Simon was so, so bored with his life. He wanted to go beyond where other turtles could go. If a snail could race in NASCAR, why couldn't he race? All he needed to do was fall into some liquid nitrogen. Or, if that wasn't possible, maybe a vat of mutagen like those turtles on the picture box did.
"So…" The boy next to the girl that kept them in glass cages twiddled his thumbs nervously. "What are we doing exactly?"
"You said you've never been to the doctor before, right?" The girl asked.
"Yeah, 'cause I don't want to become a lab mouse." Hey, what did lab mice ever do to you? Lab mice were smart enough to take over the world! Or at least that's what the Narfy one told him.
"Well, today I'm gonna be your doctor." She smiled, taking him by his hands. "I'll check to see what makes your health tick… and hope that it is healthy for you to be as you are because all I have is a first aid book." Leaf Giver stated a bit nervously.
"You're not going to cut me open, are you?" The boy gulped. "I trust you to do it, but I don't think Pearl will see it that way."
"No, no, none of that. Although, I will draw a little blood." She noted. "You know, to see if it's not a hologram."
"A what?" He tilted his head in confusion, and honestly, he was with him there.
"You remember how you said Pearl's body is made from solid light?" Leaf Giver questioned.
"Yes…"
"What if your diamond is acting as your heart by pumping holographic blood instead of real blood?"
"...Would that even work?" Steven blinked. "I mean, if I have flesh on the outside, would I even be able to live on light?"
"Only one way to find out." She held up a tiny needle.
"Oooh, stabbing. A classic torture method." A ghost chuckled sadistically. Why the boy looked away from them, Simon didn't know. "Told ya that you were getting too close with a weirdo, now you're stuck with a turtle obsessed lunatic who dreams of cutting you open like a Thanksgiving turkey... Oooh, turkey, hadn't had a good turkey leg in a good while."
"Why does my subconscious hate me so much?" The boy grumbled. After taking a deep breath, he rolled up his sleeve and closed his eyes. "Okay, just get it over with."
"I uh… tried to do it while you seemed distracted." The Leaf Giver held up a bent needle. "That diamond has to be filling you with something, because human skin isn't this durable."
"Really?" The boy opened his eyes both in relief and bewilderment. "Huh, I didn't even feel it." He grabbed the broken needle.
"Fascinating." Leaf Giver wrote something down in a notebook. "Do you have limited stimuli when it comes to other outside forces?"
"...Smaller words please. I can talk in English now, but Korean is still my forte."
"Sorry, my bad, it's just that this is my first time I'm actually able to put my more scientific expertise to good use." Leaf Giver chuckled nervously. "Do you usually not feel stuff like heat or cold?"
"Ah… I can, but it's usually a bit more extreme. Like, boiling water is a hot shower, and ice water is a cool pool." The boy explained. "Although, I was actually a lot more sensitive when I was younger, mainly when it came to cold."
"Huh. Maybe your body's toughening you up in response to age… or stress." Leaf Giver theorised. "You know, because you constantly think you're in danger." They tilted their head. "Actually, that might be a good subject to get into."
"It's not a gem thing." The boy shook his head. "Pearl can't see the monsters."
"Well, do all gems have the same abilities?" Leaf Giver inquired.
"Ah… no, actually, that Pearl did explain to me." The boy put his hand on his chin and thought carefully."Since Pearls were made to be… servants… she has the power to project images from any memory, and store anything she wants in her gem." He explained. "She's explained that, because she was an Era 1 gem, she is capable of shapeshifting and crafting her own weapon."
"Era 1?" The girl leaned forward.
"The period she was made in. There was Era 1, which was ruled by the four Diamonds. Then there was Era 2, ruled by three Diamonds."
"...Steven, are you saying you're intergalactic royalty?" The feeder's eyes widened.
"...I try not to think about it." The boy lowered his head. "Dad said mom came to earth to get away from all of that. The pressure was just too much for her to handle."
"So you're literally a bastard, funny." The boy gripped his hand on a piece of nearby rock.
"I see. So, have you experienced any other powers aside from your emphatic wave of blue?" She asked.
