Well, it's been a bit of a delay since I posted this. Before I start, I should warn, these past few weeks were particularly draining days at work. So most of this was written in a half-awaken haze. I did my best to read it over and find typos, but go ahead and let me know if anyone seems out of character or if I made any obvious typos that I missed. With no real comments to answer, I think I will just let it trail off here.

"Weather and space anomalies accounted for. It seems that whatever caused the last ship to crash is absent at the moment." Mentioned one of the Peridots at the control panel of a ship as she piloted the ship closer to the abandoned Crystal Colony known as Earth. The commander behind her, a large gem with long flowing white hair and pale yellow and brown stripped skin, nodded along.

"Good, we're not going to fall to something as stupid as a crash like the last group." This person growled, mostly to herself. "How many possible locations do we have to sift through on this worthless ball of water?"

"Over a hundred." Said another Peridot, turning around from her panel to the right of the side of the room. She used her limb enhancers to enlarge her screen to show the several points on a map that they had to visit. The Quartz commander looked over the screen with a slight hint of irritation. They had barely given her a squad of Rubies and a few Peridots to help her look for the stone she was supposed to find. "If I may, I propose we release a squadron of drones to each location to scan each location. While their scanning measures aren't the best, we should be able to eliminate at least 50% of the locations as well as identify any possible threats…" The Peridot was interrupted by a low laughter from her commander, who had simply placed a hand on her face, revealing the pale yellow Citrine crystal on the back of her left hand.

"This pathetic orb of water's most dangerous aspect is the chance of dying from boredom." Citrine practically growled, roughly pushing the second Peridot out of the way. She stared at the planet before her, remembering the short time that she had been on it before the retreat was called and….. Well, from what she remembered, the worst threat was the pathetic, so-called Crystal gems. And even then, she knew that none of them could be around anymore. They were such a thought in the back of most gem's mind, that the Generation 2's didn't even learn about them and some Generation 1's plain forgot. Still, the idea of going back down onto the planet wasn't exactly on her list of things to do ever again. "Go ahead and release the probes." The Peridot behind her nodded, and quickly walked off to follow out the order.

Luffy sighed in boredom as his cheek snapped back against his from across the room, where Peridot had pulled it. Steven and Connie had taken him back to the beach house with something called the Warp Pad, which brought them back to the beach house in almost a couple seconds. Of course, he wanted to see what was outside the Warp Stream, but Steven had told him that wasn't a good idea, and he knew from first hand experience. When they returned to the Beach House, it turned out that none of the Crystal Gems were back from where they were just yet. Connie had noticed the time, and had to unfortunately leave in order to beat her mother home. Left to entertain Luffy by himself, Peridot offering no help at all in this regard either, Steven tried to show Luffy one of his favorite television shows but beyond the initial interest in the television itself, Luffy didn't quite understand why a spoon was crying on a Waffle's shoulder. And seeing food just made him hungry again.

"Hmmm, this human variant seems to show no limit to the amount it can stretch. It shows no discomfort despite nearly being stretched out over several yards and the tensile strength of the skin seems to be quite high." Peridot muttered to her tablet. She had chosen to come with Steven out of interest of the events unfolding, while Lapis had stayed behind with little more than a shrug. Luffy had initially been interested in the tablet, but Peridot had shown almost a…..dangerous protectiveness over the small technology. Steven had mentioned a recent incident between her and Lapis that had made Peridot even more protective of her technology than she had been before. Luffy was all but ignoring her at this point, which suited the green gem well. It allowed her to conduct her experiments without dealing with pesky annoyances like questions and interruptions.

"Hey, Steven, who's that?" Luffy asked, finally noticing the large portrait of the woman just above his front door. Steven paused from where he was laying at the end of the bed, his face brightening up as he finally had something to do.

"Oh, that's my mom. Rose Quartz!" Steven said, walking over and looking at the picture. The small smile on his face melted away the longer he stared at the picture. "The gems tell me that she was really caring and amazing." The unsaid "but" trailed off, causing Luffy to look at his friend in worry. Even Peridot took a small note, but chose not to dwell on the subject, returning to experimenting on Luffy by pulling on his hair, which Luffy once more ignored. He simply cocked his head, looking from the picture and then to Steven, trying to see the similarity's between the two.

