Chapter 11: Isaac the Sword Fighter
It was a sunny day in the lovely town of Beach City. And no one was enjoying it more than Isaac. He would lounge outside on a beach chair or go out and swim for a bit in the water.
Nothing else exciting happened with crew other than an incident in Steven, Lars, and some of the local teenagers of Beach City. What had happened was that some moss that Rose Quartz grew and raised on the hill that was on the move, and the teenagers got trapped in it. Forcing Steven and Lars to work together to fix things. Afterward, Steven introduced Isaac to the teenagers, called the cool kids. At first, Isaac wasn't sure if he was going to like them because generally when you have a name like 'cool kids', you're not all that likable.
But he was surprised by how friendly they turned out to be. Buck Dewey was a relaxed and mysterious individual whose favorite activity is hanging out with his friends. He reminded Isaac somewhat of Garnet, with his sunglass. Sour Cream was the soft-spoken and chilled young man. A local DJ who seeks a life of music and DJing, despite his stepfather's disapproval. Kiki and Jenny Pizza were twin sister and reminded Isaac of Pearl and Amethyst with how different they were. Kiki was nice and comical with a sassy side, and Jenny was a chill, fun-loving teenager.
About two days passed by now, and it was honestly a little boring with no missions of monsters to fight. Isaac thought about hanging out with Steven but knew that the young boy was the only person that he did hang out with. He then thought about the Gems. Garnet wasn't around that often, and Amethyst would probably just want to do something dangerous.
That just left one person.
"Thank you for helping, Isaac," Pearl gratefully, while bending over to pick up one of Steven's dirty shirts. As Steven was looking for one of his rubber action figures called G.U.Y.S, Isaac decided to hang out with the slime Gem. Out of all the Gems, he's always enjoyed her company the most. Not only was she refined and intelligent, but surprisingly funny with how snarky she could be. Plus, Isaac also thought that she was very pretty, but kept that to himself.
"No problem. I saw how bad it was in here and didn't want you to have to deal with it alone," he said modestly to her. The reason they decided that now was a good time to clean Steven's mess of a room was that a bird somehow got inside and started building a nest. The job was almost complete, with Isaac picking up some toys off the floor and organized them on the window. He did it like how Pearl showed him. "Animal…humanoid…hmmm, miscellaneous."
Isaac then walked down the stairs and joined Pearl. The two looked at their work and saw how sparkly clear it was. "Perfect!" Pearl nodded with a proud smile. Isaac nodded with her.
"Soooo, what else do you want to do," he asked.
"What?"
"I was…kind of hoping that we could hang out, so I was just wondering what you usually do for fun," Isaac clarified, scratching the back of his head bashfully.
Pearl looked a little surprised, with a slight flush. Ever seen Isaac came to Beach City, she found his company to be rather pleasant. Not only was he a good role model for Steven and watched out for him, but he was also brave, kind-hearted, and hard-working. He was overall a good man. The moments they spent together were great and even made her happy, but she couldn't help but have a strange feeling about him. Now, she just didn't know how to react to just hanging out with the human. Was it like those dates Rose and Greg went on? Was he asking her on a date!? No, it couldn't be that. They were friends and would continue to be just that, right?
"Well…"
The moment was interrupted when Garnet came busting into the house. "We've got an emergency in town!" Isaac and Pearl looked at each other and nodded. The subject was dropped, and they followed Garnet out the house.
To make a long story short, Steven found out that Onion had a Ranger Guy and wanted to trade with the freaky kid. The only problem was that he wouldn't have anything that Steven was offering until he offered a Gem device that was able to replicate objects that belonged to Pearl. How he got a hold of it, they have no idea. But once Onion got his hands on the replicator, he caused serious mayhem by causing a floor of one of the G.U.Y.S. Luckily Steven was able to get it back, after finding out the Ranger Guy that Onion had was his and the boy stole it from Steven. Steven was able to make please with Onion, and Garnet destroyed the replicator, making the other G.U.Y.S. go away.
Tomorrow came, and it was raining all day. So, the Gems and hybrids spent most of the time in the house. Lion was sleeping outside under the house. Late in the afternoon, Steven decided that they could spend the time watching a movie. So, Isaac and the Crystal Gems joined him on the second floor. Sitting on the floor at the end of the young boy's bed, they all watched the movie Lonely Blade IV, the fourth movie in a popular Japanese samurai movie series.
On-screen, two characters confront each other. One was a samurai and the other one was a janitor. "It was you! You were the one who killed my brother. Cursing me to fight alone forever!" Said the samurai in Japanese. English dubs of the movies were extremely rare, so they had to use the Japanese version with the subtitles.
"Oh, Lonely Blade, you so lonely," said Steven, as Amethyst ate some popcorn. Isaac was sitting next to Pearl. The blonde would take any chance he had to make fun of the movie while the Gem next to him watched with a confused expression.
"Yeah, it not like he had many other people helping him and a girlfriend," Isaac joked with a smirk.
