(Welcome back. I'm glad to see you guys enjoyed the opening. And I still have more to work with it now. Enjoy chapter 2 where Steven meets another Gem.)

Steven was kicking back on his bed relaxing, until he saw the gem pad glow. He knew the gems weren't off on a mission, so looked closely. Suddenly appearing in the house was Diamond, Aqua, Ivory, and Turquoise.

Diamond stretched, "I missed porting like that.

"Are you saying my teleportation power isn't a rush for you, Diamond?" Ivory asked suspiciously.

"No. I just like our standard teleportation pads." Diamond answered.

Aqua spoke to them, while holding Turquoise, "Come on you two. Turquoise doesn't need to see this."

"Guys!" Steven called, as he came down to greet them.

"Hello, Steven." Ivory greeted him.

"I didn't know you were coming." Steven said.

"Well, Diamond does like dropping in unannounced. One of the things that hasn't changed about him." Aqua explained.

"Old habits don't always fade." Diamond chuckled.

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl came in, as Steven spoke, "Guys, look who dropped in."

"Aqua, Diamond, Ivory, what a surprise." Pearl greeted them.

Amethyst looked at Turquoise and smiled, "Hey, you little trouble maker."

"Kyupi?"

"What brings you to Beach City?" Garnet inquired.

Well, we needed some down time. And we decided to come here." Diamond answered.

Ivory looked around the place, "Nice place."

"Thanks. It's not much, but it's home." Steven admitted.

"But it could be cleaner." Pearl eyed Steven and Amethyst.

"I say leave it." Amethyst replied.

Aqua smiled, "Oh, Amethyst, you'll never change."

"You know what this calls for? Snacks. I'll go into town and get some!" Steven offered.

"Splendid idea, Steven." Ivory smiled.

"We'll be waiting." Diamond said.

When Steven left it allowed the six older Gems to converse freely, "So any real reason why you came unexpected?" Amethyst asked.

"It was mostly for Ivory." Aqua answered.

"Is it wrong that I want to see my godson?" Ivory inquired.

"Oh, no. We just weren't expecting." Pearl answered.

"Plus, Ivory still needs to tell him that." Diamond added.

"You're lucky I didn't say it." Amethyst told her.

"That is your responsibility." Garnet added.

"I know." Ivory admitted in guilt.

"I'm sure Steven will understand when you tell him." Pearl assured her.

"I hope so."

Meanwhile, Steven was out picking up snacks for his guests. He hummed while collecting his stuff until he spoke, "That should be enough." he paid for his stuff and headed off.

He was soon walking the beach, until gem crab creatures popped out of the sand startling him, "Whoa!" he cried, as he tried going around some, but was blocked off, "Oh, now what do I do?"

Just then, something started slashing at the crabs. Steven saw the monsters were gone and in place was a figure holding a scythe, "Whoa." Steven gasped.

He appeared to be in his late teens, and had dark eyes, a small mullet of black hair, a goatee, and a black gem located in his right shoulder. His attire included black boots, violet pants, a black no sleeved shirt, and a gray vest.

The figure looked over at Steven, "Are you ok?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, thanks." Steven replied.

"You're lucky I was in the area." he helped Steven up.

"Yeah," Steven nodded, before spotting the gem in his shoulder, "Hey, you're a crystal gem."

"Correct. And I can tell you are one as well."

"You bet. I'm Steven. Steven Universe."

"Well, Steven, it's an honor to meet you."

"Thanks. And who're you?"

"My name is Ebony, but please call me Ebon." he introduced himself.

"Ok. It's strange though, but you're the second guy Crystal Gem I've ever seen."

"So you associate with girl gems?" Ebon inquired.

"Well, I used to only know three gems, then I met four more yesterday. Now you're the eight one I've met."

"I take it you don't see too many other gems?" Ebon asked, as Steven nodded. Ebon then though, 'So this is the boy,' he saw the gem peeking out of Steven's shirt, 'Her gem.'

Steven looked up at Ebon seeing he was studying him which made him nervous, until Ebon spoke, "I sense you are not full blooded, but half blooded."

"Oh, yeah. Well I got my gem from my mom, and my dad's a human."

"Really?" Ebon asked, while sounding interested.

"Yeah. Maybe you heard of my mom. Her name's Rose Quartz." Steven explained.

"Actually, I do remember that name," he answered, "She was such a kind woman,' he then thought, 'And a fool.'

"Oh, I gotta tell Pearl, Garnet, Amethyst and the others I met another gem!"

Upon hearing those names, Ebon thought, 'Those three. And what others?' he spoke up, "No, please. I'd rather no one else know about me."

"Why not?" Steven wondered.

