I dont have anything to say, so lets just get to it. THIS CHAPTER HAS STRONG LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE IN IT *STEVEN UNIVERSE AND POKEMON AND ITS CHARACTERS ARE NOT OWNED BY BE*
Ash opened his eyes to once again see he was not in his bed, but was instead having another vision, which he knew by now, meant he was about to see something bad happening. Despite expecting to see Clemont being tortured, instead he recognized the place he was standing as the docking bay of Pink Diamond's human zoo. He heard the door open and was greeted to the sight of Holly Blue Agate leading a scrawny, orange gem who was being dragged off by two larger Jaspers.
"Skinny?" he asked recognizing the gem being lead being lead off as the Jasper who helped him rescue Bonnie from the rioting humans at the zoo. Unfortunately, as he wasn't actually there, Skinny couldn't hear him and continued to just stare at her superior with resentment.
"It's rather humorous" Holly Blue commented "as much as i despise you, i think that i am going to miss having you around here, you disgusting off color. I hope that you've said your goodbyes to your companions and that equal abomination of a Carnelian i've seen you socializing with. And since we're probably never going to see each other again "off color" do you have anything to say to me?"
Skinny motioned for her to lean in closer, which Holly Blue complied and leaned in so that Skinny could tell her what she needed to
"Fuck you" Skinny whispered into her ear with a cheeky grin.
Holly Blue looked at her with an angry scowl and sighed in annoyance "oh the Clemont is going to make you suffer. Take this monstrosity away" she ordered the two Jaspers as they began to drag Skinny off onto a Roaming Eye, presumably to the same location Clemont was. That's when Ash woke up.
"Great, just when i get May and Dawn here safely, i've got another friend in trouble" he said aloud waking up both Lapis and Brock.
"Alright pal, let's take it outside" Brock said leading his best friend outside to discuss what was wrong so they wouldn't disturb their other housemates as Lapis went back to sleep.
Brock thought about his response for a moment after Ash explained his relationship to Skinny and how he had been getting visions of events unfolding on Homeworld. "How long have you been having these visions?" he asked
"Ever since things started getting intense. My first vision predicted Malachite. Then I foresaw Clemont getting taken by the Diamonds, now i think Skinny's in danger. I honestly don't know how i can even have them, I don't have any future vision like Garnet does, so i don't understand why i'm able to see these things."
Brock just stared in thought for a few minutes before an idea came to him. "Ash, do you remember our adventure with Lucario at the Tree of Beginning?"
Ash chuckled "of course i do, we all got eaten alive by a tree, you don't just forget something like that"
"Do you remember what Lucario told you? About the similarities between you and his former master before he died?"
"Yeah, he said i had the same aura as Sir Aaron did. You think it might be my aura?"
"I'm not saying it isn't. But i think there's a definite possibility. Ultimately i think that this is your journey to figure this thing out, but i'm willing to bet that it's your aura"
"Thank you Brock" he said taking his best friend in a hug, as he released him, he decided to reveal his secret plan "Brock, i want to tell you something, but Lapis can not know, understand?"
"Of course, what do you need to tell me?"
"I'm going to ask her to marry me in the next couple of days, i'm probably gonna ask her on the beach where we first met. I've been thinking about this for the past month and i now know i want to spend the rest of my life with her. I'm not asking you for your thoughts on it or anything like that, i just thought you should know"
Brock smiled at his friend's maturity "well it's about damn time. Who else knows?"
"Greg, Misty, Jamie, i'm pretty sure he told Serena, and so does Kevin"
"The guy from the drag race who bullies Steven and Connie? You tell that guy but not your best friend?"
"It's not like that at all" he began to say
"Relax, i'm just busting your pokeballs" he said as they reentered the barn
Misty had decided to show May and Dawn around Beach City while Ash decided he needed a cup of coffee. The two friends walked down the beach and saw the Steven, the girls and the Gems on the beach.
"Morning ladies" she addressed the two newest arrivals "great to see you again May, Dawn it's nice to meet you. You girls ready for our little outing?"
"Of course!" Dawn answered enthusiastically for both girls as the three left together.
"You're two friends are kind of creepy" Amethyst told him as she dragged a cooler over to them "last night i went to the kitchen at around three in the morning for a snack, and i saw them outside arguing on the front porch about something. Then when they saw me watching them, they both just stopped in their tracks and just stared at me until i went back to my room"
"They normally don't act like that, and i'm frankly concerned about both of them. I'm just hoping that once they adjust they start acting like they normally do." he then noticed Steven was looking disappointed about something "what's wrong bud?"
