If someone said all four Diamonds wouldn't be on Homeworld because of a mad goat before any of this happened, they would think that they were losing it. Well, unless it was a Sapphire involved, and even then it was a bit sketchy. Yet, here they were. White Diamond, Yellow Diamond, Blue Diamond, and Pink Diamond all on Earth, which at the point was their main place of safety away from Grogar for the time being. Especially since Grogar's little trick of poofing ANY type of Gem in seconds with his magic, going back willy-nilly would basically just be throwing themselves at him.
As for exactly where they ended up, the entirety of the Harmony Gems (except for Twilight of course - she was still missing) were all within the Sky Arena. As Peridot said, they were all reformed pretty well all and all, some newer forms some not, but they were all there as promised by the time the others showed up. Of course, some catching up had to be done with Flint's new form, since none of them remembered him being taken out by Grogar before they all had to go.
"Afraid. … But you've done a lot of brave things, how can YOU be afraid of anything?" Rhodonite asked, not believing her own ears when hearing this story of his.
"How can I not be afraid of anything, more rather," Flint sighed, "... I just didn't want to admit it. Until recently, that is." He looked over to Garnet, who gave him a smile. Sometimes it was good to know that there was someone else in the same boat, so one didn't need to feel alone. Yellow Diamond though spoke up next once he was finished.
"This is fine and all," she noted, "But this still doesn't help with our … situation, on Homeworld. My Pearl told me about a being named "Nephrite" that could do the job."
"Wait, wait, maybe we shouldn't jump into it so quick," Steven suddenly butted in.
"Oh no, not you too, Steven! Nephrite's required here: you know anyone else that can cure corrupted Gems or not?" Rainbow Dash insisted.
"I know guys, but we can't force him into doing this. As a wise man once said: if it's not what Flint wants, then it's not what Nephrite wants. Right?"
Amethyst suddenly realized where he got that from, but didn't say anything. Unfortunately, Yellow Diamond wasn't as understanding right now.
"Hundreds of Gems are left corrupted on Homeworld, and you're telling me the ONLY help we have will NOT come because she simply won't?!"
"Y-Yellow wait -"
"I will consider it!"
Everyone looked to Flint again after he said that.
"You will?!" gasped Pinkie.
"Easy Flint, you don't have to if you don't want to. We understand," Garnet reassured. Flint already knew that, but he also knew that they'd just keep trying until they do. Plus he'd been selfish long enough.
"I know you do Garnet, but everyone's right: I've been very selfish about everything lately. So look, I'll consider with Jade about using Nephrite for the problem, and if we don't stumble on another alternate solution then I'll use her without any objections."
At first none of them said anything, considering things first before giving their answer. It wasn't a full on yes for Nephrite, but not entirely a no either. At the least he was more open about it this time over yesterday.
"Eh, I'll buy it. I think this is the best we're gonna get with you, huh?" shrugged Starlight. Flint flustered slightly, but quickly recovered himself. Despite that though it was Garnet who went forward to speak to everyone.
"Even if he said yes, he does have one point," concluded Garnet, "Grogar's still there. If we try to cure the corrupted Gems, Grogar's capable of just corrupting them all over again. We have to deal with Grogar. Or get the corrupted Gems out of his reach. Whichever comes first."
"Didn't I already say that?" Flint silently commented to Jasper.
"Yeah, but there's saying words, and there's yelling words," Jasper replied. This made him even more embarrassed, but again he tried not to get too troubled.
"Is there even a contest? We'll just fly back over there and give him the ol' one-two-WAPOW, and be on our way! No one beats up the Harmony Gems and gets away with it on my watch," Rainbow Dash said, giving a few punches and kicks before starting to fly away. She however felt her tail get grabbed by Blue Diamond, making the Pegasus stop.
"I want to save my world just as you do, but we can't "fly in". He took down all of the Diamond Authority in just one hit, not to mention nearly all of you. Please, I don't want to see anyone else get hurt like that," Blue Diamond said, concern and trying not to say it and be insulting Rainbow Dash's talent in fighting. However, Rainbow Dash was already pumped.
"You know who you're talking to? We already saved Homeworld before at least three times, ol' Blue, and we can do it again! Right guys?!"
A typically tactless comment on Rainbow Dash's part, since White Diamond herself wasn't too far away and had her involvement in two of those Homeworld "threats".
"Rainbow. Come down," said Garnet.
"Guys? …" Rainbow asked, coming down to their level.
"Blue Diamond's right, Rainbow. As much as I would love to find that Grogar. Get him by that head of his. Try to rip his horns out, and MAKE HIM SORRY -" Bismuth needed to relax a little bit, her anger starting to grow a little bit. She sighed and said "He's got the upper hand here. Or, hoof."
"So what? You forget our track record here? He's just some old goat with a bit of magic."
"You can't fly after him by yourself!" Padparadscha shouted.
"That MAGIC shot down the Diamonds and nearly killed everyone else, remember?!" Applejack reminded, "Let's everybody calm down and try to think of something, alright?"
"Oh … fine," Rainbow groaned, landing on her hooves, "... But can it involve "pummeling the goat" in your plan."
"Oh, yes, of course," Bismuth said casually.
"What you need," said Fluorite, "is to cover all of your problems, and resolves them all within one fool-proof plan."
"Sounds about right," agreed Left Rutile.
"Do you have it all listed?" asked Right Rutile.
"I thought you'd never ask."
Turned out, with all of this happening so soon, Starlight Glimmer had already gotten her own list of the events down to better help them all try to figure out the situation. With Spike giving a helping claw in getting it out of a handbag they brought with them, Starlight and Spike went over with a decent scroll of a To-Do list.
"Ok, so while everyone was recovering yesterday, me and Spike got this jotted down," said Starlight Glimmer.
"Convenient. And what did you write down?" Yellow Diamond asked. Spike looked over the list and, clearing his throat, he started reading it out.
"Okay, so Twilight Sparkle is taken captive by a hornless Unicorn, Connie Maheswaran has become corrupted and now under Grogar's hooves along with all of the royal court, whom is now taken control of the Diamond City, and potentially all of Homeworld. … And that's all we know."
As they were all trying to work out what to do with all of these problems, Steven took a glance over away from the main pack, and over towards White Diamond. Unlike everyone else, the North Star had become exceptionally quiet ever since she reformed and came back from her encounter with Grogar. She simply sat there beyond the rest of the crowd, on the edge of the once glorious Sky Arena, and the morning sky ahead of her.
Steven, as her teacher of Friendship and first true friend, cannot ignore his student's troubles. So, as the others were busy, he walked over to her, having a seat right next to her.
"Hi."
"Oh. Hello, Steven," sighed White Diamond. "And no. I'm not okay. …"
"Well. Ok. …" He probably could've guessed, though should've expected the scenario to be a bit different in how to venture into the subject. "... You're thinking about Grogar?"
"I can't figure out how, Steven," White admitted. "We're the Diamond Authority - the strongest of all Gem types. Hypothetically. How can we all be defeated so easily by some … some random. OLD, CRAZY RAM? So embarrassing." White's hand started to clench into a fist in both anger, and a hint of shame. What a disgrace for even her to fall so easily to this sudden arrival. Steven got up and placed his hand on her own.
