Kera:
"You know you guys look pretty stupid in those suits, right?"
Kakarrot and Vegeta wore thick suits that doubled their girth. They were so heavy that their movement was significantly restricted and yet they were fighting each other. Whis had conjured these suits on them after breakfast this morning and was now silently watching them train on the lawn next to the lake on Beerus' planet.
"Why aren't you training your strength and stamina, anyway?" asked Vegeta provocatively.
"Strength and endurance aren't the only things that matter in a fight," Kera replied, tapping her head. "Mental strength must be trained as well."
Kakarrot and Vegeta looked at each other, shrugged briefly, then returned their attention to their fight. Kera sighed. Her brothers were stubborn and, despite her explanations, had not yet understood that the mind also contributed to how strength and endurance developed.
She had understood this a few months ago when Whis had locked them in the sphere above his staff for training just before Frieza had reappeared on Earth. They had only been able to move in that space when they had concentrated on not letting any of their energy leak out.
Since then, she had managed to compartmentalise her ki. She called it "energy pack". When she concentrated completely on herself and descended into the depths of herself, she no longer saw in the blackness only the golden glowing thread that connected her to Piccolo, but also different coloured spheres that she had placed next to the connection. One yellow sphere contained the energy to transform into the Super Saiyan. The yellow orb next to it, which was much larger than the first, contained the energy for the Super Saiyan. 2 The red and blue orbs helped Kera transform into Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue respectively.
Kera took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She visualised the orbs in her mind's eye. When she reached for them, the energy she had stored there passed to her in a flash. She could easily transform herself and hold the transformation for some time. She couldn't help but smile when she thought about Whis telling them yesterday that they should all three transform into Super Saiyan Blue and then just walk around in that state for as long as possible. Kera had lasted the longest.
She was jolted out of her memories when she heard a loud bang. Something had hit the planet of Lord Beerus. And if Kera interpreted the aura correctly, it was a god.
"Whis!" she heard the cry of Beerus only moments later, who had obviously been awakened by the noise. She swallowed. Hopefully he didn't think she and her brothers were responsible. That would be trouble.
Whis, who had been standing two steps behind Kera, disappeared. They waited anxiously for Whis to return, who would surely tell them what had happened, but when he still hadn't returned after a few minutes, they became uneasy. Had something worse happened?
"Come on, let's go check it out," Kera suggested and flew to the palace. Vegeta and Kakarrot followed her clumsily in the oversized suits. She headed straight for the dining room, one of the places she knew Beerus liked to hang out.
At one end of the long table in the dimly lit room sat Beerus. Across from him sat another person who looked very much like Beerus. He seemed a little shorter, perhaps a little stockier, but the resemblance was clear. Whis stood on the long side of the room, casting glances back and forth between Beerus and the stranger. Next to him stood another person who resembled Whis in both dress and appearance.
When they had all three stepped through the door, Whis noticed them.
"Ah, come here. Let me introduce you. Lord Champa, this is Kera, Vegeta and Goku, three Saiyans from Earth who are currently staying with Lord Beerus. This is Lord Champa, the God of Destruction of the Sixth Universe, and his companion angel, Vados."
"He sure looks like Beerus!" gasped Kakarrot.
"That may be because he is my twin brother," Beerus said without taking his eyes off Champa.
"What do you mean, sixth universe?" asked Vegeta.
"Oh, you don't know that yet." Whis cleared his throat. "There are twelve universes in all. Any two of them form a pair whose sum is 13, so the first and the twelfth, the second and the eleventh, and so on. The two universes that belong together behave similarly to mirrors to each other."
Kera's jaw dropped briefly, as did Vegeta's, before she regained her composure. "You're telling us there are other universes right now? Parallel universes? Universes that you can travel to?"
"Well, it isn't quite that simple ..." put in Whis.
"I don't understand anything at all." Kakarrot looked perplexed from Vegeta to Kera and then to Whis.
"I'll explain later, birdbrain," Vegeta growled.
"Can I have some proper food now?" demanded Champa.
Beerus sighed in annoyance. "Since the food you brought wasn't that convincing, I'll serve you something really good now. Whis!"
Whis nodded and made a small circular motion with his staff. Two steaming mugs appeared in front of Vados and Champa, floating in the air. Suspiciously, Champa leaned forward and sniffed.
"These are cup noodles. Go ahead and try them, brother."
Hesitantly, Champa and Vados took the sticks floating next to the cups between their fingers and slowly began to put the first bite in their mouths.
Everyone watched spellbound as the two chewed and finally swallowed. For a moment nothing happened. Then they suddenly began to shovel the rest of the cup's contents into their mouths with breathtaking speed. Satisfied, Champa patted his belly, while Vados graciously wiped her mouth with a handkerchief.
"I must admit, that was really delicious. Where did you get this food?"
"From Earth. Vegeta ..." Beerus gestured over to him with a curt movement of his head "... showed me this delicacy so he could train here one more time after his sister ..." He now pointed at Kera, "... had presented her homemade noodles." He grinned as he leaned back in his chair.
Kera's eyes darted to Champa, who was obviously thinking hard about something. "Vados!" he finally called out, causing everyone present to wince slightly, except for the one addressed herself, who seemed to have already expected it.
