Thank you for supporting Gemstones this far! I'll be going on break for a few months. I will, however, being a Q&A next week. Send in your questions via reviews!


It was times like this that made Ben wonder, 'what would the Doctor do?'

"Fuck around with the people trapped in that episode's hellish situation, accidentally get a couple of them killed, save the day with cleverness and a sonic screwdriver, and then feel guilty about the incident for years while covering it up with snark and funny jokes," Ruby deadpanned as they power-walked into the armory. Weapons of different cultures and species lined the walls. Upgrade would have a field day, Ben thought.

He then blinked. "Wait, I said that out loud?"

"Yeah, you do that sometimes," Ruby answered as she snagged a couple of Dust cartridges. "Now, is this going to work with my weapon or not?"

"What kind of- what do you call it, Dust? What kind of Dust do you normally work with?" Ben asked, eyeing the multicolored cartridges dubiously. The Dust itself was in powdered form and sparkly, while there were a few shiny crystals laying about, no doubt about to be grinded down for weaponry. (But Ben wanted to know why such a powerful element was called Dust of all things. Couldn't they have come up with something cooler?)

"It's normally fire Dust mixed with gunpowder," Ruby mused as she perused the extensive selection. "Normal bullets don't necessarily work on Grimm- I mean, they could if you hit the mask, but you'd have to waste an entire barrel just to kill one Grimm, it's just inefficient. But mix Dust with gunpowder and you have a more economic weapon that's ten times more powerful than its predecessor."

"So, you only use Dust to kill Grimm?" Ben asked, brow furrowed. He looked over the funnels that held all that colorful powder and took a look at the labels- fire, ice, lightning, even gravity. It sounded unbelievably amazing, but also a waste.

Ruby hummed in thought. "We do use Dust to power buildings and airships and other things Hunters need, but it's mainly as a backup. We still have to use normal Earth resources because going off grid would look suspicious in the long run, and I know the Plumbers have their own alien energy supply that the Hunters occasionally use. Dust is a finite resource as far as we know, so it's better to save it for the Grimm. Think peak oil."

Ben nodded slowly in agreement. "Makes sense. Can I use gravity Dust on a Grimm? That sounds cool."

Ruby frowned. "No, gravity dust is by far the most expensive and rarest, so don't even think about it. Believe me, I had my dreams crushed about that vision years ago."

"Aw."

"I'm gonna go grab my weapon from the Rustbucket. Wait for me by the exit." Ruby said as she rushed out of the room, leaving behind falling rose petals in her wake.

Ben nervously stepped out of the base. He gazed upon the forest; he could hear low, deep guttural noises that made him shudder violently. It reminded Ben of that hallway that led to Zombozo's lair, giving him that familiar claustrophobic feeling. He looked up at the open sky and tried to steady his breathing, only calming down when Ruby put a hand on his shoulder.

"Take a deep breath, Ben," Ruby cautioned. "They can sense your negative emotions."

Ben frowned. "How's that supposed to make me feel any better?"

"Dunno, that's what my dad tells me to do. But honestly? I think you should just dial up an alien so we can kick their asses. That'll make you feel better." Ruby held up a black suitcase. "I'll set up my weapon."

Ben twisted the dial to the Omnitrix, slowly going through his selection, but he got distracted by a cheerful-sounding mechanical whirring. He looked up to see the black suitcase open and on the ground, and Ruby wielding an a sleek red and black mechanical scythe that was twice her size and looked just as heavy. The blade was wickedly sharp and glinted in the sunlight, and somehow it meshed well with all the mechanical pieces interlocking on the pole weapon.

Ben's jaw practically dropped to the ground as Ruby gave him a cute smile. How did a girl this nice get to wield a weapon lethal enough to kill someone? Was she a wolf in sheep's clothing or something?

"What is that?" Ben gasped in awe.

"Crescent Rose, my personal weapon!" Ruby beamed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "It's a high caliber sniper scythe, capable of shifting between scythe and shotgun. Pretty cool, huh?"

Ben held up a finger. "Can we trade?"

"Fuck no." Ruby said firmly. "You're not taking my girl away from me, get your own."

"Ok, ok, fine." Ben frowned, going back to the Omnitrix. He stopped at Eatle's icon and grinned mischievously. "So I have an idea that may sound stupid, but trust me, it's gonna be awesome."

