The long haired gem turned to the paler one with wide innocent eyes. "What?"
"Oh, don't pull that on me!" Pearl growled as she gestured around. "What is THIS?!" Outside with them were Steven and Garnet, who were merely observing. They stood in the middle of the backyard, where piles upon piles of trash covered the entirety of the land.
Amethyst sighed at her handy work and turned proud eyes towards her companion. "My master piece!"
"Ew, gross," Garnet drawled as she kicked away a rotten tuna sandwich, or what use to be one.
"Clean this up!" Pearl ordered.
Amethyst growled under her breather, uttering a few strings of curses before she sat down and crossed her arms. "I'm not doing that." Pearl let out a frustrated scream in the back of her throat.
From behind her Steven giggled. "Come on Amethyst just clean it up," he persuaded as he walked over to her. "Besides, I wanted to go into your room today! We can eat popcorn and play video games."
Amethyst hummed loudly as she considered Steven's proposition. After a while she shrugged. "Sure, why not? I can kick your ass in Street Fighter!"
"Language!" Pearl reprimanded.
"Language!" Amethyst mimicked as she stood and bubbled away the trash. Once the backyard was spic and span Steven and Amethyst ran off, giggling like children.
Pearl rubbed a dainty hand across her face before pinching the bridge of her nose. "I cannot stand her," she sighed.
Garnet hummed. "Then then again, you can't be without her." Pearl smiled lightly and chuckled as the two made their way inside.
They went back to the Gem room, where they went to go to their missions. What they found was that Amethyst and Steven were there, looking through books. "Wow, woooow...WOOOOOOWWW!" Steven exclaimed. Amethyst points to something in a book and both of them burst into fits of laughter. Pearl sighs again and walks over to them.
"What are you two looking at?" She asks.
Amethyst holds up the book and points to the top of a picture, a large grin on her face. "Remember this?"
Pearl looks at the picture and gasps. "AMETHYST!" The purple gem jumps up and runs, laughing while Pearl chases her around.
Steven watches them while giggling, then picks up the book and shuts it. "Well, I'm going home to dad, and maybe some fry bits. Do you want some Garnet?"
"No, I'm good." Garnet answers, waving him off as he leaves. She then turns towards the two fighting Gem with crossed arms and goes through the mental challenge of deciding whether she wanted to break them apart or not.
~ooo~
"Hey there Steven!" Steven's dad, Greg, calls with a grin. Steven beams at him as he rushes over.
"Dad dad, you'll never believe what Amethyst showed me!"
"Uh huh, what's that son?" The man asks as he sprays water on his van from a hose.
Steven fumbles around in his pockets before pulling out a picture. "She showed me this!"
Greg glanced sideways at the picture Steven showed him, a warm light filling his eyes. "Ah yes, Rose." He walked away for a bit to cut off the water before walking back over to his son, gently taking the picture. "This was taken the day before she birthed you Steven," he told the boy, sitting himself down on the curb.
Steven plopped himself down beside him, gazing at the picture with bright eyes. "Really? Wow that's cool!"
"Mhm," Greg agreed with a sigh. "I remember it like it was yesterday...
*12 years ago*
"Come on Garnet, Amethyst, stop playing around with the camera!" Rose scolds, her hands on her very round belly. Greg chuckles as he watches them.
Garnet looks at Rose with a stoic expression. "If I give her the camera, she will ruin the picture," the red gem reasons. "Plus you said you wanted it to be perfect for Steven."
Rose sighs. "I know, but at this rate you two are gonna break it!"
"Do as she says, put the camera down. No, better yet, give it to me," Pearl says as she walks towards them.
Suddenly a studded whip lashes out and snatches the camera from Garnet's hand, making her turn her head sharply. Amethyst cheers and dances around. "I got it! I got it I got it I got it!"
"And now you are going to give it," Pearl states as she suddenly appears beside Amethyst and grabs the camera.
Amethyst pulls. "No, I wanna take the picture!"
"You will only ruin it, now give it here!"
"No! Get your spidery hands off it unicorn face!"
"What did you just call me?!"
"Parrot!" Amethyst adds with a grin.
Pearl flusters and growls. "While you ungrateful disturbing bloated-"
"Girls, please," Rose says calmly. Both of them freeze and look at her. The fire in her eyes make them gulp. "Amethyst, let Pearl set up the camera. All of us are going to be in the picture."
Amethyst deflates at first, but at hearing the last part she eagerly let's go of the camera and rushes to her side. She stops and coos at Rose's belly. "When you are big and strong enough little Steven I'm going to teach you all I know!" She tells the round stomach, rubbing her face against it.
"Uh, no, Garnet is going to be his mentor."
