Summary:
Sometimes ... they make a half
Gus watched as Willow wrote on a blackboard. "Anyone else getting major Luz vibes right now?"
"I thought I was the only one who noticed." Lucci mentioned. "The sudden downward spiral, a burst of anger, a tinge of excitement and a massive dose of obsessiveness. She pulled a full Luz in a record of thirty seconds:"
"You know, that does define you too." Said girl pointed out.
"Nah, he's become the norm for violent bouts of unbound rage … he actually beat Boscha out on that front surprisingly." Amity noted.
"And I have never been super obsessed with anything other than my lovely angel; so you lose points there." Lucci admitted
"You know, I'm kinda excited. If nobody gets hurt, this seems like a really fun idea." Vee smiled. For some reason, Willow wanted to do this at the gem temple instead of the cabin.
"So you guys planning something super witchy today?" Amethyst asked, munching on a couch cushion of all things. "You gonna open a portal to hell and fight eldritch abominations?"
"Why do you feel like you need to add to our daily troubles?" Pearl asked with a sigh. "We already have enough on our plate as it is."
"Hey, just saying anything could happen." The purple gem shrugged.
Willow finally turned to them. "My fellow Witches, Gems, and other species … May I present to you." She pulled down the sheet over the board. "Operation Garden."
"Garden girl wants to make a garden. What. A, Shocker." Boscha rolled her eyes. "You just blew my mind with that completely unexpected idea of yours."
"Gardens are all about growing life." She went on without missing a beat. "And we are going to do that … in the kindergarten!" She shouted, showing the image. "We are going to turn the barren wasteland into a tropical paradise!"
"Ludicrous." Pearl shot down. "Willow, I can see that you have great intentions, and I applaud you for them, but the idea of growing any form of life in the kindergarten is impossible. The nutrients and minerals have all been depleted."
"With this group, impossible can screw off!" She shouted. "I've done the tests, I've experimented with the soil. It IS possible to restore the minerals and nutrients back into the ground." She pulled out a multicolored flower. "This is Kindergarten soil integrated with rose tears and plant magic."
"You used the tears…the thing that brings plants to life…into monsters….Willow, when are you this reckless?" Gus asked.
"When it turns normal plants into monsters, it turns no plants into plants. That's science." Willow grinned.
"... Sadly, I can't actually deny it isn't." Connie muttered.
"With both, I'm able to do it, but it takes a giant strain on me to keep the plants alive without them dying on me, so I need to kick my power into overdrive." Willow continued. "Which is why for this to have any hope at working at all, I need to fuse with Lucci."
"Wait….you're actually….WANTING me to help you with something plant related?" Lucci asked.
"It's a bit of a severity threshold, but I am willing to risk plant monsters living inside of the Kindergarten." Willow stated firmly. "That will at least mean something is living there, and life is always better than a dead barren wasteland…no offense Amethyst, that's not a reflection of you."
"Nah, it's fine. I know how horrible the place is." The gem waved off. "Your plan sounds crazy fun. I'm in."
"Yeah, I'm down for reviving a dead place. We can make Amethyst's home look nice." Vee smiled.
"Yeah … I dunno …" Lucci looked away.
"It's weird to hear you have any doubts about a crazy idea." Hunter pointed out.
"No, I don't have doubts about the idea, it sounds crazy fun compared to this mundane town." Pearl had a very mixed look on that. "It's more … Orchid."
"Look, I'm mad that you hid it, but I'm not gonna hate you for it." Amity said with an eye roll.
"Not that … when Cherry raced against Kevin they almost killed him."
"I thought we didn't regret that?" Boscha asked.
"And I don't." Pearl looked close to screaming at that one. "But for a moment … I don't know how to describe it … Cherry was in control, not us."
"What?" Gus asked. "Like, Moldavite ?" That was really worrying.
