Well, glad we're getting there. Serena is here, sorry amourshippers but Ash is still with Lapis. I know I promised no more filler chapters, but as of now in the series there are few Lapis episodes I can base chapters off of so I'm gonna have to compromise. Also, I understand that some people will not agree on my decision, but I'm not putting Pumpkin in this story. Why? Because I despise that character, it's not even a character, it's a pointless gag that's clearly just put into the episodes to kill time. Lauren Zuke has made some of my favorite episodes of this series, but that Pumpkin in my opinion was the dark smudge on her legacy to the series. It does absolutely nothing in each episode it's in, it doesn't move the plot, it doesn't even help with character development, nor does it even seem too improve Peridot and Lapis's relationship since they got that stupid thing. I hate this character more than I hate Ronaldo or even Connie's mom. That's why I'm not putting that stupid Pumpkin in my story. Anyway, with my anti pumpkin rant aside, here we go. *POKEMON AND STEVEN UNIVERSE ARE NOT OWNED BY ME*
It had been six weeks since Serena's arrival, she had moved in with Jamie and the two had begun a solid friendship, Lars had also made good on his promise and got Serena a job at The Big Donut with him and Sadie. She seemed to be adapting well to her new environment, as were her Pokémon.
Peridot and Lapis finally showed Ash what they called their "greatest meep morph ever". They had found an old packet of seeds in the barn and grew an entire garden of corn, pumpkins, carrots and potatoes across the field. Brock had volunteered to cook something with the crop, but they stubbornly refused.
It was late November and the air was rather frigid and cold. Steven had spent the night at the barn and everyone was now just waking up when James approached him.
"Ash, would you possibly be able to help me train my Pokémon? They've been itching for a battle"
"Sure thing James" he excitedly told him.
The two went to the baseball field and prepared themselves, since James only had four Pokémon, Ash evened the odds and chose only four of his. Peridot, Steven and Lapis all took a seat on a log nearby.
"You guys ready?" Brock acting as referee asked them. "James will have the first move. BEGIN!"
"CARNIVINE! Let's go!" James exclaimed summoning the grass type. Carnivine immediately leapt onto James's head in a love bite. "All this plant food nearby and you choose to dig into me?!" He screamed throwing the overly affectionate Pokémon off of him.
"Glalie let's go!"
"Carnivine bullet seed!"
Carnivine began to spit out a steady flow of seeds from his mouth at the ice type
"Glalie protect! Then use icy wind!"
Glalie obeyed his trainer's wish and attacked
"Dodge and use vine whip!"
But Carnivine was unable to dodge the ice attack and was struck, being frozen in place.
"Now finish it off with headbutt!"
Glalie charged straight at Carnivine, smashing the ice and knocking him to the ground.
"Carnivine is unable to battle! Glalie is the winner!" Brock declared
"Ok Inkay, it's your turn!" James stated summoning the upside down Pokémon.
"Alright Glalie, ice beam!"
"Dodge and use psy beam!"
This time, Inkay was able to move to the side and avoid the ice. Inkay then fired a colorful beam of energy at the ice type.
"Protect, then ice beam again!"
Glalie protected himself from Inkay's attack and then shot another ice beam. Inkay once again was able to dodge.
"Use tackle!"
Inkay charged straight at Glalie, but this was what Ash was waiting for.
"Icy wind!" He commanded as Glalie trapped Inkay into a cloud of ice, like Carnivine before him, Inkay fell in a solidified block of ice to the ground.
"INKAY IS UNABLE TO BATTLE!" Brock shouted, Peridot, Steven and Lapis were now all cringing on the sideline at the one-sided battle.
"Mime Jr! Take the stage!"
"Alright Glalie, keep the streak up! Use icy wind!"
"Protect, then use mimic!"
Mime Jr was able to summon it's protective shield to avoid, then she fired her own icy wind attack on the ice type, James's attack finally it its target to little effect.
"Headbutt!"
"Protect!"
But the larger Glalie was able to hit the smaller Mime Jr sending her flying to the ground.
"MIME JR IS UNABLE TO BATTLE! JAMES PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR LAST POKÉMON!"
James returned Mime Jr, dreading the use of his final Pokémon. "Alright Magikarp, come out!"
