He Did It For Me: Steven's Legacy

Chapter 04: More Problems

"Ready or not, here I come!" The mysterious Gem charged at Connie and Pearl with a twisted grin and swung her scythe. The two of them leaped out of the way, but the Gem literally sprung backward and spun like a wheel towards Pearl. She rolled away just as her opponent landed and twirled her scythe in several more attempts to slice the Crystal Gem in half.

"Come on, I thought you were supposed to be the pearl that made quartzes quake in their boots." The Gem taunted. "So why aren't you fighting back?!" Pearl dodged several more slices but was then kicked in the gut with enough force to bring her to her knees. "This was disappointing. Oh well," The Gem tightly gripped her scythe and twirled her body around. "Time to poof!"

The Gem swung her scythe at the same time as her body rotated back into place "That's enough!" Connie screamed as she jumped between Pearl and the Gem and grabbed ahold of the pole. She stopped the attack with the energy blade just mere centimeters from her face.

"Connie!" Pearl loudly gasped as the young woman wrestled with the rubbery Gem for control.

The Gem whistled out of impress and said, "You're pretty strong for a meat-bag, aren't ya?" Before she chuckled.

"Who are you?" Connie grunted as she started to gain the upper hand.

The Gem's demeanor changed to one of psychotic joy into umbrage. She leaned uncomfortably close to the young woman as she told her, "Who am I? Who am I? I'm the loser of the game you didn't know you were playing! But this time I'm going to win!" The Gem began to retake her dominance, but Connie still held onto the weapon, even as the blade started to get closer to her face. "In case you were wonderin', unlike your friends, this little baby has no effect on Humans. But that's the least of your concerns."

"What are... grr... are you talking about?"

"For all your strength, it ain't gonna serve you forty-eight hours from now. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock."

"Well, that's rather ominous."

"That's the idea!" The Gem cackled again as Connie managed to wrestle the scythe out of the Gem's grip and cleaved her in half with it. But Gem continued to laugh even as she poofed into a cloud of smoke and her gemstone hit the ground. The young woman breathed heavily as she dropped the scythe, which instantly reverted to its original form.

"Connie!" Pearl shouted as she stood to check on her friend. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Pearl." Connie turned to back the Crystal Gem. "But are you okay?"

"Of course. Thanks to you."

"That's not what I mean. You didn't summon your spear. When you tried, it looked like you were having a panic attack or something."

"Gem's don't get panic attacks, Connie."

"Then why is your hand still shaking?"

Pearl looked down and saw her right hand continued to tremble but held it steady with her left. "Let's... let's just get Spinel bubbled."

"Spinel?"

"That's her name." Pearl walked over to the heart-shaped gemstone and bubbled it, and whispered to herself, "I can't believe it really is her," before she sent it to the temple.

"If you know her, can you tell me who she is? And what she's doing here?"

"I don't know. She was Pink's playmate long before the Diamonds attempted colonization of Earth. I haven't got the faintest idea as to what she's doing here, and what she's planning with..." Pearl and Connie turned to the injector, as its liquid continued to gurgle. "... with that thing." The Crystal Gem looked over at Connie and instructed her to, "Gather Ruby, Sapphire, and Amethyst, and take them to the house. As soon as they reform, we'll question Spinel. I'm going to get Bismuth, Peridot, and Lapis. And Greg, for moral support. He is good at that."