Cause and Effect
It had been a few days since Flint, Peridot, Emerald, and Pearl had first left for Diamond City, and throughout that time the question of the state of Homeworld was hanging practically over everyone's head. None of them could go off after them, at risk of getting themselves caught by Grogar's many followers. At least, that was the warning Garnet made more than clear to everyone when the four departed off on their way in the first place. Whether or not it was a high or low possibility, they couldn't take the chance so all they could do was wait there back on Earth and hope for the best. They could at least say that they sent the right people for the job: a very agile Pearl, a cautious Flint with a cloaking ability, a Peridot with Homeworld layouts like the back of her hand, and an Emerald with gem weapons even when cracked. That kind of roster was the best Garnet can give safely.
This wasn't the only thing they had been thinking on though, especially for Steven. The days hadn't been that easy for him, keeping Grogar's latest encounter with him quiet from everyone. It wasn't hiding it that was hard for him, he just had to keep the headband on, but it was emotionally that was bothering him so much. After all, they all did promise that they should be more open to eachother ever since the Pink Diamond revelation. And here he was keeping yet another secret from everybody. How wonderful.
Well, if there was something to gain from this, it's that going through training got some bit of the frustration out. Winter was beginning to come to Beach City by now, the first snowfall coming down onto the middle of the training course by the beach. Steven, joined by Amethyst, the Rutile Twins, Fulgurite, and Rhodonite were off doing more physical training in the slightly chilly weather. There wasn't much activity for the brief moment, Rainbow Dash giving them a lecture somewhat.
"Alright, what have we learned?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying around the group.
"Let's see. … Aim it right," started Steven.
"Correct."
"Use all your force," added Right Rutile.
"Good. And most importantly … what?"
"Uh … Balance," finished Rhodonite.
"Got it. Now you all know the elements of a well-aimed buck, let's see one! Who's up first?" Rainbow Dash said, bringing over a fairly large dummy to test their bucking skills on.
"Uuuhhh can I ask you something first?" Rhodonite asked. Rainbow Dash was suddenly in Rhodonite's face.
"NOPE! When you're in a fight, you don't have any time to ask anything. NOW GET THERE AND KICK WITH ALL YOU GOT!" Rainbow shouted, even bringing out what looked like a coach whistle and blowing into it hard. Rhodonite freaked out slightly, but she did go off first to handle the task at hand.
"This should be easy for ya, Rhodonite, you got four arms!" called Tiger's Eye some of the crowd nearby. They weren't training alone here, having a decent crowd over by the beach in the form of Tiger, Lion, Padparadscha, Lapis Lazuli, and Rarity. Applejack, Bismuth, and Jasper were there too of course, being training them in the first place.
As for Rhodonite, she went over to the construct in front of her, at first unsure of how to exactly confront this thing. She looked it over a little bit before getting into position. She got down on her hands and hands and knees, and suddenly she lifted herself up on her four hands. She got the balance, but her kick … well, it hurt her more than it even scratched the construct.
"Ow. OW!" Rhodonite said.
"Ok, ok, you're half way there. Now you need to focus the gluts, and SLAM THAT THING," said Rainbow.
"What is that even?" Rhodonite exclaimed, as she got herself up to her feet again. Well it was a good try anyway.
"Ok, soldiers, who's next?"
"I'll go!" Steven quickly said, getting the call first on this training session. He saw how it was done, and he went right up the construct. He too got down onto his hands and knees.
"Ok. One. Two. Ka-po - ouch!" one hit of his back feet didn't do much better. Feeling the hit, he fell to the ground. Sure he can balance somewhat on his arms, but this was something different to deal with. Steven tried to think as Applejack trotted over.
"Good one, Steven. Keep that up, and you might be helpin me buck apples off the farm," AJ complimented. Steven still didn't think it was all too good.
"But that one sucked. Maybe if I try from over -"
"Stop," Jasper suddenly said, going over and grabbing him by the shoulder before he could go at it a different way.
"Listen, strategy's good before the fight, but when you're hitting there's no exact "plan" or "right way" of doing it. You just gotta face it head on! … And when I mean head on, I mean this."
And then she proceeded to jump into the air, and right in front of them, smash the construct into pebbles! She took the term "head on" a bit literally and actually used her own forehead to do that, not even using the Gem weapon helmet to do so. Rhodonite was humbled more than most, seeing all the rubble scatter around from that. One of these stray stones almost got the crowd not too far away, with Bismuth catching it and Lion pushing back before anyone could get hurt.
"I don't think "head on" literally means using your head, Jasper," Steven said. Tell her something she didn't already know.
"Yeah, so what's your point?" Jasper said, wiping off some pebbles from her head.
"Aww yeah, my turn!" Amethyst said, eager to get her own head to use. Some of the construct looked good enough for her, and she leaped up, readying her head to slam down onto the rock. However, Amethysts and Jasper had their different constructs about them … and Amethyst was not as durable just yet.
Next thing she knew, she had a rock horn right between the eyes. Not one of her best decisions, as she yanked it out of her head.
"Let's stick to bucking for now. ALRIGHT, come on up," Applejack said, opening the door for whoever was next to give it their try. Meanwhile, Steven was finding himself another rock to practice his bucking with. Sure the others saw him do so, but at first no one really bugged him since it was part of this training course anyway. He began to handle the bucking once again, getting a few more hits of his back legs into the rock best he could, trying to copy what Rainbow Dash and Applejack were demonstrating. The first two times he tried this though, all that happened was that he kept falling face first into the sand, his kicks pushing him forward each time. In the second fall, he actually felt his headband become a bit loose, so he quickly got it tied back up tightly over his head before getting up. Making sure the cut was covered.
"You can do this, soldier," Steven told himself. "Maybe just … imagine. …"
And suddenly he felt his anger begin to come up as his imagination turned the rock in front of him into the ram that caused all this problems in the first place. Of course, his imagination made him look more stupid, but it was still the same ram. That was more than motivation he needed to turn around and keep trying. Over, and over again. His single bucking though just turned into him kicking wildly at the rock until that alone made him somersault over onto his back. And STILL not too impressive.
"Come on," he sighed, taking a minute to breathe.
"You ok, Steven?"
