"Basic" Training

We arrived at a strange gem colosseum thingy. It was old and decrepit, but it still looked cool. Pearl led us up the steps. "So, what would my training entail, then?" I said to Pearl.

"For today? I just want to see what you're already capable of. We'll work from there."

"This is just a baseline test, huh?" I said. "Cool. Just so you know, though, I'm probably going to score something like a zero."

"Don't sell yourself short, Connie," Steven said. "Most people would have frozen when faced with that sand worm."

"True. We're here to see how well that translates to fighting with weapons and not docks."

"Hey, good luck Connie!" Steven said.

Pearl gave him a sly look. "How about 'good luck Steven?' You're taking this test together, of course. What would be the point of separating you if you're fighting together from now on anyways?"

Both of us were a bit surprised, but it made sense the way she put it. Neither of us complained at all.

"This was an ancient gem battleground. Some of the earliest fights against Homeworld were fought here. But it will fit our purposes as a training ground quite nicely."

"What exactly is the training going to entail?" I asked.

"We'll start simple. I've brought one of the easier monsters we've had to defeat over the years here." She brought out a bubble containing a green gem.

I exchanged a wary look with Steven. "That doesn't sound too simple…"

"Don't worry. If it falls off this platform, it's toast. It has no way to fly. It shouldn't fight back, either. It didn't when we fought it the first time. And if things get out of hand, I'll be here. You have nothing to fear. I just want to see if the two of you have the ability to take it down yet. If not, that's fine, we'll just work our way upwards until we can. Okay?"

I looked at Steven, and he seemed confident. If he isn't scared, I shouldn't be, either. I nodded as well. Nothing to worry about.

"Okay?" she repeated.

"Yeah, okay," I said.

"Since you two don't have gem weapons, at least reliably, I chose a few swords from my collection that should suit you well. Connie, here is the sword of Valkania. No one knows where it came from, but it's cutting powers are unmatched. Steven, you get the sword of Zirconia famous for taking down the legendary bounty hunter of the same name."

We both removed the swords from their scabbards. They were both beautiful. We didn't have the time to fully look them over, though. Pearl said, "Remember, don't worry if you can't take it down, and don't be afraid to call for help."

"Yes ma'am," I said, taking on a fighting stance.

"We got it, Pearl. We're ready." Steven said.

Pearl popped the bubble and the gem dropped to the floor. We waited a second, then a white figure burst outward from its core. The image grew to a size that was about twice my height, solidifying into a final form. If I had to describe it, it resembled a huge howler monkey with armored fists and a green coloring throughout. It howled, fittingly enough, and lunged at us. The two of us, clearly not learning from the worm, tried and failed to jump in opposite directions. I was starting to get used to being rammed into nearby pillars.

Pearl was about to step in, but Steven yelled, "No, we have this!" He turned to me and said, "We have this, right?" I nodded. I got prepared for the monkey to charge again.

But the monkey didn't charge again. Instead, the creature now just eyed us from a distance. It wasn't making a move. Unperturbed, Steven and I charged it. I swung my sword in a mighty swing, but as the sword came down, the monkey had already brought up its paw and the sword harmlessly bounced off. Steven did the same, with the same results. We both started wailing away at the thing, but every swing we made was effortlessly deflected. We tried sneaking to its back, but when I swung my sword, the monkey's tail managed to get in the way. We tried luring it over to an edge to knock it off, but we couldn't get it angry enough to charge us. We might as well have been fighting a wall. Finally, we stepped back and tried to think.

"Okay, this clearly isn't working," I said. "We need a new plan. You got one?"

"Isn't that your job?" Steven said.

"No, your job is to come up with a plan. Mine is to improvise when it goes wrong. That's what happened with the worm."

"Fair enough. Well, we clearly aren't getting anywhere attacking it head on."

"We don't have any ranged weapons, though."

"We could throw our swords? I just have the feeling that he'd easily deflect that."

That line of thinking wasn't going anywhere. But it did lead me to an idea. "Actually, I might have a plan."

"What is it?"

"It's stupid, and probably suicidal."

"Aren't all the best plans?"

