Well here it is, the next chapter with our heroes, I am very excited for the next few chapters. So much so, that I just can't wait to share what happens in the next few chapters, but i hate spoilers so i am just going to say that Ash's Universe is going to get a little bigger. *I DO NOT OWN STEVEN UNIVERSE OR POKEMON*
Garnet had grabbed Steven and ran towards the barn, the others followed suit and ducked behind the door. Ash could see there were at least four little, red Gems emerge from the pod, he then saw a fifth emerge from it barking orders.
Peridot was having a panic attack "i knew it, they're after me! This is the end of the line!"
"You weren't kidding" Lapis said
"I disrespected a direct order from Yellow Diamond, i called her a Clod, to her face" she groaned as she fell to the floor in a fetal position and made a crying sound. Ash awkwardly rubbed his hand on her back in an attempt to comfort her, Pearl on the other hand, wasn't giving her much sympathy
"Oh honestly, you call everyone a Clod" she reminded her, rolling her eyes
"YES" Peridot responded getting up, then getting back down on all fours and scurried over to a box labeled "Baseball Joe", "but not everyone has command over all the armies of Homeworld waiting for the word to shatter me!" she screamed as she hid under the box, spilling a number of baseball bats, baseballs, and baseball gloves all over the floor. Ash and Steven ran to the box she hid under.
"Peri, we're not gonna let them hurt you" Ash reassured her
"Haven't i caused you all enough trouble?"
"Yes" Ash heard Lapis say causing Amethyst to chuckle, Ash gave Lapis a disappointed look remembering the harsh words he last spoke to her, Lapis's small grin faded after seeing him look at her.
"Don't worry Peridot" Garnet intervened "it is our sworn duty to protect anything that calls this planet home, and that includes clods like you"
"That's my word" she said in astonishment.
"Listen up everyone" she ordered the Gems "I have a plan, or should i say, we have a plan" she laughed as she was engulfed in a light. When the light faded, he saw that in Garnet's place were two small Gems, one of which had a familiar face to Ash
"Hello everyone" the blue one Ash never met said
"RUBY! SAPPHIRE!" Amethyst and Pearl exclaimed happily
"HUUUUUGS!" Steven exclaimed as he ran towards the two and embraced them in a big hug, one in each arm.
"Good to see you again Ruby" Ash remarked, "nice to finally meet you Sapphire" Garnet eventually told him about her being a fusion after the Homeworld ship pieces were finally cleared, after Ash lost Lapis to Malachite, and he had assumed Ruby had died in the crash.
"It's nice to meet you to Ash" Sapphire said, still caught in Steven's tight hug
"So what's the plan?" Amethyst asked
Ruby chuckled as Sapphire assured the her on her part of her master plan "you've got this, just act casual" she said kissing Ruby on the cheek
"Yea, casual" Ruby repeated slamming her fists together before awkwardly shuffling out of the barn and joining the other Rubies
As soon as he saw Ruby get in formation with the other four, Ash knew he had to step in "guys this isn't gonna work, do you really think the Rubies are that stupid"
"Yes" Sapphire answered watching as he turned and saw the leader count Ruby as one of them without even counting herself
"Oh"
They watched as Ruby returned after badly improvising and returned shaking and sweating "THEY WANT TO SEARCH THE BARN!"
"We heard" Ash said
"We saw" Pearl said with a doubtful look
"I'm scared" said Peridot
"Let's AMBUSH THEM!" Amethyst suggested holding a baseball bat in the air
"Yeah!" Ash agreed with Amethyst grabbing a bat of his own getting ready to charge before Sapphire talked them down
"No, no one needs to get hurt, let's be sensible"
Ruby started sweating more than before, and even began biting her fingernails out of fear "what do i do?"
"Just go out there and tell them this is a place where humans live" Sapphire reassured her lover
Ruby sighed "i don't wanna go alone"
"I'll come!" Steven volunteered "I'll be your backup"
Amethyst handed him her baseball bat "and here's some backup for your backup" Steven accepted the bat, as Ruby lifted him up and approached the other Rubies once again. While the other Gems watched the trainwreck that was Ruby, Ash turned to see Lapis was just leaning on the support beam to the barn, she motioned Ash to come to her which he did.
"I thought about what you told me Ash" she said "and you're right, Steven's right, I am being difficult, i am being selfish, I am being a total jerk but you've got to understand, what she and Jasper did to me, i'm still trying to put behind me. Ash, i really want to live here, with you, and if i'm going to be living here, then i guess i'm going to have to learn to live with her. I know it might not look like it, but i really am going to try. And as for that whole, attacking you back on the beach, i don't know if you can ever forgive me Ash"
He saw she was being sincere, he also thought now would be as good a time as any, "Lapis, i do forgive you, i always will. And you know, there's something i need to tell you to"
"What?"
