A/N: I do not own Dragonball. This is just a short ficlet. Hope you enjoy it and don't forget to review!
"What's a mall?" Son Goku asked his female friend, Bulma Briefs. "Is it something to eat?" He, Bulma, and Krillin were currently in her Capsule Corp. car heading for one of the world's largest malls. Heaven for Bulma, boredom for Krillin, and confusing for Goku.
"No it isn't something you eat!" Bulma sighed, realizing Goku had so much to learn about life. Why, she had been shocked when he didn't know what a car or a girl was! Then again, he'd been living by himself away from civilization for many years but she didn't think anyone could be that, well, dense. "It's a huge place where people buy things such as clothes, shoes, food, jewelry, furniture--"
"Food? There's food there? Oh boy!" Goku grinned as he glanced around at his surroundings. "Can we eat when we get there?"
"No, I have to buy a bunch of things for myself first. Then we'll eat." Bulma replied rolling her eyes. "Honestly, all you ever think of is food..."
"Well you know Goku." Krillin said, leaning back against his seat in the rear. "His stomach is a bottomless pit."
"How come I couldn't come on the Nimbus?" Goku suddenly asked as they neared the mall.
"Because! Oooh!" Bulma was quickly becoming annoyed with her short friend. "Don't you get it?! Normal people don't ride on clouds! You'd be horribly out of place if you flew in on the Nimbus."
"Oh." Goku became quiet and the car sped onwards in silence. But alas, it was soon broken by a loud rumbling noise that shook the car...
"What's that?" Krillin's eyes widened, holding onto the side of the car for dear life.
"Ahh! What's happening?!" Bulma shrieked, trying to maintain control of the wheel.
"Oh that's just my stomach! Hee, hee, guess I'm kinda hungry." The familiar Son scratch-behind-the-head gesture was seen. The other two passengers sweatdropped.
"Gee, Goku, that's pretty loud." Krillin remarked, raising an eyebrow. "Louder than usual."
"Sorry—hey are we here?" Goku asked the teen with the blue hair.
"Yep!" Bulma smiled as she and the others departed from the vehicle. She capsuled it and put in her purse. "Welcome to the mall, Goku."
"Wow!" Goku gasped and gazed at the large building in front of him that was connected to several other structures. Bulma led the way inside where the automatic doors opened upon the detection of customers. "Whoa!" Goku stopped short before the doors. "They opened without us even touching them!"
"They're automatic." Krillin explained as he stepped through. "Come on! You can't just stand there all day."
Goku's eyes remained wide as he followed his two friends into the mall. "Look at all the people!" All around him hordes of children, teens, adults, and seniors flocked to and from stores, both coming and leaving at the entrance. "Hey what's that?" The boy with the monkey tail pointed at a big screen TV in the front area of an electronics store. Currently it was showing a romance movie between a Princess and a Prince. "Are they stuck in there?" He asked as they came closer to passing the television.
"No it's a TV. Those people are just actors." Bulma watched the movie for a second or two and then sighed happily, dreamy-eyed. "Someday I'm going to meet my Prince Charming! And I already have names picked out for our children! I'm going to have a boy and a girl; one of each."
"You've already got names for your kids? Talk about planning ahead. You're not even an adult yet!" Krillin shook his head. "I'm not looking that far ahead in the future. In fact, the only thing I'm thinking about for the future is the next martial arts tournament."
"Humph. Anyway, my future husband is going to be so handsome and mysterious—just the way I like 'em! It would be totally awesome if he actually was a Prince!" The teen with the blue hair sighed again.
"What's a husband?" Goku questioned his friend. The boy was full of so many questions, some being unbelievable! "Is it some kind of food?" And somehow they were always associated with food.
"Always thinking with your stomach—oh look! My favorite place to shop!" Bulma squealed and ran ahead. "Come on you two, hurry up!" She called behind her shoulder as she made her way expertly through the throng of customers to a large department store.
"Oh joy." Krillin mumbled as tried to keep track of her. Suddenly, "Ack!" The bald teen was shoved to the cold floor by a couple of older teenagers.
"Hey watch it, shorty!" One of them sneered and the other snickered at poor Krillin.
"Hey!" Goku frowned. "That's not very nice!"
"Boo hoo." The second teen said as he walked away from the two martial arts trainees.
"Humph. Jerks." Krillin stood up and dusted himself off. "Come on, Goku. Let's hurry."
"They really should apologize." Goku followed his friend and they were soon in front of the department store. "It's the right thing to do."
"Uh huh." Krillin strode in and looked around. "Now, if I were Bulma, where would I be?"
"It's perfect!"
Krillin sighed. "The women's section of course."
