They both tensed instantly. It wasn't that Sugilite harbored any personal hatred for Steven, but her madness seemed too precise, as if a fusion had lost its mind and, at the same time, was trying to prove something to someone. That madness was methodical and sharp. Before Pearl could be crushed by the purple mass, I threw the shield straight at Sugilite's central eye. Noticing the projectile, she lowered her arm to shield herself, giving Pearl the margin she needed to dodge.
"Right, left," I said softly, an impulse that quickly became a command. We both took off running. I grabbed the shield before Sugilite could shatter it and raised my voice with a mixture of defiance and weariness: "Hey girls, you seem to like being fused, huh? How about we talk separately?"
Sugalite let out a deep laugh that echoed through the arena. "Separated," she said with a wicked smile, "if we're strong together, why would we want to be apart? We're stronger than you. Now, little one, I'll crush you to bits."
The fury of the fusion came like a hurricane aimed at my head. I cursed myself for opening my mouth and, instinctively, dodged a colossal blow that left a crater the size of a car. The ground trembled beneath my feet, and the smell of dust and burnt metal filled the air.
Without thinking, I slid into Sugilite's arms as she, confused by the speed, opened what seemed like a gap in her defenses. I reached her torso with an open palm and delivered a sharp blow to the eye that had been left unprotected. The surprise threw her off balance.
"Ah!" Sugilite cried out in a voice that mixed pain and astonishment, because I had hit her precisely where I had missed before. The fusion staggered, shaking as if an invisible weight had struck it from within. Sand and small fragments of stone flew around us.
Pearl took advantage of the opening I created with my punch and landed another direct hit on Sugilite's side eye. The fusion clutched its face as if trying to tear the fury from its expression, and in that gesture, it pulled out Garnet's gloves. I reacted quickly and conjured a bubble to shield myself, but Pearl wasn't so lucky. Four fists, gigantic and linked together, crashed down on us. My bubble threatened to burst; it didn't give way from hardness, but because blood began to gush from my nose, the price of the resistance consumed by that impact. Shit, I thought as I was sent flying; Pearl was hurled toward the sea.
I wiped the blood away with my hand and healed it as always, with saliva and habit, feeling the tingling of the wounds closing. Sugilite leaned over me, all his hatred concentrated. "You think you can take me on? Just you?" "I'm not alone," I replied with a smile. "I have Perla," I shouted, though when I looked down at where I'd fallen, I saw Perla floating, unconscious, pale on the surface like a porcelain doll. Shit, I didn't even finish the word before conjuring another bubble, and this time the onslaught of fists shook it so violently I staggered.
Shit, shit, shit, balls, damn it, my head repeated in a ferocious loop as I bled and healed in waves, each blow pushing me to the edge. In that frenzy, my most schizophrenic thoughts faded for a moment; only a primal clarity remained: to protect those beside me. Above, Sugilite's blows thundered like gigantic hammers, marking the rhythm of a demolition that threatened to devour the beach.
Perla, her back to the surface, stared at the sky as if trying to read a flaw in the clouds. "I'm weak," she whispered, staring into the void. "Rose, I failed you. I couldn't protect your son, your legacy. My diam..." She couldn't finish the word; she covered her mouth with her hands and let out a sob that was lost amidst the explosions. Her tears weighed more than water as they fell.
A heart-wrenching scream rang out: it was Steven, giving it his all in an effort no one had imagined; his training had never been for this. At that moment, Pearl regained consciousness and snapped out of her thoughts.
Pearl screamed Steven's name and ran as fast as she could. He was covered in blood, but the bubble was still intact. Sugilite looked down at him haughtily and said that perhaps he wasn't as strong as her, the great Sugilite, and that she was going to crush him so his gem would go "poof." Steven was sweating profusely; he didn't know if his consciousness was his gem, but if it wasn't, all was lost. He quickly thought of a tactic and watched as Pearl reluctantly approached, reluctant to do something she didn't like, but had to try. They looked at each other; with a weary smile, Steven deactivated the bubble and ran toward Pearl. Noticing the movement, she quickened her pace.
They were inches from touching when Sugilite, sensing that something bad was about to happen, drew her weapon and threw it at them both. Before the projectile arrived, Steven created another bubble and, with the contact of a half-human hand and a whole gem, produced a flash that temporarily blinded Sugilite.
The giant fusion couldn't immediately tear her eyes away from the glare and received a punch so powerful that her eyes widened in surprise.
Sugalite screamed as she was flung into the sea, saliva dripping from her mouth. When her sight returned, she focused on a woman. The new fusion seemed equally surprised; another woman, she thought to herself with a bead of sweat, this is new, though she quickly turned her attention back to Sugilite.
The woman, furious, demanded to know who she was, with a rage capable of shattering the mountain behind the newly formed fusion. The other woman, hand on her chin, wondered what her own name was, and Sugilite, bewildered, snapped that it was time to give her a name and asked what kind of joke this was. Before the tension escalated further, the newly formed fusion combined Steven's shield and Pearl's spear into a new weapon: an umbrella with a noticeable difference from the original, covered in spikes and a bit more rugged.
"You know, I won't change my name: I'll be Quartz, Rainbow Quartz," she said. Sugilite looked at her, confused, but immediately charged at her, declaring she would kill her, completely furious. The newly formed fusion, Rainbow Quartz, grinned, climbed onto her umbrella, and began to fly.
Sugalite didn't understand, and Rainbow Quartz, with a mocking smile, said she didn't seem that strong and called her a "shit-eater." Sugilite retorted that she was the strongest and flew toward her; Rainbow dodged her with various stances, both classy and mocking, telling her she could do more, that she was her life, her little sugar cube, tiny girl.
Furious, Sugilite threw punches randomly. Rainbow was laughing hysterically, according to Steven's thoughts; she covered her mouth so Steven wouldn't know something he shouldn't. Quartz, her eyes slightly narrowed, looked at Sugilite with a mischievous grin and called her a fat little thing.
Sugalite, enraged, raised her weapon, which folded into a strange whip, and swung toward Rainbow Quartz. Rainbow Quartz ran with a deranged grin, and just as the gauntlet was about to strike her, she performed a much-needed backflip; with a jerk of her umbrella, she launched the gauntlet with even more force toward Sugilite.
Sugalite let out a curse that didn't quite finish because a loud thud echoed through the room. The large gem shattered on impact.
Amethyst and Garnet lay on the ground as if the battle had exhausted them; Rainbow Quartz calmly descended, as if she hadn't just destroyed a fusion of three, and greeted the girls with a smile.
Amethyst, still panting, said something incomprehensible as she recovered; Amethyst, a bead of sweat forming, wholeheartedly agreed. Garnet, her face buried in the sand, replied without comment. Rainbow smiled and said, "Okay."
Amethyst sat up a little and, confused, asked why they were still fused. Rainbow Quartz remained silent, a bead of cold sweat trickling down her temple: Steven wasn't doing so well, and if he unfused, he'd faint, so she decided to take him to her room.
"And what about us?" Amethyst asked fearfully, seeing that the water was almost up to her feet. "If you can unfuse Steven, you can walk," Rainbow replied.
And so the day went: a fusion that nearly killed them, Steven resigned to unfusing, Garnet even more frightened by Steven's comments, and Amethyst—well, she was just Amethyst.
End of Chapter 21.