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.
Serious Steven
The day opens at Beach City Funland. Steven is waking in a daze, a ringing in his ear, and looking really worried. The siren of an alarm is heard as he looks around and sees Beach City Funland in ruins, with giant teacups scattered across the park, and several people, including Amethyst and Pearl, seem to be hurt. Only Garnet appears unharmed, standing up and looking in Steven's direction. Vergil was kneeling beside Steven and looking at him with concern.
{Time Skip - 2 weeks later}
Currently, all of The Crystal Gems were warping through a warp stream as they were heading for their next mission. This time, Steven was present as well.
"Pay attention, Steven. This is going to be your first serious mission." Garnet instructed him as Steven had stars in his eyes. "You need to be ready."
Steven, who is warping upside-down, excitedly exclaims. "Yes! I'm ready, I'm so ready!"
"Haha, you might want to fix that." Vergil jokingly advised him, referring to him being upside-down. "It'll be rough landing like that."
"Psst, I'll be fine." Steven brushed it off, nonchalant as he knocked on his head. "I'm pretty hard-headed if I do say so myself."
"Steven, come on, you're gonna make yourself sick." Pear turns Steven upright, which causes her to get hit in the eye by Steven's ukulele. Pear scoffs and pushes it away. "Why did you bring that?"
"I don't know! I was excited, and i-it's mine, and I like it!" Steven said anxiously with his arms raised. This causes the ukulele to start floating away upwards, and Steven swims after it. "Huh?"
"Uh-oh." Vergil muttered as he swam upwards after Steven. "Wait up, Steven!"
Pearl became worried about both of them and called out to them.
"Steven, Vergil, get back here!" Pearl called out as they continued going up. "You could get seriously—"
Before Pearl could finish, the Gems had arrived at their destination and warped safely onto a Warp Pad in the middle of a field of giant strawberries that had grown to huge sizes.
"…Hurt!" Pearl finished.
Steven and Vergil, however, warp several feet into the air and several yards away from the Warp Pad, and thus they fall in midair. But Vergil, acting quickly, grabs Steven and positions himself in the air so they land in the strawberry field while avoiding any real pain.
The Gems rush over to them and see Vergil standing while holding Steven like a sack of flour, and both of them are covered in strawberry juice.
"Steven! Are you…?" Pearl asked concerned.
"I-I'm fine!" Steven cuts her off and gets out of Vergil's grasp. "I'm good. I'm just gooey." Steven finds himself covered in strawberry juice and licks his arm.
"Vergil, what about you?" Pearl then kneels in front of Vergil and looks over him, still concerned. "Are you hurt, any injuries at all?"
"Pearl, it's okay, it's fine everything fine." Vergil pleasantly assures her, gently pushing her arms away. "We're sticky but safe."
"Yeah, Pearl, calm down." Amethyst rolled her eyes. "They were only a few feet in the air; Vergil can handle way more than that."
"Yeah, and besides, what's the harm in a bit of strawberry juice?" Steven rhetorically asked in a playful manner. Unfortunately for him, no sooner after he said that, a swarm of butterflies surrounded him, and they clung to his face and arms. "Aah! They're in my eyes!"
The Gems and Vergil watch him run around frantically yelling. Then Steven tripped over and fell into the grass.
Garnet came over, squatted down close to him, and gently swatted the butterflies away from Steven. "They're just butterflies, Steven."
Steven gets up and laughs sheepishly. "Well, they looked a lot bigger when they were on my eyeballs."
Vergil shrugged. "Well, it's like the old saying: The more you know, the more you learn."
Amethyst laughed and commented. "You guys are a riot!"
Pearl turned to Garnet. "I'm suddenly having second thoughts about bringing Steven on this mission…" She worriedly admitted it until Garnet stopped her by putting her palm on Pearl's shoulder.
"Shh. Just look at him." Garnet said as Steven struck a determined pose. "Now, let's go recover the Gemstone." She declared.