"You think you can defeat me?" asked an obviously evil janitor with a broom. The guy then pulled his broom handle and revealed it to have a blade inside it. "The President of the Shadow Samurai Government?!"
As he was sitting on top of Garnet's hair, Steven was shocked by this. "What?! The janitor is the evil samurai president?! That's bananas!"
"Oh, come on, it was so obvious. He's been mopping in the background of every fight scene," Pearl said, before picking up the movie cover and showed it to Steven "Look, here he is on the cover of the box."
Lonely Blade then pulled out both of his katanas and put them together by their pommels. This was one part of the movie that Isaac didn't really like. While the first three Lonely Blade movies had realist sword fights that were grounded to reality, the fourth movie decided to forgo that for a more cartoonish and over the top fighting style. And the biggest one of them was the Boomerang Blade.
"Go, Lonely, go!" Steven chanted excitedly as Amethyst ate some more popcorn. "Do the Boomerang Blade again!"
"Oh, come on, this is ridiculous," Pearl complained. "Just look at their form, this is nothing like real sword fighting." Garnet shushed her, but Isaac could understand where she was coming from, as she was a swordfighter.
Steven laughed and grabbed a handful of popcorn. "It's just a movie, Pearl," he said and stuffed his mouth with the popcorn.
"Well, if you ever want to see a demonstration of proper sword techniques, I'd be happy to show you," Pearl offered, and that got Isaac's attention.
"You'd do that for me," he asked, getting her attention.
Pearl looked at him with wide eyes with a bit of a blush on her cheeks. "You actually want to learn?"
"Well, sure," Isaac said, moving his body so that he was sitting and facing her. Steven and the others were looking at them, with the boy staring with stars in his eyes. "I'm only self-taught and all I ever really do is swing my sword around. Since you're an actual swordfighter, you can teach me a thing or two."
Pearl gasped and smiled. "You're right! Very well then."
Isaac looked around at where they were and was amazed. Pearl and the other Gems brought the boy hybrids to a large open area with tiled ground and marble obelisks lining both sides of the area. Each engraved with a Gem statue and Gem language. They place looked like it was in ruin, but what took Isaac's breath away was that they were actually in up in the sky, surrounded by a mass of clouds. It turned out the place belonged to Pearl, and it was where she would train in private.
As they waited for Pearl to get started, Isaac and the others were waiting on the stairs. Isaac, Steven, and Garnet were sitting on the steps, while Amethyst was lying on one of the small clouds. Pearl then walking over while holding two saber swords. "Alright, in order to give a proper demonstration, I'm going to need a sparring partner," Pearl told them. Steven began to raise his hand, but Garnet immediately lowered it.
Isaac stood up and said, "Okay, let's do this."
Pearl turned to him and said, "Actually, Isaac, I want you to watch and see the demonstration. Luckily, I have the perfect candidate right here." Pearl's gemstone glowed. She then started to gracefully dance with both swords in hand, before ending by summoning a holograph copy of herself. It faced her, as the two stood in the same poses, with a holographic light connecting from Pearl's gem to the clone.
"Cooool! Hologram Pearl!" Steven said, and Isaac nodded in agreement.
Amethyst, however, didn't share the same enthusiasm and groaned, "Ah, geez."
With a single swing of her sword, Pearl cut the light between her and the clone. This activated the clone and it became its own being. "Do you wish to engage in combat?" It asked.
"Let this be the perfect battle," Pearl said and tossed one the swords she had to her copy.
The Holo-Pearl caught the sword. "You've already made a mistake by challenging me!" The clone said with confidence and it got into a fighting pose.
Pearl laughed and got in her fighting pose. "We shall let our swords decide."
"Nerd!" Amethyst yelled to Pearl before both Steven and Garnet shushed her. Isaac sat back down on the steps of the stairs and watched closely at the duel that he was waiting to begin.
Holo-Pearl eyes reddened and changed into a glare. "Commencing duel." Immediately, it lunges towards Pearl with its sword out in a thrust. Pearl blocked the attack, causing a small shockwave that blew in the faces of the observers and even knocked over Steven.
Pearl and Holo-Pearl ran together, facing each other before the fight continued. Isaac watched Pearl as she blocked the hologram's attacks. Pearl then swung at her clone, but Holo-Pearl flipped back and continued to swing and slash at the Gem, and Pearl blocked and parried them. She then jumped high up into the air when Holo-Pearl swung at her torso. Pearl landed and block incoming attacks, before holding an attack with her sword.
"Defense rank S. Zero openings detected," Holo-Pearl said, pushing against Pearl's block.
Steven cheered, "Go, Pearl, go!"
"Go Holo-Pearl!" Amethyst cheered.
Pearl glared at Amethyst when she cheered/mocked. But this distracted her, and the hologram disarmed Pearl. Isaac gasped when her sword was sent flying in the air, before landing behind the hologram. "Opening detected." Holo-Pearl attacked the Gem, but Pearl dodged the incoming attack. Sliding underneath the clone's sword swung and grabbed her sword. She then blocked another attack, knocking the clone off balance. This allowed her to lunge her blade at the hologram landing a hit that sent Holo-Pearl away and rolling on the ground.
