Daiqurian had to admire the little ship that looked like a giant, red metal sea-urchin. It was amazing sometimes the technology those from the lower realms could come up with. As technically the angel was not even suppose to be awake, they had to travel by ship but thankfully the vessel was able to tap into his own abilities, giving it the power to make trans-universal jumps. At the moment the vessel was nestled quite nicely in a small green valley.

Their current location was a planet called Tocado in the famous Universe 11. Tocado was a very lush planet, full of greenery, and various other bright colors due to the exotic plant and wildlife. The Tocadons were a diminutive species that lived somewhat primitively in comparison to a lot of Universe 11. In fact, their most technologically advanced building was probably their transmission tower that was put in place so they could call for help from the Pride Troopers if they ever needed them.

What made the populations special however was their adept use of mystical arts, which they used to great effect in taking care of the land and the growing of crops. The Tocadons were short, somewhat round and were known for their exotic hairstyles and love of big hair. Pretty much any style you could imagine with enough hair was possible on this planet.

While interesting, the Tocadons were not the reason for their visit. The first reason was that as a somewhat backwater world they would be far from the eyes of major civilizations and less likely to draw any attention from the Kais. The second reason was that there was a power on the planet that would make an excellent way to draw out their power.

"Chop chop! We haven't got all day!" Daiqurian clapped his hands, commanding the few warriors he had gathered so far to gather around him. "Welcome to our first stop, full of the wonders of nature! I doubt you'll find the wildlife very intimidating but you have to admit the air is quite clear here! A perfect place to start a little basic training." As he spoke a rather large, and brightly colored, bird flew down from the nearby trees and decided to perch itself on his head without a care in the world.

"As you can see the wildlife can even be a little too friendly." The angel made no effort to shoo away the bird however as it made itself at home. "First we'll start with a small warm up. None of your bodies can handle too much at the moment so first we will need to help your bodies reach their natural limits before we can really start unlocking your potential. The air on this planet is naturally very rich and should help your bodies reach peak efficiency rather quickly. A paltry thousand sit-ups, squats, and push-ups should be just what you need to limber-up and start really feeling that quality air energize your bodies."

Zepura narrowed her eyes as if to say 'that's all?' but did what she was told since there was little doubt the angel knew what he was doing. The demon's impressive physique rippled with strength with each movement as she started the warm-up. She had her doubts that fresh air would do her too much good since demons thrived on evil energy and darkness but it was of no consequence as she needed to learn how to become stronger without relying on the energies of the demon realm. Still if anything ever since she left she felt even weaker than before.

The angel casually watched as their training to become stronger than gods commenced.

---

Pain hurt. Pain burned. Dashade had to admit he found pain useful for himself, feeling pride while it pumped through his body with no sentience to shed mercy or arrogance. The pain was comforting, a reminder that his hollow body still had some life in it, that he wasn’t a shriveled husk yet. So, when his savior had begun this quest for a power beyond Gods and swept up Dashade in it all, he had imagined that the training for this would start off a lot more daunting. A lot more back breaking. But then again, maybe this was a required warm up to the one crushing part of the training. And his Commanding Officer aways told him that you should never disregard the basics.

He didn't speak a word, simply offering his new superior a curt nod and a respectful salute before dropping to the ground and push his body against this new environment. This was partly because of how unsure he was of the rest of his current company, the other chosen few for this task, the ones he didn't know yet. In the army, you usually found yourself with new faces often, but by that point you'd learn that many grunts were a thread in the same stitch, binding them together. With these strangers from entirely different universes, he didn't know what to expect, but to simply follow the angel's lead.

This is certainly quite the situation... Even after all this time, it was still quite hard to wrap his head around it. Before he was only a corpse left on the steps of a battlefield, stooped in a mistake he made, only to be taken here by divine intervention. THe most sense he could make of it is that he had been given a second chance to make things right and he would use that chance well, serve his savoir to the highest degree and help this mission in any way he could. "So... This planet..." He finally spoke, curious. "It is of another universe?" Yeah, the 'There are other Universes' was a bomb dropped on him right out of the gate after being rescued.

Daiqurian tilted his head a little, which caused the bird to become uncomfortable and fly off. "Indeed Dashade, we are currently residing in the 11th Universe out which which there are 12th. This is planet Tocado, which has a native population of rather interesting fellows who I am sure you'll be able to meet in due time. Now enough talking so we can quickly get to some real training."