"Mmm… a lot of it is emotion and weather based." The boy went on. "When I'm happy, I make clouds, when I'm sad, I make a 'rainish blue', once when I got angry at dad, I accidentally shot out lightning."
"And your mother could do all of this too?" Leaf Giver asked.
"Pearl told me that mom had a lot of abilities. The most important of which was her unparalleled strength." The boy explained, gripping the rocks in his hand even harder for emphasis. "She told me mom was as gentle as a Diamond could be. They were known for fierce determination and decisive action… it's a lot of responsibility I'm not sure I could ever be ready for."
"I can understand that." The Leaf Giver sympathized. "I don't think I'll ever be ready for the responsibility of adulthood… taxes alone have driven lesser men to utter madness." She stared off into the distance. "And that's not even mentioning driving, insurance, bank loans, and the biggest challenge for anyone brave enough to take on... Children."
The boy shivered as the grip on the rock increased even more.. A small... faint blue glow came out of the fist. "Now that's a situation I don't want to even come close to thinking about. My dad and Pearl have enough trouble taking care of me." The boy finally let go of the rock, which fell to the ground. "Life's complicated enough just trying to walk into town."
"Tow… tow… tow..." A faint but new voice emerged.
"You say something, Steven?" Leaf Giver turned her head.
"No." He shook his head. "Just complaining about life. And hearing the monsters talk as usual."
"Usu. Usu. Usu."
"No, I hear it too." Leaf Giver started looking around. "Where is that noise coming from?"
"Oooh, would you look at that?" The ghost spoke up. "Your powers malfunctioned and made a mess of things." He pointed down.
"What are you talking abot-" The boy looked to the ground and saw… quite frankly, what one could describe as the most bizarre thing they've seen.
It looked like a normal rock, but it glowed blue with a crystalline structure... And it had a, as the kids would call it, derpy expression on its face as it held out a stubby, waving hand. "Abou… abou…"
"Aww, they're adorable." The girl cooed.
The turtle saw the ghost lean into the boy's ear. "Think you can afford childcare services? Or are you gonna fail as a parent?"
"...I MADE LIFE!!!??!!?" And suddenly, the world turned blue as Simon started feeling sad for some reason … thinking about his mother and why she abandoned him in the sand. "I can't make life, I'm a kid! I don't have the health care to cover it!"
"Steven, Steven, relax, it's not that big a deal… okay, that's a stretch of a fib, but, it's nothing to freak out over!" Leaf Giver tried to assure him out as she was also crying. "This is another of your powers we haven't discovered, this is exactly what we were aiming for!"
"I thought the point was to see if I had normal blood!" He shouted. "Not bring someone into the world!"
"There were going to be a lot of tests. This is just… one of those tests in action." Leaf Giver chuckled nervously.
"Wor… wor… woooooor." The thing babbled.
"See, Steven, it's nothing to be afraid of." She picked the rock thing up. "You don't have to be afraid of it… maybe if you embrace it, you can control it?"
"...Control it?" The boy raised an eyebrow as the blue light died down and Simon felt less sad. "Uh… hey... Little… rock gem thing…" The boy waved.
"Hey... hey… hey… hey..." The derpy little thing waved back.
"Can you jump?"
"Jump… jump…" It did a small jump.
"...Can... you spin?" The boy asked.
"Spin... Spin." It twirled in one place.
"See, Steven? It's nothing to be afraid of." Leaf Giver smiled as she walked to the turtle tank. "Its just like me and Simon here." The girl lifted him. "When I show him love, they show love back." Well, at least until Simon got free and followed his dream of driving a race car… that would be the day… he'd show them all… he'd show them all!
"I guess it's not that bad." The rock kept spinning... Until it fell on its side and…
"Spin spin! Spin spin!" The derpy rock thing... split into two derpy looking rock things.
".....Did you tell it to do that?" Leaf Giver asked.
"Libby, I'm freaking out enough just seeing ONE of these things appear, do you really expect me to know how to make it happen twice?"
"Nope, you just caused an army of ever expanding rock people that will eventually overtake the world. Good job, kid." The ghost snickered.
