Summary:
Tension arises between the kids and the Gems when Steven and Dipper discover something unsettling in the warp stream.
After a good amount of begging, Steven, Dipper, and Mabel had been allowed to come along with the Gems to track down another corrupted monster. It was a relatively safe mission: a single creature easily caught in a sunny, wide-open meadow. Even so, watching the Gems in action was always a delight–especially when they didn't have to worry about fighting for their own lives this time.
"I can't believe that went so well!" Pearl exclaimed, satisfied. She and Amethyst were the first to make their way out of one of the many towering flower patches filling the meadow.
"Yeah," Amethyst agreed. "That was kinda great when you hit it with your spear and it went like 'boosh'!"
"And the way you were circling around it?" Pearl added, blushing. "Almost looked like strategy."
"Heh, well you know," Amethyst smirked, glancing away. "I can do that stuff too."
Garnet trailed after her teammates, silently keeping mind over the kids, or more specifically, on Mabel as she happily frolicked through the flowers. "Ok, so I just gotta say that this is the prettiest Gem place we've ever been to, hands down!"
"Speak for yourself," Dipper shoved his way out of the flowers. He shot his sister an annoyed glare as he nursed his sore and swollen arm. "I got stung by at least four bees back there, all because of that dumb flower crown you just had to make me."
"Don't act like you didn't love it," Mabel teased as she adjusted her own flower crown. "What'd you do with it anyway? Don't tell me you just threw my careful craftsmanship away like it was nothing , Dipper!"
"I didn't," Dipper rolled his eyes. "I gave it to Steven. Not sure if that was the best choice now though…"
He frowned as he glanced back at Steven, who barely managed to make his way out of the flowers. Assaulted by allergies, his eyes were red and his nose was running, but even so, he sported his flower crown with pride. "Sorry I couldn't help much with the monster," Steven sniffled, completely congested. "I think the flowers are making me-" He cut himself off with a sneeze, with most of it landing on Garnet's nearby leg. "Oh! Sorry, Garnet!"
"I'll live," Garnet coolly wiped the mucus off her hip.
"Steven!" Pearl scolded. "You're supposed to sneeze into your antecubital fossa!"
"My… what?"
"You're—this thing!" She pointed at the crook of her elbow before continuing onto the warp pad.
"Steven, if you're so allergic to the flowers, why don't you just, I dunno, take the flower crown off?" Dipper asked.
"Why would I do that?" Steven frowned. "It's so pretty and Mabel worked really hard on it!"
"Well at least somebody appreciates it," Mabel smirked.
With their work here complete, everyone crammed their way onto the warp pad. After one final safety check from Pearl, they set off for home. The telltale column of light engulfed them, sending them on a quick trip through a space that could only be described as magical. Even after several trips, the kids were still utterly mesmerized by just how swift, seamless, and surreal it all was.
"Hey, you guys know what this would be a great time for?" Mabel pulled her camera out of her sweater. "A scrapbook-ertunity! Everyone huddle in and say 'we beat a Gem monster!'"
The Gems were quick to do as she said, all but pinning Steven and Dipper in the center as they exclaimed, "We beat a Gem monster!" Mabel snapped the photo, striking a bright flash from the camera. The suddenness of it was enough to stir up another oncoming sneeze for Steven. He heaved, trying his best to hold it back, but it was already clear that was a battle he was about to lose.
"Do it at Pearl!" Amethyst encouraged, laughing.
"Steven! Your fossa!" Pearl warned, eyes wide with panic.
This exchange was all but lost on Steven as he finally let his heavy sneeze go. The force of it was enough to send him reeling backwards, until he crashed right into Dipper. The boys careened dangerously close to the edge of the stream, and even the Gems weren't able to catch them in time before they were shoved half out of it.
The first thing either of them felt was cold. Bitter cold that only their heads were really exposed to. Still, that hardly seemed to matter when weighed against what waited beyond the walls of the stream. A dark, vast, overwhelmingly empty expanse, only dotted by the occasional speck of distant light. Ominous clouds swirled over that emptiness, roaring with thunder and flashes of lightning–a storm brewing, only barely contained. It was captivating as much as it was terrifying, but in the short seconds that followed, it only doubled down on being both of those things.
It happened so fast they barely managed to catch sight of it. A flash of light burst its way into existence as a straight, endless line across the void. And, speeding somewhere inside of that light, something round and small shot straight upward. Traveling through warp space just as all of them were.
Both Steven and Dipper opened their mouths to ask each other what it could have been. Only to find themselves choking on air that, suddenly, neither of them were getting enough of. Fortunately, they were a long way from suffocating when a steady pair of hands grabbed their shoulders and pulled them back to safety.
Before either of them could make sense of what was happening, Pearl hovered over them, checking them both for any sort of harm. "Careful! It's dangerous to stick your heads outside of the stream!"
"There's not much air," Garnet calmly explained. "And it's very cold."
"Whoa… Did you guys die out there?" Mabel asked the boys, her eyes wide with curiosity.
"Heh, looks like it to me," Amethyst snorted out a laugh. True, both of them looked pretty out of sorts after their brush with the void. Or more specifically, their brush with what they'd seen there.
"Y-you guys!" Steven took in a sharp gasp. "We… we saw something out there!"
"What?" Pearl raised an eyebrow.
"H-he's right! There was-" Dipper cut himself off with a cough, trying to recover lost air. "There was something else warping out there!"
"No way! Really?" Mabel asked. "I wanna see it too!" Her attempt to swim over to the edge of the stream was quickly stopped by Garnet's hand.
"There's nothing to see out there."
"Huh?" Steven and Dipper exchanged a confused glance.
"Garnet's right," Pearl agreed. "It's impossible that anything would be out in warp space. Perhaps the lack of air out there made you both see things?"
"I can see perfectly… Pearl?" Steven guessed, squinting against his allergy-ridden eyes.
"You guys, we know what we saw," Dipper insisted. "Ok, well… maybe we don't know exactly what it was, but it was definitely out there! If you don't believe us, just check for yourselves."
"Sure, whatever," Amethyst shrugged. "If it'll chill you guys out." She proceeded to pop her head out of the stream for a moment or two before coming back in, completely unshaken. "Yep, just like we're sayin'. Nothing's out there but a bunch of clouds and cold."
"But it was there!" Steven protested. "We both saw it!"
"Yeah! If you guys would just-"
"Dipper, Steven," Garnet cut them both off. "It's like I said. There is nothing out there. There hasn't been anything else for a long, long time."
Pearl and Amethyst nodded, totally aligned with Garnet. Even Mabel could only offer the boys a halfhearted shrug. Steven and Dipper, however, weren't so ready to move on. No matter what the Gems might say to convince them otherwise, they both knew what had happened, that they'd seen something out in the vast depths of warp space.
The only problem? They had no idea what that something even was.
Steven struggled to get even remotely comfortable in bed that night. How could he, when the warp pad was only setting just a few short feet away? If something really was drifting through warp space right now, was there a chance that it could somehow wind up warping straight into the temple itself somehow? And if it did, would he even be able to do anything at all about it?
