Day 1: Part 3!

In Danville...

Amanda Lopez was many things.

A neat freak.

Quite obsessed with order.

Is able to plan many things at once.

Calm in the face of trouble was not one of those things.

When the police came to her house and told her that Milo and his family were missing caused her to struggle not to freak out at the time. The teen said that she hadn't seen any of the Murphy family members in a while as she was preoccupied with school. That was an instant red flag for both the police and the girl as the officers thanked her for the information and left her property.

Once the police were gone, she freaked out for a full two minutes before regaining her composure. Right now, she needed information and hopefully assist in finding out where Milo and his family were.

And there was only one place that she knew where to get it.

On Zeenu...

Bismuth, carrying Hayley and Bobby, entered a cave as it was raining cats and dogs outside.

"Okay, I think we should recuperate here until the storm passes." The weapon making gem said, placing the two humans down.

"Well, it's not like we have any other options." Bobby said, slumping down to a nearby wall.

"Then it's settled." Hayley said as she sat down on the ground before looking to Bismuth. "Also, Bismuth, next time you do something like that, please warn us first."

"Right, sorry about that." Bismuth said sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

Bobby then wiped the rainwater from his arms and wiggled his hair to dry it out. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. He noticed that it wasn't water damaged so that was good, but the teen noticed that the communication device's screen was a little wet due to the rain, so he used his sleeve to wipe the water away just to be safe.

After a minute, it was now dry as the Santiago teen turned it on.

As it was turning on, Bobby knew exactly who he needed to talk to.

And this conversation was long overdue with this person.

And considering the circumstances, it might be the last time

Back on Earth, the Loud House...

At the Loud House, the orange sun was shining down on the infamous house as some of the people in the crowd that was surrounding it were either camping out or decided to go home and wait for any updates.

The family in the house had separated as they were contemplating on what to do. While Luna and Lisa were doing their own thing, the remaining family members were in different rooms of the house. Rita and Lynn Sr were in their own bedroom, Lola was in her room alone since Lana was gone having a conversation with her toys, Lynn Jr was in her room throwing a ball at the wall feeling a little happy that she has the room to herself since Lucy wasn't there.

Alone in her room, Lori just sat on the bed, the conversation with Lisa from earlier was still fresh in her head. She tried to sleep but she couldn't due to the angry shouts from the mob outside and her conflicting feelings from everything that was currently happening keeping her awake.

Should they just tell the people outside the house the truth? If they did, the consequences would be a bit much for the family to handle. For the blonde, phone obsessed teenager, she would face the possibility of being tried as an adult since when her next birthday rolls around, she was going to be one.

Leni, Luan, Lucy and Lana were still missing, and despite the fact that they were the reason why there's an angry mob of confused friends, concerned citizens, and even the police were outside, the eldest sister was still worried to death about them... just as much as she was worried about...

Her boyfriend.

Her Boo-Boo Bear.

Her first love.

The conversation that they had at Lynn's game before he, the sisters that were with him, Ronalda, and Clyde disappeared, and things took a turn for the worst for Lori and her family looked it was going to go bad if they had a few more minutes to talk.

If they did, what would the outcome have been?

In two words: Not good.

In her mind, she played that scenario over and over, trying to find a way to salvage the situation to her liking.

In one scenario, the couple escalated into a full-blown argument until she said that if Bobby wasn't going to help her then they were through.

In another scenario, Ronnie Anne stood in between the two as they argued in an attempt to break it up before things got worse, but it was too late as Lori in a fit of anger, smacked her out of the way as the Santiago tween slammed into the wall, much to Lori's and everyone else's shock and Bobby's horror. Before she could apologize, Boby screamed that she gets away from his little sister, breaking up with her on the spot.

In the last one, she was on her knees wailing as she begged Bobby to help her as the police arrived to take her and her family away for interrogation, only to be denied as he, Clyde and Ronnie Anne turned their backs to her.

Aside from him being on her mind at the moment, another person entered her mind.

