Hi! Sorry it took me a lot longer for this chapter to come out, but i wanted to go into some heavy details about what you're gonna be seeing in today's chapter. And I want to give the heads up for you lucky readers: I'm going to be going on vacation for a week or two, so it's gonna be another little wait before the next chapter comes out, but it'll be worth the wait once I come back. And this chapter is gonna be extra special tonight because this is my first fan-made chapter that's gonna give a little insight into Moonstone's capabilities and abilities! 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!

Light of My Life

On the beach, early in the morning, all seemed to be calm and peaceful. The sun was slowly starting to rise, barely peeking out from behind the ocean. the sky was starting to change from a heavy purple to a cascading mix of orange and pink.

The streets were also quiet; everyone was inside their homes, sound asleep, and the cars were dormant on the streets and driveways around Beach City.

Suddenly, in an instant, something zipped by the streets in an almost unseeable white blur, the speed at which it ran by causing a sudden breeze of leaves and scattered trash to follow.

The blur ran through the streets, passing each store within a millisecond.

By the fries booth, Ronaldo, who had woken up early, was carrying a few boxes when the sudden blur instantly zipped by, which caused Ronaldo to scream in shock and fall backward, dropping the boxes as he did so.

The blur zipped all over Beach City like it was nothing, and the cloak of light it dawned almost made it tricky to tell who exactly was the one zipping by.

Soon, the blur had zipped over to the beach house and ran up the steps, stopping just in front of the door. When the blur stopped, a streak of black ashes burnt the front porch, showing that they skidded to a heated stop. And the figure shown to have been the one running was none other than Moonstone, who stretched her arms up, commenting to herself, "Note: nothing is more refreshing than an early morning run through Beach City and its neighboring townships."

Moonstone walked into the house, quietly closing the door behind her so she wouldn't disturb anyone, especially Steven, who was still asleep in bed upstairs in his room...or so she thought. The lights were all off, making the inside of the house look dark.

Suddenly, the sound of a quiet snicker alerted her, making Moonstone look around, trying to point out where the sound was coming from. Most people would be scared, but Moonstone? She smiled, knowing exactly where the sound was coming from and what was making it. And she knew just how to catch the source of the sound in the act.

She twirled her right index finger, causally making one of the beams of light that were cascading through the window surround her hand with a glistening glow. Moonstone then redirected the beam of light, launching it now from her finger, and moved it around like a flashlight.

The light illuminated part of the floor that the finger was pointing to, like a spotlight, as Moonstone moved it around, before pointing it at the kitchen, right behind the counter, where a familiar purple gem's backside was seen crouched behind the counter, hiding away from her, and poorly hidden on Amethyst's lap was the tip of a loaded water gun, most likely to be used to soak Moonstone.

Moonstone grinned before she spun the light beam and made it narrower, about 4 inches thick, before centering it on one target in particular: Amethyst's backside. It appeared to do nothing more than just highlight where Amethyst was hiding. However, after about a minute, a small string of smoke began to arise from Amethyst's shorts.

Moonstone had a mischievous grin on her face, saying quietly, "3...2...1..." and no sooner than she finished counting down...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," Amethyst screamed loudly, dropping the water gun that she had onto the floor before starting to dart around the house really fast, screaming while her backside was literally on fire.

Amethyst's screams alerted Pearl, who was coming out of her room in the temple and saw the mayhem going on, prompting her to ask while placing her hands on her hips, "What is going on in here"?

"Don't worry, Pearl. This situation is about to be handled shortly," Moonstone replied as she walked over to the counter and picked up Amethyst's water gun, pressing the button and firing a large stream of water that soaked Amethyst and put out the fire on her shorts.

When the water gun was completely emptied, leaving only a few drops dripping from the nozzle, the only thing left that was dripping was Amethyst, whose backside was no longer on fire, who was dripping wet head to toe. Her normally wild and unruly hair appeared flattened and almost glued to the purple gem's arms and back, and soaked marks were seen on her clothes, including her shoes.

Moonstone spun the empty water gun while saying, "Nice try, Amethyst. I'll admit that if I hadn't found you with my spotlight, you might've gotten me. But alas, as always, you can't prank the smartest gem in the group."

"I know," Amethyst replied with a smug grin, crossing her arms while saying, "That's why I can never get Garnet; she always sees my jokes coming."

Moonstone was a little taken aback that Amethyst had interpreted the "smartest gem" that she was referring to was Garnet, making the light blue gem clear her throat and clarify, "Note: yes, Garnet does possess a vast intelligence, but I was referring to myself in this given context since you were not able to catch me with your little "prank."