"KARP KARP KARP MAGIKARP!" It exclaimed as it flailed around on the dirt. Upon seeing his trainer, he leapt up into James's arms and began squirming happily.
"Magikarp not now!" James shouted dropping the fish "use tackle!"
Magikarp flung itself out of James's arms and straight for Glalie.
"Protect!"
Glalie summoned its protecting shield and Magikarp was sent flying to the ground.
"MAGIKARP!" James shouted with concern
"KARP KARP KARP!" The fish continued to flail, Ash was actually surprised the fish was still moving being this long out of water.
"Magikarp i believe in you! You just try your best, you have nothing to prove to me, I already know you can do it!" James encouraged to his pathetic Pokémon.
"KARP KARP MAGIKARRRRRRRRRPPPPPPPPPPP!" The fish began to shout as a white light encircled it.
"What's going on with Magikarp?" Steven asked
"I think it's evolving!" Brock stated
The silhouette of Magikarp began to morph into something bigger, something more powerful than Ash had ever battled, one of the few Pokémon he truly feared and never won in a battle before.
The giant, terrifying Pokémon looked down at Ash and roared. The onlookers screamed in terror and Ash saw Peridot and Lapis were now hugging each other for protection.
"WHAT IS THAT?!" Steven screamed
"Gyarados!" James screamed in terror. The serpentine Pokémon turned to its trainer and roared. "Gyarados, do you trust me?" He asked when he saw the Pokémon hadn't tried to kill him. In fact it was smiling down at him and roared happily.
"Alright then! Gyarados use bite attack!" The monster Pokémon launched onto Glalie and bite down.
"Glalie use icy wind!"
"Bind!"
Gyarados tightened its grip on Glalie until he collapsed, not even able to use its ice attack
"Glalie is unable to battle!"
"Pikachu are you ready?" He asked his most powerful Pokémon.
"Pika"
"Alright then, Pikachu use electro ball!"
"Dragon rage Gyarados!"
The two attacks met each other head on and canceled each other out.
"Use water pulse!"
"Dodge it! Then use thunderbolt!"
Pikachu avoided Gyarados's attack, then finished it off with a powerful thunderbolt. Gyarados collapsed to the ground.
"GYARADOS IS UNABLE TO BATTLE! ASH IS THE WINNER!" Brock decreed
The spectators all began celebrating the amazing battle. Lapis ran to Ash and gave him a celebratory kiss.
"That was amazing James!" Steven told him "that Gyarados is so cool!" But he was interrupted by the sound of a plane engine fly overhead and land near the barn
"What was that!?" Brock asked as they all ran to the plane to see a an older looking man remove himself from the pilot seat
"What the?! HOBOS BROKE INTO THE BARN!" He screamed with a thick northeastern US accent.
"Hey! Don't touch our things!" Peridot scolded the man
"You're hobettes?" He asked referring to Peridot and Lapis who looked at each other in confusion "being a hobo is a man's job!"
"Who's this guy and why's he calling me a hobo?" James asked
"The REAL question is. Where are my attack drones?" Peridot asked pushing a button on a remote control she took out.
"Wait a second" the man said "those mysterious constructions, your weird appearance, your strange jewels, you have animals running around freely" he said referring to Pikachu, "I know what you all are"
Ash almost felt relief, thinking this guy knew he wasn't from his world, and that someone else knew about the Pokémon world, but his relief was short lived.
"YOU'RE HIPPIES! I heard about you guys on AM radio! What are you guys doing here socializing in this fine American barn!?"
At this point Lapis had enough of him, and raised a giant arm out of the pool, grabbing the man and raising him in the air. A few odd looking machines surrounded him as well, leading Ash to suspect they were Peridot's attack drones she had summoned.
"Wait! Don't hurt him!" Steven finally intervened
"But he's attacking us, and our home" Lapis said
"Ok this clearly just a misunderstanding," Ash added, "let's just talk to him and maybe he'll go away"
Ash and Steven both approached the man, still being held in the air by Lapis.
"Hello, how are you?" Steven asked him
"How do you think I'm doing?"
"Sorry mister, but we just want to know what you want from us" Ash said calmly
"What do I want? I WANT YOU HIPPIES OUT OF MY BARN!"
