"So Lion, what'cha wanna do?" asked the Crystal Gem trainee. Steven and Lion were in the living room waiting for the Gems to come back from their mission. Lion merely yawned and continued what he did best, being perpetually lazy. "Aww…you're no fun! You did nothing yesterday and now you're doing nothing today" Steven said as he flopped back onto Lion's mane.
"I'm sooo bored…I don't see why I couldn't go with them. I mean, I survived an exploding spaceship…twice! I can handle anything! Hey…There's an idea!" said the starry eyed youth. "Lion! Let's train together! It'll be like Dekken 4! You can be Ruma and I'll be Kashimitsu!" explained a very hyped-up Steven. But Lion wasn't feeling the energy; he just kept on chillin'.
Not one to give up so easily Steven thought, "Hmmm…what we need is some training music." He got his phone out of his pocket and flipped through the songs on his playlist. "Hmmm…ah ha!" Steven chose a medium paced Spanish guitar song and said, "Yea, this definitely has a tough "large man" warrior feel to it. What do you think Lion?" He was expecting him to be nonchalant, but to his surprise he was thumping his paw to the drum beat.
Steven suppressed his excitement, he didn't want to ruin the funky flow. So instead he started to tap his feet to the melody. Then Lion started to swish his tail side to side to the rhythm of guitar crescendo. Steven followed suit by clapping and stomping one foot to the ground. Lion shook his mane side to side while Steven did some funky movements. As the song reached its apex, Steven spun right onto Lion and his muscular body softened the impact. Steven looked at him with starry eyes while Lion actually smiled. Then Steven's gem started to glow and a bright pink light enveloped both of them.
When the brightness disappeared, all that remained was a new furry being. "Roarr? Wait, why am I roaring?"
The new being ran his paw-like hands over his furry legs, torso and arms. When it reached the rose quartz gem imbedded in its abdomen, it exclaimed "I fused with Lion?!" "Roarr!" Lion responded from within the new body. "Why don't you tell me you can do these things you do?!" asked Steven and Lion merely huffed in response. "What do you mean I didn't ask? How am I supposed to know what to…wait…I can understand you?! In my head?!" The new being stood wobbly on its raised legs, but soon got the hand of it. "This is so cool! C'mon let's see what we look like!"
The new being rushed into the bathroom, albeit almost tripping on his own feet. He turned on the light and looked at his reflection in the mirror. "Whoaaarrrrrooooo…." they marveled.
He was a head taller than Garnet. Their body was covered in light cherry blossom pink fur. The chocolate colored mane was curly like Steven's hair but it was wispy and long like Lion's. His pants became shorts just like when he was Stevonnie, but his shirt was torn into a makeshift tank due to the increased muscle density in his upper body. "I wonder how strong I am now?" he thought as he flexed his guns. He still had that little pudgy belly, but that was fine; he had a gladiator body type.
"Ok…so what's our name?" asked Steven. The being roared low in response. "Ok, I'll start spit balling names and we'll see what happens. How about Stion? No, that sounds weird. Frank?" An annoyed growl came out of the being's mouth. "What? I always thought Frank was a cool name. Ok, ok, how about….Levon?" The being purred in response and smiled, showing all of its pearly white sharp teeth. "Levon it is! Man, I can't wait for Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl to see us like this!"
On cue Levon heard the warp pad activate and he rushed out of the bathroom to greet them. As the light faded away Pearl said to her teammates, "UGH! What is it with all these corrupted gems?! I don't know what Jasper and Peridot did when they came here, but ever since they arrived and subsequently defeated, they've been popping up all over the place!" She griped the edge of her nose while Amethyst played with the bubbled gem before Garnet took it and bubbled it to the temple. "I swear if I see one more beast I'm gonna" "Hey guys!" That was poor timing on Levon's part. Now that their two minds were in sync, their voice came out deeper.
As soon as the gems saw Levon, they readied their weapons. Pointing her spear at him she hissed, "Who are you?" Then Amethyst noticed the torn fabric of Steven's shirt on the floor and said, "Guys! Look!" When Pearl and Garnet saw the ripped cloth, their rage meters went all the way up to one hundred. "What have you done with our baby?!" yelled Pearl as she threw her spear at him. "W-wait! AHH!"
Levon narrowly dodged the attack, but saw that Garnet was in the air ready to pound him into the ground. He got out of the way just as she punched a fist-sized crater into the floor boards. Then Amethyst sprang up and managed to cut him across his face with the edge of her whip. He growled in pain while he grabbed his face, but he quickly recovered and grabbed the whip out of her hands. The Lion side of Levon was pissed and went into full on defense mode.
Gathering energy from his gem, Levon yelled "STOP IT!" He let loose a powerful supersonic roar that sent all three gems crashing against the wall where the temple door was located. If he meant business, he probably could've destroyed the whole house. But I guess blessings should be counted since the only visible damage were broken windows and a tornado wrecked room.
