Amethyst takes center stage…and fails completely.  Or so she thinks.

Now that Jasper’s finally on their radar, Garnet and Pearl head out to track her down.  And Pearl is so distracted she completely forgot about Connie’s scheduled sword practice.

Amethyst: Very irresponsible, Pearl!

So Amethyst is left in charge of the kids, and she promptly cancels sword training.

But they (mostly Connie, it seems) feel like sparring, anyway.  Honestly, Steven’s starting to get pretty creative with his shield (but it’s hard to capture that stuff in screenshots).

Steven: Hey Amethyst, did you see that? Amethyst?

Amethyst: ‘Sup.

Steven: Are you even watching?

Amethyst: Sure, what’s it look like?

Steven: Like you’re not watching.

Amethyst: Excellent! Amazing! Pearl-fect!

Steven: Aw, I don’t know.

Connie: Not really. My stance is all wrong, and my grip is a little soft.

Amethyst: What’re you worried about all that little stuff for? It’s not gonna matter in a real fight.

Connie: It does, though. I blew it on my first real magical mission! I was face to face with a monster, and I froze. Maybe if I’d trained a little harder, I could’ve handled it.

Amethyst: Sounds to me like you’re too in your own head. In a fight, you never know what’s gonna happen. You just gotta go with it. How can you get ready when you don’t even know what you’re getting ready for, huh? Yeah, you can’t be ready. What you gotta be is loose.

And she subsequently redirects them with a snack break, leading into a day of general Amethyst shenanigans.

Connie: I didn’t bring a swimsuit!

Amethyst: In the heat of battle, you’re not gonna have a swimsuit, Connie!

Connie: By Jove, I guess you’re right!

These two will never not be adorable.

This was just what Connie needed after her perceived failure in the last episode.  She’s the sort of person who’ll beat herself up for even the smallest mistakes (the “My life is over because I got a B” type), and that’s just not gonna help her move forward.

Unfortunately, the good times are rudely interrupted by a familiar-looking monster.

Amethyst: Not a pretty win, but I’ll take it.

Connie: That was the monster we fought in the snow…at least it looked like it was.

Amethyst: I think you’d remember a face like that.

Steven: Well, there were two of them.

Then Jasper comes waltzing in on the other one, as you do.

Jasper: Glad I found you. I’ve decided to build my own army! Where’s the rest of yours?

Steven: They’re not here right now!

Honestly, Steven, you’re worse than a cartoon villain when it comes to revealing your plan/general status to your enemies.

So Amethyst squares off with Jasper while Connie, Steven and Lion have a rematch with the other monster.

Jasper: I came here to fight Rose, not some runt!

Amethyst: You think you can just keep showing up and picking fights with us? Why don’t you get a life!

Jasper: Fighting is my life! It’s what I was made for. It’s what you were made for too, runt.

Amethyst: So? I’ve got other stuff going on. I can fight just fine!

Jasper: Well then, let’s see it!

Yeah, she’s really not up to a fight with the guy that GARNET had trouble beating.  But she still feels it’s her duty to be the responsible adult and defend the children…but then, I think she’d have a bit more confidence in their abilities if she’d actually been paying attention to their sparring earlier.

Jasper: You’re not even trying! Is it because you know you’re already a failure? You’re a quartz soldier, just like me. But you’re not like me, are you? You’re small!

Steven: Amethyst?

Jasper: Are you that desperate for troops, Rose, that you keep a defect like this?

Amethyst: Rose said…I’m perfect the way I am.

Jasper: Then she had low standards. You could’ve been me! And what are you instead? Just a joke!

Then Jasper seems ready to shatter Amethyst, so Steven and Connie jump in.

Jasper: You fused?

Stevonnie: Woah! I did.

Jasper: You Crystal Gems would even fuse with a human?

Stevonnie: I don’t want to hear anything you say – unless it’s “sorry”.

It’s the moment I was waiting for ever since Connie started learning to fight: Stevonnie enters the fray.  ON LION’S BACK!

Stevonnie: Wait here. I’ll protect you.

BLESS THEM.

They poof the other monster (which Jasper had been using as a mount) with ease, making Jasper very angry.  And then Amethyst reforms.

Amethyst: Steven, Connie, I’m back! Everything’s gonna be fi-

Jasper: Fusion, fusion! It’s always fusion!

Stevonnie: Are you ready to apologize?

Jasper: This was just a warm up. Get ready for next time, Rose! Jaspers don’t give up! Jaspers keep going, until we get what we want.

And then she returns to the sea from whence she came.

Steven: You’re back!

Connie: You’re okay!

Steven: Thank goodness!

Amethyst: Uh, thank you guys!

Steven: Did you see us?

Connie: It was just like you said! You were in trouble, and we just had to fight!

Steven: Everything we knew just came together!

Connie: We fused!

Steven: We won! I can’t wait to tell the others!

Amethyst’s new forms tend to say a lot about her, not because she thinks really hard about them, because she doesn’t.  Garnet and Pearl try their best to be stylish and functional, but Amethyst usually just wants to get back to whatever she’d been doing – like “saving” Steven and Connie (hence the white shirt).

Amethyst: Oh, good. You didn’t need me at all.

Jasper’s taunts got to her, and she knows she’s not as physically powerful as she “should” be, which is all that matters to Jasper.  But she did manage to turn the tide in other ways; protecting Amethyst was the motive they needed to really step up and fight off Jasper. Her advice about taking it easy was also pretty helpful for Steven and Connie, since they were refreshed and also got to spend more quality time together, which I’m sure is a state more conducive to fusion.

Next time: Steven vs. Amethyst…