Crystal Sides

Chapter 21: An Agate Terrifies

--POV = Patton--

I stared at the entrance to the zoo, my three teammates at my side. We'd all agreed to leave Remy at home: this wasn't a mission fit for a dog. The zoo was deserted; the people had been evacuated long ago. There was no trace of the corrupt other than an eerie lack of animals.

"Hey, that magpie's got a funny looking rock attached to its cheek!" Roman pointed to a small black bird hopping about.

He was right. The magpie had a blue rock in its cheek, unusually smooth and clear...

"That's not a rock... that's a gem!" Logan took a step back.

"That's the oh-so terrifying corrupted Agate that can turn into your worst fear that everybody's so scared of?" Virgil jeered.

I suddenly thought of something, "Well, there's a worm by its feet, and I suppose there's nothing more terrifying than a magpie, if you're a worm."

"True," Roman said, nodding.

"This'll be easy." Virgil growled, pulling his whip from out his gem and starting towards the magpie.

"Virgil..." Logan warned warily.

All of a sudden, Virgil screamed. I glanced around him. My eyes widened as I saw another figure. It had a purple gem identical to Virgil's over his eye and wore a threatening snarl on their face. Virgil's eyes were spread wide and his mouth was ajar. I wondered who it was and why it made Virgil so frightened. It stepped forward and clouds covered the sun.

"Fuse with me, Tanzanite." The gem said eerily, his voice seeming to echo around.

"No..." Virgil stumbled back into Roman's arms.

There was a pause.

Then, he turned abruptly and swung his whip at the gem. It dodged cooly, but Virgil was too quick. He striked again and hit it on its gem. It roared in agony, the humanly scream morphing into a beast like shriek. I blinked in surprise as the humanoid gem turned into a huge blue blob. Virgil smiled and swiped at it again. But it slid out the way, towards me, Logan and Roman. Roman leaped to help Virgil and the corrupt turned to face him. In an instant, the blob was gone and in its place stood a tall, green gem with a lime-green gemstone on its forehead.

The gem smiled, "You know you can't do it, Gold."

Roman gasped as it he had just been stung and stared into the gem's eyes in terror.

It continued, "You're not special. You're not supposed to be special. Why can't you get in line, Gold?" I narrowed its eyes in disgust, "Unacceptable. You're just like everyone else, an insignificant speck of-"

Virgil hit the gem round the head with his whip from behind, while it was distracted with Roman.

I changed into a blob again, and then into the purple gem. Then Roman attacked it and it turned into the green gem, and back and forth and back and forth, echoing words of fear and disgrace...

A gunshot fired.

We all turned to Logan. He had Noah's gun aimed at the corrupt. Everybody was silent.

Then, he lowered the gun and strolled casually to the corrupt.

He breathed in and then out.

Before the blob changed into a huge, yellow snake.