Authors’ Notes: I used a metaphor mixed with the erotica of this fic, consider it flavoring of the passion. Story is based off of “The Hobo’s: Sexy Car Wash” by Daeva-kun and the universe behind it.

*****

The sky was young and the world was turning. Green gave birth to an ever florescent array of life. The countryside was busy with people being people, animals being animals, and more often than you think animals being people and people being animals. An endless scope unfolding as the day gave up to a bright sunny morning. There in the city was such energy, such vibrant life, such enclosing mysteries.

Oh boy and the Saiyan’s, such magnificent animals. They act like people, but they are actually such proud and unbound animals. I must say that in all truth if they are not fighting, they are mating like two stars colliding. Both struggling for supremacy in their roles and each succeeding in their own dominance; both awaiting their chance to command. The dominances of the wolf and the dominance of the moon are that of the Saiyan’s.

The wolf calling to the moon demanding it come to Earth so it can dig’s its claws onto it surface and lay claim, but the is moon always beyond reach. The demands a more powerful display from the wolf to even have permission to coexist with the moon. The moon is always the night stalker of the wolf teasing and tangling the right of power every time it feels like it. The moon can never give in thought or else it would become a dull shine less slut. Becoming an effortless prey, why would a wolf how for that?

There has never been a Saiyan who wasn’t a wolf or a moon. Trunks a Saiyan parented by a Human and Saiyan has been given the unique balance of the human moon and the Saiyan wolf. The human moon is that of a slut, effortless for the Saiyan wolf and Trunk’s instincts demand a challenge, they demand a moon. Gohan was born of both a Human moon and wolf with the mixture of a Saiyan wolf disguised that of a moon. A mixture unheard of but it demands to be told so that the children of Earth may learn of love, lust, and the sex that we all howl over.

The scene an old yard surrounded by broken down buildings and hopeless businesses and our wolves Trunks and Gohan idly waiting for business. A sign next to an empty spot says ‘Car Wash 5 Bucks’. Trunks his hair an odd mixture of violet and pink tied up into a knot to keep his flowing mane from sticking to his face and head. Wearing black shorts cut from his former black sweat pants, breathing becoming a steadying declining worry. The air was humid, too humid for most to find the will to breathe, Trunks felt the violent heat try and burn his skin.

Looking at his body and seeing slight reddening from the sun spotting his body, a sense of contempt for the sun as if it was a mosquito. Standing on the carpet of unkempt grass waiting for any sign of anyone willing to pay for what they were selling. Gohan was a little less enthusiastic sitting near the buckets of water with the sponges and rags already inside. Soapy foam gathering at the top of the buckets leaning back he gave out a weary sigh.

Both found waiting far more exhausting than the effort put into labor. The only source of amusement at that time was for Trunks looking at the hips, groin, and ass of Gohan being concealed by his red cut off sweat pants. Licking his lips he remembered the tangy musky length of Gohan’s cock in his mouth, those heavy balls would squirm from his attention. Crossing his legs hoping to cover his half soft penis, Gohan was more into the hope for money.

“Just one car”, Gohan said “it would all be worth it for just one car”.

Trunk gave an agreeing grunt but more from him rubbing his leg against his penis which soon became more half hard then half soft. Wishing no car would come, Trunks wanted to put Gohan onto the ground and roughly burry himself into him; it was too hot not to fuck anyway. Then a car was sighted, driving down that isolated deserted road and seemingly drawn to the ‘Car Wash 5 Bucks’ sign. The car was a creamy vanilla color, black windshield and windows made the passenger anonymous.

The car parked close but not directly near Gohan’s and Trunk’s work area. A pigeon of a man wearing a Hawaiian shirt and knee length shorts walked out from the car and proceeded to his apartment building.

“Wait”! Gohan called after the man, “don’t you want your car washed”?

The man looked at Gohan as if he came out of nowhere and looked at the sign and their operation, then with a snide snuff he said, “no… thank you, boy”.

“A come on we’ve been waiting all day, surely you would like to drive a clean car”, Gohan said trying his best to sell a peanut to a nut salesman.

“Are you saying that my car isn’t clean”?! The stubby man declared, “Listen here you punks get out of here before I call the cops and charge you for operating a business without a license”!

Gohan wasn’t the type to push back on such petty matters but Trunks on the other hand was, going to the pigeon man’s car he bent down and proceeded to lift it off the ground. The stubby little man looked in terror at the sigh before him; Trunks lifting the car over his head looked at the man with contempt.

“Listen you fat old man, this car is getting cleaned. Either we wash it or its going into the ocean your choice”! Trunks said with an air of finality.

The man gave in not wanting his car to be destroyed said squealing, “No! I’ll let you two wash my car… I’ll pay double just please don’t destroy my baby”!

Satisfied Trunks carried the car to their work station right next to the sign and set it down.

Gohan not wanting to seem as intimidating as Trunks said, “don’t worry we’ll take care of your car. It will be done shortly”.

“Good”! Squalled the little, fat, balding, pigeon man, “I am going to be back in a half hour if it’s not done by then I’ll…”.

Trunks gave a glare that made the man trail off and hurry to his apartment building.

Giving Trunks a disappointing look, and Trunks returning it with a mischievous smile, Gohan returned the smile as he pinned up his hair. Doing his hair in a little loop knot similar to Trunks he went to a bucket of the foaming water and took a rag. Kneeling down he proceeded in cleaning the tires, Trunks took his example and started with a rag in hand with the other side of the car hood. It felt good finally being able to put their muscles and energy to use, Trunks got into it as he worked from one side to the other.

Sexy tight magnificent buns caught his eye as he sighted Gohans ass just bulging out of those tight shorts. Opening his mouth he breathed hard as he fantasized about taming that ass, full frontal mounting. Hard core thrusting and a sweaty soapy cumming inside that tight ass feeling the pure pressure force his cock out but pure girth keeping him in the fray, a boner growing in his shorts Trunks needed satisfaction.

“Gohan”? Trunks asked pressing his groin against the car’s front.

Looking up at Trunks Gohan looked a bit miffed to have been interrupted, “yeah Trunks what is it”?

Trying to disguise his horny face for one of weary dissatisfaction with the job, which fooled Gohan who stood up and waiting for a response.

“There is a spot on the hood I can’t seem to remove can you help me get it out”? Trunks asked.

Gohan rolled his eyes and nodded as he went over to the front to examine the hood, looking at its now shinning surface he couldn’t see any spot. Then he felt his moist shorts being pulled from around his hips. Then teeth nibbling at his ass cheeks suckling around, and moving towards his entrance, which felt so damn good; Trunks knew how to do it so that your ass would tense and your groin would stretch and balls would squirm.

“Damn… Trunks mmmhhf, I can’t stand it when you do that to me”, Gohan said trying to be mad but feeling his ass squirmed sensitively.

Trunks then stuck his tongue in Gohan’s flexing hole, it tasted like sweat had been seeping into his bowels. The animal instincts of Gohan made his ass open up wide, awaiting its stimulation. The need for dominating the dominated one made Gohan reject Trunks tongue in his ass, the need to force Trunks inside him with his cock was stronger. Pull his head from his ass he brought his head to rest on his shoulder.

Knowing the gentle growling from Gohan to be that of assertion for desire made Trunks pulled his shorts down showing off his flexing ass, Trunks shorts gripped his thighs as Gohan’s red shorts lay on the ground; Trunk hugged his upper body to him as he lay on top of him and on the hood stabbing his cock around Gohans ass. The gaping maw sought out the cockhead and bit down hard, sucking Trunk’s cock inside of Gohan. The sensation of being fulfilled with every motion of Trunks made Gohan whimper in ecstasy, Trunks wrapped his arms around Gohans neck and rode his ass. At first it was a gentle session of Saiyan lovemaking Trunk steady thrusts made Gohan sensitive and begging for a wilder fuck.

Trunks was dominating at first but Gohans turned vicious he pressed Trunks hips to his own and forced a rhythm of thrusting that made Trunks ache from movement. Saiyan fangs were pulsing in Gohans skull as his submitting dominance made him the benefiter and Trunks the sufferer. Pain was pleasure for the wolf Trunks now and the now revealed submitting wolf Gohan had pleasure in Trunks pain.

A cock of pure blood colored scarlet forced itself in and out of Gohan begging for a mutual satisfaction and release from their paradise in hell. Then a cork eased and Trunks felt his muscles grow and flex getting ready to burst along with his desire. Gohan was a demon who wanted to suck Trunks of all his powers, such a powerful love made hateful lust possible for them.

“Fuck my balls”! Trunks wailed as he suddenly felt what he could offer pour out of him.

Balls twitching Trunks felt him relax and a sense of being completely refreshed took over him. Giving a gratifying sigh kissing Gohan on his panting mouth he rose and put on his shorts and looked at Gohan. A role fulfilled both owned one another, both had their love given and received. Gohan recovered soon his ass was relaxed and happy; a euphoria of affection filled his chest and stomach. Standing up on newly strengthened legs Gohan looked himself over he happened to cum all over the car and his ass was leaking chunks of cum.

Pulling up his shorts he felt the oozy Trunk juice fragment inside him as he began washing the hood. Their time was expiring soon and he didn’t want their efforts to go for naught. Trunks joined him and they had just finished washing off the soap when the guy emerged from his building. Standing by their handiwork as the pigeon man walked over. Inspecting his car he found himself satisfied greatly at her clean polish.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out ten bucks and handed it to Trunks, “here” the man said as he go into his car.

The money was reward enough for Gohan and Trunks as they started carrying the buckets and rags as the man drove off again. Gohan let his hair down as he felt the trickles of sweat and water trail down his back. Motioning with his head for Trunks to follow, Trunks sort of lagged behind so he could see the oozy wet cum spot grow on Gohan’s shorts.

Story Concluded…

Author’s Note: This is an illustration for a future chapter of The Hobos by Lord Truhan and StarbearerTM.

Please Read the Instructions Below

Artist’s Note: This Flash Animation is part of Kamehasutra : The art of gay kamasutra applied to Saiyans where all the other kamasutra poses are compiled and explained.

First you need to be patient so all the files can load properly. If you get a black screen or blue screen you should refresh/reload the page (or press F5 on your keyboard).

Second when the picture with the various Gohan and Trunks appears you need to click on it.

This animation contains 3 differents fellatio/blowjob positions. You can see them by clicking on Next/Previous arrows.

To select who’s giving and who’s receiving the blowjob, you need to first click on the little transparent arrow that you’ll find on the top right corner of the animation. It’ll activate a character selection menu. By clicking on the pictures you can select your favorite version of Gohan and Trunks. We covered all Gohan/Trunks variation (short haired, long haired, super saiyajin, super saiyajin 2, ultra saiyajin) for all possible universe Dragon Ball Z/Kai Android/Cell/Buu Saga, History of Trunks Universe and even Dragon Ball GT. This way you’re sure to have your favorite Gohan/Trunks pairing.

The magnifying glass will allow you to zoom the scene from various angles.

There’s a green and red arrow, that determine the speed of the animation. There’s no point in accelerating it, but if you decrease it to 0 (instead of 1 standard speed) you’ll see the fellatio become deepthroating. ;-)

Also you can play with the eyes of the character who’s receiving the blowjob by clicking on them.

*****

There were perks to having your homework finished, which usually considered free time as one of the best courses of action. For Gohan, this meant curling up on the couch with a good book and reading through it with the lights on overhead at ten in the evening with the dogs barking away in the distance in an almost peaceful way.

He smiled, placing a cold glass of water on the coffee-table, taking a seat on his couch, getting ready to spend the night with his favourite pastime. His mother had presented him with a series that he had not been able to get around to reading. Films for the books had already come out, but as a true nerd, he wanted to read the books before even thinking about watching the movies. Apparently, they were about this little boy that had his parents killed when he was small and had received a lightning scar. He became a wizard, according to his mother.

Whatever the case, he was told that he just had to read it. So, here he sat, pulling The Philosopher’s Stone toward him and cracking it open. He read the short synopsis before beginning and then looked over the names of the chapters, as if to prepare for their contents.
Gohan admitted, it did look interesting, at least at first glance.

He moved his back to rest against the arm of the couch, holding the book before him and turning to the first page.

*Ding Dong*.

“The boy who lived -” Gohan stopped, raising his head as his doorbell rang throughout the house and caused a confused college student to blink. Gohan moved to stand, placing his book down on the table and making his way out of the living room and to the door.

He peeked through the peep-hole to see his purple-haired family friend standing outside his door with a rather unpleasant expression on his face. Immediately, he began to wonder what could have brought the other to his doorstep with such a downcast emotion.

There was no way that Gohan could have known what he was doing by opening the door to his friend, but he did it all the same, slowly turning the large lock and then the smaller, pulling open the door until he saw all of Trunks Briefs standing before him.

Trunks’ expression changed from dark and broody to a happy grin. “Ah, good. I was afraid that you would not be home, Gohan.” He looked behind him at the darkness not illuminated by streetlamps. “I am really sorry for dropping by unexpectedly and so late… but I was hoping I could ask you to let me stay here for a few days.” His smile faltered, but he managed to salvage it.

He was not fooling anyone. Gohan could tell that it was forced.

Indeed, the fact that Trunks was standing before him with no obvious means of transportation had Gohan look outside with a curious gaze, frowning slightly. “No problem, but… how did you get here? I don’t see your car.”

Trunks rubbed the back of his neck. “Well… the thing is that dad kicked me out of the house before I had a chance to grab anything like the keys to my Mustang or any clothes.”

Now that Gohan could get a better look at him, Trunks did look extremely exhausted and quite warred. It must have been a rough conversation with Vegeta. “It’s not like I could let you just wander the streets, now can I?” Gohan smirked. “What kind of friend would I be?”

“A poor one?” Trunks managed a rather teasing jab.

Gohan chuckled, nodding. “Come on in.” He moved aside to let his friend enter through; closing the door once he had entered, locking it as it had been before.

Trunks stood in the entry way, looking around to see if anything had changed since he had last been in his friend’s home. He could find nothing and simply watched Gohan’s movements at the door.

The now host proceeded into the living room, taking an immediate left and heading into the kitchen for the refrigerator.

“Look… I’m really sorry for dumping this all on you…” Trunks followed, stopping just behind Gohan, resting his hip against the counter with a grateful smile – this one real – on his face.

Gohan shook his head, as if to say that it was fine and that he didn’t mind – which he didn’t – and turned his head to smile back at him, opening the fridge and peeking his head inside and biting his lip thoughtfully. “How about a beer?”

The idea of alcohol seemed to cause Trunks a bit of trouble, struggling with it, at least, from what Gohan could see. After a minute or two and Gohan eventually raising his gaze to stare at his friend, he voiced a completely different thought. “Are you sure you don’t have anything… harder? If you catch my drift.”

This brought out a light chuckle from his college host. “What kind of a question is that? Of course I do. All you have to do is ask.” At that, he reached in and grabbed one of his beers (wishing to stay relatively sober and perhaps a bit buzzed) and pulled out, closing the refrigerator door and standing on his toes to reach the cabinet up above and removed a bottle of Scotch. “Will this do?”

“Heck yes!” Nodding happily, Trunks walked forward, a bright grin on his features as he took the bottle in his hands and stared at it in an admiring way. He knew that Gohan wasn’t much of a drinker, but that was okay because he always had something in stock for Trunks to satisfy his thirst for it. He’d been in Gohan’s house many times, in fact, enough times that he walked straight to the cabinet that held the glasses and obtained one.

“Well, you enjoy that, ‘cause I’m going to stay sober, if you don’t mind.”

Trunks turned around and playfully stuck out his tongue, pouring himself a large glass of just plain alcohol.

That was, after all, how he preferred it. Most people liked to have the alcohol mixed into other drinks, but not Trunks. To him, the taste of alcohol was a saintly thing, only deluded by the addition of anything else. Whether it was soda, oranges, or anything else, really, it was just a huge waste.

Gohan rolled his eyes, walking into the living room and taking a seat on the couch while patiently waiting for Trunks to follow, which he soon did after scavenging around the kitchen, gently plopping down and putting his feet up on the coffee-table.

