Disclaimer: Characters, settings, names from the cartoon television show 'Steven Universe' are creations and property of Rebecca sugar and Cartoon network. Any Non-Steven universe characters, settings, names, Gems, Gem powers, beliefs, mythology are my own creation.

Author's Note: A montage chapter where different events happen in the three months Steven is off training with Carlos.

Story Tags: Steven Universe, Lapis Lazuli, OC's, Connie Maheswaran Pearl, Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire, Bells, Whistles, Citrine, Peridot, Beach City, Gem Powers, Romance, Adventure, Comfort, Destiny.

Music Inspiration: "Drive My Life" From Initial D Soundtrack

Chapter 34: We're Going to Need a Montage

Month 1(June)

It's a Wash, Beach City, DE

A month had gone by since Steven left with Carlos to train and master his gem powers. With no other family around, Greg universe did as he always did. He remained in Beach City and focused on his workplace. He saw a steady pace of business as he always have. He had no one before who helped him wash cars, sometimes Steven helped him occasionally. But now, knowing that the love of his life Rose Quartz was sealed inside of Lion. Greg and Lion hanged out together more and more each day. Greg, in his spare time spoke to Lion. He hoped that his bringing up old memories would somehow get Rose to communicate to him, through Lion.

But even if Rose couldn't communicate using words, each time Greg brought up a memory he only made with Rose; Lion would lick him on his face. He knew then that Rose was alive. She was more than just a Noble and warrior, she was smart. She knew she couldn't exist alongside their son. But, through this magical Lion she was able to live on.

"Today's a slow day Lion. I know, how about I take you for a walk. Would you like that." Greg asked Lion.

Lion who rested his head on his front paws, rose his head and stared at Greg. His tail flipping back and forth. Greg grabbed a pink body leash from the back of his van and placed it on Lion. He tugged on the leash, trying to get Lion to move. But Lion pulled back, causing Greg to fall on his butt. Lion then moved and wrapped his paws around Greg's head. Resting his chin on top of Greg's head.

"You smell like cotton candy Lion, did you know that?" Greg asked.

Lion only breathed out of his nostrils and fell down on Greg.

Around the World

Keeping to himself while The crystal gems did what they always did. Commander Soren flew around the world looking for escaped Cluster Gems. The Kindergarten near Beach city was only but a dozen that existed on the planet. And each one held containers holding up to one hundred and fifty cluster gem monsters. They were all breaking out of their containers and escaping out into the world. Soren who was the only gem fast enough to get to one place in the world, to the next in a few minutes searched everywhere for signs of early trouble. He noticed small Chinese towns in China were dealing with cluster gems. Russian Villages out east from Moscow were reporting strange faceless monsters running loose and causing trouble and destruction.

In Egypt, the cluster gems sightings and problem was mostly concentrated in the desert. Soren took care of the cluster gems with little trouble and as fast as possible. He went in, roounded up the cluster gems using nets of fire and pofed them back to their gemstones. Instead of bubbling them, which he was very capable of doing. He just chose to turn them into dust. Whereas the crystal gems hoped to help these poor unfortunate gems in the future, Soren sought to end their suffering once caught by him.

There was no need to tell the others about his good deeds, and if they knew, there was nothing they could about it.

The Crystal Gems/ Palmyra

With Soren taking care of the escaped cluster gems around the world, it was the job of the crystal gems to take care of the usual corrupted gems and local corrupted gems. Since Steven left, there have been more corrupted gems targeting different towns and cities, including Palmyra. Connie who said she would help the crystal gems did good on her word and accompanied them to several warp pad locations.

Connie's mastery over earth in all of its advance and super forms amazed and received praise from all three of them. Wielding Smoky's diamond crafted sword with mid level swordsmanship received Connie praise from Pearl. Creating large stone fist pillars that poofed corrupted gems when they smashed down on them, rewarded Connie with some witty remarks from Amethyst. And her cool demeanor and knack for analyzing a potential battle got her the respect of Sapphire.

Lapis did not join the crystal gems when Connie was with them. Instead, she took a lone wolf approach and handled corrupt gem cases when given to her.

