Knuckles vs. Piccolo

## Description

*Guardians of powerful treasures, these two former enemies-turned-allies are ready to settle the score.*

## Interlude

Hiro: They are devoted to their duty as guardians of the skies, their races driven to near-extinction.

**MBStarscream: This naturally put them at odds with the main heroes of their worlds, but they've since learned to soften up a little and work with 'em. But only one of them can win a Fatal Fiction.**

Hiro: Knuckles the Echidna, guardian of the Master Emerald from Sonic the Hedgehog.

**MBStarscream: And Piccolo, the Namekian-turned-Z Fighter from Dragon Ball.**

Hiro: I'm Hiro Hamada.

**MBStarscream: I'm MBStarscream.**

Hiro: And it's our job to examine both warriors' strength, abilities, weapons, and weaknesses to see who would win in a fight.

## Knuckles

Hiro: Thousands of years ago, the Knuckles Clan thrived on advanced techonology and a talent for warfare. They had a drive to conquer the world, and in their desire to acheive this goal, they set out on a raid to obtain the Master Emerald for its immense power.

**MBStarscream: Well, too bad for them, 'cause the giant water dragon Chaos got pissed and wiped 'em all out! Heh, good riddance.**

Hiro: All except a single echidna girl known as Tikal, who managed to seal herself away in the Master Emerald along with Chaos, and the magic caused the area surrounding the shrine to become Angel Island, also known as the continent in the sky. Centuries later, the sole heir to the clan still watches over the Emerald to this day; his name... Knuckles the Echidna.

**MBStarscream: Knux lived a pretty lonely life on Angel Island, spending the majority of his time guarding the Master Emerald and resting since very few would dare consider taking the Emerald until a certain Dr. Eggman decided to do exactly that, but not before duping Knuckles into thinking that a blue hedgehog and his fox sidekick would seek to steal it.**

Hiro: Without the Master Emerald, Angel Island was brought down to the surface, until Sonic knocked some sense into Knuckles; thus, Eggman's ploy was discovered and the two teamed up to return the emerald and restore Angel Island to its rightful place in the sky, with Knuckles becoming a close ally to the hedgehog, helping him on further outings. While the Emerald and the hedgehog have faced adversity over the years, Knuckles has always lent both a helping hand.

**MBStarscream: His role as the guardian of the Master Emerald allows Knuckles to sense its presence and harness a fraction of its energy, which he then focuses in an ancient martial art passed down through his clan; luckily for Knuckles, this art involves lots of punching.**

Hiro: Many of the the obstacles he faces, he tends to solve by punching, which to his credit, actually works often, and he knows his craft well; with his physicality, he can dodge machine gun fire, punch so fast that he can cause explosions, and punch with enough force to trigger a volcanic eruption. And thanks to the Master Emerald and the ties he shares with it, its power has granted him more niche abilities, such as gliding through the air with his dreadlock-like quills, and being able to dig through rock with the spikes on his fists; with the aid of shovel-esque attachments, he can go so far as to dig through solid metal.

**MBStarscream: Knuckles also shares some of Sonic's moves like the Spin Dash, where he curls in a ball and rev up quickly to plow down enemies or go through tight spaces, even being able to perform a similar technique while on the wall. The Homing Attack is an aerial version of this Spin Dash that homes in on a target; Knux can then either repeatedly strike a single target or chain across several different targets.**

Hiro: Similar to Sonic's Light Speed Attack, after charging his energy for a moment, Knuckles can chain together attacks against multiple foes at incredible speeds. He can summon lightning bolts to strike his target and perform the Knuckles Slam, where he jumps into the air while charging up energy before punching the ground with his fists, creating a large column of red energy. After this, a red field made of bursts of fire and minor exploding shockwaves surrounds Knuckles.

**MBStarscream: After collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds, Knuckles achieves his own Super form, and he's now able to climb and run much faster than before, as well as fly freely.**

Hiro: Knuckles' strength is also enhanced to the point where he can easily smash a ship from the Egg Fleet with a single strike and throw punches so powerful that he creates fireballs which explode upon impact. He even mentions that if he had been in this form while Sonic was fighting Wyvern in *his* Super form, the fight would've been over quicker. Wyvern was one of four enormous robotic entites called Titans that Sonic was unable to fight against normally, their power being just that great, and had been able to fight against an extraordinarily powerful god-like entity known only as the End, ultimately helping seal it in Cyber Space for eons.

