Well i've quit my job. Just wanted to get that off my chest because i absolutely despised the shitheads i sold hours of my human life to to serve. Im on good terms with my coworkers though i just hated the customers. Sorry for ranting, let's get to this next chapter *I DO NOT OWN STEVEN UNIVERSE, POKEMON OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS*
"Have a seat my boy" Giovanni requested as he took his own seat at the table.
May and Dawn released Ash as he reluctantly sat down with him in the other chair. A black colored Pearl with her Gem located on her throat entered the room and presented a plate in front of the two, Ash saw that it was a steak dinner.
"Thank you Pearl, that will be all" Giovanni told her as he clapped twice
The Black Pearl curtseyed for her master and exited
"I trust you enjoy your steak cooked medium rare my friend" he said as he began to eat "let me just say, that it is truly an honor to meet you great Chosen One. oh where are my manners? You probably know me, my name is Giovanni, may i get yours?"
"Ash"
The leader of Team Rocket began to choke on his steak as he laughed, "oh goodness" he finally said after taking a few sips of water "i'm sorry but, the whole "thus the world will turn to ash" part of the prophecy, and your name is Ash? That is quite the humorous coincidence i tell you what"
"Where did they take my friends?" Ash asked with resentment
"Oh yes, the magnificent Rose Quartz and the other human that the Aquamarine told us about. I'm not certain whether the other human is going to go to the zoo, or to the Clemont's lab, that's going to be for us to decide on. You of course i know are going to the Clemont. After the trail of course."
"What trial?"
"The trail of Rose Quartz of course!" Giovanni finally rose his voice. "Rose Quartz is going to be put on trial by Yellow and Blue Diamond for the grand crime of shattering Pink Diamond. Your appointment with Clemont is being delayed on account that the Zircon's might require you as a witness. I must say, from everything i was told by the Diamonds about Rose Quartz i was expecting a mighty warrior, not a little fat kid. But what's done is done i suppose." he ended with a chuckle
"What did you mean by "my appointment with Clemont"? What is he going to do to me!?" he asked, his nervousness being clear
Giovanni once again laughed "well to tell you the truth Ash, the Diamonds are scared of you. And when a businessman like me, when you're scared of something, you change it to fit your strategic needs" he said intimidatingly "the boy Clemont is truly a genius. From what the Diamonds told me, they tried and failed to make use of shattered gems, but the boy was able to find a way to create fine soldiers like the ladies standing behind you so quickly it's almost astonishing" he said referring to May and Dawn "then again if Clemont truly didn't know what he was doing, i never would've gone under the knife myself"
Ash looked at him in horror as he began to remove his suit jacket and unbutton his white, collared undershirt to reveal a single, jagged shard of a pink diamond were embalmed into his bare chest. It was then that he knew what they were planning to do with him, they were going to force Clemont to turn him into a half gem soldier and somehow get him to serve Homeworld.
"May, Dawn, please come over here to give our friend here a taste of what's to come" Giovanni ordered the girls as he put his shirt back on. "Just watch my boy it's quite astonishing"
May and Dawn reluctantly approached the center of the room and both bowed before each other before spreading apart. May did a pirouette as Dawn jumped into the air in the air in a twirl, then leapt into May's arms as the two girls began to glow together. The fusion that stood before him resembled Opal as May had a pearl and Dawn had an amethyst. She had the familiar two arms and slim body and long hair, but that was where the similarities between the Opal he knew and "Coordinated Opal" as Ash decided to name the May/Dawn fusion ended. Her hair was May's brown with a deep blue tips from Dawn while both the gems shared a spot on her chest. Because the two were half gems, she only stood at around seven feet tall. The top of her dress was red while the bottom was navy blue and had a white belt around her waist.
