By evening, the hares and Gems had reached Redwall Abbey. Tammo stared excitedly at the soaring towers and gables of the red sandstone building looming ahead of him. Pasque's voice at his side echoed both their thoughts.

"Golly, is that Redwall Abbey?" she said. "'Tis even bigger'n I thought it'd jolly well be. What a beautiful sight!"

Sergeant Torgoch kept his eyes ahead as he said, "None more luverly, miss! Right, fall inter twos an' let's see us marchin' up there like Long Patrol an' not a bunch o' waddlin' ducks on daisy day! Chins up, chests out, shoulders back, tails twitchin' smartly! Keep up at the back there, Grang!"

When they got up closer, a pair of bells began to ring loudly from up in the Abbey belltower. Brother Gingko, the Bellringer, had seen the travelers approaching and was sounding the bells to herald their arrival.

Pearl winced at the noise. "I wish they hadn't done that. That sound will attract every creature for miles around. If there are any Flower Monsters nearby, they just alerted them to the Abbey's location."

"Ah, you can't blame 'em, Pearl," said Garnet. "That's just their way. They're trying to be welcoming."

Now they were standing right in front of the Abbey, and the gate was opening. A young otter stepped out.

Joshy broke ranks and rushed forward to meet the otter. "Shad! Is that you?"

The otter held out his arms and enveloped Joshy in a hug. "Ahoy, Gramps! Strike me pink, but it's good to see you again!"

Tammo walked over to them. "Did that otter just call you Gramps, Joshy? How can you be his grandfather when he is an otter and you are a hare?"

"Well, actually, I'm more like his great-great-grandfather, don't you know," Joshy said. "You see, it's this way. Long ago, I had a son, a hare named Basil. Regrettably, he didn't inherit any of my magical powers, but otherwise he was a perfect chip of the old block, the old block bein' yours truly. Anyway, Basil didn't give birth to any children of his own, but he did adopt an otter named Cheek. Since Basil became Cheek's father, that made me his grandfather. Basil an' Cheek has both passed on to the sunny slopes an' quiet streams now, alas, but Cheek's descendants, like Shadrach here, still regard me as a relative."

Tammo shook his head in wonderment. "You mean you've outlived all those generations of your own family? Just how old are you?"

"A hare of your seasons should know that's not a polite question to ask anybeast, wot wot," Joshy told him.

Now Abbess Tansy, Arven, Skipper, and a crowd of Skipper's otters were coming out the door. Tansy spotted Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl at the front of the crowd. "Why, it's the Crystal Gems!" she exclaimed. "And Major Perigord of the Long Patrol too. What a lovely surprise. Welcome to our Abbey again!"

"Good t'see you too," Amethyst said.

"Where is Rose?" Tansy asked.

Pearl's face fell. "Rose is gone," she said. She pointed at Tammo. "But this is her son, Tammo."

Abbess Tansy walked over to Tammo and shook his paw. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Tansy, Mother Abbess of Redwall."

Old friends met old friends, and new ones were made as introductions flew thick and fast.

Arven said, "You've arrived at a good time, Gems. Yesterday, we discovered an alien spaceship buried within the Abbey grounds. For all we know, it's lain there since before Redwall was built. Maybe you three might be able to tell us something about it."

Garnet said, "Hmm, I don't know anything about a spaceship buried beneath Redwall, but we'll take a look at it. Where is it?"

"Right inside here," Skipper said, pushing the gate open wider.

The visitors followed the Abbeybeasts into Redwall's grounds. Tansy, Arven, and Skipper led them around the side of the main Abbey building to the excavation site, where the moles were still hard at work.

Tammo gasped at the sight. "Golly, it's huge! It's bigger than the wreck of the Halfship!"

In the hole below, Foremole stood up from his work and looked up at Tammo. "Aye, and it bain't even fully uncovered yet!"

"What do you think?" Tansy asked the Gems. "Could it belong to your civilization?"

Garnet shook her head. "I don't think so. It's got symbols on it that I don't recognize. That's not the language of Homeworld."

"It must belong to some other alien culture then," Tansy said excitedly. "One we don't know anything about."