**MBStarscream: But the real deal is Hyper Knuckles, a form that is only achieved after powering up the Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald, turning them into the Super Emeralds.**

Hiro: This Hyper form of Knuckles multiples his natural abilities many times over; his already impressive strength, speed and accuracy increase vastly, and he is virtually invulnerable as long as the transformation lasts.

**MBStarscream: Since Hyper Knuckles is an enhanced version of Super Knuckles, all of his physical abilities further surpass that of his traditional Super form and he gains additional abilities as well. When gliding into a wall at full speed, Hyper Knuckles can perform additional shock wave attack that causes a sudden earthquake and destroys all enemies on-screen, and he can now breathe underwater as well.**

Hiro: Knuckles is one of the strongest members within Sonic's circle of friends, and for good reason. When Eggman destroyed half the moon and replaced the destroyed half with machinery to remote control it and make a perpetual eclipse, Knuckles went into space, and punched out the remote control to create an explosion visible from Earth and return the moon to its proper orbit.

**MBStarscream: Super Knuckles, meanwhile, should be capable of achieving the same level of power that Super Sonic has used to fight the likes of Metal Overlord, the Super Egg Robot, the Finalhazard, Dark Gaia, Ultimate Gemerl, Perfect Chaos, the Time Eater, all four of the Titans, the End, and even Solaris.**

Hiro: However, with all this strength, it would be safe to assume that Knuckles lacks intelligence to back it up, and one would be correct in that assumption. By far the least intelligent of Sonic's compatriots, Knuckles is illiterate and inattentive, once unaware he was eating a napkin, only to continue eating it after the fact. He also lacks strategic planning, preferring jump into a fight all guns blazing.

**MBStarscream: To crown off his ignorance, although he had already been duped and declared him an enemy before, Knuckles has been tricked by Eggman into allying with him on multiple occasions. Regardless, with as much strength as Knuckles has, sometimes it's enough to carry him through, and if someone gets on his bad side, he's ready to bring the hurt.**

*Sonic: Face it, you're never going to get my power.*

*Sonic zooms right at Knuckles, resulting in an explosion of light. As it dims, it is revealed that Knuckles is holding Sonic in place in his spin attack form. He starts walking forward, pushing Sonic back...*

*Knuckles: Do I look like I need* your *power?*

*...before he raises a fist and pummels Sonic into the ground, creating a massive explosion of chaos energy and a large crater.*

## Piccolo

Hiro: At some point in the not-too-distant past, the Namekians were a well-known spacefaring race native to Planet Namek. One generation ago in their past, a great tempest nearly eradicated the entire Namekian race, leaving only two survivors. Of these two, one remained on Namek to slowly repopulate the planet, while the other was sent to safety on Earth.

**MBStarscream: But this Namekian had too much evil in his heart to be a guardian of Earth, so he expelled that evil, dividing him into two, the good half, Kami, and the bad half, Piccolo Daimao, literally meaning "Great Demon King Piccolo".**

Hiro: With Kami taking his place as guardian of Earth, Piccolo set loose and spreads chaos around the world, starting his reign of terror. With no one capable of matching his powers, humanity was left helpless against the demon lord, until Mutaito - Master Roshi and Master Shen's master - sealed him away at the cost of his own life. Centuries later, he was freed by Pilaf and proved to be the toughest opponent yet for the young Son Goku.

**MBStarscream: Of course, like all the villains he went down eventually, in this case by a fist straight through his midsection, but not before passing his mind onto the last of his offspring... by spitting out an egg-- oh, God, that's gross.**

Hiro: Determined to avenge his father's death, Ma Junior spent the next three years training for the next World Martial Arts Tournament in which he knew Goku would be competing, planning to kill him and take over the world as his father had hoped to.

**MBStarscream: Buuuut he'd end up losing to Goku and being allowed to live, soon abandoning his ambitions and joining the Z Fighters as one of their most trusted allies, even becoming a mentor and second father figure to Goku's son Gohan. D'aw.**

Hiro: Piccolo is one of the strongest characters in the Dragon Ball universe, and has a variety of unique abilities that come from hard training and his own Namekian heritage. Most notabe of his Namekian abilities is the power to regrow lost limbs and destroyed organs as long as his head remains intact. He can also extend his arms to great lengths to attack and grab opponents from a distance, and he can even use his regenerative powers to greatly increase his body's volume, growing significantly in size as a result.

