2:00 p.m.
August 6
Beach City
Ronnie Anne walked over to the Temple with a weight in her chest that she couldn't seem to dislodge. Back at her old school, she had earned a reputation for being one of the toughest girls around, but while her "toughness" was more than enough to intimidate other kids, she knew it wouldn't be nearly enough to intimidate Garnet. That stoic, amazonian lady didn't seem like the type who would let herself be intimidated by anything, least of all a human preteen girl with a bit of a mean streak.
As she walked up the stairs to the front door, the enormous statue of the multi-faced woman loomed over her, reminding her of the reverence that her undertaking would demand. She was sure there would be no tolerance for fooling around or slacking off.
Once she reached the screen door, she gave it a couple of knocks and waited for a response from inside - maybe an "I'll get it" or an "I'll be right there". Instead, she saw the door swing open a scant two seconds after she started knocking; the immediacy of the response made her heart skip a beat. In the doorway stood Garnet, towering over her.
"You're right on time," she said. "Follow me."
With that, Garnet walked towards the other end of the temple, with Ronnie Anne shuffling after her. As she walked over the warp pad, she lead her student towards a doorway marked with a five-pointed star, each point sporting a different colored gem. She held her hands towards the door, palms facing outward. The dark red gems embedded in her palms started to glow, emitting a sharp humming noise that Ronnie Anne couldn't help but flinch at. A split second later, the two bottom points on the star - one red, one blue - lit up, and the humming noise amplified. The door then split itself into three sections, and each peeled back to reveal a cave-like enclosure.
She looked around in wonder as Garnet lead her inside. The rocky walls were lined with thin, crooked, vein-like channels of flowing lava. The channels all spanned the length of the walls and stretched across the floor, leading to a bubbling, fuming well in the center. High above their heads were dozens of small, multicolored bubbles, bobbing up and down in the air.
What is this place? Ronnie Anne thought. These guys just keep getting weirder and weirder.
As soon as the doors shut behind them, Garnet began to speak.
"Combat," she said, "is all a matter of balance. A harmony between light and darkness, a yin and a yang."
Ronnie Anne just gave her a blank stare. She had assumed the first lesson would involve punching or blocking; what did these vague philosophical ramblings have to do with fighting?
"First," she continued, "you must be strong. Unyielding. Firm like a stone upon the shore." She assumed a battle stance and put up her hands, which emitted a low humming noise as they were each engulfed by a pulsating ball of light. The spheres each took the form of a clenched fist, and when the light dimmed, two bulky, ruby-red gauntlets had materialized on her fists. Garnet proceeded to throw a series of rigid, sharp-looking punches.
Although the punches were directed away from Ronnie Anne, the young girl still felt the need to take a step back. Those gauntlets looked to weigh at least thirty pounds apiece, and Garnet was swinging them around like they were nothing. How strong were these gems?
"Now you try."
Ronnie Anne gulped, doubting that any display she could manage would impress her teacher. But she promised she'd do whatever Garnet todl her, and Garnet said "Try", so that's what she was going to do. She steeled herself, assumed a firm stance and punched the air in front of her as hard as she could.
"Good. Keep going."
She nodded and continued to throw punch after punch, her confidence growing with every strike. As she punched, however, Garnet moved closer, and the room dimmed as the gem's enormous shadow crept over her. She hesitated, prompting a terse response from her teacher:
"I didn't say stop."
Ronnie Anne gulped and went back to punching. She forced herself to keep her eyes front of her, as the sight of Garnet's enigmatic expression was bound to break her concentration. This turned out to be a mistake, however; while she was distracted, she felt Garnet give her a light little hip check, just barely strong enough to knock her off kilter. She flailed her arms about in a vain attempt to keep her balance before toppling over and landing hard on her left shoulder.
"W-what was that for?!" she cried, clutching her sore shoulder. "I thought you said I was doing well!"
"You were," said Garnet, who stood by and waited for her pupil to get back on her feet. "Your punches looked quite strong. But strength alone is not enough."
As soon as Ronnie Anne stood back up and the two of them reestablished eye contact, Garnet began to speak again. "Now, I'd like you to try to land a hit on me. And don't hold anything back; give it your best shot."
