"PEARL!"
The shout coming from the son of Rose Quartz alerts the leader, her husband, and Yellow Pearl. They rushed outside with their weapons out and ready for battle with whatever's causing havoc. "Where's the danger?!" Yellow shouted before Steven ran up to them from the stairs.
"Help me, save me, help me! Save Me!" He jumps into Pearl's arms and hugs her. It didn't take long for the three to notice everything's completely fine on the beach, no screams and no large corruptions, no Homeworld Gems. "Save you from what?"
Yellow Pearl's question is answered by multiple other Stevens running up the steps and around them laughing, each being the gems based on their colors or the locations of their Gems, Lapis, Blue Pearl, Violet Pearl, Anaya, Pink Pearl, Amethyst, Soren, and Garnet. Pearl was very confused by this. "What on Earth is going on?!" She is then poked on the Gem by Steven.
"Tag! You're it." Pearl looks at the others that're in the form of Steven. "Care to explain-" She stops mid-sentence from Steven putting his finger in her mouth. While she pulled him away Onyx finished the sentence for her. "Care to tell us what you're doing playing with Steven as...Steven?"
Lapis answers him. "We're playing Steven Tag!" She then explains. "If he tags you, you need to form into Steven and tag those that aren't Steven." Anaya then tells Pearl. "And since you were tagged Pearl, you have to turn into a Steven now."
"It's the rules." Garnet said in her normal tone, adjusting her visors. "Oh, please." Pearl said as she put Steven down nicely, who looked disappointed by her answer. "Awww, no fair!" Hearing this, Amethyst began to grin before speaking. "Sooooo, that means we're out of players." She looks at Garnet who's back was turned. "Get ready for Steven Tag Advance!"
She jumps in the air to tackle Garnet, only for her to dodge the tackle and grabs Amethyst before throwing her up into the sky. In a flash, Garnet leaps up and slaps Amethyst back with a strong smack, making her scream as she slams into the beach, leaving a large crater in the sand.
"Tag." The Gems rushed towards the crater. Stopping near it Pink Pearl shouts. "Are you ok Amethyst?!" For their answer, Amethyst gets up from the crater, groaning as she exits it with the help of Soren and Pink Pearl. "Garnet wins."
Later
After everyone was done playing Steven Tag, Steven decided to go and get some donuts for them to eat with Soren tagging along while the others wait at the Beach House or for Amethyst's situation, rest after being tag-slammed into the beach. "So, what's it like being able to control fire?"
"It's good...as long as you have control over it." He held his hand out releasing a flame of red before extinguishing it. "If I don't have control, somebody would be walking on the glass later." That sent a shiver up Steven's spine at the thought of someone accidentally cutting their feet.
Thankfully that was interrupted by a shout. "STOP!" They did so and noticed who it was. "Oh, hey Ronaldo." The Spessartine Gem waved to the eldest son of Mr. Fryman, who was wearing an outfit with military camouflage of green, black, and brown, hiding behind a large rock. "This is a restricted zone! Only those with special clearance may enter!"
"Special clearance, huh?" Soren and Steven looked at one another before Steven asked Ronaldo. "May, we have special clearance?" Ronaldo hums, looking at the two in front of him before shrugging. "Granted. But I need to get you ready." Ronaldo told Steven before soon putting on clear bags over his hands and feet. "Now that you're properly suited, let's investigate!"
The Fryman begins rummaging through his duffle bag, taking out and handing Steven a pair of binoculars. "Ok. Do you guys see those holes over there?" Soren looks closely at the wall with Steven looking through the binoculars. After a second, they noticed the many holes.
"Their shape and pattern are repeated over and over. Some might say it's a coincidence. I say there's something...more." Ronaldo told them while taking pics of the holes in the solid mountain wall. Soren raised a brow. "Something more?" Steven asks. "Like what? A double coincidence?" "You'd already be in the know if you followed my blog." Ronaldo pulls out his phone and shows them his blog.
"Keep Beach City Weird! I document all the weird things that happen in Beach City! You can't always trust facts and books. I'm out here hunting the TRUTH!" They then hear someone shout. "There you are!" Looking they noticed it was Peedee who ran towards his older brother. "Dad wants you back at the shop! You're missing out on valuable frying time!"