"A little, we didn't hate what Cherry did, maybe we would've done it without them…but in a moment where we would just drive ahead of the bastard and scream, Cherry thought it would be better to ram him off the road, and they did." Lucci said while looking down. "Willow; I want to help you, and I will be there for you, but know that forming Orchid, heck, forming fusions in moments like this, outside of any serious battle, might not go the way you want it to."
Willow looked shocked for a moment, before turning to the usually silent gem in the room. "Garnet, you're a fusion. Any advice?"
The gem stood silent for a minute, likely in deep thought over it. "It all depends. Is this something you passionately believe in, or are you using it as a type of escape? Fusion, above all else, is in essence an experience. With you as you are now, can you say, without a doubt, Orchid will be a pleasant experience?"
"I mean … Orchid usually is. Beat up jerks, violent release of bottled up rage, growing life on a scale large enough for the whole world to see, bonding with my friend." Willow listed off.
"I have so many concerns about that." Pearl murmured.
"Then it's a good thing I don't listen to anything you have to say." Lucci responded. "Alright Willow, if you're certain, then let's do it."
"The plan is on!" The girl gave a bright smile. "To the Kindergarten!"
Gus turned back to the others. "Orchid's good in a fight…but is this really something we should let happen?"
"What can I say, Fusion is the most cathartic experience one can have." Luz shrugged. "Remember Amuck?" She asked Amity.
"Every feeling of platonic, familial, and romantic love I could experience happened all at once." Amity said with a smile. "If it helps her take the edge off, then I don't really see the problem with letting it happen."
"I have a couple." Boscha grumbled.
"Don't be like that. It's completely platonic." Willow said.
"You say that, but we literally have one lasting thousands of years that's clearly above 'just friends'." Boscha pointed to Garnet.
"Chill girl, the cg's fuse all the time, no big deal." Amethyst waved off. "We get in our groove, get stuff done, feel good, and wait till next time. Super casual."
"Fusion isn't something to horde, it's about all parties giving something of themselves towards something greater. Having thoughts of possession and the right to control the process is how you get unstable fusions." Garnet continued.
"Then how come none of you fused when Jasper and Peridot came?" Lucci asked skeptically. "Or when Moldavite attacked in the Kindergarten? Because both times I've fused, and it helped out, alot."
"Lapis spent six thousand years in a mirror and is very … angry and uncomfortable with the concept, so she won't fuse." Vee justified.
"As for the rest of us.." Pearl began to explain. "It's a rather difficult process and we only do so if the situation is absolutely…"
"We're all a bit of a mess when put together if you couldn't tell." Amethyst summed up.
"Ah, makes sense." Lucci nodded. "So are we getting this little project rolling or what?"
"Go grab Lapis, we're getting a lake of Rose's Tears!" Willow shouted.
"You know that won't refill if you take too much right?" Garnet stated. "We need it for Vee's Diet." Yeah, that wouldn't end well.
"Well where else are we going to get … magical plant liquid …" As Luz trailed off, she stared at Lucci.
"I know, I know, I'll get about ten gallons of water to backwash in." Lucci rolled his eyes.
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Garnet watched as Lucifer coughed. "Oh titan … please Willow, never make me do this again … it went down the wrong pipe five times."
"Don't worry Lucci, I promise that this is all going to be worth it." The plant was reassured, dumping the backwashed water all over the ground.
"Are we really going to indulge this? Rose's abilities have never been experimented like this before." Pearl expressed her worry. "Her powers and the magic from the boiling isles have never exactly been the most stable."
"Worse case scenario we get a couple of rude pumpkins to beat up." Hunter shrugged. "I don't see why everyone makes a big fuss about the 'Vegetable Incident' or whatever. I fought Clawthornes plant monsters without a problem."
"Last time you had your hack staff after depleting me of all my energy and had me cornered from every angle." Lucifer groaned. "The first two times it took everything we had to grind them into mulch."
"So much horror both times …" Amity shivered. "But Orchid's controls plants without fail, so if anything comes alive, they should be able to kill it before anything else happens."
