Ch 3: Collision

A couple of hours have passed since the attempted robbery at the gas station. At the moment, Steven continued to drive along the road, all the while still thinking about the Gem that came in and stopped the thief at hyper speed.

Steven: "I've never seen a Gem move that fast. What type is she? She's probably an Era 1 Gem, but what Gem could move at such a high speed?"

Once again, there were more questions he had than answers. First it was why he felt that he needed to be needed by others, and now there's a Rogue Gem out there with powers that were unknown. And to make matters worse, this Gem appeared at the worst possible time. He was trying to get away from all of this gem stuff right now, and yet here it is, following him around.

Steven: "Grrrr, Why is it that even when I try to get away from it all, it still follows me!?"

For a brief moment, Steven's body glowed Pink. But after taking a deep breath, the glow vanished.

Steven: "You know what, this is fine. It's just one Gem, and it's not like I'm doing anything other than driving right now. Plus, she doesn't seem to be hurting anyone."

That was true. As far as Steven could tell, this Gem wasn't trying to hurt anyone. If anything, the Gem seemed to be actively trying to save people. She did save him and the Cashier Lady, even though he technically didn't need to be saved. Granted, he's only ever seen her save him and the Cashier, so he can't be sure if the Gem has been doing this for a while or not. Regardless, he'd take what he could get, and so far to him, the Gem seemed noble.

That thought caused Steven to consider another possibility.

Steven: "Could she be another Crystal Gem? An original like Bismuth, or Biggs?"

His thoughts were interrupted however, when a burst of blue energy suddenly exploded within the woods next to him. The energy hit his car, effectively shutting it down. The car came to a stop after several seconds, Steven would've complained, but he was too distracted from what just happened. He stared out the window to look at the woods that the surge of energy came from.

Steven: "That must've been from the Gem... I should probably check it out."

Steven got out of his car, and started walking into the woods. This was kind of a long shot, but Steven hoped he'd be able to catch up to the Gem, assuming she was still there. He wasn't sure what happened that caused such a huge amount of energy to spread across, but he figured it was the result of whatever the Gem was doing. He considered calling the Crystal Gems for assistance, but there were two reasons he chose not to. First was that he looked at his phone and saw that it was shut off as well when the blue energy hit. Second was because they were quite a distance away anyway. They probably wouldn't be able to make it here before the Gem left. So he decided to deal with this himself. As he usually does.

Steven: "Let's look on the bright side. This is another problem I can solve on my own. Whatever issues this Gem might have, I can fix it... probably."

Minutes went by as Steven kept looking around for the Gem, but found nothing. He was about to give up his search, but then he heard a voice. It sounded as if someone was grunting in pain. He walked towards the voice until he saw what it was. A young man laying in the ground, looking and sounding like he recently got hurt.

Steven: "Oh my gosh, are you okay?"

The boy in question opened his eyes to see a young man who looked to be around his age. He was wearing what looked like a pink varsity jacket, and a black shirt with a yellow star underneath. The boy was surprised to see someone else here, especially someone who looked to be the same age as him.

Nevertheless, the young man began to stand on his feet, brushing off any dirt on him.

????: "I'm fine. Just hit a tree, no big deal... but who the heck are you?"

Steven was stunned at how easily this guy seemed to brush off his pain. Must be pretty tough. Snapping out of his thoughts, he decided that maybe he should introduce himself.

Steven: "Uh hi, I'm Steven. Steven Universe."

????: "... Your last name is Universe?"

Steven: "Yeah."

????: "Huh... neat. My name is Carlos Cloudian."

The two shook hands after introducing their names. Now that Steven got a better look at the boy, now named Carlos, he noticed just how worn out a lot of clothes looked. Especially the shoes. They looked very dirty, almost torn as well.

Steven: "Uh how long have you been wearing those?"

Carlos looked down at his feet, seeing how worn out they've gotten.

Carlos: "These? I've only had 'em for a few weeks."

Steven: "Weeks? And they're this dirty already?"

Carlos: "Yeah. Tends to happen a lot truth be told."

Steven: "You mean this isn't- you know what, never mind. That isn't important right now."

Carlos: "If you say so. But what are you even doing here in the middle of the woods?"

Steven: "My car shut down because of a blue energy wave that came from here. I was hoping to be able to figure out what it was, but I guess the one that caused this is gone."

The dark blue haired boy's body suddenly shifted nervously.

Carlos: "Oh... ... well then... ... this is awkward."

Steven: "What does that mean?"

Carlos didn't know what he was thinking right now. Is he really so stupid that he would tell this guy he just met that he was essentially responsible for busting up his car? But then again, maybe it's not so bad. This was his fault after all, so he should take responsibility. And since this guy was alone, there didn't seem to be any harm in telling him. Hopefully, he wouldn't get too mad.

Carlos: "Okay, don't be mad, but... that might've been me."

Steven: "... What?"

Carlos: "Yeah, I'm sorry. But hey, it should be working now. The blast wasn't huge, so the effects shouldn't last."

Steven's eyes widened in surprise. If he was expecting anything, it wasn't this. Apparently it wasn't a Gem that caused his car to turn off, but this person standing in front of him. While he didn't sound like he was lying, Steven found it hard to believe. He's seen a lot of weird things happen because of Gems, but he's never heard of a human being able to do something like that. The only human that was able to do anything similar to what the Gems could do was Steven himself, but that's because he was only half human.

Steven: 'Wait... no, there's no way... is there?'

Carlos: "Um... you okay?"

Steven: "Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine. I'm just wondering... if you really did that, how did you do it?"

Carlos: "Heh heh, well you see, I'm not exactly a normal guy. In fact, there's one nickname that people have been referring to me as ever since I started saving lives."

Saving lives? What did he mean? He's been saving people? How long has he been doing this? How did he or the Crystal Gems not know anything about this? Just who is this guy?

Suddenly, Steven's mind wanders back to that robbery. Someone went in there with blazing speed, and saved him and the Cashier.

Steven: "The Blur..."

Carlos: "Yep! The one and only Blue Blur! Accept no substitutes."

Steven: "But... how?"

Carlos: "You might find this weird and hard to believe, but it's actually because of this."

Carlos pulled the collar of his shirt down to reveal a blue oval shaped gem on his chest. It had a very unique facet and cut.

Steven was utterly shocked. He had assumed that a Gem was what was running around, only to be proven... well, half-right. It wasn't just a Gem, but a human with a Gem on his body.

Steven: "You're a... Hybrid?"

Carlos: "Uuuh, what?"

Steven: "You're a Human Gem Hybrid... just like me."

Carlos: "Woah woah woah, what are you talking about?"

Steven lifted his shirt up to reveal the Gem in his belly button. Carlos stared at the Gem with surprise equal to Steven's.

Carlos: "No way..."

Both Steven and Carlos just stood where they were as the wind blew past them, both taking in the revelation that each of them had a Gem, and were also human. As this new information began to sink in, one thought came across both of their minds.

Steven/Carlos: 'I'm not the only one."

A/N: This chapter ended up being shorter than I wanted it to be. There were some more things I wanted to write in this chapter, but I guess I'll save it for the other ones since I'm feeling lazy. Hopefully this is an okay chapter for you guys. But anyways, stay tuned, and I'll see you in the next chapter. Peace.