When it stopped, it was lying on its back and the eyes were back to normal. "Match set. Challenger wins."
"Woohoo! Yay, Pearl!" Steven cheered with excitement and ran over to Pearl. Isaac followed.
Holo-Pearl sat up. "Do you wish to battle again?"
Isaac walked up to Pearl as Steven circled excitedly around her. "That was incredible!" the blonde said with a smile. "You were awesome out there."
Pearl blushed at Isaac's compliments of her and laughed. "Oh-ho-ho, well, one does try their best," she said. Pearl then had her gemstone glow, and Isaac watched as another sword came out of it, just like how she summoned police tape. This one was a katana. Pearl grabbed it and handed the sword to Isaac. "I remembered you told me about the Japanese katana, and I decided to get one. Let's get started with your training."
"Aw~ are you giving a gift to your boyfriend," Amethyst asked, mocking her. However, it made the two blushed. Those blushes only grew when Isaac and Pearl glanced at one another, and quickly looked away and backed up from each other.
Steven, not taking note of how embarrassed Isaac and Pearl were, started making sword-fighting movements. "Will you teach me to sword fight like you, too?!" He asked with excitement.
Pearl snapped out of it and laughed at him. "Alright, but we should start with the basics," she said. Pearl then turned to the hologram and cleared her throat. "Initiate, training mode."
The hologram raised to its feet. "Training mode initiated. Level 1. Begin!"
"I want you two to stand back, and watch me carefully, okay," Pearl asked Isaac and Steven. The two boys complied and backed away from her, giving her room to fight. Isaac then got in a fighting stance just like Pearl but had two hands on the handle.
Holo-Pearl began the training with some basic attacks that Pearl easily blocked. "Parry! Parry! Thrust!" The clone chanted this continuously as it yelled each attack out loud.
"Do you see what I'm doing with my feet, Isaac? Notice where I keep my center of gravity." Isaac looked at her and listened to what she was telling him. He tried to match each of her parry and thrust movements while handling the katana. Keeping his feet positioned in a stance that kept his center of gravity with hers.
But while Isaac was listening and mimicking Pearl's instructions and movements, Steven started to lose excitement. "Aw, can you show us something cool? Like the Boomerang Blade!"
"Steven, that's not a real sword technique," Isaac scolded him. "Now listen to Pearl and concentrate."
However, Steven started to chant. "Boomerang Blade! Boomerang Blade! Boomerang Blade!"
Fed up with him, Pearl turned her attention to Steven. "Steven, these are real sword techniques," she said in an annoyed tone. Continuing to block the clone's attacks. "Not those silly things from your movies. It's about waiting carefully for the perfect moment to—"
"Thrust."
Holo-Pearl stab Pearl in the stomach and Pearl's eyes widened and she groaned briefly.
For Isaac, it was like everything stopped as he stared at Pearl with wide, horrified eyes and gasped. He heard Steven gasp in horror too and the two other Gems also being shocked. But he didn't pay attention to them. He could only watch in horror as Pearl stood there before she dropped her sword, which hit the ground with a loud clang.
He walked up to her. "…Pearl?" Isaac could barely speak as he reached his hands out to her.
Pearl looked at the sword sticking out of her chest and chuckled nervously. "W-whoopsie-daisy!" She then saw Isaac in front of her and the look of horror, fear, and devastation. Pearl knew what he was thinking and grasped both of his hands with hers, trying to reassure him. "Isaac, it's okay. I'm gonna be just—"
It was as if everything went deaf for Isaac as he watched the Gem he admired suddenly poofed into a cloud of dust. Leaving nothing but her gemstone. He stared at the gemstone as it started to fall. However, he caught it his hands but fell to his knees. Isaac stared down at the gem of Pearl with his eyes tearing up. Tears fell down on the gem. And then, his own gem started to glow.
"P-Pearl? Peaaarl..." Steven cried as he kneeled down next Isaac. However, his attention was then caught by something else. Just like at the Gems' birthday party, steam was flowing off of Isaac's arms. But it wasn't just his arms anymore. His shoulders and his back now had steam and smoke coming off of them. As his gem glowed and steam bellowed off his body, Isaac's hands started turning black, and large black veins started sprouting out and up to his arms.
When Garnet saw this, she gasped in terror. "STEVEN, GRAB PEARL AND RUN!"
Steven looked at her with confused and teary eyes but then saw more steam and smoke coming off Isaac's body. He did as he's told and snatched Pearl's gem out of Isaac's hands and ran towards the others for safety. Isaac didn't seem to notice, and the others watched as he stood up.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Suddenly he roared out in fury, causing a shockwave that knocked everyone on their butts when a large flame burst from his body. Isaac's fists, arms, shoulders, and back were now fire. And it wasn't like a normal flame, but like a wildfire had ignited from his body. His muscles and blood veins were much more prominent, and his eyes emitted a yellowish glow. The ground around him burned and the floor under him melted, as an intense heatwave shot off his body. Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven looked at Isaac's body with wide eyes. Paralyzed by shock and fear by what they were witnessing.
