Hello and welcome readers to my Steven Universe fanfiction. Anyway, I don't own anything except for the OC.
The following is a non-profit fan-based parody. Steven Universe is owned by Cartoon Network and Rebecca Sugar. Please support the Official Release.
Cat Fingers
The day began at Greg's Carwash; It's a Wash. Greg is washing a van modeled in the image of Mayor Dewey with Steven. The van resembled a pest control truck, with microphones, Dewey's logo, signs that said reelected, and above all, a giant plastic sculpture of the Mayor's head on top of the van.
After completely applying soap to the left side of the van, Greg turned on the water hose. "Almost done!" Greg told Steven as he sprayed the van with the hose. At the same time, Steven was cleaning the tires' hubcaps. "Steven, get the hubcaps!"
"Hubbing it up!" Steven exclaimed as he rubbed the van's hubcaps vigorously.
"Hub it good! This is a high-profile job." Greg said, still hosing the van.
"You mean 'cause it's the mayor's election mobile?" Steven asked.
"If we do this right, we might get political favors!" Greg said to his son with the idea.
"I'm not sure what that is… But I like it!" Steven grabbed a nearby hose.
Steven turns on the hose to spray the van, but the water arches over the van and splashes onto Greg by mistake. Greg laughs and sprays back at Steven with his hose, starting a water fight as the two of them laugh together. As this went on, Mayor Dewey walked in towards them.
Mayor Dewey has balding dark-brown hair and coral skin. He normally wears 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 after Steven sprayed him with his hose. "UNIVERSE! Control that kid." He demanded, pointing at Steven while trying to wipe the water off himself.
"Steven!" Greg runs over and holds Steven close to him. "Hehe, I'm sorry, Mayor Dewey." He laughed nervously. "Hehehe, this one's on the house."
Mayor Dewey stared, examining his van. "On the house, eh?" He turned and pointed to Greg. "I like the way you do business, Universe." Mayor Dewey gets into the van and drives off, with a siren chanting "Mayor Dewey".
Greg sighs in dismay while Steven wiggles his fingers and mischievously says. "Political favors!"
"Ahh, you rascal!" Greg exclaims as he picks Steven up and noogies him. "Enough with the hose fights!"
"Aw, okay." Steven laughed and pushed Greg's hand away.
Steven and Greg are suddenly splashed by some water. "What the?"
Steven and Greg notice a strange purple cat holding a running hose in its mouth.
[Woah!] They both exclaimed in surprise after seeing the cat.
The purple cat starts chasing them around, continuously spraying them with the hose. Steven kept laughing—Enjoying the situation. Whilst Greg looked displeased and confused.
"What is with this cat?!" Greg asked while running.
The purple cat begins to glow a whitish-purple light and shapeshift, revealing it to be Amethyst. Amethyst then took the hose out of her mouth and laughed. "Haha! Got you guys!"
"Amethyst!" Steven exclaimed with excited stars in his eyes.
Greg, however, chuckled, a bit uncomfortable by her shapeshifting. "Uh, pretty cool, Amethyst."
"Really cool!" Steven exclaimed, running up to her, still excited. "I wish I could shapeshift like you!"
Amethyst ties the hose into a knot. "You could probably learn."
"Really?" Steven asked.
"Sure." Amethyst lifts up Steven's shirt. "You've got a Gem."
Greg's arms shot up. "Whup! Magic stuff! Should I get out of here?" He asked, rubbing the back of his balding head. "Is there going to be an explosion?"
"Aw, it's no big deal, Dad. Steven reassures him while he pulls his shirt down.
Amethyst then shapeshifts into Steven—Only she is still purple. "Yeah, it's fiinnneeee."
"Gah!" Greg shrieked.
Once they were done at the carwash, Steven and Amethyst went back to the Beach House. Outside the house—Sitting on a beach chair near the front door, was Vergil, who was reading a book that had a colorful cover.
"Hey, Vergil." Steven greeted him as he and Amethyst walked up the stairs.
"I take it you're finished helping Greg?" Vergil replied, closing his book.
"Yeah, you should have come and helped. It was fun, and Dad said we might get some "political favors"." Steven tried to imitate Greg's phrasing.
