Lion either could not or would not make a portal back to the barn, so instead they ran back towards the barn, Steven and Peridot on their back. It took about half an hour, and for a while they just sat together next to Lion, looking around nervously and waiting for Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl to return.

"Boo!" A dark figure popped up in front of them, and the two screamed and clutched each other. Aventurine began chuckling.

"What's the matter? You two look like you've seen a ghost, and act like it too!"

Steven stood up and ran to their cloaked friend. "We did! We were following you, we ran into the temple and there was this thing-"

"Shh-shh." The cloaked Gem pressed a finger to Steven's mouth. Then they bent down to their level, holding the boy's shoulders. "I think I spotted your problem. You followed me, pal."

"Huh?"

Aventurine gripped a little tighter on Steven's shoulders. "Let me bring this down to your level: Don't. Follow. Me."

The boy recoiled.

Peridot sat up. "You were the lifeform attacking us on the roof!"

At this Steven gasped. They looked worriedly at the cloaked Gem. "I-Is that true?"

"Haha, no!" Aventurine laughed and stood back up. "Don't worry about it, Steven, I'd never hurt you two. I just said not to follow me, capiche?"

"Oh, okay. Sorry." Steven paused. "So where did you go?"

The Gem walked over and sat next to Peridot, leaning on Lion. "The strawberry battlefield, I think you guys call it now. I found... let me see..." They dug in their cloak, brought out some plastic gloves, put the gloves on and drew out a small white shard. "There it is. Piece of the preliminary Corruption Bombs- Steven, don't touch it! Whaddya think I put gloves on for, ya clod?"

Peridot raised an eyebrow. "What is the Corruption Bomb?"

"Corruption Bombs. Plural. Homeworld didn't tell you this little piece of atrocity, did they?" The cloaked Gem winked.

"What is it?" Peridot asked again. They stared incredulously at the piece. "It doesn't look like much."

Aventurine held the piece up. "Oh, he's only a little piece of a larger whole, pieslice. I was captured after the first few test drops, so I had the lucky opportunity of having the newer models tested-" They stopped.

"Tested on what?" Steven looked up.

"Pearl told me only to tell Steven friendly stories." Aventurine replaced the shard back in their cloak.

"Aww, man! Please?"

Aventurine ruffled the boy's hair, and then jumped to their feet. "Sorry Steven. I respect pearls."

Peridot crossed their arms. "This is new information about Homeworld. I demand you share it with me!"

"Maybe later, pieslice. For now, you have your drill driving back up to the surface."

Steven blinked. "Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl are coming back? How do you know?"

The Gem backed away, their dark cloak swishing on the ground. "Can't you feel the vibrations? No? Ah, maybe you will in a minute. Anyway, bye!" Then they leaped, launching themselves incredibly high and landing gracefully on the window of the barn and disappearing inside.

"Nyeh." Peridot grumbled. "I dislike it when they do that."

But nobody was listening. Steven was lying on the ground, their ear pressed to the grass. The green Gem raised an eyebrow.

"What are you doing?"

"I-I think I can hear them!" The boy exclaimed. "There's this rumbling sound, and-"

Peridot sat up, feeling the ground shake a little under them. Quickly, they glanced over to where the drill had entered the Earth.

After a few seconds, the drill burst out of the earth, steaming and roaring. The violently spinning front began to slow, and the top opened up.

"Garnet!" Steven began to run to them, Peridot following more slowly behind. "Amethyst! Pea-"

"Steven!" Pearl held out their hands, urgently signalling them to stop. "Don't touch the drill: you'll burn yourself!"

The boy came to an abrupt halt, and the three Gems jumped down in front of them. Steven wrapped themselves around Garnet's leg.

"Ah man, I missed you guys so much!"

Garnet adjusted their visor. "We were only gone for a day."

"It didn't feel like a day!"

"So," Peridot crossed their arms. "How did the mission go?"

"Well, Amethyst and Garnet-"

"Yo, we smashed up that Cluster!" Amethyst interrupted. "That thing isn't destroying nothing anymore!"

Pearl frowned. "Yes, well, we may have 'smashed up' the Cluster, but the coolant broke by the time we got down there. We had to leave some shards behind."

Steven looked up. "What does that mean, Pearl?" Almost immediately a large hand reached down and ruffled their hair.

"Don't worry about it, Steven." Garnet smiled. "The Earth is safe. It just means we have to make a few trips back to save those Gem shards." They paused. "And where is Aventurine?"

"She... was here earlier." The boy detached themselves from Garnet.

"Hmmm..."

Pearl clasped their hands together. "Well. We did it! We defeated the Cluster!"

There was a pause.

"Now what?" Amethyst looked around. At this, Steven's eyes went starry.

"We should do a slumber party!"

Pearl and Amethyst groaned.

"No, wait! We could do it better than last time. We can sleep out by the stars, Aventurine-" They motioned to the cloaked figure that had just appeared next to them. "-can tell cool stories, and I won't have any weird dreams since Malachite got poofed! It'll be the best slumber party ever!"

Peridot frowned. "What is... slumber party?"

"My thoughts exactly, pieslice."

Steven turned. "Oh, you guys haven't had one yet? This is even better!" They grabbed the two Gems by the hands and began dragging them over to the barn. "Come on! We gotta start setting up now!"

With a sigh, Pearl looked up to Garnet. "Do we have to participate in Steven's... er... human activity? Because I have to fix the coolant, and-"

"Pearl, you're going to Steven's slumber party." The fusion crossed their arms, smiling a little. "Don't worry, it won't be anything like the last one."