Future Bulma

I was originally going to suggest the old "What if Future Trunks was trapped in the past" idea for this thread, but lets be honest - most people have already done variations of it.

So, I decided to look at the flip-side for this brainstorming session:

- The story proceeds as normal, with Future Bulma in the alternate timeline finishing the Time Machine and having it fueled up before Future Trunks takes it back to the past; intending to warn everyone there about the Android threat and give Goku the Heart medicine.

However, with Bulma working with limited resources on her own and with the stress of the two murderous Androids potentially finding her and Trunks (especially considering said Androids wiped out the other Z-Fighters, nearly killed Trunks when he took them on alone and probably killed her parents and sister as well), she fails to notice a flaw in the machinery.

- When Future Trunks goes back to the past, he arrives safely and does his usual routine - killing Mecha-Frieza, King Cold and their mooks before meeting up with Goku to give him the warning and the Heart Medicine.

When he lifts off in preparation to return to his timeline, however, the earlier flaw - exacerbated during the first Time Travel journey - reveals itself in spectacular fashion; an explosion ripping through the Time Machine before a fire breaks out inside and causes it to crash-land.

While Future Trunks gets out, his Time Machine is toast - and with no schematics/notes for the current Bulma to make a new one from scratch or figure out the flaw if they ask Shenron to magically repair it. So, Future Trunks is now stuck in the past.

- In the alternate timeline, Future Bulma waits for her son's return...but a week goes by, then two, then three, then a month. It quickly becomes clear to Bulma that something has gone wrong (and I can imagine her been distraught over not knowing if her son is dead or stuck in another timeline, as well as wracked with guilt over the fact that she is responsible for it).

Question is, now she's on her own, do you think she would find a way to survive by herself - even if Future Cell rocks up?

Could she find a way to rectify the situation without relying on those with Saiyan blood (be it heading into space to find New Namek, contacting the Galactic Patrol or gathering the materials for another Time Machine so she can attempt to retrieve Future Trunks herself)?

Or, do you think this is a hopeless situation for her and she would inevitably meet her demise?

Curious to see what you guys think.

Bit of a What-if? idea for you guys to mull over.

As for why Future Bulma would do this, lets say that when Future Trunks takes on Android 17 and 18 during their rampage in Bridgetown, he is more injured than in the original - been knocked into a comatose state.

While Bulma is able to recover him, he still hasn't woken up by the time that she has finished the Time Machine. With little option, she has to leave Future Trunks alone while she travels back in time to warn about the Androids and give Goku the Heart Medicine.

With her having to wait for Goku to arrive so he can kill Mecha-Frieza and King Cold (like his Future version did), she would likely go around to Goku's house after the fracas was over; talking to him privately about the future threat and giving him the Heart Medicine.

With it been Future Bulma instead of Future Trunks, however, how do you think this would affect both timelines?

Curious to see what you guys think.

WTF Click to see

Future Gohan brings Trunks to fight the androids, and the fight goes pretty much the same, but Trunks isn't unconscious at the end, leading to the androids taking him back to Gero's lab as a "pet." He accidentally awakens Android 21, who, being an evil scientist herself, turns HIM into an android (well, they're all technically cyborgs, but whatever).

Meanwhile, Gohan wakes up and flips out because he thinks Trunks is dead. He flips out so much that he goes Super Saiyan 2. When the androids next attack, he tells them they'll pay for killing Trunks, to which they reply that he's still alive, only he's an android like them now. He freaks out more, kills Eighteen, then tells Seventeen to bring him back to the lab. Seventeen complies but gets killed immediately thereafter, anyway. Android 21 is still trying to reprogram Trunks, whose designation is Android 22. Gohan doesn't give her a chance to react and kills her, rescuing Trunks in the process.

Before Trunks wakes up, Bulma and Gohan go through what little programming Twenty-One managed to get done attempt to delete it. It works mostly, but due to some of her security measures, they are unable to remove the programming preventing him from attacking Red Ribbon androids.

Trunks takes a while to adjust to his new body and its strengths and weaknesses. He has infinite energy now, but as a result is no longer able to sleep, leading to long hours of nothing to do. He mostly researches random things during this time, just as many other amnesiacs do. His "upgrades" also came with a transformation he calls Cyber Form, which causes his hair to glow a bright blue and his wires to show through his skin, also glowing bright blue. His mother adds built-in capsules to his body as well, meaning he can easily do things like change his outfits, and even wash them while he's not wearing them through a capsulized washer and dryer. The capsules have several other functions as well, such as a greenhouse inside him to grow both food and Senzu beans, with its air, water, and other nutrients coming from Trunks' own intake and sunlight being produced artificially.

Once it becomes public knowledge that the androids were defeated, society begins rebuilding itself. Unfortunately for Trunks, most of society considers him a threat, as well, despite Bulma's insistence that they removed his programming. With politicians constantly coming up with ways having an android around could go wrong, such as him being hacked, the public turns against him. Gohan and Bulma fiercely oppose people trying to have him dismantled or somehow exiled, but tensions remain high.

Trunks, growing tired of people's crap, decides it may be best for him to leave, possibly permanently. He convinces his mom and Gohan of this, though both of them refuse to let him leave without them. Together, they continue the time machine project Bulma had dreamed up a while before Trunks' upgrade. About three years later, they're ready to go. Trunks, despite being seventeen, still hasn't aged due to his cybernetic parts.

So it's sort of a what-if? but not really.

Future Gohan brings Trunks to fight the androids, and the fight goes pretty much the same, but Trunks isn't unconscious at the end, leading to the androids taking him back to Gero's lab as a "pet." He accidentally awakens Android 21, who, being an evil scientist herself, turns HIM into an android (well, they're all technically cyborgs, but whatever).

Meanwhile, Gohan wakes up and flips out because he thinks Trunks is dead. He flips out so much that he goes Super Saiyan 2. When the androids next attack, he tells them they'll pay for killing Trunks, to which they reply that he's still alive, only he's an android like them now. He freaks out more, kills Eighteen, then tells Seventeen to bring him back to the lab. Seventeen complies but gets killed immediately thereafter, anyway. Android 21 is still trying to reprogram Trunks, whose designation is Android 22. Gohan doesn't give her a chance to react and kills her.

So what happens next? Does Bulma give Trunks any unique, capsule-related abilities? How did the reprogramming attempt affect Trunks? Do they still time travel? To what point? Maybe they can end up in the canon timeline? How would the other characters react?

Why can’t Future Trunks go to New Namek and wish back all the Z-fighters? (Minus Goku)

How come Future Trunks didn't tell Vegeta about Future Bulma's death?