Disclaimer: Characters, settings, names from the cartoon television show 'Steven Universe' are creations and property of Rebecca sugar and Cartoon network. Any Non-steven universe characters, settings, names, Gems, Gem powers, beliefs, mythology are my own creation.
Author's Note: With a Homeworld gem now having arrived to Earth, The Crystal Gems take on the strange Male Gem who refused to answer any questions. each one of them takes a shot at this foreign space gem, but will any of their attempts prove fruitful or will it all turn out to be futile.
Story Tags: Steven Universe, Connie Maheswaran, OC's, Lapis Lazuli, Pearl, Amethyst, Garnet, Beach City, Gem Powers, Romance, Adventure, Comfort, Destiny.
Music Inspiration for Chapter: "Thousand Wings" By: Sen no Tsubasa
Chapter 17: Friend or Foe?
Monday
May 11, 2016, 8:25 [Night]
Crystal Temple, Beach City
(Soren vs Garnet)
The strange male gem prepared himself for this onslaught. His yellow eyes glowed bright, like xenon lights on a sports car. He dashed off to the right in a blur. Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst stopped and looked around them. Had he vanished into thin air? No. Garnet, using her future vision saw three possibilities of where and how he was going to attack. One future showed him attacking them with a might breath of fire from above. Another showed him popping up from underneath the ground. And the last showed him splitting himself into three and taking on all of them. But just then Garnet was flooded with many more possible futures it was actually becoming difficult to see past them.
"Future Vision? Easily circumventable by shutting down one's one thoughts the moment they are tapped." A soft and cool disembodied voice whispered in Garnet's ears.
Garnet correctly deduced that the male gem would attack from above, but not with fire. He came down with a flame engulfed gauntlet that smashed down on Garnet's own gauntlets with unbeleivable weight and strength. Garnet's gauntlers cracked, but that punch was not the whole attack.
"Fire Method: Fire Core Railgun!" The male gem said. Fire engulfed the entirety of his left arm, he pressed down even harder on Garnet's gauntlets. Garnet fell on her knees, clenching her teeth. An explosion followed beneath the male gem's gauntlet.
Garnet was blasted into the earth. A blast wave followed that sent Pearl flying, but amethyst kept from flying away with the help of her whip. She managed to tie it around a stone jutting out of the sand. Amethyst blocked the blowing sand with an open hand held up in front of her face. The well like hole Garnet was in glowed with orange fracture lines. The surrounding sand had been turned into glass from the level of heat exerted from the blast.
"Garnet are you Ok!" Amethyst worriedly shouted.
(Soren vs Amethyst)
"She'll live. Worry about the fight before you parasite." said the male gem again, but he was to fast to pin point.
His exposed extended right arm was only a blue of orange, but she was hit with a close line attack that slammed her into the ground. "Ugh! Angh!" Amethyst grunted from pain. The male gem was quick and not about wasting time. He pulled Amethyst up by her left wrist and slammed her on the ground over and over in an arc pattern. He was relentless and without mercy. Pearl was frozen from fear. She got up from being blown away, but got back on her feet just as quick.
Pearl held on to to her spear with both hands and with tight fists. She was frozen, her legs shooks and she could only watch when The male gem stopped slamming Amethyst. He held her up to his face. He was a tall gem, standing at seven feet tall. He raised his other arm, pointed his open hand at Amethyst's face and charged what appeared to be a sphere of glowing flaming energy.
"Pearl!" Lapis cried out from across her. Pearl looked over to Lapis.
"I got amethyst, take care of That Gem."
"The name is Soren, Lapis Lazuli." Soren told her in a cold flat tone.
(Soren vs Pearl)
"And my name is Pearl! Servant of Rose Quartz!" pearl declared as she charged over to Soren.
Soren turned his attention to Pearl, lapis pulled Amethyst over to her.
Lapis was shocked he knew her name. But regardless, she created a tentacle of water from the ocean and sent it over to grab Amethyst before she fell. Pearl went and fought with all of her might and expereince in front of her. She kicked, punched, spun around on her hands with her legs stretched to the sides. she performing very fast and nearly impossible moves like mid air scissor kicks and rotating so fast that she punched Soren on his crossed forearms.
