Goku, Master Roshi, Krillin, Piccolo, Gohan, Vegeta, Freeza, No. 17, No. 18, and Buu appeared in the arena, and the aura around them faded. With them were Beerus, Whis, Shin, and the Elder Kaioshin. Beerus took a deep breath.

"Here we are," he said. "Remember the strategy, all of you, and try not to screw things up."
Goku tilted his head and half-shrugged. "Screw things up? What d'ya mean? What problems have I caused that-"

Just about everyone seemed ready to speak.

"-that I didn't end up fixin'?"

The group contemplated for a moment, and Piccolo responded. "What about when you couldn't defeat Cell, and you made Gohan, who was eleven years old at the time, fight him?"

"But I helped him defeat Cell! That counts, right?" Goku insisted, to which his son rolled his eyes.

"What about, oh, our fight with Zamasu," Vegeta said, "that just happened, where you ended up having to call Zeno?"

"We defeated Black without his help!" Goku defended.

"You say 'we.' It was," Vegeta chuckled proudly, "mainly my son."

Elder Kaioshin interjected. "It doesn't matter who defeated who, or who screwed what up in the past. What we should all focus on is winning this tournament."

"That's right," said Whis, looking around. "If you want to argue with someone, have it be someone from one of the other teams."

Gohan was on the lookout for any troublesome-looking fighters to report to his friends. A sharp poke to his back made him jump a little, eliciting smug laughter from one behind him. He turned around to meet the glaring, hunched-over Lavender.

"Don't think our fight is going to end in a draw this time, Universe 7," he warned, "let alone with your victory. I'll be using my poison with just enough care not to kill you."

Gohan's face was blank. "Alright, that's good for you," he said. "I don't plan to lose either, but you're not my main target."

Lavender raised a hand and infused it in a display of poison. "It's a mistake for you to underestimate me!" he spat. "You got lucky last time you fought. Don't think your friends will save you from me, they'll be too busy dealing with the other Universe 9 fighters."

Gohan raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, thanks. Why don't you just keep telling me what your strategy is?" he patted his gi, which had no pockets. "Hold on, do you have a pen and paper?"

Lavender brought a fist right up to Gohan's face. "Don't be a smartass with me, boy. We've perfected out fighting instinct; we had to in order to survive in Universe 9." He backed off a little. "We've earned victory. What have you gone through?"

There were a couple of ways Gohan could respond. He could have said "my father died twice" or "I saved the world when I was eleven" or even "I've done a lot of studying" but he really didn't feel like continuing this confrontation. He replied with "Well, only time will show the winner."

A few of the other teams could be seen around the arena. The closest one was Team Universe 10. It consisted of, mainly, shirtless muscled men and a few flying fighters, but one creature caught Team Universe 7's collective eye more than anything else. The thing's legs resembled that of a spider crab, and its body that of an ant. It was bright orange, covered in small black dots, and had a bumpy, chitinous surface. Its head was humanoid. The creature was scuttering around and conversing with its team when it noticed Team Universe 7. It snapped towards them and observed with wide, unblinking eyes. Then it separated its jaws by over a foot, producing a cascade of saliva and revealing a set of gray teeth.

In a friendly enough voice, it hissed "Hey there, my name's Carl. I look forward to having some great fights!"

"Ooh!" cried Goku, "That guy looks tasty!" Carl frowned at this.

Buu scrunched up his face and shook his head. "Buu no think that looks tasty at all."

Freeza turned to Goku. "Saiyans," he spat. "I like crustaceans, and I may even be inclined to eat them live, but that? Really?"

"Yeah," Goku said, "like a lobster, or fried scorpion!"

Carl lifted one of his front legs. A short tentacle slithered out of a hole between the pincers, which he pointed at Goku. "I find that highly offensive," he said.

While this was going on, Krillin was doing his best to keep himself from crapping his pants. Carl must have taken his trembling as a show of excitement, for he turned his gaze upon Krillin, gave him a thumbs up with his tentacle, and winked. Something oozed from it, and Krillin stared, whimpering.

