Chapter Text
It was the first few days of autumn. With all that’s happened, Steven and his family barely noticed the temperature dip or how the residents went from strolling around in shorts to bundling up in jackets. The highways in and out of the sleepy town went from covered with green to warm colors as leaves fell and scattered across the land.
For Beach City, what changed even more than the weather was the pace. Most of the tourists had gone home for the season meaning the streets were emptier, shops sat more idle and the locals had ample time to relax and prepare for the next seasonal rush.
For the Crystal Gems, however, the bigger news was Steven’s recovery and the news about Homeworld. Several gems had taken the opportunity to visit the alien planet via warp pad and found the place was like night and day. There were even talks of Homeworld gems visiting them back, but the Diamonds were formally discussing how to set that up.
Much like the town, however, Steven was relaxing as well. While surprising to see that Red Diamond had not tried much in the past few weeks, it did give him the chance to do something he had been sorely missing; unwind. With no major power problems or attacks, he spent his time split between helping finish up the gem development, the occasional training session to keep his skills sharp and just being a teen.
Speaking of which, he woke up and looked down at his phone to see a notification…
The Annual Monster Fest was starting up again… The one time of year where everyone in town dressed up in assorted costumes based on creature features and enjoyed a night of scares. It used to be the most frightening thing in town for him when he was younger, but now it felt like another thing to enjoy, especially compared to the monsters he’s actually faced in real life… More or less.
Especially the big feast they would have at the end. There would be a big dinner for the whole town served at the festival, with different people at booths serving themed food and beverages.
Steven smiled at this idea then looked out the balcony. He could just barely make out the decorations at spooky attractions that the town had. From haunted houses, to spooky games! And with nothing else on his plate, Steven leapt off into the air and floated down to the beach so he could take a look around. The vacant streets were already being filled with wooden booths for the games and treat stalls while the old warehouse just out of town was being made into a makeshift theater. There were even a few gems from Little Homeworld mingling about and assisting, much to his pleasant surprise.
"Steven!" The young hybrid turned around and found the friendly face of Jamie.
"Oh, hey Jamie!" he said cheerfully, "What's up?"
“Oh, it’s about the next play I’m doing. It’s been pushed back for the festival.”
“Oh… Sorry about that.”
“Perish the thought. It was my mistake for scheduling alongside an annual tradition like this, but alas, that is life. At least everything else is going well! I even have a small performance planned for the festivities!"
"Wow, really? What’re you up to?”
“It’s just a little ghost story to get people properly set in the spirit of the festival, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be half-baked! A thespian should put his best foot forward whether he’s the leading man or a bit part!”
“Good point. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!” Steven said as he headed off.
Eventually he ended up in the warehouse where they were setting up to show all kinds of horror movies from the classic era of cinema. The whole place was made to look like a run-down and creepy version of a stage theater from Empire City’s roaring era.
“Wow,” Steven said, “Looks pretty authentic.”
“I’d hope so,” Greg said, “We’ve got a lot of eager people this year!”
“I mean, the whole town’s gearing up already. Even a few Gems were out there!”
“And there’s a very good reason for that,” Pearl said, holding a clipboard, “We’ve gotten several gems who are more curious about human culture so we’ve organized a little trip for those who wanted to experience the festival. I’ve run the whole thing with Mayor Nanefua and she loved the idea!”
“Really? How many gems are there?” Steven asked.
“Oh, about… Thirty. A lot of them are still a bit reclusive, but they’ll come around eventually.”
“Well that sounds nice! But, Dad, what are you doing here?”
“Oh, come on, Schtu-ball, you’re old man happens to be Beach City’s expert on sound equipment. So they asked me to help out with the sound systems for the theater attractions!”
“That’s pretty cool, Dad!” Steven awed, “You need any help?”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. I’ve been handling this kind stuff since I was your age. But that’s just me being a nerd. What’s your plan, kiddo?”
“Actually, I haven’t thought about it much.”
