Well Lapis is living with Ash now, we're almost to the big moment, between that however, as promised in the previous chapter's header, Ash's universe is getting bigger. Take a guess of what happens during this chapter, depending on the chapter name. Also, like the mega filler chapter, this chapter is a combination of different episodes that i love, but couldn't figure out how to include Ash into them, while also connecting to the overall story of Ash the Crystal Gem. This chapter takes place during the events of Mr. Greg. *I DO NOT OWN POKEMON OR STEVEN UNIVERSE*
Ash was awoken to the sound of Camp Pinning Hearts dialogue from the TV in front of his bed "I don't care that you're on the yellow team Percy, we can make this work" he heard a woman's voice
"Peridot, can you please turn that dow" he said throwing the blanket off him only to see Peridot wasn't alone sitting on his bed, Lapis was sitting next to her towards Ash's feet
"See what i told you about Paulette?" the diehard fan asked
"You're right, she is annoying"
Ash cleared his throat loudly to his roommates to inform them he was awake
"Oh morning Ash, I was just sharing with Lazuli, i mean, Lapis, the experience that is Camp Pinning Hearts"
"Sorry we woke you" the gem of Ash's affections apologized
He smiled at them finally finding something that brought them together, the previous day of the trio living together was extremely awkward, and he hopped this meant they were finally making friends. It's alright, i've got to be at the wash early today anyway guys. Just next time, keep the volume down, or move the TV" he changed his clothes and rubbed Pikachu's head goodbye, he did however bring his other pokeballs with him in case of emergency, both he and Greg agreed Pikachu and a car wash didn't mix.. "See you guys later" he told his alien roommates.
"Bye Ash" they both said in union
"Pika-pi"
He walked down the boardwalk towards the car wash praying to Arceus that Lapis and Peridot didn't kill each other while he was at work. As he approached the end of the boardwalk, he saw Greg's van parked on the beach, Steven and Pearl were standing with him watching a hamburger commercial of all things on Greg's mini TV.
"Morning Greg, Pearl, Steven, Greg why aren't you opening the car wash?"
"Oh, well Ash, i've decided to close the wash for today" he said "tonight, i'm taking my boy to Empire City! Taking on the town as father and son"
"Fancy, what's the occasion?"
"Well, my old manager Marty came to town yesterday and gave me this" he excitedly screamed taking a check for ten million dollars out of his pocket "apparently he sold one of my old songs as a Burger jingle and now i'm filthy stinking rich!"
Ash was astonished "congratulations Greg"
"Yep, and you know what Ash? I think first thing i'm gonna do with this money is give you a raise" he said as he handed Ash his next paycheck
"Greg, i don't know what to say"
"Don't worry about it, you've been like a son to me Ash, if you need anything, just let me know"
Ash immediately knew what he wanted from his employer, "actually Greg, there is something. When you get back, could you possibly look into renting a boat? I've been doing some thinking, and i wanted to confess my feelings for Lapis, at a place where she is best. Where else is that but the water?"
"Aw Ash" Steven said "she'll love it"
"I'll look into that son, in the meantime, me and my boy have some bags to pack, take the next two days off Ash, you've earned a free day"
"Alright, have fun in Empire City guys" he said as he ran toward the bank and cashed his check, he took his cash and then walked down to Fishstew for a slice, "hey Jenny, Kiki" he said greeting his friends
"What up Ash?" Jenny greeted him with a high five
"Is that Ketchum?!" he heard Kofi shout from the kitchen
"Yes Daddy" the twins answered
Ash ordered his lunch and sat down on one of the bar stools so he could talk to the twins he looked through the window and saw a help wanted sign in it "you hiring Kofi?"
"Yes i am Ash! Why? You want the job?"
"No thanks, i'm loyal to Greg, besides i couldn't make a pizza to save my life" he was delivered his food by Jenny
"Didn't see you at Sour Cream's beach rave last night Ash, what's up with that?"
"Oh man, i can't believe i missed it" Ash said "i was so busy trying to keep my roommates from killing each other i completely forgot he invited me"
"Alright, i'll buy it, but i do expect you to be at the drag race Friday night, it's been forever since we all hung out together"
Before he could respond, Sour Cream and Buck came running inside "THERE'S A GIANT SNAKE MONSTER ATTACKING THE BEACH!" Sour Cream screamed. Knowing it could be a corrupted Gem, Ash threw some money onto the counter, thanked the Fishtew's for lunch, and ran outside summoning Charizard and ridding him to the other side of town. As they got closer to the beach, he saw Garnet and Amethyst fighting the monster with Pearl having gone with the Universes. But what caught Ash off guard was that he had seen this monster before, it was a Steelix.
