New Mission

Chapter 11: Broken English

A month later, Garnet and Jade were sitting on the couch together, while Steven played video games in his room with Connie. Topaz was sitting on the beach with Coral, listening to the water, when he got an alert on his screen. The message said, "Warning: Incoming spacecraft."
"What?! Incoming spacecraft?!" Topaz and Coral ran inside and told their fellow Crystal Gems about it. "Guys!! There's a big ship on its way here!!" Jade stood up. "Yellow Diamond probably sent it here, after we didn't complete our mission!" She shouted. "There's more Gems on that ship than there's been in the past. There's about, fifteen..." Garnet said after using her future vision. "Fifteen?! We can't possibly beat that many Gems!! We need to hide somewhere!!" Topaz cried. Garnet knocked on Pearl's door and told her about what was happening. They got Amethyst out of her room and talked to Steven and Connie. "I know where we can hide! Centi's ship! It's so far away from the temple, that they'll never be able to find us!" Steven said. "Good idea, Steven," Garnet said. "But we should get Peridot and Lapis before we go there. Just in case." The other Gems nodded. Everyone, except Connie and Steven, got on the warp pad. "We're gonna take Lion. It'll be easier," Steven had said. They all traveled to the barn, to warn Lapis & Peridot about the invading Gems.
"More Homeworld Gems?! This sucks!" Peridot exclaimed. "I know, but we don't have time to worry about that now!" Topaz said.

Pearl, Steven, and Connie went back to the temple to grab food and other necessities since they didn't know how long they would have to stay there. Then they went to the abandoned dropship with the others and hid inside.

"Thanks for letting us stay here, Centi," Steven joked, knowing that Centi couldn't talk. "You're welcome!" Jade heard and turned to her friends. "Did you hear that?" She asked. "Hear what?" Coral replied. "Someone said 'you're welcome'. You guys didn't hear it?" They all shook their heads. "Wait, you can understand me? Cool!" Jade heard someone say. She looked over at Centi. "Are you talking to me...?"
"Yep! I didn't think anyone other than my crew could understand me, but you can!" Jade was in shock. "Guys! I can understand Centipeetles!" She told her friends. "What?! How?" Pearl asked.
"I-I don't know!! This has never happened before!"
"Let's ask her something, just to make sure. Centi, which one of us were you talking to?" Steven asked. "Jade," she said, but to everyone except Jade, it just sounded like a click of her mandibles. "She... she said my name."
"You can probably understand her because you Jades are made to poof and bubble corrupted Gems like her," Topaz said to his friend. "Wh-why didn't this happen on Homeworld?! When I fought the corrupted Gems there, I didn't understand anything they said!" Jade said nervously. "Because you didn't have to understand them. You hadn't awakened your power, much like Steven with his mother's abilities," Garnet replied. "But that power could be useful to us." Jade nodded. "Centi, thank you for letting us stay on your ship. We really appreciate it." Jade then hugged Centi's neck.

"Mom, no. You can't pick me up. I'm helping Steven with a Gem emergency. I'm not sure when I'll be able to come home, but I hope it'll be soon. Yes, we have plenty of food here. Thanks, Mom. I love you, too. Bye," Connie said before hanging up with her mother. "It was hard, but I managed to convince my mom not to freak out too much." Steven and his teammates nodded. "I'm glad she's letting you help us with this," Steven said. "Me too. She may be a human, but after how Stevonnie helped Amazonite, I know she's a good ally to us," Peridot replied. "Uh, guys? We have a problem," Topaz said. "What is it?" Coral asked. "Emerald and Diamond are the Gems on that ship..." Coral and Jade were in shock, but everyone else was confused. "Emerald and Diamond? Who are they?" Steven questioned. "Two of our friends back on Homeworld. They helped us train as Zircon."
"I thought there was only Blue, Yellow and Pink Diamond."
"This is a synthetic Diamond, not a member of the Diamond Authority."
"Oh." Coral interrupted Steven and Topaz's conversation. "Forget who they are! We need to worry about why they're here and who the other thirteen Gems Garnet was talking about are!" She shouted. "Right! Topaz, who are they?" Steven asked. "It's a bunch of Citrines, Amethysts, and Jaspers!" Topaz replied. "Oh no... Th-that's a lot of Quartzes," Pearl said as she began hyperventilating. "It's okay, Pearl. Just breathe. Deep breaths, P, deep breaths," Amethyst said and patted Pearl's back to calm her down. "Wh-what if they're just here to intimidate us? Maybe the Quartzes aren't supposed to hurt us," Connie suggested. "Maybe. Diamond and Emerald are capable of protecting themselves," Jade responded. "But not from us! Remember how much Turquoise was struggling when we fought her on Homeworld?" Coral shouted. "Maybe they were just going easy on us," Jade muttered. "Why would you think that, Jade?" Topaz asked. "Because Turquoise is a fusion-combat expert! Do you really think she was having a hard time? Zircon is a terrible fighter! I doubt Diamond and Emerald even wanted to hang out with us. After all, Emeralds are fucking liars."
"Jade! Watch your language around Connie and Steven!" Pearl scolded. "Sorry, Pearl. But it's true!" Garnet looked at her girlfriend with concern. "Jade, are you feeling okay?" She asked. "I'm fine, Garnet," Jade said before turning away and walking off. "I told you she was still angry, Topaz," Coral whispered. "I know, I know. You were right," Topaz replied. "What are you two talking about?" Garnet glared at them. "Well, a-after you two fused, and you guys came back inside, Topaz and I told Jade that we were watching you guys," Coral told her. "Then she got mad at us and said to leave her alone," Topaz said. "You were watching us?! Why? That was a personal thing that didn't involve either of you- only Ruby, Sapphire, and Jade. I understand why she's angry at you two," Garnet said with a sneer. "I'm sorry, Garnet! It's just, Jade helped us admit how we felt about each other, and we wanted to help her!" Garnet put a finger to Topaz's chest and said, "I don't care if you're sorry. You shouldn't have been spying on me and Jade in the first place. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go look for her." Garnet left the room to go find Jade.