And, the new episodes were released, not gonna spoil but I enjoyed them, and already know I'm incorporating Ash and his Pokémon into them. If you read the title, you'll see we've got some sort of confrontation between the power couple of this story. This chapter takes place during the events of Beta, the infamous Lauren Zuke episode that officially started all this drama in the fan base. *STEVEN UNIVERSE AND POKÉMON ARE NOT OWNED BY ME*
It was a beautiful day at the barn, and of course the barnmmates planned to spend the entire day just watching TV in the truck together. Ash was quite pleasantly surprised that the truck was capable of supporting all six of them, and the TV, at once.
"But Paulette, I need you" Percy told his love interest on the screen.
"Oh get over it Percy!" James shouted at the fictional character
"Yea go make another friendship bracelet" Peridot joked, Ash had noticed she chose to wear her bowtie today.
"Seriously" Lapis responded to them, her head resting on Ash's shoulder.
"Guys!" They heard Steven from the ground floor trying to get their attention
"Steven!" They all announced getting up. Lapis grabbed Ash by his arms and flew them down to Steven and Amethyst standing at the entrance. Brock, James and Pikachu took turns down the ladder from the truck to join them, but Peridot took the short way down by jumping out of the truck and landing face first into the dirt.
"It's so good to see you again!" Lapis happily remarked
"AMETHYST!" Peridot happily exclaimed "something looks different about you now?" She said humoring her new look.
"How so?" She asked annoyed
"Have you grown taller since the last time I saw you?" she asked in a playful tone.
"Nope, still short" she said looking at the ground
Peridot chuckled thinking it was a joke while the others looked awkwardly. "You're welcome, for the joke"
"Wow you guys are looking good" Steven said " and i love what you all did with the barn!"
"If you like that Steven, then you'll absolutely love the inside!" James said enthusiastically.
"Hey wait a second James," Steeven said as the former Team Rocket member began leading him to the inside to show off their decor, "you have pokemon to right? So how come you've never shown me?"
"Yeah he's right James" Peridot spoke for the group "you've been living with us for a week now and you've never shown us your pokemon"
"Well, i guess i am overdue for a pokemon reveal. Ok let me introduce you to my little friends!" he announced as he threw his three pokeballs into the air, and three pokemon appeared in front of the group. "Everyone, meet my pokemon, Inkay, Mime Jr, and CARNIVINE!" he shouted as the grass type latched itself onto his trainer's head in a massive lovebite.
"JAMES!' Steven shouted with concern
"Don't worry Steven" James reassured his friend "Carnivine is just very friendly"
Ash looked down to see Mime Jr had begun to mimic Amethyst's mopping from behind her back. Ever since Jasper poofed her on the beach, the fun Amethyst Ash befriended died and this new Amethyst concerned him. He was worried for his friend. But then Ash remembered Steven had literally two days ago stabbed Bismuth through the chest and he seemed to be taking it surprisingly well. In fact, for someone who had broken down screaming over Bismuth's departure, Brock was also seemingly over it already. "Steven, can i talk to you for a second? Alone?"
"Sure" Steven agreed walking with Ash to the side of the barn while James's continued showing off his pokemon to the others.
"How are you doing bud?" he asked
"You're talking about the Bismuth situation aren't you?"
"Yea, i am. Pearl told me everything. I still can't believe she tried to enact genocide"
"Ash, I understand you're worried about me, but i think it would be best if i had some space about it. This is something i've got to get over by myself ok?"
"Ok" he told his friend with a hug "just let me know if you ever need to talk about it, or just anything"
They regrouped with the others as James returned his pokemon.
"Ok, Steven, you've got to see what Lapis and i have done!" Peridot said grabbing the young gem by his arm and leading him into the barn with the others following behind. "Welcome to our home away from Homeworld, and home away from the Pokemon world"
"You guys did all this stuff on purpose?" Amethyst asked "like , you didn't just knock over a bunch of paint cans and say "eh, just leave it"?"
"Well, that was the case with that purple spot on the floor" Peridot answered referring to the puddle of dried paint Ash made when he took out his anger after angrily telling off Lapis for the way she treated Peridot the first day they lived together. "But, me and Lapis had this idea, what if we made music, but instead of sounds, we used things!"
"That's dumb" Amethyst remarked with a scowl on her face
"Guys, that's art!"
"Art?" Peridot asked thinking over the word "that sounds ridiculous"
"I've been calling it meep morp" Lapis finally spoke
"We never did ask her where she got that name from" Brock whispered to Ash
They showed their guests their individual meep morps, Steven reacted positively while Amethyst continued mopping.
