Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or any of its characters; I only own my O.C.! I hope you guys enjoy today's exciting chapter!
Garnet: We...
Pearl and Amethyst: Are the Crystal...
Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Moonstone, Steven: Gems!
Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Moonstone, Steven: We'll always save the day!
Steven: And if you think we can't...
Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, Moonstone, Steven: We'll..always find a way!
Garnet: That's why the people (Pearl, Amethyst, Moonstone, Steven: Of this world!) of this world! Believe in...
Moonstone: Moonstone!
Garnet: Garnet!
Amethyst: Amethyst!
Pearl: And Pearl!
Steven: And Steven!
Cheeseburger Backpack
In the morning, as the sun was rising high into the sky, Steven was seen sitting on a rock just outside of the beach house, waiting patiently in front of a white mailbox. As he was waiting, Steven was also singing a little ditty, "Hey, mister postman, bring me a post Bring me the post that I love the most."
On cue, a male delivery boy with brown hair, who was wearing a light turquoise short-sleeved shirt, dark aqua shorts, red sneakers, a white delivery safari hat, and carrying a tan satchel full of mail, turned the corner and approached Steven and the mailbox.
Steven, noticing this, became easily excited, his eyes glistening with star-shaped pupils as he happily exclaimed, "My song came true"!
He got down from the rock he was sitting on, asking the approaching delivery boy, "Do you have a package for me today"?
"Hold on. Let me see what I've got here," the delivery boy replied while looking into his satchel of mail, asking Steven while showing him a loaf of bread with stamps on it, "Did you order a loaf of bread with a stamp on it"?
"No," Steven replied
"Did you order a jury summons for R.J. Finkle," the delivery boy asked while holding an envelope.
"That's not me - I'm Steven," Steven clarified.
Thinking clearly again, the delivery boy responded before looking back into his satchel, "Oh, right, right, right, Steven," before pulling out a brown package, saying, "Here it is: Steven Universe."
Steven was very happy to see that his package had arrived safely, as he commented giddily, "Ha! This thing is gonna help me save the world"!
"Really? It says it's from Wacky Sacks supply company," the delivery boy pointed out while reading the labeling on the package.
Steven replied, explaining, "Garnet, Amethyst, Moonstone, and Pearl think I shouldn't go on magic adventures because I don't know how to use my gem powers."
"That seems reasonable," the delivery boy commented in agreement with the gems' thoughts on Steven's safety.
"But there are other ways I can help," Steven then pointed out.
"With a wacky sack," the delivery boy asked curiously.
"Exactly," Steven replied with the most affirmation in his little 13-year-old body that he could possess.
The delivery boy smiled before asking, "You know how you can save my world," before showing Steven a grey electronic pad, asking him, "Sign here, please."
Steven saw where the pen was and easily signed his name, adding little drawings of stars by his name for fun, as the delivery boy mentioned, "Barb yells at me if I don't get signatures."
"That's awful," Steven replied while placing the pen back in its holder on the pad.
Suddenly, there was the sound of something whimsical and bright light that shone from the inside of the house, which got noticed by Steven and the delivery boy.
Steven knew right away what that meant, as he gasped happily and shouted, "Garnet, Amethyst, Moonstone, and Pearl are back"!
He grabbed his package from the delivery boy and ran right inside the house, not hearing when the delivery boy called out, "W-wait! Steven! What is a wacky sack," which left the question unanswered...for now.
Steven pushed the door open, excited to greet the gems and show them hat he had ordered, but he was in for a surprise the moment that the door swung open, leaving him with a confused facial expression and a "Huh," escaping from his mouth as if to silently ask what the heck was going on.
Garnet, whose head was covered in white feathers, was the first to speak, saying, "Hello, Steven," to Steven.
Moonstone, who was plucking feathers that were stuck to her shoes, spoke next, saying to herself while pulling each feather, "Note: remind me never to wear sandals when dealing with avian monsters."
Pearl, who was holding a grey statue with blue hair and a white diamond in its hands, appeared to be talking to Amethyst off-screen, telling her with strictness, "Amethyst, we do not need that. It's not going to fit in the fridge."
