Jeene Quark wiped some sweat off her forehead as she worked on what would no doubt be a revolutionary piece of equipment for quite possibly the galaxy. Tools in hand, she had been working on this contraption, along with some other technicians and mechanized helpers. It looked pretty much like a large cylinder, with a door so a person could step into it. It was rather a dull piece of work, gray metal and all but it was the theory and potential use of the machine that was exciting.

"Energy coils installed, power tests can now commence." Beeped a small, circular looking droid that had just emerged from inside the container.

"Alright, and I am almost done on my end." Jeene replied as she fiddled with some circuitry in an open panel on the outside of the device. With a few more modifications she nodded in satisfaction and closed up the panel.

Jeene looked on with pride at her work. The device was an attempt to artificially simulate what only a few special fighters had managed to learn, Instant Transmission. The idea behind this was that one could lock onto another ki signature they could sense and then instantly find themselves in the vicinity of that source. The move was basically instant teleportation and this device would hopefully allow a person to naturally enter this state and teleport over to the source linked back to the teleporter.

Of course there was a problem in located ki sources at any great distance, the goal was to use instant transmission to bounce to other worlds after all, very few fighters had the ability to sense ki at such a distance but the people working on this project had to find a way around it. Their idea had been to create an identical device in another location, harmonize the energy signatures then create an artificial ki signature for the device to lock onto, allow the user to instant transmission themselves to the other location.

The duplicate device had been built on Namek for its first test, now they just had to turn on theirs and the tests would begin.

"Start it up guys!" Jeene grinned as the machine sprang to life, soon they would know if it was working or not.



The Proving Grounds was the name of a training location for fighters on Earth. Fighters from across the planet came here to prove their metal, and even some from off-world. Various training equipment was available in order to simulate many kinds of fight conditions. At the moment, Rufus Grindstone was gleefully rubbing in his victory against his battered opponent. "Ha, like some rank-amateur could hope to take me down in a fight, even when I'm handicapped with these gravity weights." Rufus pointed toward the rings on his ankles and wrists, which had been used to give him a handicap of five times normal Earth gravity. It had made him a bit sluggish in comparison but his natural physical ability had made up for it. Rufus gripped the front of his human opponent's uniform and raised him into the air.

"Now considering my handicap I think you need to pay up for stacking the odds against me, its only fair." Rufus grinned, his fangs showing off their sharp edges as he humiliated the man. "I think 10,000 Zeni seems a fair price."

"Like hell I will! I never placed a bet." The man tried to argue and was flung to the ground, quickly finding his face being rubbed into the Proving Ground floor by Rufus's foot.

"It would probably be less expensive than the hospital bill you might receive." The werewolf smiled as he ground his face further into the ground. "Think about it, or I might visit you again later." Rufus whispered into his ear, gave a quickly kick to the man's gut which sent him sprawling and walked away before the referees could interfere. Rufus tossed his weights aside and was glad to have full reign over his movements again. "Tch, they just don't learn do they."

The sun glowed brightly within the sky, its rays distorted by the icy lemonade that was held aloft by the demon who had her feet kicked up in the stands of the The Proving Grounds. She had been watching the fights going on for a few days now, a much better pass time than watching TV in her opinion, after all the fighting was pretty good, not to mention all the ripping muscles and sweat on the fighters on such a sunny day. "Really, I should really save up to buy a place like this!" With a chuckle she brought the glass to her lips to take a big gulp.

However it seemed the show she had been enjoying took a rather annoying turn as one of the competitors decided to try to extort money out of the other... At first she was just thinking of letting it go, after all it seemed like he was leaving, but after he kicked the guy away she suddenly changed her mind. Just because she was a demon did not mean that she was without honor, though higher class demons did normally have a thing about honor in combat.

The ice in her glass clanged against the side as she reached in, using her claw like nails to grab one of the cubes and raise it in front of her. With surprising power she flicked the cube directly towards Rufus, the cube flying through the air right at his head. A wild grin crossing the girls face as she spoke.

"Oi, oi. I don't like having a untidy stage. So move it."

