Zero VS Meta Knight

Zero VS Meta Knight is the eighth episode of Battle Royale, and the sixth episode of the first season, pitting Zero of the Mega Man series against Meta Knight of the Kirby series. In a duel between two iconic swordsman. Zero was voiced by Marc "GaoGaiKingTheGreat" Rafanan, while Meta Knight was voiced by Carrick "RaccoonBroVA" Inabnett, with guest appearances of Merpiez as Alia and 5555thExplosionMage as Axe Knight.
== Description ==
It's time to steel your sword and prove your mettle! Platforming's rival sword-wielding icons go head-to-head in this special episode. Whose blade comes out on top? There's only one way to find out: It's Showtime!
== Interlude ==
(Cue: Cross Riff - Ray Casarez)
Rick: "On the path of a great hero seeking to save the world, there's always folks they meet along the way who will give them a helping hand... or in this case. a helping blade. Whether they're helping them out of a tough spot or testing their mettle in battle, these two stoic sword-wielders are more than ready for a duel in their own rights."
Manny: "I'm Manny, heading research for Zero, Mega Man X's red-clad Maverick Hunter."
Chelsea: "I'm Chelsea, heading research for Meta Knight, the Kirby franchise's battle-hardened Star Warrior."
F.A.C.T.S.: "I am the Fight Analysis and Conclusion Tolerance Software, or F.A.C.T.S. for short, and I will be determining the victor with their research taken into account. For this duel, we'll be focusing on Zero's body and weaponry from the Mega Man X games while also taking events from the Mega Man Zero games into account, and analyzing both the games and the Right Back at Ya! anime for Meta Knight."
Rick: "And with those rules in place, I'm your host, Rick Rocker, and this, ladies and gentlemen, is Battle Royale!"
== Zero ==
(Cue: Title Screen - Mega Man 2 (Project X2 OC ReMix))
Manny: "Dr. Albert Wily was one of the greatest inventors in the field of robotics of his time, and also one of the unluckiest. No matter what technological achievement he could attain through his inventing know-how, it was never enough to trounce his former partner and longtime rival Dr. Thomas Light, who continue to outpace Wily's creations time and time again. So, Wily did what any jealous scientist would do and began scheming to take over the world."
Rick: "Seems like an overreaction to me. Besides, we all know plans like that never go well."
F.A.C.T.S.: "By stealing several of Dr. Light's industrial robots over the years, Wily created army after army of Robot Masters to serve his plans for world domination. However, time and time again, the mad doctor's plans were shut down by Dr. Light's Blue Bomber, the now-infamous Mega Man."
Manny: "Wily faced defeat after defeat at the blue robot's hands, but the mad doctor was nothing if not persistent. His plans got bigger, wilder, and ultimately, he created plans for a new type of sentient machine that would overshadow anything of the classis era of robotics. Stronger. faster, and more technologically advanced than any machine of yester-X, Wily's greatest invention, the Reploid known as Zero, had been born."
Chelsea: "Says here there was a glitch in Zero's cognitive programming that made him ruthlessly violent, incapable of following Dr. Wily's orders. The mad doctor had to shut him up in a capsule because of this, and it wouldn't be until a hundred years later, even outliving Wily himself, that Zero was found once again, this time by other Reploids just like him." 
Manny: "The glitch in his system still made him violent, tearing apart any Reploid that came into Wily's old lab. This drew the attention of Maverick Hunter Commander Sigma, and the two had an epic throwdown that ultimately resulted in Zero's defeat." 
F.A.C.T.S.: "Seemingly free from the glitch that was causing his aggression and having forgotten his origins, Zero joined the Maverick Hunters, dedicating himself to fighting other corrupted, malevolent Reploids." 
Rick: "Considering he tore through tons of Maverick Hunters before being brought down by Sigma, I'm guessing he was pretty good at it." 
(Music stops) 
Manny: "Good... is an understatement." 
(Cue: X vs. Zero - Mega Man X5 (Remix by GaMetal)) 
FACToid: Early Machinations
Wily's plans for Zero go as far back in the timeline as Power Battle and Power Fighters, where early plans for Zero's design were shown and alluded to.
Manny: "Designed to be stronger than anything from the classis Mega Man years, Zero is a natural fighter and a force to be reckoned with in battle, with a tricked-out Titanium Z body that's loaded with gadgets to support him in the field. Zero's no slouch when it comes to fighting on his own."
Rick: "Wait, Titanium Z? Are you sure you didn't just make that up?"
Chelsea: "Maverick Hunters like Zero aren't just armed with their fists, though. He's got several different kinds of weapons he can whip out during battle, ranging from hammers to shields to even huge glaives. But nothing in Zero's weapon closet quite stacks up to his Z-Buster arm cannon - and his go-to energy sword, the Z-Saber."
FACToid: Whose Sword Is It Anyways?The Z-Saber hasn't always been exclusive to Zero. It was originally simply referred to as the "Beam Saber", and X used in for a time after Zero was destroyed in Mega Man X5.
F.A.C.T.S.: "The Z-Saber is a single-handed beam sword that Zero wields with expert proficiency, slicing through anything in his path. Beyond its standard use, Zero can channel elemental attacks through this blade to utilize several techniques that employ a wide variety of elements, such as fire, ice, electricity, earth and even steel."
Manny: "Zero's abilities go way beyond just elements, though. He's got an entire laundry list of attacks and techniques that he can use to varrying effects in a fight."
Rick: "Oh, come on, the list can't be that long."
Chelsea: "Wanna bet? Take a look at the list of 'em. I'll wait; we have an hour."
Rick: "Alright. lemme see here..." (Rick coughs, paper rustling) "Holy *quack*! This thing is longer than my alimony paperwork!"
F.A.C.T.S.: "Zero's multitude of techniques give him great versatility and adaptability for most combat situations. He can fire energy waves from the Z-Saber with Hadangeki, duplicate his physical presence and movements through a copy of himself with Twim Dream, briefly turn invisible with Raikousen, create massive energy columns with Rekkoha and even freeze time temporarily with Dark Hold."
FACToid: The List Goes On...Some of Zero's other notable abilities inclue the projectile-reflecting Rekkyoudan, the protective Guardshell, the defense-bypassing Juuhazan, the ice-infused F-Splasher dash and the drone-summoning Yammar Option.
F.A.C.T.S.: "And that's barely scratching the surface of his many skills!"
Chelsea: "Considering how many different kinds of Mavericks there are-"
FACToid: Scars of BattleCounting the X-era games where Zero was fully playable, he's fought at least 40 Maverick bosses, as well as dozens of other corrupted machines, making him a seasoned warrior.
Chelsea: "-that Zero has undoubtedly done battle with, I'm not surprised."
(Cue: Armored Armadillo - Mega Man X (Arrangement by Synthescissor))
Chelsea: "You'd have to be pretty adaptable to take on so many different types of androids."
Manny: "All that's hardly even his best. In serious confrontations, Zero's got a couple super forms he can bust out to amp up his power. Black Zero doesn't just turn his red armor a dark color, but it increases the damage output of his weapons, toughens Zero's defenses, heightens his speed and upgrades the Z-Saber into an even more powerful Z-Saber Plus."