"Sticky," remarked Carl. "Be useful for keeping in the arena."

"No, it is not the time to get scared!" Beerus demanded, turning Krillin around. "You probably won't even end up having to fight him, so just focus on someone else."

Beerus smiled at Rumsshi. "Boy, you picked some real winners, didn't you? Just scraped together whatever fighters looked tough, without any regard for skill or experience."

"Oh," said Rumsshi, with a sarcastic smirk, "I'm sorry, I thought this was the Tournament of Power, not the Tournament of Experience."

"Well," Beerus retorted, folding his arms, "it's a good thing my Universe's team has both of those things, isn't it?"

Rumsshi clenched a fist. "Your Universe's team, your Goku, is the one to thank for this entire stupid tournament!"

A high-pitched voice from above interjected. "Stupid?" it repeated.

The arguing gods felt a chill run down their spines. Rumsshii was shaking and Beerus' fur stood on end. Beerus turned around and faced the speaker with a nervous grin. "Z-Zeno Sama!"

Zeno continued. "What's stupid about it?"

Rumsshi caught his gaze and frantically stammered out an explanation. "N-No, Zeno-Sama! I meant 'stupid' as in, as in..."

"As in 'stupendous!'" Beerus supplied, sweat dripping down his face.

Zeno craned his neck. "What's stupendous mean?"

"It means really, uh, cool," Rumsshi said, "and amazing!"

Zeno considered this for a moment. "Yeah," he agreed, nodding. "It is gonna' be really cool."

Beerus and Rumsshi looked at each other with sighs of relief. Several members of their teams had split off to peruse the arena. Buu had his head up and was sniffing the air. He followed the enjoyable scent to its origin, Team Universe 2. "You girls smell like candy!" he said, pointing.

Sanka Ku's face melted into a pleasant smile. "That's right. Thank you!"

Buu put a hand to his mouth. "Are you using the stuff Hercule told Buu about, mhhmm..." he thought hard, "perfume?"

"No!" Sanka Ku answered, snapping her fingers. "It's just the aroma of our love."

Prum slid into the conversation. "I can respect any man who loves his candy. What's your name?"

"Me Buu!" Buu cheered.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Mibu," Prum replied. "I'm Prum. But my question for you is: What do you love the most, besides candy?"

For a moment, Buu considered saying "more candy" but decided on "Buu love best friend Hercule!"

"Great answer!" Su Roas shouted, clapping. Tears welled in her eyes.

"It's a shame we have to fight as enemies," Zarbuto said. "You would make a great citizen of Universe 2."

Buu and the members of Team Universe 2 continued exchanging their greetings and bits of wisdom. Heles was studying Buu intently. She turned to Pell and asked "Doesn't he look familiar?"

"He does," Pell said, "but I can't quite put my finger on it."

Heles scratched her head. "Like someone we knew a long time ago..."

Vegeta, arms crossed, was trying to tune out the chatter all around him. The sooner the tournament started, the sooner he could get home. There was one voice, however, that kept shouting and eventually broke through his focus. "What?" he asked impatiently, then saw who he was speaking to. "Oh. Hello, Cabba."

"Hello, master!" Cabba greeted him with excitement. "Are you looking forward to the fighting?"

Vegeta bit his lip and looked down. "I'm looking forward" he said, "to getting back home and spending some time with my newborn daughter."

If Vegeta were feeling a little more cynical, he would have thought Cabba was faking his reaction to this. The great, warm smile that spread across his face was a little too much. "Oh, congratulations! What's her name?"

Vegeta closed his eyes and smiled. "Her name is Bra. Bra Eschalot." At this, Cabba choked back laughter.

Vegeta didn't notice right away. He thought of Earth, of his home at Capsule Corp, and swore to himself to would be the best father to Bra he could be. He would not treat her like he did Trunks when he was a baby, and she would see at an early age that he cared for her, her brother, and her mother. What did I do to deserve such a loving family, he thought, before Cabba's giggling became apparent to him. "Is something funny?" he asked in confusion.