“Well, it was funny what you came up with as a kid,” Pearl said, “And you always used to fall asleep halfway through the movie. It was so cute…” She could not help but pinch one of his cheeks.
“Pearl! Not funny…” he groaned, especially when he heard others giggling about it.
“Well, either way, I hope you’ll have fun. But try not to scare yourself all that much okay?” Pearl added a slight look of worry with that last expression. Evidently, she was hoping Steven wouldn’t end up going through another crisis...
“Don’t worry, Pearl,” Steven said in a calm, reassuring tone, “I’ll be fine. Oh! I need to figure out what my costume is gonna be!” He bid his guardians goodbye before running home, his head suddenly full of ideas.
The rest of the day passed by in a blur as Steven wrote down his ideas and rooted through his closet for anything that would make a fitting monster outfit.
“A Werewolf…? No… Vampire? Nah, don’t have the fangs…” he mumbled, “Wait a minute…” He thought back to something he did months ago and fished around his drawers until he found a green cloth with scales and several holes cut out for his eyes and mouth.
“Man, can’t believe I still have this thing…” he thought, remembering how Ronaldo conked him on the head from the whole snake-people scare, “It’s too small now… wait… I wonder…”
He studied the pattern on the cloth before concentrating his energy. Soon, his right arm had a few pink scales on it in place of skin. “Whoa…” Steven then touched the spot, it felt rough and smooth, “Weird…”
After a bit more concentration, the scales spread along his entire arm and even along his hands until his fingernails shifted to a darker brown and sharpened into short claws. Seeing how well the experiment was going, he let the change continue across his chest and other arm before spreading down to his legs. Soon everything from the neck down was pink scales until he finally shifted his head. Along with the scales, the pupils in his eyes changed to vertical slits with a forked tongue in his mouth to complete the look.
He headed to the bathroom mirror to see his handiwork and actually flinched when he saw his reflection. Once his shock faded, however, he was beyond pleased.
“It worked! The others are gonna flip when they see this!”
Meanwhile… at the outskirts of Beach City…
A person bundled in a black hoodie walked well into the fields and hills miles away from any sign of civilization aside from the railroad tracks. To anyone who happened to cross the traveler’s path, it would just appear to be some hiker well off the beaten path.
And that was exactly what the spy wanted. Red Diamond may have been one for grandiose boasts, but she also knew misdirection very well. No one, not even a large chunk of her own forces, knew what was coming next.
Eventually, the green pastures gave way to the barren soil of the Kindergarten. Standing atop the desolate ridge, the spy reached into the hoodie’s front pocket where a crimson box no bigger than a cell phone rested. With a push of the red insignia on the top, the box glowed for a bit before revealing dozens of gem shards and vials of multicolored dust.
The agent followed the diamond’s instructions to the letter, having memorized them all and destroying the evidence before leaving town. The shards were arranged into the correct pattern before the dusts in the proper order before the person assembling them stood. The first part of the mission was done. The rogue ally was now holding a smooth hexagon-shaped gemstone, made up of different parts of different colors and shards that neatly made the shape of a standard Quartz’s gemstone. However, the glow it emanated was sinister, similar to a blacklight. All that was left was for this new stone to be taken to a proper burial spot where it could have plenty of nutrients to absorb before being released. After placing the new stone back in the carrying case, the spy walked back towards the nearest forest a mile or two away. Along the way, the cloaked spy could not help but smile. The Crystal Gems would just love what was coming...
The Gem suddenly glowed from beneath the ground… which began to tremble slightly… then, a bulky hand rose from the ground, reaching for the sky…!
That evening, the Beach City Horror Film Festival was in full swing. For one whole week, the town went from a sleepy burg to a miniature haven for fans of classic horror or those who just enjoyed the macabre.
This year, however, was made extra special as gems intermingled throughout the town. Some from Little Homeworld set up miniature versions of their booths to sell their own unique crafts and being attractions in their own right. The first film of the festival was set to start up in an hour giving the Crystal Gems plenty of time to enjoy themselves.