Steven looked up and saw Rarity by him, looking down to him. Guess his little desperate attempt to beat up the Grogar rock didn't go unnoticed.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Steven replied, getting back up to his feet, which were now a bit sore from all that rapid kicking. It wasn't bucking, but it still was some form of exercise to get his leg muscles up. Even if it looked like he just had a temper tantrum.
"Darling, I know you want to be stronger, but that's no reason to try and uh … what's the word? … Over-do yourself," Rarity advised, getting some of the sand off of his short for him. She was just about to actually move the headband to get the sand off, but Steven quickly caught that action and wiped it off himself before the unicorn could get the chance.
"I'm fine, Rarity, I just a little frustrated I guess. Am I doing it right?" Steven asked, looking back to the rock. The kicking might've chipped off a small piece of pebble, if anything at all.
"Speaking as a pony myself, I say you're doing it just fine Steven," Rarity reassured him. Steven huffed.
"You sure? I mean, look at that," Steven said. He and Rarity looked over just in time to see Fulgurite turn around and give a strong back kick, which was enough to crack the rock. And she didn't even need to use her cleats to do so that time (as if that was allowed anyway).
"Well, they are Gems, naturally they would be stronger than we are," Rarity pointed out.
"I guess so," Steven sighed. Though, compared to the crowd he just felt a lot weaker. How could he compete with beings that can crumble a mountain if they wanted to?
However, as much as he wanted to get stronger, training would have to wait for a little bit more, because just before he could get himself back to it, they began to hear someone off in the distance calling out to them. Just off in the sky, flying as fast as she could, Fluttershy managed to get herself back from her location down to their spot on the beach.
"There you are! Oh, uh, sorry for interrupting your training," Fluttershy said upon landing.
"No, it's cool," said Amethyst, "So what's up?"
"Ok, good. I've got some good news: Flint, Pearl, Peridot, and Emerald are back! They just came back earlier this morning," Fluttershy revealed. For Steven that was the best news he heard all day, jumping up to his feet and going over to the Pegasus.
"They're back?! Great, they made it!" Steven said eagerly. However, Fluttershy didn't entirely share the enthusiasm, having a slightly different kind of look to her face.
"Wait. There's some bad news isn't there?"
"Uh … M-Maybe," Fluttershy admitted. And just like that Steven's enthusiasm shifted to troubled worry.
"So what's the bad news?"
…….
"They turned my bathroom into an execution chamber?" questioned Blue Diamond.
A quick Portal Key jump later, and they soon saw exactly what bad news Fluttershy was talking about. The four arrived over, not by the Gem temple, but instead over in the Sky Arena. A bit colder nowadays thanks to the weather, but it was really the best spot currently to handle these get-togethers for the Diamonds' sake. And the four returning "heroes" were worse, their appearance alone giving them all an idea of just what kind of danger was going on now.
"GUYS!" Steven gasped upon showing up. He needed only a few seconds on seeing their cracked Gems.
"Steven," Peridot said, Steven going to her first.
"You're cracked! What happened over there?" Steven asked.
"We're just about to get to that, but nothing a bit of healing won't fix. Uh, if you wouldn't mind ..." Flint said.
"Oh, sure, hold still," Steven said, already getting his healing spit together as Flint brought her head to his level. As they were finally getting healed of their problems the others continued the discussion. Or they would've if not for Amethyst getting a small whiff of Pearl first.
"WHOA, Pearl! What's that?" Amethyst asked, plugging her nose. Pearl did NOT feel too keen on it herself, a shiver running down her back.
"So what did happen over there?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Apparently," explained Peridot, "It's a requirement in their kingdom called "marking", and since Gems don't get scarred like organic creatures do, they had to crack us. Something about it being "necessary". How's it necessary to cripple a Gem, huh?!"
"And all of the Gems in there are cracked right now. Poor things," muttered Jade. Soon, they then began hearing a gasp as Steven finished healing Emerald's gemstone, the Gem finally able to talk and get his mouth unhinged from that big twisted smile of his. Steven didn't ignore what they were talking about.
"Is it really that bad over there?" Steven asked, worriedly. There was a pause amongst the others briefly, Steven looking worried over the situation more than most. Connie was still over there, after all.
"... Eeehhhh … you want the blunt answer, or the sugar-coated one?" Pearl inquired.
"As much as I like sugar, I want it blunt please," Steven insisted. Pearl and Flint glanced to one another, and eventually it was Pearl who went over to him.
"It's far worse than we could've imagined," Pearl said gravely, "You can't get an idea until after you've been there: the training grounds is the head mark hold, they have this "deep underground" somewhere, and there's this horrid. Disgusting pig! UUUGH!" Pearl shivered on the memory in absolute disgust.
"A. Pig?" Applejack asked.
Pearl's eyes opened wide and looking scared as the incident repeated in her head, another shiver running through her body. Emerald went to her side, resting a hand on her.
"I feel you, sister," Emerald stated. It took him way too long to get the smell off for one thing, and now Pearl was stuck with it.
That was the least of the problem though, Steven trying to process just what kind of world that Homeworld had turned into. His hand moved to his head for a moment, feeling where he knew that cut was. But then the inevitable question began to come out.
"And … and Connie? How's she doing?"
This question was even harder than the first one. But still, Steven told them he wanted it blunt, not sugar-coated, so this time Flint was the one that gave them all the news on their other Human Gem hybrid.
"You asked for it blunt so. ……. They're using her as an example to all the other prisoners, so no one will think of defying Grogar or running away."
That seemed to chip away Steven for a moment.
"AND YOU LEFT HER BEHIND?!" Steven suddenly shouted, enough to even make Flint step back. Steven quickly regathered himself.
"S-Sorry, I didn't mean to yell."
"No, no, we understand," said Pearl, "None of us wanted her to stay there either, but we …"
"We didn't have a choice. We'll get them all out of there, you have my promise on that," Flint finished.
"Then we're going."
Everyone suddenly turned to Yellow Diamond, who for the whole time was simply trying to keep her anger inside her, and try not to just explode into a electrical rage from what Grogar was doing to their empire.
"Yellow, use your head please," Blue Diamond insisted.
"NO! I'm not going to stand by any longer and watch this - RAM tear everything we worked on for thousands of years! If you don't wanna come, fine, but I'm getting my home back THIS YEAR!" Yellow Diamond insisted. She felt someone else suddenly grab her, this time being Pink Diamond and White Diamond both.
