Last time, on Luster the Cat..
Conton City and the rest of the universe had been restored, thanks to the power of the Super Emeralds, Master Emerald and the Supreme Kai of Time. From the brink of death at the hands of the Mobian God of Time...to complete restoration. Chronoa, Trunks, Ace, Elder Kai and Luster were overjoyed to hear that everything was exactly the way as it was. No sign of Solaris, Mephiles or Iblis as well. All trouble was dispelled.
Then it was around time for Luster to return to his dimension, under the false pretense of the Dragon Balls only just then being ready for use. A pretense crafted by Chronoa - she merely wanted Luster's assistance. Although, she did feel bad for tricking the cat, but it seemed she had other regrets (particularly regarding that lavender-haired Saiyan that stood beside her).
When it came time to make the wishes, Luster's first call was to have his memories unlocked. Elder Kai offered to use his Ability Unlock ritual to do that instead, though Luster really didn't like the idea of having to wait for multiple hours on end. He simply couldn't do that.
And of course, his second wish was to return home. With a heartfelt goodbye, Luster vanished from the realm of Conton City, wiping out all traces of Mobian presence in the time centric settlement. The lives of the many underneath the Time Patrol's protection remained as normal. Life moved on.
We now come back to right after we left off!
October 10th 1991 - 1:30 PM
Station Square, Alleyway
Nary a thud or a thump. Luster landed firmly on his two feet, though he stumbled slightly. His face never met with the ground, much to his satisfaction. The cat scanned his environment, finding himself to be in a familiarly dirty locale. A quick scan of the entire world with his Ki sensory abilities confirmed his hopes - he was back home.
"I made it...sure hope everyone at the Time Patrol's gonna be okay," Luster hoped internally. "Good thing I still got those abilities Ace helped me get. They're gonna come in handy later."
Interrupting his thoughts, two wealthy gentlemen emerged from a side passage. The cat almost raised his dukes and prepared for a fight. A quick scan of their power levels reminded him of how weak the average person was. These two would certainly do no harm to him.
Especially since they were people he knew. Somewhat.
"Oh my, it appears to be our young friend, Luster," one of the men spoke with a wealthy British accent. "It has been a very long time since we have last met."
"Indeed!" the other man nodded in agreement. "What are the chances that a nostalgic visit to our previous home would yield such a sudden occurrence? How peculiar!"
Luster stared at the pair with eyes of utter confusion. He even let out a bewildered, yet faint 'eh?'.
"Excuse me, my dear Mobian. You likely wouldn't recognise us as we are now," the first man smiled, as if to help Luster relax. "We are George and Jeff. From the streets. Erm, rather, I'm Jacque and this fine fellow is Geoff."
"Greetings!" the man known as Geoff raised a hand to match his choice of word.
"Wait, you're THOSE guys? Didn't ya live here in this dump? What happened?" Luster doubtfully responded, his confusion lessening slightly.
Geoff smiled.
"Happy you asked. For you see, in the eleven months that it has been since our last meeting, we were met with an opportunity. An opportunity to move past our prior inhibitions. Of course, we took it. Now here we are...a mountain load of cash and very little ideas of what to do with it," he explained.
"You guys got rich? That's pretty cool. How'd that happen?" Luster wondered, his confusion completely erased. "Wait, eleven months? Has it really been almost a year since I got back from Goku's world the first time?"
"As my friend said, we were given an opportunity by the mistress of fate. And now our life has turned around entirely. The winds of change blew in our direction," Jacque answered. "We have changed our names to reflect this new chapter in our lives. Casting away our old selves and embracing the new...a beautiful feeling. Wouldn't you agree?"
Luster thought long and hard about this question. Which meant that he came to answer pretty quickly.
"Yeah, I totally agree. Becomin' stronger and better's always a good thing," the cat nodded. "It's awesome to see you guys doin' so well. Anyway, I gotta go. Just got back from another universe again. Maybe I'll see ya later." He raised two fingers to his forehead, readying himself for a round of Instant Transmission.
