The Soul Gem

E.R.M.A.C

When the gem had made itself known, the Crystal Gems inmediately knew something was wrong. Instead of normal female appearance that was standard for all other gems, this gem had a distinctly male physique. He wore a hooded trench coat with a basic black and red scheme along with a few golden motifs. On his head was a mask made only from black bandages fully wrapped around the head, leaving his eyes and nose visible. His gem was embedded in his forehead, a red crystal with a metallic housing and four prongs that seemed to dig downwards into his form's forehead. Beneath his coat, they could see what look to be black and red clothing of ambiguous styling. He was also wearing black boots that seemed to have metallic soles to them. From what little of him they could see, he had a pale complexion and his eyes were a verdant green.

"Are you the gem that recently awoke?" Garnet asked him. He said nothing, tilting his head in an eerie fashion. His eyes flickering back and forth across the four gems in front of him, as if scanning them like a silent machine.

"Were you responsible for this destruction?" Pearl asked him this time, he said nothing but still looked at Pearl. As if he acknowledged her question, but chose to not respond.

"Are your vocal cords not functioning?" Peridot asked. The same response occurred, before the gems noticed the gradually sparking sound coming from his hands. Small green sparks of electricity flickering from his fingers as the energy grew into a small sphere in his palms.

"...Duck," Garnet said suddenly.

"What?" Amethyst asked in confusion. The gem wound his arms back, the electricity spheres each growing to encompass their respective hand.

"DUCK!" Garnet yelled, before forcing all the gems to the ground and dropping herself. As this hapoened, the gem fired a blast of interweaving streaks of electrical energy from his hands. Each streak turning into a solid beam that streaked off into the distance.

"Ah! Okay! He wants a fight? He'll get a fight!" Amethyst said as she got her dual whips out of her gem and started rushing towards the mystery gem. She was smacking him around with the whips, but he never seemed to register any of the strikes as painful. She had wrapped him in her whips, sending her whiplash energy waves through them into him. The energy waves exploded on contact with the gem, and as the smoke cleared he showed...clear damage. There were chunks of him missing, as if he himself was made of crystal that had been shattered. Which...should not have happened, he shoul either be fine, be covered in dust, or poofed.

"Uh...guys? He's weirdin' me out!" Amethyst yelled out, the gem tilting his head upright as the holes began reforming from sinews and muscle and fabric made of multicolored energy. Garnet summoned her gauntlets and rushed to help, slamming her fists into the face of the mystery gem. He was staggering and being pushed back by the attacks, but once again he never registered that they hurt. She jumped back, firing her gauntlets as rockets at the gem. They exploded and the gem was still regenerating his form, however there were now more chunks of him missing.

"He's getting hurt, at least...I think," Garnet said in slight concern. Pearl pulled two of her tridents out and dual wielded them, rapidly firing off energy projectiles at the gem who was tanking them but flinching as they impacted. More craters were being blasted into him as Pearl shot at him, yet he never once made a sound of pain.

"What is this thing?!" Pearl asked. The gems simply watched as his eyes briefly flared an even brighter glow, as the older holes healed completely and the newer holes filled in. The gem rolled his neck and head backwards, making a sickening crunching sounds. As if glass had been smashed and the shards were being ground into the floor. Once he set his head back in place, he simply glanced around at the three gems who attacked him...and he spoke.

"You showed us yours....allow us to show you ours," He said. His voice was near haunting, despite it being in a singular tone. The tone was deep, quiet, scarily calm and yet....by his words, it sounds like there were countless controlling the body. He moved as if in a strange sense of clockwork, no movement wasted as he rushed towards Garnet. He began trying to strike Garnet with rapid jabs, which Garnet parried with ease. As Garnet countered and tried to sneak in attacks, which the gem also countered. Amethyst tried to restrain him by catching his arm in her whips. She trapped his arm and pulled it back, as Pearl leapt up onto Garnet and bounded off of her with her trident ready to strike down onto the gem.

"Impressive. We however, are anticipating this," He said as he yanked his trapped arm, digging his feet into the ground and getting into a brief tug of war against Amethyst. Amethyst is yanked over, being used as a flail to smack Pearl away. As he whirled Amethyst around, using her as an impromptu weapon against Garnet. Not wanting to hurt her companion, Garnet snatches Amethyst away from her whips and he drops the ends of the whips that he was holding as well. He was about to continue his assault, but then felt something pull back against his forehead.

"You will not hurt my friends!" Peridot yelled, her arms outstretched as she used her ferrokinesis to pull against the metallic housing of the gem. He was being forced backwards by his head, giving Garnet time to get Pearl to her feet and start heading back to the warp pad. Peridot was trying to focus her strength, as the gem kept trying to resist the push of her ability. As he tried to resist, Peridot was making him dig a small trench into the ground as he pushed against her. Once the other gems got to the Warp Pad, Peridot dropped the hold and got onto the pad as well.

"We will not fail the authority!" The gem said as he leapt out of his trench as rushed in a beeline towards the warp pad. The pillar of light enveloped the Crystal Gems, about to teleport them back to Little Homeworld. The gem broke through the light and tried to continue the fight in the warp stream. Kicking, punching and abilities were used to try and restrain the gem. The gems managed to kick him out of the warp stream and continued along to Little Homeworld. As they arrived at Little Homeworld, fumbling out of the warp stream they expected the warp pad to deactivate. However, the warp pad kept beaming. Something was still trying to come through, and the Crystal Gems knew what it was....or who it was. The male gem stood stern on the warp pad as it deactivated, looking around at Little Homeworld. He took note of how many of the gems present were....his own affiliates. Gems that fought on the side of Homeworld during the war he was meant to fight in.

"Please...stop the fighting. We don't mean harm...we just want to help," Garnet said, being the first to get up among the Gems.

"Help...? How do rebels help?" He asked.

"Well...we can start by properly introducing ourselves. We're the Crystal Gems," Pearl said, dusting herself off.

"We are the Exponentially Resurgent Mass Accumulation of Crystals," The gem introduced.

"Can we call you...Ermac for short?" Peridot asked in fear and curiosity.

"If that will aid you in addressing us, then yes," the gem now colloquially known as Ermac replied.