Time to wind down after an action sequence with everyone's favorite artists moving in with the main group!
As the six Crystal Gems all stared at the mass of wreckage that was two roaming eyes and the barn, all of them were glad peace was restored for the moment. All of them, especially Lapis, felt a grim warning that the forces of Homeworld were not done here. Even Steven, somehow still standing despite his body begging for sleep, could tell this was far from a conclusive ending. At that moment, however, he was also overjoyed by another revelation.
"Lapis is staying on Earth!" he cheered, hugging the nervous gem's legs with the purest expression of glee all over his face.
She showed him a smile, but the hesitation was apparent in her eyes. She could still fly away if she wanted to, just take off without any physical baggage to weigh her down. Emotional baggage, however, was keeping her planted for the moment.
"Well, if that is the case I would like to present a new conundrum in light of these events," said Peridot, "While Lapis here has successfully stranded the rubies and prevented us from being captured, she has created a problem here due to her method of destroying their transport."
All of them turned as Peridot stomped over to the pile of debris and shouted in a frothing rage "She destroyed our home! Where on Earth are we supposed to live?!"
Garnet had the answer. "Our bathroom is available."
With little other option, the two of them left their old home a soaking pile of rubble as they departed along with an excited Pumpkin for their new apartment. Garnet took hold of Steven who finally passed out from fatigue and the need for sleep and warped off with their two new house guests.
Another pleasant day in Beach City, another day for Steven to relax from the latest batch of insane circumstances that was his life. Still, the ever-optimistic Steven woke with a smile ready to make the most of the day. As he stepped out of bed with the intent to fully rouse himself with a hot shower. He happily hummed a tune to no one in particular as he trudged to the bathroom where he found Peridot marching around the small room while Lapis was snoozing in the tub.
"Oh hey, Peridot! How do you like your new home?" he asked jovially, yet keeping his voice down to not disturb the dormant blue gem.
"Well, as much as we both appreciate the hospitality, we've both become accustomed to having more activities to occupy our time."
"Huh?"
"She means we're bored," said Lapis, awoken thanks to Peridot's lack of an indoor voice, "No offense Steven, but there's nothing to do in here without messing with your stuff."
The snappy youngster put on his thinking face, listing through all the options for entertainment he could imagine. When the answer came to him, his face lit up with glee.
"I know just the thing!" He opened the door for the two to follow him outside. Peridot gladly took the opportunity while Lapis was ready to doze off again, but could never hope to disappoint Steven. She trudged into the main room where she saw him and Peridot on the edge of his bed with the former turning on some device near his television. By the time Lapis walked up, he was inserting a small disc into the top of some purple cube with Peridot inspecting the small package that housed the disc.
"'Super Bash Sisters Fracas?' Is this some sort of combat simulator?" Lapis was now intrigued as the screen displayed a short cutscene showing the game's roster of twenty-six characters to an epic song.
"It's called a video game, Peridot. This one is all about fighting, but not all of them are. In this game, each of you pick a character and try to beat the other one up until they get knocked out of the arena. Trust me, it's more fun than is sounds!"
"This doesn't actually hurt us, does it?" asked a nervous yet fascinated Lapis.
"No, it's all fake. Just don't take this game too seriously like some people do. For some reason, there are people online who refuse to play any of the other games and insult anyone who does."
"Are the later ones better?"
"Well they keep adding new characters, making new things to do, fixing bugs and glitches, and generally, yeah, they keep making the game better."
"If that is the case then this group is utterly foolish," remarked Peridot, "Why would you shun something that is clearly improving with each installment for an outdated model?"
"Nostalgia mostly. I wouldn't mind, but they act like jerks about it. Anyway…" Steven handed them each one of the controllers and began guiding the two how to handle the ins and outs of the game. Leaving them with the instruction manual to answer any questions they had, Steven was ready to take his shower with the peace of mind that his two friends had something to entertain themselves with.
Steven, grateful to have no more urgent business on his plate, was thrilled to just spend a day with Connie now that the rift between them was healed. They spent the day roaming around town together, conversing with a few of the locals, heading to the library to look at any new books Connie was interested in, and enjoyed a nice meal on the boardwalk followed by a round at the arcade. The two returned to Steven's place to find Peridot and Lapis exactly where Steven had left them; sitting on the edge of his bed with controllers in hand. It was apparent that the two were quickly mastering the game's combat system as they were clearly in a furious match. Peridot had chosen Zenith Ares, a galactic bounty hunter who fended off foes with a high-tech suit of power armor for her main and seemed to prefer long-range combat and items for combat. Lapis had gone the other route and chose Princess Hilda, a magic user who could also change into an alternate ninja-esque form called Shah with a strategy of switching between the two to disorient her opponent.
The Gems paid the jam buddies no mind as they battled each other, already pulling off combos and dodges with their virtual fighters. When the timer elapsed, Hilda was declared the winner causing Peridot to start jumping in fury.
"You and that stupid wave-dashing! I was inputting the exact same commands as you and Zenith moved a different distance than Hilda, messing me up every time! What is this game's malfunction?!"