"Is she with your nakama?" Luffy asked. Steven simply scratched the back of his head in a sheepish manner.

"No, she's not here anymore." He pulled up his star shirt, revealing a pink gem that was embedded in his stomach. "When she gave birth to me, she gave up her physical form in order to do so. You see, my mom, and the Crystal Gems, are aliens called Gems." Steven explained. Luffy simply cocked his head again, not quite understand what he meant. He simply stuck his finger in his nose and nodded as if he did however. While it may not have fooled Peridot, who simply gave a small sigh of disgust, Steven accepted this, continuing his explanation about how the gems are actually made of light that they manipulate into physical forms.

"Do you poop?" Luffy interrupted his explanation. Steven paused for a moment, tapping his chin.

"I definitely do since I am part human. I think Amethyst does as well, but I'm not sure about Garnet. Pearl definitely doesn't do it. She doesn't even like to eat food." Steven answered, nodding as he thought about it. Luffy looked extremely confused by this particular statement, scratching the back of his head and looking almost offended by the idea.

"But, who doesn't love to eat? Especially meat!?" Luffy asked. Just saying that sounded foreign to his ears. Peridot scoffed from where she was.

"Eating is purely an organic function. We gems do not require the same substances that humans need to sustain ourselves." Peridot explained from where she was. "If Gems, such as Amethyst, engage in these activities, it is purely for the pleasure of doing so. Not that I understand why one would do it for pleasure."

"But Peridot, I thought you liked food!" Steven said. Peridot paused for a moment.

"Yes. I just don't like….." She shivered as if remembering a dark secret. "What comes after." After this, Peridot simply went back to testing the limits of which Luffy's rubber physiology allowed him to stretch. So Steven went back, picking up by explaining how the Gems were able to do other things with their gems, such as shapeshift, controlling certain elements such as Lapis's water and Peridot's ferrokinesis, and even summoning weapons.

"Weapons?" Luffy asked, looking even more excited about this than his previous question. Steven nodded and quickly summoned forth a rosy pink shield around him arm to demonstrate, which brought sparkles to Luffy's eyes. "Cool!" Luffy said upon witnessing this, jumping to his feet and causing the bit of skin Peridot had stretched out to snap back with a snap and sending Peridot stumbling back. Feeling a smile come to his face at Luffy's interest suddenly peaking again, Steven brought his arm back and sent his shield out like a boomerang, it bouncing off the walls before coming back and disappearing.

"I can do other stuff too!" Steven exclaimed. Luffy smiled wider at the thought, practically bouncing up and down. Steven nodded and focused, holding out his hands and summoning his bubble shield. When that was up, he gave it a few seconds before he added in the spiked ball feature, which cracked some of the wood planks on his floor. After that, Steven shapeshifted a few extra feet to be as tall as Luffy, before giving a small bow. "That's all I can do right now. But I discover something new every so often!" Steven apologized, taking deep breaths. He still wasn't used to using his powers in such rapid succession like that.

"Steven! I've decided something!" Luffy announced, nodding rather happily. "I want you to join my pirate crew!" Steven eyes grew wide at this and he smiled.

"You mean I get to be a pirate? Cooool!" Steven awed at the request, his eyes turning into stars as he imagined himself sailing the high seas, peg leg and eye patch adorned. Steven puffed his chest proudly and saluted Luffy, proudly saying: "Aye Aye, Captain!"

"Awesome!" Luffy shouted with glee and jumping into the air. "When Sanji gets back, we'll have a party to welcome you! There'll be lots of meat!"

"Excuse me, but what's a…..pirate?" Peridot asked, a frown coming to her face. She had been watching the events and was completely lost to the events that have been happening.

