I will be honest, the reason why my writing schedule has been so off lately has been my work schedule. My job has taken a lot out of me lately and combined with my college life, I've had a very bad couple of weeks from my finance stresses. That's why, I've decided to set up a for the people who love my stories to support me. Don't worry, I'm not hiding my writing behind a paywall, and you don't have to support me if you don't want to. But a dollar here and there will greatly help me and I would greatly appreciate it.
What would support get you? Your name gets put at the end of each chapter, access to chapters before I post them, to any story I write, and more. Any support I get can really help me out. You can find me on , at President_BrockObama. New stories as well as the glorious return to this and other stories are also on their way. Anyway, thank you for your patience. *POKEMON AND STEVEN UNIVERSE ARE NOT OWNED BY ME*
Cynthia laid down on Dawn's bed looking upwards in a catatonic state. Through the hole where the roof caved in, the smoke of the ruined Twinleaf Town had finally begun to resolve, and the morning sun had just started to emerge. The feeling of self hatred and guilt filled her spirit over losing Lapis.
A subtle knock came from the open door, but Cynthia paid it no attention. The knock returned, but this time, Jessie didn't await a response and entered. "It's not your fault you know." she told her in the most compassionate tone she could muster, but it was obvious Jessie wasn't so good at reassurance.
"There wasn't anything we could do." she told the depressed champion. "If Lapis didn't stop them, we'd all be dead."
"Better I be dead than her being in Jasper's hands." she quietly told her.
In the chaos following the attack, the best thing the group could use as a bed for Chili was the dining room table. Conway was still trying desperately to do what he could with the critically wounded gym leader, but since all he had in medical training was a few internet searches, there wasn't much hope.
As for the other injured person, Joanna had just awoken from her unconscious state and was being updated on what happened by Meowth. Kenny on the other hand, sat in the corner of the living room, also in a guilt ridden state. Cress meanwhile, did what he could to assist Conway and keep his brother calm.
Outside, Cilan desperately tried to distract himself from his brother's situation by cleaning Barry's body.
"He didn't deserve this." Zoey said mournfully as she crawled out from the pit she just finished digging.
"None of us do." Cilan responded "He died to save us. He was a good man."
Zoey turned her head toward the open door to face Kenny. "I'd outta break his neck."
Cilan turned to her worried. "That's a little harsh don't you think?"
"It's his fault they have Lapis! Barry's dead and Chili, your own brother, is dying, and you think I'm going too far?"
"He did what he thought was right, he didn't know anything like this would happen. Of course I'm saddened, but I cannot harbor malice against him. Holding that in ruins the delicate recipe that is life."
"You really are incapable of being mean aren't you?"
Before he could give her a response, a familiar voice called down from the sky above.
"Cilan!"
Both of them looked up to see a Dragonite descending with its trainer with enormous, purple hair hoisted on its back.
"Iris? What are you doing here?"
Once Dragonite landed, she leapt off and ran towards him, rushing into his embrace. "I've been looking all across for you! It's Team Rocket! They're-"
"I know. And Ash is the only one who can stop them. I've been traveling with some others to go to Hoenn and stop them. But we were ambushed last night, they killed one of us, seriously hurt Chili and took another one of us prisoner."
Iris followed his gaze to Barry's corpse horrified. "Those monsters."
"You'd better get her up to speed inside the house." Zoey told him. "I'll bury him myself."
Once inside, she looked at each of the traumatized group members.
"How are you doing Joanna?" He asked the recovering retired coordinator.
"I'll be fine, just a mild concussion. I'm more worried for your brother."
"What's going on?" Jessie called from the top of the stairs, not realizing who had just shown up.
"You!" Iris furiously called out in rage. "Excadrill, metal claw!" she screamed summoning her aggressive pokemon.
"Iris, wait!"
"Gourgeist, shadow ball!" Jessie called to defend herself.