"Pink, let go!"
"Yellow, let's just calm down okay? We know you can be a bit of a hot head, but let's not just jump around and see what we can do, eh? … Ok?" Pink suggested. Not the best response ever, and it only made her angrier.
"How dare you call me a hot-head! NO ONE ELSE THINKS THAT! Who else thinks I'm a hot head?! HUH?!" Yellow Diamond demanded.
"...…. I predict that no one would want to answer," Padparadscha stated, summing up what happened for the next fifteen seconds. Yellow Diamond was not amused by that at all.
"This would be easier to decide if Garnet was here," stated White Diamond, "She can figure out if it's safe or not."
"Speaking of which, where is she? Haven't seen her since we arrived," inquired Jasper. There were a few others around the area, but that fusion had been one of the few who weren't present there for the time being.
"They're still trying to figure out who was responsible for taking Twilight," explained Fluttershy, "So they wanted Garnet to help."
"Uh, HELLO, Grogar took her! Thank you," said Amethyst.
"We know Grogar took her - why wouldn't he - but we mean who the two soldiers of Canterlot were," corrected Blue Diamond, "There's many soldiers under Canterlot command, it's hard finding out which two there was."
Normally Flint would say something against it, but he quickly caught himself. All of the soldier ponies, unicorn or Pegasus, under Celestia's Canterlot regime were all white stallions with gold armor far as he knew. So as the least, it would be more difficult to line up who actually was the culprit for now.
Steven took a breath.
"I wish we can just go and get them …" Steven commented. This comment was just loud enough for Yellow Diamond to hear.
"We will, Steven, we will. We need to get a game plan first," reassured Flint.
"What we need is to go back, and get it done! NOW," Yellow Diamond "insisted". Flint would go and speak, but shockingly Pearl was actually the one to step in and speak. Normally a death move for a Pearl to speak out against any Diamond.
"Alright. Say we do go in and get them out, and Grogar sends his army right after us," Pearl said.
"We weren't prepared the first time, so the Diamonds and I will keep them pre-occupied long enough, and everyone will run like mad back here."
"Right! We do that and there's a Tambalonian patrol right along the path back. Then what?" Flint cut in. Amethyst could already tell this wasn't gonna be pretty in a second, so she went right over to Steven, nudging him.
"Meanwhile," added Amethyst, "Why don't you and I go off and grab a bite? I've been hankerin for some pizza, and that sounds good right about now."
"Pizza? No, I think I'd rather train some more," Steven said.
"Dude, you've been training every day since we left Homeworld, give it a break," insisted Amethyst, "Besides, didn't you skip breakfast just to train?"
"Well, I wasn't hungry for breakfast," Steven said humbly. Amethyst tried a different approach.
"Well here's another tip: fighting's all about that feeling in your gut. So what do your guts feel like?" Amethyst inquired, arm around his shoulders.
And right on cue, Steven heard his stomach growling.
"... Hungry."
Decision made. Making sure the others didn't notice them go, Amethyst and Steven took the moment to slip away from the Sky Arena confrontation. They might as well let them handle this part of the argument themselves. The only one who saw them slip away was Lapis Lazuli, though she didn't say anything to them, not wanting them too involved in the trouble either.
"I'm uh … gonna go check on something real quick," Lapis said to the Rutile Twins.
"Alright, you do that," said left Rutile.
"Have fun," added right Rutile, as Lapis Lazuli flew off.
~~~~~~
A good bullet dodged, Amethyst and Steven returned to Beach City for some good Fishstew Pizza. Not only was this alone a good idea for a meal for lunch, but also Amethyst knew that Pizza always seemed to cheer Steven up. Steven could use some of that after the drama bomb he had just been given. Their meal this time was just a Hawaiian pizza on Steven's request.
"Nothing like a good lunch after a long morning of training, eh?" Amethyst said, taking a bite of the pizza herself.
"Ok, I admit, this is pretty good," Steven replied. They may have been relaxing a bit, but Amethyst still noticed that Steven had on his headband on.
"You know Steven, we're not training right now. You can lose the headband," Amethyst suggested, pointing to the headband in question. Steven paused for a moment, hand to his headband. In the end though, Steven shook his head.
"Nah, it's okay: it makes me feel motivated," Steven said. That had been his main excuse for keeping it on for so long, and with what they're trying to do Amethyst decided not to push on it much further (for now). There's good pizza to be had anyway. She took a few bites of the pizza before talking again.
"By the way, where'd you get the headband?"
"Oh, Ruby offered me a spare," Steven said.
"Ooohhh that's why it looks familiar! Knew I saw it somewhere before," Amethyst concluded. "Hey, can I try it on for a second? I wanna test something real quick."
"Excuse me?" Steven asked, suddenly looking less thrilled about the idea.
"Come on, just for a second," Amethyst insisted. Steven actually felt uneasy. Amethyst was more easy-going, or at least more "mature" than the other Gems. She took the whole Pink Diamond revelation better than everyone else did so should he tell her about the Grogar cut yet or no? He didn't have too much time there to get an answer, as Amethyst looked over something a bit closer.
"Hey. You got a little somethin there on your head," Amethyst said. Steven began to silently freak out, especially since Amethyst actually tried to move it out of the way. Steven got to his feet.
"I got to use the bathroom, Amethyst, I'll be right back," Steven quickly said. A bit of a sudden move, but Amethyst took it in stride (lucky him). It was probably to go and wash off that thing anyway
"Oh. Uh, ok," Amethyst said. As she sat back down to enjoy the pizza, Steven went right for Fishstew Pizza's restroom. The restroom in Fishstew Pizza wasn't actually public persay, there was only one bathroom with a lock on the door. Steven really didn't seem to mind that at all, and made sure the door was locked up tight. He just had to check. He listened once more to make sure no one was right there, before heading over to the bathroom mirror and going right on to take off the headband. It was one of the few times he could take it off.
"Dang it, it's still there," Steven said, his hand resting on the cut on his face. Steven stepped back from the mirror, starting to pace back and forth in the bathroom.
"What if I'm stuck like this? I can't keep up this headband thing forever," Steven stated, looking back to the headband, "Maybe I should -"
Steven suddenly stopped, as something began chatting away from his imagination. Particularly Grogar coming in from his mind to taunt him again.
