EIGHT

So the Lunarians are directly attacking the school with something large, and Sensei's meditating.

Ah, perfect. We're all gonna be taken to the moon now for sure.

As the four of us sprinted towards the school, we saw the Lunarians drop that large "thing", which resembles a grossly oversized snail's shell, towards the open corridor, before maintaining their position over the building.

The shell hit the pond, bounced up and rolled on the ground before falling onto its side, startling two gems just beside it..

Dia and Phos jumped onto one of those floating grass patches, while I took my place on one of those behind.

Wait, is that Jade and Euclase?

Yep, it's them.

"Jade! Euc! Above you!" Dia shouted, alerting the two gems to the hovering Lunarins ahead.

"When did they get there?" I heard Jade mutter.

Bort had already rushed forward, jumping up from the shell and towards the cloud.

"Bort's here, huh. Guess we don't have to worry," Jade said, visibly relaxing.

"Jade!" Euc lightly admonished.

"Right, sorry."

As Dia watched along with them, I raised my eyebrow at Phos, who has resorted to hiding behind Dia for some reason.

A "What?" look was what I got in return.

"Phos," Diamond called while she grabbed the blueish-green gem's shoulders.

"Huh? Whoaaaaaaa!" Phos cried out as Dia threw them forward. "I'm sorry!" was the reply from Dia as they brandished their sword and jumped up, attempting to join Bort.

Phos slammed into Jade flat front as I stood rooted, unsure of what to do.

"You again!" Jade shouted at Phos.

"It's not my fault!"

"Dan..." Euclase called out.

"Huh?"

"Don't stand there, come over. Those two will settle things well."

"Oh, alright," I replied as I hopped over those grass patches and landed on the corridor.

It was just a short while before I noticed the cloud disperse. Both of them had finished the job, I thought.

"Things are complicated between those two, I thought I told you two not to get in their way!" Jade somewhat "reprimanded" both Phos and I.

"'Complicated', Speaker?" I heard myself say without thinking. "That ain't complicated, that's toxic! Bort's so mean towards Dia!"

"You may be right, but we can't judge, Dan," Jade said, toning it down with a sigh. "Toxic or not we still have no right to interfere. Anyway, that aside, well? Did you two ask Dia?" they resumed their stern tone. "Are you two making progress on that encyclopedia?"

"Master Scholar, just who I was looking for!" Euclase joined in, referring to Phos. It seems that the gems in general still give me some leeway in terms of slacking away, perhaps since I was barely a few days old.

"And what do you need?" Phos played along with a deeper voice along with a thinking pose.

"That there," Euclase said, pointing to the shell. Do find out what it is."

"Right, Dan and I were quite busy, you see," Phos replied, completely dropping her deeper voice.

"The fact that it's still here after the Lunarins have vanished would suggest that it's not from the moon," Euc commented. "This could be a great discovery!"

"Wonderful!" Phos energetically replied, pointing both her fingers at Euc while still holding onto Diamond's broken-off arm and glove. "And I leave that possibility in your hands!"

"Oh, but I am unworthy!"

"It's all yours!"

"My shoulders could not bear the burden!"

"Now listen," Jade chimed in, "take this seriously and do it right." She began to walk away.

"Do let me know when you finish." Euc added, following Jade.

"Wait," Phos asked, "are you serious? No, seriously, I don't have time for this!"

"Come on Phos, it's our job," I replied. Wait, did I hear something behind?

I turned around. Nothing different. But wait, did the shell move?

"...oh." I heard Phos mutter while I kept my eyes on the shell. That's how it happens in movies, right? Look at something that may move and it won't move, right?

Wrong.

The shell began to tip over.

"Woah! Phos, Phos! The shell's entering the pond!"

"Heeeeeeeeey!" Phos yelled at the leaving Jade and Euclase. "I have pressing matters to attend to!"

"Like running away from that thing?" I squeaked as a snail-like creature crawled out of the shell, covering both of us in its shadow.

Phos looked up, seeing the creature directly right above them.

Oh no!

"Phos!" I shouted as I attempted to shove her away.

It was too late.

The creature had swallowed up Phos whole, leaving behind only Dia's glove and arm.

"You're kidding!" I heard Euc say as I stood rooted, paralyzed in complete terror.

But the creature ignored me, instead focusing on someone else behind.

Turning around, I noticed Euclase, brandishing their sword, slice the snail's head in half.

"It broke... No..." I heard Euclase say, holding a now-shortened-to-dagger-length sword.

