Non-Pokémon Children of the stars

[Diamondseed345]

Ever since the incident at the rave, everything felt surprisingly peaceful, around Elliott and the other's abode at least. At this point, all of the leaves had fall off the trees,and the had continued to get lower. Elliott had somewhat been reminded of what could be claimed to be "better times." Pretending to be a dragon when his breath was visible, tomato soup during winter storms, snow angels, and trying to catch snowflakes. At least, when Lusamine wasn't trying to get him to perfect ice skating.

Hours at a time early in the morning, he'd have to practice. He wouldn't even have much of anything warm on, presumably because Lusamine didn’t want him to be weighed down.

Hours of practice in only sweatpants and a hoodie in below freezing temperatures was in no way pleasant, Elliott was surprised he didn't get sick, or worse... frostbite.

That was likely the reason he'd usually stay inside playing Hollow Knight or Project Zomboid, or just read Persepolis or Battle Royale.

A cup of Caramel coffee with a good book during a winter storm was a vibe that Elliott enjoyed, as did Peter. Usually though, Peter kept track of what was going on with Ominent. Who was being arrested, and how those who had gained drastic mutations down in Tullwend were adjusting and recovering.

Even with all those who lost their lives due to the carelessness of Ominent and to the insects down below, it seemed like hope had filled the hearts of those who made it out. Peter could remember those times he had lost hope, when it felt all was lost.

When the Javamatic was destroyed, when the attempts to brew an embiggening cell in his lab ended with total failure. He... never talked about what happened after, other than with his lab assistants. Peter thought it would be better not to think of his own failures when it came to those that survived Tullwend, and to he glad they were on the road to recovery. Besides, there were... bigger issues than his own failures and mental health.

What he and Elliott presumed to be comets, going in different directions.

They had apparently seen them multiple times throughout the week, and there seemed to be something... more to them. They weren't the green comets of the Flask Robonoids Peter was familiar with, so... just what were they? Just regular old meteors?

Could it just be... an ordinary meteor shower?

No. No... it couldn't be just a coincidence, not with everything that had been happening recently. Perhaps bringing this up to the Gems could bring an answer or two?

It was a day later that Elliott at least attempted to bring the information to the Gems, but considering they were in their quarters, and he couldn't really get them to come out... he'd have to wait.

He had gotten distracted by getting into a heavy discussion about the books that he and Steven had been reading. Apparently Connie had gotten him into a fantasy series about... familiars or the likes of that?

"So, you have any idea what Persepolis is about?"

"No I don't! What's it about?"

"Its kind of an autobiography in the form of a comic, or a graphic novel as some folks call it. Its about her life after the Cultural revolution in Iran back in the 80s, and the times she moved out. What's... the Unfamiliar Familiar about?"

"Oh, um... I don't exactly remember what the familiars are, I'll have to call Connie and-" Suddenly, the ground almost seemed to shake for a few seconds, and a sharp whistle could be heard. But it seemed to end as soon as it started, and everyone came running out of their rooms as Elliott was about to speak. Amethyst seemed the most stressed.

"What the fuck is with these things!? This is like the fifth one this week!!"

"We'll find it in the Sahara, c'mon!"

"Wait, Sahara-" Elliott couldn't finish as Steven grabbed his hand and sprinted for the Warp Pad, just as the other three teleported who knows where.

They appeared on the other side in a blisteringly sea of dunes, to find the others giving Hell to what looked like an overgrown Flask Robonoid.

"STOP. COMING. HERE. YOU. STUPID. ROBOTS!!" Pearl yelled, trying to impale the Robonoid from its top. Meanwhile Amethyst had been saying this Elliott would wish he rather hadn't heard.

"Guys, guys stop!" Steven yelled, running over, with Elliott almost face planting into the sand behind him.

"How many of these things will we need to destroy??"

"We don't know!! They just keep sending more and more and we don't even know what they are, we don't know anything!"

"That's okay, I don't know anything all the time, it's like my whole life!"

"But nobody knows what these things are here for!"

"Well... it probably does."

"What, like it's programming?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah, something like that! We could follow it and see where it goes!"

"So... it's like those rovers on Mars or something?"

"Yeah, we could follow it wherever it's commanded to go! If it's commanded that is."

"Are you freakin nuts!?"
"Who knows what could go wrong-" Then, Garnet commanded for everyone to be quiet.

"We can't fight these things forever, well we can but I don't want to. Let's... just do it Stevens way."

Steven seemed to get excited for a moment, while Elliott seemed nervous.

"We're so fuckin dead." Amethyst said.

"Well, let's hope not."

After they just about everyone limbed on, Amethyst removed the whip restraints from the Robonoid, and Garnet jumped on. "Alright big guy, mush!!"

It made a bee line towards the Warp Pad, and on the other side... was a place both familiar and foreign to Elliott at the same time.

"The Kindergarten..." Garnet said, voice filled with dread.

"Wh-why here?? This site has already been damaged enough by the Gems that were incubated here six thousand years ago, that confirms it! This thing is up to no good!" Pearl was just about to pull out her spear when Steven stopped her.

"We don't even know what it's doing here! Can't we see... where it wants to go?"

"Garnet?" Pearl asked, trying to get an answer out of her superior.

"Hm... Stevens way."

"Ugh..."

The Robonoid jumped down into the Kindergarten proper and Elliott was able to get a good view of the place. Alien machines that resembled the bacteriophage dotted the environment, some still on the wall, some on the ground. Others were on the floor, and others were completely broken, with shards of glass scattered around it's local area, with a strange crimson fluid leaking from it. How come it didn't evaporate?

Everything in the area looked... dead. The only sounds being that of the echoing wind, the Gems talking, along with the Robonoid walking. No birds singing, no insects buzzing or chirping, no hustle and bustle of human civilization.

Add to that the hundreds, if not thousands of human shaped holes carved onto the sides of the canyons. Just... how many gems were born in this place? Just how many lives had to be taken for these Gems to be born?

They were bigger than the ones Elliott had seen in the Mystery Canyons as well, both in height and width. Just... what were they trying to create here? Body builders?

"I don't like this at all..."

"I'm kinda with Pearl on this one, place is fuckin creepy."

"Oh c'mon!" Steven said.

"Don't you feel this guys funky flow? He's a funk master."

"I guess if we did it would be better for morale..." Elliott added, pulling out his phone to grab a photo or two, when suddenly... the Robonoid stopped.

"Why'd you stop little buddy?"

"Something's happening!" Garnet managed to grab them all, and jumped off the Robonoid as it reabsorbed its weird stumpy legs. It fired a bolt of green energy into the ground, making a square shaped hole, then took on the shape of an upside down Pyramid as it descended.

"See? I knew we'd find something cool!" Steven said, jumping in seconds later.

"Hey, wait!!" Elliott was the second to jump in, then the others in tow.

"Hey guys! Going down?"

Strange machinery lined the stone walls, seemingly going every which way.

"Are you guys okay?"

"What is all this?" Pearl asked

The Robonoid turned elevator stopped at what looked like some kind of control room, and it's bottom part seemingly... turned to fluid? The room lit up in soft green light before the fluid congealed into a Flask Robonoid, and it crawled onto what could only described as a handprint scanner. It used its multiple legs in place of fingers and managed to activate the so called control room even more. A screen like hologram was projected, and on that screen... was Peridot.

Almost all of them gasped, and hid where the screen presumably couldn't see them.

"Established Gem projection link with control room. Plug Robonoid has successfully landed on Sol three... Planet Earth, and entered Prime Kindergarten control room in Facet five. Will proceed to perform status check of Kindergarten."

"It's Peridot... the fuck is she doing??"
"Is she trying to reactivate the Kindergarten??" Pearl said in a whisper.

"Why don't we ask her?" Everyone proceeded to shush Steven.

"Steven." Garnet said. "We're facing an enemy we don't know, with technology we don't understand. This isn't the time to be asking questions."

"Really sounds like it is..."

"Well we aren't just gonna ask questions to a hostile alien!!" Elliott whispered.