The Steelix thrashed at the two Gems before throwing an iron tail down onto the ground, Ash could see a trainer on it's back begging for Steelix and the Gems to stop. "GARNET! AMETHYST! STOP" Ash screamed at his teammates to get them to leave the scared trainer and Steelix, but they didn't see him on the back of the behemoth, but the man on Steelix did,
"HEY YOU ON THE CHARIZARD! PLEASE HELP ME!"
Ash landed between the Gems and the pokemon "Guys stop! This isn't a gem monster, it's a pokemon! And there's a trainer on it! They're not trying to hurt anyone, they're just scared!"
"They're from your world?" Garnet asked
"Yes, listen we've got to calm Steelix down so his trainer can return his to his pokeball, Amethyst you know what to do"
Amethyst drew her whip and Ash grabbed the other end of it encircling Steelix, the trainer seemed to understand as he redirected the snake to purposefully fall to the ground, allowing him to return the pokemon.
"Thank you" he said as he collapsed to the ground. Ash ran towards him checking if he was alright. Getting a better look at the man's face he saw that he was at least eighteen years old, he had brown spiky hair, with coffee brown skin, a green shirt, with an orange and brown vest, but his defining feature was his eyes, or lack thereof, they were incredibly slanted, almost as if they were just two lines.
"Oh for the love of Arceus" Ash found himself saying as he recognized the trainer as his best friend Brock. "Garnet please help me get him to the house" Garnet grabbed Brock's legs and escorted the boy into the house placing him onto the couch
"You know this guy Ash?"
"Yep, Garnet, Amethyst, allow me to introduce you to my best friend Brock. He's a pokemon trainer from my world"
"Hold up" Amethyst said "he's the one who made those candies you shared with me?"
"Yep"
Amethyst suddenly jumped onto Brock's chest, grabbing him by his shirt collar "dude you've got to wake up! Make us some more of those candies!"
"AMETHYST" Garnet exclaimed to give Brock some space.
"You guys should probably leave, I think it be best if I'm the first thing he sees" The Gems agreed and left, and Ash pulled up a chair waiting for his friend to wake up. Eventually, he started to stir and sat up.
"Ash?"
"Hey Brock"
"What happened? One minute I'm giving Steelix his bath, suddenly we're engulfed in a light, and the next minute I'm standing on a beach being attacked, where are we Hoenn?"
Ash honestly didn't know how to answer him, so he explained everything he knew about Steven, the Gems, Homeworld and the Rebellion.
"So let me get this straight, we're now in a world where Pokemon don't exist, living with a team of alien rebels who protect the planet from an all female alien empire made out of rocks?"
"Yep"
"Where can I sign up?" Brock asked as he got up "what is this place anyway?"
Before he could answer, the other Gems entered the room, Amethyst charging towards him
"He's up! Make candies now!" She was however taken aback by Brock grabbing her hand, and getting down to his knees
"Anything for you my darling" he said dreamily, "they say beautiful women are in short supply, you prove both counts to be true" Amethyst and Ash both cringed at the sight of Brock's sudden flirting. Before he could say anything else, Brock suddenly threw himself back in a scream of agony, and collapsed to the floor, a frog like creature stood behind him snickering
"Good to see you again to Croagunk, glad to see something's never change"
After Croagunk's poison jab wore off, Brock did go into the kitchen and began cooking more of the snacks Amethyst craved, she lingered in the kitchen watching him as Garnet dragged Ash outside
"your friend is a bit off, but seems honorable"
"Yeah, yeah he does do that thing around any girl he meets, but he is a good person"
"The problem that I see with him being here is, if both of you have been brought to our world, what else from your world can come to ours?" Garnet asked
Ash never thought of that before, what was to stop whatever was bringing them to the Gem's world from bringing an angry legendary or worse. "We'll just have to keep ourselves ready in case that does happen. Speaking of refugees, what are we going to do about him?"
Garnet thought for a minute, "he can sleep at the house tonight, considering Steven is out of town, but then i don't know where we can put him"
"I guess he can live in the barn with me and the girls" but then it dawned on him what he just said, Brock's "quirk" caused him to flirt with nearly any girl he met, like Amethyst, meaning he will probably profess his love to Peridot. And Lapis.
Garnet looked at him as if she knew what he was thinking and smiled at him, "don't worry Ash, your friend is loyal, trust me he isn't going to steal Lapis from you" confirming his suspicions she could see the future.