"Oh, before we go, just wanting to be sure, but…" Vergil started before he paused and reached into his Gem, this time bringing out a coal-black colored skateboard. "Is it alright if I use my skateboard?"
Upon seeing it, Pearl face-palmed, Amethyst laughed in good nature, and Garnet just gave him a thumbs-up. "Go for it."
"Yes!" Vergil stepped on it.
"Why did you even bring that?" Pearl asked him.
"Well, I think if Steven can bring his ukulele, then it's only fair that I can bring my skateboard." Vergil answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
"That does sound fair." Steven agreed.
The Crystal Gems began walking through the strawberry field, except Vergil, who was skateboarding at the same pace as them. Beyond the ridge, the strawberry fled would stretch on for many miles. With thick bushes of leaves and strawberries as far as the eye could see, but the more amazing thing was the fact that littered all over the field were Swords and other melee weapons that were stuck in the ground. The exact number was possibly in the hundreds.
Pearl started looking around. "Unbelievable, this was once a Gem battlefield. Now it's wild strawberries as far as the eye can see!" She exclaimed happily as she twirled in joy. "Oh, that's what I love about the Earth! Maybe this will be a light mission after all."
As Pearl says that, Garnet comes to a halt, and Pearl bumps into her.
The Crystal Gems find themselves standing in front of an upside-down pyramid temple that looks extremely odd.
"Maybe not." Garnet said.
Garnet then summons a much smaller pyramid piece that floats in her hands and slots it into the Pyramid Temple. The door magically disappears, revealing a path into the temple.
"Woooaahhhh!" Steven exclaimed, amazed.
"Man, I love Gem stuff." Vergil added, also impressed.
The Crystal Gems entered the temple.
"WOOOAAHHHH!" Steven yelled upon seeing the Pyramid Temple's inside chamber. They were currently inside a large room with the ceiling and walls having been carved to show images of what looked to be murals. There was even a large image of two people fighting in a battle. "Steven's the best!" Steven yelled again as an echo of "Steven's the best!" returned. "Why thank you, temple!" He said with a pose.
"You're a doof." Amethyst commented as the rest of them walked on.
Steven looks around and sees a small pyramid levitating on a pedestal.
Vergil looked around at all the murals and paid close attention to the image of two Gems facing each other and preparing to fight.
"Hey, you guys, who is that?" Vergil asked, pointing to the mural.
"That is an image of Rose Quartz during the War." Pearl answered him.
"Yeah, but who's the other one?" He asked, still looking at it. "The one she's facing."
Garnet puts a hand on his shoulder and looks at him. "That's not important. It has nothing to do with why we came here."
Vergil decided to accept that answer and nodded.
"Hey, what's this thing?" Steven asked as they looked to see him examining the small floating upside-down pyramid over a pedestal in the middle of the temple. "It's like a cool floaty triangle thing."
Neither Pearl nor Amethyst was looking at what he was doing as they were both looking around the chamber, though Amethyst yawned out of boredom.
"Whatever it is, you probably shouldn't touch it." Pearl instructed him.
Unfortunately, her instructions came a little too late as Steven touched the small pyramid, and it tipped over. Now it was pointing right-side-up. The Temple begins to shake and rumble violently. The Gems and Vergil quickly rush to Steven.
"Steven! What have we told you about touching magical things?" Pearl asked in a scolding manner.
"Definitely… Always… Never do it!" Steven said sheepishly.
"And yet, here we are again." Vergil commented, deadpanned.
The Crystal Gems then became weightless and begin to float off the ground, as they are seemingly sucked into a hole in the ceiling of the chamber, down a narrow long corridor.
The Crystal Gems fall through a corridor and onto the other side. The Gems and Vergil all land gracefully on the ground except Steven, who lands flat on his stomach. Garnet then looks up to see the hole they came in from slowly sealing up. That's when torches begin to light up all around them, lighting up the entire room and revealing several doorways all around the room.
