The sun shone through the windows of the house on the shores of Beach City. Water Gems swam around the ocean and other gems performed tricks as young kids watched in awe. Sounds great, right? Now, let's take you about a mile down that same shore to another small house. The temple of Fire Topaz, where our story begins.
The small rays of sunlight shone through the near-shut blinds of that very temple. Emerald's nose twitched as her eyes fluttered open. She yawned and rubbed her eyes before sitting up in the bed of her room. She headed out of the room to see that the others had all woken up. Zicron and Iolite were sitting on the couch watching Crying Breakfast Friends while Pyrope and Kyanite were making breakfast. Black Diamond and Bloodstone were in the corner playing darts.
"Hey guys, where's Sphalerite? Did she wake up yet?" Emerald asked, realizing that her friend still had not woken up.
"She's been asleep for almost an hour. Zicron, go wake her up," Pyrope yelled. Zicron sighed but reluctantly headed upstairs.
The room that belonged to Sphalerite wasn't meant for any other gems or humans to come in. When Zicron opened the door, she was introduced to the dark room with Green Day, Nirvana, and Blink-182 posters all over two walls of the room. Shelves of comic books and action figures were all over the wall above her desk. Below a shelf that held Walking Dead comics was Sphal's skateboard, duffel bag (with her basketball, more comic books, and a remote controlled drone with a camera) and a pile of sketchbooks with a can of pencils at the top with Terrance and Phillip erasers. Above all that stuff was a dartboard with pictures of Peridot and Pearl (we'll get to that later) on it. Sphalerite's bed lay in the corner next to a HUGE window and a nightstand with a box TV on top with video game consoles underneath it. Sphalerite's desk was in the corner near a grey bookshelf. On the desk, there was her computer, more comic books, pencils, and her prized flame amulet along with her roller blades underneath the desk. It was in a smaller area of the room with a bookshelf, rug, and couch. On her bookshelf, there were more comic books, action figures, Unicornos, Wandering Misfits, CDs, a radio, video games, and some South Park fan items. Next to it sat a mini fridge with soda and cheesy poofs in it.
Sphalerite's hoodies, baseball caps, jerseys, shoes, and CDs and comics littered the floor. Zicron had trouble avoiding all this stuff, and it was like being a ninja to avoid it all.
"Jeez, Sphal, have you ever considered cleaning up this place?" Zicron asked, looking at all the things that littered the floor.
"No. Go away, Zics," Sphalerite grunted. She was a mess. She was wearing an Electric Pheonix (yes that's how it's called) tee and south park PJ pants while clutching a Cartman plushie.
Zicron grabbed the blanket on Sphalerite's bed and tore it off. "Alright. Sleepytime's over. Get up! We have to go and train you for sword-fighting today. Then you gotta learn how to fuse. You can sleep in tomorrow, okay?"
"Twenty bucks," Sphalerite groaned while looking at her friend.
"Fine. When you go to bed. Now get up!" Zicron yelled.
Sphalerite got up from the bed and slugged downstairs.
"Okay. Since you're half-human, it might be kinda hard for you to fuse. Then again, Steven Universe fused with a human, so I guess that you can fuse with a full gem," Emerald explained. "Fusion is NOT making weak gems stronger. It is a way to show a bond between two gems by combining their personalities and fighting abilities into one gem. Sphalerite, you and Zicron have an incredible bond, so I want you two to try and fuse. "
"Okay. But how exactly DO we fuse? Is it some kind of magical spell or something?" Sphalerite asked, who was now in her normal Saturday clothes (Zicron had to allow her to wear that instead of her training clothes to prevent Sphal from going back to bed). These were a black baseball cap-facing backwards, of course-, a black hoodie, and her ripped jeans. She was also wearing her combat boots-the one item that had to be worn while training.
Emerald smiled at Sphalerite's question, "I was wondering when you would ask that. BLACK DIAMOND! CAN YOU C'MERE FOR A SEC?! Fusion is kinda like dancing. It varies by the relationship of the two gems. Enemies often don't stay fused and don't fuse well. Friends just do a normal dance. Partners often do romantic-like dances."
Sphalerite gagged, making Zicron chuckle. Black Diamond walked over, "What? I thought that you were teaching Sphal how to fuse with Zicci."