This brought Gohan to bite his lip and stare at where Trunks’ feet now lay, wondering why Trunks had been over to his house countless times and yet he still didn’t understand that he hated it when the other put his feet there. He managed to keep from telling him off and rolled his eyes, ignoring it as best as he could.

He took a giant gulp from his drink and then glanced around, seeing that the television wasn’t on and then noticing that there was a book set out on the end of said coffee-table. “So… what did I interrupt you doing?”

Gohan shrugged. “Not much of anything. Mum keeps raving about these books and how great they are, but I’d never been able to get around to reading them. So, she gave me the series and I was just getting started on it. Like I said. Not much.” He pressed his back against the back of the couch, raising up an arm and draping it over the top in a comfortable fashion.

It really wasn’t that big of a deal. He’d much rather be hanging out with his friend anyway.

Trunks raised an eyebrow and scoffed at it. “That seems like such a long waste of time. I don’t understand why you just don’t watch the films like a normal person. There’s no point in reading the books.”

This small statement had Gohan frown, shaking his head rather vigorously. “I would have to completely disagree. If you think about the information that are in books and how much the films cut up and shove it all into less than 2 hours, you realize that there’s a lot missing. There are very few that actually depict the book well.”

Trunks rolled his eyes. “Right. Like what?”

“I think that the 10th Kingdom did a very good job keeping to the storyline. It is in three disks, but hell, that’s well worth the time. I felt like I didn’t even have to read the book, but I had anyway.”

“Of course.” Trunks couldn’t help but tease.

Gohan rolled his eyes, picking up his beer and taking a sip of it with a soft exhale after it went down. “Well… whatever. How about we watch a movie or something to keep ourselves entertained? It’s better than just sitting here making small talk, yeah?”

His guest shrugged, gulping down the rest of his glass and sitting up to refill it. “A movie sounds good, but do you have something in mind? Or are you just throwing it out there?” Trunks smirked, swirling around his drink before taking another large gulp.

“You’re into action, aren’t you? I don’t have a bad selection, but most of mine are about-“

“Chick-flicks?” Trunks interrupted, poking fun at his friend.

Gohan blushed, once again rolling his eyes as he pulled out his movie drawer and started to sift through what he had seen recently and what he might be interested in watching. He wished that Trunks would offer to come and pick a film because often Trunks would just tell him to pick another movie instead of offering any help toward the actually choice. “I’m not sure what you’d be into, but I do have…” He trailed off, finding something that might catch his guest’s attention.

Trunks raised an eyebrow, cocking his head to the side. “Yeah?”

“How about…” Gohan bit on the inside of his mouth and pulled out ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’. “This movie?”

He held it up for Trunks to see.

However, despite Gohan’s polite and kind gesture, Trunks did not even look at the cover or the title before agreeing to it. Since Trunks was an argumentative person, Gohan frowned, rubbing the back of his neck as he glared at his friend. It made Gohan wish that he’d picked any movie that he’d first seen instead of weighing the stupid pros and cons of picking a film for entertainment. If he could have chosen anything and the other would have been fine with it, what was the point?

“Sure. I’m up for anything.” All he wanted to do was drink the alcohol he was given and get into such a drunken stupor that he wouldn’t remember the fight he had had with Vegeta and what it was about. Spending time with his friend was definitely a much better alternative to the shouting match that he and his father broke into. It was a little depressing to think that he’d fought with his father about something so silly and stupid as… well, it was not important. The point of being where he was was to forget the stupid argument.

Gohan kneed the drawer closed and strode over to the DVD player, bending over to press the eject button and waiting until he could insert the disk into the slot when it popped out. He stayed focused on it until the slot retreated back into the system.

Trunks’ like-wise purple eyes fell to half-mast and then blinked softly as he eyed the nice rump before him. He had a clear view of it and as he noticed that he was actually staring at his host’s ass, he raised an eyebrow, as if to reproach his action. Maybe he was already drunk, and after two glasses of Scotch, who knew anymore?

“Alright, it’s in. Hopefully you’ll like it.” Gohan straightened up, turning around and heading back over to the couch where he took an Indian stance instead, folding his legs under his buttock and then folding his arms before him while pressing his back into the couch’s cushion.

His purple haired guest did what he could to keep his eyes from drifting away from the television screen and toward Gohan, but the more he drank, the more he found it difficult to do anything that his brain commanded anymore.

Just as the monsters in Halloween Town began to sing about “Making Christmas”, Trunks began to slide down and lose all of his bodily functions. He hiccuped, bringing Gohan’s attention to his inebriated guest. If Trunks was even watching the move anymore, Gohan was not able to tell.

He just sat there – if you could count slumped to the point that his back was where his buttock was a second before and his head where his back was as sitting -, eyes often flashing up and then back down as if they were attempting to keep the body they were attached to awake.

Trunks pulled his drink up to his lips and missed his lips, the alcohol spilling over his neck and shirt.

Gohan rolled his eyes, reaching over and wresting the glass from his inebriated friend. “You’re obviously too drunk, time to get you into bed.” Gohan shook his head with a loving smile, as if he could not believe that Trunks had done that to himself. He stood, moving to turn off the television and did the same with the DVD player as well.

Trunks just mumbled in jest, “You… but… me… we… that… skeleton…,” but each sentence was as incomprehensible as the last. Even if Gohan had all night long to decipher them, he might have been able to, but Trunks was libel to choke on the alcohol he was still trying to throw down his gullet.

“Uh huh, okay, Trunks. Let’s get you up and into a nice warm bed.” He emphasized warm in hopes that Trunks would find that he was cold and would feel more inclined to get someplace warmer.

Gohan gripped Trunks’ underarm, pulling him up to stand, taking the other arm and placing it over his neck while helping him to hovel toward the stairs.

As far as he could tell, his plan worked. Perhaps a little too well.

The idea of getting warm caused Trunks to more hug his host, almost groping him with his random movements. Because of this, it was extremely difficult. It seemed that Trunks wasn’t even able to control his legs and it might’ve just been easier for Gohan to carry him bridal-style up the stairs and into the bedroom, but Trunks had always disliked being treated in such a womanly way.

The mere thought was cute and in many ways a form of hilarity.

Gohan reached the bedroom door, opening it with one hand in an awkward fashion, then using his arm to push it ajar and practically having to pull Trunks to the bed. It was hard to even get him to sit on it, but he managed it, before attempting to get some night clothes for the two of them.

Trunks seemed to cry out and startled Gohan as he turned around and saw Trunks looking quite displeased.

“What?”Nothing seemed to be wrong…

“Don’t… don’t go…”

His warmth must have made Trunks completely aware that he was in the room with someone. Gohan couldn’t help but feel a little guilty for just trying to get a pair of clothes. He returned to the bed and climbed onto the bed. “Fine… I’m here.”

Those bright purple orbs gazed at him before he fell onto his back with a quiet girlish giggle, putting on a stupid smile.

“Y’know… I have seen you drunk so many times before and you always act extremely odd. Why do you keep doing it? Aren’t you… embarrassed?” Gohan figured there was no harm in asking the question, but as he could have guessed, the answer was odd.

“I’m on Gohan’s bed…” Trunks slurred. “Never thought I’d be ‘ere…”

This statement had Gohan stop in his attempt to place Trunks under the covers.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Trunks said nothing at first, lolling his head to the right and then to the left again, keeping that stupid smirk on his face. “Don’t tell

Gohan… but…” He giggled again, pulling his legs up into his chest and hugged them against him.

Gohan waited, blinking curiously. “Don’t tell him… what?”

“Don’t tell ‘im that I love ‘im.” He said this and then giggled again.

It was such an odd thing to say. Gohan didn’t know what to say. What could he say? If he said anything, the boy wouldn’t remember a lick of it in the morning. And if one followed that logic, why not just tell him the truth?

“That’s funny.” He climbed into the bed pulling the balled up Trunks to the top of the bed and lifted the covers up to soon cover him with them, taking his comforter and draping that over the drunken boy.

Trunks then slowly unclenched his body and spread out a little more, grabbing the pillow and hugging it as close as he could to his body.

“I never told you, Trunks, because you were always being hit on by women. Whenever we would walk through the halls the girls would just swoon the moment you looked at them.” Gohan turned off the lamp –the one that he had accidentally left on that morning – climbing under the covers as well. “I’d get so jealous that I only wanted you to look… look at me. So… yeah. I guess you could say that I love you too.”

The drunk shook his head, letting go of the pillow and instead hugging Gohan’s torso and pressing his cheek against the other’s chest. “Dad found out… that I like him… he didn’t like that. Didn’t like that…. though…”

With that, everything seemed to click.

Trunks came here to me because he liked me. Vegeta and he must have been fighting about this… I wonder if he found out from dad… Gohan’s eyes softened as he ran his fingers through Trunks’ long purple hair. He won’t remember telling me this… but fuck if I care.

“I love you, Trunks.” Gohan made sure that he looked serious as Trunks raised his head and looked into his dark brown hues. “Forget what Vegeta thinks, it doesn’t matter as long as you’re happy. If you’re happy here… with me… you can live here until the end of time.”

Trunks pressed his face into Gohan’s chest, mumbling something.

Gohan caught the end of it and just smiled.

There were some tears falling from his eyes. “I love Gohan… Don’t… don’t tell me he doesn’t. Don’t…”

Gohan parted some of the purple hair and kissed his forehead. “It’s alright, Trunks. He does. And he always will.”

Trunks nodded his head and it seemed to take him very little time to pass out in Gohan’s arms, falling into a deep slumber.

It wasn’t until an hour or two later that Gohan finally began to follow. He just laid there with his arm cradling Trunks’ sleeping head, watching the other slumber peacefully.

*****

The sun slowly reached its peak in the sky, looking down on the nice red bricked house with a nice patio and freshly cut front lawn. It could not send its rays inside, but it continued to watch, as if curiously. Through the window there was a purple haired man that had recently become twenty-eight, walked across his bedroom floor.

A large bedroom it was too, one that best fit the owner of Capsule Corp. It had a nice ceiling fan over head, churning the air about in a swift motion, making ambient noises in the background. There were many complimenting furniture pieces placed in strategic positions, it had made the room that much more appealing. A tall mahogany wardrobe pressed up against the right wall, a desk in the corner overlooking the backyard from the window, and a golden brown dresser was touching the large king sized bed, which were the least of the magnificent objects in the room.

Trunks lightly sat on his bed folding his arms before him in a thoughtful fashion staring into the open door leading into his spacious bathroom. The best in the entire house.

Letting out a soft sigh before standing up, Trunks had turned his eyes onto the dresser only inches from him. Five drawers. And three were his. The other two belonged to his roommate, or perhaps there was a better word for him. In the top drawer were where Trunks kept his boxers, briefs, and socks. The second drawer held pajamas and other clothing of that nature. The third drawer was the most delightful for it contained his desired items.

Gohan knew nothing of what lie in that drawer, he hadn’t even asked. That’s the sort of man he was.

Almost as if he were breaking a carefully kept secret, Trunks reached his hand out, nearing closer to the drawer with each step. His deep sky blue eyes were intent on what lie behind the barrier of wood. The man’s fingers stretched out and then curled around the handle, gripping it tight and pulling it out, little by little.

He grinned, chuckling to himself as he found a few choice items inside and pulled them out carefully from the drawer.

A chastity belt, a bottle of lube, a few coils of hemp rope, a ball gag, a black spiked collar, an entire outfit designed specifically for Trunks’ use, anal beads that he planned to coat in lubricant (with mint inside!) to help with stretching and would leave a burning sensation where it touched, and a variety of other surprises that he had set up for the night to come.

His fingers ran along the sleeveless leather jacket, bringing it up to his nose and taking a whiff of it. He’d always loved leather; it was a secret fetish of his that he never voiced aloud to Gohan. He placed the jacket down neatly next to the kinky items he had before running his fingertips against the nice black fingerless gloves, then over his mesh top, and finally what he was most looking forward to wear: his leather pants. Worn with a nice belt buckle, the pants would be the highlight. Of course, there were many things that he wanted to get around to.

As if he hadn’t already done so for the last three weeks, Trunks examined each of his toys. Each toy was different from the last and according to their packages guaranteed fun for both partners.

He smiled, returning a dark black dildo to its resting place on the quilt, quickly turning his eyes onto the clock. His grin grew, pulling at the ends of his mouth as he mulled over the thought of being clean for the dirty show that would soon occur.

Trunks finally nodded his head, walking toward the bathroom, stripping off his brown top and letting it fall to the floor as he turned on the fan and light upon entering the white tiled area. He continued inside, letting the door remain open as he unbuckled his pants, stepping onto his bathmat at the same time and reaching into the bath to let the water begin its rushing descent into the tub, for a moment pausing to feel the temperature. His pants began to slide down his thin slender legs as he reached down further into the tub and placed the plug in the plug hole to allow the water to start accumulating in the tub.

There was no point in watching the water fall from the faucet, so Trunks stepped out of his jeans and left those too on the floor as well. Now simply in his briefs, he made his way over to the sink and checked his reflection, shining his bright white teeth into the mirror and, thinking vainly to himself. He smiled at his handsome features, prodding his cheek. It was difficult to not have some pride with an amazing partner with him each night calling him beautiful and other such attractive-like words.

Finding nothing wrong with his reflection, he turned to face the bath tub, walking over to it. He hooked his thumbs under the elastic of the underwear and pushed them down until they fell to his feet, to which he simply stepped out before climbing naked into the tub of water.

The warm liquid felt warm and inviting to his skin, pushing lightly against it as the ripples caused from the waterfall from the faucet emanated out. Soon the other leg joined in and took a firm placement on the rubber mat inside.

Best not to trip and fall, Gohan had said when Trunks had asked him why he had such an uncomfortable looking appendage added to what he thought was a very nice bath already.

At this thought, Trunks smiled, gripping the sides of the tub and then slowly lowered himself into the depths of the water.

He sighed, licking his lips with pleasure. The water was almost half-way full and covered most of Trunks’ lower body.

Trunks slid down the white surface until his back rest against the highly contrasted cold tub. The mixture of the two temperatures had an odd effect on his skin and made him shiver. He stretched out his legs and let them sit on the rim, above his head.

This is the life… He slowly closed his eyes and let his mind drift off, ignoring the splashing of the water or the sound of the fan overhead. Diligent boyfriend, wonderful house, great company, and… the sex.

They had been having sex more and more often to where Gohan and Trunks could barely keep their hands off each other when they got home. All day the two of them would hold up the pretence of being just two close friends that inherited the company from Trunks’ parents without letting any of the employees or news reporters find out about their secretive relationship.

Trunks could recall a time when he got home and he was greeted by his loving mate and groped more than he had ever been in a single evening. Suficent to say they had sex three times that night. It wasn’t even that dumb law of diminishing returns. No, it was just as good as the last, if not amazingly better.

The water had reached his chin by now and slowly crept up to cover his lips.

He decided to push up a little, letting his neck rest against the back of the tub and allowed his long purple hair to fall back and reveal his perfectly shaped ears.

It had been quite awhile since he had a peaceful time alone. Not that he wished he could have a break from Gohan. A few relationships might not last well with a lot of physical contact, but they did fairly well with it. All they had to do was look at each other and they’d be instantly turned on. Some might explain it as the honeymoon effect, but every day.

Having sex over and over again each day would obviously be uncomfortable and rub certain areas on the body raw and make them almost completely unusable, which is why Trunks had to put his foot down (however reluctantly) and spread it out to twice a week.

It was like he was sent to Hell, because the rule controlled him as well, not just Gohan. Their nights ended up being ten times more passionate.

A groan of pleasure escaped from him as he remembered this, instantly bringing him into a heated state. He shook his head to remove the image of his lover sweating and gasping to prevent himself from losing precious semen for later.

His eyes opened once more and glanced around, thinking.

Gohan would be home in an hour. This left Trunks with just enough time to get dressed and settled.

The both of them had been an underground couple for about twelve years. This held many troubles for them, due to them being men and also keeping it all a secret from their parents and friends. Still, their love couldn’t be stifled so easily. Gohan had suggested that they go to work at different times to keep outsiders from knowing that they worked together and were anything more than roommates. Every day they would go to work separate ways.

Trunks very much enjoyed his car, which he had designed, and took that, usually going first since he was head of the company.

