Chapter 1

October 26, 1962. The Cold War is in full swing with the Americans, Soviets, and now the Cubans all aiming their nuclear weapons at each other.
As the dark cloud of World War Three seemed to be drawing closer each day, the Crystal Gems had been busy fighting off waves of crystal beasts that were emerging out of the ocean.
The beast were in a panic, the threat of nuclear annihilation more present than ever, the beasts did the only thing they could think of; run.
The Crystal Gems had already slain many of the creatures, but more always filled the ranks. Reaching the third hour of combat, the gems were growing tired.

"There is just no end to them!" an exhausted Pearl exclaimed. She ducked as a spider like beast sprang towards her.

With a loud crack, the spider beast was crushed by Garnet. She then charged and leapt into a mass of the creatures, slamming her fists into the ground to cause an explosive shock wave.

"Keep up the pressure!" she ordered as bit and pieces of crystal fell around her. "They have to weaken sooner or later!"

"Yeah, sooner sounds better!" the young Amethyst laughed over the fray, her whip cutting through the air.

Suddenly, the ground shook and buckled. Out of the ground burst a massive Centipeetle Queen.
With a loud screech it began to attack and thrash at everything near it, gem or monster.
Before the gems could come up with a plan of attack a large beam of pink light cut through the centipeetle and swept down the wave of monsters, vaporizing them. Once the light faded, the three gems turned towards the light source. Sanding proudly next to the still glowing Laser Light Cannon was Rose Quarts.

"Rose, thank the heavens you're here!" Pearl exclaimed joyfully at the sight of their powerful leader.

"Yeah, you made it just in time!" Amethyst said with a wide grin. "Plenty of monsters to go around!"

With a bright pink flash, Rose summoned a sword and shield and rushed to join her comrades.

"We must hold them here!" she shouted in a loud commanding voice. "Those creatures must not be allowed to reach the mainland!"

Just as Rose had rallied the gems, the ocean began to swell and writhe with the movement of an impending attack.

"I don't think I need to tell you what happens if we fail!" Rose stated firmly, her sword and shield raised. The gems all nodded in agreement.

"No more Beach City," Garnet responded, her gauntlets shimmering.

"I like Beach City," Amethyst growled angrily, uncoiling her whip.

"As do I," Pearl added as she readied her spear. Suddenly, hundreds of crystal monsters came stampeding out of the ocean and straight for the city, with the gems being the only thing standing between them. The gems steeled themselves for what would surly be their largest and most dangerous battle of the century.
Before the gems could charge the monstrous horde, two F-4 Phantoms screamed across the sky.
They swooped in low and dropped a cluster of bombs across the wave of monsters.
Like something out of a nightmare, the bombs detonated into a wall of fire and smoke. The force of the blast threw the gems back against the beach.
A loud collective wailing echoed from the burning horde. After the ringing in her ears stopped, Pearl managed to push herself off of the ground.
She was aghast at what she saw in front of her. The monsters where writhing in agony as the intense heat softened and shattered their bodies apart.
A thick, ink black cloud of smoke bellowed ominously above them, like a massive funeral pyre.

"What the heck was that?" Amethyst shouted as she held her stinging ears.

"Napalm," Rose answered calmly, brushing the sand off of herself. "A human weapon of war."

"If they have crap like that, then why do we still need to protect them?" Amethyst asked bitterly, earning a smack on the back of the head from Garnet.

"Somethings can't be destroyed by their weapons," Garnet said flatly.

"That's where you're wrong ma'am!" a loud, gruff voice interjected. Standing on the higher shore line stood several soldiers armed with M16s. Spread out between the groups of infantry stood four M60 Patton tanks with their guns raised and aimed at the beach.

"You might want to duck," Garnet said as she pushed Amethyst and Pearl to the ground.

"Open fire!"