"Oh would you SHUT UP!?" The boy shouted.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" The two rock things began... growing bigger by collecting other rocks around them. "SHUT UUUP!" The two large derpy things sent a fist towards the ghost
"MOVE!" The boy shoved the girl out of the way as the ghost went through the rock.
"Good thing I don't have a body." They laughed.
"MOOOVE!" The rock things broke through the wall. "MOVE!"
"GAHHH! What have I done!!!?" The boy shrieked. "I have to get Pearl, I have to get Pearl-"
Smack
...And next thing Simon knew, he, the boy and Leaf Giver were suddenly inside of a giant blue ball. "Oooh, is this a new power?" Leaf Giver asked.
"Libby, it's… it is NOT the time to question-ahhh!" The boy began running around the bubble... Though given it wasn't that big, he only ran in a 2 foot circle.
========================================================================
Darryl was young and still figuring out his place in the world. What he wanted out of life, what skills he had to offer, how much he should listen to his parents and teachers, all that stuff. One of the things he knew for sure was that he loved his family, no question about it.
He loved his mom, who was pretty funny with the mad faces she would make whenever Grandma was mentioned. He loved his dad, thanks in no small part to all the money he would give Darryl to not tell mom about the various accidents that occurred all over the house. And he loved Molly, who always had his back, even though more often than not, she tried to pull him away from anything fun. Nothing could compare.
However, as time went on, there was one thing that Darryl loved almost as much as his family… and that would be a good money scheme. Particularly whenever he could scam someone out of their hard earned money. After all, it was an easy way for candy… and maybe video games, not quite there yet. He was working for literal quarters, after all.
So when his family moved to the Cul-de-sac in Peach Creek, Darryl went straight to work getting a lay of the land, which was easy, 'cause Molly was naturally a social butterfly, so learning everyone's names was pretty easy.
Right now the Alphas, or top dogs as it were, were the Kanker sisters. A trio of girls that did what they wanted and beat up whomever they pleased. They were less like people and more like natural disasters, avoid them and you're good. Luckily, the McGees had yet to face their wrath… how long that would last was unknown.
Then next on the list was the 'cool' kid so to speak, and part time bully, Kevin. And Darryl used the word cool loosely, mostly because of two things; the boy's dad worked at the Jawbreaker factory, meaning free jawbreakers, and Kevin had a bike Darryl was sure cost the kid three years' worth of allowances. But other than those points… he didn't have much going for him. His jokes weren't as funny as he thought they were, or rather the one he used: calling people dorks over and over again. You were spared as long as you didn't annoy him.
The next on the hierarchy was the foreign kid, Rolf, whose family somehow had a full fledged farm in the Cul-De-Sac. The kid was nice enough on a normal day, but pretty naive when it came to modern slang and everyday circumstances. Which was both a good thing and a bad thing. A good thing because he was able to charge a petting zoo for the boy's farm in order to, as he put it to Molly to get her to give her usual hundred and ten percent in that endeavor, 'enhappify' the animals and kids. A bad thing when the boy expected you to partake in his strange traditions that made sense to no one. Darryl was not one to argue, given his Thai background, but still.
The next one was somewhat of a tie. The two childhood best friends, Sarah and Jimmy. Between the two of them, Sarah was by far the bigger threat with her loud mouth and unending temper. Jimmy, by contrast, was a braces wearing crybaby, but as Daryll could quickly sniff out… underneath that was a manipulative genius who could control the raging beast that was Sarah. It was best to just be nice to the kid.
Beneath them was Nazz. Physically, she was the weakest, and a bit of an airhead, but pretty much every boy in the neighborhood had a crush on her, so she usually got what she wanted. Daryl didn't see it, but if he manipulated her into wanting someone, everyone else would do it.
Then there was Jonny 2x4… why that was his name, no one knew. He was a seemingly average, if not below average, kid who often kept to himself with a silly grin on his face, usually accompanied by a plank of wood he named Plank. Somehow the plank of wood was smarter than the kid himself. And possibly more vicious than the Kankers… except to Molly, weirdly enough. She once spent the day with Jonny and Plank, and the next day a bouquet of flowers was under her pillow… no one knew quite how they got there.
