1jesus: Thanks!
LoamyCoffee: Very true, but at least we see Isaac in action again.
Dcraus: I was kind of interested in the Witcher crossover instead, but I'll make NO promises. Also could you also tell me if you enjoyed the chapter? I really need the impute to keep going with these stories.
Chapter 6: Cat Fingers
Isaac has finally seen it. The one vehicle that was he would consider to be the most ridiculous looking.
A week has pasted after the events of Frybo going on a rampage, and today, Isaac and Steven were at Greg's carwash. The father called and asked if the boys could help out. He was tasked with washing the van of Beach City's mayor, Bill Dewey. They were luckily available to help, and they raced over to get to the carwash. Once there, they got to work.
The van bared a resembles to a pest control truck, with microphones, Dewey's logo, signs that said "Re-Elect", and the icing on the cake was the giant head of the man on top.
After completely applying soap on the left side of the vehicle, Greg turned on the water hose. "Almost done!" Greg said to Steven and Isaac, while spraying the van with water. Isaac was washing the roof, with the son cleaning the tires hubcaps. "Steven, get the hubcaps!"
"Hubbing it up!" Steven exclaimed, and rubbed the hubcaps faster and harder.
Greg then looked up at where Isaac was hosing down the soap his just washed onto the roof. "Make sure to do a thorough job, Isaac. This is a high-profile job," he told the young man. Isaac responded by giving him an 'ok' gesture.
"You mean because it's the mayor's election-mobile," asked Steven.
"I honesty thing this is his only car," Isaac said, before turning off the hose and tossing it down, and then sliding on the roof. He's seen Dewey driving around the streets of Beach City in only this van.
"If we do this right, we might get political favors!" Greg said to indies his son with the idea.
"I'm not sure what that is, but I like it!" Steven grabbed the hose Isaac used and sprayed it. However, instead of hitting the van, the water hit Greg by mistake. The man laughed and hits him back with his water, and they started to have a hose fight. Father and son laughed together as Isaac smiled and watched.
Then the mayor himself came walking over. Bill Dewey had balding dark-brown hair and coral skin. He wore a light violet-gray coat with a beige collared shirt underneath, a dark-violet necktie tie, gray-brown pants, black socks, chocolate-brown shoes, and black shoelaces with dark-violet stripes. "Hey, hey, hey! I'm not paying for father-son bonding here!" He stated, before being hit in the face with water by Steven. After Isaac grabbed the hose from Steven and turned it off, Mayor Dewey wiped the water off of himself. "Universe! Control that kid!" He demanded, pointing to Steven.
"Steven!" Greg scolded his son and stood behind him. "Hehe, I'm sorry, Mayor Dewey. Hehe, this one's on the house."
Mayor Dewey stared at his van. "On the house, eh." He then turned and pointed to Greg. "I like the way you do business, Universe." He then climbs into the car and started driving away. As he drove, the sirens turned on and started chanting 'Mayor Dewey'.
"Man sure has an ego," Isaac said, as Greg sighed in relief. The three of them were then suddenly splashed by a blast of water. Isaac turned to Steven with an aggravated expression. "Steven, enough of the…"
It wasn't Steven who splashed them. It was, however, a strange looking purple cat holding the hose. The cat then started chasing Steven and Greg around while continuously spraying them.
However, it was brought to a stop when Isaac stepped on its tail. This cause it a bit of pain from the suddenness of the step, but the blonde didn't do it too hard. "Amethyst, I know it's you," Isaac stated.
Knowing that she was caught, the cat glowed whitish purple and Amethyst turned back into her normal form. See her in her normal form while on her hands and knees, Isaac took his foot off her hair. Amethyst then took the hose out of her mouth and laughed. "Got you guys!"
"Amethyst!" Steven exclaimed with excited stars in his eyes.
Greg however chuckled, a bit uncomfortable by her shape shifting. "Uh, pretty cool, Amethyst."
