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Chapter 4: Enter the Death Masks

So there they stood, staring at the stranger who had just beaten Jasper without much effort, the one called Master Maskus.

Pearl and Amethyst felt intimidated by the mask wearing figure. He looks like nothing that could have come from Homeworld, or at the very least Planet Earth. He clearly has access to strange energy or magic abilities that were well suited for combat. His comrades seemed rather weak, but the thought of possibly hundreds of more made them stand their guard for whatever they have in mind.

Connie was just as cautious as the Gems. From what one of them called Scouter #52 said; they were watching Jasper’s behavior. She perfectly understands the process of preserving nature and to not disrupt the lives of Earth’s beautiful creatures, but Jasper was held in the Temple, where Garnet was. Where was she, why isn’t she here? She even took into account that #52 was there in Beach City, blending in with the surroundings (poorly). She thought of the possibilities that they’re Homeworld Spies and kept a sharp eye for any possible attacks.

Steven …… well he’s still being overwhelmed by the awesome battle and just assumed this guy was a superhero just like the ones he’d read about in comics. The three serious ones (which also include Amethyst) just stared at Steven’s hype state, expecting him to get an autograph, and on que he took out a sheet of paper and a pen.

Maskus gave out a soft laugh. “I see you are not so trustworthy of me, I can see why.” Maskus examined Jasper’s gem in his hand. “And I also see you’re not all humans, well that can be said about both of us.”

All the creatures gathered around Maskus. “Scouters. Give them our grace.”

All the creatures, called Scouters, bowed to the Gems. “Please forgive our intrusion, but please listen to our master’s words.” The Scouters all spoke. “He wants to share his wisdom.”

“Wisdom?” Mayor Dewey stood up as all of Beach City (a.k.a. the actual supporting characters) came out of hiding in some ridiculous places. “It’s going to be one of those ‘save the environment’ garbage – I mean I hug trees!”

The Gems still kept their stance as all the Scouters centered round Maskus, to make what looks like a symbol of an eye, with Maskus in the center. “Humans of this world,-”

“So you guys are from another planet!” shouted Amethyst, given an annoyed look by Maskus.

“Hold your questions, pleaaaaase.” Maskus said sternly. “Humans of this world, how do you currently feel about the way of ruling of your lives? Do you think your leaders should provide better-”

“Uh dah, terrorist!” shouted Dewey. “He wants to … uh ….. blow up our ….. stuff!”

“SILENCE YOU INSIGNIFICENT VERMIN!” shouted Maskus as he unleashed a horrid green aura around his body as the Scouters scattered in fear. “As I was saying-”

“Stop right now!”

Maskus sighed as Pearl interrupted him.

“I’ve heard this kind of speech before from Steven’s movies.” She pointed at Maskus dramatically. “You’re using questions to help manipulate the people to think that their current leaders are terrible, which they sort of are.” Pearl held her breath with the last few words. “Then you come in bringing promises that will let the humans to willingly elect YOU as their leader for all eternity. However you will either go against your words or play around with what you’ve said in order to enslave their very lives!”

Maskus’s arms lowered as he eyes just widened from Pearl’s speech as everyone gasped and started booing at him.

“Uhhhh, uhhhh…..”

But then garbage started being thrown by the people as they shouted harsh warning and threats, which infuriated him and the Scouters.

“Halt your actions, I must-”

Then a sloppy joe was thrown right in his face.

“Ha, that was me! I threw that!” shouted Lars.

The first unlikeable non-villain character excited and prideful attitude dropped like an anchor as Maskus slowly turned to him with furious green eyes. Before the boy with the weird ears knew it, he was lifted from the ground, gasping for air as a shadow hand held him by the neck.

“LARS!” shouted both Steven and Sadie.

The humans all gasped as shock froze their bodies as they watched the shadow hand grasping Lars’s neck, chocking him to near suffocation, until with one slice, Connie cut through the arm with Rose’s Sword.

“Boooooo!” shouted the Scouters as Lars landed in Connie’s arms.

“Hmph.” After catching this breath and looking at all the sight seers, Lars folded his arms and turned away. “I could have gotten out of that myself.” Connie then dropped Lars in the dirty, slushy snow.

“Yaaaaaay!” shouted the Scouters.