"I prefer to remain in isolation. And not have others looking for me."

"Oh, like a secret agent?"

"Something like that," he humored the boy, and thought, 'I can't let anyone know I'm here.'

Steven noticed Ebon looked deep in thought, "Are you ok?"

Ebon snapped out of his thoughts, "Oh, yes, I'm fine. Did you mention you knew of other Crystal gems besides the three you named?"

"Yeah. Diamond, Aquamarine, and Ivory. Do you know them?"

"Oh, yes. I know them very well." Ebon answered, with a slight smirk.

"Well, they're here visiting for the day. Don't know if you were aware, but Diamond and Aqua had their first child."

Ebon's eyes shifted, "I did not know that." he acted surprise.

"Yeah. I never met a baby crystal gem before." Steven admitted.

"I can imagine," Ebon replied, "So I couldn't help but notice you didn't summon your weapon."

"That? Well, I haven't been able to properly activate my gem yet. But I'm learning."

'Still a novice?' Ebon thought, 'Even for a kid he should at least have some control,' he spoke up, "How much are you actually learning?"

"Well, there's the basics like transformation, but I ended up turning all my fingers into cats," Steven began, "And I just learned how to bubble gems, and my spit apparently contains healing powers."

Ebon listened well, before speaking, "I can only assume your training process is slow."

"Well, they say all these complicated things and it's hard to keep up with what each of them tells me." Steven admitted.

Ebon thought in irritation, 'Stupid three, with their conflicting points of view! It's no wonder he's not at the level he should be at,' he then looked at Steven seeing he was willing to learn and control his power, "Say, how about I make you a little deal?"

"A deal?" Steven asked curiously.

Ebon nodded, "You tell no one you saw me. And you come back here once an afternoon to learn some tricks from me?"

"You would do that?" Steven gasped.

Ebon spoke, while secretly smirking, "For a fellow Crystal Gem, sure."

"Cool!" Steven cheered.

"So do we have a deal?" he offered his hand.

"Deal!" Steven shook it.

Ebon thought, 'This is gonna be fun.'

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ebony!" Steven called, as he hurried off.

"I prefer Ebon!" Ebon called, but went off as well.

Steven entered, and saw the gems laughing about old times, "I'm back!"

"Steven, welcome back." Pearl greeted them.

"Did ya get the stuff?" amethyst asked.

"Sure did." he held up the bags.

"Let me help you with that." Ivory offered, and they placed the stuff on the table.

Soon, Ivory and Steven had the snacks laid out, and they were shooting the breeze with Diamond, Aqua, and Ivory telling Steven about their own past exploits.

"After Diamond got sprayed by those gem skunks, it took him five showers to wash the smell out!" Aqua laughed.

"I felt my whole body was going to shrivel up like a prune." Diamond said, recalling the experience.

Suddenly Steven looked outside and saw more Crystal crabs, "Uh, we got a problem!"

Pearl and the others looked out the window and saw the monsters, "Crystal Crabs!" Pearl gasped.

Diamond got up, "Let's go!" he activated his gem, and his right arm became covered in a diamond substance giving him a strong right arm.

Aqua handed Turquoise off to Steven, before activating her gem, and wielded a tessen fan. Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst activated their own gems, and the six adults went outside.

Steven and Turquoise watched from the window as the gems fought the Crystal Crabs. He knew Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet's fighting abilities, so he paid more attention to Diamond, Ivory, and Aqua. Diamond was using his diamond arm weapon to punch holes in the crabs making them goo poof. Aqua threw her tessen as it went around like a boomerang slicing the crabs claws off making them vanish.

Steven focused Ivory, and saw she didn't have a weapon and was basically taking the crabs on hand to hand. Despite being unarmed, Ivory was handling the situation very well. Any crabs that tried to attack her, she just dodged and tricked the monsters into attacking each other.

Eventually all the monsters were defeated, and Garnet bubbled a gem teleporting it into the temple. Steven came out holding the baby, "That was awesome!"

"Kyupi!" Turquoise cheered.

"We still got it." Diamond said, as his diamond arm returned to normal.

Steven went to Ivory, "Ivory, why didn't you use your own weapon?"

"Oh, I don't use my weapon as much. In fact I don't use it at all anymore." she answered.

"Really, why not?"

"I'd rather not say." she answered, with sadness.

Steven could tell she didn't wanna talk about it, so he let it go. They all headed back inside, as Ebon watched them from a distance, "Soon, little Steven. Soon you will be at my side when I rule this pathetic world." he snickered.

(And there you go. Steven's met another gem, but there's something dark and shady about him. Will Steven discover the truth about him before it's too late? Don't miss next time.)