"That was definitely an old-style Space Bridge," Max stepped off the transport pad, but the sight before him sent him into a stunned silence.

"This is freaky, are we even still on Earth?" Gwen asked.

"Never mind that, we need to find them," Ben said, still in his Diamond Head alien form.

"You know this is a trap, right? We should be careful."

"So, let's spring it!" Ben ran down the hill, with Gwen hot on his heels.

Max took a few slow steps forward, looking around. They were still on Earth, he was sure of that. The same sun shone in the sky, and the air had the same smell… but the ground here was dead. Completely. It may never be fertile again, even enough to grow weeds. What could have done such a thing?

He followed Ben and Gwen slowly. He was sure that when they found the Gems, he would hear the sounds of fighting. He was walking through some form of canyon, with elongated holes at regular intervals along the cliff walls. Occasionally he would pass a bolder or rock jutting out of the ground.

The further into the canyon he went, the more he saw. More holes, more rocks, and ruined machinery. Alien machinery. And if the jewel at the end of them was any indication, they were likely Gem machines.

They looked to be drills, with legs, and they had all been destroyed. Some had simply been damaged or smashed, others had been completely destroyed. The damage did not appear to be recent; whatever it was that happened, it had been a very long time ago.

In a flash it occurred to him what these machines had been. He could see it in his minds eye: Plush fertile green slopes, the drills thudded down like rockets. They drilled down, injected a gem into the ground. As the gem grew into a Gem deep within the earth. The legs moved the drill to the next spot and repeated the process. Several other drills joined it, creating a preplanned garden to grow new Gem warriors. As the Gems grew, the ground compacted and died as the Gem absorbed all the nutrients and life from the ground around it. One by one, the Gems would exit the ground, fully grown and ready for battle. All that was left was this… rocky wasteland that surrounded him.

Max rested a hand on one of the drills, wondering what could have destroyed them without him ever knowing about it. The Plumber files on North America went back to colonial days… an action like this, surely he would have heard about. Could it have happened even further back than that? Then what were these Gems they were facing now?

-o-

Diamond Head Ben had stopped running, and was moving much more cautiously now. He and Gwen were both sure they were being watched.

"Hey!"

Ben turned with a start, throwing crystal daggers in the direction of the shout.

"Watch it! You nearly hit me," Amethyst was laying on her side in a suggestive pose on top of a piece of alien machinery.

"Are you going to surrender now?" Ben asked.

"No, why?"

"Cause I'm a well known hero!"

Amethyst cracked up laughing. "Hey, do you want to see my hole?"

"What? Wait—I don't know if I'm ready for—"

She playfully got up and walked along the ruined machine, then jumped onto the side of the cliff wall, pointing to a hole in the cliff face below her. "It's this one right here! Isn't it cool?"

"Wha?" Been was completely confused by what was happening, "Stop moving, and come with me, I don't want to have to get rough with you."

Laughing some more, Amethyst jumped across to another rock face and was soon out of sight.

"Aww, man…"

-o-

"I know you're here somewhere!" Gwen shouted, looking around at the hole filled cliff faces that were all around her. At the time, splitting up to cover more ground had sounded like such a good idea, but now she wasn't so sure. She felt too exposed here.

"Engaging combatant!" a voice said.

Gwen turned around to see the tall and slender Pearl standing behind her, holding a sword at the ready. Soon that Pearl was joined by two more.

"Engaging combatant!"

"Engaging combatant!"

Something was off about these pearls, Gwen thought as they approached her, and she backed up. These seemed much more… monochromatic than the Pearl that had attacked them at the beach house.

Gwen fired magical energy bolts at the first one. It vanished in a blur of static the moment it was hit.

"Attack."

"Attack."

The two remaining Pearls swung their swords at her, forcing Gwen to jump back. Her back was literally against a wall, and the two Pearls continued to advance.

In rapid succession, she fired two more magic bolts.

"I am defeated!"
"I am defeated!"

These Pearls joined the first, vanishing in a blur of static.

"What is going on here?" Gwen shouted.

Gwen looked up, and to her surprise, spotted two Gems standing on top of the cliff staring at her. One of them was Pearl, and the other Garnet. As soon as they noticed Gwen glaring up at them, they turned and started running back along the cliff.

Gwen took of running back the way she came, trying to keep up with them.

She passed Ben.

"Come on, they're doubling back!"

"What?" Ben took off running after her, back towards the teleport pad.

They kept looking up, keeping the Gems in sight. There were three of them now.

Up ahead, they spotted Grandpa Max, he hadn't moved too far from where they had left him.

"Grandpa, they doubled back!" Ben shouted.

"What?" Max turned and started following at a quick jog.

They reached the teleport pad in time to see the three Gems and the two kids standing on the pad. The boy waved at them as they vanished in a blue teleport beam.

"Let's get after them!" Ben shouted.

"Ben, just a second," Max said, "how are you still Diamond Head? You should have timed out a long time ago."

"Since they could attack us at any time, I'm not looking a gift alien in the mouth… so let's go kick their butts before it does time out."

"Okay fine." Max joined Ben and Gwen on the teleport pad. As before, it activated on its own, sending the three of them to their next destination.