Beerus observed the 12 warriors as he called out to Whis. "So, have you decided on who is fit to be a contestant in this tournament?"
Beerus could faintly tell who was the strongest in the group and could therefore guess who Whis had picked.
He asked anyway as Whis had spent 2 whole years with them. He would know their weaknesses and strengths better than he could.
"Of course. Through your guidance we both know, which lineup would be the most beneficial to be chosen."
Whis said sarcastically, causing Beerus' face to twitch slightly. For Beerus it only had been 6 days since their training had begun.
He knew that he said that he would take a look from time to time, but he had not done it once during the training.
He thought it would be enough for his mentor to teach them. He wasn't a good teacher anyway.
"I have trust in you, Whis. I don't doubt that you would do a prefect job in training this bunch."
Whis closed his eyes and shook his head slightly.
"Sigh. Thanks Lord Beerus… Anyway, I think I should introduce you to the contestants of the tournament, those who would represent universe 7."
Whis raised his arm and beckoned for the four to step forwards.
"Here they are. The one with the most amount of raw power is the Frost Demon, Cooler. With his golden transformation he rapidly closes in on the god tier level. His battle experience is subpar, but his strength easily compensates for this flaw."
Beerus rubbed his chin while listening to Whis introduction and tried to overlay it with the impression he got from 6 days ago and the moment they came out of the staff.
"Second would the Saiyan called Son Goku.
Although his strength is lesser compared to Cooler's, his battle experience and his fighting instincts make him even more dangerous in a fight than Cooler.
Third is the Saiyan called Vegeta.
Like Goku his battle experience could be directly felt in a single exchange. He uses his martial skill and techniques to dominate in a fight.
His strength is about the same as Goku's and in every right a dangerous foe. Last but not least is Zangya of the Hera race."
Beerus raised his eyebrow as he heard the last name. From all the candidates he wasn't sure who would be placed in the last spot for this tournament.
He could tell that this Zangya was strong, not weaker than the others, but in his mind, she didn't outshine the others either.
In fact, since they all were about the same, wouldn't it make more sense to place this bug called Cell as the last candidate?
He could use the majority of the techniques that the others could without diminishing its effects. He would be a good surprise.
Whis seemed to know his doubts and followed up with the reason why she was chosen instead of the others.
"She has a race innate ability called 'Psycho Threads', which can be used to seal and absorb the powers of her opponents. If one doesn't know of her ability, she would be impossible to beat for most. Even if they knew of this ability, it wouldn't help them much either."
"I see. Someone who could absorb the opponent's power is surely threatening." Beerus said while nodding. Alea, Cana and Gohan were a bit down cast as they weren't strong enough, even though they put so much effort into their training.
Despite being downcast, they couldn't deny the gains they got through this training. Even if they weren't as strong as Goku and Vegeta, they weren't far off either.
"As for our last contestant, we will have to wait for him to come out. He already had his breakthrough after having a slight setback in midst training. He is only stabilizing his strength now. He will be out tomorrow to participate."
Goku's ear twitched as he heard Whis talk about this mysterious last contestant.
He immediately ran up to Whis to ask once again who their last teammate would be, but as before he was being denied with, "You will know, when the tournament starts.".
Vegeta squinted slightly. He already guessed that Broly should be the last contestant. He was, after all, the strongest person he knew beside these present.
Cooler visibly tensed up again as he listened to their conversation. Cell on the other hand was still seemingly relaxed as before, only his fist was slightly clenched.
"Alright, let's eat something!" Whis said as he conjured up a giant table with several different meals on top. The meals were still warm.
The Saiyans couldn't help but immediately start wolfing down everything they could see. Everyone else only shook their heads as they quietly took something for themselves before the table was emptied.
Beerus and Whis slightly sat on the side and ate their fill. The food wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either.
It was a bit on the bland side, but to the Saiyans it didn't make much of a difference. They weren't picky choosers.
Afterwards Whis urged them to take a good night's rest and meet on the lakeside for departure in the morning.
They were quickly being led to several buildings in the tree trunk. They talked for a bit before the 12 went to sleep.
In the middle of the night two figures appeared outside of the buildings on an open field in the near forest.
A purple figure with armor like white carapaces and a visor that covered his mouth was standing quietly in the middle of the clearing.
His tail was waving slightly behind him. After a short while of waiting, another figure stepped out from between the trees.
With his two long black wings and crossed arms, Cell stepped out of the shadow to meet Cooler in the clearing. They seemed to have discussed this before as Cooler seemed to have waited for Cell to come.
Cooler observed Cell for a second before he spoke out, "I will speak bluntly. I want to assassinate Broly.". Cooler waited for a response, but nothing came back, so he just continued.
"Broly will probably need to deal with the strongest of universe 6, afterwards he will be exhausted and then we can-" He suddenly was interrupted by Cell's laughing.
"I see. Well, it was obvious after hearing what you had to do for them. You truly were a helpless puppet."
Cooler got pissed as he looked at Cell's mocking face. He clenched his hand into a fist ready to attack at any second, but he calmed himself down.
"Aren't you the same? He had messed with your soul too and forced you to comply, don't you have a grudge against him?!"
Cell smiled as if he thought that Cooler's agitation was bemusing.
"Yeah, see this is the difference between us. He didn't make me do anything, well not exactly but he never forced me to do something that I wouldn't have done otherwise."
"Hmph. So? Only because he treated you good, is reason enough for you to ignore that he messed with your soul? Pathetic. Aren't you simply afraid of him?"
Cooler provoked him and it worked like a charm as Cell's expression turned solemn.
"Ah. I never said that I won't get my revenge, but I won't be joining you." Cell raised a finger and waved it slowly from side to side.
"No one is allowed to mess with me like he did, and he will pay for it, but not in a form of an assassination. I will beat him in a duel and prove once and for all that I am the prefect being.
I don't care if you want to try your luck with Broly but let me be clear about one thing. Don't you dare hurt the other Exousians or else I will kill you myself!"
Cell's voice sounded out and with it, killing intent spread into the surroundings.
Cooler was stunned for a second.
"I don't care about them, I only want Broly's head… You should know that you won't be accepted by them if you place yourself against their beloved one."
With that Cooler disappeared into the night. He knew that there was no point in continuing trying to convince Cell to join him.
In the last 2 years, Cooler had obviously seen that Cell and the three Exousians had a good relationship with each other, he had thought that Cell had faked it, so he could easier ambush Broly, but it seemed like he genuinely enjoyed their company.
Cell stood there for a second. He then looked at the building that was housing them at the moment, before he sighed and headed back.
After the two left, a figure with crossed arms leaning against a tree left as well. The two weren't aware that their conversation had an unwelcome listener.