Test Run (w/ Paddy)

[Paddy]

Just as the dark whip lashed out, the clear quartz's blades eviscerated the weapon, nearly torn out of Onyx's hand; instead she was yanked forward and dragged into the sand with the momentum,"Ack!" She grimaced, and pushed off of the ground. Now situated between two quartz honing in on her, the rebel let her weapon dissipate in an effort to return to her shadow form and escape, but 3JJ sped up onto her and pounced, attempting to grab her before her hard-light form could again become incorporeal. 

Through the dust and smoke, Padparadscha gaped; at her comrade who had narrowly saved her, and partly at how she had so thoroughly allowed herself to become a liability to the group. 7XB's eruptive power never ceased to stun her, but defending her came at the cost of a swift victory against their prior opponent. The agate and the topaz scrambled to get back to one another, though Onyx's offense was over before they could reunite. 

The sapphire was reeling; 7XB's dynamic assault put her own sluggishness into perspective. It had been a long time since she felt so confounded in combat. There were times where she knew she had been more quick to act, when she had even successfully defeated rebel enemies, yet now her own energy seemed to have evaporated somewhere along the line. This real-time situation spiraled around her strategies in circles. It was frustrating, but the tide of the battle seemed to be in their favor so far; the energy radiating from her comrade pushed her to take a tight hold of her own. 

She swiveled to catch the off-colors attempting to combine their power again, and kept in mind the troublesome abilities of the other opponent."Tch," She tried to push the shadows of past and present discomforts out of her mind, bringing a mass of bright plasma into existence just in front of her.    

[7XB]

Like a hot knife through melted butter, 7XB’s blades sundered the dark gem’s weapon, pulling her so suddenly forward as 7XB skidded to a sudden, wrenching halt, U-turning as to hook around the other side of Padparadscha. Wreathed in smoke and sand, they cut their heated gaze towards Padparadscha, lingering a moment as the miniscule grains of sand, much of it ancient quartz not so different than the soldier themselves, settled upon their form, upon their uniform and even within their tangled mane.

There was a glimmer of relief hidden in their razored gaze, relief that they had, in fact managed to keep her safe- for the moment anyway. The only way they could assure the Sapphire's safety was to, one way or another,. neutralize the three rebels. “Get to safety, Your Clarity, quickly.”

They doubted the Sapphire would do as they asked, but 7XB had no choice but to trust 3JJ to take care of the Onyx. They veered suddenly towards the pair of gems, cutting another jagged path towards the dark Agate, shredding the new chunks of glass in the process. Fortunately for the occupied gem, their fellow quartz was able to take hold of the onyx by her locks, yanking her out of her shadow portal  quite violently.

[Paddy]

She was here to gather information; about the rebels, and about 3JJ. But when her eyes met with 7XB's glinting gaze in the fleeting moments they took to try to direct her, what had been bothering her hit square over the mind-- but the realization came at an inopportune moment, there wasn't time to dwell on that before the soldier left her in the glittering dust to finish off the opposition.

Despite their effort to get her out of the way of danger, there were few things that made Padparadscha feel more useless than doing nothing in a life or death situation. Perhaps she didn't have the reflexes of a time-polished quartz operative, but she could offer mid-range support. However, not wanting to turn the battlefield into a pit trap for her allies, she kept her plasma moving about in the air near her, singeing particles of sand still floating around her as she timed her next move.

Grey Agate's eyes shot wide open as she realized the clear quartz was headed straight for her. The only thing the rebel could do was fall to the ground, slamming her fists into the sand, sending a plume of dust into the air as a rock shield burst from the ground. Though, she had only seconds to guess again based on what she already knew about this opponent and their ability to crash through stone obstacles, and ran back from the stone wall she'd created. Her compatriot, Topaz, had been cut off from her ally, but dashed forward to get around the clear quartz's flank and summoned a long, double-edged halberd.

Onyx, being a kind of agate herself, had some strength to go with her speed. As 3JJ yanked her up from the puddle of darkness she tried to recede into, the rebel slapped her palm onto the jasper's, gripping it tightly to make sure the opposing gem couldn't escape, and her other arm shot up to 3JJ's elbow, intending to hyper-extend the loyalist soldier's arm. The rebel got square onto her feet and swept around in attempt to force her larger foe to the ground.

