As promised, I give you two chapters in one day, so here we go. A few chapters ago i told you about a major event happening that could ruin everything Ash had worked hard to get. And no, it wasn't Bismuth, it wasn't Jasper's corruption, it wasn't even the misadventure on the moon and with Eyeball. This major event will happen during this, and continue into the next chapter, and there will be consequences of the actions of what one of Ash's closest friends does to him. That's all i'm saying for now, also another visitor comes for James as well. *I DONT OWN POKEMON OR STEVEN UNIVERSE*
It had been nearly two weeks since the incident with the Rubies, and Ash was finally able to return to work at the carwash like usual. He was halfway through his morning shift, when Buck, Sour Cream and Jenny approached him.
"Hey guys, it's been awhile huh?" he said
"Yea, we were thinking the same thing," Jenny said, "we already told Brock and Jamie, but there's a concert happening outside town, we were all gonna go if you want to come with us, your other roommates can come to if they want"
"Tonight?" he asked, he knew Peridot and Lapis had plans for some sort of new project they refused to tell him about, saying it was a surprise and he wasn't allowed to see it yet. Assuming that they wouldn't be done with it for awhile, Ash decided he should accept "sure, i can be at Sour Cream's whenever you need me by"
"Sounds cool, be at my place by 6" Sour Cream said
"Cool, i'll ask my other roommates if they want to come to"
"sure, more people leads to a greater time at a concert" Jenny said
"It's all about seeing who will be able to rock the hardest" Buck stated "we'll see you guys at six"
After Ash's shift ended, he began to head back to the barn to make sure if Lapis, Peridot and James wanted to join them. He walked up to his home to see Lapis, Pikachu and Peridot running around in the field surrounding the barn, rather than making whatever meep morp they had planned for him like he expected, Brock was still at work and James was having a swim in the mini pool.
"LAPIS! PERIDOT!" he shouted to them from the distance he was at "IM GOING TO A CONCERT TONIGHT WITH MY FRIENDS AND BROCK, YOU GUYS WANNA COME!?"
"NO!" Peridot shouted back "THIS IS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR SILLY CONCERT"
"SORRY ASH!" Lapis answered "BUT WORK COMES FIRST! BUT YOU HAVE FUN!"
"What about you James, you wanna come?" he asked turning to the former Team Rocket member sitting in the pool
"Sure, it's about time i got some friends" he said getting out, "and why not? I mean, it's a beautiful day, not a cloud in sight" as soon as he said this, Ash noticed familiar white specks begin falling from the sky around them, he recognized them from when he first was sent the Steven's Universe.
"James get down!" he screamed as a flash of white light appeared before them. The flash got the attention of the others in the field and they ran over to the pool. Ash looked in to see something was now swimming in the water, or struggling to swim.
"KARP KARP KARP MAGIKARP!" the new inhabitant of the pool exclaimed as it splashed around struggling to figure out what it was doing.
"What is that?" Peridot asked
"A Magikarp" Ash answered with surprise, he never would've thought Arceus would just send a Magikarp all by itself with no trainer to help Ash with his destiny. He turned to see James was nearly having a panic attack just by looking at the pathetic fish. "Geesh James, it's not that scary"
"DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT MAGIKARP HAVE DONE TO ME!?" he screamed before running and hiding behind Lapis.
"KARP KARP KARP!" the fish continued
"Oh yeah, i forgot about that" Ash said
"Would anyone care to explain why James hates this pokemon?" Peridot asked with annoyance.
"I'll tell you why" James stated from behind Lapis, "when i was thirteen years old a conman tricked me into buying this worthless pokemon, then when i needed it most, it nearly got me killed. Twice! Ever since then i've despised the very nature of this heartless monster!"
"KARP KARP MAGIKARP!" the fish splashed.
"Doesn't look like it's a heartless monster," Lapis humorously told her opinion, "so Ash, Arceus wants you to add this pokemon to your pokemon team?"
"Well, no. Pokemon trainers are only allowed to carry six pokemon at a time, and since i have six already, i can't catch it even if Arceus did want me to. Maybe he wants you to catch him James" he joked to him.
"Absolutely not!" James insisted
"Maybe i could catch it!" Peridot said
"No" Ash insisted, he trusted Peridot but knew exactly what Magikarp evolved into and he didn't believe Peridot could handle the power of a Gyrados.
"Well maybe I could try" Lapis thought "I mean, water manipulator? water Pokémon? Seems like a match to me"
Ash pondered the possibility, "ok Lapis" he said handing her an empty pokeball "go for it!"
