On the other side of the planet, the rest of the Crystal Gems searched through an abandoned ancient gem temple. They had split into 2 teams; team 1 consisted of Garnet, Steven and Pearl while team 2 consisted of Lapis, Amethyst and Bismuth. The ruby squad agreed to stay outside the temple in case any corrupted gem monsters decided to attack.
Most of the expedition was rather uneventful, both teams didn't find anything of use. Almost everything in the temple was broken beyond repair, neither team had any hope of finding anything. That was until team 1 managed to stumble across a door that had 4 diamonds on it.
(Steven) "I wonder what this door is for. Do you guys think anything important is behind it?"
(Garnet) "It can't hurt to check; it would be useful to get something from this ruin."
(Pearl) "We must be careful though, there might be defences that are still active …"
Steven and Garnet didn't really pay her much attention and continued to walk up to the door. At first, there didn't seem like there was any way of opening the door until Steven managed to find the control pad.
Steven was interested with this control pad; he couldn't read anything on it but the biggest button was obviously the way to open it. "hey guys, look what I found! I think it's a way to open the door."
Before either of them could respond, Steven already pushed the button. It caused some sort of light to appear from the door and start scanning Steven's gem.
The light disappeared and with it, a voice spoke up from the console. "Welcome back, Pink Diamond."
The three gems were in shock, it referred to Steven's gem as Pink Diamond. Garnet immediately believe the door to be malfunctioning, while Steven had other ideas. Pearl didn't say or do anything, she knew the truth but couldn't bring herself to say it.
(Steven) "Pink Diamond? That's wrong I'm a rose quartz …" The door picked up on what he said and proceeded to scan his gem a second time just to give the same results. "Gem scanning complete, identified as Pink Diamond."
Pearl didn't want either Garnet or Steven finding out the truth so soon, they weren't ready. "Don't worry about it, Steven. I'm sure that the door is malfunctioning. The shape of Pink Diamonds gem was completely different to yours …"
Garnet, however, picked up on Pearls nervousness. She was hiding something but as they were in the middle of the temple she would just have to discuss it later. "That's right Steven, we can always get Peridot to analyse your gem another time, remember this temple was from before the war so it's probably just broken."
Steven couldn't help but feel like something was up. If the machine was malfunctioning then surely it would've given a different analysis, Steven thought for a moment. He wasn't just going to argue with them right then and there, he liked the sound of Garnet's plan, he could always just get Peridot to analyse the gem later. "Yeah okay! Let's get going! I wonder what treasure we can find."
-Time skip-
The two groups continued to search their way through the ruins but still, nothing came up, it was just completely destroyed. Garnet managed to find a few pieces that Peridot might be able to make sense out of but for the other team they had no such luck.
Team 2 agreed to head back to the entrance and wait for the others to join them, maybe they can have something fun to do.
The rubies were all just talking about the gemlings that they would get to see, even Bismuth and Amethyst joined it. Lapis was still annoyed at the fact that Matthew chose Peridot instead of her. Bismuth soon noticed the way the blue gem was acting …
(Bismuth) "Hey Lapis, how're you doing?"
Lapis didn't want to talk but she didn't want to be rude. "I'm fine. How are you Bismuth?"
Bismuth could tell that she wasn't fine, but she didn't want to press any further if Lapis didn't want her too. "I've never been better, I'm just happy that I'm back in Bismuth!"
Lapis set out a small chuckle at her little joke she always does. "That's great, but can I ask you something?"
(Bismuth) "Knock yourself out!"
Lapis got straight to the point. "What do you think about Peridot and Matthew being together?"
Bismuth immediately knew what was wrong with Lapis, she couldn't really blame her though, it was natural to be jealous. "Personally, I don't really mind. I think they make a cute couple and it would be good for them … Lapis I can already tell what's wrong. You're jealous aren't you?"
Lapis was surprised Bismuth managed to figure her out just by a single question. "Am I really that easy to read … And I guess I am jealous; I just wish that it was me and not her. Don't get me wrong I'm happy for them but at the same time I just wish it was me …"
(Bismuth) "Hey now, it's natural to be jealous, if I was in your shoes … erm … feet? I'd feel the same way, you just need to look elsewhere. I'm sure you'll find someone eventually."
Lapis appreciated Bismuth's kind words. "Thank you Bismuth, I'll try!"
The two of them join the others in a circle and ended up discussing various things, from food to Homeworld. It didn't take long for the first team to return, and once they did, both teams shared what they found which was absolutely nothing, apart from the few pieces that Garnet found.
It was time for them to head home, they were all tired from the adventure. Some of them hoped to have found something useful but in the end, all they found were some old pieces of technology that Peridot could hopefully use.
Once they got back they all quickly separated into their own rooms. Garnet was in for a surprise as once she entered she saw an orange-skinned person curled up into a ball. She knew straight away that this was the fusion of Peridot and Matthew, they were the perfect mix of both Matthew and Peridot.
Garnet slowly walked up to the sleeping fusion and shook her gently to wake them up, it didn't take many attempts before the fusion was awake and staring at Garnet.
(?) "Oh, hey Garnet, how did the mission go?"
(Garnet) "Not very well, it didn't go bad but there was nothing to be found within the temple. It was bare."
(?) "That's a shame, we have some good news, I mean you can already tell we fused but look here." The fusion moved to show the pile of naked gemlings all sleeping together in a small pile. Garnet fell in love with each of them just because of how small and helpless they were.
(Garnet) "They're absolutely adorable, what are their names?"
The fusion pointed out each one and their names, Garnet couldn't help but coo at them because of how cute they were! It didn't take long before Garnet decided to ask what the fusion's name was. "I completely forgot, what's your name?"
The fusion thought for a couple of moments before responding with a huge smile on her face. "Tourmaline … Orange Tourmaline."
Garnet, in turn, had a huge grin on her face. "That name fits you perfectly."
The two of them started discussing various things from future missions and plans in general until they were interrupted they a few cries from the gemlings. They had all woke up and wanted feeding, while they were happy to feed them Orange Tourmaline decide she could let Garnet do it. "Garnet, why don't you try feeding them? You just take some small rocks and give it to them to eat."
Garnet was very hesitant to even hold one of them let alone feed them. "Are y-you sure? I don't want to hurt them …"
Orange Tourmaline understood why she was hesitant but still wanted her to give it a shot. "Don't worry, you'll be fine, trust me."
Garnet nodded and proceed to pick up the loudest one which was Jessy, she gave her a small pebble and she devoured it, after she was full the gemling went straight back to sleep. Garnet repeated with for the other gemlings as well, noting how they act. Her favourite was heat, it looked exactly like Ruby and the gem placement was the same. The most adorable though had to be Dotty, she was aggressive and tiny. It made it much cuter.
Once all the gemlings were fed, they were quickly put back to sleep. Garnet and Tourmaline began working on some clothes for the little gemlings, nothing fancy but something to keep them warm and obviously not bare …
(Hey guys, I'm slowly understanding where to go from here. I'll make sure Homeworld comes back soon and stuff. Thank you all for the support! I really appreciate it!)