What is up, peoples and persons?
Hey, so, sorry, for those who like this, for the long wait. You could say that life hit a lot and, well, I had to prolong any written thing. But I'm back, hopefully, so expect a little something now and then.
All the legalities apart, I don't own Steven Universe or any of it's affiliates; all rights exclusive to Rebecca Sugar.
Enjoy. :)
I did say adventure would be fun. But honestly, warp pads are something else. Sure, I can teleport, but I haven't been wherever we're going yet, so…
Wait, where are we headed again?
"Pay attention, Steven," Garnet states, "this is going to be your first serious mission. You need to be ready."
Wait.
Then what was the Lunar Spire, basic training? Advanced?
… final?
"Yes! I'm ready! I'm so ready!" I chuckle a bit when I see that he's flying upside down.
And because I felt something like that would happen, all my weapons are away right now. Sure, I could prepare with my sword in hand, but I think we'll start off okay.
"Steven, come on, you're gonna get yourself sick," Pearl slightly scolds when she turns him back upright, the headstock of the ukulele he was carrying hitting her face after. "(Scoff) Why did you bring that?"
"(Excitedly) I don't know! I was excited and it's mine and I like it!" He put his hands up, making the strap fly upwards. He started swimming after it.
"Albeit, it would be nice for some music in case it gets heavy," I say, supporting Steven's decision.
"Steven, get back here! You could get seriously-"
The warp stopped, telling me that we have regained gravity. However, Steven was high enough that he was actually pushed out of the stream and into the same gra…
Oh.
Yup. He fell. *Thud*
His impact made me flinch a bit. But then I get splashed… by a… strawberry?
"... hurt! Steven, are you okay?"
"I'm fine! I'm good. I'm just a bit… gooey." He proceeded to lick off the mashed fruit on his arm. Hmm?
A swarm of butterflies immediately surround us, looking at us menacingly… if you can see if that way. But they instantly land on Steven, who started screaming at the notion and runs away to get away from them.
However, a moment of silence ensued, telling me that he most likely ran off the screen. Oh, wait, he came back, still screaming. A small swat trying to get them and he falls. Or facefaults. Take your pick.
I couldn't stop giggling though. It was funny. Even the splash of jelly on my face didn't bother me.
Don't judge me.
Garnet simply brushes them away, the butterflies flying.
"They're just butterflies, Steven," she calmly says.
"They only wanted the sugar on your face," I say, just as I wipe the jelly off mine and have some butterflies on my hand.
He laughed a bit. "Well, they looked a lot bigger when they were on my eyeballs."
"That too."
Amy laughed a bit. "Steven, you're a riot!"
"I'm suddenly having second thoughts about bringing Steven on this mission," Pearl states, understandably worried.
"Shh… Just look at him." Garnet placed a hand on Pearl's shoulder, allowing her to see the funky pose he makes.
"You worry too much," I add. "Steven can handle it; you'll see."
It was enough to put her at ease. Garnet nodded.
"Now let's go get that gemstone."
We soon begin walking. I'm amazed at the scenery, to be honest. I'd describe it, but I think Pearl beat me to it.
"Unbelievable… this was once a Gem battlefield; now it's wild strawberries as far as the eye can see!" She towels a bit. "Oh, that's what I love about the Earth! Maybe this will be a light mission after all. Oomph." A chuckle became a grunt when she collided into the leader.
I almost did too, but due to the fact that I was paying more attention to the swords and other obscure weapons sticking out, it has me a bit on high alert.
My sight eventually turned to the giant upside down pyramid that appeared from nowhere…
"Maybe not," our stoic Gem says.
"That's what you get when you tempt fate," I say,
Garnet proceeds to summon something by moving her hands, resulting in a miniature piece that was then fit into a slot. Sparkles and a rumble later, a door opens.
"Whoa..!" Steven goes in awe at the magic stuff happening. Once we get inside, it is giving me a sort of Egyptian vibe, but replace them with Gems and one will understand. "Whoa!"
I get his enthusiasm. After all, this art looks old and could be valuable… if it was for humanity.
"Steven's the best!" He yelled. An echo comes back, saying the same thing. "Why, thank you, temple." He swings his hand in mock bash.
"You're a doof," Amy says, passing us.
So far, it looks bare. Nothing seemed to be of interest. Except for a certain pedestal holding what seems to be yet another pyramid piece, nothing was obvious.