Gohan, on the other hand, traded off between his own orange truck and the everyday bus.

About a year ago, the two of them found that having the same type of sex over and over again just wasn’t enough. It wasn’t that they were tired of each other, but they were tired of the positions that they believed to be the only way to really fuck each other.

Luckily, Gohan’s computer smarts came in handy and he took a look around the inter web and came across a rather interesting ‘kink’ called S&M. There didn’t seem to be a problem with trying it out.

Little did they know that they would try it once and become immediately hooked on it. Hell, the mere fact that one of them was taking complete control of the situation was enough to turn anyone on. Though, they couldn’t just let it run on and become boring. In the end, they ultimately decided that they would take turns, switching the master and the slave once a week.

It was Trunks’ turn this time, and he was going to take full advantage of it.

He switched off the water with his foot and waded in the water for a little while. Trunks just laid there, comfortably listening to nothing at all and thinking about emptiness.

The sound of a clock chiming below him brought him to his senses and allowed him to grasp the time, which meant that he had to get out of his rather pleasing tub.

With a soft groan, he pushed himself up to sit up straight. He pulled the plug and felt the water instantly heading toward the new opening. He didn’t wait for the water to drain out completely, pulling his body up to stand, reaching out and taking a short white towel from the hanging rod and wrapped it around his mid-drift. He grabbed a second and pulled it around his shoulders before stepping out and making sure he had firm footing before stepping out completely.

The liquid fell from Trunks’ body like he was on fire, dripping onto the mat.

Again, Trunks just began his walk into the other room, drying off his torso and neck as he walked over to his bed. He used the towel to clean his ears one at a time, reaching out with his free hand and pulling on his leather pants.

He had decided against wearing underwear. The pure feeling of leather brushing against his skin was enough to make the choice easy. He pulled them up completely, letting the towel fall and then buckling the pants.

I’m really doing this… Trunks quickly enjoyed the feeling of the tight clothing against his skin, not focusing on it too much as he put his mesh top on, followed by his jacket, gloves, and a hair tie to pull back his long violet hair.

A grin passed across his face once more as he gazed into the full length mirror at his reflection.

Today he was going to try something new. The truth was that Gohan and Trunks had been doing the whole deal for a long time and the only time that Trunks felt like he was truly enjoying himself was when he was the master. Not that he didn’t enjoy being the slave sometimes, but having complete control just drove him up the wall. Trucks knew that he was power hungry when he let it control him like that.

With his new outfit and plans set into motion, Trunks walked down the stairs, checking that both the bottom and top locks were indeed set before slipping a finely written note under the door for Gohan to find before walking into the kitchen and locating a banana and pulling the skin off before taking a large bite out of it.

He went into the dining room and sat down, looking out of the window from his secret spot in the corner. Gohan wouldn’t see him in any case, but he would be able to see everything that happened and he was looking forward to what would occur.

*****

He didn’t have to wait long for his tall dark and handsome lover to come walking around the corner in his nice brown suit, tie hanging rather loosely around his neck, and a tired, but happy expression donned on his face. Gohan had always had great looks, ever since they had first met; however odd the circumstances were.

Gohan reached the door and immediately tried to open it, but, to his dismay, found it locked. He cocked his head to the side and tried again, but to no avail. It was then that he turned to search for his keys, something that he hadn’t had to use for quite some time.

It was a beautiful and nice neighborhood, the kind where there was almost never a need to lock the door when you left for work in the morning. Usually, neither of them did, but Trunks had a few things in mind. He’d taken the keys from Gohan’s pocket that morning.

There was a moment where Gohan just stood there looking perplexed and confused, wondering where he’d left his keys and then finally trying to figure out why the door was locked in the first place. He ran his fingers through his dark black hair and then finally knocked on the door. Gohan placed his briefcase on the ground beside him and waited patiently for Trunks to come to the door and let him inside.

Trunks stood up at the sound of the door, stifling a laugh at his lover’s actions at the door as he walked to the door and slowly undid the locks. All the while, he looked through the peep hole and saw Gohan’s hopes rise that he’d be let inside.

His expression was adorable.

“Yes?” Trunks opened the door a little and poked his head through enough to look over his finely suited roommate.

“Uh… I must’ve left my key at home today.” Gohan looked rather embarrassed by this fact and picked up his suitcase and made to step into the house, but Trunks closed the door a little more.

“Ah, ah. If you want to get inside follow the instructions on this paper.” He pulled a piece of paper from his back pocket and held it out for him to take.

Curiously, Gohan took it in with both of his hands, his suitcase back down on the ground. He unfolded it and began to read as the door closed and there was a soft lock.

Trunks moved to look through the peephole and giggled as he saw Gohan’s face turn bright red as he neared the end of the note.

He looked around him frantically, as if everyone on the street was reading the note that he had just read. His eyes moved to the peephole and he tried to negotiate, to make Trunks see that he had gone too far, but his hands fell down to his side in defeat. After a moment he began to take off his tie.

It was placed over his suitcase before Gohan slowly unbuttoned his over coat, slipping it off and placing it on top of the briefcase before taking off his collared shirt to reveal his amazingly fit bod. Then he quickly unzipped his pants and let them fall. Now he stood in nothing except his boxers, looking quite embarrassed at his situation, the rest of his clothing lie beside him in an unorganized pile.

Gohan looked at the peephole once more with a pleading expression, but after he received no help, he glanced around him once more and took off his undergarment.

Just as the note had said “strip before I let you in”, Gohan was bare naked and waiting outside.

Trunks let him stew like that for a moment, taking his time to look over his lover through the one-way glass before unlocking the door.

Gohan looked up like a poor embarrassed puppy at such humiliation, smiling softly in any case once he saw the face of his boyfriend peeking through the tiny crack he’d made.

A smile donned the “master,” looking over Gohan in a teasing way. “You’re all naked?”

“Um… y-yeah…” Gohan stepped forward, attempting to make his time outside last less. There was a foot blocking his way and caused him to look a little upset. “Aren’t you… going to let me in?”

“I have one more condition.”

“O-oh? What is it?”

“Grab your things then get on all fours and crawl in.”

Gohan’s face deepened in colour. “W-what…?”

The door opened further and revealed Trunks’ special outfit, causing a wry smile to stretch across Gohan’s face. Comprehension finally coming to him as he slowly fell to his knees to look up at Trunks with a pleading look.

“Yes, master.”

The door opened completely, revealing Gohan on all fours, like some dog before Trunks.

Grabbing his things, he crawled inside, placing his things off to the side as the door closed. Without so much of an order, Gohan lowered himself further down, licking at the boots his lover had donned, swirling his tongue around the toe, then the rim, and (Trunks was kind enough to lift his shoe up) then along the bottom, cleaning it with his saliva. Soon he switched to the other and repeated the process.

Trunks softly locked the door, doing it all by touch so as not to miss the show.

The entire evening had been planned out down to the very last detail. He’d been planning it for quite some time that he’d made sure that Gohan hadn’t worn his favorite suit to work that day, allowing it to be tossed carelessly to the floor along with the practically empty briefcase.

No repercussions.

“I’m glad to see my pet catches on quickly. Are you enjoying yourself?” Trunks watched, feeling his manhood poke at the skin tight pants. Hell, the mere sight of a naked Gohan licking his feet like some glorified dog had him half-way ready to climax.

Gohan responded with a slight nod. He didn’t say a word, but instead ran the flat of his tongue along the black boot with extra vigor to show his appreciation. .

He mentioned before that he enjoyed being a slave more than being the master. I must admit, seeing him like this is much more satisfying than when our roles are reversed. Fuck… he’s really getting into this… Holy shit, Gohan…

Earlier that day, he had bought a black studded collar at a pet store that now lay on a table nearby, which he took in his hands and bent down to lock around the other’s neck. Trunks locked it into place by moving the white passcode keys from 7-4-8-6 to random numbers so that even if Gohan grew to dislike the new accessory, he wouldn’t be able to remove it no matter how hard he tried. He examined the green tag shaped like a dog bone and chuckled as he read what was engraved on it.

Name: Gohan. Please return to his master if lost.

Unperturbed by the new addition around his neck, Gohan licked up the boot and along the laces running his tongue up and under them. He didn’t even seem to note the leash that was soon added to the collar.

Trunks wrapped the end of the leash around his hand and pulled hard, forcing a yelp and the pet’s eyes to float up toward his master. “Let’s go upstairs.” Once more, he pulled and Gohan followed, walking up the stairs.

The leash was held up much too high for Gohan to stay on all fours, so he switched to his full height, smiling as he looked over his master’s perfect rump. Now completely naked, he couldn’t hide his extremely hard erection, an erection that he’d been sporting since he’d entered the house, from bobbing up and down in the air, slapping his stomach with every step he took up the stairs.

He had to admit, Trunks really looked the part today and was controlling Gohan as if he’d always been the master and they’d never switched roles.

Opening the bedroom door, the master pulled Gohan in and allowed him to look at the toys that were now in clear view.

I have the rest of the night to do whatever I want to him, but what I do first should be special… hm…

“Come.” His eyes fell onto Gohan, watching for compliance.

Gohan nodded, walking over toward him and standing beside the bed, even though there wasn’t much room to close between the two of them. The leash had done most of the work. “Yes, master.”

Trunks moved closer to the bed, pulling Gohan to the edge of it and forcing him to lie on his stomach over the sheets. He took a number of the toys laid out on the bed in hand and examined each one in thought as Gohan moved his head to rest on the right cheek, so as to get a better look at them all.

Such a multi-coloured selection!

Gohan’s manhood found itself pressed into the mattress, only alerting him to its presence all the more, he even felt himself releasing a little of his pre-ejaculation.

After a minute, he grabbed the old black and white bandanna and folded it so it was flat and layered, moving to cover Gohan’s eyes with it and tied the cloth behind the back of his head. He placed his hand on the back of Gohan’s ass and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “Let’s abuse you a bit.”

An audible moan escaped Gohan as he heard the silky voice of his master, the hot steamy breath tickling his ear. He felt the other’s hand move from his left cheek and then to the right before moving completely away from his touch. Gohan wanted to feel it, wanted to enjoy the caress longer, but soon realized (and was glad that his master was doing so) a much more enjoyable action was to come.

The resounding sound of a slap reverberated around the air as Trunks’ palm slammed into Gohan’s left cheek, leaving a pink, stinging mark, the pain setting in before Trunks’ palm came down once more, almost perfectly on top of the mark, adding to the sting.

Moan for me, groan for me… Gohan, let me hear your sweet voice.

Just as he wished, Gohan cried out cutting it off seconds later with a pleased moan. “Abuse me… please…”

Trunks found no reason not to, repeating the action over and over again.

It stung and it burned where the palm touched, alternating between cheeks, sometimes slapping both at once to shake things up. Every now and then, he’d pause to grab hold of the now bright red, firm ass, pinching it, squeezing it in his hand before slapping it again.

This caused Gohan to moan and cry out in a mixture of delight and humiliation.

Using his skills at multitasking to his advantage, he took the geisha balls and stuffed them unceremoniously into the other’s hole, pushing one ball in at a time while leaving one small ball attached to the others by string for him to grab later when he decided to remove them.

Almost inhumanly, not once did he stop the incessant slapping on the gorgeous ass set before him. He liked watching as Gohan squirmed around on top of the bed sheets, struggling with his needs to sob and to beg for more.

The other’s cock pressed into the sheets, the way he was pushed against the bed placed him in an uncomfortable stance, but Gohan absolutely loved it and felt no need to keep such joy hidden. The submissiveness, the way that he felt he was being controlled. If he wasn’t in this position, it’d take away so much from the experience. His ass shook, the beads stuffed in his anus causing a small burning sensation inside of him. The balls were deep inside of his prostate, poking at his sweet spot, causing him to be much more excited in the sense of his moaning and groaning, he felt the beads against the walls deep inside his anus, forcing him to move all the more. “M-more… oh, please, more, master!”

Once Trunks was sure that the rump was the bright shade of red that he liked, he stopped, reaching over and running his palm through Gohan’s hair, gripping the black locks tight and pulling him back and putting strain on his neck. “Later, but for now… you’re going to please me. Doesn’t that sound more fun?”

The strain caused a grin to stretch across his face, arching his back and moving to stand at his master’s pull, then he was forced down onto his hands and knees just as he had been earlier. The movement caused the balls to pound unceasingly against his prostate, emitting a moan from him as he felt the combination of the sting from the spanking and the balls still taking residence in his butt added to his submissive state. He took on a complacent expression, waiting excitedly for Trunks’ cock to press against his cheeks first.

The organ dripped a small amount of clear and slippery looking liquid. Trunks ran it over Gohan’s lips and then moved to the other cheek, leaving his essence stuck to his lover’s face, soon returning his manhood to his lover’s crimson coloured lips and pushed it against them.

Gohan’s eyes were at half-mast, peeking out from under his eyelids at his lover’s cock, noting the way his balls moved from side to side. He wished that he could take them in his hands and play with them, even take them into his mouth and swirl them around. Yet, he knew that it was unlikely. The submissive man dictates nothing. He parted his lips to allow his dominant other’s cock entry, opening wide to take it all in.

Trunks could hardly prevent a moan to pass his lips as he felt his cock slide into the hot moist cave, the head of his manhood was the first to meet the inhabitant.

The tongue licked at the slit, lapping up the pre-ejaculation before moving to the underside of its guest. It ran around the head and moved to soak the entire organ in the saliva it secreted.

Trunks let out another moan, biting his tongue and swallowing most of it as he closed his eyes and raised his head toward the ceiling. His lover’s mouth moved up and down the shaft, doing nothing but pleasing him.

“Good… boy, Gohan…”

He took the appreciative words and used them to accentuate his master’s pleasure. Gohan relaxed his throat and took in all of his master’s cock, pressing his lips against the base. His nose found Trunks’ pubic hair at the end, finding that it smelled of the shampoo Trunks often used. Pine with a hint of coconut flower. The head of the cock pushed eagerly against the back of his throat. Oh, how he loved the way it felt in his mouth, the way that it throbbed lustfully as his tongue never stopped running along the shaft, and played with everything that it could reach. Even the base received some much needed attention.

It was not asked of him, but he had been wishing to do it for quite some time since this began. Gohan reached out and took his master’s balls in one hand. He motioned them around as he skillfully pleasured his master’s cock with his tongue. Around and around, he pleasantly enjoyed the feel as they twisted in his hand.

As master in this scenario, controlling himself was the most important part. He had to show that he had the power to prevent himself from thrusting and shoving his cock as far down the other’s throat as he could. It was a reflex and he was unsure that he could keep it from taking over him. He wanted to, but it was Gohan’s turn to please his master, not for him to just take what he wished. For now.

“Deeper…” His voice broke the muffled moaning and grunting from his lover. He shut his eyes tight for a moment, taking in everything his nerves sent shooting up through his body.

The slave obliged, moving his mouth so the lips ran along the shaft’s base, he pushed the cock as deep in his mouth as he could, feeling it move even farther down his throat. Gohan could not prevent a deep swallow with all the saliva he had built up.

Trunks let out a low gruff moan, cocking his head down and closing his eyes as he felt a soft pinch on the tip of his cock, shaking his head to stay in the moment, but finding it increasingly difficult with his slave’s skill.

Gohan pulled back away from it and then pulled it back in again, deep throating the organ he took great care not to bend in a direction it was not meant to.

His climax was so close, but Trunks knew that he couldn’t let himself release yet. No, no matter how much he wanted the shoot his seed into the other’s mouth. He had to hold it back.

The night wasn’t over quite yet.

*****

Gohan renewed his squirming; shaking his ass this way and that before feeling Trunks move from him.

He hadn’t said a single word to explain his actions. All he did was just pulled out.

As he was blindfolded and lying down on the floor, there was no way he could be sure that he hadn’t done something wrong to cause his ‘master’ to halt. One of his worst fears was that perhaps the night hadn’t gone as well as Trunks planned for it to be. His second was that it wasn’t anything he did, but Trunks was just simply… done.

Whatever the case, Gohan felt that it was much too early and if they didn’t do something to replace their pleasure with, their fun would be ruined.

“Gohan, stand.”

The order came behind him again, expressing no anger or distaste, just… commanding.

