"Now, remember, this isn't like fighting another gem. Corrupted gems are feral, violent shells of the gems they used to be. They're monsters; animalistic and wild, vicious and unpredictable."

"You could say the same for the rebels," Steven admits, biting the inside of his cheek as he follows after Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. The pale gem frowns in response at that, glancing back at them briefly while Agate and Sage fall into step with each other beside Steven, with Connie keeping pace at his other side. "But she's right, it's not the same. Even the rebels' attacks are calculated, they don't rush in completely blind. A corrupted gem doesn't have a plan of attack, they just attack. Which can put them at a disadvantage, but it also puts us at a disadvantage, because there's just as little time to prepare." He pauses for a moment, raising an arm to rub it over his forehead and wipe away the sweat that had formed. The beach had gotten cooler over the past few weeks, but the desert was as hot as Steven had remembered it to be.

"It's outnumbered," Agate reminds them, raising an eyebrow in their direction briefly as she sweeps her gaze around the desert. "And if they're as mindless as you say they are, they can't summon a weapon, so they're also greatly out-strengthed, correct? This shouldn't be difficult."

"Don't underestimate," Steven warns. "They don't need weapons to be dangerous."

Agate offers him a skeptical look in response. "Are you underestimating me?"

He takes a moment to think about that, admittedly, the corners of his lips quirking upwards into a smile for a few seconds. She had taught him almost everything he knows, taught him how to hold his own in battle. She and Sage were, truly, likely the only reason he survived that battle. He may not be easy to poof, but he can certainly still be shattered, he can certainly still die. It was her training that had pushed him through the battle. No, he knows better than to underestimate his former mentor. "Of course not. I'm just making sure you know what we're dealing with, because it's not like anything you've ever faced up and fought against before."

"Don't worry," Sage chimes in, offering the hybrid a reassuring smile, and he can't help but smile back in response despite himself. She's always so comforting, so sweet; she's been like that since he'd known her, always such a stark contrast to Agate's serious, stern demeanor. He loves them both, respects them both, but he loves more how easily they balance each other out. "We may not know exactly what we're walking into, but we'll handle it."

Steven inclines his head, tugs his lips into a grin as he looks ahead. "You always do, I know. I'm not worried, just cautious. Caution is good in any fight," he reminds them. "You taught me that."

The two exchange a glance in response, and Steven sees a flicker of amusement flash across Agate's face after a few seconds, a hint of a smile playing on her lips before she schools her features back into a neutral expression. "And that's right. Good to know you haven't forgotten your training," she sniffs, and Steven huffs out a laugh, rolling his eyes slightly at that. He was getting memories back, not losing them. His training was something that would stick with him; it had, even, even when everything else had slipped away. "So you've fought these… monsters?"

"They're not really," Steven starts, and stops, frowning. Well, he supposes, they are kind of monsters. "Ah, yeah. It's been a long time, though," he admits, glancing ahead once more. The other gems keep looking back at them, listening quietly as they speak. Connie, keeping pace with Steven on Lion's back, hasn't said a word, but he feels her gaze fixed on them intently. "Some of them are easier to poof than others. Some of them aren't too smart, some of them are. Like once, it took Peridot and I a few days just to catch this one corrupted gem that kept outsmarting her. It wasn't really hostile and didn't try to fight us unless we fought it first - I think some of them are still kind of… aware. They're still in there, they just…" He trails off for a moment, remembering Centi. "They're just kind of trapped in their own minds, hurt and scared. They don't remember who they were, where they came from, what they are. They just exist."

He'd lost himself for a moment there, lost in the whirlwind of his thoughts. Agate and Sage's expressions had shifted then, silent as they thought Steven's words over, but the hybrid didn't snap back to attention until Connie suddenly slid down from Lion's back to walk beside him. He shakes his head a few times to clear it and looks up as she opens her satchel and pulls out two water bottles, offering one to him - which he takes with a grateful look. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Rolling his shoulders back, the hybrid shrugs and looks down at the water bottle, twisting it open. The desert is so hot, so stifling, but he only really notices it once he has the cold bottle of water in his hands, realizing it for the first time. He can't help but think back to the battle, how hot it had been on the Pyrope Colony. The desert is much easier to deal with, without his uniform, without the limb enhancers. He's wearing shorts, a plain white t-shirt tied up just above his gem. Looking down at it for a moment, he also realizes how much chubbier he'd become in the last few weeks. A lot of his fat had turned to muscle on Homeworld, growing skinnier and skinnier each day, but he'd started gaining a little bit of that back the past few weeks on Earth. It's not very much, especially since he doesn't eat nearly as much now as he did before he left, but it's enough to be somewhat of a comfort. It feels healthy, it feels right.

