Author's Note: This is where it ends. The chapter is called Perfection, and you'll know what it's based on. If you want chapters told from other perspectives, you can leave it in the comment section. I like writing this way, and I hope you enjoy it too.
Let's continue.
Jasper was furious. It wasn't a simple, passing annoyance or ordinary anger; it was a deep, thick rage that burned in her chest and tensed her every muscle. Jasper was pissed off, indignant, boiling inside as if the air itself had turned into a battlefield. And worst of all, she didn't understand how she could have so much pent-up fury without completely exploding.
She had been beaten. Her. Jasper. The very same gem who had faced crowds without flinching, the same one who had once told Yellow Diamond—with total confidence, with the pride that defined her—that if she ever encountered the rebel leader, she would drag her to her feet. The same one who claimed she would shatter her without a second thought, and that if by some miracle she was in a good mood, she would simply bring her to trial. Now, that promise was reduced to ashes... just like her dignity.
Every memory of that fall burned her as if she were touching red-hot metal. She took heavy steps, clenching her jaw, her eyes burning with rage. It was absurd. Unforgivable. Unacceptable. That she, a perfect warrior created to win, would end up defeated by an insignificant rebel.
"If only I hadn't brought her onto my ship..." she growled through her teeth, squeezing her fists so hard they seemed on the verge of breaking.
The "what if..." kept repeating in her head, drilling into her like a persistent drip. What if she hadn't let her in. What if she hadn't lowered her guard. What if she hadn't trusted that the situation was under control. Each imaginary alternative irritated her more. Her pride, that massive pride that once sustained her, was now a gaping wound that wouldn't stop hurting.
But that fury wasn't just directed at the rebel. No. It was also at herself for allowing such a thing to happen. How could she? How did she dare fail like that?
As she forged ahead through metal debris and dust, her steps grew more violent. Shreds of her ship scattered on the ground seemed to mock her. The echo of her footsteps resonated like a declaration of war.
"It won't happen again," she told herself, breathing like a restrained beast. "Never again. I will find her. Her. All the rebels. And then..."
Her eyes gleamed with a dark mixture of obsession and rage.
"This time, there will be no mercy."
And she kept walking. Her shadow stretched out with the same intensity as her determination—a shadow marked by hatred, humiliation, and the need to reclaim what she felt she had lost: her glory, her name... and her right to be the perfect warrior.
She walked for two days, though in reality, that couldn't be called walking. She had said she was walking before, right? Well, she was wrong. She wasn't walking; she was damn well swimming. Two whole days moving through the waters without stopping for a single moment. She didn't get tired, but she was hurt, if such a thing were possible for a body made of light. The last time she had experienced an injury had been in the middle of the war, and just remembering that chaos pushed her to swim harder, as if the water were to blame for something.
Her mission remained burned into her mind with blistering clarity. Destroy the rebels. This time there would be no compassion. With that burning fury inside her, she continued through the depths until, in the distance, a forest appeared on the horizon. The sight of the organic Earth foliage brought her deep disgust, but even so, she couldn't help a smile from spreading across her face. That meant that, finally, she was close.
With a single leap, she reached the shoreline. The sand sank slightly under her weight, and for a moment, she stood there motionless, observing the ocean she had swum through for so long. The water stretched out until it was lost on the horizon, as if wanting to remind her that she had endured two whole days submerged in its liquid silence. She let out a snort that released some of the built-up tension, a sort of involuntary acknowledgement of her own effort.
Then she directed her gaze toward the forest. The contrast between the blue of the sea and the dense green of the trees made the terrestrial landscape look even more repulsive to her. But as soon as she set foot on firmer sand, something inside her activated. Her instincts, sharpened by years of combat, vibrated with an indescribable certainty. In there, amidst the thicket, was a warp pad. She didn't need to see it; she could feel it. That sensitivity wasn't something just anyone possessed. Only gems who had participated in real battles could detect the distortion in the environment that a warp pad left behind.
