The Crystal Gems had all decided to call it a day as Steven needed to sleep and recharge for tomorrow.
"Pearl. Can you will stay here and rearrange the barn to make it easier to dismantle the items we need for the drill tomorrow?" Garnet says.
"I can do that!" Peridot suddenly calls out.
"You can't be trusted to be alone." Garnet says.
"Then I will stay with her." Y/n says and the Gems all look at him. "We can complete the task much faster if the two of us stay here."
"Y/N are you sure? Don't you have your room at the temple now?" Steven asks Y/n.
"I'm sure Steven. That room does not feel like home to me I'm afraid." Y/n answers honestly.
"Garnet?" Pearl asks.
Garnet stands still for a moment seemingly looking into the distance for a moment.
"They will be fine." She finally replies. "We will return tomorrow."
"Well alright..." Pearl replies still unsure.
Steven says goodbye to Y/n and Peridot before he and the other gems warp back to the temple.
Y/n turns and looks to Peridot now.
"Shall we get started?" He asks her.
"That would be advisable." She replies.
Peridot pulls up a strange looking device to her mouth. "Log date 7-11-1. The Y/n and I have been assigned to the barn for cataloging resources. The Black gem is surprisingly less intimidating then I was led to believe though they remain no less useful in our mission against the cluster." Peridot clicks a button.
"What is that Peridot?" Y/n points to the device.
"The Steven calls it a tape recorder. Since the Crystal Gems have destroyed my Limb enhancers I have been forced to use this primitive Earth device to log my observations."
"I see..." Y/n says thinking about earlier when he asked Steven to find away to make Peridot more comfortable with the collaborative arrangement she had reached with gems. It would seem this Tape recorder had been Steven's solution. Y/n did not stop Peridot from logging as he was quick to understand that this was Peridot's way of coping with her new surroundings and situation. Though he would admit he had learned several new ways to say the word 'Clod' That night.
It was the next day and the Gems had returned to the barn. Peridot is holding the tape recorder and speaking into it, using it to record all of her logs ever since her limb enhancers were thrown off the Galaxy Warp.
"Log date 7-11-2. It's the third rotation of the Earth since commencements of a..." Peridot inhales deeply. "...collaborative approach to stopping The Cluster."
"I've finished drawing out the blueprints for the drill head. Peridot, if you could come take a look at this." Pearl says to Peridot interrupting her.
Peridot stops recording on her recorder.
"Remind me again why I should listen to you? Oh, right." Peridot says. Before she rewinds her tape recorder.
Peridot then plays back a previous recording. "...The Pearl here has exhibited an aptitude for engineering that I begrudgingly respect, though that doesn't explain the spontaneous singing, crying, singing while crying."
Amethyst snickers.
"Why did you give her that?" Pearl asks Steven.
"Well, we did destroy all her stuff. Y/n thought it might make her feel a little better if we gave her something to note her thoughts. So I found that tape recorder." Steven smiles in reply.
Peridot on the tape recorder. "Clods!" she fast-forwards. "Muddy clods!" fast-forwards "-running out of ways to say "clods"!"
"Alright, I chased away those cows, let's get to work." Garnet says walking up to the others.
Peridot clears her throat. "Before we begin... would you mind un-fusing? It's making me incredibly uncomfortable." She says to Garnet.
Everyone breaks into an uncomfortable silence as Steven, Amethyst, and Pearl look at Garnet.
"Oh Peridot you were doing so well.." Y/n says shaking his head.
Garnet then ties Peridot to a fence with a child leash and leaves her be.
"What?! ... WHAT'D I SAY?!" Peridot cries out.
"Do we really have to do that?" Steven asks.
"Her having free reign of the place made me incredibly uncomfortable." Garnet says.
"What about Y/n?" Amethyst asks.
"...I trust Y/n enough now." Garnet replies and walks inside the barn.
Peridot attempts to reach for a nearby microwave, but the leash holds her back, forcing her to struggle to reach it.
