"Come on, Daddy, hurry up!"

"I'm coming, Goten, don't worry" Goku called back. "Just give me a minute."

After he, Shadow, and Dende had gone and collected everyone that had taken a fall during the fight, they had dropped the Saiyans off at the Capsule Corp. main building, where Vegeta had taken charge of making sure they didn't cause any more trouble. Meanwhile, everyone had flown back off to their respective homes, with the exception of Gohan and Videl, and of course, Pan coming home alongside Goku. Strangely enough, it was Goku who requested Gohan spend some time at his old home with them, and of course, the invitation extended to Videl and their daughter. When he got some curious looks about it, he wasn't afraid to explain.

"Frieza got under my skin a little bit when he told me how you were taken down out there, Gohan" Goku had said. "And after we've already lost someone, I kinda just want to keep my family close. Just spend the night up in Mt. Paozu?"

The uncharacteristic display of overprotectiveness was enough that Gohan didn't bother arguing. Having an extra capsule house from Bulma, they slept right next door to his old place. And Gohan had to admit, for all the luxuries city life had, it was nice to be back in the quiet mountains he had spent so much time in as a Saiyan tyke.

There was another reason Goku wanted his eldest son there, however. He figured he'd tell his family first, not knowing exactly how he would handle it just yet, being so awkward for him. Safe to say, it was quite a shock to them all when he basically said, "Hey, my dad's back from the dead and came here to take over our planet with Super Saiyan God power, but he seems to be cool now, so don't worry."

They knew that the Saiyans had still been on the planet. Of course, their ship was destroyed, they were marooned on Earth. Heck, they even knew King Vegeta was here, King Kai had told them all himself that the King had been aboard the vessel. However, they hadn't counted on Goku's father being part of the trip too.

When they asked him how he was, he shrugged. After all, he had only had about 5 minutes of time actually knowing who the other one was before he had left. "He looked a lot like me, except a bit more… Saiyan?" That was really the only way to describe him. More harshly etched features, as well as a star-shaped scar on the right side of his face, was all that really distinguished him from his son. Oh, and the fact that he still had his tail, but at this point, that was more or less irrelevant.

It was late in the night, so there wasn't much they could do right then. Goku also let them know that Sonic was back, and seemed to be fine now. That was met with great relief, none of them had seen Sonic ever since Frieza's attack, and were glad to hear that he was ok, and would probably be back in the group tomorrow. For how good of news that was, however, it failed to erase the shock of the extra member to the family that now stood on the planet.

And Chi-Chi, with a sense of traditionality going for her, of course, demanded that Goku take them to meet him the following morning.

Which was why Goten was rushing his father. Goku had slept in, and for reasons he couldn't fathom, had trouble even slipping his clothes on. He wanted to wear his normal orange Gi, but his wife wouldn't hear of it, even if it would probably have been fine by his Saiyan father. And, as it turns out, short of his work clothes, which were also shot down, and his Gi, he didn't have much that fit him anymore. He had dug through half the closet Chi-Chi kept for him, almost going Super Saiyan in frustration as, for the umpteenth time, he couldn't even slip his head through the neck hole.

Eventually, he found a shirt that managed to fit him without tearing apart the second he slouched even the slightest. It was plain black, and pretty boring, so Goku found something to slip on over it in the form of the jacket he had been wearing in that week before the Cell Games. Luckily, it managed to fit rather well too, and he remembered, he and Chi-Chi had bought that jacket for while he was a Super Saiyan. Even after all this time, as long as he didn't transform in it, he should be fine.

He managed to jump downstairs just as Goten was ready to come up and check on him. Goten and Chi-Chi were, of course, both ready, and from the sound of it, Gohan, Videl, and Pan would be over in just a minute to be ready to take off.

"Thank goodness, Daddy, you were taking forever" Goten complained.

"Heh heh, sorry, Squirt" Goku chuckled. "Daddy had trouble finding something to wear."

"Well, at least you managed to find a decent outfit" Chi-Chi nodded, of course, dressed to the point where she couldn't be informal in a royal court. "So, are we going to get flying, or what?"

