Scouring two universes took the better part of two days. For the sake of Beerus' sanity (and to meet mortals' needs when nature called), they made a pit stop at a habitable planet every couple of hours, and had themselves a meal that Bulma had brought along. As long as the search took, they did eventually manage to track down the six Super Dragon Balls. Once done Bulma and Ranch were taken back to Earth, where they breathed a sigh of relief once Beerus and Whis took their leave.
Afterwards Ranch met back up with Trunks and Gohan, who had grown noticeably taller and was considerably stronger. She immediately wanted to spar with her son so she could see firsthand just how much stronger he was, but Trunks convinced her otherwise. Instead the next few days were mostly spent resting with only light training thrown in.
"What the hell is this?" Beerus bellowed at Trunks and Ranch on the day of the tournament.
"Our team," answered Ranch simply.
Beerus growled angrily. "So your idea of a team is an old man and a bunch of children?"
"Well, I'm going to go over here and stretch," said Roshi, walking away from the imminent danger.
Deciding to just go for it, Trunks said, "Look, Lord Beerus, you tasked us with this even after we told you our choices were limited. This is literally the best we could do."
"Wait, I was a last resort?" Gohan said indignantly. Both parents purposely pretended to not hear him.
Bulma then started, "Lord Beerus, unless you have three others in mind that we can quickly pick up or if you want to forfeit, then I'm afraid this is the best you have."
The thought of forfeiting to Champa repulsed Beerus, and he didn't have other fighters on hand. With no other choice, he begrudgingly said, "Fine, I suppose this'll do. But we better not lose after spending all that time gathering those six Dragon Balls!"
"It will be about three hours before we reach the neutral space," Whis announced to everyone gathered. "So make use of the bathroom now before we get going."
The Saiyans were already good to go, having already changed into their battle armor. Trunks and Gohan wore matching blue and white armor, while Ranch and Bulla had on matching brown and black armor. After everyone was set to go, Trunks entered the Cube first, followed by Ranch, Gohan, Bulla, Roshi, Bulma carrying Vegeta, Launch carrying Raditz, Chi-Chi, Dende, and finally the Pilaf Gang. When Whis took control of the Cube and launched it into space, Chi-Chi began cooking up some of the food they brought along on a grill.
"So, fighters from another universe, huh?" Shu thought out loud, intrigued at what was to come.
Mai said, "Yeah, I wonder what they'll be like."
"Whoever they are we'll take 'em out no problem," Gohan boasted. "In fact, my mom and dad might not even have to fight since I might take out everyone myself!"
Bulla, who had been staring out into the void beyond the Cube's walls, turned around to give her brother a look. Next to her blonde Launch laughed, having noticed the face Bulla was making. "Your brother's a piece of work, ain't he, baby girl?"
The Cube continued traversing through space, and along the way Chi-Chi finished cooking. She handed out plates and skewers so everybody could serve themselves, and they all eagerly began chowing down on her tasty cooking.
As Trunks and Ranch were digging in, Beerus came up to them with a serious expression. "For your sakes that child of yours better not be all talk." The two of them nearly choked on their food.
Ranch pounded her chest to get the bite she'd just taken down, and rounded on Trunks, saying, "Dammit! Didn't you teach Gohan some frickin humility while in the time chamber?"
"Hey, not my fault he can't help but try and show off in front of Mai!" Trunks retorted.
Making a tired face, she said, "Honestly, where in the hell did he even get that from?"
"So you don't think he actually has that much of a chance?" Beerus asked accusingly.
"We didn't say that," Trunks quickly said. "But we have no idea how strong our opponents are going to be, so I can't tell you how he'll do."
Not liking that answer, Beerus just grimaced and turned away to continue eating.
In his place, Roshi came up, uneasily asking, "Sheesh, what the heck did you all drag me into?"
Glaring at Roshi, Trunks firmly replied, "Something that my wife and mother-in-law gave you a kiss for. So quit complaining."
"Noted," Roshi immediately said.
Ranch snickered, and said to Trunks, "Here I thought you weren't bothered by that."
"More annoyed, I'd say," he admitted.
"What's the difference?" she chided.
Trunks sighed. "This is exactly why I didn't say anything up 'til now."
At one point during the trip, Whis noticed that they were approaching, tapped the Cube with his staff, and they slowed down so that the view around them went from a white void to open space. At the same time they were met with the sight of the seven Super Dragon Balls orbiting around a large asteroid. All the passengers gawked as the Cube skimmed the surface of one of the planet sized Dragon Balls, until Beerus ordered for them to taken to the arena.