Even against such troubling thoughts, he could feel his eyes begin to grow heavy, but he didn't dare let himself sleep so easily. He had to be on guard, alert and ready for whatever that thing might be. As long as there was a chance, no matter how small, that it was real and could show up here, he refused to rest.
Steven nearly jumped a foot out of his bed as a pale light suddenly flooded the loft. He whipped his gaze over the kitchen, expecting a dangerous intruder. Instead, all he found was–
"Amethyst!"
"Hey, Steven," she grinned at him as she finished her late-night fridge raid. "Want some macaroni-cheese?"
Steven raised an eyebrow at the bag of powdered cheese, watching as Amethyst hungrily downed it whole. "W-wait!" He stopped her as she made her way back over to the gate. "I… I can't sleep."
"Why?" Amethyst licked the cheese powder off her hand. "Are you scared of that thing you and Dipper saw earlier warping right into the house and attacking you in your sleep?"
"…No…" Steven squeaked, anxious.
"Oh good!" Amethyst flashed him a teasing smirk as the gate opened behind her. "Glad to know you're not totally wimping out on us after all! Well, nighty night! Don't let the 'warp monster' bite! Ha!" With that, she disappeared into the temple, leaving Steven alone and utterly afraid of what the next few hours might hold.
"Looks like I'm not sleeping tonight…" he sighed, slowly heaving himself out of bed. He grabbed his water gun and crept downstairs, ready to serve as the temple's first and last line of defense. Somebody needed to, and since no one seemed like they even wanted to try to believe him or Dipper, Steven knew it had to be him.
"Steven…" Pearl cooed as she lightly tapped his forehead the next morning. From his spot against the front door, Steven barely budged. Despite his devout efforts to stay awake, sleep had ultimately defeated him in the early hours after dawn. "Steven," Pearl tried a little louder this time. "We've got a surprise for you-"
"Ah!" Steven jolted awake, reflexively pulling the trigger on his water gun. He pointed the weapon at whatever was "attacking" him, which just so happened to be Pearl. She fell back onto the floor, stunned and soaking wet, by the time Steven realized his mistake. "Oh! Sorry, Pearl!"
"Now you're not getting any cookies," Garnet said, a tray of freshly-baked cookies in her hands.
"Cookies?!" Amethyst hurried over. "I'll take 'em!"
Garnet could only stand by as Amethyst snatched the tray and poured the treats straight into her mouth. "Amethyst, slow down," she advised, but Amethyst did anything but.
"I'm really sorry, you guys," Steven said, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. "I just… I guess I didn't…"
"Didn't sleep," Garnet finished, hands on her hips.
Steven confirmed her suspicions as he let out an exhausted yawn. "Maybe…"
"Good morning, everyone!" Mabel greeted as she burst into the house. She stopped short upon taking in the peculiar scene in front of her. "Whoa, what's going on here? Were you guys having a water gun battle? 'Cause if you were, I wanna play! I'll just have Dipper go get-"
She cut herself off as she glanced back at her brother, leaning against the doorframe, half-asleep. "Seriously? Again ?" Mabel huffed, yanking him inside. "Now what did I tell you, bro-bro?"
"Uh… something about staying up all night reading the journal?" Dipper groggily guessed.
"That's right. I told you not to do that because it would make you super tired the next day," Mabel crossed her arms. "And what do ya know? I was right again, 'cause you're totally about to clonk out for like, the 20th time today!"
"No, I'm…" Dipper trailed off as he began to doze off once again. At least until Mabel roused him with a sharp snap of her fingers. "Huh?! What's going—I-I mean, I'm totally awake! Yeah, not tired at all!" He let out an awkward chuckle, though clearly, Mabel and the Gems weren't buying any of it. "So, uh… What were we talking about again?"
"Yeesh," Amethyst rolled her eyes. "If I didn't know any better, Dipper, now I'd think that you and Steven were twins instead of you and Mabel. You know, 'cause you both have the same big ol' bags under your eyes."
"You didn't sleep last night either, Dipper?" Steven asked, concerned and curious.
"Ugh, no," Dipper sullenly admitted. "I was up all night looking through the journal for any hints about that… thing we saw in the warp stream yesterday!"
"And you didn't find anything about it, which means that you pretty much wore yourself out for nothing," Mabel concluded. "Which is something you do all the time, but hey, I'm not here to judge." She paused, before loudly whispering to the Gems. "Yes, I am."
"Hold on a minute," Pearl said as she wrung the water out of her sash. "Is that what all this fuss is about? You two are still thinking about whatever it is you think you saw yesterday?"
"We don't think we saw anything, because we really did see it!" Dipper argued. "Right, Steven?"
"Yeah," Steven nodded, insistent. "It was real, you guys! Something was warping somewhere in the warp!"
"And we need to figure out what that something was," Dipper contended. "What if it's something dangerous or violent? You three would care about it then, right?"
"Sure, we would," Amethyst said with a shrug. "If it was real."
"But come on, you guys," Mabel added. "When have Gem things ever been dangerous or violent before?"
"Are you seriously asking that question right now?" Dipper dryly asked. "Seriously?"
"We wouldn't lie to you guys about something like this," Steven practically pleaded with the Gems. "If you'd just hear us out, then we could-"
"Listen, both of you," Pearl placed her hands on each of the boys' heads. The gesture meant to calm them, but along with what she had to say next, it did anything but. "Nothing on Earth can use the warps but us. Nothing. Do you both understand?"
When they answered her with only silence, Pearl didn't hesitate to firmly repeat herself. "Steven, Dipper. Nod in agreement if you understand." They didn't of course, still resisting what they knew couldn't be true. Unfortunately for them both, Pearl was determined to do the same. "Nod in agreement if-"
"I'm confident Pearl is right," Garnet interrupted. "There's no use in either of you staying up all night and waiting or looking for something that you're not going to find. But… if it'll make you both feel better, we can go check."
Steven couldn't hold back a sigh of relief. Even if they didn't entirely believe them just yet, something was better than nothing. Dipper almost felt the same way… until he realized exactly what the Gems' angle here really was. They were simply placating them with a plan they hoped would prove them wrong.
Honestly, with such a frustrating thought in mind, he couldn't wait until they were the ones who ended up being proven wrong instead.
"Woo! Warp tour! Warp tour!" Mabel cheered,always eager for another adventure, no matter the occasion. She was the first to make it to the warp pad, with everyone else squeezing in soon after. With only a single nod from Garnet, they were off on what was for most of them, nothing more than a simple "warp tour".
But for Steven and Dipper, it was so much more than that.
Their first stop was their most recent destination: the flowery meadows. It hadn't changed a bit since yesterday, as its tall blossoms still swayed in the peaceful breeze as the group warped in. "Nothing unusual here," Garnet concluded. It hardly discouraged the boys though; after all, there were plenty of other places left to check.
"Oh boy! Since we're back here we can make more flower crowns before we go!" Mabel clasped her hands together in delight.
"No," Dipper quickly rejected the idea. For multiple reasons.
Still, just as they left, Steven heaved out another sneeze; not even the first one today with his allergies still acting up the way they were. Garnet excused him as she warped them off to the next stop on the tour.