This power could only have come from Onyx. It was called Hellfire.
"PEEEAAAAARRRLLLL!" Isaac let out another enraged yell of pain and sorrow. And then, he fell on his front. Out cold. The fire was put out instantly, and the black veins on his arms and hands disappeared. His eyes went back to normal as he laid his head on its side.
Steven snapped out of his shock and ran to his friend. He ran over to Isaac and flipped him over on his back. Surprisingly, none of his clothing was damaged at all. "Isaac are you—" Steven stopped when he saw the blonde's face.
"Steven, what's wrong?" Amethyst asked as she and Garnet ran over to see what was wrong. When they saw Isaac's face, however, they too were shocked. "Whoa."
Multiple images flashed in Isaac's head that it was impossible to make out any of them. Several of them looked to be of happy things, while others were of horrific and terrible things. It was all very hard to make out, but Isaac was able to see three of them. One was of three tall silhouetted figures that towered over him. The second was of what looked like Rose Quartz, due to the pink curly hair he saw. And the last one was of a baby.
Isaac gasped and jointed up. Sweeting bullets as he looked ahead with wide eyes and his pupils shrunken down. "Isaac!" He was tackled by Steven. He was crying in his chest before looking up at him. "You're okay! I was so worried when you didn't wake up!"
"Steven? What's going on?" Isaac looked around and saw that he was lying on his air mattress, which was set up in front of Steven's bed, with his day clothes on. From the look of things out the window, it was still miserable outside.
That then Garnet and Amethyst came over. Amethyst was riding atop the floating cloud, while Garnet walked up the stairs. "Hey! Look who's up?" Amethyst cheered.
Garnet sat down on Steven's bed, as the boy let go of Isaac. "How're you feeling?"
Isaac adjusted himself so that he was sitting more comfortably. "I don't know," he admitted, putting a hand on his head. But as he remembered things before blacking out, he gasped. "PEARL!" Isaac shoot up and looked at Garnet. Grabbing her by her shoulders and looked at her with devastation. "Where is she!? Is she really…?"
Garnet gently placed her hands on his arms and moved them slowly away. "Isaac, it's okay, Pearl's gonna be just fine," she said. When she saw Isaac blinked at her with teary eyes, she explained further. "Sometimes, if our bodies are badly damaged, we release our physical forms and retreat to our gems to regenerate."
"Don't worry, man. These kinds of things just happen sometimes," Amethyst said. "Usually to me."
"Always to you."
"Hey, I'm scrappy. Whaddya want?"
Steven then came over with Pearl's gemstone place into a handbasket. "I've been keeping it incubated until you woke up," he said, before looking up at Isaac's face. "I do like your cool mark though."
"What're you talking about," Isaac asked. Garnet pointed at the window behind him with her thumb. Isaac turned around and looked out the window. It was cloudy and looked like it was going to rain. But then when he saw his reflection, that's when he was what they were talking about; the very same crack-like scar mark his mother had on the right side of his face. Isaac reached up and touched it with his finger. "What the hell is this? How'd this happen?"
"When you used Hellfire," Garnet said to Isaac, getting everyone's attention. She was now speaking in a deadly serious voice. "An extremely powerful magical ability that's unique only Onyx. Fueled by rage, if it's able to be controlled, it could a powerful weapon, but, if it got out of control, it could destroy everything around you, Isaac. Even hurt people."
Isaac's eyes widened as he took in every word, and each one of them weighs a lot for him. He knew that great power needed to be handled and used with great responsibility. But know he had a power that was a double edge sword. It could be used to take on powerful monsters, but it could also hurt his friends.
He could have hurt Pearl with he unleashed his Hellfire.
"Well, let's not think about that for now," said Steven. He took Pearl out of the handbasket and held it up to Isaac. "The Gems said that you can help her!"
Isaac took Pearl gemstone and asked Garnet, "What do you mean?"
"Another one of Onyx's abilities was to regeneration a Gem's physical form. Your mother felt real love for those that were around and followed her, that when they're physical bodies were destroyed, she wanted to bring them back," Garnet told Isaac in a softer tone. "Just like the Hellfire, I know you have her regenerating powers."
Isaac looked at her in amazement before looking down at Pearl. "I'm not even sure how to do this," he said, looking to Garnet for help.
"All it took for her was to hold the gem, and they were back," Garnet said. "No matter how long they were gone."
"Well, how long has it been?"
"About two weeks now," Amethyst said bluntly
Isaac wiped around and looked at her with his eyes as big as dish plates. "I've been knocked out for two whole WEEKS!"
Amethyst floated over and looked down at Pearl in the young man's hands. "Yeah. She's really taking her time with this one," the purple Gem said, before looking at the rest of the house. The place was in a messy state, with trash everywhere, things thrown carelessly to the ground, and dishes piled up in the kitchen. No doubt because Steven hadn't been doing his own cleaning. "Gotta tell you though, love what Steven has done with the place."