"What?!" Pearl and Amethyst gasp.
Rose nods. "Garnet is my second in command, so it's obvious she should be his mentor."
"Um, Rose," Greg starts worriedly, "are you sure Steven will be ready or even able to do this? What if he isn't a Gem? Males cannot be Gems after all, can they?"
"Sweety," Rose says softly as she places a dark pink hand on his face tenderly. "Our race is predominantly female, but that doesn't mean we don't have a few males there. I'm sure our Steven will be gentle and kind enough to inherit my stone at least. And when he does Garnet will be his mentor."
Amethyst and Pearl look crestfallen. Garnet offers them a small smile. "I'll let you help, if you want."
Instantly they brighten. "Hell yea I wanna help!"
"Language!" Pearl snaps.
Amethyst mimics her and puts her hands on her hips. "Just hurry up and set up the camera Gramma, we don't have all day!"
"She's right," Garnet agrees. "We have a mission to get to." Pearl grunts grudgingly as she sets the camera. As soon as she hears the sharp beeping of the timer she runs to the group, who are all positioned around Rose. Greg stood beside his wife, arms wrapped around her and her belly. Pearl and Garnet, being the tallest, stood slightly in behind them and Amethyst, being the shortest, sat in front of the two wedded couple with a large grin on her face. The camera beeped until the red light flashed and the picture snapped.
Pearl rushed over to the device then and snatched up the picture it spat out. She gasped with teary eyes. "Its so beautiful," she whispers as she walks over for them to see.
Amethyst jumped onto her shoulder, turning into a kid. She grinned. "Yea, Ross you look like a whale!"
"Amethyst be nice! And I wish you'd stop calling her Ross, that's not even her name!"
"What? Its true! And I can call her whatever I want!"
Pearl growled before taking the photo and sliding it into a photo book, then went inside to put it away. Rose and Greg chuckled before the male pecked his wife on the lips. Rose turned a dark red on her cheeks.
Garnet smiled and laid her hands on their shoulders. "Well we'll be off now, you won't see us for a week."
"Its gonna be weird with her not leading us into battle and all," Amethyst murmurs with a small pout.
Rose rolls her eyed and runs her fingers through Amethyst's long hair. "I haven't been in battle for two months now Amethyst, you should be use to it."
"Whatever," the smaller Gem huffs.
Pearl smiles sadly. "We're going to miss his birth. I wish they delayed it a day!"
"You'll be fine," Rose tells them. "The quicker you get there, the quicker (but in a neat way!) you get it done, the sooner you can see the new addition, and the higher ups aren't to be kept waiting. Warp to Crystalline and get your jobs done, that's an order!"
"Yes ma'am!" The three chorused. Amethyst gave Rose's belly a soft pat before they left.
"And that's the last time you saw her, before she had me and went away?" Steven asked.
Greg smiled sadly. "No, she remained three days before she was called. Unfortunately the trouble somehow made its way to Earth. Rose fended it off, but in doing so she...passed." Steven nodded, staring at the picture with teary eyes. Greg put his arm around his son's shoulder. "She was nice, kind and fierce warrior, friend, leader and wife. I sure she's watching you right now with a smile, knowing her son will, is, the same way."
"So, I'm a wife?" Steven asked with a grin.
Greg stammered. "No! No no no not-... I-... Why you little..." Greg grabbed Steven and started tickling him. The child laughed and squirmed before managing to wiggle away and run around the van. Greg ran after him, backing up while raising a defensive hand when Steven came around with a water hose.
The ground trembled slightly, making the two playing males pause. Again it trembled, this time it was stronger. Then it stopped. "Minor earthquake," Greg says uncertainly. "I thinks it's time we go insi- WHOA!" The ground shook viciously, creaking from other buildings and alarms from vehicles went off. "Run Steven!" Greg yelled. He grabbed his son's hand and took off.
Up ahead they spot Sadie, Connie and Lars, who were frozen to the spot. "Are we having an earthquake?! We never have earthquakes!" Lars screamed. Sadie gasped as she turned around. She opened her mouth and let out a shrilling scream. Everyone turned the direction she was looking and blanched. Five black tornadoes wafted out if the sky, then struck the ground with a force sure to break concrete, be it wind or not.
Connie waved her hand. "This way! There was a shelter built for this just in case!" The others nodded and followed her. They ran to a seemingly abandoned shack. Its building structure was composed entirely of stone and brick. Connie opens the door and waved for them all to go in. Steve and Greg were going to follow, but a call of Steven's name made them look. Garnet, Amethyst and Pear were floating his way on the back of Lion.
"Guys, we have to leave! Its too dangerous!' Steven yelled.
