HEY READ THIS BEFORE YOU READ THE STORY!

Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh nor their original characters nor do I own Steven Universe and any of its original characters.

Hey, I know I got a lot to catch up but bear with me, I'm working on it! I just got this idea for a new crossover in my head and it just wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it down! I mean if you think about, in Steven Universe, the Gem War ended five thousand years ago, roughly around Atem's time as pharaoh, so the realm of possibilites are endless! Honestly I'm surprised this sort of crossover isn't more thoroughly explored, even just in one-shot form.

Anyways, this is also going to yes, yet another genderbend story, featuring a female-version of Steven called Stephanie, being the only genderbent character. Also, having seen the Heart of the Crystal Gem arch, this will be taking place after Jasper's corruption and before Lapis' fleeing with the barn to the moon, thus before A Single Pale Rose, so no one apart from Pearl knows about Pink Diamond and hasn't met the White Diamond yet. Also, for a bit of AU-ing, Lars has arrived on Earth with the Off-Colors, which is where this is starting off.

Okay, everyone caught up? Even the little ones? Good, let's start this off!

Stephanie couldn't remember the last time she got to hang out with her friends properly without one of the Crystal Gems acting escort or a Corrupted Gem, or Stars forbid, a Homeworld Gem ruining her fun. Heck, she couldn't even remember the last time she had such fun period and really relax since before Jasper's looming rampage, much less see just how much she needed her pure human friends.

When Lars finally returned, she couldn't have been happier. Her best friend was back on the planet where he belonged. But, almost immediately, Stephanie noticed something off with the space pirate almost immediately. When she had last seen him before his arrival to Earth just a two weeks ago, he was his, for her, normal, lively and witty self that he had become during his escapades as a pirate, the lifestyle causing him to discover the part of himself he thought no longer existed. But when he returned, he was strangely stiff and somewhat less playful, he wasn't back to his previous grouchy self, but he seemed...somewhat a bit distant, even with his crew and Sadie, more reserved, there was a sudden wisdom in his eyes that didn't belong to someone his age, rather, someone much, much older.

She didn't get long to dwell on it long, Sadie suggested to celebrate Lars return with a day at the beach, which no one disagreed with and to start introducing the Off-Colors to Earth life. Sadie and the Cool Kids took to the Off-Colors immediately, though Ronaldo needed a lot of convincing that they weren't there to abduct anyone and to leave his camera at home. They taught them how to swim and how to play volleyball, which had been a hoot with Padparacha cheering for every point just seconds after it was made.

It had become late into the night when Stephanie finally made it home, having stopped along the way to help a gaggle of baby turtles to the ocean, using her shield to protect them from seagulls, wearing only her pearl-pink one-piece swim-suit with its slightly darker pink rose-petal design on it, hair pulled up into a cute little messy ponytail, a white towel around her shoulders.

The first thing she knew was wrong was the fact all the lights were off.

Since the gems didn't need to sleep, Pearl gained the nasty habit of leaving the lights on and waiting patiently for Stephanie when she would be out late, regardless of Garnet's assurances. Another was just how eerily quiet it was, since Amethyst would stay up even later playing the newest RPG game on her laptop, the newest Nicki Manaj hit blaring.

Shrugging, she figured they were just napping, and opened the door with her usual gusto, announcing, "I'm home!" She looked around curiously, "Amethyst? Pearl?" But got no reply, "Garnet?"

Flipping the lights on, Stephanie went room-to-room, calling for each member of the Crystal Gems, but didn't find them nor did she receive any answer. Getting worried, she tried the temple, wondering if they left for a last minute mission and left a note there. Upon entry, she looked around for where they could've left the note.

"Okay," Stephanie said worry in her voice, "Not I'm getting worried." But a sound made her whip around and gasp, towel falling to the ground, finally finding a gem, just not one she had excepted.

The fem was roughly the same size as Garnet, but was physically bulkier, more muscled with a light orange skin tone and darker stripe-like tattoos, her long, wild hair being a white color and her eyes were a smoldering (and surprisingly calm) amber yellow. Her Yellow Diamond Court uniform was torn in random places, mostly around her arms and legs, was a normal shade of orange with accents of a brown color. But the most noticeable feature was the diamond-shaped orange gemstone that replaced her nose, not a single speck of corruption to be seen.

Stephanie froze in fright as the gem just stood there almost apathetically, hand on her hip, both just staring at each other before the taller female simply said, calmly, "Hello, Rose."

"J-Jasper!" Stephanie gasped in shock, "H-H-How...?"

"Beats me," Jasper shrugged casually, "I just woke up here."

Before the hybrid could open her mouth, her happiness and questions regarding Jasper's healing and freedom bubbling to the surface, when a new voice interrupted in a loud bellow, "Stephanie!" Which was followed by another voice screaming in anger, "GET AWAY FROM HER!"

She turned around to look out the cave's mouth to see two gems flying towards. Well, one was flying on a pair of lovely wings made of water, having cyan blue skin with cobalt blue eye and short navy blue hair that had longer bangs, wearing a matching backless halter top, which tied behind her neck with long tails and ankle-length skirt, a Blue Diamond Court symbol halved, the top printed on the top and the bottom half on the front of the waistline of the skirt. The wings came from the teardrop-shaped lapis lazuli gemstone embedded onto her back.

