"Morganite, listen to me. If there's anything you take away from all this, it's that you shouldn't let anyone push you around if you can help it. You're going to be incredibly strong one day, so don't allow others to take advantage of you. If that means you have to take advantage of them first, so be it. No one will take care of you the way you can take care of yourself."
"I'm going to miss working with you, Jasper. You'll come see me in the future, won't you?"
From the ground, Morganite was looking up at her enormous instructor. Their serious stares met up. "Yeah, I'll come see you."
And it was back into the contemplative, dangerous silence. The kind that hung over a death sentence set to occur in the morning. But really, this situation wasn't that much different.
"I know you don't like fusing, but I'd love to form Agate again." The smaller one stood. "I can't help but think she's incredible."
"Of course she is."
Their gazes met up between them and embraced. "Does that mean you want to fuse together?"
"Well, since you're graduating tomorrow, you can consider it a gift."
The two joined hands.
"Thank you so much."
And they started to dance.
The routine had changed a lot from when they had first come together. It was spicier with more hip-shaking, hair flipping, and less rigidity. Though, they did keep the part where Jasper lifted Morganite into the air, and that was usually when Agate came into being.
That's what happened that day too.
"Ahahahaha! All hail the Queen!" Her seven pronged crown came around her head along with her glorious crimson cape around her shoulders. Agate brushed back her wild white hair and struck a pose, flexing.
Then she had a Dostoyevsky style existential crisis and looked into the palms of all four multi-colored hands.
"Could this truly be the last time I get to be me? I had better make it awesome then." Her cape blew in the wind and she looked up. Agate cried a single heroic tear. "Let's turn it up."
The enormous four armed woman went off to dance, and destroy, and experience for a couple hours before both Morganite and Jasper had to warp back to Homeworld. They fell apart, after tying together all their thoughts and emotions and memories and opinions and souls. And the pink one forced the orange one into an embrace that she returned with an arm draped over Morganite's shoulders.
"Will you look fancy tomorrow, Jasper?"
"I don't have much of a choice."
They were warping back, half way through that bright white stream.
"Do you think Yellow Diamond will be there?"
"Even if she isn't, she's always watching."
"That's very true."
They arrived and parted in relative silence, promising to see one another tomorrow. Morganite went her way, and Jasper went hers, and the heart-shaped gem was greeted by a fleet of concerned servants, demanding why she had been gone for so long. But really, the answer didn't matter. They took her away, polished and decorated her, and stuffed her in her room before the next morning, demanding that she remain still until it was time for the ceremony.
So Morganite looked out of her window of the crystal palace, her fingers making incredibly slow progress over the lines of a book. She would read a phrase or two, furrow her thick brows, look outside, and repeat the cycle.
Then suddenly, they were all at the enormous outdoor auditorium where the ceremony was taking place. Morganite was lined up with a few other inhabitants of the palace and their instructors. All of them had taken tests for the subjects they had studied and passed. That's why they were here. Now it was time to fight; to see their proficiency in battle.
Jasper hadn't arrived yet.
Morganite brushed her hands against her long, light orange dress and pressed her lips into an odd, asymmetrical line.
From where they were standing, all the noise and blood lust from the audience was like a broadcast echoing throughout that hollow corridor.
The panic was beginning to set in.
"Hey." Jasper walked in and stood in front of her.
"You made it!"
"Duh." Whoever was given the task of making her fancy had done an admirable, if not off job. She had been polished like everyone else had, but the first mistake was that her stylist had tried to tame her wild hair. It fell downwards, through it still retained some of its original sass. It was a little too smooth, and so was her long mahogany-colored dress.
It all felt like an attempt to hide her muscles and her inherent toughness.
But who would she be without either of those things?
"I like your outfit, but I don't think it suits you very well."
"That's what I told them, but this was the best they could do." Jasper had her arms crossed. "It's not like it matters. I'm changing as soon as we start fighting anyway. You ready?"
"I'm about as ready as I'll ever be."
"Good. I'm not going easy on you."
"I would be disappointed if you did. It doesn't matter anyway."
"Why's that?"
"Because I've decided I'm going to beat you."
"You did what now?" Jasper leaned down and wore her enormous, intimidating smile. "That's real cute, kid. But you're not going to win. You'll be lucky if you're even conscious after I'm done with you."
"I was about to say the same to you."
The taller one laughed and nearly touched her forehead to Morganite's. "Now you've done it. I hope you enjoy being part of the ground. Maybe you can cook for another couple thousand years and try challenging me again when you're finished."
"We'll see. Good luck out there. You're going to need it."
