Steven was sitting in a tall lifeguard's chair above a game of checkers between Peridot and Lapis. The rules were simply. If you took too long making your move, you got hit with a water balloon. If you lost a piece, you got hit with a water balloon. And if you lost, you got hit with all the remaining water balloons.
Lapis, despite the fact that she was losing, was enjoying it. "Of course you are, they're water balloons." Peridot grumbled, making another move one second too slow and getting hit with a water balloon. "What, you like it better if he was throwing metal bars at us?" Lapis questioned, laughing as she purposefully took her turn too slowly and got hit with another water balloon before, "I think you're just a sore loser."
Peridot glared at her through her visor, and looked down at the board with a smirk, "Why would I be a sore loser," Her fingers moved a checker pieces in a strategic pattern, taking out the rest of Lapis' checker pieces, "When I just won the game?"
Lapis, in spite of Peridot's smug look at her victory, smiled, "Guess I'm out." She said, spreading out her arms as all the remaining water balloons rained down on her, "Ah, it feels good to lose." She said.
Peridot just shook her head, "I sincerely hope that is not a mantra you intent to carry with you into an encounter." Lapis sighed, "You're no fun anymore Peri, this is why we never form Aventurine anymore."
Peridot glared, insulted by this, "We don't form Aventurine because you're careless and a mess." She said, her floating fingers poking Lapis accusingly. Lapis glared back at her, "We don't form Aventurine because you're a stuck up snob who can't work with anyone!"
"We don't form Aventurine because-" Peridot was cut off by Steven coming between them, "Guys, guys, what's Aventurine?" He questioned, curious as to what exactly they were even arguing about.
"It's me and Peri, when she isn't being a snob, mashed together." Lapis said with a nonchalant shrug. "That's grossly oversimplifying things. Us mashed together? Right, like how water is just oxygen and hydrogen mashed together?" Peridot questioned. "Right, exactly." Lapis said.
Peridot facepalmed, "Simile wasted." Her fingers formed her screen and she showed it to Steven, "When our bodies are synchronized, we're able to merge together into a powerful fusion gem named Aventurine." The screen showed a diagram of Lapis and Peridot twirling into each other and forming a much taller figure.
"Accept I don't dance like that, and you can't really dance at all." Lapis said. Peridot's screen returned to being her fingers as she formed a fist in frustration, "That sounds awesome!" Steven said, "You two should form Aventurine right now!"
Peridot and Lapis both shook their heads, "We only fuse when the situation absolutely calls for it." Peridot said, "And even then we usually just let Jasper punch it before we try fusing." Lapis added. "Oh come on, I wanna see you guys turn into a giant woman!" Steven said excitedly.
Before Steven could continue asking them, Jasper called them into the temple, "We've got a mission." She called. "Maybe you'll need to form Aventurine for it." Steven said with a grin, Lapis just shaking her head as let out her wings, grabbing Steven to fly him in while Peridot took the stairs.
"We found the location of the Heaven and Earth Beetles." Jasper said. "Beetles?" Steven asked, confused, "They're old gem creatures. They're small, but they can be dangerous if we leave them out any longer." Peridot explained. "So they're just like you when you get in one of your moods." Lapis taunted.
Steven wasn't sure it really applied, as Peridot looked to be taller than Lapis, but it seemed to strike some sort of nerve with Peridot, "Right, well, I'm sure Lapis can handle getting one of the beetles on her own, Jasper, where are they?"
"The Earth Beetle is at the bottom of a boiling lava lake, so unless you've somehow developed the ability to withstand lava like I can, it looks like you and Lapis are going to the cloud spires with Steven to get the Heaven Beetle." Jasper said, chuckling at the looks of annoyance on Peridot and Lapis' face, as well as the look of triumph on Steven, "Keep them in line little man." Jasper said before stepping onto the warp pad and teleporting off to get the Earth Beetle.
"Let's just get this over with." Peridot said. "I bet Aventurine could take care of it super fast." Steven said. Now it was Lapis' turn to face palm.
"I bet Aventurine could get all the way up these stairs no problem." Steven said as they continued to walk up the sky spire. "I could fly just fine up there on my own if somewhat would just trust me enough to find the magic bug." Lapis grumped.
"It's not my fault. You've been known to, how shall I put this politely, botch up missions entirely when left to your own devices." Peridot said. Lapis sighed, "You sink one island and suddenly you can never be trusted to handle things alone."
"The fact that you don't see what's wrong with that statement shocks and frightens me." Peridot said, "And that's why you can't go up alone." "If you formed Aventurine, Lapis could fly up there and not technically be alone." Steven commented, earning an evil eye from both of the gems.
Steven was quiet about the topic after that, or at least as quiet as Steven could be, meaning he sung an entire song about why Peridot and Lapis should fuse. On the bright side, at least it was catching and helped them pass the time until they reached the top of the spire. On the not so bright side, the Heaven Beetle wasn't there when they did.
