| Knuckles vs Katsuki Bakugou | |
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| Season 1, Episode 5 | |
Vital statistics
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| Air date | May 19th, 2020 |
| Written by | Datamari |
| Directed by | Datamari |
Episode guide
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| Previous | Next |
| James Bond vs John Wick | The Pyro vs Jason Voorhees |
Description[]
Sonic the Hedgehog vs My Hero Academia! Two bare-knuckled brawlers make sparks fly to see who can punch who the hardest! Who will it be, the descendant of the legendary Knuckles tribe, or the self-proclaimed successor to the legendary All Might?
Introduction[]
Bubbles: Many of the most powerful fighters go into fights with a clear mind and some semblance of a plan in mind. However, these two throw tactics out the window and let their fists do the talking.
Neo: Knuckles the Echidna, guardian of the Master Emerald from Sonic the Hedgehog!
Koopa: And Katsuki Bakugou, the explosive hero-in-training from My Hero Academia.
Neo: He’s Koopa, she’s Bubbles, and I’m Neo!
Koopa: And it’s our job to analyze their weapons, armor and skills to find out who would win…
Koopa, Bubbles and Neo: A DEATH BATTLE!!!
Knuckles the Echidna[]
Neo: Hey guys, did you know echidnas have four-
Koopa and Bubbles: NEO!
Neo: What? I was just gonna say echidnas are cool.
Koopa: Sure you were. Anyways, the Knuckles tribe strived for over four thousand years due to their immense strength and technology. However, hungry for power, they always dreamed of controlling the world, so they endlessly sought out the power of the Master Emerald.
Neo: But as it turns out, it was protected by a water dragon named Chaos that kicked their asses. Luckily, a young echidna girl named Tikal was able to seal away the dragon inside of the emerald, and thus the island took to the skies, now known as Angel Island. Centuries later, one last descendant of the Knuckles tribe became the sole guardian of the Master Emerald. His name? Knuckles.
Bubbles: While not the most creative name, Knuckles vowed to protect the family’s precious gem with his life… and time and time again fails to do so, because he’s pretty lazy. However, being a descendant of a powerful tribe, he has many natural abilities like super strength and speed. He even has a connection to the Master Emerald that not only increases his strength, but allows him to glide by trapping air underneath his dreadlocks.
Neo: I… don’t think that’s how flying works. Either way, Knuckles is a master of the legendary art of punching the crap out of everything! Seriously, that’s how Knuckles solves most of his problems, by punching the hell out of it! He’s so strong, he can climb up mountains just by punching each section until he gets to the top!
Koopa: Knuckles’ punches are so strong, he can ignite hydrogen and create small explosions in his fist. He even picked up a few of Sonic’s signature moves, like the Spin Dash and Homing Attack. Even more, Knuckles is able to tap into the power of the Chaos Emeralds and become Hyper Knuckles.
Bubbles: This form increases Knuckles’ already great strength, and allows him to fly. With all of these abilities, Knuckles proved himself to be a worthy guardian of the family relic, even if he’s not the brightest.
Neo: He’s fast enough to dodge machine gun fire, land on his feet when falling from the planet’s outer atmosphere, fight Sonic in an equal match, and even cause a volcanic eruption by punching the ground! Knux even punched this machine looking thing on the moon that changed its orbit, which must’ve taken over 5 gigatons of TNT!
Koopa: But there’s just one thing about Knuckles that we’ve been teasing is his biggest weakness… he’s insanely stupid. He’ll go into a fight without any real plan other than just punching the crap out of whatever’s in his way. Plus, he can’t even read.
Neo: But hey, if you can protect the Master Emerald time and time again with nothing but pure, brute strength, does intelligence even matter?
Neo, rapping along: Here I come, rougher than the rest of them, the best of them, tougher than leather, you can call me Knuckles, unlike Sonic I don't chuckle, I'd rather flex my muscles..~
Tails: Knuckles, you’re eating a napkin.
Knuckles: Yeah, I knew that.
Knuckles eats another part of the napkin.
Katsuki Bakugou[]
Koopa: When you think of superheroes, you typically think of the special group of people who stand out from everyone else in a spectacular way; people who can fly, people who are stronger than the average man, and people who protect those who cannot protect themselves.
Neo: Now take that whole “special group” and replace it with “basically everyone.”
Bubbles: Yes, in the world of My Hero Academia, the people of Earth possess their own special power known as a Quirk. Some use it for everyday life, but some use it for their own evil personal gain, and thus, superheroes exist as a sort of job opportunity to protect those with… less powerful quirks.
Neo: Yeah, some of the quirks in this show are kinda useless. Like… there’s a police officer that’s just a cat, and this girl can turn invisible.
Koopa: To become these powerful heroes, teenagers can enroll in special academies that can teach them to use their quirks for good. One of these students is Katsuki Bakugou, a young and promising hero who seeks to surpass his idol, All Might.
