Saying their names also meant Android 17 and Android 18 had finally put the past behind them.
From now on, there would be no more Android 17 and Android 18.
There would only be the twin siblings: older sister Lazuli and younger brother Lapis.
Although they had put the past behind them, that didn't mean they had no intention of looking for Son Goku.
Dr. Gero had turned them into Androids for the sole purpose of killing Son Goku.
So they still held some resentment toward him.
Even if they didn't kill Son Goku, they had to at least beat him up.
That was what Lazuli and Lapis were thinking.
Meanwhile, they were driving leisurely toward Son Goku's house.
Krillin and Trunks flew to Son Goku's house in an aircraft.
They picked up the sick Son Goku and Chi-Chi, planning to take them to Master Roshi's place.
They wanted to keep the sick Son Goku from being killed by the Androids.
Son Goku was like a source of reassurance for all of them.
As long as Son Goku was alive, they felt full of hope.
Even Bulma from the Future Timeline felt the same way.
After all, Son Goku was far more reliable than Vegeta.
On the plane.
Krillin called Bulma to tell her about what had happened that day.
But Bulma told him that someone had found an abandoned Time Machine in the western suburbs.
When Trunks saw the photo Bulma faxed over, he was stunned.
The machine overgrown with weeds in the photo was none other than the Time Machine he had ridden in.
But his own Time Machine had clearly been shrunk and put in a Capsule, and it was still with him.
Besides, it was absolutely impossible for the Future Timeline to have built two Time Machines. With the Androids wreaking havoc,
building even one Time Machine had already exhausted all their resources.
But the Time Machine in the photo was clearly the one he had ridden in.
He couldn't possibly mistake it for anything else.
Trunks suddenly felt that this timeline might be completely different from the history he knew.
From the Androids' strength to the appearance of Android 16, and then the Androids in the underground laboratory,
too many unknown things had appeared in this timeline.
These variables pressed down on his chest like massive stones, leaving him barely able to breathe.
He decided to go see the machine in person.
After asking for the Time Machine's exact location,
Trunks, Gohan, and Bulma arranged to meet there.
About ten minutes later, they arrived in the western suburbs.
Looking at the Time Machine before him, Trunks was almost certain it was the one he had with him.
That was because the Time Machine bore the words "HOPE!" written by his own hand.
Its location and handwriting both matched the Time Machine he had with him exactly.
But judging by its appearance, the machine had definitely been abandoned for a long time.
If there had only been one Time Machine in the Future Timeline where Trunks came from,
then there was only one possibility...
Another timeline!
Then what about the Trunks from that other timeline?
A chill suddenly ran down Trunks's back.
Besides, there was no way he would have made the hole in the top of the Time Machine.
This machine was the hope of their timeline. He usually couldn't bear even to let it get scratched, so he would never damage it.
Then who had come to this timeline in the machine?
An Android?
Or someone else?
The more Trunks thought about it, the more alarmed he became. His body began to tremble.
To confirm his suspicions,
Trunks opened the machine.
Inside were two purple, hemispherical objects. He had no idea what they were.
"What are these things? They don't look like coconut shells."
Gohan looked at the two objects, puzzled.
"What are they? Let me see!" Bulma asked curiously.
Gohan handed the two objects to Bulma and said,
"Here."
Bulma turned the objects over and over, examining them carefully.
"I've got it. These must be the shells of some kind of animal egg."
"Eggshells? But I've never seen eggshells like these."
Gohan had grown up on Mount Paozu and had seen all sorts of strange animal eggs.
But he had never seen eggshells shaped like these.
Suddenly, they seemed to realize something.
They all looked toward the damaged hole in the Time Machine.
Some purple marks remained around the edge of the hole.
They were the same color as the eggshells.
Gohan's expression turned serious. "That's right. Maybe whatever made that hole was some kind of creature that hatched from this egg."
Trunks quickly checked the machine to see if he could find any useful information.
"The remaining energy is practically zero."
The Time Machine had almost completely run out of power. It could barely display the time.
"The time of arrival was..."
After a moment, the machine finally displayed the time.
"The year is 788? That's three years later than my future."
How could that be?
Trunks stared in disbelief at the time displayed on the machine.
This was the future three years after he had left.
If that was true, then his earlier guess had been right.
A third timeline had really intruded.
Trunks checked the time when this machine had arrived in this timeline.
When he saw the time displayed on the Time Machine, he began to feel afraid.
"About four years ago. This guy arrived a year earlier than the last time I came."
"W-who is this guy? Why did he come here?"
"Could he be the reason so much of history has changed?"
And why hadn't he shown himself after all this time?
What had happened in the third timeline? What had become of the Trunks from that timeline?
Would he face the same thing three years from now in his own timeline?
Fear came from the unknown.
Darkness seemed to close in around Trunks.
Suddenly, Gohan noticed something strange behind a rock not far away.
"What's wrong?" Bulma asked.
"It's nothing! I was just wondering what that thing over there is..."
Gohan walked toward the strange object.
"What thing? Where?"
When Gohan saw it, he jumped in alarm.
He shouted to Trunks and Bulma, "Come take a look!"
"What did you find, Gohan?"
"Look at that thing."
Gohan pointed at the strange object.
Trunks and Bulma followed his gesture and were startled too, letting out cries of surprise.
It was something two or three meters long, shaped like some kind of insect.
At first, they thought it was the corpse of some kind of insect.
But when they got closer, they realized it wasn't a corpse.
It was a shell shed by some kind of creature.
"An empty shell? Where around here could there be a cicada that big?"
Bulma was astonished. It was hard to believe there could be a cicada that big anywhere—not just around here, but anywhere on Earth.
"There aren't cicadas that big! This might be..."
Trunks nodded and finished Gohan's thought. "Maybe it's the shell shed by the creature that crawled out of the eggshell inside the Time Machine!"
Gohan said, "Right. Maybe the creature grew up and then shed this shell."
"What's going on? What kind of creature shed this shell?" Bulma asked.
Gohan said, "Nobody knows, because nobody's ever seen it."
"How did this happen?"
"Did someone put an egg in a Time Machine in the future and bring it here? Or did someone come here with the egg?"
"I really can't figure out which it is." Trunks looked at the shell, baffled.
He reached inside it.
A sticky sensation came over his hand.
Trunks quickly pulled his hand back.
His hand was covered in purple slime.
"This shell must have been shed only recently..."
Kami watched everything unfold on the ground and finally understood the cause of the unease he had felt for the past four years.
At last, he made up his mind to merge with Piccolo.
Before you continue