I'd make some joke about posting on Halloween but honestly I've just had writer's block and some other things going on. Enjoy!
On a much lighter note, many of Rose's followers were now getting to see a rare sight of Peridot dueling the one and only Smoky Quartz. The sight of such strange powers from both of them promised to be an entertaining show.
Peridot made the first move, the armored gloves over her hands flying off her outstretched fingers and grabbing ahold of the yo-yo that was flying towards the inventor. The fusion's weapon kept on its course until a sharp jerk of Peridot's arms made the gloves drag the weapon off and nearly knock the grandstander off their feet.
The crowd was stupefied, but now it was the techie's turn to have a knowing look. "Yes, I can control any part of my armor after it detaches!"
"Not bad, not bad," Smoky bowed, wrapping their weapon around their top left shoulder, "But just how many can you handle?"
"You tell me!" Peridot's entire armor then split into dozens of smaller plates that spun around her like a storm.
Now there was nothing to hold either of them back as Smoky whipped out two more yo-yos to meet Peridot's almost magical armor. Pearl and Garnet themselves had to give the inventor credit as the plates could quickly assemble into larger structures strong enough to stop a triple-thrust of Smoky's signature weapons.
The show went on and on, the fusion keeping their running speed to visible levels but still incredibly fast. Peridot morphed her armor from shields to sharp-looking swords and back again all before she magnanimously called the match a draw. With the crowd having lapped up the events, both gems took a bow with Smoky bidding everyone a cheery goodbye before Steven and Amethyst returned in a flash.
"Very well done, you two," Garnet commended, clapping politely along with Pearl. They were practically drowned, however, by the hundreds in the audience around them who were cheering for more.
"Heh, sorry folks," Amethyst told them all, "Smoky likes ot run but even someone like that needs a break once in a while."
"We know that!" someone in the crowd called, "But we wanna see more fusions! What else can Steven make with you all?"
Pearl was about to speak up that they had no idea before her own gears started turning. Steven, for his part, looked positively excited to bursting at the concept himself.
"Eh, why not?" Garnet shrugged, "Might as well get into the spirit of this place a little."
"YEAH!" the audience roared with approval. Amethyst even stepped back, clearly looking forward to this as well.
Nothing else was holding them back now. Unsure of what else to do, Steven simply ran up to Pearl to give her hug which proved to be enough. A flash of light engulfed them both only for the brightness to shift from white to a vibrant mix of colors until it blinked away to reveal someone new.
A new face stood just a hair taller than Pearl but with rosy pink skin, a short head of wavy lavender hair and four eyes with two colored light blue and open wide while the other two were colored black and much smaller beneath the first pair. All of them, however, radiated excitement as they gazed at the crowd around him wearing Steven's pink shirt and jeans with Pearl's sash and slippers both recolored a light purple.
"My apologies, everyone," he spoke up jovially, "But rest assured you will not be disappointed. For Rainbow Quartz, or Rainbow 2.0 if you prefer, is here to impress!"
The crowd was already applauding the debut, causing the newcomer to blush lightly before nonchalantly pulling out a shield from the multicolored gem on his navel and a spear from the pastel pink cabochon on his forehead. Tossing the shield into the air like a giant coin, the fusion simply waited with a spear held against his body until the two weapons touched revealing a pink-colored parasol with a white star emblazoned across the top.
"Hm, did anyone hear that it called for rain?" Rainbow asked the crowd, drawing many confused looks. Most of them had no concept of weather at all, let alone knew what rain was.
"Oh, well that's too bad… Looks like we might have to take this show somewhere else."
The crowd all protested as the new fusion shut his new "weapon", hoisting it over his shoulder with a solemn frown and closed eyes. He even began to sink to the ground, the umbrella slowly falling it seemed be held between his bent knees until the tip was just above the ground. Garnet was curious what he was up to until a coy glance at the crowd hinted that this was all another act.
Rainbow, just as it seemed like all hope was lost, then poured energy through his body and down into the umbrella resulting in the tip lighting up with an array of colors in the exact shape and spread of his namesake, before jetting off into the sky.
"Hm, pretty impressive," Garnet noted while everyone else, Crystal Gem or not, lost their mind while Rainbow flew in circles above them whooping in delight.
