With one final screw in place, the job was done. It had taken them weeks of hard labor, bonding, and misadventures, but it was finally done. The Z fighters and Raditz stood around and clapped as the gazed upon the completed drill. Peridot and Bulma smiled as they looked upon their work. "Well done, Peridot," Piccolo said, patting her on the shoulder. The small gem jumped slightly at the contact, but appreciated it all the same.
"So are you guys all set then?" Bulma asked.
"Oh!" Peridot gasped, "Hold on!" She climbed up the ladder into the cockpit of the drill.
"She's really come a long way," Steven noted, "And to think a few weeks ago, we were trying to kill each other." Raditz looked at them all in confusion.
"Like she would have been able to kill us with that peashooter," Vegeta scoffed.
"Her cohorts might of, but thank goodness they're still boiling at the bottom of the ocean," Piccolo noted.
"What exactly happened before I showed up?" Raditz asked.
They were unable to answer him, as she suddenly stuck her head out of the cockpit. "Coordinates!" she shouted, "We still need the coordinates of the cluster!"
"How are we going to get those?" Steven asked.
"Well there might be one way," Peridot said climbing down, "There's a diamond base in this facet that should contain that information. However, it's near impossible to get to from here."
"Why? where is it?" Goku asked.
"It's located on your planet's natural satellite," she explained.
Goku blinked in confusion.
"She means the moon," Piccolo clarified.
"Oh…" Goku nodded in understanding, "I guess that would be impossible. At least for Vegeta and I. Even if we had a way of getting there, we'd end up destroying the place by going Oozaru."
"Actually, You're wrong," Raditz piped up, "It's not the moon itself that's the problem, it's the light it reflects. I've landed on several moons before and nothing has happened."
"Ok then, I guess all we need is a way there then," Goku said.
"I know!" Steven announced, "Lion!"
….
The Z Fighters, Steven and Peridot landed in the moon base and Lion collapsed to the ground. "Good Job, lion, you've earned your naps for the day," Steven assured the pink cat.
"After we get back, I am never doing that again!" Peridot announced, gripping her arms, "That was worse than that yellow cloud thing!"
"It doesn't... look like the moon," Steven noted as he looked around.
The group examined the room, using balls of ki energy as flashlights. "Hey, what's this?" Goku asked, looking at a panel. He placed his hand on it, and a door opened up leading to the the surface of the moon. They all began to be violently pulled towards the vacuum of space. Piccolo had to grab Steven to keep him from flying off. Goku slammed his hand back on the panel, causing it to close again. "Well, We're definitely on the moon!" he said, laughing nervously.
"Kakarot, you idiot!" Vegeta snapped, "Don't mess with things if you don't know what they are!"
"Sorry!" he said, holding his hands up.
Suddenly, the heard Steven laughing. They turned to see him bouncing around the room. "Whoa!" he cried, "look at me! I'm a moon boy!"
Goku smiled. "Haha, alright moon boy! Wait for me!" he cried, bounding after him, "This is awesome! I wish I could do this more often!"
"Why? You can fly!" Piccolo said, "Now get down from there. We don't need to be messing around. Who knows how much air we have in this building."
"Aww, you're no fun!" Goku whined as he floated back down. After they had gotten back to the ground and Peridot gave a brief yet enthusiastic explanation of the diamonds, they headed up the steps. They found themselves in a huge observatory facing the Earth.
"We really are on the moon," Steven breathed.
"It's beautiful…" Goku noted as he stared at the blue planet. The other Z fighters looked up at it and smiled as well.
Peridot interrupted them, however, as she rushed giddily over to a control panel. "Oh my goodness! This looks like it could be brand new!" she gushed, "I mean it's a relic by today's standards, but, golly! It's so elegant, so simple, so perfect!"
"So how do you turn it on?" Piccolo asked.
"I have no idea," Peridot stated.
All of a sudden the device activated. They turn to see Steven accidentally turned it on. "Hey, it's got one of those glowy hand dealies!" he announced as he sat at the giant chair in front of the panel.
"You can't sit there!" Peridot exclaimed, running up to him.
Steven frowned. "Why not? It's really cool," he asked.
"That chair is only for the most elite Gems," she explained, "you can't go around sitting where an Elite would sit."
"Well they aren't here now," Steven said.
Peridot glanced to the left nervously. "Here," Goku said, picking her up, "Let me help you." He then set her down on the giant chair. Peridot began grinning like an idiot before giggling.
She quickly composed herself, however. "Okay, let's see here…" she said, pressing a few buttons on the arm panel of the chair. It then moved closer to the control panel. The screen switched between seven files represented by diamond shapes.
"Gotta find the right file…" she muttered as she shuffled through them, "Cluster, Cluster where are you, Cluster? Aha!" one of the files opened to reveal a diagram of the Earth. "There's the insertion point. Looks like the Beta Kindergarten in Facet Nine. It's the smaller of the two," she explained.
"But where is the cluster now?" Piccolo asked.