"Forget it." Vergil crossed his arms and picked up his book to show it to Steven. "Modern, mainstream manga for boys has always depicted politicians in a negative light, so I refuse to associate with one."
"Aw." Steven groaned, disappointed, before his face lit up again. "Oh yeah, you wanna see something cool?"
Now, Vergil became curious. "What kind of cool?"
"Amethyst-style cool!" Amethyst answered, throwing her hands up.
Vergil got off his chair. "Alright, I'm interested."
With that, the three of them went into the house. Already in the house was Pearl, who was sitting by the counter and looking through a microscope—There were also a few beakers on the counter.
"Hey, Pearl." Amethyst went over to Pearl and shapeshifted into a seal. "Arp, arp!"
Pearl stared blankly and a little irked at the trouble-making Gem. Steven laughed while Vergil nodded knowingly.
"Ah, shapeshifting." Vergil stated.
"You know about it?" Steven asked, surprised.
Vergil shrugged. "Well, sure, she's done it before on a few missions."
"Well, it's still cool." Steven turned back to Amethyst. "Do more!"
"Check it out." Amethyst obligated and started shapeshifting. Pearl also watched but with a blank expression. She shapeshifts into a wolf and howls. Then shapeshifts into a giant wrestler and growls. Then, she shapeshifts into a jaybird and flies around before she perches on Steven's head, resting on his curly hair.
Steven was clearly impressed. "Whoa!"
"Yeah, among all the Gems, Amethyst is the best at shapeshifting." Vergil explained, smiling.
Pearl walks over. "Amethyst, you're overdoing it." She scolded her.
Amethyst rolled her eyes and replied. "Uh, chill it, dude."
Pearl continued. "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 shapeshifts into Pearl and interrupts Pearl. "Well, of course I can, I'm perfect!" She replied with a fake voice that mocked Pearl—Who looked at her in disgust. She then broke character and smacked her butt at Pearl. "WOMP! WOMP!"
Groaning as Amethyst laughed, Pearl shoved Amethyst to the side, and Amethyst tumbled away, still laughing. "As Vergil already knows, all Gems have shapeshifting powers, Steven." She projects some holograms to 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."
Amethyst—Still as Pearl continued smacking her butt. "WOMP! WOMP!"
Steven raised his fists. "I want to try it all!"
"Don't bite off more than you can chew, Steven." Pearl advised him.
Once again, Amethyst smacks her butt in the form of Pearl. "WOMP, WOMP!"
Pearl groans, fed up with Amethyst's antics. She leaves through the front door, and Amethyst shapeshifts back into herself once Pearl is gone.
After this, Steven turned to Vergil and asked, "What about you? Can you also shapeshift?"
"Sorta…" Vergil said before holding out his arms. "This is the only shapeshifting a can do, though."
In contrast to the glowing light that surrounds Amethyst when she transforms, Vergil's arms are covered by a pitch-black, only shadowy substance. As his arms were completely covered, they changed both in size and shape and now had the appearance of two large, bird-like wings. They resembled the wings of a crow, both in color and outline, despite the lack of feathers.
Steven was gaping in amazement. "Wow, wings!"
"Yeah, when it comes to shapeshifting, the only things I can make are these wings." Vergil explained, turning his arms back to normal.
"That's so cool!" Steven said, impressed.
"But it still needs work." Amethyst added, which made Vergil sigh.
"I know, the way it's supposed to work is; I make the wings grow out from my back. That way, I could free-fly all I want and use my Sword to fight in the air." Vergil described before looking annoyed. "But right now, I can only turn my arms into wings, so my flight path is narrow, I can't hold anything, and I have to flap my arms up and down to stay in the air, which is exhausting."
Amethyst laughed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Ha! Keep trying, dude. You'll get it someday." She encouraged him.
Steven then runs up to Amethyst excitedly. "Alright! Show me how to change into a, uh, huge lion!" He requested, completely disregarding Pearl's advice.
Amethyst placed a hand on her hip. "Actually, for once, Pearl is right. If you're gonna do this, you've gotta start with something easy."
