At the moment, I am hit with somewhat of a dilemma. I don't know how to land a ship. I'm surrounded by fire and red lights are blaring all over the ship, signifying that I might be in a little trouble, but nothing I can't manage. Jarringly, the ship hits the ground, throwing me to the floor. I took a moment to gather myself, standing back up and looking for the door. I opened it and walked out, only to be stopped short by dozens of points and edges. I put my hands up in surrender and looked for the leader.
As I looked around, I was impressed. They were very well placed, very well coordinated, their weapon placement had a nice and threatening pattern, and they looked like they could do damage. I would have been proud to say that they were in my army, except for her. "Her" was a female preset Rose Quartz with probably one of the happiest and most inviting dispositions I had seen in my entire life. She was bouncing on her feet in excitement and she didn't have her weapon summoned, which seemed promising. She spoke, "Hi! My name is Til. Don't worry, I don't need your name, we all know who you are. I'll be your tour-guide today, I'll be showing you all of our great tourist spots, like the execution block!" slightly less promising.
I heard the shuffle of feet and looked over to see Amoura Bundus and Oceanus, people that will either turn out to be my saviours or executioners within the next five minutes. They walked up to me with surprised expressions, obviously not expecting the Diamond Champion to crash land on their camp today. Oceanus was the first to regain composure, asking, "What are you doing here? Was this an attempt to destroy the emerald rebels once and for all?"
I was slightly aghast. I didn't think I was that threatening, and if I wanted to destroy their camp, I wouldn't have let myself get captured, surely they know that. I answered, "No? I just escaped Homeworld in an attempt to join the army. I crash landed because that is literally only my second time flying a ship. The first time I was shot out of the sky before making it out of the atmosphere. I hate the diamonds, and I only want to help you guys."
Oceanus scoffed, "Yes, because the diamonds would love nothing more than to have one of their greatest warriors on the inside of their largest competitors army. Nothing bad could come of that."
Well now I was just hurt. There was obviously no way for me to convince her, which was disappointing because she seemed most like the leader in the situation, and if she can't be convinced, then what are my chances. Then I looked at Amoura, and I remembered something. "What about you? Please, I've heard reports of you allowing defeated enemy gems into your army to allow them to choose their sides. My reports speculated that you did it as a sort of symbolism to show that anyone can change. Well then, I may not have been beaten, per se, but I have changed since the first time we saw each other. All I ask is that you give me a chance."
Amoura seemed to mull my words over, I piqued his interest, that's for sure. Finally, he looked at Oceanus, then looked back at me and said, "Alright, I'll let you stay," Oceanus looked like she was about to say something, but Amoura interrupted, "Under one condition," Oceanus stopped, wanting to hear Amoura's condition before calling him stupid, "You have to fight me." And call him stupid she did, to the point where she dragged him to a tent and they argued loudly for a few minutes.
In the duration of the argument, quite a few things were apparent. One: Amoura really wanted to fight me for some reason. To hear him tell it, it was so that he could prove me to be loyal (which sounded a little backwards to me), but the excitement in his voice made it sound otherwise. Two: Oceanus really didn't want Amoura to fight me. Three: Their argument was making everyone uncomfortable, even causing Til, who seemed homey with Oceanus and Amoura, to shift her feet. At one point, I felt I had to ask her, "Do they do this, normally?"
Til looked at me and nodded emphatically, "Oh yeah! If they don't argue with each other, all of us get genuinely worried. It's actually becoming a superstition that they have to fight in order for us not to lose a battle." Well, that sounds like a strange relationship.
After the argument, the two walked out of the tent and came to face me. Amoura started, "Alright Champion, here's the deal. You can stay at the camp and be a part of the army so long as you have an epic sparring match with me-"
"NO", Oceanus interjected before Amoura could go further. She pushed him aside and continued, "You can stay as long as you are constantly accompanied by at least one sage and stay within the restricted areas that we will have set up for you. As for punishments, you will be treated standardly fairly, but if you shatter anyone whatsoever without a really good reason, you won't have a trial. You will summarily shattered on the spot. Do you understand?"
I nodded my head, "I'm okay with that."
With that, Amoura jumped forward and yelled, "I get him first!"
Til immediately stopped him and said, "NO! Long ago you gave me the job of introducing new inductees to the camp and I am not about to let you steal my work! Are we clear?"
Amoura, who had actually taken a step back when Til started yelling, started nodding desperately, said "Yes ma'am", and walked briskly away with Oceanus.
