A/N – Bring on September! (And new Steven Universe !) I'm a little overwhelmed by the amount of follows and favourites this story has, so thank you! Also would like to say a thanks to Bulbaguy who has been reviewing lots of my chapters, I really appreciate it! I've just figured out how to do page breaks...thank goodness. I was getting fed up of having the untidy 'x's' to separate parts. But now all chapters have page breaks :) Sorry that this update is later than usual, I've been waiting for the traffic stats problem to be resolved in addition I wasnt able to log on for a couple of days due to an error. All's fixed now, so hope you enjoy!

Chapter IX

Too Tall to Ride

Stopping at the entrance, everyone was amazed to see the strip of beach transformed into a bustling fairground. Lights were strung from lampposts, providing a warm glow for the various stalls below. Joyful shrieks could be heard from the assortment of rides the make-shift theme park had to offer, emitting from young children to the adults participating.

The gems, Greg and Steven looked up at the banner which read "Beach City Fun Fair" and then ventured in.

"This is far out, how come we never came to this before?" Said Amethyst, gazing about excitedly.

"Because we never had a reason to, and frankly, I don't even know why we're here" Answered Pearl grudgingly. She didn't like this claustrophobic environment, as well as the many overenthusiastic humans that bumped her shoulder every so often.

"C'mon guys, lighten up. I heard they have some fun rides for the under three's," He gestured, "And there are some rides that you might like, let's go check out the bumper carts!"

The group walked the short distance to the designated area, and particularly Amethyst lit up at the sight of people crashing into eachother in the small cars.

"Oh boy! Garnet I am so gonna crush you at this"

"We'll see about that" She replied ominously, but a small smirk appeared on her face.

After Greg paid the small price for the three to have a go, he watched from a safe distance behind the short fence.

The music started up, and all the cars began moving.

Amethyst immediately did a short, and incredibly fast circuit of the track, before skidding round a corner.

"Catch me if you can Garnet!" She taunted, whizzing past the tall gem.

Garnet had a hard time fitting into the cars, and her knees were almost up to her chin. Not that this stopped her from completely barreling into Amethyst's car, almost toppling it over in the process.

The collision made the purple gem's vehicle spin wildly for a second, before stopping near the other end of the arena. After her head stopped buzzing, she spotted Pearl.

Nervously weaving through and avoiding all crashes, Pearl kept her speed low.

"Amethyst watch it!" It was too late when the purple gem collided with the side of her car.

Amethyst laughed, "Ha! Move it or lose it Pearl!" She stuck out her tongue, and then sped off.

After a frustrated spin of the wheel, Pearl upped her game.

"I'll get you Amethyst!" She picked up the speed, and began to screech as she barrelled into Amethyst's car at full throttle.

The small gem flew out onto the floor, and that was when the music stopped.

"Times up" Said the owner, opening the exit gate. "Please leave all the cars, and thank you for playing!"

"I would have won if you hadn't slammed into me like that" Remarked Pearl, putting her nose in the air.

"That's the point of the game, you're just a sore loser"

"Crystal Gems" Garnet caught their attention, "We both know that I won."

Greg laughed as they began to squabble, and reacted to Steven pointing at something.

"Oh look, a carousel" He said, and walked over to the colourful ride.

He waited for it to stop, then paid to get on. Steven eagerly tried to get on a horse, until his Father helped him up and secured him with the small belt.

Greg held the one-year old's hands onto the golden pole, "Hold on tight now, we don't want you galloping off anywhere"

"Yeah!" Said Steven, bouncing a little on the plastic saddle.

Not so far away, the gems had recuperated and stood watching. When the classic music started up, Pearl waved. "Hello Steven!"

The tot was too preoccupied with the gentle spinning of the ride, and squirmed uncomfortably.

"Dada" He whimpered trying to get into his hold only to be restrained by the belt. He began to wail.

"Uh oh, hey it's okay, it's okay" Greg calmed, putting and arm around the boy to still him a bit. Steven nuzzled into his Father, keeping his eyes shut and holding on for dear life as the ride sped up a little.

When everything stopped, Steven scrambled off the horse as soon as the belt was unclipped, almost falling if it wasn't for Greg who caught him in time.

They went down the steps and headed to the gems.

Garnet gave Steven a little rub on the back, and Pearl flew to hold him.

"He didn't like that ghastly contraption, perhaps we should just go home" She said hopefully.

"Awww man! But I really wanted to go on that roller coaster!" Amethyst crossed her arms angrily.