"Like that cat, you turned into?" Steven suggested.
"That sounds good. Now follow my lead." Amethyst told him as she walked over to the center of the house and began demonstrating for Steven. "First, think of what you wanna be, and then, just shake it out." She closes her eyes, shakes her limbs around, and shapeshifts into the cat. "See? Haha! Now, your turn."
"Okay." Steven closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and starts straining himself as sweat builds upon his forehead and tears form around his eyes. "Caaatttt…!
Vergil facepalmed at seeing Steven's attempt. Amethyst, however, opens a bag of chips. "Nah, you're too tense. Just relax and feel it." She advised him as she ate a potato chip. "Bio-rhythms, yo."
Steven presses his fingertips against his temples and continues to struggle. "Feeeelll iittt…"
"This is becoming hard to watch." Vergil thought to himself.
Amethyst, in her cat form, comes over to Steven. "Ehh, if you're not ready, we can try later." She offered.
"No, wait! I can do it." Steven insisted.
"Look, Steven. Just be reasonable." Vergil told him. "Trying to shapeshift when you can barely summon your weapon is like asking someone who just learned the alphabet to read." He summarized, hoping to talk him out of it. "Trying to force your powers can only end badly."
"Aw, come on, I'm only trying to turn into a cat. How much harm could that do?" Steven asked, completely carefree.
"Let's find out." Vergil muttered.
Amethyst shapeshifts back into herself, and Steven starts swinging his arms around him, hoping to "feel it". "Yeah… Yeah… HUH!"
He finishes by thrusting his arms forward, sadly though, after a few seconds pass, nothing seems to change.
Amethyst gets up and tries to console him. "Well, it was a good try."
Suddenly, a meowing noise appears out of nowhere, which makes all three of them alert. Steven opens his palm to see his index finger has turned into the head of a miniature white-furred cat, meowing away. Stars light up in Steven's eyes, Amethyst starts giggling, and Vergil blinks in surprise.
"This is so cool!" Steven exclaims.
"Okay, that's.… Different?" Vergil spoke, not sure how to react to this.
"You should go show your dad. He's gonna FREAK OUT!" Amethyst insisted loudly.
"Rreow!" The Cat Finger meows as if to agree.
Back at Greg's carwash, Greg was wearing sunglasses and laying on a lawn chair—Suntanning and holding a cold drink. While doing that, Steven and Vergil walked over to him.
"Dad, I'm back!" Steven said loudly.
"Hey, Greg!" Vergil greeted.
Greg got up and smiled. "Hey, schtu-ball. And Vergil, his you came to help us this morning."
"I had… Other stuff I needed to do." Vergil brushed the topic aside. "But never mind that Steven has something to show you."
Steven kept his hands together and nodded. "Yes, check it out!"
Steven then opens up his hands and shows the cat finger to his Dad. "Ah!" Greg reacts in shock, hurling a water bottle that hits Steven on the head. Water splashes from the bottle onto the cat finger, and it cowers as if it got burned.
"Rreow! Row." The cat finger cowers in pain.
"I shapeshifted my finger into a cat!" Steven explained.
"Whoa!" Greg lets out an uncomfortable laugh. "Is, is that a thing you can do now? That's pretty… Cool?" His words clearly didn't match his tone.
Steven didn't seem to notice. "I know, right!"
Vergil did notice, though. "Greg, you seem uncomfortable. Everything okay?"
"What? Of course, it is. I-I'm just surprised, is all." Greg insisted, sounding more at ease now.
"Well, I'm gonna take this show on the road!" Steven proclaims as he starts laughing and twirls away while the cat finger keeps meowing.
"And I'm interested to see how this goes!" Vergil added, following after him.
The two of them now arrive at the Big Donut. The two of them are standing in front of the counter while Sadie is checking the price of the donut Steven bought, while Lars is just standing there looking bored.
"That'll be a 1.05 Steven." Sadie told him.
"Mm, okay." Steven reached one hand into his pocket to take out some money. "Here's a nickel." He placed the coin on the counter. "And a buck!" He holds up the cat finger, holding a dollar bill in its mouth.
