My Death Battle Attempts

by LittleZbot

In which I take two fictional characters and pit them against each other in a duel to the death. Rules in the first chapter. NEXT EPISODE: Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender) VS Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson & the Olympians)

15. Shadow VS Ryuko

Episode 13: Shadow (Sonic) vs. Ryuko (Kill la Kill)

It's not often you find a couple of red and black antiheroes born by way of combining alien and scientific influence that were also specifically made to allow an alien race to feed on humans like livestock and were granted supernatural powers by being infused with a powerful otherworldly force only to for them to lose their memories, hate all of humanity and then try to save it for no real reason, and who unlock their full powers by way of a wristband-like device AND who each have exactly four super forms, one of which is a combination of two previous forms and the final of which is a red and gold flying form that saved the entire planet and then survived a fall from space after passing out immediately after. But, when you do, you make them fight to the death.

Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form and prominent wielder of the Chaos Force, and Ryuko Matoi, savior of Hinnouji Academy (and the world) and prominent wielder of Life Threads.

Oh, and no Archie Shadow. Again, he's way too OP and too different from normal Shadow. I mean, the guy one-shotted a dude who could destroy the universe. Come on. Normal Shadow has never done anything like that in any form. Aside from that, standard rules apply – meaning non-canon stuff is counted as supporting material, anything that contradicts the official material is nullified, and just go to the first chapter for the other rules that ensure the fight is both entertaining and unbiased – at least, as much as it can be. Also, there's a fair amount of swearing in this episode. I mean, Ryuko swears, like, constantly in the source material. Don't get offended and sue me.

I'm LittleZbot, and it's my hobby to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win a Death Battle.

Shadow:

Imagine a world where there is no sickness. Where there is no hate, no animosity. No hopelessness, no failure you can't come back from. A world ruled by those both powerful and just and yet kind and understanding, a world where freedom rings true. A world where everyone has access to awesome superpowers. A world…without death. Such a place sounds like paradise, yes – and Shadow the Hedgehog was the creature that was supposed to make it all possible.

Fifty years ago – or, well, more like sixty-five, but who cares, aboard the moon-size space station Space Colony ARK, Professor Gerald Robotnik, the world's greatest scientific mind in the history of ever, sought to find the answer to immortality, and, as a result, to utopia. He believed that if he could harness the potentially limitless energy of the Chaos Force (which most people know as the thing that makes Chaos Emeralds powerful) and transform it into a creature, they would all take one great leap forward in science and human nature. There was just one problem – there was no real way to make a creature capable of both withstanding and utilizing the concept of being made into a living portal of said energy using only his earthly means – his first experiment, the Biolizard, was a colossal failure. That's when the hive-mind alien race known as the Black Arms came into the picture. They offered up their knowledge and DNA in exchange for a small favor – that the creature would gather the Chaos Emeralds for them in fifty years and help them enslave humanity. For some reason, Gerald agreed, and, through fusing alien DNA with natural organic material with a healthy dosage of the Chaos Force, Shadow the Hedgehog was born.

Created to protect humanity and guide them towards a better future, Shadow underwent intense physical training to perfect his powers aboard the Space Colony ARK. However, the fact that very few people lived there was kind of a problem for his whole "helping humanity" mission training – or would have been if weren't for Gerald's granddaughter Maria. She and Shadow became fast friends, almost like brother and sister. She taught him about dreams, emotions, and the good side of humanity. Oh, and also the bad, when the United Nations invaded the ARK because Gerald's alien trading habits had gone way too far and…murdered Maria right in front of Shadow. Shadow didn't even have a chance to mourn before being launched down onto the planet below, put into hypersleep, and locked up under government surveillance at all times. When he was awoken by Dr. Eggman (who also happened to be Gerald's grandson), he was naturally pissed off, and, realizing there was no way to go back in time and save Maria, decided that the rest of the world should pay. Then he set into an elaborate scheme to destroy the planet before having Sonic literally beat the sense into him and getting the "people are good" speech from Amy, which then triggered a bunch of memories of Maria specifically asking Shadow not to kill everyone. Whoops. Well, he got his act together, and saved the world. Then he lost his memories, got them back, and saved the world again, then he lost his memories, got them back, and saved the world again, and then he lost- okay, you get it. The point is, Shadow now fights for good – as long as fighting for good lines up with whatever he feels like doing at the moment. And that's…most of Shadow's origin story.

Phew, wasn't that an overcomplicated mess? That's what happens, I guess, when you try to stuff the backstories of three games and a TV Show into a character bio. Though there are a few things they never bothered to explain. For example, why the heck did Gerald want to save humanity, then destroy it, then save it, then destroy it, and then save it? How is it that the Black Arms never got word about what happened to Shadow until the deadline was up? Why do aliens from across the universe know who Gerald Robotnik and Shadow are? And why do Sonic and Shadow look so incredibly similar? Seriously, their origin stories are totally different, so how? Well, I suppose it could be possible that both having a similar connection to the Chaos Force could have mutated them both to have similar abilities and looks by pure coincidence – but even that's hard to buy. Luckily, Shadow doesn't need to know how he's able to kick so much crap in order to actually do it. Why giving a hedgehog meant to bring about world peace and immortality powers and energy attacks very much meant to kill everything in its way was thought to be a good idea, I don't know, but thank the great Pokémon in the Sky somebody did it.

Being a living prism of the Chaos Force has granted Shadow a variety of Superpowers, almost all of which are surprisingly useful. He's fast enough to dodge laser fire from entire armies, tough enough to take falls from space, and so powerful, he can smash right through Eggman's Secret Lair's door with just a punch – and that thing is especially designed to be stronger than any normal metal. When it comes to normal titanium doors, like the blast doors on the Blue Typhoon, he can literally just walk right through them! He heals faster than any human, can rapid-fire teleport, and can even form tornadoes with just a kick. He can even manipulate his own personal gravity field, allowing him to do things like walk on walls and over water or hover in mid-air and fly through space. Oh, right, and he can breathe while underwater and in space.

He's also one of the few Sonic characters to be able to utilize Hyper-Go-On Power without any outside help. This alternative power source allows Shadow to shapeshift for a few minutes into a couple of different forms. With Cyan Hyper-Go-On, he transforms into an actual laser, moving at the speed of light and reflecting off of any surface. With Yellow, he transforms into a massive drill that can tunnel through nearly anything at high speeds, and with Indigo, he becomes a floating asteroid with a high gravity field.

And we haven't even gotten to his far more dangerous Chaos Force attacks! See, Shadow has the ability to manipulate the Chaos Force as a destructive…erm, force. Specifically in the form of energy beams and projectiles. With Chaos Arrow, he can throw out hundreds of arrow-shaped projectiles that hit like bullets and hurt like lightning. Chaos Spears are even more powerful and shaped like lightning bolts, though he can't throw quite as many at once. At full power, a single Chaos Spear can uproot and destroy an entire city street! The final level is Chaos Lance, which throws out dozens of explosive energy lances that are more powerful than any previous projectile. But making projectiles isn't all he can do with Chaos Energy.

With Air Chaos, he can create distorted patches of reality that he can use to trap opponents, hide in, or just make explode. He increases the power of his blows by manipulating the spatial alignment of his fists with Chaos Upper, and turns into a high-speed projectile powerful enough to obliterate a skyscraper with Boost. With Shadow Dash, he uses the Chaos Force to ram ahead a short distance at the speed of light, with Shadow Heal he can heal himself (though grievous wounds take time), and Chaos Ball can create powerful balls of chaos energy that explode upon impact. He can even open up portals to the eternal void and toss his foes in there, instantly killing them – though he can only do so when they're either beaten to near-death or knocked out, and it takes an incredible amount of energy. But his most powerful attack is Chaos Blast. This absurdly almighty energy attack absolutely annihilates anything in its way (I adore alliteration). It can be spread over a 60-foot radius or condensed into a kamehameha-like energy beam, but it's just as deadly either way.

But his most powerful move in his entire arsenal is the legendary Chaos Control. Since Chaos Energy is embedded into the essence of time and space, controlling that energy also…well, gives you control over time and space, and Shadow is a master of it. He can use the ability to teleport extremely long distances, disperse some attacks, create invisible shields, make himself more powerful, and, at his strongest, slow down or even stop time for twenty-four seconds across an area the size of a city. With the assistance of Chaos Emeralds, he can teleport across dimensions, and with help from another Chaos Control user, he can even travel through time. Wait, can't he save Maria, then? And regain his memories every time he loses them? Eh, whatever.

The only problem was that Shadow had so much power, he didn't have the energy to sustain his own abilities. During fights, he would often pass out within a few minutes. Because of this, Gerald invented two inhibitor rings that reduce his power in return for a massive increase in stamina. Luckily, that's not all the equipment he has to help him out. While it's technically up to the game's player to determine his equipment during his adventure against the Nocturnis, given Shadow's personality and fighting style, it's probable that he'd try to increase his pure power before all else, so he likely wears Cursed Gloves, which greatly increases his strength in return for a slight decrease in durability. That decrease is somewhat made up for by his Spiked Sneakers, which increases both strength and durability, and allows Shadow to reach his classic level of incredible speeds. It's rounded off by the Kron Hammer, a charm he wears that increases his strength once more by a great amount. By measuring this equipment in comparison to Shadow's initial stats when he joins your party, all together this gives him an 89% increase in strength – and a 4% decrease in durability. That's more than worth it.

He also wears the Flame Ring, which allows him some small control over fire and lets him break through metal. Because he totally couldn't do that already. Totally. Okay, in all seriousness, seeing as how effortlessly he smashes through dozens of titanium robots with one move, those crates it lets him break are probably enhanced by Eggman's design, so it probably also increases his strength. And, finally, with the Ancient Light charm, he gains a seventh sense that tells him exactly where his enemies are at all times. He also utilizes several guns to compliment his magical armor. While most of these guns are just…well, guns that have no business being in his arsenal, he does have a few plasma rifles, missile launchers, vacuum guns (not joking), a satellite "gun" that brings down laser fire from the sky, and the Shadow Rifle, a gun that one-shots just about everything. He also holds the Samurai Blade, an eight-foot surprisingly durable sword that can fire sword beams, which he wields with expert skill. Now that's something that'll really make you go "ow the edge"!

