It was just a normal day in the Crystal Temple with the Ninjas helping the Crystal Gems fold Steven's laundry while also discussing what to do about Peridot. She was still out there somewhere and Lee, while on a morning run, stumbled across her escape pod just recently.
"We need to track down Peridot. We found her pod. We know she's out there somewhere. She came to Earth with a job to do and odds are, she's still gonna try to do it. That's why I've gathered you here." Garnet said with the utmost seriousness.
"I thought it was so you can help me fold all this laund-a-ry!" Steven piped up.
"That too. The chore wheel idea you had fell apart fast."
"Wasn't me." Amethyst said innocently.
Everybody looked at the refrigerator where said Chore Wheel was plastered and saw that everyone's names were crossed out except for Pearl's, which were written over all the other names.
"Really, Pearl?" Rin said with an arched eyebrow as the Pale Gem looked sheepish.
"I just really enjoy doing all of those things."
Kakashi gave his girlfriend a look. "It's best if we work together on them, don't you think?"
"Humans should just stop wearing clothes, be a lot funnier." Amethyst pointed out just as Deidara came out of the shower room wrapped in only a towel around his waist. Amethyst looked at her boyfriend and immediately flushed dark purple as she looked away.
"I'll be seeing you later, Ames? Hn." Deidara teased as he went to his room. Steven was busy looking at one of his half-folded shirts in the meantime.
"This is a lot. I bet this folding would go faster if Ruby and Sapphire were here!"
"I'm sure they'd be glad to see you, Steven. But I am not unfusing for laundry." Garnet stated.
"I'd like to see 'em just so I can hug and squeeze 'em!" Bee joked with a smile as Garnet lightly slugged him in the shoulder for that remark. The Rapping Nin just laughed at the Fusion in response.
As the group continued to fold laundry, an uncomfortable thought crossed Pearl's mind. "Garnet, you don't think Peridot would come looking for us, do you?"
"Chillax, P, you got nine Jinchuuriki, a group of ex-terrorists, some of Konoha's trained elite and the last Uchiha on your side!" Ino reassured as she put away one of Steven's folded pants in the clean bin.
"Ino is right. Besides, we weren't her priority. She was sent here to do something in the Kindergarten." Garnet said in agreement.
"Do you think she's still going to try to reactivate it?"
Garnet hummed. "If she gets it back up and running, the Injectors will turn back on."
"Injectors? What are those?" Steven inquired curiously.
"You've already seen them. Well, you've seen them disabled." Pearl proceeded to project a hologram from her Gem showing what the injectors looked like.
"Hey! I remember those!" Naruko pointed out as the rest of the Jinchuuriki nodded in agreement, remembering the incident with Amethyst.
"If Peridot reactivates them, they'll pick up right where they left off, planting Gems in the crust of the Earth, where they'll incubate and suck the life right out of the ground, we can't let Peridot restart Gem production here, if we do, the entire planet will become..."
"...Janked." Garnet finished for Pearl as Amethyst laughed.
"Garnet! That mouth!"
"Hoo-Wee! Who knew Fro Mama had that sweet tea?" Bee chuckled as well.
"Well, I think it's best if we try and stop her unyouthful conduct! Come on, team!" Lee declared as he jumped to his feet. Garnet seemed to agree with him as she stood up as well. Soon, everyone got up and headed to the Warp Pad as Steven resumed folding laundry until Naruko picked him up.
"That includes you, buster!"
Meanwhile, Tenten couldn't help but feel like Lee had a type of ulterior motive for wanting to stop Peridot but she brushed it off as just him being his normally hyperactive self wanting to prove his 'youthfulness'.
Everyone soon arrived in the Kindergarten as Pearl projected a beacon of light from her gem to guide the path.
"Well, nothing looks activated. In fact, i-it doesn't look like anything's budged since the last time we were here."
"You're right. But just because Peridot hasn't been here yet, it doesn't mean she won't come. Let's do a thorough check of the perimeter. That way, we can monitor any further entry." Garnet stated as Steven nodded in agreement with her words.
"Sounds good to me!"
Steven started treading off on his own, Lee and Sai deciding to accompany him to make sure he stayed safe. As the three walked around, Sai decided to sketch parts of the Kindergarten in his artbook while Lee kept on guard. Soon, they heard a familiar voice and saw Peridot rising from a secret hole in the ground while working on her holo-pad.
"There she is...!" Lee whispered, blessing his luck that he chose to go with Steven.
"Log date 6-5-2. This is Peridot, updating Status. Still stuck on this miserable planet... The fusion experiments are developing properly. A few have even emerged early-" It was then that she noticed the trio and shrieked in surprise as Steven awkwardly waved.
"Apologies for intruding. We were just looking for you." Sai said with his usual emotionless smile.
"Are the other ones with you?" Peridot whispered nervously.
"Indeed! We have come to bring you with us!" Lee stepped in with his hands on his hips.
