"Let him go, you monster!"

I can't believe it.

A green gem wearing dark green armor has its arms wrapped around a screaming Jay. Ryker is unconscious. Peridot is screaming insults at the gem while slashing at the armor with a stick. Pine and Violet are hanging on the rope ladder with horrified expressions.

I slowly back away into the weaponry, and pick up an ax, leaving the two grapes in the place of the ax. I run back into the entrance of the hideout and throw the ax at the gem with all of my might, not sure what the heck I'm doing.

The green gem nimbly dodges the ax, and it impales the wall behind her.

We lock eyes for a few seconds, glaring at each other.

I dash back to the weaponry, and return with an armful of knives. I start shooting knives at the gem, and none of them hit her. One does slice through the ropes of the ladder, though.

I'm not quite sure why Pine and Violet are here, but now they're on the ground.

"Don't just stand there, you idiots, help me fight!" I hiss at the two Spinel gems.

Pine makes a face at me, but reluctantly summons a spear from her gem on her neck. Violet does the same, and both gems impale the huge armored gem from the back as I distract her from the front.

The huge warrior disappears into a small green gem on the ground in a matter of seconds. Jay falls to the floor, and then runs up to me.

"What was that?" I ask, hugging Jay.

Peridot sighs. "That was a Serpentine, a very loyal gem to Blue Diamond. She always is exploring and seeking out enemies, claiming that she's doing something good."

Pine rolls her eyes. "She's made us lose our home twice before. And now she's here?"

"Yeah, speaking of that, why are you two here?" I crouch down to examine the gemstone.

"I knew that you would need our help eventually, so we tracked down your location to this hideout," Violet says, picking up the gem. "We need to get rid of this before she reforms and tells Blue Diamond about you."

"What is going on?" Jay yells.

"A bad gem found your shelter and tried to kidnap you to show Blue Diamond that humans are still alive. We also found your shelter, but when we saw Serpentine, we didn't know what to do." Pine explains, surprisingly patient.

"And what about that one?" Jay points to Peridot. "Why is that one here, too?"

"I need you and your sister's help with something that can affect all of the gem colonies on Earth, to put it simply. Your sister brought me down here to meet you and the dead one over there." Peridot tells Jay, waving over to Ryker.

"Ryker's dead?" Jay exclaims.

"No, no, no, he's just unconscious!" Violet jumps in quickly. 

I try not to smile. Even though I haven't known Pine, Violet, or Peridot for very long, I didn't expect them to be so good with kids. 

"Are you okay, uh, person?" Violet asks me. "I'm sorry, I don't know your name." 

"It's Stella." I mutter. "I'm fine. J-just in shock. How are you guys so calm?"

"We get randomly attacked all the time," Pine says, rolling her eyes. "We're used to it by now."

"We were very surprised when we first found the hideout. We were wondering why Serpentine would take Jay until Pine figured it out." Violet adds with a small smile.

I tighten my embrace on Jay. "Peridot, I don't know how much I want to go on this adventure to find the Crystal Gems."