Pearl glared at Maskus whipping off the meat off his face. “I guess I don’t need to say anymore then.”

“At least he would be missed the least.” Maskus examined the food in his hand and shook it off. “I see you will not co-operate so freely. How about I start with a proper introduction to what we are.”

Maskus bowed to the heroes. “I am Master Maskus, and the Scouters and I are called …… Death Masks!”

From their name alone, Steven knew he had to become Serious Steven. “So you guys are really villains. I should have known the moment you paused before revealing your people’s name!”

“It’s for effect.” #52 said before Maskus pushed him away.

“You will not listen to my words, but how about we end this quickly, with a simple trade instead?”

“Like what? I got as much junk as I need.” Amethyst said.

Maskus waved his finger. “Well I suppose the word, ‘trade’, can be considered an understatement.”

“And maybe ‘hurrying the heck up’ is an understatement too.”

Feeling annoyed from Amethyst being impatient, Maskus pointed to the crystal lying next to Connie’s parents.

“Hey, that’s for Connie!” Steven said in a higher tone. “I don’t like the look of this.”

“At least you’re on our side again.” Pearl blocked Maskus’s view of the crystal. “And why do you want this crystal? Does this have anything to do with the Gems or Homeworld?”

“From its origins, well your kind would make a perfect suspect. But I came not from your people or your home, but I see that it will be connected with all of you in the near future.” Maskus smiled. “But I believe the stakes are too high for you to hold onto that crystal.”

From his hands, two crystalized objects appeared. He stretched his arms towards the heroes, who cautiously looked at the two items. “Can you tell me what I have here?”

It only took them a split second to realize the horrific act Maskus have done. “Garnet!” shouted the Crystals Gems as Pearl tried snatching them, but shadow hands from the ground held her still. She zapped each hand as Maskus retracted his arm.

“And I have this human as well!” A portal appeared and out came Ronaldo, crystalized just as Ruby and Sapphire are.

Not a lot of care was shown.

“……. Alright then.” Maskus held Ronaldo and vaporized the crystal, freeing the conspiracy theorist as he dramatically gasped for air.

“See ….. you cannot ….. with stand …… the might of-” Maskus picked him up and threw him at any humans that resembles him a bit.

“So what would it be? The Gems who were once one, or the Cross-Over Crystal?”

Steven and Connie looked at each other. “Cross-Over Crystal?” Steven then gasped. “Are you from another dimension where the Crying Breakfast Friends live?”

“….. Crying what?” Maskus decided to ignore that part. “You are half right? But enough talk. What is your choice?”

“Hmmmmmmmmm?” Amethyst thought to herself. “A-hmmmmmmmmmmmmm!”

“Do not think you can trick me? What are you stalling for?”

“Hmmmmmmmmmmm!”

“Are you from the Space Battles dimension?” asked Steven. “Because you remind me of Darth Invader.”

Maskus eyed everyone, but then noticed Lion entering a portal. “What the? Where did that beast go?”

Maskus was then ambushed by a surprise attack by Lion, who bit down on Maskus’s arm, releasing Ruby and Sapphire.

Amethyst spin dashed towards the captive Gems, but Maskus managed to slam Lion onto Amethyst.

“Lion!” Steven called out as he rushed to his pet as Connie cut off Maskus’s hands with Rose’s sword. “I hope that’s not a permanent damage?”

Maskus grinned as his cut arm quickly regenerated, slightly relieving Connie, but spooking her far more.

Pearl leaped into the air and shot multiple lasers around Maskus with direct hit, which allowed Amethyst to grab the Gems and ran toward cover behind a car.

She threw the crystals to the ground, but was not able to open them. She transformed into a hammer to smash them, but nothing happen. “Come on, you stupid crystals. Open up!” Amethyst started gnawing at them before a horde of Scouters and another type of Death Mask appeared.

“Woah, got some tribal guys right here.” Amethyst said to the 3 foot tall tribal like creatures with spears and body paint.

“We are called Hunters.” One of them spoke. “I am Hunter #345. We get them back!”

“Scouters, Hunters? And you all have numbers for names.” Amethyst drew two whips out. “I smell some rip-offs.”

“Yeah …….” Steven said as Scouters and Hunters surrounded them as well. “I’m getting a weird Kingdom Brains feeling from all this.”

