Disclaimer...I own none of the characters, etc. except the plot.

Author's Note: This chapter has some rather disgusting eating issues. If you are squeamish about certain types of raw food or dislike seeing lions eat for example, skip over the Trunks parts in this chapter. Eat while reading this at your own risk. ;)

Marron and Bra were delighted in Pan's cooking. Perhaps they could live with Pan's controlling behavior a while longer.

"Pan, what did my brother think of your cooking back when you were searching for the black stars?"

"I don't know. He didn't say much. Guess he liked it though. He and Goku would polish off their plates and even the crumbs on the table."

"That doesn't mean they like it. They're saiyans. They'll eat anything if hungry enough." Bra interjected.

Pan opted to shift the subject away from her. "Trunks' cooking wasn't half bad though. I'm rather surprised."

"Why? From what my mom says, Trunks has always been in the kitchen ever since he could crawl. He was always begging for pre-meal handouts. He likely learned a thing or two by watching. We are geniuses afterall."

"Oooh, wow, how amazing to be born intellectually gifted." Pan shot back sarcastically, knocking Bra's ego from its high pedestal.

Pan shot a mini-hot dog her way.

Bra said as she caught it in her mouth. "Thanks. I wanted another one of those."

"I hope that skill is only used for food, dear Bra." Pan laughed, hinting at its other use.

Marron simply watched the two of saiyan blood converse and pull each other's strings. There was no sense in her getting involved. It seemed rather immature and beastial anyway. 'Let saiyans be.' was what her father aways told her.

Meanwhile...

Trunks groaned as he summoned his deep inner energy. As he regained consciousness he suddenly felt a strange de ja vu. He'd been in a similar situation not too long ago. *Shit, not again. What's with these bitches anyway?! I guess I miscalculated making my move. I'll not make the same mistake twice. But my body's shot.* Trunks thought as he looked over his wounded body. *They're not going to be stupid enough to afford me the luxury of healing it this time. I doubt they'll make the same mistakes twice either. And now that they know I'm a super saiyan, they will be extra wary and doubly mean to me. Okay boy, here's where your strange genetics come in. Time for father's deviousness and mother's intelligence...or should it be her bitchiness? Ah, both will work...I think. Damn! I can't keep thinking. I'm hungry!*

Gazing about, he used his eyes and nose to pick up any possible food item. With all the ice however, his nose proved useless. It was as bad as a bloodhound in water. But, his acute eyesight did notice some rat-like animal the size of a mid-size dog, frozen in one of the ice walls. *Not what I'd order on a menu, but it's food and it'll give me some much need energy to revitalize.* Trunks thought as he painfully dragged his way over to the wall. From there, he concentrated inwardly, trying to find some deep pit of energy left in his battered body. He had to tap into what was sustaining his life, but he needed food. Without it, he'd die anyway. Summoning forth the energy into his hands, he placed them onto the ice wall and pushed the ki forward, slowly and gently. Within a few seconds, the ice began to melt. As the now liquified water ran down the wall, Trunks bent downward with his hands still in place. He lapped up what he could of the flowing water. It was another source of life sustanance afterall.

After a few minutes, the frozen animal was released and slid down the wall as well. Trunks immediately stopped his ki and powered down. He picked up the still frozen solid animal.
*Eeew, this is either going to save my life, or make me upchuck what little I have left of it.* he thought as he looked over the animal thoroughly. The creature had a fur-less rat-like tail with brown and white fur patches on the rest of its body. The fur was coming out in clumps indicating that the animal was dead before it was frozen. It was partially flattened on one side from the pressure of the ice upon it. 
*This is gross. I can't believe I've had to sink to this level for food. I WILL get even with those bitches. That is, if I'm not dead from this thing. * he continued to think as he summoned his ki once again to thaw the pitiful beast out. Once is was soft enough to eat Trunks looked it over one more time. He then broke the animal into edible chunks, prying the meat away from the bones and tossing the entrails as far away as he could.
*Rancid meat...oooh, yummy. Well, Trunks ol' boy, down the hatch!* Trunks thought as he held his nose with one hand, and slid chunks of meat into his mouth with the other.

