I don't own Ultraman Zero and Girly Air Force, those belong to their creators. This is for fun, not profit.

Chapter 3: Anima Core

In her cockpit, Gripen was flying in her jet as her hands were placed on two screens beside her which were the controls before they lit up with digital lines, and her hair and eyes had lit up.

"Target altitude reached." Gripen said.

"Okay." Haruka said through the communication. "We're switching to scenario 2-A. Gripen, switch to flight mode 'jagt'."

Gripen did just that as a screen appeared in front of her which were the systems before it disappeared.

"You will encounter the enemy in 30 seconds. EPCM is active." Haruka told her as the viewing screen became a little blurry.

"Roger. Switching to autonomous mode due to EPCM effects." Gripen responded.

"Begin the mission!"

Digital lines appeared in her eyes and around her skin as a rader appeared beneath before it located the enemy as it locked-on to it.

"Merge!" Gripen said as she was ready for battle.


(Accentier by Eir Aoi)

(Instrumental) (Ultraman Zero is seen flying in the sky and joining with the Anima Gripen, Eagle, and Phantom had joined him as they flew together before they flew up in the eternal sky and then the title appeared on screen.)

(Nanimo kanjitenai furi de) (Kei had entered the kitchen as he yawned as Minghua began to scold him for sleeping in before Kei sat down on his chair.)

(Kimi wa kyou mo yarisugosu) (Kei then remembers his first encounter with Ultraman Zero as he looks up at him, before it changes to Kei wearing his pilot uniform and showing off the Ultimate Bracelet.)

(Yasashikusarechattara) (Gripen was leaning on her jet before she looked up at the blue sky as she reached out to it.)

(Tate naku naru kara) (Flashes of Kei and Gripen encounters appeared one at time, when they first met and their reunion.)

(Yarinaoshite mitai kako to) (Next to her jet, Eagle is seen hugging onto Haruka which was much to his annoyance.)

(Wasuresatte shimau hikari) (Sitting on her jet, Phantom was chuckling as she watched Eagle.)

(Dochira ga daiji ka nante wakaranai yo ne) (In his dark laboratory, Zeiber was seated on his chair before the screens zoom out revealing his kaiju experiments inside of their tubes.)

(Kibou ya ai no uta ga afureteru riyuu wa) (Kei soon brings out the Ultra Zero Eye Neo as he puts it on and transforms into Ultraman Zero.)

(Sore wo mitai to minna ga negatteru kara) (As Zero lands on the ground, he then notices an army of kaiju has surrounded him before he battles them.)

(Ima kimi wo mitsumeteru AKUSENTIA) (First Zero attacks the kaiju army with his Sluggers, destroying each of them, before he changes into his Strong-Corona Form as he unleashes his Garnate Buster destroying several of them.

(Sono kokoro ga kowarete shimawanai you ni) (Zero then changes into his Luna-Miracle Form as he unleashes Miracle Zero Sluggers at the kaijus around him. As Zero changes into his Base Form, he soon notices a large kaiju firing an energy shot at him and Zero counters it with his Wide Zero Shot.)

(Zutto tatta hitori de) (In his lab, Zeiber was putting the finishing touches to his Ultimate Lifeform as its head was formed.)

(Aruke wa shinai sa) (Then its arms were formed as one of them had the head of a monster.)

(Sou sa kyou mo asu mo kitto ichinen tatte mo GOORU janai) (Then the legs were formed before Zeiber's Ultimate Lifeform raised its head as its eye lights up red.)

(Soshite kimi wo dakishimeru AKUSENTIA) (Zero had fallen on one of his knees after being hit by an attack from Zeiber's Ultimate Lifeform as it was standing in front of Zero.)

(Toridashita no wa chiisana okurimono) (Kei was panting inside of Zero's body before he roared as he wasn't going to give in.)

(Kokoro to kokoro wo tsunaide iku) (Kei soon brings out the Zero's Riser and uses it to scan New Generation Capsules Alpha and Beta, he then brought the Riser in front of his face and pressed its trigger.)

(Sonna chikara wo kimi no sono migite ni) (Zero soon transforms into his Beyond Form as he faces Zeiber's Ultimate Lifeform.)

(GAN! GAN! GAN!) (Then it changes to Kei standing on an airplane runway with his friends standing with him.)


Watching over Gripen were Kei, Haruka, and a JASDF engineer who works under Haruka, his name was Funato. Gripen was actually in a simulation machine that was built for Anima use.

Haruka huffed as he watched Gripen flying on the screen.

"We're only at the simulator stage and look at her." Haruka said.

"B-But this is after she's been awake longer than usual for her. Her consciousness level was stable." Kei said before the simulation had ended and the machine soon opened up to reveal Gripen inside.

"Yeah. Thanks to you, our Sleeping Beauty has improved a lot. But 'being awake' and 'being able to pilot a plane' are two very different things. We're nowhere near where we need to be." Haruka said, and Kei was a little worried to hear that.

