A Day at the Mall

Goten's Morning

Goten wondered, for the tenth time, if his Kaasan would allow him to move back into their house in East District. Living on his own sucked big time. His little job as a delivery boy barely paid rent so he had to take a night job as a bartender. At least at the bar he sometimes met interesting people.

Goten ate breakfast as he looked over his bills. "Do I have enough left over to pay the cable bill?" After doing a quick calculation, he grinned ."I do! Sugoi!"

The phone rang, interrupting his mini celebration. He picked it up and sighed as he recognized the number on his Caller-ID. "Moshi moshi."

"Son, get your ass over here! I have a delivery for ya!"

"Hai, sir. Right away."

He got the stupid looking blue hat from the coffee table and placed it onto his head. After retrieving his keys from their peg by the door, he was off.

Goten's parking space was as far away from his apartment as possible and still be on the same lot. His junk heap, that was aptly named Rust-bucket, should have been crushed into a compact cube a long time ago. It was leaking oil all over his space and he prayed that it would run again. He unlocked the door and was about to climb inside when he noticed writing on the hood in black marker.

"Please kill me now." He frowned and raised his voice. "When I find out who did this, you're going to be beaten within an inch of your life!" Satisfied with his threat, he turned the key in the ignition and, after three tries, the engine started.

The radio blared to life and he winced. The last person to touch his radio had been Bra. Teenybopper music poured forth at an alarming volume that he felt could break crystal. At a stop light he paused to change the station and the tuner knob came off instead.

"SHIT!" He hit the power button instead and drove off with only the sounds of the street, and the complaining grumble of Rustbucket, to break the silence.

The Japanese Delivery Service, or JDS, building was made of red brick that had definitely seen better days. In the small parking lot behind it sat three dingy white trucks that sported the JDS logo. Goten parked his car next to the truck he would be using and cursed as his car sputtered and died.

"Just great!" He shouted as he realized that it wouldn't be starting up again anytime soon. "Just freakin' great!"

His bosses' small office was as hot and stench-filled as usual. What possessed corporate to cram such a large man into a tiny little area? Was it someone's idea of a joke? Whatever the reason, Goten was suffering from it just the same.

"You wanted me, sir?"

Antoine Mancini was bald, bloated, and as bigoted as they came. He strongly dislike Japanese people (yet he still moved to a country filled with them) and had never spared Goten a kind word. Now, he leaned forward in his desk chair, causing it to creak alarmingly, and studied Goten for a moment.

"Son, I have an important assignment for you."

Goten perked up. Was the words he was hearing true? Did Mancini really think that he was good enough at his job for an "important assignment"? He had to hear the reason come from his boss' own mouth. "May I ask why you chose me for this, sir?"

"You're the lesser of several evils."

He blinked. "Excuse me, sir?"

"Must I go slower for the Jap?" he frowned. "Simply put, you're not as bad as the rest of my delivery boys." Goten's slack-jawed stare was quickly turning into unconcealed anger. "What? You thought it was because I considered you a good worker?"

"Iie, sir." This was forced out between clenched teeth. 'I will not hit him. I will not hit him.'

Mancini pushed a sheet of paper across the table at him. "All of the information you need is here. Now go away until I call you again."

Goten left his office angry beyond belief but stopped himself before he slammed the door. "Stupid jackass. I hope you burn in Hell."

At Loading Dock B he retrieved his packages. Most of boxes were about five feet square and weighed so much that he grunted slightly when lifting them. After straightening his cap, he climbed into the truck's cab and started the engine.

"This is how an engine is supposed to sound," he said as he listened to the low hum. He changed the radio station to one that played only the top rock and roll hits and started on his way across town.

***

Goten hurried to catch up to his very enraged older brother. "Oh damn, he's gonna do something that he'll regret later and I can't do anything to stop him."

He could sort of understand where he was coming from. Pan was a very bright girl who usually made wise decisions that took a lot of thought. Why would she suddenly abandon all good sense and go get herself pregnant at fourteen?

"It just doesn't make much sense," he muttered to himself as he started at the glass doors. "I didn't even know that Pan had a boyfriend!"

The confrontation between his brother and the two elder Saiya-jin frustrated him. He grabbed Gohan's arm in a vain attempt to stop the madness. "Please, just calm down and try to think rationally about this." Of course it didn't work and the three of them ended up joining him on his search.

"At least Pan's intelligent enough to hide herself from him," Vegeta commented. "In his mental state there isn't much he won't do."

Goku glared at him. "I don't care how pissed off he is, Gohan would never kill her."

"I never said that he would. You know that there are many other ways to hurt someone without actually killing them, Kakarotto. Your son isn't exactly stable right now."

"If Bra stayed with her, we can just track *her* down. She isn't that good at masking her ki yet." Goten concentrated and sensed a small power over near the food court. "That might be Bra." He flew up to the second level with the two full Saiya-jin following him.

-End of Goten's Part-