"Bravo, bravo" Giovanni applauded at the fusion "now be a dear and bring our friend to his analysis in the laboratory"
Coordinated Opal approached Ash and placed a set of restraints around his wrists "i'm sorry" she once again whispered to him as she locked them
"I'd probably do the same if i were in your shoes" he whispered back to her as she began to lead him out of the room
"STOP!" they all heard a female voice scream as a new gem Ash had never seen before ran through the door with an extremely nervous face and sounding out of breath. She had blue, crescent shaped hair, with a padded shirt and a monocle. "This human is a key witness for Rose Quartz's defense, and i will NOT have you leading him" she said grabbing him and walking out of the turned back to face Coordinated Opal and Giovanni one final time as the door closed.
"Thank you" he told the new gem as she unlocked his cuffs
As soon as the cuffs were off and they were far enough away from Giovanni's quarters, every ounce of the blue gem's confidence left her as she gasped in relief and panted heavily as if she had just ran a marathon.
"You alright?"
"NO I'M NOT ALRIGHT!" she screamed in a panicky tone as she lead him to a room "this is ridiculous, four thousand years of loyal service to the court and this is how they repay me? Oh i've got to be the unluckiest Zircon in the galaxy!" she said entering the empty room that held Steven
"ASH!" he exclaimed as he hugged him with concern "where are Lars and Pikachu?"
"Pikachu is with Clemont i think, but i thought Lars was with you"
The Blue Zircon began to examine Steven with confusion "wait, you're Rose Quartz?"
"Yeah. it's a long story"
"Then i don't have time for it! We've only this brief moment to prepare your case"
"Case?"
"Ugh! Who am I kidding? This is pointless! Allegedly shattering Pink Diamond in front of her entire entourage? And look at you now! That ridiculous disguise is only going to make you look more guilty!" she groaned in defeat
"Well that's fine, because i am!" Steven shouted back at her
"Well, don't say that! Especially when you're out there!" she responded
"Out where?! What's going to happen?!" Ash demanded from her
"What do you THINK is going to happen "O Chosen One!?" as soon as THAT door opens, Rose Quartz is going on trial!" as soon as she finished her sentence, the door opened as promised "oh my stars, here we go" she said as she lead the two into a large, empty room with the floor being illuminated by three diamond shaped lights that were colored white, blue and yellow.
Another new gem appeared before the trio with a smug face. She wore a padded shirt and monocle similar to their Zircon lawyer except she was yellow. "Defending a rebel, isn't that treason?" she arrogantly asked
"I WAS ASSIGNED TO THIS!" Blue Zircon angrily reacted
Two spotlights appeared before them, standing before the four were now Yellow and Blue Pearl
"All rise for the luminous Yellow Diamond!" Yellow Pearl excitedly proclaimed loudly for them
"And the lustrous Blue Diamond" Blue Pearl quietly bowed before them.
A much larger light flashed behind the Pearls as Yellow and Blue Diamond made their presence. Blue Diamond's head rested on Yellow's shoulder before she broke from her sister's comforting grip as they both looked down intimidatingly while both Zircons saluted their leaders.
"Where is, the accused?" Blue Diamond asked looking around confused
"Is THAT Rose Quartz?" Yellow asked "Look at this hideous form she's taken. Forget the trial. We should shatter her just for looking like that!"
"No" Blue Diamond protested "I want to hear her make her case. I want to know what she thinks we're going to do with her. Because I want to do something worse"
"Fine" Yellow Diamond gave in and summoned two thrones for the two of them. "Let's just get on with it, shall we?" then she finally noticed Ash standing with them "what is that?"
Blue Zircon began to try to explain Ash's presence, he placed his hand on her shoulder to silence her, causing her to blush from the sudden attention as he got as close as he could to the seated Diamonds, Yellow looking down at him in annoyance while Blue Diamond looked intrigued about what he was about to say.
"You already know who i am" he said as he recalled what Giovanni told him "i'm the person you're scared of. I am the ash the world turns to. I am the chosen one of the Shamouti Prophecy who can stop you. I am Ash"
Yellow Diamond balled her fist as her face went from annoyance to rage "GET THIS ORGANIC OUT OF HERE AND TO THE CLEMONT WHERE HE BELONGS!" she screamed with absolute fury.