"Let us hope that is the case," Jacque shared Luster's wishes. This speak of other universes washed over him and his partner. "Goodbye."
With a shared wave, the two men observed as the young Mobian disappeared from the alleyway. Making use of their smoke-creating devices, the gentlemen who were once known as George and Jeff returned to their home. Just as Luster was doing.
Luster the Cat: Season 3 Opening 2 (Martian Successor Nadesico, You Get to Burning, English) -
Enduring embarrassment, you went ahead and kicked a stone
But bouncing back, it might become a diamond
Dreams you get right away aren't even dreams, I hope you know
Still I believe you'll get them soon, so just go
Don't you give in, I believe in you
If you ever, wanna cry
I'll be there and I'll realise that is my cue
You get to burning
Stand proudly, since it is just who you are
Those days when you're alright are pieces of your dream, flown far
You get to burning
Gotta pick up, those lost pieces
And as you do that, I see that, you are…
Going your days, grow up!
Warping from the mucky and disgusting alleyway, Luster reappeared within the ever comforting living room of the Thorndyke Mansion. The rectangular shape of the room, the dark wooden arch leading into the room that held the dinner table and that magnificently relaxing lime green sofa.
Speaking of the sofa, sitting upon it was the person in which Luster teleported to with his Instant Transmission technique. That person was reading a book and hadn't noticed the Mobian's presence, as his teleportation was almost silent. It was up to the cat to start the reunion.
"Hey," he simply said.
Christopher Thorndyke looked up from the book he was mildly engrossed in. His half-bored eyes quickly changed to that of surprise. The rest of his body soon followed suit with an appropriate reaction.
"Luster! You're back!" Chris exclaimed, an electric surge of excitement coursing through his very being. "Where'd you go? You kinda disappeared right before the Festival of the Sun."
"About that...it's a long story," Luster scratched the back of his head. He was unsure where to start, but soon decided on an approach. "Do you know anyone called Mephiles? Or Iblis?"
"Uh...no. Why'd you ask?" Chris raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"So you don't remember...if you don't remember what happened in Soleanna, I don't think anyone's gonna remember, 'cept myself," Luster mumbled aloud.
"Luster. What? Did something big happen that we all missed?" Chris continued to probe. "No, wait, if it's important, then everyone should hear. Is it?"
"It's pretty important."
Chris put a bookmark to save his reading point, then he carefully closed the book and put it down on the table in front of the sofa. He stood up, an unnecessarily determined expression now on his face.
"I'll go get everyone that's here. Sonic should be running somewhere in the world, as he always is. You can get him."
Luster nodded. It didn't take long for him to find the overbearing presence of Sonic's Ki, though being very familiar with the hedgehog did have a hand in the ease of the process. Just as he was about to teleport away, Chris paused in place while he was exiting the room and turned his head towards the cyan-furred cat.
"Did you get stronger?" the fourteen year old boy asked.
"Yep," Luster sharply replied with a smile.
Before any further questions or queries could be pondered, Luster disappeared, outta sight but not outta mind. Especially not Chris' mind, which was solely fixated on whatever happened to the cat. He mentioned something important that supposedly happened in Soleanna...though nothing 'important' happened there. Aside from the Festival of the Sun and Luster's disappearance. But that's hardly worth gathering everybody for.
So what was the issue at hand…? Chris kept thinking about it as he introduced the situation to the other Thorndyke Mansion residents. Everyone else was just as confused as he was. Nobody remembered anything about a huge Soleannan incident, aside from Luster's disappearance obviously. A hive mind of confusion was soon formed outside the front door and beside the small pond in front of the mansion.
Luster soon returned, Sonic the Hedgehog in tow. The blue hero was immensely addled by the situation, just as everyone else was. He joined the small group of Thorndyke Mansion residents as they all stared at Luster. They all desperately wanted answers.
Tails, Chris, Chuck, Mr. Tanaka, Ella, Cream, Cheese, Vanilla and Sonic. Luster had to answer to all of these folks. His friends. Not even an hour past his homecoming and he was already nervous.