"Okay here's the plan. We can't let her see us, so we wait for an opening. When she's distracted, we destroy the power source on the far wall. Steven. Stays. Here. Elliott, with us."

Elliott nodded, as did Amethyst, and Pearl nodded reluctantly.

Meanwhile, Steven had been climbing up to the main control room, which was quite easy due to his status of being 7'4.

"Steven!!"

"Now accounting for all operational injectors, checking for aberrations in perimeter." Large, hand like machines were interacting with the screens of the control room, and Steven had to duck to avoid being hit by them.

"I swear, this gem tech is simply archaic..." As she said that, black cylinders came mostly of the wall.

"I dunno, I think it looks pretty cool." The machines stopped what they were doing, and the screen reappeared, along with a shocked Peridot.

"Hi! I'm Steven."

Peridot had a look of confusion on their face for a moment, before glancing at their weird hand computer.

"There appears to be an infestation of "Stevens" in the Kindergarten."

"Nah, I'm not so bad once you get to know me."

"And how many more "Stevens" are present in this area?"

"Oh, um... just me."

"Well, that's a relief. So tell me, have Stevens replaced... humans, as the dominant species on Sol three?"

"Oh no there's lots of humans. There's my dad, Connie, Lars and Sadie, Elliott, the mailman... Onion, I think? Lots of people!"

"Hm..."

"Now I get to ask a question. What are YOU doing?"

"Mm, just picking up where we left off." One of the crystalline hands was raised, and was about to crush Steven like a bug, when Elliott managed to jump in and get him out of the way just in time. Garnet managed to finish it off as the rest jumped in.

"Wha- Gems!? The Red Eye didn't report the presence of Gems on this puddle of a planet!"

That's because WE destroyed it!" Pearl yelled.

"Hold on you did wha-"

"You what? But the records say that all Gems on Earth were wiped out! Wait a minute... you're the ones who've been destroying my Plug Robonoids! Are you the reason the Homeworld Warp is down AGAIN?? Is THIS your bizarre icon??" She pulled out the waffle sticker in some kind of display case. "WHY do you keep destroying my things!?"

"Because we are the Crystal Gems!! We're still alive, and still the guardians of this planet!!" Pearl said, pointing her spear at the display, with Elliott pulling out his staff in the Process.

"The Crystal gems? Wai-" They all proceeded to attack the machines, while Steven just stood there, watching the chaos.

"HOW DARE YOU!! I'm doing this one way or another! You're just making it really... difficult!! Hold on-"

She had her eyes on Elliott, and attempted to grab him with one of the crystalline hands, but he managed to jump out of the way just in time.

The Ancient Diamond Authority insignia on the Staff, along with the... Diamond shaped pupils?? Was this Whi-

Amethyst swung one of the fists around with her whip, and managed to destroy an essential console, breaking the connection. Elliott was out of breath.

"Is... is it over?" They all proceeded to look right at Steven.

"Alright... I may have gone a little too far this time."

"Well, you weren't completely wrong. We discovered a new threat because of your decisions. But this was a pretty bad idea overall."

"Heh, you're telling me Garnet... I could seriously use a nap right now."

"You and me both." Elliott said.

Chapters end.
_____________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

Elliott had been doing everything he could to keep his mind off of what had been happening recently, and somewhat didn't know what to do. Peridot had tried to reactivate the Kindergarten, he and the others had barely been able to stop her. What was she going to do next?

The mere thought had started to keep him up at night. He had started becoming more sluggish, and on more than one occasion he was found asleep at his computer.

One time, Peter had come back from a night on the town to find Elliott dozing away with his head on the keyboard. He had reached the City of Tears in Hollow Knight, and the music of the area.

The hauntingly beautiful melody of a woman singing mixed with the sounds of a piano and the rain from the leaking lake in the cave above... no wonder he had conked out here.

He had gone through his own supply of Caramel coffee in just about a week, and had stayed vigilant for trouble. When he wasn't binging Hollow Knight, he was outside, with his staff in hand and binoculars in the other, keeping an eye on the sky.

No more Plug Robonoids nor comets, just regular planes and the occasional helicopter. After all the shit that had been happening, did it all just suddenly... stop?

Peter had grown increasingly concerned with how Elliott had been acting, considering that he had gone through, and had suggested they have a day out on the town. Nothing significant, just grabbing some fry bits or grab some donuts or the likes of that. Perhaps grab an Air fryer to cook fries of their own? Peter was up for anything really.

They had gotten Earl to come along with them, and when they got down to the town, it almost seemed that Elliotts anxiety was practically melting away, but then...

What could only be described as an earsplitting fog horn could be heard all over the city, and Peter froze as it started.

"GET DOWN!!" He yelled, tackling Elliott to the ground, just as the windows of the nearby buildings shattered and the ground began to shake. Earl had crouched down and had her hands behind her neck. But just as soon as the earthquake began, it had ended just as abruptly. They were left on a boardwalk covered in shattered glass, confused. Distant car alarms as well as burglar alarms began to blare, and for a few seconds Elliott was unable to comprehend what was happening.

"What the fuck was that!?"

Earl was the first one to see it as she got up. What looked like a hand floating distantly in the sky, one that looked... distinctly artificial. Clusters of crystals were growing on its knuckles, and it was... pointing at the surface? Peter seemed as if he recognized it immediately.

"Oh no..."

"Um... is that what I think it is?"

"That's exactly what you think it is!! We need to get the others!!"

Peter immediately grabbed Elliotts hand, and began sprinting towards the temple with Elliott in tow. Earl had been running alongside them, and was only staring at what must have been some kind of spaceship.

As they got closer, they could see bolts of blueish energy being fired at the ship, which it simply opened its hand up properly to shield from the bolts with its palm.

"Are you kidding me!? We can't do anything to it??"

"What even was that!?"

"They're trying to shoot the ship down!? I don't know!!"

When they made it to the beach, they could see what looked like turrets that looked... ancient. A crystalline ballista that looked as if it were about to crumble, and a multitude of canons that looked as if they were about to break. Did they all come from the war to drive the Diamonds off the planet?

Peter looked as if he was about to pass out when he reached Garnet.

"Please... tell me those are just pirates or mercenaries!"

"That's unlikely." Garnet said. "Lapis said she'd be coming back with reinforcements. That ship... likely has those reinforcements."

"So is there about to be an invasion of some kind!?"

"We aren't sure, but the ballista and light cannons had no affect on it, we'll have to take them head on."

"Like... conventional warfare or the likes of that?"

"If that's how you see it, then yes, add to that fact that the whole town might be in danger. Steven has already made an attempt to contact the authorities and have them evacuate the populace."

Suddenly, a siren that was meant to be used for waterspouts on the coast began to blare, adding to the cacophony of distant alarms.

"Seems that he succeeded."

Elliott and the other two made attempts to help people evacuate and pack their bags, especially Greg who... wanted Steven to come along. Elliott could understand somewhat, he didn't want his son to be harmed by... whatever was going to crawl out of that ship.

Peter could understand the most out of all of them. There were young children he wanted to protect in Tullwend, some that he... failed to protect. The memories of a child dying in his arms after a Fire ant attack were still fresh, he couldn't let anything of the such happen again.

He wanted to evacuate as well, due to fears of what would happen if whoever or whatever was on that ship were to catch him... what would they do to him?

Shatter him?

Rejuvenate him?

Just give him to another gem and let them do god knows what to him? He didn't want to know, and felt like running would be his best option.

Elliott truth be told, wanted to run as well, yet he felt like he shouldn't. If he, White Diamond, was supposedly the Supreme Leader of all Homeworld Society, couldn't he just tell whoever was in that ship to stand down? Would they just stop if he gave himself up? Best not to think about that, ordering them to stand down might work.

A stupid, and possibly risky idea, but he had a plan B to rely on if that didn't work.

He'd have to decide very soon, as the ship only continued to get closer, and illuminated the surrounding area in a bright green color. Pearl and Amethyst had by then fused into a new gem, Opal in a last ditch attempt to bring down the ship. A fusion even taller than Steven and his own recent fusion that had used a weapon not too different to the ancient ballista used only hours earlier.