This group alone would make this neighborhood a rather normal one, but there were three left that, while at the bottom of the social pole, were arguably the most influential figures of the Cul-De-Sac... the Eds.
A trio of boys who would do absolutely anything for money to buy jawbreakers, and Darryl meant anything. Case in point, right now they were trying to sell a bunch of ice cubes taped to the ground as a skating rink and charging one buck for every ten minutes. And they offered spatulas taped to muddy boots as skates… Daryl thought they just ended up with a lot of tape and came up with the scam right there on the spot.
Don't get him wrong, the scam has plenty of potential, but there were obvious flaws one could easily spot… and it was those flaws that Daryll would take advantage of today to get his fortune. "Ice skating in the summer!" Molly exclaimed. "This is gonna be super awesome!"
"Yes, yes it will be, little girl!" Eddy, the short stacked loud mouth leader of the Eds, grinned, rubbing his hands. He came up with the ideas for scams. And like most true scam artists, he let others do the dirty work. "A Snowy Winter Wonderland, or S'winter if you will, is just one easy payment away!"
"Egads, you got snow too!?" He loved Molly… but the girl was naive.
"Yes, yes we do…" He leaned close to one of his pals. "Double D, get some snow." He whispered.
"My ice machine makes ice, not snow." Double D, the smart Ed, the one who made the gadgets required for the scams to have a slight chance of working, and had a kind heart… but no backbone like Molly had, so he was pretty much a doormat.
"Then get something small and white to sprinkle." Eddy turned back. "For the low price of 1 dollar, just use any pair of skates over by Ed."
"Me make good skates!" The guy shouted, covered from head to toe in tape. Ed was clearly the… intellectually challenged boy of the group, but he more than made up for it with his sheer strength. To call him a dangerous moron would be an understatement.
"Today will be the best day ever!" Molly exclaimed.
"You say that about every day." Daryl pointed out.
"And it's always true!"
"Even when you got hypnotized into thinking you were a chicken for the whole day?"
"Yes."
"Even when you got into a Canadian water gun battle with the Kankers?"
"Yes."
"Even when you got smeared in maple syrup-"
"We don't talk about maple syrup at all, got it?" Molly placed a finger on his lips.
"...Maple syrup didn't happen." He nodded.
"Now then… to skating!" Molly jumped on the ice cubes with her badly made skates, flopping on the ground. "Awesome! I feel refreshingly cold!"
"Yes, another happy sucker." Eddy smirked before turning to him. "How about it little guy, wanna join in on the fun with the big kids?"
Okay... now it was time to work his magic. "I don't know. I'm not sure it's authentic enough for a winter-like experience." He acted like he was too cool to talk to them.
"Oh, yeah?" Eddy glared. "What can you do to make it better?"
"Look here, dudes, you have a good thing going here, real good, but you ain't gonna get people to empty their wallets if you don't have that sweet shaved ice around you." Darryl tsked, before putting on his 'pitch' smile. "But what if I said I could get ya'll the real deal? At the bargain price of five bucks."
"...Go on." He leaned in close.
"Think about it, if you had real snow,.you could charge double your price of admission, maybe even triple. Think about it, three dollars for a customer base of 6, maybe even seven people? For five bucks, you'll make three times as much."
"...Double D, math?" Eddy asked the smart Ed.
They messed with a calculator. "It adds up, Eddy."
Eddy raised an eyebrow. "And what guarantee will I have that this snow that you supposedly have is what you say it is?"
"Oh, yee of little faith." He smirked as he threw an intact snowball right into Eddy's face. "Does that answer your question?"
"Snow… tiny boy wizard!" Ed exclaimed.
"Yes, tiny boy is wizard." Darryl lied smoothly. When dealing with people dumber than you, best to let the dumb run its course. "Now, do we have a deal? 'cause between you and me, Kevin's been thinking about pelting you guys with a giant snowball, and if he meets my demand first…"
"Alright, alright, you got yourself a deal." Eddy handed him the money. "Now fork over the snow."
"Will do. Although since we never discussed the date I would give it to you… I'll wait till sometime during the winter." He waved off.
"What!? Hey!" Eddy scowled. "I knew it, you don't have snow!"