"Why does it look like this, Steven," asked Isaac.
"Pearl usually helps me tidy up," Steven said sheepishly.
Isaac sighed and looked at Pearl's gemstone. "Well, that's another reason to bring her back."
"Eh, I say leave it," said Amethyst.
"Hey! If real Pearl can't be here, there's always the next best thing!" Steven exclaimed. He then down the steps and ran over to something tall that was being covered up by a sheet. Steven grabbed the sheet and removed it, revealing Holo-Pearl was under it.
The thing turned on and said, "Do you wish to engage in combat?"
Isaac looked at the clone with a glare. "You actually kept that thing!? What the hell!?" He yelled at Steven.
"But it's like Pearl," he said. "Look at it."
"Yeahhh I agree with Isaac," said Amethyst, looking at the hologram in disgust. "That ain't Pearl."
"Well, maybe I can get it to act like her."
While Steven was in the house with the clone, Isaac was standing on the beach with Pearl's gemstone in his hands. He stared at it for a moment, as the winds of the sea blew through his hair. "Alright Pearl, I know you're in there. I know that you're taking your time, but we could really need you here," he said, before cupping the smooth stone in his hands.
He believed that by channel his powers into his hands, then maybe he'd be able to regeneration his friend. But the thing is that Isaac didn't know how to do that. And as he continued to try and bring her back out, grunting while trying to force his powers out, there was still no progress.
Isaac sighed in frustration, before sitting down on the sand. "Why isn't this working!?"
"You trying to crush her," asked Amethyst as she and Garnet approached him. The purple Gem still sitting on her cloud.
"Yeah," Isaac whispered as he looked down at the gemstone. There just had to be a way to use the power.
Garnet stared at the blonde young man for a moment. "You don't take loss well, do you," she asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.
Isaac nodded his head and stood back up. "When dad died, it felt like everything was falling apart. I had nowhere else to go. And...well, I just don't want to lose another person close to me," he sighed with a miserable. Before a hand is placed on his shoulder.
"I happy to hear that," Garnet said kindly as Amethyst got off her cloud and pulled it over as she walked to the other side of Isaac. "Your actions and words show that you really care about us and Steven."
"And you like Pearl~!" Amethyst teased.
Making Isaac blush wildly, and he backed away from the two. "WHAT?! Wha-I-It's not like that!" Isaac shouted with wide eyes and face redded with embarrassment as Amethyst laughed out loud hysterically. He growled. "You jerk! That wasn't funny!"
"It's a little funny," Garnet said with a smirk. "Because it's true."
Isaac sighed in frustration as his blush remained on his face. It was true that Isaac really liked Pearl, but didn't think that it was a crush he had on her. Besides, it's not like she would see him like that, right?
He shook his head and stared at the two. "So what are you guys doing out here," he asked.
"I'm gonna eat this!" Amethyst said, grabbing the cloud.
Isaac's eyes widened. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Too late!" Amethyst suddenly swallowed the cloud whole. Chewing it before swallowing. Nothing happening at first and everything seemed to be okay. But then the short Gem inflated without warning, float upwards like a balloon. Garnet grabbed her before she floated off.
Isaac tried to hold in his chuckles, as it was just too funny to see the reckless Gem in such a ridiculous. "Y-You okay, Ames?" He asked, letting one laugh escape.
"You know its actually not that bad."
"I won't go easy on you this time!" Isaac heard a familiar robotic sound that made him frown. He sighed out of his nose, irked as Steven walked over to him, Garnet, and balloon Amethyst. Following him was Holo Pearl, now wielding an umbrella.
"What are you rascals doing over here?" Steven asked.
"Draw your weapon, challenger!" Holo Pearl yelled, before pointing the umbrella as though it were a sword at Isaac and opened it.
This angered Isaac, more than having to look at the thing. "Bring it on, bitch!" He growled, cracking his knuckles. However, before he attacked the clone, he was stopped when Garnet placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Ugh, Steven, why are you still hanging out with that thing? It's gross," Amethyst said, before burping out a piece of cloud.
Steven sat down on the sand and looked sadly at it. "I just really miss spending time with Pearl," he told her, before looking to Isaac. "Have you figured out how to bring her back?"
"If I did, then we wouldn't be in this situation," Isaac groaned, pushing away the umbrella still pointed at him. "I still don't even have full control of my freakin powers!"
Garnet still had her hand on Isaac as she said to him, "This isn't something that you can rush, Isaac. Your power can only come to you as you continue to grow and learn the ways of being a Crystal Gem. And if you can't figure it, then remember she's not dead. Pearl will come back to us in time. Have patience."
She then turned to Steven, and for a moment, Steven was sure that Garnet was going to give him some words of wisdom.
"And stop hanging out with that thing. It's creepy," Garnet said instead and crossed arms.
However, in doing so, she accidentally let go of Amethyst. With no control of her body and the direction she was going, Amethyst helplessly floated away. Isaac watched with wide eyes and Garnet just hummed a little.
