Challenge #01348-C253: That Escalated Quickly

Lilo Pelekai and Steven Universe -- Anon Guest

[AN: Pretty sure 90% of the Disney Channel visited Lilo, back in the day, so I'm bringing Lilo to Steven]

Steven was getting fast. And strong. And thanks to his newfound ability to leap around like a balloon, Greg didn't have to spend so much on a truck rental. Which meant that the beach stage was going up in record time.

Correction. It had gone up in record time.

"Whoah. You're getting too good, kiddo. There's still hours before the national hula contest."

"Sooner started, sooner done. Sooner hanging out and having fun," singsonged Steven. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Father son duo mic check?" he gestured towards his van.

"You read my mind. I'm'a get my uke." And just like that, he sprang away to the temple.

Kid was getting more and more like his mother every day. Greg strolled over to his van and extracted his guitar from the general mess inside. He tried not to think about his son living forever, as all his human allies aged and... well. That was a problem for a different day. And Greg didn't doubt that Steven would find a way.

He tuned the guitar on his way back to the stage. He owed Steven as much simple fun as he could get. Time like this was precious for its rarity.

Steven was landing like a feather just as Greg reached the bottom of the stairs. "Great timing, Stu-ball." He began strumming a tropical theme and Steven picked it up and elaborated on it. Within seconds, they had a whole luau song going.

And an audience.

Some of the competitors had made it to Beach City early. Okay. One of the competitors. She was with her... well, they had to be family, but... Greg was quietly wondering where two of them were hiding their Gems. One of them literally had four eyes, and the other one, just one. And tentacles for feet.

Well, he supposed not all Gems had to look human...

There were three other humans with the group. One more adult version of the kid contestant, one young guy who could easily be the elder sister's boyfriend, and a brick-house of a black guy in formal wear.

"Aloha," smiled Greg. "Welcome to Beach City."

"Aloha," said the creature that could have been a dog in a poor light.

Great. Three potential Gems.

"Wow," Steven sprang from the stage and floated down. "Cool! When did the three of you come to Earth?"

"Couple of years ago?" shrugged the big one with four eyes and elephantine feet. He had a weirdly Russian accent. "We are exiled to monitor Experiment 626."

"Stitch," said the dog-thing. Stitch. He offered a paw/hand.

"I've never heard of a Gem called 'Stitch'," said Steven. "Is that short for something?"

"Gem?" said the kid contestant.

And that was where things went south, fast. The three with the young contestant were not Gems at all, but aliens from a larger confederacy of planets with intelligent life.

A confederacy that had something of an... ongoing argument with the Homeworld Gems.

And like anything involving alien superpowers, there was a lot of wreckage and devastation before Steven managed to settle things down in his own unique style.

The young contestant, called Lilo, merely sighed as she watched the mayhem from the relative safety of the stage. "This is why they wouldn't let me on the bus."

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