Hi there! Sorry for the delay, but I think you will like this chapter. This might entertain you and even want you to return for more... Enjoy!

Chapter 22: Reach for the Stars

The Gems were currently over at Peridot's and Lapis's home where the Sun Incinerator was parked nearby. They further placed a jamming device in the room to further protect their planning from Red Diamond's forces. All of the major Crystal Gems plus a reluctant Jasper and a relaxed Lars dressed in his full space-pirate regalia were standing around Peridot's chalkboard which now had the steps of the plan formally written out. When the recap of the plan involved Steven using himself as bait, a few of the gems, and Lars, grew either tense or worried. "Um… are you sure it's fine using live bait…?" Lars asked.

"I know," Garnet said, "But Steven seems sure that this is the best way to do this."

"That aside, the plan is actually quite simple," Peridot stated before continuing, "Once Steven gets into position with Onyx's gem and releases her, we take off from here and make a roundabout trip to the satellite. While Steven keeps Red Diamond distracted, we capture it and then I hack into it in order to find the location of the station that deployed it. Then it's a simple matter of flying there and putting it out of commission."

Even for a relatively simple plan, most of the group knew they would be distracted by the thoughts of Steven's ongoing fight.

"Will you all get your heads together?" barked Jasper, "Unless you want to hope that we can take down that thing directly and then deal with whatever assault Red Diamond sends afterward, you need to focus."

While Lapis huffed at her temper, the others admitted she had a point. It was also her position as Steven's backup that had many of the gems worried. This might have been why Garnet has personally asked Lars to come along as backup. Not to mention he was the one who stole the ship in the first place.

"All systems ready…" said Fluorite from the lower deck. Lars thanked her and soon turned to his captain's chair. As soon as Peridot asked him to come along, he had the caterpillar fusion come along to act as engineer while Padparadscha acted as an advisor to the other Crystal Gems on how to best operate the ship. Rutile and Rhodonite wanted to come, but Lars insisted they stay behind to run Spacetries.

Suddenly Padparadsha stated, "I predict everyone will be unnerved when Steven states that he will be a decoy." Partially unaware that said statement has already been spoken just a few seconds ago. "Also, ready for takeoff!"(Your turn)

Eventually, the team all began to board the Sun Incinerator. They all ended up on the bridge of the ship, where Lars proceeded to take his seat in the Captain's chair, something that disgusted Jasper. She was still in disbelief that a single human and a small group of Off-Color Gems were able to successfully steal one of, if not, THE fastest ship in homeworld's arsenal.

"Alright," Peridot said, with a device next to her assigned terminal, "The signal jammer is now successfully connected to the ship. Red Diamond won't be able to track us during our approach."

"Alright, Steven," said Pearl as she gave him a final hug as he and Jasper went to exit the ship, "I want you to be as careful as possible. And if you absolutely need our help, I still have my cell phone on me and-"

"Pearl, I've got this! But thanks," he said as he hugged back, "And you should be careful too."

Eventually, the ship took off. During the trip Steven had a smirk on his face that practically screamed confidence as he held a certain bubbled gem in his hands.

Lars eyes the gemstone and nervously asks, "So… that's the monster gem that nearly took you out?"

"Yep, this gem gave me and Lion a hard time," Steven said, "But we were able to win in the end!"

"You know, I've had some pretty crazy plans in my time, but even I think this one is nuts."

"Trust me, this is gonna work," Steven stated, before adding rather arrogantly, "I've been in worse scrapes before." (Your turn)

"How many laps are we doing in this thing?" asked Amethyst, "I wanna get to the fun part already!"

"Amethyst, this isn't a playdate!" said Pearl, "We are supposed to be covertly infiltrating a hostile space station responsible for broadcasting signals to Red Diamond! There could be anything in there!"

"So… Are we gonna blow it up? Pretty please?"

"All depends," said Garnet, "But we should try to be subtle first."

"Good thing I brought this then!" Amethyst then summoned a familiar-looking gadget out of her gem.

"The molecular density modulator?" asked Peridot, "And just what exactly were you planning on doing with highly advanced technology like that?"

"Peri, come on, don't be naive. The pranking potential with this thing is through the roof!"

Lapis actually giggled at that, as did several of the other passengers, while Peridot just groaned.

