Ringing in my longest chapter yet(not counting the prologue), I present the first in a story arc following the Crystal Gems and the DinoGems getting to formally know each other, and it begins with Pearl, the delicate, swift swordfighter, going toe-to-toe with Azuron, her sword-headed DinoGem equivalent. Let's proceed with the story, shall we?
Azuron was on a walk by himself on the beach nearby the temple, the blue Triceratops' footsteps causing small quakes on the sandy ground. Topazorn had given the DinoGems orders to patrol the surrounding area, in case any corrupted Gems came about. Azuron was glad to be on his own, and not stuck with the childish optimism of Turquasar or the perpetual ill-temper and snide remarks of Onyxcor. It wasn't that he didn't respect them, but Azuron liked most to be by himself, alone with his thoughts, as the smarter one of a group often preferred to be. So far he hadn't run into any Gem monsters, but he stayed vigilant in the event he did.
The Azurite DinoGem then heard something up ahead, a pair of voices accompanied by a pair of small figures. He picked up into a trot, soon coming into view of Steven and Connie, who were sitting on the beach, just talking. Azuron grunted, alerting the children of his presence as he approached. They both turned and waved to the horned dinosaur.
"Hey Azuron!" Steven called. Azuron groaned back in reply, coming up beside the pair.
"Hi, Azuron!" Said Connie, slightly nervous, even though she trusted the DinoGem. "What're you doing?" To respond, Azuron lowered his snout to the ground and began tracing his nose horn through the sand, writing out his reply.
"Topazorn sent us out to patrol the perimeter." Connie read. "Frankly I could use something else as a waste of my time." The two kids laughed at the written remark, and Azuron gave a small smile.
"What's with the patrolling?" Steven asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you turning the temple into a new base or something?" Azuron moaned, exasperated, and sat down beside the children, his huge body stirring up a cloud of sand upon hitting the ground. He then growled, asking what Connie and Steven were up to.
"Oh! I was showing Steven this new book!" Connie said, holding up an interesting-looking book. The cover showed a young woman riding on the back of a gigantic falcon, joined by a Velociraptor and a Centrosaurus, and what looked like a grootslang. "It's the first book of a sequel series to the Spirit Morph Saga!" Azuron tilted his head his confusion. "It's a book series about a girl named Lisa and her familiar, a falcon named Archimicuris, set in an alternate world of magic and adventure! The sequel series is called Rise of the Ancient Forces; an evil sorcerer kidnaps Lisa and Archimicuris' children and transforms them into dinosaurs! Now they have to find a way to reverse the spell with help from a centuries-old wizard named Methuseloch, who was turned into a grootslang by the same sorcerer!"
"I thought you guys might like it!" Steven said, referring to the other DinoGems. "But you'd have to read the first series first, and read all the books in order-"
"Hold on!" Connie said, looking at her watch. "What time is it? Aren't we supposed to train with Pearl today?"
"Oh! that's right!" Steven said, just remembering. Azuron grunted, wondering what they meant.
"Oh, Connie and me have been training with Pearl how to sword fight! Connie's gotten really good at it!" The indian girl blushed slightly at this, but Azuron was intrigued; children learning combat? It sounded quite interesting, especially to a swordsman(swords-dinosaur?) like himself.
"Come on! We don't wanna be late!" Connie said, placing her book back into her bag and gathering the rest of her things.
"How're we going to get back to the temple in time?" Steven wondered, but Azuron grunted, and lowered himself to the kids' level, offering to give them a ride back to the temple.
"I guess we'll hitch a ride!" Connie said jokingly, and both kids laughed. After awkwardly climbing atop Azuron's head to avoid being pricked by his backful of spiny quills, Steven and Connie held on tightly to the Triceratops' brow horns. Azuron then snorted and pawed the sand, before charging forward at astonishing speed, even faster than Lion! The ride was so fast that it blew back Steven and Connie's hair.
Needless to say, they arrived back at the temple in record time. After dismounting Azuron, Connie and Steven hurried up the stairs to the house. However, Azuron followed them, stepping awkwardly up the steps to the deck.
"Um, Azuron?" Said Steven, noticing. "I don't think the deck will support your weight." But Azuron ignored the comment and insisted upon following the children up to the house, the wooden deck somehow supporting a 10-ton dinosaur. Azuron reached an obstacle, obviously, with the front door. Connie and Steven squeezed passed him, minding his quills, and entered to see Pearl waiting by the warp pad.
"Hey Pearl!" Steven called. "Sorry we're late."