“We are not Heartless knock-offs!” shouted all the Death Masks.

“I was gonna say Brainless.” Steven said. “But Heartless sound so much cooler!”

Lion stood up and used his sonic roar attack on the creatures, blowing them away as Connie sliced a Scouter in half.

She was surprised to see a mini black hole appear and suck the pieced all up. “What was that?”

“You cannot kill us!” shouted #52 from a distance. “That boy with the weird body piercing on his belly is right about one thing. We are from another dimension!”

“Impossible!” Pearl shouted as she fought face to face with Maskus. “That was proven to be false.”

“Ha!” an old man shouted in the background. “S-See Morty, Even s(burp)tupidity can be found here too. J-Just look at that guy.”

“Hey!” shouted Lars.

Pearl jabbed at Maskus, but the masked man swiftly dodged and grabbed ahold of the spear. “Knowledge. It is a blessing and a curse, but those that not know knowledge, can understand nothing.”

“You’re going to get sued now!” shouted Steven as he blocked a Scouter with his shield.

Maskus quickly looked to see the pink shield Steven wields; the shield of Rose Quartz. “How interesting.”

Pearl tried to attack while Maskus was distracted, but he fell into a portal and dragged Pearl with him. They appeared several feet away towards the temple as Maskus pinned Pearl into the snow covered beach.

“I’m a comin’ P!” Amethyst ran ahead and wiped out half of the Death Masks surrounding Steven, Connie, and Lion. “I’ll help Pearl. You two hold onto this!” Amethyst threw Steven Ruby and Sapphire as Connie sliced another Scouter.

“Garnet!” Steven shouted, shaking the crystalized Gems in his hands.

“No use now, Steven.” Connie cut the spear of a Hunter, who quickly fled. “Maskus can only do that. So how about we take care of his army and hold him hostage.”

“And …. What’s happening to them again?” Steven asked about the creatures.

“We Death Masks are warped back to our home dimension when we are defeated.” Scouter #52 said. “We’ll just get fixed right up and go right back to work; sometimes after therapy.”

“O.K.!” Steven said joyfully.

“Nice to see you’re relax by all this ….. because soon you won’t be relaxed at all!” #52 said viciously. “Death Masks, the pink jaguar with the puffy hair is weak!”

“Rooooooooaaaaaar!” Lion shouted.

“Nevermind ….. just attack anyway!”

The Death Masks attacked as Steven fights alongside Connie like how they did when facing off with Pearl before.

“Connie! Be Careful!” shouted Steven as more Death Masks appeared and blocked its attack with his shield, and then turning around so Connie can slice the Death Mask to pieces.

A laser was shot by a Scouter and hit Steven in the arm. “Ow.” Steven felt his arm. “That hurt!”

The Scouter just looked at the boy with confusion. “Usually that causes severe burns to humans back in our world. They’ve must have improved greatly over the-” Connie cut the Scouter while two Hunter tried attacking form the side. Steven created a spiked bubble to block them and ran around the area to flatten any others before several Scouters swarmed around some people. Steven popped the bubble and the two kids split and defeated the Death Masks scaring the humans as they tried to reach cover.

“How dare you threaten the innocent?!” Connie said as she stabbed a Hunter who was going to attack Onion.

“I dunno. I’m getting horrible vibe off that kid.” A Scouter said before Steven threw him at some other Scouters like a bowling ball.

“These guys are easy!” Steven said as he acted cool, only to be whacked on the head by a Hunter. Connie cut through the Hunter and offered Steven her hand.

“I know this is actually getting fun, but this is still serious!”

Steven nodded with determination as he grabbed Connie’s hand and they ran back to the beach to face more Death Masks.

In the background, Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran watched with anxiety, seeing their daughter fight the alien creatures, but at the same time they felt proud at how well she fought. Priyanka could see the look in her eyes how strong her baby had become through her friendship with Steven and the Gems; either that or how weak the Death Masks are.

“Hey, I smashed this one with a hammer!” shouted Sadie’s mom Barbara waving a hammer as the Scouters ran in fear.

“Yeah!” shouted Lars, trying to dry his pants from the snow. “Let’s get them!” Then a single Scouter shot lasers from its mouth, circling around Lars to make a perfect image of him. “O.K. ….. every man for himself!”

