Disclaimer: I do not own Steven Universe or any of its characters; I only own my O.C.! And today, making his debut is a brand new O.C. character: Ollie, who belongs to my good buddy Cheah! Thanks a bunch for helping me bring this character to life! I hope you 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!
Ollie and Company
Over at the Beach City Fries booth, there was the sound of sizzling oil.
At the fry stand, a hand could be seen moving the basket around gently, cooking some potato sticks that were inside the oil, being fried up.
Then, the basket was seen being drained of its oil before the now fully cooked fried were poured into a small plastic fair bowl, ready to be served.
The same hand that was cooking the fries earlier was now seen placing the bowl of fries into a customer's hand, a voice saying to them, "There ya go, mate. One small fries. Anything else I can get ya"?
"Nothing else, but I appreciate the good service," the customer, who was a middle-aged man with two children, a five-year-old girl and a 3-month-old baby boy who was napping in his stroller, replied. He paid the person who served him the price for his order, as the same hand was seen placing money into the register.
Then, the customer who was served placed a $5 dollar bill in the tip jar before he said, "Thanks again," and walked away, sharing some of the fries with his daughter, who eagerly wanted to eat one.
When the customer had walked away, it gave a view to the person who was serving him: an 18-year-old teenage boy with tan brown skin, naturally dirty blonde hair (dyed turquoise) that was held up in a small ponytail, and turquoise eyes. At the moment, he was wearing a white apron (uniform policy) over his regular outfit, which consisted of a midnight blue t-shirt, worn under it was a long sleeve shirt with black-and-white striped sleeves; over the T-shirt was a black sleeveless leather vest, blue jeans, black boots on his feet. Around his neck was a black mouth bandanna with a gold shark's mouth design in, and finally, on top of his head was a pair of squarish pilot goggles.
The teenager looked up at the clock as it read 2:00pm. He grinned and waited for Peedee, who came through the back door, saying, "Hey, man, ready to switch"?
"Yep; thanks again for letting me work the morning shift," the teenager responded as he took off the apron and handed it to Peedee.
Peedee replied while accepting the apron, "You're welcome, though I'm still surprised you chose to come work here and not in another shop."
The teenager shrugged and answered, "Eh, well, Beach City's got some small businesses, and I figured since I'm not in school, a job would help me get my foot out the door and help me get some work experience."
"Mmm, I get it. And speaking of work, I better get to work; those fries won't make themselves. See you tomorrow," Peedee replied as he got set to start taking orders.
"See ya," the teenager replied as he left through the back door and exited the fries shop.
Outside, he picked up a red-and-black Surfskate skateboard that was leaning up by the door of the backway entrance.
The teenager placed it down before putting one foot on top of the skateboard and using his other foot to push off, placing it on top next to his base foot, and riding the skateboard along the boardwalk.
He skated past a few people who were out and about, hopping over a bench while doing a 180; while he wasn't any professional skateboarder, he did know a few tricks.
After a few minutes of riding, the teenager stopped by the Big Donut shop, hopped off his skateboard, and walked into the donut shop.
Upon entering, he noticed Sadie working the counter and approached her, saying, "G'day, Sadie, how's it looking today"?
Sadie, who was busy restocking a shelf, turned around and saw who was at the counter and replied with a smile, "Afternoon, Ollie. Well, business has been the same as it's always been. Ordering the usual"?
The now-identified teenager nodded while saying, "Yep. I need some ACTUAL food in me to get the taste of frying oil out of my mouth."
"Well, nothing a classic jelly-filled won't fix," Sadie responded while placing a jelly doughnut in a bag and giving it to Ollie, who paid her $1.10.
Sadie then asked, "So, since you've now moved here and are living in Beach City, got any plans to attend college yet"?
"Eh, college's not for me," Ollie replied while accepting the bag, saying, "I can't stand being in a crowded, supervised room or be face-to-face with a bunch of strangers I don't know."
"But isn't it like that working at Beach City Fries? Peedee's dad supervises you since he is your boss, and you're greeted by a bunch of strangers every day," Sadie pointed out.
Ollie addressed, "Well, it's different; at least working on my own two feet's giving me more of a free "leash" to try out different things and see what fits me. Besides, I don't need to go to a fancy school that's supposed to help me find what I want to do to KNOW what I'm gonna do with my life."
