"No." Amethyst argued.
"Yes." Steven asserted.
"I said NO Steven! I'm not doing this any longer!" Amethyst yelled.
"Do you really want to end up like Ruby and Sapphire?" Steven asked, pulling the Gems out of his pocket once again. Amethyst's eyes widened and she backed down.
Pearl put a comforting arm on her shoulder. "No one wants to do this."
"It's not about who wants to do this anymore. You're being forced. Can't you just accept that?" Steven asked, crossing his arms.
Everyone frowned.
"Anyway, welcome back to The Shipping Contest! The place to go when you want to bond with someone against your will, while also being constantly threatened by a kid!" Steven smirked.
"Well at least he's got that right." Bismuth groaned.
"I wish that wasn't right." Connie added, sighing.
"I-I just-" Pearl fell to the floor.
"Pearl?!" Connie gasped.
"Why are you doing this to us, Steven?!" Pearl yelled dramatically, tears streaming down from her eyes.
Steven frowned a bit. For some reason he didn't like seeing Pearl like that. "I-it's because I just wanted you to get along?" He shrugged a bit.
"No it's not!" Connie spoke up. "Do you remember why we decided to do the contest in the first place?" She asked and Pearl got up off the floor.
"Uh," Steven begun. "When were we ever in on this together?"
Connie frowned. "You don't remember?"
"I remember a lot of things!" Steven defended himself. "I just don't ever remember you being a part of this."
"I was! The reason we started this whole thing was because-"
*HONK HONK!*
"Alright Gems, dad's here so it's time to go!" Steven smiled nervously, walking out the door.
The Gems turned to Connie, who facepalmed.
"Wait! I'm coming Steven Diamond!" Jasper called, chasing after Steven. The Gems sluggishly followed behind.
○♡○
The Gems, Steven and Connie arrived at their destination.
"Should I even stay?" Greg asked, glaring at Steven who had been yelling at Amethyst about something again.
Pearl sighed. "You don't have to."
Greg drove away after throwing some big, heavy bag that Steven left in his van on the ground.
"Oh yeah! I needed that bag..." Steven quickly picked up the bag with ease.
"Why are we here...where the barn used to be?" Lapis asked.
"Yeah, why? It's bringing back old memories. From when you used to be nice." Peridot crossed her arms.
"We're here to replace those memories with new ones." Steven said. "You'll forget about the fun you had here, once you remember what'll happen today." He smiled evilly.
"Okay man, when are you going to bring Ruby and Sapphire back?" Bismuth asked, annoyed.
"Oh, they'll be back before you know it. For now let's play some baseball!" Steven exclaimed, emptying the bag he had. It was filled with baseball equipment.
Lapis facepalmed. "Why baseball?"
"Because Ruby and Sapphire said they wanted to play. Like old times!" Steven grinned and pulled the Gems out of his pockets again.
The Gems watched in fear as Steven fused with Ruby and Sapphire.
"Ayyye! Look who's back!" The fusion they made shouted.
"R-Ruby? Sapphire? H-how are you guys?" Pearl asked nervously, approaching them.
"Help us Pearl he's torturing us- I MEANT TO SAY WE'RE FINE!" Sunstone nervously laughed. "Steven's been g-great to us, a-and you don't need to worry!"
"You sure about that?" Amethyst questioned. Sunstone chuckled again. It seemed like they were having trouble staying fused.
"Um, I'm sure." Sunstone forced themselves to say. "BUT OKAY BASEBALL TIME!"
Everyone prepared everything to play.
"Is it just me or does it look like Steven's having a hard time staying fused with them?" Amethyst whispered to the other Gems.
"I know, I saw it too. It must be hard to stay fused with those two. They're pros." Lapis said.
"Well he's definitely going to be tired after this. No matter how much longer he stays fused. Maybe this will be our chance to overthrow him." Pearl added.
"What's that going to do? We can't kill him." Peridot shrugged.
"I said BASEBALL TIME!" Sunstone yelled, interrupting their chat.
Peridot was eager to bat, since she never got to play the last time they played baseball. So she batted first. Sunstone pitched, with Jasper and Connie on their team.