"No." I uttered while looking at their blade. "Melted."

Suddenly, Euc was swept out of the way by someone. That was Jade, I noticed while I looked up.

"Jade! Your leg!" I heard Euc shout. "Your leg is melting!"

Now, the creature has turned its attention to me.

I couldn't move.

I really couldn't move as the creature hovered its head over me.

Is this my end?

Is this where I join God permanently?

Apparently not, as Bort jumped down and sliced the creature.

"Get out of there newbie! Now!"

Regaining my control over my body, I instinctively ran off as fast as I could.

I ran.

It wasn't until I realized that I've ran too far away that I made myself stop and turn around.

"Where are you, you runt?" I heard Bort call out, noticing them staring at the snail before jumping down and using their hair to slice the creature.

It didn't work.

What kind of coward are you? These thoughts...

Haven't you ran away enough, Nicole?

Look where it led you back as a human!

I thought you had some form of courage left when you shielded Phos from Bort. Now I see that you're just a coward trying to act brave.

I felt a wave of anger well up inside me.

Oh come on, you know you're not a coward, if you're insulted by that maybe you should prove it.

Go on, be a hero.

Please, bring Phos back.

The last thought spurred me on enough, and I sprinted back.

"Newbie! What do you think you're doing?! You can't fight!"

I charged ahead, ignoring Bort's shouts. Now's not the time, Phos needs me.

"Danburite!"

Almost there.

With a yell of anger, I prepared to slam myself into the creature's body.

"GIVE ME BACK MY PHOS, YOU MONSTER!"1

"DANBURITE! STOP!"

I felt someone tackle me, throwing me onto the ground.

"This isn't the time to play hero!" Bort shouted as they brought me up a pillar, out of reach from the creature.

"Hey, runt! What's going on in there?"

The creature crawled away.

"If you're only going to wait and hope things go your way..." I heard Bort mumble, "you're better off just giving up."

No response.

However, something started forming on the shell.

No, somethings.

Multiple cracks filled with Phos' green had started to form.

Looking around, it seems like Dia has noticed it too.

"Hmph, no response? What a both-"

"Bort!" I called out, "Look!"

"It's Phos!" Dia joined in, "Phos might have found something!"

The snail swung its tail onto the pillars, prompting the two diamond-class gems to jump off and land on another pillar, Bort dragging me along.

"Phos..." Dia muttered.

"Phos!" they shouted. "Are you in there?"

The snail attacked again, but this time we only headed upwards of the same pillar.

The snail saw their actions, and managed to intercept them with a hit.

Flying backwards, the three of us landed on another pillar.

"Newbie! Watch for yourself!"

"Hu-WHAAAAAA?!"

Without warning, Bort launched me away from the scene, sending me towards the ground in an increasingly-steeper gradient as I lost forward speed.

Covering my face and upper torso in a bracing position, I landed arms-first, instantly shattering them before rolling a couple of times, stopping face-up.

Hearing a large roar, I tilted left. Both Bort and Diamond had somehow managed to trick the snail into striking itself, in particular one of the green spots of the shell.

I saw Dia lunge forward towards the snail. "Don't do it! Stand back!"

Dia still continued charging, sliding on the snail's long tail before jumping up and striking the center portion of green spots, which happened to run down the entire shell's center.

Something spurt out (presumably some of the creature's internals, ew), the creature cried out one last roar of pain and rolled backwards.

Bort caught Dia just before the shell rolled straight into the pond, sinking.

"I told you to stand back!" I heard Bort shout.

Struggling to get up, I rolled and rested on my chest, slowly pulled myself into a kneeling position before finally being able to get up.

"Huh? What is it?"

"Oh, is it more Lunarians?"

"Looks like things are settled already."

"I didn't even get to see them! Why didn't the bell go off like usual?"

Those were various gems looking from upstairs that I heard as I walked towards Dia and Bort.

Taking my place beside Dia, I noticed Jade and Euclase rush up.

"So it's just some type of snail then," Bort commented, staring at a creature crawling up one of the floating grass patches. "It shrivels up in salt water, just like you'd expect."

"Heaa?" I heard the creature say.

"This would all have been so obvious," Bort continued, "but thanks to that imbecile, we wasted our time and energy here."

"B-but thanks to Phos, we pinpointed its weak spot," Dia said. "I'm sure a little credi-"

"Who deserves credit?!" Bort shouted. "When Phos gets back, there's going to be a beat-down."