"Alright Brock" he said reentering the house seeing Amethyst scarf down a batch of Brock's cooking, i'll take you around town, maybe find you a job since you and I are gonna be here awhile, and then i'll intro you to the rest of the Gems in the morning" the boys left the house and Ash began his tour "welcome to Beach City, Delmarva Brock. Home of the Crystal Gems."
"How long have you been here?"
"About four months"
"WHAT?!"
"Yep, it's been that long. And let me tell you they have been the craziest four months of my life."
"And where is Pikachu?"
"He's at my home with my roommates." Brock looked at him confused "yes I have roommates, my boss just doesn't want Pikachu at my job out of fear he'll hurt himself or someone else." Brock looked at him with even more surprise "yes I have a job to".
"So you've settled down, oh how the mighty have fallen" he joked
"HEY ASH!" They heard Jamie the mailman shout from behind them as he approached them
"Hey Jamie, this is my friend Brock. Brock, Jamie"
"Pleasure to meet you Jamie"
"Greetings Brock. I saw you from around the corner and just thought i'd say hi"
"So I take it you're the mailman?" Brock asked
"Yes. Oh goodness look at the time, I must get to my next house, i'll see you at the race Friday night Ash, nice meeting you Brock" he said running off.
"He seems nice"
They continued down the street, Ash explaining each building as they walked "so you work at the car wash for Steven's dad?"
"Yep, you'll like Greg, and i think you'll especially like Steven, they're the kindest people on the planet, now come on, we've got to get you a job" he told his friend, leading him to Fishtew pizza "Kofi, i have your new employee!" he declared opening the door and confidently taking the help wanted sign off the window.
"Ash!" Jenny screamed hugging him "what was that snake monster about? Did you and Steven's moms stop it?"
"Yep, Jenny meet Brock, he's from where i'm from."
"Oh, so you're from Arkansas to huh?"
Brock looked at her with extreme confusion, Ash nudged him to play along and he got the message "uh yep, nice to meet you"
"Where's your dad?"
"In the kitchen, i'll get him. DADDY! ASH HAS SOMEONE WHO WANTS THE JOB!" she shouted into the kitchen
"CAN ASH'S FRIEND COOK!?" Kofi screamed from the kitchen
"Can he?" Jenny asked Ash
"Yes"
"YES!"
"GREAT, HE CAN START THURSDAY MORNING!"
"Be here at 8:30 Brock"
"Congrats man" they heard someone say from the bar stools, Ash turned to see Sour Cream and Buck hadn't left the store.
"Oh hey guys, didn't see you, Buck, Sour Cream, meet Brock. Brock, these are my other friends Buck and Sour Cream."
"Sup" they both said "we're gonna see you at that drag race up the mountain Friday right?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Cool if Brock joins us?"
"Hey man, more the merrier"
"Cool" Ash said, well i guess we'll see you guys tomorrow, see yah"
As they continued their walk around the city, Ash couldn't help but feel happy about how well things were finally going for him, the Earth was saved from the Cluster, Lapis was free and now living with him, and now he was reunited with his best friend. They walked all day until the sun began to set, "well Brock, i guess tonight you're going to stay to the house where Steven lives, then tomorrow i guess you'll move in with me and the others"
"Sounds good to me"
He wished Brock a good night and then retreated to the barn, as he approached the door, he heard a smashing noise and Lapis yelling at something, opening the door with concern, he saw Lapis with her back towards him, bashing at something with one of the baseball bats
"LAPIS NO!" he screamed as he ran towards her, expecting to see Peridot bloody and bruised, instead he just saw a pile of glass
"Hey Ash" she said
"Lapis, why are you smashing things? And where's Peridot?"
"Up here Ash!" his other barnmmate said from the second floor, she jumped down with Pikachu who also excitedly greeted him
"I've been breaking these cups to see what i can turn them into later"
"Why?'
Lapis only shrugged
"Ok, you just do your thing, anyway ladies, I know this is sudden, but tomorrow we'll be getting a new barnmmate" he calmly explained the Brock situation, Pikachu was excited to once again be with his old friend, and Peridot seemed excited to have a new friend as well, as Ash predicted. He then turned to Lapis for her opinion.
She looked at him with uncertainty "i don't know Ash, i mean i just only started getting used to Peridot. I don't know if i'm ready for another person living here."
"Lapis, please he's lost in a world that isn't his with nowhere to live, sound familiar? Besides Brock is one of the kindest people you will ever meet, you'll love him"
She thought for a minute, before she gently smiled at him "ok Ash, I trust you, and i'll give him a chance"
"Thank you" he told his crush, "goodnight guys" he said lying down into his bed, he saw that the TV was moved as per his request that morning, giving him a good view of the barn with the light from the TV Peridot was watching upstairs filled the room, Ash saw Lapis lay down onto a pile of hay on the other side of the barn. He decided he would get something proper for Lapis and Brock to sleep on, he loved Lapis and loved Brock like a brother, but he didn't think he was ready to share a bed with either.