"This, my darlings, is what we call starting your show with a bang! And as much as I'd love to fly for you today, I feel a duet would be far more appealing to watch…"
Not that long later, Rainbow zoomed back with Lapis Lazuli flying behind.
"How did he rope you into this?" Peridot asked her.
"Meh, it sounds like fun. Haven't seen another gem that could fly in a while."
"Oh-ho, so flattering!" Rainbow blushed, "But I do believe there's some slight confusion. You, with your wings, can fly. But I… can soar!"
To prove his point, Rainbow launched off into a loop-de-loop with the colorful contrail creating a mesmerizing ring of light against the dark starry sky that made the audience cheer.
"Huh, so you want flair?" Lapis asked, "Alright, I think I can handle that."
She then raised her arms as she flew, streams of water sprinkling out of her hands so that they caught the light of the rainbow loop to make amplify its shimmering much to the crowd's delight.
"Man, I didn't know she had it in her," Amethyst chuckled.
"Please, who do you think got me into meep-morps?" Peridot asked her.
"Exceptional! And she catches on so quick!" Rainbow commended her, gently floating in the air by his parasol, "And if you liked that, it's only the beginning!"
And from there, a true show began as Rainbow and Lapis began flying with each other in tandem. One left behind an arcing trail of colored light and the other tickled the crowd with a gentle mist raining down on them to create a multilayered viewing experiences. Barrel rolls, corkscrews, loop-de-loops, one making rings and then flying through them, fly-bys just over the cheering crowd's heads, and even a few head-on rushes that were only dodged at the last minute. And all of it done with a mix of Rainbow's refined grace and Lapis's more eccentric artistry until it came time for Rainbow to split.
"Well, new friends," he said with his head held high, "It has been an exceptional privilege to demonstrate my talents but every show must end eventually. Thank you for being a wonderful audience and until we meet again!"
With a literal final bow, Rainbow's whole body turned white and left Steven and Pearl miming his last movement before an uproar broke out from the crowd. This also included Bismuth standing next to Garnet.
"When did you get here?" Pearl asked her.
"Eh, huge flock of gems around here usually means something fun so I dropped by," she shrugged.
"Yeah, and it was pretty fun for us too! Although I am getting a little tired," Steven spoke up.
"I get it, kid. But, if you're up to one more thing, there's always something I've been dying to see."
"What's that?"
The blacksmith just looked at Garnet who looked back for a moment before it clicked. "Really?"
"Hey, I saw the original Rainbow like everybody else. I don't think I've ever seen what happens when a rose quartz gem meets yours."
"Well… That is true. But it depends if Steven's up for it."
"YES!" he said, "Please! Please-please-please!"
"And here I thought he was growing up too fast…" Pearl awed, resisting the urge to pinch his cheeks as everyone around them egged on the idea.
"Alright then," Garnet said, "I'm ready."
The boy wasted no time running up to meet het with Garnet doing the same. Right before they ran into each other, they both moved to the side so that their arms would lock together with their hands joining to kickstart the fusion. Two bodies soon swirled together into a torrent of light until a very unusual silhouette formed and then cleared.
Standing in front of the crowd was a gem unlike any of them had ever seen. A pair of somewhat bulky legs wearing Steven's sandals recolored a sandy brown moved up to a pair of jean shorts. From there was a slender set of hands wearing dark brown versions of Garnet's gloves with a gem of many warm-colored facets in each palm. From there came a much wider upper body with two highly muscular arms currently flexing with Steven's shirt refashioned as a tank top. Completing this was a head and surrounding hair that literally looked like a bundle of flames with a pair of red shades over the eyes a glistening white smile.
"Hey there, everybody," the new fusion waved, their lower hands flashing peace signs, "The name is Sunstone and I'm here today to share a little information with you all."
The assortment of gems were now boggled, definitely not expecting some kind of lecture from this very peculiar-looking newcomer. They only got more confused when Sunstone proceeded to suddenly leap out of the circle of watchers and onto a distant boulder.
"Whenever you're on a new planet," they called down, "Try to familiarize your surroundings so you don't get lost. Look for landmarks or, if you have the climbing capabilities, survey the area from a reasonable high point."
