//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Diamond In The Rough 
// by Deltorix 
//------------------------------//

I smile as I get dressed in my blue shirt with a big yellow star on the front. Then some basic blue jeans, a pink jacket, and some flip-flops. 'Ok my costume is good and it's not like I have to show off my belly button, so I don't need a fake gem for it.' 

I leave my room and look at my moms and sister as they are eating breakfast. "Morning moms, Lisa, how are you three?" I ask, then I get a plate of food and sit down to start eating.

“Morning son, and we are doing good. What about you?” My mom asked.

“Sup dude.” My sister said,

“I'm excited for today. My very first Comic-Con and I get to dress as my favorite character.” I told her with a big grin. 

“Honestly I don't know why you like that show there's not enough violence in it. I mean you're a 16-year-old boy. You should be liking transformers, explosions, and girls with giant tits. Not people talking about their feelings.” My sister teased me, making me groan. 

“Now now, so what if that show is about feelings, I think it is quite beautiful.” Rosie, my mom, said calmly, “And the story itself was full of twists and turns and many surprises. Though if I were to admit, I think Garnet was awesome.” 

I laugh and smirk as I start eating. “You're just saying that because you're dressing up as her.” 

Lisa rolls her eyes. “Ugh, why do I have to go along with this? I don't want to dress up like a loser.” 

I roll my eyes and point at her with my fork. “We agreed I would do your chores and you would dress as Amethyst for the con.” 

“Right, I’m starting to have second thoughts.” Lisa said.

I shake my head and grumble. ’She is always like this. Making deals then changing her mind.’ I think to myself as I continue to eat.

“Now now Lisa, we mustn’t be so negative.” Luna said, “After all, we must be respectful of Jake's likes and dislikes.”

I smile a bit as I know my mother Luna always picks my side of things. “That was delicious mom, how soon can we go?” 

“As soon as you clean your dishes, then we can.” she said, picking up her plate before walking to the sink.

I grin and quickly finish eating and take my plate to the sink and help wash the dishes. 

“My, someone is excited. Now, go get your stuff on, I’ll get these two ready as well.” 

I nod quickly and run to my room and grab my cheeseburger backpack and put it on. Then I grab my wallet with thousands of dollars in it that I worked my ass off for.  “This is gonna be amazing!” I then run to the door and see my family come out of their rooms dressed as Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet. 

“Don’t we all look lovely.” my mom Rosie said, dressed as Garnet. 

“Speak for yourself. I look like a wimp.” Lisa said, dressed as Amethyst.

I smile and hold onto my backpack straps. “You look cool to me. Let's go!” I start walking out the door.

Lisa runs past me and shouts, “Shotgun!!”

My eyes widen and I rush to the car yelling. “Nooooooo!” 

I managed to beat her and climb in the front seat, “Hey! No fair!” she said angrily.

“Sorry Jake, but I have to get shotgun this time.” Rosie said, 

I sigh and climb out of the seat and get in the back and Lisa punches my arm. “Ow! What was that for!?” I glared lightly at her. 

“Getting to the front seat before me, and because you’re my bro.” she said,

I stick my tongue out at her and cross my arms after I buckle my seatbelt. “Hey, enough fighting you two we are going to have family fun.” Luna tells us as she gets in the driver's seat and starts the car.

“Alright, who’s ready for Comic-Con?” Rosie asks us. 

I cheer and grin as I pull out my phone and tell my friends I'll be busy for the weekend. Then I pull out my tablet and start watching the Steven Universe movie while I wait to get to the con. 

“Really? You're gonna watch that show again? If I hear ‘other friends’ one more time I'm gonna hurl.” Lisa says but I tune her out. 

After a couple of hours, Luna stopped the car in front of a large building. “Alright kids, we’re here~,” she said in a singsong voice while turning off the car.

I look up from my tablet and cheer. “Yes! Time to get some cool stuff!” I get out of the car and start heading off but am stopped when Rosie grabs my backpack. 

“Hold on kiddo, wait for us, k?” she said,

I sigh a bit but nod. “Yes mom, but come on let's hurry before all the cool stuff is taken.” 

“Chill dude.” Lisa said, leaning against the car, as my moms made sure we had everything we needed. 

Luna nodded, “Good, now let’s head inside.”

I grin and the four of us head to the entrance. People loved our costumes and even Lisa got into it a bit, most likely loving the attention. Once I'm inside I look around wide-eyed at all the cool stuff and even see a season one steven cosplay. We had some fun pretending to me from the past and future taking some pictures then we went deeper into the convention hall. 

It was here that the place was super crowded. I could hear my family calling to me telling me. 

“Jake! Where did you go, man?!” I heard Lisa call out, 

“Jake honey where are you?!” Luna called out,

“Jake, please give us a signal of where you are?!” Rosie was the next one to call for me.

I look over the crown and carefully throw my backpack up into the air high enough for them to see it and catch it then look over and gasp when I see a glass model of Ship from Ben 10 alien force. I make my way to the stall and grin as I ask. “How much for Ship?” 

“Ship here is worth $150, but I’m willing to bargain.” the guy said.

I scratch my chin. “$150? Hmmm well, it is cool and good quality, how about $100?” 

“Alright, deal.” he said, carefully picking up the glass Ship and holding it out to me.

I smile and take it holding it close as I pay him the hundred dollars. I then turn around and see a massive crowd as grown behind me. I try to gently make my way through but am pushed back and forth. When I finally make it through the crowd I trip over my flip-flops and fall, dropping the glass figure and hearing it break. “Damn it!” 

I hear the man from the stall say. “All sales are final!” 

“What?!” I said in disbelief. I grumbled as I looked at the shattered remains of Ship, I then opened my cheeseburger backpack and began putting the remains in it. “$100 down the drain, maybe I can glue it back together at home.”

I put my backpack back on and then look around and rub my stomach as it gurgles. I spot a chili dog stand and grin as they are my favorite and make my way to it. “Sweet at least this part of the trip won't be a complete letdown.”

I ordered one and just as I was about to take a bite, somebody bumped into me, causing me to drop my chili dog on my shirt, ruining it. “DAMN IT!!” I said angrily, “First Ship shatters, then this!!” I said, asking for napkins, and began to clean off the chili. “This can’t get any worse.”

I decide to look for my family and pull out my phone as I look around but a strange stall catches my eye first. It is surrounded by glass walls and when I get closer I see it has a conveyor belt with stuff on it. I see a sword that looks similar to Samurai Jack’s, a silver disk, what looks like a carton of metal eggs, a robotic backpack, a sword, gun, and Morpher from power rangers, as well as a red ship in a bottle. But to top it all off I see not just Rose Quartz’s sword but the gems of each of the main characters minus Steven’s. 

“Holy crap, how much for those!?” I push my face against the glass. Then a holographic Moogle appears. It is mostly white with purple batlike wings and a single antenna on its head ending in a bug red fuzzy ball. 

“How much for what? Kupo.” it said, 

 “Cool! A talking hologram, um those gems and the pink sword please.” I ask, pointing to each. 

“Okie Dokie! Each one costs $10 each! But I must war-”

“Sold! Please they look just like in the show.” I say almost drooling over them then I take out the money and see the conveyor belt start to move, sliding each item into a slot for me. 

“Okie Dokie buddy! Hope it was worth it! Kupo!” the Moogle said, disappearing.

I smile as I open my backpack and open the slot and start putting the gems into a different pocket than the smashed Ship figure then I strap the sword onto my back and turn around just as I hear Lisa and wave at her taking a step before I start falling forward. my eyes start feeling heavy.