"LYNX, scan the area, please," I plead.
"Standing by." Her hologram flies around to see if there's something missing, needed, or needing to do. But 15 seconds of looking around, "Nothing, Moira."
Steven goes for the pedestal. "Hey, what's this thing? It's like a cool floaty triangle thing."
Tell me something I don't know.
"Whatever it is, you probably shouldn't touch it," Pearl replies, without facing him.
"After all, curiosity ki-" Wait, he's still a kid. So… "i… inda stumps the cat." There we go.
However, I think that I am chopped liver because any advice I've given so far flies over people's heads. I feel something rumble and we immediately get close to Steven. Something is affecting the gravity and I feel like we're being pulled to the ceiling.
"Steven! What have we told you about touching magical things?"
"Definitely… always… never do it!"
"Yeet!" The gravity finally shifts over and we are going through the tunnel above into what looks like another room. I stayed as straight as possible and readied myself when I see the floor coming.
The other Gems land gracefully whereas Steven just flops. I, unlike them, never moved and only extended a hand up somewhat and stop myself with just my index finger.
From what I can see, there were multiple doorways leading away from this room, maybe about 16. I look down and see the room being sealed from the top.
"Looks like we're gonna have to split up," Amethyst goes. I do a backflip to get straightened up again.
"Seems like it," I say.
"Right," Pearl grabs onto, "Steven and I will stay right here where it seems to be safe, while you guys go and solve the mystery of this place."
"If you insist," I reply, deciding what weapon to take out.
"Wait, I want to help solve the mystery!" the kid exclaims. Wants to help no matter what.
"Yeah, c'mon, Steven," Amy grabbed him. "Let's solve the mystery."
"Yeah! Mystery solvers!"
Again. How heavy is Steven?
She began to walk away if not for Pearl grabbing him again.
"No, no, no-no-no. You two are a disaster waiting to happen."
"Kinda blunt, aren't you, girl?" I say, deciding just to use my main pistol. Pulling the slider, I prepare myself.
"Well-"
"Steven goes with me," Garnet decided.
"Really?" Stars appear in his eyes. "Awesome!"
"But remember, this is a serious mission."
"That our word of the day?" I sarcastically ask. I aim down and look each door to see if there are any incoming threats.
"Understood. Serious Steven!" He posed a bit before realizing. "Pearl, can you put me down?"
She confused herself and stutters somewhat. "Wha..? Oh, yes, of course." She puts him down.
"I need to be standing or else it doesn't work." Heh, sounds like my powers that aren't the more basic ones. "Serious Steven, activate!"
The duo begin to walk to one doorway. I feel like I should go in the opposite direction, just in case.
"But this could be the teacups all over again," Pearl said, slightly worried.
"Teacups?" I ask, confused.
"Hey, I've put that behind me!" He then started singing, but it got stopped once a door closed. I had the want to make sure he was safe, but I'm pretty sure Garnet can protect him better than we. Onto more interesting matters, though…
"So, Pearl… teacups. What happened exactly?"
"Well, there's this certain teacup ride at Funland, (Soto voice) of which I completely missed the point of, (Normal) that we all rode and made Steven feeling sick. So, he jumped off one and he landed on the operator… who promptly banned him from all the rides…"
Yikes. And I thought my deep moves were bad.
"Oh. Ouch. Hmm, nothing a certain appeal can't fix. Maybe I can talk to the guy." Eeny, meeny, miny, mo. You, doorway. "But we can do that after this. See you on the other side?"
"Will you be okay by yourself?" Pearl asks.
"Worry not, Pearl; I deal with situations like this on a near daily basis. Plus it helps that LYNX is here with me."
"Oh. Okay then."
"Good luck!" I nod.
Okay, going solo. They went their separate ways and I took mine.
"Hey, LYNX, we've been in a previous situation before, right?"
"Something vaguely similar to this temple, yes. Why do you ask, Matthew?" They all look the same. No discernible markings and no direction whatsoever…
"I have a feeling that if I go whichever direction, it'll end up back here. Just to see if it's true, I'll go through a doorway once and see where I end up. Scan again please to see if there are any other life forms around us."
"Affirmative."
I take the easternmost entrance and wait. Before long, I reach a room that instantaneously closes, and bars the door behind me.
"None other than your team, Matthew."
"No turning back, huh?"
