Portal Etiquette

When a small town becomes known for constant monster attacks one of two things could happen. It will either blow up in popularity amongst tourists, or will become infamous for hoaxes. Beach City seems to suffer from the latter. Despite the name, the town is rather small, to the point where most of its citizens know each other by first and last name. It's rather isolated in terms of geography and doesn't get many visitors, which is rather sad considering the tranquil and laidback atmosphere of the place. White sandy beaches, luscious flora, streets full of family businesses. Not to mention the bizarre, and practically alien architecture that dots the coast, right up to the giant arm shaped rock with a washer and dryer sitting on it.

And the actual aliens.

Or more specifically, the Crystal Gems. Three alien warriors who protect Beach City from extraterrestrial threats. Nobody knows much about them, they aren't the most social group. But every once in a while you'll see them around town, doing whatever like any other citizen. And more often than not, you'll see their young and friendly companion Steven Universe.

"Um, let's see." Steven looked back and forth through the window of a clothing store. "Which one would look better?" Steven was a short, hammy kid with curly black hair. You could usually pick him out of a crowd by his signature red shirt with a star in the middle. "Puma shirt, or panther shirt? What do you think Connie?"

Next to Steven was his friend Connie, a young girl with brown skin and long brown hair, and wearing a light blue sundress. "Aren't panthers and pumas the same thing?" She asked, unsure about the dilemma.

"What? Since when? No I'm sure they're different." Steven shook his head. "Plus that doesn't help me pick. One has the puma jumping out of the shirt, see?"

"Well yeah."

"And the other one has a panther looking all cool, like 'Yeah I could jump at you, but I don't feel like it.' See?" Steven said, crossing his arms into a cool guy pose

Connie laughed. "You got all of that from looking at a shirt?"

"Of course. When you pick out clothes, you have to know what it says about you." Steven lifted his finger as if giving a lecture. "Pearl say that clothes decide how people see us, and that we should dress according to how we want people to react."

Connie put a finger to her chin. "That sounds about right. Pearl is pretty smart. That sounds like something my mom would say."

"Yep. So~," Steven turned back to the window. "Puma shirt or panther shirt."

"Hm. Now it's even harder to pick." Connie said frowning. "What if you-"

KA-BOOM

The two preteens jumped in surprise, as the explosive noise echoed through the streets. Looking around frantically, they saw a trail of smoke rising from the center of the road about a hundred yards away. For a moment, car alarms were the only sounds that could be heard over the entire city block, as everyone had stopped mid task to make sure there was no danger.

"Was that…a meteor?" Connie asked, her heart still pounding from the sudden explosion. "Or another Gem thing?"

Steven shook his head. "I don't know. Let's go see." He said pulling her along by the arm. To most people, this would seem a bit foolish. Why walk towards a crash? It could be dangerous, and it would make more sense to call the authorities. But Steven was more adjusted to this kind of thing than he probably should have been. As they reached the crater, Steven noticed something strange about the object inside.

"I don't think this is a Gem thing." He said waving some of the smoke out of his eyes. Below them was some sort of machine. While it was dented, burned, and broken in some places, he could tell it was roughly humanoid in shape. It had traces of black and silver mixed with its color scheme, and had an oddly shaped head that reminded Steven of samurai armor. It seemed to be, for lack of better words, a big armored robot.

"Whoa! Look up there!" Connie said pointing at the sky above the crash. Steven's head jerked to the direction she was pointing, and his eyes widened at what seemed to be a pinwheel shaped portal. Now, Steven had seen portals before, plenty of times. He'd even helped in opening a few. But they didn't usually appear out of reach and drop robots out like acorns. But before he could say anything the portal began to glow brighter and spin faster, making the air around them blow a bit harder.

"Connie, we should step back." Steven said grabbing her hand. But just as he was about to turn and run.

SHOOMP SHOOMP

Two figures leapt from the portal and crashed onto the street not fifty feet behind them. Steven and Connie turned to face them, and the shock continued. "They're just like the first one." Steven said. Then his eyes lit up like stars. "Whoa. They are like robot samurai!"

