The Black Gem

11. Super Watermelon Island

A Watermelon Steven slowly wakes up with the sun shining brightly in its face. It then sits up and looks around, finding itself in the middle of a forest. The Watermelon Steven looks down at its feet and jumps up in surprise, examining its watermelon body and arms in shock. It then looks at itself in the river and feels around its belly, revealing to be Steven in a Watermelon Steven's body. Steven opens his mouth, spitting out a few seeds with a growl, and quickly covers it. Steven then grunts even more, spitting out more seeds, and spins around in confusion. Steven sits down, mumbling to himself, when the ground rumbles a bit. A dog barking is heard, as a Melon Mutt jumps out of a nearby bush. It bounces along the ground, shakes its tail and rolls over to Steven. Steven pets the Mutt and it begins to lead Steven across the river, through the forest, and into the Watermelon village. Steven arrives at the village, seemingly a humble farming village, where several Watermelon Stevens are cultivating Baby Melons and then distributing them to Watermelon Steven families to raise as their own. Steven tours around the village, seeing Watermelon Stevens doing recreational activities, such as hacky sack, drumming and dancing. The Melon Mutt leads Steven to a giant statue in the middle of the village, resembling Baby Melon, where a Watermelon Steven elder is educating other Baby Melons about Baby Melon's sacrifice. Suddenly, a tremor happens again, startling the wildform on the island. A Watermelon Steven begin hitting a gong in a constant rhythm, and all the Watermelon Stevens gather around the Baby Melon statue. The elder shakes its stick, prompting all the Watermelon Stevens, including Melon Mutt, to touch their noses. Only Steven, unknowingly, did not follow and the elder points its stick at him. The Watermelon Stevens paints a yellow star on Steven's chest and gives him a flower crown. They then carry Steven on a wooden chair to a cliff and leaves him alone there. The Watermelon Stevens hide behind a geode arch and Steven growls at them in confusion. A Watermelon Steven then assures the pose of Baby Melon, hinting to Steven, and he takes the pose too, facing out to the sea. The tremor occurs again, as Malachite rise from the sea. Steven screams at the sight of Malachite, as she roars and tugs against her water shackles and chain.

"Steven..." Malachite says 

Malachite opens her mouth and rushes towards Steven, chomping on him.  

Steven wakes up on a mattress, panting and sweating, while the Crystal Gems and Peridot are gathered nearby.

 "Didn't you feel that?" Peridot cries.

 "Feel what?" Amethyst asks.

"The ground shook! This could be the start of the emergence of the Cluster." Peridot shouts as she points to some drawings on the chalkboard. "Stage 1: slight tremors every quarter hour. Stage 2: full-scale earthquakes. Stage 3-"  She flips the chalkboard. "The Earth is destroyed! We're running out of time. We need to drill right now!" Peridot declares.

"No this is not an Earthquake it's something different." Y/n suddenly says.

"It has to be the cluster what else could cause such vibrations in the planets surface!" Peridot says back. 

"No, it's Malachite!" Steven suddenly interrupts them.

"Malachite?!" Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet can be heard asking surprised.

"What?" Peridot asks.

"I was on Mask Island. I was in a Watermelon Steven. They have a lovely community, but Malachite, she was there!" Steven explains.

Amethyst coughs out a bite of her sandwich.

Garnet raises a hand to her visor. "Lapis Lazuli is losing control. Soon, Jasper will overpower her and Malachite will be loose." She says.