“Now you’re just being sexist.” The Scouter teased the boy, confusing him as he glanced at Sadie.

“What, no! I’m not sexy! I mean sexist!”

A gasp was heard from the background.

“Relax, Morty. ‘Sexy’ is now a(burp)-acceptable to parents for some reason.” An old man started laughing. “Won’t they be surprise once their kids hit puberty?”

………. I know I wanted to avoid Family Guy humor, but would other crude and mature humor like this count if it’s from another show ……… I’ll keep it at a minimum!

“Doug.” Priyanka looked at her husband. “Didn’t those creatures want that crystal?”

Doug lit up. “Right, we should-” That’s when the parents noticed two Hunters picking up the crystal.

“Uhhhhhhh.” The Hunters stared at them awkwardly for a moment before dashing off.

“Oh no! You’re not getting away with our daughter’s gift!” shouted Priyanka as she and Doug chased after them.

After defeating three Hunters, Connie noticed her parents running off. “At least they’ll be safe.”

Steven blocked an attack from a Scouter and threw his shield at it. Seeing her parents leave, Steven just realized something urgent. “Connie, didn’t you leave the crystal with your parents?”

“Oh my gosh!” Connie gasped, recalling not seeing the crystal with them. “The crystal must have been stolen. We have to get it back before-”

“CONNIE!” Steven gasped as he jumped next to her and created his shield to block an immense fire around the two kids, melting the snow instantly.

They watched in shock as the flame died down. “Where did that come from!?” they both asked. Then they looked down the beach to see a portal had just appeared, leaving a fresh clear trail of once snow-covered sand.

“Sssssssss!” a hissing sound appeared from the portal as something large and long slithered out from the rift in space.

The shield slowly vanished as Steven and Connie slowly stood back as a shadow casted over them in the shape of a serpent hissing at them.

End of Chapter

A/N: From the first version of this, the joke with the Death Masks are that they are rip-offs of Heartless from Kingdom Hearts. Each type of Death Mask will be based off a Heartless from the first game.

Description
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Chapter 4: Enter the Death Masks

So there they stood, staring at the stranger who had just beaten Jasper without much effort, the one called Master Maskus.

Pearl and Amethyst felt intimidated by the mask wearing figure. He looks like nothing that could have come from Homeworld, or at the very least Planet Earth. He clearly has access to strange energy or magic abilities that were well suited for combat. His comrades seemed rather weak, but the thought of possibly hundreds of more made them stand their guard for whatever they have in mind.

Connie was just as cautious as the Gems. From what one of them called Scouter #52 said; they were watching Jasper’s behavior. She perfectly understands the process of preserving nature and to not disrupt the lives of Earth’s beautiful creatures, but Jasper was held in the Temple, where Garnet was. Where was she, why isn’t she here? She even took into account that #52 was there in Beach City, blending in with the surroundings (poorly). She thought of the possibilities that they’re Homeworld Spies and kept a sharp eye for any possible attacks.

Steven …… well he’s still being overwhelmed by the awesome battle and just assumed this guy was a superhero just like the ones he’d read about in comics. The three serious ones (which also include Amethyst) just stared at Steven’s hype state, expecting him to get an autograph, and on que he took out a sheet of paper and a pen.

Maskus gave out a soft laugh. “I see you are not so trustworthy of me, I can see why.” Maskus examined Jasper’s gem in his hand. “And I also see you’re not all humans, well that can be said about both of us.”

All the creatures gathered around Maskus. “Scouters. Give them our grace.”

All the creatures, called Scouters, bowed to the Gems. “Please forgive our intrusion, but please listen to our master’s words.” The Scouters all spoke. “He wants to share his wisdom.”

“Wisdom?” Mayor Dewey stood up as all of Beach City (a.k.a. the actual supporting characters) came out of hiding in some ridiculous places. “It’s going to be one of those ‘save the environment’ garbage – I mean I hug trees!”

The Gems still kept their stance as all the Scouters centered round Maskus, to make what looks like a symbol of an eye, with Maskus in the center. “Humans of this world,-”

“So you guys are from another planet!” shouted Amethyst, given an annoyed look by Maskus.

