Merry Christmas!

An explosion rippled outwards, as a solid square mile around completely vanished in a flash of energy. Brilliant, bright flashes of white and black lightning lit the air as the two forces collided.

Shadic flew forward with his full force, fist extended and pressed against Nazo's. Clenching his jaw, a Chaos ripple flew outwards, and he darted backwards, having less than a split second head start before Nazo activated his own Chaos Control to counter, but he got the breathing room he needed.

"He shouldn't be this strong" Pure Shadic thought, unleashing a torrent of Chaos energy straight at the demon charging him, which was easily deflected off the back of his hand. LAnding on the ground, he braced himself as Nazo clashed with him again. The two traded blows at lightning speed, neither landing a single one as they countered each other.

The two sprung away, across the ground before darting into the air, cloaking in powerful auras as they flew skyward. Shadic arced through the air, Boosting straight into Nazo and knocking him away, spinning back through the air, but wasn't able to recover quick enough to avoid a large sphere of black energy striking him back.

The two attacks distracting the fighters, Chaos Control ended, and the dust that had been disturbed from the first blow settled to the ground.

Shaking it off quickly, Shadic and Nazo put on the speed, sending a sonic boom rocketing over the land below as they broke through the atmosphere, flying out into the cold vacuum of space, the Earth below them. The two had been fighting for five seconds.

Shadic let out a strained breath. "This makes no sense" he said. "How is it that I can't keep ahead? His power shouldn't be greater than mine, even if he was more powerful than he claimed…"

He felt as if he had trouble breathing, while Nazo appeared to be in top form. "You haven't realized it?" Nazo asked. "You really are a barbaric rat, after all."

Shadic growled. "Barbaric rat?" he muttered dangerously. A sudden rainbow energy flared to life around him, and Nazo went flying away in half a blink.

Shadic circled around the demon with FTL Attack, and used the combined momentum of Nazo's flying body and his own speed to jab his elbow into the back of Nazo's neck, hard. Crackling yellow energy filled his free hand, as he blasted a point-blank Chaos Wind straight into his back, which sparked with black energy as it formed, and the sheer force knocking him several miles through the void.

Shadic looked at his hand. "Clever devil" he said. It wasn't noticeable before, but as he focused, he could sense the energy in the air. "He's pulling the same stunt Eggman did…"

"I guess I overestimated you" a drawling voice sounded off behind him. "You didn't figure it out as quick as I would have hoped."

Shadic turned in the air to face his opponent. Nazo had returned with Chaos Control, arms crossed. Floating close, Shadic closed the distance until he and Nazo basically stood nose to nose. "Your little light show with the Dark Super Emeralds wasn't just to be flashy" he said. "You're discharging the energy, diffusing it into the air to weaken my positive energy with your tainted variety."

"Bra-vo" Nazo said slowly, sarcastically. "I assume that it's the part of you that is shadow that was able to figure that out. Sonic wouldn't have been that intelligent."

"You'd be surprised" Pure Shadic said. "You can't keep up, so the next best thing is to lower the level you have to keep up with."

The strain he felt was his body attempting to repel the darkness naturally. The dark force wasn't nearly as strong as the Master Chaos energy flowing through his body, unlike before, where the Emeralds had been completely cancelled out. He was weakened, but not completely out.

Chuckling lightly, Shadic floated back through the air. "You know, Nazo, you're a piece of work" he said. "But it's no matter. You held the advantage last time, and guess what, we pulled through. How do you think things will go this time. I mean, sure, you've been hitting the gym, but I'm nearly as strong as the Gods of this world."

His eyes closed, and he took a deep breath. "You can try all the tricks you want, Redhead" he taunted. "But I promise you, things are going to end the exact, same, way!" Eyes flashing open, a rainbow aurora flew around him, causing the space around him to smoke as his power collided with Nazo's aura.

Nazo eyed Shadic, and chuckled. "Light Speed Attack? Again, really? My, my, you are really being original this time around, Shadic" he said.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" Pure Shadic shrugged, entire body vibrating with the power.

Nazo's own aura steadily grew darker, mixing into the air, yet not able to dim Shadic even further. "You asked me why I think things won't be the same?" he asked. "I'll tell you why." An evil smile dawned on the face of the demon. "You only won last time, because you had the help of your two little friends."

Shadic's eyes widened, not expecting that answer, that attack. "You… You're talking about Tails… And Knuckles…" he growled, Sonic's voice becoming more apparent in the fused being's tone.

Nazo lowered his hands slightly. "Now don't take it like that" he sighed. "I'm not like that tyrant Frieza, I only want you destroyed, never mind all of that agony. Haven't you figured out by now, I am a much more fair player than the types you have been consorting with?"

Shadic blinked, and shook off his Sonic's emotional half. "Let's cut the small talk" he shouted. "You act so pure, but you're just slightly more honorable than Frieza ever was. You trained him to make us suffer, in case you've forgotten. So, why are we chatting when we both know there's only one way to settle this?"

"Fair point" Nazo conceded. "Come on, Shadic, you have the first move."

"With pleasure!" Pure Shadic nodded, before he vanished into the inky darkness.

Reacting simply, Nazo turned to his side and thrust his fist forward, just as Shadic came back into existence. Their clash rippled throughout the space, before a blinding light, as bright as a supernova, lit up the entire solar system.

West City…

"Goku, where are you going?"

"Kakarot, moronic may be a part of your genes, but now isn't the time to let it rule."

"I take personal offense to that, Prince…"

"Gaaahh…" SSB Goku gasped, collapsing to the ground, his hair fading to normal. "No, I… I won't, give up…"

Bulma sighed. "Just wait for a few moments, Goku. I just gave a call to your place, Goten and Trunks are going to grab Dende right now" she explained. "You're in no shape to do anything right now."

