Ultraman Medus Episode 1

## Prologue

Land of Light, Nebula M78.

***Life*** was good. He felt good. Everything was going his way.

The son of Ultraman Mebius bore the name Medus. He greatly resembled his famous father, and had orange lines emblazoned throughout his body, and was rather tall too. Hardly able to contain his excitement, he flew over to the spaceport, passing by the green crystals that made up almost every structure on the planet, past all the other Ultra folk.

"Heeeey! Medus!" A voice called out, getting his attention just as he landed at his destination. Another Ultraman appeared before him, this one was mostly red with black and silver lines, and a golden protector on his chest. Following him was a strange-looking one who was oddly yellow and black, with a slugger on his head and blades on his arms.

"Rizanto and Lightning! What are you guys doing here?" Medus asked, pleasantly surprised to see some familiar faces. The two of them were Mebius' students (one more than the other anyway) and that was how they became acquainted to one another.

"We're here to send you off, obviously! Can't have you leaving without at least saying goodbye, right?" Lightning said with hands on his sides.

"Yeah! Congratulations on being chosen to be sent to Earth! Make sure you do your best there, okay? It's a planet we all hold dear to us." Rizanto said with Lightning agreeing. The two of them have had their own adventures there on that planet before Medus, who knew how fond they had become of the place and the people who lived on it.

"Thanks, you two. And you can bet that I'll do whatever it takes to protect the Earth, just like you guys! And dad! And the Ultra Brothers!" Medus said with excitement, pumping his fist in front of him.

"Medus! You're running late!" Another voice called out to him.

"Oh! It's dad! And Grandmaster Taro!" Medus exclaimed, seeing the two of them in the distance before he rushed over to their position. Taro was his father's master, in addition to being Ultraman Number Six of the Ultra Brothers as well as the son of both Father of Ultra and Mother of Ultra, and Medus had spent some time training with him just as his father once did. Rizanto and Lightning watched him go, they hadn't seen anyone so excited in a long time.

"Medus. As you know, you've been selected to go to watch over the Earth for a period. I'd like to remind you that you'll face many challenges and setbacks, some of them you cannot overcome on your own. That is why, no matter how strong you may be, you must believe in bonds. When you find a true bond, a great power can be revealed to you." Taro advised, in a gentle voice.

"Yes, sir! I'll always remember that making bonds with others is important to stand up to the trials that we Ultras face!" Medus replied, upbeat yet trying to remain composed in front of the senior Ultraman.

"Before you go, take this. Hikari made it for you." Mebius had something in his hand that he gave to his son in the form of a sphere of light that went over to his left forearm. The light disappeared and revealed a bracer similar to the one Mebius wore, but had red and orange parts matching the wearer's colours. The Medus Brace.

Ecstatic to have received a device like this of his own, Medus starting trying it out. A projected screen came up from the sphere in the middle, and on it was the face of another Ultraman in a recorded message.

"Oooohh!!! It's Ultraman Taiga!!!" Medus exclaimed upon seeing the face of Taro's son. He, like the other New Generation Heroes, were out in the Multiverse on their own missions and could not be here in person to send Medus off.

"Hey, Medus! I've heard that you got chosen to go to the Earth! Listen up, okay? The humans that live there don't seem like much, but if you find the right people they can end up being some of the greatest Buddies you'll ever meet. Don't underestimate their will, their strength, and their kindness. You might start to learn a lot from them once you're able to see their perspective! Alright then, good luck!" Taiga's voice said, which Medus intently listened to. Taiga then moved away from the camera and another face popped up, too close in fact.

"Uuuuoooooh!!! It's Ultraman Z!!!" Medus said aloud, recognising the godson of the fifth Ultra Brother, Ultraman Ace.

"Yo, Medus! It's Ultra-amazing that you're being chosen as Earth's new protector! Like Taiga-senpai said, it's important to be able to make bonds with humans. They can help you through all the toughest times and become the strength you need in times of crisis! It's been a while since any of us have been to the Earth, so let us know what you see there when you get back, and we'll hear all about your adventures, okay? Be sure to do an Ultra-good job!" Z said and waved at the camera, though his hand was out of frame. The ending recorded there.

