I do not own either Brütal Legend nor Steven Universe. Respectively they belong to Double Fine (I think) and Rebecca Sugar and so on. This story is for entertainment purposes only. Why else would it be on FanFiction? On with the story!
My apologies. I did not realize the poll was not visible! As such I am extending it to the 20th! Admittedly this chapter is more or less to announce that. Still, sorry.
The following of course were sides and extras I originally meant to post in the earlier chapters but for one reason or another I just... didn't. More often than because I forgot about them in the first place. .
Brütal Universe
Side Reel! (aka the extras!)
Halvard Stadium, Jersey, Earth
"Steven?! Steven?!"
Their overall collection of artifacts that lasted since the Rebellion was limited at best. Worse yet what they did have left was often orientated for battle or defense rather than more investigative work. The others were more of a esoteric nature that lent itself to the arts or lacked any conventional use even for those in the know and the will to extrapolate some sort of use for them like Peridot. Still they tried.
"Where are you?!"
Oh they tried.
Whereas the other gems were pulling at their hardlight hair out of worry or frustration, or in Amethyst's case trying to play it cool by acting as her usual self whenever knowingly being observed by the others, Garnet remained... outwardly calm. She certainly could understand and even share in the aggravation on a more mental level given all the evidence that something had happened here with the wrecked metal, the dried blood and the incredibly obvious indentations as if a colossal beast or even a less humanoid fusion was moving about much like the one borne from Lapis Lazuli and Jasper, but no answers whatsoever outside of what Greg saw.
... and what he didn't see was what had happened to Steven.
As such Future Sight was an incredible boon in this case, ergo why she was calm at least on the surface. It didn't mean she was pleased in the slightest beyond that surety however. Honestly, while Steven's innate ability to surprise her certainly created holes in her visions of the future disappearing completely from this concert was left field even for him. Even with help so to speak. What was truly aggravating however was the apparent methods, plural, however... as usual whenever Steven was involved nothing was truly set or immutable.
"STEEEEEVEEEEN!"
"OH WILL YOU CAN IT ALREADY!? I'M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE HERE SO I DON'T ACCIDENTALLY OVERCHARGE THE—bzzt!—... oh crud."
BOOM!
Pearl was thankfully far enough away to simply be thrown to the ground. As for Peridot who was tinkering with the Sonic Reader... well, it was amazing how durable peridots are despite not being a warrior caste.
XVX
The World of Metal
(Prior to the battle of Bladehenge (Headbanger: BLADEHENGE!)
With bigger named bands finding a place to settle for a concert was relatively a cinch so long as a rival one wasn't playing in the same city at the same time—sadly for smaller bands they tended to get pushed aside in favor of the big ticket income. Even so whether it was delegated or not it was part of the manager's job to scout out these spots ahead of time, make contacts or if their particularly clever find nontraditional venues that would make the band even more famous... or at least save a few bucks. Admittedly this largely applied to smaller bands seeing as larger ones had more staff at hand to handle separate tasks plus having greater pull, thus making lesser known bands more resourceful by necessity. But even then they get busy... so it was only inevitable that roadies would get the job sooner or later when push comes to shove with the bookings (or lack thereof).
Eddie however didn't mind it so much in this case. If nothing else it would let him explore this world when music had both heart and genuine power behind its cords! And not the kind that flash fry enemies or even melts their faces off!
... though that did help immensely. Especially with demons.
Anyway!
If he didn't know any better he could dare say this world was practically built for him! The streams of molten metal oozing from the mountain range near Battersmith; ancient battlefields with only truly monumental weapons rivaling skyscrapers left to whisper tales of long forgotten deeds; the remnants of colossal cars almost as ancient as the mountains and just as awe-inspiring... it was all calling to some unknown part of him, welcoming him and beckoning him to explore!
"Hey Eddie, what's that?"
But he had to put a leash on the enthusiasm, to a degree at least. While his protégé wasn't helpless by any means it would be a poor mark on him as an adult to recklessly endanger a kid simply because the teacher himself was acting like one. As such Eddie's head swiveled in the direction of Steven and glanced at the direction his arm was pointing towards. His brows furrowed as his came to squint at the strange object seemingly bound in straps of black. "Got no idea," he admitted, "but let's check it out!"
... he would quickly come to somewhat regret this decision solely because he was with Steven at this point.
"Hey Eddie, why is that statue covered in straps and gagging on a ball?"
"I, uh, can't say that I know to be honest." Which was true. It didn't make it any less awkward though as he got out of the car.
... Steven joined him in doing so as the former approached the dragonid statue bound in spike studded leather and forcibly gagging on a big red ball.
"Is this one of those S&M things you were talking about when we first woke up?"
The roadie puckered his lips as his mind quickly thought of a suitable distraction that might somehow magically solve this uneasy, for him, situation. In this particular case it was to draw Clementine and do a quick tune up as he considered what "spell" to use on the statue on a hunch.
