Chapter 22

Catch and Release/When It Rains

It was night time and the two half gems were getting ready for bed. Those 2 half gems were Steven and Jet. Steven had called dibs on the bathroom first, so Jet had to wait until Steven was finished. While Steven was in the bathroom, Jet was thinking of a way to add a second bathroom to the temple. His thoughts were cut short when Steven said that he was finished. Jet rushed to the bathroom to shower up for the night. After about 15 minutes, Jet was out of the shower and started to head towards the gem door to turn in for the night. His sleeping gear consisted of a red shirt with a black star in the center and red sweatpants with black stars scattered around them. He was wearing black socks with red stars on them as well. The door glowed and Amethyst pulled Jet into her room.

"Amethyst?" Jet started to ask. "What the big idea?" Amethyst changed her form to match Jet's height and she started to kiss him. Jet eyes widen in surprise but then he started to kiss back. He didn't know what was going on with Amethyst but he didn't care at the moment.

"I wanna do it." Amethyst said, breaking the kiss. She had a faint blush on her face. Jet let a smirk form on his.

"Oh?" Jet asked. "Well, who am I to turn down such a gracious offer?" The two started their make-out session once more and Jet stopped only to start kissing on Amethyst's neck. She moaned at this and started to stroke Jet's head as he continued to kiss her. Jet was about to take it further, until he heard the warp pad activating.

"What is it?" Amethyst asked, noticing Jet stopping his motion.

"I heard the warp pad activate." Jet said, looking towards her door.

"You sure?" Amethyst asked, wanting him to continue.

"Yeah." Jet said. Amethyst huffed in annoyance and morphed back to her normal size. She wanted some alone time with Jet. Jet walked out the room and looked around. Amethyst followed and looked around as well. Everything looked the same as it usually was.

"Yo, Steven." Jet called out. There was no response. "Oh boy."

"I'll go get Pearl and Garnet." Amethyst said, going towards the door.

"I hope it's not who I think it is." Jet said, folding his arms.


Jet and the gems were in the warping process. Jet explained to Garnet and Pearl that he heard the warp pad go off and when he went to see what was going on, Steven was missing. He had a hunch that this had something to do with Peridot since she swore revenge on them. When the warping process ended, the gems were in the home warp pad area. Steven was there and Jet's hunch was right because Peridot was there as well. She growled when she noticed them and she started to take off.

"There he is!" Pearl said and she started to run where Steven was. The others followed her.

"Guys!" Steven said, relieve to see them.

"What happened?" Pearl said, kneeling to hug him.

"You're Ok!" Amethyst said.

"Peridot!" Garnet said, through gritted teeth. She turned around to look at them.

"Why can't you get leave me alone?" She asked. Garnet ignored her question and summoned her gauntlets.

"Gems, move!" She said, as she started to close in on Peridot. The others summoned their weapons and started to run towards Peridot as well. Peridot grunted in annoyance and formed her fingers to make a straight point. From that, she started to fire a barrage of blasts towards Garnet and the others. They dodged the onslaught and Peridot formed her fingers into a misshaped helicopter and started to make her escape once more. Amethyst noticed and wrapped her whip around her, preventing her from doing so. Amethyst smirked until she saw Peridot sent an electric charge into the whip. She was prepared to get shocked but that didn't happen, as Jet was grabbing unto her whip, absorbing the electrical current.

"Thanks." He said, looking at Peridot. "Let me return the favor." Jet channeled his own electrical current into the whip, zapping Peridot in the process. Once he noticed her in a disarray, he pulled the whip down bringing her down in the process. Peridot hit the ground hard, enough to make Steven gasp and a smoke cloud form.

"Sorry." Jet said as Peridot started to slowly get up. "I didn't mean to slam you that hard." Peridot ignored him and started to back up. Garnet was walking towards her and she didn't notice Pearl slowly sneaking behind her.

