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Amethyst had set up a row of cans. Peridot stared then down as she levitated several throwing knives. Thanks to Pearl’s training, a lot of practice, and a bit of advice from Lapis, Peridot had improved a lot over the past few weeks. She sent the knives at the cans like bullets, hitting five out of the seven cans.
“Yes! You hit more than half, that’s a passing grade,” Amethyst said.
“But the point was to hit all of them,” Pearl reminded, “But it is miles from where you started.”
“Thanks,” Peridot said.
“You know, I think you’ve improved enough to join Steven and Connie on a training mission,” Pearl said.
“Really!” Peridot gasped.
“Of course.”
“I’m coming too,” Amethyst said.
“Excellent. That will even it out to the six of us.”
“Six of us?” Peridot asked.
“Yes. Me, you, Amethyst, Steven, Connie and Lapis.”
If she could, Peridot would have paled, “Lapis? Lapis is coming?”
“Yes, Steven invited her. He said she was feeling a little left out.”
“Hey, is something wrong?” Amethyst asked.
Now that she knew that Lapis had a crush on her, the thought of going on a training mission together felt awkward. Still, she didn’t want to worry Amethyst. “No, nothing,” Peridot lied, “I’m just nervous about going on my first training mission after what happened with you guys the last time.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve already scouted the area out and I already know what we’ll be up against,” Pearl said, “There’s two monsters, one for Steven and Connie and one for you Peridot.”
“Sounds great,” Peridot’s voice was strained, “So, when are we heading out?”
“Tomorrow morning. Don’t forget to pack your knives,” Pearl said as she walked away with a wave.
“I sure won’t,” Peridot waved goodbye to her.
“Okay, Percy, what’s wrong?” Amethyst demanded, “And don’t say nothing because I’m not that stupid. Is it Lapis? Are you guys fighting?”
“No, we’re not fighting,” Peridot said, relieved that she could at least say that truthfully.
“Then what is it? Something has you worried.”
“It’s nothing you need to worry about. It’s fine.” Another truth. It did not slip Peridot’s attention the way Amethyst reacted to Lapis helping Peridot with her powers. Amethyst felt uneasy, and if she knew there was actually a good reason to feel uneasy, then things might get worse. It wasn’t as if Peridot had any interest in Lapis that way.
“Okay,” Amethyst said, letting it drop, “But you know you can talk to me, right?”
“I know and I love you.” Peridot hugged Amethyst, kissing her gently on the lips and on the cheek.
The next morning, Peridot met up with everyone at the temple. Lapis had gotten there before her. As Peridot tried to carry her messenger bag full of knives, she envied Lapis’s ability to draw water from almost anywhere.
“Aw, Percy, let me get that,” Amethyst offered, taking the weight off Peridot’s shoulder. Then again, it wasn't all bad.
“Thank you Amethyst,” Peridot said in her sweetest voice, leaning towards her girlfriend.
“Uh, you’re welcome,” Amethyst said, slightly confused about the overly affectionate way Peridot was acting.
Lapis scoffed and muttered something under her breath.
Pearl clapped her hands together. “Alright, is everyone ready?”
Everyone agreed and they all got onto the warp pad. It was a little crowded with six people, but soon the group found themselves in a forest. Peridot wondered why anyone would bother building a warp pad to this area.
“Okay,” Pearl said, standing in front of the group, “Let’s get going. We have a lot of ground to cover. Connie and Steven’s opponent is at the far east end of the mountain while Peridot’s is at the far west.
Connie raised her hand. “How long is this going to take. I kind thought that it was just one monster and I sort of promised my mom I’d be home before sunset.”
“Oh,” Pearl pondered, “Well, then maybe we just do one today.”
“Or maybe we could split up!” Steven suggested.
“That sounds dumb,” Peridot said.
“No, I like it,” Amethyst said, “I mean, there’s an even number of us, and we’re all strong enough to handle whatever’s thrown at us.”
“Alright,” Pearl said, “Then I’ll go with Steven and Connie to the east and you, Peridot and Lapis go west.”
“Actually, how about you come with me and Amethyst?” Peridot suggested. “Steven and Connie are already great fighters and I’m just beginning. I’m sure I can use your amazing fighting advice.”
