Dragon Ball © Akira Toriyama, Shuheisha, Inc.
Chapter 26: The Other Time Machine
When they were heading towards the spot where the time machine was, Gohan asked them about how bad things were with the androids in the future. Trunks told him that the West City had been all but demolished, the population of the whole world was ten thousand and they were able to make it that far because they were hiding in underground shelters.
Despite being young, Gohan was aware that he shouldn't push them to talk further about their lives. Though they were able to communicate like normal, both Trunks and Tenten were beyond hurt by the living they had in the future, visible through the empty eyes they had whenever they were on the topic.
Changing the topic, Trunks spoke about the possible way to return the peace. He was making a notion about the possibility of Dr. Gero knowing how to switch the androids off since he knew how dangerous they could be in the first place.
Checking her wristwatch, Tenten informed them that the time machine should be somewhere around their current position. It didn't take Gohan long until he spotted the old-looking and wrecked time machine. The sound of the plane's whizzing signalled that Bulma was close to the place as well so Gohan approached the plane to flag her down.
"Hello, Trunks! It's your beautiful mother!" beamed Bulma after the revelation of Trunks' identity. She looked sporty in her hoodie, baggy pants, and hat—all with the Capsule Corp.'s emblem. Judging from the oil stains on her pants, it seemed that she was running straight from her lab.
"Indeed, you are, Kaa-san," Trunks sheepishly said as he hugged his mother.
"Thank God you're growing up a decent man! You're not a junkie, are you? I won't forgive you if you do that kind of bad stuff!"
"No, of course not!" Trunks quickly replied with a blush. Glancing at Gohan and Tenten who chortled at them.
"And, Tenten...?" Bulma grinned while swaying her index finger from Trunks to her. "Are you two going out?"
"Kaa-san!"
Tenten rolled her eyes, knowing that it would be the first thing Bulma asked her when they met.
"What does 'going out' mean?" Gohan innocently asked.
"That means they're boyfriend and girlfriend! See, Gohan! My son and your sister! Isn't that great?!" Bulma was brimming with too much excitement at that moment.
"W-w-what?! T-then, will they have a baby like my parents?!" Gohan stammered.
"W-what are you talking about, Gohan-san?!" Trunks couldn't be any redder than boiled lobster at that moment.
"No, we won't, Onii-san! That's not how a relationship works!" It couldn't be any stranger for her to explain this to her older brother.
"At least not now, Gohan." Bulma smirked.
"I really want to talk about this with you later, Bulma-san but—" she pointed both of her index fingers at the time machine, "—not here and not now."
"Alright, if you say so." Bulma shrugged. "Just make sure you're not leaving me any single detail."
"Of course." Tenten sheepishly laughed, recalling that she owed the same thing to Bulma in the future. She then took the capsule of the time machine out and threw it beside the wrecked one for comparison.
"Take a look, Kaa-san. That's the time machine I had in capsule form," Trunks said while pointing at their time machine.
"So, does that mean this isn't yours?" Bulma asked while placing her hands on her waist.
"This is ours." Tenten cleared a spot in the time machine, revealing 'Hope!' handwriting. "This is Trunks' handwriting over here. But what bothers me the most is…"
Gohan already flew above the time machine to tell them that the glass that covered the time machine looked like it was melted from inside at high heat. Trunks checked the time setting on the dashboard and found two pieces of mysterious shells. Bulma said that it was definitely some sort of egg.
"So, whatever came from the egg made this hole, huh?" Tenten said.
"The batteries are nearly out of power. It came from… year 788! Three years further in the future from when we left! And it came here about… five years ago." He then looked at Tenten who was gazing back with the same intensity at him. "So this is the reason that history changed so much…" said Trunks.
They fell silent before Tenten started to speak, "We can't just leave this here. Let's turn it back into a capsule."
Trunks was searching for the button and pressed it to turn it back to the capsule while Tenten doing the same with their own machine, placing it back inside her palette.
Before going back, Trunks and Tenten updated Bulma with the information regarding their failure to stop the androids, then bringing Goku to Master Roshi's house, and what Vegeta might be doing at that moment. Tenten noticed that her brother was straying far from them so she followed him.
"Onii-san. What are you do—kyaaaaa!" Tenten shrieked and fell at the sight of a giant insect mould, getting caught by Trunks before she landed on the ground. "No, no, no! What is that thing doing here!? Is it still around?!" Tenten frantically looked around while scratching the side of her arms.
"It's…" Trunks put his face on his palm to stifle his laughter, "…only a cocoon skin, Tenten! You don't have to be so frantic!"
"I don't care! It's still part of insects! I'm not coming closer!" Tenten flew a hundred metres away from them.
"Wait… Is my sister afraid of insects?" Gohan asked as he watched her fly away.
"Entomophobia. A bad one," Trunks said.
"So, even Saiyans still have weaknesses, huh?" Bulma amusedly said.
"Well, you can guess why she has it," Trunks said with a chuckle.
They inspected what seemed to be an insect cocoon. The creature had a triangular head shape and the skin was green in colour. Though the inside was already nowhere, the eyes were still red in colour, somewhat screaming wicked ambitions. The inside of the cocoon was still moist when Trunks touched it, indicating that whatever came out from the shell hadn't come out for too long. They shuddered, suddenly feeling the creeps all over their body. Trunks had the same goosebumps when Tenten told him if they were actually facing a threat worse than the androids.
"I'll go home now. I need to make sure everything is okay before anything happens," Bulma said. "Trunks, do come and see your grandparents. They must be thrilled to see you!"
"Okay, Kaa-san. Have a safe journey home!" Trunks hugged his mother before she went into her plane.
"See you later, Gohan and… Uh, where's Tenten?" Bulma looked around for any signs of her.
Both Trunks and Gohan turned around at the same time and widened their eyes when they didn't see her.
"Tenten?" He frantically looked around. "Tenten!"
"Why can't I sense her Ki? She won't be going home without telling us, right?" Gohan said.
"W-we always lower our Ki whenever we check casualties so the androids won't detect us. If she's doing this, then maybe she senses something nearby…"
Suddenly, Bulma's phone was ringing. Krillin told her to quickly turn on the radio or TV around her so she turned on the radio inside her plane. The reporter was live broadcasting the oddities that happened around Anise Village. He mentioned hearing screams and gunshots, which were obvious. Members of the investigation team and the police seemed to be shooting something but suddenly, it was quiet again.
"Anise Village? Isn't that the town nearby?" Bulma said.
Realisation hit both Trunks and Gohan.
"Kaa-san, you better go home now. Gohan-san, can you go back first to defend the Kame House? I need to look for Tenten!"
"Right! Be careful, Trunks!"
Trunks dashed as fast as he could to Anise Town, genuinely hoping that Tenten hadn't met whatever was threatening the town.
AN: I don't have entomophobia but I definitely won't appreciate seeing a giant insect cocoon around and probably would react the same way as Tenten does. XD
Along with this chapter, I want to commemorate this fic's 6th anniversary! It's been so long and I can't believe that I'm still rewriting this story! Maybe it's because this fic was the one that stirred my desire to be an author. I just read the old version and found it very cringey, thus the rewriting happened. XD
Hope you're enjoying this story nonetheless!
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