Rick: "And for the most extreme situations imaginable, there's his Absolute Zero form. Along with sporting a pair of wings for free-moving flight-"
FACToid: A Fair Trade?While Zero's power and maneuverability are increased by Absolute Zero, the transformation canonically restricts him from many of his weapons and techniques while in use.
Rick: "Zero can shred through opponents with razor-sharp claws."
Manny: "With or without his weapons and abilities, there's no denying that Zero in one of the greatest Maverick Hunters of them all. In fact, after Sigma turned evil and began attempting to eliminate all humans - "
FACToid: An Infected Commander, Part 1Sigma was infected with the Maverick Virus during his battle against Zero when he first awakened from stasis, presumably when Sigma shattered the Z-Crystal on Zero's head.
Manny: " - it's a long story - Zero becomes the new commander of the Maverick Hunters-"
FACToid: An Infected Commander, Part 2The virus fused with him and turned Sigma into a bloodthirsty tyrant bent on the extinction of humans.
Manny: "-leading them into the Maverick War against Sigma and his subordinates."
Chelsea: "Makes sense, seeing as how he became an A-Rank Maverick Hunter before getting the big promotion. And it's not like he didn't get any chances to show his stuff as head honcho; if anything, he got to go at it in battle even more. Like the time when he, X and Axl faced off against one of Sigma's largest bodies, which could punch with a force equivalent to over 11 ninatons of TNT."
Rick: "God damn! How many zeroes is that?"
FACToid: Planets Beware!A punch worth 11 ninatons of TNT is more than enough to obliterate a planet the size of our own Earth, as well as planets far larger than that.
Chelsea: "Well, I only see one, so..."
Rick: "Oh, for fu-"
F.A.C.T.S.: "Not only is it impressive for Zero to be capable of matching this kind of strength, but at the end of this encounter with Sigma, his giant body was completely vaporized - an event which, when calculated, would require 202 exatons of TNT to pull off."
Manny: "Zero's speed is nothing to sneeze at, either. He can escape the pull of black holes from Mavericks like Gravity Antonion, dodge Optic Sunflower's light-based attacks, and he even sliced through X's X-Buster before the latter Maverick could react. He's got durability to spare, too. He was knocked out of orbit by Sigma's giant body in X7 and was fine, survived Lumine's ultimate attack which destroyed an entire star, and stopped the Eurasia Space Colony from crashing into Earth by... flying a spaceship directly into it!"
Chelsea: "Wow... what a master plan that was."
F.A.C.T.S.: "Reckless as that may seem, Zero is not to be seen as unintelligent. No average Reploid could lead the Maverick Hunters through their wars against Sigma, after all. The greatest of Zero's potential remains to be analyzed, though, and to do that we must take a very in-depth look at a very particular entity - "
(Music stops)
F.A.C.T.S.: " - the Mother Elf from the Mega Man Zero games."
- - -
The Reel
(Cue: Cross Blues - TheManPF)
F.A.C.T.S.: "Welcome back to The Reel, where I give you the hard facts on the hard questions. Up until this point, we've been sticking to the Mega Man X games for our analysis, but we'll be calling up the Mega Man Zero games now to take a look at the Mother Elf."
Rick: "New line of games, eh? Alright, lay out the groundwork."
F.A.C.T.S.: "100 years after the events of Mega Man X6 when Zero sealed himself in stasis to be analyzed by scientists, he's awakened in a new body to fight against the tyranny of Copy X and his subjugation of Reploids. But before he had been awakened from his stasis, the analysis of Zero had given birth to a new race of sentient computer programs composed of pure energy: Cyber-elves."
Rick: "Cyber-elves!? Sounds like if the Terminator was Santa Claus for a year."
FACToid: Elves of Many FacesCyber-elved, as beings composed of code and energy, can take on many different shapes and sized according to their functions. Some are modeled after animals and objects, while others resemble mythological entities and human occupations.
Rick: "John Connor's definitely going on the naughty list..."
F.A.C.T.S.: "While common Cyber-elves are seen as supporting units for Reploids like Zero in battle, the original and strongest one of them all, the Mother Elf, was seen as a weapon in and of itself. Created from the remnants of the Maverick Virus in Zero's programming, the Mother Elf was made to directly counteract the effects of the virus on Reploids, and she was used by X to ultimately destroy the virus completely, turning all Mavericks back into Reploids and ending the Maverick Wars."
Rick: "Hot damn! It erased the virus all at once? Just like that?"
F.A.C.T.S.: "Indeed. And it is the erasure of the Maverick Virus that is key to this analysis. Several sources from the Mega Man series imply human and Reploid colonization of celestial bodies beyond our Earth, from the mining planets of Mega Man 3 to the instruction manual for Mega Man X5, which stated that the Maverick Virus was a threat to the entire galaxy."
Rick: "So, for the Mother Elf to have wiped out the virus in one fell swoop-"
FACToid: We Need a Bigger RulerAssuming the Mega Man galaxy to be the size of our own Milky Way galaxy places the length of its radius at 52,850 light-years. That as long as over 3 quadrillion Earths stacked end-to-end in a straight line!
Rick: "-it would have to travel pretty crazy distances to do so."
F.A.C.T.S.: "Correct. And because Zero defeated Omega Zero and Elpizo when they harnesses the Mother Elf's powers..."
Rick: (excitedly) "...Zero could scale to the feat of erasing the virus from the galaxy!"
F.A.C.T.S.: "You catch on fast when you're not cracking one-liners."
Rick: "Well thank y- hey!"
F.A.C.T.S.: "Now comes the important part: how fast would the Mother Elf wipinng out the virus from the galaxy be? Assuming a timeframe of 30 seconds for how long it took to cover the full galaxy, this feat comes out at over 4 billion times the speed of light - nearly 3 quintillion miles per hour!"
Rick: "Hmm, not bad at all. And we're sure this applies to X-era Zero?"
F.A.C.T.S.: "Most definitely. Zero may have a different body in the Zero games, but it's still the same Zero on the inside, with the same personality, experience and capabilities. And by scaling to the Mother Elf, he becomes even more of a force to be reckoned with."
- - -
(Cue: Ending - Mega Man X8)
Chelsea: "Well then... Never though a glorified antivirus could make someone so OP. Apparently, though, not even being that fast could save Zero from his..."
FACToid: Death Is Not The EndZero's instances of being "killed" include his sacrifice to stop Vile in Mega Man X, his destruction at the end of Mega Man X5 and his sacrifice to destroy Weil's final form in the final battle of Mega Man Zero 4.
Chelsea: "...several untimely demises."
Manny: "Yeah... It's almost a running gag for Zero to 'die' only to come back later at some point. And despite his massive supply of weapons, a lot of them have limited energy supplies-"
FACToid: Eco-Friendly RoboticsAdditionally, Zero is primarily powered by solar energy. In areas where light is sparse, Zero can run the risk of draining his power supply, which would have him weakened over time if not resolved.
Manny: "-meaning Zero can only use them for so long on one outing before needing to refill their uses."
