Author's Note: What happens in this story are not real events, this is merely a fanfiction including the television show "Steven Universe" and different elements of natural selection. Some of the information in this story is not entirely correct, but is still slightly true. The information was made to fit into the story, and might be a little different from the truth

The sun was barely rising on Beach City creating a dramatic effect for all the viewers there, but there weren't a lot to witness this. Only Steven Universe the half human, half gem was watching the sunset at this time, trying to calm his mind. Though Steven was focusing on one one thing, before he was born.

Before Steven was born his mother Rose Quartz was still in her physical form. Rose had given up her physical form to bring Steven into the world. By doing this she left the crystal gems. 3 gems that rebelled against their homeworld to keep Earth safe from Homeworld and Corrupted Gems. Somehow Rose thought it would somehow be better if she left this world to bring Steven, though Steven never saw it. How could Steven Universe be better than Rose Quartz, the leader of the gem rebellion, a member of the crystal gems? Steven was just a chubby 14 year old kid that was lucky enough to be raised with gems. He was barely getting used to summoning his shield. And if he could hold his shield after holding it for only a few minutes he is usually drained from his energy.

"You know Rose used to look at the sky too when she was upset?" Pearl, Rose Quartz's pearl that had always been by Rose, distracted Steven's thought and sat down next to him.

The two of them remained quiet looking at the sunrise until Steven finally spoke up. "Do you think I'll ever be as great as Mom?"

That question surprised Pearl and Steven saw it. But instead of saying something reassuring she just laughed, she laughed until there were tears in her eyes.

"Steven that is hilarious, you'll never be as great as she was. We don't even consider you part of the Crystal Gems, and I'm not even a real gem I'm a pearl, but that's okay. You will always be less than us no matter what."

"But Pearl… I thought I was a Crystal Gem," Steven's eyes were full of tears ready to burst.

Pearl let out another laugh. "And I thought I was a good Pearl, but Rose never liked me enough to stay, and left me with just you instead!"

Suddenly Pearl turned into a huge monster that looked like some sort of bird.. Steven couldn't exactly put the creature into words, but it looked like a giant white finch.

Steven was quickly out of his thought as the bird snapped at the boy with its powerful beak. As Steven looked closer at the bird, he noticed something shining in its mouth, when he looked close enough he saw that it wasn't just something shiny it was a gem. And this monster was a corrupted gem.

Steven jerked up, tears in his eyes from his raging nightmares haunting his mind.

"Steven!" Pearl was once again spying on Steven when he slept. Pearl had been doing this a lot now, and no matter what Steven couldn't get used to it.

Pearl then leaped to Steven's bed. "Steven! Steven! Are you okay? You kept on turning in your sleep and I didn't know if you were okay or if you were doing that human ritual I believe it's called dreaming. Anyways, what did it do to you, did-"

Steven was getting tired of Pearl's worries. "Pearl! I'm okay!" Steven then realized how genuinely worried the gem was. "I'm sorry for yelling, it's just I'm really tired but I don't know if I should sleep…"

"Steven, what's wrong?"

Before Steven could answer the Garnet and Amethyst entered the room with the newest crystal gem Peridot. Garnet had both her gauntlets out and looked ready to fight. One of the traits from the gem Ruby, who with Sapphire made the fusion Garnet. Next to Garnet was Amethyst with two of her whips ready for any danger. And the newest gem Peridot who was just holding a frying pan. Peridot didn't exactly know what a weapon was, all she has ever done was fix machines.

"We heard yelling," Garnet explained in her calm voice one of Ruby's traits. Even though Garnet did sound calm, her weapons were still out and still incredibly dangerous.

"Steven just had a bad dream," Pearl explained to the three gems. "But he can't go to sleep."

"I can help with that!" Amethyst said in a cheerful voice putting her whips away. "I'm great at sleeping, but I can just knock you out 'cause that's a lot easier!"

"What is the 'sleep'?" Peridot had her usual confuse face on. Peridot had not been on Earth for a long time, and didn't know a lot of Earth things. It wasn't a surprise that she didn't know what sleep is, gems didn't exactly need sleep.

"When humans sleep it's like they are recharging their batteries. Sleep is very important for them, therefore Steven should rest right away." Pearl explained to the confused green gem.

"But I can't," Steven whined.

"I know a way." Garnet finally put away her gauntlets and grabbed a chair so she could sit near Steven. "Steven have you ever heard one of our adventures with your mother?"

Steven's eyes lit up in excitement, as Peridot's did as well. "No! Are you going to tell me one?"

"Garnet I don't think that's a good idea, it will probably keep Steven up more," Pearl was always a worried mother and that would never change, but Steven really wanted to hear this story.

Instead of Steven defending Garnet, Peridot chirped in. "I think that Garnet should continue with her tale, it would be helpful with Steven, and I would like to know the story as well." Peridot whispered the last part, but everybody was knew she was excited.