I look forward, nothing from the ordinary other than the fact that it's a triangular prism shape. I try to spot anything, any details that tell something. The tiles in front of me don't light up, aren't in any familiar shape, or in different colors at all.
Nothing is this easy.
Luckily, I always have a small piece of every element stored away that I can bring out if I need to. Grabbing a small stone from my pouch and changing its molecular composition to granite, I throw it forward, jumping on a few tiles and causing the room to rumble.
The tiles quickly fell down, leaving only a single narrow beam. However, that wasn't it.
Random holes around the walls immediately started spamming arrows left and right. And it seems that the floor under has spikes.
Motherfucker, it's one of those types of traps?
Sigh. The arrows seem to be made of a type of metal and wood, which I was able to completely manipulate and stop them in midair. I also extend the narrow path to something a little more of a relaxed walk.
"And here I thought it'd be a little harder."
Reaching the other end, the trap stops shooting and the door to this side opens up, allowing me to finally let go of the binds I made. But just for being conservative, I store all the arrows. They were collected in a neat line inside my pouch.
"You do know there's an arrow piercing your arm, leg, and butt, right?" she asks, pointing to said objects.
"Huh. Is that right?"
My arm had it through a portion of where the forearm bones would have a space within, my leg had it splitting my kneecap away, and I think my… asset, had it pushed to my hipbone.
I think I was bored to the point where I barely paid that much attention to either holding the arrows or acknowledging any pain.
Without even looking, I grab the sticks and pull it out without hesitation. I grunt a bit because it was somewhat painful, but it isn't a problem. I deal with this on a daily basis.
Not the arrows, more like actual pain itself.
"Didn't even notice. Let's see then."
Once through the doorway, it shut down as well, almost startling me. The bars don't make much sense to me, however. These stone doors were made impossible to break or open.
The next room didn't bother to hide. Various columns from the ceiling started smashing the entire floor area and some came from the walls, closing in on each other. Rows interchanged with these two positions and there were even two or three spots in which walls closed in completely. They worked fast, giving no reaction time for hesitation.
Eh, it's at least a challenge in some manner. Quickly maneuvering, I spin, flip, and jump through the columns and even bend completely backwards to avoid horizontal column clash.
But an incoming ceiling forced me to drop and hold it up, seeing that this low level is actually helping me miss the other ones. I strain a bit, not expecting the thing to hold down.
Whatever mechanism holding this had it go up again, thinking that it hit the ground. It went back up, allowing me to regain my composure.
A spin kick allowed me to get back up, which made me able to grip the other column and propel myself forward, narrowly missing the walled portion.
But…
I didn't let it miss my hand. *Crunch*
"Augh!" Rolling away, with incredulous luck that I didn't get crushed again in the process, I got to the other end, stepping on what I think is a pressure plate. The mechanics slowed down and eventually stopped, allowing me to see my spilled blood coming from my left arm.
Ouch.
Looking at my hand, I see how bad the damage is. All my finger bones are crushed and even the wrist and some tendons are ruptured. Hell, even my radius bien is poking out.
"I recommend you heal yourself, Matthew," LYNX states, examining the wound. I think just to spite me, or get a laugh, she had a headlamp and a clipboard of a skeletal system.
"Not yet. Maybe once I get past this." Grabbing a bandage, I haphazardly wrap it around my hand, making sure to leave my fingers free enough. I can't bend them, but I also hate any constriction. Up to the point where I don't even wear mittens; they're torturous restraints…
I'm getting out of hand, aren't I?
Those tomatoes are probably rotten by now…
The next room had the same closing doors happen… and was completely silent. The floor was an ice slab throughout, not giving any indication of a trap. But I know better.
Returning my pistol, I shoot a few rounds into the ground, zigzagging to see if it triggered something. 16 rounds showed that yes… it's a complete deathtrap.
A very jagged path of ice was left. It was floating over a pool of lava, supporting retracting stalagmites, never ending falling stalactites, somehow enduring a few lavafalls around and on it, and spears from the ends came shooting about in no discernible pattern.
Geez, this room really stepped up its game, huh?
But I'm in no mood anymore. Stopping time, I calmly float over to the other side.
Probably should be done this from the start.
Then again, I think the conventionality of this reality isn't as fluent as every other world I've been to. If it was, my hand wouldn't be- *Shick*
"Mother-! (Anguished yell)" Son of a bitch!