"What are you doing here?" Isaac demanded with his hands on his hips. Not all too happy with being blasted in the face with water.
"Aww, come on. Can't I have fun with my two favorite guys," Amethyst asked mockingly with a fake sweet voice, while standing up. "And Greg."
"Okay!" Steven exclaimed excitedly. "I wanna shapeshift like you!"
"Sure, you could probably learn," Amethyst told him, tying the hose into a knot.
"Really," asked Isaac, raising an eyebrow. Was that even possible? And if so, that would be awesome!
"Sure." Amethyst threw away the hose, and grabbed Isaac's right hand. She held up the back of his hand and pointed to the Onyx gemstone. "You've got a gem."
Greg's arms shot up. "Whup! Magic stuff. Should I get out of here," He asked, rubbing the back his balding head. "Is there going to be an explosion?" Isaac made a note in his head that that may be why he's half bald.
"Oh, it's no big deal dad," Steven assured him, before Amethyst shape-shifted into the boy—only she was still purple.
"Yeah, it's fine," she said in a playful, mocking way. While Isaac rolled his eyes, and shook his head with a small smirk, Greg was a little freaked out and yelped.
The trip back to the Temple was not very eventful, but Amethyst took great pride in her shape-shifting that she did it the entire time back to the house. "Hey Pearl," Amethyst said to Pearl, while the thin Gem was looking through a microscope. Pearl looked blankly and a little irked as her trouble-making comrade shape-shifted into a seal. "Arp, arp!"
Steven laughed, while Isaac sat down on the couch and watched with a smile. He wasn't as excited to see what she would turn into, but was entertained nonetheless. "Do more!" exclaimed Steven with a big grin.
"Check it out." Amethyst obligated and started shapeshifting. Pearl also watched, but with a blank expression. The purple Gem turned into a wolf and howled. Then she was a big wrestler. Finally, Amethyst shapeshifted into a jay. She flew around before perching herself on Steven's head. Resting in his curly hair.
"Whoa!"
"Eh, I give it an eight," Isaac said, shrugging his shoulders jokingly.
"Please don't encourage her," Pearl scolded the blonde before walking up to Amethyst and Steven.
"Uh, chill it, dude," Amethyst replied with a roll of her eyes.
"Just because you can shapeshift, doesn't mean you should."
"Can you shapeshift," Steven asked curiously.
Pearl smiled proudly and placed a hand over her chest. "Well of course…"
But then Amethyst cuts in by turning into the thin Gem. "Well of course I can, I'm perfect!" She replied with a fake voice that mocked Pearl's, who looked at her in disgust. Amethyst then broke character and started hitting her butt at Pearl. "WOMP! WOMP!"
Pearl's attention was caught when Isaac started laughing. She glared at him as he tried to stop himself. "Heh heh, okay, that was actually kind of funny."
Groaning as Amethyst laughed, Pearl pushed the purple Gem to the side. Amethyst continued laughing as she tumbled away. "All Gems have shapeshifting powers," she told Steven and Isaac. She projected a hologram to help show her point. "We can turn into objects, we can change parts of our bodies or..." she cut the hologram when she shut her eyes and clenched her fist. Pearl then turned towards Amethyst. "…we could do that."
"WOMP! WOMP!" Amethyst, still as Pearl, continued spanking herself.
"Ah, cool!" Isaac exclaimed, standing up. He then started using his arms in various chopping motions. "Does that mean I can turn my arms into blades?"
"Unfortunately, Isaac…" Pearl paused for a moment, as if trying to tread a very sensitive subject. In her mind, she wondered how she was going to explain without revealing too much to him, or even Steven and Amethyst. "…your mother, Onyx, wasn't able to shape-shift."
That stopped Isaac from moving his arms. Even Amethyst stopped and turned back into her normal form, surprised to hear what Pearl said. "What do you mean," she asked.
