Yayyy, I can start on posting this story often again! Maybe once (or way more rarely, twice) a week from now on! School's finally calmed down, but theatre's a-comin' with a vengeance next week since our first contest is soon. Like, next Friday soon.

And who else is hype for The New Crystal Gems? I really hope to see some Connie/Lapis/Peridot action!

Disclaimer, Steven Universe belongs to Rebecca Sugar and the Crewniverse!

When Peridot was transported back to the barn, it was Veggie Head who jubilantly rushed to greet her. Not two seconds after the pillar of dazzling blue light had depleted did she feel something ram into her chest and send her stumbling backward off the warp pad's surface.

"Gyack!" She choked as her head made contact with the soft grass. Her neck craned until she could see their pumpkin energetically sprinting in circles around her, before eventually tiring himself out after the second orbit and collapsing belly-down beside her face.

She snorted. "I missed you too, Veggie. Though I don't believe I share your joy to that much of an extent. Then again, why wouldn't you be so exultant? I could have been shattered! But no, I saved the day! Again!" With a high-pitched signature cackle she rolled over and locked the exhausted pumpkin in her arm enhancers before hobbling up onto her feet.

She felt the familiar rush of bereavement rake through her being when she couldn't feel him in any place other than her chest. "Curse these limb enhanc- wait, no!" She wanted this, didn't she? She could stand not feeling anything again. She had before! "Ugh."

Peridot shook herself out of the cursory self-pity session before starting to hike toward the barn. It was only a few strides uphill before a very familiar and very welcomed voice called out to her.

"Peridot!"

Something blue zipped seemingly out of nowhere and Peridot had to stop herself from crashing into Lapis as she landed right-smack in front of her. Peridot felt her physical form thrill with shock.

"Stars, Lapi-hmmf!" She felt arms wrap around her, quick and fluid yet firm like the element the water gem controlled. Before she realized what had transpired Lapis had drawn back, and her eyes were full with relief. "You're okay!"

Peridot beamed as she fought down the colour rising into her cheeks as she assumed as breathtaking a pose as she could while still supporting Veggie Head. "O-Of course! Why wouldn't I be?"

"The last time you pitted yourself against some Homeworld gems. . . well. . ." Lapis nonchalantly made a wrist-flicking motion, eyebrows quirked with smug knowing.

"You said you wouldn't bring up the Roaming Eye incident!" Peridot whined. "At least not for a few more decades! It's only been. . . guh. . . a tenth of a decade!"

"You can't stop me," the blue gem dryly teased.

Veggie Head decided to make his presence re-known as he began to wrestle against Peridot's metallic grip, vaulting out of her grasp and into Lapis' arms to hastily catch their pumpkin before he fell. "So how did it go? Did you get everything you guys needed?" The blue gem asked as she pet the flustered vegetable's head.

"That and more!" Peridot chimed before launching into a, more than a bit exaggerated, tale of how she, Peridot, leader of the Crystal Gems, had vanquished all doubts and retrieved the files. Stars, she had even infiltrated the main hub system!

"Not only was I able to breach their files, I was also able to destroy their central hub!"

Lapis looked only slightly mindful as she sunk a little deeper into one of their most recent additions to the barn: a large tan cushion that squashed down when you laid back in it. When Peridot had searched her tablet for its name, the internet had declared it as a bean bag. Needless to say, they didn't like that name much.

"And you did all that without getting caught?" She inquired once Peridot looked finished with her gushing.

"Oh, I was nearly spotted fleeing from the site of devastation!"

Lapis felt her throat constrict as she balked at the stupidly grinning gem. "What?"

"When I was riding the elevator back up to the Prime Kindergarten's surface, I could hear the other Peridots rushing to the scene," the green gem prattled distastefully, like how she would talk about Paulette's overarching character development (or more appropriately, lack thereof because Paulette hardly had any character at all) in season four.

"Unfortunately for those ruddy clods, the culprit was already on the run! Not to say that I was running for fear of my gem being grinded, no, just-"

"But you didn't get hurt?"

Peridot would have groused on any other occasion where Lapis interrupted, but the genuine concern in her voice made her rethink her reaction.

"No, I came out without a scratch on me!" She consoled, and with that Lapis seemed to sink further into the bean bag with a resounding huff. "So you didn't freak out like you thought you would?"

Peridot stiffened. "How did you know I thought that!" She gawked. "You don't have telepathic powers!"

