Shields Up

"No problem, but… are you gonna ride that here?" Pink asked as she pointed at the bike. Steven looked at her in confusion, "Yeah… why?"

"In the sand?" She looked around the beach, putting her hands on her hips, then looked back at him questioningly.

"Yeah, it gets your legs pumping!" Steven said before trying to get on the bike, "Like this!"

His attempt nearly failed as he accidentally caught his foot on the edge of the bike. He nearly tripped, but luckily balanced himself out.

"See?" He said as he met eyes with Pink, who was looking at him with a hesitant smile.

She sighed and began backing away, "Alright, I'll see you later Steven. If you need anything, just tell me."

"Okay!" Steven replied as he looked back at her. He began pedaling the bike… and went a whopping two inches forward. After wrestling to move the pedals, he gained momentum and continued down the beach.

A girl eventually came into view, and Steven stopped a few feet away, in front of her. He stepped off and gave her a quick glance.

"Wow… This is a nice bike. Five speeds, electric blue finish." He said, running a hand across the bike's frame. Sparing a glance at the girl, he looked back at the bike, "It even has a tiger bell."

Ringing the bell, he looked back at the girl with a hopeful smile. She didn't look at him at all, but instead stayed focused on a book in her lap.

Steven heaved himself up on the bike, "I'm sure a lot of kids would want something-" And promptly fell off and landed on top of it.

This actually caught the girl's attention, as she looked up upon hearing him fall. Steven bit on his lip as he pushed himself up, his knee burning like fire.

Looking up, he met eyes with the girl. He looked down at his bike before screaming and running away.

He closed the front door behind him tiredly. Sweat dripped down his forehead, and his knee hurt tremendously. With a groan, he looked to the kitchen to see Garnet and Pink talking, with a small terrarium sitting between them.

"I think we need to move that moss. After what happened with Steven, I doubt we want to keep it at that pond." Pink said as she tapped the terrarium with a bored frown, "What do you think, Garnet?"

The red and black gem nodded before pointing a thumb at the front door. Pink turned her head curiously and saw Steven

"Oh! Hey Steven!" She said with a smile before picking up the terrarium and walking over to him. "Look at what Garnet just got."

She held out the terrarium, and Steven looked inside, seeing two beetles with gems in them.

"What are these guys? They look so small." Steven said as he tapped the glass, causing the brown and green-ish beetles to turn and face him.

"These are the Earth and Heaven beetles! They lived in tiny houses!" Pink said with a bubbly smile.

"That's cool! But… ugh, I gotta get something." Steven said, hastily walking past her to the fridge.

"Oh? What is it?" Pink asked, raising an eyebrow. Steven opened the freezer and pushed past a few cookie cats. He smirked when he found what he was looking for, a glowing red bracelet.

"It's just something I got a while back. It's… for a girl. We haven't talked." Steven said as he rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at the ground.

"Oh! Steven, how generous!" Pink said as she clasped her hands together. Steven chuckled nervously before shrugging, "Yeah… I just don't know how to talk to her. What if I mess up, and she thinks I'm weird?"

"Then ask Garnet. I'm sure she'll help you, right?" Pink turned her head to Garnet, who nodded in return.

"Just talk to her Steven, don't worry. Just try to get her attentionyourway." Garnet said as she lowered her visor, giving him a wink.

"Alright… alright!" Steven said as he gathered up courage. "I got this! Thanks Garnet! Thanks Pink!" He said before running out of the house, leaving the two gems alone.

"Hi, my name is Steven. Hi, my name's Steven!"

Steven walked down the beach with a pep in his step while he practiced his greeting. With his newfound courage, he was ready to greet the girl on the beach.

She came into view as he walked past a large boulder stuck halfway in the sand.'Alright, let's do this.'He thought as he glanced down at the bracelet in his hand. Tucking it back in his pocket, he focused back on his greeting.

As he approached her, the ground underneath him began shaking violently. He yelped as he began losing his footing. The girl was equally shocked by the tremors, falling on her back after trying to stand up.

The tremor stopped, but a new threat appeared. Cracks began riding up the cliffside next to the two, heading up to a piece of the temple's curly hair. The old carved rock began splitting, losing its support, and falling off. Steven saw the speeding rock and looked down at the girl in horror.

"Hey! Watch out!" He called as he jumped forward, his arms stretched out towards the girl. Horrifyingly, he was too far to reach her, and his blood felt like ice as he fell flat on his face in the sand.

With his arms still outstretched to her, he nearly cried as he felt reality set in. He heard a sickening crack of rock, causing his eyes to widen as he lifted his head up. But what he saw made him gasp.

The girl had a pink shield hovering over her, and large pieces of boulder were resting on top of it. A huge crack ran between the middle of the shield, mangling it nearly in two.

The girl quickly jumped from beneath and looked up at it, flinching when the shield broke and sent the pieces of boulder falling into the sand.