"Wave-dashing has a different distance for each character. It doesn't show up in any other game…" Steven murmured.
"Well, at least you two seem to be getting along," said Connie, eager to see her fellow Crystal Temps still around after Steven told her about yesterday's events over pizza. Before many words could be exchanged, Pearl warped in looking for Steven only to be startled by the gathering.
"Well, hello everyone. Sorry to interrupt anything, but I need Steven for his new weapons training."
"'New weapons training?' What does she mean?" asked Connie.
"Why don't you all come to see for yourself?" asked Steven, "Can they come watch, Pearl?"
"I see no harm in it. Besides, I think you will all be very impressed by this. Garnet and Amethyst are already waiting at the sky arena." Pearl departed, thinking an audience will help the up-and-coming fighter with working under pressure. Steven happily bounded ahead with Connie closely following behind, eager to see the new regiment. Peridot, curious as always, was next solely out of a desire to see this phenomenon and not at all because Lapis beat her in the last five matches. That left the wary Lapis in a peculiar situation of either attending some unknown, unexpected function or be left alone in a room for who knows how long with everyone wondering where she is. Not feeling comfortable with either committing such rudeness or being left alone, she reluctantly followed along and soon all of them were whisked away to the floating arena. The three spectators all took a seat among the many rows while Steven stood in the center of Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, the last of whom was acting as the main teacher.
"Alright Steven. Let's start with you summoning each of our weapons."
Steven nodded and focused on the shape of Pearl's spear. After a few seconds of concentration, he held a smaller pink replica of the spear much to the amazement of the crowd.
"Whoa! Steven, when did you learn to do that?!" inquired Connie.
"When I was being chased by a giant corrupted gem in the arctic."
The young bookworm just shrugged. "Huh, that's a new one for him."
Peridot was also fascinated. "Well, it appears his unique human-gem physiology is granting him a few advantages. No offense to your species, but considering all the drawbacks such as needing nourishment and rest it seems fitting to earn some benefits."
"Being human also makes him more emotional. Emotional enough to turn a heartless scientist into a lover of soap operas, right?"
"Fair enough…" squeaked the now much less snappy Peridot. Lapis kept quiet with her eyes focused on Steven as Pearl led him through summoning Garnet's gauntlets and Amethyst's whip before moving on to the next lesson.
"Nicely done, Steven. Now it will take you some time to learn to use these new weapons efficiently. We'll get to some basics of each of our arms later. For now, let's focus on your abilities with the shield."
"You did pretty good against those rubies, but you need to stay fresh. Can't get too comfy fighting off runts forever," Amethyst added while pulling out her own whip.
Garnet threw in her two cents after summoning her gauntlets. "You need to learn to defend against different styles of combat. Learn to adapt and change your moves based on the situation."
Pearl took over once again. "Exactly. We'll start coming at you one at a time and switching places to keep you guessing. Now Steven, if you get overwhelmed, hurt or just wish to stop, just say the word and we'll all immediately halt. Are you ready to begin?"
The vivacious lad brought his shield forth and brandished it with a smirk to show his readiness. Pearl responded by launching forward with her spear pointed right at the shield's insignia. It was easily blocked, but allowed Pearl to use the momentum leap backwards giving Amethyst time to launch a crack at his back. Steven heard the oncoming lash and turned to block, but in twisting around he let his posture slip. He caught the birch in time, staggering thanks to the force, but was left wide open for Garnet to charge in fist blazing. Steven leapt to the side to dodge the attack. The towering fusion followed with several more punches and soon a rhythm began to form as Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet rotated positions with Steven holding up remarkably well. The assembled Gems and lady in the peanut gallery were all enraptured by the display. They could see Steven sweating under the pressure, but was quickly taking Garnet's note on adapting to heart as he changed his defenses according to each gem. When Pearl came at him with swift strikes and agile movements to dance around his shield, he kept his wall steady and pushed back when she let her guard down. Amethyst's volley of long-range attacks was met with him charging forward through the strikes to close the distance and diminish her range advantage. Garnet's hard-hitting punches were another matter and he used his own agility to jump out of the way, wasting her time and energy on hitting nothing.
Peridot was surprised at how quickly he was picking up the rudimentary patterns of their assault, appreciating how the boy who usually chose emotion over logic was strategizing so effectively. Connie was grand at seeing how far her friend had come, bouncing in her seat the whole time and half-ready to join in with one of Pearl's swords. Lapis… was just struggling to remain seated.
She was somehow perspiring more than the boy in the middle of a combat exercise. Her entire body was tingling with dread watching him bob and weave through every attack. She knew it was all practice, she knew those three cared for Steven more than anyone, knew they would never dream of hurting him, this was all pretend so he'd be ready… for the next Homeworld invasion.
Now her greatest urge was to take off from the elevated arena and soar away from all the chaos she was sure was coming. If the first real invasion took her destroying the barn to stop, what would happen next? Would one of them be hurt? Would Steven and the Gems have to flee town? Would one of them be captured? Imprisoned?! Shattered?!
