As Steven and Amethyst explored the Kindergarten, their new recruit marveled at the sight of the barren wasteland. There was something about the Prime Kindergarten that Padparadscha found breathtaking. This did not go unnoticed by Amethyst; who playfully smiled at the sapphires adorable, childlike curiosity.
"Oh, my, I've never seen a Kindergarten that looks so alive," Padparadscha said, gleefully. Amethyst snorted at the sapphires statement. "Heh, heh, if this is what they look like when they're alive then I'd hate to see what they look like when they're completely drained." Padparadscha waited for a moment and then she shook her head. "Oh, no you misread me. You see, back on Homeworld, the Kindergartens are completely barren; no signs of gem-life or any technology. But here, this Kindergarten still has Injectors and an active warp pad; you can tell that other gems were here."
Although still confused by this statement, Amethyst seemed to get the idea. The group suddenly came to a stop in front of a chain-linked fence with a sign that said "RESTRICTED AREA". The fence stood there, blocking off the entrance to another canyon.
"You think the buildings through this fence, Steven?" Amethyst asked.
"I don't know, let's climb over and -" Steven was cut off by Amethyst spin-dashing into the fence, putting a huge hole in it. "Nevermind, I guess we could just do that. C'mon, Paddy, let's go." Steven said as they went through the hole in the fence.
As the trio made their way through this new canyon, they realized something was off. Unlike the rest of the Kindergarten, whose cliff-faces were lined with gem exit holes, this canyon had cliff-faces had no exit holes and were lined mostly with grass, moss, and flowers. The amount of plantlife increased as they traveled further.
"Woah, dude. It's like they injected gems in every part of the Kindergarten; except here," Amethyst stated.
When they came to the exit, they were greeted by what appeared to be an oasis. The land was covered with grass with pink hibiscus flowers growing out of the ground. The whole area was surrounded by large trees and pink rose bushes and it had a huge lake.
"Oh, my stars, I've never seen something this beautiful in any Kindergarten," Padparadscha said, gleefully; Steven nodded in agreement. After looking around for a few seconds, his eyes widened at what he saw next. "Guys, look," he said, pointing.
In the middle of it all was the building from Steven's dream; except this time it was covered in moss and vines.
"Amethyst, we found it!" Steven exclaimed.
"Alrighty then, let's get some answers," she said. But before they could move any further, a buzzing sound was heard from Steven's phone. "Ah, dude, who could be calling you at this time?" Amethyst said, frustrated.
Steven pulled out his phone. "Oh, it's Connie, she wants to video chat," Steven explained, pressing a button; putting Connie's face on the screen.
"Hey, Steven," Connie said. "I just called to tell you that Peridot wants us to come over; she said she made a great discovery."
"Well, the last time peridot said she made a "great discovery" it was a bag of Doritos," Amethyst said. "So, let's not get our hopes up."
Connie snickered at that statement. "Yeah well, who knows; maybe she might surprise us this time," Connie said.
"Tell, Peridot that we'll be there in a minute," Steven said. It was then that Padparadscha spoke up. "Hello, I'm Padparadscha Sapphire. It's a pleasure to meet you, Connie."
"Hehe, same here. Anyways, I'll see you guys later," Connie said, ending the call.
Steven put his phone back in his pocket and let out a sigh.
"Hey, Steven, I've been meaning to ask you; how are you and Connie doing, after that argument yesterday?" Amethyst asked. Steven looked at her with saddened eyes. "Well, we're on speaking terms; so that's something," Steven replied. Amethyst put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring stare. "Hey, don't worry about it, man. Look, Connie was really upset that you got taken away and she was really worried that you wouldn't come back. It's gonna take her a while to get over this whole thing," Amethyst said. "But, hey, I'm gonna be real with you. This tension between you guys isn't gonna break until the both of you work it out."
Steven nodded. "Okay, I think I understand."
