And now it's time for the third of the original Crystal Gem trio to get her upgrade...

As Steven slowly opened his eyes, his heart was still pounding. He heard every scathing word from White Diamond, and it chilled him like nothing else. A small part of him was actually grateful to be put in this situation again since now he could at least contribute something instead of worrying about some invincible about to blow up the town for the second time.

He stood up and began looking around the area for Pearl and was caught off-guard by what he was looking at. Compared to Garnet's volcanic winter and Amethyst's void of discolored rubbish, this realm was the most normal. The sky was a gorgeous night with millions of stars illuminating the black abyss above him. He was standing in a pleasant meadow where flowers of every shape and color grew around his feet with a city skyline shining off in the distance.

"Well," he muttered to himself, "Leave it to Pearl to make even her mind tidy. Now, where is she?"

He took his first step forward and noticed how all the plants parted around him. He even tried suddenly changing direction, but the flowers constantly avoided his feet. After a few moments, the terrain changed to pristine white sand with several cacti and multiple tents and huts of various sizes dotting the dunes in front of him. The only similarity was the city still miles away.

"Pearl?" he called out, "Are you here? Hello?"

The gem herself then emerged from one of the huts looking completely normal. "Oh, Steven! I wasn't expecting company! Excuse me…"

She went back inside for several minutes before returning with a cheese plate in one hand and bottle of water in the other.

"Thanks," replied the boy as he took a sip and nibbled on a cube of cheddar, "You, uh, doing okay?"

"Well, there are some issues bothering me with the decoration of these old wigwams…"

"Wait, what?"

Two neutral-colored pieces of fabric appeared in her hand. "What do you think works better, dark beige or creamy white?"

"Uh, it's still a little dark…"

One second later, the sky immediately changed from starry night to radiant day. While Steven was surprised by this, Pearl simply stood there as she looked from one sample to the other.

"I'm personally leaning more towards the beige. Feels more striking, but what's your say?"

"Pearl, I don't think that's what's bothering you."

"No? I suppose beige it is then!"

All of the teepees immediately changed into the darker color and the gem was still not reacting to any of the oddity around her. Steven had to resist the urge to splash his water on his face. Whether that was from trying to keep calm or the thought that the liquid would adamantly refuse to sully him was another issue.

"Well, now that that's been settled, what else to do? Feels like there's so much tidying up to do around here…"

"Stop it, Pearl! We've got way bigger problems to be worrying about!"

"That's very true… And I really could use your help with it."

"Really? What is it? Tell me!"

She then summoned a bucket of paint in one hand and a rolling brush in the other. "There's a few walls in that town over there that could definitely use a new coat! Come on, it'll be fun!"

And then, as a final addition to the strangeness, the city began to approach them. Neither of them took a step, but in about a minute the distance between the metropolis and the two of them was cleared in an instant. They were even both standing on asphalt before they even knew it.

"Oh boy, this is gonna take a while…" the boy groaned as he took up a paintbrush. He figured the manual labor would be the easiest thing to take care of in this place.

"Um, are we certain this is a good idea?" asked Peridot.

"We need to try something!" insisted Cinnabar. "And plus, this sounded really cool!"

"Everyone, stand back," ordered Garnet as she and Amethyst stood apart from each other. The rest of the Crystal Gems waited with bated breath for their fusion to commence. One hasty round of dancing later and soon all of them were gawking at the titanic form of Sugilite.

Bismuth, still rather new to fusion, gulped at the sight. "Man… I can't tell if that's amazing or super weird."

"A bit of both, honestly," commented Topaz, "But I'm good with being a little more… ordinary."

"Alright, stand back," barked the violet titan, "And let my four best friends pop this bubble!"

The air was hopeful as the fusion launched herself at the translucent bubble with unbelievable speed given her gigantic size. Her already monstrous strength was heighted further thanks to Amethyst's supersonic speed as her punch would have been enough to rip almost anything to pieces with one blow.

The key word being almost. All four of her boulder-sized fists smashed into the barrier cutting off the ocean and created a deafening boom on impact, but there was not a scratch on it.

