Rose pedals gently glided and danced through the air before resting on a sea of grass. Sunlight gently teased Steven's skin as he held his sword ready, his eyes focused and determined.

Today was the day. A single beat of one large bass drum echoed through the field, and then another other, before the third and final beat signaled for the duel to begin.

Pearl smiled coyly, her eyes narrowed, as she lunged her wooden sword forward. Steven swerved sideways, making no move to strike.

"He's getting better," she thought, taking a step back with one foot before gracefully lunging once again. All Steven really knew was how to avoid forward attacking motions, and he was still having difficulty with balance.

"YEAH! Go Steven!" Amethyst called out excitedly.

"Yes," Garnet said with a large smile.

Steven grinned back at Garnet and Amethyst, and didn't notice as Pearl suddenly shot forward, and mock-cut at his stomach.

"Argh!" Steven yelled, dropping his sword and falling backwards. "You win."

Pearl gave her unique, 'I told you so' smile. "When your opponent is disarmed, that doesn't necessarily mean that they dropped their sword."

Steven nodded and mock sliced at the air before turning back to Pearl and bowing.

"Thank you for teaching me," he said respectfully.

Amethyst and Garnet joined them a moment later, walking up the hill toward the cherry blossom tree where Pearl and Steven had been dueling.

"Come on Steven! Bet you can't use that sword to knock down a flower!" Amethyst called, running in circles around the tree.

"I bet I can!" Steven called after her, running up and jumping at the tree branches.

"Hey! Steven-no-STEVEN! That's not a toy!" Pearl called after him and Amethyst.

"Aw lighten up, Pearl! There's no need to get all fussy!" Amethyst called back.

"Fussy...Fussy? I am not fussy!"

Garnet put a single hand on Pearl's shoulder.

"We have a mission," Garnet called out.

Amethyst and Steven both stopped what they were doing and ran back to Pearl and Garnet.

"What kind of mission?" Steven asked elatedly, bouncing up and down on his feet.

"A dangerous one," Pearl replied immediately.

Garnet shrugged. "I think you can come," she began, "If your up for it..."

Steven's eyes widened into stars. "Yes!" he practically screamed.

"Um...Garnet, are you sure that this is okay?" Pearl asked quietly.

Garnet nodded. "It doesn't seem too bad. Not too many enemies, and Steven has been getting better with his combat. His gem is also responding more lately."

"Alright," Pearl said nervously. "If it's what you think is best. But I'm taking one of my swords."

Garnet nodded. "We will leave to warp in 10 minutes. Everyone, grab what you need."

Pearl stepped inside the small lake within her room, reappearing at the top of her waterfall and summoning her sword collection to appear.

"This could be dangerous," she said to herself. "Hm...what to bring...what to bring..."

The swords continued to rotate around Pearl in a large circle while she scratched her head and thought.

"Hmmm...Of course!"

She made a graceful leap, not unlike a ballerina, to one edge of the sword circle, and picked up a blue scimitar.

"Perfect."

Pearl, while clutching the sword, submerged herself beneath the water before emerging by her temple door.

As she walked into the temple, she noticed that Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven were all waiting on the warp pad.

"There she is!" Amethyst said irritably. "Where have you been?"

"Just choosing the right weapon," Pearl said, eyes drawn into a small glare as she crossed her arms and looked away. She walked over and stepped onto the warp pad. "Let's just go already."

The warp pad erupted with light, and a moment later the gems appeared in a large, dark cavern. The roof stretched to at least fifty feet above Garnet's head, and the bottom was consumed by blackness.

"Huh," Amethyst said quietly. "Seems a little quiet, don't you think?"

Garnet shrugged. "There's a distress signal coming from down there. Let's go." She grabbed Steven's hand and leaped into the abyss, with Pearl and Amethyst hot on her heels.

Pearl's feet softly landed on the ground, while Amethyst landed a few feet away with a soft thud. Steven was in Garnet's arms when they landed, and she gently placed him down beside herself. Their vision was obscured by the darkness.

Garnet and Amethyst began to walk forward, their gems glowing slightly in the blackness, while Pearl and Steven tagged along from behind.

"I don't like this place," Steven said, sounding almost sick. "It feels like we are being watched."

There was a small chink as Steven's foot kicked a small, glowing green object a few feet away. "What was that?" he asked nervously.

The gem that rested on Pearl's forehead began to project light, and she walked over to where the object that Steven kicked away had landed. Her face shifted to reveal a look of confusion as she lifted a small green gem, a Peridot, off of the ground.

"What is this?" she asked outloud, holding up the gem. A soft glow came from the gem, but it was quickly fading. After only a moment, it ceased all together.

Garnet took off her glasses, her eyes widening. "Peridot..." she whispered softly, her face in an expression of shock. Pearl and Amethyst both turned and stared at the gem in shock as well.

"What's happening?" Steven asked.

As suddenly as the gem's final glow went out, fire erupted in torched that were placed around the room, lighting up the entire cavern. A chorus of growls sounded just above the head of the gems as a swarm of beasts jumped out of the darkness and attacked. They were black in color, and their teeth glowed white.

"Beasts!" Garnet yelled. "Everyone, protect Steven!"

The gems formed a protective circle around Steven, fighting furiously and keeping the wolves at bay.

"How did this happen? How did this situation just become so much worse? It was just an innocent cavern," Pearl thought. As the wolves engaged them further, the protective circle began to break rank. Pearl was duel wielding her scimitar and spear, fighting first to protect Steven, and then eventually just to protect herself.

"There are so many of them!" Amethyst yelled.

"There's a warp pad over there! Let's go!" Garnet yelled, and the gems fought their way toward a small warp pad at the edge of the room.

"Yah! Agh!" Steven yelled dodging the attacks of the beasts. Pearl fought furiously, and slowly began to lose track of the direction she was fighting in.

The gems stepped onto the warp pad, Steven in tow, and Pearl still fighting her way through. She closed her eyes, making her way toward Steven and batting away beasts with her swords before she felt her scimitar sink into something soft, and felt heard a soft moan.

Pearl opened her eyes in shock, staring at what she had done, while the warp pad erupted with light and brought them back to the temple.

Not a second after they had reappeared at the temple, Steven dropped to his knees. Garnet's jaw dropped in shock, and Amethyst took a step back.

Pearl's blue scimitar had sunk about two inches deep into Steven's stomach.

There was a small puff of smoke, and all that remained on the ground was Pearl's sword, and a rose quartz.