Earth…
A blue pearl full to the brim with life and bountiful in nature, though unfortunately it wasn't all for the good; Monsters known as Corrupted Gems roamed the planet and would cause problems when their destructive tendencies started to worse, whether it was through their propogation or their innate desire to break whatever was around them.
Thankfully when it came to these creatures, the planet had one such form of defense that could protect humanity and the world they live in; The Crystal Gems! Four warriors who were capable of fighting back against these potential threats, though there was more to them than just their ability to stop monsters.
"Can't we just come on a mission with you guys?" A young boy named Steven asked as he watched Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst preparing for their trip; Pearl was checking the warp pad while Amethyst was devouring dry crackers by the boxful. "If I come with you then maybe I can figure out my Gem Powers…A-And Kai can be your second pair of eyes!" Steven tried to bargain from the couch that he was bouncing on in excitement as he was starting to get antsy about proving himself as a fellow Crystal Gem.
"I mean…I know I'm not exactly a Gem but I can still find a bat or something to give you guys some backup or like Steven said; I can be a second look for you guys." Kai offered as well as he looked to the Warp Pad; "Please just give both of us a chance at least, I know both of us can do more than just look out for the house until you think we're ready." The boy asked; Kai had short dark coloured hair and blue eyes, he had a bulky frame like Steven did but the only difference between the two was that Kai was tall enough to match at least Pearl in height.
"Boys, we already talked to you both about this." Garnet explained as she walked over to the two; The de facto Leader had enough challenges to keep Pearl and Amethyst from arguing all the time but it was a mixed bag when it came to the two youngest of the group. "I know you want to help but you must understand that we have reasons for why we can't take you. Steven, we still don't know what kind of powers that your Gem has so none of us want to run the risk of putting you in danger…"
Pearl then glanced up when she heard Garnet explaining things and decided to try backing her up. "Garnet's right; Until we discover the powers or the tool that comes with your Gem, it's better that we play it safe where we can be certain that you aren't in danger." She explained as she smiled a little at Steven, she was by far the most protective of the young boy considering who his mother was and ensuring their safety was something that the trio could agree on.
"And as for Kai, it's even more dangerous considering that you are fully human." Garnet carried on as she looked to the now more glum boy and gently rested her hands on his shoulders; "I know that you want to try and help…but as you are; There's more of a chance that you could end up in serious danger, it's less that we don't want you to join us but more that we don't want to see you get hurt."
Kai nodded; "So that's it then? I'm just good for watching the house while you're gone? Or to get groceries if no one's here?" He asked with the faintest hint of frustration as he got up; He was currently wearing what looked like a navy blue t-shirt under a sleeveless grey hoody that sported a small swirling symbol on his left breast, along with a pair of jeans and running shoes to complete his look. "I know I don't have a Gem poking out of my body like Steven does but I can still help!"
"Gems have the advantage of using abilities that most humans don't have so if we were to take you along, you could run the risk of seriously injuring yourself or worse…" Garnet stated with a bluntness that came about from having to explain this multiple times but she kept her usual softness due to this being a desire to genuinely help them and not an adolescent's ploy for adventure. "And think about Steven as well…Do you think it's fair to him that one of his friends comes back from a mission to see him severely injured?"
Kai bit his inner cheek in growing annoyance as he knew that Garnet did make a good point about this but he couldn't help but feel like he was just being sidelined; As far as the two could remember, both boys asked Garnet and the Gems if they could join them for missions but it was always either a no for Kai and a mixed No/Maybe when it came to Steven.
"Why not let 'em?" Amethyst finally spoke up as she tossed another empty box of graham crackers in the trash; "You guys want to know what Steven's powers are and Kai says that he can help us out so why not give them a chance?" The smaller Gem suggested as she climbed off of the kitchen counter. "It's not like every mission we do is fighting anyway so-"
"Amethyst, that's not the point." Pearl pointed out sternly as she knew that if anyone was going to vouch for the two, the wild child of the three Gems would. "You're forgetting that even an exploration or a gathering mission can be just as dangerous, if we're going to explain things then don't downplay the risks like that."
