[Steven and Amethyst lie down on the floor for a beat, they start up laughing amongst themselves]
What's wrong with us? [continues laughing]
AmethystWell, I know what's wrong with me. I'm not supposed to be small. And everyone's always acting like there's no problem. "You can be anything you wanna be!" No, I can't! [sighs] I can't even be the one thing I'm supposed to be, you know?
Of course I do. I'm... not Rose Quartz.
Amethyst
[hits her face] Oh no! Oh, Steven—
Why do you think I've been working so hard?
Amethyst
Well... it's paying off.
[chuckling, gets up] I sure hope so.
[Amethyst sees Steven holding out his hand to her, smiles. She swings her arm but misses, laughing; she misses again before she finally catches his hand. She gets up and laughs with Steven]
Amethyst
Thanks, Steven. [Pearl gasps in horror at the entrance]
What did you two do?! You've ruined the ruins!
Amethyst
Whoops.
I don't think we're gonna see the prize pouch for a while.
[Steven and the Gems take Bismuth to the strawberry battlefield]
Homeworld's final attack on Earth wiped out all of the Crystal Gems.
Rose was able to protect Garnet and myself, and by the looks of it, she was able to protect you as well. [Bismuth picks up a rusty battle-axe]
I knew those Homeworld elites were twisted. How many of us did they shatter? Crazy Lace? Biggs?! Snowflake?! If I was there, I-I coulda stopped it!!
It's not like they've stopped trying.
Homeworld still has its eyes on this planet.
We continue to thwart their plans over and over. [Steven runs over followed by Amethyst]
But they just keep coming back!
Amethyst
Yep. They want us bad.
Good. I thought I wouldn't get another chance to show those upper-crusts who's boss! Let's show 'em what happens when you mess with the Crystal Gems! [slams battle-axe to the ground with a loud roar; Steven smiles]
[Inside the barn]
Amethyst
You did all this stuff on purpose? Like, you didn't just knock over a bunch of paint cans and go, "Eh, just leave it"?
Oh, no. This was all very intentional. You see, I had this idea: What if we made music, but instead of sounds, we use things!
Amethyst
That's dumb.
Art? That sounds ridiculous!
I've been calling it "meepmorp".
Let us show you our... morps. [chuckles]
[She shows them something made from her broken recorder, some cassettes and a blue ribbon]
This piece is called "Wow, thanks". It represents the struggles of intercommunication. The tape is the ribbon that binds our experience on Earth together. It has no functional purpose! It just makes me feel bad! [smiles proudly]
[Lapis shows them a baseball bat, mitt and ball hanging from a stick by string]
Here's my meepmorp. This is a baseball bat. It reminds me of when I played baseball. [walks backwards to a leaf sitting on a rock] This is a leaf that Steven gave me. It reminds me of the time Steven... gave me a leaf.
Hey, yeah, it reminds me of that too! [Peridot grins; Amethyst looks nauseated]
[Next is a TV with two mirrors attached, playing Percy in Camp Pining Hearts saying "I just feel trapped" over and over]
[worried] Is this one about... the thousands of years you spent trapped in the mirror?
No. I just really like that show.
Wow, Amethyst doesn't seem to understand morps at all.
No, it's something else. Amethyst found out…she's supposed to be just like Jasper.
Jasper took her down in a fight, and now she's obsessed with getting a rematch, to prove she's good enough.
Hmm. Amethyst, Ams, Big A. You are way better than Jasper!
Amethyst
What? Oh. [to Steven] What did you tell her?
What are you even doing comparing yourself to her? Oh, Amethyst, that's ridiculous. I should call you "Ridiculousthyst." [laughs] I mean, seriously, Amethyst and Jasper are two completely different Quartzes. Sure, you're both from Earth, but your Kindergartners are radically different.
What? Hold-- Hold on. What?!
Amethyst
We're both from Earth?
Well, sure. Amethyst, you're from the Prime Kindergarten in Facet 5. She's from the Beta Kindergarten in Facet 9. Have you seen that place?
Amethyst
No!