Whis steered back towards the asteroid, where on its surface dome with an arena built inside of it.
When they landed, an unpleasant voice said from above, "So you've come." They all looked up to see Champa hovering over them, so Beerus flew up to meet him. "I must thank you for recovering my Super Dragon Balls, despite the fact that you stole them in the first place."
"I didn't steal them," Beerus told him with exasperation. "And no need to thank me for gathering them since I'll be taking them back with me." Then he smirked nastily. "Besides, getting six of them in just a couple of days was child's play. Tell me, Champa, how long did you say it took you to find six?"
Champa growled with derision. "You were only able to do it so quickly because of that Earth you have! That's going to change, by the way, once I beat you here."
Vados descended between them. "Are we done? If so I shall guide you to the arena." She indicated the bleachers below. "We have more than enough seats for everyone."
"Not the most comfortable looking place to sit," Trunks commented looking out from within the Cube.
"He's right," Bulma complained. "We came a long way, and not all of us are on the young side anymore."
"Not my idea," said Champa simply, looking away.
"They're right," Beerus remarked. "Honestly, asking guests to sit in those cheap benches?" He superiorly added, "I certainly would never allow such a thing. Whis…"
"Yes, my lord," said Whis, as Champa seethed. Whis saved his staff around, causing the bleachers to disappear, and get replaced by more comfortable looking accommodations for the competitors and guests. As Beerus made a comment about Vados lowering herself to Champa's level, more people arrived.
"Trunks. Ranch," a voice said. The two looked up to see two familiar figures.
"Shin!" greeted Ranch, as she and Trunks went up to meet them.
"Kibito!" said Trunks. "How've you guys been?"
"Busy," Kibito told them.
"Yes, ever since…well, ever since then we've had a lot on our plate," Shin elaborated.
"I can't imagine," Trunks said sympathetically. "We probably had it easy compared to you."
The two Kais from the Sixth Universe were put off by how the two mortals casually spoke with the Kais of the Seventh. And curious about Shin's remark, cautiously asked, "Shin, do these mortals know about the Zamasu incident?"
Ranch cocked her head curiously. "The what?" she asked convincingly.
"Never mind," the Supreme Kai of the Sixth said, waving it off.
"We just have a history," Kibito explained to them.
Vados then called out. "Seventh Universe competitors follow me!"
"Well, we gotta go," Ranch said, flying away with Trunks.
"Yes, good luck."
Bulla and Gohan flew up to follow, as Roshi piped up, "Hey! Don't forget me!"
Gohan looked down and blinked. "You can't fly?"
"No, I can't fly!"
The two kids were dumbfounded by that, but Gohan gave Roshi a lift up where Vados was leading them.
Seeing that, Champa burst out laughing. "That's the best you have to offer?" he said loudly, tears in his eyes. "A couple of children and an old man that can't even fly!"
Beerus snarled, "Watch your mouth! They may not look like much, but they'll show you just what they're capable of in the ring!" Inwardly, though, he cursed the Saiyans for putting him in such a position.
The five from the Seventh flew up to one of the raised podiums, and climbed up the stairs once they reached it. Once they got to the top they saw what must have been their five opponents from the other universe: a robot, bear, a purple man in armor, another man with black hair, and—
"It's him!" Gohan suddenly cried, pointing at the group from the Sixth Universe.
"Who?" asked Trunks.
"Him! Frieza!"
"What're you talking about?" asked Ranch, looking over at the group. "None of them are Frieza."
"The short, freaky looking one with the horns!" he insisted, glaring at the lookalike, who just smirked and turned away.
"He's right that really does look like Freezer but blue!" Bulla said in defense of her brother.
"But Frieza doesn't have horns," Trunks said obviously.
"He did, though!" Gohan told him. "Remember how we told you about what happened before he transformed?"
"Oh yeah, that's right," Ranch said, remembering. "Now thinking about it, Trunks, we only ever saw Frieza when he had robot parts and then when he was all gold."
"True. That must be his base form, then, which actually does sort of remind me of Frieza's dad, albeit a lot smaller."
Then one of them men from the Sixth Universe who had been staring at them as they discussed the lookalike came up. He was a bit shorter than Trunks and Ranch, probably about their age, wearing familiar battle armor, had a lanky but muscular figure, and had spikey black hair. "Um, excuse me," he began unsurely, "but are you talking about Frost?"
"Is that the blue guy's name?" asked Trunks. The newcomer nodded, so Trunks explained, "Sorry, we were just talking about how he looks like someone from our universe."