"Still, you could at least give them a shot…Remember we tried to see what they could do and Kai managed to win in a race against me?" Amethyst mentioned as she looked to Garnet; "That's gotta count for something, right?"
"Kai only won that race because of you tripping and falling on the beach! That's not him demonstrating capable abilities, it's a fluke because you refusing to take things seriously." Pearl further elaborated, her temper starting to flare thanks to her purple comrade's casual attitude; "A human cannot outrun a Gem on foot without help and more specifically, Kai is just Steven's playmate, we don't fully know what we'll be putting him thr-"
"You two, that's enough." Garnet finally broke up the argument; "We need to go before too much time passes." She said and walked over towards the Warp Pad before looking to Steven and Kai though she stopped and looked to the two. "Steven, Kai…I promise that we will talk about this later." The largest Gem explained as Pearl and Amethyst climbed onto the pad, though she did lightly smack a box of what looked like dry cereal out of Amethyst's hands. "You've had enough."
As the trio vanished from the warp pad to the sound of Amethyst's dramatic whine, the entire house was left in silence bar the waves crashing outside. "H-Hey Kai…Why don't we go get some fresh air and pick something for dinner tonight? The Gems won't be gone for long but aside from Amethyst, we can pick what t-oh…" Steven suggested as he decided to see if fresh air would help, however it looked like Kai had gone before the Gems completely warped away. With his mood deflated after what happened and still feeling sympathetic for Kai, he decided to head out to the beach since he figured he knew where his friend would've gone.
Kai was currently lying on the shoreline outside as he listened to the waves coming in; He was currently gazing up at the sky and his fingers were carefully holding on to what looked like a small grey stone that was connected to a leather strap around his neck, "I'm only Steven's playmate…Huh…I guess when Steven gets his powers then that's it for me, I guess." He thought to himself as he moved the in the necklace between his fingers, he had expected for everyone to say no but for Pearl to outright say that he was basically a distraction for Steven really knocked him for a funk more than anything.
"HEEEEEY! KAI! YOU OUT THERE?!" Steven called out as he ran down the stairs towards the beach to find his friend. As far back as Steven could remember, he and Kai were best friends bordering on being like brothers and the Gems confirmed that with the amount of shenanigans they got up to, that statement was indeed accurate.
Kai held his hand up to show where he was as he sat up and gently let the necklace fall against his chest. "Hey Steven…" He mentioned with a still audibly down tone in his voice. "I'm guessing they're all done in there?"
Steven nodded; "For now at least…But on the bright side, we got the place to ourselves and we get free reign to get what we want for dinner." He said with the hopes that this cheered up his buddy a little, though the lack of excitement shared and his muted response didn't exactly sound like it did much.
"I guess...Gotta play up the playmate role while it lasts." Kai grumbled as he fidgeted with his necklace; "Besides, Amethyst normally eats up most of our food anyway."
Steven sat down next to Kai and gave him a pat on the back; "I know that Pearl and the others aren't that excited to give us a green light on coming with them to do Gem missions…But look at it this way, we can still be helpful by being there to cheer them up when they come back." He said to try reassuring his best friend as they watched the waves.
"Easy for you to say." Kai grumbled as he felt his frustration growl inside of him; "You heard them yourself; You're gonna get your powers sooner or later and when that happens then It's just gonna be me that's left behind." He admitted with a little sadness at the idea, the one consolation he had with being turned down that it wasn't just him that was stuck but if Steven started going with them, that meant that it'd just be him in an empty house.
Steven frowned a little, he felt bad since he knew that Kai did have a point about the whole thing but he also knew his friend wasn't angry at him or the Gems for it. "Well, you don't need to be a Gem to be special…Think about that time that you managed to get Pearl to try one of our ice creams." He pointed out as he recalled the moment clearly.