Ronaldo tells his brother. "It's Weird time, Peedee! I'm doing big stuff! Cover for me!" Peedee sighs at this. "Fine. But this is the last time, or I'm telling Dad." With that Ronaldo's brother walks away mumbling angrily. "Big stuff, I'll give you big stuff." Ronaldo turns his attention back to Steven and Soren.
"So. You wanna get your hands really dirty or what?" Steven responds by taking the clear bags off his hands and feet with Soren saying. "Sure. It hasn't been the first time I've got my hands dirty." Ronaldo packs his things before walking away with the two following him. "Then follow me."
At the Boardwalk
"I can't wait until we find something paranormal." Steven announced to Spessartine and Ronaldo, looking through the binoculars he was given earlier. "Shh!" Ronaldo hushed him, holding up his detection device. "I'm picking up a quantum flux on the Weird-O-Meter." He moves it around before pointing at a chunk of pointy red rocks. "There!"
Steven looks at the direction he's pointing and is amazed by the rocks. "Whoaaaa!" They approached the rocks to examine them closely. "Did they fall from the sky?" Steven looks up while Soren keeps his eyes on the rocks, giving them an odd look, whispering to himself. "These somewhat look familiar?"
"My research suggests, they grew up from the ground." Ronaldo pointed out, seeing the ground around the rocks have been disturbed, not long after they moved on, going to the Big Donut, which was perfect as this was where Steven and Soren were going to go to. While Soren offered to inside and get the donuts for them including the Fryman, Steven spotted flower petals laying on top of the Big Donut's garbage bin. "Ronaldo! Look at this!"
He runs towards the bin with Ronaldo behind him. "According to an online encyclopedia, in which I am a user/editor of, this species isn't indigenous to this region...or this dimension-sion-sion-sion!" Ronaldo began making a dramatic echo at the end.
At Beach City Fries
"We live in a strange world." Ronaldo starts eating his donut. "Stranger than most know, stranger than they care to know. Take my brother for instance." They look over to Peedee who is working at the counter of Beach City Fries.
"He's always getting on my case, telling me to work more. He'll never understand, but you guys." Soren and Steven look back at him. "I can tell you're both just like me. I know you're someone I can trust...!"
Hours Later
Walking up the mountain that the Temple is a part of, the three reached the top to the Lighthouse. Entering they started climbing up the stairs on the inside until they made it to the top floor. "You're ready for what I've found. The cause of Beach City's paranormal activity."
"Wait, what?" Steven gave a confused look before Ronaldo leads him and Soren through the now opened door, entering the lantern room. "Welcome to my office, go that way." They walk to the right of the lighthouse light before making it to a large board with several newspaper clips. "Welcome...to the truth!"
Looking closely they noticed the name, Snake People, written in large letters at the top of the board. Steven shouted in shock. "Snake People?!" Soren however was confused. "Snake People?"
"Snake People! Or, Sneople, control our government at the highest levels! Look!" He takes out a single dollar bill and shows them it, pointing at the snake on the paper. "The snake represents their hold on our nation." He then points at the diamond. "And the diamond represents their underground mines or their sharp fangs...The details aren't important."
Ronaldo put away his dollar and walked over to the board. "They pit us mammals against each other with elections, sports, and anime message boards. We spend so much time fighting over "dubs" or "subs" that we miss the big picture!" Steven looked in fear and wonder. "What's that?"
"That the world is under their control." Ronaldo got closer and whispered to them. "And they could be watching our every moves...right... now..." Dread began to fill the air around them before Ronaldo started laughing, which he stopped abruptly. "But not here. This place is one of the only safe havens away from the Sneople! They can't spy on us from up here."
After this, the two Gems began to leave the Lighthouse, deep in thought of what Ronaldo had told them. Could there really be human-like snakes controlling their world? And if possible, could they be working with the Diamonds. Just as they took a few steps, they spotted a small garden snake slither past them, hissing as it did so, causing Steven to scream as he ran off back home with Soren following from behind.
The Beach House
Minutes after running down the hill, Steven ran into the house panting as he slams the screen door behind him, making Soren tear through the screen like tissue paper on accident, startling the Gems that're in the Beach House. "Steven, don't slam the door like that!" Pearl shouted as Yellow Pearl added in. "We need to reinforce that screen with steel next time." After saying this Steven ran up to them shouting.
"We need to snake-proof the house!" This was concerning to the others. "Why?" Pearl questioned with a raised brow. "We don't even get snakes on this part of the beach." Amethyst said as she and Pink Pearl helped Soren out of the screen he went through. Soren answers for Steven. "To stop the snake people."
