Lion 2: Butterfly Effect

"Steven, we can't just casually converse. These are Real sword techniques with Real weapons unlike those silly movies. It's about focus and waiting carefully for the moment to-"

"Thrust" It said as her eyes constrict...

...her blade fell, the arena growing quiet as the Gems gasp, and Steven begins to tear up...

"W-Whoopsy-daisy. Steven, i-it's okay. I'm gonna be j-just-"

POOF

Her Gem clattered against the floor, Steven clutching it in his hands as he begins to sob and cry, before finally, shouting:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

"-OOOOOOOO!" He says, to which Connie almost covered her ears, still engaged.

"So then what happens?" She asks, genuinely invested in the story.

"Oh uh... Well, I already Knew she was gonna come back, but I really had to play up the drama." He explains. "Yeah it was sad, but this time, I got rid of the holo-pearl early on, so Pearl reformed after like... half a week. That's also why you'll likely see her in new clothes."

"Oh. So... She's fine?" She asks, a bit confused, yet relieved.

"Yup. Oh uh... Hang on, weren't you gonna show me something?" Steven suddenly remembered, looking at her phone.

"Oh well... Yeah. But I figured, since you're from the future and all, maybe you wouldn't wanna see Dogcopter 3?" She sheepishly explained.

"Oh you kidding? I'd love to see it with you again." He explained enthusiastically, to which she seemed flattered.

"That reminds me, does it... stay faithful to the book?" She asks. But before he can answer, the Gems finally warp in.

Connie had never actually seen the warp pad in action, so seeing the pad light up with such magical light... it was fascinating. Though Steven just found her amazement to be entertaining. "The Gems are back."

"Greetings." Said Garnet to the small humans, to which Pearl suddenly saw her.

"Oh! W-Well, hello Connie!" Pearl greeted her. "W-What a surprise to see you!"

"We're gonna see a movie about a flying helicopter dog! Show 'em Connie." He said in an upbeat tone.

Connie did not expect to be put on the spot, but she played along. "I mean, It's about much more than that."

She proceeded to show them part of the trailer for the movie on her phone, to which Amethyst chuckles.

"Oh that's easy." She remarks, before then shape shifting into Dogcopter himself!

"W-Wha...?" Connie says in genuine surprise as she sees the purple Dogcopter before her.

"Who needs to go see movies when you've got magic~?!" She shows off, before turning her head into a boombox, playing some simple beats.

Garnet nodded her head to the music, while Pearl scoffed at the sight.

"Aw, stop showing off, Amethyst." Steven remarks with a smirk. "Connie promises this movie's even better than any magic!"

"I did not say that." She quickly clarifies, not wanting to show off in front of the Gems of all people.

"And check this out. We got our own snacks!" He goes over to the kitchen counter, where there was an assortment of snacks. Cheese puffs, apple juice and chips. Though he kept to a mostly healthy diet, an afternoon of snacks wasn't gonna suddenly ruin his body nor his metabolism.

"My parents say I'm not allowed to buy snacks at the theaters." Connie explains to the Gems, before grinning. "So, we're not buying anything at the theater~"

Amethyst gasped, before starting to fly closer. "Nom Noms! Feed me!"

"Hey! Hands off!" Steven warns her, putting himself in the way. "These are for Me and Connie to share at the movie!"

"Speaking of which... How are we going to get to the theater?" Connie then asks him. "It's kind of far."

"Don't worry, I've got it covered." Steven assures, packing up the snacks into his backpack. "Today, we're gonna travel in style."

"Okay, so... remember when I was talking to you about the boxing thing, and I said I had a surprise planned for your next visit?" Steven reminded her as they walked down to the beach.

"Yyyyeah, kinda? So, what is it?" She asks curiously, before stopping as she spots the... Large pile of pink fur.

"Well, he's the surprise. Introducing: Lion!" Steven says with a proud smile as he goes over to hug the large feline, who merely glanced back at her, before yawning and laying down on the sand.

"You have a Pet Lion?!" Connie nearly shouts in disbelief.

"Yeah, he's kinda like a pet. But like most cats, he sorta minds his own business." He briefly explains as he brushes his cotton-candy mane.