Steven felt twice as heavy, and his body began aching slightly. Still, he willed his arms to push him up to his feet. He made his way to the girl tiredly.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked her as he reached out with a hand. The girl looked at him with wide eyes and nodded, taking his hand. "Yeah, I'm alright."

He pulled her up and looked at the large chunks of boulder next to them. "Woah… that was really close." He said, chuckling nervously before turning his head to her.

"Good thing I saved you." He smiled at her, bits of his curled hair sticking to his forehead. "I'm Steven!"

"Connie." The girl said in return as she looked at him with a half-hearted smile. It fell quickly though, as she looked at the rocks that nearly crushed her. That fact made her tense up, but…

She noticed a small glint of pink in the sand, wedged under a large rock. She bent down near it and pulled quickly, yanking it out. The glint came from a piece of the pink shield, a dark pink symbol in the corner of it.

Steven leaned in to stare at it in awe, Connie doing the same. "What is it? Did you… do this?" Connie asked as she looked at him.

The boy's mouth widened to a smile as he smiled, "Yeah!"

Connie looked at him with excited curiosity, "How did you make that shield?"

"I'm half magic, from my mom's side!" Steven said, muttering the last part, "I live with the gems. The gems are my aunts, sorta. But we fight evil monsters and save Earth!"

"Wait a minute, gems? Are you talking about those aliens?" Connie asked as she brought up the shield piece close to her.

"Yeah! I don't know about aliens, but we're more like magic warriors or something." Steven said as he rubbed the side of his head with a finger.

"Can you show me them?" Connie asked as her eyes gleamed like stars.

"Sure! You can come to my house, that's where they stay, most of the time." Steven said, looking off down the beach.

"Alright, that sounds good." Connie agreed as she dropped the shield piece and picked up her discarded book off the ground.

"Yes! Let's go!" Steven said excitedly as he grabbed her hand and began running down the beach. Connie yelped and began running, keeping up with him so she wouldn't possibly trip in the sand. Steven slowed down as he began panting, but still kept going with his hand gripped onto Connie's.

After walking past a large boulder, Connie looked up and felt her breath leave her lungs. A large statue overlooked nearly everything, with outstretched arms over the beach. The two kept going along, until a beach house came into view, with a hill leading up to it's stairs.

Once they made it to the porch of the house, Steven let go of Connie and spread his arms out, "This is my house! It's not much, but it's really good."

"So, you live under this big statue?" Connie asked as she looked at the face of the sculpted cliffside. "It looks similar to one I saw in third grade."

"Yep!" Steven said, placing his hands on his hips. Connie seemed to be fixated on the statue, so Steven opened the front door and motioned his hand to her.

"C'mon, it's cooler inside!" Connie obliged and stepped in, looking around with curiosity. It was quite unique, with it having no walls separating the different rooms. The house was connected with a crystal-filled cave, with a strange pad in the middle. Her eyes set on the otherworldly blue door at the back of the cave, with four gems sitting in a star formation.

"Welcome to my magical home!" Steven said as he threw an arm out and pointed around the house with his hand. "It's not much, but it's pretty nifty. What do you think?" He asked, looking at her with a hopeful smile.

"It looks… pretty cool. What's the cave area for? Is it gem related?" Connie asked, pointing towards the tall door in interest.

"Yeah, that's where most of the gems stay. They usually stay in there for days, except for one." Steven said, walking over to the living room. "Anyway, here's the living room. It's gotta couch, a table… uhh," He put a finger and thumb on his chin as he looked around.

"There's not much to say about it, besides the fact it's a living room." He walked over and went up the stairs. Now standing on the second floor, he pointed back at a wide bed, "This is my bedroom up here. I got a lot of games that I like to play, like Golf Quest Mini!"

Connie walked up and looked around the bedroom. It seemed to actually be the entire second floor, and had two large windows on its left side.

"Hmm, so… do you like reading?" Connie asked as she pointed over to a stack of books next to the television.

"Oh, those are study books," Steven groaned with a frown, "Pearl makes me read them, and they're so boring I nearly fall asleep."

"What about action books? Like Dog Copter?" Connie asked, making Steven raise an eyebrow.

"Dog Copter? What's that about?" Connie sat down at the end of Steven's bed, soon joined by him. She set her book aside and placed a finger to her chin.

"Dog Copter is about a dog, that's also a helicopter, and he saves the world. It's surprisingly mature for its concept."

"That sounds rad! Tell me more!" Steven said while excitedly smiling. Connie blushed and continued, "Well, it starts in 2020. The world is in chaos..."

Connie began explaining the plot, but amidst her explanation Steven noticed an ever-growing scratching noise. 'What is that? I haven't seen Lion in day's… maybe it's him?'

