(Sorry Everyone! No time for a recap of reviews! I'll be posting one chapter per day for the next three days. So a new chapter will come PER day for a while! I hope you Enjoy!)

Chapter 24: Big Break

Two days after the latest mission, the Crystal Gems were pleased that Red Diamond's satellite base was destroyed. While it was comforting to know they were no longer being watched, there was one thing on most of their minds; Steven.

Their youngest member had made his intention to relax clear and started spending most of his time away from the others. It was a hard pill for many of the gems to swallow, but they all agreed it was for the best.

Right now, the young gem was in the outskirts of the city training even harder than before. He has been at it since they came back to Earth. He has been trying to use training to clear his head. At the moment, he was taking a cue from Jasper's book and using some stones he gathered as punching bags. He figured even if he was on a break, he should not let his technique falter. Only he was taking it to even more extremes as the stones he picked for his more recent training sessions were more solid and sturdier than usual along with being much bigger.

Said stones were not the only thing to have grown. Over the past few days, Steven had gone from buff to ripped to borderline brutal. His arms and legs looked like columns of muscle supported by a constantly-showing eight-pack underneath a pair of large, slab-like pectorals that made his newer shirt strain greatly even when he was still. Despite how drastic the changes had been, Steven had barely noticed as he focused entirely on the twenty-foot tall stone. He kept his eyes closed for a few moments until he suddenly opened them, ran towards it faster than a bullet and obliterated the entire thing with a single punch. He then went to an even bigger stone and began to pick it up.

With minimal effort, he lifted the stone above his head and moved from a crouch up to a full stand as he dead-lifted the thousands of pounds of rock. While his body only felt a mild burn, his shirt finally gave out and tore into tatters. Even then, Steven's mind did not waver as he slowly tightened his grip on the bottom of the stone. With each lift, a web of cracks spread larger and longer as they made their way to the inside of the giant rock. After twenty lifts, the stone fell apart into a mess of rubble with him not even scratched by the rocks falling on top of him.

His little workout did not go unnoticed, though, as a very surprised Lapis Lazuli touched down right in front of him.

"Oh, hey Lapis!" he greeted smiling a bit with his voice deeper now.

"STEVEN?!" she gawked, "How long have you been out here?!"

"Since a little after sunrise. What's wrong? You sound a little tense."

"Uh, it's nothing," she insisted, trying to distinctly ignore how he was still half-naked and his voice was deeper still, "But what's going on with you?"

"I'm doing what I planned on: taking a break. I head out early in the morning and then come back home to sleep."

"Really? None of the other gems have seen you come or go from the house in the past two days."

"What can I say? I'm an early-riser!" he said rather arrogantly.

"Uh-huh, sure… So, how are you feeling?"

"Heh, I feel awesome!" he said, proudly flexing his bazooka-turned-cannon biceps.

"I… see…" Lapis Lazuli said rather skeptically, "You wanna get some clothes on now?"

"Why? It'd just get ripped again."

"Well, we can get a bigger size…"

"Plus it'd be a shame to hide all my work."

That made Lapis do a double-take and without another word, she flew off. Rather than be concerned, Steven just waved her goodbye and went back to his free time.

Later he was walking down the streets of Beach City. After taking his training as he wanted, he felt it was time for a break and to spend some quality time with the people of his hometown. He had a destination in mind, but appreciated the serene atmosphere of the town along with the attention he was receiving. Unlike the time after his last growth spurt, this time he felt no shame or embarrassment whatsoever as he strutted down the sidewalks still showing off his muscles. Even when he caught the eyes of ladies passing by, he soaked in the compliment instead of blushing.

All of this fueled his already grand ego as he eventually made it to the warehouse commonly used by Sadie Killer and the Suspects. The only thing missing was the band itself and any of their equipment. While part of him was tempted to leave, he knew this was the day the quartet would be there soon to rehearse for the week and decided now was a time to both continue his workout and show off more of his work. He leapt up to one of the support beams on the ceiling and started doing pull-ups until the group arrived. And when they did, Buck Dewey looked up and saw Steven, surprised at what he was looking at, "Whoa… Steven?"

"Steven!?" Sadie said in shock, "Is that really you!?"

"Hm?" Steven looked down and saw them, "Oh, hey guys!"

"Working out a bit?" asked Sour Cream, "Or did you come to watch us rehearse."

"A little bit of both, but I guess I got here too early. Decided to pass the time with, let's see… 238 pull-ups."

"Fitness is cool, man," said Buck, as unfazed as ever, "I respect it."

However, it was Greg who was truly shocked at his son's new physique! He was carrying in the first of many pieces of equipment for the rehearsal and was immediately floored to see his son both shirtless and ripped enough to make bodybuilders feel inadequate. "WHOA!" he exclaimed, "S-Steven!?"

"Hi there, Dad! What's up?" he said while stretching his arms up, showing off his muscles some more flexing his biceps, hard.

"Well, uh, we were about to set up all the sound gear for rehearsal so…"

"Really? I could help!"

"You know, Steven," said Sadie, looking visibly uncomfortable, "It's been nice seeing you again, and you seem to be doing… well for yourself, but-"

"Oh come on, Sadie," said Jenny, blatantly staring at Steven, "He's just trying to be a gentleman! Why not let him help?"