It had been around the time that Kai was 8 and Steven was 6 when they tried their first ice cream that they bought with allowance from Steven's dad. Though despite not being blood related to Steven or his dad, Kai had been looked after equally by Greg Universe just as much as the Gems did by offering advise and giving him some side work at the car wash, The older boy took to calling the man "Mr. Dad" while Greg was happy that he had the opportunity to help out the kid since there wasn't as much "Gem Stuff" to worry about with him.
"She was just being polite, you know how she is when it comes to food…" Kai mentioned halfheartedly as he then held up the gem on his necklace to watch it glint in the sun; He always found that gazing at the light dancing on the silvery stone seemed to make him feel better whenever Lars decided to pick on him at the Big Doughnut or whenever his bass strings broke and he couldn't afford to repair it.
The silvery stone glimmered in the sunlight and hit his face with a kaleidoscope of bright patches and seemed to make his eyes glimmer in it's reflection while Steven had a lightbulb moment. "Oh! I know, there's one thing that I KNOW you're good at…Remember how we both had a contest about who could hold their breath underwater the longest?"
"Yeah? But that's not exactly a fair game, I'm older so I got the bigger lung capacity outside of the adults and the Gems…" Kai pointed out as he
Steven then held up his finger like he was telling Kai to wait as he rushed up the stairs to the house before coming back down again just as quickly with a small block in his hand. "We can use this."
"A Stopwatch…" Kai asked in confusion; "Okay, I can kinda understand but why though?"
"Simple…We gotta show Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst that you got good lungs…The longer that we can show that you can hold your breath for means that you can go for longer when it comes to swimming, running and just general stamina stuff." Steven explained as he made some basic doodles in the sand to emphasise his point.
"Uh, Steven…I'm not sure that holding my breath really works like that, are you sure this is a good idea?" Kai asked as he was both skeptical of the whole thing and didn't want to get his hopes up but on a deeper level, he did want for it to work that way so he could be useful as more than just a housesitter. With a hesitant sigh, he rushed up to the house and came back down again within a couple of minutes in a white shirt and black swimming shorts; Considering that the last time that he went for a swim was when Lars had caught him and called him a beached dugong so that prompted his patented "Shirt Swimming", after that he wasn't the biggest fan of Lars and certainly took exception to when he was being mean to Steven and him.
"Alright, We'll start the time in 3, 2….GO!" Steven called out as he watched Kai sprint across the sand before diving into the water, the faint glimmer of his necklace flitted across the younger boy's eyes before he sank into the water. "Okay…Now we wait…" Steven remarked as he watched the ripple of water where Kai jumped in balance out. "Still…I hope something like this works out, if we say it right; Garnet might hear us out but Pearl may not since she gets worried that either of us might get hurt." Steven thought to himself but then got up with a start; "I know, maybe I could get something to help cheer Kai up! Maybe Sadie has some Cookie Cats that we can get."
The door jingled as the young Universe ran to the counter panting and looked up at Sadie with a gigantic grin; "Sadie, I need a handful of your Cookie cats stat!" He requested and then reached into his pockets to try and grab some money.
Sadie blinked while climbing off the stepladder to restock the shelves as she got caught off guard by Steven's rather abrupt request, out of the two working there; Sadie was the nicer one and she had plenty of reasons to look forward to Kai and Steven showing up for their "Snack Attacks", mainly because the two boys were at least nicer and sincere enough to be friends with rather than dealing with Lars and his slacking. "Hey Steven, just one sec." She assured him as she folded up the ladder and leaned it in the corner of the store. "No Kai today? You two are normally within yelling distance with each other." She joked as she moved behind the counter.
"Well, the Gems are off on another mission and Kai's doing his own thing right now, so I thought I'd get something to help cheer him up." Steven detailed as he looked around for the normally stacked pink fridge which kept his favourite ice cream sandwiches.
"Cheer him up? Is he doing okay?" Sadie asked with concern as she leaned over the counter; Her and Kai were usually the more subdued types in their pairs and she found him to be her mellow cup of coffee to share vibes with where Steven was her Espresso shot that helped her re-energise from his never-ending good mood.