"Looks like we're gonna have to split up." Amethyst suggested.
"Right!" Pearl said before she gently held the boys close to her. "The boys and I will stay right here where it seems to be safe, while you guys go and solve the mystery of this place."
However, Steven didn't want to stay put. "Wait, I want to help solve the mystery!"
"Yeah, c'mon, Steven, let's solve the mystery." Amethyst then lifted Steven over her head.
"Yeah, mystery solvers!" Steven cheered.
Amethyst started to walk towards one of the doorways, but Pearl acted before she could. Pearl then snatches Steven away. "No, no, no-no-no. You two are a disaster waiting to happen."
"Hate to say it, but she's probably right." Vergil agreed before stepping forward. "So it'd be better if I went with Amethyst."
Amethyst high-fived him. "Works for me."
"Oh no!" Pearl immediately protested that idea. "Steven isn't the only problem here; I am not letting you march into this place with no one but Amethyst with you. You're staying here." She said while gently putting Steven down.
"Ah, come on Pearl." Vergil complained, upset with her decision. "What would have been the point of coming on this mission if I don't get to do anything?"
Garnet then ordered them. "Steven goes with me. Vergil, you go with Pearl."
Steven looked happy about that. "Really? Awesome!"
"Garnet, are you sure about this?" Pearl asked her.
"It'll be fine." Garnet said, her mind made up.
"Thanks, Garnet." Vergil said, pleased.
Garnet nodded and turned back to Steven. "But remember, this is a serious mission." She told him to keep him on track.
Steven strikes a dramatic pose. "Understood. Serious Steven: Activate!" He exclaimed as if he was some kind of robot. Outstretching his arms, he starts treading off with Garnet to a doorway.
"But this could be the teacups all over again." Pearl told him, rubbing her arm with uncertainty.
"Pearl, don't worry so much." Vergil attempted to reassure her. "That was just an accident."
Steven blushes but turns around to look at her. "He's right, I've put that behind me!" he then walks through a doorway with Garnet.
Amethyst then turned and walked towards one of the corridors. "Guess I'm going this way." She decided nonchalantly as she entered.
Vergil turned to Pearl and asked. "Which corridor should we go through?"
"Well…" Pearl looked around, trying to decide until she had just picked one. "I think we'll go with that one."
Vergil nodded, and the two of them made their way to one of the random triangle-shaped corridors. While Pearl walked, Vergil continued to use his skateboard.
Meanwhile, Steven and Garnet were walking through their corridor, and Steven started singing. "~Oooh, we're on a magic treasure hunt for some magic treasure junk! Something, something, magic, something!~"
Steven stops singing when he and Garnet enter a large, open, wide room that has a tiled floor, and suddenly, the door closes behind them and becomes sealed. The door on the other side of the room glows, and random tiles on the floor begin to light up all around the room, including the ones that Steven and Garnet were already standing on.
"We need to stay on the glowing panels." Garnet deduced.
"Right!" Steven exclaimed, posing again. "Serious Steven: Go!"
Steven then hops across the panels, staying only on the glowing ones, and Garnet quickly follows suit, doing the same. Soon Steven reaches the other side without issue and stands in front of the door.
"Oh yeah!" Steven raises his arms and then dances in joy on the tile he is standing on.
This was the wrong thing to do as the temple suddenly rumbled, causing Steven to trip and fall onto a non-glowing panel. After that, all of the glowing panels turn red, and the room begins to shake more violently as the floor slowly collapses. Beneath it is a pit of open flames with only a few panels still intact and floating. The panel under Steven collapses, too, and he clings to the edge of an intact panel for dear life.
"Steven!" Garnet yelled in concern.
Steven tries to hang on but begins to lose his grip and falls towards the fire pit. Garnet quickly and skillfully hops across the intact panels, catches Steven in time, and plants her feet into another intact panel, holding Steven upside-down by his leg.