"Well," lamented Lapis, "So much for that idea…"

"Shut it down there!" yelled Sugilite, "I'm not done just yet!"

Now fueled by her anger, the fusion hammered away at it fast enough that her feet became almost invisible to the naked eye. The earth itself trembled from her power, each blow enough to make even a Diamond wince, but still to no avail. She even lit all of her hands on fire to see if the added heat could help her, but still nothing.

"Someone wanna tell her to let up?!" shouted Greg over the cacophony, "I think I'm going deaf!"

"I think there's a few tectonic plates being shifted…" added Adamite, impressed with the display even if nothing came out of it.

"COME ON, YOU STUPID BUBBLE, POP!" roared Sugilite as she almost started foaming at the mouth. At last, she stopped her pummeling and took a step back. While the others were all helpful that she had relented, that changed when she summoned her signature flail in each of her hands.

"I highly suggest we find cover…" whimpered Peridot, "Now!"

"Everyone inside!" called Bismuth and the others wasted no time following suit. Topaz was sure to grab the still-unconscious Steven and Pearl. Now behind the relative safety of the force field around the beach house, they watched from the porch as the purple powerhouse's final move came.

"Alright, White Diamond," muttered the fusion, swearing she could hear the monarch laughing at her, "Let's see your tech stop this!"

All four of her flails began spinning with enough speed to generate hurricane-level wind. Both of the weapons in her right hand became coated in massive spheres of ice dotted with spikes while the ones in her right ignited with blue flames.

"SUGILITE STORM SMASHER!"

She let all four flails fly at once. The combination of the elements between them, however, had the unintentional side-effect of merging the two into electricity by accident. Putting that much energy under such intense pressure caused a massive explosion that also consumed the fusion. The gems and people from within the temple's force field looked on in amazement as they protected from the shockwave that made every pane of glass in the town shatter at once. Cinnabar was even left ooo-ing at the destruction, her inner pyromaniac bowing down to the masterful work before her even if fire was only partially involved.

Once the dust settled, the group saw that nothing had changed except Sugilite was now missing her shades and all five of her bright violet eyes were glaring at the bubble.

"You may have won this round, clod…" she mumbled under her breath, "But I'm gonna smash you to a pulp if I ever see you."

Much to the Crystal Gems' relief, the fusion willingly split up after that and made their way out of the water. Both Garnet and Amethyst looked disappointed by the result, but they were both grateful that this was the smoothest fusion they had ever had.

"Worth a try," grumbled Amethyst, "But now what do we do? That's the toughest fusion we've got without Pearl around."

"Not sure Alexandrite would've done much better," commented Garnet, "And as much as I hate to admit it, looks like White Diamond wasn't bluffing when she said this dome can't be broken."

Before any more suggestions could be put forward, they were distracted by Steven's phone ringing in his pocket. Peridot decided to answer the call herself and saw that the caller was Lars.

"Greeting, Captain," she answered the line, "This is Peridot speaking. How can we assist you?"

"What the stardust was that?!" hollered the captain over the phone, "Did you all do that, or did Emerald come back with a bomb?!"

"Relax, that was merely an attempt to escape the barricade that has encased Beach City. I assume you've already tried that yourselves?"

"Yeah, but even at max power our blasters didn't make a dent in it. You all got some hidden weapon that can disarm this thing? If you don't, then that means we now have 55 minutes until the town gets blown off the map and Homeworld turns Earth into a husk."

"Understood…" she then hung up the phone and promptly fell onto her back. "Anyone else here have more ideas? Their ship isn't cutting it either…"

"I don't know, call White Diamond and ask her to call the whole thing off?" snarked Amethyst, "Maybe if we all agree to be her maids in her palace or whatever."

"Wait…" realized Garnet, "She said that Silver Agate is the one who pushes the detonator. She's more than likely the commanding officer for this whole attack."

"So?" asked Lapis, "What, we win her over to our side with a song and some cookies?"

"Wait, I get it!" said Bismuth, "If she's the one in charge, then that means her ship is here! That's where she has the whole controls for this bubble!"

"And if we launch an attack and take over the ship," continued Garnet, "We might be able to deactivate the whole thing in time."

