Chapter 1: Teaching Steven

Beach Citywalk Fries:

Steven and Amethyst walked down to the boardwalk to get some fry-bits. "Hey Fryman!" called the enthusiastic boy as he approached the shop. "Oh hey, Steven! What brings you and Amethyst here?" the man with the french fry haircut spoke.

"Give us the bits!"

"Are you sure, because I could just give you regular-"

"Hey! Just give us the bits..." Amethyst cut him off, dropping her fists onto the counter.

"Okay, okay...take it easy on the counter." Fryman walked over to the fryer and dropped in the bits, after they were done, he poured them into a bag and handed it to the two gems. Steven put his money on the counter and snatched up the bag, "Thanks! See you later!" he said as he walked away.

The gems shared the snack with delight, the younger gem started a conversation as they neared the temple.

"So, where's Garnet and Pearl?" he asked with his mouth full.

"Oh they're on some big, extremely dangerous mission at an old crystal catacomb... Pearl said that they needed to retrieve an artifact that will restore the statue on the temple and make it look brand new. They'll be gone for a few days." Amethyst stuffed a handful of fry bits into her mouth.

"Whoa, really? Wait, if it's so dangerous why didn't you go with them?"

"Garnet told me to stay here and keep an eye on you. She also said that if any big creature attacks them, Spessartite would be there to take it down." She explained, Amethyst and Steven were now on the beach in front of the temple.

"Spessartite? Oh my gosh, is that another gem fusion?" Steven's eyes turned into stars. "Yea, and I must say it actually is one of Pearl's best fusions. The weapon is really cool too, it's a giant gladiator battle stick!" unswallowed food could be seen in her mouth as she talked.

"Aw man, that would've been so awesome to see in person! I wish I knew how to use my gem, then I'd be able to fuse with you guys..." Steven looked down at the sand sadly.

Amethyst frowned and put her hand on his shoulder, "Okay, I hate seeing you like this...I know how you activate your gem."

"What, Really?" the dark haired boy looked up at the violet skinned gem, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Yeah...Before Rose gave up her physical form she told us all.. and you know, Pearl wanted to keep it a secret until you were old enough and just teach you how to be careful and aware on missions. Garnet didn't really want to do that though, she wanted you to find out how to use you gem in your own way, and then you know there's me: the blabbermouth that's gonna help you become a true Crystal Gem."

Steven couldn't believe his ears, all this time the gems knew how he could activate his gem and they never told him. But it was all in good spirits, they were just trying to keep him safe. "Oh...I understand...So, how exactly do I activate it?" he was desperate now and wanted to know.

"You have to have the desire to protect the things that you love." Amethyst told him slowly, wondering if she should've just waited to tell him when he was older.

"Oh! That makes sense! Because a couple months ago when I met Connie, my gem activated when I saved her. We were trapped in a bubble for the rest of the day and-"

"Ha! I knew it, you like her!" The violet gem playfully grabbed his face and pinched his cheeks.

"Amethyst..." He blushed with embarrassment.

"Heh, sorry. Okay back to your gem, you need to have the desire to protect the things you love. Give it a try.." She giggled, Steven lifted up his shirt and looked at his gem. "Um...okay.."

He closed his eyes and concentrated on protecting his friends, his gem began to produce a dim glow and then faded away. "Dang it!"

"It's okay, what did you think about?" Amethyst tilted her head. "Protecting my friends..." the young gem answered.

"No, no...you have to go deeper than that...OH! Think about protecting Rose and Greg!"

Steven nodded and concentrated again, this time he imagined saving his parents from an evil gem monster, his gem was now glowing brighter than ever, and soon enough he'd summoned his shield. "I..I did it! Thank you Amethyst, thank you so much I owe you one!" He hugged her tightly with his shield in one hand.

"No problem, buddy." She patted his back.

Suddenly, the earth began to shake, causing the two gems to lose their balance and fall. They looked up just as a humongous centipeetle came up from underground and onto the beach, screeching loudly. Steven summoned his shield again and threw it at the monster.