"Upsetting." Gripen said, getting their attention as she walked up the stairs and turned to them. "I don't want you thinking that this is my true strength."

"Damn right. If you perform like that at the test next week, I'll sign the paperwork to scrap you right then and there." Haruka told her.

"But this isn't anything like a Daughter. I can't fly right in this thing." Gripen stated as Kei walked to the simulation machine and looked at the cockpit.

"Wow, this setup is incredible." Kei said before he turned to Gripen. "What don't you like?"

"The control systems are all wrong. It's slow to respond. There's no feedback from external stimuli." Gripen told him, and Kei was confused by that before he brought the Bracelet close to his face.

"Any ideas of what she's saying, Zero?" Kei asked quietly.

"Well, there are differences in fighting in a simulation than in actual combat. So for her, using that machine is probably different than flying in her actual jet." Zero said.

"We rushed to get that thing made." Haruka said, getting Kei's attention. "And that NFI only got added after it was built."

"NFI?" Kei said, before Gripen pointed at the simulation machine.

"That." Gripen tells him and Kei turns to it. "Those things on both sides of the seat are the NFI. The Neural Fusion Interface. It links the Daughter's controls with your sensory organs. It expands your neural network out to the very tip of the airframe."

"So you can fly with just a thought?" Kei asked.

"No, I think there's something more to it than that." Zero stated.

"Not quite. It's the same way a human moves their limbs. If you want to move to the right, the elevons will activate. If you want to decelerate, the engines will decrease their output." Gripen explains.

"Wow, that's amazing." Kei said in amazement before he just realized something. "Wait, does that mean that if you had to pilot a plane like normal, you'd be bad at it?"

Gripen flinches, and Zero sighed as he shook his head and placed a hand on it.

"Poor choice of words there, Kei." Zero said.

Gripen then gives Kei a dark look.

"Your lack of understanding shocks me. Your ignorance exceeds my imagination and inspires me to rage." Gripen stated as Kei nervously turned away from and scratched his finger on his head, before Gripen tightly grabbed onto his shoulders and made him look at her. "You should try it too, then."

"No, I…" Kei mutters before he and Gripen turns to Haruka and Funato, and the engineer gives them a thumbs up.

"Go ahead. We need to reset all the settings, anyway. You've flown a Cessna, right?" Funato asked and Kei was surprised to hear that.

"The die has been cast." Gripen said.

Kei then looks at the Bracelet as he quietly calls out to Zero.

"Zero, a little help…"

"Sorry, Kei, but you're on your own on this one." Zero told him, and Kei's eyebrow twitched to hear that.

Kei was now seated in the simulation machine's cockpit with Funato standing beside him as the data for the simulation for Kei is appearing on the screen.

"Wow…this skips almost all of the pre-flight checklist!" Kei said in amazement.

"The airframe computer will auto-adjust its own attitude to a certain degree. Pretty handy, right?" Funato asked. "Well, even if you crash, you'll live. So don't worry about a thing." He said giving Kei a thumbs up as the young teen nervously does the same before the engineer walks away.

Gripen gives him an annoyed look as she flicks her hand at him.

The simulation test flight soon begins as Kei was flying in a virtual version of Gripen's Daughter, but despite this being his first time using this machine, he skillfully did a barrel-roll and pulled up, and Kei was amazed by this.

"Not bad, Kei. You're a real natural in this." Zero told him.

"You've got good instincts. I thought you'd have a harder time with it." Funato said, and Kei nervously chuckles as he does a few skillful turns.

"If this was a real plane, I'd be too scared to do anything." Kei told them before he did a barrel roll.

Haruka, Funato, and Gripen continue to watch Kei on the screen.

"Pretty impressive, though." Funato said while Gripen was in dismay to see this.

"Oh no…" Gripen mutters.

Funato turned to Haruka before he nodded to him. Funato soon brings out the mission simulations and clicks on 'Extra Mission 01'.

Kei soon heard a ringing sound on the console and saw the same mission being selected on the screen.

"Flying in an empty sky is pretty dull, right?" Funato asked, and to Kei's surprise he saw a simulated enemy Xi appearing on the screen and rader as it was following him from behind.

"Seriously?" Kei asked.

"If that thing gets on your six, you're a dead man." Funato said.

"That's not fair!" Kei said before he saw the simulated Xi was coming closer, and Kei made a few turns as the Xi followed his movements.

Kei notices it was still behind him through his rader.

"Fine! I'll let it get ahead of me and shoot it down from behind!" Kei said as he pulled back the air brakes and pulled up the controls.

"Umm…Kei, I don't think that's a good idea." Zero told him before the Daughter pulled up before it pulled back as the simulated Xi flew under it.

Seeing that put Haruka, Funato, and Gripen on edge as they watched…But Kei ended up crashing into the ocean as the jet exploded leaving only a smoke cloud as it went up.

