Welcome to the next chapter of what I have now begun to call my excuse to ignore homework! Hahahaha! I have so much work to do, anyways welcome to chapter 20, wow this fanfiction has progressed. As the one-year anniversary of when I first published this story is about to pass! As such I decided to celebrate with a special chapter that I will release on May 6th, which is the anniversary. Now this chapter relies specifically on you the reader and your reviews as this chapter is where I will answer almost any question you have regarding the future of this fanfiction. And you can also ask the characters in this story questions as well. So basically ask questions in your reviews and I will answer them in that chapter, keeping in mind the characters do not know about future chapters and I will only give minor spoilers, not major. Now onto the story.

Episode: Monster Buddies

"This just screams unsafe to me I hope you know that," I spoke up as the gems and I faced against an icicle-gem monster that was the only creature in between us and the artifact we were after that Pearl referred to as the shooting star. As to what the artifact actually did I had no idea as I had only come along due to Pearl mentioning how this might be more than Steven could handle, resulting in me insisting on coming to ensure his safety.

"Believe me I am aware," Pearl spoke as the creature's arm fell off and I winced despite myself. Sticking close to Steven as the ceiling was caving in and as the fight continued on the structure of the entire cavern only seemed to deteriorate even more.

Garnet taking the time to destroy the creature as it finally shattered with a final hit from her gauntlets. It's gem finally falling as Pearl grabbed onto it, bubbling it quickly as she sent it back to the temple.

"Now there's nothing standing between us and the shooting star," Pearl spoke as she turned back to look at us.

"This job is really dangerous," Amethyst imputed as the cave-in became even worse as you could feel the room shaking.

"No kidding," I spoke as I pulled Amethyst towards me as a pile of rubble crashed onto where she had been standing previously.

"Thanks," Amethyst spoke as I simply nodded.

"We've got to get you two out of here," Pearl yelled out.

"How? The entire place is coming down!" I yelled back as I blasted a piece of rubble away before it could come down on Steven.

"I'm sending you two back to the temple," Garnet spoke as she came up next to me and Steven, "I'll have to send you together so hold Steven close."

"Okay?" I spoke in confusion as I grabbed onto Steven as Garnet enveloped the both of us in a bubble.

"You can bubble people?" Steven questioned as I heard Pearl gasp in what I assume was shock.

"Garnet no!" Pearl yelled out before Garnet tapped the top of the bubble, sending Steven and I back to the temple.

The feeling reminding me of what it felt like to be sucked into the Thermos as it felt like my entire body was being squeezed into a confined space, only for the feeling to end abruptly as the bubble appeared in the inner sanctum of the temple.

"You okay?" I questioned Steven, for while I was slightly used to the feeling of my body being contracted that didn't make it any less unpleasant and I was unsure of to how it felt to Steven as I assumed this was the first time he had to experience anything like it.

"Yeah, that felt weird though," Steven remarked as he glanced up at me, "um, how do we get out."

"Simple," I spoke as I summoned my sword, poking it through the bubble, effectively popping it as Steven and I fell out of it. Steven being slightly luckier as his fall was broken by another bubble that had been directly under us while I simply fell straight to the ground with a thus. Although the bubble popped immediately after, Steven falling to the ground while the gem also fell as it connected to the ground with a clatter.

"Aw man, what's happening?" Steven cried out as the gem began to glow.

"I think it's reforming," I spoke calmly as I watched a the form of what looked to me as a giant centipede began to form.

"The Centipeetle!" Steven cried out, giving me the assumption that he had faced this creature before and as such I discreetly took a step forward in order to place myself in front of Steven should the gem monster attempt to attack him.

My action causing Steven to clutch onto my arm as we watched the form of the creature shrink down to become a mere fraction of what it first appeared to be as instead of a giant creature it was now the size of a small dog.

"It looks so scared," Steven remarked as we both took notice of how the Centipeetle seemed to be shaking as it looked around at its surroundings.

"Even so it could still be dangerous," I remarked, "just be careful."

"Right," Steven spoke as he attempted to approach the Centipeetle, "aw, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you and neither is Danny, see?"

As he said this Steven lay down so that his stomach was on the floor to appear less threatening and in order to help the process along I followed his example, yet I still remained in ghost form as a precaution.

