Chapter Ten
This is My Sword
It had been hours of nothing but sweeping the canyon clear of the Homeworld mutant gem experiments. Most of them were just two or three shards that would form arms, and legs. However the occasional larger one was a much bigger issue. So far casualties had been light, in fact the only other person to get any serious injury besides the Huey pilots was a Marine who had fallen from a low cliff edge and hit the ground 30 feet below. They'd been lucky to land on their pack, and only bruised their spine and ribcage. John and the gems had come to the conclusion that any remaining gem mutants had not yet emerged and keeping two whole infantry platoons there would be a waste.
A small force of eight had been left there to act as a quick reaction force should any more pop up or Peridot return. But there had been no sign of the green gem and no real idea where she would go. The general assumption was that she would try to find some way off world and to the gems knowledge there was no functional transport on Earth that would be able to take off without them knowing. That left a few options, such as the galaxy warp if she could fix it, but that area of the ocean was already being regularly patrolled by naval ships looking for Malachite.
But that was two days ago. Right now John was sitting on the porch to Stevens house, having one of the hardest chess games of his life. His opponent across from him was Pearl, who was the only one in the house that could present him with any real challenge. He'd tried, as Pearl had also, teaching Steven to play. But slow, methodical, strategy wasn't the boy's cup of tea. Both Amethyst and Garnet weren't allowed to play, Amethyst for trying to "tactically nuke" John's forces with a flashbang she'd pick-pocked (thankfully she hadn't pulled the pin), and Garnet for future vision reasons. So now he and Pearl sat across from each other both in deep thought as to how to beat the other. So far the had both forced each other into a perpetual check, as their kings were the only pieces remaining on the board and neither could get to the other side without putting their own king in checkmate. The game had gone on like this for about a half hour, neither of the two wanting to admit that there was no point in going on as both wanted to win, and there was no way to get into position to attack the others king without then having their king captured.
"You want to call it," John said for the uptenth time, wanting desparatelly to do anything else.
"Well seeing as how neither of us can win without the other basically surrendering, I guess so. However since you asked for the end of the game you would be forfeiting and I will win by default," Pearl said, again.
"Uuuuuuuuugh, fuck it. My pride and ego have ran out along with my patiences. Congrats Pearl you win," John said standing. He turned, holstered his M1911A1 that had been sitting on the table, and began to walk down the steps.
"Where are you going?" Pearl asked, putting away the chess set.
"To get a donut and coffee," John yelled over his shoulder. He made his way to the Big Donut, passing several crews of Seabees and Marine field engineers hard at work fixing one of a couple of water lines that had broken from the ship's explosion. He gave them a friendly wave and kept going down the shore line until the shop came into view.
It was almost noon and the place was pretty much deserted, save for a few of the Seabees who had the same idea. The group had opted to eat outside in the nice weather, and John had to admit it felt great for mid September, even though he was in full MCCUUs. (I made a mistake calling them BDUs last chapter sorry)
John entered, the door making its usual ding to announce a customer, "Sadie, Laramie, how's life," John said trying to sound chipper.
"It's Lar's and fine," Lars said, with an annoyed tone.
"Oh my bad, how bout you Sadie?" John replied.
"Life could be worse, but you guys certainly keep us busy, and tell a lot of stories," Sadie said with a friendly smile, "So, um, Sir?"
"John's fine,"
"John, what'll it be?"
"Two double chocolate gazed, a cruller, a boston cream, and how fresh are those apple fritters? Same question for the coffee," John said, well Sadie picked out the donuts he asked for and Lars began to ring up his total.
"Well I just changed the coffee, but the fritters have been sitting in there since we opened so there a couple hours old," She said, loading the pastries into a brown paper bag.
"Well I'll pass on them then," John said reaching for his wallet.
"That'll be $10.92," Lars said, taking a second to look at his phone.
"You guys have change for a twenty?" John asked pulling a twenty dollar bill out of the black leather wallet.
"Yes,"
"Keep it, consider it $9.08 for your thoughts," John said handing Lars the bill.
"Our thoughts on what?" Sadie asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Your thoughts on," John paused for a moment, searching for the right words, "Well let's just call it what it is, the occupation. I know that the Marines and Sailors that were under me have been providing ample amounts of business to places like this, but that they are also a band of foolhardy, loud, and reckless young adults and a military force that has been technically occupying this city for just over a month now,"
"Well they've certainly provided plenty of rushes for us," Lars said, a little mockingly.
