Growing Pains

It was almost painful holding myself back from charging straight into the mass of fighters in front of me and just cutting loose. But doing that would mean taking out the squishier, normal fighters before they could show off.

Normally I'd be pretty fine with that but then I wouldn't get to see how they dealt with a stronger, faster, flying opponent and steal it for myself. So I had to wait until the first few crossed the distance to actually take me on.

The first to try attacking me were mostly variations of 'super-karate guy' but several were just normal people for the most part.

"And would you look at that, ladies and gentlemen! It seems like Califa is playing safe and waiting to see what comes her way, but will she be able to handle several masters of the martial arts?!"

I found that out the hard way when I tried one of the blocks I had seen Batman use at one point. It was supposed to be a joint-lock, but I overshot and accidentally broke the guy's elbow. Another actually lost a few teeth when I hit him pretty gently in the face.

One guy was pretty similar to Leatherneck where he had some kind of durability power, but was way less skilled than the other guys. I guess he ran into the same issue I was where being hard to hurt made it hard to actually train against normal humans, so I ended up using him as a baseball bat for a bit until the guy with the laser cannon for an arm I noticed earlier decided to take a shot at me when he though my back was turned.

My meatshield took the blast and a few others from some of the others hanging out in the back before the rest of the group started to jump in.

"Looks like she can! Just look at that carnage! It seems just pure human skill isn't enough to tackle the pint-sized conqueror from the stars, but that isn't all she's up against! She's broken the likes of King Snake and Cobra, but they aren't the only vipers in the arena tonight. How will she fare against a little…augmented humanity?!"

And these were the guys I was looking forward to fighting! The ones that could actually put up a fight!

A guy in a metallic snake costume ducked under my improvised shield/weapon and whipped me in the chest with his tail. I was sent flying but while the hit hurt it hadn't really done any damage. No, that was reserved for the guy that looked like a giant pile of living scrap metal. That guy caught me midair and tried to shove me through the floor, and when that didn't work he tried to punch me through it while the crowd cheered him on.

Dust began to billow up from the sheer amount of hits and I guess the scrap-man was some kind of robot, because he wasn't slowing down.

My Ki surged as if finally managed to get a hand in place to catch one of his fists before it attempted to push me further into the small crater that had formed. The fist ground to a halt and the scrap-man grunted in surprise as a ki-blast caught him in the chest and blew him off of me.

The surrounding fighters all took a step back when the dust was blown outward by another Ki spike, revealing me sporting a bloodstained grin.

"And she's up! A combo move from Copperhead and Girder looked like that was it for our new arrival, but it looks like not even that beating can keep her down for long!"

And then cannon-arm guy shot me out of the air.

I was getting real tired of that guy.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to deal with him as several of the rest of the fighters all tried to jump me before I could recover from the energy blast. I lost track of time and details as I fully concentrated on the fighters surrounding me.

I punched, kicked, ki-blasted, and in one case bit everyone that still looked like they wanted to keep fighting. Bones were broken, weapons were shattered, and blood was getting everywhere. Not always because of me either. Some of the fighters didn't hesitate to risk friendly fire if it meant getting a hit on me, usually the ones using regular guns, but since they were taking my punching bags, training dummies, opponents out of the fight, I didn't hesitate to hit them with a Ki ball and slag their equipment.

The big guy made of scrap metal came back for another round, and I had fun trying out some of the new techniques I had seen some of the others use before they were taken out – with mixed results because in some cases the size difference was a bit ridiculous.

"Califa is tearing through the Dogpile! Nothing our defending contestants do can put a stop to the tiny alien menace, but here comes Barrage with ano-"

I finally had time to turn and face cannon-arm guy and send a Ki-blast at him before he got the shot off. The beam of bright yellow Ki slammed into the red beam of plasma and for a second I got my hopes up that I was going to get a beam struggle in the middle of this fight, but while I was fully eager to fight it out energy attack to energy attack, cannon-arm guy decided to duck and run the second it was clear his shot wasn't overpowering mine.

"-ther plasma blast. And Califa sends him running!"

I wasn't letting him get away this time though.

I sent one of the few lingering fighters flying with a kick and dashed closer to the armored man. He tried swinging his arm cannon around to focus on me, but I caught it long before he lined up a shot. Then I squeezed down. Whatever metal his suit was made of buckled and warped under my grip as I crushed the barrel of his plasma gun. Something I followed up with a hard punch to the chest.

With him taken care of, I took a second to look around the arena to see how many fighters were left. I was slightly disappointed that only two, the scrap-metal guy from earlier and a giant humanoid shark, were left standing.

Both of them bellowed wordlessly and charged, and I charged them right back.

Sharky tried to scratch me with the claws he had on the end of his fingers, but I ducked into a somersault handstand and kicked him in the face when he missed. Then, using his face as a springboard I launched myself at scrap-metal guy and landed on his chest.

