(Clark flexed his right arm after having deflected the energy blast aimed at his only remaining friends. He could feel the warmth of the yellow Sun, an object that he'd been deprived of for a full year now. That all too familiar sensation of his solar reserves being replenished made the Kryptonian inhale sharply.
Vegeta looked up from his place, seated on a random boulder as he took in the appearance of the earth man that they assumed to be Kakarott. "Well, you're certainly no Saiyan, are you, Earther?" Vegeta taunted as he slowly rose to his feet. He pressed a button on the side of his scouter. The digits represented by symbol no one on earth could discern flashed away, climbing higher and higher as the yellow boosted Superman's energy levels into the stratosphere.
Nappa, virtually unscathed from the prior battle raised an eyebrow. "What's the scouter say, Prince Vegeta?" he asks Superman assumed a powerful fighting stance, one foot in front of the other both hands raised the left higher than the right as he got set for this showdown.
Vegeta grit his teeth, anger clear on his face. "The thing must be broken. His power level's already at nine thousand and steadily rising, " the prince declared as he tossed his scouter from his head to the ground.
"What?! Nine thousand?! There's no way he's that syringe! Not in just one year!" Nappa roared, openly defiant of the device and its readings.
Superman narrowed his eyes as red beams emerged slamming into the scouter on the larger Saiyan's head, destroying the device. "So, I take it that device is how you found Earth?" the man of steel asked, having already guessed.
Nappa glared as his rage started to get the better of him. "Dammit, that hurt you little punk!" he raged as he charged forward.
A massive fist impacted Superman's face, full bore at speeds not even the Flash could follow. In fact, the young man in red could only blink and point in astonishment, realizing for the first time that Nappa had truly been playing around with the group this whole time.
The impact was explosive, striking with the force of an atom bomb and sending a concussive wave that rippled the very air and thundered, knocking the three onlookers from their feet as the very earth beneath their feet trembled.
Dust rose and obscured the vision of all in the clearing with the exception of Nappa and Superman. To Nappa's ever increasing ire, the full force blow did nothing to Superman, not even bending the cartilage of the Earther's nose.
Surprise gave way to fear as Superhuman reached up and ensnared the man's wrist with his left hand and drew back his right hand. "My turn," he taunted before punching the bald giant in the gut, doubling him over.
"GAH!" Nappa gasped as he felt all the air rush from his lungs and his stomach demanded to empty itself of its contents. "This... Thus is impossible..." Nappa gaped, wrapping his arms over his gut.
Superman gave a stern frown. "I wa terrified before you beasts arrived on Earth... Terrified that I was too strong. That this world was too fragile," the man in blue spoke, finally having something to vent his frustrations on.
With Nappa and Superman still being obscured, Vegeta frowned and stomped his way over to his previously discarded scouter before replacing it on his right ear. A few presses turned the machine on and gave the diminutive prince a read out.
"Huh? There's no way!" raged Vegeta at the numbers reflected. Yet as he pressed several more buttons it clearly indicated Nappa and his stable power level while Superman's continued to rise. "How can he continue to get stronger like this?" he wondered, considering how he can turn this situation back to his favor.
Nappa, though outclassed in every sense, was a true Saiyan warrior and an elite. A fact which he had made quite clear as he swung fists and feet in a blurring display of power at Earth's greatest defender, his strikes missing continually.
"There's no way you're stronger than me, Earther! I'm an elite Saiyan! Stronger than any other Saiyan outside the super elite!" Nappa offered as if saying the words would make them true.
Superman, still evading the devastating blows without concern decided enough was enough. "Enough!" shouted Superman, catching both the Saiyan's fists and holding the larger hands tightly.
Nappa refused to listen and even with his hands caught opened his mouth and fired a brilliant yellow energy blast that rocked the area with unparalleled power.
Superman, even with his power boost, was not immune and found himself rocketing backwards, digging a trench through the ground for nearly a mile while Nappa panted, using his right forearm to wipe at his mouth. "Now you're dead!" the bald man cried out, charging a white energy ball in the palms of his hands, both palms aimed at the superhero. Superman only had a moment to react as the energy blast came hurtling down at us prone form.
"Nappa, enough!" came Vegeta's command as he suddenly appeared in the gap, one hand holding the blast back as Napa poured on the power.
It took a few moments for the bright lights to subside as Nappa cut the power to his attack. "P-Prince Vegeta? What gives?!" he demands.
Vegeta takes a moment to glare at his underling before speaking. "While I don't normally have a problem blowing up a world, I'd like to be near my spaceship, you dolt!" he decrees in anger.
Diana and Bart look to one another. "You... You gotta be kidding me!" Shazaam asks around a swollen lip as he makes his way to the pair of survivors. "That guy was gonna destroy the whole planet?!"
Neither of the other two could say anything.
"Oh... Yeah... Gee, sorry, Vegeta..." Nappa offered as he reflected on his rash actions, running a hand across the back of his bald head.
Vegeta ignored Nappa in favor of turning around to face Superman with a dark, sinister smile on his face. "It seems your power level has finally tapered off, Earther. And while it is high, at nineteen thousand, it's simply not enough when facing an elite Saiyan like myself," Vegeta taunts as he fully turns to face Superman.
"N-nineteen THOUSAND?!" Nappa rages, disbelieving. Sure, he knew that this guy was trouncing him, but come on! That kind of power was impossible to gain in only a year's time!
Superman dusted off his suit with a self-assured look in his eyes and deep anger prominent on his face. "I don't care what you say, Prince Vegeta. You come to my world, murder millions! And then kill my friends... There's nothing in this universe that's gonna stop me from taking you down!" he declared.
Vegeta frowned and took a step back, almost fearful. There was such resolve in those eyes! He'd never felt such a conviction before in the gaze of any person he had killed, and there had been trillions, quadrillions even! Yet, his nerves were on fire as if in the presence of /him/...
For a time there were no words. No one moved. Not the onlookers, not the combatants. No one...
A breeze blew through the dusty ruins and landscape, carrying ash and dirt in its wake.
Acting as if a referee calling the start of a match, a white scarf danced in the breeze and landed at Superman's feet. Faster than Flash, Diana or Billy could perceive the Saiyan Prince and Krypton's last known son vanished.
*BOOM! THOOM!*
The very air ripped and radiated with rings of concussive force, disturbing the very molecules as the two energy titans traded blows.
A violent wind kicked up, messing up Diana's hair before the two seemed to rematerialize a distance away, Superman with his right arm raised, blocking Vegeta's left kick, before vanishing again only to return in the air, Superman using a double axe-handle to slam down on Vegeta's crossed forearms.
The two floated back, away from the other, each panting.
It was a new experience for Superman, being caught out of breath. Normally he could perform at 100% indefinitely, but it seemed against this Saiyan menace he was pushing himself to 120% just to hang with him.
Now. I'm sure you're wondering how a person can go beyond 100%. The answer comes from the fact that he's been running only on solar energy, but now he's also using his equally balanced ki. And the act of utilizing his life energy is draining, even if he does replenish his spent energy swiftly.