"I really don't mind you guys too much, it's just up until recently myself and most of Beach City haven't really believed that we needed military intervention for such problems. If some crazy monster showed up then Steven's, uh, moms would take care of it. Really I think people are just unnerved, and so long as you don't overstep your bounds, or overstay your welcome then you shouldn't have any trouble, other than small disputes," Sadie said. This was the answer John expected and was hoping to hear.
"Speaking of over staying, how long are you well staying?" Lars asked.
"The majority of these guys should be out of here once clean up operations are finished, but myself and at least a platoon will be staying indefinitely," John said casually, walking over and pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"Indefinitely?! Wait, how many guys is a platoon?" Lars exclaimed.
"A standard infantry platoon is around 40 troops, but I usually keep mine around 30 or less. Makes it easier to move quickly and manage effectively," John said, sipping his coffee.
"But why are you staying like, forever?" Lars asked, "You guys don't exactly make my job any easier,"
"Did you forget that a alien spaceship showed up less than a month ago with capabilities to wipe Empire City off the map?" John retorted.
"That's fair enough, but there's not a ship now," Sadie said.
"And what happens if another one was to show up? The point is an amount of troops is going to be staying here, and they will be directly under my command. I don't want there to be any tensions between my Marines and the people of Beach City. Really I guess I should get to my second question, any ideas on how I could ease any tensions?" John asked, dunking a chocolate donut in his coffee and taking a bite.
"Well getting out of here would be one way," Lars muttered, earning himself an elbow from Sadie.
"There's a Beach-a-Palooza coming up in a few weeks. Last year Steven and the gems formed a band, and the whole town turned out to see. You could do something for that," Sadie suggested.
"There are a few people who are musically talented around, anything else?" John said, taking another bite of the donut. Steven had mentioned that the place was good, and the captain had to admit the kid was right.
"Well you missed the parade, I guess just having your guys mingle with the locals would be the best thing you could do for now," Sadie said, "In all reality you haven't really done much of anything to cause unrest, really you've been nothing but helpful. Is there some reason why you're asking?" Sadie asked.
"Let's just say I've had clashes with locals before," John replied, "Yeah, clashes is one way to put it," something in the back of his mind spoke.
"Well let's hope that nothing happens well you're here," Sadie said, as John began to turn and make his way towards the door. He thanked them both for answering his questions and began to make his way back to the temple. He stopped and chatted a little with the Marine engineers and Seabees, still working hard to fix the pipe. As he made his way up the temple steps he saw Loin. Steven had properly introduced him to the large animal and told him about all the things it could do. Currently it was sunning itself on the porch. John gave the pink cat a pat on the head, and made his way inside, where he saw Steven, Pearl, and Connie discussing something.
"You're awfully young to begin something like this," Pearl said as John stepped in the door.
"Awfully young to begin what?" John asked, downing the last of his coffee.
"Oh John, your back. Steven and Connie were just trying to convince me that she should begin training on how to use a sword, but I made the point that Connie-"
"Is young," John finished her sentence, "Well I don't see any problem with it, I mean you are supposedly an excellent sword fighter, and Connie is very much a gifted individual."
"Please I want to learn. I mean I don't know what will happen in the future, but if something dangerous comes along I don't want to be a brunden. I want to help. I want to be there for Steven, to fight by his side. The Earth is my home too. Can't I help protect it?" Connie said, and John had to admit he was moved by the young lady's words. He hadn't heard any mention of this before, but she certainly seemed like she wanted to throw herself completely into this. He looked at Pearl and saw her to be on the verge of tears.
"Oh, okay," the slender gem managed to squeak out, "If that's how you feel, we should get started."
"Wait, now?" Both John and Connie said, as Pearl rose and began to make her way towards the warp pad.
"Well of course, you should know John, the best time to start training was twenty years ago. The second best time is now,"
"I believe it's plant a tree, but okay," John said, and watched as the teacher walked past the warp pad, and into the temple.
"Sooooooo, what exactly sparked this sudden need to be a warrior Connie?" John asked, curiously.
"Well it was really more Steven's idea, but it does sound fun," She replied, her eyes a little downcast.
"Yeah, Connie and I were enoughing jam with our jams, and these seagulls appeared and started trying to eat my jam. Connie jumped up, and beat them back with her violin bow. She was really good at it, and because she so talented already learning how to use a sword should be a breeze," Steven explained excitedly. John couldn't help but notice Connie blush at his compliment.