Amethyst, who was seen holding a gigantic egg that was white and had blue star patterns on it, and eyeing the currently open fridge, trying to figure out how to fit the egg inside of it, replied back, "What? I got this."
She carefully pulled out the top tray, which had a carton of milk and a bag full of bagels, before dumping it onto the floor, which cleared a lot of space for the egg to fit. As Amethyst placed it easily inside, like a proud display, she commented happily, "Look! It fits," and slammed the door shut, oblivious to the sounds of the egg cracking inside.
"Oh, man, we could make a big omelet or a quiche or big sunny-side-ups," Amethyst suggested, thinking of tasty food options to do with the egg.
"Amethyst, do you think about anything other than your stomach," Moonstone asked while placing the feathers into a nearby waste bin.
Amethyst crossed her arms and said with a proud grin, "Of course I do. Right now, I'm thinking of what other fun dishes we could make with this bad boy! Maybe a giant deviled egg, or. bake it, or boil it into a giant hard boiled egg, or..."
While Amethyst was continuing to list the different dish options she was thinking of, Pearl, who was listening with an "annoyed/awkward" facial expression, then faced Steven and told him, just to answer the question she knew he'd ask, "We fought a giant bird. We're only here for a second. We've got to go back out."
"What? Why," Steven asked out of curiosity.
Pearl explained while showing Steven the statue, "We have to place this Moon Goddess statue on the top of the lunar sea spire before midnight. Without it, the whole place will fall apart"!
"Hey, Moon! Why arent YOU on the spire instead of the statue," Amethyst joked towards Moonstone, making her break into laughter Moonstone rolled her eyes in response but smiled in appreciation of the joke, as she commented in playful sarcasm, "Oh, referencing my name as a joke in relation to the statue. Where have I heard that before"?
Meanwhile, while Pearl was explaining about the spire to Steven, her pearl started to glow and show an image of what the spire looked like as she elaborated on its rich history, saying, "Oh, Steven, you should have seen the spire in its heyday. It was an oasis for Gems on Earth."
The holographic image ended as she added, "It's abandoned now, but we can still save it with this statue," as Garnet, Amethyst, and Moonstone came up and stood behind Pearl.
Steven was definitely surprised by all of this information before he suddenly got an idea, saying as his eyes gleamed with excitement and hope again, "Wha... That's perfect"!
"What? Why," Pearl asked in confusion.
Steven replied happily, "Because I can help carry it for you... in this," before placing his package on the floor and starting to open it in front of the gems. As an added effect on the excitement, he pretended to make revealing background noises as from the package, he pulled out a giant backpack that looked like a standard cheeseburger, but just as he raised the backpack over his head, he heard what sounded like classical music playing, more specifically, the beginning of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" which prompted him to look around and see where the music was coming from.
Garnet turned her head and saw Moonstone turning a dial on the radio that was on the coffee table. When Moonstone saw that she was being seen, she turned the dial all the way to "off" and commented while scratching her cheek with her finger, "Sorry. Just thought that Steven's reveal of the contents inside his parcel could use some more riveting reveal music," and joined back up with the other gems.
The Crystal Gems looked visibly confused by the backpack, with Pearl asking Steven, "A... hamburger"?
"It's a novelty backpack shaped like a cheeseburger," Steven happily explained before he realized that he ruined the surprise of the guess, commenting to himself, "Aw, I blew it."
He then added as he placed the backpack on his back, "I was just gonna wear it one day, and you guys would be like "Dang, Steven, that's so cool!" But this is obviously important Gem business."
"Note: I'm pretty sure that our reactions wouldn't be exactly as you portray it," Moonstone commented while stifling a giggle.
Pearl then spoke up, saying to Steven, "But yes, it is important gem business, so you should let us take care of it."
Her response made Steven feel a little disappointed as he pointed out, "What? I'm a Gem," and pulled up his shirt, revealing his gem to demonstrate his point.
"But you've still got a lot to learn," Pearl mentioned.
Amethyst suddenly chimed in, suggesting, "So let him come. It'll be educational."
