The Z Fighters React To Death Battle! (Take 2)

by SkorchNTorch

(Adopted from JLyman) After a mysterious being gives a series of videos to Bulma, the Z Fighters were left with the option to watch every, single one. What did they do? You guessed it! Join the Z Fighters, and maybe a few others, as they watch one of the greatest web series of all time! Rated M for... you already know.

6. Vegeta vs Shadow (Remastered and Canon))

Three. Years.

THREE. FREAKIN'. YEARS.

Over 800+ Faves and Follows.

Over ONE THOUSAND Reviews…

WOW.

I NEVER thought I'd be doing this story for three years! That really, and truly amazes me. Thanks to ALL of you for all the support! And since we've heading towards the big chapter everyone's waiting for, I wanted to do something special for the anniversary.

Across all the reviews I've gotten, a LOT of people weren't fans of Vegeta vs. Shadow, and… neither am I. Some claim that there's too much focus on an OC, and you're right. Some claim that there's too much talking about random stuff, not enough about the battle, and you're right. Some say the way the characters talk is OOC, and you're absolutely right. There were also some incredibly mean-spirited jokes towards the readers which looking back I think are much harsher than I intended.

I made a lot of mistakes with this chapter (and the story in general, let's be real). It was an earlier chapter, and I was figuring some stuff out. So… I figured, hey. I can sit here and apologize and try and justify my mistakes, or I can grab myself by the helm of my boxers and kick my butt into doing something about it. So, for the three-year anniversary, let's re-do this battle! Let's turn the clock back to Chapter 5, and do this, the RIGHT way! No, I'm not deleting the old Vegeta vs Shadow, and I'm not re-doing the battle from scratch, but I hope that this one is better received.

Also, this DOES NOT count towards the countdown which some of you have correctly guessed the reason for. This is just for fun.

---

"Before we agree, I think we need to make sure it's okay with him." Chi-Chi spoke up, looking over to Vegeta.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, slightly confused. He had a feeling he knew what the wife of Kakarot was getting at, but he wanted to hear her say it.

"We all know you pretty well, now." Chi-Chi began. "But these Death Battles are pretty in-depth to each fighter's history. We don't know what they are and aren't going to talk about, and if there's something that's happened or you've done which you'd rather not mention that might appear in the battle. Then it's only fair that we respect that wish and skip this one. I would say the same thing for anyone else who appears in one of these."

Everyone quieted down, thinking about what had been said. Now that they thought about it… How would any of the fighters react to seeing their entire history displayed for anyone to watch? Their strengths, flaws, everything. Just… there. Heck, that wasn't taking into consideration the fact that they might watch themselves die in one of these battles! Yes, it wasn't real, but it would certainly hurt their pride, at the least.

Vegeta was uncharacteristically silent, seeming almost lost as he considered a million different things. It was clear he was conflicted, and wanted to say no, but also very much wanted to say yes. Finally, he looked up and gave his answer.

"Just know… the things I did back then, and the things I do now. They are not the same." He stated, oddly calm. "It should be obvious, but I'm not the same Sayian you all meet all those years ago. A good deal of things I did was because I was forced to, and some because I felt like it was okay to do after years of hell… If you can remember that, then I'm fine with it."

There were mumbles of agreement and nods. Everyone knew that people could do bad things, but also, people could change. Heck, a number of the fighters in this room knew that all too well. While there were things they could judge Vegeta on (and would still continue to judge him on for the rest of his life), they knew his past was something that any judgements passed were often agreed with by the Prince, and he hated that fact. He hated what he saw as weakness. But despite the terrible things he had done (like literal genocide), Vegeta had changed, and they had to remember that.

Everyone agreed to watch the next Death Battle, except the seating arrangement was slightly different. Goku, Vegeta, Beerus and Bulma were sitting on the couch, namely so that the three could keep an eye on Skorch, who was sitting in front of the couch, his fire had died down so it didn't get in the way. While the entity was powerful, he knew that the three sitting behind him weren't to be taken lightly. Chi-Chi sat next to Gohan and Videl, and everyone else remained the same. Finally, after a few awkward moments and nods, Bulma pressed play. But before the episode began, a message popped up:

This Death Battle originally aired in 2011. Since then, there have been multiple additions to Vegeta's power. Because of this, this episode is somewhat outdated. If you feel the need to complain due to specific events or powers not being mentioned, please call the Get A Life Foundation.

- Wiz and Boomstick

"Huh…" Videl muttered aloud, unsure what that meant.

"Oh, right. This mainly means that later abilities such as your Super Saiyan 3 won't be used this time around. In Dimension Zero, this episode was set just after what's known to them as 'The Cell Saga'. Despite the show being done for some time." Skorch spoke up.

"Meaning?" Piccolo asked.

"This battle doesn't have you going beyond Super Sayian Two." Skorch explained and this seemed to greatly irritate the prince. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You're way, way, WAY tougher than that now, but in D-Zero, they chose not to go beyond that story."

"If I lose because of that…" Vegeta muttered, a bit confused by what Skorch was implying.

As the Death Battle theme played, a few watching seemed to be nodding along to it absentmindedly. Admittedly, it was a pretty good song. The intro was a bit short, but that kinda helped, as Wiz and Boomstick made themselves known.

"Antiheroes. They walk the mysterious grey line between good and evil in almost everything they do." Wiz began, dramatic as ever, as several images flashed by. One of a man with a trench coat and a skull painted on his shirt, one of a man with a strange red mask, what looked to be a leather jacket and two pistols, a teenager with dirty blonde hair, a crossbow and chainsaw, a figure in all white wearing a ghost-like hood with a moon crest on their chest, and one of Spawn from the previous episode.

"They do what they want, however they want, when they want. Usually that includes not giving a crap who gets caught in the crossfire, just so long as the ends justify the means." Boomstick added.

"It can be hard knowing where that line is." Gohan nodded. "When you have to deal with powerful sociopaths, how do you stop them without becoming like them?"

"I'd say it all comes down to the 'Why', kid." Master Roshi commented. "If yer killin' someone because you've got no other choice, that's one thing. But killin' someone when y'don't have to can be a dangerous path to walk."

"But other times letting them live can lead to bigger problems." Vegeta countered with a slight scowl, thinking back on some of the things he had done in the past.

"Yup. Never said they couldn't be. That's what makes it so hard to find that line… personally, I say you should always fight to challenge yerself, but only ever kill if it's t'protect someone y'care for." Roshi agreed. "An' even then, that should only be if there's no other way."

"Like Vegeta, Prince of the Saiyans, Defender of Earth and rival to Goku." Wiz introduced Vegeta, leaving everyone still in disbelief that Vegeta was going to be in this episode of Death Battle, despite the fact he was there on the screen.

"Wow! Dad, it's you!" Trunks exclaimed, excitedly.

"And Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form and rival to Sonic." Boomstick added as the black-and-red hedgehog was shown once again, holding a green gem.

"Who exactly is Sonic?" Goten asked, looking back to Skorch, whose sockets seemed to change as if they were closing to a casual, half-eyed look.

"He's the main character in a video game franchise back in D-Zero. Had a bunch of games, comics, a few tv shows, two movies…" Skorch answered.

"Cool." Goten shrugged. "You've gotta show us those sometime!"

"He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick!"

"And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor and skills to find out who would win… A Death Battle."

"Is it their actual jobs?" Bulma asked, having heard their intro a few times now but only really thinking it through now. Skorch nodded.

VEGETA

(*Cues: Vegeta's Theme - Dragon Ball Z*)

The doors closed and reopened as a dramatic and rather epic guitar song was played, showing the familiar white-and-blue sayian armour as the Prince of all Saiyans floated down, looking smug as ever. It occurred to those watching he hadn't worn that amour in a long time, as if the lack of it was another way he was forever shedding Frieza's control of him… or maybe he outgrew it.

Bulma frowned, still uncertain over the whole 'you're-fictional-characters' claim. That was something that you'd expect your weird-energy friend to text you at two in the morning while they're wearing nothing but tinfoil. But… here was her husband. On a show that was given to her by a being from another Universe. Currently being watched by them. Along with a skeleton drinking a slushy. Somehow.

This was her life, and she wasn't gonna start questioning it now.

"Prince and warrior by blood, Vegeta was born into the royal family on the planet… uh. Vegeta. To the King, also named Vegeta." Wiz began, seeming to fumble slightly at the end. "As a natural born leader, it didn't take long for Vegeta to begin honing his skills to become a deadly warrior."

The fighters saw a young Vegeta, tail and all, training rigorously despite seemingly only being six-years-old, possibly even younger.

"I'd ask if you really were training that young, but I'd more surprised if you weren't." Bulma remarked, knowing her husband and Goku all too well at this point in her life.

"It was the Saiyan way." Vegeta shrugged. "All of us in that class were trained since birth to become powerful warriors."

"Right…" The scientist muttered. Beerus snorted. She didn't like how much Trunks seemed to want to train, but she also knew she couldn't really stop him. Like it or not, there could come a day when he would have to step up and defend the earth, and anything Vegeta could teach him now was only gonna help them later.

"Sadly, despite clearly being destined for the throne, Vegeta's life was an absolute hell. All because of this dildo-looking bastard. Freezer!"

There were a few laughs at Boomstick's description of Frieza, but there was also a lot of anger, seeing the tyrant who had caused them all so much pain. Krillin notably winced at the reminder of his killer, while Vegeta grit his teeth in irritation.

"It's, 'Frieza'." Wiz corrected him.

"How about we call him what he is? A giant living piece of s**t!" Boomstick spat angrily.

"Agreed." Vegeta scowled, a few others nodding in agreement.

"Dildo?" Buu asked confused, making Hercule and a few others sweat-drop.

"So, when this vibrator-looking asshole showed up, things were actually okay for a little bit. The Saiyans enjoyed fighting and worked within the 'Frieza Force' as Frieza's soldiers. But eventually, the tyrannical twerp learned that a Sayian would rise up and defeat him, and one thing led to another, there was political unrest, and yeah… things got BAD…"

The fighters watched as Frieza seemed to be fighting an older Vegeta with a mustache and beard. Vegeta's eyes widened as he recognized his father. He knew Frieza had killed him, but he never saw how. Frieza simply dodged in and out of every one of the king's attacks. He suddenly swept him leg, causing the king to stumble slightly. Frieza dashed forward and him hard in the gut, making King Vegeta spit blood. Frieza seemed to calmly be attacking him with a lethal force but seemed as calm as a windless lake. It was clear to everyone that Frieza was clearly enjoying this. After a few more failed attacks, Frieza grabbed King Vegeta's arm and hit it hard, clearly breaking it, making some of the viewers wince, before finally punching him directly in the chin, sending him flying, and a sickening 'SNAP' to resonate throughout the room. The king landed on the ground and didn't move, blood pooling in his mouth.

"Hm. Disappointing." Was all Frieza said, looking at the dead king.

"Oh, no…" Bulma breathed, horrified and disgusted by what she had seen. She hated Frieza, and had dealt with him one time too many, but seeing this? This just made her blood boil.

Frieza looked up at the King's men, and in one quick attack, turned them all to ashes, leaving black marks on the floors and walls.

"I was expecting more…" Frieza commented.

Everyone slowly turned to Vegeta, who (quite understandably) was seething at this point. This was something that wouldn't just heal with time, this was a wound he would carry forever, and now he finally saw how it happened… all this time, all these years… he knew Frieza had killed his Father, but now, he actually saw it. It hurt just as much as if he had seen it when it happened. All those years of believing, almost wishing his Father had at least died a warrior's death, to see how- well, pitiful it had been, just hurt even more.

"Vegeta… I…" Goku began.

"Don't." He growled. In the past, Vegeta had mentioned and explained what had happened to his Father, and after seeing it again, he wasn't in the mood to think, or talk about this.

