A/N:
Wow, this took waaaaay too long to get done. I may not put out another one until after stevenbomb, or I might put out a short one. Either way, enjoy!
"Steven. Hey Steven!" The boy was startled awake by Connie calling for him.
Steven let out a yawn. "Hey Connie, what's up?" He sat up on the mattress that had been placed beside his bed to see that his friend was stuck, her legs pinned beneath Lion.
"Can you move him? I woke up and he's just laying here like a big pink comforter." She tried to push the large feline again. "A comforter stuffed with lead."
"Aw, Connie he's just lion down for a bit, and this is the purfect place for a nap." His puns were not amusing her, but that wasn't really anything new.
"Steven I'm being serious. Help me push! Also, Lions don't pur." She redoubled her efforts, and this time Steven helped as well, finally rolling the beast off of his friend and onto the floor.
The two of them stood up and looked at each other for a moment before breaking out into giggles. Steven was the first to recover. "Let's go find Amethyst. She said she'd make muffins for breakfast!"
"Ooh, I love muffins!" The pair ran over to the temple door and knocked on it. There was no response, yet the smell of smoke wafted towards them from the kitchen.
"She didn't..." Steven turned to see that there was a small cloud of smoke beginning to billow out of the stove. "AMETHYST!" He ran towards the stove and flung it open. The fire roared outwards for a moment before Connie ran over and grabbed the fire extinguisher. It took only a second for the foam to douse to flames.
"Well. At least they didn't look good to begin with." She looked and the burned mess in the stove. "Cranberry... and nacho?" The children looked at each other and stuck out their tongues simultaneously.
"Do you want waffles instead?" Steven turned the heat off on the stove. "I think we have some." He went to the cupboard and fished out the box. Upon inspecting its contents he found only crumbs. "Looks like Amethyst had a morning snack..."
"Where is she anyways?" Connie poked her head outside to look for their babysitter. "Nothing but sand on the beach."
Steven rested his head in his hand, deep in thought. "Well, I do have two detective costumes… and this is a mystery... but we should eat first. Pearl says that your brain works faster once you've eaten."
"But there isn't anything here... Want to go see if your dad'll feed us breakfast? He's a better cook than Amethyst anyways."
"Okay. Let's bring the costumes with us, just in case a clue presents itself." He pulled two victorian-style detective costumes out of the cupboard under the stairs, along with a fake mustache. "Hm, I already had a beard once. Facial hair isn't really my style."
"Ooh, i've always wanted a mustache!" Connie held the fuzzy lip cover up to her face "What do you think, dashing?"
Steven chuckled. "It's like a caterpillar crawled up on your face."
"Well, I like it." The girl smoothed down the false facial fluff.
With that, the pair of young sherlocks left without even noticing the hastily written note taped to the countertop.
-It's a Wash, a short while later-
Steven and Connie walked up to the carwash to see Greg hard at work… sleeping on a lawn chair. "Hey dad." The boy called out to his father as they approached, rousing him from his sleep.
"O-oh hey kids. What's up with those funky costumes?" Greg pulled himself up to a sitting position.
"We're detectives. We couldn't find Amethyst, so we're on the lookout for clues. Clues and breakfast!" Steven and Connie took up seats in the other lawn chair.
"Well, I'm sure I have something…" Greg chuckled as he got up and walked over to his van. After a few moments of rummaging he pulled out a box of toaster strudels. "My toaster is in the carwash, just gimme a minute." Greg got out of the van and walked into his place of business.
The two children sat patiently for a moment until Connie noticed something moving at the other end of the carwash. "Steven, is that…?" Connie left the end of her sentence hang as she pointed at the (somewhat) stealthy figure.
When Steven turned his head towards where she was pointing, he saw that it was Penny sneaking towards them, looking very nervous. "Hey Penny!" Steven called, causing the blonde to jump in surprise and put a shushing finger to her lips.
"Steven!" She whispered loudly, "I-I'm trying to get in without Greg noticing, is he… is he in there?"