Okay, outdated meme is outdated and…actually, kind of inaccurate. Shadow may have become infamous for being the edgy cool character who hates everyone, and therefore is the guy that all the tweens love, but that's not all that true. Sure, there was that one time he tried to destroy the multiverse because he's a sore loser, but, for the most part, he's saved the world and put his own life at extreme risk many times and outright taken near-fatal blows for innocent people with no real reward. His moodiness and constant angry posture isn't even entirely his fault; see, Shadow has lost his memories an exuberant amount of times. Seriously, it's ridiculous. And yet, during every instance, the only thing he does remember of his life is…Maria's death.

As a result of this memory becoming so imbued into his mind, pounding further and further each time, his mental emotional pillars have been unintentionally rebuilt to stand on things like pain, anger, and loss. He doesn't wave off help and snarl at the notion of caring for others because he's just too cool for school (most of the time). He does it because he's afraid to gain friends and people he cares about…and then lose them again. To be fair, it's hard to blame him when all his would-be friends happen to have the most dangerous job in the universe. Still, he managed to make some friends regardless and help out extensively with that job. If there's one thing Shadow's proved, it's that he doesn't need weapons or armor to be accomplish incredible things.

Shadow's fighting style is based on aggression and power. He uses techniques like the Spin Dash, Spin Attack, and Homing Attack (during all of which he curls up to become a buzzsaw of pain using his stiffening spikes) to overwhelm his foes with barrages of high-speed attacks. He far more likes to punch the daylights out of his enemies' heads rather than go for any real weak points. He's strong enough to get away with it, though – he's put craters in metal just from his punch's kinetic energy after hitting someone else, destroyed over a dozen robots just by running next to them, and even obliterated the X-Tornado, a spaceship that can take laser fire from an army with just a few Chaos Spears. He's completely bulletproof, survived a black hole, and took out most of the United States' armed forces in less than a day. However, if the situation calls for it, he's more than capable of forming specific strategies mid-fight to gain an advantage.

As Shadow barrels against the Scarship with a spin attack, trying to dig into it, he realizes he can't even make a dent in its insanely durable armor.

"You cannot harm me!" the Scarship declares proudly.

Instantly, Shadow switches up his moves, zooming across all aspects of the ship, Spin Attacking at every point, then bouncing to somewhere new and doing it again. He covers the whole ship several times with a barrage of Spin Attacks, and though they do nothing to the hull, something begins to happen.

"URGH!" the Scarship stumbles in shock and pain.

"Well done, Shadow!" Eggman shouts out.

"What kind of attack is that?" Decoe asks, puzzled.

Bocoe, just as confused, replies "I have no clue."

Eggman shoves a bucket on each of their heads. "Allow me to demonstrate!" he begins pounding away at the buckets with two wooden mallets. At the end, though the buckets have received no damage, the two robots fall to the ground, dazed and confused. "As you can see, a series of rapid strikes on the ship's hull will create an intense vibration, which will shake the ship apart from the inside!"

It isn't long before the ship goes flying, heavily damaged, but still looking pristine.

And while he's defeated plenty of powerful fighters, if there's any way to measure him at his best, it's to put him up against his longtime rival, Sonic the Hedgehog.

Actually, that brings up an interesting point regarding Shadow's speed. He and Sonic have matched speed plenty of times before, but Sonic didn't always take such fights seriously, Shadow has outright admitted that Sonic is faster than him, and Shadow has never displayed light-speed capabilities in base form. So…how fast is he? Well, as shown in my version of Mario vs. Sonic, Sonic always seems to have three levels of speed he typically goes at (measuring from over seventy speed feats): at or under 16,000 MPH (Casual), around 350,000 MPH (more serious), and light-speed, or around 671,000,000 MPH (showing off or being super serious). Judging from how Sonic always sticks to one of these three groups, we'll pick out the middle one (350,000 MPH) as what to judge Shadow by. Besides, it fits with his other speed feats, like racing between entire countries in less than a minute (184,000 MPH), outracing Metal Sonic (220,000 MPH), outracing an artificial lightning bolt (224,000 MPH), keeping up with a robot that could fly to the moon in around an hour (239,000 MPH), moving fast enough to be invisible to an alien who could easily spot an extremely fast rocket (372,000 MPH), and outracing an explosion after it started, carrying two people dozens of miles away before it finished (412,000 MPH). So, yeah, seems fair.

But even without the speed advantage, he's held his own in battles against the Blue Blur. He's kicked Sonic through three trees and a concrete wall, smashed into him hard enough to obliterate a massive robot, and punched him into the ground with a blow so powerful, it made a 32-foot crater when he landed. These two have duked it out so hard that, one time, a single collision between them leveled a city block! Even when he's not fighting Sonic, he's usually fighting somebody, and making them wish they never knew him. Shadow's defeated many powerful foes, including the world-famous jewel thief and spy Rouge the Bat, legendary hero of the future Silver the Hedgehog, the absurdly powerful robot Metal Sonic, the original ultimate life form the Biolizard, and even Mephiles, an incarnation of an ancient god. This guy Mephiles was so powerful, he could destroy a floor just by looking at it – and this floor was especially large. By directly measuring its size and shape next to both Shadow and Mephiles, if properly stacked, that's enough wood to construct a two-story house! AND HE DESTROYED ALL OF IT WITH A LOOK. AND SHADOW BEAT HIM. THREE TIMES.

He even held his own against and, after a long battle and a fair amount of luck, defeated the android Emerl after he'd absorbed the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds! Though it should be noted that this was a friendly competition and when Emerl went all out, Shadow lost quite badly. But even still, surviving a beating from someone as incredibly powerful as Ultimate Emerl is quite impressive. Oh, and remember how the Black Arms wanted him to gather the Chaos Emeralds and use them to enslave humanity? Well, when they showed up fifty years down the line to collect their price, Shadow just killed the crap out of them. He wiped the floor with all three members of the Chaotix Detective Agency, mercilessly slaughtered a powerful band of mercenaries, and defeated Amy, Tails, Sticks, and Knuckles all at the same time!

He was tough enough to withstand a beating by Knuckles, who's strong enough the break apart cataclysmic asteroids! Judging from the distance of the largest break and how many pieces it shattered into (given that a world-ending asteroid must be about 2 km in diameter), Knuckles had to have punched the thing with at least 29 Megatons of Force! And Shadow can take a hit from him, no problem.

He's survived dozens of point-blank explosions, including that one he and Sonic made that destroyed a city block. Most impressively, he even survived a huge series of explosions that destroyed an entire island, though he was knocked out afterward. By judging the size of the blast and the size of the island they blew up, Shadow would have withstood a total explosive force of around 800 kilotons of TNT. Yeah, it's really hard to put him down – not even a battalion of Metarex spaceships (which are each way more powerful than anything Eggman's ever done) can do it. Shadow just ends up destroying the whole thing in a matter of seconds!

And, perhaps most impressively, he once won a game of tug-of-war with a giant three-headed monster that was trying to destroy the galaxy – and this thing was so big that just one of the head's teeth was twice as big as Shadow! It's an established general fact that, when it comes to organic humanoid-ish creatures, when you double the height, you multiply the weight by eight. So, comparing this giant head to Shadow's size and weight (and adding in the weights of the other heads), this monster's mass comes in as 1,941,840 tons! And none of this even counts his super forms!

Right. So, Shadow can manipulate the Chaos Force to an incredible degree, obviously, but it goes even beyond what you might think. He can actually use the Chaos Force to transform himself and gain four separate Super Forms. The first two are…interesting. Now, the Chaos Force (like the other Force!) has two sides: Light and Dark, and different characters can use different sides of the Chaos Force. Shadow, however, is unique. Due to his nature of being one with the Chaos Force (to some degree), he can utilize both sides, which manifests as Chaos Control and Space-Time Manipulation (Light) and Energy Attacks (Dark). He can also use this power to transform into two Super Forms: Dark Shadow and Hero Shadow. Think Ryu's Satsui no Hado and Mu no Ken. Dark Shadow's Chaos Energy Attacks are way more powerful than normal and drain almost no energy, and Hero Shadow has way more control of Chaos Control and is completely invulnerable, plus has a speed boost. Unfortunately, both only last around a minute at most – so it's lucky that they're overshadowed (hah, puns) by his third form. After figuring out who he truly is and what he's meant to be, Shadow achieved balance within the Chaos Force and was able to activate a brand-new Super Form known as Chaos Boost. Chaos Boost combines all the powers and abilities of both Dark and Hero Shadow and lasts way longer.

And remember, at any point, he can remove his inhibitor rings and gain a massive boost in power at the expense of quickly draining his energy. Without those rings on, he's knocked out Knuckles with just a spin attack, destroyed massive space stations, and, with a little help from Sonic, even the Metarex Scarship, a giant spaceship that could easily take laser fire from an army of other spaceships and then obliterate them all in just two minutes. Remember that guy Mephiles? Well, he cloned himself an army of…him, and so Shadow just removed his rings and completely wasted all of them in record time. At another point, he removed his rings and pulverized an entire fleet of Metarex spaceships (again, each of which is way more powerful than anything Eggman's ever built) with a single move. That's…nuts. But none of these power boosts can come close to Shadow's ultimate form.

Chaos Emeralds are gemstones that also act as doorways to the Chaos Force by way of the Master Emerald. This means that they can enhance any normal being to new heights, and creatures like Sonic and Shadow who are already embodiments of chaos get…crazy. Shadow grows in power with every Chaos Emerald he holds, and, with the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds, he makes his final transformation into Super Shadow. Gold, red, glowing, and insanely powerful, Super Shadow's power is incredible. His stats are boosted to insane amounts, he can fly, and he can use all of his Chaos Force abilities with almost no real limits. He's strong enough to lift space stations, fast enough for flight at the speed of light, and tough enough to withstand the full force of the Space Colony ARK charging into the Earth/Mobius's atmosphere. According to Dr. Eggman, if the ARK crashed into the planet at those speeds, it would have decimated the planet, smashing it to pieces – a feat that would require around 53 Quadrillion Megatons of Force. And Super Shadow not only took this full force, but was able to slow the space station down in its descent.

He's defeated Devil Doom and part of the sun god, Solaris, and knocked out Super Sonic with one surprise gut punch. During a full-on battle against Super Sonic, the two accidentally created an anomaly akin to a Black Hole, and together with Super Sonic, he destroyed a planetoid that could have wiped out life across the galaxy. He was also powerful enough to not only teleport a 915 Million Ton comet, but also to destroy the whole thing in one blast! The Space Colony ARK's laser is typically powered by the Chaos Emeralds, but Super Shadow had already absorbed their powers and scattered them, so he had to supply the destructive force via the Space Colony ARK himself. Factoring the radius and mass and assuming gravity similar to Earth, the amount of explosive energy Super Shadow himself would have had to produce is just under 5,000 Gigatons of TNT!