Excadrill was able to successfully strike the ghost type while evading the shadow ball, which struck the side of the house and created another hole in the wall.
"Stop it both of you!" Cress called out. "Iris she's on our side!"
"You've got to be kidding me! After everything she's done to us and what I've seen Team Rocket do? Like hell she is!"
"It's all true." Cynthia declared, having finally stood up from her spot on the bed. "She and Meowth defected after seeing the atrocities being committed. They've risked their lives to help us. I trust them, and you should too."
Iris's eyes widened at the sight of Cynthia. She was nowhere near the strong, confident trainer she met with Ash a few years ago, she looked tired, gaunt and nervous.
"Excadrill, return." she commanded the ground type. She looked back at Jessie and gave her a distrusting look, but knew she had no choice but to trust her now.
The distrust in the room immediately changed as Conway stepped out from the dining room, his hands covered in blood and a somber look on his face.
"I'm sorry. He lost too much blood. Chili has passed."
The entire room went quiet now. Cress fell to his knees and began to sob for his brother while Iris hugged Cilan in support.
Ash stood in the bathroom of the Temple adjusting his tie in the mirror. Pikachu leapt from the counter and onto his shoulder, wearing a matching black tie around his neck. Ash chuckled as he helped his pokemon adjust the tie.
A loud knock came from the door. "Ash, you done? I've still got to get ready."
"Yeah, be out in a minute Steven." he called out just as he finally got the tie on. "Thank Arceus for clip ons." he thought opening the door, fashioning his tuexedo.
In the living room, Pearl was busy helping Connie adjust her dress. In the kitchen, Greg, James and Gary were already in their tuxes mid conversation.
"I still don't get why you're such a nervous wreck." Gary addressed James "It's not like you're the one getting married."
"I know, it's just, I have a really bad track record when it comes to weddings." he answered referring to his arranged marriage to Jessebelle.
"Dang Ash." Connie declared when his presence was finally realized. "You clean up nicely."
He blushed in embarrassment "Aw thanks. Greg got this for me and Lapis's big day. I'm sure she won't mind if I wear it for Ruby and Sapphire's first though."
Pearl looked up at him in mild disappointment. "You look very nice Ash. But for Rose's sake, can you take the hat off?"
He blushed even more as he removed his cap.
"Ash, can you come in for a sec?" Steven called out from the inside of the bathroom.
Ash immediately ducked into the bathroom just before Pearl could start combing his hair with her fingers.
"What's up?"
"It's just so unbelievable that we've made it this far together you know? I mean, I'm actually a Diamond, you're getting married and about to be a father, it all sometimes seems too much. I'm just really happy for a day like today."
He took some shaving cream and covered a small patch on his cheek, but Ash knew he still in thought.
"Mom was a Diamond who invaded Earth, saw its beauty and its worth. Mom made an army and she fought herself. Did that even end up mattering when she faked her own shattering? Mom lived in hiding by the name of Rose with the friends she made and the form she chose. Now all that's left of her exists in me, and I think we can all agree, that is a little bit upsetting."
He then took Ash by the arm and spun around back into the living room.
"I'd rather think about a wedding! Let's think about cake. Let's think about flowers. Let's think about dressing up and dancing around for hours! There's an awful lot of awful things we could be thinking of, but just for one day let's think about love!"
Steven danced with Ash into the group together. Pearl looked over towards him remorseful. "Oh boys. I just wish I could've said some things sooner about Rose, and Pink."
Ash decided to take a page from Steven's book and decided to sing with him. "We could think about the lies that we told in the past."
"They took it so hard."
"You could think about hurt feelings and how long they can last."
"How can you move on?"
"Or we can think about hope!"
"Hope?"
"You know I've been hopping."
"About what?"
"That everything's better now everything's out in the open!"
