(I don't own Steven Universe)
I: Provenance, Part I
"All I'm sayin'," a voice emanated from behind Steven, sounding bored, "is that we don't know if the thing is even here for sure."
Momentarily broken from his search, the young Gem looked up for a moment, being careful not to hit his head on a low-hanging branch. He turned towards the voice just in time to see Amethyst pass through the tall grass and into the small clearing he was investigating. Much like her voice, the Gem wore a bored expression on her features, obviously not enjoying the current mission.
A tall figure followed just after Amethyst, having noticeably more enthusiasm. Pearl, unsurprisingly, waved off Amethyst's lazy doubts, chopping at the dense foliage surrounding them with her spear. For a fraction of a moment, a sliver of fatigue could be read on her face. It didn't last too long, but Steven still noticed the brief exhaustion regardless. Pearl shook her head, rolling her eyes towards Amethyst.
"After all these years," she began, shaking the left-over blades of green from her weapon, "I'd think you would stop doubting Garnet."
Steven had felt similar, but didn't want to incite any kind of argument. Thankfully, Amethyst didn't appear to be in any mood for bickering, the Gem unceremoniously falling onto the soft grass underfoot with a *thump* and matching groan. It was enough to get Steven to talk, though not enough for him to mention the couple of beetles Amethyst had probably crushed.
"We haven't been here that long, Amethyst," he reasoned, turning around to continue checking over the same patch of long grass before him. Eventually he'd give it a proper search. A small groan met his logic as he bent towards the ground. Careful not to accidentally harm the small insects crawling out in front of him, Steven heard Amethyst explain herself. At least, her attempt to explain herself.
"But I had plans today," she let out with another groan, blowing a loose lock of hair out of her face. Having heard this argument before, Steven hummed acknowledgement, though moved a little further towards the trees. Ironically enough, Pearl didn't seem to get what Amethyst had meant by "plans". The Gem halted her own search to turn towards Amethyst questioningly.
"'Plans'?" was all she asked, a skeptic look on her face. She was met with a languid shrug as Amethyst draped an arm over her eyes, sighing.
"Yeah," she responded flatly. "Sleepin'. Eatin'. More sleepin'. Y'know, plans."
Not that she could see, but Amethyst felt Pearl's eyes narrow in continued skepticism. "Right," she said with a shake of her head, the roll of her eyes nearly audible. "How could I have forgotten your daily routine."
Chuckling to himself, Steven continued moving through the brush, searching for some semblance of a magic Gem creature. So far, all the three of them had to go off of was a crushed tree near the warp-pad, and that could've happened because of a simple storm. Pearl did have a point about Garnet being right, though. Plus, while the expanse of jungle surrounding them might've been large, finding Gem corruptions had become far easier with practice. Determined to locate their target, Steven took a strong step through the bush in front of him, and promptly felt nothing underfoot.
For a fraction of a second, Steven felt himself enter a free-fall as he heard some exclamation from Pearl. His leg continued moving downwards, missing any surface he had expected to take his weight. Then, a tight lash was thrown around him, instantly yanking him back into the brush he was just searching. It took another few seconds for Steven to come tumbling back to the ground, his senses in a contradictory disarray. He stared up at the tall trees above, still processing what just happened. His mind was as blank as the brief sight he peered through the bush. Amethyst entered his vision with a worried look on her features, shaking her head.
"I know you can float and all," she told him, rolling her eyes, "but it's still a pretty long way down, Steven."
Eventually, he made sense of the last few seconds, and sat up with a curious frown. Pearl's panic was easy to see regardless of whether or not he paid attention to her. Ignoring her comically wide eyes for the moment, Steven moved back to the foliage he was just attempting to search, practically feeling Amethyst's grasp on her whip tighten. Carefully, he moved the vegetation aside, and noticed a stark lack of green past him. Another few moments of stupefaction passed.
