That was awkward. I'm glad Steven didn't stick around and notice how he broke my spine but I'm glad its still good. It would incredibly suck now of all moments to be turned into a vegetable after everything I went through. Would be even worse if Steven had found out but as long as I and the others don't say anything then we're good. Besides that though, everything is alright with us overall. Now that I'm back in my own house instead of sleeping back in the barn, I've had to reactivate all my equipment to make sure it's all still in working order. My robonoids, my droids, are up and about again and just working on whatever it is I have them set to. Mostly repairing and fixing up any and all my vehicles, weapons and equipment that may need to be fixed.

Mostly while my automated stuff is working on whatever I tell it too, primarily… I've just been relaxing when I can. After everything that we went through in basically saving the planet and the events that led after, we are indeed in need of a relaxing time to ourselves. For me, its both physically relaxing, just laying about, watching TV and whatnot; and mentally relaxing. The thoughts of what I… in a way, almost did to those I call family still haunt me, not to mention what led to the… fight, and I am just completely done with doing anything extraneous for I don't know how long. I'm just going to relax and pick back up my research whenever I feel I'm ready.

"Thanks again for helping me take all the stuff out, you two."

That doesn't mean I'm willing to lend a hand to my friends when they ask for it. That's what Steven and I are doing right now, helping Sour Cream get his music stuff transported and ready for set up for the event he's going to play for. Nothing too big for our part so I'm fine with lifting some things here and there.

"It's the least we can do." I reply to Sour Cream as Steven and I come walking out of his garage carrying some boxes filled with his equipment.

"No problem! I've always wanted to be a roadie. Whether they're lifting the heaviest equipment, fighting off crazy fans, or just offering moral support. Roadies work behind the scenes to make all magic onstage possible." Steven happily explains his possible role as a roadie.

"We both handle the heavy lifting and you handle the moral support. I'll handle the crazy fans." I clarify our roles, should they be needed.

"Or the crazy crowd. Remember that one time you got into a fight, Marcus?" Sour Cream reminds me of that one incident with Stevonnie.

"Ohhh, yeah." I sigh as I remember the fighting that took place.

"Still, I only really needed the lifting, but I guess we'll see what happens tonight." Sour Cream offers and takes the offered box from Steven while I place mine in the wagon. "Woah!" Unfortunately, being half gems ourselves, our definition of strength is bit… different than normal humans so a simple lifting by Steven and I means really heavy stuff for Sour Cream as he almost drops the box Steven gives him. Still he manages to put the box in and we're about ready to go until someone happens by us. Sour Creams stepdad, a local fisherman named Yellowtail comes towards the garage carrying a briefcase filled with… fish for some reason. Like seriously the heads are poking out from the sides as they drip water as he walks. As soon as he sees us though he drops the box when he notices Sour Cream with the wagon and starts talking… kind of.

"Maa! Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma." I have no idea what Yellowtail is saying but Sour Cream does.

"No, I can't be back before 10:00. I'm doing a show tonight, Yellowtail." He informs his stepdad.

"Ma-ma-ma! Ma-ma-ma-ma, ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-ma!"

"It is too a viable career! 80 percent of Germans make their living Deejay'ing! Why can't you just accept that I don't want to be a fishermen like you? Gah!" I don't know where Sour Cream got those statistics he walks away frustrated regardless.

Steven and I stand their awkwardly at the small family disagreement we just witnessed. "Ahhh, bye Yellowtail." Steven and I wave goodbye to him and we follow Sour Cream with the wagon of equipment.

"Mr-mr-mr." Yellowtail says bye in his own language. Seriously can't understand him but I do got the gist of it. We catch up to Sour Cream soon enough and walk with him.

"You okay, Sour Cream?" Steven asks him concerned.

"Yeah. I just can't deal with my stepdad on my case all the time. Why would I want to bring home fish when I can bring home sick beats? If he has to 'Ma ma ma' so much about it, he doesn't have to come." Sour Creams goes off on a small little rant about what he feels before lightly grabbing his stomach. "Ugh. All that arguing messed up my stomach." He says as we stop in front of Gregs 'It's a Wash' car wash. "I'm gonna go use the bathroom." Sour Cream runs off inside to use the restroom while we wait here outside.