[Whaaat?!] Sadie and Lars both gasped when they saw it.
"Haha!" Vergil laughs after seeing their reactions. "Classic."
The cat finger drops the dollar bill on the counter and meows.
"Oh, Steven, that's adorable!" Sadie swoons and pets the cat finger with her finger, making it purr. "Are… You making it purr?" She asked.
"It kinda does what it wants." Steven guessed.
Vergil shrugged. "Gems don't usually make living things out of their bodies when they transform, so it's hard to figure this out."
"Really?" Lars roughly pokes the cat finger, and it bites him. "YOW!" Lars pulls back and glares at the cat finger.
"Hahaha!" Vergil laughs again.
"See what I mean? Bad 'cat finger!'" Steven reprimanded his cat finger.
"Oh, I'm sure it just wants to play." Sadie reason.
Steven gasps. "You're right!" He looks sadly at his cat finger. "And he doesn't have any friends."
Lars gasps. "Oh my gosh." He then talks in a mocking voice. "It's just like you, Steven."
"Hey, a 'friend' standing right here." Vergil reminds him, annoyed.
Sadie playfully shoves Lars. "Ah, ignore him."
Steven, on the other hand, takes a step back—A deep breath, sways a bit, and conjures four more cat fingers on the same palm. On his fingers now were a second white-furred cat, a yellow-furred cat, a black-furred cat, and an orange-furred cat on his thumb.
"Huh haa!" Steven holds his hand up high.
Each of the cat fingers meow.
Vergil just stares at them. "Okay, so far, it's still not too bad, but why do I have a bad feeling about this?"
The next place they go to is Beach Citywalk Fries. They both run to the counter while Steven hides his cat fingers behind his back. Standing on the other side of the counter was Peedee.
"Hey, Peedee!" Steven greeted him, surprised. "Whoa, you work the deep-fryer now?"
"When did that happen?" Vergil asked.
"After my Dad got rid of Frybo, he let me have the job I always wanted." Peedee explained, obviously happy. "Now I can make fries."
"Cool." Steven then slams his fist on the counter. "Make me some fry bits!"
Peedee looks annoyed. "Steven, I take my job seriously. Please use the actual menu."
"Give me the bits! Steven ignored him and slammed his fist again. "The BITS!—"
Before he can go further, Mr. Fryman shows up and tells Peedee. "Alright, listen, it'll be over sooner if you just give him what he wants." He advised him.
"No, it would be over faster if you just added 'the bits' to the menu." Vergil pointed out while Peedee sighed and walked away.
"Whoa, hey, hey, it's not for me. It's fo' these guys!" Steven holds up the cat fingers, which are meowing away.
Mr. Fryman's jaw drops. "What the?!"
Peedee came back with the bits. "Uh, here's your…" He slowly looks at the cat fingers and also becomes shocked. "…Bits."
Vergil smiles when he sees how they react. "Kinda gets you, doesn't it?"
As Peedee places the bits on the counter, Steven dunks the cat fingers into the fry bits, and they start to eat.
Mr. Fryman keeps staring. "I can't look away."
Peedee is of the same opinion. "Steven, that is freakish."
"No, it's not. It's natural." Steven starts to sway his other arm. "Sha-ake… It… Out!" After that, all the fingers on his other hand turn into cats. "See!" He then dunks the other hand into the bits.
[Whoa!] Peedee and Mr. Fryman gasp in amazement.
"Uh, Steven, don't overdo it." Vergil warned him, now getting worried.
"You know who would love this? Your older brother. Yo Ronaldo!" Mr. Fryman calls out into the store.
Inside the shop, Ronaldo was carrying a small box. Ronaldo is moderately tall, has a thick build, and has a complexion similar to that of Steven. Like the other members of the Fryman family, he has long, blond, "fry-like" hair that resembles curly fries. He also wears an apron. Underneath this, he wears a burgundy collared shirt with orange and yellow flames covered by his apron, which he leaves untucked, and tan cargo shorts that reach his knees. Additionally, he wears gray wrap-around sandals and glasses.
Ronaldo looks at them after hearing his name get called.
