And it's only now I realize I've left someone else out of the story: Stevonnie! Let's fix that, shall we?
The days quickly went by for the Crystal Gems as Steven and Connie dug into their shared training regimen in earnest. While the former spent most of his time split among the three looking to learn the finer points of each weapon, plus beginning his foray into fusion weapons, the latter spent her time with Garnet getting into shape. By the end of the first day, she was huffing for hours and secretly thanking her mom for never letting her anywhere near junk food for so many years.
With the main trio occupied with teaching the kids, many of the other members found ways to refine their skills. The topazes, for starters, decided to start taking advantage of their newfound freedom. It was a rare moment to see the pair not snuggling, romancing or in any way fawning over each other now that they did not have the constant supervision of Homeworld over them. Outside of one incident that involved them learning the phrase "public displays of affection" and got a stern warning from a police officer to tone down the public canoodling, they were right as rain.
The rest of the Off-Colors spent their time trying to find ways they could be of use to the group outside of the Sun Incinerator. Padparadscha was fairly content with simply keeping the temple tidy since with so many new residents, the place could use an extra set of hands to help organize and spruce up everything. Pearl was immensely grateful for the help with her spending so much more of her time training others.
Speaking of training, Rhodonite went up to Garnet one day and insisted she wanted to learn how to fight as a warrior on the battlefield instead of from inside a cockpit.
"That's an unusual request," replied the more confident fusion, "That ship needs an engineer and even Peridot's not as familiar with it as you."
"Maybe, but…" fretted Rhodonite, "When I was stuck down here while everyone else was in space, I felt completely helpless. It reminded me of how I felt back on Homeworld, constantly running from the Diamond Authority."
"Fair enough, you hate feeling weak. And you think fighting will let you defend your identity."
"Exactly! I spent so long running that I thought it was all I was good for! Sometimes…in the beginning I wondered if it would be easier to give up. But then I thought about never being together again, and I kept going every time. The one thing I was confident in was that I never want Ruby and Pearl to be apart ever again."
Garnet merely placed a hand on Rhodonite's shoulder and removed her shades with the other one. The former's three eyes were shining with pride as they met with the latter's four.
"Well then, let's get started."
The kids thus got some much-needed relief from the future-seeing fusion's training as she turned Rhodonite into a personal protégé. She and her pupil quickly learned that the fusion of a ruby's arm bracer and a pearl's spear was, of all things, a fencing saber. This meant that Pearl was called upon for her swordsmanship to help the fidgety fusion become a worthy combatant.
Much to Rhodonite's own surprise, she was an adept learner when she actually put her mind to it and by the end of the week she went from nearly helpless on the battlefield to being able to at least hold her own against Pearl in a spar. Once they were finished for the day, however, Garnet suddenly had an idea. She approached Steven and Connie as they got back from their morning jog on the patio and gave them a rather bizarre request.
"You want us to spar as Stevonnie?" asked Connie, unsure if she heard that right.
"Considering how far you've both come individually, I think it'd be great to gauge your ability when fused!" remarked Pearl, excited at the prospect. Garnet was also smiling in anticipation upon seeing their fusion's potential.
Amethyst, literally dashing up from nowhere, looked up at them from the sand and added her two cents.
"Aw, heck yeah, I wanna fight Stevonnie! I bet I'd finally get a good workout since Cinnabar can't keep up with me anymore."
The arsonist gem did not take kindly to that remark and tackled Amethyst to the ground from under the patio.
"Take that back, you cheating chump!"
"Never!" As soon as she got free, Amethyst took off and was miles away.
"…Were you really waiting under the porch just so you could ambush her?" asked a very perplexed Connie.
"Yeah, but I had company!"
"Missed her again, huh?" guessed Lapis, chuckling at her red counterpart's antics. Cinnabar responded by blowing a raspberry in her face.
"Well, now that your little mission is done, could you leave me in peace?!" griped Peridot, having been dragged there by Lapis against her will, "I'd like to get back to my research!"
"She means watching viral videos of people making insane things for fun."
"Same difference, Garnet! But, on the subject of Stevonnie, I too am curious to see what the sum of your parts could accomplish now that you've both become more experienced."
"Well, it has been a while since we fused, so why not?" admitted Steven, his own curiosity piqued along with all the others. Once again, word spread fast about the prospect of Steven and Connie fighting as a fusion which elicited one of two reactions; a pleasant anticipation of just what these two could do put together or complete confusion at the prospect of any gem, even the likes of Steven, fusing with an organic being. Then again, there was Fluorite who seemed oddly at peace with the whole situation and wondered if she could do the same. Garnet sadly had to tell her that unless she spontaneously gained human DNA then her pool of potential partners was restricted to other gems.
This one again got the entire household's attention and were once again brought to the DeMayo family field to watch the occasion. The only noticeable absence from this bout, and the previous occasion to boot, was Greg. While Steven was surprised that his dad was not picking up any calls or visiting, the boy just wrote it off as him doing important rich-person business-type things and that he will be back around the second he can make it.