With Pearl distracted, Ash took the opportunity to put his hat back on and snuck outside with Steven. Standing on the front porch were Clemont, Serena and Bonnie. Bonnie wore a small, yellow dress similar to her usual outfit, while Clemont wore a tuxedo. Ash took notice of the soot and ash on his shoulders and behind his ears.
"What happened to you?" Steven asked.
Bonnie shrugged "Let's just say he tried to build the gift himself." she then explained as her brother blushed in embarrassment and tried to brush off the soot on his shoulder.
Ash turned to Serena, wearing the dress he recognized from her performance in the Master Class Competition.
"You look nice."
She blushed "Thanks. You too. Are you really going to wear your hat to a wedding though?"
Steven continuing the song. "We could think about flowers. We could think about cake. We could think about wonderful promises we have the power to make. There's an awful lot of awful things we could be thinking of. But for just one day let's think about love."
Before she could snatch the hat off his head, Ash turned away and followed Steven to the beach where Amethyst was finishing setting everything up.
"Maybe I shouldn't have picked up roses." she said as she placed a bouquet of roses on the altar. "Might be a little controversial."
Steven plucked a single rose off the bouquet and held it symbolically.
"We could all rethink how we feel about Rose. When it comes to Pink and the things that she did in the past, I suppose."
Amethyst looked depressed at Steven's words. But Ash playfully punched her in the arm, bringing back the old Amethyst smile he was used to seeing.
"Or we could all feel better! Cause we could think about how, we could think about us, we could think about now!"
With a newer energy, she tossed the flowers into the ocean without a second thought. "Well if we don't use these, we're gonna need something else!"
"No worries!" Steven assured them. "Peridot's gathering more flowers right now. Ash and I will go get her."
The duo left Amethyst to finish her work on the gazebo and made it to the warp pad, once gain avoiding Pearl's attempts at fixing Ash's hair in the process. And warped back the location that once housed the barn.
Ash felt a small bit of anxiety finally returning to the plot of land that once housed him, and reminded him of how Lapis, Brock and Misty were still gone. It was clear Peridot was thinking the same thing, as she was standing at the edge of the collapsed structure and looking distracted.
"Peridot?" he asked concerned.
She continued to stare. "What if Mewtwo was right? The Diamonds and Team Rocket will eventually come back for us. We're all gonna die!"
Steven took her arm supportively. "We could think about war, we could think about fighting. We could think about long lost friends we could think about inviting. We could think about the broken gems at the planet's core. Or we can think about the bubble we made so they can't be hurt."
Ash took over for Steven and spun with Peridot happily. "They can't be hurt anymore! We can think about joy. We can think about pain. We can think about sunshine. We can think about rain."
The three made their way back to the warp pad. Once they were all back in the Temple, they were joined by the others and all began to sing together as they moved outside.
"There's an awful lot of awful things we could be thinking of. But for just one day, let's only think about. Just one day, let's only think about. Just one day let's only think about love!"
With all the setups completed, the guests all arriving, and the two brides ready. The wedding of Ruby and Sapphire was ready to begin.
The group stood in silence staring at the two fresh graves in the front yard of Joanna and Dawn's home for Barry and Chili.
Cilan finally stood up to speak a few words. "My brother was one of the most stubborn and hard headed people I ever knew, but he was also one of the most passionate, caring, and determined people I ever knew as well.
Chili's Pansear sat at the edge of his master's grave being comforted by Cilan's Pansage and Cress's Panpour, as did Barry's pokemon which stood sorrowfully. As was tradition, in the event of a pokemon trainer's death with no one else to take them, Barry's pokemon were to be released into the wild. But given Pansear's connection to the family, Cilan agreed to take Chili's only pokemon into his care.
"But he was more than a great gym leader and food connoisseur. He was my brother. And he gave his life to help me and all of us. And although I didn't know Barry that well, I consider him my brother as well. Rest assured, their deaths will be avenged. Goodbye my brothers."
With the "ceremony" over, Meowth finally stood up. "We have a decision to make now. Do we continue to go to Hoenn to get Ash and the Crystal Gems? Or do we change course to Kalos to save Lapis?"
