Zoisite, Lemhi, and Rodalquilarite had now made their way to Earth, specifically on the side of a long stretch of road in the outskirts of Fortuna. They had just now decided that they were going to pose as hitchhikers in order to stealthily make their way into Eureka, but not before Rodalquilarite had started complaining about not getting to socialize with the priestesses back at the Temple of Orthoclase. Naturally, this grated on the white Gem and his violet-colored Vivianite slave.

"Master, do you think there's a way we can ditch this Gem without her noticing?" Lemhi asked Zoisite with his voice hushed significantly.

"Not now, Lemhi," Zoisite dismissively said. "I'm sure she'll come in handy sooner or later."

"I hope you're right, Chancellor, 'cause I've been sick of her 'encouragement' ever since she decided to come with. My God, I wish we'd left her hanging back there!"

"Don't be so cold, Lemhi."

A little later, Rodalquilarite spotted an incoming sea-green 1955 Ford Thunderbird coming towards them from five miles away. It didn't take long for the other two Gems to notice this.

"Quick!" Lemhi shouted. "Change your forms!"

A young Taiwanese woman just happened to be barreling along this small and empty road. As she zoomed along in her T-Bird, she was singing along- and rather horribly at that -with a woman about a Golden Age Hollywood actress's eyes. In fact, she was so mesmerized by the song on the radio that she almost passed by a strange white figure standing by the road.

Zoisite, of course, had assumed the form of a mysterious fur-clad young lady, complete with a snow-white fur cap and unbelievably long eyelashes. As for Lemhi and Rodalquilarite, they had shapeshifted into the woman's pets, a long-haired Chihuahua for the latter and a Rex rabbit for the former.

The Taiwanese woman almost immediately braked her car and craned her neck to look at the stranger.

"Hey there!" the young enthusiastic Asian girl cried out. "You need a ride?"

Zoisite walked over to the driver's side and said, "I guess that'd be alright. Thanks." He took a quick look at the vehicle and then cautiously got inside and sat next to her. "So, um, where you heading?" he asked as the woman resumed her trip through the road.

"Eureka." the Asian woman answered with confidence. "You?"

"Same."

"Neat-o. What's your name?"

It didn't take long for the white Gem to come up with a pseudonym. "I'm Luna. Luna Lavender."

"I'm Angie."

"Very nice to meet you, Angie. Say, do you know about the Crystal Gems?"

Angie shook her head. "Sorry, man. Never heard of them."

Zoisite frowned a bit out of pity. "That's too bad. They seem like interesting folks around here."

"Whatever. By the way, your pets are cute. What are their names?"

He answered quickly, "Amazonia and Petal."

Angie giggled at this and kept driving. She didn't seem to pay much attention to Zoisite's attempts to keep calm inside the two-seat convertible. Rather, she was more focused on the journey to Eureka and she was determined to make it.

A few hours later, they'd made it to their destination. Before Angie could be on her way, she asked the hitchhiker what his opinion on humanity was.

"Terrible, just terrible." he answered solemnly. "Anybody asks, they should all be killed... starting with you."

Angie's eyes widened and her pupils shrank. She'd heard of misanthropes and had even met at least one of them, but she'd never met a misanthrope who'd be so willing to kill their own. In fact-

But before she could process the implications of such a thing, Zoisite had already shot a bolt of lightning at her car and blown it up. With that out of the way, Zoisite and the other two Gems reverted back to their regular forms and began making their way to the human family's house.

Meanwhile inside the Zimmerman house...

Rose had retired to the living room couch and was now watching a rerun of "Gunsmoke" for the second time. It was infuriating trying to ignore how insensitive Zirconia had been, but at the same time she couldn't help but wonder if she'd been rather harsh with her herself. Yes, what Zirconia had said was very much uncalled for, but then having the woman who'd saved her from her abusive master tell her that she might be reconsidering her opinion of her was probably the last thing she wanted to hear. Maybe next time she saw the blonde Gem, she'd apologize for her choice of words.

Anyway, she reclined on the couch while thoughts about what'd happened earlier stewed a bit in her mind. Times like these made her wish Nephrite was still around to help her. (In fact, she'd probably try to rectify that one of these days [after all, she'd had what was left of his gem stored inside her own], but for now it was out of the question.)

All of a sudden, a loud crash could be heard from the master bedroom.

"What was that?" she asked as she scrambled to get her feet on the ground.

Realizing that Carole and Jared's lives were going to be in peril, Rose swiftly got up and made her way to the source. To her surprise, Zoisite just happened to be standing before her while his back was turned to a large, uneven hole in the wall. It was then that memories of this figure from the past started flooding back; in a way, he almost seemed like a trigger.

"Zoisite?" she loudly gasped.