"Bulma?" Goku looked in both directions of the store before spotting her by a wall leaden with dresses and skirts. "What's perfect?" He asked when the two reached her.
"This skirt!" Bulma tossed it to him and immediately began to pick out more dresses, short shorts, and several more skirts. "I'll take this one, and this one, and this one--"
"The skirts are attacking me!" Goku yelled and batted each one away but too many came flying at him so he stopped, having found out that they really weren't trying to hurt him.
"Oh, this one is beautiful!" She proclaimed as she held up a silk red dress, ignoring Goku's cry of war. "I'll look great in this!"
"Um, Bulma?" Goku's voice sounded muffled and she peeked at him from behind the dress and found that he wasn't there. Only Krillin and a big pile of clothes was in sight. "Are you really going to buy all of these clothes?" Came Goku's voice again.
"You should have gotten a cart or something." Krillin muttered as he looked on, bored out of his mind. Shopping for clothes was not his thing. "Can Goku and I go somewhere else and we'll meet you at the food court?"
"Sure!" Bulma answered absentmindedly. "The food court in 1 hour. Don't forget! I don't want to waste my shopping time looking for you two so don't get lost!" She ordered sharply. "It's a pretty huge mall."
"We won't—come on, Goku." Krillin took off for the entrance. "Boy, it's great to be out of there! I guess it's up to me to show you around."
"I'm hungry."
Awhile later, Goku and Krillin had become separated due to the thickness of the crowd. Now, the boy with the tail was on his own with a whole new place to conquer, so to speak. "Well, since I am by myself now, I might as well find something to eat. Then I'll go explore!" Talking to himself certainly earned him very strange looks from the passing people.
Son Goku walked and walked until he found an escalator in his path. "Huh? What's this?" He bent closer to the vibrating and moving steps, watching as they moved in an upward direction. "Oof!" A baby carriage hit Goku sending him right onto the steps.
"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" The mother apologized.
"Hey! I'm moving!" Goku jumped to his feet and grinned as he neared the top. "This is so cool! But it's too slow." He reached the second floor and stepped onto the tiles. "Now where?" He murmured, glancing around.
"Hey look! He has a tail!" Someone shouted.
Having not heard them, Goku headed straight for a pet store where the fish were on display in their glass homes near the front of the store. "Fish! I wonder how they taste." Goku stood on his tiptoes and reached inside the tank. The small fish darted about, trying to avoid the hand. "They're so small—and fast!" A few grunts and stretching of the arms later, Goku had a small goldfish in his hand. Without another thought or word he had popped it into his mouth. "Hmmm...oh yuck!" Goku's face scrunched up as he swallowed the rest of the fish whole. "That didn't taste very good. The others must be like it." He turned around and promptly headed out the pet store, much to the shock of those who had witnessed the disappearance of the goldfish.
His stomach rumbled again. "Aw, and I'm still hungry!" He glanced to the right, and then to the left. "And Krillin and Bulma are nowhere in sight and I'm supposed to meet them at the food court! Wherever that is..." He set out again, walking casually down the walkway, peeking inside the windows every now and then of each store.
Finally, he came across a toy store where several children had gathered in front of a mascot of the latest superhero toy. "Huh? What's that?" He took a few steps closer and watched as the children fawned over the hero. "His costume is funny-looking!" Goku noted and smiled as the hero did a strange pose.
"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!" A new voice called out and an another costumed person appeared only he seemed to be the nemesis of the superhero.
The children screamed but the hero remained calm. "Fear not, my friends! I--"
"I'll save you guys!" Goku cried out and his expression took on a serious look. With a cry, he ran up to the masked villain and punched him in the stomach.
"AAIIEE!" The man sunk to the floor, settling in a fetal position.
"AAAAAHHH-HAH!" Goku jumped and landed on the masked man who cried out in surprise. Goku then gave him a punch. "That'll teach you!" He said, appearing to be satisfied with his work.
Leaving everyone shocked, Goku left the toy store. "Phew! I'm glad I was able to stop that guy." Goku continued down the mall.
Meanwhile...
Bulma and Krillin had found each other and were now searching for their tailed friend. "Where could he be?" Bulma wondered, exasperated. "Krillin why didn't you look for him sooner? You should have kept an eye on him! There's no telling what could happen!"
"SORRY but I can't keep an eye on him 24/7!" Krillin shot back with a glare.
"Argh! Never mind!" Bulma strained her neck trying to see over the people. "Hey, there he is! GOKU!" She shouted, causing poor Krillin to almost go deaf.
Goku was currently trying to fish loose change of a fountain. "Goku, what are you doing?!" Bulma exclaimed.