The words 'Mission Failed' appeared on the screen before Kei walked out of the machine.

"Told you that was a bad idea." Zero told him.

"Yeah, I managed to get it in front of me, but it's hard to get that plane back into the fight quickly." Kei said.

"Kei." Gripen calls out and Kei turns to her as she moves towards him. "I demand an explanation. Everyone says that your flying is more stable than mine. Impossible. You must have been cheating somehow!"

"No way." Kei told her before he turned to the simulation machine. "Anyway, this thing is really easy to fly. It's not defective at all. It feels like I could pilot the real thing if I had a few more tries with this."

Gripen was dumbfounded to hear that. Funato then walks to the teenage refugee.

"Well?" Funato asked before he stopped and placed his hands on his hips.

"That was an amazing experience. Can I try it again sometime?" Kei asked.

"Sure, depending on how Gripen's looking. Her test flight is in seven days, after all." Funato said.

"Oh, I see." Kei said before he placed a hand on Gripen's shoulder. "Okay, let's both do our best!"

Gripen pouted as she turned her head away from him.

"Why are you telling me what to do?" Gripen asked in annoyance.


(Meanwhile)

In his lab/hideout, Zeiber was watching footage of Zero's battle against Halen and the battle against Eleking Discharge Dragon as he folded his hands together while tabbing his fingers.

"Hmmm…Most concerning. Neither power nor speed isn't enough to defeat Ultraman Zero. So if I send a monster that has both power and speed, he'll just find a way to defeat it." Zeiber said but that's when he got an idea. "Wait…what if I'm doing this all wrong? Why bother defeating Zero with power and speed, while I can defeat him using his greatest weakness. Compassion."

Zeiber then brought out pictures of Zero protecting Minghua from Eleking Discharge Dragon's attacks.

"Yes, the need to protect other lifeforms at the cost of their own lives. The greatest weakness an Ultraman could possess. I could use that to my advantage, and I know just the day to use that weakness against him." Zeiber said as he brought out a data file of Anima, Gripen's test flight next week. "Now I just need the perfect monster for this job."

Zeiber then begins going through his datafiles for the perfect Kaiju to use to battle Zero while using his weakness against him.


(Days later)

For the past few days, Gripen has been doing ongoing tests and training simulations while at times going out with Kei, going shopping, eating in the restaurants in town, and there are also times when both Kei and Gripen have their brainwaves scan for a comparison between them, and there are also times when Kei would bring Gripen to the base riding his bike together.

Now on day four, Kei was seated in Haruka's room and even though there was a sign that said, 'no smoking', the professor still brought out his usual cigarettes to enjoy a good smoke.

"We've figured out why Gripen has been doing better. Or more precisely, we figured out what's going on. But…" Haruka told him.

"But what?" Kei asks, and Haruka walks to his computer as Kei turns to it.

"Look at this." Haruka said as he brought out a monitor screen on his computer. "This is Gripen's EGG graph. Her brainwave pattern, essentially."

As the graph goes to the side, it shows where her brainwave patterns start to become unstable.

"It's started to get unstable." Kei said.

"Yes. When this unstable state continues, she loses consciousness." Haruka told him and Kei was surprised by that as he turned to him. "But…"

Haruka soon brought out another brainwave pattern below Gripen's pattern.

"The graph below shows your brain waves. When Gripen's EGG graph is influenced by your brain waves…" Haruka said before notices that Gripen's graph starts to become more stable.

"This is…" Kei said.

"The oscillation synchronizes, and it stabilizes. It happens whenever you're within about ten meters. We'll need to get some more data to find the exact number." Haruka said before he brought the two graphs together. "But it's impossible for someone's brain waves to synchronize with someone else without even a millisecond of lag. Not unless the patterns were established in advance."

"Established in advance?" Kei repeated in confusion as Haruka smokes on his cigarette.

"Let me ask you something. You never met her before you left Shanghai, right?" Haruka asked.

"No…" Kei answered and Haruka put his smoke in the ashtray.

"Well, whatever. As long as you're near her, she's stable. All we need to do is adjust the intervals where she's awake. We can't have you going up in the air with her to keep her stable, after all." Haruka stated.


Rain soon begins to fall from the dark clouds above Komatsu Base. After his talk with Haruka, Kei had met up with Gripen and they were now in the cafeteria to have lunch together.

"Hey. Sounds like you're doing good." Kei said.

"Thanks to you. When you are near, I feel better." Gripen said.

"I'm not doing anything, though. But if you're doing this well, I bet not only could you pass the test, you could do a real fight!" Kei said.

"I will do my best to live up to your expectations." Gripen said.

After finishing his lunch, Kei soon puts his chopsticks on his bowl.

"When the Xi are gone, I hope we can fly in China together." Kei said with a hopeful smile.

"China?" Gripen said in confusion.

