"You're certainly a persistent pest!" The Supervisor snarled as our fists slammed together once again. "Fall already!"
I couldn't help but laugh a bit even as I was slowly overpowered. "Are you kidding me? I'm just getting started!" Then I shifted my hips down and grabbed his arm so his fist was suddenly going over my shoulder. In a flash I was no longer pushing against him and instead using his own strength to help throw the oversized alien lizard into a wall.
It didn't exactly hurt him, but oh man did it piss him off every time I managed to pull it off!
"Come on! You can do better than that!"
The Supervisor just growled at my taunt and clawed at the wall to drag himself back to his feet, literally clawed at it – I could see rents in the metal where his hand was, and rushed me again. Instead of a single overpowering blow he was trying to grapple me. Something I definitely didn't want happening if his nails could do something like that, so I focused on trying to gain some distance between us.
Of course he was doing everything he could to not let me since he figured out the trick behind my afterimage technique. I needed a second to focus before I could pull it off…and he wasn't exactly letting me.
I ducked under a clawed swipe and dove to the side to avoid the hammerblow that followed behind it and used the opportunity to pepper his head with a barrage of ki blasts. Each shot was strong enough to shatter stone, but all it got him to do was raise an arm as a shield and grunt as the yellow orbs exploded on him, gradually creating a smokescreen.
"When I get my hands on you, I will rend you limb from limb!" The Supervisor roared as he clawed his way out of the smoke.
"Well you have to catch me first!" I mocked back, flipping him off and sticking my tongue out at him.
I didn't take my eyes off of him though.
A few dozen ki blasts, getting thrown into the walls, and all the hits I had landed so far had only resulted in a few bruises and the destruction of his armor. Meanwhile I had only taken a few direct punches and some glancing shots and was definitely feeling them more than he was.
He was definitely more durable than I was, stronger too. Really the only reason I hadn't lost already was that the Supervisor was a lot slower than I was and was basically just a brawler.
It actually kinda pissed me off.
This guy was apparently supposed to be able to go up against people like Superman and Wonder Woman…but it seemed like he barely knew how to fight! Sure, he might hit hard enough to give them some trouble, but even Superman wouldn't have any trouble reading his movements, and I hadn't exactly seen him breaking out even basic martial arts moves – let alone someone like Wonder Woman!
I was getting the feeling that the Gordanians Amelie overheard had no idea what they were talking about.
Still, he was a great target to try out my own moves at full power for once. In fact…
"Okay, let's step it up a bit!" I declared as my ki aura surged. I couldn't help but feel giddy as the energy rushed through my body and wiped away the smaller aches and pains I was feeling.
The Supervisor didn't share my enthusiasm though, he just continued snarling at me. Looks like the next move was mine!
I shot forward keeping low to the ground and feinted like I was about to charge right into him. I nearly cackled at the look on his face when he braced for impact only for my 'body' to phase harmlessly through him.
The look of confusion was pure gold! Only made better by the one he made when my fist buried itself in his stomach as I followed up after my afterimage.
Taking advantage of the surprise I unleashed a flurry of blows into his torso, occasionally slipping in a shot to the head to keep him off balance while I did my best to block or deflect his flailing arms. He got another few grazing hits in, but nothing that was going to stop my combo…at least that was what I thought up until a large scaled hand wrapped around my forearm and I found myself held firmly in place.
"Oh, crap–!"
The next thing I knew the Supervisor wrenched my arm upward and punched me in the stomach so hard I was convinced his fist touched my spine. Worse, he didn't let go. In a more brutal mirror of my own combo, the Supervisor continued to pummel me over and over while I did my best to shield myself with my legs and remaining arm while making sure to focus my Ki wherever his punches were going to land to minimize the damage.
During it all I racked my brain trying to figure out how to break his grip and coming up with a whole lot of nothing. Fortunately for me though, the Supervisor took my lack of response as a sign I was on my last legs and spiked me into the floor…which to be honest, almost made me black out since almost none of my Ki was focused on my back at the moment and I felt the full force of the impact. Him planting his boot on my chest didn't help either.
"I've wasted too much time because of you. And thanks to you defeating my soldiers earlier, now I have to go track down that human myself." The Supervisor snarled and pressed down a little harder, making me cough in discomfort. "But you were a decent foe for a pest, so I'll hear your last words."
"Keh – you asked for it…" I coughed and splayed my fingers on either side of my face. "SOLAR FLARE!"
"Graaaaaagh!"
The Supervisor was completely unprepared to catch a superpowered flash grenade directly into his face and reeled back in surprise and pain.
I spotted a chance!
I quickly shifted to one knee and cupped my hands at my side. "KA…ME…HA…ME…HA!!!"
The alien lizardman might have been temporarily blinded by my technique, but he could still hear just fine. I ducked under a final desperate swipe and shoved the glowing blue orb of Ki into his chest and unleashing every drop of energy I could muster.