The punch was loud, and sounded like it broke something. Soren skidded backward on the sand. His forearms still crossed in front of him. Only his gauntlet on his left hand was cracked. Pearl shuddered and frowned at this, was this all she could muster? All her years training on her own and under rose.
"No. I can still do more." Pearl told Soren. She fired beams of energy from her spear.
Soren uncrossed his forearms and punched the beams of energy, deflecting them into different locations. Pearl used the moment he started punch the beams of energy to sneak in a body double to distract him from the front. But Soren was too experienced for such cheap tricks. He squatted down and spun around on a heel with one outstretched leg in front of him.
Pearl came at him from behind, but not from the ground but above him. She thrusted her spear down towards Soren's face with all of her strength an speed. But Soren caught the blade before it could pierce him. Pearl pushed hard, but even with all of her strength, she just couldn't cut it. Soren furrowed his brows and fired beams of energy from his eyes. Pearl was sent flying upwards into the night sky.
"Hey, over here." Lapis told Soren from his side.
Lapis hand her finger pointed at his temple like a gun. At the end of her index finger she had a glowing ball of energy composed of the essence of water. She lowered her thumb and fired, a loud bang followed by an explosion of water that flew upwards followed. Soren was blasted with enough force for him to start steaming.
(Soren vs Sugilite)
"Over here Honey!" said a familiar voice. Sugilite was created while pearl was busy with Soren. She spun at top speed and sent her flail and bludgeon smashing down on Soren who crash landed on the sand.
Soren landed on his stomach, turned around and saw Sugilite falling towards him. Soren grinned and was met with several tons of power when Sugilite landed on him. He grunted and showed some level of pain.
"You've been missing with my friends honey. Sorry but that's not going to fly here!" she said.
Using her four fists, she unleashed a violent barrage of punches that connected one hundred percent. Soren, despite receiving terrible amounts of damage, wasn't removing his grin from his face. This nly enraged Sugilite more. Her punches became nothing short of a blur to pearl, lapis and Steven who was only recovering from the earlier blast he saved everyone from.
Sugilite's machine gun like speed punched Soren deeper and deeper into the ground. Lapis helped Steven up to his feet. Steven smiled at her and both of them joined Pearl shortly. Pearl couldn't believe that despite everything she did, what Lapis did and was Sugilite was doing. Soren was still standing.
"No gem that I have known or fought can withstand this level of damage without retreating into their gems. No one except Rose and powerful fusions. Could it because he's male?"
"No." Lapis said, she sounded confident and a little apprehensive about what was going to share.
"What do you mean by no Lapis." Steven questioned her.
"I sensed immediately what he was the moment he stepped out of his pod. Gems, half gems and corrupted gems give off specific vibrations that I can feel gems feel smooth, like the waves of the ocean. Half gems like Steven and Connie feel like swimming through jello. Corrupted gems give me a prickly sensation. But Soren, he's a Commander. He has this presence which bears down on me that it's almost unbearable."
"Then we're doomed." pearl said very defeatist like.
"What? Come on Pearl don't say that."
"You don't understand Steven. Even if all of us fused, and I'm willing to share a body with Lapis given the circumstances, it wouldn't do us any good."
Steven looked worried. He saw uneasiness and doubt in Lapis and Pearl's faces. They looked like they had already given up internally. Just as Steven was about to suggest something, he and pearl and lapis saw a pillar of fire shoot out of the hole Sugilite created punching Soren well over Ten thousand times. Sugilites was burned but kept her fusion stable.
"Fire Method! Ember Hands of Seperation!" from that pillar of fire, two large hands were formed.
They grabbed Sugilite by her arms and pulled her apart. Basically forcing them to unfuse. When garnet and amethyst appeared, they had glowing orange symbols of locks on their chests. Soren floated up out of the twenty foot hole with very little signs of damage taken from that beating.
"Now you two will be unable to fuse with each other again, or with anyone else. i did not come here to fight. But if a fight is what you legendary traitors want, then I would be happy to oblige."
Soren extended his arm out and pointed his hand at Pearl. Soren shed a tear as he fired a stream of Blue fire. Steven jumped in front of Pearl and entered his Guardian Mother Form. Rose Quartz's image manifested. Steven's eyes wehnt pink and his black curly hair glowed with a tint of pink. Lifting his left forearm up, The image of rose raised her Shield up. Pearl shed tears at this sight. In the past rose jumped in front of her former love, now, almost by the hand of fate. Steven was doing it for Pearl.