When Connie was not helping the crystal gems on missions, she was defending and protecting her own town of Palmyra. Her parents who understood that she was special, supported her alongside her fellow residents of Palmyra.

Peridot, Beach City

With her limb enhancers taken by Soren when she was his prisoner. Peridot made use of the scrap metal in the barnyard and created small crude robots. Peridot did not assist either the crystal gems, Lapis or Soren when they went out on missions. She mainly stayed home and acted as the caretaker of the crystal temple and guardian of the beach house.

Seeing that she was of no real threat, Soren removed his all seeing eye he had placed on her. But it was this action which allowed Peridot to construct and built advance machines with impunity. She built a sturdy drill machine which she used to drill inside of the earth. Running only on memory of what she knew about the crystal skull. Peridot drilled deep into the earth's crust, and into the upper mantle.

"The crystal skull was a creation of pure magic by Homeworld before they were driven off of this planet. However, it only gives off magical spikes of energy when it's awake. But it's not awake thank her majesty. But, when it awakens, it'll be an enemy which no nation on earth will be able to combat. But with two commanders on this planet, one being a fusion of human and gem and other a total butt head. Maybe the destruction and death will be concentrated to one location."

Month 2 (July)

Chicomoztoc, Yucatan, Mexico

Sitting outside of the third house inside of Chicomoztoc was Carlos Montoya. The house type was an A-frame house painted mostly blue with white. Carlos kept two ropes tied around his waist, which were connected and tied around Steven's waist on the other end. Carlos set a banquet of vegetables and fruits in front of him. One basketball size blueberry, two melon sized cherries and two car tire sized cantaloupes.

"Its been one month since I took Steven here to Chicomoztoc to train. I explained to him what these seven house types were and what their purpose was. Seven houses represent the 'seven caves' of Chicomoztoc of old. It was me who built these houses over seven pools that lead into different worlds for physical, mental and magical training purposes only.

The first house is red for the blood red pool inside of it. It's ancient Nahuatl name when translated in English and Spanish means 'Weight/ Peso.' the world of weight is a world of Yardangs whose gravity is ten times on earth. The gravity only increases when the trainee begins to become accustom to the weight. Training here is meant to burn calories, strengthen the muscles to become tougher than Kevlar and toughen the skeleton to rival the toughness of Steel. This translates into a super increase in strength and more devastating physical attacks.

I explained to Steven that he would need to come back to the first house for intense gravity training for an entire week. In that last day, he saw his body glowing a red hue. This was a confirmation sign that Steven had completed his strength training. Steven showed great fear and trepidation when I told him what the second house housed. But like the confident and determined young man that I know he is, got over his fears and tackled what came his way. It involved millions of biting, stinging, pinching, spiny insects.

Each house's training level is tough, grueling, agonizing and almost impossible. But for this is the only way a hybrid like me, Steven and Whistles can reach our master gem forms. As for the rope and why their tied around me and Steven. I gave Steven a job, to tug on the rope from his end every thirty seconds to show me he was alive. If after thirty seconds he did not tug, I would pull him out."

Walking out of the third house which was painted blue and white. He looked tired and had some pink hair in his balled up hands.

"Hey steven. Did you catch lion yet."

"No. but I got really close though. I manage to grab some of his tail hair."

"Maybe next time little amigo."

Beach City, Crystal Temple

Spending a day at the beach, Sadie and Lars were allowed to take a spot near the crystal temple at the permission of Pearl. Connie also joined the gems in some afternoon swimming. Connie built some sandcastles with Sapphire and Whistles. Bells, the tall anthropomorphic space cat from mars kept his distance from the ocean unlike Citrine who swam with Amethyst and Lapis.

Peridot was not around, instead choosing to remain isolated from everyone else as she searched for the crystal skull. Pearl and Ruby laid down on some pool lounge chairs soaking In the rays of the sun which made their gemstone glitter and or sparkle. Commander Soren did not partake in human activities and chose to spend his days of rest inside of his room.

Looking past Sadie when she kept her eyes closed, Lars couldn't help but notice the attractive gems splashing water, helping make sandcastles and sunbathing. He was captivated by them, wondering why he never tried to hit on any of them.

"Eh hem." Lars heard close to him.