"Alright!" cheered Cinnabar, immediately feeling better, "Let's get in there and burn everything!"

"Wait," advised Adamite, "We might also have to watch for any humans that have been kidnapped in the meantime."

"True," acknowledged Topaz, "That means we should try to bust everyone out before we try anything too drastic."

"We'll do a systematic sweep of the place. Peridot, bring up the map of the ships' location that Lars sent us. We'll move as a group in a clockwise fashion starting with the nearest vessel. Any objections?"

"Wait about Steven and Pearl?" brought up Lapis, "Should we just leave them here?"

"Keep them in the house so that way they're at least under our force field."

"I'll keep an eye on them," offered Greg, "I think I've had enough fighting for one day and going to their HQ sounds like way too much for my blood."

"Are you sure, man?" questioned Amethyst, "You've been kicking pretty good butt with that tech of yours."

"He's got a point," spoke Garnet, "Plus, I'm sure Steven and Pearl will want to join in once they're up and about again. Call us as soon as they're ready."

The father nodded as he stayed behind while the rest of the Crystal Gems headed outside. The pair, now sitting in chairs thanks to Topaz, quickly got the attention of all the rescued people still taking shelter in the beach house.

"Steven?" Sadie called, jostling the boy by the shoulders, "Steven?! What did those creeps do to you?"

"Maybe he tuckered himself out fighting those things?" thought Peedee, "Or he just fainted because that queen alien said she's gonna blow up the town!"

"Alright, everyone, take it easy!" assured Greg, standing on top of the kitchen counter to get everyone's attention. Once he had the entire room silent, he continued to speak. "Look, I know this whole situation is absolutely bonkers. Yes, things are looking pretty bad right now, but life around here has never been normal. We've had giant red eyes, spaceships shaped like hands crash land here, an evil pixie kidnapping people with a magic wand and Lars come back as a pink space pirate!"

The crowd was still shaky, but Greg pushed on. "No matter what junk has come to town, the Crystal Gems have been there to keep everyone safe. And yes, I know why Steven's out of it right now, but trust me when I say he'll be fine. He and Pearl will be up and at 'em soon enough and once they are, they'll be out with the others sending those aliens packing!"

"Yeah! You go, Greg!" cheered Barb, the older postwomen eager for some good news. Her cheer soon caught on and the whole room went from dreadful to applauding in a matter of seconds. While the reality of the Diamond's threat still lingered, now the crowd was put at ease that the Crystal Gems would be there to save them.

Greg considered himself especially lucky in that respect because his doubt was worse than the rest. He had to watch over his unconscious son and one of his guardians all while the clock kept ticking.

"Guys," he thought pleadingly, "Get back as soon as you can. I may have some skills and this suit, but I'm still an old man who wants his family to be safe and sound again."

Beach City was used to silent nights as there was no nightlife to speak of. Even for this neighborhood at 3 AM, though, the air was completely silent with only the footsteps of the Crystal Gems leaving the sidewalks and neighborhoods behind for the acres of field surrounding the town. Unlike before, though, all eight of them moved in unison as they charged towards one of the market spots on Peridot's map. While the quiet of the night was soothing in a way, it also put them all on alert.

"Still no resistance," muttered Garnet, "I'm all but certain White overheard everything we said and yet nothing."

"I'd theorize they're allowing us to act out of sheer, unchecked arrogance," sneered Peridot from atop Garnet's shoulders, "They still don't see us as any sort of actual threat, but bugs to be squashed."

"Well, figures she puts all of us in a jar…" jested Bismuth.

"Heh, good one," replied Amethyst, "If that's true, then let's all bust out of here and then fly to Homeworld so we can sting her giant face!"

"Can we really do that?" pleaded Cinnabar, "Pleeeeeease?"

"Everyone!" warned Topaz, "I can see some Homeworld goons coming towards us!"

Sure enough, the yellow fusion was correct as a dozen assorted gems appeared over the crest of a hill in front of them to cut them off.

"Where do you think you're going?" smarmily asked another topaz, though this one with her gem on her knee.

