SO, WHO'S CAUGHT THOSE LEAKS FOR THE NEW STEVENBOMB? I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU GUYS, BUT IM HYPED EVEN FOR THOSE BEACH CITY FILLER EPISODES EVEN THE LARS ONE. NOT GONNA SPOIL ANYTHING. AS FOR MY STORY WE'VE NOW PUT ASH INTO A PRETTY UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATION. HE DEFINITELY WASN'T PREPARED FOR TROUBLE LIKE THIS. ASH'S UNIVERSE IS STILL EXPANDING AND ANOTHER MAJOR EVENT IS AROUND THE CORNER. *I DON'T OWN STEVEN UNIVERSE OR POKEMON*
Ash and Stevonnie carried James from the beach to the Temple, as it had now become a custom for people from Ash's world to spend their first night on Steven's couch.
"Ash, who is this guy?" Stevonnie asked him
"I'm James" the blue haired trainer answered
"Shut up" Ash scorned the Team Rocket member as they dropped him on the sofa. "You've got a lot to explain James"
"Ok" he sheepishly said
"First off, why just you? Where are Jessie and Meowth?" Ash interrogated him
"I don't know. One minute I'm sitting in the balloon while they are unpacking out rations and setting up camp, the next thing I know I'm being covered in white sparkles and I'm waking up in the North Pole!"
"Actually" Stevonnie corrected "you were in Canada"
"I stumbled out of the balloon, and I realized I dropped my precious bottle cap collection in the snow. I frantically searched, but I never saw a drop off in the snow, and I fell into a ditch, cutting my leg real bad in the process" he rolled up his pant leg showing them a large cut to prove his claim. "As I laid down, waiting for death, I thought I heard two children talking. Then, this enormous orange lady showed up. She saw my pokeballs and asked "do you know Ash Ketchum?" I shook my head yes and she told me "I could use someone like you" and she took my pokeballs and belt then left for a few minutes. Then she put me on a Pokémon I've never seen before and lead me here to attack you"
A wave of relief fell over Ash knowing that Jasper didn't kill anyone, and the bloody belt she showed him was James's. "That wasn't a Pokémon" Ash said after listening to James's story "and you're far from the Kanto region now James. Stevonnie show him"
Stevonnie unfused in front of James. "What?!" He asked in astonishment, "how did they do that?"
"Alien magic" Steven and Ash both answered
"Alright, me and Pikachu are going home" Ash said heading for the door
"Wait? Aren't you taking James with you?" Connie asked
"Why should I?"
"Because, he's got nowhere else to live" Steven answered
"Then have fun finding him somewhere, because he's not living with me and the others. Steven, do you guys know just how long this guy has been following me? Making my life more and more difficult as he tries to steal Pikachu nonstop? Six years! He's been stalking me for six years, and apparently he's gotten really good at it if he can even follow me into another dimension to continue"
"Ash you're not being fair" Connie told him "Steven told me all about how Peridot changed, and you even invited her to be the first to live in the barn with you"
"Because I knew she could change! James is not living in the barn with us and that's final!"
"You sound just like Lapis did that day" Steven told him with a sad tone.
Ash took one last look at James, who looked back at him with a face of regret and shame, before he stepped back outside and began walking home. He had walked maybe twenty or thirty feet from the Temple, before he stopped dead in his tracks and looked at the ocean, reflecting on what Steven told him. He remembered the way Lapis acted to Peridot and how appalled about her attitude, he took a deep breath "I just know I'm gonna regret this" he told Pikachu before turning around and walking back into the Temple house.
"James, I did some thinking, and it was wrong for me to say those things to you, Arceus told me he has a plan for me, and clearly you're part of that plan, so if you want, I will let you live with me and my friends at our home"
James broke down to Ash's knees crying "thank you! And I promise not to try to steal Pikachu or any of your Pokémon!"
"On one condition" Ash added "you've got to live in the tent Peridot and Lapis put up on the side of the barn, I still don't trust you around Pikachu. Also, you're spending the night here on that couch so that I can prepare our roommates for your arrival"
"Understood"
"Welcome to Beach City James!" Steven happily exclaimed grabbing him and pulling James into a big hug "my name's Steven, and this is my friend Connie"
"Nice to meet you James"
"Come on, we'll show you around town. The boardwalk gets really pretty during sunset" Steven said pushing them all out the door, he and Connie began the tour while Ash explained the whole roommate situation to James
"So your tall friend is here to? And you're in love with an alien? I would've thought you would be getting with that blond girl you last traveled with, what was her name Serena?"
The mere mention of Ash's oldest friend caused him to stop in his tracks, how Serena had kissed him towards the end of his Kalos journey the last time he saw her four months ago. How she had sent him into his sexual confusion that lead him to loving Lapis.
He was finally taken out of his funk by Steven showing James Beach City Fries, and introducing him to the Fryman clan
"That was a pretty cool act on the beach a few minutes ago kids" the patriarch of the Fryman's told them regarding the Jasper attack "here take some sodas on the house"
Ash accepted the free soda and began to drink. He began to notice Mr. Fryman begin to examine James up and down before asking "you looking for a job man?"
"I guess" James answered
"Do you know how to run a deep fryer?"
"Yes"
"How old are you?"
"Nineteen sir"
This revelation caused Ash to choke on his soda, he had to excuse himself from Jame's "job interview" to get all the soda out of his throat. He always thought Jessie and James were much older. This meant six years ago, Team Rocket began to follow him around at the age of thirteen years old. He finally stopped coughing and made his way back to the fry house to see James and Mr Fryman shaking hands, and Fryman giving James a hat and apron.
"Congratulations James"
"Thank you, I guess my first day is tomorrow morning. Have a good night Mr. Fryman"
They all walked back to Steven's house after dropping Connie off at the bus stop. "I guess you'll meet the Gems in the morning James" Steven told him.