The other gem was significantly shorter and stockier, roughly the same height as Stephanie herself with lime green skin and pale chartreuse yellow hair that was styled up into a tetrahedron shape, a pale yellow visor over her eyes and a little pointed nose. She wore a V-necked uniform being a two-toned green in color with the Yellow Diamond Court symbol on the chest and knees. Her gemstone was a peridot cut in an inverted triangle with flattened corners, located on her forehead.

After setting the green gem down, the blue gem rose her arms up and a large hand of water rose from the shoreline as Jasper just stood there unflinchingly as it moved toward her. Stephanie quickly got in the middle of the hand's path, shouting, "Lapis wait!"

The hand did pause, but the furious look on Lapis Lazuli's face failed to soften or relent as she gritted out, "Move. Stephanie."

"No, I won't!" Stephanie refused then questioned, "What are you two doing here? I thought you were going to look around Big City."

"We were when we got a distress call from the house," The green gem, Peridot, explained using her own ferrokinesis to bring a pipe over from a pile the Crystal Gems began making so she had something to practice her new ability with, and she eyed Jasper suspiciously, "And it's a good thing came back early."

Lapis snorted disdainfully, "Clearly."

"Guys, c'mon," Stephanie pleaded trying to defuse the situation, "If Jasper was still that mad she would've attacked me when she saw the Crystal Gem weren't here the moment I got home, but she didn't, she even has the perfect opportunity right now and look at her!" She motioned to the quartz soldier, who just continued to stand there calmly, absolutely no sign of hostility or violence coming off her, "She hasn't tried once!"

Peridot and Lapis both hated to admit it, but they both knew that the pink gem hybrid had a pretty valid point, Lapis more so than Peridot. Before, Jasper always had an varying expression of anger or annoyance, they've never seen her so calm before, and she had never once hesitated to attack her enemies however, whenever she could, regardless of the situation. Yet, she was just...so calm, it was hard for them to believe this was the same gem.

"Where are the others?" Peridot decided to change the subject, whilst wondering why Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst weren't there to help contain Jasper, "Isn't someone always watching the temple?"

Lapis' eyes narrowed dangerously at Jasper as she demanded, "You shattered them, didn't you? You-!"

Jasper cut off her attempt to rant and accuse with a simple, yet blunt, "No, I didn't," Causing Lapis' face to tinge slightly purple with anger, the water arm shaking from her fury, before the orange gem jabbed a thumb at a shadowed corner, adding, "And neither did she."

Stephanie and the two gems looked where she was pointing at as another new gem slowly came out of hiding, causing Stephanie's heart lurch in shock and sorrow, then relief and joy, all at once. She was tall, just slightly taller than Garnet with a bulky, muscled figure and broad shoulders, and short arms. Her hair, which was styled in dreadlocks, was rainbow-colored, matching concaved bismuth gemstone on her chest and her eyes were black, her skin being a periwinkle bluish-gray, a smokey dark red star-tattoo on her left shoulder. Her outfit consisted of a black apron with a brownish attachment and a pinkish-red star-shaped belt, burgundy-red pants and thick, dark brown boots. Her expression was one of reasonable remorse and guilt, all anger she held over the Breaking Point incident was gone.

Stephanie didn't stop her hands from flying to her mouth in shock as she gasped the gem's name, "B-Bismuth!" Shock and sorrow, as well as her own regrets, was her most dominant emotions at that moment in time as the new gem rubbed at her arm nervously, unable to properly look at her, much to Peridot and Lapis' growing confusion.

"Hi...Steph...err..." Bismuth waved awkwardly with a slightly strained smile, "I...whoah!" She yelped, almost stumbling when the hybrid nearly tackled her to the ground in a hug.

But Stephanie had becoming an emotional mess, hands fisting tightly into Bismuth's apron, almost threatening to tear the material, repeatedly saying 'sorry' over and over. At this point, Peridot and Lapis dropped their ability to remain hostile, not with their little friend like that, as the pipe Peridot had been levitating fell to the ground and the hand Lapis had formed finally returned to the sea, whilst Jasper just stood there, looking away awkwardly and Bismuth slowly hugged the normally cheerful girl back, her own tears beginning to trickle down her face, trying to console her.

The five females moved into the house as it got colder with Bismuth setting the still upset Stephanie on the couch as Peridot, ironically, assuming Pearl's usual bustling in the kitchen whilst Lapis fetched a blanket to wrap around Stephanie, who was still in her bathing suit, towel forgotten outside. Jasper and Bismuth both arched a brow at the steaming cup of brown liquid that Peridot handed the smallest gem.

It was Jasper who finally spoke up, while pointing bluntly at the cup, "What...is that?"

"It's hot chocolate," Peridot answered after seeing Lapis, who was leaning far away against a wall in a brooding fashion, was still in a sour mood, "Humans usually make it when its really cold, but I've seen Pearl and Garnet make it plenty of times whenever Steph gets this upset, so I figured it'd help."