A bow and arrow designed for the use of an individual with four arms. Sure, it could be used by a normal gem or human, but with four arms, it could be used to the max of its capabilities.

As the ship drew closer, Opal drew the bowstring back, causing a blue bolt of energy to form.

"Fire!!" Garnet yelled, causing opal to release the bowstring, sending the boly soaring through the air. The bolt proceed to split into a flock of much smaller arrows, and when they all made impact... nothing.

Nothing but metallic clanging as the arrows made impact, leaving not even a dent.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Elliott yelled, completely shocked to the fact the ship wasn't damaged.

Garnet however, remained undeterred.

"At least Steven is safe..."

"Yeah, I don't know about us though..." Peter's voice was unsurprisingly shaky. He was scared, and was standing behind Elliott as the ship continued its approach. Elliott was shaking somewhat as well, but not as much. He wasn't confident that his Diamond heritage would keep him safe, but he felt that there was at least one small chance it could work?

But just when the ship was going to make landfall...

"Hey guys!!" A familiar voice yelled, tired and slightly excited.

It was Steven. Why the hell did he come back!?

"Why the- what are you doing here kid!? It's dangerous!!"

Opal unintentionally unfused, and Pearl told him to get of here.

"Get away while you still can Steven!!"

"It's too late!" Garnet yelled. "Just stay behind us!!"

The ship flew to a position so it was just about above the water, and opened its palm.

The tips of its fingers hit the shore, and sand was sent flying all over the environment, even part of the ship itself. The Gems stood their ground, and Elliott used his staff in an attempt to not be blown away, while Peter held onto his shoulders.

The silence that followed was palpable, as a bubble similar to what Elliott and Earl once traveled around the west coast in emerged from the center of the ships palm. It floated onto one of the fingers, which then fell onto the sand below.

It was Peridot, and someone... else? They had a build similar to that of Earth Bodybuilders, along with a cloak that screamed high status. They even had a kite shaped gemstone in place of a nose, and like all Homeworld Gems Elliott had seen before, had a Yellow Diamond emblem on their bodysuit.

"That's them alright, they're the ones who keep breaking my machines!" Peridot yelled.

The high status gem was unimpressed.

"This is it?" They sounded... incredibly bored.

"Jasper! They keep interfering with my work!!" Jasper sighed, and stepped forward.

"Looks like another waste of my time." She said, grabbing something behind her.

"Get over here!" She said angrily, pulling another gem into view. She wore a long skirt, and wore a crop top, and had short blue hair. Steven could recognize her immediately. This was... Lapis. The Gem that caused the supposed "low tide." She pulled herself out of Jaspers grasp, and her eyes went wide upon seeing Steven in the crowd before her.

"This is their base?"

"Yes..."

"You need to leave, immediately!"

"Yeah, fuck off!!"

"This is not a Gem controlled planet! Humanity rule this world!" Pearl yelled.

The three Gems jumped down from their ships, and Peter gasped upon seeing Jasper. He... recognized her.

"Neither of you saw Rose Quartz? Tch, what a shame. I was looking forward to beating her into the ground!!" Steven cringed at the thought.

"And this is all that's left of her army? Some defective pearls, that puny overcooked runt, and THAT shameless display?"

"And what is that?" She asked, pointing at Steven.

"It calls itself, a Steven."

"He's just a human, he isn't a threat at all! He's not one of them!!"

"I know what a human is, you don't need me for this. Just blast them with the ship.

"Ugh, fine."
Peridot activated her hand computer, and the ship rose into the air, taking a finger gun stance. Energy began to collect around the tip of the finger, and the gems all spread out

"Steven, get out of here!!"

"No!"

"Are you serious kid!?" Elliott yelled, with Peter holding his hand tightly while they ran for cover. Garnet kept her stance.

"I won't let you risk your life!!"

"But this is my home, and you're all my family!!"

"Firing."

"I'm, I'm a Crystal Gem too!!" Steven jumped behind Garnet just as the ship fired its gun, and when the combination of light and sand dissipated... Elliott could see that Steven had formed a massive shield.

"You- you have the power of Rose Quartz!!"


"Now do you believe I needed an escort??"

"Fire a barrage, wide spread!!" Elliott ducked back into cover, as a large laser swept through a large area. Garnet managed to tackle Steven and get him out of the way.

"Rose, why do you mock HER by looking like that?? Why are you so weak??"

"Don't hurt him!!" Lapis yelled.

"You knew about this!"

"It wasn't relevant to the mission!"

"Forget about that, Yellow Diamond needs to see this... thing."

Garnet rushed Jasper as she was about to grab Steven by the shirt collar, and managed to parry an attack by suddenly forming a helmet, knocking Garnet back.

"Steven run!!"

"Prime the Gem destabilizer." Jasper said, pulling out what looked like a fork with electricity flowing in between the prongs.

Elliott was about to run in, when Garnet was hit square in the chest with this so called "Destabilizer" but froze from what he saw.

Yellow circuitry spread throughout her body and she just... started falling apart! Parts of her limbs started coming off, and yellow light could be seen inside, and her physical form became a cloud of gas. All that was left were two gems in her footprints, one red... and one blue.

"I was there you know, at the first war for this... disgusting excuse of a planet." She said, grabbing Steven by the neck. He was trying to get out of her grasp but... she had an iron grip.

"I fought against your armies. I respected your tactics. But this... this is sick, looking like the Diamond you SHATTERED. How DARE you mock her!!"

"Unhand him!!" Pearl yelled, running with spear in hand.

"I don't get what you're planning Rose, but look. Your base is taken. Your armies are ruined. You have FAILED!!" The helmet evaporated, and Jasper straight up headbutted Steven right in the face, knocking him out cold.

"STEVEN!!" Pearl yelled, running more frantically.

Both Amethyst and Pearl were subdued with ease, leaving Elliott alone. Elliott was spotted easily by Jasper but... she wasn't hostile?

"White Diamond..."

She went to approach Elliott when an earsplitting boom could be heard. Jasper only seemed startled, as there were only scratches on her chest and... Earl could be seen, wielding a shotgun.

"You think that is going to bring me down??" Jasper yelled, running at Earl, as she continued to rain hellfire on the high status gem, and destroyed her physical form with one blow.

"EARL!!" The two yelled, and Elliott ran at Jasper, loosing the fear he once had.

She managed to grab Elliotts arm, causing his staff to dissipate.

"I don't understand White Diamond. Why... did you do what Rose has done? Why are you fighting? Do you remember who you are??"

"I-"

"Nevermind that, Yellow and Blue could possibly bring you back..." she grabbed Elliotts other arm, and brought him to Lapis and Peridot, who she handed him to.

Peter didn't know what to do. He couldn't just sit there and watch as everyone... even Elliott was captured, he had to act.

He summoned his trident, and charged.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!!" He yelled, charging at Jasper. Experience with battling the Mant back in Tullwend told him he could take on Jasper... he was dead wrong.

She grabbed his trident, and crushed it to make it dissipate, and grabbed him by the neck.

"THIS is where you ended up 7L2? On this puddle? I should have known a DISGUSTING example of a pearl like you would have ended up here. Here I thought a convert would be exotic... maybe you still could be."

She put two fingers between the pearl in his eye, and... pulled it right out as he was screaming. His form turned into a cloud of gas, and Jasper stood there staring at the pearl in her hand.

"They would want me to shatter you... but I have another idea..." she collected Earls Pearl, and approached Lapis and Peridot.

"Knock her out, she won't want to come home if she's organic. I'll deal with Rose.

One of Peridots weird floating fingers flew infront of Elliotts face, and proceeded to zap him right on the gem... causing everything to go black.

Chapters end.
______________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

It felt as if he was laying on concrete. Elliotts head hurt, and his mouth felt like a desert. The room around him was humid, and the walls, and condensation was scattered across the floor, walls, and ceiling.

Elliott could remember this place... he'd only been in there once or twice, but the memories were ingrained in his head. They had experimented on him here... many years earlier, one of their many ways to test how durable he was. This... was to test how well his respiratory system would last with different... fluids.

