THE NEW YEARS DEBACLE

CHAPTER 1

Uub kicked the door to his West City apartment shut with his heel as he stumbled in and dumped his bag of groceries on the nearest clear surface. Glad to be out of the cold, he retrieved the wad of mail from between his teeth and headed to the couch where he began flipping through.

Uub's apartment was spacious and had all the modern fixtures but was not always at the peak of cleanliness. Many of his clothes were strewn across the furniture and there were a few used coffee mugs lying around. Uub had moved to West City a few years ago when he'd won a scholarship to study at college. Still studying, he managed to hold down a part time job amongst the lectures to pay for his apartment and other necessities. He was a little behind on his rent occasionally but Uub felt he was doing pretty well for himself.

'Dear Occupant! You could be holding a check for two million dollars!' The first letter said. Uub peered at the check. "I don't think real checks have exclamation marks," he said.

A brochure for a Hardware store, a pizza coupon, and an advertisement that claimed that all CDs and DVDs on display were only a nickel, followed the check. "'Jury Duty: Second Notice'," Uub read aloud. "What's that doing in there?" He'd said before it touched the bottom of his bin.

"Ooh, a free sample of fabric softener! Alright!" But before Uub could dash off to find his favourite shirt for softening, he spotted one last mail item in the pile. Picking it up, he exclaimed, "Oh my goodness! An ACTUAL letter? Do people still do that. . .?"

Uub opened it and found that it was an invite to a New Years party at Capsule Corp. "I wonder why it arrived so late? It's the day before New Years Eve," He said aloud. "Maybe I should have tipped my mail carrier at Christmas." Uub hadn't planned anything for New Years so he was sure he could easily slip this into his schedule. It would be good to catch up with all his old friends again. Now, if only he could find his favourite shirt . . .

That night.

Goten ran down the long corridor as soon as he heard the painful moans of his girlfriend being emitted from her bedroom. Urging himself to go faster, he could only imagine what horrible pain someone was putting her through.

"Bura! I'm coming!" He called to her. Rage coursed through his veins. Who ever was hurting her was going to pay. Finally, the door to her bedroom came into view. The moaning stopped just as Goten dove desperately for the knob. It unlocked itself and opened to reveal Bura's housemate, Sven, grinning back at him. Sven smirked at Goten's dishevelled appearance as he reached down to do up his zipper.

"They're not wrong about her," Sven jerked a thumb behind him, into the bedroom. "She's a pistol!" He offered before lumbering away into the dark corridor, laughing.

Goten was too shocked at what Sven had just said and done and was so floored by the realisation of what those painful moans actually were, that he was too afraid to look into Bura's bedroom.

"Goten?" He forced himself to look up and spotted Bura on her queen size bed, covered only by a sheet.

Goten was close to tears. "Bura . . . How could you?"

Bura shrugged. "I just needed something more than what you had to offer, Goten. What I needed was an . . . attractive blond . . . attractive blond . . . attractive blond . . ."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Goten hollered as he jolted awake, Bura's words echoing in his head.

"Pipe down in there!" Vegeta's muffled voice came from the next room.

Goten came to the realisation that he was in one of the guest rooms in Capsule Corp. and blushed at the thought of everyone in the building hearing him scream like some kid after a nightmare. He waited to make sure no one came to check on him, and settled back into the sheets when no one did.

Bura had insisted that he stay the night to avoid the trip back the next day for the party. He wished he hadn't accepted her offer. So paranoid was he about her cheating that he was sure that Sven was flirting with her when he helped clear the dishes at dinner, and she was just making excuses to be with him when she suggested they watch a movie. Goten would have liked to talk to his girlfriend about his fears for their relationship, but if Bura was anything like her brother, she would have laughed at him for believing something he'd found in a cookie and never let it down. Goten's mind was in a fragile enough state as it was, he didn't want his girlfriend to think he was a loser . . . that might really push her into Sven's waiting arms.

Goten shook his head at that last thought. 'Okay, I'm really getting paranoid here . . .'

" . . .attractive blond . . . attractive blond . . ."

He could still hear her voice in his head. What was she talking about? Goten WAS as attractive blond . . . when he turned into a super saiyan. Wasn't that good enough? Goten hadn't felt the need to transform into a Super Saiyan for years now, maybe she'd forgotten that Goten could be an attractive blond. Perhaps she preferred the blond-haired-blue-eyed combination that Sven offered. Or maybe she wanted something more . . .

