"Thees is usually de part where de moon, that's me, says somethin' for you to theenk about, but...I 'aven't got anythin' to say. So...bye!"
Vince's plane arrived in the airport closest to Beach City early the next morning. He would've taken an earlier flight, but he took too long packing; he ended up taking two briefcases full of his best wardrobe (who wouldn't want to go in outer space in style?), and a carry-on bagful of Gary Numan tapes. He took a shuttle bus the rest of the way into town. Once there, he looked once again at Naboo's slip. It just said to ask for a Mr. Universe and tell him Naboo sent him. No address to work with, though. Vince set off to find some doors to knock on and local haunts to visit, maybe get some clues and leads, or somebody who digs Gary Numan as much as he does.
His first success came at a place called Beach Citywalk Fries. The place was operated by two guys with chip-shaped hair, with nametags reading "Ronaldo" and "Peedee", respectively. Siblings, Vince thought.
"Hi," said Vince, "Ahm lookin' for a Mista Universe. Can ya help me?"
Ronaldo leaned across the counter, close to Vince's face.
"Now you listen here. I don't know why you would come here looking for Mr. Universe, but you should take my word for it when I say that you do best to stay away from the Universe family!"
"Why? Wot's 'e got that you don't?"
"He is friends with mysterious rock people. They're responsible for all the weird things that happen to Beach City!" said Ronaldo.
"Pay no attention to him," said Peedee, "He's a huge conspiracy nut. Always sticking his nose into other people's business, trying to find a connection to the Gems."
"Gems?" said Vince, "You mean the aliens?"
Ronaldo and Peedee nodded.
"My best mate 'oward was captured by a couple of 'em. 'at's why ahm 'ere. Naboo sent me, told me Mr. Universe could 'elp get 'im back."
"Oh!" said Ronaldo, excited, "Well why didn't you say so? I know where he lives. I'll take you to him."
Ronaldo was about to take off his apron, when he thought of something.
"Oh, before I do, do you want a bag of fries to go?"
"Sure, I'll take some chips."
Ronaldo escorted Vince to the tail end of the beach, past the hill to its cliff side. Here was the second best statue/temple Vince had ever seen. And there was a quaint little beach house in front of it. A van was parked outside the beach house, with MR. UNIVERSE written on it in rockstar-style lettering. Hope he knows his Gary Numan, thought Vince.
Ronaldo knocked on the van's back door. A chubby man with what could very well be described as a van dyke beard answered. Obviously, he has seen better days. He looked a bit grumpy: it was still the morning-must be a heavy sleeper.
"Morning, Greg," said Ronaldo, "There's somebody here who came to see you about the roc...uh...gems."
Greg, groggily, eyed Vince up and down, then climbed out of his van.
"I'm gonna get some coffee. You want any?" he asked in a friendly tone.
"Oh, cheers!" said Vince.
He began to follow Greg, before turning to Ronaldo to see what he was going to do next.
"Keep Beach City Weird!" was all he said before taking off.
"Awright."
Once inside the beach house, Greg heated up a pot of coffee, and poured two cups for him and his guest.
"Naboo said you be tha wan ta tulk to 'bout gems and wotevah," explained Vince, "Ah culd sure use a bituv 'elp gettin' to 'omeworld for startas."
He waited for Greg to take his first sip of coffee before he could reply.
"You know Naboo? He was the best man at my wedding. I actually married one of those Gems!"
Greg gestured to the portrait of the almighty Rose Quartz, hanging above the front door.
"Ah," said Vince in awe, "She's lurvely!"
"Not a day goes by without me missing her," continued Greg, "Gems don't reproduce like we humans do. When I tried to make it work, I ended up losing her. But at the same time, I ended up with a son."
"So is juss you and yer kid 'ere?"
"Nah. We have Rose's friends living with us too. My lil' Steven sees them as the Moms he never had."
"That's rilly tuchin', tha' is," said Vince, obviously impressed.
The warp pad in the back of the living room began to light up.
"That must be them now," said Greg.
Three gems and the aforementioned Steven stepped off the warp pad. Vince could instantly identify which gem was which, based on the many, many pieces of gems that adorn his best getup: a Garnet (more like a combination of a Ruby and a Sapphire), an Amethyst and a Pearl. Steven and Amethyst called the couch to watch a show, while Pearl and Garnet walked forward for Greg and his guest.
"Hey, Garnet, Pearl," said Greg, "How was Stu-ball and the...thing you guys were doing?"
"Oh, you know him, Greg," said Pearl, "Running around, having a good time and all. Never been happier."
"Hello, Vince," said Garnet, unexpectedly.
Vince was caught off guard, "Ahm sorry. 'ave we met b'fore?"
Amethyst turned her head toward their guest from the couch, "Garnet's got future vision, dude! Spooky, amiright?"
"Ahl tellya wot, it's smashin', this!" said Vince to his audience, "Stuff ya cawn't do with a low bujit!"
"Sooooo Greg," said Pearl, uncomfortable by a pinch, "Who's Vince and what's he doing here?"
"All ansa tha'," said Vince again, "My mate 'oward's been taken by a gem. Naboo said you lot could 'elp me out. 'ere's a pikcha...," he gave Pearl the picture of Aquamarine. Steven went over to have a look-see as well. They all recognized who it was.
"Did she have two large Topazes for bodyguards?" said Steven.
"Ya, tha's rite."
"We've seen her before! Aquamarine came here once looking for Dad and a bunch of my friends to take to the zoo. I turned myself in exchange for letting them go. Then I managed to escape when I got to Homeworld!"
"You managed to get outuvat zoo?"
"I didn't go to the zoo. I was taken to see the Diamonds...the rulers of Homeworld...and I escaped there."
"So yew've neva been to the zoo?"
"I did once. Dad was sent there before, and the Gems and I took a ship there to get him back!"
"So ya think you can doit again, for me an' 'oward?"
"Wait waitwaitwaitwait," interrupted Pearl, "We've only known for you for like, what, less than a minute, and you're asking us, the Crystal Gems, to take you to Homeworld's Zoo, just so you can bust your friend out?"
"Yeah," said Vince, matter-of-factly, "So?"
"Can we even trust you? What if you betray us some way? We weren't supposed to be anywhere near the zoo!"
"Oh, cam on now! I'm not the kind o' guy who would douh thing lak that. I came all tha way from Lundun jussta speak ta you about this!"
Pearl turned her back on him, much like Naboo would, "I'm sorry to have wasted your time."
'Ah, there muss be sumthin Ica do to change yer mind,' thought Vince.
He searched his carry-on bag for something, anything, that might help. All that were in there were his Gary Numan tapes. He pulled one out.
"You go' a tape playah?" he asked to anyone left who would listen.
Greg pointed to the stereo on the other side of the room, next to the TV.
"Whatcha puttin' on?" asked Amethyst.
"Ahm 'bout to rawk yer li'l gems off yer pedestal!" announced Vince.
He pressed play on the tape deck, and the music began to play...loudly.
Here in my car
I feel safest of all
I can lock all my doors
It's the only way to live
In cars
Garnet's head began subtlety bouncing up and down. Amethyst went all out and started breakdancing. Pearl was still hesitant, but after a few minutes or so, eventually caved, and started dancing too. After the song ended, Vince asked Pearl again.
"So, will ya take me there?"
"Oh, all right," Pearl surrendered, "But only because you came this far already...and that music was...pretty good."
