I'm still going through a lot at this moment in time, but here I go, still fighting the good fight. So before you ask, yes Looker and Hessonite are both dead. Anyway, who caught those toy leaks yet? I'm not gonna lie, a Ruby and Sapphire wedding is everything I could ask for and more. Well, maybe not more, but you get the idea. Who knows, I might even make it a double wedding between Ruby and Sapphire, and Ash and Lapis. Or I might even skip the hiatus between the episode, if it even is coming, to do my own version of it. Speaking of weddings, here we go. *POKEMON AND STEVEN UNIVERSE ARE NOT OWNED BY ME.*
"Cheers!" James exclaimed standing up from his table at Professor Oak's ranch following his toast. "Here's to Mr and Mrs Ketchum!"
"Here, here!" everyone else at the many tables that littered the ranch cheered.
Amid the applause, Ash looked around at his many friends and family that were in attendance. At the tables sat all of his friends and former rivals who he shared his journey with, in addition to the Gems he had befriended on the Gem's world. On a small stage parallel to the audience, Sadie Killer and the Suspects were preparing their next song for after the toasts. His attention turned to the people sitting at the long table he sat in the center of. On his right were his mother, Brock, Misty, Lars, Jamie and Kevin. Towards his left, sat Steven, Greg, Serena, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, and sitting directly next to him on his left, was Lapis. She held his arm tightly in her beautiful wedding gown as they both listened to the congratulations and toast of their guests, he looked down to see her enlarged stomach and gave her a bittersweet smile.
"I've known Ash Ketchum for only a little bit" Looker said standing from his table and raising his champagne glass in the air. "But he has proven time and time again that he is the most selfless, and caring individual I've ever had the pleasure of working alongside." his happy face changed to being lost. "A shame I'll never get to see this in real life." he suddenly said in a monotone tone.
Before Ash could ask what his friend was talking about, he began to feel suffocated and soon was struggling to breathe. As the vision of his wedding reception began to fade, he woke up still on Steven's couch. But he found that the part where he was being suffocated wasn't a dream at all, as he began spitting out the amount of Peridot's hair that had made its way into his mouth.
"Peri what the hell!?" he demanded as he began the arduous task of plucking individual hairs from his mouth.
"Sorry Ash," she answered hopping off the couch, "Last night I saw you tossing and reaching for something in your sleep. You looked so sad because you couldn't reach for it, so I asked myself, "what would Steven do?" So I decided to help, and stayed with you all night."
He looked down at her, realizing that even though he was still sitting and she was now standing he was still taller than her, and smiled. "Aw, thanks Peri" he told her rubbing his hand through her hair.
"You've been doing that a lot lately by the way" James informed him from the chair he called his bed. "At first I thought it'd just been nightmares. But after seeing you calm down when you snuggled Peridot all night, I think I might now have an answer."
"Of course it's because I miss her." he confessed giving Pikachu a pat on the head after seeing he was jealous of the one he had given Peridot. "After sharing a bed with someone for so long, you try sleeping alone."
"Geez, you can feel the gloom all the way over here." Gary announced from his sleeping bag in the kitchen. "And speaking of locations, Ash I don't think that I can stand sleeping in the kitchen one more night. Amethyst likes midnight snacks and keeps stepping on me."
""Greg's got a crew coming out soon to rebuild the barn Gary. We'll get our home back soon enough."
"Speaking of repairs." They heard Clemont's excited voice came from the front door as he entered the house with his younger sister. He was holding, or at least struggling to hold, a large bag.
"What are you guys doing here?" Ash asked.
"As you might recall Ash," his intellectually gifted friend informed him, "the last time you were at Jamie's home you saw me working on something. Well my friend, it's finally complete!" he decreed placing the bag on the floor as his lips formed a cocky smile and his glasses glowed. "The future is now thanks to science! Clemontic gear on!"
To Ash and Steven's amazement, the device which now sat on the floor was presented. It was a relatively small invention when compared to the other things they had all seen the Lumiose City gym leader create, but it still looked complicated. Clemont's creation appeared to be modeled after a Magnemite on top of a box.
"What is that?" James asked more confused than impressed.
"I have perfected my Other Dimension Converter!" he excitedly proclaimed, much to his younger sister's chargain.
"What?" Steven this time asked, excited for what Clemont had in store for them.
"My Other Dimension Converter is what accidentally brought Bonnie and myself to Homeworld." he continued. "Technically I did perfect it then after the Diamonds forced me to redesign it to work on their warp pads. However, this is our ticket back to our world with no repercussions! Ash, this is your way back to Lapis!"