And he can even remove his inhibitor rings while transformed as Super Shadow to gain even more power – enough power to tear holes in the fabric of reality, teleport the moon-sized Space Colony ARK hundreds of miles away, and stop time around an area the size of a solar system for several minutes! The big problem? Well, unlike Sonic, Shadow has yet to master Super Shadow, and so has only ever remained in the form for four minutes at most. It gets even worse when he takes off his inhibitor rings. As Super Shadow without being inhibited, he gets stupid powerful – and has stupid low amounts of stamina. He'll pass out after just thirty seconds and, even though he returns to top shape after coming out of his Super State, when he does wake up, during every incident he's done this, he loses his whole memory…again. Maybe the amount of Chaos Energy he's using is just way too much for anyone to handle, even someone as powerful as him. It is important to note, though, that even without his memories, Shadow's genetics force him to automatically know how to use any and all of his powers. But still, if his mind is wiped, that's not going to help too much when he's trying to figure out who and where he is.

Even in his normal form, Shadow's still not great when it comes to stamina, which doesn't go well with the fact that he loves toying with weaker opponents and has a huge ego. It's largely due to this fact that he's defeated so often. In addition, it should be mentioned that, while he can teleport his foes along with himself, he can only do so while touching the person he wants to teleport and it must be somewhere he's been before and can easily visualize. So no randomly teleporting his enemies into a black hole. Also, he must have, like, anti-resistance to mind-control. Seriously, you find anyone who can do a Jedi Mind Trick, and they could probably get this guy to commit suicide. It's that bad. The only time he ever was able to even somewhat resist mental manipulation was against Black Doom, and that was only because Gerald knew he'd try it and specifically coded Shadow's DNA to be immune to that specific type of mind-control. And even then, when he shouldn't have even felt their influence, he was still almost taken over by it! What the heck?!

But it's not like mental manipulation is the world's most common power. And Shadow's fast enough and strong enough to kill you a hundred times before you can even try it. Anyone who gets in this guy's way will be feeling a lot more than just the edge.

As Dr. Eggman lays in front of him, defeated, Shadow calls forth all of the Chaos Emeralds he has collected, and the one he has just taken from Eggman.

"Finally…" he declares as the Emeralds circle around him, "I've got all the Chaos Emeralds."

The injured Eggman raises his head and wheezes. "You ungrateful little pest! Have…have you forgotten that it was MY grandfather who created you?!" He grins, clearly hoping that fact means something to Shadow.

Shadow stares at him coldly. "I am Shadow the Hedgehog, the ultimate life form, born and raised aboard the ARK." He breathes in a calming breath. "I shall live on. I am the protector of the ARK. I am living proof of the ultimate life form."

He clenches his fist and glares at Eggman.

"This…is WHO I AM!"

Shadow:

Name: Shadow the Hedgehog

Species: Hedgehog (Mutated via Alien DNA and Chaos Force)

Height: 3'3"/100 cm

Weight: 77 lb/35 kg

Age: 50+

Occupation: Agent of G.U.N.

Best Friend: E-123 Omega

The Ultimate Lifeform

Umm…might be a robot? That Shadow game is weird

THAT DAMN FOURTH CHAOS EMERALD

Abilities:

Superhuman Strength

Superhuman Speed

Superhuman Durability

Superhuman Senses

Superhuman Longevity

Immunity to any and all illnesses

Can breathe without oxygen

Healing Factor

Teleportation

Personal Gravity Manipulation

Tornado Creation

Chaos Force

~Chaos Rift

~Chaos Ball

~Chaos Spear

~Chaos Lance

~Chaos Arrow

~Air Chaos

~Chaos Blast

~Chaos Upper

~Shadow Dash

~Boost

~Shadow Heal

~Chaos Control

Transformations:

Dark Shadow

Hero Shadow

Chaos Boost

Cyan Laser

Yellow Drill

Indigo Asteroid

Super Shadow

Arsenal:

Air Shoes

Ancient Light

Flame Ring

Spiked Sneakers

Cursed Gloves

Kron Hammer

Black Barrel

Egg Bazooka

Grenade Launcher

Tank Cannon

Heal Cannon

Shadow Rifle

Laser Rifle

Refractor

Splitter

8-Shot RPG

Satellite Gun

Egg Vacuum

Samurai Blade

Feats:

Played tug-of-war with an asteroid-sized plant monster

Pushed back said monster with strength alone

Teleported between dimensions w/ one Chaos Emerald

Matched and defeated Sonic in battle (when Sonic was holding back)

Survived multiple falls from outer space

Wiped out several Metarex ships in less than a second

Moves faster than a powerful robot's eye can track

Survived an island-sized explosion

Survived a black hole

Wiped out half a Metarex fleet in less than a minute

Ran next to a dozen robots so fast, they exploded

Saved the world multiple times

Won a race against Metal Sonic

Defeated Metal Sonic in battle

Defeated Rouge in battle

Defeated Emerl w/ six Emeralds in battle

Defeated Silver in battle

Defeated Team Chaotix in battle

Defeated Black Doom in battle

Defeated Eggman multiple times

Defeated Mephiles multiple times

Defeated Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks all at the same time

One-shotted Knuckles, Cream, Amy

Defeated the Biolizard

Hit Sonic hard enough to smash through three trees and a concrete wall

Slaughtered a group of powerful mercenaries

Left 37 afterimages with ease

Dodged hundreds of lasers at once on several occasions

Completely bulletproof

Effortlessly tore through steel, titanium, and alien metals tougher than both of them combined

Hit Sonic into the ground so hard it created a 32-foot-long crater

Smashed through the door of Eggman's Secret Lair

Knocked out a clone of himself with just a kick

Survived beatings by Knuckles and Ultimate Emerl

Ran between two countries in less than a minute

Equaled speed with a badnik that flew to the moon shortly after, took about one hour

Outraced an artificial lightning bolt

After explosion started, carried to people miles away before it finished

A collision with Sonic leveled a city block

Helped destroy the Metarex Scarship

Wiped out an army of robot Mephiles clones by running through them

Wiped out an army of Metarex with a single blow

Feats (Super Shadow):

Knocked out Super Sonic with one punch

Held back the Space Colony ARK

W/ Super Sonic, destroyed a planetoid capable of wiping out life across the galaxy

Fighting Super Sonic, their clashes created a massive anomaly akin to a black hole

W/ Super Sonic and Super Silver, defeated Solaris

Defeated Devil Doom

Easily teleported the 915 Million Ton Black Comet

Provided enough energy to destroy said comet

Teleported the moon-sized Space Colony ARK hundreds of miles away

Ripped a hole in space-time

Froze time for several minutes around an area at least the size of a solar system

Weaknesses:

Low stamina

Constantly taunts and plays with weaker opponents

Been defeated pretty often

Must have anti-resistance to mind manipulation, it's so easy to affect him with it

Massive ego

Eggman's played him for a fool so many times, it's kind of stupid

W/O Inhibitor Rings, can't last five minutes in battle before passing out

Super Shadow has time limit

Super Shadow W/O Inhibitor Rings has way worse time limit

…

Ryuko:

Imagine a world where your rank at school determines your rank in life. Where the rich get richer, and the poor get killed. Where everyone fights for everything, and somehow always ends up with nothing. Where, whether you're the best tailor or the best doctor, you've killed more people than you've saved. And where everyone can fight, move at supersonic speeds, and wear uniforms that bestow supernatural powers. This is the world…of Kill la Kill.

A teenage girl with red and black hair looks up at a mountain, with a large school center at its top. She sets her eyes on it and mutters "There it is. Hinnouji Academy."

Being born into such a world is rarely an enjoyable experience, but for Ryuko Matoi, things were about to get even worse. After her mother supposedly died when she was just a baby, Ryuko's father, the renowned and respected inventor Isshin Matoi, stopped getting along too well with Ryuko, and sent her off to a boarding school. Apparently, this was one of those special boarding schools that turns you into a badass, because when she left the place she was one of the most dangerous fighters in the territory. That's something that she was made well aware of when she received a call from her father to come home for an urgent message. When she arrived, she found her father dying on the floor in a pool of blood with half of a giant pair of scissors stuck in his gut. After he died in her arms, Ryuko took the scissor as her weapon of choice and set out into the world, determined to find her father's killer and to never, under any circumstances, take an anger management course. So she went around the country, visiting high schools (because where else would you find a serial killer, I guess) and kicking the crap out of anyone who might know something about what happened – until she reached Hinnouji Academy, the place her father originally planned for her to go. Hinnouji was a mountain-built school that, when threatened by her classic crap-kicking, promptly kicked her crap back.

That fact was mostly due to Hinnouji Academy's specialty clubs. See, other schools might have a champion chess club, or a good law program, but in Hinnouji Academy, the school's specialty was Goku Uniforms. These outfits were uniforms especially made using Life Fibers, living pieces of alien threads that naturally accelerate evolution and grant incredible powers. The better you did at school, the better Goku Uniform you would receive, and the more influence and riches you and your family would have. Everyone was after these things – which wasn't surprising when you realize that a one-star uniform (the weakest tier) can allow a normal kid to move at over 3,000 MPH and bounce weaker bullets off of their chests, and every star is leagues above the previous one. Ryuko, in particular, got the crap kicked out of her by a two-star uniform-wearing boxer. After surviving a dozen punches from gloves stronger than steel, she retreated back to her father's house – where she found something that she'd somehow never gotten wind of before. A Kamui.

Kamuis are extremely dangerous and powerful Goku Uniforms. Now, a one-star Goku Uniform grants incredible powers and is made 10% out of Life Fibers. A two-star is made with 20% Life Fibers, and a three-star is made with 30% Life Fibers – and each level is far beyond the previous one. A Kamui is – get ready for this - made entirely, 100%, out of Life Fibers. Needless to say, they're pretty darn powerful. This Kamui was named Senketsu, and was made specifically for Ryuko to wear. And when she does wear it and activate it via her blood, she goes from powerful to unstoppable. When she returned to Hinnouji, that boxer dude hit her with his most powerful attack – and watched his harder-than-steel gloves shatter against her body while she herself wasn't moved an inch. She was finally powerful enough to get all the answers she needed – or not, since Satsuki Kiriyuin, the Student Council President, ruler of the whole place, and daughter of the most powerful force in the known world, Ragyo Kiriyuin, had a Kamui, too, named Junketsu.