"Oh, no, I do, I just sold it to Kevin first, he REALLY wanted that giant snowball, gave me seven bucks for it. Honestly, I came out with a steal." He chuckled.
"That is quite dishonest… I'm surprised Eddy didn't come up with this kind of tactic first." Double D mused.
"For your efforts, I'm gonna buy one jawbreaker …" He saw the boy smile with hope. "Then eat it." Then drop it. "But not before bringing one to you." The hope lit up once more. "So I can do it in front of you."
"Darryl!" Molly shouted. "Don't gloat about your victories, it's rude! …Also don't scam people in general, unless they're magicians."
"I like magicians." Ed smiled dumbly.
"Magicians are liars, Ed!" Molly grabbed his chin. "Liars who defile what magic should be! THEY TRICK YOU INTO THINKING THERE'S MONEY IN YOUR EARS, BUT THE ONLY THING THERE IS EMPTY PROMISES!!!"
"It's not as intense, but almost just as furious as when Sarah gets angry.." Double D winced.
"Nah, she ain't that mad. Just don't eat pancakes with syrup in front of her and you're good." Daryl shrugged as he counted his money. "Pleasure doing business with you people. I look forward to how this scam will backfire."
"It won't backfire! We'll be swimming in jawbreakers!" Eddy swore… ah, too naive, too naive indeed. He remembered when he was that naive two years ago... They had a LOT of broken noses to look forward to.
========================================================================
Libby would have been more fascinated with the bubble… if Steven wasn't in the middle of a panic attack. "No! No! What is this!? What's going on!?" He panicked. "Rock golems and this and now… what's going on!?" He kept running around in a circle, which was only about a two foot distance, so it was more like he was pacing himself back and forth constantly.
"It appears to be some self defense mechanism. Strange that it hasn't come out before." Libby noted, poking the bubble with a pencil. "Although, given that your powers come out during highly strenuous moments, I suppose the idea of being smashed into pieces must have triggered it. Have you had this feeling before?"
"Libby! I don't have time to-I really don't need you to be playing doctor or scientist or observer or whatever right now!" Steven cried out. "This is serious! My sort of children are running about Brighton doing who knows what and we're trapped in a bubble! I don't know why you're not freaking out with me right now!"
He was right. Libby would pro-no, definitely be freaking out too if she was in his shoes (heck, she'd freaked out over less). Maybe that was partially why it was easy to be friends with him, it required her to be the brave one. A once fantasy turned reality. A level head was needed while her best friend was venting his fragile emotions. "Probably because you're doing all the freaking out for me." She guessed. "And relax, if this is a stress induced situation, then all you need to do is calm down. That should dissipate… whatever this is." She gestured to the bubble.
"Calm down? Calm down!? How can I calm down when I keep gaining powers I don't even want!?" He shrieked. "Why can't I just be a normal boy!?"
"..." She tapped her chin, how to word this…? "Do you hate Pearl?"
That made him stop running. "What? No! Of course not! She's my nanny, practically my mom." He responded.
"She isn't a normal girl." Libby pointed out.
"...Well… yeah… If you wanna be technical about it..." Steven finally sat down. "But she's amazing, she always knows how to be there for me, she taught me so much cool stuff, we draw things together..."
"And she does that without even being human." Libby pressed on. "Steven, being normal is a subjective opinion for the most part. Heck, most people would say I'm not normal."
"What? That's ridiculous!" Steven balked at the idea. "You're super smart, and you have pet turtles."
"Most kids don't like turtles and have more than one friend. That alone makes me abnormal." She nervously chuckled. "I mean, we spent most of last week meticulously analyzing leaf samples to see which ones would be the healthiest for Simon to eat."
"But it's important to care about pet health." Steven argued. "And we talked so much about chlorophyll and fauna… that was one of my top ten best weekends…"
"And did the idea of being normal even come to mind?" Libby asked.
"...I guess… you're just my idea of normal." …Aaand now Libby felt both flattered and embarrassed. Not exactly the answer she was expecting…
"...You think you could try to break through the bubble now?" Libby asked before the heat in her face could become more obvious.
