When Rose, Pearl, Greg and Connie came through the portal, at the house they were met by Garnet, Amethyst and an old-fashioned stone-like object that was emitting a loud sound from the hole in its upper half. Garnet and Amethyst were already covering their ears due to the sound, and the arrivees soon followed.

"A Wailing Stone." Rose immediately identified the object.

"Correct, and it's sending a signal." Garnet concluded.

"We rounded up all the Wailing Stones on Earth and we're not sending a message to ourselves, unless..." Pearl began analyzing the situation, before realizing that she might know what is going on, and looking down to see someone smaller than her. "Amethyst?" She said sternly.

"Hey, I ain't the one sending anything this time! Case in point: I also want it to shut up." Amethyst waved her hand, first in front of Pearl, then at her ears. "Agh! I can't take it anymore!" She shrieked, sounding even more stupid than she usually did.

"I'll make it shut up." Garnet summoned one of her gauntlets and hit the button on the top of the Wailing Stone, making it stop emitting sound. She kept the gauntlet at the stone, making sure that this wasn't just a weird side effect, and after a few seconds, raised her hand and made the gauntlet disappear. The Stone remained silent for a while, as its button was still depressed, but soon enough, it returned to its original position, and the Stone began emitting the same sound, which now sounded even worse than before.

"Noo! What are we gonna do?" Amethyst shouted again.

"Well, maybe we can just bubble it." Pearl raised the Stone and put it in a bubble. The sound stopped, seemingly forever.

"Whew." Greg prematurely said. He could only watch as his words were very quickly proven wrong when the bubble increased in size and popped, dropping the Stone, which resumed emitting the sound.

"Why do none of the ideas we have work?" Amethyst sighed, covering her ears for real this time.

"I might have an idea." Connie leaped towards the Stone.

"Connie, no!" The four gems and Greg shouted all at once, but it was too late. She had already attempted to stick her hand through the hole in the Stone, but her hand turned out to be too thin. The sound had almost deafened her when Garnet pulled her away from the Stone. She then stuffed a pillow inside the hole, and the proverbial wailing stopped. Garnet then picked up the rest of the pillows from the couch, placed them all onto the stone, and finished her structure by making Connie sit on top of the pillows.

"If the possibility of a message within Earth is eliminated, that means a gem must be sending this from space." Garnet realized.

"I've never heard a Wailing Stone being used since the rebellion," Pearl reminisced, "and I've certainly never heard one sound like that."

"Is this some sort of gem language? Since it sounds more like music than a language." Connie asked.

"No, dear, of course not." Rose was quick to reply.

"But it's not supposed to be music, it's supposed to be a message." Pearl looked at the pillowed Stone, confused. "Of course, there is always the possibility that the audio is distorted..." She held her hand to her chin.

"Hmm. Who could possibly be able to decode the message, because of having worked with audio, likely because they were a famous musician?" Rose very obviously hinted at Greg. She even was looking at him.

"Oh, you are kidding me." Pearl crossed her hands, never being able to accept that a human man is better than her in a lot of aspects.

"That's right! I'm the audio daddy-o." Greg happily clicked his fingers and went through the portal that Leo had left behind.

"Isn't your name actually Greg? Or maybe Mr. Universe, the stage name." Amethyst was puzzled.

"How many times must we step through the portal before everything is resolved?" Pearl said as she stepped through the portal herself. Amethyst, Rose and Connie also followed her. Garnet was the last to leave the house behind, as she carefully removed all pillows from the Stone, except for the one in its hole.

"I can't believe that you actually need some help with audio, since in that case you've definitely come to the right guy!" The gems and Connie listened to Greg ramble. "Being a one-man band taught me a lot about management, drawing art for the album covers and touring, but I certainly have a special thing with audio."

Everyone stared, confused, as they saw Greg dig through the equipment that they couldn't even hope to understand. One device that caught Rose's attention in particular looked like a pad with various schematic buttons, which was attached to a microphone. She had hung out with Greg long enough to know that a microphone was meant to be spoken into, and therefore, as there was nothing more interesting to do, she turned the device on, held one of the buttons and spoke into it.

"Welcome to the Homeworld Transportation Hub." Rose's voice didn't sound like her, but also definitely wasn't Steven. "Please move quickly through the entry gates, as prolonged exposure to the rigors of space is not included in the itinerary."

"Help! My wife is both an alien and a robot!" Greg laughed as he finally found the thing that he was looking for. It looked like another microphone, but also had the foam cover which had the impression of the pillow being wrapped around its end, much like the actual pillow, which was still inside the Wailing Stone. "The Lubitz Cardioid Condenser 680. It's got warm voices without too much top-end." When Greg grabbed the microphone, it glowed slightly, even though it was hard to see in daylight.

