Chapter Text
“This can't be happening! This has to be a dream! Lars! Lars!” Steven grabbed the worker around his waist “please tell me I’m dreaming!”
Lars shook Steven off “Get off me man, I'm stocking here!” He walked off grumpily
“I'm sorry, Steven. I guess they stopped making them.” Sadie tried to comfort
“Stopped making them?!” Steven cried “Why in the world would they stop making Cookie Cats?! They're only the most scrumptious and delicious ice-cream sandwich ever made! Don't they have laws for this?!”
Lars knelt down to stock the shelves “Tough bits, man. Nobody buys them anymore. I guess they couldn't compete with Lion Lickers”
Steven cried out in frustration as he walked over to the mentioned freezer
“Lion Lickers? Not Lion Lickers! Nobody likes them! They don't even look like lions! Kids these days, 'll tell ya what. Don’t you think so mom?” Steven looked over to his mother
“I think Lions are nice” Rose smiled “but I’m sorry about your ice cream”
“Well, if you miss your wimpy ice cream so much, why don't you make some with your "magic belly button"?” Lars chuckled
“That's not how it works, Lars! ...Right mom?” Steven looked down at his navel, poking his gem
“Uh… no…” Rose furrowed her brow
“Oh, sweet Cookie Cats, with your crunchy cookie outside and your icy creamy insides... You were too good for this world.” Steven drew a cookie cat on the freezer with his finger and kissed it gently
“Uh… Steven?” Sadie asked carefully “do you want to take the freezer with you?
Steven nodded glumly as Rose hoisted up the appliance
Heading back to the temple, Steven hummed happily as Rose trailed behind him
Steven opened the door happily
“Hey, guys, you won't believe this-“ Steven was cut off by the abrupt launch of a centipeetle his way. A whip wrapped around its body, being pulled back towards Amethyst
“Sup, Steven?” Amethyst greeted. Rose placed herself in front of Steven and projected her shield in front of herself and Steven. Steven’s eyes widened in wonder, as they always did with the gems
“Awesome! What are these things?” Steven tried to see past his mother’s dress
Pearl groaned and lifted up a centipeetlle
“Ugh! Sorry, Steven. We'll get these Centipeetles out of your room. We think they were trying to get into the temple.”
“Aww you don’t have to get rid of them, they’re really cool!” Steven jumped
“Be that as it may,” Rose began “we need to make sure we get them contained”
Amethyst poofed one of the creatures, raising an eyebrow
“Um, you guys? These things don't have gems.”
“That means there must be a mother somewhere nearby” Garnet stepped forward
“We should probably find it before anyone gets hurt.” Pearl sighed
Steven jumped up “ooh! Ooh! Can I come? Can I? Can I?”
Rose smiled faintly “Steven. All life is precious. Especially yours. That’s why we need to wait until you’re prepared”
“Steven, until you learn to control the powers in your gem, we'll take care of protecting humanity, okay?” Pearl snapped a centipetlle’s neck
“Aw, man.” Steven noticed a centipeetle crawling around inside the fridge “Hey! Get out of there! Go on! Shoo! Shoo! Aw! They got into everything! Not cool!”
Garnet punched and poofed the bug. Steven gazed inside the fridge, noticing a small pile of Cookie Cats
“No way. I-it can't be! Wha-where did you get these?! I thought they stopped making them!” Pearl closed the fridge “Well, we heard that, too, and since they're your favorite...”
“We went out and stole a bunch” Amethyst knelt back
Pearl rolled her eyes “I went back and paid for them”
“The whole thing was my idea” Garnet retracted her gauntlets
Rose smiled at Steven’s wonder “all this fuss over a cat made of cookies? Your enthusiasm is wonderful Steven”
“It’s not a cat made from cookies mom! He’s a cool new treat!” Steven held up the sandwich happily singing the cookie cat jingle, which made Rose giggle
Steven finished and tore open the wrapper, munching on the cookie “I can't believe you did this. I'm gonna save these forever!... right after I eat this one. Oh, so good! I like to eat the ears first.” Steven was so wrapped up in the cookie, he didn’t notice his gem beginning to glow beneath his shirt
The Crystal Gems gasped.
“Uh… Steven?” Amethyst pointed
Steven looked down and saw the gem glowing. He started bouncing up and down
“Ah! My gem!”
“Try and summon your weapon!” Amethyst urged
“I don't know how!” Steven panicked “Aaaah, it's fading! How do I make it come back?!”
“Just calm down Steven.” Rose whispered gently
“Breathe” Pearl joined “don’t force it”
The glow slowly faded and Steven groaned
“I’m sick of this!” Steven threw his hands up “can’t you just teach me how to do it already?”