"Well, that got pretty complicated." I can't help but comment what happened back there.

"Yeah. That was a little… messy. You think they'll be alright?" Steven asks.

I don't have a definite answer so I shrug my shoulders. "Hard to say. Though they seem a little annoyed with each other, I don't think they'll outright hate each other or for too long. Who knows. Maybe they'll start to see each other's reasons for doing what they do and patch things up." I offer. My experiences with family hasn't exactly been the best but that doesn't mean other peoples is the same. I highly doubt Sour Creams family is going to get anymore complicated.

"Yeah, maybe." Steven agrees with me as we continue to wait for the DJ.

"Wait! don't leave!" Speaking of family, Greg comes running towards us with a hose in one hand and a sponge in the other. "Waxing is free! Oh. What's up, stu-ball? Hey, Marcus." He calms down once he sees us and greets.

"'Sup, Greg." I causally greet him with a nod and small wave.

"Hey dad. We're just helping Sour Cream take his gear to the warehouse." Steven quickly explains to him what we're doing.

"Oh, like roadie, huh?"

"Yeah!" Steven is still pretty enthusiastic about the idea of being roadie. "W-what about you?" He asks his dad.

"Ahh, Same-old, same-old. Not too busy." He nonchalantly answers, somewhat hinting how he's not been getting enough business, if his frantic movements and offer earlier was anything to go by.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it'll pick up soon." Steven tries to cheer him up.

"Thanks, kiddo."

"Remember Greg if you ever need some money, you know I got you." I offer to him. I still have a small fortune starting to buildup from my own pile and as well as the stipend I get from the Iron Kings so I'm pretty much good for quite awhile.

"Hehe, thanks Marcus but if its all the same to you, I'd rather not use money taken from a criminal organization." I get an uneasy look as I embarrassingly rub the back of my head.

"Yeah, fair point. I can see that." Before things can get anymore uncomfortable, suddenly a large yellowish colored bus comes by and parks next to us.

"Woah! Look at the size of that thing." Greg mutters in amazement at it while holding the hose. "Guys, don't tell them about the free wax." He whispers to us.

"Get me one for my car later and you got a deal." I playfully whisper blackmail him. Nonetheless we subtly shake hands as the driver or owner of the bus steps out for us to see.

A guy walks out sporting yellow shades, a brown jacket with a green shirt underneath, dark blue pants with a wallet poking out with a yellow chain, and yellow shoes with wings on them. Something about this guy feels… greasy to me. Or something not pleasant really. "Marty?" Greg says confused.

"Who?" I question who exactly the person is that he apparently knows.

"You mean your rotten old manager? I'll protect you, Dad!" Steven protectively hugs his dad from the side. 'Oh so he's Greg's old music manager. Okay, sounds like they had a kind of falling out.'

"Eh, Don't worry. I got a hose." Greg says to Steven as he pats his head and holds up the hose in question. Even so if this guys a threat, I'm pretty sure I can take him.

"So, hehehe, this is where you work now, Star Child?" This Marty guy says to Greg. "A rundown old car wash? Guess the music biz wasn't as good to you as it's been to me." 'Was that an insult?'

"He does well enough." I comment as I cross my arms but I think it goes unheard by him.

"Uh, hey, Marty. Long time, no see. This is my son, Steven." Greg greets his former manager before introducing Steven. Now does the guy look at Steven in somewhat surprise.

"Woah! Guess I'll call you Star Child Jr." He says and begins laughing and for some reason the sun decides to make his glasses shinier as they sparkling and reflecting light at us.

"Ugh." Steven groans as he blocks his sight from the gleaming man.

"And uhh, this is Marcus. A friend of the family." Greg introduces me. I don't offer much to the man, simply a head nod. He doesn't come off as a good person if Steven and Greg are acting this… cautious to him you know.

"Awesome."

"Anyway, uh, things are totally fine here in old Beach City, but, uh, if you need me to wash that huge bus of yours, it'd probably help me out." Greg offers his services and winks at the man.

"Listen, Star Child. I can do you one better than a carwash. You and I have some unfinished business." I can't help but reflexively reach into the underside of my own jacket to grab my gun when I see Marty reach into his. I relax however as I see him pulling out an envelope instead.