To almost no one's surprise, their other stops turned out to be just as uneventful. The kids had been to some of these places before, while others were entirely unfamiliar. Even so, they all kept their eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary, especially Steven and Dipper. They started out with high hopes that they'd find something to prove them right. But with each passing hour and each new stop, those hopes slowly started to dim more and more.
Still, they didn't doubt what they'd seen, not even for a moment. As long as they had each other as witnesses, there's no way they could. Even if no one else in the entire world could be bothered to believe them.
"Well, this is the last place to look," Garnet said as they arrived at the towering Sky Spire. Just like all of their other stops, there was nothing to see here. Nothing to show that either of the boys' claims should be taken seriously.
"W-what?!" Dipper asked, alarmed. "But… but that can't be it! There's got to be somewhere we haven't checked yet! We need to-"
"Ugh, give it a rest already, Dipper," Mabel groaned, annoyed. "Every place we've been today was super cool, yeah, but also super quiet. Why can't you guys just accept that and let this thing go?"
"I agree," Pearl nodded. "You both have blown this way out of proportion. We've looked all over! There's nothing out here to find."
"But you're wrong… " Steven muttered, looking away.
"Excuse me?!" Pearl asked, narrowing her eyes.
Steven flinched under the weight of her stare, realizing he'd accidentally crossed a line. "I-I mean-"
"No, don't take it back, Steven," Dipper cut him off. He met the surprised looks the Gems were sending him squarely, refusing to back down, even a little. Not this time, not when he knew how things were and he wasn't afraid to say it. "You are wrong, and we can prove it!"
"Oh, really?!" Pearl retorted just as harshly. "And how are you going to do that? Might I remind you that nothing on Earth can use these warps but us? So how do you intend on disproving that proven fact? With that little journal of yours? Ha! Good luck with that!"
As much as he wasn't planning on admitting it, Pearl had a point there. After spending an entire night combing through the journal, Dipper hadn't found anything even remotely close to what he and Steven had seen yesterday. It left him with no real theories about what it could be, where it came from, why it was warping–
At least until Steven quietly offered up a compelling theory of his own. "Well…. What if… what if it was from space?"
The word 'space' alone was enough to send the Gems into stark, sudden silence. Amethyst nervously glanced away as Garnet's hands curled into tight fists at her sides. Even Pearl, her eyes wide with barely-concealed alarm, was only able to say, "I… don't appreciate your tone."
No one had a chance to get a word in edgewise before she abruptly warped the entire group away. They arrived at the Galaxy Warp moments later; it was the only place they hadn't checked yet, but even so, there were no clear signs of unusual activity. Which, no doubt, was exactly what the Gems wanted them to find.
"These are the warps that once connected us to other planets," Pearl explained as she made her way over to the central warp pad. "If something tried to come from space, it would be through here. But wait! This warp pad is broken, marked inactive by the very depressed cartoon breakfast sticker you placed here yourself, Steven!"
She sharply pointed to the Wailing Waffle sticker Steven had slapped onto the warp pad weeks ago. That, paired with the countless cracks torn across its surface, all but proved her right. Nothing could have used any of the broken, useless warps here to travel to Earth from space.
But still…
"Look," Amethyst spoke up. "Pearl's right, as usual. Sure, it's annoying, but you get used to it."
"Seriously, you guys need to chill out," Mabel added. "Dipper, it's already bad enough that I have to deal with you getting all paranoid over almost everything , but now you've gone and rubbed that paranoia off on Steven to the point that you both are covered in it and neither of you are any fun anymore! It's driving me nuts!"
"We're not being paranoid!" Dipper stressed. "We're being careful , which is clearly something that none of the rest of you care about, otherwise we would have already found that thing by now!"
"If there was actually anything to find," Pearl pointed out. "Which, as we've just proven, there isn't. "
Garnet stepped in, smiling softly as she placed a gentle hand on both of the boys' heads. "We're safe."
Even if they had a leg to stand on in arguing with them Gems, Steven and Dipper knew they couldn't. Not now, not against so much irrefutable evidence. Not when they'd already made it so powerfully, painfully clear they weren't going to hear them out, no matter what they said or did.
Unable to admit defeat, Dipper could only sigh, bitterly glaring down at the ground. Steven, on the other hand, took a step closer to the central warp. He frowned as his hand skimmed the sticker, unsure of what to truly believe, "Well…" he said softly, sadly. "I guess so…"
The Gems pounced on this response, sharing a satisfied sigh over the "battle" they'd apparently won. "Oh man, finally !" Amethyst exclaimed. "That took all day!"
"Now we can finally head home and put this whole thing behind us," Mabel slung her arms over the boys' shoulders, grinning. "And maybe you two can actually get a good nights' sleep tonight instead of staying up worrying over nothing."
Neither Steven or Dipper could say they appreciated that comment. But what the Gems had to say next only made them feel worse .
"Still," Garnet said, her hands on her hips. "It was important to make Steven and Dipper feel secure."
"Yes, they both feel much better now," Pearl concluded. The condescending edge in her voice wasn't lost on either of them in the slightest. Condescension that had only been building all day, to the point that it all quickly began to boil over until-
They simply couldn't take it anymore.
"I'm a little tired…" Steven began, his voice low, bitter, angry . "Of you guys telling us how we should feel!"
"Seriously, you guys are treating us like we're little kids who are just making this stuff up, but we're not ," Dipper insisted just as fiercely. "We're telling you the truth!"
"We know we saw something outside the stream!" Steven exclaimed, livid.
"And I know you didn't!" Pearl quickly shot them both down. "Both of you, listen to me. I've been around much longer than either of you have. I know everything there is to know about the warp system. Which is why you two don't tell me what I already know!"
"We're not trying to!" Steven argued. "We just want you to listen to us! You don't care what we have to say! You never do! You just want to do it your own way!"
"Yeah! Whatever happened to 'oh we'll start trusting you guys more'?" Dipper asked, scoffing at the memory and how little it meant now. "If you really trusted us, then you'd actually hear us out and stop pretending like nothing's wrong, just like you always do!"
The bickering only raged on from there. As Pearl, Steven, and Dipper continued shouting at each other, Garnet, Amethyst, and Mabel were left to stand on the sidelines and simply watch. As ugly as things were getting, none of them were too keen on getting in the middle of it anytime soon.
"Uh, this is new," Amethyst couldn't help but chuckle. "I kinda like it."
"Shouldn't we try and stop them?" Mabel asked Garnet. She shrugged, unsure of what to do herself at this point.
"Ugh," Pearl groaned, rolling her eyes amidst the shouting match. "You two just don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh, we're the ones who don't know what we're talking about?" Dipper asked, offended. "Sure, I mean, it's not like we were the ones who actually saw it or anything!"
"It sounds like… maybe you don't know what you're talking about!" Steven shouted at Pearl. The way his words echoed back at him across the Galaxy Warp made it more than clear there'd be no taking them back. Not that he really wanted to anyway.