"... is this one of those Adult Things?"
Eddie clucked his tongue and hissed through his teeth. "... yep."
"... are you or anyone else ever going to tell me what Adult Things are?"
Thank all that is above that there was an unspoken agreement not to tell Steven about the perversities some people got into when they got older... if not sooner. To be fair it seemed to extend to all children he met so far but the point remains. Regardless with a defeated sigh Steven pouted and crossed his arms when no forthcoming answer was made apparent.
BUT THANKFULLY HE HAD A DISTRACTION!
With a power strum of the guitar, a crack of thunder and a plume of fire erupting at the base of the bound dragon the leather straps near the bottom burned, cracked and frayed. Not even a second later of the bounds weakening did the statue gain a brief spout of animation as stone wings flung up, ripping its bindings apart and destroying the red gag forcing its jaws wide open. From there it simply stood on its pedestal of stone, gaze upward as it silently roared triumphantly forevermore as its wings reached out to the sky.
"Woah," Steven breathed.
"Woah indeed little buddy," Eddie hummed as some niggling part of his soul quietly felt empowered by the deed both in action and... something else. But he just couldn't quite place his finger on what it might be.
XVX
(Also prior to the battle of Bladehenge!)
Corn surprisingly did grow this far back in the past of the world as they knew it. Also surprising was that it was considered a weed meant to feed what amounted to cattle and other docile beasts of burden at most for the rare few that not only took up farming but were left alone long enough to have something resembling prosperity (i.e. were never repeatedly and often lethally harassed by the occasional band of brigands or wandering band of demons). It was probably fated to be cattle feed for the rest of eternity if Steven hadn't started making popcorn from said corn. Add butter or add some salt and it was slowly starting to gain traction as a snack barring the few so called 'weirdos' becoming bold enough to outright try corn itself and finding it interesting to continue the practice.
Not that Eddie was complaining of course. It certainly made watching the dubbed Artifacts of Legend all the more enjoyable like when watching a good movie for the first time.
"—Rather than being extinguished the mighty Fire Beast let out an earth shattering scream and exploded like a sun."
"Coo~l," several watchers, including Steven, breathed as they 'quietly' munched on popcorn and other snacks, all the while trying to be as considerate as possible not to interrupt the story as it played out.
XVX
(After the battle...)
Aloof as they were the bassists of Mount Thunderhorn were men after all, fickle as they were indifferent with no two being the same in matters of preference or personal taste. But with every group certain patterns could be noticed. Some of which more noticeable than others in far less desirable ways , especially at beach parties. More so when there were women around than not.
... suffice it to say that despite their more withdrawn nature compared to the rest of Ironheade the thunder hog riders enjoyed capitalizing the attention of women when they could get away with it. Needless to say it was met with some irritation, more notably to bachelors attempting to find someone to be with.
Eventually complaints were going to come their way, or more specifically Eddie's given he was the one who practically recruited the faction into the army of rebels.
The initial plan was to simply gather some headbangers and form a mobile barrier of sorts to keep the bassists at bay. Steven talked him out of that as he felt that might create more friction than there already was. The second plan was to have Steven do a bubble shield around those who wanted to try their luck. That didn't fly with him either as not only was he wasn't sure as to how big he could make it but evidently he had something of a similar experience involving a girl named Connie; while nothing bad happened it was enough to leave an impression at least.
Thus their third plan, something Eddie could admit he actually liked as it matched subtle cunning and personal taste, plus newfound curiosity to be sated: As far as either of them knew, or anyone else for that matter, that despite having instruments and some skill with them there weren't any musical bands to speak of. Even then some of the traditional ensemble of instruments apparently never existed... until Eddie and Steven got to scavenging.
Thus what started as a simple party to relieve stress and enjoy life grew into a growing battle of the bands concert which attracted many an aspiring musician. Soon enough groups began to form in the very first music bands in the Land of Metal, including many of the bassists who would otherwise be bumming about at the parties. Many, but not all.
... they ended up going with Plan A in the end, just with more headbangers than intended.
XVX
(Also after the battle!)
Did he feel any guilt in his plan? No. Not really. After all it wasn't like he started this to begin with. To be honest though it was less out of antagonism and more "the Guardian of Metal doesn't have nitro boosters", otherwise he'd be raiding the swear jar Steven set up awhile ago for 'plugs or doing odd jobs, or even hunting down swarms of the annoying buggers just to help sup' up the Plow. As such the grin of the victory to come washed off his face in his confusion when he pulled up to the spot where he spotted Fletus' car.
"Steven?"
"Hey Eddie!" Steven cried as he offered him a friendly wave. Fletus on the other hand sneered at him from his car which he was leaning against.
"Uh... what'cha doing?"
"Fletus was telling me how his people invented cars here! Like how Motorhead the Overkill tried to harvest the parts of the meanest monsters he could find to create even better cars after their introduction!"
The demon in question grunted but otherwise said nothing as he gave the older roadie a half-lidded glare, his posture a little less hostile than a second ago.