"Note: Amethyst makes a good point; perhaps if he tags along, he could learn some things from us," Moonstone replied, adding to Amethyst's suggestion.
Pearl took the suggestion into mind, and she too found herself agreeing with the idea of Steven gaining some valuable knowledge and learning tips if he tagged along with them on this mission. So, with affirmation, she agreed to the idea, saying to Steven, "Hmm. All right. You can carry it in your hamburger," and gave Steven the statue.
Steven was in awe that he was gonna be entrusted with something very precious and get to help the gems on their mission at the same time. He received the statue and bent down, starting to unzip the backpack, opening it to place the statue inside. However, he noticed something interesting about his backpack, saying, "Check this out; everything's a pocket! Even the cheese is a pocket"!
He looked deeper into his backpack, saying while analyzing all the pockets, "I can fit a lot more stuff in here."
Deciding to pack some items up, he grabbed his backpack and told the gem before running to pack up, "Give me a minute. I'll pack extra supplies."
Steven then went about packing a bunch of times that he deemed would be useful for the trip: a pack of bagels that was lying on the floor, a sweater, a kite, an inflatable raft, and all sorts of things that he thought could be of great "use" on the mission.
When he was up in his room packing, he accidentally stepped on a toy doll that was turquoise, was wearing a crab bib and had its tongue sticking out, as the voice box inside it made a groaning sound when Steven stepped on it. Steven picked up the doll and shook it, laughing in enjoyment while the voice box in the doll said in a gruff male voice, "Kid, don't shake me."
"Mister Queasy," Steven easily identified the doll and laughed while shaking it again, the doll's eyes shaking as it was being shaken, with the doll's voice box adding on, "Ohh, I got a medical condition."
Steven thought that it'd be a good idea to pack Mr. Queasy up, saying as he tossed out a first aid kit to make room for the doll, "You're definitely gonna come in handy."
Before Steven could think of anything else to pack into his cheeseburger backpack, he heard Pearl call out, "Steven, let's go"!
"Uh, coming," Steven replied back as he scurried down the steps and out of his room, his backpack all packed up, and went to meet up with the other Crystal Gems.
When Steven made it onto the warp pad with the others, the gems noticed that Steven's backpack looked very full, with Pearl asking hm, almost sounding slightly annoyed, "Whoa, Steven, did you bring your whole room"?
"Back that thang up," Amethyst commented out of the blue, earning her a flick on the back of the head from Moonstone, who slightly scolded Amethyst, saying to her, "Amethyst, watch what you say around Steven."
"Sorry," Amethyst replied while rubbing the back of her head where Moonstone had flicked her.
"Let's warp," Garnet addressed as the warp pad under their feet started to glow. But when it did, the light didn't cover them entirely as Steven was somehow "blocking" the light, which was making it hard for there to be enough room for all of them to warp together.
"Suck it in, Steven," Amethyst shouted at Steven, pointing out what was happening.
In response, Steven took a deep breath in so the rest of the warp light could envelop him, which soon covered all the Crystal Gems, initiating warp travel.
"Do you remember how to do this," Pearl asked Steven, who began to float up a bit as the warp travel took effect?
Inside the warp, it felt like traveling through a wormhole, but with a lot of light, and it felt like zero gravity was around them as they traveled. Steven was experiencing zero gravity first-hand as he was floating in mid-air, flipping around like crazy, while the gems were able to remain standing.
As Steven floated closer to the edge of the warp, his head broke through the warp barrier, showing a black abyss outside that he was close to falling into, if not for Pearl grabbing Steven and pulling him back towards them while saying, "Keep your head in. Come on."
Soon, the Crystal Gems arrived at the location of the sea spire. The area was riddled with grey cliffs and rushing waterfalls that poured down from high above, and the crown of the area was the sea spire itself; a tall silver tower structure with spiral steps leading upward and dozens of windows/entrances to peek from.
Arriving on a nearby warp pad, the gems were greeted to the sight of the spire's current conditions, left in shock from how it appeared to look. Steven, who fell down to the ground after the warp light had disappeared, got to look up and see the sea spire, surprised by how it looked. He commented in awe, "Whoa! The sea spire"!
