Adequate Steven

He pulled aside the curtains, stepping out in his sandals as he dried himself before wrapping a towel around his waist. He paused in front of the mirror, wiping the steam droplets off it before looking at himself.

He wasn't exactly doing a rigorous strongman workout meant to make him a peak human, his Gem nature already made him better than the others. No... He had instead gone for a more modest, semi decent build for the kind of stuff he does, and today? Today was his first "Real" mission, and he was More than adequate for it this time.

Two weeks of extra hard workouts, coupled with his regular workout. The guys at the gym have been really nice about helping him too. Maybe this time he can... learn how to be more Human?

Whatever the case, he was skinnier, more muscly, yet still regular looking for his age, classic Steven Universe. And he was gonna get the chance to show off his skills helping out the Gems.

"Pay attention, Steven." Garnet instructs Him. "This is going to be your First Serious Mission."

"You Need to be Ready." She reminds Him as Steven nods, dressed in a Jacket with Shoes and his Backpack, No Ukulele this time sadly.

"Er... why did you bring that?" Pearl asks as she noticed said backpack.

"I dunno. Anything could happen really, so I brought my usual supplies." He responded, to which Pearl was actually a bit thankful.

The Warp Beam would dissipate as they landed upon a familiar sight to all but Amethyst. A Large Battlefield, Colossal Weapons strewn about a strawberry infested grass field.

"No accidents, Good. Now let's go recover the Gemstone." Garnet says as she takes the lead, the others following behind her as they look around curiously.

"Unbelievable!" Pearl gasps. "This was once a Gem Battlefield."

"Now it's wild strawberries as far as the eye can see!" She exclaims gleefully, to which Amethyst rolls her eyes as Pearl adds: "Ohhh, That's what I Love about the Earth~!"

"Maybe this will be an easy mission after all hehe-" But Pearl was cut off as she stumbled into Garnet before seeing what the other three spotted. A Giant, Gravity-Defying, Upside down Pyramid of Gem design.

"Maybe not." Garnet replies as she summons forth a pyramid key from her palm Gems, slow pushing it into the pyramid's slot as the door fades away with a twinkle of magic.

And as they stepped into the Pyramid, they found themselves inside a Very well preserved structure, likely saved from Millennia of degradation due to its highly resistant exterior. And as Steven walked about, he suddenly found a new appreciation for the old structure.

He finally understood the murals somewhat, some depicting her Mom and what were likely humans helping her fend off Homeworld Gems, some that show other Gems of great power, and hands reaching out, likely symbolizing the general struggle for power. He took his phone out and began to take pictures while the other Gems focused on finding the Gemstone Garnet thinks is here.

That was, of course, when he saw it. A smaller, floating, inverted pyramid on a pedestal. He approached it, looking over it as he tried to remember what it would do, the other Gems unaware as they try to find any doors or tunnels within.

"Hey guys!" He calls out. "There's a hole in the roof, and a floating Pyramid underneath it."

The others notice it, approaching him as Pearl speaks up "Well, whatever it is, you probably shouldn't touch it."

"Hmm... But what if that's the point?" He starts explaining, directing it more towards Garnet as she peers at the strange mechanism. "There's no doors or anything, maybe this thing is like a switch?"

After a moment of silence, and anticipation from the other Gems, Garnet looks up at the roof. "If we activate it, we will be sucked up into the hole above us, likely a trap of sorts."

"Uhm... Oh wait, I know!" Steven interjects. "If its a trap, then I can bubble us all and protect us. We'll be safe then."

That, of course, lead to the surprise of Pearl and Amethyst, the former gasping and the latter letting out a "Woah."

"You can summon Rose's Bubble? W-Why didn't you tell us?" Pearl wanted to know, still a bit stunned.

"Yeah man, I thought you'd be all excited and tell us, what gives?" Amethyst started to question, suspicious again.

"O-Oh, well uh..." But then. Garnet put a hand on Steven's shoulder, looking at him. "We will leave this discussion for when we return. For now, let's give Steven a chance to prove himself."

Steven, of course, smiled with a nod before looking to the pyramid. He carefully flipped it over, causing the whole structure to start shaking as dust fell all around them and they felt their bodies grow lighter before they suddenly began to fall upwards?

