"Whew! It's like walking in an oven out here!" I fanned my face as I tried to keep up with the Gems. The sand kept getting in my sandals—bleh—and these weird rock things kept popping up like, "Surprise! Here's a pillar!"
Garnet was way ahead, not even sweating (because, y'know, Garnet). "Stay alert, Steven. This terrain is unpredictable."
"Unpredicta-whoa!" A new pillar shot up right where I was gonna step! I did a little flaily dance to keep my balance. "Haha! Nice try, desert! You almost got me that time!"
Amethyst turned around walking backwards. "Pfft—you look like a startled flamingo, dude."
"I do not!" I stuck my tongue out at her. "I was doing... tactical maneuvers!"
Pearl adjusted her visor. "Steven, perhaps you should—"
ROOOOOOAR!
The sound shook the whole desert! My belly did a flip-flop. "Whoa! What was that?!"
Amethyst's eyes lit up. "Finally! Something fun!" And zip—she was gone in a purple blur.
"Wait! Guys!" I waved my arms, but they were already jumping over dunes like it was nothing. "Aww, man..." I kicked at the sand. "I always get left behind..."
Crunch.
My whole body froze. That... wasn't me.
Slowly, so slowly, I turned around.
GASP!
A lion! A giant pink lion with glowy eyes was right behind me!
"Uh... h-hi there, Mr. Lion!" I squeaked, holding up my hands. "I-I'm just a harmless little Steven! Probably not even a snack's worth of—ACK!"
SLURP!
The lion licked me! A whole-face, slobbery LICK!
"Bleeeeh! Lion spit! Lion spit!" I wiped my face frantically. "That's disgusting! And also kinda sweet? Wait—" I sniffed. "Do you smell like... cotton candy?"
The lion booped me with its big nose, knocking me onto my butt.
"Hey!" I giggled, scrambling up. "You're super rude, you know that?"
It just flopped over and rolled in the sand, showing its big pink belly.
My eyes got all sparkly. "Oh. My. Gosh. You wanna be friends!"
I dove right into that fluffy mane. "You're like a giant strawberry marshmallow! Can I ride you? PLEEEEASE?"
The lion huffed, but when I climbed on, it didn't shake me off.
"YEEES! BEST DAY EVER!" I threw my hands up as it stood. "I'm gonna name you... Lion! Because you're a lion! And—oh! We should get you a collar! And a little lion bed! And—"
Lion sneezed right in my face.
"Okay, okay! We'll work on the manners first..."
-----------------------------
Ethan Pov..
I woke up before dawn, seeing the crystal gems exit through the the warp.
It was now the middle of the day, and three day, that's how long it took to earn this privilege of staying in their home. Endless hours humoring Steven's childish games, pretending to care about Pearl's history lectures, laughing at Amethyst's disgusting jokes. All to be allowed unsupervised access to the Temple.
I dropped into a handstand, muscles trembling as I began inverted push-ups. The burn spread through my already tired shoulders like wildfire.
Twenty-seven... twenty-eight...
Sweat dripped onto the polished floor below. As I descended slowly and pushed rapidly back up.
Thirty-five...
Collapsing onto my palms like a gymnast, I immediately transitioned into explosive frog jumps across the room. Each landing sent shocks through my legs, almost causing them to buckle every time I landed.
That's when I noticed it again.
The cuts on my knuckles from yesterday's training in the sand- gone. Not just healed it made my skin feel tougher, like my body had reinforced it after the damage.
My body had transformed since arriving in this world, still lean, but every ounce of me was hardened muscle. No wasted bulk, just pure functional strength.
Almost just like regeneration. but their was something strange about it.
I grabbed a kitchen knife.
I needed to be careful but it was almost necessary to test my abilities. I began with a shallow slash across my forearm. Blood welled... then stopped. Skin stitched itself in ten seconds. Clearly beyond a human but nothing gem related.
Next I did a significantly deeper cut. Only Fifteen seconds passed by before I saw a perfectly fine arm again.
And the final test, a stab wound. I've been stabbed before but never done the stabbing on myself. I moved with a dangerous motion and the pain flared white-hot - then dulled unnaturally fast as the tissue began to reknit.
Fascinating. I commented slightly wincing.
For all this testing my wound showed subtle changes. Narrower scars where wounds had been worst. Thicker calluses in high-impact areas. My body wasn't just healing cuts, it was optimizing. I noticed the more I cut the faster it became.
It could be a form of healing.. but I don't know that yet.
Putting my shirt I had tooken off to preventing sweat from building I put on it, and stood deep in thought. The Diamonds.
It was one thing I feared the most in this world and they wouldn't wait forever. We needed allies. The faster the better.
Lapis Lazuli was a good option. Her unmatched raw power, inarguably planetary-scale hydrokinesis made her a key part I needed. But emotionally volatile although bad could be used to my advantage, almost like steven did unknowingly.
Peridot was another great option and not only because she was my favorite character, As a brilliant tactician and mainly tech genius. And... okay, my favorite character, she fit the role perfectly of what I needed in a team, an easy choice for a right hand man. Bismuth was like peridot but a slight wildcard.
A warrior who understood real war. No pacifist delusions. There was nothing to question her about after all I completely agreed, she'd be eager to join me.
A flash interrupted my thoughts. The warp pad activated.
Steven tumbled out laughing, riding a giant pink lion.
"Ethan! Look what followed me home!"
I smirked.
One down. Three to go.