It was the day after Pearl, Steven and the other crystal gems had agreed to help Connie get used to her condition, and understand better what she was now.
Both Connie, Steven and the crystal gem were currently in the crystal temple, testing Connie (something that took a while to convince Connie's mother to let them do.).
"Very well Connie, first we have to understand what you are capable now. You may not be able to do everything a normal gem can, but we will find out what are your capabilities. Understood." Said Pearl to Connie with tone of voice that was both serious and kind.
"Yes." Said Connie, understanding what Pearl meant.
"Very well first we will see if you possess a gem superior strength and speed compered to humans. So, to find out about your current physical abilities, we will make a few tests." Said Pearl with a smile on her face.
"Okay, and what are those tests?" Asked a curious Connie.
"First, we will see how much can you lift, for that end, I personally borrow some weights that Greg, bought, but never used." Answered Pearl while pointing to some weights of variable sizes.
Connie then approached one of the weights, the one of 300 pounds and looked at it for a while, not sure if she would be able to lift it, after all she was never that strong, even with Pearl sword training, but even so she decided to try anyway.
"Let's go." Said Connie believing in herself.
She then started to try to lift the weight, and for her own surprise she managed to lift it with relative ease, she couldn't believe it.
"Very well Connie, I knew you could do it." Said Steven cheering for Connie.
"Not bad. For human standards that is, could you try some heavier weights, if it isn't a problem to you of course." Said Pearl with a smile.
"Sure." Said a confident Connie, after seeing herself lifting that much weight with relative ease.
Then she started to lift heavier and heavier weights, 400, 500, 800, till she finally reached 1000 pounds, something that only some of the best strongman and powerlifters in the world could lift, not exactly a job for a little girl like her, but she did it anyway, and while it took some more effort than the other weights, she was able to lift it.
"I did it…yes, I did it…yeah, I'm like a superhero in one those comics or movies." Said Connie very proud of herself.
"Good job, Connie, good job." Said Pearl proud of her student.
"Yeah, go Connie." Said both Steven and Amethyst, happy for her.
After the weight lifting it was time for the sprint running, to get a idea of Connie's speed.
"Very well, in this test you have to run 100m or 328 feet, while I measure the time you take to do it. Understood?" Said Pearl.
"Yes, understood." Said Connie, while preparing herself to run.
"Let's go…3,2,1…go." Said Pearl signaling the beginning of the sprint.
Connie then started running at incredible speed for human standards, crossing the finishing line in no time.
"So how fast did I run?" Asked Connie.
Pearl then looked at the chronometer in her hand and said…
"8.5 seconds…if my research is correct, that's better than the human world record, good job Connie."
"Really…hoaooo, incredible, I'm faster than the best athletes…that's so cool." Said Connie, proud of herself.
After that Connie made a few more tests, from jumping to weight throw, and Connie excelled at all of them, proving her new superhuman physique.
"Very well Connie, you proved to be exceptionally strong and fast for a human, not so much for a gem, but that's beside the point…now let's test other things." Said Pearl. With smile.
"What other things?" Asked a curious Connie.
"If you have other gem powers like, shapeshifting for example." Said Pearl.
"Okay." Said Connie.
"Good, now for shapeshifting, just focus in what you want to turn into, for example, try to imitate my appearance." Said Pearl with a smile.
"Okay, let's do it." Said a Connie with somewhat serious face.
She then tried to focus, trying to turn into a copy of pearl.
At beginning nothing happened, but then Connie started to glow.
"Yes, just like that." Said Pearl
But then something strange happened, instead of becoming a copy of Pearl, only her clothes changed, becoming just like Pearls clothes but of a different color.
"What…what is this?" Asked a confused Connie.
Pearl then looked at her and said…
"It seems that while trying to shapeshift into me, you instead changed your clothes to the ones of a pearl, which makes some sense since your gem is a pearl. Interesting."
"Okay, but how do I change back to my normal clothes?" Asked Connie.
"Just think about it." Answered pearl.
"Okay." Said Connie before doing just what Pearl said, and then she started to glow again and just like that her clothes were back to normal.
"See." Said Pearl after seeing Connie's clothes returning to normal.
"Okay, now what?" Asked Connie, curious about what came next.
"Let's leave shapeshifting for another time, right now let's focus in unique powers for your type of gem. Since you are a pearl like me, you should be able of the same things that I'm capable off. We already know you can create simple holograms. But are you capable of this…" said Pearl before creating a holo pearl.
Connie then looked at the holo pearl and said…
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that…let me try."
She then concentrated, remembering when she projected that hologram with her memories, back at the hospital, but this time she though about creating a holographic version of herself.
The gem in her shoulder then started to glow and from it a hologram version of her appeared.
"Good job, Connie, you are getting the hang of it." Said Pearl proud of Connie.
Connie then looked at the holo Connie and said…
"Hoaooo….it looks just like me, but blue." Said Connie.
"Good, now let's go to the real test." Said Pearl.
"And what that test is?" Asked a curious Connie.
"A test to discover how can you use your new gem abilities in combat." Said Pearl while picking her lance.
to be continued...
Author notes: chapter 3 is here. Please review. Ideas and suggestions are welcomed, PM me if necessary.