Authors note: so for this chapter I decided to really dig into the individual characters and how they like hanging out in the mall. I swear it's not just because I'm too lazy to make my own characters.....anyway, hope you like the comedy, and the fluff to come.

Max dosed silently on his shelf. It was a literal shelf, David did the best he could but they were still poor as hell. Seriously, depending on sales, they may not eat this week. Max didn't complain about it that much though. His old parents where the kind of people who wouldn't feed him for days at a time, at least David actually tried to feed him.

"There coming to get you."

"Were almost here."

"You can't stay with him forever."

"Did you really think you could hide from us?"

Max struggled against his own blanket as his nightmare continued. It was like he was right back at that house all over again.

"Come on max, wake up!" Max suddenly shot straight his head straight into the shelf above his bunk.

"Son of a bitch!" Max snapped as soon as he realized who was standing in his room. "What are you doing here?"

"David said we could come up to get you since he had to watch the store." Neil replied. David and Max spent the whole night fixing up the store room to make it somewhat livable.

Max's shelf was now covered in pictures from camp campbell, as well as a few other pictures from when he was younger. David even helped him cut out his parents from every picture. It was actually a pretty fun night, Max even got David to play Mortal Kombat, at least until all of David's crying and screaming got old.

"What time is it?" Max said as he climbed out and walked over to the pile of clean hoodies.

"It's like eleven." Nikki said. "Everyone's already gathered in the malt shop."

"Good, at least they weren't late." Max said as he slipped on his hoodie with a complete and total disregard for physics.

***

Max walked down the stairs into the blockbuster storefront. He held a cup of black coffee, with the words 'number one son' on the side. He would still have his nope cup, but David hid it so he'd use the matching ones he bought last night.

"Your using the cup!" David said with sparkling eyes. He held out his 'number one dad' cup with a smile. Max suddenly grabbed his empty mug and dropped it on the floor.

"Gross!" Nikki said with a smile, as David scooped Max up into a hug.

"I knew you'd love it!" David said happily.

"If you don't put me down, I'm going to set you on fire." Max threatened. "I mean it too, I bought a jerry can."

"Oh Max!" David smiled. "I'm so happy that you've already made so many friends here!"

"There literally everyone from camp, David." Max said annoyed as he sipped his coffee. "Where gonna go explore the mall, don't wait up." Max said as he dragged Nikki and Neil out of the blockbuster.

***

Max walked into the old ass malt shop with everyone from camp sitting around the room. It was literally a malt shop from some eighties movie. There was even a dusty jukebox in the corner. Behind the bar was Gwen, standing there silently crying as everyone sat around the room, lucky for her, the place actually had wifi, so the room was dead silent besides the occasional cat video.

"Hi welcome to....god dammit!" Gwen said as she ripped her stupid hat off and threw it to the ground. "Why the fuck are you people here?!"

"Hi Gwen." Nikki said with a smile. "Give me them chocolate!"

"Hell no, your cut off!" Gwen snapped.

"Come on, I didn't take it that far!"

"You ate a kids foot!"

"Only like half of it, and I threw it back up....most of it." Nikki chuckled. "It's not my fault he looks like chocolate!"

"Don't say that." Max said as he face palmed. Max climbed onto the counter and glared around at everyone on their phones. He brought his fingers to his mouth and whistled to get there attention.

"What's up dude." Erid said as she looked up. Her skateboard was propped up next to her in her booth. The others slowly looked up from there phones and stared at Max.

"Alright everyone, it's time to drum up some business for the blockbuster!" Max said deviously.

"Why would you wanna help David?" Gwen asked suspiciously.

"Why do you have to question me all the time!" Max snapped at her. "Can't you just shut up and go with it for once!" Max practically yelled at her.

"Okay, okay." Gwen said as she back off.

"Besides, the only reason I'm helping David is because It's incredibly hard to steal all his money when he doesn't have any!" Max said as though he was frustrated. "Seriously, after bills the guys practically poverty level!"