"Please don't be scared, just relax," Steven continued to coax as I watched the flared mane of the Centipeetle begin to flatten, "yeah that's it, doesn't relaxing feel nice? You wanna come over here and relax with us? We can all totally hang out, just right here on the floor."

I watched Steven as amazingly the Centipeetle began to walk over. The creature showing no malicious intent for the time being I was awed at how calmly Steven could talk despite how mere moments earlier he had been scared of the creature that was now walking towards him.

"Our names are," Steven began to speak as he reached out to touch the centipeetle before a loud voice interrupted him.

"Steven!" Pearl shouted, "get away from that thing!"

"Woah dude," Amethyst remarked as I watched Garnet jump down.

"Wait, it's not!" Steven began to shout and seeing Garnet's intentions I wasted no time in erecting a shield between the gems and us.

"Danny!" Pearl yelled out as Garnet landed on top of the shield instead of on top of the Centipeetle as that's where she seemed to be aiming.

"Steven, calm it down please," I spoke as I ignored the gems, knowing that it would be better for them to see there wasn't any danger before they would hear Steven out.

"Hey it's okay," Steven spoke sweetly as he turned to the Centipeetle who had its mane only slightly flared as it surveyed the shield that protected it, "they won't hurt you. Just calm down and we can talk things out."

"Danny you put this shield down this instant!" Pearl commanded as I stared at her defiantly.

"Not until you agree to leave the Centipeetle alone," I spoke calmly, not wanting to raise my voice as I didn't want to scare it even more.

"But that thing it-" Pearl began to yell before I cut her off.

"Listen, Steven accidently let it out of the bubble but it's okay, the Centipeetle didn't attack us. All it did was look scared and Steven had everything handled until you guys showed up and started screaming for no reason," I pointed out, "and until you agree to let Steven handle this I shall not let you try and destroy a creature who so far has done nothing that would warrant such an action."

"But-" Pearl tried again before Garnet put her hand on her shoulder.

"Let the shield down," Garnet instructed and I knew my message had gotten across as my shield fell and the gems didn't attempt to attack as we all watched Steven. Who had now gotten the creature to calm down and was now feeding it chaaaaps.

"Okay, Centipeetle is all mellowed out," Steven remarked as he noticed us staring.

"Oh fine, I guess I have no choice in the matter," Pearl remarked as she knew no one would stand with her if she tried to bubble it, "but I don't want it in the house."

"Fair enough, come on Steven let's bring the Centipeetle outside," I spoke to him.

"Okay," Steven spoke as he started a trail of chaaaaps that led to the beach outside that the Centipeetle ended up following until the three of us were all on the beach as per Pearl's request.

"You love chaaaaps and I love chaaaaps," Steven sang as he started pulling out fistfuls of chaaaaps out of the bag and throwing them into the air as he had grabbed another bag on our way outside. A smile coming to my face as I watched him and his new friend.

"Ahh!" Steven suddenly yelled as a seagull tried to grab a chaaaap out of his hand and ended up biting Steven's hand instead.

"You okay?" I questioned.

"Yep," Steven remarked before turning to the seagull, "shoo, get! Those aren't for you!" The seagull not wanting to move until Centipeetle blasted some acid at it which caused it to fly away.

"You, saved me!" Steven spoke, "Danny, did you see that"

"I did, that's cool and all but knowing it has acid in its mouth you probably shouldn't feed it chaaaaps by hand," I suggested.

"I gotta show the gems!" Steven spoke as he seemingly ignored my comment as with a shrug I followed him as he and Centipeetle burst into the house.

"Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, look what she can do!" Steven spoke as he imitated a seagull noise which resulted in Centipeetle, who I now knew was a girl, shooting a blast of acid which luckily hit a pillar instead of one of the gems. Steven continuing to imitate the bird as Centipeetle hit more and more things with her acid.

"Steven this is unacceptable!" Pearl spoke.

"Aww come on Pearl, she can help us on missions and stuff," Steven spoke as despite my earlier warning he was feeding Centipeetle by hand.

"Oh no, out of the question," Pearl insisted.

"Actually," I spoke up, "we still need to get the shooting star and last time there was a cave-in because we didn't have an easier way of getting through all the ice. With Centipeetle's acid we do, therefore I think we could at least attempt to use Centipeetle on this mission."

