Chapter 24: Strong in The Real Way

Summary: Another fusion joins the crew

"Hmm." Marco looked himself over in the mirror. "Hey Star." He asked the girl drying her hair. "Does it look like I have any beard hair to you?"

"Nope, your skin is as smooth as a baby's bottom." Star said without remorse. "Definitely live up to your princess title Marco."

"Please don't remind me … I still have nightmares." He shivered. "Pinkies at a ninety degree angle …"

"Boop." Star hit him over the head with her wand. "I can just poof you a beard, you know? Kind of a big perk being best friends with a magical princess, you know?"

"Is there anything that you don't do without magic?" Marco rolled his eyes. "Because that seems to be your go to for every situation."

"Magic gives me life and awesome stuff. Like laser puppies." She gestured to the barking animals outside. "And at this rate it's your only option."

"I'm not that hopeless. I at least got chest hair going for me, see?" He pulled up his hoodie and shirt to let his single chest hair stick out…only for it to fall off when he pointed at it. "Fine, go ahead and use it on me, but you gotta promise to ease up on the magic using. If you're away from the wand, you'll probably end up in trouble."

"Look, I'll ease up on magic the day I see someone wreck a giant tower without it." She shrugged. "Now come on, let's make it fast, I've gotta meet up with the Gems." The girl rolled her eyes. "They seriously cramp my style when things get interesting. I'm starting to question exactly how cool Quartz's mom really was if she hung around them all the time, and that's ignoring the Solaria thing."

"I get it, they don't seem like the most up and coming people in the universe, but they haven't tried to hurt us…aside from that first day. And they seem to care about your brother's safety, so that's a plus."

"The only plus." Star grumbled. "Okay, hold still, this'll be quick, and we don't want hair growing out of your eyeballs."

"My wha…?"

"Instant Facial Body Hair Expansion!" His face was blasted with purple light, and he could feel the fuzz already growing off of him…and growing….and growing..and growing… "Wow, that's a lot of hair. See yah, Marco! I'll try to get you a souvenir!" Star took out her pair of scissors and left the bathroom.

"Wait, Star, come back!" Marco shouted out to her as he saw the bathroom door burst open, his beard hair leaking into the hallway, and showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. This was the price of taking a magical shortcut. He knew the consequences, and he ignored them. Just his luck.

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Kelly looked at the massive stone tower, composed of many columns. "So what's the deal with this thing?" Star asked. "Some kind of giant firework?"

"It's a communication hub for Gems." Pearl explained with a sigh. "Or it used to be, now it's just interfering with all earth radio waves."

"It's destroying television!" Amethyst roared.

"We can't let this monster stand!" Tad agreed.

"Don't worry guys, I can take care of it, no prob!" Star twirled her wand, and aimed it right at the tower. "MEGA RAINBOW FIST PUNCH!" Star's magic blast hit the tower of marbles…and instantly bounced right off of it. "What?! That's impossible! It's just like that red eye in the sky!"

"After a while Gems learned how to deal with low grade magic." Pearl explained. "If you want it to stick you're going to have to pull off something … much larger."

"Aww." The girl pouted.

"Don't worry." Ruby smirked. "We can just punch it all day, and take it down the fun way!"

"I'm down for smashing things, but I feel that's gonna take a while." Kelly spoke up. "You got anything Quartz?"

"I can plant a giant bubble underneath it and let it topple under it." Quartz went on ahead to do so, making it as big as him, then twice as large, then a little bigger. "You guys may want to step back, I can't hold this for much longer." Everyone did so as Quartz threw it. "Butterfly Bomb!" It went off…and it barely looked scorched. "Oh come on! I put a lot of effort into making it that big!"

"We're obviously going to need more power …" Pearl muttered. "Maybe if we find a weak spot."

"I have foreseen this." Sapphire, who has been quite the whole time, spoke up. "We will use Sugilite to tear it down." She spoke in deadpan.

"Oh Sapphy, don't act like you're not excited deep down." Ruby sent the blue woman a playful smile. "I mean, if Amethyst doesn't want to, we can make it just us.."

"Oh I'm down!" The girl cackled. "Bigger, badder, crazier!" She laughed wildly.

