Summary:
A clash of self worth
Chapter Text
Mina roared, rushing the princess and knocking her back. "You're not going to use that fusion technique this time. You can't do it if you aren't awake for it!" She charged, trying to beat her with bare hands. The others were either busy with Jasper or the corrupted gems running wild.
"Like I'll need it to face a dumb brute like you! Rainbow fist blast!" The princess jumped back as she fired. "What happened to you, lady!? You couldn't have been this bananas from day one!"
"What happened was Rose killed my queen and nobody did ANYTHING!" She shouted, ignoring the magic blasts. "Eclipsa did nothing, the Commission did nothing, nobody, ever, avenged Solaria! I loved that woman, she was my everything!"
"Cupcake shock shield!" An eclectic cupcake came between them.
"She taught me that I didn't have to live my life in fear, she taught me how to have faith in myself, she cared about me more than my family ever did!" She punched the object over and over until it shattered. "And Rose TOOK HER! And nobody did anything, she just roamed free doing what she wanted, helping the enemy as nobody complained!!"
"Hey, I have no love for what the pink girl did, and if she was actually here, I'd let you smash her as many times as you want!" The princess ducked under a punch. "But you're so filled with hate that you can't see the difference between her and an innocent human kid! Steven's NOT ROSE!"
"Like that slut would ever actually go through with having a child!" Mina shouted at the deluded girl. "She's playing games with all of you! She's in your heads, she makes you think that monsters are something to pity, she makes you think that the Commission is bad, she makes you think that my queen was somehow in the wrong! Well did she ever think she was!!?" She grabbed a massive rock out of the nearby foundation, throwing it at her.
"Did you ever think YOU were!?" The princess shouted right back.
Mina could feel something snap inside of her, her muscles bulging as she screamed with warrior's rage, charging with the strength of ten mountains. "DON'T YOU EVER DARE SUGGEST SOLARIA WAS ANYTHING BUT RIGHT!"
"Oh I dare, I dare question her, you, and all the deluded idiots that died because she wanted to make more crazed maniacs like you! Shiney Emerald Electric SNAKE STRIKE!"
Mina had to use her arms to block the attacks as it did little to phase her, even with it pushing her back. "You have no idea what you're speaking about! Those proud Mewmans were your people! They sacrificed so much so you and your family can live that cushy life you love!"
"Then my people suck! They fought endlessly for a battle that shouldn't have been fighting till the day they died! That's insanity!"
"If you dare to reject your own kind" She grabbed the princess by the throat, beginning to squeeze the life out of her. "Then you can die for them."
"Get away from my bestie!" A sharp pain was sent into her ear, faintly drawing blood as a Ponyhead withdrew her horn from her head as Mina let go.
"It seems everyone wants to betray Mewni." She punched the creature into the side of the plateau. "Never trusted those floating freaks to begin with."
"Pony! Rain licorice flytrap quicksand jelly!" The traitorous princess cried out as she encased her into a sugary sweet paste that tried to drag her down into the ground.
"Do you have anything other than what a child would think up?" Mina asked, breaking out of the current predicament.
"Who's to say!? That's part of why I'm underestimated! Spider with a top hat blast!"
"Oh like that's actually going to-hey, stop that! That stings!"
"WAR CRY!" The magic pest cried out as he kept shooting. This was going to be a long and annoying fight.
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Amethyst was knocked back once more, her body tensing with strain. "Are you going to give up, or do you want to keep failing like you did last time?" The bitch asked her. "I have more important enemies to focus on then you."
"I'm the only one you'll be facing today, Jasper! I'm going to whoop your ass back to Homeworld!" Amethyst shouted as she used her whips to hurl every manner of rock and rubble around her as everyone else did their best to fight off the corrupted gems.
"Kind of jumping the gun a little bit, Amethyst!" Marco shouted as he hurled an electric punch at one beast. "You can't just fight her head on like last time!"
"I can do it, I've been training!" She used her spiked whip to attack, only for the gem to shrug it off.
"It doesn't matter how much you train. I've got more combat experience than you can possibly imagine, and more natural strength than you can ever hope to reach." Jasper rushed forward, slamming Amethyst into the rocks. "Face it, no matter what you do, you need your friends to bail you out."
"What the heck is wrong with that!? It kicks your ass time and time again!" Kelly shouted as she sliced through one of the serpent-like creatures. "Hell, you're the one gathering an army and working side by side with crazy pants over there!" She pointed to Mina trying to punch through a shield the princess created.
"The crazy pants you need a fusion to beat." Jasper countered, grabbing a rock and hurling it at the girl as she ignored Amethyst entirely. "Any time you've fought us alone only a fusion ever won. When we have numbers of our own, no fusion is gonna come close."
"Of course the only time you make a friend is when it's with the other crazy murderous zealot." Steven muttered as he sent a shield towards the rock Jasper through.
