I really hope that the website will allow me to upload properly and not from the app like I had to do with the previous chapter. This is why Chapter 61 seems a bit more sloppy. Anyway who else is shook from the Stranded Arc? I'm not gonna spoil anything yet, but I do have a good plan for that storyline that I don't think anyone's expecting. But before we get to that part of Steven Universe, I want to cover a few more voids. I promise I'm not just stalling. *POKEMON AND STEVEN UNIVERSE ARE NOT OWNED BY ME*

"So, she kidnapped you just to say she's got a crush on you?" Steven asked his older brother as they began their walk home from Kevin's house.

"I wish it was just that bud," he solemnly answered, "Blue Diamond wanted me to know my world is now the focus of Homeworld's destruction."

Steven suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, and looked out at the evening sunset over the ocean view with a slight look of hurt in his eyes.

"What's bugging you bud?"

"Huh? Oh it's nothing."

"Come on, you and I both know you can't lie to me. What's troubling you?"

"Well," he started to say looking his brother in the eye, "it's just that you've been here with me and the Gems for so long. I thought you would think of here as your home by now."

What Steven told him, combined with the look of hurt in his eyes, hit him like a truck. He had in the past came across this thought before back when he first began his relationship with Lapis. He had already thought of Steven, the Gems and Lapis as his family and became torn between the thought of returning to the pokemon world to continue his journey, or settle down with Lapis in the Gem's world. But he had no idea that Steven himself had this thought as well.

"Hey bud, you guys truly have become my family. And I'm certain that whatever the future has in store for us, we'll pull through it. Homeworld and Team Rocket won't know what hit em when the two of us take them on side by side. And I know that together we're gonna stop them, but only if do this together as brothers. But no matter what happens, you'll always be my brother Steven."

After they shared a hug together, he patted the younger boy on the back and began to continue their journey back to the Temple. But the path they chose to walk conveniently lead them towards a certain part of town that was home to another of Ash's friends. One that he seriously needed to talk to.

"Hey Steven, do you mind if we stop at Jamie's home on our way back? I seriously need to talk to Serena about something real quick."

Steven gave him an odd look, but eventually agreed and walked beside him as Ash knocked on the front door. It was clear to Steven that Ash was nervous about something.

"Well hello you two" Bonnie excitedly welcomed them after answering the door. When they stepped inside they saw Clemont at the dining room table working on some sort of device.

"Hey Clemont, is Serena here?"

But Clemont seemingly ignored him as he was completely invested in his work. He wore a thick pair of protective goggles and was welding something with a small blowtorch.

"Clemont?" Ash asked once more, and once again he was ignored.

"BIG BROTHER PAY ATTENTION!" Bonnie then screamed at him.

Her scream was finally enough to bring him back to reality, and he jumped up with a shriek. "Oh Ash, Steven, what are you doing here?"

"I just got to talk to Serena. Alone."

"Oh, she's in her room. Working all day will sure tire you out I guess."

Ash slowly walked over towards the guest bedroom Serena shared with Bonnie while Clemont began to explain to Steven what the device he was working on did.

"Who is it?" he heard her ask from behind the door.

"It's me, I need to talk to you in private. Can I come in?"

The door parted slowly and she let him in. But she simply plopped herself back onto her bed and hid her face from him, feeling too ashamed to look him in the eye.

"I just want to make things right." He confessed sitting on the bed next to her.

"Why? I'm the one who ruined everything."

"You didn't ruin anything Serena, I'm the one who laid the groundwork for everything that happened. And what I nearly did to you was completely unfair to both you and Lapis. And for that, I'm truly sorry."

She sat up and hugged him to show her forgiveness, and when she let go it left them in another uncomfortable silence from neither of them knowing what to say.

"It's always hard to let go of someone you love. I guess we both got dumped." she said trying to lighten the mood.

"Jamie likes you." he suddenly blurted out loud.

She looked at him surprised "what?"

"He likes you a lot, and if you want to get over me, I'd recommend you start there." he elaborated further. He truthfully had no idea or reason why he was telling her Jamie's secret, but he had told his thespian mailman friend that if he didn't tell Serena how he felt he would probably tell her for him.