"Yes, Lord Champa?"
"Surely we must have such an earth in our universe. Look for it! I want to eat these things too."
Vados nodded, let her staff tap the ground once, and then stared intently into the sphere hovering at the top of the staff. Kera could not see from her vantage point what Vados was looking at. The orb appeared black, broken only by a few lighter spots. Whis stepped closer to her and looked over Vados' shoulder.
"You need to look a little further to the left, sister."
Surprised, Kera raised her eyebrows and looked at Vegeta, who also looked slightly confused.
"Vados is Whis' sister?" said Kera redundantly. Vegeta nodded and shrugged at the same time, as if he didn't know what to say to that either.
"Lord Champa, the Earth of the Sixth Universe is destroyed," Vados announced after a while. "From the looks of it, the inhabitants of the planet have been extremely wasteful of resources."
Champa folded his arms in front of his chest and swayed his head back and forth as if he were considering.
"Let's fight each other. If I win, we'll swap earths, if you win, everything stays as it is."
Beerus glanced briefly at Whis, who rolled his eyes but otherwise showed no reaction. Then Beerus nodded and leapt forward.
Champa leapt upwards at the same moment and they met in the air above the long dining table. Their clenched fists slammed into each other, releasing a shockwave that threw Kera's braid backwards.
Surprised, she took a step backwards. Suddenly she realised that there were two gods fighting each other. Two gods of destruction. She looked at Vegeta and Kakarrot who were watching Champa and Beerus' every move. Every punch, every kick seemed to release energy, because a purple ring formed in the middle of the table and grew steadily.
After a short time it had already reached the end of the table top and continued over the chairs.
"Vegeta!" Kera nudged her brother, who made a disgruntled sound. "The table! It's gone!"
Vegeta followed Kera's outstretched finger and turned quite a bit pale around the nose. "They're releasing energy that's swallowing everything."
"Maybe we'd better leave the room."
Kera pulled Kakarrot backwards by the heavy suit he and Vegeta still wore. He stumbled awkwardly and wanted to fight back, but then he too noticed that the all-devouring ring was growing faster and faster and had almost reached the walls on the long side of the room.
Whis and Vados hovered a few handbreadths above the floor and seemed completely unconcerned about the fight.
"Whis!" screamed Kera, while she panicked and tried to drag her brothers out of the room, who at that moment seemed almost unable to move because of the suits.
Kera felt herself losing her grip. Kakarrot and Vegeta were simply too heavy. The ring of black and purple billowing mass already seemed to tickle her feet. What would happen if she fell into it? Would she be badly injured? Or would she even cease to exist?
She cried out and mobilised her strength to make the last stretch to the door. She thought of Piccolo and her children.
Suddenly she heard a clanging noise and looked up. Vados and Whis were suddenly hovering between the two battling gods and had crossed their staffs, blocking Champa and Beerus from accessing each other. Instantly the ring of all-destroying energy formed back and Kera sank to the ground in relief.
"That's enough," Whis said quietly but firmly.
"If you keep this up, you'll destroy the whole universe," Vados added.
Beerus and Champa looked into each other's eyes for a moment longer and seemed to consider whether they should really stop fighting now, but then they both lowered their shoulders at the same time and put some distance between them.
"All right, new proposal. We each choose five warriors to fight each other. The winner gets the Super Dragon Balls, of which I have already found six."
"Ah, I see, so that's what you were looking for when we met you in space a few months ago." Whis looked challengingly at his sister, who just shrugged indifferently.
"I'll overlook the fact that you were looking for the Super Dragon Balls in my universe without permission. But what am I supposed to do with six balls when it takes seven to grant a wish?"
"I'm sure Bulma can build a radar to find the seventh Dragon Ball." Kakarrot struggled to get up. Kera held out a hand to help him up and groaning, he came to a stop.
"All right, then. Then you take care of a place to hold it. What do you propose for rules?" Beerus looked to Kera, Vegeta and Kakarrot, who exchanged a quick glance.
"Like the Grand Tournament?" Questioningly, Kakarott looked to Kera and Vegeta.
"You mean the tournament where you faced Piccolo once?"
"That's right." He looked to Beerus and Champa. "If you fall out of the ring or give up, you lose. Anyone who kills anyone is disqualified."
"I still suggest that we take a written test beforehand so that we can make sure that we don't have completely brainless idiots participating who are just out to destroy us."
Champa and Beerus seemed to weigh Kakarrot and Vegeta's suggestions briefly, then agreed.
"I will send you a message when the arena is ready." Champa stood next to Vados, who smiled briefly at the group, making them both disappear in a swirl of colour.
"Oh man, I'm so looking forward to the fight!" Kakarrot began to peel himself out of the heavy suit. Kera helped Vegeta, who by now seemed to be sweating profusely under the weight of the suit.
She rolled her eyes when she heard Kakarrot's words. Yes, she would be happy too, but she didn't know yet if she would fight. Why did Kakarrot assume Beerus would choose him?
"All right. You fight. What about you Vegeta?"
"I'm in," Vegeta answered quickly.
"Kera?"
A smile stole onto her lips. "Of course I'm in."