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Chapter 10
 Seashore Tussle 
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The tentacles slam against the water's surface and splashes Nelly and Spinel into the air where more long arms snatch them into a tight grasp. Spinel shivers in disgust at the feeling and tries to stretch out to keep from being in the slimy hold. The giant octopus gem finds her struggle weird as well and immediately flicks her toward the shore. 

"OOF! Mmm…." Spinel tumbles roughly across the sand and slides to a stop. She groans and turns onto her back, glancing up at the monster gem in slight fear. "Oh boy…." She had no idea what to do or think right now. Considering what happened to her this morning, it didn't help at all. 

You were also trying your best to get out of the tight grasp only to end up rolling your eyes as Nelly just laughs and giggles.

"Spinel! There you ar- Oh whoa! What is going on now?!" Steven brings up his shield as half of the Crystal Gems show up with their weapons drawn. 

Spinel gets up and shake out the water and slime from her body, "Long story short, that THING showed up from underwater and grabbed (Y/n)." 

"YAY!" Nelly is thrown and somehow hitting directly into Spinel. Both falling to the ground yet again. "Hey guys! Its Morty!" Nelly states happily and points to the mutated gem. "He finally grew up." 

Everyone looks confused until they began to see the resemblance to the octopus from this morning. 

"How is that possible?" Pearl questioned. 

Garnet rushes toward the being, "Talk about it later! It still has (Y/n)! Hiya!" The reddish gem hops up each time a long arm is swung at her. She goes for a punch at the tentacle that you're wrapped in until another knocks her back. "Pearl! Amethyst!" 

Amethyst and Pearl noticed the knowing glance Garnet gives, "Got it!" Their hands are held together before they spin together and fuse. 

Spinel watches in fascination and remembers the first time she had seen the now larger gem woman. During one of Greg's concerts, the day Pearl had to get her memory back…..the day she felt…..left behind….

'Alone.' 

Spinel shakes her head, then sees Nelly looking at her with concern. 

Opal gracefully turns around while combining weapons to make a bow, she aims and shoots. The arrow of energy rushes to the glimmering shards on the mutated gem and split up. 

Unfortunately, the monstrous being was smart and put you in the line of fire. Your eyes widen and you cover yourself. 

Steven takes actions and throws a giant shield with all of his power, barely blocking the attack in a second. He pants, "This thing is a bit smarter, so we have to be careful and don't hit (Y/n)." Amethyst and Pearl unfuse while Steven comes up with a quick plan. "Spinel, I need you to get (Y/n) while we distract it. Hopefully enough until you take her." 

Spinel gulps and takes in a deep breath, "Okay." 

"Nelly." 

The small gem perks up at her name and grins at Steven. 

"You stay here, safely out of the way." 

Nelly pouts but stays sitting on the ground. Slowly, the small gem begins to make things from the sand. 

Their plan goes into action and the Crystal Gems keep the mutant's attention on them while Spinel uses her abilities to stealthy slither into the water. The pink hearted gem moves every time the gems take a hit at the mutant octopus. 

"So what's the plan?" Nelly says from beside Spinel. 

Spinel lets out a weird squeak in surprise then covers her mouth.

A tentacle shoots up and swirls around the two Spinels before the others get tangled up as well. Steven grimaces as the grip tightens, but doesn't hurt him too bad, though he really worries when Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst groan out in pain. It seems the mutant gem wasn't hurting him, you, Spinel, and Nelly. 

Spinel glares at Nelly who grins sheepishly. "Oops." Was her reply and caused Spinel to roll her eyes. 

From above the monster, hovering in the sky with wings made of water, Lapis scowls threateningly and raises a hand. 

The ocean waters begin to move to her will and shoot straight up, engulfing the gem creature and everyone in its grasp. Inside, air bubbles form around everyone and pushes the tentacles away...except you. You couldn't even take a breath at the sudden action and start to choke on the water. 

"(Y/n)!" Spinel dives outside the air bubble and swims over to you. She had no problem breathing since she's a gem, but she could tell that you wouldn't be able to stay conscious long. Her foot kicks the tentacle away from you and her arms now wrap around your frame. 

By then, Lapis causes the water pressure to crush the giant gem as it poofs and the waters rush back into the ocean. Lapis gently carries everyone to shore, "Are you guys alright?" 