As the technician talked, Stephanie started taking tentative sips of her drink and, sure enough, she began to calm down, much to Bismuth's relief. After a moment of silence, the sole organic finally asked, "How...how are you two...free?"

"To be honest, I have no clue whatsoever," Jasper surprisingly answered before Bismuth could open her mouth, "The last thing I remember was a pale light and a voice, the next, I was reforming in that...room...with her," Again, Jasper jabbed a thumb in Bismuth's direction, "With no one else, gem or otherwise, around and packages for Rose."

"I'm not my mo-" Stephanie started to correct, only to realize what the quartz soldier had said and paused in confusion, "Packages? What packages?"

In response, Jasper brought her hand up to her gem, like how Stephanie had seen Pearl do when she summoned something from within her own gemstone. Sure enough, the orange stone glowed, before ejecting a small(ish) package wrapped in the traditional brown paper with a letter taped to it.

"I got the other one," Bismuth said as Jasper set the parcel down in front of Stephanie, "But the note one the letter said to read the letter first, then open this package before the other one."

Arching her brow at the oddly pasific instructions, Stephanie shrugged before carefully removing the envelope from the package. She looked at the back to see said instructions before carefully opening it, she then began to read the letter aloud:

"Dear Stephanie Lily Quartz-Universe, I hope this letter finds you and your four companions on more stable ground. I assume by now you realize the three women you've known as family are missing. In this package I have disclosed the means to allow you, Peridot, Jasper, Lapis and Bismuth to get back."

Curious and worried, Lapis opened the package to find tin boxes with hers, Peridot's, Jasper's and Bismuth's gemstone printed on the lids, as well as a jewelry case. She picked up the one with her teardrop cut and opened it to find of deck of odd looking cards.

"For Lapis Lazuli, a deck as in tuned with the sea as she is."

"Cards?" Lapis asked in confusion as she looked through the cards to find one side of each card were varying, beautiful pictures of strange creatures, items and scenes. She took one out to look at it closer. The picture depicted a human girl with blue hair, a different shade from her own, holding a staff. At the top of the card was what she assumed was the card's name, along with orangey-yellow stars and a blue circle in the corner. Beneath the picture was text and beneath that was a bunch of letters and numbers.

Lapis read the name of the card aloud, "Erika the Water Charmer..."

"That's a Duel Monster deck!" Stephanie gasped with big, star-filled eyes as the other three pure gems picked up their respected box and the halfling was a little disappointed to see none for her.

"Duel...Monsters...?" Peridot repeated both a bit perplexed and a little wary, as were the other three.

"Its a really popular card game that originated in Japan, my friend Sour Cream told me about, I even watched him and the other Cool Kids duel a few times," Stephanie explained leaning over towards Lapis, who kept looking through her cards, "Monster cards are various cause they come in different types; like attributes, like fire or water, in level, tribes; like spellcaster or fairy, some have effects, others don't, spell cards and trap cards act as supports for each," She then gave the blue gem a smile, "Looks like a deck based on Water Monsters, it suits you!"

Lapis smiled back a little, genuinely pleased with her deck as well as the praise. Bismuth then opened hers next as Stephanie resumed reading:

"For Bismuth, a deck as unique and as strong as her passions."

Bismuth looked through the cards, holding them gingerly and carefully, finding each creature resembled some sort of lizard, a good amount of them having wings. She paused at a blue one with webbed wings that were attached to its arms and read the name out loud, "Blizzard Dragon..."

"Looks like a Dragon-based deck," Stephanie commented, "They're pretty heavy hitters." Bismuth smiled at this as Jasper opened hers next.

"For Jasper, a legion of warrior women who are fierce and powerful."

Jasper looked through her new cards carefully with a critical eye. Most of her creatures were organic females wearing strange and revealing clothes with wild appearances, save one. The one she paused on resembled a large predator cat with orange fur with black striped and white underbelly, having green eyes and wore gold bracelets and a matching collar.

Jasper read its name in a thoughtful tone, "Amazoness Tiger." She looked at Stephanie, who had an equally thoughtful look on her face.

"I think Amazoness is a new deck arch-type based of the Amazons of Greek Mythology, an all female warrior race," The pink gem explained, "Sounds like an all Warrior deck, well, except for Amazoness Tiger, she's a Beast." Jasper lips twitched at this, despite not understanding most of what she was saying, eyes shining appreciatively at Amazoness Tiger.

"And for Peridot, a deck that reflects what she can be."

Peridot frowned and scoffed at this as she opened the container, "'Can be', now what's that suppose to mean?" She shifted through the cards and found a majority of the creatures were very human like.

Like the others, she paused on one that caught her eye. This one being a human woman wearing a strange blood red bodysuit with ash-gray skin, long coal-black hair that was tipped red and her lips were a bold, blood red as well.

Unable to help herself, she read the name out loud, "Elemental Hero Burstinatrix."

"The Elemental Heroes are a brand new arch type, too," Stephanie said trying to hide her smile and contain her amusement at the irony of the match-up, "It's high in Warrior-type monsters and being big on Fusion Material monsters." The gems were understandably surprised.

"Fusion?!" Peridot yelped almost throwing her cards.