She looked at him and her expression changed from confused to understanding. "Thank you for telling me."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

She pondered her answer, "I don't know. This is too new for me to know how to answer."

"I'm sorry to put that on your shoulders, please just don't tell Jamie I told you this." He told her practically pushing himself out the door. She put on a shy smile and followed him into the living room.

"You ready to go Steven?"

"Sure"

"Just a moment Ash," Clemont told him from his makeshift desk on Jamie's dining room table. "I'd like to get your opinion on something."

"Uh, ok sure."

"As you might recall, I was able to successfully remove Gary's gem shortly after his apprehension. I was wondering if you'd be interested in having your jasper removed as well."

Ash looked at him in thought, he had entertained the thought earlier but hadn't given much further thought. "Maybe later Clemont, Homeworld gave me this gem to cause damage. Well I think I should be using Skinny's gem to fight them. Now come on Steven, it's getting late and Pearl will kill me if you're not home in time for dinner." Despite stating he wanted to keep his gem to fight, Ash knew his intentions were far more selfish, as he just wanted to become Lash one more time the second Lapis returned, whenever that was.

As he and Steven got to the Temple just as the sun set over Beach City, they heard screaming and the smoke alarm going off from the inside. Throwing open the door, they were greeted to the pathetic sight of Amethyst and James attempting to put out a fire in a frying pan.

"QUIT SMACKING IT!" Amethyst screamed at him as he swatted a towel at the flames. "Do it like this!" she told him grabbing the pan and plopping it into her mouth and sucking the flames away as if it were a large lollipop. She then burped a cloud of black smoke with a cheeky smile.

"Guess there goes our dinner plans" Gary joked from the couch.

"And where were you in that carnage?" Ash sarcastically responded.

"It's alright guys, I can just make some grilled cheese." Steven insisted taking over the kitchen. After making grilled cheese sandwiches for everyone, the entire house smelled of the sandwich, and just before they sat down for dinner, Peridot joined them from her home in the bathroom.

"Why is my scent sponge acting up?" she asked to Amethyst's delight

"Grilled cheese, want me to make you one?"

"You know Steven, you're a pretty good chef if you ask me. My friend Cilan actually makes a sandwich just like this, really takes me back." Ash told him while stuffing his face.

"I think you've talked about him before." He said as he prepared Peridot's grilled cheese. "Think we'll get to meet him anytime soon?"

"I'm not sure bud. He, and my friends Iris and Tracey are my last friends to travel with me Arceus hasn't brought here yet. I'm honestly having my doubts they'll ever come. I just hope they're alright."

After dinner and the group watched Dogcopter the movie on Steven's TV, Amethyst and Peridot went back to their rooms, James returned to his chair, and Gary simply rolled out Ash's old sleeping bag onto the floor. Once Pikachu was snuggled up on his lap, Ash wished everyone a goodnight.

Ash awoke to find himself standing in a gorgeous sunset of a beautiful city he recognized as Lumiose City, Clemont and Bonnie's home, of the Kalos region. He along with two others were standing outside the entrance of Prism Tower, home of the Lumiose Gym With Pikachu resting on his shoulder, he turned his head to the left and saw Steven was standing on one side, and to his right unexpectedly was Lars. Now that he realized he was having another vision of the possible future thanks to his aurora, he knew he'd better be taking notes. Noticing the direction Steven, Lars and Pikachu were looking, he followed their shocked gazes towards the front entrance to the gym. Walking outside with horrified looks on their own faces, were Misty and Brock. Following behind them was his normally cold hearted rival from the Sinnoh Region Paul, although he did not express any form of trauma like Misty or Brock, Ash could see the horror in his eyes. Unexpectedly, Bismuth then came from behind Paul with a crudely put together weapon on her arm. Looking down, he saw crusted blood on the bottom of their shoes. When he saw someone walking out the building behind Bismuth, he felt an overwhelming sense of dread. As if his entire world was going to collapse once the last person exited. But before he could see who was about to join them outside, he was awoken by Steven's Cookie Cat alarm clock.