That was why a useless gem like Peridot could never tell one apart. She was just support, a tech who clung to her screens and measurements as if that made her competent. The thought wrenched a smile from her that showed more teeth than necessary. Still, as she began to walk toward the forest, she remembered something important. No matter how useless she was, Peridot was the only one who could help her with her current plan. A small, defective piece, but a necessary one. That irritated her more than she was willing to admit.
As she advanced through the shadows of the trees, her mind drifted to rumors of the war. Some gems, desperate or strategic, had forced fusions with rebels. There were cases where the resulting will was so contradictory that the gem ended up cracking. Jasper raised an eyebrow at the memory. She wouldn't crack her gem. She didn't need to. Her will was implacable, firm like a mountain carved with rage. She could crush her own essence before allowing anything to bend her.
So the logic was simple. Peridot cooperates... or she ceases to exist. And as she ventured deeper into the forest, the smile on her face widened, satisfied with the clarity of that decision. The warp pad awaited her, and with it, the next step of a mission that allowed no errors.
The island was small, tiny compared to the places where I usually fought, but honestly, I didn't care. The only thing that mattered to me was reaching the warp pad and getting out of there as soon as possible. I walked through clumsy bushes and branches that seemed to want to touch me without permission, and I was a few steps away from my objective when a strange sound sliced through the air. I stopped immediately. Something crunched among the leaves, a sharp noise that put me on total alert.
I looked both ways, analyzing every shadow, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary in that organic, unpleasant place. Even so, my instincts insisted there was something else, something moving, something watching me. I turned slowly toward the area where the vibration was strongest, ready to crush whatever dared to step out.
I didn't have time to finish the thought. A gem beast came flying out from between the trees, a blurry mass that launched itself straight at me with a vibrating roar. I jumped to the left, and the impact hit the ground I had occupied a second earlier. A tremor of surprise ran through me when I saw the outline of the creature. It was a Topaz. Not just any beast, but a form type I remembered perfectly—one of the elites from the shock lines.
My eyes widened, not out of fear, but at the audacity of it attacking me for no reason. I felt fury rise like a wave that had no intention of stopping.
What is wrong with you, I thought, clenching my teeth, why are you attacking, are you a rebel too?
The Topaz didn't answer anything, of course; it just emitted a guttural growl and charged again, body hunched and arms ready to tear me apart. This time I moved head-on, colliding directly with it. The crash echoed like an explosion, both of us pushing against each other with the sheer force of our forms. I felt my feet drag through the dirt and she pushed back, each trying to overpower the other in a primitive test of strength.
The creature tried to grab me by the shoulders, but I shifted my weight downward and threw her backward against a tree, which snapped with a dry crack. The Topaz landed on her feet and bounced right back with an almost irritating ferocity. Her fist went whistling past my head, and for an instant, I felt the vibration of how close she came to hitting me.
I was already getting tired of her persistence.
I stepped forward with a stomp that shook the vegetation and lunged at her with a direct strike to the torso. The Topaz was sent flying and rolled over the sand, but her resilience was remarkable. She got back up, though her form was beginning to warp as if her internal control were weakening.
That was enough for something inside me to awaken completely. My fury burned so hot I could almost feel it vibrating in my gem. So I let that energy rise, expand, and take shape. An intense light surrounded my face and my helmet appeared—solid, heavy, gleaming—like a perfect extension of my rage.
I felt the familiar pressure wrap around my head. The spiritual armor amplified my strength, my vision, my will. Now I was ready.
The Topaz hesitated for a second, barely a blink, but I noticed. I launched myself at her. The blow I delivered this time was so powerful that the creature doubled over. Her form shook and her internal light flickered. I grabbed her by the arm and slammed her into the ground with brutal precision. Her body crashed with a dull thud, and dust kicked up around us.
She tried to get up, but I pressed my hand against her chest, digging my fingers into the crystalline surface of her form. The creature roared, an animalistic protest that echoed throughout the forest.
