Trunks has managed to leap away just at the same moment that Bilt's beams made contact with the Demon Alien, causing an explosion as the sword-wielding Super Saiyan joined his teammates to rush forward and deliver a three-front attack.

Before they could reach the spot where the crimson Demon Alien stood however, the strange plants suddenly moved to grab and pull them down to the ground. The smoke cleared to reveal the Demon Alien unharmed, and did not seem to be even exerting effort.

"Ah... Demushu... Were you bullying some lower life forms again?" a voice spoke from above among the trees, an emerald figure jumped down to land some distance away from the one called Demushu and casually strolled around to take a better look at Challah and the others, "I'm surprised you didn't wipe them right out upon meeting them!"

For reasons Challah couldn't fathom, none of the warriors present could break free from the plants. The young Saiyan felt her heartrate steadily increasing the more she struggled.

"That a challenge? Huh?!" she shouted at the newcomer, still pulling against the roots. "C'mere and say it to my face! Unless you're scared of the little girl with a tail! C'mon, I dares ya! Let me go and fight me like a... whatever the crap you are! You won't! You won't do it! C'MON!"

"I think they get the idea, Challah," Pip said calmly.

"My, Demushu... Looks like you have a particularly noisy monkey in your grasp," the emerald Demon Alien remarked as it got closer, "Unfortunately pathetic and noisy animals like you are of little interest to me... "

"Redyue... What business do you have here, interrupting me?" the one called Demushu asked as he motioned a free hand to drag Challah off the ground and position her before him, "The use of this language is repulsive, but it will have to suffice as you could not comprehend ours..."

"As such, your kind will be wiped out by my hand... Seeing as you are unworthy of the power that lies in wait within the Forest," Demushu added as he raised his blade close against Challah's neck, lightly grazing against her skin, "You are nothing more but food for me to become the next supreme being."

Challah grinned a dangerous, toothy grin. She had to keep herself from chuckling, lest she accidentally cut herself on Demushu's blade. Her Saiyan blood boiled.

"I just learned a cool thing a few days ago," she said softly. "Wanna see it? It's really cool. I'd stand back if I were you, though."

She began pulling harder and harder against the roots than ever before as her skin began to flash red, her hair whipping about as if in a breeze. Her power level raised exponentially as her blood vessels began showing through her skin. Dust and pebbles began flying away from her.

"KAIO-KEN!"

The sudden burst of energy Challah released was strong enough to tear the plants that once held her down. Even Demushu was pushed back by some distance from the amount of power Challah started releasing, bracing himself shortly afterwards.

"Well, the King is calling us for a meeting, but I think you should first handle that monkey first," Redyue said in a mildly amused tone upon seeing Challah suddenly display an increased amount of power.

"Waste of time... Fine!" Demushu hollered as energy started gathering from his surroundings and amass to his body. A dark purplish aura emanated from his person as he started to float from the ground, amassing the energy into a sphere before him.

"Oh, don't worry," the monkey taunted, "this won't take long. Think fast, jerk!"

The glowing-red girl began circling around Demushu, throwing one razor-sharp Kienzan after another as she moved to avoid the big purple ball, five gold discs in total flying in a wide arch to hit the monster in the sides.

"Pizza time!"

"Child's play...!" Demushu exclaimed loudly as he raised the purple sphere of energy over his head, which suddenly grew in size. Challah and the others could feel an incredible pull of gravity from it, and rocks and other loose objects were pulled up into the sphere. Even the energy discs were sucked into the massive sphere, deviating from their path of slicing the Demon Alien to shreds, "Overwhelming might is all that counts!!!"

With that, Demushu floated up into the air and swung the massive sphere down towards the other Patrollers who were still held down by the alien plants.

"NO!"

Challah reversed course as hard as she could, halting in the path of the black-hole-thing with her palms raised to catch it. Pushing and pulling simultaneously, trying to keep the thing from moving but also from swallowing her, drained her energy extremely fast, but there was no way she was letting this monster kill her or her friends that easily.

Grunting from the effort, she managed to shout, "Kaioken times THREE! ... urgh... TIMES FOUR! Nrggh! Just give up already! TIMES FIVE!"

The girl could feel her strength reserves running out, but she kept pushing as hard as she could...

"Feel regret of having to cross paths with me in your final moments," Demushu said with disgust as he then clenched his fist firmly. The energy sphere suddenly felt incredibly heavy, seemingly burning Challah's palms as it pressed down on her no matter how much strength she was using to push against it.

An explosion followed, with a blast of incredible magnitude that Challah could not even hear what they were saying as they called out to her. Their worried faces were the last thing she saw before her vision was robbed by an encroaching darkness.

.

..

...

Challah could swear she was falling for a long time in the cold darkness. This was different from how she knew death - since it involved waking in Hell and lining up to meet Enma among other things (according to Goku and the others). She lost track of time in her fall, unable to even muster the strength to move. The last thing she could notice in the darkness was a young man managing to slow and arrest her fall before finally losing consciousness.

...

..

.

A mild warmth could be felt in her surroundings when Challah finally came to. Her body still felt sore, but any trace of fatigue has already long vanished from her body. Near the fire was a man in his 20s, garbed in what looks like an old warrior or swordsman of sorts.