"Trust me, this will only take a few minutes," boasted Steven, much to Sadie and Greg's disbelief. They were even more shocked when he lived up to his word and brought in every single speaker, the electronics, and all their instruments from Greg's van in three minutes flat. All with his muscles and super strength on full display. "There we go!" he said almost arrogantly, "That was easy."

"Wow, thanks, dude!" said Sour Cream, "You just saved us almost half an hour!"

Steven smirked, "Well yeah. That's what I do."

While Buck was similarly impressed, the others had different reactions. Sadie and Greg shared a worried glance, not liking how full of himself the once-humble teen was becoming. Jenny, however, felt the opposite.

"Steven, you are the best! Do you think you could do this for all our rehearsals?"

"Ah, why not! I'm always happy to help."

"And, you know, if you wanna stick around and watch and then afterwards we can…"

"Uh, sorry Jenny!" interrupted Greg, intentionally stepping in between the two kids right before Jenny could touch his shoulder, "This are private rehearsals! Besides, I think your melodies have been a little off the past few times so I wanna focus on fixing that."

While Jenny looked bummed, Stevne went along with it and bid them all goodbye. Rather than leave through the door, he instead decided to leap out of the hole in the warehouse's roof.

Greg just stood there in shock at what he just witnessed… "Whoa…"

"Wow," Sour Cream said, "Steven's really bulked up, hasn't he?"

"Yeah and that's not all that got bigger," said Sadie bitterly, "Is it just me or was Steven's ego inflated?"

"Maybe, but can you blame him?" retorted Jenny, "Most guys can't even dream of looking like that!"

"He's just been working hard," said Buck, "Plus, he did still help out like he would have before."

Greg however, stood there in shock trying to re-register what he just saw. "Well, I mean you're both right, but it's only been a few days. Last time, he was still mostly the same awkward, lovable goofball he's been for years. And now a few days go by and he's suddenly some super-ripped action hero acting like he's better than everyone! I know there's building confidence, but maybe it's starting to go a little too far."

"I… gotta agree with Mr. Universe there guys," Sadie added, "Steven's always been a lot of things, but egotistical wasn't one of them. The most he'd do back then was show off whatever new toy he had or adventure he went on like he was a little kid. Now he reminds me of a lot of arrogant jocks from school."

This remark made Greg worry somewhat for his son…

Speaking of Steven, he returned to his workout on the outskirts of town. Seeing the stunned expressions of so many people made him redouble his efforts to get even stronger. Even then, though, the real effort that kept him going was making sure that Red Diamond and her flunkies would never endanger his family or home ever again. He wondered briefly if he should have told Lapis that when she saw him…

Then, as he returned to his personal training ground, he encountered someone, "Jasper?"

The warrior gem turned around and saw the larger Steven. While never one to show her emotions most of the time, even she could not help but look shocked by the fact that he was now on par with her in terms of size and her reaction was not lost on her pupil.

"Yeah, I get it, it's a lot to take in," he boasted. Unlike the others, Jasper was actively impressed with his new attitude.

"And here I thought you were spending your time out here singing or whatever," she said, "And it's only been a few days."

"Yep! You haven't seen anything yet! Next time Red Diamond shows up, I'll send her flying into the next galaxy!"

Jasper actually laughed at that, much to Steven's own surprise, and turned away to walk off. "Well, looks like Lapis was full of it… again."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah," Jasper said, "She seemed to whine to the rest of us about how you changed way too much, but what does she know? This is an improvement in my book!"

"No kidding!" Steven said, flexing both of his arms, "And soon I'll get even bigger than this!"

Jasper gave him a proud smirk, "That's the spirit kid! Aim high!"

"When you get back to the temple, be sure to tell them that. That and… I'll be fine, okay?"

"Whatever. I find you slacking off here, though, I'll kick your butt again!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! Think I can't?"

Steven smirked. He once again decided to let his actions speak for him. He leapt several thousand feet into the air and then plummeted back to Earth hard enough to create a massive crater and cause a small earthquake that could be felt far past the town limits of Beach City.

When Steven stood up none the worse for wear, he looked up from the sixty-foot deep hole he just created and stared at Jasper's impressed expression , saying with an arrogant tone, "You call THAT slacking off?"

Jasper smiled a bit from the reaction and ran off back to the temple, planning to tell off Lapis for getting everyone worried over nothing.

The mood in the beach house was rather tense despite the pleasant weather outside and the lack of any incoming danger. The original three Crystal Gems sat in the main room waiting for Jasper to return. Hearing Lapis recount how drastic Steven's body and attitude were changing put them all on high alert. Sending Jasper out to confirm this was a risky move to them, but they also believed she was the best bet. Given how much closer they got after his extended training trip and word of his new attitude, she actually became the best candidate.

After what felt like an eternity, Jasper returned to the house to tell the others what just happened.

"... And that's the whole story," she said, finishing her recap of events to the Crystal Gems. While the story was not nearly as bad as Lapis made it out to be, there were still alarm bells ringing in their heads.

"I don't like the sound of this," said Pearl, "It's one thing to be proud of yourself, but this is going too far."

"Psh, whatever," shrugged Jasper, "I say it's a change for the better. He's been nothing but a softy this whole time. I think some backbone is what he actually needs."

Pearl was about to speak against that, but Garnet stopped her. "Jasper, you haven't known Steven his entire life. For as long as we can remember, he's been a lover."