"Wha' the–?"

I ignored his disbelieving grunt and focused. This guy could take whatever I could dish out normally, so I was going to need something special to make sure he stayed down. Ki gathered in my fist as I drew it back. And then I punched him in the face. Then I did it again. And again and again and again. Until I felt something break.

I wasn't sure if it was something in my hand or the metal that made up his face but it didn't matter because his eyes rolled up into his skull and he dropped.

Okay, one lef–

I didn't even get to finish that thought as a seven foot tall sharkman tackled me off the other fighter and tried to bite me in half. Thankfully I was instinctually able to get a hand and foot in place to stop Sharky from biting down, even if it meant feeling teeth digging into my skin.

"Hungry, are you?" I snapped and raised my free hand, Ki orb forming on my palm. "Well, chew on this!"

I used the resulting explosion to fling myself clear of Sharky's mouth and only looked back when I realized I might've accidentally taken his head off with that attack. I didn't exactly check to see how durable he was.

I didn't have to worry though.

Sharky waved a hand through the smoke revealing his mostly undamaged head, clearly still alive.

"So you thought to take my teeth, you monkey?" Sharky growled as he spat several shards of broken teeth onto the arena floor. "A natural attempt for an inferior creature like you, but unfortunately my teeth cannot be broken so easily." Even as he spoke I could see new teeth pushing the old broken ones out of the way.

"I really just wanted to get away from your bad breath." I shot back. "That was waaay worse than your teeth."

"Insolent! Prepare yourself, when I get my hands on you I will tear your flesh from your bones!"

So don't let him get close then? Anyways it was time to end this, and I knew exactly how I was going to do it.

Even if I was blatantly stealing someone else's technique to do it.

I cupped my hands together and focused my Ki.

"KA…!"

"Hmph, another energy blast? I was barely harmed by your previous one, better make it count, child. It will be the last one you ever do!"

"ME…!"

"King Shark charges Califa! After her last energy attack did no damage it seems King Shark is going for the kill!"

"HA…ME…!"

Bright cerulean blue Ki gathered in my hands as I dragged more to the surface and focused it. Sharky wasn't the fastest person in the arena so my attack was ready with plenty of time to spare, but just to make sure I waited until he was right on top of me, one hand outstretched to claw me, before I thrusted my hands out right towards his chest.

"HAAAAAAA!"

This blast was nothing like my little Ki attacks. It practically swallowed Sharky's huge body before blowing him up and away towards the top of the dome.

I was sooo tempted to see how long I could keep my attack going – it was the first time I pulled off a Kamehameha in a fight! How cool was that! – but the ring owners probably wouldn't let me come back if I broke their fancy dome, so I shut off the energy before I melted right through it.

Sharky had actually made a perfect indent into the dome cover that was even more obvious when he fell away back onto the arena floor. A quick check confirmed he was still breathing, but definitely unconscious.

I win!

I threw my hands up in celebration, but was confused when I didn't hear applause.

"...I…uh, Ladies and Gentlemen, in a stunning final attack, Califa is the last remaining fighter. We have a winner for the Dogpile! Let's hear it for our visiting alien invader!!"

Oh, there was the applause. I did a quick victory lap around the arena waving at the crowd as I basked in my first actual victory since landing on Earth. I really needed to win more, this felt nice.

After a while one of the staff members escorted me out of the arena into a waiting area and explained I was supposed to wait here for a few minutes while they cleaned up the arena for the next event. And since I was the winner I would be fighting in that one too.

They even provided some light snacks!

Barely an hour later I was back in the arena for the 'Special Event'. Which was fine because I was out of snacks and already looking forward to my next fight.

Maybe this time it would be someone really strong that I could practice all the cool new things I saw in the Dogpile.

"Okay, Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time for our grand Special Event! Two sides enter, one side leaves. In one corner we have the Alien Terror, the Conqueror from Outer Space, Califa!" I waved as the crowd exploded into cheers. "In the other corner the bane of crooks and criminals everywhere, the Dynamic Duo, The Dark Knight and Boy Wonder themselves, Batman and Robin!" My head snapped to the other entrance and sure enough, there was Batman and Bird Brain being shoved through the doorway with heavy metal manacles that covered their hands up to their elbows that only fell away once the door closed. "Once again the rules are simple, both sides fight until one side is dead and gets to walk away to fight another day. If neither side wins…" A metal hatch opened up to reveal an automatic turret. "Then it's goodnight for everyone in the arena! ARE YOU READY FOR A DEATHBATTLE?!"

I was barely listening to the announcer once he told me I was going to be fighting Batman. In a serious situation where he wasn't going to be able to hold back or deflect the topic.

This was going to be awesome!