"Are you kidding me, I'm all for stupid plans!" Ruby grinned. Ben slapped down the icon, and Eatle's hard shell suddenly encased his body. Legs broke out from the underside and a massive underbite and horn formed on his head.

"Get on," Ben said, and Ruby mounted him. He suddenly charged into the forest, his mouth dragging along the ground. Ben gathered materials into his maw like a truck loader, growing stronger and slightly larger every time he ate.

"Pleh!" he gagged as he finished loading his mouth. "Dirt tastes awful!" And then he saw it. This creature appeared as a pitch-black, featureless shadow in the shape of a wolf, with red eyes and jaws. It had bonelike spines along its body and a matching mask. Ben gasped as it suddenly perked up and charged at him.

There was a flash of light above him, and the sharp cry of a gunshot rang out. The beast had been sniped right in the mouth; its body crumbled into ash, tar-black smoke disappearing into the air.

"Beowolves are an easy kill," Ruby said, as she blew smoke off the barrel of her gun. "You've got enough power to out run them. Don't ever slow down!"

And that was how Ruby Rose found herself riding Eatle through the forest, shooting at Grimm like she was a knight on her steed.

"DIE YOU SCUMBAGS!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. Ben rammed into Beowolves, his face crumpling them like cars hitting brick walls. He could feel the fear leave his body as he plowed Grimm after Grimm. He was an unstoppable force beating down a movable object. Maybe the world of Grimm wasn't so horrifying as Ruby made out to be-

A bird's screech thundered overhead, and Ben could feel shivers shooting down his spine. He could recall bloody talons and cold red eyes, and the squishy sound of tearing flesh and the crunching of human bones.

And then he remembered Grandpa was supposed to be fighting that thing.

So why wasn't he hearing any action?

Ben ran faster and faster, ramming recklessly into Grimm and destroying trees in his wake; fear and panic clouded his mind, and he could hear the howling of even more Beowolves in the distance, which only made his emotions spiral even more. He could see Grandpa Max's bloodless, cold body in his mind, and it was enough to make him run even faster, snarling at any Grimm that dared to cross his path. Even Ruby picked up on his urgency as she began to conserve her bullets. They were this close to finding him, there was nothing stopping him now-

The watch flashed red and timed out. Ben skidded on the ground, sending Ruby flying and tumbling and knocking himself into a tree.

"...ow."

"Oh my gosh, Ben! Are you ok?" Ruby asked, running over. She didn't really look hurt, just lightly tussled with some leaves in her hair. Ben had a huge scrape on his arm and a few cuts on his face.

"I'm feeling fine, actually," Ben said with a light smirk. "Better than how I was just a minute ago." And then his expression turned panicked. "But holy crap, Grimm are intense."

"You're lucky you just had those injuries, mind you," Ruby said, brushing off his shirt. "Right now we need to get to Grandpa before the Nevermore finds him!"

"And before the shield runs out. How much time do you think we have?" Ben questioned.

"Well, I'm gonna say...10 minutes. Maybe 12 if we're lucky." Ruby shrugged. Of course, that was when the universe decided to prove her wrong. More and more Beowolves came out of the woodwork, snarling and snapping at the two.

Ben frowned. "You had to jinx it."

Three of the Beowolves dashed forward and tried to leap at them, but Ruby disappeared in a flash of rose petals, and the creatures crashed to the ground. They quickly looked up and startled snarling.

Ben quickly climbed the tree he hit earlier and waited for the watch to recharge.

Her cape swirling around her body, Ruby reached behind her in slow-motion and pulled out her rifle. She fired a red-white shot that blew a large part of a Beowolf's head out in a burst of blood red smoke. Ruby landed, a smug look on her cute little face- one that drove the beasts insane.

More Beowolves ran at her, claws and teeth flashing with intent to devour. Ruby effortlessly leapt over the first beast and shot it in the back. Then, while still in the air, she twisted around and blasted another one in its side. She somersaulted to the ground and stood back up, unfolding Crescent Rose into its larger - and deadlier - scythe form.

With sparkling eyes, Ben let out a quiet, "Whoa."

One of the braver Beowolves ran forward, but Ruby merely spun, hooked its body in the curve of her scythe blade, and fired the sniper section at a speed that severed the creature's body in a shower of rose petals. Both halves landed on the ground, disappearing into the air as ink black smoke.