"Ours, at least. So here's what I got so far…"

"You're right, this was really stupid," Steven said

Steven was bracing himself to the ground as I stepped backwards. I felt the pull of the infinity link grow stronger and stronger as I did so, but I didn't stop. I grabbed onto a pillar and used it as leverage to pull even harder. The monkey just eyed us, seemingly curious. Finally, I couldn't pull any harder. "Well, that's why I'm the one who's risking her life!"

"Look, it's okay if you don't do this, guys. I can handle it for you…" Pearl said, clearly not liking this plan.

"It's okay. I got this." I said. I took a deep breath and put the plan into motion.

I released the grip and jumped upwards. The link pulled me forwards, running at full speed instantly. I jumped up and over Steven (no idea how I jumped that high. The monkey realized what was happening and tried to block it, but it was too late. I took my sword and plunged it into its forehead before it could block it, causing the monkey to howl one last time. I stood atop it, my hands on the sword and the sword in its head, triumphant. The infinity team was too much for the great howler monkey.

But then the monkey didn't 'poof.' I looked down and saw it beginning to glow white, but it still had some fight left in it. Its eyes narrowed. I scrambled to get off, but it blocked my escape. In its fading breath, it brought up its hand and hit me, hard enough that I was knocked off the colosseum, Steven in tow, spiraling towards the ground. I heard Pearl yell, "STEVEN!" as we spiraled closer and closer to the ground.

I saw the monster poof behind us, if that was any consolation.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. I was falling to my death, it was warranted. I couldn't even see, I was just spinning out of control.

Steven was probably scared, too, but he didn't show it. He maneuvered himself in the air over to me and grabbed both of my hands, stopping my spinning. We had, what, maybe 45 seconds until we hit the ground? I looked around there had to be something we could do. But then I realized, there was nothing. We had nothing.

"Connie, listen to me. We can get out of this."

I released some anger I didn't know I had. "With what? Pearl can't save us. Do you have a deus ex machina on you, by chance?"

"No, but I'm sure we can think of something."

"Like what? We can't have more than 30 seconds until impact and no one's here to save us." I wiped a tear from my eye. Then I smiled a little. "Wow. We survived all that. A sand worm, a monkey with an impregnable defense, at least most of the way killed it, and going to the bathroom. Yet we die to a potshot in a monkey's dying breath. All the mysteries and we'll die before they matter to us."

"Come on Connie, focus. There has to be something we can do."

I swore time had slowed down. We'd talked for a good minute now and we weren't even halfway to the ground. Maybe it was just time seeming to go slower in a near death scenario, or maybe it was literal. Steven did have gem powers we still didn't know about. Whatever the case, we had a bit of time. "Huh, it looks like I was wrong. It'll be a while yet before we reach the ground and die."

"Connie, come on. It isn't like you to give up like this."

"You've only known me for a day, you don't know me. You see, I don't give up unless there's no way out. But look around us, Steven. There is no way out. With the worm, we had a bracelet and a collapsing dock. For the monkey, we had our swords and a magical bond. Well, we dropped our swords and our bond is worthless. We have nothing."

Steven looked at me for a few seconds. Just as I thought he had no defense and I was ready to just start crying, he said, "You're wrong, Connie."

"I'm wrong, huh? Then tell me, what do we have? What magical item is going to save our lives?"

Steven looked me in the eye, and said in the world's most serious voice, "We have each other."

I both blushed and chuckled at that. "Oh my god, that is so corny. Only you could say that as we're falling to our deaths."

"So, is Connie back with me, not the strange mopey girl in her body a minute ago?"

"Yeah, I'm with you. Sorry about that. You're right, now's not the time to give up. So what's the plan?"

"Um… about that. I didn't exactly say I had one…"

"Oh, of course you didn't. You've already said you don't have a plan. I'm saying we need to make one. Any ideas?"

"Um, not really?"

"Great, it falls to me, now. You know the worst part about you not having a plan?"

Steven seemed really confused. "Wh-what?"

"I can't even get mad at you. You're Steven, no one could get angry."

Steven laughed at that. Everything seems funnier when you're about to die. "So, what now?"