Believing Satsuki to know something about her father's death, Ryuko challenged her to a fight, which…didn't end too well for her. Eventually, Satsuki agreed to tell her everything she knew under one condition: that every high-ranking school member would be out for her head, and only after she defeated everyone who challenged her every day, all day, would they fight once more – and then, if Ryuko won that last duel, Satsuki would tell her. Being a stubborn, boneheaded idiot who's just way too badass for her own good, Ryuko agreed – quite forcefully. And so her daily quest for answers began.

Whew, wasn't that a stupidly long and overcomplicated origin story? And I left out a lot of it! How they covered all this and a lot more in, like, three episodes is beyond me. But now we get to the good stuff. Wearing Senketsu, Ryuko is fast enough to leave 56 afterimages in her wake, tough enough to easily survive point-blank missiles, and strong enough to punch Satsuki so hard, the shockwave pounded a 14-foot crater into the wall behind her! Hey, her willpower alone can create concussive blasts that can literally knock dozens of people off of their feet, she can jump over two hundred feet into the air, and her pain tolerance is insanely high – one time, her mind got all wrapped up in Life Fibers, allowing Ragyo to control her like a puppet. In order to avoid this, she punched through her own skull and dug the Life Fibers out of her brain, severing them and breaking free! Not only did she survive doing this, she even fought an entire battle afterward! How much more hardcore can you get?!

"Jumping into the jaws of death again, huh?" Aikuro asks rhetorically, seeming mildly interested.

Ryuko clenches her teeth angrily and glares at him. "Yeah, but this time, I'm heading straight down its throat and ripping its guts out with my teeth!"

It gets even better. See, being made entirely of Life Fibers, Senketsu is actually alive and can speak to Ryuko through her thoughts. He can also do awesome things like regenerate, shapeshift, and absorb other Life Fibers, becoming more powerful the more people Ryuko defeats. And she's defeated a lot of them – though she initially struggled to do so due to blood loss. Understand, now, Kamuis gain power by drinking their host's blood, and that truly wearing a Kamui requires essentially becoming one with it, allowing it to wear you as much as you wear it. Basically, the more skin you show, the less energy it drains. Ryuko originally inhibited the power out of embarrassment and often could only go around five minutes before passing out, but after getting over that embarrassment and allowing herself to unlock its full power, she got way stronger, and can last for hours in a fight. And that Life Thread-absorption power goes great with her chosen weapon, the Scissor Blade.

The Scissor Blade is the very blade she found stuck in her father when this all started. Originally made as half of a giant pair of scissors, it was created specifically to cut through Life Fibers, and so can destroy a Goku Uniform with just one well-placed slash. Regardless of that ability, though, it's still very powerful when put up against other things. Not only is it six feet long, virtually unbreakable, can shorten to the size of a normal pair of scissors or extend to be eleven feet long, and can somehow create massive explosions, but it can unleash a colored, though difficult to see, sword beam that can annihilate a city street. Plus, it gets more powerful the more Life Fibers the wielder uses, so it's become pretty overpowered over time – to the point where its sword beams can effortlessly cut through skyscrapers over two miles away! And what's better than one Scissor Blade? Two! After finding and defeating Nui, her father's killer, she reclaimed the other blade, and can utilize both in combat, though, for some reason, she still generally sticks to one, even though she's way better with two.

Well, at least we've got a good sense of what she can accomplish with just one, which is to say a whole lot. During her first clash with Satsuki, a single collision between the two created a 200-foot crater and a 1,500 foot shockwave! She defeated three members of the Elite Four (who are basically the supersoldiers of the supersoldiers of supersoldiers) in a row, survived a 15,000 foot fall with no negative effects, and remember that boxer guy she fought, Takaharu? Let's go slightly more into that: when Takaharu unleashed his two-star gloves' full unrestrained power, he hit Ryuko with all his might – and watched the glove shatter upon impact while she stood unaffected. The strongest known steel is Special Treatment Steel, commonly used on the hull of ships. According to Anthole James Murray's Book "Strength of Ships," it has a shearing strength of 104,000 psi. By measuring the length of the longest break, it's easy to determine that the amount of force needed to shatter this thing like that is at least 43,612 tons. And to Ryuko, that's a plastic fork against a metal door!

But she's far tougher than that - during a fight with three-star Uzu, whose seventh sense was powerful enough to track things in outer space, she took on an enormous barrage of iron-based ballista attacks. Since this guy could effortlessly keep up with her while she was moving at 43,000 MPH earlier in the fight, we'll take that as a minimum end speed and assume she's being hit around 20 times a second here. With all those hits combined, she would have undergone a total force of well over 35,000,000 Tons of Force – and she still beat him! She's defeated over a hundred one-stars at once, taken out twenty-seven COVERs (basically living Goku Uniforms) with one slice, and held back an attack that annihilated a grandstand the size of a city block just from its windshears! She's strong enough to effortlessly shatter gold chains, kick three people 2.4 miles into the air, and grab a 20-ton flute missile out of the sky and launch it back at the Goku Uniform from whence it came. In the same fight, she outright grabbed a Senketsu-made unbreakable rope attached to the transformed airship, spun the ship around and around through the air, and tossed it over a hundred feet away! This uniform had been filled with a huge amount of instruments, most of them brass. By estimating its size compared to Ryuko and assuming a 70% hollow interior due to how little surface area brass instruments actually have, this ship that she threw around so easily would weigh in at over 2,500,000 TONS!

And her speed is equally impressive. She sliced through 140 tennis balls five times each before anybody noticed, landed several hits on a three-star whose Goku Uniform's whole power was literally to predict and counter its opponent's moves, ran in a circle fast enough to whip up a tornado, and moved fast enough to appear to be in 25 places at the same time to what was basically a living computer. Judging from how this computerized Goku Uniform judged other speeds, she was likely moving as fast as Mach 157 here! And, when at full power with her and Senketsu in perfect sync, she's even tagged and landed blows on fighters that can react to light-speed attacks! Well, it's unlikely she's moving faster than light herself, but her unpredictability and surprise bursts in speed can make it seem that way to her opponents.

She has herself survived light-speed attacks, and being hit hard enough into the ground to form a 160-foot crater. She even took on a four-hour beating from a two-star whose Goku Uniform specialized in fighting, meaning it was able to, in places, match a three-star uniform. At the end of the beating, the wearer punched the ground hard enough to form a massive crater - measuring directly from a family running down the side, the crater looks to be around the same size as the well-known Sedan Crater, which was made with a 104 kiloton explosion! And Ryuko was right next to this blast and was totally fine! Heck, she took on a blast from eight flute-shaped SAM-styled missiles at once, which, added up, could have had as high a total yield as 144 kilotons of TNT! And that's all without accounting for her regenerative abilities.

Right. So, long story short (seriously, it got more complicated) Ryuko's mother is actually Ragyo Kiriyuin, who infused her with Life Threads, thought she died, and threw her out like garbage. When Ragyo's husband faked his own death, he took the name Isshin Matoi and his daughter and moved, making all sorts of inventions (including the Scissor Blades and Senketsu) and raising his daughter to know nothing of her true past. So, yes, as it turns out, Ryuko and Satsuki are sisters – literal sibling rivals. And Ragyo is totally evil, but we'll get back to that. The point is, because she had Life Threads infused into her from the day she was born, Ryuko has an incredible healing factor – allowing her to survive some pretty insane stuff. She's survived being impaled with a spike through the throat, being stabbed seven times in the stomach, having her heart ripped out (although she had to put it back in), and even being sliced clean in half! Oh, and once, Junketsu was literally sewed into her body, attaching her entire outer body to the Kamui. After being saved from mind control, she just…tore it completely off, along with her whole outer body, and, thanks to that healing factor, she still survived! What the heck?!

And keep in mind that, thanks to Senketsu, her skin is already super resistant to slicing and piercing weapons – the majority just break when they hit her, including bullets! However, it's important to note that this healing factor can be nullified by her Life Threads being cut on both sides at the same time, she can be killed if her heart is both removed and crushed, and the healing factor doesn't protect from physical blows or explosions, just things like cutting, impaling, slicing, piercing, ripping, and that kind of stuff. Still, she is durable enough when it comes to explosions and blunt force to be basically missile-proof, survive a fall from outer space, and even survive a 218 kiloton explosion that obliterated a giant iron tower. Most impressive of all is the time Satsuki tried to kill Ragyo (who also had that healing factor) and she responded by creating an explosion that leveled the entire central hub of Hinnouji Academy. By judging the size of the blast and the wreckage afterward and comparing it to real-life bomb tests, this blast should be equivalent to around 621 kilotons of TNT – and Ryuko was in the center of it! Though, to be fair, it did knock her out for a month afterwards. And all of this is without accounting for her transformations.

Okay, so you know how Senketsu is alive and capable of shapeshifting? And remember how he gains more power the more Life Threads he's absorbed? Well, after absorbing dozens, perhaps hundreds, of the things, his abilities by themselves have grown to be pretty powerful. He can latch into the ground, transform into a 350-foot kite sheet, turn to strips of paper, and create rope-like strands that Ryuko can use in games of Skyscraper Pong or to wield the Scissor Blade like a flail. In fact, Ryuko's control over that shapeshifting is something to behold: once, after taking on a light-speed sound-based attack that vibrated her Life Fibers and could potentially destroy them, she vibrated herself in such a way as to become a living tuning fork, transforming the sound frequencies into one pure sound – which she was then able to manipulate and send back at her attacker. What. The. Heck. However, we've yet to cover Senketsu's strongest power – the power of transformation. After eating up all of those Life Threads, he's gained access to a couple of different "Super Modes" for Ryuko – so let's get to them.