"It's amusing how powerful you all thought you were." Beerus remarked, and it wasn't clear if he was mocking Vegeta and the others or not. "If I recall correctly, the so-called 'King' was the strongest there was, and yet he only had a power level of 10,000. Frieza had a power level of 530,000 or something along those lines, I can't be bothered to recall." He yawned. "All of you thought that was the height of true power, not knowing what really existed…"

Vegeta now had to actively fight to hold back his anger. What Beerus was saying was a discredit to him, to his Father, to his legacy, and to his people… but Vegeta also knew better than to outright attack Lord Beerus. So, he decided to try something… different.

"Indeed." He calmly nodded, shocking a few in the room. Vegeta calmly looked over to Lord Beerus and then added: "But wasn't the Prophecy that a Sayian would rise to become your greatest rival? Surely that amount of power must account for something in the grand scheme of all things if it was enough to get you to come down here. Unless of course, you were waiting for such a thing, as you didn't have anything better to do."

Beerus didn't have a response. He thought Vegeta's words over, unsure if he had been insulted, agreed with, questioned, or all three.

"…and then he destroyed their entire home planet…" Boomstick added, as the planet Vegeta was shown being obliterated and the Saiyans massacred. "Man, what a dick. Thankfully, Vegeta was off planet when it was destroyed, and continued his training with Nappa and Raditz, and while the three were forced to do Frieza's dirty work, they still remained loyal to the old ways." Boomstick continued.

No one knew how to react, and honestly, no one felt like they could. The only good feeling was that Frieza was dead.

"You need a sec?" Skorch asked, looking to Vegeta. The Prince nodded, and the trench-coated skeleton summoned a door, which opened to what looked like a room full of pillows with Frieza's face crudely drawn on them in crayon. Vegeta stepped in and sighed deeply. "Knock when yer done."

It was a very awkward and somewhat tense seven minutes, as the Z-Fighters waited for Vegeta to return. Mostly, they sat in silent disbelief. Taking in what they had just seen. Sure, Frieza was evil, no two ways about it! But seeing him kill King Vegeta so simply? That… that wasn't something they had expected. Bulma wanted to say something, as did Trunks. She wanted to comfort her husband, to reassure him… but she didn't know how. Really, whatever he was doing in wherever Skorch had summoned a door to was probably the best thing for him.

When Vegeta returned, ash, burnt fabric and feathers were briefly visible as he came back through the door and sat down again. Wordlessly nodding his thanks, and the episode continued.

"The maniacal psychopath would mould the young Prince into a deadly, ruthless killer. Under his orders, Vegeta would destroy entire planets and enslave whole races single-handedly, making him one of the most powerful beings in the universe." Wiz continued, as footage of Vegeta's past was shown, depicting him training, leading an army, and flying above enslaved races, watching them march towards their endless work. "While this twisted the young prince into becoming cruel and violent, it also began one of Frieza's biggest mistakes, creating one of his two worst enemies."

"Who's the other one?" Goku asked.

"You."Vegeta, Piccolo, Roshi, Bulma, Gohan, Chi-Chi, Krillin, and Tien simply said in unison.

"Oh."

BACKGROUND

Height: 5'3" ("Technically 1'4" of that is his hair." Skorch remarked, making Vegeta kick him in the ribs)

Weight: 123 lbs

Saiyan Prince, And Technically King (Vegeta bristled slightly at that, not meeting anyone's glance)

Elite Warrior Class Sayian

Trained In A Multitude of Martial Arts, Mastered Many Of Them

Married To Bulma Briefs (Bulma smiled at that)

Father of Trunks

Current Leader Of The Z-Fighters

Ego As Big As His Mouth/Hair ("HEY!")

"Wait. Current leader of the Z-Fighters? What's that all about?" Yamcha asked confused.

"Like I said, at this point in the story, Goku died killing Cell and hadn't come back yet." Skorch explained, the Z-Fighters remembering that stretch in life, when Vegeta had actually succeeded in being the strongest warrior on earth. "True story: The whole thing was supposed to end with Frieza's death on Namek, but the series was so popular they kept going for another seven years."

"Really?!" Was collectively exclaimed in shock, the Entity nodded, noting they'd discuss this later.

"Still, despite being molded into a killer, Frieza may have had Vegeta's talents at his beck and call, but he never had his loyalty. And as time went on, Vegeta began to fight back against his new 'Master'. Which would spell bad news for Frieza when Vegeta finally learned the true fate of his planet."

"Hang on, you didn't know Frieza destroyed your home planet!?" Goku asked, surprised. He could've sworn Vegeta had known that…

"Of course not, you absolute dumbass." Vegeta snarled. "You think I would've served under him if I knew THAT!? Even if he killed me, I would've fought against him for what he had done. It wasn't until Dodoria told me on Planet Namek that I realized he was lying to me…"

"Eventually, his travels/planet-conquering/plater-destroying days wound up with him landing earth and meeting Son Goku, who was one of the last Saiyans alive, at least at this point until retcons… their introduction… could've gone better."

Several clips went by in quick succession, showing Vegeta and Goku beating the high holy hell out of each other, Vegeta and Goku flew through a series of rock formations, punching and kicking at one another. It was odd for them to see, they seemed so… sloppy, in a sense. Goku froze mid-air and looked around, not seeing Vegeta anywhere.

"SAY GOODBYE!" Vegeta shouted, suddenly appearing behind Goku and slamming him into the ground. Needless to say, the Saiyans were a bit shocked to be watching their first fight from so long ago. Goku landed and tried to get into a fighting stance, only for Vegeta to fly down and throw him into a wall, destroying said wall.

"I don't think he was joking…" Vegeta finally mumbled, taken aback at a cartoon existing of them fighting. It was just as he remembered. From the attacks, to the destruction… it was like someone had ripped his memories out from his head and made a cartoon out of it!

"Kaioken, ATTACK!" Goku shouted, suddenly flying forward and slugging Vegeta in slow-motion, the impact being clear, Goku then began wailing away on Vegeta as they flew through the air. Their attacks seemed weak and

"How long ago was this?" Trunks finally asked, looking back to the others.

"Nearly twenty years ago." Krillin remarked, as if he was realizing how much time had passed. "Wow. That's… that's longer than I thought."

"So, our fights, our struggles, even our deaths have been turned into a cartoon?!" Piccolo finally asked, looking over to Skorch. Yes, he had claimed that had happened, but now seeing it was something different altogether.

"He even became a giant monkey!" Boomstick added.

Most present felt their eyes widen as Vegeta transformed into a giant ape, his eyes turned red and he roared like a ferocious beast. He grabbed Goku and seemed to be crushing his bones. Sure, a number of the Z-Fighters had seen that (or had seen Goku do the same thing, or knew about this ability). But it had been so long, some of them almost wondered if that had been a fever dream while dealing with the fear of not being able to stop Vegeta and Nappa.

"Wait! We can do that?!" Trunks exclaimed, shocked.

"Not anymore." Vegeta shook his head, having avoided discussing this around his son, due to the obvious questions and concerns that would be brought up. "Pure-Blood Saiyans had the ability to transform into what we called the 'Great Ape' form under a full moon. However, due to both Kakarot and I, and even the boy losing our tails, it isn't possible anymore."

"Why wasn't I born with a tail?" Trunks asked confused.

"Yeah, me too!" Goten added.

"You were." Vegeta mused. "I wasn't in support of removing it, but considering how frequently the moon appears on this planet, it would've been problematic."

"Aww…"

"Hey, I know being able to change into a Great Ape sounds cool, but it's also dangerous." Goku added, speaking from experience. "You lose control and become a threat to everything and everyone around you."

"And some overweight slob will cut your tail off…" Vegeta scowled, still not having forgotten (or forgiven) what Yajirobe had done.

"Regardless, Vegeta's initial defeat sparked his hatred for Goku, which for a time couldn't be surpassed by anything, aside from his hatred of Frieza." Wiz stated. "…and everyone who works for him."

"Not that anyone could blame you for that." Gohan added.

"And sometimes just everything around him for no real reason. Look, what I'm trying to say, is Vegeta has serious anger issues someday." Wiz commented.

"I DO NOT!" Vegeta snapped, angrily.

"So, after learning the truth of his home world's destruction from Dodoria, Vegeta decided that in order to avenge his family and his race, Frieza had to die. With the help of fellow Saiyan Goku, Frieza, and most of his men, were killed. Even if in the process, Vegeta ended up dead for a short time."

Everyone watched in satisfaction as Frieza was destroyed in a massive explosion, disintegrating his body. They knew the scars may never fully heal, but watching him die helped somewhat. Vegeta gave a quick, somewhat cruel, grin watching Frieza die. Although, he could've done without the reminder of his own death.

"Death doesn't feel that powerful anymore." Krillin commented with a frown. "Ever since Dende took over as Kami, we can keep wishing people back to life, making death almost… cheap."

"Hm, your reliance on those orbs is probably your kind's biggest fault." Beerus mused, dismissively. "Besides, all it would take for permanent death would be to destroy them, or to simply kill someone's soul. Something that's much easier than you may realize."

No one reacted vocally, and Bulma decided to get some more food, lest they anger Beerus by doing something like breathing.

"Now free from that asshole's control, Vegeta found himself traveling to earth, again. Not entirely sure what to do next."

"While he did struggle to life on earth, he eventually continued his rigorous training and eventually became one of the planets strongest defenders against those that wanted to conquer it. Perhaps because he wanted to atone for what he had done, or perhaps because he still wanted to conquer it over his wounded pride. Either way, neither of those would end up happening."

"Kinda ironic considering the fact that he tried to destroy it, but hey. We're not here to judge." Boomstick added, agitating Vegeta slightly. "He even got hitched to Bulma Briefs…"

Bulma smiled over to Vegeta, who gave a slight smirk in response.

"…breaking poor Master Roshi's heart."

Multiple heads turned to Roshi, whose eyes (even behind sunglasses) seemed to be incredibly small in shock. Sweat was running down his head as he tried to think of a response.

"Uh… I… Uh…" He stammered. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of any response, and everyone decided he got this one. That was all.

"Partially due to his Saiyan heritage, and partially due to his insane training regiment, Vegeta can move and fly at hypersonic speeds, survive underwater and in the cold depths of space for extended periods of time, and can even endure a freaking nuclear blast to the face and walk it off like it was nothing! Now that's impressive!" Boomstick declared as scenes were shown of Vegeta doing all the aforementioned things, and kicking Recoome's ass, before flying in front of the alien and proceeding to punch him into a cliff.

"You're NOTHING compared to me!" Vegeta shouted as he fired a blast at the clifside, destroying all of it.

"It amazes me how much you guys can get put through and still come out fine." Mr. Satan remarked, shaking his head. "I still find it hard to believe you can fly, let alone survive in space!"

"Well, it's all true." Vegeta smirked. "Being a Saiyan tends to give you an advantage in some areas, such as pure, unadulterated badass."

"He's trained at four hundred times earth's gravity. Which for the record, it's believed that humans can survive at maximum a gravitational force of ten G's." Wiz continued with Vegeta's rundown. "This means Vegeta was training at 40 times earth's gravity."

Everyone watched, impressed as Vegeta was doing one-handed push-ups… On his one hand. It was clear it was a strenuous task for even him, but he refused to give up, he kept pushing on. It was kinda funny to Vegeta, seeing his younger self training, remembering how that had gone… well. But, also somewhat detrimental as he had nearly destroyed his body… but had all but annihilated his limits! So… worth it.

"Alright, credit where credit is due. That is impressive." Mr. Satan conceded. "I don't know how you do all the Ki stuff, but training at that level of intensity is commendable."

"I still can't believe you did that…" Bulma muttered. "Saiyan or not, you were not in good shape when we found you."

"Pain is just weakness leaving the body." Vegeta shrugged, still believing that to this day.

"And yeah, eventually it caught up with him." Boomstick flatly added.

Vegeta was on his hands and knees, struggling to pull himself up. Finally, after a few deep breaths, he collapsed.