Obeying his lover, Gohan struggled to stand up, almost letting out a soft cry as the sensations inside – and out – of his ass became sensitive.

This is… unbearable… but God, does this feel good! What I wouldn’t give to be the bitch forever… Trunks, please, make this permanent. If one was to say that Gohan was ‘turned on’, it’d definitely win understatement for the year.

Trunks smirked, stepping forward with a second toy hidden in hand. He took a moment to note Gohan’s predicament and his odd movements. It seemed like he was struggling with the balls in his ass, which only meant that they were ready to move on to the next step. The purple haired master had something else in his arsenal to distract Gohan.

He slipped his hands in between Gohan’s arms and hugged him from behind, looking over the black haired slave’s shoulder to rub the already pert nipples before moving to add tight metal clamps before removing his hold and walking around the other, watching his reaction.

Gohan let out a cry, hid head falling back and then slipping forward again as he bit his lip to prevent it from happening again. He tried to pull away from Trunks at first, but felt more pain for all his work.

Somehow, he’d managed to keep himself standing, legs still rather spread, thinking better of any future movements.

Trunks let out a low chuckle, running his finger over the long chain before pulling it and hearing a musical-like groan escape from his slave. His smile was pulled ear to ear, entirely pleased that Gohan was such a vocal man. No, pleased would be the right way to explain such an emotion. Elated.

“Tell me, Gohan, what do you think? Is that better?”

“Oh… God, yes…” Gohan softly let out another cry.

His lover had to be a chemist, combining a perfect mixture of sexual frustration, balls tantalizing his anus, and now these clamps pinching his nipples that were just enough to make him feel truly helpless and under his master’s command.

This whole night had been absolutely perfect, from Gohan’s point of view, especially as his master’s palm ran along his face and down to rest on his chest. The hand soon returned up and gripped the other’s cheekbones, pulling him closer before taking the blindfold and slipping it down to rest around the slave’s neck.

There never seemed to be a moment where they just stood still, which suited the both of them quite well, never being able to just sit still for more than two seconds.

Trunks gripped the chain connected to the clamps and pulled it roughly as if telling Gohan to follow.

Gohan let out a soft moan, stumbling forward to make sure that his nipples were torn from his body.

“I’m feeling rather tense. Gohan, give me a massage.”

It wasn’t as if he weren’t used to giving his lover a massage when he wanted it in a week, but now, here? He certainly had to keep on his toes. Gohan nodded obediently and climbed onto the bed the best that he could, keeping in mind the pain from his nipples and the sensations shooting up from his anus.

He blinked for a moment, getting used to the light as Trunks moved to lay on his stomach, resting his head on his arms.

Gohan used his newfound sight to place his hands on the other’s shoulders, blinking more to clear the black dots plaguing his vision. He started between Trunks’ shoulder blades, using his thumbs to run along the smooth tanned skin.

The point of this was to relieve all of his lover’s tension, like he said, while struggling from his own.

Sexual lust was taking over Gohan as he used his hands and elbow to push out the kinks and sore muscles that he came across, inwardly begging that he could lean down and kiss along the skin like they would when they had their vanilla time. Yet, he had to act like a slave, and Trunks, the master.

Trunks let out a soft, quiet sigh. “Lower.”

“Yes, sir.” Gohan nodded, despite Trunks being unable to see him, and moved his hands lower as ordered, noting Trunks’ reaction when he moved the muscles around his lover’s sides.

This went on for a good number of minutes, Gohan just trying to focus on what he was told to do and not the other things currently plaguing his body or give into the urge to kiss the glistening skin before him.

“That’s enough,” Trunks said, starting to sit up without warning and moving to stand. “Come.” He pulled Gohan’s chain and just like the loyal pup he was, he came.

Trunks forced Gohan back onto his knees, smiling slyly as he slowly unbuckled his leather pants and removed his cock, wagging it in the air expectantly.

Gohan understood what this meant, as he pulled in and took the head into his mouth, playing with the most sensitive part with just the tip of his tongue and lips. As it was pushed further inside, he obediently opened his lips, taking in the entire organ, even gagging a little as it began to do something more beyond his control.

The cock began to shove itself deeper inside, pulling out and shoving in, knowing that if Gohan cut him with his teeth that there would be punishment beyond what Gohan could ever imagine.

This was what Gohan was waiting for.

Over and over again, Trunks fucked Gohan’s mouth, running his cock straight through the moist cavern and into the back of his lover’s throat. He couldn’t ignore the feeling of Gohan’s tongue running all along the base and to head of his penis when it entered the domain.

He closed his eyes, tangling his fingers in the black hair, keeping a tight grip on it to control the other’s head and the thrusts into his mouth perfectly

Gohan’s eyes shut as well, letting out a moan as he felt a twitch of the manhood in his mouth, knowing – from experience – that Trunks was almost ready to come.

Trunks said nothing, but simply moved in and out a few more times, getting more and more rough with each thrust as the thought of releasing inside his lover’s mouth became too much for him to bear, but, he managed to get his wits about him and decided at last minute to pull out, coming right onto Gohan’s face.

Not expecting Trunks to pull out once again, Gohan had mentally prepared himself to swallow all of the semen, but found that it was all over his face instead. And without an order, Gohan didn’t dare try to clean himself up, but he did lick his lips tantalizingly, looking up at his lover with a lustful gaze and his own member twitching lustfully as he tasted the remnants of his master.

Trunks’ eyes opened slowly, moving to stare down at his lover. “Jack-off for me, Gohan.”

“A-ah… yes, master.” Gohan took hold of his cock with his right hand and began to pump the already rock hard manhood in his fingers. He closed his eyes, tilting his head back as he kept the slow and steady motion, torturing himself with all his control. The whole night passed before him through his closed eyelids, which only made him more horny. T-trunks…

He imagined Trunks playing with his body like he had the entire night, and in a matter of seconds, his semen shot from him, falling onto the carpet and Trunks’ boot.

Almost immediately – or perhaps, more instinctively -, Gohan bent down on all fours and proceeded to lick up the mess he’d made on the other’s outfit.

Trunks watched, smirking happily at the reaction and nodding approvingly. Gohan is really getting into this. Yes… he must like his position better this way.

As his boots were licked clean, Trunks bent down, pulling out the balls one at a time and hearing a soft grading moan from his slave; watching as the balls came out completely wet. They wouldn’t stop the stinging resounding in the other’s anus for quite some time, but that was going according to plan.

Trunks’ hand rest on Gohan’s cheek, forcing the other to look up into his eyes.

Gohan stood a little, kissing Trunks gently on the lips.

They both knew that the night was over. It usually was when they were both satisfied. That was the best thing about having Trunks as a lover. Even if he moved into selfish bouts, he still thought of Gohan’s well-being and his needs.

“Hey… T-trunks… can… can we make this… permanent?”

A small chuckle escaped the light haired boy, nodding his head. “If you enjoy it this much, yes.”

They both looked down to see that Gohan’s manhood was still prodding the air in need.

“Perhaps you really like this little change, hm?” Trunks reached out and flicked the other’s cock in a teasing sort of way.

The other’s much needed touch had Gohan groan, closing his eyes and then smiling as he kissed Trunks once more.

“I’ve got a surprise for you, close your eyes.”

Gohan obeyed, as he had done the entire night, as Trunks walked over to the dresser and pulled out a drawer, moving around the items inside it before pulling out a bright silver chastity belt.

The belt would really be the change that would affect the both of them the most. The pure fact that Trunks had the power to release Gohan’s pleasure and lock it simply placed the title of master to Trunks.

He walked back over, kneeling down and forcing the cold metal object around Gohan’s groin and waist.

A resounding lock echoed through the room as Trunks stood, kissing Gohan softly.

“You must wear this for ten days, and then I’ll let you pleasure yourself.”

Gohan blushed, nodding his head. “Yes, master.”

Artist’s Note: This illustration is part of Kamehasutra : The art of gay kamasutra applied to Saiyans where all the other kamasutra poses are compiled and explained.

Please Read the Instructions Below

Artist’s Note: This Flash Animation is part of Kamehasutra : The art of gay kamasutra applied to Saiyans where all the other kamasutra poses are compiled and explained.

First you need to be patient so all the files (including the music) can load. If you get a black screen and only the music you should refresh/reload the page (or press F5 on your keyboard).

This animation contains 3 differents sexual positions. You can see them by clicking on Next/Previous arrows.

You can decide who’s on top and who’s bottom by clicking several times with your mouse cursor over their haircut. You’ll see we covered all Gohan/Trunks variation (short haired, long haired, super saiyajin, super saiyajin 2, ultra saiyajin) for all possible universe Dragon Ball Z/Kai Android/Cell/Buu Saga, History of Trunks Universe and even Dragon Ball GT. This way you’re sure to have your favorite Gohan/Trunks pairing.

The magnifying glass will allow you to zoom the scene from various angles.

The heart shaped symbol will show you bonus close up mini scenes.

Lastly, the yellow sign will show you extra animations when they reach their orgasm.

Author’s Notes: This story is done as a tribute to the novel Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, and is written in collaboration with Lord Truhan.


“Les héros imaginaires de Daniel de Foé ou de Wyss, aussi bien que les Selkirk et les Raynal, naufragés à Juan-Fernandez ou à l’archipel des Auckland, ne furent jamais dans un dénuement aussi absolu. Ou ils tiraient des ressources abondantes de leur navire échoué, soit en graines, en bestiaux, en outils, en munitions, ou bien quelque épave arrivait à la côte qui leur permettait de subvenir aux premiers besoins de la vie. Ils ne se trouvaient pas tout d’abord absolument désarmés en face de la nature. Mais ici, pas un instrument quelconque, pas un ustensile. De rien, il leur faudrait arriver à tout !”

“The imaginary heroes of Daniel Defoe or of Wyss, as well as Selkirk and Raynal shipwrecked on Juan Fernandez and on the archipelago of the Aucklands, were never in such absolute destitution. Either they had abundant resources from their stranded vessels, in grain, cattle, tools, ammunition, or else some things were thrown up on the coast which supplied them with all the first necessities of life. But here, not any instrument whatever, not a utensil. From nothing they must supply themselves with everything.”

-Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island (1874)

If one were to observe the colonists the last period of hours they would notice the five striding under a now clear sky. Disheveled they were extremely grateful to see the elements had cleared they now trekked back towards the Grotto. Glad for their number had increased from four to five. With Gohan in the middle of the group, they marched with Trunks and Yamcha towards the front, followed by 17, then brought up in the rear by Satan.

This was a sharp contrast to their plight of earlier. Pummeled mercilessly by rain for two days they had remained in the cave where they found their engineer. At that time, the entire atmosphere seemed to conspire against them, saturating every square inch with wetness. Although the rain remained outside the dampness left them shivering and huddling together for warmth. According to Gohan’s advice they had stayed put and had prevented compromising their health. Following this principle had cost the colonists ample chances to find more provisions, considering the state of the weather.

For food they had only ate what was easily obtainable. When they had exhausted their supply of food, they brought the resorted to cave mosses and some species of mushroom within reach that Trunks deemed edible. The flesh of the mushrooms was pale and bland with just an aftertaste of that flavor most botanists could ascribe to members of the fungi family.

The colonists had given the engineer a larger share of what they found in proportion to their own of their fare in order to aid in his recovery. Phosphorescent moss on the walls steadily lit them with blue dim light, much like that of the pod long ago. It gave them a familiar sense of comfort in the memory because they had overcome that ordeal. This was far less of a problem then marking time in a search for the place they now called home, even with the uncertain weather. Air was charged with mist and tasted like stone for most of the time. Only grim grayness seemed to penetrate the angry clouds and battering wind that howled against the opening. To talk over the wind at times they would have to shout to be heard.

Again, the colonists entered a sort of semi hibernation as they waited out the storm. Until the grey at last went away and sun penetrated through the thinning clouds and its first rays actually reached the cave. They emerged blinking at it and delighted how it warmed their faces. That had been earlier this day when they began their trek back. All the way Gohan glanced at the features that were once hidden in darkness visible in the full light of day.

Narrowing brown eyes Gohan shaded them with one hand. He peered up at the branches of the trees they now walked under. Not necessarily for the purpose of knowing what they were but for minute breaks or scattered pieces of wood that would indicate disruption from the passage of a craft roaring down to a possible crash. He scanned for bits of metallic debris or plastic that could have happened to rain down if there was a crash.

Beside him, Trunks also examined the species under daylight for a different purpose than Gohan, appreciative of their reveal and aspects for confirmation of identification. Yamcha glanced back to see Gohan’s intent perusal of the landscape, suspecting at first he was surveying their route.

As time moved on he had the feeling that the engineer was surveying things with a far more critical eye. He would come to know that probing look on Gohan’s face that hinted that something else was there. However, he said nothing because he knew Gohan would reveal to them what the reason was in time.

Gohan then murmured quietly, “No pieces of debris, gentlemen. My question of crash or explosion still remains unanswered for the time being.”

17’s blue eyes gleamed in understanding as he patted the place where he had normally kept notebook and pencil. He said, “Doubtless if we saw any material the position should be noted duly…”
“Only proves that the trajectory may not be this way till we go further,” Yamcha nodded to Gohan’s slight incline of the head.

“There’s dozens of possible ways it could have gone,” commented 17.

“Something for Gohan to cogitate on. I for one am curious to know how our cave weathered the storm,” Satan said.

“That’s very true, and I don’t like thinking about what we might find when we get back…” Yamcha muttered.

“We won’t know till we get there, so it’s pointless to speculate,” said 17.

“Regardless of what we find, it’s good to be in open air again. It smells wonderful!” Satan pronounced.

“Just with a hint of ozone,” said Gohan.

“Which is natural for after a storm,” said Trunks. “But I also smell the trees overhead. They have a spicy resinous scent.”

“Spicy?” asked Gohan. “Elaborate.”

“The rain must have caused their flowers to open wider,” Trunks indicated. Gohan nodded. As he peered up into the tree, he saw a few branches broken and wood chips scattered on the ground when he looked back down.

“What would cause that?” asked Yamcha as he moved to see what the other two were so intrigued by. Reaching down Gohan picked up a branch and stared at it carefully. Sticks crackled a bit under their feet, some drying, some still wet and green.

“Termites possibly,” Gohan muttered after taking a closer look back up at the tree.

“Exactly,” Trunks confirmed. “This chewing pattern is characteristic…”

He reached down and another branch with hollowed out centers that had fallen from the storm. Gohan knocked on the tree and it gave a hollow sound. 17 and Yamcha moved as well, looking at the other trees around it.

“Once we reach the grove we’ll rest,” Gohan said.

Nodding Satan’s blue eyes gleamed. “Got that right. We’ll rest, and feast…”

“When we get back we’ll continue our search for the ship,” 17 commented.

“Once we know where it is you mean,” said Yamcha.

“Just a matter of time before we track it down, right Gohan?” said Satan. “I’m not so worried because I know it’s a case of when, not if.”

“We’ve still got to find any significant signs that indicate where it crashed, and so far…” Trunks trailed off.

“Very true. Could very well be a lethal place riddled with radiation… depending on how it crashed…” Yamcha muttered, shivering.

“No protective suits would make that rather tough to handle,” Satan said, rubbing his bearded chin.

“Indeed,” Gohan said thoughtfully, rubbing his own chin. “But that is still IF it crashed. This discussion is academic because we lack sufficient shelter, food, and means of defense. One can’t search properly without the right needs being met.”

“But still…” 17 said.

“Maslow’s hierarchy of needs,” said Trunks.

“Correct,” Gohan nodded, smiling at Trunks.

“Uh?” said 17. “Come again?”

“Yeah, my brain’s rusty on that,” said Yamcha. “Just WHAT it states…”

“The basic needs have to be met first,” Trunks continued.

“In the army we have a different name for it but that name rings a bell,” Satan nodded.

IN the ensuing silence a distinctive croaking growl was heard. The culprit slowly glanced up with blue eyes. 17 gave a slight chuckle accompanying the upswept corners of his lips. Trunks smirked and commented, “And one of those basic needs is naturally food.”

Satan patted 17 on the shoulder as they all exchanged humored grins. Gohan chuckled and asked, “How far is it the grove?”

“Approximately 5 to 10 minutes walk from here,” Trunks confirmed.