Pearl was excited too. "Imagine what might be inside there. This ship may have been built by a race with an even greater grasp of technology than Gems have! Who knows, maybe there are even creatures still living inside there!"

"They'd have a hard time breathing," Major Perigord put in.

"Maybe they're like Gems and don't need to breathe," said Amethyst.

"My friend Twilight Sparkle would be so jealous of us right now," Joshy said. "If she were here, she'd be chompin' at the bit to be the first one inside. She'd want to take all sorts of notes about whatever was in there."

"Twill be a long toime afore anybeast'll be going insoide here," Foremole called from below. "We'm been at this fur two days and still ain't found ee door, assuming there even is one."

Amethyst cracked her knuckles. "I can maybe help you with the digging a little later."

"Later?" said Tansy. "Why not now?"

"Because we have more urgent matters at hand," Garnet said. "The reason we came over here is to warn you that Gem Monsters are stalking Mossflower. Amethyst and Tammo were attacked by some of them two days ago."

"And there's a massive vermin army called the Rapscallions roaming the land," Perigord added. "We don't know exactly where in Mossflower they are, but we suspect they want to attack your Abbey."

"Oh, my," said Tansy. "That sounds dreadful. It's almost time to eat. We can discuss this more thoroughly over dinner."

"Glad to see you've got your priorities straight," Pearl said dryly.

"Indeed!" said Joshy Stag Hare. "You're a beast after my own heart, Mother Abbess, marm! I've been waitin' to sample the scoff at Redwall Abbey again. Lead us to the supper table, chums!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everybeast in Redwall had gathered in Great Hall to eat. The table was piled high with salad, bread, cheese, cake, and pasties. In the center was a huge Mossflower Wedge, a giant pie filled with roasted vegetables, which had been baked by Friar Butty, the squirrel in charge of the kitchens. Tammo had never tasted a more delightful meal in his life.

Tansy sat at the head of the table, and Garnet and Pearl were seated on either side of her. "So, tell me more about these monsters," the Abbess was saying to them. "What do they look like?"

Pearl tapped the gem on her forehead, and a hologram of one of the Flower Monsters appeared, hovering above the table. Everybeast stopped eating. The room fell silent as all the creatures stared at it. Some of the Dibbuns burst into tears.

Finally, Arven spoke. "It looks like a giant turnip."

"Hurr, Oi dearly loves eating turnips," Foremole said.

"Well, these turnips'll love eating you!" said Garnet. "They used to be Gems just like us, but the Diamonds transformed them into monsters, and now they want to kill everything they see."

"How can they see without eyes?" Tansy asked.

"I don't know, but somehow they can," Garnet said.

Isaac, the mouse who had found the spaceship buried in the ground, stood up. "Well, these Gem Monsters will soon learn they got no luck against us Brits, Irish, and Scots!"

"That's the spirit, young un!" cheered Major Perigord. "Never say die, wot!"

"But we must try not to kill the monsters," Garnet cautioned. "They aren't evil, like rats or ferrets. They're simply not in their right minds. They've been put under a spell."

Arven scratched his tail. "If we can't kill them, how do we deal with them?"

"If you hit them hard enough, they will simply become trapped in a bubble," Garnet said. To demonstrate this, Pearl showed another hologram, which depicted her striking a mutated Gem with her sword and poofing it into a bubble.

"But do you have to be a Gem yourself to bubble a Gem?" Arven asked.

Garnet shook her head. "No, anybeast can do it, as long as they're strong enough. We've had organic life forms fight these things alongside us before. Until your Abbey is safe 'n' secure once more, the Crystal Gems will guard an' patrol the area night and day."

"And so will my hares and I," said Perigord.

Arven stood up. "I'll fight the monsters too. As Abbey Champion, I couldn't do any less!"

"Are any more of you Redwallers willing to fight?" Perigord asked.

"Me and my crew are ready for a scrap anytime," said Skipper.

"I've never been in a battle before, but I'll be happy to help protect my home," Isaac said boldly.

The Major stroked his chin. "Right. Now, I think the best plan of campaign is to divide the defenders into four groups. Each group will patrol one wall of the Abbey. Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl can each command one, and I'll lead the fourth."

"Sounds like a solid plan to me!" Amethyst said. "Let's do it!"