Steven laughs with excitement. "Woo-hoo! That was—" But he quickly stops and changes tone while crossing his arms. "Uhh… Seriously dangerous. Thank you, Garnet." He tries sounding serious while a strand of his hair catches on fire.
Garnet lifts him up, and they stand atop the floating panel. Steven and Garnet then walk into another chamber while Steven pats away the fire on his hair.
In a different chamber within the Pyramid, Pearl and Vergil were making their way through a corridor. As they entered the door to another room the door, they entered from close behind them and sealed up.
"We're trapped." Vergil said started.
"It looks like the only way to escape is by going forward." Pearl summarized before looking at the room they were in.
It looked like a simple, wide, and empty room, but it didn't look stable. The chamber only had a small patch of floor, a medium-sized rectangle around the door they were standing next to, and a long and narrow pathway that only went in a straight line but was so narrow it looked as though it could only fit one person at a time, and at the end of the pathway was another patch of floor, along with a door similar to the one they came in from. The rest of the wide room was just a dropoff so dark you couldn't see the bottom.
"Guess we need to get to that door." Vergil figured.
"Fortunately, it doesn't look too dangerous." Pearl noted and was pleased by that.
Suddenly, the whole wrong started to rumble violently, and four large guillotine blades came down from the ceiling and crashed down on the pathway one at a time on different parts. The blades then systematically went up and down on the pathway, threatening to slice through anything beneath them. They didn't damage the path all that much, but still, the blades were extremely sharp.
"It's a trap!" Pearl said loudly in surprise. "We can't reach the exit without dodging those blades along the way."
"Huh, it's a lot like a level in a video game." Vergil noticed.
"We need to figure out the safest way to get across before we do anything." Pearl then used her Gem to create a hologram of the pathway and the falling blades. "Let's see. Each blade is separated from the other by a distance of only four feet, and the first and third blades drop down simultaneously as the second and fourth rise up, and vice-versa. Now, if we measure the timing in which they fall…"
While Pearl continued to analyze to try and figure out a solution, Vergil just placed his skateboard down and placed one foot on the board while keeping the other on the floor to wind himself up.
"…Gotta go fast." he whispered to himself before putting both legs on the board.
Pearl then deactivated her hologram. "Okay, I think I've figured it out."
WOOSH!
Unfortunately, a split second after Pearl said that, Vergil dashed forward on his skateboard and rode forward down the pathway at a dashing speed. When approaching the first guillotine blade, the blade had already come down and was going back up. Because of that, Vergil was able to zoom beneath it. As for the second one, as he approached it, the blade was coming down, so Vergil kicked the back of his board and launched himself in the air, jumping over the blade as it hit the floor. He did the same thing with the third and fourth blades and, in no time at all, reached the door on the other side of the chamber.
Vergil then stepped off his skateboard and brought up his fists. "Yes, I did it!" He celebrated.
"Vergil!" Pearl shouted as she ran after him.
When Pearl made her way through, she ran towards each blade, then stopped and waited for them to fully fall, and finally timed it just right so she would run past them as they ascended back up again. With that, she easily made her way through, though not as fast as Vergil; it was much less risky. When she arrived on the other side, she immediately ran up to Vergil and wrapped her arms around him.
"Are you alright?" Pearl asked him with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Vergil answered.
"That's wonderful, now then…" Pearl then released her hold on him and said loudly. "What were you thinking!?"
"Well, I figured out how I could get past the blades, and so I went for it." Vergil answered, trying to defend his actions.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?!" Pearl responded, still upset. "You could have been seriously hurt, and there was no need for such reckless actions!"
Vergil sighed. "Okay, I guess you have a point."
"Don't ever scare me like that again…" Pearl told him before she paused and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But that was very well done." She smiled at him.
Vergil nodded and smiled as well.
After that, the two of them walked through the door and entered the next room.
Back with Steven and Garnet, as they entered another chamber, the door closed behind them again, startling Steven as he shrieked and jumped back to stand beside Garnet, and the chamber started to rumble once more.