"Wait! Wait!" Peridot started to plead. "You need me!" Pearl was behind her and she started to take her weapon from her forehead. Peridot noticed and turned around to fire her blaster towards her. "I'm the only one that knows about the-" Peridot couldn't finish her statement because Garnet wrapped her hands around her figure. Garnet squeezed until Peridot poof into a cloud of smoke. Parts hit the ground, including her fingers and what looked like limbs.

"What on Earth?" Pearl said, looking at the scattered parts. The others gathered around to look as well.

"Wicked." Jet said, slightly amused at what he was looking at.

"Ugh. Sick." Amethyst said, looking down. "There's bits of her all over."

"No." Garnet said, picking up a gem on the ground. "She's right here." Garnet formed a bubble around the triangular gem and tapped on the top, the bubble teleport away when she did so. "And now she's in the temple." Pearl picked up one of the limbs that was attached to Peridot.

"So, these weren't actually part of her body?" Pearl asked, studying the part. Amethyst grabbed the part from her and gathered the rest of them.

"Whoops." She said, throwing them into the ravine below.

"Bad girl." Jet smirked, causing Amethyst to grin at him.

"She was trying to tell us something." Steven said, looking concerned.

"Those was just desperate lies of a gem whose been caught." Garnet said, looking at him a bit. "You don't need to worry about her anymore." Garnet started to walk back towards the warp pad. Steven stood there, still concerned about what Peridot said.

"Come on, Steven." Pearl said, gently pushing him towards the pad. "Ah, I'm so glad that this is over." Amethyst and Jet started to walk over to the pad as well.

"So..." Jet leaned over to whisper to her. "You wanna continued where we left off when we get back?"

"Umm... I don't know." Amethyst whispered. "Maybe." Jet grinned at this.

"Mission accepted." Jet said.


The gems returned to the temple and Amethyst and Jet did continue where they left off. Jet was in her room and they just finished their session of love-making. Amethyst morphed back into her clothes and got up to leave. She said she wanted to get something to drink and left Jet in her room while she did so. It has been about an hour since they've left the warp area. Jet sit up and started to put back on his clothes. Amethyst came back into the room and noticed that Jet was putting back on his clothes.

"Where are you going?" Amethyst asked, walking up to him.

"I thought that we were done for the night?" Jet said, putting his shirt over his head. Amethyst pushed him down and got on top off him. Jet smirked at her.

"Aren't you just full of lust this evening?" Jet joked with her. She smiled and he kissed her, moaning a little from it. They started to make-out until Jet's stomach started to growl. They broke the kiss and Jet blushed out of embarrassment.

"I'm hungry." Jet said, causing Amethyst to giggle from this.

"Well, we have some left over pizza from yesterday." Amethyst said, getting off him. Jet hopped up upon hearing that, his stomach growling louder.

"Awesome." Jet said, rushing towards Amethyst's door.

"Wait for me." Amethyst said, following behind him. Jet was allowed out and he ran towards the refrigerator, his stomach demanding food angrily. He opened the fridge and grabbed the pizza box. He opened it grabbed him 2 out of the 5 available slices. He sat at the counter and Amethyst joined him.

"You're gonna eat it cold?" Amethyst asked, as Jet bit into a slice. He nodded his head.

"There is some food that are great to enjoy cold." Jet said, taking another bit. "This is one of them." Amethyst smiled and grabbed a slice herself and bit into it. He was right, it tasted just as good. The gem door activated and Pearl came out. She sat at the counter with them, wondering what they were up to.

"Great job on capturing Peridot." She said, clasping her hands together. "We really worked well as a team."

"We know, Pearl." Amethyst said. "This is like, the 12th time that you're mentioning it." Pearl let a blush form on her face and she huffed in annoyance. The gem door activated again and Garnet came out and walked over to the counter as well. She remained standing though. Jet looked over and noticed that she seemed troubled.

"Garnet." Jet said, putting his slice down for a moment. "Are you sensing something?" Garnet took a glance at him.

