"What? Why not?" Steven asked over the phone. He was talking to his best friend Connie.
"Steven, I told you I can't hang out today. I have tennis practice," Connie said into the phone. "And then Mom wants to go out for a family dinner."
Steven slumped on the couch. He was disappointed that Connie couldn't hang out and that she was so busy all the time.
"But I can come over tomorrow," Connie said. "I just gotta help my cousin train a little first."
"Train for what?" Steven asked.
"He has a big karate tournament coming up," Connie said. "He just asked me if I could help him a little."
"What's karate?" Steven asked.
"It's like this sport where you learn to fight. But they mostly only teach for self-defense," Connie laughed.
"Do you like guys that can do karate?" Steven asked.
"Well, I guess there okay," Connie said. "I don't really know many of them though."
"Could I possibly tag along with you two tomorrow?" Steven asked.
"Uh, sure. I don't see why not," Connie said.
"Okay, see you tomorrow, Connie," Steven said and hung up.
At that moment, Amethyst came out from her room in the temple.
"'Sup dude," Amethyst said.
"Hey Amethyst," Steven said. "Do you have any idea how to make me really good at karate by tomorrow morning?"
"Uh, it's like this sport on self-defense," Steven said.
"So you fight?" Amethyst asked.
"Uh, I guess," Steven said.
"Yep. I've got just the thing to help you," Amethyst said.
"Really?" Steven asked.
"Yeah. Follow me," Amethyst said as she opened the temple door.
Steven and Amethyst walked into Amethyst's room. As soon as they did, Amethyst started to jump into some piles of junk.
"Come on, come on," Amethyst said as she ransacked her room. "I know it's in here somewhere."
"What?" Steven asked.
"Oh wait," Amethyst said. "Here it is."
Amethyst reached down into one of the piles of junk and pulled something out. It looked like a simple necklace. It was a small, silver chain that connected to two pieces of metal that wrapped around an orange gem with a little crack on it.
"Wow. What is it?" Steven asked as Amethyst climbed down the pile of junk.
"It's an amulet, dude," Amethyst said once she was back on the floor. "We found it at the Galaxy Warp. Whoever wears it should have ten times more strength than before."
"Woah. Really?" Steven asked.
"Yep," Amethyst replied. "Oh, and there's another quirk about it. It can show you holograms from the past."
"What?" Steven asked.
"Yeah. I'll show you," Amethyst said. She put the amulet around her neck.
"Okay," Amethyst said. "Show me the Galaxy Warp."
Amethyst and Steven stood there and waited for a minute. Nothing happened.
"Okay," Amethyst said. "Maybe it's having trouble with the holograms, but maybe it can still make me stronger."
Amethyst looked up and saw a refrigerator on top of one of her piles.
"Steven," Amethyst said. "You see that fridge?"
"Yeah," Steven said looking up.
"Push it off the edge and make it fall on me," Amethyst said.
"What?" Steven asked.
"Don't worry, dude," Amethyst said. "The amulet will make me strong enough to stop it."
"Okay," Steven said. He climbed up to the top of the pile and looked down at Amethyst.
"Go ahead, dude," Amethyst said.
"Okay. Heads up," Steven said as he pushed the fridge off the edge.
The fridge landed on Amethyst with a thud.
"Amethyst!" Steven exclaimed as he climbed down the pile of junk.
"Are you okay?" Steven asked once he was standing in front of the fridge.
The fridge door opened to show Amethyst standing inside.
"Okay," Amethyst said. "It is in pretty rough shape. I guess it's broken, dude." Amethyst handed the amulet to Steven.
Steven put it around his neck and looked into a mirror that was conveniently right next to him.
"It doesn't seem broken to me," Steven with a smile.
"Sorry I couldn't help you, Steven," Amethyst said.
"It's cool," Steven said. With that said, Steven left Amethyst's room and went back into his.
Steven walked out of his house and headed for town. While heading out, Steven started to dance around and have some fun with his walk. He suddenly bumped into table outside The Big Donut.
"Watch where you're going you little..." Lars stopped himself from saying his intended word. "...Steven," he finished.
"Sorry, Lars," Steven said. "What ya guys doin'?"
"We're just setting up extra seating for the summer rush," Sadie said.
"Oh yeah!" Steven said. "Summer time!"
"If you like to walk in dumb ways, why don't you just moonwalk all through town?" Lars said.
"Okay," Steven said. "That's a challenge I'm willing to take."
Steven began to moonwalk away from The Big Donut.
"Alright. I got this. I got this," Steven sang to himself as he continued to moonwalk.
