Crystal Clear

Swim Practice

Pearl summons her spear and I summon my scythe. "Fight, fight!" Amethyst and Steven cheer, standing near the shore of the beach. Pearl rolls her eyes and reminds them both, "This is just a practice round for Steven to watch, I'm only using Fluorite as my opponent because last time fighting me didn't work out so well. Look closely, Steven, watch my form." She goes to thrust her sword and I jump back, dodging it. Amethyst continues to cheer, Steven watches in amazement. Pearl sighs and Garnet pushes up her glasses as she says, in a monotone voice, "I don't know why you even bother." Pearl shakes her head, "I don't know." I laugh a little and look at Amethyst and Steven as they jump around and shout. Garnet sits in silence. "Ready your weapon," says Pearl. "Woohoo, go, Fluorite! Yeah!" Amethyst shouts as she throws popcorn at Pearl. Pearl growls. Steven yells, "Yay Pearl! Uh, no offense Fluorite." He smiles nervously. I smile back, "None taken, kiddo." I raise my scythe onto my shoulder and Pearl leaps backward, to the opposite end of the beach near the Crystal Temple. I take a look at the sea, and as I do so, I notice a figure in the waves. It seems that just as I saw it, it disappeared. From what I caught a glimpse of, it looked to be the head of a girl. Being as conservative of life as I am, I become concerned and jump into the air, landing in the ocean. "Fluorite!" all but Amethyst exclaim. I'm already swimming before I can hear them say anything else.

Rose Quartz taught me this: there is nothing more precious than a life. She was willing to risk losing her own to save many others, even though they were different. She was an eight-foot-tall woman, but she had an even bigger heart. And for that, I admire her. The Crystal Gems carry on her memory by doing what we were doing on Earth in the first place, protecting the lives of the innocent.

I duck my head under the water and look around. I don't see anything at first, but then I notice a humanoid figure a few feet ahead of me. As I look at the rest of her, considering it's a her because it's wearing a blue dress, I notice her hair and skin are blue. Maybe it's just the water? I look down at my hands, they're still their usual magic mint color. She has unusually colored skin? She could have dyed her hair? Suddenly, someone grabs the back of my shirt and pulls me up and above the water. It's Amethyst. "Why'd you decide to just swim off without me? I wanna have some swim time too!" she grins and laughs her loud laugh. I get a little frustrated, "Amethyst, there was someone down there!" She stops laughing and plops her head under the water. I do the same and look for the girl again. I see no sight of her anymore, she swims way to fast somehow. We raise our heads above the water again. "Are you sure? Because I didn't see anything," she says. I sigh and scowl at her, "That's because you let them get away!" Amethyst looks at me offendedly, "Me? I let them get away? All I did was pull you up!" I yell at her, "That's exactly my point!" I start to paddle my way back to shore and Amethyst screams "I'm not perfect!" I roll my eyes and keep paddling. She transforms into a motorboat and speeds past me, splashing water in my face.

As I'm reaching the shore, Steven looks at me and asks "What was that all about, guys?" I stand up and shake most of the water off me then walk onto the dry sand and sit down with my arms crossed. "I noticed someone who I thought was in trouble, I realized that they were swimming away purposely, so I kept swimming after them. But then Amethyst interfered and made me lose sight of them." Amethyst turns her back and looks at the Temple as she scoffs. "I was just doing what Garnet told me to." Pearl looks at Garnet with a worrisomely and puts her hands to her mouth. "Garnet, who or what did you think that was?" Garnet's glasses gleam as she says "We can only assume it's Lapis Lazuli, but that would mean Jasper is either free, or..." A large crashing sound comes from the city. Garnet grabs Steven and leaps into the air, heading towards the city. Pearl, Amethyst, and I also jump up and over where Garnet landed, Beach City Funland.