Here we go again. That was the first thought Anne had as her new friends and her were attacked by some grody giant bug again. Just like usual, it involved a lot of running and screaming. The big difference this time was that Anne had a weapon- kinda. She had her tennis racket with her, since it had been in her bag when she opened the box. Due to this, when thing cornered Sprig and Steven, she pulled out said racket and ran at the bug, whacking it in the head. Just as she processed how bad of a decision that was, Connie ran in from the side and fought the thing off with a stick. "Whoa, how did you do that?" Anne asked in amazement. "Oh, Pearl taught me how to sword fight a while back. Unfortunately, I lost my sword when we got here." Steven had walked over to them by this point, so he added "Yeah, she's really good!" "Whoa, that might make you one of the coolest people I know. Wish I could use this thing that well." Anne said, holding up her racket. "What if Pearl taught you too? She's good with all sorts of weapons, I bet she could figure out how to translate that into a weapon!" Connie suggested. "That's a great idea Connie!" Steven agreed. "I dunno…" Anne said sheepishly, "Pearl doesn't like me very much. Do you really think she'd teach me?" "I'm sure that she would!" Connie insisted. "You know what! To heck with it! Let's go!" Anne finally agreed. So off the group went back to the Plantar's house.
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"You want me to teach you how to fight." Pearl said in an exasperated tone. "Yep." Anne confirmed. "And the weapon you wish to use is this flimsy sporting equipment." "Well I wouldn't say flimsy-" "Come on Pearl! She needs to be able to defend herself!" Steven insisted. "Oh, I suppose you're right Steven, but must she use this?" "What else would I use?" Anne asked incredulously. "I suppose you have a point… Alright. Anne, I will train you." "Yes! Thanks dude!" Thank you so much Pearl!" "Thank you ma'am." " Ah Connie, that reminds me. I want you to help me train her." " What? Ma'am, I'm far from ready to train someone." "I disagree. You are easily one of the best sword fighters I've ever met among humans. How different could this be from that?"
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As it turned out, very different. After several hours with very little progress, Anne was starting to get impatient. "No, no, no!" Pearl scolded, "I said 'stance wide body lowered' not 'do the splits'!" "It's alright Anne, I'm sure if you just try again-" Connie attempted to soothe, before Anne snapped "Ugh, this is pointless!" before storming off. Pearl gasped, offended, before also leaving. Connie followed sadly. When they got back, Sprig and Steven excitedly ran up to them. "How'd it go?" Steven asked as Sprog simultaneously asked "Where's Anne?" "I thought she was with you?" Pearl said, confused. "Nope, never came back." Sprig reasserted. "I'll look for her." Garnet deadpanned, walking out the door. "I'll help!" Sprig said, hopping after her. "So how did it go?" Steven asked again. "Poorly." Pearl replied in a sour tone before walking away. "What happened?" Steven asked Connie. "I think I messed it up…" she responded sadly. "Pearl kept telling her how bad she was doing, and then I felt bad and tried to cheer her up. I think that made her not want to listen to Pearl…" "WHAT?! Connie, that's ridiculous!" Steven assured. "If Anne doesn't want to learn it's on her!" Connie didn't seem convinced. "I still feel like I'm failing my first time teaching someone to fight." Just then, Hop Pop came into the room. "Have you two seen Anne, Sprig, and Garnet?" "Garnet and Sprig went out to look for Anne." "Oh no! It's mosquito day! Why would they go outside?!" "Mosquito day? What's that?" "Mosquito day is the day when the mosquito eggs hatch every year. And they come out of the egg HUNGRY!" Steven and Connie exchanged looks of alarm before rushing out the door.
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Anne knew she should've expected this outcome. She was never good at learning new things. But some part of her had hoped this would be the exception. Lost in thought, she kept wandering into the woods. She was abruptly shaken from her stupor when she ran straight into a giant slimy rock. No, not a rock… an egg! She began slowly back away when it suddenly started to open, prompting her to run. As she did, she ran headlong into Garnet. "What's going on Anne?" Garnet asked. Her question was immediately answered when a huge mosquito larva bust through the trees and lunged at her. Luckily, Steven jumped in front of her with his shield. Connie ran in and Steven gave her a shield boost. She tried to conk the bug over the head with her stick, but it knocked her into a nearby tree and she fell unconscious. Steven yelled "Connie!" before moving to help her, but the bug took advantage of his distraction in order to smack him too. Garnet went to punch it from behind, having circled it while it was occupied with Steven and Connie, but soon had her hands full with another larva. Anne charged it with her racket, and using instincts she had no idea she possessed, she swung the racket in a few swift motions and beat back the bug. Pearl and Amethyst arrived just in time to witness this, before assisting Garnet in taking down the second one.
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The next day, Connie got Pearl and Anne together. "I wanted to apologize. I failed to teach Anne and as such let you both down." "Dude, what?" Anne asked in confusion, " Me not learning is my own fault!" Pearl chimed in, saying "Plus, she must have learned something! She beat that horrible creature on her own! Oh, I can't wait to get back to training! You have so much untapped potential-" Connie stopped listening and smiled. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.