Go on! Tell them! Let them know how much they should FEAR ME, my little stool pigeon!
"AUGH, curse my emotions! Why am I born so selfless?" Steven groaned, quickly waving away the imaginary Grogar from his head as he tried to work out something else.
"Ok, I can't tell them up front, not yet. But I can't keep my headband on forever, so … Wait, of course!"
Why didn't Steven think of this before? Steven opened his mouth, and gave his hand a good hearty lick, making sure there was more than enough of his healing spit to get the job done. If he can cure cracked Gems, maybe it can work for cracked humans too! Once he got a good one, he closed his one eye and slapped the spit right on his forehead, right on the cut! And …
Nothing. All it did was leave him with a wet forehead.
"Ok, Plan B. Plan B, plan B, what is Plan B? Maybe I can just wait. ... Yeah, I can wait until Grogar's finished, and by then it won't be as relevant! And Grogar can't use that against us, so double win," Steven concluded. It was a basic idea, but an effective one. Just hold out this cut until things were over. It can't be too hard, right?
"... Huh. So this is how mom felt," Steven realized, as he tied back on his headband. However, his confidence was quickly dropped by a level or two when he heard someone knocking on the door. And no, it wasn't Amethyst.
"Steven."
"Huh? Garnet?" Steven asked upon opening the door. Sure enough the fusion was standing there waiting for him, as Amethyst was finishing off what was supposed to be their meal. Garnet must've just shown up.
"Still keeping form, I see," Garnet pointed out, pointing to the headband. Steven just shrugged.
"Yeah, I'm growing attached to it. So what's up? You wanted some pizza too? I can order you some."
"No thanks. But I do want you to come with me for something before Jasper calls you away," Garnet said. Steven was about to question how that would be, but realized he didn't have to thanks to her future vision.
"Oh. Ok, sure. Sorry Amethyst, I gotta go handle something I don't have any idea about," Steven said. Amethyst shrugged about it, gulping down the meal. It wouldn't be the first time, but as Garnet and Steven left from there, Amethyst did begin to wonder a little bit, hand to chin and working her gears on that headband of his.
Well, there's more than one way to figure it out, especially since she just noticed Lapis peering down from the roof …
…….
"So this is what you wanted me here for?"
He probably should've expected this himself, as he and Garnet looked on to a eerily familiar looking suburban home. As if he needed anymore reminders about where Connie was, or who it was effecting right now besides him. Garnet looked down to him.
"It's for the best, Steven: Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran don't even know what's going on, and I've been getting a lot of future visions lately how Grogar will use that against us. Or at least make them very ticked off at us," Garnet explained.
"So you want us to tell them first and get it over with," Steven concluded. Garnet nodded. Well, it only made sense really, but Steven felt a bit fifty fifty on it. Sure, it was best to tell them what's going on, but that would only make them fear Grogar - which as far as he knew was what Grogar wanted.
"You sure we can't just hold it off for now, u-until we get her back? I think it might scare them a bit too much if they find out about Connie," Steven asked humbly.
"THEY have more than the right to know. Come on, Steven. We all have to be brave about this," Garnet stated, walking over to their door. Steven just gave a quick sigh as he and Garnet met up by the door. Steven knew that she was right about this, more than anyone else.
"Right. Ok. Whatever happens, I'm here to help," Steven concluded.
"Good man."
Garnet and Steven took the front lines of this task, though Amethyst and Lapis Lazuli were keeping an eye on things from where they were, which at this point was a steakout on top of the next roof just across the street. Odds were that Garnet might know they were there, and it was nice to have at least some bit of backup in case things go south.
Garnet went on to knock on the door. Here goes nothing.
"Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran," stated Garnet, "This is Ms. Universe. Come on out."
At first nothing seemed to happen all that much, Steven feeling the anticipation start to get to him. He didn't want to spread around this news all that much if it meant scaring them again. He took a nervous glance over to Garnet, who simply needed to turn her head for Steven to look away from her, pretending that he wasn't silently pleading for this to not happen. Garnet though was no fool.
"You seem scared."
"W-Well. A little. I mean, what if Grogar wants us to tell them?"
"... "Wants us to"? Steven?" Garnet questioned. Steven tried to make it sound right.
"You know. I mean, think about it: he's scaring everybody, so, if we tell them this, maybe they'll fear him too. I-I mean uh, you know?" Steven was trying to keep together as best he could, especially with Garnet there. As misleading as it might sound, it would be something a tyrannical person like Grogar would try to do to keep himself on top. Steven may not be able to tell, but Garnet locked her gaze with Steven's headband for a brief moment. He had been wearing that a lot lately.
And then the door opened. Out stepped Doug Maheswaran.
"Oh, Ms. Universe," said Doug, "Been a while since you stopped by."
"Yes, it has. Is your wife home? I'd like to - … We'd like to discuss something with you," Garnet inquired. Steven now was put on the spot, but he had to be a brave boy about this. Doug was puzzled, but complied. He knew Garnet enough to know that something had to be important if she needed them both to take to.
Steven and Garnet were brought on inside, but only then did Amethyst and Lapis come out off of their rooftop, and fly in for a closer look. They both looked in from the front window (not creepy at all) and tried to keep a better eye on the situation. … Or at least they would've, until the door opened up again.
"You two can come in now," said Steven. He just managed to see them before getting into the house, so might as well.
"Oh, hey. We got your back," said Amethyst.
"Thanks guys."
It took a minute or two for things to set up in there. Sure enough, Priyanka was also with them. The Gems stood over in front of them both, and both parents sat down on the couch. Lapis and Amethyst were a bit new on what was going on, and while Garnet was sure this would be good in the long run, Steven still felt that this wasn't the best idea that Garnet came up with … not that he'll EVER say that aloud.
As for the Maheswarans, they were just waiting and expecting the worst. At least Priyanka was.
"Ok, we're all here. We're all ready. What is it you want to say, Garnet?" Priyanka asked, trying to look calm about it. And doing about as bad as Steven was at it. Since Steven seemed apprehensive about this, Garnet was the one who went forward first.
"You sure you're ready," Garnet inquired.
"YES! Yes, I'm ready as I'll ever be," Priyanka quickly stated.
