Robert, Michael, Steven, and Lars fell a great deal of height. "Somebody do something! I don't wanna die!" Lars screamed. Michael cycled through his buster shots until he realized his buster's batteries died. Steven leaned and caught Lars and Robert. Michael grew a giant leaf from his back to use as a parachute. Steven floated down by reducing his gravity.

They now found themselves on Homeworld's true surface. It looked like the Kindergarten Amethyst was born in, but somehow even more desolate and lifeless.

"I'm hungry, anyone have spare snacks?" Lars asked.

Michael had an apple seed in his hands, he looked for a place to plant it, but the soil's nutrients have been sucked dry long ago. "Be patient, I'll get you some apples!" Michael said, in slight panic.

Robert looked up "Guess we fell quite a bit, huh?" he said. "Great observation, Captain Obvious!" Lars snapped. Michael remembered the siol Robert had in his bag that Michael put there. "Robert, gimme the bag of soil" Michael demanded.

Robert was confused, Michael just snatched the bag off his back and took out the Ziploc bag of dirt Michael snuck in there. Michael shoved the apple seed in the bag and spat in it. He then set the bag down and made the tree grow four Red Delicious apples the size of baseballs. Lars looked a little disgusted.

"Relax, it's not like I crapped in the bag," Michael said as he and Robert took an apple. Steven took the other two and handed one to Lars; as he did, the tree wilted. Lars hesitantly took a bite and his eyes twinkled. Not just because it was the first food he had in a while, but because it was the best apple he ever had.

"Thank you" Lars said as he chewed the apple. Michael put the cores back in the bag and put it in his pocket. Robert looked around for anyone who could help them, but only found what appeared to be a floating blue spike with a red glowing eye. It seemed to be searching for someone, sanning the various rock faces, hoping to find the target .

"Guys, trouble!" Robert said as he pointed at the spike. Everyone turned their heads and ran off.

The spike seemed to follow them until they seemed cornered, A rock by their feet opened and a red hand emerged. "Quick! Get in! Get in, quick," it said as the spike started scanning. Steven took Lars' hand, and the Light brothers jumped in after. As Michael jumped in, he saw the silhouette of a man around his size. Michael had no time to see if it was friend or foe.

The area they laid in was pitch black, so Robert lit up the area with a hand torch. When he did, it was revealed the creature who helped them had two heads on one red-skinned body with an oddly-shaped gem on it's naval. "Are you okay?" its left head asked, "Are you hurt?" Its right head asked. Lars was freaked out by this. "Hi, I'm Steven. These are my friends: Lars, Robert, and Michael." He explained. Lars knew he could trust her, since the others seemed to do so.

"Come, this way," The right head said. "This way, come," said the left head. The group followed her to a large cave that had dozens of fallen pillars used to create soldiers.

"What is this place?" Lars asked.

"A Kindergarten...A really big one." Steven said.

"They kept screwing themselves so much they now have to screw with others...Makes me sick!" Michael spat. They followed the two-headed gem into an entrance where there were more holes. "We're back!" one of the heads called out. "It's okay to come out"

"Oh, thank goodness, you weren't..." a gem started. She bore a striking resemblance to Garnet, but they all knew it wasn't her. "YOU WERE FOLLOWED!" The gem shrieked.

"Galarian Garnet?" Robert asked.

"It's okay Rhodonite, I brought them here." the two-headed gem explained.

"Rutile, are you sure we can trust them?" Rhodonite asked.

"Yeah, We're heroes!" Robert said.

"Everyone! A wondrous vision has fallen upon me!" A female voice called out before a small salmon-colored girl emerged from behind a stalagmite. "The twins of rutile will bring four strangers to our place of hiding!"

"What's her problem?" Michael asked.

"Leeeet meeee seeee..." a gem said. Michael and Lars turned around, and it belonged to a gem the size of a dump truck and looked like a caterpillar. Michael would have tried using his buster, but since the battery was dead, there was not much to do. Lars backed himself into a wall, only for Robert and Michael to follow suit. "Theeeey dooon't looook liiike geeems." She said.