A truck was suddenly headed straight for Steven.
A small, orange hologram suddenly appeared in front of Steven. "Watch where you're going!" the hologram said replaying the scene with Lars that had recently occurred.
"No!" Steven exclaimed once he saw the truck headed for him.
The truck stopped just inches from Steven.
"Car wash kid, what are you doing?" Mayor Dewy asked through a megaphone from the truck.
"I don't know," Steven said. "What are you doing driving down the boardwalk?"
"I'm the mayor. I'm not gonna walk anywhere," Mayor Dewy said. "Now go get run over somewhere else. I'm late for a very important speech."
The truck drove off chanting "Mayor Dewy, Mayor Dewy."
"What just happened?" Steven asked. He looked down at the amulet and saw the gem start to glow again. Another hologram appeared, but this time it showed Steven laughing.
"You work!" Steven happily exclaimed. "This is so cool! What's it like being an amulet?"
The amulet glowed again. "You work!" the amulet replied.
"So you can repeat stuff?" Steven asked.
"Yeah!" the amulet said showing another hologram.
"Hello, Beach City, my friends!" Mayor Dewy said over his megaphone. He was standing on top of his van and giving a speech on the beach. "It's great to be here to celebrate the coming season. A warm summer breeze wafts through the air."
Steven inhaled deeply and blew a raspberry. Some people in the crowd chuckled.
"We all look forward to the sounds of the summer season..." Mayor Dewy continued.
The amulet made a hologram and repeated the raspberry sound.
"...the smells of the busy boardwalk..."
Another raspberry.
"...the hot, wet ocean wind..."
Another raspberry.
"...the time to take that pressure that's built up all year and just let it out."
Another raspberry. The whole crowd laughed.
"Wow. You picked that up fast," Steven said looking at the amulet.
Steven continued to hang out with his mysterious new friend all day.
It was now sundown, and Steven was talking with the amulet on the beach.
The amulet showed the hologram of the raspberry again.
"You got a lot of mileage out of that joke," Steven laughed. "You're pretty funny for an amulet."
"You're pretty funny for an amulet," the amulet repeated.
"I'm not an amulet," Steven chuckled.
"You're pretty funny for a - Steven!" the amulet said combining two holograms from before.
"You made something new!" Steven exclaimed. "Say something else!"
"Steven - is - a new friend," the amulet said piecing different holograms together again.
"Really?" Steven asked with a little blush.
"Yeah!" the amulet responded.
"You're my friend too!" Steven exclaimed.
The amulet played a hologram of Steven laughing over and over.
"I've got to go tell the gems!" Steven exclaimed.
"Noooo!" the amulet suddenly exclaimed.
"Don't be shy, they'll love you," Steven said.
"Noooo!" the amulet yelled so loud that this time Steven heard the word echo and felt the amulet vibrate.
"Don't worry, they're a good audience," Steven said and rushed back to the temple.
"Guys! Wait 'till you see..." Steven said as he opened the door.
"Yo! Ste-man!" Amethyst said.
"Hello, Steven," Pearl said.
"Howdy. Bang," Garnet said.
"I fixed the amulet," Steven said pointing at the amulet around his neck.
"Oh, excellent work Steven," Pearl said after getting a good look at it. "I thought that thing would never work again."
"You didn't tell me it's like a person," Steven said.
A look of shock passed over all the gems' faces.
"Wait. What?" Pearl asked.
"Say 'hey.'" Steven said holding out the amulet. "Lil' buddy."
Nothing happened. The gems were frozen in place worried about what would happen.
"Uh," Steven said looking down at the amulet. "Excuse us."
Steven took off the amulet and turned around.
"Come on," Steven said looking at the amulet. "You want to come out, don't you? You have so much to say and funny noises to share from across the ages. Are we not buddies?"
The amulet showed a hologram of Steven blowing a raspberry.
"Just couldn't help yourself, huh?" Steven laughed.
"Just for - you - Steven!" the amulet responded. It repeatedly laughed over and over.
"It's talking to him?" Pearl asked. "It shouldn't be able to do that. I-it should only be following orders..."
"Garnet, do something," Amethyst said.
"Steven," Garnet said walking towards him.
The amulet's laughter ceased and cried, "Noooo!"
Steven turned his head to look at Garnet.
"You should just give us back the amulet," Garnet said kneeling in front of Steven. "It'll be safer where we can watch it."
"Yeah, let's bubble it!" Amethyst said.
"Noooo!" the amulet yelled.
"Wha..." Steven asked looking at the amulet.