"I definitely ordered a pair of khakis from "The Distinguished Boy". They should have arrived by now. I'm a distinguished boy, Ash, don't i deserve some distinguished khakis?"
"Want one of these instead?" Amethyst asked as she opened the cooler and took a can out
"No thanks, Jamie should be here any second now" he said looking at the corner, he then jumped out hoping to jumpscare Jamie "hey mister postman bring me a post!" he shouted with a smile, only to see Jamie still wasn't there. "Still no Jamie, I don't understand. He's usually so punctual"
"I'll get to the bottom of this" Ash said taking out his phone and texting his friend a picture of Steven's disappointed face with the caption, "this is what you're doing to him with your tardiness Jamie" however, he saw that Jamie never even opened it
"Hey, you shouldn't have to waste your whole day for some thing in the mail. Take some of these magic beans to town and trade it for a donut" Amethyst said handing him a can, that's when Ash finally saw she wasn't drinking soda, but was instead drinking cans of black beans.
"You've been drinking beans?" he asked with confusion
"They're good for the heart" she said with a shrug
"Unfortunately, I know from experience that the Big Donut does not accept beans as currency. But, you'd still wait for Jamie while I got us some donuts?"
"Sure. Why not? We'll hold down the fort while you're gone"
"Thanks Amethyst." he said as he lead Ash and Pikachu over to the Big Donut
"No prob! Just bring me back a bear claw!"
"Will do Am!" Ash shouted as they made their way to the store. As they walked, he recognized Sour Cream leaving the building while carrying a stack of fliers
"Morning Sour Cream" he addressed his friend "you putting on a rave tonight?"
"Oh, the fliers. No its Onion. He's been missing for a couple of days now. My Mom and Yellow Dad are starting to get worried. You guys haven't seen him around lately, have you?" he explained handing a flier with a security camera photo of his younger brother Onion stealing a roll of tickets from a Funland game
"Yeah, we saw him at Funland a few days ago, but I haven't seen him since"
"Have you checked his favorite hiding spot in the woods?"
"I'm sure he's fine. If he's anything like me when I was a kid, he's probably, I dunno, raving in a friend's backyard. Anyway, I better hang the rest of these up. Can you make sure Lars, Serena and Sadie get one of these? I wanted to hang one on the Big Donut but it's closed"
"Closed?" Steven asked with disappointed as they both went to the front door, confirming Sour Cream's claim that it was closed.
"They have to be here. I know what you guys are doing. You guys are watching scary movies in the breakroom like you're not suppose be." Steven said as they approached the back door and him trying to open the back door "Open up! I! Want! A! Donut!"
Both men were taken aback by the door suddenly being opened by a woman in a mail carrier uniform "Hey, you boys trying to break in or something?" she asked as Ash recognized her as Sadie's mother Barb
"Barb! Uh, uh. No, I-I was looking for Lars, Serena and Sadie but they're not back here. Uh, how did you get in?" Steven stumbled
"Well, what kind of mother would I be if I didn't make a copy of all my daughter's keys?" she asked as she presented a copy of the key to the Big Donut's back door "I only came over to drop off Sadie's lunch but she wasn't home last night so I figured I'd bring it here. But the place was completely empty. Maybe its some baker's holiday. Certainly not a federal one."
"Sadie never came home last night?"
"Ehhh-She's an adult. Probably just snuck off for another island adventure with her boyfriend"
"That couldn't be, they were going to go to a party together but Lars never showed. And when me and Sadie left, she said she was going home, and Serena walked her home. And now Sour Cream is looking everywhere for Onion. And I was expecting a package today from Jamie but he never delivered it"
"A package? You mean one about 'yay' big, two pounds, maybe 4 ounces?" Barb asked
"My distinguished khakis! Did you see Jamie with them?"
"I did see them this morning. Just before sending him off too... your place" she said with a worried expression
"Maybe Sadie just went home with Serena and spent the night at Jamie's" Ash suggested as they all exited the shop, "me and Steven should check"
"I'll go check doorsteps for piled up packages, then we'll know if anyone else is missing" Barb stated as she began to run in the opposite direction of them "Sadie! Don't worry, Honey! Mama's coming for you, baby girl!" she shouted as she began her search.
The duo made their way towards Jamie's home, where Ash knocked on the door and waited. After a few minutes, Bonnie opened the door.
"Bonnie, is Serena home?"
"No, but i just woke up, i just thought she came home while i was sleeping and then left to go to work" she explained "what's wrong?"
They both decided not to worry her and instead just told her they just needed to talk to her. After confirming that Serena was now amongst the missing, they began to retrace the missing girl's steps from the previous night. They walked down the fork in the road where they were last seen and began to walk the path they had possibly walked. There they saw a pink animal lying down in the bushes, Ash recognized it as Serena's Sylveon.
