"Steven, what are you doing in the girl's bathroom?" the tall woman asked.
A young man with black hair hung from the stall walls by tape, "Oh you know, just, hanging out."
Garnet raised her eyebrow visibly above her sunglasses, "Who taped you to the bathroom stall, "Steven? Who did this? Was it Jasper?" she raised her glasses to look at him with her red eye, "Someone else?"
Steven looked away from his towering friend, "It wasn't, Jasper-
"Hey, who the he-
Garnet turned to glare at the towering woman who walked in the bathroom, "I'll let you guys finish up what you're doing."
The dark skinned woman sighed and smiled at the younger boy, "C'mon, Steven. It's already five o'clock."
"WAIT IT IS!?"
"Yep. You missed the bus. Need me to take you home?"
Steven looked down at the tape trapping him to the bathroom, "Can you take the tape off first?"
Steven sat down next to Garnet at a bus stop, looking at how short his legs were compared to Garnet's, "Are you still surprised I'm fourteen?"
"Nope. I'm more surprised that Amethyst is fifteen," Garnet joked. The two fell in silence while they waited for their bus.
"Garnet, why are we heading to your house first?"
"Got something I need to pick up. Your house isn't too far away from where mine is," Garnet looked to her right and grimaced, "Oh boy, here comes trouble."
Steven looked to where Garnet was looking towards, "Who's she?"
Garnet looked forward, "The woman with the strongest punch in the city."
"HEY GARNET!" Garnet gritted her teeth at Steven, putting on a fake smile.
"Yang Xiao Long! How. Are you?" Garnet smiled.
A blonde woman with blue eyes smiled at the dark skinned friend of Steven's, "I'm doing great! Just got off the gym and I'm looking forward to hanging out with Blake!"
"Ah Blake, you and her still together?" Garnet asked.
"You know it," she looked at Steven, "Hey, who's this cutie?"
"He's Steven. He's in my group of friends,"
He waved to the blonde, "Garnet says you have the strongest punch in the city."
Garnet glared at the young man, and while Steven didn't catch it, for a split second, Yang grinned, "Nah. I don't have the strongest punch. Unless you want to try me on, Steven?" she winked at him.
Steven jumped from the bench, "Sure! Let's see how strong that punch is!"
Garnet stood between them, "Steven, here's our bus. Go pick a seat for us," she watched him get on before glaring at Yang. She raised her glasses, giving her a look at her red eye, "If you give Steven any trouble, you'll get trouble from me."
As she stood on the bus she heard her old friend's response, "I hear Halibel is recruiting again. Another tournament might be starting up soon."
Garnet turned back to her, "You'll have to win the championship by yourself."
Garnet sat down next to Steven, relaxing with her arms around her friend, "Who was she, Garnet?"
She let out a small laugh, "Someone I knew a while ago. Don't worry yourself about her, Steven. She's just another face in Smash City."
The two of them sat in silence for a good twenty minutes until the bus stopped to let a few people on. Steven watched a young Asian woman walk past them, waving at them, "Hi, Garnet."
"Hey," she replied.
Steven looked back at her and to Garnet, "Uh, who is she?" he asked.
"Fa Mulan. Kicked the shit out of me a couple of years ago. Isn't that right, Mulan?!" she yelled out to her friend.
"Damn right," Mulan sat on the chair across the aisle, "So Garnet, heard you were talking to Yang Xiao Long."
"How the hell do you know that?" Garnet asked in a playful manner.
The woman pulled out her phone and showed a picture of Yang doing a peace sign in front of Garnet and Steven, "She loves her social media," she looked closer to Garnet, "So what do you think of the new tournament?"
"Yang will win," Garnet replied assuredly.
"Even against me?" Mulan playfully raised her eyebrows at the dark-skinned.
"Ok, you'll put up a good fight,"
"You asshole," she smiles, "So you're not interested in joining?"
"Nah. Steven needs help with a project at school," she looked back to her shorter companion, "Ain't that right, Steven?"