Til turned back to me with a large smile on her face and said, "Shall we get going?" I nodded and followed her, out of fear more than anything. It was pretty easy going, though, Til led me around, showing me different important areas like the mess hall, bunkers, the bismuth area, everything that I would have a use for in my near future. The only thing that put me on edge was the glares from everyone around me. Everyone we passed looked at me like a murderer (probably because I was), and the kind of hatred that took their gaze when they looked at me, for the first time in a while, made me afraid for my life. What made it worse was knowing exactly why each of them glared at me, because, in some shape, form, or fashion, I had killed someone they had known and loved. I have decimated legions before, it wasn't so far-fetched to believe that everyone in this camp had some reason to hate me, and I was just now beginning to realize that large groups of people in this camp wanting to kill me was highly likely.
In the same leap, I was beginning to understand why I was to be accompanied by a sage at all times. Sure, it was to keep me in check, but it was also to make sure that no one made attempt on my life. Suddenly, I had gained a new respect for this sage company. They would probably be one of the very few groups that I had met that would risk their strongest soldiers to keep a prisoner safe. That was the kind of faith in people that people had respected about me.
At the end of the tour, Til led me to the place where the sages slept and conducted business. She showed me the tent where I would be sleeping and gave me a brief explanation, "You'll sleep here. I've been given instructions to give you for when we got here," She took out a piece of paper and began reading, "Alright, curfew is eleven o'clock, you wake up at six. You are to report to the command tent every morning," she pointed to it, "every morning you are going to be assigned a sage. No matter what your interests, you will follow that sage anywhere they want to go. If you are not assigned a sage, or you wake up before everyone else, you will just stick around in the command tent and wait. Also, no night-wandering unless accompanied by a sage," she crumpled up the paper and threw it over her shoulder, "Welp, I imagine you get the picture. Don't do anything without a sage, ever. Clear?,"
"You made all of that up on the spot, didn't you?" I joked despite the situation.
Til surprised me by giving one of the harshest glares I have ever seen, "Clear?" I nodded quickly, wary of what she might so if I did notnagree, "Cool, I'm'll go ahead and walk off, take care of some business. The areas where you can be unaccompanied is your tent and the command tent. Cheers!"
When she walked off, I entered my tent, a modest ten foot by ten foot affair with a bed. That's it. A bed. I cannot make this tent sound more interesting. I can't blame them, though. About the only thing that they know about me is that I'm a good fighter, and you could hardly fit fighting equipment in here, so there was nothing they really could have added without being presumptuous. Deciding that there was absolutely nothing that I could do in the tent other than think, I headed to the command tent, the only other place I was allowed to go without a sage.
Upon entering, I was greeted by the sight of a pearl at the table in the center of the room working papers for something, I couldn't imagine what. He looked up at me for a second then looked right back down at his work and said in an uninterested voice, "So, you're the Champion. Well, I guess you're not the champion anymore considering you've abandoned Homeworld, so, that begs the question, what do I call you."
I answered simply, "Well, usually on Homeworld, I was either addressed by Champion or Aq.F5, the most common being champion, so I don't know what else you would call me."
The pearl looked up at me again and said, "Well, I'm definitely not going to call you Aq.F5, that's just a mouthful, and considering location and the feeling allotted towards the word, I don't think it's a good idea to call you Champion, so I suggest you go back to your tent and figure something out."
I found myself slightly confused, "How do I find a name for myself, I don't think I quite understand the process?"
The pearl looked at me slightly flabbergasted and said, "Look, I have a lot of work to finish, so could you maybe ask Amoura or something, 'cause I need to finish this file before the end of the day."
I nodded and said, "Okay, but before I go, what's your name."
Without a glance, he said, "Librium," and went back to work. Fair enough, I suppose. I made my way back to my tent, checking the sun before entering to see that it was sunset. Good timing, I guess. I sat down on the bed and thought for a little bit. I still had questions, but they could be answered tomorrow. Patience was my forte, after all. I glanced back at the tent flap and saw that it was now fully dark, so I laid down on the bed and went to sleep.
I woke up in the morning, checking the sun outside to see that it was about six o'clock, so I made my way to the command tent. I tossed the flap aside and entered what appeared to be a kind of debriefing meeting. When everyone heard the tent flap move, they turned around and stared at me, making me feel awkward, as I had no idea what to do. Luckily, Amoura took pity on me, "Ah, Champion, why don't you take a seat, we've been waiting for you to wake up for a little while now."
I was slightly thrown aback, "Should I have woken up earlier?"