The thought of being reunited with his beloved rushed the trainer and the excitement he already felt from seeing Clemont's work up close tripled. "Well then what are we waiting for!? Let's do it!"
"Seems no matter how much Ash has grown, he'll still always be far too impressed with big brother's work." Bonnie sarcastically retorted. "Clemont, are you sure this'll work?"
Clemont's face went from enthusiastic to worried, "what if it does just end in another failure?" he pessimistically thought. But he shook off his doubt when he looked back at Ash, the main reason he even continued to build the device he now presented to the others. "It'll work Bonnie." he declared. "It has to work. Homeworld has the means to destroy both our worlds, and it's my fault they do. Peridot, help me get this thing hooked up to the warp pad."
"Shouldn't we wait for the Gems to return from their mission first?" Steven asked, "I mean, just in case?"
"It'll be perfectly fine." Clemont explained as he and Peridot attached the device. "The warp pad will only provide the necessary power source to the Other Dimension Converter. If the Gems decide to cut their mission short, then they won't interfere."
"It's ready." Peridot announced.
"Alright, Cilan told us Lapis and her group were going to Mount Coronet just outside Oreburgh City in the Sinnoh Region." Clemont continued as he got to work. "I'll simply input it's coordinates into the Other Dimension Converter."
Ash felt something tug onto his lower shirt, and saw that Bonnie was trying to silently pull both he and Steven away from Clemont's "experiment", in anticipation of the device's failure.
"Yes, it's working!" the genius proclaimed as the Other Dimension Converter began to electrically hum to life. The warp pad then began to send out it's signature beam of light. Except this time thanks to Clemont's interference, the light was nearly blinding.
Just as he shielded Pikachu's eyes, Ash saw a figure appear in the warp pad. At first he simply assumed it was Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl returning. But when he got a closer look at the figure, he saw it was his height, with two large appendages sticking out from what appeared to be its back. To Ash, they appeared to be wings.
"Lapis!?" he exclaimed as he began approaching the figure in the light.
"Ash don't!" Steven protested, grabbing his friend and holding him back. "The warp pad's too unstable!"
"PIKAPI!" his loyal pokemon begged as well.
"Lapis it's me! I'm here!" he continued screaming, as he thrashed in Steven's grip.
"Dimensional shift will be complete soon!" But as soon as Clemont said this, the Other Dimension Converter began shaking violently. From experience, Clemont knew what was probably about to happen next. "No! We're so close!"
"Everyone back up!" Bonnie screamed as the Other Dimension Converter began to smoke as it spazzed and sparked uncontrollably. Peridot and James embraced each other in a panicked hug as Steven was finally able to throw Ash to the floor to keep him from running towards the figure in the light.
"She's gonna blow!" Gary screamed.
"No! Lapis get out of there!" Ash screamed in protest just as the Other Dimension Converter finally overloaded and exploded, filling the entire house with smoke. The darkness of the smoke was then cut by the warp pad itself then exploding into a massive beam of light so powerful it burst a hole through the ceiling.
"LAPIS!"
The beam of light finally faded, revealing the figure. But Ash couldn't believe his eyes and stared in shock when he saw that it wasn't Lapis at all.
"What is that!" Bonnie screamed in horror with Gary pulling her back to protect her.
Clemont, when he was done hacking from the smoke, backed away to Ash and Steven in just as much shock as they were. Peridot and James meanwhile, were both still hugging each other, both trembling in fear.
The figure that was now standing on the warp pad was Ash's height, if not a little taller. It had fins protruding from it's head, attached to a robotic body with a bright, cherry red hue to it's skin. What Ash mistook for Lapis's wings was actually four tentacles protruding from its shoulders instead of arms. Directly in the center of its chest was a bright pink stone. Lacking a face, except for its eyes, it looked down at the group not with furry, but simple confusion. Looking directly at him, was a pokemon Ash never thought he'd see again.
After it emitted a robotic screech at them, the pokemon began to float above the now cracked warp pad upwards until it flew out the newly created hole in the ceiling. Once it flew to the top of the cliff overlooking the Temple, it began to look down at Beach City and all its citizens who were now looking towards it on account of the sky beam.
"What is that?" Bonnie again asked everyone once they all followed it outside.
"STEVEN! ASH!" Pearl exclaimed from behind them. Turning around, they saw Garnet, Amethyst and herself were charging down the beach towards them.
"We couldn't get home through the warp pad at the Temple, so we had to use the one where the barn used to be. We saw the beam and came as quick as we could." Garnet explained.
