Alright, I am so excited right now. For those who don't know, for two episodes in the Sun and Moon anime, Brock and Misty are coming back on September 14, best birthday present a guy could ask for. Of course that isn't going to affect my story, but I just wanted to share this with anyone who doesn't know. Anyway, Ash is now part Gem with Skinny's Jasper now a part of him, what a twist. Now it's up to him to find Steven and Lars, and get off Homeworld in one piece. There is some language and violence in this chapter.*I DO NOT OWN POKÉMON OR STEVEN UNIVERSE*
Running through the underbelly of Homeworld with his unconscious friend resting on his back sounded worse in his head. In fact, they had been running for nearly an hour before he finally began to feel tired.
"Sceptile, come out!" he shouted as his grass type was released.
Sceptile immediately knew that he wasn't at Beach City anymore and began to look around confused
"I know Sceptile, but don't worry, we'll be getting home as soon as we find Steven and Lars. Please, just carry my friend for me, just for a little bit."
Sceptile gave his trainer a dirty look before he took the burden of Clemont off him, following behind him and Pikachu as they all ran.
"Ash?" he suddenly heard Clemont weakly ask behind them causing him to stop dead in his tracks. "Where are we?"
"We're safe for now, we're in the wastelands of Homeworld"
At that moment, Sceptile and Pikachu both cocked their heads up and turned their attention towards a corner. Ash heard a low, mechanical hum, and an orange light began to turn the corner.
"Ash run!" he heard Clemont faintly scream in Sceptile's arms.
Seeing three cone shaped robots turn the corner, Ash instantly knew he should heed his friend's request and they all began to run away.
"Wait a second, why am i running from these things?" he asked himself as he stopped dead in his tracks and summoned Glalie "USE ICE BEAM!"
After Glalie froze two of the floating robots in their place, causing them both to fall to the ground
and smash. The one he missed he decided to let Pikachu have a turn
"PIKACHU, THUNDERBOLT!" he ordered as the device began to scan him
Pikachu performed his signature attack on the machine, causing it to explode in a cloud of smoke
"We've got to get out of here, that explosion probably gave away our position to any or all shattering robonoids in the area" Clemont decreed
"How'd you know what these things are?"
"Because i built them, and whatever you do don't let them scan you. Those things are designed to scan for gems, if they detect your jasper they'll lock onto it and attack. Fortunately, i was able to give them a fatal flaw-"
"What in the name of Arceus!?" Ash interrupted his friend mid explanation and approached a crumbling, blue structure that he recognized as Blue Diamond's palanquin.
"STEVEN! LARS!" he screamed as he desperately began searching the wreck to no avail.
"Ash, calm down" he heard Clemont weakly say
"NO! I HAVE TO MAKE SURE THEY'RE ALRIGHT!"
"I'm sure they are, they escaped two days ago, if they were killed in the fall or recaptured in the time you were unconscious the Diamonds would've made sure everyone, including me, knew that "Rose Quartz" was dead and since i wasn't notified, nor do i see any bodies, i can assume that they're still out here somewhere. We've just got to find them"
"ASH!" they suddenly heard from behind them
"STEVEN! LARS!" he shouted as he embraced Steven with relief
"What happened!? How did you escape!?"
"Let's just say we have some allies on Homeworld. Are you guys ok?"
"Yeah, i've been worse" Lars commented "after we survived the fall we've been hiding out here for the past couple days eating this box of breath mints i had in my pocket" he explained as he presented a nearly empty tin of breath mints
"We tried to stay as close to the place we last saw you as possible, but we kept getting hunted" Steven explained "worse still, i've felt like we've been watched for awhile now"
"Another gem monster?" Lars asked
"No, Peridot told us that there isn't corruption here, it couldn't be. Think the Diamonds have troops out here?" Ash asked
Before Steven or Clemont could answer them, another bright light appeared as the new group of robonoids scanned them all, Ash saw his chest began to glow as well as Steven's naval, and it fired a laser at the two just as Clemont said they would in their direction.