"I... guess..." Steven took a deep breath. "I've seen Pearl bubble objects before.. But... I've never seen her make one this big." He looked around it. "Just… calm… safety…" He put himself deeper into his cloak. "I'm calm and safe…" They waited for one minute... Two minutes… Five minutes…"No no no no." The boy began breathing heavily. "We're stuck, stuck till the end of time, stuck forever with no way out. No way out at all. We'll run out of air and then we'll suffocate and it'll all be my fault!" And now he was freaking out again. Alright, Libby. Time to take drastic measures!
"Steven! You have got to snap out of it!" She slapped the boy across the face… and immediately regretted it, but not for the reasons one would assume. "Ow! Your face is a lot harder than I remember it being." She winced, blowing on her hand.
"I fell from the top of my palanquin once when I was trying to get a better view… I apparently broke the steel railing on the ground with nothing but my skull when I landed on it." Steven held her hand… his hand was nice and cold… and, once again, began to make her face heat up . "I'm sorry Libby… I got us into this mess..."
"No-no need to-to apologize Ste-steven.." She sputtered out. "An-nd besides… i-it's not all bad. It's nice, smooth, cool. It's like being in a slightly transparent turtle shell." She took a breath as she turned to him. "An-and if this is the rest of-of our lives… then... then at least we'll be-be… together forever…" Steven's face now shared the same shade of red-
POP
The bubble disappeared. "…Well, we're out." Libby didn't know if she should feel relieved or disappointed. That literally just happened the moment she said together forever.
"We're free… WE'RE FREE!" Steven cheered as he pulled her into a tight lung crushing hug. "Thank you thank you thank you Libby!"
"No… problem… buddy…" And now all her positive affection was threatening to kill her... Again… It was a complicated life she led. "...I believe… we should get back to... The pebble giant kid things…"
"…Right!" He nodded, before turning to the air. "…Doesn't exist, just ignore it…" He looked to the hole in the room. "Where are they…?"
"I'm guessing we should just follow the footsteps in the ground." Libby pointed down to a trail of giant footprints... leading straight into town.
"…I destroyed the city." He pouted. "...Libbby, I'm sorry if I have to move because of this-"
"Don't get distracted now, Steven, we can still salvage this!"
"Really? How?"
"I have no idea, but one of us needs to have hope."
========================================================================
Molly hummed happily as she painted a smiley face on the cat poster. "Doesn't it just look kawaii, Mr Panda?"
"Just Panda's fine, Molls." Molly had no trouble making friends, it was almost like her super power or something. Her ability to enfriendify (term pat and pending) the world stretched beyond the moon and stars… literally in some cases, Molly's made a lot of friends with a lot of unique people. There was that step-brother duo that made all the cool stuff in their backyard, there was a red head who may or may not have been a witch/fairy, that one kid with the 10 sisters, that family in New York that may or may not have been wizards… and there was… Uncle Grandpa… that one was a weird day.
And today was no exception. By this point, she was no stranger to talking animals… so imagine her surprise upon moving to San Francisco, She met not one, but THREE talking bears! So of COURSE she had to befriend them. There was Grizz, the fun one. Panda, the cute one. And Ice Bear, the epic one! Each one of them was a brand of adventure in their own right! She even made some other friends along the way, like Chloe, the child genius who was already going to college. Darryl really liked her… mostly because she gave him the answers on his homework, but progress was progress!
"Doesn't it ever get confusing when you're a panda and your name is Panda?" Molly asked as they were sitting in their art class. "Not to offend you or anything, but it's almost like naming a girl Gal, or a boy Guy."
"I mean, no one named me, so I just took the name that the zoo in Japan gave me, Panda 1. Minus the one part." He shrugged. "So far, it hasn't really been confusing, not like there's any other Pandas in San Francisco."
"I know, that's such a shame." Molly shook her head. "This city should be full of bears! A bear in every corner, a bear that you can hug at any moment and squeeze like a living pillow!"
"Well, it's not like every bear can talk." Panda responded. "Not everyone learns English, I still haven't mastered Japanese. And I'm from Japan."
