The Crystal Gems were all outside enjoying their time taking a break from their missions and trainings. Soren, Amethyst, Pink Pearl were making sand castles together. Pearl, Yellow Pearl, Onyx, Jewel and Peridot were swimming out in the warm ocean water. Steven, Lapis, Blue Pearl were standing at the grill together, making some burgers and hotdogs along with some shrimp. Garnet was sitting on the stairs laying back while reading one of the books they had in the house.
Lapis looked at Steven and said, "Having a BBQ on the beach near the beach house is a great idea, Steven."
He grinned proudly, "On a day like this, it's the best thing to do outside.
Blue Pearl nodded in agreement with a smile on her face like always.
Steven flipped the burgers and rotated the hotdogs. Everyone was hungry and ready to eat but he wanted to make sure everything was perfect. They needed a nice break from everything. Lately, there were missions left and right without a break in between. Even though they never really got tired like living things, they were mentally exhausted. Today was a nice break from it all.
Soren stood up and was going to make his, Amethyst, Pink Pearl's sand castle into a glass castle with his fire to make it permanent but he stopped. He looked up just in time to see a white sphere coming down from the sky far enough from them to notice it in time. It didn't look like it was going to hit their part of the beach but somewhere near Beach City. He squinted slightly seeing it was a ship of some type and no one else had seen it yet.
"Uh...Guys, giant projectile at 12 o' clock high!" Soren yelled pointing.
Everyone looked into the sky, shocked. It had been a long time since they had seen something coming out of the sky. They weren't sure if it was from Homeworld or some other species, but it wasn't good either way. Pearl gasped and then frowned.
"That's not good! Everyone, get into the beach house and to the Warp Pad right now! We'll come back to finish the BBQ as soon as we can."
After she gave the command, they nodded acknowledging her words. Yellow Pearl, Onyx, Jewel and Peridot formed back into their normal clothes since they were in their swim clothes swimming. The Crystal Gems ran back into the beach house since Pearl commanded them to do so and they gathered onto the warp pad. They just needed to get there in time before the ship opened up
When they made it into the Gem Location where the White Sphere was at, it was the ruins of an old ancient land that was made by Homeworld a very, very long time ago. They began running watching as the sphere hurdled towards Earth at an alarming rate. Pearl called to everyone to hide and they did behind a large rectangular pillar that seemed stable despite its old looking condition. Everyone got quiet watching as the sphere hit the ground.
The ground shook violently, shaking the trees and some of the ruins started to crumble more.
Oddly enough, the white sphere was more of an oval shape almost looking like an egg to Amethyst. It had landed in the middle of the giant ruins and the dust was clearing out but the shape was seeable through the cloudy conditions. There was an old building covered vines, leaves and other forms of plant life. Four legs sprouted out of the bottom and lifted it up. The door opened up and a white light came out revealing another pearl.
She was wearing a leotard similar to what Blue Pearl, Pink Pearl and Yellow Pearl wore. She had white, sheer leggings and she had spiky hair with a white pearl on her forehead like Pearl did. She had an annoyed look on her face like she didn't want to be there or something went wrong with her ship. She tapped her lips as she walked down the white ramp.
"First task complete, make it to Earth, second task, retrieve the device and later last task, bring it to my Diamond."
The Crystal Gems looked at each other in confusion. It had been a while since someone from Homeworld came down to start any trouble and they had no idea what she was after. Luckily for all of them she stopped and looked down at the grass the moment her feet touched it making a disgusted face before they ambushed her. Amethyst tied her up quickly without poofing her since they would question her for the reason she was there in the first place.
"I didn't think we would get her so easily…" Pearl stated.
The Homeworld Pearl stared. She was so confused and she had no idea anyone had saw her come down.
X
They had just got home placed White Pearl on the couch. She had the same look she had on her face when she got off of her ship. Everyone couldn't help but stare at her. They were all nervous and they weren't sure if they were prepared for the answers she would give to their questions. Pearl pulled up a chair and sat it in front of her, getting down to eye level.
"Why am I here?" White Pearl asked looking more annoyed but her eyes suggested she was more frightened than anything.
"That's what we want to know. Why are you here?" Pearl asked.
"What if I chose not to answer?" White Pearl asked testing her patience.
"I can't guarantee your safety if you don't answer. You are threatening our home. We have no problem with poofing you and bubbling you up if I have too."
White Pearl glared at her and swallowed hard.
"My Diamond sent me here to retrieve a device left on this planet from centuries ago before what you call the Strawberry Battlefield War. The gems of White Diamond had created it a long time ago for White Diamond at her command. It's a special device able to destroy planets no matter where my Diamond is at. They could destroy useless planets from Homeworld even… if they wanted too. The plan was to destroy this planet called Earth if the Cluster failed to form."
Pearl kept a straight face but it bothered her. She was afraid for the planet and them. If they let her go, then she would go back to Homeworld to tell them everything. Then Homeworld would go at them without hesitation. She looked back to see everyone had grimm expressions on their faces. They were all thinking the same thing she was…
"You think we should ask if she wants to join us?" Jewel whispered to Steven so only he could hear her.