"What's up Daa…" However, he gasps when he notices Steven's cat fingers and immediately rushes over and shoves Peedee out of the way. "I've gotta take a pic for 'Keep Beach City Weird!'" He takes out his cell phone and snaps a picture of Steven and his cat fingers.
"What's that?" Steven asks while Mr. Fryman walks away.
Ronaldo put his phone down. "It's my blog. Keep! Beach! City! Weird!" He exclaims while waving his arms around dramatically.
Peedee just groans.
"Is he always like this?" Vergil asked, clearly finding him annoying.
"You have no idea." Peedee replied in the same tone.
"Can I see the picture?" Steven requested, and Ronaldo handed Steven his phone. As Steven takes the phone, the cats whine in agony, forcing him to drop the phone. "YIKES! Sorry guys. I guess cat fingers don't function well as… Fingers."
A little while later, they went back to the Beach House, and Steven struggled to open the fridge without the use of his fingers. He opened the fridge with his shoulder. "Tsk, I'm just getting a snack!" The cat fingers are constantly whining as Steven tries to pull a sandwich out.
Vergil comes up from behind Steven, groans, and picks up the sandwich for him.
"Thanks, Vergil." Steven said gratefully.
"Steven, I can't watch this anymore. Just tell the Gems you need help." Vergil advised him.
Steven raised his hands. "No, no, I swear I'm okay." He insisted.
"Steven! Vergil!" Amethyst greeted them, leaning through the window by the front door. "Need some help?"
"Actually—" Vergil started.
Steven quickly interrupts him while holding the sandwich with his elbows. "Nah, i-it's cool." He answered nervously.
"Oh, gooood!" Amethyst replied before turning to Vergil. "Come on, Vergil. We're leaving."
[Huh?] Steven and Vergil responded
Amethyst explained. "We're taking the Gem Sloop out to sea to fight a living island, so come on, we're ready to go."
"Oh right, there was a mission today." Vergil realized as he went after her.
"What?" Steven said, surprised, which made him lose his grasp of the sandwich—Dropping it on the floor. Steven looks at it for a moment before running after Amethyst. "Uh, Amethyst, wait!"
Outside the house, Steven was out the front door and shouted from the porch. "I wanna go on the Gem Sloop! I wanna see a living island!" He then runs down the stairs and to the dock. "WAIT!"
There wasn't much of the dock. It was just a straight walkway made of wood. By the dock, on the ocean, was a small boat with three light blue facet-shaped sails that resembled Gems, a dark blue mast, and a body. The Gems were all sitting on the boat, and Vergil was standing on the dock, about to get on.
"WAIT! WAIT!" Steven was on the beach towards the docks. The Gems and Vergil turn when they hear him coming. He then runs into the water to catch up to the Gems sailing away on the Gem Sloop.
"Steven!" Pearl called, surprised to see him.
"What are you doing?" Vergil asked, surprised that he went into the water. "We have the dock for a reason."
Amethyst laughs for a moment. "C'mon, you can make it!"
Steven dunks his hands into the water to swim, but the cat fingers start meowing in agitation, so he lifts his hand up in the air. The Gems gasp when they see the cat fingers.
"Steven, what's going on?" Pearl asked, surprised.
Steven stuffed his hands under his arms. "Waah! I-it's nothing! I-i just turned all my fingers into cats!" He showed them.
"It was funny at first, but now he doesn't know how to fix it!" Vergil added.
Amethyst snorts, and Pearl turns 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. "We'll deal with Steven when we get back."
"It's okay!" Vergil called out to them. "I'll stay and help Steven!"
"Just be careful!" Pearl warned him before turning to Amethyst and glaring at her. "Amethyst, I blame YOU for this."
Amethyst shrugged. "Eh, that's fair."
"GRRR!" Pearl growled in frustration before calling out to Steven. "Steven, just try to stay calm!"
Steven got out of the water as the Gems drifted off into the distance.
When the two of them went back inside the house, they sat on the couch, and Steven was having a hard time following Pearl's advice as the cat fingers seemed to grow more restless and were meowing louder and more frequently.