"Very well," Garnet spoke before Pearl could protest, "alright Steven, let's see what you new friend can do.

Soon after we were all once deep within the ice caverns once more on a mission for the shooting star.

"I just don't know if this will work," Pearl said, voicing her concerns before Steven did his bird noise. Effectively putting her doubts to rest as the acid cleared a nice hole in the ice that didn't damage the overall support it gave the ceiling.

"Good job Centipeetle!" Steven cheered as I picked him and Centipeetle up in order to carefully carry them over the acid. Our journey going a lot smoother as we got through the ice cavern without an incident. Centipeetle's acid a perfect substitute to the punching through walls that Garnet had resorted to earlier in the day.

Our journey leading us to a magnificent ice cavern that appeared to be pink in the way the light reflected off of the crystals. And in the middle lay a lake with what appeared to be an ice shard.

"There it is, the shooting star," Pearl announced, "an ancient elemental so hot and so volatile it can only be contained in ice, Bare skin can not endure its intensity."

"What do you do with the shooting star?" Steven questioned.

"You shoot it," Amethyst spoke unhelpfully.

"More importantly, how are we supposed to get it back to the temple?" I questioned.

"That's quite simple actually, Garnet's gauntlets will provide ample protection against the shooting star," Pearl explained as Garnet leaning down to extract the gem artifact. Yet as soon as she summoned her weapon Centipeetle started shaking.

"Oh no, not know," Steven spoke as he ran over to his friend.

"Something's wrong," Garnet summarized as Centipeetle started spraying acid everywhere, the result being the beginning of another cave in as her acid hit the walls and ceiling.

"I knew this would happen," Pearl spoke as she moved to attack the Centipeetle.

"Oh no you don't," I spoke as I once more put a shield between Centipeetle and the gems.

"Danny that thing is dangerous, you need to let us bubble it," Pearl yelled at me.

"No! You attacking it won't solve anything! It will only make the problem worse!"I yelled back, only to falter as the Centipeetle had once more started spraying acid as some had landed on my back.

"Danny!" Steven yelled out in concern.

"I'm fine," I reassured him, "focus on Centipeetle."

"You don't need to fight," Steven spoke to her as he placed himself directly in her field of vision, "please this isn't you. You're not a monster anymore. You're more than that, we have so many memories now. Remember the chip times, and how you saved me from the vicious seagull. How we became best friends. You have to remember! This all happened today!"

I watched as Steven embraced Centipeetle, knowing how despite the acid that was dripping onto his jacket he wouldn't let go until he was sure his message had gotten through. Until the moment was ended as an icicle began to fall.

"Steven!" I yelled out, yet there was no need as Centipeetle hit Steven in the chest, the momentum sending him into my arms as Centipeetle was crushed.

"No!" Steven yelled out as I set him down and her gem poofed, rolling to Steven's feet, "you saved me."

"Steven you did a good job training the Centipeetle, your mother would be so proud," Garet spoke as I had long since dropped the shield.

"She would?" Steven questioned.

"Truth is, Rose Quartz tried to use her powers to save these monsters too. But she was never able to heal them," Garnet explained.

"Never?" Steven questioned, "but if she couldn't?"

"Hey just because she couldn't doesn't mean you can't. You help the moss remember? Besides your unique," I added in.

"I'll keep her safe," Steven spoke as a pink bubble surrounded the gem.

"Steven you can bubble gems!" Pearl spoke in shock.

"Wait for me Centipeetle, I promise I'll heal you up someday," Steven spoke as he sent the Centipeetle to the temple along with a bag of chaaaaps.

"I have a feeling that's a promise you won't have trouble keeping," I remarked.

Another chapter finished I am super tired. Read author's note at top, good night. After reviews.

Gamelover41592: Oh boy, Danny has been avoiding Clockwork like the plague and will continue to do so for a few more chapters.

YouCanOnlyPretend: I'm a cheesy person, your reviews are appreciated.

Marcy43: I'm glad you think so, brother type relationships are one of the best tropes.

Leafeon12: Next one is here!

Kimera20: Yeah, Danny can't resist helping out Steven, glad you liked the chapter.

CountofMonteCristo17: Fight me, I know where you live

Drift219: Noted, thanks for the review.

Guest: I'm not dead yet! And I miss sleep for lots of things at least with this I purposefully ignore sleep.