"Would you like some help?" Y/n can be heard saying as he turns to Peridot.
"Ah...That would be...favourable." Peridot says slightly annoyed still holding the leash in her hands before she lets go and sits down.
Y/n smiles and picks up the microwave for her and places it in front of her where she can reach it.
"You are welcome.."Y/n says sitting down beside Peridot now.
"T...Thanks." Peridot stammers as she grabs the microwave to distract herself.
Meanwhile, Steven and Amethyst bring a bunch of spare parts to Pearl, who is cutting a turbine with a blowtorch.
"Here you go, Pearl!" Steven says.
"Oh, good. Hmm..." Pearl says as she inspects the parts. "No... No, no, no, no, I said I needed tungsten. Tungsten?..."
"Uh... what does tungsten look like?" Steven asks
"Tongue-sten." Amethyst says as she sticks out her tongue. " Ahh."
"Ugh... Never mind. I'll just do it." Pearl says as she walks off annoyed.
Amethyst shrugs with her tongue still out. "Meh.."
Peridot is heard grunting while working with the microwave. "I just need some sort of leverage optimizer."
"Do you wish for me to grab it?" Y/n can be heard asking.
"No I can do it myself." Peridot says back to him.
"Leverage optimizer?" Amethyst asks as she and Steven make their way over to the duo.
"That's what I said." Peridot states.
"Ooooh! Ha, you mean you want a screwdriver?" Amethsyt laughs.
"What a bizarre name for such a tool." Y/n comments.
"Uh.... why don't you just use this one?" Steven asks as he picks up a nearby screwdriver on the ground and hands it to Peridot.
"Because I was trying to do it myself... " Peridot grabs the screwdriver.
"He-hey, hey Peridot, what do you call this? Amethyst points at her nose.
"A scent sponge." Peridot replies.
"Huh?" Steven says confused.
Amethyst laughs, while Steven looks at and touches his own nose.
"Okay, Y/n what's this?" Amethyst asks as holds open one of her eyes.
"A Vision sphere." Both Y/n and Peridot reply.
"Guys, that's-" Steven starts
"Wait, wait, Steven. Peridot, these?" Amethyst wiggles her fingers.
Peridot starts to get annoyed. "Touch stumps."
"This!?" Amethyst points at her foot.
Peridot is angry now. "Gravity connectors!" She stresses.
"This!?" Amethyst points at her butt.
"THAT'S YOUR BUTT!" Peridot shouts.
Steven and Amethyst both laugh hysterically. While Peridot still looks annoyed. Y/n sighs shaking his head.
"Oh man, Peridot, you're killing me!" Steven laughs as he slaps the top of the microwave.
"I am not! That would violate our truce agreement!" Peridot cries.
"No, no, no- You're funny!" Amethyst elaborates.
"Funny?" Peridot asks and looks at Y/n wondering if he knew the meaning.
"Peridot, if you can get the magnetron out of that microwave, we'll have everything we need... except for the drill head." Pearl now says walking over.
"Why don't I just get an Injectors drill head from the Kindergarten?" Peridot asks.
"...Oh, well, I guess that's something you could try." Pearl says thinking.
"She's not going to the Kindergarten without a chaperone!" Garnet suddenly interrupts.
"What? You've got to be joking!" Peridot says
Garnet drops a stack of tires she is carrying. "You'll know when I'm joking."
"Nyahhh..." Peridot lets out.
"Me and Steven can go with her." Amethyst says standing up now.
"Yeah, we'll keep an eye on her." Steven cries out.
Garnet looks at the two. "Approved." She then turns to Amethyst. "Keep her in line."
"You got it!" Amethyst replies.
Peridot groans at the proposal. "I'm only going if The Y/n comes!" She suddenly cries out.
The gems eyes all land on her and Y/n.
"It is up to Y/n." Garnet says.
"No. I need Y/n to help me with Tungsten." Pearl suddenly cries.
"Pearl I can help you out when we return." Y/n says calmly.
Pearl rubs her eyes and sighs. "F-Fine but I do really need your help."