"Yellow stop" Blue Diamond pleaded "there must be a reason why the Zircon brought him to us for the trail, and the Zircons deserve to testify fairly" she stubbornly told her sister as she to sat, Ash took notice that she was looking at him with interest the entire time "you may proceed. The prosecutor has the floor"
"Thank you" Yellow Zircon said "My Diamond. My brilliant, opulent, radiant, glimmering-"
"My Daimond" will suffice, or we'll never get through this."
Yellow Zircon cleared her throat to correct herself "Of course, My Diamond. Rose Quartz committed a crime so unprecedented that one can't help but wonder, "Why"? Exhibit A" she snapped her fingers as another light appeared, bringing a terrified Lars to the courtroom
"GUYS! Where are we!? Who are these giant ladies!?" he screamed as Yellow Zircon bubbled his head to muffle out his dismay
"As we can see from this specimen, humans are loud, absolutely hideous creatures that serve no purpose whatsoever. What sort of Gem would turn on her own kind for this? I'll tell you what kind, a that kind" she said pointing at Steven
"Just let him go! He's got nothing to do with this!" Steven pleaded on Lars's behalf
"There it is! The passion, the fury, that caused the diabolical Rose Quartz to shatter her own Diamond! But I know what you're thinking, "This thing doesn't look like a Rose Quartz". And for that, I'd like to call an eyewitness!"
A podium began to rise before them, as they saw a familiar Ruby.
"Eyeball!" Steven said excited to see her alright following their last encounter
"Do not address me war criminal!" she scolded him "and I heard it straight from her. She said, "I'm the mighty Rose Quartz! I've got her shield and everything!" And then she threw me into space!"
"Only after YOU stabbed me and then tried to kill him!" Ash interrupted her
"Silence!" Yellow Diamond decreed
"I tried to help you! I healed your gem!"
"And who else has the ability to heal gems other than the villainous Rose Quartz?!" Eyeball again accused as the podium she was standing on dissapeared
"How is this a fair trial anyhow? The people who were wronged are the judge, jury and executioners, the lawyer and prosecutor works for you, and the witness is giving false information under oath!" he ranted
"This isn't a fair trial, you have no rights, and you've already been found guilty, this trial is to decide how to punish Rose Quartz" Yellow angrily told him "in fact, i think we've heard enough, time to execute"
"Not yet, the defense still has to speak" Blue Diamond unexpectedly defended them, in fact Ash had noticed Blue Diamond had defended them everytime Yellow tried to cut the trial short, almost as if she were on their side.
"Right!" Blue Zircon mumbled as she began to sweat nervously Well uh, before I start my very... uh, thought out defense, I'd like to remind the court that Rose Quartz did turn herself in"
"The court remembers, and the court does not care."
"Uh, of course! Uh, in-innocent! Uh, the word innocent can mean, oh-many things."
"I did it!" Steven loudly stated, taking everyone, even the Diamonds, off guard
"Wha-what? No stop!" Blue Zircon protested
"No! I want to hear what she has to say" Blue Diamond said as she brought Steven up her height
"Get us out of here Ash!" Lars shouted to him, but his shout sounded like a whisper as he was still in the bubble.
"State your name for the record, please!" Yellow Pearl demanded
"I, um... I'm Rose Quartz. And I'm guilty" he sheepishly answered her while pulling up his shirt to reveal his gem
"No don't say that" Ash heard Blue Zircon whimper next to him
"Everything you guys said I did, I did. And I did it by myself. And I'm sorry. I'll accept any punishment you want to give me." he then pointed at Ash and Lars "Just let him go! And leave both our Earth's alone"
Yellow Diamond chuckled "Sounds like a solid confession to me!"