Rick Rocker: "It's gonna take a lot more than a lack of sunlight to take down this robo-hunter, though. Anytime and anywhere there's a Maverick on the loose, you can count on Zero to take them down!"
Zero: "Target destroyed. Returning to base." (Zero's Victory - Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite)
== Meta Knight ==
(Cue: Unknown Theme)
Chelsea: "Let's take a step back and travel into the past. The distant past, actually - 1,000 years ago. A time of bloodshed and constant war. The evil monsters of the dark entity known as Nightmare were battling the Galaxy Soldier Army that sought to protect the universe, and the two sides were constantly struggling for dominance and control over everything."
F.A.C.T.S.: "Any lifeform could take up arms and join the ranks of the Galaxy Soldier Army, but only the most elite among them could be given the glorified title of Star Warrior. And ultimately this army of goos, elites and commanders alike, won the day... but at massive cost. Most of their forces were killed in battle by the time the war was won."
Manny: "When the dust settled, there was only one Star Warrior left amidst the carnage. Knowing the evil Nightmare hadn't truly been defeated, he hid his past as a Star Warrior and became a servant to a greedy king, hoping that one day a new generation of Star Warriors would come forth to battle the growing darkness."
Rick: "This sounds metal as hell! Did the new Star Warriors ever show up?"
Chelsea: "One did: the young and inexperienced pink hero. You know, Kirby."
Rick: "Ah, okay, that makes se- woah wait what the fu-"
(Music stops)
Chelsea: "And the lone survivor of the Star Warriors would watch over him, train him and prepare him for his destined battle against the forces of Nightmare. This warrior's name? Meta Knight."
Meta Knight swoops in and clashes blades with Marth. The prince blocks Meta Knight's onslaught of attacks before parrying with enough force to send the Star Warrior back. The name 'Meta Knight' then flashes on the screen. (Meta Knight's Entry - Super Smash Bros. Brawl)
(Cue: Meta Knight's Revenge - Super Smash Bros. Brawl)
Rick: "Okay, setting aside that seriously misleading backstory, that guy's a legendary soldier!? He just looks like Kirby after a trip to Hot Topic!"
Manny: "Well... you're actually not too far off. Meta Knight looks strikingly similar to Kirby under that mask, and he's pretty secretive about his appearance when it comes to the Pink Puffball, implying thet might be the same species and he's just trying to disguise it."
Rick: "He's not doing too great at that, I'll say that much. There are a lot of better ways to disguise your identity on top of covering your face."
Chelsea: "And why would you happen to know about such means?"
Rick: "I, uh... H-hey, that's a pretty cool sword he has. What's it called?"
F.A.C.T.S.: "That would be Galaxia, Meta Knight's dual-edged, single-handed weapon of choice. Sporting multiple points along the side of the blade and an impressive golden shine, it was forged by the fire god Photron when the universe was young, and only those deemed worthy by the blade can wield it. With it, Meta Knight can dish out both heavy slashes and quick silved to do battle with his opponents."
Chelsea: "It might seem like it's more of a close-range blade due to its length, but Galaxia is actually pretty potent at a distance. Its wielder can use it to fire sword beams, blast fireballs, emit waves of electricity and call down meteors. It can even change its size and fight on its own if its wielder isn't around."
Manny: "Wait, really? How does that work? Is it like... possessed or something?"
F.A.C.T.S.: "In a way, Galaxia is imbued with its own spirit, and this sentience within the blade is what allows it to only be wielded by those worthy of it. Any who are unworthy that attempt to use it are wounded, killed or turned evil against their will."
FACToid: He, Who Is WorthyIt's implied that Galaxia deemed Kirby as worthy of being its wielder. He can use it via special abilities in Kirby & the Amazing Mirror and Kirby's Return to Dream Land, and he also wields it in episode 60 of the anime, Crusade for the Blade.
Rick: "Why is this kids' game series full of dark themes, and why have I never heard of them before?"
Chelsea: "Hon, you ain't seen nothing yet. Outside the obvious face mask, Meta Knight sports metallic armor on his shoulders, hands and feet for protection during combat. He can also use Galaxia to block and parry enemy attacks if he's feeling defensive."
Manny: "Don't forget his cape."
FACToid: Caped CapersSome sources point toward Meta Knight's wings being seperate from his cape. While this is somewhat inconsistent, it doesn't make a difference for Meta Knight's abilities in the long run.
Manny: "It might seem like it's just for show, but it can transform into bat-like wings that allow Meta Knight to fly around."
(Cue: Checker Knights - Kirby Air Ride)
Manny: "What's more, the inside of the cape itself is actually an alternate dimension, contained entirely within the cloak."
Rick: "That's some seriously talented tailoring right there. Why can't my coats all have pocket dimensions inside them? I'd never lose my keys again!"
F.A.C.T.S.: "The self-contained dimension within Meta Knight's cape is an extremely cersatile tool that he uses to great effect. By manipulating space itself, the cape allows Meta Knight to teleport around instantaneously, and by throwing its folds over his enemies, he can trap them in its alternate reality, leaving them at his mercy."
Rick: "So he's got a godly sword and a magic cape? Wow, he's surprisingly prepared for combat. But surely that alone wouldn't be enough to make him a Star Warrior, right?"
Chelsea: "Right on. Meta Knight's fierceness in battle comes from his abilities just as much as it comes from his gear. Just to name a few, Mach Tornado whips up high gusts around him or in a tall tower of spinning wind, Meta Quick doubles his movement speed, and Galaxia Darkness snares his enemies in his Dimensional Cape before eviscerating them with a huge sword slash."
Manny: "Speaking of Galaxia, Meta Knight can swoop through the air while stabbing through foes with Shuttle Loop, and pierce through them while spinning with Drill Run."
FACToid: Thanks, Daddy SakuraiSimilar to the situation with the anime, several of Meta Knight's moves originated in Super Smash Bros. before being carried over into the main Kirby series.
Manny: "And if he's in a tight spot, he can channel energy to restore his health fully, or call in backup via either his foot soldiers or clones of himself if he's feeling self-sufficient."
Rick: (scoffs) "Now that's more like it! Never though I'd be saying this, but that blue puffball's pretty badass. And mentoring Kirby puts him in a league all his own, right?"
F.A.C.T.S.: "Being the wise mentor figure to such a devastatingly powerful entity is certainly a testament to his own capabilities. Meta Knight's thousands of years of experience shine through in his accomplishments, like defeating Galacta Knight, who was hailed as the most powerful warrior in the galaxy, assisting Kirby and company in the defeat of Magolor and besting clones of Dark Matter and Queen Sectonia all by himself. He even pilots his own warship, the Halberd, with great expertise."
FACToid: O Captain! My Captain!Meta Knight is the leader of the Halberd's operating crew, the Meta-Knights. This crew consists of Captain Vul, Sailor Waddle Dee, Trident Knight, Mace Knight, Javelin Knight and Axe Knight.
Manny: "And for some reason, people just kinda seem to forget about the time he tried to take over Dream Land with it because he hated its 'lazy lifestyle'."
FACToid: Duel MeaningsBesides the Revenge of Meta Knight incident, Meta Knight's duels against Kirby have solely been either to train him to become stronger, or to keep Kirby from accidentally unleashing an ancient evil, like with Nightmare and Dark Nebula.
