Disclaimer: Steven Universe

(A/N: Hello everyone, it excites me to present to you my first published Steven Universe fanfiction. This was inspired by a piece of fan-art that I saw and instantly loved. You may have seen it yourself; it's a picture of Buck standing in between Jenny and Sour Cream. Buck is wearing gloves, Jenny has a whip, and Sour Cream had a katana; each one posed with their respective weapons. I won't be ripping this off; I'll be assigning weapons to everyone. Like I said in the summary I know that this isn't the kind of thing people are looking for, so if you find this and like it say so in the reviews and I'll keep on typing for you. Please enjoy.)

Chapter 1: restless at midnight

Sadie and Lars walked up the familiar path to the lighthouse that Ronaldo typically secluded himself in. She let out a visible breath, even though it was summer it was midnight and the temperature was dropping rapidly. She looked at her watch and then the note that she had found on the back door of the big donut while she was locking up. The note said Sadie. Meet me at the lighthouse at midnight. It is very important. I'm sorry that I can't disclose more information. P.s: bring Lars too. She then looked over too Lars, who looked like he would rather be anywhere else, and he definitely would be if Sadie hadn't said that she was going.

"Cheer up, Lars. Did you really have anything better to do?" She said as they approached the door to Ronaldo's hideout.

"Of course I did!" He half yelled as he did with half of everything that came out of his mouth. Sadie had learned to live with this and wasn't even slightly perturbed.

"Oh really and what might that be?" She asked teasingly. Lars raked his mind desperately for an answer.

"Sleep is very important, Sadie," He said with his usual fake confidence in hopes of quenching this fire.

"Ha-ha, you can sleep later, you grandpa," She joked while rapping on the door. A moment later Ronaldo answered; he had his militaristic outfit on, accompanied by his serious expression.

"Lars, Sadie glad you could join us. Come on the others are waiting upstairs," He said as he led the others up the winding steps. Lars immediately remembered the horror he felt during his last visit.

"So, Ronaldo what was it that you needed to tell us?" Sadie asked, having been curious about the subject since she picked the note up four hours ago.

"Yeah what did you drag us out here at the dead of night for?!" Lars half yelled angrily.

"All will be explained shortly," He said calmly as he opened the door leading out of the stair well. Jenny, Buck, and Sour looked behind them on the couch.

"Oh, hey guys I didn't know you were coming," Jenny called out to them enthusiastically.

"Have a seat, we can begin now," he said while walking up to a slide show projector and white screen in front of the couch. Once Lars and Sadie found a place to sit Ronaldo started the slide show.

"First off I just wanted to thank you all for coming. I can assure you that the proposition that I am about to make you is of upmost importance," He pressed the button on the projector remote. The screen now depicted an action shot of the crystal gems including Steven and Peridot. "I'm sure that you're all familiar with at least some of the individuals in this picture am I right?" He received a nod from each of the teens. "They call themselves the crystal gems, and their job is to deal with threats like these," he pressed his button and the screen showed a picture of the centibeetle, then the red eye, then the puffer fish.

"Hey, Jenny you're in this one," Buck said in his usual stoic tone.

"Oh yeah I remember that," She chimed happily.

"These are crystal beasts a form of gem that has been corrupted and taken on the form of animals or just flat out monsters," Ronaldo explained before flipping to another picture of a force fusion. "This is a force fusion, two or more shards of different shattered gems that have been welded together and then proceeded to make their projection in demented and twisted forms,"

"What does any of this have to do with us?'" Lars asked impatiently.

"My employer has been informed that the gems will be too busy apprehending adversaries called the cluster and Malachite to deal with these smaller, yet still drastic threats. The reason I have called you all here is because most of you have had experience with these creatures and containing them, you also appeared to be friends with one another and proved to be able to work well together,"

"You expect us to fight those things!?" Lars shouted in disbelief

"Wait, employer?" Buck asked.

"Yes, my employer," Mayor Dewy stepped out from behind the white screen.

"Dad?!"

"Hey, son," he responded

"But, why?" Buck asked having the hardest time wrapping his head around this. Dewy straightened his face.

"Look these things are drawn to this city, the temple to be specific, and somebody's got to protect this place. I can't trust the police are government with this,"

"That's right; if the government found out about this they would just take the gems and use them for war like they do with everything else!" Ronaldo shouted, having been riled up at the mention of the government.

"But you kids know what needs to be done. You can protect this city I know it, so what I'm trying to say if you want to be heroes join in, but if you want to go on with your normal lives, I can understand that and you're free to leave," Silence settled in the room. This was a lot for the teens to take in. Sadie was the first to respond.

"I'm in," She said confidently.

"Are you crazy?!" Lars shouted.

"Think about it, Lars we've been given a chance to become something greater. A chance to live an exciting life, an adventurous life, if I don't take this chance I'll look back on my life and see nothing but mundane and boring days, and moths, and years. Haven't you ever wanted something more?" She looked to the others present. "Haven't any of you?" Buck leaned forward.

"I'm in," he said with the same level of confidence as Sadie had.

"I'm in," Sour replied.

"I'm in," Jenny responded. Sadie looked Lars in the eye and he looked back. Finally he sighed and said

"If you're in, then I'm in," he said with no fear in his voice.

"Excellent, here I just need you to sign these," Dewy said as he handed each of the teens an application for the position of night guard. "This will be your cover; every night at midnight you'll meet up here and do runs around the city to make sure there are no monsters running amuck and at six AM you go back home and go about your business. Expect your checks in the mail." Dewy said before walking back down stairs to wait for his son to come back down so he could give him a ride.

"Welcome to the team, guys!" Ronaldo cheered, letting his serious demeanor drop. "So first things first, just as a formality, I nominate Sadie as leader," He said pointing to the short, yet deceivingly strong young woman in front of him. Sadie was a little taken aback at this.

"Why me? "She asked sheepishly.

"I've witnessed firsthand your leadership skills and ability to think under pressure while avoiding panic," He looked up at Lars. "Lars, you've witnessed it to,"

"Yeah I was there, she's definitely better in a crisis than I am," He responded without a second thought much to Sadie's gratification.

"If you guys say so I'm not going to disagree, but I'm a bit more concerned with coming up a team name," Sour said calmly.

"Ooh I've got one, I always said that if I started a band that I would use this name for it," Sadie said excitedly.

"Well then let's hear it," Jenny chimed enthusiastically as usual.

"Young and Fearless,"

(A/N: Endings are hard. Anyway like I said review and follow if you want to see more)