She had to look away from the demonstration before she flew into a full-blown panic. She tried to remember what Peridot had said right as she was about to leave last night; how she does not have to be the victim anymore. She has the power to keep herself and all of these Gems who had opened up to her safe. She could…
A thud and a grunt rang out the arena causing Lapis to open her eyes where she saw Steven, his shield gone and Pearl standing over her with her spear pointed right at him! The poor gem felt a rush of anxiety and fear well up in her. She launched herself out of the stands with her wings before she could stop herself. She charged right into Pearl, sending her sprawling over the edge and plummeting to the ground below screaming in shock. While she could easily float down to safety, the others were more distraught.
"Lapis, why did you do that? This is all training!" exclaimed Steven, trying to split his concern between the falling Pearl and the frazzled Lapis.
"I uh- well I just- I didn't mean to- I just saw her there- I thought you'd- I'm sorry- I didn't- but- what- huh- I'm sorry- I didn't know- I forgot- I'm sorry- I'm sorry- Is she okay- I'm sorry-I'm…"
"Calm down, Lapis. Pearl will be fine," reassured Garnet, placing a hand on her shoulder as her body began shaking, "She should have no trouble breaking her fall. You just made a mistake, that's all."
Lapis could not bear to look her, or any of them, in the eye. All she wanted to do now was curl up in a corner where no one could see her. She did manage to fly down and retrieve Pearl as she was descending towards the ground at a controlled pace. Even Pearl could not hold a grudge seeing her so close to falling apart. Once back on the arena, the group marched back to the warp pad and flew back to the temple with Lapis running straight into the bathroom to cry in privacy.
"Man I knew that gem had issues, but what the heck was that?!" asked Amethyst as the six gathered around the kitchen island. Steven and Connie took two of the bar stools while Amethyst sat on the counter with the others standing, all pondering the same thought.
Connie shared her hypothesis. "Well, she's pretty new here and inexperienced with combat. Maybe it was just too much for her?"
"That would seem likely," agreed Pearl, "I made rash decisions in the heat of battle and that was after millennia of experience! A complete newcomer like her, especially with all the hardship she's been through, could be very easily frightened by all this even if it's fake."
"Yeah, the ruby attack was only yesterday…" said Steven as he drank a bottle of water to rehydrate after training, "She's gonna need time to settle in."
"To be fair, it was only rubies. It's not like they were that much of a threat," remarked Amethyst, before remembering Garnet was standing right next to her. "Eh, no offense…"
"None taken," replied the fusion, "Regardless of what it was, Lapis is not used to stressful situations. She just might not be cut out for this sort of thing. Let's just give her some space and see how she reacts over time."
"Although we never would have gotten all those rubies if it weren't for her," admitted Steven, "Maybe if we remind her of that she'd feel better?"
"Not a bad idea, but we should just let her be for now," suggested Pearl, "We'll address her problems when she's ready. In the meantime, I'd like to say I'm very impressed by your progress today, Steven! Next time we'll focus on using our new weapons, alright?"
With Pearl's encouragement said, their meeting seemed to be over and everyone went their separate ways. Everyone except for Connie, who for the last several minutes was running through what Steven told her about yesterday's ambush and only now found a detail that did not quite fit. Just as he began to walk away, she grabbed his wrist to get his attention.
"Steven, you said there were twelve rubies on those ships right?"
"Yeah? What about it?"
"You said you bubbled two of them while Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst got three each right?"
He nodded. Suddenly her eyes widened as the math clicked in her head. "Steven, that's only eleven."
"What?! One of the rubies escaped?!"
The dispersing gems all heard the outcry and rushed back to confirm their suspicions. As Connie added up the numbers in front of them all, they all realized a massive lapse in logic. Before too much panic could emerge from this, Peridot got their attention by levitating several spoons out of the kitchen drawers and banging them on the counter.
"Will you all relax? I understand this is a slightly perturbing development, but let us recall that this is a ruby we are speaking of. Rubies are designed to be grunts low on intellectual capacity and high on persistence and throwing themselves at whatever target their told to hit. Not only is this a single grunt, but said grunt also has no technology to aid in battle, no way to properly contact Homeworld for reinforcements, and does not possess the brain power to develop either of these. They are not all like our Ruby, who has proven to be more insightful than this. Honestly, the only reason one posed a significant threat was that Steven was trapped with it in the vacuum of space in close quarters and he gave away false information giving her a clear motivation to shatter him. In retrospect, this oversight is not a major issue. Odds are that this ruby will either wander aimlessly or it will return out of a petty grudge and it will be vastly outnumbered."
Peridot's speech managed to calm them all down. Garnet in particular was pleased to hear the compliment for Ruby, given their past together, while Steven was turning red at remembering another instance where taking Rose Quartz's identity landed him in hot water. With their fears assuaged, the six Crystal Gems once again dispersed with a newfound sense of relief.
Next time: Where did our mysterious ruby wander off to? What's Lapis going to do about her serious inner issues? Can I possibly make Peridot any funnier than she already is? Tune in next time to find at least one of the answers!
Thank you all so much for reading! Please feel free to leave a review!