"I see that it will perfectly fit inside the stone. Please continue, Mr. Universe." Garnet nodded in approval. She then removed the pillow from the Stone, making it emit the same sound that everyone had already gotten annoyed of. There were only a few seconds of everyone having their ears blown off, though, as Greg quickly inserted the microphone inside the Stone, making it silent. He then dug through his equipment and found his mixboard, which he proceeded to connect both to the microphone and the van's power supply.

As he switched the mixboard on, the Stone began emitting the same sound as before. However, since it was now connected, Greg could pull the knobs on the board, changing the sound to a much more tolerable one. "Now I'm going to add some reverb and some low octave effects, I'm also adding some fuzz 'cause who couldn't use more fuzz?"

"Fuzz aside, do you really think your devices are compatible with ancient gem technology?" Pearl wondered.

"It does not hurt to try." Rose pointed out as the sound became more and more periodical, and soon enough, a sort of voice began to emerge.

"Here we go..." Amethyst decided, as she tried desperately to listen to the voice. However, just as the voice was picked up, the van's battery shorted out, shutting the signal off.

"Just as I predicted: this would not work. Thanks for your assistance anyway." Pearl shook Garnet's hand.

"We will figure out something else." Garnet proceeded to do the same, as she, Amethyst and Rose left for the Crystal Temple. Connie also decided to call her parents so that she could be picked up, because she had spent enough time with the Gems and Steven wasn't there.

"I, however, will stay behind to repair the broken electricity system. It is only human technology, I will be able to do it." Pearl said as she got to the front of the van and opened the lid, trying to figure out what was going on and why smoke was coming out from the system.

That night, Greg had driven his van to the beach, playing the guitar rather sadly. Rose had noticed this through the window, and realized that this is why, even though she had laid down in the human bed, she couldn't drift off to sleep. Her organic form could definitely go to sleep and dream - in fact, even the "human constructs" made of pure light were capable of doing that, even if only Amethyst ever indulged in it - but there was the distinct anxiety and worry if he was okay after failing to impress the Crystal Gems which kept Rose's eyes wide open.

Rose descended down the stairs and was about to step through the door, but realized that she still didn't fit through. She thought about crouching once again, but feared of getting stuck, and she definitely wasn't going to call Leo for a task as mundane as that. Thinking of other options, her eyes were diverted to the window. It was large enough that she could fit if she was walking on all fours. It would just be a matter of getting back on legs once she was on the other side.

She then looked back at the window, and decided to open it in the horizontal fashion and then go through.

"Rose, you do know that you're in an organic body. If you get hurt in the night, you are not going to regenerate, right?" The voice of Pearl called out for her.

"Do not worry. I am just seeing Greg again." Rose said as she climbed through the window, placing first her arms the her legs outside. Then, a cold breeze blew in, making Pearl close the window almost immediately. She then thought that she had forgotten something to say, and now her voice rang in her own head: Also, if you stay awake all night, you're not going to feel well tomorrow. I know because Steven has done this quite a few times, much to both of our regret.

As Rose was able to get her legs on the staircase and stand up again, she climbed down the stairs. It took a while for her to process that this was her first time defeating the obstacle, and for a while she felt proud of herself. The feeling quickly subsided, though, when she looked back at the van and the man playing guitar, sitting on the van's edge.

Just as Rose looked again, Greg stopped playing, mostly because he was so ashamed of himself because he failed at assisting the Gems with audio, which was pretty much his main expertise. As he put the guitar down and dug around for CDs to play, his eyes met a single with the map of three European countries drawn on it. Interested in its content, he immediately put it on.

As the chords began playing, Greg recognized what it was about. "Oh, here's some song I picked up from my tours in the nineties. Or was it the eighties?"

Rose used her powers of being able to interact with electric appliances to temporarily stop the CD. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that we are together, and we can sing together." She started the song from the beginning again, and quickly thought of apropos lyrics to sing about how she felt since the beginning of her life as a Crystal Gem.

Thus, when the lyrics of the actual song began, she began singing as well. For both of them, it was easier to listen to what Rose sang, because neither of them knew any language of those three countries.

[Song parody: Atmostas Baltija / Bunda jau Baltija / Ärgake Baltimaad]

Four dear sisters, standing by the sea
They saved the world, but didn't even see
That they'd remain on Earth for years on end
Their senses just telling to defend

For the second verse, Greg had decided to sing instead of Rose. He had already thought of what the gems were feeling right now, and momentarily, in the beat of the song, forgot about his problems.