After Steven found the rest of Serena's pokeballs resting in the bushes, Ash carried Sylveon to the only person he knew could help her.
"BROCK!" he shouted as he barged his way into the dining room of Fishstew Pizza, gently placing Sylveon on an empty table
"KETCHUM!" Kofi scolded him, "what are you doing here!? You know you can't bring those animals into my shop!"
"Kofi, not now, she needs Brock's help!"
By this time, Brock had exited the kitchen and began his analysis of Sylveon with the other Fishstews joined the group at the table "she's partially paralyzed," he explained as he sprayed her with a paralysis heal, "these injuries are frequent with electric type attacks"
"Like from another electric type pokemon?" Steven asked
"Right. And you said the rest of her pokemon were uninjured and still in their balls right? Then i'd bet whoever took them only battled Sylveon, beat her, then took Serena and Sadie, leaving her pokemon behind" he theorized
"So we've got a mystery pokemon trainer kidnapping people" Ash stated after returning the healed Sylveon and handing Serena's pokemon to Steven for safe keeping. After leaving Fishstew Pizza, they continued their search for their missing friends.
"How could a pokemon battle that severe go completely unnoticed?" he asked Steven as they stopped at the outside of Funland. "What do we have to do to get answers?" he angrily shouted
"Ash calm down, it's not like answers are just gonna walk up to us and ask us questions" Steven sarcastically joked
"Are you, My Dad?" they suddenly heard what sounded a little girl ask them.
They both looked down to see a short person, shorter than Peridot, was standing in front of them. She had a bobbed haircut with blue hair, with a matching bow in her hair, she appeared to be wearing a schoolgirl uniform. She had a blue, teardrop shaped gemstone located on her left cheek beneath her eye, giving the illusion that she was crying. But what stood out to Ash the most, was that she had a single pokeball on her belt around her waist.
"Are you, "My Dad"? I need to find "My Dad." she asked as she approached them
"N-No, I- I'm not." Steven mumbled
The small gem then turned to Ash, asking him "are you "My Dad?"
"No"
The gem groaned in annoyance, as she grew a pair of pixie like water wings from her back and flew off.
"WAIT STOP!" Steven shouted as he raced ahead of Ash as they began to chase after her "DON'T LEAVE US WITH ANOTHER ENIGMA!" But their chase was in vain, as when they turned the corner the gem was gone. With both of them knowing they had to tell the Gems, they raced back to the Temple to inform their teammates
As neither of them knew exactly what kind of gem she was, the original gems and Connie, who was at the Temple to continue her sword training when they got there, each took a piece of paper and tried their best at recreating her from their descriptions.
"I think i made one eye bigger than the other" Connie complained about her drawing, reimagining the gem as a kawaii cat girl.
Ash then turned to see Amethyst's who had drawn an oddly shaped, winged, doglike animal. "I was going for a feeling" she claimed
He then looked at Pearl's to see a beautiful, highly detailed image of the gem in a winged pose "honestly i can't even draw a circle" she critiqued herself as they turned to Garnet's final drawing
"Ok Garnet you just drew yourself"
"I like me"
"This was a waste of time. We should be preparing for a fight. Whoever this is, she's from homeworld. She's gotta be here for us." Pearl screamed as she threw her drawing to the ground
"She's not though. She said she's looking for her Dad"
"WHAT?!" the girls all asked at once
"That's right, she just walked up to us, asked us if we were her dad, then just flew off looking really upset after we told her no" Ash explained
"There are all these people missing. Maybe her Dad's gone missing too." Steven concluded
"But Gems don't have Dads!" Pearl interjected
"Yeah, but Lapis has a daddy though!" Amethyst said with a roar of laughter, earning her a smack in the back of the head by Pearl for telling such an inappropriate joke in front of Steven and Connie
"Steven's a Gem and Steven has a Dad" Connie stated, causing an eerie silence as everyone reflected on her words.
"There are no other Gems like Steven" Garnet finally said breaking the silence "We got to get to the bottom of this. We split up and investigate."
Steven gasped "RUBY AND SAPPHIRE!" he shouted with excitement
"Uh, no. I meant split into teams" Garnet immediately shot down his excitement
"Oh right, Garnet with yourself, Pearl with Amethyst, and Connie with me and Ash. Let's go!" Steven dictated as they all split up. Garnet leapt towards the upper mountains surrounding Beach City, while Amethyst and Pearl agreed to search the northern half of the city while the trio would check the south side near the surrounding forest.
"Connie, do you really think there could be others like me? Half humans half Gem?"
"Well, you know more about Gems than I do but it couldn't be impossible. You exist."