"Yeah…I guess I can see it" Connie said scratching her head. While she did tend to be more cautious than Steven, she wasn't quite sure what they were looking at either. "But what are they?" She asked looking to him for answers.

"I don't know." The robots began looking around as if they were confused. "Like I said, I don't think they're Gem related."

"What makes you say that?" The robots not began to pace around, looking through windows and down allied. "What else could they be?"

"I don't think I've ever seen anything like them before." Steven pounded his fist into his hand. "I know, let's just ask them."

"Wait Steven-"

"Hey!" He waved wildly. "Hey robot guys! Welcome to Beach City."

The two Machines stopped suddenly, and turned directly at the two pre-teens. They stood completely still, and their lack of eyes or any real facial features sent a chill down Connie's spine. "Steven we shouldn't."

"I'm Steven!" He yelled. "Steven Universe, and this is my friend Connie! Your friend is over here, I think he needs repairs or something!" Steven continued to smile all the while, until the two strangers pointed their arms at him.

"Target located!" Their hands morphed into cannons. "Beginning elimination process!"

"Uh oh." Steven said, as his face dropped into a frightened frown. "Bad idea." Immediately the two robots unloaded a barrage of laser fire directly at him. Steven held out his hands, causing his body to glow pink, and was able to summon a pink energy bubble around both him and Connie just as the attack was about to hit. "Oh man, they didn't even say who they were."

"Well they are robots," Connie said, watching the creatures walk closer without letting up on their laser fire. "Maybe they don't have names. What should we do now?"

Steven's face hardened. "We gotta fight them somehow. They could seriously hurt somebody." He put a hand to his chin. "I really wish the Gems were here right now."

SHOOMP!

Just then another figure jumped out of the portal and crashed onto the pavement. This one, however, was different. He was just as tall as the robots, about 12 feet, but had a turquoise-green crystal body, with a head that ended in a point, and massive arms. He wore some kind of black body suit, with green highlights. As he turned, the robots ceased their fire and turned to look at him.

"Thought I forgot about you huh?" He said in a deep, but more human sounding voice. "Sorry to say, but you two are the last ones. You ready to finish this?" The crystal creature pounded his fist into his hand.

"Mission interrupted. Designating priorities. Destroy Ben Tennyson."

"Good luck with that." Ben mocked as he sized up his last two Techadons for the day. "Low quality tech like yours is no match for Diamondhead." He said, turning his right arm into a mass of crystal shards. "See-yah." Diamondhead fired of crystals like a machine gun, embedding them into the chest of the closest robot.

Although it wasn't out yet. It reeled back its fist and charged at Diamondhead, in a sad attempted to break through his super durable body. He merely stuck out his left arm and grew it into a broad shield, letting the robot smash its own hand to pieces, before upper cutting it straight into the air. It fell with a loud crash behind its counterpart, which grew missile launchers from its arms and shoulders. Just as it was preparing to-

"Nope." Diamondhead flung a handful of sharpened projectiles at the robot, hitting the weapons of its left arm dead on causing a chunk of its left half to explode, and launching it backwards though a brick wall. Diamondhead winced. "Yep. There's the collateral." Just then he felt a blast of energy hit him of the side of the head. The other techadon had shot him from the ground. "And then there's this guy." He muttered.

He pressed his fingers together and molded his hand into a sharp blade. "Gotta finish these things before they regenerate." He ran up to the fallen android, even as it was firing and leapt up over its body before crashing down blade first into its chest. The android twitched and sputtered before dozens of crystal spikes jutted from its body, riddling it with holes. Diamondhead then ripped his hand out, now back to normal, and stood to face the other machine as it limped out of the wrecked building.

The techadon slowly raised its right hand to fire what was left of its missiles, "Target must be eliminated!" *tink* The techadon looked down to see a small diamond shard embedded in its missile launched. "DANGER!" It yelled just before its right side exploded, and launched it through the brick wall on the other side of the street.

"Hm." Diamondhead dusted his hands together. "That takes care of that. And only two wrecked buildings. That's a new record."

"Who is that!?" Steven and Connie asked at the same time. Connie turned and gave Steven a quizzical look. "You don't know?" She asked. "Isn't that guy a Gem?"