"Yeah, he's making us strudels." Steven grinned at the woman, for some reason bringing out an almost sick look of nervousness on her face.
"Well, if he's in there…" She took a deep breath. "Can you two stay out here? I need to…" Now she was blushing. She's acting really weird, I wonder what's wrong. She continued.
"I need to ask him something. Just stay out here for a minute." With that she turned and went inside the carwash.
"Is something going on?" Connie was concerned as well. Steven didn't really have an answer for her. Something was up, but between adults just being generally confusing, and him being still rather hungry, he not didn't have much of an idea what it was, but also wasn't prepared to form one.
"We'll find out later. For now I just want some breakfast." Steven crossed his arms in irritation. It seemed like nothing was going their way this morning. Suddenly, the water began to lap at the shore more aggressively, causing Steven and Connie to forget about their breakfasts and jump out of their seats to check it out.
"Whoa, Steven that water looks very strange… Is this more gem stuff?" Connie was obviously both scared and excited at the prospect.
"I don't know… Maybe Lapis is doing it, like before." He took a step forward, only to have the water rush forward as though to strike him.
"Steven!" It was Pearl. Steven turned just as she threw a spear into the water surging towards him, splattering it into droplets.
As though on cue the water of the beach started bubbling up as though it was boiling. Frothing, seething, alive. A massive gem burst forth from the tumultuous waves. It was Malachite, the massive fusion of Lapis Lazuli and Jasper. "Fighting me in my own element, do you gems have a deathwish?!" The gem laughed as she started charging towards them, the animosity visible in her eyes even from this distance.
"Not so fast!" Shouted an injured Amethyst as she leapt out of the ocean after her quarry, wrapping her whip around one of Malachites limbs. This caused the fusion to trip up. "Get her Garnet!"
"On it!" Garnet flew out of the water fist first and slammed her gauntlet right into the jaw of Malachite. The attack didn't seem to bother the more powerful gem, who simply laughed it off and grabbed both Garnet and Amethyst in her massive hands, lifting the two of them easily.
"Pearl! Get them out of here! We... We've got this!" Amethyst twisted in Malachite's tightening grip.
"Steven, you two have got to leave!" The pale gem pulled her weapon out of the sand. "Greg can get you out of here I'm sure, but I have to stay with Garnet and Amethyst. They need me." With that she turned back towards the monstrous gem and threw her spear like a javelin before summoning another and moving to engage her enemy.
"Steven, should we go? This fight looks even more one sided than the last one I saw." Connie took a step back but didn't turn, didn't run away.
"The gems, they need me!" The boy took a step forward, but his friend grabbed onto his sleeve, stopping him before he could go.
"You really think you can take that thing?" The fear on her face was a strange counterpart to her fake mustache.
"Of course we can! We always find a way." Steven smiled at his friend and she relinquished her grip on his sleeve.
"Okay... If you're sure." She smiled and gave him a thumbs up, trying to hide her fear, "Go get her."
Steven nodded before rushing towards Malachite. He saw that Lion was charging her from her other side. "Lion, sword!" Steven called to his pet, who roared in return as Rose's sword flew out of his glowing mane and into the air.
Steven leapt into the air, catching the sword at the apex of its flight before slamming it into one of Malachite's arms as he descended. The sudden wound caused the fusion to release the two captured members of Crystal Gems from her grasp, letting them fall to the ground.
"Steven!?" Pearl, who had not yet been caught, yelled furiously as she darted to evade Malachite's blows. "You were supposed to run away!" She was caught off guard by a sudden strike from a water tendril.
"I'm getting TIRED of this!" Malachite shouted before using her powers to pull up a wave and wash the Crystal Gems away from her.
"We aren't even makin' a dent!" Garnet slammed her first into the ground in frustration.
"What are we gonna do? Nothing we throw at her works." Amethyst summoned another whip to replace the one the wave had washed away.
"Just keep fightin'. She isn't' invincible... I think." Garnet said as all four gems got to their feet, bruised, but not beaten.
