Today was a wonderful day for Steven and Connie. They'd both perfected their sword fighting, and -after lots of negotiating- the gems finally let them go on a mission together! Lion was going to come along, as Steven kept insisting that they absolutely needed the pink goofball to join them.

Connie and Lion stood on the warp pad. Connie'd brought one of Pearl's swords, of course. Steven was checking that he had everything in his cheeseburger backpack. After checking, and double checking, Steven ran up the warp pad and shouted "Ready!"

The other gems waved them goodbye as the familiar light surrounded the warp pad. "Do you think they'll be okay, what if this is too much for them?" Pearl asked, still looking at the warp. Amethyst tried reassuring the spear user: "They'll be fine, Pearl. Besides, I don't think Lion would let Steven or Connie get hurt."

"Plus he can teleport." Garnet added. Pearl relaxed a little. They were right. Steven and Connie could handle themselves, and they had a teleporting Lion with them.

They'd do fine, just fine.

•••

"Isn't it amazing, Steven? The chance to fight side by side, just like Lisa and Arcamicaris!" Connie exclaimed as they were warping. Lion nuzzled her. "And we brought an ally!" she added. Steven looked at the dark haired girl. His eyes seemed to sparkle, and it was obvious he was just as excited as she was. "Ya! I mean, without one of us being a falcon."

The two friends chuckled as they finally landed on the other warp. "We should get moving." Connie said, looking at her surroundings. It was pretty obvious they were in a forest, as trees covered a large amount of the area, but it seemed to emit a creepy aura or something. Steven and Connie shivered, Lion just yawned.

"Hmm..." Steven looked around.

Lion started to walk away. "Lion? Lion don't go! We can't lose our only ally!" Steven called out. But Lion seemed to ignore him. Connie looked at her friend, who was still trying to persuade Lion to come back, than at Lion. He always seems to attract something magical when he wanders off like that, she thought."Maybe we should follow him." the sword fighter ended up suggesting.

"Lion does seem to connect to magical stuff..." Steven reasoned, looking at Lion as he knocked down trees with his powerful roar. "Great! Let's go!" Connie exclaimed walking to lion, gesturing for Steven to follow. Lion looked at the two before laying down. Steven and Connie got on quickly. Lion looked at the warp before getting up, and letting out a roar, creating a portal. "Away!" Connie yelled as they entered the portal.

To Connie, it was just as magical as the first time she'd rode Lion.

When they got to the other side, they didn't know what to expect. Connie got off gracefully, while Steven hit the ground with a thud. The three had ended up in some sort of dungeon area. "What is this place?" Connie asked. Steven looked at Lion before replying:

"I have no idea."

A few torches lit up the area, so it wasn't that dark, but the dungeon was still creepy. Lion started to walk off again, Connie and Steven walked beside him.

"So, when we find the gem, how are we going to attack?" Connie asked. Steven looked up, as if in thought. "Well, you're better than me at sword fighting, so you could use mom's sword. I'd use my shield!" he made a pose. "And we could protect each other!"

"Ya!" Connie agreed raising her fist. The two looked at each other and laughed. Lion growled, as if reminding them they were on a mission and that he was still there. Steven looked at his pink companion, who was waiting for them to catch up.

"We're coming Lion!" Steven shouted.

•••

Pearl was pacing, Garnet was watching her, and Amethyst was making a sandwich. "What if they don't come back alright? Or Connie's parents come over and find out she's doing this? Or-" Pearls list went on. Honestly, the purple gem had stopped listening a while ago. They'd only been gone for like, thirty minutes. It's not like they were still there after a day or something.

Amethyst wasn't really that worried. Steven could handle it, Connie was great with a sword, and Lion was... Lion. She thought that they'd probably do great on a mission together. Hopefully Pearl would stay at the temple and not go after them. Hopefully.

Adding one last thing to her sandwich, Amethyst was done with her food creation. She then proceeded to eat it, and it was gone in a few seconds.

Steven, Connie and Lion would do fine on the mission, Pearl was just overreacting, Amethyst thought, looking at a certain gem.