Hey there everyone, hope your all having a great but still safe time.
I don't really have much to say on recent matters, just be careful and make sure to wash your hands.
And I'm grateful for whatever little joy I can share with everyone.
Thanks.
"Matthew!" Steven called out to Matthew, his eyes holding back tears as the lifeless body of his friend fell limply into the fountain. As he looked over the edge of the stone fountain he saw Matthew sink motionlessly deep into the rippling fountain water, but as he did so a thunderous crash shook him as he stood.
"Pearl!" Steven shouted as he turned to see that Pearl was flying through the air as she narrowly dodge the next attack of the Bramble Horse, but what happened next surprised him. Flying from the opposite side of the horse flew another Pearl that Steven quickly recognized.
As the Horse look around it stood confused at what was happening as it's single opponent had split into two, then with quick speed Pearl reached and pulled an identical sword that the other hologram Pearl held. As each Pearl landed they both shot forward with both of their sword arms winded up for the coming attack.
Darting towards the forelegs of the monster both Pearl's flew underneath it's legs unharmed, following soon after both legs gave way as they both were trimmed from the middle of its green thorned legs.
Letting out a surprised neigh the creature fell forward as dust lifted off the floor from the weight of the impact. As both Pearl's stopped beside each other the real Pearl look over to Steven with worry and fear.
"Steven, I need to to get Matthew out of the founta-" Before she could finish her orders Pearl was pushed back by the hologram of herself as her doppelgänger was then promptly pushed back by a torrent of vines and crashed into the side of the stairs.
"What!" She cried out as the horse stood facing her, its front legs quickly growing out from its own body.
Looking down to her with a fierce enraged gaze the monster let out a single angry grunt as it leaped upward and aimed its decent to where Pearl laid.
"Get out of the way!" Steven shouted as Pearl pushed herself to low crouch and quickly jumped out of the horses way, barely escaping the new crater that it had created Pearl gracefully used her momentum to both slide across the stone floor and turned towards the horse.
She quickly jumped away from where she stood yet again as an onslaught of vines followed her, then as soon as she would land she quickly found she was constantly being trailed by both the horse and its seemingly endless amount of thorned vines.
With no room to breath she could only narrowly dodge each of the horses advances as where she landed was quickly destroyed. No matter when or where she was her immediate landing would always be followed by an attack, but just like any game of cat and mouse it would eventually have to come to an abrupt end.
As Pearl leapt away from her most recent location she was pulled down to the ground as her foot was caught and wrapped around by the painful barbed vines. Landing with a hard thud she looked down her body and saw the tightening of the vines around her ankle, she was then flung around, forcefully impacting the ground as she was defenceless to even try escape the grasp of the Bramble Horse.
Then after what felt like seven or even maybe eight impacts to the harsh ground the horse finally threw the weakened Gem away, tossing her away from the fountain it looked down to her prone groaning form as it let out one dignified breath as it looked on proudly at its apparent victory.
As Pearl laid there she weakly began to push herself up from the stone floor, but just as soon as she lifted herself up her arms gave way, letting out a pained cry she fell back down to earth as her entire body ached.
Eyes shut she couldn't help but notice how weak her form was, barely holding together as all she could do was focus on not vanishing back into her gem and leaving Steven alone with this monster. Anger welled up inside as teardrops formed but held their place at the edge of her eyes, her promise to the very Gem that this structure was built for slipping out of her grasp, her promise to both Steven and Rose.
"Pearl!" Steven cried, footsteps pattering to Pearl as it stopped directly at her feet.
"Steven?" Turning her head around she saw Steven standing above her, between both her and the corrupted gem monstrosity.
"Get up Pearl!" Steven yelled as he lifted both of his arms as his pink bubble took form and kept both himself and Pearl protected inside.
"Steven don't!" Pearl warned as several thorns forcefully made contact with the protective bubble, leaving no marks on it however the Horse again became enraged as it charged forward.
Quickly stampeding onwards to Steven and Pearl it stopped directly in front of Steven and lifted its front legs up and forcefully sent them crashing down, causing a shockwave to be sent all around the bubble and creating a small crater directly underneath the bubble.
"Ahh! Come on Pearl, we need to beat this tree!" Letting out a strained cry Steven held his ground as the horse once again lifted its legs and stomped the bubble over and over again.
Seeing this Pearl began to force herself to her knees, feeling the need to collapse and lie down she threw those thoughts away and kept on going. Barely getting on one foot was painful, but she kept on as she stood shakily on both feet, slouching forward she held her leg for support as she looked up to the monster with newfound resolve as she stood facing this powerful enemy with Steven.
Barely holding his own, Steven followed the example set by Pearl as he forced himself to power on through the ceaseless crashes of the monster as his face contorted with stress.