When all the edible portions of meat were eaten, Trunks looked at the carcass of bones. *Hmmm, you may be of more use than a meal. But, damn, I bet you weren't on anything's menu when you were alive! You tasted horrible!* Trunks mentally conversed as he studied the different bones. He began to pry apart certain bones and then broke them again to reveal the soft bone marrow. Yet another food source, and more tasteful too. Once the marrow was eaten away, Trunks reshaped the bones into sharp, dagger-like pieces. If his body couldn't regain its strength, he'd have to use hand-held weapons. These bones were perfect for such.
*Father would be pleased with me. I learned his survival tactics afterall. Heh, he'll never believe me if I live long enough to return home and tell him. Wait, Trunks, what are you saying!? You LEFT home for a reason, idiot! But then again...home seems kinda nice right now. Stop thinking about that, fool! There's more important things to think about than some soft, mushy homesick feeling!*

Elsewhere on the same rock...

Taree paced the floor of her quarters like a tiger anxiously awaiting release from a cage. She was running out of options and time. She knew the icy confines and injuries wouldn't keep her captive down for long. And this time, he would not be so nice. The fire in his eyes when he went super saiyan and the strength of his mind told her that he was more Vegeta than he looked. He was deadly unpredictable and he would likely be out for blood next, if only to punish those who mistreated him. That was the right of a royal saiyan afterall. Since he knew his heritage, he likely knew a bit about saiyan history too. His father, the crowned Prince of Saiyans, likely made sure his son and potential heir knew things such as that. Time was against her as well. He already displayed remarkable healing powers when they drugged him. Gaping gashes and wounds would do little to his strong muscular body and the ice would eventually slow the flow. But, it was the most ideal place at the time. Fear slowly crept into the female saiyan commander. Fight or flight were the only two options in her head and she had to choose one. Choose the wrong one and it could be death to her and the remaining saiyans. Then again, that was likely the end result for both anyway.

Back in space...

The trio of young ladies from Earth were suddenly jarred awake by the intense wailing beep of the homing beacon. It had detected the other ship...Trunks' ship. Pan lurched out of her cot and slammed into a leaping Bra. Both collapsed onto a rising Marron.

"OOOoooffff! OOOowwwww! GEEEeeeeeeessshhhhh! THAT HURT BITCH!" was all that could be heard over the alarm as the three scrambled to untangle themselves. If a picture were taken, they'd look like some horror version of the Twister game.

"WHOSE FOOT IS ON MY FACE!?"

"WELL WHOSE HAND IS ON MY ASS!?"

"SOMEBODY NEEDS TO LOSE SOME WEIGHT!"

"Why you little----"

Eventually the three managed to (somehow) untangle and charge out of the sleeping area and into the cockpit. Pan's shortness allowed her to slither to the front and obtain the pilot's chair once again. She immediately brought up a navigational screen. The beeping blip lit it like a dragonball to a dragonball radar.

"We found it! His ship is on a planet...I think. It's uh, where are we? Oh yeah, it's, whoa, it's still quite a ways away. Bulma's damn good at building these things if it can read it from this distance." Pan sputtered.

"Can we get to him?"

"How soon?"

"Is he in any danger?"

"Can we contact his ship?"

"WHOA! Slow down you two. It's just a navigational beacon. We can't get any other information from it other than where the other ship is and cross reference it with these star charts. We don't even know if he ditched the ship or not. For all we know, he had a capsule ship too. And Bulma said there were several vehicles missing, two of which were useable in space environments. Trunks was likely smart enough to think of a back-up plan...I think."

Pan's speech did little to appease the worry of the other two. In fact, Pan wasn't even convinced with her own words. After a few moments of complete silence, she typed in some navigational info to the ship and turned down the beacon.

"We're heading in the direction of the beacon okay girls? It will be another day or so, but we'll learn a little more the closer we get. FULL SPEED AHEAD!" Pan said and that sounded a little more convincing. Bra and Marron nodded and took their seats. At last, they had narrowed down the entire universal search to one sector! It was more of a start than they had just moments ago.

Back in the icy hole...

Trunks could feel his strength revitalizing. Whatever that rat-thing was, it had some nutrition to it. The only problem now was finding some clothing. His nude body on ice was beginning to feel numb and the circulation at its surface was weakening. He tore off pieces of the hide from the rat-thing and then regathered the entrails. He tightened and braided the entrails to make a way of fastening the fur hide to vital parts that would freeze first, namely his extremeties such as feet, hands, and of course, private parts. He ended up with two booties and a very small thong. His hands were going to have to wait. He scanned the rest of the icy walls in hopes of finding at least one more rat-thing, but to no avail. The dang critter died alone.

He was still too weak to be of any challenge to a mass of saiyans just yet. He would rest at least another day or so before making his move. It would be at least a day and a half before he had enough energy stored to even consider the transformation to a super saiyan. When not resting, he'd bide his time perfecting the weapons he was creating. These low rank saiyans were about to learn a thing or two about disrespecting a royal saiyan!

to be continued...