"They are really cool. They sail on large ships, carry swords, yell "Arg!". Some of them even have parrots that talk!" Steven paused as he was saying this, looking at Luffy as he realized the rubber pirate had none of these things. Peridots noticed as well, raising a single eyebrow at him. "Well, the ones on tv do." Steven chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. Peridot looked at him with a skeptical expression before returning to her tablet, looking up the word instead. No sooner had she hit search, the warp pad lit up, causing Steven to jump up with an excited: "They're back!"

When the light died down, Garnet stood there, looking over the Beach House filled with visitors. Before Steven could even begin to delve into his day, there was a happy: "Luffy!" An orange haired woman quickly dashed around Garnet and over to the rubber captain, who looked just as happy.

"Oi, Nami! Where did you go?" Luffy greeted, with his smile as big as it could get upon seeing this woman. Garnet noted the interaction before kneeling to be on eye level with Steven.

"I see you found a new friend as well." She mentioned, looking over as the two seemed to start discussing their confusion over why neither of them knew how they got here. "I think we all need to sit down as have a talk."

Pearl had never been so infuriated with a Gem monster before. She had assured Garnet that she could handle the clean up by herself, after Peridot and Steven had spent nearly two days dealing with a single monster. After all, the five of them had given the place a thorough cleaning beforehand and she had assumed she would only have found smaller gem monsters, if any at all. Which is why she was currently fuming as she stared at the Jade Lion, who was sitting on a nearby rock, staring at her with calm, almost intelligent eyes. The corrupted gem of who it once gleaming light off its forehead as the sun continued to fall, almost as if it was mocking her attempts.

"You vexatious beast!" Pearl growled to herself, summoning forth her spear once more and rushing forward. The Jade Lion watched her, almost as if calculating every move she was about to make, in the few seconds it took her to close the small distance between them. As she brought her spear around, the Jade Lion quickly leaped over her, causing her to simply slice the air where it had once been. Pearl gritted her teeth and quickly spun, catching the claws that had been aimed at her back, causing her to slide back from the force. She brought her spear around, letting out a couple of laser blasts that caused the Jade Lion to once more rush off deeper into the canyon. Almost growling at this point, Pearl quickly sprinted after it, ready to poof this beast.

Only for the beast to have pulled her into a feint. No sooner had she gotten within range of the beast, it suddenly spun, swiping it's claw at Pearl. With little time to react, Pearl was left with no choice but to take the attack, rolling with the strike to reduce the damage. That didn't mean it hurt any less as she slammed into the canyon wall, leaving a considerable crack in the stone wall. Her physical form felt like fading but Pearl focused on staying together, using her spear to push herself back to standing position. The Jade Lion was pacing in front of her, as if waiting for her to get back into a fighting position. No sooner had she done so, did the beast charge her, claws glinting in the sun. Pearl knew she couldn't be caught by this claw once more or she could very well be poofed.

"FIREBIRD STAR!" A bird made of flame slammed into the Jade Lion, sending it stumbling to the floor as the flames enveloped it. Pearl, just as surprised as the Jade Lion by this, turned to the person responsible. The human with the long nose from earlier, holding a black slingshot in one hand. "Never worry, for the Great Captain Usopp has returned to slay the ferocious beast!" He proudly called as the fires died down.

"What…..I warned you about the danger human!" Pearl tried to warn. The human simply smiled, thumbing his nose with a cocky grin. There was a growl from the Jade Lion in front of her as it stood up from the smoke, a large burn on its side. Usopp's grin faded slightly as the beast set its eyes directly on him before he shook his head, and pointed a finger at the Jade Lion.

"I shall defeat you, beast! I am the brave warrior of the sea, Usopp!" Usopp declared, though his voice said anything but confidence. The Jade Lion growled, simply darting forward with a deep growl, eyes intent on its prey. Pearl's eyes widened, as she attempted to jump forward, but her previous injuries didn't allow her to move fast enough.

