"Ha! Don't try to fool me with your pathetic mind games, rodent. If Frieza were really on his way here, don't you think my scouter would have picked up the spike in energy by now?" Vegeta retorts. "That tyrant keeps his power level steady at half a million; even bottom of the line, low-class scouters could pick that up from millions of miles away."
Shadow's grin turns. True, he had completely forgotten that not all the Saiyan's scouters are the same, and also some monsters' powers are so tremendous, quality doesn't even matter. And on top of that, he notices something that completely catches him off guard...
"OK, you got me. But what does it matter?" The hedgehog breaks into a fighting stance. Then he flashes something in his hand.
"Hm?"
Damn it, I can't believe how much I slipped up. They'll have to get over me doing this just this one time, but it must be done.
In Shadow's other hand, another glimmering object appears.
"Chaos Control!" Electricity dances around Shadow, convulsing and contorting until the sphere of blue and white envelopes the entire area, including Vegeta, the Sonic heroes, and the Z fighters.
"What is this?" Vegeta barks. Crash. Crash. Crash, Boom. Electricity arcs and flies as a sphere, space and time itself warped into the shape of a sphere, expands. At first, it's inches an hour.
"What's... happening?" Gohan cries out, eyes clamped shut, hands slightly over both. The Sonic heroes also cover their own eyes, but are visibly nowhere near as tense as the other, Chaos-ignorant warriors.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, something big's gonna happen!" Krillin replies, shielding his own eyes with his forearm, as with Piccolo. At that moment, the sphere bursts outwards, faster than a blink.
For an answer to their cries, the landscape is remade.
Feet dig into the ground like drills as Shadow, sticking a landing, takes a blow from Nappa. His head tilts up almost enough to catch the Saiyan plow to Earth and drive his hammer fist into the hedgehog's gut.
He feels weightless until the king called gravity commanded that he return under its rule. He flips backwards and skids sharply, flinging pebbles and dust into the air.
Grim Reaper-like in his gait, Nappa is coming back to test the limits of his true strength. A sadistic grin sprouted on his face, he eyes Shadow with unbreakable commitment to see the hedgehog broken and dead.
Shadow's arms droop slightly as he returns the Saiyan's death grin with, instead, a scowl.
"It worked... Heh." The hedgehog throws his comrades a deep glare.
"Wait, wait, wait, wh-why is he looking at us?" Krillin asks. "Is he trying to tell one of us to jump in or something?"
"Nah!" The Z fighters look Tails's way. "Shadow just reset time is all."
"WHAT?" is the collective gasp of the three warriors.
"I guess he must have done something he didn't want to." Tails's manner falsely makes it seem like he and his kind actually remember why Shadow hit the proverbial reset button.
"B-but... That's impossible!" Krillin cries.
"What kind of trickery are you trying to pull on us, huh?" Piccolo adds. Only Gohan falls out of his state of stupor soon enough to begin to realize they may be telling the truth.
"Hello."
"AGGH!" Krillin falls over onto his behind, completely taken by surprise by Shadow. He stands, hand holding his shoulder, in front of his face.
"Hey, who toldja you could-"
"Quiet, Nappa! Let them get their bearings. From the looks of it, it obviously won't matter."Nappa growls, breathing like a demon at his prince's words, turning his head towards him, then back to Shadow. Finally, he controls himself and relaxes.
With two chuckling laughs, he then says, "Man, Vegeta! You always gotta take the fun outta everything!"
"Oh don't worry! I'll let you have 'fun' when I decide its time for them to die."
"Darn it, we can't waste anymore time! Please tell me you have some sorta trick up your sleeve!" Krillin begs Shadow.
"Heh... You, don't worry about me." Now all Krillin, Piccolo, and Gohan see is Shadow's quills and highlights. He nods his head in a horizontal direction, signaling for Sonic to follow him. His counterpart obeys.
Behind a nearby standing karst tower...
"Whatsup, Shads?"
"We might be here longer than I expected. That Time Reset technique drained too much chronos Chaos energy, and without the Master Emerald, they-they won't be recharged for very long periods of time."
"How long?"
"At least until they go to Namek. At most, when the Androids arrive."
"Thr...Three years? Yer jackin' to me that we might hafta stay here for three years?"
"More than that, remember? Huh... From where the timeline now stands, the androids don't arrive for another four and a half."
"Aw man!"
"Stop frowning, clown. We could have had to stay until Majin Buu arrives, but if I remember correctly, I also said 'until they go to Namek!' It depends on how quickly I can end this battle."
"And why didn't you end it the first time around?" Sonic interrogates, tone degenerating.
"Vegeta destroyed Nappa before I could." Shadow's tone is one of quiet embarrassment, married by the fact that he turns away, eyes closed, and fists on his hips. "I had intended on using the shock and awe method, but I pushed my power too far with too few atmospheric effects. Then I dealt with Nappa too quickly.
"So, in other words...you failed too much!" Sonic laughs, only to be dealt a fist to his gut.
"Look, the whole purpose of this mission," Shadow begins, head down, "was to gain the same ability the Z-fighters possess. Don't forget that he said that there's a way to do it, but that the only way in our universe would be decades upon decades of training." Sonic rolls over, still clutching his abdomen. "In this world, they would know how to learn it in mere months. Of course, should something happen, there's no way for us to correct it."
"Darn it, I knew we shoulda brought the Master Emerald..." With a gasp, he uses his knee to bring himself to his feet. Then he grunts and falls onto his back. Panting, he continues, "And we... and we only brought enou- enough reserve energy for you and... me to go individually Hyper twice, that's nowhere near enough..."
"Nappa somehow damaged the original Light Speed Shoes, and on top of that, I also numbed my arm just trying to keep up with him. I honestly didn't expect him to have the skills he possesses." Shadow lets out a low chuckle. "Silver was right when he said our level of television isn't a good enough medium to judge anything about a person." Pulling himself together, Sonic gets to his feet. The two hedgehogs put their heads together for a moment. Finally, Sonic speaks up.
"Hey, you think, maybe, and this is a long shot, that when onea these guys goes Super Saiyan, they could give us enough energy to cross back through virtual dimensions?" Shadow's arms are folded as he spits to the side, eyes closed in minor disdain.
"I could have sworn that boy told you this already. It's one thing to traverse between two realities. The energy and space-time manipulation involved to cross between a reality universe and an entirely fantasy universe would require infinite energy, and none of these warriors, even if fused and at the peaks of their powers down the line, could ever possess infinite energy. Even if they could, they would have to release it uninterrupted until we'd have all passed through. That's why we could never bring the Master Emerald in the first place."
"Ohhh! Yeah, that makes sense."
"But I overestimated the Chaos Emerald's natural chronos energy reserves. Without the Master Emerald to continually keep them in equilibrium, they won't be able to keep up their energy. They'll need extended periods of time to recharge."
"Weeeell.. We could always ask Blaze if we could use her spare Sol Emera-"
"Except that I can't use the Sol Emeralds."
"But Me, Blaze, and Cream can!" Sonic then cheerfully says, jumping in front of his emo doppelganger.
"Remember your place, clown!" Shadow returns, pointing at Sonic. "But whatever the pace now, it looks as if we can't avoid fighting Frieza."
"But... wait, if we kill Nappa and Vegeta, and keep Piccolo alive, then they'll be no reason to go to Namek! And that's just without Goku being..."