"Good, now before we go, I need you to take a picture of the building so we can show it to Peridot later," Amethyst said. Steven nodded, snapping a picture of the building. As the trio made their way to the warp pad, unbeknownst to them, a figure was watching them from the inside of the building with a wide-eyed expression.
"Oh, my stars, 8XM's alive!" the figure exclaimed.
. . .
(On the Human Zoo)
Carnelian was sleeping peacefully in her resting quarters when suddenly, she was awakened by Skinny shaking her awake.
"Carnie, c'mon wake up!" Skinny exclaimed, shaking the small quartz vigorously. Carnelian stood up and stretched, letting out a loud yawn. "Hey, Skinny, what's going on?" she asked.
"C'mon, we're about to go," Skinny replied, lifting Carnelian off the floor and tucking her under her arm. Carnelian raised an eyebrow. "Go? Go where? she asked as Skinny carried her out of the room. "Well, after what happened last night me and the other quartzes decided to break out of this place and go back to Earth," Skinny explained.
Carnelian's eyes widened. "Woah, are you for real? Wait, how are you guys gonna manage this; the only ships we have are in the docking bay and I'm pretty sure Holly's gonna realize that one of them is missing."
Skinny smiled. "That's what we thought too. But, check this out," she said, placing Carnelian down and sitting down next to her. She pulled out a holo-pad and opened it to reveal the holographic-blueprints of the entire zoo. "See, right there,"Skinny said, pointing to the bottom of the hologram. "It's a cargo bay, our diamond used it to transport equipment, tools, gem tech; basically everything needed to keep this place running." Skinny pressed a button on the holo-pad opening up the surveillance system. "And right there, that's the cargo ship," Skinny explained, pointing at it.
The cargo ship was large and pink. It had a cylindrical base and a dome-shaped cock-pit. It had two large wings, three tailfins, and three ion-thrusters. The ship stood on four robotic-limbs.
Skinny pushed another button, revealing the ship's schematics. "The ship has everything we need for our escape; blasters, holding cells, and it has a hyperdrive engine, but the things busted; so we might have to stop by the salvage yard to get a replacement. But, all and all, I'd say we might have a chance."
Carnelian eyes were filled with stars as she gave a wide, toothy grin. "Oh, my stars, Skinny this is unbelievable. I can't believe this; we're finally going home."
Suddenly, Skinny's communicator beeped. Turning it on, it revealed Jay. "Alright, Skinny, Me and the other quartz soldiers made it the cargo ship. We're waiting for you and Carnelian," she said. "Now, before I go any further, I want you to know that once we do this; there's no going back, we'll immediately be labeled as traitors. So, are you sure you want to go through with this?" Jay asked.
Skinny thought back to last night's events; the anger boiling inside her knowing that Holly had hurt her sister in the worst way possible and the concern she felt seeing Carnelian cry her eyes out, she then snapped out of her thoughts and answered. "Yes."
Jay nodded. "Okay, then. You have ten minutes; we have to be off the zoo by then." When the transmission ended the two stood up and made their way to the cargo bay. After walking along a series of hallways, a realization hit Carnelian.
"Hold on, Skinny, what did she mean by ten minutes and how are we gonna get the ship out of the cargo bay without it being detected?" Carnelian asked.
Skinny smirked. "Way, ahead of you, sis."
Suddenly, all of the lights and power went out and the whole station went dark. "That's our cue, we gotta go!" Skinny exclaimed, lifting up the smaller quartz and tucking her under her arm before she ran through the corridor. "Woah! Skinny what was that?" Carnelian asked as they turned right at a corner. "Jay connected the ship's control module to the zoo's power grid. She shut off all the power and disabled the surveillance systems," Skinny explained. "But, we have to hurry; it'll only last ten minutes.
The two came to a large stairwell going downward. Skinny let out a frustrated sigh before she leaped off the first step, floating down twenty-four flights of stairs and landing gracefully on her feet before running through another series of hallways before reaching the cargo bay, where the cargo ship stood docked in the center.
"Well, Carnie, there it is; our ticket home," Skinny said. Just as they were walking towards the entrance of the ship, Skinny was hit by an electric shock, causing her to lose her grip on Carnelian as she flew into the wall.
