Chapter 2: More Than a Man

Shinji Ikari

March 31st, 2024, 3:35 pm

I sat quietly in the empty train car, leaning forward in my seat with my eyes closed. I had my earbuds in and was listening to one of the songs I used to play on loop with my old SDAT player. For the first time in a very long time, everything was normal.

"Where are we?"

Then I opened my eyes to see a man sitting across from me. The man I saw every time I looked in a mirror this past month. The other me. Behind him, I could see out the windows that the train was traveling underwater. If I recognized the fish outside correctly, it seemed we were under the ocean.

"I'm not sure," I replied honestly. "I think we might be dead?"

"Oh." Other me leaned back in his seat, looking around. "Not quite what I expected. I take it you've been here before?"

I nodded silently. How exactly were you supposed to talk to the guy whose life you stole? "I'm sorry."

"For what?" the other me asked with a note of genuine confusion. Just when I thought that I couldn't feel any more guilty about what had happened.

"For taking your life away from you and then dying before I could give it back," I replied, shrinking back to try and take up as little space as possible.

The other me smiled softly and shook his head. "You didn't take anything from me."

That caught my attention and I looked up at the older Shinji. Did he really not understand the situation or was I the one who was missing something?

"I-I've been living in your place for over a month, now," I tried to explain, tears welling up in my eyes. "I've been trying to find a way to give you your life back but now it looks like I screwed up and got us both killed. I-I… I'm just a failure and now you've suffered because of my mistakes-"

Before I could go on, the other me dropped to his knees in front of me and placed his hand firmly on my shoulder.

"No," he said, staring me dead in the eye. "Never tell yourself that, because it's not true. I've seen bits and pieces of the life you lived before this and do you know what I saw? I saw a courageous boy trying to make the best of a situation that was way over your head. No one would have been able to do any better in your shoes but you were never given a fair chance to live. That's why I gave you the reins."

"I…" My eyes widened as I realized the implications of what he'd just said. "You… what?"

Other me sighed and returned to his seat as the train broke through the surface of the water. We continued riding, a wake of seafoam splashing up on either side of the train.

"It's my fault we're here now, anyway," the other me muttered. "I'm the one who urged you on to rescue my friend. I didn't think you'd actually respond to me, though, since before now you haven't been able to notice me."

I struggled to find a response to that as I looked out the window, trying to work out just what he was trying to say. The ocean seemed to stretch out as far as I could see.

"Are you saying that you let me take over your life?" I asked.

"You seemed like you needed a break, so I decided to give you a shot at the peaceful life that you never had." He scratched his neck nervously. "I… might not have fully grasped the implications of what I was doing but I don't regret it. I'd make the same decision if I had to do it over again."

I stared up at him, now more confused than ever. "But why would you do that?"

Other me shrugged. "It seemed like the right thing to do. I'm sure you would have done the same for me."

Would I have? Thinking it over, I wasn't sure. Would I have let another me live my life? Probably not but I didn't exactly have a life that I would have wanted someone else to have to suffer through.

"Well, it's not like it matters much now, anyway," I muttered. "I've seen a lot of weird stuff but I don't think that I ever would have imagined getting eaten by a giant dragonfly to be how I'd die."

"Well, I think it was the meteor that killed us," other me noted. "But if it hadn't shown up, then we would have been eaten."

"What even was that, anyway?" I asked. "That seemed a bit too random to be, well, random."

The other me just shrugged. "Hell if I know. Getting killed by a kaiju attack would have been much less surprising."

"What are kaiju, anyway? Where did they come from? We didn't have anything like those in my world. Well, other than the Angels but those don't exist anymore."

My questions were met by another shrug. "You might as well ask me where birds come from, or grass. From my perspective, your world's the weird one for not having them. Maybe it's not that something happened in my timeline to create these monsters but that something happened in yours that wiped them out. I only got brief flashes of your memories but from what I could understand, your world was practically destroyed shortly before you were born, right?"

"Second Impact." I nodded in confirmation. "But that was only about a year before I was born. If monsters, er, 'kaiju' were around before then, then I think I would have heard about them in school."