“Dude! There you...are….” I heard Lisa’s voice start to fade out, then nothing.












I groan as I sit up and rub my head. “Man my head hurts what happened?” I hear birds and look around then blink fully awake. “Where the hell am I?” as I stand up my foot kicks my backpack, knocking out the gemstones I bought. Then to my shock pearls stone starts to glow and lifts into the air. 

A white glow took a humanoid shape than when it disappeared, there stood Pearl, she was a tall Gem, she had light pink hair and her Gem was on her forehead, she wore a light blue jacket over an equally light blue shirt, blue pants, and pink dancer shoes. “Ah, much better, don’t know how I-” Pearl said, then looked around, “H-how did I get here? What is this place?! And where is Steven?!” she shouted, looking around.

My eyes widen when I see what was supposed to be a replica is real. “Pearl?” I said, shocked and unbelieving. 

She turned to me, her eyes wide, she then tackled me in a bear hug, “STEVEN!! Oh thank Star you’re alright!! But you look so much older now?! How did this happen?!” she said, looking me over.

I shake my head and push her away. “Wait, Steven? My name is Jake! How are you even real? You were supposed to be a replica!” I say backing up from her balling my fists.

“Steven what are you talking about? I’ve always been real and I’m not a replica. I don’t know why you would think that! Did you hit your head or something?” 

Just then Amethyst's gem starts glowing and she starts to form. “What the hell?! Both of you are real? And stop calling me Steven, my name is Jake.” I grab my hair, then my eyes widen as I feel curly hair. I pull some down to my line of sight and see black hair. 

“What the hell is going on! Where is my blond hair?” I ask myself as I back up further from her as I see Amethyst fully formed now and I lift my shirt and gasp when I see a pink gemstone where my belly button should be. 

“Yo Pearl, what’s up Steven? And why does he look older?” I heard Amethyst say to Pearl.

“I-I don’t know. But he thinks his name is Jake! I think he may hit his head, or worse his gem could have been tampered with!” Pearl said, freaking out.

I absentmindedly reply to pearl as I pace back and forth. “Even if someone messed with Steven’s gem, it wouldn't change who he is mentally because his mind is in his human brain, not his gem. At least that's one of the fan theories out there.” I look at my hands and notice they are fatter than normal. Then I look around for something reflective. 

I spotted a small pond and ran towards it, I braced myself then looked, and staring back at me was the face of Steven fucking Universe!! “What the fuck! Why do I look like Steven fucking Universe!?” I scream, shocked, and get even more scared when for a split moment I see my eyes change to diamonds. Then I'm distracted when I see a glow behind me and turn to see ruby and sapphire’s gems glowing and start floating up.

Like Pearl and Amethyst, the white glow took a humanoid shape, except, smaller, once the glow went away, Ruby and Sapphire stood, Ruby took one look and me and she jumped back in surprise. “Whoa Steven! Why are you so much older now?!” she asked.

“This is rather odd indeed.” Sapphire said next.

I groan and get up and face them all. “I am not Steven. I don't know why I look like him. My name is Jake, just...give me a minute to think.” I rub my forehead. 

“Ship?” I spun and looked at where the noise came from, which was the cheeseburger backpack. 

“No way...if the gems all became real does that mean…” My eyes widen as I rush for the backpack. “My stuff!” 

I kept opening pockets and when I opened the last one, a black and green blur shot out of it, when it landed, it resembled a long black blob with green circuit-like lines on it with two little nubs at the front, a green circle was the only thing on its face. “Ship? Ship?” it said, looking at me curiously.





I stare at it in shock and then back to my backpack for a moment. “You better not have eaten my phone and tablet.” I check to make sure they are safe but hear Amethyst and Pearl summon their weapons. Looking up at them I am a bit annoyed to see them looking like they are gonna fight Ship. 

“Steven, get away from that thing!! We don’t know what it is!!” Pearl shouted, pointing her spear at Ship, who looked frightened and ran and hid behind my legs.

“Ship” it said timidly with a sad face on its head.

“Pearl, leave the poor galvanic mechamorph dog alone, he is just as lost as you three...er four, sorry you two.'' I say to her, then look at Ruby and Sapphire.

Sapphire just shrugged, but the ground around her seemed to be turning to ice.

“But Steven, we don’t even know what a galvanic mechamorph is?!” Pearl said, 

“You don't but I do, he is harmless unless you are a machine or are threatening someone he cares about. He can only say ‘ship’ but he is smarter than he looks.” I tell her then grin as I pull out my phone and tablet. “Yes!”

“Steven, what are you doing?! This no time to be on your devices!” Pearl said.

I glare at her for a moment. “I am trying to find out where I am and for the last time I…” I stand up. “AM..” My skin starts turning pink. “NOT….” I stomp my foot making cracks shoot out around me. “STEVEN!” Everything shook from the force of my yell, along with large gusts of wind.

Pearl dropped her spear and covered her mouth in shock, Amethyst was shocked as well, but remarked, “You look pretty badass dude.” While Ruby and Sapphire both were pushed back from the force of my shout. 

I pant and look down and jump in surprise “S-Shit...Pearl how do I turn off Pink Diamond’s powers?!” I back up but as I do, I start returning to normal.

“I-I…” Pearl stammered, too shocked to speak. She then shook her head, “I don’t know, I didn’t even know you can do that!!” 

I take a deep breath and let it out and fully return to normal. “Damn it...it seems I really do have Steven’s body…” I think quickly and look to Ship. “Ship could you go through my tablet and find all the videos marked Steven Universe and show them?” I say to it but lift my tablet out of reach. “Without destroying it?”

It tilted its head cutely, then gave a happy, “Ship Ship!” It kept saying bouncing up and down. I then heard something land in the water, looking in the direction of the sound, I see a faint glow, walking to it, I see something in the water, picking it up to reveal what looked like a lapis lazuli gem in the shape of a diamond with two black rings forming an x around it.

The moment I pick it up I hear two voices in my head. “We are the Displaced duo of Lightning and water, if you need our aid, raise this Token to the air and shout Chaos control,” then the two voices were replaced by one dark voice, “But be warned, if you bring death and destruction to the innocent, PREPARE TO DIE!!”

“Chaos control?” I muttered confused. 

Then storm clouds began to swirl above us, lightning and rain raging around us, then a lightning bolt struck the ground just away from us, a portal opening. I could faintly hear strange sounds then a robot fell through. It got up and looked at us, it raised a gun at us and before anyone could do anything, a robotic hand burst through its chest followed by another, this one more organic looking, the robot was lifted then torn in two.

‘What on earth?!’ I think as I jumped back and subconsciously reached back and grabbed the sword that was still on my back. “Who are you?”

“I’m someone who could kill you in an instant.” a voice said behind me, while a blade was pressed against my neck. “So why don’t you do us all a favor and let go of the sword, slowly, and I’ll do the same. Deal?”

“STEVEN! Let him go whoever you are!” Pearl yells as she holds her spear up.

Only for the water to suddenly rush forward and grab her. “As I said, let go of the blade. And no one gets hurt.”

I look over to see Lapis Lazuli and my eyes widen. “Lapis? When did you get here?” I slowly let go of the sword and looked over my other shoulder to see Ruby and Sapphire are held in water bubbles apart from each other, and Amethyst is held in a ball of mud. 