Everyone looked bewildered at what he said. "Snake People?" Amethyst asked, looking at Soren, chuckling at that nonsense, which made Steven's face turn red a bit. "What's so funny about Sneople? Look at this!" Taking out his phone, Steven taps the internet icon and shows the Gems present in the room of Ronaldo's blog. He shows them the holes from the cliff where Ronaldo was at first.
"That must be from when we fought those drill parasites on the beach." Lapis pointed out with a smile, jogging Steven and Soren's memory of the time that happened. "I never saw them drill through that part of the beach before." Steven then shows them the next picture. "What about this?"
Looking closely they began to notice the red rock chunks which the two came across earlier. "That looks like pieces of that Red Eye you Gems blew up." Yellow Pearl answered with her arms crossed. "So that's why they looked familiar to me." Soren said, remembering the same exact shade of red from the Red Eye.
"Well, what about this!?" *shows a picture of a garbage bin covered in flower petals. "Aww, it's the flowers from Rose's moss." Pearl said that with a smile. Realizing this, Steven slaps his head. "Is all the weird stuff that happens in Beach City because of us?" "Well, yeah." Lapis answered with a nod.
Soren and Steven feel like fools right now. This entire time, the holes, the rocks, the flowers, everything else Ronaldo covered on, was caused because of them, which means Snake People are fake. For Steven, this was a lot to take in. "I need some air..." As he walked out, Soren looked at Amethyst, Pink, and the others. "I think I should go and tell Ronaldo about the bad news." After saying this, he left the Beach House.
Outside
After going down to the beach they spotted Ronaldo on the not far from them, investigating the crater formed earlier by Amethyst who was slammed into the ground by Garnet. "Ronaldo?" "What're you doing here?" Hearing his name and the question, the Fryman ceased putting the cast on the crater. "Steven, Soren! Did you see this crater? I think the snake people might have left it as a sign."
"Yeah..." The two approached the Fryman as Steven spoke in an apologetic tone. "Um...Ronaldo?" The Fryman turned, revealing his smiling anime-esque face. "Yes, Steven?" The young Gem asked him. "Are you...Totally sure about this, "snake people" thing?" Using his fingers to quote-unquote snake people was enough to make Ronaldo's smile quickly fade away. "Are you guys having doubts?"
Soren answers for Steven. "Not really just doubts." He began to scratch the back of his head. "We just found out that those weird holes in the cliff were just something that we and the Gems did." The Fryman just shrugs it off. "Well, okay...but those red rocks-" Steven started to rub his arm. "That was us..."
"But, the flowers..." Soren tells him. "That's us too. Mainly Steven's mom." Ronaldo wasn't giving up on his theories. "But...But the truth!" Steven tells him. "Maybe the truth just isn't what you thought it was." The eldest brother of Peedee thought otherwise. "Sure it is! Don't get hung up on these minor facts. Truth is about more than that, truth is a feeling in your gut that you know is true! Truth is searching for anything that proves you're right no matter how small, and holding on to that, no matter what."
Steven tells Ronaldo. "That kinda sounds like the opposite of the truth." Ronaldo ignored Steven's words, seeing that the cast he poured into the crater has finally dried. "Look! The proof! This cast will show the true face of this conspiracy." He gets a good grip on the cast and pulls it up.
"And...!" He looks at the casting mold and sees a perfect form of Steven, but with a Gem in the chest cavity. "Wha-huh?" This left the two Gems looking guilty now that the truth has been revealed to Ronaldo. "That's probably from Steven Tag." Soren's words hit Ronaldo like a brick wall. "What?!" Steven explains to him. "It's a game where, when I tag one of the Gems, they-"
Ronaldo stops Steven from finishing, now showing an expression of disappointment. "I'm really not at the center of anything..." A lone tear left his eye. "I'm nothing..." He started to walk away in despair, dragging the cast on the sand until it broke apart, making him drop it but continue to walk away.
"You know..." Soren began. "I'm starting to think telling him the truth was a bad idea." With that, the two went back inside of the Beach House.
Hours Later
Back inside the Beach House, Steven was on the couch in the living room, slouching with Lapis by his side while Soren was in the kitchen, helping Amethyst and Pink Pearl finish off an oversized sundae, but despite enjoying the food, it wasn't enough to get rid of the guilt.
