Garnet and Andrew raced along the beach, shoulder to shoulder, towards a corrupted Gem they were engaging. The monster resembled an enormous octopus, with a bulbous, circular body, and long, narrow tentacles. The Crystal Gems had been relaxing in the house, when the creature had slithered out of the sea, and Garnet suggested that she and Andrew confront it together. It wasn't long, into the fight, when Andrew noticed a gem in between the monster's two massive, unblinking eyes, likening it to the reptile the hybrids had fought, on their first day in this reality.

"So, Garnet..." Andrew began, rolling underneath a tentacle and punching a second away from him. "You gonna tell me what, exactly, this thing is?"

Garnet leapt up to the monster's head and sent it slithering backwards along the beach, with a punch to the forehead. "It's a Gem... like us." She replied.

The two fusions convened on the sand, before the monster got its bearings and retaliated.

Andrew shot Garnet a confused look. "Erm... beg to differ..."

The octopus began to advance on the two, in retaliation, Andrew braced his fists, summoned his gauntlets, and had them swell to twice their normal size. Pointing at the corrupted Gem, Andrew launched his gauntlets and had them erupt into shards, as he had in his fight with Garnet. The monster roared in distress as it was bombarded.

Seizing her opportunity, Garnet raced across the sand, and grabbed hold of the tips of two of the creature's flailing tentacles. She leapt over its head and, spinning around in the air, sent it flying over her head and crashing on its back, into the beach. Timing his attack flawlessly with Garnet, Andrew leapt over her head and, seconds after the monster hit the sand, came crashing, gauntlet's first, into its abdomen. The creature's form exploded, and after the smoke cleared, Garnet was sending its bubbled gem to the temple.

"You seem unaccustomed to Gems like these." Garnet stated.

"That's because I am!" Andrew irritably replied. "In my universe, all Gems are humanoid, like us! Unless they're fusions with more than two arms or legs... And none of them act as animalistic as her!"

"Hmm..." Garnet seemed troubled by the news. "Tell me about how Gems came to your earth."

"The world was going to be made into a colony for Blue Diamond, but Rose Quartz started a rebellion. Blue didn't want the planet badly enough to fight a war for it, so she left the planet alone. Then the Crystal Gems just spread out around the earth, and got on with their lives."

"Our rebellion was more... violent." Garnet sighed.

Garnet explained how Earth was to be the first colony of Pink Diamond, meaning it had more sentimental value, and it was fought for more fiercely. Garnet told Andrew that the war had been won, and that the Diamond's final retaliation had corrupted the Crystal Gem army. If Andrew had pried for more information, Garnet might have mentioned that the war ended with Rose Quartz shattering Pink Diamond, but he didn't. Garnet was grateful for that. As collected as she tried to be, for the team, the war had left painful scars, even on her.

"And Rose could never help them?" Andrew asked.

"No..." Garnet sighed.

"So, all you can do for them is keep them in bubbles... so they don't hurt anyone... including themselves..." Andrew realised.

"For now..." Garnet said, a glimmer of hope in her voice.

"For now." Andrew echoed, thoughtfully.

Andrew's mind raced as he considered possible means of researching and studying corruption, in the hopes of deducing a cure. He and Garnet were barely afforded a few moments of silent contemplation, though, before the door to the house flew open, and Amelia ran onto the decking.

"Andrew! Garnet!" She shouted across the beach. "Penny says to come back, quick!"

The duo shared a confused look, before running back across the beach, and into the house, where Penny was standing in the centre of the floor, victoriously brandishing Peridot's arm, wearing it on her own forearm.

"Fear me, Earth clods!" She shouted, with a grin on her face. "For I am the mighty Peri... whoa..."

The fingers on Peridot's arm began to spin, and Penny was hoisted rapidly into the air, where she would have collided painfully with the ceiling, if Pearl hadn't quickly taken hold of her ankle.

"You fixed it?" Andrew remarked, more than impressed.

"Good job." Garnet added.

"Yeah..." Penny said, as she drifted left and right, before dropping clumsily to the floor. "I'm still trying to work out the interface... Our Peridot never let me have a go on hers... But it seems pretty self-explanatory."

"Are you able to figure out what she came to earth for?" Pearl asked, as she helped Penny to her feet.

"Let's see..." Penny said, staring into space, and feeling her way around the controls, inside the arm.

The cylindrical fingers floated around the arm like a shoal of fish, until, quite suddenly, they assumed their attack formation and fired. A bolt of energy flew at Andrew, who immediately summoned his gauntlet and, swinging his hand like a tennis racquet, sent the blast flying through the ceiling.

"Sorry..." Penny said, quietly.

After some more experimenting, which fortunately left everyone unharmed, Penny was able to access Peridot's data logs. Four of the fingers assumed a rectangular formation, and summoned a screen, between them, leaving Penny to navigate it with the fifth. She scrolled through various lines of what looked like incoherent scribbles.