Pearl went rigid when she heard this, and though she was more than ready to say more, Garnet cut in before any more furious words could go flying. "Alright," she said, stepping between Pearl and the boys. "That's enough."
Steven and Dipper both tried to plead their case nonetheless."But-"
"I said, let it go," Garnet simply held her hand up to stop them. As sure a sign as any that they were done here, a sign that that they were going to look into this any more than they already had.
The only sign they needed to know… that they had lost.
Mabel smiled as she finished positioning the pillows on her bed in just the right way. Satisfied with her work, she hoisted Waddles into his proper place of honor in the pillow fort. "There you go, my perfect pink angel. Now we can have a nice, cozy night's sleep, unlike some people…"
"Complain all you want, Mabel," Dipper didn't even bother gratifying her. Instead, he kept his focus in the exact same place it had been last night: on the journal and whatever answers it might hold for him. "But I'm not giving up until I figure out what that thing in the warp stream was!"
"Why nooooot?" Mable groaned. "You heard what the Gems said! We're safe!"
"That may be what they think, but I'm not about to believe it until I have proof."
"Ugh, you're so annoying when you get all obsessy like this! Remember the last time you went all crazy trying to prove something, Dipper? 'Cause I do! In fact, I remember it involving a bunch of gross zombies that tried to eat our brains out!"
"This is totally different!" Dipper snapped, defensive. "Look, I'll admit that I was a little reckless when it came to the zombies, but I'm being the exact opposite about this! I'm trying to figure out the truth about this thing so we can all be safe ."
"Is that really why you're doing this, Dipper?" Mabel asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "Or are you just trying to prove that you and Steven were right and the Gems are wrong?"
She was right, at least on some level, though Dipper would never give her the satisfaction of knowing that. Before he could keep the argument going, however, Stan popped his head into the room, already annoyed right off the bat. "You two! Can it with all the yelling already! It's late, and I don't wanna play referee if you munchkins get into a fist fight or something. Plus, I don't have my camera on me to record it."
"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel whined. "Dipper's being dumb and he keeps stressing out over this stupid thing that him and Steven saw when we were out with the Gems yesterday!"
"Mabel!" Dipper protested, flustered. Stan, however, simply leaned against the doorframe and sent his nephew an even, almost curious glance.
"Oh yeah? What kind of thing?"
"I-it was-"
"He doesn't know what it looks like because they only saw it for like, a second," Mabel interrupted. " If they saw anything at all. I'm with the Gems in thinking that they didn't."
"Oh, so now you're seeing things, kid?" Stan asked, raising an eyebrow. "Figures. Reading a kooky journal like that will do it to ya."
"Grunkle Stan, I'm not just seeing things!" Dipper argued. "What me and Steven saw in the warp stream was real, and it was-"
"Yeesh, calm down," Stan cut in, smirking. "I was just kidding. Still, if the Gems said it was nothing, then, as much as I hate to admit it, they're probably right. They are the authority on all of that magic mumbo-jumbo, after all."
"See?" Mabel sent her brother a smug smirk. "Told ya so."
"Now both of you, get to bed," Stan ordered on his way out. "And if you two actually do end up getting in a fight, don't expect me to come up here and break it up. Besides, we all know Mabel would win anyway so it would be pretty much pointless to try and intervene."
"Hey!" Dipper snapped, even more embarrassed. Mabel simply let out a teasing chuckle as she tucked herself into bed alongside Waddles. Dipper was more than happy when she fell asleep; at least he'd be able to get through the rest of the night without any of her snide remarks. Instead, it'd be just like he liked it: just him, a flashlight, and a journal that he refused to stop searching until he found at least some kind of clue.
At least until he heard a soft, sudden tapping on the attic window.
Mabel didn't even flinch, as fast asleep as she already was. Dipper, however, didn't hesitate to get up and check it out. He quietly climbed up onto the nightstand, peering down to find an unexpected visitor standing in the yard below.
"Steven?" he whispered, surprised. Sure enough, Steven smiled up at him as he dropped his handful of pebbles, no longer needed now that he'd gotten Dipper's attention.
Still taking care to not wake Mabel, Dipper hurried to slip his hat and jacket on, creeping downstairs and past Stan as he snoozed in front of the TV in the den. He made it out into the crisp evening undetected, meeting Steven at the start of the path leading up to the temple.
"Steven, what are you doing out here this late?" he asked, glancing back to the shack to make sure he wasn't followed.
"I need your help," Steven caught him off guard when he grabbed his hands and held on tight. "The Gems still won't believe me, and I can't stop freaking out every time I look at the warp pad, and you're the only person I can count on with this because you saw it too and I-"
"Whoa, Steven, slow down," Dipper interrupted. "What exactly do you need help with?"
"I-I want you to help me keep an eye on the warp pad," Steven said, unsteadily, anxiously. "Just in case… it comes through. We still don't know what it is, and… I really don't want to be alone if it does show up."
"You won't be," Dipper assured. He was tempted to pull his hands back, but he didn't; instead, he met Steven's with a small, reassuring squeeze. "If that thing does warp in, I don't want to miss it. And besides," he managed a smile, despite his anger, his nerves, and everything else they might be up against. "I'm still with you on this, even if no one else is."
Steven barely stifled a sob as he threw his arms around Dipper, leaning in close to whisper a deeply grateful, "Thank you so much."
"O-of course," Dipper stiffened when they pulled apart, his eyes wide and his face hot for reasons he couldn't quite place. Still, he was quick to shake it off and get back to the matter at hand. "Now come on! We better get going," He took Steven's wrist, already pulling him along up to the temple. "That thing could show up any minute now!"
"Any minute now" turned out to be a lot longer than either of the boys could have anticipated. The house was calm and quiet when they arrived, and so it had stayed for the past few hours as they took vigil near the warp pad. Dipper kept the journal close on hand, just in case its intel might be needed. Meanwhile, Steven tried passing the time with a midnight snack, though it really was much of one.
"You want some macaroni-and-no-cheese?" Steven asked, offering his bowl to Dipper.
"What? No," he only briefly glanced away from the warp pad. "Why are you eating that without cheese?"
"Amethyst ate it all," Steven frowned down at his depressing, favorless pasta. A beat of silence followed, the latest of many they'd sat through since this seemingly endless wait began. In this kind of quiet, dread and doubt easily began to creep in, or at least it started to for Steven. And the more those feelings started to settle, the harder he found it to keep silent about everything going through his head. "Ugh, Dipper, what's the point of this?"
"The… macaroni?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
"No! This!" Steven threw his arm out to the warp pad. "It's been two days since we saw that thing. If it hasn't shown up by now, then how do we know it's gonna show up at all?"
"Oh it'll show up," Dipper snapped his attention back over to the warp pad, refusing to tear it away. Refusing to give up, no matter how foolish this all seemed. "It has to. And when it does, we're gonna get the Gems and show it to them and then they'll finally, finally realize that we were right all along!"
"But what if it doesn't come?" Steven pressed. "What if… What if we were wrong and everyone else was right?"
"What if we were wrong?" Dipper scoffed, appalled. "Steven, you know we saw that thing just as much as I do! The Gems, Mabel, everyone thinks we're crazy for thinking that it's real, but we're not! And we have to show them that we're not!"
