To say I've been more or less… conflicted would be an understatement.

I don't know why I decided to… take her and switch her out, but I think I prefer the option for something in the future.

What that is… I'm not sure.

"Did you see that?" My thoughts are interrupted at Amethyst's outburst. "Wa-poosh, just wa-poosh!" She punctuates the words my snapping her new;y upgraded whip. It's been a couple days since the Bismuth incident, the others are no doubt still reeling over the revelation of what happened to Bismuth, and what Rose did. In order to give them time to sort of cope with everything, Steven, Amethyst and I are heading back to the barn to go see how Lapis and Peridot are doing. Peridot may have been my consultant and lead scientist/engineer when it comes to developing new tech, weapons and such, but she still prefers to stay and live in the barn. I'm glad to still see the comradery that they both have when at the beginning they were about to kill each other.

"That's great, Amethyst. You're getting so fast." Steven comments to Amethyst after seeing her new whip.

"No! This is worse! This morning it was like wshh! Just wshh! Superfast, like wshh-wshh!" She continues to try to express how much of a badass she is.

"Amethyst, you're the best whip user I know." I tell her, hoping that would keep her from bragging. She's kind of been talking all the time since we began walking from the temple.

"I'm the only whip user you know." She states in an annoyed tone.

'Crap, that backfired.' I think. "What's your point?" I reply, not even, bothering to look at her because I know I can't keep a straight face.

She moans in annoyance. "Okay, I think this is why a day off would be good for you. You should take a break from obsessing over Jasper." That's another thing she's been focusing on. Since she got her new weapon, she's kind of been wanting to get another go at Jasper with her new weapon and all. We kind of didn't want her boasting to get to the others as they are sad so a day off would be a good thing for her and everyone. Paperwork and oversight on my operations have also been keeping me busy as of late so taking moment to hang out with the others would be a nice change of pace.

Amethyst begrudgingly dispels her flail, which is basically what it is at this point now, and sighs. "Are you sure we have to do this now?" She complains.

"Yes! Visiting Peridot and Lapis will be so much fun!" Steven jovially states and I mirror his smile.

"Yeah, 'cause when I think 'fun', I think 'Lapis'."

*Smack*

"OW! Hey!" Amethyst yells as she rears around on me while we continue to walk.

"Please don't talk about my girlfriend like that." I mutter. I can't help but smile everyime I call her my girlfriend.

"Whatever. What do you even see her anyway?" She grumbles as she folds her hands behind her head.

"A lot more than you ever will." I cheekily reply. I can see out of the corner of my eye Amethyst rolling her eyes at my answer.

"I wonder what they're up to." Steven wonders.

"Maybe they drove each other crazy and burned the barn down." Amethyst suggests.

"I know your joking so I highly doubt that. Plus with all the tech Peridot grabbed and has been making I'm sure she's got everything… co… vered…" My tone trails off as the barn comes into view.

"Woa… They sure did something to the barn." Steven comments my exact train of thought.

We have reached the barn but it forces us to stop, and stare at the now heavily-modified barn compared to the state it was we last saw. Some of those modifications includes a truck, a freaking pickup truck, lodged into the ceiling of the barn. 'Where did they even get that?!' Despite my inner ramblings we see the silo has been moved to cover up the previously broken side of the barn, the silo just… lodge right in there, hard to see how the hell it hasn't toppled over. A small tent next to it with a green Canadian flag for some reason, and various ornaments are hanging around. On top of that, I see a small gray box-like structure hanging off the other side of the barn with a giant antenna and satellite dish perched on top of it but from the angle I can't see what it is exactly.

We eventually start making our way forward. The closer we get we notice some sounds coming from the pickup, as well as spotting a couple figures. More specifically a blue and a green figure.

"But Paulette, I need you!" We hear the voices from a tv playing.

"Oh, get over it, Percy. Go make another friendship bracelet."

"Seriously." The unmistakable loud and boisterous tone of Peridot followed by the monotone neutral tone of Lapis can be heard.

"Lapis! Peridot! Hi!" Steven calls out.

"Hey you two!" I call out.

Peridot and Lapis look down from the barn and see us coming up to them. They both smile at us. "Marcus!" Lapis happily calls out and leaps over the edge. Steven an Amethyst move back but I continue to smile and hold my arms out. I don't get flattened nor move as she roughly lands in my arms bridled style. It also didn't help I got a nice upskirt, or dress, shot when she leapt over. "Hey you." She sensually says with a smile as she wraps her arms around my neck.