"Let's see..." Penny said, thoughtfully.

"Can you read that!?" Steven asked, sounding astonished.

"Peridot and Rose taught me some key words." Penny explained. "A lot of their missions involve infiltrating Gem bases, and I always wanted to help." Before anyone could reply, Penny seemed to find what she was looking for. "Ooh here! Primary directive!"

The team gathered behind Penny excitedly, as she scrolled through lines of data, with the occasional illustration. Penny squinted at the text, occasionally muttering under her breath, until eventually, she sighed in resignation.

"I have no idea what any of this says. Look, this word here is repeated a bunch of times, throughout the file, what does that say?"

Pearl and Garnet crouched to Penny's height and examined the screen.

"I'm not entirely sure..." Pearl admitted. "The dialogue has changed significantly since I was last on Homeworld... Bundle? Collection?" She guessed.

"Cluster..." Garnet corrected.

"So, Peridot is here to cluster some things together?" Amelia asked, confusedly.

"No, it's definitely a noun, not a verb." Penny said, confidently. "It must be something that's already here."

She selected one of the images and magnified it. It depicted a 3D model of the earth, with a large, glowing, white ball, beneath the crust.

"What is that?" Steven asked.

"It must be some kind of weapon or artifact Homeworld Gems left here, during the war..." Pearl reasoned. "At any rate, I doubt we'll be able to determine much about it, without Peridot."

"Agreed." Garnet affirmed. "Our primary objective is still capturing Peridot, but now... we'll need to bring her in for questioning." She smiled at Andrew, glad they could now pursue Peridot with compatible interests.

"And luckily for us, we've got a surefire way of tracking her." Penny smirked.

With some more hazardous fiddling with the arm's controls, Penny summoned a display, which bore a 2D diagram of Peridot's collective limb enhancers. The other three were glowing red, and what were clearly error messages, flashed next to them.

"Hmm... I couldn't repair it fully, the range is probably quite limited, but if we can find out roughly where she is then..."

Suddenly, Penny was interrupted by a screeching sound from Steven's TV, which had suddenly burst into life. Steven was about to investigate, and turn it off, when the static on the screen was replaced with an image of Peridot.

"This is Peridot, transmitting on all frequencies from abandoned Crystal System colony planet, Earth..."

"Well... that was easy..." Penny noted.

-x-x-x-

With a distorted roar, a circular portal opened up, next to the Communication Hub's destroyed Warp Pad, and Lion leapt out, with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl on his back, and the Hybrids pressed uncomfortably closely together, with their heads poking out of his mane. After the mutated feline came to a halt, the group collapsed off, and out of him, with a sigh of relief.

Looking up, the group saw the remaining intact pillars of the Communication Hub, left over from when Sugilite had destroyed it, precariously balanced on top of each other, like a house of cards, which apparently rendered it operational again.

"Peridot." Garnet bluntly reminded the group, after they had taken in the sight of the repaired hub.

Penny was still wearing Peridot's arm, and summoned the diagram of Peridot's other limb enhancers again. This time, the other three were flashing orange, and a clear line of data was displayed.

"I've got her!" Penny declared.

"Alright. You three go after her. We'll take care of the Communications Hub." Garnet ordered Andrew, Amelia and Penny.

"What about me?" Steven asked, seeming to feel left out.

Garnet grinned suggestively. "I think Pearl and I have someone we'd like you to meet."

The reaction from the group was instantaneous and varied. Pearl immediately beamed and covered her mouth with her hands, Steven stared in wondrous excitement, while Amethyst looked crestfallen, as though a dear partner had just dumped her. Slowly, Penny began to grow expectant, as she realised what was happening.

"Are you two going to form Sardonyx?" She asked, in excited disbelief. Rose had told her about her mother's flamboyant fusion, but Penny had never seen so much as a photograph.

"I think we have another volunteer to stay..." Andrew smirked. "We'll probably have a better chance of getting through to Peridot if we don't overwhelm her, anyway. Looks like it's you and me, Amelia."

After taking Peridot's arm from Penny, Andrew helped Amelia onto Lion's back, and was about to climb on behind her, when Amethyst called to them, "Wait... I'll come too. Looks like I'm not needed here..."

With Garnet and Pearl preparing for their fusion dance, and Steven and Penny watching in anticipation, it seemed like Andrew and Amelia were the only ones who noticed Amethyst's deflated tone. The three of them mounted Lion, and began to race in the direction of an arrow, hovering above Peridot's arm, guiding them to Peridot. Before they left earshot of the Hub, there was the chiming, whooshing sound of a multi-Gem fusion, followed by Sardonyx's dramatic greeting. Andrew and Amelia spared her a glance, and in doing so, noticed Amethyst staring glumly, at Andrew's back.