"What's wrong Steven?" Pearl asked as she approached him and Lapis, seeing Steven browsing through Ronaldo's blog on his phone and finding out it has been shut down by him after finding out the truth. "I think we broke Ronaldo's heart."
Pearl decides to tell the young Gem. "Oh, Steven. Humans just lead short, boring, insignificant lives, so they make up stories to feel like they're a part of something bigger. They want to blame all the world's problems on some single enemy they can fight, instead of a complex network of interrelated forces beyond anyone's control."
"It's sad and funny." Amethyst spoke before scooping another ball of ice cream from the sundae and eating it. Pearl glared at her before looking back at Steven. "Don't feel bad about it, okay? It's not like he was ever going to be right." As she was saying this, Steven began looking at a coin on the table, which has a snake logo on it. It didn't take long for him to have an idea to fix it.
Steven gets up from the couch, approaches the three eating the sundae, and whispers to Soren, who seems to be interested in the idea he has before getting up. "We'll be right back!" While they ran towards the front door Pearl, who was about to clean the dishes with Onyx and Yellow, asked, surprised by their sudden sprint to the door. "Where are you both going?"
"We're gonna go fix Ronaldo! We'll be back in an hour!" With that, they shut the door and left. From Steven's room, Anaya, Blue Pearl, and Violet Pearl took their sight away from the TV and to the door. "Should we go after them?" Blue asked before Yellow told her. "They said they'll be back in an hour. We should wait until then."
Meanwhile
In the back of Beach City Fries, Peedee was peeling some potatoes. At this time his brother Ronaldo exits the back of the shop to take out the trash. Here, his little brother tried to stir up a conversation. "Yo, Ronaldo!" He greeted but was only met with silence. "So...Seen anything...Weird lately?" Ronaldo turned, revealing a depressed expression and his unshaven face.
"No, everything's... normal." That ordinariness went away when Steven then appeared and approached the two Fryman's. His entire body coated in what looked Soren, shapeshifted into a red and blue snake costume. Steven hissed catching the brother's attention before he and Soren began to speak to cover their voices. "Snake men are real...And we're puppeting the government!"
Steven hisses again, causing Peedee to scream and hide behind Ronaldo, who unlike Peedee began to grin and start laughing in a hysterical manner. He slowly approaches Steven and Soren who are now unsure of what to do now, soon Ronaldo retrieved a potato from his shirt and hits Steven over the head with it, knocking him out, with the exclusion of Soren who remained inanimate as Ronaldo dragged them away with Peedee following.
Nighttime
Waking up after being unconscious for some time, Steven begins waking up. As he did he noticed that he was back inside the top of the lighthouse, still wearing Soren who kept the snake costume form he's in, both chained to a metal chair. Just then Ronaldo stood in front of them.
"Wakey wakey Mr. Snaky...!" The Fryman said, interrogating what he still believes is a Snake Person while Peedee records with a hand-held camcorder. During this Ronaldo takes out a flashlight, using it to examine Steven's eyes. "Hm...Waveforms seem typical for a twelfth-dimensional being of this size."
He then moves the little light to lift up the costume's arms in which case are Soren's. "Arms appear to be, vestigial." Shivering Peedee asks his older brother. "Uh...R-R-Ronaldo?" He stuttered "I-Is that...One of the monster people you've been hunting?" Ronaldo shook his head. "No-no, not "monster", Peedee, Snerson. It's VERY scientific!" He then sighed and hands Peedee the potato he still has.
"But still, better safe than sorry." Peedee was visibly confused. "What's this for?" Ronaldo points to himself. "For me! In case the amphibianoids turn my body into a host vessel!" Peedee was now in a panic. "No!" He lets the potato drop to the ground and quails with tears streaming down his eyes.
Ronaldo encourages his brother. "Peedee, Peedee, Peedee!" The said Fryman looks up at him. "You gotta look at the big picture here! Something important is finally happening to me!" After he finished, he turned back to Steven and Soren. "Now talk! Who of the Sneople sent you here to silence me from exposing the truth?" He shines the light in their eyes.
"Was it those three so-called Crystal Gems?" His question brought curiosity to Steven and Soren. "Crystal Gems?" In response, Ronaldo showed them a picture of what looked to be Anaya, Blue Pearl, and Violet Pearl hanging out together in Fish Stew Pizza having a conversation together while enjoying some soft drinks and pizza.