Steven pushed Lars out of the way while Ash and Sceptile leapt into the air to avoid the blast
"PIKACHU ELECTROBALL!"
Pikachu struck at the group of five robonoids with his attack, destroying two of them as the the remaining three returned to scanning, none of them reacting to Pikachu's attack as the pokemon had no gem to be scanned, but Ash did. Once again, Skinny's jasper glowed on his chest as the robonoid targeted him, but this time he decided to take it out himself with his sword. He swung down his blade to the robotic cone, after impaling it the machine began to spark and emit smoke before he withdrew his blade and leapt back before the robonoid exploded.
"Aw thank you Pearl" he quipped after perfectly recreating the move she had taught him.
After Pikachu and Ash finished off the remaining two robonoids, Steven, Lars and Sceptile, still holding Clemont, left their hiding spot.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Steven shouted with worry at him, embracing him tightly
It was then that he decided to reveal what Clemont and Homeworld did to him, and parted his shirt to reveal Skinny's gem, now belonging to him "she was the Jasper who helped us at the Human Zoo"
Steven gasped and covered his mouth in shock and horror
"Cool piercing" Lars ignorantly remarked
"It's not a piercing Lars!" Ash angrily told him "they killed a gem and put it inside of me!"
Lars's face went pale and looked embarrassed "oh, gosh i'm sorry Ash i had no idea"
He sighed, "it's alright, i just can't believe what's happened in the past couple of hours. Speaking of which, guys, the guy Sceptile is carrying is Clemont"
"The guy the Diamonds kidnapped? Bonnie's older brother?" Steven asked as he began to inspect Clemont, still weakened and limp from Squareidot's electrocution before Topaz saved him.
Clemont gave him a faint chuckle "the one and only, you must be who the Diamonds called Rose Quartz, and i must say you were the bane of my existence with "Rose Quartz" this and "Rose Quartz" that coming from almost every gem i had to talk to"
Steven gave him a shy smile "it's actually Steven, and i'm so sorry that i got you in this situation, if it's any consolation we've kept your sister as safe as possible"
"I'm not angry Steven, I'm just glad Bonnie's alright" he said with an understanding smile, he then turned his attention to Lars "and who are you?"
"Uh, i'm Lars" he awkwardly answered him "sorry about your legs i guess"
"That's right!" Ash suddenly exclaimed "Steven, think you could heal Clemont?"
Steven looked at Clemont's amputations in concerned thought "i have no idea, i've never healed anything this advanced before. I can try though" he said as he spat into his palm with as much saliva as possible and began to rub it onto the stump of his legs and arm.
After a few seconds, Clemont's limbs began to sparkle and glow, but instead of the immediate healing that they were used to, his limbs began to slowly inch their way back to their normal appearance, inch by inch. Clemont looked at them amazed, and despite having gone through so much already, this was the thing that he couldn't comprehend and fainted, still in Sceptile's arms.
"I think he's gonna be just fine" Ash remarked
The familiar hum once again filled the area, and even more robonoids appeared
"Oh come on!" Lars shouted as the devices began to scan the nearby rocks
"Psst" they suddenly heard from what seemed to be the ground. They all looked down to see two sets of eyes and an arm sticking out from a hole underneath a rock large enough for a person to slip under "quickly! Come with us!" The people under the rock ordered
"Wait!" Lars stopped them before they followed the strangers "what if it's a trap?"
Ash had to pause for a minute to process what was happening, what if Lars was right? What if it was a trap? But then again, if it were a trap and they were recaptured by the Diamonds, Zircon could release them again, if they stayed out in the open the robonoids would kill them all, or at least Steven and him.
Deciding to take his chances, Ash immediately set the example for the others and leapt into the hole, Steven, Lars, Pikachu and Sceptile, still carrying Clemont followed and the entrance was quickly covered up before they could be detected.