"Hey, hey, it's not your fault. He caught everyone by surprise, that's all, no one's gonna blame you for that. Besides, Kyra fought you all and won before, and no one blamed any of you for that," Steven reminded. It'd been quite a long time since either of them recalled the white Draconian with the rose on his scar, and recalling that, while it did bring up a good point, did not make White feel much better.
"But how could he even do such a thing? Kyra had the skill and strength to fight us, and all this "Grogar" did was just zap us!" White gripped the edge of the sky arena, making it crack slightly much to Steven's surprise, enough to make him move back a little bit.
"That kind of power. … That's not Equestrian magic, that's not normal magic," White stated. Strangely, this made Steven actually smile, almost giggling a little despite the situation.
"Magic never really followed any rules," Steven shrugged.
"You don't understand: Equus never had the Gem technology to rival Gemkind, so how did Grogar manage to have a spell that can destabilize a Diamond?"
Steven paused and thought about it. He didn't have any idea about it either, but he did have at least one theory.
"Equestria and Earth had been swapping with eachother ever since I met Twilight and her friends. Maybe while Earth's been getting magic, Equestria's been gaining knowledge about Gems? Maybe he picked up something."
"Whatever he picked up, it made him too dangerous for a Gem to even touch him. … That's why we can't fight him."
Steven stood up.
"That's why we HAVE to fight him!" Steven insisted. White looked down to her friendship teacher.
"Look at what happened: he took over Homeworld, took away Twilight Sparkle, and - … A-And he corrupted my best friend, and ALL of Yellow and Blue's Diamond Court. We can't just leave that alone!"
"But he can destroy a Diamond in seconds," retorted White.
"Maybe a Gem can't fight him, we still have Humans, Ponies, and a lot of other creatures that can help us. We never gave up on Earth, Equus, or Homeworld, and we're not giving up now," Steven reassured, presenting those very Gems in question to her. White Diamond thought about it more and more, and slowly started to understand the point. After all, she placed them in a scenario where any sensible person would've given up on all of life, and everything else, yet they've all managed to get their way out of that pain no matter the circumstance.
"You never stop, do you?" White Diamond sighed.
"How do you think we've come this far?" Steven asked. This admittedly made White Diamond chuckle. However, this was brief as she thought about it again.
"Once upon a time, I thought you all were just crazy. But what it's really is determination. … Alright, if you're not going to give up, then neither am I. We will get Homeworld back somehow."
"Now you're getting it," Steven said, thumbs up and a wink to the diamond.
"One question though. … What are you planning to do?"
Steven then brought out something from his pocket. The object itself looked small, and pretty insignificant all the same, but in the grand scheme of things Steven felt this thing was vital. The object in question: a piece of cloth for a tie-able headband, which Steven happily got tied onto his forehead as he got his game face on.
"I'm gonna learn how to fight!"
"Fight? But, don't you know already? You've beaten me before, fairly well," White Diamond pointed out, confused by the statement. Steven sighed.
"Well, actually I don't really do that much physical fighting. Yeah I got my bubble, and my shield, but these soft hands don't beat up bad guys that much," Steven said. White diamond, curious, brought her hand down and the very tips of her fingernails felt Steven's arm. For such a prominent fighter, he actually felt pretty soft on those arms of his. Quite the irony given the track record.
"Oh."
"Yeah. So I thought I should start building myself up a little bit. If we are gonna face Grogar again, I want to be ready for anything," Steven said, flexing a bit. He'll get himself more pumped up, he was sure of that.
"Then why don't we get started?" said another voice.
White Diamond and Steven turned around and saw the group behind them, namely Jasper at front of them.
"She's teaching you?"
"You know I am. If there's anyone that can toughen up a Gem, it might as well be me. Plus he asked me to teach him before we got here," Jasper said, not forgetting who asked her in the first place. Steven was more than ready.
"Alright Jasper. LETS GET BEEFY!"
~~~~~~
It didn't take very long until they set up the area. Now, one would think Steven would be practicing up in the Sky Arena, and indeed that area was gonna be part of this (how can it not be?), but for the very beginning it was instead off down to the Strawberry Battlefield far below the arena. Pretty convenient too with the first battles and last battles of the Gem War being over in pretty much the same place, and with the clear weather of autumn it was just the right place to go as many of the others were busy.
Steven was more than ready, standing at attention like a Ruby Soldier at attendance, as Jasper was starting things off, her position less like a quartz and more like an Agate as Gem standards go.
"Alright, my little soldier, you wanna learn how to fight do you?" Jasper began.
"MAM, YES MAM!" Steven said, again treating this like a military line up.
"Well said, but it's gonna take a lot more than just a bunch of "yes mam's" to defeat the enemy. Out in the field, your enemy will NOT give you any chances or free-Bs or opportunities. If you're gonna fight, you have to give it your all! Go big, or go home!" The last few exclamations were right in Steven's face, which while he tried keeping composure, were already humbling him a bit as Jasper straightened up and continued the pacing, "Don't you worry, I'll make sure to make you a warrior yet. When we're done here, no one in any world will be able to push you around again! Any questions?"
While Steven didn't have a question, a hand was raised.
"Why're we here again?" asked Rhodonite. Steven wasn't the only one here in this line up. In fact, quite a few were there as well: Steven, Emerald, Rhodonite, the Rutile Twins, Amethyst (just because), Fulgurite, Pinkie Pie, Peridot, along with Rainbow Dash, Bismuth, and AJ as more extra helpers to Jasper rather than students.
"You really think I'm just gonna be training just Steven in all this? Everyone needs to be game, and I'm gonna make sure of that," Jasper simply replied.
"It'll be fun guys," Steven added, "We can all train together! Think of it like a group activity."
"You call training fun?" Emerald questioned. This response only got Jasper over to him, a hard stomp on the ground bringing him to attention.
"Listen up, if you got the stones to stay in my course, then I expect nothing but everything you got, and I don't take slacking off. EMERALD I'm looking at you. Yes, I'm signaling you out."
"Don't start pointing fingers, I'm no slacker!" Emerald snapped … which actually made Peridot snicker. He did NOT just say that.
"What?" No one gave him an actual answer to that one as Bismuth continued, Jasper, Rainbow and AJ going off to get something.
"We know you got some fighting experience under your belt, so let's just see how much we got. K, gang, bring in the stone!"
"The stone?" Steven asked. His only response was a shrug from Amethyst, but they got their answer shortly afterwards with a giant silver stone was placed down. This wasn't a natural rock just brought in from the field, but smoothed out and looked vaguely similar to one of Bismuth's practice dummies, the surface glistening in the sun.
"K, soldiers, give this the hardest hit you got. Right here," Bismuth instructed, patting the center of the piece. She removed the main gem symbol for the sake of Steven's morality code. The task seemed simple enough, but as they were bringing out their gem weaponry …
"Without the weapons," Jasper firmly stated.
"What?!" gasped Emerald.
"I'm building your strength, so THAT means you gotta fight with your dukes," Jasper explained, showing both of her large fists, "THESE are the weapons everyone has, and they can't be just knocked off of ya, so if there's any weapon we're gonna boost it's what you already got. Not one weapon in MY course. Now line up and give this the biggest punch you can give."
"But won't we smash it?" right Rutile asked. "We can't test it if that happens."
"Just watch."
Rather than answer, Jasper just decided to demonstrate, clenching a single fist and punching right into the object. The punch was hard enough to crack bones, and left a shocking amount of cracks in the stone, enough to wrap around it.
