"Ladies and gentle gems, welcome to the first annual robolympics!" Steven walked out of the barn, wearing a pair of aviators and holding an old microphone that Twoie had found in one of the junk piles in the barn. Steven had also found a whistle, which was currently around his neck.
Garnet and Amethyst cheered from the sidelines. "Woo!" "Popcorn!"
Steven stepped forward as he continued to address the audience. "This competition will test our Robo-engineers' skills, Robo-construction, and Robo-piloting. Whoever wins will be in charge of building the Cluster drill machine thing." He raised his free hand and swiped it down. "Let the gaaames begin!"
Twoie ran over to a bunch of cardboard slides and grabbed one labeled Balance. "Hey, Steven. What part of the human body is necessary for balance?"
Steven hummed then touched both of his ears. "It's our inner ears!"
The young boy laughed as he got a thumbs up from Twoie. "Correct! That was a hard one too! Remind me to treat you to the Big Donut for that." He held it up for Steven and their audience to read.
Steven whooped then turned to face the others so he could announce the event. "Alright! Whoever's robot can balance on one limb and stay up the longest wins! Ready? Go!"
Pearl stood on one wheel of her robot. Although it was a little shaky, she managed to keep the bot in one place. Peridot's bot, however, was unable to stay standing on its hand. She spun it around wildly in an attempt to show off but ended up slamming into the ground. Steven blew the whistle, ending the first round. "Pearl, one. Peridot, zero." Twoie called out as he held up the next board for Steven.
"The next event is Crushing! There are many boulders in this area! Whoever's robot can crush the boulders the easiest wins the next round!" Steven gestured to a pile of rocks that were lying nearby. Peridot gripped one rock in each claw and crushed them with ease. Pearl's bot showed difficulty with lifting the rock in the first place. She barely managed to get it above her. While trying to crush it in her hands, the boulder slipped, clunking her in the head and bringing the bot down.
Twoie tsked as Peridot laughed raucously. "That looks like it hurt. What do you think, Steven?"
His younger brother winced as he watched the boulder roll off of Pearl. "Yeah, but she's getting back up. Pearl's tough!" Steven blew the whistle again, while his older brother marked Peridot as the winner of the round.
Twoie glanced at the next board, frowning slightly at the word Ballet written on it. "Hey, Sunshine… Don't you think this is a little unfair?"
Steven blew the whistle for a time out and ran over to Twoie. "What do you mean?"
Twoie scratched the back of his neck. "I don't think Peridot knows what ballet is. This event is a bit biased in Pearl's favor. Why don't we just make a category for precision instead? That'd probably be fairer to both."
Steven hummed, trying to think of exactly what they could do for Precision. He nods for Twoie to rewrite the event and ran back to the center of the group. "Okay, the next event is going to be Precision! Each contestant must maneuver their robot through a small obstacle course that Twoie and I are going to build right now. The robot that gets through without damaging the course and without knocking into any part of the course will win this round."
The two brothers ran back into the barn and set up a crude obstacle course of parts. Twoie stuck several poles in the ground, fairly spaced, for the bots to go through. Steven set some large pieces of junk on the ground to be crossed over, and then they set up an A-Frame out of two metal sheets that they had Garnet melt together.
"On your mark," Steven called out. Garnet was standing in front of the two, holding two flags in the air. "Get set!" Pearl and Peridot leaned into their controls. "Go!" She whipped both flags down, getting buffeted by the wind Pearl's bot made as she sped past him. Peridot's bot lumbered after her, stumbling through the first obstacle. Pearl had made it back first without touching or damaging a single obstacle. The whistle blew, signaling Pearl as the winner.
The robolympics continued with several more events, including jumping, racing, and rock-paper-scissors, until the final score was 30 Peridot, 30 Pearl, and 1 Tree. On occasion, Twoie would quiz Steven about something relating to the event, or they would banter like commentators at a sports game. Now that the final event had ended, Twoie was relaxing against the barn while Steven declared the results. "You both get to lead the project together!"
He flopped to the ground as Peridot started ranting about a tie-breaker. "Hey, Sunshine, come here." Steven looked in surprise but made his way over.
"Do you have an idea about a tie-breaker?" Twoie shook his head. He lightly placed a hand in front of his younger brother and moved them both back a couple of steps.
"They're about to settle it themselves." Steven turned around curiously, just in time to see Pearl kick Peridot. Everyone gasped.
"You wanna fight? Good, we should've done this from the beginning!" The green gem launched herself at Pearl.
Twoie held Steven's hand to prevent him from running out into the fray. "Stop! Giant robots shouldn't fight!"
Amethyst didn't care. She was enamored with the idea of a good fight. The purple gem had stars in her eyes as she cheered, "Fight, fight, fight, fight!"
