Ultraman Taiga Novel: Tregear's Story／Blue Shadow

is a short novel written in the book, detailing the past of Ultraman Tregear until the events of Ultraman R/B The Movie.
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In the , Taro was the most popular boy in his class, and had made friends with many classmates. One day, he introduced himself to a blue-tribe boy who was skeptical about Taro, saying that everyone looked at the great lineage but not at Taro himself, which caused some confusion in the young boy. Nevertheless, he made friends with the boy, whose name was Tregear, which translated into "madness and curiosity" in the Land of Light's language.
Tregear convinced Taro to follow him to an off-limits area in the plain, and had him bend a few super-alloyed metal bars for them to go through. They found an obelisk that played a holographic message of Ultra Warriors who died in the Ultimate Wars against Alien Empera, which Tregear had read about, and came to the conclusion that they were at a tomb. Getting worried, Taro told Tregear he had to leave or his parents would get worried.
The next day, their teacher called them out for what they did. Taro admitted their mistake for the both of them, even going on to say that he was the one who brought Tregear along. Florbella let them off easily because Taro admitted his mistakes. After the incident, Taro and Tregear became true friends. As Taro left for home, Tregear saw his image backlit by the light of the Plasma Spark. That image was imprinted in his mind.
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Taro and Tregear spent their school days having fun, and they sometimes did stupid things. They were once chased by a monster, and Tregear helped Taro write a love letter.
While Tregear was lost in his dark thoughts, Taro invited him on an adventure to , as he had heard about a monster there. Just before they left, Taro found one of Tregear's papers. A poem was written on it.
English Translation	Original Japanese Text	Japanese Transliteration
A long, long night is coming
Even if I can't see the starlight
As long as you shine like the sun beside me
I will have no fear
So please stay by my side	
長い長い夜がやってきて
星の明かりすら見えなくても
太陽のような君がそばにいてくれたら
僕は怖くない
だからそばにいておくれ	
Nagai nagai yoru ga yattekite
Hoshi no akari sura mienakute mo
Taiyō no you na kimi ga soba ni ite kuretara
Boku wa kowakunai
Dakara soba ni ite okure
Although Tregear was embarrassed at Taro's discovery of the paper, Taro didn't think much of it beyond seeing Tregear's talent for poetry.
The two of them arrived on Planet Tika-Du in a spaceship. The sun's rays there were similar to the emitted by the Plasma Spark, so an Ultraman could be active there for a long period of time. Taro explored the caverns while Tregear tracked him from the ship's sensors. Taro saw primitive life-forms that looked like crabs and bats, but suddenly disappeared and communications were cut off. Tregear went in after him, and fell down into another area. It was a dome-like space with undecipherable ancient cosmic script carved onto the walls. Suddenly, he was attacked by , which appeared as a monster made of bats and crabs. It used a mucous-like substance to blind him, and he was brought elsewhere. 
Tregear was now stuck on the ceiling, but he could communicate with Taro again, who was revealed to have made it out the other side and was fighting a Gagoze. Another Gagoze appeared near Tregear, who figured out that it intended to integrate his own genetic information into itself. He brought up the possibility of it assimilating them and then using their spaceship to go to other planets and wreak havoc. Tregear told Taro to save the villagers and leave him, but Taro refused. He used his Ultra Dynamite and burned up the Gagoze and all the pink leeches within, and then killed the other Gagoze which Tregear had to deal with, using his Strium Beam to destroy it. Tregear looked up to Taro as a hero. 
Tregear thought about what the leeches were, and assumed that they were primordial life forms that lived in the times of chaos, before the creation of the universe. This made him wonder if an Ultraman like himself was really integrated into the cycles of the universe.
After graduating from school, Tregear was distraught of the thought of leaving Taro. He followed him to join the Inter Galactic Defense Force, although the training there was a hellish experience for him, as he was a Blue tribe who couldn't do well in combat. Ultimately, Tregear failed the final exam, facing the first setback in his life. Taro encouraged him to join the instead, and Tregear agreed.
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Tregear was employed under Ultraman Hikari, who was awarded Star Marks for his , which was used to save Ultraman and the human he had once bonded with, Shin Hayata. Tregear was working on a device which could turn an Ultraman into for them to operate in other universes with different quantum physics, by condensing an Ultraman's data into the form of a key-like object. He called it the . Hikari was impressed with Tregear's invention, but also saw something dangerous in him, like a blue flame quietly burning. All the while, Tregear was anxious about Taro, but convinced himself that he would be fine as the Ultra Brothers as well as his parents would come to help him if he were in distress. Tregear could only think of him from the sidelines.
Tregear had run into a problem. He required data from "Ultraman's friends" that had expanded throughout many universes, but was denied the permits to obtain it. He went to speak with Hikari on the matter, but found out he had resigned due to his Life Solidification Technology being targets of wars by races such as Alien Bat. Tregear had heard that Hikari left to Planet Arb, and was protecting it. A shadow of grief had loomed over Tregear's heart.