"We're on a floating island?" the young Gem questioned aloud, seeing more than a couple clouds at eye-level. Confused, he looked past the edge of the ground, seeing a broken line of dirt where the rest of the jungle should've been. Far below, a vast expanse of yellowed grass stretched seemingly for miles. A light breeze touched his face, carrying the usual chill that came with excessively high altitudes. Steven could feel a cautionary hand placed on his shoulder as he re-evaluated exactly where they were.
"Where else would a flying Gem be?" Pearl reasoned with an unfamiliar laugh. A bit of force could be felt trying to pull Steven back into the jungle alongside a request for him to please step away from the edge. He obliged, but not before a couple more moments of wonder.
"How many of these are there?" he questioned aloud, being careful not to somehow slip and fall backwards. Pearl had a similar paranoia, according to the steady hand on his shoulder. Amethyst wore her own version of worry, keeping her whip out for just a little while longer. She shrugged once he was a sufficient distance away from the edge, saying that she had no clue. Like it was designated protocol, Steven turned towards Pearl for a better answer. She didn't seem able to give one.
"The Diamonds did like their views," she muttered, rolling her eyes. Oddly enough, Pearl didn't say more about the matter, so Steven didn't question. He returned to the mission at hand, placing a thoughtful hand on his chin.
"So," he began, nodding to himself and ignoring Amethyst's slight chuckle at his attempt at seriousness, "If I were a big, corrupt, flying Gem living in a floating jungle, where would I be?"
The other Gems thought alongside Steven, placing their own hands on their chins with respective hums. Amethyst suddenly snapped with a matching "Aha!", accruing the others' attentions. She nodded to herself, as if satisfied that she found the answer first.
"In a floating jungle," she reasoned, looking pleased with herself.
Like Steven had expected, Pearl groaned, saying that much was fairly obvious already. Amethyst shrugged innocently. "I'm not wrong," she explained. After a brief grin, Steven returned to thinking just long enough to hear a subtle shuffle past Amethyst. She didn't seem to hear as much, leaning against a nearby tree with a bored expression. However, she did seem to notice Steven's sudden halt, causing her to do the same.
"What?" she questioned after a few silent seconds. Steven raised a cautionary hand, maintaining the quiet and moving a little towards Amethyst. She could sense enough of his careful motion to stay still. Pearl had done the same, abruptly pausing her movements to avoid making any unnecessary noise. Tentatively, Steven moved past Amethyst, keeping his eyes on the bush behind her. It seemed to be shaking, almost.
Still careful, he reached towards the foliage, preparing for whatever lie behind it. They hadn't seen many Earthen animals in their brief search, so something hiding within the bush denoted some degree of inspection. Just as Steven moved a lock of grass-blades aside, an unrecognizable blur of green sped towards his face with alarming speed.
Battle instincts kicked in, and he threw his hands in front of face, inadvertently catching whatever threw itself at him. The impact was still jarring enough to throw off his balance, and Steven went tumbling to the ground with a harsh grunt. Not even a full second passed when he could hear both Pearl and Amethyst exclaim his name again, much louder than when he nearly fell a dozen hundred feet.
"I got it!" Steven vaguely clarified, getting more of a grip on the mystery creature. After a few moments of struggling, the creature's movements died down enough to let Steven identify it. At least, attempt to. Like Garnet had vaguely described at the mission's start, the Gem appeared analogous to some kind of four-legged bat, sporting the kind of anatomy that would've baffled most people. Steven wasn't most people, though.
"Nice catch!" Amethyst cheered with a noticeable fist pump, dropping to where Steven sat to see their target closer. Pearl gave a similar praise, leaning downwards to see the Gem herself. As if humbled by their gazes, the creature's movements almost ceased entirely, though it still fidgeted nervously. Not that it had much of a face to tell its expression, but Steven got the feeling it was more than a little scared by its quivering. Its small size pushed the idea.
"Now you quit hiding?" Amethyst questioned, jabbing a finger towards the creature. "Took your sweet time, pal."
Curious himself, Steven turned towards Pearl, tilting his head. Sure, he was glad to have found the creature so easily, but with how out of the blue it'd decided to be caught, he felt like he was missing something. Pearl pondered similarly, a thoughtful look spreading across her features.