Amethyst, however, was not so easily deterred, as she simply raised an eyebrow, still smiling, before asking, "Oh, didn't I"?

Before Moonstone could question what Amethyst was referring to, or question the amused look she had, Moonstone felt a dose of cold water splash her from behind.

Standing on the stairs, in his blue pajamas, holding a red toy water gun in his hands, was Steven, who declared while he fired the water gun at Moonstone, "Gotcha, Moonstone"!

Moonstone squealed a bit as she got wet, shouting, "Gah! Turn it off"!

"What? Didn't you just come back from your morning run, Moon? We'd thought you'd like to cool off," Amethyst joked playfully, chuckling as Steven soon let go of the button, stopping the release of water.

Moonstone, who was now the one dripping wet, couldn't help but chuckle in laughter/disbelief as she commented while taking a minute to try and squeeze some of the water out of her pants by using her palms to push the soaked spots forward and let some water loose, "Ok, I'll admit, I definitely didn't see that coming! Amethyst, were you and Steven both in on this prank together"?

"Uh-huh," Steven replied as he came down the stairs and stood by Moonstone and Amethyst, giving Amethyst the water gun he had.

"Yep," Amethyst replied, explaining while ringing her hair out, "I figured you would probably catch me, but I knew that we could surprise you with a sneak attack. So, I asked Steven to hide and wait till you got me so then he can soak you when you least expected it. Though I did not think you were gonna light my butt on fire," and playfully pouted in response.

Moonstone smirked and crossed her arms, saying, "Note: as the humans say, sometimes, you have to fight fire with fire, or light in this case. And it's your own fault for providing the perfect chance for me to partake in some of my own mischievous antics."

"Well, you know what they say too: you play with fire, you're gonna get soaked," Amethsyt declared playfully.

"That's not how the saying go-," Moonstone started to correct amethyst, but she wound up getting a blast of water to the face in response, along with a laughing purple gem.

"Amethyst, you're getting water all over the floor," Pearl scolded Amethyst sternly, before addressing to Moonstone, "And Moonstone, you should know better not to encourage Amethyst's reckless pranking behavior."

Amethyst scowled slightly, retorting towards Pearl, "Chill out, P. We're just having a little fun, right, Moon"?

Moonstone rung her hair out, squeezing a bit of water out of it, replying, "Yeah. Plus, Amethyst made a good point: I had just come back from my run, so the prank, albeit it did caught off-guard, did help me cool down a bit."

"Where'd you go anyways, Moonstone," Steven asked her curiously.

The gem smiled, answering, "Oh, just my usual stops: around Beach City, Ocean City, Bayburg, and about 2 other townships that were nearby."

Hearing this, Steven gasped, exclaiming, "Wow, really?! But those places are so far away, and you were gone for about..uh..."

"15 minutes and 23 seconds," Moonstone replied, keeping track of how long she was out for.

"Still, to travel to all those places in that short amount of time?! How did you do it," Steven asked eagerly with star-shaped pupils shining in his eyes in excitement.

Moonstone chuckled, answering as she patted Steven's head, "I could show you if you want."

Outside the beach house later on, once Steven got dressed and had his breakfast and Amethyst and Moonstone got dried off, the trio had gone outside onto the shore so Moonstone could demonstrate to Steven how she was able to travel so fast in so little time. Pearl and Garnet had joined them, standing behind Amethyst and Steven.

Moonstone was standing in front of the group as she started to explain, "So, Steven, as you know, I'm a Moonstone gem, and we're known for our photokinesis, which means that we are capable of controlling light and harnessing many abilities related to light. Being able to harness light brings out a myriad of different abilities and powers that I am able to perform given the needed circumstance. One of them being "light speed" where I can cloak myself in light and it allows me to travel around at almost supersonic speed."

Steven was very surprised to hear this, commenting in awe, "Woah! Does this mean you can travel at the speed of light"?!

Moonstone sheepishly grinned, answering as she scratched the back of her head, "Not exactly the speed of light; if I went that fast, then it'd be way too easy to break the space-time continuum, and we can't have that happen," before adding nervously to herself, "Not again." She then poised up again and explained, "But light speed does enable me to be able to move really fast, almost too fast to track me."

"To demonstrate, I'm going to have Garnet stand right where I'm standing, if that is alright with you, Garnet," Moonstone then commented as she took a few steps back, watching Garnet walk forward and stand where she was previously.