"I'm…not sure why." That's a lie. She knew exactly why. "But Onyx's never had the power to shapeshift her body," Pearl explained, before projecting another hologram. This time, the hologram showed them Isaac's sword. "She was, however, able to transform her sword into various other melee weapons." The hologram showed the katana glowing before turning into a battle awe. Then into a spear. "This was one reason why she was such a great fighter."
"Wow!" Isaac's face showed his wonder, with stars in his eyes. "Can you show me how to do it?"
"Yeah, and I can still shape-shift," Steven asked. "I want to try it all!"
"Don't bite off more than you can chew, Steven," Pearl told him, before looking at Isaac. "And I'm not exactly sure if I'll be able to, but I'll be happy to help!"
"Aww~" Amethyst placed her hands on her cheeks and looked mockingly and teasingly that them. "Pearl, that's so sweet~!"
Isaac and Pearl flushed, but the latter blushed more. "Quiet, you!" She yelled, but it only caused Amethyst to burst out into laughter. Embarrassed, the slender Gem glared at the shorter one. "Ugh! Let's go, Isaac!" She grabbed the blonde's arm, and started dragging the young man with her. Pearl opened the door, and the two exited the house.
Pearl and Isaac were now walking away from Beach City, crossing a field and heading towards a forest. "I'm not really sure how to do this with you, Isaac," Pearl told him. She walked in front of him with her spear summoned and held it in one hand. "Normally, we're only able to change the size of our weapons."
"Wasn't mom with you guys," he asked. "Didn't she tell you how she changed her weapons?"
"Yes, but she never stayed with us for long," Pearl explained to him, as they entered into the forest. "It was only to reach a common goal. But after that, she parted ways with us to find her place in the world. Travel all over the globe."
"Whoa, really?" Isaac followed close behind her, as they continued trekking deeper into the forest. It was pretty cool that she wanted to travel the world. Why didn't dad tell him that? But then a new question came up. "So why are we out here? Why not do this in the Temple?"
"As you're probably already aware of, the Crystal Temple, and in affect Beach City, attracts many monsters. So, we usually do patrols in order to make sure that they don't harm anyone." They came into an open space in the forest, where the sun shined brightly on the grass and brightened its colors. It was a serene and peaceful area that entranced Isaac. Some much so that he also didn't notice Pearl stop and turning towards him with her arms behind her back.
"Some…we're here to find monsters," he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That's correct." Pearl nodded, smiling knowingly. "I know it's not safe and we're putting ourselves in danger, but I know of no other way of summoning your weapon, Isaac."
"I'm cool with it. I'll just wait and see if we're attacked," Isaac told her with a quick shrug. He then sat down on the ground. "That sounded so much cooler in my head."
Pearl giggled a little. She didn't know why, but somehow Isaac was just able to make her laugh at some of his small jokes and comments. She decided to sit down with him and wait.
The two friends just sat there in silence as they looked around the forest. Keeping on alert for any danger. However, they became lost in their thoughts and began admiring the natural beauty of the forest. Butterflies flying over their heads. Groups of squirrels running up a tree, after collecting some for the group. And two birds taking off and flying into the air.
Isaac took it all in with a big smile, but he soon found himself staring right at Pearl. The light of the sun and the serene environment truly brought out a side of her he's only seen in rare moments. Pearl now looked not only graceful, but she was beautiful. But then something popped into his head. Something that he's been wanting to know for a while.
However, he was brought out of his state when his gemstone started glowing. "Pearl!"
Pearl whipped her head back towards Isaac, and saw his glowing gem. "Summon your weapon, I'll take on the monster," she instructed him, conjuring her spear. She then ran off and disappeared into the trees.
Isaac nodded and summoned his katana. The more he spent with the Gems, the more he started to notice that then they summon their weapons, their gemstones make a distinct sound. Garnet's gauntlets made a vibrating metal-like sound. Pearl's spear made what he could only describe as unique shining sound. And Amethyst was more of a whipping sound, of course. But for Isaac's weapon sound, it was more of like steel cutting through metal. (AN: just think of the sword sound effect from Samurai Jack.)
