Infectious Garden (THG)

"Look at this place! I've never been in a Kindergarten before!"

"Infectious Garden" is first episode of the first season of The Homeworld Gems, and the first episode overall.

Synopsis
Emerald and Morganite investigate a faulty Kindergarten.

Plot
Wherever Emerald was, it was quiet. Quiet and dark. She looked up, down, left, right, and then up again, but there was nothing. Just herself, the darkness, and the throbbing pain throughout her entire body.

She didn't like that. She didn't like that at all.

For a moment, she thought she heard someone call for her. She heard it again, the voice becoming louder and louder, calling her name again and again... She quite liked that voice.

"Emerald!"

Emerald yelped, tumbling out of her seat. She blinked rapidly. readjusting her eyes to her surroundings. The bright lights of the Starshuttle's control room were beating down on her, along with a disapproving look from Morganite. "We're here. Come on, now, we don't want to be late." She quickly gestured for Emerald to follow her, turning on her heels and towards the door. Emerald quickly scrambled to pick herself up.

"Yeah, coming!" Emerald chirped, right on Morganite's heels.

-

The warp stream dissolved around them, revealing the bustling workings of a Kindergarten. Emerald quickly sprang up, excitedly jumping from the platform and onto the ground. "Look at this place! I've never been in a Kindergarten before!" Morganite scoffed at this, hopping down next to her.

"Please, Emerald, this Kindergarten is hardly functioning. You should have seen the ones on Vesper A! Oh, Pentel 9 was quite nice as well... and Epsilon 6 ha-"

"HEY!"

Morganite jumped, becoming invisible for a moment before regaining her composure. A crowd of quartz soldiers had gathered around an injector, with one signaling for Emerald and Morganite to join them. "YOU GUYS ARE THE INSPECTORS, RIGHT? THESE THINGS ARE BUSTED TO HOMEWORLD AND BACK!"

-

The crowd made way for Morganite and Emerald, revealing the Injector the Quartz has surrounded. The legs of the machine were violently twitching, the drills creating random holes in the ground. "Mm..." Morganite mumbled, running a hand along the clear portion of the Injector. "The incubating material seems to be intact..." Peering into the Injector herself, Emerald's attention was grabbed by a bubbling movement inside the various tubes.

"Um, Morganite?"

"Yes, it's likely a manufacturing defect."

"Moooorganite?"

"You there, Chalcedony. Where were these Injectors created?"

"Morganite."

"Delta 12? Oh, figures..."

"MORGANITE!"

"Huh?"

At that moment, the inner material of the Injector exploded, littering the ground with glass and colorful goo. A silence fell over seemingly the entire Kindergarten as the goo began to gather itself and form. "My stars..." Morganite whispered. Light began to fill the area as the goo formed itself, quickly being cut off as a monster dropped to the ground.

A grotesque combination of crystals appeared before the gems, connected by a rocky center. What appeared to be sad attempts to create arms and legs allowed the beast to balance on all fours, and deafening shriek rocked through the Kindergarten. Morganite quickly summoned her weapon as the beast lumbered towards the crowd. Pouncing, she attacked the monster, raising her flail high above her head. The monster growled, swatting Morganite out of the way with ease. "Morganite!" Emerald cried out, scrambling over to her.

"I'm fine, I'm fine..." She muttered, rising back to her feet. The Quartz soldiers were attacking the monster en masse now, with soldiers being flung every which way. "Perhaps the core...? For the Diamond's sake, there had never been any reports of- Emerald!"

Emerald had already begun dashing towards the battle, yanking her drill out of her gem. "Destroy the core, got it!" She shouted back, dashing towards a Citrine and tugging on her sleeve. "Hey! Throw me!"

"Uhm, Okay!" Easily lifting her up, the Citrine chucked Emerald as hard as she could towards the monster. Grabbing onto one of its spikes, Emerald thrusted the drill into the monster's core. The monster shrieked, thrashing around and throwing Emerald off of it. Acting fast, Morganite yanked Emerald out of the air and gently brought her back to the ground. The monster stumbled for a moment, shaking violently. With a final shriek, it collapsed back into goo.

"I... I did it! I did it! I did it, Morganite, did you see that?! Hahahah!" Emerald cheered, running and laughing around the goo. Surveying the damage, Morganite rubs her eyes with her hands and groans.

"I am going to have to write so many reports."

Characters

 * Emerald (First Appearance)
 * Morganite (First Appearance)
 * Citrine Guard
 * Unnamed Quartz soldiers