"We can take a break if you're not feeling well, Steven." Garnet offered him.
"Huh? Oh, no. I'm okay!" Steven tried to brush it off. "Let's keep going!" He said while flexing.
"Alright, but be careful. You might trigger a trap with that gun show." Garnet said, lighthearted, referring to his flexing.
"Right, I'll put these babies away and use my minds." Steven said as he started inspecting the wall. "Maybe there's a clue hidden in these ancient drawings." He then places a hand on the wall. "It looks like there are lots of triangles hidden somewhere in this room."
As Steven feels around the wall, he accidentally pushes a section of the wall inwards. After that, another trap is triggered as many sections of spikes then appear from different parts of the ceiling.
"Run!" Garnet quickly shouted.
Several ceiling spikes begin crushing upon Steven and Garnet. Steven kept running forward and barely missed one of the traps, but another one came down and grazed him, ripping his shirt and the strip of his ukulele. He then fell to the floor. Garnet stepped to his rescue, summoned her gauntlets, and used them to continuously punch upwards at the descending spikes in order to stop the spikes.
While Garnet was doing that, Steven sat up and noticed his ukulele on the floor next to him.
"Ah, my ukulele!" Steven picked it up and started tuning it.
"Steven!" Garnet got his attention while still holding up the spikes. "Now is probably not the best time for that."
Steven stood up and realized what she meant. "Oh, u-uhh, r-right!" He then rushed to the other side of the chamber and stood in front of the exit.
With Steven now safe, Garnet somersaults towards Steven, swiftly evading the spikes and escaping the trap. In no time, she arrived beside Steven.
"Now, that was a pretty close one." Garnet noted nonchalantly.
Steven laughs nervously. "Yeah."
The door of the chamber opens up, and Garnet walks in. Steven follows suit.
Back with Pearl and Vergil, they both entered another chamber, and the door closed up behind them again. This next room was much simpler compared to the rest; it was just an empty room with nothing on the tiled floor, the walls, or the ceiling, and the door could clearly be seen on the other side.
"There's something about this room that doesn't feel right." Vergil noticed.
"I agree. There must be another trap somewhere." Pearl figured, looking around before taking a step forward. "Be careful."
She barely put her foot on the flat of the ground before the tile gave way and fell, leaving an empty spot on the floor. Pearl quickly brought her foot back as they both became started.
"A pitfall trap?" Vergil realized.
"How are we going to get across if the tiles as soon as we put weight on them? There must be a trick to this, but what is it?" Pearl wondered as she carefully looked around the room for any kind of clue. Unfortunately, there wasn't even a whisper of a clue. Frowning, she turned her attention to where she was standing. Then, the door on the other side of the chamber. Then, at that instant, an idea popped into her head. "This might work."
"You have an idea?" Vergil asked curiously.
"Possibly, Vergil. I want you to fly to the other side of this room." Pearl instructed him. "Since you don't have to touch the floor, you'll be fine."
"But what about you?" Vergil asked her.
"Don't worry. It's a part of the plan, but first…" Pearl's Gem started glowing, and she reached in, taking out a very long white rope from it. She then took out her Spear and rammed it into the floor; finally, she tied one end of the rope around the Spear and gave the other end of it to Vergil. "Don't let go of this rope."
"Uh, okay?" Vergil was confused but did as Pearl said.
He then placed the end of the rope in his mouth to hold on to it with his teeth. After that, he held out his arms and brought out his wings. Vergil then took off and flapped his wings in order to fly forward to the exit door without touching the tiles. In a few seconds, he reached the other side, landed on the floor, made his wings disappear, and spit out the rope.
"Now, what do I do?!" Vergil loudly asked Pearl across the room.
"Summon your Sword and tie the rope around the hilt!" Pearl loudly instructed him.
Shrugging, Vergil does so and summons his weapon from his Gem. Then, as Pearl had done before, he rammed it into the floor and tied the other end of the rope around it.