"Eh, sorry, Mr. U. I totally clogged up your toi—" Sour Cream comes into the picture and begins to say before he spots Marty. "WOAH! Dad?" 'Huh?!'

"Sour Cream?"

"W-what are you doing here?" Sour Cream asks his… dad, apparently.

"Uh… eh hehe S.C. Oof! Just look at you. When did you get so tall?" Marty forgoes the envelope and takes a closer look at his kid.

"Uh, like nine years ago."

"Ooohh." I hiss quietly.

"Whoa!" Marty mutters surprised before chuckling nervously and clearing his throat. "Sorry I've been gone so long, but you know how the music biz can be, r-i-i-ight?" Marty uncomfortably asks his kid that's left pretty much all this time.

"No. Can you tell me about it?" Sour Cream asks and Marty proceeds to explain.

"Well, you see, the music industry is like a big bee hive or factory where…"

"Man… I can't believe they're related." Steven comments and to be honest, I am too. More so the fact that we're actually meeting him now of all times. The surprise really is what's hitting me.

"You don't see the resemblance?" Greg asks Steven and for a second, my brother proceeds to try to examine the two of them and find the resemblance that Greg what I can tell, their faces maybe but mostly their hair is the most resemblance I can tell between the two of them but that's about it.

"Kinda?" His response comes off as more of a question and I don't blame him.

"…every day, and on weekends." Marty finishes explaining whatever he was explaining before Steven interrupts.

"Hey, Sour Cream. Sorry to interrupt, but should we haul your equipment over to the warehouse while you catch up with your dad?" This seems more like a family situation for Sour Cream so I'm on board with my brother's proposition.

"What's this about equipment?" Marty asks and takes note of the wagon of gear we have. "Hello! What do you got going on over here, my friend?" He takes a closer look at it.

"Just getting ready to set up for this semi-annual deejay night rave thing I do in Beach City." Sour Creams quickly explains to his dad.

"A rave, you say? Hmm…" Marty gets a thoughtful expression on his face before it looks like he gets an idea. "S.C., I have a great idea. I've decided to hang out in Beach City and, um… make up for lost time with you. And while we're… chillin', I'll promote your little engagement." For some reason, I call bull on Marty's reasons but I don't want to make things awkward so I keep my thoughts to myself as the man gives his card to his kid.

"What's this shiny card with your contact info on it?" Sour Cream asks.

"Just a little something we pro music types call a laminated business card."

"This is so legit!" Sour Cream is easily impressed by the piece of plastic.

"Man, you're so lucky your dad's in the biz. Throwing a cool semi-annual Deejay rave thing is a classic father-son bonding experience." Marty says as he lightly headlocks his son.

"More classic than fishing?" Sour Cream says, referring to his stepdads insistence for him to work as fisherman.

"Just wait! We're gonna cram years of bonding into one spectacular event!" Steven doesn't look too happy or comfortable with the whole thing and neither am I but this is Sour Creams thing so it's his decision on how we go about it.


We find ourselves at the warehouse where Sour Cream usually DJ's his events. It's not really a pleasant place for me considering the last I was here, I got into a fight with several guys… and stabbed.

"This is it? It's so… puny. I mean, what is this? A concert for ants?" Marty states holding up the music playing device that looks like Gameboy, not impressed in the last about the setting or the layout.

"You tell me any other place that basically spells out 'Rave'?" I decide to counter the guys view of the place. Honestly, abandoned and run-down places and warehouses to me are prime locations for raves.

"I'm sure there are better places." He pretty much ignores my question with a vague answer before Steven speaks.

"We can invite some ants." Steven proposes the wrong type of 'aunts.' I pat his head regardless.

"Aunts, uncles- music is for everybody." I like Sour Creams optimism and willingness to branch out on his audience.

"Listen, buddy, you want to reach people, right?" Marty asks as he grabs Sour Cream.

"Yeah." His kid answers.

"You want to hold them in your little hand, right?"

"Uh, I guess so."

"You want to squeeze them until their eyes pop out!" 'What the hell type of analogy are you trying to convey for your kid?!'

"Uh, you lost me a little." Thankfully, Sour Cream doesn't follow.

