After crashing Greg's van during the previous episode, as Bismuth tries to fix it on the beach, Steven looks down with shame and regret from the balcony of his house while heading back inside. He is then lectured by Pearl about his powers. This sets him off and he glows pink, blocks Pearl with a barrier, tries to turn back to normal, and insists that he needs space. When Amethyst suggests that Steven come down and talk to them about his problems, he struggles to keep his powers under control and the entire living room cracks as Steven once again turns pink and shouts, "LEAVE ME ALONE!". With this furious outburst, Steven realizes that he has once again slowed down time, and uses this opportunity to leave.
Steven tells Jasper that her cave is the one place that no one would think to look for him. While at her hideout, Steven talks to Jasper about how he isn't able to go home, but she ignores that and believes he's here for a rematch. Steven tries to reason with Jasper and issues the problems he has with his powers, but she believes that his friends are the problem, thinking that they're afraid of his power, and why they're holding him back. Jasper believes the best way to deal with anger and power is by channeling it, rather than trying to suppress it like Steven does. With no one left to fight, Jasper uses her anger and power out on the trees in the forest, destroying them completely. She trains Steven to do the same, who turns pink again before he manages to punch a tree hard enough for it to crack, but kisses it to heal the damage, much to Jasper's disgust and frustration, as she notices the grass has grown back as well. She demands that Steven show her the power he displayed earlier; and once he refuses, Jasper comes rushing towards him until Steven reverts back to his pink form, creating a barrier in front of him, but is still knocked back. Fed up with Jasper's self-efficacy, Steven creates a giant hexagonal barrier and sends it towards her, who is satisfied with the results, and shatters it with a single punch. He claims that he feels better unleashing his rage, and he asks Jasper if she can continue training him to control his powers, and she accepts on the condition that they fight once more in due time.
The next day, as their training begins, Jasper climbs up a mountain carrying two boulders with her, while Steven follows her, carrying multiple boulders tied behind his back. Next, Steven goes pink, and creates more giant hexagonal barriers, and sends them towards Jasper for target punching. Then, Jasper rushes into one of the boulders she carried up with her, smashing it into pieces. Steven attempts to do the same, but with no success, face-planting right onto it. Letting his guard down, Jasper drops one of the boulders right on top of him, but he manages to save himself at the last second when turning pink and using his diamond barrier as a shield, protecting him. More boulders are aimed towards Steven, but dodges them with no warning. And when Steven needs to sleep, he has to sleep outside. The next three days follow similar routines to Jasper and Steven's training, testing each other's power, and living in the wilderness. Throughout this time, still in his pink form, Steven grows facial hair, his hair resembles a pompadour, and he is currently above Jasper's height, who is impressed at how Steven was able to manifest.
Later that day, thunder starts rumbling, and Steven, remaining in his pink form, is waiting outside of the cave, as Jasper returns with more boulders. Steven is done with the training he's done so far, and claims that he is ready for their rematch. Jasper is pleased with this, and the two begin to fight. As Steven lands the first punch to Jasper's face, she summons her helmet, now upgraded with horns on each side, and punches him back. Jasper is frustrated that Steven is still holding back, and as she pushes him to the limit by calling him "weak" and "pathetic", Steven gets back up and furiously boasts to her, "I'M NOT!!"The fight resumes, and as Steven shows to have the upper hand, he maniacally laughs as if he's enjoying the fight as much as Jasper is. Once she's surrounded by his hexagonal barriers and unable to move, Steven unleashes a giant wall made of the hexagonal barriers with spikes to it, admitting he was holding back as Jasper said he was, and sends it right towards her with brute force. The scene immediately cuts to black as it zooms in on Jasper's shocked expression, the giant wall of spikes coming towards her.
The storm gets stronger and it is now raining. Inside the house, where the Gems are waiting for him, a frantic Steven, fully normal again, rushes inside, all the way to the bathroom. Pearl shouts out to him how they've been worried and unable to contact him, but Steven doesn't respond or stop to talk. He turns on the faucet for the bathtub, and uses the remaining Diamond aura potions to heal Jasper, who was shattered into Gem Shards by the impact he caused. Steven puts the pieces of Jasper's gem back together, and as he cries, he uses his tears as the pink aura to heal it, along with the other aura potions. Successfully, Jasper has reformed, and Steven apologizes for being out of control with his powers. However, Jasper steps out of the tub, and bows down to his strength, calling Steven, "My Diamond" much to his horror.