“Good.” The voice said, moving the blade away from my neck, as Lapis Lazuli released the others. “Sorry about that.” I turned around and saw a strange sight, it looked like a yellow anthropomorphic animal of some kind, it had two long ears with black tips, a thunderbolt shaped tail, crazy hair with a large bang covering most of his right eye, a red scarf was around his neck, he had blue eyes, one arm appeared to be robotic while the other was normal with a strange gauntlet, and he had large chest fur. “Names Rick.” Rick said, holding his hand out.

I raise an eyebrow and say. “Ok Rick mind telling me what on earth you are and where I am? And how my replicas became real?” I ask him as I wave my arm at the gems who seem very confused.

“Ah, a new blood, well I can give you the short answer or the long answer. Just say the long answer, there is no way to simplify the explanation I’m about to give you.” Rick said,

I shake my head still confused and say. “Long answer then, one minute I'm having the worst luck, the next I buy them.” I gesture at the gems. “And pass out waking up here looking like Steven.” I then remember I haven't introduced myself so I offer my hand. “Jake.”

He shook it, “Nice to meet you, as for the explanation, you might want to take a seat.” He said, sitting down on the grass. “Everyone.” We all did as he said, and sat down, “Alright, here is how this goes, you are Displaced, short for Dimensionally Misplaced, basically, a guy/girl or a large group enter a Con, buy something from a shady guy running a stall, and they end up here.” He spread his arms out, gesturing to the forest surrounding us.

I look around then back to Rick. “So how do I get home? I don't want my moms and sister to worry about me.”

Rick just stared, then let out a sigh, “Sorry, I really am, but you’re not gonna see them again. This forest isn’t your typical forest, it belongs to a show known as My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. And that means we are in Equestria, the land of ponies and harmony.” Lapis said as I looked at her.

“What? Do you mean I can't go home? And what the hell is My Little Pony? Sounds like a stupid show about baby animals.” I start to glow pink as I get madder and madder. “Tell me how I can get home right now!”

That’s when I froze, I don’t know why, I just did, staring at Rick as I felt some sort of pressure, weighing down on me. Just saying to try something. Then I realized it was Rick who was putting this pressure on me, there was a crater right where he was sitting as his hair seemed to be blown slightly up. “Kid, calm down, or things get violent.”

I struggle glowing brighter as I start to glare at him. “I don't know if you have a family but I do and I want to get back to them so tell me how to get home.”

“But Steven we don't know where the beach city is from here, or where the closest warp pad is.” Pearl said and I snapped my head to her.

“For the last goddamn time.” I stand up, now unaffected by Rick's pressure. “I AM NOT STEVEN FUCKING UNIVERSE!!” I yell and accidentally send a sound wave at her.

A yellow blur sped towards her, and the next thing I knew she was gone, just when the sound wave tore apart the area where she was. “Kid, calm down, she doesn’t know any better but you do, so calm down before I make you.” I turned my head to Rick, who was holding Pearl bridal style, and placed her down, “Getting angry doesn’t solve your problem. In fact, it only makes things worse for you.”

I grab my head as I try to calm down. “Damn it I just wanted to go to comic con with my moms and sister!” I slowly return to normal as I relax. 

“I get it kid, you thought nothing could have gone wrong, you thought you would live happily ever after with your moms and sister.” Rick said, placing his robotic hand on his shoulder. “But life sometimes likes to screw with us.”

I look down and to the gems then back to Rick. “So if they are real are you some kind of corrupted gem?”

“Oh no, I’m not from Steven Universe, I’m a Pikachu.” he said,

I raise an eyebrow. “What the fuck is a Pikachu?” 

Rick then had one of those anime shocked faces, while Lapis let out a laugh. “What the fuck is a Pikachu? It’s a Pokemon man. Wait let me guess, you don’t play it, do you?”

I tilt my head and ask. “What is Pokémon? I've never heard of it.” 

“You know what, I’m not gonna bother explaining it. Here.” Rick said, holding out a bag that had a 3DS with different game cards, each one with the word Pokemon on it. “Play these from the number order I marked on them. Then you’ll know what Pokemon is.”

I look at the bag then shrug and put it in my backpack then look at Rick. “Mind helping convince them I'm not Steven?” I ask while pointing at the gems with my thumb. 

“Well, I was gonna explain why you look like him in the first place.” Rick said, “Basically, anyone who dresses up as their favorite character and gets sent to Equestria, becomes that character, though they have memories of their normal life. So Crystal Gems, he may look like Steven but he isn’t Steven in the head.” Rick said, tapping his head.

Pearl looks between me and Rick then asks him. “Then where is our Steven? If he isn't Steven, what happened to our steven?”

“Well, there isn’t a ‘your Steven’, cause at the same time he is your Steven, just a different mind. Though I think there are rare chances of Displaced meeting the characters they cosplayed as while in Equestria, but he is your Steven.” Rick said. 

“So what you're saying is this guy,” Amethyst leans over me annoying me. “Is like another cut of our Steven?”

“If that’s how you want to put it.” Rick said, shrugging.

“Amethyst! We don't use that language anymore!” Pearl yells at her. 

I roll my eyes and look to ruby and sapphire. “Is there a reason why you aren't fused? Normally you are always fused.”  

They look at each other for a moment then to me and sapphire says. “It's strange, when we first woke up here we started to, but then we saw so many futures we couldn't handle it and Garnet fell apart.”

“I get it, they need time to adjust to the new environment, new life, all that. Otherwise, you have a constantly falling apart Garnet.” Lapis said, walking over to us, and I saw that she had Rose’s sword and shield on her back. “So they’ll need time to adjust.” 

“Sounds like i-” Rick stopped mid-sentence and froze, his ears twitching this way and that, “I’ll be back.” was all he said as he brought his scarf up and covered half his face, then he sped off.

“Where the hell is he going?” I ask confused as I watch his blur leaving.

“No clue, he must have heard something that we couldn’t, he has heightened senses, but his hearing is remarkable.” Lapis said, 

I cross my arms and sigh. “Damn so I'm stuck here...wait..” I look at my phone and grin seeing a signal and try to connect but it can't frown. I look to Ship. “hey Ship; can you upgrade my phone to work?” 

“Ship Ship! Ship Ship!” it said, bouncing up and down again, then latched onto my phone as it spread all over it, then detached itself as it landed at my feet. “Ship Ship!”

“Kid, don’t bother trying to call your family, it doesn’t work like that, trust me, Rick tried and failed. Displaced aren’t allowed to contact their family, no matter how much they plead.” Lapis said, “But you are welcome to try if it'll give you some glimmer of hope.”

I smile and say. “It can't be fully connected but thanks to Ship I should be able to say goodbye.” I start typing a long message trying to explain everything I can. Then once I'm finished I press send and watch as it sends and confirm it got sent. “yes!”

“Well, at least you said goodbye. I’m glad for you kid.” Lapis said, patting me on the back.

I nod and sigh. “Yeah, so what now? Are I and the crystal gems the only Sentient life on this planet?” 

“Ship!” Ship said upset.

Lapis just stared, then gave an “Eeynope!” She said with a wide grin, “Equestria is habited by other life, all of it sentient, but the most dominant species in Equestria are the ponies.”

I groan softly and roll onto my back. “Well damn...at least I won't go nuts with more people to talk to, but what are we gonna do for food and shelter?”

“Well you are in luck cause the ponies are the friendliest creatures, sorta, there are times where they are xenophobic to creatures they haven’t seen before or aren’t..ahem, a pony.” Lapis said, “But don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll welcome you as long as you don’t appear threatening.”