Pearl, dressed up in a light set of silver plate armor, was keeping an eye on many of the gems as a sort of chaperone. She was taken out of her patrol, however, when she noticed a shadow flying above her. Lapis Lazuli then landed next to her dressed in a blue life vest, a fisherman’s hat and a pair of dark-blue rubber boots.
“One question,” she asked, “What’s with all the pumpkins?”
“It’s a common vegetable this season,” Pearl replied, “No real significance, honestly.”
“Okay… But they eat it in everything right now! I could’ve sworn someone was putting it in pasta!”
“Oh, Lapis, I’m sure it’s nothing that will hurt anybody…”
Before their conversation went on any further, they noticed Amethyst dressed in a patchwork coat and raggedy top hat walking by with a bucket full of apples.
“Um, where are you going with those?” Pearl asked.
“Relax, I’m not gonna eat them,” she assured, “There’s a game about picking these out of a barrel with your mouth and they needed some more so I ran and grabbed them.”
“That’s… Actually very nice of you.”
“Hey, I’m a nice gem! He did promise me a whole bunch of candy afterwards, though! Gotta go!”
“Hey, she’s still helping, right?” Lapis said while Pearl just resisted the urge to smack her head into the nearest wall.
“Nothing out of the ordinary, at least,” Garnet said approaching them. The gems both noticed she had no costume on but she did have all of her eyes showing. The fusion was enjoying that this was the first time in her life no one noticed she had a third eye.
“You get the feeling we’re missing something?” Lapis asked, “Red’s been really quiet for a while now.”
“We can thank Doctor Chambers for that,” Pearl said, “He’s all but pointed out what a quack that queen is. I’m pretty sure the only ‘scientists’ left supporting her are the ones who get their chemistry from science fiction.”
“Yeah, but that’s not it. Think about it, Steven’s kinda just been loafing around for almost a month and nothing?”
“If I had to guess, she’s biding her time,” Garnet said, “But she’s also being smart about it.”
“Speaking of Steven, has anyone seen him?” Pearl asked, “He was very excited about dressing up. Perhaps he’s lost track of time…”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
And sure enough, they heard the familiar voice call out, “Hey guys!”
But something was up, his voice sounded a bit… different. Like it was now just barely raspy. However when they turned and saw him, they were QUITE shocked at what they saw. Not only was his entire body covered in pink scales, a small pair of crystalline horns came out of his forehead and visible fangs from his mouth.
“Whoa… Talk about going all-out,” Lapis gasped, “Is that…”
“Shapeshifting? Yep!” Steven said, before letting out a playful mix between a mix between a hiss and a growl. Then he said, “Pretty freaky huh?”
“It’s… Very original,” Pearl said, trying not to show how legitimately disturbed she was at this.
“Heh, thanks!” Steven said proudly. His outfit was also different. He had on a simple, cream-colored, button-up shirt and dark brown slacks, bearing what looks like dust and dirt stains on it. Evidently he was going for the whole mutant-monster look, letting his shapeshifting be the main feature. “Anyway, I can’t wait to get in on the fun! I wonder where Connie is?”
“Saw her up by the theater with her parents,” Garnet answered, “I’m sure she’ll be impressed.”
With a destination in mind, Steven headed along the path to the warehouse where several people milled about or sold their goods. He picked up the many murmurs and gasps at his getup, much to his delight. It helped distract him from rather chilly weather that made him regret not adding a jacket to his ensemble. Ignoring the occasional shiver, Steven soon found Connie standing out front with her mother. The girl was dressed once again as Veronica Cucamonga while her mother was dressed in the classic mad-scientist outfit of a lab coat, thick goggles over her eyes and even had her hair frizzled.
“Nice look, guys!” Steven complimented, causing the mother and daughter to notice him and promptly drop their jaws a few seconds later.
“Whoa!” Connie was shocked, “S-Steven!? Is that you!?”
“Yep! What do you think? Pretty convincing, right?”
“I’ll say,” Priyanka said, “Are these prosthetics of some kind?”
