"Alright, Get ready! Here it comes!"

You smiled, holding up a volleyball. With a flick of your arm, you threw the ball up into the air and with a firm swat, sent the ball flying over the net.

"Ooh! Ooh! I got it!"

"No, I got it!"

You chuckled to yourself, watching as your three opponents the other side of said net scrambled on their court, nearly trampling each other to return the serve, their eyes fixed on the airborne ball. They moved and scrambled in such an exaggerated manner; almost as if they were cartoons or video game characters.

Finally, one managed to gather her wits and set her one working eye squarely on her target.

"I got this one! Hyah!"

With a powerful bound, almost higher than the net itself, she does a brief twirl and with a karate like hit of her hand, she sent the ball back over to your side.

In response, you reared onto your hind legs and put your upper pair of arms together and bumped the ball with your forearms, returning it flawlessly over the net.

"Oh! Oh! My turn! My turn!"

Another one, notably smaller than her team mates, bounded from her spot. Not as high as her colleague's, but high enough to let her strike the ball back over to you using both her small hands.

With a grunt, you lunged forward and slammed the ball with your head, sending it back to the trio. The third player, who was notably larger and better muscled than his teammates, snickered and punched his fist into his other hand.

"Get ready for this one!"

He then jumped up, the force causing a small shockwave across the ground and roughly spiked the the ball back over you at the speed of a meteorite.

Undeterred, you snorted and mimicked his moves; you also jumped up and spiked the ball, only the power you put in the hit set the ball a ablaze, causing your opponents to cartoonishly cry out and scatter, leaving the ball to crash into the sand, embedding it deep into the ground.

You then hear a sharp shrill sound over the crashing waves and you turn to see sad apple, blowing into a whistle. They sniffled, and called with a cracking voice, "G-Game! (N-Name) wins!" They wipe at their eyes, trying to rid themselves of the steady stream of tears that seemingly poured out of their eyes. "Break time!"

You smiled, your tongue lolling out of your mouth as you panted heavily, with sweat dripping from your brow. "Hah! You were awesome out there, sensei!" You felt a small fist playfully punch your arm. "You must have been training big time for this."

"Yeah! Your skills are hoppin' high!"

"Heh. Thanks, hoppy." You smiled tiredly at your woodland opponents. "You too, hopper."

You grunted as a large hand clapped into your back. You turn to see a cheeky smiling fox face. "Careful though! We'll get ya next time!"

You returned the smirk. "Heh. (Name)'ll hold Foxman to that." You fist pumped the buff fox.

You all breathed out tired sighs, with Hoppy wiping sweat from her brow. "Well, we're gonna go recharge. See ya next round!"

With that, they walk off towards the nearby woods, and you sat down in the sand, putting a hand up to your forehead in an attempt to shade your eyes from the sun's bright rays. As you began to wind down and relax, you heard footsteps approach.

"You're truly amazing, (name)."

Out of the corner of your eye, you can see a soda being offered to you on a tray. "Thanks." You tiredly murmur as you accepted the beverage.

"...how do you do it?"

"Hum?" The question barely registered as you poked the tab with your claw.

"How are you so... good at what you do?"

You paused, taking a moment to contemplate the question.

"(Name) just.... does what she thinks is best." You replied slowly, as you opened the can with a hiss. You brought the drink up to your lips to take a sip-

"...does that work for everything?"

You paused again, taken aback by the second question. "Er..." What's THAT mean?

"It's... been working so far." You replied, now feeling uncomfortable with your server. "But it needs to be thought about thoroughly it to work out. Especially if it involves others."

"...I... see."

A period of silence crosses the two of you. "Uhm... (name)'s sorry but she should probably-"

"Wake up?"

"Wha-?"

You turned you face your server, but felt a pair of hands roughly press into you.

"Mama! Mama, he's doin' it again!"

"What!? Ah!?" You were yanked out of sleep by spinel's frantic shaking and you sat up, blinking the sleep out of your eyes. "Who's doing what-?" You stopped mid-sentence as your groggy mind pieced together spinel's words and looked over at the bed beside you.

Sure enough, lion's wide eyes were staring back at you as Steven's legs kicked in a struggle to get free.

"Lion!"

He quickly raised himself, and Steven popped out from behind him, taking a breath of air.

"Lion! Steven's not a bed!" You scolded.

"Yeah! What's going on with you?" Steven asked, clearly frustrated that his sleep was interrupted again.

In response, lion rolls onto his back, exposing his belly to him.

Spinel tilts her head, puzzled. "You... just wanted a belly rub?"

Lion grunts in response.

Steven gasps joyfully, taking this as a confirmation and immediately starts to stroke the big cat's belly. "You never let me touch your belly-!" However, before he could fully finish his sentence, he yelps as Lion suddenly wraps his forelegs around him into a firm hug.

"Ah! It was a trap!" Spinel exclaimed, pulling her pigtails in fright as she watched Steven struggle to get free.

"An adorable trap!" Steven adds, flailing as he tried to get out of the lion's grip.

"Okay, you got him," you rumbled, your eyes narrowing as you recognized Steven's discomfort. "Let him go."

"Come on now!" Steven once again pushes at lion's chest to get free, but in response to this, lion tightens his grip on him and this time he sunk his claws into the boy's back, causing him to cry out.

Once you saw this, you growled in your throat. "ENOUGH!" You snarled, which was loud enough to startle lion and release his grip on Steven. At once, you picked the massive cat up with the ease of a kitten and glared at him angrily. "This is bad behavior! Why is lion smothering steven all of a sudden??"

He stared at you for a moment.

"Mmrph!"

"...okay, that's it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lion is going on a time out!" You announced angrily, placing him in the doorway."

He stares at it, hesitating.

"You heard (name), you're on time out!" Steven exclaims, ushering the big cat out. Once outside, you shut the door behind him. "And you're gonna stay out there and think about what you did!" Steven calls as you scooped him up and started to carry him to bed.

Roaaawr!

You winced as you heard a deep, pitiful yowl from outside. "No lion!"

You take a few more steps towards the stairs.

Roooooaawr!

You snorted and turned around to face the door, only to find that lion was staring at you both pleadingly.

Oh no...

You inwardly groaned, all too familiar with this move. Puppy eyes...

Steven gasped, squishing his cheeks. "He loves me!"

He jumps out of your arms and runs to the door, reaching up to unlock it, but paused as if he remembered something. He turns to look at you, his face loosely mimicking lion's; pleading for confirmation.

You stared for a moment, your upper arms crossed, before sighing. "Go ahead."

"Yay!" He unlocks the door and runs up to his feline companion, and hugs his fluffy chest. "I knew she couldn't stay mad at you. She's a wonderful (color) human being. Just like you're a wonderful pink human being." He muses, pressing his face into the lion's thick mane. "...except your not because she's a gem and you're a lion."

You rolled your eyes, fighting off a smirk as you started to walk over to them. "Okay... it's late. It's time for Steven to-"

Your voice faltered as you walked out on the porch, just in time to see Steven's head sink further into the feline's mane; and chest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not good at writing out dreams, woop woop