Because the warp was destroyed, the Crystal Gems arrived at the Communication Hub riding on Lion's back. As suspected, it had gotten repaired by Peridot and was transmitting again.

"And now it's sending a message to Homeworld," Fear R said.

"And it's interfering with television," Sadness S added.

The other emotions stared at her.

"Hey, it upsets Steven," she said.

"So, we just gotta wreck it up again, right?" Steven said. "You guys should form Sugilite!"

"Well, it's up to Garnet, I guess," said Amethyst. "What do you say?" she said, turning. "Shall we mash it up?"

"Well, that's a definite 'no'," Disgust R said.

"Exactly," said Fear S, pulling up some memories. "I mean, look what happened last time!"

"Yeah!" Anger R said. "It was a complete disaster!"

Sadness S sighed. "We hurt Steven, we really hurt Pearl, we destroyed the warp…"

"When we get together with Amethyst's emotions, we tend to get carried away," Sadness R added.

"Unless Pearl's emotions are there to help us remain balanced," Disgust S noted. "Though the last time we formed Alexandrite went poorly as well, but that was due to other things…"

"So the best bet here would be fusing with Pearl solo," Fear R said.

"Right," said Joy R. "The time has come to bust out Sardonyx."

Garnet turned to Pearl. "Let's fuse," she said.

Pearl quivered with anticipation.

"Oh boy," Disgust R said. "Here come the waterworks."

"She doesn't get a chance to do this often," Sadness S explained. "She must be overwhelmed by the prospect of doing this."

"Well, being Sardonyx is pretty fun," Joy R said.

The two moved to a suitably open area and, after Pearl had warmed up, began to dance. Moving as to get in sync with one another, the two moved closer, and Garnet lifted Pearl up. She tossed her into the air, and when she came down again, they fused.

Five new emotions were in the control room. Joy P ran over and gave Garnet's Joys a big hug. "Good to see you again!"

"Good to see you too, P," Joy R said, smiling.

"It's so nice to be able to spend time with you without certain… vulgar elements," Disgust P said. "And without the risk of having to eat anything."

Joy S giggled. "That's a bit mean, but also true!"

"Well, let's get started," Joy P said, sitting down at the controls. "We should give Steven a good show, after all."

And so they did; Sardonyx put on an act of confident theatrics, showing off and good-naturedly talking herself up. Eventually, she summoned Pearl's spear and Garnet's gauntlets, combining them into a giant hammer.

"Are you gonna smash stuff with your war hammer?" Steven asked.

"I'm thinking we should be a bit more… precise than that," Fear R said.

"Right," Disgust P said. "Smashing is more the purview of other Gems… and I think you know who."

"Oh, you're terrible!" Joy S said, laughing.

And so, with self-assured accuracy, Sardonyx knocked the pillars out of the hub, disabling it, before descending back to the ground and giving her departing speech.

"It's time to be done already?" Sadness P said.

"We don't want to stay fused too long," Fear R explained. "Just until we finish the job—and we've finished."

"But we could fuse again if the need arises!" Joy R said, smiling.

"Right," said Joy P. "If the need arises."

So, they unfused; Garnet and Pearl were left holding each other.

"That was fun," Joy S remarked.

The next say, Garnet was sitting with Steven, watching television. Crying Breakfast Friends, to be precise.

"Explain to me again why we're watching this?" Anger R groused.

"Steven invited us," Joy S responded.

"I have no idea why he likes this show," Disgust S said. "It just seems like a bunch of animated nonsense."

"It's not even that sad," Sadness R noted.

"Oh, hey, Amethyst!" Steven yelled at his purple teammate, who had just come out of her room and was rooting through the fridge. "You're missing Crying Breakfast Friends!"

"That's okay, I'm fine."

"But it's a really good one so far!"

"I would have to disagree," Disgust R said.

"And I'd have to agree with that," Disgust S said.

Almost immediately, however, the picture on the screen became static.

"The signal's blocked again?" said Anger R. "Seriously?"

"I don't understand," said Fear S. "How could she have repaired the Hub so quickly?"

"Maybe she has some hidden tools?" Fear R said. "She showed off her electric shocks and helicopter fingers the last time we saw her."

"Doesn't matter," Joy S said. "We disabled it before, we'll disable it again."

"Even if it means Crying Breakfast Friends comes back," Disgust S said.

And so the team arrived at the Hub, and Garnet and Pearl fused into Sardonyx, who disabled it, and they all went home again; and that was that, until the next day when the interference returned.

"This makes no sense," said Fear S, searching through the Future Vision. "I can't see them catching Peridot. Garnet and the others stake out the Hub, but she never shows up."

"Maybe she has a cloaking device?" Fear R suggested.

"Well, I just hope we can catch her, or that she'll realize continually repairing the Hub is futile," Anger S said, "because this is getting annoying."

The team proceeded as they had twice before; however, this time, as Garnet and Pearl were about to begin their fusion dance, they were interrupted.

"Stop!" Amethyst yelled.

"Huh? What's the matter with her?" Fear R wondered.

"You… you shouldn't…" Amethyst stammered.

"Pearl, we saw you," said Steven. "You need to tell Garnet it was you!"

"What are they talking about?" Disgust S said. "What was her?"

But the look of guilt in Pearl's face, and her mumbled explanation about having fun being Sardonyx, and they quickly realized the truth.

"The Hub," Fear S said. "She's the one who was repairing the Hub."

"Just so she'd have an excuse to form Sardonyx," Disgust R fumed.

"Except what she did was inexcusable!" Anger R yelled.

"I can't believe she'd do this," said Sadness S.

"Yeah; she knows how important fusion is to us," Disgust S said. "But she went and abused it anyway!"

"She completely violated our trust," Fear R said."

"I just wanted to share a few more victories with you!" Pearl stammered.

"Victories?" Anger S yelled. "Fixing a problem she deliberately created is not a victory!"

"We wasted all this time on the Hub when we could have been searching for Peridot," said Fear R.

"Who cares about Peridot?" Anger R fumed. "Pearl's the one who tricked us just so we would fuse with her!"

"Wait, Garnet!" Amethyst interjected. "We're so much weaker than you. Fusing with you is like our one chance to feel… stronger!"

"What—is she actually trying to defend her?" Anger R said.

"This team's falling apart," Sadness R wept.

"We still have to disable the Hub," Fear S noted.

"Well, we're not going to do it with Sardonyx!" Anger S said. "We'll form Sugilite and destroy this Hub once and for all!"

"Sugilite?" Fear R asked. "You sure that's a good idea? I mean, last time…"

"I don't care!" Anger S shouted.

"Let's just get this over with," Garnet said through gritted teeth. She and Amethyst marched towards each other and fused.

Amethyst's five emotions appeared in the room, all looking cowed, not just Fear.

"Hey, guys," Sadness A said, giving a timid wave.

"Zip it," said Anger R. "We're going to bring down the Hub so it's beyond repair and then be done."

So, without any attempt at pleasantries, Sugilite smashed up the tower.

Garnet didn't speak to Pearl the whole next day. Or the next one. Or the next…