"That does not fill me with any confidence." Pearl mumbled. "Garnet, we should at least practice caution…"
"They're going to attempt to do this whether we're here or not. I don't need to use my future vision for that." Honestly since Vee revealed herself, Sapphire, and by proxy, Garnet, has been using Future Vision significantly less, mainly to focus on the present, raising her daughter. "The best course of action is to not antagonize them anymore." Something Pearl was rather keen on doing with her insistence.
"Okay, they're all planted." Willow smiled. "All that's left is the fusion."
"So, how do you guys dance? Fun like me, or Boring like Pearl?" Amethyst asked.
"Dance?" Luz asked.
"You know, for the fusion?"
"We … don't dance for fusion." Gus said with a raised eyebrow.
"At first we thought we had to be in life threatening danger for it, but after one of my test fests, we realized that I just basically need to get along with people, and because we're all friends here, most I need to do is hold their hands." Lucifer answered.
"That's true." Garnet nodded. "We just dance because it helps us get in sync." Especially for Pearl and Amethyst. "It shows tremendous skill and trust in your friends for it to activate easily."
"And to think he was actually the least trusting out of all of us." Luz snickered.
"Ah yes, the days of Emo Lucci." Willow grinned.
"I can leave anytime I want, just saying." Lucci glared.
"Sorry, couldn't resist." Willow laughed. "It's time…let's do this."
They all watched as the two gripped hands, instantly enveloped by the pink glow. The boy fuses a lot, doesn't he? He has a lot of strong bonds with his friends.Wish we could've helped with that.
Eventually, a druid-like figure emerged. "How amusing." They smirked. "Rarely does this goddess show herself for anything but destroying pests."
"Goddess?"
"Yeah, the fusions all have their own preferred pronouns." Boscha rolled their eyes. "Willow's ego gets inflated with the power boost and makes them think they're some sort of deity."
"You sure it's not the other way around?" Hunter asked with a deadpan tone.
"No, it's Willow. Pretty sure Lucci's an atheist." Luz commented.
"I dunno, the pride in beating up all enemies without fail definitely doesn't seem like a Willow move." Gus noted.
"Do you wear blindfolds? Everytime Willow fights, she gets brutal. She was the strongest one back then in our days as Kid Law." Amity said.
"Willow's the brutal one?" Vee asked. "I thought Lucci was the one that constantly tries to maim people."
"Look, we're both pretty proud of our power and skills, and we like beating up our enemies, especially when they belittle us and try to make us feel weaker than we really are." Orchid piped. "Can't we just say both Lucci and Willow share common ground when it comes to annihilating enemies and protecting friends?"
The group looked at each other, before shrugging. "Fair enough." Gus shrugged "Say, speaking of pronouns, why are all gems women?"
"Because the human language doesn't have pronouns for 'mass of light formed from a specific stone'." Pearl answered with a bit of an annoyed tone. "Our forms for the most part just happen to appear particularly feminine, so when organic species began labeling us as female, it just stuck."
"Stay back mortals." The fusion grinned, raising their right hand as it took on a layered aura of pink and green. "And watch a deity at work." They held out their hand over the plants. "Rise." The ground began to shift, soil moving away … as small flowers began to pop out of the ground, one after the other. "Success!"
"Whoa…actual color…in the kindergarten!" Amethyst kneeled closer. "There's actually something in here other than lifeless rocks….I…it's so beautiful." She wiped her eyes.
"Amethyst, are you crying?" Pearl asked the shorter gem.
"No, I'm sweating through my eyes!" The purple gem shouted indignantly.
"But Amethyst, when you cry, I cry." Vee began to tear up. "I don't want you to feel bad!"
"I don't feel bad…I feel good…oh come here you kitty fish snake thing!" The two shapeshifter's held each other tightly and sobbed.
"I suppose this is impressive." Pearl nudged at the blooming flowers.
"Impressive? It's amazing!" Luz shouted. "Willow and Lucci just made life from nothing! They've earned that deity status."