"Wow, Steven. Everything in your life is so... Awesome and Magical..." She said with a hint of... sadness to her voice. "The most exciting thing in my life is... tennis practice."

To try and cheer herself up a bit, she picked up a stick, swinging it to the best of her knowledge. "Forehand! Backhand! Overhead death strike!"

Steven chuckled at the sight, having missed these moments. "You'll become awesome one day, I can promise you that."

Connie glances at him, raising an eyebrow. "Are you messing with me?"

But before she could get her answer, Lion let out a growl yawn, standing up.

"I think that's our cue to hurry up and leave." Steven says, starting to get on his back.

"I dunno, it sounded like he was yawning." Connie replied as she hesitantly got on, holding onto Steven.

"Alright... Lion, I want you to take us to the movies!" He says as... Lion stands there, like a statue. "...oh boy. Sorry, Lion isn't really trained yet, and I'm still not sure how to get him more training."

Get him more training. Lion's ears perked up as he then began to run, surprising the two before they began to laugh, especially Connie who ended up enjoying riding on the back of a Lion.

As Lion ran down the beach and through the boardwalk, he then suddenly turned and started running towards the ocean!

"Uhh, Steven? Your Lion is running towards the ocean!" She exclaims in mild panic as he then lunges forward and... with a splash, lands directly on top of the water?

"Y-Your Lion can walk on water?!" She said in bewilderment, to which Steven could only chuckle, before Lion ran further in.

Astonishment aside, Connie enjoyed the ride as it got even more crazy with this sudden reveal. They passed a fishing ship, to which the crew stared at them in stunned surprise, and they even passed above a nearby whale!

"Uh... Are you sure he knows where he's going?" Connie asks hesitantly, as she realizes how far they're getting from Beach City.

"Yeah. This is gonna be a shortcut!" Steven exclaims as Lion's eyes begin to glow.

Charging up his powers, Lion lets out a Roar! as a pink power shoots out, before warping into a portal of sorts!

The two begin to yell in unison as he jumps through, entering a space eerily similar to the warp beams.

"Has he ever done this!?" Connie shouts in panic as she holds on to Steven tightly.

"N-No! This is technically his first time!" Steven shouts back, holding onto his mane as best as he could.

They arrived in an old cave, surrounded by stalagmites and water. Though they were somewhere hidden, the sunlight from outside crept inside through some small cracks.

Lion dropped them both off as they landed in the thankfully shallow water, though Connie got the most wet.

"Connie, are you okay?" He asks, a bit worried.

"That was really cool." She muttered as she moved her hair off of her glasses, before Lion caught their attention as he stepped onto some sort of stone platform?

They approached it, going up some small steps as Connie took in the sight. "Woah! Is this one of those... magic Gem places that you've told me about?"

And as she said that, they got close enough that the centerpiece lit up, with a hand shaped pillar rising from it.

"Yup. My Mom's super secret armory." He briefly explains as they approach it.

The pillar came to a stop, at about chest level, if he were Rose Quartz sized.

"I'm sorry this isn't the movies, but I figure... maybe this could be a cool little detour?" He tries being positive, before putting his hand on it, causing the whole platform to light up in a pink glow.

"Well, this is really cool, so... I guess I don't mind." She says, looking at the empty armory.

"Hmm... how do I do this... uh... I wanna see... Axes?" He asks, before a large collection of axes pops up, open for display.

"Woah, axes! How'd you do that?" She asks, now curious and wanting to see more.

"Well... It kinda gives me what I want, but only if I say it, or do this!" He then proceeds to boop his nose, which causes three light cannons to pop up from the ground.

"Cool! Let me try... this!" She pokes his side, causing him to laugh as a series of ancient armor sets appear.

"Nice, what about... This!" She then pokes his neck. As ticklish as he is, this is necessary to summon...

"...a giant penny?" Connie asks, staring at the odd object. "Does that mean it's worth more than a regular penny?"

"Well, that would make Cents~" He replied with a mischievous grin, to which Connie chuckles.

And as she sorts looks around, her smile begins to... slowly fade. "This is so great, but... I get the feeling, though, I'm not really supposed to be here..."

"Well, I want you here!" Steven clarifies. "Like, not here as in, not at the movies, but here with me! You're my best friend, even if you don't feel it yet. And some day, you'll become a sword fighter, fighting aliens and other dangerous things!"

