The Aggregate

Looming over a barren and desolate wasteland, among swathes of virus-like machines, a green figure supervised the ongoing activity close by in the safety of her gem pod. With a swift movement of her fingers, she forms her communication device, eager to report her progress to her superior: “Calling Yellow Diamond”, she begun, “Initiating gem formation attempt 2346-10, over.” A gleaming, almost divine entity appeared within the reflections of her hologram, and spoke in a particularly excited manner, “Peridot, let me tell you something, this attempt feels like the one that’s finally going to work,” she spoke while banging her fists against an unseen object, her face looming closer to the screen, “The ultimate biosphere of resources, Earth, is finally in our hands, and soon gemkind will be the most superior lifeform in the universe!” “You’ve already said that like five times already, it hasn’t even worked yet,” Peridot mumbled to herself, careful to hide her annoyance. Luckily, Yellow diamond did not hear her complaints and instead continued to deliver her speech in her usual uproarious manner, “Alright Greenie, what are you waiting for,” she growled, straying from her normal mode of speech, “initiate the procedure already!” Peridot rolled her eyes, “Fine, I’ll deliver the results to Rose diamond once I’m finis-“ “HURRY UP THEN!!” Yellow diamond interrupted as she abruptly closed the transmission. “Gah, I hate when she calls me ‘Greenie’” Peridot once again mumbled to herself as she set up the Virus machines for another use. She analyzed her surroundings as her fingers converted into a control pad of sorts. “Rock formations are at optimal numbers,” Peridot begun her preparations, her free hands adjusting the levels on her controls, “Gem serum usage, at 0%”, the machine’s syringes starting to beam a menacing glare of red. “And finally,” her fingers loomed towards the “INITIATE” button, “2346-10, commi-“ “WAIT!”, Peridot was suddenly interrupted, yet again, instead the culprit being a pink figure, but this did not stop the machines from going through with what they were designed for, and the beams shot at a nearby bird instead of its designated target of exposed rock. The pink figure cringed as the bird changed into an inanimate geode crusted ball, and Peridot simply looked at the fiasco with annoyance. The pink figure was in anguish, and she turned to Peridot with a shocked expression on her face, “Do you see what you’ve done to that poor creature?!” Peridot grumbled, “Who cares about the damn thing, Rose Diamond, it’s a parasite leeching of our well-earned resources, it deserves it anyways, stupid creature.” Rose Diamond was noticeably shaken, but still managed to retain her infamous composure, she looked at the mass and displayed an expression of sadness, “Just, do what you have to do”, she sighed. Peridot then extended her hands into an immense length, and picked up the sphere, proceeding to break the gems up, converting the mass back into gem serum. Rose Diamond looked away at this process. Peridot was unphased, and went right back into creating more gems, repeating the processes that she commenced earlier and fixing the machine’s aim so that it would hit the hard rock wall. Rose Diamond sat herself down on the edge of the cliff they were standing upon, still thinking about the incident that happened prior. Peridot pressed the button yet again, this time, the beam successfully hitting its target, a yellow gem forming in a gaping hole created by the impact. The green gem’s hands levitated away from her torso, and proceeded to pick up the newborn gem, setting it in Rose’s lap. She stared at it for a few seconds, still caught in her sorrow-fueled daze, until Peridot abruptly snapped her out of it. “So?” Peridot begun, growing impatient, “do your liquid magic!” Rose complied, and her tears started to flow on the inactive gem, making it glow and transform into a perfectly normal gem. However, it was too early to celebrate, this time, to both of the gems horror, the humanoid figure suddenly transformed into a monstrous, dragon type creature of tremendous height, its mouth lined with sharp teeth, ready to strike. Peridot started screaming as the creature lunged towards them, but Rose was well equipped. She threw her shield over the two of them, struggling to make it hold as she pulled out her sword from her gem. Rose, with her well-known style of swift and graceful combat, quickly ended the creatures rage with a quick dislocation of its neck. The creature disappeared, leaving the faulty gem behind, and the two of them sighed with a mixture of relief, and for Rose—sadness. Rose looked down at the gem and sighed once more, “Ju-just, do what you have to do, Peridot….” Peridot growled to herself while her hands extended to bash the gem into pieces, “URGH, why don’t these experiments ever WORK?!” Rose, put her hand on Peridot’s shoulder, stopping her fit of rage, and smiled, “You did your best, Peridot, that’s all that matters.” Peridot calmed down a bit, slowing down her heavy breathing, and swept the gem shards into her hands. “Fine, I guess, but it still didn’t work…” Peridot grumbled. Peridot extended her hands to a nearby pit of fire, “Time to put this garbage into the incinerator, ugh”,she whined as the gem shards fell into the blazing heat. With the addition of those fragments, however, the flames stopped. “UGH!”, Peridot knew she had to relight the fire manually, dreading having to move from her comfortable spot. “Peridot,” Rose Quartz begun as she stared on into the charred pit: “I think I see something.” “W-what?” Peridot squinted, trying to focus on Rose’s observation. And sure enough, they were both right. A red and yellow gem has formed in the center of the pit, its surface covered in gem serum from Peridot’s last attempt gone wrong. The two stared in awe for a few seconds, until Peridot gained back enough sense of herself to form a hoverboard big enough for the two of them, staggering towards the gem in the process. To be continued