Break-In

"Fight me, you coward!" This was the third time today Bismuth had come face to face with this crazy Jasper. For three days now, ever since he visited his cousin Bismuth in Beach City, he's been putting up with her. "Or are you weak?" He rolled his eyes. "I guess I'm weak then," he flatly stated and shut the door in her face. "Stars almighty, that gem is insane..." He thought back to when this all started.

Three days ago....

Bismuth's cousin, aptly named Bismuth, banged on the metal with a small hammer, showing him how she preferred to hit the metal for armor. "So, I like to use a small hammer, for the little details, but for the big weapons, I usually use a midas hammer." He nodded, watching the metal hit the armor again and again. "I...I've never taken to using actual tools. I find my hands to be my best weapon for smithing." She looked up. "My hands are my best weapon. I haven't heard that phrase in a long time. You know...if we didn't have the war, if we didn't have everything happen, I still think you would've kept winning. But besides that, how's your fighting practice going?" Her cousin shrugged, as he brought over another small piece of metal to hit on. "Don't fight anymore. I'm retired." She stopped smithing, and looked at him, with complete shock on her face. "You?! You stopped sparing?!" Bismuth didn't see it as a big deal however. He was young and dumb, with free time on his hands. Nowadays though, he just wasn't in the mood for that. It was a waste of time. "I mean, you used to be the fighting champion of us, I can't believe you don't spar anymore!" She was flabbergasted. Back in the day, he would win every match hands down, and he didn't need a weapon like the others, he just used his bare fists. He was supposed to go to the fighting championships before the war started, but he never got the opportunity. The multicolored gem picked up a bucket. "I'm gonna refill this, we should be just about done with this armor prototype after this last pouring."

Opening the door, Bismuth went over to the water trough and noticed that someone was staring at him. Did he know her from the past or something? She kept staring at him, only a few feet away from him. Might as well ask what she wants. "What?" The gem smirked at him. "I overheard your conversation there. You used to be the Bismuth fighting champion, right? I'm the ultimate soldier. I bet I could beat you in a sparring match, right here, right now. Just you, me, and a butt kicking." He stood up, and shook his head. "I'm over that. You heard my conversation right? I'm retired. I don't fight anymore." She took a step closer, now with determination in her eyes. "I don't believe you. I see it in your eyes. The eyes of a fighter. Deep down in you, you still wanna fight. You still hunger for that rush, that sound of fighting, you still hunger for the win." He stopped, and looked at her. Standing just a bit taller than him, the gem was built for fighting. He was built for smithing. And that was what he planned to do. "No thanks." Her eyes widened. "What?! You have the chance to fight the best soldier that's ever lived and your answer is no?!" She followed behind him as he walked towards the door to his cousin's place. "What are you, weak?!" That got him to stop in front of the door. His badgerer smirked. "Oh? Did I get your attention? Are we weak?" Opening the door, he took a step through, and turned around."Frankly...it's not that I'm weak, it's that I could give less of a shit of some random lady's demand to be fought with." With that, he slammed the door behind him.

His cousin stood there slack jawed and bug eyed. "Biz, buddy, do you realize who you just said that to?!" He walked over to her anvil, and gently poured water on the hot piece of metal that was waiting for him, cooling it off and polishing it. "Some crazy lady demanding to spar with me. She overheard our conversation." Bismuth put her hand on his shoulder. "Bud...you said no to Jasper. Jasper. Jasper, the local gem always eager for a fight. Nobody says no to Jasper after getting challenged. Even I've been challenged and got beat pretty hard. The only thing keeping her in line is Steven." He raised an eyebrow. "Your point being?" She sighed. "Man, you need to just accept her challenge and get on with it. I'm sure you'll be beat pretty quick. We have a fountain full of the Diamonds' essence for healing." Bismuth picked up the piece, eyeing it. He looked back at her. "Who ever said I'd get my ass beat? Look, I-" He could see Jasper in the window, looking in on their conversation. The gem quickly pulled the curtains, now irritated. "Look, I'm retired. I don't fight anymore. She'll have to suck it up and get over it." His cousin frowned. "If you say so. But be careful. She's pretty stubborn." Rolling his eyes, the gem took his bag off of the jacket rack she had, and put it on. "All right, I'll keep that in mind." He snorted. She can't be that stubborn. Taking a step out the door of her workshop, the gem waved goodbye back to his cousin. "I'll see you later. Lemme know how the armor looks when it's all put together. It'll be a beauty." She smiled, and shut the door behind her, leaving Bismuth to himself.