"Yeah, and that's worked out every time…" grumbled the gem, but that got Pearl even angrier.

"I'm sorry, but you are in no position to criticize him! He's given you a second chance when no one else would! Would you rather he'd just write you off as evil?!"

"Don't care. That's the past and I don't think like that."

"Guys," said Amethyst, "I think Jasper might be right here."

Pearl looked at Amethyst with a look of shock, as if the shorter Gem had just killed someone, "Wait, what!?"

"Steven's been going through a lot, you know? After all the pressure and fighting and stuff, he might need a little time to himself."

"Okay, that makes more sense, but I'm not sure how I feel about him growing at this rate. Over a few weeks was one thing but this? And he wants to get even bigger?!"

"Exactly what he said," confirmed Jasper, "Are you done whining now? If you have so much of a problem with it, go yell at him yourself."

"No," insisted Garnet, "Steven needs to be able to make decisions like this on his own."

"Garnet, seriously?!" demanded Pearl, "Something's clearly wrong here!"

"I don't see it that way. While he's a bit of a showboat, he clearly has good intentions in mind."

"I understand what you're saying Garnet but-"

"Trust me, I think it's strange to see but this will all pass. He'll turn himself around soon enough."

Pearl looked skeptical, then said, "Alright. Still… I have a bad feeling about this…"

As skeptical as many of the Crystal Gems were, they followed Garnet's word and let Steven's new routine play out. It turns out the boy was telling the truth that he only came back at night as he walked inside that same evening and bid everyone goodnight. While many were gobsmacked by how much he bulked up in such a short timespan, he seemed mostly normal otherwise minus his newfound resistance to shirts. When Amethyst caught him leaving just after dawn the next day, he chatted with her for a bit before heading out. While she confirmed he was very proud of his muscles, she believed he was still good at heart.

Over time his further training results began to yield even FURTHER results. In only a few days, his body seemed to be composed of nothing but muscles on top of the fact that he was now the tallest of the Crystal Gems. He even began to look at his physique in the mirror on occasion where he would brag to himself and pose trying to make his massive biceps and pecs look bigger still.

"Heh-heh," he said one time, "Solid as a rock and even tougher!"

When he was not honing his body to even higher levels of strength, he was busy around Beach City helping anyone he could. Helping tourists with flat tires, picking up stray litter and any other task that allowed him to demonstrate his ever-increasing abilities. The only exception to this was when he walked the streets and happily took in the gasps and turned heads everyone gave him as he moved. Being literally twice the size of many bystanders did not seem to phase him, however, nor did the occasional person moving to the other side of the street. He even took some pride in the fact that he was turning some heads even smirking at himself before running at lightning-speed back to his training spot to fulfill his fix for the day. To him, he was only getting better and better.

As time passed, the training results kept coming. His body only seemed capable of growing more and more to the point where he surpassed any human physique. His massive feet left some slight indents on any ground he walked on. Just pushing his massive hand on a brick wall was enough to potentially make it fall over. He was half-tempted to jump off the massive cliff above the temple without his bubble or shield to see if his diamond-hard muscles would even feel any pain. He began to show off more often. Gone were the days where he would walk into town. Now he would leap in from hundreds of feet away in a single jump in order to relish the looks of shock and awe he got from whatever people saw him. While he was diligent enough to never collide with any buildings or pedestrians, he did not seem to mind the massive spider web of cracks his landings would create, luckily not on the actual roads or sidewalks. Once the dust settled, though, he would actively invite anyone watching to give him a task to show off his abilities no matter how outlandish. For some it was chores they needed, like moving furniture and cleaning which he would finish in literal seconds. Other times it dares such as breaking a cinder block with one finger or running on water. The only thing that remained unchanged was him returning after dark aside from how he needed to squeeze more and more in order to fit through the door. The Crystal Gems were gradually becoming more and more unnerved not only at how massive their ward was getting, but in how much cockiness he was projecting. Even when talking to them, he casually boasted about how impressive his body was, how Red Diamond should surrender at this point and how even they could not beat him now. The only thing that upset them more was how he never noticed how any of these comments made them feel. He even began to flex and pose for the mirror more often to the point where it became the first thing he did every morning and the last thing he did before falling asleep.

The whole routine only changed one morning where Connie walked in. Despite the early hour, she seemed wide awake and it was not from a restful night. The girl had been trying for over a week now to reach Steven only to be met with no response to any of her texts or calls. She even tried asking Pearl about it, only to hear the vague response that Steven was "on break" from missions and thus to leave him alone. While she understood at first after hearing about the mission on Red Diamond's station, now she began to feel insulted. All this time off and he could not even talk to her?

She entered the temple to find Pearl there. "Hey Pearl!" she called out, greeting her former mentor.

"Ack, Connie!" Pearl was shocked to see Connie visit so suddenly.

"Sorry, but I need to talk to Steven. I'm getting seriously worried about him! Last time I saw him, he looked like a quarterback."

"You… haven't seen him at all? Not even once?"

"No…" Connie confirmed, not liking how Pearl was visibly tense, "What's going on?"

Suddenly, the two heard an audible, stomping sound coming from upstairs as the whole house shook slightly. "Pearl what was that!?" Connie asked in shock.

"Um…" Pearl could not bring herself to actually answer Connie's question. The stomps grew even louder as a deep voice seemed to speak from upstairs.