"Maybe it was attracted to our yells," she reasoned. She moved a little closer to the corruption as if investigating it further. "It doesn't seem to use sight, so there's a good chance it relies on noise."
That made sense to Steven. He'd probably have a hard time seeing things if he lacked eyes, too. The corruption's general fidgeting gradually quieted, though Steven was careful to maintain his grip. At the same time, he found himself trying not to be too forceful in his grasp. Amethyst's features softened as well, reflecting his own doubts about what they'd been sent to capture. The Gem in Steven's hands seemed far smaller than the corruption Garnet had described prior to the mission's start, and its trembling didn't exactly match the supposedly ferocious nature they'd been told about, either. Pearl seemed to have a similar thought process, placing a hand on her chin with a hum. She muttered something about the task being far easier than it should've been, prompting Steven to investigate.
"Is this really the monster?" he asked her simply, understanding Pearl's confusion. The Gem nodded hesitantly.
"It... should be," she affirmed with a hum. Amethyst did the same, leaning backwards in a satisfied pose. Her expression didn't really match. Steven sat up a bit straighter, inspecting the Gem closely. Surely something this small could be apprehended by only one of them. He looked over it carefully, trying to give the corruption a little more space to move. Still, it appeared more terrified than anything else. An odd thought occurred to him just as Amethyst admitted they should probably bubble it.
"Where's her Gem?" he questioned aloud, turning back towards Pearl.
Startled, Pearl raised an eyebrow at Steven. She leaned towards the corruption in his hands, looking for any semblance of a physical Gem on its body and finding none. Piqued, Amethyst moved towards Steven herself, now frowning.
"Somewhere on there," she figured aloud, "right? I mean, that sure as heck ain't any normal animal."
Considering the odd lack of a nose or eyes, unnatural colors, and asymmetrical number of toes on its legs, Steven found himself agreeing with Amethyst. Still, doing another once-over check ensured that no shiny stone could be found on the corruption's body. Pearl promptly hummed, coming up with similar results and not wanting to agree with them.
"It must be inside of it," she deduced. Though not completely outside the realm of possibilities, Steven found it impossible to recall any other corruptions with Gems on their interiors. At the same time, there wasn't really a limit to how odd a corruption's body could get.
A few moments passed as the other Gems considered the notion. Steven hummed, attempting to look inside the corrupted Gem's mouth to be sure. Unfortunately, the use of his hands around the corruption's body made that a little difficult, as it didn't make any attempt to show him where its Gem was. Amethyst hummed herself, an irked frown pulling her eyebrows together. She absentmindedly pulled at a few blades of grass nearby.
"We gotta poof it either way, don't we?" she eventually let out. A sliver of disapproval could be heard in her voice. After realizing she was right, Pearl agreed with a similar caution. Steven frowned, giving the Gem in his hands a lingering look. It didn't exactly seem as severe as they'd assumed. Almost innocent, somehow.
"Wait," he began with a hopeful look on his features. While she wasn't surprised by it, Amethyst's regret noticeably intensified for a moment, knowing what Steven was going to propose. He continued, relaxing his grasp on the small Gem just a tad further. "What if she's like Centipeedle was? She can't be that dangerous, right?"
He didn't like admitting it, but Steven had honestly expected a weathered sigh from Pearl. She didn't speak right away, allowing Amethyst to fill in the quiet first.
"Well..." she began hesitantly, leaning towards the odd bat-like Gem. She reached a careful hand towards its furled wings. "Sure doesn't look dangerous..."
Just as Amethyst could register the hard surface of the Gem's hide, it hissed suddenly, jerking away from the contact. The motion was so sudden that Steven could feel his grasp forcibly loosen further, to the point of being a loose brace at best. By the time he thought to re-tighten his grip, it was too late. The corrupted Gem wriggled itself from his hands, though not as cleanly as it might've hoped. Steven's hand had managed to latch onto one of the Gem's wings in the confusion, and for a brief moment, it seemed like he still had a good hold on keeping the Gem in place. This hope was lost as soon as Steven heard an odd *pop* and was left with nothing more than one of the Gem's wings. Just a second after that, the wing dissipated into dust. The damaged corruption quickly scampered under the grass and back into the jungle, staggering a fair amount.