“Nope,” Steven said cheerfully, “It’s all me!”
Finding that hard to believe, the doctor knelt down and poked Steven arm’s only to find that it felt hard yet slick at the same time. The woman had to fight the urge to shout in disgust as she stepped back.
“Man, when you told me you got better at shapeshifting, you weren’t kidding,” Connie said, “How does it feel?”
“A little cold, but I’m fine otherwise.” Steven said, although he didn’t even shiver.
“Well, it’s not long before the film starts. Wanna find a seat?”
“Sure!” Steven said, “Let’s go!”
Later, Steven and Connie were at the theater where the spooky decorations were now fully up. They were impressed by what they saw before them. The dark, velvet red colors, the authentic seats and the fake cobwebs and torn drapes really set the scene. Plus, the hole in the warehouse was mostly replaced by a white screen illuminated by a projector on the opposite side of the building.
Eagerly, the two sat down at their seats. Time seemed to blur by as the seats quickly filled up with people and a procession of gems led by Pearl before Greg started up the film reel. The title soon came up in Japanese with English subtitles along the bottom over top of a black-and-white sky. The crowd soon watched as the classic monster movie got underway. The slow suspense of small fishing villages being destroyed and few to no survivors was tragic and soon the crowd was waiting in anticipation for the creature to appear.
While most of the crowd simply enjoyed the film or snacked on popcorn, Steven’s reaction was different. The scenes of destruction left him breathless, and not in a good way.
It made him think about the power, the raw destructive ability, it would take to do it. Such destruction terrified him. And to think… He could actually do that. The memory of the destruction of Pink’s old garden came into his mind and soon the idea spread. What if that happened to his house? The whole town? To the people he cared about? Among all the rubble on screen was no doubt bodies buried underneath it all.
As Connie simply watched the movie, she noticed something shaking out of the corner of her eye. She turned only to see Steven’s entire body quivering save for his eyes which were glued to the screen.
“Steven?” she whispered, “What’s wrong? Are you cold?”
“I…” he mumbled… “I n-need to…”
“You sound really freaked out. Do you want to go?”
Steven wanted to say yes, but he found that he could not speak. His mind was now actively seeing all of the times he had lashed out or lost himself to his own abilities. Even back when he was first trying to summon his shield, they always eluded him. He tried to remember the whole spiel about energy and control, but that mattered little when he imagined how he could do far worse than any kaiju ever dreamed up…
“Hang on,” Connie urged, “I’ll be right back!” She then shuffled her way past her friend and out of the aisle before moving as fast as she could towards Pearl and her tour group. While the gems seemed to be enjoying themselves, she had to break up their fun since she had no idea what was happening.
Before long, Connie was pulling Pearl down from the back row to where Steven was frozen in place.
“Look at him!” the girl said, “It’s like he’s having a silent panic attack!”
“Goodness, you’re right… I’ve never seen him like this. I doubt any movie would do this to him but what could it be?” Suddenly, he began to grunt in discomfort. The scales on his body began to glow before they started slowly growing larger and more jagged.
“Oh dear!” Pearl said, ignoring several people shushing her, “We need to get him out of here! Something is seriously wrong!”
Suddenly, his upper back swelled out for a second! “Oh no!” Connie said, “Let’s go!” The two both charged to Steven’s seat and tried to hoist him up by his arms and out of the theater, all the while Steven was grunting in pain. Thankfully, most of the crowd paid them no mind while Garnet walked up to them just before they left. “What’s wrong with him?”
“No idea… Again…” Connie lamented, “We just know he’s had enough excitement for tonight.”
“Got it. I’ll keep an eye on our group here, you guys get him home ASAP.” Suddenly Steven’s arm swelled out, knocking Pearl to the ground. However he then began to clutch his heart. “Grr…”
“Steven,” Connie said to him, “Steven, can you hear me? It’s okay, nothing’s going to happen to you!”