(Soren vs Steven)
Soren's blue fire crashed against Steven's shield. It held up, but this fire was not normal. It was starting to melt the shield. Steven manipulated the image of his mother swing her scabbard to send pink crescent waves of energy at Soren. Soren surrounded himself in a oval shield of fire that protected him from the energy waves.
Pink and black explosions followed after Soren raised his shield up to protect himself. But in the smokescreen, Steven popped out. He was floating inside of the pink ethereal construct of his mother. Steven punched Soren's shield with all of his might and cracked it. This took Soren by surprise. Steven then rotated sideways and slashed away at Soren's shield. Rose's scabbard had enough energy to slice through Soren's shield. His flame shield broke apart like glass, leaving sparkles of embers.
Soren raised his arms up, covering his face. Steven went for broke and thrusted his mother's scabbard at Soren's chest. Steven's blade pushed into Soren's black leather armor. Steven looked saddened but relieved.
Soren's body ignited on fire and spoke to Steven, "Nice try. But this is a Flame Double."
"a what?" Steven queried. He got his answer when Soren's flame body collapsed into black orb that rang with a screeching sound. Steven's covered his ears, and without being able to concentrate, he couldn't keep his Guardian mother form up. Rose's image, sword and shield disappeared. Steven gritted his teeth from pain and discomfort. The black orb glowed an intense bright white.
"Steven!" Shouted all of the crystal gems.
The white screeching orb was about to explode. Lapis formed a long water arm from the ocean to grab Steven. Garnet threw Amethyst to catch Steven and Pearl ran and leaped upwards to catch him also. All of them had Steven's safety in mind first, but none of them were quick enough. Steven opened his eyes and saw only a flash of light. Then:
THAKOOOMM
A massive spherical explosion concentrated around only a certain radius of five feet, was bright enough to light the entire beach. Residents of beach city looked outside of their windows or stepped outside of their homes to see the light coming from the beach.
"STEVEN!" All the crystal gems shouted.
When the spherical explosion died down, there was no trace of Steven whatsoever. Only a torn piece of his shirt that fell down on the sand. Garnet, Amethyst and Lapis were shocked and had eyes welling up with tears. Pearl was the most affected.
"Rose...i let you down. Greg...i...let your son...d,d," Pearl could not finish her thought. Sound appeared to disappear. Her vision became blurry and her thoughts were all racing to an uncertain conclusion.
Pearl then felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around, it was Lapis. She was saying something to her, though she couldn't tell what it was about. She was too lost for words to really care. But pearl understood the gesture of Fusion that Lapis was making. Pearl bowed, Lapis curtsied and the two of them started to dance. Garnet and Amethyst watched Pearl bend Lapis over and the two of them fusing.
Lapis and Pearl turned into light and started to form into a four armed giant woman. Garnet and Amethyst anticipated the moment they would see these two former enemies form one being. The giant woman that was born had pale blue skin. A short nose. A light blue angled bob haircut which framed her face really well with curls at the ends. The color of her eyes were a midnight blue.
From her foot to her neck, she was covered in Blue and black Armor. High heeled Sabatons, Greaves for her shins. Poleyns for her knees, Cuisses for her thighs. She had black padded faulds that went around her back, hips and ended at the front of her thighs, like a long flowing skirt. Over her torso she wore a dark blue breast plate or cuirass connecting to backplate. Her cuirass had elevated mounds for her breasts. Her left arm was fully plated in armor while her right arm was lightly armored with a gauntlet and a vambrace which covered her forearm.
In her right bottom left hand she held onto the handle of sword with a sword made out of water. In her upper left hand she had carried a hovering orb of ice. On her bottom right forerarm she carried a round shield made from water and upper right hand was free.
Soren appeared in the form of fire that collected into one spot that reformed to make him. He saw the giant 15 foot tall knightess before him. Her pupils glowed with such a blue light that expressed nothing but coldness and hatred for him.
(Soren vs Blue Amber)
"The name is Blue Amber, and for Steven Quartz Universe. You must Die." Blue amber told him flat and coldly.