"I would listen to her, Kakarot" Vegeta grunted. "Frieza got us all, as much as it pains me to admit anything of that about the bastard, rest in hell."

"But… I can't… Wait…" Goku yelled over his pain, standing back up. "We can't let those two fight Nazo alone… Especially if he's capable of that." The sky had just lit up a clashing black and white, literally, not a single speck of the normal sky had remained while the energy had existed.

"Wait, you've lost me" Bardock said to his son. "What is going on, I thought that the fight was over."

Vegeta glanced at him. "The fight with you trying to conquer the Earth, and Frieza pulling the strings, yes, that's over" he said. "But there's another being, that came from the same world as our friend. He's a bit of a threat, just as Frieza was, but has particularly gotten under the skin of the others, from their past encounters, and Kakarot had a very close scrape with it a while back."

"And I can't let them fight without any support" Goku grunted, a blue light flaring up around him once more. "This guy, something about him doesn't sit right with me, something just… I really don't like him!"

Goku's hair briefly flew upwards again, and almost glowed blue, but before he could finish his transformation, he let out a roar of pain and fell onto all fours again.

Bulma sighed and looked to her husband. "Vegeta, you did that energy cuff thing to him before, right? Let's try to make it so that he doesn't kill himself."

Vegeta's face morphed into something unreadable. "Vegeta…?" Bulma asked.

"Sorry, decisions" Vegeta said lowly. "Either pin Kakarot down at my mercy, or let him send himself to Otherworld…"

"VEGETA!" Bulma shouted.

Vegeta jerked his head, aiming his hand at Goku, the Capsule Corp. building behind him. "We needed to remodel anyways" he growled, before several strands of yellow energy darted forward, wrapping around Goku's limbs and sending him crashing backwards into the wall, embedding in the stone and smacking Goku's head against it.

"Ow…" Goku muttered, his head hanging low. "Was the concussion necessary?"

"Quite" Vegeta smirked as Goku's eyes closed.

Bulma facepalmed. "Why…" she asked simply. "Just… Why?"

Bardock glanced at King Vegeta. "Does, he get that sense of violence from you?" he asked.

"I think he got most of that from Frieza" King Vegeta admitted.

Vegeta dropped his hand, breathing hard. He may not have been trying to transform into a Super Saiyan Blue, but his injuries made creating the energy cuffs a painful prospect either way. Glancing up at Bulma, he raised his eyebrows. "How long until the Namek boy gets here?" he asked.

Bulma shrugged. "With how fast Goten and Trunks can fly, I'd say you guys have at least a few minutes more to wait."

"Tch" Vegeta sighed, looking skyward. "Kakarot was worrying himself for nothing" he muttered. "I just watched that hedgehog pull the same stunt Trunks did when Frieza last came to Earth. If he can do that, that monster doesn't stand a chance."

Bulma blinked. "Vegeta, were you, complimenting them?" she asked.

"I am acknowledging their power" Vegeta clarified. "And if we're out of commision and the Earth is in danger, they are the next line of defense. Even I can see that. And they do their job well."

King Vegeta stepped forward. "I do not understand the situation, but perhaps I could be of assistance. I am the only unwounded one."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Unless you can breath in space and fight even fiercer than Kakarot's father, no" he said. "Kakarot may have been trying to help, but there is only one way that he could hope to even fight up there, and I doubt he fully thought it through."

"Fully thought it through?" King Vegeta asked.

Hand retracting into his pocket, Vegeta tossed something tiny and glimmering in the light into the air, catching it in his palm. "Those hedgehogs are fighting beyond the atmosphere because they have the uncanny ability to fight in space. The only way we could survive is a special barrier technique, but there's only one way to use it, and I despise the means to that end."

Holding up the object, Vegeta's Tempotara dangled from his fingertips. Vegeta and Bardock took a look at it. "An… Earring?" Bardock asked.

"More complicated than that" Vegeta said, stuffing it back into his pocket. "If I wear one, and Kakarot wears the other, we fuse together, to become a single, more powerful warrior. I hate the Fusion, but it's a good trump card to keep." He pulled a face. "Not that I enjoy it."

"But if you can do that so easily, then why don't you fuse together now?" Bardock asked. "Weren't you the one saying how you'd commit patricide if it came to protecting your family and planet?"

"If me and Kakarot fused now, we'd be even weaker than he was when he fought with you" Vegeta said. "Our condition transfers into the new body, which means we'd be a useless body if we did right now, we'd only drain the power of the earrings." Shooting a glare over, he continued. "But this talk is useless, bottom line, we are helpless for now. All we can do is wait for the Namek boy to arrive and patch us up. Then, if things come to it, Fusion is a last resort to go and fight the demon with. So, if you two don't mind, shut up and sit tight!"

Space…

Shadic darted through the void at speeds that would put terminal velocity to shame, and used him momentum to swing around and crash into Nazo, sending him sailing before chasing after him.

He found himself ahead of Nazo, and placed his hands forward, before unleashing a massive wave of energy. He smirked for a second, before realizing that a dark light was moving straight through the core of the blast, not slowing down. Stopping the attack, Shadic swiped his hand across his body, as an invisible blade of wind sliced through the vacuum, cleaving a large blast of purple energy clean in two, splitting around him and detonating behind him.

Shadic darted upwards, his upwards at least. The freedom that came from fighting outside of an atmosphere was as disorienting as it was free. A movement flashed out of the corner of his eye, and he saw Nazo charge straight at him, his dark aura making him nearly invisible in the black of space. Reacting fast, Shadic darted forward, a brilliant light shining around him as he unleashed a full power Boost, and met Nazo head on.