"Close as they come." Malachite smiled maliciously before rounding on the gems, a near insane laugh breaking from her lips as she charged forward.
The gems prepared their defensive stance, weapons raised; but it wasn't enough. Malachite created more tendrils from the water, and the assault was more than they could take. The fight was quick and brutal. Amethyst was taken down after failing to block one of Malachite's fists, Pearl was grabbed by the water and took a hard hit in the gut, and Garnet was finally downed when Malachite trapped her head in an orb of water and increased the pressure to a point that not even Garnet could take.
Malachite then rounded on Steven; circling him like a predator. "Look how quickly the mighty Crystal Gems fall before me. Nothing can stop me now, Steven. You may not be Rose Quartz, but I'll make you and the rest of this miserable planet pay for what she did to me. To all of homeworld! " She swung a punch at him that he barely managed to roll under, then threw a massive uppercut. A hit. One that would have taken him right in the jaw if his bubble hadn't triggered.
"NO!" Steven yelled as the force of the attack propelled him away from the fight back towards the carwash. He saw his friends had all retreated into their (luckily) unharmed gems as Malachite laughed loudly.
"You never even had a chance!" Malachite picked up the three gems. "Wait… where did he go?"
His impact with the 'It's a Wash' sign was sudden. His bubble popped and gravity took him plummeting towards the ground, only to be caught by a pair of surprisingly strong arms.
"Penny?" Steven looked up at the blonde. There was a strange glow on her forehead... The two of them ducked into the carwash where an unconscious Greg and Connie were laying on the floor seemingly unharmed.
"Steven. There's no way you can take her on alone." Penny took his hand and squeezed. She was shaking. "Together we might have a chance." Steven had never seen her this serious before. He also hadn't noticed how green her eyes were before now... "Fuse with me."
"Wait, fuse with you?" Steven looked down to see a glow starting to emanate from his gem. "How?"
Penny helped the boy to his feet and took his other hand as well. "You know how."
The two of them began dancing. Though awkward at first due to the lack of music, it took only a few moments for Steven to catch the beat to the song in her head.
"Hey, I know this song…" was the last thing Steven said on his own before a glow overtook the both of them.
When the glow dissipated, gone were the boy and the woman. In their place stood a tall, four-armed, blue gem. She wore a visor, jean shorts, flip flops, and a pink crop top with a star in the center.
Wow… I'm surprised. I feel pretty good. She checked out her arms. The top pair ended in bulky, mechanical looking forearms with floating fingers instead of hands, while the other set was more human, although larger. She ran her human hands over her hair. Triangular, yet stylishly unkempt. Not bad me, not bad. Jasper's calls broke her out of her self-admiration.
"Come on out Steven! Your friends don't have much more time!" She could hear Malachite calling to her. Well, half of her. It was time to see what they were capable of together, what she was capable of. She adjusted her visor. Let's do this.
She rushed out of the building; surprisingly fast, but she was thinking even faster. By the time Malachite saw her she was already firing off a volley of blasts with the plasma cannon that her upper arms had turned into, and summoned her shield with the lower pair.
"Who in the world are you?!" The blasts barely seemed to tickle the colossal gem.
"I'm…" She had to think about that one for a second. "I'm Azurite. Now you."
Azurite smiled. She had a plan to make the other gem angry. If her opponent could be driven to make mistakes, then she might have a chance.
"What do you mean?! I'm Malachite! I am the most powerful gem on this miserable rock!" The crazed grin had returned to the other fusion's face.
"Past tense."
"What?"
"You meant to say you WERE the most powerful gem on Earth." She pointed a floating thumb at herself. "Because now, I 'm here." She's gonna kill me… or at least try.
"Y- I'll kill you!" Malachite charged forward furiously, an orb of water in each of her top hands.
"Just try it!" the new fusion leapt right over the other as the larger gem charged her, firing off a few blasts from her cannon as she did so. Lapis' gem is in her back… Maybe I can pull it out.