"That's fine, Steven." Pearl said, only then noticing the massive Triceratops attempting to thrust his enormous head through the too-small front door. "Uh...why is he-"
"I think Azuron wants to come with us!" Connie realized. "That's probably why he's trying to get in."
"Ooh! Can he, Pearl?" Steven gushed, stars once more appearing in his eyes.
"W-what?! No!" Pearl rejected. "The training arena is no place for...well, dinosaur-Gem hybrids!" She flinched slightly at the irate snarl that responded.
"But Pearl!" Connie argued. "I'm sure Azuron can help! He even has his own pair of swords!" Azuron backed this up with a haughty grunt and quick flash of the gem shard betwixt his horns, which lit up momentarily.
"Well…" Pearl began, looking down at Steven and Connie's eager faces. "I must be losing my mind, but, ok, he can join us."
"Yes!" Steven cheered.
"But!" Announced Pearl. "He has to behave!" Azuron snorted loudly, as if to say, "I'm not a mammalian animal companion who must be trained in accordance to the rules of a house!"
"Anyway, there's no way he'll get in here without destroying the wall, so we'll have to use one of the warp pads outside-"
"Pearl?" Steven interrupted.
"What?" Steven then pointed, showing that Azuron had somehow gotten all the way inside the house without smashing through the door, which looked like it hadn't even been opened. Pearl was understandably a little weirded out. "A...a-alright then!" She said, a drop or two of sweat running down her forehead.
Azuron then headed to the warp pad and stepped on, the others quickly joining him, grumbling at the lack of space. Pearl then activated the pad and the foursome warped away.
The warp pad high up on the ancient Gem sky arena activated, the glowing stream disappearing to reveal the Gem, human, and two Gem hybrids. Connie, still not used to using the warp, was left floating in midair for a second, but Azuron, thinking quickly, broke her fall by catching her with his tail.
"Woo! Thanks, Azuron." Connie said as she slid off the tail. Azuron grunted kindly in response. Steven, Connie, and Azuron followed Pearl into the arena; the two kids were used to the sights by now, but Azuron had not been to this place in millenia. The Triceratops looked in awe at the ruins, shifting glance from the crumbling pillars to the seating area that once held many spectator Gems. Somewhere in his deep memory, he recalled Azurite fighting here, long ago.
The sound of Pearl clearing her throat brought Azuron back to the present.
"Now," She said, directed at him mostly. "Before we get started, Azuron, I think you should observe first. Steven and Connie have already been training for a while now, and I think watching their moves at first may help." Azuron snorted with an eyeroll, but complied. The dinosaur tromped over to the stands and settled down on the sidelines. He was positive he'd enjoy this.
After changing into her training attire, Connie received her sword from Pearl, and she and Steven stood back as Pearl projected a hologram replica of herself from her gem. Azuron noticed that Steven looked slightly unnerved by this. Pearl then projected three more holo-pearls, who each took swords of their own and partially surrounded Connie and Steven.
"Steven, Connie, make sure to follow the technique you've been learning for the past month." Pearl said, moving to the sidelines. "Everything should go smoothly as long as you stick to what I've been teaching you."
"Yes, Pearl." The children said. Steven then summoned his shield, standing side-by-side with Connie. Azuron was surprised summoning his weapon was so easy for the Gem child.
"And, begin!" At Pearl's command, the holo-pearls' eyes furrowed and turned red. They bared their swords and lunged, but were quickly countered by Steven with his shield. Steven then ducked as Connie leaped over him and swung her blade, slicing one holo-pearl through the waist and causing it to poof away.
Another holo-pearl swung at Connie, who ducked as Steven came up beside her and blocked with his shield, allowing Connie to swiftly slice through the hologram's leg, poofing it again. As Steven and Connie battled the holo-pearls together, Azuron watched with interest. The way the pair worked together, continuously slashing and blocking in almost perfect unison, it was remarkable! The Triceratops swordsman had never seen anyone so young master the sword at the level the two children already had.
Connie thrust her sword, impaling the last holo-pearl through the chest. The hologram poofed, it's sword clattering on the ground.
"Excellent work, you two." Pearl said approvingly.
"Can Azuron get a chance to swordfight now?" Steven asked as his shield vanished. He was secretly highly anticipating the DinoGem's swordfighting.
"Well, I suppose-" Said Pearl, when Azuron grunted and stomped onto the floor, swinging his horns somewhat tauntingly. Pearl huffed and continued.
"Very well, then." She said. "Where would you like to begin?" Pearl projected another hologram copy, but Azuron snorted and shook his head. He lifted his forefoot and waved the hologram away, and instead pointed to Pearl herself.