He takes a sip of the water, relieved the moment the liquid touches his tongue, and drinks half the bottle before reminding himself to stop and save some for later. He ends up bubbling it and sending it to his gem for the time being, rubbing the rest of the sweat from his forehead and moving forward a little to fall into step with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl instead. They each greet him with a smile, though Garnet looks somewhat distracted as she turns her head and scans the area, but Amethyst and Pearl are quick to shift their attention to the hybrid completely once he approaches them. "Are you sure you wanted to come along, Steven? I know this can be…" Pearl trails off for a moment, struggling as she grasps for the right word. "Ah, overwhelming?"

"Everything's kind of overwhelming right now," Steven tells her honestly. "But, yeah, I'm sure. This'll be good for me, I mean… keeping my skills sharp, right? That's important right now too. And using those skills on missions is like taking out two birds with one stone." He pauses for a moment, furrowing his eyebrows, and mumbles, "that's the term, right? I used that right, right?"

Amethyst chuckles a little, though the sound is somewhat faint. "Yeah, you used it right, bud."

Garnet stops suddenly, and Pearl nearly stumbles into her, which nearly causes Amethyst to stagger into her; they just barely manage to stop in time, but Steven had froze the moment Garnet had; in silence, he summons his scythe, and hears the shimmer behind him when Agate and Sage do the same. It doesn't take long for Connie and Lion to join them again, but she doesn't draw her sword yet, and Amethyst and Pearl don't summon their weapons either. They turn to Garnet on years of instinct instead, and Steven understands, but he can't keep himself from stepping back to stand with Agate and Sage. He's more familiar with following their orders recently, more familiar with falling into step with their routines and strategies. Even so, he does find himself watching Garnet as he tightens his grip on his scythe and hefts it up a little, while the fusion takes another look around and nods, lifting her hand to adjust her visor. "It's nearby."

Immediately, Pearl summons her spear and turns, the weapon appearing in her hands in a sparkle of light as she moves. "Steven, get-" She stops when she sees him, scythe at the ready, prepared for the fight. A myriad of emotions flash across her face, realization and some sorrow, but it vanishes in the next instant when a loud, thundering roar echoes across the desert. Despite himself, Steven finds himself flinching, pressing closer to Agate and Sage, but not close enough to feel the energy sparking off of Agate's whips when she lashes them down, sending bolts of electricity across them. Sage stands tall beside her, whips coiled and ready to attack.

Connie looks at Lion and nods, and the pink beast immediately throws his head back and lets out a roar of his own. Steven shudders a little at the sound, rolling his shoulders back sharply.

Before long, it appears.

The ground shakes a little at first, then slowly gets louder and worse. He stares in the general direction of where he thinks it's coming from, instinctively knowing every time the ground rumbles and the sand shifts beneath them that it's the monster approaching. Amethyst braces herself, stepping back to stand somewhat in front of Steven as she does, but he ends up moving forward to stand beside her, offering the most reassuring smile he can muster before rooting his gaze ahead again. This isn't his first rodeo, and he knows other than the fact that it's a new situation completely, corrupted gems aren't nearly as bad as the rebels he'd fought in the battle. So he holds strong, keeping himself steady until he sees it in the distance, the monster.

It's big, bigger than any of the others he thinks he's faced before. Maybe not Centi at the beginning, but even then, she hadn't been big, just long. This corrupted gem is tall and buff, large paw-like legs slamming into the sand as it barrels toward them, a long, spiked tail trailing behind them. It's mostly blue in color, with puffs of fur around its head like Lion's mane, and a few patches and spots of darker blues and purple dusting across its body. The tail is more indigo color-wise, but the spikes are dark blue - navy blue, he thinks - but that's not important.

The monster roars and leaps for them, still twenty feet away, but the jump propels it forward faster. Outstretched paws reach out toward Garnet, who stands at the head of the group; in one motion, the fusion summons her gauntlets and slams them forward, catching one of its paws.

It roars again, this time in anger, but its other arm lashes out and slams into Garnet's legs in the next instant, sending the fusion flying to the side. Steven freezes for a second, breath hitching.

Right up on them now, the monster stands taller than all of them, roughly the height of the beach house. Steven has to tilt his head back a little to look up at it completely as it turns back to them, teeth bared to reveal dripping fangs as it crouches down and whips its tail side to side across the ground, stirring up waves of sand as it does. Another shudder ripples through him, but Agate touches his arm as she passes him suddenly, and he goes rigid again, steady. It takes a few moments for him to compose himself, breathing in deep as he does, but he manages to steady himself again and straighten up, rolling his shoulders back and forcing himself to focus.

Agate doesn't attack immediately. She begins to circle instead, keeping a good distance from the monster, which seems more interested in her electric whips than it is in her. Garnet joins them again, shaking sand from her gauntlets, mouth pressed into a firm, neutral line. Steven spares a swift glance toward her to make sure she's okay, then rocks forward in a quick but careful motion to join Agate, watching warily as the monster's dark blue gaze snaps up to him.