A spear pierced my abdomen, the head reaching forward and coming completely out. It forced me to kneel once it pushed me away from the room.
Suck it up, you little pussy; you've went through worse before.
"Losing blood at 125 milliliters a second and fast."
"LYNX, chalk it up: I've lived through worse."
However, limping was not something I was gonna indulge. Once at the edge of another doorway, I take a second to kneel down. I got more dizzy than I thought.
"(Giggling) Fine, Matthew. And I will also give you the satisfaction in saying your theory was correct; you have returned to the main room."
I chuckle a bit, stopping myself short mostly because it kinda hurts…
"Moira!"
Pearl..? She came up from another room.
"There you- (Gasp!) Moira! Are you..!" I raise my hand to tell her I'm fine.
"Don't worry, Pearl," I assure. Standing up, I take a deep breath. Gripping the larger spear, I break the tail end to minimize any extra pulling, sending quite a vibration through my spine. It nearly struck my backbone if it went an inch to the left. To keep the adrenaline going, I also remove the head to keep the pain to a minimum.
Despite the fact that I can naturally heal myself further than regular boundaries, it's not something I use very often unless I'm in a very life threatening situation.
And trust me, this isn't remotely close to even my minor pains.
"This isn't something that I'm a stranger to." A small green light forms in my hands, going over all my injuries. Slowly, it healed to perfection, or at least how it was before. My arm, leg, and etc became normal again, the only sign that I was injured are the blood stains that are there. "Don't worry about me. I have a healing process, and I also have other things to help."
She seemed shocked still, but accepted my answer nonetheless.
"Also, how did you get here? Didn't we all take different paths?" I knew it was gonna happen but I still need to make it sound as if this was confusing. Despite knowing it, I… sorta don't have a solution that doesn't mean outright destroying the place entirely.
Plus, it would seem suspicious if I told her I knew something like this would happen.
Pearl finally got out of the stupor. "Oh! Right! I… I'm not sure. I assume we both went in a straight line, yes?"
"I think so. No room seemed to have any other doorway that weren't in other ends. But this doesn't seem to be any other room. We did a complete roundabout."
Hmm.
"Glad that's over," I hear.
"Amethyst?"
"Pearl! Moira!" She ran up to us. "Wait, what are doing here? Did you solve the puzzle?"
"As much progress as you have," I reply. "This is the same room we fell in."
Amy got panicked a slight bit. I saw this certain worried expression that immediately came. "What!? No! Darn it, I'm finding a way out!"
She ran into another passage, probably hoping to find an exit.
"If I didn't know any better," I state, "I'd say Amethyst is a bit claustrophobic…"
"We're back where we started."
The stern voice told me Garnet and Steven have come back. They came from yet another passage.
"Steven, why is your hair burnt?" I ask, looking over him. He covers it up with his arms after taking a quick look.
"I got into a little… accident," he bashfully says.
"Garnet, there you are!" Pearl ran up to her. "The doors and rooms here make no sense; they all bring you here!"
Amethyst, apparently somehow, got through a path again, looking a lot more panicked. "(Groan) Get me out of here!" Yet another passage she runs to. But I don't expect for her to get far again.
"There are sixteen doors, and we entered from the northeast and went through three consecutive rooms in a straight line…" So that technically means I came out the southwestern door.
By this point, Amethyst came out with a bear trap on her head. She, instead of opening it, pulls it off, which is more comical than I thought it would be.
But it was short lived. She ran into another door again, probably the complete panic getting to her.
"… But arrived back here out the southernmost door, which could only mean… well, I don't know what it means!" A flash of light and a block of frozen Amy came out. "This place is a death trap!" Pearl proceeded to summon her spear to break the frozen Gem.
"Wow, Amy, you got yourself in quite a bind, huh?" I walk over to the block and summon a small Fireball to try and melt the ice.
However, I didn't take into account that Steven isn't used to situations like this and I'm guessing the stress is getting to him.
"What do we do!?" That was a context clue.
"We go back in," Garnet states, "again, and again, and again, and again."
I stop for a minute to look at her with a slightly incredulous look. Even my Fireball came down a bit.
"Jesus Christ… can you be any more stoic?"
Okay, maybe if I turn this into a Flamethrower-
"I can't!" His yell completely stopped our efforts. My power fizzled while Pearl stopped mid swing.
"Steven…"
"(Comforting) It's okay…" Well… at least Garnet can do so.