"No one's going home. Sometimes carousels can be a little much for kids his age, why don't you guys go on something with him," He pointed to Garnet and Pearl, "Whilst I go on the roller coaster with Amethyst"

Garnet nodded in approval, and began to drag a reluctant Pearl with her.

"Murderous Mayhem" Read Greg. The coaster itself was very extreme, a complete tangle of tracks that featured many loops and corkscrews. He paled slightly, unsure if his stomach could take it.

Amethyst fisted the air, "This is gonna be so cool!" She looked up imploringly at Greg, "Let's try and get front row seats!"

Sighing initially, Greg gathered the courage to nod and took her hand to push through the line.

x

On the other side of the park, Garnet, Pearl and Steven were lining up for a roller coaster of their own. It was a short circuit one, featuring colourful ladybird-painted cars slowly going around the track which elevated a maximum of a few feet.

Pearl proved to be skeptical though. "Are you sure this is safe Garnet – f-for Steven that is" She sweated, running a hand through her hair anxiously.

"It'll be fine" Garnet didn't turn to face her, and was too preoccupied with Steven. Her words were no comfort to Pearl, whose heart almost stopped when the line began to file out into the cars.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh" She muttered, squishing as close to Garnet as she could, who held Steven on her lap.

The car began to move slowly, passing through a vibrant backdrop of a rainbow.

"G-Garnet!" She hid her head in the gem's shoulder as they went up a little. "I don't trust these human contraptions, they're not fun at all!"

Garnet put an arm around her, but internally one half of her wanted to laugh.

On the contrary, Steven was defiantly enjoying the ride, and he put is arms in the air shouting elatedly. Garnet mimicked him, saying an unenthusiastic "yay".

When the ride was over, which wasn't a long wait, Pearl scrambled out of car on shaky legs.

"I'm never doing that again" She said, hanging onto Garnet for support. The gem snickered a little, and then went in search for the others.

"This is it" thought Greg, rigidly holding onto the bar in front of him, "I'm gonna die".

The ride tipped over its final climax, going so fast it made his eyes hurt with the wind.

"This is so much fun!" Amethyst was exhilarated, putting her arms in the air. "C'mon old man, you can take it!" She took his hand and put it in the air as well.

The ride braked, causing its passengers to lurch in their seats. Greg almost fell out of the ride trying to get to a trash can in time.

Amethyst laughed and slapped Greg on the back, who was throwing up. "We should do that again!"

Just the thought made Greg retch even more.

"What happened here?" Said Garnet walking up to the two, Steven waved.

"Greg's a pansy when it comes to roller coasters" She sniggered when she saw the gem, "And it looks like Pearl is too"

When Greg wiped his mouth clean with a handkerchief, he stood beside an equally green Pearl.

"[WINNER!]"

Garnet smirked as she was handed her third prize for completing "Hammer Smack-Down".

Amethyst had also won an abundant amount of candyfloss for succeeding in "Coconut Toss". The two had gotten competitive (and a little violent) in trying to win as many prizes as possible. Amethyst ate an entire bag of the coloured sugar whole, belching in Pearl's face.

The gem waved her hand angrily, then stopped and stared upwards. Amethyst walked into her,

"Hey! Woahh" She stopped, and looked up at the bright spiral slide.

"We are so going on that" Before Pearl had time to protest she was being dragged by Amethyst to the helter skelter. When they reached the top, the gem froze at being up so high.

"Oh c'mon Pearl, you've been to space. What's higher than that?"

"B-but this is s-so" She squeaked at the sound of the structure creaking, "different."

"Too bad" Said Amethyst, pulling her down onto the mat, "Because we're going doo-oo-oo-oo-wn!"

All anyone could hear pretty much throughout the entire park, were Pearls screams as the duo slid down. She held onto Amethyst's head, obscuring her vision, and pulled on her hair in desperation.

It was over in less than a minute, and they ended up in a pile on the floor.

"Well I'm glad you guys had fun" Said Greg, now driving back home. The gems were in the back, with Steven fast asleep on Garnet, and Amethyst on Pearl. The latter, looked traumatised but managed a tight smile. "Y-yes, it was certainly…an experience"

She placed a hand on Amethyst's head and stroked her hair a little, "I suppose it wore her out"

"Yes" Garnet chuckled, "And this little guy."

"But just so you know, I'm ditching her at the next fast food place we see" Said Pearl, still shaky from almost passing out.