Serious Backpack
With their forces combined, a Well thought out planned from Pearl, a Fearless display by Amethyst and a Powerful attack by Garnet, the Fowl was Vanquished in with a large poof as it's Gem was bubbled and sent home.
Pearl pants as they finally defeated the Giant Bird, before looking at Amethyst with an annoyed look.
"Why did you take it's Egg? It didn't even notice us taking the Statue!" She scolds.
Amethyst just rolls here eyes, grabbing the Egg from a bush she hid it in. "Hey, calm down P. We got the Statue, and I got the egg, which means Giant Omelette~"
"Settle down. We've got the statue, let's just go." Garnet comments, her Afro now adorned with.. Many white feathers stuck to it.
"Uhm, Garnet, aren't you..." Pearl was about to ask, before shaking her head. "Never mind. I'm just glad we get to do this, considering... last time."
Amethyst, trying her best not to laugh at Garnet's appearance, looked over at Pearl. "What, the Eye thing?"
"Yes, the Eye thing, what Else?" Pearl says with a slight scorn "Steven just... Knew what we needed. Did he... Hear us mention it before? A-And even if he did, how did he..."
But Garnet put a hand on Pearl, trying to comfort her. "Steven did a good job. Though he lacks his Gem's powers, this is already the second time he's done good for us."
"Well, I dunno, what if we like... Tested Him or something?" Amethyst suggests "Like, if he's So good, then let's see what else he can do, right?"
"Amethyst..." Pearl sighs, rubbing her face. "I... W-We don't know if he just got lucky. For all we know, if we bring him along for Real, he could get Badly hurt. He doesn't have Rose's healing abilities."
However, to the surprise of the two, Garnet nodded in agreement. "It could be luck, It could be strategy. How about we bring him along to the Sea Spire, and let him put the Statue in?"
...Pearl wanted to object, and Amethyst was unsure about that. But... Garnet suggested it, and they already suggested a test, so... they would trust Garnet on this one.
"Fine. But I'm not letting him out of my eyesight." Pearl adds, wanting to make sure nothing bad happened to Steven.
"...aaaaannndddd... 30!" He sighed, putting the weight down as he wiped his face with his towel and drank some water. Exercise out in the Sun was pretty nice, especially since it helped distract him from... thinking about certain stuff. His body was sore, but... he was making good progress! And soon enough, he'll be in peak shape, or at least close to it.
And of course, that's when he saw a certain mailman approaching him. It was Jamie! Man, he almost forgot the guy was his only mailman back then. He waved at them before approaching as well.
"If it Isn't the Postman! Do you have my package?" He asked with a grin.
"Hey there, I'm here to deliver a package for a Mister, uh..." He tried to remember his name.
"Steven. Steven Universe. I ordered a backpack?" He explains.
"There we go, Steven." He hands him the package, to which Steven promptly takes it, then gives his signature.
"So... Have you considered Acting?" He casually asks.
"Acting?" Jamie raised an eyebrow "I mean... I Am considering being a Thespian of sorts, maybe even move to Kansas once I save up enough money."
"Well... Even if you struggle and have a hard time, I think you should never give up." He says cheerfully.
"Wow... that's a lot of praise coming from a 13 year old." He says in jest "Still, thank you. Hope you have a-"
He went silent then as the house lit up in a flash. The Gems were back!
"Oh shoot! Gotta go, thanks for the package Jamie!" He starts to rush back with the box in hand.
"Oh uh, Your Welcome Steven!" Jamie shouts as Steven runs up the stairs, stepping inside.
"Hello Steven." Garnet greets, her Afro still full of feathers from earlier.
"Amethyst, we do not need that." Pearl says in mild annoyance "It's not going to fit in the Fridge."
"What? I got this." She stubbornly said, about to spill the milk and bagels before Steven thankfully ran in to stop her, not wanting to clean up the egg yolk from the fridge Again.
As Amethyst was begrudgingly stopped from storing the egg and was forced to put it on the sofa, she still cheered herself up imagining all the things they could cook with it.
