Defenders of the Universe - SU/VLD (Adopted by jorge.Fuentes18)

Chapter 24: Belly of the Beast

Six months earlier.

Lapis groaned as her senses began to return; she expected to see the witch's face again but was honestly surprised to discover a night sky in front of her. "What the..." Lapis said as she quickly shot up and looked around; she was no longer in binds and felt grass-covered soil in-between her toes. She was... free.

'Glad you're awake.' A mysterious, intelligent sounding voice said; startling the blue Gem as she went on the defensive. She turned around and spotted a strange, alien woman sitting on a stone chair; eating a charred animal while petting strange-looking cat.

[Meow.]

Her build was slender and wore a black variant of Galra Empire armor; without the empire's symbol and a dark gray hood over her head. While she had some Galran features, most of her appearance was reptilian with no eyes and light blue scales; as well as a dark blue tail that swung around behind her. Not taking any chances, Lazuli extended her hand out to extract the water from the grass; but struggled to perform a usually simple task and dropped the water.

'I wouldn't use your powers.' The strange-looking Galran said without moving her mouth; before taking a bite into her food. 'You still need to recover from what the witch did to you.'

"Who are you?" Lapis questioned. "Where am I? How did I get here? And how... am I hearing your voice?"

'I do suppose introductions are in order.' The hooded Galra said while swallowing her food and continuing to pet her cat. 'My name is Narti, and my furry friend here is Kova. I established telepathic contact with you, so we may speak whenever you woke up. I rescued from Castle Doom under the orders of someone who wishes to speak with you. And we are currently on a jungle moon; one that used to be owned by the Diamond Authority but has long been abandoned.'

"Wait, if this used to belong to the Diamonds, then maybe I can contact them!" Lapis enthusiastically shouted as she attempted to summon her water wings. However, like with the grass, she struggled to do so and almost collapsed from the strain.

'You've been drained of Quintessence for nearly two deca-phoebs. Your powers are not going to be effective.' Narti summed up.

"Well, I wouldn't be in this mess if your people didn't abduct me." Lapis bitterly responded. "I've been trapped on a planet I don't care about for over five-thousand years, and as I was finally going to return home, I get captured, turned into a gladiator, and experimented on to the point where death would've been merciful. So, I want you to tell me why I should give a jank about who wants to speak to me?"

'It is true. The Galra did add more to whatever suffering you already had.' Narti sympathetically told. 'But that's why you should speak with my master. He seeks to bring Zarkon, Haggar and the entirety of the Galra Empire to justice for their crimes. However, to do that, he needs people like you.'

"What do you mean? Gems?" The blue lady questioned.

'Outcasts.' Narti clarified. 'My father was a soldier of the Empire; he fell in love with a local from a planet that was recently conquered at that time. Galra genes are highly recessive; therefore, I don't look like a normal Galran. Because of that, Zarkon had my parents killed then tried to kill me. All of that, was because I was born a half-breed. I escaped before they could harm me, and then I eventually met him...'