"It couldn't be cause we're NOT gems!" Michael retorted sarcastically.

"Then...What are you?" the Rutile twins asked.

"They're all human, I'm only half-human," Steven said.

"Thaaat's whyyyy yoooou looook soooo straaange." The large gem said.

"WE look strange? Look at yourself!" Lars yelled.

"Yeah, you can't walk around on the surface like that, you're off-color" Rhodonite said. "Which is why we hide here."

"Off color?" Steven asked.

"Like...wrong...Flawed..." Rutile explained.

"Geeeeems liike uus aren't needeed" The large gem said. "Padparapsha caan only predict what just haappened."

Robert looked at her and saw something in her... "Hey, Paddy, can you come here for a sec?" Robert asked. "No need to announce it."

After a ten second delay, Padparapsha approached Robert. "What is it, stranger?" She asked. Robert lifted her bangs and looked in her eyes. "Tell me, what's your farthest prediction?" Robert asked. "As in, how far can you see?"

Rhodonite started "She can't-"

"Sssh, Let's see where he goes with this." Michael said.

Padparapsha looked in his eyes and tried as hard as he could.

"I see...a human dressed in strange robes...He has inferiors, and they're talking about some sort of prophecy...The chamber looks so primitive, yet the technology is nothing we've ever seen before!" She said.

"Do you know what the prophecy is about?" Robert asked.

"It is about...one, no, two humans, who will learn parts of a song, which will give them the power necessary to defeat a mysterious dark force! What a mystery what happens next" Padparapsha said.

Robert looked at the others. "I see what it is, Padparapsha, you don't see the future, you see the past!" Robert said.

"Wh-What?" Padparapsha stammered, as if she just heard it, "What does this mean?"

"Paddy, That's awesome! It's unique!" Robert said. Padparapsha started to cry a little. "I...I thought I was h-helping, even though I'm not blue like other Sapphires, I thought I was helping..." She said. "B-But I'm...just annoying!"

"Nice going, idiot!" Rhodonite growled. Robert saw nothing he could do, so he backed away. Michael stepped in. "Paddy, what my brother's trying to say is that...Normal is boring. Think about it: You're the only sapphire that sees into the past! That quality is going to make you popular," Michael explained.

"Wh-What does "p-popular" mean?" Padparapsha asked.

"That a lot of people like you!" Michael said. Robert figured he could help. "While a lot of people see flaws, I see qualities. Yeah, nobody's perfect, I best exemplify this, but you don't have to be in my eyes. You don't have to be a carbon copy of everyone else. Sure, some people may not like you for it, but it's impossible to please everyone, because everyone sees things in a different light." Robert explained. "And that goes for everyone."

"Thaaaat maaay beee sooo, buut our differences aare nooot weeelcooome heeere ooon Hooomewoorld..." The large gem said.

"What Fluorite said. You may have equal rights where you come from, but here, if we look or act out of the norm, you're gonna get shattered and recycled!" Rhodonite said.

"And on Earth, that's called racism." Robert said. "And speaking of acting out of the norm"

Robert snagged the power cable to Michael's buster, and gave it full power.

"Michael, you know where a ship is so we can get home?" Robert asked.

"You're not going anywhere" A voice that sounded just like Michael's said. It was more monotone They turned and saw what appeared to be a doppelganger of Michael blocked the entrance. "Another Michael?" Rhodonite said. "Is it a twin?"

"By order of Blue Diamond, you are under arrest for resisting trial. Your sentence is...death!" The Blue Michael said in it's almost robotic rendition of Michael's voice.

"Robert! Steven! Get everyone outta here, I'll deal with this cheap knock-off!" Michael growled.

"I am a perfect clone of you, only without flaw, made to serve Blue Diamond and to protect her at all costs." Blue Michael said.

"Clearly." Michael said. "But I do have one quality that you don't: I NEVER LOSE!"

Blue Michael's eyes turned sharp. "Plot shield won't protect you this time, Nightlight!"

Michael smirked. "I never expected it to, puppet!" He said.

To be continued...