"Hey babe." I reply. We waste no time in sharing a kiss with each other.

"Ewwwww!"

"Ewwwww!"

"Oh bite me!" I can't help but reply at the dual voices voicing their disgust behind me.

"Hm hm, for later… gladly." My heart skips a beat at the way Lapis seductively whispers that in my ear before kissing my cheek.

"Okay okay." I quickly say as I gently put her back on the ground on her feet. "Let's not make Steven lose his lunch and Amethyst lose whatever object she ate today." She smiles as she lands back on her feet.

"Sure. Steven, its so good to see you again!" Lapis greets my brother.

"You too Lapis." Steven replies.

"Hey!" Peridot greets us as she jumps over the edge of the truck. Before she hits the ground her boosters activate and it momentarily stops her from hitting the ground before they cut off and she lands on the ground roughly. It doesn't hurt her as she smiles at us all. When she's here in front of us that we notice that she's wearing some type of bowtie. Don't know where she got it though. At the same time she also has a sort of folded up eyepiece thing above her brow and gem. She has her holster strapped to her chest with her revolver inside it. "Steven! Aemthyst! Good to see you." She says to them before turning to me. She adopts a more professional stance before hitting her fist to her chest, executing our salute. "Commander."

I reciprocate the salute. "Peridot. How goes it?"

"Pretty good. The soldiers and engineers are adopting quickly to the new tech. We should be seeing an increase to production and training within the month." She quickly explains it.

"Good to hear." I nod back at her.

She nods before she suddenly looks really happy and stares at Amethyst. "Amethyst! Something looks different about you."

We freeze as she asks at that. "Like what?" Amethyst asks in a shocked tone.

"Have you grown taller since the last time I saw you?"

I can't help but facepalm as Amethyst looks mildly annoyed. "Nope, still short."

"Haha! You're welcome! For the joke." Peridot laughs. I sigh and shake my head with a smile at her attitude. 'She can help incorporate advanced Gem technology into primitive human technology but dealing with people makes her… fall… short.' I let out a groan at my unintended joke.

"Wow, you guys are looking good! And I love what you did to the barn!" Steven happily says.

"Yeah, this place sure is… different." I somewhat agree with Steven. All the changes they made to the place was something I was not expecting.

"Awh, I know. But wait, wait! You guys have to see the inside!" Peridot states we should do. "Lapis, fly us in!"

"…No." I snicker at Lapis's answer and the straight smile she gives as she answers.

We all proceed to step into the barn and it's a lot different on the inside than it was on the outside.

"Welcome to our home away from Homeworld!" Peridot states with a flourish as she shows us the place. Well actually she just stands there while we stand there taking in the place. There are a bunch of odds and ends littering the place that looks like junk to me, but they have an air of creativity, possibly intentionally made objects.

"Woah, you made the wall an aquarium!" To my surprise at Steven's declaration, the inside of the silo lodged into the side of the barn is in fact filled with water. I don't know if they simply used glass, Peridot used an invisible forcefield to keep it in, or Lapis is passively just keeping it in. Either way its crazy to see, and a large alien plushie with its neck ripped out is not at all creepy. Steven flinches as he spots the toy, startled a little.

I lie, its very creepy seeing that floating in a tank of water. We step back as Amethyst rolls a vacuum cleaner, filled with fish and water, back and forth casually with her foot. 'I guess its some kind of faux aquarium.' I surmise in my head.

"You did all this stuff on purpose? Like, you didn't just knock over a bunch of paint cans and go, 'Eh, just leave it.'" Amethyst asks.

"Oh no, this was all very intentional. You see, I have this idea: What if we made music, but instead of sounds, we use things?" Peridot explains like she's come up with a great invention.

"That's dumb." My eyes glance at her in annoyance before looking back at them as I get what they are doing.

"Wait, art?" I ask for clarification.

"Guys, that's art!" Steven happily proclaims as he walks closer to them.

"'Art'? That sounds ridiculous!" I sigh at Peridot.

"I've been calling it 'meep-morp'." Okay now I just look at my girlfriend confused at the name.

"Let us show you our… morps." Peridot proposes and walks over to some of the weird made objects around the barn.