I wasn't going to let a lost beast, rebel or not, interrupt my mission.
I pressed harder. The purple glow trembled... and finally gave way. The form poofed in a flash, and the gem rolled onto the sand, harmless now.
I stood up, breathing heavily through my helmet, letting the fury settle inside me like lava that was still hot. I looked at the motionless gem, then at the warp pad waiting ahead.
Nothing on this island was going to stop me. And anyone who tried... would end up the same.
And I put on my most shit-eating grin, the one that only comes out when I feel like the entire universe should thank me for existing. Not bad for a workout, I thought as I stretched my arms and popped my shoulders as if I had just woken up from a pleasant nap instead of destroying a corrupted beast. I looked at the gem that had been left rolling in the sand, but honestly, I didn't care. I could leave it lying there or kick it into the sea; the result would be the same. Though a doubt did cross my mind persistently.
Topazes rarely walk alone. Always in pairs. An inseparable duo, synchronized as if they had been created the exact same second. So, where was the other one? I looked around with a slight growl building in my chest, shifting my gaze from one corner to the next, expecting to see a shadow, a flash, anything that would give away her presence.
Before crossing the warp pad, I decided to give myself the task of investigating the island. Not out of worry, but because it could be useful to stretch my muscles for what was to come. Besides, if there was another Topaz hiding, better to crush her now than have her interrupting later. So I moved forward without wasting time.
Days passed, though they meant nothing to me. Notions of organic time didn't apply to a gem, much less to me. I moved always alert, as if the island were a silent battlefield. Every sound forced me to turn my head. Every shadow made me tense my fingers. I observed the trees from below, from above, from angles humans would never imagine. I walked through damp caves that smelled of salt and rotting earth. I checked rocky cliffs where the foam crashed violently. I even inspected the water more than once, diving until the pressure made the helmet I was still wearing vibrate.
And not only that. Many times I leaped with superhuman strength just to soar above the trees, above everything, looking to see if a flying gem was lurking around. They weren't common. In fact, if I remembered correctly, they practically didn't exist. But seeing what that Topaz had turned into, it no longer seemed strange to me if another aberrant creature suddenly appeared, a corrupted form with wings or something similar.
I laughed a little thinking about that. Dragons. Those massive things that existed on the yellow planet F901X3. They had the shape of a giant reptile, but made of crystallized light, deformed by the experimentation of old eras. I think I even remembered that some Rubies fused—maybe there were ten, twenty, I didn't know. The exact number didn't matter; I just knew that together they had created one of the largest dragons I ever witnessed.
I shook my head remembering that scene. I was there, of course I was there. But it was millennia ago, so long ago that sometimes it blurred in the memory like an old painting burned by the sun. Still, the majesty of the creature remained something impossible to forget, though I preferred not to think too much about it. They were old memories, useless, detached from what I had to do now.
Shaking my head, I continued my inspection, moving through every corner of the island. I broke logs to inspect cavities. I dug under stones that looked suspicious. I even struck certain points of the terrain just to listen to the echo and know if there were hidden caverns. All with a mix of military precision and a growing annoyance.
But I found nothing.
Nothing but wind, sand, and the sound of the sea hitting the coast.
And yet... that feeling persisted. That instinct that normally never failed me. There was something there. Something hidden. Something that moved when I wasn't looking directly. And with every hour that passed, my irritation grew like a spark about to become a wildfire.
If there was one more Topaz on this island, I would find her. And if not... well, the island was already going to have the privilege of enduring me longer than necessary.
Out of nowhere, a crunch was heard—dry, deep, way too heavy to be a branch or an animal from that miserable island. I spun around immediately, and a smile drew itself on my face like an ancestral reflex. In front of me were two gems. The Topazes. The one I had poofed earlier, clumsily reforming, and the other one, new to me, with the same robust structure and the vacant stare characteristic of their kind.
I observed them. They observed me. And suddenly the air became so tense I could almost chew it. The entire island fell silent, as if it knew what was about to happen.