"WHOA! … but -"
"Wait for it," Bismuth said. They all waited and watched the object. It took about twenty seconds before the object began to react to the punch, and right before their eyes, all the cracks on the object began to disappear. Pretty soon, it was good as new, not a crack on it.
"Cool!" said Steven.
"Yep. The only way to take this down is to smash it completely, ONE-HIT-KO," explained Jasper, "If you can do that, then you're good to go."
"I get it, it's like one of those "Ring the Bell" games you find in the carnival," Steven realized.
"You got it! Now who's first?" Bismuth asked.
"Hmmmm …" the first one to step over to the object was actually Pinkie Pie, but not with the method of actually hitting the thing. She gave the piece of rock a good look over, almost crawling around it like a bug would to study it up close and personal.
"What's your verdict, Pinkie Pie?" Amethyst asked. Pinkie eventually stopped and hopped off.
"I got this, guys," Pinkie Pie said, cracking her hooves and cracking her neck. She eyed the particular spot closely, tongue sticking out as she did so. Once she got the spot down exactly right, she raised her hoof, and …
"HAKIE STAKIE!" *BAM!* It was a rather quick swing, Pinkie giving her front hoof one of those spinning loadups before slamming it right on the direct spot on the object. At first, nothing really seemed to happen, but the strike did actually leave a LOT of cracks in the rock …
And crumbled it!
"W-WHAT THE - hold the phone!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, going right next to the pink mare and checking the rubble left behind. She grabbed one part of the object after the other, and eventually went right to Pinkie Pie as the rest tried to better comprehend what they just saw.
"HOW are you that strong?!" Fulgurite had to ask, "I don't recall you taking leg day!"
"What? I grew up on a rock farm, smashing rocks is family business," Pinkie Pie shrugged innocently. … Not something they really wanted to know, but they were glad she was on their side anyway.
"... Well, you wanna just get started?" Jasper asked.
"Yeah, it'll give me time to make another one," Bismuth replied. Bismuth began going off to do that, as Jasper turned to the troops. She got her plan for this lot, and she wasn't gonna be holding back anything.
And so it begins. ...
~(DAY ONE)~
"FOLLOW! Come on, keep up!"
Next thing they knew, they were off and running. The whole group was in a lineup here, Jasper leading the way, AJ and Rainbow close with her, as everyone else was put to follow her around the area of the Strawberry Battlefield. The task sounded simple enough, but the path Jasper was taking did NOT make it so easy.
The first part was alright, mainly because that path was laid out on the firm ground with only the bushes and strawberries to worry about hindering progress. They all kept up fairly fine as far as Jasper could see, even if they were going a bit quicker than a typical jog. In fact, at least one of them thought this was more of a joke than anything.
"Fulgurite, quit fooling around back there!" Jasper called. Fulgurite decided to show off a little bit, catching up to Jasper with ease by running backwards, hands behind her head casually.
"This is nothing for me, Jay, where's this challenge you're talking about?" Fulgurite asked. Jasper huffed at Fulgurite's cockiness in this foot race, but Jasper had her answer just coming up.
"Keep running backwards like that, and you'll find out. UP!" and suddenly Jasper jumped above Fulgurite, just moments before she ran back first into what felt like a wall. Now came the tricky part of the run. The others stopped briefly to see that Jasper was taking the more tricky route and jumped along the scattered floating islands of the area. The only who didn't stop was Rainbow Dash, but only because she was the only one allowed to fly with Jasper as she jumped from one platform to the other, Ramicorn goat style.
Eventually they all got moving after a bit, Amethyst leading on from there and the others soon following. Naturally, it was Steven and actually Applejack who were having more trouble keeping up with the pack, not having the natural jumping ability of normal Gems. Even the Rutile Twins with some work were keeping up fairly well, though they only slowed down for Steven and AJ's sake when seeing how far behind they were.
Then they came to the big jump. There was a large gap between the final large island and the smaller platform, which Jasper made it over just fine along with much of the others. By the time Steven and Applejack caught up, everyone was already on the otherside.
"You got this, Steven! Give a big jump!" called Peridot in encouragement. Applejack decided to get a good jump first, backing up as far as the platform will allow. Using all her strength in her back legs, she launched herself well across the gap, though she did stumble upon landing on the otherside.
"Ok. Three. Two. One." Steven backed up, and then made his mighty jump as far as he can go. His jump was a bit slower though, and Steven closed his eyes, waiting to find that landing of his … only to not find it. When he looked at where he was. …
"Nooo I'm floating again!" Steven groaned. Like a cloud in the sky, Steven was stuck at least ten feet above everyone else, his jump just a tad too high. He tried to get himself down, but his feet and arms just swung around like crazy with him stuck there. All he did in the end was pout. He can't train if he's floating above everyone.
"Oh boy. I forgot he had that problem," Jasper sighed.
"Hang on, I got it," said Amethyst, shapeshifting to have that helicopter blade attachment on her back and flying up there to get him. Steven was still pouting when they got back to the ground.
"Thanks, Amethyst," sighed Steven.
"Looks like we all made it," said Peridot with pride, "So Jasper, what's the next task? … Jasper? Where's Jasper?"
Amazing how quickly a simple distraction can change the playing field. The group were left on the platform without their mentor anywhere to be seen. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie began to feel a bit of a twitch in her tail, immediately making her look up to the sky.
"Incoming meteor!" Pinkie shrieked, making a bolt for it.
"Meteor - AAHH!"
There's Jasper. Finding a smaller platform nearby to jump off of, Jasper launched herself high up into the sky and rocketed down to them, helmet out and coming in like a fiery star. Pinkie's Pinkie sense was just the thing to get them all out of the way. What they thought was Jasper coming in to crack the platform, was actually the teacher spinning around and landing on the opposite of the platform. The sheer force was enough to make them all stumble in their step, and the entire floating island to shift.
"How about a warning before you try to kill us, huh?!" Emerald shouted. Jasper ignored him though, and she got down on her hands and knees. Then she began to move. Or at least, it seemed like she was moving in a four-legged rush but she technically wasn't going anywhere. But the whole platform surely was! Everyone suddenly found themselves spinning along the giant platform as it spun faster and faster, and only until AFTER getting it at a high speed did Jasper jump off.
"FOLLOW!" Jasper called, before going off again.
"You gotta be kidding!" Amethyst shouted as the whole group was left spinning around like crazy. Jasper had the decency to at least wait a few platforms down, but she wasn't gonna help them out. That would ruin the point. The whole group just managed to get themselves to the center of the platform, where the pull wasn't as strong, but they still had the issue of actually getting to the next platform. Applejack was given a free pass since she technically wasn't one of the students, and Rainbow Dash got her out of there.
"We have to get off this crazy thing!" Steven concluded.
"HOW?!" asked Rhodonite, who was lucky to just keep standing. They couldn't even look on ahead without getting too dizzy, only able to look down to their feet from the spinning. As they were spinning though, Peridot started to try and think about what to do, the only one staring off ahead rather than below.
"One. Two. One. Two. … I think I got it!"
"What is it?" asked the Rutile Twins. Peridot began to demonstrate, repeating "one, two" a few times before splitting herself off from the group. The G forces began to take their toll on her, and she had to sit down, actually sliding on the platform towards the edge.