**MBStarscream: But that's not all. He's incredibly skilled in the art of ki control, and as a member of the Dragon Clan, Piccolo has several magical abilities.**

Hiro: The Mafuba, also known as the Evil Containment Wave, is a mystic sealing technique designed to seal evil away by sucking them into a special container with a "demon seal" ofuda on it. Not only does Piccolo know how to use the Mafuba itself, but he also has knowledge of its counter, which allows him to reflect it when it's used against him. He can also create objects and clothing, seemingly out of thin air, often using this to create his weighted clothing whenever he has a need for it.

**MBStarscream: Piccolo has a number of signature techniques, such as the Explosive Demon Wave, where he holds out one arm with the other supporting it and fires a powerful energy blast. Another is the Special Beam Cannon, where Piccolo holds his index and middle fingers up to his forehead, charging energy into them, then holds his fingers out in front of him. Two energy beams fire from Piccolo's fingers, one spiraling around the other and the attack is powerful to drill through almost anything, exploding against everything else.**

Hiro: Another of his techniques is Scatter Shot, where he swings his arms out to his sides, charging energy spheres into each hand. Piccolo then cries out the attack's name, firing numerous energy spheres at his opponent. Another technique he uses is Light Grenade, where he brings his hands together in front of him. Piccolo then forms a yellow energy sphere in his hands, before bringing his hands forward and firing the sphere.

**MBStarscream: Piccolo is also extremely intelligent, with tremendous amounts of skill in strategy and high amounts of wisdom. Indeed, his high intellect and great wisdom has been relied on heavily by the Z Fighters on more than one occasion. He is a strategic, careful fighter, playing dead to bait Goku into dropping his guard in their first fight, and acting like he was defeated to get information after Cell absorbed some of his energy and disabled his arm.**

Hiro: He's also quite skilled at judging the strength and abilities of others and analyzing their abilities, quickly detecting that Goku wasn't at his best when he was fighting Android 19 and that Vegeta would be outlasted and defeated by Android 18. And when he removes the weighted turban and cape he wears as part of his Demon Clothes, his power level increases, and gains a more agile fighting style to go with it, called Agile Style.

**MBStarscream: Real original.**

Hiro: In Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Piccolo obtained the ability to take on the Potential Unleashed state by wishing for it from Shenron, unlocking the deepest levels of his latent potential. His version of the form is referred to as Power Awakening, and he became even more powerful when he achieved... *Orange*... Piccolo.

**MBStarscream: Oh, come on, they're not even trying now.**

Hiro: This is, regardless, Piccolo at his strongest to date. He was able to casually one-shot Gamma 2, the second of two androids created by Dr. Hedo, and while outperformed by Cell Max, he soon recovered his Orange Great Namekian form to restrain him with Demon Hand, giving Gohan the opening to pierce Cell Max's weak point with one last Special Beam Cannon.

**MBStarscream: *Orange* Piccolo is implied to be stronger than Goku and Vegeta themselves, as it was implied they would've stood no chance against Cell Max if they were the in place of Gohan and Piccolo. For reference, Vegeta kept pace with Goku amplified by a 20x boost via Kaioken when both Saiyans fought Hit during the Tournament of Power, the same Hit who overpowered Dyspo and fought a heavily suppressed Jiren, and Goku himself of course shook Universe 7 while fighting Beerus, putting Piccolo on a level on par or even above those separate feats.**

Hiro: However, Piccolo still has flaws. His regeneration not only burns his stamina, but will only work if his brain is intact, and he becomes a much bigger target if he grows to giant size despite the drastic increase in strength. Piccolo's power is also split among his clones, meaning that if he creates thirty clones, they’ll each only have one thirtieth of his overall power.

**MBStarscream: But be glad that this Namekian has long since joined the forces of good. Because you'll defintely wanna stay on Piccolo's good side if you know what's good for you.**

*Nappa: Maybe you're a Namekian, but one of you is like a fly to me!*

*Piccolo: Why don't you step right up, and I'll show you!*

## Fatal Fiction

*Mario flips a coin.*

Hiro: Well, Piccolo takes terrain, but can Knuckles punch his way to victory?

**MBStarscream: Depends if Piccolo knows the way or not.**

*Tropical Islands*

Just off the east of Papaya Island was an archipelago that would serve as the battle grounds for two powerful guardians.

A red anthropomorphic echidna with spiky white gloves, red and yellow shoes with green cuffs and metal blades, purple eyes, and a white crescent-shaped patch of fur on his chest sprung out of the ground, touched down, then threw a few fast-paced air-punches, showing he was ready for battle. Because **Knuckles the Echidna** never chuckled when it came to battle.

"Alright, green guy, put 'em up!"