"Right, so that couldn't have been it. But if that was Second Impact," he held up two fingers then lowered one, "then there must have been a First Impact. Maybe that's what did it."

"Your guess is as good as mine," I relented.

We sat there in silence for a while. Other me eventually took to looking out the window, where an island had appeared off in the distance. It seemed to grow steadily larger as we approached.

"Why do you think we're on a train?" he eventually asked me.

"I don't know," I admitted, looking down at my knees. "I guess I've never thought to question that."

"I'm guessing this place reflects our memories in some way," the other me speculated. "I've always loved the ocean and here we are. I think that part's me, so the train must be you."

"I… guess that makes sense." I looked up again, thinking back on it. "I guess I used to ride a lot when I was younger. Trains weren't very popular when I was growing up, since most people didn't have anywhere that they were eager to go. So whenever I ended up having to ride one, I'd usually be alone, or at least close to it. The quiet was nice, especially after things got so crazy later on."

"I can imagine." Other me smiled before looking back out at the island, which was growing ever closer. "They're also nice because they can take you where you want to go and I think I have a pretty good idea where this train's taking us."

"Where?"

"Someplace that I have a lot of fond memories of," he replied wistfully. "But I don't think that you would have ever had the chance to visit. Come on, I'll show you when we get there."

The older Shinji rose from his seat as the train finally slowed to a halt, holding his hand out to me. I hesitantly accepted it and he pulled me to my feet just before the doors opened. Together, we walked out onto a small beach, white sand beneath our feet. Most of the mountainous island was covered in dense forest but there were signs of a small village in the distance, as well as an old cabin at the edge of the forest up ahead.

"Welcome to Odo Island," he said. "My home away from home!"

He was right about this being a place that I'd never been and I wasn't sure that it was somewhere that I wanted to be, either. I'd only heard that name once before, earlier that day. It was the island where the first Godzilla was said to have first been seen.

"What?" I blurted out, pulling my hand away as I took a step back from the other me. "We're where?"

"Oh, I suppose I should explain." The other me rubbed the back of his head with an apologetic expression. "You see, Mom, or at least my mom, was a kaijuologist, meaning that she studied kaiju for a living. She was particularly interested in Godzillasaurs and we used to visit this place every summer.

"You see that house over there?" He pointed to the large cabin over on the other end of the beach, with a balcony overlooking the sea. "That's ours. It used to be that the whole family would stay there. Then it was just Mom and me… Now it's just me…"

"Oh…" I said as the mood suddenly became much more somber. "What… what happened?"

"She had to get her appendix out a few years ago, a bunch of medical stuff that just went over my head," other me said sadly. "The doctors said that she had an allergic reaction to the painkillers or something. She didn't survive the operation."

"I'm sorry," I said, bowing my head.

"You've got nothing to be sorry about." He gave a weak smile, though I could still see the pain in his eyes. "Hey, if we really are dead, then maybe Mom's in there waiting for me. Yours too, maybe?"

"I don't think so." I shook my head, then turned back to the train. "I-it was nice meeting you but I think I should probably go."

"Are you sure?" He followed but made no effort to stop me as I reached one of the doors and pressed the button to open it. "We just got here."

"This is your life, not mine." I shook my head. "I don't think I should-"

The train doors slid open and, to both of our surprise, the conductor walked out. Or at least that's what I thought it was since he was wearing a Japanese Railway uniform. Then I realized the conductor's silver skin was smooth, almost metallic, and covered in vibrant red markings across his body. And that was to say nothing of his boxy, sculpted mouth and ears, the domed yellow lenses of his eyes and the fin stretching out from where his nose would be to the back of his head. It was like looking at some sort of alien straight out of an old cartoon.

"What? Who are you?" The other me asked as I continued to stand there in shock at the unexpected new arrival. "What are you?"

The silver man seemed to regard them silently before he finally spoke up. "I am an officer of the Inter Galactic Defense Force, hailing from the nebula that the people of your world have dubbed M78. My name cannot be pronounced by your human tongues, so you may call me what you wish."

"So you're… an alien?" I took a step back. The only alien beings that I'd ever faced before were the Angels, which made me wary of any being that claimed to be of extraterrestrial origin. My other self, however, seemed much more enthusiastic, leaning forward to get a closer look at the alien.