"Still, it gave him the chance to grow closer to his future wife, so… Yay, I guess." Boomstick added. "Isn't there something about energy guns in here?"

(*Cues: Vegeta Powers Up - Dragon Ball Z*)

"Vegeta, like almost every fighter in the Dragon Ball Universe, can tap into a natural inner energy known as Ki." Wiz stated. "Essentially energized life force, Ki can be used for all sorts of things. But to Vegeta, there's one main use. By using this energy, he is able to create a whole slew of powerful attacks with it."

KI ATTACKS

Galick Gun

Bang Beam ("That's what she said!" Someone coughed.)

Big Bang Attack

Final Shine

Energy Bullet Volley (A.K.A. Lucora Gun) ("That just sounds cooler." Trunks commented.)

Final Flash

"His trademark attack is a purple laser called the Galick gun." Boomstick stated as Vegeta was shown firing a blast off which destroyed several large mountain tops.

"His Big Bang attack unleashes a devastating shockwave of energy decimating anything that happens to be caught in its vast radius of destruction. On top of that, it can be concentrated into a beam to focus on a specific target, which can punch through just about anything."

"He's also got attacks such as the Energy Bullet Volley, which is exactly what you think it is, and is also the Final Shine, similar to the Bang Beam, just a lot more powerful. But perhaps his most powerful attack is the Final Flash. A giant golden beam that can destroy entire planets in a single shot. Holy crap, that is powerful."

"And considering how many fighters in the Dragon Ball Universe have a planet-destorying attack, Vegeta's Final Flash stands out as being one of the more powerful ones." Wiz added.

"Sure, keep telling yourselves that." Beerus scoffed. "I'd find it amusing if they dared try to put me in one of these… as if there's a challenger out there who would be worthy of attempting to best me in a fight to the death."

Somewhere, across the many realms that encapsulated all we know, Galaxia sneezed.

"Hey. I think I did pretty good!" Goku protested.

"You tried." Beerus shrugged dismissively. Goku sulked slightly, now more determined to train when this was done so he could challenge Beerus no-holds-barred. Not knowing Beerus hadn't even been trying the last time they fought.

Everyone watched Vegeta seemed to be charging the Final Flash to its maximum power and fired it off directly at Cell. The Android seemed to be standing there smugly, thinking the attack wouldn't hurt him. Suddenly, he seemed to realize what was coming.

"What's this?" He asked shocked, before the beam hit him, supposedly disintegrating him.

"Good attempt, but it didn't kill him." Tien remarked.

"I kinda believed nothing could kill that thing." Goku muttered, before looking over to Skorch's head. "He's really gone, right?"

Skorch's decapitated body shrugged, and Goku frowned.

"Amazingly, Vegeta is able to pull all of these attacks off in his basic form." Wiz continued. "Vegeta's Ki is quite versatile, and he is in no way limited to these attacks. In fact, Vegeta can create entirely new ones if he trains hard enough, so he is never without a weapon."

"As you should be." Vegeta remarked. "Fists can take you far, but if you're going to fight foes like we have, you can't rely solely on physical strength."

"And like we said, Vegeta is a POWERHOUSE in physical combat, so he doesn't even need Ki to deliver a Sayian Smackdown on whomever has angered him this time."

"BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!" Boomstick suddenly shouted.

"That's right Boomstick, thanks to the trials and tribulations and hardships he's endured, Vegeta is able to reach the legendary form of a Super Saiyan." Wiz stated as Vegeta was shown powering up to his golden-hair power form. "In this nigh-indestructible form, Vegeta gets a power increase of 500%."

"Wait, I thought it was a power increase of 5000%, not 500." Goku blinked, confused.

"Yeah, it- wait, was it?" Vegeta muttered, trying to recall how 'powerful' he had been back then. Honestly it was pitiful compared to now, but that was beside the point. He wanted himself to be properly represented in this Death Battle (mostly because he wanted to win.)

"How can you tell how much power someone gets from going from normal to super anyway?" Chi-Chi asked.

"Well, there's a whole bunch of ways." Bulma spoke up. "As much as I hate to credit him for anything, Frieza's scouters could pick up the raw energy emanating off of someone, and from there, it could then attribute it to a number, and when you formulate that-"

"Science glasses. Cool." Yamcha muttered, earning an irritated glare from the scientist.

SUPER SAIYAN

Can Reach Level One and Two (Vegeta grumbled something inaudible about being much stronger than that…)

500% Increase Per Form ("Again, not sure about that.")

Can Be Activated Any Time

Sustained Through Energy, And Rage

All Attacks Gain MASSIVE Upgrades Damage-Wise

Nearly Indestructible, But Still Can Be Hurt By Equally Powerful Foes, Such As Other Super Sayians

Level Two Drains More Energy Than Level One

Does Have A Time Limit, But Not One Which Can Be Easily Exploited

"He can push himself further and reach Super Saiyan level two, which gives him another 500% increase. That's a lot of power… and math." Boomstick stated. "Like… how much power is that? Over 9000?"

"No, not yet at least." Wiz answered. "These forms are sustained through Vegeta's remaining energy, and can last a good long while. Also, despite being able to reach Super Sayian Level Four, he was only able to succeed in that with the assistance of Bulma's Blutz Wave machine, and cannot naturally reach this level."

Everyone saw Vegeta now powered up to Level four, wearing a red vest- wait, no. That was red fur! And he had a tail! And-

"Wait… what is that?"

"There's ANOTHER Super Sayian form!?" Someone shouted.

"Are you telling us that there's a Super Sayian Four?!"

"How do we get to that!?" Goku exclaimed, not having seen that before. His eyes widened like a kid on Christmas as he could only imagine what kind of power that would give him!

"Er-"

"I've never seen or heard of that." Beerus muttered, a bit taken aback himself by the sight. "It looks nothing like the Super Sayian God."

"That kinda seems familiar." Gohan muttered. It was as if memoires from another life appeared in his mind, and he wasn't sure what to say or do about it.

"Uh… look, that's complicated. To put it mildly." Skorch coughed, still unsure if the timelines of Super and GT had fused into one, or if they were just that, separate timelines. From what he had gathered, it was a sort of 'Multiverse' at the moment, and he wasn't sure if it was going to fold it all into one or not. "Talk to me later about that."

That answer didn't satisfy the shock everyone was presently feeling upon seeing the pink, black and red monkey-Vegeta on screen, fighting someone in blue with gray hair. For some reason, Goku thought they looked familiar, but couldn't say why. They had a lot of questions, but they also wanted to see this episode.

"Regardless of his weird, fan-fic-looking form, in Death Battle, we don't allow outside help." Boomstick added. "So, it dosen't seem like we'll be seeing this form today folks…" Boomstick added.

Suddenly, the video froze and a female's voice spoke up. Thankfully, this acted as a distraction from the barrage of questions, accusations and exclamations that were coming concerning the prospect of SS4.

"Hey. Wiz and Dumbass, I got the rest of that info you were lookin' for."

"Jocelyn? What are you on about?" Boomstick muttered, annoyed at the interruption.

"The info. The new stuff on Vegeta from the first few seasons of Dragon Ball Super." Jocelyn explained, getting EVERYONE'S attention at the prospect of finding out what may come next.

"Uh. Right." Wiz muttered. "Look, Jocelyn, I appreciate the initiative, but we don't need that stuff."

"Wait. Seriously?!" Jocelyn exclaimed, annoyed. "We spent all this time getting this info together, and you're not gonna use it?!"

"Aww… c'mon!" Trunks moaned, annoyed.

"Yeah… sorry…" Wiz coughed awkwardly. "If we ever do another Vegeta battle, we'll need it then, but not today…"

Jocelyn groaned, clearly not getting paid enough to deal with this.

"Fine." She spat. "Whatever. Me an'Kace, are gonna go work on that Green Lantern and Ben 10 battle that everyone is gonna love…" She muttered, grumbling something about not being appreciated, and then the video returned to normal.

"While your Super Saiyan forms are impressive to some, you still are far from the power of a God." Beerus remarked, a self-indulgent tone clear in his voice. Goku and Vegeta had to (begrudgingly) admit that Beerus was right in this regard. Goku had achieved Super Saiyan God, but it was one of the toughest things he had done, while Lord Beerus still wiped out planets with ease, something Vegeta could do, but Beerus did so much easier. As did his Father, apparently. "Just by looking at it, that weird feral form seems to be derived from a sense of fury and raw energy, while the Super Sayian God is derived from a sense of enlightenment. Of course, that rather suits you Vegeta, as anger seems to be your default mood."

"Tch-" Vegeta winced in anger, but didn't want to start something with a Destroyer God.

"Hey Skorch, aside from Vegeta, are we in any of these!?" Goten asked, excitedly hoping he and Trunks would be able to fight someone from another world in one of these battles. Skorch, despite lacking skin, clearly smiled, knowingly.

"Above all, Vegeta is cocky, arrogant, and proud." Wiz stated.

"Ture." Was collectively said from pretty much everyone present. Vegeta looked around and hunched forward slightly, feeling like he was being attacked by everyone he cared for. As well as Kakarot, the bald one, the three-eyed one and the white thing he hung out with, the perverted old man, the bandit who's name he couldn't be bothered to remember, the one who lied about his own strength, Chi-Chi, the boy, the other boy, the Namekian, the fat pink blob, Lord Beerus, and the newcomer.

"He is pretty much solely driven by a want to be the best and will go to any lengths to prove that he is, even if that means challenging opponents far stronger than him, or allowing them to reach a power level far beyond his ability to reasonably fight them."

A scene was shown of Vegeta fighting Android 18 of all people (or Androids), the two seemed to be going blow-for-blow without wither side giving any quarter.

"Oh yeah… that happened…" 18 muttered, a little bit awkwardly as she had a bad feeling she knew what was coming next. And she was right.

18 was then shown flying in at extreme speeds and kicking Vegeta in the arm. Nothing seemed to happen for a few moments, but then his arm twisted and there was a sickening Snap! The look on Vegeta's face said it all. Super Saiyan or not, he was in agony.

"Ouch…" Buu muttered.

Vegeta then screamed in agony, falling to his knees.

"That sure looked painful." Skorch remarked, a bit more chipper than he intended.

"Hey, you don't wanna mess with her." Krillin shrugged, ignoring the glare of death he was receiving from the Prince.

"Not to mention in his angered state, he has been known to make several mistakes, such as trying to take on the power-draining Cell, despite the fact that there was no possible way he could defeat him. Even as a Super Saiyan, Cell was just more powerful."

Vegeta frowned, not liking being reminded of that incident… It had cost him his pride, nearly cost him earth, for a short time had cost him his son… He hated admitting his hubris could be a weakness, as he believed his pride was reflective of his strength, but that time, he may have let it get the better of him.

"He also pretty much refuses to even ASK for help, let alone assist others unless he absolutely has to. For Vegeta, each fight is his fight, and his fight alone. Regardless of how detrimental that could be to himself, or whatever planet he's stuck on. In Death Battle, that's not the biggest issue, but his brash, stubborn attitude may cause him to not think straight, causing him to miss opening and opportunities which were right in front of him."

"I hate saying this, but they're right." Vegeta admitted. "The way I used to fight was flawed. Raw strength only got me so far, even with my training, I still ignored the obvious signs of danger, thinking I couldn't be beaten. That kind of mentality is dangerous."

"Yet you still claim to be the strongest fighter on earth."

"Because I am."

"Debatable." Skorch remarked, and was hit again by Vegeta, causing his skull to be knocked off his body. No one commented on this.

"But did this stop him?" Boomstick asked aloud. "Hell no! Vegeta's not the kinda guy to ever take 'No' for an answer! Aside from occasionally his wife. But despite what we've said, don't think he's all ego, despite yes, being mostly ego, Vegeta has the strength to match his claims. And if he dosen't currently, you can bet your ass he's training to exceed those words! He won't give up until he surpasses his limits or dies. Only to eventually come back to life and keep going! Not even death can keep the Sayian Prince from becoming stronger!"