Soren blunk once and was grabbed by Blue Amber's free hand and tossed into the air like a rag doll. She pointed the hovering orb of Ice in her upper left hand at Soren, and fired a thousand smaller orbs of blue light at him. Soren saw the incoming horse of blue orbs and crossed his arms in front of his face. One after another in rapid succession, blue and black explosions followed after making contact with Soren. And the explosions only got bigger and bigger.
What seemed like an eternity. The explosions finally stopped. The explosions left not smoke, but mist. When the mist dispersed, Soren's left arm, right leg and his head were turned to ice. Those frozen parts cracked and broke apart. Soren's body went limp and fell down into the ocean. Blue Amber unfused. Lapis and Pearl took the moment to look at each other and hug the other.
"I'm sorry Lapis, for everything." pearl said sadly.
"It's ok Pearl." Lapis answered.
The glowing lock symbols on Garnet and Amethysts chest disappeared. That could only mean one thing, Soren was dead.
"Steven...what are we going to tell Greg you guys." Amethyst asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"I Don;t know, but we should-" Pearl started only to stop midway in sentence. She looked over at the ocean and saw a horrific sight. The ocean had turned Lava!
Lapis, Garnet and Amethyst was horrified. Soren's silhouette could be made out in the distance. Fire formed a new head, arm and leg for him. He raised an arm and fired a black beam of dark fire from his index finger. The beam fired through Lapis's chest, her pupils vanished, leaving only ghostly white eyes. Pearl, amethyst and garnet shouted lapis's name together. Soren walked over to the crystal gems, taking his leisurely time.
A portal of light appeared in the spot where Steven was disintegrated. Lion jumped out of it with Steven riding on his back. The portal closed when Lion was on the ground. The crystal gems were surprised to see Steven survived the blast.
"Hey guys, i'm back. What did I mi- Lapis?" Steven said flatly.
He walked past pearl, pushing amethyst out of the way and telling garnet to get out of his way. Garnet stepped aside and watched Steven fall on his knees before the limp and dead body of Lapis. Steven cradled her in his arms and pushed her hair away from her face.
"Lapis...come on, get up. Please, you were supposed to be my master. You weren't supposed to die, I don't want anyone dye, dye...dying for me. Please lapis...Lapis, Please wake up! Pleeaassee!"
Steven kissed her on her lips and cried between the crook of her neck. Pearl covered her face, trying not to breakdown. Amethyst was crying almost as much as Steven was. and garnet, she turned her back to hide her sadness. Steven rocked Lapis back forth as he rose his head up let out a frozen scream, hoping if he shouted her name loud enough, that maybe she might come back from the dead. But her body was limp and lifeless.
Steven laid Lapis back down on the sand. He stood up but kept his head lowered. Droplets of tears fell from his eyes like a leaky faucet. Those falling tears however, rose upward as Steven's Flaming Aura surged and formed and burned violently around him. His gem started to glowed proudly and furiously bright. He floated up to a fully formed Gem body that towered over twenty feet tall, it took on an image of Steven himself only much older. Steven's eyes glowed like his gem on his stomach. He lost all of rational thinking and ran into the ocean. Lion followed his master, somehow Lion could traverse the lava turned ocean.
"Steven! Please Wait!" cried out pearl.
"It's no use pearl. Steven is gone, he's, he's entered a state of Gem Possession." Garnet warned.
Atlantic Ocean
10:30 [Night]
Gem possessed Steven and Lion chased after Soren who turned and started to run away from them. Steven's giant gem Body picked Lion up with his right hand and placed him atop his shoulder.
"This isn't good, this is the fabled power of Rose Quartz. She had enough power to rival any young commander, as expected of a noble of her status and power. I need to be careful with these two, if those two fuse-oh no!" Soren thought.
His fear came true when Lion started to sink inside of Steven's gem body. The two of them were changed. Soren acted quickly. "Fire Method! Ember Hands of Seperation!" he yelled.
Arms and hands made out of fire erected out of the ocean of lave like that flew towards Steven and Lion. But those hands were cut down by this new and unknown fusion of magical human being and magical beast. Soren gazed up at his opponent with surprise and fear. The first time showing fear during this whole ordeal.
Continued in Chapter 18, 'Leo Kunzite!'