A walk around the town.
As Amethyst and Garnet cleared up the remains of the monster, Hammond, Steven and Pearl had already went back to the beach house. "Wait wait wait, so, what you guys were saying, it's that the monster got here. Because of me?" Hammond asked his new friends in a confused tone, Garnet told them what she thinks could be the only reason this could happen before, of course it also surprised Pearl but how could she argue? Things had always been weird for them but this one, had to come out on top of their list.
"Well yes, at least that's what Garnet told us and it's also the best we've got," Replied a similarly confused Pearl.
"But, what if it doesn't really mean that much? What if he's just here because of a... Freak accident?" The half-Gem said with a shrug.
"Steven, there's no way this could have been a freak-" She said while doing the air quote symbol, "accident, there must be a reason. The outcome could be something big."
Hammond, not really understanding his current situation, hung his head low. Pearl then crouched in front of him, "Listen Hammond, you don't need to worry. Maybe that big thing could be something good." She tried consoling him. And it worked, Hammond looked up and smiled, "Look, why don't you and Steven go to the town? Have a look around." The child then smiled wider and nodded happily.
"Yeah! It'll be great! And fun of course." The young Gem threw his arms up enthusiastically.
The two then ran down the nearby steps to head into town while Pearl goes off to help her comrades clear up the carcass.
"Bye guys, we're off to town!" Steven said quickly while running.
"Can you get some fry bits while you're at it? Thanks!" Amethyst said from a distance.
As they make their way into town, Steven looked back at Hammond while walking backwards, "Hey, how about I introduce you to the people of beach city first?" He asked cheerfully.
"Well, you are showing me the place so, why not?" He continued walking along the streets with the extremely energetic boy. After noticing Steven motioned at him with the 'come on' gesture, he followed, only letting himself being led to their destination.
It was not long until the children came to a stop at a car wash, on top of the building there is a neon sign that says 'it's a wash'. Hammond looked around before turning to Steven, "So, who's here?" he politely asked, as he usually does as of now.
"First, I'll introduce you to my dad. Hey dad! Come out for a second, I need to you introduce to someone!" He banged on the backdoor of a nearby van. This act shocked Hammond as it happened quite unexpectedly. After a few more seconds, the door opened up and from it, exited a tall but plump looking man wearing a tank top and a pair of short jeans. He also noticed a bald spot on his head which he decided not to remark on with hair going past his shoulders and nearly reaching his waist.
As soon as both Hammond and the man made eye-contact, they stayed silent, with Hammond not knowing how to introduce himself and Greg being a bit confused to who this kid is. "Dad," Steven began, and pointed his arm towards Hammond, "This is Hammond. Hammond, This is my dad." Hammond was then snapped out of the awkward silence and tried to greet him but couldn't find the right words, especially on what to exactly call him.
"Name's Greg but you can just call me Mr. Universe okay?" The man started first, "And, nice to meet you. Now, who are you exactly?" He held out his hand, which Hammond shook. Hammond only stared at him, not knowing what else to say until Steven chimed in saying, "Sorry dad, we need to go. I'm giving him a tour around Beach City!"
"Is that so? Well, just in case you guys are buying something along the way, here are some extras for you, hold on." Mr. Universe, as Hammond is currently referring him to as of now, got back into his van to get the extra money he had just referred to. Steven then smiled happily at Hammond, who knew this would be a great beginning for him to a better life.
With his father introduced, Steven led Hammond to the others. This time, he was going to introduce him to his two best friends, though, the other person within that two may not be considered quite as tolerable as the other one. After a long walk to the left side of the car wash, they soon reached another shop. Hammond looked up at the big donut on top of it, "A big donut?" He remarked on the sign and looked back down to see the name of the shop, "The Big Donut?"
Steven then proceeded to talk about this place outside while slowly walking towards the entrance. Inside, two of the shop's employees, both being somewhere around the age of young adults, waited on the counter for a customer. One was a short blonde-haired girl while the other was a tall male with an orange-brown mohawk, as if they contrasted each other. Their wait indeed paid off as the hanging doorbell rang.
The girl, who had been resting her head on the counter got up to greet their customer, "Hey! Welcome to the big-" She stopped mid sentence after seeing Steven, "Oh hey Steven, who's that?" She turned to Hammond.
"Yeah, I was going to introduce you guys to him. Go ahead Hammond, say hi to them." Cheerfully replied Steven. Hammond slowly raised his hand and softly said, "Hi. Like he said, my name's Hammond. Nice to uh, meet you."
"...Nice to meet you Hammond, I'm Sadie, and that slacker over there is Lars," She replied while teasing Lars. It was only then that the other employee got up only to deny the fact he is, "Hey! I'm not a slacker!" After that, he decided to take a look at Hammond to greet the kid himself only to notice a slight similarity to Steven. He nudged at Sadie and pointed at Hammond, "Uhh, what?"