Ben smiled as the Omnitrix suddenly lit up. "Alright, I'm back in business!" He turned the icon to Diamondhead, and slapped it down...only to end up as that weird pillbug alien from earlier. The tree collapsed under his massive weight, distracting the Grimm.

"BEN!" Ruby yelled as she decapitated another Beowulf. Ben stood up, rubbing his head.

"I'm ok!" He groaned, "just annoyed that I got this guy again!" The Beowolves suddenly surrounded the poor alien, snarling and hissing hungrily.

"What were his powers again?" Ruby asked as she shot another Beowolf.

"Just this!" Ben frowned, as he curled up into his shell. The Beowulf suddenly began to claw his shell, rendering Ben helpless. "I can't really do anything!"

"Maybe you could crush em with your shell! I mean," Ruby added, "you kind of overpower then in size."

"Oh, yeah, sure, I'll just- hey, that doesn't sound so bad." Ben suddenly began rocking back and forth in his shell, before he began to slowly roll. "Hey! I think it's working!"

Ben began to roll faster and faster, gathering enough speed to tear up the ground. Ben began to blindly charge at the Grimm that were once again surrounding him, knocking them all down in a single blow.

"STIIIIIRIKE!" Ben triumphantly declared. "This alien isn't useless after all!"

"When you struck those guys, you were like a cannonball!"

"More like a Cannonbolt!" Ben joked.

Ruby replaced her spent cartridge for a new one. "Hell yeah! Now let's kill some Grimm!"

And with that, they ran at the approaching army. Cannonbolt smashed into one of the of the Beowulf, just like that, he began bouncing from Grimm to Grimm, destroying them in a single blow. Ben wasn't even questioning how was even seeing this; the overall satisfaction of their destruction made him feel amazing.

Ruby blasted off at a higher speed than ever before, coming at the dumbfounded Beowolves like a rocket as she converted her deadly scythe into a sickle-shape and spun her way through the mass, cutting up and down, left and right, leaving bullets, rose petals, and blackened body parts in her wake. She disemboweled them faster and faster... until the last one falls, and lands in a pose with her scythe hanging behind her as bullets rain from the sky.

"Show off." Ben joked, as he uncurled from his ball form.

"Well, I think that's all of them here," Ruby said. "All that was left was finding Max and defeating the Nevermore."

Ben scoffed. "And with Cannonbolt, I think that's gonna be easy a-" Andthe watch was flashing red again, goddammit.

As Ben tumbled to the ground, Ruby pulled him back up and patted an arm. "No worries dude, I think I can see Max."

"What? Where?" Ben searched the area, his eyes scanning the bushes and trees. It wasn't until Ruby tilted his gaze downwards did he see his grandfather in the underbrush, lightly singed and scratched up, but no worse for wear.

The two children crept over to him and quietly announced their presence. Max startled and aimed a laser sword at them, but calmed down once he saw it was them. "Figured you two would sneak out," he admonished them. The laser sword fizzled out of existence, much to Ben's chagrin. (Though he did notice an odd smell wafting over them. Whatever it was, it didn't belong in the forest.)

"Yeah, like we'd leave you hanging like that," Ruby told Max, rolling her eyes. "We got rid of most of the Beowolves, at least."

"Now we just got Poe's worst nightmare to worry about," Ben said, looking over the underbrush. "What even happened?"

"A whole lot of Ursae," Max told them. "Not as bad as most Grimm, but these ones looked old. Those are much harder to kill than the young ones. But the Nevermore keeps circling, and I don't want to lose any more people."

Ben started. "What do you mean?"

Ruby looked up and gasped. "Oh no," she choked out. Ben followed her gaze and wanted to throw up.

The children overlooked the battlefield; wounded or dead bodies littered the place, broken weapons were everywhere, and the cloying smell of burnt flesh lingered in the air.

And they could understand why Max was hiding in the underbrush. The Nevermore was coming back. Max gulped audibly and turned to the kids, kneeling down to their level. "Run and hide."

"Grandpa, you can't face this thing on your own," Ben protested, his voice escalating. "It's… it's enormous, you can't beat it on your own-!"

Max grabbed something hidden in the bushes and hefted it into his arms- it looked like a supremely high tech assault rifle, with filters of blue light running through it like volcanic veins. Attached to it was a pair of equally advanced goggles that were already on Max's face.

"I think this'll give me a good chance," he declared.