"What the heck is that thing!?" Amethyst asked for the third time.
"It's a pokemon called Deoxys." Ash finally explained. "In my world it's a pokemon from another planet. It's so rare that even I've encountered it only twice. Virtually nothing is known about it. Making it now extraordinary difficult to combat."
"Well, what do you think it's about to do now?" Amethyst asked.
She was answered almost immediately as it emitted another screech similar to that of a foghorn. That's when it began to multiply into duplicates of itself, and began its descent on Beach City.
"That's not good. Get ready to fight!" Pearl declared.
"What does it want?"
"It must be scared and confused. We have to both protect the city and stop Deoxys!" Ash took charge. "Clemont, Bonnie, find Serena, and Connie and get them down here! James, Peri, get the townsfolk to safety! Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Gary, take care of the copies! Steven, you're with me! Let's go!"
Under Ash's order, everyone split up into their positions. Clemont summoned his Luxray and began to run, or at least tried to run, as he and Bonnie ran off towards the car wash.
"MR. GREG!" she exclaimed running towards the wash.
"Hey kids. What's up with the sky beam? And that thing in the sky?"
"No time to explain! We need you to get us to Jamie's house!"
Before the siblings could explain any further, the Deoxys clones appeared.
"Luxray use swift!"
"Dedenne use thundershock!"
The two attacks spread across the group of clones and on contact, evaporated into dust. Seeing more clones approaching, Greg quickly moved most of his things from the front of his Supremo, on account he was living there following the destruction of his van the previous month. As one of the Deoxys clones ambushed the siblings from behind, he slammed his foot on the gas and struck the copy head on.
"Aw man, my insurance provider's gonna love this." Greg retorted as the two and their pokemon got into the car. With the passengers buckled up, Greg sped down the street as fast as possible towards Jamie's house, hitting any copy he came across.
"Everyone get down and stay inside!" Gary screamed forcing the door to Fishstew Pizza open.
"HEY!" Kofi screamed back at him, "I thought I told you that you weren't welcome here after you turned this place into a warzone!"
"Too bad, war is coming back to you!"
"Is this an alien thing?" Jenny asked from behind the counter, "Are Ash and Steven alright?"
"They're taking care of it. I'm just here to protect you guys. Stay inside." Gary warned them before calmly walking out the door and summoning Arcanine. "Flamethrower!"
The fire attack took about three copies before they could attack. Unfortunately, with the three Gary took down, four more took their place. Knowing this, he took out the big guns.
"Blastoise, hydro cannon!"
With the fire and water working side by side, he was able to take down more of the duplicates. However, two duplicates landed on the boardwalk and began to advance on the trainer. Just as he was about to come to terms with having to fight them off hand to hand, a large kitchen knife was flung behind him and struck one of the duplicates straight through the eye. Looking behind him, Jenny and Kiki emerged from the restaurant with as many knifes or metal cooking utensils as they could carry.
"I told you to stay inside!"
"How bout a "thank you?" Jenny sarcastically responded while tossing one of the kitchen knives into another copy.
"Just keep them away from the city."
"Alright Jamie, you can do this." the thespian mailman thought to himself as he sat on the couch with Serena sitting right beside him while watching a movie. Out of nervousness, he picked at the stab hole in the back of the couch Clemont left during his flashback the previous week.
"Pardon Serena." he nervously asked during one of the more stagnant parts of the film. "But there's something I feel I need to tell you."
"Sure." she answered him knowing almost exactly what he was about to tell her. Not only because Ash already told her, but because he was looking at her almost the exact way she would look at Ash.
"Serena, I know that you continue to feel the burning sensation of love for Ash despite the fact his heart longs for another. But I know exactly what you feel because I have the same conundrum in my heart. Serena, I-"
Before he could finish his confession, the front window shattered into a million shards as a Deoxys duplicate forced its way inside the home.
"Jamie get down!" she screamed tackling him to the floor, landing right on top of him. After falling on top of each other, the two looked each other in the eyes with blush on their cheeks.
Now looking even more nervous and scared than before, Jamie had to say it "Serena, I-"
"I know Jamie." she softly told him, gently caressing his cheek with an understanding and compassionate look.
But their moment was interrupted by the Deoxys screeching its metallic roar in Jamie's living room.
"Braixen, hidden power!"
While her pokemon took care of the first Deoxys, Jamie saw at least four more were aiming to enter through the damaged window. Taking matters into his own hands, he grabbed a prop sword he used for his most recent play from his umbrella rack and prepared for battle.