"Ohoho. You just made my day." Jasper turned around and started tapping her foot, only to turn back immediately. "Did you really just say that to me? You? Morganite?"
"I did. And I'm not taking any of it back."
"Ooh, I'm going to have such a fun time making you cry."
They began to walk forward onto the stage and took their seats. Morganite and Jasper were third in line it seemed, occupying the fifth and sixth chairs in the lineup.
The key note speaker began to talk, and throughout the entire spiel the two elbowed one another and stepped on each other's feet. As she went on about achieving goals and refusing to accept defeat in the face of adversity, Jasper and Morganite whispered trash talk back and forth.
"I'm going to slay you, you little pink moron."
"Oh yeah? I'll cut you into ribbons with my rapiers and use you as a hair piece."
"What was that? I couldn't hear you over the pretension. Did you mean those toothpicks you call swords?"
"Your last insult presents a fallacy. If you didn't hear me there's no way you would know that I was indeed talking about my swords—the same ones I'm going to run you through with."
Jasper crushed her foot and the members of the audience who noticed laughed.
"Oh, did that hurt?"
"Nnrrg! Yes!"
"Good."
"It looks like I better wrap this up soon. It seems our graduates and their instructors are hungry to fight."
The spot light sat on either of their shoulders.
"Oh my gosh, what have you done?" The pink one buried her face into her hands.
Now everyone was staring.
"So in conclusion, with enough perseverance, all of you gems who are just finishing your studies but beginning your adventures can go out and conquer many, many worlds. Venture out into the universe and make your Homeworld proud!"
Applause. The Homeworld anthem. The field opening up for the next ten upcoming fights. The stadium was packed, because this was like a wrestling match. The best part of any graduation of the nobility was watching the throw-down between student and instructor.
"Without any further ado we're going to begin the fighting portion of today's ceremony. The rules are as follows: Each pair has three minutes to knock one another out. If the time spans over three minutes, there is no winner and both gems are to return to their seats. In the event of a knock out, neither party is allowed to break one another's gems. You are allowed to use your summoned weapons, but nothing else. Are the rules clear for everyone about to duel?"
There were no questions.
"Excellent. Let's commence. First up is Aquamarine and her instructor—"
Seats one and two stood but so did five.
"We're going first. I can't wait any longer." Jasper dragged Morganite out from her chair.
"We can't just go first! We have to wait our turn!"
"Says who?"
"The rules!"
"What are you two doing?"
"We're volunteering to go first."
"Sit back down right now!"
The enormous orange one did not move, and Morganite attempted to escape. However, the grip around her wrist was too strong.
"Why?"
"Jasper, don't do this to me!"
"I'll allow it." A voice descended upon the masses from high up above and the whole audience gasped.
Yellow Diamond spoke from her balcony.
"I can see that Jasper truly wants to fight, so why shouldn't she and Morganite go first? This sort of spirit deserves to be celebrated, and it's precisely what this ceremony is all about. Good luck to the both of you."
The warrior goddess bowed down to her queen, and the whole audience cheered. Then she continued dragging Morganite to the field, and they took their places.
"You're unbelievable, Jasper."
"Don't you think I already know?"
The announcer: "Fighters! Take one minute to change attire and stretch!"
So they did. The instructor elected to look more like herself. The only thing that remained the same was her now smooth-ish hair, but every other aspect returned her to the Jasper Morganite knew. Then she stretched.
The champagne pink one gave herself the attire of a prince and she too, stretched.
The minute was up.
"Summon your weapons!"
Jasper's crash helmet appeared and Morganite pulled rapier un et deux from her chest and pointed at her opponent with the one in her right hand. The crowd was already going wild. In response, the larger punched her heart lines and the roar from those thousands of gems went even louder until the only sound was that of blood lust.
"Begin!"
The former student bowed to her former instructor and they came at one another, Jasper barreling at Morganite who dodged her fists with a sort of noble grace.
Though the smaller could have counter attacked, she was having issues becoming one with this moment. This whole thing seemed unimaginable, now that it was actually occurring. There was so much build up and so much noise from the crowd that it was disorienting. Though, Morganite did a good job dodging and defending.
She crossed her two swords above her head as Jasper brought down her fists and struggled so hard with her opponent's arms that she forgot about her legs. All of a sudden, Morganite was tumbling across the field with such force it didn't register inside her reality. But that also meant it didn't hurt as much.
The audience felt the damage for her.
Morganite was quickly back on her feet and began to charge at Jasper, who was heading right for her. This time, with swords extended, she thrust and the larger one had no choice but to move back to avoid the tip of those long, sharp, toothpicks. She moved to the center of the field before turning into a bright orange ball of glowing light and rolling away from Morganite's rapiers.