"Hey, buddy. Relax. We ain't tryin'a grill ya here or somethin'. Take your time," Sonic told his friend in a reassuring tone.
The Mobian cat nodded, then breathed in and out. He relaxed his mind. Soon he was able to explain the situation.
"Well...you all remember when we went to Soleanna, right? Me and that Bakuda guy won that tournament, so we were asked to be guards for Elise during the festival," Luster began. Everyone nodded. "Bakuda left, so I had to do it on my own. I met with Elise and slept in the castle. Next day, I did that festival."
"No you didn't. You were gone, so Shadow had to take your place. It was pretty funny actually," Chuck smirked a little upon reminding himself of that.
"Huh? No, I was...oh wait, that's what it changed to…" Luster realised. "Well, Shadow mighta been there, but honestly, I was there. Then Eggman attacked and stole Elise. I tried to stop him but Metal Luster got in the way. I couldn't do anythin' to save her...Metal Luster knocked me out cold."
"What are you talking about?" Ella asked.
"I think he's getting there," Vanilla quelled everyone's temporary addlement. "Please continue."
Luster nodded in confirmation. "Sonic took me back to our hotel. The day after that, Sonic and I went out to try save Elise. We kept goin' after her, but Eggman always managed to get her away from us by attacking us with a bunch of huge mechs. I got to save her while she was on Eggman's new Egg Carrier thanks to Sonic openin' up a hole past a barrier the ship had. That's the adventure I went through…"
"You mean there's more?" Amy questioned, moreso in disbelief.
The cat nodded once again. He thought for a moment, as if he was gathering up more of his memories. However, these weren't necessarily his memories...the knowledge he started to pull upon was granted to him by an outside source. The Dragon Balls.
"Shadow went through a whole lotta stuff. His appearance was copied by this dark Mobian guy called Mephiles, who was a huge jerk. This guy sent Shadow and Rouge to the future, he attacked Shadow after Rouge went into a portal that was supposed to send 'em back to the past, but then me, Sonic and Omega helped Shadow out."
Luster paused again.
"Mephiles was doin' a lot of stuff behind the scenes...pretty much everythin' he did was so he could get the Chaos Emeralds in a good spot for him to take. He used illusions to trick Shadow into givin' him his emeralds, then stole the ones we had while we were sleeping. After that, he killed Elise, which caused this huge flame beast to appear and start destroyin' the world. But then Mephiles fused with Iblis - that's the name of the flame guy - to create Solaris, who's actually the God of Time. That dude used his powers to destroy the whole universe. It took Super Sonic, Super Shadow and the Super Form of this other guy called Silver, to beat him."
Again.
"This is when things get kinda tricky. Ya see, since Solaris is the God of Time, he could exist everywhere. Or, uh, everywhen. If you beat him in one time, he'd still be there, but in another time. Sonic, Shadow and Silver couldn't really stop him for good...unless they went back in time to the point when Solaris was just a little candle thing."
"What do you mean by that?" Chuck asked, curious.
"Uh, well, y'know how all the gods once existed long ago, right? I think Tikal explained that to us at some point or somethin'. Anyway, they all left behind some kinda trace of their DNA. Solaris left behind a candle. That candle was then taken by the scientists of Soleanna. They tried to bring Solaris back, but they just made two other things instead."
Yet another pause. Everyone remained patient.
"One was Mephiles, who had the brains and the time-space powers that the god had. The other was Iblis, who had that god's raw power. Because these two halves were so dangerous, they had to be sealed away. Mephiles was sealed inside the Sceptre of Darkness, which Rouge later picked up and dropped near Shadow, which is how Mephiles got Shadow's appearance. Iblis was sealed inside Elise, since they hadn't made somethin' like the Sceptre of Darkness for it. The only way to unseal it would be to kill Elise. Mephiles did that so Iblis got out."
"So how does this relate to Sonic, Shadow and that other person blowing the candle form of Solaris?" Chuck brought things back to his earlier question.
