Ezra In Beach City (Book 1)

Giant Woman

Outside the Crystal Temple, Amethyst and Pearl were playing checkers on the beach while Ezra was reading a book on his beach towel with an umbrella over him for shade. Steven was perched on a lifeguard chair and pelted them with water balloons if they lose. Amethyst concentrated on her next move.

"Ha, take that!" Amethyst said as she captured one of Pearl's pieces.

"Wow, Amethyst, I'm impressed." Pearl said before she got hit with a water balloon.

"Now it's your move, Pearl." Steven said.

"Steven, are the water balloons really necessary?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah, this way the moves really matter." Steven replied.

"But it's checkers!" Pearl explained. "Every single move matters."

"It sounds like someone's being a sore loser." Amethyst said as she twirled a strand of her wet hair around her finger.

"I'm not a sore loser..." Pearl pouted before she captured all of Amethyst's pieces in one fell swoop. "Because I just won the game."

"Whaaa—?!" Amethyst said before she braced herself happily. "Here it comes!" She held her arms out as Steven pelted her with all his water balloons and fell backwards on her back. "Aaah! Ha, feels good to lose."

"Ahem, I certainly hope that's not the attitude you have during battle." Pearl said as she stood up.

"Ugh, you're no fun anymore." Amethyst complained. "This is why we never form Opal."

"We don't form Opal because you're difficult and a mess." Pearl chided.

"We don't form Opal because you're uptight and—." Amethyst retorted.

"Girls, stop. Cool off." Ezra said as he and Steven shoved them apart.

"But...what is Opal?" Steven asked.

"Oh it's the two of us, mashed together." Amethyst replied.

"Opal?" Ezra repeated. "That's my grandma's name."

"Awww! You and Pearl have a grandson!" Steven joked to Amethyst.

"Har har." Ezra said playfully.

"Is water just hydrogen and oxygen 'mashed' together?" Pearl asked after she scoffed.

"That's literally what it is." Ezra said. "H2O?"

Amethyst and Steven looked clueless.

"...Analogy wasted." Pearl muttered. "Look here, Steven."

Pearl started manipulating the sand in animated figurines.

"When we synchronize our forms we can combine into a powerful fusion gem named Opal." Pearl explained.

"Except I don't dance like that." Amethyst said.

"Amethyst!" Pearl scolded.

"Wait, you guys do fusion?" Ezra asked. "That's what mages do too."

"You can fuse?" Pearl asked. "How?"

"Where I come from, fusion is a spell if we have birthmarks." Ezra explained. "The birthmark has different shapes or colors. Mine's on my back."

Ezra lifted the back of his shirt up and turned around to show Steven, Amethyst, and Pearl his teal teardrop shaped birthmark on his back before he lowered his shirt down and faced them.

"Any mage can perform a fusion spell with another mage, human, and even a mutant." Ezra continued. "I fused with my sisters and my wife back when I was in my dimension."