"One. Two. JUMP!" In a cry, Peridot leaped as far as she could! The momentum launched her right off the spinning platform, and actually got her right on the smaller one! … Albeit, slamming into the side first. Climbing up and standing, she waved to the others to catch up.
"That's it! Come on, follow me guys!" Steven exclaimed, starting to make his way down as well. Peridot made sure to jump another platform up to give them space to continue their way along. One by one, timing their jumps, each of the troops just barely got themselves from the spinning island and onto the other platform on the otherside. Fulgurite, Emerald, and Amethyst made it over alright, though as Pinkie Pie landed she had to catch Steven in his jump so he wouldn't fly away again. The Rutile Twins and Rhodonite, however, almost missed their mark and if it wasn't for Fulgurite's quick grab with her hair the two would've flown off.
"Gotcha!" Fulgurite called, before pulling both of them in like a fisherman with a pair of large tuna. And probably just as heavy. Steven gave a hand here, and with combined strength they reeled the two in, all four stumbling back onto the next platform.
Landing right in front of Jasper.
"All present and accounted for, mam!" Steven reported, thumbs up from underneath everyone else. Jasper smirked.
"Nice of you to go back for your soldiers," said Jasper, as they all began to line up again, now caught up. Rhodonite was still trying to calm down.
"Ohmystars, ohmystars that was terrifying."
"Geesh take it easy we're done. We all can have a seat and calm down now," reassured Fulgurite. Only for Jasper to say ...
"Alright, nice job on the warm-up. A bit hesitant though, but keep at it."
"ALL THAT WAS WARM-UP?!"
Rhodonite collapsed. This was gonna be a long day.
…….
"I feel like I'm gonna break."
That basically summed up how the first day went for much of them once they got back. Many of them split up from there, with Amethyst and Steven taking their portal key path right back to the Beach House along with Jasper. Both Amethyst and Steven tossed themselves onto the nearest couch, exhausted but feeling pretty good. At least Steven did.
"For the first day, you shown good sport, kiddo," said Jasper.
"Thanks," Steven sighed, "And I'm *huff* gonna get even better *whoo* just you watch me! … eeehhh."
"Okay warrior, let's get you a drink," Jasper decided. The two warriors laid there for a bit more as Jasper began to do just that.
"Jasper's no pushover with her training. And we're only on day one," Amethyst said.
"Yeah, who knew Bismuth's dummies could be that strong? I don't know how we made it," Steven agreed, still slightly sore from what the dummies did to them. Sure they were just shifting stones, but it was never fun getting bumped around like inside a pinball machine.
"Word. … But hey, we did great, and boy you went all in," Amethyst complimented as she sat up. Steven smiled, looking up to her.
"I'm just trying to be the best I can be," Steven stated. Amethyst gave him a playful punch to the shoulder, him chuckling a little bit. Soon, Jasper came back to them with their drinks, though the exact type of drink made Steven pause on it as Amethyst gulped hers (with the cup).
"Wait, what's this?"
"Peridot recommended it - it's that Metallixer she's been getting into lately. She said it's been making her feel stronger, so I thought you can gulp some down and do the same and toughen up," Jasper replied. Steven looked into the cup of the grey liquid with a mixed reaction.
"Jasper, I can't drink this - Humans can't drink metal," Steven retorted.
"YOU ate raw flour before."
"Sure, but I stopped eating it … maybe."
Steven flustered on it, but Jasper decided not to push it further. Measly water and hardcore metal weren't gonna yield the same results, yet as they say "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them gulp it down".
"Fine. Well it's here if you change your mind. AMETHYST, that's for him," Jasper made clear.
"Alright, alright," Amethyst said. She was probably the only other Gem aside from Peridot who liked the drink. With that figured out, Jasper walked off back to the Warp Pad.
"G'night you two. See you both in the morning."
~(DAY TWO)~
"What're they doing in there?" wondered Peridot.
The group under Jasper's command were well away from the Strawberry Battlefield after their first day, taking their position now a bit closer to home. In fact, their next stop was actually over by the barnhouse with many of the troops waiting over by the barn doors as Jasper was seemingly busy inside. She was clearly doing something in there by all the noise. While many of them didn't have much to do but either shoot the breeze or (in Peridot and Amethyst's case) listening to Jasper's antics in the barn, Steven did end up finding something for him to do in his spare time in the form of some basic punches on a plank of wood.
"So, what's this thing with you and that plank?" Fulgurite asked at one point, not having anything better to do as she glanced over his way.
"Practicing," Steven simply replied, continuing some of his punches on the wood plank. Fulgurite got up off of the haybale she was sitting on, and walked over to investigate a little bit.
"Still? You do remember nearly passing out yesterday, right, or did you get bonked in the head at some point?" Fulgurite questioned, skeptical.
"You can't get rock hard muscles in one day. To get strong, you gotta keep at it," Steven pointed out. He then gave the wooden plank one more good punch, strong enough to leave it shaking for a solid four seconds before actually falling over. They all saw that Steven's fists were a little red from the punching, but that was par for the course.
"Woo, knockout!" Steven exclaimed upon defeat of the plank.
"At least someone's enjoying this," said Rhodonite, troubled as per usual, "What's next? Make us fight a dragon? March through the desert?" Those thoughts alone were making her a bit uneasy.
"I don't think Jasper's THAT crazy to do that, dude," Amethyst said.
"Oh you think so?" Emerald said, "She's already been driving me up a wall for days, she can and will be that crazy!"
That didn't make either Gem feel better, but Amethyst didn't want to leave Jasper with worrywarts today.
"OKAY tell your Ame - sister what're you worried about," Amethyst inquired, standing up and looking to the others.
"Where do I even begin? I'm made up of a Ruby and a Pearl, I'm not MADE to fight. And Jasper and Bismuth nearly shattered us yesterday, who knows what they're gonna put us all into now?"
Amethyst could see the problem a mile away, and when thinking on it while glancing to Steven, this might actually help everyone. So, she got herself a haybale and hopped onto it.
"Well you just gotta roll with the punches," Amethyst said.
"Huh? Just "roll with it"?" asked Rhodonite.
"Yeah sure," agreed Pinkie Pie, "You can't find the fight, it finds you! You just gotta go with the flow."
"Is that how you always fight? Just blindly going in, not thinking about what you're doing?"
"Pretty much," Amethyst shrugged.
"Wha? NO! … really?"
This was being overheard by Steven, who came back with Fulgurite.
"Alright, time for a lesson with Amethyst," Amethyst announced, clearing her throat first. "It may seem like getting the right stance, or the right grip's important - and it can be! - but the truth is it's not gonna matter in a real fight."
"But it does though," Steven said, "We're training to face GROGAR, Amethyst, and we saw what happened already. There's so many left behind back there … we have to be ready for anything. Who knows what Grogar will do now?"
They weren't sure if Steven was referring to all of them or himself there. Still, Amethyst smiled and shrugged.
"We don't know, THAT'S THE POINT," she explained, "In a fight, you never know what's gonna happen. You can't just watch it on tape, replay it, and figure out how it'll work! NOPE! A fight's always gonna be different each and every time. I mean, how can you be ready when you don't even know what you're getting ready for? What really matters is that you gotta be … loose."
And to emphasize her point her stone started glowing, and her arms were shapeshifting to resemble flags blowing in the wind.