"Oh yeah; your little tech "hobby," Sadie replied jokingly with air quotes, asking, "How's that been coming along"?
Ollie wasn't deterred as he smirked and retorted, "It's going good; by the way, how many of your mom's teddy bears have you now collected"?
Sadie was now blushing red in the face, embarrassed, and crossed her arms, retorting, "You know very well that THAT is not my "hobby."
"Seeing the collection in your basement says otherwise," Ollie retorted jokingly.
Sadie got a little ticked (mainly for being called out in such a playful/embarrassing way), shouting as she crossed her arms, "Oh, Ollie, you've only been in the city for a week and already have me questioning daily on the way you get on my nerves."
"Well, maybe you need to go to school to find out the answer," Ollie rebutted while walking out of the donut shop, already knowing that he had "won" in this teasing "Banter."
He didn't even have enough time to hear Sadie shout, "Ooh, you little-," before he was out of the store and walking towards a bench to sit and eat.
However, just before he could sit down, he heard something that sounded like..screaming?
"What the," Ollie asked himself, looking around to see where the sound was coming from.
The sound was soon becoming louder...and louder...and then suddenly-
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," was the sound of Steven screaming as he rolled down the sidewalk in a big bubble, struggling to stop and gain control of it.
Ollie, however, didn't notice the boy in the bubble at first because the minute he saw it coming right towards him, the teenager quickly stumbled backward, falling and landing head-first behind the bench.
After Steven had "rolled" on by, Ollie recovered from the fall, standing back up onto his feet. He quickly brushed off the dust from his vest, commenting, "What the bloody heck was that? Did some kid lose control of their toy or somethin'"?
Deciding that he had enough "excitement" for one day, Ollie picked up his doughnut bag and skateboard before beginning to walk back to his house.
Unfortunately, Steven was struggling to regain control of his bubble behind him when it started to head right for Mayor Dwey's van. It luckily did not crash into the van, but it bounced off the vehicle's side and rolled the other way.
And to add to the misfortune, it was heading right towards Ollie, who didn't see it coming towards him until he heard a kid shout, "Watch out"!
Ollie heard the exclamation and turned his head, looking and seeing Steven (though he did not know the boy) inside the bubble that was rolling right up to him.
Ollie let out a startled shout and dropped his doughnut bag and skateboard, bracing for impact.
Then, just before the bubble could hit him, Steven was able to make it disappear and landed belly-first in front of the teenager. While the rolling stop did not hurt Steven or his gem, it did make the boy wheeze a little before he started to stand back up.
Ollie couldn't help but feel a little freaked out by what had just happened, and seeing the boy who appeared to be the "cause" of this "bubble madness," it was more than enough for him to feel wary of what else this kid had up his sleeves.
Out of feeling cautious around Steven, he grabbed the nearest thing he could get his hand on, which turned out to be a feather duster sitting in a cardboard box next to a nearby trash can, and he wound up running towards Steven and slapped it across his face.
Unfortunately, the end that actually hit Steven was the feathery end, so instead of it doing some harm, all it did was tickle Steven's cheek slightly. That prompted the boy to look up at Ollie and smile, unfazed, chuckling as he asked, "Did you just slap me with that feather duster"?
"Holy crow, he talks...," Ollie commented under his breath, clutching the feather duster like it was a part of his life.
Steven scratched the back of his head while saying, "Yeah, sorry. It's just, my, uh...head kind of hurts. Happens sometimes when you're rolling in a bubble and stop half-way through. Am I right"?
Ollie, still a little shocked by what just happened and being around the boy after almost getting accidentally pummeled by the bubble, didn't say anything at first, his eyes scaling at the little boy up and down, trying to get a read on him.
Steven then got a good look at Ollie, asking him, "Hey, are you new to Beach City? I haven't seen ya around here before."
Ollie didn't know what to say, but before he could respond, Steven eagerly offered his hand out, saying, "I'm Steven Universe; nice to meet you! I'm a proud member of the Crystal Gems in this city."
He then whispered, "That's not true; I mean, it is, but everyone tells me that I still have a lot to learn about my powers."