"Pray to me, for I have achieved the impossible, and brought beauty on to this lifeless wasteland!"
"Oh barf." Boscha groaned, and got slapped in the back by a vine. "Watch it, Half a witch!"
"I didn't do that." Orchid said.
"Of course something coming from Clawthorne would be this messy." Hunter rolled his eyes, and got a tree stump shoved into his back, knocking him into the ground. "Oh, real mature Clawthorne!"
"Again, not doing that." They growled, turning to the ground. "They must want room to grow. should give them space." Orchid bowed to the forming grass and trees. "Don't worry, my lovelies. Mama Orchid is going to take care of you from now on." Vines began wrapping around their legs. "Aww, it's a little puppy, giving out cuddles and love."
"They're kind of surrounding you, don't you think?" Gus pointed out, noticing that all the vines were beginning to cover Orchid all over their body. "Maybe you should move out of there."
"Look, I have the situation under control." The fusion rolled their eyes. "Come on now, I'm not going anywhere. No need for anything drastic." Vines tightened around Orchid, pulling her into the soil. "Hey, stop it now. I'm warning you."
"I thought you said she had control over all plants." Pearl said, cautiously backing away.
"Orchid does, they've acted like this before." Luz said. "Come on, Orchid, this is just a joke right? Show everyone that you have everything under control."
"Listen, I WILL get rough if you guys don't-MMMM!!" They tried to scream as leaves grew over their mouth. "Mmmmmmmmmh!"
"Lucci! Willow!" Amity summoned her abomination much and formed it into a blade. "Don't worry, I'll cut you out of there-!"
{Grass consumes them all from below}
"Everyone, get on your Palisman, we need to head to high ground!" Garnet yelled to all of them, grabbing Vee and jumping to higher grounds.
Boom
Trees, flowers, vines, all sorts of flora emerged from the ground, crawling across the entire kindergarten. Grass, trees, tulips, Corn, every plant of every type was forming on the ground of the once thought to be dead Kindergarten soil…and it showed absolutely NOsign of stopping.
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Amity was barely able to avoid getting caught by a vine wrapping around her as she grabbed Luz, narrowly escaping the foliage that was swallowing up the canyon. "Yeah, she has GREAT control over this!" Boscha shouted. "Freaking fantastic!"
"She usually does! We've never had this problem pop up before!" Gus shouted back. "What could've gone wrong!?"
"A lot of factors actually." Amity brought up. "Something in the kindergarten messing up the process, the amount of magic spit we ended up using, mixing that much with plant magic in general.."
"Either that or Lucci was right." Luz suggested. "And his fusions are just starting to go haywire."
"No…fusions don't just go out of control like this…there's something deeper involved." Garnet gazed down. "Have any of you noticed any particular mental or emotional problems either of them have been facing?" Every witch sent the gem a 'really' look. "It's a legitimate question."
"Have you met Clawthorne, there's any number of explanations." Hunter brought up a pretty fair point.
"Not to mention that with this group you'd be hard pressed not to find emotional damage and repression in anyone." Gus said. "We're still not entirely sure if Luz got rid of Pearl's toxic mentality."
"Just give me the word and I'll throw her gem into a volcano." Amity rubbed her girlfriend's arm. She was NEVER going to forgive the pale lady for that fiasco.
"She could have quit any-not important." The gem rolled her eyes from the cliff side. "This was Rose's dream come true, what she wanted more than anything in the universe." Pearl looked at the now green valley in terror. "How could it turn out so horrifying?"
"It looks kinda like the Boiling Isles." Luz brought up. "But more green instead of red."
"..Okay, that explains WHY it looks so horrifying, but that doesn't explain…"
"No, she means it literally." Gus pointed to the nearby wall of vines forming…into a building…a palish green…almost fleshy looking building, with flower replacing where the eyeballs would've been. "It forming into some plant copy of Bonesburrow."
"Hello, nightmares, I didn't miss you." Vee muttered.
