By the way, what were you going to Homeword for?

Since the Diamonds are good people now, I wanted to ask them for help because of what Emerald did to us. However, when I got to Homeworld, I saw how several Gems had you cornered, so I decided to save you.

I see.

What happened, dude?! Why did those Gems have you cornered?!

It's a long story, I'll tell you later.

Ok.

How long will it take us to get to Earth?

I'm not quite sure, this ship is much slower than the Gem ships. I think we'll get to Earth in about four to five days, I guess.

That's a long time.

If you're in a hurry, you know you can use my hair to get to Earth in a jiffy.

No.I'd rather take those days to rest and think about what I'm going to do.

I understand. *points to a door* Behind that door is a corridor with several rooms, choose the one you like the most. Feel free to make yourself comfortable.

Thanks.

[Time skip - Seven days later.]

(Steven and Lars finally get to Earth. Once they enter the beach house, they find Greg and Connie sitting on the living room couch, talking and visibly worried.)

Hey, Dad. Hey, Connie. What's up?

Steven!!

*runs up to hug Steven* I was so worried! Where have you been all these days?! What happened to the Gems in Little Homeworld?! Why did everybody disappear all of a sudden?!

That's a long story, Dad. *turns to Connie* Shouldn't you be studying, Connie? What are you doing here?

Your dad called me to ask if I knew anything about your whereabouts or the Gems'. I didn't know anything. I got really worried, so I came to see what was going on.

Did something happen? You don't look so good.

Well, what happened was...

[A few moments later.]

(Steven finished recounting what happened.)

Are you joking?!

I'm not.

That's sound pretty serious.

Yeah, it's pretty serious! I've got to save the whole universe... again, and I'm alone in this... again.

Of course not, son. You're not alone, you've got the three of us.

That's right, Steven! We'll help you in any way we can!

Yeah! Count me in, man!

: *smiles gently* I really appreciate it, but... I honestly don't think only the four of us will be able to clean up this whole mess.

Maybe if we come up with a good plan we can save the universe and all the Gems

Yeah, "maybe".

Have you thought of a plan yet, Steven?

Not yet. Actually, I was counting on you to help me with that. After all, you're smarter than I am. You're the brains in our relationship.

Heck I am! And with all due respect, let me tell you that what you and Jasper did was really stupid. You shouldn't have attacked head on, let alone if you didn't have a plan in mind.

Please don't remind me, I wasn't thinking clearly. That doesn't matter anymore, though! What's done is done and now our top priority is to come up with a plan to stop these Gems!

Okay, look. I think I've got an idea of what we could do.

Really?

Yep, there are a few problems though.

What are you talking about?

The first one: we need a lot of Gems.

That's a big problem. There's not a single Gem left on the face of the Earth. To make matters worse, I just lost the last one left.

But you said there are still planets that haven't been conquered.

You've just got to call them and tell them to come to Earth, Steven.

I can't do that.

Why not?

I destroyed the control panel in the dome, it's impossible for me to contact anyone from another planet now.

: You can't be serious, Steven.

I am serious! Days ago I destroyed it in a fit of rage.

Wasn't there also a control panel in Little Homeschool? Why don't you use that one?

: It's true! I completely forgot about that one!

How convenient.

All right, we'll call them once we're done with this.

Sure. What is the other problem, Connie?

The second one: we can make our friends remember who they really are, as we know them so well, but... what about the rest of the Gems?

You're right. if we don't know anything about them, we can't do anything to help them.

We can't just bubble them, can we?

Of course not, all those Gems are just being manipulated by someone else. They wouldn't deserve it.

Here's the tricky part. If we don't find a way to solve this problem, then we're doomed.