Moonstone then explained, "Now, watch as I use my light speed to try and land a hit on Garnet."

Moonstone bent down onto one knee and placed her hands in front of her, her body beginning to emit a faint white glow. Soon, the glow of the light became brighter and brighter, and in no time at all, Moonstone was soon cloaked in such a bright light, almost barely seen under the bright cloak of light, before the gem started to run around the beach really fast, leaving behind a trail of sandy dust that followed where she ran.

Steven moved his head back and forth, trying to follow Moonstone's movements, but she was moving around so fast that he had a hard time keeping up, and felt his mind growing dizzier from watching her run.

Moonstone darted around Garnet really fast, often pausing a bit to try and see an angle of where she could try to land a hit on Garnet, who remained standing still, and simply turned her head, focusing on where Moonstone was gonna strike from.

After a few seconds of light speed, Moonstone saw an opening and launched forward with her lightsaber, ready to strike. Garnet turned around and summoned her gauntlets, just catching Moonstone's lightsaber blade with only a millisecond to spare, leaving them both in the middle of a powerful stalemate, the force of the stalemate sending air-tight shockwaves that stirred the ground below them slightly.

"You've gotten a lot faster; one more millisecond would've led to a hefty strike," Garnet commented with a smile.

"And yet you still have to be one step ahead of me," Moonstone retorted playfully as the pair jumped back and created some distance.

Steven was really impressed, commenting in awe, "Ooh"!

Moonstone then stated, "And light speed doesn't only enable me to move rapidly in quick outbursts, but it also lets me-,"

However, she got interrupted when Garnet charged at her,s et to hit her with one of her gauntlets. But Moonstone didn't flinch in fear or surprise, as she used light speed to dodge at the last second, adding in, "Be able to dodge my opponent's moves so I can be able to-,"

Garnet continued to try and punch Moonstone, who dodges each swing while she spoke.

"Pinpoint-"

*dodges*

"My-,"

*dodges*

"Next-,"

*dodges*

"Attack"!

After dodging an uppercut punch from Garnet, Moonstone skidded backward before she used light speed to come at Garnet with a shoulder tackle, sending the bulky gem skidding backward upon impact.

"Aw yeah! Go, Moon," Amethyst cheered out loud excitedly.

Moonstone then stepped back quickly, allowing Garnet a moment of recovery as the tall gem commented while crossing her arms, "Excellent form, Moonstone."

Moonstone stretched her arms up while saying, "Thank you, Garnet; and your punches are superb as always," before she felt her breathing become a little shaky.

Pearl was the first to notice this and asked Moonstone in concern, "Are you feeling alright"?

Moonstone replied while trying to regain her breathing, "Yeah, I'm ok. Just a little worn out from the excessive usage of light speed is all; I probably just need to regain some energy. I'll be right back," before she walked away, heading somewhere quiet.

Steven watched Moonstone leave and couldn't help but feel a little worried, asking Pearl, "Pearl, is Moonstone gonna be ok"?

"She'll be alright, Steven," Garnet replied as she approached the boy, explaining reassuringly, "Moonstone just needs to recharge her strength."

"But why does she need to do that," Steven asked in confusion.

Pearl, this time, spoke up, explaining happily, "Allow me to answer that, Steven. See, Moonstones, while very powerful with their abilities and usage of light, have unfortunately a strong weakness in counterpart to their strength: they are prone to becoming exhausted easily if they use their powers or abilities too much or overexert themselves physically. So, often, they need to absorb light into their gems to restore their energy and strength."

"Moon doesn't tire too easily like other Moonstones, but she often can be a little reckless with how much she uses her light powers," Amethyst commented with a chuckle.

"Which she wouldn't be doing often if she didn't pick up on your recklessness behavior," Pearl remarked in an almost snarky manner towards Amethyst.

Amethyst groaned in annoyance, retorting back, "Oh, come on, P; it's not my fault I can get her to have fun, unlike you "Miss Always so Uptight."

While Pearl and Amethyst argued, Steven couldn't help but look back in the direction that Moonstone had walked off in.

Up on a hill that rested near the entrance outskirts of Beach City, Moonstone was sitting in a meditation position, facing the ocean. Her eyes were closed, and her arms and hands were pointing upward as if she was motioning the light to come towards her.

A beam of light from the sun was currently being directed toward her gem, which glowed as she absorbed its enriching sunlight. The gem had a huge relaxed smile on her face as she felt her strength returning and her energy renewed.

Soon, she had absorbed enough light, cutting off the sunbeam that she had shining won on her as she stood back up and took a deep breath in and out.