"What I'm saying is, if you want to bring people in, you can't play out in the sticks! You got to be where the people are!" Marty proposes and begins to lead his son out of this place.

I look to Steven with an unsure look. "Steven, I'm not too sure about this. What do you think?"

"Well, my dad told me what Marty was like when he was his manager. He wasn't a likeable person." He answers.

"I kind of got that."

"But its been years since then. Maybe he's genuinely changed now that he's met his son." Steven offers his optimism with the barest hint of a smile.

"Hmmmm." I hum lowly at the idea as I stare at the father-son duo walking away.


"Now this is more like it! We'll set up right here in the san." Next we find ourselves on the beach that to him seems like a prime location for a concert. He may rub me the wrong way but he at least knows a good place to throw a concert.

Steven makes his voice known as he clears his throat. "As Sour Cream's roadie, I have to voice my concern. You threw a show here on the beach for my dad, and judging from what he said, you didn't do a good job at all." Steven recalls and explains. 'That does explain their distrust. Bad history.'

"Okay. Can I real talk with you for a second?" Marty proceeds to pull us in close with his arms. "Real talk. I made a lot of mistakes before, when I was your dad's manager, and- real talk?- I was a jerk. But- real talk- I've learned a lot about myself and the music business since then. So I can tell you, with certainty, things aren't gonna be like last time. Real talk." 'This guys says real talk a lot.'

"Wow, Yellowtail never real talks with me." Sour Cream wistfully says.

"That's what it's like to work with a professional, kid. Now, hold on. I'm gonna work some magic." He lets us go and pulls out his phone before making a call. "Marty here. Talk to me. Yeah, I know I called you…" The three of us look at each other while Marty goes to talk on his phone.

"You sure about this Sour Cream?" I ask the DJ.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, are you sure you want to do this… with him? Before the guy never even gave you a phone call and now all of a sudden he wants to try and be all buddy buddy with you? Just suddenly drop in and try to act like everything is all well and good?" I finally express my disbelief and unsureness about the situation.

"Oh, come on Marcus! Just because your dad was a jerk doesn't mean mine is." He retorts. I stare at him as he realizes what it is he just said as both he and Steven's eyes widen in slight horror. "O-oh. Wait, Marcus I—"

"Sour Cream… this is your DJ concert your playing. I just want to make sure everything is alright with you. If you want to work with him, I won't stop you." I say to him in a soft calm tone. Looking to the side, I see Marty has wrapped up his phone call and waving for us to go to him. Before I start walking I turn back to the other two. "But please… just be careful." I offer a small advice before heading off to see what more Marty wants. Before I do go, I glance to see their downtrodden looks.


A couple hours pass and already the equipment Marty has called in is here, along with the advert he had provided. "Check this out, broski." Marty opens up one the of the side compartments on the bus to show us a bunch of containers holding a ton of equipment for Sour Creams use.

"Wow! I've only seen gear this good on the internet. Is this for me?" Sour Cream asks in surprise as he holds something. Not sure what since music isn't my thing but its got him amazed so it must be good.

"It's for us, my main cool cat!" Mary says cooly.

"Wow. I can totally rave to this."

While the two of them are gushing a little at the equipment, Steven notices the others guys Mary hired to start carrying the equipment. The other roadies. "It looks like you're all set on roadies, huh? Guess we'll just carry ourselves home. C'mon Marcus." Steven sadly says and turns to walk away. I shrug and am about to follow before Mary stops us.

"Hey, Star Child Jr., catch!" He quickly says and tosses something to Steven, where it lightly hits his face before falling onto his hands. "You're in the big leagues now, little roadie." He says as Steven holds the tag. "Heads up big guy." He tosses one my way, which I catch before it hits me and I look to see it says 'Official Roadie.' I smirk a little at the offer while Steven is giddy with happiness at the officialness of the tag as he puts the tag around his neck and runs to the bus to help. He picks up a gigantic box that seems incredibly heavy with ease, as normal as it is for the both of us. "Geez! What does Greg feed that kid?!" Marty asks in surprise but I can't help but chuckle and shake my head.

