Well, i suppose i'm about to overstep my boundaries as a writer by directly asking the readers something i could easily do myself, but i must ask you. Are any of you guys good artists? If so, i have a proposition for you, i don't really like my lousy photoshopped cover image for Ash's Universe, so i ask my artistic readers who are interested in possibly drawing me a new one to message me for additional details. PLEASE ONLY MESSAGE ME IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT THIS AND DO NOT PLACE YOUR OFFER IN THE REVIEWS. *I DO NOT OWN POKEMON OR STEVEN UNIVERSE*
"So this "cluster" thing is going to destroy the world if you, the Gems and Peridot can't stop it?" Greg asked his employee as they began waxing their latest customer's van.
"Yep, i figure that you should be one of the few to know because we're using the barn for supplies and the isolation" he answered while scrubbing the rim of the tires. They heard several loud crashes coming from the direction of the barn, Ash assumed that it was them working hard on the drill.
After he wished Greg a good night when they closed the wash, Ash slowly made his way back to the barn to check progress on his "guests". To his surprise he saw two giant robots controlled by Pearl and Peridot.
"That's right! I am a pearl!" he heard her exclaim punching Peridot in the face. "What you're saying is true, but i'm still gonna kick your butt!" she shouted moving the robot she was piloting into a jump kick assault.
"What the heck did i miss?" Ash asked the rest of the gems
"Pearl and Peridot are having a robot fight to see who is gonna lead the construction of the drill" Amethyst explained to him with a gleeful smile.
"Why is it everytime you guys do something awesome, you do it when i'm not here?"
Pearl extended her machine's leg out far as she approached Peridot's. But was taken back by her grabbing the leg and threw her to the ground until all that was left of her fighter was a pile of rubble.
"Victory is mine! Now i'm the one in charge! Praise me! Praise me!" the small gem shouted
"Pearl are you ok!?" the others shouted at their friend, ignoring her.
"I'm fine" she answered
"Yea P! That was awesome!"
"Come on, we made a big mess at Ash's home, let's get it cleaned up" Garnet said
"What? No! I won you have to listen to me! What about the rules!?" Peridot screamed
"Welcome to Earth" Garnet responded.
Ash walked over to the "angry little slice of pie", as Steven called her, and slapped his hand on her back to show a sarcastic support to her. He watched as she approached Pearl carrying a power drill upside down and attempt to apologize. Pear seemed to accept and began assisting her with the proper use of the tools.
After the group finished disassembling Pearl's ruined robot, the sun had set and clouds began blocking the night sky. Steven had disgcussed the possibility of Peridot staying at the barn for the night so he could shower in the morning, to which Ash agreed. Garnet took a dog leash and tied Peridot up to one of the fence posts. Ash wished the gems a good night and retreated to his bed. He set his alarm on the clock he bought with the little money Greg payed him and decided to sleep early as he had to work the entire day.
As he laid his head down and began to close his eyes, he began to hear raindrops fall outside. He got out of his bed and peeked out the barn door to see Peridot looking down in the rain, not having noticing him watch her. Seeing the once terrifying Gem look so miserable after everything she had put him through made him chuckle a bit at her misery, especially how ironic it was she was stuck outside in the rain, it was almost as if Lapis was calling to her, getting her own revenge on her for what she and Jasper did. A sudden blast of nearby thunder brought the trainer back to reality and began to remember how much Peridot had seemingly changed, she almost seemed to trust him and Steven. After some deliberation, he decided to do the right thing "sorry Lapis" he said to himself "but your revenge will have to wait" he said walking into the rain, untying Peridot and leading her into the barn.
"I assumed that you hated me. Why did you help me?"
"Because it's the right thing to do" he said "you know, Steven thinks he's seeing a change in you, and after i saw you apologize to Pearl today, i think i might be seeing it to" causing Peridot to blush in embarrassment. "Well i've got a long day tomorrow, so i'm just gonna go to bed now" he said folding the sheets over himself, Pikachu snuggling up against him"
"What's sleep?" she asked
"It's when "organic life" as you call it, closes their eyes and stays like that for awhile, it lets us recharge ourselves like a battery" he explained trying to put it into terms she'd understand
"How long will you be "sleeping"?"
