Chapter 2: Enter Goku and Superman

Son-Goku, strongest of the strongest, saiyan nonparaeil, had arrived. As always he wore his dark orange karate-gi over a blue shirt, with a blue belt and heavy blue boots. The Kanji "turtle" for his original master, Roshi the turtle hermit, was on a circle on the chest of his uniform. On the back of the uniform was the character for his name.

Upon seeing Goku appear, Emperor Pilaf blanched. He began stuttering and spluttering. "You… you… can't be here. You're back on Earth…"

Goku's amiable smile faded and the friendliness in his eyes were replaced by disapproval. "So it was you who stole Bulma's dragon radar and space ship. You ought to be ashamed of yourself taking things that don't belong to you, and after we showed you mercy."

The runty imp backpedaled. Then he turned and ran. Shu hesitated a moment, then ran past Goku, dropping the dragon radar at his feet and following his leader.

Mai sighed. "Men. These cowards are the only men in my life." Mai dropped her laser pistol as well. "I just wish there was a super man who would come and actually fight Goku instead of running away like those two do." Immediately, the Namek translator built into her costume repeated her wish in Namekian.

The thunderous voice of Porunga boomed down, "Your wish is granted." His great draconic eyes turned a bright red and there was a blinding flash of light.

Goku blinked away the effect of the light and stared up into the sky. There, hovering in the air below the gargantuan dragon, was a man in a blue suit with a red cape. The man was looking around in apparent disconcertion. After a few moments the man looked down and his eyes locked with Goku's. The man quickly descended to the surface of the planet.

"Who are you?" the man demanded with a slight tone of hostility. "Why have you brought me here?" The man directed his question to Goku and took a step towards him. On the chest of his blue outfit there was a diamond-shaped field of yellow on which there was an oddly shaped, red S-looking emblem.

Goku wore a quizzical expression on his face. He shrugged his shoulders and made a palm up gesture indicating that he didn't know. "Sorry, I don't know why you were brought here. But I know I didn't do it. I think the eternal dragon Porunga brought you here, but I'm not sure why."

Superman, for the man in the blue outfit and red cape was indeed the legendary Man of Steel, was mollified, but he still felt an urge to strike out at the spikey haired martial artist in front of him. The feeling was growing stronger but he didn't know why other than that he had been displaced from his own world. "You still didn't tell me who you are."

The smiling man in the orange outfit replied, "I'm Goku. You're on the planet New Namek which isn't that far from my home, Earth."

At the sound of Goku's name, Superman felt the urge to attack the stranger multiply. He didn't understand why he wanted to, but he did want to pound the man into the ground. The irrational feeling frightened him.

"Look, Goku, I think you had better point me in the direction of Earth quickly. I don't know why, but I have a strange urge to fight you. I need to get far away from you so that it doesn't happen." Realizing that his desire to fight was entirely irrational, Superman fought the feeling. Whatever reason he wanted to attack, he had no desire to kill the man in front of him.

Goku's eyes brightened a bit at the prospect of a fight. "You want to fight me? Well, sure, I don't mind. Then afterwards I can take you back to Earth with me and introduce you to my friends."

Superman stared at the martial artist in consternation. "You don't understand," he said pausing dramatically, "I'm Superman." After getting a blank stare from Goku and the green-skinned aliens all around him he explained more. "I'm a Kryptonian. Under a yellow sun I have great power. I could easily kill a human if I am not very careful and have perfect control. I must get away from you for your safety."

Goku smiled knowingly. "I know what you mean. Having to hold back in a fight because you're worrying that you'll knock them through a building accidentally takes a lot of the fun out of it."

Elder Moori's eyes widened. "You said your name is 'Superman'?" Superman nodded. "Then you've been summoned here to fight Goku! That was the trespasser's wish!" The Nameks all looked hard at Mai, who was being held by a Namekian warrior.

Superman was a little surprised, but then nodded. "No wonder I am having trouble resisting this compulsion. It's a magical wish. Magic is one of the few things I am vulnerable to." Superman turned to the Namek leader. "Is there anything you can do to remove this compulsion from me?"

Elder Moori tried asking Porunga to return Superman to his home world and remove his desire to fight Goku. However, Porunga refused.

