"We will not allow you to harm this planet!" Pearl shouted, pulling her sword from her gem. "Leave, or we will fight you!"
The woman they were trying to fight pulled out a strange device and wiggled it back and forth. It made a sound that was obviously painful for the gems to hear. Their image blipped and vanished into their gems.
Steven, watched, horrified, from inside. The woman stepped up to the gems just as Amethyst reformed. "No!" she said angrily, scooping up Pearl, Ruby and Sapphire and running (awkward, with her weirdly proportioned legs) back towards Steven and the house.
Steven jumped outside, leaned over the railing, and shouted, "Why are you doing this?"
The woman looked up at him and pointed the device at him. Amethyst poofed behind him, and Steven scooped up all of the gems and brought them inside. Garnet reformed rather quickly, then opened the temple and brought them all inside.
"Garnet," Steven said, not letting go of the gems. "Who is she?"
"She's a timelady," Garnet said, taking Amethyst and Pearl out of his arms gently. "They destroyed countless civilizations throughout time. I thought they were extinct, but this one is here. We have to destroy her."
Amethyst's gem glowed and she came out of it, looking like she normally did. "Sorry, guys," she said, flopping on the ground. "Do you think she can open the temple?"
"I highly doubt it," Garnet said. "Pearl would be foolish to spend more than half an hour reforming. She is a threat to everyone on every world."
They heard the sound again. "What is that?" Steven said.
"It's a sonic screwdriver," Garnet said. "I've seen it once before, when Rose Quartz led the rebellion. It is capable of interrupting our hologram and thus forcing us to retreat inside our gems. As you have a physical body..."
"It'll just hurt a bit," Amethyst interrupted. "When is Pearl going to come back? Not two weeks again, right?" she flipped her hair over her shoulder.
"Like I said, it would be unwise-" finally Pearl's gem glowed and she came back.
"Is she still out there?" she said as Steven rushed up and hugged her.
"Yup," Amethyst said.
"Maybe we should try and reason with her," Garnet said, to the immediate shock of everyone around her.
"Garnet," Pearl said. "I thought-"
"She's too dangerous and we can't get close enough to her to punch," she said, slamming her fist into her hand for emphasis. "But if we can get close to her with words-"
"Then we can punch her," Amethyst said, satisfied.
"Steven, I need you for this" Garnet said.
"You cannot be serious!" Pearl looked at the boy, who looked at Garnet eagerly.
"He's the only one of us who she wouldn't try and crack on sight," Garnet said. "You have to convince her to back down, Steven. If you have to, run, and don't tell her that you're a gem. We can survive in here for a long time if need be."
"Guys..." Steven said, suddenly scared. "I'm going to see you again, right?"
"Prob'ly not," Amethyst said, picking her nose absentmindedly.
"Amethyst-!" Pearl let out a low growl, then regained her composure. "Good luck, Steven. And if you can, get rid of her device!"
"Screwdriver," Garnet corrected.
Amethyst snorted. "Yeah, but- screwdriver? Ha!"
"Bye, guys," Steven said. Garnet opened the door with her two gems, then closed it as soon as he was on the other side.
Steven put his hands above his head as soon as he was outside. The whining noise of the sonic screwdriver made him wince as it tried to mess with his gem.
"You aren't a gem," the woman said, tapping her device. "Why are you with them?"
"Why are you trying to kill us?" Steven said angrily, staying far away from him.
"You don't understand. They're gems. They have destroyed countless civilizations throughout history, and they very nearly caused humans to go extinct. What are they planning? Do you know?" she tried to open the door again, and Steven threw himself at the sonic screwdriver.
"They aren't planning anything!" he yelled. "Why are you trying to kill them?"
"They're dangerous! How could you know anything about them? They would never tell a human their plans- they're far too smart for that. There has to be something going on, so many things have been going on in Beach City."
"I trust them more than I trust you!"
"I really should have brought Clara, she's the one that deals with- children." She then proceeded to call out her name several times, loudly, until a grown up (long hair, short with a button nose) hurried up the stairs.
"I thought you said this was too dangerous for me?" Clara asked, looking at her angrily. "Why are you pointing your sonic at him?"
"Gems," she said. "They are the worst creatures in the universe. Besides the Daleks, of course. And this child won't let me in!"
"You have funny accents," Steven commented, sitting on a couch. "You sound kind of like Garnet," he told Clara.
"Who's Garnet?" Clara said gently, sitting next to him.
"She's two people, actually," Steven said. "She's my family. They save the world!"
"Doctor?" Clara said, looking up at the woman. "Do you think you may have jumped to conclusions?" The woman- the Doctor- scowled at her. "How about, I go talk to- Garnet- and you stay here with your- scowl. Okay?"
"Take the sonic," the Doctor said.
"No!" Steven said.
"He's just a kid," Clara said.
"They are gems, Clara, they aren't kids. And one of them might be a fusion! Trust me. Those monsters- you'll want it. Trust me."
"I thought we agreed that I shouldn't trust you," Clara snapped, then turned to Steven. "What's your name? I'm Clara."
"Steven," he whispered, then knocked on the door. "Guys? Guys I have another human to talk to you. The time lady isn't coming. Guys?"
The door opened neatly and Pearl pulled them both in as Garnet slammed the door.
"Tell us why you're here." Garnet said, towering above Clara.
"We're trying to save the world," she said. "You?"
"Same," Garnet said, taking a step back. "I need to know why you are travelling with a time lady."
"What? She's good, yeah?"
"She's a time lady," Pearl said, her fists clenched. "Her kind destroyed galaxies in some pointless war. We won't allow her on our planet!"
"There, see?" Clara said. "Misunderstanding. The Doctor isn't like them. She's good- or she tries to be."
"Tries to be isn't good enough," Amethyst said.
"Well, she's saved this world too many times to count, so I think it is good enough," Clara said angrily. "And I'm sure you've saved the world hundreds of times over too? I thought not."
"Actually…" Amethyst said awkwardly.
"Yeah," Garnet said. "We're thousands of years old."
"The Doctor has traveled to the past and the future and saved us every time."
"We are the past and we will be the future," Garnet said. "And it is very hard to kill us."
Clara looked at them seriously. "The Doctor can regenerate whenever she's killed."
"So can we," Pearl said haughtily. "Our bodies are simply solid holograms."
"Guys!" Steven said. "Stop competing! Can you get her to stop trying to kill us?"
"I'll see," Clara said with a smile, bending down to his level. "We'll see."