Growing Pains Novel Growing Pains - Chapter 55

Funnily enough despite being a Saiyan, I never considered myself an overly prideful person.

Sure I had my monts where pride caused

to do sothing stupid like the ti with the kangaroos — not that those overgrown rodents didn’t have it coming — but most of the ti I felt like I handled things pretty reasonably compared to most Saiyans.

I knew I wasn’t the strongest, fastest, or toughest person on Earth — yet — and other people telling

that usually didn’t matter much to . T??e source of this ??ontent ??s Nove1Fire

But for so reason, listening to Superboy telling

I was too weak made my blood boil.

Was it because he was too ignorant but gave his opinion like it was immutable fact? Because he was coasting on his Kryptonian given powers without an ounce of thought or skill behind his actions? I saw him go up against Mr Twister. The most generous analysis of his fighting style was ‘hit object hard with fist’. If I was being an about it, it was more ‘flail angrily and hope the target was in the way’.

Who was he to call

weak when he needed four other people to bring down a guy that threw wind around?!

“I’m weak, huh? Then what does that make you?” My voice was practically arctic.

“A living weapon. Made to stop things like you from doing whatever they want on Earth.” He growled back.

“Yeah? Then prove it.”

-o-

A short while later I touched down on a small deserted island a few miles away from the Sidekick Squad’s mountain base

Donna had made a few good points about what I tended to do to underground areas and while I was pretty angry, I didn’t want to break Birdbrain and the others’ hangout because of that.

It was totally worth it just to see Superboy sullenly walk off M’gann’s bioship because he couldn’t fly.

I filed that away for future taunting. This wasn’t the ti.

Partly because I’d t plenty of people that couldn’t fly that could still give

a really good fight, and partly because I decided on the way over here that it wasn’t enough to just win against Superboy. No, I was going to do sothing much more humiliating.

I was going to style on him.

I crossed my arms and waited silently while Superboy moved to stand across from

and the others found a place to watch.

“Both fighters ready?” Donna asked, taking the role of referee by default.

“Let’s get this over with.” Superboy grumbled.

I stayed silent but nodded slightly.

“Begin!”

Superboy shot forward imdiately after the call, arm drawn back for a big right cross. Normally I would have rushed to et him, but that would be acknowledging him as a fighter I wanted to test myself against.

Instead I just kicked off the ground lightly so his first lunge fell short and then ducked under the second clumsy follow up. A quick leg sweep suddenly had him on his back while I simply hovered back a few feet giving him room to recover.

He did so reasonably quickly – a simple fall was never going to do too much to soone as durable as him – and rushed

again.

He was better this ti. Slightly more cautious and not putting everything into one attack that left himself open, but still uncontrolled with little if any thought behind the attacks. I ducked and wove around his flurry of punches, floating backwards or to the side when needed, but made no effort to block. No effort to uncross my arms.

Sothing Superboy noticed pretty quickly and got pissed off about.

I saw him grit his teeth and coil up to lunge forward faster than I could retreat. But I was waiting specifically for that mont and when he exploded forward I stepped to the side and drove my knee up into his stomach.

“Is that your best?!” I taunted even as I twisted and punted him straight up into the air.

I took a second to collect myself and raise my Ki before chasing after him like a pale white cot.

He couldn’t fly so catching him wasn’t exactly hard. Neither was scissor kicking him back the way he ca while he was flailing around, but I still wasn’t done.

“THIS PLACE SHALL BECO YOUR GRAVE!” I scread out and dive bombed the falling kryptonian clone, planting both my feet into his stomach and then accelerating into the ground.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The little island we were on was more sand than actual dirt so when we landed there was a massive explosion of the stuff that blocked my vision completely. And while I could find Superboy easily enough with Ki Sensing – no one else would be able to see it. So I backed off and resud my fighting pose. Arms crossed and floating just above the ground that the tip of my boot just wasn’t touching the ground below .

Then I just waited for the sand cloud to settle since I could already feel my opponent moving again.

Superboy would either submit and beg for rcy or I would make him KNEEL BEFORE ! MUAHAHAHAHA!!

-o-

Robin POV

Welp, Califa had gone villain again.

While he wanted to say this was an unexpected surprise…it really wasn’t.

The lines she was shouting seed familiar though.

“Since when did Cali play Street Fighter?” Kid Flash asked as they watched Superboy burst out of the crater he had been half buried in and rush back towards the monkeygirl.

“Is that what it’s from?” Robin comnted as Califa kicked Superboy’s legs out from underneath him with so sort of slide tackle. Only to do it again a second later when he recovered.

“Yes, M. Bison apparently from the lines and moves she is using.” Aqualad added, surprising Robin a bit. He had no idea the Atlantean teen played video gas. “She’s rather good at mimicking his character too.”

Now that he pointed it out though, Robin could see it. It wasn’t his usual ga of choice though so he hadn’t imdiately recognized it.

“Lines? Character?” Miss Martian asked, confusion and distress etched all over her face. Right, it was in her na. She had no idea what the monkey was doing.

“It’s a character in a fighting ga.” He explained. “Califa is copying his moves and taunts while she’s fighting. She normally doesn’t fight like that.”

If anything that confused the martian even more. “Okay, but why?”