"All my senpais are looking out for meeeee-" Medus said, with streams of tears going down his eyes and then emerging into a bawl in public, touched by their words and actions. He quickly composed himself.

"It's time. Good luck, Medus. There's nothing I can teach you anymore. The rest of your journey is there for you to discover." Mebius said to his son before sending him off.

"Now go forth, young hero. To that planet we all hold so dear - the Earth!" Taro said, mimicking the words that his own father said to Mebius during his time to go to Earth.

"Thank you, everyone. I'll be going now! My friends, my seniors, my father, I'll never forget this moment!" Medus said, running up to the edge of the spaceport where he took off and became a sphere of light that shined in red and orange like a burning flame.

"Do your best Medus! Call us if you're in trouble!" Taro said.

"Good luck out there! We believe in you!" Mebius said.

"wibl" Lightning said.

"What?" Rizanto asked him, not quite catching onto what Lightning uttered.

"What?" Lightning asked back in confusion.

"You said something...?"

"No...I didn't...?"

"You did."

"No."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

## Chapter 1

Somewhere in New York City, United States of America.

***Working*** life at a hospital was always hectic; deadlines to meet, appointments to see to, patients' demands, long hours, changes in schedule, tight regulations, those were some of the everyday hurdles and challenges of being a staff here. Braving through all of that day by day was a hopeful young man, who had been employed as a nurse in training.

In his short time here, he had already witnessed his fair share of horrors in the industry, from suffocating work conditions to being screamed at by patients and/or their relatives and friends and guardians, not to mention his superiors, more than a few horrible cases of near-death experiences and other tragic and unfortunate fates that had befallen some of the people he had seen.

But still he went on. After all, he signed up for this. He knew what he was getting into. This was now the life of one Jackson Miller. A white man of average stature and build, with a short but complete stubble that usually remained hidden under the face masks he was made to wear while at work.

His friends and close acquaintances would know him as a somewhat rough and foul-mouthed guy so when they learned that he was going to take up nursing, almost nobody believed him until he proved it to them. Of course, he would have to show a more...refined behaviour while on the job, he was very much aware and capable of doing that. One of the patients he had been assigned to was a child, a Japanese girl no older than 12, who had been bedridden after a certain brain disease got to her. Fortunately, months of treatment had cured her but she still needed time to fully recover all her faculties, especially her legs that atrophied from months of being bedridden. This girl just can't catch a break, she was a runner for her school too.

Seeing her nearly every day, tending to her needs and providing counseling and advice where he could, Jackson couldn't help but feel bad for her. She was so young, yet she suffered so much. And of course, she isn't the only one.

But none of this would prepare him for a series of events that would turn his life upside down.

An alarm rang out, spreading both panic and stress throughout the hospital. It was no fire alarm, not just any disaster warning. It was a special alarm for something else entirely - an alarm for a monster attack, that all the world had come to learn. Nurses, doctors, security guards, everyone with able hands scrambled to get the patients to safety in the underground bunker. Some were put on wheelchairs, others had to be wheeled out on stretchers, some of them still had tubes attached. The ones in the operating rooms had to stay, as did the doctors tending to them. They worked quickly, fearing for their own lives. One could only guess how many botched jobs had to be covered up later.

"Mister...are we going to be alright?" the worried and frightened girl asked to Jackson, pushing her wheelchair from behind as they squeezed their way through a crowd to get to a metal box they called an elevator, one specially designed with ample space and load capacity to bring people down to the bunker. The bed- and wheelchair- ridden were given priority, followed by those with crutches or difficulty walking. The more able-bodied ones had been directed to use the stairs, an order they selfishly ignored as they attempted to wade their way closer to the elevator doors, which only slowed down the process for everyone. Jackson was always someone who wanted to believe in the good of people, but there were unavoidable moments like this one that would shake his faith.

"We'll be alright, kid. I'm sure SAVIOUR will do something about the monster..." Jackson said to the girl, attempting to reassure her and calm her fears.

