It wasn't often that Alaka left the solitude of the forest, but sometimes it was good to visit other locals and expand your horizons. Or something. It was mostly just that she grew a little listless after staying in one place for a long period of time. A holdover from being locked in a cage for a thousand years or so, perhaps.

Today her exploration took her to a nearby desert... and to her disappointment, there wasn't much in the way of wildlife. Even while flying overhead it seemed that only a few dry trees and scattered cacti were all that passed for greenery on the rolling hills of sand; and most of the animals were either small like rodents or scorpions, or so well camouflaged like foxes and snakes that she could hardly make any out. This trip born of wonderment and curiosity wasn't going very well. Perhaps it was her fault for thinking she could find paradise in the desert, but one could hardly blame her for the attempt. After all, nothing ventured was nothing gained... next time she'd just have to try looking somewhere else.

But as she flew, something unusual caught the corner of her eye. It looked like... a human? But why would a human be out here all on his own? She glanced at the surrounding area, and finding a particularly thick cactus, she dropped down behind it. Her fingers gripped the trunk of the plant, seemingly not noticing the needles digging into her rubbery flesh as she meekly peeked out from behind it, exposing only her left eye. If she were still able to sense Ki, she might notice something odd about the 'human's body, but she couldn't so she didn't. All she could do was hide and watch.

Alaka wasn't close enough to hear the man talking to himself, but she did see him suddenly drop his pack and jump dozens of feet into the air, only to catch himself in flight. The Majin simply... blinked as her brow furrowed in confusion. What was he doing? Wasn't he going to take his bag with him?

She was just starting to consider perhaps going over to retrieve the bag and flying over to offer it to him when the man came down to her! A surprised squeak escaped the Majin as she slid fully behind the cactus. She thought she was well hidden! Maybe she wasn't as stealthy as she'd hoped...

The Majin remained hidden for a few moments even after being called out by the man, but eventually she slowly slipped out from behind the cactus and stood beside it, hands pressed together and fingers anxiously fiddling together. A light breeze kicked some sand into the air, but thankfully her gray scarf was already tightly wrapped around her mouth. When she was asked if she was a Saiyan... her head tilted to the side slightly as she grew even more confused! What was a Saiyan? Some type of vegetable? An animal? It wasn't a term she'd heard before. Her knowledge of alien species was very limited. Shinjin, Majin, a few Xenos... and that was about it.

Alaka simply... stood there and stared at the odd man. Even when he extended his arm, she just shifted her gaze towards his hand. What did the gesture mean? She had no idea. The Majin extended a finger and sloooowly reached out to poke him... only to hop back in surprise when the man started bouncing around and doing all manner of acrobatics. Her confusion had reached dangerous levels. Her brain was gonna short circuit at this rate.

When the man addressed her, she lowered her chin to nestle more of her face into her scarf, letting only her red eyes poke over the top. Maybe she should leave...? She just started to consider turning around and flying off when the man suddenly lunged forward and struck her in the chest. "...?!!" Her body wobbled back a bit, only for the dropkick to knock her off her feet and send her crashing back against the desert sand.

Neither attack managed to penetrate the natural defense of her rubbery body, though she quickly jumped back onto her feet, eyes narrowed. She had no idea what the man's deal was, but she knew hostility when she saw it. If this person was going to attack strangers at random, it was too dangerous to let him do as he pleased. So, she responded to his attack by thrusting her left arm out, the limb stretching until it reached the man's chest with a surprising amount of force. Whether the attack landed or not, the arm would quickly snap back into place before she twisted at the waist, following up the first punch with a second from her right arm this time.

Even in the midst of battle, the man kept shouting something unintelligible. 'Malfunction'? What did that even mean? He was certainly the strangest being she'd ever encountered. But it didn't make him any less dangerous. A fact that was soon reinforced when he got hold of her arm and flung himself towards her. She barely had time to bring her free arm up to defend herself.

The barrage of punches rattled her entire body. Despite being functionally immune to blunt attacks, several of his punches managed to slip past her guard and the impacts penetrated to her core, inflicting lasting damage and physically denting her skin. The force of the attack knocked her away again, her arm pulling free as she wobbled back. Once she was a fair distance away, she pulled her scarf down to put a thumb in her mouth before starting to blow hard enough to puff her cheeks out.

The 'dents' left in her body from the man's attack popped out as her body swelled slightly, whereupon she pulled her thumb back out to let the gathered air leave her body with a loud whoosh, letting her deflate back to her usual size. With the damage somewhat mitigated, she drew her arms back... and then swung them forward in a rapid barrage, using the elasticity of her arms to build momentum and attack faster with each strike, mirroring the man's attack with a similar one of her own.

