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: Forgive me for this abysmally late update, but better now than never right?
Story Tags: Steven Universe, Lapis Lazuli, OC's, Connie Maheswaran Pearl, Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire, Bells, Whistles, Citrine, Peridot, Beach City, Gem Powers, Romance, Adventure, Comfort, Destiny.
Chapter 39: How far You've Come Along
Monday
August 25, 2016, 7:30 [Evening]
Long Road
Venturing out of the safety of the protective dome she erected over her town, Connie Maheswaran was traveling to beach city on a large floating piece of boulder carved and shaven in half. The boulder was created from 'holy earth' she produced through her power which kept the evil and negative effects of the darkness away from her. She traveled on top of the boulder while on one knee. Connie also covered herself in sacred white dust for added measure to keep herself protected on her journey.
Because of the blackness that had veiled itself over the world, visibility was zero to everyone who relied on their eyes to see. No technology, be it Night vision, FLIR or thermograph could pierce through the inky blackness enough to give a good enough picture to the viewer. To circumvent this issue, Connie didn't rely on her eyes so to speak, but rather she relied on the earth to help illuminate her way.
Using the Earth Method, Earth Sight, Connie viewed the world as black with white shaky outlines. This method also extended her visual acuity enough to allow her to see surrounding cities and towns in the state. Using Earth Sight, Connie was no longer handicapped by the omnipresent darkness blinding her. The darkness was sentient and tried to encase more of itself around connie in hopes to chip away at the protective nature of the white dust all over her, but instead it became purified and turned to steam that vanished.
"i don't know how long this sacred dust is going to stick around for, I need to speed this up," Connie said, making the floating piece of boulder she was on fly faster.
While Connie flew and followed the street which lead into Beach City, Black amorphous creatures and humanoids rose out from dark pools of water and spots ahead of her from the ground, trees and the rest of the surrounding environment. Their movements were jerky yet violent, and when their gaze turned away from one another and on Connie, they took off at jet flight speeds, leaving only dust behind them. Connie saw this and placed her hands down on her boulder and erected a shield around her, these enemies were more tougher and some sacred dust wasn't going to cut it.
"Earth Method: Thinking Shield!" she uttered quickly. Four, ten foot wide and six foot tall white marble orbs appeared around Connie, circling around her.
As the black amorphous creatures and humanoids zipped towards Connie, one of the four white marble spheres changed into a giant disembodied arm and hand while the other changed into a giant shield which took position in front of Connie. The black amorphous creatures appeared above Connie at eye blink speed, but were punched away being completely disintegrated. The others were stopped by the shield which crashed against them, keeping them away from Connie as far as possible.
The disembodied hand grabbed speedy creatures that thought they could get past it, in its grip and swung them down on the ground with such force, they created small impact craters. More and more dark inky black creatures rose and came out of the dark spots dotting the land all around Connie. The other two levitating marble spheres shapeshifted into a net that extended and connected around Connie, while the other shapeshifted into a large 25 foot sword that swung and moved every which way slicing and dicing dark creatures that got to close to her.
Zipping along the road that lead to Beach City, Connie hoped and desperately waited for the moment when she was only a few feet away from entering Beach City. With her Earth Sight, Connie saw something magnificent, a large, a very very large pink dome erected around Beach city; much like the one she erected around Palmyra minus the pink hue.
The creatures backed away when Connie finally reached the pink dome. Connie undid her four marble guardians and pressed her hand against the pink dome, when she placed her hand on it, she immediately recognized it as Steven's gem signature; obviously. Connie focused and sent some of her own gem energy which rippled across the dome.
A pair of doors appeared on the dome in front of her which opened up in response to her gem energy, Connie jumped off of her boulder which turned into dust when she did. Connie walked inside of the dome and looked up. She saw four massive orbs of brilliant light keeping Beach City illuminated. With her Earth Sight, she saw these orbs as passionate fiery red orbs radiating with Soren's Gem Energy. But what she also saw and felt were gusts of wind.
"A three layer defense. Steven's dome to keep out the dark creatures outside from all sides and angles. Soren's light and heat to burn away at any of the dark spots from forming where those awful creatures are coming out of. And these gusts of air, no doubt this is Carlos's doing. These winds feel warm, embracing. Wait a second...holy winds? Carlos can tap into the same special area of gem powers?"