"You're barn?" Steven asked
"Isn't this barn Greg's?" Ash asked
"That's what I was lead to believe" Steven said taking out his phone, "hold on, I'll get my dad down here and we'll settle this"
About fifteen minutes or so passed before Greg's van parked next to the plane. He, the Gems and Serena all piled out.
"Greg got your message and we came to" Pearl said
"Is that the guy giving you trouble Ash?" Serena asked pointing to the man in the air
"What are you doing to him?!" Greg asked with concern
"Just, putting him down" Lapis said dropping the man gently
"Did she do that to you to Serena?" Ash asked referring to the "incident" a few weeks ago. Serena nodded
"Not cool" the man said as Greg helped him up "wait a sec, Greg?"
"Andy?"
"They know each other?" Pearl asked as the others all grouped up
"This is perfect!" Andy said with excitement "come on help me chase off these hippie freeloaders! They're using some kind of hippie mind tricks. Who told you all you could move in and trash my barn?!"
"I did Andy" Greg told him
"YOU DID?! Greg this is my parent's barn!"
"Dad who is this guy?" Steven finally asked
"Dad?" Andy asked turning to Steven "you mean? No way!" He exclaimed turning back to Greg
"Steven, guys, this is Andy, he's my cousin. Andy, meet Steven, he's my son"
"Wow!" Steven exclaimed "it's really nice to meet you! Wait, does this mean you're my first cousin, once removed?"
"Ah forget that nonsense!" Andy exclaimed as he grabbed Steven and pulled him into a tight hug. The gems began to charge at Andy, but the Pokémon trainers held them back. "You call me Uncle Andy! I can't believe it, I'm an uncle! Greg you little turd how you come you never told me?"
"How was I supposed to it's been years!"
"And whose fault was that? You thought you were so much better than your family, so you just drove off in your van to be a star"
"That was like two decades ago!"
"Uncle Andy can you let me down now?" Steven finally asked
"Sorry Steven" he obliged "I ain't used to holding nephews. Cause I didn't know I had one!" He angrily told off Greg, he then turned his attention to the Gems "so which one of you girls is the wife? I gotta give ya my condolences right?" He joked turning to Garnet "what I gotta guess here? It's gotta be you, i'll bet this useless lump here needs a big girl like you to keep him in line. You're not big, I'm just saying you're tall"
"Rose is no longer with us Andy"
"Oh my gosh Greg I'm sorry, I didn't know"
"It's alright, the girls here are sort of like her family, the guy with the hat is my employee and I rented the barn out to him and the girl, they aren't freeloaders Andy, Ash works hard for it."
"Yah? Well that's really nice of ya giving away my parent's barn to your in laws and employees and all, but this barn is strictly for the DeMayo family!"
"What's a DeMayo?" Steven asked
Andy took a giant step back, acting as if he'd been shot by Steven "Andy DeMayo, Greg DeMayo, Steven DeMayo, we're the DeMayos"
"Actually we're the Universes now" Greg awkwardly said
"YOU SPACE WALNUT you couldn't even keep the family name!? Yet you still go on and give away the barn like candy on some sort of, candy giving holiday!?"
"You're telling me Universe isn't a real last name!?" Steven screamed
"It is a real last name, I had it changed. Look Andy, they just needed a place to stay, they're refugees from another dimension", he said referring to Ash, Brock and James before turning to Peridot and Lapis "and they're alien refugees from another"
"They're illegal aliens!? You couldn't even marry an American?! You turned your back on our family just so you could get it on with a bunch of weirdo, interdimensional, martian, hippie, immigrants! You five, get off my property! Get off my planet, stay out of my country! And stay out of my barn!"
"Wait! Uncle Andy!"
"What?"
"I'm sorry they took over the barn, we didn't know we didn't have any family to share it with"
"oh you didn't huh?"
"But this barn? It means a lot to us. We spent so much time here together"
"Yea well my family spent a lot of time here to! Once a year we'd all meet up here, eat a huge meal, catch up, have a good time. Years and years of tradition."
"Yes well we can do that to!" Steven declared "we've got a farm here with plenty of food, we can all make a big, traditional meal here together, you'll have a good time, and then you'll have to admit they're family! And you wouldn't kick family out of the barn right?"