However, the Crystal Gems looked more worried by how the location appeared rather than in awe, the group commenting sadly, "Oh," in unison.
The spire itself looked very worn out, a chunk of the building crumbling off and falling down into the waters below.
"It wasn't like this a hundred years ago," Pearl commented while looking around and analyzing the current surroundings.
"I'm sensing structural instability," Garnet addressed while adjusting her glasses.
"Note: even the concrete of the tower's base appears to show signs of strenuous erosion and uncompatible stability upon it," Moonstone noted while writing down her observations in her notepad.
"Oh, yeah, that's never good," Steven commented, completely oblivious to the bit of ground that was beginning to crack underneath him.
However, it was noticed by Pearl, who panicked, shouting, "Gah! Steven," before picking him up just in time as the piece of ground crumbled and fell into the waters below.
"Phew, that was a close one," Moonstone stated while sighing a breath of relief that Steven was ok.
Pearl, deciding that this mission was WAY too risky for Steven to witness, held Steven up and hugged him close while declaring, "All right, hold on. We're taking Steven back"!
But when she squeezed him, it triggered something inside Steven's backpack that spoke out, "Ugh! My achin' stomach"!
While Pearl was startled by the voice and immediately dropped Steven in response, Steven was able to happily identify the voice and opened his backpack, pulling out his Mr. Queasy doll and hugged it, saying, "Oh, mister Queasy," while the doll's voice box spoke out as Steven shook it, "Kid, you're killing me."
Pearl was ready to have a gigantic hissy fit, shouting at first in frustration, "Steven! This place is your heritage"!
Moonstone approached Pearl, placing a hand on her shoulder and telling her, "Pearl, I can sense that you are developing a heavy amount of frustration due to your concerns and worries about Steven's safety."
"Of course I'm worried," Pearl responded abruptly, turning around and facing Moonstone as she vented, "We have very little time to get to the top of the spire and put the Moon Goddess statue on it to save this spire before it falls apart completely, and Steven isn't even taking it seriously! This mission has the risk of a place of his heritage and blood disappearing forever, and he thinks that this is one of those human "games" that he likes to play," while gesturing to Steven, who was continuing to shake his Mr. Queasy doll, laughing in enjoyment as it continued to make queasy-like sounds.
Moonstone then advised, "I understand, and we are all as concerned about Steven's safety as you, but now isn't the time to lose your cool about it. Perhaps you just need to implement the seriousness of this mission to him while also letting him still have the privilege of being able to be a part of this mission alongside us. Let him know that he just needs to have a focused mindset in an orderly but friendly manner. After all, while he is a developing 13-year-old male human, he is a kid, and you don't want to scare him into becoming afraid of doing these kinds of missions anymore, do you"?
Pearl knew that Moonstone was right, letting out a deep breath in an effort to calm her nerves before saying, "You raise a good point there, Moonstone."
Taking Moonstone's words into advice, she then turned to Steven, telling him, "Steven, listen. I want you to stay and help, but you've really got to take this seriously. Can you do that, Steven"?
Steven, who had placed his doll away back into his backpack prior to Pearl's talk with him, replied with an affirmative smile and a thumbs up, declaring, "You got it, dude," and playfully stuck his tongue out.
Pearl, unsure of what to make from Steven's answer, and self-doubting whether Steven really understood by what she said about taking the mission seriously, forced out an awkward "Yes," to try and reassure herself that he did understand.
Garnet then spoke up, addressing, "Enough; we have to move."
With that, the gems were on the move, heading over to the sea spire to get the statue up there before midnight.
However, when they reached the edge of the cliff that marked a wide distance between it and the entrance into the tower, Garnet had her hand up, signaling for the group to stop for a minute.
"What's the holdup? We can clear this easily," Amethyst asked, noting the seemingly easy distance to cover to get into the tower.
However, Garnet knew that there was something more to it, explaining, "No. The magic that sustains the whirlpool creates a vortex that will pull us below," while noting the power of the whirlpools in the water moat below.