In the meantime, though, all eyes were on Steven and Connie as they did stretches in unison while Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Bismuth, Lapis and Peridot all readied themselves to test their own skills against the kids' fusion.
"Man, if all six of them are going up against this Stevonnie, they must be really tough!" pondered Rutile.
"Garnet is living proof that a fusion is far greater than the whole of its parts," admitted Adamite as she remembered her own shocking run-in with her, "And given that Connie has already proven to be more than she appears, this will most definitely be something."
The only ones who were not entirely captivated were both of the topazes, as they were too busy whispering sweet nothings to each other and giggling over them to notice. It took Amethyst literally knocking the lovebirds' heads together to get them to focus.
"Alright, now that we're all assembled, it's time to begin," started Pearl as she and the other participating gems formed a circle around Steven and Connie.
"Now then, while we are sure that Stevonnie is no doubt a capable fighter, we also don't want any unnecessary injury. If at any point either of you are overwhelmed, simply say the word and all of us will cease immediately."
"Yes Pearl!" nodded both the youths, clearly eager to begin.
"Well then, get yourselves ready," instructed Garnet. The jam buddies then joined hands and spun in a circle until pink light from Steven's gem washed over them until they were gone in a literal flash. Instead of the two adolescents, there was the much-taller Stevonnie wearing Steven's shirt underneath Connie's usual training attire.
"You know, even when I saw this coming…" remarked a weirded-out Bismuth, "This is still really…"
"Surprising?" finished Peridot.
"Yeah. Just a bit."
"You're taking it better than Peri," joked Amethyst, "She spent seven hours straight in the barn-"
"WE NEVER SPEAK OF THAT!" demanded the petite techie, even throwing a tin can at Amethyst to prove her point.
"What can I say? I'm one of a kind!" laughed Stevonnie as they stood ready with Steven's shield in one hand and Rose's blade in the other. With all their opponents being gems, now there was no fear of permanent damage from the blade.
"If we're done with the distractions…" grumbled Pearl, "Now then, Stevonnie, are you ready?"
"Yep!" The fusion was literally hopping in place in excitement.
"Then let's go," stated Garnet as she wasted no time charging at the excitable trainee with her gauntlets ready. Stevonnie weaved and dodged every punch with disturbing accuracy and forced Garnet to push her future vision to the limit to try and find some way to break their stance. After one failed hit too many, Stevonnie belted Garnet in the face with their shield and held her at sword-point as she lay on the ground.
They did not have any time to relish the victory, however, as Peridot and Lapis both moved in with a tag-team strategy. While the former stayed back and used her ferrokinesis to distract the fusion with metal projectiles, the latter got up close and personal with her fists. While she was far from a master, Lapis showed drastic improvement with combat as she punched and kicked in conjunction with her unparalleled flight to make Stevonnie sweat as they deflected the onslaught.
"Their agility and cunning is amazing," assessed Adamite from the sidelines, "By combining her ingenuity with his versatility they really can't be touched."
"Stevonnie is awesome!" cheered Padparadscha as the fusion in question found their way out of the deadlock.
Lapis' fighting style revolved around using her wings to dart around her opponent and throw them off guard with unpredictability. To further make her movements hard to read, she would occasionally land and fight on the ground for a few seconds before revealing her wings once more and taking off again. That part of her strategy proved to be her downfall, though, as Stevonnie grabbed on Lapis' wrist hard enough to keep her in place and then flung her at Peridot. The two collapsed in a heap from the impact and spent several minutes just trying to get back on their feet.
With that taken care of, Stevonnie had another problem in the form of Amethyst zooming past her at speeds that could actually break necks and taking potshots with her whip. The fusion could only summon a bubble to keep themselves safe until they found a solution.
"Come on, Amethyst, that's not fair!" pouted Stevonnie as Amethyst stopped her blitzkrieg.
"Aww, can't handle my speed?" taunted the purple sprinter, "What are you gonna do about it?"
"This!" was all they replied as they dropped their bubble in a split second and revealed a whip in one hand and a shield in the other. Without missing a beat, they brought them together into a massive, fluorescent pink yo-yo and beaned Amethyst in the face with it. Once she was thrown off-balance, they wrapped the cord around her waist and sent her spinning at an absurd velocity. Once she finally stopped being the world's largest top, she fell down with literal swirls instead of eyes and mumbled deliriously.
"You've got to be kidding me!" groaned Peridot as she and Lapis tried to get their bearings back, "They can use fusion weapons?!"
"We probably should've seen that coming…" admitted Lapis, remembering that their own fusion was capable of melting spaceships.
Oblivious to their conversation, Stevonnie was now being tested by Bismuth as the blacksmith morphed her fists into every shape imaginable to catch them off-guard. Combined with her impressive strength and agility belying her physique, she proved to be almost as much of a heavy-hitter as Garnet with every swing and forced Stevonnie to dodge everything or be knocked away by the impact.