"I don't know. Would the bubble, if you could form it, protect us from fall damage?"

"I doubt it. Remember the ocean floor? That hurt, bad. I doubt it would protect us."

"So, any other plans? Come on, no point in cheering me up if we aren't going to save ourselves."

"I…" Steven looked away. "I don't know. I guess, if we die here, I didn't want you to be in a foul mood when it happened. I didn't want my last memory to be a bad one. It's selfish. I'm sorry, I know as well as you do that there's no way out of this. I just made you cheer up for nothing."

I thought over his words. "It's okay. I guess I don't want my last thought to be of you in a bad mood, either. Cheer up, I'm not mad at you. I can't be mad if you're here."

A mischievous look crossed Steven's face. "You'd better rethink your words. If I were anyone else, I'd think you were falling for me." We both laughed at that a little more than we should've.

"Oh my god, that was horrible. Look at us, we're about to die, and we're smiling and cracking jokes." I looked down. The ground didn't seem to get any closer since I last checked around 5 minutes ago. "You know, we're barely even falling. It's like time has stopped, just for us."

"Maybe that's our fate. It wasn't enough to be chained together, but now we have to fall for all eternity, forever isolated from the outside world."

"Maybe."

We fell for a bit in silence, just taking in the summer breeze coming at us from below. I looked down, and time seemed to have started again. Just as I pointed it out, probably. What are the odds. The ground was approaching again quickly. Oddly enough, I didn't panic. "It's kind of peaceful up here, isn't it?" I said.

Steven noticed the ground, too. But had the same reaction as me: acceptance. "Yeah, I guess it is."

We fell, circling each other like some sort of slow dance as we were about to die. The ground was maybe 10 seconds away. I closed my eyes and smiled. Steven and I said at the same time, "At least I got to meet you."

I kept my eyes closed for 10 seconds. Then another 10. But the impact never came. I opened my eyes, but it was… strange. For one, I was hovering in the air about a foot off the ground, but that wasn't the strangest part. I felt… different. My eyesight was so much sharper, like I didn't need my glasses anymore. For that matter, my glasses were gone altogether! And the rest of my clothes, what was I wearing? It looked like Steven's star shirt? I floated down to the ground. The grass seemed shorter. Or, did I seem just taller? I patted myself down, it was so weird. It was like I was in someone else's body altogether. My pat-down reached my chest, and I stopped. I felt something that wasn't there before. I looked down, and sure enough, a rose-colored gemstone was right there, sticking out of my chest.

"What happened?" I said. Aloud, it was fine, but in my head, there was something like an echo to my own voice at the same time as I spoke.

"I need a mirror." I said, with the same echo effect in my head.

I stumbled upwards and over to a nearby pond. I saw my reflection and I didn't see myself staring back. There was someone that sort of resembled a grown-up version of myself staring back at me, but wearing some mixture of what I had been wearing and Steven's clothes. Some words escaped my mouth that I didn't say. "I'm a girl?"

Startled, I said, "Why did I say that?"

"Who's there?" The words came out of my lips again, and in my head as well. And this time, I kind of recognized it.

"Wait. Steven? Is that you?"

"Connie? Are you in here?"

"What the heck is going on?" We said at the same time. Now that I think about it, it would be weird if someone was listening in to this. Just some girl talking to herself.

"Do you have any idea what this is?" I asked Steven.

"I was hoping you would."

"Look, we need to wait till Pearl finds us. I'm sure she'll come looking, and don't they always say to stay still in an emergency?" I said.

"Yeah. Stay put."

I looked over… our? Would it be our new body? Whatever. It felt okay. I wasn't restricted by an invisible chain, that was a plus. Really, looking myself over, it felt pretty good. Steven, I felt, had the same reactions. It was kind of weird. I couldn't exactly read his thoughts, more like just his emotions? It was an indescribable experience.

I shook my head. "This is unreal." I said.

"You said it. What is this?"

"Probably connected to our infinity link."

"I hope we aren't stuck like this."

"With our luck, we probably are."

