Never fear everyone, I'm back, and I have a lovely new chapter for you! So without further ado, here it is!
It had taken several hours, but Connie had finally managed to get close enough to the top of the mountain to see the crystal pillars at the edge of the Galaxy warp. It would only be a few more minutes before she was at the top. Someone better be here for all the trouble she had gone through. Plus, it would be hard enough to explain herself to her parents if she came back successful, much less if she came back a failure. Of course she'd written a note telling them she was going to be gone for a while, but they were still probably worried and a little mad.
Upon reaching the flattened crystalline surface of the Galaxy warp, Connie sighed heavily in relief. She finished pulling herself up onto it and stood. It was beautiful, but very old and broken looking, except for two of the pads. And to make it so much better, the red girl who she believed to be Ruby was lying on the biggest of the pads, and one of the two fixed ones. Things were finally looking up.
Shing! A sharp blade swung in front of Steven. He had only just barely stepped backwards in time to avoid a rather large and painful cut through his stomach. A few more swings, and few more steps back, and then... he lunged forwards and to the side, kicking his opponent's leg out from under them and causing them to fall to the ground. Much as he hated these difficult, tiring, and often at least slightly painful training sessions, he had to admit that they were affective. Since his forced training had started, his trainers only barely held back. He had several medium-small scars already, and had been bruised many separate times. But with the pain, he also had more reason than ever to take his training seriously and not mess up, because it would be much more painful that way.
"Adequate." One of the trainers watching his fight remarked. "Now finish them." he commanded.
He hated to do it, but Steven didn't have much choice. As his opponent began to get back to their feet, he concentrated and summoned his shield, before hitting them as hard as he could in the head with it. With a sudden 'poof', they disappeared back into their gem. It was the third time he'd managed to beat his easiest opponent. And although he still felt kind of bad for hurting them, he reminded himself that they would eventually come back. His teacher stood.
"Finally. You have passed your first level of training. If you were not partially organic, you would be moving on to the next level right now. As it is, you have this coming night to sleep before you come back. You have permission to return to your room."
With those heartwarming words from his instructor, a very tired Steven made his way back to his room, which was not too far from the mini-arena that was used to train very young Gems, himself included. When he got there, he saw that his 'food' was waiting for him. He took the collection of a few pills and the small container of water and quickly finished them, setting them back in their place to be refilled the next day. As he collapsed on the strange smoothened rock he now called his bed, he thought about all the progress he had made with his powers in the last few weeks.
Since he had started, Steven had not only nearly completed mastering his bubble shield, but had gotten quite proficient at summoning his hand shield as well. In addition, he was getting tougher and less hurt by minor things rapidly, and his speed, focus, and strength had all improved by a decent amount. He wasn't nearly super-human in strength yet, but he was at least a much stronger human than before. And another somewhat nice thing was his weight. He hadn't really been dangerously overweight before, but he had been a little on the pudgy side. But now, he had lost several pounds and was a little slimmer than before, which he was quite proud of. As these thoughts passed through his mind, he began to drift off into the relative peace of sleep, which he would need plenty of, for tomorrow was going to be much more draining than before.
The Orange Shard off far on the other side of the planet, and miles underground, still worked hard in the chamber he had been in for a while. But no longer was it dark. The dull red glow from the phase crystal had gotten slightly brighter and hotter with each new world's power it absorbed. By now, it was a blinding yellow-white, and radiated heat at nearly four hundred degrees Kelvin, or two hundred and sixty Fahrenheit, well more than hot enough to boil water or blood. Thankfully, the heat and light were not enough to melt or blind him, since anything organic about him had been removed and destroyed long ago. Soon, the many worlds he had to drain would all be dead, and his work in this area would be complete.
Back on the Earth, Connie had approached the red girl. As soon as Ruby saw her, she jumped up, startled. But within seconds she realized her mistake and placed her gem back on the warp pad. "What are you doing here?" she asked Connie.
"What am I doing here? I've been looking for you! You're Ruby, aren't you?" she replied.
"Yes. What do you care? And come to think of it, how did you get here?" Ruby demanded.
"Steven told me roughly where this place was, and what it looked like, so I hiked out and climbed up here. I heard you had been seen coming this way and found the message in the crater that used to be Steven's home. Now tell me, is he alright?"
"I wish I knew..." was Ruby's only answer.
And, BOOM! Chapter done! I really hope you'll love it as much as I do, and of course that you'll all review and tell me what you think of this and the last few chapters. Also, from now on,... ALL temperatures will be given in Kelvin, because it is much easier for me to work with. If you want to figure out how much it is in Celsius of Fahrenheit, there are lots of simple and free converters all over google, so it isn't too hard to change it. Anyways, goodbye for now!