Though startled, Pearl wasted no time in shouting to follow the Gem before running to do just that. Amethyst paused just a little longer out of the surprise, then shot herself up to a standing position with a similar enthusiasm. After shaking his head, Steven did the same, stumbling into a sprint towards where the Gem had fled. Thankfully, it hadn't been right off the edge of the floating island, though the path it took was almost parallel to the island's drop. Steven tried not looking to his side as he ran.
The other two Gems hadn't gotten too far in front of Steven by the time he found his pace, though the dense foliage of the island made catching up an ordeal. Still, the stark contrast of Amethyst's white hair against the green of the jungle helped in following his companions. According to the exasperated insults he heard from Pearl some distance ahead, the Gem they were attempting to re-capture was agile enough even with only half of its wings. Now that it was dashing away from them rather than towards them, having to navigate the brush was suddenly a lot more inconvenient, which Amethyst made a point of stating between her own curses. A few conveniently placed branches tripped up her words enough to avoid saying anything too vulgar.
Steven continued running after Amethyst, growing increasingly appreciative of how bright her hair was. Evidently, something as small as their target in such an expansive environment was a little more difficult to catch when it wasn't heading towards them. Navigating the jungle was even harder with actively trying to not fall off the side of the island, meaning Steven had noticed the branch Amethyst hopped over only after colliding with it. The impact of his ankle with the wood was loud enough to startle him, regardless of the impact itself. His leg stopped suddenly while the rest of him attempted moving forward, causing him to fall to the ground in another unceremonious tumble of leaves and tall grass. This time, however, his foot stayed where its was, forcing an awkward pivot on the rest of him. A bolt of fire shot up his leg alongside a disconcerting *crack*, both of which originating from where the low wood caught him. He was moving too fast to discern much immediately, though some yelp of pain escaped his mouth on instinct.
"Steven!" the Gem heard somewhere in front of him once the world stopped spinning. Shaking his head, he attempted to clear his vision while letting out an automatic response to his name.
"I'm fine!" he assured in some random direction, still not getting a grasp on his bearings. It took longer than normal for the blur in his eyes to dissipate, eventually revealing the source of the burning pain. The sight before him made a persuasive case that he was not fine, but capturing the corruption took more precedence. "Just get the Gem!"
Trying to move to a more comfortable sitting position, Steven inhaled sharply through his teeth. His foot probably wasn't supposed to bend that way, though the broken branch next to him let him think that the tree breaking had been the source of the louder *crack* rather than something on the inside of his leg. He hoped. An approaching shuffling through the grass attracted his attention, which was a welcome distraction. He looked up just in time to see Amethyst's concerned expression, the Gem momentarily out of breath. She looked down a bit further towards Steven's foot, grimacing.
"Now I might not... be part-human myself," she breathed out between gasps of air, "but that is definitely... not fine. Eugh."
As much as Steven appreciated Amethyst's concern, he tried downplaying the damage as best as he could. "Just hurt my foot," he quickly explained, waving for Amethyst to continue the chase. Half of his reasoning was instinct; the other half was plain urgency. "I'll be fine, keep chasing that Gem."
Oddly enough, Amethyst snorted to herself, sitting on the grass next to Steven. "Funny," she said with a shake of her head, getting her breath back from the minor sprint, "didn't peg you for a tough-guy." Before Steven could mention how far the Gem could've gotten away by now, Amethyst raised a hand in defense. "I think Pearl can get some small-fry like that herself. Ain't like it'll take both of us to catch it."
While true, Amethyst's casual pose was difficult to accept. Steven made to protest the mission's importance, though was stopped with another wave from his companion. "Chill," she eased with another chuckle. "You're starting to sound like Pearl."