"I don't know but he's awesome." Steven dispersed the bubble he'd created and began running toward the crystal man. "Hey. How'd you do that stuff?" This caused the strange creature to turn and look at Steven and, unlike the robots, he waved.

"Yo. You guys alright over there?" He asked, and started to walk towards them. Connie wasn't quite sure what to think. On the one hand, she had no idea if this guy was an enemy or not, not that she could do much about it without her sword. On the other hand, he did save them, and he was made of stone. Maybe he was from the Gem Home World? As she was thinking this, she almost failed to notice the rustling sound coming from the crater. "Hey kid, behind you!" Just as she turned her head, the cannon was already being pointed.

"T-t-target loc-c-c-cated." The robot stuttered as the cannon charged. Something seemed to be wrong however, as the androids body was sparking and quivering. The arm that held the cannon glowed red, as if overheating. "D-d-d—destruction eminent. Initiating self-destruct." No sooner had it said this did its whole body glow red with heat.

"STEVEN!" She screamed, subconsciously crossing her arms in front of her body, just before the explosion tore apart the street.

It took Steven a moment to register what just happened, and when he finally did he felt his breath get caught in his throat. He'd instinctively summoned his bubble again, so he knew he was fine. But looking back where he came from all he could see was dust and smoke. "C-Connie?" He pressed his hands against the wall of the bubble, popping it. "Connie!" He ran towards the wall of smoke, everything he'd been doing completely forgotten. He didn't even hear the stomping of stone feet pacing behind him as he waved his arms to push away the black clouds. Steven didn't really think about what he'd find in the smoke, but as soon as he felt a great shadow pass over him his attention shifted. The crystal man from before was standing next to him, looking around as well. While he'd been excited before, now he wasn't sure what to think.

"Whew." Muttered Diamondhead. "Thought I might not have made it for a second." He said holding out his hand to a small pyramid of crystals that Steven hadn't noticed before. As he did, the walls of the pyramid began to recede into the ground, slowly reveling the small girl curled up inside with her hands over her head.

"Connie!" Steven beamed. "You're okay!" Connie's head shot up as she looked around, as if surprised by this.

"I am?" She looked down at herself.

"Looks like it." Diamondhead said, drawing their attention back to himself. "Sorry about the explosion. I didn't even notice that last one was still active." His hand went to the back of his head. "That was my bad. I'm trying to work on that."

"Oh it's no trouble." Connie said as politely as she could. "It's the robot's fault, you saved me." She stood up and bowed. "Thanks for that."

"Yeah." Steven said standing next to Connie. "Thank you for saving my friend."

Whatever Diamondhead had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. His eyes widened a little bit at how relaxed they seemed to be after being so close to death, but then he remembered something.

"Well it's all in a day's work for a superhero." He smirked while crossing his arms. "I'm just glad you guys are all right. Quick question though. How did you-"

"You're a super hero!?" Steven shouted with stars in his eye, bouncing up and down. "For real? Like a real one?" Next to Steven Connie was smiling a bit harder too, but she was able to contain herself a bit better.

"Well yeah I'm-"

"Are you an alien? A Mutant? A Cyborg?"

"Alien. But more impor-"

"What planet are you from? Is it Mars? Are you the last of your kind?"

"Well I'm from another dimension but-"

"Are you really made of stone or is that a special space suit?"

"It's crystal actually and-"

"Like a Crystal Gem? Are you a Crystal Gem?" Suddenly Steven drew back and gasped. "Are you from Home World!?"

"Slow down!" Diamondhead raised his hands. "I'm a C student I can't answer questions that fast." He sighed. "Let's just start from the beginning and introduce ourselves."

"Great idea." Steven pumped his fist. "My name is Steven Universe." He pointed his thumb at himself. "And this is my friend Connie Maheswaran." Directing both hands at Connie as she waved. "Hi."

"You're last name is Universe? Like for real?" Diamondhead asked, scratching his chin.

"Yep."

"Cool. Nice to meet you both. My name is Ben." He held out his hand. "Ben Tennyson."

"Nice to meet you Ben." Steven said, not even hesitating to shake the giant hand.

"You're last name is Tennyson?" Connie asked. "Like Lord Alfred Tennyson?"