"This is so surreal." Amity looked at the town, there were squashes in the shape of people., pumpkins that looked like flying eyeballs, griffons made out of potatoes.
"Why the heck does a massive out of control forest look like the demon realm?" Amethyst asked the obvious question.
Her girlfriend stared at the structure. "Hey Garnet?" Luz asked. "How much of the subconscious is inside of a fusion?"
"By all accounts, a fusion is derived from a combined subconscious given manifestation." Garnet stoically answered.
"So for two people with the power to make things desperately missing home?" There was a moment of silence.
"So this is basically clawthrone missing his mom so much that he creates another world.." Hunter began saying.
"Hunter, this isn't just Lucci doing this…this is Willow too." Amity interrupted. "Out of all of us, she's done the most to keep her pain on the inside and help the rest of us. Can you tell me honestly for a second that if an outlet to unleash every frustration and worry they had for a moment of peace, that they wouldn't indulge in it?" Dang it, she was so focused on Luz she forgot to help another friend who had a habit of downplaying pain.
"We have a problem." Garnet spoke. "The growth isn't stopping at the edges of the kindergarten." She pointed to the mace of grass growing up the walls, growing past the warp pad, even on the ground they were standing on. "If Orchid truly lives up to even one percent of her Goddess epithet, this won't stop at all. The streets, towns, cities, it'll just keep growing and growing until there's nothing left to cover.
"Then we'll put them down before it starts." Boscha pulled out a boiling green bottle. "I've been waiting for a while to take down one of Lucci's lesser fusions."
"Is that the potion you used to make the fog dance away?" Amity asked. Her dreams got extra trippy after seeing that.
"No, after that I've begun trying to go simpler and widen the variety a bit." The three eyed girl smirked. "This one's essentially a concoction of every single type of weed killer and acid thrown into one package."
"Anyone else think it's not a good thing she just had that ready?" Vee asked.
"A little, but I'm pretty sure she had a potion planned to take all of us out." Gus nodded.
"I do, and you'll never see it coming."
"The truly sad part is that given the context, that's actually a very valid contingency plan." Luz sighed in admittance. "Okay guys, let's try to kill a sentient forest." She pulled out the sword. "Feet planted, stand firm, don't bend…" The girl muttered to herself.
"See, I taught her everything she needed to-"
"You're not off the hook!" Amity aimed her abomination at the pale gem's neck, before glaring down at the ground. "Don't worry Willow, Lucci, we'll get you out of there."
========================================================================
"LET ME OUT!"Orchid screamed, pulling against the vines. Why won't it let go, I don't want this!Neither do I! Yeah, like I'm having a party here! "I am your mother, listen to me!"They managed to break a vine, only for two more to take its place. "COME ON!"
Why is it going so out of control!? Did we use too much spit?! Somehow I doubt it, it took a lot just to get any kind of reaction at all! They're not responding to us in the slightest, it has to be something in the ground. Maybe they're going overboard to compensate for the lack of life here.
Then again they couldn't really get a good look on the situation, considering the leaves growing over their face and the vines kept their feet constantly rooted into the ground. They were at the epicenter of what was a continuously growing lush and plentiful forest, and they weren't in control of any of it. Why is something so beautiful turned into something so horrifying? Strangely enough that's the reverse of most things in our life … okay, if plant magic isn't working, gem magic is our next bet. Orchid pulled out a razor disk. "Last chance. Set me free or I begin to cut you up. And I don't know who that's going to hurt more between us."
"Crrrreeeeeeeeeeeeee." The plants let out a cry, presumably of mercy. It's so painful, I wanted to give life, not take it away. I promise, I'll find you the rarest and most beautiful tree after this, no matter where I have to steal it from.
"I gave you the ultimatum, release your goddess!" She shouted. "Failure to obey will result in your demis-"
" Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiioooooooooooooowwwwwwww." The plants creaked again, as something began shaping.
Did…. Did it just say your name?