"Not at the moment." She said, folding her arms. Suddenly, the heard the sound of laughter and Steven's voice.

"Stop!" He said. "They're gonna see you!" They didn't know what he was talking about until Peridot came into view. She was shorter without her limb enhancers, she still was the same without them though. She seemed a little taller than Steven, just a little.

"Ha!" She said. "Victory is mine!" She slowly turned towards the gems to see them staring blankly at her. She started to sweat, as they continued to just stare at her, as though they were looking at a ghost. Pearl and Amethyst stared blankly and Jet stared with a slice mid-way to his mouth. Amethyst was the same except she had the pizza box mid-way to her mouth. It was like this for a good 10 seconds until Steven ran up to Peridot, defending her.

"Wait!" Steven said, as the gems snapped out of it.

"Look over there! Another planet to betray!" Peridot shouted, trying to distract them. It failed and Garnet summoned her gauntlets. Jet and Amethyst wolfed down their food and Peridot made a dash towards the temple door. Garnet and Pearl blocked her way out, their weapon summoned and they were ready to attack.

"Oh no, you don't!" Pearl said, looking down at her.

"Eep!" Peridot muffled, as she made her way upstairs. waiting for her were Amethyst and Jet. They were sitting on Steven's bed, looking very intimidating. Amethyst had one of her legs over the other and she was holding her whip. Jet sat next to her, his eyes a fierce red and an evil-like smirk on his face.

"Hey." Amethyst said, tugging lightly on the whip.

"Yo." Jet said, smiling a bit.

"Ahhh!" Peridot screamed and jumped down from the stairs. She quickly turned around the corner, where the bathroom was located.

"Get her!" Garnet yelled. They others started to pursuit, but it was too late. They heard the door slam shut and a loud click. Peridot locked herself inside the bathroom.

'Great...' Jet thought, as he was standing outside the bathroom door with the others.

"You may have won the war, but the battle isn't over crystal clods!" Peridot yelled, beyond the door. They groaned and dispersed their weapons.

"Should we tell her that's the bathroom?" Pearl asked, looking at the others.

"Eh..." Amethyst said, not really caring. She grabbed the knob and tried to open the door. "Yep, it's locked." Garnet huffed and went to the door and knocked on it.

"Peridot, open the door." She said. They heard the toilet flush and Amethyst folded her arms and leaned against the door.

"Umm, if you're trying to flush yourself down the toilet, it won't work." Amethyst said. "Trust me, I've tried." Jet raised an eyebrow at that, causing Amethyst to blush a little.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing..." Jet said, his eyebrow still raised. "What I want to know is that, how did she get out?"

"That right." Pearl said, placing a hand on her hip. "We bubbled her." Steven started to sweat a little.

"Maybe we needed a bigger bubble?" Amethyst said.

"My bubbles are fine." Garnet said, placing both her hands on her hips. Steven started to sweat a little more.

"I did it." He confessed, causing them (except Jet) to gasp at them.

"Steven!" Pearl said, shocked upon hearing this. "Why would you do such a thing?"

"Because she knows something." Steven said, twiddling his thumbs. "Something that made her scared."

"Duh! Home girl knows we're gonna beat her into a grand pancake." Amethyst said, slamming her fist together.

"No, not because of us!" Steven said. "I had a talk with her. She said about something called the cluster."

"The cluster?" Garnet asked, folding her arms. "That's new."

"What else did she tell you?" Pearl asked.

"That's all I got." Steven said, casting his head down a little.

"That's right, you turd bombs!" Peridot shouted. "You don't even know what's coming!" Jet gritted his teeth at this, she was starting to get on his nerves.

"I'm tired of playing these games." Garnet said. "If we can't fight her then fine, we'll talk. Peridot!" They heard a crash and something hitting the ground rather hard.

"Alright, no more fighting." Garnet continued to talk to Peridot. "Let's just have a civil conversat-"

"As if I negotiate with you, filthy war machine!" Peridot yelled. Garnet gritted her teeth upon hearing 'filthy war machine' and she backed up and summoned her gauntlets.