Lincoln...

Her twerp of a brother...

The Man with the Plan...

Mr. Mature as he once called himself...

While Lincoln is her brother, they didn't exactly have the best sibling relationship as she sometimes considered him to be nothing but an obstacle in her relationship with Bobby. She remembered the day when the two boys hung out, much to her jealously. So, she decided to hang out with Lincoln's nerdy best friend Clyde to give her brother a taste of his own medicine. Not only did it not work in the way that she hoped, not only did use Clyde's crush on her (at the time) to her advantage (something that made her feel disgusted with herself) but it did manage to get Lincoln to understand that he and Bobby weren't being fair to her with their brother like bonding as she felt like her brother was stealing her Boo-Boo Bear away from her.

Another time that Lincoln was an obstacle to her relationship with the at times dense Santiago teen was the white-haired boy (unintentionally at the time but she didn't know that) insulted Ronnie on a school day. She remembered the call she got from Bobby who was informed about what happened from his little sister and he declared that they were through. She was furious and she remembered Lincoln was rather callous about it until he was told that Bobby and Ronnie were siblings, and even then, Lincoln still refused to make things right with Bobby's sister. Seriously, what was his deal? Was he that determined to be in good graces with a bunch of jerks from school at the expense of his sister not being in a relationship with the one she loved?

It was a good thing that Lori wasn't golfing at the time otherwise she'd probably hit him upside the head with one of her golf clubs during her emotional tantrum.

Upon thinking that caused the teen's eyes to widen in shock. "Wait, why the heck did I literally about doing that?!"

Before she could think on that, Lori's phone buzzed, knocking her out of her thoughts and causing her to scramble so that she didn't miss this call as she hoped it was Bobby. Looking at the screen, it turns out that it was.

"Well, here we go." Lori thought to herself as she pressed her finger down the call icon on her phone. "Hello?"

"Hello Lori." Bobby said hesitantly, being careful to not refer the Loud teen as 'babe' because as of this moment, she didn't deserve to be called that. "We... need to talk."

At those words, Lori's whole body was filled with dread despite somewhat knowing that her boyfriend was going to say something like that. "Okay."

"I think I'm going to cut to the chase here just in case my phone dies or something like a connection issue." Bobby said on his end. "I hope that you'll understand that."

Though a little confused by the statement, Lori let out a "yes" before she then asked, "Are you okay, Boo-Boo Bear?! Where are you?!"

"Don't freak out, but..." Bobby began to say rather hesitantly. "I'm on another planet."

Lori stood silent for a few seconds before she busted out laughing. What she just heard was absolutely absurd. Her boyfriend somehow was on another planet? Literally crazy to be believable. There was just no way that Bobby was on another planet, there was no life there. NASA would've discovered it and notified the public on such endeavors.

Heck, Lisa would've tried to research life on other planets and shared this info with the rest of the family, much to their disinterest.

After 2 whole minutes, the eldest Loud sibling regained her composure. "O-Okay. Thanks for the joke, Boo-Boo Bear I needed that because of the stressful day we're having! But seriously, where are you?"

Bobby sighed, knowing that she didn't believe him at first, so he shouted. "I'm being serious Lori! Me and some new friends are stranded on another planet right now looking for your brother! Who keep in mind, is here, BECAUSE OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILY CHOOSING LUCK OVER HIS SAFETY!"

Lori had to pull the phone away from her ear to avoid going deaf from the volume of her boyfriend's shout. Hearing Bobby talk like that made her know instantly that he wasn't joking around.

A few seconds passed before Lori responded, "Are you okay?"

Bobby sighed on the other end to expel his rage. "I am, but I'm more worried about Lincoln."

Lori breathed through her nose before saying, feeling the same way. "Bobby, you said you wanted to talk. I'm guessing that it's about that twe-" Lori stopped herself quickly, not wanting to insult her brother, who was still missing on another planet, especially to her boyfriend who cared about him a lot. "I mean, Lincoln?"