Pearl could barely suppress a blush at the compliment. “That sounds fair. Are you guys fine with that?” She asked the others.
Steven and Connie agreed excitedly, eager for the chance to prove themselves. Lapis just stared at Peridot and said, “Whatever.” After handing Pearl a walkie-talkie, they all began hiking towards where the gem monster would be.
“Alright,” Pearl said, “let’s get moving.” Pearl led the way while Amethyst and Peridot trailed behind.
“I thought you said you and Lapis weren’t fighting. I mean, I don’t care one way or another, but I want to make sure you’re alright.”
“It’s fine,” Peridot whispered, “I’ll explain later.”
Amethyst sighed in frustration and stared up at the sky. It wasn’t that she liked Lapis or anything, but Peridot seemed to be upset about something and she wanted to make all her troubles go away. As she stared up at the sky, she realized how dark the clouds were.
“Man, Pearl, it looks like a storm is coming in.”
Pearl looks up and considers the clouds for a bit. “You know, I think you’re right.” She turned on the walkie-talkie and radioed the others. “We’re calling off the mission on account of rain.” They could hear some groans of complaint, but they otherwise agreed. She turned it off and turned to Peridot, “I’m sorry your first real mission is canceled. Maybe once we make sure Steven and Connie are safe, we’ll come back.”
“Or maybe me and Amethyst could keep going. I mean, with Amethyst next to me, how much trouble can I really get into?”
Pearl raised an eyebrow, not offering an answer to that. “You don’t even know where you’re going.”
“You marked it on a map, didn’t you?” Amethyst suggested.
“Of course, but I don’t think either of you know how to read a map.”
Peridot huffed, “Of course I do.”
Still not fully convinced but couldn’t think of another argument, she summoned the map from her gem. “Fine. If you really want to try this with just Amethyst, then alright, but come straight back once you’re finished.” She opened up the map. Several areas were crossed and circled. “The gem your after has been spotted here, here and here,” she pointed to several of the crossed areas, “Make sure to stay out of these areas,” She pointed to the circles, “because they’re high risk for land slides and avalanches, and with a storm coming, they’re that much more dangerous.”
“Got it,” Peridot said, taking the map, “We’ll be done before you realize it.”
Pearl frowned, still uneasy. She looked at Amethyst. “If you guys take too long, then I’ll come back to help. Understand?”
“Got it,” Amethyst said.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. What’s the…” Peridot was silenced as Amethyst covered her mouth.
“We’ll be fine. Just go take care of Steven and I’ll make sure Peridot takes care of her mission.”
Pearl gave the two one last look before jogging back to catch up with Steven.
Amethyst let go of Peridot’s mouth and took her hand. “Alright, let’s go get us a gem monster.”
They jogged a short way before Peridot realized that it was hard to read a map with one hand while running, so Amethyst settled for walking beside her as Peridot shifted the map around.
“Okay,” She hummed to herself, “We’re here, and our target is probably… there, so we just need to go…” Peridot looked around as if trying to regain her bearings. “That way!” She pointed to her right and the two gems once again ran along, hand in hand.
After a while, they had found themselves in a rocky area, so high up that the plants had stopped growing. Peridot looked around, but she could not see any sign of the gem monster they were there to fight. Peridot opened the map back up and studied it.
“This doesn’t seem right. No where on the map does it say we should be this close to the summit.”
Out of curiosity, Amethyst peaked over Peridot’s shoulders, “I think the map’s upside down.”
“What? No it’s not. You see the S, that clearly refers to the stars, or maybe sky or sun… Either way, it means up. I don’t know what the rest of the letters mean, but once you know one of them, you know them all.”
“Actually, that means South. And North is…” Amethyst took the map from Peridot and positioned herself with the morning sun to her right. “That way.” Amethyst laid the map on the ground, turning it so that it matched the directions.
“Oh, so that’s how it works,” Peridot said, “Man, Earth sure comes up with crazy ways for creating maps. I mean, a two dimensional map for a three dimensional surface? What were they thinking?”
“Yeah, well, do you think you can figure out where we are?”