He took a deep breath "this is it," he thought, "Lapis Lazuli, i"
"WE'VE GOT TO PLAY BASEBALL WITH THEM!" Steven screamed interrupting his confession to her
"BASEBALL?" they all asked in confusion
"I saw that this was a possibility, though i am surprised that this is the path we're taking" Sapphire remarked
Steven grabbed a whistle and blew it "alright, my human baseball knowledge will lead us to victory! Let's just go out there and pretend to be humans, except for Peridot, you stay here in the barn, and hide"
"Ok"
Lapis laughed at the whole scenario "this plan sucks"
"Good," Steven remarked, everybody gear up and don a human identity, i'll go inform the Rubies of the rules"
"Pikachu, you stay in the barn with Peridot" Ash commanded his friend
"Pika" he said loyally as he jumped into Peridot's lap
"Ash?" Lapis asked him
"Yes Lapis?"
"What were you about to tell me?"
"uh , i'll tell you later", he said while Amethyst and Pikachu gave him a "you failed" smile
With the Gems all geared up, Steven introduced the team known as "The Humans"
"We're the humans! Steven!"
"Earl!" Pearl spoke in a deep, manly voice
"Amy" Amethyst spoke in a deep voice as well
"Ash"
"Bob" Lapis introduced herself in a non caring tone
"And Sophie" Sapphire spoke in a happy tone
"Understood" the lead Ruby replied "our team shall be the Rubies! Consisting of Ruby! Ruby! Ruby! Ruby! Ruby! And Ruby!"
The Rubies were first at bat, Steven pitched while Amethyst was umpire, Sapphire handled first base, Ash was second, Pearl was third, and Lapis was on outfield. Their Ruby swung first, purposefully striking herself out. Afterward, the leader Ruby and the stern Ruby scored until it was the Humans turn. Amethyst quickly scored a homerun using her speed dash attack.
"Woah, that purple human's really good" remarked the stern Ruby as Ash and Steven did their best to keep her from blowing their cover by showing off
"Amethyst be careful" Ash whispered to her as "Sophie" took her place at bat.
"STRIKE ONE!" they suddenly heard the Leader Ruby shout, but their Ruby and Sapphire didn't seem to care, all Ash could see them just talking and laughing, causing Sapphire to miss another strike
"STRIKE TWO!"
"What's going on? What are they doing?" Steven demanded to know
"Flirting" Lapis answered
"STRIKE THREE!"
"This could be a problem" Ash said aloud
After "Sophie's" outting, "Earl" and Ash both scored before they had to switch out evening the score. The Rubies put up a greater game Ash expected them to, bringing the eventual score to 6-3, mostly on account of Ruby and Sapphire's flirting and distraction, luckily "Amy" and "Bob" managed to bring them back in with a 5-6 score. The Ruby with her Gem on her eye suddenly broke her bat because she swung to hard in a fit of rage, so Ash had to retrieve another one for her. He ran into the barn where he was almost immediately questioned by Peridot.
"Hey, how's it going? Are we winning?"
Ash pondered on how to answer her question by looking at Ruby and Sapphire once again flirting, this time, Ruby had her arms wrapped around Sapphire teaching her how to properly swing. Suddenly, Lapis from second base saw him watching and gave him a look as if to say "why don't you handle me like that Ash?", causing Ash to turn as red as one of the Rubies and wound up snapping the cheaply made bat with his bare hands out of embarrassment. He retrieved another bat before saying "yeah, we're doing just fine, everything's gonna be ok!"
"YOU'RE LYING TO ME!"
"TO MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER!"
"THANK YOU ASH!"
He handed the bat to the one eyed Ruby who took it with a creepy, malice filled stare, Ash could tell this was the one Ruby he definitely had to watch out for. Steven scored for the team bringing the Humans closer with a score of 7-6 at the bottom of the ninth inning, "Bob" was on second base, but "Sophie" was the final Human up. "She's gonna have to get a homerun"
"WAIT, WE CALL A TIMEOUT!" Steven shouted running to the couple he started coaching them as the others watched
"So, we overheard your little conversation with Lapis in the barn" Amethyst teased Ash
"You're really doing this now?"
"Ash it's much more complicated now" Pearl reminded him "you're going to be living together if we succeed here, you're going to have to make a difficult choice, do you confess and risk scaring her off, or do you let her live out your time here living in the bottled up feelings you've kept inside, as someone who has had to make that decision, i'd take the first option in a heartbeat"
Ash thought about Pearl's advice as Steven returned, Sapphire got two strikes, before she finally hit the ball with enough force it probably landed in China, Lapis evened the score, giving Ruby an awkward high five and Sapphire won the game by coming straight home, into Ruby's arms laughing, she tackled her partner to the ground as a light engulfed the two and standing in their place, was Garnet. "Whoops"
"THEY'RE GEMS!" Leader Ruby shouted
"We've been tricked!" Stern Ruby shouted
"What a turn of events!" the Happy Ruby said shocked
The One-Eyed Ruby simply growled in anger
The final Ruby, who's back had been turned the entire moment and missed the whole thing, finally turned around asking "wha? What's going on?"