"So … what you're saying is …"
"What I'm saying is that don't get so worked up and scared over what could be nothing!" Amethyst concluded, "Whatever Grogar's doin, long as we go with the flow we can handle it!"
"And I thought I'm the teacher," said an amused voice.
By this point, the barn doors finally opened up, and Jasper stood there at the ready. Just her showing up got them up in lined up (as instructed) with Steven being there first.
"Alright Gems listen up. When out in the field, as you know, we all have to pull our own weight, right?"
"Yes mam!" they all said. Good answer.
"Right. Now here's what we're gonna do. If we are gonna be getting our Gems out away from Homeworld, odds are we need to carry a lot on the way out, so …"
And then Jasper opened up the doors.
"It's time to see how much weight you can pull!" Jasper declared. Everyone looked inside and found that the barnhouse was PACKED! All huge pile in the middle of the barn with all sorts of scrap metal of all sorts of things, most of which seemed to be from car parts or just lumps of metal.
"Holy," Steven gasped.
"Yeah, I know. Alright troops, take as much as you can carry -"
"Where'd you even get all that?" Peridot suddenly asked. Jasper's confident look turned to a more deadpan one.
"That doesn't matter, just take some," Jasper instructed. Well, some of them did begin taking some of the metal out of the pile, but Steven still had some questions about this, walking up to his commander.
"Did you steal it?" Steven questioned, looking over the whole metal pile.
"Wha - of course I stole it! You think I just bought all this scrap?" Jasper questioned. No one really missed the metal so she didn't see the harm in just taking it for the sake of training. Before she could yell, she calmed down.
"Jasper, you can't just take it, what if someone needs some new bumpers for their car?" Steven asked. Jasper shrugged.
"Listen, it's two tons of molded steel, and we're gonna walk it back to the Temple. Now get as much as you can carry and start your way back with the rest, Ok Steven?" Jasper instructed. While he didn't want to steal this, he went over and got the metal anyway.
"That does make someone beefy quicker. … YES MAM!"
…
Eventually, no piece of metal was left at the barn, and they began to make their way from the barn and off through the trek back home. It would only take them a short minute or two just to take the warp pad, but that would really cut this whole thing short, and Jasper wasn't about to cut any corners here. As before, Jasper took the lead in the walk back to the Temple as everyone else followed with a huge amount of metal in their arms.
This task was actually a bit easier for them, being Gems and with more natural strength than your average pony or human. Steven though had an easier time with his Diamond strength, and his load was basically like an ant single-handedly carrying a stone.
"Now THIS is more like it," said Amethyst, showing off a little bit and doing it with one arm. "So this is all we gotta do before we get back to the Temple, J?"
"It's the main idea, but don't let it get to your head," advised Jasper, "I made sure there's more to it."
"Well as long as we can at least see straight, I'm down for it," Amethyst stated. Unfortunately, not everyone was so easily enthused. Sure, Amethyst, Steven, even Pinkie and Emerald were handling it pretty well all and all, but Peridot, Fulgurite, the Rutile Twins, and Rhodonite weren't so keen on it. Peridot may have been beef'd up before, but carrying objects like this was still difficult without her metal kinetics, and Rhodonite and the twins were just Illy practiced. At one point, the Rutile Twins collapsed on the ground, scrap stumbling off of them.
"You two okay?" Steven asked, heading back to them.
"W-We're really sorry, it's very hard to carry them like this," said Right Rutile, a bit winded as Left Rutile wiped her brow.
"It's hard keeping balance with all of that," added Left Rutile.
"Don't sweat it. Here, toss it up with me, I'll carry it for ya," Steven offered.
"You sure?"
"Totally! Just get yours up on top of mine," Steven insisted, ready for the extra load. The idea was to get stronger, and Steven had the most reason to do this so he wanted to boost himself for a bit more. The twins looked to one another, and decided to let him give it a try. They gathered their metal, and tossed it up on top of Steven's pile.
"K-Keep it together, Steven. Remember why you're doing this," Steven told himself. That was just enough motivation to not just topple over himself carrying his extra load. Straining and sweating, Steven started to continue the line back home. Him already making the walk from the Warp Pad to home, he knew the way already from there.
"Dude, let me carry that, you look like you're gonna topple," Amethyst quietly insisted.
"I'm fine, really!" Steven retorted, "Gotta build myself up, right?"
"Steven -"
"Halt!" suddenly the whole group stopped altogether, only Pinkie bumping into Jasper by mistake, stumbling down with her scrap. Mere moments after being covered, she popped her head out.
"Why the stop?" Pinkie asked. Jasper was about to answer, but then she saw what Steven was doing to himself. She can get why, but he'd also proven before how much ambition can kinda blind health sometimes. So, she walked over to him, and took the piles.
"Jasper, I'm carrying that."
"Not now: when you're in the field, it's important to obtain as much knowledge about the area as possible, so you all have the tactical advantage to crush your opponents!" Jasper explained, holding Steven and the twins' scrap metal piles with one arm fairly easily.
"Now Steven, find a high vantage point and report what you can see important," Jasper instructed. Steven wasn't exactly sure where to look, nothing looking like a good vantage point at all. Though another Gem spoke up again.
"What's wrong? Nothing's here, and we can see for miles," retorted Emerald. He did have a point, considering they were out in open fields and all. Jasper snorted.
"WE can be seen for miles, and heard. Besides, I asked Steven," Jasper retorted. Meanwhile Steven was trying to figure something out, but then an idea quickly popped into his head after something came to him from yesterday.
"I know!" Steven exclaimed.
Steven took a few steps away from the group, as everyone else watched him. The answer was so simple: all Steven had to do was give the ground a good stomp, and off he hopped right into the air. Steven got himself up a good twenty thirty feet off of the ground before he slowed down, and sure enough he was stuck high up in the air again.
"Soldier, that's cheating!" Jasper called.
"No it's not: you said don't use Gem weapons! Floating isn't a weapon!" Steven called back.
Well Steven got her there.
"Smart. What can you see up there?!" called up Fulgurite. Steven stayed floating up there and looked off to the trails ahead of them, his hand over his eyes to remove some glare.
"I see more hills. An open field, and some patches of trees along the road. And just passed that, I think I can see Brooding Hill from here. And …" Steven paused as he observed the ground ahead a bit more closely. Just by one of the patches of trees, something was moving about a bit just up ahead. It was too far away to tell exactly what it was, but there was enough rustling in the bushes to tell him that there was indeed something about the place. Suddenly Steven's eyes lit up.
"RAINBOW I SEE YOU!" Steven shouted.
"WHAT?! COME ON!!"
Even Jasper couldn't help but laugh on the distant screaming of a infuriated Rainbow Dash. Rainbow did come out and flew right back to them.
"Ok, THAT wasn't fair, we didn't even get to come out and jump ya yet!" Rainbow grumbled.
"Jump ya?" Rhodonite asked.
"You really thought it was just gonna be a walk back to the temple?" Jasper huffed. "Which reminds me …"
*FWEEET*
"OH GOLLY - AH!" and suddenly, out of nowhere, another third jumped the group. This time the figure was Bismuth, who was actually underground, and her sneak attack got Rhodonite right off her feet. Fulgurite quickly got the other scrap pile as Rhodonite was being held.