The boy did see Connie and hear her words, but not in the same context. What he saw was the first day they met and that stupid ordeal with the bubble and giant glow-worm. Why did he not realize that before? He and a girl he just met were trapped in a ball with limited oxygen sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean, all the while, running out of air. And then, when he finally manages to put his own barrier down, what happens? An enormous sea creature nearly eats them both! One wrong misstep that day and he would have had to explain to the Maheswerans that their daughter went from reading by the beach to either drowning or being eaten alive! How was he only now realizing this?!
In reality, however, Pearl and Connie had resorted to dragging Steven out by his arms even as they had to avoid pricking themselves on the jagged coat of scales that now covered him.
“Steven!” Connie said, shaking him slightly when they were out of the theater, trying to snap him out of it, noting that the expression on his lizard-like face was one of a genuine panic attack!
“Wait, Pearl, I think I have an idea!” she told the gem, “My mom’s had some patients freak out on her and told me how she and an assistant handles them in those moments of intense stress!.”
“It’s worth a try!” her mentor said, “I just want him back to normal!”
Connie nodded, then turned to Steven, and spoke as calmly as she could, “Steven? Can you hear me? It’s alright… Whatever is happening, it’s not real.”
His breaths were ragged as his body kept fluctuating, but he seemed to nod at her words.
“Okay, good. Me and Pearl are right here, okay? We’re okay and we’re gonna make sure you’re okay.”
That actually seemed to register with him as his breathing slowed down prompting Connie to continue. “Now, what are you seeing? Can you tell me?”
“I… I almost… Lost you… I could have…”
“‘Could have’ what? Hurt me?”
He nodded, causing the horns on his head to slowly jut out farther. The girl, however, was undeterred and kept her eyes on his.
“I’m still here, right? Steven, I know you’d never hurt me.”
“But I…”
“She’s right, Steven,” Pearl added, lowering herself next to the girl, “You are the gentlest, nicest person we all know.”
Steven was still internally struggling, but the panic was actually starting to fade…
"Just concentrate on your breathing Steven," Connie said, "Take slow, deep breaths. I know it seems like you can't, but trust me, that's just in your head."
Little by little, his breathing and the visions faded until he saw the smiles of Connie and Pearl in front of him. He slowly lifted his hands and saw the changes his body had gone through. He finally regained his control and with a brief second of concentration, he willed the scales to recede until his skin had returned to normal.
“C-Connie?” Steven’s voice was no longer slightly raspy, but he did sound like he was still a little rattled.
“Yeah Steven, I’m here. Are… you okay…?”
“Y-Yeah,” Steven said, “I guess the monster movie freaked me out, that’s all.”
“Are you sure? Is there anything you want to talk about?” Pearl said, but he simply shook his head.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow, okay?” he added, “Right now, I just want to rest.”
“O-Okay,” Connie said… “Let’s just take you home then-”
Before they could make it far, however, a light tremor ran through the ground. It was barely enough for them to detect, but the second one was louder. In the town, all of the people in the streets stopped in place as quake after quake came steadily growing in volume.
“What’s that?” Steven asked.
“I don’t know, but I have an awful feeling…” Pearl muttered as she leapt up into the air and got on the roof of the warehouse. She did not have to look long to see something on the horizon. At first she thought it was just a faraway hill until she realized it was moving closer to the town.
“Uh oh…” she moaned as she quickly landed on the ground, yanked Garnet out of the theater and told her they needed to evacuate everyone from the town as soon as possible.
“Um, guys, what’s happening?!” Connie asked. Her nerves were frayed even more when she saw Steven’s eyes darting around like a caged animal and shaking like a leaf.
Soon, the gems weren’t the only ones to see what was causing the earth to shake. Anyone could look over to the north side of town and see the colossal monstrosity quickly approaching town. With each footfall growing louder, soon people just began panicking and running for the hills while the Crystal Gems did their best to escort people away until the beast was in plain view…
Standing almost one hundred feet tall, it was an amalgamation of too many types of gems to count. Whatever it was made of, it lumbered along as its legs left house-sized craters with each step. Underneath a tattered standard gem-uniform was a hide of countless colors that could withstand a nuclear armageddon. With each step, its enormous arms swung like pendulums that could easily demolish nearly anything. Its head seemed to be barely visible from the ground, but it could see its target through its misshapen eyes, each of which was a separate color, and let out a deafening roar from its mouth.