Bobby noticed that Lori stopped herself from calling her brother a name that he was pretty sure that she called him a few times before and the teen couldn't but smile a bit at his girlfriend's restraint.

But despite that, he needed to talk about the elephant in the room and do it now.

"Yes, and I want to know everything that happened Lori." Bobby said, his tone becoming rather serious. "Everything that happened that led you and your family to do this. So please don't lie to me."

Lori sighed, knowing that there was no way to get out of this. So, she decided to fess up.

"Well, I don't know much of what happened." She began. "All I do know that when Lynn came home after she lost that softball game and she told us that Lincoln is bad luck."

"Okay, question: Did you believe her or do anything to stop her?" Bobby asked.

Lori then scratched her head, trying to remember correctly. "No, I didn't believe Lynn at first, I just figured that it would pass. You know how my siblings are with their nonsense. They'll just blow things out of proportion for about a day or two before getting over it."

"What happened afterwards?" Her boyfriend asked.

"The next day, Leni wanted Lincoln to come to her fashion show, so I wanted Lincoln to come to my golf tournament as I told him that our family supports each other." Lori smacked herself in the forehead due to her hypocrisy. "I handed Lincoln my bag of golf clubs and you know what he did next?!" Her anger was beginning to get the better of her. "That twerp broke them! Do you know how much money our parents spend to get our family the things that we want?! It's literally a miracle that our family hasn't gone broke by now!"

"And that's when you started to believe that your bro was bad luck?" Bobby asked.

"Well, yeah." Lori said nervously.

Bobby clenched his fist in anger at his girlfriend's hypocrisy and ignorance, but he kept it in check as he spoke through gritted teeth. "What were you thinking Lori?!"

Lori shuddered a bit at Bobby's anger but couldn't stop herself from saying. "Oh, come on Bobby! Think about it from my point of view! And maybe this is just my repressed frustration talking so please bear with me." She began before she fell into a rant. "I have to live with a sister who's really dense and naive so much that it's so annoying sometimes, a sister who's capable of making everyone go deaf with her music with how noisy she plays to the point where the neighbors gave multiple noise complaints to our parents, mostly Mr. Grouse since he lives next to us, a sister who is capable of mentally traumatizing people with her sometimes out of control pranks to the point where I'm pretty sure that some of the victims have had to go to therapy. Even my family has a few nightmares about some of them, my Dad being one of them, a sister who's love of sports and competitive nature is so strong that gives her an ego so big that it might literally rival mine when it comes to my social status, a girl who's so fascinated by the concept of the death and darkness that I'm almost surprised Mom and Dad haven't talked to her about it, two brats that can't go five seconds without beating each other up before someone is unfortunately dragged into it and has to stop them. Speaking of those two brats, one of them is a literally a sadistic, self-entitled jerk who is so obsessed with her beauty that she isn't afraid to be cruel to her own family and the other is nothing short of a health hazard with the disease-ridden animals she interacts with and even brings home on occasion or the many dumpsters she dives into, I get that their 6 but still! A genius toddler who's so determined to have a scientific breakthrough that she doesn't consider the feelings of anyone else, including her own family who she tends to use as test subjects mind you, or the long-term consequences of her experiments. I'm honestly surprised that she hasn't blown up the whole dang town at this point!" She saved the best (or in this case worst) for last. "And a selfish, hypocritical, ungrateful jerk for a brother who causes some of the problems in our house with his stupid and sometimes really complicated plans and sometimes he doesn't seem to appreciate the family that he has in his life so what right does he have to complain? On top of that, they all including our parents always seem to rely on me, and only me to keep our house from literally falling apart!" The girl breathed heavily before saying. "Do you have any idea how stressful that can be on a teen?" She pinched her nose to get rid of the hateful thoughts in her head. "I didn't want to take any chances with Lincoln's bad luck, Boo-Boo Bear."

Bobby thought about what Lori said before replying. "Don't you think you're overreacting a bit? I mean, yeah, you're Familia can be a bit of a handful at times but you're making them sound like out-of-control monsters Lori. I mean, be honest. What was the worse that could've happened?"