Time slowed to a near stop as the two separated, flying apart before dashing back at each other, clashing and looping around each other, trading blows multiple times. Shadic flipped and went straight at Nazo, foot swinging around, and at the last second, Nazo mirrored him. The two connected powerful kicks to the sides of each other's heads.

The energy around Shadic's hand distorted, and he sent a massive ripple of power straight at the demon. The vacuum muffled all sound, but the dull explosion of the Chaos enhanced Sonic Boom was unmistakable. Nazo floated still for a moment, brain scrambled by the intense impact. Aura flaring, Shadic teleported right about him, a glowing turquoise sphere with a yellow core sitting in his hands. "CHAOS WIND!" he shouted, unleashing the torrent of swirling explosive energy, blasting Nazo point-blank, sending him careening through the void, straight towards the large, pale body that was the moon.

Curling up into a ball, Shadic charged a power spin in the air and crashed straight into Nazo, and he didn't slow as the approached the white stone surface. With a massive burst of energy, Shadic's speed increased drastically, and he pushed Nazo hard, penetrating straight through the massive object, Nazo being the drill that dug right to the other side, right through the core of the moon.

Shadic slowed as he passed forward out of it, and Nazo slowed his soaring as quick as he could, covered in scratches across his hardened shell of a back. Around them, Chaos Control ended, and several tons of shrapnel raced past Shadic, flying out into deep space.

"Not so far ahead as you believed, huh?" Pure Shadic asked.

Nazo growled, looking up, breathing hard. "No… Perhaps not…" he admitted. "I misjudged just how weak you would be…"

"Not in excess" Pure Shadic shrugged. "Let's just say, I reversed your damage."

For emphasis, the light around Shadic flashed much brighter for a second, a knowing look dawning on Nazo's face. "Just as I discharged darkness, you are cloaking yourself in the light" he said.

"Much easier when I only have to make a little bubble rather than half a solar system" Pure Shadic laughed. "I warned you, things are going to be just like they were last time!"

"I wouldn't bet on it" Nazo said. "I may not win the battle, but this is war, my nemesis."

Shadic raised his eyebrows. "Hey, you aren't getting away!" he declared.

Nazo chuckled. "Really? Try and stop me!"

Shadic had barely made a movement before Nazo vanished in a flash of dark light. The strange pressure left the air, and that was what signaled him. The fight, Nazo, as quickly as it had began…

"It's over?" Pure Shadic asked. "Already?"

He let out a moan of frustration. "Is this becoming a pattern?" he asked out loud. "Someone gets away from a fight by the skin of their teeth?" He shrugged. "Well, I guess if that's the case, then next time will go better."

Letting out a sigh of relief, a mellow green light overtook the being, and Sonic and Shadow fell apart. Sonic's fur flickered dimly, he he chuckled. "Just… A little too long…" he muttered, groaning in pain. "Let's get back before I just, I don't know, vaporize?"

Shadow nodded. "This form isn't good for the long term" he conceded. He was having a slightly easier time because of the way his body was designed to handle it, but it was beginning to take its toll on him as well. "Let's hurry before we either fall out of our forms or our bodies" he said. "I don't want to die, and I don't want another several year case of amnesia."

"Yeah… Sounds good" Pure Sonic nodded.

Pushing forward, Sonic and Shadow send themselves towards the planet, then let zero-gravity and their momentum to carry them the rest of the way. Sonic let out a deep breath, and his fur faded to blue, the white glow leaking off of his body and soaring down towards to Earth, to where the Master Emerald awaited. "I'll go Super when we get closer" he said. "That way, I can avoid becoming a hedgehog pancake."

Following suit, Shadow reverted to a more easy to maintain form as well. "You know, Sonic?" he asked. "Whenever a fight involves you, on either side, things tend to go right up to the brink…"

"Just lucky that way, I guess" Sonic admitted.

The two felt a sudden tugging as they drew closer to the Earth. "Oh, here we go…" Sonic muttered as he rapidly began moving faster as gravity took ahold. "WhOoOoOoOoOoOoOoAaAaAaAaAa!" he shouted as he truly sped up to terminal velocity. He saw red, and he realized that he was becoming cocooned in a ball of fire as he careened towards the planet.

Curling up into a tight ball, Sonic spun to avoid the worst effects of the drop, and after several minutes of the fall, he noticed that the air began to grow warmer. At this point, he had to focus his energy, difficult when he was being tugged at with dizzying g-forces. Harnessing all his remaining power, the heat around him dispelled in a single push as his fur flared gold, and he entered Super Form.

The fall was no longer so damaging to his body, nor disorienting. A ripple of power told him Shadow had just 'pulled his own parachute.' The two, no longer free-falling, flew towards the surface below, yellow energy trailing behind them. They pulled up as they neared the treeline, avoiding the crash and skimming the canopy.

"Hmm" Super Sonic mused. "I don't recognize where we are…"

"Did you plan to?" Super Shadow asked. "We just fought at speeds faster than light, circling around the planet. We weren't just going to drop back into that city, or Knothole, or any of that, you know?"

"I know that!" he protested. "Doesn't mean that I couldn't have been hopeful though…"

Shadow sighed. "Fair enough."

The treeline ended, and suddenly, they found the ground much further below. They soared right over the top of a cliff, and Sonic desperately tried to come to a stop in the air. "Shadow, wait up!" he said, descending towards the ground below.

Rather than slow down his flight, Shadow used Chaos Control to cancel his momentum and reappear by Sonic. "What now?"

Sonic looked back and forth, over the terrain. "This place… I think I know it…" he trailed off as he looked into the distance. "Ah-HA!" he said, dashing over, and making his way back in the blink of an eye.

In his hand, he held a large, sharp piece of blue metal. "This was where Eggman ambushed me with all those cheap Metal Sonic knockoffs" he said. "I was here with Sally right before Frieza's invasion began." Looking up and around, he struck a thinking pose. "So, after I fought them, I flew Sally back to Knothole… And the direction I flew in was… This way!"