Oxygenated fluorocarbons first, to test it and so he wouldn't drown. Yet it seemed they didn't care anymore when they used water, even now.

Unseen pipes around the room began to open, and ice cold water began to flood the room, Elliott immediately got to his feet.

"Mother!! Let me out!! Mother!! Doctor!! Someone!?" The water continued to rise, and was now up to his pelvis.

"Please!! I'll be good, I won't question you again!! I swear, please!"

Still no answer, the only noise being that of rushing water.

The water only continued to rise, with more pleading from Elliott, until he was completely submerged.

He held his breath, hoping he would be able to wait until they drained the room, but unfortunately... he had never been able to hold his breath for long.

But just as he involuntarily breathed in a whole bunch of water, as the walls came down and the environment lit up.

The water had been drained, and Elliott was left in a greyscale void, coughing up water on the floor before a familiar figure.

The light was dimmer than the last time he had seen... her, and he could make out many more of her features, there was no mistaking it. This was White Diamond, in her flawless, elegant glory.

She wore a cloak similar to Jasper, though this time with a pattern similar to that of stars, same with her hair. What could be presumed to be hair was shaped like some kind of star, and her pupils were pitch white. With how lightly colored her irises were, it could be presumed that her eyes were completely glazed over.

"You have a long way to go Starlight." She said in a condescending tone, all the while Elliott was still having his coughing fit. After awhile though, Elliott managed to stand up, albeit slowly.

"What... are you talking about?"

"I'm not playing this little game with you Starlight, you know what I'm talking about. Surely you can understand why it would be better for the both of us if we returned to Homeworld?"

"How the hell would it be better for the both of us if we returned?! I've never wanted to get involved with the Diamonds! I don't care if I have your gem or whatever, not if it means doing what we've done to countless planets! How could we... how could we even allow such a thing?? We almost destroyed the human race, and all those countless civilizations... how could we do something like that? How could anyone do something so..."

Then, White Diamond laughed. A wicked... empty sound, full of contempt, that echoed through the greyscaled void.

"Doing what others cannot has always been what a Diamond is for, it was why and how we formed our perfect empire. Doing what those below us are in no way capable of doing may be our purpose, but on the contrary... you are incapable of fulfilling your very purpose I had bestowed upon you. In no way is that your fault... unlike Pink, she failed to serve her own purpose as well."

"You had some kind of purpose for me?? What was it??

"Your old purpose does not matter, what does matter is your current one. As I said, you have a long way to go, and much to learn."

"Learn? What on Earth do you want me to learn!?"


White Diamond didn't answer, and faded from view, and the void faded to black moments later.

He woke up in what looked like some kind of cell, laying on the floor. His head still hurt, and his mouth was still dry, but that was besides the point.

The environment was the same green color as the outside of the ship, and a destabilization field seemed to be used instead of bars or a reinforced door like a human holding cell.

"What was... what was all that?"

He could hear distant vocalizations of what sounded like some kind of song, when the memories of the events that led up to him being held here came back.

Peter screaming as the pearl in his eye socket was pried out was still fresh on his mind, and gave him one goal.

Elliott had to find him, and hopefully the others as well. Thankfully, due to past experiences he knew how to get out of his cell. Just walk through the destabilization field, but even that had its downsides. Such as, the destabilization fields giving him seizures whenever he passed through them. Never the less, he had an idea.

Though for a moment he contemplated at what White had told him. Would it really be better to return to Homeworld? He couldn't tell how they would react to a human claiming to be White Diamond, but if he had her gem, would that mean by all technicalities he is White Diamond? It couldn't be a good idea to run with a technicality, so what if they didn't care about that?

Would they kill him? Do whatever they had done to Peter?

No. He couldn't go with them


"Alright..." He said, taking a deep breath.

"One... two... three!!" He leaped through the barrier, and white circuitry could be seen all over his body spasmed on the floor as he made impact. The seizure only lasted a few seconds however, as his limbs stopped shaking and he was able to stand back up. Oddly, he didn't have to dust himself off, as there wasn't even a speck of dirt on the floor.

Did they clean the ship regularly, or did they just not track dirt in? Questions for a later time, as Elliott brought out his staff, and began walking down the halls of the ship. Yellow piping could be seen on the ceiling, connecting to the cells and contrasting the constant green color.

After awhile, there was an actual change in scenery, not an occupied cell, but... a window to the outside.

Earth could be seen far below, as well as a distant Moon. He could see the lights of civilization on the continents down below, and a brief thought entered his mind. Could he possibly see the ISS from here? He could somewhat see the huge supply of satellites, which were but tiny dots as they made their orbit around the planet.

"Don't think of that now... you gotta find the others." He said, walking away from the window.

He ventured further into the ship, hoping to find more occupied cells when... along with the ever louder singing, were footsteps that weren't his own.

He half hoped that it was Steven, that he possibly found a way to escape wherever he ended up, but he couldn't take that risk.

He stood against the wall, hoping that whatever was coming wouldn't see him, and it turned out to be Peridot and Jasper.
"We can't leave yet! The whole point of coming here was to collect White Diamond and check on the cluster!" He could hear them stop, along with the sound of a loud impact. The singing suddenly stopped.

"Stop singing damn you!!" She paused for a moment, trying to calm down. "Rose Quartz and her Radiance take priority. Get back to the bridge, and set a course for Homeworld!!"

Peridot then passed by Elliotts hiding spot again. "Go to Sol three they said. It'll be easy they said. Earn a Pearl they said..."

He rushed over to the cell where the singing came from, and it turned out to be a Gem that he hadn't seen before. She was short, and had long light blue hair, and a dress that reminded him of the Aristocrats of yore. Yet... she was strangely familiar?

"Hey... are you alright? I can get you out!" Elliott whispered.

"You escaped." She paused for a moment, as Elliott cautiously placed an arm through the barrier. Surprisingly, he didn't end up having a seizure, perhaps because he didn't stick his head through?

"Thank you Elliott..." the Gem said, passing under his arm.

"Anyti- wait. How'd you know my name?"

Suddenly, they could hear distant yelling, along with rapid footsteps. "Sapphire!!"

"We have to go!" Sapphire grabbed Elliotts hand, and went at a speed he'd never seen anyone run at, making him drop his staff in the process.

They near some kind of central hub with a three triangle symbol Elliott had become acquainted with. On the other side of that hub, was a red Gem around the size of Sapphire. They had longer curly hair, but not as long as Sapphires, along with a bandana. Steven had been towering behind them, and even at this distance a black eye was visible. How the hell did Jasper leave him with only a black eye??

"Ruby!!"

She let go of Elliotts hand, and ran into the central hub towards Ruby, as did Ruby, and they embraced eachother in the rooms center.

"Did they hurt you?"
"No, no. I'm okay. Did they hurt you?"
"Who cares?"
"I do."

Sapphire had leaned in for what Elliott presumed to be a kiss, and then... they began to dance. Dancing and laughing, until a white light engulfed them both, and out of that light... Garnet was formed, still laughing.

"Steven! Elliott! Thank you..."

"You're a fusion??"
"How did I not notice that??"

"I'm sorry! We didn't want you to see us like this."

"Did I make a good first impression?" Steven asked

"Steven... we already care about you."

"WHERE IS SHE!?" A faint, angry voice yelled.

"It's Jasper... you two, go find the others. I'll handle her."

"Don't you need a hand? You kinda... fell apart back there."

"Trust me, I can handle myself. I'm never alone..."

"How will we find the others though?" Steven asked. "We don't have a map!"

"You'll see." She placed a hand on his forehead, and a faint hum could be heard for a moment. Afterwards, Steven looked like he knew where to go.

"Future vision..."

He ran off, with Elliott not far behind. They ended up on what felt like the opposite side of the ship, and had found Amethyst and Pearl, but oddly... Peter and Earl weren't there.

"Where's Peter and Earl??" Elliott asked.

"I..." Steven placed a hand on his forehead for a moment. "I didn't see them here!"
The two then had an idea.

