Chapter 3
I have something to tell all of you. Please assemble yourself at an earliest opportune moment. Zoffy.
Hayata frowned at the sky while watching the message. A beeping sound made him scrambled to find his phone in his jacket. He took the call when he saw the name of his three brothers on the screen.
"Did you see that, nii-san!" Hayata winced when Hokuto practically yelled his ears off. He distanced the phone from his ears a bit and rubbed it to ease the ringing.
"We all see it, Ace. No need to yell in the phone." Dan softly rebuked his younger brother. They all heard a mumbled 'sorry' from Hokuto.
"What do you think Zoffy nii-san want to tell us?" Goh interjected.
"I don't know but we better obey. We will meet tomorrow evening at Seven's place. His place is far more secluded so that no one will question us if we do something out of ordinary." Hayata concluded. They all agreed and promise to meet at allotted time.
"I hope everyone's okay." Hayata sighed.
"You're late, nii-san." Dan remarked from the front door. He opened the door and ushered him in. Together, they went to the backyard where Goh and Hokuto were already waiting for him.
"Sorry. There's some business that I have to take care first. Let's start now." They all nodded. With practiced eased, Hayata shot his sign to the sky. They waited for a few seconds before Zoffy responded.
Prepare to receive transmission.
Hokuto quickly turn on the computer and slid it in front of them. They waited in tensed silenced before the image of Zoffy popped in.
"Hello everyone."
Zoffy greeted them stiffly. From his tensed shoulder and the way he carried himself, they knew immediately that something was amiss.
"Zoffy nii-san. Is something wrong?" Hayata took the lead as the eldest brothers there.
"Yes, I'm afraid."
Zoffy sighed wearily. They watched in alarmed as their ever stoic brother looked exhausted and ready to collapse in any given moment. Hokuto rushed in to ask the question that lingered in everyone minds.
"Is it Father?"
"No. Not Father. He's alright."
"Mother?"
"No."
"Taro?"
Their fears had been confirmed when Zoffy stiffened. They gasped in shocked.
"No." Goh spoke breathlessly. Dan tightened his hold on Hokuto shoulder, afraid he would bolted and acted recklessly.
Hayata took a step forward and asked, "What happened?"
"I think you better watch this transmission."
Zoffy imaged rippled and the vastness of space replaced it. "What the…" Hokuto trailed off when he saw the reason of the transmission. They gasped in horror when they saw Taro had been beaten by the unknown enemy. Goh gritted his teeth in anger. He took a deep breath and tried to reign in his temper. From the corner of his eyes, he saw his brothers mixed emotions painted on their faces.
"How do you get the transmission?" Dan asked with barely concealed rage after the transmission ended.
"Mebius is the one that notified me. One of the Earth satellite had been shattered in the fight, prompting them to check for malfunction."
Hayata narrowed his eyes in anger. "What do you want us to do?"
"Make a swipe check on Earth. The other Ultra Warriors are checking the nearest nebula to search for any sign of Taro. We're still not sure if he's crash landed there. I want you to cooperate with Mebius and his team. This is our top priority now. Dismissed."
The screen turned blanked. Dan crossed his hands in front of his chest. He furrowed his brow in confusion. Why Taro?
"What should we do, nii-san?" Hokuto asked softly. He looked so lost and helpless that made Goh couldn't helped it but patted his shoulder tenderly.
"Why Taro?" Dan blurted suddenly. Every head swiveled towards him in confusion.
"What do you mean, Seven nii-san?" Goh frowned.
"From the transmission, we can safely assume that the enemy obviously knew that Taro is the son of Ultra Father. The question is, did he specifically targeted Taro or Taro had been at the wrong place at the wrong time?"
"It's the question for another day. You heard Zoffy nii-san. Finding Taro's wereabout are our top priority. Tomorrow morning, we shall head to the GUYS Headquarters and meet Mebius and his team. I'm going to send Mebius a message first."
With practiced eased, Hayata thrusted his hand upwards and a ball of light emerged. It blinked out of existence after he imparted it with the message.
"Come. We need to rest. We will have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." They obeyed and followed Hayata into the house.
Meanwhile, the situation at the GUYS Headquarters were not as peaceful as it seemed. Teppei and Konomi were trying to calculate the trajectory of the place where Taro might crashed. The others had scouted the nearby places while asking questions to the civilians whether they had seen any strange things occurring lately.
"Any luck?" Every head swiveled towards the trio at the entrance.
"No. Nothing at all." Ryu sighed when he answered Captain Sakomizu. Marina and George sprawled on their seat after their uneventful day.
"Be patience. We may have something later on. Where's Mirai?" Captain Sakomizu asked.
"He's on the rooftop. Said he have something important to take care of." George shrugged.
"Very well. Teppei had several places that he want you to check it out. We should…"
"Guys, guys!" Mirai hollered from the outside. The captain stopped mid sentence and cocked his head to the entrance. Mirai stood panting with a big grin painted on his face.
"I've got a message from Ultraman. They're coming here tomorrow to help with the search!"
"Seriously?!" Teppei almost knocked his chair down when he stood hurriedly with an excited face. George rolled his eyes in fond exasperation. Everyone knew with Teppei obsession with everything related to the warriors from nebula M-78.
"Who are 'they'"? Marina interjected before Teppei could opened his mouth and spouted facts about ultra warriors. Captain Sakomizu sent her a grateful nod for her interruption while Ryu grinned behind his hands.
"Ultraman, Ultra Seven, Ultraman Jack and Ultraman Ace." Mirai listed the name of his superiors that were coming.
"The Ultra Brothers? Wow, the situation must be dire enough for them to send their best here."
"Well, actually they're not on the Land of Light to begin with. Last I heard from Master Taro, they're stranded here and need some time to charge their energy to open the portal to the Land of Light. Not to mention that Master Taro is the son of Father of Ultra and Mother of Ultra, two of the most powerful warriors from my planet. The fact that he is the youngest Ultra Brothers didn't help. You know what they did with the youngest. They will protect him and make sure that he will stay safe at all times." Mirai rambled and didn't saw the astonished faces of his teammates.
"Ultraman Taro is the son of Father of Ultra and Mother of Ultra?!"
"Ultramen have parents?!"
George and Konomi yelled simultaneously. Every head turned towards her. An awkward silenced descended following her statement. She fidgeted nervously on her seat. Mirai cocked his head towards her.
"Yeah. How do you think we were born?"
Konomi blushed and mumbled incoherently under her breath. The others snickered while Mirai furrowed his eyebrows.
"Is there something that I need to know?"
"Ignore them Mirai. They just acted childish. When are they coming?" Captain Sakomizu smiled at him.
"Tomorrow. They will contact me when they arrive."
"So we still have time to map more of the possible location. We need to be more diligent. If the enemy can defeat Taro like nothing, that means he is a threat that to be deal accordingly."
They nodded solemnly.