Happy Holidays! Sorry for the sudden stops in writing. I had to sort some things out. But now, I can put some focus back on my good old stories. Now then, most of you saw Tokyo as the better option. So, they go to Tokyo. I do not own Steven Universe or its characters, ideas, ect. If you have a comment of criticism, praise, or a suggestion over how the story should go, leave a review. That's that! Enjoy! And have a very merry Christmas!

God bless, JPLegends

CHAPTER NINETEEN: Ravaged Cities

"We need to head to Tokyo," Steven shouts. "There's no time to debate. I'm not risking an entire city for one gem!" He swivels his head to see the silhouette of the Skywatcher. And with that, everyone starts racing to the warp pad. Garnet activates it and everyone leaps through, leaving at just the right time.

"Everyone," Pearl says. "This Warp Pad leads to the Central Tokyo District Shibuya. It may be filled with gem activity. Keep a low profile and be careful where you walk." Everyone listened, and understood. Everyone knew how dangerous this mission is. Every mission beforehand has just been little assignments building up strength so they could fight the enemy. But with Tokyo under the Skywatcher's influence, it was going to fall soon. So, they took the chance, and now they are about to enter a theater of war. And Steven had his doubts. Right now, their force was a good sized militia, nothing near an army. Sending the troops into Tokyo is a huge risk; however it is one that has to be taken. If they lose Tokyo, they will lose some of the most high tech supplies asked for, and thirty-two million lives. Steven took a deep breath, and as quickly as they were out of the Himalayas, they were in Tokyo.

It appeared to be early morning, with some of the sky colored with red, orange and pink, but stars are still visible. The buildings look horrible, with glass shattered, flame scorches and some buildings have even collapsed. Rubble is on the street, and there are bodies of human allies, and shattered gems, on the streets. The sound of gunfire rings in the air, and gem ships fly through the air, soldiers standing post on nearby buildings. Connie walks over to one of the shattered gems and picks it up. "Looks like our Japanese allies know how to defeat the gems." All of a sudden, static rings, and everyone turns to Soren, who is tapping at his gauntlet.

"A radio transmission," He says. "I'm trying to clear it up now." It gets more clear until there is a low, gravelly voice, transmitting in Japanese. Soren taps at his gauntlet, and the voice transmits in English:

"This is Major Yoshi Harada of the JGSDF. I'm pinned down at Times Square. My men are dropping like flies. If anyone hears this, send help. Quickly!" Steven looks around and sees the gem soldiers start running from their posts, and the ships in the sky start flying in the same direction.

"It looks like we're not the only ones who got the signal." Sour Cream says, pumping his gem supplied shotgun.

"They're gonna get destroyed!" Amethtyst says, continuing the human's thought.

"Double time," Soren yells, running toward the direction the soldiers are headed. "We are not losing anyone today! Once we get there, run the crescent procedure! Move!" Everyone dashes, following the gem ships and find themselves on a piece of building rubble, looking down on a crater in the center of Times Square. Gems fire at a position, holding down a number of soldiers in an area, who valiantly attempt to fight back. Steven, Connie, Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst and Soren take point as the soldiers form a half circle shape and close in. The soldiers, completely caught off guard, never see Amethyst, Pearl, Steven and Connie begin a frontal attack in the middle of the lines. Steven and Connie take the opportunity and run toward the soldiers, Connie shouting something in Japanese. Behind them, Amethyst and Pearl begin to cripple the ranks from within the numbers, the militia circles around them and start picking them off and Garnet and Soren begin destroying the incoming gem fighters. Within minutes, all of the opposing gems have been poofed and shattered. The militia takes the opportunity to rest, while five Japanese soldiers approach Steven and Connie.

An older man, about fifty-six, is in front, wearing a blackish-blue vest, and camouflage wear in the same color, bearing the Rising Sun flag on his upper arms and vest. He has rough features, with brown eyes and black hair, with strings of grey. "I am Major Hamada," he says, nodding. "I am in your debt. They were going to kill us." He nods at the four men around him and they go off. "Who are they," He asks. "They have technology I've never seen before."

"I'm Connie Maheswaran," Connie says, nodding. "I can have Soren send you the dossier. It's a long story." Steven nodded. He wasn't sure the Major would even believe the story. But there was no time to be picky.

Major Hamada nodded. "I would appreciate it. We have little time. Enter the building behind where we were taking cover. If it is no trouble, my soldiers have been through a lot. We need time to mourn the dead. There is a lot to mourn."

