While Ash is away, his girlfriend and roommates play. This chapter takes place during the events of the previous two chapters while Ash and the Gems are rescuing Greg and Bonnie from the Human Zoo. I know that Serena really hasn't had time to shine and I've decided to give her the spotlight. I'm still trying to recover from the Wanted special but I already know how I'm gonna tie it into the overall story. *I DO NOT OWN POKÉMON OR STEVEN UNIVERSE*
Serena woke up to the morning sun creeping into the open blinds of Jamie's guest bedroom, which had effectively been turned into her room. After she changed into her normal outfit, she entered the kitchen to see Jamie was finishing making breakfast for them both.
"Morning roomie" he sad offering her a plate of pancakes "what's on your plate for today?"
"Lars and Sadie gave me the day off, so I was thinking of going to Pearl and ask her to teach me how to swordfight." She said as she ate
Jamie looked at her with mild concern "why the sudden interest? This wouldn't happen to be an attempt to impress Ash would it?"
She tried her best to hide her blush from her mailman roommate "no, of course not. I just thought that maybe if Homeworld tries an attack and I have no access to my Pokémon, Id still be able to fight"
Jamie gave her a doubtful look before checking his watch "oh no I'm gonna be late for work! Good luck with your sword play Serena!" He said running out the door.
Serena finished her breakfast and headed out herself towards the Temple nervous about how Pearl will react to her request. As she approached the beach house, she saw a young, dark skinned girl walking towards the house as well carrying a pink sword and an overnight bag.
"You must be Serena" she said "I'm Connie, Steven told me about you"
Serena blushed thinking how Steven had told all his friends about how she nearly accidentally destroyed Ash and Lapis's relationship
"Hey, he told me how you didn't mean that, and I'm not one to judge. Well, it looks like we're gonna have to protect Beach City while Ash and the Gems are gone"
"Wait what?" She asked
"Oh did they not tell you? Blue Diamond kidnapped Steven's dad so Steven, Ash and the Gems when to space to get him back, Steven told me to protect the city while they were gone"
Before Serena could respond, they heard someone scream from inside the house scream "STOP IM DYING!"
The girls quickly kicked the door open to see Brock and James playing video games on Steven's bed
"Brock? James? What are you guys doing here?" Serena asked
Brock paused the game "Ash asked us to take care of the city while we were gone, we figured we might as well play some games to" he answered her
Serena pouted a little "does Ash really not trust me to help watch the city?" She thought to herself
The four humans suddenly heard a flush coming from the bathroom they all looked at each other realizing that they all weren't alone, before they all prepared themselves and Connie forced open the bathroom door to the sight of Lapis trying to flush Peridot down the toilet.
"Uh, don't you knock?" She asked them still in the toilet
"Rude" Lapis remarked
"Thought you two were still at the barn, how did you guys sneak past me and James?" Brock asked. Lapis answered him by pointing at the open window in the bathroom
"What are you two even doing?" Connie asked
Peridot jumped out of the toilet "just showing off my old room to, wait, THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"
"Who is that? And what is she doing in Steven's house?" Lapis asked referring to Connie
"That's Steven's fourth best friend after me, you and Ash" Peridot snarked at her
"Lapis, you don't remember me?" Connie asked "you almost drowned me when you tried to steal the earth's water?"
"Wait, she did what?" James asked, having never been told by Ash about the whole ocean stealing incident
"I almost drowned a lot of people" she remarked
"I'm Connie"
"And I'm Peridot! And that's Ash's Pikachu!" She said as Pikachu jumped out of the laundry hamper
"Pika!" The small Pokémon addressed Connie
"Wait, Ash didn't bring Pikachu with him to space?" Serena asked with concern
"He didn't bring any of his Pokémon" Lapis said revealing that she was wearing Ash's belt containing all his pokeballs on it around her waist "Garnet foresaw only bad things happening to them so he left me in their care"
They all retreated into the living room and all sat st the couch
"As for your question of why we're here" Peridot told Connie "Garnet trusted us with a mission!"
"Steven did to! I just hope I don't let him down" Connie responded
"You probably will. That's why Garnet trusted us to protect Beach City" Peridot boasted
"But, Steven asked me to protect it to"
"You really think we need your help?" Lapis asked acting disinterested
"Wait, maybe we do. The Crystal Gems have been protecting this planet with a specialized team! Three gems, a human, and a Pokémon trainer, well now that me and Lapis are part of it it would be five." Peridot told the entire group
"Meaning?" Serena asked
Peridot jumped from the couch to the coffee table "to do the jobs of the Crystal Gems, we need to do the JOBS of the Crystal Gems! We seven-"
"Seven?" Brock asked only counting six people and Gems in the room
"I'm counting Pikachu"
"Pika" the Pokémon thanked Peridot for being acknowledged
"We each need to pick someone in the original group to fulfill their role, we could be exactly like them BUT BETTER!"