After a brief moment of contemplation, Steven sighed. Even he had to admit that a Gem that small couldn't do too much besides run. Still, he was hesitant to so casually dismiss what could've been another step towards curing corrupted Gems, which Amethyst seemed to spot rather easily.
"We can adopt the thing later," she shrugged casually. While not exactly what Steven had in mind, he relaxed a fraction. He was about to state his hopes for Pearl feeling similar before Amethyst cleared her throat, motioning towards her friend's surprising show of flexibility. "You might want to fix that first, though."
Steven looked back at his foot, grimacing a little. Honestly, the sight of it was worse than the brief pain, if only a little. With a nod, he licked his hand before carefully placing it on his ankle, wincing a little from the contact. He could feel the damage repair itself almost instantly, which was an exceptionally weird sensation in the case of broken bones and joints. Amethyst darted her eyes away as his spit worked its magic, as though mildly disgusted by the sight of his foot being put back in place. A thought occurred to Steven.
"You shape-shift all the time," he began, carefully moving his foot and still wincing a little, "but you don't like stuff like a broken ankle?"
Amethyst looked back at him, noticeably trying to avoid seeing his foot (though it already appeared brand new). "Nah," she dismissed casually, "Ain't like that. Just don't like seeing that stuff on people that I..."
Oddly, Amethyst paused, causing Steven to tilt his head questioningly. The rest of her statement was given surprisingly slowly. "...know."
An awkward pause filled the quiet before Steven got what she was saying. He nodded with a matching "Ah," not needing to hear much more. Amethyst seemed glad that she didn't have to give much more. Direct candor wasn't one of her strong suits, but that didn't mean she wasn't concerned. To alleviate the awkward air, Steven tried bending his foot, causing another wince of pain. He could see Amethyst's worry intensify just for a second. Regardless, he gave her a reassuring grin.
"I'll be fine," he affirmed, carefully standing back up. It wasn't so bad as long as he didn't make any excessive movements. Amethyst's brief worry lingered for a second, then seemed to dissipate as she nodded to herself. She still made a point of telling him to avoid doing stuff like that in the future, to which he agreed. After another odd bout of silence, Steven cleared his throat. "We should probably catch up to Pearl."
There was a noticeable delay between when Steven talked and when Amethyst heard him. When his words did reach her brain, she nodded, throwing an outward thumb over her shoulder.
"P's probably that way," she said with a shrug, standing up and turning back around. If Steven wasn't as curious as he was, he might've missed the split-second glance Amethyst took at his foot. He hummed acknowledgement, following after Amethyst's purposefully slow pace. Not that she seemed to openly acknowledge her pace, though. Still curious, Steven tried getting another read on her features.
"I am fine, Amethyst," he assured her again, knowing her well enough to understand her subtle version of concern. Her pace didn't change.
"Mhm, I know," she shrugged off, humming. Being careful with where he stepped, Steven nodded to himself, hoping she actually took his word. The ironic part was the sharp pin-pricks in his foot telling him he wasn't entirely healed in so short of a time. For both the mission's and Amethyst's sake, he ignored it. He's been through worse, anyways. Amethyst surely had to have known that much, and yet she still seemed troubled to him, somehow.
"But," she abruptly stated, pausing for a second. She placed her hand on a nearby tree, as if looking for some kind of support. Needless to say, Steven halted his pace as well, wondering what his friend was currently thinking. It wasn't every day her concern was so openly shown, especially about something so arguably trivial. She turned to face him directly, having a determined expression on her features. "I-"
Just as she opened her mouth, a distant yell halted her vocal cords. The familiarity of the shout caused both of the Gems' gazes to whip back forwards, facing the direction Pearl had likely chased the minor corruption they'd more-or-less found earlier.
"Pearl?" they both questioned in disbelief. Amethyst took about one step towards the noise, as did Steven (though not as forcefully). All that kept them from sprinting towards the yell was the distant shuffling of foliage getting closer and closer at an alarming rate. Some distance ahead, a dense bush quivered before being cleaved in half by a familiar looking spear.