“What the heck is that!?” Pearl shouted out.
“Trouble, that’s what,” Connie replied in a more serious tone.
With no illusion of what was happening, the people entered a full-tilt panic. Thankfully, it now had several dozen protectors that kept things relatively organized as they ushered people to safety or just carried some away to safer spots than the buildings they were cowering in.
“Garnet, do we have a plan?” Pearl said to the fusion as she ran by.
“We’re planning on bringing everyone to Little Homeworld. It’s far enough away to keep everyone safe and can hold everyone relatively easily. I’d rather stash everyone in the Kindergarten, but that’s Plan B.”
The creature roared into the distance, sending shivers down everyone’s spine. “D-Do you think Red Diamond sent that thing!?” Steven said, trying to stay focused on the situation rather than his panic.
“Who else could it be?” Pearl admitted, “And now her absence makes perfect sense. A forced-fusion that size must have taken weeks to create.”
“We have to hurry,” Garnet said, “Once everyone is safe, we need to get Alexandrite or even Obsidian to handle that thing. Otherwise, Beach City is as good as gone.”
And while she was focused on that, Steven’s mind blanked out again but this time he forced his head to focus. The whole town needed someone to help, not some scared kid. He stood up and headed down the street to check if there was anyone holed up somewhere even as Connie called for him to come back.
He ignored her and quickly lost her thanks to his much faster running speed. He was grateful that dozens of gems were already on the case, but he remained vigilant in case someone was overlooked. He ended up down by the boardwalk, the planks over the ocean rattling dangerously from all of the quakes. A few of the buildings already had broken windows and lampposts fell to the side. Unfortunately, one of them had toppled right on top of someone trying to escape.
“Peedee!” Steven exclaimed. He wasted no time throwing the hunk of metal aside and helping his old friend to his feet.
“Ugh, Steven?” he groaned, “Thanks… That thing fell right on my back… I’ve been trying to get up for ten minutes now…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll help!” Steven moved as fast as he could given Peedee’s injury, trying to hurry towards the road leading to Little Homeworld when he heard another roar shake the sky. Steven made the mistake of looking towards it and seeing a massive leg only a few miles away. The half-gem’s body suddenly seized up again in response. “Ack! N-No, just keep calm Steven,” he kept saying to himself, “Keep calm…” Suddenly he heard a familiar scream. “DAD?!”
Steven focused long enough to see that the older Fryman’s car had been run off the road into a ditch and capsized. The only reason the sound even got out was because the driver’s seat window happened to have been broken in the crash.
“I… Gotta get him…” Peedee muttered, but he barely made it a few steps without falling over from his own injuries.
“Peedee, hold on! Let me heal you first!” Steven said, slathering his hand in saliva before applying it to the blonde’s back. Before long, he was up and running with no issue and soon Steven yanked the door of the car off and Peedee helped pull his father out. As soon as he was free, Steven turned to heal the older Fryman.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re okay!” the father said, hugging his son, “I was speeding back into town to get you. Guess that’s what I get for reckless driving.”
“Don’t worry about it, Dad,” Peedee said, “Let’s just get somewhere safe.”
“Not before I thank you, Steven! You really helped us both out of a jam!”
The Frymans then both ran down the road while Steven looked up at the enormous gem monstrosity. If the town was already damaged by its approach, he did not want to imagine the entire place reduced to craters.
And that horrific thought drove all of the fear out of him and replaced it with anger. Black Diamond’s words came back to him. They were his powers. He was in control. And he was going to use these powers to make this monstrosity regret hurting his home…
A burning sensation suddenly spread through his back along with a massive pressure, forcing him down onto his arms and legs. He began to sweat but he pushed through the sensation causing his back to swell until a massive column of pink spines erupted out of him and stretched out for several feet behind. It seemed like the reptilian theme was still on his mind as it was a massive tail. As foreign as it felt, he knew it was not enough.