"Enough!" Steven snapped at his fingers. "No more cat fingers! I want Steven-fingers!" He paused, thinking about those words. "…And I don't mean little me heads on fingers, I mean my regular fingers!"
"I seriously doubt telling them that will fix anything." Vergil told him, going over to him. "Try calming down. Maybe you can 'shapeshift' them away?"
"I'll try." Steven breathed in and placed a hand on his head. But when he removed his hand, the spot on his head turned into a cat. And it meowed.
[Ahh!] They both gasped, and Vergil said. "What's going on?!"
Steven collapses onto the floor, and his whole arm turns into a cat. "Wha! Aahhh! Stop!" He begged his powers as his foot turned into a cat, too. Now scared, he falls on his back. "Amethyst!" Vergil could only watch in terror as more cats started to form on Steven's body. It was like an infestation. "Pearl!… Garnet!"
"Steven, what should I do?!" Vergil asked, desperately wanting to help.
"I don't know?!" Steven yelled in agony. "The only thing I know is that they hate water!"
"Water!" Vergil quickly thought of something and grabbed Steven.
Unfortunately, the many cats appearing on his body didn't like that and started hitting his arms, trying to force him to let go.
"Augh!" Vergil cried out in pain.
"Vergil!" Steven cried out, worried about him.
"I'm fine!" Vergil insisted, keeping his hold on Steven despite the pain. "We just need to reach the sink."
As they reached the sink, at the point, Steven's body became a horrifying amalgamation of cat heads growing for almost every point of his body. The only part that remained was his face, but he was still struggling. Vergil turned the tap, and water began to fill the sink. He then grabbed the cat head that used to be Steven's arm and shoved it into the sink's water.
When it hit the water, the cats got mad, and their hair shot up. Steven's body of cats hissed and jumped back, hitting the wall. Steven groaned as he tried looking up. "It's not enough water! We need more!" He called to him.
"But where are we—?" Vergil paused and looked at the window, figuring out a plan. "Of course!"
Pulling off Vergil's idea was a great struggle for both of them, considering it involved dragging Steven's cat-covered body to the shore so they could get him into the ocean. The whole time Vergil tried to shepherd his friend to the sea, the cats were resisting and fighting back—Biting and trying to throw him off. Despite the scratches and bites, Vergil kept going forward.
"We just need to fully submerge them in the ocean!" Vergil told him, fighting through the pain. "That'll make them go away!"
"But how!?" Steven howled, trying to resist transforming any further. "I can't make them go anywhere near water without freaking out!"
"They won't have a choice!" Vergil declared. He then let go of Steven's cat-covered body and held out his arms, shapeshifting them into wings like before. "I'll lift them into the air and drop them into the sea; they can't stop that!"
"But I thought you said you couldn't carry things while your wings were like that?!" Steven reminded him.
"Maybe, but do you know what every modern, mainstream manga for boys has taught their target audience?!" Vergil asked rhetorically before he shouted. "Limits were meant to be broken!"
After that declaration, Vergil closed his eyes and concentrated even harder on shapeshifting his wings. He looked like he was struggling as sweat formed on his brow, his wings started pulsating and began to shrink until the wing on his left arm vanished, and the wing on his right arm grew larger. It also changed its form—Now, instead of resembling a crow's wing, it looked like a large pitch-black Angel wing.
With this new wing, Vergil used his free arm to grab Steven's cat arm and jumped—Kicking his feet off the sand. His jump, with the aid of Vergil's wing, made the two half-Gems rocket high into the air until they were above the statue behind the house. Once they were that high, Vergil flapped his wing and pushed them forward right above the ocean.
[Aaahahahaaahhh!] After that, the two of them began to fall, plummeting down at a fast speed—While screaming. Then, after hitting the surface of the ocean, a great splash was formed, and they both submerged.
Then, after a few seconds of silence, they both came up from the water and gasped for air. Vergil's wing was gone, and Steven's body was finally back to normal.
Steven looked over his body and had a smile of relief. "We finally did!"
"Are you sure?" Vergil asked, wanting to be certain.
Steven lifted his hands up from the water and looked at his fingers. Thankfully, all of them were back to normal. "Yep, no more cat fingers."