However, looking closely at the picture they can see Anaya holding up a notebook, showing both Pearl's a drawing that looked to be a blue diamond. "I overheard them fantasizing about this Blue Diamond of theirs many days ago." He then tosses the picture away and begins questioning them.
"Are they the ones that sent you after me? Have they known I've been spying on them each time they come here? Is that Diamond of there's been the one controlling our government right now?!" Before he could go on or get any answers, the wall of the Lighthouse above them suddenly is blasted to bits, revealing the Gems, fully armed with their weapons or element.
"Hello." Garnet greeted in her normal tone of voice. "We know you have Steven!" Shouted Lapis, about to go in and attack, only to be held back by Blue and Violet. "That goes for Soren too! Give him up, curly!" Amethyst growls and barks as Pink and Anaya holds her back, trying to calm her down.
Ronaldo let out a gasp in shock. "You, Snake People...Hiding like cowards in your false humanoid exteriors! Steven and Soren got nothing to do with this, it's me you want!" He opens his button-up shirt revealing armor protecting his entire torso. Suddenly Amethyst breaks free and quickly kicks him in the face, causing him to fly backward and onto the floor, which he gets up from.
"AHHHHHH!" Ronaldo charges at the Gems with a curled up fist. When he threw his punch it was easily blocked by Pearl's hand, making the Fryman to cringe, hold his hand, and cry in pain. "AAAH! Aah! Aah." He then looks back at them in anger. "You SNONSTERS!" A barrel is then thrown at him by Garnet, hitting him in the head, knocking him to the floor.
While the fight between the Gems and Ronaldo continue. Steven began to wriggle free from the chair he's chained too. "I got this." Soren then stretched outwards and broke the chains, freeing both him and Steven who steps out of Soren's shapeshifted form. "Steven?!" Peedee said in surprise.
"Ah!" Ronaldo let out after being knocked back by the Gems, showing signs of injuries. "Okay, okay! You've forced me to use my ultimate weapon! Stand back! Psychic Ghost Powers, Activate!" With this, Ronaldo begins chanting nonsense, which the Gems brace themselves for, believing he's going to attack them with something.
Luckily Steven jumps in between them. "Everybody stop! We're okay!" They stopped fighting with Lapis gasping with a smile. "Steven!" She goes over and hugs him. "Steven!" Ronaldo looks back at the "costume", picking it up before looking back to the young Gem. "You molted from your slithery skin and reverted back to normal...But how?"
"Ronaldo! It's not real! It was just me and Soren...again." Steven points at Soren who reverted back to his normal form. "That...Makes no sense..." Ronaldo lets go of Soren who walks over to the Gems before being hugged by Amethyst and Pink Pearl, telling them. "We just wanted to inspire Ronaldo to be weird again."
The Fryman shouts at them. "No! I-It just isn't that simple! There's got to be more to it than just...You." The Gems all looked away in uncertainty, causing Ronaldo to start stressing out. Peedee tries to fix it for him as he rummages through his papers. "But there is more! Steven and Soren are just uh...A small piece of the puzzle! Look at this! I think its gotta be uh, level 8 beings pulling the strings."
"Get real, Peedee." Ronaldo takes some of the papers away from him. "Level 8 beings are a worker society incapable of such organization...Whoa, wait a minute!" Looking closely at the papers he drops and spreads them out on the wooden floor. "How did I never see this before?"
He analyzes the papers one-by-one before peering at a dollar bill. "I know what the diamond means...Polymorphic sentient rocks!" This new recognition began to make Ronaldo laugh hysterically. As he's laughing Peedee leads, Steven and the rest of the Crystal Gems out of the Lighthouse quietly. Outside, Steven asked Peedee with a raised brow.
"Are you sure he'll be better like that?" Peedee nods giving a smile. "Yeah, he's happy, ya know?" Steven nods to the young Fryman in agreement. "Yeah." They soon started to go down the hill with Steven riding on Lapis back with Garnet petting his head and Soren being held at the hands by Amethyst and Pink.
Back at the lighthouse, Ronaldo ran out to the balcony of the Lighthouse he was in, cupping his hand around the side of his mouth yelling aloud to Beach City. "They're here to hollow out the Earth! It's part of the Great Diamond Authority! They'll take on any form, you can read all about it...ON MY BLOOOG!"