"I must say, your plan was brilliant considering it was made by a defective," said a familiar. Skinny looked up to see Holly Blue Agate standing in front of her, holding her electric whip. Holly glared down at her. "It's too bad that this as far as it'll get you."
Skinny glared back at the agate as Holly continued. "I'm mean seriously, you didn't think that there were security cameras in the barracks. I saw your whole conversation and I'm afraid I can't let you - AAAWWW!" Holly's rant was cut off by an orange spear getting launched through her shoulder.
"I should've done that last night, after what you said to Carnelian," Skinny said, summoning another spear.
Holly pulled the first spear out of her shoulder, letting it disappear into nothing and cracked her whip. Skinny charged at her with her spear pointed but Holly moved sideways out of her path and kicked her in her in the back, making her drop her weapon as she was sent skidding across the floor.
Skinny cringed in pain as she looked up to see Holly standing over her. "Did you honestly think you would win? I'm an agate; your superior, I outrank you and you're just a weak defect whose forgotten her place in the hierarchy." As she spoke, Holly wrapped Skinny up in her electric whip. "And it's about time I re-educated you."
Skinny screamed in pain as Holly's whip electrocuted her. She tried her best to endure the pain but it only made it worse. After a few seconds, she stopped resisting and just gave in.
Holly looked down at the quartz with a smug grin on her face. "Oh, and before you even bother to ask, I already sent the footage of your little act of rebellion directly to the diamonds. So, don't expect the rest of your group to be so lucky.
Carnelian looked at the scene in front her; the sight of Holly torturing Skinny made her snap. Carnelian got up and ran at the agate, summoning her mace. "Step off my sister, you prick!" she said, pulling the weapon back and ramming it into Holly's leg.
Holly yelled out in pain as she fell down, dropping her whip and letting phase out of existence. While Holly was nursing her broken leg, Skinny and Carnelian joined together and formed group spin dash and flew right at the agate. Before Holly could react, she was struck by the duo's combined attack and she was sent flying into one of the large ceiling lights, getting electrocuted in the process before falling back down onto the floor.
Skinny and Carnelian cheered and high-fived each other. "Not so bad for two defective gems huh, Holly?" Skinny asked, sarcastically. Holly tried to get back up but fell back down due to her leg still being broken. "Well, what are you gonna do now? Shatter me?" Holly asked, hysterically. "Well, go ahead then; my diamond's already gonna do it when she finds out I let you escape, so just get it over with."
Skinny and Carnelian looked at each other, they both felt conflicted after hearing the agate's statement. After a few moments of silence, Carnelian spoke up. "It doesn't have to be this way Holly; you could come with us. Then you won't ever have to worry about the threat of being shattered. You could be free," Carnelian explained.
Holly snapped at the small quartz. "Do you honestly think I would let myself be affiliated with scum like you?!" she exclaimed. "You know I bet she's the reason for this little uprising."
"Who is this "she" you're referring to?" Skinny asked, suspicious.
"Don't play dumb with me; you know who I'm talking about!" Holly shouted. "That little runt of an amethyst that was with the crystal gems; she sparked this rebellion, didn't she? You saw that twerp go up against an elite gem such as myself and now you want to recreate her actions. It's because of that purple brat that you and your whole team will be -!"
Holly's endless rant was cut off by a large purple hand grabbing her by the back of her head and slamming her face into the wall, putting a huge crack in the wall and knocking Holly unconscious.
"Woah, dang, Jay!" Skinny exclaimed.
Jay glared down at the unconscious agate. "Never speak of 8XM like that ever again," she said. Jay turned to the two quartz soldiers and smirked. "Well, what are you waiting for? The power will be back on in three minutes; let's go," she said. "Oh, and before you ask; the humans will be fine. I set the power grid to go out for ten minutes, they should be awake and the power should be back on by that time. As much as I hate it here, I would never try to put them in danger, after all, we both came from the same planet."
