Steven universe: Alternate

Chapter 8: Lars and the cool kids

"Umm, Aron, why are we here?" Ayden asked, surveying the lake covered in moss.

"Ronaldo and I were checking out this place, but he fell and got hurt. We had to go back home," Aron explained.

"Ok, but that doesn't explain why I'm here," Ayden said, still confused.

"Well, Jayden and Jeaena went out for errands, and James was doing God knows what. But since you're free today because your injury healed up, you were the only one available," Aron said.

"Oh, ok," Ayden replied before thinking, Dang it, why did Barbara have to give me an extra day off?

"Here, catch."

"Uh?" Aron threw some rolled-up police tape at Ayden, who caught it with some surprise.

"Police tape? Why do we need police tape?" Ayden asked.

"To keep people out," Aron replied. "You remember that moss on that hill?"

Ayden nodded slowly. "Yeah, the one that dealt with the breakfast monster."

"Exactly. Ronaldo and I think it might be similar to that, so we need to cordon off this area."

Ayden sighed, rolling out a length of tape. "I thought we were done with weird moss."

Aron shook his head. "Unfortunately, it seems like it's just getting started. Better safe than sorry, right?"

As they began taping off the area, Ayden got near the lake, causing the moss to get close to him.

"Watch out!" Aron yelled, causing Ayden to drop the police tape into the lake, the moss going after it.

Ayden scrambled back, eyes wide with alarm as the moss hungrily engulfed the tape. "Holy crap, did you see that?" he exclaimed, taking several steps away from the water's edge.

"Yeah," Aron replied, his face serious. "That's why we need to be careful. This stuff is more aggressive than we thought."

Ayden nodded, still eyeing the lake warily. "So what's the plan now? We can't just leave this thing here."

"We need to contain it until we can figure out what it is and how to deal with it," Aron said, glancing around. "Let's finish taping off the area, then we'll get back to the others and come up with a strategy."

After Ayden and Aron finished taping off the lake, they began walking home.

"Oh, Aron, I'm gonna get some fish stew pizza," Ayden said.

"Oh, ok. See you later," Aron replied, waving at Ayden.

"Later," Ayden replied.

As Ayden headed to the pizza place, he couldn't shake the image of the moss devouring the tape. What if it started spreading to other areas?

Lost in thought, Ayden bumped into one of the workers at the Big Donut.

"Hey, watch it!" the boy snarled.

"Oh, sorry Lars, didn't see you," Ayden said.

"So what are you doing? Shouldn't you be at the Big Donut?" Ayden asked.

"Ayden, I don't spend my whole life at work. I do cool things," Lars said, getting off from the wall and putting his red jacket on his back.

"Like standing against this wall?" Ayden asked, confused.

"What do you think?" Lars yelled.

"Okay, okay, chill," Ayden said, holding up his hands. "I'm just surprised to see you outside of work. What's the cool thing you're up to now?"