The first thing Peridot noticed was the large hole that had been ripped cleanly through the roof, starting at the door and continuing right up to the cave. Pieces of wooden planks lay soaking in the centre as rain fell freely into the house. The water pooled around the Warp pad, in which a piece of brown seaweed was residing.
"Whoa..." The green Gem took a step out of the temple, looking around in a mixture of horror and awe. "What happened here?"
A yelp from off to the side startled Peridot, and they caught sight of the creature that was following them around.
"Oh, it's just you." Peridot crossed their arms, narrowing their eyes. After a second, they began to shake, and then they lost it. "It's just you! Nyagh, what happened here? What happened to the Cluster? What happened to the Crystal Gems! At least they were useful in some way... now, I've gone against them, I've failed Yellow Diamond and now you're all I've got! And you attacked me! Mindless whatever-you-exactly-are lifeform... what am I gonna do now?!"
The creature looked up at Peridot with one shining eye. It opened its jaw a little, and then closed it, letting out a low moaning sound.
"What is it, you, clod?" The small Gem curled their fingers into fists, stamping their foot into the water. "Why don't you tell me we're going to do with this mess? Why is it always me that has to figure this stuff out?"
The creature calmly turned on its four heels and began plodding away towards the front of the house.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. Because you don't talk!"
Peridot nevertheless watched it it pad through the debris, hop up on what remained of a ladder and climb up to the second story. This part of the house looked less ruined, and from what Peridot could remember of their time spent here, it was Steven's bedroom.
The creature was out of sight, so Peridot picked their way over to see what was going on. They put one foot on the rotting ladder and the rung broke.
"Nyuh..." The small Gem wrinkled their nose. "This building's structural integrity has been compromised. I would not advise staying up there."
The groaning, yelping noise did not change. Why were they attempting to communicate with an animal, again?
A part of the second story's roof dissolved into green liquid. It began dripping down to the floor as the house gave a great moan.
Peridot frowned. There was no way that floor was going to hold up much longer, yet the creature did not appear to notice. Perhaps they should leave this backwards animal to its own demise before-
Crack!
Right on cue, the wall caved forwards and the entire second story tilted towards the small Gem. They saw the creature sliding rapidly towards them and grabbed them in their arms, only to find right behind it was a rather large TV. With a yelp, they backed away and watched a pile of heavy stuff and parts of a roof smash down on where they were just a second ago.
"Whoa..." Peridot took a second to gape openly at the destruction. Then the creature they were holding began to twist and snarl as they held it, so they dropped it. It landed on its back with a yelp, then jumped up and headed immediately back towards the debris.
Peridot had never seen such stupidity before. "Ugh! Do you Earthlings have no sense of self preservation?"
The creature shuffled through the wreckage with the point of its jaw until it found something and pulled it out. The next thing Peridot knew, it had its entire mouth covered by a plastic Chaaaaaps bag.
"So, that was your objective." The green Gem raised an eyebrow as the creature began shaking its head to get the bag off. It then began tearing into the greasy food, foaming at the mouth. "Interesting, considering Gems do not need to consume food."
They looked back at the pile of wreckage. "I wonder if this mess has anything else useful in it."
Digging through the junk, Peridot uncovered the smashed screen of the TV. They saw a spark fly out of it and jumped back, noting the water on the floor.
"Huh. A primitive image cube." The green Gem found a counter on the other side of the room and hopped up on it, safe from a possible electrical shock. "Steven would not shut up about this contraption; it uses 'radio waves' to receive signals that display a picture."
With a curious whine, the creature looked up from its bag of Chaaaaaps.
"Of course, back on Homeworld we have a much more improved way of transmitting messages. Even better than that diamond we found on the-"
Peridot's eyes widened. "Oh, my stars. I think I have an idea... I can still contact Yellow Diamond! I can still stop the Cluster!"
They jumped up on the counter, a wide smile on their face. The centipeedle picked up on the vibe, standing up and pawing at the counter excitedly.
"I-If those Crystal Clods were idiotic enough to break my communicator... I'll just build another one! True, it'd be extremely primitive, and I'd need to find a Homeworld enhancer chip... but I'm a trained Homeworld technician, with extensive field knowledge of the planet Earth. I've survived this long I just need to build it; of course, that Pearl would come in handy..."
The green Gem looked over at the creature. "Nyah, I don't need her! You can be my assistant! You can help!"
The creature drooled more green liquid as it wagged its back mandibles excitedly. It was beginning to melt the countertop.
"Somehow." Peridot made a face, before turning around. "But I could actually do this! All I need is to contact Yellow Diamond and reveal to her what I've discovered! Then, she'll terminate the Cluster. I know she will! We can't waste any time; let's get to work!"