Twoie stood slightly in front of Steven. "One, that's the premise of so many movies, it's pretty much expected of giant robots. Two, The barn is the safe zone. If I remember correctly, they don't ever get this close. You need to stay over here."
Garnet and Amethyst dodged as Peridot slammed Pearl into the spot they were standing at, knocking back the chalkboard. "Don't worry, guys; I've got this!" Pearl continued her fight. Steven didn't like seeing them fight like this. He didn't want anyone getting hurt. Twoie quickly covered the kid's eyes right before Peridot slammed her bot around by the foot.
He let him go once the fight was over. "Victory is mine! Now I'm the one in charge. Praise me! Praise me!" But no one paid attention to Peridot as they ran over to Pearl.
"Pearl, are you okay?" Steven helped her up. Amethyst hugged her and called her hard-core.
Peridot stood there, confused as to why everyone was paying more attention to the 'servant' instead of her. "Why aren't any of you listening to me? I won! I'm the natural leader here! She's just a common Pearl!"
Steven glared at her. "You're wrong! If Pearls are really like you say they are, then Pearl isn't common at all! She trained herself to fight. She learned how to build things. And she works hard every day to be greater than she already is! That's not common, that's amazing!" They all turned together, sans Twoie, and went to clean up the mess from the competition. Twoie made his way over to Peridot, who was staring in a mixture of annoyance and disbelief.
"I know you're new to earth, Peridot, but you need to understand that the status and hierarchy you had on Homeworld don't apply here." He pointed to the others, all chatting and laughing with the others. "We work together because we want to; the loyalty we share isn't because one of our gems is rarer or has a stronger ability. We trust each other and have learned to work to our strengths. Garnet is strong and makes the most sound decisions, Pearl is highly skilled at fighting and is observant, and Amethyst is great for muscle and thinking outside the box. Steven is great for defense and keeping up morale."
Peridot still looked mad. "I still proved that I'm the better gem! You all saw that my robot performed the best!" She glowered at him as he shot her a disappointed look.
"You didn't prove yourself better in this competition, Peridot. You proved you were both equals and that you're petty." Twoie's eyes narrowed, and he frowned at her in disappointment.
She blushed in anger and rounded on him. "I'm not petty! I'm well within my rights to demand a tie-breaker!" Peridot wasn't sure why, but it hurt that he was disappointed in her. She didn't like it.
Twoie gave her a stern look. "You wanted a tie-breaker because you didn't want to admit that she's equal to you. I say that's a good example of pettiness." He sighed as he brushed a hand through his hair. "Besides, this fight was not one of the events Steven declared. You antagonized Pearl, and even though she started the fight, you had no qualms using the fight to prove who's bot was better. Even though you beat Pearl's bot, the victory doesn't count towards the competition, so you both are still tied." He knelt and placed an arm on her shoulder. "Why don't you just work together? Isn't it going to be a lot easier to have someone who understands earth technology helping you build the drill? I bet it'll be nice too to have someone to talk tech with as well."
He walked away from Peridot so he could help the others clean up. Peridot watched them work together, and when she saw Pearl off to the side, she decided to approach her. "I have to admit it's remarkable that a Pearl such as yourself could become such a knowledgeable technician." Pearl narrowed her eyes at her. The green gem awkwardly held up the drill. "Let's get started."
Pearl knelt, smiling, and took the drill. "You're holding it upside down." She rotated it to its proper position for Peridot to see, then handed it back.
The technician cleared her throat. "Yes, of course. Those round appendages on your machine could be useful for something."
"They're called wheels." Pearl chuckled as she and Peridot walked over to the chalkboard.
Steven smiled as he watched them chat about the drill. Twoie walked up to him. "Looks like we're well on our way to stopping the Cluster." He scrunched his face in surprise when his younger brother shoved the sock puppet from earlier in his face.
"You think you can stop me?" Steven growled as he moved the puppet's mouth in sync with his voice. He tackled his older brother to the ground.
"Ahh-ha-ha! No! Ha-ha-ha, Steven!" He laughed as Steven tickled him while maneuvering the puppet to attack his hair. "Grwah-wah-wah-wah!" "Ah, we're doomed!" Twoie cried before he went limp. "Goodbye, cruel world."
Steven laughed as Twoie stuck his tongue out and played dead. "Yes! I have bested you! Now onto the rest of the earth." Steven shrieked as he felt himself get thrown into the air.
Twoie caught him and hugged him tightly. "I have caught you, Cluster! Now you have to get ready for dinner and go to bed! No destroying the earth for you." They laughed together, as Twoie carried him into the barn. Things were finally getting better for everyone.