Ultraman Exchange

Daichi took a deep breath of the clear mountain air, enjoying the cool, crisp breeze from the side of the mountain.  Ordinarily, he wouldn’t be allowed to utilize XIO resources for such a trip, but he had multiple good reasons to be out in the cool forests of Hokkaido.  One was to investigate old rumors of a “guardian deity” that had recently returned to prominence.  The other was the spark doll in his coat.  While Gomora was getting tuned to upgrade Cyber Gomora, Daichi had elected to get to know some of the other spark dolls XIO Japan had, and as such was accompanied by the “older” of the Demaaga twins.  It had been a surprisingly easy sell- with the threat of Greeza gone, and the subsequent elimination of Dark Thunder Energy, the majority of the Ultra Flares had faded, making Spark Doll manifestation a thing of the past in most cases.  He opened his jacket up, letting the miniaturized monster take a look out into the cool evening air. 

“Alright, buddy.  So, the way I figure it, we can hike up the mountain, and let you bask near the rim of the volcano, get some good heat in you.  Sound good?”  The doll trembled, its horned head poking out and emitting a quiet trill. 

“Gao Diction: Loading,” chirped the X Deviser, translating the kaiju’s thoughts.  “Agreement, concern, confusion.” 

“Seems the poor guy’s confused as to why you’re doing this, eh Daichi?”  Daichi grinned sheepishly, looking down at the screen of his X Deviser, where the icon of his partner flashed mirthfully.

“I think I got it, X.”  He gently put Demaaga down on a boulder, sitting down so he could look it in the eye.  “I know our history isn’t exactly the greatest, but believe it or not, you’re important to me.”  He smiled, eyes crinkling with easy kindness.  “If I had never met you, I’d have never met X, and I’d have never been able to save the other kaiju.  Trust me, alright?  I owe you a lot, and I’d like to be friends.”  There was a pregnant pause, as if Daichi was waiting for the spark doll to actually vocalize a response.  Eventually, Demaaga turned away, and the young scientist could swear he saw a little blush on the kaiju’s face, eliciting a chuckle out of him and X.

“Alright, you two, let’s start the hike,” X chided, a laugh in his tone.  “Maybe if we’re lucky, we won’t have an incident, like literally every time we leave the base.

—–

Surprisingly, the walk up the mountain was actually quite quiet, Daichi allowing Demaaga to ride on his shoulder and look through the forested path.  The kaiju was restless- or rather, excited, constantly nearly slipping off and needing to be caught by Daichi.  As the 3 made it up towards the top of the smoking mountain, a breeze picked up, sending the smoke away from them and showing off the darkening blue sky, and the moon.  Finding a roughly flat outcropping of rocks, Daichi sat down and placed the X Devizer and Demaaga next to her,  Demaaga chirped excitedly, hopping animatedly despite its stiff nature.  Daichi smiled at the scene, looking out at the sky.  “Are you enjoying yourself, then?”  He gently activates Gao Diction again.

“Comfort, appreciati-shock, unease.”  Daichi blinks in confusion at the sudden change in the readout, looking out into the night sky.  The cloudless blue night had warped into a strange, rainbow pattern, like stained glass.  The forest went quiet suddenly as a horned head burst out of the rainbow sky, letting out a bellowing roar that rattled Daichi’s teeth.  Reacting quickly, he pulled his X Deviser up to his mouth.  “Attention!  Type G sighted!”

—–

Back in Tokyo, XIO headquarters lit up with activity, hands rushing to consoles that hadn’t needed use in weeks.  Captain Kamiki strode onto the bridge, a slightly perturbed look on his face. 

“Trouble seems to follow you, doesn’t it, Daichi…?”  he muttered, before turning back.  “Do we have a match in the database?”  Chiaki hopped up, clearing her throat.

“W-we do, so!  Daichi’s account matches up with an old Hokkaido legend.  A guardian deity known as Silvergon.”

“Silvergon,” Kamiki said.  “I need details, something other than a name.” 