"Get away from her fiends!" he screamed as he charged towards them.
"Jamie wait!"
But Jamie was already halfway out the window, hacking and slashing his weapon at as many clones as possible. "Get out of my home!" he screamed as they swarmed him, preparing to take him away. Just as one began to fly off with him, his saving grace came from an electric attack.
"Luxray use wild charge!" Clemont ordered his pokemon to protect his friend. The shock caused the surrounding Deoxys clones to disintegrate, and to drop Jamie.
"Jamie!" she screamed helping him to his feet.
"Serena, the Gems need you downtown. These Deoxys clones are attacking the whole city." Clemont revealed. "Also it may or may not be my fault" he then said after Bonnie gave him an "are you serious?" look.
"Then let's get going!" she said getting into the back seat of the Supremo.
"I'm coming too!" Jamie declared strapping himself into the other seat. "Ash and Steven will need all of us by our side."
With everyone strapped in, Greg speed down the road back into the warzone.
As everyone ran into their assigned positions, Ash summoned all his other pokemon. "Sceptile Greninja and Glalie, you two are gonna help the other Gems take care of the clones. Pikachu, Charizard, and Staraptor are with us."
Ash and Pikachu mounted Charizard while Steven rode on Staraptor's back as the two flying pokemon escorted them safely through the skies littered with the clones.
"What's the plan?" Steven asked from Staraptor.
"We find the real Deoxys, take it down, and the clones will all cease to exist. Now all we've got to do is find it."
Steven gave him a troubled look. "When you say, "take it out", do you actually mean that?"
Ash looked over at his brother figure, "Bud, we might have no other choice. Deoxys is an extremely powerful and unstable pokemon. I hope we don't have to, but we just might."
"But that isn't the Crystal Gem way! I would've thought you of all people would understand that." he explained sounding betrayed.
"Steven, that's no what I meant at all." he began to try and explain.
"PIKA!" Pikachu exclaimed pointing towards the Big Donut. Sure enough standing almost directly in the center of the donut, was the original Deoxys.
"There it is. Take us down Charizard and Staraptor." The two flying types landed directly on the roof of the building of the Big Donut directly under the enormous donut. With the two safely landed on the roof, the two escorting pokemon took to the sky to defend them from the clones up above.
"Deoxys!" Steven announced. "Stop this! We're not here to hurt you!"
Steven's declaration got the space pokemon's attention, and it looked down at the two.
"Pikachu, get ready!"
"Eevee, come on out!"
Deoxys emitted its robotic screech and began to charge its first attack as it changed its forme into its attack forme. Targeting the two with a zen headbutt attack.
"Pikachu dodge it!"
"Eevee, dodge it too!"
Deoxys launched its zen headbutt attack at the two. Thanks to its agility, Pikachu was able to avoid it with ease. But Eevee was unable to dodge the attack in time, and was struck so hard that he was sent flying across the rooftop.
"Eevee!" Steven exclaimed in worry, running across the roof to come to his pokemon's side. But just as Steven got to Eevee's side, Deoxys levitated towards him still in its attack forme. As it prepared to charge another zen headbutt, Steven knew what he had to do. As he prepared for the next psychic attack, he created a bubble around himself and Eevee, desperate to keep his pokemon safe, and closed his eyes as he waited for the inevitable attack. But after a few seconds, the attack never came. Confused, Steven opened his eyes to the sight of Deoxys, having reverted back to its normal forme, looking down at him with not hostility, but intrigue.
"What?" he asked.
Not realizing Deoxys had halted its attack, Ash saw his chance to defend his brother. "Pikachu, thunderbolt!"
"No Ash wait!" he tried to protest, but Pikachu struck Deoxys in the back anyway.
"Ash stop!" Steven screamed literally jumping on Ash's back to get him to stop as Deoxys screeched in pain, and dropped to the ground.
"Steven, what are you-"
"It stopped! Deoxys wasn't trying to hurt me! It saw I put Eevee's safety over my own and stopped! I don't think it wants to hurt anybody!"
"Look around you Steven! Why would it be attacking the city if it didn't want to hurt anyone!?"
"But have they actually hurt anyone?" Steven protested. "Sure they might have destroyed some property, but can you honestly say they've actually hurt anyone? Deoxys is just scared, and I'm sure if we reason with it, we can end this!"
But Ash was not to be swayed. "This is my home now Steven. I'm done with it being put in danger by threats like Deoxys here. To protect my home, to protect you and the rest of my family, I have to end this." he said trying to push past Steven.