As right as the Santiago teen was, Lori didn't back down as she began to list off as many possibilities that she could think of. "I don't know Bobby, maybe he would do something to embarrass me just by being in Vanzilla when I'm dropping my siblings off for school. Or he might do something to either you or worse Ronnie Anne and then you'll break up with me again like last time."

Bobby was confused at that last part. "What are you talking about, Lori? I never broke up with you, at least I don't think I did."

Lori was confused at her boyfriend's confusion. "Don't you remember Bobby? You broke up with me when Lincoln (though unintentionally) insulted Ronnie Anne. Remember that double date that we went on?"

It took Bobby exactly 2 seconds to remember what her girlfriend was talking about. "Oh, that time!" He was now feeling silly, regardless he decided to clear something up. "Lori, I think you misunderstood me so I should clear this up, I didn't break up with you that time, I just said that in the heat of the moment."

Lori was completely at a loss for words. "Wait, you didn't break up with me?"

"Of course, I didn't." Bobby said, clarifying his words. "Yes, while I do prioritize family over all else, even our relationship, I wouldn't endanger our relationship over it. I was just mad at Lincoln for insulting Nie-Nie, if I ended up hurting your feelings by saying that then I'm really sorry for that."

Lori let out a sigh as she spoke again. "Well, thanks for clearing that up thought I do feel pretty stupid because of how I acted that day. I'm pretty sure you remembered."

"Well, not much. I was too busy being mad at Lincoln to notice." Bobby said before asking. "You want to talk about it?"

Lori went silent for a bit before speaking. "I... almost threw a lamp at him."

Bobby's eyes widened at what he just heard. "What?! Are you serious? What's wrong with you Lori?!"

"I know, I know, but I wasn't thinking straight!" Lori defended. "When I told him that you and Ronnie Anne were related, he still refused to make things right with her even at the expense of my suffering, so I threatened him with that lamp!" Tears began to well up in the teen's eyes as she continued. "Please understand I hated myself for threatening him like that, but it seemed to me at the time that he didn't seem to give a damn about our relationship! That and I was too angry to listen to reason! I just wanted you back so much that I was willing to go to any lengths to do it!"

Bobby took a few minutes to process this information. While he was shocked and to be honest disappointed at his girlfriend's behavior during that time, he could at least now understand her position to a degree. While he couldn't understand the feeling of having to babysit a multitude of siblings due to it having been him and Ronalda as well as their mother for most of their life (his extended family not withstanding), he did understand that Lori can sometimes let her emotions get the better of her and cause her to act irrationally.

Despite understanding what she was going through, he decided to ask her something. "Lori, while I understand that you're under a lot of pressure as being the one who has to watch the rest of your siblings when your parents aren't around, that doesn't give you the right to treat them however you want. I mean, what would you have done if Lincoln didn't agree to that double date? Were you going to hit him with that lamp, is that it, Lori? Did you want him to be scared of you when you don't get what you want?!"

"NO!" Lori instantly denied. "It's not like that! He knows how important my relationship with you is, Boo-Boo Bear! When I first met you, I was so nervous, I was literally about to have some kind of a panic attack! I've had to work really hard just to talk to you, remember our first date?" She asked trying to change the subject.

But Bobby wasn't having that. "I do, but please don't try to change the subject."

Lori sighed, knowing that as dense as Bobby was sometimes, even he had moments of intellect. "Fine, I'm at a crossroads. I want Lincoln to come back but I fear that him coming back will just make things worse for all of us!"

"So, you'd rather he'd stay in space forever?!" Roberto accused.

"Well, no! But if Lincoln wants to stay out there, meeting whatever is out there (hopefully not getting eaten by it mind you), then that's his choice." Lori said before replying with. "I'm conflicted."

