Battles continue and developments are made as the war effort reaches a tipping point.

...

With Peridot poofed, Connie and Lapis continued watching on from their unoccupied vantage point. As they did however, something caught Connie's attention.

"Lapis, take a look at the surrounding area." Connie said as she pointed to a nearby hill. Now looking over in it's direction, the aquatic gem noticed another peridot gem in the area. As she noticed this, she soon saw another not too far from the first.

"Yeah, I see them. We did pass by one or two of them earlier while we were chasing Peridot remember."

"Well, while we're waiting for Peridot to reform, why don't we help out some more? Let's go poof the other peridots. If they were important enough to leave out of direct combat and to give them a vantage of the battle, then they must have some importance right?"

"Yeah, I suppose you have a point. Alright then, let's get a move on." As she said this, Lapis summoned her water wings once more. With Connie still holding on to Peridot's gemstone, Lapis carried the young warrior once more as they began moving to the locations of the various peridot gems.

While the airborne duo made their way around disrupting Black's overview of the battlefield, several conflicts were still in progress. Not too far from where Peridot had stationed herself before her poofing was Jasper and Amethyst, who were still engaged with Red the ruby. As the two continued their struggle, they found that Red wouldn't fall so easily.

"Man...she's a tough one that's for sure."

"Hmph, you tapping out already Runt?"

"As if. Though the head on assault we've been trying obviously isn't going to work Jasper."

"If you have any other ideas, then let's hear it, cause the way I see it, taking her down directly is our only option."

"Well, I might have a better one. Back at Alpha facility, before we freed you, we faced off against two enhanced gems. They didn't pack nearly as much punch as Red nor were they as durable, but they still managed to give us a run for our money at first."

"And your telling me this now why?"

"Just listen. We took them out with teamwork. Rather than have both of us continue a head on assault, we need to wear her down. One of us plays support while the other is the power."

"That's your plan?! Please...I don't like it."

"You don't have to like it Jasper, but you can't argue it's our best shot."

"Are you two done whispering with each other? said Red suddenly. "I'll admit, your both putting up more of fight than if you would if this were one on one, but I'm starting to get bored here regardless. Neither of you can take me down, alone or otherwise, regardless of whatever plan you may be able to make. Tell you what though, since your both so keen on planning in the middle of our fight, I'll help you. Here's a plan you can be use. Why not just keel over and I'll poof you both quickly and painlessly. That sound good?"

Ignoring the taunts from the gem, Amethyst continued. "Listen, I'll back you up. You've got more power and you can take more hits then me, so you'll be the main force here. If you can cover me and wear her down, I can keep her from landing any major hits. I'll use my whip to direct her strikes. Even if they do land, they won't have nearly as much force behind them. Sound good?"

"You can do whatever. So long as we take her down, I don't really care at this point." As Jasper said this, she charged Red once more. As she threw a strike, Red dodged and moved to make a counterattack, but before she could land her strike, Amethyst moved in. Using her whip, she threw Red's arm off course from it's intended target. This misdirection left the gem wide open, giving Jasper an opportunity to land a strike, which sent Red back a few feet. With a look of surprise, the ruby stared at the two.

"Well, that wasn't too bad. If you can keep that up, this may actually be a good fight. C'mon then, let's keep going you two." As she said this, the three charged each other as their battle continued.

As the three of them continued their engagement, Spinel and Pearl had been slowly making progress against Earl on the other side of the battlefield. Although Earl had been able to overpower Pearl earlier, she soon found that Spinel was a different fighter all around. As the powered up pearl continued launching her attacks, she found that Spinel was able to dodge her attacks as her unique form allowed her to stretch her way out of many situations where a normal gem would have been struck. While she dodged, Spinel made attempts to land a blow of some kind. Although she was able to land a few strikes, they didn't have as much effect as she hoped. Although Spinel was a capable fighter, her lack of a weapon left her trading blows with her fists, and although they were doing some damage, they didn't have nearly as much effect as a physical weapon would. Thankfully though, Pearl was able to make up for this disadvantage. With Spinel's movements, Earl had left herself open in her attempts to focus on her enemy's odd movements. With these openings, Pearl had attempted to land a decisive blow, but Earl's focus on her wasn't totally lost as she had managed to avoid any major strikes from the swordswoman thus far. As the duo continued their assaults, Earl had just managed to push back Pearl when Spinel moved to take her place. Seeing that the gem was off guard from her strike against Pearl, Spinel made a large fist. With this, she gave Earl an uppercut, sending her flying into the distance.

