Author's Note: Heya! Welcome back! Let's jump right in!


Chapter 4- Alone Together

The first thing they noticed was how blurry things were all of a sudden. Not as blurry as she remembered, but still, blurry. Blinking, they peered around at the hazy waves and vague sand. They needed their glasses. Where were the-

Crack!

Something pinched the bottom of their foot, and they winced, though there was little real pain. Glancing down, they realized they had stepped on her… Their. Glasses. They reached down to pluck the broken apparel from the sand. The lenses had shattered under the weight of their foot. Squinting, they realized that they wouldn't have been able to wear them anyway. His… No, their head was too big.

Something was going on. They felt… tall?

Walking awkwardly over to the water, the individual was finally able to get a look at their reflection in the setting sunlight. They audibly gasped.

They were much taller now, with a warm, dusky brown complexion and a wild made of thick, black curls. They wore cutoff jeans and a red crop top with a yellow star on it. The clothing was far too small for them, and still a bit wet from when Steven had splashed Connie.

Splashed… Them?

"Wait, did you-? Did I... ? Did… we?" they said, shocked by the sound of their own voice as they spoke. "I'm not Steven… but, I'm also not Connie? I'm… Stevonnie?"

Stevonnie reached up to touch their own cheeks, and then suddenly, their eyes filled with sparkles.

"Wait a second," they said, "do you know what this means?"

They grinned.

"We can go to that dance!"

They came to the conclusion decisively, and with a giddy skip in their step, took off down the beach, back in the direction they had seen the older kids take off to. As they walked through the sand, feeling the delightfully familiar and yet different feeling of sand in their toes, they heard a faint sound. It was distant, but rhythmic, and impossible to miss.

Music.

As they rounded a bend, and the beach took a more steep curve inland, they found themselves facing the side of a half-destroyed old concrete building. It looked like it might have been a warehouse or a shipping yard of some kind, but whatever it once was had clearly been repurposed. Tonight, there were dozens of lights in various colors strung up around the walls of the building, and a makeshift stage had been fashioned from old wooden platforms. A large sound system had been set up on the stage.

Drawing closer, Stevonnie began to wonder just how many people there were at the dance party. Standing at the entrance was an older teen, with glasses and a head of curly yellow locks. He was scolding a younger boy with similar hair. They were clearly relatives: brothers in fact. Stevonnie pinged them as PeeDee and Ronaldo Fryman. Apparently, PeeDee, the younger brother, had been selling fries to the partygoers: something that was illegal. As Stevonnie approached, PeeDee glanced at them, prompting Ronaldo to do the same. Upon taking them in, the older boy blushed, and his scolding stammered to a halt.

"Hey," Stevonnie said casually, "is this where Sour Cream is DJ-ing?"

"No,- I mean, YES," Ronaldo tried to choke out a sentence, but ended up just nodding. Stevonnie gave him a smile, and strode past him, and into the main party area.

As they opened the small door labeled "employee", the music suddenly became significantly louder. They hadn't anticipated the wall providing such a sound barrier, and as they walked into the party, they were bombarded with loud, female rock singing, that was clearly altered from its original version, and sampled to make an EDM track.

"-ou will remember! One thing remains! You will remember! You will- Surrender! You will remember my name! Name-na-name~"

Stevonnie was surprised and excited by the large crowd of people. There were at least 20 teens bopping along to the music, being spun by none other than Sour Cream, who had put on dark make-up and done his hair in a funky style. As the lyrics cut out and the bass dropped, they couldn't help but join in the boisterous jumping that the entire party began to do. As they jumped, they accidentally activated a bit of Steven's jumping power, and, being able to see over the heads of the other partygoers, spotted a pair of familiar faces.

Excitedly, Stevonnie waded through the crowd, and found themselves at a long table with a variety of snacks and drinks strewn across it. Leaning against the wall by the far end of the table was a familiar, lanky teen. Lars. He and Sadie were both playing the part of the wallflower, and while she looked up at him hopefully from time to time, he seemed to have no intention of dancing. Instead, the boy seemed to sulk, arms crossed, watching the crowd enjoy itself. Without thinking, Stevonnie walked over to the familiar faces.

"Hey," they said.

Sadie turned and instantly was star-struck, her cheeks flaring up a bright pink color, her mouth hanging open slightly. Lars' expression, upon turning to see them, changed entirely from a scowl to a bashful, boyish look of surprise.

"Uh… hi," he said.

"How's the party so far?" Stevonnie asked.

"Haha, so cool, like you, you seem cool," Sadie blurted out, before clamping her hands over her mouth.

Stevonnie glanced at her, a bit confused by her apparent anxiousness. Then, they realized that, to them, they must appear like a stranger! No wonder they were so shy.

"Well, enjoy the dance," Stevonnie said, turning to walk away, "or whatever you're doing over here."

With that, they strode out onto the main dance floor, just as Sour Cream began to spin a new, upbeat track. As the rhythm and melodies began to pick up, the fusion couldn't help but feel it pulsing in the soles of their feet. They moved to the beat, and as the song progressed, it picked up in intensity.

Stevonnie never missed a beat. Soon, a circle of people had formed around them, watching them perform their zealous dance. When the song came to its epic conclusion, they landed in a pose, panting heavily, and were met with silence. Then, there were several cheers from the circle around them. The next track began to pick up, and a few people peeled off, but many remind to see what they would do next. They suddenly felt nervous, with all of the pressure and attention.

"Um," they said, brushing some of their suddenly very warm hair behind their ear, "I thought this was a dance? Why isn't anybody else dancing?"