This was very apparent to Pearl to as Steven's bubble started to crack under the immense stress, slowly reaching out with her hand she placed a hand directly on Steven's shoulder and was about to pull him away, but as she was inches away from grabbing hold of him the Corrupted Gem let out a distressed neigh as it pulled away from the bubble and began to buck around violently.
"Wha?" Both Crystal Gems said as they both gazed upward, a figure stood on the back of the Bramble Horse and was violently plunging a weapon deep into the back of the monster.
"Matthew!" Steven cheered loudly, his face changing from agonizing stress to that of newly formed hope he dropped both of his arms and popped his bubble.
"How?" Pearl asked as she placed her hand on Steven's shoulder and lifted herself up, standing upright she looked to Matthew as he furiously stabbed the monster repeatedly as it writhed under him in pain.
Feeling a sense of hope reform deep inside her she lifted her hand off of Steven's shoulder and drew in her second wind and concentrated on the battle to come, but before she could even act she was petrified to see that Matthew caught between another piercing spear attack was violently thrown backwards once more and impacted the statue of Rose with a gross cracking sound echoing through the air, his eyes rolling back into his skull as he fell unconscious back into the fountain.
Looking to the fountain and back to the horse Pearl was surprised to see her spear laying there on the ground. Seeing this Pearl readied herself and leapt forward as for a mere moment she was completely unnoticed by the horse and flew over her spear and grabbed it mid flight.
Sliding under the horse Pearl went for a wide slash with the tip of her spear and left the underbelly of the horse slashed as she slid across the floor.
"Take this you equine monster!" Pearl shouted out loud as she turned around and pointed her spearhead to the confused corrupted Gem that stood in front of her as she let loose several shots of energy that hurled onwards toward the creatures legs
As each projectile pearl sent flying landed true to her target as the horse was knocked over to its side, then with a panic it struggled and furiously began to kick about wildly as it tried to pull itself up.
Then as Pearl looked to the panicking monster a voice called out her name and she was shocked at what she looked at.
Holding up an arm Matthew stood up right on the side of the stone pond without any visible injuries, his face showing no fear or doubts as he knew exactly what needed to be done.
"The spear!" He called out as he looked to her with a look of confidence, as if he had already held a plan in mind. Seeing this, without any doubt or delay she threw her weapon to Matthew as he held out his arm ready to intercept her spear.
As it flew through the air Steven couldn't help but look up to Matthew as he looked like a completely different person, no sign of the shy and apologetic Matthew that he grew to know but instead a brave heroic figure stood there as he caught the weapon mid flight and looked down to the monster that had kept each of his friends and especially himself near to death.
With his hands suddenly tightening around the weapon he leapt onto the horse and with a powerful thrust he dug the spear into a specific spot of the horse that he held in mind, letting out a pained cry the monster tried once more to force its repeated attacker off but was quickly stopped as with a powerful twist and then a pull Matthew forced a green jewel out of the mass of vines as each vine tried in vain to pull the bright green emerald in place.
"Oh no you don't!" Matthew grunted as he leaned over the back of the horse and hung there, leaving his entire body weight hanging on the spear he leveraged even more of the gem loose and then with a powerful cry he pulled the spear down with him to then ground as the emerald shot out of the equine shaped pile of vegetation.
As both Pearl and Steven looked at what had just happened the shape of the horse quickly gave way and lost its form, falling lifelessly to the ground a faint neigh could be heard from the pile.
Seeing her chance Pearl quickly shuffled around with her hands sprawled out as she deftly caught the green gemstone. As she glared down the the emerald that she held in her hand, the recent anguish and torment that this creature had inflicted to both Steven and herself, then her stare began to soften and become more melancholic as she held it tightly for just a moment before letting go into a small bubble before tapping it out of her sight.
"Matthew, are you okay!?" Shouted Steven as he ran over to the slumped over figure of Matthew, his face hidden in his apparent brooding as he sat there unmoving.
Seeing this Pearl pulled herself from her own thoughts and made her way to Matthew, with Steven standing beside him looking for any kind of injury that Matthew had received during the whole conflict, it didn't look any better when the cast's that had been wrapped around his arm and leg were ripped apart.
"Matthew, are you injured? Or are you drifting between consciousness! Are your bones broken!?" Pearl cried almost driving herself into a manic state of panic, looking down to the injured human he began to lightly shake causing both Steven and Pearl to try reach and check if Matthew was well.
"Hehe...hahaha..." Chuckled Matthew, his shoulders lightly rising in tandem with his laughter as he slowly turned his head to look at both of his friends. His eyes looked heavy as if a heavy weight was just lifted from his shoulders.
"That was crazy, right?" He said plainly as his drenched clothes weighed down on his body.
Seeing this both Pearl and Steven felt better at how this whole event ended, Pearl and Steven letting out a tired breath.
Letting out another weak chuckle Matthew began to slouch backwards before he fell to the stone flooring, his eyes closed as he laid there unconscious.