"Where else?" answered Lapis, "We're gonna break into your ship and maybe blow it up."

"After we look for any people you mud-balls stole…" added Bismuth, already changing her hands into hammerheads.

"Yeah?" dared one of the jaspers in the group, "You'll have to get past us first."

"Good point. See ya!" taunted Amethyst as she zipped off at several hundred miles per hour, bowling several of the goons over in the process. Before any of the Homeworld mooks could run after her or even warn the others on board, Garnet got their attention by leaping straight at the same jasper and punching her several hundred feet away.

"Now then," goaded the fusion, "I suggest you pay attention to me."

And with that invitation, an all-out brawl emerged between the two sides. While the Crystal Gems with both halves of Topaz were slightly outnumbered, they quickly made up for it in spontaneity. Garnet, in particular, took down three of them thanks to her elemental powers leading to many surprised faces as she burned, froze or just pummeled them into submission.

Peridot and Lapis, despite still being shaky in combat, managed to hold their own against an aggressive pair of amethysts. The latter used her flight and water wings to her advantage and bombarded one of them with her impressive speed before the purple bruiser could overpower her. While Peridot did not have an ample supply of metal like she did in the middle of Beach City, she did have Bismuth to help finish the other one off once she managed to distract her foe.

Speaking of Bismuth, she ended up back to back with Topaz against a pernicious trio of rubies all baying for their shards. They decided to use their obvious size advantage to the fullest and ended up squashing the runts under their feet. That left Adamite and Cinnabar with the last few who made the poor mistake of underestimating them for being obsolete gems. One round of being buried to their necks after being charbroiled halfway to being melted later, all of the goons were bubbled and sent back to the temple.

Amethyst returned a few seconds with two humans holding onto her back for dear life. "Alright, that's one ship down! Let's move out!"

They could not get very far, however, before another six Homeworld troops to cut them off.

"Uh, you sure about that?" warily asked Peridot, "Because it looks like they called for backup!"

"What, you thought the magnificent White Diamond didn't have a backup plan?!" goaded a jasper. Then another jasper materialized out of thin air right next to her.

"You disgusting rebels were right! White was listening to everything you did, but that still doesn't matter!"

A pair of rubies soon appeared in front of them. "This whole bubble is one big warp pad! There's literally thousands of us lined up to stop you once and for all!"

"Are you all crazy?!" yelled Bismuth, "That crazy clod of a Diamond said everything in here's gonna get vaporized in less than an hour!"

"We don't care!" shouted dozens of voices of unison. In only a matter of seconds, over fifty Homeworld troops surrounded the eight Crystal Gems and boxed them in. Among them was none other than Silver Agate, staring down at them from the same hill from before.

"My Diamond has given me the chance to wipe out the sole rebellion from our race," she boasted, looking accomplished all the while, "And while I may be disintegrated, it means that your leader's toxic influence will never infect any gem again. I may not be a member of Pink Diamond's court, but it is the least I could do to avenge her shattering."

"Uh, Garnet?" Topaz asked nervously, "Any ideas?"

"Hope Steven and Pearl wake up fast," replied the fusion as she readied her gauntlets, "Because now we've got 48 minutes before we're all dust."

In stark contrast to the tension and dread going on outside, Steven and Pearl were still pleasantly painting buildings within the latter's mind. While a welcome departure from the more turbulent times from before, the continued calm was also beginning to unnerve the teen. It did not help that Pearl's little world continued to defy logic on multiple occasions. The buildings they were painting literally shrank so they could reach the higher floors, the color of the pain changed automatically and their brushes never once splattered or dripped.

All while the two were painting some parts of the empty town red, Steven and Pearl made pleasant small talk. The gem, unlike Amethyst, was willing to talk about almost anything and treated the entire affair like a pleasant afternoon. After what felt like hours of painting, yet still not feeling at all tired, the two stopped for a break atop the brick apartment building now freshly painted purple. A picnic basket was already waiting for the pair and a gentle breeze kicked in.

"Well, I'd say this place is looking much more eye-catching," commented Pearl happily, "Now, what to do next?"