"Of course! Why not..." The Green Gem cursed with a facepalm just as the others arrived.
"Hold it right there, Peridot! We outnumber you a hundred to one!" Naruko declared as she got in front of the pack with a wild grin on her face, showing her fangs. Peridot immediately turned tail and ran but then got stopped as Lee appeared in front of her.
"Apologies, I don't wish to hurt you!" Lee said as Peridot quickly formed her hand into a cannon and blasted Lee with an electric shock, sending him back.
"LEE-KUN!" Naruko cried for her friend.
"YOU BITCH!" Tenten roared as she summoned an Iron Kanobo and lunged at Peridot with intent to squash her flat. The Green Gem dodged and tried to run until she suddenly saw Lee in front of her again, looking very much unharmed.
"I don't think your Gem technology cannot hurt someone with the power of YOUTH on their side!"
Peridot squawked in terror as she ran and then ran up the side of a nearby wall. Lee immediately jumped after her and lunged forward.
"Hey, I'm still learning how to climb a tree still!" Steven said as he tried to use the training Kakashi gave him and Connie to run up after Lee and Peridot but his Chakra levels weren't advanced enough yet and he ended up falling into Han's arms.
Back with Peridot and Lee, the latter once more stood in the Green Gem's way as she grunted in annoyance and tried to shoot him again but he dodged.
"Shall you come peacefully now?"
"WHY WON'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY?!"
"Because my power of youth keeps me running through all the challenges I face, Peridot-San!"
Peridot was confused at the honorifics. "W-Why did you add that to my name?! I DON'T KNOW BUT IT MAKES ME FEEL FUNNY AND FEELING FUNNY MAKES ME UNCOMFORTABLE!"
Lee faltered. "ARGH! My apologies! I shall make it up to you by carrying all these injectors on my back while jogging through the entire kindergarten! And if I can't do that then I will do 1000 laps while running on my hands with a boulder on my back and if I can't do that-"
Peridot was so stupefied that she ended up losing her footing and falling off the wall. Quickly righting herself, she tried to flee only for Amethyst to wrap her up in her whip. However, Peridot simply touched the whip with her finger and sent an electric current running through it, forcing Amethyst to let go.
"Well, she's just full of surprises!" Deidara said as he summoned his C2 Bird and got on it before scooping up Amethyst. Peridot panicked and turned her fingers into a helicopter, flying off as she curled up into a ball with the two chasing after her.
"After her!" Pearl shouted as everyone pursued. Lee jumped off the wall he was on and followed after everyone else. Steven wanted to go as well but he, Garnet, Naruko, and Bee were the only ones still around.
"Why aren't WE going after them?" Naruko asked in confusion.
"If Peridot's mission was to reactivate the Kindergarten, the injectors would be on. Look. They're not."
Everyone saw that the injectors were still inactive. Realizing that there was something deeper afoot, Garnet revealed a hidden passageway that the others hadn't noticed. Steven looked amazed while Naruko and Bee looked at each other in stupefaction.
"Wow, and we're supposed to be Ninjas..."
"Too true, little sis. Too true."
As everyone went down the hole, Steven decided to ask Garnet a question regarding her being a Fusion.
"Is the strong part of you Ruby and the wise part of you Sapphire?"
"It's all of both. When two Gems combine, it creates something greater than the sum of their parts. That's why I'm so great." Was Garnet's response.
"But there's something on my mind. What's it like being two Gems together all the time?" Bee asked in rap form but he didn't get an answer as the four reached their destination. It was a dark underground place with dirt pillars hanging from the ceiling.
"I don't know how but... this place is even creepier than the last time we were here."
Naruko nodded. "Yeah, no doubt, little buddy."
Garnet formed her gauntlet on her right fist as the four walked through. Steven looked around at some of the damages in the room they were in.
"The power's not on. What was Peridot doing?"
Garnet looked up at the dirt pillars on the ceiling. "It looks like she pulled these out of the walls. Something strange."
"Oh man, y'all. This looks like that movie with the monsters in the walls!" Bee shivered warily as he readied two of his swords. Naruko nodded, also uneased as she stood her ground, slipping a kunai out of her sleeve and holding it in a reverse grip. Garnet approaches one of the dirt pillars cautiously and touches it, causing it to begin to shake.
"Oh, yeast! We've awoken the beast!" Bee yelped as he and Naruko got on guard until something fell from the ground. The two looked to see it was what looked like a pink hand and a blue foot fused together. Garnet picked it up as she and Steven looked at it in confusion.
"What are they?" Garnet couldn't give an answer as the mysterious hand/foot fusion latched onto Steven's face. Thinking quickly, Garnet poofed it with a punch, causing it to turn into what looked like two gem shards fused together.
"What is it?... It looks like... two gems shards stuck together."
Garnet gave a grunt of disgust and threw the fused gem shards away as Naruko and Bee jumped beside her and Steven.