[7XB]

The hardened rock shield, rising up like a great wall of sediment that, it was assumed, originated and was pulled from beneath the sand, was rather impressive- but even the gem who had summoned it seemed to know that it wouldn't stand up to 7XB’s raging fury. And they were right. Even now, the razor-edges of the Quartz's blades were white hot, the lingering heat from their first roll allowing the quartz to quickly gather more, slicing clear through the wall, skidding to a halt just in time to parry a savage strike from the topaz who had charged them with near-suicidal abandon.

“Nice try,” they grunted, sparks flying between the rival blades, “ but you'll have to..do better than that.” The topaz was quite a bit shorter than themselves, allowing the clear quartz to kick sand in her face and aim a fresh strike.

3JJ exclaimed loudly as her arm was overextended, bludgeoning her opponent across the jaw with glimmering light before she could flip them over- a light that turned out to be a heavy, thick baton.

[Paddy]

A beat passed, the agate was relieved she'd managed to evade the enemy-- Topaz had succeeded in momentarily pulling 7XB's attention away from her friend, but it seemed she'd run dry of a plan once the quartz rounded onto her. "Feh," The rebel topaz spat sand from her mouth in the moment she'd been blinded and reeled from the parry, instinctively she thrust the staff of her halberd up to block the attack, yet it was off kilter.

"Paz!" The overcooked agate let out a shriek when she caught what was about to happen, and sped over the beach toward her comrade,"No!" Onyx halted up at the sound, lips falling open slightly until she was smacked straight across the face with 3JJ's weapon, knocking the wits out of her. While Onyx was seeing stars, Topaz saw the clear quartz's blade glint through the dust, but it was too late for her to adjust her block. The force behind the loyalist soldier translated through the point of their blade, smacked down onto the rebel, and her form erupted into a rusty mist; the gem that had been on her shoulder dropped into the sand.

At the sound of the agate's cries, Padparadscha's midriff twisted, a familiar sickening feeling coming over her whenever she was faced with combat against other gems. She swallowed, and pushed on by reminding herself that these rebels did this to themselves; they would be better off after they were captured and taken back to where they belonged.For now she simply kept an eye on the brawl, staying out of the way and not allowing herself to feel too triumphant just yet; of course 7XB was handling it well, and it seemed 3JJ had gained the upper hand quickly, but things could change in the blink of an eye, especially when the rebel's headquarters was a few meters away. Her eyes kept darting up to the entrance, making sure they wouldn't have any unexpected visitors. 

Meanwhile, 3JJ used her momentary advantage as she swiveled to get behind her enemy and twist the rebel's arm behind her back, and went to sweep under her feet in order to entirely turn the tables on Onyx. 

The fear and anger on the grey agate's expression was palpable as she stomped the ground with everything she had, and the earth beneath 7XB's weight trembled in warning of what was to come for only a fraction of a second.

[7XB]

It had been so long since 7XB had been given a chance to capture a rebel gem, a chance to truly pursue their mission in any real way, that the Quartz practically lunged for the yellow gem as it spiraled downward amidst the disapating stardust, glimmering in the cheerful sunlight. But that was when the ground began to quake beneath them, threatening to swallow the clear quartz up as they reached to coil their fingers around the still-warm gem. The sand around them kicked up, a great chasm opening up beneath them causing much of the beach to collapse- for all intents and purposes, it seemed to have taken 7XB- and the topaz gem they had seized in that last moment.

Or did it? There was no sign of them as the dust settled around the sinkhole created by the Agate. The sheer force had threatened to knock 3JJ off course, but she was much too caught up in trying to rip Onyx’s arm off.

From beneath the sand came a rumble, almost a growl as smoke began to rise..

[Paddy]

One moment Padparadscha's eyes were on 7XB, then shifted to 3JJ; tremors shook the beach, and when her gaze shifted back to where the clear quartz commander had been, they had vanished, a puff of dust the only ghostly indication that anyone had been there before. Terror pierced through her like hot lead, and her eyes snapped onto the agate like honing lasers; she hadn't quite caught what happened, but she knew this earth manipulator had everything to do with it. 

While the seething rebel was concentrated on getting revenge for the disabling of her friend, compressing the earth around her Homeworld foe, Padparadscha sped off toward the overcooked gem to get the rebel within range of the full charge of her ability. Grey's eyes flicked up at the movement and she sneered at the small gem zipping toward her. She had to keep the pressure of her ability around 7XB to contain them-- if she could, and the rebel knew she would have to act fast to get them incapacitated. However, the agate also knew she couldn't stay put and allow the sapphire to do whatever she had been planning to do; instead she swiveled and dashed around, trying to avoid the fuming aristocrat while staying in range of her own ability.    