Tropes:
- Accidental Murder: Steven accidentally shatters Jasper during their rematch, the Gem equivalent of killing someone.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Jasper is the ultimate Quartz, who thus far was able to overpower every non-fusion gem she'd faced and was only ever poofed after being corrupted. But once Steven digs deep into his Diamond power without holding back, he quickly shatters Jasper by accident.
- Back from the Dead: It's been established that shattering a Gem is the equivalent of killing them, with the fused shards creating zombie or Frankenstein-esque monsters. Steven uses a drop of the Diamonds' respective auras to heal Cherry Quartz's corruption. But here, he manages to fix Jasper's broken, shattered gem by pouring all of the essence of the Diamonds he keeps and his own tears into the tub, reforging her shards back together. Jasper even has the same pose she was in just milliseconds before she died.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Steven goes to Jasper, hoping she can help him let his feelings out. Jasper agrees if he'll fight her without holding back. It culminates in a duel that ends with him shattering her by accident. Played with in that after he repairs her, she seems happy about it and finally respects him - not that he wants to get her respect that way.
- Bicep Kiss: After Steven spends three days training with Jasper, she pats herself on the back for all the progress he's made. The now muscular Steven then kisses his bicep, and Jasper snarks that she didn't teach him to do that.
- Big "NO!": Steven manages to scream "I'M NOT!!" so forceful that it blows Jasper away.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Jasper yells "Lesson two! SHUT UP!" after kicking Steven up into the sky.
- Catch-22 Dilemma: Played for Laughs:Steven: If I stay here, will you teach me how to control this feeling?Jasper: I'm not gonna teach you unless you fight me!Steven: Well, I'm not gonna fight you unless you teach me!Jasper: Hmm, fine!
- Cerebus Call-Back: Steven desperately trying to fix Jasper's gem is a nearly shot-for-shot parallel to him cheerfully healing Cherry Quartz.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends abruptly on Steven's horrified reaction to Jasper addressing him as "my Diamond".
- Deadly Force Field: Steven spends most of his training learning to create floating shields that he launches as blunt projectiles. His ultimate attack against Jasper is a series of flying shields that pin her in place as Steven rams her with a massive spike-covered shield, shattering her instantly.
- Death Amnesia: Much like Lars, Jasper didn't experience any time passing between being shattered and having her pieces put back together, even reacting as if she was still facing the blow that did her in. Unlike Lars, Jasper quickly realizes on her own what happened.
- Death Is Cheap: Steven is able to fix Jasper's gem some time after shattering her. However, this doesn't make what he committed any less horrifying.
- Defeat Means Respect: A twisted variation. When Jasper acknowledges that Steven shattered her, she bows to him and calls him her Diamond.
- Dialogue Reversal: Jasper agreeing to teach Steven plays out just like Steven agreeing to fight Jasper in "Little Homeschool", including their excited "Really?" when the other grudgingly agrees.
- Drunk with Power: After three days of Training from Hell by Jasper, Steven noticeably becomes taller, hunkier, hairier, and off his rocker as he exploits his Diamond powers.
- Easily Forgiven: Jasper surprisingly holds nothing against Steven's Accidental Murder, and in fact acknowledges him as her Diamond for his strength.
- Evil Mentor: Steven seeks guidance on controlling his anger from Jasper, and she advises Steven to be more violent and think his friends are afraid of him.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The instant before Steven's spiked shield shatters Jasper the scene skips ahead to the temple, not that there's any literal gore to see. There's even a roar of thunder timed to when the sound of the impact would have been.
- Gray Rain of Depression: The scene cuts to depressing rain after Steven wins his fight against Jasper and rushes back home.
- Heel–Face Turn: It took a while after Jasper's implied Hazy Feel Turns in both "Change Your Mind" and "Little Homeschool", along with Jasper acknowledging Steven as a Worthy Opponent in the latter, but here, it's shown that Jasper has made a genuine Heel–Face Turn after Steven heals her Gem shards back into a single Gem, even addressing him as her Diamond.
- Immediate Sequel: The episode takes place right after the previous episode, "Mr. Universe"; it begins with Greg and Bismuth trying to fix the van while Pearl scolds Steven for putting Greg in danger.
- I Resemble That Remark!: When Pearl tells Steven that his pink outbursts are getting out of hand, Steven momentarily hulks out as he yells "It's not an OUTBURST!".
- Jerkass Has a Point: Jasper may be correct in pointing out that Steven came out to the mountains to hide from his powers.
- Laughing Mad: Steven laughs in an unhinged fashion while he gives it everything he has during his rematch.
- Little "No": Steven says this the moment Jasper refers to him as her Diamond.