"Alright, handsome, see you tonight!" The stomps kept coming as two muscular legs thicker than Connie's entire body moved into view.

"What the-!?" the young girl said in shock. Her feelings only worsened as the legs were followed by a pair of short-shorts that somehow fit around the massive quads and sat under a shirtless torso with a dozen abs and pectorals that resembled large slabs of steel more than flesh. She ignored the equally gigantic arms that looked like they could snap a telephone pole in half and rested on his smirking face that only vaguely resembled her best friend.

"STEVEN!?" shrieked Connie in absolute shock.

"Oh, hey, Connie," Steven said, still with an arrogant expression on his face, "Sup?"

"I… I…" she stammered, her brain shorting out at what she was looking at.

"Heh, speechless? Trust me, that happens all the time," he flaunted, "You wanna watch me work out?"

"Work… out?" she stuttered.

"Yeah. Perfection like this doesn't come easy, but boy is it worth it!" He then flexed his gigantic arms, reveling in the power he could feel in his tensing biceps.

"I have to be dreaming…"

"Nope, I'm just that great! Now what do you think is better to start today with: climbing a mountain one-handed or with only my feet?"

Connie made a look of disbelief in reaction to Steven's blatantly weird question.

"No, I got it," he suddenly said, "I'll climb up with one hand and then climb down with the feet!"

"That's it," Connie deadpanned, "I'm done." She proceeded to walk out the door, much to Steven's disbelief.

No one had ever just walked away from him when he was like this. "Hey!" he said in shock, "Where are you going!?"

"Back to bed!" she announced while slamming the door.

"Oh dear…" moaned Pearl, "I had a hunch she wouldn't take this well."

"What?!" gaped Steven, "What did I do?"

The matronly gem just rolled her eyes and walked to her room in the temple, half-tempted to barge in on Garnet and tell her how this whole plan was derailing. Seeing both of them leave, Steven ended up following Connie outdoors and quickly spotted her heading up the beach. It only took him a second to catch up to her, but he noticed she did not even flinch when he all but teleported right in front of her.

"Steven, just stop," she groaned, "I don't wanna fuel your ego trip."

"Ego trip?" Steven asked, partially oblivious, "I'm just being me."

"No," Connie said rather flatly, "You're acting way too full of yourself! You're making Jasper look modest."

"Not that hard when I'm way stronger than her."

Seeing she was getting nowhere, Connie face-palmed and just kept walking. This annoyed Steven to the point where he jumped in front of her to cut her off again.

"What's your problem?" he asked, "Can't you just be happy for me?"

"HAPPY?! You want me to be happy that you've turned yourself into an egotistical jerk with so much muscle that it's completely clogged your brain?! Get a grip!"

"HEY! I worked hard for this bod!"

"Yeah, a whole week and change. Steven, my dad has co-workers who are into fitness. I show them your body and I'm pretty sure all of them would quit."

"Not my fault they can't keep up," he shrugged.

"'Keep up?!' You're half ALIEN!"

"Exactly! That means I'm just better by default!"

"Oh boy…" Connie groaned rubbing her head, "Do you even hear yourself? I'm pretty sure Kevin would be telling you to tone it down if he didn't get a reality check. Something you desperately need right now."

"Yeah right…"

"You know, if you're training to fight Red Diamond, why don't you just go after her?"

"Huh?"

"If you're so super amazingly impossibly ripped that you can climb a mountain with one hand, why not just find her base and beat her already?"

Rather than stop and ponder this, the titanic half-gem just shrugged it off. "I don't feel like it."

"I'm sorry, WHAT?!"

"I mean, come on, I know I can take whatever she throws at me now. Why go looking for trouble when I could be spending time making more of this happen?" He then pointed down to his rippling muscles.

"So, you're just gonna do this forever?!"

"Nah. Eventually Red Diamond's gonna get bored and send some more cronies here and then I'll beat them up. Then she'll try coming down herself and then I kick her butt and then we all win. It's the perfect plan!"

Now Connie could feel her head pounding as she tried to process that logic. "And what if she never does? She probably has thousands of troops, maybe even millions."

"Quality like this beat quantity!" Steven stated proudly, bouncing his immense pecs for good measure.

"UGH! You're impossible!" Connie stated angrily at the person who was supposed to be her best friend.

"I'm impossible? You're the one blowing up over nothing!"

"It's not nothing! It's that the super nice, awesome best friend I've had the best times of my life with has turned into a complete jerk who can't see past his own pecs! I'm worried about you, Steven! This isn't natural even for you! Who knows what'll happen if you bulk up even more?!"

"Connie…" Steven said, "I'm telling you I'm fine. I feel great, I look even better and I promise I'll go back to doing missions."

"When?" she demanded, "I don't want you blowing me off and then turning yourself into even more of a monster."

Steven looked at her. For a few seconds, the arrogant facade faded into a small, simple smile as he said to his friend, "Alright, I promise that no matter what I do, nothing bad will happen to me. I won't go off the deep end."

Connie felt immensely relieved to see this, but she still felt uneasy. "Alright… I'm going home now, but I want to hear from you soon. Maybe you should spend your time doing something else?"

"I'll think about that…"

"You know, it sounds to me like you aren't spending much time with the other Crystal Gems. Maybe just hang out with them?"