"Oh, man...I think I'm getting Fuuma Clan flashbacks..." Naruko grumbled to herself, remembering her confrontation with Arashi.
"This ain't right! This is a serious blight!" Bee snapped as he got on guard with all of his swords at the ready. Garnet gave a fearful sound as Steven looked at her in concern.
"Garnet?"
Suddenly, the dirt pillar that was shaking cracked open as everyone turned around to see what looked like multiple gem shards stuck together rose from it. A ball of light surrounded it before multiple bodies of light formed as if trying to pull themselves free. All of them had their mouths open in silent screams.
"Okay, NOW I'M REALLY GETTING FLASHBACKS!" Naruko cried.
"KIT, THIS IS TEN TIMES MORE FUCKED UP THAN WITH OROCHIMARU!" Kurama barked in her mindscape.
"We need to get out of here!" Sarutobi cried. Naruko couldn't agree more but Garnet was seemingly frozen in [lace as the light bodies glitched out and then formed into some kind of fused abomination of arms and legs that began crawling towards the four.
"Fro Mama! Are you okay?! What's the drama?!" Bee cried as he realized Garnet's paralyzed shock.
"What do we do?!" Steven cried in terror as he pulled a fused pair of hands off of himself and Naruko poofed it with her kunai. Garnet was then grabbed by the abomination and smacked in the face, knocking her visor off.
As Bee and Naruko helped Steven fend off the creepy crawlies, Bee then noticed Garnet being held in place by the abomination and froze when he saw her frightened and traumatized face. That, in turn, raised several red flags for the Eight-Tails Jinchuuriki.
"Bee! We gotta help her!" Gyuki cried in his mindscape as Bee didn't need to be told twice and moved to pull her to safety.
"They were forced together... They were forced to fuse! This is wrong!" Garnet began panicking and then glowed. Bee gasped as he realized she was starting to unfuse before growling as he flared his Version 1 Chakra Cloak up and used all his might to try and pull her free.
"DON'T LET 'EM GET TO YOU, FRO MAMA! YOU ARE STRONG! STRONGER THAN THEM!"
What Bee didn't know was that his Chakra was seeping into Ruby and Sapphire's Gems, causing them to glow with an unearthly power as Garnet suddenly regained her composure and returned to normal, soon yelling as a Chakra Cloak formed around her, the aura of Gyuki emitting from her body as she ripped the abomination apart, poofing it.
"What was that...did we just...?" Gyuki asked as he recognized the burning aura emitting from Garnet before it dissipated. Bee himself was shocked, had he just transferred his Chakra into Garnet? The Fusion bubbled the shards and then remained silent as Naruko and Steven dealt with the last few 'clusters'.
"So this is what Homeworld thinks of Fusion..." Garnet spoke in Ruby's voice
"We couldn't have known they would do this..." Spoke Sapphire's voice next.
"This is where they've been. All the ones we couldn't find. They've been here the whole time!"
"Rose couldn't have known."
"This is punishment for the rebellion!"
Now Garnet began sobbing. "It's not our fault!"
"Garnet!" Steven cried in concern as Bee sighed, knowing exactly what needed to be done.
He gently touched Garnet's shoulder, turned her around and pressed his lips to hers. Garnet paused as she felt Bee's blonde beard tickle her face before she slowly cupped his face, leaning into the kiss. The two then broke away with Garnet looking at the Eight-Tails Jinchuuriki with a grateful expression.
"Bee...Thank you for being here for us."
The Rapping Nin smirked. "Hey, together we all banging. No way I'm leaving you hanging."
After reuniting with the others, who were unable to capture Peridot, everyone resumed folding laundry as Lee was rather bummed out he couldn't talk to Peridot properly while Tenten comforted him. Soon, Steven began hanging his clothes to dry when he noticed Garnet and Bee standing on the thumb together.
"Are you guys okay?"
Garnet was silent as she had been talking with Bee until Steven showed up. "What Homeworld did, taking the shards and parts of fallen gems and combining them, these gems weren't asked permission. Fusion is a choice, those Gems weren't given a choice. It isn't right; it isn't fusion!"
"Calm down, G. You being like this is hard to see..." Bee said gently as he wrapped an arm around Garnet. Steven smiled, happy to finally see the two hooking up together.
"Say, what's it like, knowing your one instead of two? That must be a tough mood." Bee asked as Garnet smiled.
"You forget you were ever alone. You know, when you fuse, you don't feel like two people, you feel like one being. And your old names might as well be names for your left arm, and your right."
Bee chuckled, seeing the reasoning in that. "You got that right. We won't let you get separated without a fight."
"Amen to that, Bee." Gyuki said in agreement as Bee and Garnet stayed together, happy to be in each other's company.
I always wanted to get Bee and Garnet hooked up and now they are officially an item. How will their relationship evolve through the rest of the story? Only time will tell.
Next Time: Gaara comforts Lapis as she tries to adjust to being on Earth.
