Ezra In Beach City (Book 1)

Arcade Mania

In an underground cave, the Crystal Gems were trending through a crystal path. Garnet shushed the rest to be quiet.

"This way." Garnet whispered.

Steven's jacket made swishing noises as they walked together, which irritated Pearl.

"Ugh! Steven!" Pearl whispered. "This is a stealth mission! You're making too much noise! Take off the jacket!"

"Ugh, but, I don't wanna catch a cold." Steven replied as he held his jacket tightly.

"Then why are you still wearing sandals?" Pearl asked, sarcastically.

Steven looked down at his sandals.

"I can be quiet. See? Stealth." Steven said before he stuck his arms out straight to avoid making the noise.

"We're getting close." Garnet said.

"C'mon then." Pearl said.

The team walked along and Amethyst started making noises that Steven's jacket made.

"Amethyst!" Steven growled as he turned around to see that she kept making the noise.

"Steven!" Pearl whispered, annoyed.

"It wasn't me." Steven replied before he saw Amethyst smiling. "Amethyst, you're making me look ba-."

The ledge Steven was standing on started to crumble.

"Aaaaahh!" Steven screamed as he flailed his arms around.

"Steven!" Ezra cried out in worry.

"Stealth." Steven said as he tried to straighten his arms.

Steven fell over the cliff and plunged into the darkness while screaming, until he was caught by Garnet at the bottom. Garnet held him close, when a gem creature emerged from a hole in the ceiling. It started to shoot crystal spikes at them, that made Garnet easily dodge.

"Steven!" Pearl, Amethyst, and Ezra shouted as they ran over.

"What is that thing?" Ezra asked.

"The Blue Chalcedony." Pearl replied. "Try to stay away from her attacks."

"Stay down." Garnet said to Steven, as she set him down to the ground.

"Come on poofy." Amethyst said as she carried Steven up and ran off.

"What about Garnet?" Steven asked.

The Gem creature tried to hit Garnet with its outer arms but failed, as she somersaulted and dodged the attacks.

"Go, Garnet, go!" Steven cheered.

Garnet reached the Gem creature and parried every attack by its inner arms. She then summoned one of her gauntlets and punched into the creature's mouth. It exploded into a blue cloud, leaving behind crystal spikes, and Garnet emerged from the cloud with a spiky Gem in a bubble.

"Wow!" Steven said in amazement. "She's so fast. Garnet, you're amazing! How'd you even do that?"

"Look!" Pearl alerted as she pointed to the ground. "The little ones didn't explode."

The crystal spikes burrowed into the ground.

"They're drilling away!" Pearl continued.

"I got it!" Amethyst declared before she dropped Steven and dived into one of the holes, only to get herself stuck.

"Let them go." Garnet said as she sent the bubble away. "They're just parasites. If they want to be a problem, they'll have to answer to me."

"So coool." Steven gushed as he slowly stood up.