Amid the busy toil of martial labor, a young woman walked. Kong Sharong, having only arrived an hour earlier, bided her time self-touring the so-called "training Mecca" of the planet. From the peripheries of plains and outcrops lined with meditating minds, through the inner yards wherein strength and speed were exercised with a list of equipment she could only sparsely name, she made her way towards the ground's more sought after sanctums. She was seen by most of the eyes that saw her, but the sparse greetings she received indicated that hospitality was something foreign to the methods of this stream of warriors; she made few friends off of this understanding, having been rebuked by nearly a dozen patrons for reprimanding their lack of courtesy to exchange a bow. Such silly kids parents raise out here; so blind to decorum.

Sadly, there was no time to fix such problems right away; that would be done in due time anyways. First, I have to earn their eyes and ears.

Passing by a bathhouse, a cacophony of unmistakable ferocity opened her own ears. The sound illuminated to the path before her. Within moments she was looking down a hillside, inlayed by stadium seating, overlooking a plethora of tournament rings. Every last ring, she saw, was already host to a fight. Most seemed fresh, and likely to last a while. She could sense that the bulk of the population was comparable in energy, and by comparison, far from a challenge to her. "Silly. You'll never find anyone just using your eyes." Sharong closed off her eyes, allowing herself to feel the energies about her.

It didn't take very long. In the crowds of lesser warriors, the outliers stuck out like a tree on a grassy plain. She spun ninety degrees to her left and forged her way towards two beings of no ordinary power. A seemingly female human sat in enjoyment between an inhuman looking male and an obviously human male.

The latter of these three was considerably worse for the wear against his more monster-appearing opponent. The young Sharong gasped in fright as the finishing blow was followed up by continued hardship at the hands of his victorious opponent. Breaking into a brief flight, she beelined nearer the the female spectator; seeing an ice cube lobbed through the air by said spectator as she neared, the three-eyed girl diverted her path and intercepted the cube before it reached the ring.

In that spot, she hovered, suckling on the cube until it melted to water in her mouth. "You two..." She started, throwing scolding glances to both the victor in the ring and the spectator. "Is this any way to act in a place of honor?"

Agent M watched the matches between the fighters at The Proving Grounds and he wasn't too impressed with what he saw. These warriors were more like children play fighting, not real warriors. He especially was annoyed Rufus Grindstone's disgusting display of poor sportsmanship and he wanted to break the fighter's face. Apparently he wasn't the only one who had been annoyed by the creature's display. Agent M got up from where he was sitting and walked over to the werewolf.

He didn't like this creature and would gladly like the chance to beat the crap out of him, but he kept a completely straight face and his sunglasses concealed his eyes. Agent M had read and seen enough to know that arrogant fighters never lasted too long and this punk needed to be taught a lesson if he was going act like a child. Agent M had spent most of his life training with the Men in Black and learned to be powerful and smart, but now he had to watch these undisciplined punks stroke their huge egos.

"If you want to seem weaker than everyone else here then please keep talking, otherwise put a muzzle on that mouth of yours Mutt," he said to Rufus Grindstone in a calm voice. He knew that provoking an enemy was not a good idea, but he wanted to let this fleabag know that he wouldn't back down from teaching a dog some manners.

Rufus caught movement in the corner of his eye and when he turned to see the offending icecube another person intercepted the makeshift missile. The newcomer was a rather remarkable young-woman with three eyes, which was quite uncommon, and sucked on the ice-cube to dissolve it in her mouth. He also quickly noticed the annoyed individual from the spectator seats, another woman who no doubt found his behavior rather unbecoming.

"You two...Is this any way to act in a place of honor?" The ice-cube snatcher asked, Rufus also heard the other woman say how he was eyesore but he was not about to try two conversations at once.

"Keh, a place of honor my foot. This place was built to cultivate the strong, not pamper some fools who don't know their place." Rufus glared over at his previous opponent who at this time was being quickly whisked away for treatment. The guy wouldn't show up to pay the debt, probably just run away in fear; which had been his intention in the first place. Certain people would not take the hint without some sort of threat placed against them, and if he had actually paid, well he'd just beat him up again and tell him to get lost.