One of the trees began creaking ominously, wrapping its branches around them as they … shifted into a burly … Dad?
"Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiillllllloooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwww." Another body formed the trees, this one made out of vines wrapped around each other to give a slightly less burly looking figure.
We need to defuse, now. But…Willow, whatever's going on is only getting worse the longer we're like this. Your mind is messing with this, we're causing all this chaos.
"Luuuuucccciiiiiiii."Another tree formed into a womanly figure with bushy hair.
… Correction, we're causing all this chaos. Damn it, this is not the time, we got to split now!
They aimed their razor disk at the vines, but only for more vines to bind their arms. Willow, Lucci, I could really use the extra mental push right about now!
Trying to split … come on Willow! Why is it going so wrong, I'm just trying to keep everything together. Hunter, Luz, Gus, Amity, heck, Boscha…they're all suffering… What the … Willow, you're literally keeping us together now! We can't defuse!
More plant arms and figures wrapped around them, burying the fusion deeper. Willow, whatever's going on, just tell me, it's going to be alright! It's not alright! I haven't helped anyone since coming here! Back home I was at least semi stable enough to back everyone up, now I can't do anything for anyone! We beat up Jasper, we helped the moss bloom, you're not useless Willow! Then why is everything still so horrible!? It feels like we're on a ticking time bomb every minute we're here!?
Willow, I just don't like it here and the people are morons. That's not on you nor is it your responsibility! It used to be! I was the strong one in Law, I kept us together until I kept us apart! I already forgave you for when we're kids! It's not your job to watch out for all of us anymore!Somebody has to, we don't have our parents to help out anymore!
Guys, we're LITERALLY drowning in your emotional angst! This would normally be the part where we split, why aren't we splitting!? It's just like your time as Cherry….you have so much similar emotional baggage it's keeping you sync! Wait, what kind of baggage am I bringing!? How about the Mama Eda hugging us to oblivion!?
"Luuuuucccccccciiiiiiiiii….." The wooden version of Eda squeezed them hard and affectionately. "Luuuuuuuuuucccccccccciiiiiiiii.
Keep it together, keep it together…. Stop saying that, it's only making it worse! GUYS...…!
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Hunter zipped through a barrage of cactus spines as Boscha began throwing her weed killer potion at the vines. "Take that, and that, and THAT, AND THAT!" Walls of vines began melting into green mushy goop.
"Were you planning on using those against Willow today? You packed so many." Vee asked as she clung to Garnet's back.
"I always planned on murdering most of these losers. Storing counter potions just became a habit." The three eyed witch answered. "And you can't tell me with how many times plants have gone crazy in this group that something like this isn't practical."
"She's still a jerk, but you can't deny she isn't pragmatic." Gus said as he flew around, ducking under cannon fire of a fruit he was told was called a 'coconut'. Which was strange, it didn't look like any nut he's seen.
"And one and two and three!" Luz shouted as she cut through vines, a few thorns nicking her arms."Ignore the pain, obtain victory!"
"Pearl, I am going to DOUBLE MURDER you after today!" Amity used her abomination gauntlets to tear through the plants. Maybe someday they could share fighting strategies. Wrestling seemed to improve Blight's combat capabilities.
"Just stay down you plants!" Amethyst rolled into a tree, breaking it apart … as two more trees took its place. "Don't you DARE hydra me, jerks!"
"I can't help but feel slightly conflicted, theoretically by putting an end to the fusion would end the forestation….all the life regained in this place would disappear." Pearl sighed.
"We're trying to kill the life anyway!" Boscha shouted, before an apple was launched into her stomach like a cannonball. "Oh, I am returning the pain ten fold the next time I see your wooden ass, Orchid!"
"We're not getting anywhere!" Gus shouted as he avoided a branch to the head. "They're growing faster than we can tear them down!"
"We can't waste time fighting these things, we need to nab them at the source!" Luz yelled out. "Vee; can you drain the magic out of these plants!?"