“Legend states that it dwells within a rainbow, which might explain the atmospheric distortion Daichi reported.  Other than that, all we’ve got to go on is “bemoan his terrible strength, and hide to weather a thousand storms.” 

“Lovely, so we have nothing.  Daichi, the reserve Musketty’s half-disassembled for repairs- we got caught with our pants down.  I’d say you’re on your own, but we both know that’s not true.”

—–

Daichi couldn’t help but smile at the captain’s attempt at a joke, as he held the X Deviser aloft.  “You heard him, partner! X!”  Daichi is consumed in streams of geometric light, his form subsumed by the titanic shape of Ultraman X.  As the giant of light struck a combat pose, Silvergon tore its way out of the rainbow aether, its stony hide flexing as it stared down its enemy, teeth curling threateningly.

“Doesn’t look like he’s going to come quietly, eh?” X joked, circling the beast warily.

“They never do,” Daichi retorted.  The Ultraman rushed the massive beast, attempting to knock it off balance.  This proved to be a mistake, and the rough equivalent of running as fast as one could into a brick wall.  X grunted in pain as he fell back, clutching his shoulder in agony.  “Agh… It’s so durable.  Let me load Cyber Gomora…”  Daichi pressed the button on his X Deviser to summon the Cyber Card… only for nothing to happen.  “W-what?  What’s going on?”

—–

“Dr. Gourmand!  Wake up!  You’re drooling on the main computer!”  Rui and Mamoru pulled at the sleeping Fantonian with all their might, but they couldn’t get him to budge.

“We shouldn’t have let him eat his yoghurt noodles in the middle of a tune-up… It always knocks him out!” Mamoru despaired, tugging until he nearly slips.

“What if Daichi needs to use a MonsArmor?!” Rui says, gulping and looking up.  “Be safe, X…”

—–

X grunted as he was flung into the mountain, writhing in pain as the rock dug into his hide.  Looking down at his chest, he stifles a curse as his color timer turns red and begins to flash.

“We’re getting pounded here!  You still can’t access the MonsArmor?”  Daichi shook his head, stumbling as he futilely tried to summon a cyber card.  “Heh…  Can’t believe we beat Greeza just to get taken down here…”  X reached up unsteadily… only for a shockingly familiar hand to grab hold and help him to his feet. 

“D-Demaaga?!”  Daichi cried out in shock as the iron kaiju took a combat position next to him, roaring as its golden horn glowed brightly.  “You… You want to fight with us?”  Demaaga’s only response was another roar, but Daichi didn’t need Gao Diction to tell him that that was a yes.  Silvergon paced around, before letting out a bellow and charging at X.  This time, however, Demaaga was there to run interference, Silvergon’s stony hide being matched by the iron thickness of the reptilian kaiju’s scales, stopping it in its tracks.  Demaaga quickly coiled its tail around the other kaiju, locking arms with it and smashing its horn against Silvergon’s ramlike head.

“Alright, it’s stuck.  Should we use the Xanadium Beam?”  X asked.  Daichi gulped.

“If we do, we could hit Demaaga…”

“I think it knows that!  We need to make a choice- it’s getting overpowered!”  Sure enough, Silvergon was flexing and struggling, and Demaaga was starting to lose his grip.  It looked up, desperation in its eyes, as if telling Daichi that it was alright. 

“Demaaga…” Daichi muttered, biting back tears, “I won’t forget this…  Thank you.  Do it, X.”  The Ultraman’s flashing color timer suddenly began to gleam a solid gold, as power begins flowing through his body.  Sweeping his leg back, he gathered all that he could…

“XANADIUM BEAM!”  X crossed his arms, a beam of mysterious light surging forth and enveloping the two kaiju.  Demaaga closed its eyes, at peace, as an explosion overtook them, before compressing back into two spark dolls.  Quickly running over, X absorbed the two, Daichi catching them, before the giant of light disappeared, returning Daichi to the ground and X to his home in the Devicer.  Stumbling over to the rock, the young scientist held the miniaturized kaiju close to his chest, sobbing gently. 

