StevenTale

Chapter 1: A New World

Rain drops pelted the roof as the echo of crying breakfast characters played from the TV. The sound of the phone overpowered the sound of the rain, and Steven rushed to answer it.

"Hi, Steven!" said Connie, one of his closest friends. "Are you busy?"

"No, not right now," he replied. "Do you need something?"

"No, I was just wondering if I could come over to practice sword fighting with you and Pearl," she continued.

"Heh, sure!" He concluded. "I'll go let Pearl know. I'll be back in a bit!" Hanging up, Steven rushed to the back of the Temple, knocking on the inter dimensional door that lay there. "PEARL!" He shouted, hanging on it. "Are you in there?" When no reply came, he figured that she must've left on a mission. Swiftly, he grabbed his cellphone and called Connie back.

"Hey, Connie... I can't find Pearl anywhere."

"Hmm... well, maybe she's already at the arena. That's where she seems to spend most of her free time nowadays. I'll be over in a few minutes."

"Alrighty, see you then!" Running up the stairs, he hung up the phone and grabbed his sandals, preparing for his training session. Within minutes, two thuds sounded from his door.

"Hey, Connie, come on in!" Steven said, stepping aside as to let her pass through. Before she could say anything, the warp pad emitted a blinding glow, and the two heard a loud, high-pitched sound. For some reason, the usual, blue glow that surrounded the pad suddenly changed to a deep red, and the mystic noise altered itself into a much darker tone.

"Steven, what's going on with the Warp Pad?" Connie inquired, observing the change. "I don't think that the warp pad is supposed to be red..."

"Oh... it's probably nothing. Maybe the Gems meant for it to do that!"

"Then wouldn't they have told us...?" Steven shrugged in response, and Connie sighed. "Ok, Steven, if you say so..." She bent down and picked up her bag. "Actually, when you don't worry about, it looks kinda cool. Don't you think?"

"Yeah, it does look cool! You think it'll still work?" Steven asked, stepping up onto the pad with Connie.

"Yeah, I'm sure... Otherwise, we wouldn't be moving!" At that moment, the Warp Pad started shaking vigorously. Startled, Connie shouted "Steven, what's going on?!"

"I- I don't know!" he replied, reaching out for something to grab onto. But there was nothing there... not even the reassurance of the stars that normally surrounded the stream. Instead, a vast amount of darkness swirled around them. Slowly, the solidity of the stream faded into a transparent curtain, disappearing all together after a few seconds. When the deep, terrifying pitch finally faded, the two were left standing alone next to a massive mountain, the Warp Pad nowhere to be seen.

"S-Steven, where are we?!" Connie stammered. Nervously, the pair inspected their surroundings.

"I... don't know," Steven replied after a few minutes. "I've never been here before. It looks... different."

"Where did the Warp Pad go?" she continued. "How are we supposed to get back?!"

Steven stood, thinking. "I don't think we're supposed to go back. Maybe the pad brought us here for a reason. Maybe... we're supposed to go on."

"But we don't even know where we are! Maybe... we climb up the the mountain. Or we could sit here and wait..."

They looked around the area in hopes of finding food or some clue, but all they found was that all the plants were covers in a thin layer of dust.

"Well, there's nothing here... maybe we should go up the mountain."

Nodding, Connie continued. "Hey, Steven, why do you think there's dust everywhere?"

"Maybe there's a lot of dust from the people that live here."

"Haha, that's funny, Steven."

Worriedly, Steven continued. "So... did you pack any food?"

"Yeah, I have some grapes in my backpack," she finished, pulling out a large bag of fruit.

"Yum! Thanks!" Steven replied, taking some. "C'mon, we should start climbing... the faster we make it out of here, the quicker we can start our training."

Following Steven's advice, the pair started up the mountain, thoughts of anxiousness flooding their heads. "We're almost to the top," Connie noted after a few hours.

"Ok," he said, out of breath. "I'll run up and see what's up there!"

"Oh, ok... have fun!" She called as he ran towards the top. After a few seconds, she heard a gasp of awe.

"Hey, Connie, you need to see this hole! It's huge!"

"Alright, Steven!" She called, trailing to the top. Arriving at the summit, she, too, gaped at the massive crevice. "Steven, that's huge! H-how deep does it go?"
"I can't really tell," he replied, squinting. "It's too dark."

"Oh, jeez," she said, running up beside him. "You shouldn't stand so close to the edge. You might fall in!"

"Connie, I'm sure it's fi-" Steven started, but before he could finish, the mountain started rocking unnaturally, with vigorous force.

"S-Steven..." she started, but the two tumbled into the darkness.