With that whole mess settled and over with, Steven and Vergil went back inside. As a bit of time passed while they were waiting for the Gems to return from their mission, the sun went down, and it was night. Steven was eating his sandwich, and Vergil continued reading his book. Both of them looked much better than this morning.
After Steven finishes his sandwich, he says. "Hey, thanks for saving me back there, Vergil."
"No problem, Steven." Vergil replied, putting his book down. "I just hope I don't see any more cats for a few days."
"By the way, can you make your wing transform like that again?" Steven asked curiously.
Vergil shook his head. "Unfortunately not. I tried it a little earlier and found out that I couldn't. I guess it's only a 'sometimes' power."
"Still, it was pretty cool." Steven consoled him before looking down. "I wish I could've done something like that. If I had better control over my shapeshifting, we could have gone on that mission, and this wouldn't have happened."
"Well, I'm no expert either." Vergil reminded him. "We're both basically amateurs when it comes to using our powers."
"Yeah, but you can grow wings and summon your weapon." Steven pointed out, still down. "I can't even make my Gem glow, and look what happened after me just shapeshifting my fingers."
Vergil could tell he was upset, and so he picked up his book. "You something about the story I'm reading right now? There's a character in it who's kind of like us?"
"Really? How?" Steven asked, now interested.
"Well, he's strong, but he can't really measure up to a lot of the top-tier characters in the story, but you know what he says at one point?" Vergil asked before he turned a certain page. "He said; None of you guys started out as good as you are now. Even an amateur can go a long way given enough time." He read from the page.
"Whoa, that's kinda moving." Steven said, brightening up a bit.
Vergil then closed the book. "And the same thing applies to us. We may not be great at using our powers right now, but we'll both get there someday."
"You think so?" Steven asked, smiling.
"Sure, after all, we're both Gems too." Vergil told him.
"Yeah, you're right!" Steven exclaimed, more upbeat.
The next day came, and Steven and Vergil were sitting on the dock, and the Gems returned on the Gem Sloop. "Steven!" Pearl exclaims as she climbs out of the Gem sloop and onto the dock. She then examines his hand. "Okay, let me see it. Whe—?" While examining it, she is surprised to see that the cat fingers are gone. "Y-you got them to go away."
Steven smiles. "Yeah, Vergil helped me."
Vergil nodded in response. "All it took was a little quick thinking."
"It just goes to show, always listen to me, and NEVER listen to Amethyst." Pearl advised them.
Amethyst shrugged. "That's fair."
"It goes to show." Garnet cuts in. "You should have a little more faith in Steven." This made Pearl blush a little. Garnet then turned to Vergil. "Nice job, Vergil."
Vergil gave a thumbs-up. "It was nothing."
"Not true. That would have been a total CAT-tastrophe!" Steven joked.
Amethyst and Pearl sarcastically and nervously force a laugh.
"But I'm feeling much better. MEOW!" Steven continued.
The Gems groaned, and Vergil facepalmed.
"Ehhh? What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Steven went on.
"Okay, that's enough." Garnet said as the Gems walked away in annoyance.
"Wait, I've been coming up with cat jokes all morning. You guys, I'm FELINE fine. Everything's PURRfect!" Steven didn't stop.
Vergil just looked fed up. "Okay, serious, Steven, just stop already."
"Oh, come on! I'm just KITTEN around!" Steven did one more.
The star iris zooms in as Vergil responds by pushing him off the dock and into the water.
And that's the chapter. In this chapter, I wanted to demonstrate another ability of Vergil's—His wings. I wanted to introduce a power he has trouble using, just like Steven and his Shield. Being able to correctly manifest his wings is going to be something Vergil will work on and struggle with for as long as Steven struggles to use his Shield, so don't expect him to be using them anytime soon.
At the end of this chapter, I changed the way they fixed the problem because, since Vergil was there, I figured Steven would feel he could rely on his help rather than just going to Greg because if not, then what was the point of Vergil staying behind? And if the cats go away with water, why wouldn't you use the nearby ocean?
Anyway, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed. If you want more, then be sure to leave a review. If you like the story, click follow or favorite, and as always, have an awesome day.