Pearl just gave her an odd look, before looking back at Steven, the feathers left from their battle now strewn all around them. "We fought a Giant Bird, but we're only here for a second, we gotta go back out."
"Why's that?" Steven asks, sitting down next to the egg as he starts to unpack his box.
"We have to place this Moon Goddess Statue on the Top of the Lunar Sea Spire before Midnight." Pearl explains "Without it, the whole Place will fall apart!"
"Oh Steven... you should've Seen the Spire in its heyday." She showed a holographic display for a moment, featuring upper class Gems roaming the Spire "It was an Oasis for Gems on Earth~!"
"It's abandoned now, but we can still save it with this Statue!" She said hopefully, though Steven already new all of this.
"Well that's Perfect then." Steven comments, much to Pearl's confusion. "What? Why?" She asks.
"Because I can help carry it for you, in this:" He pulled out the backpack from the box, a rather humble looking deep blue colored Traveler's Backpack, perfect for Steven.
"It's a Traveling Backpack. I know I don't have my powers yet, but until then, this more 'Serious' backpack helps me carry all the tools I'll need." He explains.
"Yes, you don't have powers, so maybe you should let us take care of it." Pearl says, before Amethyst jumps in.
"Hey, I thought we agreed to let him join on th-" She paused, noting Garnet's unflinching gaze. "I mean... I... thought we agreed to let him join us one of these days! It'll be educational~!"
"Hmm... Alright." She did kind of agree to this before. "You can carry it in your backpack."
Steven gives a thumbs up as he takes the Statue, puts on a jacket and packs supplies. Rope, Food, Small First-Aid Kit... Definitely not bringing Mr Queasy again...
"Alright, I'm ready!" He shouts, running back in some more adventure appropriate shoes.
"Good, let's Warp." Garnet says, everyone getting in position. It felt good to do this again, light shining all around him as he stayed calm and stood still as they were Warped to their destination.
The Lunar Sea Spire... once an Opulent place created for the Intellectuals of Gem Society... now crumbling to pieces, much to the Gem's dismay.
"Ugh..." They say in unison, Pearl stepping closer to it. "It wasn't like this a 100 years ago..."
"I'm sensing structural instability." Garnet comments, adjusting her shade and watching her step. "Quickly, we have to move."
As they neared the edge of a cliff, she paused, confusing Amethyst. "What's the Hold up? We can clear this Easily."
"No." Garnet quickly replies. "The magic that sustains the whirlpool creates a vortex that will pull us below." And as a demonstration, she chucks a small boulder which Immediately sinks to the bottom of the whirlpool.
"So we can't jump?" Pearl asks, trying to think of a solution, before then, caught off in Total surprise, Steven rushes ahead, Rope in hand with what seemed to be a reused rebar rod tied to the end of it, giving it enough speed and weight to enter one of the holes in the structure to loop around as Steven Jumps and catches it Just in the nick of time.
"Steven Wait!" They shout in panic, before Steven forced himself up the side of the Spire, stepping in and letting the rope be sucked back down as he pants, sweating a bit. He rushed that... and was lucky it worked out in the end.
"Steven! Way to go!" Amethyst said, kinda Hyped by his performance before mimicking him, whipping the same hole and grabbing the other two. "Come on guys!"
And with a Jump and a Run, she ran up the side of the Spire with both Gems clutching her, proclaiming: "Steven Styyyyle~!" as she finally jumped in with Steven.
After a moment of shock, Pearl immediately says "Don't Ever do that Again!"
A bit more calm now, Steven merely chuckles, saying "Sorry!" with a grin.
Garnet gave the boy's hair a gentle scratch as Amethyst passed him, Pearl letting out a sigh.
"But... it was pretty great." She admitted with a little smile.
The Ruins of the Sea Spire were... Quite the eyesore for the Gems, Pearl especially.
"Oh no no no... this is even Worse than the outside..." She groaned, making other noises in utter discomfort as the sight. "And the water damage... Oh, and this had a head..."
"Oh Steven, once the statue is in place it'll restore all of this to its former glory- eeeughuhahuaaaaAAAAHH!" She said in pure Disgust as crystalline slugs crawled out of the sides of the statue, causing her to cut it in half. "Crystal Shrimp."