Goku scratched his head. "But, Chi-Chi, you always said you prefer to take the car than to fly" he said, confused. Normally, the method of transport for the family would, of course, be Instant Transmission. However, for obvious reasons…

Chi-Chi nodded. "Yes, it's always nice to travel sometimes in a normal way, but, what's the point of having these powers if you don't use them?" That was a poor use of words, considering Goku had used much more than his flight the previous day, in a fight that would probably rank somewhere close to his fight with Beerus in terms of sheer intensity. "Besides, it's much quicker to fly, and we'll be able to meet him sooner this way." Ah, there's the main reason.

Goku groaned. For all the fights he's been in, the Gods that he's clashed with, and travel to other worlds and even dimensions, why was it so difficult to go meet a blood relative with the family. Most challenges get him pumped up, so why was he so nervous?

"Because you've never known your father, and suddenly, he shows up, maybe?" a little voice in his head told him. "Come on, even Vegeta was putting up a wall with his father. This would be awkward for anyone."

"Yeah, I guess…" Goku muttered to himself. Having a challenge that couldn't be defeated… Yeesh, it didn't feel very good. No push to surpass limits, just dealing with awkwardness.

Chi-Chi opened the door, ushering the two Saiyans outside before closing the door behind her. A little ways to their side, Gohan and Videl were just emerging from their house that had been set up right next door. Gohan flipped a latch next to their main doorway, but Chi-Chi waved her hands. "You know, why don't we keep that here?" she asked. "It looks nice there, and that way, you guys have a guest house if you ever want to get away into the mountains."

Gohan's eyes brightened slightly. "Hey, that's a good idea, Mom" he said. A look at Videl, and he could tell that they both felt the same way. Closing the latch, the two of them walked over to the three others, Pan asleep in Videl's arms. "Well, are we all set?"

Unanimous, they were. Chi-Chi braced herself around Goku's neck, and with a simple motion, the entire group were soaring through the air at high speeds, off in the direction of West City and Capsule Corp.

Sonic's House…

Here he was, back in his old surroundings again.

Sonic had just awoken from a deep sleep, courtesy of his massive clash with that demon, Nazo. He wasn't sure he had ever been so tired before, of course, he felt that way after every battle. He honestly wasn't used to fighting like a martial artist, even after all this time. It wasn't his style, yet in this world he and his friends were dropped into, just ramming into his enemies repeatedly didn't cut it anymore.

Letting out a deep breath, he stood up and wandered around, drinking in his house. Ever since that Chaos Control went wrong, he had missed a lot from his world. Besides his little place near the ocean, and his friends who had come with him, there wasn't exactly much that came over with them. The Blue Typhoon, Soleana, and from the sound of it, Goku had woken up in the Green Hill when things had first gone down.

Sonic chuckled. "Boy, the Green Hill, that brings back memories."

It was kind of an unspoken rule that whenever Eggman had started one of his crazy schemes, daring Sonic to come at him, they would start at the Green Hill or one of the surrounding areas, like Angel Island, or the Splash Hills. He'd fought quite a bit there, but it had also been one of his favorite places to relax in his down time.

He stretched his body. He knew that he couldn't stay in this familiar place long. After all, the longer he stayed, the harder it would be to leave. For what had come over, he missed everything that hadn't. Tails and Knuckles, his two best friends, he wouldn't trade them for anything, but boy did he miss Amy, and Cream, heck, even the Chaotix. As weird as they were, they knew how to have some fun.

On some level, he was glad that they hadn't made the trip with them. For how fiery Amy was, or for how loyal Rouge and Omega were to Shadow, none of them would have adapted well to this world of God-level fighters and universal apocalypses looming over them every Tuesday. Ok, maybe that was an exaggeration, but the point stood.

But then, a look at Sally told him that they didn't necessarily need to be a fighter on their level to survive. Sally wasn't much stronger herself than most of the humans of this world, and a fair sight weaker than Goku's friends, like Krillin and Yamcha. However, she had proved her worth. Heck, she almost stopped him from making a decision he was sure he would have regretted.

That day still haunted him. Whether it was when he first transformed in a rage against the Metarex when they had captured Chris and… Cosmo, or when Nazo had attacked Tails, he had never quit so lost control as he did when Frieza stepped up to the plate. Normally, he can keep some semblance of self control when under the influence of the darkness, but even that had been gone. It was as if someone was whispering in his ear, compelling him to keep at the cruel punishment, the destruction of the lizard man, he was not at all in control…

He tried to shake off the dark feeling, but it managed to cling to him slightly, like a mist in his fur. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and steadied his life force. Goku may have only taught him the basics of Ki, but he knew enough to stop the swirling energy inside of him from being so aggravated, and calm himself.