Neo: Except… this kid’s a total dick! I mean, he bullies a quirkless kid, thinks he’s better than everyone, and throws a tantrum whenever something doesn’t go his way! God, I hate kids.
Koopa: Well, while Bakugo isn’t the most level-headed student at UA, he’s certainly a student with a ton of power and a ton of potential. His quirk is simply known as Explosion, which allows him to produce sweat similar to nitroglycerin from his hands and detonate it at will to create small explosions.
Neo: Now where have I heard that before…
Bubbles: The more Bakugou sweats, the more nitroglycerin he produces, and thus his explosions become more powerful, meaning working himself up is actually a useful strategy. With this quirk, Bakugou learned how to control it and use it for offense, defense, and even mobility.
Neo: He can use these explosions to propel himself into the air or simply to move faster. He’s also got some other abilities related to his quirk, like being able to turn his explosions into essentially a stun grenade, flashing and blinding any opponents either up close or from a distance away.
Koopa: Bakugou can even form a circle on the palm of his outstretched hand and fire an explosion through the hole, known as the AP Shot. He can even shoot weaker, more rapid versions of the shot with AP Shot Auto-Cannon. But his most powerful attack is the Howitzer Impact, where he basically becomes an exploding tornado.
Bubbles: With these abilities, Bakugo became one of the most powerful students in Class 1-A, even winning the U.A. Sports Festival, beating powerful opponents such as Todoroki, Tokoyami and Kirishima. Todoroki’s ice was able to reach Supersonic speeds, and Bakugou himself was even able to tunnel completely through his large glacier, which could reach as tall as the arena they fought in.
Neo: He’s destroyed an entire building floor, was able to outdo All Might with the help of Deku and even bested young Midoriya in battle, is fast enough to travel over 50 meters in 4 seconds, and was even able to stun All Might, though it’s questionable whether or not he was actually using his full power or not.
Koopa: Bakugou is also surprisingly intelligent despite his anger issues. He’s able to adjust his battle style and strategy on the fly depending on the situation, either by exploiting his opponent’s weakness or learning their strategy. But of course, those anger issues can be an issue, as he’s prone to be uncooperative due to his ego, remain in dire situations due to his desire to win, and since his power’s sweat-based, he can struggle in colder climates.
Neo: Bakugou’s a bit of a prick, but with one hell of a quirk, he’s easily one of the most promising students in Class 1-A.
Bakugou: King Explosion Murder.
Midnight: I’m gonna say that one’s a little too violent.
Bakugou: HUH, WHADDYA MEAN?!
Kirishima: Why don’t you be Explosion Boy?
Bakugou: SHUT UP, WEIRD HAIR!
Interlude[]
Koopa: Alright, the combatants are set, let’s end this debate once and for all.
Neo: It’s time for a DEATH BATTLE!!!
Pre-Fight[]
In Musutafu, Japan, multiple villains could be seen destroying buildings and terrorizing the city. However, a small plane could be seen flying towards it. It was the team of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, Tails piloting the plane, and Sonic and Knuckles standing on the wings.
Sonic: Alright, I’ll take the north side and work my way to the west. Knuckles, you take the south and east. Tails, keep your eyes on the sky.
Tails: Got it!
Knuckles: Piece of cake.
As Tails got close to a tall building, Sonic jumped and ran down it, and Knuckles jumped and glided across the sky, seeing a group of villains. Meanwhile, Deku, Todoroki and Bakugou were running and deciding where to go.
Deku: Todoroki, go fight that grass user, but stay away from any foliage!
Todoroki: Got it.
Deku: Kacchan, go fight-
Bakugou: Don’t tell me what to do, pipsqueak! I’ll fight who I want!
Before Deku could intervene, Bakugou lifted himself into the air, almost flying. However, when he got high enough, he collided with something flying through the air, the two landing on a building nearby. Knuckles stood and saw the young hero.
Knuckles: Look kid, you might wanna get out of here. Why don’t you let me and my friends take care of-
Bakugou: SHUT UP! You working with them?!
Knuckles looked and saw the villains, shaking his head.
Knuckles: No, no! We’re the good guys, we-
Bakugou: Doesn’t matter, I’ve got time to kick your ass!
Bakugou cracked his knuckles.
FIGHT!
Fight[]
Knuckles: Kid, trust me, you don’t want-
Bakugou dashed forwards and punched Knuckles, causing him to fly back onto an AC unit. Knuckles gets up and uses the Spindash, running into Bakugou as they both fly off the building. Knuckles punches him downwards, following him as he purposely misses a tackle into the ground, digging into it. Bakugou lands on his feet, but can’t seem to see where his opponent went. Knuckles digs out of the ground and uppercuts Bakugou, punching him into the building as he bounces off, letting Knuckles punch him again. Bakugou gets up and wipes his mouth, using his explosions to move towards Knuckles to kick him, catching up with him multiple times with different punches.