“Of course. Now,” Peridot leaned over the map, “We’re probably around here, and if that’s North, and that’s E, then we’re around…” Peridot began looking towards Amethyst and the map, “I have no idea.”
“I thought you said you could read a map?”
“I can read lots of things. I figured a map wouldn’t be too hard to figure out, but look at all these lines, what do they even mean?”
Amethyst sighed, “That’s latitude, that’s longitude. I don’t know what the squiggly ones are. I don’t think they’re roads. Maybe cliffs?”
Peridot groaned. “Since you’re so much better at reading a map, why don’t you figure out where we are?”
“Are you kidding? I don’t even know where we started on that map. I mean, if there were land marks to follow I could probably make a guess, but there aren’t. It’s just forest and rocks. I guess going forward without Pearl was a bad idea.”
Peridot sat down on a small boulder and buried her head in her hands, “Great.”
Amethyst sat down beside her. “Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s not the first time I’ve gotten lost, and I’ve definitely been lost in much worse places with much worse company. I mean, all things considered, things couldn’t get any better.”
Like the sky had been holding back until that point, a torrent of rain fell down on them. Fat, heavy drops filled the air like a fog.
Drenched in seconds, Peridot glowered at Amethyst, “You’re right. They didn’t get any better.”
Between Peridot’s sarcasm and being soaked herself, it took a few moments to process the fact that they left the map sitting on the ground. As she got up to save it from being any more ruined than it already was, she saw that dozens of streams had formed along the rocks. With no plant life to slow the water down, their map was drifting down the mountain.
Peridot jumped up to run after the map. With each rock it hit, the map became more and more tattered and soon was little more than a colorful lump of soggy paper. Peridot continued to try and salvage any part of the map she could, but slipped on a rock that had grown slick with water and fell on her chin. She could only watch as the map disappeared down a cliff.
“Come on,” Amethyst said, “Let’s find someplace to wait out the storm.”
Peridot nodded and got up. As she walked towards Amethyst, she slipped again. This time it wasn’t her foot slipping on the rock, it was the rock slipping from under her foot. A large section of rocks all began moving at once, taking Peridot with them.
“Amethyst,” Peridot cried as she tried to scramble against the rock slide, but gravity pulled faster than she could climb.
Amethyst jumped towards her, hitting the ground spinning as she raced the rocks that had begun even pulling the large boulders. She grabbed hold of Peridot, protectively curling her limbs around her girlfriend and spun along with the rocks, only moving out of the way once she caught sight of a cave to hide in. She tried to stop both as quickly and gently as possible, but ended up stopping more quickly than gently and both of them crashed into the back of the cave as the roar of falling rocks echoed from outside.
Peridot groaned in pain and tried to stand up, but the spinning had scrambled her sense of direction enough that she ended up walking into a wall. She groaned in pain again, this time deciding to sit down until she gets her bearings. Soon the rocks had completely closed off the entrance to the cave and they were thrown into darkness.
“Are you okay?” Amethyst asked.
“Well, better than I could have been.”
Amethyst could hear Peridot moving quickly like she had been startled by something. “What is it?” Amethyst asked.
“I’m just waiting for something to get worse.”
They waited for a while, but once it was clear that nothing else was happening, they relaxed. Even the rock slide had dulled to a muffled rumble and then complete silence settled in. They both let out a sigh of. Amethyst lit up her gem to get a good look at the place. There really wasn’t much too it. There were a few cracks were water seeped in, but it was otherwise a shallow cave with nowhere to go other than where they came in.
“Why couldn’t I have gone back with Steven and the others?” Peridot moaned.
“Hey, it’s really not that bad. I’ve made stupid decisions that had ended up way worse than this. Besides, it’s just a bunch of rocks. I can get out of here no problem.” Amethyst shifted into her Purple Puma form and punched the rocks blocking their way. Several large boulders shot out of the rubble, and for a second it seemed like they were going to get out, but the rocks above them took their place, nearly burying Amethyst as they flowed further into the cave.
“Okay, so maybe waiting is a better idea,” Amethyst suggested, “I mean, it might be a bit of a wait, but Pearl will be looking for us soon, and if she brings Garnet to search, then it can’t be too long.”
“Yeah.”