He took a deep breath, air travelling into his lungs, when a sharp thwack sounded just outside his door, causing him to nearly choke on his own air. After he had managed to catch his breath without dying, he gave his heart a moment to stop pounding, before looking at the door.

The only ones who should have known where his house was would be Tails, Knuckles, and Goku. It couldn't be the first two, for obvious reasons, and Goku, well, he wouldn't have just made a single knock and stayed waiting out there.

"Another thing about living in this world…" he thought. "I've never felt so paranoid. Maybe they managed to track me down, worrying about me running again." He felt slightly ticked at the idea that they wouldn't trust him like that, but then again, he hadn't really given them a chance to.

"Or maybe there is something to worry about" his inner voice told him.

"Can it" he muttered to himself, casting his doubts aside and walking to the door. Taking a look outside the peephole, he saw no one there. His unease grew, but he opened the door anyways, to find…

"Nothing?" Sonic asked. He could have sworn he heard someone making a noise out here, but there was no one to be found. He looked up, down, left, right, still no one. And just as he was about to walk back inside, he noticed something.

"What in the…" Sonic asked, looking at the door itself. Embedded higher in it, above his head, there was a single metal stake. It was about 3 inches long, but that wasn't the strange part. The strange part, was the piece of paper that was trapped beneath it. Some alarms went off in his head at the sight of the piece of metal keeping it there, but he couldn't interpret them at the moment, instead opting to reach up, unfasten the stake, and pull the paper down.

As expected, there was writing on it. Looking around with a frown, he stepped back inside, closing the door, before sitting down and looking at the paper. His frown grew deeper as he read.

It has been a long time, hasn't it, Sonic? I've been looking for you for a while now, but you know how to remain invisible when you want to, it seems. No matter, I have finally located you, and this time, you will not escape my vision.

Sonic had an inkling of an idea, but he kept reading.

It is high time for our rematch, Sonic. I have not wasted my time since our last battle, and you promised to answer when I came back for more. I am well aware of what has happened since last time, so make no mistake. You will not notify those fighters you have grown close to, they would only interfere in our battle. As for our battlegrounds, I have decided on the ruins of Prison Island. I trust that the wide open space will be to your liking.

"Prison Island found its way here too?" Sonic asked.

And to compensate for your poor directional skills, I have given you the precise direction to the island. It will involve water travel, which your Super State is well equipped to handle.

"He knows I can go Super at will now…" he muttered.

If you do not show, you know better than anyone that I have ways to make you regret running away as opposed to attending your defeat at my hands. I expect you in no less than one hour.

- M

With a sort of grim look on his face, Sonic looked at that single letter that made up the signature, now confirming exactly who he thought the note had belonged to.

M

Sonic actually chuckled. "Aw man, he made it here too? Well, I guess I did promise a rematch, someday, and he's cashing it in."

He knew that he had told the others that he would make it back there today, but there wasn't much of a choice. His challenger made it very clear that if he didn't come, he would regret it, and he couldn't let anyone else know. Besides, it wouldn't take that long.

All doubts gone, he stepped out the front door. The chill in the air all but disappeared as his fur flashed gold, and his eyes darkened to red. Ascending to his comfortable Super Form, he launched into the air.

"Prison Island, eh?" Super Sonic asked. "Oh well, sure thing. I'd hate to keep him waiting, after all."

A ripple of energy passed through the air, as Sonic flipped back into the air, before boosting forward, instantly breaking the sound barrier and always accelerating towards his destination. "This'll be over in a flash" Super Sonic smirked. "He won't know what hit him."

Capsule Corp…

"Pick up the pace you two, this is barely anything!" Vegeta barked.

He and two other Saiyans, Bardock and King Vegeta, all stood in a metal room, the entire place bathed in a dark red light. Across from him, the other two Saiyans, the King of them all, and the only one of the last generation to dare stand up to Frieza, nearly fell over from the effects of the increased gravity in the Gravity Chamber.

"Are you seriously struggling at a mere 100x gravity?" Vegeta asked. "That's only 10x our homeworld. I barely feel it!"

"To be fair, Vegeta…" Bulma's voice came through the speaker, "You have been training in it every day for going on a decade now, with the strength of a God, while these two have been dead until recently."

"That's no excuse" Vegeta shot back. "Even Kakarot is a better example of a Saiyan warrior than these two right now!"