"Lapis! Oh thank you so much for swooping in on time." Steven sees Spinel stretched out of the water and runs over to check on you. "(Y/n)! Oh my gosh, are you okay?"

You cough up water and greedily take in oxygen while Spinel pushes your hair back so it wouldn't stick to your face. You're leaning against her for support and happen to take a glance up to meet Lapis' unsympathetic stare before grimacing at your wet clothes. "I'm alive, right."

Garnet, Pearl, and Lapis now bubble the shards that lay around the now normal octopus and Nelly picks him up, taking him to the shoreline. 

"That's…..strange. How could that have happened? I've never seen gem shards react to an organic life. Let alone combine like some- mutated version of fusion." Pearl affirmed out loud and hums in thought as Nelly skips back over. 

Nelly tilts her head and smiles at her, "What?" 

Back to you, Spinel, and Steven. You wring out your shirt and sigh, "I need to change. I think I'll be a bit tired to hang out later, Spinel." You smile a bit at her and glance away when the said gem frowns. 

Steven cuts in, "Why don't Spinel and I escort you back to where you're staying? You're staying somewhere in Beach City, right?"

You nod and just let them follow you, "If it's no trouble." With each step, you would frown deeply at the wet feeling in your shoes and you knew you'd hate it more when you have to peel off the drenched clothing. 

"Me and Spinel see going to take (Y/n) back to where she's staying. We'll be back later!" Steven waves to Pearl and Garnet. 

Nelly runs to catch up and jumps to cling to Steven's back, "Piggyback ride!" 

Steven was going to say something but just leaves her be. 

Spinel stays close to you just in case anything else happens and she couldn't help, but be on guard to protect you. Though the silence got boring, "Before that ugly thing interrupted….do you and Nelly know each other?" 

"Yes." You answered simply. 

Steven grew surprised and curious, "Really? So she belongs to you?" 

Nelly giggles, "I don't belong to anybody, Silly. (Y/n) is one of my best friends…..and that's what made me different than the others…." She mumbles afterwards and slightly losing her cheery personality. Nelly shakes her head and hugs Steven's head with a smile, "Nelly, you are just so obsolete." 

Steven takes a glance at her while you frown sadly. "Why did you say that about yourself? I didn't think you'd know that word. Do you know what that means?"

Nelly hums happily, "Of course I do! Most of the others used to call me that until-" Her mouth shuts. 

Spinel could see something familiar in her eyes, yet different from how she felt herself. The pain, the heartbreak, and…..something else she didn't quite understand. There was one thing she knew for sure. It was to change the subject so that she wouldn't dwell on her thoughts too long. "How did you two meet?" 

You and Nelly glance at each other. "Well…uh…" You couldn't think until Nelly spoke up happily. 

"In Tokyo! I was the Kawaii Princess!!!!" Nelly jumps up and lands in front of you three. She starts dancing, making her arms up and down and moves her hips side to side. "Come, come, kitty, kitty. You're so silly, silly. Don't go kitty, kitty. Come with me! Meow!~" Nelly finishes with a her sleeved hands curled up like kitten paws to her face. 

You give a faint tender smile then turn down a path after walking a while in the main part of Beach City. "Since I don't stay in one place for long, I kinda left Nelly to her own accord when almost all of Japan practically loved her." 

"You left me in a store and said you'd be back." Nelly pouts.

You freeze and groan, "You weren't there when I got back! I tried looking for you. Where did you run off to anyway?" 

"Oh yeah! But it's not my fault there were so many kitties and puppies to pet everywhere!" Nelly sighs in content. "And the delicious strawberry covered biscuit sticks." 

Steven had no idea what was going on and he did stay quiet because of the things Nelly just talked about a few moments ago. 'What did she mean by others? Where did she really come from?'

You made your way up onto a creaky porch and slide the door to the side. The place was still in good shape but not the best, considering the floor creaked every now and then. The paint faded slightly. "Not the best place, but I'm not staying for long. As always." You shrug. 

Spinel, Steven, and Nelly look around at the small place. Small kitchen to the right with a small table, the small living room to the right, and the bedroom close to the ceiling with the bathroom just below it. 

You climb up the ladder leading up to the bedroom and grab a backpack. "You guy can hang around here if you'd like. Not much to do here." 

