Summary: It is about Jade's cousin Nephrite, who works as a mechanic on Planet Rock. Contains Season Two spoilers!

By Earthmage

 Part 1

"Hey. I'm Nephrite. Nephy for short. Smart, funny, brave, and modest. I try not to brag too much. I'm a basic, prying, teenage girl from Rock. At least, I was basic until the unscheduled 'family reunion'. You see, my cousin is Jade, commander of the Rock military. There was a meeting with Lord Mental (my nickname for him) and the Alliance. So, Jade and Graveheart decided to take a trip to see their old haunts. Then the Beast attacked, and I saw the threat up front..."

"Entering Planet Rocks Atmosphere" came the voice of King Cryos' flagship.

 "Finally." Pyrus grumbled, streching. "I hate long rides."

 "Oh, stop grumbling." Zera called back to him. "It wasn't that long."

 "Who asked you?" he told her.

 "Nobody. I just enjoy making you mad."

 "Shut up ice cube!" He yelled.

 "Lava-head!"

"Brat!"

"Twerp!"

 "Pyrus, Zera, stop it." Cryos called.

 "Sorry father." Zera muttered.

 "Sorry King Cryos" Pyrus said.

 Zuma looked up from the window. "Do you two always act like this?" she asked.

 "Yes." Zera told her.

 "Oh," she said. "Just curious." She turned back to the window.

 "Exactly why does Mantel want to see us?" Teckla asked, when the silence became uncomfortable.

 "Not totally sure," replied Graveheart, "Something about discussing His place in the Alliance."

 "Ack, sometimes I wish he would just shut up about that." Jade muttered.

 "Jade, has Lord Mental ever shut up about anything?" Graveheart asked her. She thought for a moment. "Well, he did stop talking about making peace with the other planets, but other than that…"

 "Graveheart," asked Zuma, "did you call him Lord Mental?"

"Huh?" he asked, "oh, must have been a slip of the tongue."

 "A fitting name none the less." Cryos said.

 Just then the vid screen popped up, revealing Feldspar's face.

 "New orders from Lord Mantel." He said.

 "New orders?" Cryos asked, confused.

"Lord Mantel has a…problem on his hands at the moment. You need to land near the repair wing. He will call you to the throne room when he is ready to see you." Giving Graveheart a dirty look, he cut the communication.

 "Repair wing?" Graveheart asked. "Jade, doesn't Nephy work there?"

 "Nephy?" Teckla asked. "Who is she?"

 "Oh, my cousin." Jade told him. "She is training to be a mechanical officer…"
 

***The Clavicle***

 "Pelvis, you lazy bum, get you butt in here!" Yelled the Emperor Femur.

 "Coming your highness!" called the skinny royal advisor. He was carrying a drink in one hand. "Terribly sorry to keep you waiting. I brought you a drink."

 Femur cautiously took the cup and sniffed it, then set it down. Pelvis looked slightly disappointed and cursed under his breath.

"So what's the gab?" he asked.

 "Nothing much you highness, just that Lord Mantel is now delaying out audience. We have received word to land near the repair wing."

 "Oh fine. I get to spend an afternoon slumming." Femur grumbled, getting up.

"I do believe that Graveheart and Jade would strongly resent that. I overheard, that they grew up near the area."

 "Great. I am going to be wading in nostalgia." Femur's eyes then lit up. "But, Jade might be sad if she hasn't seen this place in so long, and might need comforting…" He gave one of his disgusting little smiles that gives us all the shivers and then left the room. Pelvis sneered and gagged.

"Oh well… Maybe she'll kill him." He muttered hopefully.
 

***Repair wing***

 "Nephrite! Nephrite get in here!" Yelled Pyrite, head Mechanical officer.

 "Coming, coming, I'm sorry I'm late." Said a short girl with green and yellow hair tied back in a ponytail, running into the room.

 Pyrite sighed. "Nephrite…"

 "Nephy." The girl corrected.

 He glared at her and she seemed to shrink a little. "Nephy, this is the last time I will tolerate this habit of yours. If you want to become a mechanical officer, you should be on time for you lesson."

 Nephy sighed. "I'm sorry, but a rock slide is being cleared at home and…"

 "Stop it." The man ordered. "I want none of your excuses. I might just have to find another student to replace you."

 Nephy stiffened up. "You can't! I mean…I…I promise it won't happen again."

 "Good." He said. "It had better not. Now I want you to start with the circuit boards…"

 "Oh no, not those blasted things. They are soooo boring." She moaned.