While the Crystal Gems were enjoying the relative calm before their mission went underway, Red Diamond was watching some of the footage captured from her satellite as she worked on her latest subject. Paying no mind to how the gem beneath her was yelling in agony, she replayed Steven's first known activation of his pink form. She then had the footage fast-forward to Steven's sparring with Jasper after his second bout of growth and could hardly contain her excitement. The things she could do with such genetic adaptability…

"My Diamond?" spoke her Pearl over the ship's intercom, "I've recently noticed that many of the Crystal Gems have departed from base in a rather advanced Homeworld starfighter. They have already escaped the range of your surveillance device."

"Hm?" the ex-monarch mumbled, more concerned with adjusting the crystal structure of her latest subject, "Very well then. Make note of any suspicious activity and keep me updated. That will be all."

Red Pearl signed off as the Diamond went back to work. Although she was not the least bit worried, she did skip the footage to the Sun Incinerator's departure and how it quickly sped out of range. Although it was odd seeing them suddenly use the vessel, she reasoned there were numerous options for the flight. She figured she could still keep her focus on the hapless quartz gem begging her to not replace her legs with tentacles.

Back on Earth, the first step of the plan was nearing its end. After almost a dozen laps around the Earth in various directions, making sure to only be caught once or twice by the satellite, soon it was time to begin the real challenge. Inside the ship, the joking and levity was now gone as everyone was now focused to succeed.

"Target sighted," said Pearl as she manned the actual control of the ship with Padparadscha at her side.

"Lapis, are you ready?" asked Lars from the captain seat. While somewhat jittery, Lapis nodded as she stood by the hull of the ship.

"All systems appear unchanged," said Peridot from one of the control panels.

"Alright then," said Lars, "Steven, Jasper, you both ready at the escape pod?"

"Ready," replied the hybrid, bubbled Onyx in hand.

"Ready and standing by," Jasper added, eager to get her job started already.

"Here it comes!" said Bismuth as they approached the satellite at lightning speed. Pearl quickly activated the ship's nova blasters, but the blasts missed as planned. Soon the satellite began blaring an alarm as Lapis turned on Amethyst's molecular gadget to phase through the ship and soon flew down to gather water from the ocean. It turns out, though, that her job of capturing the satellite would be trickier as it began immediately flying up and away.

"Follow after it!" said Lars, "Looks like its engaging evasive maneuvers."

With some quick maneuvering by Pearl, the ship ascended higher into the sky until their target suddenly veered right and thanks to its much smaller size, the satellite proved almost too much for the ship to keep up with. Garnet was about to suggest using the Star Skipper to outflank it when Lapis suddenly flew into view with a bubble of water several times her size trailing behind her. The satellite moved, trying to avoid the pincer maneuver set up, but Lapis proved faster as she suddenly sent the bubble forward and engulfed it in water before quickly flying into her own trap, pushing the satellite out, and then phasing it and herself back into the Sun Incinerator. It tried to fly away inside the ship, but a quick electric shock from Garnet shorted the thing out long enough for Peridot to get to work. While some of the circuitry inside was unfamiliar to her, she had enough memory of this same type of device to know where the off button was.

"There!" the techie said triumphantly, "Deactivated and prime for hacking!"

Any good cheer was interrupted, though, when the ship suddenly rocked.

"Enemy fighters incoming!" said Padparascha, for once focusing entirely on the present. Four smaller ships zipped right in front of the Sun Incinerator.

"Quick, Jasper, get in!" Steven said as Peridot pressed a button on the console opening the door to one of the few escape pods. Lars went over to them saying, "Alright, I'm pretty sure Peridot had these pre-programmed for this part, so I just need to activate the pod launch sequence and- OOF!"

Suddenly the entire ship shook, knocking Lards forward and into the escape pod, just as it closed, locking him in with Jasper and Steven! And since he already activated the launch sequence, the pod jettisoned from the rest of the ship and began flying helter-skelter away from the battle.

"Lars, stay in your seat!" shouted Padparadscha too late, but soon another bout of turbulence hit.

"Okay, I'm officially in charge," said Garnet, taking Lars' place, "Peridot, get that location of the station as fast as you can. Pearl, we need you to evade these fighters and keep the attention away from them."

"But what about Lars?" asked Bismuth, "He's a fine captain, but from what I hear, he can't do squat in an actual fight!"

"We'll just have to roll with it. It's either we retrieve them later or throw the entire mission away."

Meanwhile, the trio in question was crammed tight in the escape pod, which is meant for one person, MAYBE two. Jasper was the most uncomfortable in this situation. "Nice going, Captain!" she said mockingly.