"Are you okay, Amethyst?" Amelia asked, craning her head around Andrew, prompting him to rest a hand on her shoulder, before she slid off Lion's back.

"What? Yeah... yeah, I'm fine..." Amethyst replied, unconvincingly.

"You can talk to us if something's bothering you..." Andrew reassured her. "If you want to." He elaborated.

Amethyst gave a long, thoughtful sigh. "Last time the Hub acted up it was me and Garnet, taking it down..." Amethyst confided. "But... it didn't go so well..."

Andrew chuckled. "Sugilite went berserk, and wouldn't unfuse?" He guessed.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Amethyst replied.

"You and I could fuse, before Amelia was born." Andrew explained. "We weren't as aggressive as the original Sugilite, according to Rose, but we could be pretty stubborn about unfusing..."

There was a moment of silence, save for the pattering of Lion's paws, against the dusty, barren ground. Andrew realised he'd gotten somewhat off track, by referring to his own Sugilite. "It must be difficult, feeling like Garnet doesn't trust you."

"Yeah..." Amethyst sighed.

"I'm sure Garnet still appreciates you AND Sugilite!" Amelia offered. "There's always a time for mindless brutality, just..." Amelia trailed off, and squinted ahead, before reacting in alarm. "Lion, look out!"

Lion leapt to the side, avoiding a burst of green energy, hurtling at him. Up ahead, the group could see Peridot, frantically sprinting through the desert, having just noticed the pursuing team. Andrew leapt off Lion's back, and began effortlessly running alongside him.

"Peridot!" Andrew bellowed after her. "Just stop for a second and talk to us!"

Peridot continued running, seeming to struggle to choose between using her one remaining hand to fly or shoot, as she alternated between the two. Amethyst followed Andrew's example and dismounted Lion, before rolling into a ball, and dashing across the desert, towards her quarry.

With her eyes on Amethyst, Peridot assumed her flight function and lifted safely into the air, without noticing Andrew train his gauntlet on her. Before firing, Andrew opened his fist, as though to catch a ball, and his gauntlet rocketed through the air, before it snapped shut around Peridot's fingers, snatching them from her hand, before falling lifelessly to the ground, with Peridot falling helplessly after them. As soon as she stood up, Peridot was ensnared by a whip, which Amethyst threw at her.

"Crystal Gems or no, why can't you dull pebbles just leave me alone!?" Peridot demanded, desperately.

"Because we're your friends, Peridot!" Andrew insisted.

"Why do you keep saying that!?" Peridot cried, squeezing her eyes shut in frustration. "I've never even met you fleshy clods before!"

"It's... complicated..." Andrew sighed. He quickly changed the subject, before he was forced to explain his full backstory to Peridot. "Last time we met, you said I wouldn't want to help you if this planet is my home." He reminded her. "If you were just going to drain the planet's resources, you wouldn't be this desperate to leave." Andrew pointed at the ruins of the Communication Hub, just visible in the distance. "I think you came here to check up on a weapon which is endangering the earth, and you!"

Peridot stared resentfully at her stolen arm, in Andrew's hand. "The information on those drives is classified!" She hissed.

"Dude, just tell us what the Cluster is, before it kills us all!" Amethyst angrily insisted.

"You'll just have to disrupt me! Because I'll never betray Yellow Diamond!" Peridot snapped.

Andrew sighed reluctantly, and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Peridot, you're putting me in a hell of a position here. I really didn't want to have to stoop to this..."

Amethyst and Peridot looked to Andrew, curiously, but with varying degrees of terror.

"Amelia... It's all you." Andrew said, without turning around.

Amelia climbed down from Lion, and made her way over to Peridot. The latter sat upright, and shuffled backwards, nervously.

"What is this? Are you a warrior? Some, horrifically defective Aquamarine?" She demanded, anxiously.

Amelia came to a stop, before Peridot, where she stared at her, wordlessly, her pupils dilating to inhuman proportions.

"Wh... why are you staring at me like that?" Peridot asked, confused and alarmed, in equal parts.

Amelia's bottom lip quivered and she sniveled as though staving off tears.

"What is this...?" Peridot cried, clearly suffering the intended effect.

Still Amelia didn't say a word. Tears began to well in the corners of her eyes.

"It's not my fault your world is going to be destroyed!" Peridot insisted, as though desperate to absolve herself in Amelia's eyes. "Stop looking at me like that!"

Peridot also began to tear up, trying and failing to break eye contact with Amelia.

"Alright! Alright I'll help you! Just stop your emotional bombardment!" Peridot collapsed to her side, and openly wept.

Andrew grinned triumphantly and stood at Amelia's side, offering his fist out to her. Amelia smiled and reciprocated the gesture.

"You're scary, you know that?" He said.

"Yeah, I know." Amelia replied.