"Watch out!" She attempted to warn. Usopp screamed in terror turning and sprinting off in fear as the Lion chased him. Just as the Jade Lion was about to descend upon the man, he suddenly stopped and said: "Gotcha! Midori Boshi: Toranporia!" The Jade Lion suddenly shot forward as a large green plant bounced into existence, sending the Jade Lion high into the air. The human spun around, his slingshot pulled back and aim set on the Jade Lion. "Now, for the finishing move, Midori Boshi: Impact Wolf!" A red seed shot forward, a straight line heading for the Jade Lion. As it flew, large leaves began to erupt from the seed, forming a large wolf as it soared through the air. Pearl watched with widened eyes as the beast got near the Jade Lion and let loose an impact that disturb the air enough to be visible, sending the Jade Lion rocketing back down to the Earth, slamming it down into a crater.

Pearl could only look at the human with a bit of wonder and curiosity. This human just handled a gem monster she was having trouble with practiced ease. When did humans get such a control over plants in order to weaponize them, plants she didn't recognize from this planet. She didn't have a time to think over this too much as she heard a low growl from the crater as the Jade Lion slowly limped from the crater. Its physical form was very much damaged from the attack, it's stone façade cracked and it's back legs barely holding itself up, but she hadn't expected it to be resilient enough to withstand such an attack. Even Usopp was caught off guard, looking a little taken back his plan didn't defeat the beast. But there was one thing his plan did do. It let it completely forget about the Crystal Gem threat, an advantage that caused it to be caught as Pearl leapt onto its back and, with one fell swoop, poofed the creature.

"Wooh! Just as I planned. I weakened the creature enough for you to seize an advantage over its weakened state. The great captain Usopp's plans never fail!" Usopp proudly declared, thumbing his nose. Pearl didn't answer, bending down and bubbling the remaining piece of the Jade Lion, the Jade gemstone. After warping it back, she turned towards the human, who was currently having a conversation with himself.

"Where did you learn to do that?" She asked, walking over to the human. "I've never witnessed a human weaponizing plants like this before."

"Oh, that! Those are merely my pop greens. I spent two years learning to cultivate them and harnessing them for my fighting style!" Usopp proudly declared, gesturing to the orange bag at his side. Pearl rubbed her chin as she looked at the bag. Under normal circumstances, though normally in the case of ancient gem tech, this is something she would insist on confiscating from a human, considering the level of danger it presented to the human. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask you. Where are we? It seems that someone was lucky enough to catch me off guard and transport me here, away from my crew?"

"There are more of you? Do they cultivate these…..'pop greens' as well?" Pearl asked, rubbing her chin still. Usopp waved off.

"No. No. This is my style of fighting. See, I'm not a monster like the rest of the crew, so I have to rely on my amazing wit and gadgets." He waved off, looking flattered she was taking an interest in this. Pearl rubbed her chin. So, they utilized different fighting styles amongst his crew. The man may be tad unstable in the mental department but it was very likely that his crew had found some ancient gem tech and were utilizing it without realizing the potential danger involved.

"I need you to accompany me back to the temple human."

Priyanka sighed as she pulled into her garage, her strange passenger in the next seat over gawking at the sights. The….well, the best way to describe him without seeming demeaning was to call him a kid…had attempted to explain what he was. According to him, he was actually a reindeer, not a gem being, that had eaten a magical fruit called a Devil fruit, also not a gem thing apparently, and become a human-reindeer hybrid. The fact he explained it with a straight face and without any sense of sarcasm just ended up solidifying his story even more. She didn't complicate things by asking what a devil fruit was. So, the best she could do was offer him was that she would ask her husband and her daughter if they had met any strangers today.

As Chopper climbed out of the car and quickly scuttled over to her, she couldn't help but smile. Over the initial shock of meeting something so out of the ordinary, she could help but smile at just how….cute the thing was. It reminded her of when Connie was little, the way he was constantly smiling and how he swung his legs at the edge of a seat. "So, this is your home?" He asked, looking over the house.

"Yes. It's a little small, but we don't have much need for a lot of space." Priyanka said, walking forward and opening the garage door, allowing her guest to go first. Chopper smiled in thanks and walked through, shortly followed through by Priyanka. "The living room is over here. You can sit on the couch while you wait." Priyanka motioned to the nearby couch where Chopper quickly wandered over, leaping onto the couch. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as they both contemplated just what to say at the moment. Priyanka knew that her husband wasn't home yet and from the lack of noise from Connie's room, she was here by herself. "So…..you said that you were a doctor?" She eventually asked, looking over the small human-reindeer hybrid. Chopper lit up at this.