"Pah!" Onyx smacked into the sand after the jasper's leg cut under hers, and the tremors did nothing to help the rebel keep her footing. Luckily for 3JJ she was able to use that momentum to deal even more damage, letting the back end of her weapon, as well as the full weight of her body, strike down onto her opponent.

Then her eyes too caught the movement of the aristocrat racing straight for the enemy, her eyes grew wide,"Y-your clarity!" She almost scoffed at the ludicrousness of what she was seeing. There was no way she could afford to allow what was her own primary objective to get sabotaged by the same gem she was suppose to be protecting. The second 3JJ spent not entirely on task, Onyx tried to free at least one of her arms. 

"Worry about that rebel!" Padparadscha called back as she tracked her own opponent's movements. She quickly noticed the agate staying within a certain radius, and put together that she too had a range; this was excellent, and though she couldn't quite calculate the exact range of Grey's ability, the rebel would be cornered into a small zone on the beach. Her mass of plasma inflated and shot out to the sides as quickly as it could go, sweeping into a perimeter around the zone where she anticipated-- or desperately hoped-- her comrade would be able to break into the light. Her aim was to encircle Grey and trap her within her own range, or distract her enough to lose concentration.

[7XB]

Though the clear quartz gem was very clearly in a bit of a sticky situation, just how much of a situation remained unclear to any other gem- except perhaps for the disabled and essentially catatonic topaz that 7XB had taken into their custody. The pressure of the possessed earth that swirled all around them, the silence broken only by the sand that filled in around the red-hot quartz..it took them to a place that they had been before.

A place from very long ago that they didn't desire to visit ever again.

They had quickly began spinning once the sand and dirt threatened to fill in around them, melting the quartz sand around them into a thick, gooey paste of molten glass, hence the steam rising from the hungry crevice the overcooked gem had created. It was the easiest way, in their mind, to keep from being consumed by the sand. The quartz began spinning, grinding through the wet sand along the way and carving a little cave for themselves in the direction of the gems above them. They knew that they needed to get free, and back on the fight.

3JJ stepped back, out of immediate range, after her strike, skillfully twirling her baton, she lifted a hand, taunting her opponent with a 'come hither’ gesture. If Padparadscha wanted her to take down this rebel to prove themselves, that's what they would do.

[Paddy]

As her eyes glanced frantically around the pit Grey Agate had created, Padparadscha too felt a pressure closing around her. It was impossible to see what was happening under the surface, nor did she necessarily have confirmation that what she was doing wouldn't make things worse, but she couldn't afford to sit around and wait to see. Whether 7XB was okay or not couldn't be said; too many questions poured over her mind, threatening to bottom out her already straining psyche, but she would have to focus on the only thing she could tangibly do in this situation. She took the rising smoke and dust pluming from the pit for a sign that the dynamic warrior still had plenty of fight left in them, for now she would have to keep the pressure on her opponent, and hope that the clear quartz could handle whatever went on down there. 

Increasingly irritated, the short, squat agate kept kiting around her range, just out of reach of the bright oozing light that sparkled against the sand, getting duller the further it stretched out of Padparadscha's range. However, Grey Agate's conception of what the sapphire was doing was off the mark. Without anyone to challenge the growth of her perimeter, a ring of hot, blaring, corporeal light connected around the pit, and subsequently surrounded the agate as well as the pit. It took the rebel a solid moment to realize what had happened, but when she did, her brows furrowed and she skid to a halt-- in the same moment, Padpara's construct suddenly reached in to trap the rebel where she stood. 

Onyx popped up and re-summoned her weapon, lashing it out from her gem as 3JJ challenged her to keep the fight up. She shimmied a bit to loosen up; the rebel gem was getting worn out, but the jasper seemed to have an energetic edge. The darker hued gem's eyes flicked around to get a read on the situation, and she calculated the pros and cons of making her escape now, while the other quartz was being held hostage by her compatriot. But, instead of leaving Grey high and dry, she refocused on 3JJ, and charged forward, pulling her whip taught as she did. 

[7XB]

For one reason or another, the titanic pressure of the earth around them seemed to lessen somewhat, and though the pressure was still considerable, it allowed the moving quartz to carve through the increasingly dense and wet sand with much greater ease, the heat causing the increasing amount of clay in the sandy soil to grow increasingly brittle. Slowly but surely, the quartz began to ascend, or at least they tried to. The quartz gem was admittedly shaken, the echoes of the past had rattled the infallible gem to their very core. Even so, the ground resisted less and less, the radiating warmth of the sun reaching down through the quartz sand, reaching them as they ascended.

