Disclaimer: I don't own Steven Universe
(A/N: Okay o the speech recognition thing didn't work out so well. I don't know if you noticed but it perceived me saying panicked as pancake. I well be going back to fix those later. I think it's safe to say that I should stick to the good old keyboard from this point on.
Dante Waterson: thank you
niteowl18: yes they are
Tommiboy: thank you for your support
demo – nisshu jinketsu Duke: good, enjoy)
Chapter 10: My Greatest Strength
Pearl let her eyelids fall gently as she focused all of her energy into one spot in her core. Feeling the condensed life force in her chest, she let it go. Her eyes were forced open glowing a bright shade of white, and she could feel it flow through her arms into those around her. The humans felt the great amount of energy overtake them, and exert a massive amount of pressure on their insides. To them it felt like their veins were about to explode, and this was coupled with the distinct feeling of intensified gravity. They had to use a massive amount of effort just to keeping themselves from falling. After only a few moments versus their eyes were forced open as well, and glowed the same shade of white as the energy inside them started to burn fiercely. Remembering what Pearl had warned them about they pulled themselves together and attempted to focus the energy within them. As their focus intensified, they felt the energy pool in their chests and rest there comfortably before gently flowing through the rest of their bodies like the warm blood in their veins. Pearl fell to her knees, panting and gasping for breath.
"That about does it." She said in between pained breaths. "Are you all alright?" She asked with high hopes. The humans inspected themselves, trying to find any sign of injury, but found nothing thankfully. They all nodded to the white gem on the floor. "Good," she said while pulling herself off the floor. The young heroes looked down to their weapons to find that they were different now. Sadie's Spear was now sharper than ever, and had flowing patterns engraved in the metal. She picked it up and to her surprise found that it weighed almost nothing now. Bucks axe now had a textured grip on two spots on the handle, and the blade was stripped of its red paint and shone pure silver with a Celtic life circle now engraved into the both sides of the face; like the last it felt practically weightless. Sour's machete had a black dragon carved along the flat of the blade, and a wicked saw pattern along the back of the blade with curved teeth, and like the one before it was almost weightless. Jenny's chain was now a permanent night shade black, and when she picked it up and imagined hitting something with it each link except for the ones she was holding onto sprouted half inch long spikes, which made her drop it in shock; so fast in fact that she almost didn't notice how little it weighed (you get the idea right they feel like they weigh less than they actually do when their user picks them up). Ron's katana shined blood red on the blade and had a cross shaped tsuba. The grip now was now white as parchment except for the parts that had kanji written in black ink along the fabric. Ron recognized them as the characters for strength, knowledge, and bravery repeated in that order. Lars looked at his bow which now had small blades along the arms, and a badass paint job with black and white. When he check on the compound wheels he noticed that they were supporting double the draw weight that they were before, and yet he could still pull the string back as if nothing had changed. Nothing had changed about Rose's sword.
"You may notice some differences in your weapons. This is because when you fight your caine flows through your weapons. When you unlock your chikara your caine changes, and so does your weapon. The presence of the this new caine alters them to make them much more efficient (like having them weigh less) and work in tandem with your chikara" The teens examined their new weapons in great detail, wanting to see what new perks they just got. "Now let's see your new powers," she said unhindered, having regained her breath.
"How do we do that?" Connie was the first to ask.
"Focus your caine into your center. Feel it, concentrate on the swirling energy inside of you. After that pretend that you're in a fight and it should show itself naturally," she said in an explanatory tone. "Connie, you already had the most training in caine, so it should've gone the smoothest for you. Why don't you go first," Connie stepped forward.
"If you say so," she faced one of the rocks, and followed Pearl's instructions. For a few moments nothing happened, and then Pearl stepped in.
"Don't push yourself too hard, just because the procedure was a success doesn't mean that your mastery of caine has gotten any higher. Using your chikara takes up a lot of your caine, and when it's gone you lose your strength and durability as well, so use it wisely –"Pearl was cut off when the boulder that Connie was facing suddenly lifted off the ground. Her eyes glowed a light blue color and the same color cascaded over her hands, leaving a translucent sheen of blue. The light faded and the rock dropped back to earth. The night and training turned around excitedly to face her teacher.
"Did you see that?! I moved with my mind!" She almost shouted with electrify excitement clear in her voice.