"I know, but this-" Steven stood, shaking his head. "Staying up all night and sitting around waiting for who knows what? This is crazy ! Let's just face it, Dipper; nothing's going to come through that warp pad-"
He didn't even get a chance to finish speaking before something arrived. Nott from the warp pad in front of them… but from somewhere above .
Without warning, it slammed into the house, breaking its way through the roof before it crashed to the ground only a few feet away. On impulse, the boys froze, utterly dumbfounded by the sight of the tiny, marble-like sphere sitting before them. The sight of it alone was shocking, but they were even more surprised when it started to move . Four stumpy appendages emerged from it, detached from the orb, yet still serving as "legs" for it to walk around on. It struggled to gather its balance as the boys stared at it, completely speechless.
And then, at the exact same moment, they both began to laugh .
"Oh my gosh! This is it!" Dipper grinned, excited, as he watched the marble clumsily hobble its way towards them. "This was that thing in the warp stream! We were right !"
"No way!" Steven gasped, equally amazed as he looked up at the hole the orb had left in the ceiling. "It really did come from space! Oh man, the Gems totally are gonna freak out when they see-" He stopped short when he looked at the marble again. It continued clamoring forward, not paying either of them much mind as it made a determined beeline straight ahead, straight to- "The warp pad! I think it's trying to get to it!"
"What? But why would it-" The marble itself ended up cutting Dipper off as it tried squeezing its way between the two of them, roughly shoving its tiny legs against them both. "Hey!"
"Whoa there, little guy," Steven put his hands on the marble to stop it. "Hold on for just a–ow!" He yelped when the orb suddenly lashed out, slamming a metal leg hard into Steven's side. Still, his hold on it didn't yield as he glanced up at the temple gate just ahead. "Guys!" he shouted to the Gems, hoping they'd hear him. "Come out here and check this out!"
As distracted as he was, Steven didn't notice what Dipper had. He didn't see a small hatch opening on the front of the orb, with a small nozzle hidden just behind it. "Steven!" he cried, anticipating some sort of laser or projectile from it. "Look out!"
Before the marble could unleash whatever "attack" it had in store, Dipper slammed the only thing he had on hand into it–the journal. The book's hard cover sent the marble flying to the other side of the room, now sporting a small crack over its otherwise pristine seafoam surface. A strange, pale green liquid began to pour from the crack, forming a thin stream that trailed along after it as it skittered about, disoriented.
"What do we do?! What do we do?!" Steven panicked as he jumped to his feet.
"Uh… we should…" Dipper trailed off in favor of focusing on the marble again. Especially as it began making a mad dash straight to the warp pad. "We gotta stop it! Come on!"
Steven didn't argue as they both charged for the warp pad too. He was the first to reach it, latching onto the marble just as it climbed on. Dipper followed soon after, landing his hands firmly on top of Steven's. In that one, short moment, the grave danger this bizarre, unknown thing could bring wasn't lost on either of them. Especially not on Steven.
"Dipper-"
"I told you," he cut him off with a ghost of a smile. "I'm with you, no matter what."
Steven struggled to share that smile, especially when he noticed the warp pad lighting up underneath them. Somehow, the marble itself was activating it, intent on bringing them along on wherever it planned on going, whether they liked it or not. "W-wait!" Steven yelled, desperately looking to the temple gate. "Garnet! Amethyst! Pearl-"
He couldn't even finish calling for help before they were on their way. The boys continued to cling onto the marble, even as it dragged them upward through the stream. "I don't understand!" Dipper shouted, perplexed. "Where's it trying to go?"
Steven had no answer for this question, and no time to even think of one either. He winced when something struck his back–another marble, identical to the first. And even more alarming yet, plenty more were on their way after it. "T-they're coming from all over?!" he exclaimed, trying and failing to push them away.
Even more marbles were gathering their way into the stream by the second. They converged on the boys, roughly pushing them against each other before, slowly but surely, they started forcing them over to the edge of the stream. Though Steven and Dipper did what they could to struggle against them, it was a battle they were quickly starting to lose. But they'd only known they'd lost it entirely when the marbles made one final push against them–
And completely shoved them both out of the stream into the empty, icy depths of warp space.
None of the marbles followed them, leaving them alone to drift further and further away from the stream. And even further yet from the dozens of streams streaking through the void, each carrying countless marbles along on their journey to some unknown destination. As shocked by the sight as they were, the boys both tried to suck in a gasp–only to end up choking on air that was barely there.
"Wha—t-they're all-" Dipper cut himself, suddenly breathless. He gripped his throat, trying to conserve the air he still had for as long as he could. Steven did much of the same, all while trying to find a way to get them both back inside the safety of the stream.
"N-no!" He grabbed Dipper by the arm, using his other arm to "swim" them back over toward the stream. "Wait!" He'd nearly made it, they nearly made it–until the stream suddenly vanished, taking all of the marbles along with it, and leaving them behind–entirely on their own.
All of the other streams were far too distant for them to make it to in time. In the bitter cold, barely breathable atmosphere all around them, they found there were few options left to escape, to save themselves, to even simply survive . Still, that didn't mean one of them was about to give up so easily.
"S-Steven!" Dipper gasped, his chest tightening more and more by the minute. "W-we gotta find a-another-" He stopped short when he heard Steven, of all things, laughing beside him. "Steven, what-"
"W-we were right , Dipper," Steven said with a hazy, bittersweet smile. "We w-were right… And now…" His smile faded as grief and fear overtook him, until he finally settled into a sort of sad acceptance over what was about to happen here. About the dark fate he'd dragged them both into. "W-we…. We're gonna die… Two tired… frozen… little s-sadsacks…"
Still, even if Steven had already resigned himself to an icy, airless demise, Dipper wasn't about to, at least not yet. "N-no! We can't!" he cried, distraught and desperate. ""We… There… T-there has to be…" He trailed off, practically fighting to breathe by this point. Unsure of what else to do, he grabbed Steven by the shoulders and shook him, all but begging him to keep his eyes open, to stay awake, to not leave him like this. Steven only met his efforts with a weak smile as tears started filling his eyes, tears that Dipper soon found himself sharing as the crushing realization set in.
Sure enough, they'd both been right. They'd gone as far as they possibly could to prove they were right. And now… none of that even mattered. How could it, when the price they were paying for the truth they'd found was far too high?
Still, in what could only be their final moments, they held on tight to each other, the only anchor either of them still had in a sea of nothingness. As huddled and heartbroken as they were, neither of them noticed a new warp stream flashing into existence only a few feet behind them. In fact, neither of them knew it was there at all until a pair of hands grabbed onto them and pulled them back into the safety of that stream, just moments before it was too late.
Those hands continued to protect them, guiding them into a secure embrace. The boys took in sharp, desperate gasps as they vaguely realized exactly who was hugging them, who had saved them. "Stay calm," Garnet advised. "Take slow, deep breaths." They did exactly that, hardly noticing as she held up one of the marbles that had gotten lost in their earlier onslaught. "So this is what you both saw."
