Well i'm back from my break and as, promised, two chapters in one day! Well, Ash, Steven and Pikachu, are in a bit of a scary scenario. Lost in the empty void of space, they have only each other for company. Yet even then, they meet a new friend. *I DON'T OWN POKEMON OR STEVEN UNIVERSE*
"Pika-pi? Pika-pi!?" he heard Pikachu ask as he woke up. Sure enough, when he woke, he saw the small electric pokemon looking down at him. He stood up and checked his surroundings, they'd been bubbled by Steven.
"Thanks Steven" he said turning to thank his friend personally, but he didn't see Steven. He circled the bubble to try to find his short friend but all he saw was Pikachu, who was acting odd and staring uncertainly at him, he began to fear he was completely alone, Steven and Ash were gone.
"Wait" he said uncertain "if Steven and Ash aren't here, who am i?" he asked himself feeling around, he found a belt around his waist to feel Ash's pokeballs around it. An idea came to him, as he felt his bellybutton. He felt a hard, smooth, item from where his bellybutton would be confirming his suspicion. Ash and Steven hadn't left, they had fused into whatever he was.
Once the initial shock left, he felt something in his pocket and pulled out Steven's cell phone. He of course didn't get any reception so he couldn't call for help, he opened the camera and turned it to face him, finally getting good look at himself. Unlike Opal or Malachite, he only had one set of eyes, and only had two arms, he looked more like just an older teen, just like Stevonnie. He touched his face gently and saw that he had Ash's birthmarks under his eyes still, but his hair was curlier and was more dark. He looked down to see his shirt had Steven's star on it's center, as well as the connecting white lines from each corner of the star to the sides of their new shirt. The pink and blue had combined to a light purple.
He saw Pikachu was still uneasy about him "hey buddy" he said calmly "it's still me, well i mean it's not, not me, but i'm still like Ash i guess, granted i don't really know what i'm like, i don't even know my own name" he chuckled "let's see, Stevonnie sounds like a combination of "Steven" and "Connie", so what would "Steven" and "Ash" sound like together?" he asked aloud "Asteven? No that's stupid" he thought a little bit more before he finally got the perfect name
"Stash" he said to himself. He then looked at Pikachu "hi Pikachu, name's Stash" he said reaching out his hand
Pikachu cautiously approached Stash, but looking into his eye's, he saw the same compassion and trust Ash gave to him, and he happily shook Stash's hand.
"Pika-pi" he happily exclaimed.
Stash began laughing at how cute Pikachu really was, but his glee was only temporary, as the entire bubble shook when something impacted it.
"Eyeball!" Stash screamed recognizing the single eyed Ruby. An overall feeling of fear and shock overcame Stash as he was knocked back into the edge of the bubble panting heavily. The shock eventually caused a pink glow to cover him and the next thing he knew, everything went black again.
Ash felt as if he had just woken up from a deep slumber as he returned to his normal form. Ash looked to see Steven also was recovering from the sudden Stash defusion.
"You!" Eyeball exclaimed as she remembered both boys from the moon base.
Ash looked to see the bubble was now moving further from the Earth, away from safety. "There goes the Earth" he remarked as Eyeball balanced herself on the top of the bubble.
"There goes my whole platoon! This is a mess! What'll I say in my report? How will i even make my report? This is a nightmare!" she pointed at the bubble's occupants "this is all your fault!"
"No it's not!" Steven defended himself "you were trying to hurt my friends!"
"But you opened the airlock in the moon base! You sent us flying into space with no hope of returning!"
"Ok, maybe it was my fault, i'm sorry, There you happy?" Steven told her
"You don't have to apologize to her Steven, everyone's at fault here" Ash stated while Pikachu returned to his shoulder.
"You guys are lucky you're in that bubble, or i'd pop you right in the face"
"Well if you're gonna be a grump about this, then we'll all just float here in silence until we both die!" Steven said angrily
Eyeball crossed her arms and pouted "Sounds Great!"
"Fine!"