Oh. Well, maybe you should, so you could see how the other half was made… Poorly! [laughs] No, seriously. Let's go. You'll get a kick out of this.
Here we are, Jasper's origin: the Beta Kindergarten.
Am I underwhelmed? It's pretty bright out here.
Amethyst
It's red.
No kidding. Red sandstone! Ha! This is what I'm talking about. We're lucky this place hasn't blown away. Beta, am I right?
[laughs] That's a math joke, right?
Come on. It gets worse. I mean, this place has got the right growing conditions in a pinch, I guess, but it's too small! It was obviously a total rush job.
Halfway through the rebellion, Homeworld scrambled to generate extra soldiers on the ground. Look at this-- the holes don't even line up! [scoffs] It's like they just threw injectors down wherever. Oh, and that one? This Carnelian came out sideways. How could she not? The walls are curved! [laughs] What a joke.
What you want to see is a vertical alignment; no angle in the exit; a clean, strong silhouette. None of these holes come close!
Amethyst
What about that one?
[They look up at Jasper's big exit hole]
Amethyst
It's huge!
Oh, come on. We already know she's tall. Let's take a closer look. A Kindergartener can tell a lot about a Gem's makeup and flaws by their exit marks.
These aren't exit holes, anymore.
Then what are they? [gets startled as a Corrupted Gem appears from the shadows] Corrupted Gems, in cages?
Why?! Who would do this?!
Amethyst
[gasps in surprise as she spots a silhouette behind a cloud of dust] That's who.
[The dust cloud clears away, revealing Jasper]
[Steven throws his shield over a towering Injector; Amethyst backs away from Jasper as it falls between them]
Amethyst
Steven... I-I can't win. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I work, she came out right, and I came out... wrong.
That's just what Jasper thinks! She's the only one who thinks you should be like her!
Amethyst
But…
Stop trying to be like Jasper. You're nothing like Jasper! You're like me! Because we're both not like anybody! And yeah, it sucks! [Jasper lifts up the Injector and throws it aside] But at least I've got you. And you've got me! [tearing up] So stop leaving me out of this!
Amethyst
Us worse Gems stick together... [sniffles] right? [Steven holds out his hand]
That's why we're the best.
[Amethyst takes his hand, and they hug… and fuse]
Huh?! Who are you supposed to be?!
Oh, yeah. Who am I? I feel like Amethyst knows this.
Forget your name, you've got a fight to win!
I think, a Rose Quartz and an Amethyst, make a… [jumps into the air and combines Steven's shield and Amethyst's whip to make a yo-yo, lands safely back on the ground] Smoky Quartz!
Is fusion the only trick you Crystal Gems know?!
I've got plenty of tricks. Ever say, "Sink the sink?"
[After briefly fusing with a corrupted Gem, the corruption spreads slowly in Jasper's left arm]
It's... corruption. [defuses back into Steven and Amethyst]
Amethyst
Steven, be careful.
But this just happened - maybe I can do something! Jasper, it's okay. I'm here. [starts approaching her]
I'm not Rose, I'm Steven. I just wanna try and heal you. [licks his palm and reaches for her but she slashes at him, tearing his shirt]
Amethyst
Steven!!
[Peridot unsuccessfully tries to mentally move the metal rod again]
[as Amethyst tries to charge at Jasper] Stop!
[chuckles] I see how you do it now, Rose. You want Gems after they're worthless. You wait until after they've lost. Because when you're at the bottom, you'll follow anyone that makes you feel like less of a failure. [as Peridot rushes over] Huh... Just look at this one! You've stripped her of everything! Her limb enhancers, her status, her dignity...
I still have one of those things.
How can you side with Rose Quartz?! Why? Why protect this useless shell of a planet?!
It's not a shell. There's so much life, living here. [smiling] That's what I'm doing! I'm living here! I've been learning new things about myself all the time! Like how I can make metal do my bidding! [tries to show this off, but the rod just falls behind her] The point being: Earth can set you free. [Steven smiles]
[angrily, as the corruption spreads rapidly in her body] Earth... is a prison! I got out because I'm better than this place!
I only came back to finish you off.