Peridot snickers as she walks over to a table with several cassettes on top, along with what looks like her broken recorder with a blue ribbon placed on it. "This piece is called 'Wow, thanks'. It represents the struggles of intercommunication. The tape is the ribbon that binds our experience on Earth together. It has no functional purpose! It just makes me… feel bad!" Steven and I blanch at the end there. She says it all with a straight uncanny smile. I get some art can be representative of ones emotion at times, both good and bad, but this kind of threw me for a loop in all honesty. Amethyst kind of just looks bored as Lapis continues off of her roommate.

Lapis then shows off a mobile, consisting of a baseball mitt, a broken baseball bat, and a baseball, all of which tethered by strings to a stick. "Here's my meep-morp. This is a baseball bat. It reminds me of when I played baseball and knocked some sense back into Marcus." She points out. When I look back at the baseball bat, I notice the barest hint of a darker color to the wood on the broken end piece.

"Ooh." I hum awkwardly.

Lapis steps backwards, now showing off a leaf sticking on top of a pile of mud. "This is the leaf Steven gave me. It reminds me of the time… Steven gave me a leaf."

"Hey, yeah! It reminds me of that too!" Steven states his joy at the memory.

Lapis walks over and shows a small table with the stuffed animal Lapis won at the carnival along with several bullet casings sticking out of the toy. Thing is, its kind of been… punctured… a lot. Memories dredge up as I remember the amount of bullets that ripped through my vehicle. I thought we just lost the toy after I got us out of there. "And this is the toy I won at the carnival Marcus took me to before we got ambushed and nearly killed by the Iron Kings. This one is my favorite. " She explains with a smile.

"It is?" I can't help but ask.

She nods with the smile still on her face. "We went out, we had fun, we danced together, we fought together… we got hurt together, but I'm alright with that because it was all with you."

"Awwww!"

"Bleugh!"

I smile at Lapis as Steven gushes while Amethyst gags. 'I think I'm starting to like these meep-morps now.' Off to the side we see a TV on a stand, with two mirrors sticking out of it and looping a scene from the 'Camp Pining Hearts' show.

"I just feel trapped- I just feel trapped-" The same persons dialogue loops continually.

"Is this one about… the thousands of years you spent trapped in a mirror?"

'And just like that I'm worried.' I think as Steven surmises what the Tv symbolizes in a worried tone.

"No, I just really like that show." I feel a little relieved as Lapis answers.

"Oh Marcus! Come with me. Theirs something I shall show you!" She says before blasting up on her boosters and making it to the second floor.

"… Sure." I mutter at the fact she didn't even give me a chance to agree or not. With a sigh, I simply run up the support beam holding the upper floor and grab the ledge before hoisting myself up.

"Behold!" Peridot shouts, arms and legs spread and standing out as she stands in front of a metal door. "My command center!" She then presses a button on her gauntlet and the doors open with a hiss. Unlike the rest of the barn which is all wood, straw, dirt and scrap metal, this new place is completely different. My eyes do widen as we step into the completely metal and highly technological room. Instantly I'm reminded of the metal box on the outside of the barn when we were first walking up to the place. Right in front of the door alongside the wall is a massive array of camera and computer screens, along with several microphone stands, a couple headsets and keyboards, including a small pool reservoir near the keyboards that I'm pretty sure is the goo linking console first used in Peridots ship. Off to the right side I see what looks like a workbench fitted with a bunch of odds and ends, mainly what looks like tools from both earths standards and cobbled together gem tools Peridot most likely made or scavenged. The left side contains a large shelf with a bunch of robots on it, ranging from the original robonoids Peridot had left when we first saw her, the smaller more advanced droids I made, as well as some small drones from what I can tell that she's probably working on. "Well? What do you think?" She asks with a smile as she stands in the middle of the room.

"Peridot… it's awesome. This is pretty cool." I voice pleasure at seeing the setup.

"Thanks. I think so too. This command setup right here," She points to the array of computers, "allows me to have full contact and view on nearly every Crystal King setup and installation we have available. From cameras to surveillance I can access them in a moments notice. I can also use it to the keep in contact with all our soldiers and engineers so we can continue to keep things moving even though I'm not there." She then steps over to my right at the workbench. "This here is my invention center, where I spend a fair amount of time working on creating new and interesting inventions and gadgets to give us an edge. And over there," She darts loudly to the other side, "Is my drone station! Anytime I need something fixed, repaired, patrols need to be setup around the barn when me and Lapis can't be bothered, or someone's attacking us, my drones here can all be stationed and ready to go out in a moments notice." She finishes explaining with one final look of satisfaction as she crosses her.