- Magic Pants: Steven's shirt and jeans still fit the same as his training makes him grow, even when he has no means to change them in the wilderness.
- Might Makes Right: Jasper firmly believes in this from the get go, so when Steven is able to not only best her in a fight, but go so far as shatter her means that he is (in her mind) several orders of magnitude higher in power than her. Which is why she bows to Steven.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Steven is in a state of panic after he accidentally shatters Jasper, and desperately tries to fix her while sobbing that he is sorry.
- Not Even Bothering with an Excuse: A more violent variant; Jasper tells Steven not to smile, but he points out she smiles all the time. Instead of an actual justification, Jasper simply kicks him up into the air.Jasper: Lesson two, SHUT UP!
- Not Quite Back to Normal: After Steven repairs Jasper's shattered gem, her left horn is broken.
- Oh, Crap!: Just before Steven delivers the final blow, Jasper's Slasher Smile fades into a look of horror.
- Older Alter Ego: After Steven spends days at a time in Pink form, his body grows taller, more muscular, and gets some facial hair. Once he snaps out of Pink mode, his body returns to normal.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Throughout the series, Jasper was depicted as relentless and virtually without an ounce of fear in her. However, her reaction before Steven shattered her with a giant wall of spikes? To gasp in horror.
- Poke the Poodle: Jasper starts to aggressively rip out the grass after Steven uses a healing kiss to fix the tree he hit.Jasper: Quit helping the local ecosystem recover!
- The Power of Hate: Jasper cites her rage as bringing her focus.Jasper: I don't need to stifle my anger, or my power! I channel it into training. [...] I got no one to serve, nowhere to go. All I have left... IS POWER!!
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Steven's new Pink form has longer hair that sticks out in the front like a messy pompadour.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: A power-drunk Steven floats high in the air with a spiked shield readied to crush an immobilized Jasper.Steven: You're right, Jasper. I have been holding back.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Jasper's training wasn't entirely wrong since it could have been used as an outlet for Steven to channel his frustrations and anger without hurting anyone close to him. Not to mention how Jasper could handle herself against his Diamond power. The only problem was that Jasper's approach involved cutting Steven off from other comforting sources and pushing him to become more violent and aggressive during his training.
- The Runaway: Steven runs away to hide in the woods with Jasper after a confrontation with the Gems.
- Shout-Out: Steven gets kicked out of Jasper's cave and has to sleep outside, like Kovu had to.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: Parts of Jasper's training involved pounding Steven into the ground with a boulder, and when he's seemingly non-responsive, she simply walks off unconcerned.
- Speed Echoes: While in Super-Speed mode, Steven has pink trailing images behind him.
- Spoiler Title: "Fragments"; as in, Jasper's shattered fragments.
- These Hands Have Killed: Steven freaks out when he accidentally shatters Jasper during their rematch, and pours all of the essences of the other Diamonds into the tub in a desperate attempt to fix her.
- Teach Him Anger: Jasper encourages Steven to use his power to express anger physically, which he thought was a good way to get a handle on it, but ultimately ends up regretting.
- Time Stands Still: Steven finds himself moving faster than everyone around him when he develops Super-Speed, making it look like everything else is slower.
- Tomato Surprise: It seems that there's a Time Skip of months or even years during the Training Montage, as Steven looks taller and stronger, but it turns out that it was just three days.
- Training from Hell: Jasper puts Steven through a brutal training regime in exchange for one rematch afterward, which mostly consists of hauling around and smashing into enormous boulders for three days. Steven doesn't even get to sleep in a cave like Jasper does.
- Wham Episode: Steven, the All-Loving Hero of the show, ends up shattering a Gem, something he once thought his mother did but never have or would ever do... something he never would have done or thought he could have done before going through... all this.
- Wham Line:
- Right before he shatters her:Steven: [summoning a massive spiked wall in the air with an evil grin on his face] You're right, Jasper. I have been holding back!
- Right after she's brought Back from the Dead by a remorseful Steven:Jasper: I bow to your strength... my Diamond.
- Right before he shatters her:
- Wham Shot:
- A Drunk with Power Steven immobilizing Jasper and summoning a MASSIVE wall of spikes... with pink diamond-shaped pupils.
- After fighting Jasper, Steven rushes home and into the bathroom, ignoring the Gems as to why he's doing so. The next thing he does is dump the Diamond essences into the bathtub and the camera cuts to his jacket pocket as he pulls out shards of Jasper's gemstone.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Following Steven healing Jasper after shattering her, she acknowledges that he shattered her and responds by kneeling to him and addressing him as her Diamond, much to his horror.