Andy took a few seconds to think before giving in "Greg, you're lucky you've got such a cute kid. I know he didn't get it from you"
"So you're letting them?"
"I'll give your little coven a chance and eat their dinner, they're just lucky I lost my sandwich in the Atlantic. Now if you excuse me, I've got to get my junk out of the plane"
"You think this'll work?" Ash asked
"Maybe, Andy's never really been one to change his mind about anything. And he's really got his long johns in a twist. It's gonna take a lot to get him to calm down." Greg answered
"I don't like this guy, I don't like the thought of some new Greg coming out of nowhere" Amethyst voiced her opinion
"OUR Greg is clearly the superior one" Pearl said with her arms stubbornly crossed.
"We're not leaving our home" Lapis stubbornly answered
"Yeah!" Brock and James both said at once
"If that clod thinks that he can" Peridot began to say before Garnet interrupted her.
"Andy is a part of Steven's family. We should make good effort to be on his side" he wisely told her troops
"If he's my family then he's yours to" Steven told the gem leader.
"Gems don't have families, at least not before we came here" she said as the group of Gem and Pokémon trainer huddled up together next to Steven
"So for the sake of our family" Ash finished Garnets sentence placing his arm around Lapis's shoulder "tell us what to do"
"Let's get cooking"
Garnet and Lapis went to the field to begin harvesting the crop, Serena, Ash, Andy, Greg and Steven all put themselves on preparing the vegetables while Brock worked on his special marinade and seasoning. Pearl, Peridot and James began building a makeshift oven while Amethyst played with Pikachu.
"This looks amazing!" Steven admired the spread as they prepped.
"Is it really gonna just be all vegetables?" Andy asked "I should've known you guys were vegetarians to"
"Don't worry Andy, when we go to the store to finish getting supplies, I'll make sure to pick up some turkeys and maybe a ham for us" Brock reassured him
"Finally one of em's speaking my language" Andy told him with a tone of reassurance. But his good feeling was gone once he turned to see what kind of oven Pearl, Peridot and James were building "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" He screamed at them causing everybody else to crowd over
"Dude what's the problem?" Amethyst asked
"I'll tell you what's wrong "DUDE!" Do you not see this abomination standing in front of you?!"
"Hey don't talk about Peridot like that!" James snarled causing Peridot to "attack" by punching him in the legs screaming at him while he laughed.
"It's the engine! They butchered my parent's plane to make, whatever this is!"
"It's an oven cooktop combo" Pearl answered him
"It's horrible! That was the heart and soul of the legendary "Daring DeMayos", I learned how to fly in this plane!"
"No one was ever using that junk" Lapis nonchalantly told him off, making a bad situation worse
"See that's the problem with people like you" he said getting into Lapis's face "you think everything just belongs to you and can take what you want cuz nothing belongs to nobody else! It ain't cool!"
"BACK OFF ANDY!" Ash shouted getting between the two "we're sorry, but you can't just get into her face like that!" He said coming to her defense.
Andy looked down in embarrassment for his outburst. I"'m gonna need a moment" he said walking away
"Andy wait up!" Greg said following him
"I'm sure Greg will turn this around" Pearl said trying to lighten everyone's crushed spirits
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WEREN'T TECHNICALLY MARRIED?!" They heard Andy scream from the distance he was at.
"We've gotta up our game!" Steven declared "we've got to make this this ultimate party to turn this around!"
After the Gems came up with a plan, Garnet, Pearl, Peridot, Lapis, Serena, and James all left to get more supplies from the store, leaving Ash, Steven, Brock, Amethyst, Andy and Greg to finish.
"See you in a bit" Pearl exclaimed from Greg's van
"Love you Ash" Lapis shouted from the roof of the van
"Love you to" he shouted back as the van turned into town.
"Huh, so you and that blue girl are in item huh? Guess that explains why you got extra defensive when I broke down to her. I'm sorry about that by the way" he said as he started peeling potatoes.