"What? Come on why can't anything be easy? Where'd it go?" Lapis questioned. Peridot scanned the area with her finger screen, "It's possible the Heaven Beetle sensed us and attempted to flee before we could get up here." She said.
"Oh, so what you're saying is, if you'd just let me fly up here from the start, we could've gotten the bug and been out of here by now?" Lapid questioned. "Lapis, calm down. The Heaven Beetle can't fly, doesn't move very fast, and has no natural predators. It won't be difficult to track it down." Peridot said.
But the universe, it seemed, disagreed with Peridot, and chose to prove her wrong with a physical representation of how wrong she was. In other words, a giant eyeless bird smashed through the wall and roared at them.
All three of them quickly ran back through the door where the giant bird could not get them. It squawked at them, trying to fit its beak through the door to snap at them but not succeeding. "Okay, I may have underestimated the likelihood of a monster making it up to this height," Peridot said, "Lapis, can you handle this"
"What am I supposed to do smack it in the face with my wings? There's no water up here except the stuff in the air and I can't control that!" Lapis said frantically, "All these old gem structures were used with stone, there's no metal for me to work with, and I'll never get a clear shot on that thing with my blast cannon. Even if I did, I doubt it would do very much." Peridot said.
"Guys, I think we all know what it's time for." Steven said with a grin, practically bouncing in place. Both of them groaned in irritation, "He might be right." Steven's eyes widened as Peridot and Lapis walked to different sides of the room and began to dance, Lapis' movements graceful and flowing, Peridot's more rigid, as though she were embarrassed by the endeavor.
The result was not great. Peridot ended up stepping on Lapis foot. Between Lapis being barefoot and Peridot's metal boots, it couldn't have felt good. Their gems glowed and they started to merge together in an aura of light, but it didn't work, and they both dropped to the ground. "Want to try that again? With less stomping on my feet?" Lapis questioned.
"It would be easier if your movements weren't so loose and erratic." Peridot said. "It's called taking a little enjoyment in life, you might want to try it some time." Lapis said. "Guys, guys!" Steven said, not realizing that he was no standing in front of the door, "You shouldn't fight, I'm sure we can figure out how to-" Steven was cut off when the giant bird's beak reached in and pulled him out of the room.
"Steven!" Lapis and Peridot shouted together as Steven was swallowed by the giant bird. The insides of the bird, Steven decided, were gross, but also kinda cool. There was enough light coming off of the many crystalline structures it had swallowed that Steven could see as he walked through the place. And not only could he see, he could see the Heaven Beetle.
"The bird must have swallowed it." Steven realized, rushing over to where the beetle, a white and gold bug about the same size as a normal beetle, was standing. When he went to grab it though, a massive, blue-green hand shot up from the bird's body and began feeling around. Assuming the bird was somehow doing this, Steven quickly snatched up the Heaven Beetle and ran, only for a second arm to rise up and grab him.
Steven quickly realized that it wasn't the bird, it was something else, someone else. They pulled Steven out of the bird and jumped down off of it, handing on the spire before. Looking up, Steven's eyes widened when he realized who this must be. She was tall, taller than Jasper even. She had long, spiky hair of dark green, with a much lighter greenish blue over her skin. Her outfit seemed to both flow down over her legs and tug around her ankles so as not to limit her movement. Steven could see a triangular gem in her forehead, and a tear drop shaped gem in her back.
This was Aventurine.
Wings of water sprouted from her back, and she held her hands after setting Steven down. Immediately, bits of metal from far, far down below, metal that would have been much too far away for Peridot to control, came flying up. The metal entered the water of the wings, liquified itself, and fused together. Aventurine flew up with her liquid metal wings, which, Steven realized, doubled as blades.
She cut through the bird, which separated into many birds. She flew up high, summoning ice crystals from the water in the air, and lining them with metal for extra strength before sending the hailstorm of it down at the birds. Several dozen were poofed, but several dozen were still left. Aventurine landed on another spire and made a motion like she was throwing something. Her liquid metal wings detached from her back, flying into the center of the flock and bursting, sending shards of ice and metal in all directions, wiping all of them out at once.
The water and metal returned to her back, forming wings again and letting her fly over to Steven, who was just staring with his jaw dropped. Aventurine smiled down at him. He was excited, but now that he actually saw her, he was nervous. "Do...do you know me?" He asked, causing Aventurine to snicker the way Lapis always did, but it was higher in pitch.
"All you wanna do, is see me turn into..." Aventurine sung melodiously, stars forming in Steven's eyes. "A giant woman.." He finished.
Lapis and Peridot unfused, shortly after they returned, but unfortunately Steven still had tons of questions, like who was more in control of Aventurine, why weren't Peridot's fingers apart of the fusion, and other things. It was Jasper though, who got him quiet when she took the Heaven Beetle and placed it with the Earth Beetle before bubbling both. She said, "I'm impressed with your helping Lapis and Peridot fuse. One day, you'll be great at fusion yourself."
"Yeah...wait, I can do that to!?"