"YOU'RE gonna help me show these two how to fuse. Either that or you're grounded," Emerald explained.
"Okay then. Can't you just unfuse and then fuse again?" Black Diamond asked.
"You are literally ASKING for punishment."
"Okay, okay. We'll fuse. But just for a minute."
Sphalerite watched as Emerald and Black Diamond did some kind of dance. Soon, their gems started to glow. Then, they fused into one gem before almost immediately unfusing.
"Sphal, Zics, you two try. Zicron, you've done this before, so you know the dance you need to do. Try and give Sphalerite some pointers if she seems confused," Emerald explained.
Zicron nodded. She and Sphal started to do a dance. Zicron kept pointing out that Sphalerite had to move her feet more and actually seem enthusiastic. Soon, their gems started to lightly glow. The two were getting the hang of things, and soon started merging. Sphalerite had to grit her teeth to try and ignore the pain that she was feeling. It felt as if she was being torn in half, yet Zicron seemed to be fine. Sphalerite guessed that she had felt this weird sensation before.
Soon, the pain disappeared and Sphalerite felt surprisingly taller and stronger. Emerald didn't seem as tall to her anymore. Her hands were a dark blue, almost like the color of Zicron's skin, and she felt something on her forehead. It was a diamond-shaped gem.
"Hey, guys! You fused correctly! Now, let's see if you can fight in that form. You two need to be synchronized while you do that," Emerald explained.
"Okay."
Sphalerite was a little confused about how that voice came out of her mouth without her knowing she was going to speak, but she guessed that Zicron was the one who made that happen. Sphalerite reached down to grab the whip that was in the holster on her waist.
"Okay, on three, BOTH of you have to crack the whip AT THE SAME TIME. One, two, THREE!" Emerald shouted.
Sphalerite cracked the whip only to fall over onto her face. Zicron had cracked it a little before her. The gems started glowing again and the two unfused.
"Sorry," Zicron apologized, "that was my fault."
"Its okay. Sphalerite has to sword-train with Iolite now anyway. I'll have Pyrope help you out with synchronizing your fusion skills later," Emerald explained. "Sphal, go meet up with Iolite. He's at the portal, teleporty thing."
"Sure. Thanks, guys!" Sphalerite said.
Iolite waved at Sphalerite when she teleported to the arena. He threw her the flame katana that she had been training with and had planned to keep once her training was done. They started the normal training warm-ups. Blocking, slashing, and quickly drawing the sword.
"What do you think you would do in a real battle with the skills you have now?" Iolite asked out of the blue.
Sphalerite hesitated, "Decent, I guess. Not amazing, not horrible."
"Well, we're about to put that theory to the test. I've created Bloodstone-clones (that rhymed. Unintentionally) and fake fog for you to fight. They can stab you, but you won't feel anything but pressure and it won't leave a scar. Ready?" Iolite explained.
"You bet Io!" Sphalerite said enthusiastically. Soon, fog engulfed the arena and Iolite seemed to disappear from view. Sphalerite watched closely everywhere she went until she heard a shout from behind her that sounded exactly like Bloodstone's. She spun around and blocked the sword just as it was about to hit her back. She released the struggle and ducked down, slid underneath his legs, and stabbed him in the back. The clone exploded into a cloud of smoky mist.
Sphalerite stalked around the arena for a while before she finally heard some grunts behind her. She turned around and saw four Bloodstone clones. She slashed one of the clones across the face and another across the throat, making the two clones explode into clouds of dust. The other two drew their swords and Sphalerite began struggling with them. Soon, she was able to stab one in the chest and he exploded into a cloud of misty nothingness. The last clone stabbed Sphal in the shoulder, making her experience a lot more pressure than she thought she would face. She ignored the huge amount of pressure that she was experiencing and stabbed the clone in the neck, making him turn into the cloud of dust that the others became.
Sphalerite shoved her head in the fridge and looked for a cookie. Once she found one, she headed upstairs to her bedroom. She opened the door to her bedroom only to hear that all-too familiar voice talking into a recording device. A Homeworld recording device.
"This is Peridot, reporting straight from…"
Sphalerite flinched at that name.
Peridot was back.
The one who killed her parents.