It did not take too long for all the members to reach their quotas. "By now your bodies should have adjusted quite nicely to the planet's unique atmosphere and gravity. So now it is time for your first real test." Daiqurian pointed an index finger into the sky and in only a few moments the sky was dotted with countless ki orbs shining a gentle yellow.

"This exercise will force you to improve your reflexes or you'll be in for quite a shock." Without so much as a twitch, one of the small orbs buried itself into the ground and vanished but without disturbing the ground at all. "As you can see, normally quite harmless, but if one should touch you." Another orb shot down form the sky and struck Zepura right in the chest, causing her to light up and scream out in pain, forcing her to her knees. "The effects are quite unpleasant."

Zepura groaned as she forced herself to stand upright despite the pain. "Curse you stupid angel! Just because we demons are the one's keeping you around you don't have to take it out on me!"

"Oh my? And who exactly was the one who begged me to let them come along and agreed to do whatever I said, hummm?" The angel laughed while Zepura could only grimace, knowing everything he said was true. Despite the 'hold' the demons had over the angel it was still painfully obvious the angel was mostly doing this just for his own amusement and he really wouldn't mind becoming inactive again at any time.

"Anyway, for the next 15 minutes these ki balls will randomly fall down upon you all and if you don't want to experience some extreme unpleasantness I suggest you pay close attention." The angel took a few steps away from the group, and suddenly the small orbs started shooting down at breakneck speeds with absolutely no warning. Despite being able to see the attacks it was impossible to predict when one of the orbs would fall.

Sometimes they 'attacked' in clusters, other times it would just be a stray, but for anyone not paying attention they would soon feel quite a bit of pain. As time went on, more and more of the blasts would come raining down in an attempt to nail the fighters. Zepura was rather large so she was having a hard time effectively dodging all the orbs but even as the exercise increased in intensity she kept at it, dodging and weaving through the tricky patterns caused by the random blasts.

The exercise was there to hone their senses of course, but it was also making for a spectacular light show which would soon gain the attention of some uninvited guests.

---

"I'm still... Processing." He went through his exercises with no complaints, softly grunting each time his elbow flexed to push him back up as every muscle in his body was on edge, caught in suspense as they waited for what the Angel would pull out next. When the golden glow of the orbs struck his sight, Dashade felt rooted to the spot, watching in wonder as he waited for the demonstration to continue. The strike on the large demon held a little amusement, but Dashade found himself frowning at her heated words towards their superior. This angel saved all of their lives and has chosen them for the privilege of this arduous mission, they shouldn't show this being such disrespect.

"Simple reflect testing, then?" He murmured to himself, watching the orbs carefully. They came hard and they came fast, so fast Dashade barely even saw them move when they attacked Zepura; your mind and body had to work as one in quick succession, reacting to danger and thinking up a solution before the situation had a chance to get worse. "Alright, I can do th- ARG!" That speed and ferocity were felt as one ball crashed into Dashade's back, sending sparks shooting up his spine and knocking him forward. Quickly regaining his bearings, he jumped up, just missing another orb by a hair as he landed, his eyes darting around to see which orb would next aim at him. "Hmmm, could I hit them away? They're shocked to touch barehanded, but..." His tail was becoming an increasing problem as the exercise progress, being a bulky target for the orbs to focus on as they clustered around him, resulting in a few more shocks to the system.

Dashade was used to dodging and weaving, being a weak link in his family shipped off to buddle down with the grunts, he had a lifetime of running away for dear life, but this exercise was at an intensity he hadn't witnessed before. However, he refused to show weakness here. If this task was far more pressure than he could handle, then he would just have to adapt and deal with it. Letting his energy spread downwards, he launched himself backwards, a tree at his back as he tried his new strategy, allowing ki to coat his hands as he attempted to bat away incoming orbs.