The next morning, Ash walked to the house to fetch Brock. He opened the front door to an incredible smell coming from the kitchen. He saw Brock cooking a mountain of pancakes, as fast as Amethyst could eat them. "Morning Ash. Pancakes?"
As soon as he sat down joining them for breakfast, the front door opened and Steven, Pearl and Greg walked in wearing tuxedos entered the house
"Um Ash" Steven questioned "who is the guy making pancakes in the kitchen?"
Greg had already taken his seat at the counter "i don't care, i'm hungry"
"You must be Greg, and this guy must be the famous Steven Universe Ash told me all about. I'm Brock" he said as he served a plate to both of them
"He's my best friend from my world, he crashed on the beach literally no less than 20 minutes after you guys left. He's going to be living in the barn with us" Ash did his best to explain "nice Tuxedos by the way, how was Empire City?"
"Wonderful" Pearl answered "i'm Pearl by the way" she said reaching out her hand expecting him to shake it, she was taken aback by him getting down on his knees in front of her
"Well Pearl, your beauty truly earns you that name, for you the Gem to my UH!" he screamed in agony as yet another poison jab from Croagunk sent him to the floor.
"Oh so i'm not his darling anymore?" Amethyst joked
"You ready to go Brock?"
"I'll come help you guys move" Steven volunteered
"Oh, before you go Ash, listen i checked with Yellowtail on the docks as we got back to town, and he's got a friend who actually runs a yacht rental company, who he got us yacht for all day tomorrow. The perfect place to profess one's love" Greg told him
"Thanks Greg you're the best, now Steven, grab Brock's legs and help me get him to the barn"
The carried the numb trainer until he regained his feeling in his feet and they all walked to the barn "now before we go in, my roommates are little, on edge. They've been through alot, so forgive them if they act a little off around you at first" he opened the door "PERIDOT! LAPIS! PIKACHU! YOUR NEW ROOMMATE'S HERE!"
Pikachu immediately ran up to his old friend "Pika-Chu!" he said addressing Brock
"It's good to see you to Pikachu"
Peridot came running from the back of the barn with a trashcan on her head, running straight past them and into the wall "i got stuck"
Ash removed the can from Peridot's head "thank you, greetings Brock, I am Peridot. Your new roommate"
"Nice to meet you Peridot"
"Where is Lapis?"
"I'm up here" they heard Lapis say from the roof as she flew down "so this is your friend Ash?"
"Yes, i'm Brock, nice to meet you"
"Lapis Lazuli, nice to meet you to"
"Hey Brock, you're a pokemon trainer to right?" Steven asked
"Yea"
"Do you think maybe you could show us your pokemon?" he asked
"I think that can be arranged" he said taking off his belt to reveal six pokeballs, with a single swing, he released all six of them "come on out everyone!" once the pokemon all revealed themselves, he began introducing them all "everyone, meet Steelix, Gollum, Crobat, Swampert, Chansey, and Croagunk"
"Woah!" Steven and the two Homeworld Gems admired the enormous Steelix
"Don't worry guys," Brock said "Steelix is a total sweetheart. Aren't you Steelix?"
The monster pokemon smiled down to the group
"Alright everyone" Brock told his pokemon "get comfortable, because we're probably going to be living here for a while"
Ash released his pokemon and both groups of pokemon began to socialize. Meanwhile, Ash and the Gems walked Brock around the barn and began socializing themselves
"Wow, so you were seriously in a mirror for 10,000 years?" Brock asked Lapis after hearing her past
"Yes, and i probably would have been there longer had Ash and Steven not freed me"
"That's the Ash i know, always helping others" he said patting Ash on the back
After Steven went home, Peridot and Lapis went inside to watch more Camp Pinning Hearts leaving the two friends outside
"You know I think I'm gonna enjoy my stay at Casa de Ash and Aliens. By the way, you said something about confessing your feelings to Lapis?"
"How do you know about that?!"
"Well you told Greg about confessing to someone, and I assumed it was Lapis because of the way she looks at you. It's the same way I look at the lovely Nurse Joy"
"You really think it's gonna work?"
"I have the utmost faith in you pal. I'm gonna go watch that Camping show with my new roommates, good luck tomorrow"
Ash was left alone now outside, a new hope building in his gut that his plan was going to work on board the yacht.