The fusion then briefly reached down to their naval before spreading their arms as a pair of Steven's shields met with Garnet's gauntlets to create the largest suction cups any of them had ever seen. A few respectable oohs and aahs came from the audience with the other Crystal Gems wondering where Sunstone was going with this.
"Once you're done, however, the hard part is getting down. Be sure to take your descent slowly and use the proper equipment, like this."
Sunstone than started scaling down the cliff, getting a good ten feet down out of the sixty or so, before glancing back down.
"Although, if you're a gem like me, you could always do this!"
They then leapt off the cliffside, tumbling through the air with their arms crossed until they floated down at the last minute for a completely soft landing. The crowd approved and cheered before Sunstone seemed to point off somewhere else and speak with a pointed finger.
"Just remember, all of you kids out there, that jumping off cliffs is not advised unless you're a trained professional or the traditional laws of physics do not apply to you like with me."
Once that little aside was over, the fusion walked back to the others with a question. "Now then, is anyone willing to volunteer for this next part?"
Bismuth immediately raised her hand. The fusion flashed a double thumbs-up, walked over to their new cohort and whispered the plan into the blacksmith's ear. Aside from a slight giggle at whatever they were planning, no one else could guess until the purple gem backed away into the crowd while Sunstone held their hands up.
"Now everybody, I'm sure you were all expecting something a little bit flashier than this, but what I'm about to tell you might be the most important lesson you can get: how to avoid a fight. Observe."
As perplexed as the observers were, they watched as Bismuth walked forward from her spot whistling a nondescript tune with her eyes shut. That all changed when Sunstone accidentally bumped into her.
"Hey!" she griped, "Watch where you're going, clod!"
"Step one: Always try the peaceful route first." Sunstone said with an upper hand between themselves before speaking to her. "Oops, I'm sorry! I didn't hurt you, did I?"
Bismuth seemed to glower even more. "Oh, you think I'm some kind of pebble, huh?! Are you looking for trouble or something?!"
"Step two: Try whatever you can to deflate the situation," she gave in a another aside. "No, no, nothing like that! I just made a mistake and was hoping you were okay."
She gave an exaggerated chuckle before cracking her knuckles. "Oh, I'll be just fine as soon as I let out a little stress on your face!"
"Now, if you find someone who just can't be reasoned with, the first step is to try and escape."
"Don't talk like I can't hear you!" Bismuth shouted, making the crowd laugh before she extended one of her arms to try and ensnare Sunstone only for them to easily leap out of the way. A game of cat and mouse soon started with the dreadlocked gem getting almost cartoonishly angry complete with her head literally steaming while Sunstone kept leaping around and dodging whatever traps were thrown at them.
"Now, if you absolutely have to fight," they explained, casually grabbing ahold of one of Bismuth's many stretchy punches, "Here's some things to keep in mind. 1. Cause as little lasting damage as possible."
Sunstone yanked back on Bismuth's limb before suddenly releasing, causing the gem to get smacked in the face by her own appendage much to the audience's amusement. When Bismuth collected herself and went in for another attack, Sunstone ran in to grab her hair and then pin her arms together.
"2. Try to incapacitate and restrain your attacker. This ought to keep damage low, have less collateral and give your enemy a chance to rethink their life choices."
"I'm not some prop for your platitudes! Get off of me already!" Bismuth shouted, the other Crystal Gems appreciating her acting chops since she was starting to resemble Jasper in her fierceness. Once she managed to break free of the hold, she seemed determined to stay up in Sunstone's face.
"And finally, 3: Try using distractions to throw someone off guard." The fusion's lower right arm glowed for a moment before a jet of fire shot out and ignited Bismuth's robes. While she herself was fireproof, Bismuth still played along and hurriedly put out her clothes. This also gave Sunstone the chance to raise her other lower arm and release a jet of ice that promptly froze Bismuth's hands together while she was too busy swatting at the flames.
"Uh, okay, I give up now," she admitted, trying to play off her shock, "Sorry for messing with you!"
"Aw, thanks!" Sunstone said, one hand moving subtly to thaw out their partner's hands before pointing off to the side one last time.
"Just remember, kids. Fire is no joke. Do not play with it and especially don't use it in fights unless you have the fire department on standby. And all of that goes double for freeze-rays."