Beach City
Connie looked around and saw a pillar of smoke and ember form in front of her, she undid her Earth Sight method while the smoke and ember finished forming. From the fire and smoke, Commander Soren appeared as he always did, wearing his black and red poncho and covered in his charcoal black armor.
"Commander Smoky, it's an honor to see you again, and you as well Connie. I would ask how you managed to find your way to Beach City, but as long as there's a dust particle left in his presence, it alone will act as guide to get you where you need to go. I assume you're here to speak to the shield of humanity?"
"Shield of Humanity?" Connie asked confusingly.
"Steven Universe of course. If I might ask, how do you like this three layer defense me, steven and Carlos established over this town."
"It's very impressive. Was it you or Steven who came up with this defense?"
"It was Steven and Carlos. I existed once to take over worlds for colonization, now I exist to serve, aid and support the shield of humanity."
"That's really cool, Steven's so lucky. H-how is Steven Commander."
"His state of being? His well being? Which one would you like to know Connie"
"Both I suppose."
"Steven has exceeded all of my expectations, he has become a real hero, and he has come a very long way. You know, before Steven underwent training under Carlos, you were several leagues ahead of him."
"I'm not surprised you noticed that, I've been training and practicing non stop since Steven visited me one day to ask me how to contact his mother. The fruits of my work are the result of Smoky himself. But because i'm not a true hybrid like Steven, I wouldn't be surprised if Steven..."
Soren looked at Connie and saw her disappointment. He uncrossed his arms and smiled lightly at her. He felt he needed to tell her something, anything to reassure her she was just as gifted as Steven.
"Power is power, it can be good, it can be bad. Or it can be neutral or chaotic, contributing to neither helping or adding to hurting. What's important is what the person or being with power decides to do with it."
Connie lowered her gaze and slightly hung her head in thought. Soren turned and looked up at the ceiling of the dome. Soren felt Steven's power sharply spike and then fall back down just as fast, Connie too felt his power which made her look up and watch Steven coming flying towards her and Soren.
"Connie!" Steven called out her name.
"Hey Steven!" Connie replied back with a tone of familiarity.
Steven hovered safely back down on the ground and walked over to give Connie a warm, friendly hug. Connie appreciated Steven's courtesy towards her despite all that went on between them. After pulling away from her, Connie saw that Steven was wearing a black and pink running track suit with white tennis shoes that had pink and yellow stars on them. His face was handsome, his hair had been shaved down some, his chin was sharp and his eyes were blistering with confidence, but also with modesty and friendliness.
"Wow Steven you look...different, a lot different, did you get a new haircut?" Connie said playfully with a little affection too.
"Oh yeah, before I came back home Carlos thought It be a good idea to get a haircut when we were exploring Mexico. Lots of tasty food and interesting history down in Mexico. So Connie, how has Palmyra been holding through all of this craziness."
"It's been holding on strong, it's all thanks to Smoky's power thought, goodness knows what would have happened to my family, Thomas and my home if I hadn't found his gemstone."
"For a non hybrid who inherited and fused with the gemstone of a commander of all possible classes, and to single handedly keep and protect an entire town all by herself shows that a commander's judge of character is never wrong and never dulls" Soren put in.
Connie blushed at that praise, Steven nodded his head in agreement. "Connie listen, all of this darkness and the monsters are not helping anyone anywhere around the world. Let's catch up some more after me and Soren return back to earth."
"Back to earth? You mean you're going to up into space, for what?" she asked him.
"You'll see." He told her with a confident smile. "Hold on! let me come with you. I need to see how far you've come since we last spoke."
"Connie, we're going up into space, there is no air in space. I can go because I don't breathe, Steven can go because of his ability to breathe in space."
"You can breathe in space Steven?" Connie asked quizzically.
"I couldn't before, but during my training, I ate a huge order of Magic. Now, there's nothing I can't do. It explains how I can fly."
"You two are underestimating me and especially Smoky's power." Connie told them while she opened her arm and stretched them out on either side of her. A glossy and transparent like film started to appear from her shoes up to her legs, torso, arms, back and face.