Y/n bows his head slightly. "You have my word."
Y/n, Steven, Amethyst and Peridot all make their way to the warp pad near the barn. Peridot has a hold of Y/n's hand.
"Yo Peri why you holding Y/n's hand?" Amethyst asks confused.
"That was the condition I agreed to last time I went to the Kindergarten with The Steven and The Y/n. Have the conditions changed?" Peridot asks.
You don't have to hold Y/n's hand this time anymore if you don't want too Peridot." Steven says.
"Oh well..um.." Peridot's hand lingers in Y/n's for a moment before she lets go.
The four now step onto the warp pad and Steven warps them to the Prime Kindergarten.
Peridot is stood logging on her tape recorder, while Y/n is watching Steven and Amethyst who are dismantling a broken Injector.
"Log date 7-11-2. The Amethyst, The Steven and The Y/n have volunteered to help me dismantle this Era 1 drill. How stylistically displeasing. The newer ones have a nicer finish."
Y/n raises his brow at the word volunteer.
"You making more nerd notes?" Amethyst calls out to Peridot.
Peridot stops the recording. "What is... "nerd"?" She asks and Amethyst snickers. "Can you use it in a sentence?"
" Ahem. Nerd. You are a nerd." Amethyst laughs.
Steven jumps down from the Injector. "Amethyst! Cut that out!"
Peridot speaks to her tape recorder. "As you can see, this planet is annoying and everything is annoying." Peridot looks up at Y/n who is stood looking at the drill. "Though perhaps not somethings. Amongst its... transgressions is the need for the Amethyst to ask permission from the perma-fusion."
"Perma-fusion? Is that what you call Garnet?" Amethyst asks.
"I could call her lots of things." Peridot stops recording in her tape recorder. "I could call her two things! Two clods! " Peridot begins to laugh. "Walking around like she's... one clod!" Peridot snickers.
"What's wrong with that?" Steven asks.
"She's not even fighting! She's, you know, she's just, y-you know like the..." Peridot pounds her fists together. "you know!" She tries to explain.
Amethyst laughs hysterically while Steven pounds his fists together too in confusion. Y/n also looks to be as confused as Steven.
"You're a real gem, Peri." Amethyst laughs.
"Yes, I am... a Gem." Peridot states.
"Okay, okay. Do Steven next. What's weird about Steven?" Amethyst asks.
"Where do I even begin?! He's some sort of hybrid abomination, I don't even understand how he functions! His organic half consumes so much energy that he has to constantly feed, and he spends so much time expelling, that he has a whole room dedicated to it!"
Steven blushes in embarrassment. "Ah, no, something else! Talk about something else!"
Amethyst continues laughing hysterically, and Peridot decides to keep indulging her.
Peridot laughs. "The strangest thing is, Amethyst, you think you have to listen to them!" She continues to laugh. "If it wasn't for the Y/n you would be the one who should be in charge!"
"Ha, that's your best joke yet." Amethyst says.
"No, really. Pearl is a pearl, Garnet is a fusion, I don't even know what he's supposed to be!" Peridot says as she points at Steven.
"Hey!" Steven says.
"You're the only Crystal Gem, that's actually a Gem! Apart from The Y/n of course!" Peridot states.
Y/n looks down at Peridot.
"Uhm..." Amethyst laughs nervously. "What?"
"You outrank everyone on your team. They should be listening to you and The Y/n! He's a Black Gem and you're a strong, singular, fully-functional soldier, despite the fact you're defective."
Amethyst's face drops. "Defective?"
"Well sure! You're small!" Peridot states.
"So?" Amethyst asks.
"Well, you're not supposed to be! Hold on, wait, wait. Let me guess. This! This is the hole you came out of! Too small, too low. The exit marks look 500 years newer than every other hole. Hmm, this place must have been empty when you came out. No wonder you have no idea what you're supposed to look like!"
Amethyst grows increasingly irritated and Y/n notices.
"Peridot..." Y/n warns her.