First up is Senketsu Senjin, a transformation that stuffs her outfit full of blades. Said blades are harder and sharper than any normal metal could possibly be, can extend to be several feet long, and can match evenly against Scissor Blades. She can use these blades to gain Wolverine-esque claws, transform her skirt into a buzzsaw, or perform a classic Sonic-style Spin Attack. The form also increases her strength by a fair amount – though it's difficult to quantify. It's clearly enhanced, but not to a degree of instantly achieving things that were impossible beforehand. A 50% increase is about as good an estimate as we're ever going to get. Next is Senketsu Shippu, which, thankfully, is a lot easier to calculate and quantify. This transformation transforms her skirt into jet engines. In this form, she can fly around effortlessly and it comes with a boost in speed – she's able to dodge armies of laser fire and, during a battle against Ragyo (again, we'll get to her) she flew from an area that appears to be similar to the Karmen Line in height all the way to the ground in (accounting for slow-motion by measuring other slow-motion instances frame-by-frame in other scenes) 0.65 seconds – that's around 350,000 MPH! And her third transformation is better than either of those – because it's both. Senjin Shippu gives her all the powers and upgrades of both previous transformations, and she can last for hours in it.

But none of these compare to her ultimate form. Okay, so now we get to Ragyo. Remember how Life Threads are alien in nature? Well, here's where it gets complicated. See, Life Threads are an alien force that wanders throughout the universe, finds primitive life, and forces it to wear it as clothing, forcefully evolving it far more quickly than it would normally. It does this because organic life forms with higher brain functions are basically food for Life Fibers due to the electrolytes in their blood and brains. No, it doesn't make sense. Anyway, then it goes dormant on said planet until something wakes it up when the species has evolved to the point of easily being able to feed it. Then the Primordial Life Fiber, which was what originally came to the planet, picks a host to wield its powers and covers the entire planet, sucking it dry of energy and then turning into hundreds of other Primordial Life Fibers to do it all over again. Anyway, since Ragyo was the one who woke the thing up, she was chosen as the host, and spent the next twenty years secretly preparing the Earth to be a good meal for the Primordial Life Fiber. However, knowing this, Isshin made Senketsu specifically for Ryuko (as she had an abnormal tolerance for Life Fibers and happened to be made out of them) to stop Ragyo Kiriyuin's plans of sacrificing the world to Life Fibers (which still makes no sense as to why she'd want to, but whatever).

So, after fighting against her and Nui several times alongside Satsuki, freeing the entire population of Japan, and (alongside a giant ship that turned into a giant Life Thread-cutting knife) killing the Primordial Life Fiber, everything seemed good – until Ragyo transformed the Primordial Life Fiber into a Kamui that she wore and proceeded with the plan anyway. In order to stop her, Ryuko transformed one last time.

After absorbing the Life Fibers of every Goku Uniform and Kamui left on the planet, Ryuko and Senketsu became Senketsu Kisaragi, one with both human and clothing. In this red and gold and glowing form, she rocketed out into outer space (achieving speeds of over 24,600,000 MPH) and, wielding all this power and both Scissor Blades, fought and defeated Ragyo. In this ultimate form her stats were magnified to incredible amounts, dodging light speed blows and punching through satellites, and she was capable of regenerating from stabbing wounds instantly. And, through Life Thread manipulation, she saved the entire planet, destroying every Life Thread ever made with just a shout. Unfortunately, doing all this was just too much for Senketsu, who, after helping her survive going through the atmosphere, burned in her arms. Ryuko was alone again – but she'd saved the whole world for it.

Now, Ryuko is insanely powerful, but not unbeatable. Senketsu can be killed if all five of his Banshi (basically central Life Fibers) are cut, though it's very unlikely for that to happen. Far greater weaknesses are that her lack of training leaves her unprepared for the unexpected, she's always going up against people she can't defeat, she's surprisingly susceptible to mind control for someone with so much willpower, she's often overwhelmed by faster opponents, and, most of all, she gets way too angry for her own good. She'll let anger rule everything she does if she gets even slightly ticked off, and it's always a challenge for Senketsu, or anyone else, for that matter, to get her to cool off and think straight. One time, she was even swallowed up by her own anger and transformed into a hideous monster until she calmed down again.

But, I mean, come on. When you can make explosions that level stadiums, destroy entire cities in battle, survive the vacuum of space (and falling from it), and defeat forty trained warriors who can each move over 3,000 MPH in just four seconds without any help at all, who cares if someone can rile you up a little easily?

I say, if anybody wants to piss off Ryuko, they deserve every painful thing coming their way.

After battling for several minutes against her rival, Satsuki, Ryuko falls to her knees on the ground, exhausted. Satsuki pants and gasps in air from overexertion, but stands triumphantly, assuming victory.

One eye half-closed in pain, Ryuko lifts up her head to stare Satsuki in the eyes. "I'm gonna smash all of them."

Satsuki breathes heavily and angrily demands "All of what?"

"All that crap you've been talking about 'ambition this' and 'aspirations that,'" Ryuko replies, grinding her teeth. "I'm gonna take them all, smash every last one of them, and shove your goddamn face in it! And then you'll be begging to tell me what I want to know!"

Ryuko:

Name: Ryuko Matoi

Species: Neither Human nor Clothing, yet both Human and Clothing

Height: 5'3"/160 cm

Weight: 117 lb/53 kg

Age: 17

Occupation: Student

Best Friend: Mako Mankanshoku

Hates classical music

Owns three motorcycles

DON'T LOSE YOUR WAAAAY

Abilities:

Superhuman Strength

Superhuman Speed

Superhuman Durability

Superhuman Senses

Superhuman Pain Tolerance

Can breathe without oxygen

Healing Factor

Willpower creates concussive blasts

Arsenal:

Scissor Blade

~Virtually unbreakable

~Sharp enough to slice right through almost anything

~Uniquely designed to slice through Life Fibers

~Can shrink to the size of a normal pair of scissors or extend to reach over eleven feet long

~Can create colored sword beams

~Gains more power from Life Threads

Other Scissor Blade

~All the same stuff

Senketsu

~Regeneration

~Shapeshifting

~Sentience

~Made out of Life Fibers

~Transformations:

Senketsu Senjin

Senketsu Shippu

Senjin Shippu

Senketsu Kisaragi

Feats:

Sliced 140 tennis balls five times before anyone could react

Caught a tennis ball that left 15 afterimages

Moved fast enough to leave 56 afterimages

Speed outmatched a prediction machine

Appeared in 25 places at once to basically a living computer

Fast enough to hit Nui, who can easily react to the relativistic Uzu

Chopped off Nui's arms

Effortlessly shatter steel

Matched the strength of Takaharu's full-powered punch

Punched Satsuki in the face hard enough to make a 14-foot crater in the wall behind her

Kicked three people 2.4 miles into the air

Easily shattered gold chains

Grabbed a 20 ton missile out of the air and threw it at speeds of around Mach 2

Threw a 2,509,038 Ton airship

In a battle against Nui, the two leveled a mountaintop

Completely took on over three hundred of those stronger-than-steel boxing glove punches

Can smash right through materials tougher than titanium without effort

Took a 43,612 Ton punch without it affecting her

Survived several blows from Satsuki worth around 175 Tons of TNT

Survived being hit into the ground hard enough to create a 160-foot diameter crater

Takes point-blank RPG missiles all the time without being hurt

Took eight massive flute missiles point-blank

Tanked hundreds of hits from three-star Uzu with giant steel ballistas

Took on a four-hour beating from Mako

Survived the vacuum of space

Survived a 104 kiloton explosion

Survived a 218 kiloton explosion

Survived a 621 kiloton explosion, was knocked out

Survived a 15,000 ft fall

Survived a fall from space that leveled a skyscraper

Survived having her heart ripped out

Survived tearing off Junketsu after it was sewn into her skin - effectively ripping off her entire outer body

Survived impalement from a spike through the neck

Survived being sliced in half

Was impaled by seven Life Fiber spears at the same time, shrugged it off

Jumped 214 feet high

Dug a three-mile hole in about five seconds

Smashed into her own head to break some life fibers – then fought an entire battle afterward

Destroyed a street with a slash

Destroyed two skyscrapers with a sword beam

Destroyed hundreds of Goku Uniforms

Took on thousands of life-fiber-draining needles before even starting to feel the effects

Held back an attack that annihilated a grandstand the size of a city block with windshear alone

Knocked over dozens of spectators with willpower alone

A collision with Satsuki created a 1,500 ft shockwave and a 200 ft crater

Knocked out six one-star students in less than three seconds without Senketsu

Made it through a city-sized obstacle course with 999 deadly traps while carrying around two kids without Senketsu

Defeated three two-star Goku Uniforms in only 30 seconds

Founded Honnouji Academy's Fight Club

Defeated nearly 100 one-star combatants at once

Reverberated a soundwave to knock out a three-star

Defeated three of the Elite Four in a row

Defeated 40 one-stars in four seconds – three times

In battles against Satsuki, entire cities will fall

Dueled Satsuki to a draw without Scissor Blade

Destroyed twenty-seven COVERS with one slice

Helped a city-sized knife kill the Primordial Life Fiber

Defeated Ragyo after she had absorbed the Primordial Life Fiber
Defeated a giant living school mech W/O Senketsu

Briefly matched a Satsuki clone W/O Senketsu

Weaknesses:

Easily agitated

Extremely impatient

Always getting into fights, even ones she probably can't win

Hasn't really trained much, only gets by through being angry

Passes out really frequently

Struggles a lot against opponents who are faster than her

Defeated by Nui, who ripped Senketsu to pieces and knocked her out with one blow

Banshi are central fibers – if all five of Senketsu's are cut through, he will fall

Surprisingly susceptible to Mind Control – and it's crazy hard to snap her out of it

…

All right, the combatants are set. Let's end this debate once and for all. It's time for a Death Battle!

…

Shadow woke up with no memories.

Again.

Well, actually, that's a bit of an exaggeration. He had plenty of memories. He just didn't quite remember how he arrived at this place at this time – or where that place was, when this was, or what he was doing here.

He groaned as he got up and rubbed his forehead. Chaos Energy radiated around him – he apparently had plenty of weapons and items inside his Air Chaos patch, including all seven Chaos Emeralds. What on earth he needed those for, he didn't know.

He reached out with his chaos powers to sense the area around him. Something was…a bit off. He was clearly still on some version of Earth, but there was an energy in the air, an aura of unnatural power that permeated the land. It was as if the whole planet was waiting to be…swallowed up.

Time to figure that out later. He needed his memories back. And the only man with enough skill to do it was…

Shadow sighed.

It was time to visit Eggman again. And time to hope that he wouldn't put him under mind control again.

