Last time, on Luster the Cat…

The story celebrated its sixth anniversary. But in terms of where we are in that short, a strange situation blanketed the combined Mobius and Earth. From the comfort of the Thorndyke Mansion, Luster sensed several strange energies around the world. He went to investigate right after finishing a warm cup of tea.

Upon using his Instant Transmission to immediately get to one of these energy sources, he discovered something quite unusual. A yellow gem...one that felt incredibly similar to the Chaos Emeralds. His investigation was interrupted by a sudden blast of fire, hurled at him by an unknown feminine (and feline, too) figure. She demanded the return of the 'Sol Emerald' - the name of the gem.

A fight broke out. Rather, a cat fight, if you will. The pink-furred cat's scorching attacks were hard to deal with, but Luster's fighting style evened out the odds. At one point during the bout, Blaze - the other cat - again demanded for the Sol Emerald. Luster refused, still stuck in his line of thinking that Blaze was a villain. However, after she explained her situation (that her dimension needed the seven Sol Emeralds to survive), Luster handed over the yellow jewel and offered to help her in her quest. Though she was apprehensive about the idea, Luster got mildly irritated with the fellow feline and decided to force-warp her to the location of the next Sol Emerald.

We now come back to pretty much right when we left off!

October 15th 1991 - 2:50 PM

Unknown Base

Within the metallic, dark blue station floating far above the planet, evil thoughts were running amok. Even more so since two evil scientists were at the helm instead of the usual one. Of course, there was the forever present Doctor Eggman, but sitting beside him (in a different chair) was another robotical genius whose intellect matched that of Eggman's.

This new gentleman wore a black leather coat that had yellow highlights with a red jumpsuit underneath, generally radiating a similar vile vibe that Eggman's clothes radiated as well. He had a visor resting on his head, which was strange, since he was already wearing glasses. Directly contrasting Eggman's infamous moustache, the new person's upper-lipped facial hair was grey - perhaps he was a much older genius.

Clearly, age didn't matter to him. Neither did it matter to Eggman, who was perfectly content on working with this person. Though that might've been because...this person was an alternate version of him.

"Eggman Nega!" Eggman initiated a conversation with his counterpart. "Is everything going well with the Sol Emerald collection?"

"Indeed it is, my good genius," Dr. Eggman Nega, the new person, answered happily. "We only have four of them, though that irritating cat has at least one of them."

Eggman raised an eyebrow. "Which cat?"

"Huh? You know, Blaze. My mortal enemy. The one that keeps intercepting and annihilating all my plans because 'she hates people like me', or whatever," Eggman Nega answered in confusion. "I don't what it is with her...uh, anyway, what do you mean by 'which'? Is there another cat I should know about?"

"Yes, actually. His name is Luster. He shouldn't be too much of a problem, but his unique abilities might mess things up. Well, they might, if we weren't playing it smart, which we are now. Have you wondered why I haven't advised you to actively gather the Sol Emeralds?"

Nega thought about this as he tried to remember. "I am a little curious, yes. Why would you not want us to do this faster?"

"Because…" Eggman began to manically grin. "If we were hunting the Sol Emeralds alongside those pesky animals, they would most assuredly beat us to the punch every time. That's how it usually works. So a while ago, I figured...why not use that to my advantage? Or, in this case, our advantage. You see, we can gather as many emeralds as we want before we initiate whatever plan we've come up with at that time. But they will most likely end up getting some of them, if not all, by the time the plan is foiled. So it'd be far more efficient for us to gather as little as possible before putting our plan into action. That way, we'd have more time to do something else."

Eggman Nega looked over at a pair of machines in the room they were in. One held four Chaos Emeralds, the other - three Sol Emeralds. The scientist from another dimension returned his attention to his comrade and nodded.

"Then we let them know that we're up to something. This might be telling them directly, by throwing out one of our boss mechs, or both. By some cosmic power, their nature as self-proclaimed heroes will lead them to the remaining emeralds. Somehow, they'll figure out the location of our base, then they'll come here. As they'll be on our turf, we can easily capture or incapcitate them, where we can then steal the rest of the emeralds. Once we ensure they can't use either of the emeralds' powers, victory will be within our grasp."

Nega smiled.

"An amazing plan, doctor. You say you figured this out a while ago?"

"Exactly. I had some downtime, so I tried to formulate a rough plan template that would be foolproof. I ironed out a few kinks and began to prepare. You, Blaze and the Sol Emeralds showed up right after I finished preparing. Perfect timing," regular Eggman explained further.