"Steven. Don't make me have to take it from you," Garnet said.
"It doesn't want to go with you," Steven said. "Don't you hear it screaming?"
"Steven, it's just an amulet, a tool," Garnet said. "It can't want anything."
Garnet started to reach forward for the amulet.
The amulet continued to scream "Noooo!" over and over.
Steven looked at the terrified face in the hologram and growled.
"It wants to be with me!" Steven exclaimed slapping Garnet's hand away which resulted in it hitting her face and knocking her glasses off.
Amethyst gasped in shocked surprise. Garnet looked at Steven with burning rage in her eyes.
"Ahh! I'm sorry!" Steven exclaimed running out of the house.
Garnet put her glasses back on and clenched her fists. "That little boy is in big trouble," she said.
"Garnet, wait!" Pearl exclaimed. "I'm sure he didn't understand what he was doing!"
The gems ran out of the beach house. "Fan out," Garnet said.
Steven breathed heavily as he ran and hid behind a rock. "What am I gonna do?" he asked the amulet. "What's the problem with you?"
The amulet began to hum. "Are you trying to say something?" Steven asked.
Another hologram appeared, but it was slightly disordered. "Away from home - Let - Me - Out!" the amulet cried.
"I don't understand!" Steven exclaimed.
"Steven!" Pearl yelled in the distance.
"Come on!" Steven exclaimed. "I want to help you! What can I do?"
The amulet vibrated more and started to levitate off of Steven's chest. It showed a hologram of Steven taking the gem out of the amulet.
Steven grabbed the gem on the amulet and started to pull with all his might. With one final pull, Steven pulled the gem out of the amulet.
The amulet blew into pieces in Steven's hand, and the gem started to glow. It hovered and created the physical form of a gem that landed on it's knees and hands.
The gem had orange skin with red stripes on it's arms and face. It had long beige hair that was pulled back into a large ponytail.
"Wha..." Steven gasped. He slowly approached the gem with caution.
The gem slowly sighed and lifted her head to face Steven. "Thank-you," she weakly said once looking at Steven.
Steven could now tell that the gem had a red stripe on her face. She had her gem where her nose should have been. And she had eyes like golden mirrors with no irises or pupils at all. She was wearing a strapless, black top with a pink diamond in the middle of the top of it. She was also wearing dark red pants and black boots with pink diamonds on the tips.
"You didn't..." the gem said getting up. She stumbled a little. Steven helped her stabilize.
"You actually talked to me. You helped me," the gem said standing straight up. "It's Steven, right?"
"Mm," Steven replied with a nod.
"I'm Jasper," the gem said. "Are you really a Crystal Gem?"
"Yeah!" Steven said.
"But you set me free," Jasper said.
"But- Wha..." Steven said.
"Steven!" Garnet yelled.
Steven turned around to see the gems running towards them. Once they stopped, they summoned their weapons.
"Wait!" Steven said running in front of the gems.
"You," Jasper said from behind Steven.
Steven looked back and the gems had nervous looks on their faces.
"You knew I was in there," Jasper said. She started to hover in the air and, her hair began to turn to flames. "and you didn't do anything." The ground began to slightly shake.
"Did you even wonder who I used to be?!" Jasper exclaimed. Pieces of the ground shot up and smashed against the gems. Pearl and Amethyst were sent flying in opposite directions while Garnet was trapped in between the pieces of the ground.
"Steven, run!" Pearl yelled.
"What are you doing?!" Steven said running towards Jasper.
"I'm Jasper, and you can't keep me trapped here anymore!" Jasper yelled.
Jasper touched the ground once more and her hair turned back to normal.
"They're not going to let us leave," Jasper said.
"Leave?" Steven asked.
Jasper slowly raised her hand up. Several stones surfaced above the ocean.
"Steven, come with me," Jasper said looking at Steven.
"Where?" Steven asked.
"Home," Jasper simply said.
"B-b-but... B-but I... Uh..." Steven tried to say.
A look of hurt crossed Jasper's face as she hung her head.
"Fine," Jasper said and the stones went back below the water.
Garnet finally beat her way out of the bits of earth that trapped her and ran towards Jasper with her gauntlets summoned.
"Don't trust them, Steven," Jasper said. "Goodbye."
Jasper turned around and descended into the depths of the ocean. Then Steven and Garnet were knocked back by a sudden trimmer in the ground.
"Steven!" Pearl exclaimed as she rushed forward and embraced Steven. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine," Steven said. "So, that was another Gem?"
Pearl sighed. "Yes."
"Steven, you're grounded," Garnet said.
To be continued...