As he walked to the warp pad, he couldn't help but feel that someone was watching him. Recalling Bismuth's warning, the gem eyed the area for that Jasper. "No sight of her...looks like she took off. Alrighty then..." Getting onto the warp pad, the gem warped away to The Hidden Village, his home. In the trees behind him as he warped away, Jasper stepped out. "Oh, I'm gonna get the fight I want. And I'll keep following you until you say yes, rainbow man."

Now...

Bismuth rubbed his eyes in frustration, leaning on the door. Every other hour, he'd have to tell her over and over again, no. The answer she didn't wanna hear. Jasper pounded on the door. "I guess you really are weak after all. How pathetic!" She continued to pound on the door. "Give me what I want Bismuth, just say it!" Fed up, the gem ripped open his own door, tearing off the hinges in anger. Enough is enough. No more of this bullshit. "You want a yes? I'll give you a yes." In a sudden move, the gem swooped underneath the other, and lifted her off her feet. "What the-" Throwing her over his shoulder, he carried her like a sack of potatoes. "Put me down!" She tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but every time she was able to loosen up, his grip got tighter. "Where the hell are we going?! Put me down, weakling!" Ignoring her complaints, he walked by other gems who just looked on with shock. By the time she had finished complaining, they had gotten to the outskirts of the village, the gem tossed her to the ground, and shape shifted his arms into a hammer and sickle shape. "You want a fight? I'll give you a fight." If it means getting her to back off, then he'd have to do it. Getting up, Jasper summoned her weapon, a helmet that looked like it was for bulldozing, and grinned. "Finally."

Without hesitating, the gem curled up into a speeding ball, and charged towards Bismuth, starting off the battle. As she charged towards him, Bismuth launched himself off the ground using the weight of his pickaxe arm, lunging over Jasper. "You missed." A head stuck out from the ball. "Hold still!" Jasper sneered. "I can't beat you hard enough without it." Hurdling herself towards Bismuth again, she slammed into the cliffside as he dodged. If he got her to slam hard enough into the rock, she'd get stuck, and he'd win. All it'll take is a little coercing...

Bismuth blew a raspberry towards Jasper. "Missed again, hah! I thought we were supposed to be the best soldier know to gemkind?" Now enraged from his teasing, Jasper charged towards him again, going as fast as she could. She couldn't wait to drill a hole into rainbow man. Running up towards her as fast as he could, the gem used all of his strength to leap as high as he could into the air, running into Jasper. She uncurled to throw punches at him, with some hitting him. As they went up in the air, the both of them continued to fight, each throwing punches and kicks, until Jasper kicked Bismuth hard enough in the gut to knock him off his metaphorical feet. As they descended, she continued to use him like punching bag, hitting him over and over again, with a malicious grin growing on her face. "I am the ultimate soldier, and you are nothing!" Curling up and back into a ball, she raced towards him to finish the job. It seemed like all was over for Bismuth. But what she didn't know was that it was a trick. At the very last second, the gem swerved out of the way, revealing behind him the cliff that she had crashed into before. 

"Gotcha." Her eyes widened in shock. "What?!" Jasper crashed into the boulder as hard as possible, becoming stuck in the rock. She could hardly move. Something had hit Jasper. Something very familiar. He reminded her of her Diamond, Steven. That boy was the only other person, asides from fusions, who could actually beat her. But, he did. He did."Well, I'll be damned."

Landing on the ground with a hard thud, Bismuth took a step back, and fell to his knees, taking in deep breaths. "I'm done. Enough." While Jasper got herself unstuck from the massive boulder, Bismuth began to walk away, with a limp in his step. This was gonna hurt in the morning. "Hold it!" She yelled out angrily, pulling an arm out. "You're not just gonna leave like this, are you?!" Glancing back, he sighed. "I'm tired. I wanna take a nap." His opponent watched with disbelief. "And you're just gonna leave because you wanna take a nap?!" The gem shrugged. "Yep." As he got further and further away from her, the last thing he could hear was: "Then I'll fight you every day, until I win!"

The next morning...

Falling out of bed, the gem clamored up as he kept hearing the sound of knocking. "Oh come on, it's gotta be at least six in the morning-" but before he could finish, the knocking stopped. "I guess they left?" Dead wrong. The sound of thumping started, and holes started to get punched into the door, until it finally came crashing down with a large clang. What faced him was a bright eyed and bushy tailed Jasper with a smirk on her face.

"Rise and shine rainbow man, it's time for your sparring."