The bubble was being pulled onto a fishing boat, wrapped in a large net. They hung there as they were dragged by the fisherman and Steven's friends onto the boat and untangled from the net.

"You're ok!" Jenny said.

"Thanks guys!" Steven said.

"What happened?" Buck asked, looking worried for the first time.

"Oh, there's a giant sea monster." Steven said. Like they were discussing a loose chicken.

"Can you get out of the bubble yet?" Kiki asked, rapping it lightly with her fist.

"Well…not exactly." Steven said.

"Ok…well. What got you into the bubble?" Peedee asked, frowning at them.

Connie answered, "The rocks were falling on me."

"You needed to protect her," Sour Cream said.

"And you still need to protect her," Jenny said. "Because of this sea monster."

Sour Cream turned towards the fisherman. "Hey, Yellowtail, what size fish do you think this boat can catch?"

Yellowtail only grinned in reply.

The bubble had been rolled as much out of the way as was possible in the small fishing boat.

Steven and Connie exchanged awkward glances as the others got ready to catch the monster, neither sure what to say to the other.

Finally, Connie broke the silence, resuming their earlier conversation. "You want to be friends?" She asked, incredulously. "You mean it? When you have so many friends already?"

"Of course!" Steven said "Why wouldn't I? You seem cool! And you can never have too many friends"

Connie smiled despite herself. Steven didn't need her, but he wanted her anyway. He had magic, he had friends, he had everything he could ever want…and he thought she seemed cool.

"I'd love to be friends." She said, "And I'll try to stay cool."

He beamed, like she had made his day, instead of the other way around, and just as suddenly as it had appeared, the bubble around them vanished.

"Finally!" Peedee said "You were worrying us!"

Steven ran over and gave him a hug. Pulling away he said "Everyone. This is our new friend Connie!"

Our new friend Connie? Connie wondered. Was it that easy? Were they now friends? After all these years sitting alone at lunch had she suddenly found all the friends she could ever want? She couldn't get her hopes up like that. But she still smiled widely at the second round of "Hey, Connie"

"I like your dress." Jenny said. "We will have to go shopping sometime." So maybe it really was that easy.

Which didn't fix the larger problem, the much larger problem, she was reminded as something massive passed under the boat, making it rock dangerously.

Everyone raced to look over the edge of the boat; The creature was swimming away from them, a giant eel that had lost its prey.

"I think it's leaving!" Peedee said triumphantly.

"We can't let it do that!" Steven said "It's causing earthquakes! The gems are looking everywhere for it!"

Connie looked around the small boat. Something, something, had to work against it. But the boat was full of fishing gear for small fish. Nets and traps, nothing that would work against a monster like that.

"After that gem monster, Yellowtail!" Steven called. And the man, grumbling in a language Connie didn't know, took off after it. She got the impression he thought they should leave this to the gems.

Connie started hammering Steven with questions about gem monsters, he answered them eagerly, seeming glad to be the expert on the subject.

"How about the anchor?" She said suddenly.

"Huh?" He asked.

"Would the anchor poof it?"

"Yeah ...I think so," he said. His eyes lit up as he realized her plan.

"We could trap it in a net." She said, shocked by her own plan "and then we could drop the anchor on it!"

The creature no longer seemed interested in chasing them, but it was easy to track under the water, they had to act fast however before it fully descended back to the ocean floor.

Sour Cream knew how to set the net, and Yellowtail steered the ship. Jenny helped Sour Cream, and Kiki and Buck stood near the anchor ready to launch.

Which left her, Peedee and Steven as lookouts, placed around the ship in the blind spots they had left. It was Steven that spotted it first "It's coming!" He yelled, and a few seconds later Connie saw the monster surging towards them, seeming to rip the water in half around it as it came.

Yellowtail turned the boat as sharply as he could, Connie clung on to the gunnel as the cold water splashed against her hands and face, she blinked against the sting of salt water in her eyes.

The boat jerked suddenly, it felt like it was crashing against something. She clung to the side of the boat as hard as she could. The boat was jerking around, being dragged by the creature caught in its net instead of the other way around.

It twisted, and the boat was tugged with it. Writhing in the water, coming closer to the surface with every movement.

The boat was like a toy in a bathtub. Buck and Kiki wear inching towards the monster, every movement making them lose their footing. The water was crashing over the boat, puddles that seemed more like a pond were forming at the bottom.

The water was freezing cold, the only thing she could taste was salt, and her fingers ached from holding onto the side of the boat, but Connie barely noticed. Because just then the creature half rose out of the water, still tangled in the net - it bumped against the boat and lashed out, slamming against the starboard side of the boat with all its might - but it was too late for the monster, Kiki and Buck had released the anchor and it was hurtling towards it. Slamming into it. Piercing its side, and - poof it was gone, like it had never existed at all, except the boat was still moving. The momentum making it tip, and the water was only white foam beneath her, she thought if she reached out she could touch it.

Yellowtail was yelling something.

"To the other side of the boat!" Sour Cream yelled. And they rushed to it, Connie tripped and slammed back into the wall she had been holding. She tasted blood.

The next few minutes were a blur. The next thing she knew, the boat was righted again, and Jenny was leaning over her "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." She reassured her, feeling her bloody lip "it's just a cut"

She heard a splashing sound and looked over. "Steven went to get the gem," Jenny explained.

It was a couple minutes later she heard him yelling triumphantly "I got it! I got it!"

Sour Cream and Buck threw him a life saver and dragged him back onto the boat and Connie sat down next to him. He was grinning, looking happier than she had ever seen him. He gripped the orange gem tightly with both hands.

"You, ok?" He asked Connie "you're bleeding."

"I'm fine." Again, but this time she really meant it, she was around friends after all.