"Hey, that's a pretty good idea!"

"Cool. Seriously, though, the sun just came up and I want more sleep but I hope you're feeling better."

Steven smiled and said, "Alright. I'll see you later Connie. Take care."

"You too Steven. Bye," then Connie, now smiling a bit, headed back home to sleep some more. That left the massive boy alone on the beach with a new idea in his head. He then flew off to his normal spot for a much shorter workout than normal. Now it would just be a warm-up for what he wanted to do with the other Crystal Gems.

"Garnet, this is getting ridiculous!" said Pearl. When Garnet did not seem to react and kept meditating in front of the lava pool of the Burning Room, she pressed on.

"He's even talking down to Connie at this point! And that's not getting into the fact he's about ready to bust the wall down just to leave the house!"

"Pearl…" sighed Garnet, "I get it. I'll admit the changes are pretty shocking, but we need to be patient.

"Patient? Garnet, I don't want to say it but… Steven is…"

"I understand, Pearl. But still, we must be patient. He's not a little kid anymore."

"You can say that again… Have you actually seen him recently?"

"No," admitted Garnet, "But he's yet to hurt anyone despite how powerful he's getting and he clearly intends to use it to stop Red Diamond."

"There you guys are!" said Amethyst from the door, "I've been looking all over you."

"What is it, Amethyst?" Pearl asked.

"Did anyone see Steven's bed is busted?"

"You can't be serious," said Garnet.

"Nope, broke clean in half. I mean, I love wrecking stuff, but I'm pretty sure he did that."

"See what I mean?" insisted Pearl, "His strength has gotten to the point where he's demolishing things in his sleep!"

"Okay, maybe this is getting out of hand," admitted the fusion.

"Guys?" said a booming voice from the house, "Are you in the temple?"

"Steven?" called Pearl as she came out into the main room, "What are you doing here? It's the middle of the day."

The other gems followed suit and Amethyst and Garnet finally got to see the new Steven towering over both of them. Pearl was even more shocked since she could tell he was even bigger than when he left this morning. While not another explosion of growth, he was a few inches taller and even more buff everywhere else. "S-Steven?" Pearl asked, pure shock in her voice.

Steven simply looked at the three and said, "... I wanna spar. With you guys."

All of them just stared at him for a moment before Amethyst broke the silence. "Why?"

"Because Connie and I… kind of had a fight and she said I should be doing something different with my time. Plus, I really want to see how I do now." He had a serious smile on his face rather than the arrogant smirk he had for the past few days.

"Uh…" said Amethyst, "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Steven…" said Pearl, "I'm not sure how to say this, but I think Amethyst has something of a point. You seem to have a problem controlling your power and-"

"I'm in," said Garnet confidently, much to the other two's shock and Steven's enjoyment. "You'll never learn how your powers work on your own all the time."

"Thanks!" said the boy with an eager smile, bringing more flashes of the old Steven back that made Amethyst and Pearl rethink their refusals.

"... Alright," Pearl said, "But we should probably go somewhere safe. And stable."

"Hmm…" thought Amethyst, "How about the field where the barn used to be?"

"Sounds good to me!" said Steven.

Later Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl were on the outskirts of Beach City. They had passed Peridot and Lapis's new home on the way, but made sure to head far past it to avoid any collateral damage. Eventually they made it to a large open field a few miles away from the Prime Kindergarten.

"Okay," Garnet said, "We should be fine here."

"Alright now, Steven," advised Pearl, "If you ever get overwhelmed at any point, just say so and we'll stop."

"Trust me, I'll be fine," Steven said, smiling at his family.

"Heh," Amethyst said nervously to Pearl, "I don't think it's Steven we should worry about, P…" Steven did not seem to hear her as he raised his fists and stood opposite the three veteran Crystal Gems, clearly raring to go. With one final look at each other, the trio summoned their weapons and leapt ahead to see just how much Steven's power grew along with him.

Steven then had a mixture of a serious face and an arrogant smirk as the fight began. He stood still as the three headed towards him before throwing out a straight fist. While he had three targets, his arms carried so much power that it actually pushed all of them back from the force.

"Whoa…" gaped Steven, staring at his own arm. He was not even using his strength to the fullest.

"Okay, that doesn't even make sense," groaned Amethyst, trying to stand up as the three were scattered from the blow.

"Actually, it makes too much sense," countered Pearl, "His muscles carry so much power that it made a shockwave when he moved so fast. That means just blocking attacks is nearly impossible."

Steven looked at his hand in renewed surprise upon this, "Whoa… This is awesome!"

"Don't get overconfident," said Garnet. She then whispered something to Pearl and Amethyst and soon they went at him in a pincer formation. The fusion came from the left while the other two dashed in from the right. Rather than be worried, Steven was more excited than ever to see what he could do. He turned to the left and met Garnet head on, grabbing both of her arms and stopping her dead in her tracks. When he heard Pearl and Amethyst still coming from behind him, he kicked both of his legs into the air to send them flying backwards. While Garnet was shocked, her surprise grew when he used the kick as leverage to somersault over her and then send a crushing kick to her back that sent her tumbling away as well.

Seeing the three down on the ground for the second time in only a minute caused Steven's ego to flare up even more. "Hahaha! I'm amazing! I could do this all day!"