Steven suddenly realized something and commented, "Wait, I'm not supposed to tell you that part! Bits"!
Luckily, Steven seemed to calm down easily and commented, "Oh well, my dad always tells me that honesty is the best policy," and let out a chuckle before adding, "I also can't seem to remember where I'd left my cheeseburger backpack, but I'm sure that'll work itself out and come back to me"!
Ollie, taking all of this in, while also feeling slightly uncomfortable around Steven, could only muster a nervous, "Uh-huh," in response before he said while pointing the feather duster in the direction he intended to leave, "I...uh...have to...go."
He nervously walked away after picking his things back up, still trying to process everything, while Steven said as he waved, "Ok, hope to see you later then, mysterious stranger"!
"Steven," Connie's voice called out, prompting Steven to turn his head and see Connie run up to him, asking in concern, "Are you ok"?
"Yeah, I'm ok," Steven replied happily, saying while he placed a hand on his forehead, "Just a little dizzy."
"Who were you talking to," Connie asked him, noting earlier when she had found him that he seemed to be waving at someone before she had arrived.
"Oh, just that guy over there," Steven replied while pointing to the teenager he was talking to earlier, the teenager already heading some distance away in the other direction.
Connie gasped slightly in surprise, recognizing him, but didn't say anything at first.
A few minutes after Steven quickly recovered from the bubble incident earlier, Connie helped Steven onto the bench, and the two kids sat for a minute before Steven started to explain to her what happened. He elaborated on the details, saying, "I was looking for my cheeseburger backpack with the gems out on the beach when suddenly, a new monster came out of the ocean and tried to attack us! I was helping the gems take down the monster, and it fired a spike at me that I quickly blocked with my bubble. Then, it smacked my bubble with one of its giant hands, and I was sent rolling away."
"That explains why I saw you pass by my house so suddenly, and why you almost ran over Ollie," Connie replied while giving Steven a water bottle.
"Ollie? Is that the name of the guy that I saw earlier with the feather duster," Steven asked before taking a sip of water from the bottle.
Connie nodded, adding, "Yeah, I'll admit that I'm surprised he's here in Beach City. Usually, he and his family live over at Ocean Town."
"Sounds like you know this guy pretty well," Steven responded out of curiosity.
Connie explained, "He goes to the same school I do, at least he used to. Halfway through his senior year, he took online classes and graduated early."
"That's so cool," Steven replied, impressed.
Suddenly, Steven remembered what happened earlier and facepalmed, commenting, "Ugh, and I forgot to apologize to him for almost crushing him with my runaway bubble"!
Connie patted Steven on the back while telling him, "It'll be ok; if you're lucky, you might see him again and get to apologize. Though I should warn you, you might not get a "warm" reception from him."
"Huh," Steven asked in confusion, inquiring, "Why not"?
Connie tried to explain, "Well, he's not exactly a "people person." I mean, he doesn't mind being around others, but he doesn't warm up to new people right away. He's more of a lone wolf and likes to be by himself."
She then added while trying to sound reassuring, "But he can be nice once you get to know him. He's really fascinated by tech, and loves to make small gadgets for fun-,"
However, at the mention of the word "fun," something clicked in Steven's mind, making him interrupt Connie by saying, "Fun..Funland! I haven't checked Funland yet"!
He got up and immediately ran over to the theme park, waving at Connie while telling her as he left, "Thanks, Connie"!
Connie smiled, letting out as chuckle as she waved back at Steven while replying, "You're welcome, Steven"!
Later on, Steven was seen heading out of Funland after an unsuccessful search, and no cheeseburger backpack was found.
"Ugh, it's not there either," Steven said in frustration, asking, "Where could it have gone"?
Just then, Steven turned his head and noticed something that surprised him.
To his surprise, he noticed that Ollie was by the Funland entrance, currently toying with his skateboard, with his right foot on top of it and gently pushing it back and forth. The boy smiled, saying to himself, "That must be Ollie; this is the perfect chance for me to properly welcome him to the neighborhood," before walking over to Ollie.
Meanwhile, the teenager was currently trying to get his thoughts straight regarding what had occurred earlier. His gaze was fixed upon the beach, looking out at the vast ocean, but his mind was elsewhere. He kept thinking back to earlier, when Steven was rolling around in that gigantic pink bubble, and he was STILL questioning how in the bloody heck that was even possible! As far as he knew, NO human could ever do that!