I give a thumbs up while laying on my back. “So no Amethyst got ya.” 

“Hey!” She sounded annoyed then she said. “Meh, he's right.”

Lapis laughed. “I think Amethyst will be alright.” She said, laying down as well. “So got any questions for me?”

“Yeah, anywhere we can go for now that is safe in case these ‘ponies’ aren't friendly to us?” I ask and look over at her.

“Well, I know a few areas, there is an old castle deep in the forest, it’s a bit ruined, but it’ll serve as a shelter. Once Rick comes back we’ll take you there. Anything else?” she asks, looking at him.

“Ship?” Ship asks her shapeshifting into lots of different pieces of technology. 

“You want technology huh? Well, Rick is the one with tech, I just control water and have Rose Quartz’s sword and shield. No tech on me.” she said, scratching under his chin, causing it to let out a mechanical purr.

I look over at him then to her and say. “I think he is asking what level of tech do they have here.” 

“Ah, they are medieval types, though there are rare chances of advanced tech, though they are more magic-based than anything. Sorry buddy.” she said. Ship seems to melt at that. 

“Sorry little guy.” I told him.

“Excuse me but are you one of these...Displaced? Or are you a gem like us?”  Pearl asks her.

“I’m a Displaced, bought these and ended up in Equestria with Rick.” she replied, pointing to the sword and shield.

I chuckle and lift my shirt showing my new gem. “You have a copy, I'll be able to summon the real thing.”

“This the real thing in my world, the shield is able to withstand the same amount of force yours can. Sword is built the same, at least the one who made the sword says so.” Lapis said.

“If you say so, if I can manage to summon my shield then I'll probably practice to throw it like Captain America.” I say as I sit up with a sigh.

Then I heard something, looking to where the sound was coming from, which was from the trees. I watched as everyone brought out their weapons.

I stand up and hold out my arm, trying to summon my shield but it doesn't come out. So I grab my sword and hold it out and I can tell from the look Pearl gave me that I was holding it wrong. “What was that?”

“No clue, whatever it is-” Then jumping from the trees, was Rick. He did flip as he landed in front of us.

I let out a breath and lowered the sword. “Geez, you spooked us.”

“Sorry, but was kinda in a hurry to get back, sorry for my sudden departure. I had heard something and went to investigate.” Rick said.

I raise an eyebrow but Pearl beats me to my question. “Excuse me mister Rick, but what were you investigating?”

“Turns out some ponies have wandered into the forest, I did them a favor and led them out. The forest is dangerous to ponies, too many predators. But nothing we can’t handle.” Rick said, 

“I see, well I think we should get Steven to somewhere safe. Maybe this old castle your Lapis mentioned.” Pearl said to Rick.

Rick nodded his head. “Good plan, it’s starting to get late, and you do not want to be in the forest at night. Let’s go, I know the way.” 

I nod at Rick. “Then lead the way, and Pearl...I am not Steven, my name is Jake!” 

“Calm down dude, they still need a little time, but they’ll call you by your real name soon.” Lapis said.

I sigh and start following Rick but keep my sword on my shoulder as I’ve seen on tv. “Fine, so Rick how did you find us?”

“I have a good sense of direction, plus heightened hearing, kinda followed the sound of your voices.” Rick said, keeping an eye out.

I shake my head. “No, I mean when you first arrived.” I correct myself and watch the forest floor so I don't trip.

“Oh, we didn’t, you found a Lapis Lazuli gem in the shape of a diamond with two black rings forming an x over it?” Rick asked.

“Yeah.” I reach into my backpack and pull it out but now it's all gray. “huh?”

“First time I’m seeing it do that too, but that’s called a Token, Displaced create them to send out and meet other Displaced, either to talk or help them with whatever it is they need help with, that’s me and Lapis’s Token.” Rick explained.

“Huh...neat...can it be made out of anything? And can I meet other humans?” I ask as I put it back in my backpack and dig around inside. 

“Well, they won’t look like humans but yes, you can meet other people.” Rick said.

I pulled out a small toy of Steven I had bought the day before and forgot to take out and remove the sword from it. “How about this?”

“Yeah, you can use anything that describes you, all you gotta do is focus real hard and state your creed, which is something other Displaced can use to know what kind of person you are.” Lapis said, flying above us. “Hey, why not make it like the original theme song?”

“Theme song?” Pearl asks confused.

“She means the song Steven made for the crystal gems.” I say and pull out my phone and load up the video and show her. 

She and the others watched it in fascination and once it was over, she said. “That was beautiful and quite strange.”

“Yeah, where I'm from gems, Steven, all of you, are just fiction and part of an animated tv show. That's how I know about you all, but I am in the body of a 16-year-old Steven.” I tell them and just as I turn to face where I'm walking I trip and hold out my hands to catch myself but a hexagonal energy shield appears in front of me, which surprised me. 

“Huh, what do you know, looks like you managed to summon a shield.” Rick said.

I stand up and the gems look at the shield as it fades away. “Yeah but that is Steven's other shield he used in future.”

“Well, you are in Steven Universe's body, just his future self.” Lapis said,

“True I suppose. I guess I'll have to learn how to control two sets of powers.” I say and rub my head with a sigh.

“Hey, kid, if you need help, I’m here for ya, I had problems with my powers as well, but I’ve learned to control them. If you need help, just ask.” Rick said, looking up in the sky, seeing that the moon was coming up.

I look up at the moon and tilt my head. “Huh, that is a strange set of craters on this world's moon.” I say after seeing what looks like the shape of a unicorn's head made of craters. 

“Shit! You're in that timeline.” I heard Rick say, as I turned to him, I saw him and Lapis with worried looks on their faces.

“Timeline? What are you talking about? And why do you look scared, it's just some craters on the moon's surface.” I say with a dismissive shrug. 

“Well, Displaced get sent to different points in the show's history, but you are before the very first episode.” Rick said, 

“First episode? Oh right this world is based on a tv show, so the show is gonna start soon? What was the problem?” I say as we come up to an old rope bridge. 

“Well there is a villain who comes back, and she is a really tough character. And, her prison is the moon.” Rick said, pointing at the moon, “She was sent there after becoming jealous of the love her sister was getting from their subjects, becoming the Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon.” Rick explained, stopping Pearl from stepping onto it. 

I chuckle. “What kind of name is Nightmare moon?”  

“If you think the name is silly, don’t say that around her. She is very powerful, like Diamond level strong.” Rick said, “Well, not really, she could be stronger, but I’m using the Diamonds as an example. But that's how strong she is. Gave me an ass-kicking I wouldn’t forget.” he pressed a button on his arm, and a small device came up, he threw it out to the center of the gorge and a small bridge appeared. He walked onto as we followed.

“Well, I'll be sure to go nowhere near her then.” I say as I cross the bridge then look up at the castle and see all the damage. “Damn this place looks hundreds of years old with all the damage and overgrowth. Hey Pearl, do you girls know how to create a temple?”

“Well yes. Why?” she asked.

“Well, this place looks like it could collapse at any moment, why don’t you girls make a new temple here, Though I do have a few suggestions. If possible one of the suggestions is don't make my room like rose quartz is, as cool as it is I don't wanna end up trapped in it like Steven did that one time. Another suggestion is to make it expand itself so we can include other gem doors if more crystal gems show up.” I tell her and point out possible upgrades. 

