"Ready?" Steven asked, tightening his grip on his shield.

"Ready," Peridot said through a grin. She stood tall as the metal and gears that wrapped her body came to life. The cogs whirred as they reached insane speeds. She took a fighting stance, her hand-fashioned limb enhancers reflecting the positioning of her real arms.

Steven smiled back, taking a low stance. The two locked eyes for just a moment, the context of their sparring match disappearing for a moment. In the next instant, it all came back to them.

Peridot jetted forward, her metal legs rocketing her at a pace Steven could barely keep up with. He prepared for what he thought was a frontal tackle. Then, Peridot flickered from his view.

She had accelerated again, this time bordering on velocities his eye could barely see. She appeared and disappeared several times, always to the back of where he was facing at that moment. The sound of her whirring limb enhancers were the only thing that betrayed her position. Still, it wasn't like Steven could even react at the speeds she was going.

So he wasn't going to react.

Steven summoned a second shield to his free arm, throwing both above him just before Peridot reappeared in his vision. Too late to readjust her trajectory, Peridot slammed her metal gloved fist into the side of Steven's left shield, causing a shockwave to rip out from the point of the collision. It rocketed out from the two, spreading across the grounds of the sky arena, throwing up dust and stones.

Peridot and Steven locked eyes before parting, leaping away from each other and gaining breathing room. Peridot steadied her vibrating metal fist, still shuddering from the force of the collision. Steven, meanwhile, simply dismissed his resonating shield and summoned another.

The two locked eyes again before returning to their sparring. This time Steven took on the offensive, charging Peridot with two shields adorned to each hand. His strikes came in a flurry, flying at Peridot with the edge of his weapons on each fist. Peridot reacted in turn, head bobbing and weaving away from each subsequent strike.

She observed the soon quite clear pattern of Steven's attacks before counter attacking, striking at a moment he reared both arms back. Her metal fist nearly made contact before his bubble appeared at the last second, protecting him from the majority of the force.

Unfortunately, physics took over at this moment, causing Steven and his bubble to rocket back. He hit a stone pillar and ricocheted off like a pinball, hurdling off in another direction with no stop in sight. A stop soon occurred, however, as Peridot rushed in and forced the bubble to a halt.

Steven rubbed his head in nausea as he looked up at Peridot, grinning at him through his bubble. He gulped as she locked her robotic fingers together and reared back. Clenching his eyes, Steven braced for impact.

"Ah!" he cried as Peridot slammed him and his bubble into the air. He panicked for just a moment. As he hit the peak of his trajectory, he dismissed his bubble, reducing his air drag and accelerating his fall with the ground. As he looked back at Peridot, however, he smiled. The speed of his descent immediately slowed to a crawl.

Peridot had a half chuckle, remembering his floating powers at the moment. Steven made a gentle touchdown with the ground, turning and facing Peridot with a soft smile, one she returned in kind.

"One more go?" he asked, summoning back his shield. Peridot looked down at her limb enhancer, quickly scanning for any serious damage. Finding none, she looked up.

"One more go," she replied, raising her fists. This time, she took a defensive stance. Steven reflected her pose and soon the two were at it again.

Steven wasted not time rushing forward, followed quickly by Peridot who did the same. For a moment, it seemed like the two would collide in a crash. Yet Steven leapt at the last moment, taking to the air with a mighty jump, another one of his powers. Peridot ground to a halt as she looked skyward, watching as Steven meandered through the air without a sign of falling.

She grinned, crouching down and rearing her fists back. The limb enhancers came to life again, whirring at an even higher speed than it did before. The coils in her robotic knees built up energy, quickly reaching near their snapping point in seconds. Then, she leapt.

The ground trembled as she rocketed upwards, a trail of dust and smoke left in her wake. She ascended, rearing her fists behind her as she prepared to slam Steven down. He, in turn, summoned his bubble and braced for the impact. He even summoned spikes from the surface of his pink defense, turning his once adorable bubble into a quite intimidating spike ball.

Peridot reacted, quickly switching off the motion to slam and turning to instead grab onto the thorns adorning Steven's bubble. His eyes widened in shock as Peridot pulled him up and tossed him, throwing him across the sky arena as she returned to the ground below.

Steven slammed into one of the arena's many stone pillars, spikes embedding and pinning his bubble to where he made impact. He shook his head for a moment before getting his bearing, looking down and across at Peridot, who was waiting for him to get down. Unable to hold back a smile, Steven recalled the spikes of his bubble and allowed himself to fall to the ground below.

He bounced once before dismissing the bubble, landing on the stone ground with a small thud. Summoning his shield, he readied for one last confrontation. Peridot mirrored his pose for the last time. The two charged at one another, neither willing to break away.

It all came to a head when Peridot's metal fist struck Steven's shield, forcing the two to a stop. Peridot moved to strike with her other hand, but Steven merely shifted his shield to block. She swiped at his exposed side then, but Steven merely readjusted again to force her strike to a halt. Steven grinned as he summoned a second shield, doubling his protective ability.

Peridot rolled her eyes as her fists accelerated, the sound of whirring gears growing louder. The two disappeared in a blur, as they kept accelerating with each other. As Peridot increased the speed of her attacks, Steven increased the that of his blocks. The sound of metal fists colliding with hard light protection rang out, filling the Arena.

Finally, Steven shifted to offensive. Using both shields he pushed Peridot's limb enhancers away from the both of them. He then hooked his shield onto her metal forearms, locking her in his grasp. Peridot gasped as she was pulled in, Steven's impressive Gem strength catching her off guard.

She half expected Steven to land a headbutt on her. Steven, however, had a far more underhanded tactic in mind. Peridot braced for impact.

Steven delivered a devastating final blow: a light kiss to Peridot's forehead.

The heat of battle dissipated almost instantly after that, as Peridot felt her legs melt from under her. Steven let go of her arms and took a step back, letting her regain her bearings.

"So does that mean I won?" he asked, watching as she detached herself from the limb enhancers. Peridot rolled her eyes as she pulled off the right arm, revealing her real finger underneath.

"Depends, if I say yes, will you kiss me again?" It was Peridot who grinned now, quickly detaching her other arm extender with her far more nimble real hand. She then stepped out of the gravity connectors, returning her feet to the ground again. She looked straight ahead at Steven, who was offering his hand out. "Thank you, for helping me test out my new limb enhancers."

She slipped her hand into Steven's, keeping that same smile as he gently pulled her in.

"It was my pleasure," he said, piling on the sugar. Peridot usually didn't have a sweet tooth, but for Steven she was always willing to make an exception. She failed to hold back a giggle as he locked fingers with her. "So what're you going to do about—"

"Just shut up and kiss me already," Peridot said, pulling him by the collar of his shirt.

Steven readily complied.