"No!" Never mind. "No, it's not! You were all right about me. I wanted to do this so bad, but now I feel like I'm gonna throw up. This is just like the teacups!"
"Easy, kid," I say, "no one is blaming you for-"
"(Elongated) Wait..!"
"What?"
"Wait, you guys! What if this is just like the teacups? That's why we're getting so lost. That's why I'm feeling so sick. All the rooms are spinning us around so we end up here!" Ah- huh…
…kid has a point. I did feel some rumbling, but I wasn't really paying attention to any seismic action.
That's gonna be a common factor here, isn't it?
Garnet doesn't say a word as she walks into the center of the room, summoning a gauntlet as she does. A pounding on the floor *Crack* told me she's gonna break this place open. *Crack* The stone cracks by like 3 or 4 hits, *Crack* but she hammers it in completely which caused the entire floor to break. Eventually it reached the walls and we're being sent plummeting down.
"I'm falling to the other side of the earth!" I say, almost jokingly. I couldn't resist. But I didn't pay attention to my surroundings and land on my back in a revolving triangle. Garnet landed on another, grabbing Steven and preventing him from falling all the way down.
Pearl managed to pounce onto one and Amethyst broke free of her ice prison when it hit one. She landed on another. But I pay more attention to the view.
Various workings revolve around this one thing in the middle, going perfectly timed with everything else.
"This is unbelievable!" Pearl started giving yet another speech of her impression. Her gemstone is giving off a small hologram of the rooms above. "This Gem-powered mechanism! It's manipulating the rooms above. Every room we entered spun us until we came back to the central chamber! It's just like the teacups ride at Funland!" It showed the ride with the pitcher.
Why it's so high is beyond me…
"Steven literally just said that 30 seconds ago," I point out.
"(Embarrassed) Oh…" Her head started inflating from the spout. Using her hand, Pearl put it away, probably hoping no one saw that.
Steven formulated a plan after seeing something. Resourceful little bastard, isn't he?
"Garnet, I need to get off the ride now!"
The taller Gem nodded. She grabbed him and started to aim him.
"Serious Steven, go!" He spun like a cannonball before opening and landing on the middle pedestal, attempting to remove the Gem that I now see that's there. Rolling over to stand up, I prepare for anything that could happen.
The piece above the Gem rotated, hopefully in a good way. It allowed Steven to more easily pry the Gem away. He landed on the ground.
Pieces of what I think is energy started fading away from the place itself and going back to the Gem, make me wonder what's gonna happen exactly. *Boom*
Maybe the explosion can answer it.
Shrapnel of the pyramid flew everywhere, forcing a crater where it once was. I had to push away a huge slab that encased me and trapped me under.
But my priorities were first. I quickly looked for our youngest. "Steven!"
"Steven!?"
"He's over here." Ah, Amethyst, you found him.
He was holding the Gem he pried off, but is now also covered in strawberry again. I laugh at the little misfortune.
"At least you're safe," I say.
Pearl took the opportunity to bubble the Gem. "Hmm, I'd say you handled that adventure very well."
"Yeah, nice job, 'Serious Steven'," Amy adds.
"I prefer regular Steven," Garnet handed back the ukulele he came with.
"Hey, my ukulele!" The kid proceeded to tune his uke.
"Come on, kid," I encourage, "jam up a eulogy!"
He nods and smiles.
"Oh… that's the end of another day,
"It was mighty serious, I'd have to say,
"The Crystal Gems looked really cool
"when they made the temple explo-" The same swarm of butterflies immediately surround him again. I had to chuckle at how funny this actually was. "Aah! They're in my eyes again!"
He ran from them again. "Oh, Steven…" A small Tornado Blow blew them all away to other strawberries and stripped the stuff off him as well.
"(Chuckle) Thanks, Moira."
"No problem, kid. Now come on; I want to make some jelly with this stuff. Wanna help me out?"
"Yeah!"
We grabbed a few to make a good amount then hightail it home.
Looks like this'll be my new hobby.
Forgive me if the whole solo thing was bad; I'm not exactly good at writing off plot parts. Just look back at the previous chapters, you'll know what I mean, ha.
So as a further compensation, I'll upload the next one soon, once I get all the error remade, and trust me, a lot have been made, lol.
Hope you enjoyed. See you next time.
RaNd0Mk1D8o3I