“I can help as well. But first, I need to check out the town, see how close Nightmare Moon's return is. Here.” Rick said, handing Lapis a small cube. “Help him out as much as you can. I’ll be back.” Lapis nodded her head. Rick then cracked his knuckle with a toothy grin. “Time to let the beast out!” with that he began to change, he got bigger as paw-like feet burst from his shoes, his actual arm grew claws as he grew a wolf-like snout when he opened his eyes, they were completely black except for his blue eyes. He let out a howl and ran forward. Disappearing into the woods.

“um...Did he just go werewolf?” I am a bit worried.

“Don't be ridiculous Steven...Jake... there is no such thing as werewolves.” Pearl says as the others nod.

“Actually Pearl, he is a werewolf.” Lapis said, placing the cube down, “And trust me when I say that myths on Earth like dragons, are very real here.” The cube then grew in size, and as it grew, it pushed away dirt and rocks, once it was done, it was the size of a small house. Lapis then entered a code on the side and it opened. 

“Cooool!” Amethyst tried to rush inside.

“Amethyst!” Pearl tried to stop her as Ruby and Sapphire stood there and watched.

I shook my head and sigh. “Got any books or better videos of information on this world?” I asked lapis. 

“Yeah, just in here, of course, mind the mess, Rick likes to experiment here time from time.” Lapis said. 

“Please, it’s not even close to Stevens's old room, how big can it be?” Amethyst asked,

“Appearances can be deceiving Amethyst, just listen to Lapis here.” I tell her as I follow them inside.

Inside was a large room that could easily fit three warehouses, every space was occupied by all manner of tech, and moving to and fro were robots. And just like Lapis said, there was a mess. “Follow me.” she said, walking forward.

I follow her without question as I look around and I hear Ship ‘barking’ excitedly. “Ship, don't touch anything without permission it's not our stuff.” 

“Here we are.” I heard Lapis say, leading us to a simple living area, there was a large sofa facing all sorts of TVs. “You can use this to learn more about MLP.”

“Cool mind if I get copies of the info?” I ask holding up my tablet. 

“Yeah, there is wifi here, so you can look up the information.” Lapis said, sitting down,

“Thanks. Pearl, can you and the others work on the temple while I study?” I ask them as I set up my tablet to their wifi and start looking up information.

“Of course.” I heard Peal say, then heard the Crystals Gems start to leave.

“Seeing as you are a gem yourself, anything super important we should know?” I ask lapis after they leave. 

“Nothing much, just your everyday Lapis, though with a few new tricks.” she said as a book hovered next to her. “Other than that, nothing much.”

I sigh and tap at my tablet looking through the different species on this planet. “I was talking about dangers to gems on this world.”

“Well, there are dragons, they eat gems, don’t know if they’ll eat you guys, but if the others were in their gems, then yeah. There are a few other dangers here but nothing they can’t handle, except for the more super-powered kind.” Lapis said.

“Well isn't that just fantastic.” I say and rub my forehead then see a file on ponies. “Hold up magic? This world has magic?”

“Yeah, and the most powerful magic users move the sun and moon.” She replied.

“What? That's not possible the sun and moon are massive.” I say, shocked and disbelieving. 

“Tell that to the ruler of the land, she is the one who controls the sun and moon, the reason for that is because she is an Alicorn, the most powerful and respected being to the ponies. She has the traits of all three races, the strength of the Earth Ponies, the flight of Pegasi, and the magic of Unicorns.” Lapis tells me.

 “Holy crap...well I'll make sure to stay out of their way...wait, ruler? Oh god, don't tell me this world uses kings and queens.” I am annoyed and a bit upset. 

“Nah, only princesses, there hasn’t been a king or queen.” Lapis replied, trying to find something to watch.

I shake my head and lean back. “Damn...well if she is anything like the royals of earth, I am making my own country far away from her. I’m an American dammit, I refused to bow to anyone.”

“Relax, the princess is friendly, she would rather make peace than war, hell, Equestria is the land of harmony. They haven’t seen war in a thousand years.” Lapis said, smiling as she began to watch Power Rangers Dino Thunder. “So you don’t have to worry about her, she is more like a mother than anything.”

I cross my arms and think to myself. “That sounds nice, but I'll wait till I meet her myself. What else should I know about this world?”

“Well, there are other races, dragons, minotaurs, griffons, hell, even Cerberus is here.” Lapis said.

“Holy crap, that's a lot of different people this world must be at war all the time.” I shake my head trying to think of what we can do while downloading as much information onto my tablet as I can.

“As I said, they ain’t at war, there haven’t been wars. The dragons rather sleep on their horde of treasure, griffons keep to themselves, the minotaurs I have no clue, and Cereraus guards the Gates of Tartarus.” She explained. 

I look at her surprised. “So many different species all living together on one world and not constantly at war that's impressive.” I look and see the downloads are started. “Well, it seems we have some time to wait, how much do you know about Gems? I mean have you seen the whole show and more?”

“Of course I’ve seen the show, it’s one of the best shows ever!” Lapis said, stars in her eyes. “And I know everything there is to know about Gems.”

“That's good, then maybe you can tell me if all gems can store things in their gems or just Pearls.” I ask her as I tap at my belly gem. 

“Hmm, well considering that Gems can summon their weapons from their gems, it only stands to reason that they do, but the only time I’ve seen Steven store things is inside Lion's mane. So it might be possible or not for you, considering you’re half-human, so you might not have all their powers.”

“Maybe, but I thought a gem’s weapon was made of hard light like their bodies, not always solid objects.” I rub my chin thinking.

“Yeah, sorry, it’s just I’m not used to giving advice.” Lapis said, “But my wings aren’t solid light, their water. So I think I might be right on them storing their weapons, well most things anyway.”

I sigh and look down. “I guess I'll ask the gems about it, and I always thought that Lapis just made water wings using her hydrokinesis and we never actually saw her gem weapon.”

“Hmm, true. I think hydrokinesis is her weapon. I mean why would you need anything else if you're constantly surrounded by water. Anyway, I think I'll ask the Gems some stuff too unless you think you can answer my questions?” She asked. 

I shrug and say. “Maybe, as long as you don't need to know something never shown in the show.”

“Well, it’s about fusion really.” Lapis said.

I nod slightly. “I can try to answer it, but Garnet is the expert when it comes to fusion and I'm not even sure that Ruby and Sapphire can hold themselves together long enough to answer you, but it's worth a try if I can't answer you.”

“Well…..” Lapis began, and I could see her cheeks start to become a deeper shade of blue, “You see I care about Rick, like a lot, but he is new to emotions and such, that was because he is Displaced as his OC, who is clueless to emotions, and I wanted to see if we can try fusing.”

“Hmmm. I see, well unfortunately for you I don't see a way for you to fuse with him unless you have a way to somehow become half human or half organic at least, and still retain your memories. A gem can’t fuse with an organic being. The only reason Steven could was because he was half organic himself.” I told her with a small frown.

Lapis looked saddened at the information. “I see.” she said. Then perked up, “How much do you know of Transformers Animated?”

I chuckle and show her my screen saver for my table which is the whole Autobot team from the animated series. 

“I’m guessing a lot, do you know that chamber that Blackarachnia used to make Waspinator? Well, would that work on gems if it were tweaked correctly seeing how it turned Cybertronians part organic?” She asked me. 

“Hmm...maybe?” I say unsure. “If you are doing what I think you have planned, test it before you use it on yourself.” 

“Good idea. I just need something to test it on though.” Lapis held her chin in thought.

I rub my chin then say. “Well… maybe you could ask Pearl for a blueprint for an injector and create a gem to test it on.”

“A gem? Like a living one? Or a nonliving one?” She asked. 