“Because your friend bruised her pride.” Califa’s friend Donna stated as she moved closer to them. Apparently she decided she could do her referee job while talking to them instead of staying close to the fight itself. And considering how easily Califa was leading the fight, Robin couldn’t say she was wrong to think so. “She’s deliberately choosing to not fight like she normally would until he can force her to…though considering his apparent lack of knowledge about any fighting style, I think she will just end things soon.”

“Is pride really a reason to–” Miss Martian was cut off by a loud boom from Superboy getting spiked into the ground again, “– do that?!”

“For so people it’s an excuse to do more.” Robin answered, thinking of several villains Batman had gone up against that did things out of slighted pride. The several nods from the other mbers of their little group showed that was a universal experience.

“Pride is a tricky subject to deal with. Especially for people like Califa who dedicate everything to the pursuit of sothing.” Donna explained. “Your friend saying she could never beat Superman was the sa as him dismissing all the hardship she put herself through to get as strong as she is. The fact he seems to be one of the least skilled among you only makes it more insulting. Hence the limitations of not using her arms and acting like so character.”

Robin shifted his attention back to the fight where Califa was continuing her grandstanding. Apparently Superboy had said sothing he missed and Califa was giving him a condescending speech in return.

“–was the most important day in your life,” The muscle-brained Saiyan was saying, “but for , it was…Tuesday.”

Robin scoffed. “It’s Saturday, you idiot!”

“Shut up Birdbrain!”

-o-

Califa POV

I scoffed at the interruption and turned my attention back to the slightly battered and very sand covered Superboy.

As much fun as I was having acting like the final boss, it lost sothing when my opponent was this bad.

I an, he wasn’t exactly weak or anything. My shin was definitely bruised where I used it to block a surprise hit he almost managed to sneak in.

He wasn’t stupid either. I could see him trying things out as we fought. Compared to when the fight started, he could at least feint an attack now.

But he was just so…straightforward…that I barely had to pay attention to know what he was about to do. He didn’t know how to fight soone just as strong and fast as he was. Didn’t know how to lead a fight or steal back montum when being pressed.

All of it went back to the fact Superboy had the life experience of a potato. He might know things, but he didn’t know things.

Which ant he probably wasn’t going to suddenly have sothing click for him that was going to make this fight more interesting. Which was kinda what I was expecting.

…oh, well. I had fun at least.

“Ready to end things soon, Mr Living Weapon? I’ve got places to be.” I asked the now growling kryptonian clone.

“...not…yet…”

I approved of his determination if nothing else. Maybe he’d be a fun sparring partner when he actually learned to fight. Maybe I’d tell Superman to give him lessons when I was done with our own fight…

h, thoughts for later. I had to finish this one before I made plans for the next.

“Then KNEEL before my POWER!” I declared and shot forward in another sliding tackle. Superboy tried to jump over it but, well… I could fly. So I simply stopped and shot straight up so my foot caught him in the stomach again anyway. This ti instead of just letting him shoot away, I dug my heel into him and threw him in the direction of everyone watching.

I missed though.

Superboy ended up digging a trench in the sand that ended a lot further away from the group than I ant it too. Not super surprising since I didn’t have a whole lot of practice digging trenches by throwing people, I should do that more.

Donna jumped over to check on him and after a mont signaled my victory before trying to help Superboy up. He just ignored her hand though and angrily stalked off to the side where the rest of his teammates were huddled.

Huh, that was a more mature reaction than I was expecting. I thought I was going to have to Ki blast him after that to show there was no way he was winning.

I made it back to the group just in ti to see Kid Flash with a hand on Superboy’s shoulder say, “Don’t let it get to you. Getting punked by Cali is kinda a right of passage in our group. At least this ti she only kicked your butt. She can be an when she wants to be. I had to run my uniform through the wash like five tis when she dumped a ton of itching powder on

once.”

“She does things like that a lot?” M’gann asked.

“Not really,” I announced my return to the group. “Speedy there decided to sabotage my lunch once with so really gross pickles.” “Isn’t his na Kid Flash?” M’gann whispered but I ignored her. “So I had to get my revenge. Other than that I popped in now and again to make sure their skills were up to par. Can’t have my future opponents slacking off, yanno?”

From the look on the martian’s face she in fact did not know. Oh well.

“Anyway, I’ll stop by in a few weeks to visit longer. Right now I need to hunt down Superman before he runs off to space again.”

“A few weeks? Are you not joining the team then?” Aqualad asked.

I shook my head at him. “Nah, it sounds fun but I like doing my own thing. I was just tagging along to introduce Donna to you guys because Wonder Woman asked.”

“I am still trying to familiarize myself with how things are done in Man’s World so I am unsure if I am ready to join a team either.” Donna admitted, “but I wouldn’t mind getting to know you all better anyway.”

“Oof, double rejection.” Kid Flash clutched his chest dramatically before turning to M’gann. “I guess that ans you're still our favorite then!”

“I’d love to be friends with you!” M’gann exclaid, glomping onto Donna while ignoring Kid Flash entirely. “There’s so many things I want to try!” She said before dragging the Amazoness away chattering about different ideas she had.

“Cool, I’m gonna head out then.” I said, taking that as my cue to leave. “Call if anything fun happens. Oh, and Superboy,” I pinned the clone with an intense stare, “figure out how to actually fight and I’d be happy to take you on again.”

He looked back hesitantly, but eventually nodded. Not much of a talker apparently. Eh, that was fine.

The rest of the goodbyes took less than a minute and then I was flying back East on the hunt for Superman again. He wasn’t getting away this ti!