"You were almost hyperventilating about it a few minutes before the others came to pick you up."

An embarrassed groan escaped Peridot as she flopped onto her back, letting out a shocked squeal when the extra weight of her limb enhancers carried her down faster and more aggressively than usual. "Ow."

"Careful, those make you heavier."

"Noted, Lapis. Thank you."

Lapis chuckled as Veggie Head pounced off of her chest and hurried over to Peridot, panting in the fallen gem's face as she wiggled away to escape from the pumpkin's hounding. "So. . . what else did you find out? What is Homeworld here for?"

Peridot's amused features fell so quickly that Lapis was unsure if they had been there in the first place.

"They want to finish what they started on Earth," she murmured from the floor, closing her fidgety fingers together over her chest. "They're gonna re-start the Kindergarten. My most theoretically accurate idea of what to make of all this is that Yellow Diamond's sent other gems to finish what I never did. I was sent alone to reinstate the Kindergarten, and when the Crystal Gems intervened. . ."

"You had to get a escort. And an informant," Lapis finished bluntly for her. The air in the barn seemed to freeze over with lament as Peridot sent Lapis a very, very guilty look from the floor. Her chest ballooned with cold culpability. "Yes, I suppose I did," she sighed, before absentmindedly bringing up an enhancer and opening her finger screen.

"That was an idiotic thing to bring up," she grumped to herself, inwardly chastising herself. "Of course Lapis wouldn't think well of all that."

It took a few swipes to get to an older catalog that she noticed was filled to the brim with audio logs. Log date recordings, she realized, from before she had lost her limb enhancers.

"Oh!" The green gem rocked herself up onto her bottom and assumed a criss-cross applesauce position (Steven had pointed out the position's proper title a few weeks prior when he had come to visit). She pointed out her revelation to Lapis who, nonplussed, scrambled out of the bean bag and crouched on the floors beside her barn mate. "What is it?"

"My old logs!" Peridot informed, flourishing the translucent screen to a squinting Lapis. "All my recordings! They weren't erased after all! Although, it's not as though I checked."

Peridot scrolled through the files, recognizing some from the perilous times she had spent on Earth on the run from the Crystal Gems. The further down she got, however, the more hesitant she was to continue. These logs were archaic by her standards; even if they were no more than a single Earth rotation old, the feelings associated with the old audio clips were unpleasant.

"Here! I can play one," she exclaimed, opening a log and letting it run.

The voice speaking couldn't have possibly been her own, and yet, it was. It was monotonous and robotic, she first noticed, with no inclination as to what she was feeling whatsoever. The excited smile on her face quickly dampened, twisting into an expression that was very out-of-place on Peridot's face: remorse.

She had been speaking only for the sake of her mission. She wasn't speaking for herself, only her objective status on how the Kindergarten was fairing. How she requested an escort and a particular blue informant to intercept the problematic Crystal Gems.

There were even logs from when she had interrogated Lapis on the ship. It made her head throb just thinking of how coldly and indifferently she had handled her back then.

The playing log was cut short the finger screen promptly dimmed as her fingers were smacked back into their place above her arm. Lapis lurched away with a blink of surprise. "Peridot?"

"Let's do something else," the green gem pleaded. Lapis shrugged despite herself, and helped Peridot up to her feet with an outstretched hand. "Sure. We can go check on the ships."

"You know, Lapis, out of context, that's an incredibly odd thing for a Lapis Lazuli and a Peridot to invest in together."

"Eh, it's Earth. It's weird."

"You can say that again."

The two sauntered out of the barn. It turned into a quick race, but Lapis gained advantage as she unleashed her water wings and soared around the barn to where they now kept the pod. It was tucked in beside the Roaming Eye, which the Crystal Gems had left in their custodial care.

"Funny how they leave these with us," Lapis mused as she dropped to the ground as Peridot clanked up beside her with a glum frown. "The two Homeworld gems."

"But we're not exactly Homeworld now, are we?" Peridot scoffed as she moved past Lapis and hovered beside the TF-18 vessel, giving its dimpled surface an experimental knock. "Earth is my home now; I'd much rather be here on this strange, liberating planet than Homeworld now."

She flashed Lapis an expectant grin from the pod but flushed when she saw Lapis regarding her with deep-seated thought. "Yeah," the blue gem finally conceded, walking over to stand above the pod beside Peridot. "So what are we going to do with this thing? Doesn't look like it's even usable."