"Which is no doubt the reason you-" He was going to say more like how she was here to prove her metal or something when an annoying, and rather large, human showed up. He was very well-built and tall, even in werewolf form Rufus was still smaller then this man in black. He was also a very annoying human.

"If you want to seem weaker than everyone else here then please keep talking, otherwise put a muzzle on that mouth of yours Mutt," he said, marking the man for a beating sooner or later.

"Pretty smart-mouthed for a human." Rufus smirked, and made a great show of baring his teeth and licking his claws with his long-pink tongue. "I would love to show you true power by ripping out your throat; however..." Rufus growled a bit and looked around, "I've drawn to much attention to myself because of all your antics. Tch, guess I'll have to stop for the day." While he wanted nothing more than to bully the man into submission, Rufus was a jerk to be sure, but not stupid; he still wanted to be able to fight in the Proving Grounds after all.

A male enforcer Android, one of Earth's newest defenses and rather strong tournament judges, had shown up where the small group was. "Rufus Grindstone, your actions in the last match were uncalled for and you have managed to make the spectators attack you. You shall be suspended for a week before you are allowed back on the floor, please come with me."

"Fine, but keep your metal hands off me." Rufus glared at the android, who was of course rather unimpressed and started to walk along with the enforcer off the grounds. "Keh, I'll fight all of you guys later and teach you some respect!" As he walked Rufus changed, becoming smaller and decidedly less hairy until he was fully human. "You'll be begg-Off, tch fine I'll shut up." He was going to say 'begging for mercy' but the android had enough of his bluster and delivered a crushing blow to his stomach, almost making him bend over from the impact. So in a less than gracious manner he was hauled off.



The machine sprung to life and even on was rather...unremarkable to work at. The machine hummed, all the parts working as they were suppose to and the artificially ki switch had been turned on. It was a rather interesting sensation to feel the fake ki signature, it was familiar yet wholly unnatural and had the unique ability to essentially 'throw' its ki signature toward the duplicate device on Namek which in turn did the same.

"All Systems Green I see, quite good." Jeene grinned as she looked on her technical pad which showed all the different parts of the machine in green, indicated everything was working properly. "Alright, lets give the signal to our boys on Namek to send one of them over. Time to see if this baby of mine works!" With a tap on the screen, the message was sent. She waited for a moment, then there was a flash of light inside the machine.

Quickly she skipped over to the Ki transmitter and opened the door, what she saw was not at all what she was expecting. "What on Earth is this!" Instead of finding a tech person from Namek inside, what instead greeted her was an alien she had not encountered before. A rather frog-like individual inhabited the teleporter, with large eyes and even what appeared to be gills on its neck. While the appearance of the being was shocking, it was the state the being was in that was more so. The alien was missing its right arm, his left was intact and the webbed hand was in a position on its forehead, two fingers, the sign of instant transmission. Blood was spewing from where the arm had been and massive bruises were everywhere on the creature's body, at this rate it was not going to last long.

"Get me an emergency aid kit, call the lab doctor, and get me some help here now!" Jeene ordered her robotic companions who quickly hurried to comply.

"The-ugh, Ki-signal allowed me to get away...huh to think it was actually an artificially source." The creature then coughed up some blood as Jeene tried to get it to calm down before it bled to death.

"Be quite and stay still or you won't make it before help arrives." A robot returned with the emergency kit and she quickly started to apply bandages and compresses to everywhere she could to try and stop the bleeding. As she worked, she made note that apparently her device acted as a Ki beacon as well to instant transmission users even from...wherever this creature was from.

"I don't have long to live," Jeene tried to get him to stop talking but the being just shook its head. "No you have a need to know, I thought we would be safe after the death of that tyrant Freiza, but to think his connections were so brutal. They'll stop at nothing to take back what was sold to them! Yes, my planet was one of Freizas, sold on the market to the highest bidder, guess they came to collect." The creature started to cough some more and Jeene was quickly finding her first-aid was not stopping the flow of blood quickly enough, there was little doubt he wouldn't make it even if help arrived that instant but the medical personel were at least 3 minutes away.

"Well maybe now you'll have a chance..."

Jeene kept trying to save him but the aliens ki was falling rapidly and soon would be gone, "At least give me a name..." She felt she had to ask before he passed away.