Steven, still not sensing anything unusual with Pearl, sat down on the blanket. "I don't know, is there anything else that needs cleaning?"

"Well, naturally, but perhaps some variety is in order," thought Pearl as she stared out into the city. She began debating between washing windows of the more modern skyscrapers or trimming the foliage along the streets. "Go ahead and eat, Steven."

The boy dug around the basket and found all of his favorite foods within. A bottle of his favorite juice, a ham sandwich topped with mustard and the crusts cut off, some fry bits from the boardwalk still piping hot and, at the very bottom…

"A Cookie Cat?!" he exclaimed, feeling the still-cold dessert.

"Goodness, it has been a long time since you've had one…" reminisced Pearl fondly, "And yet it doesn't feel like it at all."

Steven could not help but smile as he opened his long-lost favorite treat and took a heaping bite out of the ice cream sandwich. While it was sweet on his tongue, he also felt a small pang of disappointment that Pearl quickly noted.

"What's wrong?"

"It tastes good but…"

"…Not as good as you remember. I know the feeling…"

"Hm?" Pearl once again faced the skyline as she began talking.

"It's been about a year since that little escapade with those desserts happened. That seems like so long to you, but for me that whole ordeal with Centipeedle feels like it was yesterday. Your whole life is just a blip on my timeline."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Steven, I love you so much that I can't express it. It may have been brief, but it's been such a wonderful time."

"Why are you talking like it's over?" Steven stood up and moved next to her, but Pearl walked away.

"I am 9,161 years old, Steven. In all that time, I've gone through so much. But through most of it, I had her…"

As if for dramatic convenience, the sunny weather changed to an overcast sky with the smell of rain in the air. Even with that, Steven was more focused on her words.

"Pearl… It'll be okay. Mom told me she doesn't know everything either."

The slender gem gave a short, harsh laugh at that. "Words straight from her mouth. She made it no secret to me that she felt in over her head, that she couldn't wait for the war to be over. And that… No matter what we'd be together."

Steven felt a literal tug at his heartstrings as rain began to pour from the darkening clouds. "What am I supposed to do now? Homeworld's finally decided to finish what Rose started and now I'm in a hopeless situation."

"It's not hopeless for us!" assured Steven, grabbing her by the hand and turning her towards him. "We've got more gems, we've got new powers, new gadgets, and we've got each other!"

Pearl stared at him for a moment before smiling sadly. "Yes, you do. You've come so incredibly far in such a short amount of time. You and that boy who thought ice cream fueled his powers might as well be two different people. Garnet and Amethyst are stronger, too. Peridot, Lapis, Bismuth, Adamite, Cinnabar, Topaz and now even Greg have improved themselves. And then there's me… An old relic with a sword, ballet and too many memories to go through."

Droplets began to gently fall from the sky as the wind turned chilly. While Steven was thankfully given an umbrella out of thin air, Pearl remained in the rain as she thought back to the very beginning.

"I was given to a morganite, a low-level commander for Homeworld's troops. She had just lead a successful campaign against some planet that was giving Blue Diamond some trouble and thus got a handful of medals along with a token of the Diamond Authority's appreciation: me. From then on, I was that gem's personal assistant and source of entertainment. Singing, dancing, gymnastics, juggling, and even merely laughing at all of her jokes."

"T-That's it?"

"Oh, in public, that was it. Once she returned to her cache for the day, though, that's when she had me do other things. Not even a week after I was given to her, she ordered me to change my clothing once we were alone."

And then, in order to demonstrate, a duplicate of Pearl showed up. This copy wore only a pale pink leotard over her body and immediately curtsied to Steven.

"Um… H-hi?"

"Greetings, master. Please allow me to entertain you after your long day serving our glorious Homeworld," replied the clone, her eyes shut, and her hands clasped together. Before Steven could make any sort of reply, Pearl grabbed her own double by the neck.

"P-Pearl?" choked Steven as he almost felt his own airway being cut off. While his neck was fine, the sheer amount of anger he felt rippling off his makeshift mother was unlike anything her ever felt.