"Now what?!" Vergil asked again.
"Nothing, I can handle the rest!" Pearl told him.
Pearl then began the final phase of her plan and stepped onto the rope. Similar to a tightrope, she stood on the tips of her toes and held her balance. Then, in an incredible display of balance and finesse, Pearl ran forward on top of the rope without any kind of difficulty in keeping her footing. Before long, she reached the other side and gracefully stepped off.
"Woah, that was the plan?" Vergil asked, clearly impressed.
"That's right." Pearl then grabbed onto the rope and pulled, reeling in her Spear from the other end. "All we had to do was make sure we didn't touch the floor." Once her Spear was back, she untied the rope and put both it and her weapon back in her Gem. "But it wouldn't have been possible if I was by myself. Thank you, Vergil."
"Always, Pearl." Vergil happily replied as he also put away his weapon.
The Gem and Half-Gem then proceed to walk through the door and exit this chamber.
Back with Steven and Garnet, Steven and Garnet entered the next chamber, though Steven still looked nervous and nauseous. "That was a pretty… Close… One."
As Garnet and Steven enter the next chamber, this time, compared to all the other chambers, the one is a pure death trap. The room is filled with swinging blades and spikes all over the floor, walls, and ceiling. There were only a few sections of floating triangle panels that were safe to stand on, but they also had falling lava and open flames that fall over the panels at different times, along with spikes that continuously fell on the panels, just like the ones from the last chamber.
The door closes behind them, and Steven becomes visibly nauseated and frightened while Garnet prepares themselves.
"Get ready, Steven. This is gonna be intense." Garnet told him determinedly.
{Flashback-2 weeks earlier}
"Get ready, Steven. This is gonna be intense." Garnet said to Steven with a smile.
"I'm ready!" Steven exclaimed with excitement.
The Crystal Gems are preparing to ride The Teacups ride in Beach City Funland, operated by Mr. Smiley. It was a ride with a teacup theme and operated like a normal teacup ride. The only difference was that this ride spun the teacups in the air.
"You sure you don't want to ride it, Vergil?" Steven asked his fellow Half-Gem.
"I'm good." Vergil assured him, not standing in line. "Have fun."
Mr. Smiley started up the ride. Once everyone was inside their teacups, the ride lifted in the air and started spinning around. Pearl and Amethyst were in one of the cups, and Garnet and Steven were in the other cup. Though Amethyst simply fell asleep, and Pearl was holding a teapot.
Pearl rolled her eyes. "I misunderstood the point of this ride."
Steven and Garnet were in the teacup next to them.
"This is fun, Steven." Garnet said with a pleasant smile.
However, Steven didn't seem like he was enjoying the ride at all, as his face showed he was feeling nauseated.
"I think… I need to get off this ride now!" Steven said as he looked like he was going to vomit. He then got up from his seat and jumped off the ride.
"Steven, no!" Garnet shouted.
Steven falls onto Mr. Smiley, knocking him to the ground. Worse than that, it caused him to pull the lever all the way down before breaking it to the ride. The ride starts to spin out of control and flings all of the cups off of the ride. Some of the cups land in the ocean, while others crash into other parts of the Funland, causing mass destruction.
Steven was still on the ground and was lying flat on his back. Vergil ran up to him and kneeled beside him.
"Steven, you alright?" Vergil asked, clearly worried.
Mr. Smiley then grabs Steven off the ground by his shirt and laughs nervously as he yells. "Steven! You are banned from all the rides! Forever!"
{Time Skip — Present day}
Back in the chamber, Garnet is carrying Steven, whose eyes are closed. He then slowly woke up and looked around. She sets Steven down on the ground, and Steven soon realizes that they are now on the other side of the chamber.
"Whoa. We made it?" Steven asked, confused.
"I carried you while you took a nap." Garnet explained before she walked off into the doorway.
"N-Nap?!" Steven repeated, still shaken as he ran after Garnet.