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Are you positive?" he asked. "I would hate to waste my time."

Sonic facepalmed. "First off, I was attacked by about two dozen clones of myself, before running off to a planetary fight that resulted in a bastard murdering my two best friends, I'd say I remember these details quite clearly" he said. "Also, did you forget about Chaos Control? Time is a non issue."

Shadow blinked, then chuckled. "You know that's not what Chaos Control does, but I'll give your props for being just a little creative with your comeback."

"Heh heh" Super Sonic shrugged, running his finger beneath his nose. "Come on, let's get back so that I can pass out for a few days."

"Sleep is for the weak" Super Shadow scoffed. "Which is why I can't understand my feeling the same way."

Sonic floated back into the air. "So… This way, right" he said, turning to the northeast.

Shadow twisted his body to face where Sonic was pointing. "Now that we're back on the planet, I can actually sense the Master Emerald's energy. It's like a beacon."

"So I've got your vote of confidence?" Super Sonic asked.

"Hmph, this time, sure" Super Shadow chuckled.

Sonic flipped backwards in the air, energy flaring beneath him. "Come on, race ya'!" he said, before taking off with a blindingly fast Super Sonic Boost.

"Oh, now that's just playing dirty..." Super Shadow muttered, before taking off after Sonic as fast as he could.

Capsule Corp…

"And there you are, Vegeta."

"Hmmph, thanks, Dende" Vegeta huffed, nodding with gratitude, and standing up straight, stretching.

Stepping to the side, Dende donned a confused look as he saw Goku, chained to the wall. "Um, what happened here?"

"Well, you know how you put a leash on a dog to prevent it from running away?" Vegeta chuckled. "Apparently, the same works to keep Kakarot from going on a suicide run."

"Ahh…" Dende facepalmed, turning away from Vegeta and walking over to the building. "Ok, knowing Vegeta, I'd just better hope that I know how to help with concussions."

Holding his hands forward, his healing light began pouring forth again, washing over Goku's limp body. Slowly, the cuts and bruises visible through Gou's torn gi began to fade, and the holes that had been punched through his body by Frieza's Death Beams began to close. His eyes fluttered as Dende's light began to fade, and they shot wide open as he pulled back his hands.

"Wha-!" Goku exclaimed, a ripple of power flying outwards, the chains around his limbs completely vanishing. Luckily, Goku had maintained some control, disoriented as he was, so he didn't knock Dende flying, but he still had to struggle to remain standing. "Oh, my bad" he apologised. "Sorry, Dende."

"No problem" Dende shrugged. "You know me, I don't care if you guys use me like an infinite supply of Senzu Beans after what you did for my people."

"Yeah, I really appreciate it" Goku said gratefully.

But after exchanging their pleasantries, Goku's face darkened. Head shooting over, he began to speak to Vegeta. "Any news on those two?"

"Tch, I'm not your friend in Otherworld, I can't see everything at all times" Vegeta spat.

"Vegeta!" Goku growled. "All I was asking if you have seen anything, no need for the hostility. Those two saved us, and I'll be damned if they die trying to save the planet twice in a row."

Silver sighed. "I wish I could get back up there and help, but I couldn't even go Super right now without keeling over on the spot" he said begrudgingly. "I haven't completely mastered Chaos Control yet..."

"And we aren't about to ask you to, either" Goku said. "You helped just as much as they did."

He paused for a moment, before turning back to Vegeta. "Vegeta, we have to go help them out" he said. He pulled out his Tempotara with a serious look. "Come on."

Vegeta's scowl deepened. "Please, do you realize how many times we've fused already? Three times, not counting our test on Supreme Kai's planet. I want to take a break before the next time!"

"What?!" Goku shouted. "What do you mean a break?!"

"Oh, I don't know" Vegeta shrugged. "Maybe a lifetime?"

King Vegeta and Bardock watched the arguments between their sons with mild interest. "Do our families have, like a blood feud or something?" Bardock questioned.

"I am very much starting to believe that that is a possibility" King Vegeta nodded.

Goku stumbled on the spot, nearly dropping the earring. Giving a glare that would put any of Vegeta's angry faces to shame, he stowed the item back into his pocket. "Fine" he said. The ground shook, as the blue flames sprung up around Goku's body, and he jumped straight to Super Saiyan Blue. "Vegeta, you talk about your pride all the time, are you really going to let it get our friends killed?" he asked. "Even if you don't help, I'm heading up there!"

The entire Earth began tremoring once more, and crimson light shot skyward, as Goku's blue aura became intermixed with the deep red light of the Kaioken. "I'll just hold my breath" he said, coming off sounding dumber than he intended.

His legs tensed, as he prepared to take off into the air. The other five, Vegeta, his father, Bardock, Silver, and Bulma all looked on, surprised that he was actually going through with it. And just before he left the ground, his power already parting the clouds…

"Is something going on?"

Goku's head immediately twisted around, looking directly behind him. All the others looked the same direction, and just as they had heard…

"Geez, we don't get two minutes to rest around here, do we?" Super Sonic asked. "There's already something else happening, huh?"

Goku's Kaioken aura faded, and Super Saiyan Blue made its exit soon after. Goku's arm quickly twitched violently, but as he only had Kaioken active for a moment, and it hadn't been utilized, the aftershock was minor and brief. "Oh, thank goodness" he breathed.

Sonic glanced over to Shadow. "Do you have any idea what's going on here" he asked his rival.

Shadow studied the area for a minute, and turned back to Sonic. "I'm going to assume that your sending them off with a wave of your hand had them worried, and he was trying to make his way back."

Vegeta chuckled. "You hit the nail on the head with that one, Shadow" he said.