In spite of her best efforts, the man was seemingly unphased by her attacks. Which was to be expected, considering that her punches had nearly no force behind them. Such was the life of the squishy marshmallow girl. She tried to up the speed and power of her blows, but it was futile. He managed to slip past her guard and fire a bright beam of energy directly at her. The light enveloped her body but she managed to hold her ground against it.

Even if she lacked strength, she made up for it in spades with durability. The man's technique seemed to do little more than scuff her clothes, a light steam rising off her body from the heat of the attack.

But she wasn't deterred. She threw a punch towards his face, and whether it hit or not, would attempt to jump up to grab onto his body, arms aiming for his shoulders and feet looking to plant themselves on his knees to hold herself in place for a moment before leaning back... and then slamming her head into his with as much strength as she could muster. The attack... probably wouldn't hurt either of them very much, given her body was very soft to begin with, but it was the attempt that counted.

Once again, her attempt to strike the man only ended with her being grappled and countered in return. His knees slamming into her face shouldn't have hurt, but it did. Once again the attack penetrated to her core, though the suplex that followed was ineffective. She wasn't sure what it was about his attacks that caused some of them to actually cause damage to her while the others failed to accomplish anything.

If she were stronger, she might think she had to end this battle quickly. But she lacked the strength to decisively close it out. Instead, she just had to keep wailing away at the man's strangely tough body and hope for the best. Thus, after being suplexed, she started to roll away... only to stop when her head touched the ground, using the odd position to thrust her legs back in an attempt to slam into the man's shoulders and knock him over.

Whether it struck him or not, after her legs snapped back into place she'd use the momentum to finish her roll and hop up onto her feet, taking a moment to brush the dirt off her clothes before resuming a shaky battle stance. It seemed that if she wanted to make do without magic, she would really need to learn how to fight...

Once again the man called out to her, and once again his words were at odds with his actions. She didn't know why he was praising her in one breath while attacking her in the next. But she was ready for his next strike, deftly slipping to the side when he came flying at her with his foot. She had little doubt that she would have been able to absorb the attacks easily, but until she figured out why some of his strikes hurt her while most could not... it was best to be a bit more cautious than she had been.

When the roundhouse came she tucked beneath it, delivering a quick one-two combination to his midsection before jumping back, her aura surrounding her as she caught herself in the air to hover above the ground. The man had attacked so many times that she thought he must be getting tired by now. She just had to think of a way to get him to burn off the last of his energy to render him unable to fight further. But without any big attacks of her own, it would be a real challenge to figure out how she might force him to push himself past his limits.

Her attacks seemed... slightly more effective than they had been? But still not nearly enough. What exactly was her game plan here? She'd long since passed the point where she wanted to flee, but that would leave the man rampaging... and that wouldn't do anyone any good.

The man yelled for her to duck and, confused, she did so... only for him to go sailing overhead. "...?!" So now he was calling out his attacks before he did them? It was all so odd! The poor Majin's thoughts were turned up flipped upside down.

So distracted was she, that the Majin failed to notice the man whip around for a followup attack. Though she certainly noticed when his hand struck her temple and send her flying to the side, only coming to a rest after she tumbled along the ground for a few dozen feet. She slowly pushed herself up onto all fours, rubbing her dented head. Her body was already starting to heal itself, but it still hurt!

After she rose to her feet, the girl turned to face the man, and then stretched her limbs as she attacked him once more, first striking at him with an elongated punch before following it up with a similarly ranged kick to the side of his head. All she could do was just keep fighting until an opportunity of some kind presented itself... though she had no idea what she was supposed to be looking for.

It occurred to her that the man might not be an earthling. At least, not in the way that she understood. She didn't exactly have a lot of experience with them, but she expected them to be soft and squishy. Not unlike her, albeit with bones. But this man was different. He was... solid, like a rock. Or metal? Whatever, she was still left feeling very confused.

But there wasn't time to dwell on it. When the man removed his glasses, she brought her arms up in a quick guard, expecting another attack. Rightfully so it seemed, given the deadly rays that erupted out of the man's eyes. Alaka let out a surprised squeak and dived to the side, hands pressed against the top of her head while she hit the ground. The lasers cleaved through the ground where she'd been standing, leaving the sand as a sheet of glass.

Alaka hopped back onto her feet and brought her arm back as if she was going to punch at the ground... and then did! Her fist buried itself in the sand. A small lump pushed through the sand, snaking itself over to where the man was standing... right before the fist popped out of the ground, aiming to strike him on the chin before grabbing at his head to yank him down against the sand while the limb retracted.