After Frieza was put down, Trunks and Ranch gladly returned to their fulltime parenting role. They fell into their old routine of taking care of the twins during the first part of the day, while Gohan and Bulla were busy with studying. Then once the kids were done with that, they left Vegeta and Raditz in the capable hands of Bulma, Launch, or Chi-Chi (one of whom was almost always around), so that they could step up Gohan and Bulla's training. Now that Gohan reached Super Saiyan, they taught him to focus and control that power, while also making sure his head didn't get big because of it. As hard as it was for them to admit, if Trunks and Ranch weren't around for whatever reason, then Gohan was Earth's first and last line of defense (at least until Bulla, Raditz, and Vegeta got older and stronger, too).
Thankfully, though, their lives didn't only consist of studying and training. To the parents' delight, it turned out that they had made some friends while they were away. Trunks and Ranch couldn't deny that something seemed a little off about Mai, Shu, and Pilaf, but they just shrugged it off, glad that their kids were able to just be kids. They also enjoyed somewhat teasing Gohan about his infatuation with Mai.
But the normalcy couldn't last forever. Over half a year later they were encouraged to go back to training with Whis, but they only agreed to it if they got regular breaks. In the end they agreed to a schedule where both would train alone for a month while the other was home, and then a month together, all of it topped off with a month off for both of them. Despite the constant shuttling back and forth, Whis certainly didn't mind the arrangement seeing as it meant a tasty meal upon each visit to Earth.
About a week into their month together on Beerus' planet, Ranch and Trunks were sparring as usual with Whis. And also as usual they weren't able to land a single hit on him. "Switch." Immediately their attacks were directed at each other. They had strict instructions to stay at their base form, so they had to ignore their temptation to transform whenever one of them felt they lost the edge.
They now zipped through the air, creating shockwaves each time their blows connected. As the fighting grew more intense, Ranch accidently kicked Trunks in a sensitive area that he knew for a fact she appreciated. In the heat of the moment, Trunks got behind her and grabbed Ranch's tail, using it to swing and throw her downwards.
When Ranch hit the ground hard, she got back up as she looked at Trunks furiously. She propelled herself back up at him, winded up a punch, and when Trunks blocked his face she stopped just short of actually hitting him. Confused, Trunks lowered his arms to see what happened, and to his immense shock she pecked him on the lips. Trunks was so surprised by the show of affection that he ended up lowering his defenses, so Ranch head-butted him and punched him in the gut.
Trunks was blown backwards, and when he came to a stop, he complained, "Oh come on, how's that fair?"
"Says the one who tossed me by my frickin tail!" she countered.
"You hit below the belt!"
"That was obviously an accident since I'm planning on using those parts later!"
That gave him pause. "Wait, really?" he asked, flabbergasted.
"Yeah, why not?" said Ranch.
"That's enough," Whis announced, signaling them down. "You two can continue your mating ritual later. For now, though, no more underhanded tricks—those won't help with getting you stronger. Don't make me put you in weighted suits."
Just then something fell from the sky and landed with a loud crash in the nearby forest. Ranch and Trunks stared in that direction curious as to what was going on, but Whis had a pleasant smile on his face and said something about visitors. An explosion rocked Beerus' residence, and he came out furious at Trunks and Ranch for making so much noise. They had no time to explain that it wasn't them before Beerus started attacking and they had to run for it. Two figures eventually walked out of the trees, one of which seemed to be a female Whis and the other a fat Beerus, who was looking exhausted.
When Beerus flew by and saw them he stopped and stared at new arrival. With the danger seemingly behind them, the two half-Saiyans relaxed as they took a better look at the newcomers.
Remembering past Bulma's notes, Ranch whispered to Trunks, "That must be Champa and Vados."
"Yup, and the resemblance is uncanny," Trunks replied. "I wonder what they want." He thought back to the notes as well, and remembered that he was the one who initially gathered the Super Dragon Balls. Could Champa have figured out who took them and came to demand answers?
"Champa, what brings you here?" Beerus asked, clearly already bored of his brother's appearance.
Champa chuckled. "I've got you beat this time," he began, with a sinister grin. "One bite of what I've brought and you'll have no choice but to admit defeat.
Beerus groaned. "I hope that this is better than those stupid eggs you brought over that one time. Come along."
As the deities walked into Beerus' dwelling, Trunks and Ranch looked at each other uncertainly, the earlier spat driven from their minds.
"Should…we follow?" Trunks asked slowly.
"I don't know," replied Ranch. "But I say the less we have to do with this the better."
"That's a good point," he agreed. "We should just wait h—"
"You two!" Champa's voice called through the doors. "I don't know who you are, but get over here! You'll back me up on how delicious these are when you try them!" Left with no other choice, they both sighed and followed them in.