"Honestly, there's some logic to that." I said. But as I said it, I realized that I wasn't okay with this. I'm not sure where it came from, I'm not sure why this of all things crossed a line, but I felt a rush of uncertainty.

Steven noticed through the link. "Connie, are you okay?"

I looked around. "Come on, where's Pearl? PEARL!"

"Give her time. I'm sure she's coming. It'll just take her a bit of time to get down here."

"I hope so. She needs to fix this. How long will it take? I can't fend for myself. What if she thinks we're dead and doesn't come at all?"

"Come on, Pearl would never think that. Now you're just being ridiculous."

"Yeah, but I'm sure she's beating us up about this, hard. What if she doesn't want to come down and face us?"

"Don't be so hard on Pearl. She gives it her best shot. Are you still mad about earlier?"

"Yes… No… I don't know! Maybe subconsciously? I'm just sick of all this magic stuff screwing us over every time things are starting to make sense!" There. I think that's the reason why I was freaking out.

With that, there was a flash of white light, and the two of us split apart. There was just Steven and Connie again, not some weird cross between us.

I smiled lightly, and it turned into a grin. I hugged Steven. "Finally!" I yelled.

Steven blinked a few times. "What?"

"It wasn't permanent! Don't you see what this means? We don't have another thing to worry about! Maybe another question, but for once a change happened that isn't going to last us the rest of our lives. Oh, and did you perhaps notice that we're alive? And did we just float? That's also a pretty big deal. Oh my god, I'm so happy!"

"Wow. Um, mood swing, much?"

Before I could respond, I heard a voice call, "Steven! Connie? Are you two there?"

"Yes, we're here!" we called simultaneously. We looked at each other and giggled.

"Still talking at the same time, huh? Maybe we are still one person and this is just in our head," I said.

"Nah, I think we'd notice that," He said.

Pearl came out from behind a hill. Seeing us, she grinned from ear to ear. Words came forth so fast it was a bit difficult to understand her. "Oh my god I was so worried! How are you two even alive? Oh, I shouldn't worry about that. You made it. I am so sorry! That monster was meant to be just a test of your abilities. It has a near-impenetrable defense, so it was supposed to just let me see your abilities in terms of working together, seeing your fighting stances. I didn't expect you to break through! And I sure didn't expect it to ever fight back. It didn't when we fought it, anyways. And when it launched you off, I totally should have seen that coming and I didn't. I've just been screwing everything up today. Can you forgive me?"

"Pearl, Pearl, it's fine! Calm down! We forgive you." Steven and I said, again at the same time.

"But I-" Pearl paused. "Did you two just say that at the same time?"

"Yeah. It's probably a side effect of the thing that just happened." We said. You know, it occurred to me that we're being more in sync after we separated. Kind of funny.

"…Right. I don't suppose you could tell me what just happened?

"It might be hard. Even we don't really get what just happened," we said.

"Could you stop that? It's kind of freaking me out."

We both cocked our heads. "Hmm…" we said. Then I booped him on the nose.

"Hey!" he said.

"There, we're out of sync," I said.

Pearl stared at us for a few seconds. "You know what, I have better things to worry about."

"So, should we explain?" I asked.

"Sure, why not. Don't think it could get any weirder."

I struck a dramatic pose. "There we were, falling from the sky," I said. "We were oddly content about it. Long story. Anyways, as we were about to hit the ground, there was a bright light!"

Steven picked up the reins. "When we woke up, it was super weird. We were floating 5 feet off of the ground! Oh, yeah, and we were in the same body! It was like a combination between her body and my own. Oh my god, it was so bizzare! We were fine at first, but Connie started panicking after a while and we separated. That's just about all there is to it."

I finished it off. "I don't know about Steven, but I don't know what happened. Probably some other weird ability having to do with the infinity bond. I'm just relieved I don't have to share a body for the rest of my life."

Pearl, however, was a bit flabbergasted. "You- you fused?"

Steven and I exchanged a look. "Fused?" he said.

Pearl seemed not to hear him. "That should be impossible! She's a human, humans can't fuse. Could it be because of the bond between you two? Or maybe it's because of Steven's human half…"

"Could you please tell us what's going on?" I said.