"OK, let's kick her butt." She said. The others started to summon their weapons as well.

"Wait!" Steven pleaded, making the others retract their weapons back.

"Yeah! Destroy me again and good luck trying to talk to me when I'm trapped inside the bubble!" Peridot said.

"I really hate to say it, but unfortunately if she has information, she more valuable to us like... well, this." Pearl said.

"This is going to be tricky." Garnet said.


Steven, Jet and the gems were at the kitchen counter, thinking about how to get Peridot to explain what she knows. So far, nothing well nothing that doesn't involve violence. Garnet seemed like the one who was most in thought.

"So, we're just gonna let her live in the bathroom?" Steven asked, as he took a sip from his mug that read, 'World's Best Stephen' on it.

"Well, yes." Pearl said. "What other options do we have? Keep her outside on a leash?" She started to laugh then she placed her hand on her chin. She started to think that wasn't such a bad idea.

"But I need to use the bathroom." Steven said.

"Right now?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah...kinda." Steven said.

"Just go in the ocean bro." Amethyst said. "Like a fiiish." She made a wave motion with her hand.

"What's with you guys making me pee outside?" Steven asked as he stormed towards the bathroom door.

"Well, I have fun doing it." Amethyst said. Jet decided that sometime tomorrow, he would start to work on building a bathroom since theirs was occupied by a 'guest' in the house. Jet yawned and wished the gems goodnight. He sometimes hated being human because of the consist need of sleep. He opened the door that lead to his room and flopped on the bed. He closed his eyes and he was instantly fast asleep.

It was morning and Jet woke up feeling good. He almost forgot that Peridot was trapped inside the bathroom. He got up and stretched his limbs. He started to wonder how he was going to get ready for the day. He thought about it and decided to use the hose that the temple had in the back to brush his teeth and to wash his face. He wasn't so shallow about urinating outside as Steven was, so he would do just that. Jet grabbed his toothbrush and walked to the door which opened for him. He looked to see that the gems were still at the kitchen counter, muttering among themselves.

"...But even if we do get her to come out of the bathroom..." He heard Pearl say.

"She's never gonna talk to us." Amethyst finished.

"Looks like there's nothing much we can do." Garnet said. The 3 were so busy muttering among themselves that they didn't notice that Jet walked right pass them. He didn't say anything because it sounded like they were engrossed in what they were talking about. Jet went out of the temple door and headed to the back to take care of business.


After about 20 minutes of taking care of what he needed to do, Jet stepped through the temple doors. He noticed that the gems weren't at the counter anymore. He went around the corner to notice that they were gathered around the bathroom door, talking to Peridot once more.

"Open the door, Peridot!" He heard Garnet say. "If this cluster is putting us in danger, you need to tell us what it is so that we can stop it." He walked up to where they were and folded his arms. He wanted to see where this was going.

"No!" Peridot shouted. "I hate you! I'm not telling you anything about the cluster!"

"Oh, C'mon!" Amethyst said, throwing a hand up. "Is it like a big hunk of granola?"

"What's granola?" Peridot asked.

"I'm sure it's not granola." Pearl said.

"It'd be pretty awesome if it was." Jet chimed in.

"Now, Peridot." Pearl said, walking up to the door. "I'm sure we can arrange some sort of agreement. Perhaps a trade is in order?"

"Oh sure." Peridot said, sounding sarcastic. "Why don't you just give me back my leg enhancements and my arm attachments with my screen and my login and all my information? Oh wait, you destroyed them!" Jet turned his head towards Amethyst, making her sweat drop a little. "So, no. I don't think we can make some sort of agreement!" The crystal gems groaned in frustration and then they heard a toilet flush. Steven came out and leaned against the wall.

"Sorry for interrupting your interrogation." Steven said.

"Don't worry about it Steven." Garnet said.

"How did you manage to get in there?" Jet asked, pointing towards the door.