"Yeah, we tried to join Garnet and everyone for missions but they shot us down again…Kai was pretty bummed about it so I wanted to get him a Cookie Cat to help cheer up my buddy." Steven elaborated, forgetting to mention that said buddy was currently holding his breath under the water.
"When is that guy ever not bummed?" Lars snarked as he came in from out back while carrying an empty pink box. "Seriously, whenever he's outside; That guy's always just "No Gem Mission this" or "My bass string broke that"…Like, just lighten up or something."
Sadie felt her mood drop a little as she heard another one of Lars's opinions about Kai again, it wasn't as long-winded as his opinions about Ronaldo but it was equally undesired to listen to. "Lars, maybe if you actually talked to him nicely then maybe he'd be a little more willing to tolerate you instead of…You know…What you normally do." She suggested with a mixed tone of professional politeness and a friend's protectiveness.
"Yeah, sure…Because he's SO interesting with all the Gem weirdness around him." Lars rolled his eyes as he placed the box on the counter and started wrapping up the electric cable around it.
"Kai is interesting! Plus the Gems aren't weird, they're here to protect us from the monsters." Steven argued about the weirdness but ultimately turned it around to hype them up. "Besides I heard that we might get to go with them eventually if they think we're ready…So I'll take some Cookie Cats to go, my good man."
"Sorry Steven…They stopped selling them around here." Sadie said with an apologetic smile, "But we still got Lion Lickers…You guys like those, don't you?"
Steven looked floored as he heard that the Cookie Cats were being discontinued from one of his favourite places. "They stopped selling?! But how? They're the most amazing ice cream on this side of the boardwalk!"
Lars sighed as he glanced to Sadie with a "Now, look what we have to deal with." stare before deciding to rip off the band-aid. "Steven, you guys were the only ones that bought them consistently…Outside of that, no one bought enough so therefore…" He spelled it out before making a circling gesture with his hand to try prompting Steven to finish it for him, only to see that the boy wasn't catching on. "THEREFORE! The people selling Cookie Cats aren't delivering them here anymore." He groaned as he rested his head on his hand.
"Well…Where else can I get them? I got the money for them." Steven asked innocently as he waved a small wad of notes in his hand from Greg's allowance that he saved up.
"I. Don't. Know….I'm not some magical Ice Cream Psychic…Maybe if you go across town then you can find somewhere….Or, and this is a crazy idea for you; You can start buying the Lion Lickers, they're actually popular and we have a bunch that you can get." Lars suggested as he pointed to the freezer full of the aforementioned snacks. "Plus I know that Chunk likes them so he's an easy mark to offload them." He mentioned with a veiled jab at Kai which earned him a quick elbow jab in the side from Sadie.
Where an average shopper would see your typical lion shaped banana and chocolate ice cream on a popsicle stick, Steven saw a monument of Ice Cream Blasphemy. "Well…Kai does like them…But they're not the same as a Cookie Cat…They don't have the same cosmic yumminess from the strawberry ice cream or the star studded crumbliness of the cookies." Steven grumbled as he felt more down than before; Proving that even though he was aspiring to be a Gem-Fighting Freedom Fighter, he was still a kid at his core.
"Look, I don't know what else to tell you…Either buy a Lion Licker or go across town and get your precious Cookie-Cats." Lars grumbled; "Besides, it saves me the trouble of having to clean out the mini-fridge to store them in." He mentioned as he gestured to the specially designed Cookie-Cat Fridge with the price tags still on the grating.
"I guess…Can I take a Lion Licker and the fridge off your hands? I got money." Steven offered as he placed the money down. "Call it a sentimental purchase."
Sadie shrugged as she figured that out of anything; At least this visit didn't end in Lars getting overly annoyed with Steven again.
Lars on the other hand looked like he was ready to leave. "Alright, alright…Take it, I was about to toss it anyway." He relented as he placed the money in a register and then grabbed a Lion Licker for Steven. "Enjoy." He snarked as he watched Steven leave the shop with a little more kick now that he had a Cookie-Cat Fridge to keep.