Bardock glared at Vegeta. "Even Kakarot?" he snarled under his breath. "Fine, I'll show him just what I can do."

The current frustration he felt expanded, filling his entire body, and with a roar, his hair flared upwards, glowing yellow, as an aura of the same color took place around him. The force of the transformation nearly floored the King next to him, who didn't have access to the transformation himself.

Staring Vegeta down with turquoise eyes, he smirked. "You're right, Prince" he said nonchalantly. "This is easy."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Congratulations" Vegeta sighed. "As a Super Saiyan, you are able to move around as easily as my twelve-year old son in here."

The two Saiyans had met Trunks the previous night, and the thought of being compared, as a Super Saiyan, to the little kid, made Bardock frown some more. "Fine, then turn it up to your normal workout."

Vegeta chuckled. "Oh really?" he asked. "Should we start with the warm up at 750x gravity, or jump straight to 1000x?"

For once, Vegeta had managed to stop both his and Kakarot's fathers in place. The two thought that he must be lying, or bluffing at least, but he was unwavering. King Vegeta looked at his son with a sense of pride and awe. "You aren't joking" he noted.

"He practically lives in here, what did you expect?" Bulma's voice came through again. "Anyways, you guys can try more of the masochist act later. Come on out, Trunks just told me he felt Goku and the others on their way over. If you want to keep training while you wait, come give Shadow a hand. He's been practicing on the lawn all morning."

Bardock and the elder Vegeta had gotten the rundown of Vegeta's life since Planet Vegeta went up in the Supernova, including some info on Shadow and the others. And from the sound of it, fighting Shadow would be almost as bad as a battle with Vegeta himself. Shadow was powerful, and didn't hold back very much. Not to mention, Vegeta had assisted in him gaining power recently. As much as their Saiyan pride wanted that battle, they didn't want it at the cost of their limbs, not to mention, they would lose as much pride as they had if the tiny rodent creamed them.

The three pure-blooded Saiyans exited the Gravity Chamber. In fact, they were the only pure Saiyans, besides Goku, left on the planet. Bulma may have let the Namekians stay for a while, but she wasn't a fan of the other Saiyans that had come. With one of the spare spaceships she had lying in her capsule stock, she sent all of them packing that very night, Bardock and King Vegeta only staying behind for the moment so that they could meet their sons once more.

The five of them, Bulma and Trunks joining them, emerged from the building, and stepped out into the crisp air on the lawn. Shadow was hovering in the air, having entered his Super Form, and appeared to be practicing power attacks, as his energy would suddenly flare high, before he delivered a single blow in the air. Silver sat on the ground, appearing to be meditating. Since his powers were more mental than physical, it made sense that this was his style of training.

As they stepped outside, Bardock let his own power drop, not quite realizing that he had still been a Super Saiyan. He looked up, and into the sky. "You said Kakarot's coming?" he asked the little boy.

Trunks nodded. "Yeah" he said. "Usually, I have a problem sensing him, but Goten's family is all together, so their power is easier to sense right now. Actually, they're almost here. Few more seconds, tops."

Vegeta nodded in agreement with his son. Bardock was still getting used to the idea that there was a way to sense the power levels of fighters without a Scouter, but he assumed it was a tactic that this planet had figured out.

Sure enough, mere moments later, a faint, high-pitched sound could be heard in the air, and very quickly, a large group landed on the lawns of Capsule Corp, crashing down a complete stop as their auras around them faded.

Chi-Chi climbed off of Goku's back, while Goten, Gohan, and Videl stood around him, Pan still cradled in Videls arms. Shadow, noticing the arrivals, powered down and dropped to the ground, while Silver opened his eyes and stood up.

Shadow spoke up as soon as he landed. "Please, tell me there's no more crisis right now?" he asked tentatively.

Goku donned a confused look and scratched the back of his head. "No, why would there be?" he asked.

Shadow appeared visibly relieved. "Well, I can never be too sure" he shrugged.

Silver laughed. "No kidding, not around these guys."

Goten, being as nervous as he was, acted very much the same way he did when first meeting Goku, only this time, he ran behind his father rather than his mother, clutching his leg. He had been excited, but he didn't count how scary the moment would be.