Truth be told, while the shock of almost getting pummeled by the bubble still lingered, but just slightly, part of him was also quite...interested. Half of the interest was on how that boy could summon the bubble in the first place; was it some flashlight? But the bubble looked solid; maybe it was some invisible light toy, but how did it disappear like that? And when it did, why did it not break or open up?
The other half of his interest in the situation also rested on the boy himself; he had never met Steven before, and this Steven was...mysterious, at least from Ollie's perspective. What did he mean by the "Crystal Gems"? Who were they? What are they? Were they responsible for Steven's bubble? Did they have powers? Is that why he said he had powers too? And if so, does he have other kinds of powers, too?
Olie was thinking deeply when suddenly, a small SQUEAK broke his train of thought. The teenager looked around the boardwalk, wondering what or who, could've made that sound. Then, he felt something standing next to him, and looked down, seeing Steven looking up at him, his eyes a-glow with star-shaped pupils, and a smile as innocent as they come.
Of course, given that Steven had just popped out of nowhere, his presence startled Ollie, making the teenager give off a startled shout and stepped back, saying, "Gah! Holy barnacles"!
But when he stepped back, he also wound up stepping on his skateboard, causing Ollie to stumble and fall backward, falling onto the floor.
Steven found it a little humorous, letting out a chuckle, before he approached Ollie, saying while offering a hand up, "Are you ok"?
Ollie looked up at Steven and then at his hand, seeing that the little boy just wanted to help him up. He accepted the help up, saying as Steven helped him back onto his feet, "Seriously, mate, you shouldn't just sneak up on others like that."
Steven replied, "Sorry, but I was heading over to Funland to see if my cheeseburger backpack was here, and then I saw you and remembered that I forgot to tell you when I saw you earlier; I'm sorry for almost crushing you with my bubble. I'm still trying to learn how to control it. Your name's Ollie, right"?
Ollie looked at Steven with a confused facial expression before responding, "Yeah, that's me, but how do you know my name? Or is telepathy or reading minds one of your other "powers" that you apparently say you "have" on ya"?
Steven, oblivious to the hints of sarcasm that Ollie emitted, replied, "Connie told me; she came by and recognized you as you were leaving."
The name sounded albeit familiar, but it didn't ring a bell to Ollie at first, making the teenager ask, "Connie who"?
"My friend, Connie! Connie Maheswaran, she said you went to the same school, whatever that is, with her," Steven happily replied.
Ollie placed one hand on his hip and placed his other hand inside one of his jean pockets as he replied, "Oh, that Connie; I think I know who you're talking about."
There was a moment of silence between the two, and the longer the silence progressed, the more awkward Ollie began to feel, the boy nervously sweatdropping before he cleared his throat and asked Steven, "Uh, do you...need...anything else"?
Steven, still smiling, shook his head no and answered, "Nope, just wanted to stop by and apologize and welcome you to Beach City," and offered a handshake.
Ollie looked at the boy curiously before he slowly extended his hand and reciprocated the handshake, sayin, "Um...thank you...Steven."
"You're welcome," Steven responded before saying, "Bye," as he turned around and started to leave.
Ollie watched Steven walk away before a thought came into mind that he wanted to address. He quickly called out to Steven, shouting, "Wait"!
Steven stopped walking and turned around, responding with, "Yeah"?
Ollie cautiously approached the boy, asking him, "Listen, about earlier, when you said that the "bubble" was some power you have...what did you mean by that, exactly? Like, was something powering it"?
Steven answered, "No, I just couldn't control it. I'm still getting used to it, to be really honest."
Ollie initially seemed to think that Steven was referring to the "Creation" of the bubble being something electronic, which he clicked back to his knowledge about technology as he replied, "Hmmm, I see. Where's your remote"?
"Remote? For what," Steven asked in confusion.
"For your bubble device, of course," Ollie replied, a hint of snark in his tone of voice as he added, "I mean if you can't control it, there must be something going on with the wiring of your remote's mainframe. It's common 101 of standard technological devices."