"Oh no, nothing!" Cabba's amusement faded and a pair of Namekians staggered up. They seemed a little winded before they even started walking and were surrounded in a pulsating aura.

"Ah," noted Vegeta, "it would make sense for Universe 6 to have a planet Namek as well." Piccolo heard this from a short distance away and approached in interest.

"Namekians, huh?" Piccolo asked. "For your sake, I hope you two are the finest Namekian warriors in your Universe."

The Universe 6 Namekians looked at each other and nodded. They could both sense what Piccolo had within him, and although it was impressive it didn't compare to what they had.
"Trust us," one Namekian began.
"We are," the other finished.

"Another band of monkeys and another tribe of slugs," Freeza said with a scowl. "How upsetting." Everyone's attention turned towards him. Vegeta and Piccolo regarded him with the usual distaste, while Cabba fidgeted and looked on with worry and distrust.
Before anyone could say anything, Freeza spotted a figure nearby and spoke again. "But who is this charming combatant?"

Roshi gazed at the members of Team Universe 4 he could see. Something didn't feel right, aside from there only being 8 fighters present. Some of the fighters ignored him, some stared back at him blankly, and others were locked on to him with smug confidence. "I have a bad feeling about these guys," he said to a passing member of another team, who didn't respond.

The leader of Team Universe 4, however, did. "You should, old man," he said with a grin. "If you want my advice, you shouldn't bother going up against us. We plan to use our skills to take on opponents who actually pose a threat."

"Oh?" Roshi asked, cracking his neck. "And what makes you think this old man doesn't pose a threat to your octet of oddballs?"

Ganos chortled. "Careful, grandpa. You might pull something," he said, and nudged one of his teammates. "Hey, Majora, smell that?"

"I'm not going to play along, Ganos," Majora replied. There was an awkward silence.

"You're..." Nink began, then got stuck for a while, "...very elderly."

Team Universe 3 appeared before the Androids. The Daishinkan floated down. "You took your time getting here," he said with a calm smile. "We're going to get started soon."

Ea pushed up his glasses. He didn't seem intimidated. "Ah, yes," he said. "Well, we had to complete an update."

Several robots began beeping and Paparoni checked his staff. "Curious," he said, looking up at 17 and 18. "I detect an artificial energy in you two, but you both seem organic. What exactly are you?"
"We're Androids," said 18.
"We're Cyborgs," said 17.

Paparoni's confusion only grew, 18 looked annoyed, and 17 seemed pleased with himself. "Are those terms interchangeable in Universe 7," Paparoni asked, "because-"

18 dismissed the question with a wave. "Don't listen to him, he thinks he's a comedian."

The Preecho caught 17's eyes, and 17 smiled. The Preecho looked worried, but 17 said "Don't worry, man. You look Perfect."

Goku barreled across the arena, watching for one thing and one thing only. Eventually, he found it. Not too far off was Team Universe 11, standing together in all their red-and-black spandex glory. They didn't seem to be paying him any attention. Goku shot out a hand. "Hey, Toppo!" he shouted, bee-lining towards the group. "Jiren!"

Once the Pride Troopers heard Goku and saw his approach, several of them took some uneasy steps back. "So, this is him, eh?" Kahseral asked Toppo.

"I thought you were exaggerating when you said he was annoying," Cocotte said, "but he is kind of creeping me out."

Dyspo stuck up his nose and said "It's like he thinks he's entitled to fighting you specifically."

Toppo peered at the approaching Saiyan. "He was quite formidable when we fought in the Exhibition Match," he stated. "But, it is complete arrogance on his part to think he even deserves to fight Jiren."

Goku had arrived in front of Team Universe 11. "Toppo, how's it goin'?" he asked, and didn't wait for an answer. "So which one of you guys is Jiren?"

He scanned the Pride Troopers, since none of them answered. Looking at Tupper he said, "I bet it's you, right?"

Tupper seemed more flattered than irritated. He pointed out the real Jiren, who was avoiding eye contact.