Lapis raised a pod of water containing Magikarp over to her. Even when the fish was completely submerged now, it still struggled to swim, so it just wiggled around under the water.
"Hi Magikarp" she said with a soft, nervous smile "my name's Lapis Lazuli, and I want to catch you, would you like to be my Pokémon?"
Magikarp stopped squirming and began examining her before he leapt out of his bubble and smacked her across the face with his tail. The shock of being slapped caused Lapis to drop the water pod and Magikarp hopped back into the pool.
Peridot was laughing hysterically next to Ash, who jabbed her with his elbow to get her to stop.
"Are you ok?" He asked his girlfriend
Lapis wiped the slimy fish water off her face "yea, I guess Magikarp doesn't want to be my Pokémon" she sadly said
"Don't worry, sometimes a Pokémon and a person aren't meant for each other" Ash reassured her
"Alright you clods, it's MY turn!" Peridot exclaimed grabbing the pokeball Lapis dropped. Before Ash could protest she was already at the edge of the pool, Magikarp still splashing. "Listen up Magiwhaterver you are! I am going to catch you and you're gonna like it!" She said throwing the pokeball at it.
Magikarp leapt out of the water and smacked it away with its tail. Once it landed, it spat water into Peridot's face
This time it was Lapis to who laughed at the Magikarp's antics. Peridot angrily wiped her face as she returned to the others.
"Well, i can't catch it" Ash said "and he said no to both Peridot and Lapis, that leaves you James. Maybe Arceus thought you might need this, to officially prove yourself as a Crystal Gem." he suggested
"We can't just leave it alone without any supervision" Lapis added "please James"
James took a deep breath and slowly approached Lapis's pool. He squatted down nervously and just looked at the fish, trying to think of something to say.
"What's he doing?" Lapis asked "isn't he trying to catch it?"
"That's what he's doing Lapis" he answered her "this is what James does. When most trainers use power to catch their pokemon, he uses kindness, he first gains his pokemon's complete trust and then asks if they want to be his partner. It's one of the things, where even when we were enemies, i respected about him"
James smiled at Ash's complement, and continued his approach at Magikarp.
"KARP KARP MAGIKARP!" it said splashing
"Hi Magikarp, i'm James. I'm not going to lie, i've been hurt by Magikarp in the past. But Arceus has a plan for me, and him sending you implies he intends you to be apart of it. So what do you say, will you be one of my partners?"
Magikarp stopped splashing and looked at James, having made his mind, he leapt out of the water. However, instead of slapping or spitting at James like he did to Peridot and Lapis, Magikarp leapt into James's arms and squirmed around happily
"I'll take that as a yes" he happily said as he struggled to hold the flailing fish. He picked up the pokeball Peridot dropped and clicked the button. A red light surrounded Magikarp as he retreated into the ball. It shook two or three times before it clicked, signaling that the pokemon inside had been caught. "I JUST CAUGHT A MAGIKARP!" he happily said. "Alright Magikarp, come on out!" he said releasing his new pokemon back into the pool.
"KARP KARP KARP" it happily exclaimed.
After they introduced Magikarp to the rest of their pokemon, Ash and James began to get ready to leave for Sour Cream's house to go to the concert, the only problem was, Ash couldn't find his jacket, they spent a few minutes turning the barn upside down before giving up, and Ash decided to just wear his plain black undershirt, despite the chill in the air from the fall evening.
"I'm sure you'll find it later Ash" James reassured him, "come on we've got to go"
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us Lapis?" Ash asked her once again
"Thanks, but Peridot and i have a lot of work to get done. You have fun with your friends, we'll show you the surprise soon." she said kissing him goodbye. Ash had no idea how glad he would be later that she hadn't come.
Ash and James walked down the boardwalk until they reached Sour Cream's address. James rang the doorbell and Sour Cream answered.
"Sup Ash? Is this guy you're newest roommate?" he asked
"I'm James" he said in his overly hammy and dramatic way.
"Is that James?" they heard Brock ask from the living room. They walked in to see Brock, Buck, Jamie and Jenny were sitting in the living room sofa. On the kitchen, Ash could see Greg and two older women sitting at the table playing blackjack.
"What are you doing here Greg?" he asked his father figure and employer.
"I'm here to kick Vidalia and Barb's butts in blackjack, what are you doing here Ash?"
"Well we're about to all go to a garage band concert"
"Oh, the one at Mike's? Cause i was going to take Amethyst there, but i already promised my night to these ladies."
"You must be Ash!" the larger of the women said standing up. She approached him and gave him a firm handshake. "I'm Barb, Sadie's mom. She talks about how cool her friend Ash is. Oh yeah, i'm also Jamie over there's boss" Jamie blushed with embarrassment.