"Really?" he mused, putting his hand to his chin as he carefully examined the red markings across the alien's skin. "I knew there were theories that some kaiju came from space but I never would have imagined that I'd ever get to see a real alien before. But why are you wearing that uniform? If you're from a defense force, wouldn't a military or police uniform make more sense than a train conductor?"

"I do not know." The alien shook his head. The motion was stiff, almost mechanical, as if he was only imitating the human motion. "This is your mindscape, not mine. My form here is adapted to reflect your perception of me."

"Mindscape?" I repeated the word that had stuck out to me. "Does that mean that we're not actually dead?"

The alien stared at me. While I couldn't make out any hint of expression on the vaguely humanoid being's rigid face, I could somehow still sense a feeling of sadness and… regret, coming from him.

"It seems that as I arrived here on this planet, my course led to a direct collision with your body," the alien explained. "You did not survive. I am sorry."

My heart sank in my chest as my worst fears were proven true. The other me, though, seemed far less broken up to learn of his passing.

"Well, that's fine. We were about to die, anyway," he pointed out. "If anything, you did us a favor. At least this way, we didn't have to suffer from getting eaten alive by that Meganula."

"No, this is not fine." The alien shook his head again. "I am a defender, a protector. To have taken an innocent life is an unforgettable sin. One which I must atone for. For that reason, I have given my life to you."

That caught me by surprise. The silver man had given his life for us? What did that mean? I turned to the other me, who seemed just as confused.

"I have infused my essence within your shared body," the alien explained. "We are now bonded in a form of symbiosis as your body recovers even as we speak. Soon, you will awaken, recovered and whole. However, it will be some time before our essences can be safely split apart again. Even I do not know how long this process will take but until then, I will be a part of you and you a part of me."

"Oh." I felt so dumb, not being able to think of anything to say.

"Thank you." The other me bowed. "It seems that we owe you our lives."

"Though I appreciate the sentiment, I do not deserve your thanks," the alien replied. "This is mere penance for my sins, after all, and by doing this I have placed a great burden upon you both."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "What burden?"

"I am a member of the Inter Galactic Defense Force," the alien repeated his earlier introduction. "I have a duty and a responsibility to defend life, protect peace and ensure that justice is dealt where it is needed. While I am a part of you, my powers will be yours but so will my responsibilities. Until the day that we are able to go our separate ways, you must take up my cause. For this, I am also sorry."

I stared down at my hands, processing what I'd just been told. So, what, I was supposed to be some sort of alien police officer now or something? I couldn't do that. I'd already failed my own world, time and time again. I was just a screw-up. I couldn't handle this kind of responsibility. I couldn't-

I suddenly froze up as I felt the older me's arm wrap around my shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay," he said calmly, apparently trying to calm me down. "We'll get through this together. Whatever you're worried about, relax. You're not alone anymore."

"Indeed." The alien nodded. "While I am not accustomed to your kind's emotions, I will do what I can to aid you and guide you through this."

We both looked up at him, and the older me asked an important question I hadn't thought to consider. "Hey, don't you think it's weird that there are two of us in here?"

"It is unusual for two essences to share a body as you do but I received both of your memories as part of the bonding process and understand your unique situation." The alien turned his gaze to me, specifically, though I wasn't sure how I knew that given that his eyes just looked like pale yellow lenses. "I also believe that you may be why I am here in the first place."

"W-what?" I stammered, staring back up at the silver alien. "Me?"

"I was sent to this planet to investigate a strange anomaly, which I now believe that you may be involved with. Do not worry, you have done nothing wrong," the alien said. "I will explain more later but for now, we do not have time. Your body is ready to wake up and when it does, you will be thrust into an unusual situation. I will do my best to guide you through what is to come. We are out of time."

The alien turned around and walked back onto the train. My other self and I glanced at each other, unsure of what to do. The older Shinji quickly found his resolve and nodded to me before boarding the train. I hesitated but followed. The doors shut behind me as if to signal the start of my next journey.

