Before anyone asks, I triple checked, yes, Fire Opal is in fact an actual thing.
Steven and the other gems appeared on the a warp pad in a place Steven had never been before. It was a relatively empty field of strawberries, save of course for the giant building resembling an inverted pyramid. It was huge, bigger even than the temple statue, and supported by several pillars to keep it from falling over, at least that was what Steven assumed they were for.
"Woah, what is this place?" Steven asked. "This pyramid is an old gem structure," Sapphire said, "It was a fortress back in the old days, used for storing equipment and training the most elite of gems. It's been shut down for a long time, but recently something caused it to activate again, and the bursts of electromagnetic energy it's letting off is interfering with human satellite technology."
Steven turned to Opal, hoping she could explain whatever Sapphire has just said. "It's hurting the TV." Opal said, Steven gasping, "No! I'll save you TV!" Steven said, running over to one of the pillars holding up the pyramid and starting to punch and kick it, though he was doing more damage to himself than he was doing to the pyramid's pillar, eventually giving up as he panted tiredly.
Ruby snickered, pulling Steven back, "Sorry Steven, for something like this, we'd need a Steven at least this strong!" To demonstrate, Ruby shape-shifted to make herself look like a taller, more muscled version of Steven with her gauntlet on. Ruby began to punching the pillar, but due to it's thickness and toughness, even Ruby's strength matched with her gauntlet took her several strikes to even take a single chip off of the pillar, and not even a very big chunk to begin with. Eventually, even Ruby started to get tired and bored with it, and returned back to her normal form.
Sapphire sighed, "We could be here all day if we try taking out the pillars individually, not to mention that we'd still need to do enough damage to the core of the pyramid to cut off all the energy flowing through the mechanisms inside. I can already see it with my future vision, us here until mid-night at least if we do it your way."
Ruby grumbled in annoyance, "I hate it when you're right about stuff." She said, scowling when Sapphire smiled smugly at her, "Don't whine, all we need to do is construct a simple, well thought out and strategic plan to-" "No," Opal cut Sapphire off, "What we need is Fire Opal. Ruby, fuse with me."
Steven saw two very different reactions from the two other gems. Ruby's eyes widened in excitement and shock, and she let out a triumphant shout, punching her fish into the air. Sapphire on the other hand, seemed to frown nervously, "Um, Opal, that might not be the best idea. I've seen a few of the different futures involving Fire Opal...many of them do not turn out well." She warned, Ruby frowning in disappointment, looking up to Opal for the decision.
"Well, do you see any versions of the future where your strategic plans backfire on us?" Opal asked. "Well... yes..but-" Sapphire started, Opal stopping her, "There's always the chance that things go wrong, but this is the fastest, and most fun, way to handle it. Let's go Ruby." Ruby jumped in excitement, running over with Opal as Steven watched in excitement, eager to see another fusion gem.
Opal and Ruby stood a few feet away from each other, and began to dance. Ruby's dance was energetic and erratic, and Opal seemed to mimic the form herself, though her movements were more fluid as her thick arms separated into four as they so rarely did. Ruby's dancing brought her over to Opal, who took her hand and pulled her hard. Instead of crash into Opal's body, like the motion would have caused under normal circumstances, both gem's bodies seemed to fade into light and merge together into one form; and that one form grew huge before the light faded and her body became visible.
Her skin was light red and grainy, with her outfit looking more like Opal's, though thicker and covering more of everything, save for her arms, which were completely on display. Where's Opal's four arms were slender enough to attach together and look like two normal arms, like they so often were kept, this gem's four arms were massive and muscular. She seemed to have two massive fangs like a saber-tooth among her normal teeth, and her hair fell down in a ponytail behind her and two pig tails on either side of her head.
"Woah! Are you Fire Opal?" Steven asked excitedly. She smiled, "You got it kid. Whatcha think?" She asked, flexing her four massive arms. "You look awesome!" Steven shouted with a smile, Fire Opal grinning, "Wanna see something even cooler?"
When Steven nodded, Fire Opal pulled out Opal's bow. The string that she knocked the arrows on detached from one side. As it swung up, Ruby's gauntlet appear on one hand, and she wrapped it around the end of the string, where it solidified as the handle of the bow shrunk and thickened. Finally, several spikes jutted out of the metal ball that had once been a gauntlet, and the spiked ball went up in flames.
Steven was awestruck, and didn't notice that Sapphire had only become more and more nervous with every passing second. "Are you gonna smash stuff with your morning star?" Steven asked. "That's the plan." Fire Opal said, two hands lifting the handle of the morning star and swinging it so the flaming spikes collided with one of the pillars, destroying a pillar twice as thick as the one Steven and Ruby had hailed to break in mere seconds.
Sapphire started moving before the debris even started falling, her future vision predicting where the massive chunks of stone would land and letting her avoid them and pull Steven along so he didn't get hurt either. As Fire Opal continued to smash into more and more pillars, more and more debris fell. Eventually, Sapphire found a point where no matter which direction she went, something would crash into her. The only solution was for her so send a blast of icy coldness at it, causing it to freeze over and shatter before it could hit them.