"No Steven, wait!" Amethyst yelled, but it was too late, the shield had already been thrown and made its course to hit the centipeetle. The shield hit one of the gems on the beast's back and shattered.

"My weapon!" the violet gem yanked him out the way of a stream of acid that was shot at him. "Steven that's the father centipeetle, it's ten times tougher than the mother." she explained, lights flashed in the temple, Pearl and Garnet had Warped back.

They ran outside and began their battle against the monster, "Sorry guys, this centipeetle stole the artifact back from us and Spessartite wasn't strong enough to defeat it..." Pearl explained as she summoned her spear.

Garnet was trying to release a circular item from it's claw-tail, but was flung back into a pile of boulders on the other side of the beach. "Amethyst take Steven to safety!" the pale gem ordered.

"Okay!" she scooped him up and took him to the boardwalk, "No, Amethyst I can help!" the young gem yelled, kicking his legs in the air. The fun-loving gem put him down, "I know, that's why you're gonna fuse with me."

"Wait, What? But I don't know how! And I thought Pearl said it was a difficult task to learn." he frowned, raising an eyebrow. "No, actually it really isn't, that's just Pearl trying to keep you from getting hurt. Now, fusing is just as simple as summoning your weapon, the only difference is that you need to be synchronize your dance moves with mine and channel all of your love into your gem. Got it?" Amethyst stared at him expectantly.

"Yeah, I got this..." he said shakily, the violet gem smiled and took a few steps back and got ready.

"Are you ready?"

Steven nodded.

"GO!" And they started, both of their gems began glowing and they started dancing. Amethyst started break dancing, Steven found his rhythm and began to synchronize he did the stanky-leg and incorporated the robot and the sprinkler.

When they got close enough to each other, Amethyst did a flip and landed on Steven's shoulders. They successfully fused into a big male gem, he had four arms, long, curly, dark magenta hair and wore a pink/purple shirt with star cut holes in the stomach and chest area, exposing two rubellites. He also had a magenta skin color and torn light purple pants and flip flops, the gem had Amethyst's facial features and Steven's heavy build. This gem was a bit shorter than Sugilite, but was still huge.

"I'm Rubellite!" his deep voice rumbled, as he thundered over to where Garnet and Pearl were fighting helplessly against the centipeetle father. "Hey acid-breath!" Rubellite called, the two smaller gems froze froze when they saw the ginormous gem.

"Leave them alone!" Rubellite summoned his weapon: a modified top consisting of Steven's shield as the top, and Amethyst's whip as the launching rope.

"What is that?!" Pearl didn't know what was going on, Garnet however, knew exactly what it was, "It's Steven and Amethyst!"

"WHAT?!"

Rubellite aimed and shot his weapon and hit the centipeetle in the head, it exploded, only leaving it's gem behind. Garnet bubbled it and the ejected the gem, Pearl picked up the special artifact and then glanced up and the gem. "Steven...Amethyst...seperate, now."

Rubellite sighed, and soon enough, he started to shrink. Then there was a loud pop, Amethyst landed on her butt on the sand, but Steven went flying in the opposite direction. "I got him.." Garnet said casually as she caught him while she made her way to the group.

The violet gem stood up and dusted herself off, Pearl instantly began to chew her out, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS! He could've gotten killed! I'm sick and tired of your stunts, Amethyst!" As this went on, Garnet looked down at Steven, he looked away, not wanting to meet her gaze. "I know what you're going to say, you're disappointed that I would do something really dangerous like that and-"

"Actually I was going to say good job..."

"Seriously?"

"You have more power than you know, Steven...maybe even more than me." she placed her hand on his shoulder.

The boy lifted up his shirt and peered at his gem.

"I'm guessing that Amethyst told you how to use you gem, and I'm glad she did, otherwise we may not have been here right now.." the dark red gem looked over at the other two who were arguing.

Steven just stared at his gem, Garnet's words were on loop in his head: You have more power than you know, Steven...maybe even more than me.

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of this story! More will come sooner or later, which ever comes first...XD Post a good review and follow and favorite!