"Clearly she's not," Amethyst quietly noted to Lapis. But despite that, Garnet went on anyway. She had to take a bit of a breath first.
"It's about your daughter," Garnet began. Already they can see the worry creep up on Priyanka and Doug on pure mention of her.
"Oh no, something happened to her didn't it? I knew I shouldn't have let her go with that giant tyrant!" Priyanka admitted.
"No, not White Diamond. But she is stuck on Homeworld," Garnet admitted, "Captured. … By Grogar."
"...…. Who?" the parents asked. Scared, sure, but the name did not ring any bells. For Garnet, this was a sigh of relief - Grogar didn't get to them yet, and twist the situation to his advantage. As for Steven, he wasn't gonna get a break, and Garnet actually ushered him to explain a little bit. Steven was reluctant, but he went on anyway.
"He's a ram from, I think is Equestria. He's very strong, very mean, and he's taken over Homeworld, and … has Connie. Corrupted. Right now," Steven managed to say. All the while trying not to put it in such a way that would make them both extremely scared. Unfortunately, they both already looked just that much to Steven's troubled state.
"Please don't freak out, please don't freak out, please don't freak out," Steven thought.
"... C-Connie … captured. And corrupted. Oh no, I-I … I … have a pillow?" Priyanka asked.
"Gotcha covered," Amethyst said, already shapeshifting into a pillow and getting in position right on the couch. Now, they expected Priyanka to lay down, or faint or something like that, Amethyst comforting and cushioning her head from banging the couch arm. … Instead, she grabbed Amethyst, and …
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Right into the pillow. They didn't hear much from that muffled screaming, but Amethyst got more than an earful, her looking like she just got electrocuted in the face before Priyanka took a deep breath, shock all over her face.
"You need another minute?" Steven asked humbly.
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" one more scream into Amethyst got the rest out, and only then did Priyanka began to calm down, only a little bit. Amethyst morphed back to normal, her head still ringing from that scream in her ear.
"Ok. I'm good now," Priyanka said.
"How long was this going on?" Doug asked sternly.
"Since we got back?" Steven said sheepishly, "We've been trying to get a game plan going to get her back for days now."
"DAYS?!" Priyanka gasped.
"Steven," Amethyst hissed, Steven flustering and frustrated on his words. None of them want to scare them anymore than they had to. It was then that both of the parents turned to Garnet.
"Garnet, I remember you saying something about you seeing the future, right? What do you think, is she gonna come back?" Priyanka asked, pleading for a good answer. Garnet tried to calm down herself, and brought her hands to the side of her head, closing her eyes and trying to concentrate. What did the future hold for them right now? As she was doing this, Steven was silently pleading for her safety too.
"Well?"
"Don't rush me," Garnet simply stated. Future vision didn't need to be rushed through.
"... Don't worry, Ms. Maheswaran, we'll be able to get her out."
"But will we Garnet?" Steven suddenly blurted out, actually sounding impatient. Garnet, lucky for them, did nod.
"We will. But it's gonna take a while longer. Connie will have to be with Grogar for a bit longer before we can go in and get her out, her and Twilight both. That, and it might be a bit challenging to do with all of Grogar's army."
The truth sure hurt.
"... B-But you will get her back."
"Yes," Garnet simply said. That gave them a wave of relief to hear that, although all that other stuff did get them riled up. Steven sat down by Priyanka, who was leaning into Doug for some support.
"I'm very sorry. But I promise, we'll get her out and back home safe and sound," Steven reassured them, a hand on Priyanka's shoulder for some reassurance. Even if Garnet did make that clear, it still was painful to hear that Connie was going through this either way. Who knows what's going on over there right now?
"I should've never let her go," Priyanka muttered.
"I know. I know," Steven sighed.
…….
It took a few more minutes for the parents to calm down before the others decide to head off on their way from there. They told them what they needed to know, so there wasn't too much of a reason for an extended stay. Steven of course was the last to leave, giving his goodbye and a bit more reassurance before they began to head off back home.
"They took that better than I thought," Steven admitted.
"Yeah, but at least they know what's going on now, right Amethyst?" Lapis asked. Amethyst didn't respond right away, but did know someone said something.
"Give me a minute, my head's still ringing," Amethyst said, picking at her "clogged" ear to try and hear a bit better. They can't blame her after Priyanka's screaming.
"Well, Steven, I say you handled that pretty well yourself," Garnet stated, smiling to him. Steven rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah, thanks," Steven replied. He didn't think about it, but his hand was rubbing his cut again, moving the headband just a tiny bit. It wasn't enough to make any big revelation, but the keen-eyed Garnet did begin to sense that there was something else going on here. Something Steven wasn't telling them ...
"You did seem stressed about it though. Something's bothering you," Garnet stated, making Steven a little humbled. Leave it to Garnet to work it out for them. The group eventually stopped over by the next street corner.
"Ok, maybe I am a bit stressed, but can you blame me? I didn't want Connie's mom and dad so scared of Grogar."
"That isn't what I meant," Garnet stated. Lapis and Amethyst were beginning to put the pieces together.
"It's not?" Did she know about the cut on his head? Steven wasn't too sure, but he can't have Grogar get his way. He will NOT let him strike fear into them, not if he could help it. That, and there's a lot of other material to work with too.
"I've got a lot of pressure ok? Connie's stuck on Homeworld, and I can't even get her right now. I know we can't but, I want her safe!" Steven insisted. A common fact, and his main reason for training to fight in the first place. Even so, Garnet still pondered a bit. She knew Steven.
"Is that all?"
"I-Isn't that enough?"
"Steven," Garnet stated. Steven clammed up a little.
"Alright, I'm worried about Twilight too. She must be Twilighting so much in there, I can't even think about it," Steven admitted.
"Twilighting? When did you make her a verb?" Amethyst asked. But that really wasn't an important question.
"Anything else?" Garnet inquired. Steven groaned a little bit.
"Uh … Home? World?"
… Garnet didn't say anything that time, but the tone in that voice finally began to show everyone that there was a third thing, if not a fourth thing. Steven was getting tired of it, and actually getting frustrated again.
"What do you want me to say? I'm worried about a lot of things right now, ok?" Steven stated. Garnet decided to tackle the problem.