As the order was given, the tanks and soldiers open fired on the still burning mass of monsters.
Automatics fired in long intervals, only stopping when needing ammunition. The bullets whittled and broke off pieces of the monsters.
The tanks fired their 105mm cannons in a thunderous chorus of destruction. Each shell blowing large chunks of crystal off of the monsters.
The gunfire lasted only about five minutes, but to Pearl, who had never actually seen these new human weapons in action, it felt like an eternity.
Explosive propelled projectile weapons, liquid fire, soulless metal siege engines, all of it was barbaric. She shook with fear whenever the tanks fired their cannons.
The commander of the platoon raised his hand, signaling the soldiers and tanks to stop firing.

"Did we fry those bitches, Lieutenant Colonel?" one of the tank drivers yelled, his head sticking out of the driver's hatch. There was a long silence, there was no longer any cries of agony. The creatures were dead.

"Yeah we fried em' up good!" the Lieutenant Colonel announced loudly. He was met by a loud "Oorah" from the rest of the soldiers.

"Alright, men, I want a perimeter set up around the beach!" the Lieutenant ordered. "If anything bigger than a hermit crab comes out of those waters, I want you to light the beach up like it was Omaha!"

As the soldiers began to set up the perimeter, the Lieutenant Colonel leaped down to the beach to meet up with the gems. All of the gems with the exception of Rose were shaken and on edge.

"Sorry about all that mess Rose," the Lieutenant said with a smile. "Talk about 'danger close'."

"It's quite alright, Lieutenant," Rose responded warmly as she straightened out her dress. "But next time, give us more of a warning, I'm not as spry as I used to be." The lieutenant laughed, being an old war vet, he understood where she was coming from. He sighed and scanned the beach until his eyes fell upon a very shaken Pearl.

"First time witnessing American firepower, Pearly?"

Pearl shot a angry glare at the lieutenant.

"T-that was, b-barbaric!" Pearl exclaimed loudly, still a little tone deaf. "Absolutely barbaric!"

The smile on the lieutenant turned into frown.

"You can call it whatever you want, Pearly," he retorted. "Bottom line is that me and my men saved your butts. So maybe you could show some gratitude."

Pearl was seething with anger. Not only did he nearly get them all killed in a drawn out and merciless show of force, he expected gratitude for it.

"Gratitude, for that?" she asked while pointing towards the still burning mound of monster bodies. "We had the situation handled with out you or your machines mucking it up!"

A spiteful snicker escaped the lieutenant's lips.

"Oh, yeah, you were doing just peachy out there," he spat. "A thousand against four. With odds like that, I guess you didn't need our help after all."

That did it, Pearl had had enough. With a fluid motion, Pearl slapped the lieutenant across the face. The slap had the force of a full grown man's punch behind it.
The lieutenant turned his head back towards the gems, his eyes piercing like daggers.

"Now you've done it!" he roared in anger, his hand reaching for his M1911 pistol. Before he could pull the trigger, or Pearl could retaliate, Rose summoned a shield between the two.

"Pearl, what in heaven's name are you doing?" Rose asked in a loud, stern voice. "This isn't like you at all!"

"Yeah, P, chill out," Amethyst interjected, surprised at Pearl's behavior.

The lieutenant stood with his gun raised, his finger on the trigger.

"My, men risk their lives to help you gems, and this is the thanks we get?" he said with a lisp due to a swollen cheek.

"I am so, so, so sorry lieutenant," Rose responded, trying to defuse the situation as quickly as she could. "I can assure you, that this behavior will not be tolerated."

The lieutenant ran his tough along the inside of his mouth, soothing his throbbing cheek. He weighed the pros and cons of trying to arrest the insolent gem.
But, he had more important things to do than bicker with a bunch of rainbow colored oddities. With an irritated tsk, he holstered his pistol.

"All of you, leave the area at once!" he ordered loudly.

"Thank you lieutenant," Rose sighed with relief. As Rose shooed the gems along the lieutenant stopped her.

"The next time that 'Pearl' pulls something like that again..." he paused to suck the saliva back into his mouth. "The next time she pulls something like that again, I'll have her dragged off in an prison transport." Rose was silent as the reality of the threat set in.

"Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear..." Rose responded in an ice cold tone.