Too late Sapphire realized the mistake in her plan, and a smaller chunk of the stone flew from the rock and nailed Steven in the side of the face. Fire Opal snickered, "Nice going ice queen." She joked, swinging her morning star again and taking down another pillar. Sapphire's hands balled into fists, "You...you're just too much." Sapphire huffed, pulling Steven onto the warp pad, "Maybe you're just not enough." Fire Opal commented as her morning star crashed into the wall of the pyramid, causing the structure to tilt slightly.
"Let's go Steven." Sapphire said. "What about Fire Opal?" Steven asked. "She can find her own way back." Sapphire said, having already foresaw Fire Opal returning to the temple herself. They warp pad activated, sending Sapphire and Steven home just moments before it was smashed to pieces by a huge boulder thrown off by Fire Opal's destruction.
Steven had gone from overexcited by Fire Opal's strength to one of being more excited by the thought of helping other get stronger. What's more, with Sapphire's help, he seemed to have gotten more interesting in learning strategic combat, which was good, as he was still having a hard time summoning his sword. Things seemed to be getting calmed down again, until Fire Opal returned.
Sapphire sensed her coming before she was actually within eyesight, and thanks to her size, she was within eyesight long before she reached the shore, stomping onto the beach much the same way a kaiju monster might have. "I'm bored!" She shouted, glaring down at Steven and Sapphire. "I see you're still fused, who could have seen that coming I wonder." Sapphire said in annoyance.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Fire Opal questioned. "Nothing Fire Opal, just please unfuse so we can be done this." Sapphire said, Fire Opal glaring, "What, you trying to get rid of me?" She questioned. "Not at all, but the mission is over, we don't need you to be fused any-" Sapphire stopped mid-sentence, jumping away and narrowly avoiding Fire Opal kicking her, "Don't need me huh? Maybe I don't need you!" Fire Opal shouted, swinging her giant morning star down at Sapphire. The morning star crashed into the sand, sending flames and sand in all directions.
Sapphire wasn't hit by the weapon, she had dodged it before it even came at her, but the force of the strike send her flying, and she crashed into the side of the cliff, where the fire and sand spray had hit her, leaving her laying on the ground in pain. Sapphire stood, "Listen to me, you're losing yourself in there. Unfuse, or I'll have to make you." Sapphire said, holding up her hands.
"What, you think you can take me?" Fire Opal questioned with a laugh. "You'll thank me later!" Sapphire said, sending a blast of ice at Fire Opal. The fusion gem stepped back, not liking the cold, but a swing of her morning star and the fire that came off it ended Sapphire's attack abruptly, as she needed to dodge it, and even then was hit by a kick from Fire Opal that sent her into the air.
"You think you're tough?" Fire Opal questioned, grabbing Sapphire in her hands, the heat from all the fire being too hot for Sapphire to freeze it, "You're nothing!" Fire Opal threw Sapphire down into the sand, sending a blast of fire from her morning star down on top of her.
Steven gasped in horror at the sight, and was revealed to see that Sapphire was still conscious, if extremely hurt. She was laying on top of a pile of glass, the sand having been heated by Fire Opal's attack. "I'm sorry Steven.." Sapphire said in defeat, "Even if I can see her attacks coming..I'm not strong enough to stop her...I'm too weak."
"No!" Steven shouted at Sapphire, "You're not weak Sapphire! I've seen you fight, I've seen you think, you can beat her! You're not as big as her, you're not as tough, but you're stronger, stronger in a different way! Show her what you showed me! Show her you're strong!"
Steven's words gave Sapphire a rush of courage, and she forced herself to her feet. She took note of the situation, focusing in on all the possible outcomes with her future vision. Seeing a future she liked much more than the ones where Fire Opal smashed her, she shouted, "I'm not done yet! What, can't you even beat a pipsqueak like me?" She questioned, getting Fire Opal more angry.
The fusion gem began to swing her morning star again as Sapphire towards the ocean, sending out a jet of ice in front of her to freeze the water she walked over, letting her run over top of the water. Fire Opal followed her, the water of the ocean steaming off of her body as she walked into it. When she swung her morning star, Sapphire's future vision let her dodge it, and her ice powers let her freeze the water that was send up at Fire Opal bu the morning star's collision with the water.
Fire Opal kept swinging, her morning star sending up large waves of water that Sapphire froze over. By the time Fire Opal realized it, she was trapped in a cave of ice. She attempted to smash her way free, but only succeeded in making the ice pillars land on her, making her poof in a cloud of red smoke. Moments later, Sapphire was dragging Opal and Ruby onto the shore.
"Are you guys okay?" Steven asked, worried. "Yes, Fire Opal just over worked our bodies. It kinds hurts, but we'll live." Opal grumbled. "Ugh, my head hurts." Ruby groaned in pain, "You were right Sapphire, never again."
"Yes, I was right wasn't I?" Sapphire said triumphantly. "And don't forget it."