After giving her shoulder a moment to recover, the young girl gladly obliged. She was still a bit peeved at her teacher for knocking her over without warning, and she reasoned that this would be the perfect opportunity to exact some payback.
Or at least it would have been if she could actually land a punch. Although Ronnie Anne gave it her all, she hit naught but air. Even more humiliatingly, Garnet barely moved from her spot. She simply contorted her body around every blow, bending and wavering like a reed in the wind. The lady who looked to be made of stone during the first lesson now looked more like she was made of rubber. Her student could only keep up her assault for a couple of minutes before letting her arms fall to the side, panting.
"I... how?" she gasped. "I-I couldn't even touch you."
"It is just as I said," responded Garnet. "Strength is only one part of the equation. The other is flexibility and balance."
She knelt down, meeting the preteen at eye level. "If you're too rigid, you'll break. You have to be flexible and roll with the punches."
Ronnie Anne blinked, trying to process the second part of the lesson. "But what about being strong? You can't be tough and bendy at the same time."
Garnet couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Oh, trust me, it's entirely possible to be two things at once. I would know."
She stood back up to her full height, staring pensively off into space. "As a warrior, you must know how to attack and defend. Advance and retreat."
Ronnie Anne nodded as sagely as she could, even though she was only beginning to understand what Garnet was saying. She assured herself that she'd get it after a few more lessons, and she didn't want to frustrate her teacher by prodding further.
She thought it would be prudent to reassume her fighting pose, this time taking Garnet's advice about balance into account. She went back into her boxing stance, this time making sure that her right leg was bearing as much of her weight as she could handle - no more, no less. At this point, Garnet was still facing away from her, so the gem's next words took her by surprise.
"Good. Now try moving around."
"H-how did you..." muttered Ronnie Anne, her voice trailing off. Once again, she told herself it was wiser to follow her instructions than to bog down the session with questions. She started shuffling forward and backward, in the same manner she would use to approach or retreat from someone in a fistfight. All the while, she kept a watchful eye on Garnet, suspecting that she'd come out with another sneak attack at any moment.
The moment never came, however. Garnet simply stood by and watched her pupil shuffle around the room, giving occasional notes on her posture. After some indeterminate amount of time, the young girl began to tire - not from the exercise per se, but from the incessant tension caused by her expectation of another surprise.
"Would you like to take a break?" asked Garnet.
Ronnie Anne released all the tension in her body and slumped forward, panting. "T-that'd be nice," she said. "I could... I could use some water."
The gem nodded and walked her back to the gate.
The rest of the afternoon played out the way she expected. Garnet ran her through several punching and dodging drills, encouraging her to allow herself to switch from one to the other freely. Even allowed the occasional break, Ronnie Anne quickly found herself tiring out. It didn't help that the room they were in was significantly hotter than the temple's living room; by the time she finally gave out and collapsed on the floor, she was coated in sweat.
Garnet, of course, was barely winded.
"You did well," she said. "But I think that's enough for today."
The gem bent down, helped her back to her feet and walked her out of the room. As soon as she entered the living room, she saw a beaming Steven waiting for her.
"How's it going, Ronnie Anne?" he asked. "Garnet must've really been working you hard, huh?"
"Y... yeah... you could say that," she panted.
"Ronnie Anne shows enormous potential," said Garnet. "I'm sure she'll be a valuable asset to the Crystal Gems."
Pride swelled in the young girl's chest. Garnet's tone was often hard to discern, but in that moment, she sounded unmistakably genuine. Although her heart was still pounding and her skin was dripping sweat, in that moment all of her exhaustion seemed to melt away.
"Hear that, Steven?" she asked with a smirk, raising her head high. "You're gonna have some competition pretty soon!"
Steven laughed, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, guess I better watch out!"
The two of them shared a chuckle before Ronnie Anne gave him a fist bump goodbye, strutted out the door, walked down the stairs...
...and promptly collapsed onto the beach as soon as the high wore off.
Well, that didn't last long, she thought. But at least Steven can't see me right now-
"Hey, Ronnie Anne! Want me to walk you home?"
Dang it.