"Stop ignoring me!" Amethyst spun to Jasper, hitting her head on and bouncing off.
"Why would I give you attention, you're the least threatening person here." The gem charged forward, clashing against Steven's shield.
"And your by far the most annoying!" Steven shouted as his body glowed pink for just a second, hurling the homeworlder against the wall.
"You guys…need to…BUTT OUT." She carried Steven over her head and threw him out of the way. "This is my fight that I NEED to win!" She charged up her spin dash until she lit up with purple fire, and flew right towards the distracted Jasper.
Said distracted Jasper caught her, barely looming phased by the attack. "Is it sinking in yet?" The gem hurled her into the ground. "No matter what you do, the fact is that you came out wrong. Your existence is wrong. You were made WEAK!"
"Stop saying that!!" Steven charged the gem head on, sending them flying. "She's not weak, she's better than me!"
"Steven, would you stop that!?" Amethyst yelled, barely having the strength to get back up. "No matter what I do, it doesn't change the fact she's right. I'm…I'm not like her.." She started to cry.
"So what?! Who said you need to be like her?!" Jana shouted, using a pipe to repeatedly bap a monster on the head. "Her!? The crazy evil planet destroyer that's probably a bummer in any other situation? You WANT to be like that!? Because the Amethyst I know is cool and chill and knows how to have fun!"
"Jana's right! It's amazing that your nothing like Jasper! Because it means your like me!" Steven cried out with his echo booming through the canyon. "Remember, worst gem siblings!"
"Worst gem siblings…heh, hehe.." Even in such a messed up situation, even when trying to push him away, this kid just kept on insisting she was something amazing. "We're just a couple of screw ups, aren't we?"
"We're not like anybody else…we're not like who we're supposed to be." Steven stretched out his hand to her, a warm and teary smile on his face. "But that's what makes us the best."
"Enough of this smultzy crap! It's more annoying than dealing with this child!" Mina shouted, grabbing Star by the leg and tossing her aside, before picking up a giant drill bit from one of the nearby injectors. "Try shielding yourself from this, Rose!"
The bit was spinning rapidly, moving in a blur that neither of them could fully see or comprehend coming at them. All she knew was that she needed to get her little brother out of the way. "LOOK OUT!" She shrieked, grabbing Steven as tight as she could to push him out of the way, only to feel herself sinking into something soft and warm, along with a bright light.
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They blinked, feeling … happy. "What a beautiful day!" Did we fuse!? Dude, we totally fused! This is awesome!!
"Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about! New fusion!" Jana cried out.
"Do you Crystal Gems know anything OTHER than fusion when the going gets tough!?" Jasper shouted, rage evident.
"It's almost becoming a one trick pony at this point." Mina deadpanned, cracking her knuckles.
"Oh I got quite a few tricks up my sleeve, a brand new one I've been saving up for the two of you." What do we call ourselves? Hm, don't know, I've never fused with Rose before. Purple and pink, what do they make together? "Courtesy from your friendly neighborhood prime Kindergarten dwelling Smokey Quartz!" They took out their whip and shield, and combined them into a super fun toy.
"... Why do you have a yo yo?" Marco asked them.
"I told you I've got tricks." They smirked. "Ever heard of walk the dog?" The fusion spun it forward, hitting Jasper square in the face. "Or what about sink the dink?" They spun it extra fast before hurling it right at Mina's backside, pushing her into one of the nearby holes.
"Great, now their weapons spin too." The Mewman growled, rushing at them and grabbing the spinning weapon.
"Aww, like it? Don't worry, I carry spares." They shot a second one of their face repeatedly like a pinball. "And don't think I forgot about you!" They richoched it off of Mina's face and into Jasper's chest. "Two for one."
"Haha, now that's how you fight!" Star cheered, rushing to them with an elated face. "Dang, you two look amazing together. That's what sibling power is all about!"
"I'm not about to be beaten by another fusion!" Jasper charged at them with her knock off Spin dash that Smokey was able to completely avoid while spinning like a top.
"I got the charging cheesy puff. The rest of you focus on the Mina Sourberry over there." Smokey winked to their friend before using their yo yo to swing off from the ledges.
"Alright you walking relic of the past, you've gotta deal with all of us now-" Kelly was launched back with a punch. "Right … a really strong woman … never fought her myself."
Smokey would deal with that later. "Now check out this little maneuver, I call it the pinwheel." They spun around their Yoyo, using it to repeatedly hit Jasper's left side. "Followed by the crushing mantis." And a second one into their right, dazing her.
"Do you take anything seriously!?" The gem shouted as she kept trying to dash into them, only to crash into her own cages and freeing her own captured gems each time.
"I mean, I haven't needed to take you seriously." She smirked. "You're doing half my job for me beating yourselves.