“Well I have no idea of how the injectors work but maybe you can program it to create an animal version of a gem I a gem dog or something.” I say as an idea.

“Hmm, alright, I think I can work with that.” she said, “Well if we have no more questions, I think we should relax now. Or I could make a knife version of Roses's sword if you want.”

“Yeah, that sounds like something we can do. I still need to make a token I guess.” I stand up and follow her.

“Alright, follow me. Rick had built a forge into this place after I was taught by a blacksmith.” Lapis led me through different hallways until we reached a large door, when it opened I was greeted by a blacksmiths forge, there was a smelting pit, an anvil, and different types of metal and what looked like gem pieces.

I look at the gem shards and flinch a bit. Then I move over to lapis and give her the toy sword. “Like this but big enough for people to use.”

“Right, stand back, this might be a little dangerous.” she said, walking over to few containers and grabbing different gems pieces, she put on a glove and put her hand in the lava then took it out, she placed the melted pieces on the anvil, took off the glove and her hand shaped-shifted into a hammer. She proceeded to slam the hammer on the pieces, flattening it out, then started to shape it. She then picked it up and put it in lava again, taking it out she cooled it off with water. She walked over to me and held out a knife version of Rose’s sword.” Well, what do you think?”

“That was cool! I thought a Bismuth was the only type of jam they could shapeshift their limbs like that.” I say as I look over the knife.

“Hey, where do you think I learned how to make weapons?” Lapis asked with a raised eyebrow.

I look up at her. “You have a Bismuth?” I said surprised and chuckled. “cool.”

“Well yeah, Displaced draw in things from the worlds they are dressed up as, me in this case, characters from Steven Universe. So don’t be surprised if you meet another Gem or something.”

“Oh damn, hopefully, there aren't any diamonds here.” I say then slip the knife into my backpack.

“Yeah, hopefully, now that is done, what do you want to do now?” Lapis asked.

“I think I'm good, well I still need to find the gems so they can make the token with me, but yeah we are good.” I say as I look up at her.

“Alright, I’ll take you to them, this way, oh and watch out for a loose tile, I’ve been meaning to fix that.” she said, walking out, only to bump into Rick. 

“Oh sorry, I heard something and came to investigate it the moment I got back. Hey Jake, I see Lapis is showing you her forge huh?” Rick asked.

“Kinda, she made my knife token for me, now we are going to find the gems so I can finish it.” I told him and patted my backpack.

“Oh cool, well I saw them not too long ago, follow me.” Rick said, walking away from the forge. 

I nod and follow him then see all the tech around then ask. “Hey Rick, do you think you or Ship could make a satellite?” 

“A satellite? That’s child's play, but yeah I could, well not like a werewolf right now.  But yeah I could. Why?” He asked,

“Well lapis tells me that gems could start showing up, I don't want to get caught with my pants down by a possible diamond authority.” I tell him as I look up at the star-filled sky. 

“Ah, that’s a pretty good reason then. But as I said, child's play but not in werewolf mode right now, my mind is pretty much like a smart predator, so complicated tech would be difficult until the sun comes up.” Rick explained, entering the old castle.

“That must suck, your powers and mental state are linked to the day-night cycle like that.” I say as I start looking around and see no sign of the gems yet. 

“Yeah, but I still have some of my powers. Like this.” Rick said, his fist becoming covered in lightning, “Though it’s a little weaker than my normal lightning, I can still use it.” he opened another door and entered, and from the looks of it when I walked in, it was a throne room, at the thrones themselves were Pearl and Ruby.

“Pearl, Ruby, what's up? How is the temple coming along?” I ask as I walk up to them.

“Oh Jake, well the temple is nearly finished, we managed to make the door and are now making the inside of it right now, me and Ruby were just about to get you.” Pearl said. Pointing at the door, it resembled the classic door to the temple from the show.

I chuckle and smile. “Cool, I’m guessing the others are inside?” 

Pearl nodded. “Yes, they are.”

I nod and look at Ruby. “Would you mind going and getting the others? We are gonna make what's called a token.”

“Right.” Ruby said, then opened the door as it responded to her gem and went inside, moments later, she and Sapphire came out but no Amethyst. “I can’t find Amethyst! She was just in her new room!”

“Yo dudes! Look what I found!” Amethyst said as she walks into the room from outside and holds up what looks like a dog made out of wood. 

“Amethyst! Put that down! You have no idea where it's been!” Pearl scolds her. 

“Um yeah I agree with Pearl, that’s a Timberwolf pup, which means if you don’t bring it back, we’re gonna have one angry momma and pack coming here.” Rick said, Lapis nodded her head in agreement.

Amethyst pouts and bends her head back. “Awww come on it's been so boring around here so far!” 

I facepalm and I open my mouth to say something only to hear wolf howls coming from outside. “Well...seems you got your excitement Amethyst good work…” I say with sarcasm.

“Give it.” Rick said, grabbing the pup, “I’ll bring this little one back to its momma, the rest of you stay here.”

“Good luck and if you need us, we will help.” I say as I step forward. 

Rick nodded and ran out of the room, moments later, we heard a crash and ran to the window, looking out they see Rick just throwing what I guess were full-grown Timberwolves.

“Ruby, Sapphire think you two can hold a fusion long enough for a fight?” I ask them while watching the fight, then I look over to them. “No offense but I don't know if you two can fight at all.” 

“You are right Jake, Ruby?” Sapphire asks Ruby, who nodded.

I watch as they hold each other's hand and start to dance similar to something you'd see in a ballroom, then they both start to glow red and blue before they spin together faster and faster before they fuse I to a ball that then takes on a humanoid form and when the light fades there stands Garnet she opens two of her three eyes. 

“Steven? N-no.” she grabs her head for a moment. “Jake, I'm sorry this place is...different.” 

“It's fine Garnet, try just focusing on the present, not the future.” I try to give her advice. 

“R-right.” she said,

I smile and nod then just as I turn to look out the window Rick runs in like a blur. “Oh, your back.” 

“Timberwolves are trying to get inside.” He said, holding up the cut-up robotic arm. “Damn, I just adjusted it too.”

I look out the window and see them ramming against the door. “Then maybe we should show them what gems can do.” I clench my fist and start turning pink 

Pearl leans over to Rick and whispers. “Steven was never this violent, he would have tried to talk to the wolves.” 

“Well, he isn’t Steven, same body, a different mind.” Rick said back. “We just need to scare them off is all. Think you can handle that?” Rick asked me.

I think for a minute then grin. “I have an idea.'' I take my backpack off and dig through it before taking out a road flare. “This should scare them good.”

I walk to the door and hold out my hand and close my eyes trying to make any type of shield and after about ten seconds a hexagonal shield appears. Then I push it forward, breaking the door and I pop the cap of the flare and light it, holding it to them. 

“Listen here, one of us DID take your cub, but we returned it and plan on punishing the one who did it. Leave us alone and we will leave you alone, deal?” I try to talk to them while being ready to fight. 

The Timberwolves glared and growled, but turned and left, though one was an ass by kicking dirt at us before leaving.

I sigh and drop the flare onto the ground and walk back inside dusting myself off. “All done.”

“Good, now Amethyst.” Rick said, looking at the said gem. “I believe we need to have a talk about taking things that don’t belong to you.”

“Aw come on man! I didn’t know the little guy had parents, and it was boring here!”Amethyst said. 

“That’s no excuse Amethyst, you should have checked to see if it had parents in the first place!” Pearl said.