"Yeah, that was my reaction when I found out about Fusion Monsters, too," Stephanie giggled, "Though, you need special cards to do it," At their confused looks, she explained, "You can make a fusion with certain cards, such as pacific monsters and a Polymerization card, you can't merge random monsters like you can with gems."

"Oh stars..." Peridot groaned making Lapis giggle despite her own reservations on the subject of fusion. Jasper just rolled her eyes whilst Bismuth looked confused but didn't say anything.

Stephanie picked up the jewelry case and looked it over. It didn't have any store brand on it nor did it look familiar from any normal non-brand using store she had ever been in. It was actually really plain looking, covered in pictures and was surprisingly wood-made in a light creamy color and on closer inspection she realized the pictures were actually ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. She looked at the letter again.

"As for you, Lady Universe, I give you a tool to put you on even ground with your family's captor. I warn you, Lady Universe, this is a very, very dangerous foe, he will not hesitate to exploit your every weakness and use all his power to get what he wants. You must never take this gift off I sent you off or you will be completely at his mercy. I bid you and your friends the best of luck. Signed, a future-friend."

This made three of the four gems visibly tense, though Jasper's eyes narrowed at the underlying, yet clear threat, in the letter. Someone was after Stephanie, and as much as Jasper still held a bit of reservation towards the hybrid, the fact that the same someone (it sounded like an organic male) somehow disarmed and poofed the Crystal Gems without much of a struggle is what concerned Jasper.

Stephanie set the box in her lap after setting the letter down, then she opened it and gasped at what was inside of it. It was a beautiful, no, gorgeous pair of antique, or relic-worthy, pair of golden earrings crafted in the shape of ancient Egyptian ankht crosses with an Eye of Horus carved into each, tiny cushion-cut rubies served as the little studs to keep the earrings from falling out.

"Whoah..." Peridot gasped in awe, even a technician like her could appreciate how well-made they were and was already speculating how old they could be. "They're beautiful..." Lapis said also in awe.

"How are those," Bismuth said skeptically, motioning to the earrings, "Suppose to protect you?"

"I don't know," Stephanie admitted as she relucantly put them on, replacing her little gold hoops with them, whilst really hoping these rubies weren't sentiment at one point, only to become distracted by how light the gold crosses were, considering they were solid gold and nearly touched her shoulders.

Bismuth sighed at this, before lifting her hands to either side of her gem to summon another package from within it and handed it to the half-gem, "Guess you can open this one then." Stephanie did so.

She first took out a maroon-colored, fingerless glove with a grey ring attached to the wrist. Ten star-shaped holes were carved into the ring itself, two gold star already filled two of the slots.

"Aren't those things supposed to come in pairs?" Peridot asked and Stephanie shrugged before setting it down.

She then took out two new cards. One was called 'the King's Hand', which had a picture of a grand treasure trove on it. The other was called 'the King's Opposite Hand', which was completely blank.

"Weird," Stephanie muttered eyes narrowing at them, "These aren't monster cards." She set them down on the table next to the glove, face-down, finding them creepy, but smiled as she pulled out a deck-container and like the others, her gemstone's shape decorated the top of the lid, and she silently cheered at finally having her own deck.

She quickly opened it and looked the cards over, only for her face to morph into a look of utter shock. "What's wrong, brat?" Jasper asked.

"These...these are gems!" Stephanie said much to their own shock, "Look." She held out the cards and as the four looked, sure enough, each beast-like creature had a gemstone with armor that matched said gemstone, which was also in their name. Amethyst Cat, Emerald Tortoise, Ruby Carbuncle. It went on.

"That's just freaky and weird," Bismuth said catching Peridot, who jumped into her arms from shock and being freaked out. "How-I-it-ugh-!" Jasper spluttered.

Lapis then reached in and took out a video tape and everyone lapsed into silence as Bismuth set Peridot down. "Should we watch it?" Peridot asked. "I don't know, Peridot," Lapis said holding it at arms length uneasily. "Yeah, this is just getting weird," Stephanie agreed, "I mean how could the person who sent the letter, earrings and your decks know you and Lapis would return early or that Bismuth and Jasper would be free?"

Despite seeing her point, Peridot took the tape, unable to help her curiosity, while saying, "What harm can come from playing such a primitive form of technology?" That said, Peridot put the tape in and turned on the TV, grabbed the remote, sat down and pressed play.

Sitting in a nice chair on screen was a human man, roughly in his mid-thirties with a slim build with shoulder-length, silver hair that had a curtain-effect, hiding one half of his face, his sole visible eye being a maroon-brown in color. He wore a fine, wine-red suit that reminded Bismuth, Jasper and Peridot of the gem elites.

"Greetings, Stephanie Lily Quartz-Universe," The man said voice smooth and controlled, making the gems tense. Stephanie, however, became nervous and wary, her voice stuttering, "H-H-How does he k-k-know my n-n-name?"

"I know a great many things, my dear," Surprisingly, it was the man who answered her, "Including your dearly departed mother, Rose Quartz, leader of the Crystal Gems," Now it was Stephanie's turn to tense as the other four shot to their feet, "Speaking of which, notice anyone missing?"

"What do you want?" Stephanie asked, "Who are you?"