"I offered a peace treaty." Steven said. Jet raised an eyebrow and decided not to ask any more questions.

"I swear, Peridot's gonna crack any second now." Pearl said.

"I'll never crack for the likes of you! You...crystal clods!" Peridot said. Pearl growled about hearing this.

"I got your clods right here, you little-" She started as she started to draw her weapon from her forehead. Garnet placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hold on, Pearl." Garnet said, making Pearl retract her weapon back. "If she's not gonna be any help, then let's investigate this thing on our own." They started to walk to the warp pad.

"Let me come with you." Steven asked.

"Sorry, Steven." Garnet said. "We're gonna need you to stay here and keep an eye on our... guest."

"Really?" Steven asked.

"Yeah!" Amethyst said. "Make sure she doesn't try anything."

"Well, I'm staying too." Jet said, walking towards the couch. "I need a little bit of rest today."

"OK." Pearl said, walking to the pad with the others. "Besides, she harmless without her enhancers."

"I'm not harmless!" Peridot screamed.

"Oh, hush up!" Pearl screamed back.

"Oh, Steven!" Garnet yelled, catching his attention. "There's one more thing I have to mention..."

"What is it?" Steven asked.

"I love you! Bye!" She said, making a heart shape with her hands.

"See ya later!" Amethyst said and with that, they warped away.


Thunder was heard outside and Steven asked Jet if he wanted any soup. Jet said sure and Steven grabbed a pot from under the sink cabinet. He placed it on the stove and he filled it with water. He waited for the water to boil. Steven grabbed the lid to the pot and a spoon from the kitchen cabinet.

"They're gone you know." Steven said, looking towards the bathroom. "You can come out now."

"No." Peridot said. "I-I like it in here."

"Okay." Steven said, as he turned his head and continued with making his soup. It started to rain and steam started to form from the pot. "Wow, it's really coming down."

"Aye." Jet mumbled, as he was laying on his back on the couch. He had his arms behind his head and one leg over the other. Suddenly, the 2 half gems heard a door being kick and Steven noticed that Peridot came out of the bathroom.

"It's happening!" She screamed.

"What?" Steven asked, putting the lid on the pot.

"The cluster!" She said, starting to sweat.

"Really?" Steven said, as he started to sweat a little.

"What else could be making that horrible... ahhh!" She screamed, clinging on to Steven. "This is it! This is the end of the world!" She started to whimper a little. Jet found that to be a little adorable.

"That's just thunder." Jet said, shocking her.

"I thought you said that they were gone." Peridot asked, pointing at him.

"They are." Steven said. "He's here because he didn't want to go. He's...mostly harmless." Jet grinned at them, causing them to sweat drop.

"What is thunder?" Peridot asked Steven as thunder was heard again. She clinged to him once more.

"That happens when it rains." Steven said. Peridot looked confused when he said that. Steven raised an eyebrow at her. "You... don't know what rain is?"

"I don't know anything without my screen." Peridot said.

"It's Okay." Steven said. "Here..." Steven placed his hand on the lid of the pot. "Pretend that this soup is the ocean. When the sun warms it up, the water evaporates into clouds..." He lifted the lid and steam came out. "Like this steam." He placed the lid back to its position. "And when the clouds get really heavy, it rains." He looked into the pot and Peridot did as well. Water was forming underneath the lid.

"So..." Peridot said. "Scowling liquid pouring down from the sky?"

"Nah, it's just water." Jet intervened. "It can't hurt you."

"Yeah." Steven said. "Why don't I just show you?" Steven turned the stove off and he started to go out the front door of the temple and Peridot only remained in the front door. Steven cheered and ran down the stairs of the temple.

"Wait, Steven." Peridot said, as she started to sweat. She was able to see Steven from where she was.

"Look, I'm Okay! It's just water! This is what happens on Earth!" Steven said, looking at her. Jet got up and gently pushed passed Peridot a little.