'If only he knew.' I think. Regardless, I take it one step further and grab two of the same gigantic crate that Steven got, hoisting the right on my shoulder and the left under my arm. 'The benefit to being half-gem.' I catch a glimpse of Marty's surprised face and its awesome. Even when I pass by the other roadies its awesome the way they gawk at me and my unbridled strength. As soon as I place the crates down on top of Steven's, we high five and look out into the open sea. Although its not as open because we spot Yellowtails boat slowly drifting near the shoreline, the fisherman in question watching us with some binoculars. More specifically, he's more than likely keeping an eye on Sour Cream. 'Ohhh, this may not be good.'


Some times passes and before long, as the sun begins to set, we manage to set up the stage that Sour Creams is going to use for his DJing. Steven is doing some last minute checkup with the mic while I work on the lights above. Steven and I have already made a name for ourselves in town basically as a couple people call out our names, Universe especially. Steven made more friends of pretty much everyone In town but I don't mind. "Don't mind me, folks! Just a humble roadie doing a mic check." He fiddles with the mic a bit more before nodding. "This mic looks great!" He turns back to me up top. "How's it going Marcus?" With one final cord connect, the lights go on above the bus and the people cheer.

"All good." I reply and for added flair for the hell of it, I do a flip off the top and land on the stage next to Steven. More people cheer out so I offer them a small wave before the both of us walk off to Sour Cream on the side.

"Hey, Sour Cream, we're ready to go whenever you are." Steven tells him with a nod from me.

"Okay, I guess I'll go out and get started." Sour Cream, a little nervous about the whole new and improved set up, says and begins walking up but Marty stops him.

"That's not how we do things in the music biz. Let a proper hype man set the stage for you." He offers and instead goes first.

"Woah. I've never been properly hyped before. Thanks, Dad!" He thanks his dad so we watch as he goes to address the crowd. I can't help but roll my eyes as Marty does the moonwalk up to the mic and fingerbangs the crowd. Nonetheless the crowd cheers at him once he's at the mic.

"It's some guy!" Some guy calls out. Literally, I don't know who as they are but Marty still likes the attention.

"How's it go- Is this mic even on?" Marty begins to say but pauses as he notices the mic isn't on. A flip of a small switch and it turns on. "How you feeling, Beach Ci-taay!" He addresses and hypes up the crowd. He succeeds as the crowd goes off in cheers for him. "You know, I've always been someone with good tastes, so you got to believe me. This show is special to me. It's personal." He begins to say somewhat sincerely to everyone. Steven happily elbows Sour Cream a little while I pat his shoulder. 'Huh, maybe I was wrong about him.' "Because I want to introduce you to a fresh, raw experience, to a whole new flavor, to a brand new… Soda!" 'Okay, jumped the gun too quickly.'

"What?!" Sour Cream asks in surprised confusion. I too am confused at the sudden change but not really surprised as much. The guy kept giving me bad vibes the whole time.

"GUACOLA!" Marty shouts the sodas name as he opens his jacket to show the slogan title. Suddenly, the text 'Guacola' appears on an electric billboard below the lights I was working on, everything lights up with a green neon shade, and the other roadies uncover a giant Guacola Can Speaker thing. Even with all the flash he's showing, the crowd of people aren't as enthusiastic as him as they start to mutter an confusion at the turn of events, even with air horns blare out as Marty continues to advertise the odd drink. "That's right. Guacola! The World's first guacamole soda. Each can comes with the power of three whole avocados! Now, come on, Beach City. Are you ready to guac?" He asks the crowd as he pulls out a can of the soda and tosses it into the crowd. It nails Ronaldo in the stomach, making him fall to the ground while Jenny manages to catch hers. I shouldn't be laughing at the scene, but I lightly chuckle still.

Steven takes out a Guacola Can and hands one to me before we decide to take a sip of it. Steven gags while I spit out the stuff on the sand. 'Oh god! This is foul! I like guacomole on most Mexican food but that was…' I can barely finish the thought as I spit out the aftertaste.

"Ugh! This is terrible!" He voices my thoughts on the beverage before looking a bit closely at the can. "What the… From concentrate?" Steven says in slight horror at the info. Looking to the crowd shows they're not really filled with joy for it either, their filled with disgust as everyone sees how bad it is, even Ronaldo as he tries it on chips but that didn't improve the taste apparently. Unsurprising, Onion likes it as I watch him chug some more.