And from that point, what was supposed to be a sparring match between three seasoned guardians and their young ward turned into a continual demonstration of Steven's powers as he utterly dominated the Crystal Gems. Garnet found out she was truly outclassed in strength in every encounter, Pearl's agility and strategy were useless when he tanked everything she threw at him and Amethyst's attempts to restrain him and throw him off were met with several broken whips and being chucked around like a football. All the while, Steven never broke a sweat as the titanic half-gem's punches and kicks never wavered. Every block sent out shockwaves that sent them sprawling and any hits he did take only registered as a mild poke against the immovable wall of muscle that made up his entire body. "Heh-Heh-Heh," he said, smirking with arrogance and overconfidence, "Is that it? Is that all you got!?"

"Anyone else's patience running really thin?" Pearl said through her grinding teeth.

"Mine's already gone," growled Amethyst, "Just like all the feeling in my legs."

"This…" said Garnet, "...Has gone on for way too long. Pearl, you were right. We need to stop this."

"You don't mean…"

"Not quite. One last try, give it everything you've got, but if it doesn't work…"

The three nodded grimly as they made one final push. Their determination did not affect Steven, however, as he started flexing to pass the time until they reached him. Only a second before Amethyst could lash him, the boy appeared behind her and slammed his elbows into her back hard enough to make a crater several feet deep. Pearl was about to strike with her spear, but he kicked her legs out from under her with enough force to send her spiraling hundreds of feet into the air before crashing back to Earth. Garnet then got inches away from his face and was about to sucker-punch him right in his gem, only to be knocked away so fast she literally had no idea what hit her.

As she slowly got up, Steven let out a proud, arrogant laugh, "Come on! This is almost too easy!"

Between their beaten bodies and being completely fed up with Steven's attitude, they decided the boy needed a serious lesson. The three ran towards each other and just before they collided, their bodies changed into blobs of light that swirled together and grew exponentially until a glowering being stood over Steven. The six armed giant woman crossed all three sets of her arms that ranged from dark green to purple to magenta. Her massive head of green hair billowed in the wind as she stared down at him with seven eyes hidden behind a pair of bright orange shades.

"Young man," the massive fusion, named Alexandrite bristled, "You need to learn your place."

"I could say the same thing about you," he boasted back, not intimidated in the least, "But I'm glad you're here. It'd be more entertaining than just kicking the other three around some more."

He started slowly circling around the enormous fusion and continued bragging, "I know fusion is supposed to make you better, but you know what I see? A bigger target to hit! I've still got plenty of energy to spare to-!"

The cocky hybrid didn't finish his taunt as his opponent wasted no time in knocking him back by several meters with a brutal punch! When Steven eventually stopped in the ditch his body made, he felt actual pain all along his skin as several small cuts were made. In an instant, all of his cockiness changed into anger. "Okay, that's it!"

He leapt into the air at supersonic speeds and flew right into Alexandrite's stomach, sending her toppling before jumping hundreds of feet into the air and tried stomping her into oblivion. She easily sidestepped out of the way only to deal a devastating counter kick against her opponent. This time he was able to stop himself from crashing to the ground, but he still skidded away for several dozen feet. Once he was back up, he was seeing red as met Alexandrite head on. Despite being much smaller and having fewer limbs than his opponent, Steven managed to hold his own thanks to his own absurdly high strength. Every blow made the ground quake and the trees miles away nearly fell over thanks to the hurricane-level winds kicked up by their blistering speed. If anyone tried to get between them at this point, they would be crushed in an instant. Both of the combatants felt this same sense of pressure as they pressed on and on, their hands sounding like thunderclaps as their fisticuffs flew until both of them jumped away from each other and finally gave their arms a moment to rest. Alexandrite was as impassable as ever, but Steven's patience was now being tested as he felt his arms throb from the exertion. This was the first time anything managed to even tire him out! To make things worse, Alexandrite summoned Opal's bow and aimed a massive energy arrow at him. The boy was half-tempted to tank the hit, but ended up running at hyper speed away from a barrage of arrows that she fired. He tried launching himself back at her but one swing of Sardonyx's hammer sent him flying miles away. Before he could get back him from his unwanted trip, the titanic fusion was already on top of him with Sugilite's flail ready to crush him into the dirt. He held up both his arms to catch the wrecking ball, but the impact made his arms burn like never before. The weapon was lifted off of him, but only for a minute as she flattened him with it again. By the sixth time she did it, Steven's entire body felt like limp meat and he could only groan as the fusion looked over him.

"I'm sorry," she said, "But you needed this. All that power won't do you any good if you don't know how to use it properly."

Steven looked at the fusion for a good, long second. Then…

"Alright… you win… you're right."

Alexandrite smiled before splitting back into her three components. The Crystal Gems watched Steven slowly pick himself up and pull himself out of the hole. He stared down at his guardians with more shame than any of them had ever seen out of him recently.

"I know what I've got to do now," he said, before turning away from them, "I've got to train even harder."

The three all looked confused. "What do you mean, 'even harder?'" asked Pearl.

"I mean if I can't beat Alexandrite, how am I supposed to beat Red Diamond? I've been spending a lot of my break goofing off either in town or at home. If I'm gonna get even better than this, I need to take it seriously.

"Whoa, hold up," warned Amethyst, clearly not liking where this was going, "Dude, I think you've gotten ripped enough. That's definitely not the problem."

