S2-2
William helps around town
William was walking through Beach City, familiarizing himself with where everything was.
Just then, he noticed a park nearby. A place called 'FunLand'.
"Hello. Do you run this park?" William asked the man up front.
"That I do. I'm the ride operator."
"Nice. The place looks as kept up as a grandfather clock. Finely tuned as well."
"Well, I try my best to keep this place going."
"So what's your name?"
"Mr Harold Smiley, that's my name. What about yourself?"
"The name's William."
"You one of those Crystal Gems? Haven't seen you around here."
"That's because I just recently came here through the Warp Pad. Think I could help out around here?"
"Sure thing. You can help me fix some of the arcade machines. This way" Mr Smiley lead William to a large building with loads upon loads of arcade machines.
Nearly all of them were running properly. The ones that weren't working were the ones that needed fixing.
After almost thirteen minutes, William came back out of the arcade to tell Mr Smiley about his work. "The job is done. You can check the machines now."
"I'll take a look at your handiwork. I'll bet they're beyond fixed now." He chuckled.
Just then, the sky turned red. "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!" Whatever was happening, it was new to him.
He looked to the sky, seeing a giant red eyeball-like object approaching Earth. "What... the heck... is that?"
A bright beam hit the object in its center, causing it to crack and shatter. One piece was about to hit the arcade, but he jumped in the way and used his replicated gauntlets to catch the chunk and throw it into the ocean. "That was close." He sighed as his gauntlets vanished.
"Hey, William! That was absolutely extraordinary! You just saved the arcade! Now get down here and get your paycheck, plus a bonus!" Mr Smiley called to him.
William jumped off the arcade's roof and landed right in front of Mr Smiley. "Just doing what I feel is right."
"I respect that, William. That's why I'm giving you a bonus."
William looked through what he earned, seeing how much it was worth. "35. 40. 45. $50. Here's a tip for your honesty in letting me help out and respecting my sense of what's right." William gave Mr smiley a 5-dollar bill.
"You're kind, William. I like that."
William then headed back to the Temple. "Hey, guys. What happened here?"
"A Red Eye. We destroyed it." Garnet said.
"Is that a Laser Light Cannon?!" Just then, the Laser Light Cannon flashed, like Amethyst and Garnet's gems earlier that day. "Got it. This should help."
"What did you do?"
"Let me put it in simple terms, Pearl. I copied the Laser Light Cannon into my gem so I could figure out the best way to use the copy myself. I already copied Amethyst's whip and Garnet's gauntlets, as you've seen today. I've never seen the inside of the Temple, but I need a place to put all the corrupted Gems I'm storing." William looked at the Crystal Temple.
"Follow me."
"Lead the way, Garnet."
They went inside.
Garnet put her two gems to the door in the back of the house, a door William never really noticed. Inside was the Crystal Temple, a vast complex of rooms and chambers, creating a sort of huge maze which could turn a normal human brain to a pile of blubber.
"What's this room?"
"Look up."
William looked up, seeing hundreds of bubbled gemstones. "Ahh, I see. I can drop off these corrupt gems here?"
"Yes, you can."
"Very well." William opened his personal storage dimension and allowed every single corrupted Gem he defeated and captured to float up with the others in the chamber. "Think that'll hold them?" He wondered, looking around the chamber.
"It's the best we can do for them for now..." William felt the sadness in Garnet's voice.
"Anyway, while you guys were busy with that Red Eye, I was helping out at the Beach City FunLand, even got paid 45$ for the work and for protecting it from the falling pieces of the Red Eye. I think this could help us with other stuff, what do you think?" William showed Garnet the dollar paycheck and the dollar bills he got as a bonus.
"We could pay for some of the damages."
"Then I'd tell Mr Smiley that I'd be working to pay for those damages. I'm sure he'd understand."
The Emerald headed out of the Temple to go back to the amusement park. "Mr Smiley?"
"Ey, William! What can I do for you this time?" Mr Smiley closed the FunLand gates for the day.
"I was hoping I could help out some more. You know how Beach City got damaged, right?"
Mr Smiley looked over the craters all over the area before turning back to William. "Yeah, I saw that. What do you mean?"
"Well, I was thinking I'd use the money I earn to pay for the damages."
"You're very thoughtful, William, but maybe you should let me handle this. Use your money on something you want."
"Very well. Repairs as planned."
"Maybe something else."
William thought about his options, then recalled a restaurant in Beach City. "OK. By the way, could I take a look at a map of Beach City?"
"Yeah, I'm sure you can memorize the entire layout, knowin you Gems." Mr Smiley let William look at the map.
He put his gemstone over the map and projected a green beam from it, seemingly scanning the map. "Image scanned and memorized. I'll see you later." As he left the amusement park, William headed back to the Temple.
So, how'd I do on this one?
I'll see you next time.