Both beta quartzes stared at each other, shocked by Jay's statement. Then Jay spoke again. "Well don't just stand there, let's go. The sooner we get Holly into one of the ship's holding cells the sooner we get off this station," she said, setting Holly on top of her shoulders and made her way to the ship, followed by Skinny and Carnelian.
"You're letting us take her with us?" Carnelian asked. "Well, yeah. It's obvious that you guys don't want her to die and neither do I; now c'mon let's go home," Jay said.
The three quartzes boarded the vessel, letting the door close behind them. The cargo ship activated and hovered off the ground before the ion-thrusters ignited, sending the ship flying into the depths of outer space.
. . .
(Back on Earth, at the Barn)
Peridot was excitedly making preparations to show off her greatest achievement. She was just making the final adjustments when Lapis flew in.
"Hey, Peridot, have you seen Pumpkin; I was gonna take her out for a jog?" Lapis asked.
"Not since this morning, but I think I saw her hanging around the crops," she replied.
"Great, Thanks," Lapis said, summoning her water wings. Before she took off, she noticed something. "Uh, Peridot, what's this?" she asked, de-summoning her water wings and picking something off the floor.
Peridot looked up and nearly had a heart attack when she saw what Lapis was holding. "LAPIS, NO, DON'T LOOK AT IT!" she exclaimed.
Lapis tried but failed to hold it all in. "AHAHAHA *snort* AHAHA! *snort*!" Lapis laughed as she fell down on the floor.
Peridot covered her face, embarrassed. "Oh my, goodness. Peridot, is this what I think it is?" Lapis asked, knowingly.
In her hand was a framed picture of Amethyst decorated with heart stickers.
A dark, green blush rose on Peridot's cheeks. "I-I-It's not what it looks like!" Peridot shouted.
"You have a crush on Amethyst!" Lapis shouted, mockingly.
This made Peridot blush even harder. "W-WHAT! NO, I DON'T!" Peridot exclaimed.
"Oh, yeah, then why are you blushing?" Lapis asked.
Peridot put her hands on her cheeks. "So what if I do have feelings for her?" she asked.
"AAAWWW, you two would make a cute couple. Just wait until Amethyst hears about this," Lapis replied.
"No, you can't tell her!" Peridot screamed.
"Oh, yeah and why shouldn't I?" Lapis asked, smugly. "Because if you do, I'll tell Steven that you've been flirting with the mailman," Peridot replied.
Lapis was shaken by this. "Hey, Jamie's cute," Lapis said, dark, blue blush forming on her cheeks. "Fine, I won't tell her. But I think you should," she said, summoning her water wings and making her way to the door.
The sound of a warp pad can be heard in the distance, indicating the arrival of Peridot's two favorite gems. Lapis opened the door to reveal Steven, Amethyst, and their newest recruit.
"Lapis!" Steven exclaimed, pulling her into a hug. "I haven't seen you in forever." The blue gem giggled and returned the hug. "Hey, Steven, I'm glad to see you're okay. The gems told us what happened; sorry I wasn't there to help.
"It's okay, Lapis. It was just bad timing and to be fair we should've told you and Peridot about it instead of handling it on our own," he replied and that seems to satisfy the blue gem. Steven was then greeted by Peridot
"Oh, Steven. It's great to see you alive and still in one p-"
Peridot cut her sentence short when she saw Amethyst. "Oh, h-hi Amethyst," Peridot said, nervously.
"Hey, Peri," Amethyst replied.
Peridot was allured by the sound of Amethyst's voice. "She's so gorgeous," she thought. Peridot stood there admiring Amethyst's beauty. Her long, luxurious hair looked so soft that Peridot could barely hold back the urge to touch it, her beautiful violet eyes were hypnotic, and she had the most elegant curves. Peridot just wanted to stand there and look at her forever.
"Hello! Peridot, you still with us?" Amethyst asked, waving her hand in the green gem's face, snapping her out of her trance. "Oh, Y-Yeah, sorry about that," Peridot replied, blushing. She could hear Lapis giggling in the background. "Oh, my stars, this is so humiliating," Peridot thought to herself. "Anyways, what were you guys saying."