"Look, we didn't want to tell you two until you were ready. Well, Steven, at least, Connie just got here, of course. Maybe I'm not the best one to tell you this… In order to talk about this, we need Garnet's help." Pearl paused. "Oh, and Amethyst might be there as well."

"Can't you tell us now?" I said

"Really, this is something I'm not exactly an expert in. I would probably give a bias interpretation that doesn't help in the least. We need the other gems. Let's go back to the temple, we'll talk there.

"Okay, just one problem," Steven said. "Where's the nearest warp pad?"

"It's up there, of course." We gave her a second. "Oh, I see your point…"

Once we returned, the three gems had very different reactions. Garnet was the happiest I think I had ever seen her. She was literally grinning wider than I thought was possible. Pearl was still quite uneasy. Amethyst, she was completely indifferent to the whole thing.
Garnet tried to keep herself together. "You're telling me, that as you were falling to your death, you, without knowing what gem fusion was in the first place and no intention to do so, managed to accidentally fuse with each other?"

"Um, yes ma'am," I said. "That's what we just told you. Now could someone tell me what gem fusion even is?"

Pearl started to explain, but Garnet interrupted. "Gem fusion is when two gems' essences, or I guess a half gem and a humans' essences, become so completely in sync that the two beings become one. It's usually preformed via a dance, but if it's in a unique enough situation, it could happen just about anywhere."

"So, any one of you could fuse together right now?" Steven said, hopeful.

Again, Garnet interrupted Pearl. "Technically, yes, but it's not always a good idea. I'm totally for fusion, but it should be safe."

I said, "When you say it that way, it sort of reminds me of… you know…"

"No, it's nothing like that. How should I put this… when you fuse, you become a combination of the best traits of the both of you. But it can get addicting. If you aren't ready for it, the fusion might take over."

A bit panicked, I said, "We could have been trapped like that?"

"No, no. If you don't want to be a fusion, you won't be."

Pearl finally saw an opportunity to step in. "What Garnet is trying to say is, Fusion is a fine choice to make, but make sure to not to let it control you. I just want to know how you two were able to fuse at all."

I was about to say something, but a yawn of mine cut me off. I looked at the clock. It had taken us a long time to get back up to the colosseum, hadn't it?

Pearl noticed this. "You know what, I'm sorry. I know this is exiting and all, new powers, new questions, but maybe we should be getting some sleep."

"Hey, weren't you be the one badgering them with questions?" Amethyst said.

"Look, I at least occasionally think of other people. These two have had a rough day, and they need their sleep. Whatever questions I might have, they can wait until tomorrow." Pearl said.

"Chill, P! I agree with you." Amethyst said.

Garnet nodded, calmed down a little bit. "Yes. Even if this is exiting, Sleep takes precedent. We shall continue this conversation in the morning."

And with that, our day ended abruptly. A lot happened today. Mom and dad were brought up to speed, I was left with the gems, we stopped time for a few minutes, we fused, and we ended with more questions then we started with, which is becoming very standard at this point. I don't know what's coming next. Could things might finally calm down for a bit? I'm not holding my breath. With the gems, things don't seem to ever die down for good. In that case, a more fitting question might be, I wonder what startling revelations will come tomorrow?

A/N: Sorry for all the mushy stuff. I write a chapter expecting it to be action-packed training, then it always turns into the feels. Unless you like the mushy stuff, then I have no reason to apologize. Again, feedback is always appreciated, like and follow if you want to see more, and look forward to the next one, whenever it comes out. Probably tomorrow, and if not then, then the day after.

Oh, and to whichever guest reviewer that said we wouldn't be seeing Stevonnie for a while, you were sorely mistaken. To Wolfsprit as well, happened sooner than you thought it would, right? No reason to wait until alone together, right? This is my cannon, so unlike some fics, things are gonna diverge quite a bit from the show. If it stayed the same as the show, why bother reading it at all? That's my philosophy, anyways.

Adm: I meant to post this yesterday, but fanfiction was being weird and kept giving me an error message. Better late then never, I suppose.