A small wave of energy flew outwards from Shadow as the Chaos energies in his body lowered, and he dropped to his normal state. "I'm smarter than I often have the chance to prove" he shrugged.

Sonic too reverted from his Super State. "Well, if that's the case, then I guess I'm sorry for that, guys" he apologised. "We had a quick situation to deal with, didn't need you guys in the way." Taking a deep breath, he continued. "It was Nazo. He was a bit of trouble, but we managed to send him packing."

Goku let out a sigh of relief. "You know, it was a bit of a scare when you just sent us away with your Chaos Control. You've never done that before."

"Yeah, well, I didn't feel like taking any chances at all today" Sonic said. "Me and Shadow fused again, and even then, things were a bit dicey here and there."

"Oh, really?" Vegeta asked. "You two always seem so quick to jump to Fusion for your answers."

Sonic smirked. "Yeah, well, we can't help it if we're smarter than your over-inflated pride and use what we have" he said.

Upon closer inspection, a vein could be seen throbbing in Vegeta's forehead. "You know, Sonic, even though you just got back, I-!"

Vegeta's yelling was suddenly cut short as Shadow stretched his hand forward. The air around his body distorted slightly, and he completely froze. "Ok, Sonic, he deserved that, he always does, but you new exactly how he would react" Shadow said.

Raising his leg, Sonic tapped the heel of his shoes, where the small golden orb embedded in it was glowing. "Don't worry, I was predicting his Big Bang Attack" he said.

"Light-Speed Dash, smart choice" Shadow conceded.

Sonic looked at Vegeta as Shadow held him there. "You know, I didn't expect your Chaos Powers to grow to this extent when that Kai guy unlocked your powers, but focused Chaos Control? Nice."

"Yeah…" Shadow said. "Although, I suppose I'll have to let him out."

King Vegeta was looking back and forth between the groups, shocked and confused. "Wait, what did you two do to my son?" he asked.

Shadow waved his free hand. "Relax, I just froze him in time for a moment. He doesn't even realize it."

King Vegeta appeared to double his shock and confusion factors on the spot. "You can, control time?" he asked.

"Time and space, at my fingertips, to an extent" Shadow said. "Speaking of my extent, this is draining me pretty fast. Want me to just move him before I unfreeze him?" he asked Sonic.

"Maybe just a hundred feet into the air. He sounded like things were gonna get intense" Sonic said.

"Done" Shadow said, snapping his fingers, and Vegeta disappearing.

Less than a second, and a massive yellow light filled the sky, searing the tops of their heads and prompting everyone to take cover. Goku glanced up, and saw a large stream of yellow energy fly forward, disappearing on the horizon.

Sonic looked up and saw it too. "Oh, Final Flash…" he muttered meekly. "Maybe I will quit teasing him."

Shadow's eyes were wide. "Yeah, I would say, that is probably the best idea" he agreed.

Vegeta hovered back to the ground, breathing hard. "Clever rats…" he muttered.

"What can I say, survival instincts and all" Sonic said, Shadow nodding in support of what he said.

Vegeta closed his eyes and gave a small grin of respect. "Fair enough" he said, anger abated.

Goku turned around and looked at the two. "So, Sonic" he began. "What've you been up to? We didn't get a chance to catch up…"

Sonic shook his head. "I'm sorry, Goku, but not right now" he said. "I know, I need to be hauled in for questioning…" he said jokingly, but continued. "But I want to get everything done, all my apologies done at once, and I can't do it all right now…"

"Huh?" Goku asked. "What are you saying?"

Sonic sighed. "I'm sorry, but I'm tired right now, that was about twice as long as I used Pure Form before, and you can't just heal this kind of damage. I need to go rest, and tomorrow, I'll answer to everyone. You guys, Sally and my friends in Knothole, all of them."

"Oh, alright" Goku said, still slightly confused.

Shadow looked back over at Sonic. "Where are you going, then?" he asked. "If you're going to disappear for one more day, after all…"

"I think, I'm going somewhere I haven't gone since this whole thing happened" Sonic answered. "My place."

"You have a house, Sonic?" Bulma asked.

"Just a little place, edge of a forest, right next to the ocean" he replied. "It used to be right near a little… More of a community than anything. Things have just been too busy since things began to go back there, and I ended up finding myself somewhere else during the past month. So, I just figured, I might as well head back sometime."

"Oh, ok" Bulma said. "If you want, I can lend you one of my planes to get you there."

Sonic shook his head again. "Nah, I'm much faster on my feet" he chuckled. "I'll be back tomorrow, guys, don't worry, I'm not disappearing again."

"If you say so…" Shadow muttered. "Just know this, Sonic. I don't appreciate being lied to, and if need be, I can be quite the efficient assassin."

"I'll keep that in mind" Sonic chuckled. Looking across the group, he gave a wave to them all. "Cya guys later."

And in a split second, only a cloud of dust was left where Sonic had just been standing, and a massive sonic boom that pierced their eardrums.

Bardock stumbled, ears throbbing. "Wow… That guy is fast…" he said, pointing out the obvious. "I didn't even get a chance to greet him, who is he exactly?"

Shadow turned to the Saiyan warrior. "Who are you exactly?" he asked. "Because as far as my knowledge extends, you and your Saiyan buddies were coming here to take us over."

Bardock shook his head. "I only agreed to go on this mission for the purpose of coming to Earth to find my son" he said.

"I'm still having trouble understanding all of this" Goku said, rubbing his head. "Like, I know how Frieza revived you all to try and take us over, which kind of backfired on him in the end, but how did you even know that I was here, or how did you get to become a Super Saiyan if I was supposed to have been the first one in thousands of years."