"Well it is true that she is talented, the mastery of any weapon takes a lot more than talent. One can learn how to use a rifle, or a sword in a matter of weeks, heck I've even taught people how to shoot accurately and effectively in less than a day. But to truly master, to be one with any type of arms, takes years of training, practice and dedication. But hey you're young, you've got plenty of time to learn," John said reassuringly.
"Hey John?" Steven asked.
"Yes Steven?"
"Why would you want to be one with your arms?"
"Steven, when John says arms he means it as a weapon, as in firearms, or to take up arms," Connie explained.
Just as John was about to thank her for her explanation, Pearl exited the temple. She was holding a small, short, saber, in a dark blue felt sheath and another longer, more curved one, "John, as you have been around for the past few days and given me some education on Marine customs, I thought I would grab a saber similar to the officer's saber that your older contemporaries would have carried, thinking that maybe you could assist me in teaching Connie how to wield such a weapon," Pearl said, offering the captain the saber's hilt.
"Well I'm faltered, I've never really wielded the officer's saber in anything other than ceremonies and parades. If you want me to give any instruction I would be far more useful with a firearm or bayonet on the end of a rifle," John explained, taking the curved sword.
"Oh, well in that case maybe you can learn with Connie. In fact it wouldn't be a bad idea to maybe give Connie instruction on your weaponry at some point," Pearl said.
"Uhhhhhhh, I don't know what the Maheswaram views on firearms are, and I would rather not piss them off. Not to mention that it would probably detrimental to Connie's training to also be instructing me at the same time as her," John said.
"Well In that case you can watch and give any insight you have when it's needed. As to you training her on the use of your weaponry, we can ask Connie's parents later. It's about time we started," Pearl said and stepped onto the warp pad. She activated it and they were once again in a stream of light. John had also had the gems show him some the various places that warp pads were located on Earth, and had grown used to the weightlessness, and no longer got the brain splitting headaches. After about ten times you learn to just float in place. Connie on the other hand was flipping around through the air, enjoying the feeling of zero gravity. Finally the stream of light came to an end and John looked around. He hadn't seen this place before.
It was a structure of some sort, that appeared to be jutting off the side of a cliff, as the area in front of the Marine shot off into space, and that was the only possible explanation. John looked over to see Connie laughing excitedly at the feeling of weightlessness that had taken hold of her. He smiled, lucky her not having to feel a mind splitting headache.
"Hurry up, or I'll have to start without you," Pearl said, already halfway up the stairs that flanked either side of the warp pad. The trio quickly acceded the stairs and ment up with the sword master. This was when John finally realised where they were. All around them was open sky, a clouds.
"Are we floating?" John asked, awestruck.
"Why yes we are, some of the very first battles for Earth were fought here in this ancient sky arena. It was here where I became familiar with the human concept of being a knight. Of being completely dedicated to a person and a cause. This is what you must become Connie," Pearl said, her voice quivering slightly. She handed Conie the short saber, "We begin with a bow, first to me your teacher, and then again to your liege."
Connie first bowed to Pearl, and then to Steven, both giggling at him being her liege. John had to admit the idea of Steven being royalty was pretty funny.
"I hope you two are taking this seriously," Pearl said, with a slight annoyance.
"Yes ma'am," Connie said straightening herself, still holding a smile.
Pearl turned and took a few steps away from the group. She then did a small pirouette, balanced on one toe. Her gem glowed and emitted a ball of light that took the shape of a holographic Pearl.
"Whoa, hologram Pearl," Connie said, looking amazed. John couldn't but say that he didn't share her amazement. The hologram was a poor rendition of the ivory warrior, lacking much of the detail of her graceful features, but what it lacked in visual detail it made up of in its utility.
"Do you wish to engage in combat," the hologram said in laughable robotic voice and taking a defensive stance.
"Yes!" Connie said excitedly, raising her hands into the air. Just as she said this both her and Steven were suddenly shielded inside of one of Stevens protective bubbles, "Uhhh, Steven?"
"Oh, sorry, sorry, reflex" Steven said, lowering the bubble, "You train and I will be over here,"
John decided with his lack of experience in swordsmanship that he would sit with Steven and observe. At the very least he could examine to saber Pearl had gotten for him. It wasn't anything ornate, most definitely a weapon of warfare, but there were small markings along the blade and hilt. They appeared to be some form of language that resembling the writing that was on the spires adorning the arena sides. The captain sat down next to the young teen, leaning back against the large stone seat behind him.
