Steven Universe: Beyond The Mirror

Walking With Spheres

The Prime Kindergarten has been visited several times. One of those times has been just the other day when Lapis was in desperate need for some assistance in healing Steven from his ingrown corruption. Despite these disturbances, it has hardly changed in its appearance.

At the warp pad within, a bright blue beam sprouts out from the glow. A few seconds later, the spectacle dies down and fades into history. Standing on the surface is someone who once lied down on it, unconscious. Next to that someone, a mechanical sphere springs to life, getting up on its jagged legs.

Steven looks around the kindergarten, his jaw dropping. "Whoa." He whispers to himself as he shifts his head towards one end of the canyon...to another. "What is this place?" He can see the holes of Quartz soldiers in the purple sandstone, how identical the exit holes are, adjacent to one another.

The mechanical sphere's legs click as it starts to make its getaway. One leg gets off the warp pad...followed by another...then the rest. The sphere's legs stop for a moment just in time for Steven to realize its departure from the long trip.

"Huh?" Steven watches as the sphere dissapears over the edge, the clicking resuming at its normal pace. Steven immediately steps off the warp pad and he looks over the edge to spot the mechanical sphere walking down the wall towards ground level. Steven hesitates for a moment as the sphere's legs reach the dead soil.

Steven grunts as he leaps off the platform and onto the soil to catch up with his company. He stays close on its trail as it heads straight into the dense fog up ahead. Steven frowns as his eyes scan his new surroundings. His eyes droop as he spots something glinting in the corner of his eye.

Not far ahead of him is a drill with a giant gem attached at the top. The drill head's tip threatens Steven as he passes right by it. He could only spot more of them in the distance exactly the same as the first one he came across. Steven presses a hand to one of the drills, the palm of his pudgy hand feeling the cold metallic surface.

He slips his hand across the drill as he focuses back on the mechanical sphere. The sphere slows itself to a stop as Steven's hand slips off the drill. He widens his eyes as the mechanical sphere instantly forces its legs to give way. The sphere slumps down to the ground, the legs sliding into the sphere without a trace.

A blue spot appears on the sphere. It's pulsating for a few moments. The light starts flashing on and off from the top--and the sphere beeps every couple seconds. The beeping resonates throughout the kindergarten as Steven steps up to the sphere...only to stop himself short. He turns his back towards the sphere...and he takes an abrupt step back, gawking.

Approaching Steven from behind is a bigger version of the same sphere reluctantly keeping him company during its travels. The sphere's legs stomp across the soil as its size grows even larger by the second. Steven steps out of the sphere's way just as it charges up to the smaller sphere.

The smaller sphere stops beeping as the light stops flashing. The sphere's legs pop back up from its surface and it gets back up on its feet. The sphere crawls up towards Steven as the goliath takes a couple more steps forward. Steven takes a step back, raising his eyebrow from the sphere next to him to the larger one twice his size.

The larger sphere transforms into an inverted pyramid and it crashes down into the ground. It fuses with the soil, a bright light flashing in the form of a square. The light fades from the square, revealing a platform. Steven steps up to examine it. He places one foot down as the leftover sphere crawls onto the platform.

The platform vibrates, forcing Steven to stagger onto it. "Whoa. Whoa!" He stretches his arms out as he squats through a moue. The platform drops and descends into the underground with green glowing coils and tubes attached to the earth. The sphere remains still on the platform as Steven turns his head in all sorts of directions, his eyes bulging.

Steven's mouth hangs open, unable to utter a sound as the platform floats down towards its unseen destination. The platform slows down as Steven turns to face the void ahead of him. The platform continues to slow down until it stops.

"Huh?" The platform shakes for a moment as a slab springs from the darkness into the light. It plugs itself into the platform as a yellow light floods into the void, revealing a small space of screens, metal, and a giant green crystal in the core. The yellow light diverges and into the other streams towards the crystal.

The screens turn on, revealing diagrams and charts, as a pillar rises in front of the crystal. Steven watches as the mechanical sphere hurries up to the pillar and stops right in front of it. Its legs give way as Steven hears something fall onto the ground underneath the platform. The sphere ahead of him beeps as another sphere with striped legs click against the wall.

The sphere crawls into the surface as the other sphere continues its beeping. Steven proceeds with caution as he finally steps off the platform. Steven bites his lip as the spheres join each other's side, leaning and bouncing up and down, moving its legs without any intention to actually move anywhere else for the moment. "Uh, what's going on? What are you guys doing?"

The sphere that has been beeping freezes and steps towards him. The slot at the core slips out allowing the canon to emerge and aim towards the intruder. Steven freezes in his tracks as he gulps. Steven gazes at the sphere's canon as the other sphere crawls up the pillar and slaps its legs onto the surface, laying flat on its side.

The sphere glows as Steven's eyes dart towards the sphere not threatening to fire its goop at him. A screen emerges from the crystal. After a few moments of static, the monitor reveals a face Steven has never seen before. Staring at him through a clear visor is a pair of green eyes widening at the sight of him.