"Yusi Throsa...come to think of it your form...could this be Earth?" There seemed to be a glimmer of hope in Yusi's fading voice.

"Yes..."

"Well just maybe we can all be saved then..." With that said, Yusi's eyes clouded over, and his body fell lifeless in Jeene's arms.

Another flash of light appeared as one of the personel from Namek managed to use the device to cross over to the other side and said, at first enthusiastically. "Yes we did it! We can-What the Crap is going on here!" The voice turned from enthusiasm to terror at the bloody mess in the teleporter.

Jeene thought for a moment before gently laying down the body, "I don't know, but quite possibly everyone in this Galaxy is in danger."

Kira looked confused by the people interfering in her little jeer, causing her to lean back and sigh, all she wanted to do was tease him a little but it turned into some kind of mob ruling. Well she guessed these people did not have the same grade of honor that she held between fighters, though that did not matter much. "Tech, I guess there is nothing else to see here." She commented before finishing off her drink, placing the glass down on the wall of the arena, not really caring for cleaning up after herself.

Grabbing her swords she started to make her way out of the stands and down to the inside where she could grab something to eat before she headed back home. Watching the many fights going back and forth from the stands to the arena floor was impressive, but that was the age they lived in where many had wished to better themselves. Heck humanity had even designed robots that were just as powerful as most fighters, which was impressive to say the least. She did see a few demons around like her but like most places they were few and far between, not many trusted their kind, and to be fair with good reason. She did take a good look around for that guy from before, even if it was just to play with him a little more.

The incident at the Lab had the Earth Defense Force in a tizzy once they learned about it. Amazingly it did not take too long for them to come to a decision. The threat was unknown and they needed to figure out what it was as soon as possible. Also the threat had to be quite dangerous so they could not just send anyway, they did not want to send their own elite forces either in case Earth ever came under attack but there was a ready solution available to them. The Planet Council quickly reached an agreement and sent instructions to The Proving Grounds headquarters, it was time to get some strong fights out in the field.



As Rufus was about to leave the premises a voice came over the speaker. "Attention attention, to all of those in the Proving Grounds. All combat will be suspended as a tournament is organized. This tournament is of vital importance, hence the need to shut down all other fighting and will take first priority. It has come to the Earth Defense Force's attention that an unknown threat is terrorizing worlds and it is quite possible Earth may be a target as well." At first the people had just been mildly surprised by the impromptu announcement but once they heard about a threat suddenly everyone was in an uproar.

Earth had been close to destruction, or even been destroyed, before and news of a new impending threat quickly brought a lot of different emotions to the forefront. Some were quite scared that Earth could once again be invaded, though the Androids helped alleviate the fear somewhat. Others got riled up by the prospect and wanted to do some alien butt-kicking as soon as possible. Each person reacted quite different to the sudden proclamation.

"The Force needs a task force to locate and identify the threat. This tournament is to determine who is most worthy to fight the threat and relay information back to Earth. Strong fighters are needed and we could think of no better location to find those capable to stopping this threat. Sign up for the tournament and help protect Earth!" The officials were very quickly spurred into action, stopping fights and preparing the grounds for the sudden tournament. Rufus looked at his escort.

"Hey, I want to sign up for this tournament. Now before you object I have every blasted right to help protect Earth. I think you know very well that the Earth Defense Force's request trumpets over any little rules this place has." Rufus could not help but sneer as he knew he was right. The android looked at him stoicly and had no choice but to agree.

"Your objected is noted and I cannot stop you from Earth Defense Force business. Still remember as soon as it is over the rules are in effect and you must leave." By this time Rufus had already started heading back in and gave a nonchalant wave back to the enforcer.

"Ya ya, I get it tin man, just leave the alien slaying to this werewolf here!" Rufus cracked his knuckles and made it back inside.



"Man I can't believe they kicked me out of the lab," Jeene wined a bit as she drove a hover car over toward the proving grounds. She had wanted to stay and work some more but they had insisted until the lab was disinfected and cleaned up no more work could be done. They had also insisted that she join the tournament to decide who would leave Earth to locate the threat. She had argued that she preferred to make things but that argument was over ridden as they argued that an engineer that could fight would prove to be a real asset to any such team. There was also the fact that well, for some reason she was quite strong for a human and good fighters could be hard to come by. In any event, she had been forced to leave, even though she had volunteered to help clean up.