Fighting could be heard between in the direction Pearl ran off in. Isaac got up on one knee and was about to run and help, but right when he got to his feet, the sound of the monster poofing was heard.
Pearl walked back to the opening with the gem of the monster bubbled. "Alright then," she said, making the bubble disappear by tapping the top. "Let's get this started."
Isaac nodded, and the two sat back down with their legs crossed.
(Play music: A Way of Life – Hans Zimmer)
"Now, close your eyes and clear your mind."
Obeying her instructions, Isaac closed his eyes and cleared his mind.
"We'll start with something easy," Pearl told him, then saw his shoulders a little tense and smiled. "And relax. It's okay to fail. After all, you're only starting this." He let out a long breath and loosen up. "Now, in your head, think about what you want the katana to be now."
Isaac thought for a moment, wondering what he should do for his first time. But figuring that he should start off small, Isaac knew what to do. "Okay, I got it."
"Go, now all I can do is observe," Pearl said, straightening her back and stared at Isaac and his sword. "It's up to you to determine what happens."
Isaac nodded. He had the katana resting on his lap, so he grabbed the handle and placed his hand on the black and white blade. His body tensed up as he tried to force the change. But nothing happened. The sword remained the same way it's always been.
Remember what Pearl said, Isaac inhaled a deep breath of air, before exhaling it out. Clearing his mind of all thoughts of failing in front of Pearl and anxiousness of being attacked by another monster, Isaac then took in the image of his katana in his head. Already familiar with the image of the sword, he took in all of its details. Isaac then focused and concentrated on the shape of the katana, before imagining it changing its forms.
This way proved to be effective.
Gasping with wide eyes, Pearl watched in amazement as the Japanese started shining a bright white. But she was still able to see the shape of the katana, as it was now completely black. Like it was a silhouette.
The shape of the katana started to change. The handle extended and became longer, as well as the blade.
A second later, and the weapon was complete. Isaac opened his eyes and looked down. He gasped with wide, star-filled eyes at the sight of his success. He grabbed the new weapon, shot up to his feet, and held it victoriously over his head. "I did it, yes! This is awesome!" He exclaimed happily.
Pearl, however, looked confused. "You wanted to make your sword longer?"
Isaac stopped cheering and looked at her, as Pearl stood up. "What, no. This is a Japanese ōdachi," he explained. He held out the great sword to Pearl. She took the sword and examined it carefully, seeing that other than the length of it, the weapon's design hasn't changed all too much. "Just like katanas, these things were used by the samurai of ancient Japan."
"Samurai?" Isaac looked a little surprised at Pearl, as she held the mighty weapon with both hands. How could she have not heard about the samurai?
"You don't get out too often, huh? The samurai were basically like the knights of ancient Japan. They served their master with a code of honor like chivalry called Bushidō," he explained the warriors of a time long past. "They held bravery, honor, and personal loyalty above life itself."
Pearl heard every word and took it all in, looking at her barely seeable reflection in the blade of the sword. Thinking back to days long past. How did she not hear about these people—these samurai? She knows of chivalry and lived her life in the service of the one she loved.
If she was still here, would Rose call her a samurai?
"Pearl?" Startled, Pearl whipped her head around to see Isaac looking at her with a worried look. "You okay," he asked. "You spaced out there for a moment."
That caused a blush on her cheeks and across the bridge of her nose. "O-Oh yes! Yes, I am!" Pearl replied loudly with embarrassment. She laughed sheepishly for a moment and handed Isaac the ōdachi. "Sorry, I…I was just admiring the ōdachi sword."
Though he knew that it was something else, Isaac took the great sword, made it disappear, and didn't questioned her any further. "Thank you, Pearl," he said with a grateful smile. "For everything."
Pearl waved it off. "It's nothing, really."
"I'm not just talking about helping me with my weapon," Isaac then told her. "I mean you and the Gems barely know me, and you yet you're helping me with…so much."