Ash looked back at the Earth, how it was getting further and further away from them. He thought about what Steven just said, about dying out here, he thought about how he had failed Arceus, how he would never become a pokemon master, how he'd never see Lapis again. "I'm glad my last words to her were "i love you" he said out loud
"Ash we aren't going to die out here" Steven reassured him "the Gems will somehow find us and save us"
"I shouldn't have ever come back to that dumb planet!" Eyeball shouted, breaking her own code of silence "when i heard rumors there might still be Crystal Gems on Earth, i couldn't believe it. A thousand years of fighting were all for nothing! And Rose Quartz might still be alive? She must be! Why else would someone as important as Jasper be back on Earth? For closure, that's why, and i wanted it too. I wanted to see Rose Quartz with my own eye. At the very last, I thought Jasper would've had some answers, but that wasn't even her, it was just another dirty trick"
"So that's what you really wanted?" Steven asked their intergalactic hitchhiker, "to see Rose Quartz?"
"More than anything"
"Well, today's your lucky day!" he said
"How's that?" she asked
"Hold on bud," Ash began to intervene "you don't really know why she…"
"I know where Rose Quartz is" Steven said ignoring Ash's protest
"What! Where is she?!"
"She turned into me"
Eyeball just rolled her eyes at him and gave a sarcastic chuckle "right, and i have two eyeballs, which i don't! You expect me to believe anything, don't you? Fool me once, shame on me, fool me four times and," the realization that she might be not so smart sunk in "you already fooled me, and you can't fool me again!"
"Look i can prove it!" he said lifting his shirt up "i have her Rose Quartz gem!"
"That's more of a pinknish-red than a real Rose Quartz reddish-pink"
"that's because you're looking at it through the bubble" Ash said
"Here" Steven said summoning his shield "i have Rose's shield! It's got a rose on it and everything!"
"Who cares about her shield? It's her huge sword i remember"
One final idea came to him. He took his phone out of his pocket and showed Eyeball the portrait of Rose from the Temple "Look, tell me you don't see the resemblance" he said puckering his lips adorably
"Are you kidding me!?" she said still not convinced "you're despicable! We're gonna all die out here, and you're just gonna make fun of me until we do! You're even crueler than Rose Quartz"
Ash placed his hand on Steven's shoulder, "Steven's right, we aren't going to die out here" he tried to reassure Steven.
Before Eyeball could react, there was a loud smack against the bubble, shaking it aggressively. They all looked to see what hit them.
"Oh great," she said "asteroids incoming! Duck and cover soldiers!"
"We are in cover! You find somewhere safe!"
Eyeball grunted at them before she jumped in the air to avoid the first one. The boys watched as she leapt up and down repeatedly avoiding more and more asteroids.
"We're heading right for that big one!" she announced as a gigantic asteroid began approaching, they all braced for impact, but were pleasantly surprised that the rock was actually a ring, and the bubble slipped right through "i don't believe it, i'm alive!" Eyeball laughed with relief. But their happiness was short lived, as a smaller rock came out of nowhere, and struck Eyeball hard enough to send her flying off.
"EYEBALL!" they shouted, thinking quickly, Steven extended the bubble, pulling her in after bubbling her, allowing the two bubbles to merge together.
"Are you ok?" Ash asked holding her
"Does it look like i'm ok?" she asked rhetorically
"You're gem is cracked!" Steven exclaimed
"What!?" she said as she felt the gash on her eye "oh great, this is just perfect!"
"Don't worry i can fix it!"
"I'm not falling for any of your tr-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-cks!" she said as her body began to glitch violently. Her limbs suddenly vanished leaving her as just a head. She settled down after they returned. Ash had been told about Gems slowly losing control of their form when their gem was cracked, but he never thought it would be as bad as this.
"Eyeball you need his help" Ash insisted
"That's not my name" she said before her head and arm swapped places "ugh fine, i've got nothing else to lose"
Steven spat into his palm and approached her, still being held down by Ash
"What are you doing?" she nervously asked
"This is the only way" he assured her "sorry if this will be a little weird" he smacked his palm across Eyeball's eye, who squirmed in discomfort with the whole thing. Before she knew it, her eye began glowing and once the light disappeared, the crack left with it.
"I, I can't believe it, there were rumors during the war, that Rose Quartz could heal her Crystal Gem soldiers, keeping her small army in contention with the superior forces of Homeworld. It really is you!"
"That's what i was trying to tell ya!"
She began to laugh in hysterics "wow, the mighty Rose Quartz" she said through laughter "and now, we're stuck out here, floating aimlessly in outer space!"
