"Steven! Look out!" Connie yelled. She quickly lifted her sword to defend herself and her friend from the enemy. She swung as hard as she could as Holo-Pearl was about to attack. Naturally, she poofed away.

"Nice one!" Steven complimented, as he hit another Holo-Pearl with his pink shield, making the hologram disappear. "Jam buds forever! HIIIIIYAAA!" At this, Connie laughed and whooped along with him.

Real Pearl was watching the fighting from the side, nodding in approval at both Connie and Steven's improvement. These two make a terrific team, and they always amazed her. They even reminded the gem of her and Rose sometimes. Always looking out for each other. Out in the battle scene, Connie continued to slash through the holograms as Steven stayed by her side. One, to protect her if needed, and two, he still wasn't as good at swordfighting as she was. He needed her just as much.

Finally, there were only 2 Holo-Pearls left. Steven smiled at Connie, as she smiled back. They had this. Together they gave a determined warrior cry and attacked. "HIIIIIIIIYAAAAAHHH!" Instantly, both holograms poofed and the battle training was over. The two friends smiled at each other while wiping sweat off of their brows.

"Very nice work you two!" Congratulated Pearl, "But was was with the yelling?"

"It makes the moment more interesting." Explained Steven.

"I see. Well I suppose that's enough practice for today! Next time, you two are going to work on different techniques like mid air dueling exercises!" Pearl said as she lead them back out of the training arena.

"...Mid air dueling?" Connie whispered to Steven. Steven shrugged his shoulders as they stepped on the warp pad. A light engulfed the three of them and seconds later they arrived back at home in Beach City. "We're back!" called Steven into the living room.

"Hey dudes!" Amethyst called, bouncing a bouncy ball she found off the wall.

Garnet, dripping wet, with goggles on and a towel around her neck looked at them. "How was practice?" She asked in her usual monotone voice, drying herself off.

"Good. They're becoming true warriors!" Replied Pearl, ruffling Stevens hair. "Any sign of Malachite yet?"

"Nope." Garnet sighed. "I don't know where else to look."

"Well, they could be anywhere! Not to mention that they could unfuse any minute! Ugh! Why don't we just wait for Jasper to come to us, and then we'll kick her butt!" Amethyst said, putting down her bouncy ball.

"Amethyst! You know we can't do that! If they do unfuse, there's no telling what Jasper will do! She could hurt innocent people! Or she could meet up with Peridot and continue work at the Kindergarten…" Amethyst looked away, and all the gems shared a moment of silence, remembering the negative things that had happened there. Connie looked at Steven uncertainly, not fully understanding the reason for their pause.

"Well, if you're looking for someone who doesn't want to be found, why don't you try looking in unusual places rather than usual places?" suggested Connie. Although Amethyst just huffed, "Yeah sure. Like that'll work!"

Steven put a hand on his friends shoulder, "Wait, she might be on to something. I remember in my dream Lapis said she's using the weight of our earth's ocean to keep them trapped!" Pearl raised an eyebrow, "So…? How does that help us track them down?"

The young buy though for a second, "Well… wouldn't there be some change in the ocean? You know, a vortex or something?" Pearl tapped her chin thinking. "I don't think so, but the pressure in the area they're hidden could be drastically different than before. Maybe if i could get my hands on a test gauge, compare it to the original… I don't know. There's no promise that would work either."

"We have to try." Garnet insisted with determination. "Constantly swimming around in the ocean isn't going to find them any faster. This plan could work" The tall gem looked down at the two friends, "Good thinking you two. You may have just made our job a little easier. You guys are a big help to the team." Garnet finished with a small smile.

Connie gave a huge grin before realizing the time. "Oh gosh! I told my mom I'd be home soon!"

"I'll ask my dad if he can give you a ride home, or we can try Lion?" Steven suggested, knowing his animal sidekick was somewhere doing… whatever Lion does.

"Uh, let's go with your dad. If we go with Lion he might take us to another gem place instead." Steven scratched the back of his head and gave a small laugh. "Yeah… He sort of does his own thing most of time."

Amethyst scoffed, "More like all the time."

"Hey! At least I taught him to do some stuff! I finally taught him that he's not allowed on my bed!"

"Oh yeah?" The purple gem pointed up to Steven's room, where Lion was sleeping on Steven's bed the whole time.

"What?! Li-on!" Steven yelled in exasperation. He ran up the stairs and started tugging on Lion's mane to wake him up. "What did I tell you? Steven's bed is off-limits!" Lion looked up only to huff in Steven's face, then went back to sleep.

"Uh Steven? My curfew?" His friend called.

"Oh, sorry Connie! I'll deal with this later." He walked back down the stairs and headed to the door. "Let's go. See you guys later!" He called to the gems as he left with Connie.

"Do you think they're both ready to fight?" Garnet asked Pearl.

"Well I suppose so. Both their abilities are getting better and better. Why?"

Garnet looked down to the ground and made her goggles vanish, still leaving her usual shades. "Because when we find Malachite, we're going to need all the help we can get."

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the ocean…

Lapis took a deep breath in. "Concentrate." She thought. She had to fight every second to stay fused, and keep them both trapped.

"You don't really think you can win, right? Because if you do, that would be pathetic." The scratchy voice said.

Lapis ignored her. She continued to build up her strength and motivation. Which would be easier except Jasper kept fighting back.

"You're getting weaker aren't you? I can feel it. Each day, you're strength continues to drain. Tell me, why do you keep fighting? You do realize you can't hold us down forever."

The blue gem again ignored her. "For Steven." Lapis thought back to before. Although it was miserable being trapped in the mirror, spending that one day with Steven was one of best days she's ever had. Steven even healed her gem. Steven is so compassionate that he freed her, despite his consequences with the gems. She just felt awful she now made him face consequences with homeworld gems.

Lapis accidentally let her mind wander too much, for Jasper took that moment to try and escape. Lapis could feel Malachites body waver as their chances of unfusing felt all too real. The blue gem quickly pushed back with all she had to keep them together. With a frustrated grunt from Jasper, their fusion stabilized once more. However, more of Lapis' strength was compromised.

Jasper let out a mischievous laugh. "Don't think you'll win. I'll get out of here eventually. And don't think I'm going to go easy on you when I do." Jaspers laughing continued as Lapis continued to ignore her, faith not shaken. "For Steven."