Pearl shook her head. "No, this is a gemstone Steven, we have to fight it!"
"WHAT?! THAT TH-THING?!"
"Steven is not going out there!" Greg yelled.
Garnet shook her head. "He has no choice. Besides, we need him for this one. He has the shield."
"It's too dangerous!"
"Dad, its Ok." Steven soothed. "If my help will stop this then I'll do it!" Without waiting for an answer he ran toward his guardians and hopped on Lion. "I'll be back!" He called cheerfully as the mystical beast flew away.
He dropped hem off right in front of the five tornadoes, who weren't sucking them in. They were just destroying everything in their path. "Tornadooms," Pearl huffed as she summoned her spear from her forehead. Amethyst pulled out her whip and Garnet her gauntlets. "Steven, enlarge your shield," Pearl tells him.
Steven looks confused. "H-How do I do that?"
"Just think really really big," Amethyst informs. "Focus on us and don't break focus."
"But why?"
"Because if you don't we'll get seriously injured," Garnet intoned. Steven shook his head.
"No, why must the shield be big?"
"Because, we have to go to the hearts of the Tornadooms in order to get the gems. They really act in a central unit, what one Tornadoom focuses on the others do as well. You don't have to worry about being attacked." Steven nodded.
Garnet punches her fists together. "Its going to be taxing on your energy, so we will try to be quick."
As one they leapt at the first Tornadoom. They took it down with ease, none of them turned to attack them. It made the trio frown. "They must be really focused on destroying this town," Amethyst commented.
"Or they are chasing something," Garnet added as she pointed to a large white barking dog with a black collar, the short fur on its body standing on ends.
Pearl gasped. "Why would they be focused on a dog?!"
"No time, let just get rid of them before they destroy everything else." With simultaneous nods they each took down another Tornadoom and the last one together. The last Tornadoom, however, attacked them back when it realized its comrades were down, battering and slamming against the shield Steven held up for them.
Amethyst gasped as she was a crack go down the middle of the shield and turned around. "Steven!" She called. The boy was panting, a determined look on his face as sweat pour down his forehead.
"Let's finish this," Garnet growled. Pearl and Amethyst attacked the Tornadoom at the same time while Garnet punched her way through its misty but hard barrier of a body, grabbed it's blackened brown gem and squeezed it between her gauntlets. It didn't break, but the pressure seemed to suffocate the evil gem and made it disappear. Garnet bubbled the gem and it disappeared. Instantly they ran towards Steven.
"Steven are you alright?" Pearl worried, looking his tired figure over. "Oh I knew this would be too much for him!"
"Oh shut up," Amethyst snorts and she stoops down to his kneeling level. "Yo, Steven my man, you cool?"
Steven stays there panting before he raises a thumb. "Yea...just...uh...tired..."
Amethyst stands. "See? He's fine!"
A bark has them all turn around and watch as the white dog runs towards them, tail wagging and eyes grateful. "Hey there," Steven greets as he holds out his hand. The dog prances towards him and licks it quickly before moving closer to his body. Steven stands, wobbly at first with the large dog in his arms and looks up a the Gems.
"Can I keep him? Please?"
"No," Pearl and Garnet say instantly.
"Yea!" Amethyst shouts.
"No!" Garnet says firmly, shocking her friends. Pearl gives Garnet a searching look, but the taller female betrays nothing but a tense body.
Pearl then turns back to Steven. "And how can you pick up a dog that big anyway? No, forget it. Its too big, we can't keep it."
Steven deflates, his eyes large and tearful. "B-but we rescued him..."
"I'm sure he has a family looking for him somewhere," Pearl says and she puts her hands on her knees, looking down at him. "His family is probably worried sick about him."
Steven closes his eyes and sighs, then opens them again. "Well, we can watch him, and in case they are looking for him we will keep him safe! We will post posters around so that they know where he is too!" Pearl looks at Garnet, who looks at Pearl. "Pleeeaaase?" Steven whines.
Garnet frowns, crosses her arms and looks away. "So long as he doesn't mess up anything." Steven cheers, then his eyes roll to the back of his head. Garnet snatches up the dog as Pearl catches Steven. She sighs worriedly, a smile on her face.
Greg comes running out to them, worry on his face. "Is the threat over? What happened to Steven?"
"He's fine, just a little tired," Pearl assures him. "We're going to take him back to get some rest. Ask the others if they have a white dog please? We found this guy wondering around," she pointed to the ridiculously happy dog in Garnet's arms, "and we want to get him back to his owner."
Greg nodded absently, still looking Steven over. "I will," he promises after he's satisfied that Steven is indeed tired and not hurt in any way. He backs away and waves them off.