"This is how I was for over 3,000 years…" snarled Pearl, tightening her grip until her double was gasping for breath. "I was this pathetic, whimpering slave… Made to be that clod's shiny toy. If I ever see her again…"

An axe conveniently appeared next to her. She picked up the medieval weapon and quickly started letting out her anger and swinging the weapon straight at her doppelganger. When she raised the blade, it was covered in motes of white dust that started leaking out of the clone's body while she screamed in horror.

"P-P-P-Pearl?!" gaped Steven, his stomach churning and breaking out into a cold sweat. The fact that she landed that axe at the clone's naval was only making his anxiety worse.

"And that whole time, I never complained. My whole world was to serve that one miserable gem. She would literally cart me around to work and show me off like I was some accessory!"

With a bloodthirsty scream, she swung the axe down again. This time she cut one of the imposter's arms clean off save for another smattering of dust.

"And this is what they still do!" she raged, "Treating thousands of them as just tools and property. Even the Diamonds and their personal pearls…"

Another shout and swing of the axe. The fake pearl now had no arms but did have another solid minute of screaming her head off.

"And that's when your mother found me… In the middle of dancing for Morganite when she came in, proclaiming that the Earth was now under protection. I ducked for cover while the brave and glorious commander that was my owner ran for the nearest warp pad. And since I wasn't ordered to follow her, I just stayed put."

With one final, silent swing she decapitated her double. The whole thing soon crumbled into dust that blew away in the wind around them. Steven was very grateful that Pearl's anger started to diminish, but he could already feel it was being replaced by something else.

"I remember how she brought me back to the temple, then just a little cave. For days I could not even speak since my gem wasn't around, but all she did talk and laugh and tell stories about this odd little planet she was fighting for. One day, I finally spoke up and said I wanted to see what she was doing while I stayed in that cave every day."

Another duplicate of Pearl arrived, this one wearing a much more modest sheer blue outfit while practicing a kata. While her first few movements were clumsy and unsure, she was handling the weapon with finesse by the end and finished it by cleanly slicing a nearby chimney in half with a single swing.

"Then that entire war happened, and I lived for her. I did it because I wanted to fight for this planet, I wanted to have a future here with her and I relished every day we would both come back to temple alive. You… don't need to see the extent of that." Both the real Pearl and her double blushed bright blue at that thought, but soon moved on as a massive light began filling the sky. Steven's eyes widened in fear as he saw three blinding stars come into view and soon an enormous wave of light swept over the land. He brought up a bubble around himself as it swept over the entire city, the earth shaking as it came.

When the light and noise finally cleared, they were in a scene straight out of a nightmare. The buildings were all reduced to rubble save for the one they were on. Everything was bathed in a ominous red glow as even the wind seemed to die in the light's all-consuming path.

"P-Pearl… W-was that…?"

"The Corrupting Light, yes. The one that the Diamonds sent to finish off the rebellion after Pink was shattered. I couldn't close my eyes for months without seeing it again. Rose… was even worse off. She would just wander into her room at random and one day I followed her in to try and comfort her. I watched her completely fall apart. Screaming, crying, ripping her own hair out and swearing the other Diamonds would pay for what they did. To this day that is most horrifying thing I've ever seen."

Finally, the memories became too much for her. She fell to her knees and blankly stared at the wreckage surrounding her. Steven tried to say something, anything, that would comfort her but her could not. He was too busy trying to keep his mind intact from the complete sense of despair threatening to shut down his entire system. With Garnet he felt turmoil and pain about how she failed in her mission. With Amethyst he felt crushing anxiety and fear that everything she loved would die. Now he felt them combine into absolute dread and hopelessness that made him want to turn himself in at that trial so none of this would have ever happened.

The dam finally broke and tears began to flow from her face. "Everything I worked for with your mother. Everything I wanted you to have as an adult. Homeworld will destroy it all and without her we can't stop it. Steven, I'm sorry but I'm not strong enough."

And so now there's a lot on the table this time. The Crystal Gems versus a small army planning on running out the clock while Steven tries to get to the center of Pearl's mental block. Find out the exciting resolution... whenever I finish writing it!

Thank you all so much for reading! Please feel free to leave a review!