Manny: "Kirby's pretty forgiving when it comes to his friends, I guess."
Chelsea: "Maybe, but Meta Knight shows no such mercy in battle."
(Cue: City Trial - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)
Chelsea: "Despite his size, he's pretty friggin' strong, capable of matching a giant King Dedede golen with just the tip of Galaxia. And while the rest of Dream Land's residents had to be securely buckled up for a journey across several light-years in just a few seconds, Meta Knight stood his ground the entire time without budging an inch."
FACToid: Road Trip!This venture took place toward the end of the Right Back at Ya! anime, with the Halberd and Dream Land's residents flyinh from Pop Star to Nightmare's Fortress to battle Nightmare himself. That's a distance of 900 light-years!
Chelsea: "Fortitude must be pretty important to knighthood."
Manny: "Maybe so, but Meta Knight's specialty is definitely his speed. He can fly fast enough to breach escape velocity, dodge lightning bolts from Kracko, and reach the end of the Galaxy in order to confront Galacta Knight. Plus, he's faster than King Dedede, who can keep up with Kirby's Warp Star, which in turn can fly to a distant corner of the galaxy in under a second. And, just in case you forgot, Meta Quick doubles his already insane speed!"
F.A.C.T.S.: "It's also worth mentioning that Kirby was capable of redirecting a meteor by hitting it with a baseball bat. He struck the meteor with such force that it was sent light-years away from him, travelling 5,700 light-years in just 15 seconds. That's a speed of 12 billion times the speed of light."
Rick: "Now it's way more impressive that he can keep up with Kirby so often. And to do that in the first place, he'd need to be pretty durable as well, correct?"
F.A.C.T.S.: "Very much so. Regularly taking hits from Kirby is already impressive enough, as the pink Star Warrior can crack planets in half with a single strike. But that's just scratching the surface. Galacta Knight, the warrior that Meta Knight has beaten many times over-"
FACToid: Who Needs Google?Star Dream is a sentient computer with vast sums of data on the Kirby universe. The Dark Matter and Queen Sectonia clones were created based on Star Dream's files about the originals, and Star Dream stated that Galacta Knight's power could easily destroy several planets.
F.A.C.T.S.: "-could destroy the Star Dream device with a single attack, and Star Dream put up more than a match for Kirby and his robotic armor. He can also survive attacks from the aforementioned clones of Dark Matter and Queen Sectonia, as well as those of the original Magolor, including his devastating black hole attack. And speaking of black holes..."
- - -
The Reel
(Cue: Cross Blues - TheManPF)
FACToid: Point of No ReturnThe term "black hole" refers to the general area of the phenomenon that is distorting spacetime, whereas the vicinity of the black hole that displays a gravitational acceleration strong enough to draw in light is called its "event horizon".
F.A.C.T.S.: "Black holes are something that pops up often in the Kirby universe. However, there is a difference between a black hole and quote-unquote 'black hole'."
Rick: "Whaddaya mean? If it's a black hole, it's a black hole!"
F.A.C.T.S.: "And this is why I analyse the research and you make the crappy jokes."
Rick: "Jeez, someone woke up on the wrong side of the motherboard today."
F.A.C.T.S.: "Anyway, for a vortex to count as a legitimate black hole, some requirements need to be fulfilled. First off, the pull of a black hole is powerful enough to pull in light itself, so anything moving slower that lightspeed would be pulled in and destroyed. Secondly, a black hole is impossible to destroy by sheer physical force. Energy input into a black hole would only serve to make the black hole larger. Thirdly, points closer to the black hole would get accelerated more strongly than points further away. Finally, while a black hole is movable by shooting something into it, it is impossible to actually move a black hole via dragging it around physically."
Black Hole Criteria
# Pulls in light itself. (Slower than lightspeed objects are sucked in)
# You cannot destroy black holes with physical force. (Energy output would only make it larger)
# Closer to the black hole = Stronger attraction to it.
# You cannot drag a black hole physically.
Rick: "So with that in mind, how well do the Kirby universe's black holes hold up?"
F.A.C.T.S.: "In terms of Magolor's black hole attack, it holds up when stacked up against these criteria."
FACToid: The Traitor's MagicNotice how the black hole is created by some kind of spell cast by Magolor. Since he is referred to as a "wizard" in-game and is being amped up by the Master Crown, the black hole's reality-warping creation is likely tied to strong magic powers.
F.A.C.T.S.: "The Black hole is clearly created and dispersed through reality-warping of some sort, as opposed to physical force. The pull of the black hole also lines up with the typical depiction of a black hole, and characters that are closer to it seem to be unable to avoid being pulled in. Similarly, Marx's own black hole attack seems to be valid, as it shares several properties with Magolor's. However, Dark Nebula's own black hole feat isn't quite on the same level."
Rick "What's the problem with it?"
F.A.C.T.S.: "The reason why most people say this is a 'black hole feat' is because it is assumed that Dark Nebula's awakening proceeded to destroy a black hole near Pop Star. Within the actual battle, what happens is... incredibly vague. While it's not completely out of the question that Dark Nebula could have destroyed the black hole, it could've also been some form of teleportation as well. Because of this, it cannot be used as a way to guage power. We also never see the 'black hole' in motion, thereby making it impossible to validate its legitimacy as such."
Dark Nebula
# Vague interpretation of the battle.
# Could have been a form of teleportation.
# Assumptions cannot be used to guage power in absolutes.
# Never see the black hole in motion.
Rick: "Hmm, okay, I thing I get it. Any others worth mentioning? What about the Schw- the Schwa- the Swch- those purple guys!?"
F.A.C.T.S.: "The Schwarzs do produce vortexes from their mouths that pull Kirby towards them, and Daroach does describe them as black holes. However, they don't suck anything else, like blocks, large pieces of the environment and most importantly, light, towards them, and its attraction isn't any stronger closer to its body than at the edge of its area of effect, meaning it's likely more akin to an inhaling technique than a black hole."
Schwarz
# They don't suck anything else towards it.
#* Blocks or Environment Pieces
#* Light (Specifically)
# Attraction is no stronger at its epicenter than further away.
F.A.C.T.S.: "The ones created by Sphere Doomers, on the other hand, are a much safer bet, as their creation and behavior are very similar to those created by Magolor." 
Rick: "That makes sense. And although there's a lot of black hole-lookimh portals that appear in Kirby games, they don't suck things in and they don't destroy things that enter them, so obviously they wouldn't be real black holes." 
F.A.C.T.S.: "Indeed. Kirby's universe is filled with pseudo-black holes, and it can sometimes be hard to tell the difference between the real ones and simple look-alikes. The ones that are legitimate can be critical to proviing key feats, which help us better determine the Kirby cast's capabilities."
- - - 
Manny: "Man. I had no idea black holes could be so specific." 
(Cue: Warrior's Secret - Kirby: Right Back at Ya!) 
Manny: "All that science is making my brain a black hole..." 
Chelsea: "You act like it wasn't one to begin with." 