As he said, Steven focused his feelings, his need to protect those he cared for the most, before they were all enveloped in the pink rose that turned into a magic bubble, causing them to bounce a bit upon landing before it popped, giving them all a safe landing.

"Woo! Way to go Steven!" Amethyst cheered. "Guess you're getting Real close to being like Rose now, huh?"

"Her Bubble..." Pearl commented with... a stunned look, before quickly shaking it off. "Er, that was Very impressive, you've certainly grown stronger Steven."

"Aww, thanks Pearl, though uh... where are we?" He asks as they look around.

As the hole above them was sealed, leaving them in darkness, torches began to light up around them, revealing a series of doors all around them like a maze of hallways.

"Looks like we're gonna have to split up." Amethyst comments, with Pearl nodding.

"Right. Steven and I will stay right here where it seems to be... safe." Pearl says, holding onto his shoulders. "While you guys go and solve the mystery of this place."

"Wait!" Steven interjects, stepping away from Pearl. "I wanna help solve the mystery too."

"Yeah Steven, let's go solve the mystery~" Amethyst responds with a grin.

However, Steven promptly stopped her, stepping away from her too. "Actually, I wanna go with Garnet for this one."

Pearl looked at Garnet, worried. But Garnet merely nodded, offering her hand to Steven. "But remember, this is a Serious mission."

"Don't worry, I'll do my best to help." Steven assures Garnet as they begin to walk towards one of the doors. Pearl wanted to object... but came up short on reasons for him not to go.

It started off simple for the duo, the door closing behind them as they were in a room full of lit tiles like a sort of checkerboard. The exit was on the other side of the room.

"We need to stay on the glowing panels." Garnet warns Steven, who took quick to it, carefully jumping from tile to tile.

"You know, it's nice to be doing stuff with you Garnet." He comments between jumps, carefully reaching the end. "You're always so busy, it can kinda be hard to hang out sometimes, y'know?"

Garnet was more focused on the task at hand. Though seeing as they safely made it to the end, even quickly pulling on Steven's jacket when the room suddenly shook, she replied.

"My tasks take priority over everything else." She opened the door, stepping into a corridor. "We can never know when another Gem appears, nor for how long they will remain in one single area."

"...Yeah, I guess that's true." He replied as they entered another room and the door closed once more. The room shook like the last one, and he... suddenly noticed a faint nausea in his stomach.

The room looked like the corridor they just came from, but a bit wider, with closed panels above them.

"We can take a break if you're not feeling well, Steven." Garnet comments, noting his discomfort.

"Huh? Oh, n-no I'm okay. I'm just thinking..." He looked around, gently touching the walls, though careful not to push on them. "I think... there's a hidden panel here to open that other door, but there might be a trap..."

"Well be careful, you might set off a trap with that big brain of yours~" Garnet said with a little smirk, rubbing his fluffy hair playfully.

He smiled in return, before looking around carefully. "...I can't really figure this one out. Maybe you could solve it?"

She takes up on the offer, Deep in "Thought" before, after a few moments, she carefully pressed on one of the hidden switches on the wall that opened the exit door.

This... however... was different. The door closed behind them as they now faced their most lethal trap. A long, cylindrical room covered head to toe in sharp spikes, with platforms floating in between large swinging axes, with lava occasionally spewing from the ceiling, large spike covered crushers slamming down on some of the platforms and even fire spewing from beneath them.

The room shook once more, causing Steven to get a little more nauseous as he began to sweat a bit, getting him anxious with how little he knew he could do here.

"Get ready Steven, this is gonna be intense." Garnet says, before Steven... shakes his head.

"A-Actually, uhm... I... I-I think it's best if... I curl up and... y-you carry me across?" He somewhat anxiously asked.

And without another thought, or another word, Garnet nodded. Steven curled up into a ball, eyes closed and hands on his ears as he did his best to push out the world around him, and focus entirely on nothing.

He heard the axes swinging through the air, the molten sound of fresh magma dripping around him, the sound of spikes smashing into hard material, and even the roar of flames all around him. Though it felt like a long time, by the time the sounds ended and he opened his eyes, a mere 45 seconds had passed.