"… Are we missing something?" Kelly asked.

"Wait, is this another fusion!?" Star asked Amethyst. She got a scream as an answer, and soon it became a screaming match as the two smiled wildly.

"You three are going to fuse? Is it possible for more than one gem at a time?" Quartz asked. Kelly was suddenly finding herself very interested in this conversation. Seeing another fusion happening that wasn't her own could provide a few more answers to how she's been feeling about it lately.

"There is no limit on the amount of components for a fusion, or time limits, so long as your minds can remain stable." Sapphire explained.

"Wait a moment!" Pearl shouted. "Sugilite!? Isn't that a little extreme? We have other options, such as Rhodonite, Opal, Chalcedony, Sardonyx, or even Garnet." She argued looking at Ruby. "You know that even with Sapphire in the mix, you and Amethyst can be a … handful." What did that mean?

"It's the most proficient option we have. We'll be able to tear down the tower without it taking hours or falling apart instantly." Sapphire justified the reason.

"Besides, we don't need to be careful, there's nothing that can get damaged out here." Amethyst argued. "But she may have a point about standing back … maybe over there." She gestured to a spot.

"Giant Woman! Giant Woman! Giant Woman!" Star chanted as they all made their way back. "Yeah, no beating around the bush this time, let's get into it!"

"Yeah, this might be good to watch." Huh, Quartz wasn't being super awkwards about the subject like last time. Maybe he saw something from before? The three stood there … and the dancing began. 

Sapphire seemed to be strict, orderly, as if every motion had been preordained. Ruby had this spontaneous movement, no thought at all placed into how they moved. Amethyst …. "Hey, let me see!" Sensual enough Pearl felt like covering the boy's eyes.

"Work it girl!" She punched Tad. "Don't give me that when you keep eyeing you know who!" That was different, she didn't voice it out loud like he was doing.

The three gems fell into each other, Amethyst pulling the other two into her chest as they merged, growing … and growing … and growing … they all looked up at the deep purple, four armed behemoth with spiky shades and a sharp tooth grin that almost seemed feral. "Heck yeah, Sugilite is back!"

"That's…that's…That's Sugilite!?" She and Quartz shouted at the same time, not expecting this fusion, or any fusion for that matter to get this big…or beefy. "Giant Woman…" The two said again at the same time.

"Yo, Quartz, Star, Kelly! Nice to meet you little twerps, like what you see?" The giant asked, twisting two of their arms together and flexing them hard enough to make a woman question her sexuality.

"Like it…WE LOVE IT!" Star answered for all of them…and judging by the smile on her own face, and stars in Quartzs, no one among them was inclined to disagree.

"Then you're gonna love this!" They generated two gauntlets, which she only saw Ruby use, on their hands, clasping them together and launching them upward. She pulled out Amethyst's whip, using it to wrap around the gauntlets. When they finally came together, they turned into a huge ole wrecking ball, just begging to be used.

"This is the most intimidating display of raw power I have ever seen in my life." Kelly spoke. "And I LOVE IT!"

"Are you gonna smash stuff with your giant wrecking ball!?" Star asked.

"You know it, Little girl!" Sugilite chuckled. "Yo, Quartzy. Where should I start?"

"Um … go for the edge, make it timber like a lumberjack and a tree!" The boy shouted.

"One lumberjack special, coming up!" Sugilite twirled that giganto wrecking ball over their head like a helicopter blade, and spun it faster, and faster, and faster until she let it fly right to the spot Quartz pointed to. "Timber!" It crashed…and it was falling right towards them.

"Okay, we are officially done for today!" Pearl grabbed all of them in a surprisingly strong grip they didn't expect out of her and placed them all on the warp pad. "You're just too much!" She shouted at the fusion.

"More like you're just too little!" That was the last piece of words they heard from the tri fusion…one of the most amazing sights Kelly ever saw. If they got good enough at it, would…she and Quartz…would Kurtz be able to be that strong?

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Pearl sighed as she exited the warp pad. "I try to be the voice of reason but no, they just do what they want …" She looked at the others. "Are you all okay?"

"Yeah just …" Kelly gazed at the cave wall. "Processing stuff … that was … intense."