Amethyst halts Y/n by placing her hand on his leg. "What was I supposed to look like?" She asks Peridot.
"Well, you're a quartz. They're huge, loyal soldiers. You should be twice your size. Broad shouldered, intimidating. But you simply stayed in the ground too long."
Amethyst gets angry. "Are you saying I'm wrong?!"
Peridot laughs. "Gemetically speaking, yes. When you think about it it's all so..." She snickers. "...funny!"
Peridot chuckles, while Amethyst looks upset and angry.
"Amethyst?" Steven asks worried.
"Hey, soldier. Maybe you can help me get this hunk of drill off-" Peridot starts but Amethyst summons her whip and violently severs the drill head off the Injector in one clean cut. Y/n extends his hand begins to levitate the huge drill in the air.
"See, look at that! You can do everything a normal quartz can do. And with the Y/n's ferrokinesis powers this job is even easier! Let's head back, and shove this thing in Pearl's face!" Peridot says.
"Amethyst? Are you ok?" Steven asks again.
"Don't worry about it." Amethyst says still annoyed.
Y/n turns his hand to have his palm face upwards. He curls his finger towards him and the drill head moves towards him. Once in front of him he points his his finger upwards and the drill head levitates above his head.
Peridot admires Y/n's demonstration of power as the four make their way back to the warp pad.
Nothing is said as the four warp back to the barn.
Pearl is inspecting the drill head that Y/n, Steven, Amethyst and Peridot brought back, while Steven and Peridot are separating the nails and screws. Y/n can be seen in the background moving Tungsten.
"Oh, it's lovely! To think we'd be using the same technology that started all this to fix it! This drill is pure irony!" Pearl chimes.
"Actually, it's mostly carbonite." Peridot corrects her.
"Would that make it... "carbony"?"
"That is not correct Steven." Y/n says as he walks over to them informing Pearl the tungsten has been moved.
Peridot groans at Steven's joke. Amethyst begins to walk past.
"Oh oh oh oh, Amethyst!" Peridot calls out.
Amethyst, still irritated, pauses and turns to look at Peridot.
"Check out this..." Peridot picks up a hammer from the ground." "Hmm... Rhythmatic pulverizer!?" She falls backwards on the ground laughing. "That's funny, I'm so funny!"
"Whatever, dude." Amethyst walks away.
Peridot looks confused. "That was the incorrect response. Hey, Amethyst isn't laughing when I do these things. Why isn't she laughing?!" She asks.
"Peridot, you have hurt her feelings. I tried to warn you." Y/n says looking down at Peridot.
"What?" She asks looking up at Y/n not understanding.
"You were pretty mean to her at the Kindergarten." Steven adds.
"Mean? No way! I was being... "cool". Amethyst loved it. She's probably telling the Pearl how much fun she had now." Peridot sees Amethyst looking at her and waves at her. "Amethyst, hi, hi, hi, Amethyst!"
Amethyst turns away and walks into the barn.
"She... she won't even look at me. It's making me feel... smaller." Peridot says sounding slightly sad.
"You feel bad! That's how you made her feel." Steven says.
Peridot snorts. "Who cares about how she feels? Who cares about any of you?! You're all just rocks! Ruddy, muddy clumps beneath my gravity connectors!" Peridot grunts, kicks into the air and falls over. "Uh but not you The Y/n of course!" Peridot quickly corrects herself.
"Ugh, another one of her temper tantrums. I'm surprised you four made it back from the Kindergarten without driving each other crazy!" Pearl says watching Peridot.
"Yeah..." Amethyst says annoyed.
Time passes by, Peridot is working on the drill alone, grunting in frustration, while Steven is holding onto her leash.
"This little thing... " Peridot grunts loudly.
Peridot then sees Amethyst walking past, without even turning to look at her. She grunts and returns back to working on the drill.
"How's everything going up there? Steven calls out.
"Fine... ! There's nothing wrong, everything's fine!" Peridot pushes a button, which accidentally turns on the drill. "Ah! No, no, no, no, NO, STOP!"
