Steven pressed the square button on the curved little console, the screen flickering to life with the millennial graphics of an age-old classic: Barber Shop Saga II: Tweezers in Time.

"Alrighty then, Tweezers, Hairspray Harold may have stopped me then, but he ain't gonna stop me now!" Steven challenged the little cartridge with a triumphant smirk on his face. He threw himself down atop the bean bag slumped against the bed, and with a steady hand on the controller, he began to barrel his way through the surge of raggedy-haired baddies.

By the time it was near midday, Steven had found himself face-to-face with the very first boss to stand in his way, the fearsome, almighty, undisputed king of unruly tangles and knots-

Suddenly, the whole Temple shook with the earth-shattering sound of a stone with a noise akin to a thousand cats simultaneously being skinned at once.

Amethyst came charging out of her room, hands clasped tightly over her ears. "Not again!" she wailed, as Garnet and Pearl followed in hot pursuit.

"Gems, you know what to do," Garnet ordered, nodding at each of them in return. In one swift leap, they bounded off the balcony towards Greg's van, Steven doing as best as he could to keep up with them as he followed them down the stairs (he was only half-Gem, after all).

As soon as they had the Stone wired up to the television screen, the Gems found themselves being shoved aside as the boy made room to get a good look for himself.

He shot a nervous glance back behind him, eyes aglitter like gaping crystal windows swung wide open into the deep blue. "What's going on? What's happening?" Steven blurted out, his eyes darting between the Gems and the screen.

Suddenly, the wailing turned to static, and the static turned to the most unholy sound the four of them had ever heard- the exasperated sounds of another Gem.

"WHY didn't you TELL ME?!"

The Gems gave a gasp in perfect unison, as they all blurted out in barely more than an astonished whisper, "Peridot!"

Pearl gave a vicious growl at the Homeworld intruder, taking a step forward with her spear pointed out. "What brings you to speak with us, Peridot?" Pearl demanded in a fluster, twirling her spear in her hand. "You are most certainly not welcome here! We know you're trying to defeat us!"

"I'm aware of that," Peridot grunted, ruffled in a way that was obvious to anyone. "What I'm astonished by is that you neglected to mention that there was another half-blood out there!"

The Gems gave a gasp, turning to look at Steven.

Pearl's hair stuck up in a million different places, her voice coming out in barely more than a splutter. "You…you mean that there's… another Steven?!"

Steven's jaw dropped wide open. "…WHAAAAAAAAAA-"

Garnet cut him off from his astonishment, pressing a finger to her lip. "Quiet, Steven," she shushed him firmly, a grave look upon her face. "We need to hear this."

Pearl turned around once more to face the screen. "But…but that's impossible! Rose was the only Gem ever to breed with a human! There can't be more of them!"

"My records would beg to differ," Peridot quipped, whipping out a small hologram with a swipe of her fingertips.

With a steady hand (or finger, more so), she scrolled through several doll-sized models of former Gems until she reached a tall, lean-looking Gem, who radiated like the Sun with a dirty golden glow.

Looking up from her screen, Peridot gave a knowing cock of her head and a rather unpleasantly simpering smile. "Does the name 'Amber' ring any bells?"

Pearl gave a quiet gasp. "Prime Commander Amber, Leader of the Gem Martial Regime 21st Squadron!" she rattled the name off the top of her head, as though it had been imprinted in her memory. "But...it can't be…she only came to Earth to oversee the production of the Kindergartens, she couldn't have come here for any other purpose! She was strictly a military and business-oriented Gem, not to mention a total libertarian-"

"Not so," Peridot countered, pulling up an assortment of statistics with the gentle swipe of a finger. "It seems that Amber here did indeed come to Earth for business-oriented purposes- a business trip, if you will- but she stayed here due to an irreparable fracturing to her Gem."

"Uhh, but I thought Rose was around during that time," Amethyst pointed out casually, shooting a snide look in Peridot's general direction. "Couldn't she have healed her?"

"Irreparable," Peridot reminded her with clenched teeth, narrowing her eyes at the snarky little Gem. "It appears that enough grit must have lodged itself in the crack in her Gem to keep the wound from properly healing."

"But the important thing is," Pearl interrupted, her voice quavering profusely, "we're going to find this Gem before you can! Our warp pads can take us anywhere on Earth in a matter of seconds-"

"Good thing they're not on Earth," Peridot quipped, smiling darkly as she brought up a map to the screen.

"They appear to be drifting right now somewhere in the midst of deepest space. Seems rather convenient for a Homeworld Gem like me, no?"

Pearl gave a pretentious gasp. "You wouldn't dare!" she spoke, her voice dripping with contempt. "You cannot corrupt the pure heart of one of our own! Because we. Are. The Crystal Ge-"

The connection fizzled out.

Steven turned, confused, to the others. "So what are we gonna do now?" he asked wisely, raising an eyebrow. "We can't just let her turn them to evil!"

"We're not," Garnet declared, turning to face the young Gem. She turned to Pearl, who was currently face down, knees to the ground in a state of shock. "Pearl!"

The Gem practically leapt right out of her shoes in surprise. "How fast do you think you can build us a spaceship?"

Pearl made a face. "B-but…the last time I tried to do that, I nearly killed Steven-"

"And that's why I will oversee the operation this time around."

The Gem bit her lip, giving a soft "hmm" as her eyes darted about the sand. "…Give me about a week, and I think I can get you a spaceship."

"Alrighty then, Gems," Garnet spoke with a confident gleam in her eyes, giving a playful tousle of Steven's curly black hair. "We've got us a Gem to protect."