At first a little taken back by the sincerity of his words, Pearl smiled at his genuine thanks. She walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "And thank you for being with us and Steven," she said with a gentle voice.
The half-human and alien being stared at one another with smiles. Not realizing that they were even staring in each other's eyes.
(End song here)
[Pearl and Isaac, come in!]
The silence was brought to a predictable end when Garnet's voice came from Isaac's Taco pack. He and Pearl blushed brightly and turned away from each other. 'What in the world was that!' Pearl shouted in her head, grabbing her head. 'What were we just doing?'
Isaac reached into his backpack and pulled out a walky-talkie that he had in it. He must have left the second one in the house. "We're here, Garnet. What's up," he asked into the radio.
[I need the two of you to get back here quickly. A small island was brought to life by a gem and is heading for Beach City. We're going to stop it.]
"You want the five of us to fight…an island. In the middle of the ocean," Isaac asked Garnet like it was the stupidest thing he's ever heard. In his head, he could already see that just being an instant one-sided fight. They'd just be hitting sand, rocks, the ground, and maybe even some trees.
[We don't have a choice. This is a tectonic emergency. Come on back and we'll go in the Gem Sloop.]
Isaac then said, "Okay, but it's going to take a while before me and Pearl…" he stopped talking when Pearl jumped off the ground and went high up into the air.
Leaving him all alone.
"Right, you guys can do that."
Isaac ran as fast as he could to the Crystal Temple, panting in exhaustion as he didn't stop for a moment. By the time he reached the Temple about 10 minutes later, Isaac saw Pearl already in a small boat with three light blue facet-shaped sails that resemble gems, a dark blue mast, and body. Garnet was standing on the dock (that wasn't there before) and holding the mast to push it off, while Amethyst walked towards the boat to get in.
Pearl noticed Isaac approaching them as he stopped to slow down, stumbling a little with each step. "What took you," she asked, as Isaac fell to his hands and knees a couple feet away from the boat.
"Well, sorry I can't jump like you guys!" Isaac snapped angrily at her. He then got up to his feet and stumbled his way to the boat. Amethyst laughed at his misery, after getting in herself. Isaac climbed into the Gem Sloop and glared at her while exhaustedly panting. "Oh, shut up, Amethyst!"
"Knock it off. We're off," Garnet told them, before pushing the Gem Sloop off the dock before jumping in, rocking the boat. With that, the Gem Sloop started drifting towards the living island.
"WAIT! WAIT!"
Hearing the familiar child voice, Isaac quickly sat up and looked back towards the shore. The Gems and him saw running across the beach and running down the beach then the dock.
"WAIT!" Steven yelled and jumped off the dock and into the ocean. He was now wading through the water though the water to get to the Sloop.
"Steven?" Isaac exclaimed, surprised to see him.
"Steven!" Pearl called.
Amethyst laughed for a moment. "C'mon, you can make it!" she exclaimed encouragingly.
Steven was able to catch up and Isaac reached out an arm to pull him in. Steven hand grabbed his and dunked his other hand into the water at the same time. "OW! Son of a bitch!" Isaac exclaimed in pain and pulled his arm away when he felt multiple shots of pain in his arm.
Isaac then heard what sounded like cats and looked at Steven. He was puzzled to see that all of his fingers had the heads of cats that were all alive.
"What the fuck?" He said, while the Gems gasped at Steven.
"Language!" Pearl snapped at Isaac, before looking at Steven. "Steven, what's going on?"
"Waah! I-it's nothing!" Steven exclaimed his answer, really wanting to go. "I-I just turned all my fingers into cats!"
"Why!?" Isaac retorted.
Amethyst snorted and Pearl turned to Garnet. "We have to stay and help Steven!"
"We can't. This is a tectonic emergency," Garnet told her, determined to finish the mission. "Isaac will stay behind." Isaac looked at her in shock. "We'll deal with Steven when we get back."