"Obviously, Lapis comes first!" Zoey exclaimed. "If we don't save her soon, Jasper will hurt her, maybe kill her!"
"But at the same time, we can't waste time and allow the invasion to continue. Our only hope is Ash and the Gems." Conway refuted her.
"Why not we do both?" Iris suggested. "I can go to Hoenn on Dragonite, it'll be ten times faster than the balloon. The rest of you can go to Kalos on the balloon since it's closer than Hoenn. I'll bring Ash back and we'll meet you all in Kalos."
"I'd hate to admit it, but the twerp's right. It's not a bad idea." Jessie agreed.
"I'll go with you." Cilan volunteered. "Ash needs his friends. Might as well make this a complete reunion."
Conway approached Iris and gave her a flashdrive. "These are the codes Looker gave me for him to decode. Last message he sent me, he told me the warp pad was completed, he just needed the coordinates."
Iris nodded and took the file.
"I'm coming too." Cynthia announced.
"I thought you'd be more interested in getting Lapis back?" Zoey asked.
"I made her a promise I'd reunite her with Ash. Once we bring the other's back, we'll meet up with you guys."
"I'll go with you to Kalos." Kenny volunteered.
"You've done enough already!" Jessie argued against him. "I think it's best you stay."
"He actually knows where they're taking her Jess." Meowth debated her. "He could be useful."
"Jasper used me to kill them. I'm ready to make everything right."
Iris groaned in annoyance. "We don't have time for this! If we're gonna go, we've gotta go now!" She summoned Dragonite and boarded him, Cilan following. Cynthia looked back at the others one last time before taking off.
"Make sure she's safe." she said in a begging way.
As Zoey nodded in agreeance, Dragonite took off into the sky at an astonishing speed.
The ceremony was ready. Ash took his place as Sapphire's best man next to Gary, James and Clemont. Opposite them, Pearl, Amethyst, Serena and Bonnie stood as Ruby's bridesmaids. Steven stood at the center as the coordinator with Sapphire. She wore a blue tuxedo. Greg began to play the music.
"You nervous?" he heard Steven ask her.
"I am not." she calmly answered him. But Ash looked to her feet, and saw ice forming around her feet.
Peridot began walking the aisle as the flower girl. Literally throwing flowers at the seated guests. "Flowers for you!" she screamed throwing a flower into Mr. Fryman's face. "Flowers for you!" she screamed again throwing one at Uncle Andy. "Flowers for you!" this time at Vidalia. Once she had "handed out" the flowers, she approached Steven and saluted him sternly. "Wedding commander, all flowers have been deployed!"
"Thanks Peridot." he told her as she took her seat.
With everything complete, Ruby walked down the aisle in her dress.
Steven cleared his throat. "Dearly beloved Gems, humans, lions big and small, pokemon, Onion, we are gathered here today to celebrate Ruby and Sapphire, two of my favorite people who combine into one of my other favorite people. You all probably know her as Garnet. She's their love, given form, now it's your turn to talk about that."
Ruby smiled happily as she prepared to read her vows. "I know this is kind of silly, I mean, we've been together for 5,750 years."
"And eight months."
"I used to feel like I wasn't much good, just one of me on my own, but when we're together, it feels like it's okay to just be me. So I wanna be me, with you, and, and, not even the Diamonds or Team Rocket will come between us! And if they tried, we'll beat them up!" she began to punch and kick at the air in a mock fight, causing the audience to chuckle.
Sapphire prepared her vows now. "Ruby, my future used to look like one, single, obvious stream, unbending til the end of time. In an instant, you pulled me from my destiny, and opened my eye to an explosion of infinite possible futures, streaking across space and time, altered and obliterated by the smallest space of will."
Everyone looked at her amazed by the complex vow.
"What I mean is, you changed my life. And then, I changed your life. And now, we change our lives."
