This chapter takes place immediately after the events of the previous chapter in case you were wondering. With Serena and Misty now in the mix, it's safe to say Lapis feels a little threatened. But now that Ash is more determined to protect his friends more than ever, can he juggle his quest, his relationships and his mixed feelings regarding the newest Gem Steven has brought in? *I DO NOT OWN POKEMON OR STEVEN UNIVERSE*
Ash turned in his bed and looked over at the pile of pillows and blankets Misty was trying to sleep on, but she was clearly still awake. He then looked up onto the second floor to the sight of Brock sleeping on the couch. Peridot had taken Lapis outside to watch the stars at catch up, having taken Pikachu with them, leaving Ash all alone on his mattress bed.
"What's that?" Misty asked pointing to the envelope Greg had given him for his birthday sticking out from the corner of the mattress
"Oh, that's uh" he stumbled trying to push the package back under the bed to hide it from view
"ASH!" he heard the familiar, excited voice of Steven coming from the cornfield "BROCK! JAMES! CAN YOU GUYS COME OUT HERE?"
Brock dropped down from the couch as Ash checked his phone to see it was around 7 in the morning, as the sun was barely starting to rise. He saw Steven, Lapis, Peridot and Pikachu standing in the clearing
"Steven, you remember Misty right?" he asked reintroducing the redhead to Steven
"Hey, how's it going?" He asked her "is she gonna be living now to?"
"Yea, we just got my "room" ready" she answered him
"Well, I guess you guys should probably work on opening up some more space" he said as if he knew something they didn't
"What do you mean by that?" Brock asked
Before Steven could answer him, the answer came running out of the cornfield right towards them "hi! I'm Navy, a refugee from Homeworld! Just like you guys!" The familiar Ruby exclaimed without a care in the world
James immediately ran over to the overly friendly Ruby, laughing in his familiar horse laugh as he picked her up and squeezed her tightly
"So uh, when did you get to Earth?" Peridot asked
"Today" she said as James put her down
"TWO NEW BARNIES IN ONE DAY!" Peridot shouted with excitement, raising both fists in the air
"What!? No! Hold on, can we all talk about this first?" Lapis interjected
"Yeah yeah-yeah-yeah. Of course. I love talking" Peridot said with an oblivious smile on her face
Lapis trapped Navy in a globe of water, raising her into the air so she couldn't overhear the group's conversation. "Steven, this makes no sense. Why would she wanna live here? We've been awful to her. She must hate us"
As much as he wanted to believe Steven, Ash knew she had a point, it was kind of suspicious. Besides, after Eyeball stabbed him with intent to kill following the whole situation with Stash, he was very weary of the collection of Homeworld Rubies.
"She doesn't though" Steven protested "give her a chance, she's on our side now"
"Just like that? Wow" Peridot retorted
"There's no way" Lapis stubbornly protested the newest arrival
"Hey," Steven continued to defend Ruby "you guys all wanted new lives here, she does to"
"Even if she wants to be here, she doesn't know what she's getting into. Life on Earth is really confusing. It took me a long time to get used to it. I'm still getting used to it." she confessed
"But" Ash intervened placing his arms around his girlfriend's shoulders "you're not alone in getting used to it. She is. She's gonna need our help to adjust to Earth"
"Yah! We can show her the way. I mean, we've been through the wringer on all this stuff Lapis. It'd be cool to share what we've learned. And, you know, I think we'll be really good at it." Peridot added
Lapis gave the thought some attention before coming to a conclusion "ok. I'll give it a try. But we'll have to take it slow"
Ash gave her a proud smile as Peridot began cheering. Lapis snapped her fingers dropping Navy onto the ground
"Thank you!" she excitedly exclaimed
"Man this place is getting crowded" Brock remarked concerning Misty and now Navy's arrival.
Lapis and Peridot began creating a presentation for Navy while Brock, Steven and James showed Navy around the property. Misty suddenly approached Ash when he found himself alone with her.
"So are you gonna tell me what that thing under your bed or what?" she asked with a curious, and intrigued look on her face.
"Oh, that's uh, a present i got from Steven's dad for my birthday. It's uh, oh gosh, how do i explain this?" he began to stutter
"Oh, i think i know what it is now" she answered for him "you gonna pop the question anytime soon?"
"I don't know yet Misty, i mean, if we do decide to, you know, it would mean one of us would have to leave their home dimension behind. And i don't want to force her to make that tough decision. Besides, i don't know yet if i'm ready to get married yet"
"But didn't you say your friend Clemont got here without Arceus sending him? I mean, he could probably build something to let you travel between worlds. Just a thought, come on, i think your girl and Peridot are ready to start teaching that creepy, little gem now" she said as she began to lead him back to the group.