Gohan, on the other hand, was eyeing Bardock warily. It didn't take a super genius to figure out, between the two Saiyans, which one was his grandfather. After all, one of them looked just like Vegeta, the other just like Goku. He felt an urge of protectiveness, even though he was fairly certain these two wouldn't cause any trouble, his senses were calling danger to him. His power swelled slightly, beneath the surface, not noticeable to anyone but himself, but enough to be on high alert.

Bardock could sense the nervousness of the group, but it didn't affect him. He cracked a smile. "So, Kakarot, this is your family from Earth?" he asked.

Goku nodded. "Yeah" he said. He took Chi-Chi's hand and brought her forward. "This is my wife, Chi-Chi." He tussled Goten's hair a bit, getting him comfortable enough to come around from behind Goke, however, he did grab his father's other hand. "This little guy is Goten."

Since he no longer had any hands to use, Gohan stepped forward himself. "I'm his other son, Gohan" he introduced himself.

Videl stepped up alongside him. "And I'm Videl, Gohan's wife" she added on. "And this is our child, Pan."

Bardock nodded as they finished. "Well, as I'm sure you know, I'm Bardock" he said. "Kakarot's father. Glad I could meet you all."

Safe to say, the older Saiyan was slightly surprised that he already had two grandchildren, one of which was married and had a child of his own, making him a great grandfather…

Saiyans may be youthful, but that didn't stop it from making him feel incredibly old all of a sudden.

However, this newfound knowledge didn't stop him from noticing something very major to a Saiyan missing from the four of them. In fact, it was something he had noticed with Vegeta the prior night, but hadn't commented on. "Kakarot, where is your tail?" he asked incredulously.

Goku subconsciously looked down around his father's waist, where what appeared to be a furry belt was wrapped around it. Of course, to someone knowledgeable, it was easily recognizable as a Saiyan tail. "Well, it got removed" Goku said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Twice, actually."

"You got your tail removed?!" Bardock exclaimed.

Goku shrugged. "I didn't have the Saiyan training to make it not so painful or to control myself at a full moon" he said. "It was only a weakness and a danger to everyone around me, and while it regrew once, it hasn't since the second time."

"Similarly, mine hasn't grown back, either" Vegeta piped up. "However, mine wasn't such a planned removal" he gave a quick glare to Goku, remembering the pain of Krillin's Destructo Disc cutting his flesh during their very first battle. "However, we've evolved to a point where we no longer need our tails to be powerful. After all, who needs to become a Great Ape when you can become a Super Saiyan?"

"I see…" Bardock said. "And the half-Saiyans…" he gestured to the children and Gohan, "I assume their Saiyan blood was too diluted?"

Gohan shook his head. "Nah, I had one for a while, but got it removed, similar reasons to Dad. The whole Great Ape thing wasn't really something that we wanted to deal with. Pan, however, is only one quarter Saiyan, so she didn't have a tail at all."

"And Mommy says that I had a tail when I was born, but they took it right there so that there weren't problems" Goten said. "I've never seen the giant monkey thing that Saiyans are supposed to do."

Bardock nodded, seeming satisfied with the answers. "I see, it was something unavoidable, I guess, living on the Earth your whole life."

Goku nodded. "Yeah, Raditz was kinda surprised when he came to Earth and saw that I didn't have my tail either" he said. "He kinda mocked me for it, calling me weak and all that. Me and Piccolo stopped him, though."

One of Bardock's eyebrows went up. "Piccolo?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, I guess you don't really know anything about me or my friends here" Goku realized. "Well, you see, Piccolo is a friend of mine. He used to be my enemy, but he changed. He's a Namekian, and one of the strongest people on the planet behind me and Vegeta."

"A Namekian? Here?" Bardock asked.

"Yeah he used to be part of a Namekian called Kami, who was the God here, but they split, then merged together again about twelve years ago, I think" Goku tried to explain.

Bardock massaged his temples. "Ok, now you're losing me" he admitted.

Goku glanced back at his family. "You know, if there's no time problem, we might be able to tell you everything we've done here" he offered. "I'm not sure if you like stories about adventures or anything, but it might help you understand some more things about Earth and us?"

Bardock eyed his son, before cracking a grin. "If it'll help me get to know my son and his family a bit more, then sure. As long as it doesn't take a few weeks to tell the story, sure.I don't need Gine freaking out on me for disappearing too long" he chuckled.

"Who?" Goku asked.

"Hmm?" Bardock responded. "Oh, you probably don't know her yet. Gine, she's my wife, and your mother."