Soren saw this and was only further convinced Connie was an innovative young woman. "It might not look like your standard space suit, but I have enough air circulating inside of this transculent full body suit powered by my gemstone to last 24 hours, now, if one of you boys would be so kind enough to give me a ride?"
"I got you covered Commander Connie, pardon me! I meant Smoky, goodness" Soren said, apologizing for his misstatement.
Commander Soren simply had to raise his left hand for Connie to levitate off the ground. Steven smiled excitedly as concentration of air surrounded him. His tracks suit and pants flapped in the wind that encircled him wildly and possessively.
"Ok! Last one to reach space has to make dinner...and GO!"
Like the shot of a cannon, or the strike of lightning and even like the blink of an eye, Connie was at a loss for words by the sheer level of speed she was a part of when at one moment she was inside Beach City, and the next moment she was out in the vacuum of space and above the earth.
"i forgot to mention that Carlos will be joining us in bit, he was talking to pearl when I left the beach house before him" Steven told Connie and Soren.
Medium Earth Orbit
Hovering in Mid Earth Orbit, Steven, Soren and Connie waited patiently for Carlos Montoya to arrive and join them in space. While they waited, Steven flew around Connie and Soren, pretending to swim backwards with his arms crossed backwards behind his head. Connie giggled and laughed as she watched Steven flapping his hands, playfully mimicking a bird.
"Hahahaha, Steven you're stupid," Connie said with innocent playfulness.
"Look at me, I'm a pelican" Steven said happily, getting more laughter out of Connie and a polite smile from Soren.
A green glowing streak of light emerging from the earth flew up towards the waiting trio at super speed. The person enveloped in that green light was Carlos who was read to help Steven take care of the problem with the darkness that had veiled itself all over the world.
"Sorry I took so late, me and Pearl were talking about names for our baby"
"Oooh, care to share with the rest of us Carlos, pleeaassee" Connie begged.
"Mas tarde Connie, right now, this darkness has got to go. Steven, we already came up with a plan back at the beach house, and the first phase of that plan involves only me. If you'll all give me some space, i'm going to go into my Mastered Gem Form for this. I was planning on going True Mastered, but that will wait when they get here."
As he asked of them, Soren, Steven and Connie moved to give Carlos as much space as possible. Lowering his head and balling up his hands into fists, Carlos inahled a large amount of air circulating around an invisible barrier that he made for himself which was needed to make this journey into space possible. Exhaling all of the air he took in in a long concentrated sigh, Carlos exploded with blinding and weighty olive green light.
The dark green track suit and pants with black lines flapped upwards in response to violent bursts of air being generated from Carlos.
"AAAGGGHHHH!" Carlos shouted at the top of his lungs, this was a familiar scenario to Steven which was replaying again in front of him.
Pushing into his Mastered Gem form for the second time, through Soren's eyes, the commander could see just how much of a true powerhouse Carlos really was. It was like a bio-magnetic field exploded and expanded until it absolutely dwarfed the earth's own magnetic field completely. The young commander looked over to Steven and Connie and felt like they also knew, felt and even saw just how terrifyingly powerful Carlos truly was.
"My goodness Commander Soren, do you feel that presence, is that coming from another unknown commander in the area?" Commander Smoky's voice asked Soren telepathically.
"In another life, in another universe, This Hybrid would have been a Commander, Smoky." Soren replied back telepathically.
Connie's eyes lit up with amazement and slight envy when she saw Carlos in his Mastered Gem Form, but both of those feelings were lost with respect she had for Carlos. Moving his hands above his in a circular motion, Steven and Connie turned their gaze away from carlos, over to the earth where the darkness was being collected by and compressed into Hurricane like patterns. Motioning his arms in a sharp upward left, Four dark pillars of pure darkness rose from the earth. Sixty percent of the earth had been liberated from the darkness, with the other forty percent being location where these dark black pillars of supernatural darkness were at.
"Now Steven!" Carlos shouted.