Though his words seem to lift her mood, the platform goes dark as the pedestal lowers, and a hole opens up to reveal a tiki-like robot slowly rising from the ground, with crystals protruding from its head, and 3 cannon like mouths on its sides. Alongside it, spike like cover protrudes from the floor.

"Run!" Steven shouts, recognizing this moment as she grabs her hand and pulls her into a dash.

"W-What's happening?!" Connie shouts in worry before she sees that they're approaching Lion.

"No time to explain! Take a deep breath!" He exclaims as he fills his lungs with air.

Connie hesitates, before he sees the giant robot thingy charging up a shot at them! She holds her breath as... they jump into the Lion's mane?

...she noticed a sudden silence as... she felt grass touching her, the wind blowing around her, and... she couldn't breathe...?

...She looked around, before spotting a tree on a hill, with Steven running towards her with something in his hand...?

What was going on-

She Gasped for breath as she had a rough landing on the paved road, breathing heavily to catch her breath as she looked around. They were... outside the Cinema?

"Connie! Are you okay?" Steven asked as she seemed to have gotten a small scratch.

"I-I'll be fine." She touched the scratch, letting out a small hiss. "What was that? What... Happened?"

"I..." He groaned. "I ruined it. I... I was gonna show off and be all cool, but I just got you hurt and..."

He clenched his fist, letting out a sigh. "...Why do you still hang out with me? I thought... Maybe I'd accidentally scare you off by now."

"I don't know why you hang out with me!" She suddenly says, sensing his sudden anguish. "I'm so much more... less interesting than you. And obviously you already know your destiny, so... I don't get why you'd wanna watch Dogcopter instead of making some... more competent friend."

"Because I like you!" He exclaimed. "You're really cool, and funny, and... your life sounds so much nicer than mine. I'm always worried about... getting really hurt, but you can just decide to do normal things, and... I wanna do normal things with you."

...she looked to the side, seeming a bit... mixed. "...I just wish I could be more than just normal."

But it was then that a stray fireball hit a car near them! They both looked past Lion to see that the portal hadn't closed yet, and the robot was stuck trying to get through it.

"Oh no!" Connie yells. "What do we do?!"

But Steven's eyes lit up as he saw a golden moment, looking down at his hands. It was then that Connie realized... He had a sword!?

"This is perfect! You might think you're normal, but I'm about to show you how Cool you really are!" Steven exclaims as he stands up, signalling her to hold the sword with him.

She does so, confused as to what to do, before seeing that the robot got unstuck. "It came through!"

The robot, now in full destruction mode, began to shoot random bolts of elemental power at everything around it, hitting some cars, walls, sidewalks and even the cinema itself.

"Watch out!" She says in panic as a stray bolt flies towards them with her reflecting it with the sword.

It momentarily stuns the robot, and as Steven smiles at her, she suddenly understands what he was saying.

"Forehand!" She deflects another bolt. "Backhand!" She deflects another.

"Overhead... Death Strike!" They shout in unison, as with one last swing, they deflect the fireball into the machine, causing it to overheat before Exploding into pure dust!

They were stunned as they looked at the cloud of dust... with Connie merely whispering: "...just like tennis practice."

The usher of the cinema, a young teen girl, had mostly stayed stuck inside of her booth, hiding from the destruction. But once everything went silent, and she looked outside and she saw... a damaged street, and some kids, with one holding a sword, and the other followed by... a Lion?

"Uh... hello?" She said, utterly confused.

"Hi. Two tickets for two kids, and one for a Lion, to see Dogcopter." He said, pulling out some cash from his backpack.

"Uhm... do you have a reward's card...?"

He minds his own business, lapping at a bowl of fresh water, before he hears a ticking, and he flies off into the distance, his apartment building blowing up.

"Heh, I guess they did take some liberties." She comments, sipping on her apple juice, with 3D glasses on.

"Yeah, you should see the ending." He says, before she playfully taps his shoulder, causing him to realize he kinda spilled the beans.

And Lion, despite being a roughly 500+ pound feline, still watches the movie with them, with 3D glasses on, yawning one last time as he sits in his small chair.