And then Ruby was tugging on Ben's hand, pulling him further into the forest. Ben turned his head back to yell something, but then there was an inhuman screech and the ground started to quake and the sky started to scream-

And then Ruby pushed him into a crevice in the nearby hills, a cramped space that was just big enough for three adult humans. It left the children with enough room to stretch out on the floor but not much else. Ruby clicked on a small flashlight, the weak light illuminating her face briefly. It was enough to show that yes, Ruby Rose was actually scared, but she was able to push it aside for the most part.

"We can't just leave him out there!" Ben hissed as loudly as he dared. "He's one person against that monster!"

"We don't have a choice, Ben," Ruby said, her voice low and only shaking slightly. "He's the only one of us properly trained to take that thing down. We'd just get in the way."

"That doesn't make it right," Ben whispered helplessly. "I can't just-"

Ruby grabbed his hand and squeezed. "I know. Believe me, I know."

And so they waited as the inhuman screeching got louder, so impossibly louder. They could hear lasers, something mechanical and old activating, a devastating hum that could have only been a cannon charging up. They could hear screams of pain coming from the monster, but soon they could no longer hear Grandpa Max.

Soon enough, they couldn't hear anything at all.

Ruby had long since shut off the flashlight, leaving them in total darkness. Her breathing was shallow but calm. Ben's own was ragged and near hyperventilating- he didn't know what was going on, he couldn't hear his grandpa or the beast or anything except-

The cave started to slowly crumble, stone flakes hitting their arms as they forced them over their heads. Light filtered through a small hole, and when Ben slowly put his hands down he looked through it.

A single red eye stared back at him, surrounded by bone white. It stared right through him, piercing him to the wall, and Ben stopped breathing because all he saw in that single red eye was anger and hate, so much anger and hate. It was an eye that belonged to a being that was so very old and powerful, and it knew that a single twitch of its vast wings would slice Ben to the bone, or a single talon could impale him, or perhaps it would simply gulp him down whole.

It was old and powerful and hateful and it looked at Ben like he was nothing.

And then the eye moved away, leaving only empty space and a single immense feather outside. Ben slowly slid to the floor, his own eyes glued to the floor as he sat there limply. Ruby was shaking his shoulder, but whatever she was saying was muted, like talking underwater. He could vaguely hear Grandpa Max shouting something outside, but he couldn't make it out.

Ben hadn't even realized he was crying until teardrops hit his hands.

Nor did he realize that Ruby wasn't going to sit around and be a victim. A screech rang out, the corrupted scream nearly deafening the two children, but Ruby went outside and shot at the monster.

Ben watched in horror as Ruby continued to temp the beast, a bullet hitting it square in the eye and making it screech in pain. "Ruby, stop! You do-"

"Believe me, I do!" Crescent Rose whirled into its scythe position. Ruby grabbed Ben's hand. For a few seconds, wind hit his face, and suddenly Ben was in Max's arms.

"I'll take care of this. You two get to safety!" Ruby said, as she turned to face the Nevermore.

"That thing is way too strong, Ruby! You need to-" Max warned her, but it was too late; in a burst of petals, the redhead was gone.

I'm at 80% aura right now, Ruby thought as she ran. And that overgrown jackdaw's right eye is pretty much blinded. I have to strike it from the right to get a serious advantage! And Ruby veered her course to the right side of the beast. She slid beneath its legs and slashed its left leg clean off, the action like a hot knife through butter. Dark mist began to spill out of the wound, the severed talon suddenly dissipating into thin air. The monster stumbled around, screaming in pain and flapping its injured wings.

Alright, that's gone. Ruby smiled and jumped back up. She carefully analyzed her foe; Nevermore were intelligent, persistent, prolific, and hardy. A deadly set of combinations, if used properly. But Nevermore did have a huge Achilles' Heel; the mask it wore, a weakness all Grimm shared.

If I build up enough momentum, maybe I can shatter the mask! She then started to focus her semblance carefully; this was technique her mother used, according to her dad. It was based off Heisenburg's Uncertainty Principle, a quantum mechanics rule that Ruby did not fully understand. She knew the results though: a wild technique that stated that the faster an object went, the less possible it was to find its location again.

"She called it 'Disbudding' for whatever reason," her father told her once before. "It's the first technique you need to use when aiming for Grimm. I know your weapon isn't 'cool' like Qrow's, but I'm sure you can handle anything with the scythe."