Steven decided that time was of the essence as he had both a fridge to plug in and a Lion-Licker to put in the freezer for later, though what he hadn't noticed in his moment of normalcy was that the Stopwatch in his pocket had rolled over into 5 minutes and 38 seconds. "Okay, just gotta get this fridge plugged in and then put this on I-Whoa!" He monologued to himself before yelping out when he saw a green and black centipede monster crawling around on the floor and ready to bite him when a black and purple whip coiled around it to pull it away.
"Gotcha buddy~!" Amethyst said with a grin as she spun the centipede in her whip before smacking it against the wall, "Hey P, try keeping up!" She taunted as she watched Pearl doing a pirouette into a series of quick jabs with her spear.
"Amethyst, take this seriously!" Pearl snapped at her before brightening up when she saw Steven at the door though a little confused at the freezer strapped to his back; "Oh, hi Steven! Where have you been? We didn't see you when we got back from the mission."
"Well, duh! You basically said Steven wasn't ready to come along and that Kai was pretty much a commodity for 'im…Jerk move there, Pearl." Amethyst pointed out as she threw a Centipede out of the window.
"I-" Pearl was about to snap at Amethyst for her comment but sighed and retracted it when she realised that what she wasn't wasn't entirely wrong. "Look, Steven…I know what the three of us told you was a little out of line but we were saying it so that you and Kai can stay safe without us worrying about either of you getting in danger."
"While we know that you have the potential to know what your Gem powers could become and help you to control them…" Garnet explained as she kicked a Centipede across the floor. "We still have to be concerned about Kai, he is still a full human and that changes a lot of things if we take him with us an-Wait…Where is Kai?" She explained but then her attention changed as she noticed that while Steven was here, the supposed best friend was not…And for someone with Future Vision; Unexpected surprises weren't ideal.
"He's probably just cooling off somewhere, you guys did drop the stop sign on him coming along pretty hard." Amethyst mentioned with a shrug and then made a beeline for the fridge.
Steven was about to answer when he saw a familiar speck of pink and white in the freezer; "Cookie Cats!" He cheered as he rushed over to peer inside; "But…But I thought they stopped making those."
"Well, we heard that they did." Pearl explained as she grabbed a Centipede and snapped it's neck; "But we also know that they're both your favourites so we stopped on the way back and-"
"We stole a bunch from the store!" Amethyst snickered as she swallowed a meatball sub from the fridge. "We even grabbed some of those weird Banana lion ice creams for Kai too."
Pearl huffed as she was interrupted before looking to Amethyst; "I went back and paid for them…" She then lightened her mood and smiled to Steven; "Look, I know it's hardly enough to make up for what happened earlier but at the very least, we can make sure that there's no hard feelings."
"I get it and I think Kai does too." Steven nodded as he eyed the Cookie Cat Fridge that he put next to the microwave, "We've been trying to figure out ways that he can be helpful for the Crystal Gems since you guys were gone."
"That's nice, just be careful outside…We've run into a lot of these little Centipeedles so the mother might be around." Pearl remarked as she cleaned up the mess from the surrounding fight.
"Oh! I should warn Kai, he's out on the beach training." Steven realised as he pocketed the Cookie Cat ice cream before running to the door but this time, he wasn't given the option to leave as Garnet grabbed his shirt to stop him and bring him back.
"Steven, what exactly is Kai trying to do?" Garnet asked him sternly as she stood over him; It was obvious that they cared but with the fact that one child was with them and the other was out in who knows where on the Boardwalk, there was a lot to be antsy about with the Centipeedle running around.
"He went to go test how long he can hold his breath." Steven mentioned honestly, feeling nervous with the focused gaze from Garnet, the confused look from Amethyst and the now concerned look of Pearl on him. "By…Diving under the water…."
"How long ago?"
Steven felt his body clam up as he realised that he hadn't been checking but with some optimism that only a short time passed between the Big Donut and the Temple, he pulled the stopwatch out of his pocket. "I've been keeping check on this; it's only been Aaaaaaaa-" Steven's hopeful optimism sank like a stone when he saw the time.