But Blue Diamond just looked at him as if she didn't believe him "how? How did you do it? How did you shatter Pink Diamond?" she said looming in on him
"Um...well. I did it on Earth, in front of Pink Diamond's palanquin. I was probably like, "Stop!" and she was all like "No!" So we fought-I think. And she probably did some cool moves. I probably did some cool moves too, some jump kicks and stuff. But I was most likely deeply conflicted about deciding to shatter her. Definitely crying. I probably had to use the Breaking Point to do it." he said, Ash recognizing the name of Bismuth's final solution
"IT WAS A SWORD!" Blue Diamond screamed with hurt in her voice and covering her eyes as she cried. A blue light emitted from her body all of a sudden, covering everyone and caused everyone to begin to cry Blue Diamond's tears, Ash felt an overwhelming cold rush through his body as the tears flowed down his cheeks. "You... shattered her... with a sword"
Yellow Diamond stood up and comforted her sister "That's quite enough testimony from you! We shall take a short recess"
Blue Zircon lead Steven to another room as Ash and Lars were both taken to another together.
"I'll, i'll get you both after the recess is over" Zircon stumbled through her words as she dropped them off.
"What are they gonna do to us Ash?" Lars asked as he struggled to pop the bubble around his head
"They're gonna do to me what they did to those girls that brought us here, try to turn me into a soldier like them. Chances are with you, you're either gonna be made into a test subject, or you're gonna be put into a human zoo."
"What about Steven?" he somberly asked
"I…." he said as he desperately tried to hold back tears "i think they're gonna kill him no matter what. You heard her, this isn't a fair trial, no matter how good Zircon defends us they're gonna execute him. Our only hope is probably gonna be Blue Diamond, she seems to be the more understanding than Yellow. I think we shoul-" but before he could finish his sentence, they were both engulfed by another light and were once again standing in the courtroom before the Diamonds.
"What?! Huh?!" Lars exclaimed from his bubble
"It's indisputable that as the Diamond overseeing Earth, Pink was Rose Quartz's enemy. Rose had everything to gain by shattering her. But even though she may have wanted to shatter Pink Diamond, could she? Blue Diamond, for the purpose of this argument, may I present your palanquin?" Blue Zircon asked.
"Is this necessary?" Yellow Diamond asked with annoyance
"Isn't it?" Blue Diamond answered her with a wave of her arm, summoning her blue palanquin "Please, proceed" she politely requested from the defense
"Now, as the records show Pink Diamond was shattered just outside a palanquin much like this. Witnesses say Pink had just stepped out and had only taken a few steps forward when Rose attacked her from the front!" she said standing in front of the throne and reenacting the murder with a stabbing motion
Blue Diamond again placed her hands to her head, not being able to bare the thought as Yellow looked on with concern
"But the question no one seems to be asking is, "how?"
"I've been asking that question"
"A-a-a-and right you are to ask, My Diamond! B-because at that time that Pink was shattered, Rose Quartz had been a recognized threat for several hundred years. There were no Rose Quartz soldiers in her entourage and none in her guard. So how did a Rose Quartz, with no business being anywhere near Pink Diamond, get so close in the first place? Where were Pink Diamond's attendants? Her Agates, Her Sapphires? And where was her Pearl?"
Yellow Diamond slammed her fists down with rage "THEY WERE WITH HER OF COURSE THEY SAW THE WHOLE THING!"
Ash then began to get Zircon's point, if Pink Diamond was shattered by Rose, how did she get so close to her? How did she shatter her? And if what Zircon was saying was true and Pink Diamond had a posse who saw the whole thing, why was Eyeball the only witness questioned? More enough, Eyeball claimed to have seen the entire slaying herself the last time he saw her on the moon, so why did they only ask her to identify Steven as Rose? He then remembered something that Cilan had told him once when he proclaimed himself as a "gem connoisseur" that a Diamond was naturally indestructible and the only thing that can break a diamond, was another diamond.