"Sooooo, is there anything I should know about holo-Pearl? John asked, laying the saber across his legs.
"Well a while back Pearl was trying to teach me how to use a sword and I kept what her to do the boomerang blade attack from this movie, wait have you seen the Lonely Blade series?" Steven asked.
"Ummmm, maybe?" John said. He'd seen a lot of movies during various tours given that most of his time was spent sitting back and watching old movies on a box TV. Despite being infantry most of his deployment had been spent trying not to be bored.
"We'll watch it a some point, anyway there's this cool attack the main character can do were he puts his swords together and-"
"Is this important to the story?"
"No not really, just adds extra detail. So I kept telling her to do the attack on holo-Pearl, and she got distracted and kinda, uhhhh...got stabbed," Steven tried to say in a way that made it not sound horrible. If John were drinking he would have done a spit take.
"Okay, that gives more reason for Pearl to put a protective bubble around you,"
"Well after Pearl got poofed I kinda tried to have holo-Pearl be her stand in, but it just wasn't the same. One night when the gems were out on a mission I activated holo-Pearls more advanced training and she began to attack me. It was kinda scary, but I managed to beat her," Steven said with a look of pride.
"Well you were fighting a training dummy, it's not like you had to face an axe murder or something," John said.
"Oh no holo-Pearl was way worse, she cut the broom stick I was using to defend myself right in half," Steven said and, for the second time in less than a minute, if John were drinking he would have done a spit take.
"Wait, so that thing," John said pointing at the hologram, "Is using a real sword?"
"Yes," Steven said, with a nod.
"Well, let's hope Connie's parents never find out about this," John said. He knew that Pearl wouldn't let unnecessary harm befall the girl and Connie did seem legitimately interested in learning how to fight, but still he hoped that they could either sit down with the Maheswarans or never have them find out. John turned his attention back to the ivory warrior and her student. Pearl was instructing her on her stance, and how to hold the blade. How to face her opponent, and how to parry. Pearl then set the hologram rendition of her to a basic attack mode.
"Parry, Parry, Thrust," it repeated, going through each of the motions it announced.
"Well this exercise may not be as exciting as others we will get onto, but it will build in the basic reflexes that you will need to have in combat," Pearl said, "Now I want you to attack when the hologram parties and parry when it thrusts. I will comment on your form and technique, if you show promise in these basic exercises then maybe we can move on to more comprehensive ones today."
"Yes ma'am," Connie said, placing her right foot forward, and bringing the sword in front of her.
"Keep your stance wide, keep you body lower," Pearl corrected her.
"Yes ma'am," Connie said, adjusting herself. She brought her sword down for each time the hologram would parry, each strike giving a satisfying clang that would send a vibration through the sword and her. When it thrust forward with it's blade Connie would bring her own to knock it aside. She continued to do this for several minutes before Pearl stopped the hologram.
"That was very good Connie. I can only say that you need to be quicker with your strikes, but in all fairness the hologram was set to a certain tempo of attack. You also need to keep your form as I instructed, I don't just tell you to do things just to see you do them. John anything you would like to add?" Pearl asked turning towards the Marine. Connie still wasn't quite sure how she felt about him. Well he had only acted with his best instincts he had imprisoned her friends for a number of weeks, but something about him just put her off. But she wouldn't let her childish superstitious fears get in the way of what could be useful instruction.
"Well take what I say with a grain of salt as it really applies more to hand to hand combat or knife combat, but I would bring my arms in a bit more. This will give you more time to build up power for any strike you want to deliver and better control of your weapon," John said, " And, well we can't exactly fix it now, when you come for training wear something like jeans and a t-shirt and have your hair in a bun, braid or just cut shorter so then when you get onto more advanced training it would get in your way."
"Thank you John, now we will move on to a more dynamic training," Pearl said. Her gem began to glow again and she moved her hands to either side of it. They began to glow white, and soon two, one foot wide paddles appeared, strapped to her hands. They had bullseyes marked on them.
"Now Connie, I want you to try and strike these paddles well I move them to avoid your attacks. When you hit it will leave a mark a the point of first impact. I will also push towards you or back away, and you will have to adapt accordingly. This exercise will act as a sort of base line for me to judge what areas you are already proficient in and what ones need improvement. Take a strike when you're ready," Pearl said.
