Chapter 6: Ground To Cover (Galactic Journey)

## Chapter 6: Ground to Cover

Deep in the forest, a gray figure laid upon the grass. A fierce heat radiated all around, covering the figure. The source was a nearby patch of land, currently ablaze. At the center sat a large metal pod, broken apart and cracked open. The figure stirred, slowly rising to stand on its feet.

Zircon opened her eyes to see that she was now deep in the wilderness. Looking skyward, she saw no sign of her former prison, and looking downward she saw no signs of her new friends. She turned to see the means of her escape engulfed in flames, but thankfully contained due to the large impact radius of the pod scattering all means of fuel far and wide. Zircon breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that the forest would not burn to the ground.

Nothing could be heard save for the crackling of the underbrush the pod had landed on, as well as the calls of distant birds, clearly upset that their home had been disturbed by the metal invader from the stars.  Zircon advanced closer to the pod, hoping to inspect it and possibly gain visual of her companions.

Upon reaching the pod, Zircon was surprised to discover that Andalusite was still inside, although she had been poofed.

"Thank goodness!" Zircon blurted audibly.

Zircon had decided to take a seat next to her, in hopes she would reform soon.

Some time had passed, as Zircon watched the flames from the crash slowly die out, when two more figures emerged from the thicket of woods.

Stepping into the light, Chrome Diopside and Vaiduria were both seen to be relatively unharmed. They noticed Zircon, and rushed over to her.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Chrome Diopside hugged Zircon as she said this. "I was worried sick that you had been poofed, or worse! Where's Andi?"

"She's inside the pod, but she's still inside her gem. She must've taken heavy damage from the crash."

"Well, it's good that you're both still alive!" Chrome Diopside grinned widely.

"What do you suppose happened to us? These pods aren't meant to crash like this."

Chrome Diopside tilted her head. "Well, I inspected all the escape pods before we left homeworld, and none seemed to be faulty. Maybe we hit something upon entering the atmosphere?"

"That makes sense honestly, but I hope we didn't accidentally hurt anyone. I'd feel real bad if we did."

Zircon looked over towards Vaiduria, suddenly realizing they had never been introduced.

"So Di, when are you gonna introduce me to your friend over there?"

A look of embarrassment crept onto her face.

"Oh, sorry!! Zircon, this is Vaiduria, she was a stowaway on the ship."

"Hello." Vaiduria said, in a calm, collected voice.

"Nice to meet you!" Zircon shook her hand. "My name's Zircon, and the gem currently residing inside this here pod is Andalusite"

"Nice to meet both of you." Vaiduria gave a gentle smile.

"So...what do we do now?" Zircon pondered aloud.

"Well, we're in unfamiliar territory, and we have no way off planet. I say our best bet is to go find the ship, it must've crashed somewhere on this planet."

As Chrome Diopside spoke, a brown glow came from inside the pod. Andalusite's form appeared, and then over top came her dark red shirt and pants, as well as her dark brown welder's apron.

"Wh-where I am?" Andalusite spoke quietly, clearly confused, and still dazed from her regeneration.

"You're among friends." Chrome Diopside spoke softly, brushing her hand through Andalusite's short, spiky brown hair.

"That's good..." Andalusite's face smoothed out, clearly comforted being around her friends. "What happened?"

"We crashed, and now we're stuck on Earth." Zircon explained to her.

"Oh. Well, that sucks, doesn't it?" Andalusite joked.

Zircon let out a little laugh. "Yeah, it does, doesn't it?"

The group of four gems laughed, sitting together around the broken metal sphere.

"Well, I guess our first step is to find a warp pad, if they still have any here." Chrome Diopside spoke up.

The other gems nodded, and they stood.

"We have a lot of ground to cover." Chrome Diopside gave a deep stare towards the sky.

**\*\*\*End Of Chapter 6\*\*\***

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