"But none of them saw Rose Quartz approach? Wouldn't her Sapphires have seen Rose Quartz coming? Wouldn't her Agates have tried to fight her off?" she continued
"She must have slipped past them!" Yellow confronted as if she were defending herself
"Even if she did, wouldn't her Pearl have cried out an alarm, "Watch out, My Diamond!" she dramatically mimicked "No, whoever did this was already close to Pink Diamond. Someone her guards would allow to get near her, someone she would listen to when asked to stop her palanquin and step outside, and someone with the authority to cover it up afterwards! Someone with supreme authority…" a look of realization and shock appeared on her face as she turned to face them "Someone... like one of you!" she accused and pointed one finger from each hand at them
Blue Diamond gasped at the sudden accusation, Ash looked up at her to see that she was genuinely surprised, but Yellow Diamond just looked down at them all with an austere look as she stood up.
"Uh, disregard that last statement! I might have gotten carried away!" Blue Zircon pleaded extremely nervously as she backed up, but her plea fell on deaf ears, as Yellow Diamond crushed her with her finger, poofing the blue gem into a cloud of blue smoke
"ZIRCON!" Ash screamed
"Case closed, right My Diamond?" Yellow Zircon arrogantly asked, but even one of her own subjects wasn't spared from Yellow Diamond's wrath as she tossed a stream of electricity directly at her, causing her loyal gem to be poofed
It was then that Ash finally realized, "Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice or lightning, lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash. Though the water's great guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, alone its song will fail, and thus the earth shall turn to ash. O Chosen One, into thine hands bring together all three. Their treasures combined tame the Beast of the Sea." he saw Yellow Diamond's lightning attack meant that she was the lightning, and Blue Diamond's cold demeanor and the fold sensation she made him feel indicated her to be ice, although he had no idea who the fire would be.
"Yellow, stop it! Why are you doing this?" Blue Diamond demanded from her sister.
Steven snuck over to Ash and Lars, freeing him from his bubble. "Now's our chance, lets go!" he said as he lead Lars to Blue Diamond's palanquin "Ash, come on!"
But Ash couldn't go yet, Clemont, Pikachu and the rest of his pokemon were still the Diamond's prisoners, not only that, Blue Zircon was still poofed and was a sitting Ducklett to Yellow Diamond's fury. He broke away from Steven and Lars and lunged to grab the blue gem in a protective manner.
"Let's shatter Rose Quartz and be done with it!" Yellow shouted at Blue, neither of them noticing the pokemon trainer.
"Can't you restrain yourself?!"
"BUT THIS IS POINTLESS!"
"NO IT'S NOT!"
Suddenly, the palanquin rumbled, and began to turn on, Ash turned his head to see Steven and Lars were struggling to pilot it. The machine leapt into the air, and straight through the window, leaving him completely alone with the Diamonds.
"You!" Yellow shouted down at him, he hand once again began to charge and fired another electric current in his direction. Ash braced himself for the end, but the next thing he knew, a large, blue bubble and engulfed him.
"Yellow that's quite enough!" Blue Diamond insisted as she sent Ash's bubble off, rendering everything to darkness.
When he finally came to, he found himself in a dark, cramped room that he assumed was a prison cell, Blue Zircon's gem still in his possession.
"PIKA-PI!" he suddenly heard from across the cell, and from out of the darkness, Pikachu jumped into his trainer's arms.
"Oh thank Arceus" he remarked seeing his best friend was unhurt and began petting him on the head
"Hey Ash" he suddenly heard a familiar, female voice address him from across the cell as well step out of the shadows
"Skinny?" he asked the off color Jasper he had befriended on the human zoo, "where the hell are we?"
Skinny sheepishly approached him, he saw just how weak she was as she sat down next to him, and rested his head on his shoulder for support
"We're in hell" she said through her pain
The door suddenly opened, and Ash saw Blue Pearl enter the cell
"Blue Diamond requests your company, Chosen One" she softly requested as she gestured for him to follow her, "bring the Zircon"
Trusting Pikachu with Skinny, Ash took a deep breath and followed Blue Pearl to finally get to speak with Blue Diamond.