 "Boring or not they are good training. As I told you before, I started all my training on those things."

 "Can't I work with one of the real ships? Just this once, I have to work with them sometime, why not now?"

 "Because you are only an apprentice. I tell you when you are ready." Pyrite sighed and scratched the back of his neck. "Well…I guess you need to start sometime. I'll tell you what. If you finish the circuit board, I'll help you with one of the new ships that just came in. But only after the boards are finished, understand?"

 "Yes sir!" she called gleefully. She then ran right over to a board set out on a nearby table and started working.

 Just then a small screen at the far side of the workshop came on.

"Pyrite? Pyrite, come in."

 Pyrite walked over and looked at Sergeant Zircon's face. "Yes, what is it?"

 "King Cryos' ship has landed in sector 58, Lord Mantle wants you to go and greet them."

 "King Cryos!?" Nephy exclaimed. She has snuck up behind Pyrite when the screen had called. "What in Mantle's name is he doing here?"

 'That is absolutely none of your business Nephrite!" Pyrite yelled. "Go back over to the circuit board this second."

 "Well excuuuuse me for breathing." She muttered to herself.

 Pyrite turned to the screen. "I apologize for my apprentice." From the other side of the room he could hear Nephy snort. "But, I admit, she has a point. Why is he here, and furthermore, why does Mantle want me of all people to greet him?"

 Zircon looked at him oddly. "Two of Cryos' companions are from this planet. Mantel believes that you knew them once…"

 "Jade and Graveheart, I know. So?" Pyrite asked. Zircon looked past him and Nephy. She was staring at them, probably absorbing every word exchanged. Pyrite glanced sharply at her, and then the door.

 "All right." She sighed. "I'll leave." And she walked into the tool closet. Pyrite returned to the screen. "Now, where was…Oh. So why does Mantel want me to meet them, just because I know them? A lot of people here do, Nephrite is Jade's cousin. Their other friends live here to."

 "I guess Mantel wants them to be among friends for the moment." Zircon told him, shrugging. "I am not one to question my lord's orders."

 "Who would dare?" Pyrite asked him. Zircon laughed, and the monitor went blank.

 Pyrite shook his head. "Why does Mantel have to meddle with my life." He grumbled. He walked over and opened the closet door. "All right Nephrite, you can come out now."

 She stood up. "About time," she told him. "What did Jerkon have to say about Cryos' ship?"

 Pyrite glared at her. "Must you always give nicknames to every person on Rock?"

 "Yes. Besides, Zircon threw me out of the Control Core, remember? Therefore, he shall be known as Jerkon."

 "Gah, forget I asked. Go work on the circuit board, I have to go somewhere."

 "Where?"

 "If I wanted you to know, I would tell you now wouldn't I?" he said to her, and walked out.

 Nephy watched him leave. "Well then, just ignore the curious teenager who just wants to figure out what is flipping going on with a cousin of hers." She muttered, walking over to the ship. "Oh well, I finished the board. I'm sure he won't mind if I start the ship without him…"

Author's Note: I read somewhere that Planet Rock was divided into tribes, and that Graveheart and Jade were from one called Flint.  My story is based on that that tribal thing and I just wanted to clear that up.

"Why are we waiting out here?" asked Zera, kicking at the ground.

"We are waiting for someone to come out and tell us what we are to do Zera." Cryos told her.

"I hope they get here soon.  It feels like there is a bad wind storm on it's way here." Said Graveheart, looking uneasily at the yellow horizon.

"I think it would be best if we had some sort on shelter in case it hits us." Teckla said.

"Or maybe we should just forget the orders to wait out here and just go inside." Pyrus muttered.

"I don't think Mantle would take disobeying orders on his planet to lightly," Jade told him.

"Even if it means getting killed?" asked Pyrus.   Jade shrugged.

Just then, they felt a rush air as the Clavicle landed nearby.

"Drat it," Jade muttered.  "I had hoped the toad would have forgotten."

"Oh well, at least he will probably behave himself in Lord Mantle's court." Zuma said to them. Jade rolled her eyes.

"Pigs may fly," she muttered.

Femur arrived in his usual flourish, and then immediately began complaining about being kept waiting.

"…Really, the nerve of him keeping the great Femur of Bone waiting outside of some slum." He muttered.

"Well Femur, I will have you know I grew up near this  'slum'." Jade told him, giving him the evil eye.