Isaac sighed. "Fine," he groaned, and then jumped water, which went all the way up to his chest. "Christ, this water's cold!"
They watched him wadded through the water towards Steven as the Gem Sloop drifted further away. Pearl then turned to Amethyst and glared at the purple gem. "Amethyst, I blame YOU for this," she said, pointing an accusing finger at her.
Amethyst shrugged. "Eh, that's fair."
"Grrr!" Pearl growled in frustration.
"Hey, wait! What am I supposed to do!?" Isaac called back to them after reaching where Steven was. He had absolutely no clue how to handle this at all. How was he going to get the boy's fingers back to normal?
"Just try to keep Steven calm!"
Right, like that was going to go easily.
When Isaac was able to get Steven back into the house, he tried to follow Pearls command and keep Steven from panicking. However, that was turning out to be a challenge as the cat seemed to have become more restless and were meowing louder and more frequently.
"Enough!" Steven yelled at his cat fingers. Isaac was standing nearby, looking with an anxious expression. "No more cat fingers! I want Steven fingers! ... And I don't mean little me heads on fingers, I mean my REGULAR fingers!"
Isaac kneeled down and placed his hands on his shoulders. "Okay, kid. Let's calm down," he told him in an attempt to ease the boy. "Why not just do the same thing you did when you made the first cat finger?"
Steven took his advice and breathed in. "You're right. I've got to stay calm," he said, placed his hand on his head. But when he removed his hand, the spot he placed it on his head turned into a cat's head. It meowed.
Isaac and Steven screamed in shock. The boy tipped and nearly fell over, but Isaac caught him by grabbing his arms. "Dude! What's going—Whoa!" Isaac yelled in shock when Steven's arm turned into a cat.
Steven saw it and screamed. "Wha! Aahhh! Stop!" He begged to his power, before his foot turns into a cat. The now scared boy fell over on his back.
"Steven!" Isaac quickly crouched down next to him. But when he placed his hands on him, he retracted them when another cat popped out. He could only watch in terror as more cats started to form on Steven body. Now it was spreading like an infestation.
With no control of his body and powers, and laying on the floor, Steven looked at Isaac with pleading and helpless eyes. "Isaac!" He exclaimed, sounding more scared than he's ever been. "Help!"
"What do I do!" Isaac exclaimed, grabbing his head.
"I don't know! Cut them off with your sword!"
"No! I could hurt you!" Isaac grabbed the boy by the shoulders. He really didn't know what to do. He hated this. Unable to help his friend in his time of need. Isaac grabbed one of the cat heads hard and started pulling. He wanted to yank it out of Steven, but didn't what to. For all he knows, it could really harm the boy.
But suddenly the arm that turned into a cat bit down on his arm. Isaac yelled in pain, before being suddenly thrown upwards. Hitting against the ceiling and fell back down. The collision with the floor on his back was just as agonizing.
"Isaac!" Steven tried to hobble over to him, but more cats started popping out, making him fall onto his hands and knees. But then, an idea came to Steven that made him gasp. "Dad!"
"What?" Isaac sat up while rubbing the back of his head.
"I have to get to dad!" Steven told him. "Isaac, help me get to him!"
"What can Greg do!?"
"I-I-I don't know! But please! He may be able help!" Steven exclaimed with pleading and frightened eyes. Isaac was silent for a moment, before nodding with a determined look.
This was bad. Despite Isaac's best efforts in pulling the boy and shepherd him to the carwash, the cats were resisting and fighting back. Biting and trying to throw him off. This made the journey stretch for about an hour and the sun had already gone down.
Walking down the dark street while enduring more bites from the, Isaac saw the carwash just a head. And to their luck, Greg was standing there in front of it. Hosing the ground while singing along to his headphone music.
"Just keep walking forward," he told Steven, before letting go of him. This prompted the cats to release their hold on him too, and Isaac ran towards the man. "GREG!"