*****

The traveling party of colonists increased their pace, and an amount of time later the group noticed that the trees had a different form of bark. At the prospect of filling their growling stomachs their spirits were boosted. Just the mere idea of obtaining food made it much easier to put one foot in front of the other with greater vigor. In a series of steps further they had reached the grove they had noticed on the way in, and took the time to examine the strange fruit they had seen in shadows before. 17 heard branches crackling along with a tinny burbling chirp, and glanced up to see birds flittering among branches. Their feathers seemed metallic almost copper green and turquoise with more than the usual iridescence. Excitedly Trunks moved forwards and slid along a tree trunk to get a better look up into the canopy.

“Ferrous iridescence,” Trunks said.

“The birds?” asked Yamcha. Trunks nodded to his guardian.

“We should look for their nests further along. They don’t tend to nest in this species of conifer, but in deciduous trees,” said Trunks. He moved towards the front of the group near Yamcha, so Gohan now was second to the back with Satan. 17 moved in the middle, his blue eyes flickering back and forth, as he memorized every detail of what was around him, just as the others were doing.

“There’s the grove of fruit trees,” Yamcha said, pointing as his sharp eyesight spotted small spheres littering the ground. Each colonist hastened towards them, smelling a sweet tinge to the air that increased as they neared.

Gohan bent down to pick up one of the striped fruits. Satan and 17 did as well, turning the bruised produce over. “It’s gone rotten unfortunately,” Gohan said.

“I’ll climb up and get more,” Trunks said.

“I think I will as well,” 17 said, moving towards the tree near the first.

“I think that would be wise,” Gohan agreed. “You two are the lightest among us.”

“The issue is how to get the fruit down so it won’t spoil,” Satan said, shading his eyes with one hand.

“Hold out your jacket Satan, and let the fruit drop into it. You too, 17,” Gohan suggested. Satan removed his jacket.

“Sure,” 17 replied, approaching another tree nearby. He stripped off his jacket and handed it to Gohan.

“Let’s give you a leg up,” Satan said as he moved over and bent over, making a stirrup with his hands. Yamcha helped as well, steadying Trunks so he could use Satan’s hand. Trunks reached up with nimble fingers and grabbed the nearest branch. Almost like a monkey he shimmied up hand over hand. Then the aide-de-camp and the pilot assisted 17 in scrambling up his tree.

Trunks began to harvest the fruits, letting them fall into the cloth of Satan’s opened jacket held underneath. 17’s fruits dropped into his coat, held out by Yamcha. Soon they had a good number in each of the two coats, preserved from bruising. Then 17 and Trunks slid down the trees to join the others in sitting quietly in the grove. Each man enjoyed the sweet taste of the fruit’s flesh wetting their tongues and nourishing their bodies that had eaten more meager fare.

“This is the food of the gods,” 17 commented.

“You’re just so hungry anything would taste good,” Yamcha answered.

“I say that hunger’s the best seasoning for any food, but conventional spices never hurt either,” Satan chimed in.

“This should provide us with enough calories and vitamins for the time being,” Gohan added. “Though we need to continue to gather what we can. So we have to replenish our strength for the hard work that awaits us in colonizing the valley.”

“There are bird eggs,” Trunks said, glancing around for any sign of the feathered friends he had seen earlier. “They usually contain essential proteins, vitamins as well as nutrients vital to muscle strength and many vital functions.”

“Never mind the eggs, how about one of those birds roasted on a spit. That’s protein for you,” Yamcha chuckled.

“So you’d rather not eat termites then?” 17 teased.

“They ARE rather tasty,” Trunks said. “Though it takes a good deal to add up to a large amount of nourishment.”

“There’s stuff to eat like the mushrooms in the cave, and then there’s real food,” Yamcha clarified. Mouth full of succulent fruit he added in a muffled tone, “This is FOOD.”

“And you’re this planet’s first gourmand?” Satan chuckled. “I’d say this would go great on a piece of toast… when we have bread of course.”

To his aide de camp’s comment, Gohan grinned as he squeezed Satan’s shoulder. With a note of enthusiasm and joy in his voice he replied, “Sooner or later we’ll manage a flour substitute so you can make toast and even brioche.”
The engineer’s dark brown eyes sparkled with the same enthusiasm his aide de camp shared. Turning to Trunks he then asked, “However for now, is there anything else to add to the food category?”

Trunks pointed to a clump of trees further over from the fruit trees they sheltered under against the warm sun. “I was noticing that there are other trees nearby that appear to be a species of almondine. The nuts have a good amount of protein content…”

“Easy or hard to open?” asked 17.

“We won’t know till we actually harvest them,” said Trunks.

“We might as well since we don’t know if the food at the grotto might be rotten,” Satan suggested.

As they had assisted Trunks before to harvest fruits, the colonists similarly aided him in climbing up one of the trees containing a nest.17 too shimmied up halfway so Trunks could pass down a nest containing the eggs. Nestled together were four ovoid shapes possessing an iridescent green shell with darker green blotches. They were at least three inches in length and two inches in breadth.

“With that color of shell,” murmured 17, taking in the opalescent sheen. “I wonder what the insides will contain.”

Satan set his eyes upon them commenting, “That has the makings of a good sized omelet.”

“We don’t have a pan to cook one though,” Yamcha lamented. The nest served as a container to carry them since they had only their pockets and garments available. Once several other nests had been harvested, the attention was turned to the obtaining of more fruits for the trip back.

*****

Conversation petered out for a time while they continued to take in the surroundings. That sweet smell hung in the air, such a vast contrast from the dank stone stench of the grotto. In fact, the air seemed heavier with something that tickled their throats, along with an ozone smell. The atmosphere seemed charged with a freshness that resulted from two straight days of cleansing rain.

“The stone smell’s truly gone,” Trunks noticed.

“I won’t be sorry for that,” Satan said with a shake of his head. He seemed to want to dismiss it from his mind entirely.

“We’ll soon smell stone when we get back to our cave,” 17 said.

Satan then said, “Since we’re on the subject we’ve still got that river to cross.”

“Mmm,” Gohan agreed. “And we need a means to do so safely.”

“Wading like we did before would be trickier… since the increased rain and flooding,” Satan pointed out, rubbing his beard thoughtfully.

“I don’t like fighting that current anymore than you do,” agreed 17, shrugging.

“Tree branches slung together to make a raft maybe?” Yamcha suggested, mulling over ideas in his mind.

Gohan glanced around, nodding. He said, “There are plenty because of the storm blowing them down.”

Already Trunks and Satan glanced towards where Gohan pointed. “Over here, and here,” Trunks said.

“Let’s build a raft, shall we?” said Yamcha rubbing his hands together.

“Unfortunately that’s Robinson Crusoe’s mistake,” Gohan said shaking his head. “He first built his boat in the middle of the forest and was unable to move it later…”

“That… could be a problem,” said Yamcha a bit sheepishly.

“Not to worry,” said Satan patting him on the back. “Each of us can add to the other’s collective knowledge.”

“Then build it closer to the river,” 17 acknowledged with a bob of his head. Gohan confirmed this with a nod. All five colonists then proceeded to a place closer to the riverbank so it was well within eyesight as well as earshot.

Yamcha had suggested dragging any raft they created, but Satan had mentioned such a thing would be just as difficult. None of them wanted to risk snagging a craft they built on a root or feature in their path that would undo a good few hour’s work. As it stood, they still had a ways to hike to reach the river in question. In the distance, the sounds of crackling wood along with the fluctuating whistle tone were soon joined by that of the river’s rush. It grew ever louder until it eclipsed the other ambient noises and they had to raise their voices again to be heard over its cacophony.

A smell of mist and tiny droplets hit their noses once they reached the bank. Gohan and Yamcha raised their hands over to shield their eyes to see if this was the best point at which to cross. Up and down Yamcha saw the movement pattern of the water, reporting to the others if he could see any protruding rocks further down. Gohan analyzed the pattern of the whitecaps crashing over smooth and rough stones while Trunks eyed fish sliding under the varying fluid surface on their way along the current.

“Time to gather supplies for building our conveyance across the river,” Gohan stated with a definitive tone.

17, Satan, Trunks, and Yamcha each rose from where they sat and fanned out from their location in search of downed trees. Trunks noticed they were of varying species while Satan judged they had with diameters ranging from two inches across to six inches across.

Satan had his own classification. He chuckled, “this size is good for kindling, this here for burning, and this for building.”

Trunks spotted the characteristic creeping vines of the species Rhinitis parisita and was quick to point them out to the others.

Yamcha nodded and muttered to himself what Trunks had just said. “Moderate tensile strength and varying length, shouldn’t snap apart.”

As Trunks collected vines, Satan and Yamcha began hefting the first of the downed trees. 17 and the Engineer carried a log between them. He and Gohan let their wood clatter into the communal pile the others were adding to. Trunks wound out the lengths of vine he harvested and set it down near where Gohan genuflected on one knee, examining each piece of wood.

“Guess it won’t have to be pretty as long as it keeps us afloat,” joked Satan. He imagined Gohan already piecing together the trees in his mind into the most strategic and sound configuration an engineer of his caliber could envisage.

“I’m not sure I’m crazy about the stability of this,” 17 commented. “Though it’s better than fighting that current.”

“It only needs to hold together long enough for us to get across,” Yamcha reminded him.

“Something large enough to steady ourselves while wading, or something we can actually float on?” Trunks asked.

“Far better to keep above the water and save our energies,” 17 suggested.

“Correct,” said Gohan. “Let me see the vines and how we can best secure the limbs.”

17 knelt next to Trunks straightening out the lengths of vine for Gohan to look at while Yamcha and Satan positioned the downed trees. They had several short ones and a few long ones. They worked under Gohan’s directive, placing the logs side by side while Satan twisted lengths of vine to lash them together.

“Shouldn’t be too heavy to port there,” murmured Yamcha.

“All of us will be carrying it that can. You sound as if you’re going to carry me with it,” Satan joked. Yamcha grinned.

“Then you owe us one of your best cooked meals as a porter fee,” 17 wittily quipped.

“Fair price indeed,” Gohan further teased. Trunks and Satan chuckled at this, adding another strand of vine to further reinforce what logs they had lashed together. Yamcha and 17 had found two long limbs sufficient to guide the raft gondola style from the back and front, breaking off excess side branches to smooth them out. Once Gohan checked the raft again and nodded that it was complete, he directed Satan and Yamcha to take one end while Trunks, he and 17 took the other end. Guiding poles were set on top and the conveyance was ported among the five colonists to the riverbank.

With Satan and Yamcha steadying the raft, Gohan directed 17 and Trunks to help him guide it onto the bank. He then instructed Trunks to carefully climb on it with a helping hand from 17 and kneel in the exact center. At this point the provisions of eggs and fruits they had gathered into bundles made from broad leaves were loaded onto the raft. Once this was done, Trunks held the ends of the long poles while 17 settled kneeling behind him. Gohan instructed Yamcha to sit on it next, calling for 17 to lift one pole and push its end down to the bottom of the river. Only Satan and he were left to hold the corner as Yamcha grabbed the other pole and balanced the weight in front. Satan climbed on next in the left rear quadrant, waiting for the others to shift so Trunks moved closer to 17 in the middle, and Yamcha took a station on the front right quadrant to balance.

“Cast off?” Satan asked, waiting for Gohan to shimmy onto the raft. Now balanced with their various weights the craft shifted, drops of water soaking and splashing up.

“Easy now. Yamcha, Satan, guide us slowly,” Gohan instructed. “Trunks, 17, push off with the shorter branches if we turn about in the current…”

“Right,” both said as the raft shifted to the right slightly. A quick push from a shorter branch from Gohan’s side righted them, and they gingerly poled their way across. They drifted diagonally down the river at least ten feet, the strain of holding the raft steady evident on Satan and Yamcha’s faces from the front and rear of the craft. Knees were partly soaked from water dribbling between the gaps in some of the branches but each of them focused on watching straight ahead.

The raft twisted yet again, but 17’s nudge against a large submerged log kept them righted as Trunks added his strength to Yamcha’s pole to keep it steady. Gohan added his might to Satan’s pushing from the rear, their hands almost meshed on the long pole. Little by little, they edged across the river, their ears filled with the roaring noise. Trunks spotted two brown fish with silver spots pass under their raft without even looking up, to emerge on the other side near Gohan’s knee.

When Yamcha’s end of the raft finally touched the shore, 17 and Trunks grabbed his pole so he could reach out with a shorter branch and stab into the muddy banks. Shifting their weight, Gohan and Satan shoved their pole thrusting the raft forwards onto the dark earth and rocks. Yamcha leapt off, motioning for 17 and Trunks to clamber off while Satan and Gohan shifted along the raft and swung it around from perpendicular to parallel with the bank. Hearts still pounded in everyone’s throats by the time Yamcha scrabbled far enough up to wrap one arm around the trunk of a small tree and reach down for 17’s extended hand. As their fingers touched Yamcha’s hand gripped the reporter’s tightly, their eyes meeting in relief. He pressed the toes of his boots into the earth and grabbed the tree himself, both extending their hands to Trunks to scramble up after them.

Satan and Gohan managed to get clear of the raft, leaving it behind once they used it as footing on the muddy shore. Yamcha anchored by 17 and Trunks holding his left arm reached for the pole end that Satan held out towards him. Together the three pulled Satan along it so he could grab another tree trunk with his arm. Last was Gohan who gripped the end of the pole Yamcha and Satan held. Trunks brushed the sweat darkened lavender locks from his face to look towards Gohan, leaning next to Satan by the tree he held to for support.

“Made it,” 17 chuckled in relief.

“All in one piece, which is more than I can say for the raft,” Yamcha quipped.

“She was a good piece of work and did her job well, for such a short lived craft,” Satan observed. Trunks made a noise of assent.

Gohan watched as it slid down the bank and drifted partway down the river. His blue uniform tunic rose and fell as he caught his breath and smiled at his friends, saying, “Well done everyone. The raft is yet another example of what we can achieve together with the works of our hands.”

“Amen to that,” Trunks piped in.

“Indeed,” said Satan.

“Best to secure it with a vine in case we need it later,” Gohan then instructed.

“Good thought,” murmured Yamcha, immediately seeing the convenience in lashing it to a nearby tree for another trip across in the future. Both he and Trunks then set out to gather lengths of vine so Satan could help Gohan secure the raft so it would not break free and drift downriver.

*****

Once all five would-be-colonists had cleared the river, they followed the trail of a few days before through the thickening tree cover. Holes through the canopy of leaves they recalled before let in shafts of sunlight almost spotlighting their path. At the front of the group walked Gohan, next to Trunks. Yamcha and Satan walked behind, flanked from the rear by 17. Every once in a while Gohan almost came to a stop examining the trees overhead or bending to pick up a small dislodged branch.

“Looking at the damage from the storm I bet,” murmured Yamcha to Satan.

“Looking for landmarks more like and memorizing them for himself,” Satan whispered back.

“You smell the different saps too, Gohan?” Trunks commented at the latest stop Gohan made by one of the twisted trunk trees with gnarled bark. “This species has a more acrid odor.”

“Indeed,” Gohan agreed, examining the broken bits of branches as he reached up to grab one barely dangling from its fresh split.

17 remained silent while the group paused; his own mind occupied with the reasons for Gohan has continued examination of the trees. He agreed it could be a combination of Satan and Yamcha’s theories with an added twist. “Most likely thinking like an engineer, taking in all our resources,” he whispered to Satan and Yamcha.

“As well as we all are at this moment,” Satan agreed. He did not question much what Gohan’s motives were from any suspicion, rather from curiosity borne of admiration for his Captain. 17 noticed the sense of awe gleaming Trunks eyes mirrored that in those of the aid de camp’s eyes. Yamcha’s dark brown gaze held a similar gleam, guarded as it was with mild skepticism. He was the sort who trusted it was for a greater cause, but was waiting for the evidence of his own eyes.

They each depended on one another, but each laid the extra burden of hope upon their leader Gohan. As they had noticed throughout the last few days, the sunlight even seemed brighter with the engineer among them like a torch held before a spelunking group in an uncharted cavern.