Once Bismuth got her hands free, Sunstone bid everyone goodbye before splitting back up into Steven and Garnet as the crowd applauded. It was a highly unusual show, but it proved to be educational and entertaining. Some of these gems had no clue about mountaineering, cryokinesis or combat avoidance tactics and now they learned something!
And with that, the young boy was thoroughly done for the day and was about to head back to the tower only for someone to walk through the crowd to meet him and the rest of the gems.
"Zoisite?" Pearl noticed, "What is it?"
"While your display was riveting to watch," she told them with a bow, "Rose sent me to find you all. Kunzite should be gathering the rest now. She wants you all present for a meeting."
"Um, okay…" Amethyst shrugged, "But, what's so important? I thought this place was all about doing whatever."
"She wants you all to properly meet Pink Diamond."
That got everyone's attention and soon they were all following Zoisite back to the central spire. While meetings were usually boring, they all got the sense that this one would be anything but.
Maybe half an hour later, the two halves of the Crystal Gems were reunited with Kunzite's group having beat the others there. Once they were all assembled into Rose's control room, the lady of the planet filed in after them with a slightly nervous energy to her.
"Everyone," Rose told them, "Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I hope I didn't pull you away from anything too important."
"Nah, we're good," Connie informed them, "We were all just kind of lounging in a cruiser that Topaz was driving."
"And you're welcome to back to your flight once we're done. For now, however, I think it's for the best you all get acquainted with my… Let's call her my business partner."
A few taps on the console later, a huge holo-screen appeared with Pink Diamond showing up. The ex-monarch seemed quite nervous considering her rigid posture and her attempt at a smile looking very forced.
"Hello, everyone…" she said stiffly, "Nice to finally meet you!"
No one was entirely sure how to respond. It was obvious the diamond was trying to make a good first impression, but something felt off. Many were shocked to actually lay eyes on the real Pink Diamond, shocked to see that this was supposed to be the tyrant who tried conquering the Earth eons ago. Others were more surprised by her demeanor, not expecting half of the duo toppling an empire to be acting like a nervous schoolgirl on her first day in a new class.
Eventually, Amethyst was the one to break the ice. "Wow, you're way shorter than I thought."
Everyone cringed at that except for Pink herself. She blinked for a moment and then burst into laughter a moment later. It was such an infectious, joyous laugh that it soon spread to Rose and several of the other gems which ended all of the tensions instantly.
Once she finally calmed down, Pink spoke up. "You know, I get the feeling I would've heard that a lot more if gems had any kind of free speech back in the day."
Rose let out a pleasant sigh. "And at least we can all be on the same page. I had a feeling you'd all fit in but now the ice has been broken."
From there, a sort of back and forth began with the Crystal Gems asking about the petite diamond's past, her current objectives and a few things about herself. What really got people talking, however, was Pink's questions about them. She had heard a handful of stories about Rose's fabled team from back in the day but seeing so many different faces was something else.
Rose just sat back and watched her friend enjoy herself, asking all sorts of questions about the various stories of old missions, questioning the newer members and learning as much as she could about human beings from the four present.
"You know, we might not be the best examples," Priyanka said at one point, "Steven here is the only half-gem in existence, me and Connie are both crystal superhumans and Greg is… Well…"
"A wannabe rock star turned single dad turned power-suited gem fighter?" he shrugged.
"Yeah, something like that. We're far from what you call ordinary humans."
"Then I want to go to Earth and meet them!" Pink said excitedly, "Oh, I wonder what Earth is like now! Your own technological development must have come along, new cultures, perhaps even a new continent from the planet's geological plates' shifting!"
"And the other diamonds thought she was only good as a party planner?" Rutile asked aloud, baffled as could be, "I'm pretty sure she's smarter than me!"
"Oh, I do have a panache for entertaining, but you are right about that. The others never bothered to learn about my other interests." She let out a bitter chuckle before resuming. "But at least they got the message now…"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Cinnabar asked.
"Yellow contacted me a while ago. It… Wasn't pleasant."
"Oh no," Rose gulped, "Are you alright? Did they say they were planning anything like White?"
"White?! No, nothing like that! What did White say to you?"
"She's planning an attack."