The monster outside was of avian nature, and its feathers bore multiple colours while the rest of it was dark black-brown. It flew over New York, at high altitude before making a descent, flapping its giant wings hard enough for cars and people and animals and lots of other debris to be blown away by the huge hurricane winds.

Then came the jets from SAVIOUR, an anti-monster specialist organisation. They fired at the creature using laser beams, their usual opening strategy. To their surprise, these attacks had no effect on the monster despite the explosions. They had failed to even singe the creature's flesh. The monster looked upwards at the jets that fired at it and blew out a stream of fire from its mouth, far more powerful than anyone could have expected, destroying two of its targets. With an inexplicable fury, the monster continued its rampage, smashing through buildings indiscriminately as if it were driven to do so by some higher force.

The quakes and crumbling coming from outside let Jackson know that the creature was getting close. The continued gunfire from SAVIOUR using all the weapons they had wasn't doing much of anything, an extremely worrying case considering most monsters would die from far less. Something weird was clearly going on beyond their ability to detect or reason it out.

"$#!+...this is taking too long!" Jackson complained aloud, looking at the queue at the elevator devolve into a scrambling mess of people trying to shove themselves in with total disregard for any sense of order. He swore in the presence of a child which went against his work regulations, but fortunately all the noise from the shouting and rambling drowned it out. The truth was that he feared for his life too, but he wasn't about to abandon this child he was tasked with taking care of. He imagined how her parents - no, just one parent - must have felt, worried sick for their daughter's life, and that was all he needed to spur into action.

Jackson had a rash idea, he brought her away from the scene and rushed down emptied corridors towards another area.

"Where are we going?!" The girl asked in panicked confusion, being wheeled away from what she perceived to be safety.

"It's going to be too late by the time we get an elevator. I've got an idea, but you need to trust me!" he said.

They took another elevator in a secluded area to the staff parking lot where Jackson had his car. It was a hand-me-down from a relative, but he took care of it well. He first got the girl up off her wheelchair and into the back seat, and then he started the engine and drove out of there when the rumbling quakes started to get worse. The girl in the back was cowering and shivering in her seat. The of them made it out of the hospital and caught sight of the bird monster not far away, continuing to smash and peck on buildings. With one careless kick it sent a building crumbling into rubble that flew right into the road in front of them, blocking all but the rightmost lane.

Jackson came to a screeching halt when he saw it, but that was not enough to stop the car from the high speeds it had accelerated to, crashing its front into the stone and concrete. The girl screamed the whole way and braced herself while Jackson grit his teeth until the moment of impact. Neither of them were hurt, fortunately. Jackson got out of his seat and went to briefly inspect the damage; he saw that the front had been compressed in and that oil was leaking, getting him to fear for the worst.

"Out, now!" Jackson ordered the girl, taking her in his arms and placing her upon the wheelchair he had removed from the boot. Just as he was going to wheel her off on foot, they heard the honking of another car, speeding right their way. With no time to save himself, Jackson acted on instinct and shoved that wheelchair away as he saw that silhouette of a vehicle approaching them.

An instant knockout. A hit and run. They didn't even bother to stop and check on the victim.

## Chapter 2

***The*** giant bird continued its ceaseless violence undeterred by any military efforts. Nobody could understand. It was just a big bird. Why isn't this thing dead already? Doom and dread spread all around as the fires and smoke rose from its path of destruction.

With tears in her eyes, the wheelchair-bound girl desperately called out to the nurse who had taken care of her during her stay at the hospital. She couldn't do anything for him. She nearly fell from her wheelchair when she tried to approach him and if she did, she'd be left helplessly stuck on the ground with her feeble legs unable to support her.

It seemed that nobody could save them now...

As the girl cried and prayed in fear and desperation, something answered her calls. A sphere of light, no bigger than a bowling ball, red and orange like a burning flame. It descended from the sky out of nowhere, hovering over the man's body for a second before it seemed to enter him.