“Hold your questions, pleaaaaase.” Maskus said sternly. “Humans of this world, how do you currently feel about the way of ruling of your lives? Do you think your leaders should provide better-”

“Uh dah, terrorist!” shouted Dewey. “He wants to … uh ….. blow up our ….. stuff!”

“SILENCE YOU INSIGNIFICENT VERMIN!” shouted Maskus as he unleashed a horrid green aura around his body as the Scouters scattered in fear. “As I was saying-”

“Stop right now!”

Maskus sighed as Pearl interrupted him.

“I’ve heard this kind of speech before from Steven’s movies.” She pointed at Maskus dramatically. “You’re using questions to help manipulate the people to think that their current leaders are terrible, which they sort of are.” Pearl held her breath with the last few words. “Then you come in bringing promises that will let the humans to willingly elect YOU as their leader for all eternity. However you will either go against your words or play around with what you’ve said in order to enslave their very lives!”

Maskus’s arms lowered as he eyes just widened from Pearl’s speech as everyone gasped and started booing at him.

“Uhhhh, uhhhh…..”

But then garbage started being thrown by the people as they shouted harsh warning and threats, which infuriated him and the Scouters.

“Halt your actions, I must-”

Then a sloppy joe was thrown right in his face.

“Ha, that was me! I threw that!” shouted Lars.

The first unlikeable non-villain character excited and prideful attitude dropped like an anchor as Maskus slowly turned to him with furious green eyes. Before the boy with the weird ears knew it, he was lifted from the ground, gasping for air as a shadow hand held him by the neck.

“LARS!” shouted both Steven and Sadie.

The humans all gasped as shock froze their bodies as they watched the shadow hand grasping Lars’s neck, chocking him to near suffocation, until with one slice, Connie cut through the arm with Rose’s Sword.

“Boooooo!” shouted the Scouters as Lars landed in Connie’s arms.

“Hmph.” After catching this breath and looking at all the sight seers, Lars folded his arms and turned away. “I could have gotten out of that myself.” Connie then dropped Lars in the dirty, slushy snow.

“Yaaaaaay!” shouted the Scouters.

Pearl glared at Maskus whipping off the meat off his face. “I guess I don’t need to say anymore then.”

“At least he would be missed the least.” Maskus examined the food in his hand and shook it off. “I see you will not co-operate so freely. How about I start with a proper introduction to what we are.”

Maskus bowed to the heroes. “I am Master Maskus, and the Scouters and I are called …… Death Masks!”

From their name alone, Steven knew he had to become Serious Steven. “So you guys are really villains. I should have known the moment you paused before revealing your people’s name!”

“It’s for effect.” #52 said before Maskus pushed him away.

“You will not listen to my words, but how about we end this quickly, with a simple trade instead?”

“Like what? I got as much junk as I need.” Amethyst said.

Maskus waved his finger. “Well I suppose the word, ‘trade’, can be considered an understatement.”

“And maybe ‘hurrying the heck up’ is an understatement too.”

Feeling annoyed from Amethyst being impatient, Maskus pointed to the crystal lying next to Connie’s parents.

“Hey, that’s for Connie!” Steven said in a higher tone. “I don’t like the look of this.”

“At least you’re on our side again.” Pearl blocked Maskus’s view of the crystal. “And why do you want this crystal? Does this have anything to do with the Gems or Homeworld?”

“From its origins, well your kind would make a perfect suspect. But I came not from your people or your home, but I see that it will be connected with all of you in the near future.” Maskus smiled. “But I believe the stakes are too high for you to hold onto that crystal.”

From his hands, two crystalized objects appeared. He stretched his arms towards the heroes, who cautiously looked at the two items. “Can you tell me what I have here?”

It only took them a split second to realize the horrific act Maskus have done. “Garnet!” shouted the Crystals Gems as Pearl tried snatching them, but shadow hands from the ground held her still. She zapped each hand as Maskus retracted his arm.

“And I have this human as well!” A portal appeared and out came Ronaldo, crystalized just as Ruby and Sapphire are.

Not a lot of care was shown.

“……. Alright then.” Maskus held Ronaldo and vaporized the crystal, freeing the conspiracy theorist as he dramatically gasped for air.

