Author's Note: If for some reason there are still English-speaking fans of this series out there, I'll be bringing you the English versions in the next few days, four chapters at a time. Feel free to show some love or leave a comment if you want—honestly, it doesn't really matter, I just want to re-organize the translated stuff because right now it looks like total absolute crap, hahaha. Thanks for the support!
Lest go:
Right at that moment, they heard a loud flapping of wings outside. The three of them looked at each other before heading out one by one. A massive flock of birds was tearing across the sky in the opposite direction, as if something had completely spooked them. Steven realized right away that this could only mean one thing: something dangerous was coming. His instinct kicked in, and he slowly backed away, gripping the goat tight in his arms.
Amethyst and Pearl, on the other hand, were completely glued to the sky, watching the birds' weird behavior. "How weird," Amethyst muttered, crossing her arms thoughtfully. "We've been through this kind of stuff before, we just wait for them to come home and that's it, you know?"
Pearl narrowed her eyes, tracking the erratic flight of one of the birds. "I agree... though, hey, doesn't that one look a little too big?"
Amethyst snapped her head toward where Pearl was pointing, and her eyes went wide as saucers. "Holy shit," she gasped, instantly summoning her whip. Pearl reacted at the exact same second, making her glowing spear appear.
"Steven, get behind us!" Pearl ordered firmly.
The boy blinked in confusion, looked back, and awkwardly took a step away. "Yeah, yeah, I'm staying back," he replied nervously. "You know, I got a goat, and well, someone's gotta watch it, right? So... you guys handle this." With that, he spun around and ran toward the dome, hugging the animal against his chest.
Both Gems stood there in silence, a drop of sweat running down their foreheads. "Well," Amethyst commented with a sigh, "at least he actually listened to us this time."
"And when does he not?" Pearl shot back, arching an eyebrow ironically.
"You don't know the half of it," Amethyst replied, recalling with a smile those training sessions with Steven where he was always stubborn and a pain to convince. Pearl gave her an annoyed look but didn't say another word.
The silence grew heavy. Every sound vanished, leaving them both in absolute tension. And then, it happened.
A deafening crash shook the air. The water from the small lake shot straight up with brutal force, forming a liquid curtain that glistened in the light. From right inside it emerged a massive creature: a gigantic bird, its shadow completely blocking out the ground beneath them.
The two Gems reacted instantly, bracing themselves for danger. Judging by the size of that beast, there was no doubt it was going to be tough. However, what really threw them off wasn't its power—it was its attitude. The bird didn't just lunge into an immediate attack like Gem monsters usually did.
Amethyst gripped her whip tightly and muttered with a frown, "Damn... this thing actually looks a little smarter than we thought."
The bird watched them with the coldness of a predator assessing its prey. Both Gems tensed up instantly and charged in to attack without hesitating. Amethyst tucked into her ball form, rolling at full speed toward the creature, and as she bounced out of her momentum, she lashed her whip straight at it. The monster caught the weapon in its beak and, with brutal strength, yanked Amethyst toward it before slamming her hard against the ground in one violent motion.
Pearl took advantage of the distraction. Her spear gleamed as she threw it with surgical precision toward the bird's head. However, at the very last second, the creature tilted its neck and dodged the attack with surprising agility. The move left both Gems completely frozen, unable to process how a creature like that could react so fast.
Amethyst ran over to Pearl, noticing she was in total shock. Her eyes had locked onto something terrifying: the bird's body was made up of dozens of embedded gems, fused together irregularly, as if it had devoured or absorbed others to build its form. Even though they were small gems, the sheer number of them was enough to make the creature monstrously strong.
Pearl was paralyzed by the discovery, and the massive bird extended its claw to scoop her up. Amethyst, without a second thought, yanked her out of harm's way and dragged her toward the dome. They ran at a full sprint, barely making it inside before the monster slammed against them. The door slammed shut right behind them, shaking violently from the impact.
The two of them stood there panting, catching their breath, their nerves still on fire. "You saw it, right?" Pearl whispered, her voice shaking. "Totally," Amethyst replied, though neither said anything else, because Steven was right there.
The boy was crouched down, completely absorbed in the goat, which was staring up at him from the floor. "Your name is gonna be Alfredo the Second," he muttered, patting its head. The goat looked at him in utter bewilderment. "Or maybe Roberta? Are you a girl?"
To everyone's surprise, the goat nodded. Steven froze, a drop of sweat running down the back of his neck. What the hell? Did it just nod at me? Or is my mind playing tricks? He looked at it again, and it was still nodding like it was the most natural thing in the world. Man, I couldn't even get a reaction like this out of Connie... looks like it comes built-in, he thought with resignation.
Amethyst and Pearl watched him in silence, noticing how focused he was on that completely absurd moment. They exchanged a serious look. "We need to fuse," Pearl said in a low voice.