"It really is Okay." Jet said, sticking his hand out and letting rain splash on his hand. Jet looked down and see that Steven was having the time of his life. He was laughing and running around in circles. He slipped and fell in mud and Jet started to laugh. Peridot was a little hesitant but she did stick her hand out far enough to let a few drops fall on her hand. Once she noticed that it was truly harmless, she stepped out of the temple to let herself become completely submerged in it.

"See?" Jet said, smiling at her.

"Yeah, you did it!" Steven cheered, his hands covered in mud. "What do you think? It's it cool?"

"Cool..." Peridot repeated.

The rain calmed down a little and Steve was drying his head. He had to completely change his clothes. Jet was on the couch once more in the same position that he was previously in. He watched Peridot pace the floor back and forth, as if she was trouble with something.

"That was fun." Steven said.

"It was...something." Peridot said, as she stopped her pacing. She placed a hand on her chin. "Umm...Hmm...Steven and Jet, was it?"

"Hmm?" Steven answered. Jet just grunted as a response.

"I want to say something." She said, clasping her hands together. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Jet said, letting a yawn out. He didn't even know what she was thinking him for.

"What for?" Steven asked.

"For explaining this rain business to me." Peridot said, smiling a bit.

"Oh, no problem." Steven said, stretching the back of his head.

"Yes, you two are more intelligent creatures than I thought." Peridot said.

"Umm... that's good." Steven said.

"Yes..." Peridot said. "Much more... useful than those clods. Steven, I've made up my mind!"

"About what exactly?" Steven asked.

"I decided to share some information with the two of you." Peridot said.

"What is it?" Jet asked.

"It's about the cluster." Peridot said, causing Steven to gasp.

"You cracked!" Steven said.

"I haven't cracked!" Peridot yelled at him.

"Wait! You have to tell the gems!" Steven said. "They need to know this!"

"No!" Peridot yelled. "I don't want to talk to them! I barely wanted to talk to him!" She pointed at Jet, who shrugged it off. She placed her hands on Steven's shoulders. "I can show you but I have nothing. My arm attachments, my fingers, my screen, and my log... it's all gone! But all of my logs up to date still exist! Backed up in sector 5 of the prime kindergarten."

"You want me to take you to The Kindergarten?" Steven asked, looking a bit worried. "I don't know."

"Don't you want to know about the cluster?" Peridot asked.

"Umm...Okay." Steven said. "We can go to The Kindergarten."

"Yes!" Peridot said, pumping her fist in the air.

"But..." Steven said.

"No, a catch!" Peridot said. "Fine, what are your demands?"

"He has to come with us!" Steven pointed to Jet, who was almost asleep. Jet looked around, wondering what was going on at the moment. Steven and Peridot looked at him and sweat dropped.

"Fair enough." Peridot said.


The trio warped to The Kindergarten, it looked just as dead and isolated as before. Jet took a good look around. There were injectors all over the place. Jet, Peridot and Steven started their journey to an unknown location where Steven was walking next to Peridot and Jet trailing behind them. Jet was ready in case Peridot decided to pull as fast one and run off. She wouldn't be much of a threat to him as she were currently.

"This place just gets worse every time I come here." Steven said, looking around.

"I know." Peridot said. "It's been so poorly managed. It must've been in way better shape when you've first emerged."

"Emerged?" Both Steven and Jet said, looking at each other.

"Yeah." Peridot said, looking at Steven. "You're some type of quartz, right? You must've been made here."

"Umm... I came from my mom and dad." Steven explained.

"Are those some kind of rocks or another planet?" Peridot asked.

"Nope." Steven said. "My dad's from Earth but my mom's a gem." He lifted his shirt to show her his gem.

"You're some sort of hybrid?" Peridot asked. "How is that even possible?"

"The answer to that is a story I like to call, The Ballad of Rose and Greg." Steven said.

"I don't care." Peridot said, holding a hand up. "Let's just hurry to the control room." The trio walked over to a giant hole and Jet instantly recognize it. It was the hole that Garnet discovered when they had their second outing here.