"Dad!" Steven runs off as he sees his dad and Yellowtail together nearby while I stay and try to figure out what to do.

'Okay, this isn't good. Really not good. Already I'm starting to see the people leave the beach in utter disgust. If people leave and this turns into a really sour event, then chances are people won't go to anymore of Sour Creams concerts since it was his face and image that people were coming to in the first place.' I turn to the water tower that has the advert of Sour Cream on it. 'This won't just be one bad event; it could lead to future problems for Sour Cream at almost every turn if people hate this.'

"Muh! Muh muh muh! muh muh muh muh muh! Muh muh muh! Muh-muh!" The loud yelling of the language that Sour Creams family use snaps me from my thought as he seems to giving whatfor to Marty.

"What did you say?" He asks his son as I walk closer to the stage to better hear.

"Muh… Ugh. I said I don't need you or guacola to do what I wanna do! I never have! I can do this show on my own!" Sour Cream basically denounces his dad right then and there. While I feel bad it didn't work out for their relationship, I feel like Marty didn't deserve any kind of reconcile with his son.

"Fine." Marty grudgingly mutters and walks off the stage once the Universe family walk up from behind me. "Hey, Universe, I only came here because I'm legally obligated to give you this." Remembering what he originally came here to do, he reaches into his jacket and pulls out the envelope again. Before handing it to Greg.

"Huh?"

"Don't say I've never gave you nothin'." He states and walks off into his bus before starting it up. There isn't anything special on the outside of the envelope besides it labelled to 'Starchild' on it. Even so, Marty drives off in the bus with his roadies and all the advanced gear he brought, effectively shutting down the concert.

"Well, I guess that's it. So much for me and the music biz." Sour Cream sadly states as he walks over to us.

"I'm sorry, Sour Cream."

"Sorry man." Steven and I offer our condolences to the blundered event to our friend.

"Thanks." He replies, still sad. Soon though, what sounds like an engine and a horn goes off in the distance and seems to be getting closer.

"What's that noise?" Greg asks and we look towards the water where the noise is coming from. Coming full speed towards us is Yellowtail in his boat, waving his arms to get our attention while murmuring.

"Ma ma-ma-ma-ma!"

"Aw, man! it's my stepdad." Sour Cream mutters annoyed at his before he begins walking towards his stepdad. "He was just waiting for me to fail so he can get me and put me to work on his boat." He resigns himself to defeat as he trudges towards Yellowtails boat as he hits the beach and disembarks. "Fine. Take me to your big smelly boat so I can fish my life away!" Sour Cream jumps the gun a little as Yellowtail takes out a box from his boat and shows it to Sour Cream. A quick check shows its all of Sour Creams original sound equipment.

"Ma-ma-ma, ma-ma-ma, ma-ma-ma."

"It's… my old gear?" Sour Cream questions confused that his stepdad has that stuff in the first place.

"Ma-ma ma-ma-ma-ma-ma ma!"

"What? you want me to play?"

"Ma-ma-ma, ma-ma-ma." They continue to have their moment together. I may not be able to understand Yellowtail but I can tell their starting to reconcile with each other now and that's very good.

"Gee… uh… thanks, Yellow Dad." Sour Cream offers him a handshake.

"Ma-ma-ma!" Yellowtail doesn't want to be so formal and instead goes straight for a hug with his stepson, making him laugh in response.

"Good one, dad!" He says before turning to both Steven and I. "Hey, Steven, Marcus, since you're still my official roadies, help me set up."

"Yeah! C'mon Marcus!"

"Right behind you!" I agree with my brother as we grab the box and get to work on the set up. The proper set up. What we were supposed to have in the first place.

Because Sour Creams old stuff isn't nearly as complicated as the one Marty brought, Steven and I are able to set it up in record time. So while my brother is up top finishing up the last of the checkups for his stuff, I'm down below doing a sort of mental checklist of what we need to do.

"Hey, Marcus." Sour Creams walks up and greets me from the side.

"Hey Sour Cream. We're almost done. Stevens finishing up your station while I'm thinking if we're missing anything."