FEATS

Single-Handedly Defeated Guldo and Jeice, Two Members of the Ginyu Force

Decapitated Guildo With A Single Chop (That surprised, impressed and disgusted some watching. Still, they had to remember this was the more 'villainous' Vegeta. Not the… well 'nice' wouldn't be the right word, would it?)

Can Simply Smack Away Lethal Energy Blasts

Died, Came Back Stronger, Became A Legitimate Hero

Achieved Super Sayian Form

Compresses Earth's Atmosphere To Create An Artificial Moon

It was weird for Vegeta to hear praise from Boomstick of all people, due not only to him -possibly- being an 'Anime' character, but also due to Boomstick's… well, almost everything. But while the co-host had clearly shown his vulgar and crude side more than a few times now, Vegeta could hear an odd sense of respect in the man's voice.

"Yet, Vegeta is far from unstoppable." Boomstick remarked, and Vegeta bristled in irritation. "Like we said, he'll fight anyone who even looks at him funny, and this can either end with him winning… or getting his ass handed to him. His pride is probably his biggest weakness, as he's unwilling to back down from a fight, and will sometimes even put more innocent lives in danger simply to prove his own power. Such was the case with the infamous 'Majin' saga… which we're not going into in this battle."

"You don't know a damn thing about what happened then!" Vegeta snapped, seeming genuinely pissed off at the unspoken or perhaps mis-worded accusations. A few in the room recoiled in shock, but for the most part… they understood why he was angry. A few didn't, but really didn't feel a need to question this. This was Vegeta, and he seemed pretty angry. Genuinely, angry, this wasn't the time to push him further…

"Hey. What happened, happened." Goku said, putting a hand on Vegeta's shoulder. The Prince normally would aggressively pushed it away, but he seemed… frozen. For lack of a better term. "We know why it happened, and it sucks. But you did everything you could to make it right. You can't let this hold you back forever."

Vegeta paused, then let out a low growl mixed with a sigh, sitting back down wordlessly.

"But... there may be a reason to this. See, Sayian biology is similar in some ways to humans, but one thing that's most notably different is every time they come close to dying, but survive, they'll get a MASSIVE power boost."

"Which I still call hacks over, but whatever…" Krillin muttered under his breath.

"Because of this, Vegeta is currently on his third life." Boomstick continued, as Vegeta was shown having a hole blasted in his chest by Frieza, making the Prince scowl at his defeat. "Regardless, he also went through what we're gonna call 'The Kratos Effect' and despite still being an asshole, he's an asshole for the right reasons. He's still alive to this day, kicking ass and being a dick."

"I AM A SUPER SAIYAN!" Vegeta roared as he charged a large energy attack. "AND YOU CAN BURN IN HELL!"He then unleashed the attack, and it seemed to consume the entire screen in white.

The doors then closed and Bulma paused the video.

"Well. You're screwed." Gohan stated aloud.

"What? Why?!" Vegeta demanded.

"Relax! I was joking!" Gohan laughed. Vegeta grumbled something but didn't say it out loud.

"So, there was an entire planet of Saiyans at one point?" Hercule asked.

"Yes. The story behind the Saiyans and the other race is a long and somewhat confusing one. My father told me when I was younger, but… it's not that important." Vegeta said, not really wanting to go into the whole 'we-conquer-and-sold-planets-like-we-planned-to-do-to-this-one' story right now.

"I remember your father." Beerus remarked. "He was a better leader than many of the so-called 'Kings' I have met in my time."

Vegeta felt a mixture of sourness and pride upon the God's remark. He wasn't the biggest fan of Beerus, but also hearing from a non-Saiyan that his father was a wise ruler made him feel… good.

"Granted, that's not saying a lot compared to the other rulers I met, but still."

Granted, he was trying not to think about the ill-fated 'Pillow' incident which may have resulted in Planet Vegeta's annihilation, but- ah, now he was…

"Is that why you don't call yourself the King of Saiyans? Because of your father?" Bulma finally asked.

"Have you never asked this?" Vegeta asked, surprised. He wasn't angry, he seemed… out of character, honestly.

"I don't think so…"

"Well, that was one of the reasons." Vegeta admitted. "Another reason being I was serving under Frieza, so the sense of 'ruling' didn't mean too much. Add to that the fact that the planet was gone, and I just never saw much reason to call myself king."

"You also wanted to earn it, didn't you?" Skorch's voice suddenly appeared in Vegeta's head.

"How the hell are you in here?" Vegeta demanded, in his mind.

"I have my ways. I ain't here to make fun of you, I'm just curious. Did you not take the mantle due to a sense of unfulfilment? Like you either weren't ready or hadn't earned it yet?"

"…tell anyone about this and I will grind your skull into dust. But yes." Vegeta finally mentally sighed. "After winding up here, meeting Kakarot, I think it really hit me after Namek, just… the monster I had become. All the innocent lives I took. My father would be ashamed of me, or he may have been proud. We weren't exactly the most peaceful of races…"

"Yeah. You weren't."

"Regardless, I don't know how I feel about either option there, and taking the title of king doesn't mean much when there's no planet left…"

"I doubt this means crap to you coming from me, but I think your father would be proud of the warrior you've become." Skorch finally said after a few moments of silence.

"Thank you. I mean that." Vegeta finally replied.

SHADOW

The doors re-opened, showing the black-and-red hedgehog holding an assault rifle walking away form an explosion. Everyone had questions.

(*Cues: I Am, All Of Me, Shadow the Hedgehog Soundtrack*)

"Before you ask, D-Zero went through this weird phase where everyone making stories thought 'Edgy' immediately meant it would be the best thing in the world." Skorch stated. "I won't lie… I kinda loved this phase, but I'm glad it's over."

"Created by Dr. Gerald Robotnik and the leader of the Black Hand, a race of deadly aliens, Shadow the Hedgehog was designed with alien DNA to be the ultimate life form." Wiz began as Shadow was shown standing on the edge of a broken road, before jumping off and attacking a bizarre looking black-and-red creature, knocking it away from a solider.

"So, how badly did this end?" Boomstick asked rhetorically. "Whenever someone creates an 'Ultimate-Living-Something-Or-Other' it never ends well. Mutants, androids, this stuff never ends as planned."

Android 18 seemed to frown slightly. Sure, she didn't want to be a psychopathic killing machine, but she didn't exactly have too much choice in the matter. Regardless, having such an off-hand remark made just upset her a little. Krillin seemed to pick up on this as well.

"Not always." Krillin said, giving a slight smile over to 18, who slightly returned it.

"Surprisingly, things went pretty well." Wiz replied, throwing the viewers for a bit of a loop. "Shadow came out exactly as they planned. And despite being a living weapon capable of unbelievable feats, he was actually created so his genes could be used to create a powerful antidote that was believed to be the cure a deathly illness."

"Wow." Goten said aloud. "Didn't see that coming."

"But why would they need to make a hedgehog to make an antidote?" Roshi asked, not seeing how a hedgehog was a pharmaceutical invention. "Do like, his quills have properties like a senzu bean? Wouldn't it be better to make a human or something, if the cells are what's important?"

"Dunno, and I'm gonna go use the can." Skorch answered as he disappeared into smoke.

"More specifically, this cure was meant for Professor Gerald Robotnik's granddaughter, Maria. Who, due to the illness, had spent her entire life on the Space Colony Ark. Never knowing what life on earth was like, only ever knowing a life of metal, steel and solitude. Which, oddly, Shadow was also made to help combat by being her friend."

There were some smiles at the sight of a small, blonde girl standing next to Shadow in what appeared to be a space station, looking down on earth.

"Isn't it beautiful Shadow?" Maria asked in a kind, child-like-wonder-filled tone. "What do you think it's like on earth?"

"She's never been to earth?" Hercule asked quizzically.

"Well, if she is sick, probably Gerald was trying to keep her from infecting others." Bulma reasoned. "If that's really the case, then that's pretty sad actually. She's spent her entire life surrounded by emptiness and metal."

"Maybe that's part of why Shadow was made." Yamcha commented, making a point most hadn't considered. "If he was meant to be a cure, maybe he was also meant to be someone for Maria to connect with."

"But I gotta ask this again; why a hedgehog?" Roshi repeated himself. "Why not a dog, or a cat, or a turtle?"

"Or a human." Hercule added. "Can you take the cells from an animal like that? Just make a cure outta some wild creature? I know y'can test em' on em', but make one outta them?"

"I wanna pee on it. I just... wanna piss on it." Shadow replied, his voice sounding much different. "Find a rock... get it nice and, you know, [pissing sounds]. You feel me, Maria? You get where I'm coming from, right? It's like I'm... marking territory. It belongs to ME. When I do that. A sign of power, if you will-"

[Penny f****n' losing it in the bg]

"I'm gonna pee in a Hot Topic, Maria. It will be mine, and I will own it." Shadow continued while the kids were losing it.

"Damn it Boomstick, I told you to label these files better!" Wiz yelled.

"Sorry! Sorry!"

Aside from the kids laughing, there was nothing but confused, shocked, and disgusted silence from those who witnessed what they say.

"Wh-wh-what the heck were they talking about?!"

Before anyone could ask what were they were just subjected to, the footage changed.

"The professor said his life's work was dedicated to all of those who lived down there." Shadow spoke, thinking about his answer. "He once told me that his reason for his existence was making people happy through the power of science…"

"I think you two would get along." Chi-Chi said, looking over to Bulma. The scientist nodded in agreement. The Mothers were thankful the screen changed, because they did not want to see where that conversation was going…

"Probably." She nodded. "I'm interested as to what he found out about the cure Shadow was supposed to be…"

"I dunno, I kinda got a bad feeling that the cure never came to be." Tien frowned. "Considering how they've been framing him, something had to go wrong, and Shadow had to have lost someone, or something close to him."

"But before Shadow could be shared with the world, tragedy struck." Wiz stated, getting oddly serious.

"The girl died of her illness, didn't she?" Beerus frowned. He didn't really care per say if a mortal girl lived or died, but at the same time, he was more… annoyed. If Shadow was the cure, why wasn't she cured?! He was literally RIGHT THERE! "Hm. Mortals always fail to see the answers that are right in front of their face…"

The scene then cut to Shadow and Maria running form several armed men down a hallway. The solider could be heard shouting, ordering the others not to let them escape. One of the men aimed his rifle and fired, shocking everyone watching (except Beerus, well. Admittedly, he was shocked, but was trying not to show it.) However, a metal door seemed to close before the bullets hit either of them.

"Oh, thank the Kais!" Chi-Chi exclaimed in relief, not wanting to watch a child die. Honestly, no one expected this world with talking Hedgehogs to be that dark, right?

Shadow stood, breathing heavily, without warning, a glass tube came down around him. He turned around shocked, and saw it. Maria was standing near a console, blood on her hand, a bullet wound noticeable on her chest. In fact, the wound seemed to be registering on her face as she looked over to Shadow. The gasps were undeniable form most of the women (and the kids) present.

"Maria!" Shadow yelled, banging on the glass while everyone watching looked on. Shock, anger, terror and pain hitting different viewers in different waves. Except Beerus, who, while surprised they'd shoot a literal child, wasn't as affected as everyone else.

"HOW COULD THEY!?" Videl erupted, beyond furious. "SHE WAS JUST A CHILD!"

"I could almost understand the child death in Kratos' story… but in this? This seems like a cartoon for kids!" Tien added, genuinely taken aback by the scene they were watching.

Vegeta and Goku just felt pissed. Sure, they fought (and had died to) all sorts of monsters and aliens who wanted to destroy the world or enslave humanity. But there was something about this that just hurt. Goten and Trunks sat silent in front of the TV not sure how to react. They had known this girl all of fifteen seconds, but it didn't make it any easier, especially because she seemed to be as old as them. Marron just buried her face into her mother's chest and 18 was trying to console her. She wasn't crying, but it was clear she was scared.