"I told you she couldn't handle it." Pearl sighed. "And you still insisted on dragging her along." She spoke to Star and Ste-…Quartz.

"Hey, don't be like that to Kelly! She's had a weird experience with fusion, we both have!" Quartz was scowling at her…oh dear, she may have worded that a little too harshly. "Kelly, I understand if you need time to…"

"..THAT WAS THE MOST AMAZING THING I EVER SAW!" The Woolet startled Pearl enough to knock her off balance. "Is that what Fusion is supposed to be like?! It's incredible!"

"… Why are all my friends more obsessed with fusion than the guy that can do it?" The boy asked no one in particular.

"Forget fusion, Sugilite was awesome!" Star shouted. "She was like dad, but bigger, and buffer, and with more arms!"

"Yeah, she was pretty strong…took care of that tower like nothing when magic didn't do anything." Even the more hesitant Ste-Quartz was jumping aboard the Sugilite bandwagon. "So many muscles."

"There are plenty of ways to get stronger." Pearl argued. "You can train your mind, your skill, your experience, learn how to use weapons of all kinds."

"Yeah, but we need to get strong in the real way!" Star shouted. "To think I was tuning Marco out with that whole 'don't use magic all the time' thing. I see now, I need to get stronger to the point my muscles can take care of the monsters for me!" He probably meant learning life skills, like any sane being should have.

"Yeah, her muscles barely looked like they fit in her arms, they were so big! And that wrecking ball, so cool!" Kelly was getting just as jittery as Star. "Come on Tad, we've gotta double down on weights!"

"Come on Kells, I already jogged with you last week…"

"You had me pull you from behind with a wagon and a rope!"

"I mean there's not really a point in Tad training, it's not like he'll be as strong as my bro." Star patted Ste-Quartz. "He can punch through steel when he's really angry."

"Yeah, but I shouldn't be that angry, even if it's during a fight…" At least the boy knew how to have some rationality when the time came. "But training to be stronger does sound like a great idea. Pearl, why don't you join us?" Those kind eyes that were once on his mother shined on her again. "We can make it a whole team exercise thing!"

"I … can't." Pearl looked away. "We can improve ourselves mentally, but a Gem's body stays the same from birth, there's no amount of training we can use to improve." She would .. always be weak compared to the rest of the team.

Quartz looked like he was about to say something, but the two girls grabbed him by the arms and dragged him onto the beach, most likely to begin that training they just spoke about.

"Strong in the real way." She imagined giving that advice to Steven when he was younger, his brain uncompromised by the universe's dark truths, not now, when he's already learned to survive relatively well on his own, next to guardians and friends that were capable of defending him. "I could show you how to be strong…" What a joke. She was just a lone, defective Pearl, useless without anyone beside her.

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Ludo laughed, for once he had a clear cut chance! The Star girl left her wand behind, to do something as pointless as 'training her muscles' and junk like that. "Fourty five … forty six …"

The kids were all doing it, right now distracting themselves with push ups. The bushy haired girl was doing it with one hand while Quartz Butterfly was off doing some sit ups, clearly getting more exercise in his entire life in this one hour with all that fat on his body. Even a random puff was getting in on it, though it looked like he was the most useless in the group, barely able to even get his form right.

"It hurts … so bad … Why am I … still on thirteen?" He asked the group.

"You seriously need to work out more." Quartz spoke.

"Hey, you're sweating just as much as me right now and you're on seven!"

"At least he actually fights and gets active." Star said from her spot. "Quartz is the perfect balance of muscle and baby fat. I've seen you eat pizza whenever Kelly is throwing blades. "

"She's the brawns, I'm the brains." The guy argued, and for once he could agree. While they were all busy growing muscle he could just sneak his way to the wand and grab it.

"Yeah…brains." The bushy girl just idly went on with her work, barely acknowledging anything else except her routine. He wasn't even going to get close to her, the woman was lifting dumbbells bigger than her own body right now.

"Come on guys, don't slow down now, we gotta get buff!" Star commented "….and sixty!" The girl collapsed on the sand.

"Isn't there … some kind of metaphor … for not punching a giant?" The little guy asked.