"Go ahead, sir," Steven says. "We'll wait for you." Hamada shakes their hands and walks to his men, who have gathered a few bodies. They lower their heads and just stand there. Everyone heads in the building, which appears to have been a restaurant beforehand. Now, it is a base of operations. There is an armory on the right wall, mounted with many pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles and so on. On the left is what appears to be a common area, for the soldiers to rest. On the far wall, there is an extra room. Steven could see enough to know what it was: a morgue. In the center is a collection of tables, outfitted with computers and radios. The militia sits around the common area, and the Japanese soldiers mingle with them. Soren appears to have given Hamada something, and joins the Crystal Gems, who are in a discussion. Everyone settles in the area, Steven and Connie, with nothing else better to do, start talking about the movie adaption of "Unfamiliar Familiar". An hour later, Hamada approaches them.

"I've read the dossier." He says, sitting down with them.

"It's all real," Steven says. "It doesn't seem real but…" Hamada puts up his hand, signaling the boy to stop.

"I'm losing from all sides in a theater of war," the Major says. "I've no time to be picky. I do appreciate you coming to save, Tokyo, however. I'll assume you want updates. I'll give you them." He walks over to a computer and pulls up a map of Tokyo. "Central Tokyo is under attack from all angles. Our ground forces are putting up a valiant fight. It proves our enemy, no matter how durable, is not invincible," the area of the map appears to be colored orange. The next area pops up, colored red and labeled 'Old Tokyo.' "Shitamachi never stood a chance. It got hit straight out of the gate. We need outrageous numbers if we are to take it back. Otherwise, a skirmish in that area is a death sentence," the next area pops up, colored purple, labeled 'suburbs.' "The suburbs are an area of interest. There is not that much military resistance in the area. Our drones did pick up a number of camps, housing both civilians and our own military forces."

"You're bogged down, Major," Connie says, crossing her arms. "It seems that you can't do much of anything. You're forces are about to lose Central. How many troops are left out there?"

"Most of them are held captive in the suburbs," Hamada says, spinning in his chair. "The rest are out fighting to keep your gems out."

"So, you can't defend Central and try to capture Old Tokyo at the same time, and the gems' forces, no matter how small, are technologically superior to yours," Connie says, rubbing her chin. "You lose your forces if you try to infiltrate the suburbs and even if you survive, you will lose Central. Not much you can do without losing Tokyo altogether."

"So, what do you suggest we do then?" Hamada asks, rubbing his temples.

"Didn't you say you had drones scouting the suburbs?" The Major and Steven look at Connie, who has a wild look in her eyes. Hamada grins.

"Smart girl," He says, spinning back to the computer and pulling in some information on some attack drones, which appear to be armed with missiles and a mini-gun of sorts. "We don't have many drones out there, kid. But you already knew that. There is a warehouse around the industrial area of Central Tokyo that is loaded with attack drones. If we capture that area, we can get those drones. What after that?" Connie smiles and looks at him.

"We take whatever forces we have left and push into the suburbs, half of the drones with us and the others patrolling Central Tokyo, minimizing the ground and air resistance in that area. We clear out any gem resistance in the suburbs and bring all of the remaining captives into Central Tokyo. From there, we can keep the civilians here and every soldier and drone we have with us will help retake Old Tokyo. It's a start, but first we need to break into the warehouse quickly and unexpected."

Hamada looks at her, and chuckles a little bit. "You are a smart one, kid. It appears you have the superior gear to attack the warehouse. We can provide a distraction for you, get their attention for you." Connie sighs and shakes her head. It was here Steven realized the critical error in her plan: Hamada's squad. There was only five of them and, by the looks of it, very little of the same types of people still alive on the battlefield. They needed support while providing the distraction.

"You need support, or else you won't last five minutes in the distraction field," Connie says. "We can lend you some of our heavy hitters. You can have Soren Spessartine and Amethyst. But then, there's Steven and I. We fight better as a team," Steven smiles and looks away, his face suddenly flushing for no reason. "It's just a question of who we're going with." Hamada nods and stands up, saluting Connie.

"Thank you, Connie," Hamada says. "I thought this battle was unwinnable for the JSDF. But now, you've given us a chance."

"Much obliged, sir," Connie says, saluting him back. "But I'm not the one to thank. Steven's been through this war the longest of our little militia and he came up with the idea to support Tokyo." Steven turns even redder, nervously laughs and salutes the Major. Hamada responds by shifting so he's saluting at Steven. Then, he drops the gesture and walks away. Connie turns toward Steven and says "It's one or the other, Steven. If you go with the militia, we could potentially give the militia an edge in battle. But if we go with Hamada's squad, they have a higher chance of living to the final push. Where do we go?"

The militia or Hamada's squad? The choice is yours. I tried to get everything on Tokyo accurate but if you see anything wrong or inaccurate, please tell me so I can correct it. I don't wish to offend anyone. Happy Holidays!

God bless, JPLegends