Although it wasn't sunny, Isaac stared up at the clouds to watch them go by. Next to him was Pearl in her handbasket. The blonde had brought the Gem to her favorite cherry blossom tree ontop the hill. "You really know how to pick a place to relax, Pearl," he said, looking to the gemstone.
However, there was no response. Isaac sighed and looked back up at the sky.
"I wish you were here, Pearl. Many you could help me with something," he said, remembering back to the dear that he had before waking up. "I had this weird dream, or vision. I don't know. I couldn't see everything that was happening, but I remember three things. One was of these three figures, and then I saw Rose Quartz, or at least I think it was her. And the last one was of a baby. I was holding it in my arm as it was crying."
A gust of wind blew through the area, as Isaac was lost in thoughts for a moment. Why did he have that dream? Was there something important to it? "Ah! There you are!" Isaac's eyes widened when he heard Steven's voice and grunted in annoyance.
"What are you doing here?" He demanded as the boy and Holo-Pearl approached him. Steven was holding a stuffed walrus and Holo-Pearl was holding a balloon sword and wore a balloon crown. "I came here to get away from that fucking thing!"
"Oh, come on Isaac, you've gotta help me here," Steven said, sounding desperate for assistance. "I took it to the boardwalk, and it just cut up a bunch of things."
"Then why bring it here?!"
"Well...this is Pearl's favorite. I wanted to see if it would trigger some kind of memory." Steven then turned to the clone. "Don't you recognize it? What's on your mind? Come on, don't hold back."
Isaac sighed. Why was Steven trying so hard to make the clone something it wasn't. But then he was alerted when Holo-Pearl switched to combat mode "Challenge accepted!"
"GET DOWN!" Isaac grabbed Steven and ducked to the ground. A split second before Holo-Pearl sliced tree in half with the balloon sword. When Isaac got up, he looked to the tree and gasped in shock to see it on the ground. "Oh no, the tree!"
"Challenger defeated," said Holo-Pearl as it switched to standby mode.
That was the final straw for Isaac and he grabbed the handbasket. "What did you do!? The Real Pearl would never do that!"
"But-"
"NO! I'm not going to see that thing as Pearl and let's not forget that it was your fault that she's gone!" Isaac yelled, not seeing that he was hurt by that. "Grr, just get away from me!" He yelled and ran off.
When Isaac got back to the house, he opened the door and slammed it closed. He was still fuming, as he paced around the room. How could that thing cut down Pearl's tree? Something that was important to her? Isaac placed the handbasket on the table and sat down on the sofa. Trying to calm done.
Just then, Steven timidly walked into the house.
There was an awkward silence from the two.
Steven then walked over to the sofa and sat down next to Isaac, as guilt and shame started to settle in. The things he yelled at the boy were uncalled for.
"Yeah..."
"I'm sorry, Steven." The curly-haired boy gasped when Isaac that. The blonde sucked in his breath and turned his head to him. "I shouldn't have said that to you. I know you want Pearl back, and so do I. That's why I've been trying to regenerate her. But I just can't seem to do it..."
"No, you were right," Steven said, surprising Isaac a little. "I knew that should have just listened to what Pearl said, but I just wanted her to do something stupid. Damn, I'm stupid."
"Hey! No cursing from you!" Isaac snapped.
Steven was confused. "But don't you curse."
Isaac's eyes widened. Pearl was right. He's corrupting the boy! "That...That's because I'm old enough to do it!" He said. The two were silent for a moment before they started laughing together. Even when they were upset with each of, they couldn't stop being friends.
Night came, and it was belting down rain and lighting once more. Isaac was sitting on the window seal with his back against the wall. Watching the downpour while having Pearl's gemstone nestled in a blanket on his lap, Isaac was waiting for Steven. Garnet and Amethyst were out to do something, so it was just him and Steven for the night.
Isaac sighed and looked to the gem. "How long are you gonna make me-us wait, Pearl?"
Just then, Steven came over to him with a VSH tape cover in hand. "Hey, Isaac! I just found a copy of the fifth Lonely Blade movie!" He exclaimed with and showed the movie cover. That's when a beeping goes off in the kitchen and Steven gasped. "Oh, the popcorn's done. I'll get the movie ready, and you go get the popcorn."
Isaac got up and walked to the microwave after putting down Pearl gently on the window seal. He took out the popcorn, but when the blonde turned around, he was shocked to see Holo-Pearl suddenly appearing behind him. "What the!?"
"Do you wish to test your skills against me in a duel?"
"No! Now leave me alone!" He walked away from the clone and grabbed Pearl. As he was attempting to walk up to Steven's bedroom, lightning flashed.
When Steven looked at Isaac, he gasped in fright. Isaac gasped stopped and looked confused at the boy. He turned around and yelped when he saw Holo-Pearl appeared behind him again. "Draw your sword and fulfill your destiny!"
"No! Leave Isaac, real Pearl, and me alone!" Steven yelled, before grabbing the sheet he used to cover it and the tossed it back over Holo-Pearl "Go back under your sheet."