Then Jasper circled the field and left her in the middle.
Those black and multi-colored crystal eyes followed that light as much as they could. Her whole body was turning around in circles in an attempt to keep up. So when Jasper came at her, she didn't dodge as well as she could have due to her swimming head.
Jasper scraped past her and knocked Morganite back once again, but she was quickly on her feet and braced her right sword with both hands, allowing the other one to temporarily disappear.
She was being circled again, and when Jasper charged at her, she timed her attack correctly and was able to land a hit.
It was hard to say what exactly she caught, but judging by the weight and pressure in the handle, it had to be something. The towering tangerine figure stood with her back facing her opponent, two large horizontal scratches on either of her legs.
Jasper turned around.
And they stared at one another.
Morganite pulled out her left rapier and braced herself for the coming attack. Jasper was running again and that little pink gem had every intention of ramming both swords through her attacker's chest. But as she shot her arms out forward, her target moved to the side and got her with an incredible head-butt, and Morganite was sent chest first onto the smooth tiles. Before she could roll away and launch any kind of counter attack, Jasper picked her up by the hair.
"Is this what you call winning?"
Those attractive, scuffed-up boots aimed for their enemy's broad chest.
"You've at least got a lot of spirit, kid. I'll give you that!"
Jasper sent Morganite skipping like a stone across the field, eventually landing on her feet with the tangerine warrior queen coming right at her.
Don't let her hit you.
She was coming closer and closer.
You know you can do this.
Her strong legs slammed out a rhythm on the smooth, polished floor.
Stop freaking out!
Jasper threw an aggressive punch that missed and the right sword was able to scratch the length of her arm. Even though it looked excruciating, she didn't stop for a moment and the two broke into a routine of blows so in synch they wouldn't even land. The pair seemed to move around each other and there was hardly any pause in the nonstop barrage.
What broke it up was Jasper punching Morganite in the face and allowing her to tear past the flesh in her previously unharmed shoulder. But where the smaller lost a few counts in their dance, the larger pulled the offending blade straight from her hand and tossed it away. Then, with those two enormous hands, she caught the other one mid-stab and pulled its owner forward, getting her again with a ruthless head-butt.
Morganite at least covered her gem with the inside of her right arm before falling to the ground with such force.
Get up!
Her two legs pushed her forward, but it was no good. She only managed to slide her face against the floor.
Get up!
Then there was the feeling of fingers intertwining into her tangled hair.
No—!
Jasper smiled in her face before throwing a few punches into her limp body and kicking her around like a bean bag. Morganite went flying, and so did her aggressor, that enormous gem with her wild white hair spinning her directly into the ground.
They broke the tiles and Jasper dug a tunnel with Morganite at the end of it, her shoulder blades playing the roles of effective shovels.
Then they stopped.
"Twenty more seconds!"
Foreheads touched after Jasper rescinded her helmet. But it wasn't painful.
"Fifteen!"
"Nice try."
"Fourteen!"
"You should be proud."
"Thirteen!"
"No one has ever gotten this far."
"Twelve!"
"See you on the other side."
"Eleven!"
Jasper came out of the crater she had made to total silence.
Morganite whispered to herself.
"Who said I was finished?"
Ten!
Somehow, she got her ruined limbs to move.
Nine!
"You've beaten me so many times, it'll take more than that to stop me now."
Eight!
Morganite began to crawl out.
Seven!
Six!
The light was becoming more and more apparent as she haphazardly pushed the dirt and tile shards from her beneath her tarnished boots.
Five!
Four!
And she stumbled.
Three!
And she fell.
Two!
But she made it.
One!
Morganite was able to balance on her two wobbling feet and even managed to straighten her back, despite the overwhelming pain. Her vision washed out beneath the unstoppable day light, but she stayed up.
The buzzer rang.
The entire audience went absolutely mad.
They started chanting her name.
"Well folks, in an unbelievable turn of events, this match had ended in a draw!"
Jasper had come over to her and those black-spotted irises looked up, into her face.
"I couldn't beat you."
The teacher did not reply. Instead, she brushed off her underling's outfit and placed her palms on either of Morganite's cheeks. Her smile contained something the smaller one hardly recognized; those crazy yellow eyes were on fire.
Jasper kissed her forehead and lifted her into the air for everyone to see.
The hype went even louder, until it was deafening.
Morganite laughed and cried and bled, basking in the applause and Jasper's pride. The same pride she had been laughing and crying and bleeding for the entire time.