"Well, uh, since they changed the past by killing Solaris before the scientists could do anything, our present was changed. That's why you guys saw Shadow on those gondolas instead of me. I disappeared because during the fight against Solaris, it put up a barrier that nobody could get around or destroy. Shadow tried using Chaos Control to get past it, but it just spat him back out. What I did is I put up a Ki barrier to prevent myself from bein' thrown out, then I used Instant Transmission to warp into Solaris' barrier. When I got there, I was able to attack Solaris - that brought his barrier down."
Pause.
"But, I think Solaris didn't like me doing that so he trapped me in some kinda dark portal thingy. I was sent to this really black void dimension kinda thing and I was tryin' to find my way out, but since Sonic, Shadow and Silver killed Solaris early, that kinda had some weird effects on the time-space continuum or whatever it's called. It caused me to be spent to Goku's universe...except not really? I showed up in this place called Conton City, where this group called the Time Patrol live. It's in the same universe as Goku's world but in a different timeline, if that makes sense. While that happened, the present in this universe was changed and your memories were too, which is why Shadow happened instead of me."
"Okay...I think I understand," Tails replied, trying to process all that information. "Our timeline was changed thanks to Sonic, Shadow and that other Mobian, but what they did also caused you to be sent to this other place. Were you okay there?"
"Yeah! I was good. Conton City was a really cool place. They had all these cool systems where you could buy clothes, techniques and items. I met the leaders of the Time Patrol. There was the Supreme Kai of Time, the ultimate leader of it all. Then there was Trunks, who was a different Trunks from the one I told you guys about. Elder Kai...he was pretty strange. Ace was pretty cool. He was a Saiyan, just like Goku. Ace trained me. That's why I'm a lot stronger now than I was before."
"Did you learn any cool new moves like last time?" Chris wondered.
"Heck yeah I did! Ace told me to do a lot of Parallel Quests, which are small fragments of time that the Time Patrol controls in order to have them be a thing that Time Patrollers can do to increase their strength and sometimes get rare items from beatin' them. Kinda like a video game," Luster smiled. "The Time Patrol mainly looks over time to make sure nothing changes and everything happens as it should. If any bad guys showed up to mess with history, the Time Patrol would have to fix it. That happened a few times while I was there, but that's only because Mephiles teamed up with this bad woman called Towa, who was someone that the Time Patrollers fought against 'bout a year ago."
Pause number one million.
"Mephiles wanted to use Towa's ability to go to different timelines and messed with her so that he could steal Iblis and the Chaos Emeralds right underneath her nose. I think Iblis and Mephiles were sent to that universe the same way I did - the candle. The Chaos Emeralds were there because they were stolen from the time period where I fought Nazo during my first time in Goku's world. Since Mephiles had the emeralds and Iblis, Solaris returned. He destroyed the universe but thanks to the special properties of the place we were in when it happened, we were saved. We then had to team up with Towa to help stop Solaris…"
Another pause happened, but it was longer than most. Concern was created.
"Luster, are you okay?" Cream wondered, Cheese also chiming in.
"I'm okay. But, Sonic…I need to tell ya somethin'," Luster turned to face the blue hedgehog. "Remember the Hyper Form thing you told us about?"
"Yeah…?" Sonic pondered what might've happened.
Luster breathed in and out again, calming his tempered nerves. "Well, the Master Emerald was also there, since it was taken from that same period where Mephiles and Towa got the Chaos Emeralds from. We managed to get those back 'cause Solaris put them in different timelines that Chaos helped us get to. Anyway, since none of us could stand a chance against Solaris and not even my Super Form could help, I...I had to use the Hyper Form."
"Oh. Things got that bad, huh? I don't blame ya for havin' to use it then. Just as long as ya didn't do anythin' terrible with it," Sonic responded with a calm tone of voice. "That transformation was so dang powerful. I felt like I could do anythin' when I first got into it back on our Angel Island adventure. Eggman stood no chance. Knuckles was right - I needed to be super careful."