"I used to live in a town in China called Changshu 'cause of my dad's job." Kei told her.

"Changshu…" Gripen said in confusion once again, and Kei soon brought out his phone.

"It's northwest of Shanghai. There's lots of factories and labs." Kei explains as he brings out pictures of Changshu on his phone. "There's a lot of old buildings left, and it's a really laid-back place. Maybe it's similar to Komatsu."

As Kei scrolled down in his phone, he saw a news report of Changshu's current status from ten days ago.

"Ten days ago?" Kei said before he pressed on that news report, and to his shock, it showed pictures of Changshu that was completely demolished by the Xi as there was nothing left but ruins and ruined battlefields.

'Those bastards...They destroyed the whole city! This is awful. Why did they have to go this far? They didn't need to destroy every building in the city, did they? The city of Changshu was wiped from the face of the earth.' Kei thought in pure rage, and Zero noticed it and was worried about Kei.

"Kei…" Zero mutters in worry.

"Kei? Kei?" Gripen calls out, which snaps Kei out of his train of thought as he looks up at her.

"Oh, sorry." Kei told her.

"Are you sick?" Gripen asked in worry.

"No, I'm fine." Kei states as he puts his phone away before he notices Gripen had stood up and offers him a dark blue plastic bag.

"I have a present for you." Gripen told him and Kei soon took the gift in his hand as Gripen sat back down.

"What is this?" Kei asked as he looked at the bag.

"It would be embarrassing if you opened it here. Open it at home." Gripen requests, and Kei blinks to hear that. "You always do so much for me. So it's my way of saying thanks."

"Okay, I'll take it. Thanks." Kei said with a smile and Gripen's cheeks turned a little red as she smiled.

"Okay."

"Let's go, then." Kei told her.

"Okay." Gripen said.

Kei was standing in line to return his tray of dirty dishes as he was standing behind the last soldier who was in front of him.

"Thank you for the meal." He said before he left.

"You're welcome!"

Kei then placed his tray on the counter.

"Thank you for the meal." Kei told her.

"Sure thing!"

Kei then heard some loud noises; he soon turned and saw Gripen had fallen on the floor as her tray had fallen out of her hands while an air force pilot was looking down at her.

"I'm sorry-" Gripen said.

"Why aren't you locked up somewhere? How come they let you walk freely?" The pilot asked with an enraged face.

"I…" Gripen mutters.

"Don't talk!" He shouted and Gripen flinched. "Stop looking at me with that face! You're not one of us!"

Kei soon rushed to Gripen's defense as he moved in front and faced the air force pilot.

"What are you doing?" Kei asked.

"Huh? Who are you?" He asked.

"I'm helping with the work they're doing on her." Kei told him.

"Oh, so you're just like the TRDI, then. Don't ever let us see that thing!" He told him, and some of the other pilots nodded in agreement.

"That's right!"

"Stop it. You're acting like a little kid."

Kei looks at the other pilots and sees that most of them have the same contempt towards Gripen.

"She's being sent on dangerous missions when she's not feeling well!" Kei told them.

"Don't say anything else to piss us off!" He exclaimed.

"There's no reason for you to be so mean." Kei stated before Gripen stood up and grabbed onto his arm.

"Kei, let's go." Gripen said as she was about to drag him away.

"Wait, do you not know?" The pilot asked.

"Hmm…?" Hearing that got Zero's attention.

"Know what?" Kei asked.

"Know what she's made of." He said, and Kei blinked to hear that as Gripen was about to drag him away once again.

"Kei!" Gripen said.

"Anima are made of parts salvaged from Xi after they've been shot down." He told him, and Kei was in shock to hear that before he slowly turned to Gripen who refused to look him in the eye.

"Gripen…" Kei mutters.

"I see. So that's what's been going on." Zero said.

"Well, if you didn't know-" He said before Gripen lets go of Kei and runs away.

"Gripen!" Kei calls out to her as she runs out the room and out of the building as the rain is pouring down on her.

"The rain didn't stop for the next three days."


(Flashback, two years ago)

Smoke could be seen in Karamary Airport as people were screaming, as the Xi were attacking.

One Xi aircraft was seen shooting down several passenger planes as the civilians were running away for their lives.

Kei was running as well before he stopped as he saw his mother's plane flying in the sky as the Xi was following behind her.

She tried her past to lose it but the Xi kept its pursuit on her.

"Stop it! Stop, please!" Kei shouted, and his pleas were unheard as the Xi shot at her plane damaging one of the wings as it fell to the ground. "Kaa-san!"

The plane soon crashed and exploded on the ground.

"Kaa-san!" Kei shouted as he ran in the attempt to save her, but the same Xi that shot her down flies above him before it soon turns at him as Kei stops running as the Xi charges at him.