"I am Maximillion Pegasus, owner of Industrial Illusions," The man introduced himself, "And I merely wish to extended a formal invitation to you, Little Quartz."

"An invitation?" Bismuth questioned in disbelief, "An invitation to what?"

"Now, now, that would be telling wouldn't it?" Pegasus chuckled much to the blacksmith's frustration, "But for now, how about a friendly little gem?" A bright yellow glow came through the TV screen, making all five girls shriek in surprise, arms up to protect their eyes.

Stephanie slowly lowered her arms when the light died to find everything had been drained of color, even the other four gems, leaving her in some sort of black void-like dimension. None of the four gems were moving nor did they talk or continue to shriek, they simply remained shielding their eyes and silent, much to Stephanie's increasing worry.

She looked ahead, only to jump with a startled yelp to find Pegasus no longer in the TV, but in the room with her, still sitting in his chair, a table with a card grid between them. She looked back to see the living room and the remaining four gems a distance away and she was now seated in a chair similar to the one Pegasus was sitting in.

But when she looked down at herself, she nearly jumped right out of her new seat from shock. Her bathing suit had somehow been replaced with a dress that was disturbingly similar to Sapphire's, only its base color was a light blush-pink with a darker over skirt and the sleeves were slightly off the shoulder, and were a whitish-pink, and in the place of the pinafore was a white apron. She was even wearing baby pink, elbow-long gloves with a lace trim and a hand through her hair found a matching headband. Lifting the skirt found a pair of peachy-pink ballet flats and a quick hand to her ear confirmed she still had the gold earrings on.

"Okay, what is going on?" Stephanie demanded.

"A simple little duel, of course," Pegasus replied casually as if talking about the weather, "Win and I'll return your little gems."

'So he did take them...' Stephanie narrowed her eyes, but pulled at her new dress irritation seeping into her voice as she asked incredulously, "And this?"

"What?" Pegasus asked innocently, "Pink is your color," She glared at him and he chuckled teasingly, "Besides, did you really want to sit there in your swimsuit?" Stephanie blushed brightly, only now remembering that she hadn't changed out of her swimsuit since she got home. This, coupled with her silence was all the answer he needed.

"So," Pegasus continued more casually, re-grabbing her attention, "Are you up to the challenge, Little Quartz?"

Stephanie hesitated, clutching her new deck, unsure if she could gamble more than half her family's freedom in a game she had never actually played before. But suddenly, the eyes of her earrings released a blinding white light, catching Stephanie by surprise, and at the same time, from under the apron, her gemstone glowed a brilliant pink light.

Startled, all Stephanie could do was close her eyes as a strange, but warm sensation took over her and everything became hazy. The last thing she was aware of was her mouth opening and her own voice crying out with an echo to it, "DAIYAMONDORAITO!"* As the two lights blended together.

When the now pale pink light died down, it revealed had undergone a transformation. She was still petite, only growing to about Pearl or Lapis' chin or nose in height and had slimmed out, losing her childish-innocent features; her face had become more heart-shaped with slightly higher cheek-bone, losing its roundness. Her dress had been altered to suit her new curves. Her eyes were still closed and her earrings were still glowing, so was her gemstone, the outline of which was just barely seen through the fluttering fabric, and tattooed on her forehead was a glowing light pink Eye of Horus, but tattoo on each cheek was a matching glowing mark that resembled orchid flower or a rose.

When the three 'tattoos' disappeared, Stephanie opened her eyes, revealing they were no longer round, innocent or deep brown. Now, they were narrowed, almond-shaped and a gorgeous magenta pink. Her two-toned hair had grown out a bit, nearly ghosting her shoulders in a fluffy mass of pale pink locks topped with an ebony black patch atop her head.

"Pegasus," She said voice different as well, no longer lively or child-like, but cold and older, "It's time to duel."

She stared Pegasus down hard with cold, yet confident pink-colored eyes in a way that would have many normal man shivering, but Pegasus merely looked back her, complete unfazed by her change, rather, he had a smug smile on his face. Instead, his eye traveled to her out of place earrings then down to her stomach where her gemstone was concealed.

"My, my," He chuckled, "Someone's certainly full of surprises."

Stephanie narrowed her eyes at him unimpressed as she made a sharp, cutting motion with one hand, "Cut the chatter, are we going to duel or what?" This just made him chuckle again.

"But of course," Pegasus said placing his deck on the table and Stephanie did the same, "I trust you know the rules."

"Yes, we each start with two thousand life points," She answered briskly, "First to lose all their life points loses."

"Normally, yes," Pegasus nodded looking a fair bit pleased, "But this little game is going to be a bit different."

"Different?" Stephanie asked arching a brow, "Different how? We start with more than two thousand life points?"

"No, my dear," Pegasus replied before looking up and she did the same to see a large, antique-looking hourglass floating above them with a pre-set timer of fifteen minutes beneath it, "For this duel, we will have a time limit of fifteen minutes and the one with the most life points by the end wins, simple."

Stephanie closed her eyes once more, taking a deep breath, 'I can do this...' Before steeling her nerve and opened her eyes to level him with a determined-defiance, "Alright, Pegasus, let's duel!"

Pegasus smiled at this, "Splendid." They shuffled their decks and then drew five cards each.

