Disclaimer: DC Comics owns all rights to the characters within. They are used without permission and not meant to infringe on copyrights or meant to generate income.

Also, if you have not read my other stories, it would be helpful to do so before reading this one. The chronology goes: Brothers in Arms, Where Do We Go From Here, Tragedies of the Past, Betrayal From Within, Future Sins, Reestablishing Bonds, Parents and Children, New Allies, Rivals or Friends, Public Enemy Number One, Double Date, Mind Games, Solar Complications, and Mentors and Pupils.

Brother Against Brother, chapter 1

Location: Smallville High

"We're going to have a debate between pairs of students," the history teacher announced. "You're each going to be matched against another student and given a topic and position to argue. The goal is to aid in the construction of an argument."

There were murmurings about this among the class. The quiet types didn't like the thought of having to speak in front of an audience, while others didn't like the idea of arguing against a friend.

The teacher went through the assigned pairs and topics. Conner kept waiting for his name to be called and got a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"The final debate pairing," the teacher announced, "will be the Kent brothers on free trade. Conner will be for it, and Max will be against it."

Max looked glum at lunch.

"What's wrong?" Dan asked.

"I have to debate against Conner," Max said. "I'm not sure I can do it."

"I'll take the victory by default then," Conner said, smiling. "It's not anything serious; it's just a school assignment."

"Easy for you to say. You don't have a hang up about it."

"Is it that much of a problem for you to compete against him?" Dan asked. "You used to fight with each other all the time."

"That's why I can't do it," Max explained. "It brings back memories of those bad times."

"It's only because we're the top students in the class," Conner pointed out. "We've both got the best chance of making arguments against each other; you'd blow away the other students, and so would I."

"I still don't like it."

"Maybe you should compete for chores or something," Dan suggested. "If you had a reason to win, it might not be so bad."

"That wouldn't do any good," Conner said. "He'd just do the chores. He doesn't mind."

"I always thought you were pretty competitive," Dan remarked.

"He is, just not with me. It's funny because he used to be too competitive with me."

"Those were bad time," Max said. "Let's not talk about them."

Location: the Kent's farm

"Are you really going to have that much of a problem debating me?" Conner asked.

"I lose to everyone when Martha pulls out Scrabble," Max said. "In an actual debate, I might just shut down."

"I thought that was because you just got bad picks."

Max tapped his forehead. "I have the entire Oxford Unabridged Dictionary in here."

"So when videogames get pulled out at Titan's Tower, do you purposely flub those too?"

"It's different when I'm not playing against you or the others."

"You don't seem to have a problem throwing me around when we're training."

"It's because you need it. If I got tight there, it could result in you getting hurt later one. It's not an indiscriminate reaction."

"Let's go behind the barn and practice debating. Maybe you just need to work your way up to it."

Max looked dubious. "I don't think it works that way, but we can give it a try."

The two went behind the bard. They didn't want to bother Jonathan or Martha.

"Are you ready?" Conner asked.

"I think so," Max said.

At that moment, much to their surprise, a boom tube opened and sucked the two into it.

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To those of you looking forward to a heartwarming story centered on a debate in high school, I apologize for the feint.

Any and all comments welcome!