“I’m… I’m sorry I had to do that, Demaaga.  Thank you…  Thank you so much.”

He sat there for a few hours yet, watching the moon rise in front of him, Demaaga and Silvergon on his lap.  He said nothing as he drove back, and barely responded to the congratulations of the staff members as he trudged to the lab.

Fubuki gulped and looked at the mouth of the cave warily. “Do we really have to do this, Musashi?” he remarked in a voice which was something between whining and rudel, stuborn complaining.

“Oh come on, Fubuki,” Musashi responded, “It’s going to be fun! And the little monsters will be cute! I’m sure you’ll like it.”

“I’m not like you and Ayano,” Fubuki grumbled under his breath, but he followed Musashi into the cave anyway.

Both had large flashlights which gave off a greenish light—Musashi had said bright spotlights would disturb the parent monster and agitate its eyes.

“Musashi, I’m sure the monster is quite capable of taking care of its own children,” Fubuki attempted to argue.

“You’re not… scared, are you, Fubuki Keisuke?” Musashi inquired teasingly. Fubuki was following him, and so could not see the large grin on his face.

“I’m not frightened, I’m just trying to reach you with some common sense,” Fubuki retorted angrily, shoving Musashi aside and moving on in front of him.

“Listen,” said Musashi, “I want to bring one of its young out into my basement lab and study it.”

“You just want another pet,” Fubuki replied grouchily.

“It’s my new job to study monsters,” Musashi said, “and besides, no harm will come of it.”

“Last time Ayano came to visit her car got crushed, and how are we going to explain if EYES’ funds keep vanishing for things like replacing the garages, sheds, gardens, and vehicals your pets keep on destroying.”

“They don’t mean to,” Musashi pouted.

“Perhaps they don’t,” Fubuki countered, “but they still make life inconvenient. The other day I tried to go to the grocery store, but had a thirty minute delay because Lidorias had fallen asleep on the road! You can’t get another monster. I don’t want to wake up to find that it’s grown out of and destroyed the house, and I don’t want to wake up dead because you accidentally picked up a carnivore that got hungry on the wrong occasion.”

“If I get eaten by a monster, that’s the way I go,” Musashi responded, “and besides, I take safety precautions. You’re more likely to be struck by lightning or consumed by a shark than eaten by a mon—Look out, Fubuki!”

It was too late. There was a scream, Fubuki was covered from head to toe in sticky oozing slimy, whitish monster drool. He turned slowly to face Musashi, pretending he had not screamed at the impact, with a look of severety and anger written on his face.

Musashi doubled over with laughter and did not have the politeness to hide it. “Fubuki… hahaha… you look…. hehe…. so.. hahehe…. funny.. ha….”

“I don’t feel very funny,” Fubuki responded in a highly injured voice.

“I… I.. forgot.. to warn you about the drool,” Musashi replied, still trying to recover his senses. “Babies always drool.”

Fubuki looked up at the mouth of the sleeping monster which he had first mistaken for part of the cave. It was about twenty feet tall, with a hide like rock and a large mouth. “That… that’s the baby..” he said, taking off his hat and wringing slime and drool out of it.

He had forgotten to move, and so a fresh batch of slime landed on him, this time soaking his hair and un-styling it permanently. Accepting his fate, Fubuki coughed and said, “How, exactly, do you plan on moving this creature from here, and how do you think you’ll be able to fit it inside your little zoo downstairs?”

“Oh,” said Musashi, “I forgot to think about that.”

Fubuki gave up on trying to salvage his dignity and collapsed to the floor in a puddle of drool.

An hour later, Ayano arrived in and EYES aircraft. She walked into the cave to where Musashi was petting the monster and Fubuki was sitting in the corner sulking. “IT’S SO CUTE,” she said as soon as she saw it, “So this is the newest addition to your menagerie!”

Fubuki sniffed loudly from the corner.

“So we need to devise a plan to move it?” Ayano inquired.

Musashi assented. Fubuki again sniffed loudly.

