One of the others activated the warp pad and Steven felt himself lifting into the air, followed by the odd dissolving feeling as they all entered the warp zone. He tried to clear his mind the way the hollow Pearl had taught him before a battle, and while the deep breathing and mental exercises did help to calm the rapid beating of his heart, he couldn't help but hope that a battle wasn't what they were headed towards. Peridot was a gem after all, like Lapis, like Garnet, like his mother, there had to be a way to talk with her, it was possible her interest in earth was innocent wasn't it?

A moment later they were there, in one of the seemingly ever-present shadows cast by the high cliff walls of the kindergarten. Amethyst leapt down from platform on which the warp had been placed and rushed over to rocky section nearby. "Be it ever so humble there's no place like hole." Then proceeded to slide into a hole in the stone. Rose and Garnet jumped down after her and a moment later he followed, tucking into a roll as he landed. "Check it Steven this is the hole I popped out of of." Amethyst said sticking her head out. He looked up, then side to side trying to count just how many holes were present: He lost track after two hundred.

The holo-Pearl had told him that there was a whole world of other gems out there but it hadn't actually seemed real until now. As he looked down row after row of proof that thousands of gems had been produced here it struck him. The crystal Gems weren't special because they were unqiue creatures on this world, they were special because of all the members of their own race that had come to this world to take it for themselves, they (and those taken by the corruption) had been the only ones to take a stand. New respect and apprectiation for them bloomed as he looked between the three. . .four? Of them. Ruby and Sapphire would take some getting used to.

The feeling was short lived however as Garnet perked up as if she heard something none of the rest of them could and motioned everyone to get down. Ameythist slid back into her hole, while they tucked themselves behind a pair of rocks. Almost as soon as they did the warp flashed to life again and the familiar form of an oversized robonoid appeared. It shifted in place a few moments in a way that reminded Steven of a dog before it lays down to sleep. Then seeming to find it's bearings it sprung into motion, hurriedly making it's way along one of the cliff walls.

"Follow it." Rose whispered and motioned for the others as she sped after the robonoid, they followed catching up just in time to see the alien device lift from the ground, absorb it's appendages and discharge some kind of energy. A hole opened beneath it and it shifted into an inverted pyramid which began to sink down. Rose froze, eyes wide when they reached her, the others looked to her for directions that weren't coming, so Steven took the imitative.

"Come on, let's see where it's going." Suiting his words he jumped into the hole, sliding along the slanted wall until he came to rest on the transformed robonoid. Moments later the others joined him, and when he looked back Rose was clearly still unnerved but the fierceness he had seen in her when she had squared off against had reappeared. When they reached the bottom a second smaller robonoid was produced from the point of the pyramid on which they'd ridden down which began to crawl up onto the platform before them.

Rose motioned again and they jumped down hiding themselves out of sight as the little robot brought power to the small room, a pale green light washing over them as a screen with Peridot's face appeared. "Control room power restored, now accessing kindergarten injector systems." Rose motioned them closer to whisper.

"We can't let her see us, we wait for an opening then we smash the power source on the far wall, Steven you stay here for now." They all nodded, and skulked off to the sides finding themselves the best angles they could for attack. He thought about arguing, or even just stepping up onto the platform and confronting the other gem himself. Instead though he decided to try and learn more about just what was going on. Marvelling at the ease with which he opened himself compared to how hard it had been just weeks before. Now he could feel more of that Gem aura, not just permeating this room, but with the barest touch of his own consciousness he could tell a weaker version of it expanded and touched every injector in the kindergarten above.

He knew how to insert himself where no aura was present, he knew how to attack auras that were, but this time he needed something different. He didn't want to sever anything or take control he wanted to communicate, or at least to extract information. He let his own aura expand, and press against the pale green one all around: It resisted. He considered shapes for his purpose, a drill, a hammer a needle, but none seemed right, all of those would damage the other aura, instead he decided to change the nature of his own, fraying the edges that touched the other, shifting it in slow circles, then in other patterns still nothing. Rose had been right, Peridot had put up some stronger defenses this time, but he hadn't. This aura moved through everything here so if he didn't resist it would move through him as well wouldn't it?