"I think he's saying he wants to fight you." Connie said. Pearl was surprised, but retained her calmness.
"Oh, alright. Shall we begin?" Azuron snorted in concurrence and trotted several paces from Pearl, and turned to face her, lowering his head. Steven and Connie eagerly watched from the stands, while Pearl was contemplating the match that would soon follow. Could she really fight a dinosaur?
While she'd been trained with the sword for thousands of years, by none other than Rose Quartz herself, the DinoGem, Azuron, had several advantages over her. One being much much larger, and with two massive swords attached to his head, not to mention he most likely had tens of millions of years of sword-wielding experience on her. But Pearl had her own advantages; for one, she was much smaller and lighter than the behemoth before her, and thus could easily outmaneuver him. And as far as she knew, he didn't have any secondary Gem powers.
Azuron growled readily, his gem shard glowing and in a flash of white light his brow horns became razor-sharp swords, sabers with a slight curve, not too dissimilar from Pearl's own blade other than being huge.
Pearl took a deep breath, closing her eyes to focus. Connie and Steven watched as the two sword-fighter Gems first bowed to one another, and then the fight began.
Pearl dashed forward, her sword trailing behind her, but Azuron just stood there with his eyes closed, not even moving. When Pearl was seconds away, all of a sudden the Triceratops gave a great leap straight up, careening over the Crystal Gem's head with incredible grace, landing on his hind legs elegantly with a "thud!".
Pearl, Steven and Connie gawked in awe, as Azuron looked at Pearl tauntingly. Balancing on his hind feet, Azuron went on to make a series of extravagant flips and twirls as he showed off his incredibly accuracy, possibly even better than Pearl herself. The dinosaur's intricate and perfectly-balanced movements indeed matched those of the white Gem, with the singular exception of him being bigger and only slightly more limited due to his drastically different body proportions. Even so, Azuron's technique of ballerina/ninja-like movement was stupefying to witness.
When he was done, Azuron came down gracefully on all fours, and stared readily at Pearl, holding his head as one would a sword in anticipation for dueling.
Pearl stared in awe, completely stunned by the dinosaur's performance. She'd never seen anyone of such mass, for lack of a better word, move so flawlessly, so elegantly, other than...Rose.
Pearl shook these whimsical thoughts from her head, a blush briefly visible on her cheeks. She needed to focus. Azuron, looking at his opponent readily, lowered his huge head and spread his forelegs in preparation to charge, his twin swords shimmering in the sunlight.
Pearl breathed in deeply, and Azuron stood still as a statue, his eyes meeting hers. Then the Gem and the dinosaurs both ran at each other in light, swift steps, and then the duel really began.
Connie winced and Steven watched in amazement as blades clashed with a sharp sting. Pearl and Azuron stood in the center of the arena, the Triceratops' enormous head inches from the Gem's as they held blades for several moments. Pearl then crouched, and swiftly dodged a swing of the horn-sabers before making a lunge for Azuron, immediately countered by the dinosaur.
Pearl stepped back and swung again, and this time Azuron rolled out of the way and reared up, swinging his head low. Pearl sprung into the air and came down at Azuron, and again their swords clattered, blue sparks catching against the blades. Pearl flipped over Azuron's head and landed behind him, and Azuron turned just quickly enough to block her swing with his horn swords yet again.
Azuron swung his head, throwing Pearl off balance for but a moment, then the Crystal Gem felt the wind knocked out of her when the DinoGem smacked her with his tail from behind. Pearl huffed as she hastily picked herself off the floor, a look of determination in her eyes as she pointed her sword at Azuron, who pawed the ground and snorted like a bull.
"C'mon, Pearl! You can do this!" Connie cheered. Pearl smiled briefly, before turning back to her opponent. Azuron charged with a roar, and Pearl clenched her teeth and met him on the center ground, metal clashing once more.
"Oh! I don't know who to root for!" Steven lamented from the stands as the battle continued.
"What do you mean?" Connie asked.
"Well, Pearl's Pearl, but Azuron's a sword-wielding dinosaur! I can't decide who I want to win more!" Swords clashed once again, the force of each wielder's blow enough to pushed them both back several steps. Azuron was drawing in loud breaths; clearly he had underestimated this Gem. Imagine, a Pearl his equal in swordsmanship! But evidently one didn't have to imagine.
Pearl too was getting tired, but she wasn't ready to give up. She now knew that the both of them were equally matched in balance and agility, but Azuron was still much more physically powerful. Pearl would have to use strategy.