Bobby was rather disgusted at how conflicted that his girlfriend had towards her little brother when it should be obvious that she should help him, so he made it known. "Well, you need to figure it out Lori, cause we're going to find Lincoln and bring him home." He then sighed out of frustration, feeling a little tired from this rather long conversation. "So, Lori, I suggest you take this time to think long and hard about this. I'm going to hang up now. And by the way..."

"Yeah?" Lori said nervously.

"We're going to continue this conversation when I see you again." Bobby said with determination. "See you soon."

Bobby was about to hang up when Hayley shouted from behind him. "Wait!"

Startled, Bobby almost dropped his phone as he turned around. "Huh?"

"You forgot something." Hayley said. "Something important, hint, hint."

Bobby's eyes widened in surprise before he facepalmed himself. "OH! Dang it, you're right!" He then turned back to the phone in his hand. "Lori, we're in trouble, big trouble! There's an alien emperor guy named Zing. He's after Lincoln as we speak. He's also after another guy named Roger. He said that if those two aren't brought to him in three days, they'll destroy Earth!"

Lori nearly dropped her phone out of sheer shock. "P-Please tell it's not true." She hoped that it wasn't true.

Her hopes were dashed when her boyfriend continued. "It's not, and it just got worst. I heard Zing talk to his partner earlier before we've managed to escape. Those two are going to destroy the planet early to break Lincoln's spirit and make him surrender to him."

Lori felt like she was going to have a heart attack at the news. Not only was her boyfriend on another planet right now searching for her brother who she effectively disowned because of nonsensical beliefs, but now an alien was going to destroy Earth all just to spite Lincoln, who she figured must've done something to really piss off this "Zing" guy. So much so that this alien was going to destroy Earth just out of spite.

Lori was brought out of her thoughts when Bobby spoke up again. "Lori, you still there?"

"Yeah, sorry, just hearing that was just... surprising." Lori spoke uneasily. "I literally wonder what Lincoln did to cause this Zing guy to go this far."

"Well, I don't know the full story but I'm thinking that whatever happened, Zing was the one that started it and now it's just escalating." Bobby said theorizing. "Also, I think his partner in crime is somewhat using him and his conflict with Lincoln for something. If he is, then we're in even more trouble. That's my theory anyway."

"Great, so it's basically doomsday for us!" Lori spoke as she sat up in a scared tone. "Just great."

"Don't give up yet, Lori." Bobby said hopefully. "All we have to do is find Lincoln, hopefully Zing will come to his senses and not destroy the planet early. Maybe we can stop him here?"

"That's all depends how long it takes to find him, Bobby. You know that right?" Lori asked.

"Yeah, let's hope Leni and the others can find him in the time is up." Bobby said. "Best of luck to them on their end."

"Are they alright?" Lori asked nervously.

"Yeah, they're fine but I can tell they really regretted what they did, if going this far is any indication." Bobby said. "So, if this is the last time that I'm going talk to you, I just want you to know that while I love you but I'm very disappointed in you for what you did to your brother. Speaking of whom, I hope you take this time to think back on the memories that you have with him and better pray to whatever Dios that you know that he's still alive on the planet that me, your sisters and those who are with us are also on. But if he's dead, we're through! Goodbye Lori."

He then ended the call as Lori put the phone down and lied down on her bed. Her brain was swarming with so many new things at once. Her boyfriend, his sister, the other Loud sisters that fell through a portal, Ronnie Anne and Clyde were stranded on another planet looking for Lincoln, her essentially disowned brother. The brother who they had abandoned for no freaking reason.

And for what? For the sake of protecting themselves from bad possibilities and preserving Lynn's superstitious pride?

Not only that but now Earth has a time limit for destruction unless her brother was in his clutches within three days' time or if whoever this 'Zing' is, if this alien was really committed to it as soon as he was found.

She had a lot to think about. Hopefully, she could spend the next three (and probably last) days (of her life and the existence of the world possibly) to do just that.

Unbeknownst to the eldest Loud child, she wasn't the only thinking her missing white haired Man with a Plan of an only brother.

Danville Library...

