blodstone looked surprisingly at ease, happy for the chance to finally flex his muscles again.
"I knew you still had it in you, Chromite." he laughed. Chromite smirked, unusually for her, and said
"Who told you I ever lost it, Commander? Not me." Bloodstone smiled back and said
"Set your shield on the ground, I have an idea that will save us some trouble." Chromite did as Bloodstone said, and he started piling gem shards into it.
Hessonite and Pyrite looked to one another, sharing a brief glance with one another before joining arms and spinning about. Their bodies glew a magnificent white, the two forms joining into one larger form, twice the size of them at least. The new form was a similar yellow to Pyrite, her ears pointed and her hair just as wild to match. Three diamonds decorated the front of her sleeveless shirt. She had strapped arm warmers that went all the way from her biceps to her wrists, leaving only her shoulders exposed. Her thigh-high boots had small diamonds on them as well, the bottom of her boots plain and sock-like.
A devilish smirk appeared across her face as she stretched.
"Ah, It's good to be back." Her eyes rolled ever so slightly.
"Not where and when I wanted, but a fight is a fight."Candice was caught by surprise by the sudden appearance of the chakrams at first, but she kept on fighting, and she kept an eye on Mars as she continued fighitng. There were a few close calls where the monster almost got Mars, but she managed to fire a bullet at the corrupted gem to make it recoil away from Mars during those two or three times. She wasn't going to let Mars get hurt, not while she was around. As she fought, she noticed that the chakrams would attack the cluster if it got too close to her, and she tried to use that to her advantage, despite that the attacks alone weren't very effective (such as trying to get in a position where the chakram could hit a weak spot).
She stopped when a wall of ice surrounded Mars, blocking the lion from him. She looked for a moment to see that Aquamarine was responsible, and she had a hand extended to Mars, which he accepted. She blinked to see that they were dancing. At first, she would've asked if this was really the time with incredulity, but then she remembered what she saw through the hidden cameras...Mars was fusing with Aquamarine!
Sure enough, Mars formed into nothing more than light, and melded with Aquamarine as she became light as well. Soon another figure stood in their place, and Candice could see the figure had two gems, one on the chest, and the other on the wrist. Her attention was drawn to the lion and the fact that the chakrams had turned into rings that glowed light blue. Noticing that the rings had improved in attack, she called out to the lion gem in order to give the fusion a bit more time, "Hey! Over here, you overgrown house cat!"
The insult seemed to get the corrupted gem's attention (apparently it had a sense of pride). She prepared herself for the attack as the lion lowered itself and prepared to pounce on her. She raised her gun and fired at the lion before she moved out of the way and allowed the rings to hit the lion.
Ma-no,their name was Larimar, turned to face the beast, only to see that it had turned it's attention towards Candice. This filled them with a protective anger as they haled out their hand, bringing forth Aquamarine's spear, only for it to shift and alter as they summoned a brace of chakrams to mesh with the spearheads, mixing and melding together until something entirely different was formed, a large staff with rings set on the top that rang ever so softly as they moved it. Larimar didn't spend much time on it however, as they moved forward to face the corrupted gem that was assaulting Candice, a cold look in their eye as they surged forward, who was tripped up by the glowing rings that were now protecting Candice.
The rings seemed to not have as much effect as on the Cluster, the protruding crystals on its body blocking it from most of the damage. This made the lion continue on its current path, sprinting forward instead of pouncing at the insutling human in its wake. It would have made contact if not for the multitude of rings slamming down before it and to the side making the creature have to jump out of the way. Its eyes narrowing in on the one that had dared to attack it and get in the middle of its prey. A tall slender woman with long flowing snow colored locks was what came into its view, her weapon held beside her as rings glowed at the top of her weapon before becoming solid once more. The corrupted gem let out a loud roar, frustration obvious as yet another new enemy had appeared to stop them. It pounced at Larimar, swiping once it was near only to have her gracefully jump out of the way of its razor sharp claws. The creature bared its fangs, the crystals on its back growing in size as if it would on an angered cat if it was fur. It swiped once more before quickly moving in for a bite out of this annoying thing before it but it didn't bite down on anything soft or satisfying. No, in its mouth were sharp edges, the woman's weapon now lodged in the lion's mouth and pushing so to force the lion at a greater distance before removing the item.
