Chapter 3: Preparation

Pearl, Steven, and Connie had just warped to the sky arena for Connie's training. Normally, it would've been just Pearl and Connie, but Pearl figured Steven might be able to help Connie since he is half gem and half human. "Alright, Connie, your first test will be strength. I have various weights here, all ranging from 5 pounds to 2,000 pounds. To start, Steven and I will demonstrate."

Pearl then proceeded to lift up the weights: the 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800 she lifted with ease. She then started to struggle at the 1,000, and at the 1,500, she could no longer lift it. Steven was next: he lifted all of the weights up to 700, but the 800 was too heavy for him. Finally, it was Connie's turn. Connie also lifted the weights up to 700. Connie knew gems were strong, but she had no idea that even being half gem would amplify her strength this much.

Next was the 250 meter dash. Pearl completed it in 38 seconds, and Steven did in 40. Meanwhile, Connie finished in 37 seconds.

Connie's last test of the day was to climb a gradually steeper incline, and see how high they could go before they slipped. The incline started at 0° for a level surface, then gradually gets steeper and eventually reaches 90°, straight up. For safety reasons, Pearl had Steven and Connie wear a safety harness. For this test, Pearl fell at 53°, and Steven slipped at 59°. Now, it was Connie's turn. Connie started to advance up the incline. She started to get nervous, so she closed her eyes, and continued up the slope, waiting for when she would slip… but she never did. She opened her eyes, and realized she was at the 86° mark, while standing like gravity was sideways. This shocked everyone.

Steven especially seemed excited. "Whoa! Connie, you can walk up walls?! That's so cool!"

Connie then took off the harness and turned around, walking back down. "Well, this has been an interesting training session," Pearl says. "Garnet and Amethyst will certainly be impressed. This concludes today's training. We'll come back next week to try and summon your gem weapon, and perhaps try shape shifting if we have enough time." Pearl, Steven, and Connie then warp back to the temple, ready to tell Amethyst and Garnet about the training session and Connie's new power. However, when they got back, Garnet had a clearly troubled expression on her face. Steven could tell almost immediately. "Um, Garnet? What's up?"

"White Diamond is coming…"

This caught them off guard. "W-White Diamond?!" Pearl stammered. "B-but she's the strongest one!"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. She is bringing her entire army and will be here in 6 days. We have to get ready."

"Have you told Amethyst?"

"Yes. And I've told Peridot and Lapis, too. We may even have to unbubble Bismuth."

"Connie, change of plans. We continue your training tomorrow. Steven, you'll have to train with us, too."

Suddenly, the door to Amethyst's room opened, and Amethyst came walking out. Normally, Amethyst is calm and laid back, but this time, some slight tenseness could be seen in her expression. "Did Garnet tell you?" She asked, seeing the frightened faces of Pearl, Steven, and Connie. Steven was the one to answer. "Yes, she did. We have to start preparing. We just may have the next gem war on our hands. We have to warn the city. Recruit those willing to fight, and evacuate those who can't. Things are about to get ugly."

The next day, Steven, Connie, and Pearl warped back to the ancient sky arena to train. With White Diamond coming in only 5 days, they had to train every day. Pearl then began to talk about the training schedule she would be enforcing for the next few days: 8:00-12:00: Connie will practice using and perfecting her new powers, with the help of the Gems and Steven. 12:00-12:30: Lunch break. 12:30-4:30: Steven and Connie will do battle training. 4:30-5:00: Dinner break. 5:00-9:00: Steven and Connie will train as Stevonnie.

After 3 days, Steven and Connie had gotten much stronger. Connie had discovered more of her powers: her gem weapon was a teal sword, similar to one of Pearl's swords; she can store small items in her gem like Pearl, and she can shape shift some. Connie can shape shift better than Steven, but not as good as Amethyst. It also turns out that the only difference in Stevonnie's appearance is the new gem, and the two gem colors are mixed together; not to mention their fusion weapon was a shield covered in sharp spikes around the edges and on the top, which resembled thorns. Most of Connie's powers had been discovered when Peridot scanned her gem with her new Gem Scanner she had built, which could detect powers in a gem, as well as how they are activated.

...

It was the 5th day since the news. White Diamond would be here tomorrow. The Gems decided it was time to warn the city.

Steven called up Mayor Dewey on his phone. "This is Mayor Dewey." "Mayor Dewey, it's me, Steven Universe." "Universe. What are you calling about? It had better be important. I'm in the middle of a meeting." "Mayor Dewey, White Diamond is coming. We need to evacuate the city! She's bringing her entire army and will be here tomorrow!" "Wait, what makes you so sure?" "Garnet saw it in her future visions. There's no time! We need to get the city to saf-" Steven was cut off by Garnet grabbing the phone. "Steven is right. White Diamond will be here tomorrow morning at approximately 11:24 am." "How do I know I can trust that you have future vision, 'Garnet'?" "Because I know that Steven's phone call interrupted your meeting with the city council. Now; I need you to call a town meeting on the boardwalk within the next 30 minutes."

Mayor Dewey hung up the phone. He wasn't sure what to believe. He soon decided to follow Garnet's advice since there had been a homeworld invasion about 20 months ago. He then gave the news to those in the meeting, and proceeded to call a town meeting.

After about 40 minutes, the residents of Beach City were all crowded around on the boardwalk. Garnet then proceeded to address the crowd. "Attention, Beach City! You must all evacuate the town! White Diamond is coming with her entire army and will be here tomorrow. However, if you would like to help us fight her back, please feel free to join us!" The crowd was silent for a moment before a hand went up in the crowd. Steven noticed that the hand belonged to… Onion. "Onion? You want to help us fight?" Wordlessly, he nodded. "This is great! Anyone else want to help?" Sadie also agreed to help, but the rest of Beach City declined; then proceeded to pack their things and evacuate the city.

Later, at the Temple, Pearl, Amethyst, Peridot, Lapis, Steven, and Connie were in the Beach House waiting for Garnet to come out of the burning room. After a few minutes, the Temple door opened and Garnet came out holding Bismuth's bubble. "Alright, listen up. Bismuth is a crystal gem, but we still need to convince her that she can't shatter a gem, even if they're a homeworld gem, no matter what. Her and Steven had an argument about it, but she didn't seem to listen."

Garnet then popped the bubble, and Bismuth reformed in front of them. "Why did you release me?" Steven then stepped forward. "Bismuth, we need your help. White Diamond and her army is coming and they'll be here tomorrow. I know you and I had a little disagreement about shattering gems. We need you to understand that shattering a gem is wrong, even though you had the right intentions. We choose not to shatter gems because we might be able to convince them to join us."

"Take me, for example." Peridot was the one speaking. "I used to be a Homeworld gem, but when Steven showed me the beauty of the Earth for what it really is, within a few weeks, I ended up calling Yellow Diamond a 'clod' — right to her face. I have been a crystal gem ever since then. Now, if they had chosen to… shatter… me… I never would have become a crystal gem."

The gems continued explaining this to Bismuth. After about 5 minutes, they were done.

"So, do you understand now, Bismuth? Do you understand now why we don't shatter gems?"

Bismuth took this all in. After a minute, she sighed. "Alright. I understand. Thank you for showing me. I promise I won't shatter any gems." The others smiled.

"Now, who are the new recruits?"

"Oh. That's Peridot," Steven said, pointing to the green gem, "That's Lapis, and this is Connie!"

"Nice to meet you. Now let's show homeworld what we can do!"

"Yeah!"