"Okay," Connie said, and swung for the paddle on Pearls left hand. Pearl deftly moved the paddle just out of range and caused Connie to stumble.
"Quickly, recover yourself. If this were real combat I could have hit you at this point," Pearl said. Connie nodded and steadied herself. She had read about faints in her various adventure novels and figured that would be the best course of action. She made a stab at the left paddle again, but halfway through turned the sword and struck the right one.
"Very good Connie," Pearl said, beginning to back away. Connie rushed forward, and made a powerful swing at the right paddle. She missed by mere millimeters. She brought the saber back around, the point just barely grazing the edge left paddle. Pearl now began to move the paddles more erratically. Connie realising again that she would need to adapt her strategy began to also make more erratic and frequent strikes at the paddles. But each stab, swing, or strike would fall just short and Pearl had switched the tactics. She was now pushing towards Connie, causing the girl to step backwards. Connie turned to watch where she was stepping.
"As you move backwards keep your eyes on me," Pearl said, and Connie complied. But not being the most dextrice person she tripped and fell. As Pearl began to move to help her up Connie saw an opportunity and quickly struck at the paddles. Her swing managed to connect with both of them, slicing right through the middle. The trick would have certainly destroyed any opponent she would have been facing, but it still felt low and dirty.
"Hey Connie no fair cheating," Steven called out, half jokingly. She looked over at him and John. To her surprise she saw a small smile on the man's face.
"Is he pleased that I had used a such a cheap move?" Connie thought. But that didn't matter now, Connie shook the thoughts from her head and focused on her training. Connie continued to do exercises for hours until the sun had begun to set.
"Pearl as great as this training is I do need to get home," Connie said, exhausted. She was being sincere about her need to go home and the training being fun, for once Connie knew what it felt like to be one of the heros in her books. It hurt. Her muscles, joints and whole body was sore, and her hands were beginning to grow calluses. She was covered head to toe in sweat and couldn't be happier that it was the weekend and she would get to sleep until 9:30 tomorrow before she would eat breakfast and go to her tennis lessons.
"Well actually Connie were are in a different time zone and the right now it's...um, John what's the time?" Pearl asked.
"About 18:30 hours," John said, standing beside Pearl. The Marine habd actually given some good pointers on how to wield the sword, and was careful to let Pearl teach and act more as a second opinion, "But allow me to say what Connie won't, she's new to this, wearing clothing that doesn't breath well and holds heat and quite frankly she's tired. We've made really good progress today, especially if this is something she wants to pursue, but she new and needs to to rest and recuperate."
Connie wanted to say that she was fine, now knowing that it was only 6:30. But John was right, she was beat. Infact she even thought she might just have Mr. Universe drive her home so she could put ice on her sore spots and sleep.
"Well, I we have covered quite a lot today and you are new to this," Pearl said, pausing for a moment, "Fine, we'll stop for today, if you can beat the holo-Pearl on level three combat,"
"Pearl do you really think that's the best idea?" John asked in a hushed tone, just barely loud enough for Connie to hear, "As we already said she's tired, and she hasn't faced anything above level 2 combat and that was after seeing you perform a demonstration on how to face the holo-Pearl. I get that you want to test her, but it's only been one day and pushing her too hard might push her away."
"John it's alright, I can handle it. Besides this would be a good test for what I've learned so far today and I know I'm committed to this. I really do want to help Steven if a threat should come to Earth and not be in the way or be just another civilian you and the gems are evacuating," Connie said, trying to look confident. John turned to Steven whose expression was nothing but brimming with support for his friend. The Marine sighed, shaking his head.
"I can't knock you for being so tenacious. Fine, but is there some way that we can blunt the holo-Pearl's sword or make it so that if it's clear that it's going to make contact it'll stop?" John asked. Pearl paused for a moment.
"Yes, I'll activate what called it's touche mode. Stars, it has to have been thousands of years since that program was used," Pearl said, walking over to the holo-Pearl and making a few motions, "It's blade won't be any less sharp, but it will stop if it get's past Connie's guard."
"What was the program originally used for?" John asked.
"What's being used for now, a few humans took up Roses cause during the war and we needed a way to train them efficiently," Pearl said.
"That is a story I'll need to hear sometime," John said, stepping back.
"Yes it is, now Connie your mission here is not to defeat your opponent, but rather to not let your opponent from keeping you from leaving. If you make it to the warp pad without having been defeated, but the holo-Pearl is still standing then you will have passed, but not with flying colors. Strike your blade against your opponents when you are ready," Pearl said.