Manny: (sacrastically) "Oh, you wound me, sis." (in his regular voice) "Normally, though, if Kirby's already so insanely powerful, why the heck is Meta Knight always giving him swords to fight with when they duel? From the looks of things, I'd say he hardly needs one." 
Chelsea: "It's likely 'cause of his strict code of honor as a knight..." 
FACToid: A Test of PatienceOver time, Meta Knight has grown somewhat impatient if his opponent does not accept his sword as a token of honor, kicking it away and beginning combat in a fit of anger. 
Chelsea: "...leading him to try to make things fair for an opponent he sees as weaker than himself. And most of the time he's not even trying to beat Kirby anyway; he's just training him for the bigger enemies ahead." 
Rick: "All I can say is God have mercy on whoever's in his way if he ever decides to go all out. When Dream Land is in a pinch, you can count on this old Star Warrior to raise his blade in the name of good once again!" 
Announcer: "Meta Knight wins!" 
Meta Knight: "You have much yet to learn." (Meta Knight's Victory - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) 
== Pre-Battle ==
(Cue: Cross Riff - Ray Casarez)
Rick: "Now this is gonna be a good one! Two badass warrior swordsmen duking it out with no holds barred. For all their skills and experience, only one can walk away the victor, so who do you thinks will rise above their competition? Will the Z-Saber or Galaxia strike the final blow? As always, take time to make your prediction before the battle begins."
F.A.C.T.S.: "Fight analysis complete! I have concluded the most ilkely out of thousands of possible scenarios, and arranged a visual representation of their research."
Rick: "Then you know what that means... It's Showtime!"
== The Battle ==
(Cue: Airship Theme (Super Mario Bros. 3) - Super Smash Bros. Brawl)
On the Halberd, as the Meta-Knights work, a red beam descends from the sky. The beam materializes as a red robot - Zero, the Maverick Hunter - who immediatly contacts mission control.
Zero: "This is Zero. I've arrived on the main ship's deck."
Alia: "What's your status?"
Zero: "No sign that they know I'm here. No Mavericks, either."
Zero then dashes forward.
Zero: "Proceeding to infiltrate."
Inside of the Halberd, Axe Knight is monitoring the airship - and is surprised to see Zero speeding through the deck. He immediatly contacts his boss, Meta Knight, who is currently standing idly in one of the inner rooms.
Axe Knight: "Uh... sir?"
Meta Knight: "Speak."
Axe Knight: "There's a guy in red that's sneaking into the ship, and he's not one of ours... Looks dangerous. What do I do?"
Meta Knight: (scoffs) "Lead him to me."
Meanwhile, Zero easily slides down the airship's walls and runs forwards - however, the door he intended to walk through is suddenly closed shut.
(Music stops)
Zero: "Crap! The way through is blocked. Searching for an alternate route now."
Suddenly, a big garage door opens behind Zero. Without further investigation, Zero runs inside. After entering the darkened room, the door shuts behind the robot.
Zero: "Huh? A trap!?"
The lights in the room turn on, startling Zero.
Meta Knight: (off-screen) "You are not welcome here."
Zero looks up to see the caped, rotund figure of Meta Knight, facing away from the intruder.
(Cue: Airship Assault - TheManPF)
Meta Knight: "Leave, before your mission is..."
Meta Knight turns to face Zero and points his golden sword, Galaxia, at him.
Meta Knight: "...cut short."
In response, Zero draws his own sword, the Z-Saber, and enters a fighting stance.
Zero: "Found a Maverick! I'll take care of it!"
Meta Knight: "Very well."
With a grunt, Meta Knight leaps in the air and lands just a few meters away from Zero.
Meta Knight: "come!"
IT'S SHOWTIME!
Zero dashes forward, with Meta Knight following suit. The Star Warrior jumps and flips in the air, intending to land his sword down on Zero's head, but the robot blocks the attack with his own blade and proceeds to slash at Meta Knight in retaliation. Meta Knight blocks all of Zero's attacks, leading the two to lock blades.
Zero: "Out of my face!"
With one mighty swing, Zero breaks the blade-lock and launches Meta Knight backwards. Meta Knight lands on his feet and quickly stabilizes himself before spinning rapidly, almost turning into a miniature tornado, and rushing back to the Maverick Hunter. While Zero manages to parry the onslaught of attacks from the Mach Tornado for a while, it doesn't take long for the tornado\ to overpower the Maverick Hunter and carry him into the air. Meta Knight then stops spinning to deliver a powerful downwards slash with Galaxia, crashing Zero into the ground.
Zero gets back to his feet and looks back up at his opponent, only to quickly dodge Meta Knight's falling stab. Not wasting any chance, Zero speeds back, using the brief moment in which Galaxia is stuck in the floor as an opportunity to attack Meta Knight. Zero follows up with two more slashes, before coating his sword with electricity and uppercutting the Star Warrior with it.
Zero: "Eat this!"
The red robot then leaps at Meta Knight, flipping rapidly with his sword outstreched to carry him back to the ground. Once the two lands, Zero's hand glows with blue energy and he punches the floor, releasing several energy balls.
Zero: "Rakuhouha!"
Meta Knight gets sent back by the string of attacks, but quickly manages to recover and turns his cape into a pair of bat wings, swooping back and catching Zero off-guard by stabbing him in the arm. Meta Knight then returns the favor - flipping rapidly himself and slamming the robot on the floor - before swiping his sword at him and launching him back.
The Star Warrior dashes forward to continue his assault, but Zero dashes at him as well, with both swordsmen slashing at each other. The two begin another series of attacks, each of them parried or dodged, but Zero eventually gains the upper hand with a dashing attack. With Meta Knight thrown in the air, Zero once again electrifies his blade, and delivers a powerful stab to Meta Knight's face.
Zero: "Raijingeki!"
Meta Knight is launched into a wall, and frees himself with a grunt of pain. However, Zero does not relent - his hand changes into his trusted Z-Buster and he begins to prepare a shot. Meta Knight changes back to his wings and flies towards the robot, who begins firing at him - even charging up energy for a bigger attack.
Zero: "Charge Shot!"
However, Meta Knight dodges every shot. In retaliation, Zero switched back to his sword.
Zero: "Take this!"
Zero attempts to slam the Z-Saber on the Blue Puffball, but he is too slow - Meta Knight quickly evades the attack and steps behind the Maverick Hunter, stabbing Galaxia directly into Zero's back. He then flies upwards, Zero in tow, and releases him - only to fire a sword beam at the robot. Zero gets slammed into the wall, but uses his wall-jump to leap back into the fight with a powerful downwards slash - and this time, hitting his foe. The Z-Saber turns red as Zero drops and stabs his sword down on Meta Knight.
Zero: "No more games!"
Zero follows up with another sword uppercut, then two shots from the Z-Saber, before coating his sword with sheer cold and slashing the Star Warrior, freezing him in a block of ice.
Zero: "Time to settle this. Rekoha!"
Zero punches the floor, which causes a giant ball of blue energy to drop on the ice block, shattering it. Meta Knight is given no moment to recover, however, as more energy balls drop down on him, creating a cloud of dust. When it settles, Meta Knight is seen again, tired by the fight but still standing on his feet.
Meta Knight: (out of breath) "Such strength..."