"I don't know… This is pretty heavy and we don't know how attached to her Diamond she is…"
Steven looked back up at White Pearl who looked absolutely bored with the situation she was in.
"Should we ask her?" he asked.
"Wouldn't hurt to ask…" Jewel said, "Mom?"
White Pearl stared at Jewel like she was nuts.
"What is a 'mom'?"
Pearl and Jewel looked at her funny then remembered most gems didn't really breed like regular organisms.
"I came out of her. I'm a mixture of my Mom, Pearl and my Dad Onyx."
White Pearl raised an eyebrow but stayed quiet.
"Do you like White Diamond?" Jewel asked.
"I don't understand the question."
"Do you like her?" Jewel asked.
"Do I have a choice in the matter?"
Pearl smiled.
"You can answer honestly," Peridot said, "They can't hear you."
"She is… ok."
They all smiled at her.
"We'll untie you if you are willing to join us. We'll show you what is so great about the planet Earth," Jewel said taking her girlfriend's small green hand.
"Why? Do you want more information?" White Pearl asked with her expression softening.
"No," Steven said, "We want to have fun hanging out with you."
"What is fun?" White Pearl asked and the Crystal Gems grinned at her.
X
Garnet went back to sitting on the stairs with her book she was reading before the white sphere hit Earth. They introduced her to the food Steven had made and covered up so seagulls wouldn't try to eat it. White Pearl made strange faces at the hotdog before her, poking it with her finger. Everyone laughed, but they knew what she was going through. They all had been there before. Amethyst explained the whole process to her while White Pearl looked disgusted at some of the details.
"I'll have the other food ready in a little bit," Steven said with a smile, "I have to cook it right so no one will get sick."
Garnet sat down by White Pearl and slid the book in front of her.
"People make up stories and write them in books to have others read for enjoyment."
White Pearl picked it and looked at then she sniffed. It had a wood like smell to it. Then she opened it up and looked at all the words.
"What are those?" she asked pointed the black letters on the page.
"Oh, I forgot… Homeworld has a different language than here. I'll teach you how to read it if you want."
"That sounds interesting, thank you."
After a short while she went to Soren, Amethyst and Pink Pearl were in the sand once again building sand castles. Pink Pearl came back carrying a sand bucket full of ocean water for the small mote they built around one of the sand castles. White Pearl knelt down looking at the interesting structures. She touched on of the leaving a finger imprint and looked at her finger confused by the feel of the sand.
"These are sand castles and you make them with sand but some people make larger creations a lot different from this, but we prefer something simple," Soren said with a smile.
"Does it stay forever?"
"No, the high tide will come and wash it away," Pink Pearl said.
"Then why build it?" she asked looking lost.
"It's fun and we can redo it whenever we want, "Amethyst said grinning
Pearl, Yellow Pearl, Onyx, Jewel and Peridot were out swimming. White Pearl stared at them as they splashed around in the water. Pearl and Yellow Pearl came to shore to show her how to form a swim suit. She ended up in a white one piece with frills around the leg holes. Pearl and Yellow Pearl held her hands leading her into the water.
"This is an odd sensation."
They smiled at her.
"Just don't drink the water, it tastes really bad," Peridot said, "I found that out on my own."
White Pearl nodded and looked down in to the water.
"Don't you feel bad for betraying your Diamonds?" she asked.
"No," they all said in unison.
She gave them a weird smile but she wasn't sure how to feel about everything.
"Food's done everyone!" Steven called and everyone headed out of the water and sand to the tables close to the grill.
"I made you a hamburger," Lapis said placing the plate in front of her.
"This is shrimp. It's a different taste than the hotdog you had earlier."
Steven sat a can of soda in front of her, "This is soda. It's bubbly but it does taste good."
White Pearl poked the sandwich and shrimp.
"Well, White Pearl, what do you think of Earth?" Steven asked.
"It's different."
"You think you want to join us?" he asked feeling hopeful.
"I'll join, you've shown me, a lot of things I never did or tried. Homeworld never had such things as food and sand castles."
Everyone started to cheer and clap their hands excitedly for the new pearl on their team.
"Wait...Since, you've all shown me the reason why you protect the Earth, I want to help all of you and stop my Diamond from finishing the weapon that'll destroy the Earth and many other planets. We're going to need to go back to the Gem Location and enter through the building ruins to find it, but were going to have to be careful- there's traps inside that'll try to stop us. There's even a guardian that's protecting the device deep inside the building that we're going to have to destroy it in order to get the device then destroy it to make sure it'll never be used for anything again."
"That is true," Pearl said and nodded in agreement, "I know this was supposed to be a fun day but is everyone up for a mission?"
"Yes!" they cried in unison.
Everyone ran into the beach house to prepare for their mission at the ancient ruins. They stepped onto the warp pad together and they were gone.