Connie steady herself, remembering the advice she'd been given, "Body low, feet facing your attacker, arms in, stance wide, dominate hand above non-dominate, keep the blade low," She thought. She brought her blade to the holo-Pearl's and stabbed the sword forward as Pearl had told her. Her opponent's reaction to this basic attack would allow her to judge their style and next move.
The hologram brought it's sword under her's and up. If Connie had continued with her strike she would have left her abdomen open to attack, but instead she pulled her blade inwards. Sparks flew as the two swords scraped off each other, and Connie now began to step back. She wanted distance between herself and the hologram, forcing it to close the gap. When it rushed forward, Connie would also come forward to meet it and get in close with her shorter saber.
As she expected the holo-Pearl rush to meet her, but with much more speed than she thought it would use. She had managed to put about ten feet of space between herself and the hologram, and it closed the distance in the blink of an eye. Connie had just enough time to bring up her sword, a deflect the holo-Pearls blade to the right. But this gave her a perfect opening, which she took. Glancing off the holo-Pearl's own sword, Connie brought her saber forward, and stabbed at it's abdomen. But as she was just inches from defeating her opponent, it's blade came down, knocking Connie's aside. It then brought it up, attempting to slice at her neck, causing the girl to duck. The razor sharp sword cut through a few of her hairs and she rolled to the side to avoid a downward stab at her chest. John had been right, this was much harder than she expected. But she was determined to not let herself be beaten.
Connie lay in a crouched position, her saber low across her chest. She resembled a coiled snake, waiting and ready to strike. The holo-Pearl rose, and took up it's own combat position. The two sat there black eyes filled with determination locking with flat, lifeless, white disks. Behind Connie was the stairs leading to the warp pad, and she knew that she could just turn and run. Right now she gave herself 60/40 chances for, but if she ran then the victory would be hollow. Still she wasn't in denial of her situation. She was tired, even more so now and was well aware that luck had mostly saved her.
"Go Connie!" Steven shouted, interrupting the girls thought process. Seeing its opportunity the hologram shot forward again. Connie rolled swiftly to the side, and slashed as the hologram went past. The sword connected, but only grazing it's lower thigh with barely a scratch.
The holo-Pearl whipped around, and stabbed at Connie's chest. The girl struggled to parry each rapid strike, coming at lighting speed. More sparks flew as the blades ment, and the vibrations rug through the air. Connie allowed the holo-Pearl to push her up the stairs. As the hologram tried to swing at her shoulder, Connie deflected the swing and swung her saber, trying again to cut through the holograms stomach. It twisted it's sword downwards blocking the swing and pushed the blade towards the Connie. She jumped lightly to the side, onto one of the hundreds of stone seats lining the coliseum. With her higher vantage point Connie brought her blade down, try to break her opponent's guard. Well the downward strike forced the holo-Pearls sword to the ground it was quickly able to throw Connie off the blade.
She stumbled backwards, hitting the ground on her back, winding herself. The holo-Pearl raised its sword, and swung down as though trying cleave her in two. Time slowed, and Connie watched as the razor sharp blade made it's way towards her. She rolled to the right, and pressed her body under the small lip of the stone seat above her. The sword shot past, and clattered against the marble. Connie shot out with her own saber and in two quick, decisive moves, cut the holo-Pearls feet from under it and stabbed it in the back as it fell. Breathing heavily she slumped forward, using the hilt of her sword to support. She felt Steven run up and hug her from behind.
"Wow Connie you were amazing!" He said, congratulating her. She looked at him and smiled. John and Pearl walked up behind him, Pearl's face bearing a broad smile.
"Really, good job. There were a couple of times there where I was a bit worried, but you managed really well," John said, extending his hand for a high fist bump. Connie reached up to meet him but a sharp sting on her right shoulder stopped her and caused her to wince.
"Ah," she blurted out, gripping her shoulder. When she brought her hand to it she felt something warm and a little sticky, and torn cloth. When she looked at her shoulder she saw that the cloth there was ripped and there was a small, but deep cut. Sweat dripped in and caused it to sting more and as her adrenalin rush began to wear off the stinging was replaced with a more dull, throbbing pain.
"Are you alright?" Steven asked, looking at the cut, "Do you want me to heal you?"
"Yeah , that'd be great," Connie said, sitting on one of the seats. Steven licked his finger and was about to wipe it on the cut when John stopped him.