"With the combined power of both sets of emeralds, we'll be literally unstoppable! No mystic mumbo-jumbo will get in our way! Just as long as we play our cards correctly…"

"That's not a problem, Nega," Eggman said as he leaned back in his chair. "We already have the cards we need. It's a matter of playing them at the right time."

The doctors continued to revel in the sheer genius displayed with the plan. Now they're counting on the usual circumstances in which the heroes take advantage of in order to succeed...they are planning around the very thing that typically defeats them. And in no way would they be bested this time. Not with this plan.

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!

Back with the pair of felines, those two had just warped away from that unnamed location, much to Blaze's apprehension. Where they reappeared was quite the different locale. Instead of grass and other such greenery being aplenty, there were endless white buildings overlooking the vast ocean ahead. This was the town known as Apotos, in the Asian continent of Earth and in the country of Greece. Others knew it as Windmill Isle (since there was a large windmill in the town that provided a large amount of the place's energy) or Water Palace (due to the ancient elegance of the many white buildings).

Part of the water was almost lodged between two thin pieces of earth that stuck outwards. It seemed that the local residency was using that part as a public swimming pool, as there were a mix of humans and Mobians utilising the area for relaxation or playful purposes. The pool was separated from the rest of the ocean through the use of an elaborate gate system, so it was perfectly safe for regular public use.

Luster and Blaze reappeared on the roof of one of these white buildings, next to a pile of clothes that had been left there for some reason. The former of the pair stretched his arms and took in the view.

"Whoa, this place sure is cool," he commented. "It'd be awesome to look around here if we can."

Meanwhile, Blaze was busy reorienting herself. She was almost dazed all the while being partially convinced that she was dreaming. After all, she'd been suddenly brought from one location to another in an instant. Not to mention, the two locations were extremely different from one another, merely adding to the confusion factor. That, and she'd never wanted to warp in the first place. Luster noticed her bewildered facial expression.

"Huh? Is somethin' wrong, Blaze?" he asked her. "Did ya not like that?"

"N-no!" Blaze shook her head. "How did...why...why?"

"Uh, what? You askin' why I used my Instant Transmission to warp you here?" Luster wondered, to which Blaze nodded in confirmation. "Oh. Well, you said you needed those Sol Emeralds, so I figured the best way to get 'em to ya was to use Instant Transmission. It's quick and super easy. I don't get why you wouldn't want that."

"But…you can't just do something like that without warning the other person first! I was incredibly dizzy for a moment...I think I'm okay now," Blaze scolded the younger cat.

"You get used to it. I did. All my friends did. Considerin' there's probably seven of those things, we'll be doin' a lot of Instant Transmissioning. I can't sense some of them though...there's like three missing," Luster responded, trailing away from the topic at hand like an accidental conversation genius.

"R-really?"

"Yeah. I sensed 'em earlier but now they're all gone. 'Cept for the one you've got, the one I gave you, the one that's here and that other one out there. Dunno where the others went. They all back in your world?"

Blaze shook her head, this time in a calmer fashion. "No. I would know if they went back. I'm positive they're still in this dimension."

"Huh. Guess we might hafta start lookin' the old fashioned way."

Luster began scanning the immediate environment for any sign of energetic activity from a mystical gem of sorts. There was plenty of energy being used by the ones playing in the public pool down below, but that wasn't quite what Luster was looking for. Out of the corner of her eye, Blaze sighted a familiar green light shining through the gaps between the pile of clothes. She darted straight through it and pulled out the green Sol Emerald.

"This is it…" Blaze felt more at peace now that she had her second emerald. At this point, Luster had turned around to see what was going on. "Now there's only four more."

"I couldn't tell that was there? Seriously, me?" Luster frowned for a split second. "Hey, that's cool. Now do ya see how handy my Instant Transmission is? It'll get ya to the rest of those Sol Emeralds before anyone can even realise they're gone. That's a good thing, right? So can I come with ya and help?"

"Well, I…" Blaze's apprehension returned. "This is something I must do on my own, but that technique of yours will be very useful…"

She paused as she considered all of the information she'd been handed thus far about Luster's potential for assistance.

"...Alright, fine. Have it your way. You can help. I don't want to waste any time, though. I need to get the Sol Emeralds back to my world so I can save it. And I sense that this world's somehow being affected by their presence...so in the process of saving my world, we'll be saving this one as well."