Jackson Miller's eyes opened wide and he got up panting, feeling no pain as if nothing had happened. The girl didn't question it, she was relieved to know that he was alive. Jackson was too, and his only priority was getting the heck out of there before either of them turned into monster food or a splat on the ground or ashes in the wind. It was too late, the monster was right in front of them. They looked up at its head roughly just a hundred meters away, with its beak brimming with fire that it was about to spew out at them. The man and the girl screamed for dear life before the both of them were lost in a sea of flames.

But within the fires of death, was light. That light spoke to Jackson in a strange space, one that was constantly on fire but burned away nothing.

"Human..." it beckoned him.

"Who...what the f-" Jackson asked, completely confused by the circumstances he found himself in. He thought he had finally died and was entering heaven or hell. He was Christian after all, but only very lightly. He would attend Sunday church sometimes and celebrate Christmas with the family but that was about it.

"I am Medus, from the Land of Light in Nebula M78. My mission here is to protect this planet from the emerging monster crisis." the voice said.

"Uh...okay..." Jackson muttered, too bewildered to come up with anything else.

"I've seen your will and courage. It is just like my predecessors told me about. I'm sure you're a good human, which is why I've chosen you." Medus said.

"Chosen? What the hell does that mean?" Suddenly the light moved toward Jackson and implanted itself on his left forearm, transforming into the shape of a bracer. It was red and orange and had a circular gem in its center.

"If you use that, I will give you my power and we can take on this bird-brain together!" Medus said quite excitedly.

"Wait-wait-wait hold on a damn second. There's no such freaking thing as free power, what do you want from me?" Jackson asked, wary of the light's offer.

"In exchange, I will have to live with you. I'll be using your body as a hiding space while we don't need to transform. But worry not, I will make no interference to your daily life." Medus explained.

"So you're some kind of ●●●●ing body-snatching skinwalker!" Jackson shouted, with his fear noticeable.

"No, I am...an Ultraman!" Medus said.

"An Ultraman?! Why didn't you say so earlier? Where have you guys been anyway?!" Jackson asked, relieved but annoyed.

"The last ones to come to this country did so quite a while ago. Ultraman Powered and the Ultra Force. And now, Ultraman Medus is here! So what do you say? Will you be my partner?" Medus asked excitedly.

Jackson thought long and hard. If he did nothing now, he'd be running away from the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the people. This little girl with him. All the patients and his coworkers and guests at the hospital. And everyone else who would be affected by this and future monster attacks.

So he decided that he would fight.

"I'll do it...let's go, Medus!" He called out.

"Place your palm over the Medus Brace and spin the crystal orb!" Medus instructed. Jackson did so, and the orb in the center began to glow with fiery colours. The space around them exploded back into the real world as a silver giant with lines of red and orange spontaneously appeared. In his hands were a sphere that he gingerly held, gently sending it flying several hundred meters away with a light flick where it landed on a clear alleyway, reasonably far away from all the danger.

That sphere opened up and cleared away, revealing the wheelchair-bound girl inside who slowly opened her eyes in utter confusion at how she had been transported here, looking around for the nurse who was supposed to be with her. All she was able to find was the head and body of a silver giant staring at her from the distance, before turning his view back at the bird monster who screeched at him.

":O IT'S ULTRAMAN!" Some guy shouted out, looking out the window of another building. Upon hearing him say that, lots of other people rushed to take a look as well, taking out their phones to snap pictures. SAVIOUR was surprised as well, they'd never seen an Ultraman this close up.

Medus took his fighting stance, which was roughly the same as his father Mebius'. The bird monster roared at him as they prepared to fight.

"This monster is Elegia. My father's master fought it once. It should be an easy one!" Medus' voice said to Jackson, who was in his fiery Inner Space.

"What do you guys have, some kind of monster encyclopedia or some BS like that?" Jackson asked, wondering where the monster's name came from.

"Yeah, and we learn about our seniors' past battles in school. Now let's ruffle this guy's feathers, Jackson!" Medus said.

"...how did you know my name...?" Jackson asked, confused and sure he never gave his own name out.

"It's on your tag..." Medus said awkwardly, bringing attention to his ID card within a clear case hanging from around Jackson's neck. It showed his full name, employee number, job position, and a straight-faced photograph of him.