"It is like the Centipeedle!" Pearl called to her companions, the distant expression of panic on her features clear as day. Frowning in confusion, Amethyst tilted her head towards the Gem. She couldn't utter a single syllable before Pearl closed the fair length of ground between the three of them, panting for breath. Steven spoke for his companion.
"What do you mean?" he asked urgently, being hesitant to take his eyes off of where Pearl just came from. After a few mandatory gasps of air, she pointed to the bush previously in her way, muttering one word.
"Mother."
As if on cue, the remnants of the bush were smashed entirely by some tree. Then Steven shook his head, doing a double-take to make sure he'd seen that properly. Amethyst had done similarly, recoiling slightly. "Whoa!" she exclaimed in awe, her voice almost drowned out by the far crash of wood. "Big momma!"
What Steven had assumed to be a tree had lifted up slowly, as if being abducted into the sky. The thick trunk of wood turned out to be a massive leg, a few sharp protrusions on the end denoting some kind of massive claws to go with it. The limb was pulled aside to reveal what was presumably the corruption's body, which wasn't unlike the comparatively smaller corruption they'd managed to find earlier. Steven couldn't tell if it was a good thing or a bad thing that its body wasn't much larger than its legs, sporting similarly sized wings. He had to question how functional they were.
"That is, uh..." he started slowly, watchful of the corrupted mother's movements. It didn't seem to notice them quite yet, though was obviously looking for something (probably Pearl, if Steven had to guess). The Gem finished his lingering statement for him, a concerned grimace on her features. "Definitely dangerous," she affirmed quietly.
For a brief moment, the Gems observed in silence. The mother didn't seem too aware of its surroundings as it moved, though its size let it simply crush or shove any obstructive trees aside. Steven noted how in the minute or so he's seen the major corruption, it essentially made a clearing in the jungle without even trying. Its lack of eyes seemed to contribute towards its clunky movements, as well as its inability to currently see the Gems across the span of twenty or so feet.
"We missed that?" Amethyst questioned in disbelief, her eyes wide. Steven had a similar thought, wondering how something so large and arguably clumsy had any business being hard to find. Pearl gently placed her hands on his shoulders to pull him away, trying to step away slowly without drawing too much attention to them. A quick motion towards Amethyst told her to follow her example.
"It was resting when I found it," Pearl explained in a shushed tone, not taking her eyes off of the sizable corruption. Suddenly, it let out an earth-shaking roar, as though frustrated at its fruitless search. The Gems froze as it swept a massive leg through the trees, creating a cacophony of splintering wood and crashed foliage. A smaller branch-turned-projectile forced each of the Gems to fall to the ground quickly as it cleaved through the air above them. Steven let out a harsher gasp than the others, finding that dodging the branch counted as an excessive movement as far as his foot was concerned. Barely, he could see Amethyst notice as much, giving him a worried frown.
"You alright?" she whispered, likely trying to minimize their chances of being noticed. Pearl looked at him similarly, though didn't fully understand what caused Steven's sharp intake of air. After a preparatory breath, he nodded, trying to give Amethyst a reassuring smile once more. Then that smile dissipated as he noticed the corruption getting larger past her.
With a burst of speed, Steven threw a hand towards Amethyst, managing to grasp her shin. Since Pearl had moved back with him earlier, she was probably close enough already; he couldn't tell whether Amethyst was close enough or not, and he didn't really want to take that risk. All she let out was a surprised "Wha-" before he yanked as hard as he could, hoping that she could forgive the sudden jerk later. The moment that he registered her passing the imagined threshold, he willed his protective bubble into existence.
Just as the pink barrier rose up from the ground underneath them, a massive arm (or leg) collided with the side of Steven's bubble, striking it into the denser patch of trees behind the three Gems. The trees themselves nearly broke from the impact, splintering and bending as though they were toothpicks. Thankfully, the wood's broken-inwards shape provided just enough support to stop the bubble from rolling, though it took a bit longer for the bubble's occupants to come to a halt. Pearl, after a mandatory shake of her head to get her bearings, tried standing up as best as she could in the bubble's comparatively small space. Steven took a bit longer to right himself, more concerned with whether or not Amethyst was alright. She had been the furthest from the bubble's center when he created it, so he thought his concern with justified. A weathered groan alleviated some of his worry.