"Note: the strength of the currents that commence the whirlpool's movements are strong enough to drag even the toughest of swimmers into the depths of the sea below," Moonstone pointed out while looking through a book she had about the sea spire.
And to add to the explanation, Garnet demonstrated by trying to throw a rock across, which hovered in mid-air when it got halfway through, before falling into the water.
"So we can't jump," Pearl asked Garnet, who nodded in response.
Suddenly, Steven got a great idea, saying, "Oh, wait," before pulling out some sweaters from his cheeseburger backpack.
"What are those for," Amethyst, who noticed what Steven was doing, asked out of curiosity.
Steven responded while tying the sweaters together, "They were for keeping warm, but check it out," before showing the chain of sweaters he made from tying them together.
With his chain in handy, he tossed the sweater chain over one of the window arches and had it hooked on tight, and with a look of determination, he readied to jump.
The gems, realizing what he was gonna do, gasped and shouted in concern, "Steven"!
When Steven ran and made the leap of faith, it first looked like the magic of the whirlpool was gonna suck him in, with Pearl shouting, "He's getting sucked down"!
"Steven," The gems called out to him in concern.
But Steven was able to get his footing on the side of the building and then used the sweater chain to run-climb up, shouting while he did so, "Cheeesebur-r-r-r-r-ger"!
Successfully, he made it inside the building, perfectly in balance, catching his breath, and most likely very terrified by the ordeal of what almost happened, while Pearl and Garnet, whose jaws were dropped in shock/surprise, an Amethyst and Moonstone were amazed by how Steven was able to make it across and luckily not fall into the whirlpool below.
"Woohoo! Yay," Moonstone cheered happily while Amethyst commented to Steven in praise, "Steven, way to go"!
Now, all that was left was for the gems to get across, and based on Steven's clever action, Amethyst had an idea of how they could do that, saying to the others, "Come on, guys"!
She summoned her whip and launched it, having it wrap around the same area that Steven's sweater chain was tied onto, and she grabbed Pearl, Garnet, and Moonstone, hugging hem close, before saying in a sing-songy voice, "Steven-style," and made the jump, swinging the rest of the Crystal Gems into the tower just like how Steven entered.
"Note: that was..." Moonstone commented, sounding soft and terrified at first, before declaring in utter excitement, "AWWWWWWWWEEEEEEESOOOOOOOMMMMMMMME"!
"Did you get that idea from that book about the human that was named after Indiana that I lent you yesterday," Moonstone excitedly asked Steven, who then asked her while smiling, "What's Indiana"?
Pearl, however, looked like she had just seen her life flash before her eyes, shouting to Steven at first while trying to recover mentally, "Don't ever do that again"!
"Sorry," Steven replied with a sheepish smile as Garnet, who walked by him, tousled his hair as her way of praising Steven for his quick thinking. Amethyst passed by him next while giving him a playful shoulder bump as her way of telling Steven that he did a great job. Moonstone walked by him next as she gently poked Steven in the ribs while giving him a wink as her way of telling him he did good work.
As Steven was about to join up with them, Pearl, who had calmed down, told Steven in praise, "But... it was pretty great," before she and Steven went to join up with the others.
Inside, the Crystal Gems began to make their way toward the spire while also inspecting the damage that the building has suffered. The inside was nothing like how the outside looked; it looked FAR WORSE, like everything could just disappear in the snap of someone's fingers. There was sea moss on the floor, puddles of water, crumbled pillars, statues, and almost any other forms of damage you could think of.
While most of the team was unfazed by the damage since they were focused on getting upstairs, Pearl, who was eyeing all the damages on the inside, felt her "neat-freak" instincts kick in, commenting in worry about the interior's appearance, "Oh, no, no, no. This is even worse than the outside."
She began to list off all the things that looked off/broken/wrong while the Crystal Gems made their way up the stairs to get to the top, saying, "Ugh, that's - oh. Oh, this didn't use to be so... Oh, and the water damage...This pillar...Oh, and this had a head."
"Geesh, neat-freak much, Pearl," Amethyst commented out loud, her joke making herself and Moonstone both snicker quietly.