"No, come back!" She shouted, realizing what she was being tricked into doing.
"I'm not losing them after all that effort!" Mina went to jump onto one, only to be blasted off by Star.
"Nope, run free you crazy monsters!" The girl shouted.
"Viva la revolution!" Marco joined in, using his gloves to try and herd them out of the canyon.
"Chaos reigns supreme!" Ponyhead chanted with what they hoped was red face paint.
"No! Not again. I won't go through this again!" Jasper, with the most desperate face either Amethyst or Steven have seen, leapt at a blue corrupted gem, and began squeezing it, and squeezing it as a white light enveloped them both.
"Is she crazy!" Kelly said while avoiding another attack from Mina. "She can't fuse with something corrupted, can she!?"
"I mean … she's doing it right now …" Has anyone tried to do that before? No one is stupid enough to fuse with crazy, not even me. This is going to end badly.
They were proven right when the Jasper fusion emerged. Now about nine feet tall with brown skin and darker brown stripes, along with fancy looking horns and claws that kind of gave her a Minotaur-like look to her. "I am going to gut you and hang your organs on my walls!!" … Smokey couldn't tell if she went crazy or was just more open about her thoughts like this.
"Oh okay, I see that your not a partaker of party tricks, I can respect that." Smokey smirked as they avoided a few swipes of her claws. "But I got a new move that blows you away!" She summoned two and spun the yo yo's around and around until a vortex-like wind started to form around Jasper's area. The gem continued to stand strong with a mad grin as it approached. "Not a fan? I have more." They created a third yo-yo, spinning all three, where it actually looked like a violent twister.
It was getting so chaotic, especially with Jasper being lifted into the air, the form of the enemy fusion becoming unstable as the head started to split into two once more. "No! We can beat them, if we stay together!" Jasper cried out desperately.
"Sorry, but someone has to sink this ship before it sets sails!" Star, apparently taking a cue from their little performance, turned her wand into yo yo chain-sycle and wrapped it around Mina it, throwing the buff Mewman into the middle of the twister, crashing into Jasper's fusion.
Haha, we did it! You're amazing! No, you're amazing! Those tricks were badass.ladies, we're all fabulous here. Give yourselves a nice pat on the pat. Smokey shook her own hands in congratulations as they watched the creature run away, smirking as they looked at the two. "Ready to give it up now? You're outnumbered and outpowered."
"I won't stop … not until you …" Jasper stopped, looking at their hand … their discolored and spiky hand …
"No..no, that's corruption!" Fear and worry filled Smokey's thoughts as everything faded from there.
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Star watched as Smokey Quartz, her now favorite sibling fusion, dissipated, starring as Jasper began to shift, staring at the spot on her arm.
"Don't worry, it's going to be fine." Mina spoke, a frantic look in her eyes. "We can cure this, we'll find a way to fix this."
"Fix..fix..?" Jasper laughed with a crazed look in her eye like she was just told a bad joke. "There's no fixing this, there's no fixing a broken mess like me..he..heh." The spots began bigger as the spikes began getting sharper.
Star looked to Steven, who had a locked palm and a worried look on his face. "Steven...don't do this…"
"I have to try! It's just halfway now, if I stop it before it spreads…" Steven stood firm as he reached out his hand. "Hey, don't worry, I can heal you.."
Jasper took one look at her brother's caring hand, and took a big swipe at it with her newfound claws. It was only with a split second of movement that she was able to get her brother out of the way, though not without getting the back of her dress ripped. "What's your damage, lady!? He's your only chance at not going crazy!" Star berated.
"Rose … helping an enemy …" Jasper gave a savage grin as their body warped. "That's the biggest joke you've told yet." The laughter got more and more desperate. "That's how you did it, Rose! How you turn every gem traitor! Because when you're at the bottom, you'll always follow anyone who makes you feel like less of a failure."
Mina looked shocked at those words, and for the first time, actually seemed introspective. "I'm not my mom, I'm Steven!" Her brother shouted. "Why won't anyone get that through their thick heads!?"
"… Maybe I'm not the only deluded one here if you really believe you're someone else." With that, their body was completely enveloped in the green. "Raaaagghh!"
"Jasper! Buddy! Calm down!" Mina shouted to the newly corrupted gem, before getting smacked to the side.
"Stay back!" A voice that'd had been silent for the entire fight cried out as several swords spat out of Kelly's hair. Looking to the source, they saw Peridot with her hands sticking out, using all the blades in Kelly's hair to fire directly at the gem's chest.
"Raaagghhhh!!" It screamed in pain, before poofing, falling to the ground.
"Heck yeah, Peri-D took the poof shot!" Ponyhead cheered the green gem. "That's my little green nerd bestie from space!"
"Victory is mine!" She cackled.