"Hey, not my fault if that Diamond actually caught onto us. We all knew this was a risky plan."

"Guys, we need to focus!" said Steven, for once missing his smaller body since that would mean more breathing room, "Lars, where's this thing taking us!?"

"Well… Peridot said she programmed it to follow the Sun Incinerator whenever it reached that station, but other than that? Can't say I know…"

"So now we're all lost?!" shouted Jasper, "If I could move my arms fully, I'd clobber you for this!"

"Jasper, relax!" said Steven, "That's not going to help us. If what Lars said is true, we'll be back with the team in no time! Plus, even if something came after us, I'm pretty sure either of us could beat it."

"I swear you kiss your arm again and you'll be the one getting a clobbering…"

"Why do I feel like I'm back in middle school?" Lars asked no one in particular.

Within a minute or so, they ended up landing on the southern flank of the satellite station. While they were glad to know the others found their destination, the sight before them was anything but comforting. The station was a four-story tall red monolith made up of spheres with dozens of ports for more satellites to enter and exit all along the outside sitting in the vacuum of space. Much to their surprise, they saw many more satellites like the one they captured flying in and out of the ports.

"Guys…" gulped Lars, "Did you find any more of those satellites?"

"Nope, but I'm getting the feeling she's not just watching Earth," answered Steven as their cramped pod came closer and closer to the crimson outpost.

Eventually, they landed in what appeared to be a mixture between a small hangar and a corridor. After settling in place, the escape pod finally opened up, with Lars, Steven, and Jasper falling out.

"Ugh, that was TOO cramped!" Steven said with discomfort, then he said, "You guys alright?"

"Yeah, but what do we do now?" asked Jasper holding the bubbled Onyx, "We can't have your little show with this wimp around."

"Hey! Just because I'm not a gem doesn't mean I'm useless!" protested Lars, but the soldier was not having it.

"Really? Last I heard you got that," she then pointed to the scar over Lars' eye, "From your first fight."

That statement clearly got to Lars, who was instantly ticked, "Listen here you-!"

"Knock it off! Both of you!" Steven said, in an aggressive tone. "We don't need bickering right now! Lars, if you want to stay here, then fine. Jasper and I will head off and do our part."

As much as the other teenager hated feeling helpless, he knew Steven had a point. Unless he found some form of weapon and assuming he could actually use it proficiently, he would just be a liability from this point.

"...Alright," he finally said, "I'll stay here. Although, if you do resort to blowing the place up, please let me know first."

With him safe, the duo ran into the base and found it was surprisingly quiet. They only ran into the occasional patrol of Red Diamond's gems, usually smaller ones in pairs, or robonoids that were easily dealt with. Their plan was to find a large open enough area for their decoy fight to happen in and capture Red's attention while also allowing Jasper to hide in case Onyx proved too much for him. After several minutes of long red corridors, they eventually emerged in what appeared to be a storage room of sorts. It was almost fifteen feet tall and even wider around with dozens of satellites sitting on shelves in various states of assembly while a handful of gems worked to rebuild or operate on them.

They both knew this was the best spot they found. Steven decided to let the plan really start up… "Alright," he said, anticipating what would happen next, "Here we go…" He then popped the bubble and immediately threw the gemstone into the middle of the room. The various repair gems were quickly drawn to the sight of Onyx quickly reforming back to life.

The feral Gem immediately began to let out a loud and angry roar at its surroundings. Many of the repair gems were distraught to see one of their Diamond's more feral creations suddenly running rampant before them. One of them tried to approach her, but Onyx just swatted her aside as she locked eyes with Steven standing a few feet away.

"Hey there!" he greeted with a smirk, "Remember me? I know there's less fur on me then last time, but I can still kick your butt!"

Onyx looked at him. She sniffed at him, then growled; she definitely remembered him. She then began to run at him. Steven, still overconfident to a degree, summoned his shield at the ready. She was about to swipe at him with one of her large claws, only for Steven to bash her to the side with his shield. Before she could retaliate, he was one step ahead of her by grabbing her by the knees and then flinging her into a half-built satellite. Alarms began blaring through the building and several of the gems in the bay charged at him while others ran either to panels along the walls to summon reinforcements or to find more gems to assist.

