Rick was sitting on the couch in the beach house when Pearl came over with the tea and sat down next to him, Rick lifted the cup to his lips when he noticed that Pearl wasn't having any, "You don't like tea?" he asked, "Hm? Oh, no I don't drink." Pearl said not realizing how that may have sounded, Rick understood what she meant though, "So what, you're some kind of alien or something" Rick asked bluntly, Pearl was taken a bit off guard by this as most people assumed she was just a pale human, "How did you know?" she asked, "The rock in your forehead helped a little." Pearl reached up to touch her gem as Rick continued "Don't worry I'm not space-ist or anything, hell all of my best friends are aliens.", Pearl's eyes widened as the man said this, "Wait, what?" she asked to make sure she heard him right, "Aliens? As in from space?" she continued, "Y-ehh-p" Rick burped.
Pearl was shocked by what she'd just heard, had this man really been to space? Did he have some kind of a ship? Or maybe... "That small device that you had, the one that blew up on the beach, what did it do?" Pearl asked, "It opened holes in the fabric of reality and let me travel to other dimensions." Rick said as if it was nothing, he continued, "And now I'm stuck here until I can build a new one.".
Pearl was intrigued to say the least, to say Rick was smart compared to other humans was an understatement, but even the Gems had no means of inter-dimensional travel. There was a short pause as Rick held his head in frustration, "Rick.", The scientist looked up as she spoke, "I may not have your knowledge on the subject, but if you need any help, I'd be glad to lend my services.", "No that's fine Pearl, I don't want to take up any more of your time.", that's what he said, but he meant that he was worried she'd get in his way, and it seemed as though she knew this, "It will be no trouble at all Rick, and I think it will reassure you to know that I do have a fairly advanced knowledge of science and technology", this did reassure him, "Alright, but the only problem is I don't have my equipment, and unless you've got a shed full of spare parts I'm still screwed" there was a brief pause before Pearl spoke, "Actually".
The two opened the door of the barn that the Gems, Lapis Lazuli and Peridot once called home, "There should be plenty of spare parts and tools to work with in here, maybe even some Gem technology that Peridot left behind.", Rick looked around examining the weird sculptures that littered the building, "So these chicks were artists or something?" Rick asked, Pearl replied "I believe they called them MeepMorps", Rick rolled his eyes "Funny, the Wimblex people have a word like that, it means excrement" Pearl chuckled "I guess it's a fitting name then" Rick laughed at this, in the short time he's known her he didn't take Pearl as the kind of person to make many jokes, "Alright, I can work with this." Rick said, "Excellent, when should we start?" Pearl asked excitedly, "R-ugh-ight now." Rick said as he kicked over one of the sculptures.
The two spent the rest of the afternoon working on the portal gun, and even though she trusted his judgment Pearl couldn't help but feel concerned by the fact that Rick kept drinking from his seemingly endless flask which reeked of some kind of alcohol she couldn't quite put her finger on, "Are you sure you should be drinking?", Rick rolled his eyes at the familiar question, "Look Pearl, I've had to rebuild this thing so many times I cou-ugh-ld probably be comatose and still do it", Pearl shrugged at his statement as he finished up the device, "Alright, let's take this baby out for a test drive!".
Rick punched in the coordinates for his own dimension and shot open a portal, Pearl was ecstatic that it worked, Rick, however, had a grim look of realization on his face, "Oh shit." Pearl turned to him and asked "What's the matter, it's working correctly isn't it?", "Yeah, there's just one problem, I put the coordinate screen on upside down.", at that very moment a large tentacle came out of the portal and attempted to grab Pearl, however, she was far too quick for the beast, she summoned her spear from her gem and began the attack on the monster. Not one for being unprepared, Rick pulled a laser gun out of his lab coat and joined in the fight.
The two had managed to beat the monster back into the portal which then proceeded to close. Pearl was filled with adrenaline, it having been a while since she'd last had a good fight, "So, does this type of thing happen to you a lot?", Rick was fixing the screen on the portal gun so this wouldn't happen again, "W-ugh-ay too fucking much", Rick said "What about you? Nobody fights a giant squid monster that well without some experience.", "Oh Mr. Sanchez, I've been fighting monsters since before you were born.", Pearl smugly boasted.
Rick opened a portal to the right dimension this time and turned to go, he then stopped, "Hey Pearl", she listened as Rick continued to speak "I could use someone to help me out with my work, someone who can hold their own in a fight that I won't have to bail out every five minutes, if you're interested.", Pearl thought about it for a second, she had just met this man, he was crude, he was vulgar, he was constantly burping mid-sentence, and on top of all that she had only known him half a day... and it had been the most exciting day she'd had in years.
"Will it be dangerous?" she asked, "Hell yeah", she paused again even though she had already made her decision, "Alright Rick, you've got yourself a partner." A huge, almost disturbing grin came across the old man's face as she said this, "Great. Because I just wasted a whole day of work fixing my portal gun to get out of a dimension I didn't even mean to go to, and guess what, I STILL NEED TO GET THE SCHMELBONIAN CRYSTALS THAT I WENT TO GET WHEN I ENDED UP HERE! AND YOU'RE GONNA HELP ME GET THEM PEARL, AND WHEN WE'RE DONE WITH THAT WE'RE GONNA GO ON MORE ADVENTURES! ADVENTURES ACROSS THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE AND OTHER UNIVERSES AND NO ONE'S GONNA STOP US! IT'S RICK AND PEARL FROM HERE ON OUT NOW, RICK AND PEARL ADVENTURES FOREVER AND EVER! THE ADVENTURES OF RICK AND PEARL 1,000,000 YEARS FOREVER! WWW DOT FANFICTION DOT NET SLASH THE ADVENTURES OF RICK AND PEARL"
Rick continued his rambling tirade, while Pearl only had one thought, "What on earth have I gotten myself into?".