It clicked in Steven's mind that Ollie was thinking of something different, which prompted the boy to clarify, "Oh, no, no, no. There's no remote for my bubble; I'm, well...oh geez, this is hard to explain. Well, maybe I should start from the beginning. Ok, so, I'm a gem, well, a half-gem to be more specific."
"Half-gem? Like what, you're a Gemini," Ollie asked, not seeming to get it at first.
Steven shook his head and clarified, "No, like an actual gem. Uh, here, look at this."
He lifted up his shirt, revealing his pink gemstone to Ollie. Ollie took a closer look at it, startled that a kid Steven's age even HAD something like this. At first, he thought that the "gem" was nothing more than a simple piercing, making the teenager comment, "Crikey, that's some odd piercing you have."
"It's not a piercing; I was born with this. It came from my mother," Steven clarified.
Hearing this startled Ollie even more, making him comment, "What the heck?! What do you mean you got it from your mother? And how?! Can you take it out? Does it hurt? How long have you had it for"?
Steven felt himself bombarded by the questions and didn't really know how to answer them clearly. Just then, he got an idea of a way to help answer Ollie's questions, suggesting, "I know; if you want to learn more about me, why don't you come over to my house, and we can hang out! I can introduce you to the other Crystal Gems"!
Ollie felt very hesitant about the idea; just simply being around Steven was already making the teenager's nerves feel wary, and he didn't know if he even WANTED to know about Steven's living quarters or who these other "Crystal Gems" even were. For all he knew, it sounded like it was either some bloody fandom club or a cult.
Ollie scratched the back of his head while answering to Steven, "Um...it's a nice thought but...no thank you. I'm...busy."
"Oh? With what," Steven asked curiously.
Ollie's eyes widened a bit; every time he's told someone he was busy, they'd usually leave him alone and let him go about his day, but this was the first time that someone had asked him "what" he was genuinely busy with. Then again, Steven was younger than him, so it was by chance the kid's curious nature that prompted that question to arise. The teenager quickly thought of the first excuse that came into mind, responding, "Uh...with..work."
"Where do you work," Steven then asked.
"Uh, Beach City Fries; I started working the morning shift there about 3 days ago," Ollie answered, sweatdropping slightly.
Steven's eagerness grew as the boy then replied, "That's so cool! Do you get free fries"?
"What is this? 20 questions," Ollie muttered to himself, his cautious nature turning into feeling annoyed, before he replied, "No, I don't."
"How long have you lived in Beach City for," Steven asked.
"Moved her about a week ago," Ollie answered, his facial expression starting to become strained with keeping a steady composure without losing his cool and snapping at Steven.
"Sweet! Why'd you decide to come here," Steven then asked.
Finally, Ollie couldn't take it anymore and he harshly shouted, "It's none of your damn business, ok"?!
His response made Steven flinch back, feeling a little shook.
Ollie saw how Steven responded and he quickly took a deep breath before telling him, "Look, kid; I have my reasons for coming to Beach City; while i know that you're a curious lil' whippersnapper, it's not your business to know why I'm here. So, I'd appreciate it if you refrain from asking those kinds of questions."
The teenager then hopped onto his skateboard and skated off, leaving a guilt-ridden Steven to look on.
Hours later, night fell over Beach City, and everyone was turning into their homes for the night.
Ollie was walking up to a small blue house with a silvery-tile roof, white lace-shaped framing under the roof, and a light blue door, and next to the house, in the driveway, was an indigo-purplish Dondai Corona. He fished through his pockets and pulled out a key that he used to unlock the door and open it, entering the house.
Inside, the living room, hallway, and kitchen were full of boxes that had yet to be unpacked. The teenager closed the door behind him and walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling out a container of Insta-Cook Ramen.
Using the microwave on ther counter, he opened the container na placed it inside before setting it up so it'd cook the noodles in 1:30.
Once the noodles were cooked, he took the container out, pulled out a fork from the utensil drawer (one of the few things that were already set up in the house), and went to go sit on the couch in the living room.
As he sat down, he placed the container on the side table next to the couch so the noodles could cool off for a minute.
Meanwhile, on the round table in front of him, he picked up what appeared to be a grey tablet with colorful tie-dye splotches stickers decorating the cover, and a gold T symbol in the middle. He turned the tablet on and opened up an app that'd let him video chat with any of his contacts. He scoured through his contact list before finding a number labeled "Lil' Sis."