When the Xi was close enough, it soon took the form of Gripen's Daughter as it loomed in front of him, and Kei was left horrified before he saw Gripen herself with her hair and eyes lit up staring at him…

(End of flashback)


Kei's eyes snapped open as he sat up and pants from that nightmare. Kei soon begins to calm down.

"What the hell was that?" Kei said before he turned to the calendar, and he hadn't crossed out the days leading to the 21.

Kei soon got off his bed and picked up his phone from the table and saw that today was the 21, the day of Gripen's test flight.

'Her test flight's today, huh?' Kei sighed before he turned to the present that Gripen had given him but he hadn't looked inside of it yet.

'Yashirodoori-san said they're still researching the Anima. In other words, they're a black box. They've recovered some kind of Xi computer or something from their planes and put it in manmade airplanes. Even though they don't know when they'll go back to being monsters…' Kei thought before he remembered that pilot's words that day.

"Why aren't you locked up somewhere? How come they let you walk freely?"

'Anima are made of parts salvaged from Xi after they've been shot down.'

'Now I understand what that officer meant. But what are they going to do?' Kei thought as he leaned on his bed. 'Are they going to fly as planned? No point in thinking about it. There's only an hour left until her test flight. Even if I went, they'd just ask what the hell I was doing there.'

"That's no reason to act like a coward, Kei." Zero told him before Kei looked at the Bracelet.

"You know, I'm still not used to that. But what would you want me to do?" Kei asked.

"Well, you still have some time left. It's not too late to talk things out to Gripen." Zero told him.

"And why should I? She was the one who was lying to me." Kei said.

"Have you ever thought that your hatred towards the Xi was part of the reason why she did it?" Zero asked, and Kei's eyes flinched to hear that before he turned away from the Bracelet.

Zero sighed as he shook his head and looked up at his human host.

"You know, lately I was starting to think that I've made the wrong choice of choosing you to be my host." Zero told him which surprised Kei as he looked at the Bracelet.

"What do you mean? Why would you even think that?" Kei asked.

"Because, Kei, your state of mind is making me worry about you. Like your lust for power and the need for revenge." Zero told him and Kei was confused by that.

"And what's wrong with that?! I just want to get revenge for my mom! What could possibly be wrong about that?" Kei asked.

"There are many things wrong about that!" Zero exclaimed. "If you keep up this need for revenge, it only makes things worse for you. Trust me, I've seen it happen before."

Kei blinks to hear that.

"What? What do you mean by that?" Kei asked, and Zero sighed.

"You see, a long time ago, there was once an Ultraman named Belial." Zero said as he remembered his archenemy, where Belial attempted to take the Land of Light's ultimate source of power, the Plasma Spark for himself.

"He was a powerful Ultraman and was considered to be one of the greatest warriors before my time. But he wasn't satisfied with his current abilities. So, in his lust for power, he attempted to take the Land of Light's ultimate power source, the Plasma Spark for himself. But in the end he couldn't handle the power of it and was banished from the Land of Light. But that was only the start of his dark path."

Zero then remembers how Belial came in contact with the Alien Reiblood, and where Belial was forever changed into the dark Ultraman he was today.

"During Belial's banishment, he came into contact with a being called Alien Reiblood. And by selling his soul to him for more power, Reiblood had infused his genes with Belial's, forever changing him into an evil Ultraman powered only by darkness." Zero said.

Hearing all of that surprised Kei.

"No way…Something like that happened to an Ultraman." Kei said, and Zero nodded.

"Yeah, it did. And too long ago, I was the same." Zero told him and Kei was confused by that.

"How?" Kei asked.

"A few years ago, while I was still a young warrior, I was seduced by the Plasma Spark's power and like Belial, I attempted to take it for myself, almost taking the same dark path as he did. But thanks to my father, and the Ultra Brothers, they stopped me before that could happen. Sure, they banished me, but I was grateful for it. If it weren't for them, I would've ended up like Belial."

Kei was once again surprised to hear about that.

"Not long after, I underwent some tough training with Ultraman Leo, and soon enough I understood the true importance of being an Ultraman. And I also beat Belial more than once, saving the universe along with it." Zero said with a smug tone, and Kei sweat drops to hear that before Zero coughs in his hand. "In anycase, it taught me some very important lessons. Like power without justice is meaningless, and that an Ultraman's true purpose is to protect peace for every being in the universe."

"Power without justice is meaningless…" Kei said.

"And I also know another Ultraman who took a dark path." Zero said, and Kei was surprised to hear that.

"Really? Who?" Kei asked.

"He's name was Hikari, Ultraman Hikari." Zero said as he remembered Hikari.

"He's the chief scientist for the Space Science Technology Bureau of the Land of Light. He created powerful items that were used by some other Ultras that I know, including a little something for myself. But a long time ago, he visited a peaceful planet called Arb, and swore to protect it. But during the time he was away, Planet Arb had fallen under attack and was completely devastated, and all the people were devoured by the terrible beast, Bogarl. Overcome by the guilt of his failure, Hikari was eventually consumed by fury and vengeance, and thus he became Hunter Knight Tsurugi, an agent of vengeance."