Garnet and Steven stepped into a large chamber that looked strangely familiar. They look up and see the sealed hole in the ceiling, which means that this is the room where they previously fell after they arrived. In short, they were back where they started.
"We're back where we started." Garnet said.
"Whaaaat?!" Steven responded, shocked.
"Yeah, surprising, isn't it?"
They both looked to see Vergil was also there, sitting with his back against the wall a few feet away from them.
"Vergil? I thought you with Pearl?" Steven asked, surprised to see him.
"I was, but after going through about three rooms, we ended up back here." Vergil explained. "After that, Pearl told me to wait here while she investigated some more and went through another corridor."
"Did she discover anything?" Garnet asked.
Vergil shook his head. "I doubt it. She just looked really panicked. Amethyst also arrived back here and said the same thing happened to her, but she also ran into another room. Then you two showed up."
Shortly after he finished his explanation, another door opened, and Pearl rushed in. She then rushed over to Garnet.
"Garnet, there you are!" Pearl exclaimed, and just as Vergil said, she was starting to panic. "The doors and rooms here make no sense. They all bring you here!"
Another door opened, and Amethyst came running out of a doorway. Seeing that she was still inside the temple, she grabbed her head and groaned in agony. "Get me out of here!" The small Gem yells and runs into yet another doorway.
"There are sixteen doors, and we entered from the northeast and went through three consecutive rooms in a straight line…" Pearl's explanation was interrupted when Amethyst returned with a bear trap on her head. She struggled but forcibly pulled it off and ran back to the same doorway. "…But arrived back here out the southernmost door, which could only mean… W-Well, I don't know what it means! I—" Amethyst slides in from a different doorway, frozen in a block of ice. "THIS IS A DEATH TRAP!" The pressure and stress had finally gotten to her, and Pearl started to freak out. She summons her Spear and starts hitting the block of ice, trying to break Amethyst out of the ice.
"Wha… What do we do?!" Steven exclaimed, also starting to panic.
"Look, let's not lose our heads, all right?" Vergil told him, trying to stay cool under pressure. "There has to be some way out, Garnet. What's the plan?" He asked, looking up at the tall Gem.
"There's only one plan: We go back in. Again, and again, and again, and again." Garnet told them. But with each 'again,' Steven's nausea and anxiety built up more and more, so much so that he wasn't able to take it anymore.
"I CAN'T!" Steven suddenly yelled, getting surprised looks from the others.
"Steven." Pearl looked at the boy with concern while still trying to free Amethyst.
"It's okay." Garnet said, trying to reassure him.
"No, no, it's not! You were all right about me. I wanted to do this so bad, but now I feel like I'm gonna throw up. This is JUST LIKE THE TEACUPS!" Steven exclaimed, now panicking.
"Oh Steven, I-I didn't really mean that!" Pearl attempted to console him.
"WAIT!" Steven yelled again. "Ah! Wait, you guys, what if this is just like the teacups? That's why we're getting so lost. That's why I'm feeling so sick. All the rooms are spinning us around, so we end up here!" He theorized.
"But, if that was the case, then what's making the rooms spin in the first place?" Vergil brought up.
Garnet decided that actions spoke louder than words and walked toward the center of the room. With all eyes on her, she crouches down, summons her Gauntlets, and starts pounding the floor with one of her Gauntlets. Creating cracks as the floor begins to break.
The floor breaks, and the Crystal Gems fall into a hidden lower room filled with spinning upside-down pyramids orbiting around a central floating Obelisk embedded with a Gemstone. Vergil landed on one of the spinning upside-down pyramids, Garnet also landed on one and grabbed Steven's falling body, Pearl landed on one of her own, and so did Amethyst. The impact upon landing broke her free from the block of ice.
"Whoa!" Steven was in awe of the room they were now in.