"The problem is your attitude," confirmed Pearl, "Just assuming you're better than everyone else doesn't improve anything."

"And you guys are right! Messing around being a show-off isn't gonna get me anywhere. I need to redouble my efforts and really push myself."

"Steven, listen to us," insisted Garnet, "What you need is balance. You need to take it easier, not go completely overboard."

"I'm doing this to get better to protect you!" he yelled, his temper coming back with a vengeance, "Red Diamond's not gonna stop so why should I?! Otherwise you'll all just get blown up!"

"Steven, stop it!" pleaded Pearl, "We're not defenseless! We have each other, the hundreds of other Crystal Gems back at home and even four other Diamonds who all want to look out for you."

"I can defend myself!" the hybrid yelled with force . And with that he began to storm off, heading to the nearby wilderness.

"Steven!" Pearl called out to the angry hybrid. She tried to run after him, but suddenly, a small pink barrier blocked her path.

"I'm not coming back until I'm the strongest thing in the world!" he yelled before running completely out of sight.

"Aw man, this is really bad!" fretted Amethyst, "We're gonna need a search party for him or something!"

"You're absolutely right," agreed Pearl, "I better go call the other Diamonds so they can pitch in and-"

"That's not gonna work," argued Garnet sadly, "Find him and he'll just move again."

"So… what are we gonna do!?" Amethyst asked with worry and some panic, "He's starting to lose it!"

"I… don't know."

"So now what?!" shrieked Pearl, "We just wait until Steven brings himself home and he's outgrown the house?! Who knows if he'll even survive out there on his own?"

"I don't doubt that thanks to his time with Jasper," answered the fusion, "What I'm worried about is how much worse his personality is going to get."

A few minutes later, Steven was at a large mountainside, far away from the other gems and any sense of civilization. He was livid. "Grr… who do they think they are!?" he shouted, "I don't need them! The only reason they beat me is fusion!"

Even after the beating he took from Alexandrite and the massive run he took, his body felt more energized than ever. He could practically feel his muscles itching to grow and work and he now had every intention to use them.

"I won't let anyone hurt Earth. I'll train 24/7 to be the strongest and then Red Diamond won't hurt me or anyone ever again!"

He then looked at the open field, nearby woods, and the few mountains before him and let out an arrogant smile, "Yeah… that's exactly what I'm going to do."

After a bit of mental preparation so that he can go on without sleep, he then began to really train. If at any point he felt tired, he would remember Red Diamond. Anything about her from her twisted experiments to her casually threatening her family snapped him back to attention and he planned to let nothing deter him now.

Right from the first moment, he began to train hard. He used some huge boulders nearby as some weights and began to lift them around. He only truly stopped when they were smashed into rubble from one too many uses. As he collected more, he also began to do some air punches every now and then for good measure then fists making some faint sonic booms every now and then. He wanted every second to be dedicated to working some part of his body and maximize his time.

Even as the night fell, he kept punching and kicking the side of a mountain, focusing his strength into each and every individual blow. The ground shook with each hit dealt, but he never noticed. All he could think about was doing the same to Red Diamond. This kept him going straight until dawn where he moved on to leaping as high as possible with several fallen trees slung over his shoulders, his powers protecting him from his lack of sleep the whole time.

This routine was repeated each and every day, during which Steven's only thought was getting stronger… His body seemed to have no limit to how much muscle mass and height it could gain. He would end each day taller and buffer than the one before until the only way to describe him was monstrous. His arms became thicker than even the sturdiest trees in any forest and more than capable of downing any of them with a tap of his finger. His legs had grown strong enough that he could create small-scale earthquakes by stomping hard enough. His torso was a literal wall of muscle that should have been impossible to move with so much density packed into it and yet Steven was still as limber as when he was a fraction of his size.

He once stopped to take a look at his bigger body. He was initially impressed, but then stopped when he remembered his defeat at the hands of Alexandrite. He then began to redouble his already extreme efforts! Soon he ended up surpassing the fusion who defeated him in height, but that was only part of it. Biceps bigger than the same boulders he once used as weights, pectorals as tall as houses, more abs than he could care to count and the rest of his form being just as oversized. Despite being only half-Diamond, Steven looked entirely alien, yet he did not even notice. All he could think about was getting stronger.

Later on, the Gems were looking around for Steven, searching in the general direction he was running off too. As they were looking at a few thickets of trees, Amethyst called out to the others, "Yo guys, check this out!" Garnet and Pearl came through to see several large holes in the ground where it looked like trees had been uprooted. There were also several distinctly human footprints of varying sizes.

"Steven?" Pearl thought aloud.

"We're close," Garnet said in a simple tone.

"You're kidding, right?" said Amethyst, "Are you sure this isn't another corrupted gem monster?"

"I wish…"

"I don't want to see it either," Pearl lamented, "But it's obvious now he isn't coming home on his own at this rate. It's been a full week."

"You don't think we need some back-up?" offered Amethyst, "I mean, everyone back home has been losing it over where he is. We can't just shove them off forever."

"I know and I hate how they act. Nephrite almost walked in on us talking about him once and she looked heartbroken when we couldn't give her a straight answer."