"Okay then," Garnet said with a smirk, and cleared her throat.

"The Earth 182 years ago…"

"Rose I do not think this plan is fully thought through. I mean this gem can be anywhere if it's shifted into a bird, so why pick this island."

Rose let out a small laugh as she always did to reassure Pearl of something that troubled her. Rose had always been the one to calm Pearl, she had always felt a bond between herself and the pink-haired gem. But Rose was that way with everyone, so why would Pearl be special to her.

"Pearl, you know when I first met you I felt you were special, you were strong. That is the same feeling I feel with this island," Rose looked Pearl in the eye and lit Pearl's face up with her perfect smile, and her glossy pink lips. "And I feel the same way about this island, it is sure to be the winner."

"Then let's get going," Garnet said while getting on the sky blue warp pad. Garnet was always up for a fight. And that was not a problem when you were a member of the Crystal Gems.

Quickly the four Crystal Gems went onto the Warp Pad to start their journey and catch the shapeshifting corrupted gem.

The island was full of birds, each one looking the same as the last. Everyone one had the same beak, same feathers, and same diets it seems. It would take ages to find the monster. And if they found it through all the birds, they would obviously get into some type of battle.

"Rose! Rose! What are we going to do? They all look the same?" The little purple skinned gem, Amethyst, asked while getting off the warpad.

"We should destroy them all." Garnet said quite calmly while summoning her two gauntlets that can probably destroy the island with one fierce hit.

"No,no," Rose told the gems, bringing them back to peace. "This gem is corrupted and broken, so it must not shape-shift correctly. And gems do not need to eat, so it'll be easy!"

The gems then searched the island, and only found birds each looked the initial to the other. The wildlife was no help either. The height of the trees and the amount of giant leaves made it hard to scout off the birds, as well as their ability to fly. Amethyst had shapeshifted many times into a bird just to follow a few birds that weren't even the gem. Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet were getting annoyed at this until Rose proposed an idea.

"Why don't we split up there are four island, and four of us. So we'll be sure to find the gem in shorter time!"

Each of them then choose an island to search until, Pearl noticed the ship that was on the farthest island to the west. Though Amethyst and Garnet did want to have "fun" with the humans, Pearl told them it was unwise and they should leave the ship alone.

What they didn't know is that ship would be the answer. Charles Darwin was on that ship, and so was his knowledge.

"Wait! Wait! Who's Charles Darwin?" Steven asked Garnet who just let out a small laugh in response to his question.

"Is that another gem?" Peridot asked, fearful of more gems. She could barely handle being with them, and if there was another...

Garnet smiled. "You'll find out soon enough."

Amethyst was still stuck on their first island and was dreading t. She had made her life easier by turning into a bird, and making sure they all looked right. If each one still had the same beak, and would eat the same things that Amethyst had given them, then they were regular birds.

The gem decided that she needed a break from shapeshifting, though it had only been about 2 minutes. She quickly flew back to the sandy part of the beach, and went looking for food to calm her stomach. But when she was going to get food, she was suddenly interrupted by the three gems. The strange thing was they were all holding three dead birds that looked slightly different from the island birds.

"I found it," each of the gems said in unison, while Amethyst gave all of them a confused look.

"Guys I think each of you just killed some random bird." Amethyst told the four still having the confused look planted onto her face.

"That can't be true, look at it's beak. And when I saw this bird, it was eating bigger seeds that could fit in it's enormous beak." Pearl told the short gem, looking proud because she thought she finished the mission.

"But Pearl, each of our birds our different," Garnet told Pearl who wiped the look from her face.

After this the gems had to inspect the birds. Noted everything about them, they discussed what they saw them eating, and how different they were from the original bird. Since the differences were not enough, they were about to cut them open with Pearl's spear, but were stopped by a strange man, who came running and yelling at them to stop.

Each of the gems readied their weapons in case of a fight. As the man came closer they realized they wouldn't even need their weapons to defeat a human man.

"Stop! Stop! What are you doing? The birds!"

Garnet stepped up in front of the man intimating him, and making Garnet feel so much stronger. "Why are you here? State your name immediately!"

The man stuttered and being to quietly speak, a tiny squeak in his voice. "My name is Charles Darwin… I came to inspect the island and the wildlife, but more specifically the finches."

"Flinces?" Pearl questioned the man.

"Yes, flinches," Darwin gained more confidence and stood straighter. "These flinches can help me with my new theory."

"What's your theory?" Amethyst asked, curiosity roaming through her. The gems usually didn't interact with humans, let alone talk to them.

"Natural selection, my dear. It's how the birds you slaughtered look different from one and another."

Pearl's eyes grew wide to the news she just heard. "So all these birds look different and can roam on any island!"