It was a large, upright rectangular prism with pyramids floating off of both ends. Much like a stele, the top pyramid appears to have a face on each triangular side, with three of the faces appearing to be frowning while the fourth one seems to be smiling. The bottom pyramid was divided into two pieces and had a triangular pattern on it. The Obelisk's body had an abstract pattern on it that resembled a humanoid, and the hands were designed to look like they were holding a Gemstone that is embedded in the chest of the Obelisk.
"This is unbelievable!" Pearl said in amazement, projecting a hologram of the room mechanism through her Gem. "This Gem-powered mechanism! It's manipulating the rooms above. Every room we entered spun us until we came back to the central chamber! It's just like the teacups ride at Funland!"
"Steven already figured that out!" Garnet yelled to her.
Pearl blushed in embarrassment. "Oh…" She quickly placed her hand on her Gem in an attempt to hide her hologram away.
"Steven!" Vergil yelled, getting his attention. "Go for the Gem!"
Steven looks at the Obelisk that is controlling everything, notices the Gemstone in the Obelisk, and gasps. He then came up with an idea.
"Garnet, I need to get off the ride now!" He told her with a look of determination.
Garnet nods and picks Steven up, preparing to throw him. "Serious Steven! Go!"
Garnet hurls Steven toward the Obelisk, and he clings to it. Steven starts tugging at the gemstone in the Obelisk, causing it to glow yellow and eject itself. The upside-down pyramids suddenly stopped spinning, confusing the Gems who were still on them, and then the Gem Steven was holding began to glow again. One by one, the pyramids began to glow, too. They all started to break down and be absorbed back into the Gemstone.
The Pyramid Temple started glowing, too, before going off into an explosion, creating a massive crater and rubble all around. After a little while, the Gems emerge one by one from the strawberry bushes. The first is Pearl. "Steven? Vergil?!" She called out, looking around frantically. Behind her, Garnet emerged when she sat. "Where are they?"
"Ahh, they're over here!" Amethyst called them over.
Steven was still holding the gemstone and covered in strawberry juice again. In comparison, Vergil was a few feet in the air with his wings out and gently came down before putting them away.
"Steven, you can open your eyes now." Vergil informed him.
Steven opened his eyes and looked up at the Gem. He sighed in relief. "The Gem…!"
"You know, it feels like every time you go on a mission, it ends with the place getting destroyed." Vergil joked.
Steven chuckled a little. "Haha, maybe?"
Pearl then approaches them and takes the Gemstone, putting it in a bubble and sending it away. "Ah, I'd say you handled that adventure very well." She complimented.
"Yeah, nice job, "Serious Steven"." Amethyst added, helping Steven to his feet.
Garnet then came over with Steven's ukulele. "I prefer regular, Steven." she hands Steven his ukulele.
"Hey, my ukulele!" Steven happily took the instrument and started to tune it.
"Well, at least your thing survived." Vergil said, somewhat down as he reached into a bush and pulled out a broken half of his skateboard.
"Ah, your skateboard got totaled." Amethyst noted.
Vergil put it back in his Gem. "Yep, it sadly could withstand the explosion."
"It's okay." Pearl put a hand on his shoulder to console him. "I'll make you a new one."
"And until then, I'll play us a song!" Steven lifted his ukulele and started to sing. "~Oh… That's the end of another day. It was mighty serious. I'd have to say. The Crystal Gems looked really cool when they made the temple exploo~" The moment was ruined when Butterflies suddenly swarm all over his face again. "-ooo-aaahhh! They're in my eyes again!" Steven drops his ukulele and runs around frantically.
The star iris zooms in on Steven's ukulele on the ground.
And that's the chapter.
So, what did you think of Serious Steven? The hard part of this chapter was coming up with new trap rooms for Vergil and Pearl to go through inside the temple, but I think it turned out okay. Also, giving Vergil a skateboard was a kinda recent decision, but I really like skateboards and characters who frequently ride them, so I decided to make him one. He'll get a new one pretty soon, one that he'll use pretty often.
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.