Steven frees Pearl and Amethyst and attempt to take control of the bridge, while Elliott would attempt to find Peter and Earl.

"Alright, sound like a plan guys?"

"Anything to keep away from you." Pearl said.

"Hey, why're you such an ass to him Pearl??"

Elliott sighed. "Nevermind that, let's just... get to it."

The two freed Amethyst and Pearl individually, and Elliott proceeded to run out of the room to find the others. He could hear the sounds of not so distant combat as he ran through the halls, and eventually a loud crashing noise echoed through the ship. What was that? Did they crash the floor or the likes of that?

Eventually though... he found Peter and Earl oddly in the same cell, but something seemed... wrong. Elliott realized what that was when he got closer and called their names.

Peter looked at him with tears in his eyes, and what was wrong became very clear. Cracks, albeit small ones, were all around the pearl in his eye socket. They were small, unlike what Earl had, but they were numerous in number.

"My god... what did they do to you!?"

"Jasper... she... she..."
Elliott then put two and two together.

"Holy shit... thank god I arrived when I did!!" Earl was the first one to be released, and she looked different as well. The cracks on her face were the same, but her outfit had changed quite drastically. She still wore pink shorts, except these actually seemed to be a part of her body, as the shorts she once wore were all that was left when her physical form was destroyed... other than the pearl that is.

Other than that, she was wearing a vest like sweater, with a diamond shaped cutout for where her pearl was placed. She had turned almost completely greyscaled again, other than her shorts. Did she concentrate all the color she had left on them?

"You okay Earl? Did they hurt you at all?" Earl gave a thumbs up, she was good.

"Alright... hang on Peter!" Elliott placed his arms through the barrier, making a whole big enough for Peter to climb through.

He didn't expect however, for Peter to practically tackle him in his embrace.
"I... I can't describe how thankful I am... I thought she would have used me as she once did."

"Wait, what did she do?"

"It... it doesn't matter now, she... won't be able to do that now."

He paused for a moment or two, to think.

"You've been so good to me... I... I don't know what to say..."

He looked at Elliott with a strange, thoughtful expression and moments later... placed a kiss on Elliotts cheak.
There was a palpable silence between the two, and Peters face turned a deeper shade of green, and he turned around to hide his face. Elliott seemed to turn slightly red

"Uh-"

"I'm so sorry! I- I don't know what came over me! I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable!" He squeaked out apology after apology, and even more explanations.

"Oh... uh, it... it's alright." Elliott didn't know what to say. "I just didn't expect-"
The ship suddenly shook and lurched forward, causing the three to almost fall on the floor.

"What was that?!"

Peter then had the sudden realization, having gone through something similar.

"The ship is going down!!"

"Wait, what??"

"Everybody hang onto something!!"

Elliott pulled his staff out, and embedded it into the ship floor as something to hang onto, as the ship continued to fall towards the Earth.

The temperature inside the ship began to rise a slight amount, as the ship began its re-entry into the Earths atmosphere, and plasma began to trail around it.

Unlike when human made craft entered the atmosphere, where the plasma would glow a red or orange color, the warships plasma was a greenish color.

What was presumably an escape pod could be seen being ejected from the ship, as it continued its descent.

Soon enough, the ship crashed not that far from Beach City, and the following explosion could be felt from miles away, illuminating the area in a bright green glow.

When the light dissipated, two bubbles could be seen, and they both were popped at the same time.

Elliott, Peter and Earl crawled out of the rubble, to see Steven and the Gems talking. From what they could hear, it was about Garnet being a fusion?

"Sounds like that was supposed to be a surprise." Elliott said.

"Y-yeah..." Peter said, still clinging to Elliott somewhat.

They were about to head down themselves, when a large, orange hand burst out of the rubble. Peter jumped back at the sight, and Jasper crawled out of the rubble without their cloak, seemingly exhausted.

"She SURVIVED!?"
"It looks like it!"

"Don't think you've won..." Jasper said.
"You only beat me 'cause you're a fusion. If I had someone to... fuse with I'd-" Jasper looked disgusted at the prospect, but then more rubble could be heard scattering.

Lapis pushed a large chunk of metal off of her, and attempted to fly away through... wings made of water?? It didn't seem to matter to Jasper though, as they ran to grab Lapis.

"C'mere you little brat! Don't you fly off on me so soon." She brought her face right up to Lapis.

"Fuse with me!"

"What?"

"Think about it, how long did they keep you trapped on this miserable excuse of a planet?" She dropped Lapis, allowing her to face Steven and the others, but not Elliott and his group.

"These Gems, they're traitors to Homeworld. They kept you prisoner, and used you in that mirror for what was it, five thousand years? This is your chance to crush them like the PATHETIC REBELS THEY ARE!!"

Lapis was silent.

"Come on... you know you want to. They trapped you in that mirror, did they not!? Don't you want them to feel all the pain that you felt being trapped like that!?"

Steven could be heard begging for Lapis to not give in... but unfortunately, that's exactly what she did. She lended her hand to Jasper, and almost immediately they were in sync with eachother and... they were both engulfed in a turquoise colored light.

The mass of light became around twenty feet tall, and a massive centaur like creature was formed from it.

Four eyes, two gems, two humanoid halves, and many dark green bands all around the body. It almost looked like some kind of Centaur, that is if a centaur had two different halves.

Elliott had summoned his staff, and he and Peter were backing away as the fusion formed a massive arm from the water all the while laughing maniacally.

It looked as if they were about to be crushed by the arm, when the arm clamped around the fusions arm, and morphed into a chain. "Huh!?" A proceeding arm of water grabbed their other arm and formed into a chain as well.

"What!?"

A final barrage of water landed on their back, forming chains around their torso. They were trying to break free of said chains, but it looked as if the ocean didn't want to let them go.

"What're you doing!?" Jaspers half yelled.
The facial expression then somewhat changed, and almost looked as if it was Lapis in control now.

"I'm done being everyone's prisoner. Now you're MY prisoner! And I'm never letting you go!!" Two final arms formed from the ocean and grabbed the fusions legs, dragging them towards the ocean.

All the while, Jasper was fighting for control and trying to break free from the chains. The face of the fusion momentarily split into two, before they almost fully submerged.

"LET'S STAY ON THIS MISERABLE PLANET, TOGETHER!!" The head went below the surface, and they could somewhat be heard being dragged into the depths.

"Forgive me for not having context but what the fuck was that!?"

Chapters end.
____________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

It hadn't been that long since the ship had crashed on the coast of Delmarva. Apparently, the resulting explosion had sent scrap metal all across the beach, and to an extent into the country side.

Elliott and Peter were trying to help clean up the wreckage, as they had enough common sense to realize that leaving the wreckage to the scavengers would be a bad idea. So when they weren't having a moment to themselves, they were lending a hand to collect its remnants. Earl had even gotten her hands on a pickup truck, so even more rubble could be collected.

It would be common sense to not leave the ship to rot, due to human activity. Very little of the population knew about war five thousand years earlier, maybe even less than that.

The ship couldn't fall into human hands, because knowing humans, we'd do something stupid with it. The opposites had outweighed the benefits as a whole, what if some kind of super weapons was reverse engineered? Even if humanity had reverse engineered some kind of spacecraft that could achieve superliminal speeds through a Alcubierre drive, there was a high chance we would attempt to make first contact with Homeworld.

Contacting the most technology advanced civilization in the Milky-Way galaxy, which just so happened to see all organic life as inferior could never end well.

It couldn't be allowed to happen.

Other than the fact that Peter and Elliotts relationship had seemed to have blossomed into something more, nothing much had happened locally.

Locally, as in nothing big had been happening in Delmarva. The governor had been ejected two years earlier, so nothing as big as an election was going on. Elliott and Peter wouldn't learn about said event until a few days after it occurred. Elliott was scrolling on CNN, trying to possibly figure out if anyone had spotted Peridot, who apparently escaped the crashing ship through an escape pod when he received the revelation.