Peridot would have pressed for more about Lapis' very brief response to her monologue about home, but didn't want to push it if Lapis didn't want to talk about it. Instead, she focused on the pod with creative consideration.

"I'm sure it still be serviceable for transport," she noted. "Yet that would take materials and minerals that this planet sadly seems to lack." She saw Lapis' face brighten a moment before the blue gem snapped her eyes to Peridot's, something innovative in her eyes.

"We could always turn it into a meep morp project," the blue gem suggested.

"Lapis."

"Peridot."

"That's an ingenious concept. Let's do it!"

Lapis snorted as the taller gem ducked and clambered into the pod, her magnetic fingers poising dramatically as she brought the control panel back to life. Glowing screens materialized before her as she belted out a maniacal giggle. "How shall we transform this letdown of a vessel into a meep morp? Perhaps let its lights glow green and blue rather than teal? Manipulate the screen coding to resemble a raindrop and a triangle?"

Lapis felt her mind pound at Peridot's overwhelmingly scientific list of suggestions. "Hold on," she demanded, holding out a hand as she bent down and gingerly lifted up a skirt-clad leg. "Let me in."

"Erm, there isn't that much-"

"I'll manage, just scoot over."

Peridot followed her instructions and moved to the edge of the cockpit, teetering on the edge of the seat as the slender gem weaseled her way inside. Immediately her face was wrought with confusion at all the glowing panels and flickering buttons. ". . . What does this one do?" She asked as she pointed to a random button.

"That ignites the cosmic blasters built into every TF-18 vessel for last-measure defense mechanisms."

"And that glowing square there?"

"Scanners! Responsible for tracking the whereabouts of nearby vessels and identifying star systems from afar."

"Huh." Lapis truly wasn't all that interested in the technology. Her mind mind already formatting ways to remodel it into a meep morp piece to dazzle even the greatest of meep morpists. And that was she and Peridot, so it would have to be a truly noteworthy conversion from broken-down pod to awe-inspiring morp.

As she curiously but inattentively tapped a glowing yellow pad that hovered close to Peridot's face, the pod began to exude a low-pitched frequency. Lapis swiftly snatched her hand back, fingers curling deep into her palm at the ominous mechanical response. "Uh, is it supposed to be doing that?" She asked.

Peridot flicked her eyes over to the display Lapis had touched. Her eyes widened with horror. "Get down, get down, get down!" The green gem's released a colourful string of jarring screeches as she grabbed onto Lapis. A thrum of magnetic energy suddenly rocked the gem pod and, ultimately, the two gems inside.

"What happened?" Lapis balked, staring widely up at the roof of the pod as Peridot let her go and struggled out through the opening. She followed her out, catching herself on Peridot's arm when the edge of the capsule window bit the end of her dress. "What did it do?"

Light had culminated in a crackling electromagnetic barrier that rippled across the surface of the incapacitated vessel before it glowed an extravagant yellow and threw itself up into the sky.

"Look." Peridot pointed up to the sky, and Lapis' eyes followed.

Sharp golden lines of light energy were patterned together across the night, spreading apart and straightening, interlacing and locking at corners until an immense diamond was burning across the night sky.

The two gems cowered far below the humongous display, Lapis sporting an expression of uneasiness while Peridot had a dawning horror plastered over her so densely it made her motionless.

"The Yellow Diamond flare signal," the green gem breathed, voice a timid and low thing that could only be heard in the sudden silence of the insects around them. It was almost like even the mindless little bugs could feel the abrupt shift in mood.

The complex golden flare soon vaporized into the night, leaving the galaxies behind it glinting as coldly and as silently as ever.

"That must have alerted far-reaching warning scanners everywhere," Peridot murmured, more to herself than her barn counterpart.

"What does that mean?" Clamored Lapis, mildly distraught over Peridot's frazzled mentality as she fell in beside the awestruck gem, glaring her down for answers. Or, up, rather, now that she had her limb enhancers back.

With the fortuity she didn't think she had in that crippling moment, Peridot managed to lift her head and meet Lapis' dark, concerned eyes. Her floating fingers fluttered erratically up to hold the blue gem's shoulders, something she'd never been able to do unless Lapis was crouching or sitting before getting her enhancers back.

"It means that all those gemcraft headed to Earth to excavate its resources. . . " She gulped. "They just received the visual and technical notification to land. If there were any in orbit already. . ."