His back turned to the echidna, the green alien humanoid sitting in front of him stood up and cast aside his cape and turban before muttering, "Fine...Shall we get started then?"

Sporting a toothy grin, Knuckles bounded towards his foe with a fist drawn back, only for **Piccolo** to turn around and block his blow while powering up.

"Hmph... let's test your skills, red warrior."

**FIGHT!**

Piccolo kept his arm held up as Knuckles unloaded blow after blow, punching hard and fast enough to generate explosions that barely seemed to phase the Namekian. Knuckles finally threw a shoryuken-style uppercut, but even this didn't seem to work. Piccolo swung his leg in a powerful roundhouse kick that Knuckles managed to block with both hands, the force of the kick pushing him far back. Piccolo then put his hands together and fired a large sphere of energy from between them that Knuckles managed to catch in his hands, struggling to hold it back as he was pushed further backward. Finally, Knuckles managed to throw Piccolo's Light Grenade back at him, only for the mentor of Gohan to deflect his own redirected attack and dash forward to strike Knuckles across the face with his elbow.

After dealing a devastating combo, Piccolo grabbed Knuckles and threw him up before stretching his arm after him, grabbing him by the leg, and slamming him into the ground. Piccolo then pulled Knuckles toward him and planted an upward jab of his knee into the echidna's chin, finally sending him flying back with a punch to the gut. Knuckles took a moment to recover before punching the ground, then heaving out a giant boulder that he proceeded to punch into the air, splitting it to pieces as the ever-so-stoic Piccolo watched. When the pieces came down, Knuckles punched them at Piccolo, turning them into makeshift cannonballs that punched big holes in the Namekian's chest and stomach.

To Knuckles' astonishment, the wounds healed as quickly as they had been inflicted, Piccolo shrugging with indifference. He then fired out a barrage of smaller energy spheres, which suspended themselves in the air. After a few seconds, Piccolo brought his hands inward, causing the energy spheres to all converge on each other as Knuckles tunneled underground to avoid them. In a move that caught Piccolo by surprise, Knuckles shot up from under his feet to uppercut him once more, falling back underground and repeating the process five times before returning to the battlefield.

Knuckles rushed at Piccolo with a single punch that resulted in him standing over the Namekian and repeatedly punching him, cracking the ground with each hit. He prepared one final punch as his fist was enveleoped in flames, but Piccolo suddenly powered up even more as his eyes snapped open. Knuckles was sent flying back and planted his fist into the ground, creating a broad shockwave of fire as Piccolo stood up, his body taking on a yellowish hue and his aura taking on a golden glow.

Piccolo had tapped into Potential Unleashed.

"Well, *you* look different." Knuckles noted, pounding his gloved fists together. "This your Super form or what?" He was certainly having flashbacks of punching the "Super" out of Super Sonic right now.

"This is Potential Unleashed," Piccolo said matter-of-factly. "It lets me use my latent power as its highest level. Let's see how long you last against it."

Knuckles took a combat stance and flew forward, fists outstretched and body spiraling like a drill. Piccolo stretched his arm after him, grabbing the echidna, and pulled him in close before punching him in the gut and throwing him up into the air. Piccolo then grew into a giant and threw out a kick imbued with an aura of energy, followed by smashing Knuckles with two more kicks. Piccolo then pulled back his hand, charging up an orb of energy within it, before slamming the energy sphere directly into his opponent, causing it to explode and blasting Knuckles away. Knuckles glided in mid-air with his fists outstretched, turning himself around to face Piccolo as he flew in the Namekian's direction.

Piccolo leaped into the air to meet him head-on and threw a punch at Knuckles' outstretched fists before kicking him away. He rapidly teleported around Knuckles and overwhelmed him with another combo before kicking him into a large rock, shattering it to pieces as a bruised Knuckles hit the ground once again. Pushing himself onto a knee and fist, Knuckles breathed heavily as he tried to get himself back in the game.

"I'll need... the Chaos Emeralds... for this one..." he panted. He managed to stand as Piccolo landed in front of him, as the seven emeralds themselves suddenly appeared and surrounded him, granting the echidna a simple, pulsating golden energy shield around himself.

He had become Super Knuckles.

"Ha ha! How's this for potential unleashed?" He laughed proudly, ever eager to show off his new power. Piccolo stopped in his tracks, observing the form with interest. It certainly gave him vibes of a Super Saiyan. "Hmm... show me."