Goku's eyes widened. "What?! My mom's alive too?!" he exclaimed, the rest of his family similarly shocked. Vegeta and Frieza had alluded to Goku's father before, but for some reason, they had never mentioned his mother. And they had never given it much thought either.

Bardock nodded. "Whether he intended to keep things that way or not, Frieza revived every single Saiyan that was on Planet Vegeta the day he destroyed it. Me, the King, your mother, all of them." He sighed. "I just wish that the revival had extended to my old team… Frieza had them murdered right before he went after our planet, but they were off world at the time. I barely squeezed through a loophole in the wish, but they won't."

The mood darkened slightly, but Bardock tried to dispel it, not wanting to make a poor impression. "Anyways, are you going to get started, or should I guess how this all began?"

Goku cracked a nervous grin, and sat down on the lawn. Around him, his family followed suit, and Bardock was sitting before them. Vegeta and his father turned away and wandered back into the main building. Silver began to walk away, but Shadow walked over to Goku. "Before you get caught up with this guy…" he began. "Have you seen any sign of Sonic yet today?"

Goku glanced up at Shadow with a confused expression. "No, I haven't, why?" he asked. "He promised he'd be here, didn't he?"

Shadow nodded. "I've just got a strange feeling" he admitted. "About ten minutes ago, I sensed a flare of Chaos Energy off in the distance, enough to be a Super Transformation. I wondered if you had come across him."

Goku frowned momentarily. "Maybe he was just going Super to fly here?" he asked.

Shadow shook his head. "Moments after, he flew off of my radar, exact opposite direction of here" he said. "It isn't like Sonic to lie to us, and I have no idea where he is for right now. He's too far away." A small breeze kicked up as Shadow's rocket shoes activated, and he levitated into the air. "I was going to fly in his general direction anyways, but I figured I'd give you a try before I flew off."

"Oh, ok" Goku said. "Well, good luck, Shadow."

Shadow smirked. "Who needs luck when you're the Ultimate Life Form?" he said belligerently, before taking off, staying in his base form for the moment, using his rocket shoes to propel him through the sky.

Bardock watched Shadow as he flew off. "Cocky little thing, isn't he?" he asked. "I mean, 'Ultimate Life Form?'"

"Well, he is" Goku pointed out. "That's how he was designed."

"Designed? What?" Bardock asked.

"Heh, that one is a better question for him personally" Goku said. "Maybe you can ask him later."

Bardock huffed. "Oh, alright. But enough with his background, start with yours."

Goku nodded. "Alright then. Well, it all started long ago, when I first came to Earth. A man found me, someone who I knew as Grandpa Gohan..."

?

Sonic dipped down and let his feet skim the waves of the blue water as he dashed along at mach speed, lazily moving towards his destination. Normally, water was his greatest fear, but when he was Super, he could finally appreciate the beauty of it.

Didn't mean he wanted to go for a dip, of course.

Propelling himself back into the air he squinted as far ahead as was possible. All around him, there was nothing but empty water, seemingly going on for forever.

"He said that the remains of Prison Island were somewhere out here" he muttered to himself. "I hope he wasn't leading me on a wild goose chase…"

No sooner had the words left his mouth, than something emerged on the horizon. It was still very far away, but Sonic's eyes began to make out a large landmass. And as far as it was, the distance was nothing at the speed Sonic was soaring at.

Putting on the extra power, another ear-shattering ripple rocketed outwards as he picked up speed. Flying high above the water, Sonic looked down at the large island beneath him with wide eyes. He let out a low whistle. "Damn, those three really did a number on this place back then…"

Prison Island had once been the base for G.U.N., a place where Sonic himself had been locked up for a short period. Much of the island had been heavy forests, mountain ranges, and even jungle in some parts. Very little of it had been taken up by the military bases, and even then, much of it was build outwards, over the water, meaning even less of the surface of the island had been taken by all the metal structures. Most of it was natural.

Now, it looked like a complete wasteland. Most of the island was littered with massive craters, courtesy of the explosives that had gone off over the island. Small pockets of the old forest remaining, but most of it was simply blackened, rough landscape. Rubble was strewn about, many pieces large enough to be visible from this height. It was bound to be worse when he descended.

Massive fissures ran the course of the island, allowing the ocean to flow straight through the heart of what once had been Prison Island. Erosion was clearly there, as the land around the fissures appeared quite weak and desolate.