Jeene flew through the air toward the Proving Grounds, which was large and state of the art to accommodate strong fighters. Thankfully Jeene did not need to find a parking space thanks to handy capsule technology. Jumping out of the car she put it in capsule form and tucked it away. "Well I'm here now...guess I need to make the most of it." She entered and quickly found her way toward registration.

Neris had arrived late to the scene, calmly strolling down a narrow pathway that led outside of the Proving Grounds. Around he looked, his eyes squinting at the blazing sun in the distance, its rays beating down on the fighters below. Here he would observe pathetic fighters from across the world try to prove themselves, and have fun engaging in a brawl himself. No information was given to him prior to the start up of the tournament other than a few words overheard by various other people. At last Neris' head set straight before an instant transmission took place, causing his body to appear as if it was disintegrating on the spot as he quickly moved towards the action.

Upon arrival, Neris scanned the crowd, his keen eyes moving quickly across each individual amongst the general area. Quickly he noticed one contestant in particular holding up a beaten opponent making an example out of him. A small laugh came out from the pits of his body.

"Heh'".. the balls of his subhuman feet scuffed along the top walls of the stadium's structure. Fool.

A few odd looking figures were on the field now, and it appeared as if one was talking to the other, but neither of them looked like they belonged to the organization of these stadium grounds. In fact, Neris thought they were arguing. Sigh. A feud has probably broken out over the dishonorably and unsportsmanlike actions which the first fighter he seen has taken.

"Better off ending his existence." Referring to the bested man, sticking out like a blemish on a pubescent human. A few heads diverted to Neris, but he gave them nothing more than a glance, his red eyes seeming as if they gave off their own glow, and unknown aura, but not quite.

Out of boredom, Neris was prepared to leave, but all of the sudden heard a voice emit from the loud speakers. Whoever it was, assumingly an instructor of the event had ordered for all combat to cease at once on the grounds of an unidentified invasion of nearby planetary worlds. This tournament just became slightly more interesting. What could it be? No, did it matter? Neris had been waiting for a circumstance that challenged him, he had not been entertained for quite some time now. His only chance to do so would be signing up, which took effort, and really was not Neris' style. Whatever. He shrugged, taking a slow pace forward which caused him to immediately move off the spot, speeding down past the crowd and onto the stadium grounds where Neris then began to move inside.

"Attention attention, to all of those in the Proving Grounds. All combat will be suspended as a tournament is organized. This tournament is of vital importance, hence the need to shut down all other fighting and will take first priority. It has come to the Earth Defense Force's attention that an unknown threat is terrorizing worlds and it is quite possible Earth may be a target as well."

Android 26 looked up from the magazine that he was reading as he heard the announcement echo across the proving ground. He sighed heavily as he placed the magazine down. He enjoyed reading up on the newest technology to come out of capsule corp and he didn't really like being interrupted.

"The Force needs a task force to locate and identify the threat. This tournament is to determine who is most worthy to fight the threat and relay information back to Earth. Strong fighters are needed and we could think of no better location to find those capable to stopping this threat. Sign up for the tournament and help protect Earth!"

Android 26 thought for a moment. He knew that as an Android he had immense power and he knew that with that power he would be expected to help. He was loath to trust most of the people he had encountered. Often when he went out in public he attracted more attention that he was comfortable with and since he was an Android people expected him to fight with no thought to his own safety. They thought he was nothing more then a weapon.

But still, not everyone treated him as a weapon, a few people he had met seemed to accept him for what he was. He looked over at the entrance to the proving ground and smiled for a moment as he headed for the entrance.

He looked around and spoke in a loud voice that he hoped would be heard.

"I wish to join the tournament. Where do I sign up?" He asked.