"She didn't look half human though. She was blue and had wings like Lapis" Ash said aloud
"Well, what if she's adopted? What if she crash-landed in the big city and she was taken in by a lonely millionaire with a heart of gold" she joked, getting a laugh out of the boys "But one day, he went on a business trip to Beach City, and he never came home"
"I guess I'd watch a movie of that." Steven said through his laughter
"Or read the book. Or neither, 'cause it could be reality, Steven!" she exclaimed placing her hands enthusiastically on his shoulders
"You really think so?"
"I think that's a nice idea" Ash joined the three of them in their fantasy as they entered the woods to search. Steven explained that Onion tended to play alone in this part of the woods
Where is he? Poor Sour Cream missing his brother and Barb missing her daughter and her mailman. And the mailman missing his roommate. And this new gem missing her dad. I know what it's like to have your dad taken away. She must be so scared"
"But you got your, no OUR dad back. And you'll solve this too. We'll solve this, together" Ash reassured him
Steven childishly began searching the inside of a rotten log, getting stuck in the process. As Ash turned to Connie to ask if she could help him get Steven out, but before he could ask her, he saw Connie had found what they were looking for, as the little blue gem was standing on a tree branch above her.
"Guys i found her! She looks just like my drawing. Come on! You don't have to be afraid, we'll help you. Jump down into my arms, my body will break your fall"
"Are you "My Dad?" she asked
"Huh? Uh-uh, no, I'm not your dad, but we can help you find your dad"
"I'm not looking for "Your Dad", I'm looking for "My Dad." I need to find "MY DAD"
Connie and Ash looked at each other a little confused before she continued to try to talk the gem down "well, we'll help you."
"Connie be careful" Ash warned her
Upon hearing Connie's name, the Gem's eyes light up with excitement "Connie? Are you Connie?"
"Yes, I'm Connie. Me "Connie," Connie friend." she said trying to get her to comply
The little gem giggled to herself, sprouting her wings and flew over her in a circle "Topaz! I found one! I found one! I found a Connie!"
Ash felt the earth below him begin to tremble, as the trees began to part to reveal another enormous gem had been hiding in the forest surrounding them. She had a large build with yellow skin, with her hair in a flat top style and two gems on where her ears should be. To his horror, he saw Sadie, Lars, Jamie, Serena and Onion were all trapped inside of the Gem's body. Like the smaller gem, she too had a single pokeball around her waist. The gem began to glow, as Ash realized she was a fusion of two gems that were the same, and the two gems charged towards Connie and fused around her, trapping her with the others.
"Look at those organics squirming around." the smaller gem commented
"LET THEM GO!" Ash shouted as Pikachu jumped in front of them with his cheeks beginning to spark, ready for battle
"Oh look Topaz! Another pokemon trainer! He's much cuter than the one we caught. But beggars can't be choosers" she quirked as she picked up her pokeball and tossed it, revealing her pokemon to be a Vaporeon. Topaz joined the other gem and summoned her pokemon as well, a Magnezone, the same pokemon Serena probably battled before she was taken.
Steven broke free of the log he was trapped in and joined Ash at his side, sensing that it was finally time he had a pokemon battle of his own, and summoned Serena's Braxien to join Pikachu.
Topaz just signaled to her Magnezone to attack, and used electro ball against Braxien.
"Vaporeon use water pulse on the pikachu!"
"Pikachu iron tail on Vaporeon!"
"Braxien use flamethrower on Magnezone!" Steven ordered his borrowed pokemon
Both pokemon obeyed their masters and powerfully struck the Homeworld pokemon, taking the Gems by surprise by how powerful their pokemon truly were.
"Aurora beam Vaporeon!"
"Thunderbolt!"
"Fire Blast!"
Once again, Ash and Steven were able to overpower the Homeworld trainer gems, sending the two pokemon flying. By this time, the smaller gem had had enough
"You're running everything!" she shouted as she removed the bow from her head and stiffened it into a wand. She shot a blue light from the tip of it at the boys and their pokemon, paralyzing them in place and threw them into a tree with enough force to knock Steven unconscious and Ash began to lose his consciousness as he heard the smaller gem monologue to Topaz
"Now, all we need is "My Dad" and we're out of here. Can't believe they wasted an Aquamarine on a job like this. It's so easy you could've done it yourself, Topaz!" she mocked
Ash felt himself losing his consciousness as Aquamarine and Topaz returned their pokemon and retreated into the forest, taking Connie and the others away.
"Serena….. Jamie…" he tried to call to his close friends as he closed his eyes, Pikachu and Braxien desperately trying to keep the boys from collapsing to no avail.