“Probably a good idea not to go anywhere near them for now, they were pissed off.” I add.

“Yeah, for now, help Jake with his Token.” Lapis said.

I nod and pull out the knife and hood it up. “Let's all hold it together and say the message.” 

“What’s the message gonna be again?” Amethyst asked

“I believe it was a song correct?” Garnet said, looking at me.

I nod and say. “It was the song Steven made for the crystal gems as a group.” 

“Alright, how did it start? With Garnet right?” Rick asked.

“Yeah, go ahead Garnet.” Lapis said.

“We~” Garnet began, then the rest of us joined in, “Are the Crystal Gems!~ We’ll always save the day! And if you think we can’t, we’ll always find a way!~That’s why the people of this world, believe in, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl!”

“And Jake!” I finish, then look at Rick. 

“Good work, now a portal would open up and you toss it in.” he said, just as a portal opened in front of us. I tossed in the Token and another fell in front of Rick and Lapis. 

“So is that it?” I ask as I look at where the portal was.

“Yep.” Lapis said, picking up the Token, “That’s all there is to do when making a Token, this one is for us.”

“Alright, so well do you want to sleep in the temple till sunrise so you can make the satellite?” I ask Rick.

“Actually, I wanted to do something with you first.” Rick said.

“Oh? What is it?” I asked.

“Well I noticed that you get really pissed off, and your powers are currently out of whack. So I thought maybe I can train ya?” Rick offered. 

I groan and rub the back of my head. “Yeah, I've always had a problem with my temper.”

“Well, I’ll help you out with that. And once we’re done, you’ll have some control over your powers and temper.” Rick said.

“Good I’d hate to end up like season one or movie Steven.” I say as I walk up to Rick.

“Alright, I know a place where we won’t destroy stuff. Well, actual stuff anyway.” Rick said. Then his fur became black, while the tips of his ears were white, and his eyes were ghost white, and his teeth had a slight glow to them. “Hello, I am Dark. A spirit that resides within Rick's mind.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Do all Pikachus have two people in them?” I ask as I offer my hand. 

He shook it, “No, I’m just a spirit who just happens to be born within his mind.”

“Odd, but neat.” I say then lower my hand. “Rick was about to give me some training though.”

“I know, but he needed me to create your training ground. I.D Create.” Dark said, as dark tendrils grabbed my arm, then everyone disappeared. “Good, now you two can start your training, though I must split first.” then Dark seemed to slide off of Rick and looked like Rick did before he became a werewolf. He then raised his hand towards Rick as a rune appeared on his hand and Rick's chest, then in a flash Rick was no longer a werewolf.

“Ok that is scary but cool, you're like the black shadow.” I chuckle. 

Dark just shrugged and flew off. “Alright, now that I am back to normal, we can start your training.” Rick said, cracking his knuckles. Then in a blur, I ended up on the ground, holding my stomach. “We’ll start with combat, cause what better way to trigger your powers in combat. Don’t worry, I’ll give ya advice as we go.”

I growled as I got up, and pulled the sword out of its scabbard, “Cheap shot!” I rushed at him and swung my blade, he effortlessly dodged it by ducking down and swiped my feet from under me. I landed on my back hard.

“Lesson 1, bad guys don’t care about fairness.” he said.

“Good to know.” I said, throwing dirt in his face, he swore as I tackled him, I punched him before he brought his robotic arm up, the center of his palm glowing before a beam hit me in my chest, sending me flying back, I rolled back a little before stopping. Standing up, I just had enough time to block his fist. I kept trying to block his punches with my sword, but he started to land punches on me as he started to go faster. I had enough and concentrated and a hexagonal shield appeared, with a shout I rammed Rick with it, sending him crashing into the woods.

Huffing I smirk. “How do you like that!” 

“Not bad.” I hear him say, walking forward as if the attack hardly fazed him. “But not good enough!” he charged forward, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt and slammed me down on the ground, dragging me across it as he ran, he then tossed me up and followed after me, and delivered an ax kick, sending me crashing into the ground. Or I would have if I didn’t start to fall slowly, must be Stevens floating powers. “Damn it. Forgot Steven could do that.” Rick said as he landed on the ground.

I look around as I am falling slowly and waving my arms trying to stay upright. “Wha! Ok ok, calm down think...in the show his powers worked with happy thoughts so..” I start thinking of my family and how I miss them and start falling faster and faster. “Aahhh!” 

I then heard something spinning and I looked to see Rick charging at me like a spinning ball. “Lesson 2, take any advantage you can over an enemy!” he said, I brought up my shield, only for it to shatter as he broke through, he barely grazed me as I fell. 

I close my eyes and curl up as I think of my family and start floating again just inches before the ground. I look around and laugh before landing on the ground with an “oof.”

I heard Rick land and looked and saw he was speeding towards me, I dodged to the right as he punched the ground where I was. He smirked at me as a ball of lightning formed in his hand, he threw it at me, I summoned my shield again, blocking it, but he kept up the attack, summoning an orb of lightning in his good arm. “Lesson 3, if forced to take cover, either time your enemies attacks or find an opening.” he said. I counted the time he attacked my shield.

“Okay, it takes three seconds for him to attack after throwing, so after this one.” I said, just as a lightning ball hit the shield, causing cracks to appear, I dropped the shield and threw my sword at him, just as he prepared another lightning orb, the sword impaled the orb, causing it to shock Rick, causing him to dance around. I laughed at him, wiping a tear from my eye, I ducked under his fist.

“Clever thinking, using my own attacks against me. That’s also part of combat, clever thinking.” Rick said, trying to deliver a roundhouse kick, I blocked it with my arm. He then sent a flurry of punches, each one landing and hurting me. “Another thing that is part of combat, learning your opponents' weakness.” he then sped behind me and was about to land a blow but I summoned my bubbled shield, pushing him back, I made it disappear and tried to bubble my fists, but I just couldn’t, they keep appearing but popping. “And your weakness kid is your lack of control over your powers.” I looked at Rick only to get punched in the face, I raised my fist and punched his face back. 

We kept punching each other, until I had enough and with a shout, I punched Rick sending him sliding back, crashing through trees and into a boulder. I huffed as I looked at my fist, seeing it in a spiked bubble, and the rest of me glowing pink. I heard coughing and saw Rick getting off the boulder, he looked at me, a grin on his face as he wiped the blood from his lip, I also saw some cuts on his chest. “Not bad kid.” he charged at me, I summoned my shield and sent it at him, he just punched through it, I kept it up though, sending shield after shield. 

No matter how many shields I send Rick just punches through them getting closer and closer. I start breathing heavier and my pink glow gets brighter as my shields get thicker and grow spikes. ’Damn it! First, my glass model breaks, then I lose my lunch and then I lose my FAMILY! I refuse to lose anything else!’  I grit my teeth and run at Rick with super pink speed and punch his face. “RAH!”

Rick was sent flying deep into the forest, I ran after him, the moment he got close to the ground, I punched his stomach, causing a small bit of blood to come out of his mouth, before he was sent flying again, the moment he landed, I jumped into the air and summoned three shields with hexagonal patterns on them, and when he got up, I slammed them into him. “You shouldn’t have messed with me!!” I said, summoning a platform with the same hexagonal patterns on it, then it grew spikes, I then sent it at him. It got closer and closer until.……...

