Prologue: Something in the Water

a/n: Hello, and welcome to this amalgamation of Steven Universe and Gravity Falls. If you're familiar with Universe Falls, then you should know that this fic is based off of that, set in Minijenn's "Swap AU". I'm that anon who keeps mentioning the Swap AU and alluding to my own fic of it. This prologue should help explain what exactly that is, but those of you who follow Minijenn should know what the specifics are, but the exact differences should be clear following this prologue and the first chapter. Kcab srettel eerht.

A man in a black trench coat marched along the beach, his boots leaving imprints in the sand. The tide had just gone out that foggy winter evening, and he was following the receding waves. He came to a stop by a rock, jutting out towards the see and dusted some sand off with a six-fingered hand. Carved into the rock was a one-eyed triangular figure in what appeared to be a top hat. The figure pulled a pencil and sketchpad out of one of his pockets, flipped through sketch after sketch of similar images, then jotted down a sketch with the annotation "Low-tide carving. Facing towards shore." He put away his sketchbook and rose to his feet, but was frozen in place by a low growl. The figure slowly looked up, and two white eyes glared at him through the fog. With a roar, a serpentine head lunged out of the fog. The man fell back and covered his face with his arm.

PLINK!

The man lowered his arm, and saw a large woman in a flowing, pink dress holding a glassy, pink shield between them and the monster.

"Alright Mr. Sea Monster, I'm going to ask you to switch to a human-free diet," she said as the creature's fangs scraped against her shield, her large pink curls obscuring her head from view. The creature's jaws snapped shut, pushing the woman and the man away. Before it could open its mouth, however, a white whip wrapped around its jaws.

"Hey, don't you go snappin' your jaws at us!" yelled a small purple girl with wild, white hair as she pulled. Surprisingly, she actually managed to force the creature's head in her direction. The beast snarled at her, and tugged against the glowing whip. "Oh no you don't!" The girl dug her heels into the sand as the beast tugged back, the girl tugged with even more force, the beast relaxed for a second, the girl stopped pulling, the beast threw its head back. "WOAH!" the girl splashed into the ocean, and several white blasts struck the beast's neck. The beast roared in pain, and a tall, thin, blue (?) woman stuck a spear in its mouth. The tip of the spear was stabbed into the roof while the butt of the spear pinned the tongue to the bottom jaw.

"Garnet, now!" she yelled, leaping away. The beast continued to try and snap its jaws shut, only to receive unexpected aid when a purple woman with a square afro jumped out of the mist and delivered an uppercut to the chin. Its jaws snapped shut, and a follow-up punch from one of the woman's gloved hands knocked it back into the fog. She then kicked up from the rock with the strange triangle, pushing it into the sand. There were repeated pounding sounds from then, and a resounding splash. The man held up an arm to shield his face from the spray of water. When he lowered his arm, the tall, purple woman was standing over him.

"Welcome to Beach City," she remarked as she adjusted her sunglasses.

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DQG WKH PBVWHUB VKDFN NLGV!

a/n: Well, welcome to this. Hopefully this is enjoyable.