"Oh, yeah, we'd like to introduce you to our newest member," Steven said, gesturing to the sapphire. "Peridot, this is-"
"Padparadscha Sapphire," Peridot said, shocking Steven and Amethyst. "I'm a fully licensed Kindergartener, remember; I've got knowledge about every gem that was ever made.
"Oh, okay. Hey, Lapis, come say hi to Paddy," Steven said. Lapis stared at the sapphire. "Hi," she said. After five seconds, Padparadscha replied. "It's very nice to meet you, I don't see a lot of Lazuli's on Homeworld; I must say your dress looks lovely." Lapis giggled at her response.
"I like her she's cute," Lapis said before she flew off in search of Pumpkin. It was at this time that Connie came through the barn doors with Lion and when she and Steven saw each other they stared into each other's eyes.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey," he replied.
The two stood there in complete silence before Peridot chimed in. "Okay, now that everyone is here let me show you what I've been working on," Peridot said. The green gem led the group to a set of tables covered with computer parts which appeared to be a makeshift lab. "Okay, now tell me: do these look familiar?" Peridot asked, placing strange green items on the table. Steven and Amethyst immediately recognized them.
"Holy, smokes! Dot, you found your limb enhancers!" Amethyst exclaimed.
"Well, actually, Lapis found them during her morning flights, but that's not all; look closer," Peridot said. Getting a closer look at her limb enhancers, it appeared that they had pieces missing, wires hanging out of them, and they looked completely destroyed. "Dang, tough break; sorry dude," Amethyst said.
"Oh, no, you don't understand; I did this," Peridot explained.
"WHAT?!" They all said at the same time. Well, except for Padparadscha, who said it after five seconds.
"Peridot, why would you do that?" Steven asked.
"Well, you see Steven, I wanted to cut off all ties with Yellow Diamond and by destroying these limb enhancers I can now easily say that I don't need her anymore," Peridot explained. Steven thought about it for a moment before he said. "Okay, I guess that makes sense." Peridot continued. "Besides, I needed the parts for my latest invention. Behold," Peridot said holding it up. "The Gem-Pad!"
The Gem-Pad looked just like Peridot's tablet, except now it was green and it looked more technologically advanced, the screen, while it was still made of glass, looked almost holographic, around the screen you could see the robotic fingers from Peridot's old limb enhancers, and the back of the tablet had a large yellow star sticker on it.
"Well, what do you think?" Peridot asked. Connie was the first to speak up. "Peridot, this is amazing, but what can it do?"
"I'm glad you asked," Peridot said. "You see, after destroying my limb enhancers, I decided to do what I do best: invent things to help the team and adjust to my living environment. I used the technology from my old finger screens to upgrade my tablet to what you see now. The Gem-Pad has the ability to activate any form of technology, it has a built-in human and gem detector, a high-frequency audio recorder that can record from a long distance, a satellite radar to detect any ships that might enter earth atmosphere, it has its own built-in wifi, and a scanner that I can use to scan for schematics, identify unknown creatures, or check on a gem's status." The group stared in complete awe when suddenly, Padparadscha said, "Oh, my stars. Peridot, why would did you destroy your limb enhancers?"
Steven, Amethyst, and Connie chuckled at the sapphires late vision. Peridot raised an eyebrow before continuing. "Anyway, this brings me to why I called you here. Follow me." Peridot led the group to a cellar door. Opening it, she led them down a couple of stairs to a room filled with a large array of tables covered with desktops with a single laptop, a counter covered with test tubes, a bunsen burner, and a microscope, and a large computer screen on the wall. "Welcome to my lab," Peridot said.
"How did you afford all of this?" Connie asked.
"Turns out, the supermarket pays a fortune for crops," Peridot explained. "Now back on topic, I've recently read a book online about the human body and after I finished reading, it got me thinking about you, Steven." Everyone looked in his direction.