Apparently. Schmector had somehow, gotten off Scott free in the court. In one way or another, Lusamine had taken all of the blame for the crimes or Ominent. The deaths of those in Tullwend, the drastic mutations that affected many innocent people, minus the inventions that Ominent had stolen credit for.

Apparently, he even revealed everything Lusamine had personally done to Elliott as well. Malnutrition to keep him skinny, the experiments to keep him from questioning his origins, how physical she had been. Not to mention all the experiments both he and Lusamine had performed on Elliott.

"It is still not known where the poor boy is now." The article said, making attempts to discuss Elliotts current whereabouts. "The boy ran away almost two weeks before the Directors were arrested."

"What the fuck... hey Peter?" Elliott yelled.
"Yes? What is-" Peter's eye went wide upon hearing the news. "Oh my god... how the hell isn't he rotting in prison!?" He had his hands on his head, on the brink of a fit.

"I don't think that's our only problem. With Schmector back... what if Ominent comes for us?"

"Don't be so pessimistic. We're on the completely opposite coast to Ominent HQ, and I don't think they'll come after us immediately."

"But... what if they do come after us?"

"If they do..." Peter said, placing a hand on Elliotts shoulder. "We'll he prepared, I can promise you that. But for now, I believe we should try to take our minds off of Ominent, for our sake. You wanna get something at Fish Stew?"

"... sure. Why is it called Fish Stew anyway? Feels like false advertising if it's a pizza shop."

"Beats me... at least they serve good pizza right?"

"I guess so..."

Going too and from the barn turned compound to Beach City always took awhile on foot, but it was good exercise. It never seemed to affect Peter, but Elliott was in better shape than ever. Back in Washington, the only exercise he ever really got was ice skating in the winter. He wasn't overweight or muscular, but more skinny than anything. He was healthy now, but he couldn't help but wonder sometimes.

Was he eating enough? He couldn't see his ribs anymore, but he didn't seem to be gaining anymore weight. Did he just have a fast metabolism?

While Elliott got a meatball sub, Peter just got a couple plain slices of pizza. Absolutely nothing, only cheese.

Apparently Fish Stew was serving vegan pizza with Brussel Sprouts and mushrooms, which Peter absolutely despised. Not for the fact that it was vegan, Willow was vegan from what he could remember. It was the fact that it had Brussel Sprouts and mushrooms.

He absolutely DESPISED Brussel Sprouts and mushrooms. His father used to boil Brussel Sprouts, making them smell absolutely awful. Not to mention that he had to rely on mushrooms to survive for those first few days in Tullwend.

Even if cooked over a fire those mushrooms didn't taste any better, but were only scorched. To be honest, the mushrooms tasted like shit.

They were about to eat when Elliott could feel as if someone at him, as if some psychic daggers were impaling the back of his head. He realized that he was right when he could see a familiar face on the other side of the restaurant, a guy his age named Ronaldo.

They had only chatted a couple times, and that was all that was needed for Elliott to believe the guy was an asshole. It wasn't the fact that the guy had dreadlocks, no not at all.

It was the fact that he was a conspiracy theorist that took things WAY too far. Like trying to restrain Steven a few weeks earlier because he was wearing some kind of snake outfit?

How do you even restrain someone who is seven feet tall?? And how on Earth would a costume be so convincing that this guy would believe the kid was some kind of snake person??

Elliott didn't even know how the guy hadn't been arrested, and didn't care.
The guy had been furiously typing on a computer, all while glancing back at him and Peter.

Elliott had enough.
"Let's just take our food to go, we have someone watching us..."

Peter paused, with the pizza slice close to his face. "Huh? Who?"

The hybrid didn't say a word, and pointed a thumb at Ronaldo. "Oh..."

They got their food put in those foam storage containers, and Peter stored them within his gem. Earl had started teaching him how to do it, and since he and Elliott usually only came to help with what had been doing on in the past few weeks, Pearl didn’t have time to do so. He never really had to use that ability in the service of higher gems, so he didn’t know how to do it. Not even that creepy Ruby on Upsilon-9.

They both thought they would just head back home with their hand in the others to enjoy their food, when they heard a car on the road, along with a familiar voice.

"Yo Ellie!!" It was SC, in a car with a couple of his buddies. Elliott had gotten somewhat acquainted with SCs friend group, but not completely. Buck seemed more like a hipster and seemed like the most lax of the bunch, despite the pressures of being the son of a politician.
Sometimes he would even smell like Marijuana, like the public bathrooms of gas stations when Elliott was still out west.

Jenny was the one behind the wheel, and had Black Sabbath playing on the radio. From what he had heard, she seemed to be a bit of a daredevil. Not even afraid to do anything illegal, that is if it was more of a victimless crime. Trespassing and all that.

"Oh hey SC, what's up?"

"We're headed to a party few miles outside of town. Saw you over here and wondered if you would want to come along?"

"Wait, you know this guy Sour?"

"Yeah, he's a buddy of mine. Runs a Tumblr blog, genuinely has a good vibe to him."

"And you want to bring him along with us when the rest of us don't know him?"

"I know him." Buck said. "He's chill."

"Alright, fine. Think we got space for your boyfriend too!" Jenny said, pointing out the fact that Peter and Elliott were holding hands.

"He's not my- wait... are we boyfriends?"

Peter turned a deeper shade of green for a moment. "Well we're holding hands, and we've kinda been better to eachother than we ever have..."


"You aren't gonna say no homo are you?" SC asked.

"What? Of course not! But... I guess we're official now?"

"Yeah, guess so..."

"Congrats! So... you wanna go or what?"

"Sure."
"I don't see why not." Elliott said. "Can we stop by our place first? Wanna tell Earl we won't be back for awhile..."

After telling Earl they were headed out of town and grabbing some snacks, they were out on the open road. It was nothing like the long car rides with Brody, but it was interesting none the less. The car was a convertible, so Elliott could feel the wind in his hair, and somewhat smell sea salt. While Brody played more casual music and had empty Mcdonald's bags on the ground, there was an old pizza box on the floor.

Peter was in the middle part of the back seat, SC on the right and Buck on the left, while Elliott was in the front with Jenny.

"Smell that Ellie?" Buck asked. "That's the smell of freedom." He took in a deep breath for a moment.

"Freedom smells like pizza grease."

"Ha, that's just the car. I deliver pizzas in this alot."

"You know what food definitely doesn't smell like freedom? fish." SC asked.

"Doesn't fish just smell bad?"

"Oh boy, here we go."

"I just don't get what's with wanting to be a DJ. My step-dad was all over my case again like, rarara, ra! Like I'm just like, I don't wanna be a damn fisherman! Everyone knows you can't rave in a raincoat step-dad!"

"At least he only bugs you about one thing." Buck said. "My dad's gotta say something about everything I do cuz I'm the mayor's son. And I'm like you can't tell me what to do! I'm the mayors... wait."

Elliott shrunk into his seat a little, feeling uncomfortable with all the talk about the pressures of family. He could still remember everything that White Diamond said clearly. What did she mean... when she said he had a long way to go?

"Oh PLEASE, you guys are walking in cake with that talk. You guys don't even know what bad is until you have a sister. I don't know why I have to spell it out that I'm the evil twin and she's the good one! Don't ask me to help you with your homework, I'm at some metal concert."

"Family stuff... is a whole can of worms I'd rather not get into."

"Why's that?"

"I... have a bad relationship with my family."


"What? How?" SC asked.

"My aunt was hyper religious, and my mother... I'd rather not talk about her."

"You don't have to talk about thaAAAT! LOOK!" The car came to a sudden stop, and they were all looking around.

"What is it Sour?"

"Glooowing..." he pointed to a nearby field and mint colored light could be seen being emitted from it.

That could only mean one thing.

"We gotta check it out!"

"I'm down!" Buck said.

"Alright then, hold on!" Jenny turned around the car, and drove onto the field.
The patterns around the light appeared to be some form of crop circle, and the light got brighter as they continued forward.

"This is bright as like, six hundred glowsticks..."

"I'll say Sour."

In the center of the field, was a sizeable crater, with a Plug Robonoid like object in the center, with a spherical opening on its side. Elliott put two and two together quickly and realized... this must have been that escape pod that Garnet and Pearl were talking about.