"You guys?!" Amethyst shouts to them "We got a problem!"
As they stepped up, Pearl and the rest saw the Mass Infestation of Shrimp strewn about.
"It's an Infestation." Pearl exclaims "And we have to pass through there to get to the Top."
"We need to clear a path..." Pearl comments, before she heard some crunching, and next thing she knew, Steven threw Potato Chips and Bananas at the shrimp, causing them to horde the food and ignore them completely.
"Brilliant." Garnet commends him.
"Oh hey, whadaya know?" Amethyst says in slight surprise.
"Uh- I- H-How did you know that would work...?" Pearl asks in confusion, causing Steven to smirk.
"Well, if I was a shrimp, I'd do the same." He casually says, to which Amethyst jokingly adds: "You are a shrimp."
Pearl, a little unsettled, merely says: "I just want everyone to know that I had a plan that would've also worked."
As they step ahead, they encounter a leaking wall. "Watch Out!" Garnet exclaims as the wall Bursts, gushing out a strong torrent of water.
"What are we gonna do?" Amethyst adds, before looking at Steven expectantly, the other two looking at him as well.
"Oh uh, Me? I uh... No, I'll let you guys handle this one." He sheepishly reply, to which they shrug with a nod. And after a moment of thinking, Garnet walks up to a pillar before Sweep kicking the base of the pillar and Bashing it with her elbow, causing it to fall and form a makeshift bridge across.
"Oh well, you can't have tools for everything." Amethyst says to Steven as they walk upstairs.
Finally... They reached the Peak of the Sea Spire, much to Pearl's joy.
"This is it. The Moon Goddess Pedestal. And the Moon is almost overhead!" She said enthusiastically. "It's not to late to save this piece of History~!"
"Steven. The Statue." Garnet requests, looking at him.
Steven kneeled down to look through his backpack, his hands shaking ever so slightly. He remembered this day vividly... how badly he messed up. How... it was supposed to be a test, and he only barely "Passed" much to the Gem's disappointment. This time... It would be different. This time... he would do Better.
Finally, clutching it in his hand, he pulled out the Statue in all its glory, before handing it to Garnet, who shook her head and insisted that Steven place it instead.
With a deep breath, he placed the statue on the Pedestal, and just in time too. The Moon got in place, and the Pedestal Shot a beam of light into the night sky, right onto the Moon's surface, "Probably something to do with the Moon Base." Steven thought as the Statue began to levitate, Glowing with pure energy before then... the Tower began to rumble, and to everyone's shock, the Spire began to Repair Itself!
The centuries of water damage began to glow and slowly heal, filling in cracks and repairing broken structures, with stone chunks and similar pieces glowing and levitating from the very whirlpool itself as they returned to their places, and were healed back into their original state.
"Steven... You... You did it!" Pearl exclaims with a Big smile, tearing up a bit as she hugged the child, causing Steven to tear up as well. Finally... he wasn't just repeating history, but improving upon it.
"Man Steven, I ain't gonna lie, that was all pretty Cool." Amethyst comments.
"I agree, that was pretty 'Cool'. Thank you, Steven." Garnet adds as the last of the Spire repairs itself.
The reparations sadly didn't remove the centuries of grime and filth in the tower, and they still had to get rid of the crystal shrimp. But as far as they're concerned, the mission was a resounding success, and it couldn't have gone any better.
As night fell, Steven got into bed with his pijamas on. It was a long day, and between the morning exercise and the Spire trip, he's ready to clock in for the day, relaxing as he got comfy in his sheets.
That was when he felt Pearl sitting next to him, gently running her fingers through his hair.
"You handled everything well under pressure, Steven." She said with a little smile "The Spire was falling apart, but you remained brave and strong and... I'm... proud of you."
Steven smiled back, letting out a satisfied sigh. "thank you pearl. but I couldn't have done it without you guys. thanks for letting me join you."
"It was our pleasure." She adds, before finally standing up, turning off the lights for Steven to sleep. "Good night Steven."
And with a pleasant feeling in his heart and mind... Steven finally slips into a slumber.