They were led to the dining room, where the Gods of Destruction sat on either end of long table. With a wave of her staff, Vados put some sort of contraption on the table and pressed the button on top. It hissed open to reveal some type of fruit, and two floated out towards Beerus and Champa, the rings that carried them detaching as they dropped into their hands. Champa insisted that Ranch and Trunks have some too, so two more floated towards them. After Whis and Vados were given fruit they all bit into theirs. Trunks and Ranch made sounds of pleasant surprise as they ate the fruit, which was both sweet and tangy, and had a good texture to it. They continued chowing down on the fruit until nothing but the core was left. Beerus also ate the fruit, but he was clearly unimpressed.
"Hey, that was pretty good," Trunks complimented.
"Yeah," agreed Ranch. "We should take seeds to your mom. Maybe she can grow them."
"Ha!" Champa laughed. "Don't get ahead of yourselves. This is a Sixth Universe delicacy—I won't allow them anywhere else."
With no other choice but to be compliant, Ranch just bowed. "Of course, Lord Champa. Forgive our presumptuousness."
"It's understandable," Champa said smugly. "No slop in the Seventh Universe could compare to this."
Beerus scoffed. "If this is the best the Sixth Universe has to offer then it must have been in dire straits even before the trouble with Gowasu's apprentice."
"Oh yeah! You got something better than this?" Champa demanded angrily.
Beerus gave his brother a nasty smirk, and said to Whis, "Show them." Whis then produced six bowls of ramen and a steaming kettle. After the water was poured into the bowls, Whis started a timer.
As they waited, Vados said on the side to Whis, "Interesting that these mortals don't seem fazed by what is transpiring before them. They haven't even asked a single question."
"Well, we came across them after our revival, and they come here rather frequently for lessons," Whis said smoothly.
Vados gave him a look. "There's clearly a lot more that you're not telling me."
"Is that so," he replied noncommittally.
As the timer ran out, Champa found the food questionable, but when Whis announced that it was ready and they could dig in, Ranch and Trunks began to enthusiastically slurp up the ramen. Seeing them go at it, Vados and Champa tried it out, and they were instantly impressed by how delicious it was. Champa wasted no time it slurping up the bowl and drinking the broth.
"So how was it?" asked Beerus, returning the smug attitude.
Realizing he messed up, Champa tried to regain his composure and said, "Not bad, I guess."
"You seemed to really enjoy if it was only not bad."
Nerve touched, Champa demanded, "What is this?"
"Instant ramen," he answered.
"I've never heard of that. Where is this from?"
"A planet called Earth. And that's not all it has to offer! Earth is filled with so many delicacies that I can't even begin to count them."
"Vados, show me if we have an Earth in the Sixth Universe," he told her. "We surely must!"
Vados took out her staff and began looking into the orb, and with the help of Whis she tracked down the planet in question. She projected an image of a barren molten planet, and Trunks said that couldn't be right. At Whis' suggestion Vados looked deeper into the planet's history and determined that the inhabitants had wiped each other out in a war years before. Champa cried out in frustration while Beerus just laughed at him.
"I guess the Sixth doesn't have an Earth to make any food for you! How tragic!" Beerus mocked.
"Man, that stinks," Ranch said sorrowfully.
"Well, it's not as if we've had it much better," Trunks replied.
She gave him a dubious look. "Come on, Trunks, this isn't some sort of contest. And at least we've still got our planet."
"A planet that's practically defenseless without us," he added. "Who knows how much more damage Frieza could have done if Gohan didn't disobey us and bought us time."
Champa looked over at them and then back at Beerus, grinning. "Hmm…Beerus, let's have ourselves a competition."
"Oh? What sort of competition?"
"A fighting contest, obviously!" he snapped. "And if I win we trade Earths!"
"Really?" said Beerus in astonishment. "You want to fight me?" He began to laugh again.
Angrily, Champa shouted, "Let me finish!"
"By fighting you mean pie eating?" he continued to laugh.
"Watch your damn mouth, you scrawny punk!"
Beerus' laughter immediately subsided, and the two now stood and stared daggers at each other from across the table. The air was now filled with even more tension, as the two gods floated on top of the table and walked calmly towards each other. After a brief exchange of words they got up close and personal, their eyes locked. The room was filled with even more tension, and then everything around them began to shake and crumble, causing Ranch and Trunks to retreat to the farthest bit of wall to observe with morbid curiosity.
The two gods then began to exchange punches, and below them on the floor a large circle of purple light appeared. The fight continued and the circle expanded, causing everything within it to petrify. Ranch and Trunks kept backing off to avoid the circle, and were about to burst through the wall to keep on avoiding it. It got closer and closer, until—
"That's enough!" Whis and Vados proclaimed, raising their staff between them just as they were about to kick each other. The gods froze and turned their back on each other, as the circle disappeared. Trunks and Ranch didn't dare touch the petrified floor in front of them.
"Why did you stop us?" Beerus asked casually.
"Yes, that was just rude," said Champa.
"We couldn't stand idly by as two Destroyers combated one another," Whis said rather seriously.
"You two must know that it would inevitably lead to the annihilation of both your universes, correct?" said Vados.
Beerus said to Champa, "This was your fault for suggesting this in the first place."