Before they could discuss further, their attention was taken by the surrounding area. Tens of thousands of pebbles littered a rocky plain for miles with more footprints and several scattered trees littering the ground. "Whoa…" Amethyst said, "This place really took some damage…"

"Just where is he?" wondered Pearl, "Unless he also developed camouflage at this point."

"Who knows by now," said Garnet, "I just know this is going to be anything but easy."

And then, as if to confirm her point, an utterly gigantic hunk of rock several stories tall and even wider around crashed down only a few feet away from them like a meteorite.

"What the heck!?" exclaimed a startled Pearl. Then a few seconds later, the three began to run in the direction the stone came from. As they ran forward, they felt the ground shake periodically and the sound of more stones crashing.

They then found themselves on the side of the mountain they were on looking down into a massive forest several hundred feet below. But what drew their attention was not any of the local flora. It was Steven. The hybrid now sood far taller than any of the trees around him as was currently demolishing dozens of them at a time. As if that was not easy when he was now over a hundred feet tall, his muscles swelled to utterly ridiculous proportions with him. Each arm was bigger than the massive statue that made up the temple and had more than enough power to smash into rubble with a single swing. His towering legs caused tremors with each step and ended at feet wider than city streets. These four enormous limbs were connected by a torso filled to the brim with enough muscle to stop anything save for a galaxy-wide explosion. From their vantage point, none of the Crystal Gems noticed that the only clothing on him was a massive crude loincloth made of vines and leaves made by his latent plant abilities. They also missed his fingernails and toenails now resembling sharp claws, his teeth having changed into pointed fangs or the starting signs of two curved horns growing out of his enlarged forehead.

"Oh my… Steven!?" Pearl was the first to speak, or rather, freak out.

Steven then looked up and saw the three gems. He then almost immediately gave them a big, toothy grin. The sight of his changed teeth made the gems cringe.

"Hey guys!" he said in an oddly cheerful tone that came off as unusual given the circumstances.

"Pearl, I'm sorry," whispered Garnet, "Next time Steven goes on break, I'm listening to you."

"Appreciated, but we've much bigger problems now," retorted the gem before speaking to her anything but little ward, "Steven? How do you feel?"

He let out a light chuckle, then said in a more arrogant tone, "You can see the results yourself!" He then did a pose, flexing his extremely powerful arms.

"Yeah, good going bud," chuckled Amethyst awkwardly, "But uh… you gonna be done anytime soon?"

"What do you mean, 'done?'"

"Steven, this has gotten WAY out of hand," said Garnet, "Look at yourself. This is so beyond unnatural and overboard that it's sickening."

"Says you," he rebuffed, "If you're done, I'm going back to work." Steven then turned away from them, tearing up dozens of trees and scaring every bird for several miles away.

"Oh no you don't!" shouted Pearl, "This has gone on far too long already!"

"No way! I can still get even stronger!"

This shocked and mortified the three gems as Steven merely continued to train right before their eyes. And they could actually watch his muscles grow slightly with every move he made. They tried calling and yelling to him, but now he was deliberately ignoring them to focus on his training, once again oblivious to the changes going on. After another fifteen minutes he was already several feet taller and wider along with the horns on his head growing more prominent, becoming sharper as well.

At this point the gems truly had enough, "STEVEN!" yelled Garnet, now irate,"You need to stop this now!"

"Man, look at yourself!" pleaded Amethyst, "I mean really, fanged teeth?! That's just overkill!"

"Steven, we can't stand seeing you do this!" cried Pearl, "You don't need to abandon everything you've believed in for this!"

That actually made the young colossus take pause. Seeing that she finally regained his attention, Pearl continued.

"You're powers aren't all there is to you! You're a wonderful, kind, empathetic soul just like your mother! You see the best in everyone and now you're going to throw it all away for some muscles?! Anyone can do that!"

"She's right!" added Garnet, "All Red Diamond cares about is power! If you do this to yourself, you're no better than her!"

Each of these words seemed to get to him. At first. It seemed like Steven was going to let his overclocked power go to his head. But instead, he saw something else.

Standing just behind the Gems… was his mother.

He stood there wide-eyed as he truly saw what appeared to be Pink Diamond, as Rose, standing before him. She looked at him for a split second, then shook her head, as if to disapprove of what she was seeing. Then, the illusion vanished…

Steven stood there, shocked at what he saw… then he realized… Garnet was right!

This wasn't him, it never was! He was letting EVERYTHING get to him, changing his mind for the worse!

Distraught by this, his face fell into an expression of sadness, "... … … Okay…"

Then a bright, pink glow emanated from him, nearly blinding the valley was filled with the glow. It wore off a few seconds later and there before them stood Steven back to his initial size and build when this all started, only now he was glowing pink. In no time at all, the three gems rushed over to him and hugged him out of relief.

Steven, however, was anything but relieved and looked sad instead. "I'm… I'm sorry… I…"

"We know," said Garnet, "We've all gotten a little lost before."

"And for us," added Amethyst, "It took a lot longer than a few weeks. You're actually pretty lucky."

"All that matters is that you've found your way in the end," Pearl concluded.

Steven however, still had a few doubts. He looked down and saw his pink hands. Then he said, "I guess… but… I think I'm still trying to find my way… Guys… I'm sorry but… can we go home now… please?"

"Of course," answered Pearl, "We've already replaced your bed and everything."

And with that, the four headed home with Steven trying to ignore all the damage he brought on the mountainside as much as possible.