"Steven? Are you listening?" Connie asked after seeing Steven's worried look. She got no response from him, but began hearing loud scratching.

"Do you hear th-" A few pieces of floorboard suddenly began melting away by a green goo. Connie and Steven stared at it in confused shock. A creature climbed up from underneath the newly created hole. It had a centipede-like body, with green crystals trailing its back.

It made strange growling noises and began running around. A few more just like it began climbing in as well.

"What are those things?!" Connie asked, fearfully getting up and backing away. Steven stood up and looked down at the centipedes.

"Um… it's fine! I have an idea!" He walked over to a nightstand next to his bed and opened it quickly. He rummaged around before going, "Aha!" And holding up a blue whistle.

He held it to his lips and blew into it. Connie looked at him with confusion, before hearing a loud whistle coming from the warp pad. Seconds later, the large temple door opened up and out walked a slender lady with light peach hair in a pixie cut.

"Steven? Did you fall asleep again with th-Oh my stars!" She stepped back at the sight of all the monsters, and reached towards an oval-shaped gem on her forehead. It glowed bright white, and a handle appeared from it. Taking it in her hand, she pulled out a long spear and aimed it at the creatures.

"Pearl! Help us!" Steven yelled to the gem as Connie came to his side. Pearl threw her spear into one of the centipedes, and the force of the throw sent it flying into another one.

The temple door opened again, and out walked a shot purple gem and a tall maroon-colored gem. "Yo' Steven, we heard the whistle, what's-Oh crap!"

Amethyst stopped herself as she saw the monsters, and summoned her whip. Garnet did the same, and summoned her gauntlets. As the trio attacked the centipedes, Steven and Connie ran to the other side of the bedroom, getting away from the stairs.

Two centipedes climbed up the stairs and began trashing Steven's bedroom. "Hey! That's an exclusive!" Steven yelled in annoyance as a centipede bit down on a toy of a samurai.

After hearing his yell, the centipede dropped it and growled at him. The other centipede joined its side and began approaching him.

"Steven! Do something!" Connie said in a panic, as the centipedes began drooling green acid. As they came closer, a whip wrapped around one and dragged it off to the side. The warp chimed, and the centipede looked off to the side and jumped down.

The centipedes were soon dealt with, with one or two jumping down the hole and disappearing. The house was a mess, with pillows thrown about and acid-made holes on the floor.

Steven and Connie stepped up and looked around, seeing the gems stand in the middle of the house, talking.

"How in the world did they get here? And where's Steven?" A pink gem asked, looking around with her arms crossed.

"Up here!" Steven said, walking to the stairs with Connie behind him. The gems watched him and the new stranger walk down the stairs and approach them.

"Steven, who's this girl?" Pearl asked what they all were thinking as she pointed at Connie.

"This is Connie! Connie, these are the gems. This one's Pearl, that one's Amethyst. That is Garnet, and that's Pink Diamond." He explained, pointing at each respective gem.

"Aw Steven, is that your girlfriend?" Amethyst chided as she snickered mischievously, crossing her arms.

"Amethyst, don't embarrass him in front of his new friend," Pink said as she looked at the purple quartz disapprovingly.

Steven blushed red and covered his face with his arm, as Connie looked at them in wonder.

"So you guys are gems? I've read a lot about your culture! Is it true that you get energy from the sun?" She popped off questions with stars in her eyes, and the gems looked at each other.

"Well Connie, I'm surprised you're so curious about us. But, I'm afraid it's too dangerous for you to stay here." Pearl said, putting an arm behind her back and raising a finger.

"What!?" Steven blurted out, "But, she's just gotten here, and we haven't barely talked!"

"Steven, I'm sorry to say this, but Pearl has a point." Pink said, wincing at Steven's hurt expression.

"I suggest you and Connie go somewhere else for the meantime. We have to deal with these… things." Pearl said as she looked down at a nearby hole, seeing a centipede peaking through.

"I… o-okay. C'mon, let's go outside." Steven said, turning his head to Connie with a frown.

"Alright, um… bye." She waved to the gems before she and Steven walked out of the house. Steven was strangely quiet as they walked down to the beach.

"Steven? Are you alright?" She asked him as he looked down to the ground.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I just… they never let me do cool stuff."

"But I thought you said they let you go on missions?"

"Yeah, but they don't really let me do anything sometimes! The only cool thing they let me do was hold a statue that I somehow forgot to bring on the mission!" He frustratedly brought his hands up and threw them back above his head.

"It's not fair! I'm half gem, doesn't that mean I should be able to do gem stuff?" He calmed down a bit as he huffed.

"I'm sure they just care about you. My parents do the same, my mom especially." Connie explained, "They worry about me a lot, and, I don't know. I would guess going to gem places is more dangerous than going to tennis practice."

"I… guess you're right. But I'm half gem! I'm different, y'know?" Steven said before sighing, "They think I'm stupid, but I'm not."

