HAPPY WINTER BREAK! MERRY CHRISTMAS OR WHATEVER YOU CELEBRATE~! ^u^

Steven went home, this was either the second or third time he'd seen those gem shards, he really couldn't remember how many times, his brain hurt too much from everything happening. He sighed, out of all the gem shards he'd found he couldn't even keep one, one he somehow broke, the other was stolen by Onion, and if there was another one he couldn't remember what happened too it, he didn't wanna think about that right now though. He had just gotten Lonely blade, the new one with English subtitles. He sat on his bed with the rest of the gems below him, jumping on Garnets surprisingly sturdy Afro that was able to hold him.

Sitting through the movie a second possibly third time was starting the bore the boy. He turned over, stiffing a groan, trying to act interested , but his mind was elsewhere. He thought of theories and futures that might connect to the gem shard, and noticed something, the first gem shard he found had a string attached to it, the one he found yesterday didn't.

"Look at their form.." Pearl grumbled, going on about how unrealistic it was. "If you want to see a real sword fight come talk to me." Pearl added amidst her constant grumbling, she noticeably made that statement louder and more audible. Steven sighed.

"I can't believe I'm doing this..." The boy thought when he gave Pearl a curious excited stare, stars in his eyes, he touched Pearls face, getting her attention.

"Right now?" Pearl asked, he nodded.

Pearl warped into the sky arena. Smiling as distant memories arose when she took every step, as if the soft clouds were projecting memories every time she stepped on the cold tile. Pearl did a little twirl as she got into fighting position, drawing a sword from her gem.

"Alright, in order to give a proper demonstration i'm going to need a sparring partner-" She cut herself off as Steven rose his hand- which was instantly brought down by Garnet.

"-Luckily I have the perfect candidate right. Here." Pearl paused between words as her gem glowed, giving off a faint blue aura for a second, before projecting a slightly transparent blue tinted version of herself. She let a smile work its way into the corner of her lips as she glanced over at Steven, she was confused when she saw his facial expression.

Fear. She expected the boy to be excited, grinning at the new discovery. So why wasn't he? She had the sneaking suspicion it was connected to his odd behavior.

Steven saw the holo-Pearl project and fear spread across his facial features, he had bad experiences with it, first poofing Pearl, then nearly making Connie into a warrior dedicated to him and willing to give her life up. Although that was mostly Pearl's fault no matter how much Steven refused to believe Pearl would do such a thing, despite having seen it with his own eyes.

Steven glanced over to Pearl who was giving him an odd look, instead of giving awe Steven tried to act shocked and in the moment, so the shift wasn't as noticeable between his facial features. He heard Garnet hum a tune of suspicion and knew he needed to be more careful.

"Steven? Are you all right?" Pearl asked, Steven let a grin spread across his face and stars form in his eyes, he nodded hastily, even though he was scared for Pearl and what would come. "Alright, then lets begin." Pearl said, a satisfying smile creeping along her features.

"Nerds!" Amethyst yelled just as Pearl lunged forwards and the duo of spectators shushed Amethyst into silence.

Pearl steadied her weight, leaping into the air and pulling her arm back, letting her sword just barely rest against her shoulder, she turned and swung her sword at the holo-pearl who merely ducked under Pearl, she turned and let her feet agilely hit the ground with little pressure against her feet, she ran towards hologram Pearl, and ducked under her tall legs, using this as her chance to stab her from behind, the hologram merely spun around and blocked Pearls sword with its own.

Pearl, noticing the sheer power and strength being added to her opponent, backed up a few feet, before using hologram Pearl's sword to boost her into the air and flip over, plunging her sword into the back of the hologram, leaving behind a trail of particles.

"Like so." Pearl said, and gasped when feeling a sudden pressure against her waist. She looked down seeing a smiling Steven hugging her.

"You were amazing!" Steven cried, Pearl gave him a smile and a pat on the head.

"Well one does try their best." Pearl said, shrugging and letting her sword dip down, she let it disappear in a flurry of clouds and sparkles. Pearl summoned another transparent clone of herself and began instructing Steven.

"Alright, the best way to show you now would be on the lowest difficulty-" Pearl said, just as hologram Pearl began,

"Training mode initiated: Level one begin!" It said as it began a fighting stance. Pearl readied her own sword and gripped the hilt tightly.

"Watch and stand back Steven, watch me carefully alright?" Pearl asked, Steven nodded, his eyes threatened to shut tightly as he remembered the last time, it was all his fault that she had been poofed.

"Parry, parry, thrust!" Hologram Pearl began, repeating the line over and over.

"Do you see what I'm doing with my feet Steven?" Pearl asked, Steven had his eyes narrowed, threatening to shut tightly as he hoped for the best in anticipation, as long as Steven didn't distract her-

"Steven! Pay attention! You were the one who wanted to do this so badly!" Pearl cried, Steven widened his eyes, gluing them to Pearls lesson. "Steven, you need to focus, are you tired?" Pearl asked worriedly, turning from the fight and seemingly not even paying attention, and yet was still able to hold of the hologram, Steven began to speak up to tell her to look the other way, but his voice died down in his throat, Pearl rose an eyebrow and began to ask what was wrong when-

He couldn't look. He refused to look. But when a sudden weight tumbled over the young boy he was forced to look up. "Pearl?" Steven asked, seeing the gem still here. She didn't poof. But Steven still felt the wind, and saw the clouds passing by, he shielded his eyes from the strong gust. Who-

His answer was right in front of him. He felt Pearl get up and he looked just below her feet. There was a bright orange and yellow octagon cut gem lying there. And next to it was six purple gem shards, all aligned with a string attached to the one at the top.

Well...Long story short I've been anticipating this moment, I literally have been planning this since the start and I'm so glad I finally finished it and wrote it down.