The other women at the table also approached him "i'm Vidalia, Sour Cream's mom"
"Nice to meet you both, these guys are my friends Brock and James"
"Come on Ash!" Jenny said almost pushing him out the door, "they're gonna start any minute now"
"Nice meeting you both!" Ash shouted as they all walked out together. They crammed themselves into the pizzamobile, James and Jamie actually had to sit in the trunk to fit everyone, and drove to the small suburbs towards the outskirts of town while Ash informed the group about James's new pokemon. After nearly fifteen minutes of driving, they pulled over to a neighborhood and parked on the side of the street. Ash saw a crowd of people surrounding the house the concert was at, there were a few tables with pizza and a couple coolers with beer, sodas and waters in them.
Brock almost instantly began approaching some of the women and tried flirting, Sour Cream began introducing them to his "friends from the internet" who also showed up, Jenny and Buck began making small talk with strangers while James and Jamie tried to get to know themselves a little better.
"I'm gonna hit the bathroom before the music starts" Ash told his friends and began to make his way through the crowd of people to one of the port-a-potties set up by the side of the house. As he made his way through the crowd of people, he began getting lost in thought about how much fun he and Lapis would've had if she had gone with them. His train of thought was interrupted however, by him being knocked to the ground.
"Sorry man" he heard a woman's voice say above him with an apologetic tone.
He looked up to see a tall, well built woman with long, flowing hair dyed pink, she had heavy mascara on and had a lip piercing, her appearance reminded him of Rose Quartz so much, for a second he actually thought he was looking at her. The woman reached her hand out and helped him up.
"Sorry again dude" she said
"It's no problem" he told the mystery girl and continued to the bathroom, almost forgetting about the encounter.
He returned to the group just in time for the concert to begin. After nearly five or six songs, the lead vocalist Mike took a short break and they began to all wander and just talk to more people. That's when Ash spotted them, Steven and Amethyst hiding amongst the crowd watching something, Ash followed their gaze and couldn't believe what he saw. Pearl, wearing his jacket, talking to the pink haired woman he had bumped into earlier.
"Brock, James, check this out" he called to his friends, they came over along with the rest of their friend group and watched Pearl continue talking to the mystery girl.
"Ash, is she wearing your jacket?" Brock asked
Ash nodded as they saw the girl write something down, and handed it to Pearl, who thanked her and walked over to Steven and Amethyst. Even from the distance they were at, Ash could tell it was a phone number.
"Way to go Pearl!" Ash exclaimed as he walked over to the Gems. "you look good in MY jacket by the way"
"Oh hello Ash" Pearl said with an uneasy smile "i'm sorry i didn't ask permission to borrow your human clothing item, but i wanted to be "cool" tonight so i kind of just took it" she explained handing him his jacket back.
"So i see you made a friend" he teased her causing her to blush "my oh my, is that a phone number?"
"You bet it is!" Amethyst exclaimed "Pearl! Pearl! Pearl!" she chanted
"Pearl! Pearl! Pearl!" Ash and Steven joined her
"Pearl! Pearl! Pearl!" the others all chanted together causing Pearl to blush even more.
Once the concert reached its conclusion, Pearl and Amethyst left in Greg's Dondai Supremo that Pearl also "borrowed" from Greg, while Steven decided to stay with the group and sat with James and Jamie in the trunk. They all decided to roast some marshmallows together on the beach so Jenny pulled over off the boardwalk and the others built a bonfire. The group all sat around the fire telling each other stories. Ash was nearly getting to the good part of telling them all about the time he and Dawn were trapped in the reverse world, when they all heard something coming from behind the nearby rocks.
"Is someone there?" Ash asked the person behind the rocks. The mysterious stalker stepped into the open.
"Why were you watching us Ronaldo?" James asked his creepy co worker.
"I saw the fire" was all he said with sadness in his voice, Ash remembered why he sounded like this.
"Still haven't made up with Jane?" he asked
Ronaldo held back tears as he shook his head "she was my everything Ash" he cried as he sat down with the others, Steven gave him a stick with a marshmallow on it for him to roast "she was the first girl to ever care about me. She was my first kiss. And now she's gone"
James put his hand on Ronaldo's shoulder "if it's any consolation Ronaldo, i've had my fair problems with the ladies to. In fact, my first kiss was with someone i didn't even like, at least your first kiss was consensual."
