It's Becoming Crystal Clear (Jasper x Reader)

Chapter 19: The Storm

Warning: Extreme violence (not graphically described)

You threw on a coat and shoes.

“I'm coming with you,” Jasper said, giving your hand a squeeze. You had to hold firmly to the door to keep it from being blown off its hinges when you opened it. Holding a flashlight out in front of you, you tiptoed in the direction of the crash. The wind was swift and angry. Rain fell in great sheets that made it difficult to see. Thunder boomed with deafening intensity, while lightning like gnarled branches streaked through the sky.

“Hello?” you called anxiously. There was no response. Reaching the craft, you tapped lightly on the bubble of the cockpit with your flashlight.

“Here,” Jasper said, “stand back and I'll try to open it.” There was a cloud of noxious gas when she forced it open. “Stay back,” she warned, “that looks pretty poisonous.”

When the smoke finally cleared, you approached and looked inside.

“What's this?” you asked, indicating a crystalline device shaped like a pyramid sitting in the pilot’s seat.

“It's a holographic message unit,” she explained, lifting it and tapping one of its sides before setting it on the ground. A hologram of a familiar possessed man appeared above it.

“Heya friends!” he said. “If you're watching this, I guess you haven't been to Cap’n Fishstick’s Family Frigate in a while. Too bad, you missed out on some great deals. Either that, or you went there but got the better of me. Regardless, I'm not making any mistakes this time. If you look in back, you'll notice I've sent a special delivery, courtesy of Homeworld. Believe me, I had to pull a lot of strings to get these. Go on, don't be shy. After all, it'll only be a few minutes before the pods release automatically.”

With a flicker of static, the recording ended. The two of you exchanged anxious glances as you climbed into the small vessel, making your way to the back. There were two featureless cylinders a little taller than you standing in the middle of the floor. They looked like what the cluster experiments had emerged from. Only no; on closer inspection, they weren't completely featureless. Each had a single small, round window at face level. Jasper approached one and leaned down to look in. There was a light source built into the top, illuminating the thick green smoke that obscured the cylinder’s contents. It reminded you of the gas that had been filling the ship earlier.

“What did he put in these - AAAAAAAH!” she screamed, stumbling backwards. A hideous mouth like that of a lamprey lunged at the window from within the tube, smacking against the glass. Jasper looked up at you from the floor with terror in her face.

“Get Pinky! We need to get out of here and find the other gems!”

“What are they? Can't we just fuse and beat them together?”

“No. We wouldn't stand a chance. They're xenotimes. I'll explain some other time. We have to go!”

You noticed the other container was dark inside, and didn't contain any of the same gas. Hearing a faint sizzling, you peered around at the back of it.

“Uh, Jasper?” you called with a quavering voice. There was a large, irregular hole in the back of the cylinder, green acid all around its edges. Another hole was in the wall behind it. Jasper's eyes went wide when she saw, but she kept her voice calm.

“I'll come with you to get him. Then we need to leave as fast as we can.”

She stuck close around you like a trained bodyguard as you made your way back to the house.

“What are they?” you asked once the door was shut behind you.

“They're corrupted Era 1 xenotimes. I thought they were all bubbled. And I mean even the uncorrupted ones. They're the perfect hunters. When they spot a target, they never lose track and they never give up. Homeworld retired them all because they were too uncontrollable and too violent - even by my standards. What really set things off was when a terrorist set one after the Diamonds. 63 quartz soldiers were shattered trying to take her down. They didn't stop her until she was just paces away from Yellow Diamond. These ones are all that and they're corrupted. I'm sure you can do the math.”