*****

Further, on they wended their way on the reverse course of the trail that had led them to the grotto. Periodically Gohan continued to examine the trees and fallen branches for the untold part of the story they had not witnessed being confined to the cave. Although Trunks, 17 and Yamcha suspected continually there was a greater motive they still whispered it among themselves if they bothered to voice it aloud.

“It will be good to get back and see…” Yamcha trailed off as the entrance to the cave came into sight. Words stopped in his throat seeing bits of branches and other debris scattered before the front. He immediately rushed forward from the group, his heart sinking.

“Yamcha, a moment please, we want to make sure it’s safe, together first,” said Gohan, moving up to gently take hold of his shoulder. Yamcha stopped short knowing he was right, his heart pounding in anticipation just like everyone’s was.

“We’ll know soon enough,” Satan said as he laid a hand on Yamcha’s arm along with Gohan. 17 uttered only a noise of affirmation, right on his heels with Satan, then Trunks and Gohan behind them. With Gohan next to him, Yamcha rounded the bend to the entrance.

A loud cry of disappointment echoed in the cavern at the moment they stood just outside the cave mouth. Four sets of eyes beheld the scene before four hearts sank. Heavy silence descended, only broken by Gohan suggesting, “Let’s see what we can salvage.”

“Not a hell of a lot by the looks of it,” Yamcha muttered gloomily.

Yamcha’s eyes wandered a few paces into the space, walls spattered and plastered with splotches of mud. Walking in after him Satan bent down and picked up scattered broken bits of firewood that had been strewn about like a box of matches that he sometimes dropped at the office. Fine cracks at intervals and the wall and ceiling were the result of various sized rocks tossed about in the tempest. 17 paced slowly around various rocks piled in the muddy damp floor. Trunks helped him pick up various string bags that were pressed into the mud in the floor or draped over a flat boulder.

“Damn,” muttered 17, brushing a lock of straight black hair out of his face tucking it behind one ear.

“We can still use them,” Trunks said, running his fingers along the fibers. The bags were still intact.

“Firewood here, here and here,” murmured Satan, staring at pieces of it that he piled in front of the cavern to dry in the sunlight where Gohan directed.

Presenting the engineer with the meager stock of possessions, they gathered just inside the mouth of the cave. Gohan looked at each disappointment-shadowed face with a sympathetic nod. “Here are our priorities. First is a secure place for shelter. Also suitable wood for a fire must be collected as this is damp and won’t be dry.”

Yamcha swallowed back his urge to ask just how they were going to start a fire. Although it was on the tip of his tongue Satan’s reassuring gaze at Gohan held his tongue, along with the hand gently squeezing Yamcha’s shoulder in reassurance. He glanced up from the damp piles and focused fully on the engineer ticking off on his fingers.

“We require more nourishing food as well as tools to help obtain it,” he finished. Each of the colonists nodded, glad to have an outlet for their frustration at the elements hand that had scattered their previous work. 17 felt as if they were back to square one, and was sure the other three had similar thoughts on the matter. Oddly Gohan seemed very confident as if unaffected by their setbacks.

*****

Gohan then said, “Satan, you will gather firewood and continue to supervise what useable wood has dried. When you have done that, you will assist me with shoring up the walls and making this place more habitable. I will assess what resources we have to make food. ”

The aid de camp nodded, blue eyes shining with purpose. Next to him, Gohan then looked to the other three. Looking toward Trunks, 17 and Yamcha he said, “Your team will take the string bags and gather what foodstuffs you can find and bring back from the immediate area.”

“Should we bother to find anything that can be cooked on a fire we’ll bring it back?” Yamcha said halfheartedly.

“Always good to hope for the best,” Satan said.

“Then we’ll bring you a fair assortment to challenge your culinary preparation skills,” 17 chimed in, causing Yamcha and the others to smile a bit. Satan’s beaming smile was contagious and lifted the mood considerably along with Gohan’s assigned tasks. Carving definite pieces out of uncertainty helped deal with the morass of frustration stewing inside each of them.

Satan wiped sweat from his forehead with one hand, the other resting on a branch that served as a handle. Two feet lower down the branch multiple small twigs were lashed to the end of it, gathered into a bundle. After he had caught his breath, Satan dragged the item over the cave floor to serve as a crude broom.

Yamcha and 17 meanwhile selected a few pieces of wood of the right size and shape to serve as clubs. These they thrust into their belts or tied there with a length of vine to secure them. The occasional thump of a rock dropping to the ground caught Yamcha’s ear. He glanced up from carrying a string bag he had fetched from inside to see Gohan picking up pieces of rocks. Thoughtfully the engineer turned one over in between thumb and finger, then held it up to see better in the light of the sun. Then he genuflected down casting a shadow across the small piles of similar grouped stones to his immediate left.

Trunks had stopped to kneel next to Gohan, peering for a moment at the rock that Gohan was perusing. His own eyes looked over Gohan’s shoulder as if trying to see what the engineer was possibly noticing. A dry scraping of twigs across the cave floor filled the silence between the thumps of rock made by Gohan’s sorting.

Yamcha wondered why he was looking at rocks so diligently. He shrugged, straightening up to a standing position. Various joints cracked a bit from thrusting his hips forward to work the kinks out of his back. 17 moved into view on his right, holding a string bag of his own.

“You all right?” he asked softly.

“Oh, sorry… was just wondering something,” Yamcha commented, as he watched Satan walking back to the outside of the cave where the last pile of branches left there to dry were sitting. Crouching in a squat, Satan gathered them into a bundle over his other arm.

“Wondering what?” 17 asked Yamcha.

Returning to the cave mouth Satan noticed them staring at Gohan’s examination of the various rocks. “Am I missing something?” he teased.

“Well, nothing much. Just wondering why Gohan’s looking at rocks,” Yamcha said, watching Satan merely smile in response. He returned to the cave mouth and added to the woodpile. Puzzled at Satan’s response to this Yamcha nudged 17.

The reporter shrugged, whispering, “If Satan seems pleased then I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough.”

For a brief minute, the duo turned again at another few thumps. Now Gohan turned over a grey stone riddled with tiny holes he then tossed to the left. He murmured, “Pumice.”

“Porous volcanic stone that floats on water,” Trunks murmured. Reaching over Gohan took hold of another rock.

“Agate,” Gohan said to Trunks who still knelt next to him.

“And that’s feldspar isn’t it?” Trunks said, indicating another small pile.

“Geology lesson perhaps,” 17 said with a smile.

Accepting this explanation for now, Yamcha then said, “You ready Trunks?”

“Yes Yamcha,” he said, grabbing the string bag he had set down. Yamcha moved over and reached down to help haul his charge to his feet and dust off his shirt. 17 picked up his string bag as well, and then nodded towards the other two. Waving to Gohan and Satan the trio set off on their gathering expedition, hoping to find a reasonable larder instead of depleting the immediate area.

*****

At the bottom of a tree, Yamcha and 17 made a stirrup of their hands. Trunks stepped into it, balancing on Yamcha’s shoulder then levering himself up with 17’s help. Once Yamcha straightened up Trunks caught hold of the lowest overhanging branch. His feet swung only for a second until he pulled up and hooked one knee over the branch.

“You okay?” Yamcha asked.

“Fine…” Trunks called down, a few sticks and leaves showering down on 17 and Yamcha. They could peer up and see his shape shifting against the meshwork of branches that blocked their view of him.

17 bent down and picked up a few scattered feathers that fluttered down, noting their reddish brown hue. Yamcha bent his head back keeping one hand partly shading his eyes to monitor Trunks progress. He squinted at the pinpoints of light sifting through the branches trying to discern Trunks shape reaching over to a crook in the branches.

17 held onto a string bag containing a few eggs wrapped in leaves to keep them from breaking. He precariously held them out from him while glancing around for other trees with the birds. Trunks soon called down then swung by one hand. His feet dropped into place. 17 and Yamcha reached up so he could step on their shoulders and steady himself. One hand bore another nest handed to 17, the other still clinging to the branch. It was up to 17 to set the nest to the side and help Yamcha bring Trunks the rest of the way down to the ground again.

Inside the nest, they all peered at four greenish spheres clustered. 17 remarked, “Just like the other tree before us… quiet a unique shade.”

“Calcina Ferrous,” said Trunks. “The reddish brown feathers you have there are iron rich, and the shells have a green color from the iron content in them.”

17 opened the string bag of eggs they already gathered. Yamcha wrapped leaves around them and added the feathers scattered as packing material to collect the eggs. A light blue metallic shell graced some of the other eggs, harvested from birds of the variety Calcina cuprous. Cousin species to one another, they were of similar size and diameter.

*****

Further, along the trail Trunks spotted a two-legged bird skittering into the brush. 17 caught a hold of Yamcha and 17’s arms, whispering, “Look there…”

“Ah, let’s follow…” Trunks whispered. “That’s a terrestrial…”

“You mean as in flightless,” Yamcha muttered.

“Well they fly in short sporadic bursts…” Trunks explained.

Yamcha asked, “If that’s the case, where do they normally roost, or gather?”

“By the edge of a marshy area, like storks or geese,” murmured Trunks. Creeping carefully the three scavengers made their way as silently as they could after their unexpected sighting. Sure enough, they arrived in a marshy area flanked by shrubs and mandrake like trees. Creeping vines sidled up some of the trunks while others hung down like some strange garland.

“Huh,” Yamcha said as he looked towards a length of vine. “Gives me an idea. 17 help me get some more vines… Trunks you let us know if you see the birds or not.”

“Right,” Trunks said.

17 reached up carefully to do just that, while Yamcha did the same, figuring Yamcha wanted to string the birds up if they happened to be lucky enough to catch one. However, he did point out, “We don’t have proper weapons to shoot yet, so we’ll just have to be patient enough to club them on the head, and approach them stealthily.”

“Yeah I know, but I was thinking we could make a net to catch them first, and then club them on the head,” Yamcha said.

17’s eyes widened a bit as he nodded. He murmured, “That’s a bit unusual but sounds worth a try.”

Reaching into his pocket Yamcha brought out a small sharp bit of metal, battered along one edge to make a cutting surface. Small raised letters indicated it had served as one of two dog tags Satan had used. Out of his own pocket, 17 retrieved a second one, fashioned from a dog tag bearing Gohan’s name, rank, and serial number. Requiring a set of knives for basic tasks, the engineer had requested Satan to remove the twin metal tags from around his neck. Removing his own as well the engineer had used one of the rocks he collected to batter the edge into a sharpened bit. One of them he left with Satan while he had given two for the hunting party.

Both men harvested enough vines to twist together, commencing their project by the time Trunks tiptoed back. “I’ve found their nests on the ground. You’re making a net?”

“It’s going to take a bit more time than I thought,” Yamcha murmured.

17 however cast him a reassuring glance, saying, “Not to worry.”

Trunks murmured, settling down to help them, “I’ll keep an eye out for them returning.”

Creepers and vines were twisted at right angles to one another. Working steadily between them 17 and Yamcha soon had a large enough and loose enough net to toss over a six-foot square area. All the while Trunks watched for the return of their quarry, hoping they would be fortunate enough to catch them off guard. Sure enough once they were done, he held a finger to his lips and motioned for them to follow him.

Several of the bluish iridescent birds clustered about, their scaly feet spindly like stilts as they milled about. The bright eyes were red, beaks showing tiny sharp teeth while the blunt wings allowed them to flutter just about from one place to another. Net in their hands 17 and Yamcha moved in unison while Trunks watched the position of the birds. Hearts pounded in their throats one second until Yamcha jerked his head at 17. With a hissing swish, the net sailed over some of the birds, others managing to duck out of the way. Feathers batted at the air along with the squeaking yelp. Necks and legs tangled in the wide mesh. In a flurry of yelps, Yamcha and 17 along with Trunks applied their makeshift clubs to knock them senseless.

“Woo hoo! We’re eating tonight!” Yamcha proclaimed, untangling several of the caught specimens.

“Very clever! I’ll have to add this to my list of catching methods for birds,” said 17, assisting Yamcha.

“Definitely resembling the archaeopteryx of prehistoric Earth,” Trunks observed, examining the claw like hands on the corners of the wing. Two fingers protruded while the other two fingers had extended through evolution into the pinions of the blunt wings. Scaly feathers along the neck ended in rough skin. Immediately around the eyes, there were no feathers, and those on the top of the head extended a half inch into a sort of crest.

“What we need are some herbs to prepare these birds with,” Trunks then mentioned, his face reflecting the exuberating of the pilot and the reporter. While Yamcha and 17 twined vines around the feet of their quarry, Trunks bent down and commenced scanning the immediate area for his goal.

“Let’s just hope there’s a fire to roast them when we get back,” murmured 17.

“Seems that if there’s a way then Gohan will have found it. Whether or not he does it by the time we get back is something that I’m wondering,” Yamcha murmured.

“At any rate we’ll know,” 17 remarked, slinging one of the strings of birds over his shoulder. Yamcha grabbed the other, amounting to about six between them.

*****

Carrying their acquisitions, the trio wended their way back towards their shelter. Legs were weary with their trek yet their string bags were full of their harvest. Somehow, the aching muscles would be worth it if their faith bore out in the accomplishments of the other team. 17 and Trunks both held great admiration for Yamcha’s clever decision to use a net to capture the birds they now carried over the reporter and the pilot’s left shoulders.

As for the string bags of eggs, Trunks carried those. In the right hands, the party carried other string bags containing fruits and more of the silex nuts. Improvised clubs were tucked into their belts as they had been on the outward journey, yet were now tested in the field. They spoke little, preferring to save as much energy as they could for hiking and silent reflection of their accomplishments and fortune.
Nervous anticipation mounted the closer the group approached. Narrowing his eyes as he scanned the skies through the trees, Yamcha wondered if he was imagining a grey curl of cloud whishing up from the distance. They had seen mists rising from the trees in the morning sun’s action to evaporate the dew, but this was different. Noticing Yamcha’s puzzled stance and slowing pace, 17 and Trunks appropriately reduced their step rate.

“Not mist, but something else…” Yamcha trailed off.

“Not evapotranspiration?” Trunks asked with a frown, focusing his own eyes as well.

“From the direction of the shelter,” 17 murmured. Yamcha grunted, increasing his pace once more. A renewed burst of energy rose in all three companions, intent on solving this new mystery.

With each passing minute, the wisp took on a grey appearance, curling steadily upwards proving it was not a cloud or a transient phenomenon. Hearts pounding more rapidly they approached ever closer, hearts daring to lift at what they all hoped it would really be. Something that filled one of the basic needs on the rung of human existence, making other advances possible. Had the other party actually achieved that goal, or would it be another false hope?

Yamcha figured they had batted a good average so far, however remained skeptical until he saw firsthand the source of the smoke plume. It could be natural, near the cave or beyond it. So far, none of the five had seen any source of civilization or life at the sentience level of themselves or those capable of producing the art of fire. 17 craned his neck examining the path of the smoke spewing upwards into the sky glowing almost pink in the rays of the late afternoon sun. Trunks own faith had been constant, not questioning the possibility, but just the mere timing of such a probable miracle.

Three pounding hearts pumped blood to three sets of legs trying not to stumble over each other in their haste to return to their temporary home. The diameter of the smoke plume had increased, emanating from the vicinity of their cave, confirming the reality ever more succinctly. As elusive as smoke hope was sometimes, though the presence of a bright spark coming into view soon after their eyes beheld the mouth of their cave and two figures squatting beside it.

One was Satan, emerging from the shelter to crouch opposite the other. Gohan crouched over the licking yellow dancers of light creeping up from wood set pieces of wood upon them. Breathes were held for only a long instant when their eyes registered fully what they were seeing. Both the engineer and the aide de camp were stoking a fire, the source of the plume of smoke that had been a beacon home.

“It was a question of when!” Yamcha exclaimed, wanting to burst into a run, but somehow his legs did not want to violate the sanctity of such a defining moment in their existence as colonists.

“Prometheus gift to humankind now lies before us,” 17 murmured.

“Given by Gohan, as we hoped, they’ve achieved what they had set out to do… and in a time that couldn’t be more appropriate,” Trunks agreed.