The crowd lingered for a little while longer, until a girl in the crowd seemed to look at Stevonnie with a sort of sympathetic look. She was one of the girls from the Big Donut earlier. Jenny Pizza.

"Alright, y'all, let's boogie!" She said, and a good portion of the crowd agreed, cheering as they dove into the next bout of dance, their spectacle apparently over.

One of the onlookers remained.

The teen stood, about 10 feet away from Stevonnie, his arms crossed. He wore tight-fitting jeans, a cut-up shirt, and a long scar. His hair was dark brown and well kept, and his eyes honed in on them with a glint of something they couldn't quite place. They looked at the boy in confusion for a few moments, until, hand in his pocket, he strode forward until he was a few paces away, and spoke.

"That was quite the show," he said, with smile.

"Um. Thanks," Stevonnie said, attempting to walk past him. "I think I'm gonna go get some water."

The boy held up a hand, placing himself in their way.

"Woah, hey, wait a sec," he said smoothly. "You don't wanna dance with me?"

Stevonnie glanced over at him, squinting suspiciously.

"Why would I? I don't know you."

"My name's Kevin," the boy said, flashing that smile again. "I'm the other best dancer in here. Now you know me. So how 'bout we dance?"

"Look, I said-"

"Don't be like that. Come on, it's a party."

Stevonnie was starting to feel uncomfortable, and the heat of being stared at was now translating into a simmering anger inside of them. They didn't feel good. They needed to go somewhere, but this guy was clearly not going to take no for an answer.

"Fine," they said, "you wanna dance? Let's go."

They stormed over to an empty space on the dance floor, with a somewhat surprised Kevin in their wake, and turned to face them, just as the beat of Sour Cream's song dropped. They started at first to perform a series of aggressive, fast paced dance moves, which Kevin watched curiously. Then, it began to grow more and more sporadic and uncontrolled, as their anger rose and seeped into their movement.

As their movement increased in intensity, they began to make little grunts of anger and exertion, and, before they knew it, there was a bright glow emanating from the pink gemstone still embedded in their naval. Kevin, who had assumed it was some kind of piercing, suddenly stepped a few paces back, throwing up his hands in surprise. He looked around, and found that everyone else was too busy dancing, arguing, or making out to notice what was going on. Then, there was a bright flash, and he turned back to where Stevonnie had been standing.

There were now two children there.

Kevin's face paled.

"What the hell? You were two kids? Screw this, I'm out," he said, looking sick as he threw up his hands and stormed out of the building.

Steven and Connie, now separated, watched him go, and then turned to look at each other. First, Connie cracked a smile. Then, Steven giggled. Soon, the pair of them were laughing hysterically, rolling on the floor of the abandoned building. Eventually, their giggling ceased as someone walked over them, casting a shadow. Opening their eyes, the pair noticed that this was the sister of Jenny, Kiki. She gave them a confused smile.

"Hey, you two," she said. "You ain't supposed to be here."

Connie giggled.

"I can't see anything!" She said.

"Yeah," Steven snorted, "she lost her glasses. We didn't even mean to come in here!"

They both burst out laughing, and Kiki, shaking her head with a wry smile, escorted the pair of giggling tweens outside. Here, they found Lars sitting on a rock, head in his hands. The teen from before, Ronaldo, was trying to comfort him, but Lars kept shoving them away, and as Steven and Connie walked out, both teens turned in confusion.

Then, to their further confusion, there was a loud, warped sound that broke the night. Suddenly, the air in front of the two kids distorted, and a pinkish-white portal appeared.

"What the-!" Lars shouted.

"No way!" Ronaldo said.

Without delay, from inside of the portal jumped a huge, pink creature. A lion. Lars jumped up, and he and Ronaldo clutched each other in fear, though Ronaldo's eyes were also full of wonder and intrigue.

"Is that a lion?" Lars shouted in disbelief.

Steven, who was now cradling the oddly affectionate lion's face in his hands, turned back to Lars.

"Oh, uh, yeah," he said. "Its OK though, he's mine."

"How did you-?"

"Sorry gotta go Lars byeeee!"

With that, Steven helped Connie up onto the beast's back, and the trio went jumping through the portal, leaving a dumbfounded Ronaldo and Lars in their wake. Ronaldo's mouth hung open, and once the portal vanished behind them, he turned to Lars.

"You know what this means, right?"

"Shut up, Ronaldo."

"Petrosapiens, man!"

"Shut up, Ronaldo!"


After she gave Steven directions, his lion brought them skidding to a halt in the alleyway across the street from Connie's house. She hopped off of the beast's back, and looked up at Steven.

"How do they look?" She asked, gesturing to the crooked glasses she now wore on her face. She had fully popped the lenses out. She had, however, salvaged most of the frame. Steven gave her a sad smile.

"You look fine, but… How's your vision?" He asked.

"Heh, uh, not great," she said. "I couldn't tell you how many fingers you were holding up."

"I'm not holding up any fingers."

"I know. It's just an expression," Connie said, waving away his concern. "I'll be OK. I'm more worried about telling my mom why I was out so late."

"Sorry, I-"

"Stop apologizing to me," Connie said with a laugh. "I had a great night. I'll call you when I get out of Alcatraz, OK?"

"OK," Steven said, smiling despite himself.

"Happy Birthday, Steven."

With that, Connie waved again, and then walked across the street. Once on the other side, she tripped once on the stairs up to her front door, causing both she and Steven to laugh to themselves. Then, she opened the front door, and was instantly met with a rush of scolding words from inside. She cast one last look at Steven, who waved again, before closing the door.

Once she was safely inside, Steven and the lion returned to the temple.