"Well, you aren't technically wrong about being the first in thousands of years" Bardock chuckled. "I don't understand all of my own story either, but when Frieza made his final attack on our home planet, instead of being blasted to Kingdom Come, I was sent into the far past. I lived a short life their, and ended up fighting one of Frieza's ancestors. That fight unlocked my Super Saiyan power. I fell in another battle further down the line, someone who easily defeated me in a battle, while toying with me."

"Huh, strange" King Vegeta asked. "As far as I'm aware, Frieza was the most powerful being to ever have existed in our universe by the time he destroyed us. How could someone be that powerful in the past?"

"I don't know, but they were" Bardock answered. "But, anyways, when I was killed in that battle, I seemed to briefly blackout, before reappearing above the reformed Planet Vegeta." He paused, and then looked to his son. "I suppose that you would be able to elaborate on how that happened?"

Goku nodded. "In our world, we have something known as the Dragon Balls" he said. "There are 7 of them, and when they are gathered, they can summon a Dragon called Shenron, which can grant most any wish you ask. I guess the way Frieza worded it, it was sort of a loophole that let you be brought back as well, probably something like "revive all the Saiyans that were on Planet Vegeta the day it was destroyed." Even though you were in the past, since you were technically on the planet when it got destroyed, it brought you back to life and back to the present."

"True wish granting, astounding…" Bardock said. "And when I got back, there was a mission for Saiyans to be sent here to come to Earth. You, you had been sent here when you were just a baby to destroy it, and when it still existed, the mission was reopened. I volunteered to come here, hoping that you were still here. I knew you had at least survived to adulthood, that much I was positive of."

"What?" Goku asked. "How?"

"A curse, from the people of Planet Kanassa" Bardock said. "We destroyed their people, while under a mission from Frieza. People who lived there were said to gain prophetic abilities, but as a curse, they granted the power to me, so that I could see the destruction of my own race at the hands of Frieza. But, whether they meant it to or not, I also saw the destruction of Frieza. I saw you, facing off against him on the Planet Namek, and I also saw you become the first Super Saiyan in the millenia. It's true, you were the first in thousands of years, but only because I unlocked the power thousands of years ago."

"..."

After finishing his story, the two fell quiet, Goku letting it sink in, and the others absorbing it too, being quite a complicated tale to tell. After what seemed like an eternity, Goku suddenly gasped. "Oh crap!" he exclaimed. "My friends!"

Vegeta's eyes widened slightly when he said this too. "Great galaxies, Kakarot, how did you forget about them?" he exclaimed. "Frieza told us several of them had been taken out, and my father never got the order out!"

"Actually, my son" King Vegeta said. "I believe that they stopped when I told them to. After all, I wouldn't have had reason to contact them besides to call them off."

"But that doesn't change that most of my friends and family are lying around the world on the brink of death right now" Goku said. "We need to go find them!"

His hair flared blue once more, but this time, Shadow stepped up. "Let's be smart about this, Goku" he said. "Don't just fly off, use me."

"Use you?" SSB Goku asked.

Shadow nodded. "I can use Chaos Control to transport you, me, and Dende here around. I handle transporting us, Dende and handle the healing, and you try damn hard to sense their life force if we get near one of them."

Goku seemed to relax slightly, his aura fading slightly, but his blue hair remaining. "Yeah, good idea, Shadow" he said. "But I still have problems sensing energies unless I'm right on top of them or they're powers are high. There's no way around it."

"So, I could always space my teleports closer together" Shadow said.

"I have a better idea" Bardock said, stepping forward. "I don't pretend to know everything that you guys are talking about, but if you need to be able to detect your friends…" he reached up, and pulled his scouter off of his head. "This is capable of detecting any life force, short of divine beings." He raised his eyebrows. "You and the prince are the only Gods of this world, right?"

"Hee hee, we aren't Gods" SSB Goku said. "We just have God energies."

"Well, either way" Bardock said, tossing the scouter over. "You can use that to help find them."

Goku fumbled to catch it, but managed to hold onto it. "A scouter?" he asked. "Hey, that's actually perfect!" He raised it up, and tried to put it on his head. It took a few tried, but eventually, he got it secured around his ear. "So, uh, how do I use this?"

"You don't know how to use a scouter?" King Vegeta asked.

"I didn't exactly grow up as a Saiyan" Goku pointed out. "When I first got here, I was dropped on my head and forgot everything before I came to Earth… I didn't even know Saiyans were a thing until… My brother came here."

"Raditz?" Bardock asked. "He's here too?"

Goku rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Not, anymore" he said. "He was trying to destroy the planet, so, me and one of my friends, we kinda, had to…"

"Kill him" Vegeta finished after a long pause from Goku. "He and his Namek friend Piccolo put Raditz down." When Bardock opened his mouth to respond, Vegeta cut him off. "Look, it wasn't like they had a choice. Kakarot was aiming to send him packing, Raditz didn't care about familial attachments, seeing as he had been aiming for the kill from the start."

Bardock sighed. "I never got to know Raditz either, he was only a child when everything went off. Still, he wasn't one to let anything get between him and what he wanted. I'm sorry to hear that, but he must have deserved what he got if it was taken that far."

Goku shrugged and fell silent for a moment, before continuing what they had been conversing about before they got off topic. "So, how do I use the scouter?"

"Press the button on the side, that brings up a display of any readable power levels in a large radius" Bardock began. "I assume that even wounded, your friends should have a higher power level than the normal humans of this world. Seek out the stronger signals by following where the reticle on the scouter points. The numbers on the left of the reticle is the approximate power level of the being, while the numbers listed along the left-most side of the screen is the number of kilometers to the position of the main target."

"Uh…" Goku scratched his head, before just deciding to go with it. "Alright, then" he said.