Amanda was at a table with a big pile of books beside her as she read through a bunch of them to get some information to Milo's disappearance. From the three mystery books she picked up to the two crime books she acquired.

Until one book got her interest.

'Mysterious Disappearances Due to Fear!'

Oddly specific book. But regardless, the teen was reading through it. She could kill some time and who knows, maybe this will come back to help her later on.

"Excuse me?" a voice said next to her.

"Huh?" Amanda asked, looking up from her book.

It was the Flynn Fletcher boys, Phineas and Ferb... dressed in Sherlock Homes-like attire.

"Phineas, Ferb?" Amanda asked in disbelief. "What are you two doing here?"

"Hi Amanda." Phineas began a bit hesitantly. "Sorry to bother you but I need to ask you something." He decided to cut to the chase. "Have you seen Milo or any of his family members at any point over the past 3 weeks?"

"No, I haven't." Amamda said, closing the book. "I'm starting to get worried. I hope they're okay."

"So do I." Phineas said. "Listen, do you think that we can take this conversation somewhere else. I don't want anyone to overhear us and cause a panic."

Amanda was a bit confused at that last part but nodded. "Uh sure."

Picking up the book, she decided to check it out of the library. Afterwards the three decide to head to a nearby alley to continue this conversation.

"Okay, what's going on?" Amanda asked, feeling nervous.

"Before I answer, are you going to be busy for the rest of the day?" The triangle headed boy asked.

"No, I don't think so." Amanda said after thinking on it. "Why?"

"Good, cause I'm going to need you to follow me and Ferb somewhere." Phineas asked.

"Okay..." Amanda said. "Where and why?"

"Back to our house first, then we're going to Royal Woods Michigan." Phineas said.

"Royal Woods?!" Amanda said in surprise. "But why are we going all the way there?"

"Well let's just say that I have a hunch that what happened to Milo and his family will be answered if we go there." The weirdly shaped headed boy said.

"A hunch, huh?" She raised an eyebrow before thinking it over. "Well, okay, I'm in. But it might take a while to get there, a day or at least."

"No need to worry. Ferb and I built a teleporter before coming here." The young boy replied in response.

"Aren't you and your brother a little young to be building advanced technology without someone supervising you?" Amanda said.

"Yes, yes we are." Phineas said with a chuckle.

With that, the three of them ran back to the Flynn Fletcher house intending to put their plan into action.

Back on Zeenu...

The sun was beginning to set as the day was winding down. For most of the day, Leni and her group had spent it looking for Lincoln in a jungle like area... with no results. So instead of going back to the palace through the portal that Hekapoo made, the team decided to settle down for the remainder of the day. As for the other search and rescue groups, they could not find Lincoln either, so they decided to rest up at their respective locations and try again tomorrow.

At the Zeenuian capital, everyone was preparing for an attack from Zing and Drek's forces just in case they show up.

As for Dan, Eclipsa and Elise, they have ben tailing Jasper for the entirety of the day through an empty desert that stretched for miles.

"Where do you think she's going?" Elise whispered.

"I don't know but in case it's where we think she's going; we need to stop her." Eclipsa whispered.

Suddenly, the three saw Jasper stop in the middle of the nowhere, causing them to stop and watch what she was going to do next.

Slightly turning her head to them, the pineapple-colored soldier spoke. "Do you three fools really think I can't hear you?"

Before Dan, Elise or Eclipsa could do anything in response, Jasper instantly appeared in front of them, causing them to immediately get into a battle stance. "Why are you three following me?" She demanded.

"I think the better question is, why are walking around this planet alone?" Dan retorted. "Are you going after Zing and his accomplice?"

"I am." Jasper confirmed, crossing her arms. "What's it to you?"

"Those two have an entire army. Not to mention the Xenomorph queen that we barely managed to take down." Eclipsa said. "Not even you can stand up to that."

"True, but I can at least buy those Earthlings some time to find Lincoln." Jasper said confidently. "I suggest you leave if you refuse to help."