I didn't need to think. I launched myself at them with everything, invoking my helmet in the very same leap. I felt the drive in my feet, the crystallized adrenaline rushing through my gem, the anticipation of the impact. I was heading straight for them, ready to destroy them... until something lit up right in front of me.
A flash. A vibration. A larger form.
I stopped dead in my tracks, instinctively, not out of fear, but out of pure and absolute surprise. I dodged through the sheer momentum of an ancient sensation, a rare mix of alarm and a pang of joy. Joy! When had I felt that in a fight?
I landed hard, cratering the ground beneath my feet, kicking up sand and rocks. I looked up.
They were no longer two.
It was a single one. Tall, muscular, grotesquely strong. The two Topazes had fused. And it wasn't a clumsy fusion like other gem beasts. This one had a presence... a different one. A bit more stable. A bit more intelligent. As if it knew that separate they couldn't even scratch me.
A laugh escaped me, a crazy, raspy laugh that echoed across the island. I stood up with a smile larger, more twisted, and more satisfied than I'd had all week.
And I charged. With an internal roar, I kicked off the ground, spun my body, and let Yellow electricity course through my limbs. The energy built up, intensified, and soon it wasn't me. It was a perfect sphere, an unstoppable projectile rolling at top speed.
The fused Topaz read me. It leaped to the side clumsily but effectively, and then struck the ground with such force that the sand exploded like a small volcano. The impact threw me off balance for a second. Just a second, but enough for me to feel it. Enough for something inside me to wake up.
I straightened up and lunged again, faster, more aggressive. But this time the Topaz didn't run. It raised both arms and intercepted me head-on. The clash created a shockwave that made the beach tremble, kicking up dust, sand, and rock fragments. Its strength pushed me back—barely a few inches, but it did. It succeeded.
The blow pierced through me like an electric hum. A small pain. Minuscule. But real.
I laughed. I laughed as if I had been waiting for that for centuries. As if that simple impact were a gift.
The fusion roared and threw a descending strike. I dodged it, felt the wind cut my cheek, and then she returned the favor: her knee crashed into my torso. It didn't knock me down, but it did make me take a couple of steps back. It was forceful, heavy—a sledgehammer of concentrated light.
There was that pain again. Sweet. Alive.
The fusion charged again, raising both arms to crush me. I lunged forward, colliding with her shoulder-to-shoulder. The impact sent us both backward. I braked by digging my hands into the dirt. She fell, taking a clumsy stumble but maintaining her balance.
Before I could attack, the gem beast lifted a massive boulder and threw it like it was nothing. I deflected it with a punch, but a remaining fragment struck my arm, leaving a strange sting. Nothing serious. Nothing I cared about. Just one more mark I could ignore.
That was when she charged for the third time. I didn't dodge her on purpose. I wanted to measure her. I wanted to feel that raw power engulf me entirely. Her onslaught hit my side and sent me flying several meters. I swallowed sand as I fell, rolled over damp earth, and finally impacted against the entrance of a cave, caving in part of the rock wall with my weight.
The cave shook. Dust fell from the ceiling like heavy rain. The echo of my own impact resonated inside—dark, endless.
I sat up with a smile, feeling the slight sting of a bruise that shouldn't exist. An almost symbolic damage. But damage nonetheless.
And there was the fusion, entering the cave with a deep growl, blocking the light from the entrance with its massive body, as if the whole world shrank to leave us alone.
Perfect. More enclosed. More violent. More intense.
Exactly how I like it.
The fight was just beginning.
"You don't know who I am, defective gem. It's me, fucking Jasper, perfection itself." I didn't even think about breathing when I launched myself back at the fusion. Inside the cave, I had all the advantage in the world. An enclosed space, no escape routes, no organic distractions, nothing to cushion my attacks. Even though this thing was barely doing any damage to me, I didn't want to waste any more time on this miserable island. But I wasn't going to leave either without first crushing these two useless things, even if I hadn't yet noticed the strange spots running along their bodies. Spots that perhaps signified corruption. I didn't care. I would report it to the Diamonds when I managed to get out of this primitive hole.