“So,” Amethyst said as she sat next to Peridot, “how about you tell me why you’re avoiding Lapis.”
“What?”
“Well, you said later, and it’s later. We probably have a lot of time to waste, so now’s as good a time as any.”
“Alright, but first I want you to promise something.”
“I won’t tell a soul.”
“Well, that too, but I want you to promise you won’t freak out or get mad.”
Amethyst frowned. “Alright, I promise. What’s going on?”
Peridot sighed. “Lapis is in love with me.”
“What!” Amethyst stood up.
“Hey, you promised.”
Amethyst gritted her teeth and sat back down. “Okay, yeah. So, do you love her? Is that why you’re telling me?”
“No, well, not in the way I love you. But I mean, I still like her, as a friend.” Peridot sighed and buried her face in her hands. “I didn’t want to tell you because I knew it would make you feel bad, and I don’t want to be around her because I think with us together, it makes her feel bad. Maybe it’s all the time I’ve spent around Steven, but I was kind of hoping that no one has to get hurt.”
Amethyst wrapped an arm around Peridot to pull her close and comfort her. “I’m not hurt. As long as you’re still choosing me, everything’s alright. So, how did you find out that Lapis felt that way about you?”
“She told me when I helped her home after the fireworks.”
Amethyst’s hold on Peridot’s shoulder tightened. Peridot winced at the pain. Amethyst took in a deep breath and made herself relax. “I see. Has anything else happened?”
“No. That’s it.”
Amethyst relaxed even more. “Okay.”
After a moment of silence, Peridot asked, “What do you think?”
“I don’t now. I’m… I… I don’t like it. I trust you.” Amethyst paused to think of something that doesn’t make her sound like she’s freaking out. “Do you want to live with me at the temple? I mean, it’s probably awkward living with her at the barn, right?”
“Nah, I’ve got a system.”
“A system?”
“I hide until she leaves and then come out, do what I want, and then visit you, and hide again. She’s been gone a lot, so it hasn’t exactly been difficult.”
Amethyst chuckled. “Sounds like a good system.”
A scratching could be heard from the other side of the rock pile. Thuds and cracks of rocks being moved grew louder and louder.
“What do you think that is?” Peridot asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m guessing it’s not Pearl or Garnet. Peridot, get behind me. I’ll take care of this.” Amethyst drew her whip.
For a moment Peridot was willing to let Amethyst do all the fighting, but as helplessness began to overtake her, she stepped forward to stand beside Amethyst. “No, I’m here to fight, and that’s what I’m going to do.” She took her bag from Amethyst and opened it up, letting three sharp knives float up.
Amethyst smiled. “Alright. Sounds good.”
The second the gem monster smashed through, those three knives flew at it, burying themselves in its arms. However, the damage only caused it to fall backwards, howling in pain. Peridot pulled several more knives out as she followed Amethyst after the monster. While it was still dim out, at least the rain had cleared.
Amethyst attacked with her whip, wrapping the gem thorned weapon around the creature’s throat. Its roar was cut short as Amethyst pulled tight and hurled it against the side of the mountain. Rocks that were still loose from the landslide toppled on top of the monster, burying it for a second. It shrugged off the rocks and let out a ground shaking roar. Peridot lost her footing. The monster leaped at her, pinning her under large claws. Unable to think of anything else to do, she sent all her knives at it. Out of the ten knives, only two hit the monster. One was completely off, hitting a tail like appendage, but the second was right on target, striking the creature in the middle of the chest. It slowly reached for the knife as if unsure it had even been hit before poofing into a cloud of dust. A blue and white striped gem dropped to the ground.
“Alright, Percy, you did it!” Amethyst cheered, giving Peridot a slap on the back.
Peridot collapsed onto the ground hyperventilating. “That was terrifying.”
“But you did it!”
Peridot gave a relieved half smile. She looked at the knives that had scattered around. Some were stuck in rocks, others dropped out of the monster, and most were long gone. “Pearl was right about accuracy. I almost didn’t get it.”
“Almost didn’t is not the same as didn’t. You did it! This calls for a celebration when we get back.”
“Yeah? Alright. Let’s head home. Which way?”
The two gems looked around. They still had no idea where they were.