The two empowered warriors charged and clashed with enough force and power to shake the island they fought on. Knuckles seemed to throw fireballs with each punch that Piccolo deflected or countered with his own blows, their fists meeting at blinding speed. Piccolo strangely found himself unable to break through the shield surrounding Knuckles with his blows alone, so after bringing his index and middle fingers to his forehead, Piccolo charged up and fired a spiraling laser that pushed Knuckles back. The two continued fighting in the sky, parting clouds and shaking the Earth with each blow.

Knuckles slammed his fists together and charged them with red electricity, before rushing forward while unleashing a barrage of rapid-fire punches, ending with a powerful haymaker that released a large burst of red lightning and sent Piccolo flying backwards. Knuckles rocketed towards Piccolo at blinding speed and rushed through him multiple times, hitting his foe with a flurry of powerful strikes. Knuckles then flew up into the air above Piccolo and lifted one of his fists skyward, following by crashing down on top of him and landing a single, powerful punch that slammed Piccolo back into the ground.

As the dust on the ground cleared, Knuckles could faintly make out a symbol of some sort appearing on Piccolo's back before the Namekian seemed to power up even further, as he underwent another drastic change.

Now noticably taller and bulkier, Piccolo's pupils became red, his skin became orange, his antennae pointed sharply upward, and his facial features changed, making his cheekbones more pronounced, jawline more chiseled, and his chin broader with a cleft, making him look more brutish than normal.

This was, as his new skin color suggested, Orange Piccolo.

Now at his most powerful, Piccolo turned to look up at Knuckles, who had only one thing to say with his arms folded.

"Orange, huh? Didn't expect that." Piccolo let out a chuckle before responding with, "Can't say I was expecting yellow for you either, echidna."

With a comment of "Touché", Knuckles curled into a ball and launched himself at Piccolo in a Homing Attack, which Piccolo countered with a palm strike. Piccolo hit Knuckles (or rather his Super shield) with a rapid-fire punching combo which Knuckles eventually countered by charging his fist with red electricity and launching Piccolo sky-high with an uppercut. Supporting his leading arm with the other, Piccolo fired a powerful wave of ki straight towards Knuckles, who dodged and sucker-punched him in the gut so hard that it left a bloody cavity. As Piccolo leaned over in pain, trying to keep his entrails inside, Knuckles pulled his fist out of the hole and planted a haymaker into Piccolo's face, causing it to cave in and letting him fly back.

Piccolo felt his stamina weaken as his body regenerated the devastating injuries, wincing in pain. His natural healing factor could only keep him going for so long in this fight, so he had to finish this quickly. Once the wounds were closed up, he glared defiantly up at Knuckles while powering up. Knuckles flew forward with his fists outstretched and spinning like a drill again, but Piccolo fired a powerful and fast blast of ki that rapidly homes in on the echidna, effectively stopping him mid-charge. Growing giant-sized again, Piccolo clapped his hands together around Knuckles, who held out his hands to keep the hands from crushing him.

Curling into a ball again, Knuckles hit Piccolo in the face with another Homing Attack, and then barraged him with several more until Piccolo managed to punch him into the ground. Knuckles struggled to hold up Piccolo's massive fist until he managed to punch it away... only for Piccolo to send him flying like a football with a single kick. Shaking the cobwebs out of his head, Knuckles watched as Piccolo charged up another Special Beam Cannon, and got an idea. As he depowered out of his Super form, Knuckles closed his eyes tightly and mentally called upon the power of the Master Emerald, enhancing the Emeralds into the Super Emeralds, and they entered his body just as Piccolo's attack launched.

The light dimmed to reveal Knuckles blocking the Special Beam Cannon with one hand, now in a different form. His force shield was gone, and his fur was now pulsing from red to a whitish pink, signalling the arrival of Hyper Knuckles. Knocking Piccolo's attack aside with a noticable air of nonchalance, Hyper Knuckles took a stance and charged fast enough to left afterimages behind, catching Piccolo by complete surprise with a massive punch. Piccolo shrunk to normal size as he flew spinning through the air, coming to a stop and righting himself to face Knuckles while taking his own stance.

The two warriors said not a word as they faced each other in their most powerful states, waiting for the other to make their move. Then in the literal blink of an eye, Piccolo teleported forward while Knuckles crossed the distance in the same instant... and used a single finger flick to send his orange opponent flying away from the island and over the ocean. Knuckles was there to meet Piccolo as fast as it had happened, and the two proceeded to brawl above the water at such speeds that afterimages were left behind every move. Knuckles punched Piccolo through the water before they both ended up at the ocean floor, where they rapidly traded punches to the point of creating a vortex of water around them, leaving them with dry land to stand on.