"Yea Andy. It is. And it's not me you should be apologizing to"
"I'll tell her when they all get back"
"Wow! That's so cool how you're peeling Uncle Andy!" Steven admired Andy's way of peeling as it was all one peel
"Yea, your Aunt Deb and I were usually put on kitchen duty when the family got together, I've peeled a lot of potatoes in my day"
"Man what's Aunt Deb been up to lately?" Greg asked
"Oh so now you care about our family? Well let's see "Mr. Curiosity" let's see if I can cram 20 years into one sentence"
Steven, sensing the awkwardness, collected his pile with his shield and approached the oven for Brock to season and roast
"Hey it really works" Andy admired the work he criticized earlier "you know it's nice to see these old plane parts being put to good work, maybe recycling ain't so bad."
"Looks like you got a new plane anyway" Greg said looking at the plane
"Oh yea, she's a good one, been all over the world with that thing"
"You've been all over the world?" Ash asked
"Oh yes, it's really something. Just you, the hum of the engine up in that thin air. No other people around to keep you company. But it's not like there's anything for me here on the ground these days"
Ash took a minute to reflect on what Andy just said, it sounded like he was miserably lonely. He was taken out of his thoughts by a loud car honk.
"Your aunts are back"
The group all unloaded their supplies as the others went to help.
"So Andy, we heard you like marriage, so we all thought "why don't we all just marry each other?" Pearl said with Peridot showing off a wedding cake with many different wedding toppers on top of it. "And if that's not human enough for you we also threw in some being born" she explained as Garnet presented a balloon that said "it's a boy" on it. "Or maybe even some dying? We tried to cover as much of the human lifespan as we could"
Lapis then took out a large gravestone and approached Andy "we're very sorry about your marriage" she said cheerfully causing Ash to laugh, Andy joined him to
"Alright, where am I sitting?" He asked with a smile on his face.
By the time dinner was finally ready and the table was set, the sun was beginning to set. Sitting at the head of the table was Andy, on the left side was Steven, Peridot, Lapis, Ash, Brock and Pikachu. Serena sat at the opposite head of the table while Greg, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and James sat the opposite side.
"What do y'all say we just get right to it huh? And since we're throwing away tradition, why don't we start with this gorgeous cake?" He said as he cut a piece of the wedding cake off. Before he began to eat, he stopped himself "oh where are my manners? Here Steven pass this to your friend" he said passing the cake to Steven to passed it to Peridot.
"Oh. Where are my manners?" She said handing the plate to Lapis
"Oh, where are my manners?" She asked handing it to Ash
Wanting to keep the joke going, he turned to Brock "oh Brock where are my manners?"
Brock caught on and passed it to Serena "but where are my manners Serena?"
"And where are my manners?" She asked passing it to James
"Thanks! But oh where are my manners? Here Pearl" he said passing it to the Gem sitting next to him.
"Oh why thank you James, but where are my manners? Here you go Amethyst"
"Oh where are my manners?" She said giving it to Garnet who passed it to Greg who passed it to Andy. He looked down at the piece of cake he started with.
"What you people don't like cake to?"
"Well Gems don't really eat, except Amethyst"
"I'm good, I ate about three bottles of cooking oil earlier" she said as she burped out fire
"That's the coolest thing I've ever seen her do" Brock whispered to Ash
"Cooking oil!" Pearl suddenly exclaimed "that's what we forgot at the store!"
"And the shopping cart!" Peridot added "we should've taken it!"
"We could've put it up on the wall next to the truck" Lapis said
"No that would've been stealing" Pearl reprimanded them
"Cause it would've been STEAL-ing?" Steven joked "cause the carts made of steal"
"Didn't we save the Earth? We deserve access to anything on it by right!" Peridot shouted
"Or at least get a discount" Lapis added
"Saving the earth from Homeworld is it's own reward" Pearl reminded them
"Alright, we don't want to start another Gem war at the table" Greg joked
"Oooooh don't start" Garnet joked along
"Well what if I just came to this table and started colonizing it because "I'm a Homeworld Gem?" Peridot asked getting a laugh out of Steven, Lapis and Ash.
"But you can't!"Amethyst expanded on the joke "this planet has corn on it and it's beautiful! "And i'll defend it!"