Shifting into his Guardian Gem Form, Steven created a pink bubble between his opened palms, Steven raised his hand above his head and expanded the size of the pink energy bubble so much, it became a mini moon, just half the size of the actual moon. Pointing his right index finger at the pink energy bubble, he swiped his finger across it, opening up the bubble like a 25 cent plastic capsule container, Steven shouted back at Carlos that he was ready.
"You're good to go Carlos!"
At Steven's signal, Carlos moved the four pillars of darkness up out of the earth and combined them into one giant swirling vortex that filled the pink energy bubble slowly until all of it was inside. Steven closed the pink bubble and sealed it forever. Steven's next move was to launch the pink bubble full of toxic dark energy as far away from the solar system as possible.
Forming a Circle, Square and Triangle shape with his hands and fingers, Steven recited "Magic Method: Magical Slingshot!"
Manifesting in front of Steven was a fifty kilometer tall Glowing, shimmering purple slingshot, that was 30 miles long! Moving the pink pink bubble onto the gargantuan pad telekinetically, Steven extended one arm out in front of him, and pulled the other arm back, like he had a slingshot in his own hands. He was in fact manipulating the moon size slingshot, after pulling back enough; Steven let loose the magical rubber bands on the slingshot.
The entire group watched the slingshot vanish into purple glittering dust and the pink bubble flying into the darkness of space. "That problem has left this galaxy," Soren spoke, "that takes care of the problem of the darkness, but people and animals including the lands and oceans are still affected by the after affects."
"I'd figure that be a problem even after the darkness was removed, luckily for me, I have a mother whose not entirely dead but entirely alive who has a lot of answers" Carlos spoke endearingly of his gem mother.
"Second phase of the plan then, Carlos"
"Sure thing Steven, just let me undo this form. I won't need this much power to aid you with what's next"
Reverting to his Secondary stage of his gem power, Steven lowered his gem energy so it balanced perfectly to Carlos's gem energy ratio. Carlos and Steven hovered into place, remaining at least forty feet apart from each other. Both fellas extended their hands out in front of them, then opened up their arms as if to embrace some unseen entity in front of them. Shooting out from Steven gemstone from his belly through his tracksuit, and out of Carlos's back and through his own tracksuit, was a thin olive green beam of light like a laser and a pink one, each color respectively representing Steven and Carlos.
When these two laser like beams crashed against the other, the center where the two beams crashed started to form a small oval diamond which grew and grew in size until it rivaled the pink bubble's size earlier. The combined power of both Steven and Carlos's gem powers united and melded to create a giant Brown colored gemstone.
"Should I Steven? Or do you-"
"Let me do it Carlos, you've done more than enough for me and the world today, after all, The earth has more than one shield in front of it"
"Thank you Steven, " Carlos said. Connie looked over to Steven who gave her a knowing nod. Steven moved the Giant Brown oval gemstone over around to 'front' of the earth and positioned it where the sun's light would shine through the stone and expand to shine all over the earth.
"This gemstone is imbued with more than just my mother's healing powers, it's also imbued with Carlos's Sacred Air, which can dispel evil and negative energies, I hope this is enough." Steven though to himself.
With the sun's all encompassing light shinning through the giant gemstone, the earth was veiled in a brown hue with accompanying glittering appearing. With one hemisphere cleared of the after affects of the evil and malignant darkness from earlier, the other hemisphere was next. Steven moved the gemstone over to the side experiencing night and place the gem in between the moon and earth, for one hour, a bright and magnificent brown gemstone enthroned in the spot normally occupied by the moon could be seen by millions as they were healed, and the evil driven and destroyed entirely.
Soren felt a spike of energy coming from Connie, he turned his head over to her and looked down at her right hand. It was turning into shimmering copper, "My what a surprise, seems that her ladyship has a few secrets of her own."
- To the readers and followers of 'Stone Kissed,' let me share with you why I took it down. I was too busy with non fanfiction stories to spare any time to work on Stone Kissed, but a wane in enthusiasm for Stone Kissed also played a factor in the decision to take it down. I have not been as enthusiastic for stone kissed I was before when first starting it. My deal is, do I leave an unfinished story up for an indefinite amount of time, or do I take it down and work on remaining chapters on my own free time without any pressure on me. I went with the second choice.