Before Connie could respond, the ground shook again, the tremors seemingly returning. A shrieking roar rang out across the beach, and a dark shadow hung over them.

The pair turned slowly and looked up, before terror took over them. A humongous centipede was overlooking the beach, standing on the cliff. Its milky white mane blocked out the sky behind it, and its eye had a green gem in its place.

"Run!" Steven yelled before grabbing her hand and running down to a large fallen hand from the temple. They hid behind it as the monster crawled down the cliff and rushed towards them.

The gems ran out the house and saw the giant centipede running down the beach. Summoning their weapons, they ran down the beach to face it.

The monster turned its head and roared at them, before spraying a large blast of acid at them. They dodged out of the way, and ran towards it. The monster raised its head to the sky and opened its jaws wide. Before they could react, it began spinning and spraying acid everywhere.

The beach was carpeted by acid, and Steven and Connie cowered behind the hand. Steven looked over to Connie and saw her shaking. The acid stopped falling, and the pair looked around in confusion.

Steven stood up and peaked through a gap between the fingers, and gasped. He fell down quickly as a large spray of acid began shooting at them. The hand began melting, and Connie felt tears pick at her eyes.

Steven looked at the melting hand and panicked, "Connie, we have to move!"

The girl didn't respond, but instead let out a sob. Steven frowned before he realized that she was about to be hit by acid. He ran up and felt a burning from his gem, before a large pink shield covered the pair.

The acid broke through the hand, and began spraying the shield. Steven struggled to hold the shield up, and felt his strength dwindling.

"C-Connie… I… I'm sorry! I didn't know any of this would happen!" He said as the gems wrestled with the pincer end of the monster.

After no response, Steven continued, "I… really wanted to be friends. If you hate me, I understand… but," Using his free hand, he reached into his pocket and took out a red glowing bracelet. Connie glanced up and saw the bracelet, wiping away her tears, "Is that…"

"I saw you at the boardwalk parade, and you dropped this. I tried to find you, but I couldn't, so I put it in the freezer." He explained, Connie taking it into her hands.

She looked down at it with glazed eyes, before looking up to him. He winced as his legs nearly gave out, "We're gonna be okay, I promise. Friends?"

Connie wiped her eyes again and nodded with a weak smile, "Friends."

Steven felt his chest burn, and he looked back at the monster with a newly found confident smile. Pushing against the shield, Steven groaned as he felt his foot slide in the sand.

The gems saw the shield, and quickly began flanking around the pincer tail. The monster stopped spraying acid and turned its attention to the gems.

Amethyst's whip flew and wrapped around the monster's jaw, sealing it shut. It swung its body around and tried to hit them with its pincer, but Garnet caught it with her gauntlets.

Pearl ran in and cut a few of its legs on the front right, Pink doing the same on the other side with her sword.

Steven helped Connie to her feet, and he saw an opening, "I have an idea! Grab the edge of the shield!" She did what he said, with him grabbing the other end.

"We throw on three! One! Five! Three!" The pair threw their arms back and tossed the shield towards the monster. The shield soared through the air and chopped the monster in two, screeching out before exploding into a green cloud.

The cloud dissipated and a green gem landed onto the sand. Garnet walked up to the gems and bubbled it away, sending it off to the temple.

"Wow… that. Was… Incredible!" Connie screamed out, even though she had tear stains on the sides of her cheeks.

Steven laughed and cheered, "Yeah! That was awesome!" But what was not awesome was how tired his body was.

"I mean, that was terrifying! I thought we were gonna die! But then we threw that shield and cut it in half!" Connie rambled on while smiling.

"Steven!" The gems called out as they approached the duo.

"Hey guys! Did you see me and Connie do that! It was amazing!" Steven laughed as they stopped next to them.

"Steven, are you okay?! Did it hurt you?" Pearl asked as she checked him, moving him around by the shoulders.

"I'm okay. So is Connie." He said as Pearl let him go and stepped back.

"Steven, I'm just gonna say, that was really cool." Amethyst complimented as she gave a thumbs up. Garnet did the same, and gave him a small smile.

"Good job Steven! I'm surprised by how much you can do already!" Pink said as she walked up and ruffled his hair.

"Thanks guys! Connie helped me, so I would thank her." He said as he smiled at Connie, who was watching them.

"I-I don't know. I was freaking out too much." She said while rubbing her arm.

"Wait! If the monsters are gone, then does that mean we can hang out at the house now!?" Steven asked as he turned his head to the gems.

"I… guess so." Pearl muttered as she looked at Garnet and Pink.

"Awesome! Connie, I have to show you Lonely Blade! It's awesome!" Steven said as he grabbed her hand and ran off to the beach house.

Connie laughed as she ran behind him, "Alright!"

As the two ran off, the sun gleamed a bright yellow, promising a bright future for the day.