"Is it my turn to make breakfast for everyone?" he heard Steven sleepily ask.

"Sure, I could go for some breakfast." Gary answered.

When he heard Gary's voice, Steven looked at him with an extremely confused look on his face. It then turned to shock when he began to look around the room. "What the? WHERE AM I?"

"What are you talking about Steven?" James asked.

Steven looked over towards James, and his shocked look turned to fear and anger. "Get away from me! What have you done to me?"

"Steven, what the heck are you talking about?" Ash finally asked from below his bed.

At the recognition of Ash's voice, Steven turned towards him and his fear turned to excitement. "Ash?" he asked. He then ran from his bed and hugged him tightly, "thank goodness for this familiar taste to this unfamiliar recipe."

As soon as Steven said this, Ash knew in his heart that he wasn't joking with him. He also knew of only one person in both worlds who talked like this.

"Cilan?"

"Yes! Ash, what's happening? And why are you much taller than me?"

After the other Gems all joined them in the living room, everyone sat down to try and process what was happening.

"I had no idea Steven's dream possession power could affect people from other worlds." Pearl evaluated.

"Well, I mean he was thinking of Cilan before he went to sleep after I told him about you, I guess that's how his power works. Well, I guess we should fill you in on what's going on."

"I'm already aware of what's going on Ash." Cilan in Steven's body told him turning towards them Gems. "Both of our worlds are in danger of an alien attack, you must be the Crystal Gems. I'm Cilan, forgive me for accidentally hijacking your friend."

"How do you know all this already?"

Cilan paused before answering him, but he decided that Ash deserved to know. "I've made a few friends that I've been traveling with in these past few days. One of them happens to have knowledge of Homeworld. I believe you're familiar with her Ash."

Ash felt his blood run cold when Cilan said "her", but he had to be sure. "When you say "her" Cilan, who are you referring to? She wouldn't happen to be a Gem would she?"

"Yes. It's Lapis. She appeared in Striaton City a few days ago, so my brothers and I have been keeping her safe. Last thing I remember we were in the Sinnoh Region trying to find Cynthia, figuring that if anyone could help fight an alien race it'd be her."

But the rest of Cilan's words were blocked out by Ash. Now all he could focus on was the fact Lapis was now in his world with seemingly no other way back. He quickly turned away from the group and fell to his knees with his emotions running high enough to cause him to cry.

"Uh, guys?" James finally asked as Amethyst tried her best to consult Ash. "If he's in Steven's body, where's Steven?"

Steven slowly opened his eyes sleepily, but he instantly felt woken up when he found himself in the unfamiliar tent with two boys lying next to him still sound asleep.

"Oh great, not again." He whispered to himself as he snuck out. Outside the tent he saw two more orange colored tents were set up next to each other surrounding a small fire being tended to by a man wearing a large brown trench coat.

"Morning Cilan," he said despite it still being dark out. Steven realized that he had possessed Ash's friend Cilan.

"Oh yeah, good morning." He answered trying his best to pretend to be the trainer as to not cause suspicion. He sat on the log across him and began to focus on the fire, wondering how he was going to get out of this situation. Then he began to look around the dark forest with the light provided by the fire to appreciate the beauty that was the pokemon world.

"So who are you?" the other man asked.

"What?"

"You can't lie to me my friend, I'm a detective, and it's my job to see through people's lies. You're obviously not Cilan, so who are you? How did you take over his body? And what have you done with the real Cilan?"

Before Steven could answer the intimidating man, the tent he had just been in opened, and the two boys emerged.

"Oh morning Looker, Cilan, what the heck are you guys talking about?" The red haired boy asked.

"This isn't your brother boys. Wake up the others, I think they're gonna have to hear what our new friend has to say." Looker told them.

Chili and Cress looked at each other confused, but simply shrugged and went to the tents. After they all left their tents, Steven was greeted to a face he feared he'd never see again. "LAPIS!?" he screamed running up to her and hugging her tightly. Although he was happy to see her again, he felt a little odd being just as tall if not taller than she was thanks to Cilan.