Zero: "I'll end this now!"
Zero dashes at the Star Warrior, but he uses his Dimensional Cape to teleport just as Zero is about to hit him.
(Music cuts)
Zero: "What!?"
Meta Knight appears behind Zero, throwing his cape at his opponent.
Meta Knight: "Behold..."
The screen cuts to black.
- - -
(Cue: Zero Darkness - TheManPF)
Back on the Halberd's deck, all is quiet - until Zero bursts through the floor and lands painfully, with Meta Knight quickly getting up as well. The Star Warrior charges energy into Galaxia and stabs the floor, sending a gigantic Mach Tornado at Zero. Zero gets up to his feet, only to see the tornado quickly approaching...
Zero: "Ugh... I hate this job."
Zero lifts the Z-Saber over his head, and with a yell, slams it on the floor, unleashing an incredibly quick sword beam.
Zero: "Hadangeki!"
The Hadangeki collides with the Mach Tornado, collapsing them both and creating another dust cloud - which Meta Knight quickly flies through.
Zero: "Dark... Hold!"
The entire world's colors suddenly distort as time stands still. Zero then uses Twin Dream, summoning a pink copy of himself, before the two slam their swords on the frozen Meta Knight. When time eventually starts again, the Blue Puffball gets launched back, skidding on the floor to regain his footing. As Zero and his clone run toward him, Meta Knight uses Meta Quick rushing towards the two. Unable to react to Meta Knight's newfound speed, the Star Warrior slashes both of them multiple times and sends them back. The two coat their swords with fire and attempt to uppercut Meta Knight...
Zero: "Ryuenjin!"
...but he's just too quick, dodging the flaming blades in the last second before coming back and uppercutting them himself, throwing them into the air.
Meta Knight: "Too slow!"
With Galaxia outstretched, Meta Knight flies through the duo and delivers a flurry of slices, eventually destroying the Twin Dream, before stabbing downwards and sending Zero back down, creating yet another dust cloud. Meta Knight lands back on the deck, preparing Galaxia for another attack, when suddenly...
Zero: "Not bad for a Maverick."
Zero unleashes a beam of energy, immediately dispersing the dust.
Meta Knight: "What!?"
The red metal on the Maverick Hunter's body turns black as lightning crackles around him - he has become Black Zero.
Zero: "Let's end this."
Zero enters a combat stance with his now-purple Z-Saber Plus, before running to Meta Knight and swiping his blade upwards, once again launching him into the air. Zero leaps after him and unleashes a series of slashes on the Star Warrior, ending with his sword turning into a steel broadsword which Zero stabs at Meta Knight and carries him down with. Zero throws Meta Knight back to the air and jumps straight up.
Zero: "Ittouryoudan..."
Zero swipes down, creating a massive purple sword beam.
Zero: "Genmu Zero!"
The Genmu Zero hits Meta Knight so hard, his landing managed to shake the Halberd. Zero gets back down... to find Meta Knight's discarded mask.
Zero: "Heh. Just like a training program."
With a sense of accomplishment, Zero runs away... only to hear a grunt...
Meta Knight: "Raah!"
A now-maskless Meta Knight, with the angriest expression his cute face can muster, embeds his Galaxia into Zero's abdomen.
Zero: "Aagh!"
Meta Knight swipes up, releasing Zero from his blade, and charges up his power - creating five maskless clones of himself, which immediately fly towards Zero and begin to attack him. Using this distraction, Meta Knight summons a new mask and points his sword forward. All of the Meta Knight clones fly away... as Meta Knight holds a gigantic Galaxia, slamming it down on the Maverick Hunter. The sword shrinks back down, but before Zero can recover, two of the clones pin him to the ground with their blades.
Meta Knight: "Witness Galaxia's power!"
Meta Knight points the sword up as it glows purple... and summons a huge meteor, falling directly on top of Zero as the two clones escape once again. With the Halberd now in ruins, Meta Knight flies away. Zero, crushed by the meteor and heading to the surely-fatal ground, quickly assesses his options, and decides to pull out his sword. Stabbing his blade in the meteor, he uses it to traverse to its top - just as Meta Knight swoops back in to finish the robot. The two swordsmen clash blades once again, with enough force to create a shock wave.
Zero: "Get outta here!"
Zero pushes Meta Knight away, but the Star Warrior dashes back, spinning while flying to emulate a drill. Zero blocks the Drill Run and counters with a sword uppercut.
Zero: "Shoryuken!"
Meta Knight teleports behind Zero and slashes him into the air, then spins around to create a giant Mach Tornado around himself. The vortex's power is enough to start pulling the meteor apart, with its debris pummeling the Maverick Hunter. Zero, however, manages to catch one of the meteor parts and ride it around, then continues jumping to other rocks to evade the tornado's pull. Looking down the tornado's eye, Zero sees Meta Knight - still spinning, and completely exposed.
Zero: "Hmm..."
Zero jumps off of the rocks and into the vortex's center, sword stretched down...
Zero: "This is over!"
And stabs his sword into Meta Knight's mask. And with one final glow of the Z-Saber...
Zero: "C-..."
(Music stops)
...an enormous energy ball starts forming at the top of the meteor, powerful enough to crack the huge rock...
Zero: "FLASHER!"
...and explodes, completely shattering the meteor.
- - -
On the ground, along with the burning wreckage that once was the Halberd, lies Meta Knight. Defeated. Zero then lands.
Zero: "Hehh... Maverick neutralized."
Zero then runs towards the unconscious puffball...
Zero: "Now..."
...pulling out his Z-Buster.
Zero: "Time to send it to the scrap heap."
However, before he can finish the job, the Galaxia quickly embeds itself in the ground next to its wielder.
Zero: "Nani!?"
The golden sword then floats in the air and inserts itself into Zero's hand...
Zero: "AAAA-"
...and shows him Meta Knight's past, proving to Zero one very important thing.
Zero: "You're... not a Maverick?"
With Galaxia dropped on the floor, Zero contacts mission control once again, returning to his normal shade in the process.
(Cue: Unknown Theme)
Zero: "Zero here. Enemy neutralized. I'm done here. Returning to base."
And once again, Zero turns into a red beam of energy and teleports away.
KO!
== Results ==
(Cue: Departure [Mythos Version - Mega Man Zero 2])
Manny: "You know, I think this might be the only time on Battle Royale we see someone get saved by their own sword."
FACToid: Reminder!Research for Zero VS Meta Knight was concluded on Dec. 2018. Any new feats afterwards have not been evaluated for purposes of this debate.
F.A.C.T.S.: "This match was an extremely close one to decide. My processors were nearly fried by the time I could crack it."
Chelsea: "Well, they were pretty evenly matched after all. Both were expertly skilled fighters in their own rights and they both had similar elemental abilities they could harness through their swords. Some of their abilities were even blow-by-blow counters, like Twin Dream and Meta Knight's duplication, for example."
Rick: "That's right. But in the end, Zero's advantages in strength, attack potency and durability edged him out over his competition."