Suddenly, her relaxed state was broken when a curious voice commented, "Hey."

That startled Moonstone instantly, making her turn around and notice Steven standing there, waving to her. The sight of Steven got her to relax, saying with a nervous chuckle, "Steven, you almost made my gem pop right out of my head."

Steven chuckled sheepishly while answering, "Sorry about that; I wanted to see how you were doing. Do you feel re-energized now that you absorbed some light"?

Moonstone nodded, answering, "Note: I do feel my energy returning back to its top fullness," before she then added, "I hope I didn't scare you when my breathing felt shaky."

Steven answered, "I wasn't scared."

"Yeah, sure you weren't," Moonstone commented with a playful smile and eyebrow raise.

"I wasn't! Though I was worried about how you were feeling," Steven admitted, asking, "Does it tire you out often? Using your light abilities"?

Moonstone gave the question some thought before answering, "Well, it actually depends on what ability I use, or how I control the light that I'm manipulating, and even the manner I manipulate it in. Some of my capabilities aren't as energy-draining as others. Although, to be really honest...using my abilities is actually something I've still been getting used to for quite some time."

This made Steven confused as he inquired, "Really? But why? Haven't you used them before"?

"Note: yes, but only in minimal amounts; even in the past, long before I came to Earth, I hadn't used my powers for controlling light a lot as I do now," Moonstone explained before saying to the boy, "See, Steven, us Moonstones weren't made to...fight or defend ourselves. We are more docile gems, used for servitude, holders of knowledge in certain topics, or assistants. I never really harness my light abilities for usage in battle or defense 'til the day I met your mom."

Steven was surprised to hear this, listening close as Moonstone added, "She inspired me to use my abilities to help protect those in need, to fight for myself and for the Earth, and to use my ability to "share the light of passion" with others who share the same support and cause as the Crystal Gems do."

Steven couldn't help but smile, saying in response, "Wow, that was so sweet my mom helped you be able to express your light powers."

Moonstone looked at Steven and smiled, saying, "Yeah, and to this day, it's something I've been grateful she's done for me. In fact, I remember one of the first things I tried to do with my powers when she inspired me to use my light powers freely."

"What was it," Steven asked curiously.

Moonstone stood up and faced Steven, saying, "Well, I could tell you, but I think it'd be easier to show you."

She raised her hands up, summoning some sunlight, which began to ball up in between her hands. She then began to mold it, stretching it out and trying to shape it so it'd look like how she wanted it to. And to add a finishing touch, she then stretched it out in a manner that made it become flat.

Soon, with a snap of her fingers, what Moonstone had created came to life; a glowing hoverboard made of light! The hoverboard looked long and narrow, big enough to carry two people by choice, and the cushioning of it was a bright light blue, with a white glowing rim surrounding the cushion of the hoverboard, and decorating the room were little stones that shone all the colors of the rainbow, symbolizing the Crystal Gems.

Steven looked so amazed by how beautiful the hoverboard looked, exclaiming, "So cool"!

Moonstone hopped onto the hoverboard, using her hands to make it float in the direction she wanted it to, before extending her hand out to Steven, asking him, "Want to take a ride on it with me"?

Steven eagerly reciprocated the hand and got pulled onto the hoverboard, hugging Moonstone's waist for support.

Moonstone used one of her feet to push off from the ground, making the hoverboard float in the air, the pair off on a ride through the sky. Steven cheered happily as Moonstone made the hoverboard hover through the streets of Beach City, passing by the onlookers that watched in surprise.

"This is awesome," Steven exclaimed excitedly.

Moonstone grinned, turning her head to look at Steven while she told him, "Oh, you haven't seen nothin' yet"!

Moonstone made the hoverboard do a loop-de-loop, a zigzag passed the Funland sign, and they even swirled upward to the top of the car wash before Moonstone had the hoverboard land back onto the ground safely.

Steven hopped down from the hoverboard, commenting happily, "Wow! You can use light to go so fast, and make a fun hoverboard! What else can you do"?!

Moonstone made the hoverboard fade back into glittery sparkles of light before she answered with a happy smile, "Well, I suppose it couldn't help to show you what else my light abilities allow me to do."

By Frybo's fry booth, Peedee was leaning against the booth, taking a little nap, while a large stack of boxes was seen next to him.

Moonstone and Steven noticed this as Moonstone saw an opportunity to demonstrate how she used light to energize people.

She twirled her finger, summoning a ray of light from the sun to cascade around her finger before she pointed it directly into Peedee's eyes.