As breathless as they still were, both boys went rigid at the sight of one of the orbs that had nearly cost them lives. Dipper could only slowly, anxiously nod. Steven, on the other hand, choked out a sharp, distraught sob. "I don't care about that!"
"I do," Garnet lifted a hand to her visor, wiping away what could only be hidden tears. "I should have listened to you two. We promised we would start trusting you more, but we didn't. I'm sorry."
Despite it all, she offered the pair a small, sincere smile, one that they couldn't help but return. In that moment, it felt as though a weight had been taken off their shoulders, as if all of the tension of the past few days had been broken. It was a welcome change, but even so, it wasn't enough to solve everything. The marble still resting in Garnet's hand was proof enough of that
"Finally!" Mabel exclaimed as she, Pearl, and Amethyst caught up with them. "There you guys are! What's with you two, going on a crazy midnight warp run like that? The least you could have done is ask me to come along too!"
"Are you both okay?!" Pearl asked the boys, worried. "Amethyst heard the warp pad activate, and Mabel had come to the house looking for Dipper, and Garnet said you were both floating outside the stream and-" She starkly cut herself off, her eyes wide as she noticed what Garnet was holding. "W-what is that?"
"You mean… you don't know?" Steven asked, confused.
"Whoa…. That thing's far out!" Amethyst peered at the marble, fascinated.
"I wanna touch it!" Mabel reached a hand for it, only for Garnet to pull it out of her reach.
"Not until we know for sure what it is."
"It's some kind of space robot!" Steven exclaimed. "There were tons of them! And it looked like they were all going to the same place."
The Gems fell into silence as they exchanged a glance, unsure of what to make of this news. That silence was soon broken, however, as Dipper cleared his throat. "Ok, so, I know this is probably a bad time for this, but…"
"Oh boy…" Mabel rolled her eyes. "Here it comes."
"We told you so!" Dipper exclaimed, grinning. "We were right all along and we told you so! Guess you guys will think twice about not believing us next time, huh?" His smug smile swiftly fell when he met the incredulous look all three of the Gems sent his way. "Oh, uh… l-like I said, bad time…"
Unsure of what else to do, Garnet let the marble go, letting it lead the way to its ultimate destination: the Galaxy Warp. As soon as they arrived, the marble rushed over to join the others as they gathered around the central warp, covering it completely.
"What are they doing to the Homeworld warp?" Pearl asked, unnerved.
"Dang, there's a ton of them!" Amethyst exclaimed. The group could only stand by as the marbles suddenly shuffled away from the warp pad, revealing the peculiar liquid they had coated it in was gone. In its place was a warp that looked brand new, scrubbed clean of all of the ancient cracks and crevices that had once disabled it. "What? They fixed it?" Amethyst asked, bewildered.
"So what does that mean?" Mabel looked to the Gems for answers. Only this time…
They had none.
There was no time to come up with any either. Because suddenly, for the first time in hundreds, thousands of years, the Homeworld warp activated.
While Pearl and Amethyst froze, Garnet leaped into action. She grabbed both her team and the kids, leaping to hide just out of sight behind one of the many rocks bordering the Galaxy Warp. From this vantage point, they were well-hidden, but still able to see when the light on the Homeworld warp cleared, revealing what–or who it had brought.
Only this time, it wasn't another marble; instead, it was a Gem .
At least, that's what the kids suspected. The bright green gemstone on her forehead was telling enough, and so was her perfectly triangular hair. Her tall, slender form sported a simple, practical uniform, and strangely enough, her "fingers" were disjointed from the ends of her arms, though they still hovered close to it. A calm, calculated look rested on her face as she glanced around, inspecting both the Galaxy Warp and the pad she'd just come in on.
"W-who is that?" Pearl whispered nervously.
"No idea," Garnet returned, intent on staying hidden. No matter what this strange new Gem's intentions might be.
Fortunately, she was still unaware of their presence as she lifted her hand. Her fingers repositioned themselves to form a screen of sorts, filled with indecipherable information that her remaining finger tapped away at. "Log date 3 1 2," she began recording a report. "This is Peridot, performing Earth hub maintenance check."
"Peridot," Steven repeated with a small smile as he glanced down at the others. "Her name is Peridot!"
The Gems quickly shushed him, terrified of blowing their cover. The kids, however, couldn't help but be much more curious instead of cautious. "Maintenance check?" Dipper muttered, raising an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Warp repair was a success," Peridot continued, briefly glancing down at the marbles surrounding her. "All 79 flask robonoids deployed and accounted for. Preparing to locate and manually reactivate Kindergar-"
She stopped short when she noticed the damaged robonoid, the very same one Steven and Dipper had first encountered, lying at her feet. It struggled to reclaim its footing as Peridot sent it a critical glance, something that wasn't lost on Steven as he observed her from afar.
"Aw, the little ones are like her babies!" he whispered with a charmed smile.
As it turned out, that couldn't have been any further from the truth. Annoyed with her damaged tech, Peridot apparently determined the machine's usefulness had reached its end. She perched her foot on it, pushing down until the marble completely, violently popped to little more than broken, lifeless pieces.
"I-if that's how she treats her babies then she really shouldn't be allowed around them anymore!" Mabel exclaimed in a horrified whisper.
Peridot, on the other hand, was quick to move on with her task. "Now to activate the domestic warp." She stepped off the Homeworld warp, stopping short when she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. She turned to claim the Crying Breakfast Friend sticker stuck to its side, staring at it suspiciously before she took another glance around the Galaxy Warp.
"This site may have been compromised…" she muttered warily. She briefly turned back to the Homeworld warp, weighing her options, before she ultimately shrugged, pocketing the sticker. "No matter. This status investigation shouldn't take long. All I need now is to find the domestic warp to get to the Prime Kindergarten and… aha!" For the first time, she smiled when her screen detected the right warp pad, the only unbroken one among all the others. The robonoids trailed after her as she made her way over to it, with the Gems and the kids still watching her all the while.
"The Kindergarten?" Mabel asked, frowning. "What's she gonna do there?"
"Maybe she just wants to see where Amethyst was made?" Steven suggested.
"Maybe she should mind her own business," Amethyst scowled, crossing her arms.
Garnet and Pearl could only exchange an unsettled glance, absolutely terrified by all of the possibilities. Lost in that terror as they were, they nearly missed Peridot taking the warp in question, though not before placing a small, unknown device on it. As she warped away, the device flashed, abruptly deactivating every last robonoid in sight. Even still, the Gems and the kids didn't emerge from hiding–even if some of them wanted to.
"We've gotta follow her," Dipper said, determined. "We have to figure out what she's doing here!"
"Yeah, and why she sent all those marble guys here," Steven soundly agreed.
"What, are you guys nuts?" Amethyst asked, baffled.
"There is no way we are going after a dangerous Homeworld Gem," Pearl firmly began, trying her best to hide just how frightened she truly was. "Armed with who knows what kind of weaponry and technology, on her way to the Kindergarten , of all places and-"
"Wait!" Garnet sharply cut her off. She was the first to try and stop all three of the kids as they rushed out of hiding, only to miss them by mere inches. They bounded over to the same warp Peridot had taken, but as soon as they hopped onto it, an entirely new problem emerged.