Pearl shot an annoyed look at Amethyst and ignored the snickers, focusing more on the hope of the spire retaining back to its original beauty once the Moon Goddess statue was put into its place.
What no one saw at first was that behind one particular statue were two little unknown creatures that were light turquoise and had white spines on their backs, as Pearl told Steven, "Oh, Steven, once the statue's in place, it will restore all of this to its former glory..." but then, she noticed the two creatures that came up from behind the statue and got frightened, screaming before she summoned her spear and sliced the statue, sending it and the creatures into the water below.
Steven, who watched this, asked, "What was that goober"?
"Crystal shrimp," Pearl replied.
Moonstone shuddered, saying as she headed up the stairs first, beginning to enter the next floor, "I hate crystal shrimp; they give me the creeps. But we should be fine as long as we continue upward and get as far away from those crystal-Woah-oh," before she stopped as she retracted her foot, almost inches away from stepping on a crystal shrimp that was just below her foot.
"I...I came so close to-Ahhh," Moonstone commented while stepping back nervously before she jumped back when she saw another crystal shrimp that she barely grazed by.
Suddenly, while standing near the top step, she saw something that made her gasp in shock/concern while her eyes widened in disbelief.
"Moon? You good, girl," Amethyst asked her as she and Garnet came up the stairs to see what Moonstone had spotted, both Garnet and Amethyst gasping when they noticed what Moonstone saw.
When they got a look at what Moonstone had seen, Amethyst called out to Steven and Pearl, telling them, "You guys, we got a problem."
That prompted Steven and Pearl to come upstairs and see what was going on.
It turned out that the entire floor was covered by a large quantity of grouping crystal shrimp that were everywhere, almost making it too hard to pass through the floor.
"It's an infestation! And we have to pass through there to get to the top," Pearl commented while analyzing the formations of the shrimp.
Steven approached one of the shrimps and asked, "Can't you just squish 'em"?
Just before he could touch one, Pearl quickly pulled him back, shouting in concern, "Don't touch that! Their shards are deadly"!
"Note: there's so many of them," Moonstone commented while pointing to the many shrimp that were around.
Pearl pushed Steven aside and started to formulate a plan, saying, "We need to clear a path."
She then used her pearl to summon a hologram of Amethyst, instructing Amethyst, "Amethyst, if you go around to the side and disturb them with a spin attack..."
Then, she summoned a hologram of Moonstone in the far corner of the room, adding, "And Moonstone, you jump onto this side and create a slight disturbance by manipulating the rays of moonlight being shone through the windows in front of the shrimps..."
Then, she summoned a hologram of Garnet up on the ceiling with a marked X, describing, "And, Garnet, if you move to the ceiling and strike this exact spot..."
Pearl then summoned a hologram of herself, starting to explain, "Then I can advance with my-,"
But just before she could explain the rest of her plan, Steven, who had pulled out a bagel sandwich from his cheeseburger backpack, waved it in front of the shrimp and shouted, "Bagel sandwich," before throwing it, and then throwing another one, at the crystal shrimps. And, low and behold, the shrimps all crawled over to the sandwiches, making an open, clear path to the route to the top of the tower.
"Brilliant," Garnet commented, impressed by how the idea had worked.
"Steven, you loveable genius," Moonstone added on in praise.
"Oh, hey, what do you know," Amethyst mentioned, happy that there was now an easy path.
The use of the bagel sandwiches making the shrimps move left a surprised Pearl to ask Steven once she made her hologram vanish, "How did you know that would work"?
"Well, if I were s shrimp, that's what I would do," Steven happily answered.
"You are a shrimp," Amethyst commented as she, Garnet, and Moonstone began to make their way up the path.
Steven happily followed them as Pearl trudged behind, addressing, "I just want everyone to know; my plan would have also worked."
As the team made it up the stairway, Garnet suddenly sensed something and held her arms up to protect the rest of the team, saying, "Watch out"!
By the side of the wall in the room that they would've just entered, a cracked arch-shaped wall began to burst and break apart, expelling a large gushing stream of water that flowed through the crack between them and the other side.