"You alright Lars?" He heard Steven ask in the darkness of the cave
"Yeah, just some bruises on my butt"
"Thank you" Ash told their rescuers from the ground. Looking up, he saw two faces looking down at them in the darkness
"Don't worry, you're safe now" the face to the left told them
"We're not gonna hurt you" the other face reassured them
"Thank you…." Lars began to thank the two as a red light began to fill the room.
The light revealed that the two people were actually one, well two heads on one body. Ash saw that the two heads looked identical, with red skin and each head had pointed, maroon hair and long, thin necks, which connected to their shared torso.
Lars immediately began to scream at the sight of the gems, who hugged each other with a look of fear as both heads let out a whimper.
"Lars it's alright!" Steven reassured them "thank you for saving us"
"How bizarre, what are they?" the right head asked it's twin
"They certainly don't look like any gems we've ever seen"
"Were you the ones who've been watching us?" Steven suddenly asked
"Yes" the left head said
"We thought you were dangerous, but after seeing you fight those robonoids off we thought we'd, I'd, help you" the right side continued. She then motioned for them to follow "come this way"
The other head motioned as well to follow "this way, come!"
"Guys wait, is this really a good idea?" Lars asked them with worry as the two headed gem began to lead them ahead.
"I think so, they seem different, i think we can trust them" Ash decided
"Uhm, excuse me, but where are you taking us?" Steven asked
"Somewhere, long forgotten"
"Where those who don't belong, belong"
"Sounds like my kind of place, you wouldn't happen to have any fast food joints around there would you?" Lars asked clutching his stomach
While Steven and Lars followed the two headed mystery gem through the cavern, Ash had stayed to the rear walking alongside Sceptile and Clemont, who had finally woken up.
"I've never seen a two headed one before" Ash whispered to his handicapped friend "she your work?"
"No, but I did hear whispers of "different gems" hiding in the bowels of Homeworld. I guess our gemini friend over there proved the rumors right"
"What do you mean "different gems?"
"Like the underweight Jasper you inherited. They're, what did the rest of the gems call them? "Off colors?"
Ash then saw Clemont's legs had only halfway healed, he could see the bones were continuing their regeneration as the muscle tissues slowly reconnected around them. But despite the, slow healing, Clemont still looked to be in great pain.
The gem eventually lead the boys to the end of the tunnel to a large system of caves with millions of holes lining the walls.
"What is this place?" Lars asked
"It's a kindergarten, a really, really big one"
After the duo lead them into the center of the cavern, the right head whistled to someone in the shadows "we're back!"
"Here we are! It's okay to come out!" the left head announced
There was a rustling from the inside of one of the holes in the lower wall on the other side of the cavern, and another gem exited it looking around nervously. She had red skin similar to the two headed gem and a head of curly black hair, along with two sets of eyes with a pointed nose similar to Pearl's, four arms, and two gems, one on her chest and one on her naval, indicating that she was a fusion. Her appearance reminded Ash of a clown of some sort.
"Oh thank goodness, I hope you weren't followed, you weren't followed right? I hope you double checked" the fusion asked. "YOU'VE BEEN FOLLOWED!" she screamed in a whiny voice with a look of pure fear on her face after she noticed the boys and pokemon
"Uh, hi, and it's alright, we're not a threat or anything" Steven spoke for the group
"It's okay Rhodonite" the left head told the fusion "they're the one's we told you we saw earlier. We brought them here"
The fusion Rhodonite cautiously approached them, standing close to the conjoined gem "can we trust them?"
"I think so" the right head answered her with a smile
"EVERYONE!" a new gem excitedly shouted as she made her presence known, causing both Lars and Sceptile to jump back with surprise. She was as tall as Steven was, with tan hair and bangs that hid her eyes. She wore a gown that was colored several shades of orange, shoulder pads and gloves. "A wondrous prediction has come before me! The twins of Rutile will bring three, no four, strangers to our place of hiding!"