"Cilan?" she asked completely confused.

"No Lapis, it's me Steven!"

"What?"

Steven sat them all down and explained why he was where he was. As he explained, Lapis felt Zoey jab her in the elbow and moved her eyes towards her lower torso. Her baby bump was beginning to show, and was threatening to expose her secret to Steven. Zoey quickly tossed her orange vest over to her and she wrapped it around her waist.

"How's Ash?" she finally asked him nervously.

Steven honestly didn't want to tell her the truth, but he also knew that she needed to hear it. "He's a mess Lapis. It's almost as if a part of him died the day you left."

She realized this and placed her hands over her face in shame for her actions, Zoey desperately trying to consul her. "What have I done? He must hate me." she cried.

"But he doesn't Lapis," Steven protested. "He's actually glad you weren't there for what happened after you ran."

"What happened?"

"No less than ten minutes after you left, the Aquamarine that attacked us earlier came back with a Team Rocket squad. They gave my dad a heart attack, then after they realized you were gone they took Misty and Brock back to Homeworld."

She looked even more horrified upon hearing this, "What about Peridot and James?"

"They're fine. Everyone else is alright."

"Stop!" Looker suddenly exclaimed in a hushed tone. "Do you hear that?"

Everyone stopped talking and listened closely. A small humming noise was coming from the forest.

"Yeah, I hear it too." Barry noted.

"My calculations determine that the noise is coming from the east, less than five miles away and heading towards us." Conway calculated.

Looker finally realized what was going on. "EVERYONE RUN!" he screamed, "LEAVE EVERYTHING!"

While Cilan was showing off his cooking skills to the others, specifically Amethyst, by making breakfast, Ash sat outside on the deck watching the sun rise. He had followed Connie's advice and had brewed some tea for himself. Although he didn't like tea, he was in desperate need for a way of calming himself down after processing what Cilan had told him.

"Rough morning huh Ashy Boy?" he heard Gary ask from behind him. "Come on, time to open up to your old pal Gary."

"I'm never gonna see her again Gary."

"Tauros shit. I know she's holding out for you."

"You've never even met her, how would you know?"

Gary gave him an annoyed look and pointed down the beach where "I MISS YOU TOO" was just barely legible in the sand "that's all the proof I think I need. Where would you rather she be? In outer space all alone? Or in the Sinnoh Region with people you trust?"

"I'd rather she'd be here getting married together."

Gary sighed, "I can't believe you're the same guy who beat me in the Silver Conference. Look at you man, you're a mess. You heard what your friend said, she's fighting to get back to you. She's still madly in love with you, and the best thing you can do right now is to hold up hope for her. You've got to, what was that stupid thing you'd always say when we were younger?"

He chuckled "never give up till the end."

Gary pulled him into a hug, "that's the spirit! Now come on, breakfast time!"

After going back inside, Cilan in Steven's body, handed him a plate of food piled high with scrambled eggs, sausage and french toast.

"How do we get Steven back? Pearl demanded to know.

"Well, the last time Steven said this happened was with Lars. He told me that they exchanged bodies and they switched back after he focused long enough and that the other person was asleep."

"So I have to be asleep? How will I be able to go to sleep with this knowledge?"

"Already taken care of." Garnet revealed.

Before anyone could ask further questions, the door opened and Greg stepped inside with his Jigglypuff on his shoulder and his guitar in his hand. "Alright, let's get it started." he said tuning his guitar. "You ready Jigglypuff?"

"Jiggly!" his pokemon excitedly proclaimed.

"Hold on a moment" Ash told them. "Cilan, when you return home and find Cynthia, I want you to ask her to train Lapis. Ask her to teach her everything she knows to protect herself. And tell Lapis, that I love her, and I am not going to ever give up on her."

"Understood Ash. Alright, take me home"

"Jiggily Puff. Jiggily" she began to sing with Greg playing alongside her.

"Oh, wait a sec-" Ash tried to protest, but he collapsed from Jiggilypuff's song. Soon after, everyone else followed him and fell to the floor. When she finished singing, Jiggilypuff expected a standing ovation. But puffed up in anger and removed the cap from her microphone and got to work.