"...oh. Anyway let's kick this thing's @$$!" Jackson proclaimed, as Medus ran straight up at Elegia.

The monster hopped upwards and flapped its wings to hover, using its clawed feet to slash at the rookie Ultra who dodged to the side and countered with a punch that made it fall. He then touched his bracer and threw out two vector-shaped bolts of energy at the monster, but for some reason he could not understand, they simply shattered against its skin. Surprised yet remaining alert, Medus charged energy from his bracer into his fist and sent his left hand into Elegia's belly. An eruption of fire was sent out against the monster, pushing it back into the remains of already ruined buildings. Once again it got up like nothing happened, and Medus was stumped. He was sure the e-manual he read on the way to the planet said that the bracer would enhance his powers, so why weren't they working?

Far away, from a rooftop, someone was watching. A woman who had looked like she had come from a monochrome world. All her colours were greyscale - her skin was light grey, her long silver hair was neatly tied into locks that reached to her hips, her irises of a piercing gaze had the shade of platinum and her lips were a steel-like colour. The wispy garb she wore held together by little more than a few strings, along with her knee-high socks, were whiter than snow while the flat shoes she wore were a solid black.

"And so the Antagonist has got their sullied hands here on this planet, just as predicted..." she said to herself, watching the battle between the two giants. She held discontent seeing the Ultraman; never mind the beating he was suffering, his presence alone was enough to irk her. The bitterness of contempt reared its ugly head, seeing his incompetence at being unable to deal with even such a lowly creature. She squint her eyes, put on a frown, and narrowed her brows in severe disapproval at the irritating display. A breeze of hot wind generated from the blast of one of Medus' attacks sent her hair and already revealing clothing fluttering around, making it obvious that she wore nothing underneath. In the face of all this she put on a composed and stoic yet determined disposition, unphased and unblinking even when the dust and sand blew into her, remaining clean and neat as ever.

Elegia took flight in a straight path at Medus, colliding with him and knocking him down. The giant bird got onto him and started beating and pecking him into submission; Medus could not even get up and could feel that his time was running out. Jackson Miller felt a sudden fatigue and a constriction in his chest that coincided with the beeping of Medus' Colour Timer. The crowd watching and the SAVIOUR troops were getting nervous seeing Ultraman losing, aren't they supposed to be invincible and incredible?

"What the ●●●● is wrong with this thing?! Didn't you say this would be an easy one?!" The human complained, feeling that he had been deceived especially now that he had to experience a share of the pain and injury that the Ultraman he merged with was going through.

"It was supposed to be! I feel some kind of evil energy coming from this thing. It might have been powered up somehow!" Medus suspected as he continued enduring the beating. He dodged from side to side to avoid the beak that pecked into the ground and put up his arms to brace for the bird's wing beatings, but he knew things would be bad if things didn't turn around soon.

Fortunately, someone he never could have expected had arrived. A blow of great force sent Elegia flying into and through a row of buildings, crushing them under its weight. Medus looked to the side to see who had come for him, curious yet eager to learn of who had come to back him up. He had never been told that another Ultra had been stationed here. To his surprise, it wasn't anyone, or rather any*thing* he recognised.

## Chapter 3

***Light*** of a pale silver covered the being's body as a shroud where it crouched down after bouncing off from the recoil produced by its own kick on the monster's side. A humanoid shape of a towering size, similar to Medus', though slightly shorter and smaller in frame. The obscuring light faded away, revealing a feminine giant of silver. Two tones of silver at that, a lighter one that composed most of her body and a barely darker one that formed sparse, smooth lines. Her eyes were a pure white, and so was the shining jewel set into the middle of her chest.

"A friend of yours?" Jackson asked to his Ultra. He was just relieved to have received some help, regardless of who it was.

"No, actually. I've never seen anything like this..." Medus admitted while getting up, still confused by her appearance.

"...what?"