"Damn. This very nice Peridot. Love the setup and everything about it." I say in a light tone. All this that she did is amazing and to top it off its not thrown together in the rest of the barn where she'll get in Lapis's way.

"I'm glad you think so Commander. Even though I'm here and not in our R&D lab, I can still help out whenever you or anyone needs it. C'mon! Let's get back to the others. I wanna show Amethyst something!" She says the last part with no small amount of giddiness in her voice. I begin to follow her out before taking one more glance back in the room, smiling, and following her. We step off the edge and land roughly on the bottom floor of the barn where Lapis was showing off another meep-morp.

"Oh, hey Amethyst! You'll love this one!" Peridot directs the attention of the purple gem to another p. We all walk up to what looks like three toilets crudely placed in a semicircle, with one more in the back facing forward and slightly lifted. "Check it out!" Peridot loudly proclaims as she points at the

"Huh." I mutter curiously at the… art.

"They're… toilets?" Amethyst asks confused.

"Right!" Peridot shouts before she starts laughing and continues speaking. "What will I think of next? This represents the time I spent imprisoned in your bathroom, Steven."

Steven looks away awkwardly and Amethyst glances at him. "She was imprisoned where?" I whisper ask to Steven as I lean just a little closer to him. He looks even more awkward now and doesn't even look at me.

"I call it 'Occupied'. It's a collaborative piece." Peridot then gives Lapis a thumbs-up before she does the same, as Lapis proceeds to concentrate. Not long after water begins to sprout from all four toilets, waving the sprouts back and forth in an artistic way.

"It's… amazing!" Steven gapes in awe.

"Ohhhh, nice." I say in awe as well.

"I don't get it." Amethyst grumbles.

"What's there to get? It's water! Shooting out of toilets!"

"I can see that at home."

"But… Amethyst… Steven doesn't have bidet. Wait, what did you do to toilet? Is that why the plumbing bills are so high?!" I incredulously ask as I stare at her. She doesn't even look at me as she still keeps that bored look. I stare crossly at her before turning back to the homeowners.

"Alright, I see you're not impressed. But this- hold on." Peridot begins to rummage through a corner of the barn and grab several musical instruments from it. "This, this is what we've all been waiting for! With the power of my metal abilities, I will impress the shirts right off of you!" She loudly and happily proclaims to us.

From what I can tell as she stands at the barn doorway, what she has in her levitating power two drums, two cymbals, a saxophone, a recorder, a triangle, a tambourine and a harmonica in the air, while holding two drumsticks. I look at the amount of overkill she kind of went with the instruments.

"Ta-da! It's a one-Gem metal band! One, a two, a three and-" Peridot inhales and blows into the harmonica, causing her to lose control of every other instruments, as they fly in various directions and crash onto the ground.

*CLANG*

The cymbals she had shoot out towards me, almost ready to decapitate me. Thanks to my reflexes though I manage to summon my sword and deflect the projectile into the side of the barn wall. Steven and Amethyst are surprised, Lapis just smiles at me, and Peridot casually tosses the drumsticks onto the ground like she didn't just try to lop my head off.

"Welp, that's as far as I've practiced that! And hey look Marcus! You made a meep-morp." Peridot points to said object.

I stare at her before glancing at the cymbal embedded into the barn wall, then back to her, then Amethyst and Steven, who look confused, then to Peridot again. "Yeeeesssss… I suppose I did." I slowly say as my sword disappears.

Lapis and Steven start laughing as Steven nudges Amethyst, who is still unimpressed. 'What's gotten into her today?' I question at grumpiness. Lapis walks up to Peridot and places a hand on her shoulder.

"Why don't you try one thing at a time?" She suggests.

"Because we have guests, Lapis! Guests who must be impressed."

"Or guests you don't kill." I mutter under my breath.

"Hmm…" Lapis hums before picking up the tambourine and begins playing it. "We can try it together."

"Yeah!" Peridot then levitates a triangle and dings it once. The rest of us sit down and watch Peridot and Lapis as they perform. They have rhythm or beat as they randomly hit their instruments but the joy in their faces makes me feel good about them with both Steven and I smiling.

"Isn't this great?"

"Yeah it is. So good to see them happy after everything." I comment.

"Pfft. No."