Asuka Sohryu

March 31st, 2024, 3:36 pm

My whole squad was gathered at the edge of the city. Our squad leader Aesop, Angel, Sunshine, Wizard, Screwdriver, Cowboy, Snake and myself, Torwart. Before us, a fifty-meter-long cross between a dragonfly and an actual dragon was flying over the forest towards us. We had no chance of defeating this thing. All we could do was stall for time until backup arrived or its presence attracted the attention of another powerful kaiju. Chances are, not all of us would be making it out of this alive. But even if we weren't going to make it through this, we all knew that we'd at least go out shooting.

The Megaguirus let out a shrieking howl as it approached, which was our cue to split up and start firing. We each tried to attack from a different angle but of course, our bullets weren't enough to put so much as a scratch on something that powerful. Seeing this, most of us switched over from conventional artillery to the miniaturized maser cannons mounted under our Valkyries' wings. The bolts of atomic blue lightning fired from those cannons proved much more effective, burning the titan's flesh where they hit and even managing to draw a bit of blood. It seemed as if we were getting the upper hand against the red-eyed monstrosity.

Naturally, that didn't last long. The giant dragon bug decided that we were a threat now and took us seriously, suddenly turning into a blur of motion. Despite her bulk, the first Megaguirus, which had been fought off back when I was still just a baby, had been reported to be able to fly at around Mach 4 and this one seemed to be at least as fast. In other words, she was fast enough that she could easily keep up with us. The Megaguirus swatted its stinger tail at Angel, who barely managed to roll out of the way. And as if that wasn't enough, the handful of smaller Meganula that we hadn't taken out yet were also gathering around their queen, meaning that we now had to deal with the small fries on top of the queen bitch.

The Megaguirus charged in the direction that Cowboy and I were shooting from and I barely had time to duck out of its way. Cowboy wasn't quite so lucky, choosing to go up and getting swatted by the tail. Fortunately, it seemed to be little more than a glancing blow but was still enough that it disabled one of his masers.

The battle raged on like that for a few more minutes. It seemed like we were gradually wearing her down but the Megaguirus was dishing it out as well as she took it. After a while, the big bug tried to chase down Snake and it was only his usual erratic flight patterns that allowed him to stay out of reach of her arms. Or legs, whatever you want to call those appendages it had. He decided to take the monster for a ride, diving towards the woods and pulling up just before reaching the canopies. Unfortunately, the dragonfly kaiju was maneuverable enough to avoid the trap and didn't smash into the tree line like he'd hoped.

The Megaguirus hovered above the forest as I managed to shoot down another one of its spawn, letting out another shriek as if challenging us. Screwdriver tried shooting it in the eye but she missed and only managed to leave a scorch along the ridge over the right side of its head. I decided to try diving low to attack it from behind while the beast was distracted, inadvertently giving myself a front-row seat to the strangest thing I'd ever seen up to that point.

A hand, a giant, silver, human-looking hand reached up from the woods and grabbed the Megaguirus' tail. An arm followed, red markings running along its length, before finally a whole-ass giant man rose from the trees. He looked like he'd just walked out of some old sci-fi B-movie, with silvery skin, two giant domes lenses over where his eyes should be and heavily sculpted features. I'd seen a lot of crazy stuff but this easily took the cake.

The silver giant proceeded to swing the Meganula overhead, smashing it down into the forest before standing up to his full height. Or it's full height. Whatever this thing was, it seemed like some kind of new kaiju unlike any I'd ever heard of before. The boys back in the lab were going to have a field day with our reports on this thing.

"What the hell is that thing?" Cowboy shouted over the radio.

"I don't know but I hope it's on our side," came Angel's reply.

"Whatever it is, we need to stay well out of its way," I barked into my com set. "Everyone, pull back and stay on standby."

"We don't take orders from you!" Snake shouted back.

"Do you want to want to get in the middle of a kaiju brawl?" Sunshine asked.

"Yeah, no way we're taking on two raid bosses at once," Wizard said with one of his usual annoying videogame metaphors.

"Everyone, form a perimeter around the fight," Aesop ordered us.

We all pulled back and did as instructed as the unfolding battle as the Megaguirus lifted itself into the air. We'd almost had this one. Why did these things always have to escalate into monster-versus-monster battles? Sometimes it felt like the only way to take down a titan was to be a titan.