"Jasper …" Mina stared at the fallen stone … before gaining a snarl. "Typical! This is just so typical!" The crazed old lady of Mewni legend shouted as she lassoed the gem in her hair. "EVERY FREAKING TIME I have something good in my life, you're always there to take it away from me, Rose! Every single thing you touch, anybody that knows you, they all get ruined one way or another because you're around! Because you exist!" The woman looked like she was crying. "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LET ME BE HAPPY!?" She shouted. "Is the fact I hate monsters enough to justify you getting rid of every person I care about!!?"
"Oh, don't you even dare try to get on the moral high ground here!" Kelly shouted. "You're a lost, bloodthirsty maniac who couldn't care less about killing people in your way! You just tried to kill us! Jasper got herself infected!" She pointed her sword right at the crazy Solarian warrior. "As far as I'm concerned, you BOTH get exactly what you deserve."
Mina stared at them with eyes that portrayed hate far stronger and deeper than anything Toffee ever gave. "I'll be back … and when I am …. You'll all suffer." They jumped away, leaving the group alone.
"Did…did anyone else just get the feeling we probably made things worse?" Marco asked everyone.
"Hmmm…let's see." Star decided to weigh the pros and cons of today. "We stopped Jasper's and Mina's army from besieging Earth and Mewni, Jasper is basically a wild animal now, and we know for a fact Steven can fuse with gems now."
"On the other hand, Jasper and Mina are still free, Mina now is just as hungry to kill all of us instead of just me, and we still got a bunch of corrupted gems running loose thanks to all the fighting." Steven listed the bad stuff.
"Ah, we can catch those guys no problem." Amethyst waved off. "It's not like there's a town near here right?"
"Not as far as my phone can tell." Jana said as she looked through hers. "So yeah, I say we can count this day as a win. Especially with these two knuckleheads putting on a show!" The witchy girl ruffled Steven and Amethyst's heads. "Seriously, Smokey was just wild."
"Almost like Quana, but more controlled and precise." Marco observed.
"And we have a YoYo!" Steven shouted. "I didn't even know I knew how to use a YoYo!"
"Me neither!" Amethyst laughed. "We are the best worst gems ever!"
"Hooray for being terrible!" Star laughed as she scooped up her two siblings into the air and twirled them all around. "Who cares if they got away? We'll kick their butt next time, because we're all in this fight together! And we'll stay together no matter what!"
"Together!" Steven shouted as they held hands, and held them high up. "Because that's what family does!" That's right…Star had the most amazing family in the universe
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Steven walked to the barn, tired but smiling. "Hey guys, we're back!" He shouted to Pearl and Garnet, who were standing out front for some reason. "You'll never guess what happened!"
"You fought Mina and Jasper." Garnet stated.
"Right, future vision. Kind of sucks the fun out of pulling surprises." Kelly muttered.
"I wouldn't call it fun!" Pearl shouted. "Are you alright? Are you hurt? Do you need emergency emotional comfort?" She fussed over him.
"Don't sweat it P, this little guy had it all handled." Amethyst snickered as she pulled him into a noogie. "We totally whipped Mina and Jasper's butt across the Beta Kindergarten, and you'd never guess how we beat them!"
"Peridot poofed Jasper?" Garnet pointed to the green gem.
"Yes, I took the blow. I have a poof under my belt!" She laughed.
"You literally waited till the very last minute." Jana grumbled.
"Blah, blah, that's not ever the exciting part!" Star was giddy with excitement. It was nice for the both of them to be on the same level when it came to fusion. "Steven and Amethyst fused, and it was amazing! SIBLING POWER FOREVER!"
"They what!?" Garnet shouted with surprise, a wide smile on her face. "Was she fun? What weapon did she use? Can she do cool super moves? Was it a lovely experience?" Guess they could surprise her.
"Totally. A yo-yo, no duh, and absolutely." Amethyst waved off, still nooging his head. "Thanks again Steven. I'm glad we get to be family."
"Same here, Amethyst, same here." He hugged her. He may have not met his birth mom, but he's gained so much more family since coming to earth. He felt like the luckiest kid in the universe.
"So what brings you guys here?" Jana asked.
"Ah, you may actually want to get out of here." Pearl said as Garnet continued to fangirl. "Things may be getting more … life threatening in a bit."
"Oh come on, isn't fighting two psychos enough for one day?!" Pony Head shouted fruitless to the sky.
"Nope. First rule of fighting evil: never expect to be given a break." Marco sighed. "So what's it this time? Zombie Lizards? Gem Mutants? Flying spaghetti monster?"
Pearl simply opened the barn door, showing a water bubble containing Rubies, Lapis staring at them before turning to Steven. "… So you played baseball with them?" She asked with a teasing tone.
"Sorry I didn't invite you to pitch." Steven apologized, before sighing as well. He wouldn't say it out loud, but after dealing with Jasper and Mina, it really couldn't get any worse for them from here.