Peedee awoke after a few seconds, but instead of his eyes hurting from being hit with the beam of light, he felt energized, ready to face the day with a positive outlook, as he smiled and brought in all the boxes with renewed vigor.

Inside the beach house, Pearl had turned on a lamp and was set to sit down and work on a puzzle that she had pulled out from Steven's closet.

However, when her back was turned, Moonstone, who was watching Pearl from the front porch window with Steven, saw an opportunity to show Steven another skill she had: the ability to switch on/off the light usage in electrical items without having to look back and see if it successfully turned on or off. She demonstrated this by waiting for Pearl to be distracted and then, she snapped her fingers, making the lamp turn off without having to pull the string.

When Pearl was about to turn back around, Moonstone and Steven hid by ducking down so they couldn't be seen through the window.

This left Pearl to turn around and see that the lamp was mysteriously off. Confused, she pulled the string and turned the lamp on again.

Moonstone, who watched this happen, waited for Pearl to be distracted to snap her fingers and make the lamp turn off again, with Steven watching eagerly.

Pearl had lifted the lid of the box open when she saw the lamp had turned off again. She turned it back on, but the minute her back was turned, the lamp had flickered off again, due to Moonstone snapping her fingers outside.

It became a quick exchange of Pearl turning the lamp on in frustration before watching it flicker back off because of Moonstone snapping her fingers, controlling the light inside the lightbulb.

Finally, out of frustration that the lamp was mysteriously "malfunctioning," she unscrewed the lightbulb and went to go replace it. But before she could go find another one, Moonstone snapped her fingers and made the lightbulb in Pearl's hand turn on, causing Pearl to become startled and drop the glowing lightbulb, which landed on the floor, not breaking luckily.

At the Big Donut, Moonstone showed Steven another ability that her photokinesis allowed her to do: producing light lasers. And how did she show it to him?

Steven purchased two jelly donuts from Sadie, who handed him the bag with the donuts inside. He then opened up the bag and took out one jelly donut, giving it to Moonstone.

The gem analyzed the donut before her gem began to glow, emitting a narrow white beam of light that hit the donut, heating it up until it looked crispy, and emitting a bit of steam.

Amethyst, who had tagged along with them, took the donut from Moonstone's hand and ate it whole, but not realizing that it was very hot, it caused the purple gem's face to heat up until her cheeks burned pink, causing Amethyst to cough and stick out her tongue, which turned red from getting burnt, despite Amethyst not feeling a lot of pain from burning her tongue.

The sight of seeing Amethyst with her tongue burnt made Steven cringe in concern while Moonstone had a sheepish grin and gave a "sorry" shrug to Amethyst.

Out on the ocean, Moonstone had turned the bits of light that shimmered on the ripples of the ocean water into flat platforms, allowing Steven and Moonstone to playfully skip onto each platform one by one.

Moonstone then made the platforms raise up, turning them into a stairway, allowing the pair to scale up the stairs of light all the way up to one of the nearby puffy white clouds in the sky.

Steven couldn't help but eagerly poke at the cloud, giggling from how fluffy it felt.

At the Funland amusement park, Steven and Moonstone were at a game booth where you needed to use rubber balls to knock down one of the 2 towers of 6 milk bottles stacked in pyramids in order to win a prize.

Steven was holding one of the rubber balls and threw it at one of the towers of milk bottles, knocking all of them down.

The man who was running the prize booth gave him a yellow plush cat as his prize before the man's attention got redirected to a nearby ride that he was also running, heading towards the controls to make sure the ride was working correctly.

With the man gone, Moonstone then gestured for Steven to watch as she centered a small beam of light into a glowing ball of light that she held in her right hand. With a mighty toss, she threw it and knocked down the other tower of milk bottles.

When the man running the both came back, he saw the other tower knocked down and assumed Moonstone had knocked it down, giving her a red teddy bear plush as her prize. Moonstone happily accepted the prize, but gave it to Steven, who thanked her for it, as Moonstone smiled, knowing it'd make Steven happy.

Steven and Moonstone were having so much fun that they hadn't realized the day was almost over.

The sun had completely set, and the moon was beginning to rise up in the sky, with the nighttime stars shimmering brightly with glory.

At the moment, Steven and Moonstone had returned up to the same hill that Moonstone was meditating on earlier, and Moonstone was currently doing a little dance in front of the boy, using her hands to manipulate the beams of moonlight around her in graceful patterns, similar to ribbon dancing. She seemed to conclude her performance by making her hands twirl upward, causing the moonlight to spin upward and explode into a set of mini-glowing fireworks.