Strength
Rick: "When looking at how strong the two are in terms of physical strength, there's not much room for argument. Zero, if you remember, was built by Dr. Wily to be stronger than anything from the original era of robotics. Specifically, classic Mega Man, who could support the weight of a fortress that would have weighed over 900,000 tons. This makes Meta Knight matching the strength of a giant Dedede golen seem much less impressive in comparison."
Advantage: Zero
Speed
F.A.C.T.S.: "Speed, on the other hand, went uncontested to the Star Warrior. Mother Elf's speed of 4 billion times the speed of light is far overshadowed even by lesser feats from the Kirby universe, such as the 12 billiob times lightspeed feat of Kirby redirecting a meteor. This, along with Meta Quick doubling Meta Knight's speed, meant that the speed advantage was very much in his corner."
Advantage: Meta Knight
Durability
Rick: "As for durability, Zreo tanking the explosion of the Eurasia Space Colony comes out to be around 5 zettatons of TNT."
Manny: "Remember how Zero survived Lumine's ultimate attackm which completely destroyed a whole star? Well, the attack originated from an Earth-like planet inside another dimension..."
FACToid: Paradise LostLumine's ultimate attack is the bad ending to the boss fight. Zero and company survived the initial attack that destroyed a sun. While they could not survive the supernova, they survived the attack that caused it to begin with, thus their durability scales to the attack.
Manny: "...meaning the attack would have reached all the way to the Sun from the Earth-like planet to begin with."
F.A.C.T.S.: "Destroying a celestial body like the Sun requires overcoming its gravitational binding energy, or GBE for short. The GBE of the Sun is over 164 tenatons of TNT, meaning that destroying it with an attack that originated from Earth would require energy levels of over one kilofoe: enough power to destroy an entire solar system!"
FACToid: A for EffortEven when being flippant with stats and applying Meta Knight's highest possible tier for his attack potency, it would barely even be enough to scratch Zero at his lowest reasonable durability.
F.A.C.T.S.: "With durability on that level, Zero would be far too tough for Meta Knight to deal any lasting damage, even with the latter's vast speed advantage."
Advantage: Zero
(Cue: Net Battle - Mega Man Battle Network)
Scaling
Chelsea: "And I guess he'd be even in attack potency with that attack too, since he, X and Axl were able to beat Lumine in the end."
Manny: "Yep. Even if we scale Meta Knight to Magolor's black hole, Zero's durability is still much higher."
F.A.C.T.S.: "While many of both Zero and Meta Knight's stats come from scaling to other characters, it's not difficult to determine where the scaling comes into effect. Zero is repeatedly shown to be X's superior in the Mega Man X series and he's contributed to several of Sigma's defeats, making it clear that he should scale to the two. Zero is one of three Maverick Hunters that can take down Lumine in Mega Man X8, meaning he should also scale to Lumine. And he was capable of defeating characters lke Omega Zero-"
FACToid: Do I Know You?Omega Zero is the mind of the Reploid Omega inhabiting Zero's original body from the X-era Maverick Wars. It battled Zero in his Elf Wars body with the power of the Mother Elf, ultimately being defeated.
F.A.C.T.S.: "-and Elpizo when they had harnesses the power of the Mother Elf, meaning Zero should scale to the Cyber-elf as well."
Rick: "As for Meta Knight, it should be easy to see that he scales to main characters such as Kirby and King Dedede, as he not only battles them but fights alongside them pretty often."
FACToid: Scaling by Association, Part 1While Meta Knight didn't assist in taking down every main villain in Kirby history, the fact that he consistently matched Kirby throughout the series means he can be scaled to these ultimate baddies without needing to square off with them.
Rick: "This, in turn, makes it possible to scale him to big Kirby series villains that the pink puff has taken down over the years."
FACToid: Scaling by Association, Part 2However, do note that powerful villains like Void Termina, Magolor, 0² and even Nightmare were defeated with specific artifacts that only Kirby made proper use of. Implying potential Multi-Solar System to Universal power would only apply to those power-ups, which Meta Knight cannot be scaled to.
Rick: "There's also Galacta Knight to take into account, and Meta Knight has beaten this lance-wielding warrior multiple times throughout several Kirby titles..."
FACToid: Galacta Who?Galacta Knight isn't actally part of the main Kirby canon, as the spin-off stories he appears in contradict Kirby's own adventures. His feats are not too dissimilar from other feats in the series, though, so including him in an analysis doesn't unfairly tip the scales in any way.
Rick: "...meaning he should be on par, if not superior to, Galacta Knight's capabilities."
Manny: "But here's the big kicker: surprisingly enough, none of these Kirby baddies come close to Mega Man X's feats."
(Music stops)
Manny: "And yes, that's including the black holes."
(Cue: Midnight Moonlight (Forever-Sleeping Flower) - Kirby Triple Deluxe)
Attack Potency
F.A.C.T.S.: "As we established earlier, Marx's and Magolor's black holes are on the table for a debate. We can calc them and get a general idea of how strong Meta Knight is. Between the two, Kirby's most powerful black hole comes in the form of Marx's black hole. Because we want to get the highest number possible to be sure, we'll be using Star Allies' rendition of Marx. You'll see why in a minute."
Manny: "So, let's get Kirby's size here and compare that to the size of the Marx black hole there." (the calculations are shown on-screen) "And let's highball the black hole collapse, bada-bing bada-boom. That 0.2 foe. That's a solid Large Star feat."
Rick: "Wait, you said Lumine was 1 foe, right? Doesn't that just make this five times weaker? Not that big of a difference, if you ask me.""
F.A.C.T.S.: "No, we said Lumine's sun feat was over one kilofoe. Kilo meaning one-thousand. 1,000 foe."
FACToid: Size REALLY MattersThe size of Kirby characters is also applicable to the discussion of their black hole feats, as smaller black holes are weaker than larger ones. Therefore, the black holes like Magolor's and Marx's are smaller than one would assume, and are far less powerful than full-sized ones.
F.A.C.T.S.: "That's actually 5,000 times stronger than Marx's black hole."
Chelsea: "Oh my god. You can hardly count this as fair."
F.A.C.T.S.: "Read it and weep, Chelsea. In fact, comparing all of their stellar feats to each other paints us a very, very clear picture."
Zero 	Meta Knight
Eurasia Space Colony
- 5 Zettatons	Kirby's Planet Bust
- 54 Zettatons
General's Durability
- 57.3 Zettatons	Halberd's Planet Bust
- 54 Zettatons
Sigma Punch
- 11 Ninatons 	Sphere Doomer's Black Hole
- 6.3 Yottatons
Gravity Beetle's Black Hole
- 1.577 Foe	Magolor's Black Hole
- 7.3 Yottatons
Gravity Antonion's Black Hole
- 1.8 Foe	Marx's Black Hole
- 0.2 Foe
X's Squeeze Bomb
- 18 Foe 	
Paradise Lost
- 1 Kilofoe 	
5-271% of feats are uncontested	1-425% of feats are uncontested
F.A.C.T.S.: "The sheer quantity and amplitude of Zero's feats dwarfs Meta Knight's by comparison. Despite Kirby's impressive feats of power-"
FACToid: Accept No ImitationsIt is true that Meta Knight defeated clones of Queen Sectonia and Dark Matter by himself. It's unlikely that they were exactly as powerful as the originals, however, and even then their power isn't on the same level as Magolor, Marx, or even some Mavericks that Zero's fought.