"How did you come from Japan to the US anyways?" She asked. Molly always liked asking about their past, or as she liked to call it, the 'baby bear' adventures, although they had this strange habit of telling them out of order. One moment it was about them living in a cardboard factory, the next moment it was about them becoming ninjas in the sewers.
"Well, it started when I met my best friend at the time, Panda 2-" Panda began.
"*Cooo*… *cooooo*..." The sound of a pigeon was heard from across the table, and moving their eyes... They saw a lone pigeon... One that was wearing a tiny bandana on his head and a chain on his left leg. It would look cute if it wasn't for the dead eye glare it was giving them.
"...Didn't you guys say you had a run in with pigeons before?" Molly whispered.
"It's them." Panda stared with wide eyes. "...I'll call Ice Bear. You make sure no one opens any windows."
"Panda… he brought friends.." Molly pointed towards the pigeons now hanging from the ceiling. "...Would offering them old pizza crust soothe them?"
"No, they only go for sourdough crust... They're picky about their gluten intake." He muttered. "On my mark…" He tossed up pencils. "RUN!" And he began bolting to the door.
"*COOO*!" And the pigeons descended.
"Gahhhhh!" This was so exciting, but SO dangerous at the same time. "Why do you pigeons need to form a mafia!? You're everywhere in the city, you practically control it already!"
"I think you answered your own question, Molly!" Panda shouted in panic as Molly got on his back. "We need transportation, we can't outrun pigeons, they have wings! And I hate exercise!"
"We need to go underground! To the nearest subway!" She pointed forward.
"This is an art school, the subway's a mile away!" He argued.
"Then we'll just need to motivate you to run that fast!" Molly took his phone.
"Hey, that's mine!" He complained.
"Not until we make it to the subway! If we don't get there in at least five minutes, I'm breaking into your dating profile!"
"NOT MY PROFILE!" Hey, he was increasing in speed, good for him.
"*Cooo*!" And the pigeons were slowly forming a giant flock.
"You'll never catch me alive, you flying rats!" Molly shook her fist at the pigeon mafia, prompting them to aim their rear ends at them. "Afternoon lunch incoming! Brace for smelly impact!"
"This is the one thing I didn't want to deal with!" Panda whined. "So many less disgusting enemies. Why couldn't it be the weirdo with the brain switching helmet!?"
"I wish you still had your braces, then you could attack them with all the phones in the area!" Molly lamented. "...Actually, I still don't understand how braces gave you metal bending powers."
"I'm a talking bear, and you're questioning superpower braces!?"
"I've met a talking dog AND baby in Rhode Island, I still believe in the magical wonder of this world!" Molly proclaimed as she began texting. "Alright, I texted Grizz and Ice, but their ETA is unknown."
"There's the subway!" Panda cried in relief. "We're saved, we're-" And the birds converged, covering the subway tunnel. "Surrounded, we're surrounded from behind and in front!"
"Alright, Pan-Pan, if we're going down... We're going out fighting!" She shouted as she grabbed a nearby newspaper on the ground. "Back! Back you savages! This is the Sunday edition newspaper, so it has 8 extra layers... And no funny pages!"
"*COOOO*!!"
"AAAHHHH!!!" Just another day of fun.
========================================================================
Steven looked at the giant rock monsters he created walking on top of a car. "Move… move…" Man, this was just terrible. He brought destructive life into the world. He was like Frankenstein! Doctor Frankenstein to be exact, the monster didn't have a name, although some called it Prometheus-not the point!
"Okay, okay, how do we stop them?" Steven asked. "They're recklessly attacking everything and are made of rocks."
"Well… they're still only going off by what you last said." Libby mulled over the situation.. If Steven didn't have her, he wouldn't nearly be as safe as he was right now in this current situation. "So... perhaps you just need to command them to calm down?"
"Right…" He turned to them. "Stop!"
"Stop…" And they did so… oh cool… they stopped.
"The Reaper of Gloom caused those monsters to attack the city!" A kid shouted-what-no, no that-what was happening!?
"What the-no, no, that's not what happened at all-" Libby tried to explain.
"I saw it with my own eyes, he controls those monsters!" What the-how were they spotted?!!