I get a tick mark at Amethyst's attitude. "Alright what's with you?!" I whisper yell at her, not wanting to yell and interrupt our performers. "Since we got here you've been nothing but a grouch the whole time." She looks annoyed at me at my tone but I don't back down. I would use a lot more colorful language but I know Steven doesn't like me cussing in front of him.

"I mean c'mon Amethyst. Look at all this cool stuff they're doing!" Steven gestures to performers, their carefree and still smiling selves. They still don't have a beat.

"But this is all nothing! They've been out here playing with garbage." She grumbles.

"Your whole room is filled with garbage!" I accuse her.

"And you love playing with garbage…" Steven also points out.

"Not anymore!" Amethyst states very annoyed. "Who has time for any of that when Jasper is out there!"

My mind turns to some dark thoughts at the mention of that particular gem. Even Peridot and Lapis freeze in place as Peridot drops the triangle on the floor at the mention.

"Uh, Amethyst? I uh, try not to use the J-word so loosely around here."

"So loosely around most of us." I mutter darkly as I flex fingers.

Amethyst lets out a sigh before getting up. "I'm going to go do something useful." She walks out the barn without another.

"Wow, Amethyst doesn't seem to understand morps at all."

"I don't think that's it Peridot." Chances are what she's moping about has to do with Jasper if it weren't obvious enough. Probably when they last fought, since I wasn't there for it, some things must have been said for her to feel like this.

"No, it's something else. Amethyst found out… she's supposed to be just like Jasper."

"Meh?" The green gem mutters questioningly.

"Jasper took her down in a fight and now she's obsessed with getting a rematch. To prove she's good enough." Steven explains.

"Hmph." Peridot gets thoughtful look on her face before stepping back outside. The rest of us look at each other in confusion before we shrug.

"I'm gonna go back to watch TV." Lapis flies up while me and Steven walk outside the barn.

It didn't take long for us to find Amethyst as she's knocking over cans angrily with her flail. Peridot suddenly pops in and grabs her arm before she can swing again.

"Amethyst, Ams, Big A! You, are way better than Jasper!" she gets right to the point without any build up or anything.

"What? Oh…" She gets a look of confusion before turning to Steven as we walk up. "What did you tell her?"

"I uh…" He awkwardly says.

"Ams?" I mutter the word quietly to myself, having never heard that nickname for her, nor Big A.

"What are you even doing comparing yourself to her?" Peridot begins to say as she begins to swivel a can nearby with her metal abilities. "Oh Amethyst, that's ridiculous. I should call you 'Ridiculous-thyst'." She lets out a laugh at her crudely made joke. Her laughs turns to growls of slight frustration as shes unable to knock over the can with her metal abilities. With an angry cry, she pulls out her gun and blasts the can right off.

"Really?" I give her deadpan look.

"Please don't put anymore holes in our home." I hear Lapis call down from the truck above.

"I mean, seriously." She levitates another can as she holsters her gun. "Amethyst and Jasper are two completely different Quartzes. Sure, you're both from Earth, but your Kindergartens are radically different."

Okay now that gets a surprising reaction from all of us.

"I'm sorry could you clarify that again please?" I ask.

"What? H-hold on, what?" So does Steven.

"We're both… from Earth?" Amethyst reiterates.

"Well sure! Amethyst, you're from the Prime Kindergarten in Facet Five. She's from the Beta Kindergarten in Facet Nine." Peridot explains like it's the most clear thing she could ever say.

*Plonk*

Although amidst her explanation, she lost control of the can and it bounces off her head. "Have you seen that place?" She asks unfazed by the can.

"No!" Amethyst loudly states.

"I would also like to know why I was never told about the second kindergarten considering everything that happened?" I question out loud.

"It never seemed relevant."

"Never seemed rel-?!" I begin to say in annoyance before stopping, a low growl escaping my lips as I pinch the bridge of my nose with closed eyes.

"Then this is perfect! We should go see the Beta kindergarten! So you can see how the other half was made: Poorly." She laughs at her own joke before taking a much less joyous looks about her. "No, seriously, let's go. You'll get a kick out of this."

"That's your problem, Paulette. You let yourself become the kayak race." Looking back up, we see the TV in the truck on and Lapis sitting there watching it.

"Cold." She comments.

"Um, just one second. I wanna check and make sure Lapis is okay." She tells us before looking back up at Lapis. "HEY, LAPIS, ARE YOU OKAY?!"