Azuron took in a huge breath of air and roared. He then galloped in a half-circle, coming up on Pearl's flank. Pearl tensed her body, and leaped into the air as Azuron's swords bared down. Azuron looked around frantically for a second, when he looked up to see Pearl performing a spin in midair, her sword aimed at him.
Azuron flipped over and shifted his stance just in time as Pearl landed and swung, her saber clattering with his and sparks briefly flying. Steven and Connie gaped, starry-eyed from the stands. The Gem and the dinosaur had reached a stalemate.
Pearl and Azuron glared into one another's eyes as each pushed against the other's sword. Pearl had been in this same situation numerous times before, but with other Gems. Azuron had been here as well, only with other Triceratops before he'd become half-gem. Even so, this Gem was remarkably tough. But Azuron had one more trick up his sleeve…
"Had...enough?" Pearl gasped as a drop of sweat appeared on her forehead(Azuron was just as exhausted, but dinosaurs didn't sweat). Azuron growled, clenching his teeth. Then, quite unexpectedly, he grinned slyly, winked at Pearl, before suddenly vanishing in a flash of blue sparkles.
"W-what the?" Pearl gaped, completely stunned by the DinoGem's disappearance. She looked around frantically, but saw him nowhere.
All of a sudden, something shook the ground as a shadow appeared behind Pearl. She turned to see that Azuron had reappeared, leaning on his hind legs and looking down at her. Pearl barely had time to leap out of the way when Azuron reared up and thrusted his horns straight down where Pearl had been standing.
Pearl sprinted to the other side of the arena and regained her stance, hyperventilation at the shock she'd just had. What just happened?! She thought wildly. But then she got her answer; Azuron turned and grunted at Pearl, before vanishing in a flash of sparkles a second time.
Azuron then suddenly reappeared beside Pearl, who jumped away as the Triceratops scraped his horns on the floor, drawing sparks. He can teleport?! In the stands, Connie and Steven were both at a loss for words. Not only was Azuron just as an amazing swordfighter as Pearl, but he had the added advantage of instant teleportation? This just got a whole lot crazier. Thought both children.
Azuron stomped the ground and roared, calling for Pearl to make her move. Pearl, however, had quickly lost confidence when Azuron revealed the massive advantage he had. But Pearl couldn't afford to let these doubts cloud her judgement. She shook the whirring thoughts from her head and took a deep breath, focusing her mind on what lay ahead.
Azuron was first to advance, charging toward Pearl with his swords hung low. Pearl furrowed her brow and did the same, her feet hardly touching the ground as she ran forwards.
Before meeting in battle, Pearl made a flying leap at Azuron, who teleported away in a second, reappearing in the air behind Pearl as she touched down. Azuron landed hard on his feet, skidding along the arena floor momentarily. Both of them were growing tired, as evident by their rapid breathing and forced determined gazes.
Steven and Connie were watching closely as the Gems continually clattered iron, worry marking their features.
"I don't think this will end well." Steven said, clearly anxious for both Pearl and Azuron's sake.
"Neither do I." Connie agreed.
Swords clattered and slashed as the two Gems fought, both with equal amounts agility and force. It was indecisive which had the stamina remaining to win the duel, and both were nearly exhausted from their efforts. Still, neither would back down. But as they were absorbed in combat, they failed to notice how close they were getting to the arena's edge.
Drawing the last of her energy, Pearl came running at Azuron head on. Azuron hurriedly tensed his entire body a Pearl leapt high into the air and came down straight at his head. Azuron reared up the moment Pearl landed between his horns and forcefully swung his head, throwing Pearl off and throwing him off balance.
Azuron thudded to the ground, but Pearl slid across the floor, straight toward the edge. Just as she careened over the cliff, Pearl hastily jammed her sword into the stone and hung for dear life, narrowly avoiding the enormous fall downward.
"PEARL!" Steven and Connie screamed in terror, running down to the arena. Azuron was alerted by their shrieks, and hurried to his feet, dismissing his swords.
Pearl hung by the hilt of her sword, desperately trying to pull herself back up. But the continuous combat throughout the day with Azuron had taxed her strength, and now she could just barely hold on. Even worse, her sword began to slip.
"Oh no." pearl whimpered, her pupils growing tiny.
"Pearl! Pearl! Are you ok?" She heard Steven's voice call. Pearl looked up to see Steven and Connie, anxiously looking down at her.
"Steven! Connie! Get away from the ledge!" Pearl cried, even worse concerned for their safety than hers at the moment. Pearl's grip slipped up again, and she scrambled to hold on. All of a sudden, an anxious growl preceded Azuron pushing Connie and Steven back away from the edge with his front legs. Not making a sound, Azuron cautiously leaned over the ledge, reaching his bare horns down toward the distressed Pearl.