Shinji Ikari

March 31st, 2024, 3:45 pm

What

Was

I

DOING?

The absolutely gigantic bug-like thing in front of me shook itself off as it rose back into the air. I should have felt utterly dwarfed by a creature of that size. Instead, I was almost as large as that thing was.

It felt almost like I was piloting an Eva again. Specifically, when my synchronization levels would get high enough that it was like I was feeling things from the robot's perspective. Except this giant silver hand in front of my face wasn't just some artificial limb of a machine I was piloting. It was my hand. Well, it seemed more like the hand of the alien whose power I was now borrowing, really.

Before I could keep freaking out about how utterly weird this whole thing was, I had to turn my attention back to my opponent and our surroundings. It seemed like we were standing over a forest of some kind, with a city in the background. It took me a moment to realize I was in the same place where I had died just a few minutes earlier. Everything seemed so different from this perspective, almost like I was an actor on one of those old miniaturized sets, surrounded by scale models instead of the actual thing.

We seemed to be surrounded by a circle of futuristic-looking fighter jets and I briefly realized that Asuka was probably in one of them.

Oh, crap! Asuka! How was she going to react, seeing me like this? Would she think that I was some kind of monster?

I raised my hand to my face as I panicked, feeling the smooth, rugged features that weren't my own. It seemed that I was a perfect facsimile of the alien, just scaled up to giant size and without the conductor's uniform I had seen him in before. Good, that meant that no one would be able to recognize me. I just had to hope that I'd have a way to turn back.

While I was distracted, the giant bug-dragon-monster-thing charged and tackled me to the ground. I let out a grunt, vaguely aware that my voice was deeper than I was used to hearing it, as it sank its teeth into my shoulder and scratched at me with its legs. I struggled to push the monster away and managed to pry it off of me, but the creature's tail swung down and jabbed me in the gut. I could feel the twin stingers dig into my flesh and it felt like it was draining my energy, somehow.

I managed to throw the monster off of me and clutched at my stomach as it reoriented itself. To my surprise, I wasn't bleeding at all and the wound was already healing. On the other hand, I also noticed that red marks all over my body had dimmed.

"They are an indicator of our power." I heard the alien's voice in my head. Because only sane people hear voices. "If we lose too much solar energy, we won't be able to maintain my form and you will revert to your human body. At our current levels, I calculate that we won't last more than three minutes. Caution is advised."

I found myself reminded of whenever Unit-01's power cord was disconnected, leaving it with just a limited amount of power before it would be forced to shut down. It seemed I was now operating by similar rules. At least I wouldn't have to deal with a big cord hanging out of my back.

Now knowing that I only had a very limited amount of time to try and somehow defeat this thing, I took a combat stance drilled into me through the close-quarters combat lessons I had to take as an Eva pilot. Most of my training back then was focused on weapons, especially firearms, but I would have to get through this with just my bare hands.

I had expected the monster to try and attack by ramming into me again so I prepared for it to do that. What I was not prepared for was for the bug to open its jaw wide and suddenly launch a stream of small blue energy balls that formed into a laser that fired straight into my chest. I was sent sliding back along the ground by the sheer force of the attack and was barely able to keep myself upright long enough for the laser to dissipate. Taking that shot took a lot out of me, as shown by the red marks along my skin turning to a greenish hue. I was guessing that meant I was almost out of time.

"This isn't good," the alien in my head stated the obvious. "By draining my energy, this creature has gained the ability to control Spacium. The attack that it just used was a variant of my Spacium Beam technique."

I tried to steady myself as the monster dove towards me again. This time, I grabbed it by the shoulders, or the insect equivalent, and angled it over my shoulder, using the creature's own speed and momentum to smash it into the forest below us. While it recovered, I used that time to think.

If the thing that it had just used against me was something that it copied from the alien, then that would mean that I could do it as well, right? And the monster didn't seem to be as durable as I now was, meaning that the attack would harm it even more than it had me.

"Excellent thinking," the alien said. "Allow me to show you how to use the Spacium Beam."

