Lamp Entertainment presents…

The JoJo and the Crystal Gems' two year anniversary! Woohoo!

That's right, it's been two full years since I published the very first chapter of this story.

What's more, as you all know, Steven Universe: Future is coming to an end this Friday.

With all of this in mind, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate. I want to take some time to talk a bit about this story, how I came to write it and what it means for me. I also want to talk a little bit about my journey with Steven Universe and how I feel now that it's soon going to end. And as soon as we're done with that, you guys can expect a brand new chapter going up right after I publish this, so stay tuned for that.

So, without any further ado, let's get into it!

xxXXxx

Prologue: Long Overdue

So, remember that Ronaldo stand contest I held in December? Well, it's time to finally announce the winner!

Now, I do have to apologize it took me so long, I really should have done this sooner. But the contest was kinda last minute and I really didn't have any good place to announce the winner, so here we are. If I ever do anything similar again, I'll plan it better.

Still, I was pleasantly surprised by how many submissions I got. And there were tons of good ones! So many in fact, that I feel the need to give some honorable mentions.

Following are some fantastic submissions that unfortunately didn't make the cut:

•Bounce Into the Music, contributed byethorthebayleef. A wide range healing stand. Creative, if somewhat limited. Even so, it did give me a rather gruesome idea of how it could be misused.

•Hungry Eyes, contributed by gergorian12. A colony type stand that could instill its victims with great paranoia. Great for sowing distrust between team members.

•Danse Macabre, contributed by carloshbaroni. It can trap any supernatural beings within photographs; a perfect tool for the hunter of the paranormal who so desperately wishes to prove to the world that he isn't crazy.

•The Testors, contributed by snake screamer. A stand that can summon any creature Ronaldo could imagine as an elaborate illusion. Suitable for someone with a hyperactive imagination.

These are in no particular order and are all really good. As a matter of fact, I got some good inspiration… maybe I'll revisit some of these concepts in the future.

Now, there is one more contribution I want to mention. It was made by a guest reviewer who suggested Ronaldo's stand should be Thoth. But instead of predicting the future, it would retell events that had already happened… except it would be a version of what Ronaldo thinks happened. Furthermore, the stand would be visible and usable to anyone and everyone, stand user or not.

Lemme tell you, I was this to choosing this suggestion as the winner. Why? Because it was just that darn funny to me. Cause it's completely useless! It does absolutely nothing to aid or help Ronaldo or anyone else in any way, shape or form. So while all of his fellow Beach City citizens get cool superpowers, he gets a badly drawn comic book.

Alright, alright, enough honoring. Time to get to the main event.

Ladies, gentlemen and others, I have, after long consideration come to a decision. The winner of the Ronaldo Stand Contest is none other than…

Watch, contributed by Cross-Z Magma!

Congratulations! Have a flower!

…I don't have any flowers…

Ahem. What I do have though is a great stand! The ability of Watch, while not overly useful in combat, still has a multitude of uses outside of it. Furthermore, it has the potential to make for a great support stand. And, of course, it can also benefit Santana and his goals…

Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest!

xxXXxx

Chapter 1: Once upon a time…

Fun Fact: my online moniker was given to me by a classmate. He drew a table lamp with a smiley face and a cape, turned to me and said "That's the kind of superhero you could be. The Lampman." Oh, if he only knew what he had just unleashed with those words…

My origins are pretty humble and I wouldn't be surprised if it's similar to a lot of other fanfiction authors and readers. I got into anime in high school and found myself wanting to write about it.

So I did. On new year's eve 2015/2016, I wrote a short crossover one-shot between two series I liked. And the rest is, as they say, history.

(man, that seems like such a long time ago, but it's just four years… crazy, innit?)

After that, I did a few more attempts, most of which failed miserably. My initial go at a fanfiction 'career' only lasted a few months of canceled projects. At some point, I even fell away from reading fanfiction in general, and my account on FF turned into an uncomfortable reminder or yet another failure of mine.

(my self-confidence was kinda shit at the time, in case you couldn't tell)

Skip forward to some time in 2017. I've just gotten into JoJo and SU and I am completely OBSESSED with these two series. That obsession turned into fuel for the fire that is my passion to write. All it needed was a spark to get it going.

That spark came in the form of three fanfictions:

LuLu's Bizarre Rebellion by Ezit Meti, a great epic crossover between JoJo and Code Geass. It's a story that i can not recommend strongly enough, Trust me, it's fantastic. An intriguing story with deep connections and mystery upon mysteries to keep it going, as well as fantastic fights and stellar character work. This story made me want to create my own epic, with a larger than life story, conspiracies and mysteries slowly being unfolded.

The second one was Aliens With Trapper Hats by Toonfreak. A fun little comedy crossing over a plethora of franchises, most predominately Steven Universe and Sgt. Frog. Now, this one hasn't really influenced my writing on JJCG all that much… but it did give me something else. A friend, the aforementioned Toonfreak.