Lapis' mouth ran dry as she sent the growling pod a wary peek. "You don't think-"

"Yes, I do think," Peridot squeaked fretfully. "They're going to come down to Earth! And. . . and they're going to land here."

"Steven, are you certain that you wouldn't like any iron in your sandwich?" Pearl's voice carried over from the kitchen where she was preparing a late dinner for for hungry boy.

A bead of sweat trickled down Steven's forehead as he regarded the question. "Um, I don't think I'd be able to digest that, Pearl. It's kinda really hard and. . . I don't think it would taste all that great."

Pearl's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "But after some extensive research it's been determined that iron is essential for the functionality of red blood cells!"

Steven chuckled nervously. "I think it means a different kind of iron. I mean, it could be the same element, but I can't just. . . eat a crowbar." A thought occurred to him. "At least, not like Amethyst can." Seeing her chomp a crowbar in half that one time had been quite the sight to see; he wondered if gem teeth were indestructible.

Then again, Amethyst had eaten just about anything and everything and hadn't ever been to a dentist. . . but neither had he. Pearl had always been the one to check over him whenever he wasn't well on his human side. And again, that wasn't very common.

"If you say so," he heard Pearl mumble, setting aside whatever iron substance she had pulled out with a scrape. He didn't even bother looking to see what it was.

The boy turned to his cellphone which laid, untouched, on the tawny coffee table before him. Its screen mocked him, flickering with light whenever he'd move his eyes away and giving him the illusion that someone had messaged him. Since returning from their heist with Peridot, he had been trying to find the courage to tell Connie about Homeworld and the invaders.

He didn't understand why he felt so nervous about it all of a sudden! Connie had gone hunting corrupted gems with he and Pearl before, she had even fought against Jasper! Well, they had fought Jasper together as Stevonnie, but Connie still counted! His fingers fidgeted with the rim of his shirt that covered the lower facets of his gem.

"She deserves to know," he thought. "I'll call her tomorrow morning. I think she'd be asleep by now."

He hadn't realized Pearl had been calling his name until he looked up and saw a pair of spindly legs covered by amber leggings. "Steven?"

Steven was yanked back to reality with a blink as he registered the concern on the gem's pale face. She held a plate with a finished sandwich and was gently motioning for him to grab it. "Thank you Pearl!" He smiled, taking the paper plate from the gem's hands and letting out a sigh of relief when he didn't see anything metal peeking out from under the slices of bread.

"You're very welcome, Steven. But I'm noticing you look a little. . . distracted." Pearl lowered herself onto the couch beside Steven, neatly folding her hands over her knees as the boy set the sandwich aside. "Is all this getting to be too much? All this. . . Homeworld intervention?"

Steven narrowed his eyes self-consciously. "No, it's not that," he admitted. "I'm just worried about all the people. Are the gems gonna hurt them? Dad said that people and gems got hurt during the war - will that happen again?"

Pearl's blue eyes grew weary. "Let's just hope that this doesn't come to war," the gem sighed as she rested a hand over Steven's hair. "If Homeworld truly is looking to begin stealing Earth's resources again, then. . ." She attained a faraway look, eyes misty with timeless memory. "Then it may be our only choice. If they hurt the planet, they consequently hurt the life here. And that includes. . . " Pearl looked to Steven hopefully.

"People," the boy concluded. "Yeah. Why are they doing it anyway? I know Peridot said that Homeworld is running low on resources, but why go through all the trouble of using Earth again? The last time they tried that. . . well, mom started a war."

He knew that referring to Rose around Pearl was bound to bring up some nostalgia, but the way that this conversation was headed, she was bound to come up at some point. "Your mother," Pearl said as he reached out to grab the paper plate with his sandwich from the table, "treasured the life here. More than any gem. She wasn't about to let them suffer because of Homeworld's selfishness. Just like we aren't."

Steven took a thoughtful bite from the sandwich, humming happily when he realized it was ham-and-cheese. "What about Connie? Do you think it's okay to tell her?" He questioned. "It's not fair to leave her out of this. . . she's kinda a Crystal Gem too! She's trained by you, and she fuses with me for Stevonnie who's awesome! I think she should be in on this."

"The danger Homeworld poses was much for even an entire army of Crystal Gems, Steven," Pearl pressed. "With there only being. . . five Crystal gems left on Earth, it isn't going to be something as easy as stopping a corrupted gem."

"Well. . . there's more than five. What about all the gems in the bubble room? What about Bismuth?"