3JJ let out a startling roar as her enemy made to charge her, the sheer ferocity of her reaction orchestrated to startle onyx. The Jasper hunches over, like a raging bull,rushing to headbutt the dark gem and hook their arms around her like pincers. Her goal was to wrestle the tricky onyx to the floor and twist her up like a pretzel.

[Paddy]

The plasma construct shot out around Grey Agate's feet and yanked her face down into the sand. The rebel was dragged around the perimeter that the Homeworld detective had created as the plasma retracted,"Argh! Wha!" The agate swung her arms and legs, struggling to grab onto something as she zipped through the sand, toward Padparadscha, who stepped closer to the target until she stood, glaring down at the gem. 

"Release them," She commanded, instructing her plasma to continue coiling in tension and heat around the captured criminal. Every moment that passed, the quartz was trapped, fending with something she couldn't see. All she could do was direct her every frustration at this agate who had dared to try to subdue her most trusted comrade. 

"Why should I!" Grey's voice strained in response, she winced as the magma-like substance seeped around her, threatening to take her over. The clear quartz was a dangerous foe, one the agate really didn't want to face on a level playing field, but the prospect of what might happen if she didn't do anything about her current entrapment had grim implications. The rebel's eyes shot over to Onyx, who was embroiled in her own side of the battle. The sapphire's own eyes flared, she intended to show the gem exactly why. 

In a desperate attempt to escape, Grey released even more of the energy she had put into keeping 7XB contained in order to call up a wedge shaped stone from the ground, severing the connection between the plasma that had her trapped, and the plasma that connected to the rest of Padparadscha's construct. But Grey was essentially shackled by the drying, heavy matter that had taken form around her legs. She took this moment to summon her weapon, the same moment Padparadscha sneered and directed the remaining plasma to form a glowing, spectral spear. 

The jasper's warcry caused a falter in Onyx's step, giving 3JJ the upper hand as she hooked around her opponent and pulled her to the ground. But as she did so, the rebel was able to put her own plan into action, attempting to wrap her whip around 3JJ in an effort to allow her next ability to be used.  

[7XB]

The hot sand was coarse and uncomfortable beneath the impact of the two gems, providing little to no padding as the two large gems hit the ground in an attempt to wrestle each other into submission. Truthfully, this was one of 3JJ’s first missions off base, and certainly her first encounter with the 'Crystal Gems’, the dangerous, rogue gems that they had heard about for so long. Regardless of the possible dangers, they went about the task with a gusto found only in fresh cuts, eager to prove herself to Padparadscha. In doing it so single-mindedly, though, the Jasper allowed herself to, quite literally, get caught up in in the Onyx’s trap.

Though they were unsure as to the reason, 7XB suddenly found that the malignant earth was relenting in it's compression, granting the spiralling, panicking gem greater ease of movement. They could hear the dull roar of the ocean at long last, the great mass of water all but drowning out the din of battle.

But the Quartz wasn't thinking about that, not now. Their only concern was escape, freedom from the horrors of confinement! This was their chance; The frantic gem could see the sunlight shimmering through the sand, they could taste the air! They could not afford to waste this opportunity, and the Quartz clawed upwards with all their might.

With an explosion comparable to a landmine detonating beneath the beach, 7XB burst free from the smothering confines of the Earth, their spin breaking several dozen yards above the beach as the loss of traction finally caused them to sputter out. Their forthcoming impact titanic, though the impact was broken by the shallow water their arc found them landing in- They sunk like a stone, at first, only to reemerge a moment later, hair plastered across their skull as they sucked in a heavy, unnecessary breath, sputtering.

[Paddy]

The explosion shook every gem on the beach, eyes shooting over to the source of the sand, muck, and rock that splattered over their open air arena-- a silent, shocked beat passed. 

"7XB!" Padparadscha yelped, swiveling in their direction as they smacked into the water with the remainder of their momentum. Now with confirmation that the clear quartz wasn't in the rebel's clutches, her eyes darted back toward Grey, who had managed to pull a flail from her gem-core. However, hobbled by the matter that weighed her down and restricted the use of her legs, the agate became a sitting duck for Padparadscha's retribution, all semblance of hesitation seeming to evaporate into the sapphire's wrath. The already fully formed spear of light struck at point-blank range, intending to send the overcooked agate up in smoke. 