Peridot ran away from the ball.
Strike 1.
Peridot swung and missed the ball.
Strike 2.
Peridot swung, accidently letting go of the bat and it hit Jasper in the face.
Strike 3.
Pearl nervously stepped up to bat while Jasper chased after Peridot. Sunstone wouldn't stop smiling at Pearl, leaving her terribly uncomfortable.
Pearl was too nervous and missed the ball.
Strike 1.
The sun got in Pearl's eyes.
Strike 2.
"What are you doing, Pearl? Missing on purpose so little Steven can win?" Sunstone raised an eyebrow. Pearl attempted to ignore Sunstone's comment, but something about it got to her. It made her think about when Steven was little. When he wasn't so mad with power.
Pearl focused on the ball after removing those memories from her head.
Strike 3.
"Ohhh!" Jasper cheered. "They already got 2 strikes!" She held her hand out for Sunstone to high five, but Sunstone declined. They were too focused on the next batter: Amethyst.
"So Amethyst, you look like you think you're actually going to hit the ball." Sunstone grinned.
"Of course I'm gonna hit the ball! It looks like your team thinks they're actually gonna catch me though." Amethyst smirked. Sunstone grunted and threw the ball.
Amethyst calmly swung with full force, but she was too early.
Strike 1.
Amethyst was getting a little more nervous, but she swung again, too late this time.
Strike 2.
"C'mon, you can do this." Amethyst told herself. Her team watched in suspense as Sunstone threw the ball again. Amethyst swung once more.
Strike 3.
"What?! You didn't throw that right!" Amethyst argued.
Sunstone laughed. "You didn't swing that right." Amethyst crossed her arms and stomped off. She plopped down in the grass and Pearl went to join her for a moment.
"It's hard to see to hit the ball. That sun is really bright." Pearl said.
"It's not the sun, it's Steven!" Amethyst yelled. "I just want him back." She begun to cry.
Pearl didn't know what to do. Amethyst almost never cried.
"I do too." Pearl attempted to comfort the purple Gem. Sunstone listened in on the conversation while the other members of the teams got in their positions.
"I just wish I could've told him that I loved him." Pearl wiped her eyes.
"Y-you-" Sunstone stuttered. "L-love-" Sunstone unfused, leaving Steven, Ruby and Sapphire on the ground.
Pearl and Amethyst turned around, and everyone else ran over to the Gems lying on the ground.
"Finally! We did it!" Ruby exclaimed, hugging Sapphire. The two stood up.
"Oh! I'm so glad you guys are okay!" Pearl hugged them, and so did Amethyst and Bismuth.
"But is Steven okay?" Lapis asked, pointing to Steven. He was unconscious on the ground.
"He's fine!" Connie exclaimed. She attempted to pick him up, but failed. "For now let's take him home!...please tell me there's a warp pad around here." Connie said.
"Yeah. Down there." Sapphire pointed to the warp pad.
"Good," Connie grabbed Steven's leg and begun dragging him to the warp pad.
"I can do it, Connie. You don't need to- drag him..." Amethyst said, throwing Steven over his shoulder.
"Wait! Maybe I can give you guys your points this time." Connie suggested.
"The points don't even matter anymore!" Peridot screamed.
Connie sighed. "Well to me, the contest is still on. So Bismuth and Jasper get 40 points,"
"We weren't interacting at all!" Bismuth shouted.
"Peridot and Lapis get, uh... probably 30," Connie decided.
Peridot and Lapis shrugged.
"Pearl and Amethyst get 50 for comforting each other," Connie stated.
Amethyst and Pearl looked at each other and blushed a bit.
"And finally," Connie smiled. "Ruby and Sapphire get 50, too. For all the trauma they went through in the last 2 days."
"Okay that's great," Ruby begun. "But now that Steven's out, we'll have more time to figure out what we're gonna do next." Ruby stated.
The Gems and Connie nodded. Steven was definitely getting worse, but he also had newly discovered weaknesses. And they might just have a chance at stopping him and ending his leadership.