"So you're an Earthling. But what does that mean?" Peridot asked the new gem "Well, the answer is Who knows? And that's the beauty of Earth. Nothing here makes sense, but that's why you have us now."
"It might be hard to like Earth at first. It is where a bunch of bad stuff happened" Lapis said with a sad tone. Ash placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled gently to show his support
"I love it! It's so sunny" Navy excitedly said
"Ah, yes! The sun. Ever burning. Until it's not."
"This planet has weather, which can be confusing and alarming. It's sunny now, but it can always rain later." the blue gem continued
"What is rain?" Navy asked extremely confused
"It's like, oh wait! I can just show you" she stated as she began to concentrate and summoned a large pod of water from the pool. The pod began dropping water droplets into a mock rainstorm. "I know it's a bit strange, but" she began to say
"ha ha, the sky is crying!" Navy interrupted her, running around in circles in the rain laughing "and a planet that's not always sunny. It's almost like, it's always changing. Oh-ho-ho! It's so beautiful!"
"Yeah, exactly!" Steven exclaimed with enthusiasm
"Wow! That's like chapter ninety-seven of Earth stuff! Looks like we have an advanced student on our hands" Peridot told the group
"Yeah. No kidding" Lapis said with an annoyed tone
Ash saw Navy's reaction to the idea of the ever changing Earth and wanted to believe she was different than Eyeball. But as he turned to Lapis, he saw her look at the small, laughing gem with distrust.
After Peridot and Lapis finished their presentation, the group entered the barn to show Navy around.
"This is our Gem Cave. Lapis hates it when I call it that. So I don't. The barn's pretty big so you can have one of the corners" Peridot explained "except for the corner with the bed, that's Ash and Lapis's corner, and the tent is James's so that's off limits to, as is the couch because Brock sleeps there, and i guess our new friend's corner is here so you can't have that one either. But besides that, pick any corner you want, make it yours"
"That's so nice, any corner would be lovely" she said
After Navy was introduced to the rest of the barn, they decided to show her the cornfields, Lapis and Peridot's pride and joy. "And here is our organic Earth farm. The ground around here is teeming with resources which feed the growing crops around us. Don't bother talking to the corn. It can't hear you" the small gem stated
"Plants may seem strange to you at first. But don't worry, you don't have to love everything right away." Lapis said, once again looking down to the ground with doubt
"I love plants!" she shouted as she plucked some ears of corn and threw them around her, looking down at them innocently
Ash looked to Lapis, to see she was even more annoyed than before. She suddenly grabbed Pikachu, lifting him up and showing Navy
"Well what about Pikachu? Do you love Pikachu to?" she angrily asked
Navy looked at Pikachu with a loving smile "i love Pikachu!" she exclaimed pinching the pokemon's cheeks and laughing
Her angry look became one of scorn "well, what about the dirt? Do you love the dirt to?" she asked with a tone of hatred
"What's dirt?" Navy asked seemingly not picking up on Lapis's anger
Lapis gently put Pikachu down before she gestured to the ground
Navy gasped at her new discovery "i do love the dirt!" she said as she dropped to the ground, rolling around laughing like a goofball. Steven, Peridot, Pikachu and James all shrugged as they dropped to the ground rolling and laughing with her while Ash, Lapis, Brock and Misty watched uncomfortably.
"Well, what about us? How do you feel about us?" Lapis again asked hoping for a reaction
"You guys are the best! Thank you, thank you." the Ruby said taking Steven and Peridot into a headlock "Thank you all for taking me in. Oh, we're gonna be the best of friends!"
"But we were just enemies! Don't you remember? Why don't you get mad!?"
"I think even if I really tried that's the one thing I can't do" she said with puppy dog eyes
"OH COME ON!" Lapis shouted while sprouting her wings and flying off
"LAPIS!" Ash shouted with concern
"Did I do something?" Navy asked with concern
"She's not mad at you Navy" Brock intervened "she's mad at the idea of you it seems"
"Stay here and admire the plants some more" Ash said as he, Peridot and Steven chased after her. Steven and Peridot split from him to the other side of the barn while Ash searched the other
"Lapis where are you?!" he shouted looking for her
"Up here Ash" he heard her say from the truck. He climbed up the ladder and hopped into the trunk to see her, pressed against the wall in a defensive position
"What's wrong?" he asked as he snuggled up next to her
"She's just, It's just like she's fine with us. Like, there's no problem. Like how we didn't do bad things to her, how we didn't hurt her. How can she just look away like that? Navy just loves everyone and everything right away. She has no guard, no fear. I just don't get it. Why it is so easy for her when it was so hard for me?"