Amoura chuckled and responded, "No. We're just all so used to being busy that we rarely sleep. It's no fault of yours." With that, the meeting continued, leaving me in the center of four extremely powerful people whining about the economy and diamond advances on the complete opposite side of space. I found it strange that at no point in the conversation did they discuss troop morale, or numbers, or the efficiency of training, anything pertaining to the strength of the army whatsoever. Then it hit me. They're purposefully not discussing that because I'm in the room. They don't trust me enough to talk about that in front of me. I don't blame them, either. Sure, I've been thrown off by my treatment here so far, but were I placed in the same leadership position as these other sages, I would've taken the same precautions as well.
The meeting began finishing up, and Amoura stood up and said, "Now, if no one has any objections, I'll be babysitting the Champion today." Looking around the room, the only person I saw that really looked like she wanted to object was Oceanus, but she kept her tongue, for what reason I don't know. Perhaps her love for Amoura outweighed her fear of what he could do. Everyone began standing up and walking out, leaving just me and Amoura in the tent. He looked at me for a couple of seconds, and said in a conspiratorial whisper, "Wanna spa-"
Before he could even finish the question, one could hear off in the distance a voice that sounded eerily like Oceanus' yell, "NO!"
I looked at Amoura and asked, "Could she hear you?"
He shook his head and said, "No, she probably just took a really good guess. As it were, I'm predictable. Not on the battlefield though!"
I nodded my head, "Yes, I've seen you fight. It's probably one of the ugliest things I've ever seen."
At first, he looked crestfallen, then he looked slightly offended as he said, "Hey, there is nothing wrong with the way I fight. Oceanus taught me, and I'll tell you right now that she is a great fighter!"
Internally I sighed, externally I said, "I never said that you were a bad fighter, I said that the way you fight looked ugly. You have little to no style, there is absolutely no rhythm or flow to your attacks, and ninety-nine percent of the time you look like you're flailing around like an overcooked gemling. I'm sorry, but there is nothing admirable about your fighting style to me."
Again, Amoura looked crestfallen as he said, "Well this is news to me, as I always thought that I had a neat looking fighting style. I always thought of myself as a freestyler adding a little extra flair, I thought that what I was doing looked like dancing, the way they describe other great warriors. Needless to say, this comes as somewhat of a shock."
Well, now I felt bad. I didn't mean to rock Amoura's world. I had to make this up somehow, but how could I make something like this up. "Look Amoura, I didn't mean to be mean, I was just trying to tell you my opinion about your style, I didn't intend for it to come off rudely."
Amoura perked up a little bit and said, "It's okay, Champion, I know that you weren't trying to be mean, it's just, as far as this particular subject goes, I'd expect you to be an expert, and so, for me, your words carried weight. I forgive you. If anything, now, I want you to teach me how to fight! I'd love to learn how to recognize styles and how to add a little 'rhythm and flow' to my technique."
I shook my head. This guy was a rocky mountain of emotions. "Sure, I'll teach you different techniques, but there are just a couple of things that I'm worried about. First, do we know that Oceanus would let us. I mean, she seems pretty strict about the 'no fighting' rule. Secondly, what about everyone else in the camp. If they see me fighting you, they may assume the worst right off the bat. I'm sure we don't want a bar-side brawl to deal with."
Amoura considered these things and said, "I agree with you that Oceanus could be a problem, that would be something that we would have to watch out for. As for the rest of the camp, people trust me. If I stood up and said that I was about to spar you, they would trust me to hold my own." His communicator started beeping, and he picked it up to see what the problem was. After scrolling for a couple of minutes, he set down his communicator and asked, "Hey, do you want to accompany me through the camp real quickly. There was a problem down at one of the bunkers that I need to attend to."
I said, "Sure", and we exited the command tent and started making our way through the camp.After a while, I remembered something and asked, "Hey, Amoura, I have a question. How do I choose a name for myself?"
Amoura glanced at me with a slightly confused expression and asked, "Why do you need to choose a name for yourself? You've gone without a name for two hundred years, why is it important now?"
"I talked to Librium yesterday, and he said that Aq.F5 was too much of a mouthful to say, and because of the general connotation of the word in the camp, calling me Champion might not be a wise idea, so he told me it might be a good idea to spend some time coming up with a name."
Amoura thought about it and replied, "Hm, he does make a good point. Well, naming yourself isn't something you just do. You can't just say a name and then that's just you. Your name has to say something about who you are, it has to be a symbol of your character. This is the kind of thing that requires genuine thought, as you can change who you are by choosing the wrong name. Is that clear?"
I nodded, "Crystal." Or it would be, if I had a definitive personality, so to speak of. Under diamond rule, I never exactly had the opportunity to develop one, as everything I did had to be something of necessity, about the only thing that defined me as having character was having emotions, and even then, I was forced to keep those suppressed, lest I be punished by the diamonds. Amoura was right, I was going to have to put genuine thought into this. That shouldn't be hard.