"We know Padparadscha, your prediction already happened" Rhodonite told her
"We found them being chased by some of those awful robonoids" the left Rutile explained to the group
"Don't tell me you tried to fight those things?" Rhodonite asked with worry
"No, no of course not. They were about to be scanned when we pulled them under, we were just in time"
"Let. Me. See." everyone suddenly heard a slow, loud voice say from behind them, turning around, they were greeted to the sight of an enormous gem towering above them. Her appearance resembled a Caterpie with multiple legs and a series of segments, Ash saw at least six different gems on her body.
Lars was taken aback by her intimidating size and jumped back screaming, but the large gem didn't seem to take offense to it "They. Don't. Look. Like. Gems." she slowly stated
"That's what i said!" the left Rutile retorted
"I said the same thing" the right one also said
"Hi, i'm Steven" he introduced himself "I'm a gem. Well, half gem. And these are my friends Ash, Lars and Clemont, they're all human"
"Not anymore i'm not" Ash stated in a defeated tone
Steven gave him a look of empathy "i'm sorry Ash, i totally forgot"
"That's. Why. you. Look. So. Unusual" the largest gem said
"WE LOOK UNUSUAL!?" Lars screamed, still on the ground
"Of course you do!" Rhodonite told him "you can't just walk around the surface like that! You're off color, just like the rest of us"
"What do you mean by, "off color?" Steven asked, having never fully understood the term
"You know, wrong" right Rutile answered him
"Not right" the left one joined her
"Flawed" the right finished, turning to her twin for support
"Wait, i don't see anything wrong with you guys" Steven told them
"Gems. Like. Us. Aren't. Needed" the large gem told him "Padparadscha. Can. Only. Predict. Things. That. Just. Happened."
"Here comes Fluorite!" the small gem said, finally giving the large gem a name
"And a fusion like me, is unforgivable" Rhodonite said, "When my, our, Morganite found out, let's just say we were replaced. But my stories nothing! I mean Fluorite, how many gems are you now?"
"Six. Maybe. More. If. We. Meet. The. Right. Gem."
"And then there's us" Rutile finished
"Wait, you're not a fusion?" Ash asked them
"We're just a Rutile that came out wrong"
"We survived because all the other Rutiles ran away when we emerged"
"We survived, because they were afraid of us"
"Afraid of you?" Lars asked, "so you've been hiding your whole lives? What happens if they find you?"
"We'll all be…" Rutile began to say
"Shattered" Padparadscha finished her sentence
After a brief moment of silence, a familiar humming sound came from the end of the cavern, and a collection of shattering robonoids appeared
"Oh no! You WERE followed! They're gonna find us! They're gonna break us!" Rhodonite panicked
"This is all our fault!" Steven exclaimed "if it weren't for us you guys would be fine!"
"We couldn't just leave you there! We had to do something!" Rutile told him
"Everyone hide!" Ash finally took charge and commanded everyone. Everybody scattered as Ash, Pikachu, Sceptile and Clemont hid in a large hole
"Sceptile, you're gonna have to guard Ash as well" Clemont told the pokemon carrying him, knowing what his invention was capable of.
But even before Sceptile could move in front of the hole to block it, Ash saw something follow the pack of robonoids into the cavern.
"Oh no" he said as he recognized May and Dawn marching into the cavern, making sure to keep their distance from the machines as they began to scan the walls. But to his horror, they found something in the wall.
"On your feet off colors" May told the Rutile twins as she dragged them out of the hole they tried to hide in.
"Listen to me," Dawn told them in a patient tone "I don't care if you're off color or not, but there are four fugitives of the diamonds hiding somewhere down here, and we'll make you a deal, tell us where to find them and we'll let you both go"
The left Rutile just starred in contempt as the right one was lost in thought, before she could answer, Ash decided he'd jump into action to save her, but someone else beat him to it.
Lars ran from his hiding space armed with a large rock towards them, screaming like a madman. Both May and Dawn looked unphased by his attack and just stood in place, allowing the robonoids to do their job for them. Before they could continue interrogating the two Rutiles, Ash joined Lars in battle.