"Steven, for the last few days you've been acting a lot more tense and stern with training. I know the look: you're not just beating up Bismuth's targets to get stronger. You're doing it to get rid of stress."
"Yeah?" Steven said, turning his gaze away.
"So, it's not like you to be that stressed about something. Especially if it means beating something up. Even White Diamond didn't make you this angry."
"You know, now that you say it, the most stressed you were to go that far is when you threw your phone at the couch."
"W-Well she didn't corrupt Connie and defeated the Diamond Authority! Kind of! Grogar's terrible, and he laughed at my face when -" Steven suddenly caught himself. He almost slipped up there about the headband. A bit of a quick reaction, but that only dug a deeper hole for him. Now everyone was sure something else was wrong here.
"When …?"
Steven kept his mouth shut.
"Dude, you can tell us anything," Amethyst reassured, hand on his shoulder, "We're all family here."
"I … I uh ……. Oh, Jasper!"
"Steven, that joke's as old as me," Amethyst said.
"So I'm a joke?"
And nevermind. Garnet, Lapis, and Amethyst turned and there was Jasper walking over to them. Garnet did mention that Jasper would call Steven away on the next mission Steven, hating himself all the while, managed to break away and go right up to his mentor as if they weren't in a deep moment of revealing things.
"Jasper."
"Garnet. So are you done with these two? I went to Canterlot already, and they said you'd be doing this with them," Jasper asked, pointing to Steven and Amethyst. Before Garnet could speak, Steven chimed in, standing tall and in salute.
"Private Steven ready and willing, mam!" Steven stated.
"What the heck?" Amethyst whispered. Jasper didn't know what was going on, but training waited for no one.
"That's my soldier. Let's go," Jasper instructed, pulling out her portal key (which was how she got there in the first place), and getting a door opened up for them to get on their way. Steven didn't hesitate the moment that door opened, and was the first to jump in before any of them could get a word in edge wise. Jasper looked to the other three, seeing a lot of trouble expressions.
"Don't tell me."
"We won't. … But what did you have in mind for this training session?" inquired Lapis.
~~~~~~
They found out soon enough.
As the four caught up with Steven on the other side of that portal, they found themselves away from Beach City entirely, and over instead by the Celestial Lake. They hadn't been here since they told those campfire stories a year back, and just as before it looked as pristine and natural as ever. An interesting spot for their next training session, but whatever it was, it was probably good that Lapis was there (being water elemental and all).
The rest of the troops were also there, at full strength this time after Emerald and Peridot got healed up and better suited again, and the crowd was a bit bigger too with a better mix of Equestrian (Starlight, AJ, RD, Flutters, and Rarity) and Crystalline members (Star Quartz, Fluorite, Padparadscha, Pearl, and Diopside) along the sidelines.
"Alright, soldiers! We've been seeing a LOT of improvement with everyone, and I gotta say you're doing great. But now it's time to kick it up a notch," Bismuth informed.
"You weren't before?" Rhodonite asked. They decided not to answer that question.
"So what challenge are we going to do now?" asked left Rutile.
"Does it involve carrying anything else again?" added right Rutile.
"Or maybe more exercising?" left Rutile added.
"Both of those are good, but nope," Applejack said, "Speaking as a farmer, I can tell ya you got to deal with lots of different critters everyday. Pigs, cows, chickens, ducks, and not to mention lots of them varmints trying to get an easy meal."
"Uh. Sure, but what does "varmints" and "farms" got to do with anything?" Peridot asked. Then Jasper actually brought out a couple of bubbled Gemstones. She didn't mean too, but Steven felt a shiver remembering another bubbled gem from not too long back, as AJ explained further.
"Not farms, but varmints," Bismuth stated.
"Grogar's got a lot of different critters, as we saw, so we need to fight different varmints. We're gonna be tossin' different gems out, each one different, and you're gonna have to work out what they do and how to beat them. That about sum it up?"
"So in other words: we have to adapt our fighting strategies for each different enemy, as no two fights are the same," Peridot concluded.
"You got it, sugarcube."
"Uh, these aren't "hard" gems right? I'm not in the mood for getting split," Emerald asked.
"Of course, otherwise it wouldn't be training. Need some challenge am I right?" Bismuth said jokingly. Slightly tactless, but Bismuth wouldn't be placing them in fatal or lethal situations. Besides, they've faced WAY MORE than their fare share of corrupted Gems before, and these were just a few of hundreds at this point.
"Alright, show us what you got!" Amethyst said.
And indeed they did. Jasper, poking through the bubble with her finger, tossed out the first Gem out onto the battlefield, which quickly reformed fast and soon began to reveal itself before the combatants. The corrupted Gem this time was fairly large and bulbous, as many corrupted Gems in comparison seem to end up being. The whole creature itself looked amphibious almost, large enough to make them look like cats compared to a human. It had a set of horns along its eyelids that curved back for ramming power, and colored a shade of yellow. It looked, in essence, like a mix between a tree frog and a horned frog, with a gecko tongue as it licked one of its eyes.
"... A frog?" Steven asked. This just made Peridot, Emerald, and even Amethyst laugh.
"You call that a challenge?" Peridot asked smugly.
"Well clock it then! And NO WEAPONRY," reminded Rainbow Dash.
"HA! No problem. Amethyst, care to join me?" Peridot said, fist ready.
"Gladly," Amethyst replied, going in first alongside Peridot, both giving a war cry as they charge right for the frog monster, who meanwhile was just … sitting there. Unfazed by the oncoming attackers. With their combined power, it would be enough to send many a corrupted Gems off its feet, or poof right away in case of smaller ones. But striking the frog however was like punching Smoky Quartz's belly: it made the frog jiggle … but that's it. If anything, the frog simply made a croaking sound, making them both vibrate from that alone.
"Ok, is this thing gonna do anything? I can't take a fight seriously," Peridot inquired, distracted just for a brief moment. As she pointed to said frog during her talk, suddenly that same tongue shot out, grabbed her, and next thing she knew she was right in the frog's mouth! The horned frog didn't swallow her, but it did give her a bit of a washdown before spitting her back out like someone would spit out a watermelon seed.
"Peridot!" Steven gasped.
"Me and my big mouth," Peridot shuttered. Only for the frog to suddenly hop, the ground shaking from just the jump, and nearly crush Peridot underneath her! Steven pulled Peridot out of the way before the frog could get her. It was a quick dodge, but now they had to take this a bit more seriously.