We fixed the problem at the bunker and we headed back to the command tent, making small talk on the way, discussing nothing of any real importance, when we walked in on what appeared to be a tactics meeting. In the center of the tent, the table that we had originally sat at was turned into a holo-board, and an image of the emerald moon was displayed in midair, small dots that I imagine to be the diamond and emerald armies blinking on it. The dots themselves were somewhat self explanatory, as the emerald army were the green dots and the diamond army were the multicolored dots. Amoura and the others began talking to each other, discussing the map, but I could think only of one thing.
"I don't know what you're attempting to do on that map of yours, but it's really stupid."
Everyone looked at me in shock. Oceanus was the first to speak, "Excuse me, but this formation has worked for over hundred years. Why would it not work now?"
"Did you consider that I was introduced into the war over a hundred years ago," that gave them pause, "Think about it, the second I became a player on the board, the diamonds have been playing with you. Because of their confidence in me, they've been purposefully dragging this war out to cause as many casualties for you as possible. They wanted you to know whenever they decided to enter negotiations that they had you under their thumb. Now, though, they've lost me, which means they're going to get serious. That plan you have on the map might've worked in the past, but now it'll be a game of child's play to the diamonds."
Everyone was speechless for a moment as the impact of what I said sunk in. After a moment of silence, Librium spoke, "What do you propose we do then? You would know the diamond army better than anyone here, do you have any ideas?"
I nodded, "I mean, literally anything but that would work, as it's the last thing the diamonds would expect you to do. As for ideas, don't you guys have entire terraformer divisions?," everyone nodded, "Then why don't you base them on the side where you expect the diamond army to be, have them dig under ground, you know, their element, and then, when the battle starts, send out some kind of signal so that they can perform a surprise attack on the diamonds?"
Immediately, Amoura began yelling, "SEE! I Told you Oceanus! I told you it was a good idea! Even the Diamond Champion, master of tactics and warfare, poses the idea without having ever heard it before! That has to mean something, doesn't it Oceanus? Doesn't it!"
"YES, ALRIGHT, I GET IT AMOURA, IT WAS A GOOD PLAN!" Oceanus yells as she grabs her spouse by the ear. She turns to me, her steel cast grip still locked on Amoura's ear, "But, what is your assurance that it'll work?!"
Again, I hopped in, "Isn't that what war is? Lack of certainty and feeling the waters to see what'll work? I mean," I gestured to the map, "What's your assurance that the diamonds will enter battle in those positions? You have none. Everything on that map is a guess that you're taking a chance on. So then why don't you take a chance on this. It's not like you're going to lose more than you already have by taking this particular risk."
That seemed to calm Oceanus down a bit, and, as if to add frosting to the cake, Librium spoke up, "You know, Oceanus, I think we should do it."
Til added her two cents, too, "Yeah! Why not? After all, the champion did make a compelling argument."
To that, Oceanus huffed and said, "Fine, I'll give it a try."
Amoura set to celebrating immediately, embracing his spouse while hollering, "WOOOOOOOOO-"
When Oceanus slapped him in the cheek and yelled, "If you ever do that again I'll knock your head off your shoulders!" Wow, this was either a really toxic relationship, or Oceanus really didn't know how to play nice.
Everyone began laughing, except Amoura, who sheepishly mumbled, "Yes ma'am."
After the meeting was over, I headed back to my tent and plopped down on my bed, starting the process of thinking about a name. Well, not a process so much as throwing names at a wall to see what sticks, and not even that was easy. No matter how hard I tried, nothing seemed to work for me. It got to a point where, for the first time that I can remember, my mind started wondering. I started thinking about the first time I tried to escape Homeworld, which led to me thinking about the peridot that shot me down, which led to me thinking about whatever happened to them, which led to me thinking about what would have happened if that peridot had refused to shoot me down and therefore defied the diamonds. That in turn got me to thinking about a peridot fighting a diamond, which made me chuckle a little.
For some reason, though, I got stuck on thinking about peridots and diamonds fighting, and the more I thought about it, the more details I added, the harder I started laughing, until my sides hurt and tears were forming in my eyes. Then, like thunder, it hit me, what my name was. I threw my tent flap open at supersonic speeds, running to Amoura's tent to tell him the news. I bust through his tent flap, which miraculously didn't wake him and Oceanus up, and I proceeded to shake his shoulder, waking him up. It was then that I began telling him, "Ok, Amoura, here's the thing, I've found my name, but I have to tell you this amazing joke, first."
Oceanus woke up and looked to her right to see her husband and the Champion rolling around on the ground, loud laughter escaping their mouths. Never in her life has Oceanus want to hit two people more, and yet has failed to do so.