The giant bug monster rose back into the air, turning about to face me. I could tell that it was getting ready to attack again but I didn't give it the chance. The mental image of what I needed to do filled my mind and I followed its instructions. Crouching down to brace myself, I brought my right arm vertically in front of my shoulder and then slammed my left arm, held horizontally to the ground, against it so that my wrists touched. A blue beam of charged energy particles shot out of the edge of my right hand, striking the monster dead on. It let out a howl of pain as its chitinous armor began to crack and shatter under the force of the attack. The suddenly exposed inner flesh melted and soon what was left of the giant bug fell dead to the Earth.

It seemed that I had used up the remainder of my energy reserves in that attack and I could feel myself growing faint. For a moment, I thought I was about to pass out from exhaustion. Instead, I experienced a strong sensation of vertigo as the world seemed to expand around me. Then I realized that I was the one who was growing smaller. Soon, I was back to my usual human self, leaning against a tree as I tried to catch my breath. I felt like I had just run several miles, or fought a particularly hard battle in Unit-01. The latter was probably the more accurate comparison considering what I had just gone through. It was hard to believe what had just happened, what I had just done.

"That was a decent showing for your first battle." I heard the alien's voice in my head again. "Especially given the circumstances. It seems that you may have what it takes to defend this planet."

"Yeah, good job!" This time it was the voice of the other Shinji that I heard. "There's no way that I could have done that!"

"Yeah, that's because you haven't had to fight for your life like that before," I muttered. "That's a good thing."

"For now, I suggest that you return to your home as soon as possible," the alien told me. "You will need to rest and recover your strength. I also suggest that you keep your identity a secret for the time being. If you are spotted out here, then it will be hard to maintain your cover."

Asuka Sohryu

March 31st, 2024, 5:30 pm

I wiped my face with a towel as I walked out of the showers before tossing it into the laundry bin. Angel and Screwdriver were already getting changed in the locker room while the guys were probably doing the same in theirs. It had been a long afternoon for all of us and I'm sure that they were all just as ready as I was to head home for the night.

"What a day," Screwdriver mused as I slipped my shirt back on. "What do you think that thing was?"

"I think I've been asked that question more than enough already," I replied. We'd each had to turn in our reports almost as soon as we got back to base and of course, several of the higher-ups had felt it necessary to personally ask us about this new titan on top of that.

"I think it was an alien," Angel said conspiratorially as if that was supposed to be some kind of big surprise.

"Yeah, no duh," Screwdriver shook her head. "Big red ball falls from the sky and a few minutes later, a giant silver dude pops up from where it landed. Not hard to put two and two together."

While my squadmates continued to bicker as they usually did, I finished getting dressed and grabbed my stuff to head out. I wasn't particularly in the mood to linger and chat. As I made my way to the door, though, I couldn't help but feel like I was forgetting something.

It didn't take me long to reach the motor pool, where my trusty car was parked in my usual spot. As I made my way over to it, however, I noticed that I wasn't alone down there. One of the support technicians who worked with my team and our planes was waiting there for me, leaning against a support pillar. Even in the dimly lit garage, I could make out the familiar unruly brown hair, glasses and green camouflage jacket of Kensuke Aida. Or Aida Kensuke, since he was Japanese.

"What's up?" I asked him as I walked up to my car.

"Oh, hey, I was just waiting for you." He looked up from his phone and smiled at me.

"Yeah, I can see that." I glared at him. "Is there a reason why?"

"Because…" Kensuke looked at me like I'd grown a second head or something. "You're my ride home?"

I blinked a few times before nodding. "Oh, right, I dropped you off this morning. Sorry, I forgot."

Kensuke just shook his head and sighed. "And now I'm worried that if there hadn't been a kaiju attack today, you would have just left me stranded here."

"What?" I gave him a look of false indignation. "That doesn't sound like me."

"Sure, sure." Kensuke just rolled his eyes as I opened the door and climbed in.

I immediately reached to pull my seatbelt in and went to grab the steering wheel. However, I found my hands grasping at empty air. I'd accidentally gotten in on the passenger side, again, because of Japan's stupid insistence on making cars backward so that they could drive on the wrong side of the road. Before I had a chance to correct my mistake, Kensuke hopped into the driver's seat and turned the car on.

"So, how'd it go?" Kensuke asked me as he pulled the car out and started driving towards the exit.