…

Ryuko sliced through another COVER with ease, looked around the forest she was in, and sighed. "Damn things popping up everywhere. I just wish that Rag chick would show up already so I could split her skull in half!"

"Ryuko," Senketsu replied calmly. "The work you are doing is important."

"Like hell it is!" Ryuko shouted back. "All these guys would be out of here at once if only-"

She was stopped mid-sentence when the sky suddenly went dark. In less than three seconds, what appeared to be a rift opened up in the clouds, something fell from it, and the rift closed right away. "Uh, Senketsu? What the hell?"

"I don't know, Ryuko. We should check it out. But be careful – if it's a ploy by Ragyo Kiriyuin, we could be walking right into a trap."

"Yeah, well," Ryuko replied while shortening her Scissor Blade, "if we do walk into it, we'll be walking out of it soon enough." She made her way towards where the object appeared to have crashed, but hadn't made it ten feet before noticing a black blur racing from that area and, apparently, intending to move right past her. She quickly extended her blade again.

"Hey, hold up!" Ryuko let out a sword beam that sliced through several trees and almost hit the balck ball – and would have if he hadn't stopped right before it went sailing past him. "Yeah, you! Where'd you come from and what are you doing here?"

"I thought I advised you to be careful," Senketsu reminded her.

"I didn't run in and try to kill it, did I? That's plenty careful." Then, to Shadow, "Well, what're you waiting for?!"

Shadow hesitated, not knowing this girl in any way, and his years of combat experience quickly let him know that she was a warrior – and a very confident one, too. Could this be a trap? Perhaps. But, then, the alternative was travelling the entire planet to attempt to find the Doctor. He calmly slid along the ground towards her and stopped just five feet short of this girl. "I'm looking for a certain Doctor Eggman. Do you know where he could be located?"

Ryuko snorted. "Eggman? What idiot came up with that name?"

"He has taken many names over the years – perhaps you know him as Doctor Robotnik?"

"Never heard of him."

"Hmm." Shadow got ready to run off again before another thought popped into his mind. "Maybe I could describe him to you. Middle-aged, pointy nose, very fat, bushy red-haired mustache, skilled in the arts of inventing and brainwashing?"

Ryuko was taken aback more at each item he described – minus the "fat" part, that sounded exactly like her father. He even commonly changed his name to avoid suspicion. "Where- where did you come from?"

"I don't know, exactly, yet. I likely ran into an issue with the art of Chaos Control. I could be in the future, the past, an entirely different dimension. I am hoping to find this…ahem, scientist in order to help regain my memories."

"Yeah," Ryuko replied, somehow both angrily and half-heartedly, "well, you're too late. I know the guy you're talking about, and somebody killed him."

Shadow turned to her, surprised. "Really? Despite all of his defenses?" He turned around. "Hmph. Well, I suppose I can't exactly blame them."

Ryuko's head snapped up. "What do you mean?" she snarled.

"Ryuko!" Senketsu warned. Ryuko didn't listen.

"Well," Shadow continued, "I knew him well for a time, and he certainly wasn't well-loved. Not that I'm surprised. Even his own creations hated him. It's hard to like somebody who has enslaved you and constantly fails at everything he does."

Ryuko clenched both her teeth and her grip on the Scissor Blade. "How dare-"

"All those inventions, every single thing he ever made, and none of it could save him."

Ryuko loosened her grip slightly. "You…you…"

"Hmm?" Shadow turned back to face her uncaringly.

Ryuko leapt into the air in a surprise move that gave Shadow almost no time to react. She swung the Scissor Blade down at him. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT! THAT'S MY FATHER!"

Shadow instinctively flipped out of the way. "What- he had a child?!"

Ryuko landed in front of him. "You think you're so smart, that you know everything about him. But he DID make something that works. And now it's gonna kick your ass!" She pulled on a string on a gauntlet resting on her left hand. "Life Fiber: Synchronize!" A burst of sparkles covered her, and with a shout of "Kamui Senketsu!" they were dispelled.

The dispelled sparkles revealed Ryuko in an outfit with what appeared to be extended shoulder braces…with eyes. Her hair was stuck straight up and spiked, a very short skirt, and…little else. However, Shadow did read the abundance of power she had just gained, making her significantly more powerful than he had predicted. Still, he was could likely handle this. Probably. He considered, for a moment, using the Chaos Emeralds right away. No – he didn't use a semi-truck to squash a fly. He readied himself and smirked. "Very well." His eyes glinted dangerously. "Prove it."

-FIGHT!-

Ryuko charged ahead as Shadow backflipped over her head. He threw out dozens of chaos arrows towards Ryuko's back, but was surprised to see all of them bounce right off of her skin. She whirled around. "Ow! What the hell?!"

Shadow sent a dozen chaos spears, each of which was significantly more powerful than the previous batch of arrows, but Ryuko slashed her blade at them, unleashing a colored sword beam that knocked all of them out of the air. They fell onto the ground and created a series of explosions that kicked up dust into the air, and through that dust, Ryuko burst in with a wide swing that nicked Shadow on the side. Shadow vanished, teleporting behind Ryuko and pulling out a machine gun. He shot out hundreds of rounds into Ryuko – but each one just bounced off her skin.

"Nice try, but you can't stop me now!" Ryuko shouted, a concussive blast bursting out from her body and knocking Shadow off of his feet. She was on top of him in an instant and kicked him into the air before rushing through with a flurry of slices. Shadow wasn't there to take them, though – he'd turned into a laser and dashed out of the way right before her first one could land. He turned back to her.

"You may be tough, but even you have your limits." He pulled out an RPG and shot out all eight missiles at her at once. Ryuko turned and rushed ahead – and each missile was sliced neatly into four pieces without any visible action. Each one still exploded, but she remained completely undamaged as she struck Shadow, inflicting first blood. The blade didn't pierce his skin, but the impact left him gasping and coughing up the slightest bit of blood. He backed off, wiped his mouth, and smiled. "Your strongest blows can't damage me."

"Then I'll just have to swing harder!"

Shadow pulled out the Shadow Rifle and shot at her several times. Ryuko threw at sword beam at them, but it dissipated upon coming in contact with the energy bullets. Ryuko quickly slashed at them, but they phased right through her Scissor Blade. "Senketsu!"

"Got it!" Senketsu formed a spiked shield in front of her where the bullets all hit and finally vanished. "Ryuko, that was a strong blast."

"This guy can pull weapons right out of the air. Not to mention the look. What kind of a Goku Uniform is that?"

"That's no Goku Uniform," Senketsu replied.

"Huh?"

"I sense no presence of Life Fibers in that body. He has been genetically altered, and gains power from some other source. Other than that, I cannot ascertain the extent of his abilities."

"Hmph. Well, I'll give you plenty to ascertain! Let's see what this guy is capable of!"

"Be careful, Ryuko. He is still very powerful."

"Who needs power when you're pissed off?!" She flew at Shadow, Scissor Blade held out to her left.

Shadow shot his rifle at her constantly until it ran out of ammo, most shots piercing her skin and going right through it, but Ryuko didn't even slow down until she reached Shadow. She swung the blade at Shadow as he curled up into a Spin Attack and rammed the blade. He bounced off of the blade and uncurled himself, feeling a deep cut in one of his spines. Blood trickled down his head before the wound slowly began to close itself. As he watched, every hole in Ryuko's skin healed over itself rapidly. Shadow grimaced and pulled out the Satellite Gun and pointed it at Ryuko. He pulled the trigger…and nothing happened. Shadow didn't even get a chance to puzzle over this before the gun was sliced into pieces. He teleported behind her and rammed her with a Spin Attack. Ryuko seemingly sensed this attack and flipped over the dash. She threw the Scissor Blade at Shadow, then caught it mid-air with a rope coming out of Senketsu. As Shadow teleported above her, hovered, and threw projectiles, she whirled the blade around, catching and deflecting every one before launching it up to pierce through him. Shadow teleported out of the way and right under her and delivered a mighty uppercut into her chin. Ryuko was hurled backwards and crashed onto her back. Ryuko pulled herself up, a trail of blood leaking from her mouth down her chin.

"Not bad, lab rat. But I'm not done yet." She grinned and unleashed a flurry of sword beams – not at Shadow, but at the ground, creating explosions that rocked the terrain and forced Shadow to leap into the air – and from the smoke came Ryuko with a shout of "Senjin Shippu!" Her skirt now covered her legs and feet completely and shot out jets of air that allowed her to fly. In addition, her entire outfit was filled with spikes, including lengthy claws on both hands coming from between her knuckles. "I've got you now!" Several spiked ropes launched from Senketsu and wrapped themselves around Shadow's limbs. Shadow was shocked for a moment before teleporting out of the restraints and right behind Ryuko – then promptly found the Scissor Blade impaled into his stomach from a lengthy spike protruding from the back of the shirt – the one this girl referred to as Senketsu. It had been waiting for him. The spike retreated, leaving the blade inside Shadow, who coughed up blood onto the blade's hilt.

Ryuko turned around, grinning. "Thanks, Senketsu." Then, to Shadow, she spoke again. "You left yourself wide open." She pulled out the Scissor Blade and quickly replaced it with one set of claws, which she then crushed around in his stomach before pulling out. The tips of the claws were gone, a fact Shadow noticed only briefly before red spikes impaled out from inside his body, stabbing through his chest and arms. Shadow forced them all out of his body with Chaos Upper, and heaved in pain. Not allowing him to rest for a moment, Ryuko punched him full force, sending him slamming into the ground hard enough to form a fifty-foot crater.

Shadow stood up, biting through the pain. "You have already taught me much. I should learn to not underestimate those I oppose. So, be grateful." A burst of energy surrounded his body, and when it vanished, he was glowing, his wounds healed, and effortlessly hovering above the ground. "For you will have the honor of being slain by my full power!"

"Full power, huh?" Ryuko set her eyes on him, baiting him at her. "Good. I'm just getting started!" She launched dozens of spikes at Shadow, who flew up through them at incredible speeds, almost instantaneously to Ryuko. He appeared behind her and held out an open palm to her head. "Kneel before the Ultimate Lifeform." A ball of pure chaos energy formed in his hand and hit Ryuko right in the skull, inflicted a cry of pain as a large portion of her head was ripped off. She flew backwards and let the wound heal completely. "I'll make you pay for that!" She curled into a buzzsaw and flew ahead at Shadow, who did the same. The two met in mid-air and matched spin attacks, the impact and continued energy creating lightning storm in the forest. The match ended when Shadow teleported behind Ryuko and stuck his hand right through her chest, reaching her heart and smashing it through the other side. Ryuko gasped.