"Oh really?" he said, a little excitedly. "Is he a hero of justice too?"
Trunks and Ranch looked at each other and began laughing, while Gohan just looked flabbergasted at the thought of Frieza being a hero.
"Far from it," said Ranch, waving it off as she went on chuckling. "He was a brutal dictator that actually destroyed our dads' home planet."
"Oh my goodness!" he exclaimed in shock. "I'm so sorry."
Trunks shrugged. "That's ancient history as far as we're concerned. We were born long after that happened, and the planet they settled on has been the only home we've ever known."
"That's understandable, but I can't imagine what I'd do if Sadala was destroyed in my universe."
"Sadala?" Ranch asked, confused.
"Sadala," he repeated, surprised. "The home planet of the Saiyans. Aren't you Saiyans?"
"We are, but our dads came from a planet called Vegeta," explained Trunks.
"Vegeta? I've never heard of it."
"Wait, let's back up," Ranch said, now looking at him more closely. "Are you a Saiyan?"
He nodded. "That's right. My name's Cabba."
"I'm Trunks, my wife Ranch, and our kids Gohan and Bulla. Over there is Roshi," he added, gesturing at him.
"Wait, your children aren't participating, are they?" Cabba asked with concern, only now noticing how they were all dressed similarly. "We brought along some tough opponents, and I'd hate to see them get hurt."
"They may be young, but don't count them out," Ranch said, placing her hands on top of their heads.
"Yeah, I bet I'm stronger than you!" Gohan boasted.
Cabba just smiled. "Alright, then. We'll see about that in the ring."
Bulla then looked at Cabba's waist as she went around him. "But if you're a Saiyan where's your tail?"
"Tail?" Cabba blurted out, perplexed.
"Huh," Ranch noticed, copying what Bulla did, "you really don't have one. Did you get it removed?"
"No, I never had one to begin with," he told her, even more confused and taking a step back.
"That's weird. Pureblooded Saiyans in our universe get tails," said Ranch.
"Well, Saiyans don't have tails in my universe," Cabba said, now seeing the tail wrapped around her waist.
Trunks concluded, "Well, different universes and all that. Either we're same species that have had vastly different histories, or we're just different species that call themselves the same thing."
"I'm leaning towards same species," said Ranch to Cabba. "You kind of remind me of our dads and my uncle, and you did manage to notice we were Saiyans despite us being hybrids."
"Either way it's good to meet Seventh Universe Saiyans."
Just then Vados called for attention and announced that the written exam was about to begin, and for everyone to take their seats. The test consisted of ten basic problems that they had ten minutes to complete, and to pass they had to score at least a fifty. Ranch hadn't done serious studying since she was a kid before she left to train with Gohan, and Trunks was in a similar situation. But they did well enough to be reasonably confident in their performance. And when they got their final scores they both got seventy percent.
"Not bad," Trunks said as they compared scores.
When Gohan and Bulla came up, Ranch asked, "How did you two do?" When they handed over their scores, she exclaimed, "Whoa!" They both got full marks! Ranch turned around to look at the area where their family was sitting, where Chi-Chi just waved with a rather smug smile.
"Great job!" Trunks said in praise. "Roshi, how'd you do?"
"Well…" he replied. Roshi held up his test, showing that he got a fifty and just barely passed.
"Aren't you supposed to a wise old guy or something?" Ranch asked.
"I'm a martial arts master not a scholar!" Roshi said back.
"Well, at least you passed," said Trunks with a shrug.
Each Universe's competitors convened on their own podium where they'd be watching the matches while they weren't fighting. "Everyone passed? Excellent. But now comes the real challenge."
"Lord Beerus, the order in which they're fighting must be decided," said Whis.
"We already figured it out if that's alright," offered Trunks. "Roshi's first, then Gohan, Ranch, me, and Bulla is last."
"Shouldn't the strongest among you be last?" Beerus asked skeptically. But then he looked at Bulla, and said, "Never mind, it probably won't matter either way."
Bulla then did some thinking, and then she loudly complained, "Hey, wait! Won't that mean I'm not going to fight anyone if mommy and daddy don't lose?"
"Uh…we'll see, sweetie," Ranch said, trying to be kind.
Champa shot a ball of energy to sound the gong up above. The commentator down on the arena announced the start of the tournament. After a very short and very odd anthem, the first two fighters were called up.
Botamo versus Roshi.
Roshi removed his shell, and began to stretch. He then stepped up to the edge of the podium and looked across the arena at his opponent who wore a menacing smile. "Uh…could I get a ride down?" asked Roshi.