Steven and the Gems were getting ready to eat at Fish Stew's Pizza. The gems were wearing a more stylized version of their outfits, with more casual clothing that resembled jeans shorts and tank tops in their color schemes. Steven was wearing a pink Hawaiian button shirt with a combination of flowers and stars.
"What's the special occasion Garnet? You almost never come out to eat." Steven asked politely.
"I just thought you might need a break from all thats been going on, so we will get a meal together." Garnet said. Steven smiled at her thoughtfulness.
"Um...Garnet, I don't actually have to...you know." Pearl said anxiously. Garnet looked at her with an unreadable expression.
"No Pearl, you don't have to." She said. Pearl then went from nervous to joyous in a heartbeat.
"Oh thank you Garnet." Pearl almost yelled as she was relieved of her "burden."
"Hey Garnet, can I have Pearl's pizza since she won't eat it?" Amethyst asked.
"Sure." She said.
"YEAAAA! Alright, more pizza for the Purple Puma!" She said excitedly.
Garnet just chuckled at her family's antics and proceeded to walk to the door and opened it for the rest of them.
"Let's get going." She said and they all followed after her.
They were all beginning to walk down the beach towards the Kofi's Pizzeria. As they were a few feet away from entering they saw Greg coming from the other side, wearing his dark green turtleneck, and black jean shorts. Steven waved to his dad before they met up at the front of the pizzeria.
"Thanks Garnet for inviting us." Greg said politely.
"No problem." She said as she walked into the restaurant with the gems following in after her. Steven and Greg followed after and they all took a seat on five person booth. The table set with plates, cups, and silverware. Steven sat in the middle between Greg and Garnet while Pearl and Amethyst were at the ends of the booth.
"This is nice." Steven said. "The whole family is here and every body is happy!" He exclaimed. They were then approached by Kiki holding a pen and notepad.
"Hey guys, what're we havin' tonight? I see everyone is here so it must be a special occasion. Right?" She asked politely with a sassy hint in her voice.
"You could say that." Garnet said as she smiled at her politeness. She then turned to Steven, Amethyst, and Greg. "What are we having?" She asked them. They all yelled excitedly.
"Extra large pepperoni!"
"With cheesy crust!"
"And pink lemonade!"
Kiki chuckled nervously as she sweat-dropped.
"Well somebody sure is hungry." She said. "So a extra large pie, cheesy crust, and pink lemonade all around?" She repeated the order to get it approved.
"Actually they ordered pizza not pie." Pearl spoke to correct Kiki's choice of words. Kiki chuckled.
"No, pie is just a slang term for pizza. Kinda like dogs with hot dogs and bad with good." She counter-corrected Pearl. Pearl only got confused at her explanation of the words.
"But that doesn't make any-"
"Yeah, that was our order." Amethyst interrupted Pearl so that she could bring their food faster.
"Coming right up." Kiki said before walking away to give her dad, Kofi, the order.
"Why do you have to complicate things Pearl? Just accept slang words." Amethyst said annoyed.
"Well I'm sorry if I didn't understand the way humans have a tendency to change the definition of words for faster communication." Pearl,explained. "I don't see any point in it, certain words exist to have a meaning not have their antonyms define them, it's so disorganized if you ask me." Pearl finished as everyone just stared at her after she explained her opinion of the predicament. "What?" she asked.
"Like I said, over-complicate things." Amethyst said proving her earlier point.
"Ahem." Garnet got everybody's attention. "You two need to hold off on your fights." She told the two of them. "We actually do need to discuss something however." She said. "It's about the recent events." She said.
"Ok..."Both Steven and Greg said. Garnet continued.
"We wanted to talk to you, Greg, about the menace of Peridot's stay here on Earth. We have been trying to look for her in a group of two, we couldn't risk Steven being left alone to be attacked by Peridot or some other creature, and our efforts to patrol for Peridot were minimal." She said.
"Ok." Greg said nervously. "I'm guessing you're not here to ask me to keep Steven safe." He said. Steven looked on at the talk they were having.
"Unfortunately no. Greg we know that as a parent you care for Steven, but if it came to danger, Steven is naturally more capable than you." Garnet admitted. Greg frowned.
"So you can't take him with you and I can't take care of him. What is your plan Garnet?" Greg asked open to am idea she was obviously building up to.
"We find that man that was looking for Steven and ask him for help." Garnet said seriously.
"No." Greg said immediately.
"Greg you nee-" Garnet began.
"No, I will not allow some stranger I hardly know to teach Steven, if he's in danger let me handle it." Greg said. "You can't be serious about this? Pearl?" Greg asked Pearl, knowing she was the one who fought the man first and thought she would be against it.
"At first I was. But we have to see the big picture here Greg. If we want to catch and find Peridot we need to all three of us, plus the man said he wanted to teach Steven himself and he has proven to be more than capable of fighting. We discussed this in Garnets room earlier and as much as we hate to say this, but this stranger is the only person capable of this. Look Greg, we hate to do this, especially since we have to leave Steven alone. But we can't bring him with us because we can't keep a constant eye on him." Pearl explained trying very hard to keep her calm demeanor on the situation. Greg looked defeated and somewhat sad, he then turned to Steven, who was just listening in until this point.
