Sorry for not being consistent on uploaded chapters. Well, Ash's new roommates are in an awkward situation it would seem. Can Ash and Steven make things work? Or is three a crowd? *I DO NOT OWN STEVEN UNIVERSE OR POKEMON*
After Ash and Steven explained how Peridot was now a resident of Earth and living with Ash, and now Lapis, the green gem had taken out a tape recorder Steven gave her and began talking into it, describing how the conversation between her and Lapis would go down in her opinion.
"And then i'll say, "hey, as one refugee to another, it isn't so bad that we can't go back to Homeworld, am i right? Why don't we watch the sun come up with Ash, and we'll figure out what to do with all this time, eh Lazuli?" and then she'll say, "yes Peridot, as impressed i was by you on the ship, i am even more impressed by your new compact look and capacity for friendship! I'm so glad we're going to be living together!" Peridot, faucet 5". She turned off the tape recorder and turned around to face Lapis, a cocky smile on her face. "Let's begin", she said reaching her hand out expecting Lapis to shake it.
"This isn't gonna work" Lapis said turning her back to her.
"Wait, what?"
"I really thought it was going to be just me and Ash here" she whispered to the boys. Ash blushed at the thought of how Lapis intended to live with just him.
"Well, this is even better" Steven said "oh, how about this!" he said as he took a large marker out and began drawing a Y shape in the center of the barn "I saw this on a TV show, I didn't see how it ended, but i'm sure it turned out alright. See, we'll divide the barn into three parts, you'll all have your own space. High ceilings, hardwood floors, open country scenery, you both get Ash all to yourselves, what do you think roomies?"
"I like the cut of your gem Steven Quartz" Peridot said enthusiastically agreeing with the proposition
"No. no way" Lapis stubbornly said
"Yea bud this isn't gonna work at all" Ash said
"What's the problem?" Peridot asked
"Well for starters, there is serious communication issues going on here, and separating the barn isn't going to help it, also he put my bed on Lapis's side." he explained pointing toward the mattress in the corner of the room.
"I agree with you Ash," Peridot said "Lapis is getting all the good stuff on her side, i really want those paint cans, Lazuli would you be willing to trade for them?" she asked completely missing the point Ash was making.
"I don't care about paint cans, that's not the problem"
"What's wrong Lapis?"
"It's her" she said pointing aggressively at the small gem. Peridot backed away confused. "She's the problem, i just can't stand the thought of looking at her everyday. She's the one who dragged me back to Earth!"
"It wasn't my idea!" Peridot defended herself, "i just needed a informant, it should've been a simple mission, but clearly things didn't turn out well for either of us"
"You used me like everyone else did!"
"But it's not like that anymore, it's different now, i'm different!"
"It's true Lapis" Steven defended her "Peridot has really come into her own since she's been living on Earth"
"I sabotaged my own mission! I helped save the Earth! I even yelled at Yellow Diamond! She's probably sending a whole fleet to find me and shatter me! I'm kind of a big deal, a big anti-Homeworld deal!"
Lapis walked over to the human boys "Steven, i don't think this is gonna work" she said trying to put his idea down gently
"Well, maybe we could put up a curtain?"
She smiled as she walked out of the barn, sprouted her wings, and flew to the top of the silo claiming it as her own
"Sorry," Steven apologized to an annoyed Peridot, "i thought this was gonna be ok, I forgot that the last time you saw each other wasn't so ok"
"That was in the past!" she angrily exclaimed "it's not like that now!"
"We know"
"But obviously she doesn't! She's the one that needs to know! I want her to understand!"
"Well Peri, you can't just expect someone to forgive you overnight" Ash told her "you and Jasper really messed her up"
"We just need to show her how much you've changed" Steven explained as he grabbed a box of crayons and paper laying them down on the floor in front of them "here, cards are a great way to tell someone something when you can't be face to face with them, or if they don't want to see your face. You've got to give her a taste of sweet version of Peridot" he spend a few minutes drawing before handing it to her "here look! It's you, Lapis and Ash holding hands!" he said as he presented a crudely drawn picture of the three roommates holding hands, smiling and blushing happily in a field of flowers.
Peridot inspected the drawing "where are our noses?"
"Oh that's been kind of my style lately"
"Is not having fingers also your style?"
"No i'm just bad at drawing hands, now here's your part, write an apology inside for Lapis to read so that she knows how sorry you were about before, and that everything is ok now. If you write from your heart, your feelings will reach her" he said looking almost directly at Ash as if to imply he should try a similar thing for his feelings for Lapis. Peridot looked at them confused.
