Tales Of Connections

Chapter 1: Welcome to crystalopolis.

As the five walked through the portal, they found themselves standing outside of the citadel. It loomed over them, not helped by a darkening sky. Onyx held her sword over her back, her backpack covering it. It wasn't like she wore many outfits anyway. She looked back down at her phone. No signal, she was truly disconnected from midtown. She took a sigh as she looked back up at it. She had no idea how the 100-story tall tower was able to stand, but she had to guess that this dimension just worked differently from the one she was used to. Pearl was eager to get back inside, while Onyx just had on her grey hoodie, sweatpants and sneakers, the last two items with green accents, Pearl was just wearing the body armour she had arrived in midtown with. After the incident just a few hours ago, onyx's colour was still drained as her powers were recovering. While her veins were faintly glowing green, her skin was still it's usual Caucasian tone, and her hair had hints of grey returning to it, along with the green streak, however, her tied-up hair remained as blonde, for now anyway. Peal took the first steps inside of the citadel, eager to return to her boyfriend, the king of the kingdom. Onyx took a moment to look at the city behind her, the buildings stretched high into the sky.

"Are you ok?" Aqua asked, kneeling down. "Yeah, I'm fine. This is just..."

"Going to take some getting used to?"

"Yeah."

"We're here for you," Aqua responded, onyx took a breath and headed inside the citadel, somebody at the entrance. "Heya Amy. Guess who's back." The girl at the desk turned her head round to see Pearl. She almost leapt out of her desk upon seeing Pearl. "Wait, but I thought you were..."

"Dead? Yeah, I thought so too. It's a long story, I can explain it later. Is pyrite free?"

"By the time you walk up there, he will be."

"Come on Amy, it's me. I'll just like fly up there or something." Amy let out a small giggle as she looked over her shoulder to see the other core bearers with her, their bodies softly glowing in the darkening environment. "Woah, are those..."

"Like I said long story. I'll fill ya in sometime." Amy looked back at Onyx, her veins were glowing green, as was the streak in her hair, however, her skin remained without the grey tone she had gotten used to. She looked at it expectedly, however, it didn't return. "Well... I guess you should be going then." Amy started as Pearl clicked her tongue at Amy, the group walking to the stairs. Ruby was the first to comment on it. "I forgot how tiring walking up those things is. In six years, you couldn't have gotten the elevator installed?"

"It's just out of order."

"And has it been since you got dragged to midtown months ago?" Ruby asked, arms crossed, fingers tapping on his arm as he did so. Pearl didn't respond. However, the group did notice that onyx was missing and there was a streak of green with hints of grey going up the stairs. "Seriously, she's running up the stairs?" Ruby continued. Aqua placed her hand on her twin's shoulder. "Let her adjust, she's going to have the hardest time out of all of us, plus she was just stuck to make a second last a whole day, just...let her breathe a little," Aqua responded, knowing Onyx needed to just slow down, even while running at many miles an hour. As Onyx ascended the towering staircase, she managed to get a glance at every floor, pool, labs, war rooms, this tower had seemingly everything, including people on most floors. However, she came to a stop as she reached floor 50. She looked over at it, zirconia lab. This is where diamonds once worked. She placed her hand on the scanner, and the door opened. The dark lab was covered in dust and cobwebs. She took a moment to gather herself before walking in. She extended her hand, placing it through the doorway, and she took a step back. She wasn't ready to go in there. And as she turned around, she found Aqua was standing on a pile of floating water, Aqua stepped off of the water, managing to look at the opened lab.