Pegasus: 2000

Stephanie: 2000

Pegasus drew a sixth card as he stated, "I'll start us off..." He then placed a card face-down, "Now it's your turn, Little Quartz."

Stephanie visibly bristled at the re-occurring nickname, but didn't say anything as she drew, then she looked at her hand. She had two spell cards: Swords of Revealing Light and Crystal Release. She also had three monsters: Emerald Tortoise, Topaz Tiger and Sapphire Pegasus. Her new card was a trap card: Crystal Raigeki.

"I summon Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger!" Stephanie declared putting down the card, only to gasp in shock at what happened next.

There was a flash of light atop the card, before a white tiger with blacks sticking out of its ankles and head with topaz gemstones embedded into its neck appeared with an almighty roar. Its eyes were a stunning orangey-yellow.

Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger. Attribute: EARTH. Tribe: BEAST. Lv: 4. ATK/DEF: 1600/1000.

"Not so fast!" Pegasus grinned giving Stephanie no time to recover from her shock as he turned his face-down over, "I play my face-down; the Hunter's Trap; it captures any and all Beast-type Monsters!"

A net appeared and shot forth, snaring Topaz Tiger and held it prisoner by hovering off the ground. Topaz Tiger yowled indigently and struggled in a vain attempt for freedom.

"What?" Stephanie gaped in shock, "But how could you have possibly known I'd play a Beast-Type monster?"

"I can predict all your moves, even before you can think them yourself," Pegasus smiled at her, "Quite the advantage, no?" Stephanie growled quietly at this, "Now I believe it's my turn." He drew and simply placed another card face-down.

"Alight," Stephanie said drawing another card herself, "I summon Sapphire Pegasus!"

Her new monster resembled the legendary winged-steed with its pearl-white coat and mane and yellow feathered wings. It had twin sapphire gemstone embedded into the 'elbows' of its wings and its horn appeared to be made of sapphire as well. Its eyes were a deep green.

Crystal Beast Sapphire Pegasus. Attribute: WIND. Tribe: BEAST/EFFECT. ATK/DEF: 1800/1600.

"Then I reveal my own monster," Pegasus countered, "The Monster Tamer." The image of a dark-skinned man wearing a red turban and toga holding a whip appeared.

Monster Tamer. Attribute: EARTH. Tribe: WARRIOR/EFFECT. Lv: 5. ATK/DEF: 1800/1600

"But its attack is the same as Sapphire Pegasus," Stephanie said unsure of what he was planning, "They'll just destroy each other."

"That maybe true, but my Tamer can take control of another monster to do it for him," Pegasus explained with a smug smile. "What?" Stephanie gasped in shock before realization set in and her eyes widened, "Topaz!"

"Monster Tamer!" Pegasus grinned, "Take control of her tiger!" Monster Tamer's whip glowed with blood red runes before swinging it to strike Topaz Tiger several times, making her yowl in pain, much to Stephanie's horror, before the net fell apart, causing her to fall to the ground.

When Topaz Tiger got back up, her eyes turned red before it rushed to joined Monster Tamer on Pegasus' side of the field, than she growled at her former Mistress. Stephanie recoiled in horrified-fright at the utter blood-thirst in her tiger's eyes.

"I'm sure you're aware that Topaz Tiger's ability allows it to gain four hundred attack points once it declares an attack," Pegasus commented idly as she grinted her teeth in annoyance, "Go, Topaz Tiger, attack her Sapphire Pegasus!"

Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger ATK/DEF: 2000/1000

"No, Sapphire!" Stephanie cried out as Topaz Tiger pounced, reducing Sapphire Pegasus to tiny shards of white light, which slowly disappeared as her life points dropped as a result, followed by Topaz Tiger's ATK points.

Stephanie LPs: 1800

Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger ATK/DEF: 1600/1000

Stephanie cringed as she watched the shards that had once been her monster. This was starting to be a little too real.

"I believe its your turn now, Little Quartz," Pegasus said.

Stephanie went to play her Emerald Tortoise, believing it to best to go with her best defense, but paused as a thought crossed her mind, never noticing her earrings glow a pale yellow, 'If he really can predict what I'm going to do, then maybe I can play sneaky.' This in mind, she locked eyes firmly with Pegasus, shivering a little when she did, as she drew a new card from her deck and then placed it face-down without once looking at it. This leap of faith caused Pegasus to arch an eyebrow in surprise.

'I thought she'd go defensive with her Emerald Tortoise,' He mused but shrugged it off, 'Oh well,' He drew and said aloud, "Very well, Topaz Tiger, attack her face-down!"

When Stephanie flipped her monster over and it appeared like Topaz Tiger and Sapphire Pegasus had, it revealed itself to be a sizable quail bird with a leaf-green chest and a darker, forest green colored its back and wings with a black trimming. It wore a silvery-gray chest plate that had a beautiful, oval-shaped, green nephrite gemstone in the center, a matching helmet with a similar gemstone encased its head, framing its forehead to let its head-feather hang free. Its eyes were a gorgeous shade of robin egg blue.

Crystal Beast Nephrite Quail. Attribute: WIND. Tribe: WINGED-BEAST/EFFECT. Lv: 5. ATK/DEF: 2000/1500.