"You're right, now that I've spent time at the table I can see the value of your corn!" Peridot continued
"Or maybe you could put that corn in a mirror for thousands of years, and then ask it about what it thinks about the table?!" Lapis tried expanding on the joke before breaking down laughing "IT WOULD REALLY HATE THE TABLE" she laughed causing everyone to just stare with concern, Ash put his hand on Lapis's back while she laughed off her pain.
"You know what Steven," Greg told his son "thank you putting this meal together was a great idea."
"No I should be thanking Garnet, she's the one who pulled the vegetables"
"Lapis and Peridot grew them. Thank you"
At this time Lapis finally stopped laughing and rested her head on Ash's shoulder "but Ash inspired me to do it, thank you" she said planting a kiss on his cheek.
"Well it was Brock who actually cooked"
"Only on the oven James designed"
"The plans Peridot built"
"Well it was Pearl who drove us to the store"
"Well Amethys put out the grease fire"
"And started it. And Serena's the one who picked the wedding cake"
"Only because I was inspired by Garnet's relationship to do so"
"And it was Greg's van who we drove"
"I guess we can thank everyone" Greg joked
"Yes! Was everyone thanked? Raise your hand if you were thanked!"
"What about Andy?" Steven asked
"Well, thank you Andy for, showing up! Without your anger we never would've done this nice feast together! And you know, it's kinda nice! So thank you Andy cheers!" She said lifting her plate in the air
"Cheers!" Everyone except Andy did the exact same laughing
The laughter was interrupted by Andy, who slammed his fist to the table "you can have it. The barn, its all yours" he sadly said before he stood up and walked off.
"Did we do something wrong?" Pearl asked
"I thought I said something very sentimental" Peridot said with James nodding to agree with her.
The sound of a plane engine filled the air as a powerfull gust of dirt came from the barn, and they saw Andy's plane take off.
"No! He can't leave yet! Lapis" Steven said as he and Lapis took off after him.
"Lapis wait!" Ash screamed as his girlfriend took off with his friend.
After ten minutes Lapis returned without Steven
"Where's Steven?"
"I threw him on the plane"
"WHAT?!" Everyone said in fear of what they thought Lapis had done.
"He's fine"
Ash breathed a sigh of relief as he began to help clean up, at the sight of the wedding cake, a thought came to him, Pearl had said they "all married each other" did this mean he was now technically married to Lapis? Before he could give it anymore thought, Andy's plane landed on the field
"STEVEN!" Pearl said with worry
"Guys we're fine" he reassured her.
"Andy, it's good to see you, we apologize if we insulted you" Pearl began to say.
"Hey I mean, I just thought you guys would have a lot of leftovers I could help ya with, you know cause you don't eat."
Pearl smiled at him "of course, the foods still out, let's go" the group all went back to the table before Ash approached Andy
"We'll take good care of the barn for you Andy"
"Ash, we're family now, and I insist you call me Uncle Andy to"
"Ok Uncle Andy" he said bringing him into a hug. As they all sat at the table, only Andy, the trainers and the Universes ate but the Gems all stayed at the table for conversation.
"This has been nice and all folks, but I've got a sky to get back to" Andy said after dinner was done "I'll occasionally drop by refuel so I guess i'll see you then. Take care I guess."
"Wait Andy," Greg said taking out his camera "you and I both know we've got to do this. Alright family photo, everyone gather round"
"Hold on, everyone should get in on this" Ash said as he released Sceptile, Staraptor, Greninja, Glalie and Charizard.
"Great idea Ash" Brock agreed as he released Steelix, Golem, Crobat, Swampert, Croagunk and Chansey
"Don't forget us" James said releasing Carnivine, Inkay, Mime Jr and Gyarados.
"This'll be good for them!" Serena chanted as she released Braixen, Sylveon and Pancham.
"Yea ok, of course they normal looking ones can do that" Andy remarked as Steven and Greg crowded him. Ash wrapped his arm around Lapis's waist and stood behind her as the Gems on Pokémon all crowded for the camera. The "family photo" came out great and Andy took one of the copies with him as he left.
"You kids take care of yourselves" he wished them as he took off until his plane vanished in the horizon.
"Bye Uncle Andy!" Steven exclaimed as Greg helped him into the van and drove him and the other Gems home to the Temple.
"Goodnight guys" Ash wished his roommates as they all retreated to bed.