"I beg you… Shadow." Maria managed to get out. "Please, do it for me. For all of the people… living on that planet…"

The next few words no one could make out, even Shadow didn't seem able to understand what she was saying.

"Sayōnara… Shadow the Hedgehog." She finished, pulling a lever and dropping to the floor, succumbing to her wounds. The floor opened and the capsule dropped down into space.

"MARIA!" Shadow shouted as he disappeared away from his home, and more importantly, his only friend.

Everyone just looked from one to another, the same thought on everyone's mind.

"That's better…" Skorch sighed, re-appearing in the room.

"Hey… Skorch?" 18 began, her anger rising. "Maybe warn us the next time a child is going to be brutally gunned down!"

"What?" Skorch asked confused, looking to the tv. "Oh. Crap. They brought that up so early? I could've sworn it was later… Oh geez… I'm sorry, I… I was going to mention it…"

"Why?" Videl cut him off, tears in her eyes. "Why'd they have to kill her?" Skorch merely pointed to the screen.

"This may seem terrible…" Boomstick began.

"IT IS!" Was collectively shouted at the screen.

"But… it gets worse!" Boomstick sighed. "See, the illness she was sick with genuinely had no cure, so if it got out on earth, they'd be screwed. Even with Shadow's abilities… Second, the Black Hand was planning to kill everyone on earth and take over the planet, using Shadow as their main weapon.

"Wait, so Shadow was designed to be a cure, but was turned into a weapon by terrorist aliens?!" Goten asked, putting together what Boomstick was getting at. Skorch simply nodded.

"Did Dr. Robotnik know about that?" Videl asked, and Skorch shrugged.

"So, when the government found out, they were given a kill order for everyone on the Space Colony ARK." He paused for a moment then added: "It gets sadder when you realize they weren't trying to shoot her. The guy who did was aiming at the controls as a warning shot, but one of his teammates grabbed his gun, thinking he was aiming for her and accidentally moved it when he pulled the trigger…"

"She was so young… I… I didn't mean to…" A man mumbled, clearly beginning to break down into tears as the memories were ripped to the front of his mind. The face of the child he had… well, killed. "I just wanted to stop her… I never meant… but now…" that was as far as he got, before he broke down crying in agony. Shadow looked down at him, his face stoic, angry and unreadable.

"That doesn't make it better…" Trunks remarked, quietly.

"For some reason Shadow lost some of his memories and was also kind of pissed off." Boomstick continued. "After being frozen… or something… for fifty years, he attempted to destroy the planet as per what he believed Maria's last words meant."

"That's a bit extreme." Gohan said, raising a brow.

"I sincerely doubt she asked him to kill everyone…" Videl muttered. "She was just a child! I don't think anyone that young could be that twisted and cruel…"

"Maria. I still remember what I promised you… for the people of the planet, I promise you… REVENGE!" Shadow declared, looking down from the bridge he was standing on.

"Well, it turned out quite unsurprisingly that she didn't ask Shadow to kill everyone, but to give them a chance to be happy." Wiz added. "So, in the end, Shadow ended up saving the world."

"Well that's good." Goku said, feeling a bit better about what was being said.

"For all people who live on that planet… give them a chance… to be happy." Maria weakly spoke, smiling as tears fell down her face. "Shadow. I know you can do it, that is why you were brought into this world… Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog…"

"Wow. That's… that's pretty deep for a kid."

"That's what I've promised her. And I must keep that promise. That's what Maria would've wished for…" Shadow whispered, realizing something, and a new flare of determination burning through him.

"But people are still getting sick on earth so I guess he forgot about that whole 'living cure thing'… Still, not destroying the earth is a good first step." Boomstick remarked.

"The cure is probably a lost cause now." Bulma frowned. "Without Gerald's notes, there's probably no way to make the cure, unless he's still alive." She finished looking over to Skorch, whose body was pouring a soda down the hole where his head would normally be attached, and shrugged.

"Well, traumatic history aside, Shadow is still an absolute powerhouse. He's able to move at hypersonic speeds, even being able to keep up with Sonic the Hedgehog, whose top speeds have been clocked at beyond Mach 5 and even surpassing the speed of light!"

"I'm sorry, WHAT?!" Bulma exclaimed, shocked. "There's NO way a hedgehog can move that fast! If his body was moving that quickly, he'd burn himself to ashes, or burn through all his calories and be left as a skeletal husk of his former self! Not to mention he couldn't possibly begin to tell where he's going!"

"While it's true that the 'fastest' Sonic has been clocked at for actual speed was 3840 MPH, but he's also been able to break the sound barrier and yes, he can move faster than light on occasions. But that's a debate for another day." Boomstick spoke up.

"He's a hedgehog! Alien DNA or not, there's no scientific way he could physically move that fast without his entire body being liquefied as he ran! Not to mention that the atmosphere around him wouldn't be able to stop and start that fast and he could destroy entire cities with a shockwave if he wasn't careful!"

"Should we try and stop her or…" Beerus asked, unsure of what to do.

"No, this happens sometimes." Vegeta replied with a shrug. "Give her a minute and she'll calm down."

It was about seven minutes when Bulma finally seemed to stop trying to analyze the scientific side of a cartoon hedgehog, and everyone continued watching, with Bulma sulking to herself about the impossibility of all this. Forgetting she was married to an alien who used to be able to transform into a monkey, and used a magic wish-granting dragon to resurrect the dead.

BACKGROUND

Height: 3'3" ("Wow. He's shorter than Chiaotzu and Oolong!"Goten remarked, surprised. "And Vegeta!" Skorch added, Vegeta just kicked the headless body to the ground and proceeded to use it as a footrest.)

Weight: 77 lbs

Bio-Engineered Ultimate Lifeform ("What exactly does that mean?" Goku asked.)

Nearly Indestructible, Extreme Durability

Hypersonic Speed, Can Match and Surpass Sonic's Top Speed

Created with Alien DNA ("Sure." Bulma decided to just roll with it at this point.)

Gray Morality, Leaning More Towards Heroic In Later Events ("He was only evil in his first appearance, due to a lack of memories." Skorch stated.)

"He also is able to survive in outer space and even breathe underwater." Wiz added, as Shadow was seen swimming at an extremely fast pace, seeming just fine without oxygen. "Something his blue counterpart would probably kill to be able to do, but we'll talk about him another day."

"Hell, he's somehow managed to survive a fall from the moon back to earth! That is a really long-ass fall!" Boomstick added as everyone watch surprised to see Shadow now golden furred with red stripes falling from space towards the earth.

"Why's he look like a Super Saiyan?" Goku asked confused, upon hearing that, Skorch's skull began desperately trying to hold a laugh in.

"Well, it wasn't exactly the moon, but regardless, by the time Shadow would've made impact, he would've been falling at a rate of roughly six hundred thousand feet per second." Wiz explained as a chart appeared, showing a diagram of the moon, and a red arrow going from something marked 'ARK' to the earth. "This isn't including the fact that he survived not only re-entry, but the all but inevitable likelihood of him simply combusting as he fell, compounding all that with the impact, which would kill just about ANYTHING."

"Wow, Shadow must have a crazy amount of endurance…" Videl remarked, surprised at Shadow's survival.

"I feel sorry for whatever was around when he landed." Boomstick muttered. "Just some random guy just walking along and ... HOLY CRAP!"

This got a few laughs from some of the viewers, as some of the Z-fighters knew that sometimes debris or stray attacks tended to freak people out when a rock or energy blast appeared out from nowhere and destroyed a car or a chunk of road. Apparently, businesses were now selling 'Alien Insurance' for when things like that happened.

"Oh, and did we mention he's part ALIEN!?" Boomstick exclaimed. "No, really! His creator, Doctor Gerald Robotnik tried multiple times to create 'The Ultimate Lifeform' but failed at every turn. Eventually, he hit a dead end, and was approached by Black Doom, the leader of the Black Arms. A race of aliens that live on the Black Comet which passed Earth every fifty years."

"Despite having advanced technology and weaponry, apparently a Thesaurus was beyond their capabilities…" Wiz muttered.

"Incredibly easy chance to make racial jokes aside, it's not one-hundred percent clear if ol' Doc knew what the Black Arms wanted-"

"His name is Black DOOM!" Goku exclaimed. "How could he NOT know something was up?!"

"He was probably desperate." 18 frowned, thinking it over. It really said something when even Goku was pointing out that this was a bad idea. Still, she doubted Dr. Gero wouldn't've done something similar when he was trying to make her, or her brother.

"-Black Doom provided his blood, as well as some other Alien stuff, to help create Shadow. On the condition that he would bring Doom the seven chaos emeralds in the next fifty years." Boomstick concluded.

"Which he'd probably use to destroy earth, or something, right?" Yamcha dryly commented.

Shadow was shown walking with the blue and green chaos emeralds, only for Black Doom to appear as a ghost from the ground. Those watching had to admit, he certainly looked… different. His body was large, and he appeared to lack legs, but his/its head seemed to be more horn than skull…

"You've deliberately disobeyed me, Shadow!" Black Doom growled.

"No one tells me what to do." Shadow replied, dismissively. "I have my own reasons for collecting the Chaos Emeralds."

"I get the feeling Shadow would only agree to work for Black Doom just to stab him in the back when it's convenient for him." Tien mused. "He doesn't strike me as someone who would be a 'hero'."

"That also has to do with that game." Skorch added. "In it, you could be good, neutral, or evil and each path had its own story."

"Huh, interesting."

"Right…" Wiz replied before the scene cut to show seven coloured emeralds. "Despite his undeniable speed and physical strength, Shadow's main powers from form his natural connection to the Chaos Emeralds which grant him access to the Chaos Force."

CHAOS EMERALDS

Seven In Total (According To Archie Comics Sonic The Hedgehog comics, There Are Millions Of Each Colour. The Canonicity of This Is Presently Unknown)

One Giant One Known As The 'Master Emerald', Which Channels The Energy Of The Emeralds

One Alone Grants The User Unlimited Power (More than a few eye's widened at that claim)

Can Warp Reality (This shocked everyone, even Lord Beerus was taken aback by how powerful they supposedly were.)

A Single Emerald Can Warp An Entire City

Can Open Portals To Other Dimensions (Now most were very interested in them, and their power.)

"These Chaos Emeralds seem a lot like Dragon Balls…" Piccolo remarked.

"Yeah, they have magical properties, can teleport things, give whoever has them a power boost…" Gohan nodded in agreement, comparing the two power sources and their powers.

"They're beautiful!" Chi-Chi remarked, looking at the emeralds. One blue, one red, one green, one yellow, one gray, one light blue, and finally a purple one.

"Hey, skeleton." Vegeta spoke. "When the Chaos Emeralds are used, what happens to them? Why couldn't they just keep them together for whenever Black Doom came back?"

"They scatter around the planet." Skorch answered, then spoke before anyone else could. "Yeah, they're just Dragon Balls, minus the Dragon, and the Balls. And the wish-granting."

CHAOS FORCE

Can Freeze Time With Chaos Control (This intrigued a few of the fighters)

Can Make Weapons With Chaos Spear (Vegeta seemed interested in that ability)

Chaos Blast Created Massive, Devastating Explosions

Other-Energy Based Attacks

Can Be Used to Defend, Heal, Fly, and Warp

"So, his Chaos force is akin to Ki-Force, isn't it?" Tien asked.

"Seems like it." Roshi nodded. "But rather than it being an inner energy, it's an energy he taps into from some other force, and those rocks act like conductors. Or maybe those rocks are like batteries, and he needs em' to even tap into it." The old man seemed to be deep in thought, thinking about what he could do with those powers.

"Still, learning how to make Ki-Spears could be useful." Vegeta admitted. "It seems like it would be the same as a Galick blast, but focused into a specific shape."