Garnet gently set him down, where he wiped his brow and sighed in relief as the door opened, and offered them an escape.

Or so they thought.

They merely ended back in the same central area, surrounded by hallways all around them as Garnet exclaimed: "We're back where we started."

"Garnet! There you are!" A familiar voice exclaimed, out of breath and lost, it was Pearl. "The doors and rooms here make No sense! They all bring you back here!"

Another door opened nearby, with Amethyst running out of it, grunting and exasperated as she exclaimed: "Get me Out of Here!" Before running into another door.

"There are 16 doors and we entered from the Northeast, and went through 3 consecutive rooms in a straight line." Pearl began to explain as in the background, Amethyst returned with a (thankfully) dull bear trap stuck to her head, of which she quickly pulled off before leaving again.

"But arrived back here out the Southern most door which can only mean... w-well... I don't know what it means!? I-" But she was the cut off as Amethyst suddenly slid into view, stuck inside of an ice cube.

"This is a Death Trap!" She exclaims in panic before running to Amethysts aid, bashing the ice with her spear.

Steven... clutches his stomach again, still feeling that nausea, before it suddenly struck him. Of course! How could he forget?

"W-Wait! Garnet, we fell even deeper into the pyramid, right?" He looks to her. "Well... what if that means we're near the bottom? If... You can smash into the floor here, maybe we can brute force our way out of here?"

...Garnet thought this through for a moment. She came here for a Gem, but clearly they are not in the best position. So for Steven, he would once more follow his word, summoning her gauntlets before beginning to smash into the floor, punching deeper and deeper until the whole floor cracked and they dropped into a hidden room.

And so, they found themselves dropping and landing into a room full of small, rotating pyramid-like platforms, with Garnet catching Steven midair.

As Amethyst also fell, her ice cube shattering as she roughly lands, Pearl looked in awe at the ancient mechanism all around them.

"This is unbelievable! This Gem powered mechanism!" Her Gem glowed, displaying a helpful little hologram to show what she's describing. "It's manipulating the rooms above. Every room we entered spun us until we came back to the central chamber!"

Steven, admittedly, wished he said all of that first. But because he didn't go to the teacups again and risk getting nauseous once more, He couldn't bring up the analogy, so he let Pearl have this one.

As they fly about in the large chamber, Steven spots the central obelisk with a Gem fitted into its core. "Garnet, I'm gonna need you to trust me one more time, and launch me to the center."

Garnet nods again, and picks him up as he curls up, backpack and all. "Steven Ball, Go!"

He flew through the air, landing roughly against the obelisk with a sharp pain. But he persisted, gripping onto it as he looked at the Gem in front of him.

With both hands gripping the Gem, and both feet planted firmly on the side of the obelisk, he pulled with Everything he had, before it made a sound, and ejected itself.

He bubbled himself as he landed on the ground, before the bubble popped, letting the pyramid all around them begin to be partially absorbed by the now glowing Gem.

And as it radiated with power, and the whole structure lit up, a beam of light shot into the heavens before the Entire temple Exploded!

Around the newly formed crater, giant stone debris rained down on the strawberry field, crushing some berries and turning them into a pulpy strawberry jam, sizzling with heat from the explosion.

"Steven? Steven!" Pearl yelled out, unharmed as she stood up from a berry bush. "Where is he?!"

Amethyst then sighed in relief, pointing to him. "He's over here!"

The trio found Steven, having landed on a bush, protected by his bubble. Though once it popped, Pearl gently bubbled the Gem as Steven stood up, his shoes getting sticky jam on their soles.

"Ahhh... I'd say you handled that adventure very well." Pearl complimented with relief, sending the bubbled Gem away.

"Yeah, nice job Adequate Steven." Amethyst said with a little sass.

Garnet showed up, picking up and handing back Steven's backpack. "Steven has always been adequate."

Steven kinda blushes from the round of praises, before he pulls out a rag and a disinfectant spray to clean his shoes. "Thanks you guys, but I couldn't have done it without your help."

And so, the day was saved, and Steven once more proved himself capable to the Gems.