"RARGH! Let's see what you say once I rip you in half!" Malachite pitched one of the water orbs, it split into a thousand darts in midair, each moving fast enough to punch through concrete. Azurite saw it coming and raised her shield, but that left her unable to dodge when Malachite's fist suddenly pounded against the blue disk.
"You've got quite the arm…but how are you at catching?" Azurite flipped backwards as another of Malachite's fists came at her, putting some distance between the two of them. I've got the speed and the brains, but brawn lay solely with her. She readied her cannon and aimed it steadily. These shots won't hurt her alone… I need something else that I can hit her with…
"Are you not gonna shoot?! You can't say that line and then NOT shoot!" Malachite looked even cockier now. "You're quite the amatuer. I think you need some lessons." She rushed forward and Azurite saw that Rose's sword was still imbedded in her arm. Maybe she could use that?
"Lesson one." One of the monstrous gem's huge fists slammed into Azurite's shield, "Only pick fights," she raised another fist "you can win!" The attack pounded against the shield harder than the blue gem was expecting, this time sending her sliding back across the sand and causing the shield to flicker for a second; it was taking too much punishment.
"Lesson two," Malachite spread her top arms wide, "learn from your enemies!" She swung both fists like hammers, one on either side of Azurite, but the smaller gem was faster and just managed to roll under the larger one's legs before the fists connected. The shockwave of the impact made a crater in the ground beneath it, and briefly stunned the attacker.
"I'll just take this." Azurite pulled the sword out of Malachite's leg and rolled out from underneath her before the larger gem could react.
"You little worm! I'll crush you!" The ocean began to surge upwards towards the clouds, a towering wall of water; impossibly high, sparkling in the morning sun. Malachite laughed madly as the water reached ever higher. "Come on, beg me for mercy."
Azurite stood up straight and looked Malachite in the eyes. We need a distraction. She let Steven's personality rise up to the surface of their shared consciousness. "Buddies don't treat other buddies like this…" Steven spoke while Peridot thought. If I break her concentration then I can remove the gem without damaging it. "Isn't that right, Lapis?"
"ArgaARgHGarA!" Both of Malachites top arms went to her face, the water wall began to tremble. "Don't call me that! She's... she's gone! Now… now…" The wall steadied again as the huge gem looked Azurite straight in the eyes, revealing that her two pairs had started glowing bright yellow. "I'm just angry!"
That wasn't what I was going for. The nimble gem barely dodged the unbelievably fast barrage of punches Malachite sent her way as she readied her sword. "Well, if you're going to be like this…" Azurite fired off a plasma blast before following it up with several swashing blows, all of which cut into Malachite's arms.
"Back to teaching! Lesson three," Malachite caught Azurite by the arm after her last attack and grinned, "don't make me angry!" A massive fist to the face sent the smaller gem flying into the wall of water. Upon impact it wrapped itself around her limbs: she wasn't getting out of this. "Let's raise the stakes, shall we?!" Malachite climbed into the vertical sea and the two of them began rising up into the sky.
"I want to show you this city before I crush it. I want you to hear all of it's people scream as my tower crashes down on them, them and all of your friends laying in the sand." Malachite seemed pleased with herself, yet the plan was needlessly time consuming and roundabout. If she were really in full control, the Jasper I know would never do this, she's too on-task… Maybe Lapis is still in there somewhere.
Finally the two of them reached the top. Azurite was lifted up by liquid arms and turned towards the city. People had begun to congregate near the base of the wall. If it crashed it would take all of them with it.
"Now, prepare!" Malachite raised one of her arms, the tower began to tilt towards the city.
These bonds, I have to break them. If I vent my cannons then the heat should evaporate them, but it will only buy a moment, I'll have to act fast. She started heating up her weapons. I need to wait for the moment when she thinks she's won.
"Final lesson," Malachite walked over and grabbed Azurite by the chin, "learn to lose with dignity." She grinned maliciously and laughed as the tower started to fall over.
Now! The smaller fusion vented her cannons, boiling and evaporating the water as planned, and taking the larger gem by surprise. She slammed Rose's sword into Malachite's chest, eliciting a cry of rage from her foe.