"A little!" Vee said, breathing in and sucking one, leaving it withered, only for it to be replaced by a healthy one. "Doesn't really work in mass!"
"It'll have to do! Hunter, you take Vee and make your way towards Orchid!" Luz ordered. "Boscha, give them a couple of your weed killers for extra measure!"
"If you waste them, I'll hurt you more than what Amity plans for the bird nose Gem!" The girl shouted, handing over a bottle to Hunter.
"I have a name you know!" Said gem shouted as she was flung away by the leg.
"I know, and I don't care!" It was a miracle no one in this group managed to kill each other yet.
Hunter grabbed onto Vee, instantly moving them through an opening … "Great, I forgot to take directions into account." He grumbled as the sky was covered in nothing but leaves and branches.
"If it's any consolation, I'm not exactly the best in a combat situation. The gems did all the fighting for me growing up if I was ever in trouble." The basilisk winced, sucking bits of magic from the vines as they narrowly avoided them.
"It's alright, I wasn't expecting much." He answered. "Just try to keep the plants off me while we look for Orchid." What direction … come on. How was someone like the Captain and Clawthorne combined so quiet? Clawthorne was the opposite of subtle and Willow was bold and proud of her capabilities.
For that matter, it baffled him a little to think that Willow could have a problem of any kind. She never let anything get in her way, she was an absolute machine both strength and magic wise, there was a reason why he thought she was Emperor's coven material. Someone like her seemed very put together.
…Then again, he thought the same about Belos, the Coven heads, and himself, and that was proven completely false. And Hunter did see her grow grass on the ground when she probably didn't mean to. Maybe it was something closed off so no one saw … like a mask you wear so nobody sees the real you. It wasn't that hard to pull off, Hunter did it all the time back in the old days-"Watch out!"
"Aaah!" He barely avoided getting hit by an incoming branch in the shape of fist. "Whoa, I really got lost in my own head for a minute there."
"Garnet does the same thing, except she's usually strong enough to avoid getting hurt." Vee responded. "Probably because of future vision-to the left!"
He moved again. "Orchid, if you're out there, say something!" Hunter shouted.
" Memhhehehehehehaamam-/" The sounds of vines ripping were heared before a voice shouted back at him. " Get me the fuck out of here! I'm choking on emotional stress!"
"Vee, make a hole in that direction, I'll warp us through." Once the Basilisk complied, he made his way … to multiple wooden statues hugging a giant bush.
"Wiiiiiiiillllllooooooowwwww…"
"Luuuuuucccccciiiiiiiiiiii….."
"Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy.."
"This is why I prefer earth." Vee winced. "I'm less likely to see traumatic scenes like this."
"There are upsides to living on a mostly quiet planet." Hunter shook his head; teleporting close again. "Willow, Clawthorne, I'm going to have Vee drain some of your magic to weaken the vine, but you need to start fighting your way out of this!"
"Stuck, can't break out. Stay calm, I can fix this. I can fix this. We are way past fixing it Willow!" The wooden being shook violently from their station, but otherwise couldn't leave their spot.
"Just gonna skip the emotional stuff until later." Vee said as she began inhaling. Hunter made sure to back far away from that mess. "Sorry for the headache in advance!"
The plants around them began to die and wither, the vines becoming dust and the wooden figure beginning to fade away- "You won't take away my dads!"
A giant cactus hand was made from the ground, grabbing and pinning vee into a nearby wall. "Ow, ow ow, ow, this hursts, this hurts so freaking much!" The Baslisk cried out
"What the heck!?" Hunter shouted, forced to dodge spines that shot out at him. "We're trying to help!"
"You shouldn't be helping, I'm the one who should be -Willow, when I of all people say we need Golden boy's help, that proves just how screwed we actually are here! I have this, It's under control."
The plants began enveloping Hunter. "Come on …" He warped out. "Where are Sugar and Clover, shouldn't they be helping!?"
"Hiss!" "Bzzz!" The two palisman were stuck in a wooden cage next to the fusion.