Steven happily applauded while cheering, "Yay! That was so cool"!

Moonstone bowed gracefully while saying, "Note: I appreciate the compliment, Steven."

"Do another one! Please," Steven eagerly asked, anticipating seeing another little light dance.

Before Moonstone could answer, she could feel her breath become a little shaky, which meant she was running out of energy. Taking that into account, she took a moment to catch her breath, replying, "I'm a little winded at the moment, Steven. Let me just regain my energy first before I conduct any other activity."

Moonstone faced the view of the ocean and moved her hands, making a moonbeam come towards her and enter her gem, slowly absorbing its light.

Steven watched curiously, asking, "You can do that with moonlight too"?

"Of course; light comes in a multitude of different forms, and no matter its form, I can be able to absorb it, and have it still provide me with the same amounts of energy and strength as does recharging with sunlight or moonlight," Moonstone answered.

Steven allowed Moonstone to recharge for a few minutes before he felt another question come up into his mind that he wanted to ask.

"So, can you absorb any form of light," Steven asked as he watched Moonstone absorb the beam of moonlight.

"Well, note: while the variances of types of light I can absorb is quite extensive, there are certain forms of light I can't absorb," Moonstone answered, explaining as she soon cut off the moonlight beam, "For example, I can't reciprocate laser lights directed at me, despite being able to fire some of my own. I am also unable to absorb light from lava or magma; the heat it gives off is too much for my gem to handle temperature-wise. But I am still to control these aspects of light of needed; as long as there is light, no matter its form, I have the power to control it and have it used as I wish it to be used as."

She then sat down and looked up at the nighttime sky, saying, "Do you want to know why I like to come up here to recharge, Steven"?

"Why," Steven asked as he walked up to where she was sitting and sat beside the gem.

Moonstone smiled, answering while still looking up at the nighttime sky, "It's because the rays of light I absorb from this point of the Earth's rotation is at its most enriching, at least, for me. It's bright, yet filled with the sensational odor of sea salt, and plant matter."

"So, you like the smell of the ocean and plants around here," Steven asked curiously.

Moonstone nodded, replying, "Yes, but also it's because of the view; you don't get a lot of better spots of the ocean than here. Gazing out at the ocean, seeing the way the light makes it sparkly like diamonds, it's tranquil and calming, yet so beautiful at the same time."

Steven looked out onto the ocean, replying, "Yeah, it does look nice up here."

Moonstone then stood up, saying, "Come on; let's head back to the temple; Pearl's gonna have my gem if we're not back soon; I can already feel her worrisome emotions perking through her mind and body, concern about your well-being on the horizon."

"You can really sense that," Steven asked her curiously.

Moonstone chuckled and answered, "No; I just know her well is all. When you lived with her for thousands of years, you can easily pick up on her mannerisms quite quickly."

That response caused them both to snicker in laughter before suddenly, a loud ROAR shook the area.

"What was that," Steven asked in shock.

"Note: I have a feeling that it could be a-," Moonstone started to answer before the ground shaking made her stop, and caused them both to look behind them, spotting a gigantic tarantula-like gem-monster, with spiky shard-like legs, 12 eyes glaring at them, its glistening gem on the top of its thorax, and its crystal shard-like teeth itching to bite at them.

"Get back, Steven! I'll protect you," Moonstone shouted while pushing Steven behind her in protection as she summoned her lightsaber, set to swipe at the beast.

The beast lunged one of its legs at her, with Moonstone deflecting it with her lightsaber, causing the beast to roar in pain.

"Steven! Get to the beach house and warn the other Crystal Gems, fast," Moonstone ordered Steven.

However, Steven was worried about Moonstone's safety, asking her while stepping back a few steps, "But what about you"?!

"Note: I'll be ok, but you have to hurry! I can't fight this thing by myself," Moonstone responded before swiping her lightsaber at one of its other legs.

The monster roared out loud and stomped its front legs in fury, the force of the stomping making the ground below Moonstone start to crack and crumble.

Steven saw this and ran to her, shouting, "Moon," before the ground collapsed, causing Steven and Moonstone to scream while they fell into a cavern deep in the hill, the light from outside fading into utter darkness.

Deep in the cavern, it was pitch black, with no source of light anywhere as far as the eye could see.

Both Steven and Moonstone's eyes could be seen in the dark, with Steven asking, "Moonstone, are you ok"?

Moonstone answered, "Note: I'm ok, Steven; how about you? You're not hurt or anything"?