'Not staying long.' Spinel frowns and her pigtails droop more even after the remaining drops of water brings it down. 'I was making a new friend and...she won't stay long?' 

"Spinel?" 

The gem looks up to see a towel being held out to her and she sees you smiling softly. "Thanks." She takes it and watches you go into the bathroom, shutting the door behind you. 

"You know, you use a towel to dry off, right?" Nelly looks up at Spinel. 

Spinel huffs, "I knew that." Her and Nelly stare at each other until an image of herself waiting in the garden flashes across Spinel's mind. She shakes her head and glares while looking away from Nelly, drying her hair to distract herself. 

Nelly tilts her head, her heart shaped pigtails moving to the side like a puppy. 

"So….how long will you be sticking around?" Steven asked out loud and picks up an old picture frame. 'The Fryman Family? Oooooh!' Steven realized the Fryman Family must've helped you out with a place to stay. 

You step out, now in dry clothing and drying your hair. "Maybe less than a week? Four days tops? I don't know. Nothing more than a week before I take my leave." 

"Did you meet the Frymans?" Steven grins and takes a seat on the loveseat. 

Subconsciously, after you finish to let your hair air dry, you take Spinel's towel and make her sit on the small couch before drying her hair. 

Spinel didn't know what happened, but she immediately relaxed and shut her eyes in content. Also ignoring Nelly's giggles from beside her. 

"Yeah. I happened to be complaining about finding a place to stay while ordering fries and well-- this guy Ronaldo shouted out that his dad has a place they don't use much, so….yeah." You toss the towel to the side and Nelly makes a brush appear which you take. 

The brush combs through Spinel's hair and she relaxes even more. 

"I have to admit, the kid has a knack for being an adorable dork, especially trying to flirt, but I soon got him to tell the truth. Honestly, I helped a little to get him and his "ex"-girlfriend on better terms." 

Steven laughs lightly, "Wow. That must've been really awkward." 

You shrug with a grin, "Well, it's a favor for helping me find a place to stay." Slowly, your grin turns to a faint tender smile at Spinel. Your hand softly pats the top of her head.

The gem had dozed off with a comical drool hanging a little from her mouth, but she wakes up. "Hm?" Her eyes widen and she wipes her mouth, blushing in embarrassment. 

Steven snickers and hums, "Hey, since you're not going to around for much longer. Maybe Spinel can give you a tour when I'm not busy. People who visit Beach City are more fascinated with the Gem's." He thinks then makes up his mind, "I know! There's this place called Kindergarten. It may not be much, buuuut the train that takes you there has a very scenic ride." 

The name of the place catches your attention, "Seems like a cool place to visit. Even if the name sounds….quite daft." 

Nelly blinks at the word Kindergarten and doesn't say anything.

"It's settle! We knew what we're doing tomorrow." Steven claps his hands and stands up, "You're not busy, right?" 

You shake your head, "Nothing tomorrow." 

"Good. We'll take our leave, though I think I'll have you meet Spinel near the Beach City Water Tower." The teen boy ushered Nelly and Spinel to take leave. "I'll meet you guys there after a while with food."

Spinel didn't have a say in this and she wasn't going to complain. You were going to spend the day with her, especially on a train ride. That thought brought a smile to her face and she waves to you while walking out, only to hit into the wall. 

You grimace with Steven and Nelly being outside already. 

The heart shaped gem peels her face away from the wall and laughs sheepishly, becoming embarrassed again. "I-- uh-- I meant to do that! Ah-ha! Ha…." She squeaks when she's pulled into a quick hug by you.

"Be careful, Bunches." You turn her around and maneuver her to go safely out the door. "See you tomorrow, Spinel." You pinch her cheek and laugh as she pouts, rubbing her face where you pinched her. 

The door closes and Spinel catches up to Steven and Nelly, though she walks a little behind. An expression that shows how enthralled the gem had become and she even subconsciously twirls a strand of hair. 

Steven knew that look and immediately texts Connie while Nelly hangs back to be next to Spinel. 

Spinel glances at the smaller gem and raises a brow at Nelly's knowing smile. "What?" 

Nelly giggle and innocently skips away, "Nothing." 

'She better not come tomorrow.' Spinel crosses her arms and gently pulls her hair to nuzzle it to the sides of her face, remembering the amazing feeling of having her hair brushed. 

By you.

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[Sneek Peak Art for the next Chapter.]