"Uh… so, how are we gonna get there without the Gems?" Mabel frowned as the Gems emerged from hiding themselves, if only to stop them from embarking on such a dangerous trip.
"Um… uh…" Steven glanced around, searching for a solution. In the end, only one idea came to mind, even if he wasn't sure it would even work. Still, he held his arms out wide, closed his eyes, silently begged his gem to work–
And for the first time, he warped entirely on his own.
Steven gasped when he realized he was drifting through a new warp stream, with both of the twins holding on tight. He couldn't help but let out a small, incredulous laugh when he realized exactly what he managed to do. Dipper and Mabel shared his excited smile, but there was no time for congratulations now. Instead, they fell into sharp silence the second they arrived in the dark, densely quiet canyon that was the Kindergarten. A haunting place none of them were too keen on coming back to anytime soon.
No sooner had they stepped off the warp pad than the Gems arrived, hot on their tails. Their weapons were already summoned, ready to fight Peridot off. Or at least they would have, if Peridot was anywhere in sight.
"Huh?" Amethyst lowered her whip. "Where'd she go?"
"It doesn't matter," Garnet stepped down to where the kids were. "We need to leave before she realizes we're here."
"No!" Steven backed away from her reach. The twins did the same, glancing over their shoulders as they tried to spot any signs of where Peridot might've gone.
Pearl shook her head disapprovingly. "Steven, you don't understand. You may have been right about those orbs, but you need to listen to us when it comes to this. None of you know who you're dealing with here-"
"And you guys do ?" Dipper questioned, doubtful.
"W-well, we… uh…"
"Garnet," Steven said, resolved. "You said you were sorry you didn't listen to us before. So why won't you guys listen to us now ?"
Garnet had no answer for such a question. Instead, she simply put her hand up to silence Pearl and Amethyst's protests, making it more than clear that this time, they were going to listen . "Peridot came here for a reason, right?" Dipper asked. "If she really came all the way from Homeworld, don't you think it'd be worth our while to figure out what that reason is ? Maybe even stop it if it's something bad?"
"And if it's not bad," Mabel chimed in. "Then we can be her official "Welcome to Earth" committee! You think she'll want green balloons for the party? Green seems to be her thing, so-"
"Shh," Garnet cut her off. She nodded over in the direction of sudden movement in the distance. Sure enough, a telltale triangular shadow trekked through the dense fog covering the Kindergarten floor. Garnet directed the group onward, with the unspoken mission to follow and observe. Perhaps even intervene if the situation proved direenough for it.
Everyone stopped short, hiding behind a rock well out of Peridot's sight. She stood by, waiting in silence until, just like all of her other robonoids, a new arrival came crashing down to Earth from distant space on her command.
Unlike all of the other marbles, however, this one was massive, even bigger than Peridot herself. She stepped out of the way, watching her machine get to work as it shot a burst of energy at a certain point in the ground. The brittle soil gave way, creating a sizable hole, perfectly shaped for the pyramid-like form the robonoid had shifted into. It lowered itself into the gap, stopping just long enough for Peridot to step onto it, before it began to carry her down into whatever awaited in the depths below.
Once the coast was clear, the kids and the Gems emerged, gathering around the hole to get a better look. "Oh, I don't like this at all…" Pearl muttered, her eyes wide.
"So, uh… I guess we're following her down there?" Dipper asked, suddenly uncertain about such a risky endeavor.
Garnet only nodded as she stepped onto the sharp slope leading into the darkness. The others followed her, sliding down at a steady pace. To their surprise, the path down was far from empty. Clusters of thick, dimly-lit wires coiled into the earth surrounding them. Even from a glance, it was easy to tell that nothing about this was natural–and nothing about it felt right.
"What is all this…?" Pearl whispered, shaken by the sight of it all.
"Wait, so… you guys have never seen any of this stuff before?" Dipper asked. The thought was worrying; if the Gems had no idea where they were heading, then there was no telling what they were getting themselves into here. There was no telling what they were about to find or face.
"Nah, man," Amethyst anxiously shook her head. "This is just as new to us as it is to you guys."
It wasn't long before they reached the bottom of the pit, where a large, metallic chamber awaited. There was plenty of space below it for the Gems and the kids to hide, and that's exactly where they crowded long before Peridot could spot them. From her spot in the center of the room, she continued working on even more screens, calling even more of her peculiar machines to action.
"Established manual link with control room," Peridot said, filing another report. As she did, two massive metal hands emerged from the glowing walls, plugging their fingers into ports on the floor. "Plug Robonoid has successfully landed on planet Earth and entered the Prime Kindergarten Control Room in Facet Five. Will now proceed to perform status check of the Kindergarten."
"Uh… what's she doing?" Amethyst asked in a worried whisper.
"Is she trying to reactivate the Kindergarten?!" Pearl gasped, horrified by the very idea. "Doesn't she know it'll destroy all life on Earth?!"
"Why don't we just ask her?" Steven asked.
"Yeah! I'm sure she'd tell us all about it if we just asked," Mabel eagerly nodded.
"Uh huh, sure, she would," Dipper deadpanned, rolling his eyes.
"So you agree with us," Mabel grinned, his sarcasm completely lost on her.
"We're not going to ask her anything," Garnet laid down the law. "We're facing an enemy we don't know with technology we don't understand. This isn't the time to be asking questions."
"Really sounds like it is…" Steven muttered, dissatisfied.
"Ok, here's the plan," Garnet turned back to her teammates. "We can't let her see us, so we wait for an opening. When she's distracted, we destroy the power source on the far wall. The kids stay here."
The Gems continued strategizing, all without realizing the kids were doing the exact same. They exchanged a silent nod, knowing what they had to do. They couldn't just resort to senseless, wordless violence like the Gems wanted to. They needed answers, they needed the truth. And right now, there was only one person–or Gem–who had either of those things. Whether she would want to share it with them or not.
By the time the Gems wrapped up their plans, the kids had already put theirs into action. They quietly climbed the wires up into the chamber, ignoring the Gems' softly alarmed pleas for them to stop. They'd already gone against the Gems so many times tonight alone that this time, they hardly even gave their latest bout of disobedience a second thought.
Peridot still hadn't noticed their approach, as caught up in her inspection as she still was. "Now accounting for all operational injectors," she said, her back turned to them and her focus set on her screens. "Checking for aberrations in perimeter." At this, the robotic hands activated another set of panels on the walls, summoning a group of cylinders from the ceiling above. "Ugh, this Gem tech is simply archaic…" Peridot sneered as she continued her work.
Steven figured this was as good a juncture as any to speak up. "I don't know, I think it looks pretty cool."
"Yeah," Mabel added, smiling. "It's all sparkly and futuristic-y. You guys really know what you're doing with this stuff!"