"I told you," Shadow informed her, "I will no longer underestimate you."

Ryuko clamped down on her teeth, trying to block out the pain. "Senketsu, now!"

Clothing-based tendrils suddenly wrapped themselves around Shadow's hand, keeping it in place and preventing him from crushing her heart. Shadow was surprised for moment before the tendrils spread across his eyes and ears, blinding and deafening him. Shadow quickly struggled to get out without teleporting – he needed to take down this girl, now.

"Senketsu, focus on the beating of my heart," Ryuko whispered.

"I can hear it clearly. It reverberates throughout my body."

"Then send those vibrations back!"

Shadow felt his arms vibrate rapidly. He was losing his grip on her heart, and he couldn't move. Before he knew it, his entire arm was vibrating so fast, it passed right through Ryuko without harming her. Senketsu fell away from his body and he grasped his arm, steadying it. "Enough. Chaos…Control!"

Ryuko's wounds healed almost right away. She grinned and rushed forward, Scissor Blade in one hand, claws in the other, and almost reached him before he finished his words and time stopped moving.

Shadow used Chaos Upper to increase his strength and delivered dozens of powerful blows to Ryuko's body. He cast Chaos Lance and pierce through her skin, and Chaos Ball and wracked her still body with chaotic energy. When time moved once more, Ryuko felt the combined impact of every blow and every wound, throwing her back into the air, screaming in pain. She managed pull her herself together, though, and mumbled out "What the hell?"

"Ryuko," Senketsu told her, "I sense extreme vibration energy from the world around us. It almost feels like…it's trying to catch up with something."

"I don't get it. What happened?"

"I'm not certain, but I recommend a new-"

"New plan of attack, yeah. I think I got this one."

She dove down to the ground, using her claws to tunnel through the dirt with ease. Shadow flew down, attempting to sense the vibrations under the earth, when suddenly Ryuko burst out from underneath him. He sensed her coming, but wasn't prepared for her arms having transformed into a giant drill. She drove the rotating spiral of death into Shadow's stomach, but it simply stopped at his skin and didn't go any further.

"Such arrogance. A simpler lifeform like yourself couldn't possibly match up to me." Shadow used the Yellow Wisp to transform into a drill of his own – one that caused Ryuko's drill to crumble. Ryuko just barely flew up and out of the way in time.

"I sensed incredible energy expulsion from his body," Senketsu said. "He appears to be invulnerable to damage. I don't think he can keep up that form much longer, though."

"He might be invulnerable to damage, but let's see if he's invulnerable to pain!" Ryuko raced up into the sky, almost reaching outer space before rocketing back down through the atmosphere, delivering dozens of sword beams down at Shadow.

Shadow deftly dodged each and every one, and, when Ryuko was near enough, shouted "Chaos Control!" once again. Time froze, and he flew up above Ryuko and hit her back with a powerful kick. Time started again, and Ryuko found herself flying right into the ground before,
Shadow not in sight, and landed hard enough to create a crater over hundred feet deep.

"I felt it again, the world's vibrations," Senketsu informed her.

"So, whenever he shouts those words, he appears somewhere else, I appear injured, and the world tries to catch up with what happened." Ryuko narrowed her eyes. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Of course."

Ryuko threw out several red spikes at Shadow, who flew down at great speeds, allowing the spikes to disintegrate when they touched his skin. "Chaos Control!"

Time stopped again and he rammed into Ryuko, then curled into a ball to perform a spin attacks and struck her several times while time was stopped. He gathered himself behind her and, as time resumed, readied a Boost. Ryuko was hit by dozens of blows, causing her to spurt out blood even as she healed.

"So," Shadow acknowledged, "you can heal from piercing and slicing, but not blunt force. I know your weakness now. You can't hurt me. You can't even touch me." He burst ahead in the Boost.

Ryuko half-turned her head, smirking despite the blood pooling in her mouth. "No. But you can touch me. And that's all I need! Senketsu, now!"

As he moved, Shadow felt himself suddenly wrapped up in clothing. He was getting awfully tired of this. The creature must have readied itself for the next blow, allowing him to have some kind of thread-like substance on top of Shadow even while stopped in time. Shadow squeezed against the clothing and attempted to teleport away – but found himself unable to. Even worse, something was happening. The straps around him were vibrating rapidly, and he felt his power draining. "What- what are you doing to me?!"

"You don't get your power from Life Fibers, but you do get it from someplace else. All Senketsu needed was a little information to figure out how, and now he's sealing it away!"

"No…no…NO!" Shadow screamed out. "CHAOS BLAST!" A burst of fiery energy erupted from him, forcing off the portions of Senketsu previously attached to him. But his aura was gone – the power Senketsu had drained had rid him of his Chaos Boost abilities. Shadow tried to throw out a Chaos Spear, but found he didn't even have the power for that.

"Now it's time for ME to go all out!" Ryuko shouted. Her hand reached behind her skirt and pulled out another blade exactly like the first, but purple. Shadow saw this, paused to consider it, then turned around and fled for his life.

"Hey! You're not going to get away from ME so easily!" Ryuko used her skirt's jet engines to tear after him, the two matching speeds exactly as they zoomed across the planet.

Shadow kept going, kept moving, determined to not allow her to catch up to him – and smacked right into a massive orange ball that darkened the sky somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean. He slammed against it, shrugged it off, and looked up at it. It had to be at least five hundred feet high. What the heck could it be?

Ryuko entered in shortly after him and came to a halt as well. "Um, is that-"

"The Primordial Life Fiber."

"It's…it's huge!"

"And extremely dangerous. Do NOT go near it, Ryuko."

"Yeah, I hear you, loud and clear." She saw Shadow and made a satisfied "huh" noise. "Looks like it has a fly on the windshield. Let's clean that off."

Both her blades extended themselves, folding out to be over eleven feet long as Shadow kept backing up from the Primordial Life Fiber. "Decapitation Mode!" Then she rushed ahead with both. "Sen'i Soshitsu!"

Shadow sensed them coming at the last moment and dashed out of the way – but not quite fast enough. The leftmost blade caught his right arm – and sliced it right off. Shadow grimaced and held his bleeding stump of an arm. "That…hurt."

"Is that all you have to say?" Ryuko laughed. "So, what was that you were saying about my father? Now's your last chance to take it all back!"

Shadow kept his head down. "Thank you."

Ryuko lowered her swords. "Huh?"

"Thank you. For giving me…a chance." He jumped into the air, blood spurting everywhere. "A CHANCE TO MAKE ONE MORE MOVE!"

Seven multicolored gemstones suddenly appeared around him. Realizing her mistake, Ryuko leapt ahead and attempted to strike, but was forcefully knocked back by the aura of energy exuding from those gems – and now, from her opponent. "What the hell are you?!"

The energy cleared – no, it didn't clear. It gathered. Gathered and became a golden, glowing form of the creature she had been facing, with had his arm completely restored. He spoke. "I am Shadow the Hedgehog, the ultimate lifeform. The beginning and the end. Guardian of the ARK, protector of those who cannot protect themselves, and destroyer of all who oppose me. This is who I am." He held a hand forward, moving his fingers in a snapping position. "Bow." He snapped his fingers, and Ryuko suddenly experienced excruciating pain.

She collapsed in mid-air. It felt like this power that he'd been given was pulling at every fiber of her being - literally. Every molecule wanted desperately to scatter and reduce her to dust as a result – the only thing that seemed to stop it was Senketsu, who was working overtime synchronizing with her body to keep it all together.

Super Shadow gave them a pity laugh. "Your attempts are meaningless." He snapped his fingers and both of Ryuko's Scissor Blades were blasted out of her hands and fell into the water below. "You want to know the extent of my power now? How outclassed you truly are when compared to the ultimate lifeform?" He raised a massive ball of chaos energy in his hands and hurled it into the Primordial Life Fiber. There was a second of delay, and then a massive explosion as the giant orange behemoth was shredded into thousands of pieces spread across the water's surface. He snapped his fingers again, and Ryuko screamed in pain. Her Senjin Shippu form retreated and she fell hundreds of feet to the ocean below. Luckily, Senketsu managed to make a sort of kite raft beneath her before she hit the water, preventing her from drowning.

Super Shadow rose up. "This is no longer about your father. You flew too close to the sun and got burned. No it's my duty to incinerate what's left." He began flying further up, clearly intending to go into space. "So feel free to pray to your gods, but I doubt I'll be listening." He flew all the way into space.

Ryuko coughed. "Senketsu?"

"He's too powerful, Ryuko. Far more than us."

"How many Life Fibers can you absorb?"

"…"

"Senketsu, come on! He's going to kill us!"

"I…it's dangerous. I don't know what would happen if I were to absorb all that is around us. It could destroy me."

"We're about to be destroyed anyway. Besides," she got up on her knees, "I don't like how he talked about us like we just don't matter. I say it's time we showed that freak the real power of the bond between humans and clothing!"

Senketsu felt his heart leap at such a prospect. "I'll… I'll try."

Super Shadow was up, far above the atmosphere, readying a devastating blast at the planet below, when something shot up from the Earth and caught his attention. He focused in on it and found, to his surprise, that the girl now held a form very much like his own, and was looking up at him above the atmosphere.

"You wanna know who I am?"

"Please, enlighten me."

"I'm Ryuko Matoi. I'm just a little girl with a big grudge, but me and Senketsu have gone through hell, killed everything, and come back. So a god sounds like a fun challenge today." She held out both Scissor Blades to each side. "I'm the bitch who's going to kick your ass and rip that regret out of your throat with my teeth! THIS IS WHO I AM!" She raced up towards him, flying across the starry sky.

Super Shadow launched his charged attack at her, but she tanked it head-first and looked as if she barely felt it. He began pelting her with Chaos Lances, but each one just bounced off her body.

Ryuko clamped her swords together, a screw appearing out of nowhere and transforming them into a massive pair of scissors, which she then extended to be nearly thirty feet long. She opened them up and, the moment Super Shadow was in range, she closed them. Super Shadow grabbed each blade with open palms and struggled to hold them off. The two superbeings contested their full strength, and slowly the Rending Scissors began to cut into Super Shadow's hands. Super Shadow teleported out of them and several hundred yards above Ryuko. He took off his inhibitor rings, unrestraining his full power. He held his hands out in front of him. "CHAOS…"

Ryuko unhinged her scissors. "Senketsu, you still have that vibration pattern down?"

