The Rapscallions worked all night. By the time the sun came up, they had a dirt pile that reached all the way up to the walltop.
Damug issued a command. "Okay, just go straight up the hill onto that wall. Don't stop- keep up a full charge. Once we're on the walltops, we'll eat those Redwallers alive!"
With Damug in the lead, they started running up the hill, bellowing a bloodcurdling war cry. "Kill! Kill! Kill! Damug Warfang!"
Damug could see the Crystal Gems and some of the Redwallers standing on top of the scaffold, weapons at the ready. But he was confident he and his army could overcome them. He had strength of numbers, after all.
They were halfway up when they saw an enormous object rising from the ground on the other side of the wall. It was the spaceship!
One of the Gem-rat hybrids gulped. "What is that?"
Inside the ship, Tasque stood in the control room with the headphones on their head. "Okay, F.A.I.T.H., open fire!" they said.
Lasers began firing from the bottom of the ship, hitting the attackers. The hybrids that were hit by the lasers got bubbled; the regular vermin that were hit just died.
Damug hurled himself face downward onto the earthen ramp, hoping to make himself less of a target. Behind him, his soldiers turned and started stampeding back down the hill, fleeing in all directions. But one Ramethyst, apparently too scared to run, just stayed where she was, not moving a muscle.
Suddenly Damug had an idea. He jumped back up, rushed over to the Ramethyst, and grabbed her by the arm. "Turn into a helicopter!" he ordered her.
The Ramethyst was confused, but she obeyed. She changed herself into a helicopter, and Damug dived into it. The helicopter rose into the air and flew straight at the spaceship!
"Well, I say, this is a bit of a sticky wicket," Tasque said, seeing the helicopter coming at them. F.A.I.T.H. tried to shoot the helicopter with a laser but missed. To Tasque's horror, the helicopter drew level with the ship's window. Damug leaped from the chopper and dived at the spaceship, smashing through the glass and landing in the control room right next to Tasque!
Damug got up. He was bleeding in a dozen places, but that didn't seem to faze him. He drew his sword. "Your fighting days are over, fusion. I'm going to kill you right here and now, and then the Abbey, and this ship, will be mine!"
He charged at Tasque, trying to hit the gemstone in their bellybutton with his sword. But Tasque parried Damug's thrust with their own sword. The rat and the hare started fighting all over the control room. The ship began to rock back and forth.
Then, while dodging a blow from Damug's blade, Tasque tripped and fell. The headphones fell off their head. This caused the ship to lose control of itself. It started flipping wildly through the air like an amusement park ride from Hellgates. Tasque and Damug slid all over the floor as the ship turned over and over.
The creatures on the walltops watched in shock as the spaceship canted crazily above them. "It's going to crash!" Pearl cried.
"Hope it doesn't hit the Abbey!" Amethyst said.
Just then, the ship crashed to the ground, landing on the flatlands right next to Redwall. Luckily it didn't hit the Abbey, or any trees. The Gems and Redwallers breathed a collective sigh of relief.
But their next concern was for Tammo and Pasque. Were they dead or alive?
"We've got to get down there!" said Garnet.
There were no more vermin or hybrids to be seen; it seemed they had all fled. Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst hurried down from the wall and out the Abbey gate. They rushed for the spaceship.
Fortunately, it had landed right side up. Garnet slid the door open and stepped in. The others followed. They walked down the hall to the control room.
Inside, the first thing they saw was the corpse of Damug Warfang. The crash had killed him. "Good riddance," said Amethyst.
"Where's Tamm and Pasque?" Pearl said.
Garnet pointed over by the wall. "There they are!"
Tammo and Pasque were lying on the floor, side by side. It seemed the impact of the crash had been so strong it split the fusion Tasque into its separate components.
Pearl wrung her hands. "Don't tell me they're dead too!"
Garnet walked over to Tammo and felt his pulse. "He's still breathing."
"What about Pasque?" Amethyst asked.
Garnet stooped and felt Pasque. "Yeah, she's alive too. But they're both unconscious. We need to get 'em inside. Hopefully the healers at Redwall will be able to help them."