"Well, got the distraction part down," Steven muttered to himself, "Just hope Red Diamond's watching…"

Onyx was able to recover and slip into shadow form. She began solid again when she was closer to Steven and was about to bite him at the neck! But then Jasper was able to tackle the monstrous gem-beast and pin it down, "No one gets to pummel him but me, you freakshow!"

Suddenly the creature turned back into shadow again slipping from her grasp. However, it seemed that the beast immediately became solid again, as if unable to retain her more shadowy form for long. The Onyx then let out a loud roar at the two. "Heh, looks like we're in for a rough fight," Steven said arrogantly, "You ready Jasper?"

She summoned her crash helmet. "You better win or I'm taking you for another round of training!" she declared smugly, which earned a direct smirk from Steven before the two went back into the fight.

Meanwhile… Lars was currently over at the escape pod, checking his surroundings. "Okay, this'll be fine," he said to himself, "You've been in worse scrapes than this…"

He kept his eyes peeled for any incoming threats but hearing the sound of crashes and footsteps running away from his direction told him that the other two's distraction was now underway. "Okay…" he stated, "Sounds like they're doing a great job…" However, he still grew nervous nonetheless. "Just wish someone else was there watching his back instead of Jasper. Who does she think she is? And when did Steven get so buddy-buddy with her?"

To him, it was almost hard to believe that big, tough guy now getting involved in this whole mission was the same little kid who kept trying to befriend him. Looks aside, he wondered just how Steven's personality changes came about when something interrupted him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a pair of Carnelians running right past him. He ducked down behind the pod and prayed they were as stupid as some of the Rubies he met during his time with the Off-Colors. Unfortunately for him, they knew that the bright yellow pod was not one of the usual sights for the station and he could hear them approaching.

Realizing there was no other way he could run or fight, he had to turn to the best tool he had in his arsenal: bluffing.

Rather than hide, he leaped out right in front of the Carnelians and presented himself. "Excuse me? Would you happen to be the repair crew I called ahead for? As you can see, my escape pod here is in desperate need for a tune-up."

The two gems just stared at each other, completely dumbfounded by the pink human in front of him. Then they both looked at Lars, serious looks on their faces, as they each took out weapons, a set of Gem destabilizers, one of them even said, "Intruder!"

Upon this, Lars's face dropped in fear, "Oh crud!" One of them jabbed the destabilizer at him… and all he felt was a tickling sensation.

"H-Hey! Cut it out!" he laughed, much to the confusion of the gems in front of him. That confusion was just enough time for him to jab one in the eye and then grab her destabilizer while she was distracted. The other one tried to zap him, but he swiftly brought the weapon up to block and then landed a clean hit with his pilfered gadget. She was poofed in an instant leaving her partner immensely confused.

"What?! How?! You should be-" she started, but stopped when Lars zapped her into submission as well. Upon seeing the two gems on the floor. Lars then looked at the gem destabilizer in his hand, then grinned.

"Okay," he said, "This'll be fun!"

Lars headed down the same corridor that the Carnelians were walking past and put his stealth skills to the test. While the corridors were generally devoid of obstacles, he was able to hide behind the arches along the side and simply wait out most gems as they ran right past him. The few who did spot him tried to either fight back or run away to warn someone else that there were more intruders in the base before he quickly zapped them. Looking around, he saw that the coast was clear at the moment, so he began to race down a corridor in an attempt to find Steven and Jasper…

Speaking of which, Onyx was currently, and violently, brushing Jasper aside and was trying to rush at Steven. Evidently, the monster seemed fixated on harming the hybrid who defeated her. Steven had to fling his shield at her like a frisbee in order to stun her. While she was stalled, he tried to regroup with Jasper but the other gems working in the station blocked his path. He tried to get past them, but Onyx charged at him again and soon was on top of him. He managed to fling her off with a bubble, but he was only a few seconds away from losing his face. Jasper having some better luck even as several gems bombarded her at once, but very few of them seemed to have any of Red's augmentations to make them truly dangerous. One of them tried freezing her foot to the ground, but Jasper quickly freed herself by picking up that gem's best friend and smashing her face into the ice until it shattered and said gem was poofed as a result. Steven meanwhile was struggling with the vicious Onyx as she was on top of him he was struggling to hold her back as she was desperately attempting to land a fatal blow. Eventually, he was able to throw her aside, her body slamming against the wall.