"What do you think Steven? Do you think this is a good plan?" Greg asked sincerely. Steven looked as if the whole weight of the situation fell on top of his shoulders. He was thinking it through as best as he could. He was weighing both pros and cons. Garnet was right, they would be distracted by him too much if he went with them. But he didn't want to hurt his dad's feelings, he knew Greg wouldn't hurt him, but there was that nagging feeling in the back of his head that his dad would be mad or disappointed at him. And it scared him. "Steven." Greg said. Steven looked at his dad with a worried expression. His dad gave him a reassuring smile. "No matter your decision, I'll support it." Greg smiled at him. Steven calmed down and smiled back. He looked at the gems, and made his decision.
"I..." he hesitated one last time. "I think its best that they go find Peridot." He said. Everyone looked at him and thought that was it. "But," everyone waited for him to continue. "I think I should move in to the house until you guys come back. And we would look for the guy later around town. I want all of us to see if he is what he seems." Steven said finally. Everyone looked at him, surprised at how maturely he decided to handle the situation in ways that the rest of the gems or Greg knew. Steven had sweat dripping from the side of his head just from deciding that. He then felt Garnet put her hand on his shoulder.
"Steven," He looked up at her. "You're growing up and taking control." She smiled. "We're proud of you." She said.
"Yeah, good job, kiddo." Greg supported and gave him a thumbs up.
"Nice thinking there little man. "Praised Amethyst.
"Steven, I'm impressed." Said Pearl.
Steven stopped sweating and smiled back at them.
"Really?!" He asked happily, blushing a little bit.
"Yeah." Greg said.
"We gave you two options on the table, and you chose another way. Good job Steven." Garnet as she smiled at him.
"Aw thanks guys." As he was about to ask for more praise, until Kiki came with their pizza balanced on her right hand and lemonade jar on the man.
"Order up guys." She said as she placed both on the table. "Enjoy your meal guys." She smiled politely as she left them.
"To be continued." Said Greg as he grabbed a slice and placed it on his plate. Everyone else, except Pearl, began to eat. Steven was on his second pizza and said.
"Thanks guys, I know you all try, and guys don't worry, I'll be fine with dad at the house." He said happily.
"As long as he doesn't break anything." Pearl mumbled comically.
"Just be sure that Steven is alright with the man, Greg." Said Garnet. "We will look for him afterwards and ask him a fee questions before we leave."
"Yeah, who knows, maybe he's a spy." Amethyst joked. Greg frowned a little bit.
"That's not funny." He said.
"What if he is though? I could be..."Steven imagined himself with a fitting tuxedo, wearing sunglasses, and had an earpiece. "Steven the Spy Gem. I'd have all the cool gadgets in the world." His eyes began to shine as his imagination faded.
"See Greg, pretty cool." Amethyst said nonchalantly as she bit into her pizza.
Greg sighed.
"So Garnet, how is it that you're able to afford this pizza, did you have some money saved up for the occasion?" Greg asked as he took a sip of his lemonade.
"What are you talking about?" She asked. "I only invited everyone to eat pizza, I never said I was gonna pay." She put on her usual mysterious expression. Steven and Greg then looked at her with nervous expression. Before they could say anything, Kofi heard it and burst from the kitchen with a serious face.
"What are you talking about?" He asked. "I hope that one of you will at least pay." He looked at them with his arms crossed. All the Gems looked like they could care less about the bill. Steven looked at his dad with a nervous smile and hoped he at least had money.
"What are you looking at me for, I thought she had us covered." He said in defense, both him and Steven looked at Kofi.
"Well? How will you be paying for you extra large pepperoni stuffed crust pizza with lemonade?" He asked looking down on them. No one answered him. His frown deepened
"That is it! Not a single one of you is leaving this establishment until you have paid off your order." He said with finality. The Gems looked at each other.
"We don't really have to right." Asked Amethyst.
"Of course not, we as gems aren't obligated to pay for food that we don't even need to eat. Right Garnet?" Informed Pearl. Garnet 'humphed.'
"We don't have to." She said. Steven began to get nervous as he felt obligated to pay for his food, and Greg was a little embarrassed at being in this kind of situation. "None of you is leaving here unless I am satisfied with a contribution on your behalves!" He yelled for good measure.
Suddenly, there was a rumble in the restaurant. Everyone of the could see through the windows that a giant purple gem crab was crawling its way from the docks toward the pizzeria. Kofi noticed this and began to panic.
"Aaah! That thing is heading here, do something!" He yelled in desperation that his business wouldn't be destroyed. He was expecting the Gems to jump immediately into action and save the day. They were just sitting in the booth, not caring. "What are you doing, that thing is heading this way!" He yelled. The gems looked at them with mocking grins. Steven and Greg were a little nervous at this.
"I'm sorry, I thought you said that we 'are not to leave the establishment until we made a contribution on our behalves' if I'm not mistaken." Pearl said sarcastically.
"Yeah, what she said." Amethyst said not bothering to say more than that.
"Yeah, how do we pay off our order with no money?" Garnet asked.
"Are you kidding, that monster is coming here!" Kofi yelled as the crab was a few meters away from his store. He looked back and forth between the Gems and the crab, he then made up his mind. "Ok ok ok, that pizza is free if you get rid of that crab without destroying my store!" He yelled in panic. The gems looked unsatisfied with his offer. Greg and Steven were going to tell them to do something until Kofi spoke up again.
"I'll make all your pizzas from now on 50%!" He yelled finally.
"Eh good enough." Said Amethyst as she was the first one to spring out the door, with Garnet and Pearl following after. Steven and Greg were shocked at what justi happened, but Steven ignored it and went with the gems.
"I gotta help them dad, stay here." And he ran after them to join in the fight with the gems.
