Disclaimer: I do not own, neither do I claim to own, the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, or the Dragon Ball Z franchise. Neither do I own any branch, spin-off or anything pertaining to the two series. SEGA owns Sonic, while Akira Toriyama, Toei Animation and FUNimation all own Dragon Ball.

I also do not own the following characters: Zoey Arsaldi the Wolf, Mira 'Ally' Prower, Axel the Bandicoot; Noah Raymond Thompson and Spencer Franklin Ricardo. The former trio belong to Pekiunai, while the latter duo are owned by werewolf99.

Claimer: On the flip side, I am the owner of Luster the Cat, Megan the Wolf, Jack the Cat, Entity, Quill, Unknown, Virga, Paterno, Roserie, Gren, Dewx and all the original Eggman robots that appeared in Season 1. Contact me if you want to use any of these characters or ideas in your work.


Last time, on Luster the Cat...

Ever since learning about the entirety of his past thanks to Black Doom, Shadow the Hedgehog has always had some lingering desires in his mechanical mind. First: how was Black Doom able to transform using the Chaos Emeralds, if he was not an Avatar of Chaos? A simple question, that was answered with an explanation of Dark Forms and Super Forms - especially how the two forms can be accessed by those without the aforementioned god-given status, despite being weaker; second: who was the Mobian of Prophecy that Black Doom mentioned?

As Tikal explained, the Mobian of Prophecy is a being chosen by the god of all gods to inherit its immense power. That being turned out to be Sonic the Hedgehog, who did not seem to care about the whole thing. With that, Shadow returned to Angel Island to learn of more Chaos Energy-based techniques.

We now come back to sometime after we left off!

August 25th 1991 - 2:21 PM

Thorndyke Mansion

Within the halls of the mansion owned by the wealthy Thorndyke family, a Japanese butler was walking down one particular hall of checkerboarded stone tiles (used as flooring, with white stones being the material that made up the walls and ceiling). He passed by various wooden doors, housing rooms of wide varieties. Not stopping to look in any of them, the butler continued strolling.

As he came to an opening on his right, he decided to stare towards the opening - where the grand lobby entrance of the Thorndykes' mansion existed. But then, the butler realised something. There was no more of the path to walk down, the only option being to either turn back or proceed towards the lobby. The butler carried on.

Only a minute and some seconds passed - whilst the butler was stepping down the strong, wide, wooden stairs - that an envelope came through the front door's mail slot. Curious, the butler patrolled over to pick it up. With nary a hint of fear in him, the butler checked the supposed receiver of the letter, the likelihood being that it could be a false delivery. But no, it was not. It was not addressed to anyone specifically, only the 'residents of the Thorndyke Mansion'.

Strange, the butler thought to himself. He had half a mind to open it himself, but knew it would be fair to bring it to the master of the house, Christopher Thorndyke. Where he was however, was a piece of information unknown to him. His first thought would be to check the living room, perhaps the almost pre-teen was there.

Once inside the first room on his left after turning away from the front doors, his primary concern came true: Chris was not in this room. Instead was a pink hedgehog, beige rabbit, a Chao with a bowtie and a taller beige rabbit. Oh well.

"Excuse me, but do you all know where Master Chris is?" the butler asked the anthropomorphic animals.

"Uh, I think he's outside with Luster, Mr. Tanaka," the pink hedgehog, Amy Rose, answered. She and the other three organisms turned to face the human male. "Why?"

"I have a letter addressed to this household. From whom, I do not know, but it is only fair that the master of the house is the one to open the letter," the butler, Mister Tanaka, explained. "Since he is not present, then do you know where Master Chuck is? In his laboratory, I presume?"

A old sounding male voice came from the other side of the room. "D'you think I spend all day in there? Of course I wanna get out every now and then!" the elder grinned, in the doorway that led to the kitchen. "Now what's this about a letter?"

"Ah, Master Chuck. I have never doubted your ability to remain social," Tanaka returned, passing the letter over to Chuck Thorndyke. "I am not sure what it is about."

