Disclaimer in chapter one. I can't be with my friend while I'm writing this chapter, and it's also not midnight, so I hope this meets your expectations.
Steven looked around at the darkened sky. "Wow, that went later than I thought it would. My phone says it's almost eleven!"
"So," Pearl asked, "where are we headed?"
Clemont smiled. "We're heading to a store not too far from here to get some parts for my next robot.
Ash sighed. "Clemont, as much as we'd love to come with you, Serena and I have somewhere else to be so... bye!" He said suddenly, grabbing Serena by the hand and running off with her.
Clemont took no mind of his friends leaving. "Well, shall we get going then?"
Peridot grabbed onto Pearl's shirt. Pearl looked down at her. "Yes Peridot?"
Peridot's eyes were half closed, and she was swaying precariously.
"Oh hold on a minute everyone! I think she's going to fall asleep." She knelt down in front of Peridot and lifted the sleepy Dorito onto her back.
"I duneedabe carried." Peridot mumbled sleepily.
"Of course not." Pearl said smiling. "But I'm nice."
"Yoo duneedabe nice, I dunneedabe carried." She protested halfheartedly, knowing that the battle was already lost.
"Well, I want to. Peridot, can I please carry you?" Pearl asked.
"Okeey, since yoo asked so nicelee, I guesss." Peridot said, her words blurring into each other.
"Thank you Peridot." Pearl said. "Okay, let's go."
The shop turned out to be a good hour walk away, and while they had a lot to talk about, it became harder and harder for Steven and Bonnie to stay awake. Peridot had long since fallen asleep on Pearl's back. Around fifteen minutes to the store, Garnet did something unexpected. Or maybe completely expected. It depends on how you look at it.
Garnet picked the now nearly sleepwalking Bonnie up, and set her on her head. Bonnie immediately fell asleep without question.
"Hey Steven." Amethyst said, catching the tired half-human's attention. "You wanna ride on my shoulders so we can be twice as tall?" She asked.
"YEAH!" Steven yelled excitedly, making Peridot flinch at the noise. She mumbled something, then settled down again.
"Shhh." Said Pearl. "You're going to wake her up."
Steven looked apologetically at Pearl. "Sorry Pearl, I won't do it again, I promise."
Clemont stopped in his tracks and turned around. "It seems we have made unexpected progress and have arrived ten minutes early!"
He turned right and walked up to a brightly lit building, whose electric doors opened to reveal the inside of a shop.
And a dark purple Pokemon in a bow tie, who was biting into a smooth, pale, gem.