Onyx, although shaken up, did not seem any less energized. Now that her hunt was getting more interesting, she decided it was time to stop playing around. She stood up on two legs and with a quick change, now she was fighting with her all. She immediately ran at Steven and tried sucker punching him, only to find his fist hit her face at the same time. The two were on more equal footing, causing a handful of the gems blocking them to try and interfere… Only for Onyx and Steven to knock them away,

"What the?" said Jasper, watching from a distance as she sent an Amethyst away with a kick, "What's gotten into her?" She was forced back into the fight by three gems dogpiling her, but the question was in Steven's head as well.

"You… helped me?" he asked. But as soon as he asked her, she growled, putting him on edge. Then she pounced again. Steven had only a split-second to dodge the attack, and he did. Just barely though. "Are you sure we can't just be friends?" he asked, summoning his shield. He half-wondered if he should use his pink state to gain the upper-hand, but soon he saw something else get his attention. In the entrance of the repair bay was Lars, running towards the back of the crowd surrounding them with a destabilizer. "Steven!" he called out, "I- Whoa!" he saw Onyx, and grew intimidated by her appearance. Onyx then took the distraction as an opportunity and was able to ram Steven successfully. Hitting the wall head-first, Steven slumped as he struggled to keep his eyes open as his brain felt like it was swimming.

"STEVEN!" exclaimed Lars. He tried pushing his way through the crowd, but a pair of gems easily overpowered him and knocked his weapon away.

"Jasper…" Steven said meekly, "Get… Get the others… We need help." Steven personally felt his pride get wounded when he said that. His trainer was equally reluctant to give in, but soon a flood of more gems came in from the doors along with several robonoids activating all along the walls made it obvious that they really did have Red Diamond's full attention.

"Steven, I'm sorry," said Lars as he tried wrestling away from his captors, "I just… Wanted to help, you know? I did stop like a dozen of these guys from bringing help."

"I… I get it. I know the feeling… It's exactly like I was when I was a kid." He brought himself to his feet, much to Onyx's delight. Rather than focus on her, though, Steven focused on summoning two hexagonal barriers between Lars and the gems holding him and pushing them away from the captain.

"Go on, get out of here and find the other gems. Use your cellphone to call Pearl and get them down here…"

Lars panicked for a moment, conflicted on what to do, until he noticed Onyx about ready to pounce yet again. In that moment, he made a decision. Steven never abandoned him even when he was a colossal jerk or even when he died. He was going to repay the favor. With a determined yell he ran towards the lupine monster, grabbing her attention long enough for Steven to slug her in the face before running towards him. They were about to stand back-to-back to face the remaining horde until Steven's gem glowed right as the two's hands touched.

For one instant, the entire room went white as the friends met. When it cleared, someone completely new was standing there. He stood far taller than Jasper with a broad stance and a powerful, muscular build. A bright, brown mohawk with light pink streaks adorned his head. His outfit appeared to be a black, form fitting bodysuit with a bright pink star adorning the center while a vibrant red cape draped to his feet and fluttered behind him. On his feet were a pair of dark pink boots with matching gloves on his hands. The new fusion stood and opened his eyes revealing the electric pink irises looking at the world around him.

No one, not even Onyx, did anything until he spoke for the first time. "So, can I interest anyone in some diplomacy?" The tone in which he spoke seemed arrogant and self-assured.

The others all looked at him in confusion. "I mean, you all appear to be a rational, intelligent group who's more than aware that fighting at this point is futile, no?"

One gem in the crowd did not take kindly to his suggestion. She picked up Lars' dropped destabilizer and rushed right at him… And before she could blink the device was embedded in the ceiling and she was face-down in the floor groaning in pain.

"Okay, definitely the bad apple of the bunch here, but I assume the rest of you are smarter than that?"

When the other gems, especially Onyx, started to ignore Jasper as they crowded around him with hateful looks. "Hm… I guess not," the fusion said in an arrogant tone of voice, complete with smirk. He spread both his arms out with enough speed to send a shockwave that knocked away many of the gems surrounding him. Onyx was one of the few to stand her ground and quickly raced towards him, excited for a brand new challenge. The fusion then simply leaped up on the air and hovered in the air with Steven's floating powers. Onyx leaped up to follow him, but the fusion suddenly kicked her over the head and quickly sent her smashing into the floor. He then tried elbowing her while she was done, but one quick change into her shadow form saved her from the blow. He then looked at where the shadow went and saw it forcibly return to solid form. "Heh, looks like you can't say shadow forever," he said, smirking at this piece of information, something that made Onyx growl in spite.

