When you think of kindergarten, you probably think of a quiet, peaceful place. Somewhere you might have fond memories of learning about numbers, or eating a tasty lunch your parents packed you. If you were a gem, you might still think fondly of kindergartens. You might think of the time that you burst from the ground, ready to fulfill your purpose in life and honor your creators, the Diamonds. What you probably don't think of at the mention of kindergarten, however, is the hellscape that was the Earth Colony's Beta Kindergarten on this fateful day.

The Kindergarten was being ravaged. Rose Quartz' Crystal Gem rebellion had planned an attack on the location in the hopes of slowing Homeworld's Gem production. At this rate, it seemed they were going to succeed. While the Homeworld Gems outnumbered the rebels two to one, the latter forces were practically unstoppable with all the advanced weapons their head blacksmith, Bismuth, had crafted them.

On the battlefield, the attack was being led by one of the Pearls Rose had rescued from slavery. This Pearl had served Pink Diamond, hence her bright pink skin and dress. After all her centuries of servitude, she intended on winning this war, no matter what it took.

"Keep moving!" she yelled at her soldiers from atop a ledge. She gestured to three of them. "You two! Poof all the Homeworlders surrounding the nearest injector. And you! I want you to destroy that machine while your teammates hold off the enemies."

"Yes, Ma'am!" They shouted in unison, and ran off to follow her orders.

Pearl saw two Rubies running up to her ledge. They jumped up, forming their gauntlets. She dashed forward, swung her sword straight through them, and landed gracefully on the ground, followed by the Rubies' gems. She shattered them with a second swing and ran into the fray.

While fighting off Homeworlders, she noticed something strange. A portion of the rock face with no holes in it, and a bright yellow glow coming from just behind the surface. Looks like a Gem is about to emerge, she thought. Too bad this'll be the first thing she sees.

She couldn't let her thoughts drift off, though. Two Quartz soldiers, an Onyx and a Carnelian, were charging for her. They stopped on either side of her and swung their fists. She ducked. Their fists collided. She swung upwards and sliced through the Carnelian— a loud poof followed. Before she could turn around, Onyx decked her in the head. She fell to the ground, looked upward. Onyx's fist rushed toward her face. She rolled out of the way, but dropped her sword. She stood. Onyx charged her again. With lightning speed, she dropped to the ground— slid between her opponent's legs— grabbed her sword— stood— and stabbed Onyx's shoulder— the location of her gem. A look of horror showed on Onyx's face for a split second; then her physical form poofed, and her gem fell to the ground in shards.

Behind her, Pearl heard Carnelian begin to reform. She quickly spun and thrust her sword through the wretched Homeworlder's heart. The light from the regeneration faded, and yet another shattered gem fell. I'll do whatever it takes, she thought.

The battle waged on. Pearl shattered gem after gem, never lingering on one, always moving from target to target; in a fight like this, three seconds spent lingering were three seconds an enemy had to shatter her. Her soldiers fought well too. Almost all the injectors had been destroyed, and they now outnumbered the Homeworld soldiers.

As Pearl shattered another gem, she saw something out of the corner of her eye; the glow in the rock had gotten brighter. The gem was about to emerge. She'll be lucky to live a minute, thought Pearl. From her peripheral vision she saw the glow get brighter, brighter-

BOOM! The rock face exploded and sent chunks everywhere, accompanied by a thunderous sound. No normal Gem would emerge like that. What could be-

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw a white ball surrounded in yellow energy shoot out of the hole and shatter the nearest Crystal Gem. It shot to the side and shattered another, and another! Before Pearl could react, all of her remaining troops were dead. The white ball stopped and unfolded, revealing the most terrifying Gem Pearl had ever seen. She was burly, with arms and legs so thick Pearl swore she could poof someone in one blow. Her hair reached all the way to her knees; the same hair that had shattered what was left of an entire battalion of Gems. But the scariest part by far was her eyes. Her yellow eyes, which contained so much hatred and wrath that Pearl wanted to run away and hide.

The Gem turned and slowly walked toward Pearl. The Quartz soldier towered over the small, scrawny former servant. Pearl raised her sword, her arms trembling. She swung at the Quartz, who caught her thin blade and casually snapped it in two. She grabbed Pearl by the waist and lifted her off the ground.

"My name is Jasper," said the Quartz. "And who would you be?"

"M-my name is P-Pearl…" Pearl stuttered. "An-and I'm the leader of the soldiers you just killed!" Her fear was joined by fury at what Jasper had done.

"Huh. How convenient that I've saved you for last." Jasper chuckled to herself. "Wasn't my intention."

All of a sudden, the small talk was over. Jasper wrapped her hand around Pearl's chest, placing her thumb over the latter's gem. She pressed down hard, and the gem cracked.

Pearl had never felt such pain. She cried out in agony."Stop! Please!"

"The Crystal Gem rebellion! That's who you guys are, right?"

"Yes! Just please-"

Jasper pressed harder, causing the crack to spread.

"Who is your leader? Who's behind this disgusting group?"

"I-I'll never tell you!"

Jasper dug her thumb into one of the cracks. Pearl's screams grew even louder.

"Rose Quartz! She started this! Kill her, not me!"

"Oh, I plan to. Where is she?" Jasper dug her thumb deeper.

"I-I-I don't-" Pearl's statement was interrupted by one final shriek , which ceased after her body poofed out of existence.

Jasper heard a clank on the ground. She bent down and saw that she had split Pearl's gem in two. "Damn it," she grumbled. She then chuckled and muttered, "Guess I don't know my own strength."

She noticed that the other Homeworld Gems had been watching the whole time. She approached the nearest one and did not wait for any kind of greeting. "Take me to the nearest Homeworld base," she demanded. "I want to know everything about this Rose Quartz…"