“See ….. you cannot ….. with stand …… the might of-” Maskus picked him up and threw him at any humans that resembles him a bit.

“So what would it be? The Gems who were once one, or the Cross-Over Crystal?”

Steven and Connie looked at each other. “Cross-Over Crystal?” Steven then gasped. “Are you from another dimension where the Crying Breakfast Friends live?”

“….. Crying what?” Maskus decided to ignore that part. “You are half right? But enough talk. What is your choice?”

“Hmmmmmmmmm?” Amethyst thought to herself. “A-hmmmmmmmmmmmmm!”

“Do not think you can trick me? What are you stalling for?”

“Hmmmmmmmmmmm!”

“Are you from the Space Battles dimension?” asked Steven. “Because you remind me of Darth Invader.”

Maskus eyed everyone, but then noticed Lion entering a portal. “What the? Where did that beast go?”

Maskus was then ambushed by a surprise attack by Lion, who bit down on Maskus’s arm, releasing Ruby and Sapphire.

Amethyst spin dashed towards the captive Gems, but Maskus managed to slam Lion onto Amethyst.

“Lion!” Steven called out as he rushed to his pet as Connie cut off Maskus’s hands with Rose’s sword. “I hope that’s not a permanent damage?”

Maskus grinned as his cut arm quickly regenerated, slightly relieving Connie, but spooking her far more.

Pearl leaped into the air and shot multiple lasers around Maskus with direct hit, which allowed Amethyst to grab the Gems and ran toward cover behind a car.

She threw the crystals to the ground, but was not able to open them. She transformed into a hammer to smash them, but nothing happen. “Come on, you stupid crystals. Open up!” Amethyst started gnawing at them before a horde of Scouters and another type of Death Mask appeared.

“Woah, got some tribal guys right here.” Amethyst said to the 3 foot tall tribal like creatures with spears and body paint.

“We are called Hunters.” One of them spoke. “I am Hunter #345. We get them back!”

“Scouters, Hunters? And you all have numbers for names.” Amethyst drew two whips out. “I smell some rip-offs.”

“Yeah …….” Steven said as Scouters and Hunters surrounded them as well. “I’m getting a weird Kingdom Brains feeling from all this.”

“We are not Heartless knock-offs!” shouted all the Death Masks.

“I was gonna say Brainless.” Steven said. “But Heartless sound so much cooler!”

Lion stood up and used his sonic roar attack on the creatures, blowing them away as Connie sliced a Scouter in half.

She was surprised to see a mini black hole appear and suck the pieced all up. “What was that?”

“You cannot kill us!” shouted #52 from a distance. “That boy with the weird body piercing on his belly is right about one thing. We are from another dimension!”

“Impossible!” Pearl shouted as she fought face to face with Maskus. “That was proven to be false.”

“Ha!” an old man shouted in the background. “S-See Morty, Even s(burp)tupidity can be found here too. J-Just look at that guy.”

“Hey!” shouted Lars.

Pearl jabbed at Maskus, but the masked man swiftly dodged and grabbed ahold of the spear. “Knowledge. It is a blessing and a curse, but those that not know knowledge, can understand nothing.”

“You’re going to get sued now!” shouted Steven as he blocked a Scouter with his shield.

Maskus quickly looked to see the pink shield Steven wields; the shield of Rose Quartz. “How interesting.”

Pearl tried to attack while Maskus was distracted, but he fell into a portal and dragged Pearl with him. They appeared several feet away towards the temple as Maskus pinned Pearl into the snow covered beach.

“I’m a comin’ P!” Amethyst ran ahead and wiped out half of the Death Masks surrounding Steven, Connie, and Lion. “I’ll help Pearl. You two hold onto this!” Amethyst threw Steven Ruby and Sapphire as Connie sliced another Scouter.

“Garnet!” Steven shouted, shaking the crystalized Gems in his hands.

“No use now, Steven.” Connie cut the spear of a Hunter, who quickly fled. “Maskus can only do that. So how about we take care of his army and hold him hostage.”

“And …. What’s happening to them again?” Steven asked about the creatures.

“We Death Masks are warped back to our home dimension when we are defeated.” Scouter #52 said. “We’ll just get fixed right up and go right back to work; sometimes after therapy.”