"Oh, don't worry," Chuck reassured with confidence as he tore open the top of the envelope. In time, he got the letter out. "Let's see...from the government? What the?"

"The government? What would they want with us?" Cream wondered, concerned.

Amy shook her head. She also smiled, boosting Cream with positive morale without speaking a single line. "Let Chuck read the letter. Shouldn't have anything too bad in it."

Cream nodded, ensured that everything would turn out okay. On the human side of the spectrum, Chuck was about ready to start reading the message aloud. At this point, everyone else remained silent for they did not want to miss what was about to be said.

"This day, last year, we hosted an Emerald Fighting Tournament. Many competitors gathered from far and wide - mostly local - to compete in what could be considered the world's very first martial arts tournament. We have recognised the impact of the original event and we have come to the conclusion that we should host a second tournament," Chuck started. "Some of you reading this letter would have competed in the previous one. We would like you to be competitors once again."

Everyone in the room was surprised. Though, they remained silent, as there appeared to be more to the letter.

"To motivate those that might not be willing to join, we are offering a grand prize of one hundred thousand pounds. The Second Emerald Fighting Tournament begins at 1:00 PM on August 31st, 1991. If you wish to join, please go to Diamond Stadium on the day of the event. Registration starts at 12:00. We hope you can compete," finished Chuck, who took a quick drink of water to freshen his throat.

The earlier surprise was replaced with excitement. Some were determined to become competitors, others were pumped to see what kind of action would unfold this time.

"I know I will compete," Tanaka stated. "I was defeated by Emerl last time, though things will be different this year! I will be the one to win!" He was becoming a bit too excited.

Amy sweat dropped in embrassement, as did everyone else. "I gotta compete as well. Rouge got me before...so I'll be the one to beat her!" the pink hedgehog added.

"Well, I'm certainly not taking part. What about you, Cream? Do you want to join with Cheese?" Vanilla asked her daughter. She was always the one to ask.

"Nope," Cream shook her head. "I'm not interested in fighting, but I do want to support my friends. Hey, we should get Chris, Luster, Sonic and Tails over here! Maybe they'll want to join in!"

"Good idea. I'll go get...most of them," Amy agreed, leaving her seat on the sofa and jogging out the front door.

After some minutes later, Luster, Chris and Tails were present in the living room, already informed of what had been mentioned earlier. In particular, the only cat of the aforementioned trio was quite excited to have heard about the already discussed event. Of course he would be.

"This sounds awesome! I had no idea those guys over at Diamond Stadium made the place into a martial arts arena!" Luster commented. "This'll be the first tournament I've had since the World Martial Arts Tournament back in the other universe."

"Oh yeah, I remember you telling us," Tails recalled clearly. "Hopefully nobody here will be suppressing their power for you. Not like that Buu guy, I mean."

"Uh-huh," nodded the cyan cat. He remembered that tournament, how the likes of Krillin and Goku let him win for the sake of getting that Chaos Emerald that was being used as a prize. It was a nice sentiment, but slightly irritating. "I'll get Sonic. Oh man, I can't wait to fight him in the finals!"

With that, Luster used his Instant Transmission technique to warp straight to the blue blur, take some time to inform the hedgehog of the tournament and use the teleportation move to return the pair to the living room. Sonic too, was pumped.

"Alright, this thing sounds cool! When does it start?" the Mobian of Prophecy asked nobody in particular.

"In six days, on the thirty-first of August," Chuck answered. He was about to speak, but was interrupted by his twelve year old grandson.

"Thirty-first of August? That's like, two days before I start secondary school!" Chris reacted, dismayed. "I guess it'll be a good way to prepare myself for tense situations?"

"Come on Chris, will ya really let that stop you from competing?" Sonic asked the boy. "Think of it this way, these six days will allow ya to get that little bit stronger. There, you can show 'em all the fruits of your trainin'."

Christopher was cheered up by these words, while Chuck was vexed due to Sonic taking what he was going to say. "Thanks, Sonic. I'm definitely gonna take part and if I fight either of you," the boy spoke, referring to Luster, Sonic, Tanaka, Tails and Amy. "I won't hold back!"