Startled and shaken, Greg snapped his head towards the direction he heard his name being called. He was shocked when Isaac ran into the night of the neon sign. The young man's clothes were torn in many places. Bit marks were all around his arms and were still being healed. He was also bruised up with scraps and cuts for the many times he was thrown by the cats.
"Isaac," he asked as Isaac stop a few feet from him. "What happeeennnooaaaah!" He yelled in shock and terror as Steven crawled into the light as well. The transformation was so bad that the heads were larger and were covering almost all parts of the boy's body.
Fearing for his life, Greg turned up the hose and sprayed Steven with the water. This caused the cats to meow angrily, and the now mass of feline heads to roll back.
"Greg, wait, stop!" Isaac quickly ran and shielded Steven from the water, thinking that it was hurting him. He then rushed and pushed the hose away. "It's Steven! It's Steven!"
"Huh!?" Greg looked back at the cat heads and saw them shrinking and even some going away completely. And it was then that he saw the face of his only son in between the cats and gasped. "Steven?"
Looking at his father, Steven stared at him with the same look of genuine fear and sadness he gave Isaac, only this time his eyes teared up. "Dad!" He then groaned as more cats grow on his body again. "Help! The cat fingers are taking over my body!" He begged, and even more head appeared.
"Hold on, wha- I'll get you out of there!" Greg exclaimed, and attempt to push away the cat heads to get to his son.
Isaac's eyes widened. "No, wait!" He was about to stop Greg, but it was too late. The one of the cats chomped down on the man's arm and threw him to the side. "Hey! Back off!" Isaac grabbed two heads, but was headbutted in the chest. Knocking him down to the ground.
"No! Bad! Bad cat fingers!" Steven scolded to his cat fingers as he stepped away from Isaac.
However, when he stepped in a water puddle, the cats got made and their hair shot up. They then made Steven jump high up to the roof. But he slipped on his landing, and was now hanging off the corner of the roof.
Greg stood up and looked at Steven. "Can't you make them go away?"
"I tried, but it made it worse!" Steven told him. Isaac and Greg could only watch as more cats grew. Some growing even larger than before. "Ohh, my life is over! I can't go on magic adventures! I can't even open the fridge! And I'll never get to have another water fight with you, Dad! Because these things hate... water!"
"What?!" exclaimed Isaac.
"They hate water! Quick, spray me again!"
Greg and Isaac quickly picked up the hoses and sprayed the boy with two powerful blasts of water. When they hit him, Steven's body of cats jumped down. Now angrier, the cats stretch out towards Greg and Isaac, ready to start biting them.
"Aaahahahaaahhh!" the two humans screamed, but then the cats stop just a few inches away.
Steven was about to grab onto the side of the carwash just before the cats could hurt them. "It's not enough water!" He called back to them, struggling to keep a hold on the building. He then turned his head forward to concentration on pulling himself away. But then he saw that he was right where the car entrance was. An idea popped in his head that made him gasp. "Turn on the super-wash!"
"No, I won't do it! It's too dangerous!" Greg reply.
"You've got to! I'm a monster! I'm an adorable cat monster!"
"No, you're not!" Isaac looked and saw Greg was starting to tear up. "You're my son!"
"Dad! Please! Aahhh!" Steven cried out as the cats engulf his more of his body. Now there wasn't much of his face to look at.
Isaac looked at the ball of heads meowing, and then his terrified and worried look turned to a serious and determined look. "Start the machine! I'll get him in!"
Greg stared for a moment, before taking off his headphones and spotted his own determined expression.
In the main office building, Greg flipped three switches and slammed his fist on a button.
Isaac heard the sound of an alarm, going off and got to work. With the super-wash turned on, the blonde stretched out his arms and grabbed a hold of Steven's body. They didn't like that, and starting biting at him. But Isaac wasn't having any of it. Pushing through the pain, he used his strength to pick up the hulking mass of cat heads.