"Just try to be sincere" Ash summed up what Steven was trying to say to her. She looked at it with an intense stare for what seemed like forever thinking before she finally picked up the green crayon and began to write. When she was done, they marched over to the silo to present Lapis's card.
"HEY LAZULI!" Peridot shouted to the top "HEY LAZULI! HEY! LAZULI! HEY!" after she got no response she looked at her friends "why isn't she responding?"
"I'm not sure, i thought she was up there"
"Let me try" Ash said "HEY LAPIS ARE YOU UP THERE?!"
Almost instantly, the blue Gem appeared in front of him "yes Ash?" she asked with a sweet and trusting smile
"Go on," Steven said pushing Peridot between the two, at the sight of Peridot her smile was gone, but she still took to card anyway.
"Steven did the outside, and I did the inside" she explained bin an arrogant tone. Lapis opened the card and read Peridot's message out loud
"Sorry i interrogated you, you were just full of such useful information. That's a sincere compliment, Peridot" she looked at the trio with an annoyed face. And without a word, she put down the card, and flew back to the top of the silo. Accepting defeat, they retreated back to the barn
"The noses, one can only conclude it was the lack of noses" she spoke angrily into her tape recorder "it seems illogical to me that it would be any of the writing elements. It took me over an hour to compose it, and i was THE MOST SINCERE as per Steven's instructions."
"It could be she isn't much of a reader?" Steven suggested "how about a gift?"
She turned to her tape recorder again "another approach, YES! But what?"
"Think of things she likes"
"Things she likes huh?" Peridot thought "oh, i think i know, how about Ash? From what has been described to me about his and Lazuli's relationship, i can conclude she "likes" him"
"WHAT!? NO!"
"But Ash Peridot kinda has a point, i mean she seemed really happy about living with you, in fact i'm pretty sure you're the only reason she's still here. Ash, you should tell you how you feel eventually"
Ash looked over at the silo, he could see Lapis sleeping on the roof, and for once she looked at peace. He took a deep sigh "in time bud, but right now, Lapis needs time to heal. Now as for that gift idea, i'm not letting Peridot wrap me up in a bow and give me to her as a present, what else would she like?"
"Let's see, Lapis Lazuli's are typically partial to water and flying" she pondered before a thought came to her "oo, what if? No" she went back and forth with herself throwing down different ideas. Steven eventually had an idea looking at the hole left over from the Cluster drill. The trio spent two hours filling the hole up, then with the help of Greninja, they filled the sealed hole with water, making a small pool. "Alright, i'm going to go get Lapis, Peridot, Ash, why don't you guys break in your new water feature?"
Steven returned leading Lapis by her hand with her wings covering her eyes for the surprise, "ok, you can look"
"H 2 Oh my gosh!" Peridot said in the pool "it's a smaller than average lake!"
"It's from the hole where we drilled, Peridot, Ash and I sealed it and filled it with water"
"It's a gift for you, you know, cause water's your thing. Pretty good right? The barn's out here in the country, but now you can get your moisture fix whenever, and do all that, water stuff you do AH!" she was cut off by Ash rocking her off her floating tube and into the water resulting in a roar of laughter from the boys. Peridot struggled back onto her floaty and turned to face Lapis "do you love it?"
"Water? Seriously? You do realize that i spent the last few months trapped under the ocean right?"
"Sure but, i"
"It was an endless, crushing, darkness. wet, and bleak, and suffocating. Water was the tomb i lived in for those months" the blank, empty look she gave her caused Peridot to stare with great fear, Steven and Pikachu looked nervous and even Ash was getting uncomfortable.
"Tomb you say?" Peridot asked her
"Yea. i'm kinda taking a break from water right now." then she formed a forced smile "but thanks, for the lake" she then looked at Ash and placed her hand on Steven's shoulder "don't worry boys, it's not your fault" she then once again sprouted her wings and flew back to her silo.
The sky had become clouded as the trio took refuge in the barn in case it once again rained. Peridot was still ranting into her tape recorder "A POOL! WHAT A CLODY IDEA! Of course she wouldn't like that! There's nothing, nothing, nothing!"
"There has to be something, maybe instead of something she likes, give her something, you like. A piece of you!"
"Um, ok. How about, my Camp Pinning Hearts VHS?"