Goten and Bura were both still virgins mainly because Goten felt he wasn't ready to bring sex into their relationship yet. Perhaps Bura had gotten tired of waiting for him and wanted to move onto someone who wanted to have sex with her?

He shook his head again. 'This is crazy. Bura is a faithful girlfriend and she is not attracted to Sven,' he assured himself. And with that, he fell into another fitful sleep.

New Years Eve, 2:07 pm Route 39, Mount Pazou . . .

Trunks huffed again. This was pointless.

"Trunks, stop with the huffing already!" Pan grated as she urged the car faster, if only to please the fretting Saiyan Prince.

"I just don't see why we can't fly to Capsule Corp.," Trunks whined as he took another swig of his beer. "Driving is a waste of time."

Pan was just about ready to pitch him out the side of her new car. "First of all, I'm wearing a dress and I don't want the trim of my bikini line to be front-page news tomorrow morning. Second, I got this car for my birthday. I don't want it to collect dust in a distant corner of my garage; I want to use it. Besides, don't you want to rock up in style?"

Trunks considered that. It was a nice ride. After Pan's parent's business boomed, they had bought her a sleek black street machine for her to get around in as a birthday present. It was pretty cool except it wasn't a Capsule Car, so Pan had work extra hard to keep it clean and away from vandals.

"Whatever," Trunks shrugged as he finished off his beer and opened a new one.

Pan saw this out of the corner of her eye and tried to snatch the new beer away. "Trunks, would stop drinking already!? You'll be drunk before we get there!"

"Pan! We're going to a party! I'm just getting in a party mood!" He cried out as he tried to swat her hand away.

Pan growled in frustration. "What am I going to do with you?"

Just then, the car's computer system beeped at her. The emergency light came to life on the dashboard and the engine began to choke. "What's that all about?" Trunks slurred.

"I don't know!" Pan practically screeched as she pulled the car over. "I don't believe this! This car is brand new!" She switched the car off and got out to check the engine. Opening the hood, she was immediately hit in the face with a billow of steam. "Oh this is perfect." She mumbled, waving the mist away.

Trunks lumbered around to inspect the car himself. "Ooh, someone fitted your car with a shotty radiator," He said slurred again. He was right; Pan could see that water was leaking from the radiator and evaporating from the intense heat, sending steam high into the air.

"I'm going to kill the man who built this car," Pan said as calmly as possible.

"How do you know a man built it?"

Pan watched him finish of another beer, knowing fully well how much more susceptible Saiyans were to alcohol than humans. Trunks didn't seem to notice how drunk he was getting. Men were idiots. "Call it intuition," She answered. "I really think you should stop drinking now."

Trunks ignored her. "Well, I guess we'll have to fly to Capsule Corp.," Trunk said.

"Uh-uh. I don't think so. This is an expensive car; I'm not leaving my birthday present out here on a mountainside on New Years Eve. There'll be trouble-makers driving all over these roads as soon as night falls looking for cars like this to dismantle."

Trunks groaned. "You are so stubborn." He muttered as he scuffed his foot along the ground.

Pan looked around and sighed. They were in the middle of nowhere. Tall pine trees towered over her as eerie silence flooded the forest, except for the sound of the hissing engine. The sky was beginning to darken; a storm was approaching.

"Great. I'm stuck out in the middle of nowhere with my drunk boyfriend and a broken down car. Could things possibly get any worse?" It started to snow.

"Shit!" Pan cried and rubbed the palms of her hands over her bare arms to keep warm. She was only wearing a slinky deep red dress and heels, having planned to be indoors in the warm all evening.

"Hoorah! It's snowing!" Trunks laughed at wandered away to watch it fall. Pan watched him and considered sending him back into town to get a tow- truck but realised that her AAA membership was in her name only.

"Give me your jacket," Pan commanded. Trunks stopped giggling and stared at her.

"Why.?" He drew out.

"Because I'm going to fly into town to get a tow-truck and it's freezing. You're going to stay here and watch the car. The last thing I want to do is take a drunk Saiyan into town with me."

Trunks did as he was told then ran off to play while Pan shrugged on his jacket and took to the air. She had a feeling that this New Years Eve was going to be one to remember.