Chapter 8

'Where is my baby?'

Raito snapped his eyes open and gasped. He could felt his heart beat rapidly in his chest. He shakily sat on the bed while leaning his head on the wall behind him. Even when he closed his eyes, he could faintly heard the woman calling her child. It creeped him slightly to hear it.

He opened his eyes and frowned. It just dawned on him that the house was too quiet. He reached for a glass of water at the table beside his bed before his eyes saw a piece of paper beside the jar. Curiously, he opened it.

'Raito, I'm going to buy some grocery. You just rest, okay?

Love, Narumi.'

He rolled his eyes in fondness. That woman never stopped to mollycoddle him. He knew she love him very much but for now he couldn't returned her feeling wholeheartedly. He might had some feeling for her. Whether it was love or affection, he still didn't knew. He still needed some time to sort out everything.

He rose slowly from the bed and wandered to the living room. He made himself comfortable on the couch in front of the television. He was bored out of his mind when nothing worth seeing on it. He just clicked on the remote control without care.

"What?" His hand stilled when he saw the news of the newest attack of the monster. His eyes scanned rapidly on the news headline. His eyes grew wide with every sentence. Without thinking of what he was doing, he shot out of the couch and headed to the outside. He didn't knew why but he felt he must went there as soon as possible.

'At last, Ultraman Mebius is here to save us!'

He turned around sharply when he heard the reporter statement. He stood rooted on his place when the figure of Ultraman Mebius emerged on the scene.

"Ultraman…Mebius?"

He moaned piteously and put his hands on his head. He felt his head had been pounding with a sledgehammer. Every pounding of his head had been accompanied by his thundering heartbeat. He felt a sharp pain at the back of his head and realized belatedly that he had fallen to the floor. He curled to his side while still grabbing a fistful of his hair on his hands.

There was a flash of something, of recognition on his mind. But it was gone as soon as it came. He reached for it again but it slipped away, avoiding capture. He groaned when the pounding increased on his head. His mind felt like it was being shredded to pieces.

"Stop it, it hurts too much." He whispered while shaking uncontrollably. His eyes clenched shut tightly. Tears had threatened to fall from his eyes. He cried out in pain when he couldn't stand the torture anymore. He was too occupied with the pain that he didn't realized that a golden light had shot upwards to the sky when he yelled. He welcomed it when the darkness claimed him again.

"What?" The four Ultra Brothers gasped and looked around. Even Mebius faltered for a second before continued his attack. Just now, they felt a sudden surge of power coming from somewhere. It was too similar to Taro that made them freeze to the core.

"Nii-san! That's…" Hokuto trailed off.

"…Taro's signature, I know." Hayata continued.

"That's mean he's here!" Dan spun wildly to try and felt where the power coming from. Goh had already tried to pinpoint the direction where it's coming.

"It's no used. It was too sudden and abrupt. As soon as it had been released, it dissipated. I believe it was accidental." Goh sighed frustrated.

"Sirs!" They turned around simultaneously. They saw Mirai was running towards them. They waited patiently for him to catch up.

"It was Master Taro, right?" he said out of breath.

"We believe so." Dan nodded.

"I knew it!" Mirai pumped his hand upwards with vigour. The others chuckled and shook their heads at Mirai's enthusiastic reply. Then he frowned. "But why didn't he come and see me? He know I'm here so if he need assistance he can come and see me. Did I anger him or somehow?" He bit his lower lips worriedly and slumped his shoulder.

"No, Mirai. I'm sure it's not that. Maybe there's something happening that prevented him to come and see you." Goh smiled reassuringly to the young ultra. He forgot sometimes that Mirai looked up to Taro so much and seek his approval for anything that he did. He had formed a bond with Taro, a bond that much more closer than student-mentor relationship.

"Mirai, do you think GUYS Headquarters can help us determine where the energy coming from?" Hayata asked abruptly. Mirai nodded and beamed happily. "That's settled then. Let's go to the headquarters first. We will determine our next move from there."

"Mirai!" The ultras in disguised turned towards the voice. They saw Ryu, Marina and George were running towards them.

"What happened back there? We saw you wavered for a second when you fought that monster." Ryu asked him with a frown.

"We felt a power surge from somewhere." Mirai answered while looking at the three of them.

"A power surge? Who?" Marina widened her eyes in shock.

"It's Taro." Goh confirmed to them.

"Do you know where it's coming from?" George asked excitedly.

"No. It ceased immediately after it was released. We were lucky to have felt it at all."

"This is not the place to discuss about this matter. We will head back to the headquarters to report our latest discovery to Zoffy nii-san." Hayata interjected and ushered them to go. The GUYS crew watched amusedly when their resident happy-go-lucky teammate walked with bouncy steps along the way.

"Good job, everyone." Captain Sakomizu greeted them in the command centre. He watched perplexed when they entered with an uncharacteristic enthusiastic expression. Even their guests wore a satisfied smile.

"What happened?" he asked, puzzled.

"Captain, we may have spot Master Taro just now." Mirai spoke with exuberance.

"Really?" Teppei sat up straighter in his seat. The others nodded excitedly.