"I'm ok," Steven replied while giving a thumbs up, though the thumbs up could not be seen in the dark, before he asked while looking around, "Where are we"?

"I don't know; that monster made us fall into here, and I wasn't able to pinpoint our exact location," Moonstone replied while looking around as well.

Steven, while listening, couldn't help but be curious about trying to find a way out of the cavern, stumbling around aimlessly in the dark before he bumped into something, making him fall down.

"I can't see anything in here," Steven commented while standing back up.

"Note: we need some light; luckily, I have a trick up my sleeve for situations just like this," Moonstone responded confidently.

Just then, she made her gem glow, which summoned a beam of light, just like one from a flashlight, to shine out of her gem.

"Wow," Steven commented, impressed, before asking in awe, "You have a flashlight in your gem"?!

Moonstone chuckled, answering, "Not exactly. You know how I can absorb light into my gem? Well, sometimes, if I am trapped somewhere where there is no light, I can expel light through my gem, similar to that of a flashlight," as she moved the beam of light, highlighting a tunnel nearby that could provide a path out of here.

Her expression then grew grim as she added, "However, this trick is only temporary; for I can only absorb as much light as I can release, so if I run out of light to expel, and I'm unable to absorb any in the time being beforehand, then we'll be stuck in the dark again. So, we don't have a lot of time to find our way out of here before the light runs out."

Steven nodded in understanding, saying in response, "Got it."

"Let's move," Moonstone declared as the two began to walk down the path, going into the tunnel in hopes of finding their way out of the cavern.

They walked through the tunnel, being careful to not bump into a lot of the stalactites and stalagmites they encountered along the way. Often, Steven let Moonstone lead the way since he felt she had a better direction than he did. Other times, Moonstone let Steven lead, feeling like perhaps the boy could find a way through the cavern without him knowing it fully.

A full 15 minutes of wandering led them to actually travel in a gigantic circle, the cavern feeling more like a maze.

This notice became apparent when Steven noticed a tall rock that looked like a statue of a jellyfish and commented, "Look, it's Jellyfish Rock, again"!

"Ugh," Moonstone commented tiredly, rubbing her temple just below her gem while saying, "We've been walking in a circle this whole time"?

Suddenly, Steven noticed the gem letting out an exhausted whimper, making him walk up to her and ask worryingly, "Moon? Are you..ok"?

Moonstone tried to stay tough for Steven, saying through a hesitant smile, "Note: I'm doing ok; just...a little tired is all."

However, when the light that she was emitting through her gem began to flicker, Steven knew that this meant Moonstone was beginning to grow weary. He noticed a small rock that looked perfect for her to sit on, and ushered her to sit, saying, "Here, take a seat here, rest a minute."

"Steven, I don't think it'd be wise to," Moonstone started to point out.

However, Steven interrupted her by saying, "Hey, your well-being matters more than us getting out of here. I mean, yes, we need to get out of here too, but I'd rather we get out of here in complete darkness than with you passing out in exhaustion. I know the other gems would agree with that, right"?

Moonstone couldn't help but smile at Steven's statement, knowing that Steven had made a good point that not even her own vast knowledge could rebate. Deciding to follow his advice, sat on the rock that he pointed out, as her gem flickered a bit before the light completely vanished, putting them both in complete darkness again, with only their eyes being seen in the dark.

As Moonstone was sitting and trying to rest to save her energy, she commented, "You know, Steven, it'd almost funny, seeing the predicament we are in. I thought that I could be able to step up and help us be able to save the day and keep you safe from plight and danger, just like the other Crystal Gems. I'm not as skilled a fighter as Garnet, or sharp with my weapon like Pearl, and I'm not even as wild and unpredictable as Amethyst is. So, what does that leave me to be"?

Steven could tell from the change of shape in Moonstone's eyes that she was feeling sad, especially when she mentioned as her eyes were seen looking down sadly, "Even with light powers, I still can't fight like the others. How can I even consider myself a Crystal Gem if I'm...weak? I can't even keep up my own strength with how much I use my powers; it just drains me out physically...and mentally. Some gem I am, huh"?

Steven couldn't help but comment in response, "Well, if you think you're weak, then...I guess I'm weak too."

That made Moonstone look up at Steven, starting to rebuke, "What? Steven, you're not weak. You're-,"

"Yes, I know I have a lot to learn, but I'm still trying to control my own powers too," Steven declared in interruption, saying, "I still can't form my shield, and my new bubble power is still so unpredictable. At least you have control of your powers and what you can do with them, while I still don't have that control yet. so, in a way, I'm weak too. And you know, it's bad...but it's also good too."