He pressed the button for that number and waited for the call to go through, his screen loading.
After a few seconds of loading, the video call then showed a picture of someone's bedroom. The room had purple walls, posters of possibly every kind of Rock band that exists, a large bed with red covers and skull-shaped pillows, and in the left back corner of his eye, he saw a sleek black-and-blue electric guitar leaning up against the window, connected to a few speakers that resided in the corner of the room.
Facing him currently was what looked like a 17-year-old girl with white peach skin, brown hair styled up in a shoulder-length bob and side-parted bangs with a black headband that helped hold her hair back, hazel eyes with a pair of purple glasses worn on her face, and was wearing a silver cropped T-shirt, a dark grey leather jacket over the T-shirt with shiny metallic spikes on the shoulders and sleeves, and while unseen on the video, she was also wearing a light yellow shirt with grey leggings and dark blue cowgirl boots on her feet.
The girl grinned happily, exclaiming, "Ollie! How's it going, bro"?
Ollie had a small smile, saying, "Hey, sis. Things are...well...as good as it can be."
The girl noticed the boxes near the couch and asked, "You STILL haven't unpacked yet"?
"Hey, I'll get it done soon, I'm just...getting settled in is all," Ollie retorted before asking, "So...how's mom and dad? Are they..."
"Still mad at you for walking out? Well..." the girl started to reply, letting a small hiss escape her mouth before she stated, "They're...getting better. Still reeling but, they're...slowly getting better."
Ollie sighed sadly in response, which prompted the girl to comment, "Hey, don't beat yourself up about it; after all, you had every right to stand up for what you wanted. Sure, maybe packing everything up and leaving in the dead of night was a bit of a ballsy move, but mom and dad had no right to-,"
"Stop," Ollie spoke up, interrupting the girl before saying, "I don't want a pep talk."
The girl rolled her eyes, saying, "I wasn't gonna give you one; I was trying to say that things are still a little rough but will get better in time. Anyway, forget the home life; how are you doing in Beach City"?
Ollie perked up a bit and answered, "So far, I've gotten into a bit of a routine. I started working at this fry place, and it's not so bad. However, my vest keeps smelling like fry oil at the end of each shift."
The girl chuckled and responded, "I'd take that over dealing with scammy customers any day. At least your customers are only buying food; I have to deal with people who keep trying to shoplift from right under our noses, and it's the stupidest things too! Like just yesterday, an ol lady got caught moving marked down price stickers onto regular-priced tags, and the numbers didn't even line up right."
"Oh wow, I'd love to handle that kind of stuff," Ollie replied sarcastically with a playful smirk, both him and the girl laughing in response.
The girl then seemed to notice Ollie's stance retreat back to a sad-like state, which prompted her to ask, "Hey, you feeling ok"?
Ollie answered, "Huh? Oh yeah...just...thinking about things."
"Alright, what happened? Tell ol' Roxy who's ass I need to kick," the now-identified girl stated while balling her hands up into fists.
Ollie quickly raised one of his hands up and retorted, "No, no, no! You don't need to come over and murder anybody. It's just...the craziest thing happened today. After I had left work, this boy named Steven Universe came hurdling down the sidewalk in this gnarly pink bubble."
"A bubble? you've gotta be joking," Roxy responded with a chuckle.
"I'm not," Ollie retorted before adding, "He almost ran into me, but he was somehow able to make it disappear. He says that it's one of his "powers" that he has that he couldn't control."
"Ok, either you're making this up, or you've found another superhero fanfiction and are sharing a part you like," Roxy stated before adding with a smile, "Either way, this sounds interesting."
Ollie gritted his teeth and shouted, "I'm being serious, Roxy; this really happened! He said something about fighting a monster with some people called "Crystal Gems."
That part made Roxy gasp and ask, "Wait..did you say the Crystal Gems"?
"Yes; is that name familiar with you," Ollie asked while raising an eyebrow.
Roxy nodded eagerly while saying, "Are you kidding?! Bro, the Crystal Gems are huge names in Beach City, and you got to meet one of them! You're so lucky"!