"What, what is it?" She looked at Lars and turned to Hammond after seeing that he's pointing at a confused Hammond and then to Steven. "Don't you think they look a little similar?" Lars replied. Sadie couldn't really see it until Lars continued to point it out, "Well, it's not an exact similarity, they look almost the same. For example, the hair, it's not curly but still it's spiking outwards. Then the height. I think that's all, aside from the clothing of course."
Sadie only nodded in agreement at his response, "Anyway, what kind of donuts would you like?" She asked after that was over with. Steven placed his fingers on his chin, pondering. While that goes on, Hammond goes on to the counter, "Hey, Sadie? I know one of your signs on the menu over there says you guys only sell donuts but I can't help but notice other types of snacks here."
"Oh, yeah, ju-just ignore that one. What would you like?" She asked once again.
"I've noticed some weird crescent-shaped pastry, what are those?"
"You're talking about croissants there, you want those?" Sadie asked.
"Isn't that a bit obvious?" The laid-back Lars chimed in.
Sadie only rolled her eyes and went on to get what Hammond had asked for. Hammond waited for a little bit and looked back at Steven, who was still pondering on what he wanted to get along the way. After a while, Sadie finally came back with a bag filled with pastries.
"You know what? I think I'll just have the usual ones," Steven said with a shrug.
"It's already in there." Replied Sadie, who was already counting the amount that is needed to pay.
"Oh, well, thanks then!" He cheerfully said to her, and proceed to pay her after seeing the required amount needed for the snacks.
Both Steven and Hammond walked out of the shop with their pastries, "You know," Hammond started, "I think so far, we're off to a really good start. Where we heading next?"
"I think we can still make it to our last two stops if we hurry."
After another walk, they came to what seems to be a restaurant. Judging from the sign, it was obviously a pizzeria, "So, who are we seeing this time?" Hammond asked.
"This time, we're meeting the pizzas." Steven replied with his usual energetic tone.
"How are these people like? I'm afraid I might have trouble greeting these new people again."
"Don't worry, they're easy to talk with."
Upon entering the building, Hammond looked around. After looking back down, his eyes were set upon all 6 people that are currently inside. All whom Steven is greeting.
"Well, here he is. Go on, introduce yourself buddy." He asked him.
"Hello everyone. Nice to meet you guys, the name's Hammond."
"Yeah he's okay. Nice to meet you too," Said the one wearing sunglasses, "Call me Buck."
"Me too, nice to meet you. They call me Sour Cream." Came the hoodie-wearing teen's voice next.
"I'm Jenny, nice to meet you too li'l guy," Said a girl, who is apparently one of the members of the family who owned the restaurant, "So Hammond, how long have you been here?"
"Actually, he's only arrived here today," Steven went on to reply for Hammond, "So where's Kofi and Nanefua?, is it just you and Kiki today?"
"Not really, they're just off to something important I guess. You? Are you just here to introduce him to us or are you gonna order some pizza?"
"It's just the first one, we already got ourselves some snacks anyway," Steven held up the pastry-filled bag, "Also, we only have one last place to stop by."
"See ya later then," Jenny said her goodbye first.
"Bye guys," Said the other two in unison.
Just as they exited the restaurant, Kiki finally came up to the counter, having missed the whole conversation, "What did I miss?"
"It's not much really, I'll tell you all about it later," Replied her sister.
This next route wasn't very far, as they literally walked only several steps to the right after coming out of the pizzeria. This time, they're heading to another familiar landmark, for Steven at least. Steven and Hammond stopped right in front of it.
"Here we are!" Steven happily said while pointing his arms forward to the building.
"Beach citywalk fries? OH and didn't Amethyst ask us if we could get her something?" Said Hammond upon remembering said Gem's words.
"Of course, she asked if we could her some fry bits didn't she?"
"Yeah, what's fry bits anyway? I've heard of fries and even tasted some during one of my temporary stay with another family before, but fry bits?"
"You'll see," Steven then walked to the counter, where another kid was placed to work at, "Hey Peedee, you know what I want."
"Sure thing Steven, let me- Who's that?" The kid, whose name was apparently Peedee, asked Steven.
"Yeah, this here is Hammond. Say hi."
"Got that, yeah, nice to meet you Peedee."
"Well it's always nice to see new faces 'round town, nice to meet you too," The young worker returned the greeting while placing a bag of what can only be assumed be of fry bits, which Steven picked up.
"That's all I guess, tell Ronaldo and your father I said hi!" Steven waved at him while walking down the right side on the boardwalk.
"I will!"
While walking down the boardwalk, the kids bumped into Amethyst.
"Oh, hey Amethyst, here are your fry bits."
"Oh thanks, I was just about to get it myself after I thought you guys didn't hear me. Also, Pearl is getting a bit worried about you."