It took less than three seconds for everyone to sprint out of the house to go find their missing fifth or in Garnet's case: Jumping out of the window and making a mad dash for the shoreline.
Amethyst was sprinting with Steven in her arms as she carried him over her head since despite them both having short legs, she could run for longer.
Pearl was still trying to piece everything together as they ran; "How did you come to this conclusion?! Why did you think that a Human's lung capacity would help with our missions as Gems and how did you lose track of time so quickly?!" She squawked with the same level of urgency and horror that Amethyst brought when she left a "Surprise" in her room.
"I'm sorry! I went to go get some snacks to try cheering Kai up when he got back up but then I heard about the Cookie Cats and then everything else happened back at the house." Steven apologised as he kept his eyes glued to the stopwatch but then a crash was heard from the water as Garnet dragged Kai out who was coughing and spluttering water. "KAI!"
"Wha-What's going on?" Kai asked as he was both confused and very, very wet; "Steven? How long was I down there?" He asked groggily but then sobered up when he saw Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet gazing down at him with expressions that varied between worry and confusion. "Oh…That long…Was the mission good?"
"The mission?!" Pearl asked incredulously as she rubbed her Gem with an exasperated expression. "You're coughing up water and who knows what else from down there but you want to question what the mission was like?!"
"You were under the water for 20 minutes, dude! How come you didn't tell us you were able to do that?!" Amethyst followed up as she held up the Stopwatch that read: "22:46"
"Well…Me and Steven tried to tell you but you kept saying that thing about Lung Capacity not being enough to warrant Gem Missions…" Kai explained as he saw the digits; "Still, that's a lot more than I expected."
Pearl was about to correct Kai's grammar out of reflex but then the guilt set in about brushing off Kai's desire to help and decided to try staying quiet this time, thankfully Garnet was able to make her input more eloquently.
"Kai, you were under the water for nearly ten times longer than a normal human can be…When I found you, you weren't even moving." Garnet explained as she looked him over cautiously and peeled off a piece of seaweed from his head.
"I was staying still to make sure I didn't work up a need to take a breath…Though you could've just tapped my shoulder or something, you grabbing me around the waist like that nearly made my heart pop like a balloon." Kai explained as he sat up from Garnet's lap. "Still…Was it really 20 minutes?"
Steven nodded with a look on his face that held some incredible remorse. "I-I'm sorry…I got distracted while trying to get snacks for us and I completely forgot…I should've stayed here and watched in case something happened." He stammered as he felt incredibly guilty that he had been so easy to lose track of things.
"Well…The scare aside, all that matters is that everyone's okay." Pearl mentioned as she kept one eye out for anything around. "Just…Make sure you give us a warning when you try something like this again." She asked Kai as she rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Promise." Kai said with a smile as he climbed up to his feet, the necklace glimmering in the light of the sun as everybody breathed a sigh of relief. "So, what happened on your mission anyway?"
"We found centipede monsters." Amethyst stated rather plainly as she felt a little more relieved that no one was hurt or in danger. "They were all over the place at the house, still couldn't find the one with the gem though."
"Uh…You mean like that one?" Steven asked as he pointed to a giant black and light coloured mass coming towards them.
It was the largest looking Centipeedle skittering around on the sand with a giant green gem-eye inside of it's mouth; It recognised the Gems and it was not happy about sharing it's territory as it let out a shrill hiss of defensive ire before making a mad rush for them.
"Yeah…That's the one." Garnet mentioned as she summoned up her star studded gauntlets to get ready for a fight. "Steven, you and Kai go back to the house." She ordered as Pearl and Amethyst weaponed up.
"But we can-"
"Steven, this time it is not up for discussion. You two, go back to the house now!" Pearl followed it up as she threw her spear at the approaching Centipeedle matriarch.
Both Kai and Steven hesitated at this since it was both of their fault but before the older kid could insist that they go, Steven took the pocketed Cookie Cat from his pocket and chowed down on it with a disregard to their warnings or brainfreeze. "No. I'm gonna stay here and do what I can, it was my fault that we are all out here and I'm gonna do all I can…" Steven swore to himself as he didn't seem to notice that the Gem on his bellybutton was starting to glow with a bright hue.