"That's great, but… uhhh…"

I turn to Sour Cream as he looks uncomfortable for some reason. "What's wrong? Did we forget something?"

"No. No its not that. It's just I wanted to say I was… I'm sorry." He finally says what he wanted to say.

"Sorry? For what?" I ask.

"About earlier. When I mentioned your dad and all. That was… really uncalled for and I'm—" He begins to say but a hand placed on his shoulder from me stops him. He looks a little confused as I give him a smile.

"Dude, its okay. I don't care. It's in the past and it will not play into my future. You didn't hurt me, Sour Cream. I can assure you of that." I sincerely say to him. While most people of their pasts may not like it when their friends may or accidentally mention it as they argue, like I said to Sour Cream I don't really care. What's happened has happened and right now I have much more to do with my life. For instance, Steven gives the thumbs up from behind Sour Cream and walks off stage. "Besides, you got a concert play." I grab his shoulders and turn him around before lightly pushing him forward. "Now get out there and knock 'em dead."

"You got this Sour Cream!" Steven cheers him on as he's pushed towards the stairs and then begins climbing them.

"Oh! Right! Thanks again guys!" He thanks us and goes up to his station and begins getting himself familiarized with his stuff while Steven and I give him some thumbs up in encouragement.

Barely a minute later and Sour Cream is ready to go.

"Let's kick it!" Sour Cream shouts and just like that his performance starts. His signature move of throwing glow sticks happens as the incoming crowd is showered in them where they begin to rave to the beat. A cool thing we did was use the lights on Yellowtails boat for Sour Creams show and its working beautifully with the lighting. Already the crowd begins to dances with the glow sticks Sour Cream threw, including his mom Vidalia, Yellowtail and Onion on top of him, with the prior two raving with glows and the latter still drinking a can of guacola. All in all, it's a pretty good performance without a doubt that Sour Creams reputation is still safe.

"You know, the music biz can be really tricky." Greg comments as we the Universe family stand off to the side and watch the event.

"I'm sure Sour Cream will make it big on his own." Steven believes in him and I nod along.

"I've got a good feeling about him. If he was able to turn it around from the guacola mishap, I'd say he's got a good shot at it." I voice my opinion. People were leaving in droves from the bad drink debut and now with Sour Cream taking the reigns again, its starting to become fun again for everyone.

"Yeah. That soda did not taste good." Steven comments and I chuckle as I nod.

"Definitely. Although Onion seems to like it."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised." Steven and I share a laugh at that as Greg proceeds to open his envelope.

"Even if he doesn't make it big, Sour Cream'll be okay, as long as he's doing something that makes him happy. Eh, you know, it's not about the mone-Eeyeeeeeeeeee!"

Steven and I look at Greg weirdly at the sudden high-pitched noise he makes. "Dad?" He asks his dad before Greg gets a wide large smile and hugs his son close to him before showing what it is he got. Looking at the slip of paper, it almost looks like—

"Ten million dollars?!"

"WHAT?!" I yelp in utter surprise and shoulder myself right up to them, seeing the check and all those zeros.

"You're rich!"

"Son of a—" I can barely finish my words as my eyes widen while I stare at the multiple zeroes on the check. 'Holy-! I don't have near this amount of money!' I can't help but think as I stare at the suddenly rich car wash owner. "Greg." I say to him in a dead serious tone and bring him in close with my own single arm hug, making him let go his own and look at me weirdly. "My man. My suddenly rich compadre. I have my squad of construction droids ready and waiting to start building. You buy the wood, plaster, steel, copper, ceramic, whatever you need and in a day I can have your dream mansion built." I offer him with a far-off hand wave. "Complete... to your exact specifications." I finish with a smile.

'This is going to be awesome.' I think happily while they look at me oddly.

"What's he staring at?"


And there it goes. Nothing extravagant here but just a simple chapter in my opinion to be honest. However that may not be the case in the next chapter as for the next few ones, I actually have something special planned for Marcus and the others when they go.