"Serena, the rings." Steven requested.
Serena, still aghast at Sapphire's vow, stood holding the rings with a shocked expression.
Amethyst nudged her. "Hey Serena," she whispered "that's your cue."
Snapping out from her daze, Serena approached Steven and handed him the rings.
"Ruby, do you take this gem to have and to hold on this and every other planet in this universe?"
"I do!"
"And Sapphire, do you-"
"Yes."
"You didn't let me finish."
"Sorry, I just got excited."
"Then by the power vested in me by the state of Delmarva, I now pronounce you Garnet!"
Ruby and Sapphire kissed each other happily to a roar of applause from everyone. Sapphire lifted Ruby bridal style and spun around, until Garnet now stood in their place smiling happily.
Dragonite was considerably faster than any hot air balloon ever could be. They landed as soon as the land of the Hoenn region was in sight, and were now standing in the clearing of another forrest.
"Conway said this guy was in the city up ahead and that he would find us." Cilan explained.
"Chances are there are Homeworld and Team Rocket spies all around the city." Cynthia guessed. "We'd better be on our guard. If we don't know where this guy is, I'd suggest we split up to cover more ground."
"Good idea, Iris and I shall go west, Cynthia, you go east. We'll meet back here in thirty minutes."
Cynthia split off from the other two as they entered the west side of the city limit. A large sign that read "Welcome to Petalburg City" stood in front of them.
"So, Ash really was with this Lapis girl huh?" Iris asked having recently been informed of his relationship.
"That's right. They're having a child together."
Iris looked surprised. "Well, I guess Ash isn't nearly the kid I thought he was." she then decided to finally ask what was bothering her. "How are you holding up about Chili?"
Cilan sighed. "He wanted to help. He did. I'm going to miss him dearly, but-" before he could finish his sentence, he took a deep whiff. "Do you smell that?"
Iris took in a deep breath. "No what?"
"As a connoisseur of all beauty products, I have challenged my pallet to detect the aroma of anything and everything. Including…" he turned around just in time to catch a thrown projectile from the shadows "...roses."
The figure exited the alleyway he was hiding in. He was around their age, handsome, with scraggly, green hair and a purple jacket over his shoulders. At his feet, as a Roserade.
"Roserade, stun spore!" he commanded.
The petal covered pokemon propelled a storm of orange dust directed in their direction.
"Stunfisk, protect!" Cilan's aquatic pokemon, although he knew it to have a type disadvantage, was able to protect against the stun attack.
"Emolga, discharge!" Iris commanded. Her own flying pokemon emerged and launched an electric attack into Roserade.
Then, their surprise, the green haired trainer arched his fist back and tried to attack them personally. Cilan quickly dodged the punch, and Iris used her knack for speed to her advantage. She flipped across the wall behind her, and pinned their attacker to the ground.
"Why are you attacking us? Are you with Team Rocket?" she demanded.
"You mean you're not with Team Rocket?" he asked confused. "But I heard you talking about Ash Ketchum. Only Team Rocket scum have talked about him lately."
"You know Ash Ketchum?" Cilan asked, nodding for Iris to ease her grip on him, which she reluctantly obliged.
"Can't say I know him well, but he's a pal of someone I know. If you're not with Team Rocket, can you get off me then?"
Iris slowly got off him with a distrusting gaze.
"Are you THE_PokemonMaster_12?" Cilan asked.
He looked at him confused. "What? No. name's Drew. Sorry for just attacking you out of nowhere, but I've been around now looking for answers about these missing trainers in the news. That person I know's one of them. Her name's May, she lives in the city and I've been looking for her."
"We're looking for someone too. He goes by-"
Before she could continue to explain, Cynthia came running from the opposite of them. "What happened? I heard a commotion."
Drew looked starstruck at the sight of Cynthia, but she ignored it as she was used to fanboys by now, she had better things to worry about.
