On their returned to Earth they portal themselves in a more desolate place in New York. In an empty alley way.
"Okay, this time we've arrived in a more isolated place" Sapphire said while stepping outside the portal.
While Zircon, Terra, and Red stepped out of the portal and into planet Earth, Zircon looked around the planet a bit. "Oh, this doesn't look much different from the Crystal City, except that it's gray."
"I know, right" Red agreed with her.
After their portal trip Terra suddenly had a thought. "Uh, Sapphire why couldn't we just teleport ourselves straight into the woods of the place where you found me instead of a rundown alleyway?" she asked her.
"Because it doesn't work that way" answered Sapphire "And we portal not teleport."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"No it's not, and besides my crystal isn't strong enough for a specific location. Now here's the plan if we don't wanna be discovered, like my last mistake, we're gonna need to disguise ourselves as humans."
"Fortunately that's not a problem" Zircon said it with confidence "All we have to do is change our colors to paleness . Boring. No offense Terra."
"None taken" Terra knows pale colors are boring.
Zircon, Red, Sapphire closed their eyes for a second, and when they opened it their eyes glow white and all their colors turned from blue, red, orange to pale. Except for their hair, it remained the same.
"Wow, you guys look exactly like humans" Terra congratulated them on their makeup "Except for the hair. Wait, why didn't you change your hair color?" she asked them, curious.
"Because we don't have to" Zircon answered "Sapphire told us how you humans like to change not only your hairstyle but your hair color as well. You dye them, whichever color you choose, to make things more interesting and new."
"And at least this way we can still show a part of our inner colors as well" Red added "Maybe your human ways aren't so boring as I thought."
"Guys, if you're finished with your hair fashion talk, can we go now? We have a forest to find in this concrete jungle" Sapphire reminded them of why they're back on Earth.
"Right, to the place where you found me" announced Terra "To the forest park. Let's go!"
They set off to the park, the same park where Sapphire found Terra, who was turned to stone. There was only one problem they forgot.
"Uh, Sapphire do you even remember which forest park was that? Because the way I see it New York has like a lot of them" Zircon asked her, skeptical.
"1, 700 parks to be exact" Red corrected her "Sapphire's not the only one who did her Earth homework."
Sapphire stood there silent and embarrassed, all she can answer is "I can't remember."
"Great, how are we gonna find the clues in the park if we don't know which park it is?" Zircon complained "All this is new to me and I can't smell anything in this city, there's too much smoke in the air, at least the Crystal City knows how to clear the air."
"Well we're not in the Crystal City we're in New York City" Sapphire gave her a reality check "And if you wanna turn into a creature that can fly that's out of the question. I highly doubt that earthlings ever saw Chiroves or winged Insepodas."
"Not even a little creature that can camouflage?"
"No. We can't risk having our powers expose, you're going to have to get used to this world and to adapt to these human ways."
Zircon didn't want to argue with her with these conditions because she was right, Zirc will have to learn fast and get used to being around humans, like how she got used to other Galactanians. "Alright then" she said, in a soft voice.
"Good, now let's get back to work" Sapphire turned to Terra and asked her " Terra can you give me details of that park?"
"When I stepped into the light, for the first time in a while, all I remember are trees, rocks, and a lake."
"I'm going to need more than that."
"Oh, and some fallen trees from our last time encounter with the bots."
"What? Fallen trees?"
"The ones me and Red escaped while they were blasting us. It's how we met the first time."
"Really."
"Wait a minute. I've seen that in YouTube, it's gone viral" Red took out his crystal necklace and showed them the news on the video.
The news was presented by a anchorwoman newscaster who informed people in the world of what's happening right now. The news lady said "Strange things happening in New York City, New York's Forest Park trees has mysteriously been burned down by unknown vandals. Firefighters gathered around to put out the fire, fortunately not much has been destroyed. Reforestation rangers are immediately replanting the trees back to normal as we speak."
Zircon was glad to see some humans care about nature. "At least there are some humans who care about the environment."
"We now know which park I found Terra" said Sapphire, excited. "In Forest Park!"
"Yeah, but where is it?" asked Red.
Sapphire opened her holographic map on her necklace, and showed them their location. She searched the chart to analyze their whereabouts. "Okay, according to my map we're in the alley of the Plaza close to Manhattan in Midtown east. If we cross the Williamsburg bridge we can go straight forward to the park which is 10.3 miles, by walk it will take 3 hours."
"What about transportation?" Red asked her.
"Transportation by bike will take 1 hour, by train 1 hour, and by car 48minutes."
"Well the car sounds promising" said Zircon.
"Yeah, minutes are better than hours" added Red. "How do we get one?"
"And how do we drive it?"
"Well I may not remember my life story, but I do remember some Earth knowledge. Thankfully. Let's go to the streets and get a cab."
So they went to the nearest street, to Washington street. Terra showed them how to summon a cab "Okay, now wave your hand like this" she demonstrated.
Sapphire, Red, and Zircon did what she showed, only it was more of a 'hello' wave than a taxi summoner.