“O.K.!” Steven said joyfully.

“Nice to see you’re relax by all this ….. because soon you won’t be relaxed at all!” #52 said viciously. “Death Masks, the pink jaguar with the puffy hair is weak!”

“Rooooooooaaaaaar!” Lion shouted.

“Nevermind ….. just attack anyway!”

The Death Masks attacked as Steven fights alongside Connie like how they did when facing off with Pearl before.

“Connie! Be Careful!” shouted Steven as more Death Masks appeared and blocked its attack with his shield, and then turning around so Connie can slice the Death Mask to pieces.

A laser was shot by a Scouter and hit Steven in the arm. “Ow.” Steven felt his arm. “That hurt!”

The Scouter just looked at the boy with confusion. “Usually that causes severe burns to humans back in our world. They’ve must have improved greatly over the-” Connie cut the Scouter while two Hunter tried attacking form the side. Steven created a spiked bubble to block them and ran around the area to flatten any others before several Scouters swarmed around some people. Steven popped the bubble and the two kids split and defeated the Death Masks scaring the humans as they tried to reach cover.

“How dare you threaten the innocent?!” Connie said as she stabbed a Hunter who was going to attack Onion.

“I dunno. I’m getting horrible vibe off that kid.” A Scouter said before Steven threw him at some other Scouters like a bowling ball.

“These guys are easy!” Steven said as he acted cool, only to be whacked on the head by a Hunter. Connie cut through the Hunter and offered Steven her hand.

“I know this is actually getting fun, but this is still serious!”

Steven nodded with determination as he grabbed Connie’s hand and they ran back to the beach to face more Death Masks.

In the background, Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran watched with anxiety, seeing their daughter fight the alien creatures, but at the same time they felt proud at how well she fought. Priyanka could see the look in her eyes how strong her baby had become through her friendship with Steven and the Gems; either that or how weak the Death Masks are.

“Hey, I smashed this one with a hammer!” shouted Sadie’s mom Barbara waving a hammer as the Scouters ran in fear.

“Yeah!” shouted Lars, trying to dry his pants from the snow. “Let’s get them!” Then a single Scouter shot lasers from its mouth, circling around Lars to make a perfect image of him. “O.K. ….. every man for himself!”

“Now you’re just being sexist.” The Scouter teased the boy, confusing him as he glanced at Sadie.

“What, no! I’m not sexy! I mean sexist!”

A gasp was heard from the background.

“Relax, Morty. ‘Sexy’ is now a(burp)-acceptable to parents for some reason.” An old man started laughing. “Won’t they be surprise once their kids hit puberty?”

………. I know I wanted to avoid Family Guy humor, but would other crude and mature humor like this count if it’s from another show ……… I’ll keep it at a minimum!

“Doug.” Priyanka looked at her husband. “Didn’t those creatures want that crystal?”

Doug lit up. “Right, we should-” That’s when the parents noticed two Hunters picking up the crystal.

“Uhhhhhhh.” The Hunters stared at them awkwardly for a moment before dashing off.

“Oh no! You’re not getting away with our daughter’s gift!” shouted Priyanka as she and Doug chased after them.

After defeating three Hunters, Connie noticed her parents running off. “At least they’ll be safe.”

Steven blocked an attack from a Scouter and threw his shield at it. Seeing her parents leave, Steven just realized something urgent. “Connie, didn’t you leave the crystal with your parents?”

“Oh my gosh!” Connie gasped, recalling not seeing the crystal with them. “The crystal must have been stolen. We have to get it back before-”

“CONNIE!” Steven gasped as he jumped next to her and created his shield to block an immense fire around the two kids, melting the snow instantly.

They watched in shock as the flame died down. “Where did that come from!?” they both asked. Then they looked down the beach to see a portal had just appeared, leaving a fresh clear trail of once snow-covered sand.

“Sssssssss!” a hissing sound appeared from the portal as something large and long slithered out from the rift in space.

The shield slowly vanished as Steven and Connie slowly stood back as a shadow casted over them in the shape of a serpent hissing at them.

End of Chapter

A/N: From the first version of this, the joke with the Death Masks are that they are rip-offs of Heartless from Kingdom Hearts. Each type of Death Mask will be based off a Heartless from the first game.