"The bigger they are, the more you need to punch them. That's what dad told us at least." Quartz laid his back on the sand. "Have you ever thought that we might be rushing into the whole 'get ripped super fast' thing a little too quickly?"

"We need to start now, or we'll never get as buff as Sugilite!" Star shouted.

"Yeah, we need to get as strong as we possibly can!" The bushy lifted weights that were now 5 times bigger than herself. "I mean, just imagine how strong Kurtz would be if we got stronger now."

"Are you still thinking about that?" For the first time since Ludo's known them, Quartz and the tiny guy were on the same page.

"Well yeah, why not?" The girl asked.

"I mean … I get that it's natural now, but it was still …personal.."

"Didn't Opal say it just shows how people care for each other?" Star commented

"I know but … Kurtz didn't … feel right." The boy stopped, hugging himself. "It was just these confusing thoughts and insecurities piling up almost endlessly …" He blinked. "And a major obsession with Tad."

"Yeah, I felt that too, I won't lie…" The bushy girl looked sheepish. "But..there were a few moments where it felt really good…one of the best feelings I felt in a long time." Quartz blushed while hearing that.

He never felt more grateful for teenage melodrama, now he could take it without…"Hey guys, Ludo!" The tiny man interrupted the moment by pointing him out, the jerk. But it was too late, and he was close enough!

"Step away from there Ludo, before … before …" Star started, but trailed off. "Ludo, please listen to me carefully, move away, now." She spoke, concerned about her wand obviously.

"I don't have to listen to you!" He shouted. "I just need to grab the wand and win!" They stared horrified. "You're all doomed, doomed …" They gazed behind him. "Why won't you fear me!" He shouted as it got darker. "And who's bright idea was it to .. turn out the … sun …"

"Move or I squash you, puny bug." Spoke one of the most terrifying sights he ever saw in his life. 

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggh!" Ludo screeched, running behind a rock. "Monsters, destroy that thing!"

"Monsters!?" The giant laughed. "That's me pal, especially when I break apart Pearl for leaving me behind on the island!" They shouted. "Come on out you Clod!" They began hitting the massive stone temple, cracks forming in it.

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"Guys, I think this was what Sapphire was talking about with the whole losing yourself thing." Quartz commented as Sugilitee with a single kick took out Ludo's minions, and was now pounding the side of the Crystal temple.

"I'm sure they just … need to talk it out." Star said, but he could hear the hesitation.

Pearl came out of the cave looking at the giant fusion. "Sugilite! We checked the warp, it was damaged-"

"You left me behind!" They sent Pearl flying next to them, roaring in rage.

"You've been fused too long!" Pearl spoke up, damage showing on her body. "You're losing yourselves!"

"Maybe I AM MYSELF!" They formed their wrecking ball, swinging it around. "I'm Sugilite the big bad mamajama!" She swung it down, creating a massive wave of destruction.

"... So when you said they're a handful?" Tad asked, groaning in pain as they all tried getting up, but that proved to be difficult when they could barely lift their arms.

"Kids, stay back! I can handle this!" Pearl summoned her spear and charged right at Sugilites face…and was yeeted downwards like a fly. 

"Don't worry Pearl, I can.." Star tried to lift her wand, only to fall on her face. "So tired…can't even think of spells!"

"Exercise was going to be the death of us." Kelly spoke, barely able to lift her sword. "Who knew?" Tad coughed.

"You think you think you can take me!?" Sugilite kept pounding down on Pearl with the wrecking ball, and it was getting hard to watch. "You! Can't! Do! Anything!"

Quartz may have not been able to lift his body, but he could still talk. "Don't give up Pearl, you can do it!" He shouted to the gem.

"But she's right! I'm not strong enough to fight her head on! I wasn't even strong enough to protect you, to find you all those years ago!" Pearl started to cry.

"Well you're here for me now, and I'm still safe!" He countered. "You're clearly the smartest gem in the group, always talking about plans and trying to keep me from doing something dumb. So prove it to her, to all of us, how you're strong in your own way, strong in the real way!"

Pearl stared at him for a few seconds, before gaining a look of determination. "Come and get me, you overside clod!" The woman shouted, running to the temple.