"What... is that?"

SC went walking back ten feet, brought back a large stone, and rose it into the air. "NO WAIT DON'T-" He threw it, and all that was left was a slight scratch. "Haha! Boom!!" Almost all of them went to walk down to the wreckage, and Elliott managed to stop them. "Guys we can't just walk around this thing willy nilly! I think this might be alien technology, there's a chance its operator is somewhere nearby!"

"This biz is empty!" Jenny yelled.
"Yeah, and look at how busted it is..."

"I don't think it's a good idea to be around it either way!"

"You need to relax Peter!"

"Guys, it's not just the pod! Its pilot might still be around, and they won't be happy that we're messing with their tech!"

They didn't seem to care too much, and Jenny wanted Elliott to take a picture of her with her phone, but he said that he needed to "go make a call."


He kept a close watch to make sure SC and the others wouldn't do something they'd regret with the escape pod as he typed the number. The signal was starting to connect.

"C'mon... C'mon... pick up!"

The other side finally connected, and a dull "Hello?" could be heard.

"Hey buddy... is Garnet or Pearl home?"

"Yeah... they're here. What's wrong?"

"Well... we're a few miles outside of town, on Route sixteen, we kinda found Peridots escape pod."

"Wait, are you serious??"

"Yeah, only one problem though... Peridot is gone, and I don't wanna freak the others out."

"She's gone!? Who are you with??"

"Sour Cream and his friends and me!!" Peter yelled, loud enough for Steven to hear on the phone.

"Yeah, I tried to tell them it's not a good idea but-" A whirring noise could be heard, along with the crater becoming even brighter. Elliott looked back to see SC in the escape pod, somehow having activated it.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me!!" Peter yelled.


"Um, I don't think there's an off switch on this thing!" Spheres formed around his hands, and the pod jumped out of the crater, and was wandering towards the road.

"I'll call you back Steven, hang on Sour!!"

Chapters end.
______________________

 

[Diamondseed345]

"You don't have to talk about thaAAAT! LOOK!" The car came to a sudden stop, and they were all looking around.

"What is it Sour?"

"Glooowing..." he pointed to a nearby field and mint colored light could be seen being emitted from it.

That could only mean one thing.

"We gotta check it out!"

"I'm down!" Buck said.

"Alright then, hold on!" Jenny turned around the car, and drove onto the field.
The patterns around the light appeared to be some form of crop circle, and the light got brighter as they continued forward.

"This is bright as like, six hundred glowsticks..."

"I'll say Sour."

In the center of the field, was a sizeable crater, with a Plug Robonoid like object in the center, with a spherical opening on its side. Elliott put two and two together quickly and realized... this must have been that escape pod that Garnet and Pearl were talking about.

"What... is that?"

SC went walking back ten feet, brought back a large stone, and rose it into the air. "NO WAIT DON'T-" He threw it, and all that was left was a slight scratch. "Haha! Boom!!" Almost all of them went to walk down to the wreckage, and Elliott managed to stop them. "Guys we can't just walk around this thing willy nilly! I think this might be alien technology, there's a chance its operator is somewhere nearby!"

"This biz is empty!" Jenny yelled.
"Yeah, and look at how busted it is..."


"I don't think it's a good idea to be around it either way!"

"You need to relax Peter!"

"Guys, it's not just the pod! Its pilot might still be around, and they won't be happy that we're messing with their tech!"

They didn't seem to care too much, and Jenny wanted Elliott to take a picture of her with her phone, but he said that he needed to "go make a call."


He kept a close watch to make sure SC and the others wouldn't do something they'd regret with the escape pod as he typed the number. The signal was starting to connect.

"C'mon... C'mon... pick up!"

The other side finally connected, and a dull "Hello?" could be heard.

"Hey buddy... is Garnet or Pearl home?"

"Yeah... they're here. What's wrong?"

"Well... we're a few miles outside of town, on Route sixteen, we kinda found Peridots escape pod."

"Wait, are you serious??"

"Yeah, only one problem though... Peridot is gone, and I don't wanna freak the others out."

"She's gone!? Who are you with??"

"Sour Cream and his friends and me!!" Peter yelled, loud enough for Steven to hear on the phone.

"Yeah, I tried to tell them it's not a good idea but-" A whirring noise could be heard, along with the crater becoming even brighter. Elliott looked back to see SC in the escape pod, somehow having activated it.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me!!" Peter yelled.


"Um, I don't think there's an off switch on this thing!" Spheres formed around his hands, and the pod jumped out of the crater, and was wandering towards the road.

"I'll call you back Steven, hang on Sour!!"

SC had somehow managed to stop it, and left it standing in the middle of the road.

"How do I work this damn thing??"

"I don't know! But it might be better for all of us if you've got out of it! We don't know what it can do!" Peter said.

"No way!" Jenny yelled. "He just got it working! It alright if he takes it for a spin?"

"I keep saying, this is ALIEN TECHNOLOGY. I'm sorry, but this isn't just something we could ride in or on like it's a rodeo!"

"Alright Alright, if you say so..." Sour went to try and climb out, but upon placing his hand on the wall of the pod for support, the windshield shut.

The pod began to float into the air, and the legs were reabsorbed. "Oh fuck... everyone get back!!"

Elliott tackled Peter to the ground, and everyone jumped put of the way as the pod released some kind of shockwave.

"You alright Peter??"

"Yeah, but how the Hell is that a life pod!?"

"You two!" Elliott yelled. "Get to the car! We'll try to get him out of that thing!"

"Wait, we!? How are we-" The pod let out multiple beams of energy, one of which almost hit Elliott and the others. In the nick of time though, Elliott had formed an incomplete greyscale bubble to shield from the blast.

Thank the stars for Steven.

"To the car, now!!"


The pod suddenly launched some kind of flare into the sky, one that looked somewhat like a crop circle.

"What does that say??"

"Don't know don't care!! You guys get to the car!!"

Peter and Elliott attempted to distract the pod, as it seemed whatever SC was trying to do, it wasn't working. He no longer had control of the pod, and it had gone completely out of control. Then... a sound much different to the firing of plasma bolts could be heard, or... a voice.

It was the Gems, all with their weapons drawn

"I knew it!! That flare led us right to the escape pod!"

"Guys wait! It's not a Gem controlling the pod, it's-"

"Peridots still inside!"

"She's probably weak from the landing! Don't hold back!!"


"Guys wait-"

They didn't seem to hear him, as the three sprang into action. Pearl threw a spear at the pod, barely missing Sour Cream inside. Peter was attempting to distract Pearl, all the while Amethyst managed to grab ahold of the pod with her whip. Garnet was reeling in the pod as if it was fish in the net, and Elliott was doing his best to get her to stop.

"Garnet please!!"

He was ignored. "You've got alot of nerve taking refuge here, of all places! But I don't know where you get off of attacking defenseless humans in your deadbeat escape pod."

"It's not a Gem in there!! It's-"

"And if you think you're safe here, well I got news for you. You lost!" She reformed one of her gauntlets, all the while Elliott started shouting.

"Stay off my damn planet!!"

"Wait!!"

Elliott managed to get infront of the gauntlets in the nick of time, and Garnet paused when it was mere millimeters from his face.
"Elliott... what are you doing!?"

His breathing was heavy, and his gem... was glowing, as were his eyes. Not just his pupils either, it looked as if the pupils and irises vanished, leaving behind brightly glowing scalera.

"There's... a human in there..."

Garnet was silent for a moment, before taking action.

She pulled the pod closer, and broke it over her knee, leaving the pod broken and Sour in a puddle of mint colored fluid.

Elliott grabbed SCs hand, and attempted to pull him to his feet, getting some of the gunk on the sleeve of his hoodie. His gem had even stopped glowing and his eyes returned to normal. "You alright buddy?"

"Yeah... this stuff is fuckin gross man, I need to take a shower..."

"Yeah, and I need to wash my hoodie." As Sour walked away from the rubble with Elliott, Pearl looked like she was about to chew him out for Messi with the pod, Peter kept her from doing so. Sour had gone through enough, frankly they all had.