Femur flinched. "Sorry babe, no offense meant. "  Jade rolled her eyes.

"So Jade," Pyrus broke in, trying to save Femur's life. "Who is this Nephrite person?"

Jade sighed. "My cousin.  She's a little older than you are.  Started working as a mechanic couple of years back.  How long ago was that?" she asked Graveheart.

"I don't know.  Two years maybe," he said.

"Why did she want to be a mechanic?" Zera asked.  "Wouldn't she want to be a warrior?"

Jade looked down and Graveheart got an odd look on his face.  "She was a quarrior for a while. She quit her training later, as did another friend of ours."

"Why did she quit…" Pyrus was about to ask, but Teckla put her hand on his shoulder, sensing that they had said something wrong.  Pyrus got the message and fell silent.

Zuma quickly filled the silence.  "Who is she training under?" she asked.

Graveheart grinned.  "A man named Pyrite, head Mechanical Officer.  Kept complaining that no one could take his place when he passed on, none of us ever had the makings of a good mechanic…"

"And we would all fail his class, and he'd never let us near a ship…" Jade added, rolling her eyes. "Doesn't sound like a very pleasant man." Cryos concluded.

"He's a teacher, he's not supposed to be," Graveheart said.

"Your right I'm not supposed to be!" someone yelled.  "If I was, you wouldn't have listened to a blasted word I would have said!"

They all turned to see who had spoken, and Jade and Graveheart both smiled wryly as their old friend Pyrite emerged out into the open.

"Pyrite! Good to see you again!" Graveheart said, clamping the man on the shoulder.

"Graveheart, Jade, nice to see you both breathing.  Most of us were sure you would have died once you left Rock!" he exclaimed to them both.

"Well, that just makes me feel all nice and warm inside." Jade said.

Pyrite laughed. "Smart mouthed as ever.  So tell me, who are your friends?"

"Oh come on, Surely you could recognize the rulers of Ice, Fire, and Bone!" Graveheart said.

"I'm making conversation," Pyrite told him.  He turned to Cryos.  " I presume you are King Cryos?"

"You presume correctly," Cryos replied. "This is Lady Zera, my daughter." He gestured toward Zera.  Pyrite bowed.

"An honor to meet you," Pyrite replied.

Zuma bowed. "My name is Zuma, of the Sand People."

Pyrite smiled.  "Good to see our Alliance is growing."

"And I'm Pyrus, ruler of Fire," Pyrus said, holding out his hand, then he grimaced. "Or at least, what was Fire."

Pyrite took his hand and shook it.  "I am sorry for your loss." He replied.

He faced Teckla.  "And you are?'

"Teckla, of the Planet Tek." She pointed towards Voxx.  "This is my companion Voxx."

Pyrite seemed rather interested in Teckla's floating computer.  "Voxx is it? What does he do actually?"

"He computes information and analyzes experiments and such." She replied.

"Hmmm…. What king of analyzing, substances, or data…"

"Oh great, now were in for it," Jade muttered.

"Pyrite can' t resist learning about anything new or mechanical," Graveheart sighed.

"Oh sorry," Pyrite apologized.  "Come on, I need to head back to the repair room.  So Teckla, tell me more about this Voxx…"

Everyone followed Pyrite, who was in deep conversation with Teckla, except Femur, who stood there, looking a little miffed.

"Hey," Femur said to no one. "He didn't ask about me!"

***

Flint Tribe Territory

Chert was falling asleep.  He had been up since five, trying to cram for a test he was going to take.

You'd think I'd have figured out it is not a good idea to cram for your Biology test the day it takes place after I tried it before. He thought sourly.  Why did I have to be so hard to be able to become a scientist?

He sighed.  Oh well.  Nephrite was probably having more trouble with Pyrite, being late as always.  Laughing to himself he shook his head.  He knew Pyrite would never get rid of her, she was the best apprentice he had ever had.  Though, he couldn't figure out why she had a fixation on tools and all that other stuff.  Now he could spend hours at a time watching an animal, or
plant.  That drove her and Jasper insane.  He remembered his old friend Mica used to make fun of him because of it…

Suddenly he heard the phone ring. He leapt up answered it.

"Hello, Chert speaking" he said

"Hey Chert-io! Guess who?"

"The only one who has the gal to call me Chert-io." Chert said, rolling his eyes.  "Hello Nephy."

"Hey, guess what!" Nephrite called excitedly. "I know something you don't know!"