At least, that's what Bismuth assumed their strategy was until the fusion decided to make her jaw drop by catching her hammer in one hand and socked her in the gut with a gauntlet in the other. Now that she was literally gasping for breath, Stevonnie stopped pulling punches and knocked her around with a barrage of hits until the blacksmith fell over.
"Okay… Uncle… Or whatever the saying is…" she submitted, "Anymore and… I won't feel my face…"
While the fusion worried that they might have overdone it, that thought was pushed aside as Pearl and Garnet came at her from two different angles. Both were frankly gobsmacked by the talent Stevonnie displayed, but for now had to keep focused. Instead of simply blocking or dodging, Stevonnie leapt into the air with a massive jump. Garnet and Pearl followed after them, but Stevonnie one-upped them again by somehow jumping in mid-air. Higher and higher they climbed until they could barely see the two pursuing gems.
"They're even greater than I hoped," exclaimed Garnet proudly as she watched the fusion finally stop and slowly float down to Earth.
"That's an extreme understatement!" raved Pearl, "I honestly don't know what I could possibly teach them at this point! They're simply flawless!"
Her praise was undermined, however, by Stevonnie's first attempt at using Opal's bow. As the arrow was nocked and ready to fire, a stray sneeze from the fusion caused them to drop the light arrow which soon vanished into sparkles.
"Start with archery," advised Garnet, nonplussed as usual.
Stevonnie was not deterred, however, and decided to try a new fusion weapon instead. With a whip in one hand and a gauntlet on the other, the two were swiftly combined into a smaller pink version of Sugilite's flail which the fusion swung wildly as they rocketed towards the ground at a breakneck speed. The attack landed with a mighty crash that not only blew away all six of their opponents, but also made a crater almost eight feet deep and ten feet across.
"Okay, I know this is rich coming from me," moaned Amethyst as she and others tried to recover, "BUT YOUR POWERS ARE BULL!"
"Amethyst, language!" reprimanded Pearl.
"I know I've heard that somewhere else…" thought Lapis as she tried to get Bismuth off of her.
"This WAS just a training exercise, right?" wearily asked Peridot.
Stevonnie chuckled as they leapt out of the crater and helped everyone out. "Sorry about that… Guess I literally don't know my own strength."
"Well, one thing's for sure is that you are going to go very far," remarked Garnet as the fusions shook hands. The awed audience applauded as the show wrapped up and Adamite used her terrakinesis to refill the massive hole in the ground. With such a spectacular display, the group now felt more confident than ever that they could weather whatever Homeworld threw at them next. Even as Stevonnie spit as they performed a final bow, the kids felt a renewed confidence that even White Diamond could not keep them down now!
White Diamond had to admit, she actually missed this sort of hands-on work. For too long she had been shut in her tower, content to supervise and maintain the status quo while Yellow and Blue did most of the heavy lifting. It made her wonder if she should finally grace the masses with her presence and take on colonization efforts personally.
Her spirits were dampened, however, by the grim nature of the task she took. Perusing through the disfigured gems recovered from Rose Quartz's base meant seeing dozens of her subjects forced to continue a cursed existence where they could never again be the dutiful servants they were meant to be! Honestly, she had half a mind to put them all out of their misery to spare them to this damnation! Tempting as they might have been, she decided to hold off until she found some concrete answers to this hunch she had that Earth could have some innate properties that alter gems and if it was somehow reversible.
So far, she had gone through almost all of the one hundred-plus stones she recovered and found little to be excited about. When released from their prison, all of them turned out to be feral, unintelligible and even more pathetic than she imagined. When she found data on who they were before this tragedy befell them, she did find something of note. All of the gems so far were last seen in a specific time frame. This gave her answers about what caused this corruption; it was a side-effect of the Diamond Authority's final assault on Rose Quartz not long after the defiler shattered Pink Diamond. While this did relieve her fear that Earth was a natural contaminant, she still felt it was only right to save these gems since they could no longer be of use to her empire. Once she was done with them, all of them were shattered so they would no longer have to bear this awful life.
Groundbreaking as that was, she was still reaching her wit's end. All of this was starting to look like a mostly fruitless endeavor, but continued anyway out of her desire to see anything to completion and brought up the next in the lineup. A jasper coated with blue and red splotches with the unique quality of being in a purple bubble instead of the pink, red or white like the previous specimens. She freed the gem inside and was once again disgusted by the sight.
Out of formality, she pulled up this gem's file before she would be sentenced so she could at least be given some condolences for the torment she suffered. When she found out who she was dealing with, however, her thoughts changed.
"Wait a minute, this jasper was only recently captured. And her last known mission was… To capture Rose Quartz?! Interesting…"
She poofed the quadrupedal gem in front of her before immediately contacting Yellow Diamond. If her guess was right, then she may have found a gem worth saving. A gem who could be the perfect tool for eliminating Rose Quartz once and for all.
And that's all for now, folks! Tune in next time for more plot!
Thank you all so much for reading! Please feel free to leave a review!