Dragon Ball: Rise of Nitrate [DBZ/DBS X Icejin OC]

Chapter Twenty: A Bad Draw

[3rd POV]
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Nitrate found himself awakening from his nightmare, the others standing beside him with unknowing looks. There seemed to be no difference between the moment he had fallen into his scarring memories and when he awakened, besides the fact he was now standing in a different place than before. His surroundings were clearly the arena for the Budokai Tournament, however, he was positioned at another area with a wooden table and a board.

Nitrate: "Huh... W-What is..."

Gohan: "Are you alright, Mr Nitrate? The lottery's starting and you look really out of it."

Nitrate: "R-Right!... The, uh, lottery!"

The hybrid looked at Nitrate with immense concern, but was promptly ignored by the Arcosian as he stood beside the group and waited for his name to be read out. Gohan eventually realised that his uncle-figure wasn't going to share his problems, and the teen sighed to himself as he took his original place amongst the group and waited. It earned a thankful sigh from Nitrate, whose hands shook.

Krillin was the first out of the gang to be called up. There was a moment of silence as everyone watched the short man pull out his ball, revealing a number one symbol. It was not clear who would be facing against him, but that likely did not matter considering the number of useless people who were taking part in the tournament now.

The next to approach was Gohan, who pulled out the number eight ball. He would be fighting against Kibito, who managed to pull out the number seven ball mere moments prior to Krillin's. The events appeared to be similar to the original story, although Nitrate was very distracted after his sudden flashback. Even so, he was eventually called up to the table and asked to pull out his number to decide his position within the tournament.

Announcer: "Nitrate... You're number twelve."

Goku: "What?!"

Nitrate: "Huh?"

Both Goku and Nitrate stared at each other, then towards the announcement board, and then back towards each other. The duo seemed to be shocked by how quick the two of them would be fighting, but neither of them had issues with settling things early into the Budokai. In fact, dealing with Goku -one of the strongest- would provide Nitrate some time alone to sort through his emotions, as the memories of his father had proven too much for him.

The event continued, with Vegeta being paired with some random fighter in the initial rounds. He seemed annoyed, but not for the reasons Nitrate expected. In fact, the short prince seemed extremely agitated after hearing that Goku would fight him near the beginning of the event, and that seemed to spark a strange hatred from the older Saiyan.

Nevertheless, the announcer soon arrived in the main part of the arena and began yelling over the microphone. This gave the Z Fighters enough time to think everything over, and decide the best strategy for dealing their their enemy. Vegeta and Krillin weren't too worried due to how the lack of strong opponents, but the same could not be said for a certain orange-Gi-wearing Saiyan who seemed to be stuck in the contents of his mind, thinking about something.

Krillin was up first. He took his position in the arena and stood before his opponent -- a large man named Punta. Their conflict was short-lived, as the others expected, as the monk slammed his fist into his stomach and began walloping him with punch after punch. Eventually, their match was concluded and Krillin smacked Punta outside the arena ground, leaving him dazed on the ground.

The next, however, was even faster. Piccolo and Shin both wandered into the arena and prepared for combat, but it immediately came to a halt when the Namekian decided that forfeiting the match would be more fitting. Everyone watched Piccolo leave the battleground, feeling shocked and intrigued, but ultimately respected his decision.