"And unfortunately for you, Pegasus, she gains four hundred attack and defense points for every one of her Crystal comrades on the field," Stephanie grinned as Nephrite Quail swiftly avoided Topaz Tiger's claws. "Making her stronger than Topaz Tiger!" Nephrite Quail leapt into the air and spread her wings, landing elegantly on Topaz Tiger's back as the edge's of her wings glowed a pale green.

Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger. ATK/DEF: 2000/1000

Crystal Beast Nephrite Quail. ATK/DEF: 2400/1900

"Now counter-attack!" Stephanie ordered.

In response, Nephrite Quail leapted into the air and spun, firing glowing, dagger-like feathers, impaling and destroying her fellow Crystal Beast. It landed gracefully as its wings stopped glowing but kept a tense stance, awaiting her next order.

Pegasus LPs: 1600.

Crystal Beast Nephrite Quail. ATK/DEF: 2000/1500

Stephanie smiled, pleased with making a dent in the older duellist's life points, but Pegasus chuckled making her frown, "Well played, Little Quartz, but can you keep up?" He drew and declared, "Becase I summon Illusionist Faceless Mage in Attack Mode!"

The creature that appeared was human looking, well, as human as being three-headed and yellow-skinned got. One head had a boy's face, one had a girl's and the one in the middle was faceless and it wore some kind of orange robe of sorts. It creeped Stephanie out to no end.

Illusionist Faceless Mage. Attribute: DARK. Tribe: SPELLCASTER/EFFECT. Lv: 5. ATK/DEF: 1200/2000

And it made Stephanie suspicious. Why would an older, more exprienced duellist like Pegasus play a monster much weaker than hers? Which had over nineteen hundred. It didn't make much sense to her. But Pegasus didn't much time to mull it over.

"And I will equip it with the spell card The Eye of Illusion," Pegasus continued, "Now, attack Nephrite Quail." His mage lunged making both bird and mistress tense, only for it to suddenly stop and, to Stephanie, nothing happened. Nephrite Quail looked over her shoulder at her mistress confused for a moment, but focused back on the task at hand.

"Alright, my move and I summon Jasper Rhino!" Stephanie siad as she drew a card and played it, "Your mage stands no chance against her unstoppable charge!"

Her new monster was a mighty rhinoceros with a tawny-orangey colored body and had gleaming horns made of a familiar orange stone, matching the gemstone decorating her gold armor and anklets. Lighter, more orange, scar-like marks decorated her skin and her eyes were a vibrant purple. She stomped the field with a powerful bellow, then raked her hind feet and blew hot air out her nose, and unless Stephanie imagined it, Pegasus looked a little intimaded.

Crystal Beast Jasper Rhino. Attribute: EARTH. Tribe: BEAST/NORMAL. ATK/DEF: 1750/1800

Crystal Beast Nephrite Quail. ATK/DEF: 2400/1900

Stephanie then ordered, "Now, attack his mage!"

With another almighty bellow, Jasper Rhino charged full speed at Illusionist Faceless Mage, horn lowered for assualt, but to Stephanie's shock, the spellcaster disappeared, only to switch places with Nephrite Quail, who wings glowed and had a glowing, golden Eye of Horus on her forehead. The bird appeared to be in a trance. When Jasper Rhino got close enough, Nephrite Quail leapt into the air and fired her dagger-like feathers, destroying Jasper Rhino.

"B-B-But how d-?" Stephanie stuttered in shock with wide eyes as her life points fell once again.

Stephanie LPs:1550

Crystal Beast Nephrite Quail. ATK/DEF: 2000/1500

"The Eye of Illusion allows me to take control of a monster on your field for a turn," Pegasus explained as the Eye of Horus disappeared and Nephrite shook herself out of her daze, then looked confused before returning to Stephanie's field, "Now normally I'd go, but I think I'll pass this turn."

Stephanie drew and grinned, "I summon Amber Mammoth!"

The creature that appeared was a large elephant-like creature covered in dark indigo fur, a shock og grayish-blue hair with six tusks and red eyes. Resting on its forehead was an amber gemstone.

Crystal Beast Amber Mammoth. Attribute: EARTH. Tribe: BEAST/EFFECT. Lv: 4. ATK/DEF: 1700/1600

Crystal Beast Nephrite Quail. ATK/DEF: 2400/1900

Amber Mammoth reared back and gave an almighty war-cry of a trumpet before slamming her front feet back down with enough force to make the table shake. She leveled her opponent with a steely stare, much to Pegasus' amusement.

"Attack!" Stephanie ordered and, like Jasper Rhino, Amber Mammoth charged, tusks lowered for maxium damage.

But before Amber Mammoth could so much as graze Illusionist Faceless Mage, she suddenly froze and a loud buzz noise made Stephanie blink before looking up as the monsters all disappeared. The hourglass had emptied into its bottom half and the timmer was all zeros. She had lost.

"Time is up, Little Quartz!" Pegasus suddenly gave her an evil grin, "And now I take my prize!"

"Prize?" Stephanie gaped at him in disbelieved-anger, "You already took closest thing I'll ever have to a mother and a big sisters! What more do you want from me?"