"Those wishing to join the tournament please proceed directly to the stadium grounds. Upon entering you will automatically be entered into the tournament. For those who have never registered for the Proving Grounds before, an official will show up and register you. Anyone not joining" The voice said over the speakers said, explaining what the participants should do. The Proving Grounds operated on a very advanced system for who used the facilities. No one was allowed to join in the fights until they were registered in the system which used a neat ki tag system. Like a fingerprint, ki signatures are all unique and this system worked on that principle to track who entered tournaments and used the facilities in the proving grounds.

"Keh, well ain't that convenient. Rufus chuckled as he made his way to the location all the fighters were now congregating. "If I'm lucky maybe I'll be matched up with some of those annoying punks and I can teach them who the real fighter is." As Rufus was getting riled up and ready to rumble, Jeene was having quite the opposite reaction.

Jeene by this point had already registered, having never been to the Proving Grounds as a contestant before. It had been a very quick and painless process, all that was needed was a small sample of her Ki and the rest was paperwork. Of course, now that she was all registered she really had no choice but to enter. "Man, I really don't feel like doing this. I'd much rather be tinkering away making things. Well I need to make the most of it."

"Well then... that... settles that." The wolfman escorted away by the proving grounds 'guardians' and the demon departed from the scene of her own accord, the conflict into which Sharong had interjected came to quick end. For her part, Sharong stayed levitated in the air for a short while longer, mulling over things. "It seems like the outside world is more ruffian than I imagined."

"Attention attention, to all of those in the Proving Grounds. All combat will be suspended as a tournament is organized. This tournament is of vital importance, hence the need to shut down all other fighting and will take first priority. It has come to the Earth Defense Force's attention that an unknown threat is terrorizing worlds and it is quite possible Earth may be a target as well."

"Hmmmm?" Sharong peered around the massive stadium at the PA's voice thundering over the ruckus of all the fighting. The matter of the announcement was intriguing to her in the highest. She had never been in a tournament before; such means of practice were not common among her people... not at her age anyways. This must be what the elders have spoken of. It will be my rite of passage.

"The Force needs a task force to locate and identify the threat. This tournament is to determine who is most worthy to fight the threat and relay information back to Earth. Strong fighters are needed and we could think of no better location to find those capable to stopping this threat. Sign up for the tournament and help protect Earth!"

"And certainly this Defense Force will need all of the help it can get." Sharong's feet landed upon firm ground. She needed no further direction. Already in the stadium, she followed the mass of warriors flocking towards the registration area. The sheer mass of contestants was sure to be a great challenge for her to surmount. "I should really see what I'm up against."

Despite that most of them weren't putting out so much energy, Sharong's third eye clearly saw the powers that she was to face. The masses at large weren't much on their own; in fact most of them were quite insignificant when she considered her own strength and prowess. Then, after dozens of fights against even people half her strength, a battle against an even match could end up a tall order.

"Oh. Him." Amid the gathering masses, Sharong clearly made out the familiar face of the wolfman from the ring earlier. She nodded to herself, making a mental note. That one needs to learn piety.

Was it really his intentions to save Earth? I mean, c'mon. Neris did not have to think about this one very much. Earth is obliterated? He has other options, places to go, though whoever may engage in this possible assault may also be victorious, and that further occupation that they might continue would get in his way. Hmm.. that's a really tough call. Either way it would be entertaining, and that was exactly what Neris had been looking for, some form of excitement.

That was not the point right now. Though, it was constantly in the back of Neris' mind. As for now, he would have to sign up for this tournament in order to gain access. But where? His skin flexed, veins pulsing outwards and then retracting quickly again. It felt like leather, although it was stiff, yet easy to move at the same time, swift like a rod attached to a rotating ball. His eyes narrowing, watching the shuffle of other lowly figures inside of the building, people in question and distress, others who did not know what to do, including Neris.

"Well then." His hands came down to his sides and he found a seat rather in the corner of the room with very few people in the same place. Down from within a pouch attached to his belt he brought out a novel he had been going over. Neris liked to speed read, and as he opened the book, his eyes followed a few "unnatural" people stepping inside, keeping a glance on them, noticing they were doing some sort of process or ritual. It was.. some sort of sample? Neris' tension was growing and he continued to read his book at an incredible pace, pages flipping every 8 seconds or so as he waited for a time that the line was more clear to register in the fighting tournament.