Ruby smiled as she thought of her dad's reassuring smile…

...and suddenly, she was practically a flurry of a million petals. Sharp ones too - they dug into the flesh of the Nevermore like individual knives. Ruby was nowhere to be found in the mess, but suddenly the reinforced blade of the scythe struck against the mask-

And it shattered.

The body crumpled to the ground, heavy wings breaking apart as ash filled the air. Red eyes went out, and smoke filtered out of them like tears underwater. Bird-like bones jutted out of the dying corpse before they too crumpled into nothing.

Ben, standing right next to Max and a good long ways away from the battle, stared up at Ruby Rose. He saw triumph in her silver eyes and grace as she slid her scythe into its gun form. Stared at her in awe as she jumped up and down like the excited little girl she was, right by the the remnants of a monster's corpse.

Ben Tennyson was pretty sure he was in love.

(And then he shoved aside those icky feelings for later, because he was still a child and girls had cooties.)

(But still. Ben Tennyson's best friend was an unrepentant badass. He was so glad Ruby had gone on the road trip instead of Gwen.)

Ruby and Ben stood off to the side as medics and other Plumbers flooded the field. The carnage was over, it seemed. The Grimm has been completely vanquished, and there was no sign of them anywhere on the radars. So now it was damage control, picking up the pieces and making sure everyone still alive was well and accounted for. Ben himself had some bandages on him, especially since the huge scratch on his arm was looking fairly gross after all was said and done.

"So," he started, "you just one upped me on that Diamondhead fight with the Mech."

"I did more than one up you," Ruby laughed.

"True. Seriously though, I understand why you hid this part of your life," Ben began. "Like, I got it before, but now it's really starting to sink in. Seeing that giant Nevermore freaked the hell out of me."

"Believe me, it did freak me out when I was younger," Ruby replied. "Heck, my sister and I had an incident with one when we were younger. Thankfully my uncle was there to sort out the mess before it got uglier."

Uglier? Ben thought as Max walked over.

"Well, thankfully no one noticed the giant Nevermore," Max said, scratching the back of his head. "So I think we can take off quietly. I can't express how proud I am of the both of you. Especially you, Ruby!"

"Wait, you're not mad at us for sneaking out?" Ruby questioned as Max beamed at them. .

"You actually gave me an excuse to do something I've been meaning to do for a long time," he chuckled darkly.

"Oh my gosh, there you two are!" A tiny voice rang out. From across the way, Driba came in on a tiny motor scooter. He looked utterly exasperated and tired. "I thought you two had been gobbled up by the Grimm!"

"And that's what I thought too," Max snapped, his voice dripping with anger. "For you utter incompetence to maintain the base's energy supplies, and watching over these two, I'm going to have to fire you."

"N-no!" Driba pleaded. "I'll do anything! Please!"

"Then pack up your things and leave."

Ben and Ruby had to agree; that was probably the best thing Max had said all summer. Driba walked off somberly as Max turned back to the kids.

"Now who wants some milkshakes?" Max smiled. "I know a good restaurant around here."

"Me!" Ben and Ruby cheered.

"Last one to the Rustbucket pays for the food!" Ruby teased as she disappeared in a flash of red.

"Oh, you're so on!" Ben jeered as he transformed into XLR8. And in a blue flash, he was gone, leaving Max behind.

Max shook his head and laughed to himself. "Well, looks like I'm paying." He said as he walked back to the parking bay.

Kevin breathed heavily as he hid underneath an underpass, the darkness of the night helping with his camouflage. The sirens of police cars lingered in the air but grew quieter as they drove away. He slumped against the wall and sharply exhaled. He was in the clear.

Or so he thought.

"Running from the law, are we?" A deep voice rumbled.

Kevin shot up and looked around the underpass. From out of the shadows, a red robotic drone walked out. On its head was a monitor of a figure.

Kevin frowned. "And who are you supposed to be, exactly?"

"Call me an ally," the voice replied. "I'm curious in your abilities, human. Absorption of genetic material is an uncommon and powerful skill...perhaps you can help me take down the Omnitrix wielder."

"What did he do to you?" Kevin questioned.

"Nothing of his own fault," The voice answered. "But he has the key for my species' survival. My planet needs it's own hero."

"As long as it's in more responsible hands than Tennyson, I'm in." Kevin smirked. "What's your name?"

"Vilgax," the voice replied. "Vilgax the Savior."