Chapter 11: Creatures and Machines
"Alright, everyone!" Peridot announced to everyone, who were at the barn gathered around a large tarp outside. "Introducing… the all new Realistic Training Machine 5000!" The others just looked at her. "What? It's the best name I could come up with. Anyway… behold!" She said, pulling the sheet off of the invention. It was what looked to be a large room with almost a dozen chairs with odd-looking helmets attached to tubes and wires leading up to the ceiling.
"Wow…" The others could only look on in surprised amazement; except for Pearl, Lapis, and Bismuth, seeing as how they had helped in the construction.
"This is a highly complex machine, although using it is simple enough, seeing as how it acts as a realistic simulator. You just take a seat in one of these chairs and put the helmet on." Peridot said, as she began to explain how it worked. "There are four difficulty settings for this simulator: 'Easy', 'Normal', 'Hard', and 'All-Out War'. One of us will select the appropriate difficulty level, and when everyone is ready, the simulation will begin. This simulation is designed to make it feel as though you are in the real battle, but you will not sustain any pain. So, say Steven's leg got hit with a heavy blow. The simulator would not make him feel any pain, but his movements will be slightly restricted, as in it is harder to run, to provide accurate battle experience."
Peridot continued to explain the features of the simulator as everyone there gradually got tired of hearing all of this.
25 minutes later…
"…and finally, defeating every gem soldier will result in victory, ending the simulation." Peridot said, bringing her very lengthy explanation to an end.
"Ugh; finally." Amethyst muttered. "I thought this would never end."
"Well, in any case, we should start training. Who knows what kind of attack White Diamond is planning now?" Pearl said. "Although, that was pretty long. Peridot took almost 30 minutes to explain everything."
Everyone proceeded to sit in a chair and put the helmet on. Peridot set the difficulty to "Normal", and the battle simulation began.
...
Meanwhile, on White Diamond's ship, White Diamond's Peridots were nearly finished constructing the creature of chaos. "Pick up the pace, gems!" White Diamond ordered. "I need this creature to be finished by the next Earth rotation."
"Yes, my Diamond." The Peridots responded.
One Peridot proceeded to turn the power levels up while another tossed an assortment of items in: a laser blaster, a small black bow tie, a spare limb enhancer, a small top hat, a container with mysterious unknown properties, and multiple vials holding various radioactive chemicals. However, what nobody saw, was that a Dorito had fallen in from a nearby Ruby's lunch, who, like Amethyst, just liked to eat even though gems don't need to.
The machine whirred to life, and the process of the creature's creation began to occur. The specialized personality part of the machine added in traits like cockiness and, of course, loyalty to the Diamonds.
Finally, after several hours, the creature was completed.
"Well hello there! My name is Phil Cipher." It said in a slightly echoey voice. When the creature emerged, it was what appeared to be a yellow triangle with a pyramid pattern on its lower half and one eye, a black top hat, a black bow tie, and black, long, skinny arms and legs, with no mouth. "Nice to meet ya!" Its body flashed whenever he talked.
White Diamond was intrigued by this new creature. "Well hello there, Phil. I must ask; what all can you do?"
"Oh, I can do lots of things!" Phil said with a cocky edge to his voice. "Lots of things…" he repeated, in a much darker voice, his eye turning into an image of a swirling galaxy, before turning back into his eye. "Hey, check this out." He said, before using his powers to summon a deer, then pulled out its teeth with his telekinesis. "Deer teeth. For you, White." He said, dropping the teeth into White Diamond's hand, who dropped them in disgust.
"You're insane!" A Peridot said, recoiling back in horror.
"Sure I am. What's your point?" Phil replied, using his telekinesis to return the teeth back to the deer's mouth, then making it disappear.
"Alright, Phil. I'm impressed. Now, I have a job for you." White Diamond said. "I need you to destroy the 'Crystal Gems' for me. In return, you'll get to rule the universe alongside us."
"Alright. I'm interested. Let's shatter those nuisances." Phil replied, laughing maniacally along with White Diamond.
...
After several hours of training, the Crystal Gems finally felt ready for White Diamond's next attack. Garnet had even split up so that Ruby and Sapphire could train for in case they got separated somehow, which, although unlikely, did appear as a possibility in Garnet's future vision.
But what Garnet's future vision didn't tell her about was that a certain triangular chaos maker was on its way to attack them.