"Come on, locking up our palisman! You know that's taking it too far! I'm keeping them safe; I'm keeping everyone safe…"
This..this really was Willow's turmoil here..she was the one suffering the most right now…Hunter needed to bring her out of it! "Captain!" He shouted. "Stop taking this lying down!"
"... WHAT!?"
"Come on, Captain, Clawthorne! You're both stronger than a bunch of overgrown weeds, Especially you Willow! you can fight this, you're in control!"
"I'm not! I'm not … I can't do anything in this place … no matter where I go … I'm always going to be Half a witch Willow…"
"STOP SAYING THAT!" Hunter blipped close, hugging the hybrid under all the vines and thorns. "Never call yourself Half a Witch, Captain! You're the strongest witch I know, and the rest of us know it!" He ignored the cuts and bleeding. "You're more confident than Gus, you control plants far better than Clawthorne, you control your anger better than Boscha, you've kept a more level head than Amity, and Luz and I admire you beyond words! There's nothing WEAK about you!"
"But … but …"
"Come on, you can do this!" He shouted. "Just let everything out, and take these weeds by the throat!" Just like every enemy she'd face with them.
"I … I … " They sniffled. "I MISS MY FAMILY!!"And with that outburst of emotion, the growth exploded, trees hitting walls hard enough to cause cracks, flowers of dark colors blooming all around.
"Captain!/Lucci!" He and Vee ran to the now split bodies. Clawthorne looked more tired while Willow was crying.
"I'm sorry…I'm sorry….I'm sorry…" She kept repeating.
"No, I'm sorry." Hunter held her up. "I'm sorry you felt like you needed to take care of us to the point you pushed aside your own pain." He hugged her tightly. "We can take care of ourselves a bit Captain, it's a team effort."
"Yeah….I'll try to tone down the angry outbursts." Clawthorne held his head. "Ow..,so much emotion coming out at once..I'm going to lay off the fusions for a while, at least until I can guarantee something like this won't happen again."
"Um … guys." They turned to Vee, who was held to a tree by thorns. "A little help here?"
"Ahh! Vee, I'm so sorry!" Clawthorne rushed over and got the Basilisk off. "I'd heal you now but I need to pull out the needles first. Anyone got a rag for her to bite down on?"
"I've got one." Definitely a good idea for Clawthorne to hold off on his fusions for now. Two ballistic incidents were a pattern after all.
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Moldavite gazed at the screen, idly working as she studied the information being fed through the Robonoid scout. "Interesting … even for a fusion, Rose Quartz and the organic shouldn't have the capability of storing that much matter and energy."They noted.
"They'd have to." Peridot oh so 'helpfully' commented. "Otherwise they would break the conservation of mass."
"It's those pointy eared organics. They have semi-capable abilities outside what a normal human is capable of. The purple one was capable of moving a strange purple mud they had complete control over."
" Indeed. There's some sort of internal factor that allows them to have control over elemental and energetic factors."A response to a high nutrient or resource available for bio-integration?
"That still wouldn't justify the situation." Peridot spoke. "Even if they could artificially accelerate the growth of organic flora, the kindergarten is an inhabitable space with no nutrients that would support it, let alone the lack of moisture 'trees' need.
"Yet they were able to summon nearly an infinite amount of forestation. With that kind of capability, homeworld could continuously colonize planets even beyond the reasonable expiration date." If this….magic…could create resources where there were none…then maybe there was a realm of opportunity that was opening up to her. "We need to capture one for analysis."
"Which means we need to combat Rose …" Jasper grinned savagely.
"Have you both forgotten the immediate problem of leaving a dying planet!?" Peridot screamed.
Zap
"Clearly both you morons forgot who was incharge." She growled. "Once we've built the rocket, we capture one and leave the planet to expire."The suit should be capable of combating the amount of energy displayed here, and the combat data from the 'LAW' fusion. "Preferably the tri optical organic."It would be pleasurable to rip her limb from limb.