"Note: that's one rushing river," Moonstone commented, pointing out the power of the river's flow.
"What are we gonna do," Amethyst asked, the gems curious to figure out an idea on how to solve this crisis. But this time, they all looked at Steven curiously, with Steven looking up and seeing the gems were waiting for HIM to have an answer, as he asked, "What? Me"?
"What have you got," Garnet asked encouragingly.
Amethyst started to chant for fun, "Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack," as Steven began to look through his backpack.
"Moon, get in on this," Amethyst called out to Moonstone.
Moonstone chuckled, saying, "Well, as the humans say, "When in Rome..,"
Both girls then started to chant, "Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack"!
Amethyst then looked up at Pearl and told her, "Pearl, come on"!
While reluctant, given how Steven's backpack had saved them all twice so far, she was willing to see if it would work a third time as well, admittingly wanting to see what Steven would pull out next. So, she let her guard down and commented, "Ohh, all right."
Amethyst, Moonstone, and Pearl then started to chant together, "Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack," while Steven looked through his backpack to see what could be of use in this situation.
Luckily for him, he had just the right item; he pulled out an inflatable raft while declaring, "A raft"!
He pulled on the orange cord and inflated it, the raft expanding so it'd be big enough to hold all of them. Garnet, Moonstone, and Amethyst were amazed, while Pearl happily commented, "Steven, that's so sensible"!
Now came the time to put the raft into action as Steven threw the raft onto the water...which ultimately led to the river pulling the raft away from them and going down a gigantic waterfall.
Steven, Pearl, and Amethyst watched in worry, becoming concerned that now there would be no way to cross the river. But Garnet and Moonstone had another idea up their sleeve involving one of the pillars of the building. Garnet kicked the base of the pillar while Moonstone jumped up high and sliced the top base of the pillar off with her lightsaber. Then, with a mighty elbow bump from Garnet, the pillar fell over, with Moonstone shouting, "Timber," as it fell over and landed safely on the other side, making a steady bridge to cross.
"Good idea, anyway, Steven," Garnet said to Steven as she crossed the pillar bridge first.
As the other Crystal Gems followed with crossing the bridge, Amethyst commented, "Yeah, they can't all be winners," which earned her another flick on the back of the head by Moonstone as the group made their way up the stairs.
The Crystal Gems made their way up the long flight of stairs before finally reaching the top of the tower, where the spire rested, and the spot for the Moon Goddess statue to rest on. Up on top, you could see possibly everything from beyond, and the pedestal glimmered under the light, the shelf shimmering with a sense of glorification.
"This is it; the Moon Goddess pedestal," Pearl commented before pointing out the moon's position, where it was almost overhead, saying, "And the moon is almost overhead"!
"Going by its angular position, I say we have at least 2 minutes top," Moonstone pointed out while measuring with her fingers.
"It's not too late to save this piece of history," Pearl commented happily, the Crystal Gems ready to place the statue on the pedestal.
Garnet turned her head towards Steven and told him, "Steven, the statue."
Steven swung his backpack over and began to fish through it to grab the statue, only to come across a frightening discovery: it wasn't in his backpack! His cheeseburger backpack had everything else he packed...except the statue! He dug into every possible pocket and came up empty! It truly wasn't there!
"Steven? Is everything ok? I sense troubled emotions brewing in your conscience," Moonstone commented to Steven.
"What's the holdup," Amethyst asked him
The horrified look on Steven's face was enough to make the gems worried, but when Steven frighteningly admitted, "I don't have it," they gasped in shock, with Pearl exclaiming, "What"!?
"I must have left it on the bed," Steven replied while panicking.
"This is bad! Without the statue..." Moonstone started to say before the gems looked up, seeing the moon almost in position, Pearl adding as she covered her mouth in concern, "There's... there's no time"!
Suddenly, when Steven looked through his backpack, he came across something that could possibly work as an alternative. He shouted, "Wait! I have an idea," and pulled out his Mr. Queasy doll.
"Could that work," Amethyst asked in suggestion to give it a try.