"I will not allow anything to prevent the fulfillment of the wish to bring Superman here to fight Goku. He may not return to his home world until the fight concludes, nor will I allow Superman to run away from this fight. He must face Goku to fulfill the conditions of this wish." The dragon's voice was deep and brooked no argument.

Goku took the news cheerfully. "Well, that settles it. You and I are going to have a fight! I can sense your power and it's really quite strong. So, I'm really looking forward to this!" Superman continued to resist the urge to attack, so Goku encouraged him. "Look, I can see you are not someone who likes to fight even though you are clearly strong. I admire that. But it's not your fault here, it's the power of the wish, and I'm really okay with it. And trust me, I can handle a lot more than an average human." Superman gritted his teeth, still holding back from the mounting pressure to strike at Goku. "Besides, if you somehow kill me I'm sure the Nameks would use another wish to bring me back to life, isn't that right?" Elder Moori nodded and Goku added, "It wouldn't be the first time!"

After a final confirming glance to the Namek leader, Superman turned his attention to Goku and reluctantly attacked. Hoping a quick end to the battle would satisfy his need to fight, he charged across the short space between him and his opponent at a speed so great that the natural human eye could not detect it. All that could be seen was a brief blur at the point where Superman started his charge and then nothing. Superman threw a careful punch where the orange-clad fighter was standing, aiming for the solar plexus.

Or rather, Superman threw a careful punch at the place where Goku had been standing. Superman's fist passed through empty air. Goku was nowhere to be seen. Superman stared at the spot he had seen his opponent for a second, until he heard a voice behind him and to his right.

"Wow, that was pretty fast. I thought that bull fighter cape you wear would have slowed you down, but you can really move. You're as fast as Jackie Chun and Master Roshi!" Superman was taken aback by Goku's good-natured praise, but that praise turned into a mild criticism.

Goku continued, "But you shouldn't have pulled up short on your attack. You need to follow-through with the strike or there just won't be any force behind it even if you did hit me."

Surprised at the saiyan's speed, Superman turned around and made another dash to attack. Despite doubling his attack speed, Superman again missed his target. This time, however, his opponent did not move out of his sight, he just dodged the attack and stood there waiting for the Man of Steel to continue. A bit miffed at having missed his opponent twice, Superman continued on the offensive.

At first, Superman tried to aim his strikes at points where he had been taught would disable an opponent without doing lasting damage. However, as Goku continued to dodge each attack with apparent ease, moving just enough to let each attack go by, the Man of Steel began to just try and hit Goku without aiming for a specific target on his body. Superman's fists were a blur of motion, yet to a trained eye it was clear that Goku was dodging and then waiting for the next attack to be launched before dodging again.

Goku knew his opponent was holding back almost all of his power. This was not how he wanted the fight to be. "So, you're name is Superman, eh? You give that name to yourself?" With a cheeky grin the saiyan continued, "So far the only thing you've been super at is missing."

Superman stopped his attack and stood back. "Actually, it's a name I was given by newspaper media and the people of the world I serve as a hero to. The name give them hope. My real name is Kal El, though there are few people I use that name with. Superman is an identity I use to protect those I care about. It also lets me live a human life under another name and identity.

"Look, I know you are trying to goad me into attacking you harder, but I'm not going to lose control over being teased. Sure, I could attack you faster than I am doing, but if I did so I'd also be hitting you with a lot more power, and that would kill you. Even if you can be wished back to life, I still don't kill people if I can help it."

Goku's expression turned a bit sour. "There's not much challenge when the person fighting you can't even touch you. When I saw how fast you charged at me I thought this was going to be interesting. Now I know how Mr. Popo must have felt when I was first trying to get training from the Kame." The disappointment in Goku's tone burned in Kal El's ears.

Superman threw another punch. If he focused just a little harder he could attack faster without increasing the strength of his attack too much. Even a glancing blow should convince his opponent that…

Goku caught Superman's punch. Superman raised his eyebrows. Anyone of human strength or durability would have had their arm shattered and been knocked back half a football field. Then Goku struck Superman in the chest with a short, effortless chop. Superman was knocked off his feet.

Kal-El smiled a little. While the blow hadn't hurt him in the least it had proven that his opponent was much stronger than he had initially guessed. It took superhuman strength to affect his super-dense body. He wasn't facing simply a skilled human like Batman or Karate Kid, or someone merely incredibly fast but still fragile if actually struck like the Flash. He could really trade blows with this man.