“More…” he grunted, feeling the burning weight spread, “I need more!”
His legs were next as they suddenly swelled in size, his bones shifting and reforming into the limbs of a prehistoric creature with dark-pink talons at their end. The new limbs effortlessly lifted the rest of him into the air as the rest of his body started to expand. As he got bigger, his body gained even more monstrous features such as the spines along his back splitting apart and turning into two distinct rows of curved spikes. He growled as his head and face began to change as well. His lower jaw jutted out, his nose changed into two slits on his widening skull and his eyes changed into black voids with miniscule white pupils as crystalline horns grew out from the bottom of his new jaws which were now two jagged lines made to rip anything apart. His hair shrank away and instead two large, sharp horns jutted proudly from the front, just above his forehead. His neck had thickened and elongated as well, having gained three rows of spikes and spines, two rows of shorter, thicker ones on either side, and one row of longer, shaper ones on the front. A pair of colossal scaled arms now had the same crystal jutting out from the elbows and ending in the same dark claws as the feet.
The franken-gem had stopped its approach as it saw this titanic new threat appear nearby. Steven, however, now truly took in the world and noticed how microscopic everything around him seemed. Then he caught sight of the mutant abomination that had yet to retreat. All of that anger came back with a vengeance and he let out a ferocious roar, the ground trembling as he stomped towards his enemy. The Gem monster, sensing that this being was NOT friendly, began to charge forward as well. The two creatures quickly locked arms, the earth rattling once again as their gigantic limbs met and started pushing against each other making the people in town promptly duck and cover under whatever they could. The only exception was the Crystal Gems, Connie and Greg who all looked on with the same terrified realization: one of those monstrosities was Steven.
“What… the heck…?” Greg said in absolute horror as the two giant creatures collided, the intruder tackling Steven to the ground!
Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst could each only watch in abject shock and horror at this spectacle.
“Steven…!!” Pearl was having mixed feelings of horror, both at Steven’s new monstrous form, and the fact that he just got brutalized.
“We’re stuck just watching this, aren’t we?” Amethyst sighed.
“Pretty much,” Garnet gaped, “But I have a feeling Steven might actually have this one.”
The two others looked at her in pure shock and disbelief.
“Uh, I’m sorry, are we even looking at the same situation!?” Amethyst asked in exasperation.
“Trust me.”
Meanwhile, Steven quickly got back up and returned the favor with a tail-whip to the lumbering giant’s legs. With the amalgamation stunned, Steven lowered his head and charged, his claws raking across its sides before shoving it back. With that push driving it away from the town, and its mission, the franken-fusion suddenly jerked its head forward to try and headbutt the rose-tinted reptile. That, however, gave Steven the chance to lean around and graze the other monster with the horns on his face. This caused the other monster to roar in pain, then swat Steven’s face, knocking him back. “Steven!” Greg yelled as he saw this. However, as he was about to start running, he was grabbed by Garnet, “What are you doing!?”
“Greg!” Garnet said, “It’s not safe! You’ll only get crushed!”
“But-! But Steven-!”
“It’ll be alright,” she then told him in a more calm tone, “It may not look like it, but Steven’s got this.”
Speaking of which, the monstrous hybrid slowly recovered from that last hit only to see the gem monster stomp down one of the now empty festival stands. This made Steven pause for a split second. If the patrons were still there when the creatures stomped his foot… An even louder roar burst out of him just as the mega-cluster prepared an overhead blow. As the balled-up fists came down, Steven swerved his neck to dodge before sinking his jaws into the fusion’s right arm. And then proceeded to suddenly rip his jaws back hard enough to pull away a large chunk of said arm which quickly dissolved into light.