Levon approached the gems as they were recovering from the shock. He knelt down and softly said, "Guys…it's me, Steven. Please believe me."
Garnet was the first to recover and stared into his eyes. When she realized that this new being was indeed Steven, her mouth dropped in shock and horror as she ran her fingers over the bloody gash. "It is you…" she said with a broken voice.
When they heard their leader confirm the beast's claim, Pearl was hysterical. "What?! How?! Why?! Oh my God! What have we done?!" she rambled as she clutched onto Levon and cried into his furry chest – knocking him to sitting on the ground. He put one arm around her to try and comfort her.
Amethyst just stood there in shock, trying to come to grips as she realized that it was her that inflicted that scar over his perfect face. "S-Steven…I-I" she tried to apologize but it never has been her specialty.
"Levon" the being calmly answered.
Pearl lifted her head from his chest and asked, "W-**sniff* what?"
"My name is Levon. Lion and I came up with it" he clarified. Garnet smiled and said through her own tears, "You never cease to amaze me Levon." A low rumble of contentment radiated through his body as he showed his signature smile, albeit with more fangs.
"We're sorry for attacking you" said Garnet while Amethyst looked at the ground kicking imaginary rocks.
"It's ok. I know you guys are on edge and just want to keep me safe. Heh, that's sorta how I fused with Lion" he said. They all got up off the floor(Levon had to steady Pearl because she was still shaken up) and made their way over to Steven bedroom, the only area not affected by the roar storm.
Once everyone was comfortable on the bed Levon began, "Y'see I was bored waiting for you guys, so I decided to do some training to make myself stronger so I could go on more missions. Then I chose this song" He looked around the items strewn all over the floor and saw his cell phone. He hopped down, grabbed it, and hopped back up. He carefully poked at the screen to play the song. "And Lion actually liked it! So we started feeling the funky flow and here I am" he finished.
The gems just stared at him, more so at his scar. Levon picked up on this and said, "Guys, it's not that bad. If anything it makes me look like a tough lion warrior!" He laughed but quickly cut it off when he saw that his moms were still feeling guilty.
"We promised Rose we would protect you…and what do we do?! Pearl nearly impales you, Garnet almost crushed your head in and I slash you right under your eyes! What if you became blind?!" ranted a teary Amethyst. "Then so be it" Levon stoically responded. "You guys are my family and I want to do everything I can to protect you."
"DON'T YOU GET IT?!" snapped Pearl. "The reason why we don't take you on missions anymore is because we can't risk losing you like we did her!" she screamed through tears as she pointed to Rose's portrait. "We almost lost you when were abducted. I-if anything happened to you…" she broke off. Levon took a moment to let everything that was said sink in, then grabbed all three of them in a strong, reassuring hug. He purred and a soft glow emanated out of his gem, creating a refreshing light.
"Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst…thank you for caring so much about me. But likewise, you guys and dad are all I have too. If anything happened to any of you, I couldn't even imagine how I'd be. You always look out for me, so can you let me look out for you? Just like a family do?" They nodded against his chest and he released them from his hold. He once again flashed his signature smile and they all followed suit.
"I'm sorry that this hasn't been a good experience for you Levon" said Garnet. "Are you kidding me? Just hearing how much you guys love me makes me feel all fuzzy inside" he replied. Amethyst laughed a little at the pun. "Plus, the day's not over. I can still go out and have fun." "Let grab the first aid kit and tend to your wound first" said Pearl as she headed toward the stairs.
Then Levon roared, stopping Pearl in her tracks. "Is something wrong?" Pearl worriedly asked. Levon didn't respond. He merely licked his paw and rubbed the spit over his wound. Immediately the wound disappeared. "Whooo! I have my healing spit back! Thanks Lion!" The three Gems smiled at the youth's happiness.
"Alright, I'm gonna go see dad. I want to show him too!"
"No" they all said. Levon's face immediately fell. "You might give him a heart attack. He barely got used to Alexandrite" Garnet explained.
Levon remembered how dad freaked out then. He was amazed that he composed himself so quickly for dinner that night.
"How about I take you to Mask Island and you can try out your skills there?" Garnet suggested. Levon wagged his tail and said, "Ok! But what about Pearl and Amethyst?" "We'll stay behind and clean up. You run along and have fun" said Pearl. "Alright!" Levon jumped down and ran to the warp pad. "C'mon Garnet, let's go!" Garnet couldn't help but smile at the fusion's excitement. She made her way to the warp pad and soon they were on their way. While they were floating in the stream, she silently vowed to give him the best experience of his life. He's part wild animal and she would let him be one without any fear.
Hey guys! Thanks to everyone who read "Pent Up Feelings" You guys rock! I hope you enjoy this one as well. For the Spanish guitar song, choose whichever one you like and listen to it. I personally like "Hanuman" by Rodrigo y Gabriela.