Dipper could only sigh, facepalming as he realized the angle the pair were going with here. To offer a set of bright, friendly greetings to a brand new Gem who could very well turn out to be a foe. Outside of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl, the only other Gem they'd ever met was Lapis; and, based on first impressions alone, Dipper had a feeling Peridot wasn't going to be anything like she was. A feeling that Steven and Mabel didn't seem to share.
At the mere sound of any voice other than her own, Peridot froze up in alarm. She spun around, her eyes wide as they settled on the trio standing only a few feet before her.
"Hi!" Steven waved up at her. Mabel did the same, while Dipper only offered Peridot a cold, distrustful glare, if only to try and show he was the serious one among them. "I'm Steven, and this is Dipper and Mabel!"
Whatever shock Peridot had quickly melted away into annoyance as she focused on her screens once more. "There appears to be an infestation of 'Stevens', 'Dippers', and 'Mabels' in the Kindergarten," she sullenly muttered.
"…What?" Dipper asked, confused.
"Aw, we're not so bad once you get to know us!" Steven said with a smirk..
Peridot glared back at the trio, raising an eyebrow as she sized them up. "And how many more Stevens, Dippers, or Mabels are present in this area?"
"Oh, it's just us!" Mabel said. "Well, us and the-"
Dipper quickly cut her off by slapping a hand over her mouth. "Uh, like she said, i-it's just us! Nobody else!" He let out a nervous laugh, only hoping that the Gems would appreciate him covering for them, and knowing that, against everything else they'd done tonight, they wouldn't.
"Hm, well, that's a relief," Peridot sneered. "So tell me: have Stevens, Dippers, and Mabels replaced humans as the dominant species on Earth?'
"What?" Mabel laughed. "We are humans, silly!"
"Oh really?" Peridot asked, barely interested.
"Yeah, but there's lots of other humans too!" Steven exclaimed. "There's my dad, Connie, Mr. Pines, Soos, Wendy, Onion… I think. But yeah, lots of people, including us!"
"Hm…" Peridot mused, rolling her eyes. "I suppose it is impressive that your kind managed to survive this long… Even if you won't for very much longer."
"Whoa, hold on, what?!" Dipper interrupted, alarmed. And yet, Peridot offered no elaboration, not that Steven gave her much of a chance to.
"Now we get to ask you a question," he said with a small, coy grin. "What are you doing?"
"Oh," Peridot began, as apathetic as ever as she set her sights back on her screens. "Just picking up where we left off…"
Whatever this might've meant, they'd never know. With just a tap, Peridot called upon one of the robotic hands, bringing it to hover high above the kids' heads. However, just as she brought it down to crush her unexpected, unwanted guests, a sturdy pair of gauntlets caught it in the nick of time.
"A Gem?!" Peridot stumbled back, frightened as Garnet tossed the hand away from the kids. "Ah!" she squeaked, backing away even further when Pearl and Amethyst joined her. " More ?! But the Red Eye didn't report the presence of any Gems on this planet!"
"That's because we destroyed it!" Pearl exclaimed, holding her spear aloft.
"Y-you what?!" Peridot frantically looked at her screen. "So you were the ones who—B-but the records say that Gems were wiped out on Earth! Wait a minute… you're the ones who destroyed that flask robonoid! Are you the reason the Homeworld warp was down in the first place?! Is this your bizarre icon?!" She pulled the Wailing Waffle sticker out, holding it away from her as if it were deadly. "Augh! Why are you trying to get in my way?!"
"Because we are the Crystal Gems!" Pearl fiercely proclaimed. "We're still alive, and we're still the guardians of this planet and all its living creatures!"
Peridot's fury shifted into blank confusion as she quietly echoed, "The… Crystal Gems?"
She had no chance to ask for more information, not that the Gems would have given it anyway. Instead, they charged straight at Peridot, barely giving her enough time to program the robotic hands to defend her. They met the Gems' first attack squarely, shielding her from their wrath, even as they brutally beat against them. "Stop!" Peridot shouted at them, furiously tapping at her screen as she struggled to keep control. "How dare you! I'm doing this one way or another! You're just making it really difficult!"
"Uh, so I guess we won't be needing any balloons for a welcome party, huh?" Mabel asked amidst the chaos.
"Seriously?" Dipper shot his sister a critical glance. " That's what you're thinking about right now? Really?"
Between the three of them, the Gems managed to push the first hand back, slamming it brutally against the wall until its fingers fell off of it. The other hand swept in to try and stop them, only for Amethyst to coil her whip around it just in time. "Destroy!" she screamed, throwing the hand down hard. It crashed into the power source at the back of the chamber, sending the room into near total-darkness. And in this darkness, Peridot began to make her escape.
She ran straight past the kids, hopping back onto the platform she'd used to get down here. Even as it began to carry her back up, nobody was willing to slip away that easily. "Wait! Stop!" Steven cried, running after her. The Gems rushed by, only stopping long enough to grab him and the twins as they all hurried after her.
"Don't let her get away!" Garnet ordered, leaping high after the platform. Amethyst and Pearl did the same with the kids in tow. All three of their weapons struck the bottom of the platform squarely, sending it shooting up and out of the pit. Peridot's panicked scream was ultimately cut off as she clumsily crashed to the ground, only to find yet another one of her precious machines had been brutally destroyed.
"You dull-as-dirt deviants !" she snapped over her shoulder as she began to run. "Quit destroying my things!"
"Never!" Pearl yelled, tossing a spear her way. Peridot only narrowly ducked out of its path as she fled to the warp pad. Likewise, she evaded Amethyst's whip and the rock Garnet threw her way as she scrambled onto the pad, warping away with the kids and the Gems right behind her.
Peridot only had seconds to spare when she arrived back at the Galaxy Warp. The Gems were upon her almost instantly, determined to catch her, to stop her, at all costs. Unfortunately, she was just one step ahead of them–literally.
She leapt onto the Homeworld warp, only turning back long enough for her to furiously shout, "I'm reporting this, you CLODS!"
And, with a flash of warping light, she was gone, on her way to where she'd come from. On her way back to Homeworld.
The Gems stopped short just shy of the pad, petrified of accidentally following on such a taboo trip. They dropped the kids as the adrenaline of the chase began to fade… and raw, unbridled fear began to set in.
"T-they're coming back…" Pearl said, her voice trembling with years-old terror. "I can't do this! Not again!"
"We're dead!" Amethyst shouted, distraught. "We are so dead !"
"Did… did she really come from Homeworld?" Steven asked, eyeing the warp pad. None of the Gems bothered answering, and none of them needed to. The answer was already more than obvious.
"She said she was 'picking up where they left off'..." Dipper echoed. Mabel hung close by him, every bit as anxious as he was after everything they'd seen and heard. After the overwhelming discovery none of them could have ever expected to make. "What could that mean? What was she trying to do?"
"It doesn't matter," Garnet cut in. Her expression was heavy and dark as she approached the Homeworld warp, her gauntlets already raised. They grew even larger as she held them high over the warp pad. And then, in a heavy, powerful swing, she crushed it, severing their ties with Homeworld all over again. Even though she knew it was only temporary now, even though they knew they couldn't stop them forever. Even though all three of the Gems knew just how much trouble they were all truly in. "She's not coming back!"