"Well goodnight Ash" James wished him as he entered the house. Hearing James say his name was weird, he had been calling Ash "twerp" for so long Ash honestly didn't know if James even knew his name.
"What did I tell you?" Steven said, "look at how considering James is, I'm really surprised he's with Team Rocket he's that nice."
"Yea well, James was always the nicer of Team Rocket. I'll see you tomorrow Steven, I've got to go break the news to the others. Come on Pikachu."
As he walked back to his home, he actually felt relieved, relieved that James did seem to be truly apologetic and open to living with him. He entered the barn and saw and was instantly grabbed by Peridot, who had Lapis in her other hand.
"Ash!" she excitedly said, "come on, Brock and I have a surprise for you guys!"
"Not now Peri, I've got something important to tell you guys. Wait, where is Brock?"
"He's at the surprise! And I'm sure whatever you need to say can wait! This is much more important. Close your eyes and follow me!" She said dragging both of them off. Ash finally gave up and allowed Peridot to drag them both to whatever she and Brock had in store for them. After a few minutes, Peridot stopped and demanded they open their eyes. "Ta da!" She proclaimed.
They looked to see she had dragged them to Fishstew Pizza. He knew that on Mondays the dining room was closed by 9, and the time on the clock in the middle of town said 9:30. "Brock pulled some strings and he kept the restaurant open just for you two!"
"Peri, I don't know" Lapis began to say
"Lapis, I think maybe we should take this opportunity, we've never been on an actual date before. And besides, Brock, Peridot and the Fishstew's worked hard on this for us. So what do you say, wanna grab a slice with me?" Ash asked
Lapis giggle snorted "ok, i'll give it a chance"
"Great!" Peridot shouted, "i'll watch Pikachu at the barn for you, your "Perisitter" so to speak, have fun!"
He took Lapis's hand and held the door open for her. He followed her in to be greeted by Jenny wearing a fake mustache and a bow tie, "good evening madam, monsieur" she said in a bad attempt at a French accent "your table is right this way" she lead them to the table in the center of the dining room and handed them each a menu. "I will give you a few minutes" she said as she retreated into the kitchen.
"You look amazing" Ash complimented her
"I'm just wearing what I usually wear" Lapis said
"Exactly" he said causing her to blush. "This is really nice, we should do something like this more often."
"You're right" she blushed
"What are you going to eat?"
"You know I don't have to eat"
"Oh yea, I'm so used to seeing Amethyst eating everything that I forgot the other gems don't have to eat" he suddenly remembered the state of depression Amethyst was in earlier causing him to worry.
Lapis saw the concern on his face "what's wrong?"
"It's just, she came back a few hours ago, she attacked me, Amethyst, Steven and Connie on the beach." he purposefully left Jasper's name out to keep Lapis from having another panic attack "we sent her off, but in the process she poofed Amethyst and she's not taking the defeat well, also she wound up bringing another pokemon trainer from my world into this whole thing."
"There's another trainer here now?" she asked trying her best to avoid mentioning Jasper any further.
"Yea, that's what i wanted to tell you guys about back at the barn, his name is James and he's going to have to live with us"
Lapis suddenly looked extremely scared "so Jasper could pop out any moment and attack again?"
He gently held her hand "if she does, she'd have to break every bone in my body and kill me three times over to get to you Lapis. I promise i won't let her get you Lapis, ever."
Jenny returned from the kitchen still using her accent "is the lovely couple ready to order?"
"Yes i am" Ash answered "i'll have a calzone with everything in it" he said handing her his menu
"And i'll have spaghetti with clams" Lapis unexpectedly said handing Jenny her menu as well. As their waiter left, she noticed the look of surprise Ash gave her "well i figured that since they went through all this trouble for us, i might as well try eating"
They spent ten minutes talking, Ash talked about some of his battling strategies, while Lapis described the other projects she and Peridot were working on, or "meep-morps" as she called them, until Jenny brought them their food.
"Chefs Kofi and Brock send their regards"
Ash immediately dug right into his calzone while Lapis became hesitant, she picked up her fork and tried eating her pasta like Ash was, but her improper knowledge of eating caused the noodles to fall off her fork every time. They both chuckled as Ash reached over and taught her how to use a fork with pasta. As he saw her slurping a rather long noodle, he saw his opportunity and began slurping the other end of the clammy piece of pasta leading to them kissing.
After their dinner was over, they thanked the Fishstews and left with Brock.
"Sorry i eavesdropped, but i heard something about and a new roommate from our world?" Brock asked them walking down the beach together
"Yea"
"So who is it? Dawn? Misty? Garry?"
"Um, James"
Brock stopped walking and pulled Ash from Lapis's arm and shook him repeatedly "are you insane!? Do you know how long he stalked us? Hurt us? Kept us constantly living in fear of when he and Team Rocket would attack us next? And you just let him into our home no questions asked? Alone with Pikachu?"
"Believe me Brock, i wasn't too fond of the idea either, but he has nowhere to go, and he seems to have put his Team Rocket ways behind him, besides i made him promise he's going to be sleeping in the tent we already had on the side of the barn that we have no use for. Brock he actually seems like he wants to live here, besides Fryman already gave him a job at the Fry place so it's not like he's going to be alone with Pikachu every day."
"Alright, i'll give him a chance Ash, but if you're wrong about this"
"He's not going to be wrong" Lapis intervened "i trust Ash and if he's certain James's is going to be a good roommate, then i'm willing to give James a chance to." she said pulling Ash back into her arms.
"Alright, let's give it a shot" Brock said in defeat "this is getting ridiculous, sooner or later, that barn is going to run out of space with all the new friends popping in and out, we're gonna have to start charging rent soon."