"I told you," I find myself blurting out, "if you want to get through to Phos you can deal with me first. But now, I'm not interested in a fight, my priority is to get Phos out of the pond. So unless you want this armless gem to struggle bringing up her fellow friend all by herself," I told Bort while heading to the edge of the pond, "stop arguing and give me a hand."

I held my breath in and jumped.

Sinking to the bottom, I landed on the shell itself. Standing on the shell, I looked around.

Phos, where are you?

"I like your attitude, newbie," Bort said as they landed beside me.

"Sorry," I replied. "It's just that you have a really terrible attitude."

"You're the first around to say that to me," Bort replied with a hint of surprise. "That being said," they continued, grabbing my shoulder, "you're in no position to help. Go to the doctor to get your arms back."

They then threw me straight up, out of the water and onto the corridor.

"Ah!" I uttered as I hit the floor.

"Dan! Are you alright?" Dia asked, concerned.

"Yeah, it's nothing, Bort just threw me up, told me to go look for Rutile. Hey Dia," I turned to them, "can you help me pick up my parts and bring them to Rutile?"

---------------------------

Some time later I was at the doctor's corner, Rutile piecing my arms back other just a really short distance away.

"Hey, Rutile."

"What is it?"

"Before Phos got eaten by that snail, I tried to push her out."

"And how did that go?"

"I failed." I looked down. "Even with my hardness, I'm so brittle. That's not an issue, but in combat, I'm timid and can't react quickly enough. I'm just useless, I guess."

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Dan, look at me."

I lifted my head to face Rutile.

"Nobody blames you, you're barely days old. Of all the gems that are here, those who started combat initially were terrible at it, this isn't something born into you. Dia, Jade, even Bort had their times where they were terrible. You just need practice."

I sighed. "Got it. Thanks, Rutile."

"My pleasure. And so you know," they added while heading back to my nearly-reassembled arms, "Dia is brittle too."

"Yeah, I've heard."

A short few minutes later, Rutile had reassembled my arms, and shortly reconnected them to me.

"Thanks, doc."

"No problem. Now, you can rest there for a bit, I'll be lying on this table."

As Rutile laid down, I followed suit on the side seats. Staring into the sky, I allowed my mind to wander.

Well, big man, I hope this long-term healing session works. I guess it's taking effect, all the people here are really nice and supportive. Speaking of which, I regret not being able to save Phos. Though, she should be fine, right? Well, they, but who cares? Seriously though, why do I get a nagging feeling in my chest? Is there someth-

"Emergency! We have an emergency!"

"What?" Getting up, I noticed Dia, Bort, Jade and Euclase running towards the doctor. Dia in particular was holding a bowl with something in it.

Isn't that the snail thing from earlier?

"Alright, alright," Rutile answered, getting up. "So someone was eaten up by a snail and fell into the pond, yes? I know who's it, but it was Phos, right?"

The creature squeaked. Or did whatever it made to sound like that. I'll just go with "squeak".

"There, you'll be okay," Dia told the snail, setting the bowl down onto the table beside Rutile. "I'm sure Rutile would be able to figure something out."

The creature replied with another squeak.

"Oh, thank goodness, Phos!"

"Wait, what?" I asked in puzzlement as Rutile stared at Bort, pointing at Dia.

Bort simply looked away.

"Hehe, you're so happy, aren't you?" Dia told the creature.

"What's going on?" I asked again, still not getting the situation.

"You diamonds," Rutile said, "neither you nor your jokes are ever dull."

"I'm serious!" Dia retorted.

"Phos was swallowed up by a giant snail the Lunarians dragged in," Jade explained. "But this is all that's left. The shell was completely empty."

"A 'shell' of its former self, you mean?" Rutile asked.

I had to freaking cover my mouth to stop myself from giggling.

Rutile on the other hand openly laughed at her joke as Jade watched in annoyance.

"I must say," Rutile uttered while stopping, "that's really a terrible joke-"

"I am reporting the situation!" Jade suddenly shouted, making me jump.

"Well then, let's cut into it, shall we?" Rutile stood up.

The snail shrieked in shock.

"Wait!" Dia said, quickly picking up the bowl and hiding it behind a back.

"Honestly, I can't say if it would work with this slimy little thing," Rutile said, "but if that is truly Phos, it should be fine."

"Wait, I'm still not following you guys," I said. "What do you mean 'that's truly Phos'?"

"We're saying," Bort explained, "that that thing," pointing towards the snail, which has crawled up Dia's shoulder, "is that runt you're friends with."

I blinked.

"SAY WHAT?"