The third one was Gems are Unbreakable by The Black Mage of Phantasm. It's a JoJo/SU crossover, and one I think at least a few of you have already read. It has great action and character work, and I do think you can see some influence in my prose from that story… perhaps a bit more in the early chapter, before I started to grow into my own style.

I had already thought of writing a crossover, but Gems Are Unbreakable was the metaphorical drop that made the goblet overflow for me. It proved that I could make a crossover between JoJo and SU work.

Alright, that was all the backstory. Now we get into the real fun part: writing.

Now, I had tried to get into writing longer projects before. I remember spending a lot of time planning a RWBY/MCU crossover that never happened. And therein lied the problem; I could plan and plan all day long, but at the end of the day, I wouldn't even have a chapter to show for it.

Planning stuff out in advance didn't work for me. So one day, I sat down with my computer and said to myself "I am going to write a JoJo/SU crossover. Santana will be in it."

Then I sat down and wrote the first chapter.

The beginning of this story was basically written with only a vague idea of where I was going. And when I say 'vague' I mean 'I had no goddamn idea.' I was very much writing by the seat of my pants, at most with one chapter planned ahead. And, uh… it shows in some of the early chapters.

Things have changed considerably since then. I now have a much clearer picture of where the story is going. Not everything is set in stone ad I improvise a lot, but I have the broad strokes laid out.

Now, this isn't a method I would recommend to any aspiring writers out there. I think it's a good idea to at least have the ending, or at least an end goal planned out so you can give your story a direction to go in. Still… it worked for me at the time. Publishing the first few chapters and seeing the positive feedback helped me with my self-confidence a lot and it's the thing that kept me motivated to continue.

It's… it's been rough sometimes, I will not lie. There have been times during the last two years where I've been depressed, where I've felt worthless and useless. Months on end where I've only been going through the motions, pretending to care or whatever.

But… do you know what got me out of that state?

You guys. That's right, all of you, my wonderful readers. Your positive comments are truly the thing that keeps me motivated. To think… that people would actually like and enjoy something that I created… It's one of the best feelings in the whole world.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, thank you. All of you who have taken the time to read and comment, or follow or favorite or leave a kudos. Whether you've been here from the start or just caught up today, whether you comment on every chapter or you only lurk… Thank you. You guys rock.

It's been a long two years. We've all had our ups and downs. And… I know that the world is in a turbulent time right now, with a lot of fear and uncertainty floating around.

But I am excited and optimistic about the future. Believe you me, I've got so much more to share with you! Those 100 000 words I've already written? Trust me, there's plenty more where that came from! I have lots more plans for this story and beyond.

Again, thank you all.

xxXXxx

Chapter 2: Here We Are in the Future

NO, I HAVENT WATCHED HOMEWORLD BOUND YET. I will watch it on Saturday, alongside the other three episodes. Just letting you guys know.

So. Steven Universe, as an animated series is coming to an end. I have a lot of emotions right now. I know Rebecca Sugar has said that the story isn't over just yet, but… it is very likely that what awaits us on Friday will be the last animated Steven Universe we will ever get.

I… I am sad.

I first got into Steven Universe sometime in 2017. While surfing around on youtube, I accidentally stumbled upon the Undertale parody of Stronger Than You. I'm not sure why it was in my recommended or why I ended up clicking on it, but I'm happy I did. You see, it made me check out the original, and after I had watched it a few dozen times, I decided I might as well watch the series.

So yeah, and Undertale parody made me get into Steven Universe.

This was during the hiatus between Lars' Head and Dewey Wins. I don't remember which month specifically (my memory is terrible), but I do remember watching all 132 episodes in like… two weeks? Three, maybe?

So yeah, I was hooked immediately, and my love and adoration for the show have only grown since then.

Just… the characters, the story, the art, the heart the themes… I can't even find the words to describe how much I love this show. It's my favorite show, beating out even JoJo.

I don't cry often. Not because I'm some macho man tough guy, I just… don't cry that much. It's just the kinda guy I am. Dry eyed. But dammit, Steven Universe can make me cry. It… it makes me feel things in a way that I don't think any other piece of media has ever done before.

So seeing it come to an end… it has got me emotional.

Of course, this is not helped at all by the Crewniverse HAVING NO CHILL WHATSOEVER!

You know, before Future cam out, I said that if it was nothing but the crystal Gems just hanging out and occasionally helping someone out, I would be completely happy with that.

I was a fool. I should have known. Rebecca always knows how to pull the rug out from under my feet.

After Future ends, Steven is going to need therapy, alongside the entirety of the fandom. Therapists and psychologists are going to have their work cut out for them, lemme tell you.

I have no idea how they're going to wrap things up in four episodes, and at this point, I'm scared to find out.

I'm like… upset on a physical level. Steven Universe: Future is going to be the death of me. I am not even joking. I will die as soon as The Future ends. I have already written my will. I hope all of you have too.

See you on the other side. Until then, take care of the Planet Earth and remember that anything can happen in space!