"Well i've got to be up by 8, so probably eight hours"
"EIGHT HOURS! But i don't need to sleep! What am i going to do for eight hours with nothing to do while you "sleep"?"
He sighed in annoyance, "i don't know" he said looking around the room until he saw the VHS tapes of Camp Pinning Hearts. He quickly put the tape with the pilot episode in the TV "here watch this" he said as he put his head down again
"What is this?"
"Some canadian show about camping or something, just watch it while i sleep" he felt Peridot sit down at the foot of his mattress watching the show, and with that, Ash was finally able to close his eyes and sleep.
His alarm for 8:00 ran as expected, but what he didn't expect was seeing Peridot still sitting on his mattress watching the show still. What got him the most was that he never showed her the rest of the tapes "Peridot, have you been watching that same episode all night?" he asked with legit concern.
She gave him no answer, all she did was perfectly repeat the next line of dialog from the female character.
"Morning Ash!" he heard Steven and the Gems shout as they approached the barn.
"Hey guys. What's on the agenda for today?"
"We're going to have to go to the moon warp pad to get more information on the cluster" Pearl answered.
"Alright, well have fun with that, i've got to work" Ash said trying to pretend he wasn't interested. But truthfully he was jealous that Steven and the others got to go to the moon and he was stuck washing people's cars.
He spent the entire day working with Greg until late into the evening when they closed up. He slowly made his way back down back to the barn, ready to help assist in building the drill. As he was nearly twenty feet away from the barn, the wall exploded and he saw a the robot Peridot was using the previous day ran out of the hole. "Free! Free!" he heard Peridot shout from the pilot's seat.
"WHAT'S GOING ON!?" he screamed approaching the Gems.
"PERIDOT STOLE A COMMUNICATOR TO HOMEWORLD FROM THE MOONBASE!" Pearl screamed "WE HAVE TO STOP HER BEFORE SHE CAN CONTACT YELLOW DIAMOND!"
Ash summoned and mounted Charizard to give chase to the mechanical menace, Amethyst shifted into a helicopter and transported the others inside her.
"What's up Peri-snot?" Amethyst joked
"Good one Amethyst" Ash complimented her "Charizard flamethrower!" Charizard let out a stream of fire from his mouth, combined with Pearl's sphere and Garnet's fists, knocked over the machine, which the Gems began beating. Ash and Steven both saw Peridot escape the machine and run for a diamond in the middle of the field she had crashed. They gave chase as they tackled her to the ground, but it was too late. Peridot turned the crystal and it began to glow yellow. The boys backed up to the gems, who threw them behind the wreckage to hide, Ash retreated Charizard back to his pokeball.
"She'll sort this out!" Peridot exclaimed as the crystal turned into a yellow blob of light, until they saw the image of a woman who looked almost like Pearl but yellow appear
"This is the Yellow Diamond control room" she said in an annoyed tone
"Is that another Pearl" Amethyst asked
"Who is she?" Ash asked
"Not all Pearls know each other Ash" Pearl tried to explain
"Who authorized you to make this call?" the Yellow Pearl demanded from Peridot
"No one" she said scared "But it's an emergency!"
"That's no excuse to use the direct diamond communication channel"
"Pearl?" another intimidating female voice asked. The Yellow Pearl looked up at something with worry on her face
"Yes my Diamond?" she nervously asked
"Why is there someone on the diamond line?"
"I don't know. I was just about to tell her that"
"I'll take it from here" the voice interrupted as an enormous yellow hand grabbed the screen, redirecting it to an equally enormous woman who was yellow skinned.