"Ok, what do we got here? Very large, horns, has a long tongue," Steven pondered, trying to get all the details with this monster. Physically was easy enough, but the frog wasn't just gonna stand still anymore, and shot her tongue out right at them. Steven jumped aside quickly, the frog getting hold of a nearby clump of dirt before getting it into her mouth. Some swishing later, and it came out as mud, covering Steven from head to toe.
"Yep, it can shoot," Steven concluded. The frog hopped to him, just for the Rutile Twins to grab him and bolt aside before he could get stomped on.
"HIYAA!" Peridot jumped in and managed to get a good kick onto the frog's face, making her grumble a little bit but not hurt too much. The frog did try to bite her, but Peridot wasn't gonna go through the same thing twice, jumping left to right to dodge the tongue.
"Ok. Ok, we need to find a weakness here. Anyone see anything?" left Rutile asked.
"I don't know, that girl's thick! we can't just punch her and make it work," Emerald said, as they felt the frog hopping towards them. The frog opened its mouth once more for a strike, this time Amethyst taking the hit for Rhodonite and with a yelp, getting herself stuck inside the frog's mouth.
"Don't you even think about eating her!" Steven called, jumping up to the mouth and grabbing Amethyst by her legs. The frog shook around the two for a bit, but the teachers noticed that the others were just standing and watching. Time to upper the scales.
"Another one behind you!" called Rainbow, bucking another gemstone out onto the battlefield behind the group, it too reforming fairly quickly.
This time the corrupted Gem appeared less amphibian and more insectoid. Six large and powerful legs, each ending in a spear-like foot. The back was covered in spines like a porcupine, all glistening a bright sky blue tint to it. The head appeared moreso like that of a sabre-tooth cat than any bug however, including the large set of curved fangs below it. It only had one eye, which targeted them all like the seeing lens of a sniper rifle.
"Alright, pussycat, what do you got?" Fulgurite asked. The spiked monster gladly showed them, and gave a loud cat-like roar before some of the spikes off of its back shot right upward, like sets of missiles. And just as explosive when they struck the ground at them. Fulgurite handled this part fine with her whip-like hair slashing away at many of the spikes. Each explosion left a chilly cloud, blocking sight briefly before the spiked monster leaped out, and actually got Fulgurite pinned!
"Steven, Amethyst!" called Rhodonite. Steven, who was still struggling with Amethyst inside the frog's mouth, looked over and saw the other monster closing in.
"Hang on, we're coming!" Steven shouted, before finally they got out of the frog's grip. Amethyst was fine, but her hair was standing up in a single point, almost like a pine come, and swirled a bit as if she stuck her head in the washing machine.
"Good news. she doesn't have any teeth. And hey, she cleaned out my ear," Amethyst said.
"Great, now come on, we can help them now," Steven said, helping Amethyst to her feet. The frog gave a loud croak, which caught the attention of the others nearby, not to mention the spiked monster.
"Not if we get crushed!" Amethyst said, before she and Steven scattered from another crushing jump from the frog monster. The ground shook up like crazy, which while the others were losing some balance, the spiked monster had no such problem with all of its legs, and regrew the spikes for another round.
"You think is a bit excessive, guys?" asked Lapis.
"Safe enough," Jasper replied, unfazed as a explosion nearly got them as well.
"Oh my," muttered Fluttershy.
The frog and spiked monster were going all in on the group of trainees, either sending spikes and (as it turned out) rolling attacks, or water balls and crushing body slams. Now they all had to watch out for two monsters trying to clobber them to the dirt.
"How're you holding up?" Steven asked at a point.
"Oh, I'm fine sport, right as rain. This is quite the intense fight," Emerald said. Unfortunately, it was just loud enough to be heard by the mentors nearby, and …
"EYES TO THE SKY," shouted Bismuth, sending another gem high into the air with a swing of her hammer arm. THIS one had more hangtime, and reformed high in the air.
Now the playing field was getting a more hectic, as everyone tried to go and scatter from the oncoming creature. THIS one was an aerial predator in its own right, a giant saurian flapper. The creature was a mixture of the movie Pteranodon with the feathers lining it like a peacock, even including the eyed tail feathers (which for this case were actually seven real eyes).
"COME ON! You gotta be kidding me, man!" Rhodonite shouted.
"Just go with the flow, remember?" Amethyst reminded. And they all had to now. The bird, high up in the air and out of reach for much of them, went in for a fast dive, wings folded back into a falcon dive with its head sharpened for a slice. The group had to split up there, half going to the spiked monster, and half going to the frog monster.
"Ok, ok uh … big cat with shooting spikes. Fast bird with a sharp head. And frog with water bombs. Oh geez, think of something," Steven wondered, all the while trying to avoid the onslaught of attack at the same time.
"Look out!" Peridot managed to tackle Steven away as the bird released a number of feathers down at them. These feathers stuck to the ground briefly before they flashed away in light, and reappeared on the bird's tail (they were its eyes after all). The bird landed down nearby them, and the feathered dinosaur rammed its head into the ground, splitting away Peridot and Steven while cutting into the ground. Everyone else was fighting their own fight with either the spiked monster or feathered dinosaur, but for the brief moment Steven was stuck by himself in the fight. Himself, and with the frog monster signaling him out. The large amphibious Gem started to make its charge at him, mouth wide open, head lowered for the horns, and running in a manor more like a rabbit than a bounding frog.
Those eyes. … Those curved horns. …
…
*SCREEEE*
"Steven?!" gasped Amethyst.
But it wasn't Steven. Not exactly. Something went off in Steven's head when seeing those details and ever so briefly he didn't see a corrupted Gem. But someone else. And that someone else made him go all in: jumping on the frog's head and his feet getting into its eyes! This actually didn't damage the eyes at all, but it did freak the frog out, and she tried like mad to buck Steven off of her head, screeching like mad.
Steven held on tight, gripping one horn with all of his diamond might, refusing to let go as he kept fighting back against the frog. In the mad bucking, everyone else had to scatter as the spiked monster got a strong frog kick, sending it into the trees as another one just clipped the bird. This being a frog, the bucking was extremely powerful, enough to poof the two other Gems with them.