"What, you didn't already read my report?" I gave him an evil smile.

"Yeah, yeah, but I want to hear it from you," he replied.

"Eh, you know," I shrugged. "Blew up some bugs, fought a dragon, watched a freaky giant alien robot thing pop up out of nowhere and kill the dragon before I got the chance to. Normal day."

"I wonder what that thing was," Kensuke said as we pulled out onto the main road. "He didn't look like any kaiju I've ever seen before. Way too human-looking."

"Well, I'm sure the boys down in the research lab are going to come up with some cockamamie theory or another," I replied. "They got a name for it, yet?"

"Last I heard, they're leaning towards 'Bemular'. But honestly, I think they're just going to go with whatever the media decides to call it. I'm sure that fight's going to be all over the news tonight. It's already spreading like wildfire on social media."

"And that would be…"

"I've seen a few different names going around," he explained, "but right now it looks like the one gaining the most traction is 'Ultraman'."

"Ultraman?" I repeated, trying not to let out a snort at how ridiculous that sounded. "What, like evil Superman?"

"What?" Kensuke spared a quick glance at me before turning his gaze back to the road.

"Never mind." I wasn't really that interested in pointing out that I used to read enough American comic books to know an obscure DC character like that off the top of my head. "So, what's for dinner?"

Ah, right, I think I forgot to mention something. In addition to being a part of my support team, Kensuke was also my boyfriend. That's right, we'd been going steady for a while now and things were going pretty good. I'd even recently moved into his place, mostly to save on expenses. Yes, he was a hopeless nerd but he was my hopeless nerd.

"Eh, I don't feel like making anything tonight," Kensuke shrugged. "How about we stop somewhere on the way home and pick something up?"

"Yeah, sure." It seemed like we'd been going out for takeout a lot lately. Normally I wouldn't care but I wouldn't have minded a homecooked meal every once in a while, not that I could be bothered to actually cook. Although, I had just had a homemade lunch that day, hadn't I?

"Oh, yeah, You had that tutoring thing today, right?" Kensuke asked as if reading my mind. "How did that go?"

"Oh, shit!" I sat up, eyes going wide as I scrambled to pull my phone out of my pocket. That's what it was that I had been forgetting earlier. I noticed Kensuke give me a confused look so I went ahead and explained. "It was going well but then I got the call before we could wrap things up. I promised Shinji that I'd let him know when everything was over but I forgot."

"Ah, okay," Kensuke nodded as I quickly sent the text. "Shinji, huh? Should I be jealous that you're already on a first-name basis?"

I rolled my eyes, having already heard this joke before. "You know I call pretty much everyone by their first name. I'll never understand this country's obsession with being so overly formal."

"And I'll never understand why you Europeans are so casual," he shot back at me.

I tuned Kensuke out as I stared at my phone waiting for a reply. Although by this point, Shinji had probably already heard that the outbreak was over. But then again, maybe not. He didn't seem all that… What's the word I'm looking for? Attentive? Apt? He didn't seem like the kind who paid much attention to the news.

Shinji Ikari

March 31st, 2024, 5:45 pm

I managed to stumble my way out of the forest and made my way to the edge of the city when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I was almost surprised to find that it was still working considering everything that had happened. I'd completely lost my backpack and everything that was in it during all the chaos and my clothes were still in tatters from when that giant bug tried to eat me.

'All clear. We managed to take out the bugs and save the city. You're welcome. ;)'

Really? I never would have guessed.

'Okay, thanks.' I texted back, then mentally kicked myself over how dump that probably sounded. 'I'm sure you did a great job out there."

No, wait, that sounded even worse.

I decided to just try not to think about it and shoved my phone back in my pocket. As I reached the edge of town, I could see that people were starting to come out from the shelters now that the monsters were gone. Still not as many people as I was used to seeing in a big city like this but it wasn't the ghost town that I'd run through on the way out there. I noticed that I did get a lot of strange looks as I limped through the streets in a tattered shirt and torn pants but considering the circumstances, that was to be expected. I'm sure that I probably looked like I'd just lost a fight with some kind of wild animal. In a way, I almost had.