Goku looked up at Jiren, grinning. "Yo, the big J himself!" he said, but even this failed to evoke a reaction. "So, how about before the Tournament starts, we-"

"Attention!" the Daishinkan called out from above. "The Tournament of Power will begin soon. Fighters, please locate your Universe's deities and gather there, away from the other teams."

Goku snapped his fingers. "Aw, man!" he cried, and hurried away. "I'll back for you, Jiren!"

Jiren watched him go. Once he was gone he looked at his team and said "Fool."

The 8 teams began to regroup. An impatient remark from Zeno struck fear into the Gods and Kais, who urged their fighters to hurry up. Soon enough all teams were at their stations, most of them about halfway between the center pillar and the edge. They were equidistant from one another.

"The Tournament of Power," explained the Daishinkan, "will last for 100 taks, or about 48 standard minutes. For those who are accustomed to different units, your Universe's deities can now remind you what that equals in your units." He gestured to the center pillar and continued. "The center pillar will descend as the tournament goes on. When the pillar is flush with the arena, the tournament will have ended."

He waved his hands in the air. "We are located in the World of Void, a realm of infinite emptiness. However, the material the arena is made of simulates the gravity, atmosphere and other conditions of all your home planets, so physiologically all of you will feel at home."

"You are considered eliminated when you are removed from the arena and are not able to return before falling. Flying techniques, however, cannot be used, except by those who can fly naturally. If this happens, you will appear in the stands by your Universe's deities and other eliminated fighters. Killing is not permitted and will result in disqualification. Once you appear in the stands you may no longer participate in any fighting, although you are encouraged to cheer on any allies of yours who are still in the arena."

At this point, many competitors considered the Daishinkan to be a little too wordy, but he went on. "If all fighters on your team are eliminated, you and your Universe will be immediately erased. The team with the most remaining members at the end of the tournament will be considered the winners, will not have their Universes erased, and the Most Valuable Player of that team will receive a wish on the Super Dragon Balls."

"Most importantly," he said with a smile, "make sure to give Zeno-Sama a good show."

The 10 members of Team Universe 7 were positioned in a tight circle, facing outwards. Each stood in the battle pose that fit them.

Goku thought of Universe 11 and of Toppo and Jiren. He had on his face the same smile he always has before an exciting fight. Master Roshi thought of all the years he spent in perversion and how it was holding him back the entire time. He stared into the distance with a look of discipline. Krillin thought of Carl and how, in some cruel turn of fate, he would probably end up being the one having to fight him. He tried to look as brave as he could, for 18, for Marron. Piccolo thought of the man he used to be and how meeting Goku and Gohan had changed him for the better. He looked stoic as usual.

Gohan thought of the cruelty of this tournament and how he felt like a toy, being threatened with erasure to provide amusement. He put on a hard expression instead of a somber one, because he couldn't let his emotions get in the way of protecting his friends and family. Vegeta thought of Bulma, Trunks and Bra, and how he just wanted to get this over with so he could see them again. He looked like he had no worries at all of losing. Freeza thought of obtaining the Super Dragon Balls and how he could gain power in so many ways. He licked his lips, ready to cause as much pain as he could without killing.

Android 17 thought of the animals on the island and how great it would be to put an end to mankind's abuse of nature. He held back his cockiness and overconfidence, giving off a cool gaze as he thought of strategy. Android 18 thought of her brother, husband, and daughter, and how they would each help her through this. She had the look of a woman not to be underestimated. Majin Buu thought of sweets and how, if the Universe is erased, there wouldn't be any more. He wore a game face shown to him by his best friend, Mr. Satan.

After making sure everyone heard him, the Daishinkan swung an arm up, raising it above his head. One moment, his facial expression and the position of his arm seemed to instantly change, ever so slightly.

"Let the Tournament of Power…" he declared, and brought his arm down with a chopping motion, "...commence!"

This is the ultimate battle royal for survival. With everything to lose, will the winner be decided by strength, talent, or sheer force of will?

There are 8 Universes.

There are 80 fighters.

The 48-minute Tournament of Power has begun.