Jasper began to walk away before she felt something wrap around one of her arms. Looking back, she saw that Dan had transformed his arms into grappling hooks only these ropes were magically reinforced with extra-terrestrial material.

"Hold it Jasper, we're not done! So, your plan is to take on Zing and Drek's army all by yourself in order to buy time for Lincoln to be found?" Dan said in surprise. "Even though that you'll probably die doing so?"

"That's right, is that a problem?" Jasper said as she raised an eyebrow at the human before grabbing the ropes and ripping them off, freeing her arm.

"Well, not really. I'm all for taking down Zing as soon as possible too." The maniac of California said. "It's that you chose to do it alone. Such a thing like taking an army to be done takes a team effort."

Jasper just looked at him with a blank expression on her face before she busted out laughing at the notion. "Teamwork? With the likes of any of you? The day that happens is the day those who lost their lives comes back to life. Sorry, but I don't see us working together going well at all."

"And why not?" Eclipsa asked, crossing her arms. "What about when we defeated the Xenomorph Queen together or escaped Zing's ship?"

Jasper sighed in irritation of having been asked that. She knew in the back of her mind that it was going to come sooner or later, yet she wasn't ready for it. So, it was best that she gets it over with now.

"It's because there was no other way during those times." Jasper responded before she decided to go into the real reason she doesn't want to work with others. "Also, in general because whenever I try to work with someone in any capacity, it always turns a complete HELL FOR ME!" She turned around as she said this before she exploded into a rant. "When I was created it was for one purpose: To destroy the gem who shattered my Diamond and the Earth's Diamond. Pink Diamond! It wasn't until after I was uncorrupted that I learned the truth!"

"What do you mean?" Dan asked, wondering where this was going. "What truth?"

"Everyone thought that she was shattered by a Rose Quartz gem for a long time, until me and the other Gems that the Diamonds corrupted, that we finally found out the real truth, even the other Crystal Gems she manipulated didn't know the truth until now!" Jasper clenched her fists before she then shouted at the top of her light composed lungs. "SHE WAS ROSE QUARTZ!" Her voice echoed throughout the area. "She lied to everyone, even those who needed her, loved her and were incredibly loyal to her and traumatized us by faking her death for basically no reason whatsoever than to save Earth, a planet she doomed with what she did! Ater that, I was serving Yellow Diamond, while I respected her to a degree, I wasn't extremely loyal to her, and while she knew what he was doing, I didn't feel like following but I didn't have a choice in the matter!"

She then sighed as she was glad to get that off her chest before she remembered her former subordinates that she worked with on that one Gem forsaken mission to Earth! A mission that should've been easy, but it wasn't. "And it didn't just stop with her, when I was on a mission to that backwater planet with that annoying Peridot and that traitorous Lazuli to check on a Geo weapon that should've emerged by now, but I'm guessing the Crystal Gems prevented it from doing so, they didn't help me at all. I didn't know where Peridot escape to after our ship crashed but she never sought me out after that, she just abandoned me to save her own worthless life!"

She then pounded one of her fists into the ground, nearly knocking Dan, Elise and Eclipsa down as the ultimate Quartz continued. "And then there's Lapis Lazuli. That traitorous, cowardly, monster of a gem! I offered her a chance to get revenge on those who refused to help her by joining forces with me by fusing together and crushing those rebellious wastes of resources!"

"Fusion?" Elise said in shock. "Is that possible?"

"Yeah, for Gems anyway." Jasper decided to clarify. "For the longest time, I've believed that such a tactic was only used for power for weaklings. And I still believed that cause it what was the Homeworld from so long ago that I had purpose for believed in, it was what the other Diamonds, who actually knew what they were doing believed in." She then shook her head to clear away the memories of what was once paradise in order to get back on topic. "And do you want to know what that powerful coward did instead?!"

"I'm guessing it wasn't pleasant." Elise theorized as she crossed her arms.