"Oh, really? That just means we've gotta be as fast as we can," Luster mentally noted this down. "Grab onto my shoulder or somethin'. I'll lock onto the next Sol Emerald's energy so we can warp straight...there…"

"What? What happened?!" Blaze immediately asked.

"Nothin', really. There's just two more Ki sources I sense next to the emerald...it's Shadow and Rouge. Omega's probably with 'em, too," Luster informed her. "They're good. They'll help us out."

"I see," Blaze replied. "Whoever they are, I hope they don't start following us. I don't particularly want this guy helping me out, but he'll be helpful. I won't need any extra help…"

Luster readied his Instant Transmission technique, then motioned for Blaze to make physical contact with him. She chose to take his earlier suggestion of a simple shoulder grab. When the pair of them were ready (especially Blaze, who mentally prepared herself for the same disorientation she felt last time), Luster activated the technique, warping the two away to a highly different locale once more.

October 15th 1991 - 3:02 PM

Toy Kingdom

First they were in the sand-filled Mirage Road, then they were in the water paradise of Apotos/Water Palace...now they were in quite the interesting locale. Huge, fake castles lined the many intertwining pathways. Lifesize children's toys roamed the streets as a bunch of human and Mobian children interacted with them in pure joy.

But none of that was either of Blaze or Luster's respective focuses. Instead, in an open plaza portion of the zone, they were staring down the three members of Team Dark, who were all inspecting the dark blue Sol Emerald which was parked firmly within Shadow's grasp. The team already noticed the presence of the feline pair, hence the staring down. Blaze was figuratively shooting daggers at the trio.

"Excuse me, I need that Sol Emerald you have," Blaze demanded, practically right after the teleportation process stopped and she reoriented herself, which didn't take as long as before.

"How rude. Where are your manners? Don't you know that you have to say 'please' when you ask for something?" Rouge played around with a mischievous smile.

"I don't have time to waste with this nonsense. Give me that Sol Emerald," Blaze continued to demand. Luster jumped in.

"Hey now, Blaze. We really shouldn't ask for stuff like that. I was always told that when I was younger. You don't get anything that way, so you should ask nicely," he advised. "Anyway, Shadow, Rouge, Omega, what are you guys doing? Do you need the Sol Emeralds for something?"

Shadow remained silent. Rouge looked over to him, expecting him to take the reigns of the conversation, but sighed when she realised nothing was going to come out of him. She had a feeling she knew why he was like this.

"Did that festival really tick you off this much, Shadow…?" Rouge wondered before answering Luster's query. "G.U.N's orders. They detected what seemed like seven batches of Chaos Energy suddenly appearing all over Earth and Mobius. Now we see that these Sol Emeralds are the cause. As much as I want to keep this for myself, we'll have to take it back to HQ."

Blaze was about to interject, but to her surprise, Luster carried on speaking. "But Blaze needs it. She needs 'em all. Her world's gonna die without 'em, so they're really important to her. They're also having some effect on our world, so it might die too if she doesn't get the emeralds fast enough. Are you gonna stop us from doin' that?"

"We're not letting you have this," Shadow finally spoke up, his voice low and murred by some kind of vexation. "If you two are going to get in the way of our mission, then we'll simply beat you aside."

"New sub-objective added: defeat Luster the Cat and his new feline meatbag friend," Omega also started to speak. "I love this part."

"Well then, there you have it. There's our response…" Rouge grinned. "What's yours?"

Blaze frowned. Instead of answering with words, she instead ignited flames in the palm of her hands. Luster was apprehensive about the situation, even more so when he glanced at Shadow, who had been continually staring at the turquoise-furred cat with a hateful look. Blaze looked over and noticed Luster's hesitation.

"Are these people your friends?" she wondered.

"Uh, yeah, kinda...I don't get why they wanna fight us," Luster sounded out his doubts.

Before he could explain his thoughts any further, Shadow used Chaos Control to warp in front of the male cat. He then struck his potential opponent with a sharp kick, knocking him back about a metre and sending him to the ground, back first.

"We're fighting. Get over it," Shadow figuratively spat.

"But why…" Luster was more confused than anything. He evaded a Chaos Spear by rolling out of the way, then got back on his feet. "Alright, I'll fight you, Shadow. I don't get why, but sure. I gotta beat you, get that emerald and find the others so I can help out Blaze."

The otherworldly cat in question appreciated Luster's assistance. She was initially concerned when Shadow kicked him away, but was now facing down her pair of opponents in Rouge and Omega.

And then a fight broke out.

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