Walking with silent brusqueness Kriss joined her fellow...students? team mates? She was still attempting to settle upon the word to describe the beings that now shared space in her day to day life as well as shared her quest for strength enough to stand among gods. She was still adjusting to being around people again. Well, people that she was supposed to be social with, where in social meant 'don't get into a kill or be killed fight'. She was still working on being a polite and considerate being again. Given several years as a near feral rage beast, She was doing well all things, she managed to not try and bite anyone for about 3 days. Though as Deshade began to speak during their warm up she was considering breaking that streak. The pointy head bastard didn't speak...stupidly, exactly. He just spoke frequently and with little real purpose. Did it mater if this was another universe? No, the planet mattered, the air and the gravity mattered ( both of which Kriss found very odd on her delicate senses. "Wasted words, wasted time, wasted effort...Doesn't mater if we are in another world, universe, or dimension. We are here to get stronger, that's what counts" She growled more to herself than anything, returning her focus to her warm up.

Push ups, sit ups and squats by the thousand. A 'warm up' that had come relatively normal for them, or as normal as an action could be considered after only a handful of days of training. Hardly anything particularly fancy, especially since the one administering the training order was an Angle, one of the mighty attendants to the gods of destruction, but it was the results that counted. Plus, as always the fancy stuff was often beings saved for after the warm up. Which of course turned out to be exactly the case. The balls of light were countless. It almost seemed like the angle had some how brought all the stars in they sky closer they so filled the width and breadth of her vision. She winced as the demon, Zepura, was used to demonstrate the effects of the orbs. Partially out of sympathy partially out of the loudness of her scream, her tiger like ears folding back to muffle the sound and her tail twitching in reflex. "Well, I suppose pain is a excellent teacher."

Kriss assumed she'd have an advantage in this trial. She boasted excellent senses and reflexes. Speed and instincts had kept her alive even as she had sought death. But that had been a unique state of mind for her. While she was nimbly dodging better that he piers, yes piers seemed an appropriate term for the time being! While she was doing better than her piers, as nears she could tell at least, it was hard for her to say given the organized chaos of the whizzing orbs, she was not doing as well as she liked. She could feel her body and mind conflicting, the slight hesitations now and again giving way to pain. She had to find the balance, between the wild hunter in her heart and the weathered warrior in her mind.

As time went on more and more attacks kept coming in, faster and faster forcing the fighters to keep upping their game. Zepura found herself slamming a fist into the ground, braking up some earth which she then grabbed in order to better defend herself; however, as the bits of earth no longer were connected to the ground the orbs started to explode rather than disappear. Within only a few seconds a barrier would be torn to shreds making her have to dodge again.

The angel watched as each fighter did their best to dodge the incoming shots. While Zepura's technique only gave her some brief breath breaks Dashade was trying a different approach. He had decided to coat his body with ki so he could swat away the orbs. He would soon find that he could indeed interact with the orbs in this way, the ki coat acted as a barrier between him and the ki, which was set to only trigger when hitting skin or objects the fighters tried to throw in their path. Of course the ki was only a thin barrier at best so he had to make sure the ki orbs did not remain in contact with his boy for more than a quarter of a second until they could breach his ki.

The angel himself decided to enter the orb field but with only the faintest of movements easily dodged his own creations. The ease at which he traveled through what was basically a battlefield was almost unfair. "For any fighter it is very important to be able to react to any threat. One must hone their senses to a point where instinct can take over, while such a level is beyond any of you at the moment remember to not rely too much on the senses, especially sight. One must be able to use their ki to sense impending danger."

Just to be more annoying, now the orbs started to randomly stop and go, making completely unknowable patterns. One might stop suddenly only a few feet away, then zoom in a completely opposite direction. Zig-zagging, and generally being nuisances the orbs become even more unpredictable.

Zepura growled as an orb stopped with an inch of her face, taking her full attention for a fatal moment that masked the incoming vector of a different orb which slammed into her shoulder, making her loose her balance and crash into the orb that had stopped to become an airmine. "These little gnats are tricky to be sure! I want to use my hammer but then that would make this exercise pointless." She mumbled as she barely ducked out of the way of another orb.

As the training grew more intense, the time was also going and soon the harmful light show would cease.

Attracted by the ki, several figures were starting to creep up on the area they were in. Clicks, clacks, and buzzing, could be heard if one listened closely, but the warriors at the moment had their hands full as the training was reaching its climax.