Every fiber of her tore her attention back toward 7XB. Teeth clenched, she forced herself to focus on the task at hand, confirming the capture of Grey by plucking the trilliant cut agate out of the sand, bubbling her, and sending her back to the containment bay of her ship. There was still another rebel to deal with, but the sapphire scurried right passed the wrestling gems, making a bee-line for the now waterlogged quartz.

Momentarily stalled by the sudden emergence of the clear quartz, Onyx had frozen up just in time to catch an elbow to the face. Face knocked to the side, she managed to catch sight of her friend's loss at the hands of the sapphire she had tried to take for a hostage earlier. The rebel grimaced; out numbered, out powered, she could only see this as an inevitable loss. Her instinct had told her to bail before, and for good reason; as the match up went on she had picked up on the fact that the Homeworlder's team had an edge over theirs. With Paz and Grey as good as captured, the only logical thing she could think to do would be to retreat. She activated her ability, attempting to pry 3JJ away with both her weapon and every bit of physical strength she could muster. 

It wouldn't take much force for 3JJ to struggle through the snare-- so the jasper had thought. 7XB had made it the whip seem like paper the way they'd sliced through it earlier, but 3JJ realized this weapon was more substantial than it had looked. Not only that, but it seemed to take on a life of its own, restricting and coiling around her as she tried to keep Onyx locked down. 

[7XB]

Very much like a fly once they were trapped securely in the spider's web, or a serpent's prey after it begins to constrict around them, 3JJ finally began to notice her predicament, and she found herself having a much more difficult time with the whip than 7XB has, gritting her teeth as she made to pry the construct from her form, and with little success at that. Just as she was able to pull it slack in one spot, it grew tighter somewhere else, and so on until the urge to free themselves all but dominated the Jasper's attention.

7XB had nearly beached themselves by the time the sapphire reached them, pulling themselves through the gentle, frothy waves and wet, coarse sand with only one hand, the other fist curled stubbornly around the topaz gem they'd claimed by force of will- the very same gem core that the defective Agate had tried so desperately to keep the quartz from seizing. They had long known that the crystal gems were dangerously delusional, and those individuals who sought the forbidden act of permanent fusion were chief among them. But they had not been expecting..that.

The horror, the panic on the Quartz gem’s face was still there was they clung to the shore for dear life, thick fingers hooking into the rocky soil umtil they were sure, at last, that freedom had been achieved.

“Yuh-your..cu,- Clarity..” they tried to pant, to fight through the spiral of horror they found themselves descending.."I've..got.." no longer able to continue, they fling the topaz forward.

[Paddy]

The sapphire's pace picked up as she got closer to them, but as she neared and got a better look at them, she sensed something was going wrong with 7XB. She knew that battling against the entrapment of their enemy couldn't have been easy, but the aghast expression they wore, and their sputtered, quiet words sent alarms ringing through her mind, and slender brows furrowed. The residual heat from their high-pressure escape caused water to steam around them, along with the sparkling light bouncing from the waves, it all contributed to the phantasmal air that settled around her comrade, who seemed be fading off.

As the topaz gem was lobbed into their direction, she lurched forward to catch it. The core slipped through her shaking hands, but she leaned down to scoop it up, then quickly dispatched the capture. She came to a halt in the same motion, and dropped onto her hands and knees to be eye-level with them. Her lips opened, threatening to let loose the dam that held back every question that had piled up behind it, but the words caught in her throat as she searched their eyes. Without paying much thought to the jasper or onyx struggling behind her, Padparadscha's lithe hand reached out, and made to push the soaked hair out of their face so she could see them more clearly.

3JJ's teeth clenched as things seemed to get worse by the second for her. Then, she was struck with inspiration,"Aha!" She growled triumphantly as she shifted her shape in a burst of orange light, attempting to slip free of Onyx's trap by simply making herself a bit smaller,"Err-ugh!" the whip seemed to follow suit instantaneously, shrinking with her, and allowing Onyx a bit more wiggle room. A dastardly grin curled at the corners of the rebel's lips, and in the same moment, the jasper found herself asking where her loyalist comrades were, but she kept a tight hold on the struggling outlaw. Just as well, managing to take out this troublesome criminal solo would give her some bragging rights once the fight was over.

3JJ's vice grip on Onyx squeezed the wicked smile off of her expression, but the rebel wouldn't let herself be defeated yet,"Agh! Let go, you crazy cheeto!" The rebel managed to strain, giving a hefty shove and rolling to the side to try to get out from this compromised position.