Back to the Kindergarten

[Open Int. Beach House]

(Steven wakes up in the morning from the buzzing of his Cookie Cat™ alarm clock. He begins his morning routine at the kitchen sink, such as brushing his teeth, washing his face, and cleaning his ears. He then dunks his head into the sink full of water to wash his head further. At that moment, Amethyst emerges through the Temple Gate and Pumpkin, barking excitedly, runs up to her.)

AMETHYST: Oooh, hey there, girl! pets Pumpkin Yo, Steven! This a bad time?

STEVEN: Of the three things I have to do in the sink now, this is the one I least mind you seeing.

AMETHYST: Ugh, Peridot is still depressed all up in your B-room?

STEVEN: Yeah. She still hasn't gotten over Lapis leaving and taking the Barn with her into space. I think she just... needs a little more time to herself?

AMETHYST: Nope! That's it, we're getting her out.

STEVEN: Wait, Amethyst!

[Trans. Int. Steven's Bedroom]

(Steven and Amethyst opens the door to the bathroom.)

STEVEN: Uhh... Peridot?

(Somber country music is heard playing from Peridot's tablet on the sink, while Peridot lies hanging from the bathtub onto the floor, with puddles of water everywhere on the floor. Steven and Amethyst exchange worried looks, and Amethyst walks in.)

STEVEN: You... feeling any better?

PERIDOT: Uugghhh...

(Amethyst pauses the music on Peridot's tablet.)

STEVEN: So... Uhh what have you... been up to?

(Peridot mumbles something onto the floor.)

STEVEN: walks over I uhh... couldn't really hear you there.

(Amethyst lifts Peridot's foot from the bathtub and flips her over to the floor, looking absolutely haggard.)

PERIDOT: Nothing...

STEVEN: You've been in this bathroom kind of a long time? Maybe you should get some fresh air.

PERIDOT: in decrepit ... What's the point?...

STEVEN: To feel better?

AMETHYST: Come on, Peridot! I can't stand seeing you like this!

PERIDOT: Like what?...

AMETHYST: Dude, let's just get out of the house. We could go check out my old Kindergarten. We met all those other Amethysts up in space, and they all came out of the same rock as me. I've been meaning to get a look at the old neighborhood now that I've met the neighbors.

STEVEN: That sounds fun. What do you say, Peridot?

AMETHYST: You can make us feel dumb by telling us all the stuff we don't know!

PERIDOT: I miss that...

AMETHYST: Great, it's settled! picks Peridot up and hoists her over her shoulder Let's get out of the bathroom.

PERIDOT: Can I bring my music?...

AMETHYST: No.

[Trans. Int. Train Carriage]

(Steven, Amethyst and Peridot board a train that is passing by the countryside. Steven and Amethyst are gazing out at the scenery, while Peridot is laying in a fetal position inside.)

PERIDOT: Ugh. Why exactly are we taking this outdated, clackity ship there? The Prime Kindergarten has a very convenient Warp Pad.

AMETHYST: Ehh, we're taking the scenic route.

STEVEN: Come on, Peridot! Take a look at the beautiful countryside.

PERIDOT: No. Your efforts to entrance me with Earth's beauty are pointless. My sector of countryside was perfect. Now it's somewhere in space. Just let me know when we get there.

(Steven looks at Peridot with deep concerns.)

[Trans. Int. Prime Kindergarten]

(The trio arrives at the Kindergarten and begins walking towards Amethyst's hole.)

AMETHYST: Good ol' Kindergarten! Just the way I left it! Aww, some things never change. Gah- Actually, everything's different now! Man, I-I used to think this place was full of empty holes, but now it's like, it's empty with holes which were once full! All those Amethysts I met in space, they were all here! While I was right there in the ground. But now, I can finally start putting some faces to holes! Hohohoh, let's see... Hup!

(Amethyst proceeds to hop from hole to hole.)

AMETHYST: This must've been 8XJ! Ooh! 8XK! 8XL!

PERIDOT: Actually, the order goes from top to bottom. That's 8XJ.

AMETHYST: Really?

PERIDOT: Yes. Curly hair, right?

AMETHYST: Yeah! How'd you know?

PERIDOT: You can tell from the iron deposits in the formation there. And that's 8XL down below.

AMETHYST: hops down and inspect the hole Whoa, that's pretty amazing, Dot.

(Peridot blushes and smiles from the compliment, but comes to a gloomy realization.)

PERIDOT: This used to make sense to me. I thought life was generated in a Kindergarten. Formless, aimless energy channeled into new, useful Gems. But life doesn't start in a Kindergarten. It ends here. I've gotten used to plants everywhere. Bugs and breeze and sunshine... All of that has been sucked out of this place. It's with the Amethysts that were produced here, and now, this place is nothing but a miserable husk. All of the Amethysts are gone.

AMETHYST: Hey!

PERIDOT: Oh, all the well-made Amethysts are gone.

AMETHYST: Yo, not better.

PERIDOT: And nothing will ever grow here again, not even this flower.

(Peridot point at a flower growing on the ground, and the trio realizes that it, a form of biotic life, seems to be able to exist in the Kindergarten despite Peridot's descriptions.)

AMETHYST: Wait! jumps down and observes the flower Oh! I've never seen anything growing here, and I've been hanging around this joint for 5,000 years. Man, it looks healthy, too.

STEVEN: Wow! That's Earth for you: Always bouncing back.

PERIDOT: I don't know. I'd have to run some tests to see if this is not an anomaly.

STEVEN: You want to try planting stuff here? You know how to farm!

AMETHYST: Yeah, that could be fun!

PERIDOT: It could be an interesting experiment.

STEVEN: Yeah! Let's re-garden the Kindergarten!