"There ya go, Chris!" Luster smiled. "That's the sort of...spirit - I think that's the word - you need to be a great warrior. Everyone's your enemy and you gotta take 'em all down. But uh, don't go extreme there. Don't want ya to be evil."

"I understand," nodded Chris, smiling. "Now let's get to training."

Upon those words, Luster took his training student outside for some intense sparring while Amy started to mentally prepare a plan for fighting Rouge, on the chance that both girls fight one another again; Sonic relaxed a bit, knowing that he has a good shot of winning his fights; Tanaka returned to his duties and Tails left the mansion for Chuck's lab.

However, the twin-tailed fox was only in there for a short period of time - he took the X-Tornado and what seemed to be a load of rings towards a certain stadium.


Luster the Cat: Season 2 Opening 4 (Courage - Sword Art Online II, English ver.) -

There's something way over there

A sight that I cannot see

I'll grasp the air then I will be free

Being beaten down I don't like

You and I, we're so alike

But know that I can't let myself be beat easily!

Through the reaches of the Earth

I will soon find rebirth

With every encounter I'll not ever flounder so trust me

There is still someone that I can be!

Now it is time for me to be let free of your looming grasp

With my own two very eyes, I will find my prize

I will find the light that has been keeping me on my path

That keeps me strong (through this reality)

Now it's time for me to be let free of my supposed end

Turn away from my misery, I'll not lose a friend!

Running far, I will bear this ever-present scar

That keeps me strong (ah)

It's giving me my way!


Six days later, roughly an hour and half before the start of the Second Emerald Fighting Tournament, everyone living in the Thorndyke Mansion ventured out in a mix of the X-Tornado, Chuck's car and flying in Luster's case (minus Ella, she remained behind to protect the abode) to reach Diamond Stadium, which was towards the far western part of Station Square. It was a lone stadium, one that had previously been used for baseball and rounders, but it had since been converted to a marital arts arena that attracted many a pretty pound.

Externally, the structure was the same, except for the field. It had changed to a square battling field surrounded by a small space of grass on three sides and spectator stands next to the aforementioned pieces of grass, opposite the arena. Luster noticed the similarites to the World Martial Arts Tournament's arena - the two were practically the same. The X-Tornado was parked at one of five plane landing spots while Chuck parked his car in a random spot in the nearby car park. Once everyone touched earth, the mission was to walk inside and register.

Once inside the main entrance, which lead to a small lobby area that was packed with potential competitors, the next step to the mission was to locate the sign up booth. In this case, it was the sign up booths. Chuck lead the charge, engaging the only free official.

"Excuse me sir, how can I help you?" the female official asked the old scientist. "Would you like to sign up?"

"You kidding? With my aged bones? No no, I learnt my lesson last time," Chuck answered with a friendly smile. He pointed to the group of humans and Mobians behind him. "Some of them want to sign up. Can I just do it for them?"

"That is fine, sir. But, you'll have to wait a minute," the official ordered with a kind tone to her voice.

"Why's that?" Chuck questioned, confused.

The official pointed to the analogue clock on the left most wall. "Sign up doesn't start until twelve. It's currently 11:59, you're a minute early. Sorry."

Drooping forward in dismay, Chuck was temporarily defeated in his spirits. He then turned to his friends with a more delightful facial expression. "Feel free to look around if you want, everyone. Cream, Vanilla, Cheese - I'm pretty sure you guys can go find a good place to sit."

Nodding, the mentioned trio departed from the group before practically everyone else split up. Only Tanaka remained with Chuck, for reasons nobody really cared to find out. Though it appears this group does not know the real meaning of 'split up', as the Mobians (along with Chris) stuck together.

"So, whadd'ya guys think? Pumped?" Sonic asked his comrades as they all waded through the crowd of people. The place was not entirely jam-packed with people, with it starting to dwindle in numbers to an incredibly small fraction as more people took their seats outside. Answering the question, everyone nodded.