"Thanks for the save," Amethyst granted, rubbing her forehead. Before Steven could breathe a sigh of relief, the corrupted Gem roared again. It was loud enough even with the glassy barrier between them. The three Gems winced on instinct, seeing the massive hunk of the corruption's arm raise again through the glossy pink of the bubble's interior. Amethyst couldn't even curse before the bubble was struck again, this time more directly downwards as opposed to the previous sweeping motion. The trees underneath them buckled a little, creaking and splintering further with the loud *cracks* and *snaps* that usually accompanied destroyed wood. Though he was glad his bubble still held, Steven didn't exactly enjoy being pummeled into the ground. The others didn't seem to appreciate it, either.
Pearl turned towards him, if only to see he was alright himself. She didn't have much to really tell him in terms of a plan. Seeing the corruption raise its arm again, an idea came to Steven, and he braced. The corruption seemed to hesitate for a moment, seemingly noticing that whatever it hit hadn't been obliterated into pieces. That must've been a first for it, Steven thought. If he wasn't so focused on his timing, he might've noticed Amethyst's inquisitive expression alongside Pearl's questioning gaze. The corruption threw down its arm again, either out of frustration or pure instinct. At the same time, Steven threw his palms outwards, willing his bubble to change shape. Amethyst seemed to notice what he was doing just before Pearl did.
The moment the corruption's arm came into contact with their current shelter, a swarm of spikes suddenly protruded from the bubble's surface. They impaled the corruption's hide in an instant, dotting its arm with numerous holes. Feeling the similar impact on the bubble let Steven know that its third strike was just as fast as its first two, so he wasn't all that surprised when the corruption recoiled instantly, letting out a damaged roar through the jungle.
"Now!" Steven vaguely exclaimed, hoping he wouldn't have to explain too much. He dropped his bubble as fast as he could, letting the three of them fall to the splintered trees underneath them. They slid to the ground, careful to avoid the sharper breaks of wood created from the bubble's impact while still eyeing the corruption. It was preoccupied with its arm for the moment, so Steven used the time to regroup with the others a fair distance away. Amethyst congratulated his thinking as she jogged to the unspecified cover they'd agreed on, cheering with a wide grin.
"We're not out of the woods yet," Pearl cautioned, gripping her spear. Amethyst rose an eyebrow at her. After a brief pause, Steven snorted, comically snapping his fingers. She rolled her eyes. Amethyst hummed, seeing the corruption shake its arm as if to reduce the pain. Some of the new holes seemed to come out both sides, surprisingly.
"Don't think this'll be fair," the violet Gem mused, humming. Pearl's dire expression hadn't changed, though she gave a begrudged hum. Steven felt similar, noting that this might've been the largest corruption he's see to date. It could've been one of the Diamond's pets for all he knew. A snap from Amethyst attracted his eyes to her, and he saw a smug grin grow across her features.
"Think we should level the playing field?" she pondered, raising an open palm towards Steven.
Pearl nodded, agreeing that the corruption's size did little to give them an advantage. It shook its arm again before letting out a furious roar towards them. A determined expression settled on Amethyst's features, though the lingering pride of her expression was difficult to miss. Still smirking, Steven nodded, matching Amethyst's determination. He could hear Pearl give a hum of approval, now brandishing her spear with a lot more confidence than before. With an increasing brightness, Steven threw his hand into Amethyst's, quite literally.
A/N: Welcome, kind reader, to The Human Condition! Stay a while and listen/read! This is a fic I've wanted to try for a while, and I hope you enjoyed this first chapter enough to click on the next and delve into this tale. Likewise, I hope you enjoy this story as a whole; I've had a lot of fun writing for it, and I probably won't be finished for a while since I don't have any real "ending" planned. One of those "let's just see where it goes," and I gotta say, I'm definitely happy with where the first half-dozen or so chapters went. Check 'em out! :D