Agate lashes out, but the monster's quicker. It leaps back and the whip cracks against the ground near its paws; Steven flinches a little when it turns toward them and roars at Agate, but he doesn't give it the chance to attack first. Instead, he seizes his chance and lunges forward, dropping down to slide underneath the monster's paws when it rears up and coming back up on the other side. He turns just as it whips around to face him, fangs bared in a challenge, and meets its wild, angry eyes steadily as he leaps back and braces one foot slightly behind him, holding his scythe steady as it turns away completely from the rest of the group to face him.

It roars, and he winces, but he stands resolute. He doesn't say a word, because there's no point in talking to these things, which is something he'd learned a while ago. He just watches as its body ripples and coils as it prepares to lunge at him, taking note of the horns on its head as it lowers down and opens its dripping jaws again, this time in what looks like a maniacal grin. It lunges and he skips back at once, lashing out with the scythe. He catches the monster right across the face, a thin scar that doesn't poof it, but hurts it enough for it to jump back again.

"It has horns," he calls to Sage without breaking eye contact, and she understands immediately. Within seconds, her whips lash out and coil around the horns, wrapping tightly; the monster freezes, stares, then whips around - thus taking Sage up right with it, sending her into the air. Steven freezes again, holding his breath, but she lands fine - right on the monster's back, between the shoulderblades. Unfortunately, this is where it starts to really freak out on them; roaring and snarling, it leaps and rears up, bucking as it tries to throw the gem off of its back. Sage holds steady, but Steven still worries, unsure how long she can keep herself up there. He has to admire, however, when she replaces her grip on the whips for the monster's horns instead, and gives a harsh yank, which causes it to immediately rear up on its back legs again.

That gives the gems the opening they need. Amethyst lashes out, wrapping her own whips around one of its paws, and a sharp tug sends the monster crashing down onto its stomach. Agate wraps one of her whips around its tail to hold it steady, and it shudders, but doesn't poof.

After that, it's not much of a fight. Connie and Pearl lunge, sword and spear at the ready, and Garnet delivers a swift punch to the side, her spiked fist slamming right through the monster. It still doesn't poof yet, much to Steven's surprise, and he lashes down with his scythe at the same time Connie slices her sword down and Pearl slams her spear through its chest, and the corrupted gem's body finally gives out in a burst of colorful clouds. Sage falls along with the gem, disappearing briefly into the mist for a moment, but it doesn't take long for her to reappear with the gemstone clasped tightly in one hand, approaching the rest of the group triumphantly.

There's a moment of silence before Amethyst suddenly laughs, "that was amazing!"

"It was something," Agate responds, looking perplexed. "They really are just…"

"Wild," Steven finishes, diminishing his scythe while Pearl carefully takes the gem from Sage and bubbles it, tapping the top to send it back to the temple. Agate moves forward after a moment to check Sage over, and Steven flicks his gaze over all of them carefully to make sure they're okay before he finally relaxes completely, content now that the danger had passed. He moves toward them, and Pearl meets him quickly, looking him over. Amethyst does the same.

"Are you alright? Goodness, you went right underneath that thing!" Pearl pauses, and chuckles, while Steven can't help but grin as he nods. "I will admit, you looked very graceful, Steven."

"Yeah," Connie chimes in with a smile. "You're great with that scythe."

"You looked awesome," Amethyst teases. "Pretty good at that whole fighting thing, guy."

"Well, I certainly hope so. I did train for eight months." Steven can't help but laugh, looking back toward Sage and Agate, who, finally seeming content now that they both knew the other wasn't hurt, carefully twined their fingers together and joined the others. "You two okay?" When they both nod, he flashes a grin at Sage. "Also, riding that thing? That was awesome. You were like a pro out there. Both of you," he adds with a smirk toward Agate, who merely shrugs, but Sage practically preens, looking rather pleased with herself at Steven's words.

"You didn't look too bad out there either."

"Not at all," Sage agrees immediately. "Wonderful work as always, Steven."

Steven just grins while Amethyst throws an arm around him, extending her arm a bit to ruffle his hair, and he giggles a little as he ducks into the touch. "And now I say we celebrate!" The smaller Quartz declares. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm thinking, hm… Funland?"

Connie practically lights up, exchanging a look with Steven, who just grins. "I'm up for that." Agate and Sage exchange a look, silent for a few moments, then Agate sighs and shrugs.

Amethyst cackles. "Hell yeah!"

"Hell yeah!" Steven cheers.

"Steven! Amethyst!"

"Sorry Mom-"

"Awh, come on, P, it's just a word-"