He looked below him at Sadie who kept her sunglasses raised over her eyes. Her eyes were cold and penetrating him.

"please tell me you weren't checking out those aliens while you're on this date with me Lars."

"I-i wasn't babe. It's just the sun is so bright out today I's just bothering. I think I need to go for a swim."

"No need to. Your can borrow my darkest sunglasses and my sun hat."

"Jeez thanks." Lars replied disappointingly.

It's a Wash, Beach City

on another day, Amethyst tagged along with Greg and Lion to help him around the car wash. But also joining him, but not really lending a helping hand were Ruby and Sapphire. One customer came asking for his car to be hand washed. Greg grabbed two buckets with soapy water and another with regular water. Lion kept the sponge in his mouth and ran around the car, avoiding Greg who ran after him trying to grab it from his mouth.

Amethyst grabbed a hose off the ground and sprayed both Greg and Lion with a stream of water. Greg slipped and slid forward on his butt. Lion came around and crash against Greg. Lion roared at Amethyst, blowing her away.

Sitting inside of Greg's van was Sapphire who kept her hands on her laps listening to ruby. Being split apart for so long made Ruby appreciate the fact that she could hang out with Sapphire and see sapphire. Being fused together was ok, but they had forever to be fused together in the future. Right now, Ruby proposed remaining separate at least until Garnet is needed.

Barnyard

Having located the crystal skull under the African plate through long hours of research and memory power, Peridot took photos the face of the crystal skull, it's face was as large as the entire island of Puerto rico located in the Caribbean. It's empty eye sockets were haunting to Peridot, like they were staring back at her despite being 'asleep.'

Soren did not know about this or the location. When the time came, Peridot would share her compiled data and finding with everyone.

Space, Outside of Earth Orbit

Not limiting himself to just the planet earth, Commander Soren flew past the earth's atmosphere and into the blackness of space. He conducted space patrols, something neither crystal gems or Connie could do. And if she could, Soren doubted she could keep up with him being organic and all. He flew around the earth, around the moon and the space between the earth and Mars. With his enhanced sight, he saw no Homeworld warships nearby. He did see secret space ships belonging to earthlings, mostly those from Russia and The United States.

They watched him and he watched them. Ignoring them for a moment, he saw martian patrol ships circling the red planet. They spotted him and sent a transmission which she received telepathically.

"This is Commander Soren Spessartite, former Homeworld loyalist and present guardian of earth. I am conducting my own patrols on behalf of the earth. I did not come to conquer, so please do not be alarmed by my presence."

receiving an a 'OK' reply from the martians, Commander Soren flew back to earth when he finished his Patrol. He took his role as guardian, no matter how temporary, very seriously.

Month 3 (August)

It's a Wash, Greg's Van

The month of July came and went, since learning that some of Rose was sealed inside of Lion from Soren. Greg had to think about his relationship with Sasha Green. He loved her, she was beautiful and she was human. They were both from the 80's and she was easy to talk to. But so was Rose. Sure at first she might not have been easy to talk to, Greg had to explain how things worked on earth, but she was everything mentioned above.

But, he chose the other tearful and heartbreaking choice. He called Sasha last month and told her he would not be joining her in Connecticut. He explained to her his reasoning behind his choice. He thought Sasha would be the understanding type, but her emotions were true and real. She loved Greg and felt him opening up to her as the months went by. But this revelation hit her hard and broke her heart. Greg had no choice but to accept her grief. But if what Soren said was true about Steven being able to pull rose out, then he accepted these tears.

"I'm staying in Beach City. With my son, with my friends and hopefully soon...with my wife."

Australia, The Outback

Flying high in the sky, circling a mob of corrupted sand gems and lizard monsters who were surrounding Pearl. Lapis encased herself in a sphere of water. She targeted and waited for the right moment to send a hail of rain down on the enemies.

While Lapis took her time, Pearl was on the ground with two spears in hand. Slicing, dicing and dancing around the corrupted gems and lizard monsters. Pearl back flipped when a lizard monster tried to whip her with his tail. Pearl then jumped off to the side when a corrupted gem generated sand shot it out of the palm of it's stubby hands.