"Have you ever tried that, Dad?" Trunks asked, looking back to Vegeta.

"No, I'm honestly a bit surprised that I haven't though…" The Prince thought it over.

"And this stuff is pretty effective." Boomstick declared. "I mean, he can freeze time with Chaos Control, warp with Chaos Warp, make spears with Chaos Spear, but his most powerful attack is Chaos Blast. A big-ass shockwave that obliterates everything. And I do mean everything. Like, holy crap. That's a lotta damage! However, while Chaos Control can completely freeze time it doesn't last forever, and is usually used for quick escapes. I guess it depends on what he wants to do in the moment."

"On top of that, Shadow also wears to inhibitor rings which restrict his access to the Chaos Force. This is mainly due to the unpredictability of the nature of Chaos and to make sure Shadow is always in control." Wiz continued with the run-down, as Shadow was seen taking two rings off.

"Why would he restrict his access to his main energy source?" Yamcha asked.

"Well, if we were to compare it to Ki, I think the answer is pretty simple." Bulma reasoned. "Ki is a natural life energy, something the bodies of those who use it are used to, with training and time, Goku and the others have gotten control over the energy and its tendencies. Now comparing that to something called 'Chaos Force' it probably stands to reason it's harder to control, and where Ki flows naturally through someone's body, Chaos might damage his body it if they use it too much."

Bulma had said a lot, leaving a few in the room looking to one another, wordlessly asking if she understood what was said.

"It's similar to what happened when Goku went Super Sayian God for the first time." Beerus commented, having understood her and deciding to grace these mortals with a simplified answer. "There's only so much energy someone can have in them at a time without proper training or a natural gift. If you mortals have too much energy at once… it can tear you apart, let alone be nearly impossible to control, leaving you unable to focus that power."

"Compared to you, who can take any amount of energy?" Trunks asked. Not disrespectfully, but out of genuine curiosity.

"Smart kid." Beerus nodded.

INHIBITOR RINGS

Restrict Chaos Power

Maintains Precision Control ("Called it!" Bulma exclaimed.)

When Removed, His Powers Increase Exponentially, But His Stamina Drops Quickly

"Should he remove them, he receives a massive power boost, but this also tends to tire him out quite quickly and drain him of his powers." Wiz finished.

"His power also tends to increase depending on the number of Chaos Emeralds he has at a time." Boomstick continued.

"And if he has all seven he can become a Super Hedgehog?" Tien snarked. This time, Skorch's withheld laughter was audible throughout the entire room. "What is it now?"

"Ju…just watch!" Skorch finally managed to say.

"And when he gets even of them…" Boomstick trailed off.

Everyone watched confused as Sonic and Shadow stood in the middle of a room, the seven emeralds surrounding them. They began spinning around the duo, getting so fast it was impossible to see. Suddenly, the two launched into the air, and in a flash of white light, they transformed. Now Shadow had a whitish-golden colour to his fur, while Sonic had just a regular golden colouring to his fur. Everyone watching shot forward, jaws to the floor. These two hedgehogs… had literally gone Super Saiyan. There was complete silence as everyone just looked at the two. Thankfully, when the remote fell out of Bulma's hand, it hit 'Pause'. After a few more moments of desperately trying to restrain himself, Skorch burst out into gales of uncontrollable laughter. Thankfully, his body managed to snap a picture on his phone as Skorch's head continued rolling around in hysterics. The entity hadn't laughed this long in ages and damn did it feel good.

Finally, people seemed to be coming out of the shock they found themselves in and now turned their attention to the laughing skull. Goku used his Telekinesis to lift the skull up so everyone could see him.

"What is this?!" The Saiyan demanded. "Are they just us, but animals?!"

"No..o…o…" Skorch wheezed again, still laughing uncontrollably. "Oh geez… holy crap… holy crap… Oh, I haven't laughed like that in AGES!"

It took Skorch a few minutes, but eventually he calmed himself and stopped laughing, explaining to the Z-Fighters that not only had Sonic the Hedgehog taken inspiration from DB for the 'Super Transformation' but also that Vegeta was believed to be a major inspiration for Shadow. The amount of mixed feelings would've been impossible to count, so everyone decided to keep watching the episode, but now Skorch's head was on the back of the couch, between Vegeta and Goku.

SUPER FORM

Receives a 1000% Power Increase (Note: This May Not Be Exact)

Automatic Flight

Unlimited Endurance

Invincible (This was what most of the fighters took note of.)

Duration Based On A Time Limit/Number Of Rings He Has On Him

"So, he gets all of that… Just from seven stones?" Gohan asked, amazed at how similar yet different the Dragon Balls and Chaos Emeralds seemed to be.

"Yup." Skorch nodded. "Heck, if Goku of Geets ever got them, and hit their maximum power level, they'd probably be able to become even stronger than their absolute limits!" The words from the skeleton definitely had an effect on those listening. Goku and Vegeta (and Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, Hercule, Trunks, Goten, and even Beerus) wondered what would happen to them should they have those emeralds, how much stronger they could become, the powers they could attain… while Bulma and even Gohan were curious as to how they could harness the powers of Chaos to help people, be it through slowing time or teleporting.

"Super Shadow is the be-all, end all of his powers. Not only does he receive a one thousand percent power increase, but he also gains flight, complete and total invincibility and unlimited endurance." Wiz explained the benefits of Shadow's Super Form. Vegeta scoffed slightly, annoyed that his copycat's super form seemed better than his.

"But like most awesome abilities, there's a pretty massive catch." Boomstick picked up from where Wiz ended. "Not only can Shadow only stay in this form for a few minutes at MOST, but it also leaves him extremely drained. However, he can prolong this form by collecting rings, and let's be real here. What's a few minutes to him is hell to whoever he's fighting."

"What does he mean by ring?" Chi-Chi asked, only for giant golden rings to be shown on screen. Well, 'giant' may not be the right word, but they were certainly large by the standard of rings.

"To this day, Shadow remains one of Sonic's toughest rivals. He's survived cataclysmic attacks, been sent through time, fallen form the moon to earth like we mentioned, and even survived wave after wave of robotic duplicates of himself." Wiz said as shots were shown of everything he mentioned, even an army of Robotic Shadows fighting him and Sonic. "He might tend to be a bit more aggressive than the rest of Sonic's friends, and prefer to work alone, often isolating himself from others. But in the end, Shadow the Hedgehog remains a force you don't want to mess with."

"That's not all, I'm full of surprises." Shadow smirked before jumping off of a lamp post in front of Sonic. The doors closing once again.

"Well… this is interesting." Piccolo finally spoke up, still unsure about how to feel about one of them being in one of these 'Death Battles', especially the implications that could have for all of them.

"If Vegeta inspired Shadow so much, then Vegeta probably will win." Gohan reasoned. "Shadow seems to have his own set of powers similar to Ki attacks, and his super form may be effective, but I don't believe he'll be able to keep it up as long as Vegeta can stay in his Super form."

"That does make sense, aside from the fact that Shadow is invincible in his super form." Yamcha countered. "I don't think even a final flash attack could kill him in that state."

"Once again, it seems to come down to endurance." Roshi remarked. "If both of you have a similar super form, then one of you simply needs to outlast the other long enough to secure the winning blow."

"I dunno, I kinda feel like Shadow's got this." Videl shook her head. "He may not be trained like a Sayian, but he certainly seems to be able to hold his own.

"The thing that bothers me is I don't know who to be pissed at if I lose." Vegeta commented. "Myself, or the creators of the show…"

"Well, if I had to guess, Vegeta could overpower Shadow in physical strength, but Shadow's chaos powers might give him an edge." Hercule spoke up. "He can freeze time with those rocks, I doubt even you guys have something to counter act that."

"No. We don't." Vegeta frowned, thinking it over before shaking his head. "Let's just see how this goes."

Bulma – Vegeta (It was her husband, of course she was voting for him!)

Trunks – Vegeta (It was his Dad, of course he was voting for him!)

Goku – Vegeta (He was definitely voting for his best buddy.)

Gohan – Vegeta (Having seen/fought alongside/against Vegeta, the younger Sayian believed Shadow couldn't top him.)

Buu – Shadow (He wasn't sure why, but he was voting for Shadow)

Roshi – Vegeta

Vegeta – Vegeta (duh)

Piccolo – Vegeta (He had fought him, he doubted Shadow could take him on)

Chi-Chi – Shadow

Goten – Shadow

Videl – Shadow

Yamcha – Shadow (Petty reasons)

Beerus – Shadow

Hercule – Shadow

DEATH BATTLE

The doors re-opened with Shadow skating across the ground, looking at a device. He was using a radar to look for something as he entered a familiar valley. Some of those watching recognized it as the wastelands where Goku and Vegeta first met, and then proceeded to beat the crap outta each other.

"Any luck Shadow?" A female voice asked over a communication device.

"None yet." The hedgehog replied. "This seems like an odd place for a Chaos Emerald to be…"

"Well, that's the thing, after the Doctor's last attack, they got scattered." The female voice replied.

"Hm." Was all Shadow said.

As the radar got louder, he came to a stop near a small creator, sliding down the hill, he seemed confused as he was looking at a Dragon Ball.

"What?" He muttered, confused. Clearly, this wasn't what he was looking for, but the radar seemed to think it was.

"Shadow, hurry up and find the emerald, we're picking up some sort of anomaly in your vicinity, it's something we've never sensed before!"

Shadow looked at the Dragon Ball, then saw a new figure seeming to be coming down towards the ground. Shadow's radar went berserk, so he picked up the Dragon Ball and walked over towards the newcomer.

"So." He said, approaching Vegeta who had his back turned. "You're the extraordinary source of power I sensed."

"Well that certainly sounds like me…" Vegeta began, but turned around and saw Shadow.

"He dosen't sound too far off…" Vegeta admitted.

"Um… Who and what are you?" Vegeta asked, now seeming very confused. "And where did you find that?" He asked, pointing to the Dragon Ball.

"I am Shadow the Hedgehog, The Ultimate Lifeform!" Shadow declared, taking a fighting stance. Vegeta, quite expectedly, began laughing.

"Really?" He finally snarked. "A weird looking rat, is an Ultimate Life form? HAHAHAHA! Oh, that's good… Word of advice, freak; your about three feet too short to be considered and actual threat."

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing." Shadow retorted, and Vegeta stopped laughing immediately.

"Beat me to it." Gohan smirked.

"…you just signed your fate, fool." Vegeta growled.

FIGHT!

(*Cues: Hyperbolic Time Chamber - Dragon Ball Z*)

Without hesitation, Shadow shot forward and jumps, flipping and trying to bring his foot down on Vegeta's head in a downward strike. The Saiyan dashed back and spun, trying also to kick Shadow in the head. The result was that both attacks collided and essentially canceled each other out. What surprised everyone was not only that Shadow blocked Vegeta's attack, but that it didn't seem to tear his leg off out of the amount of force needed to do so. Shadow suddenly moved blindingly quick, and now blocked the kick with his hand, before using the other hand to punch Vegeta in the chest, pushing him back somewhat. Vegeta began charging a purple Ki attack in his hands, while Shadow took a defensive stance.

"GALICK GUN, FIRE!" He shouted, firing a blast off at Shadow. The Ki exploded, but when the smoke cleared, Shadow wasn't there. "What?"

Shadow suddenly re-appeared behind Vegeta and performed a double-fisted-downward-slam into Vegeta, knocking him down to the ground.

"Oh, c'mon!" Vegeta groaned, not impressed with how he was doing in the fight. He should've and would've expected such a fight after all the times he fought those who could teleport. It was so obvious! Thankfully, the battle version of him seemed to think the same thing, and when Shadow attempted to teleport and attack again, Vegeta struck without even looking back. The blow caught Shadow completely unaware, and disoriented him enough for Vegeta to grab him.