"Is it safe in there?" Steven asked, looking down the hole. "Because last time I was here, there was a bunch of fusion monsters there."

"Yes." Peridot said, looking down as well. "I was checking their progress."

'Progress?' Jet thought, raising an eyebrow.

"What's the deal with those things?" Steven asked. Peridot didn't say anything for the moment and she slid into the hole. Steven and Jet slid down it too, slowly as she were.

"When it became clear that the Earth was no longer a valuable colony, home world decided to use it for something else." Peridot explained, as they continued to slide down this familiar path. "A series of experiments. A gem geo weapon." They hit solid surface and walked down a corridor that lead to the mostly destroyed podium.

"Did you help?" Steven asked.

"Negative." Peridot said. "I wasn't lucky enough to be around for that. But I read over a few hundreds of years of reports." They reached the auditorium-like platform and climbed on it. Peridot was looking around, as if she was looking for something.

"This is where you need to be, right?" Steven asked, watching her.

"Yes." Peridot said, walking behind some of the debris to get to the wall that was located where the podium was. "Looks like I need remove this panel and do a bit of work to restore power to this room." She tapped on the wall and a panel suddenly appeared. She pulled on it but was having a little trouble removing it.

"It's over." She said, having struggling to remove the panel. "I can't show you anything. Let's go back."

"Mind if I try?" Steven asked.

"Go ahead." Peridot said, stepping aside so that Steven could try. "Knock yourself out." Steven gripped the side of the panel and easily pulled it apart. Peridot's eyes widen at this.

"Whoa!" She said, clearly impressed.

"There you go!" Steven said, placing the covering of the panel on the ground. Peridot went over and started to mess with some wires until the lights turned on.

"It's not perfect, but it'll do for now." Peridot said, walking over to the podium. She tried reaching for something on it but her small size prevented her to do so. Steven noticed that she was struggle so he walked over to see if she needed help.

"I can't reach the-" She couldn't finish, as Steven managed to get her on his shoulders.

"It's Ok to ask for help." He said, keeping her balanced.

"I had it." She said, pressing something on the console that she need to press. The podium shrunk down in size and she got off Steven's shoulders. Now, that it was at her level of height, she was able to access what she needed. She pressed her hand on the surface and it started to glow. Screens all around them started to appear and Jet looked at them in amazement.

"This are the earlier attempts at artificial fusion." Peridot said.

"That's a lot of gems shards." Steven said, looking at the screens that displayed them.

"We were growing them here at this very site." Peridot explained as she pressed a button on the console. "But these were just prototypes of the final product." The screen in the center shown an imaged of Earth and in that image showed something that looked like a giant crystal. "It's a singular giant artificial fusion, comprised of millions of gem shards...the cluster." Jet was looking at this, with his arms folded. His mind was trying to process all the information that she was saying.

"So, you're saying that there's a giant mutant gem the size of the Earth underneath us right now?" Jet asked, as he continued to look at the screen.

"Oh no." Peridot said, glancing at him. "When it forms, it'll be much, much bigger than the Earth." Jet gritted his teeth at this and Steven started to sweat. "Right now, it lies dormant resting in the Earth's core..." She pressed a button on the console once more. "But when it emerges and take its physical form, it will destroy the planet." The screen showed the Earth being ripped apart.

"The prototypes are already emerging." Peridot said. "The cluster is next. If we can't get off this planet, then we've got to stop the cluster. I thought it'd be impossible but now we have a chance."

"We do?" Jet asked.

"Yes." She grabbed Steven by the shoulders. "It's Steven."

"Him?" Jet asked.


The group made their way back to The Kindergarten by climbing back up the entrance from the giant hole that Garnet discovered. Jet was trying to wrap his mind about what Peridot said. Poor Steven was sweating almost non-stop since he learned information about the cluster. Jet on the other hand, was more worried about how to destroy such a thing. The trio started to walk back to the warp pad.