"HA! Gotcha Rhodonite!" Bismuth laughed. Rhodonite was scrambling in panic on this capture. Steven would go in and help … you know, if he wasn't floating high up in the sky like that.
"O-Oh no you don't! BATTLE UP, ROCKS!" Amethyst shouted. By the time Rainbow Dash got Steven down, Bismuth was already up to her head in the others, more like a rough-housing play than actual training. But heck, the idea was still there, and they were quick to go for their teammate so Jasper just allowed them their moment for today.
Eventually, the group got off of Bismuth and allowed her to get back up.
"Alright, you found all three, but we got a long way to go. AJ, RD, B, head off ahead and set up. The rest of you, regather and move out!" Jasper instructed. AJ got her portal key and opened up a portal for all three to go through as everyone else got their respected piles.
"Let's go team!" encouraged Steven. Soon they all were off on their way again.
~(DAY THREE)~
The area was quiet. Most of the world may not have felt winter's grip just yet, but the northern area was already seeing its first signs of snow falling gently down to earth, covering places not on the ground in a small shade of white. Snowcapped pillars, and old ruins were scattered around the place from Gemkind's attempts to colonize, now covered in both the snow and the surrounding plants. A very few of the specks of snow also was falling down to Earth with the gentlest of landings.
Eventually, there was indeed a commotion off within a snow-covered clearing (or was snow-covered rather), as a Warp Pad suddenly went off. The people in the area now?
Garnet, Lapis, and Yellow Diamond. A bit of a strange set to just wander into the place.
"This should be it," Garnet said, taking the lead into the area. Yellow Diamond looked around the area some more, not too impressed by what it had become over the thousands of years.
"Thousands of years had not done well for this place. Had any of you considered actually cleaning these places up?" Yellow Diamond questioned, flicking off a bit of snow from a nearby ruined tower.
"We had far too much to do already. Besides, most of the ruins typically get … well, ruined," Lapis shrugged. That, Yellow Diamond could see for herself as she kept looking around.
"Ruined by WHAT? You? The Corrupted? Some random Earth creature?"
"Yes," Garnet simply replied, going on ahead a bit. Yellow Diamond decided not to go into it any further and just continued following them for a bit more. This wasn't her colony anyway, so what could she do?
The trio went through the area a bit more, observing much of these ruins as they went. It didn't seem like there was anything around them except for what remained of the past, and present's snowfall. Lapis and Yellow both were a bit lost on why they were here anyway, but since Garnet insisted for them to come along it at least had to involve them somehow. Although Yellow Diamond did feel there were far better things to do than wandering around some ancient site.
Eventually, the three began to find another clearing off out in the middle of the ruins, and Lapis Lazuli decided to fly around a bit more, perching on one of the pillars and seeing if there was indeed something there or not.
"Ok, where are you?" Lapis wondered, trying to find out their main target.
At first though, like the rest of the place, there didn't seem to be much there. It took them a minute or two, but eventually they did begin to see someone out in the open.
"HEEEYYY JASPER!" called Lapis Lazuli. Jasper was simply standing out in the open, eyes turned away from one part of the ruins themselves, arms crossed.
"Hey Garnet, Lapis. My Diamond," Jasper said … admittedly humbled by seeing Yellow show up.
"What're you doing?" Yellow Diamond asked.
"Training," Jasper said. The three looked around, though Garnet and Lapis didn't see anyone.
"... You do know there's nobody here, right?" noted Lapis curiously. She didn't see anyone during her fly around after all, but Jasper wasn't deterred.
"Yeah, and they should be. I'm training them in disguise, and stealth. It's one of the key skills for any good combatant to gain the upper hand over your opponent, so I had everyone go off and conceal themselves before I come in and track them down," explained Jasper.
"Well that's - wait, isn't that hide and seek?"
"... Yes?"
The others looked on to the field, and almost naturally Yellow wasn't too impressed.
"They need to do a better job," Yellow commented. Jasper turned around to begin looking, but she didn't actually see what Yellow Diamond meant. She didn't see anyone at first.
"Alright, then where're they?"
…
Yellow pointed ahead. "There -" then pointed right. "- there -" and then pointe left. "- and there."
And just like that, everyone kinda "popped out" from exactly where Yellow Diamond said they would be.
"Oh man," Steven groaned. And he worked so hard on his spot too. The real angry ones were Fulgurite and Emerald.
"FOUL! I'm calling foul! … YELLOW?!" Fulgurite snapped.
"The heck's THIS trick?! Of course you'll see us with her here!" Emerald snapped.
Yellow Diamond ignored them both, and everyone was called out with a whistle from Garnet. Guess training in hide and seek was gonna have to wait for a little bit more.
"Garnet! Lapis! Yellow!" Steven called, waving to them. Lapis
"Hey Steven, how's training going?" Lapis asked, coming over first to see him and giving her favorite human a good hug on meeting up. Steven gave a good flex of his muscles once she released him.
"I'm feeling STRONG!" Steven stated, trying to look as buff as he could, "Super tough and strong!"
Lapis couldn't help herself, and a water wing started to slip by Steven's stomach.
"Strong enough to stop this?" Lapis teased, beginning to tickle Steven's tummy with her wing. Steven at first didn't react, trying his best to look as strong as ever. But of course, it was so hard to ignore a tickle monster.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA -L-LAPIS STOP! - HAHAHA - I GIVE, I GIVE!" Steven exclaimed, laughing himself silly.
"AHEM!"
Yellow Diamond's voice got their attention as Steven calmed down from the tickle attack.
"What is it? The team's all ears," Amethyst asked casually, helping Steven on his feet. Yellow Diamond didn't want to stay any longer than she had to, confronting much of Jasper's trainees.
"We feel it's necessary to inform you that we've decided to send a few of the Harmony Gems to Homeworld."
"Right now? But Grogar's -"
"Controlling the empire, I know that," Yellow groaned, cutting Steven short and not liking to constantly remind herself that, "THAT'S why they felt they have to go in - to study what Grogar had done so we can make a plan of attack. Your Flint and Pearl came up with the idea this morning and are setting out for the nearest Warp Pad tomorrow."
"And suddenly that makes a lot more sense," Fulgurite shrugged, "Leave it to Flint to come up with all those risky ideas."
"Partially why we're here," confirmed Garnet, "... Emerald, Peridot, I'd like you two to go with them once they leave. Tell them Garnet sent you."
Garnet didn't need to explain why exactly, and all she needed to do was adjust her shades again, the shine off of them contributing to the possible future vision she had in mind.
"Yes mam!" Emerald said.
"I'll catch you up on training when you get back, Emerald, so don't think this is just a chance to ditch out," Jasper quickly informed. Suddenly Emerald wasn't as enthusiastic. Pretty good, but not as good as he'd like. Emerald just grumbled, but something still crossed some minds.
"So everyone agreed to this, huh?" Amethyst asked.
"Well … yes and no," Lapis said, "White Diamond was a tad bit spooked when she heard this."
"A tad bit? She tried to attach a tracker onto Pearl to make sure we don't lose them!" Yellow insisted.
"It's less than what she's done before."
"True."
"So they're going to Homeworld. Are they going to try and get them out?!" Steven asked, hopefully. Garnet kneeled down to Steven, seeing right through him and seeing the concerns.
"Steven, we know you're worried about Connie, Twilight, and the other Gems. But we can't do anything about that right now. We'll figure it out as soon as possible, but for now we have to be patient. He's too strong to deal with up front right now," Garnet insisted. Steven looked down to his feet.