You can't manipulate me, Rose Quartz!
I-I'm not manipulating! I'm trying to help!
Help? HELP?! I've been fighting from the second I broke free of the Earth's crust! Because of what YOU did to my colony! Because of what YOU did to my planet! Because of what YOU did to my Diamond!
[confused] I... Yellow Diamond?
Wha...?! MY DIAMOND! YOUR DIAMOND! PINK DIAMOND!!! [becomes fully corrupted, barely recognizable, and looks ready to attack; Peridot finally gets the metal rod to move, plunging it into Jasper and making her poof]
[after a brief silence] You're... welcome.
Amethyst
[smiles, then walks over to Jasper's gem and sighs] Come here, sis. [bubbles her gem and sends it off to the temple]
[the Rubies walk up the moon base stairway followed by Amethyst (disguised as Jasper), Pearl, Garnet and Steven]
R"Eyeball" Ruby
The Earth was Pink Diamond's colony. Everything was going smoothly at first. Kindergartens were incubating their first soldiers—big, warm pieces of quartz, like this mountain over here—were being created from its rich minerals with great success. Then, bam! One of Pink Diamond's very own quartz soldiers started a rebellion and took it too far. Where were you when that happened?
Amethyst
Oh, you know... around. ["Eyeball" turns to Amethyst]
R"Eyeball" Ruby
I was there. I saw it with my own eye. I watched the leader of the Crystal Gems, Rose Quartz... [projects her light on the mural] shatter Pink Diamond!
[Steven looks up in his horror; Garnet is frozen still for a beat, Pearl starts shivering in fear]
No... [beat] Rose Quartz w-would never do that! [tearing up] A-And, sure, she had to fight but... But she would never shatter someone!
[laughing at the Crystal Gems' failure to capture the gem tongue monster] That was terrible!
[offended] This is harder than it looks, you know!
How could you all be outsmarted by that thing?
Well, first, it ran over Garnet, and then Amethyst tried to use her-
Pearl, we don't need the play by play. Mistakes happen, even when you can see the future.
Amethyst
Yeah, Peridot. Let's see you do better.
Well, I saved all your butts from Jasper. I suppose I could help you here, too.
And then we go into the tricks.
Amethyst
All right. But I really think we should save the dog walker for next time.
This is our first impression. We gotta go big. And we should go soon, too, before they get suspicious.
Those two are acting very suspicious. [to Garnet] Should we ask them what's going on?
[Pearl's aggressive driving draws the attention of a police car]
Amethyst
Oh, snap!
You have to pull over to the side and show them your license.
Amethyst
[chuckles uneasily] Oh, right.
Steven But... but you're old!
What was I supposed to tell the DMV? That I'm from another planet?! I'm not exactly a citizen, Steven!
[After a moment's thought, Pearl narrows her eyes, steps on the gas, speeds past the "mystery woman" and turns up the radio. Amethyst cheers, while Steven becomes more worried]
Pearl, you can't just drive away! This is serious!
Amethyst
Pearl, you're a total bad-- [is cut off by the screeching tyres as Pearl makes a sharp turn]
This is why we buckle up.
[Steven, Amethyst and Pearl are walking alongside the road. Pearl stops abruptly]
Amethyst
[looks back] Huh?
I was so ready! I really wanted to see your Krol.
What are you talking about?
[throws her jacket on the ground and struggles to get out of her jeans] I was going to drink a juice and wear these...ugh... pants! [falls over] ..And... [grunts] hit people gently enough as to not actually hurt them, and you'd say, "Wow, Pearl is really cool!" But nooo, instead, we drove to loud music... [throws off her jeans] chased a mysterious woman into the night and broke the law. [groans] I've lost my edge. I should have stayed home with the puzzle.
[Steven and Amethyst turn to each other]
Amethyst
Listen to yourself. You're so hardcore! Who cares about pants? You gunned it from the cops!
That's the most scared I've been since you almost let me die! You're a criminal now!
Now? [gets up on her feet, grinning] I've been a criminal for 6,000 years.
Steven Universe · 493 quotes