"No... no... no..." All the anxiety began to build up in his body again…
"Why else would they stop when he told them to stop!?"
"Steven, stay calm, it's just a few, very misinformed people!"
"Are they really yours?" Andrea asked… her phone up… filming them.
…This... This was it... This was it... this was the end of his life as he knew it-
SWIISH
POP
POP
SMASH
In a flash of light blue, the people that were surrounding him, including Andrea, were knocked to the ground, Andrea's phone now in the hands of- "Pearl?!" Steven called out.
"It appears I've come here just in time, my Steven." Pearl stated neutrally as she examined Andrea's phone. "Fortunately for all our sakes, it doesn't look like the young miscreant caught any evidence." His nanny crushed the phone with her hands. "...Why are your pebbles so large?"
"...My what?" Steven blinked.
"The pebbles you created from your essence." She pointed to the... rock creatures. "Blue Diamond would occasionally make pebbles whenever she wanted to, as you humans would put it, take a soak. Her essence would drip into the water and create pebbles, although... They were never this gargantuan ."
"I… told them to spin and they grew."
"Spin… spin." and they started spinning again-
"Stop!" And they stopped, only growing about a centimeter this time.
"I see… they've been collecting soil samples and other sediments as they were moving… Strange, I've never seen them exhibit such behavior before."
"...Maybe Steven's half human biology must have caused a certain change." Libby speculated. "Sweat, blood, adrenaline, if that was mixed in with 'diamond' essence, that could have changed the principal of the base formula."
"Possibly… let's move them to the palanquin and work on the matter from there." She looked at the damages done to the street. "Before people start inquiring."
"Right…" Steven looked around. "...We... we won't have to move again... Would we?" Steven only got this far because Libby was here... If he lost her… he... He didn't know what he would do.
"Not if you don't want to, my Steven." Pearl bowed. "We can silence them if you wish… in a permanent manner."
"...Eeeep." Libby hid in her sweater.
"...No... that won't be necessary." Steven declared as he looked down at the unconscious Andrea…a part of him felt relieved seeing this… he wondered if that was a bad sign of something. "Can Libby come to the Palaquin? She hasn't seen it yet, and I want to show her our home."
Pearl paused for a minute... the silence felt stiffer than her usual silence. "...If that is what you desire, My Steven." She bowed. "Tell the pebbles to follow me, we'll work on the rest when we get there."
"Alright..." He turned to the pebbles. "Ah... follow Pearl."
"Foll P… Foll… P..." The creatures repeated in unison.
She began leading the two rocks away from the streets. "...Thanks for sticking by me Libby." Steven sighed in relief. "I really felt like I was gonna lose it."
"It's fine… I'm sorry for pushing you." She apologized. "I got so excited about studying paranatural phenomena, I forgot to take your feelings about it into account." She looked down. "Some friend I turned out to be."
"Still better than me. I'm the danger to society." Steven laughed hollowly. "One wrong move and BAM, I nuke the town."
"If that happens, I always have the bunker." They stared at each other, before sharing a laugh... A real laugh this time. "Thanks for… getting to know me and not running away." Libby smiled.
"I'd never run away from you." Steven held her hands… her warm hands… in spite of the fact he couldn't register heat and cold like normal people could… when he held hands with Libby… all he felt was warmth-
Pearl suddenly pulled him away from Libby. "My Diamond. You are far too young to be fusing with children your age, not to mention the gross unnecessity of the situation."
"...Fu what now?" They never covered that lesson before.
"Fusion? Like, a combination?" Libby asked, before blushing. "Or... or are you talking about... That… other thing..." ...What other thing?
"A topic for another time… I prefer if neither of you mention it for the next 10 years." They seemed flustered as they led the 'Pebbles' away.
"...What other thing?" Steven asked Libby.
"Like Pearl said, we shouldn't talk about it for the next ten years or so..." Libby hid her face behind her sweater as she walked ahead.
"...Why do I never get answers when I want them?" Steven groaned.
"'Cause you're a wackjob big blue menace from outer space?" The blob mocked from behind him.
"...One of these days, I'll be too insane to know you're even here." Until that day came... Guess he would just bear with it.