Before I get into that though, there is something I want to make sure everyone knows and why I'm going to be working on this story non-stop for the next month. Again, the whole battle for Net Neutrality has continued to escalate and apparently, June 11th is when the limitations on the internet are supposed to be put into place. That is not going to be good. Not at all and it continues to scare me on what it means for this site and both my work and the ability for you all to continue reading. That is why until the date passes and we find out what's going to happen exactly, I'm going to work on this story for as much and as long as I can before our ability to freely read and watch things on the Net are gutted you know. Things aren't completely all bad though. Some days ago the Senate put it to a vote on a repeal for the FCC to take away Net Neutrality and they voting went in our favor. The Senate voted YES to keep the internet as it is now: free and open for everyone. Now if the same voting in the House can go the same way, then the battle will be over and the internet will stay the free way we all know and love. Crossed fingers and hopeful thoughts.

Not wanting to leave off on that, there is another matter I think we all need to discuss.

Rose Quartz… or is it Pink Diamond?

I'm gonna be honest with you all, as soon as I saw Rose shapeshift into Pink Diamond and we saw her Quartz gem was actually the top view of her DIAMOND… I was breathing fast, hard, and I very calmly stood up before gently laying on the ground and with a far off look to the ceiling with a smile on my face. I have no idea if I'm actually happy about this or not, all I know is this makes things so much more interesting for the show… and whole lot more work for me.

Seriously everyone. I have to rework a lot to make my storyline now fit this new development… and I'm not angry. Really I'm not. Annoyed but in reality, this just makes things more interesting for me and I'm still excited for what more can this story throw at us to completely make our minds go 'OH MY GOD!'

This… is going to be a fun journey everyone.

Reviews:

ChimaTigon: I am not sure. I remember reading and hearing so many of them over my life but I never really put much thought into my favorite. I guess maybe Beauty and Beast. I think in his instance Marcus may have some of the… beast in him, you know?

Serius: Yeah I wanted something tame compared to the usual serious stuff with some small comedy sprinkled in. Glad you like it.

Cf96: Thank you.

Agent blue rose: Good to be back!

xXSpades231Xx: Yeah things are definitely something as everything progresses. Technically I think its season 3 and it may be a while till we hit any of the future seasons. Man that's going to be something when this story progresses to that part. Now for your questions: 1.) He'd play along with it for now until he gets his friends to help by stealing back the blackmail information.

2.) Very very surprised. Although how surprised depends on what exactly changes for him. I think a lot of people can agree that suddenly finding yourself the opposite gender will be a BIG surprise.

3.) Not particularly. I mean I have some chapters already planned in the future where Marcus will go through some stuff with different people so those will be surprising and life long lessons as it is. Chapters focused on him and at least one other person… not sure.

4.) In a million years when human evolution takes on the next big step.

5.) Nope. Too much work. Too many things to worry about, as well as people trying to kill him and usurp his authority. Too much of a hassle.

Thanks for your questions and review. Take care.

FractionOfASecond: Thank you.

Zcdragon64: It is good to be back and I'm glad you checked out my other work. I'm also glad your confident in my future work still being great. I hope I don't disappoint.

Light Seeker 001: That is still somewhat up for debate. To be honest I've been trying to wrap my head around a bunch of different aspects of how the storyline of Steven universe goes. Like for example, "Was 'The Answer' episode point before or after Pink Diamonds 'death'?" OR "Was Bismuth bubbled before or after 'The Answer'?" With that last one, it'll be dependent on whether Bismuth knows about Jade or not because she joined the Crystal Gems after 'The Answer.' So its stuff like that that racks my brain on what to do. Even so, in the end I think Marcus will be able to convince her about his point as being just Marcus.

NJred2000: Now that you mention it, that may be something. I'll think about it.

DatXeno91 (Ch.54): It was. Very was.

NJred2000: That was always a possibility but something I never really wanted to actually implement. We don't really have any leads or idea as to the other life in space that the Gems species in general have faced and while it would be interesting to add something like that, I don't think I can come up with a whole other species to add and integrate into my story and all. It's an idea but currently I don't think its something I'll ever actually do. Thanks anyway and for the input.

So for the time being people, I'll be working on this story non-stop. I wish what's going on with the Net wouldn't be the reason why I'm doing this but at this point we'll see how this goes.

As always everyone, fave, follow, review, whatever you want to do. But most of all, have fun reading and make sure to have a great day.