Lars swung the rock towards the two robonoids above them, and then shielded Ash from their scan with his body. "Me and Steven will take care of the robots, you take care of those girls"
While Lars and Steven charged the robonoids, Ash drew both his sword and Greninja's pokeball while attacking his former friends
"Hello again Ash" May addressed him, summoning both her spear and Blaziken's pokeball, Dawn also summoned Mamoswine's pokeball and her whip.
"Blaziken, blaze kick!"
"Mamoswine, ice shard!"
"Greninja use aerial ace!"
But he had no idea how the battle between the three pokemon went, as May and Dawn both ambushed him at once, fusing into Coordinated Opal and firing an arrow of light at him. Ash leapt into the air to avoid the shot and collided his blade with her bow.
"I never thought it would come to this Ash" Coordinated Opal told him as she continued to apply pressure to her bow. "I hate every part of this. And let me tell you, stabbing your girlfriend was the most difficult thing May has ever done. But like you said, you'd do the same thing if you were in our shoes"
Ash finally was able to break away from their standoff, robonoids exploding from Steven and Lars fighting them in the other side of the cavern.
"I'm already in your shoes! The threat of the Diamonds looms over my head every single day! Both our world and the Gems are constantly at risk of invasion. The person who tormented my soul mate is now free to whatever she wants and is going after her again. My family, both my families are at risk. But I never gave into the Diamonds threats!"
Coordinated Opal fired yet another arrow at him, which he narrowly avoided. It was then he noticed that Greninja, Blaziken, and Mamoswine had stopped fighting all together and just watched the chaos with heartbroken faces. Bring him back to reality, and knowing that he needed to reach down into them to get his friends back.
"May, Dawn, Opal, whoever you are. The people I know are still in there somewhere, and those trainers are still capable of making the right decision. Your pokemon seem to have made it, are you guys?"
Opal stopped herself in her tracks in thought, looking from the pokemon and back at Ash, before she turned around and fired her already drawn arrow at one of the robonoids above Steven and Lars.
"I think I can" she said as she embraced her friend. As the two held each other. Ash immediately felt what was happening when he felt the bond between May, Dawn and himself return and a bright light encircled them.
As the fusion opened its eyes, it was just in time to see Lars able to push Padparadscha, who seemed to have come out of hiding for some reason, out of the way to safety.
"Ok I think that's the coolest thing I think I've ever done in my life" Lars said on the ground, partially in shock from his incredible feat of selflessness
The remaining robonoids locked onto Steven and prepared to fire, so the three way fusion arched Coordinated Opal's arrow back, this time the light arrow's tip was lit by a blue flame, the part that was Ash and May recognized it as Ash's aurora in action. And at that point the fusion instantly knew what gem they were, Fire Opal.
After Fire Opal destroyed the two locked onto Steven, it left only three more machines to go. Thankfully Steven found that his shield could reflect the robonoids blasts and used his newfound power to destroy two of them, leaving Lars to deal with the final one.
"The shield is reflective!" Padparadscha "predicted"
Lars took his chance and leapt onto the last robonoid's back, causing it to lift off the ground in a blind attempt to shake him off
"Lars, get down so I can get a clean shot!" Fire Opal commanded as she locked onto the robonoid, waiting for their opportunity to fire.
"EAT THIS!" Lars exclaimed as he jabbed a sharpened rock into the eye of the machine, causing it to explode. The force from the machine explosion propelled Lars directly into the pillar in the center of the cavern, and Fire Opal heard a loud cracking noise as he struck the side of it. He then fell face first what could only be three stories directing to the ground.
"LARS!" Both Steven and Fire Opal screamed, running towards their friend. The sheer amount of fear and worry from Ash overcame Fire Opal, and she defused back into the three trainers.
With the danger gone, the off colors and pokemon all joined the group, everyone else celebrating and raving the incredible heroics they just witnessed, not understanding what just happened to Lars. But the cheers fell silent when they saw him.
Sceptile approached Lars, Clemont still in his arms. Clemont felt Lars's neck and confirmed what Ash already knew.
"I'm so sorry, but he's dead"