Ollie was now very perplexed, inquiring, "Wait, so they ARE real? Who are they"?
Roxy started to answer, "Well-," before she heard a CRASH sound followed by a scream. Roxy winced, saying, "Oh no; Allie dropped another plate. I better go help clean it up. But here, I'm sending you an article link I found online about them so you can read up about them. Talk to you later," before he hung up and ended the video chat.
A few seconds later, a text notification chimed on Ollie's phone, which prompted Ollie to put the tablet down, pull his phone out, and take a look. He saw the link that Roxy had sent to him and tapped it, beginning to read up about the Crystal Gems.
The next day, on the beach, the gems were currently in the midst of a training session while Steven sat on the sand, watching closely.
Pearl darted forward with her spear, colliding head-on with Moonstone and her lightsaber, the pair engaged in swordfight-like combat.
Suddenly, something speedy caught their eyes, making them both jump back and dodge what came at them, revealing Amethyst's speed dash. The purple gem leaped up and pulled out her whip, trying to strike at them individually.
Pearl and Moonstone quickly deflected it with their weapons before the whip was grabbed by Garnet with one of her gauntlets, making her pull Amethyst towards her, the quartz immediately delivering a hard kick to Garnet's face before landing on her feet.
Behind her, Moonstone summoned a glowing ball of light and fired it at Amethyst, who quickly dodged it, while Garnet sent it back by punching it with one of her gauntlets.
Moonstone easily stepped to the side to avoid it, feeling a strong breeze blow from behind when it hit the ground and exploded.
Steven watched the gems train when he heard something go SNAP.
He turned his head and noticed Ollie watching from behind the corner ledge.
This surprised Steven, prompting him to get up and walk over to where the teenager was.
Ollie didn't see Steven coming up toward him at first until he heard the familiar voice of the boy addressed to him, "Ollie! What are you doing here"?
Ollie froze, unsure how to respond to the boy, much less make up a quick escuse that ddn't make him appear to be watching the training session like some odd-ball stalker. He tried to play it cool, leaving up against the ledge while saying, "Oh, hello, kid. I, uh...was just...passing through the area after work and...I heard an explosion and just wanted to see if anything got...broken. But I didn't think I'd find you here."
Steven chuckled before saying, "Well, this is where I live! I was just watching the other gems training"!
"Well, that's...righteous," Ollie hesitantly replied.
Before he could say anything else, Pearl, who had noticed where Steven had gone, came over, asking Steven, "Steven? Who are you talking to"?
Ollie looked up at Pearl and couldn't help but feel a little intimidated, especially from the sight of how sharp her spear looked.
He suddenly felt Steven hug his side tightly while Steven told Pearl, "Pearl, this is Ollie; I met him yesterday, and he's new to Beach City! Ollie, this is Pearl"!
Ollie glanced a nervous look at Pearl, saying quietly, "Uh...g'day, ma'am."
Pearl, luckily, greeted him with a smile, telling him, "Oh, well, it's very nice to meet you, Ollie. I assume that you've been adjusting to the city well"?
The teenager responded with an unsure shrug while answering with, "I...guess so"?
Just then, Garnet, Amethyst, and Moonstone came over to see what was happening, with Amethyst asking, "Who's the tall stranger with the cool sense of fashion"?
Steven replied, "This is Ollie, guys. ollie, over there's Garnet, Amethyst, and Moonstone."
"Salutations," Moonstone responded with a curtsy.
"S'up," Amethyst replied, crossing her arms and offering a warm grin.
"What brings you here," Garnet asked the teenager.
Ollie replied hesitantly to the question, saying, "Uh...just heard a lot of noises and came to see what was happening."
He then commented while rubbing his left arm, "Since I'm here, I want to apologize to you, Steven, for the way I snapped at you yesterday."
Steven didn't look deterred by the memory as he grinned and replied, "It's ok, Ollie. I know I can be annoying sometimes, so if anything, I'm sorry that I bothered you with some of the questions I asked. I was just curious and wanted to get to know you."
Ollie chuckled half-heartedly, saying, "It's kind of funny you say that..."
"What do you mean? Why is what Steven said funny," Amethyst asked while tilting her head curiously.