Vegeta (in the fight) growled and grabbed Shadow, punching him several times in the face before flying through a stone pillar, smashing Shadow into another pillar, making it crack heavily.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow yelled, stabbing Vegeta with a spear and making him let go of Shadow. The attack didn't dig deep into him, and it didn't seem to hurt Vegeta too much, but it did surprise him. Now, Shadow seemed to be matching Vegeta's flight with his hover shoes.

"Okay, those shoes are awesome." Videl admitted, wanting a pair.

"Hm. Not bad." Vegeta said, looking a bit surprised at Shadow flying. "But not good enough!"

Suddenly firing another Galick blast, it caught Shadow off-guard and he was hit dead-on by the blast. It seemed to hurt him, but he wasn't down for the count, not by a long shot. However, he was breathing a bit heavily, and was clearly surprised at how much the blast had managed to hurt him.

"Pathetic. Before you die, allow me to show you a TRUE, ULTIMATE LIFE FORM!" Vegeta exclaimed.

(*Cues: Super Saiyan Vegeta - Dragon Ball Z*)

Yelling as he summoned his inner strength, Vegeta was surrounded by a yellow energy as his hair turned to a bright blonde, and Ki energy seemed to be crackling around his body. Yelling defiantly, Vegeta unleashed a shockwave of energy, and floated in the air menacingly as he now entered his Super Saiyan form.

"I think this fight may be shorter than the others." Trunks remarked.

"Well yeah, but Shadow also has his super form." Goten countered.

"Fair point."

Shadow's eyes widened, not in fear, but more in surprise. To everyone's confusion and amazement, Shadow smirked a little, as if he knew something no one else did. But everyone knew what he knew. They had seen it in the battle prelude.

"Hm. Your power reserves must be as big as your mouth." Shadow remarked.

"I'mma kill him." Vegeta scowled, offended.

"Hahahahaha! Tell me hedgehog, does a lab rat like you experience fear?" Vegeta laughed, cockily. "Because no Titan or Creature can compare to the power I hold! And no battle can compare to the horrors you will witness at my hands!"

(*Cues Live And Learn – Sonic Adventure 2 – Instrumental*)

"You have… no idea… WHO YOU'RE DEALING WITH!" Shadow shouted, as the seven Chaos Emeralds appeared around him.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Bulma exclaimed pausing the video. "How come Shadow has the Chaos Emeralds?! Wouldn't that count as outside help?"

"Yeah… she's right!" Roshi agreed, looking over to the skull. "Technically Shadow can only achieve his super form through the seven chaos emeralds and can't do so naturally."

"Well, technically Shadow has the green Chaos Emerald ninety-nine percent of the time." Skorch frowned at that, but understood (sort of) Skorch's logic to it. "Look, it's more for the sake of Having Super Shadow fight Super Saiyan Vegeta. Forget the rules, enjoy the duels."

Shadow yelled as the Emeralds spun around him, and in a white flash, Shadow had become Super Shadow. He took a fighting stance and addressed Vegeta.

"This, is my true power!" Shadow declared. Vegeta seemed taken aback before looking at the viewers.

"Wow… what a rip-off." He said in a flat tone. Everyone watching got a good laugh out of that.

"Hey, he said it, not me." Vegeta smirked.

"Sad thing is, that probably is what you'd say if you ever saw someone like Shadow do this in real life." Gohan laughed.

"It is, in all honesty…" Beerus nodded.

Vegeta was then tackled by Shadow. "GAH!"

"Cheap shot!" Trunks exclaimed.

As the two-kept flying, Shadow and Vegeta were furiously unleashing a flurry of punches on one another as they flew through the cliffside and came out the other side.

"INSULENT!" Vegeta shouted, punching Shadow a good distance in front of him. "PATHETIC!" He shot forward and hit Shadow again. "WORTHLESS PIECE OF SH-"

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow suddenly shouted, there was an odd green flash and the screen's colours went negative for a few moments, then Vegeta found himself moving much slower than normal. Shadow breathed heavily, using the emerald to give himself a quick recharge, he then created several purple spheres around the frozen Vegeta, before creating dozens of Chaos Blasts. Snapping his fingers, time returned to normal and the balls exploded, bouncing Vegeta about before one blasted him to the ground, then the barrage of chaos came at him, creating a sizeable explosion.

"That's gotta hurt…" Tien said aloud. He wasn't exactly best friends with Vegeta, but this 'Chaos' power looked tougher than most of what they had seen before. Or at least, more painful.

Without missing a beat, and barely seeming any worse for wear, Vegeta shot out of the explosion and kicked Shadow in the gut, then flew behind him and kicked him again, before unleashing a barrage of Ki blasts at the flying hedgehog. When the blasts stopped and the explosions faded away, Shadow was nowhere to be seen.

"Again?!" Vegeta exclaimed annoyed.

"Again!?" The Vegeta in the battle exclaimed, annoyed. "Where'd he go this time?!"

"Right behind you." Shadow remarked, appearing behind Vegeta and snapping his fingers. In a white flash, Vegeta looked around, confused.

"What the-?" He asked. "Where am I?"

Looking around, Vegeta realized he was now in the arctic, as a few penguins slid by him, not paying the glowing Saiyan any mind.

"Hm. That was easier than I thought." Shadow mused with a smirk. "Well, I-"

In a sudden flash, Vegeta re-appeared. Surprising Shadow by his sudden return.

"Cheap trick, rat." He scowled, winding up a punch, Shadow briefly looked to those watching, then simply snapped his fingers again.

"Really!?" Was collectively exclaimed by a few of the viewers.

"Is that all he can do!?" Bulma asked, a bit annoyed at Shadow's cheap tactics.

"I thought he was the supposed 'Ultimate Lifeform' and he can't even keep his own against a Saiyan." Beerus grumbled, clearly not impressed with his choice of winner's tactics.

"Just wait…" Was all Skorch said.

Vegeta's punch shattered a rock formation and he looked around, confused. He now realized he was on the moon.

"Oh, you m-!" Vegeta began to curse so loudly from the moon that Shadow could hear it back on earth.

"They got your personality right." Piccolo dryly quipped.

"THAT'S IT!" Vegeta continued to shout. "PLAY TIME'S OVER, RAT!"

Flying up and then slamming into the moon, Shadow's eyes widened as he realized what Vegeta was doing. The moon began moving towards earth, clearly picking up speed and igniting the air around it (or however that works, you know what I mean).

"NO!" Shadow shouted. "IS HE INSANE?!"

"Yes." Was said aloud.

"What do you all have against me?!" Vegeta asked defensively.

Vegeta shot away from the moon, then rocketed towards it, slamming into it and punching it with such force that it began to pick up speed as it was knocked out of orbit.

"…so, is the rest of the earth just screwed?" Yamcha asked.

"I destroyed the moon at that one time, and things were fine." Piccolo shrugged. "I doubt moving it towards earth for a short time could cause that much damage." Bulma looked like she wanted to scream into a pillow.

"I, AM A SUPER SAIYAN!" Vegeta shouted over the sound of the moon hurdling towards earth. "AND YOU SHALL DIE FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!"

(*Cues: All Hail Shadow – Sonic The Hedgehog Soundtrack – Cursh 40*)

As the moon got closer to earth, it was trapped by the gravitational pull and began gaining speed. Shadow took a deep breath and took off his inhibitor rings. As they fell to the ground, Shadow opened his eyes, which were now glowing a fiery orange and red. Yelling with power, he was suddenly surrounded by chaos-energy-fire as he began charging his Chaos Energy to its maximum potential.

"CHAOS… CONTROL!" He shouted, there was a flash of some sort of energy, and the moon suddenly disappeared. There was silence, and everyone watching in amazement as the moon re-appeared in its proper location.

"…wow." Vegeta eventually muttered, genuinely surprised by the power Shadow wielded with the Chaos Emeralds. "Didn't expect that…"

"Yes!" Shadow exclaimed. "I did it!"

"Congrats fur ball." A voice said as Vegeta suddenly cold-clocked Shadow in the back of the head. Well, he would've, had Shadow not caught his fist and punched him square in the jaw. Rocketing forward, Shadow grabbed Vegeta and hit him with everything he had. His fist contacted Vegeta's face, and it clearly hurt… but Super Saiyan Vegeta seemed to be negating most of the damage by sheer willpower. Even though Shadow was dragging him through the air, he managed to bring his arm up and break the attack, spinning around and kicking Shadow dead-centre in the face. Now, the pair had arrived at West City, and seemed to take a moment to gauge the other.

"Ngh- hmph." Shadow grunted. "All right, you're not half-bad."

"Too bad I can't say the same for you." Vegeta retorted with a smirk, and the Vegeta watching smirked as well.

"I'm going to have to remember that one…" The 'real' Vegeta thought.

Shadow growled, and then flew at Vegeta, only to disappear…

WHAM!

Shadow appeared from the side, striking Vegeta in the face, then disappeared again.

WHAM!

Shadow appeared from behind Vegeta, kicking him in the spine, then disappeared again.

CRACK!

Shadow appeared from below, upercutting Vegeta before grabbing his foot and spinning so fast it might've caused a tornado, before letting go and whipping Vegeta off into the distance.

"Sayonara." Shadow quipped. "CHAOS SPEAR!"

Just as Vegeta began to get a grip on his surroundings, the music and all audio was cut off as a single Chaos Spear came flying in from the left, and went clean through him. Vegeta was completely caught off-guard, and the strike was so powerful and unexpected, that he slipped out of Super Saiyan form. The real Vegeta (and those rooting for him) simply stared in shock at what had just happened. It was a single attack! And it had been so powerful that it had knocked him out of Super Saiyan mode?! Was he dead?! No- it couldn't- it wasn't that-

"No! Not happening!" Vegeta yelled, before sparking back into Super Saiyan mode. Now, he just seemed pissed off at being caught off guard like that, it was clear the wound hurt, but the blow to his pride was worse than being run through with a Chaos Spear. Shadow came rocketing towards Vegeta, only to be backhanded by Vegeta into a nearby building.

"HA!" Vegeta laughed. "That's more like it!"

"Die." Vegeta ordered, eerily quiet, seemingly so angry that his voice was left as a whisper. Unleashing another attack, Vegeta utterly decimated the building, and anyone who was unfortunate enough to be in it at the time. It was surprisingly unsettling, and reminded those on earth of who Vegeta once was, and what he was capable of when those he cared for were put in harm's way. The building was left as nothing more than a smouldering pile of rubble, and Vegeta looked towards the viewers, before finally speaking. "Don't try it, rat."

Shadow tried it.

Vegeta whirled around as Shadow lurched forward – presumably having warped away from the explosion – but rather than Chaos Spear, time froze once more as Shadow proceeded to grab the Bang Beams blast and repositioned it in front of Vegeta.

"Is- is that even possible?!" Krillin sputtered.

"It's almost like he's moving at Ultra Instinct…" Beerus muttered, then shook his head. "No, no… Instinct is far faster, and he wouldn't've frozen time…"

"How is he-!?" Hercule began.

"Is that even legal-!?" Bulma tried to form words, but failed.

"If he froze time, that means he froze everything." Roshi reasoned. "As such, the Bang Beam isn't moving, and while its still deadly, touching it while frozen in time for the briefest of moments, shouldn't hurt the hedgehog… that's a fascinatin' concept right there… use Ki to freeze time and move attacks? Sounds insane…"

When time unfroze, the blast went off directly in front of Vegeta. Thankfully, it wasn't fully charged, so it was more akin to a powerful punch than a deadly decisive strike. The Prince was sent flying through the air, eventually smashing through the roof of Capsule Corp. HQ, slamming into the ground and being aggressively dragged along the ground by gravity. Driving a claw into the ground, Vegeta forced himself to stop, and pulled himself back up, cracking his neck as Shadow burst in through a wall.

"All right, this ends now!" Vegeta shouted.