Piccolo managed to launch Knuckles back through the water with a punch to the stomach, as the vortex proceeded to crash around him. He was forced to break the surface just to get some air, only to be greeted with the sight of the *entire archipelago* being lifted out of the water; closer inspection revealed Knuckles as the culprit, smirking toothily before tossing the island at Piccolo in one fluid motion.

Piccolo's response?

Fire a single Special Beam Cannon that drilled through the island, obliterating it in a massive explosion as Knuckles held out his hands to shield himself.

As the beam pushed him further away from Earth, Knuckles narrowed his eyes and assumed ball form again, launching into a Homing Attack that let him plow right through the beam towards Piccolo, resulting in an explosion of chaos energy and ki as a massive splash was created. A moment of silence as the water settled, only for Piccolo, now in base form, to emerge from the surface while holding an unconscious Knuckles, now also in base form, by the back of his neck. Without a word, he threw Knuckles into the air and fired another Special Beam Cannon that tore through his chest and out his back, leaving a cavity and letting the lifeless echidna fall into the water once more, never to surface again.

"Hmm. I should see how Gohan is doing." Piccolo said to no one in particular before flying off to check on the son of Goku as if this whole battle had never happened.

**FATALTY!**

## Results

**MBStarscream: *That* got Hyper.**

Hiro: At first, Knuckles seemed outclassed in a few key areas, as he's never exactly been a long-ranged fighter.

**MBStarscream: If he wants any shot whatsoever at attacking Piccolo, he's gotta get up close. The issue is that the moment Piccolo figures that out (and he definitely would), he'll do everything to keep Knuckles from closing the distance. And even if Knuckles does close that gap, he can't do shit to Piccolo in terms of damage, mostly due to the latter's regeneration.**

Hiro: And that's assuming Piccolo doesn't just keep out of his range further via flight. But when their upgraded forms came in, things got a little more interesting.

**MBStarscream: First, let's look at Super Knuckles and Potential Unleashed Piccolo. Super Knuckles was on par with Metal Overlord and implicitly Wyvern, while PU Piccolo faced off against Gamma 2's full power.**

Hiro: Gamma 2 was equipped with the power needed to compete with Goku and Vegeta based on data up to a certain point, and was compared to those two by Piccolo himself. Gamma 2 could also move at speeds of at least 118.25 sextillion c, likely at least 2.95625 nonilion c. How fast was Super Knuckles in comparison? Enough to be on par with Super Sonic, who managed to hit Solaris before the latter could react. Solaris is a transcendent life form that is stated to exist across all 3 phases of time; the past, present, and future at the same time, as Sonic, Shadow and Silver each needed to split up and travel to one of these different periods in order to simultaneously strike it throughout all points in time to even subdue it.

**MBStarscream: Now I know what you're all thinking: If Knuckles could rival that, how the hell did he lose to Piccolo?**

Hiro: It's quite simple, really. See, putting aside the argument of Solaris eating timelines individually, supported by Eggman saying Solaris eats dimensions for lunch and time will THEN collapse into nothing after Solaris eats all timelines, Super Sonic doesn't scale. While he could destory Solaris' armor, he couldn't hurt his actual body without attacking its explicit weakpoint. Eggman outright says "If we can't stop his form, we'll stop his consciousness." He exploited Solaris' weakness to win, and it didn't even kill him, it just rendered him braindead.

**MBStarscream: Even if Sonic did scale to Solaris and even if we could put Knuckles at that level, Knuckles still wouldn't be fast enough to land a hit on Piccolo.**

Hiro: Now onto our last topic of discussion, Hyper Knuckles vs. Orange Piccolo. Look, we'll just be blunt: even putting Hyper Knuckles to a 49x multiplier and saying current Super Sonic is as strong as the Egg Salamander, making Hyper Knuckles 98x universal, Orange Piccolo would still be 135x stronger via downscaling from Cell Max, who could compete with post-Top Goku and Vegeta, who would be 13,250x universal.

**MBStarscream: Literally all Knuckles had was more fighting experience and Hyper being invincible, but even those didn't matter in the end. *Pic* a lane, Knuckles, 'cause there's no other *way* for you to go.**

Hiro: Piccolo wins.

## Advantages

### Piccolo (Winner)

* Faster
* Far better trained
* Greater martial arts experience
* Superior regenration
* Smarter
* Titanic range advantage
* Stronger
* More powerful transformations and scaling