"Now that you're filled in, we can get to work." Peridot said.

"Um, how am I supposed to help?" Steven asked, as they continued to walk.

"Well, you have all the information we need about Earth and it's eradicate behavior." Peridot said, looking at him. "Put that together with my expansive knowledge of the cluster and we just might be able to stop it."

"No, Peridot. I don't think you get it." Steven said. "Just because I know how clouds work, doesn't mean I know how to stop a giant mutant in the center of the Earth. Besides, the only reason I know anything about clouds is because my dad told me. Jet knows this stuff too."

"What are you talking about?" Peridot asked, stopping in her tracks.

"I used to be really scared of thunderstorms." Steven started. "Until my dad explained how rain and all that stuff works. Then I wasn't scared of rain anymore."

"Well, I'm sure you have other knowledge on how this planet works?" Peridot said.

"Well, sure." Steven said. "But none of it gonna help us. If we wanna stop this cluster thing, we need help from the crystal gems."

"I said I don't need them!" Peridot shouted.

"Stop being stubborn." Jet said, his eyes flashing red at her. She started to sweat a little at that. The group suddenly heard a roar and Jet adjusted his shirt to draw his weapon from his back. "I knew I sense something since we got back out here."

"What was that?" Peridot asked, moving to get behind Steven.

"Jet, look!" Steven said, point to a cliff to reveal an army of gem shards.

"Steven, listen to me." Jet advised. "Put up your shield and get outta here. Take her with you."

"But, what about you?" Steven asked, looking at the gem shards make their decent towards them. "There's too many for you to take all by yourself."

"I'll be fine." Jet said, unsure himself. "I'll try to hold off as many as I can. Now, go!" Steven surrounded himself and Peridot in his bubble shield and rolled off. Jet let out a deep breath and looked ahead of him. From his viewpoint, there seemed to be hundreds of them making their way towards him. He closed his eyes and slowly opened them, he felt his teeth grow sharper and his hands turn into claws. He was now in Berserker Mode and he slammed his sword into the ground. He kneel down and pressed his hands on the rather cool surface of the ground. He closed his eyes and let an electrical current flow from his body into the ground. The current traveled to where the gems were and he manage to zap a good percentage of them, poofing them in the process. Unfortunately, there was still a large number heading towards them. Jet picked up his sword and sent out a wave of purple energy, wiping out another good percentage.

"Good." He said to himself, noticing that their numbers were slowly disappearing. "But I can't keep this up forever though." The remaining gem mutant made a dash towards Jet and Jet took a stance. One was leaping towards him and before it could make contact, a whip wrapped around it and sent a wave of fire through it. It exploded, taking the monster out. Jet's golden eyes looked around and noticed that the crystal gems were in the area. He let out a breath of relief but kept his Berserker Mode active, he wanted to let it run its course so that it wouldn't tire him out as much. If he was to deactivate it on his own, it would leave him in a much weaker state. as to where if he let it run its course he would be slightly alright. The gems finished off the remainder of the mutant gems and ran up to Jet to see if he was OK.

"I'm fine." He said, his golden eyes staring at them. "How did you guys know I was here?"

"Future vision, remember?" Garnet said, adjusting her visor.

"More important, where's Steven?" Pearl asked.

"I asked him to hide while I fought those things off." Jet said, dispersing his weapon.

"Here I am." Steven said, rolling himself and Pearl inside his bubble. He deactivated it, standing next to Jet.

"Steven, are you alright?" Pearl asked.

"Move aside, Steven." Peridot said, shoving him out of the way.

"Peridot?" Amethyst said.

"What are you three doing here?" Pearl asked, nearly shouting in the process. "I mean, thank goodness that Jet was here but still-"

"He did what he was told." Peridot said, looking at Steven. "Alright... Listen up, you clo-" She cleared her throat. "I mean, crystal gems. I've made up mind... I have something to tell you about the cluster."