"Because you almost erased the universe, correct, Sonic? I remember the story," Mr. Tanaka guessed.
"Yep. Really took a lotta self control to not blow somethin' else up aside from Eggman's mech. I never wanted to use that form ever again after that," Sonic tensed for a moment, but quickly regained his usual demeanour. "How did ya do?"
"Well, we beat Solaris. We beat him before he could bring up that barrier. The Super Emeralds were helpin' power my friends and Towa, so they could at least damage him," Luster returned to explaining. "You're right, Sonic. The Hyper Form is so strong, but it really makes you wanna do bad things. I totally think that form shouldn't be used ever again unless we need it badly."
"Can't agree with ya any harder, pal," Sonic nodded.
Luster's nerves subsided. He shared a smile with the blue blur, an exchange that re-energised the cat. His long winded explanations were over.
"So let me get this straight...some big stuff happened in Soleanna, the universe got erased by the time god, Sonic, Shadow and that other guy kinda beat the time god, then they killed the god before the scientists made the two halves of that god. That sent you to the other universe again and changed the present back here. That's why Shadow took your place in the festival and we can't remember any of the big stuff that happened," Tails summarised. "Did I get that right?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Luster accepted Tails' abridged retelling of his story. "But now I'm back and eveything's the way it was before. With the other universe and this one, too. I'm a lot stronger than before, I know more techniques and Shadow rode on a gondola with a princess. I wish I saw that."
"It was hilarious," Chris smiled upon remembering that odd sight. "He did not look like he wanted to be there. Sonic asked him about it afterwards. Rouge said that Shadow was in a bad mood for the rest of the day."
Luster broke into a small laughter. The others shared this emotion and also began laughing. As a result of multiple people laughing in the same place, the amount of laughter exponentially increased. Soon, a loud howl of laughter was formed. Those that drove by the mansion could barely hear the positive emotions shared amongst the group, only serving to confuse innocent drivers.
After a short while, the laughter died down. Sonic approached Luster.
"So, 'bout those new techniques of yours…" the hedgehog began to suggest. "How 'bout we have a lil' tussle to show 'em off?"
"Sure! I really wanna show you guys what I can do now," Luster happily accepted. "My fighting style's a lot more focused. Oh, and there's these two techniques I haven't gotten much of a chance to use yet. I wanna start usin' them more."
"Alright," Sonic grinned. He stepped away some metres. "Ready?"
"I'm ready!"
The residents of the Thorndyke Mansion were the spectators of a friendly bout between the hedgehog and cat. Those spectators moved away before any of them could get hurt. Luckily, the surroundings weren't affected during the battle. Both warriors were smart enough to direct their attacks away from anything expensive, important, or both. Mainly Luster had to worry about this, since his moves were more environmentally destructive.
But that didn't matter too much to the two fighters. What mattered most to them at that moment was the fact that they were having fun. Finally, Luster was back. Times like these could be had once again. Sonic and Luster neglected to savour this moment.
They knew they could do it again whenever they wanted.
Luster the Cat: Season 3 Ending 2 (Sword Art Online II, Startear, English) -
I wish to be strong, to be strong
If I had the chance to make a wish
I wouldn't make sadness last so long
I've turned away at every time, looking at my past I leave a tear
Since then I've hid all of the scars
That I've got, yet I will, remain here
I'll easily bear everything that comes right out, of those concealed memories
What is this thing that they call love?
Is it something I'm far above?
I wish to be strong, to be strong
Stronger than I've ever been before
To overcome the darkness on my own, to leave it all, no more
And if I were to sink, I'd just climb up, out of the hole I dug myself into
Away from those depths, that I wouldn't be able to escape from
I'll never be unable to call any of you because
The silver lining's with me too
Author Notes: So we're officially done with the Dragon Ball Xenoverse stuff. It was a fun arc to do, but I'm super stoked to be getting on to what I have planned. Season 3's gonna have a whole bunch of game adaptions. One might be happening very soon...I just hope I don't rush it out.
*wink*