The two rushed at each other again, but this was different than her clash with Steven. There she could match him blow for blow, but now she was getting pummeled and any blows she landed barely seemed to phase the fusion. It ended when the caped fusion grabbed Onyx by the neck and sent an uppercut that launched her to the ceiling before flying after her and then slamming her back into the floor. She tried to get up, but he simply did it again and again while also knocking away any sneak attacks the other hostile gems in the room tried to land. Soon both the top and bottom of the room were filled with craters along with a completely decimated Onyx who was still conscious by luck at this point.

"Not bad," admired the fusion, "You lasted longer than I thought. How about next time you start thinking with your head a little bit to make this more challenging?"

Onyx let out a whimper in reply as he sent one final punch that finally returned her to her gemstone. Getting up, Jasper was both envious and surprised at the spectacle she just saw. The fusion saw this and shot a smirk her way, "What do you think? Impressive, right?"

"Who… Who are you?" asked Jasper, the fusion's ego being extreme even by her standards. In any other situation, she would be ready to smack the ego out of him.

"Captain Stars at your service!" he said, grinning broadly, "I'll be taking care of the jokers down here from now on. You find the rest of the Crystal Gems and knock out anyone who gets in the way."

Jasper was surprised by how straightforward and confident the fusion was. While she did feel the slight urge to backhand the smirk off his face, she decided to save that for later and charged off back into the base to find the others.

Meanwhile… Red Diamond was currently dealing with her experiments. Even as one of her satellite stations was currently under attack, she still focused on her scientific progress. That all changed, however, when Captain Stars appeared. Seeing the raw destructive power the new fusion was capable of left her completely awestruck. "How… interesting," she said, "Between this transformation, his astronomical physical growth and the latent powers he continues to reveal…"

"My Diamond?" Red Pearl asked, curious as she entered the door, "Your subject appears to be destabilizing."

The Diamond idly looked down at the operating table and saw the peridot she was working on was half-melting into corrosive green goo. She simply pressed a button on the nearby console that sent the captive gem off the table and into a trap door that led to the quarantine bay. With the distraction gone, Red Diamond turned her full attention to replaying the flamboyant proclamation of Captain Stars and how he now faced a small horde of her guards along with several attack drones.

"Pearl, what do you think?" she asked, "Is there enough forces to handle this new fusion?"

"...I'm eager to find out."

"You should also know we have spotted an unidentified craft approaching the same station some time ago. Reports show it landed only minutes after an escape pod containing those three landed."

"So, a diversion. I must admit, they gave me quite the tantalizing show. Nevertheless, I am more than capable of responding to both threats."

"Your orders then?"

"Pearl, handle that fusion. I know how eager you are to finally best Steven after all this time."

Upon hearing these orders, the servant gave her typical small yet sinister smile, "As you wish, my Diamond."

Meanwhile, Captain Stars was currently making his way down a hallway, poofing the occasional gem as he looked for a way to shut the satellite down. Even with over forty gems returned to their gemstones and a bay full of smashed robots later, the base proved to be quite well-equipped. Klaxons of gems arrived to stop him, more robotic defenses were activated and at one point a wall of lasers appeared in front of him. None of them even slowed him down as he made his way through corridor after corridor trying to find the Crystal Gems. Turns out lasers cannot do much to you when you easily summon a bubble shield that already survived planetary reentry.

Eventually, he arrived at what appeared to be a control room with monitors dominating one wall. He stepped inside and quickly found what he was looking for. One of the screens showed the Crystal Gems in a large chamber along with a glowing energy sphere, he supposed that would be the core of the base, and they were completely surrounded!

"Don't worry guys," he said to himself, "I'll be there as fast as I can-"

"Will you now?" said Red Pearl with the tip of her jagged sword touching the base of the captain's neck, "I believe it's time for me to finally bring you to Red Diamond. She's just dying to see you."

"So, you saw my little show?"

"Naturally, but we're not naive enough for you to trick us like that."

"And you're not strong enough to take me in."

"Care to prove that?"

In a flash, Captain Stars turned and grabbed the sword with his bare hand. He held it by the tip of the blade before clapping it between his hands and shattering the metal in one stroke.

"Gladly."

Red Diamond took a look at him, and smiled. "Well, this is going to be… entertaining," she said in a sinister tone, "I look forward to evaluating this fusion's capabilities. She then began to shapeshift into her monstrous form.