Bulma, Trunks and Gohan found an abandonned Time Machine, whose dates indicated it left three years after Trunks, and arrived four years prior.
While Bulma remembered her time with the teenager a couple of years prior, she only now understood why she felt he was so similar to Vegeta, beyond some physical similarities. Relentless, fearless. Bold. Lonely. She remembered the adjectives her martial artists friends (and occasional acquaintances, were Tenshinhan and Piccolo 'friends'?) used when they talked about his power, his fighting ability. Stands up like it's nothing, does not flinch, probably fights a lot.
But unlike Vegeta, their son, Trunks, didn't fight out of rage or pride. There was no pride. They may not have the same vibe, as this teenager acted more pleasant to be around, but both he and Vegeta were reserved and secretive (they just had very different strategies for dealing with curious people). When she first berated his smoking habit, she also saw cold and intense eyes, and in retrospect, she realized they were the same as Vegeta's.
How he never retaliated against Vegeta's genuine attempts at killing him was self-preservation, but also a testament of the teen's resilience. His control and ability to stay still for hours, facing the vicious Vegeta's mental and physical attacks, only opened Bulma's imagination to how much the kid had suffered through to be able to remain calm.
She regretted scolding his smoking habit, suddenly. His meek demeanor was just an act, she was now sure of it. She thought back to when he more or less ordered her to his room after his first fight with Vegeta. What she mistook for some sort of seducing attempt (oh Kami was she wrong), the commanding and intimidating aura he'd displayed was also inherited. Bulma had feared something would happen that night, a big revelation of sorts, an act of violence, anything, but he just claimed 'missed his mother'. Only when Goku said out loud that Trunks (the baby) was surely Vegeta's kid, right before Nineteen and Twenty attacked, did she consciously realize 'Tora' was that exact baby. He missed me, but he couldn't tell me.
And everything else made sense. She slapped herself for trying to force him to open up, and thanked his incredible ability to resist her attempts, as her precious baby wouldn't have been born if he'd been anything but extremely cautious. Even when he stated he was not well and never would. How grim can the world be for a sixteen years old to be so.. hardened, yet lucid. The mental strain would have broken anyone. He'd taken on the next day as if nothing had happened. She saw him, through the security cameras of the complex, sitting for hours on end with Tama, doing nothing but looking through a window, or spending time in the menagerie.
Their shared worship for coffee, their work at the lab, it all seemed too familiar to the teenager, Bulma realized, because it was probably what he did in his world, with an older version of her. No wonder he could navigate her organized chaos, he was raised in that organized chaos. And he was that mentally resilient and prepared, because he was Trunks fucking Brief. She thanked her future self for preparing him so well against, well, herself. I am truly a genius.
Trunks never showed fear, but he barely showed confidence either. The teenager remained a mystery; despite his friendly vibe at her house and how long he stayed and shared meals with the Briefs, if asked, Bulma realized she couldn't tell much about who that teenager was . His personality, his tastes, his aspirations, he guarded everything that hadn't been stated before. And he had to because she was Bulma fucking Brief. When Goku brought back the Dragon Radar the day after he left, she was disappointed he did not do it himself, and she even resented him for not saying proper goodbyes, but now she understood his stay at her house must have been an excruciating experience. And he took it like it all like it was nothing, with the exception of that first night's confession. Chichi and her discussed the teenager one of their girl nights, and the Son wife had also confirmed she didn't know much about the kid; private, shy, thoughtful. She did mention he said was "home schooled" and that his mother was a "jack of all trades engineer", which is.. well, that was a solid definition of Bulma, after all.
It was all confirmed when he answered to his actual name when Gohan was carrying her, her baby, and Yajirobe back to Capsule Corp. Bulma wanted to take him home too, apologize, properly hug his pain away, and do something about his hair. No wonder it looked dry and messy, the kid probably didn't use the right hair products for the delicate Brief hair. Bulma was used to martial artists doing their own hair (like Yamcha), but she'd be damned if she let her son's beautiful lavender locks be mistreated any longer. Both this future one, and her little baby. At least the shaved sides suited the teenager better than the last time she saw him, clearly the length was getting in the way. Her mind considered the circumstances the kid had described of his world. So it was probable her Future self couldn't take care of her own hair either. Oh Bulma, how shallow can you be? Thinking about hair when the fate of the world is at stake (again).
Yet, earlier that May 12th, his eyes betrayed far more about himself when he told her to take his car and fly home. She'd seen how relieved and happy he was when he saw himself as a baby, and she glanced over when Gohan explained to him the situation. She saw more in his demeanor. Determination, fury, resignation, despair. Like he'd fight a battle he had no hopes of winning. Like he'd fought that battle many times before. She wanted to stop him from going, that Vegeta would surely handle things, but he flew off before she could. When she saw this strange vehicle's photo once back home, and how the turbines were so similar to the car's design, she tried finding him at every phone number she could think of. And then Krillin finally called, and she was relieved to find out no one had died. He was pressing, assertive, he had dropped the layers of politeness when he asked where the vehicle was located, Bulma heard the panic on the voice when he repeated the request of the location. Had it been anyone else, she wouldn't have accepted giving the information, requested he come to her, be more polite, anything, but instead she accepted it was something grave and she decided to go and meet him there.
And when she saw him looking at that vehicle, her heart ached. He was white. He was trembling. He didn't hear her, nor Gohan, he was too focused on this other Time Machine. Trunks did not feel fear, but right there and there, what she saw in those eyes was terror of the unknown.
The giant moult was nightmare fuel for Bulma. She hid behind her would-be future son, and he acted protective of her when they rushed over to Gohan's call, moving his left arm to guard her. Only when Gohan said it was 'just a moult', and as such, wasn't anything alive, did she relax a little. Only a little, that thing was still absolutely horrific. She held onto Trunks' denim, ignoring the layer of pollen he'd gotten from sitting in the abandoned machine, and stayed firmly behind him, finding a sense of security with the physical touch and being behind her protective son, peeking only by looking over his shoulder at the horrible display.
"That's not a cicada.." she choked on her words. Gohan confirmed; he knew all sorts of bugs, but this wasn't one of them.
"I think that's what came out of the egg that was inside the machine." Gohan confirmed Bulma's fears and gulped.
"So that thing came from the future? Geez, what kind of radioactivity did the Cyborgs cause in their destruction?" Bulma tried to joke, but her grip on her son got tighter. Clearly this was a monster, not a mutant.
"There's no nearby lifeforms," Trunks breathed and once Bulma had released him, she stayed behind, looking at her son moving forward towards the strange item, and knelt to look at it more closely. Knowledge was the weapon against the unknown, but Bulma was too scared to wield it.
Trunks and Gohan had a good look at the skin that was shed by the animal (?). It was hard, hollow, with a large slit on its back (?). Gohan went on to look where it came from, precisely, while Trunks eventually touched the moult, grabbed it, and opened it to look more closely inside. She pulled her left sleeve up and reached in, thinking she saw something inside. The warm goo touching her skin sent a shiver down her spine, and she moved back, looking at the substance on her hand.
"It seems the creature nested somewhere under those bushes," Gohan pointed at a burrow he'd noticed nearby, more or less between the skin's location and the Time Machine. "And came out to change skins."
"It's fresh," Trunks wiped off the goo on her handkerchief. "It came out recently."
Wherever the creature was, it left not too long ago.