"Sometime today Lapis!" Pearl shouted up at Lapis.

Lapis had formed a massive sphere of dense water. Lapis fired a tentacle constructed out of water and grabbed Pearl and pulled her up. Spreading her arms to her sides, Lapis made it rain on the gems and monsters. Every rain droplet was as heavy as one hundred pound weights. And with so many falling on the enemy at the same time, many of the corrupted gems were poofed and broken into even smaller shards. The lizard monsters were punched into the ground and spurted blood out from the force of the heavy water raining down on them.

With the enemies down, Lapis took her and Pearl back down to the ground. The gem shards the corrupted gems left behind were so small, that they didn't need any bubbling. The monsters were something else. With today's mission over, Lapis had a question for Pearl.

"Hey Pearl."

"Yeah Lapis."

"About Steven and Carlos. Did you hear anything from them."

"Yeah, actually I have. Carlos sent me a text message on a phone he bought for me month ago. It's a contraption that's grown on me. He said Steven was fine, he was fine. That Steven has show great progress and that they would be back in a few days."

Lapis took a seat on a dead body of a lizard monster, propped her elbows up on her laps and rested her chin on the palms of her hands. Pearl noticed Lapis's sad and disappointed expression she wore on her face.

"Hey, you feeling Lovesick?" Pearl asked her, sounding curious and concerned.

"I don't know what it's called. But, I do miss Steven. It's no longer enough for me to sleep on his bed with his shirts on anymore."

"Wow. Ok. I guess I shouldn't have asked."

Beach House, Crystal Temple

While everyone was away on a mission or hanging out, Peridot sat on Steven's bed reading all that she has taken down on the crystal skull. She made a sketch of the face of the sleeping death on every blank page that had no written thoughts of hers. The face was haunting even on page. As the months went by, Peridot wondered when Homeworld would make their move. Perhaps they already did make a move, and it was only a matter of time before they all found out what that was.

Chicomoztoc, Yucatan, Mexico

Wearing only his black and pink track pants, they had tears and dirt and blood on them. The training was intense, the workout was grueling and the effort put into mastering his gem form was worth it. The journey to get where he was finally at seemed pointless and impossible for the first few days. But the payoff was absolutely worth it.

Carlos sat down on a wooden chair, leaning back on the two back feet of the chair. He ate a large strawberry from his left hand. and watched Steven's muscular back, neck and arms go entirely black from the front to the back. His forearms shimmered a bright pink, like it was made from polished rose quartz. His fists shined like Obsidian.

His hair which had grown out much like Carlos, rose and flapped around above his head. It's dark brown color shifted into jet black. Carlos nodded his head, looking very proud. Steven, like Carlos mastered his gem form. But there was one difference, tattooed on the top side of Steven's hands in pink ink were two symbols. Two different skeleton keys.

"Congratulations Steven. Congratulations. Now, I promised you I would take you on an all Mexican banquet when this was all done."

Steven undid his mastered gem form, turned around with a large smile plastered on his face and answered. "Can we get some tacos first?"

"You can have whatever you want Steven. Besides, all of this green and water has been great, but man needs animal flesh once in a while."

looking at each other after Carlos mentioned eating beef, made the two of them laugh.

Outer Space

In the blackness of space, a ten mile long black and red conical machine flew past clouds of space dust and punctured through asteroids. Comets and all sorts of celestial objects. Entering the Solar System, the conical machine located what it was looking for. Neso, an irregular moon of Neptune's which was the planet's most outermost natural satellite. It crashed on the moon, drilling itself just deep enough beneath the hard surface. The flat circular end opened up. Four radar dishes rose up from inside it.

The color of the receiver/ foci on the radar dishes varied. One was Black, Green, Red and Purple. A black screen on the bottom of the radar dish with the green focus lit up with green lit numbers. The numbers read 72:00 and decreased from that point on.

(!) Even though this chapter passed my 2500 word rule, I'll let it slide. I just thought a fusion name for Steven and Carlos while writing this chapter. It's either 'Carlven' or 'Stelos.' the next eight or nine chapters will be leading up to the end. I don't want to share anything more than that. I want to finish this up as fast as soon as possible.