"I just wanted to hang with my brother today. I just wanted to spend some time setting up a colony while kicking butt. Is that so wrong to ask for? Is it?" The red gem asked herself quietly. She found herself in a rude awakening by immediately seeing Jasper as soon as she regained conciseness. The only thing that made it remotely better was seeing the two Amethyst right beside her, though no sign of anybody else. No Peridot, no Rubies, no Topaz, and most of all, no Rhodonite.
I just had to be stuck with her."

"Now, I now what you're thinking." Jasper, without anyone else's consent or opinion, took charge of the situation like she didn't just loose over half her team. "We should focus our efforts on regrouping with the other's and gather the nessecery resources to get off this rock. We're divided, so we should focus on getting back together."

Wow, didn't expect to hear any of that talk. "Actually, that's exactly what I was.."

"If you are, then I need you to take every single thought relating to that subject, throw on the ground and burn it to incineration, because that's the last thing that should be on you mind!"

"...And there it is." Carnelian muttered as she rolled her eyes. Why expect common sense from the war gem living in the past?

"Now any other Gem in this situation would fall. They wouldn't even have the gull to stand up after what we've been through. Some my call it unfortunate, a travesty, a complete disaster beyond anything we could've prepared for!"

"And they wonder why no one ever stops Rhodey from saying his own motivational speeches.."

"But where others see disaster, I see opportunity!" Every other Quartz in the area just tilted their heads. The only thing that motivated Jasper this much were thoughts of smashing Rose Quartz to dust. It was actually a little scary to see her smile at anything other than that. "The crash, while unfortunately, has brought me clarity..."

"And by clarity, you mean your gem almost cracked and you probably have the closest thing to a concussion we can ever get.."

"It has purged this group of all it's inferiorities and weak points. Why else would only the strongest of us.." The sudden glance at Carnelian was not lost on the little red gem. "..end up together? Clearly, this is fate correcting its mistake."

"Mistake in what?"

"Letting that off color live on for so long." Jasper snorted. "We finish the mission from here. We set up any remaining injectors we can find and begin colonization."

"Ah, are you missing the part where we actually manage to do that?" The Amethysts choose to back away. Though they were hardly the biggest fans of Jasper, they would never take the opportunity to say it too her face, just like they did with Holy Blue. That's what Rhodinite was for. "Beause the reason the Peridot tagged along with us was because she knew how to handle the equipment, and you hardly seem like the brainy type."

"I knew I had to deal with you eventually." Jasper ignored Carnelian's snarky attitude and just stood in front of her, staring down at the runt of the team. "You know why Rhodinite sticks so close to you? It's because your weak, somehow even weaker than him, and the more you mess up, the better he looks by comparison."

Jasper didn't even get to finish her thought without Carnealen bursting into laughter. "AHAHAHAAAAH, HAA, HHEHHA!" She rolled on the ground. "You, you really think that's the reason why we're so close!?" She like she was going to pass out from lack of air, which was weird since she didn't need to breathe.

"What other explanation is there? Why else would so many Gems follow someone so clearly, different from any other Quartz? When someone can make you feel like less of a failure, you'd follow them anywhere." The other Amethyst quietly murmur, actually taking her words into account. They all respected Rhodinite, they could all laugh together, smile together, make more messes for Holy Blue to clean together, but were they just blindly following him just because he made them feel good?

"Wow, you, you're just an awful person in general, aren't you?" Even Jasper had to tilt her head at the red gems logic. It was like she was being asked to be poofed. "If you mistake common kindness for manipulation, then you got some serious problems with courtesy." Feeling just a little more confident, the other Gems stood behind her, though it kind of looked like they were using her as a shield. "Yeah, he makes us feel better about ourselves, but that's because he's able to focus on what we can do, because no one is a mistake, no one is worthless, from the hardest Diamond, to the smallest pebble."

"That, that is the most inane piece of crap that I've ever heard in my life." Jasper's demeaning gaze hit all the other's hard, though they still fought hard to hold their ground. "You either do what you're made to do, or you die. Simple and effective. Nothing more, and nothing less. That is the life made by the Diamonds, and that is the life we shall follow till the day we turn to dust."

"Then maybe life shouldn't be that way."

Unable to bare anymore of the runt's words, she charged at Carnelian, pouncing like some ferocious beast, only to duck out of the way. "Stay still so I can smash you!"

"You know, just because you yell out your threats doesn't mean I'm going to listen to them. In fact, that's more incentive for me to ignore you." Jasper tried pouncing again, only to hit a nearby tree. "You know, if you trained with Rhodenite, you'd might pick up a few tricks."

"I really doubt it." Jasper tried grabbing her head to rip it off, only for Carnelian to dodge, even going between her legs to roll under.

"Trust me, he's really good on these type of things, since he's been fighting against the odds ever since he's joined. For example, when your opponents bigger, stronger, and fatter than you, just make sure to take a moment to figure out there blind spots." Becoming red eyed, Jasper's swings became faster and more random, flailing her arms as if she were drowning. "Use speed in small bursts and save your energy by not throwing a punch when it's not necessary." Maneuvering behind her, Carnelian gave a big shove to Jasper, making her fall on her face.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" Wasting no time, she curled up into her spin dash, and rocketed towards the red gem, who simply stood still with a sneaky smile.

"It's also great when you're able to ask for help in a tight spot."

SMACK

Right as the Quartz was about to obliterate her target, one of the Amethysts swung in from her right and smashed Jasper into a Rock. "And he also mentioned something about talking to your enemies as you fight them, says it keeps them distracted. I don't know, does it seem all that effective to you?" Carnelian's smirk was so big that it could've been seen fro space. The rest of the group joined her in a hearty fit of laughter at the Yellow Court Quartz's expense, who simply rose from the ground, trying her best to ignore what just happened.

"Here's what didn't happen. We didn't just fight like a group of morons and we DIDN'T just waste valuable time on a crucial mission we're still obligated to complete!" The other's kept there mouth shut after that. "That's what I thought. Now, here's what's going to happen: WE ARE going to find that Peridot, We are going to complete the colony, and once we get back to Homeworld, we're never going to speak of this again and pray to the stars that we never, ever, EVER, get stuck with an assignment like this ever again, got it?"

Nodding, they began their trek like nothing happened. Jasper continued to fume from behind the group. What made things worse was Carnelian still trying to talk to her.

"Listen, so you know I really don't like you. Rhodey usually discourages me from saying the word hate, but I really, really, really don't like you, and it's pretty clear that the feelings mutual." Jasper stayed silent. "But it's obvious you still want to complete this mission, and in the long run, that's whats most important here. So, truce?" She stuck out her hand.

"Just so you know, if anything goes wrong, I will see to it that all the blame will go to your court." Carnelian stop as Jasper continued. "And I bet even you doubt whose head Yellow Diamond will demand once it's over." Smirking, Jasper left, satisfied that her point had been made.

"Not if I can say anything about it. You just made things personal."