“I’ll be damned,” Yamcha laughed aloud, whooping. 17 saw his beaming smile melting out of astonishment, and could not stop the corners of his lips from curling up as well. Trunks stood on Yamcha’s other side taking a long moment to take in the beauty of the sight. He wanted to take a picture of this and frame it forever in his mind. Glancing at 17, he realized that was just what the reporter was doing with his almost perfect memory. Waiting and taking in all the sights of the immediate time to write later in the journal he was keeping. Once the silent reverence and awe wore off all three broke into a near run to cover the last distance between them and their miracle worker.

Gohan spotted them first, rising from his crouch with his own smile. Satan’s blue eyes fell upon them first, and then the bounty the trio carried, his own face filled with wonder that almost equaled that of the hunting party. In separate ways, the two teams had achieved their goals, which were essential for human existence.

*****

Satan quickly divided the labor among the colonists. 17 and Yamcha assisted with plucking the feathers from the birds on the string. In a small pile, the feathers were collected and saved for a future project while Trunks and Satan sliced the fruit. Among them, the four makeshift knives were again put to good use.

“We’ve brought some herbs to season the birds,” Trunks had said.

“I could also season them with some salt that Gohan’s found,” Satan announced. A quick look among the colonists was born of excitement at another accessory to the aid-de camp’s spice cabinet.

While preparations were made to roast, the bounty of the hunting and gathering Gohan removed two rocks that Yamcha recognized from the ones he had gathered earlier in the day. The entrails of the birds were also collected in the shell of a silex nut to be used later in a stew. Every bit of their quarry would be utilized to its fullest extent.

“Gentlemen if I may have your attention briefly, I’ve something to show you,” The engineer announced. Three heads popped up and swiveled towards his voice. As if in a classroom Gohan selected two of the rocks and showed them to the other four colonists as they glanced up from their tasks once he called them to attention. Bending over on one knee Gohan then placed the handful of vegetative material and positioned it into a small pile. Yamcha looked at 17 in question yet again, but merely shrugged rather than question it.

Trunks blue eyes narrowed in curiosity watching him strike one rock against another repeatedly. Small yellow sparks flew between the two surfaces, landing on the vegetation. After he had done this a few times a tiny glow transferred to the gathered small mass of what appeared to be moss. Yamcha stifled the question in his throat seeing Gohan cup both hands together and blow ever so carefully as if coaxing life into the inanimate objects.

“That moss, where did you find it?” Yamcha asked.

“It appears to be the species Hispanica inflammibus,” said Trunks nodding slowly in understanding. “Capable of igniting at the proper temperature after being dried in the sun for two hours.”

“Those two stones… one of them would be possibly silex?” asked 17.

“Correct,” Gohan said as he passed one of them around for them all to see.

“The other being a ferrous mineral I take it?” Trunks asked, to which Gohan merely nodded.

“So… by striking one against the other, you get sparks which is obvious. But it has to be those two materials to create the right conditions for the sparks,” Yamcha asked. Again a nod.

“You couldn’t use any other replacements for those minerals, except maybe flint in place of the non ferrous rock,” said 17.

“The ancient caveman’s fire kit,” Yamcha quipped.

“Indeed,” Gohan finally said with the gleam in his eyes of a teacher pleased their students had caught onto their example.

*****

Five spirits again soared smelling the aroma of roasting meat curling through the cavern. A small hissing sizzle of the juices dripping off the meat joined the crackling pops of the fire dancing merrily in its ring of rocks. Each of them sat on broad flat rocks or a cleared clean area of the cave floor spread with conifer needles to observe and assess what had transpired.

Closest to the fire tending it carefully was Satan, occasionally turning the spit to check the progress of their roasts. It was decided that due to the abundance of meat it would do best to roast it all, which would keep for a small period until the leftovers could be consumed for breakfast. 17 sat on the other side near the fire, holding a long stick he had sharpened the point of. Slowly he hardened its point in the fire fashioning the most basic of spears. He could not do this till now without a fire. A few other sharpened spears had already been made in the same way.

Munching on a piece of tiger fruit, which was what they christened the striped fruit, Satan commented, “I could eat the smell of those birds alone and be a happy man, couldn’t you, my friends?”

“If you bottled it and wafted it under our noses while we ate paste, I’d die a happy man all right and not care,” joked 17.

“I am certain we will remember this night for a great deal of time to come,” Trunks also added.

“I’ll be an extremely happier man when I actually tear off a few chunks of those birds myself,” Yamcha chuckled.

“Which will happen in due course,” Satan said. “I know it’s hard to wait.”

“I’ve waited days, a few hours is little more,” 17 commented.

“Still,” Yamcha murmured looking at the cleanly plucked carcasses slowly rotating as well as 17’s spears. “Just spearing and netting things isn’t the best way to go about this. We were lucky today with what we caught.”

“Luck was only a small component of it. You knew how to catch an opportunity,” said Trunks appreciatively.

“Though he is right,” said 17. “Conditions happened to be just right. We can’t be so lucky that all quarries will be so obliging.”

“Very true, which is why we’ll talk more about how to address that problem,” Gohan said.

“It’s ready,” Satan announced.
Waiting with bated breath the colonists gathered around their cooked abundance. Satan helped to serve out portions for each of them, using broad leaves as rough plates. Each of them lifted a leg or piece of cooked flesh to their lips. Yamcha’s teeth sunk into soft meat that melted off the bone. A blissed-out look came over his face as his taste buds exploded.

17 watched and a second later took a bite of his portion. The full aroma mingled with the satiation of solid food was ambrosia. Next to him Satan already sampled his meat and proclaimed, “This is a feast fit for a king…”

“The food of the gods,” Trunks murmured, biting into a drumstick. Drops of juice dripped down his chin that he licked away eagerly. Gohan himself took slow measured but ecstatic bites of each morsel. To know it was caught by their own hands and prepared with labor and sweat.

“Much better than that dried up space ration I’ll say,” Yamcha murmured blissfully between bites.

“I’d prefer to forget that,” Satan chuckled, reaching for another piece of meat.

“Almost better than sex,” 17 absently said, his eyes meeting Yamcha’s and the two were silent.

“Satan you’ve outdone yourself,” Gohan commented, his eyes half shut as he swallowed each bit of deliciously grilled food.

“I’m glad I climbed those trees,” whispered Trunks, reaching for a slice of the tiger fruit. Sweetness washed away the roasted game, complementing their first feast.

“It’s our own thanksgiving, I’d say,” Satan decided.

“Note the date 17, we’ll celebrate this day hereafter as our own feast day,” Gohan suggested.

“Amen to that,” Yamcha cheered, slapping them all on the back. Smiles abounded among the five as they continued to stuff their bellies with their hard gotten gain. A few hours later they lounged about; experiencing a sensation they hadn’t for months. Fullness almost to bursting of good solid food.

Trunks leaned against his guardian’s shoulder, letting the blood rush to his stomach to digest its contents while Yamcha sat with his back braced against a sturdy rock. 17 sat Indian style, finishing a portion of tiger fruit. Satan rested comfortably while Gohan sighed in pleasure. All savored the moment for they knew it would be motivation for gathering more provisions.

Once they had finished their feast, Yamcha commented to Gohan, “You mentioned something before dinner about taking care of our food needs problem.”

“Which is exactly why we will become more efficient hunter gatherers after we master the art of making stone tools,” Gohan announced.

“Like cavemen?” Yamcha asked, cocking a brow.

“Quite,” Gohan said. Satan merely smiled, nodding having been privy to perhaps some of this or having extreme confidence taking Gohan’s word prima facia for so many years.

“And the materials for the tool making,” Trunks nodded, anticipating what the next subject would be.

“Are at hand. I have made a survey of the minerals available to us. Those that are good for later usage I have noted and those for immediate usage are the obsidian, flint, and chert I have encountered. This is characteristic for its ability to conically fracture when the right percussive force is applied.”

Familiar with the history of hunting weapons, 17 nodded knowingly. He murmured, “As used first in the Clovis points discovered on the north American continent employed by paleo Indians.”

“Correct. The advantages of obsidian and chert are not only their workability but also their cutting properties. Even the flakes we discard can be used as a cutting edge.”

“Most scalpels we use now are ceramic in the emergency kits,” 17 nodded.

“So, knowing all this, how long exactly did it take to make one of these projectile points?” Yamcha asked. “To fracture a material as brittle as obsidian–like glass–you’d presumably use a mallet of some kind. We’ve got wood for that, or another stone?”

“Quite. Let us become flint-knappers, gentlemen,” Gohan said as he motioned to Satan. He brought over a few woven mats and broad flat leaves, as well as a rounded stone, a shaped bit of hard wood, and other pieces of varying sizes.

Gohan then sat down and placed the broad flat leaf over one knee. He grasped a fist-sized piece of striated red and brown chert, standing it up on end. Then grasping the rounded rock, he hit the edge of the top. A loud cracking sound followed by a hollow clink resulted with a curved bit that had fractured from the core.

“The first of many such blows,” Gohan said. “Now we will learn step by step.”

*****

17, Trunks and Yamcha sat on flat boulders, each bent slightly with various pieces of rock positioned on their knees. The scent of stone dust hung in the air palpably mingling with the sweat so it formed a fine grit that clung to their clothes. It was damp in the cave despite the fire they had going, from the efforts of their new construct.

Their first works had been crude and unsteady. Due to Gohan’s prospecting, they had a good supply of raw materials in the form of pieces of flint, chert and obsidian as well as silex. Each started out with a rough shape balanced on the knee. Holding it at the top end a quick blow with a wood hammer to the lateral side caused the first pieces to fracture. Once large pieces were scaled down, then each flint-knapper picked the most likely candidate to apply smaller blows to. Resting the rock flat on the crafter’s hip next, a blow from a rock was applied perpendicularly. Then a long edge flaked off and clinked to the floor. Along this, the knapper could make smaller more blows that are precise from the hammer stone making a notched series of conical fractures. A serrated edge would result.

A definitive crack reached 17’s ears. His slender hands creased with a few solitary cuts from the sharp core of rock he positioned standing up. It had started as a flat piece of obsidian. He swung the solid branch at the thin edge he had flaked off. Small cracks formed into a conical fracture producing a chip that dropped to the cave floor seconds later. It joined small pieces that already scattered about 17’s feet.

The back of Yamcha’s neck was one tight knot formed over the last few hours he hunched over the piece of obsidian he created. A bleached solid bone with a hammer end and a prong end served as his tool. Along the thin edge swirled with black in transparent glass, he pressed small notches. Tiny pieces of dust coated the leg of his pant, covered in a broad flat leaf. A small drop of blood dripped along the axis of the flake.

“Shit, didn’t even feel that cut,” Yamcha mumbled. 17 glimpsed the blood and shook his head. Yamcha set down his tool after 17 did, extending his hand for 17 to examine the clean slice.

“Technology and modern materials couldn’t craft a sharper blade with such a clean cut,” Trunks murmured.

“Nor let you not realize you’ve hurt yourself making them,” joked Yamcha as 17 bandaged his cut with a flexible leaf secured with a thin twisted fiber. The reporter also had a few similarly bandaged cuts on his own hands. Trunks only had one such makeshift dressing.

Trunks tapped his leaf shaped rock, opaque mostly with little translucence. Reds, blues and greens swirled together in its mineral structure resembling flint or the red cherts. Under his fingers, the stone felt refreshingly cool and smooth. He could run a finger over the conical fractures knowing he made each one deliberately. It struck him how something so naturally beautiful could perform such a vital function once completed. Nevertheless, in crafting it himself he imbued his own thoughts and design into it. If he reexamined the marked he had made he could almost remember what he was thinking at the time.

*****

17 missed his long black coat for what seemed the hundredth time since they landed. It would have made such a useful multipurpose garment. He could not keep from mourning its loss like an old friend even though he knew it was not good to obsess over it. Things you discard in a second’s thought to survive had a habit of haunting you later in their absence.

At first, he figured it was a way to hide his true body size. Among the other colonists, there was no longer the need for such barriers. They had forged friendships that were true and strong, a foundation upon which they could build their colony. Now another reason dawned to 17 just why he missed the long coat. As they walked towards the part of the river with a more gentle current, he pondered just why his heart pounded more quickly.

They had not bathed since arriving. Now caked with stone tool dust and faces streaked with mud, Gohan announced the need for personal toilet. Satan remarked that it would be nice to have soap but he would welcome the natural cleansing power of a cold stream. Yamcha had seconded that while Trunks quipped his hair was starting to look prematurely gray instead of its usual lavender.

“Let’s not grow up TOO fast shall we,” Yamcha joked.

“Plenty of time for gray hairs later,” Satan teased. “I’ve enough for Gohan and myself.”

“Let’s remove our clothes and wash them as we wash ourselves, then hang them to try on these tree branches in the sun,” said Gohan. Lifting his hands to his uniform tunic, he stepped over towards the bushes. Trunks moved over towards where Yamcha stood, while Satan began to disrobe near Gohan. 17 felt a bit awkward reaching tentatively for the buttons of his shirt, loosening them one by one. He shrugged off the jacket and hooked it over the end of a branch.

Already he saw the pale cloth of Yamcha’s suit shirt now that the pilot had removed his blazer and hung it to the side. Trunks pale olive back became visible to him as the boy pulled off his green turtleneck shirt. Yamcha took the garment and placed it with the others on the bush nearby.
He heard Gohan remark, “Without soap it’s still quite refreshing to excavate the dust from my face.”

17 turned slightly seeing Satan’s bare shoulders and slightly budging belly covered in coarse dark hair. He stood in more immediate view with his side partly facing 17. “And the others are making stone tools. I’m sure that will confuse any archeologists digging our remains up eh?”

“By that time maybe they’ll be digging up our fire pits, and our huts, as well as our spaceship’s remains,” Yamcha chimed in. Quickly 17 swiveled his head towards Yamcha’s direction, seeing a bare back streaked with a few scars. His pulse quickened at the sight of Yamcha’s muscles twitching under that firm skin.

“They’ll call it ‘technolithic society’ when they see we’ve got circuit panels with the stone chips,” said 17 as he tried to distract his hands from fumbling at pushing the halves of his shirt aside. He tugged it out of his pants waistband and bent to unbutton and shed them.

“Nice one,” said Gohan.

“Technolithic, not Paleolithic?” questioned Yamcha.

“Techno as in technology alongside stone aged tools, denoted by the word lithic,” Trunks voice piped in.

“Oi, 17, come on. I know the water’s going to be cold. Or do you want a dunking?” joked Satan.

“Nearly there,” 17 said as he swallowed his cracking voice. It was not the others he was nervous about stripping in front of it was that pilot.

Yamcha. Whose dark hair rippled down his back almost to the middle of his shoulder blades now he had undone that ponytail? Droplets of water slid down the sculpted muscles to just above a nicely toned ass. 17 stepped into frigid water, glad for one fact that none of them would show any evidence of arousal because of the temperature. He felt as if his skin would be pasty and pale in comparison. Strange for him normally considered a handsome specimen of the human race, close to genetic perfection, to feel as if he fell short of a standard. One set by a rugged scarred pilot whose features were natural and rough, unperfected by a genetics lab.

In addition, he was plastic. Not LITERALLY plastic but sculpted to perfection like a doll. A male Galatea to a societal Pygmalion obsessed with ridding oneself of any defects.

Little did he suspect that Yamcha’s dark brown eyes were making a similar appraisal of his slender nude body. To the level of their waists the water lapped, obscuring what was below most of their bellybuttons in rippling currents. As 17 bent over Yamcha swallowed hard at a lump in his throat. For a split second, he saw the curve of the reporter’s ass surface from the river. It vanished as he straightened up and shook his long straight hair out of his face. It plastered to the front.

He’s perfect. Damn perfect. Not a scar anywhere. Just look at me though. Compared to him I’m littered with them, Yamcha thought quietly. That soft skin seemed worshipped by the water drops trickling down it. Slender arms knotted with a bit of muscle extending from graceful long fingers that examined everyone’s wounds precisely. Two blue eyes that observed every detail around them, and which seemed to flicker in his direction. Yamcha steeled himself for a critical look, but saw instead saw admiration.

He likes what he sees. Yamcha thought in surprise and delight. He gave a slight smile to the reporter, turning around so his chest was visible. Being the taller of the colonists his groin was submerged just below the water level enough that a black trail of hair started midway below his belly button. His chest and arms had a slight covering of hair, in comparison to the thick dense hairs coating Satan’s body. Gohan’s body hair was moderate, but 17 barely had any. Much like Trunks.