The Gems and Ash all gasped at the giant woman standing in their presence
"Is that?" Amethyst began to ask
"Yellow Diamond" Pearl and Garnet said in union
"My Diamond. Peridot reporting in" she said to her doing a triangle shaped salute with her hands
"Which Peridot?" Yellow Diamond demanded not even looking at her
"Facet 2F5L. Cut 5XG. I'm sorry to contact you this way, but all other forms of communication have been destroyed and"
"This says you're behind schedule on your mission to" she took a look at the data on her screen before finally turning to face Peridot "how is, the Earth?"
"It's, full of life" she said terrified
"Organic life" Yellow Diamond said with disgust "and where is the Jasper i assigned you? And why aren't you calling from the ship?"
Ash saw Peridot try to come up with an answer "the, the ship was destroyed"
"By whom?"
This was it Ash thought, this was where Peridot gave them all up to the Diamonds and a mass alien invasion killed them all. But to his surprise, she instead answered her with "by no one. There was an accident, while we were landing"
Yellow Diamond turned back to her screens with annoyance "i'll inform your manager of your incompetence. And what is the status of the Cluster?"
"The Cluster will be emerging shortly"
"Excellent, we'll finally get some use out of that pathetic planet. Thank you for your report Peridot, a ship will be sent to your location to send you to your next assignment"
"Wait! I wouldn't have called just to waste your time with a report!"
"You already have"
"No, i mean, the reason i called, i the real reason i called was. I believe we should terminate the Cluster!"
"Why?"
"The organic ecosystem here creates resources exclusive to this planet. We can't sacrifice all that potential just for one geo weapon! I'd like to tell you some plans i came up with to utilize the resources without disrupting the local"
"I've heard enough" Yellow Diamond interrupted her "i don't care about resources."
"What?"
"I want my Cluster. And i want that planet to die. Just make that happen"
"NO!" Peridot defied her taking everybody back
"Are you questioning my authority?"
"I'm questioning your objectivity! My Diamond" she said returning to her hand salute to try to sound as respectful to her as possible
Yellow Diamond stood up "you are out of line"
"I just think"
"I'm not interested in the puny thoughts of a puny Peridot. You have disrespected this channel, and my time with your presence. And it would do you well to"
"But"
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH! You have failed at every stage of this mission, your only hope of redemption is to obey this simple order: you are to leave the Cluster to grow. It will tear apart the Earth, and i will take immense satisfaction in wiping that hideous rock off of our star maps. IS THAT CLEAR?!"
"I WON'T DO IT!" Peridot finally stood up for herself "I CAN TELL YOU WITHOUT CERTAINTY THAT THERE ARE THINGS ON THIS PLANET WORTH PROTECTING!" causing Steven to smile widely and Ash to grin
"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE EARTH?!" Yellow Diamond demanded
"APPARENTLY MORE THAN YOU! YOU CLOD!"
Yellow Diamond made a face of pure pent up rage at the little Ge, who had realized what she had said "Peridot out" she said as she turned off the communicator and fell to the ground in fetal position. The other Gems crowded around her commending her for her noble actions
"I can't believe i just did that"
"I was so wrong about being so wrong about you!" Steven happily said
"I can't believe i just did that" she repeated "can one of you take this?" she asked handing the crystal to Pearl
"Why?"
"Because it can be remotely detonated" she explained as the white stone turned red in Pearl's hands
"How do we stop it!?"
"Just get rid of it!" Garnet shouted
In a moment of panic, Pearl just handed it to Amethyst "here Amethyst"
"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH IT!? ASH HEADS UP!" she exclaimed tossing it to him
"NAH UH I DON'T WANT IT!" he screamed throwing it to Garnet, who punched it into the air exploding harmlessly.
"I thought i could reason with her" Peridot whinned
"Yeah you really made her mad" Amethyst joked
"And then you insulted her to her face" Pearl added
"Do you know what this means?" Steven asked her
"I'm a traitor to my homeworld"
"YOU'RE A CRYSTAL GEM!" he shouted giving Peridot a big hug
"Whether you like it or not" Garnet finished
"Welcome to the team Peridot" Ash said
"Pika" Pikachu added as well
Peridot could only groan at the prospect of the thought of her new life on earth as a Crystal Gem "uh!"