F.A.C.T.S.: "-even highballing their best feat is lower than the X series' weakest stellar feats."
Chelsea: "And I'm guessing arguing Universal Kirby's pretty fruitless too, huh?"
Manny: "Yeah, basically. Arguments of these villains being Universal aside, the final battles in the Kirby series are typically fought and defeated with powers that Meta Knight doesn't really have access to. In fact, he's usually the one to sit back and let Kirby do his thing. And fighting Galacta Knight doesn't even things out considering his doppelgänger didn't have better feats than what we mentioned already."
F.A.C.T.S.: "Let's make this a bit clearer. Even if we state that Meta Knight could theoretically blitz Zero even at his fastest, Zero is only 1,000 times slower than Meta Knight, taking Kirby's Warp Star into account and factoring in Meta Quick. On the other hand, Zero would be 5,000 times stronger and more durable than Meta Knight, and unlike Meta Knight for raw power, Zero has workarounds for a speed disadvantage."
Advantage: Zero
(Music Stops)
F.A.C.T.S.: "With that all said, here's the results!"
(Cue: affirmation (Ending Theme) - Mega Man X5 (OC ReMix))
Rick: "It's also worth noting that even with their types of elemental abilities being evenly matched, Zero's were way more versatile with his many, many technique, and his multiple weapons give him an arsenal advantage over the Star Warrior."
Manny: "Yeah, that's a good point. A lot of Zero's abilities came with powers-"
FACToid: Anything You Can Do... Part 1Many of Meta Knight's abilities were perfectly countered by Zero's own abilities, as they had several with similar effects. Even haxxier aspects of Meta Knight's toolkit, like manipulation of space via his cape, could be resisted by Zero (something Meta Knight did not have himself).
Manny: "-that Meta Knight just wasn't equipped to deal with, too. Dark Hold's ability to stop time was especially effective..."
FACToid: Anything You Can Do... Part 2In fact, Zero's multiple means of stopping time could put the brakes on Meta Knight's speedblitzing shenanigans, thus allowing him to outright defeat Meta Knight whenever he really felt like it. Since Meta Knight has not shown to resist time manipulation, he could not escape the attack.
Manny: "...since it could temporarily negate Meta Knight's speed advantage. The Black Zero and Absolute Zero forms just put Zero's strength and durability over Meta Knight's even more, making any chances Meta Knight would have had at winning pretty slim by the time they came into play."
F.A.C.T.S.: "Theoretically, if Meta Knight were to outlast Zero's limited energy supplies for his abilities and techniques, it's possible he'd have a better shot at winning. Unfortunately for him, Zero's pool of abilities, techniques and weapons is so massive that he would likely be finished before Zero's options had been fully exhausted. And even then, the Z-Saber and Z-Buster-"
FACToid: Et Tu, Star Warrior?Keep in mind that abilities like Healing and Meta Quick also canonically operate on a limited energy supply, meaning that Meta Knight could also be depleted of his skills over the course of the battle. Giving him more than that would permit Zero to utilize E-Tanks in battle.
F.A.C.T.S.: "-were all that Zero needed to win at the end of the day. His attack potency and durability were just too much for Meta Knight to overcome; advantages in arsenal and abilities were simply the icing on the cake."
Manny: "Hah! Take that, number system! Nothing is greater than Zero!"
F.A.C.T.S.: "Well, Zero only met-a knight once, but that was all it took for this fight to be... sword-ed out."
Rick: "The winner of this Battle Royale is Zero!"
Zero: "Even if we Reploids are destined to join the scrap heap when that evolutionary step does come about... we still have to fight. Not only against Mavericks, but against our own destiny as well..." (Zero's Wisdom - Mega Man X8)
=== Final Evaluation ===
Zero
Level: Large Star to Solar System
Speed: Billions FTL+
+Incredibly more powerful.
+More varied and abundant arsenal.
+Greater resistances to Meta Knight's hax.
+Can potentially nullify Galaxia.
+Transformations cover weaknesses.
-Stalemates with elements.
-Lacking in combat experience.
-Much, MUCH slower.
=Direct Durability Figures (no scaling)
=Self-Sustainability and Support
Meta Knight
Level: Large Planet to Large Star
Speed: Trillions FTL+
+Ridiculously faster.
+Has much more combat experience.
+Galaxia can absorb Zero's elements.
-Far more weaker and fragile.
-No reliable options to counter Zero's hax.
-Lacks many resistances unlike Zero.
-Loses field advantage when Zero transforms.
=Direct Durability Figures (no scaling)
=Self-Sustainability and Support
== Trivia ==
* The connection between Zero and Meta Knight is that they are platforming game characters with swords and a serious demeanor, and that both of them are allies, but sometimes foes, of the power-copying heroes of their games.
* During the episode's opening disclaimers, Revo can be heard saying the following:
** Revo: "So, I mean, you can tell me! I promise, I won't tell a soul. Come on! You can trust me. I'm telling you, this is like a drug to me."
* This episode's Revo Messages are:
** "Wanna see my season list?" - Zero's Background
** "Burn to the ground" - Zero's Abilities
** "Unless... Revo is in the fridge" - Zero's Moveset
** "That's the wrong number." - Zero's Feats
** "What am I fighting for!?" - Zero's Weaknesses
** "Now it's broken! Like Meta Knight!" - Meta Knight's Background
** "Revo waz here (again)" - Meta Knight's Abilities (part 1)
** "F.A.C.T.S. says trans rights" - Meta Knight's Abilities (part 2)
** "This was an extremely close match" - Meta Knight's Feats
** "It has got to be El Nacho!" - Meta Knight's Weaknesses
* This episode is Victoria's first appearance as the annoucer, as well as her first appearance in any of Crossover X's shows.
* This is the second episode in which the ending pun isn't said by Rick (the first being Yoshi VS Spyro); in this case, it was said by F.A.C.T.S.; this episode is also the first time F.A.C.T.S. got to say the ending pun.
* Errors in the episode:
** In Zero's analysis, where Manny calls X a Maverick at one point, whereas X never was one - the correct term would be Reploid.
** In the Results section, it is never states who holds the advantage in the Scaling section (Zero).
* Eddie from the Mega Man franchise cameos on the fight as one of those present on the Halberd. Similarly, a Crossover X graffiti can be seen on the airship as well.
* This episode's reveal trailer had two music tracks - X vs Zero - Mega Man X5 and Revenge of Meta Knight Medley - Kirby Super Star (Remix by GaMetal).
* This episode features Crossover X's first custom soundtracks for the fight animation, composed by CX composer TheManPF.
Category:Battle Royale Episodes
Category:Video Game vs. Video Game Episodes
Category:Anti-Hero vs. Anti-Hero Episodes
Category:Guys Only Episodes
Category:Fights animated by Armondew 9000!
Category:Nintendo vs. Capcom Episodes
Category:Fights animated by DJ.Dino
Category:Fights animated by Thewindyfan
Category:Manny's Winning Episodes
Category:Battle Royale Season One
Category:Hero vs. Anti-Hero Episodes