"Huh," Moonstone asked in confusion.

Steven answered, "It just gives me the chance to learn more about what I'm capable of if I keep working hard. I'm always learning from you guys, just like you're always learning too. And you know, maybe to some, it might not be as popular as being able to fight so well or using a strong weapon or power, but maybe it just means that it lets us learn to mold and hone our own way to fight; with our brains," and pointed at his head.

Moonstone couldn't help but giggle, saying, "You can't fight with your brain; it's a physical muscle, but not one that involves voluntary movement."

"Maybe not physically, but you taught me that we can use our brains to fight mentally; after all, a battle is like a puzzle, and we just have to find and place in all the right pieces," Steven replied happily.

Hearing Steven use her own advice to help her feel better in the given situation, it touched Moonstone, making her smile, though it couldn't be seen in the dark, and reply, "Yeah, you're right."

Monsotne felt her mind get into analyzing mode, commenting quietly, "Find and place all the right pieces..."

Suddenly, she started to form an idea and got up, walking up the wall of the cavern, feeling the wall with her hands. She knocked on it a few times before she found a spot that was hollow and weak enough to dig through, making her comment, "Steven, look! I think we can break our way out through here; the thinness of the cavern's Earth-like structure is thin compared to the rest of its primary structure"!

"Well then, let's get digging," Steven declared as he and Moonstone began to dig their way out of the cavern, using their hands as shovels to scoop the dirt and throw it aside.

It took a while to dig their way out of the cavern, but soon, the pair encountered something that could just help them get out: a rock wall.

Steven thought that the rock wall was a dead end, making him comment in worry, "Ah, we dug too far or went in the wrong direction"!

Moonstone reassured him by saying, "No, no, Steven, this is just what we need! This wall of Earth stone indicates that outside the perimeters would be the ideal emergence of the outside! All we need to do is break through the rock, and I can help us do that easily."

Moonstone summoned her lightsaber and with a mighty swipe, she sliced right through the rock, creating an archway piece that, with a simple kick, got knocked down, and exposed Steven and Moonstone to the outside once more.

Walking outside, under the moonlight, both of them could be seen covered head to toe in dirt from digging, but with brimming happy smiles.

"We made it out," Moonstone cheered happily.

"You did it, Moon! you helped us get free," Steven cheered as he hugged Moonstone's waist, making the gem grin happily and pat Steven's head in response.

Suddenly, a loud "STEVEN! MOONSTONE," could be heard, and the voice of whom shouted this made Moonstone flinch and comment while facepalming, "Uh-oh."

The owner of the voice who exclaimed this was none other than Pearl, who was still holding her staff, as she ran over to them while saying, "There you both are! Thank the stars you both are ok! What happened to you two"!?

Before that question could get answered, Moonstone remembered something vital and exclaimed, "Wait the monster! Where did-,"

"We captured it," Garnet, who was holding the gemstone of the monster from earlier, which had been defeated, in a bubble, and tapped the top of it, sending it off, as she approached and stood by Pearl.

Steven then explained, "The monster trapped us in a cave that was inside the hill, but Moonstone helped us get out"!

Moonstone sheepishly looked away while saying, "Note: I didn't do much to help."

"She did so much! She emitted some light so we could find our way and she found a hollow wall spot where we dug, and she broke a stone wall with her lightsaber to help us get free! She even tried to fight it with ehr lightsaber, going PEW! PEW! Slash! Bam," Steven eagerly explained.

"Well, I am relieved to see that you both wound up being unharmed," Pearl told Steven while using her thumb to try and brush off some of the dirt off Steven's face, before she faced Moonstone, telling her first, "And Moonstone.."

"Yes," Moonstone asked, anticipating what could be a scolding from Pearl or a reprimand for not doing a good job in fully protecting Steven.

What she didn't expect was for Pearl to place a hand on her shoulder and tell her with a warm smile, "Thank you for keeping Steven safe. Well done," while Garnet gave her a proud nod.

Moonstone couldn't help but feel a bit flustered, but she also felt grateful as well, replying with a smile, "Note: thank you. After all, Steven's a Crystal Gem, just like we are, and I couldn't let him be in any danger."

Steven gave Moonstone an eager fist-bump, which she reciprocated proudly.

Steven Universe - Zach Callison

Pearl - Deedee Magno

Garnet - Estella

Amethyst - Michaela Dietz

Moonstone - Anita Kalathara