Frowning, Sonic immediately stopped his flight, aimed his feet down, and slowly fell to the surface below. He was right. The lower he got, the worse things looked.

His feet crunched as he touched down. The ashes of the once lush forest sounded with every step he took. In some places, they were piled high. In others, ocean gales had cleared the land completely, only leaving the stoney surface beneath.

As he came across one of the clearings, he let out a breath, and the golden glow surrounding him faded. Looking up and around, Sonic stretched out his arms to the side. The only sounds were the wind blowing and the waves lapping against the shore, some ways away.

He stood there for a few moments, his foot began unconsciously tapping the ground in an impatient manner. "Did I seriously come all the way out here just for him to chicken out?" he muttered beneath his breath. "Come on, I thought that he was supposed to fear no creature, or something like that."

Looking up, he took a deep breath, and shouted upwards. "COME ON, BOLT-BRAIN, GET YOUR RUSTED CAN DOWN HERE!" he shouted as loud as he could, voice carrying across the landscape and even over the water for miles.

He took a deep breath to replenish his lost oxygen, then looked around again. "You know…" he announced clearly to his surroundings, "If you're waiting for me to do something out of boredom, tough luck, you aren't getting anything from me!"

Sonic didn't need to see behind him or be able to sense the Chaos reaction to feel the presence that had just appeared directly behind him. "How smart of you, Sonic" a computerized voice scoffed. "However, we both know that I need no further data from you."

"Really? That makes one of us" Sonic said nonchalantly as he turned on the spot, flashing a cocky grin behind him. "You know, I'm glad I got your message when I did. I needed to let a little steam off, anyways."

The figure before him let out a low chuckle. "You may be different, but your bravado is unwavering."

"For good reason, Metal" Sonic said.

Standing on the wasteland before him, metallic body glinting in the sunlight. Three short spikes shot out of the back the entity's head. A core rimmed in yellow existed in the center of the body. Thin metal limbs sporting metallic blue sheathes formed arms and legs, the arms ending in cruel, sharp talons, while feet similar in appearance to Sonic's own shoes existed down the legs. Glowing red eyes existed within a black visor.

Metal Sonic's face may have been incapable of showing emotion, but there was definitely a battle-lust in the air around them. Metal Sonic had come for a battle, and he was ready.

Sonic realized immediately which model had challenged him. Silver Sonic had long since been destroyed, and more recently, Sonic finally finished off Mecha Sonic, the one that had terrorized Mobius for so long. And while Mecha Sonic, at the time, had become the most powerful, he knew the one before him was the most dangerous.

The original one, the one two have battled him with Eggman hot on their tails, and the one to have turned on his creator during the Egg Fleet attack. The one that had taken the force of the entirety of Teams Sonic, Dark, Rose, and even the Chaotix to defeat, and had sank into the shadows, not to be seen by his master or his rivals for years.

The original Metal Sonic.

Sonic's biggest rival to date save Shadow.

"So, you're finally cashing in that coupon I gave you right after I kicked your can last time?" Sonic asked in a confident tone, running his finger under his nose. "I know you, Metal, why did you do it when you know just how outmatched you are?"

"I am not so weak as you appear to think of me as" Metal Sonic's voice cut through the air harshly. "You of all people, my loathsome copy, should know what this world is capable of, and to that extent, what I am capable of."

Sonic's confidence wavered slightly as he picked up the meaning behind the ultimate robot's words. Metal Sonic wasn't bluffing. Sonic wasn't scared, but he had a reason to be concerned. Eggman had outfitted Metal Sonic with the most powerful scanner he had ever known. Simply catch a life form using a technique once, and Metal Sonic could instantly replicate it.

And if Metal Sonic meant what Sonic thought, there were countless techniques he could have learned since the worlds clashed. Forget copying his Sonic Wind or Sonic Boom attacks. For all he knew, Metal Sonic may have scanned Goku's Kamehameha, or Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon. He could only hope that copying Silver's Psychokinesis wasn't a possibility, that it would be physically impossible, but he wasn't too sure on just how powerful this creation was made to be.

But for all he could copy, he wouldn't be able to put the same power behind them as Goku or the others could, even if he had their moves. Leaning down, he stretched his legs. "Well, you're the one cashing the coupon. Care to set some ground rules?"