Reaching up, he felt around and pressed down the button on the side of the device, and lights began to flash across the tiny piece of glass that covered his right eye. A shrill beeping rang out from the scouter, and Goku turned to his left. "I think I found one of them" he said to Shadow. "Um, 9 kilometers, am I saying that right? Well, that way."

Shadow glanced at the direction Goku pointed in, and nodded curtly. "Very well" he said, raising his hand in the air.

Goku glanced back at everyone. "We'll be back as soon as we've helped everyone" he said, barely before Shadow gave his shout of "CHAOS CONTROL!" and the three of them disappeared in a flash of green light.

King Vegeta stared at the spot where the three had sat a moment before. "The dark one is able to truly teleport… Astounding…"

"Shadow is quite powerful, similar to myself" Vegeta shrugged. "He and some of his allies came here from another world, where they have special abilities to make up for their lack of power. Since coming here, however, they managed to find a way to attain both."

"Oh really?" King Vegeta asked. "Quite an intriguing circumstance."

"Quite" Vegeta agreed. "But like anything, it lost its luster after a time, and is now just a part of life."

There seemed to be no good way to continue the conversation past this point, as the three Saiyans fell silent. The light breeze wafted across the lawn, rustling the grass, and Bardock looked up. "This planet sure is much more hospitable than Planet Vegeta" he noted. "It almost seems to have been created for a more comfortable environment."

"Yes, this planet does seem much less treacherous than our homeworld" Vegeta nodded. "The gravity here is even a mere tenth of the gravity there." He smirked. "Of course, I have my own fix for that."

"And someday, that fix is going to liquify your bones" Bulma muttered. "500 times gravity as a warmup… Geez…"

"Five hundred times one-tenth of our planet?" King Vegeta asked, impressed. "That's 50 times what we had back home."

"That's just my base form workout" Vegeta sighed.

Bulma turned around, opening the door. "Well, if you guys are going to sit around with your masochist chatting, we might as well head inside where we can sit. And maybe we can finally get some proper introductions out of you two."

King Vegeta glanced over towards Bulma. "You are inviting us into your home?" he asked.

"Yes, that should be obvious" Vegeta mocked his father. "I assume that you'll accept?"

"Well, I would be the fool to ignore an invitation from my son's wife" King Vegeta nodded. Turning to the side, he glanced at the other Saiyan. "Bardock, care to join us?" he asked.

Bardock looked around, and shrugged. "Kakarot won't be back for a while" he said. "And our ship was destroyed in the battle. I wouldn't say that there is anywhere else that I could wait." He looked over. "If your invitation extends to me, then I'll come as well."

Vegeta closed his eyes, and chuckled. "Pretty polite, contradictory of what you showed on the battlefield earlier" he said. "Fine, come on in, maybe you could make my day even more interesting than it already has been. After all, you're pretty good… For a low class soldier."

He said the last part sarcastically, and Bardock chuckled. "Even us low-levels can be stronger than your so-called 'elites'" he said. "My team was the top Saiyan task force back in the day."

King Vegeta nodded at his son, validating what Bardock had said. Vegeta raised his eyebrows. "Impressive" he said simply, before turning around, and waving the two after him as he and Bulma walked back inside their house.

A few moments passed, and Bardock turned to the king. "Even when conversing, your son maintains an oppressive aura" he noted. "Especially after the God forms faded, I felt quite scrutinized."

"He's kept a strong sense of Saiyan pride, even after all this time" King Vegeta laughed. "It's quite nice to view him sticking so close to his roots, going through all he's gone through." He took the first step forward, looking back to Bardock. "Come, let's join him. I'm sure that your son will be back soon, and perhaps your grandson from the sound of it."

"Oh, Saiyans may be youthful, but hearing that makes me feel old" Bardock sighed. "A grandfather, sheesh."

King Vegeta laughed again. "I may be too, by this point" he noted. "That's one of the things that I'll have to see about when we get in there."

Bardock reached up and grabbed his head, before jerking it to the side, popping his neck fiercely. "Oh, alright, I guess I can be a part of your reunion for now."

"I would expect nothing more from you" King Vegeta said. "My top warrior, family events must not be your thing."

"Never much of a family man" Bardock admitted, taking a step towards the door with the king. "But, I'm learning to get into these things."

No further words were exchanged before the two Saiyans entered the dome-shaped building before them, heading inside to where Vegeta and Bulma waited for them. The Saiyan race was no longer scraping by as it had been before, numbers dwindling. There was now a whole planet full of them, in deep space.

The trio of Goku, Shadow, and Dende quickly raced across the world, finding their friends as fast as they possibly could. Some of them were in dicey conditions, but it was nothing that Dende wasn't able to handle. The toughest was Krillin, who was buried under many feet of cracked stone, but soon, all of them were back on their feet.

Silver had made the jump back to his place in Knothole during the midst of the conversation, having had no part in the event that was taking place. He didn't mention Sonic, trusting that the other hedgehog would make his return as promised the following day. He kept a Super Emerald on him, hoping to do some practice with manipulating Chaos forces while he waited. Of course, he couldn't do much at the moment, his body was still reeling from the massive amount he had absorbed earlier in order to fight in Pure Form.

Sonic had arrived at his home in less than two minutes, quite a feat considering its distance across the planet. The familiar territory was soothing to him, and he was a little surprised that he hadn't been back since the very first day he had arrived in that world. He felt a little alone, now, the old scene reminding him of old times. He knew that Tails and Knuckles weren't as far gone as he'd believed, but at this point, there were several faces that he was sure he would never see again. His house was once part of a bigger community, and now that's all that remained. But, he did his best to avoid dwelling on the negative emotions, as he had a long day the following day. He wasn't quite sure how the others would react, but he knew that Sally, at least, would probably chew him out big time. "Bummer majores" he whispered jokingly, remembering his signature phrase from his younger days. But now was not the time to subject himself to that torturous line of thinking, it was time to give his body some "rest majores."