James's face lit up a suddenly got up and ran out of the front door giggling like a maniac. Everyone looked at the door close with confusion before returning to the subject at hand
"That makes sense I guess" Serena agreed with the green gem
"I CALL GARNET" Peridot screamed "as I'm obviously best suited for being the boss"
"You are pretty bossy" Lapis told her
"Thank you"
"Then I'll do what Steven does" Connie volunteered
"Lapis you can be Amethyst!" Peridot said
"Which one is she?" She asked as Peridot gave her a face as if she had been insulted "I'm joking"
"Great! You're already in character!"
The front door suddenly burst open and James returned sweating and carrying a briefcase with a mischievous grin. He slammed the case on the table causing Peridot to fall onto the floor.
"What is that?" Connie asked
"This, is the official Team Rocket disguise kit! I never leave home without it!" He explained as he took out a blue and black dress similar to Lapis's and put it on. "Since we're being each other, I thought it might be fun to be Lapis!" He said posing in the Lapis dress.
"I guess that leaves Ash, Peridot and Pearl, and I don't want to be Pearl" Brock said "Serena I'll play Rock Paper Scissors with you to see who gets to be Ash?"
Serena threw paper while Brock threw rock, winning Serena the right to be Ash. James tossed her an exact replica of Ash's usual outfit
"Well, this isn't the first time I've pretended to be Ash" Serena remarked as she retreated to the bathroom to change, after she was now "Ash" Brock went into the bathroom and borrowed some hair gel from Steven, and by some he used the entire bottle, to style his hair into the triangle shape of Peridots. After it was decided that Pikachu would be Pearl and Connie helped put a party hat on Pikachu as Pearl's nose
"New Crystal Gems, congregate!" Peridot decreed once everyone was in their character. "That means, come over here and do a cool pose" she explained as everyone looked at her confused.
The "New Crystal Gems" went out onto the porch and began to examine Beach City from the distance
"Judging from what Steven tells me, everything looks normal!" Connie declared after doing a quick check through her binoculars
Peridot, now wearing a pair of sunglasses, gave a nod and a thumbs up "there, am I as aloof and distant as the Garnet?"
"You were, until you started to ask SO MANY QUESTIONS!" Lapis goofily said with a chuckle
"Oh Ash I love you and water SO much!" James said swooning over Serena
"Uh, yea" she awkwardly said
Everyone then turned to Brock expecting him to say something
"Oh, uh, CLODS!" He screamed
The group was all taken aback from the sound of a car horn and the sound of Buck Dewey screaming "help!" From the car wash
"New Crystal Gems, let's go!" Peridot commanded as they all ran in the direction of the screaming teen
"What seems to be the problem Buck?" Brock asked
The mayor's son turned to them, looking at James in the dress a little oddly, "it's my dad, some jerks have been messing with his head" he explained pointing at the top of the mayor's reelection truck. The head had been vandalized with several obscene drawings and was covered in trash. "It was funny, till me made me take it to be washed. Where's Ash and guitar dad?"
"That's right, with Mr. Universe and Ash gone, then we should run the car wash" Connie suggested knowing there probably wouldn't be anything for them to actually protect Beach City from.
"What?" Peridot asked
"Uh, water we waiting for?" She joked trying her best to be Steven
"Good one Steven" James said giving the girl a high five
"Whatever you say dudes, BURP!" Lapis exclaimed trying to do one of Amethysts mannerisms
Peridot began to lift the van using her magnetic powers, Lapis maneuvered a hose to cover the truck with water.
"I am the powerful and majestic Lapis Lazuli!" James screamed as he summoned Gyarados to be his "water powers" he then hopped on the giant Pokémon's back, flapping his arms around pretending to fly. Gyarados finished the job for Lapis as Peridot dropped the car and Connie, Brock, Serena and Pikachu all quickly dried it off
"Here's your vehicle," Serena told Buck "courtesy of the new Crystal Gems"
"That was cool" Buck said handing Serena around twenty dollars in cash "my friend Ash has that exact same outfit to" he said not recognizing her "see ya later Brock, Ash's cool, space, girlfriend, James" he said as he got back behind the wheel and drove off.