Kei was surprised to hear that, and it sounded similar to his own story.

"W-What happened after that?" Kei asked, and Zero once again sighed.

"After Hikari had become Tsurugi, he sought to avenge Planet Arb, but he didn't care who and what got in his way. In fact, during his fight against Bogarl, if he would've destroyed it, it would've come at the cost of countless human lives, and he wouldn't even care about that." Zero told him and Kei was once again surprised by this. "Thankfully, thanks to Ultraman Mebius and Mother of Ultra, they were able to bring Hikari back to the light and freed him from the Armor of Revenge."

"I see…" Kei mutters.

"Kei…" Zero said before he sighed and looked at him. "Look, I get it. You want the power to avenge your mother. But if you let it consume you, you'll eventually turn into the very monster you're trying to fight against. You should do well to keep that in mind." Zero told him, and Kei looked down as he was in deep thought about that.


In the living room, Minghua was watching a news report about the Xi while she was vacuuming.

"Breaking news. The Seventh Fleet, which was sent to deal with the Chinese civil war, has vanished. The safety of Japanese citizens in China, as well as the refugees who were scheduled to evacuate is unknown, and attempts…"

"Morning." Minghua looked and saw Kei standing next to the opened door.

"Morning? It's almost noon!" Minghua told him as she put down the vacuum and turned off the TV.

"I see…" Kei said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"No work today?" Minghua asked.

"Nope." Kei said, and Minghua hummed before she pointed her finger up with a smile on her face.

"Then want to go shopping? Maybe get your mind off things?" Minghua asked.

"Sure. Let's go." Kei said.

"Really?" Minghua asks in excitement.

"Yeah. Want to leave now? I can go get changed." Kei said, and Minghua smiled before she nodded.

"Okay!"

Kei soon returns to his home as he walks inside and to the closet and opens it, but before Kei could change clothes, he turns to the bag that Gripen has given him once again.

'Why do I have to feel guilty? She lied to me.' Kei thought before he opened the bag and pulled out what was inside, and it was a red muffler. 'A muffler? It's June.'

Just as Kei pulled it out of the bag, he soon noticed an envelope letter had fallen on the floor.

Not long after finding the letter and reading it, Kei quickly changed clothes and rushed out of the house.

"H-Hey! Kei?" Minghua calls out as she follows him as Kei rushes to his bike. "Are we going shopping?"

"Next time!" Kei told her as he sat on his bike and raced to Komatsu Base.

"Kei, you jerk!" Minghua exclaims at him.

As Kei was racing towards the base, he remembered Gripen's words in that letter.


(Flashback)

"Kei, thank you for everything. Because of you, I'm not scared of flying anymore. I'll do my best on my test flight. I told someone at the TRDI that I wanted to thank you, and they said, 'Give him something handmade! Guys always fall for that', so I read a lot of books, and then decided to make a muffler for you. Did you fall for it? I need to apologize to you. I've been hiding something big from you." Kei tightens his hold on the muffler in his hand.

(End of flashback)


As Kei continued to race towards the base, Gripen was putting on her uniform to prepare for her flight test.

"I'm made from Xi parts. I'm told they extracted the core from a crashed Xi and grew me in a tube, using it as part of my spine. I can't really explain what makes me different than a Xi. But…I want you to know that I have no memories of being a Xi. My first memories are of being Gripen, and telling myself I had to protect humanity. I fly for humanity, and I fight for humanity. I thought I was normal. Because that's why the JAS39 was created. I was going to tell you this sooner…But when we went to the shrine, you said you hated the Xi, so I didn't. I didn't want you to hate me. But I can't keep lying forever. So I used all my courage to write this letter. I'm praying you'll come to see me tomorrow."

'I hate the Xi.' Kei thought, while at the same time Gripen entered her Daughter and placed her hands on the control as both it and her eyes and hair lit up. 'But I don't hate you!'

Zero nodded as he watched him.

"Good! That's what I want to hear." Zero said.


Gripen moved to the launch way as she spoke to the flight tower.

"Komatsu Tower, Barbie 01 is ready for departure." Gripen said.

Kei soon arrives at the base as he enters the observation room and moves to Haruka and Funato's side.

"I'm sorry…I…" Kei said, and Haruka puffs out some smoke from his cigarette.

"Did you read her letter?" Haruka asked.

"Yes, this morning." Kei said as he pants.

"And you decided to show up 'cause of it, huh? You really are easy." Haruka stated before he breathed in his smoke. "But…That's how she really feels. Those are her words, not the words of a program or a Xi. That, at least, I want you to understand."

"Right. Can she fly?" Kei asked.

"It's a bit of a brute-force method, but we put her to sleep so she'd be awake when we needed her." Haruka told him, and Kei turned to the screen to look at Gripen. "We can probably at least fool them for the duration of the test flight."