... and without much in the way of prompting upon hearing the words "invented cars" the roadie's mouth began to work on his intended plan. "Oh yeah? Were they as slow as his car too?"
That instantly got the demon riled up. Hell, if Eddie were to exaggerate just a little he could hear steam whistling from the demon's ears! "Oh it's on now!" He barely shifted to his side as he grabbed the side of his car and hefted himself inside in one go. "I'll tell you the rest of the story later kid, I got an igit to force-feed some dust to!"
"Let's go then!"
It was barely even a second later when both cars peeled out and burned rubber into the distance.
Steven simply sat there for a moment longer in utter bewilderment before sighing and hefting himself up, brushing his pants with his hands in the meantime. He let loose a surprised cry of pain however as he apparently knocked something sharp off the back of his pants. With a frown he brought his freshly bleeding hand. Licking on it was barely even a thought.
With a proud smile he watched his spit literally do its magic. It wasn't even a second later when a hiss wiped it away and had him looking over his shoulder in curiosity to see what it was that made that noise... and found a raptor elk.
As a general rule raptor elk tended to keep away from humans. Some did though, more often than not because they were domesticated in the first place. Otherwise it was to feed on what they thought was a direly wounded target and they didn't feel like eating grass that day. That being said Steven had gotten a good look at their teeth when he got curious about the ones the rebels and farmers used for transport—they were surprisingly similar to humans in that for the number of fangs they had out front there was a good number of flatter and wider teeth toward the back, an omnivore's teeth. This particular elk though? All fangs. To further add to the teen's worry his eye quickly caught onto its haggard, scarred and bump covered skin, traits seldom associated with even the wild variants that roamed the planes and the forest. Another detail he soon distinguished from most raptor elk was that its eyes, which normally would've glowed a bright but somehow dulled red, was pure white.
That was as far as his observations went before it lunged at him with another hiss.
While summoning his shield had long since become second nature to him Steven had reacted instinctively by outright slapping the beast. He slapped it with his slime covered hand.
Evidently the slap itself not only caught it off guard but evidently had enough power in it as well to not only divert the elk's charge into simply roughly checking his left shoulder with its own but to outright stagger it as well. It stumbled for a few steps before raising its head, shaking it and looking around as if to observe its surroundings. In doing so Steven caught a clear enough look to see its flesh had returned back to its more pristine state and its eye glowing red once more. It jerked its head toward him as if noticing him for the first time before darting off to the wilderness beyond.
"... woah."
Startled, the boy whirled around only to find a cameo clothed woman armed with a razor rifle standing on the little ridge where the elk originally came from. She shook herself out of her own stupor before directing her attention on him. "You're the kid with the healing spit, aren't you?"
"Yes? Is someone hurt?"
She shrugged. "In a manner of speaking." She looked over her shoulder for a moment before asking "hey, you wouldn't happen to know how to ride an elk, do you?"
XVX
(Before and after!)
Currency for all intents and purposes was a relatively new concept for the people inhabiting the relatively free lands. Having been slaves under the Tainted Coil it was a given that no one was paid. Lionwhyte could be argued to have a system in place but insofar that his 'employees' got the occasional sack of whatever coin made of metal that fit his fancy that year. Even then it was largely for those that would conventionally be his lieutenants in any other situation whereas the more common worker was lucky enough for said lieutenant to give them leftover beer. Otherwise the scattered and often tribal nature of humanity in this world largely relied on bartering of goods they had on hand or services if they wanted anything.
There was something of an agreed upon currency however amongst all sides; spark plugs. Numerous and common enough that anyone would get their hands on at least a couple of times if they tried hard enough or were clever in catching them for the sport of it but unreliable for the most part given how radically different the 'prices' were for each group when there was no evidence of any better use for them. With the introduction of cars however and learning they were a key part of their operation? It was quickly becoming the defacto currency for humans.
But given how hard it was to get them out in the wild...
"I'm not doing it."
"Hrmf!"
"No!"
Steven didn't relent as he continued to glower at the man before him that only a teenager with the appearance of a ten year old could do.
"I can say "fuck" whenever I want! So Fuck You!"
What triumph the adult may have felt quickly gave way as another throat cleared. From above the man's head.
Hoping against hope the man slowly craned his head around and subsequently began to look up only to find a familiar smoldering glare intimately known by anyone who worked in the Crushing Pit. In the company of an equally familiar growl and unspoken warning that came with the slight rise of the bouncer's fists the man caved in and grumbled as he parted with two spark—
"That would be three!"
Growl.
-three hard earned spark plugs which he was not happy in losing.
"HA! Serves you right you dumbass!"
... let it not be said that the man didn't enjoy the occasional break in his life as the normally friendly child swerved to the newest offender with his half full yet fourth jar of spark plugs for the day.
A/N: Again, sorry about the bungled poll.
On an unrelated note it seems the doc manager is at war with emitocons.