The lion turned, dashing back at Candice instead of facing Larimar but it wasn't as enough as rings slammed against the creatures feet, the ice tripping the creature up since it had no protection there. The lion snarled trying to pick itself back up from the ground slowly as it realized that there was no way around not fighting the blue enemy.With a subtle grace, they swung their weapon in a swift yet calm motion, and while the action itself was almost gentle, the resulting action was anything but, as a large bulwark of ice rose up from the ground, smacking the beast into the air with a solid smack. Almost as if they were in a trance of some sorts, Larimar began to manipulate the ice around her, having it remain frozen yet move around her as fluidly as water. Set in a hypnotic dance she transformed it into a sharp spike and sent it hurtling towards the airborne figure, but it was quick to twist out of the way at the last second, landing on the icy spire before leaping off, letting out a growl of vengeance as it did so.
The tall warrior showed not a hint of fear at the creatures attack, however, thrusting out her Shakujo, the rings spinning rapidly before phasing off the weapon to slice through the air, bringing with them the same sound of gentle ringing. The monster tried to move out of their way, but they came back around and began to relentlessly batter the creature, slowly covering it in ice and bruises before it finally crashed into the ground, barely able to move as it was covered in a thick layer of ice. Raising the Shakujo, Larimar seemed to pray for the creature, shaking her staff to send signal it's passing, before bringing the but of the weapon down on them, causing the corrupted gem to quickly poof, leaving only their gem to fall to the ground. Larimar winced at having to stab the lion but they wanted this to be over with so that Candice would be safe and that is what filled them with the determination to poof the adorable corrupted gem.Reaching down, Larimar calmly bubbled the fragile stone, giving it a small kiss before sending it on it's way to the temple where it could be protected. Once that was taken care of, the tall gem turned her eyes to Candice, walking towards the human with a slight sway in her gait. She let go of her Shakujo, letting it deconstructed into nothing but a small, fading cloud of floating light particles, flaring brightly before flickering out, once more accompanied by the calming sound of ringing bells though Larimar paid little attention to that.
They walked slowly over to the other, long snow hair swaying back and forth as she did. She didn't say a word until she was right before Candice, she simply bent down a little to look her in the eye, giving a slightly coy smile as she notice a hair of hers was out of place. Her hand moving out to slowly push a strand of hair behind the girl's ear having her finger slowly trail down Candice's face in a caring, yet playful manner as it made it's way to her chin, raising it up a little as she stood up but they couldn't resist moving the hand back up to rest on Candice's cheek softly as if almost cupping it.
"Are you alright?" she asked,her voice having a deep, maternal cadence to it, a sure sign of Aquamarine's major influence, yet there was also a clear hint of Mars' playful energy there as well. A light smile was set on her lips but worry in her eyes as she awaited Candice's answer with bated breath.
Candice braced herself for the blow from the lion, but instead of feeling hit and being pinned to the ground, a multitude of rings smacked into the lion and made it jump away from her. Candice watched a bit as the lion and the fusion of Mars and Aquamarine fought the lion, the fusion seemed to overpower the lion with ease. Candice gasped lightly as the lion turned to face her and charged at her. Before she could even think of dodging, the lion was hit and it poofed after the last attack from the fusion.
She looked to the fusion as she dismissed the weapon in a flash of light and she started walking towards her. Candice prepared herself for anything, as she didn't know how this fusion was going to act.
Unfortunately, nothing could prepare her for the affection and concern the fusion showed for her.
Her face turned red as the fusion pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and rested her hand on Candice's cheek. She answered the fusion, trying to keep her composure "Er, I-I'm fi-fine!" Her mind reeled with the fact that this fusion was acting in this manner. She wanted to ask so many questions about what happened to Mars and Aqua, and about the fusion. However she snapped out of this dizzying state as soon as a loud screech echoed and she looked to the corrupted gem that was left with a slight gasp.
A loud screeched filled the air, the long forgotten corrupted gem returning to where it had been injured. It came down quickly, grabbing the first one it saw with is claws before taking back off just as fast as it had come. The unfortunate Chalcopyrite being the creatures' victim as it head towards the town where everyone and the young gems were.
Blood looked up at the creature took off, making plans to go after it until he saw the direction in which it was heading.The young gems would need to be warned and Aquamarine wouldn't have her earpiece anymore because of the fusion. He felt a slight tinge of panic, worrying for the gems since he could care less about the humans there unless maybe it were Reggie.
He touched the communicator, trying to send a full out message to all of them and praying they got it.
"Everyone! Listen to me! A corrupted gem has gotten past us and is headed your way fast! Be prepared to fight or get out of there! We are on our way but hold it off for as long as possible. I repeat, it is headed for town!" he said, knowing the reply would be static for most but there was nothing to be done about that. It wasn't looking good that was for sure.