“Do you think we could wake it up and get it to walk to where we want it to go?” Ayano asked.

“We’d have to wait till nightfall,” Musashi replied.

Fubuki sniffed loudly from the corner.

“How will its mother react?” Ayano wondered.

“She won’t notice,” replied Musashi, “and she trusts me.”

Fubuki hmph’d, but remained in the corner.

“I see,” said Ayano. “I’ll get the bait. You stay here and keep us updated on the status.”

Fubuki jumped up, composed himself, and said, “You don’t expect me to stay in this place, I hope.”

“I need your help,” Musashi replied. “I’m not going to leave you with the baby.”

Fubuki heaved a sigh of relief.

“However,” Musashi continued, “You’re going to have to keep an eye on the mother.”

“So what do I need to do to convince you to call this whole darn thing off,” Fubuki demanded.

Ayano and Musashi laughed.

Night fell. Everything went smoothly at first. The baby was awakened, and with the bait, a giant baby bottle filled with a green plant juice, the baby began to move. Fubuki had his light on dim. The mother monster was farther back in the cave, with her eyes closed and her mouth open. The baby, comforted and encouraged by Musashi, moved on after the juice.

(Fubuki had tried to convince Musashi many times to stop. He had tried every kind of reasoning. “Wouldn’t it be bad to take the baby from its mother?” he had asked. He hadn’t realized that the mother came from one of those species where children are most often left to fend for themselves after an incredibly brief period of care.)

The youngster cleared the cave. Just then, Fubuki remembered a detail. “Wait, Musashi,” he shouted, “How are we going to fit the child into your zoo downstairs?”

Startled by the sudden noise, the baby monster turned and started crying.

Fubuki shouted at Musashi, “Get it to be quiet! It’s hurting my—“

He stopped, because another noise revibrated around him. A quieter, but far more threatening noise. A low growling noise, and a rumbling of rock.

Fubuki turned to see the eyes of the mother open. Her mouth closed, but a spatter of drool hit the floor.

“M-Musashi?” Fubuki whispered into his communication device. “She’s waking up! Help me!”

By this time, the baby had been calmed with the plant juice after some careful manuevering by Ayano. Musashi began to signal to the mother. Fubuki dearly wished he could see as clearly in the dark as the monster could, for he couldn’t quite make out what Musashi was doing.

The monster bent her head towards him. He tried to act calm and unafraid. She opened her mouth. “What’s she doing? Is she going to eat me?” he whispered frantically into his device.

“Don’t worry, she’s herbivorous,” Musashi said reassuringly.

Fubuki didn’t find it very reassuring, especially when the mothers lips closed gently around his legs. With a swoop he was up in the air, the monster’s mouth holding him tightly.

“HELP!” he screamed. “MUSASHI! AYANO! WHAT’S HAPPENING!”

“Calm down,” said Musashi into his communicator. “We’re exchanging babies, as it were.”

Fubuki wished Ayano had been charitable enough to mute herself to hide her laughter.

“Wait? How am I going to eat? What if she accidentally steps on me? You can’t leave me hear!”

“In the morning we’ll send you food and supplies. You’ll be observing a grown monster in its natural habitat.”

Fubuki let the monster drool cover him. He sighed heavily. “You planned this all along, didn’t you two. Why did I ever trust you.”

“I’ll visit you a lot!” Musashi said. “I’ll make sure you don’t get lonely! We’ll set up a proper communicator, you’ll be able to skype.”

“Musashi! Musashi! MusashI!” The mother monster set him down. She offered him a tree branch.

“No thanks,” he muttered.

When he looked out, Musashi and Ayano were gone.

“You know,” he said to the monster, “I’m cold because you and your baby can’t stop slobbering.”

From a stash up high in the cave, the mother monster pulled down a large roll of gigantic leaves.

Fubuki saw what she meant. He made a bed. “Thanks, I guess,” he muttered. Then he noticed that the leaves, besides being large, were white.

“Are these underground plants?” he asked, looking up.

But the monster was already asleep again.