"I know. … will they at least be okay when we do find them? This … did kinda of come suddenly," Steven asked, trying both not to insult Garnet's future vision, but also not to force the matter onto her. Garnet paused briefly to check said matter to be sure. Unfortunately Steven noticed a slight twitch in Garnet's lips, turning into a small frown.
"I'm … not entirely sure."
Not the best answer for Steven to hear. And neither for Yellow Diamond.
"Excuse me?" Yellow Diamond stated. Steven quickly started talking before something could begin.
"Yellow, wait, don't be mad at her. Nobody's perfect, and if she can't see what's happening right now, then that's fine. Let's keep at it and be the best we can be, right guys?" Steven insisted, getting a good yes out of his fellow trainees. Yellow Diamond might as well go with it, considering that this Sapphire was the only one she had access to right now. However, suddenly something seemed to flash over Garnet's mind, and she looked to Steven.
"And do me one favor, Steven? … Don't go outside tonight."
"Uh … ok," Steven said.
"Well don't let us hold you up," Yellow simply stated. Only Jasper really caught onto the gesture, and she turned to the trainees.
"Alright, you heard her, get back to hiding. And I don't want to see any butts sticking out this time. MOVE!"
Jasper turned around and closed her eyes again as the others began to go off and try to find a better hiding spot. Many of them got to a good hiding place, but as Steven and Pinkie were getting a hole in the ground dug ala Pinkie Pie's rock-crushing hooves, Steven glanced back to only find Emerald and Fulgurite being … well, a bit playful. The two just sat down, getting a clump of the snow behind them to cover the ground, just enough so their legs and behinds were snow-covered.
"Oh boy, they're asking for it," Steven said. And indeed they were, as Fulgurite gave a tiny zap to Jasper's foot.
"Ow! What the - …"
"AHEM. No butts sticking out, MAM!" Fulgurite said, she and Emerald trying not to just laugh. Despite this, Amethyst couldn't help but chuckle, yet Jasper was not finding it funny.
"WILL YOU TWO GO AND HIDE ALREADY?!" Jasper roared. That enough made them both bolt for it. They'd better find a pretty darn good hiding spot until Jasper cooled down.
~~~~~~
Nightfall. And another day of training finished up for the time being. Training had been long, and plenty more than just a simple game of hide and seek as they've stated already. That was made more than clear as Steven was getting ready for bed, going through a nice shower after such a long day, and drying off. He could feel himself cringing slightly from the bruises he got today, one particularly on his arm from "duking" with Jasper. He made sure to clean that up and patch it up too. As he wrapped in his towel, and washing his face, he took a look in the mirror at himself briefly.
"Well Steven, that's another day of training for ya," Steven said to himself, "Won't be long until you get strong enough to march right up to that jerk Grogar and take Homeworld back."
Those words were encouraging, but his mind still was a bit muffled about what Garnet told him earlier.
"Don't worry Connie. We'll be there soon, I promise. We'll get you back, Twilight back, and everyone else back and we'll get you all healed up in no time. … Maybe Flint, Pearl, Emerald, and Peridot will get them out once they get there. Yeah. You'll be home soon."
Steven felt concluded. So, after washing himself off and cleaning himself up, he got his PJs and got himself right off to bed. Flint, Pearl, Peridot, and Emerald will get some of them out, he knows they will. At least, they will try to. That's the most you can ask of somebody, right?
"Goodnight, soldier," Steven sighed, getting himself comfy in bed. With one more yawn, and a tug on the blankets, he settled down and began to drift off to sleep. The images of Connie good as new, and returning home was just the reassurance he needed to have for at least some decent sleep. Not saying the others weren't important to him, but his love was his biggest worry out of all of them.
…
"Don't go outside eh? We'll see about that inspector loose lips."
…
One hour. Two. Three. Nighttime continued on like this, and so far nothing was bothering Steven for the most part. Sleeping soundly, and without incident. The only real thing that stirred was Steven readjusting himself in his sleep, but nothing else really seemed more troubling than that. But in the dim light of the autumn beach, the snow and water were showing signs that something was amidst, footprints leading down the length of the sand. … Leading to the temple … and right to the front steps as the door creaked.
"Lovely evening.~"
Steven didn't wake up at first, only stirring slightly and trying to get some sleep from that voice.
"I said it's a lovely evening for whatever you fancy," said the voice again. Steven still tried to keep himself sleeping, getting the pillow and covering his head.
"Come back later … sleepy time now," Steven murmured.
"Oh dear. Whatever shall I do? …"
And suddenly Steven woke up with a startle when something grabbed him by the leg and knocked him out of bed, landing on the ground floor! Suddenly Steven found himself pinned down, strong hooves keeping his arms down as he stared up at his attacker. Speak of the devil.
"Oh did I wake you? I am sorry."
"GROGAR!!" Steven shrieked, completely caught off guard by this sudden visit by the demonic ram. Instinctively he tried to attack, his feet trying to kick the ram off of him and while they were strong, Grogar didn't budge off yet. Grogar actually got off when he stepped back, actually letting him spring back to his feet his immediately getting out his shield.
"GUYS, we got an invader in here! GARNET! PEARL - ACK!" Steven was shut up when he felt his throat tighten by Grogar's magic, a notable chime of the bell echoing in the air.
"Sssshhhh. You'd better keep that yapper shut, boy, or they'll find a cute corpse in the morning."
Not even remotely a bit of cushioning on THAT warning. Steven tried to seemingly grab whatever was on his throat, but he couldn't grab magic. Grogar brought him closer to him.
"W-What do you want now, you big jerk?" Steven choked out, angry as ever. Bad enough he corrupted his friend, how dare he come crawling back now?
"Just here checking on my little "soldier" that's all. A walk outside?"
"N-No! You can't *ACK* m-make me!" Steven said, feeling the magic tighten. This was just the thing Garnet told him NOT to do! Unfortunately, Grogar just gently opened the door, and threw Steven outside, making the boy land onto the snow and sand with quite a tumble.
"Maybe you can," Steven groaned, his voice straining a little thanks to the choking. Grogar closed the door behind him and caught up with Steven. Steven though got out his shield just before Grogar could crush him underneath his hooves. Steven reflected the ram back, giving him enough time to stand up, cold and now on alert.
"Get out of here! This isn't your home!" Steven shouted. Grogar was hardly intimidated by the brat in front of him, and actually sat down casually.
"So what? I'm the king, I'll go wherever I like. Besides, what're you gonna do about it?" Grogar mocked. Steven grew angry, hand gripping his shield.
"This is not your world Grogar, I won't let you take it! and if I have to fight you again … I WILL!" Steven warned. Grogar just scoffed at the idea, waving his hoof at him.
"Please, I'm not interested in this world. Yet."
"Huh? … B-But then what were you doing inside my room? I'm not making you my roommate!" Steven demanded. Grogar rolled his eyes.
"God forbid," the ram huffed. "Nah, I just wanna see what happens when you're stuck outside. That is what Garnet said NOT to do right? To not come outside tonight, right?"
"What?! Y-You know that too? How, A-Are you spying on us?!" Steven gasped. He would know darn well if Grogar was there or not, ALL of them would. Grogar just gave Steven a grin belonging on a trash can.