“Nice…” muttered 17 to himself.

Yamcha turned his head, shifting just enough to let 17 get a tantalizing glimpse of an inch lower down. Just as he bent down to soak his hair. “Yeah it is nice to get clean. Even if it’s fucking freezing…”

“You said it, Yamcha,” laughed Satan in that rolling tone that started from his belly, which was quivering a bit. “F… ff freezing! But it’s good for the nerves.”

Gohan’s chest was graced with a fine sheen of soft dark hair. So was Yamcha’s, along the lines of his chest and down the middle. Along the arms and top of the legs as well. Dark hair atop muscular flesh. Satan seemed perfectly comfortable with himself naked, not averting his gaze. Trunks however seemed to be looking anywhere but at Gohan. One other fortunate side effect of bathing in frigid water was the suppression of any blushing. When damp Trunks hair was a deeper shade of lavender, his arms and young body devoid of anything but the same light dusting as 17’s.

“I shouldn’t look,” Trunks thought as he kept his head down. Yamcha was no issue because he was Trunks parent. Being naked in front of your parents or friends was no issue. Yet he sensed 17’s awkwardness. Reaching over he splashed 17.

“It’s cold!” 17 yelped, squinting as droplets collided with his face feeling like tiny pricks of ice. His whole body twitched and he could feel the weight of Yamcha’s gaze watching.

“But it’s good for the nerves right Satan?” Trunks joked.

“That I did,” Satan chuckled.

“Then have some on me… or rather on you!” 17 joked, pushing the surface of the water with his hands as he shoved it towards the Aide de camp. Satan laughed as he stepped back, almost falling over in the water. Tension broke for a few minutes at the innocent exchange of splashes after Gohan grabbed Satan’s arm to steady him and they both crashed into the water together. More droplets flew up, pelting Yamcha, Trunks and 17.

“Better then a shower,” Yamcha whooped, slapping his hands down to propel water into their faces once Gohan and Satan’s heads and shoulders surfaced.

*****

On the morning after their first day as flint-knappers, Yamcha and 17 continued with their craft of making more stone tools while Satan continued with making breakfast. Once served in the mouth of the cave, the meal consisted of the remains of the flightless birds, some fruits and more of the eggs. 17 and Yamcha then set off with the first of their stone spears to put them to the test and gather more prey.

Satan, Trunks, and Gohan remained behind at the cave to achieve other goals. While Satan continued with stoking the fire and reinforcing the cave, Gohan took Trunks a small distance outside the cave mouth. Stretching up for hundreds of meters was the stonewall of the formation the cave was hollowed out from. At one point it was easier to tell the stratigraphy of the rocky layers, and Gohan showed Trunks exactly where he’d found this from his rock hunting the day before.

“We need to determine what season we are in, and the length of them,” Gohan had said earlier as they stood there.

“And we need ways to put the pieces together from more than just one method,” Trunks had agreed. So now in each other’s company they searched for the various methods that came to mind, and brainstormed. After the meeting of minds, they separated not very much more than a few paces to begin compiling their evidence.

Trunks had gathered various accessible pieces of branch and noted the position of a rotted tree broken up into fragments by the storm they had endured. He called this to Gohan’s attention, and the engineer had nodded in eagerness.

“The strata are more distinct here,” Gohan observed, shielding his brown eyes with his left hand peering up. What small sparse vines could get a foothold in bare rock curled up and clung precariously to the face of the cliff. The break in the canopy afforded the bright morning light plenty of space to beam down and make trunks blink and squint in its rays.

Using a piece of string of a certain length, the length of his arm that he knew to be a precise length Gohan was measuring the height of each of the layers. Once he and Trunks had done so for about as high as they could reach realistically they strode over to the rotted tree to examine it more closely. Peeling away bark and repositioning bits of broken wood, they found a way to see deep into it to get a gist of the cross section of its rings. Together they counted the number of dark and light rings while trying to note the thickness of each and thinness of others. A pattern began to emerge that the engineer committed to his memory.

Together they communed in the collection of collaborative data, both complete comfortable in the other’s presence. The ease at which they communicated and fitted the pieces together encouraged Trunks to be as generous as he could with his thoughts and suggestions. To be taken seriously and feel that he was part of the team. Theirs was a bond of a student and teacher akin to researcher and mentor that developed in the confines of graduate school, not a large classroom with dozens of students to distract the teacher’s attention.

“If we are in spring, we can afford to have a week or two to answer some questions. But if it were summer, then our priorities would be different,” Gohan murmured.

“Leaving a precarious window of time that you need to know, for a margin of error for what we must plan,” Trunks confirmed. “Just like any ancient civilization that had to keep precise calendars for the purpose of planning, harvesting, and hunting.”

“Indeed,” said Gohan, still on one knee next to Trunks, their notes mentally taken because of the scarcity of paper. Except for the small notebook that Gohan had removed from his pocket and marked what evidence, they had on it in as compressed a form as possible to conserve the tablet.

Trunks then realized that ancient civilizations often put things to oral tradition. Repeated many times over many nights without the distractions of other information bombarding a person through computers, TV, holography and subspace broadcasts a human was free to allot memory for other things. Remembering information in the form of chants, rhymes or other methods. Written word was reserved for the purpose of astronomical observations while culture, history and other information relevant for other needs passed down to successive generations. The elders were the treasure house of knowledge and here Gohan was such a repository.

“The growing cycle of the tiger fruit, and the abundance of Calcina ferrous eggs indicate sometime in spring,” Trunks said. As confirmatory tests and observations, Trunks also recounted the growing season and life cycle of the plants they had observed and their stages of germination. While the year length on planets varied greatly, those with a roughly earthlike climate had some commonalities. What fauna and species resembled one another genetically would adapt to their world of origin, but the cycles were inherently similar to deduce the length of time between germination, flowering, palliation, and dormancy.

“The deposition of strata’s pattern seems pretty regular. From the position of such sediment storms seem to be prevalent once a season in the form of what we’ve seen,” Gohan also mused.

“And there is the pattern of alternating dark and light bands, some thinner during years with a variation in climate towards cold indicating less growth. While those that are wider show a more temperate clime,” Trunks added.

“And judging this planet has more of an earthlike biosphere and chemical conditions, as well as a similar geological morphology and process akin to plate tectonics from the volcano we’ve observed and the data I gathered before we landed,” Gohan continued, tapping his chin. More small scribbles resulted on his notebook from the pencil he had sharpened with a bit of obsidian flake.

“Not summer,” Trunks murmured with a slight question present in his voice.

“But spring. Giving us a week to play with,” Gohan said. Trunks initially opened his lips to ask why, but then hesitated seeing the engineer’s faraway look.

Trunks blue eyes often moved to linger a time on Gohan, admiring the carriage of his confident posture. Such an occurrence was hardly a new thing in the last few weeks they had worked closely together. Inside there was no doubt that he though youngest of the five was every bit as valuable to their cause. Slowly and gradually Gohan had come to rely upon him and impart his wisdom to the teenager’s experience. The bond between mentor and student was also two way for Trunks often saw how Gohan’s face lit up in delight when he asked a certain question that challenged what he’d been taught.

The two continued their enterprise collaborating and comparing notes. Once all the data was compiled Gohan interpreted the results in a final synthesis to pinpoint just what season they were now experiencing. Trunks noticed the smile across his mentor’s face and felt confident in his contribution to the enterprise. He could barely restrain his anticipation of the results when announced to the others.

*****

Over the next forty eight hours, more stone tools took shape and form of the basis for human Paleolithic civilization. Projectile points were lashed to firm shafts of hard wood with strung plant fiber, while smaller flakers were shaped into arrowheads. Trunks identified a species of tree similar to the yew on earth, noting its exceptional tensile strength and ability to snap back.

Small pieces of flake were not discarded but put into service as cutting implements ideal for Satan to skin whatever prey that would be brought home as well as peel the rinds of the foraged fruits. On the day that the first projectile points and arrowheads were finally attached to their pieces of wood and the bows were fashioned, 17, Trunks and Yamcha spent some time in target practice. Trunks proved to be quite adept at the wielding of his bow to the surprise and pride of the other colonists.

Gohan then presented the hunting party with a carved piece of wood he had fashioned, and showed them how to fit the hollowed out shaft of one of the projectiles. Then walking out of the cave he held the doubled back bit of wood with the spear fitted and charged forward, before jerking his hand back. Propelled by the conveyance, the spear shot up and arced through the trees to the amazement of the others.

Gohan then revealed the device’s name; the spear thrower, another means to launch missile weapons towards a larger target when arrows alone may not suffice. Excitedly the others had then found means of making another to add to their roster of equipment. Later that afternoon the atlatls and bows were employed officially as part of the hunting party’s equipment kit.

The haul of the day were more of the flightless birds, and smaller mammals that had the penchant to scurry away. Yet a well-placed arrow felled them with little difficultly. These mammals were strung up on fibers and thrown over the shoulder of Yamcha. Wading into the river, 17 waited patiently at the gleaming bellies of fishes milling along the currant. A jab of the spear with a practiced eye and hand added a piscatorial mode to their diet.

As bands of orange painted across the skies in the distance along with shades of pink and red, the party sat around their fire. Satan and Trunks turned spits of meat while watching the progress of fish roasting on coals. Broad leaves made good plates for the fishes laid before each of the hungry colonists who balanced them on their laps.

Midway through his fish dinner Gohan then leaned forwards, signaling his intent to speak. Immediately the other four glanced up as well, listening over the popping hiss of the fire to hear Gohan’s words. The engineer cleared his throat and said, “After due consideration, I have found that we should mount our expedition. With Trunks assistance I have determined that we are indeed in early spring giving us time to undertake a survey of our valley and its resources.”

The others nodded slowly, the mentions of this idea having been made gradually over the time of their settling into their cave. It was not news to them exactly, but the matter had not been discussed at great length because of the degree of their industry just trying to provide the necessities of living. Conversation had been limited to the means of stone tool fashioning or better hunting techniques as well as species identification.

“That means the next few days will be spent in preparation, gathering surplus food, and fashioning baskets and ropes,” Gohan continued.

“So we become coopers and weavers in addition to flintknappers,” Yamcha whispered knowingly to 17, who also nodded.

Gohan shifted his posture and continued, “Now that we can provide for daily needs, we must acquire a surplus of food that is non perishable. To carry the food we’ll need to fashion baskets, and to tackle the possible terrain we’ll need sufficient ropes for climbing.”

“We’ve already our weapons,” murmured 17, nodding but reflecting in a low voice.

“Only one step on our check off list but a significant one,” Gohan responded. Four murmurs of assent answered his reply.

“Over the next few days I’ll divide you into teams for the making of such items and the purveyance of more food,” Gohan continued. He turned his gaze towards each person as he announced their names and their duties.

“Trunks, you will scout for a surplus of fiber suitable for fashioning at least fifty meters of ropes in tomorrow’s hunting party. Satan, you and I will gather fibers for the making of baskets and commence fashioning them here. When the party returns, we will all learn the craft and take our turns.”

“The fibers of the Yuccan fibrosious bush make good nets,” Trunks murmured.

“If you catch a good deal more of the fishes they can be dried and salted,” Satan also murmured. Gohan and the others nodded at this. These lines were the start of the details of the preparations Gohan mentioned. Each soon learned their respective role for the following day.

*****

Yuccan fibers were harvested from the cacti like plants along with more of the vines similar to those that Yamcha fashioned his bird snaring net from. Using weights of dense stones tied to the bottoms of the lengths of fiber, they were hung from the higher branches of nearby trees. Then Yamcha and Satan twisted the fibers into plats of three ply. Once the triple plies were plaited, Yamcha twisted three cords of three ply by means of stretching with the weighted rocks.

Trunks and 17 meanwhile sliced long pieces of broad leaves into strips. Rushes gathered from the river’s marshy area were harvested and dried partly in the sun on broad flat rocks in front of the cave. Then the ends of a bundle were secured into a radial pattern. Ends of the broad leaf strips were interwoven with the rushes and pushed tightly together. From these the two fashioned conical shaped baskets.

Gohan spent parts of the next few days assisting in the rope and basket preparation, substituting for members of the party who moved to hunt more provisions or gather more fruits that were within reach of the cave. Satan’s fish salting project yielded preserved strips of meat that could be wrapped in broad leaves tied with lengths of reed. Any of the colonists could switch after Gohan’s approval so they could benefit from experience with any of the other projects.

17 noticed for a good time through the whole experience how his smooth fingered hands were now callused and crisscrossed with fine cuts from flint knapping. While Yamcha’s hands were already rough from the rigors of piloting and repairs, they shared the same sets of calluses blossoming on Trunks and Yamcha’s hands. Multiple cuts from stray pieces of reed or bruises from collisions with rocks were commonplace. Nevertheless, the speed at which they healed from the injuries bore witness to the health of their now varied diet.

Their immune systems seemed to have rebounded sufficiently that a clean slice from a bit of flint treated and cleaned carefully in the morning would have healed enough by the following day leaving only a fine red line where the skin had closed. All the unguents and creams of greater technology only assisted a natural healing process that worked well in far more robust settings.

Baskets took shape and were set aside in groupings once completed. Gohan noticed the ready production of the items and the increase in each pile with satisfaction. At the end of each day, the five colonists lay down for exhausted and dreamless sleep, content in their day’s hard labors. Gohan varied each person’s duties in order that each would learn the individual skills so all would be cross-trained in every skill for the benefit of their collective workforce.

*****

At the conclusion of a week, the colonists woke up early, as was their custom. Few words were exchanged but each of them was filled with the excitement of their new undertaking. Satan supervised the packaging of their provisions, assisted by Trunks. 17 and Yamcha secured the weapons and ropes in bundles for each of them to carry, making certain there were spare arrowheads and repair kits for the bows and spears in case of breakage. In addition, they divvied up portable flint knapping kits wrapped in broad leaves, secured with twine.

Yamcha and Satan exchanged many a smile, their wisecracks and jokes increasing in levity now their energy was not totally consumed in industry. Running a hand over a length of rope Yamcha commented, “Every time you use this you’re bound to remember me, Satan.”

“Likewise you remember me each time you munch on a grilled fish,” Satan joked back.

“How would anyone forget either of you is beyond me,” 17 quipped, lifting up a bundle of baskets as he grabbed his quiver of arrows.

“We’ve left our mark on this world in so many ways already,” Trunks reflected.

“And are about to see the true dimensions of it upon which we can continue to make our mark in a wider sense,” Gohan agreed, reaching to adjust the strap on Trunks bundle of possessions.

Gohan helped each of them secure their respective burdens, and took a last survey of the cave. They had secured it as best they could in anticipation of a return. Long poles were driven into the ground to act as a sort of barrier to keep out larger wildlife that may get in and disturb their dwelling. Mats of leaves were hung over the front to conceal the poles and make a sort of doorway.

Satan glanced around their abode one last time and grinned. “I’m going to miss this place, even though I know we’re coming back.”

“We won’t miss it TOO much when we find a better place to live,” Yamcha chuckled.

“Don’t speak too loud or you might hurt the cave’s feelings,” teased 17.

“Pooh, it’s been here without us and it’ll still be here when we come back,” Yamcha jibbed in return, patting 17’s shoulder. !7 returned the pat and both felt their faces flush with a slight pink they tried to hide from the others.

“Shall we be off now?” asked Gohan.

Satan laughed, “Lead on then, Gohan! Let’s see what else this world has to offer!”

Then with Gohan leading the way, they wended their path down the slope of the hillside. At the rear was Satan, with Yamcha beside him. At the middle walked Trunks next to 17.

In calm companionship, they trekked, shouldering their various possessions. Each of them carried a weight proportionate to his strength and ability, and none carried less then they volunteered to, knowing that their burdens would be increased with what they would retrieve.

Each of them had unanswered questions they could have posed to Gohan, but chose to allow the Engineer to continue showing them the way without much protest for they were all confident of his abilities. Still even though he was their guiding light, each knew the importance of their own roles was every bit as vital for they all had their skills necessary for the future of a thriving colony.