---

Dashade was pleasantly surprised by the success of his strategy that, despite a few hiccups with the realization of the 'few second' rule, was working very well in repelling the threats around him. Every orb that came into contact with his ki was backed up by some force, enough to shove him a few paces if he was caught off-guard, but the faster and bulkier the orbs got, the more Dashade's strategy came back to just letting him keep up and survive. It was doing nothing to give him a leg up in this training. "These orbs use numbers and speed to keep us in line, a strategy of full offensive actions to force the enemy off their toes.." Batting the latest batch away, he found one particularly big cluster coming his way. Instead of trying to force it away this time, he went to block it with his ki, allowing it to push him back, but due to the curve, it came to hit him at the cluster pushed him skyward. "It is time to move from the defensive and start on the offensive"

From his position in the air, he felt the squirming clusters working through his thin ki barrier, any longer and they would either explode or work through and zap him once more. Instead of pushing them away, he ignited his ki, turning his ki barrier into a blast that slammed into the offending cluster and sending it back into the ground. More orbs followed suit, prompting him to respond with more ki barrages, forcing some to explode early and take out the surrounding orbs as he backed away. As he moves, he pushed his feet into the ground, his toes curling and ripping dirt from the ground as his body zoomed around the area. This kicked up a whole storm's worth of dirt that flew up and coated the persuing orbs, which Dashade hoped would slow them down and thus make them easier targets.

When the Angel mentioned the purpose of relying less on his basic senses, on forcing his body to reflectively observe his surroundings without his eyes, he closed his eyes, trying to force himsef to focus more on the blinding minefield of ki signatures that surrounded him. He could not sense Angel was an anomaly that could not be sensed, a blank spot in the field. But Dashade could feel Zepura's power and ferocity as she continued with the exercise, she was certainly the strongest of the three. The reading he got on the ferocious feline, Kriss, indicated that Dashade himself was at the middle of them all in terms of power.

Strange enough, despite the swirling horde of ki that flooded the area due to the orbs, Dashade could almost make out a few different ki signatures. Not like the ki orbs, certainly not as powerful as any of them, but just detectable. "I think we might have an audience..."

A pair of eyes watched from the corner of the training area and a massive grin appeared on the figure's face as the Ki orbs began to fall and shortly after began to zoom and zig-zag around the area in unpredictable maneuvers. He could see that if the orbs touched anyone, it was going to hurt like hell, but he didn't care. This being was giving him the chance to become strong. Stronger them he could have ever imagined possible.

The figured wearing old and beaten Saiyan battle armor let out a laugh as he jumped into the fray and immediately was shocked by a few of the orbs as two of them slammed into him and a third hit him in the back. He let out a shout of pain but managed to barely remain on his feet as he raised his hands above him. "Heh. I've felt worse back home. Some of my food used to fight back." He laughed as he began to try dodging as many of the Ki orbs as possible while firing off ki blasts of his own at the orbs to either knock them away or simply blast them into oblivion.

What Sythis wasn't detecting was the incoming natives of the planet. His damaged scouter had been destroyed years ago by food that had decided to fight back. He was unable to sense the incoming natives of the planet.

For a grand finale, the last of the orbs decided to do one final ultimate wave, to which Zepura responded by crouching down and encasing herself in Earth. While this would not have worked against a constant barrage because the final wave was just an all-out assault, the barrier lasted long enough to mitigate most of the final blasts.

With a grunt of annoyance, she stood up and brushed the remaining dirt off her body. As they had been dodging and blocking for quite a bit of time she had to admit to feeling somewhat winding, though it would only take a moment to get her stamina back. "That was quite a workout I have to admit. Though it appears one of us was a bit late to training." Zepura gave the saiyan a bit of an evil eye but before anything much could happen the angel spoke up.

"Well well, we do appear to have some visitors, they don't really appear to be the friendly sort." A few figures started making their appearance from among the nearby jungle. While somewhat humanoid in appearance they were most certainly bugs, complete with bug eyes and large mandibles for ripping and tearing flesh. They walked like men with two legs and two arms but their cracking of mandibles and hisses made them appear more like beasts. Among them though was a bug person with a human like face though decidedly green.

There appeared to be seven in all, not quite doubling the size on their group, not counting the angel. The human faced insect tested it's jaw for a moment then started speaking. "Strong ki, will make good nourishment for hive, make stronger soldiers. Surrender now and we'll make sure your deaths are painless."

"They look similar to a species in my Universe, well I hardly think I'll need to get involved." With a shrug the angel quickly zipped away, leaving the warriors behind to deal with the bug men.