"Nice shot Spinel."

"Thanks. Let's not stop here though. C'mon, we've almost got her beat. Let's get moving."

After giving a nod to agree, the two made their way towards Earl's landing spot.

While most of the Crystal Gems were occupied in their battles, Lapis and Connie had continued making their way about on each vantage point where Black had stationed his peridot gems. As they poofed, bubbled, and sent away another one of them, Connie's hand begin to glow. Looking in her palm, she noticed that Peridot's gemstone had began to reform. Setting the stone on the ground, it wasn't long before Peridot was standing in front of the two.

"Hah...what...where am I? I could have sworn I was flying a minute ago." said the technician as she looked around. Now looking over at her two rescuers, she continued. "That's right...you two were chasing after me. You...poofed me..didn't you?"

"Yeah we did Peri...your free again." said Lapis.

"Free...I'm...free now." As she said this, tears began to well up in her eyes. "Thank you guys...seriously thank you. I'm sorry for causing you two so much trouble." she said as she ran up to the duo and hugged them.

"Hey, don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault Peridot." Connie said.

As the trio stood in place for a moment as to not ruin the moment, they soon broke off as they attempted to get back down to business.

"So, now that I'm free...where do we stand? How long was I out?"

"You were only out for a few minutes Peri. Since we poofed you though, we've been going around taking out the other peridot gems."

Hearing Lapis' claim, Peridot began looking around towards the elevated points nearby. "So you were. From what I can tell from here, you've taken out pretty much all of them already. That'll really help out Homeworld here."

"What exactly did Black have you all doing anyway?" questioned Connie.

"Well, the regular peridot gems had been instructed to watch over the battlefield. As they did, we had to keep an eye out for potential openings in the area or other points we could use to our advantage. From there, we would instruct others to move gems around so that we could secure victory in the battles. And while that was part of my task as well, I was also instructed to watch over the other peridots. I placed each one before the war began and was the main point of contact for the group of gems and any info that may come up regarding them. Obviously, that clod Black Diamond saw my genius and experience and knew I was the best for the job."

"Huh, guess it's a good thing we took them out when we did then." noted Connie. "Hopefully everyone down there can get better results now because of it."

"Right." Peridot agreed. As she did however, something on the battlefield caught her attention. "Huh, seems like we'll be needed down there here momentarily." Once she noted this, the now again green gem used her powers to summon her metal lid, which wasn't too far away from the trio's current position.

"Follow me you two. Looks like we might have a chance to move towards the end of the war", the technician said as she began to fly down to the battlefield, though just what caused the sudden change in efforts on the battlefield was a mystery to the other two. Not wanting to wait around to find out nor wanting to leave the green gem alone anymore, the two followed, unaware of what was to follow shortly after.

...

AAAAA we're reaching a point I'm excited for. Like seriously guys, the next chapter is one of the few I've been waiting for and thinking of for quite sometime and I can't wait to get to it. For now though, we see the fights concluding/nearing conclusion as we begin to enter the final stage of the war effort. What will come from all this though...who knows (I do and I'm excited for it lol)

Thanks for the support and patience all you wonderful people. Hope Sunday and Mothers day is going well out there. To any mothers who read this, I hope it's a good one. Your everyday efforts are greatly appreciated! Now, tune in tomorrow for an exciting development of plot.

Unity by Aivi & Surasshu (SU Season 5 soundtrack).