"No, not like that. Just raise it up to signal a taxi."
And so after a few moments of raising/waving their hands up, a cab finally appeared to them. The taxi driver seemed nice and normal "Need a ride?" he asked.
"Yes, to Forest Park please" Terra answered him, while they entered inside.
The driver drove them to their destination. While they were getting closer to the park Terra just realized something. "Uh, guys I just realized something" she said.
"What?" said Sapphire.
"We don't have any money."
"What!?" The three of them exclaimed together.
"Shh. Not so loud or the driver will hear us."
"Well what kind of money?" Sapphire asked, urgent.
"Cash money."
"What? Do they take clastic sedimentary rocks, also known as pebbles?" asked Red, showing Terra his pebble money.
"Pebbles? Really? You have a whole world full of shiny rare mineral rocks and yet you value regular rocks."
"Hey, in our planet these granite rocks are rare" said Red, his voice sounding so frustrated.
"Will you two focus, we're slowing down" Zircon informed them.
What are they going to pay the taxi driver now?
"Okay, kids we made it" said the driver, now he would like to get paid. "That'll be 3 dollars, please."
What should they do?
"Should I give him the pebbles?" Red suggested, with a shiver in his voice.
"No!" exclaimed Terra.
The driver was getting impatient. "The money kids" he demanded.
What should Terra say? She felt so embarrassed that she wished she could forget. "Look sir, we're sorry we don't-"
Suddenly Sapphire handed him the money, she paid him a single gold coin. "Here you are sir, keep the change. Let's go guys."
They stepped out of the car, as the driver drove away, he was ecstatic by the gold.
"Nice one sis" Red said in relief and gratitude for his sister.
"Yeah, where did you get that gold coin?" Terra asked her.
"Oh, I took some gold coins with me for the trip. I researched that your world loves valuable shiny objects to attract attention, so I figured these shiny isotopes would come in handy. Always bring money with you when you're on a trip" Sapphire answered.
"Good thinking."
"Smart."
"Yeah, you've thought of everything sis."
"Thanks, now let's go look for clues."
They hiked on the trail. Zircon observed the forest. It's similar to her jungle but not colorful enough, it's all green and brown with similar shades. "The forest looks interesting. It's kind of like my jungle, only not colorful enough, but still it's fine" she complimented on Terra's forest park with honesty.
"Thanks Zirc" said Terra, trying not to sound weirded out by Zircon's compliment.
After a few hikes, passing some trees, and the lake, they finally found the cave where Sapphire found Terra's statue.
"We made it" said Sapphire "This is the cave where I found Terra when she was a statue. Come on."
They went inside. It was dark, not to worry cause instead of flashlights their necklaces shined the light, including Terra's. They walked straight ahead, following the torch's arrow light, till they found the cylinder stand where Terra's statue used to stand, along with the engravings.
"Well this is it" said Sapphire "This is where I found her."
Red shined his necklace light brighter, walked a circle around the cave, looking at the ground to look for clues.
Zircon read the engravings on the cylinder stand, it signed: TERRA. A TRUE FRIEND. "So you're a true friend?" she asked her.
"I guess I am?" Terra replied, unsure.
"But to whom? And who carved it?"
"I... don't know?"
"Does any of this remind you of anything?" Zircon asked her. "Does it bring back anything to your mind, anything at all?"
Terra tried really hard to remember how she was turned to stone, but there was no way. "Nothing" she replied.
"Well there's got to be something in here that could help jog your memory" said Zircon, theoretically. "Let's look around."
"What is there to look!" yelped Sapphire, feeling hopelessly ridiculous about this investigation. "All I see are stalactites above our heads, columns around us, and some tiny helictites over there forming a bush."
Red circled back to them to report "Sorry, but I can't find anything in this dark cave. This cave is completely empty."
Zircon turned away from them, frowning, feeling disapproved. "I'm sorry we came all this way for nothing." she said, shameful.
"Hey, it's okay" Terra comforted her. "It was still a good idea to come here and check for clues. And besides it was not all for nothing, you got to see Earth, you saw the city of New York, you learned how to summon a cab, and we all had a nice hiked in the forest, right?" she turned to Red and Sapphire for support. And they agreed with her.
"She's right, Earth really is not all that bad" Sapphire replied, and she meant it.
"Yeah" Red backed her up "We saw numerous restaurants, markets, shops, hospitals-"
"We get it Red."
Zircon smiled in satisfaction. She knows they're just cheering her up so she played along. "Thanks guys, I really needed that. I'm sure we'll find other ways to flash Terra's memories back in her mind."
"I'm sure we will" Terra giggled at that.
"You know since we're not in a hurry, and not to waste the trip, why don't we pass by one of Earth's restaurants for a quick meal" suggested Sapphire. "I still wanna try more of Earth's food."
"I could use another lunch break, all this investigating is making me hungry" said Red.
"I could go for another bite" said Zircon.
"I could eat" said Terra.
"Then it's settled, let's eat" Sapphire said, leading them the way out of the cave.