Not gonna lie, I kind of flinched at the loudness of her voice all of a sudden.

"Yeah." Lapis replies lazily.

"ARE YOU SURE?!" Their conversation continues.

"Yeah."

"I'M LEAVING, BUT I'LL BE BACK!"

"Okay."

"DO YOU NEED ANYTHING?!"

"No."

"WHAT SEASON IS THAT?!"

"Three."

"Peridot, let's go." Steven tells her.

"We're burning daylight here." I add.

"Okay, yeah, business time." She takes off her bowtie and holds it up towards Lapis. "YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THIS!" She hurls the bowtie at Lapis, who has her hand held up to catch it. However the bowtie flies over her head, overshooting past Lapis, who remains motionless and makes no attempt to grab it.

"Alright! Let's go!" Peridot about faces and start walking off with Steven and Amethyst behind.

"I'm heading off too babe! Gonna make sure they don't get into trouble!"

"Alright! Love you too." She says with a hand wave while still looking at the TV.

"But I didn't say- Love you too!" I begin to say before saying screw it and catching up with the others. 'She really likes that show.'

One Warp Pad later and we are hit with a wave of heat.

"Holy-!" I mutter as I'm hit with the sudden temperature change.

"Here we are, Jasper's origin. The Beta Kindergarten." Peridot says with a flourish. A quick glance of the area shows we are in the desert of sorts, where exactly I can't say off the bat. A crevice in the desert sand shows a canyon and just like the Prime location, this one has the injectors littering the entire place. Differences being this time around the place is much smaller, much more narrower and the walls are made of red sandstone.

"Huh." I murmur in curiosity.

"Am I underwhelmed? It's pretty bright out here." Steven comments as he cups his hand over his forehead, shielding his eyes.

"It's red." Amethyst eloquently comments.

"No kidding. Heh. Red sandstone! Hah! This is what I'm talking about! We're lucky this place hasn't blown away. Beta, am I right?" Peridot jokes.

"Hahaha… That's a math joke, right?" He asks Amethyst and I in a whisper after laughing a little.

"I… can't tell." I could give you the specs of pretty every modern firearm, how to hack into government level security systems, how to reverse-engineer alien technology to work with far less primitive human technology, the ins and outs of a top tier highly successful PMC and the logistics that go with it… but sometimes I can't understand Peridots attempts at humor.

"Heh, c'mon, it gets worse." She really does not like the Beta Kindergarten. Nonetheless we follow her in. "I mean, this place has got the right growing conditions in a pinch. I guess…" And she then picks up a rock, licks it, she licks it, and tosses it aside. Steven and I look at her weirdly. "But it's too small! It was obviously a total rush job." She explains.

"Uh, rush job?"

"They didn't have the resources or the time to find more Prime Kindergartens. So they had to make do with subpar conditions to make more soldiers in a short amount of time." I explain my reasoning for it to Steven.

"Halfway through the rebellion, Homeworld scrambled to generate extra soldiers on the ground. Look at this! The holes don't even line up." She gestures to the exit holes around us. True to what she says, unlike the Prime that has a lot of even rows and columns for the exit holes, these ones are thrown together in complete disorganization. She continues with a chuckle. "It's like they just threw Injectors down wherever. Oh, and that one?" she points to small little inlet cave with one exit hole curving inside the cave and the other half on the outside. "This Carnelian came out sideways! How could she not, the walls are curved! Haha, what a joke."

I am not really finding the joke in all this and am more than feeling sorry of this Carnelian, who has to live their life as lopsided gem compared to their peers. "Man, I-I had no idea." Even Amethyst isn't sure about this new information, possibly on the fact that theirs at least one other gem out there who might be in an even more imperfect shape than she is.

"I tell you, it really makes you appreciate the Prime Kindergarten, Amethyst. Your Kindergarten was so thought through! Sure, you might have spent extra time in the ground, but everything else is stacked in your favor! Great location, great holes, even spacing, consistent depth, a real Kindergartener gets it right." Peridot boast the Prime Kindergarten hard on us. We continue to walk about admiring the place, at least until Steven stops walking.

"Steven?" I question as I see his focus on something else. Following his gaze, we see a pair of broken Injectors. Curiously, they seem to be missing all of their legs. I let out a hum curiosity.

"What happened to this Injector?" I hear my brother say quietly. I look closely at the injector as I kneel down, noting that while the legs are gone, they didn't snap off. They aren't here on the ground and they aren't stuck on the wall.