"Alright, i see you're not impressed. But this, hold on, this! This is what we've all been waiting for!" Peridot said as she began to collect a bunch of instruments from a box that Ash had never noticed until now. "With the power of my metal abilities, i will impress the shirts right off of you!" hovering over her, she had collected several instruments, "ta da! It's a one gem metal band! One, two three and" she blew into the harmonica before losing control and the instruments all fell to the floor causing everyone but Amethyst to laugh.
"Why don't you try one thing at a time?" Lapis said walking over to her little green friend
"Because we have guests Lapis! Guests who must be impressed!"
Lapis picked the tambourine off the ground and beckoned the boys to pick up an instrument. Brock got the drum, James got the saxophone, Pikachu chose the recorder, Peridot picked up the triangle, leaving Ash with the harmonica. Steven and Amethyst sat down for the barmmates show as they all began to play their instruments together. Ash never in his life thought he'd be playing in a band with two of his best friends, two aliens, one of which was his girlfriend, and James from Team Rocket of all people, yet here he was doing just that.
After a few minutes of enjoying themselves, their performance was interrupted by Amethyst shouting "who has time for any of that when JASPER IS OUT THERE!?"
The group all immediately looked at Lapis with great worry, Ash placed his hand onto Lapis's shoulder and felt her shaking. Not wanting her to begin crying and screaming like the last time, he did the only thing he could think of, he moved his hand down her back and began gently massaging Lapis's gem to comfort her. Eventually she did stop shaking and began to slow her breathing.
"Uh, Amethyst we try not to use the "J word" so loosely around here" Peridot told the purple gem.
"I'm gonna go do something useful!' Amethyst pushed past everyone leaving.
As Peridot approached Steven to talk to him, and Brock and James began cleaning up the mess of instruments, Ash and Lapis went to the other side of the barn for privacy.
"Thank you Ash, i didn't want Steven to see me like that during one of my episodes"
"It's ok Lapis" Ash reassured her "are you going to be ok?"
"Yeah"
They saw Peridot had gathered the group around the outside of the barn "listen up!" she barked out "me and Steven are taking Amethyst to the Beta KIndergarten to show her just how different she is then "you know who" would anyone like to come?"
"I'll go" Brock volunteered "i've been wanting to try the warp pad and finally see where gems come from"
Ash, Lapis and James all declined and Steven, Amethyst, Peridot and Brock left for the Beta Kindergarten. James retreated to his tent not wanting to be a third wheel while Ash and Lapis returned to watching Camp Pinning Hearts. Ash had already seen the episode they were watching and recognized the scene where Percy awkwardly lost his virginity to Paulette. He felt Lapis looking at him while he awkwardly tried watching the already awkward scene, doing a bad job at hiding his blush
"Ash?" she finally asked
"Yeah?"
Lapis began inching closer to him. "I've been thinking about this for awhile now, and i think i'm ready. I want to experience this with you. Ash, i want to have…"
Ash was shocked, Lapis was literally centimeters away from his face, and he could feel himself blushing while trying to comprehend what he thought Lapis was about to ask him. He was terrified and didn't think he was ready for it, no matter how much he loved and trusted her.
"... a pokemon battle with you"
"Oh thank Arceus" he thought "are you sure Lapis?" he asked her
"I've sure"
"Alright, i'll let you pick the one's you'll be using first" he told her despite already having an idea on which of his pokemon she was going to chose. He set his belt down and asked James to be their referee.
They approached the baseball field and got into battle stance.
"Just because i love you, doesn't mean I'm gonna go easy on you Lapis" Ash told her
"I'm gonna wipe the floor with you Ash" Lapis told him
"Lapis Lazuli will have the first move!" James proclaimed "Begin!"
"Come on out Glalie!" Lapis announced summoning the ice type.
Ash thought about his selection carefully, eventually he decided he wanted the speed factor "Sceptile i choose you!"
"BEGIN!" James declared
"Glalie use ice beam!" Lapis commanded as Glalie shot ice at the grass type.
"Sceptile dodge! Then use leaf storm!"
Sceptile leaped into the air to avoid the ice attack, then he struck Glalie with a storm of leaves. Glalie was pushed back and barely had time to recover before getting up
"Sceptile use leaf blade over and over!"
Sceptile obeyed his trainer's orders and slashed at Glalie multiple times until Glalie finally gave in and fell to the ground.