"WHOA! Steven used her against everyone else. Way da go, Steven! … Steven?"
Steven didn't get off. He kept fighting. The others tried calling for him to get off, but Steven was too caught up to even listen, as the frog made a giant leap right into the lake!
"Steven!" Lapis gasped, almost immediately flying towards the water to try and get to him.
*POOOF*
A huge splash blasted from the lake onto the shore, it being enough to wash over practically everyone there. A large bubble too was just seen from the water's surface, popping off into a very similar sort of cloud. A cloud that signified a Gem poofing. Everyone looked on to the water as Jasper got the other two Gems bubbled and back into the temple again, waiting to see what had become of either Steven or the frog monster.
*GASP*
Steven finally broke the surface. Tired, and shockingly, triumphant. He went back to shore after that, his gaze down to his feet, cold from the water and with a stray gemstone in his hand from the frog he just defeated.
"Whoa, dude, what did you do down there?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Then Steven lifted his gaze.
Something was beyond wrong. This was not the happy, caring Steven face they saw for that brief moment. This Steven's eyes shown anger, hatred almost, and his heavy breathing turned into almost a strain growl. He looked ready to jump and attack the closest thing by him. This was so not him, and it scared almost everyone.
"Steven … what happened?" Lapis asked, her voice hushed.
Steven eventually got his normal look back, a more gentler smile on his face, but the others were still left staring at him.
"Here. I … I got it," he panted, "Here you go. MAM."
No one answered him as he tossed the gemstone out. Eventually, it was Garnet who went over to him, down on her knees, and hands on his shoulders. Her shades fell off her face once she did that, showing Steven the look of a worried mother.
"Steven. Where'd you get that?" Garnet suddenly asked.
"Get what? I got -" Steven rested his hand on his forehead, and suddenly realized what happened. The second reason why everyone was so taken aback, and why Garnet looked so worried. Scared, he spun around, and all the evidence he needed to see was the headband floating in the water.
They all saw his cut.
"What happened, Steven?" Lapis asked. Steven turned back, his mind trying to get an idea as emotions began to come around.
"I … I … that corrupted Gem - … oh …"
"Steven, this did not just happen. Tell me. ... Please."
Steven clammed up and kept his gaze down. But the more the seconds ticked by, the more he felt that they were closing in on him almost with their stares. They all want to know what happened to him.
"Steven? …"
He got himself going back into the water, fetching his headband. After wringing it out, instead of tying it to his forehead, he used it as a blindfold and covered his eyes. At least here he can say he's not telling this to them and telling it to a mirror or something.
"What're you doing?" Fulgurite asked.
"Covering my eyes. I don't want to see how much he's scaring you."
"He? … Oh no, Steven, he did not!" Fulgurite already got two and two together, but Steven just gathered the courage he had left, and went on talking.
"Remember that night you told me not to go outside? … Well I ended up out there. Well, not me me, but I was made to go outside. Grogar got into my room, and wanted to see what'll happen if I was outside … so he threw me out there. We talked for a bit, and I kept telling him that this wasn't his home."
Tears started to come up.
"But then he kept mocking me: telling me how I left Connie behind, and Pink Pearl behind back on Homeworld, and how it was all my fault everything happened in the first place. … A-And that I can't ever stop him. And then he attacked me."
"Steven, why didn't you say anything?" asked Pearl.
"Because he wants me to tell you. Guys, he attacked me and left me cut open, but he kept me alive! Why else would he do that other than to make sure everyone's scared of him?" Steven replied. He still wasn't sure if it was Grogar who did put him back in bed or not, but all the clues fit.
Everyone was quiet. Comprehending exactly what kind of scene Steven had gotten himself involved in. Steven really was hoping that this did not make any of them truly fear Grogar, as he would have it, but he didn't entirely see fear in everyone's face. Concerned more likely.
Garnet stood upright slowly.
"... He already knew. ……. He. Knew. ..."
"Are you okay, Garnet?" Fluttershy humbly asked. Garnet didn't answer, but both fists were clenched tight. How could Grogar know of a future vision she saw?
She then turned to the crowd.
"Listen up! We got our first step, and we have to get it done now! We must know where he's learning from."
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OK!!! BUT THIS LINE is the funniest thing I've ever heard!
Man, poor Steven! He just doesn't want anyone to be scared. I feel for him.
Also, they're FINALLY going to try to learn how Grogar's getting all his information from! YES!!!
I can't wait to see what happens next! Keep up the good work!
9640053
just prepare yourself for that one … that's all I got to say
9640169
Grogar: verneige dich vor dem König der Tiere! 😈
9640169
it has NOT been half a year since Steven's birthday. A few months, perhaps
when is the next chapter coming
~It's time to grow up and get wise~
~Come now little one~
~OPEN UP YOUR EYES!!!!~
How true...
I wonder what Luna is doing right now
9661184
indeed true
9662041
Princess-y things I'm sure x3
9663558
you'd think so ...
When s the next chapter coming
So, I see. I mean, I get it. SU and MLP aren't always masters of maintaining plotpoints, and it does play into Steven's struggle of trying to hold onto his soul while still fighting to win. But on the other hand, since this was only 2 episodes later, it feels a bit like it's an accelerated point by comparison. I mean, it's not bad necessarily, but more..short. I think part of why I'm holding this small thing to such big standards is because I know there have been character beats in the past which felt more organically developed over longer, like the search for malechite, lapis and pearl dealing with their ptsd's together, the pink diamond reveal and all the fallout from that. But on the other hand, it's nice that it got resolved without accidentally stretching it out over 3 seasons. (Looking at you Starlight)
I guess what I'm trying to say is that in the small view, this is a well put together chapter, bringing the scouting mission, the threat, and the training together in one. But in the big view it's showing how plotting can be tricky sometimes.
That being said, my favorite point of the chapter was Garnet and Steven getting ahead of themselves in talking Connie's extra curricular activities, and making sure they know what's going on without resorting to lies or anything like that. (Cause they're way past that now...or at least most of them are) And the pillow yell was funny. Amy getting a sound blast rather than a faint.
And on that final note, training certainly got...interesting. Sending out monsters for them to practice with. Gotta say Jasper, perhaps you should be careful with your training methods. Though it did get Steven more resourceful, it also got things dangerous fast. What would've you done if things got out of hand fast?