"Ash." Steven said all of a sudden grabbing his arm and pulling him back. "This isn't the Crystal Gem way. This isn't fair to Deoxys. And I can't let you do this. Eevee stand ready."
"Get out of my way Steven!"
"Lapis wouldn't want you to do this!"
"DON'T YOU DARE TELL ME WHAT SHE'D WANT FROM ME!" he screamed. "PIKACHU, USE ELECTRO BALL!"
Pikachu followed his trainers order and launched the electric attack towards Eevee.
"Eevee use protect! Then use shadow ball!" Steven countered, now ready to fight to defend Deoxys.
"Dodge it Pikachu!"
The ghost attack avoided Pikachu thanks to his speed, but Eevee wasn't done yet. "Use quick attack!"
"Counter with quick attack too!"
The two pokemon charged each other with the speed based attack which ended in a stalemate, and threw to two back.
"Thunderbolt!"
"Protect!"
Pikachu charged his signature attack, but Eevee on the other hand, failed to activate the defending move.
"Eevee, no!"
But before thunderbolt could strike the helpless Eevee, Deoxys flew back up in its defense forme and got between the attack and Eevee with its own protect move. As soon as the attack struck, all the Deoxys clones halted.
Ash gasped at Deoxys's sacrifice to protect Eevee. "Pikachu stop!"
Steven carried Eevee from the other side of the Big Donut's roof and walked next to Ash. "This is what I was talking about. Deoxys you're just scared because you were taken away from your home right?"
Deoxys emitted its robotic screech, but this time was more calm and filled with empathy rather than rage, confirming what Steven said was true.
"We're not your enemy Deoxys. We can help you, but only if you let us. My name is Steven, and this is Ash. Will you accept our help?"
Deoxys let out another screech of joy, giving them the answer they were looking for. With a flick of its tentacles, the clones all vanished, leaving the Gems all confused.
"Uh, did we just win?" Amethyst asked Pearl from down below.
"Steven," Ash stuttered. "I think I owe both you and Deoxys here an apology."
Before he could go on, Steven out of nowhere hugged him tightly. "You were trying to save everyone Ash, but you were looking at the wrong people to help. But seeing what both Bismuth and even Rose were capable of, I guess even the Crystal Gems can hurt people all in the name of the greater good. But hey, looks like I finally got an answer about my concern about what you thought of me and the Gems. You called us your family."
Ash smiled down at him and returned the hug even tighter before turning his attention back to Deoxys. "So, what are we gonna do about you?"
"Maybe Gary or Serena can add Deoxys to their pokemon team?"
But Deoxys's face turned heartbroken and began gently jabbing at Steven with its tentacles.
"I think Deoxys has a good idea of who it wants to be caught by bud."
Steven looked up at the DNA pokemon surprised. "Deoxys, you really want to be my pokemon?"
Deoxys hummed in agreeance.
"Here bud, you'll need this." Ash said handing Steven his last empty pokeball.
Steven accepted the ball and approached Deoxys. Without a moment's notice, Deoxys pressed the button on the pokeball using its tentacle and allowed itself to be absorbed by the red light. The pokeball shook once in Steven's hand. Then a second time. Then after it's third shake, it clicked signaling that the catch was successful.
"Alright! I just caught a Deoxys!"
"Great job bud." Ash answered as they both descended from the roof of the restaurant.
"Boys!" Pearl exclaimed running towards them and hugging them both tighty as they were all joined by the others. "Are you alright!?"
"We're fine Pearl, but you might hurt us more than Deoxys could." Ash wheezed in Pearl's suffocating hug.
"In many ways Deoxys is like all of us." Garnet evaluated, "alien, powerful, and ready to defend the people they trust. Deoxys will make a fine addition to the Crystal Gems. And I'm sure Steven will train them excellently."
"Meanwhile," Gary said coming to Ash's side. "After seeing what Jenny and Kiki are capable of, I think it'd be a good idea for the Gems to train them, along with Ash's other friends, in fighting styles. Homeworld is still coming, and I think I'd feel a whole lot safer with them by our side in the coming battle."
"I think I might be able to take on a few more apprentices." Pearl declared. "Only if they're willing to put the work in."
"Sounds good." Jenny answered for all of Ash's friends.
"There's just one thing that I don't understand." Amethyst asked. "How'd that thing appear in our world in the first place?"
Everyone turned their attention to Clemont, who in return blushed in sheer embarrassment. "Uh, it would seem I miscalculated the coordinates for the Other Dimension Converter and forgot to carry a two."
"That's my brother." Bonnie sighed in annoyance.