"The legs are gone. They didn't just… fall off." I note my observation. My brother and I look at each other, mentally thinking on what this means. We don't stay too long in examining the pieces before we catch up to the others.

"What you want to see is a vertical alignment; no angle in the exit, a clean, strong silhouette… None of these holes come close!" We catch up in the middle of the Peridot explaining a crash course in a gems exit hole. 'Wait, that… that sounded weird.'

I shake my head of the thought and begin looking around a bit more.

My entire body freezes as my eyes latch onto one particular hole.

"Marcus?" I can barely hear my brother.

"What about that one?" Amethyst points to the hole I am glaring at. Unlike the other holes around here, this one is much larger than the norm with arms pointing upwards instead of on their side. My thoughts drift immediately to one gem in mind.

"Jasper…" Peridots barely audible voice confirms it.

"This is Jasper's hole?" Steven asks but we already know the answer.

"It's huge." Amethyst states in awe. I however just glare at it.

"Oh, come on, we already know she's tall. Let's take a closer look. A Kindergartener can tell a lot about a Gem's makeup and flaws by their exit marks." Peridot approaches the hole and stands right under it. A button press later and she boosts up into the hole, landing on the edge with a small grunt. "You see, the problem here- wait. Oh, wait, oh, no, umm…" We hear her continuously mutter as she tries to figure out anything wrong in the exit hole. The fact she's having trouble finding anything makes me cross. "Now this part… hmm. There's this thing where if you count the steps to the back I can…" Peridot paces backwards into the hole, and then shortly walks out and climbs down from the hole defeatedly. She then walks up to the rest of us without a word.

"Peridot?" I question.

"What is it?" Amethyst asks.

"She's even got frictional rock melt. It's glass all the way to the back. Actually, I uh… I've never seen an exit hole this perfect." Peridot gives us the bad news.

"A diamond in the rough." I quote. "Amidst all the imperfections, amidst all the lower quality or junk, you will find one pieces that stands tall above all else." I mutter in a low tone.

"But she's not a diamond." Peridot states the obvious.

"Expression Peridot." I reply in annoyance.

"Ughh… So it is true." Meanwhile Amethyst is pretty angry about the news regarding the quartz.

"Amethyst, that doesn't matter. Who you are isn't about where you came from! It's who you wanna be! It's what you worked hard for. It's what you care about! That's what really matters." Steven does what he can to bring her out of her funk.

"Yeah! Yeah, you're right!" It works as Amethyst loudly proclaims.

"Yeah!" Both Peridot and Steven shout in a pumped up way.

"It's about who I wanna be!"

"Yeah!" I can't help but smile as well, their enthusiasm a little infectious.

"And I wanna be the Gem that beats Jasper into the dirt!"

"Yeah!"

"Huh?"

"What?" And just like that the smile is gone as I voice my confusion.

"Wait, no! Don't fight her!" Peridot tries to dissuade her. "Are you not seeing this? She's the ultimate Quartz!" She gestures back to the hole.

"I'm doing it." Amethyst is not dissuaded in the least. "Yeah, and not just for me, for all the weird holes out there!" She proclaims as she gestures to all the misshapen holes. "Like this guy! And 'Skinny' up there! And, and, and this mess!"

"What the…?" I mutter confused as she gestures to a huge oddly-shaped hole on the ground in the wall. This one is much bigger and doesn't really look like what a person or gem would look like.

"Amethyst, that's…"

"Yeah, ha! I bet she was great."

"No, no no no, hold on." Peridot interrupts her as she runs up to the huge hole with me and Steven trailing behind. "Something's really wrong here. These marks are new. This hole's been dug out. Recently."

"Recently?" I question before pulling out my pistol and scanning the surroundings.

"Maybe it was a prairie dog?" Peridot and I glare and deadpan stare at Steven. "A uh, really big one.."

"Hm." Peridot hums as she further down the Kindergarten as the rest of us follow. I continue to keep my gun up as we walk. "There's more!" True to what she says, there are many more holes littering the entire canyon walls as we move deeper in. Some of them are completely open, but interestingly enough some of them are actually barred in like cells with some metal poles.

"Woah."

"Woah indeed." I agree with Amethyst.

"These aren't exit holes anymore." Peridot states.

"Then what are they?" Steven asks as he begins to approach one of the barred holes.