"WHAT?!" Everyone in the room shouted, even Zoisite and Kunzite watching the whole discussion from the back. Before anyone could panic, Rose flew up to the ceiling.
"Everyone, calm down! I already have a plan set up and we will all be fine!"
Once she reached the ground, the shock of seeing Rose Quartz openly float perfectly still in midair took their minds off of any oncoming conflict and let her regain their attention.
"Now then, White sent me a message taunting that something was coming but there was no other information."
"Oh great," sighed Garnet, "Even now she doesn't get it. You would've thought Stevonnie thrashing her within an inch of her life might have finally gotten something through her head."
"That doesn't surprise me in the least. Fortunately, my plan is standing by and we should have nothing to worry about."
Everyone seemed to take comfort in that. With the mood calmed down again, the attention turned back to Pink as she elaborated a bit more on her chat with Yellow. The reactions were mixed to say the least.
"You actually made the Yellow Diamond cry?!" Bismuth blurted out before laughing, "Oh, wow, that's amazing! I wish I could've seen her face!"
"As cathartic as that would be," Adamite said, "I'm more surprised to hear how remorseful she apparently is. It actually sounds like she's gotten some grasp of how she tarnished her relationship with you and wants to make amends somehow."
"Tch, not really," Lapis scoffed, "Almost sounds exactly like when Jasper begged to become Malachite again. 'I'm so sorry, I miss you! I'm still the same awful person as before, but please forgive me!' If you ask me, Pink Diamond, don't listen to a word she says."
The diamond, however, looked forlorn. Steven raised an eyebrow at that.
"What's wrong?"
"I… Don't know what to think about her," she groaned, "Yellow and Blue… Yes, they made a lot of mistakes and they didn't always treat me the best. But when Yellow actually broke down, it shocked me. I'd never seen her like that before. And I have been monitoring her and she's actually kept her word. She and Blue are no longer interfering in my campaign…"
"I get it," Steven told her, "You want to see the best in them, don't you?"
As Pink nodded, many of the other Crystal Gems balked in surprise with Rose being the loudest of them.
"Steven, honey… You do know we're talking about the Diamonds, right? The very same tyrants that want to kill our planet and tried to end your life over and over again?"
"But that's not who they were to Pink, right? She's clearly got some good memories of them."
"It's true. I might have just been an entertainer to them, but they really did seem happy when I told them jokes, did something ridiculous to make them smile or at one of my parties. Even White, at first, was easy to make her forget whatever plan she had and just laugh. I miss that, or at least a part of me does."
"Well, that may be true, but…" Pearl noted, "It seems rather farfetched they would have suck a quick turnaround."
"Why?" Steven asked her, "Half of the gems in this room either used to work for Homeworld or did something seriously wrong."
Bismuth, Peridot, Topaz, and the elementals all looked rather sheepish at that. Even Pink herself blushed since she did earnestly try to take over Earth before Rose came along.
"…Perhaps we should re-evaluate the two of them when we have more time," Rose admitted, "But I wouldn't hold my breath for Yellow or Blue unless they do something truly drastic."
Before anyone else could speak up, several more holo-screens appeared all flashing danger signs and displaying maps with several blinking red lights approaching what appeared to be the planet they were on.
"Well, at least we aren't waiting in suspense anymore," Rose sighed before looking up to see several gem battleships approaching.
"I thought nobody served the Diamonds anymore!" Amethyst panicked.
"Oh, odds are that's everybody they have left," Pink noted casually, "Support for the Great Diamond Authority is at an all-time low, so they really only have their elites left. Everyone else abandoned ship as soon as it meant getting a better-quality life with us."
"Okay but what exactly are we supposed to do?!" Rhodonite piped up, "Shouldn't you be mobilizing all of the gems here and loading up the ships or something?!"
"Oh, they're not going to fight," Rose told her, "There is no army."
"Well then I guess it's up to us!" Cinnabar crossed her arms, "It may be a lot but we can-"
"You don't have to do that either."
"Then what exactly is the plan here?!" Pearl yelled.
Rose then moved past them all and answered without looking back. "I'm going to take care of them myself."
So what exactly does one mother gem taking on a fleet look like? Find out next time!
Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave any questions or comments below.