"Go Pearl, Go!" Star shouted. "Move those skinny legs!"

"Win this for all the little people out there!" Tad cheered!

She ran up, even with the fusion chasing her, dodging every attack as they made it higher and higher, eventually running out of space at the top. "She cornered herself!" Kelly shouted.

"End of the line, pipsqueak!" Sugilite charged forwards, either to punt her off or crush her on the spot.

"Yes…for you." Pearl leapt off the cliff and shot some kind of laser from her spear, shooting it at Sugilite's foot,knocking her off balance and plummeting down below. "And for the record, my legs aren't skinny." Pearl smirked, as the giant fell behind her. "They're graceful."

"You think that's all it's going to.." The fusion has no time to express her anger as the wrecking ball they carried fell on her head, and with a poof, the single being became three once more.

"Sorry Sapphire." Ruby spoke up. "Someone else probably would have been enough … I got way too crazy in the mix."

"It's fine, Ruby. I admit, it was nice being together again, even with the extra company." The blue gem gave a small smile.

"If I could move my body, I would hug you guys." Amethyst spoke up. "It was so awesome … but everything hurts …"

"That's basically been us the entire time." Quartz said, unable to get up himself. It looked like everyone else in his group felt the same.

"Looks like I learned another valuable life lesson." Star commented. "Exercise is evil. Never doing it again."

"... I'm never going to get a good lesson out of her, am I?" Pearl asked.

"I haven't seen it yet." Sapphire spoke up from the ground.

"Woah, what did I miss?" Jana walked up to them. "... Ah shit, were you guys a giant woman?"

"They were." Quartz confirmed for her. "Yet they totally got owned by Pearl, who proved you don't need to be big, or fused, to be strong."

"I took down Sugilite." The girl smirked. "I'm going to ride that for centuries."

"Nice." She nodded. "Hey, did you guys hear about the beard at Marco's place?" She pointed to what looked like a giant hairball that was so big they could see it all the ways across town. 

"Crap, I knew there was something I forgot about." Star groaned. "Someone please carry me, I need to go shave a friend." He kept forgetting how weird their life was.

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"Why do you keep working for him?" Toffee asked the monsters of the castle. "Every time we work he always causes the plan to fail." First he got rid of Buff Frog, knowing the man would be too loyal to Ludo for him to work his way up. Now Ludo himself had worn out his usefulnesses.

"Yeah, but he's the only one with a castle." The two headed monster shrugged. "And it's not like we have anything better to do."

"We have been planning to steal a wand from a little girl for ages, why can't we do it from a whiny toddler such as himself?" The short sighted dreams of making parents proud, when there was so much more to gain.

"It's just…the idea of monsters with magic…the way they use it…just sounds so crazy." Lobster Claws said. "I never really thought too hard about it until I grabbed it that one time."

"Who says we need to use it?" He smirked, looking at the one monster who understood its true danger. "We just need to make sure they never use it on us."

"But what about that butterfly prince? He still explodes." Boo fly asked.

"Just leave him to me." Toffee spoke up. "Follow my plan, and I'll make sure everyone here has their own castle." Maybe, probably, if they all lived. Definitely Lobster Claws.

"Well can't say i didn't expect today to go wrong, except I did, because I'm surrounded by morons." And cue the little worthless shrimp that they all didn't need. "I hope you all understand what the true problem we're facing is."

"We do." Toffee gestures to the monsters. "You all outnumber and tower over him. There's nothing to be afraid of here. You know what must be done now."

"Well of course they do. They're going to fix me a proper meal and-hey, what are you doing? Stop it! Stop it!" Ludo shouted as he was dragged off. "Let me go you idiots! I'm your leader!"

"A leader that doesn't know how to lead is no leader at all." Toffee shrugged, barely amused by the insect getting what was coming to him. "The same can be said for all the Butterflies, you as well, 'Rose Guard'." He said to himself.

Everything was going to plan. The girl's magic ran amok and the boy barely had a grasp on his own powers. Strike the foundation, and everything comes crashing down like a pile of sticks. Now all that was left was one, final piece … a spell kept close to heart.