However, Tails seemed to have something else on his mind. "Are you alright, Tails?" Amy asked the yellow fox.

"I'm fine...I just can't wait for you guys to see what I've done to the place!" the ex-West Islander responded with excitement in his tone and face. "Especially you, Luster."

This broke the cat out of whatever distracted mode he was in. "Huh, what? What'd you do?" Luster wondered.

"You'll all find out..." hinted Tails. Sometimes, he really enjoyed playing the guessing game.

As the group of four Mobians and one human wandered around the place, they came across a familiar purple chameleon. Amy was the one to greet this friend.

"Hey there, Espio!" Amy started, getting the attention of the ninja. "Are you competing as well?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact, Vector and I should be. Charmy is currently out there, in his spectating seat," Espio the Chameleon directly replied. "With the way sign ups work, we should be in."

"How do they work? I don't think they mentioned that on the letter," Chris brought up.

"Not aware. I see, you must have not watched the television advertisement were they explained it, or that news advertisement," Espio guessed, having done the latter of the two options. "It's a first come, first go basis. Once the time begins, the three officials over there that take the names of the combatants write down the names of the ones intending to partake and once the limit has been reached, it's over and the tournament begins shortly afterwards."

The five residents of the Thorndyke Mansion were surprised, though Sonic remained his usual unfazed self. "So it's all about speed, huh? Good thing we were the first ones here!"

"Yeah, last time - " Tails was about to say before being interrupted by an announcement.

"Attention all potential candidates for the Second Emerald Fighting Tournament! Sign ups are now underway!" a male voice spoke over the announcement system.

Chris darted his eyes for Chuck and Tanaka, who obviously got the message and seemed to be determined enough to get everyone's names down. With a slight change of eyesight to the left, he could see Vector the Crocodile doing the same thing, presumably for himself and Espio.

He sighed and turned back to the group.

"Well, I guess we're all confirmed to be in," Chris estimated. "How many spots are there?"

"Sixteen. It's a round robin style, so that means there will be eight matches in round one, four in round two and so," Espio informed, releasing his folded arms. "I hope I do not fight Vector."

"Because you don't want to hurt him, right?" Amy suggested, taking a quick glance at Vector, who seemed to be finishing up at his station. "He was pretty strong when our teams fought that one time. You won't have to worry, I don't think."

"Right. I shall take those words into consideration," Espio nodded. He observed as Vector started walking over to him and the group, with a certain black and red hedgehog and white bat replacing the crocodile. "It looks as if those two are joining."

The group turned to see that this was true - Shadow and Rouge were signing up. "Heh, even those guys?" Sonic remarked, grinning. "Now I just gotta fight Shadow. That'll be one heck of a match!"

It was not long until Vector arrived. "Hey, Espio. I got you and me all ready to go," the crocodile informed the chameleon. He quickly noticed the others. "And you've all done the same, right?"

Tails nodded to confirm. "Yep. There's us, Tanaka..." the fox began, making sure that the group of five were still present. Unfortunately, one was missing. "Luster? Hey, where'd he go?"

"I'll check," Chris interjected. He used his Ki sensing ability, which he learned from Luster himself, to locate the turquoise cat. It did not take a while for the boy to find Luster's energy signal next to a strange, yet powerful source of energy. "I found him, but he's next to somebody that's...pretty strong, but I think that person's hiding their strength."

"What?" Amy almost rhetorically asked in confusion.

"I can't really describe it. Their energy feels strong, slightly moreso than Luster's, but I feel that there's more to it," explained Christopher. He had been practicing Ki sensing for some time, even without Luster there to help him. "Whoever this guy is, I think he'll win the tournament."

August 31st 1991 - 12:09 PM

Diamond Stadium, lobby

Away from the corner closest to the entrance where the Mobians and Christopher were conversing, Luster had used Instant Transmission to teleport straight to a decently sized Ki signature that he sensed before Vector finished up. At that point, he was starting to relax, which allowed his mind to do its thing - it all lead to the cat coming across that Ki signal that immediately bothered him upon the initial sensing of it. They were leaning against a wall, using their back to keep themself up. One look around determined that Luster was now on a pathway to the right most selection of spectator stands.