"Lets rob a bank!" Nikki suggested.

"No, we just need to put up flyers to remind everyone that blockbuster still exists in the mall!" Max snapped annoyed, he hated when they had there own ideas, the made really shitty hench men when they think for themselves.

"I got all the fliers printed out." Neil said as he produced a large box from seemingly nowhere, aka his ass.

"Pass them out, and I'll show everyone where there supposed to go!" Max said as he produced a map from his hoodie. He held it out and pointed to the massive malls different areas.

***

Erid pushed the skateboard forward with her foot and did a kickflip over a potted plant as she headed to the other side of the mall. She had a shoulder bag full of flyers she was going to hang up in the parking lot.

"Stop, no skateboarding in the mall!" Erid turned her head as a large security guard on a segway came racing after her. Erid gave him a rock and roll sign as she pushed her board even faster.

"I said stop!" The fat guy said as he raced after her. Erid did an ollie onto a table and kept on racing even as a bunch of people from some pamphlet company yelled at her to get off the table, sending pamphlets for some weird oddly specific charity about a hole in the ozone layer.

"It's cool dude." Erid said as she did a run off the table and kept going toward the parking lot. The guard stopped at the door and continued to swear at her even after she went out into the parking lot. He stopped and picked up a flyer that fell out of her bag. He grumbled as he turned the segway around and went back into the mall.

***

Preston walked through the mall with space kid in tow. Max paired up some of them so they'd stay on task. It was kind of annoying, but at least it kept space kid on task.

"Look It's a magic store!" Preston said as he saw the illusion shop just sitting there with a large sign out front. It sold different gear for different tricks, as well as different clothes for different tricks.

"Oh..." space kid said as he looked at the display. "It's magic store!"

"Lets go inside." Harrison said with a smile. He walked into the shop with space kid in tow, and marvelled at all the different tricks around the room. It looked disturbingly like a sex dungeon, with all the chains, handcuffs, boxes and weird outfits. The only sign that it was an actual magic shop was all the touristy crap that was spread out, like crystal balls and other more touristy crap.

"You!" Harrison jumped when an old man behind the counter suddenly pointed at him. "You are the chosen one."

"Uhh, what?" Harrison asked suddenly afraid of the creepy old man.

"You are the chosen one, destined to restore balance to the universe." The old man said. He looked around suspiciously, before gesturing to the door to the back room. "Follow me, the evil may be listening." the old man walked through a wall of beads into the backroom of his store.

"Fuck that." Harrison said as he raced out of the room. He quickly grabbed a flyer and pinned it to the wall before running out of the store as quickly as he could. Harrison kept running until the store was completely out of sight. He suddenly realized space kid wasn't with him. He shrugged his shoulders and continued onward figuring he was extremely expendable.

***

Nerris walked through the mall, but stopped when she saw a nerdy looking store filled with yugioh players. Her eyes went all shiny as she suddenly realized this must be one of those places where her kinds of people hang out. Afterall, thirty year olds obsessed with yugioh couldn't possibly be all that bad, could they?

"Hail, and well met fellow....." Nerris suddenly erupted into a fit off coughs as the vape smoke and bo smell suddenly hit her. The corner of the room was dominated by two thirty year olds beating the crap out of each other over a single card. The rest of the room was dominated by people playing yugioh matches, and vaping for some reason.

"I don't think these are the kind of nerds I like." Nerris said in fear as she saw a bunch of fat thirty year old men arguing and beating each other up over a card game. Some of them straight up stole from each other, while others where just breathing heavily as they did stuff that seemed straight up illegal.

Nerris had been to dungeons and dragons matches, but they were nothing like this. It was either kids or normal looking adults just looking to have some silly fun, these people were like animals trying to rip each other apart for dominance. She was also pretty sure that one of them was a drug dealer, seeing as how he had not only the most expensive cards, but also a suspicious amount of some kind of herb was spilling out his bag. She quickly retreated in fear before she was absorbed into some kind of bo typhoon.