"Fuse?!" Amethyst repeated, surprised.
"Yes. I don't love the idea, but we have to. It's for his sake," Pearl added, glancing over at Steven.
The boy, who had already looked up, was watching them curiously. "Hey girls, you all done out there?"
They looked at each other, and Pearl made the call. The time had come to explain what they were about to do.
"Steven, sit down. We need to explain one of our abilities to you."
The boy looked at them for a second and, without saying a single word, plopped down onto the floor next to the goat. The animal, as if it were the most normal thing ever, rested its head against him, soaking up Steven's pets completely unbothered.
"Now, Steven, you know that we are Gems, right?"
"Totally," he replied casually, right as a pile of debris crashed down behind his back, courtesy of the monster bird that kept slamming into and destroying the dome they were hiding in.
Pearl continued, completely keeping her cool. "Well, we possess a certain ability. An ability that makes us stronger."
"Uh-huh," Steven said, looking at her like he was listening to a casual bedtime story.
"This ability is called fusion."
"Fusion?" Steven repeated with fake surprise. "So you guys can fuse?"
"Yes," Pearl answered seriously. "Fusion allows two or more Gems to form a brand new being. This being possesses the blended thoughts of both, shared feelings, strengths, and weaknesses. In essence, it is a whole new individual born from two people—or even more, like I said."
Steven looked at her with his usual deadpan expression. "So, what's the point?"
"What do you mean, 'what's the point'?" Pearl answered, confused.
"Are you explaining this to me because one of you is gonna fuse with me, or what?"
Both of them froze completely solid.
"Uh... no," Pearl muttered hesitantly.
"Then why are you explaining this to me in such a high-stakes moment?" Steven shot back, his face completely expressionless.
Amethyst busted out laughing in the background, and a defeated Pearl could only nod. "Well, it was just so you would know," she finally said.
A chunk of rubble fell right next to Steven, but he didn't even flinch, while Amethyst yelled out with a confident smirk, "Hurry up, Pearl!"
The two Gems positioned themselves on opposite sides. Amethyst turned her head toward Steven and pointed proudly. "Watch close, Steven, this is how it's done."
Pearl gave her an annoyed look but didn't say anything. Then, both of them started to move. Pearl's dance was elegant, refined, completely calculated, with a fluidity that felt like art—a delicate performance that anyone with refined taste would love to watch.
Amethyst, on the other hand, moved in a completely different style. Her steps were aggressive, intense, a twerk so vulgar that even the goat, looking offended, turned its head away with dignity while Steven calmly kept petting it.
Despite the massive differences, they started to draw closer. Their movements clashed and contrasted, but the energy they were throwing off began to glow. Right when a blinding light was about to wrap around them, they locked eyes with pure, pent-up fury.
The light flared up, powerful and blinding, creating a massive radiance... but instantly, it started to flicker violently, as if something inside was completely rejecting the union. A turbulence of energy shook the room, and in a sudden flash, both of them were violently blasted apart.
"Amethyst!" Pearl screamed in absolute fury, completely pissed off, while the failed fusion echoed in the air like a cruel joke.
"What do you want?!" Amethyst growled, pointing fingers. "I didn't do anything! She gave me a dirty look!" Pearl replied, frowning deeply. The argument kept escalating until I stood up, carrying the goat, and tried to cool things down. "Girls, calm down," I muttered. Both of them snapped back at the exact same time, screaming a "Shut up!" that left me completely paralyzed. Man, this turned out to be way harder to handle than I thought.
Right then, they realized what they had just said, but before they could even apologize, the bird ripped through the ceiling of the dome with a massive crash. My only thought was a private, completely absurd curse: I hope they fuse, or I'm gonna shove this bird up their... I didn't even finish the thought because the creature swallowed me and the goat whole. "Steven!" both Gems screamed, watching in horror as the bird made a gulping sound. The bird then flew off, acting like its appetite was perfectly satisfied.
Inside the creature's stomach, everything was a weirdly glowing cavity. Summoning my shield by pure instinct, I knew we'd at least be somewhat safe in here; though I really didn't want to find out how Gem digestion worked. The goat, completely unbothered, strolled right past a massive pile of jewelry and shiny objects that were lying around like treasure inside the belly. I watched in fascination at the sheer amount of junk the bird had hoarded.
The goat came back with something small clamped in its teeth and dropped it right into my hand. "What do you have there, little girl?" I looked at her, holding out my palm so she'd let go. She dropped a tiny creature: a glowing beetle. I didn't even remember that this was what we came for; a drop of sweat rolled down my neck as I smiled and whispered a ridiculous "thanks" to the goat.