Yellow energy coated my body like a living cloak. I ran all over the cave, leaving a trail of dust and vibrations on the walls, and the fusion followed me like a clumsy, loud beast. Its breath roared, a thick sound echoing through the entire tunnel. I felt how the air changed every time it was behind me; it was like having a furious ox trying to rip my back off.
When I spotted a high point on the rock, a narrow, almost vertical ledge, I ran toward it without thinking. My fingers dug into the stone as I ascended as if my body weighed nothing. The fusion lunged after me with heavy movements, too slow to be a real threat, but enough to keep me entertained.
In seconds, I reached the highest peak inside the cave, an elevation that easily exceeded a hundred meters. I touched the ceiling with my feet, feeling the rocks vibrate with my accumulated strength. It was stable. Enough to hold for a second.
Just a second.
I propelled myself with such force that the ceiling cracked as if it were a fragile bone. The crash echoed through the entire structure, and at that very instant, I let myself fall. I fell with perfect speed, aiming directly at the fusion, which was just raising its head to understand what was happening.
Too late for her.
The impact was a monstrous explosion. The stone shattered beneath us, the air compressed, the earth shook. Entire rocks broke free from the ceiling and fell in an avalanche, filling the cave with an outdoor chaos. The shockwave enveloped us, sending debris everywhere and shaking the floor as if the entire island were going to sink into the sea.
The fusion's body didn't hold up. The pressure, the blow, my weight... everything broke her. The Yellow light surrounding my body exploded outward while the fusion lost stability. And in a final flash, two gems shot through the air like projectiles, colliding with each other as they tried to recover their forms.
I didn't allow it.
I jumped among the rocks that were still falling, stretched out my arms, and caught both gems mid-air. My fingers closed over them with an almost delicate precision, as if I were catching something valuable. I felt their vibrations, their instability, the clumsy tremor of a newly broken fusion.
A smile escaped me. A wide, proud, victorious smile. I observed them calmly while the chaos continued around us. Rocks kept falling, dust rose, the cave shuddered... but I only saw those two useless gems that had just become my trophies.
I thought for a moment. Two Topazes. Two beasts. Two resources.
I hardly ever bubbled gems. I didn't see it as necessary. I preferred to break them, destroy them, leave them as formless crystals. But I felt something different this time. Something like a useful idea. These two could serve me. Maybe as bait. Maybe as currency. Maybe as improvised weapons.
So with a simple gesture, I enclosed them in orange bubbles that slowly rose in front of me. They floated, motionless, clean, docile. Totally under my control.
And while the cave continued to collapse behind me, I straightened up, letting myself be enveloped by the dust and the noise—proud, unstoppable, perfect.
I had them. And now there would be nothing and no one to stand between me and my next objective.
After a few hours, she finally emerged from the cave—not because she couldn't escape, not at all, but because now she had two gems trapped in bubbles, the very ones she smartly decided to leave around there. She knew that if she sent them away, they would teleport to a place their code recognized as a base, and their base was at Homeworld station. And honestly, she needed those Topazes.
She walked to a corner and left the bubbles there, completely sure that at any moment they would prove useful. With a single leap, she reached the surface and looked behind her at the disaster they had left during the fight. Even so, she kept a satisfied smile. It didn't matter. From what she had half-heard from Peridot, this planet wouldn't last long, which was why that little girl was in such a hurry. Even if she took a few solar rotations, no one would worry about her—and why should they? She was perfect, and no matter how long it took, she always achieved her goals. Always.
She looked at the warp pad and mentally ordered her next steps. She knew she had to find Peridot, and now, with two Topazes in her possession, her decision was completely secure. With a firmer resolve than before, she stepped onto the warp pad and vanished into the light, leaving behind a smile of pure superiority.
End of Chapter 40.