"So... do you still want to go to the concert?"

"Nah..." Elliott said. "I'll have to help with dealing with the scrap heap that is the pod. Could you send me photos from it though?"

"Sure! We just gotta head to an inn or something to shower, and we can keep going!"

SC and Elliott proceeded to do a small explosive fist bump, and Elliott stood on the side of the road as SC and the others drove off.

He and Peter had alot of work to do...

Chapters end.
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[Diamondseed345]

Things had started to look up for Elliott and Peter. They both had gotten part-time jobs, due to being almost out of the money that Earl had carried, so it had been out of necessity. That Greg guy did bring supplies up every now and then, but they never wanted to be burdens. Peter had introduced Elliott to Morrowind along with Minecraft, and the two had started a modded world together. Specifically together since Peter had bought his own laptop.

They had discussed starting a realm at some point, but decided not to yet in order to save money. But that didn't matter, as they still had access to servers. Surprisingly, they both interpreted the game in completely different ways. Peter just thought of it as a relaxing exploration game, while Elliott saw it as the story of the last of a sentient race. The lore was there, buildings buried in the dirt, and almost lost to the sands of time in vast deserts.

He couldn't help but wonder, what happened to the people that built them? They looked designed for beings similar to the player, yet the buildings were decrepit and sometimes overgrown. It couldn't be the inhabitants of the villages scattered throughout the world, they didn't seem advanced enough.

Even the faction of exiles that had become the most advanced known faction in the Over-world didn't seem advanced enough. They had crossbows instead of the rudimentary bows used by the undead that wandered in the night, sure. Yet he had never seen them nor the villagers sailing on those once majestic ships resting at the bottom of the ocean.

He wondered what it would be like, to be the only human left in a world ruled by the undead and other hominid species. If he had to be honest, the prospect sounded terrifying, that kind of existential loneliness. Perhaps it would be better to make a world together with Peter?

That might be the case.

One day, Elliott was trying to build a wall around a village when...

"Hey honey?"

"Yes? What is it Peter?"

"There's something that I've been thinking about for awhile, ever since Haven Point."

"Hm? What might that be?" He paused Minecraft and turned around. "Is it that that reverend was extremely creepy?"

"No, even if she was. This is something more... personal."

"Oh? What might that be?"

"Have I... told you I've been trying to reconnect with my old friends? The people I knew before Tullwend and while I was down there..."

"Oh, no you haven't. How long have you been trying to do so?"

"A few weeks. I've been kinda hesitant due to what's... become of me. I mean, what would they say when they learn I'm not even human anymore?"

"Does it really matter if you're human or not though? I mean, you're still Peter after all. Why would they care?"

"I'm just worried that... they'll be scared of me, considering the fact I've been made into an alien..."

Elliott then proceeded to grab Peter's hands firmly. "Love, you may be a Gem, but you're still PETER. Human or Gem, you're still a great person. How do you think I ended up falling in love with you in the first place?"

"..."

"You're important Peter, and I'm sure you're important to them. Why don't we do it together? I'll be with you if you get paranoid, I can try my best to explain everything."

"Alright..." Peter went and grabbed his laptop, and opened up Discord a few minutes later. He had only contacted Ally, or Hoops as she usually called herself. She had been part of a group that once dealt with fungus riddled insects and arachnids.


"Cordyceps muscaria" as the man that gave Tullwends namesake had deemed. It would sprout on the ground, or if the spores were breathed in by an insect or arachnid, it would slowly take over their body and what little brain they had. A large can of insecticide had kept the fungus from spreading for a long time, spreading a haze of the stuff in a certain radius around the lab it escaped from.

Yet SOMEONE had to plug the can with a wad of old bubble gum, and Cordyceps muscaria spread all over Tullwend. Hence forth the Fungalstompers formed.

To keep the infected arthropods from overtaking the settlements, and possibly find new uses for the fungus. Explosives packed with the unstable fungus and gunpowder?

Armor made from the exoskeleton of the infected? Antibiotics like penicillin? Well the antibiotics were more Peter's speed, along with his assistants.

Then there was Maxwell Smalls, or just Max, someone who Peter had known before Tullwend. Yet he arrived much later than Peter and Willow. Long after the battle for the Javamatic, when many settlements had been established, and when many were raised.

Yet he never stayed in one place, only staying in a settlement to clean up and to eat real food. In the time he arrived, Tullwend was a place where anarchy ruled the day. In the settlements there was law, but in the Grasslands, Fungal Wastes and Northern Jungles, anarchy was king. Highway men, Snake Oilers, and Ominent robots had become the main threat to the people due to developments the settlements made.

Realizing what had to be done, Max had formed a forced that was a bit of a mix of a Police force and an army. A militia you could say, that helped somewhat maintain order in the No man's land. Trade had never exactly prospered down in that miniature world, yet it improved by a long shot now that Ladybug drawn carriages weren't looted half the time.

Willow meanwhile, had become possibly one of the most important individuals in all of Tullwend. She helped to form a settlement underneath of a berry bush on the wall of the house. The settlement continued to grow, and eventually Willow became their leader. She was Broodqueen Branch, Queen of the spiders and of the Hedge.

They were still friends after Tullwend, yet Peter didn't know what became of them after he was abducted. Were they still friends? Did they believe Willow if she said he was literally abducted by aliens? He had recently joined a server they all were on, and had even found his old profile. It was still offline, as to be expected, since he hadn't used it in months.

Peter took a deep breath as he clicked on Willows profile... here goes nothing. He pressed the call button, and waited for what he felt would be an eternity of waiting, until...

The otherside picked up. "Hello? Who is this, why are you calling me this late?" A girls voice asked.

"Hey Willow, it's... been awhile."

"Wait, Peter??" Disbelief could be heard in her voice. "No wait... who is this? Whatever you're trying to do, this isn't funny!"

"No, wait! It's really me! Give me a moment, I'll turn on the camera!"

Peter placed the laptop somewhere convenient, and turned on the camera. "I know I look different, but... it's me!" His full face could be seen in the light... especially the pearl.

"God... I thought you were dead! Last time I saw you, you were like... being sucked into a freaking UFO!! Ho-how'd you-"
Willow sounded as if she was in complete shock, yet Peter managed to calm her down using her own methods.

"Alright... I'm sorry about that, but my question still stands. How? I saw you get abducted and the spaceship take off into the sky!"

"That's... a long story, we'd probably need... at least a half hour to explain it all."

"Hold on, we?"

"Yeah... I've, met a few new people over the past few months." He motioned for Elliott to come sit next to him, who proceeded to do so. "Hi..."

"Who is this?"

"This is Elliott, my... boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Willow asked. "Oooh, how'd you two meet?"

"He... saved me from a crashed spaceship."

"Oh, congratulations! Was it that same Spaceship that abducted you?"

"No... different one, I crashed on what I think was..." Peter took a moment to think.

"A scouting ship. One of the fastest ships the empire has to offer."

"The Empire? Are they the reason you look so... teal?"

"That's an oversimplification of things, but... yes."

"So ALIENS did this to you!?"

"Yes..."

"Have you told the others yet!?"

"No, only Ally. Max doesn't know yet, at least from what I know."

"Do you want me to contact him? I could do that if you want."

"Yeah, that... would be nice."

Soon enough, Willow Peter and Elliott had agreed to at least try and meet up, but not in Beach City. Beach City would be very inconvenient to locate, considering its location on the map, along with where the three had ended up moving.

They ended up getting legally emancipated, since they had learned to be responsible for themselves in Tullwend, and the fact that Ominent... had dealt with their families the same way that the Boggs had been handled. Max and Willow had decided to go to New Canada, and Ally in Montpelier in Vermont.

Since Peter and Elliott were in Delmarva, and the others were two states away, they came to a collective decision to meet somewhere in between.

Empire State, specifically in Empire City. The city that some say, never sleeps. Whether infront of the Empire State building, or in Central Park... they would have to decide, and they had all winter to decide.

Chapters end.
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