Zepura looked unimpressed at the large insects, that aside from the humanoid one, all looked pretty much the same like the drones of a colony. "I don't know what kind of creatures you are but you've sure picked the wrong company to try to take a meal out of." Zepura raised a hand in the air and with a little magic, called her large demon club. With a firm grip on the handle she started lazily swinging around the weapon.

The insect men responded by fanning out in an attempt to pincer the group.

Dashade landed beside Zepura with his arms crossed, looking towards their new opponents with an interested gaze, looking over them as he tried to make an observation. "Are we to have a strategy? Or am I to guess you'd prefer running in head-first?" Legs moved apart, one arm pulled back in a defensive stance. "Want to make sure I don't get in anyone's way" The last thing they needed was to end up hurting each other because they went after the same target. "From what I can tell, they're all roughly the same... With one exception"

Zepura looked down on the acrosian, Dashade then back to their opponents. "Well that's a fine attitude you got there, you better make sure you don't get in my way or I might smash your head in." She glared at the more humanoid insect but was cautious enough to keep an eye on the others. The insects hissed and cackled, their mandibles snapping open and shut threateningly. Their hands, which were three fingered, suddenly glued themselves together into the shapes of sharp claws. It appeared their style of attack was to eviserate their targets.

"Heh, I think they might be related to one of my cousins." Zepura grinned and gripped her club more tightly. The insects made their moves, the six 'soliders' charged from the sides while the unique one stepped back, lurched it's head forward and shot a large energy blast at the group from it's open mouth. It was a simple strategy, either take the blast head on or avoid it and run straight into one of the claw wielding attackers.

It might have worked against different opponents. Zepura instantly charged one of the attackers, avoiding the blast and swung her club fast and hard. The soldier ant was taken by surprise, not expecting her complete lack of hesitation in the face of the assault. The cracking of an exoskeleton could be heard as her club smashed the insect into a nearby tree, toppling it from the force.

"Well well, we do appear to have some visitors, they don't really appear to be the friendly sort."

Sythis eyed the threatening bug people with interest as he cracked his neck and began to gather his strength. "Times like this I really wish I had a scouter that still worked." He muttered as he turned to look at the others.

"From what I can tell, they're all roughly the same... With one exception"

"I agree. The bug-man might prove to be a problem." Sythis was forced to move towards one of the bug-solders as the bug-man fired a Ki blast at the group. The bug solder immediately attempted to take down Sythis with his clawed hand as he approached and Sythis unleashed a Ki-blast directly into the creature's chest which sent it flying backwards into a boulder. Sythis gathered his Ki into his hands and smiled as the bug-solder rose to it's feet and tried to gather it's bearings. It seemed like the blast had disoriented it.

"Burn." Sythis said simply as he unleashed a barrage of Ki blasts at the creature.

"I wasn't going to say anything..." Dashade started dryly, waiting for the first move to be made, planning on pushing forward after the first reaction. "But you do share a shocking resemblance with these creatures. Try gnashing your teeth together, they might accept you as their own" His eye went away from the odd one out to his followers, coming to the conclusion that the stray minions were probably the best to take down first. The odd one taking a step back and letting the others charge in, it was a decent tactic, decrease the area of movement for your opponent and force them to bump to either danger. But when you only had six guys and the opponents have flight capability, the area leaves plenty of gaps. "Drive, you puny buggers. Drive!"

The warrior went upwards to avoid the blast, with two insects instantly on his tail, flanking either side of him. Quick observation noted their sharp nature, one charging in to try and keep Dashade in place while the other came for the killing slice. To try and keep hold of Dashade, his attempted captor sunk it's teeth into his back and spread it's mandibles around him. Dashade had to admit, let these things get close and they had quite the grip. Instead of attempting to pry the creature off of him, Dashade decided to endure the small pain for the sake of another opportunity.

Throwing his weight back, he used their current position in the air to flip his entire body, placing both him and the insect upside down. It was too late for the attacker to change his course, by the time the flip has occurred those raised claws had already come down upon his comrade, drawing whatever they bled and removing the bugger from Dashade's back. Whether the insect was dead or not, the Changeling's green tail came crashing down on the two, sending them both to the floor and the height assisting in delivering an extra force to the knockdown. "At least one of them should be dead now..." Dashade muttered, looking over the battle to see if he was needed or his opponents had yet to be squashed.