If Metal Sonic was physically able to smirk, he would have been. "Leave that blade of yours out of things, and those damn Emeralds, and we'll be fine."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Really? That all? No tying up my left arm, or doing things blindfolded? Are you trying to make this easy?"

"You fail to comprehend me fully" Metal Sonic said viciously.

Raising a metallic hand skyward, the sky began to darken slightly. Mere moments, and the sky had gone from completely clear, to stormy. A heavy wind began blowing, nearly strong enough to push Sonic over. A thin bolt of pure energy, white-hot lightning, came down and struck Metal Sonic, coursing through his thin, metallic fingers and running through his whole body.

Gripping the hand tightly, Metal Sonic lowered. "HuuuAAAAAH!" he roared, the lightning he had absorbed making his body shine a brilliant white, nearly blinding Sonic and forcing him to look away.

A tremor ran through the ground as the light began to die down. Still glowing like a star, Sonic squinted, able to make out the shifting shape where Metal Sonic stood. The spikes on his head elongated, the cover on his arm extended outwards. Spikes jutted out from the machine's shoulders.

The light died down, and now, Metal Sonic stood, transformed. A form Sonic hadn't seen in ages, and a form Metal Sonic hadn't assumed in just as long.

Five spikes jutted out backwards from Metal Sonic's head. Upwards, and up and down on either side, each one adorned with a long, white diamond. A black, sharp shoulder pad extended from each shoulder. The metal cover on each limb had extended, taking on a more gauntlet-like appearance. A large grey spike also shot upwards from each knee.

Sonic knew from Goku that robot's exuded no energy. Goku had never met Metal Sonic.

Sonic dropped down. The heavy gales from the surrounding storm began to be drawn towards him, swirling around him at high speeds, glowing blue. Sonic's entire body took on a lighter tone as the light blue whirlwind wrapped around him. His eyes glinted brighter, and his quills waggled as if they were weightless.

Sonic unleashed his full aerokinetic abilities in a single battle-cry, the winds lashing at the ground and carving into it. Lowering his head, he smirked at the robot. "Did you get a scan of this?" he asked.

"Kinetic powers are beyond my scope of control" Neo-Metal Sonic growled. "But no matter, your Hurricane Form does not contain enough power to overcome me!"

"Hurricane Form?" Sonic chuckled. "As much as I like the ring to that, this is no form. This is all me, baby! No transformation required."

He managed to take a bit of weight off his chest. If Metal Sonic was unable to copy Kinetic abilities, then he at least didn't have to worry about Silver's Psychokinesis being used against him.

He bounced lightly on his feet. "Well, Metal, are you ready for the showdown you've been waiting for?" he asked.

Metal Sonic splayed his palms outwards, an aura of power growing around him. Sonic could sense both Chaos Energy and real power swirling within the robot. "I have been ready for ages" he declared. "Sonic, today is the day that I prove myself superior to you!"

"Now we'll just see about that, won't we?" Sonic challenged, legs pushing him across the clearing at a breakneck pace.

Metal Sonic met his charge head on, dashing forward and clashing heads with Sonic as the two Boosted into each other.

Just as the friction reached its peak, the energy between the two exploded outwards, the ripple of energy flying across the entire island, the force pushing waves hundreds of feet into the air all around them.

"Scared to be in the midst of such an aquatic environment, Sonic?!" Neo-Metal Sonic cackled.

Sonic chuckled and shook his head as the water fell. "Not a chance, Metal" he said. "It's not gonna be that easy to get to me. You think your victory is assured, and I know mine is."

"Well, the let's see who is correct!" Neo-Metal Sonic said, lunging at Sonic once more.

This fight isn't going to be a large one, however, it will be set up for the near future.

Now, be honest. When reading the letter, how many of you knew it was Metal Sonic, right off the bat? If you did, did you guess this exact one? If so, cool.

I tried to work a bit more of a "slice-of-life" element into this chapter over last time. Finally diving into some DBZ Fanfiction myself gave me a new style to try, rather than just go for straight up fights, like most of the story ended up being. Of course we'll still have the fights, but I've got to make an effort for more than that, you know?

Bit of a shorter chapter, the next few probably are gonna be. We're nearing the tournament, which probably won't last very long, but I'm hoping I can make it some good writing.

And, well, not much else to say. Aftermath of the Saiyan attack to be dealt with in the next few chapters, as well as buildup to the tournament. That's all, really.

So, until next time, Sonic the Saiyan, signing off. Cya!