After some negotiation, Peridot and Pearl worked out that their primary goal was to shut down the training ship's main generator somehow. To do so they would have to (quickly!) make their way to the generator itself, which was somewhere deep inside an endless maze of hallways and protected by combat simulation drones. Lapis had to be secondary to this, since she could both handle herself and was likely so far away that finding her would take too much energy.

This Peri-Pearly-Plan then collided with said combat simulation drones.

"...and, by combining Lapis's water powers with my metal powers, Sapphirine is able to produce massive quantities of electricity through a series of high-pressure micro reaction turbines," Peridot said, trying to stay calm.

"So that means he's a walking hydroelectric power plant? Interestin-oop, mind the debris." Pearl sliced through a drone with one spear and sliced through it again perpendicularly with her other. The drone seemed to hang in the air for a moment, its four pieces separated by an expanding cross shape, before it exploded.

Four more drones formed ranks where its compatriot had been, further blocking the way forward. Their arms, formerly humanoid, began spinning so quickly it was impossible to tell if they'd changed shape or not in the deadly blur.

"I, aaah, don't think this is working," Peridot said, watching the action with a hand mirror. Pearl had swaddled her onto her own back with the ribbon-like sash she always wore.

(Technically, under the latest Homeworld guidelines, this meant Pearl's sash would be classified as an external weapon. The thought of anyone, Gem or Human, fighting with a mere sash as their weapon amused Peridot. And yet when she said as much, Pearl had reacted - laughed, in fact - as though she knew someone with that sort of undefeatable mastery.)

"I admit, it's certainly not a perfect solution." Even facing four enormous Jasper-sized drones, Pearl was able to hold them off with parries alone. And if her calm, ordinary tone was any indication, for her this was easy. "I might have some trouble down the line, if they keep improving. Do you have any suggestions?"

With only a hand mirror at her disposal, Peridot couldn't easily see what Pearl was fighting - but she could see the path of scrap behind them. An alarming number of drones had attacked them in the last few minutes, clearly, but to Pearl they were what the Humans called a 'speed bump'. She recalled their robot competition from a while back; now she was certain she'd only won because Pearl had taken a handicap by not fighting on foot.

But Peridot had improved herself since then, as an engineer and as a fighter and as a Gem! And, even if she definitely couldn't see herself ever beating Pearl in a straight duel, she could still fight on her own terms. She knew she could. All she needed was advantageous conditions. "...Pearl? How many spears can you sustain at once?"

"Sixty-five thousand five hundred thirty-six total. Two hundred fifty-six of those can function as ranged energy weapons; the rest have to be inert spears. I can sustain them to an effective range of two hundred meters. Why?"

The already quite substantial gap between them felt like it suddenly grew even wider, to Peridot. "Ahh, well! I've been working on something that might help."

"Really? That's wonderful. Good for you." Pearl swiped wide horizontally with both spears, and the four drones's arms all clattered to the floor. "But this really isn't the time for a demonstration."

"No, I've practiced it, and it's ready for live combat! Could you produce two spears for me, please?"

"Hmm." If her hands had been free, Pearl probably would have touched her chin thoughtfully to think about it. As it was, she merely pinned the four (literally) unarmed drones to the walls, skewering two on each spear like fish. "Okay! Looks like we have a moment, so? Let's see it."

Peridot began trying to undo the sash, as Pearl flourished gracefully into a neutral position. "I… here… wait, gimme a second here…"

"Hm. I'll need to work on that technique." Pearl undid the sash, allowing Peridot to fall down onto her butt with little dignity. Then she produced two more spears and stuck them into the floor. "Be quick though. I don't think the drones will leave us alone for too long."

Peridot hopped up and declared "Then they'll have to wait, so you can watch and be amazed at my magnificence!" From her gem, she produced a half-dozen cans and held them in the air with her metal powers. With a flick of her wrist they split off and flew towards the spears, winding themselves onto the handles. "And here's the kicker!" With a flourish, the spears began to float; with another gesture, they spun in place, then stopped and rotated defensively around the two Gems, pointed outwards at anything daring to threaten them.

"Oh my! That's actually really impressive, Peridot - congratulations! Will it work with anything?"

The spears stopped rotating and floated over to Peridot. "There's a weight limit - force and mass in a gravity well and all - but the shape doesn't seem to matter. It has an effective range of fifty meters? And I can't seem to access your spear's blaster functions…?"

"No, I doubt you could. But Steven and Amethyst told me about what happened to Jasper..."

"Yeah!" Peridot puffed up in pride. "I happened to Jasper! And I can do that reliably now! Ooo, ooo - watch this!" She made a motion with her hands, whereupon one floating spear touched the floor point-first and scratched something into it. When it was done, cursive English characters announced that Peridot had in fact been in that location at that specific time.

Pearl leaned over for a better look. "That's very beautiful penmanship. You've really come a long way."

"Well..." She turned away, trying to hide her blushing. "I had lots of time to practice."

(In truth she'd been working almost non-stop on improving her metal powers in her free time. There had been too many times where she had to hold back and not participate in some battle or conflict for her new home planet - and enough was enough.)

A jostling noise from somewhere ahead of them drew them out of the moment.

"A single drone - probably a scout for a larger group." Pearl produced two more spears, but held them low without expectation of immediate action. "Well, it's as good an opportunity as any. Why don't you take this one, Peridot?"

"Really?" Peridot beamed with maximum pride, then tamped it down with a 'game face' grin. With a flick of her finger her Peri-spears pointed forward, ready for battle. "Then watch as I show you how it's done!"

Author's note: And now, the logical next step of a Peri-Plan: a Peri-Pearly-Plan.

I figure that Peridot doesn't have anywhere near Pearl's carrying capacity, so she'd typically use shurikens as weapons.

Pearl is, at the time this fic takes place - and during the majority of the show - the single most experienced fighter on Earth, followed closely by Garnet. So that's how I treat her here.