"What do you mean by that James?" Jenny asked
"Well i come from a wealthy family, and in order to earn more power, when i was six years old, my parents forced me into an arranged marriage with a woman i despised. After i was told the news, she gave me my first kiss against my will. To get away from it, i ran away from home, later on i joined Team Rocket, thus leading me to Ash."
"James, i had no idea" Ronaldo confined to him
"I remember my first kiss" Jamie soliloquized to the group, "it was in an acting class i was attending, the scene called for me to be a loving husband, and trying to spice up the scene, i kissed my partner straight on the lips, and she kissed back. After we got a standing ovation from the rest of the class, she smacked me across the face and told me to "stay away from her" i don't believe she appreciated it"
"My first kiss was with some girl i met at a rave" Sour Cream stated "never saw her again"
"Me and Buck were each other's first kisses" Jenny said
"Really?" Ash asked
"Yea, we just wanted to get it over with so we wouldn't be first kissless" Buck explained
"I lied" Sour Cream suddenly said "i never had a first kiss, i just wanted to feel included"
"It's ok Sour Cream" Brock admitted to his friend in a defeated tone, "i've never been kissed either"
"Neither have i" Steven agreed "what about you Ash, was Lapis your first kiss?"
"I wish she was bud, but i've been kissed before i met her"
"Who was it with?" Jenny asked
"Well, it was when i was eleven years old, me and my friends Misty and Tracy visited a small island were visiting pokemon trainers were celebrated, then this one girl named Melody gave me what she called "the traditional welcome kiss" on my cheek. So that's my first kiss i guess."
"Nope" Jenny suddenly said "that kiss wasn't on the lips so it dosen't count"
"So Lapis was your real first kiss then!" Steven concluded
"Now hold on, there are a couple other times. Brock was there for this one, it was the two of us and Misty. We had traveled to the city of Alto Mare, there we met a girl named Bianca as well as a shapeshifting pokemon named Latias. After we stopped a plot to capture Latias and another pokemon, her brother Latios, we began to continue our journey. But before we left, Bianca came to me, and kissed me on the lips. To this day however, i still don't know if it actually was Bianca, or Latias in disguise."
"But did you feel passion when you kissed whoever it was?" Jamie asked
"No"
"Then that still can't be counted as your first kiss" Jenny explained "Ash, a first kiss is all about passion, and if you don't feel passion, and emotion, then that person kissed you, but you didn't kiss them"
"Alright fine, there is one more instance before Lapis and i kissed" he said annoyed "it was literally the day before i arrived here, in your universe. I had just finished traveling another island with my friends Clemont, his sister Bonnie, and my oldest friend Serena."
"Hold on" Brock interrupted "i thought i was your oldest friend?"
"You're my best friend Brock, but i've technically known Serena longer than anyone. See when we were both four years old, we both attended a summer camp together. She got separated and i wandered off, i found her on the ground crying, she had hurt her leg, and i helped her get back to the camp, I didn't see her again for twelve years. Then i arrived at the Kalos region, and ran into her again as she lived there, and we resumed our friendship and she traveled with us. After we finished traveling, she decided to pursue her dream of becoming a pokemon performer in a different part of the world. As i got ready to board the plane to go back to my home, she out of nowhere kissed me goodbye on the lips. Then i knew that she had feelings for me, and i felt the passion between us. I suppose i should thank her, if she hadn't opened my eyes about love, i would probably never had fallen in love with my beloved Lapis. So there you go, that's my first kiss."
"That sounded beautiful Ash" Jenny complemented "i feel so bad for that girl though, she confesses to you and literally a week later, you meet your soulmate and it isn't her"
That very thought had come across Ash's mind on several occasions, there was a part of him that was sorry for choosing Lapis over Serena, but on the other hand he understood that he and Lapis were meant to be. As he finished roasting his marshmallow, he noticed white sparkles begin to fall from the sky, a telltale sign that Arceus was sending Ash another present from his world
"GUYS PUT THE FIRE OUT!" he exclaimed, not wanting whoever being sent to land in the burning fire.
The teens all stood up and stomped the fire out before all taking cover behind the rocks Ronaldo was hiding behind earlier. A blinding flash of light came from the center of the beach, and when it faded, the group of nine teens all looked out to see a person was lying face down in the sand. They cautiously approached the person to see if they were alright.
"It's a girl" Jamie said aloud as James and Buck flipped the unconscious female trainer over onto her back to make sure she was alright. She had short, honey-blonde hair, wearing a pink top and red jacket with long black boots. Around her neck was a blue ribbon tied into a bow.
Ash felt a deep pit in his stomach, as he recognized the new arrival to Steven's Universe as the girl he was just talking about. The girl who he shared his first official kiss with. His oldest friend Serena.