"Peridot?" Steven asks.
The drill starts spinning, causing Peridot to fall off of it.
Peridot coughs "The panel...!"
Steven jumps onto the drill as it begins to spin out of control.
"Wait!" Peridot tries to chase after Steven, but her leash gets caught on a piece of rock, tugging her back and causing her to fall to the ground. She then gasps in horror as Steven clings onto the drill.
"It's okay, I got it!" Steven cries back.
The drill spins out of control around the yard with Steven inside it. An Unsuspecting, Amethyst comes around the corner of the barn, only to be faced with the drill heading towards her.
"What the- GAAHHH?!" Amethyst cries out in surprise.
"Amethyst!" Peridot shouts.
Peridot pushes forward against her leash, causing it to rip, and manages to push Amethyst out of the way of the drill just in time. The drill suddenly stops when Y/n who exits the barn uses his powers to keep it in place. Steven manages to climb abroad the drill properly now and rips out the control panel, successfully stopping it for good.
Steven looks dizzy with spirals in his eyes. "It's okay, everything's okay! It was just a drill!" He laughs and collapses against the side of the drill.
Peridot coughs, as dust clouds caused by the drill subside, and looks down to see that she is sitting on top of Amethyst, who is surprised that Peridot had saved her from the drill.
"Uh... Peridot?" Amethyst asks.
"Ah!" Peridot jumps off quickly. "It was an accident, I swear!"
"Hey, don't worry about it." Steven says as he walks towards Peridot and Amethyst. "We know you didn't mean to start the drill."
Y/n begins to make his way over too.
"Uh... yeah. That was an accident, too..." Peridot says.
Amethyst looks at Peridot in shock and confusion. Time passes by, Pearl and Garnet return to observe the havoc.
Pearl looks horrified. " We leave for one second and everything goes off the rails!"
"I blame the cows." Garnet says.
"No, it's fine, it's fine. We'll rebuild it! Stronger, better. We'll add seat belts!" Pearl says determined.
Amethyst and Steven are seen cleaning up after the drill, digging and pulling out items buried in the drill's rampage. Y/n uses his powers to move the heavier objects Amethyst then pulls out an unicycle from the ground.
"Hey, are you alright? That was a close one. It's a good thing Peridot was there to save you." Steven says to Amethyst.
Amethyst rolls her eyes and throws the unicycle away.
Peridot walks up from behind with Y/n beside her encouraging her to do something. "Yes, it is a good thing." She starts but pauses and stares at Amethyst for a bit. "Listen, I... uhm..."
"Just spit it out." Amethyst says.
"Ughh " Peridot facepalms. "Why are you earthlings so difficult!?"
Peridot slams the playback button on her tape recorder and holds it out to Amethyst..
"Log date 7-11-2. This entire planet is backwards. There hasn't been one instance of correct behavior exhibited by any one of these "Crystal Gems". I have concluded that they are all defective."Peridot on the tape recorder can be heard saying and Amethyst frowns. "But I am no better. I failed my mission and now I'm working with the enemy. And I can't even get that right. I have apparently "hurt" Amethyst's "feelings", which was not my intent. If I've damaged my standing with aGem here, then I've made a serious mistake. I'm still learning. I hope you understand. I want to understand. I'm sorry. Peridot. Facet 5. End log."
Peridot stops the tape recorder. "As you can see—"
Steven is touched "Oh, Peridot."
Peridot looks away, making an odd angry noise.
"Peridot... " Amethyst starts and Peridot looks at her. "... Thanks." She smiles.
Peridot smiles awkwardly at her.
"But you're still a nerd." Amethyst laughs as she walks off.
Peridot looks slightly annoyed "I'll be sure to add that to my notes."
"How do you feel?" Y/n asks her.
Peridot pauses "... Big."
Y/n smiles.
And that's the chapter! Hope you all enjoyed please don't forget to leave a vote and a comment as it really helps the story :D See you in the next chapter!