One day, Taro suddenly returned to the Land of Light, and went to see Tregear. Taro told him about the experiences he had on Earth, and was impressed by Tregear's invention. Taro offered to help him and told him to rely on the power of Bonds. Although Tregear was skeptical, he had trust in Taro and took his advice. After the device was completed, he wanted to name it the , but Taro preferred to have it named for the next generation, so he came up with the name "Taiga", and thought that he should name his son that as well, if he ever had one. Tregear decided to agree with him and thus, the device was named the Taiga Spark.
Soon after, Taro left to go on more missions, leaving Tregear to reminisce over the poem he once wrote.
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Tregear had learned about Ultraman Belial and his fall to darkness. He also learned that his former boss Ultraman Hikari, who he once respected, had turned to vengeance after Bogarl had destroyed Arb. Whenever the Land of Light's defenses increased, the opposing powers' attacks only intensify, in a perpetual cycle. Despite being offered the position of Deputy Chief of the Space Science and Technology Bureau, Tregear declined. Being frustrated of the status quo of his existence, Ultraman's role, and of light and darkness, Tregear left the planet.
Feeling that he was worthless, he flew over to , a rubbish disposal planet managed by the . He saw a pool of organic matter, which reminded him of something similar he saw when he went adventuring with Taro. Seeking to ease his loneliness, Tregear created a slug-like life form similar to Namegon using the pool of organic matter. He named it , which translated into "Chibisuke" on the Land of Light.
Snark ate and grew hundreds of meters tall; Tregear was unable to stop it by force when it was going to attack a city there. Tregear had exploited a bug in its DNA to rearrange its genetic structure, forcibly turning it into various different kinds of creatures while it shrieked in pain. In the end, Tregear shrunk Snark into a flower, which wilted and turned into dust. Out of guilt, Tregear left the planet. Some time later, Tregear learned that Taro had a son named Taiga, which surprised him. As Taro went on with the path of light, Tregear sank into darkness. While investigating the times before the Land of Light came about and spread their "light", Tregear wandered the Milky Way and found the ruins of "chaos" from before the universe's creation.
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Over Tregear's long journey, "light" and "darkness" lost their meaning. Tregear managed to decipher the ancient writings he had encountered on Planet Tika-Du long ago. Venturing to , Tregear sought to open up the "Abyss", which was sealed away to maintain the balance of the universe. He offered himself to the "Abyss", and sealed inside him an ancient "chaos" that granted him great power, abandoning his identity as an Ultraman. He used his newfound powers to interfere in many universes. He gave crystallization powers to Murnau, corrupted Leugocyte, and encountered Greeza. He kidnapped Riku Asakura and placed Pega inside Gan-Q, hoping that Ultraman Geed would kill it along with his friend and fall into darkness like his father did. He then targeted Katsumi Minato, who transformed into Ultraman Rosso by using the Taro Crystal, because of his uncertainty on his ambitions. To do so, Tregear started by targeting his friend, turning him into Snake Darkness. Tregear's name became associated with disasters and temptation in seven universes. In a way, Tregear's existence had become opposite to Taro's.
==Trivia==
*As the novel chronicles Tregear's past life, some of them matches the timeline and paid tributes to past medias of the Ultraman Series:
**Chapter 1 has Taro and Tregear going at the border of the Crystal Town. Said city first appear in Ultraman Story.
**Both chapters 1 and 2 revealed that Taro's act of flying behind the light of the Plasma Spark was imprinted into Tregear's mind, explaining his sudden muttering of Taro's name when Taiga's re-enacts his father's act with the Sun in episode 25 of Ultraman Taiga.
**Assuming that Hikari's departure happened in chapter 3, it is possible that events leading to the final episode of Return of Ultraman was also taking place. Taro's return from the Land of Light would be at some point after Farewell, Taro! The Mother of Ultra!.
**Planet Gorey shared its greater location, Altair System, with the Planet Sanja from Ultraman R/B Novel: The Blue-Eyed Girl Whose Name is Gray. The final chapter also acknowledges Tregear's involvement in corrupting Leugocyte after his presence was obscured in the former novel.
**Tregear heard the rumor of Hikari becoming Hunter Knight Tsurugi, coinciding with the events of Ultraman Mebius Gaiden: Hikari Saga.
*In chapter 4, Tregear mentioned that Taro paraphrased a certain Earthling's quote of staring into the abyss. Said quote was written by German philosopher Friedrich W. Nietzsche.
*The planet where Tregear had arrived to obtain the evil god's powers is named after the short story writer Jorge Luis Borges.
*In the novel, Tregear was portrayed to have bind his contract with multiple sealed creatures in Planet Borges. The Ultraman Taiga The Movie: New Generation Climax and Ultra Galaxy Fight: The Absolute Conspiracy chapter 2 corrected the claim that Grimdo was the only being Tregear had formed his pact with.
Category:Novels
Category:Ultraman Taiga