Steven and Isaac watched the movie with Pearl's gem. This time the movie wasn't in Japanese but in English. "Brother, is that you?" Lonely Blade asked a zombie that was supposed to be his brother.
"Yes. It's me. Your... brother. Your technique is..." said LB's brother as the audio played on in the background.
"Woah, this dub is really good. What do you think, Isaac?" Steven asked the blonde.
"It's okay, I guess," Isaac said with a shrug. "The writing could still be better."
"Parry!" Holo-Pearl suddenly appeared out of nowhere behind the boys, still under the sheet and with her sword poking out of it. Isaac and Steven growled in annoyance and continued to watch the movie.
LB's Brother suddenly yelled, "Brother!"
"Just wait a minute... you're not my real brother!" Lonely Blade yelled back, and grabbed both his swords, before unsheathing them. "Grr, Boomerang Blade!"
"Your technique is impressive. But it won't be enough."
Technique. That's what Isaac wanted to learn from Pearl. This movie had nothing on her when it came to fighting. But there was always the most important in a sword fight. That it was all about waiting carefully for the perfect moment to-
"Thrust!" Isaac gasped in shock when Holo-Pearl stabbed and broke the TV with its sword.
"Ah, the TV!" Steven yelled in distress. "Why must you destroy the things I love?"
The hologram pulled its sword out of the TV and stood straight again. "Challenger defeated. Continue?"
"Alright! Alright, that does it!" Isaac yelled, finally having enough of the clone and all the bullshit it's caused for him and the team. He stood up and turned around towards the Holo-Pearl. "You're not Pearl! You'll never be like Pearl! Pearl is smart, brave, beautiful, and she always wants to protect Steven from danger and help me be a Gem. All you want to do is fight us! Well guess want, bitch, you've got you're self a fight!"
"Challenge accepted!"
Isaac growled and jumped down from the bedroom onto the couch below. He then hopped onto the floor and grabbed the katana sword that he had stowed away in one of the cabinets in the wall. Above the couch. He then walked back the stairs and stood in front of Steven and faced the Holo-Pearl. "Alright, let's dance!" He exclaimed with a glare, unsheathing the sword.
"Basic attack mode, initiated." said the clone, before it started to use very basic and easily blockable attacks. Isaac was able to parry and dodge these attacks as Holo-Pearl continued to yell 'Parry! Parry! Thrust!' over and over again.
Isaac's glaring eyes narrowed at the clone, before going on the attack. The Holo-Pearl blocked one swing, and then another slash. But when it thrust at him, Isaac dodged it before it could stab his chest. He then stabbed the clone in the head. And it stopped moving.
"Basic attack mode defeated." Isaac smiled when he heard that. "Now initiating advanced mode!" Holo-Pearl yell, with eyes turning red.
Isaac's eyes widened. "Wait, what?" He asked, and his gemstone started glowing.
Holo-Pearl suddenly and quickly cut the sheet over it to shreds, slashing across his chest. Isaac screamed in pain as blood gushed out, let go of his sword and backing away. Something flew past him, making his eyes widened. He looked behind and saw the katana Pearl gave him was stabbed into the wall, missing him and flying over Steven's head.
When he looked back to the Holo-Pearl, it'd just finished shredding the sheet. Isaac quickly summoned his mother's sword and blocked a chop and then diagonal slash. "Steven, stay back!" He yelled, before ducking his head to avoid getting it cut off. He jumped down and landed on the couch, rolled off before Holo-Pearl stabbed into the couch.
Isaac got behind the tea table, flipping up on its side and kicking it towards the clone.
In one strong swing, the Holo-Pearl chopped it in half. It swung at him again, and Isaac blocked the attack. He backed away, but his back hits the counter. Isaac dodged another attack that cut into the wooden counter. Sidestepping to the left, and backing away to the door.
The Holo-Pearl continued attacking by unleashing a flurry of attacks. Isaac struggled to block the attacks, but some of the slashes cut into his body. Drawing blood, but nothing that was too serious. He was then kicked hard in the stomach.
Pain rippled through Isaac's body as he broke through the door. "Isaac!" Steven yelled as Holo-Pearl walked out of the house.
On the porch, as it was still raining, Isaac dragged himself away as the clone menacingly approached him. Raising its sword above its head to stab him.
Isaac's eyes widened and summoned another sword.
Holo-Pearl brought her sword down and Isaac swung up.
Steven closed his eyes, not wanting to see his friend die. But instead of flesh being cut into, he heard what sounded like a sounded like a game dying.
Isaac also had his eyes closed, but when he felt nothing, he opened them. He gasped when the saber only a few inches away from his face. There was a gaping space that separated the body into two halves.
Holo-Pearl stood back up straight and the rain stopped. It glitched for a moment. "Challenger wins. Do you wish to duel again?"
"Noooo!" smoke appeared on his arm as Isaac roared in anger, before jumping to his feet and started hatching and slashing the hologram. Cutting it up and began to wipe away its remaining remnants.