"It's nothing, just a little misunderstanding."
A high pitched snickering came from behind them. Everyone turned to see a young boy, short, black hair and a thick set of glasses, on his face was a pleased smirk. "So, our paths finally cross." he told them. "Conway told me you'd come Cynthia."
"Scram kid." Iris told him annoyed "It's dangerous to be out here this late alone."
"But I'm not alone. I've got him." he said pointing at Drew.
The others looked at him confused. Drew looked embarrassed. "This, is Max, May's little brother. I've kind of been taking him out to try and get answers."
Iris smirked "You're a babysitter?"
Max brushed past them and reached out his hand for Cynthia. "Conway told me you'd have the files?"
"Wait, you're THE_PokemonMaster_12?" Cynthia asked.
"In the flesh. Now the files please, we don't have much time as Conway explained. Come on, I'll take you to my home and we can get the warp pad ready."
The young boy lead them a few buildings down to the Petalburg City gym. As soon as Max opened the door, he was struck by an older woman who hugged him tightly.
"Oh thank Arceus, you're alright!" she exclaimed hugging him "I was worried sick!"
"Mom! Not in front of my new friends!"
The door at the end of the room opened, and a man entered. "Max, thank goodness you're back." he then turned his attention to Cynthia. "My sweet Arceus. The Cynthia in my gym."
"You're Norman, gym leader of Petalburg City." she addressed him.
Norman blushed in flattery knowing the famous Cynthia knew who he was. "Yes, I see you've met my son. He said something about saving the world with his friends."
"The warp pads in the gym. Come, let's go!" Max urged them, taking Cynthia by the hand and dragging her to the gym battlefield. Cilan, Iris and Drew not far behind. The entire battlefield had been converted to a crude, non recognizable version of a warp pad. Max plugged the drive into his computer and went to work.
"Man, these were pretty well encrypted. How did you get these again?"
"We blew up Mount Coronet." Cilan answered.
"Cool. Just need to carry this two… and it's done!" the warp pad whirled to life, emitting a rainbow colored light from its corner and a bright light emerged from the center. "Step forward, and it'll warp you to Ash's location."
A feeling of hope filled Cynthia. After so long, something finally seemed to be going correctly. As she stepped onto the warp pad with Cilan and Iris, a light swallowed them.
With the reception in full swing, Ash and Amethyst had just finished dancing together as he passed her off to Pearl, he joined his friends at the edge of the porch.
"Hey Ash! This wedding is so cute!" Jenny said giving him a hug.
"It's alright." Kevin said trying to play it off nonchalantly. But Ash could tell he was also having a good time.
Gary nudged him all of a sudden and pointed to the dance floor. "Check out casanova." Everyone followed his gaze to see Jamie and Serena slow dancing together on the dance floor. Ash smiled happily seeing Jamie was finally sealing the deal as he leaned in and kissed her. Kevin and Gary both began hooting and hollering at them in celebration. Jamie just rolled his eyes in response and returned to dancing with Serena.
As the guests continued to dance and converse, Ash felt something was wrong despite the happiness that surrounded him. He looked to Garnet who had a similar look on her face. She lead the other Gems into the house, where the warp pad was sparking.
"What's happening?" Connie asked confused.
"Oh great." Peridot said extremely annoyed "Now Clemont and I are gonna have to fix it again!"
"Everyone get down!" Garnet shouted. Everyone headed her warning and covered their eyes. Immediately, a giant, blinding beam of light emitted from the warp pad. As it dissipated, Ash saw three familiar figures standing on the once empty warp pad.
"Cilan, Iris, Cynthia?" he asked as everyone tried to adjust their eyes.
Cynthia ran towards him and grabbed him by the shoulders. "They've got her Ash. Jasper has her! The invasion has begun!"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion and worry. But he words struck Ash's heart like a dagger. Jasper had Lapis.
"So much for a honeymoon." Amethyst remarked.