The other Gems didn't seem o notice as they were preoccupied but Kai certainly did as he heard the sand shift from Steven turning around and running back towards what would be a dangerous fight. "Steven! Now's not the time for…." The older boy was of two minds, the first was that Garnet's warning to him and Pearl's insistence to not interfere were both something he was never to ignore, however at the same time; Steven was the closest thing that he had to family besides Greg and in all honesty wouldn't let him go into a fight alone. "Dang it…I'm coming with you!" He thought to himself before sprinting at full pelt towards Steven and the Centipeedle.
"To make sure that I'm not gonna let you hurt my friends!" Steven finished his cry as he jumped between the three Gems with his arms outstretched and the giant Gem Monster lunged it's acidic mandibles down towards Steven, the look of horror growing on Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl's faces as they saw him jump in front of him.
"STEVEN!" Pearl/Garnet/Amethyst collectively yelled as they were caught by surprise when they not only saw their charge jumping in front of them with his Gem glowing but he also managed to summon up something that they had not expected him to do until he was more experienced.
A pink, rose themed shield quickly formed around Steven and the Gems, causing the Centipede monster to headbutt it with nothing to show except for some cracks to form on it's chitinous head before trying to spray them with it's acid to little effect. "A-A shield?" Steven thought as he kept trying to focus on keeping it up; "I'm doing it! I'm using my Gem Powers!"
"That's awesome Steveo! Whatever you do, don't stop!" Amethyst yelled in encouragement as Pearl and Garnet tried to find a way to deal with the infuriated monster without getting sprayed by it's acid.
"This is too much, we can't get close to it without Steven dropping the shield or getting hit ourselves…But we also can't expect Steven to keep this up forever…" Pearl tried to strategise while Garnet looked like she was equally as focused.
However before Garnet could come up with a plan to work around on with her Future Vision; Kai had ran past them and stepped around the Centipede's lunge to climb onto it's back with a determined look on his face. "Kai!" The largest Gem yelled at Kai before returning to her calm focus; "It's too dangerous for you, get down and away from there!"
"Sorry but I have to say no!" Kai yelled with a strained voice from the Gem's back as he had his arms tightly gripping around the monster's neck since they were too short to fully wrap around. "I can't just sit around and watch everyone fight and get hurt while I end up doing nothing!" He continued as the Gem Monster started struggling harder with him on it's back.
The Gem Monster was thrashing around in a mix of surprise and anger as it's neck was starting to stretch backwards under Kai's surprisingly growing strength until it became taut and it's head pointed to the sky so the acid spray wouldn't hit them.
"Pearl! Garnet! Now's your chance!" Steven yelled as he released the shield to give the two an opening. "When did Kai get that strong?!" He thought to himself as he saw the boy who struggled to lift the TV at the house was now holding a Gem monster around the neck in a bear hug.
With a battle cry and a hefty swing; Pearl launched her spear into the Gem Monster's neck while Garnet swung both giant fists down on it's head, causing the creature to finally disappear in a cloud of green smoke with both Kai and the now inert Gem hitting the sand.
Pearl was the first one over to Bubble the Gem while Amethyst helped up Steven and Kai. "Well, that certainly was a lot easier than I expected it to be."
"It was." Garnet said to her like she was pointing out something and glanced over to Kai then to Steven who were both being hyped up by an excited looking Amethyst, her Future Vision and her current expectations were thrown for a loop when the two boys jumped in. "Did you know Kai or Steven could do that?"
"No…You didn't either?" Pearl asked as she was surprised that Garnet of all people had been caught off guard. "Now I really do feel guilty about what I said to Kai…"
"Regardless…We need to talk to the both of them, Steven's new Gem powers and what Kai has shown demonstrates that this changes everything." Garnet stated seriously as the two headed over to the trio and reconvene.
Needless to say, Beach City was about to get a whole lot weirder.