Suddenly, the bird pulled a sharp turn, and the goat and I started floating. I instantly took on the self-imposed mission of saving her, hugging her tight. A pair of arms ripped right through the inside of the creature, pulling violently. What the hell? I thought, instantly realizing why fusion is so necessary in situations like this. I headed straight toward the hands that were frantically searching for something. I grabbed one of them decisively and held onto the goat with the other.
Looking up at her, I saw a breathtaking woman. She had a gem embedded in her forehead and another in her chest, highlighting her gorgeous features. Her four arms moved with a deadly grace, and her skin glowed with a clean, almost noble tone. She smiled at me with a tiny hint of panic and, without hesitating, delivered a massive punch to the bird. The impact made the creature explode into a million fragments.
But the threat didn't end there. Those fragments weren't just garbage; they transformed into small bird beaks that went into a full-on, kamikaze dive-bomb right at us. The woman—now clearly a fusion—moved like it was nothing. She jumped with me as if rescuing people from the stomachs of giant birds was just a regular Tuesday, and with an elegance that took some serious effort to get us to the exit, she headed down the stairs while I held on tight.
She pulled off a completely unnecessary but spectacular backflip, hopping across the floating rocks until we made it right next to the warp pad. She gently set me down on the ground, gave me a calm smile that honestly made me a little nervous, and told me to wait there. I just nodded, and I even felt the goat nod right along with me, which I couldn't decide was funny or creepy.
The fusion didn't waste any time. She summoned Amethyst's weapon along with Pearl's, and in a beautiful flash, the two combined to form a majestic bow. From it emerged an arrow of light, aimed directly at the birds that were swarming us in a blind fury. "Forgive me," the fusion whispered, and let the arrow fly.
The projectile ripped through the air with so much force that the birds didn't even have time to react. One after another, they were impaled and trapped inside bubbles that popped up around them. Within seconds, hundreds of them were sealed away and warped straight back to the house.
Meanwhile, Garnet, who was chilling in her room, noticed the sudden arrival of a ton of bubbles. Seeing the color of them, a faint smile crossed her face. "I knew it," she muttered in a calm, slightly cheerful voice. Her gaze drifted over to a beetle she was keeping in a small, carefully decorated box. "Looks like your sweetheart is coming home soon." As if understanding her words, the creature fluttered happily.
Back on the mission, Steven watched that entire display of power in total awe. I couldn't even hide my surprise and, in a shaky voice, asked who she really was. The fusion smiled even wider and replied firmly, "I am Opal, your go-to fusion." Even the goat seemed to get it, though only Steven noticed those subtle details, acting like the creature was conversing with them too.
We spent the rest of the afternoon together, almost until nightfall. Finally, the two of us headed back home. The goat, however, didn't come back with us. You're probably wondering why. I actually tried, looking at it and asking if it wanted to come along. The goat just gave me a side-eye and simply walked off on its own. Well, guess she doesn't like me after all, I said, a drop of sweat rolling down my forehead.
Opal looked at me then. I didn't really get why they were still fused, but I didn't ask any questions either. Out of nowhere, she grabbed me by the cheeks and started smothering me with over-the-top affection. "Who wouldn't want to be with you, you cute, precious little thing? My strong, adorable baby!" she said in a mix of tenderness and playfulness that turned my face completely red. We spent another chunk of time like that, between laughs and embarrassment, and even though I'd never admit it, I actually liked the pampering.
Finally, when we stepped onto the house warp pad, Garnet was already waiting for us, standing there with that mysterious calm that always followed her around.
"Looks like things went well," Garnet said with a quiet smile, looking at Opal.
"And it was all thanks to this little guy," the fusion replied with another radiant smile.
I just thought, with a mental drop of sweat, that I literally hadn't done a single thing.
"Well? Where is the beetle?" Garnet asked.
An awkward silence suddenly stretched over the room. You might be wondering why Steven didn't just speak up right then and say he had it. The answer was simple: the fusion had her hand clamped over his mouth, and he couldn't utter a single word. "She forgot," Opal murmured, her voice sounding double, strange, and glitchy.
In that exact instant, the fusion snapped apart. Amethyst and Pearl went right back to normal.
"Amethyst!" Pearl screamed, completely losing it, and the argument started up without a second's delay. "You were the one who wanted to show off!"
The two of them started bickering, throwing accusations and talking over each other. Meanwhile, I looked at Garnet, and she looked back at me. Without saying a word, I simply handed her the beetle. Garnet took it calmly, placed it right next to its partner, and wrapped it in a bubble that vanished toward her room.
Both of us watched as Amethyst and Pearl's fight evolved into a dispute over who had actually forgotten about the beetle. Garnet, serene as always, looked down at me and said firmly, "One step at a time."
I glanced at her sideways, took a deep breath, and replied in a whisper, "Yeah, one step at a time." And looking toward the room, I mumbled under my breath, "Thanks, little buddy."
End of Chapter 11.