Title: Shades of Blue

Genre: Science Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Themes: Coming-of-Age, Redemption, Love, Family/Friendship

So…What's all this?

I've been wanting to do a Dragon Ball Z/Steven Universe crossover story for a while now, ever since I became a SU fan. Not long after entering the SU fandom, I learned of two popular AUs: Diamond Swap (one of the other Diamonds ends up being Steven's mother) and Momswap (Jasper, Peridot and Lapis Lazuli raise Steven). Both of these AUs intrigued me. And eventually, I started asking myself, "What if one of the Z-Fighters was a human-Gem hybrid?"

And thus, this story was conceived

I ended up drawing a lot of inspiration from makalawa-dot-exe's Blue Diamond AU on Tumblr, so credit to her first and foremost (seriously, go check out her artwork, it's amazing), but I won't be following her AU to a T

Unfortunately, as much as I'd love to write the full series, I already have a bunch of other stories to worry about, and honestly, I just can't see myself returning to this story alongside my others. So, I ended up shutting down production of it and have decided to post the summary and notes only. I will not go any further than that.

First off: The Notes

In this alternate universe, Yamcha is a human-Gem hybrid, the son of a human named Ocha (a former martial arts enthusiast) and a Gem named Holly Blue Agate. Holly gave up her form to give birth to her son, and as a result, Yamcha ends up inheriting her gemstone (which is located on his chest and is shaped like an upside-down teardrop except with more jagged edges)

Jasper, Peridot and Lapis Lazuli's characters in this AU, while similar to their canon counterparts, are still different. Jasper has a softer and more caring side to her, and she doesn't feel the need to beat others down for the sake of her own ego, though she's more of a 'tough love' kind of mom. Peridot is still the stubborn, arrogant and curious Gem that we all know and love, but she's more mature now; and Peridot still has her limb enhancers at the beginning of the story. And introducing Lapis, now with 100% less depression (she's no Amethyst, but she's more fun-loving and happy-go-lucky now, while still being laidback and easygoing)

And we've gotta talk about the most jarring change: Rose Quartz. First things first, Pink Diamond and Rose Quartz are different people in this AU. Why did I choose to add Rose this way? Well, I've always loved Rose's character and wish we could've spent more time with her in the show…plus I got sick of the fandom's treatment of Pink/Rose (oh how dare she be someone with flaws and mistakes?!). Rose is pretty much the same as her canon counterpart personality-wise (motherly and curious) and she's the de facto leader of the Crystal Gems, but when it comes to combat, she takes a more defensive approach; and here she doesn't have her healing powers or her flora control (that'll go to Pink Diamond later on), but she's still got her shield and floating ability, along with the other standard Gem powers. Her backstory will be explained in future chapters

And of course, we're gonna talk about the newest change, an OC: Apache Tears. I've loved her character ever since I read Moonstone210's Mama Spinel AU fics (which I highly recommend reading), and got permission to use her character for this story. Her backstory (or at least this version of her) will be explained in the future. Based on what I've read and seen in character sheets, I can safely assume her personality (quiet, socially awkward, bad with emotions, and is usually mellow but can be erratic and manic), and the most interesting fact about her: she doesn't have any Gem powers (she can still poof and reform if damaged, but that's about it). I imagine that fact would make her scrappy yet calculating in battle. And lastly, Apache still uses her staff as a weapon, but in this AU, it's only strong enough to destroy a Gem's physical form, not rejuvenate them

So, of all the Z-Fighters, why did I pick Yamcha? Well, aside from him being my favorite DBZ character of all time, I felt like he was one of the biggest waste of potentials in the series. Seriously, when he was first introduced and during the first half of the original Dragon Ball, he was a smart and confident character who really balanced out the group, but by the time we got to Z, his character was dumbed down and turned into a joke to make the Saiyans look good (and by the time Super rolled around, the stupidity shot through the roof). Long story short, I wanted to do Yamcha's character justice (everyone else got theirs, my boy deserves it too, dammit!), and I feel like this is a good way to do so

And honestly, personality-wise, Yamcha really reminds me of Steven—kind, forgiving, outgoing, not afraid to show his emotions, passionate about adventuring and fighting, acknowledges how outclassed he is by those around him, self-conscious and insecure, charismatic, matures as the series progresses, has a more grounded and practical outlook, willing to admit when he's wrong, can be overconfident at times, resourceful, clever. It's all there!

Alright. No more delays. Let's begin!