It takes a second for me to realize the oddity of the holes. "Steven wait!" I call out to him, making him stop as I push past him and rub my hand on the metal poles. "This metal… Steven…" I glance back at him before looking forward. "Aren't these the injectors le-?"

*THUNG*

*ROOAA—*

*SHINK*

*Poomfp*

In the matter of a second, something comes out from the back of the hole, slamming into the injector legs made cell walls, grabbing me by the throat and preparing to roar but just before my sword appears and I stab it into the things body, resulting in an explosion of smoke and dust commonly seen with gems. I push myself back and away from the cell as I breath heavily.

"Marcus!" My brother runs up to me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I quickly tell him before letting my sword disappear and holding up my pistol. A closer look does in fact show that there is in fact a gem lying on the floor of the makeshift cage. "It's a gem, but how did—?" I begin to question before we hear more growling. I whip around and take aim, only to be met with a scary sight. All around us, in the holes we thought were empty are actually occupied cages as we see and hear growling from all around, as well as the piercing yellow eyes that stare right at us. "Oh no." I mutter, really hoping I had brought some more firepower. Dozens upon dozens of holes are occupied by these corrupted monsters and all are completely pissed off as they try to burst from their cages.

"Corrupted Gems? In cages?" Steven states in confusion.

"Why? Who would do this?" Peridot asks. I am just as confused as well as to who had the means and ability to put all these monsters in their cages. If anything, they probably just poofed their forms and tossed the gems inside before walking off to get another prisoner.

"That's who." Amethyst cuts through my thoughts on the matter. In the distance we see what looks to be a silhouette in a dust cloud that came up. I aim at the person on the other side before it clears away.

My anger has skyrocketed as I slowly put away my pistol.

"Jasper." Steven says her name in a quiet voice.

At once, both Amethyst and I summon our weapons. Mine is slower and methodical as I take bother swords, then connect them together with a satisfying click.

So… been awhile huh? Yeah its been a hot minute since I last updated this story. Of course I was originally planning to combine both Beta and Earthling episodes but instead just opted to get this one out already. Not really much to say about this, kept mostly to how things went in the episode originally but now of course with some differences considering Marcus's intervention with things. Rest assured things are going to go just a little bit differently in the next chapter than like this one. Whether I'm going to go right into this new chapter for this story or work again on one of my other stories I haven't decided yet, among other things I'm debating on.

Marbled Gold: It is good to still be working on this story. I do switch up writing my stories when I can, so that way I don't get bored as I work on one story continuously. While that does make the progress on the story go up a lot, the content will start to become stagnant. Still I did what I could to make things interesting for Marcus when he meets Bismuth. For Glitch Techs, I like it as well and have already finished the series. Disappointed I haven't heard any new news of anymore new seasons for the show but I have been seeing a ton of fan support for a new season, so hopefully that'll gain traction for a new season.

Admiral809: Glad you like it. While Steven Universe already had some bordering on dark subtle elements to it, adding the more… darker side of human things just makes it more interesting in my opinion. You don't really get many stories that do that.

Now that's an idea and a half. I've thought of some ideas for new fusions and may eventually do some when the time is right.

NJred2000: Marcus will most likely help in the gem citys creation, maybe add a more futuristic flare to it when he can. The idea of Marcus and Lapis having a kid has crossed my mind, the biological way at least :), but adoption… that hasn't crossed my mind until now. I'll think about it.

Light Seeker 001: That is most likely true. Steven had trauma before but now come Future, its safe to say things are going to be even worse.

Whether he can take on Diamonds is up for debate and future installments to showcase his skills.

One thing I want to ask you all, what would you say to me making a 'My Hero Academia' story?

I've had this idea stirring in my head for awhile now and after rewatching the series, learning about the premiere dates for the next season, and reading other MHA storys, I've just thought maybe I should go ahead and maybe start writing it out. It's still a debate in my head considering I still have a bunch of other stories to keep working on as well. Its just this idea has been nagging me for awhile and I want to ask you all if you'd be alright with the idea of me making a 'My Hero Academia' story. Whether I make it or not isn't whole fully dependent on a majority vote or anything like that, just like to hear some opinions on the idea.

Well with the question asked, thank you all for reading up to this point. Go ahead and fave, follow, review, whatever you want. Have fun reading, have a great day, and especially have a, see you in the next year, have happy holidays, and have a happy Merry Christmas to you all.