"Somebody lost their money in here. I saw them throw it in and I thought maybe they would want it back to buy something. Money is important isn't it?" Goku asked with a confused expression. He was soaked from head to toe with a handful of coins.
"In some cases, yes! Goku get out of there right now!" Bulma ordered. "Oh, this isn't happening!"
"Uh oh, here comes a security guy! Now you're in trouble!" Krillin backed away a couple of steps.
"Excuse me but is everything all right here?" The guard asked with a suspicious look on his face.
"Yes everything is!" Bulma smiled, glad she had managed to get her tailed friend to drop the coins back in the water. "My friend here just fell in the fountain but he's okay!"
"No I didn't—umph!" She quickly covered his mouth with a sheepish grin.
"We'll be going now, bye!" She dragged Goku by his hair out of the fountain and ran behind a pillar. "Goku, you idiot, don't do that again! You could've been arrested!"
"Ow, that hurts!" Goku moaned as he pulled his hair away from her tight grip.
The teen with the blue hair sighed in frustration. "Come on, let's get something to eat."
At the food court...
"Gross!" Bulma muttered as she pushed away her sandwich. Krillin watched in awe as Goku continued to consume large amounts of food.
"Goku, that's the twelfth plate of spaghetti you've had!" Krillin observed as the plates continued to pile high. They were in a small restaurant and the waiters and waitresses kept coming to their table with more and more food.
"Mmm!" Goku finished off his twelfth plate. "Can I have some more?" He asked. Bewildered, the servants and his two friends fell off their chairs or feet onto the floor.
Time flew by fast and Goku was finished. "Where are we going next?"
"Hmm..." Bulma was deep in thought. "Let's just walk around and see what there is to do."
The three friends got up from their seats, dumping food cartons and such into the garbage, and then left the food court area. The rich girl, the monkey boy, and the monk trainee walked at a leisurely pace, not saying anything to each other, until now. "The pet store!" Bulma smiled. "Let's look in there. Some of the puppies and kittens are so cute."
They entered the pet shop and headed towards the back where the puppies and kittens were located but not before Goku spoke up. "Hey, I remember this place. It's where I tried that small fish but it didn't taste so good."
Bulma and Krillin were ahead and they slowly turned around. "Goku...you did what?" Bulma said through clenched teeth.
"You ate a fish? From HERE?" Krillin added, eyes wide.
"Yeah." Goku blinked at them. "Is something wrong?"
"Let's get out of here!" Bulma cried and led the two out as quickly as possible. "Do you think they recognized you, kid?"
"I don't know." Goku shrugged. "I don't think anyone saw me eat the fish. I wonder how people can eat them anyway. They taste so bad!"
"GOKU! You're not supposed to EAT fish from the PET store!" Bulma shouted at him, furious. "Do you realize how much trouble you could've gotten in?"
"No. Sorry." Goku frowned slightly. What was with her today?
Letting out exasperated sighs, the trio continued down the walkway of the mall. The sun shone through the glass windows and many voices were heard echoing and bouncing off the walls. Finally, they came across what appeared to be a mini-golf course. "Something interesting for once!" Krillin exclaimed. "Bulma, let's play mini-golf." He paused, remembering something. We'll have to teach Goku how to though."
"All right." Bulma agreed and they headed for the entrance. Once everything was said and done, they found themselves at the first course, which was Par 3. "Now Goku, THIS is how you play..." Bulma positioned herself properly and concentrated on hitting the ball as hard yet as gently as she could. Success. The ball had rolled down the course and hit the curve though not hard enough to actually make it to the area where the hole is. "You have to get the golf ball into that hole over there. The thing is, you have to take a certain amount of strokes if you want good points. For example, this course is Par 3. You have to get it in the hole in three strokes—if you go over, you get more points but the goal of the game is to have as less points as possible." Bulma explained.
Goku nodded at every word she said but it didn't quite all register in his mind.
Krillin went and then it was Goku's turn. "Hmm..." He hit the small golf ball as gently as he could but to other people, that would've been very hard...
"EEK!" Bulma ducked her head as did Krillin as Goku's golf ball hit the curve, bounced past them, and hit several other objects as well as customers.
"Oops?" Goku smiled sheepishly. "I guess I should be more careful next time. But don't worry! I'll get the hang of it sometime!"
It was about an hour and a half when Bulma and Krillin gave up and they hadn't even reached the eighth course. By then Goku was drastically behind in his score, Krillin was next, and then Bulma. "Oh well." Goku had said. "It was still fun!"
And so ended Son Goku's first and last trip to the mall. After paying the restaurant owners and other facilities large sums of money, Bulma Briefs vowed never again to take Goku to a place like the mall. It was too costly and embarrassing...