The concentrated energy beam immediately swallowed the Supervisor completely and slammed him into the wall on the other side of the room…and then continued through the next wall…and the next…and the next…
A tiny part of my mind hoped I didn't end up collapsing the mountain on top of us…and that if I did the Justice League wouldn't be too upset about it…The rest of me was completely focused on searching for any signs of movement as my kamehameha petered out.
Though it turned out I didn't need to bother. I spied the Supervisor's legs draped over the edge on one of the holes in the walls and a quick check confirmed that he was a lot more beat up now and probably down for the count.
I win!
Victory confirmed I let out a long sigh and carefully sank to the floor as I tried to get my breathing under control.The Afterimage technique wasn't the most tiring technique to use, but spamming it like I had combined with a full powered Kamehameha was still a bit straining. It didn't help by now I had definitely skipped lunch.
But food would have to wait, I needed to go hunt down Amelie before she got lost on the mountain and ̶b̶r̶a̶g̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶w̶i̶n̶ get her back to safety.
Oh, and finally track down Hawkie.
At this point it was more an afterthought than a goal, but I still did want to say hi. That, plus rescuing her doctor friend was probably something I could demand a reward for. Hawkie wasn't as good as the Flash about restaurants, but she probably knew a couple and I could probably convince her into paying for dinner. Probably.
I sighed and wiped away some of the blood and sweat dripping into my eyes. That was too many probablys. I think I might have taken one too many hits to the head.
Meh, it was probably fine.
"Okay, enough sitting around." I declared now that I had recovered besides some cuts and bruises. "Find Dr. Amelie, get her to Hawkie, blackmail both of them for dinner as a reward."
It was a solid, simple plan.
So naturally it was immediately derailed when I saw the Supervisor struggling to pull himself back to his feet using the hole in the wall he was inside as a crutch.
He…didn't look so good.
Not really surprising considering he caught an energy beam pointblank in the chest, but at this point I was just wondering what he thought he was going to do.
"Heey~, you can just stay down, okay?" I called over. "It was a good fight, we can have a rematch when you're all healed up."
The Supervisor apparently did not appreciate my advice because he glared over at me and his hand crumpled the part of the wall he was using to support himself. "I…will not be defeated…by some random half-grown Saiyan…pest!" He spat. "Not…when I am about…to secure the Gordanian supremacy we rightly deserve!"
"...if you say so." I muttered while scratching my cheek with a finger. Personally I didn't really consider winning using a disease you specifically made to be deadly to your enemies 'supremacy' but whatever. "But you sure? You look like you can barely stand up."
The battered Gordanian didn't answer verbally. Instead he just gave a ragged shout and charged me as fast as his body would allow. Which considering how beat up he was…wasn't exactly fast compared to our earlier fight.
But I wasn't about to be rude and ignore his final attack.
I jumped back to my feet and settled into a defensive stance in preparation for whatever he was going to do…
…only to startle a bit when another battlecry rang out directly behind me as a winged shape flew directly over my head and slammed a spiked mace into his face, knocking the big lizard back the way he came and directly into one of the few undamaged spots of the wall where he slumped down – presumably unconscious.
Oh hey, I knew those wings!
"Hawkie! That was my fight, I had dibs and…and…and you're not Hawkie." I trailed off because while I hadn't seen Hawkie in a while, she definitely wasn't that tall. Or, you know, a guy.
The newcomer turned and gave me a stare that might have been intimidating if I wasn't used to the ones Batman gave me. "You're the one that helped rescue Dr Roquette? And no, I go by the title of 'Hawkman', I assume you are familiar with my partner."
I nodded. "Yeah I helped Amelie get out. And I am if she normally goes by Hawkgirl. But!" I declared and pointed an accusing finger at him, "That doesn't excuse you of interrupting my fight! I demand compensation!"
"That you, Califa? You grew up a bit since I last saw you." My justified complaints were interrupted again by the arrival of Hawkgirl carrying Amelie back into the base. "And what's this about compensation?"
"I found this girl being atta–"
"I was robbed!" I shouted over Hawkman's reply. "I was about to finish taking down the boss villain and this guy just stole the fight! I did all the work! I found this place, I saved the scientist, and I took down the evil aliens! And then he just flew in and stole the last hit! That's illegal!"
"I think you have an incorrect understanding of what is legal or not on this planet." Hawkman muttered but I ignored him.
"Speaking of finding this place," Hawkie said, looking around at the trashed interior of the base. "How did you do that? We spent hours trying to find it and only managed because someone blew a hole in a mountain. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
I opened my mouth to brag about my adventure when her last few words registered in my brain. If I told her everything that happened I knew I was going to get a lecture about energy beams inside underground structures again. Even with my probable concussion I recognized that trap.
"I plead the fourth."
Hawkie sighed and crossed her arms. "It's 'plead the fifth', and I'm sure you do…"
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