"Uh sure. Garnet! My stop is here!" he ran off the seat to the sidewalk.
Garnet waved to her old friend, "See ya. We should catch up."
"If you see Tiana-
"I know. Call her an asshole,"
"Wow, Garnet! You know a lot of people in this town," Steven brought up a subject to break the silence the two of them had been walking through.
"Eh. Just a few people," Garnet looked across the street and groaned to herself, "Just keep walking, Steven. Don't pay attention."
"What's going on?" Steven turned to see two women, arms locked together, struggling to overcome the other.
"That's Anna and Korra. At it again,"
"Who do you wanna bet on this time?" Garnet laughed when she saw the dark-haired woman with two dollars in her hand.
"You caught me in a good mood, Matoi. A quarter on Korra," Garnet held a quarter in front of her.
"And two bucks that Anna wins," Ryuko betted with the taller girl.
Before long, Korra head butted Anna, kicking her into the sidewalk, "And now the score is eighty-nine to zero," Garnet grabbed the dollars from Ryuko before walking away with Steven.
"Hey, Garnet. I hear they're entering that tournament of Halibel's. What about you?"
Garnet laughed at her, "Nothing good can come out from putting them in a tournament together."
Steven waved back to Ryuko before catching up to Garnet.
After a while, Steven decided to ask his friend again "Garnet, why does everyone keep bringing up the tournament to you?"
"It isn't important. C'mon, let's get you-
Steven bumped into Garnet, "Um, Garnet what's-
Even Steven knew who the stranger was in front of them. He backed away behind Garnet, watching the woman before them. A tan-woman with blonde hair, she hid her face behind her jacked. The jacket only went to her midriff, showing off her muscular abs.
Beside her we three women, though their intent was to guard her, it was clear she didn't need guarding.
"Tier Halibel," Garnet gritted through her teeth.
The Champion of Smash City stood there, waiting for the former-fighter to act. Steven, meanwhile gulped and came between the two, "Hi! I'm Steven! The whole city seems like it's talking about you and some tournament!"
Halibel stuck with her deadpan reaction to the young man, bringing her fist back, to thrust it towards the young man, Steven unable to react.
Steven held his arms up to defend himself, hearing colliding of fists, "Garnet?" he saw his friend standing in front of him, blocking Halibel's fist with both of her palms.
Garnet glared at the Champion, pushing her back and moving to punch her. Halibel raised foot, kicking Garnet in the side, and throwing her down on the pavement.
"GARNET-
Halibel stopped the young man, as she glared down at Garnet, "You blocked my punch. Very few have done that," she offered her hand to Garnet, "I'm looking for strong women to fight in my tournament. I think you qualify."
Garnet accepted her hand and was pulled up by Halibel, "I appreciate your interest in me. But I'm not interested in fighting in the tournament," Garnet signaled Steven to follow her.
They walked past Halibel and her three bodyguards, "Wait," a woman with different color eyes offered her a card when the Champion raised her voice, "If you change your mind, give either of them a call. They organize the fights for me," she turned to face Garnet pulling down her zipper, showing off her face tattooed in the style of a skull, "I only recruit fighters I believe can beat me. And I have the feeling you could be the new champion of Smash City."
Garnet looked down at Steven and back to Halibel, "Look me in the eye and say you think I can beat you," she removed her sunglasses, looking Halibel down with her three eyes.
Though her three guards stared in confusion and horror, Halibel stepped to the dark-skinned woman, looking her in the eye, "I think you can beat me."
Garnet slipped her glasses back on, "See you in the tournament. C'mon, Steven!" Garnet walked away from the Champion, carrying her card.
"Garnet? You're gonna fight in the tournament?" Steven asked his towering friend.
"Well, I couldn't refuse an offer from Tier Halibel," she ruffled his hair "C'mon. Let's head to my house."
Halibel walked ahead of her three bodyguards, "I'm not too sure about that three-eyed girl. Halibel do you really think she can win?" Mila-Rose asked her boss.
Halibel didn't answer, closing her eyes, anticipating Garnet's return.