"Thank you for the lessons," Azurite used the sword as a grip to fling herself over the larger gem, landing squarely on her back, "but I'm afraid," she gripped the sides of the teardrop stone imbedded in her foe's back tightly, "that the student has surpassed the teacher!" Really, that's the line I come up with?! The blue gem pulled as hard as she could. The ocean tower began to shake and split, with chunks starting to plummet downwards. Malachite slipped off the edge as her footing became unstable, taking Azurite, who was still trying to pull Lapis free, with her.
"NO! WE CANNOT LOSE! WE ARE THE STRONGEST!" The gem started to come loose as tears began welling in Malachite's eyes, "I can't fail, not again..." Any trace of Lapis' voice was gone as their forms split apart. Lapis Lazuli quickly reformed in Azurite's arms, stopping the water mid descent.
"I-I'm free… really free!" Lapis took to the wing, but Azurite didn't have time to watch; Jasper was still plummeting, and so was she. The fusion angled her body like a spear, making herself more aerodynamic and gaining on Jasper. Once she was within arms reach she grabbed the orange gem by the hair and pulled her into a tight embrace. I really wish I didn't care this much… The two of them impacted the ground, barely saved by Azurite's always timely bubble.
"You… you saved me... WHY?!" Jasper was on her feet now, though just barely. "So you can taunt me before you end it?!" She adopted a halfhearted fighting stance, obviously meaning to see this through to the end.
"I couldn't let you die. That isn't how we do things." Azurite was fading fast. She had used too much power in the fight and didn't know how much more her fusion could take.
"You Crystal Gems are just weak. You can't even stomach the war you started!" Jasper had a very sceptical look on her face.
"No, we're just strong enough to do what's right." Jasper was shocked for a moment, but then looked like she was going to keep talking. Azurite cut in before she could. "You talk too much." She fired a stunning pulse from her cannon. It would knock Jasper out without hurting her any more than was necessary; similar in concept to what half of her had used on Connie and Greg earlier, yet closer in design to one of Homeworld's destabilizers.
Lapis, having just finished putting the ocean back, flew over to where Azurite now knelt. "Thank you… Steven? Are you… in there?" Lapis looked quizzically at the larger gem.
"Yeah, he's part of me…" The crowd of humans was running towards them. "I need to go. You take the Crystal Gems and Jasper into the temple. Jasper should be passed out for at least a day. I gave her twice the maximum recommended dosage."
"Of stun gun?" Lapis raised an eyebrow.
"Like I said, I've got to go." Azurite started to run off, but paused after a few steps. "To repay me for saving you, you can have breakfast ready when I get back." She then took off in the opposite direction of the humans.
Once they were out of sight she stopped running and took up a hiding place behind a large rock. "I'm gonna miss being me… I'll have to do it again sometime." And with that she relinquished the fusion and separated.
The two gems sat behind the rock. Peridot had assumed her natural form again, and Steven looked normal as well. "Peridot?"
"Yes, Steven?"
"You're pretty secretive..." He took a moment to mull over his thoughts. "But now, I think you're one of the good guys." He held his hand out for her to shake.
"Thank you Steven, but I don't think I'm ready for that just yet." She put her hand on his. "Can you promise not to tell the gems or your father about me?"
Steven nodded slowly. "Yeah. I can trust you." The two of them just sat there for a moment. "You're good at hiding your thoughts Peridot… I couldn't tell what you were thinking sometimes."
Peridot smiled a little bit. "Yes, I have some thoughts I'd rather you not see, even while we're fused. But I promise it isn't anything bad."
Steven stood up and looked back towards the temple. "What're we gonna do now?"
"Well," Peridot dusted herself off as she rose, "I'm going to go pretend that Penny has been unconscious with your father and Connie this entire time."
Peridot was just turning to leave when Steven spoke up behind her. "Peridot?"
"Steven?" She turned to see that he was looking right up into her eyes.
"Friends?"
Peridot chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her head before responding. "Yes, we're friends."