"Glalie is unable to battle, Sceptile is the winner!" James announced
Lapis returned Glalie to his pokeball. "Thank you Glalie. Alright, Staraptor come out!" she said summoning the flying pokemon to the sky. Ash decided to keep Sceptile despite the disadvantage. "Staraptor, aerial ace!"
"Sceptile dodge!" but the bird pokemon was too fast to avoid and struck Sceptile in the chest sending the grass type flying.
"Now Staraptor, use close combat!" Lapis commanded seeing her opportunity, with Sceptile still in his clutches, Staraptor used its most powerful attack on him. Sceptile was thrown down to the ground.
"Sceptile is unable to battle!" James declared
Ash just looked stunned, Sceptile was taken down without using a single attack, Lapis was a much better trainer than he gave her credit for. He returned Sceptile and decided to take this battle to the skies. "Charizard come out!"
With both their pokemon in the skies, Lapis began her assault. "Staraptor use quick attack!"
Staraptor outspeed even Charizard and struck him just like how he struck Sceptile. "Now use close combat!"
But Ash was ready this time, "Charizard use flamethrower!"
Charizard obeyed and spat out a river of fire straight at Staraptor, who was still in Charizard's chest. Staraptor broke away after enduring the attack.
"Aerial ace Staraptor!"
"Dragon tail!"
The two attacks collided with each other with great force, Staraptor again stubbornly refused to back down, but so did Charizard.
With the two at a standstill, both opponents saw their opportunity
"Flamethrower!"
"Close Combat!"
The pokemon used their attacks simultaneously and a cloud of dust and smoke surrounded the two. A loud thud was heard implying one of the pokemon had been defeated. As the dust cleared, James made the call as referee.
"Both pokemon are unable to battle! Both of you select your final pokemon!"
Sure enough, both Staraptor and Charizard had fallen to the ground and were both too tired to continue. They returned their pokemon and began their final round.
"Just to let you know Ash" Lapis told her boyfriend before starting, "i'm having the time of my life doing this with you! I'm glad you agreed to do this with me"
"Don't let up yet Lapis. We've still got one more round left. You ready Pikachu?"
"Pika!" the small pokemon said as he ran out onto the field
"Greninja, let's go!" Lapis said summoning the frog ninja pokemon.
"BEGIN!" James stated
"Greninja, use double team!"
Greninja began to quickly clone itself and surrounded Pikachu. Ash's most experienced pokemon struggled to keep his cool as he looked around trying to figure out which Greninja was the real one.
"Pikachu use thunderbolt!" Ash commanded
Pikachu used his classic attack on the clones all at once, causing them all to vanish into a cloud of smoke. Before the real Greninja was struck, Lapis ordered Greninja to dodge and he leapt into the air.
"Use water shuriken!"
Greninja began to summon his ninja star of water and began to strike at Pikachu.
"Dodge Pikachu!"
Pikachu leapt into the air and avoided the attack. However, the attack suddenly returned back to the small, yellow pokemon completely defying the laws of physics. Ash immediately saw right through what was happening. "Hey Lapis that's cheating!"
Lapis blushed "sorry Ash, force of habit, now Greninja use cut!" Greninja obeyed his stand in trainer's wish and launched itself into an attack.
"Pikachu counter with electroball!"
Pikachu drew a ball of electricity from the tip of his trail and threw it in Greninja's direction. Greninja dodged it and continued to approach Pikachu. He slashed at Pikachu as the smaller pokemon dodged each swipe.
"Water shuriken once more!"
"PIKACHU THUNDERBOLT!"
Before Greninja could attack, Pikachu got the strike first, and he was illuminated with electricity. Greninja fell to the ground with a thud.
"Greninja no!"
"Greninja is unable to battle Ash is the winner!"
Ash looked at Lapis across the field, she was laughing at being defeated and had began to run toward him. He ran to met her at the middle of the field and embraced her in a spinning hug and kissed her passionately as he laughed with her. "You did great" he told her.
"Thanks Ash" she said looking him with a smile as she lead him into another passionate kiss.
"This is the most heartwarming moment of my life" James said with his voice sounding like he was about to cry.
"James you've said that at least five times in the past" Ash sarcastically told the drama queen.
James started to say something back to Ash, however before he could open his mouth, the earth began to shake and a familiar red ship landed towards the side of the barn.
"What is that!?" James screamed as he hid behind the couple.
The pod opened and five little rubies exited
"YOU LIED TO US ASH AND BOB!" the leader shouted angrily.