The New Crystal Gems waited for a few hours, having had nothing to protect Beach City from, and went inside the wash waiting room. They sat and basically just talked until a series of car horns blasted from the outside, and they saw a line of cars outside
"Guess word about our little show spread quickly" Brock stated
"I know what everyone is really here to see" Peridot said stepping forward "Beach City citizens, witnesses the Garnet!" She said lifting Jenny's pizzamobile in the air while Lapis began to cover it with water
"Amethyst" she whispered to her "your performance is lacking. Crack some jokes, mess around"
"Oh is that what I'm supposed to be doing?" Lapis asked as she began spraying water into the onlookers faces
"Uh, Lapis" Connie began to say
"Yes?" James asked
"Sorry, Amethyst, the Steven doesn't think that's funny" she said with concern before Lapis sprayed her in the face as well
"Uh, hey. Are you gonna bring my car down?" Jenny asked
"DO NOT INTERRUPT THE GARNET!" Peridot screamed dropping the car "EVERYONE WILL HAVE A TURN!" She screamed now lifting another car with Sour Cream's stepfather still in it
"Oops" she said realizing her mistake
"Peridot! Put that guy down!" Serena demanded
"No one bosses the Garnet!"
"Well Garnet wouldn't yell at people" Connie stepped in
"I agree, maybe you should let someone else be The Garnet" Lapis spoke up, doing her best at a British accent like Garnet's. she quickly summoned a water hand from the nearby ocean and grabbed the car
"NO! AMETHYST I HAVE THE GLASSES!" Peridot screamed as she began pulling at Lapis's arms to get her to stop
"There is no Amethyst, only Garnet!" Lapis exclaimed still using the accent
The two struggled for control as the car shook violently side to side until Lapis accidentally lost her concentration completely and the car was launched into the wash sign, completely destroying it
Brock and Sour Cream helped Yellowtail out of the crashed vehicle and most of the bystanders by now had ran off.
Once they were all back at the Temple, Connie desperately tried to fix the growing tension "Look at us! We are all fighting with each other. Uh, but we all love each other. And you all love me. So, we have to do this together, for love."
"Steven would've had a much better speech" Peridot remarked
"I know, she didn't even cry" Lapis agreed
"I've done a lot of thinking about what's been going wrong with this team up," Peridot began "and I think it's obvious now that the problem is all of you! Connie, you completely lack Steven's sentimentality. He would have a much more inspiring speech. Brock clearly lacks the overall charm, intelligence and charisma that makes me, Serena lacks Ash's confidence, James is actually doing a pretty good job at being Lapis, and Lapis, your lack of humor has been hurting our morale. Maybe you should switch with Pikachu"
"Let's make Pikachu the Garnet. You should be the Pearl." She angrily remarked
"I am nothing like Pearl!" She quickly exclaimed sounding extremely insulted "she's so uptight and sensitive! How dare you!?"
"Everyone, let's just calm down" Serena said
"Oh can it!" Lapis exclaimed "why am I even Amethyst? Ash trusted me with his Pokémon, he's my boyfriend, I should be the Ash! Serena give me the hat!"
"Well, I have more experience with Pokémon, so that's why I thought I should be the Ash" she shyly told her
"I can battle circles around you. Let's go right now, call it payback for trying to steal the man I love"
"That was an accident, and I had no idea about you guys at the time. I'm not trying to steal Ash from you!"
"Then why are you blushing?" Connie asked
"Right now, one-on-one" Lapis said angrily
The group all went outside with Brock acting as referee "Serena will have the first move" he declared
"Braixen let's go" Serena exclaimed summoning her first Pokémon
"Greninja put her in her place!" Lapis shouted summoning Ash's Greninja
"BEGIN!"
"Braixen use hidden power!"
The fox Pokémon summoned an energy orb and fired it at Greninja
"Dodge and use aerial ace!"
Greninja's speed outmatched Braixen's attack and he launched directly at the fox Pokémon slashing at her.
"I don't understand, Ash already chose Lapis what are they battling for?" Connie asked them
"Clarity" Brock explained "Ash might've made his choice, but Lapis and Serena still haven't put this feud behind them. If Lapis wins, this will be Serena's way of accepting her "defeat" to her, if Serena wins she still won't be able to move on"
"Flamethrower go!"
"Counter with Water shuriken!"
The two Pokémon charged their most powerful attacks and the fire and water collided into a cloud of steam. Once the cloud settled, Lapis took advantage of Serena's lack of focus from the cloud
"Water shuriken, then aerial ace!"
"Counter with flamethrower!"
Braizen was able to fire her move into the water stars and create another steam cloud, but she wasn't quick enough to counter the aerial ace attack directly from Greninja that hit her full force to the ground
"Finish with cut!"