"No, no, it's much different. You see there are 4 steps to natural selection, that help these birds adapt to their environment. The first step is variation, next is overproduction, then adaption, and finally descent with modification."

"What do each of the steps do?" Rose finally asked stepping in front of the three gems, still incredibly protective.

"Am I on trial?" Darwin asked raising his eyebrows.

Suddenly the three gems raised their weapons to Darwin. If he wasn't going to answer Rose's question then the three would fight for Rose. They did in the war, and they weren't going to stop now.

"Okay! Okay!," Darwin yelled with his hands raised. "I cannot speak with these weapons raised to me!"

The three gems put down their weapons, to let Darwin speak.

"Okay….," Darwin trailed off trying to put his thoughts to words. "Variation is when the animal such as these finches get a difference in their genes, such as a mutation, that can help them with their environment."

What's the next one science man?" Amethyst yelled to Darwin who had an annoyed look on his face.

"Well my dear if you don't interrupt me, then I can speak."

The gems gave Darwin a dirty look that made him tremble. "The second step overproduction is when many offsprings inherit that trait and they compete for things such as resources with the others. Then we have adaption which means the offspring with the mutation is able to survive better than the others. And finally descent with modification, which means the offspring with the mutation survives and has children of it's own, so they become suited for their environment, and the others die off unless they can find a place where there traits will thrive."

Rose took all this information in and still seemed to have questions, but to be fair she had always been a curious gem. "But what does this have to do with the finches?"

"That is what I have discovered, ma'am" Darwin took a step to all the slaughtered birds. "The birds on each island look different from one and another. Since this island has smaller seeds the birds will have smaller beaks here. But because the birds on the island with bigger seeds need more cracking, they have bigger beaks."

"So all the birds look different?" Pearl's eyes grew wide, if this information was true then the mission would become very difficult.

"No actually, it's like all the birds have a specific category, if there was one on the wrong island it would obviously not be able to survive since it cannot adapt."

All the gems knew what that meant, they just had to look for the bird that did not fit in. Maybe this mission would be a little easier.

"Okay, then! Let's get going," Rose turned to Charles Darwin and put a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you Charles Darwin, you have no idea how much you have helped us.
The confused man didn't know what to say to the beautiful pink-haired woman who had a gemstone, where her belly button would be placed. But before he could say anything, the gems all hopped away to different islands, which left Darwin in awe.

Darwin could not get distracted, he still had work to do. The man then grabbed out his notebooks and began writing down notes on the finches and their habitat. Once Darwin had finished writing notes on that piece of the island he started walking east. The more he walked east the more he say injured finches. The finches were all struck in the heart which left a pool of blood in response. But when he kept on walking there were more pool of bloods that replaced the beautiful sandy beaches, and Darwin was finally able to see why.

In front of Darwin stood a monster in the shape of a giant flinch, that stood probably the size of the fifteen foot trees there. The monster did not notice Darwin and quickly gulped down another bird that he was able to catch from the sky. The enormous finch then coughed up the bones on the finch that it ate to Darwin's direction. Darwin yelped in pain from the bone hitting him and the finch turned around. The beak it had was not adaptable to the island they were in, but it was no matter now. Its enormous beak would be used as a weapon and would now consume Darwin in a matter of seconds. Darwin screamed his lungs out and ran as fast he could with the monster right behind him.

"Gems weapons!" Darwin heard the pink-haired woman yell to the rest of her comrades.

Out of nowhere the women all pulled out weapons. The pink-haired one was able to pull out a shield and a sword from her gem on her stomach. The short purple girl received to whips from the gem on her chest, the skinny one with the pointed nose pulled a spear from the gem placed on her forehead. And the woman with the square face and haircut made her hands turn into two powerful looking gauntlets with the two gems placed on each hand.

Darwin gasped as all the women sprang to action each on moving a different way. While the girls with the sword and spear moved more elegantly, the other ones seemed to move more roughly as if to be more powerful. The 4 women were all able to work together to kill the beast and get a gemstone in return that popped out of the beast.

"Are you okay?" The woman with the pointed nose asked as she ran up to him with no sign of exhaustion at all.

"Yes, yes. But who are you people? That was incredible!"

The four gave one and another a look before the pink haired one gave Darwin an answer. "We," she paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "Are the crystal gems." And with that the four jumped away and that was the final time Charles Darwin saw the Crystal Gems.

"The end." Garnet said quietly not trying to wake up the sleeping boy.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the story, especially Peridot who seemed to be amazed by the tale.

"Come on everyone let's not make a lot of noise we don't want to wake Steven." Pearl told the group as they each went to there room.

Garnet was the last to leave, she placed a gentle kiss on Steven's forehead that she was sure would protect him from his nightmares.

This was the planet Earth and there were so many good people and things that they needed to protect. But Garnet knew they would be able to do it. They were the Crystal Gems and would always save the day.