"Ah, I take it you have recovered young one?" the man asked when he noticed Challah finally stir back to consciousness.

Challah bolted upright, then immediately regretted it as she clutched her stomach muscles. "Oww."

Still, she held her arms in a defensive position between her and the stranger. "Who the heck--ow--are you? And where am I? Where's my friends?! ... ow."

"I have been called many names, but I guess Night will suffice," the man replied as he procured what looked like roasted fish by the fire, "As for where we are, you could say we are literally in nowhere at all."

"As for your friends, worry not," the man added as he handed a stick to the Saiyan, "They have managed to return to their time relatively unharmed. Your loss however weighs heavy in their hearts."

"M-my loss...? But... but if I'm..."

Challah got to her unsteady feet, still wincing as she looked around. "This isn't... No. I've been dead before. This isn't King Yemma's place. I'm not dead, I was... transposed someplace. You're lying."

She pointed angrily at the being calling himself "Night". "You're lying! Tell me where I am and how to get back right now! Tell me why I can't sense any ki! Tell me or I'll kick you so hard you'll see the curvature of the earth!"

"Indeed, normally you will find yourself in the afterlife of your world when you die," Night simply replied as he faced Challah's direction, with the Saiyan noticing that the young man has his eyes closed all this time, "But there were outsiders to your world involved, and your death has forcefully ejected you from your world."

Night then let go of the roast fish on a stick he was supposed to be giving to Challah. The stick remained in place suspended in the air as the unusual man went about his business of cleaning up the campfire before him.

"Then send me back!" Challah shouted, grabbing the floating stick out of the air. "Contact one of the Gods of Destruction to help! I have people counting on me back home! There's things I need to do, timelines I gotta fix! I can't be here!"

Her voice cracked in the middle of the last sentence, tears forming in the corners of her big brown eyes.

"And will that solve the problem that was plaguing your world?" Night responded after a short pause, standing up to fully look to the desperate Saiyan, "Even if you are able to achieve a power up after coming back to life in your world, would it suffice in defeating the things you have called... Demon Aliens?"
This message was last updated by the player at 06:12, Sun 10 June 2018.

Challah's tail slowly fell to the ground to curl around her feet. Her shoulders relaxed, arms rested at her sides. Her eyes closed.

Then opened again. She bit the fish on the stick, finishing the thing in two bites, then snapped the stick in half and threw the pieces to the ground.

"Get me some weights," she said softly. "The heaviest things you can find. Or something strong to fight. Anything. I'm not giving up that easily."

"As much as I admire the determination your race possesses, I can't help but feel resigned to the level of recklessness your kind also have..." Night said as he then made a motion with his right hand for Challah to come at him, "Very well... Let me be your opponent for now. Let me gauge just how strong you are."

"If that's what it takes for me to get stronger, then fine," Challah said, cracking her knuckles.

She took a deep breath and lowered into a familiar fighting stance: Both knees bent, one in back with toes at a 90-degree angle to the side, forward toes 45-degrees. Left hand forward, pointer- and middle-fingers curled into a hook shape. Right hand drawn back to her side and in a tight fist, ready for a heavy strike.

The Saiyan opened with a swift chop using her forward hand...

Night gently swung the right arm to send Challah's chopping strike aside before taking a quick step back and resetting his right hand to wait before him. The young man simply nodded, as if expecting Challah to go ahead.

Challah couldn't help but feel she was being patronized. Feeling her anger flare again, she launched an uppercut toward Night's solar plexus with her back hand.

Night shifted his footing, allowing him to stand sideways and avoid Challah's uppercut from connecting to his gut. He then gave a light prod on the Saiyan's shoulder, with Challah feeling as if a typhoon suddenly blew her off her feet.

"Is this how your kind get stronger?" Night asked as he reset his stance, "Is there an end goal in mind for this sparring you wished for?"

Challah managed to use her ability to fly to her advantage by righting herself mid-air and skidding to a halt in a three-point stance.

"Yeah!" the Saiyan shouted. "I'm gonna get strong enough to beat that bug-thing that beat me, and I'm gonna get back to my own world! Even if I have to tear open a hole in space with my bare hands!"

She quickly launched herself forward again, firing a rapid series of punches at Night.

"I see..." Night said as his right hand seemed to move fluidly in front of him to parry aside Challah's fists that were directed his way, making it look like the very air around the unusual man was moving Challah's punches away from where he stood.

"And what if I tell you there is some way to get much stronger than what you are doing right now, as well as gather allies who could potentially fix the problem that has begun plaguing your world?" Night proposed while he continued to parry before taking a step back to force the Saiyan to reach for him.

Challah stopped short, eyes wide, tail twitching.

"Well why didn't you say so in the first place?! Let's go!"

"I was under the benefit of the doubt that you had a solid plan..." Night replied with a shrug as he then began to float off the ground, "Follow me then - best not to wander too far from me, unless you'd rather have a fate being lost in the middle of nowhere..."

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Prologue chapter ended, to be continued...
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ooc: Challah may post in the Nexus thread from here on...