A/N: This story takes place after Shirt Club and before Love Letters.
Chapter 1: Attack Of The Sand Shark Gem
"Take that!" Steven yelled as he punched a holographic three eyed green scaled monster in the chest. The hologram then showed an explosion of dust.
"So, how was that for this first combat -" Steven sighed, "test, Pearl?" The half human asked Pearl with eyebrows raised.
"You did wonderful Steven!" Pearl applauded.
The two of them were on Pearl's Arena where Pearl had assigned Steven to go to for his previously mentioned combat test. The arena looked the same from last time we saw it (Steven The Sword Fighter) but this time, there were two geysers of water spewing on the east and west side of the cloud top stadium. They were there because of an overflow of two geysers in Pearl's Room.
"Now, let's get back to the temple before Garnet finishes dinner." Pearl said to Steven.
"Okey dokey artichokey!" Steven replied, giving Pearl a thumbs-up while sticking his tongue out.
The gems turned to leave when Steven saw a sand shark like fish that was dark blue that was swimming up the east water geyser. It had clear tubes coming from all the corners of its mouth and its fins were luminescent light green. But the most interesting thing about it was the corrupted gem on its forehead.
"Hey Pearl, do you have a monster buddy like me?" Steven asked.
"No." Pearl replied after an awkward silence.
"Then did you know about the corrupted gem in here?" Steven asked.
"No!" Pearl screamed.
She frantically summoned her spear from her gem on her forehead.
"Where did you see it Steven?" Pearl triumphantly asked the boy.
"It's in the east geyser!" Steven pointed towards the geyser.
Pearl quickly sprinted towards it, weapon in hand; Steven was at the rear. The Crystal Gem swiftly jumped into the air when she was closest to the geyser. She sliced down with her spear. The fish quickly retaliated and shot some white liquid from the tubes. Steven, thinking that the liquid was poison, ran towards Pearl.
"Pearl, no!" Steven shouted in despair and jumped belly-first towards the two fighters.
Steven closed his eyes and his bubble shield turned on. Did he save Pearl? Did he make the fish bounce off his shield and made it fall into the abyss? Steven opened his eyes. Pearl wasn't in the bubble. He looked at the geyser and saw the corrupted gem cowardly retreating down the water. He looked towards where Pearl had been and couldn't believe his eyes at what he saw.
End Of Chapter