“DRAGON SPIRIT UNLEASH!!” I heard Rick shout out, then a large plume of blue fire appeared, destroying the spiked platform, and creating a large crater. I looked at him and saw that he now had blue fiery wings, his feet were replaced by a three-clawed dragon's feet, his eyes were closed and when he opened them, his iris were ruby red and slit like a dragon, the whites of his eyes were replaced by the same fiery blue with the same blue flames coming off the sides of his. “Dragon Spirit Pikachu.”

I jump back holding my hands up, making lots of spiked bubble shields and roaring as I throw them at him. He spread his wings and flew at them, blue fire covered his arms, resembling dragon claws, he cut through them with ease. And was getting closer, I bubbled my fists, both having spikes as I flew at him as well, once we got close to each other, we pulled our fists back and sent them forward punching each other's fists, and with speeds too fast that I had a hard time seeing, we kept either blocking each others blows or tried to land a hit ourselves, and as we kept trying to land a hit, we kept flying around, creating shockwaves as we did.

‘I don't know how much longer I can keep up with him!’ I think to myself as we fight with super speed throwing and blocking punches and kicks. 

I then see that he is smirking as if he knows I can’t keep up or, ‘He’s having fun.’ I let a small smile appear, ‘Truth be told even though I tried to kill him, this is fun!’

“There you go, kid!” Rick said, as our fists met again. “Now you’re starting to have fun! Think you can keep going?” I punched him as he blocked it while crashing into a mountain,

I grin and keep fighting but then my stomach growls loud enough he hears it. “Guess not. I think it’s time for a break anyway.” he said, flying to me. “Yo Dark, how about letting us out of here?”

“I.D Escape.” I heard Dark say right next to me as he grabbed me and Rick, then the next thing we knew, we were in front of the Crystal Gems and Lapis. I looked to thank Dark but saw that he became a mist and floated to Rick, and seemed to disappear the moment he made contact with him.

“Now let’s go eat, I’ll make something in my lab, you wait in the castle.” Rick said, walking to the still opened lab.

“Um ok, I guess, thanks oh um if you can I’d like some chili dogs please.” I say with a grin.

Pearl runs up to me and looks me over. “Oh Steven, what did he do to you? You just disappeared out of nowhere!”

I pat her back. “I'm fine Pearl and I'm Jake, remember? Also, he was helping me train and get control of my gem powers.”

“Right, Jake. And if he was helping you, then I guess I can be ok with it. Just make sure to let him know to tell us first.” Pearl said, letting out a sigh.

I chuckle and smirk. “You remind me so much of my mom Luna.” I then lean on a window and hear something rustling and look out and see a brown feather slowly floating down from a tree branch. ’Huh, must be an owl or something.’

“Yo, the food’s ready!!” I heard Rick say, coming out of the lab, holding a plate of chili dogs. “Dragon Spirit has so many other uses than fighting.” he said, and I see he was still in his Dragon Spirit form.

I smile and go over to the makeshift table that someone set up and rub my hands together. “Looks delicious.” 

“Thanks.” Rick said, sitting down. Then a large plate full of meat was placed in front of him. I looked and saw that it was Lapis who made the place. 

“Figured you would do something like this, so I prepared this for you.” she said,

I reach for the food but Pearl lightly slaps my hand. “Manners Jake.” 

I huff and roll my eyes. “May I please have some chili dogs?” I ask with annoyance in my voice. 

“Uh yeah here.” Rick said, handing me the plate, before immediately scarfing down every last piece of meat on his plate.

I smile and eat them and feel a bit better as chili dogs are my favorite food. “I was about to have one before I came here but someone bumped into me and knocked it onto my shirt.” I show the stain on my shirt.

“That sucks.” Lapis said. Sitting next to Rick.

“Yeah and that was right after I bought Ship but tripped and he shattered.” I say and all the gems flinch and look at Ship confused as he looks back his tail wagging. 

“Good thing he is a Galvanic Mechamorph, they can put themselves back together again even if he was shattered when he was glass.” Rick said, finishing the last piece of meat. Then tossed Ship a small item, it looked like a satellite, except with differences, it was more sword-like and pink. “Before we left I had Echo, my personal AI made the satellite you wanted, like I said child’s play. Oh, I also had her build this.” Rick held out a small metal orb to me.

I tilt my head a bit as I take it. “Ok, what is it? Oh.” I look at Ship. “Ship I need you to put that satellite in orbit around this planet where it will not interfere with anything natural or unnatural about this planet think you can do that buddy?”

“Ship ship!” he barked happily, then he began to grow in size and started to change shape. Once he was done, he now resembled a black X-wing with green circuit-like lines. “Ship!” he said, a tendril grabbing the satellite and flying off. 

“I may have told Echo to show Ship different starships, in case you may need them. And that orb is connected to the satellite, which will grow in size once it reaches space, just place it in any part of the castle or temple and you can see everything the satellite has to show, it comes with an omnidirectional chair, with panels that show the surrounding area, which means you see everything in space at the same time. Better than changing cameras, it also comes with a cannon built into the sword part of it, to help by time for preparations if you want.”

“Wow! Amazing, thank you, with this, I won't have to worry about being surprised by any gem ships that come this way.” I say with a grin and grip the orb tightly. 

“No prob, and before I forget, the ponies here are anthro, which means they are humanoid in shape, except for the wings, pony-like heads, horns, and hooves instead of feet.” Rick said. 

“Huh, well thanks at least we know what kind of world we are on.” I say as I eat another chilly dog.

“Yep. Now is there anything else you need?” Rick asked, 

“Hmmm… that's all I can think of, what about you girls?” I ask the gems. 

“Well, I could use some food.” Amethyst said.

“I could use something to help clean the castle. It’s absolutely filthy.” Pearl said next, 

Garnet just shrugged and said. “I’m fine with anything really.”

“Give me 10 seconds and I’ll have what you need.” Rick said, running into the lab, and ten seconds later, came out with three items. “A Bulba cleaner to help Pearl clean the castle, as well as fix it up a little, a food synthesizer for Amethyst, able to create any type of food she wishes and is solar-powered. And for Garnet, a smaller drone version of the Hulkbuster for training.” Rick said, handing each Gem their item.

Pearl smiles and takes the bulba off to start cleaning. Amethyst cheers and takes the food synthesizer into the temple. And Garnet cracks a small smile. I chuckle and yell at Amethyst. “The temple better not smell of rotten food later and I am gonna use it when I need to!”

“Whatever dude!” she called back.

I shake my head then look at Rick. “Thanks for everything, so what now?”

“Well if there isn’t anything else you need, just send me back. Just say ‘end contract’ and a portal will open back to me and Lapis’s home.” Rick said,

“Before we go I think it’s time I tell you my real name, I’m Angie.” Angie said.

I chuckle a bit and nod. “Nice to meet you Angie, well I guess I'll see you around, end contract.” 

A portal opened just as Rick made the lab shrink, the two walked to the portal, “See ya kid, and what did you learn from our fight?” Rick asked. 

“Enemies don’t fight fairly, take any advantage you can over an enemy, think cleverly, look for an enemy's weakness, wait for an opening, look for weakness and that’s it.” I said proudly, 

“Aaaand.” Rick said, placing a hand on my shoulder, “Think positive when your anger comes up, think of the things that make you happy. If you do that, your anger will be easier to control.” 

I nodded and the two entered the portal, causing it to close, I then heard a humming sound, following the noise to the cheeseburger backpack, I opened it and saw Ricks and Angie's Token was back to normal and glowing.

“Huh, well I hope I get to see them again one day.” I close my backpack and start walking to the door to the temple as my gem starts to glow and the door opens, I walk into my new life.