"Sorry guys" Garnet apologized as the "Humans" circled her assuming battle formations "the game is over"
Leader Ruby hopped onto the clueless Ruby's shoulders "that's it! RUBIES COMBINE!" she commanded as the five leaped onto each other's shoulders and fused into a giant Ruby. It roared a battle cry as she prepared for battle, but the assault was interrupted by the scream of a little green Gem in the barn.
"WAIT! WAIT STOP! DON'T HURT THEM!" she screamed running over to the group, falling onto her face in the process she tried again to get up, only to fall yet again and then ran the rest of the way on all fours like a dog. "Wait! Please, please! It's me you're after right!? I'm not gonna stand by and let my friends fight my battles!"
"Aw, Peri loves us!"
The Ruby looked down before finally addressing Peridot "are you the Peridot, assigned to the failed Earth mission?"
"Not sure if failed would be the right word to"
"WHERE IS JASPER!?"
"You're looking for Jasper?"
"CORRECT!"
"Wait, but i'm the one who betrayed the mission! Who called Yellow Diamond a clod! The new leader of the Crystal Gems!?"
"Ok i don't think we all agree on that last part" Ash said "unless there is something else i missed involving Garnet resigning and passing leadership"
"TELL US WHERE JASPER IS NOW!" The Ruby demanded
"Jasper is um" Peridot said looking around for support everyone stared at her not knowing what to say. "We know where Jasper is"
"WELL!?"
"NEPTUNE!" Steven shouted thinking on his feet "she's on the planet Neptune!"
The Ruby looked at them with doubt, "there is no way that is going to work" Ash thought to himself
"WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO?" The Ruby asked with a big, goofy grin on her face. She quickly unfused back into the five Rubies
"We all here?" Leader Ruby asked as she began counting, this time she did include herself "TO THE PLANET NEPTUNE!"
"Let's move out soldiers!" Stern Ruby stated as she boarded the ship first
"What a lovely sounding planet!" the Caring Ruby said with excitement
"But we just got here" Confused Ruby said as Leader Ruby dragged her on the ship, leaving One-Eyed Ruby alone with them
"Thank you" she creepily said as she boarded as well and with that, the Rubies were gone, off to the planet Neptune on a wild goose chase, Ash almost felt sorry for tricking them, the stupidity of the entire situation almost matched Team Rocket ridiculousness, almost.
"Man, Rubies are dumb" Amethyst joked
"Not all of them" Garnet remarked.
"Well then" Pearl said "i'd think it be best for all of us to get home"
"Amen to that P" Amethyst agreed with her as she began walking Steven to the warp pad.
"see ya guys" Ash told the Gems as Steven hugged him goodbye. After they had left, he noticed they had been playing all day as the sun was beginning to set. He walked toward the barn and began getting ready for bed, as he removed his boxers, he felt uncomfortable as he looked around the room, to see Lapis standing in the door, and Ash was naked from the waist down. "HOLY ARCEUS! LAPIS LOOK AWAY!" he screamed trying to cover himself, he finally put his pajama pants on, yet he noticed Lapis hadn't even flinched in reaction to the whole situation.
"Sorry for scaring you Ash, but I just wanted to say, i apologized to Peridot, and I'm willing to give her a chance if you are with me, living here, with you and her"
Ash felt himself blush even more than when she saw him naked, "Lapis I, I don't know what to say"
"You can say: "yes Lapis, of course you can live here with me and Peridot" Peridot added, having entered the room while neither of them were paying attention.
Ash laughed "alright, yes Lapis, of course you can live here with me and Peridot" he said doing his best Peridot impression leading Lapis to laugh. Peridot looked at him annoyed and stormed to the second floor couch to watch more Camp Pinning Heart, leaving the two laughing.
Lapis stopped laughing and looked at him "Ash?"
"yea?"
"Earlier, what were you going to tell me?"
Ash had completely forgotten his botched confession, but the earlier confidence and adrenaline was gone, he realized he wasn't ready yet to tell her, thinking quickly, he came up with something "well, Lapis I just wanted to say that I wasn't going to just leave you like that when I yelled at you earlier, you've always got a place here with me, Peridot and Pikachu. And since you just accepted her, I think this is the start of something great."
Lapis looked at him with a questioning look, Ash could tell she had not bought his lie "ok" she said "I'll be in the silo if you need me" after she left the room, he heard Peridot and Pikachu laughing from upstairs
"You really are what Amethyst calls a "Casanova" ha ha ha"
"Shut up you two!" He screamed going to bed accepting his embarrassing defeat.