"The logic behind it actually possessing some stellar ability to keep the spire intact leaves very uncertain possibilities! The statistics alone are 99.99999999% it not working to 0.000000001% that it'd actually would work," Moonstone pointed out while panicking as she tried to calculate the odds in her notepad.
Pearl, Amethyst, and Moonstone looked up at Garnet, who gave an unsure shrug in response.
Steven, however, felt that the risk was worth taking and approached the pedestal, placing his doll on it, as it fell over, the voice box said, "Ugh, kid, don't shake me."
Suddenly, the pedestal began to glow, expelling a light that went straight up to the moon, which was in perfect alignment with the doll. The doll began to hover and go upward towards the moon, with the Crystal Gems all watching silently in shock, wondering if this was actually gonna work.
Suddenly, halfway through its hovering, the doll stopped, hovering in mid-air, and began to shake before it exploded in fabric and stuffing, much to the shock of the group.
Just then, the sea spire began to shake, rumbling that felt like a massive earthquake that struck the gems, who all tried to keep their balance as the spire began to become surrounded by the ocean.
"Everyone, keep steady," Garnet warned before Amethyst fell on top of her.
Moonstone fumbled on top of the cracking floor before she fell over, gripping onto the edge of the floor, trying to pull herself up.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," Steven panicked as he tried to get to Pearl, but fell backwards on a piece of crumbling floor, before all of the gems felt the waves of the ocean envelop them, bringing down what was left of the sea spire with it.
The ocean soon calmed itself and remained still, an eerie silence emitted through the air in the thick of night.
Suddenly, a small circle of air bubbles was seen forming before Steven emerged, floating on top of the water, gasping for air. Behind him, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl emerged from the water, gasping for air as well.
Suddenly, Steven noticed that someone was missing and asked worryingly, "Wait, where's Moonstone"?!
The group then heard a shrill whistle and looked up, spotting Moonstone, who was using her hands to control some moonlight and made herself a standing platform that was floating above them. Moonstone grinned, shouting, "Geronimo," before making the light platform vanish as she dove into the ocean, soaking Garnet with a huge splash of water before swimming back up to the surface of the water, saying, "Sorry, I couldn't resist a proper sea dive."
Garnet smiled and playfully pushed Moonstone in response, the Moonstone gem backstroking as a result.
Steven, however, still felt bad that he wasn't able to save the sea spire in time, saying while looking down in guilt, "This is all my fault. I broke it."
However, Pearl reassured Steven by telling him, "No, Steven, the spire was falling apart when we got here. You handled everything well under pressure. You did great"!
"Pearl's right; you handled the obstacles we faced, while albeit not as any professional would've done it, brilliantly," Moonstone added on.
"Yeah, 2 out of 4 of your ideas worked - that's 50%," Amethyst pointed out.
"Since when are you a math whiz, Amethyst," Moonstone playfully remarked to Amethyst with a smug smirk.
Amethyst groaned from the wiser gem's comment and splashed Moonstone in response.
Steven, taking his friends' words to heart, began to feel better, saying, "Yeah, I guess you're right - they can't all be winners."
Suddenly, the group noticed something begin to bubble from under the water, and the mysterious object that was forming the bubbles was none other than the inflatable raft, which had floated all the way up to them, and gave them a clear ride home. Steven couldn't help but cheer in response as the group began to climb onto the raft while Amethyst, Pearl, and Moonstone started up the chant again, saying in unison, "Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack"!
"It's a three-hour paddle home," Garnet bluntly addressed, which silenced the mood quickly.
Moonstone stretched her arms up, saying, "Well, I might as well get my swimming exercise out of it," and dove back into the water, beginning to help Garnet with the paddling by pushing the raft from behind as she kicked her legs, which functioned similarly to a motor engine on a boat.
Steven pulled out a wet bagel from his backpack, offering, "Anyone want a wet bagel," as they began to make their way across the sea back home.
Steven Universe - Zach Callison
Pearl - Deedee Magno
Garnet - Estella
Amethyst - Michaela Dietz
Moonstone - Anita Kalathara