"Which season?" Ash asked her
"Five"
"Trash"
"I know", she groaned falling down onto her back, she again took the tape recorder to her mouth "log date: whatever, faucet: whatever. Uh whatever! Clearly there's nothing important for me to give to Lazuli! At least i have you, tape recorder" an idea came to her as she suddenly threw herself up off the floor and ran to the junk drawer scurrying through it and removing some wrapping paper and a blue ribbon. After wrapping up her tape recorder, she ran outside to the silo with Steven, Ash and Pikachu following. Lapis had just gotten off the roof and didn't realize Peridot was heading towards her until it was too late. "Ta da!" she exclaimed as she presented her latest gift to Lapis "see, the ribbon is even blue! I got yo numbuh" she said winking at her
"Where did she learn this language?" Ash whispered to Steven, who shrugged
Lapis just looked down at her annoyed with absolutely no reaction. Peridot looked at the boys looking for support, but Steven just shrugged again.
"Uh, here, i'll unwrap it for you" she said as she began to unwrap her present " when i was stuck here, Steven gave me this tape recorder as a gift and i didn't really get it at first, but it made me feel better just to talk about all the weird stuff that was happening, it'll help you to" Lapis took the tape recorder out of Peridot's hands as she presented it to her "you, press the button to record, and then you talk into it"
After inspecting it, Lapis pressed the record button and held it against her face "i don't want your garbage" she then squeezed her hand, smashing Peridot's prized tape recorder into pieces that fell to the ground. Ash and Steven watched it fall heartbroken, but Peridot looked more desperate than ever
"WERE YOU TRAPPED IN A TAPE RECORDER TO!?" she screamed at Lapis who looked almost offended by the outburst. "Look, i get it you know. You're confused, you can never go back to Homeworld. This place doesn't exactly feel like home yet. You're alone, no one could possibly know what you're going through. Oh wait I do! Ash does! We're the same! Except, you don't have to be alone. You have Ash and me now. So tell me then, what you want from me, and whatever that is, i'll do it".
Lapis just looked angrily at Peridot, almost as if she didn't hear a word she said "i want you, TO LEAVE!"
Peridot just looked at her, hurt in her eyes. "Ok" she somberly said as she turned around and walked off without even looking back. Ash and Steven watched her go until she was out of sight.
"Lapis, why are you being so mean to her?" Steven asked "she's really trying"
"Why do you guys trust her?" she asked them
"Because we know her. Lapis, you're not even giving her a chance, you should've at least gotten to know her before you decided you don't like her"
"She'll betray you Steven,"
"YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT BETRAYAL LAPIS!?" Ash angrily shouted at her "after everything we all went through together, you did what? Oh that's right! YOU SOLD US OUT TO JASPER AND HOMEWORLD! You redirected Greninja's attack right back at me directly! You might think Peridot is a backstabber, but if memory serves me well, you've betrayed me more than she ever could. Come on Pikachu" he said as he lead Pikachu back to the barn. He entered the building and angrily kicked a few paint cans over, he saw the blue and red colors combined heavily to create a deep, black puddle on the floor. He crouched down and began to fight back tears, "how could i be in love with someone like that!?" he asked himself, kicking the paint can again. He wished Peridot would come back, but now thanks to Lapis, he was probably never gonna see his friend again. He heard the barn door open as he looked up to see Peridot screaming into the barn, Steven and Lapis right behind her.
"what's going o" but Lapis threw her hand over his mouth to keep him quiet as a large, bright light from something outside shone in through the roof, the light passed by as quickly as it appeared. They waited until the craft was gone, but suddenly the source of the light returned and revealed itself through the hole in the wall. The group escaped the barn and continued to run until the craft cut them off and shone the light directly on Peridot.
"This is it, they're gonna wipe my precious grin off the face of this planet!" she screamed hugging Steven and Ash
"Get behind me, i'll protect you!" Steven said as he pushed Peridot behind him. Pikachu began to spark from his cheeks and Ash drew Charizard's pokeball, but before they could do anything, Lapis stepped forward, she turned back to the group before she looked back at the ship, and reached her hand up. From the pool they dug for Lapis earlier, a large hand made of water emerged and flicked the ship into the ground, two diamonds were created from the ship's collision with the ground.
"Holy smokes" Peridot said in shock, again Ash questioned where Peridot learned this language before he heard the familiar scream of Pearl's voice
"STEVEN! ASH!" she screamed as Amethyst and Garnet joined them
"Holy smokes" Amethyst said once she saw the wreckage, answering Ash's question on where Peridot picked up her slang
"Are you alright? We saw the ship and came as fast as we could"
"Yea we're fine, Lapis saved us, but it looks like Homeworld really has it out for Peridot"
Ash looked at the ship, then back at Lapis, she then said something that took him, and Peridot completely by surprise
"Are you ok?"
Peridot gave her a happy, almost creepy, blushing smile causing Lapis to act a little confused. Suddenly the clouds above vanished into a bright sunny day, causing Ash to wonder if it was Lapis's doing as well, before he could ask, the ship began to echo, and five small, red colored Gems, emerged from the pod.