Melancholy chilled her form as she regarded the hundreds of bubbled gems in the chamber. It was true that some of them could have been Crystal Gems, but the gem inside was long gone by now. Without a way to revert them. . . They were lost. And Bismuth was a wholly different scenario; but if push came to shove. . .

Pearl shook herself. "The point being," she sadly stated, "I'm unsure if she's ready for such things yet. Gem combat is not something to take lightly without the hundreds of years of combat experience."

Steven stopped mid-chew on his second mouthful of bread and ham as he stared in disbelief up at the blue-and-white gem. "But she and I took on Jasper together, and beat her!"

"But that was one gem. This could be tens, hundreds. Maybe thousands! Once Homeworld learns of rebellion still present on Earth, they won't hesitate to send everything they have!"

Steven frowned. "Because they're upset about Pink Diamond."

"Steven-"

"I can guess how the Diamonds must feel about having a Diamond shattered." The dark-haired boy looked up to the peach-haired gem, whose face reflected shock and despair. "They're gonna be hurting and sad, and want to stop thinking about the Earth because that's where she got shattered. Maybe that's why they created the Cluster, so they wouldn't have to think of Earth anymore," Steven added as he frowned down at his unfinished dinner.

He suddenly wasn't very hungry anymore.

Pearl noticed the half-gem's shift to cheerlessness, and comfortingly blanketed his shoulder with her arm. "I'll speak with Garnet about it," she gave in. "She knows far better than I what kinds of consequences can happen from letting Connie participate in this."

Chubby arms folded around her tunic-covered midsection as Steven chorused out a string of thank you, thank you!'s.

As if on cue the temple door promptly glowed to life, and a familiar fusion stepped from the dim-lit bubble room. When she saw Pearl and Steven looking over at her from the couch, she lifted up a hand to casually wave. "Howdy."

"Garnet!" Steven jolted up, prying himself off of Pearl-much to the thin gem's silent disappointment-before rushing up to their leader. "Can Connie help us with this? I-I know she's not a gem, but she's just as skilled and as smart as one! She'll know what to do!"

"After being taught proper battle etiquette and strategy," Pearl chipped in from behind the boy, lifting his half-eaten sandwich from the sofa and placing it back on the coffee table to avoid spreading crumbs all over the cushions. She made her way over to Garnet and Steven, hands on her sash. "And that applies to you, as well. Thus far, you two have been revolutionary, but we're going to need a bit more if you're really going to bear arms against the likes of true Homeworld mercenaries."

Garnet's face was unreadable, but after one glance to a pensive Pearl and a second to an exhilarated Steven, she concluded her choice.

"Steven, Connie can help us."

"Aaaa!" Steven let out an excited yell and tackled Garnet's left leg out of pure adrenaline. "Thank you, Garnet! She-I- We won't let you down! Ooh, just wait until I tell her! Do you think I should call her and talk about it? Or would it be better in person?"

"I think that you should be careful," Garnet commented. "This is serious business. There's a true threat en route to planet Earth, and we do need all the help we can get. But I need you to promise me this, Steven." Steven looked up to Garnet's visors expectantly.

"Keep her safe and don't leave one another's sides. You're going to need each other like never before."

Neither Pearl nor Steven had the time to fully understand the weight of the tall gem's words before sound flared from the warp pad.

They all spun around as luminescent light unexpectedly engulfed the beach house quarters to signify the arrival of two very nervous-looking gems.

Pearl leaped back with a startled yelp. Peridot tumbled off of the warp pad towards them. "We're sorry!" She shrilled, frantically grabbing onto Pearl's shoulders and pressing her fingers in like a cat's claws. "It was an accident! We were being clods and-"

"Whoa, whoa!" Steven rushed over from his place at the kitchen island, abandoning his late dinner. It didn't take him long to realize something was awry when he dissected their expressions and saw them both fashioned with different levels of dismay. "Hold the phone, now give it to me. What happened, guys? Are you okay?"

"We won't be for long!" Peridot lamented in a cracked voice, releasing Pearl who grumbled with puzzlement and moving to tower over Steven as her fingers dug into her shock of yellow hair. "We didn't mean to do it!"

Garnet's hand was placed sternly on the panicking gem's shoulder. Peridot was spun around to face the fusion. "You didn't mean to do what exactly, Peridot?"

Peridot's teeth ground her lower lip until it swelled. She could feel Lapis' presence beside her, offering silent protection for the sake of the rather unfortunate news they had to deliver. "We- aa-hmm." She tried again. "You see-"

"We might have accidentally set off a flare from the pod," Lapis finished for her, holding a hand to the small of her back for support.