"I'm sure you do, what is it?" he asked, playing along with her.

"Well, you know how Graveheart showed up before, when that Beast Thing attacked, and Jade went with him?" she inquired.

"Heck yeah, your aunt and Graveheart's Mom was fuming for weeks.  You stayed at Opal's the entire time your aunt visited you're Mom because she was so mad."

"Well, you do know we joined the Alliance, and Lord Mental wants more control?"

"Mental wants more control, so what else is new," He said.

"Okay, Mental wants to talk about his place in the Alliance, so he wants the leaders to come…"

Chert gripped the phone.  "Are you saying… That they are HERE!"

"Yep!  Pyrite went to go get them, and I can't wait!  And I actually get to meet the other rulers!  This is almost as great as going to a Corundum concert!"

"Oh man, you are soooo lucky!" Chert said.  " I'd be running down there now, only I have that test in an hour…"

"Say no more" Nephrite called triumphantly. " Come down later, we may see you then!" she paused.  "Oh no, I think Pyrite's gonna be here soon, I can't let him see me using the phone, I'll talk later!"

"Hey wait!" Chert hurried.

"What, I need to get to the ship," Nephrite said urgently.

Chert grinned. "Oh nothing.  Just saying that Anthracite is unbelievably better band than
Corundum."

"Yeah right, they sing like a dying lavadog!" Nephrite yelled back.

And with that she hung up.

This will be great! All of us together again, Well Opal is on the other side of the Planet, but other than that, It will be just like old times.  Almost…

Chert gazed at the picture on his dresser, showing a group of young kids, ages ranging from six to thirteen.  Just like old times, isn't that right Flint? All together again…

Inside Arrowhead, Repair Wing

Nephy checked out the Com links, which had basically been fried.

"I'd be surprised if anyone, even Pyrite could fix this," she muttered.  "Wires everywhere, sparks flying, this thing is a fire hazard." She managed to squeeze through the door, which had been smashed halfway in.  Still muttering, she searched through the box for a pair of wire cutters.  She would have to strip the entire section and then rewire it.

"What could have done this to an Arrowhead?" she wondered out loud.  "Busted Com links, smashed in door, trashed engines, this is a scrap heap!"

She looked along the outside of the Arrowhead, and on the lower right side, she saw a gaping hole, black scorch marks surrounding it.

"Ouch, that must have hurt, I wonder what hit it," she said.  It wasn't an Ice weapon, there would have been a more concentrated blast, no Bone bomb would have done this, and she knew right off the bat what a Fire weapon would do…

She closed her eyes and fought the lump in her throat that popped up when ever she thought about Fire.  I can't act like this around the Prince of Fire, she thought, I wasn't his fault, his father controlled the earlier raids, and now we are housing them on the Battle moon.

Still, she knew it would be hard.  She remembered that Planet, her first, and last raid.  Ever. She never even touched a gun after that.  She shut her eyes.

Explosions near the school, the fire it caused…

The raid just after the Golden Jubilation ended…

The call they received, saying one Quarrior was missing…

Chert's face when they told him his twin brother was dead…

Graveheart almost losing his mind, and going practically suicidal…

Amber never again flirting with Graveheart just to tick off Jade…

When Graveheart and Jade stopped speaking to any of them, growing more distant…

Jasper sinking into his own anger, his own hatred of the planet that caused all of this…

All Fire…

Nephy snapped out of her stupid, angry and ashamed of her wandering mind.

"Stop it Nephrite, stop it!" she yelled out loud.  "That's over and done with, we are at peace!"

Angrily, she climbed into the ship, and flung her tools toward the controls. Why couldn't she accept the past!  Pyrite lost two brothers on an Ice raid, and he harbors no bad feeling towards the planet! The Fire kid lost his entire planet to the Beast; she needed to calm down.

"Why do I have to be so conscious of other people's feelings?  I can't harbor a grudge like a normal person." She said grumpily.

Humming a Corundum song, she bent down and snipped two yellow wires.  The ship gave a whirl, and the doors locked shut.

"Holy… Oh Great! The Slaggin door is shut!" she ran over and tried to budge the broken door, hoping that in the state it was in it would give way.  It didn't.

"Nonononono, please open, If Pyrite finds out I locked myself in a ship I'm so graveled!"

Suddenly, she heard the door that led into the Repair room open, and then Pyrite called out, "Nephrite! Nephrite where are you?"

Nephrite swore and grabbed some electrical tape in hopes to put the wires back together.