"Alright first, Steven what are you doing?" John asked, and Connie thought she could hear a small amount of anger in his voice.
"Healing Connie," Steven replied, before releasing what it was he was doing and how it looked, "Oh right, you don't know. I have healing spit, I accidentally used it to heal Connie's eyes. That's why she doesn't have lenses in her glasses,"
"Okay then, second Pearl what happened to it stopping when it broke her guard?" John asked, his tone now much more angry.
"I don't know, maybe I did something wrong when I activated the program. It has been thousands of years after all, I probably forgot a step," Pearl said, nonchalantly, "But Connie you managed, even without the program, to not have your guard broken, and only sustained a minor injury."
Connie was about to thank her teacher for the praise, but before she could John snapped at Pearl, "You might have forgotten a step? Were you watching a different sword match take place than I was? What if that strike hadn't just been a scratch? Pearl do you even grasp just how close your student came to losing her arm?!"
Pearl looked taken aback, as was Steven and Connie. But then the gravity of John's words sunk in. He was right, if she hadn't parried there, or if her sword had been a few inches short, she wouldn't have an arm right now. Infact for all she knew that sword could have gone right through her shoulder, if she had been off by a single beat she...might not be alive right now. For the first time in her life Connie could feel her mortality.
"John I understand that your angry that something could have happen but-"
"But nothing Pearl, if you're going to be this careless about this training then there is no way I'm letting anyone, especially not one of Steven's friends, take part in it. You can't just say owell, things turned out fine. That line of thinking gets people hurt, or killed," John yelled. Pearl's mouth turned to a frown, and her hands clenched into fists, but before she could say something Steven stepped in.
"John, look people make mistakes, and Connie's fine. It happens, just let it go," Steven said. John looked at him, then at Connie.
"Really John it's fine," she said, trying her best to sound convincing. She knew that he saw right through it, but the Marine relented.
"We will talk about this later, right now let's get you home," John said, turning and making his way towards the warp pad. Pearl straightened herself and followed after him.
"Are you really okay?" Steven asked, having healed Connie's cut, "It's fine if you don't want to do this anymore."
"No, Steven, that's not it. I'm just...a little shaken, that's all," Connie said, not sure if it was Steven she was reassuring him or herself. She did still want to fight with Steven and the Gems, but she was slowly coming to realize what that really entailed. There was something else bothering her, "John had been in complete support of this. Sure something really bad could have happened, but he almost seemed to do a 180 on his view on her training," She thought.
Steven nodded, and the two made their way to the warp pad. When they got there Pearl and John were standing opposite from each other and neither looked like they wanted to speak to the other. Connie hoped that they could move past this. Pearl activated the warp pad and they were off in another stream of light.
Chapter Ten, man was this a tough one. Partially due to lack of motivation, but much more due to school and sickness. But it's done and I want to go over some things cause I know that they will either get a negative response or be just confusing. First, the beginning part with Lars and Sadie I added partially to foreshadow and partially to show a part of John's character that is going to become much more prevalent later on in the story. Second the reason that John got so angry about the training will be completely explained in the next chapter, but If you take some time to process his character and the training that he would have gone through (hi reaction begins to make more sense. I kinda of wanted to have some form of tension between him and Pearl on this, but pretty much any other kind I could think of would have been waaaaaaay more forced than this feels. Also I want to make it clear, This is NOT a finished arch, not by a long shot. The next chapter is probably going to pick up right where this one left off. The reason I didn't do Connie's training all in one chapter is because as John said: "The mastery of any weapon takes years of practice," and I really think that there is a lot more that could be gotten out of doing this over a couple of chapters, with brief interruptions for the gems to go on mission and such, than to try and cram it all into one or two chapter. Finally I need to address something, eventually I am going to take a pretty massive turn off of the cannon and might not be coming back to it. I don't think I can tell a story better than the crewniverse and this isn't going to be any time soon, probably some time after the end of season four or even three. But I do eventually want to tell my complete own story with these characters. To those who follow and don't want to see this change I'm sorry, but take heart that it's a loooooooong way off. Other than that I just have my usual beg for reviews, OH and I almost forgot I found John's theme. I will leave a link and (although I doubt they would or even really could sue me over it) I DO NOT OWN THIS SONG.
watch?v=_15CDPlvPrc&list=PLqwb0SarteoKLQpWun2qybnt4AI9YrzNx&index=3