"Those weren't my kind of nerds." Nerris said as she kept walking. She suddenly stopped when she saw a dungeons and dragons shop and ran inside to the safety of her actual fandom. This store was populate by regular looking people who actually seemed to bathe regularly, and instead of being slightly pathetic, they were actually enjoying themselves.

"Hey Nerris, how's your day going?" Nerris turned to her father sitting at one of the tables. Nerris mother stood behind the counter playing on her phone as she waited for someone to actually buy something.

"Yugioh, everywhere!" Nerris said in terror.

"Oh Nerris, I told you never to go in there!" Nerris mother said.

"They were all so dirty and weird!" Nerris started crying as her mother hugged her.

Authors note: fun fact this is based on my actual experiences in a yugioh shop versus a board games shop. The yugioh shop was disgusting, while the board game shop that hosted d&d was actually a fun time, and I highly recommend it to you if you ever wanna play. Just never play yugioh, or go to one of there shops. It's disgusting, and I'm serious, the top guy there was a drug dealer, and everyone knew it. It was terrible, and It took three showers before I felt clean again.

***

Nikki dug inside of a planet and placed the one of the flyers inside, before burying it like a dog. She patted down the dirt before looking up and smiling. She was wearing a baby leash Max had Neil keep a hold off.

"Were almost done!" Nikki said happily.

"I don't think this is what Max meant when he said to spread these around the mall." Neil said as he looked around. "I think we might get in trouble if we keep doing this."

"Don't worry Neil, when people go looking for goodies, instead of being disappointed like those other gardens, they'll find something cool!" Nikki explained.

"I don't think that's how gardens work." Neil said slightly afraid of being caught.

"Well what do you suggest we do?" Nikki asked.

"We could try putting them up on the pillars, that should catch people's interest." Neil said as he looked at the pillars holding up the second floor walkway.

"You do that, while I get to work on the other gardens beds!" Nikki said. She suddenly ran off and the baby leash slipped out of Neils hand leaving him alone. Neil sighed and walked over to the pillar and put up one of there flyers.

"I wonder how the others are doing?" Neil mused. He then froze as Erid suddenly went racing past, followed by a security guard on a segway. "That figures."

***

Dolph walked with Preston at his side. Max paired them up because they don't often spend time around each other, so he figured they could at least keep each other on track.

"Look, it's a stage!" Preston said excitedly. A band was in the middle of putting together some kind of performance, but the whole area around it was devoid of anyone to actually listen. Preston ran over as one of the performers tuned his guitar.

"I don't know Preston, they seem a bit...." Dolph looked at performers. They were covered in white makeup and there clothes where all black. They also had buckets of red liquid that looked alot like blood. There guitars looked like bloody axes, and some of the props looked like straight up gore.

"Clearly you don't understand the intricacies of stage performances!" Preston snapped at Dolph. He quickly climbed on stage and bowed to the other performers. "Hello fellow thespians, I have come to offer my aid in ensuring your performance goes perfectly!"

"Screw off kid, we don't need some queer kid following us around." the drummer said as he checked his music.

"Politically insensitive...." The drummer said.

"Why do we care, were death metal!" The drummer snapped back.

"I don't know what death metal means, but I would very much enjoy helping you in performing you play, though I've never heard of a play called death metal." Preston said confused.

"I said fuck off!" the drummer snapped.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Preston yelled/screamed at them with a ton of intensity.

"Holy shit, now that's what we need in this group." The guitarist said. "Welcome to the band."

***

Dolph wandered away and was suddenly stopped by Nerf as he walked toward the parking lot. Nerf had a large bag full of flyers, and was looking for someone to help him put them up in the parking lot.

"Hey Dolph, help me!" Nerf said as he grabbed Dolph's head and dragged him toward the parking lot. They walked out into the parking lot and looked at all the cars they were meant to put the flyers on.