Such a strange source of energy belonged to a person that had spikey hair with two pieces of the spiked hair acting as his fringe, onyx eyes along with a gi that was eerily similar to Goku's but grey and a darker grey vest underneath. There was also a broadsword on the person's back and some weird...brown-thing around his waist. Whoever it was, they certainly appeared to be a capable warrior.

Looks were not of Luster's concern. "Who are ya? You're way too strong to be a human."

"It sure looks that way, huh?" the man rhetorically asked. "I wasn't expecting to find a Mobian here. Things are gonna get really interesting from here on out!" He was smiling at this point, which only confused Luster even further.

"What the? You didn't answer my question..." the cat continued. He was determined to find out who this person was. "Who are ya?"

The man sighed. "Well, since you're asking...my name's Bakuda, the Godling of Hope," he revealed.

"Godling of Hope?" Luster pushed on. Of all things, he chose to focus on the person's name, who turned out to be someone called Bakuda. "What's that?"

"It means I'm a god in training. All I need to do is find certain balls of power and I'll become a god," Bakuda explained, apparently carefree enough to reveal himself straight away. "I'll understand if you don't believe me, it's kinda natural for random people like you."

"A god? Just like Sonic..." lamented Luster.

The very mention of the blue blur's name earned a shocked reaction from this 'Bakuda' fellow. "Did you just say Sonic?"

"Uh, yeah. Do you know him? Well, he is a famous hero and all," the cat shrugged, growing ever more interested in who this person was.

"You could say that," Bakuda started to grin. "We're actually rivals. We've raced and fought each other before but I pretty much always beat him."

"S-Sonic?! He's been beat? That's impossible, I thought he could never be beat..." Luster reacted, amazed to hear the news. Isn't Sonic the Mobian of Prophecy? Shadow told us that the Mobian of Prophecy could never be beat and Tikal even told him that! This guy's gotta be lying!

"I'm not lying," Bakuda refuted, losing his grin. "I'm telling the truth. Haven't you ever heard of the Shadowfox?"

Luster grew visibly dazzled. "Wait, how did ya know I thought you were lyin'? And what's a Shadowfox?"

"First of all, I can read minds. Secondly, Shadowfox is the name of a vehicle I once had, but I don't use it anymore," Bakuda explained in an orderly manner.

"You can read minds?! That's awesome!" Luster commented, like a child appreciating an item belonging to an older person.

"Heh, it really is...anyway, you're here for this tournament, aren't you?" questioned Bakuda.

Nodding, the turquoise cat remembered he was going to ask something else, though he forgot what. He attempted to remember what, while Bakuda used this time to think to himself.

"You're really strong," Luster killed the silence. "I can sense your energy and it's way stronger than mine. I feel like there's a lot more to your power then just that, though. How strong are ya, really?"

Bakuda almost seemed shocked at what Luster revealed, but played it cool. He needn't inform the cat of anything else relating to him. "I am strong. You're right when you said that I'm stronger than you, but that doesn't mean we can't have a good fight! That does depend on if we actually fight each other in the tournament."

"You're right! And if we do fight, I'll beat you!" Luster barked with determination. "My name's Luster. It's nice to meet ya, Bakuda!"

"Nice to meet you too, Luster. I'll see you in the tournament! We better have a good match!" Bakuda returned with a warrior's pride. Just as Luster was about to turn around and depart, the supposed 'Godling of Hope' stopped him with a tap on the shoulder. "Before you go, I should warn you about somebody that I know's gonna end up in the tournament. He looks just like me...but he's my shadow. I know he's here somewhere and he knows I'm here. If you fight him, do your best to beat him."

Luster nodded and gave Bakuda a thumbs-up. "Of course I'll beat him! See ya later, Bakuda!" Now that he was finished, the cat used Instant Transmission and warped away, surprising Bakuda once again.