"Telekinesis, very impressive; your mind always has been your greatest strength. Who would like to try next?" Pearl asked while Steven and Connie celebrated on the sidelines. Buck raised his hand, and took Connie's place about ten feet in front of the boulder. He mimicked Connie's actions, and immediately felt caine rush through his arms and create a tingling sensation. Suddenly his axe gained its original weight and then some. Buck wasn't expecting this and as such let the axe drag him down as the blade imbedded itself into the ground. In that instant thin cracks followed by red light opened up all the way to under the boulder; at which point an eruption of red energy burst upward threw the giant rock. Buck stared at the ruble he created and stood up with only a slight smile.
"Cool," he said, stoic as ever. Pearl placed her right hand on her chin in contemplation.
"hmm, tectonic blasts. Interesting," she said not entirely sure of her own analysis.
"I guess you could say that I'm ground breaker," Buck joked.
"Me next!" Jenny chimed a she playfully shoved Buck out of the way. She faced a new boulder as she focused her caine into her chest and suddenly felt invigorated, like her usual energy was magnified. Figuring that this must've been her cue she gave her chain an experimental lash. A sort of clear energy launched from the chain and pushed the 400 pound boulder back five feet. Whether the force was created by a manipulation of wind, gravity, or just sheer energy was impossible to determine. Pearl didn't know what to make of this one, so she said nothing.
"Okay my turn," Sour said stepping forward and taking Jenny's spot. He focused his caine and suddenly felt as if his whole body was vibrating. With this feeling achieved he imagine Jersey Devil right in front of him and launched his fist as if he were about to break its nose. The result of which was a constant stream of sonic waves that distorted the air like heat would. This did nothing to the solid rock, but Pearl recognized the tactical use of this particular chikara.
"Sonic blasts, a very useful chikara to have. Be careful though; a stray hit from one of your blasts could severely damage a human," Pearl explained. Sour nodded, having experienced sonic blasts did to Lars last week.
"Looks like I'm up," Ron said confidently. He stepped up to the plate (so to speak) and pulled his caine into his core while he chanted in his mind please be laser eyes, please be laser eyes, please be laser eyes. His mind got a little fuzzy and his hearing now felt like it was better than the day he was born.
I can't believe Jenny wore that skirt; she knows that it drives me crazy. He heard in his head wait a second. I didn't think that. Then it hit him. "I have telepathy!" He cheered. It wasn't as cool of a power as he was hoping for, but he was too distracted by the fact that he was essentially a super hero now to be bummed out about it. With this Lars came up. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly, trying to put all of his concentration into focusing his caine. After a moment or so of this he felt this electric zapping on his skin and all around him. He opened his eyes to find exactly that. An electrified aura zapped along the surface of his skin.
"Electric aura hm, very interesting. Try shooting one of your arrows," She suggested. Lars suppressed the urge to panic brought on by the sight of his electrified skin and did as Pearl told him. When he drew his arrow the electricity swarmed around the bow and the arrow he had loaded. "This chikara will allow you to perform a sort of charge shot like mine does," He fired the arrow which cut through the air, leaving behind a trail of yellow sparks only to bounce off the solid rock. Then the rush of his new power wore off and he realized the reality of why this was his chikara.
My greatest strength is pushing people away. Sadie came up to him with a smile on her face.
"Wow, Lars that's really cool," She chimed while beaming up at her boyfriend. Lars put on a fake smile and forced his feelings into a pit in his stomach.
"Thanks; I can't wait to see what yours is," Lars said while stepping out of the way. Sadie was now the center of attention with all eyes on her. She ignored this as she forced all of her caine into the center of her chest, and then without warning it exploded. The caine rushed to her arms and legs and she could feel her muscles involuntarily tensing. Her skin acquired a light red tint, and her eyes turned white. She felt empowered and almost euphoric with a large dose of adrenaline flowing through her body. Acting on complete instinct she charged at the boulder with abnormal speed, jumped into the air, and landed a punch before she hit the ground. The red tint disappeared and her eyes returned to normal. Everyone was taken aback by this completely unexpected power. She fell to her knees and caught her breath. I suppose you could say her greatest strength was strength.
(A/N: Endings are hard and it had to end somewhere. I'm sorry if this sucked, while I was typing this it just felt like it was dragging on and on. I hope it was more entertaining for you guys to read than it was for me to type.)