"Yes! Someday, I'll become a doctor that can cure anything!" Chopper proudly proclaimed. Priyanka paused for a moment, before giving a small smile.

"That's admirable. If I may ask, who taught you?" Priyanka asked, sitting down next to Chopper.

"The Doctorine." He said, sobering up slightly. "I begged her to teach me after my previous mentor died." Priyanka nodded in silence at this. She could tell from his tone that this was a sensitive subject for the young guy, so she didn't press him further.

"I see. Well, I'm sure he was a good man." Priyanka tried to comfort. She remembered in medical school, she had her favorite teachers, but she would never say that she was particularly close to any of them. "I imagine you've learned and studied quite a bit then? If you want to cure every disease in the world, then I imagine you must have a fair amount of medical texts."

"Well, I try to study when I can. I'm often patching up the rest of my crew after they get hurt. Usopp often needs the most medical attention, but Luffy, Zoro and Sanji often get hurt really bad as well." Chopper explained. Priyanka raised a curious eyebrow at this. It seemed like his crew was quite the group of troublemakers to need medical attention that often. Before she was able to delve deeper into that egg, the door swung open as Connie burst in, panting.

"Sorry…..*wheeze* I'm late!" Connie wheezed out as she bent over, having sprint home from Steven's. Her backpack dropped to the floor as she spoke, having already been haphazardly hanging from one strap. "But….you'll never…..*gasp* what Steven and I did today! We hung out with a real pira…" Connie stopped as she saw the next guest on the house, next to her mother.

"Welcome back, sweetie." Priyanka greeted with a smile. "This is our guest, Chopper." She waved towards Chopper as she spoke, leaving Connie speechless at the scenario, especially how calm her mother was being. "He wanted to ask you if you've seen any of his friends. I figured….you would probably know better than I would." There was a moment of silence, before Connie shook her head, catching her breath.

"Ummm…..okay, Chopper." Connie greeted, looking over the reindeer-human. Like Priyanka, she was going through her head about what kind of gem thing this could be. Normal circumstances would have her believe it was a corrupted gem, but she had seen enough of those to know they didn't normally look…..cute or calm. "So, your friends? Um, what do they look like?"

"Well, I think I should find my captain first. He'll probably need my help the most. He's Straw Hat Luffy." Before Chopper could delve into his description, Connie gasped and quickly shouted:

"LUFFY!? We just met him! He's with Steven!" Connie practically shouted, seeming excited beyond belief. Priyanka let a small smile, almost not surprised that Connie already knew who this small creature was looking for.

"Really!? You know where he is!?" Chopper shouted, getting caught up with her excitement and leaping off the couch. "Where is he? I need to meet up with him!"

"Mom! I know its late, but I need a ride back to Steven's! His captain is there!" Connie asked, looking towards her mom, who was watching the scene with relative silence. She gave a small sigh at this, rubbing her head as the thought of getting mixed up in more gem madness was already giving her a headache. Still, she couldn't necessarily pass up the chance to talk to the gems once more, especially since she only barely met with them since she learned her daughter have been taking sword fighting lessons. Despite the time, it would give her a good excuse for meeting with the gems and discussing her daughter's safety. Plus, she would be lying if she did not admit she had some interest in just what was going on with the pirates and reindeer doctor.

"I suppose. But we cannot stay too long. It's a Sunday after all."

Right, so first thing I need to point out. Why did I add in additional snippets for Usopp and Chopper, and yet not Sanji? Well, I felt that Usopp and Chopper needed a bit more explanation as to them showing up. Plus, I would be lying if I say that I didn't want to write that Usopp segment. Chopper's was interesting to do as well while I couldn't necessarily think of just how to do anything...interesting to do with Sanji. Other than that, I'm not really sure what else to say for the moment, soooooooo I'm just going to trail off after this awkward silence…..

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Well, bye.