Rose stepped forward “I should have done this long ago. Are you ready Steven?”
“Yes mom! Yes! I’m so ready!” Steven stood firm like a solider
Garnet Amethyst and Pearl had left the area for a bit, on the hunt for the centipeetle mother. Rose sat in front of Steven, cross-legged. Steven bounced excitedly.
“Okay mom! What do I do! How do I summon my weapon! What will it be? Tell me!”
Rose held up a hand and calmed Steven
“Easy Steven. There are many ways to summon your weapon. It can vary from gem to gem. And every gem is as unique as every life on Earth” Rose smiled wistfully
Steven leaned in closer
“how do you summon your weapon?” Steven asked
Rose breathed deeply “I think about protecting those I love at all costs. And the shield simply…” The transparent pink shield materialized between them.
Steven’s eyes sparkled with determination. Steven tried hard to do something, anything, puffing out his chest and straining his head. Nothing happened still. Steven flopped on the floor
“Nothing is working!” Steven complained “I think our best bet is to recreate what I did last time my gem glowed”
Once the Crystal Gems returned Steven promptly arranged them to fit his experiment
“Garnet and Amethyst were there. Pearl was next to the fridge” Steven guided her over “Amethyst I think your arms were crossed” Steven knelt down by Pearl’s feet, adjusting her foot slightly “Pearl your foot was tilted to the left”
“I don’t think it works this way, Steven” Pearl said gently
“mom. I think your hands were on your chest. And Garnet… yeah…” Steven reached for his cookie cat “I took a bite of this. But I sang a song to mom first! Uh… frozen treat… all news taste… interstellar war… aw. It was funnier last time. Am I really a Crystal Gem?” Steven lifted up his shirt, seeing the regular old pink gem.
“Of course you’re a Crystal Gem Steven…” Rose gently cupped Steven’s cheek
“And you’re fun to have around, even if your gem is useless” Amethyst shrugged
“Amethyst!” Pearl chided
“I mean… we’re not Crystal Gems without you” Amethyst corrected
“Yeah… even if I don’t have powers, I still got Cookie Cat!” Steven took a large bite “so good”
Steven’s gem began to glow softly yet again, a bright light illuminating the room, projecting into a large form
“Steven… it’s a shield!” Pearl cried
“Woah! What?!” Steven shouted “I get a shield? It’s just like yours mom!”
The shield bounced off and began to ricochet off of furniture after furniture, finally crashing into the TV
“I summon my weapon by eating ice cream!” Steven pumped his fist in the air
“What’s in these things?” Pearl wondered, inspecting the wrapper
A giant rumble outside broke their thoughts. Silhouettes of centipeetles crawled outside the temple.
The Gems ran outside, the mother centipeetle crawling up the temple
“Stay in the house Steven!” Pearl ordered
“No! I’m coming with you!” Steven ran to grab all the cookie cats
The centipeetle mother spat out acid at the gems. Rose threw up her shield and backed up as she led the gems to take refuge behind the broken hand of the temple statue
Steven ran outside, throwing a pebble at the mother
“Leave them alone!” Steven yelled, pulling out a cookie cat to eat
“Cookie Cat Crystal Combo powers, activate!” Steven lifted up his shirt to check. Nothing happened
“Uh-oh” Steven cried out as the centipeetle fixed on him
Pearl shouted out “We need to save Steven”
“Can we save ourselves first?!” Amethyst fought off a centipeetle
Rose ran closer to Steven, holding out an arm
“Steven! Get out of the way!”
“Goodbye my friends…” Steven continued to eat several cookies “why isn’t it working?!” Steven rolled out of the way of another acid spray, the cookie cat freezer getting caught in the crossfire
“NO!” Steven shouted, running to what was left of the freezer. He gripped it tightly, swinging it towards the mother “COOKIE CAT!”
The mother got electrocuted by the freezer
Rose caught up to Steven and threw up her shield to protect the two of them
“Steven, you were really brave there. But maybe next time, try to be a little more careful” Rose smiled gently
The rest of the gems attacked the mother while she was stunned until it poofed. Garnet gripped the gem and bubbled it away
Steven grabbed a cookie cat wrapper, burying it in the sand
“Farewell sweet cookie cats” Steven closed his eyes
“Though they aren’t organic life, I still sense the loss” Rose comforted
“I guess your powers don’t come from ice cream” Amethyst shrugged
“Of course they don’t” Rose smiled at Steven “but whatever it is that summons them, I’m sure it’s just as special as you”