Both Ben and Steven paused and stared at Connie. "Um, I have no idea who that is but, yeah that's my name."

"How does an alien end up with a human name?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

"Well I wasn't born an alien. I just turn into them a lot. Like I call this one Diamondhead." He said before hitting a symbol on his belt. There was a flash of green light, bright enough where Steven and Connie had to squint. As it died down, the giant that had been standing there was replaced by a brown haired teenaged boy, with green eyes. He wore a black t-shirt with green stripes, like Diamondhead's suit, and brown pants. He also had a high-tech looking white watch on his left wrist. "This," He said gesturing to himself. "is what I actually look like."

"Whoa." Was all they could say.

Meanwhile, far up the coast.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!" A massive, white, serpentine beast tore its way through a wall of trees, snapping and biting at a tall red skinned woman with a cube shaped afro. The snake beast shot its arrow shaped head forward like a spring loaded rocket, trying to pierce the woman.

Undaunted, she summoned a pair of thick red gauntlets and pulled back her fist to strike the creature when it suddenly made a sharp 90 degree turn and shot back into the trees. Just before it pierced through a patch of bushes a short purple woman with long lavender hair leapt into the air and flipped onto its back.

"Check it out guys! I caught me a big'n." She shouted before pulling a large whip from the center of her chest and whipping it around the beast's neck. "Ha! Fishing joke."

"It's clearly not a fish Amethyst." Said another, more stern sounding voice. The serpent once again made a sharp turn in the direction of the voice, when a spear bounced off of its edged snout.

"Uh yeah, I know, it's just a joke." Amethyst said as she kicked off the side of the creature and yanked on her whip, pulling it head straight towards her. Before it hit, her entire arm grew about ten times its normal size and she let lose a punch that launched it several meters away. "Kind of like your last attack Pearl."

"Oh very funny." Pearl said jumping from her hiding spot in the trees, summoning another spear from the gem on her forehead. Pearl was a slim, pale skinned woman with peach colored hair.

"I know. That was also a joke." Amethyst stomped her foot. "Not that you would know."

"If this conversation has proven anything is that I know exactly when-"

"FOCUS!" A third voice cried out. Pear and Amethyst turned to see the red skinned woman from before launching her gauntlets like rockets straight between them and right into the face of the serpent, launching it back before it could strike at them. "This one is fast, don't take your eyes off it for a second."

"Got it!" Amethyst said dissolving her whip and holding out her fists.

"Sorry Garnet." Pearl said twirling her spear and dropping into a fighting stance.

Garnet summoned her gauntlets back and held them up like a boxer.

The creature stood itself up, wound up like an odd rectangular snake. Its arrow shaped head gleamed like a sword in the sunlight that shone through the trees. On its fore head was a round, cracked, red gem.

Just as the Crystal Gems charged in to strike, and right before they could land a hit, the creature vanished in a shimmer of red light, causing the three warriors to smash the ground where it once stood.

"Um," Amethyst looked around. "What just happened?"

"It just disappeared." Pear said. "Was that speed? Or some kind of teleportation?"

"It's gone." Garnet said, her expression was unreadable behind her thick reflective glasses. "I can't sense it anywhere."

Amethyst raised her hand. "Can't you just find it with your-"

"It's gone." She said once again, dismissing her gauntlets and walking away. "We'll deal with it later."

Pearl raised an eyebrow. "Is that really the best-"

"Later." Garnet was already meters away and didn't even bother to look back.

Pearl and Amethyst gave each other worried looks. "Do you think that-"

"Something's up with Garnet?" Amethyst finished. They both looked at the tall woman in the distance. "Probably. You gonna ask?"

"Of course not. She'll tell us when she's ready."

"You mean you're gonna tell Steven and wait for him to ask?" Amethyst said with a mischievous smile.

"What!?" Pearl looked away. "No! I would never!"

"Well I'm gonna!" With that she shot off after Garnet.

"Amethyst! Amethyst you can't-Hey wait up!" Pearl groaned chasing after her childish teammate. As she ran, she looked back once more at the spot where the creature sat. She didn't know why, but something about it really unsettled her.

A/N: There weren't many crossovers in this section. So I made one.