The group had ran from their camp through the forest and reached a road sign that read "Oreburgh City five miles".

"Are you sure we lost them?" Zoey asked.

Before anyone could give her a definitive answer, they heard yelling and screaming from down the path.

"How'd they follow us?" Looker asked, "hide!"

The group all ducked into the surrounding wilderness, Steven felt Lapis grab onto his arm tightly as they hid together in a bush.

The humming sound came from the main path, and soon enough a series of floating platforms appeared each carrying a number of Gems. Holly Blue Agate beggan scanning to horizon with her eyes.

"Split up and search!" she commanded.

A number of Quartz soldiers joined her on the ground and began to all walk through the forest. As the Quartzs came closer to their hiding spot, Steven recognized a few of them as "The Famethyst", most specifically the short, red Carnelian. He quickly nudged Lapis and whispered, "We can trust that Carnelian. We have to get them out of here."

Lapis remembered seeing a lake nearby and put all her focus into it. After the Homeworld troops heard the loud splash, they all charged towards the direction of the lake. But before Carnelian could join them, Looker ambushed her and held her down.

"Hey, hey it's alright. Amethyst and Ash are our friends." Steven told her. "You remember them right?"

Carnelian looked at them a bit confused, "yeah, we love those guys. Is this Ash's little "Lappy Wappy" Amethyst told us about?"

Despite Lapis's blush, Steven continued. "Yes, listen, we need your help. Could you please get these guys off our backs?"

Carnelian looked at the group, "Homeworld killed my best friend," she said referring to Skinny, "consider this payback. You got it." After Looker let her go, she ran off setting the rest of her companions up on a wild goose chase.

"Alright," Looker stated, "we should be meeting with Cynthia in the morning if we continue this route. But first things first, how do we get him back to where he belongs?"

"Last time this happened, I had to be asleep."

"How are we gonna get him to sleep after all that?" Cress asked.

"Oh! I've got it!" Barry exclaimed summoning his Roserade. "A quick sleep powder attack will knock him right out."

Looker bent over so Steven could climb on his back, that way they could keep moving without having to stop to wait for Cilan to wake up.

"Wait Steven," Lapis told him. "Before you go, please tell Ash that," she had to pause because she wanted to have him tell Ash the truth about his child. But after hearing how Ash was already taking everything, she decided against it. "Tell him, that I'm so sorry for what I've done to him. Tell him, I'm fighting to come back to him before it's too late. Tell him, I love him with all my heart."

"Will do Lapis. And it's not just Ash who misses you by the way, Peridot is pretty lonely without her best friend, and I miss you a lot too."

She hugged him again, "I miss you all as well. But if Looker is right, Cynthia will have the answers, and I'm positive that I'll be home again soon."

"It was really nice meeting all of you. Alright Barry, I'm ready."

"Roserade, sleep powder!"

After Steven finally passed out, Looker began to march through the forest and lead them towards Mount Coronet with Cilan on his back. Their journey together was just about to come one step closer to being complete.

The Officer Jenny of Sandgem City grunted in pain after the Iron Masked Marauder struck her in the face. "Where are they!?" he demanded.

She answered him by spitting at him, which he responded with another blow to the face. "You think I'm playing games here bitch?"

As Officer Jenny's torture commenced behind them, Jasper, Attila and Hun watched the security footage of when Lapis and her group first escaped them. Jasper's evilly pleased grin returned after she watched her hood fall off to reveal her as Lapis, confirming that she was in fact in Sinnoh.

"That's the punk who set me on fire!" Attila exclaimed pointing at Chili with rage.

"What do we know about them?" Jasper asked.

Hun turned to her "the blond man is from a town called Twinleaf Town off Route 201. But that's all we know."

"Very well, Marauder lay off. We're paying Twinleaf Town a little visit."

"What do you want me to do with her?"

Jasper again smiled, "we can't have anyone talk." She said this as she approached the chair Officer Jenny was strapped down to, and snapped her neck.