"You did what!"

Pearl's shriek carried so high that they were all surprised a gem didn't crack from the ridiculous pitch. The thin gem was dutifully stomping over to the barn gems and casting each a respective scathing glare. "What in the world made you two think that-"

"It was an accident," Lapis deadpanned with an underlying growl at the white gem. "We were in the pod and-"

"Why were you guys in the pod?" Steven raced up to Lapis and Peridot, staring up at his friends with huge, somber brown eyes. His fingers wrung tensely together. The boy's voice dipped in volume as he timidly asked, "you weren't trying to go back, were you? Or run away?"

Their befuddlement showed so prominently as they looked at Steven, then at each other, before diving down to console the upset child. "No, no, we'd never do that!" Peridot prattled, crouching in front of the boy and feeling off when she still loomed over him. She looked to Lapis for help as she placed shaky fingers on the boy's back.

The ocean gem was on the boy's other side. "She's right - this is our home now, Steven. Some Homeworld gems aren't going to scare us away just like that. After all, we've fended pretty well on our own over there." She sent Peridot a half-hearted smile, which Peridot hesitantly reciprocated as they stepped back away from the relieved hybrid.

The temple gate swooshed open again, this time revealing a petulant-looking Amethyst with her arms barred over her white top. "Why's everyone yelling? I can't even sleep because Pearl's yakking is so loud."

"I happen to believe that I have a very appropriate reason for my yakking," Pearl snapped back, to Amethyst's surprise. "These two sent out a flare signal!" Her finger jabbed towards Lapis and Peridot, who were defensively standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their fingers brushing. "Who knows who could have seen it?" Pearl gawked. "Surely any gem in relative range!"

"Actually, any gem within orbit could have been alerted to the flare signal," Peridot corrected with a mumble, but closed up her point when Pearl glowered at her. "It sent out a technical message; a cry for help, if you would. They would think that their allies were in peril."

Steven cocked his head. "Wouldn't that make them more angry?"

Garnet was silent for the most part, and Amethyst was hardly troubled as she moseyed up to the kitchen island and stole one of the bar stools for herself. "I guess. I mean, any of us would be peeved if one of us got hurt."

"Homeworld would choose the objective approach, not a personal approach," Lapis remarked bluntly.

"What about this isn't personal, though?" Steven reckoned. "Homeworld's always had it out for Earth. From sending Peridot, to the creepy shard experiments. . ."

"None of that was as full-scale as it is now." Garnet stepped forward, adjusting her visor with one hand while the other crunched into a fist at her side. "There was going to be trouble on whichever path we chose." She motioned to Lapis and Peridot coolly. "Their incident with the Diamond flare has only just made the trouble come faster than before."

"That's just great," Pearl uttered sarcastically, covering her eyes with her twitching hands. "There's no way we can prepare for an all-encompassing invasion without time for preparation. We had a hundred years for the last year! Who knows just how short we are of time now. . . "

"Come on, buck up, Pearl." Said gem hadn't noticed Amethyst hopping off of the bar stool and coming over to her side. "We've fended off Homeworld before, right? And sure, this time there's gonna be a whole lot more of them. I mean, I've never seen anything like them outside of these two-" she looked at Lapis and Peridot, "and Jasper. YD and that Pearl showing up on Pear's communication thing doesn't count. But they've probably never seen anything like us, either."

Pearl's shoulders loosened at the words, but she still wasn't reassured. "Some of them could very well be veterans from the war," she notified with a glance to Garnet. "They would understand war protocol. They know well how to hurt us where it counts, like they have before."

Her arms wrapped tightly around her abdomen as she felt Garnet's gem-embedded palm clap her shoulder softly. "And yet, we still prosper today." The leader of the Crystal Gems turned to address the other inhabitants of the room, the fidgeting Peridot, the aloof Lapis, the patriotic Amethyst, and lastly, Steven, looking up to her with eyes dark with open determination.

Garnet hummed. "We can prepare, and we can fight. Gems, we've got a lot of work ahead of us."

You guys, I specifically told you not to mess with that gem pod anymore. Now look what you did. It's got anxiety and it's sending out signals for help. Geez.

Also, this is the longest chapter thus far! Not by much, only maybe a hundred or so words, but woo! Productivity! Anyways, seeya next chapter!