"No, it's your fault for not allowing me to finish," he argued. "I was going to propose selecting contestants from our universes to fight each other." Champa turned to face Beerus with a sinister grin. "How about teams of five? We'll each send out one competitor, and whoever wins the fights moves on to fight the next one. They'll continue on like that until there's one team left standing."
"Amusing, but why would I bother?" Beerus asked. "What would I gain? And even if you did win it's not possible to swap planets."
Champa was going to go on, but he then stopped and grew angry again. "Well it would've been possible with the wish orbs you stole!"
Beerus sighed. "How many times have i told you I had nothing to do with that?" Trunks and Ranch shared a glance, but kept their mouths shut. Suddenly Beerus shot Champa a glare. "And besides, you took some of those orbs from my universe, didn't you?"
Champa immediately lost his composure and looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Our universes share all seven orbs. Don't pretend you don't know this."
Clearly caught, Champa just asked, "How did you find out?"
"I have my sources," he said casually.
Growling in annoyance, Champa went on, "Yeah? Well, so do I. And I've managed to recover one of the orbs in my universe recently."
"But one is useless without the rest, isn't that right?" replied Beerus. "So quite wasting my time and go home already."
Trunks, leaning up against the wall with Ranch, looked up at the ceiling, and thought out loud, "I wonder if it'd be possible for mom to find them."
"What was that?" Champa quickly demanded of him.
Trunks flinched, and explained nervously, "My mother has experience tracking down wish granting orbs called Dragon Balls. I was just thinking she might be able to find these, too."
"Dragon Balls? You mean the ones forged by Namekians?" asked Champa.
"That's right."
Champa scoffed. "The Sixth has those as well, but those are just copies. What I'm talking about are less like orbs and more like planets!" Everyone knew all this from the information that came from past Bulma, but stayed silent to not let Champa and Vados catch on to the Seventh Universe's involvement with Zamasu. "What do you say, Beerus? If this person can really track them down, the Seventh will collect the last six scattered between our universes while the Sixth builds the arena."
Beerus then gave Trunks and Ranch an appraising look. "I suppose you Saiyans are interested in taking part in this?"
They looked at each other rather uncertainly, and then Ranch asked carefully, "That depends: other than the bet between you and Lord Champa, this is just a friendly competition, right? We won't be fighting for our lives?"
"I suppose. Although you'd better fight as if you were," Beerus said harshly.
"And the other competitors will know this, too, right?" asked Trunks.
"Well, Champa?" Beerus said to him.
"Very well, we can ascertain that they will be intelligent enough to understand that," agreed Champa.
"Ooh! How about we make it like this old tournament on Earth?" Ranch offered with more confidence. "We fight on a ring, no weapons, and if you're thrown out, knocked unconscious, or give up you lose?"
"Sounds good to me," said Beerus.
"Same," said Champa.
"I'm totally in!" Ranch declared.
"Me too!" Trunks said eagerly.
Beerus then grinned nastily. "Alright, then, you're on. I'll let you know as soon as the six are collected."
"Very well. I'll set up the arena in the neutral space between our universes. Provided we are both ready we'll meet again in five days." He then paused, thought about something, and said, "For some reason the nameless planet is no longer there. But no matter, I'll have it on a large asteroid or something. Vados, come along, let's start with the preparations," Champa said, taking his leave with Vados right behind him.
"Are you sure about all this, Lord Champa?" Vados asked them as soon as they were out of earshot.
Champa smirked smugly. "Didn't you hear those two mortals talking? They're the only ones from their planet strong enough to defend it. Something tells me they just might be the only things that the Seventh has to offer, and if that's the case the Sixth can easily handle them."
Meanwhile back in the dining room, Trunks and Ranch actually grinned at each other and high-fived.
"Oh man, can you believe it?" she started excitedly. "We get to take on the best fighters that another universe has to offer, and we don't have to worry about getting killed? This is awesome!"
"I know!" Trunks exclaimed. "Not only that, but we'll get to see what sort of stuff our universe is made of." He then asked Beerus, "So, if you don't mind us asking who do you have in mind for the three other fighters?"
Beerus gave them a sharp look. "What's this nonsense? Obviously I'm leaving that part up to you two."
A few seconds of silence followed those words, and as the enthusiasm Trunks and Ranch felt a little while ago began to give way to horror.
"B—But Lord Beerus, we don't know three other fighters!" she stammered desperately.
"What was that?" Beerus snapped angrily at them.
"We don't know three fighters!" Trunks echoed. "And even if we could think of anyone we'd be scraping the bottom of the barrel!"
"Then how come you agreed to this?" Beerus furiously demanded.
"How were we supposed to know you'd pawn this part off on us?" he countered.
"Well, you better think something up because I am not losing to Champa, you understand?" Beerus shouted at them.
"But surely you'd be able to put together a more capable team than we ever could," Ranch said, seeping as much flattery as she could into those words.
Beerus balked at that and looked away. "Um…for now we're going to Earth. Let's go."