"This seems like a lot of work." Dolph said as he looked at the literally hundreds of cars.

"How do we stick them on their windshield again?" Nerf asked.

"We can use glue!" Dolph said as he had an idea.

"And if we put multiple on one car, we can get this done in no time!" Nerf said as he grabbed a large bucket of glue and tossed it onto a windshield before slapping on the flyers.

***

Max walked over to an army surplus store with his last flyer in hand. He managed to get through the whole mall without incident, and even managed to convince a few clerks to let him put up his flyers in there stores. Max walked into the last store and froze when he saw Darren standing on the counter.

"What are you doing here?" Darren asked.

"I could ask you the same question." Max said suspiciously.

"I own this store." Darren said annoyed.

"Oh, well that's completely understandable, David owns the blockbuster." Max said as he relaxed. He wasn't in the mood for Darren, but at least he was familiar.

"Oh, you mean that store the hearse keeps parking outside off and flashing with its headlights?" Darren asked.

"Yeah, pretty sure it knows something we don't, but we don't really care." Max said. "So what are you doing here anyway, I thought you were like.....rich."

"I bought this place with a piece of my trust fund last month, so I could gain a more independent income stream." Darren said. "Do you wish to continue your lessons with the violin, or are you giving that up now that you've gained David as a father?"

"Nah, I still play violin." Max said. "Same rate as before?"

"Very well, we'll meet at three pm in my store." Darren said as he returned to his stock trading on the computer.

"Can I hang up this flyer?" Max asked.

"Sure, I'll take it out of your violin lessons charges."

***

David tried desperately to calm down the crowd of angry people in his store. The security guard on a segway kept trying to push to the front, and running over people's toes as they went. A gardner was cursing and holding up one of Max's flyers, and an old man with a top hat on was trying to magic his way to the front of the crowd, trying to find someone. Nerriss parents were also there yelling at a bunch of dirty people over scarring there daughter for life, and Preston was dressed in all black from head to toe with what looked like guts hanging off his shoulder.

"Will someone please help me!" Preston screamed as he tried to get someone's attention.

"I want them out of this mall!" Nerris mother shouted as she tried to get the security guards attention.

"You will tell me where that girl is right now!" the guard said as he ignored them and tried to grill David for information. Max walked into the blockbuster and sighed when he saw the crowd of complaining people.

"Oh shit." Max said as he rubbed his temples. At least they were all in the store, which gave him an idea. He grabbed a megaphone and jumped onto the counter. "Complaints can only be filed by paying customers only!" Max yelled through the megaphone at the angry crowd. They grumbled and pulled out there wallets as Max climbed off the counter.

"Great idea Max?!" David said happily. "I'm so happy, I'm going to pretend that only half of the damages are your fault!"

"Hey, I didn't tell them to do this shit." Max said as he gestured at the various states the crowd is in. "I still don't know where space kid is...." a car suddenly crashed into the store, completely covered in blockbuster flyers glued to every part of its body. It went crashing through the window and sent a whole bookshelf covered in movies crashing to the ground.

"I....uhh....." David didn't know what to say as the car put itself in park.

"...well at least there in the store." Max said as he grabbed the broom. "Oh and David, I guess you were right about insurance."

***

David smiled as he read over there sales report while he closed the gate to the inside area of the mall. They made a killing today, it was mostly so people could file complaints, but at least they bought something while they were in there. Max counted the money and quickly stuffed it into the safe for the night.

"I think we did a great job today!" David smiled happily. "There were only three fights in the store, and the disk return bin was only halfway full of trash!"

"I didn't even have to sabotage the redbox this week!" Max said as he smiled at not having to shove dog shit in there disk return.

"Why don't we celebrate by going camping?!" David asked with a smile.

"Nope." Max said and walked up the stairs. David looked a little dejected as he followed Max up into their apartment.