Everyone was accounted for. No one had been lost in that battle, thankfully. However, there was one who had battled, who was anything but joyful and relieved…

Neo-Eggmanland…

"Those two… Damn them!" Nazo swore as he dropped to the ground.

His body had always been able to recover at an excellent rate, but the injuries that he had sustained in his fight with whatever deity had replaced the old Shadic, they were beyond what he could easily mend.

"I… Underestimated the power of the Master Emerald…" he muttered. "Again! I thought split, its infinite powers would be less potent. I see now that I was incorrect. They completely overrode my field of darkness with that positive energy."

Standing up, he sighed. "Those two are much more powerful than I gave them credit for as well" he said. "Sonic could have probably fought me on equal footing had I not been able to transform the Dark Emeralds into their Super varieties. I thought that training myself through that tyrant would allow me to surpass all of them, but I was wrong."

He felt a sickening swoop of anger in his gut, hot and cold at the same time. He felt like blasting the surrounding area to smithereens, but he held restraint. For one, on the very surface of the world, he would probably be caught in the destruction of the planet that he would bring, and then he wouldn't be able to see the two, defeated before him. He would also more than likely perish in the resulting explosion. Similarly, he did owe a debt to the Doctor for reviving him, even if it was unintentional.

However, lately, the Doctor seemed preoccupied with his creation. He still hadn't given up on his robots, and spent sleepless days and nights working on the coding, enhancing, and reconstructing of his creation, Dark Metal Sonic. The bot he had planned to have ready many months ago proved itself to be useless as the hedgehogs improved by leaps and bounds, and rather than be able to send it on a mission, it needed to be improved to the limits of technology, which the Doctor from this world, Gero, seemed to be helping with.

"When will they learn simple robotics will fail to defeat them now?" Nazo muttered. "Their allies like myself, and perhaps some of the others, are their only hope to remove the obstacles."

A crackling ball of black energy filled his hand, which he crushed in his grasp. "But at this point, even I fail to surpass them. There is only one possible course of action to take at this point…"

"With Frieza gone, I no longer have to remain at his level while training" he swore. "My limits are unbound, I am only as weak as I allow myself to be."

His gaze hardened, and he looked skyward. "You may not hear me, Sonic, Shadow, but know this. Eventually, even if it takes my life, I will surpass your fusion at its strongest state, and will crush with my bare hands! And you can be sure, that it will not take my life to get to that point. Your day of reckoning will come sooner than you believe!"

…

…

Not gonna lie, this didn't feel like one of my stronger chapters. Originally, I didn't plan to end the arc with a Nazo fight, but he hasn't shown his strength recently, for such a powerful character. The fight was short, but I feel confident that however brief it ended up being, it was at least written well.

I feel some of my drive behind the story is dying away, just a bit. No abandonment, it's… A little difficult to explain, let me try. I never quite had the story fully mapped out. I had several ideas that I wanted to use, and decided to put them on a timeline to write the story along. The way this worked out, most of the ideas I'm most excited to write, come into play much further down the line (a la the Tournament coming up soon, been waiting on that one for a long time). You might think this is just motivation to push through this stuff, but in reality, it just makes it quite a bit more dull to write when you compare it to the ideas you have waiting ahead. Also, for those of you who have never written fight scenes, geez, they take a lot out of you. You have to come up with battle banter, choreography, clashes, and more, and it takes quite a bit of time, and when you come up, oh boy, it wasn't nearly as much as it felt like. Something like you've been writing for half an hour to get two minutes of a read.

But, I'm going to stop my complaining, because no one wants to listen to that on CHRISTMAS (or whatever holiday you are currently celebrating, I mean no offense). I will say, I had this chapter done about 4 days in advance (typing this part just past midnight on the 22nd, so basically the 21st). I held off, because I wanted this to be sort of a Christmas present to you all. Maybe you like the idea, maybe you want to chew me out because it's an extra 4 days of a wait. Sorry, it's just something I've wanted to do.

Anyways, to the story. Since I'm trying to make this almost like an anime in word form, yes, we have a few filler chapters coming up. I haven't worked out all the details yet, but I didn't mention Eggman still working on Dark Metal Sonic for nothing. I bet you all thought I forgot completely about that idea? Nope, just setting the stage early on. I'm not as good with the slice of life… In this story, I find. I have no idea why, but it seems more difficult here. Still, I hope you enjoyed the interactions between the Saiyans. Silver was kinda out of place here, as he didn't have a big role, but he's not completely useless yet. I'm making sure he keeps up.

News about the tournament, I've decided on the 7 fighters of each team. If you don't want to be spoiled, skip the next couple of paragraphs:

Universe 7: Goku, Vegeta, Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Gohan, Bardock. In the actual tournament, let's be honest, Goku and Vegeta were the only ones who did anything. This time, matches are going to be much closer, I'm changing up the tournament quite a bit so that everyone gets a chance to shine.

Universe 6: Hit, Botamo, Frost, Mageta, Cabbe, Unnamed Majin, Unnamed Demon (Dabura equivalent, credit to jalen johnson for the idea, thank you, I was having trouble coming up with something to fill the spot). The original five, as well as a Majin, Pure Majin, yet more sentient than Kid Buu was, so he can avoid deaths. The demon, I still need to design, create, but I really liked the idea, so once again, shoutout to jalen johnson.

A few more chapters, which I know, seems like an eternity at this rate. Hopefully my next quarter at college will be easier, but just my home life took a lot of time away from my writing (part stress, part family visiting, part responsibilities, and part playing games in my free time). Hopefully the few chapters will be good, I'll try my best.

And, that's all I really have to say for now. So, for now, Merry Christmas, and until next time, cya! This is Sonic the Saiyan, signing out.