"Indeed."

"Then let's put it to good use!" She shot out, flying at nearly light-speeds at Super Shadow.

Super Shadow launched his kamehameha. "BLAST!"

Ryuko didn't move. She let the blast hit her, and began vibrating.

Super Shadow poured even more power into the attack.

Ryuko became a living tuning fork, translating the chaotic force into simple kinetic energy, which she physically absorbed. She flew right through the beam, with no debilitating effects.

Super Shadow put all of the energy he could possibly muster into the blast, but Ryuko just ran right through it, and then, when she reached the end, flew not a foot above Super Shadow.

And sent it all back at him.

Super Shadow was engulfed in the kinetic energy of the force he had unleashed. He shouted in agony as he was tossed miles away. And without his inhibitor rings, the moment the blast stopped, his golden form faded, leaving normal Shadow where it once was.

Ryuko flew at him, ready to strike, still in her super form.

Shadow woke up.

He looked everywhere blankly. "Wha- where am I? WHO am I?" He looked to Ryuko, who had stopped short. "Who are you?!"

"He's…lost his memory," Senketsu noted.

"Then it's our last good opportunity! Senketsu, put your all into this! When everything's clear I don't want a trace of him left!"

"Understood!"

Ryuko held back both Scissor Blades and extended them. "Decaptation Mode: Sen'i Soshitsu!" She zoomed ahead at an unexpecting Shadow. "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedghog!" With that, she burst past him with a mighty swing of her arms, forming an explosion greater than she ever had before. And, when the smoke cleared, there was no Shadow the Hedgehog. Not anymore.

"Whew," she breathed out. The golden form of Senketsu Kisaragi slowly faded away.

"I can't keep up that much energy," Sneketsu informed her. "I can't even sync with you right now. The most I can do is keep you alive until I regain my strength."

"That's okay, Senketsu," Ryuko replied. "We… we won."

Then she saw a blade pierce through her heart.

Shadow held the Samurai Blade in one hand. "I don't know why you wanted to kill me, but thank goodness I remembered Air Chaos in time. I probably wouldn't have survived that attack." He waved his hand, and a monstrous portal opened in the middle of space, leading to what looked lick nothing but black. "Now, you will never threaten anybody again."

"Wha- No. You can't…Senketsu-"

Shadow threw her into the Chaos Rift, and was assaulted with her screams as both Ryuko and Senketsu were torn apart and disintegrated on an atomic level.

-KO!-

Shadow closed the portal and wiped his hands. That had taken quite a bit of power. He viewed the Earth below him. Now, he needed to figure out how he had gotten himself into this mess to start with.

…

I don't think he'll forget that anytime soon.

This fight was close – at least initially. Finding areas where they took advantages in was easy, but putting said areas against each other was not. Let's go by this step-by-step, starting with the classics, Strength, Speed, and Durability.

Oh, wait a moment. Before we start, let me just clarify that while Ragyo was able to use Life Fibers to manipulate and control minds, no other character (certainly not Ryuko) has shown this ability, so she couldn't use this as a way to win.

Anyway, in terms of strength, both could smash right through metals far stronger than steel and titanium without even trying and had plenty of exceptionally strong feats that matched up fairly well and one that was above the others to a degree where we can get a good pinpoint on their maximum. That one was, of course, Shadow's outmatching that 1.9 Million Ton monster and Ryuko tossing around that 2.5 Million Ton Goku Uniform. Ryuko's feat may seem more impressive at first glance, but remember that she was just spinning around some weight. Shadow was outright matching and surpassing the strength of the 1.9 Million Ton beast, so his actual number should be far higher. But then we'll also take into account the ease with which Ryuko did her swinging, and the force to get it to spin out a hundred feet away, and then we have to match the 89% strength boost for Shadow with his equipment against that and Senketsu Senjin's 50% strength boost and…long story short, both end up being very difficult to quantify, but end up at around the same level. With their strength matched, they had to rely on other advantages.

Shadow certainly took the Speed category – he could race around at 350,000 MPH and dodge light-speed attacks in base form, while Ryuko needed to be in Senketsu Shippu or Senjin Shippu to match those speeds – and Shadow gets another speed boost with Hero Shadow and Chaos Boost. And in their ultimate forms, Super Shadow could move at the speed of light, while Senketsu Kisaragi could only go 1/24th the speed of light. However, Ryuko has been able to somewhat keep up with attacks and fighters who could match Shadow in base form and, when in Senketsu Kisaragi, has landed blows on relativistic fighters and dodged dozens of light-speed attacks, so it's not a complete stomp.

Similarly, nothing in Shadow's healing arsenal could stand up to Ryuko's healing factor when it comes to anything that slices, stabs, or pierces, and Ryuko also took the pure physical durability advantage. Her surviving that 35 Megatons of Force was not only lowballed, but her durability has grown considerably since then. However, Shadow has healed from being completely impaled a few times, his tanking a barrage of Knuckles' punches proves he can hold his own in that category, and he surpassed Ryuko in explosion-based durability - Ryuko was hit by a 621 kiloton explosion and was out for a month, while Shadow was hit by an 800 kiloton explosion and was out for a few days. So, overall, Shadow had speed and Ryuko had durability, but neither totally outclassed the other to the point where they couldn't hold their own.

With the big three out of the way, the winner has to be determined by the scraps – and that's where we start to see Shadow take the lead. When it comes to experience, sure, both had around the same amount of time (13-15 years) where they've fought and trained, but Shadow's been using his full power for way longer than Ryuko has, and he's fought a far wider variety of foes. Most of Ryuko's enemies are just people in Goku Uniforms, which means that all she had to do to win was get one good hit in – something that wouldn't work on Shadow.

Shadow's dealt with healing factors before, and a whole lot of things that Ryuko's never come close to. The level of people he's capable of taking out in Super Shadow form surpasses anyone from Kill la Kill, even Ragyo. And Shadow's had lots of training that suits him well against Ryuko's "charge in and beat them up" strategy. In addition, Shadow's multiple weapons and armor options and ability to think strategically in the midst of battle are all things Ryuko really doesn't have. And while Senketsu's shapeshifting allows more variety than Shadow's Hyper-Go-On, those powers still end up being superior. Would you rather be able to turn into pieces of paper AND a kite or be able to turn into a giant drill that tunnels through mountains in seconds? That's what I thought.

Plus, Chaos Boost was a far better transformation than Senjin Shippu. An increase in strength, some spikes that are still worse than Shadow's, flight, and speed that matches base form Shadow vs. complete invulnerability, an increase in speed, way better chaos powers, way more destructive capability, and a stamina recharge. It's not that much of a contest. And that gets us into the biggest factor in breaking this match: the Chaos Force is a far better tool than Life Fibers. Shadow could do way more with his powers and attacks than Ryuko could. His abilities to rapid-fire teleport, to throw out hundreds of projectiles or dozens of stronger ones that explode, to fold space-time, to enhance his own physical abilities, and to freeze time are all things Ryuko hasn't dealt with before, and he can do all of them in a row, rapid-fire, switching powers in a heartbeat. And even if they end up totally matched at some point, taking off those inhibitor rings will give Shadow more than enough power to overwhelm her.

And, of course, Super Shadow is far beyond Senketsu Kisaragi. Sure, that form lets her take a beating, but I sincerely doubt it could survive enough force to obliterate the entire planet, like Super Shadow has survived. The few extra powers it grants are almost nothing compared to the vast stores of power that Super Shadow has, and she certainly can't compete with his destructive capabilities.

Now, we never get a good scale for her destructive capability in this form (as the Life Fiber shatter thing was a power she absorbed, not actual energy) but we can estimate. Her most impressive feat in regards to this thing was the destruction of the inside of the Primordial Life Fiber, which she accomplished with a solid amount of help from that giant ship-knife thing. So, for a moment, let's pretend that she destroyed the whole thing (not just a part of the inside) and that she did it on her own, and judge the amount of explosive force accordingly. For the sake of argument, we're way overestimating Ryuko – you'll see why. By comparing its size to the mountain where Honnouji Academy rests, which we'll just assume is the size of Mount Everest since it's never given a good size, and assuming concrete-like density specifically to her since she has a huge bonus against Life Fibers, directly comparing it to the speed differences for Ryuko base form and Kisaragi form, the maximum Energy Output Ryuko could possibly achieve in her most powerful form is 2,050 Gigatons of TNT – less than half of Super Shadow's 5,000 Gigatons.

And that's really, really highballed. It's doubtful she could even survive that amount of force, much less make it, since she was knocked out by a 621 kiloton explosion in base form, and that force is over 3.3 million times higher. You might make the counter-argument that Super Shadow couldn't survive the planet-busting thing, then, since it's way, way, way more than even our estimation for Ryuko here, but Super Shadow has proven insanely hardy and taken attacks way worse than that crashing space station – like a focused attack from something that could destroy all life in the galaxy, or a full-on barrage of attacks from Devil Doom. It's pretty much accepted at this point, even by ScrewAttack, that Super Shadow is invulnerable – but Senketsu Kisaragi is certainly not. Just absorbing the energy of all the Life Fibers burned the form out, and it was near-permanently injured by Ragyo, who likely wasn't nearly as powerful as Super Shadow.

Basically, once Shadow turned Super, all he had to do was freeze time, take off the inhibitor rings, and hit her with a 5,000 Gigaton blast. You name one thing she can do to stop that. Because I can't think of anything, and believe me, I've tried. It doesn't matter that he'll faint after thirty seconds if thirty seconds is all it takes to win.

So, Ryuko had the durability and stamina, they both had the strength, and Shadow had the speed, destructive power, training, experience, strategy, mindset, skill, and better transformations. Ryuko struggles to keep up with Shadow at every step, and Shadow always had a step above that he could access. There's no real way that any form of Ryuko could hold up against Super Shadow without inhibitor rings – or maybe even normal Super Shadow.

This fight wasn't totally one-sided, but Ryuko's Shadow of a chance at victory just wasn't good enough.

The winner is Shadow the Hedgehog.

…

Next time, on Death Battle…

A humanoid robot with a red mouth incapacitates Thor with a single punch to the chest.

VS.

A humanoid bug monster incapacitates Vegeta with a single elbow to the back.

(Ultron vs. Cell)