He walked into the carwash, and went through the flaps things that were the first thing. He then stopped when he came to the first water machine. The machine sprayed jets of water all over Isaac and Steven. The cats meowed and hissed in pain. Isaac growled in agony, as he could feel the pressured water hitting him hard and taking off bits of his skin.
Wet and soapy from the streams of soap that was blasted at them, Isaac marched forward. He carried Steven through two waxers that reshaped his body and the cats.
Finally, they went through another machine that spray jets of water on them.
Worried for the two, Greg rushed out of the office and ran to the exit of the carwash. He picked up a hose, as steam billowed out of the opening, ready to attack any remaining cats.
The steam cleared away, and Isaac walked out. Even though he was sore from getting bitten on and the pressurized water, he still carefully carried Steven out. He then collapsed onto his knees and placed the boy on the ground.
Still teary-eyed, Greg let out a sigh of relief.
"Dad," said a tired Steven, as both his and Isaac's clothes were all ripped. Isaac's injuries began to heal, as he helped the boy sit up. "Isaac. We did it."
Isaac nodded with a relied smile. "Yeah. Thank god."
Then to their horror, one of Steven's fingers is still a cat. "Meow."
All three of them screamed in terror before Greg hoses it. Soon, it returned to a normal, human finger. Now they all panted and sighed in relief.
The next day came, and Isaac and Steven were sitting on the dock when the Gems arrived from their mission. "Steven!" Pearl exclaimed, and climbed out of the Gem Sloop and onto the dock. She went over to him and held his hand. "Okay, let me see it. W-?" While examining it, she was surprised to see there were no more cat fingers. "Y-you got them to go away?"
Steven smiled happily in response.
"It wasn't easy," Isaac said, ruffling Steven's hair with his own smile. "But we managed to make it happen."
"Thank so much for helping him, Isaac. It just goes to show, always listen to me, and never listen to Amethyst," Pearl advised.
"That's fair," said Amethyst.
"It goes to show," Garnet cuts in, "you should have a little more faith in Steven." This made Pearl blush a little, which was a little cute to Isaac.
"Yeah, that would have been a total CAT-tastrophe!" joked Steven.
Pearl and Amethyst sarcastically and nervously laughed at the bad joke.
"But I'm feeling much better MEOW!"
The Gems groaned and Isaac said, "Please stop."
"Ehhh? What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"
"Shut up," Isaac groaned in annoyance as the Gems walked away.
"Come on, I'm FELINE fine."
"Shut up!"
"Everything's PURRRRFECT!—"
"Shut your mouth!"
"Oh, come on!—"
"Please just stop!"
"I'm just KITTEN around!"
Finally having enough, Isaac yelled out loud to the sky. So loud that everyone in Beach City could have heard him. "STEVEN! For the love of God, SHUT THE FUC—"
And we'll cut there.
AN: And that ends Act One: Chapter 6. Kind of decided to separate the seasons of the show into Acts, kind of like Gears of War.
This was perhaps the most intense movement of the story so far. Isaac has never been more scared than he was for Steven getting over taken by the cat fingers. I wanted the moment to be stressful and painful on Isaac, so that he would push himself to ensure Steven's wellbeing. Going through cat biting at him, get thrown around, and being blasted with high pressure water.
And then in the end, I decided to end with a funny moment that's inspired by Red vs Blue.
Isaac and Pearl are finally given a cute moment with each other. I looked through the story so far and saw that there weren't any real fluff moments for the two. And so, Pearl teaching Isaac to use his powers would prove a great little scene for the two to grow close to one another.
And most importantly, more information is given about Onyx. She was only with the Crystal Gems for a short amount of time before leaving the group. The question is why. And also, we're given the information that the Gem of War wasn't able to shapeshift. To some die-hard fans of the series, this is a very odd thing to see and would either confuse or (if they're butt-hurt about it) anger some.
I know that it's something that all Gems do, but it all has to do with this character's back story. A backstory that I'm really looking forward to telling you all.
And with that down, let's go to Bubble Buddies.