It ended up taking me longer to get back to my apartment than it had to leave. I would have tried taking the bus but, well, I wasn't sure if they'd even let me on in the state I was in even if I had any money on me to pay the fair. Once I finally managed to get home, though, the first thing that I did after getting my dirty shoes off was lie down on the couch.

Every inch of me was soar and I felt like I just wanted to pass out and never wake up again. And after a few minutes, I did pretty much exactly that. Minus the never waking up part, of course.

I found myself sitting on the train again. This time, I was alone and it was still stopped at the island beach from earlier. I walked out along the sandy shore and made my way over to the cabin that my other self had tried showing me earlier. He was resting on a chair set up on the front porch while the alien that apparently now lived in our brain was outside practicing what looked like judo moves on a straw training dummy. I noticed that he'd ditched the uniform from earlier so that he was now the spitting image of what I'd looked like during my transformation, except for the size.

"Oh, hey, there you are!" The other Shinji got up from his seat and ran over to me. "How are you holding up?"

"Fine, I guess," I mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

"I am sorry to have placed this heavy burden upon you," the alien said as he walked up to us. "But you did well out there. I had been worried that I would need to try and take control but it seems that my worries were unfounded."

"Um, thanks," I said, too tired to think of a proper response to that. "I think that I just want to go to sleep for now, though. I'm so tired."

"Yes, you should," the alien agreed. "Proper rest is important, especially since you have an important day waiting for you tomorrow."

"What?" I looked up at him, confused, then turned my gaze back to the other me as he smiled.

"The new term starts tomorrow," he pointed out. "We've got school!"

"Oh, great." I smiled weakly. "Yeah, I'm going to bed now."

Rei

March 31st, 2024, 7:00 pm

I pulled into a small parking lot overlooking a public beach outside of town. Looking down, I could see a rowdy group of people partying in the distance around a large bonfire that they had lit. That was exactly what I was looking for.

I pulled off my helmet and pulled the briefcase I had acquired earlier out of one of my saddlebags before heading down the steep stairs leading to the beach. No one seemed to question my arrival as I marched up to the party. The bonfire burned bright and tall, the flames a mix of yellow and orange as I approached. Once I was close enough, I held up the briefcase and tossed it into the fire, watching as it warped and melted in the flames. The smoke turned blue for a moment, to the surprise and delight of those around me, as the chemicals housed within evaporated harmlessly into the atmosphere.

It took a lot of experimenting to determine that this was the most efficient way to dispose of the contents within it. The harmful mutagenic properties of the substance were completely neutralized when evaporated into a gas, meaning that there would be no risk of anyone or anything being infected by it. My job was done and it was time to return to my dwelling place.

However, as I headed back to my motorcycle, one of the partygoers stepped in my way to obstruct my path. He attempted to flirt with me, his breath wreaking of cheap alcohol. He rejected his advances but he insisted on getting in my way. He was much more willing to accept my rejection after I had dislocated his shoulder, however. I did make sure that it would not leave any permanent injury, of course. While a nuisance, he was still just a civilian.

After that, I left the beach and drove back to the city. Since my job was done for the day, I decided to take a scenic route home. While this decision was made partly to avoid potentially being followed, it was also because I wanted to. I could enjoy the simple pleasures of riding when I allowed myself to. The wind rushing by, the changing scenery as I traveled. It was a nice night, which stood in heavy contrast to the unpleasantness of earlier that day.

I needed that moment. A reminder that despite what I was, the abomination that I'd been turned into, I was at my core still human.

The Kamen Rider was me but I was Rei. Rei Ikari. The person, underneath the helmet.

Author's Notes: I remembered that I actually have a box set of the original Ultraman (sadly only the first twenty episodes, not the full series) and I decided to rewatch the first few episodes to refresh my memory while working on this chapter. I'd forgotten how good it was.

If you're wondering about what happened to Shinji's classmate, he just kind of lost track of him in all the chaos and didn't have the energy to track him down again after the battle. He's fine and will show up again later.

Juggling between four different stories isn't easy but I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can. In the meantime, I'd appreciate any feedback or engagement to help keep me motivated. Feel free to leave a comment or sign up for my Discord (invite code in my profile).