Before Knuckles could get hit again, he stopped and slid, blocking Bakugou’s punches by grabbing his arm. Knuckles punched him in the face, following up with two gut punches and an uppercut, ending it with a two-handed punch. Bakugou flew back and got up, growling. He formed a circle with his hand and put it on his palm, his palm igniting and firing multiple shots at Knuckles. The echidna ran through each of them, but before he could get close enough to hit Bakugou, the boy’s hand suddenly glew again and blew up, knocking Knuckles back. He went to stand up, but Bakugou flew towards him and delivered multiple punches to him, but was blocked by one of Knuckles’ punches. The two traded blows, eventually ending when Bakugou opened his fist and blew Knuckles away.
Knuckles recovered in the air and used a homing attack on Bakugou, digging back into the ground. Bakugou stomped on the ground next to the hole, sticking his hand in and firing an explosive. Knuckles popped out from behind him and punched him in the back of the head, going back underground as Bakugou did the same for that hole. He kept this up, until Bakugou had an idea. When Knuckles came up, he ducked and punched him into a wall, then grabbed him and jumped. Bakugou began spinning with his explosions propelling him, and threw Knuckles into the ground where he dug, causing the ground to crumble and create a large hole that stretched out across the street.
Bakugou stood by the hole, scoffing at his win as he began to walk away.
Bakugou: Peh. Can’t believe I almost let a rodent beat me.
Before he could lift himself into the air, he felt a surge of energy behind him, almost falling over as he turned around. Knuckles had surrounded himself with 7 jewels, floating into the air as he absorbed them and transformed into Hyper Knuckles.
Knuckles: Can’t believe I almost let a kid beat me!
Before Bakugou could react, Knuckles flew towards him and sped by him multiple times, eventually grabbing him and lifting him into the air. He threw him upwards and sped by him multiple times once more, punching him as he passed by. Bakugou attempted to propel himself away, but Knuckles flew in front of him, grabbing him and throwing him through a building, flying to where his opponent would fly and winding up his fist, delivering a powerful punch to Bakugou’s head, the sudden change in momentum causing his head to fly off of his shoulders into the distance.
Knuckles landed on a building nearby as his Hyper form faded.
Knuckles: Phew. Glad that’s over.
Post Fight[]
K.O!
Neo: Well, that’s one minor down on the death counter.
Bubbles: Bakugou may have held the intelligence advantage, and was certainly more cunning than Knuckles, but the echidna trumped just about everything else. Knuckles was strong enough to destroy a moon reciever that could change the moon’s orbit, way more powerful than Bakugou’s glacier or building feat combined.
Koopa: He was also far faster. Even though Bakugou could keep up with Deku, who at that point could dodge bullets, Knuckles could keep up with Sonic, who… yeah, I think you get the idea. Obviously due to Knuckles’ stupidity, Bakugou did have superior tactics, and was able to find a strategy that worked, but sometimes brain isn’t enough to beat brawn.
Neo: Plus, Knuckles has been able to beat opponents who were far smarter due to just being way stronger, like Eggman, who had an IQ of over 300 and created machinery more powerful than any modern weaponry.
Koopa: Bakugou was definitely a tough match for Knuckles, and if given more time, he could devise some strategy to win, but Knuckles hardly needs one when he’s just that damn strong.
Neo: Looks like Bakugou couldn’t keep aHEAD!
Koopa: The winner is Knuckles.
Next Time on Death Battle![]
Neo: Next time on Death Battle!
The screen stays dark for a moment, then a sudden…
Ch ch ch, ah ah ah…
Ch ch ch, ah ah ah...
A hockey mask comes out of the darkness as the chant continues, suddenly being engulfed by flames as a muffled laugh could be heard in the background.
JASON VORHEES VS THE PYRO!
COMING MAY 25TH!
Alternate Ending[]
Before Bakugou could react, Knuckles flew towards him and sped by him multiple times, eventually grabbing him and lifting him into the air. He threw him upwards and sped by him multiple times once more, punching him as he passed by. Bakugou attempted to propel himself away, but Knuckles flew in front of him, grabbing him and throwing him through a building. Bakugou landed inside of the building, winding his fist back and hitting Knuckles as he flew towards him. Bakugou quickly propelled himself towards Knuckles and grabbed his face, lighting him up with explosions as he used his other hand to propel him faster onto the ground.
Bakugou: DIE!!!
Bakugou slammed Knuckles onto the ground, a massive explosion erupting downtown as buildings around it began to crumble. An equally big crater was created as well, with Bakugou on his knees, catching his breath as he noticed Knuckle's head and torso had been completely demolished, only his arms and legs remaning. Bakugou stood up, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Bakugou: Finally... the strength I was looking for.