He knows that technique and he can sense energy... Bakuda listed in his mind. Could he...no, I guess I'll find out when I see him fight. Luster, you need to show me your true power in your very first match! The Godling of Hope remained in his position against the wall, returning to his thoughts.

August 31st 1991 - 12:16 PM

Diamond Stadium, lobby

After using Instant Transmission to get away from Bakuda, Luster found himself next to the same group he was with earlier, except Tanaka joined along. Chuck, as was explained to the cat, already scurried off to find where Vanilla and Cream were sitting. Everyone was curious about where Luster teleported off to, save for Espio and Vector.

"Where'd you go, Luster?" Tails interrogated as soon as he could.

"I felt this really powerful Ki signal and I just had to follow it," Luster explained, recalling what transpired some short minutes ago. "It led me to this guy called Bakuda, who called himself the Godling of Hope. He said he's really strong, he can read minds and he knows Sonic already."

All eyes were on Sonic, except for Vector, who was listening to music. Espio was only feigning interest to not be bored. "Why you all lookin' at me? I don't know any Bakuda," Sonic answered, shrugging. "First time I've ever heard of him."

"I knew he was lying!" Luster raised his voice slightly. "He was a nice guy, but lying's horrible. Why would he do that?"

Tails thought of a reasonable explanation. Reasonable in their sense, anyway. "What if this Bakuda person is from a different universe? It's not like we haven't had troubles like that before. He's probably from some alternate universe where he's friends with Sonic."

"Maybe..." Luster half-agreed, remembering past interdimensional issues. "But the weird thing was that he had clothes on that looked just like my training mentor's, only with a different colour."

"You mean that Goku guy? Perhaps his universe is a combination of an alternate version of ours and that other world? Either that, or he's also been to Goku's world," suggested Tails. "We can start-"

Mirroring an earlier happening, Tails was interrupted by an announcement. "Signups are now closed! Everyone, please standby while we announce who has been successfully entered into the Second Emerald Fighting Tournament!"

"Looks like Elmer Johnson's doing the announcing again," Amy pointed out, recognising the voice. "He was pretty good when he did it last year."

"Yeah. He was great at hyping the crowd up, but I think we should keep quiet from now on. We could miss ourselves being announced," Chris mentioned. This calmed everyone else down, as about three minutes of silence followed. Once that three minutes and several seconds were up, the announcements started again.

"Now, for the combatants! All of these people will be competing in the tournament that will start in 44 minutes!" Elmer Johnson declared. "Tanaka, Chris Thorndyke, Luster the Cat, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails the Fox, Amy Rose, Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, Andrew Stewart, Sam Speed, Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, Hawk, Bakuda Son, Danny and Dakuba Son! All of you will be competing in the Second Emerald Fighting Tournament! Everyone else may either choose to leave, or join the spectators. The tournament will start at 1:00 PM!"

Very audible cheering sounded from outside. It was clear that there was a huge crowd, let alone the ones about to view the tournament at home. Each of the sixteen competitors looked determined to fight, though one had darker intentions. All of them shared a bond, even though not all of them knew each other.

It was a bond between fighters.


Luster the Cat: Season 2 Ending 4 (Many Times Before - Naruto, English ver.) -

Maybe you, had a good self control

But maybe, you were crying inside

You could not, give away, the peaceful dream that you

Chose for your own self

I was treated as a waste, just like a mere shadow

Please just let me dream, yeah yeah yeah

I don't want to be the main part, 'cause that's way too hard

Even though through it all, I never gave it all up

Even though I have survived, I must never give it up

Even though you've been there, I've still been in pain

I've frequently dreamed through it all

I'll never lose it!

Even through all the stupid things, I'm still here alive

And I will survive

Despite being in someone else's shadow, I now want to be the main part

But I know he'll still surpass me, but I don't care I'll still be strong!


Author Notes: For those of you that have read Rise of the Saiyan God by Bakuda (a user on this site and DeviantART), yes. I have permission to use his two characters, Bakuda and Dakuba. They will also be appearing in the next part, which actually starts the tournament. See you then!