"People handle grief differently, just because she takes it with a smile doesn't mean she is hurting just like you. She needs our help right now Lapis"
"She's obviously faking it Ash, nobody's that happy and forgiving." she revealed her fear
"Navy is a little creepy i'll give you that, but i think she's being genuine. I honestly think she can be trusted."
"Oh no!" the two suddenly heard Navy say from the ground "I didn't to make anyone upset! Maybe I just should go"
"No, no. It's my problem. I didn't mean to make you feel like you don't belong here." Lapis apologized down to her
"Yeah. You should stay."
"Oh! You guys! I'm so glad! I don't know where I'd go anyway. Can't go anywhere without my ship. That's the only place I ever really belonged anyways. I miss it so much." she cried as the rest of the group rejoined them
"Navy! We have your ship! It's right over there!" Steven exclaimed as he pointed at the Roaming Eye parked outside the barn, Peridot and Lapis having decorated it with lights
"Wow! I didn't even notice it there!"
"Maybe you could, show us the ropes?" Steven asked her
"Oh i would love that!" she exclaimed bringing Steven into a hug
Navy lead Steven, Lapis, Peridot and Ash to the ship while Brock, Misty, James and Pikachu stayed behind on the ground. Navy took a seat in the captain's chair and took off with Steven standing next to her. Ash, Lapis and Peridot began to look out the window to admire the scenery.
"You doing alright?" he asked Lapis
"Yeah, yeah i am" she said with a smile, holding his hand tightly and trustfully.
"Hey Steven. Hit that button behind you and I'll show you what this baby can really do." he heard Navy tell Steven from behind them
"I'm gonna press it!" Steven excitedly said as he ran over to the control board next to the others and pressed a large, red button.
To Ash's shock, the lights suddenly turned off as a clear tube fell around Navy's seat. The door to the ship opened and they all fell out, Steven grabbing the edge barely holding onto the ship. Ash grabbed his legs, Lapis held onto him and Peridot held onto Lapis's feet at the end.
"Navy! Hello! Navy! I think something went wrong with the ship!" Steven said still holding on hope that Navy was changed, but Ash instantly knew they had been betrayed
"The only thing wrong, is that you're still holding on!" the Ruby said with a diabolical laugh
"Wait. This whole time, all you wanted was your ship? You could've just stolen it to begin with!" Steven scolded
"I could have done that, but then I would've never have gotten to see the look on your face when you were tricked by your favorite little Ruby!" she explained laughing again
"Yea you're not my favorite Ruby!" Ash shouted to her
"Hey! I can't hear what's happening! Is Navy showing us the ocean? 'Cause this is a heck of a way to do it!" Peridot asked innocently at the end of the line
A look of pure rage appeared on Lapis's face as she began climbing over Ash and Steven in an attempt to get back into the cockpit "why you dirty little" she began to say as she stepped over Ash's head
Ash heard Navy let out a gasp as she controlled the ship to do a flip, finally throwing the four off "bye bye" was the last thing he heard Navy say as he fell into the ocean, and watched the ship fly off into space, presumably back to Homeworld
Ash turned to the others to make sure they were safe, to his relief, Steven, Lapis and Peridot surfaced. Lapis snorting and laughing hysterically.
"I WAS RIGHT!" she shouted, slamming her fists into the water "no one is THAT well adjusted!"
The four swam to shore, Lapis still laughing knowing that she was right, to see the others, now joined by Garnet, were standing at the shore. Garnet was holding two foil balloons, one that said "welcome to the party" and one that said "sorry for your loss" Garnet squeezed the "welcome to the party" ballon hard until it popped
"It was worth a shot" Garnet said with a somber smile.
Steven and Garnet returned to the Temple while the others returned to the barn. As Ash tried to dry himself off, he looked up to see Misty was now staring at him with a mischievous smile.
"What's up?" he asked
"You never answered my question earlier" she said
"I still don't know" he answered "i just don't know if we're ready in our relationship yet"
"Well, i've only seen you two together for one day and i think you two were made for each other. You'd make a good husband Ash. now come on, i'm dying to meet the rest of your friends around town"
Ash found himself blushing redder than Navy as he began to lead Misty into Beach City to introduce her to the rest of his friends and hopefully find her a job.