"Barbie 01, this is Komatsu Tower. You are cleared for takeoff on Runway 06."

"Roger. Barbie 01, cleared for takeoff on Runway 06." Gripen responded.

"Why do you act like she's so important to you?" Kei asked.

"I don't like it when I don't understand something." Haruka answered as Gripen began to take off. "Why is she the only one that has problems? Why does being with you fix them? Moving on to the next option without trying to figure out why this one failed is what monkeys do. And we ain't monkeys."

Kei smiles as he turns back to the screen to watch over Gripen.

Gripen was flying high in the sky as she was approaching the mission area.

"Barbie 01 has entered the mission area."

Haruka then spoke to Gripen on his earpiece.

"First, let's try out your guns. You'll be in range of the first target soon." Haruka told her.

"Roger. I'll end this in a single strike." Gripen said, and Haruka clicks his tongue.

"It's bugging her. I told her to stay calm." Haruka said as he removed his cigarette.

They soon saw that Gripen was now closed to Target 01.

"Barbie 01 is approaching Target 01. Three miles to contact. Two. One."

As Gripen was close enough, Target 01 soon disappeared on the screen's radar.

"Target kill." Gripen said.

"Kill copy."

"She did it!" Kei said in relief.

"Okay, now try your AAMs. Target 02, 020, 45, alt 25." Haruka told her.

"Roger." Gripen responded in acknowledgement. "Target 02. Mark 015. 42. Alt 28."

One of the operators soon detected something on her radar.

"Xi on rader! Air superiority type. One unit!"

"Impossible!" Haruka said as he and Kei were shocked to hear that. "We're nowhere near the East China Sea!"

"Bogey will reach our airspace in ten minutes."

"I'll go!" Gripen said.

"No! That plane's got nothing but training weapons on it. Call Phantom from Misawa!" Haruka told the operators.

"They won't make it in time. Target 02 priority registration deleted." Gripen said, and the line on the screen which Gripen was following disappeared as she moved to engage the enemy.

"Barbie 01 has veered off course!"

Haruka and Kei were shocked once again, before the researcher looked at his wristwatch.

"It's been 45 minutes since she activated." Haruka said before he looked back on the screen and soon heard a ringing sound.

"Irregularities on the direct link!" One of the operators said as they saw that Gripen's eyes were twitching.

"Static is amplifying…Error counter rising!"

Gripen was on the verge of passing out.

"Gripen!" Kei said in worry.

"EGG pattern is showing instability!"

"Send a forced awakening signal!" Haruka told them.

"Roger! Charge 100! Shoot!" He said as he sent a remote shock to Gripen, but it didn't work as she fell asleep.

"It's no good. She's not responding!"

"Wait…I'm detecting something else?" One of the operators said.

"Another Xi?" Haruka asked, and she shook her head.

"No…It's appearing in the sea!"

"Nani?!" Haruka said in shock.

That is when they saw a kaiju appear on the screen as it emerged from the sea.

The Kaiju almost resembles a humanoid insect with a bulky red body with black armor, it also has two red with silver mandibles near to its mouth with two long antennae on the sides of its head with a long horn on the forehead and has a long tail with a stinger.

This is the Space Demon, Bezelb.

Seeing that Kaiju surprised everyone in the room, including Kei and Zero.

"A kaiju?!" Haruka gasped before Bezelb wrings out a pair of wings from its back and flies towards Gripen.

"The kaiju is heading towards Gripen!"

Kei was surprised by this.

"This is just great…" Haruka mutters before he notices that Kei is now missing. "Narutani-kun?"


Kei was now outside of the building as he found a good hiding spot to transform.

"Alright, this should do it. Let's go, Zero!" Kei said.

"Right!" Zero responded.

Kei soon brings out the Ultra Zero Eye and puts on its face and presses the button, to transform into Ultraman Zero.

"Zwei!"


As Bezelb was close to Gripen, the Space Demon was about to slam its hand at her but coming to her rescue was Zero as he landed his Ultra Zero Kick on it as they smashed into the ocean.

Zero rolled on the ocean and face Bezelb as it soon stood back up and glares at Zero.

"You've got some nerve picking on a defenseless girl like that. Seems like I need to teach you some manners!" Zero stated as he pointed his finger at Bezelb.

Bezelb roars as it charges at Zero, and he does the same, Bezelb throws two punches at Zero and the Ultraman parries them and lands a few punches on Bezelb's chest followed with a spin kick on its head, sending the Space Demon rolling on the ground.

Bezelb soon stands back up, and brings out its arm blades, and Zero's Sluggers fly off his head before he catches them in his hands as he assumes his stance with them.

Bezelb roars as both it and Zero charge at each other and clash their bladed weapons several times.


Haruka and the operators were watching Zero's battle against Bezelb on their screen.