As Braixen struggled to get up, Greninja ended Serena's final chance with a single slash
"Braixen is unable to battle! Greninja and Lapis are the winners!" Brock declared
Serena returned Braixen and fell to her knees, tears forming in her eyes as she stared at the ground. She was suddenly shaded and looked up to see Lapis was standing above her with her hand stretched out
"It's over Serena" she said helping her up to her feet
"I know" she admitted "to be honest, I wanted to lose. I wanted to let it sink in that she beat me fair and square in both this battle and Ash's heart. I'm so sorry Lapis, I don't know if you can ever forgive me-"
"I forgive you Serena, Steven and Ash taught me about forgiveness, I've forgiven the Bismuth that poofed me into the mirror, I've forgiven the Gems for misunderstanding and kept me in there, I've even forgiven Jasper for what she's done to me with the help of Ash. The problem is forgetting what they've done to me. But even after all I've been through, what you've put me through, I still want us to be friends, because Ash still trusts you, and I trust him." She said placing Serena in a hug "friends?"
"Friends" she said returning the hug
"Aw that's so sweet, but I don't think the power of friendship and forgiveness is going to fix what we've broken" Peridot remarked
"Well, the Gems did put us in charge of fixing anything that goes wrong in Beach City while they were gone" Connie spoke up "let's fix it together"
"Well if there's one thing Peridot's are good for its fixing things"
"I guess I can wash away the rubble"
"Do I have to take the dress off? It's actually quite comfortable" James asked
"No James, you can wear the dress still" Brock told him
"Then let's go!" Connie declared leading them back to the car wash.
After it was decided they couldn't fix the neon sign, Peridot and Lapis went to the barn to make a new one while the humans cleaned the rubble. Two days passed, and Serena and Connie wanted to greet the Hems home, while Peridot, Lapis and Pikachu went to the car wash to set up the new sign.
The red ship dropped in front of the barn early in the late morning hours. Still in their costumes, the humans exited the barn to the sight of Ash, Steven, Greg, the Gems and a new small human exit the ship.
"JAMES WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!?" Ash screamed after almost kissing him in his Lapis outfit. "Do I even wanna ask?" He asked upon seeing the others still in their character.
"Should we?" Brock asked upon looking at the human zoo outfits they were wearing
"Wait, Serena!?" Bonnie exclaimed once she recognized her friend
"BONNIE!?" She shouted hugging her
Once Bonnie was introduced to the rest of the Gems and they were all caught up on the events that unfolded at the zoo and back on earth, they began to all walk to the wash to show off Lapis and Peridot's gift to Greg.
"So the Diamonds have Clemont and they're forcing him to do something?" She asked Ash who nodded "and they took your only clothes you had?"
"Yea, guess I've got to find a new outfit" he joked to her
"Well the one I'm wearing is your size, when I get back to my usual outfit you can have this Ash"
"And I believe there is a replica of your outfit in the official Team Rocket disguise kit in your size Bonnie" James told her
As they approached the wash, Lapis ambushed Ash almost immediately with a barrage of welcome back kisses, which he was happy to return.
Bonnie looked at them and then at Serena absolutely shocked. Serena just put her hand on the young girl's shoulder and looked down sadly
"Pika pi!" Pikachu exclaimed jumping into his trainer's hands excitedly.
"It's good to see you to Pikachu," he said removing the party hat from his first Pokémon's face
Peridot then brought out the new sign, it was a large metal statue of both Greg and Ash washing a car together with the name of the wash on the car
"We made it for you, look at it isn't it great?" She arrogantly asked
"I think I, love it!" Greg answered her enthusiastically "that old sign was okay, but this one's got personality!"
"Well, it wasn't much of a mission, but I'd say we pulled it off quite nicely" Connie remarked
"We knew you guys could" Ash thanked the "New Crystal Gems" "so what are we gonna do about Bonnie?"
"She can stay with me and Jamie!" Serena volunteered "if that's alright with you Bonnie"
"I'd like that very much" she said with the enthusiasm that Ash knew.
After Bonnie was made familiar with the other Gems, Serena brought her back to her and Jamie's home.
"Why did Sour Cream text me someone dressed as Ash was battling Lapis on the beach? And who is the child?" The mailman asked returning home from work.
After Serena explained, Jamie gave Bonnie his condolences about Clemont and welcomed her to his home. After dinner, Serena and Bonnie retreated to bed.
"I can't believe Ash chose that blue lady over you" Bonnie pouted as she got under the covers of the bed the girls will be sharing "its just not fair"
"Bonnie, I've been moping about it for the past two weeks I've been in this world. But today, I've learned she really does care about Ash, and he loves her. And I'm not going to get between true love, no matter how much I love him. Today I realized I need to move on and accept that me and him were just not meant to be." She said laying her head on the pillow. "Goodnight Bonnie" she said turning out the lights
"Well I was rooting for you two you know, but at least Lapos seems nice, good night Serena"