Fortune Favours the Bold

Chapter 1

artwork by Zecnfk on Instagram!

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Goten

"Gohan loosen up! Order a drink! We just raked in some serious credits and we're about to score some more. Get that pissy look off your face."

Through the haze of smoke permeating the air of the dimly lit bar, Goten could make out the irritated look on his brother's face. His elder brother was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, tail tightly wrapped around his waist. He hated places like this.

After Goten polishes off his glass their Uncle Raditz barks at a passing waitress with shimmery golden skin and small iridescent wings to bring another round to their table.

"We're here for intel on our next job, and those credits should go toward upgrades on the Flying Nimbus, not drinking and other...nonsense."

Goten can't help but snicker at his brother. It seemed to him, as far as Gohan was concerned, spending credits on anything amusing was frivolous and short-sighted. He hardly ever spends any of his own unless it's on food, ship parts or on the rare occasion clothing. He'd hardly ever joined them for a drink, always looking over his shoulder, as if waiting for the worst to strike. It wasn't totally unwarranted. The life of a Space Pirate was one of danger and unpredictability, and his brother was something of a control freak.

But it was the only life that Goten knew. He was so young when his uncle had saved them from the destruction of their home planet, spiriting them away on a stolen ship and raising them as his own.

Goten thought from time to time, perhaps given the opportunity, his elder brother would likely have chosen a different path for himself, a quieter, more peaceful one. Goten was different, though. He always tried to look at every situation through a positive lens. Where his brother saw danger, he saw adventure. Where Gohan saw misfortune, Goten saw opportunity. "Better safe than sorry" was his motto, and that attitude had saved them on more than one occasion.

"You sure? I think that sexy brench female is interested Gohan."

Goten nodded over his older brother's shoulder to the gaggle of scantily clad women surrounding the bar. Sure enough, an almost completely bare scarlet skinned woman with a white mane swept into a high ponytail was eyeing him appreciatively.

"The only thing she's interested in is my credits. I'll pass."

The youngest Saiyan couldn't help but laugh at his brother's unamused tone. That was yet another area where he and his brother were different. When faced with a female, his often serious and stoic elder brother was reduced to a stuttering, blushing mess, so he avoided the fairer sex more often than not. Goten, however, looked at females much like he looked at everything else, as an exciting new adventure, each full of mystery and excitement just waiting to be explored, and he revelled in the thrill of the chase.

"Always so uptight Nephew, you definitely didn't get that from my end of the gene pool." Raditz rolled his eyes, rolling his head from side to side until he felt a satisfying pop.

Goten scanned the crowd, eyes drifting over a few particularly fine specimens, when he noticed a notably less attractive, pale green alien male, short and squat in stature wearing a dingy brown coat and with four bulging eyes darting anxiously about the establishment.