The Soul Gem

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Ermac is currently trying to locate Peridot, so he can attempt an education at Little Homeschool. He thankfully has a bit more confidence in his form, now realizing thst he doesn't have a monstrous appearance. He's not having his hood up all the time, although he still chooses to have his face covering on. He found Peridot as she was walking around Little Homeworld, making sure no one burned the place down.

"Hello Ermac. You are certainly looking better than before. What do you need?" She asked him.

"We would like to enroll into Little Homeschool?" Ermac inquired. Peridot brightened up a bit at his statement, and grabbed her clipboard.

"Excellent! So you know I must gather a bit of basic information about you in order to figure out how you can apply yourself. Are you ready?" Peridot asked.

"We are ready," Ermac replied simply.

"Alright. What is your gem designation?" Peridot asked, a fairly basic question that any gem would know the answer to off the top of their heads. Ermac however....he had to pause for a few seconds.

"We are...a sapphire? No....we are an Amethyst. No, we are a Hessonite...no...no we are," Ermac said, listing off random gems as if trying to figure out who he is. Peridot was hesitant to write anything down...because she was given three vastly different types of gems.

"Uh...Ermac? What kind of gem are you?" Peridot repeated, getting concerned for the male gem's mental state.

"We are a Pyrite. No...we are a Ruby! No....we are a Jasper! No....no we are...we are...w....we are....a..a...a.are." Ermac stammered, his eyes darting back and forth rapidly as he kept listing off random gems.

"E....Ermac? Are you okay?" Peridot asked with an unsure tone.

"A howlite! A pearl! A heliotrope!" Ermac kept switching between different gem types, his eyes cracking and turning into fractals in his eyes. His eyes were turning multicolored, as if his own gem's identity was causing critical errors that he could not come to a consensus on.

"A....A Zirconia! A...a...a...a Garnet! We are...we are...we...we...we...what...are we...?" Ermac asked, now realizing his gem is largely a mystery. Then...he was suddenly back in the Fused Mind. He was in the same hilly landscape. Surrounded by the same white butterfly that swirled around him.

"Who are we?" Ermac asked, that single question echoing throughout the butterflies. Each voice being different as each voice was one gem that composed Ermac's structure. The butterflies swirled and recreated the gigantic humanoid figure behind Ermax that he had witnessed the last time he delved into the Fused Mind.

"No...not you again! What are you?!" Ermac shouted, falling back and scrambling on the ground as the figure began stomping towards Ermac. As it tried getting closer, Ermac could begin to make out more details about it. It didn't have skin, it was composed of muscle fibers and sinews, with prismatic calcified armor plates covering its body instead. It had the same wild chaotic black hair that Ermac had, except its hair was straight and matted and covering its glowing green eyes. It growled as it loomed over him, staring down at him. Ermac tried to run away from the thing, but it leaned down and grabbed him and picked him up. Ermac was brought face to face with it, and staring it right in the face.

"What are you...what do you want with us...?" He asked, fear in his multilayered voice. The giant said nothing, it simply began to open its mouth and bring Ermac towards it. Inside of its mouth, pulsating at the very back of it and merged into it was Ermac's own gem.

"What?! No....no no!" Ermac begged as he started fighting back, pushing against the jaw as it tried to close around him. He felt his arms and legs start to crack, breaking at the elbow and knees in several hairline fractures that merged into almost a perfect slice across his joints. The jaw finally won the struggle, slamming down and enclosing Ermac inside entirely.

"Ermac? Ermac?!" Peridot asked in reality. While Ermac's mental meltdown was occurring, in the real world he suddenly collapsed onto his hands and knees and trembling. Different parts of his body were bulging out and reflexing back into place. Peridot was shaken, as this was not something she was expecting. She was worried about what would happen to him, especially if this was a form of corruption.

"Ermac?! Can you hear me?!" Peridot yelled, trying to reach him in his stupor. His back began flexing out and bulging up in the middle, before a single sharp point started protruding from his back. His trench coat giving way and tearing as what looked like a gigantic spire of bone sprouting from his back. It branched out and wrapped around him, almost like a spine that had a ribcage growing out as a cage. Peridot got caught within the ribcage, and immediately tried to run out of it before anything else happened. Ermac's gem was glowing bright, as a break in the lower spine formed a pelvis around his legs which stabbed onto where his legs connected to the rest of his body. His legs began bulging as well and ripping through as more bones formed out of his body, forming a large skeletal leg from his of his own. As newer body parts formed, there were glowing muscle fibers that were growing from his body and merging his current form into the strange skeletal shell forming around him.

"LAPIS! BISMUTH! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!" Peridot yelled in alarm, getting the attention of the other two gems as they ran to see what was happening. Next, skeletal arms snapped and formed out of his normal arms as the muscle fibers encompassed the lower sections of his body. Now his new body was able to stand up, as bones began bursting from his face in the form of a giant skull that formed around his head. Ermac positioned in the back of the mouth, as Ermac's torso practically exploded to begin to form enough muscle to coat this skeletal torso. Ermac's head began muscle and wrapped around the entirety of the head, his gem being the only thing that stayed visible as the jaws closed. His hair forming in a flash of light that fell barely passed his shoulders with a crazed matted look to it. A spark of electrical energy, surging through the whole body as parts of the body began to turn into armored plating that reflected different colors from every angle and every movement. Finally armor formed on the face, before the eyes flashed open with a bright green. He roared with a yelled that echoed out for miles away, alerting the Crystal Gems that something had happened...and alerted a certain two humans that something had gone horribly wrong in their childhood home.