Narrator POV
A slightly shrunken down Steven duels a holographic version of himself, projected and controlled by Blue Diamond's Pearl. He was shrunken down to the size of about Jasper, after all dueling was hard if you're fifteen feet tall.
Steven was a master in bladed combat at this point, having mastered all five gem blade forms. It also helped that his straight bladed saber was one of the most powerful blades crafted by the Bismuth's of Homeworld. Each form had it's strengths and weaknesses. Knowing all five though, that pretty much shored up and weaknesses in his sword play.
Steven's holographic doppelganger starts out in the most aggressive form for fighting a bladed combatant, form four, The Ruby Rampage. A stance focused on quick, powerful attacks and quick parries.
Steven in turn adopts the stance that was most fit for bladed combat defense, form three, The Silent Sapphire. Form three and four were developed in tandom, being direct opposites in style and designed to be learned together to create a powerful blade wielder.
Steven masterfully blocks and redirects the attacks of his holo-gram before performing a quick kick to it's chest.
He switches quickly to his favored form, form five, The Rose. A form renowned for it's adaptability, powerful strikes, lunging thrusts, fanciful parries, and quick defense. Most notably this stance was the hardest to master, with Steven being the only one to ever claim the feat of mastering it. The Rose form also benefitted from Steven's gravitational pulse tech.
Steven's holographic doppelganger has no answer for the assault from the powerful form five strikes or the long reaching thrusts. It reverts back to form one, the Agate.
The Agate form was primarily used to counter multiple opponents, and was noted for for an almost complete focus on parrying the opponent.
Steven takes note of this and quickly swaps between form five, The Rose, and form two, the Jasper. He used form two to supplement his offense as it relied on strikes that were driven by pure strength. This made the strikes nigh impossible to parry if the user was strong enough.
This seems to work as Steven finally gets the win against his holographic doppelganger, slashing them several times across the chest and penetrating their chest with one quick thrust.
Steven sheathes his blade as Blue Pearl comes to greet him.
"Excellent, now we need to focus on hand to hand and shield combat" Blue Pearl squeaks, her voice small.
Steven nods as Blue Pearl projects a tall, powerful quartz warrior. Steven brings up his hands and awaits the first move.
The holo-quartz steps forward and Steven immediately moves to circle them. His feet move as fast as a Peridot's mind moves.
The holo-quartz attempts a punch, only for Steven to mover out of the way and land a devastating straight to the holo-quartz's face.
The holo-quartz attempts another attack, only to be punished with a throw, sending the holo-quartz through the air and into the training room's wall.
Steven grabs the holo-quartz and throws them into the air, before drawing his hand back and sending them crashing into the ceiling with a gravitational pulse blast.
He quickly follows this up by leaping up to the holo-quartz and grabbing ahold of them. He wraps his hand around their neck as the two fall. He tightens his grip as the pair land, the force of the fall and vice grip poofing the holo-quartz.
Blue Pearl claps as she summons another hologram. It was time for shield training, and as such several dozen holo-quartzes were summoned. Each one wielding a different weapon.
Steven nods to Blue Pearl as he blocks and redirects blows from all angles. He throws in quick strikes to the face or gut to provide some breathing room.
He seems to get faster as he picks up on enemy faults, and begins to throw sweep kicks and devastating shield tosses as he combats the wave of holo-quartzes.
In time Steven emerges victorious, with only a slight scratch in his armor.
Blue Pearl once again claps before following him out of the room, deactivating the training hologram generator and shutting off the lights.
Steven bids her a farewell before heading back towards his room.
He makes it there in little time, walking through the hall that his entourage lived in. Whilst walking he noticed a small mirror on the ledge of Pearl's window that appeared to have a gem in it.
He quickly swipes it before phasing on his satchel to put it in. He would likely examine it whilst he was on his short, diamond imposed, vacation. The trio of Homeworld matriarchs wanting him to be able to relax for a while.
Unfortunately for them Steven only agreed to take one day off, but nonetheless he had a day off. With this day off in mind he had the Galaxy warp repaired and planned to take a day off at the beach near his old home.
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