Finally, after being missing for hours, Garnet and a still inflated Amethyst came running up the stairs to the house. "Isaac, we heard fighting," said the stoic Gem, pulling Amethyst along like a balloon.
"Garnet!" Steven yelled with joy and ran over to her. Isaac's wounds started healing again as he panted in exhaustion.
As Steven hugged the tall Gem, Amethyst looked to Isaac and saw the blood on his clothing, the cuts in his clothing, and the last amount of steam disappearing. "Isaac, are you alright? What happened to you?
"What happened to me? Where the hell with you two!?" Isaac exclaimed, before seeing the hologram beginning to regenerate again. He chopped it down the middle, breaking through the wood of the porch. "DIE!" He panted afterward, as the other stared at him, a little frightened.
When they walked into the house again, Steven started explaining what happened as Isaac walked up to his room to grab Pearl's gemstone. Wiping some blood off his cheek. As Steven was finishing the story, Isaac picked up Pearl with his bloody hand. "You know, you're right Garnet. Maybe it's best to just wait-" he stopped when something started to glow brightly.
Everyone and the blonde saw that it was Pearl's gem that was glowing. They all watched as she flew up and hovered in the air. Isaac watched as in wonder as it formed a body that glowed and changed shapes. After a second, it was complete and Pearl was regeneration with a slightly different outfit. Now wearing an aqua blue tunic with a small gold star on the center of her chest and a lighter satin sash ribbon around her upper waist. Her leggings are amber-colored. She also wore pink socks with pale blue slip-on ballet flats.
Pearl gasped as she landed on the ground. "What just happened? I was wanting to do a few more adjustments," she said in confusion, looking at her outfit. It wasn't bad at all, but it wasn't what she was hoping for it to be. However, she then noticed Isaac standing near her, staring with wide eyes and gaping jaws. As well as covered in blood from healed wounds. "OH, MY STARS! Isaac, what happened to-"
"PEARL!" Isaac yelled out loud and grabbed Pearl in a bone-crushing hug. "It's really you!"
"OH! Y-Yes, Isaac. It's me." She stammered a bit. Taken aback by Isaac huge showing of affection.
Isaac set her down and gripped her face with his hands to get a good look at her. "It's really you, right!? No some trick? But really you?!" He asked hysterically, with tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "I thought...I thought for sure you were..."
"Yes, Isaac. I'm not gone," Pearl said gently to the distressed hybrid, trying to calm him down. She took his hands and pulled them away from her face to hold them. Then Steven came running over to hug her. "Oof, hey, miss me much?" But then she noticed the mess that the room was in, as Garnet walked over down below, pulling Amethyst. "Uh, Steven. What happened to your room?" That's when Pearl saw the inflated Amethyst. "I don't even want to know what happened to you."
"I got hit by an airplane!" Amethyst said in a funny voice.
Garnet then said, "You seem surprised to be back."
"Kind of," Pearl admitted, pushing Steven away as the three of them walked down the stairs to join the other Crystal Gems. "I didn't regenerate on my own. It was like I was pulled back out."
"Well, Isaac's been trying to regenerate you after he woke up from his coma, but nothing was happening," Steven said.
Pearl looked at Isaac with widening eyes. "You have Onyx's regenerating power-wait!" She stopped before screaming, "YOU WERE IN A COMA!? HOW?! WHY?!"
"Well...I..." Isaac tried to explain before Amethyst interrupted him.
"Hey, Pearl. You got some blood on your gem," she said. Pearl was a little confused at first, before wiping her hand on her smooth stone. Sure enough, the red spot on her head wiped away and revealed to be blood, much to her disgust.
"Yeah, sorry, I before you regenerated I pick you up with my...bloody...hand..." Isaac's sentence came to a slow stop as his eyes widened with realization. He looked at his hand and looked that the blood smeared on it. Steven and Amethyst gasped as Garnet nodded. "No way."
"You don't have a regenerating touch, you have regenerating blood!" Steven proclaimed loudly with a big happy smile and his hands raised in the air. "Ah man, I had this whole thing planned out for when Isaac brought you back!"
He ran off as Isaac stared at his hand for a moment. Pearl noticed how quiet he was and was a little concerned. "Isaac? Are you..." He surprised her by hugging her again, but this time more gently.
With all the emotions going through his head, he couldn't help it. Isaac smiled as he started to sob lightly. "I'm so happy you're here. Please don't leave me," he said through some tears.
While blushing, Pearl responded by hugging him back. Placing a hand behind his head and gently stroking it. She wouldn't and say that she's never met a human like Isaac. He was caring, yet brutal and smart. She oddly found herself being drawn to him like no other human. But most of all, he was a good man. Someone she doesn't want to disappear.
"I won't."
AN: And that's another chapter for you all. Next time I'll be looking at "Lion 2: the Movie.
Thank you very much for reading. "Gem of War" will return. Please be sure to Favorite and Follow if you like the story, and also Review it. If you any questions or discussions you'd have for me, then please in a Review or a PM me.
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