Ollie then nervously admitted, "Well...to tell the truth, mates, I didn't come here because I heard something exploding. I came over because I had read up about the Crystal Gems yesterday after I met Steven, who had first brought you guys up, and...I wanted to meet you guys and...get to know you. I saw you were all doing battle training and didn't want to interrupt, so I stayed back and watched from a distance. Sorry if that makes me sound like a creep."
Garnet was the first gem to respond, saying, "It doesn't."
"Well, dude, if you want to get to know us, all you have to do is just ask," Amethyst commented.
"Though there are some things that we can't go into a lot of details about, but other than that, we are more than happy to answer any questions you have," Pearl added.
Hearing that, Ollie eased up a bit, though his eyes seemed to tell a different story. He looked dazed as if he was trying to take all of this in, though it also showed a nervous look like he was anticipating something to occur.
Moonstone noticed this and asked, "Are you okay? Note: you look quite perplexed."
Ollie quickly snapped out of his trance, responding with, "Huh? Oh yeah, I am. I'm just waiting for the reality of all this to come crashing in. I mean, it's not every day you get to talk to a bunch of intergalactic aliens face-to-face."
"Well, it's real, and it's happening, because you're talking to us now," Amethyst commented.
"And technically speaking, we are not aliens, although we did originate from space," Moonstone clarified, adding as she saw the "really" look that Amethyst gave her, "Well, most of us are."
"We are rocks, and the form that we take is merely a projection of light that produces a compatible illusion that lets us be able to take form," Garnet explained.
Ollie's jaw dropped, and his eyes widened, the teenager currently in shock from hearing all of this. He asked incredulously, "You're rocks?! But if you're rocks, then how do you get your powers? And how do you summon those weapons you guys have? Do you guys transfer your powers to one another? Does your gem resonate to how strong your weapons are"?
Steven and the other Crystal Gems didn't know how to explain it exactly, with Pearl saying, "Well, while it is a little difficult to express the answer to your questions in words fully, we could show you if you are interested. We have some ancient catalogs about Gem history inside that could help clear things up, if you'd like to come in and hear about them, of course."
Ollie thought about it before answering with, "Ok, mate, sure. I'd like to hear about them."
The Crystal Gems started to head back to the house, with Steven following them initially before he noticed the same dazed/stressed look that Ollie had earlier, prompting the boy to turn around and ask, "Hey, what's wrong"?
"Nothing's wrong, Steven," Ollie replied, adding, "I'm just...a little overwhelmed by...all of this. I mean, who knew that a week into moving here, I'd wind up finding out that this place has galactic alien-rock people who protect it from monsters? I mean, I've read stories about heroic aliens, I've seen them in movies, and it's always been just a fictional representation. Never once did I'd expect for it to suddenly just one day all become...real. Is it always like that here"?
Steven shrugged and replied, "Well, I've been living here my whole life, so..I guess...yes."
The answer didn't seem to sit right with Ollie at first, but then, the teenager seemed to have everything click together in his mind...and he laughed. It started out as a small chuckle before it grew into a bright, loud laugh, the teenager clutching his ribs as if he couldn't breathe while he laughed.
Soon, the laugh died down, and Ollie was still smiling, saying as he wiped away a stray tear, "Crikey. Well, guess this means that I have to adjust to it still."
"Maybe..I could help you adjust," Steven offered while extending his hand out to him.
Ollie looked at the boy before he nodded and shook hands with him, saying, "Sure, mate."
Ollie then commented, "You know, Steven, you have got to be the craziest and possibly most annoying kid I know, but you're also the luckiest. You're a real gem, you know"?
Steven accidentally misunderstood the context of the compliment and took it literally, saying, "Of course, I'm a gem. My gemstone here shows it," and lifting up his shirt to show his gemstone to Ollie again.
Ollie couldn't help but facepalm, slightly bothered by Steven's "literal" thinking, but at the same time, he also couldn't help but chuckle again, replying with a smile, "That's not what I meant, kid."
Steven Universe - Zach Callison
Pearl - Deedee Magno
Garnet - Estella
Amethyst - Michaela Dietz
Moonstone - Anita Kalathara
Peedee - Atticus Shaffer
Sadie - Kate Micucci
Connie - Grace Rolek
Ollie - Anthony Sardinha
Roxy - Nola Klop