Even as the fusion regenerated a new limb quickly, the blow was not forgotten. Suddenly it was much more wary to attack which gave Steven all the more time to advance with multiple swipes with his arms and tail to push the monster farther and farther away from Beach City and towards the ocean. Once it was clear he was a safe distance away from the innocents, now he had nothing holding him back. He marched forward, kicking up massive waves with each movement, and rammed into the gem-monstrosity at full-force. Several buildings shook from the impact miles away, but they remained standing while the enormous fusion was taken clean off its feet before headbutting its way to freedom. It then tried to put some space between itself and Steven but the other monster was having none of it, stampeding ahead and this time keeping a hold of him with his claws and raking his arms to injure him further.
“Whoa…” Greg said, taken aback by the clash, “Is this really happening?!”
“Yeah, this is just nuts,” Connie remarked, standing next to him, “I’m just glad there’s clearly some brain left in him since he’s doing this all the way over there.”
“Yeah and-”
“What?”
“Connie, do you know why Steven’s mouth is glowing?”
“What, it’s not OH YES IT IS!”
“What do we do now?!”
“HIDE!” she shouted, nearly dragging the fully grown adult behind as she barged into the nearest building. They were not the only ones to notice this change and soon many people got the urge to duck and cover wherever they could.
As for Steven, he had one lesson from Black Diamond in mind about energy: “I’d recommend using it as a last resort on an opponent unless you want little to no trace of them left.”
Then Steven began to let out more than just a loud roar…
A blast of pure energy erupted from his mouth like lava out of a volcano, shooting it’s way towards the gem monster like a comet! Too distracted by its ailing limbs, the fusion only realized the incoming blast of death before it was too late and it collided with all the force of an oncoming meteor.
People for miles along the east coast of the country felt the resulting explosion and the skies off the coast of Beach City were blanketed by a cloud of smoke and upturned sand that took hours to settle.
When said cloud finally faded, the only thing left of the monster was its gemstone. Or rather, a cluster of MANY gemstone fragments fused into a single cluster. Unlike the old Gem Cluster prototypes, this cluster looked neatly done, carefully carved together into a neat, smooth and almost-spherical object.
The giant monster that was Steven was now panting from exhaustion from the fight… Slowly, his mind began to clear and he realized that the imminent threat was now gone. A sigh of relief passed from the creature’s lips before a gentle pink glow surrounded him and he began changing back to normal. Garnet came around in no time flat with a blanket to cover Steven, since his clothes were the only other casualty of his transformation, before carrying the slumbering boy back to shore and bubbling the miniature Cluster before it could cause any more trouble.
“Steven…” Greg said with worry.
“He’ll be fine,” Garnet said, “Just out cold. That last fight took quite a lot out of him…”
“Well, at least he’s okay. And, you know, the literal kaiju is gone so that’s good.”
At that point they began to hear snoring. Steven was snoring at this point.
“Heh, I guess anyone would need a nap after that,” Connie joked, “Call me when he wakes up, would you?”
“No problem,” Garnet assured, “I’ll be helping clean up the rest of the mess as soon as I tuck him in.”
Meanwhile, someone was screaming in pure anguish.
“Oh sure, NOW he gains control of his abilities!” Red Diamond wailed, “Now everyone is going to relish the Crystal Gems and that child as heroes! Greeeeat… This is going to set things back by months…”
Her Pearl was wisely keeping her mouth shut and letting the tyrant belt out all of her frustrations. Although her master was right in what was supposed to be a key component in discrediting the Crystal Gems by manipulating Steven in a full-blown rampage blew up in her face almost as badly as the plasma blast that took down one of Red’s best creations.
“... I may need to escalate things,” she then suddenly said, pausing her tantrum, “Accelerate my plans…”
“My Diamond? How do you intend to do that?”
“It’s apparent that the Diamonds are responsible for Steven’s sudden mastery. But what would happen if a bit of discord were to shake their relations? White and Black were never the best at cooperating after all… Pearl.”
“Yes My Diamond?”
“Send the Spinel out, I have… a little experiment I need to carry out.”