"Sure, I'll let you think that if you want," Grogar said. That just frustrated Steven even more with Grogar's cryptic talk.
"GET OUT OF HERE, NOBODY WANTS YOU!"
"What else is new? But if you want me gone, then go ahead. … Right here. I'll sit still, I promise," Grogar encouraged. He sat down casually, and made a cross mark on his chest, right where his heart would be. Steven hesitated, and unlike before he was thinking a bit more straight.
"First of all, no you won't. Second, NO, I'm not gonna kill you Grogar - that's terrible. … And I'm not like you."
"O really? You seem eager to slice my head off back on Homeworld, remember? Or was that just one of your "diamond powers" going haywire?" retorted Grogar quizzically.
"Seem eager? Seem eager - YOU corrupted Homeworld, you corrupted my girlfriend! How can I NOT be angry at you for that?" Steven shouted, his hands feeling very trigger-happy at just throwing the shield at the ram to shut him up. Grogar found it amusing how angry he was getting, seeing the o so ready to strike hand begging for a go.
"GIRLFRIEND you say? Now that's a different matter, thank you for the info."
"Wait, you didn't know?" Steven asked.
"Course not! Well, not until you told me." and Grogar just laughed at him, making Steven blush up. Guess he got too caught up in the moment there. Grogar then had the stones to speak again.
"Ok, Mr. "angel" answer me this question: … Why leave her all alone like that? Hmm?"
Steven froze. They both knew what he meant by that. The images of those corrupted Gems shot through his head again as he tried to look tough. To not show fear. … And it wasn't working.
"I didn't want to leave Connie, but you -"
"I'm not talking about her. I'm talking about Pink … Pink Pearl that is."
"... OH NO. … I forgot Pearl." Steven was horrified. Pink Pearl was still behind on Homeworld when he left! He thought he at least lost one person when leaving, but this was even worse! It was enough to make him drop his shield in shock.
"Smooth on your part. That Pearl suffered under White Diamond's mind control, and just when she got her life back, you ditch her. And you keep calling me horrid."
"But I didn't mean to, I mean you were -"
"You wanted to stay behind and fight me while the rest tried dragging you out, so you had the option to either stay or leave. And you chose the latter. I offered you a way out, don't forget, and you'd rather save your innocence than save others' lives."
"That's not true at all, I didn't want to leave anyone behind! And if I was thinking right, OF COURSE I wouldn't kill you!" Steven insisted.
"OH that's right, the others made you leave. So we agree it's their fault right?"
"No it's not!" Steven finally threw his shield at him, which much to both his fear and anger, just bounced off his horns like throwing a pebble at a steel wall. And it worked just as much. Grogar chuckled.
"STOP! LAUGHING AT ME!" Steven demanded, tears starting to come up now.
"Sorry, sorry, it's just so humiliating how quickly I can break your mold," Grogar said, "You're character has always been this "Sweet and considerate and only occasionally obnoxious" kid that somehow has all the answers while still being a relatable little cinnamon bun. You can't keep that up forever, you found that out during your last birthday party! By the way, did Stubby tumble your rocks too much?"
"Stop! Please!" Steven asked, covering his ears. Grogar rolled his eyes, and actually swatted Steven in the head. This hit was more like a mother's slap to a child's head to discipline him, but they knew he could easily knock his head off.
"See what I mean? You were ready to kill me a minute ago, and suddenly you're pleading with me! Make up your mind."
"I'm not perfect!!" Steven yelled through tears.
"WATCH YOUR TONE TO THE KING!" Grogar yelled, suddenly ramming Steven, and charging him right into the wall of the beach rock cliff, making a nasty divot within it, Steven-sized. Steven coughed, getting the wind knocked out of him as Grogar took a step back. This humiliation was just o so fun to watch, and seeing him angry made it even more fun.
"Why're you doing this to me? … I know we fought at the festival, but I didn't do anything to you before. …" Steven asked, now quieter. Steven looked up and saw Grogar's gleaning teeth in his smile.
"Welcome to the real world, kid. Where there's always someone, somewhere, ready to rip your heart out. I'm trying to take over the world, and you're just in my way. Besides ..."
Grogar leaned in close to Steven's face, his muzzle right at Steven's ear.
"You won't kill me. … So why should I stop for you?"
"No. No, Grogar, I won't become a killer, and I never will. You can't make me," Steven stated, knowing what Grogar was trying to do, standing up as good as he could.
"We'll see," Grogar simply said. The ram turned to go, but had one more thing for Steven.
"Oh, and don't look now, but you got some thieves in your house."
"Wait, WHAT?" Steven bolted around to check the house. Just as Grogar had stated, someone was indeed going about inside the Beach House. Suddenly, the beach door swung open, and suddenly two figured were there and ready to go, one of which was holding some sort of round object in her hands. He knew what Gem that was.
"NO, don't take her, GIVE THAT BA -" Grogar took his chance, and clocked Steven right in the head, pinning him underhoof again.
"HA! Too easy."
*BAM!*
…
"Gah!"
… And just like that, it was over. Grogar was gone, the thieves were gone, and Steven was back in his room. It was morning now, sun just about overhead enough to wake him up. Steven would say that it was just some twisted nightmare involving Grogar, but as he went and sat up, he already could feel the headache he received thanks to Grogar's hoof. In fact, as he groaned and felt his head, he found it was actually bandaged up already. He can confirm that it wasn't just a dream, as he got himself out of bed. No one else was inside the Beach House with him, so he can't be sure if any of them either found him and brought him in or that the enemy had some form of morality and didn't want him to die out in the cold.
"They … saved me? But I was sure Grogar wanted to get rid of me. Why'd he - … did he bring me back here? … I better check this," Steven thought. The first place Steven went over to after his sleepless night was the bathroom to check himself out. He went right into the shower to check himself from top to bottom, down to his underwear and checking to see if Grogar did anything funny. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Well, everything except for the bandages of course.
"Ok, Steven, prepare yourself. Three … two … now!"
And he took them off in one clear pull.
What he saw in the reflection in front of him shocked him down to the core, making him gasp. Grogar had left his mark on him, quite literally, as Steven saw a curved cut right around his forehead. A hoof-sized cut, shaped like the crescent moon of the night before, dangerously close to his eye. Any lower by an inch or two and he wouldn't have an eye to even worry about. Steven's hand pressed against the cut, still feeling it sting him a bit again.
"Ooo, that smarts. … How am I gonna explain this to everyone?" Steven wondered.
But slowly, something began to come to him.
"Wait, let replay what happened. … So. I went outside last - wait. No, Grogar made me go outside. We talked, someone got stolen, and he knocked me out. I wake up in my home with a cut on my forehead, bandaged up and … nobody else is here. …"
It struck him what was going on now, snapping his fingers.
"He wants me to tell them," Steven gasped. Grogar, far as he understood, is someone who tried to make fear number one, and if everyone saw Steven like this, and knew what happened, no doubt someone was gonna be a little bit scared for him and whoever else was there. …
Steven sighed. He continued his routine, as per usual, though he kept an open ear to whoever else might be out of the bathroom. By the time he was finished, no one else was still there so he was by himself again. Quietly, and without another word, he went up to his bed, and got his headband. He got it on, the headband stinging his cut a little, but turned out he looked no more different than he was yesterday. The cut was concealed.
"I'm sorry everyone. No one can know."