"Me?" Steven asked, pointing to himself. The green gem simply nodded. "Yes. Its come to my attention that through my past experiences with you, that as a hybrid you're not like most gems or humans. You still have the basic physiology, traits, and weaknesses of most human and yet, they don't seem to negatively affect or prohibit the use of your basic gem abilities.
Steven scratched his head. "Um, thanks."
Peridot continued. "Now then, this raises the question about your human biology. If you don't mind, I would like to do a scan." The young hybrid though about it for a moment before he said, "Sure, why not."
The Gem-Pad projected a green light, scanning Steven's whole entire body. After getting the results, Peridot pressed a few buttons before the results re-appeared on the laptop which displayed it on the much larger computer screen on the wall. "It's just as I suspected," she said.
"What is it, Peridot?" Steven asked.
"Well, Steven, it seems that somehow your human body has adapted to function alongside your gem," she replied typing on the laptop keyboard. "Now look at this ordinary diagram of the human body," she said pulling it up on the computer screen. "According to this, a large portion of the human body seems to be made up of water and the body uses this water to create sweat, tears, that one disgusting form of liquid human waste that I will never speak, and saliva. OK, now Steven, Garnet told me that you possessed healing saliva. Is that correct?"
"Yeah," he replied.
"Then that means, my theory is correct. Hold on for a second," the green gem said. Peridot typed on the Gem-Pad and the whole screen flashed green. "OH, MY STARS, YES!"
"Um, Peridot, exactly what are you getting so hyped about?" Amethyst asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, according to the scans, the water in Steven's body contains large amounts of healing properties," she replied, excitedly. "Do you have any idea what this means?"
Everyone thought about it, but then they just shake their heads. So Peridot explains, "Steven, do you remember that corrupted gem that I captured back in the Beta Kindergarten?"
"Yeah, what about it?" he asked. Before the green gem could reply, Padparadscha spoke up. "I predict that Peridot's theory will be proven correct. Congratulations, Peridot." Peridot simply stared in confusion. "Um, thanks, I guess. Anywho, I've recently done some scans on its gem and look what I've found." Peridot punched in a few things on the Gem-Pad before it projected a hologram of some strange looking objects. "The results show that the creatures gem has been contaminated by some type of bacterial pathogen. I originally thought that the pathogen was gem-based; but after running a few diagnostics, the results showed that the pathogen was an organic, fungal form of bacteria that's been infused with a gem-based compound," Peridot explained. "The compound allows the pathogen to bond itself to a gem's DNA and their cerebral cortex. Once it does that, it starts causing major damage to the gem's body and mind. As a result, the damage to the body causes the gem to take on a more monstrous appearance and the damage to the gem's mind causes them to lose any memory that had about what they used to look like and any memory about their past lives."
The whole group was astonished by everything they just heard. "Oh, my god," Connie said. "Guys, are you seeing this -"
Connie was cut off by the sound of sniffling. Everyone turned around to find Padparadscha crying in the corner. Steven walked towards the sapphire and asked, "Is something wrong, Paddy?"
After five seconds, the sapphire turned around to face him, tears flowing from her eye. "T-This isn't right! No gem deserves this kind of punishment!" Padparadscha cried, tears pouring out of her eye. "The diamonds always say that a single gem is easily expendable, but I never thought we were this expendable!" Steven placed a hand on the sapphires shoulder. "It's going to be okay, Paddy. Finding a cure for corruption is one of the many things that me and the gems are trying to accomplish," Steven explained, smiling warmly. "Don't worry, someday we're gonna help these gems." This got the sapphire to smile and wipe away her tears. "Thanks, Steven. I needed that."
"Well, Steven looks like that day is coming sooner than you think," Peridot explained.
"Really, why?" Steven asked.
"Well, Steven my recent studies show that the water in the human body also makes up the liquid part of blood. With that in mind, that means that your blood could also contain some healing properties, but unlike your healing saliva, they might be more active due to your antibodies.