"The Ultraman is engaging in combat with the kaiju, but the Xi is still heading towards Barbie 01!"

"Activate the autopilot! Get her the hell out of the combat area! Where is Phantom?" Haruka asked.

"Anima and Daughter are both under maintenance. It'll be one hour, minimum, before it can take off."

"Then tell the US military it's an emergency." Haruka told them before they heard ringing and saw that the Xi was getting closer to Gripen.

"Radar warning! Bogey is on Barbie 01's tail!"


During their next clash of blades, both Zero and Bezelb were forced to skid away from each other before both parties stopped and assumed their stance.

Zero then notices that the Xi was getting closer to Gripen.

"Oh no, Gripen!" Kei said in worry.

"We better finish this quick!" Zero said as he turned back to Bezelb.

The Space Demon begins charging up red lightning on the point on its head to fire it at Zero, and Zero was ready for it, but to his surprise, Bezelb turns to Gripen and fires it's Lightning Ray at her.

"Gripen!" Kei shouted in worry.

"No you don't!" Zero said as he flew into the Lightning Ray's way and took the hit as it landed upon him, dealing damage to him before Zero fell to the ocean.

Just as Zero was about to stand back up, Bezelb took this chance and jumped onto Zero's body and began beating on Zero by using its hands a few times before shocking him with its Lightning Ray dealing more damage to Zero as he screams, and his Color Timer begins to blink red.

Zero then saw that the Xi had ready its gun as it was aimed at Gripen.

"Gripen, wake up! Wake up!" Haruka calls out to her through the communication, but she couldn't hear his voice.

"Gripen, wake up!" Kei shouted at her.

"Dammit…" Zero mutters as he tries to push Bezelb off of him but the Space Demon continues to beat on him.

The Xi soon charges its weapon.

"Gripen!" Kei shouted.

Unknown to everyone is that a plane was flying above Gripen and the Xi as the pilot sighs in a playful tone in her voice.

"Looks like I'll have to help you, then." Said the female pilot as she dived down in front of the Xi which caused it to shake before it moved away from Gripen.

Both Zero and Kei were surprised to see that, before they saw that Gripen's savor was a Daughter in a different design from Gripen's, as it was colored yellow and is based out of a F-15J Eagle.

The Daughter flew above the sea before it raised up and followed behind the Xi, and soon locked onto it.

"Gotcha! Fox 2, go!" The Anima said as she fired a missile at the Xi.

The Xi tries to lose it but the missile follows it before it hits on it and explodes which destroys the Xi aircraft.

"Splash!"

"Thank goodness." Kei said in relief that Gripen was safe.

"Not bad…" Zero said as he was impressed by the yellow Daughter's moves.

Zero then turns back to Bezelb as the Space Demon created a destructive sphere of energy from between its pincers to fire it in front of Zero.

"Alright…I had enough of you!" Zero said as he charges up energy in his Beam Lamp. "Emerium Slash!"

Zero fires a powerful beam attack on Bezelb which sends the Space Demon off of Zero as it sends it flying and forces it to dismiss its energy sphere before Bezelb falls to the ocean.

Zero soon stands up before Bezelb thrusts its tail stinger at Zero, which he dodges it time and Zero throws his Sluggers at Bezelb as they fly at the Space Demon and slashes around its body before they return to Zero as he catches them in his hands.

Zero then brought his Sluggers together as they combined and changed into a crescent-shaped blade, the Zero Twin Sword, before he swung it around and assumed his stance with it.

Zero soon charges at Bezelb, and when he is close enough the Space Demon slashes its arm blades at him and Zero parries it and soon charges energy into his Sword.

"Plasma Spark Slash!" Zero slashes through Bezelb's body two times and turns his back on the Space Demon before it falls backwards and explodes.

Zero breathes out before he flies into the sky and disappears in the horizon.


"Both Bogey and Kaiju are down."

Haruka soon heard the door opening, and saw it was Kei as he was leaning on the door while panting.

"Narutani-kun, where have you been?" Haruka asked.

"Ummm…bathroom." Kei answered before he walked to the researcher. "Anyway, what happened?"

"Well, the good news is that Gripen is safe. But I swear that girl, waiting for the right moment to make her entrance. Show-off." Haruka said.

"Otou-sama! Hi there!"

Kei turned to the screen and saw the face of the Anime of the yellow Daughter as she waves at Haruka with a loving smile on her face.

She appeared to be around his age with long blond hair and bright blue eyes. Besides the suit she was wearing, there was a white ribbon tied behind her hair and it was hard to tell under her suit, she has quite a slender and curvaceous figure.

"Otou-sama?" Both Kei and Zero said at the same time while Haruka huffed in annoyance.

"Looks like things were bad for a second, but it's okay now! Eagle will protect the Sea of Japan!" Eagle introduced herself as she saluted.

To be continued…The World You See


There you have it, hope you like it. Review to tell me what you think of the story.