"That's why we need you to check the location of the power surge. Check if there is any spike of power just now." Hayata said and took his seat. The other Ultra Brothers sat with dignity. Without preamble, Teppei and Konomi went to the monitor and typed a few commands. They watched the stream of information in silence when Teppei spoke in triumph.

"Yes! I got it." He displayed his findings on the main monitor. The others stared transfixed on the map.

"Where is that?" George asked.

"Approximately 200 kilometres from here. There." Konomi magnified the map and it showed some remote area.

"Can you narrow it down?"

"Sorry sir. This is the smallest area we can narrow it down for you. We're afraid if we narrow it more, we will miss Ultraman Taro location." Teppei answered Goh with an apologetic smile.

"It's fine. Thank you for your effort." Hokuto smiled gently to him. He turned towards Hayata. "What should we do now, nii-san?"

"We better check the area now while we still have some free time. We will divide it and go alone so not arouse suspicion."

"You better contact Zoffy nii-san first to tell him." Dan advised.

"Yes, you're right." Hayata nodded. "Please establish the connection." He gestured towards Teppei. Teppei step forward and punched some button. The Ultra Brothers took their position in front of the monitor with Mirai standing behind them. A moment later, the image of Zoffy appeared.

"Do you have anything to report?"

"Yes, actually. When Mebius was fighting a monster, we felt an influx of power coming from somewhere. We're sure it was Taro." Hayata reported in. They watched Zoffy sagged in relief.

"Good. Check the area and report to me if there is any news. Zoffy, out."

The image of Zoffy blinked out of existence. Hayata spun around and watched his three brothers. "Alright. The four of us will go alone to cover more track. We will use the communicator for communication. Only speaking telepathically on dangerous situation. We need to take extreme precaution to avoid the alien from detecting our presence here."

"Sir!" Mirai interjected with a determined look. "Permision to help too!" He didn't voiced it as a request but rather as a statement. Hayata turned to look at Captain Sakomizu.

"Very well. We should help too but we don't know how to detect an ultra presence like you. So we will monitor anything from here. If there is any spike of power just like now, we will tell you the exact location."

"Yes sir!" Mirai saluted happily at the captain. "Guys, I leave it to you for now!" Mirai told the others.

"Don't worry. You just find and bring Ultraman Taro back, alright?" Ryuu answered for the rest of them. The others grinned and nodded. Mirai grinned back and followed his superiors out.

Land of Light

Zoffy strode to the Ultra Father's home with a purpose. He hoped the news that he brought would lessen the parents distraught over the disappearance of their son. He knocked succinctly and took a step back. He didn't waited long before it opened.

"Yes, Zoffy?" Ultra Father greeted him. Zoffy graced Ultra Father with a smile. The latter widened his eyes and ushered him inside. He sat down and watched Ultra Father hurried towards where he presumed his bedroom. His gaze wandered towards the spacious living room.

"Zoffy. Do you have any news about Taro for us?" his eyes snapped towards Ultra Mother. Her husband sat beside him and held her hand tightly.

"I believe so. Not long ago, they felt a spike of power when Mebius was fighting a monster. They identified it as Taro." Zoffy told them and watched their reaction. Ultra Father's eyes swam with emotion but the one that he could discerned was relieved. Meanwhile, Ultra Mother stood up and almost walked outside if not for her husband's hand gripped her wrist tightly.

"Where are you going, Marie?"

"We should go to Earth and find our son…"

"No." Ultra Father cut her words. "Let them search first. We should not interfere."

"Ken! That's my son we are talking about!"

"He's my son too!" He roared loudly, causing Zoffy to stumble back in shock. His wife squared her shoulder defiantly. "He's our son. But we need to trust them. Trust that they will do anything in their power to find Taro. And most of all, trust Taro. Trust our son to come back to us. Trust that our love will guide him back to us." He spoke calmly. They stared at each other's eyes. Ultra Mother slumped her shoulder in defeat.

"I'm sorry. Yes, you're right. We need to put our trust on them." She lowered her head. He put his finger under her chin and raised it.

"It's fine. But never accuse me to love him less than you. I love him more than my life." He hugged her tightly to himself. They enjoyed the rare moment of intimacy before the sound of a throat been cleared snapped them to awareness. They blushed and reluctantly broke apart. They turned their attention towards their forgotten spectator, Zoffy. Zoffy meanwhile tried to look anywhere but them.

"I agree with Ultra Father. I think we better give them a chance to conduct their own search first." Zoffy tried to diffuse the awkward situation. His gaze focused on the wall behind Ultra Father.

"Yes. Very well Zoffy. You may go." Ultra Father dismissed him. Zoffy walked hurriedly but still dignified outside. Ultra Father and Ultra Mother watched him go and chuckled.

"He had some restraint. I still remember Taro's reaction when he stumbled upon us in an intimate embrace." Ultra Mother commented.

"Oh yes. He was very vocal with it. He had yelled in shock and closed his eyes tightly before locked himself in his bedroom. He even pleaded to us to never did that in his presence." He chuckled. He took her hand in his and rubbed it gently.

"I have a feeling that they will find our son. Don't worry." He soothed her worries.

"I believe you." She muttered gently.