"What I want, Little Quartz, is for you to participate in the Duel Monsters Tournament I'm hosting on my own personal island," Pegasus explained with a wicked grin on his face, "But I think you need a little...extra incentive, especially if you think you can pull a wool over my eyes with one of your other gem friends."

Stephanie just stared at him with grinted teeth and nothing sort of anger in her newly pink-colored eyes. It irriated her to no end that he would think she wouldn't go herself to rescue Pearl, Ameythst and Garnet(or Ruby and Sapphire, assuming had unfused at some point), also, she was very wary and considerably worried about who else would be dragged into this...whatever this was.

"Hmm, now, who's life would you be less willing to gamble with?" Pegasus wondered idly, whilst childishly tapping a finger against his chin, "You valvue all of your relationships so greatly and you have so many, its almost impossible to chose just one."

Stephanie gasped as window-like panels appeared around them, circling them. Each one served as a peek into the lifes of each of her friends: Sour Cream was tucking Onion into bed, Vidalia watching from the doorway, Buck was in his room sketching, Jenny and Kiki were playing cards with their dad, Ronaldo and Peedee were with their dad, Jamie was on his bike, Connie was having supper with her parents, Sadie was in her kitchen and Lars was showing his parents the outside of his ship. All of them were froze in mid-action, like still-shots. Strangely, their were none of Bismuth, Peridot, Lapis or Jasper or even the Off-Colors.

"No," Pegasus said after watching her look around at them in controlled worry, "I think this one would hurt you the more."

Stephanie looked at him confused before looking at the one he motioned to and she swore her heart stopped and her eyes widened in horror. Looking into the portal, she saw her father, Greg Universe, the only real parent she had ever known, sitting in the back of his van, dressed in a thin set of sweats, frozen like everyone else. His fingers were paused in mid strum of an A-chord, a pen tucked behind his ear and an open notebook in front of him, a look of content and thoughfulness on his unassuming face.

Only one thought kept repeating itself in her mind as her eyes pricked with the threat of tears, 'No, no, no, no, no, no...'

Pegasus just grinned wickedly and lifted some of his hair, catching Stephanie's attention, to reveal a golden Eye of Horus in the place of a normal eye. It suddenly glowed brightly, forcing Stephanie to shield her face in fear of being blind. At the same time, a similar glow sparked from her earrings, flooding the area as it mixed with Pegasus'.

When the light died down, Stephanie was back to normal, swimsuit and all, the table was gone, as was Pegasus and the hourglass/timer and the window-portals. She looked around confused to find herself back on the couch in her living room, but everything was still frozen and devoid of color. But then she looked forward and saw Greg inside the TV, looking back at her with wide, frightened and confused eyes.

"Steph?" Greg cried out as he pounded his fists uselessly against the glass of the screen, "Stephanie!"

"Dad!" Stephanie cried back rushing to the screen, but he disappeared and was replaced by Pegasus, "Give him back!"

"Now, now, you can have him back and your dear gems, too," Pegasus assured her, "If you enter my tournament and beat me in a duel first; if not, your father's soul and your guardians will remain mine, forever!"

With that, whatever spell had put on the house was broken and light and color returned, along with the other gems' ability to move and speak. But Stephanie ignored them and started pounding on the TV screen in a feeble hope of freeing or, at least, seeing Greg again. But neither he nor Pegasus reappeared.

Bismuth and Jasper both blinked, completely taken aback by who they had both believed to be the great Rose Quartz crying a river of tears as she pounded on the front of the strange box. Lapis and Peridot jumped to their feet from shock.

"Dad! Dad!" Stephanie cried in sorrow before trying to shake the TV, "Give me back my dad! DADDY!" When she didn't the responses she hoped for, Stephanie choked on a sob, before falling quiet for a few seconds.

The four gems became apprehensive at this. It was Lapis who took a step forward, reaching for her friend as she whispered uncertainly, "Stepahnie...?" But recoiled when the girl shook.

Without warning, Stephanie punched the screen full-force with an enraged cry, uncaring for how a few pieces scratched and bit into the skin of her fist, wrist and arm. Instead, she broke down further, full out sobbing and wailing, arms curling instinctively around herself.

Poor Stephanie. Can't Imagine how'd it'd feel to lose the only parent you've ever known. Call me cruel but had no other way to incorporate Greg into the story otherwise. And yeah, Jasper's free and not corrupted and she's not upset with Stephanie anymore, the reason behind that will be explained in the close future, honest!

And yeah I gave her, Lapis, Peridot and Bismuth decks! Tell me what you think, are they good match-ups? I care to think so.

Let me know what you think of Yami-Transformation or whatever you call it. I find it interesting.

Daiyamondoraito*: Is basically Japanese, its means 'diamond light'.

Also, I gave Stephanie Jessie Anderson's deck from YuGiOh GX with some extra monsters. Again let me know what you guys think, especially of the duel scene between her and Pegasus.

Oh and for those who need a visual idea of what Stephanie looks like, it'll be in the cover-image just add pink hair with a patch of black left at the top. As for her Yami-Form, just basically a somewhat taller, less child-like version of her.

Till next time!