[Time-Skip]

(The trio warp back to the Kindergarten, bringing along gardening tool, some sunflowers and Peridot's tractor, and a montage begins. Rocks are moved to make way for the tractor to plow and cultivate the soil. Holes are dug in the soil and the sunflowers are planted into them, after fertilizers are added. Steven and Amethyst begins watering the sunflowers by blasting them with water guns. Peridot calls it off, suggesting they sprinkle the water from above instead, using Amethyst as a helicopter. Lastly, Amethyst puts a plastic flamingo next to the sunflower field, and the trio celebrates.)

[Trans. Int. Beach House, The Next Day]

(Steven wakes up in the morning and gets ready for the day, happily taking a hot shower. As he leaves his bathroom, he sees Peridot speaking to Amethyst in the kitchen.)

PERIDOT: They don't need any more water after yesterday, but according to several tutorials I read, the roots should be starting to take hold.

AMETHYST: Oh, yeah?

PERIDOT: So, that's something we can check for today as soon as- notices Steven Steven! What are you doing in that bathing gown?! Get dressed already!

STEVEN: Oh! Uh, right!

[Trans. Int. Train Carriage]

(The trio boards a train again to get to the Kindergarten, and they begin discussing inside a carriage.)

STEVEN: Do you think they grew much overnight?

AMETHYST: Yeah, I bet the place looks even better!

STEVEN: We should plant even more stuff. What do you think we should do next?

AMETHYST: What about, hydrangeas?

STEVEN: Uh, which one's that?

AMETHYST: I don't know, but it sounds good, right?

STEVEN: What do you think, Peridot?

PERIDOT: Hey... Thanks for doing this with me.

AMETHYST: What? Haha, come on.

STEVEN: It was fun.

PERIDOT: I'm just glad I was able to fix something.

AMETHYST: Yeah, the Kindergarten looks better than ever!

[Trans. Int. Prime Kindergarten]

(The trio witnesses in shock at the dead sunflowers on the ground. Peridot picks one up, and it disintegrates with the wind. Steven and Amethyst look on nervously to see what Peridot does next.)

PERIDOT: Well, I don't know why I'm surprised. I should've known not to have hope.

STEVEN: But maybe if we try again-

PERIDOT: It's not going to work! It's never going to work, okay?!

AMETHYST: Hey, don't be a jerk! We were just trying to cheer you up.

PERIDOT: And good job with that! I feel just great now that I know that nothing's ever going to get better! Everything is just ruined forever! We can't get any of it back! Not my home! Not Lapis! And not this crummy planet, either! We might as well just throw it all in the garbage and toss ourselves in after, because it's all just hopeless trash!

STEVEN: Peridot, maybe the sunflowers didn't work, but we know something can grow here.

(Steven points at the flower they saw from before, and Peridot walks towards it.)

PERIDOT: This clod's just like us! Too dumb to get with the program!

(Peridot stomps on the flower in frustration. Steven and Amethyst whimper, and Peridot immediately feels bad for her actions. Suddenly, the ground starts rumbling.)

PERIDOT: Uhhh.

STEVEN: Uh?

AMETHYST: Waaaa!

(The ground around the flower cracks and a Flower Monster pops out of the ground, roaring at the trio loudly.)

PERIDOT: Oh, of course!

(The Flower Monster grabs Peridot with its hand-like tongue and consumes her.)

STEVEN: Peridot!

(Steven and Amethyst run toward the Flower Monster, as it burrows underground and appears behind the duo. Amethyst uses her whip to grasp the Flower Monster's leg, only for the latter to drag her with it underground. Steven attempts to catch up while Amethyst continues to fight it underground.)

AMETHYST: Want to get this together?

STEVEN: Let's do it!

(Steven and Amethyst hold hands and fuse into Smoky Quartz. They throws the Flower Monster onto the surface and wraps it with their yo-yos, squeezing it tightly until the corrupted Gem poofs back into its gemstone. Peridot lays unimpressed on the ground, while Smoky bubbles the gemstone away.)

PERIDOT: I need to go to the bathroom.

[Trans. Int. Train Carriage; Evening]

(The trio lay down inside the train carriage, disappointed.)

AMETHYST: Man, you were right. The Kindergarten really is dead forever.

PERIDOT: I was a fool to think we could reinstitute life there.

STEVEN: sighs Tell me about it.

PERIDOT: All right. I will. I was pretty much using this as a distraction from losing Lapis, losing the barn, and just a general sense of complete hopelessness I tend to deal with on a day-to-day basis. But it really only confirmed to me that once you mess something up, it's ruined for good and nothing will ever be able to grow again.

AMETHYST: Yeah, we got the subtext.

STEVEN: ...Oh, wow.

(Steven looks outside the train carriage as they pass by a vast field of sunflowers.)

STEVEN: What about all this?

AMETHYST: Now that's some plants.

PERIDOT: Huh. Guess the countryside out here is pretty beautiful. But who cares? I wanted to have this for the Kindergarten!

STEVEN: Even if there was nothing we can do for that one patch of land, there's still a whole Earth blooming all around us.

AMETHYST: Yeah! Why don't we try gardening in literally any other place? It'll be easier than trying to plant in the Kindergarten. That dirt doesn't care how green your thumb is.

STEVEN: Green thumb! 'Cause you're green! laughs

PERIDOT: I know that!

AMETHYST: So, are ya in?

PERIDOT: Umm...

STEVEN: Do it, do it, do it, say yes!

PERIDOT: Ughh. Fine. I've got literally nothing else to do.

STEVEN: Yay!

AMETHYST: Oh, yeah!

(Steven and Amethyst hug Peridot and the trio gazes at the countryside scenery. The star iris closes in on the trio as Peridot returns the hug.)

[END]