Steven imagined his aura becoming thinner, and thinner holding the image of water and oil in his mind, then the oil turning to water. He felt his aura begin to give way, and rather than suring it up he forced it to go thinner still, to allow the green aura to flow into it. The moment it did he felt the connection, at first it was a struggle, the gem on the other end naturally trying to gain control of him as she had of everything else her aura touched. He fought back then, holding tight to the connection as he pushed their wills apart.

Suddenly he was standing in a new place, a room split in half, opalescent on his side, hunter green on the other. In front of him stood the Peridot, not the same as he had seen days ago at the galaxy warp, instead she was suspended in mid air, half her arms and legs simply missing. "What are you?!" Peridot demanded in with a screech. "How have you connected to this operating signal?"

Steven looked around them, and as he did information seemed to flow into him, status of the injectors in the kindergarten, lists of the gems produced in this kindergarten. Ignoring her questions he turned to Peridot and asked. "What's a fusion experiment?" He had seen the phrase in one of the flashes of information.

Peridot raised an eyebrow. "You can access the operating signal for this kindergarten but you don't know what the experiments are? This shouldn't even be possible for anything but a high clarity gem." Steven shrugged and moved the hair from in front of his face.

"I'm half gem, does that count?" Peridots eyes practically bugged out of her head.

"A pearl? Stars how does a Pearl get this kind of access? Who do you belong to, and why do you look so. . .funny?" A hot flush washed over Stevens face and he let his hair fall back into place.

"I don't belong to anyone, and I could ask you the same question, no arms and legs, just floating there." Peridots face colored this time.

"That's not important. . .you you're the one who overwrote all my Robonoids and destroyed the Homeworld warp aren't you?!" Rose hadn't wanted Peridot to see them so he thought better of revealing it had been them who took down the warp.

"That's me, why do you keep sending them? What are you trying to do here?" The peridot scoffed and then smirked as the edges of her side of the room grew into wicked points that began to edge towards him.

"Just picking up where we left off." He hardened the edges of his own side but felt them begin to give way almost immediately. Just as he was certain they would impale him they stopped suddenly and Peridot cried out.

"NO!" An instant before she flickered, then seemed to phase out of existence along with her side of the room. His own began to crumble and he frantically reached out with his mind, desperate to break the connection he had made. Luckily there was nothing left to tether him, so the moment he decided to disconnect he was back in his own body, sweat coating the collar of his shirt and running down his forehead, over his gem.

The gems were on him in an instant, Roses face a mask of concern and something he'd never seen in her before, anger. "You did it again didn't you, you tried to mix with her aura." Steven nodded and saw a flash of pink light shine in her eyes before she closed then, and drew in a deep breath. "Steven that is too dangerous. I am ordering you never to try to connect to one of those auras again." He felt the pressure of those words, like some great weight was trying to settle on his chest, like worms wriggling into his ears to wrap around his brain. This time though he resisted, hefting that weight and blocking those worms with a tremendous effort of will, which if he hadn't already looked so haggard would likely have shone on his face. He simply nodded as if he would obey as he had before. "Alright, now that that's settled, what did you learn, and what did she learn from you?"

Steven recounted what had been said between himself and Peridot, making sure they knew he'd given away no presence but his own, Garnet looking particularly concerned at the mention of "fusion experiments." As garnet took him into her arms and they began making their way back out the gems told him that Peridot had suddenly gone quiet and the massive hands she'd produced from the machinery had gone still, likely while she was distracted by him, they took that moment as the time to strike and brought the power down. After that they grew silent on the walk back to the warp. Before slipping into unconsciousness Steven held tight to Garnets arm.

"I don't think she's giving up, she's still coming, and we have to be ready. Then faded into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.