(*Cues: Vela Nova Part 2 – Sonic Rush Soundtrack*)

Shadow and Vegeta rushed forward at one another. Neither seemed to have a plan other than 'attack'. They collided with one another, and began a power struggle for dominance. They both seemed to be surrounded by a cone of energy, one made of Ki, and the other made of Chaos Energy. The pair were moving with all the speed they had, and both were trying to push the other back, to trip them up, to do… something.

"C'mon, Vegeta!" Goku cheered.

"Kick his ass, Shadow!" Yamcha shouted.

Those watching expected some sort of declaration of power, or strength, or even a one-liner, something like… "You might know everything I'm going to do but that's not gonna help you because I know everything YOU'RE going to do! STRANGE, ISN'T IT?" Well, maybe not THAT corny, but that was the idea.

Shockingly, one didn't come. The two were locked in such a heated struggle that they weren't even speaking. Just gritting their teeth and forcing themselves onwards, continuing a fight which was quite literally digging a trench in the floor of CC HQ. As the two desperately tried to overpower the other, they were running so fast on the floor, they were wearing through it.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow shouted as he created and then drove it into Vegeta's side. The Prince yelled in pain, and stepped to the right, causing Shadow to rocket forward and through a wall, burning the ground as he did so. Vegeta looked down and scowled at the bleeding wound, but seemed to ignore it. It hurt… but he wasn't going to let it stop him. When Shadow stood up, Vegeta realized where he had blasted into, and more importantly, what room he had destroyed... and who he had ran into.

...and ran through.

"Hey! It's my room!" Trunks exclaimed.

Vegeta wasn't exactly Father of the year, not by a long shot. In fact, he was a pretty terrible father. But seeing his son's room destroyed, and his own son hurt by the one he was fighting? That ignited a fury which could only be quelled by one thing, and one thing alone.

BLOOD.

(*Cues: Cry Of The Banshee – Brocas Helm*)

"How DARE…" Vegeta scowled, before blasting off after Shadow. He grabbed the hedgehog and kneed him right in the gut before spinning him around at a blinding speed and throwing him into the air. Yelling like a Sayian Warrior, Vegeta unleashed a vicious barrage of Ki blasts into the air, all of which exploded, and compounded onto the next explosion. As Shadow rocketed out of it, flying back down at Vegeta, it was clear he had taken some damage, but his pride wasn't going to let him surrender.

Now, driven by a fury which some of those in the room knew all too well, it was clear Vegeta was past the 'fighting-to-prove-he-was-the-best-sake' angry, and was now at 'I'm-going-to-personally-drag-you-through-every-circle-of-hell-by-your-own-intestines' angry. Vegeta didn't even think, he just reacted, grabbing Shadow by the throat and pile-driving him back down through the roof, into another room.

"Ugh, I'm thankful this fight didn't actually happen, it'd take forever to get this place fixed!" Bulma grumbled, watching her home get trashed by her husband and a hedgehog. A sentence she never thought she'd say or think.

"Yeah, a friend of mine has a bad habit of smashing through walls. And roofs." Skorch admitted with a shrug. "It ain't exactly his fault, though."

Vegeta grabbed the first heavy object he could, and threw it at Shadow, who performed a spin dash and sliced through it… and those watching realized that it had been Future Trunk's time machine. Beerus cast a glance to Bulma, who refused to meet his gaze as she offered him some more food, which he accepted. Shadow kept going, and scored a nasty looking strike on Vegeta. The buzz-saw-destructo-disc like attack cut along Vegeta's chest, spraying blood behind him.

"Agh! Damn you!" Both Vegeta's cursed.

Shadow quickly unleashed another volley of the twisted energy spears at Vegeta, who returned fire with a series of Galick blasts. However, neither fighter waited to see what would happen, as they flew at one another, through their own attacks which were exploding around them as they collided, now locked in a stand-off.

"Just give up already!" Vegeta demanded. "You're nothing compared to me!"

"I'm the Ultimate Lifeform, you fight like you're desperate to escape someone's shadow." Shadow cruelly countered, pushing Vegeta off of him and beginning to charge an attack. "Who is it? Your father? Your brother? Stop wasting your time. You'll always be second best."

"I'mma kill 'im." Vegeta muttered, the insult clearly cutting him in some regard. And not just because he was sitting next to Goku. Who seemed oblivious as to why Vegeta seemed so angry.

"You wanna talk about being 'Ultimate'? You clearly never worked a day for what you have. You were PROGRAMMED to be like this! Like a damn robot!"

Something about the word 'robot' seemed to strike a nerve with Shadow, and he gritted his teeth in anger. It was clear there was more to the story there, but in the middle of a fight, they weren't gonna open up about their past.

"Is that it?" Vegeta laughed, beginning to charge an attack. "Are you just a robotic clone of the real thing? Mass produced in some desperate attempt to capture what the only decent one had? Make no mistake rat, robot or flesh and blood, you'll die just the same."

"Man, win or lose, it'll be hard to determine who had the better insults." Krillin commented.

"I hate entertaining the thought I may lose this, but you make a good point." Vegeta conceded. "Why is it we can never think of these when we're in the middle of an actual fight?"

"Because you should be focused on not dying?" Bulma sarcastically replied.

"Eh, we die, Dragon Balls. No big problem!" Goku laughed, then felt Bulma and Chi-Chi glaring at him with a promise of a death beyond what Shenron could fix. It occurred to Skorch that really, he had a good point. Part of why fans seemed so unhappy with the stories these days were the lack of stakes…

"FINAL FLASH!" Vegeta roared.

"CHAOS BLAST!" Shadow countered.

"Oh, this should be interesting." Roshi said. "What happens if their attack hit?"

"The world is probably screwed." Gohan answered. "Honestly, I really want to see it."

After a few moments, Shadow suddenly unleashed his blast, who unleashed his Final Flash. The beam hitting the shockwave, and a white light with red energy crackling throughout it enveloped the screen, the two fighters yelling in pain. As the screen came back into vision, the entire CCHQ was decimated. The white and blue walls were now a scorched earth, the inviting presence the building always seemed to have was now a cold reminder of what Frieza would do to the planets he got bored with, there was nothing left but rubble, smoke, and ash.

"Did- did you just kill us?" Bulma asked, looking to her husband, who didn't' meet her gaze.

"Er- no. I didn't. It was that black hedgehog!" Vegeta coughed, trying to avoid responsibility for what 'he' may have done.

"Well, that's racist." Piccolo dryly snarked and Vegeta shot him a 'NOT HELPING' glare.

From the smoke, Vegeta and Shadow dragged themselves to their feet, the former seeming to be on his last legs. But it was clear Shadow was hurt, one of his arms was broken, he was bleeding from multiple places, and he seemed to be struggling to breathe.

"Time… to end this!" Shadow huffed, and began charging another attack in a desperate bid to finish Vegeta off. "Chaos…"

"I swear, if I lose this…" Vegeta grumbled watching his animated counterpart do nothing. Granted, Vegeta was thinking like… Vegeta, and believed that he knew what Vegeta was planning. He just hoped those making the show were thinking like Vegeta, and would let Vegeta think like Vegeta.

Shockingly, just before Shadow could unleash his attack, the so-called 'Ultimate Lifeform' suddenly reverted to his black-and-red form, and looked down, shocked. It was clear his time was up, in more ways than one, and it was also clear he wasn't going to win this fight.

"Oh, crap…" He muttered. The next thing he knew, Vegeta drove a hand clean through Shadow's chest, coming out his back, covered in blood.

"YEAH, DAD!" Trunks cheered in victory.

"Man, that's nasty!" Videl winced at the bloody hand coming out of Shadow's back, and then the gaping chest wound he had when Vegeta ripped his hand free.

"Sayonara." Was all Vegeta said, before unleashing the remains of his Final Flash attack, disintegrating Shadow into dust.

K.O.!

"Yes!" Vegeta cheered. "Victory!"

There were cheers and applause for Vegeta's victory over Shadow, as admittedly, those who rooted for Vegeta weren't sure how this was going to turn out. Not just because this was a less experienced Vegeta, but because of the power Shadow had. The Chaos Emeralds were clearly insanely powerful, and in some ways, even rivaled the Dragon Balls! But at the end of the fight, it was clear Vegeta's tenacity and experience in fighting and surviving the unsurvivable gave him the advantage to win. A few were disappointed that Shadow lost, but decided not to voice those thoughts loud enough for Vegeta to hear.

(*Cues: Heroic Trunks - Dragon Ball Z*)

"Someone call PETA! We're down a hedgehog!" Boomstick laughed.

"Boo!" Videl jeered. "Bad joke!"

"Despite Shadow being physically weaker to the Saiyan, Shadow had to rely on other tactics to deal damage and weaken Vegeta." Wiz began with his explanation. "There was no way Shadow could survive Vegeta's Super From, but ironically, it wasn't guaranteed Vegeta could survive Shadow's Super Form."

"I don't think it makes much difference now." Goku remarked. "He won."

"That's not what they mean Goku." Piccolo muttered, rubbing his face at Goku's obliviousness.

"Sure, Vegeta's Super Saiyan is powerful enough to trade blows with Cell and the Androids… but those battle didn't end with him winning. Shadow on the other hand, was able to take on a giant mutant-lizard thing IN SPACE and defeat it…"

"However, what gave Vegeta the advantage was the fact that his Super Saiyan Form didn't have a time limit on it. Yes, it does drain him of his energy, and towards the end it seemed to be catching up a little, but without a constant supply of rings, Shadow had to finish Vegeta off quickly in order to survive this fight."

"So why weren't there rings nearby? Wouldn't that technically count as something Shadow has?" Yamcha asked, a little annoyed at the outcome.

"Before you ask, technically the rings would be like Bulma's Blutz Wave machine." Boomstick then spoke up. "The Chaos Emeralds were allowed due to the fact that he usually has at least one of them on him, rings on the other hand would technically be outside help. As he doesn't often carry them with him, unlike Sonic."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Shadow may be tough, strong enough to survive a fall form the moon to earth, but Vegeta has proved time and time again that he can take one hell of a beating from all sorts of opponents. From the Ginyu force, to Frieza, to Goku to even the aforementioned Cell. While he's gotten his ass kicked before, Vegeta always gets back up and keep fighting. If Shadow spent more time attacking Vegeta rather than simply warping him around, he might have won, but Vegeta was able to last long enough for Shadow to revert to normal." Boomstick explained Shadow's biggest fault.

"Due to Super Shadow's godly power and invulnerability, the question wasn't if Vegeta could kill Shadow, it was if he could survive Super Shadow." Wiz added. "The issue was, just because Shadow was invincible, didn't mean he could kill Super Vegeta. So, Shadow had to resort to going all-out with his powers. Something which in turn would most likely anger Vegeta, which may provide him with further rage to fuel his Super Saiyan form."

"Yeah, he took off the rings, and drained his power even faster!" Trunks commented.

"But due to his training, experience, and his big mouth-"

"HEY!" Vegeta shouted, annoyed. A few stifled laughter, then looked away when Vegeta glared at them.

"-we found the answer."

"Looks like Shadow's time was up." Boomstick joked, making a few of the viewers groan.

"The winner is Vegeta." Wiz concluded.

The doors closed and Bulma paused the video.

"So, if I was able to defeat him at level two, what would've happened if they used what they know about us now?" Vegeta asked, looking over to Skorch.

"Then this fight would've been a LOT shorter." Skorch admitted, willing to be honest (and knowing it didn't break the Watcher's Code). "With how powerful you've gotten, you would've killed Shadow a lot quicker. Sonic's gained some new forms and powers, but at the end of the day, Shadow's kinda stayed the same for a few years now. If you had what you had now, this wouldn't be a fair – or fun – fight to watch. It'd be like Lord Beerus taking on Turtle."

"Hm." Vegeta considered the answer, then nodded. "Fair enough. Now, I think you have some explaining to do…"

Happy Anniversary, Everyone!

And truly, thank you. Thank you all so much.