"Anti-whats?" Amethyst asked, confused.
"Anti-bodies," Connie explained. "Found in the bloodstream, the human body uses them to fight off viruses and bacteria.
"Affirmative," Peridot said. "OK, now Steven, would you mind if I take a sample of your blood to conduct more research?"
"Well, if it can help to find a cure for corruption then, sure," Steven answered.
. . .
Back inside the barn, everyone waited as Peridot conducted her analysis.
Steven rubbed his, now bandaged, arm and gazed at the floor. He felt something on his shoulder and he turned around to come face-to-face with Connie. The girl pulled her hand back and the two children awkwardly turned away from each other. Just when it looked like Steven was gonna speak, Peridot emerged from her lab.
"Well, everyone the results are in," she stated.
"Well?" Amethyst asked, curiously.
Peridot smiled. "A full one hundred percent. Steven, your blood is the cure."
"YES!" Steven and Connie both cheered at the same time, pulling each other into a hug. But when the realization hit them, they nervously pulled away from each other.
"WOOOOH, Alright, Peri!" Amethyst exclaimed, giving the green gem a tight hug. Peridot let out a surprised squeak as a green blush began to take over her face. "Wow, she's so warm and she smells like the sweetest strawberries," Peridot thought.
"Yo, Dot, you still there?" Amethyst asked, shaking the green gem out of her trance. Peridot immediately came back to reality. "Stars, I have got to stop doing that," she thought.
"So, what now?" Amethyst asked.
"Well, Steven's blood can possibly cure corruption, but it needs two more components in order for it to work,"Peridot explained.
"Like, what?" Connie asked.
"It's simple really, it needs a gem-based healing element and a DNA-sample from a corrupted gem," Peridot replied.
"Well, there is the tears from Rose's Fountain. Maybe, that could act as a healing element," Amethyst said.
"Yeah, and remember that corrupted gem that Jasper fused with?" Steven asked.
"You mean, the Ocean Jasper," Peridot asked.
"Yeah, if she's still around the Beta Kindergarten then maybe we could get a DNA sample from it," Steven explained.
"Alright, then. Let's head out," Peridot said. Before they could make it to the door Padparadscha said, "Everyone I just had the most wonderful vision."
"What is it, Paddy?" Connie said.
"I predict that Steven's blood will be the cure for corruption. Oh, how wonderful!" she said. Everyone chuckled at her delayed reaction and headed towards the exit. Just as Steven opened the door, Pumpkin came running inside followed by Lapis. When the little vegetable saw Padparadscha, she pounced on the sapphire. Padparadscha giggled as Pumpkin licked her face.
"Where are you guys going?" Lapis asked.
"Well, first, were heading out to mose's fountain to get some her healing tears and then we're heading out to the Beta Kindergarten to look for the corrupted gem that Jasper fused with," Steven explained.
At the mention of Jasper, Lapis shuddered for a bit before she said, "I'm coming with you."
"Really?" Steven asked.
"Steven you just got captured by enemy gems and now you're going after a corrupted gem that has some connection towards Jasper. There's no way I'm letting you out of my sight; your safety is important to me," she stated.
"Aaawww, thanks, Lapis," Steven said. "C'mon, guys, let's go.
"Pumpkin, follow," Lapis said.
Pumpkin followed after her two owners as the group made their way to the warp pad.
AN: I was supposed to have this chapter posted on Wednesday, but my teacher thought it would be a "great idea" to give us two projects over Thanksgiving break. Anyways, guys, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. In the next chapter, we'll get to check up on the Famethyst's escapades in space. Also if you think you know who was spying on Amethyst from that building in the Kindergarten, leave your suggestion in the comments along with your thoughts about this chapter.
Anyways, credit goes to:
realfakedoors for his idea about Steven's blood. Go check out his story Convictions and Captivity on Archive of Our Own.
Lemurian99 for his idea about the Gem-Pad. Go check out his story about his Steven Universe and the Great Diamond Conspiracy on
Anyways, that's it for now guys. Bye.