"Oh, it was far more than that!" Jasper said with an audible snarl. "It was the beginning of the end for me! After the ship crashed and I was too injured to continue fighting my enemies, I saw Lapis also injured from the ship's destruction, so I managed to stop her from flying away. So, after I offered my proposal. She agreed to it, and we fused into Malachite." She clenched her teeth as she remembered what happened once, they had fused. "Instead of agreeing to the terms I set, she instead used her power over water to..." She then exploded. "TRAP US BOTH AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN FOR MONTHS!"

She remembered exactly what it was like. Every single day of trying to convince Lapis to let her out, stating that she was only delaying the inevitable. That when she would get out, she was going to accomplish what she was created to do and that was the utter destruction of her enemies her ruined her life and the lives of so many worthy Gems by rebelling against those who gave them their existence and purpose.

She didn't understand why Lapis made things harder for herself by trapping the two of them in that fusion. She knew that she did it to get back at the Quartz for imprisoning her on the ship and liked taking her anger out on her. But Jasper knew Lapis more than anyone else, even more so than that half human weakling that had Pink Diamond's gem imbedded in its stomach, so that there was some sort of ulterior motive to it.

Jasper then spoke once more after collecting her thoughts. "After those traumatic experiences and after getting healed from being turned into a monster, I've decided that I wouldn't follow anyone unless they proved themselves in combat first and if they want me to follow or even give them a shard of my respect." Jasper then let out something akin to a chuckle. "That's what Lincoln had done, that human has been so focused on saving everyone else, that he doesn't consider himself a priority."

Dan, Elise and Eclipsa stood in silence as they were processing Jasper's story. She was not only abandoned and led on to fight for a deceitful boss who she thought was dead, but it turned out that she wasn't, but she was also trapped on a planet that she born on and hated with a vengeance as well as getting abandoned by someone that she was forced to escort to the planet that had caused her so much pain. On top of that, she was forced to be an emotionally driven punching bag by someone who was just trying to survive and make her own life but ended up hurting others who hurt her willingly.

Elise decided to break her silence. "Okay, I can get that you don't want to work with us due to your past experiences but consider the circumstances. We may not be powerful enough to fight you but maybe we can earn your respect another way."

"And what would that be?" Jasper asked.

Elise thought about it for a moment before saying. "We're going to encounter some of Zing's men, maybe our skills fighting them can impress you."

Jasper was about refute saying that it wouldn't be enough, but she stopped herself and began to think about it. Up until now, she only relied on herself that she only caught glances of her fellow gem soldiers fighting against the rebelling Crystal Gems and didn't stop to think about them cause in war, it was either move forward in spite of it all or get shattered. So why should she give those that she considered weaker than her like these three before her the time of day?

Noticing that she hasn't spoken, Dan's secret agent "friend" spoke once more. "Jasper, I may not know what it's like on Homeworld but on Earth, during war we have a code of honor "You watch my back I watch yours." Ever heard of that before?"

"Ha, like I need instruction in warfare!" Jasper laughed. "I know of such a code I just don't feel like following it. Mostly because those that I fought with weren't on my level of power." After a few seconds to let it sink for the three the soldier spoke again. "Very well, I work with but only temporality. But when we're done with Zing and his army, I'm going my own way. Got that?"

"Fine." Dan agreed rolling his eyes. "As long as you don't try to kill us while we work together."

With the terms agreed to, the four head off as the sun sets over the desert.

At last, the first day has concluded as search parties are scouring across the world of Zeenu continue as back on Earth developments continue to occur.

As the first day concluded, time runs out. Will Zing destroy Earth early or will not? That is the question.

Can everyone do what they need to do in a short amount of time?

Will the combined might of Dan, Eclipsa, Elise and a reluctant Jasper team find Zing and Drek and stop him before the Earth is turned to nothing but space dust?

Speaking of Drek, what are his real intentions in regard to all of this?

And with Lincoln still missing in action, what's going to happen with him?

All these questions will be answered, as we head into Day 2!

Next time on "The Exiles"!