Talk:Shulk vs Young Xehanort/@comment-25275196-20160323070512/@comment-25275196-20160325033101

That's a kinda interesting way of looking at the battle. You say that the timeline is fixed by Xehanort's furture self, and his past self alters time to change it toward  that timeline. That sounds extremely familiar. It is almost identical to what Zanza was doing with Shulk prior to the Mechonis core. Zanza was one with the passage of fate, and so the timeline could flow only towards the inevitable. That means that Xehanort's abilities are similar to that of Zanza's. Shulk managed to escape the passage of fate, and that is the main reason why he was able to defeat Zanza; not the Monado III. The same situation would/should apply here.

Now, Shulk is a smart guy, and able to work out quite a few things. He's an scientist, after all. He would figure out that time was repeating, and work out a way to stop it. In the fight, he came very close to destroying the clock. Who's to say that he couldn't act faster to destroy the clock the next time? Especially after learning Xehanort's fighting style.