Azuron grunted for Pearl to grab his brow horn, and pressed his forefeet against the ledge to balance himself. He growled for Pearl to hurry.
Pearl looked down, not even able to see the ground below her. Then she looked back to Azuron, who was desperately trying not to slip. Deciding not to think at such a moment, Pearl reached on hand forward and clasped the tip of Azuron's horn, and hurriedly pulled herself up to grab the other.
Feeling Pearl firmly grasp his horns, Azuron pushed back with his hind legs and reared up, swinging his head, Pearl, and the rest of his body to safety atop the ledge. Pearl dropped gently onto the floor, and Azuron stepped away to catch his breath.
"Pearl!" Steven and Connie called as they ran up, both quickly embracing Pearl in a tight hug.
"Are you two ok?" Pearl anxiously asked.
"Are you ok?" Whined Steven with worry. Pearl was silent for a moment, her thoughts going back to what had just happened.
"Yes Steven, I'm alright." Pearl said, smiling. She then wrapped her arms around the children, sighing in relief. Azuron then grunted, calling the trio's attention.
Azuron was standing before them with his head raised regally. Due to the unfortunate accident, he believed he had won, and was expecting to be acknowledged for it. Pearl stood up and stepped toward the dinosaur, but instead of relinquishing victory to him, she looked into his eyes and smiled softly.
"Thank you, Azuron." She said. Azuron honestly did not expect this.
"It's getting late." Connie pointed out. "I should probably be getting home by now."
"Yes." Pearl concurred, breathing out. "I think we should all head home." Pearl, Steven, and Connie turned and left for the warp pad, Azuron following behind.
"That was awesome, Pearl!" Steven said as the foursome crossed the arena. "I never knew you could jump like that!"
"Oh, well, thank you, Steven." Pearl replied with a blush.
"And those stances!" Connie gushed. "Can you teach me how to do that?"
"Well, maybe." Pearl said, giving a light chuckle. "But for now I think we should stick to what you already know." Connie agreed to this.
Azuron didn't get it; he'd fairly won the duel, why wasn't he getting attention? He snorted grumpily as they climbed onto the warp. After Connie got her clothes, Pearl activated the pad and they warped away in the stream.
When they returned to the temple, it was already late evening. After getting changed, Connie said goodbye to Steven, Pearl, and Azuron before heading down the steps and starting the walk up the beach toward home.
Back inside, Pearl ran her fingers through her hair. She was very tired from the fight that afternoon, as was Azuron, though he didn't show it.
"Steven, perhaps you should get ready for bed." She suggested. "I'll be in my room." Pearl walked past Azuron, who still stood on the warp pad. She briefly acknowledged him, before activating the temple door with her gem, stepping into her waterfall-filled room. She was tempted to try that sleeping thing again tonight.
Azuron grunted irritably, stepping off the warp toward the door. Steven was taking off his star shirt, when he noticed how grumpy the Triceratops seemed.
"What's up, Azuron?" The Quartz child asked. Azuron snorted and rolled his eyes, turning away. "Something bugging you?" The dinosaur snarled and glared.
"Hey, fair's fair." Said Steven. "Nobody really won, I guess. So there's nothing to grumble about." But Azuron snorted, trying to make it clear to the boy that he had won.
"Well, I think it was still a tie, Azuron. But if you think you technically won because of what happened, then that's fine. I still think you and Pearl are both amazing swordfighters!" Steven then left to get into his pajamas, leaving Azuron to contemplate what he'd said. The trike was very confused; Pearl had lost, and shouldn't have been getting any praise. But clearly, this wasn't so.
After grunting goodbye to Steven, Azuron flashed out of the house in a shimmer of sparkles, reappearing outside on the beach.
Topazorn and Turquasar were grazing on the lawn in front of the beach house, while Onyxcor was tearing meat off of a giant fish he'd caught at some point earlier in the day. The Stegosaurus and Iguanodon grunted in acknowledgement as Azuron joined them, and Onyxcor just looked before resuming eating. As Azuron ate his share, his mind was deep in thought.
Later, as night fell and the lights of the beach house were turned off, Azuron bedded down underneath the deck with the other dinosaurs. Unlike the rest of them, he would not find sleep tonight, for had a lot to think about.
And there you have it! I hope I got characterization right. The next chapter will follow Garnet and Topazorn, and the chapter after that will follow Amethyst, Steven, and Turquasar.
A/N: I will try to continue updates consistently over the next few weeks, at least until I complete the first big event in this fic. Cheers!