Hammond was sort of confused until he looked at the now orange sky, "Oh, sun's setting..." He said and exchanged glances at Steven before shrugging.
"Anyway, thanks again for the bits," Amethyst said with a mouth-full of fry bits.
They were about to make their way back home until a pained scream came within earshot, they then looked at the source of it and noticed a dark-skinned man kneeling on the ground while holding his arm. They also noticed three other people near him and one in front of all of them.
"Isn't that Mister Smiley?" Steven said, referring to the man. He then ran to his location with Hammond and Amethyst following behind.
Soon enough, they came the closest to him before noticing the person facing him was holding a rather large knife. Steven also noted that one of the people who are wearing suits is Mayor Dewey, "Mayor Dewey, what happened?"
"Steven, stay back. This man, is dangerous."
"All of you, better back off now," Said the attacker.
"This guy is easy," Amethyst said while stepping forward before summoning her whip.
"You make one more step and this man, will die," He warned once again, oblivious to the presence of another person behind him.
As the attacker then points his knife towards Mayor Dewey, "Even though I'm not originally from this place, I really hate you. You, are a horrible excuse for a mayor. Now, I'm gonna-"
Before he could finish his sentence, he received a sharp blow on the head, knocking him out. Shocked, the crowd looked on at the man who had apparently just saved them all. He picked the unconscious man and proceeded to walk away, until of course, "Hey, mister! Who are you? Please, help Mr. Smiley!" He heard the man sigh and reached out into the backpack he was carrying and threw a first-aid kit at them.
After the man had left, Steven and Mayor Dewey finally finished wrapping up Mr. Smiley's wound. Relieved, they helped him get up.
"So Mayor Dewey, what happened here?" Steven asked.
"Well, it was quite an event. I was going around with my van as usual, checking up on the citizens of my town. And then that madman showed up, but, had it not been for Mr. Smiley here, you would have to elect a new mayor then," He ended with a short laugh.
"Wow, you're a real nice guy. But, why did that guy called you a bad mayor?" Hammond' s voice came in.
"Eh, it's probably one of our past actions which had something to do with the town losing its' electricity," Amethyst replied to Hammond' s question.
"And if I may ask, who might you be?"
"My name is Hammond, mister Mayor."
"Ah well, nice to meet you Hammond. I think it is best for you all to head home by now."
"Yeah, I agree. It's dark now, see you tomorrow Mayor Dewey!" Steven bid farewell while Hammond waved at him.
The mayor then offered to send Mr. Smiley home as a gratitude for help saving his life. After passing by the Beach Citywalk Fries again, Steven explained to Peedee all that had happened. Not long after, when the lights are all out, the trio finally arrived back at the beach house.
Upon entering said house, they were greeted by an extremely worried Pearl, who was pacing around near the doorstep. She quickly turned to them after noticing they were finally back home. She quickly ran over to both Steven and Hammond to check on them. She was greatly relieved when no damage on them was found. Her happiness was soon converted to anger and Steven and Hammond soon found themselves to be the glared on.
"What were you two doing!? I was so worried, Amethyst, why didn't you accompany them all the way back then? Do you know how stressed I feel right now!?" She furiously shouted at all three of them.
"Geez, relax P. You're the one who sent them off in the first place," Amethyst countered with the wave of a hand.
Before Pearl could say anymore, Hammond quickly chimed in, "No no no! It is partially our fault, we got carried away with all the talking and stuff. We're sorry, but there was a lot of things that happened on the way home! Again, we're sorry."
Pearl wanted to let her anger out but seeing Hammond' s saddened expression helped soften her a bit, "Alright, it's okay. I'm sorry too, for shouting at you. I was just very worried about you guys. I hope you can forgive me, Hammond, Steven."
Both the boys nodded at her with an accepting smile. This also helped Pearl smile along with them. Amethyst's yawn snapped them out from the conversation, indicating that it was time for Steven to go to bed as well.
"Well, good night Pearl. I'm, off to sleep now," He said while walking down to the bathroom to brush his teeth.
After brushing his teeth and changing into his pajamas and everything else needed to be done, Steven was prepared to sleep. He had also cleared it up to Hammond that for now, they can share the bed. With all the things done, Steven slowly drift to a deep sleep. Hammond was still wide awake however, he stared at the ceiling. Pondering.
He eventually cleared up his mind so that he may sleep soundly like Steven. Everything about his past had only just bothered him. But one thing for sure, is that he now have a family to rely on, a new life to live on for.
Chapter end.
Notes: Hiatus? What hiatus? Pfft.
-You might think this is rushed, but its' not. It was a major crack pain. I started working on this chapter about last month...
-Also, what's with the last event right? Well, it's nothing. Or is it?
-I'll try to do better in the next chapter.