But now, the Homeworld is out there to fight
And as the humanity fears
Four sisters awake with all of their might
They will not surrender just there

For the chorus, Rose and Greg sang together. The other Crystal Gems had already realized what was going on, and Pearl had opened the window vertically, so that they could hear the song as well.

Crystal Gems, reunite
Crystal Gems, reunite
Universe, Amethyst, Garnet and Pearl

Finally, as the chorus was reprised, the other Crystal Gems finally began singing together, as if it was their new theme.

Crystal Gems, reunite
Crystal Gems, reunite
Universe
Amethyst
Garnet
And Pearl

Since the instrumental part of the song had begun again, Rose and Greg lowered their hands, which they had raised together, while holding them, during the "Universe" lyric. Out of interest, Pearl continued to listen to them chat, while the song was playing in the background.

"It's a shame the gems just turned away from me like this after I failed at something I thought I knew I'd succeed at." Greg sighed deeply.

"Well, it's not your fault. After all, we're dealing with gem technology 5000 years ahead of even my own time. Who knows what Homeworld has up their sleeves now." Rose thought back to the bygone days.

"Yeah, you could suppose that five thousand years is enough for an entire civilization to just move on from audio to..." Suddenly, Greg was hit with an idea. "Of course! This isn't audio at all, but... hmm. What could it be?"

Rose looked at the back of the van, trying to see something that isn't audio-related, and her eyes immediately caught on a screen which she presumed was a television. She then put her hand on the television, also getting Greg's attention.

"Video! Of course. Well, I suppose video killed the audio star." Greg laughed at his own joke. He was then about to run towards the beach house, but saw Rose sitting there and asked her: "You stay right there. I'll get the gems quick."

Rose could only watch as Greg ran upstairs and excitedly said something to the Gems. Pearl crossed her hands and Amethyst looked away, but Garnet shook his hand once again, perhaps deciding that it was for the best to let him take another shot at decoding the video. Thus, all four stepped down and came towards the van where Rose was still seated, and Garnet decided to plug herself to the van's battery, so that a more stable power source could be used.

Greg plugged an additional plug into the mixboard, the other end of which went to the video jack of the television. Initially, only the characteristic snow meaning "nothing could be picked up" was heard, but as the man messed with the board some more, it almost made sense that it could be video, as the lines were beginning to look periodic. Finally, after what seemed like forever setting up the equipment and trying not to look nervous in front of Amethyst, Pearl and Rose, the video footage was observed, showing a blue-skinned Gem, who shouted: "Steven!"

"Lapis Lazuli." Rose instantly recognized her.

"It actually worked!" Greg laughed as he took his place next to the Gems and began watching the video with them.

"I hope you're able to hear this. There's a Gem looking for you, she even knew your name." As Lapis spoke, the background remained unchanged, likely because she was using an equivalent of a human camera and couldn't add any pictures or effects. "I don't know how! I didn't tell her I swear! She's on her way to Earth, and she's not alone. Steven, Homeworld is not the way it used to be. Everything here is so advanced! I can't even understand it. There's no way anything on Earth can stand up to it. Please, don't put up a fight, it'll only lead to devastation-" Lapis's message was cut short, and the static resumed. Assuming that there was no more of the message to decode, Greg unplugged the video jack and everything else from the Stone.

"Steven actually knew Lapis." Rose wondered, not paying too much attention to the content of the message.

"Yes?" Pearl was puzzled.

"And now we're all going to die and it's his fault!" Amethyst felt the need to shout. Rose only awkwardly looked at her, but the moment could not be exchanged as Garnet plugged the van's battery back up together and shook Greg's hand once again. He could only wonder how she does anything with her hands when both of them have gemstones on them.

"Thank you. We got the message, and we will be able to resume our routine. Have a nice day." Garnet said, then turned to the other gems. "Let's go." Soon enough, everyone followed her and she, Amethyst and Pearl were able to enter the beach house. Rose, however, was still too big for the door. Pearl sighed as she opened the window once again, letting her in.

And thus, Rose was finally able to lay down in the human bed, thinking that everything was resolved after all.

Author's idiotisms: From now on, updates may become scarce as right now, I am in a programming camp. (Cue all the comments saying that I'm wasting my time here.)

Anyway, another note: Originally, the song parody in this chapter was going to be something from the repertoir of ABBA. It's a shame, since now I don't get to make a joke in which Amethyst transforms into a sheep and goes "Baa!" and Greg corrects her: "You mean BAAB, with an additional B." But whatever, this song lent itself to being parodied much better.