Peridot started scrolling through the files again. "Hang on... there it is!" she said, pulling up another diagram, "It's embedded deep into the mantle, relative to the barn it's roughly two thousand five hundred units down. All we need to do is feed this data to the drill and we should be all set."
"That's it then," Piccolo observed, "That went fairly smoothly."
"Good job, Peridot!" Goku said, causing the green gem to grin.
"Great, now we can head out and take care of this mess," Vegeta stated, starting to walk back to the stairs.
"Wait!" Steven said observing the chair, "Hold on, does this thing have any games on it?"
"No no no no," Peridot said, laughing, "this wasn't used for games. It was used for planning a colony. Here, look." She began messing with the controls again.
"That's ok, Peridot," Piccolo started, "We don't need to see-"
It was too late. A map of Earth appeared on the screen. "So here is a map of all structures that were originally built on Earth," she explained, flipping through some images of the different structures, including the sea spire, the communication hub, and something that resembled kami's lookout, "All told, this probably only accounts for maybe, five percent of what was originally planned."
"What was the plan?" Steven asked.
"Steven!" Vegeta grunted in warning.
"Well, let's take a look," Peridot said, ignoring him and tapping on the controls again.
"Peridot, I really don't think that's-" Goku started, concern written on his face. Before he could finish, the hologram changed from an image of Earth to a hollowed out version, with rings and spires all around around it. The Z fighters expressions all became grave as they stared at the husk the Earth could have become. Goku looked at in horror. Vegeta glared at it while Piccolo looked disgusted.
The only one who looked at it positively was Peridot. "Ta-da! A finished Earth colony," she presented with pride, "Wow, look at this! Eighty-nine kindergartens, sixty-seven spires, a Galaxy Warp in each facet, efficient use of all available materials." Goku became more and more visibly sick with each word she spoke. "What was Rose thinking, shutting this operation down? It could've been great!" Peridot finished, hands outstretched.
"No! You're wrong!" Goku shouted, slamming his hand on the control panel, causing a large dent.
Peridot looked at his hand nervously before speaking. "W-What do you mean? It's perfect, look at it!" she said.
"We are looking at it," Vegeta growled.
"And we don't like it," Piccolo said.
"Completing this would have meant the destruction of all life on Earth!" Goku exclaimed.
"Rose Quartz believed all life was precious, and worth protecting," Piccolo stated.
"Well if she wanted to protect it she did a lousy job!" Peridot said angrily. Steven and the Z fighters looked at her in shock, but she didn't seem to notice. "There'd be no cluster if the Earth had stayed a colony," she ranted, "Now there's no colony, and there's gonna be no Earth, so thank you, Rose Quartz! You doomed the planet!"
Steven looked between the Z fighters nervously as they all glared daggers at Peridot. If looks could kill, Peridot would have been blasted out of existence by now, even by Goku whose fists were currently shaking.
"Uh guys, maybe we-" Steven started, trying to diffuse the situation, but it was too late. Vegeta suddenly grabbed Peridot by the front of her uniform and slammed her against the panel. "What did you say about Rose Quartz?!" he growled. A ball of ki formed in his other hand. Peridot
whimpered as she looked up at him in fear. "You don't know a thing about her, you imp!" he roared at the gem, "She sacrificed everything for this planet! She fought off invasion after invasion and saved billions of lives over thousands of years! She gave this world a chance! She gave US a chance! Do you call that lousy?! Huh?!"
"Vegeta, stop! Please!" Steven pleaded, but Vegeta didn't listen. Peridot shook in fear as the ball of ki energy grew larger in his hand and his grip tightened.
Suddenly a green hand was placed on the shorter Saiyan's shoulder. "Vegeta stop," Piccolo said tersely, between clenched teeth, "She doesn't understand what she's talking about. Hurting her will solve nothing." Steven looked to Piccolo. He didn't look any less angry, and he avoided looking at Peridot.
Vegeta's grip loosened slightly, but he didn't let go of the green gem. Then Goku spoke up. "Rose believed that all life held value," he said, "that means hers too."
After a moment's pause, he dropped the green gem and caused the ball of ki in his hand to disperse. The three started walking downstairs without a word as Peridot picked herself up.
"W-what did I say?" she asked Steven once they were gone, "I was just stating a fact and they blew up on me! The Rebellion didn't really save Earth, it just delayed the inevitable."
"It's not that Peridot," Steven said with a sigh, "They're really sensitive when it comes to Rose Quartz. She was practically their mother, and they take looking after the planet she cared for very seriously. And you just said all her work was useless." Steven started walking away towards the stairs. After a moment, he noticed Peridot wasn't with him. "Peridot?" he called.
"Coming!" she responded, chasing after him. As she did so, he noticed something behind her back. I was some kind of diamond shape. Steven frowned as he saw it, a deep hollow feeling resonated in his stomach as he caught sight of it, but he kept his mouth shut as he followed her down the stairs.
Peridot done screwed up big time. Next chapter you'll see what the Z fighters think of what she's done. Have a good day you guys! Let me know what you think!