Ash was starting to get uncomfortable with her and backed over to Steven with Pikachu. His judgement was correct when Eyeball reached up to her gem and pulled out a chisel knife
"I'd never thought i'd get a chance like this. I can't believe you're all mine!" she said with malice as she approached them, slashing her knife wildly
Ash stepped between her and Steven, Pikachu began charging himself but decided against attacking as it would've hurt Ash and Steven as well.
"He just healed you, why are you attacking him!?" Ash demanded
"Don't act surprised, Rose Quartz shattered a Diamond!" she said as she lunged at him and dug her blade into his shoulder.
Ash screamed in pain as Eyeball took the bloody blade out of his shoulder and went for Steven again, Pikachu ran to his trainer's side "pika-pi!"
"Wait! You don't have to do this!" Steven pleaded
"Oh give it up! You can't take this chance from me! I'm going to go down in history. What will the Diamonds say when they hear a Ruby defeated Rose Quartz! They're probably gonna give me my own Pearl" her rambling gave Ash his chance as he lunged onto her, despite his injury, and pinned her to the bubble's floor.
"Listen! I'm not my mom! I don't want to hurt you! Think for a second, we're lost in space, how will you get back to Homeworld alone?"
"I've made up my mind" she said as she broke out from Ash's grip and attacked at Steven yet again. Steven grabbed her mid slash and released the protective bubble around Eyeball, Ash saw her give them one last look of pure hatred as she flew off. Steven returned the bubble and they were all able to breath again. Ash felt the lack of oxygen in the bubble, and knew there wasn't enough for all three.
"Bud" he said panting "there's not enough oxygen for all three of us, we're going to have to fuse again"
"Ok" Steven said taking Ash's hand and embracing him in the hug that they shared when they first fused.
Stash felt himself return and instantly knew their dire situation. He held Pikachu gently, thinking this was it, this was the end of his journey. He could hear both Steven and Ash's fears, how Steven would never see the Gems or his friends again, how he had failed Rose's legacy, how Ash felt he had failed Arceus, how he was never going to be a pokemon master, how he'd never see Lapis again. His eyes felt heavy, knowing this was the worst part of dying, the actual dying part. Just as he settled himself in, fully accepting his fate, a light covered the bubble, and he saw three figures grab the bubble into it.
Stash defused again and Ash, Pikachu and Steven began breathing heavily from the sudden return of oxygen.
"STEVEN! ASH!"
Ash looked up to see the Gems had rescued them and were wrapping them into a big hug.
"Guys" Ash whispered as he struggled to stand
Pearl took control of the ship and began the trip home.
"How come no one told me about Pink Diamond?" Steven eventually asked Garnet
"You never asked" she answered him, Ash laughed that he was now no longer the only one not getting answers for a change.
"Steven, we all did what we had to do during the war. Everything's different now"
"But did mom really do it? Did she shatter Pink Diamond?"
"She had to, Earth belonged to Pink Diamond. Destroying her was the only way to save the planet. For Amethyst to be herself, for Pearl to be free, for Ash and Lapis to be together, for you to exist."
"But i thought" Ash tried to say, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything.
"She didn't always do what was best for her, but she always did what was best for Earth."
"Even if it meant shattering someone" Steven said sadly "oh Ash, i almost forgot," he spat into his hand again and healed Ash's stab wound.
The ship landed on the ground in front of the barn. Lapis, Peridot, Brock and James all ran outside to welcome their friends back home. Lapis ran towards Ash and pulled him into another kiss. But seeing Ash was looking glum about the events that happened on the moon, she gave him some space.
"Ash you're bleeding!" Brock shouted once he saw his blood stained jacket "what happened!?"
He took a deep breath and explained everything, Pink Diamond, Stash, Eyeball, he left out no detail.
"So" James asked "you and Steven can fuse now?"
"Yep" he sadly said
"I'm sorry about Eyeball" he said
"Don't be, some people are just lost causes, sometimes people can't change"
"Oh those poor Rubies lost in space" James said remembering how cute he thought they were.
Everyone laughed "James, i'm sure everything will work out with them. So what happened here while i was gone?" Ash asked as Peridot and James began explaining the Camp Pinning Hearts fan theory they made together, and the five all went inside their home.