Medus almost recognised her as a fellow Ultra, until he realised how totally off her appearance was. There were no Ultras he heard of who were all silver, even from various other worlds like U40, O-50, the Land of Bright, Altara or even those who had come from mysterious unclear origins. Not even Nexus, for he had some black lines and a red energy core in his Anphans form. Besides that was the newcomer's face. It was uncanny sight to behold, not quite like an Ultra's and at the same time not quite like a human's and somewhere in between, creating an irreconcilable dissonance in Medus' mind. Jackson faced no such issues, as far as he knew these aliens could come in all sorts of weird shapes and colours.

Elegia got up once again, remaining unaffected by anything that hit it apart from being pushed around. Seeing the giantess, it screeched at her while spreading its wings to look bigger than it actually was as an intimidation tactic. Of course, the giantess stood still having no reaction until the bird started charging with the intent to strike. Before it could even land its foot on the ground on the first step, she quickly drew her hand forward with the palm open, facing the enemy with the fingers placed together. A monotone chanting sound came from nowhere and strange runes appeared in a circular formation, within an outer and an inner ring, in front of that palm of hers. A rippling pool of light had formed inside the inner circle, all in silver and all happening within an instant.

Medus recognised some of those runes, they were the language of the Ultras but also seemed different, and off. The vowels and consonants were used independently and there were some letters he could not read, they were not in the alphabet he was taught. The light that had pooled in front of the giantess' hand fired out like a geyser at Elegia, who was pushed back and visibly struggling in pain. It cried out and before long, a strange reaction started to happen. A coating of prismatic colours around the monster was made visible, and continuous firing of the beam caused it to crack and shatter, scattering its broken pieces on the ground with a loud crashing sound. Those pieces evaporated in the air and disappeared without a trace.

"I fail to understand the source of your difficulty in removing the augmentation, Coloured." The giantess said condescendingly using telepathy to Medus, which Jackson also heard.

"Now wait just a goddamn-" he said aloud, wanting to rant at her for not appearing any earlier. Her tone had clearly ticked him off, but it was too late. She had already disappeared just as silently as she arrived, fading out into nothingness. Even with her gone, Medus was still puzzled at the situation and turned his focus back to the monster who had just begun to blow a breath of flames at him. They singed his skin lightly, barely enough to do any kind of hurt, and that was when he and his host noticed that the intensity of these fires that Elegia spewed had been weakened. Medus rushed forward and landed several punches and chops to its face to stun it before picking it up and throwing it aside, making it land on its skull. Seeing the bird monster stunned and wobbly gave him the confirmation that his attacks were going through now, and it was time to finish this off. A blade of orange light extended from his bracer and with it, he ran past the creature and delivered a single stroke to its neck.

The head fell but Elegia's body was still moving, blindly prancing and stumbling around without any sense of direction. Medus put his right hand over his bracer again, charging energy with an upward lift of his arms before arranging them in a +, shooting his Medus Shot. It was a particle beam of fiery orange and red that flew at Elegia's direction, and within the next second or two, the body exploded into charred giblets that flew across the next few blocks in an explosion.

With his job now done, the adrenaline rush ended and all his fatigue caught up with him. From his standing position, Medus fell to his knee. His body began to break down into orange light particles that shined and faded away, revealing a sphere that floated down to a nearby street. Jackson Miller emerged from within, standing while holding his knees. He took deep breaths to fight his tiredness, he had never had such an intense workout in a long time. The loose-fitting blue nurse uniform he wore was drenched in sweat so thoroughly that one would be convinced at first glance that this dark colour was what it'd normally look like.

"We...we did it...we actually ●●●●ing did it!" Jackson said out loud, quite amazed and relieved at the end of the battle. For some reason, he felt good. He felt real good about himself despite all the exhaustion and aches. He felt the same kind of satisfaction after that fight that his job brought him. All the patients he got to see discharged, all the recoveries from the brink of death and despair, all the happy moments of reunited friends and family, knowing that he saved the city and spared hundreds and thousands of lives that day could match all of that and more.

He was ecstatic until something entered his mind. Observing his surroundings reminded him of just how much devastation the monster attack brought, seeing rising smoke and still-burning fires among the rubble and debris of the destroyed section of the city. And then he remembered his patient, who was probably out there alone.

"Oh, ●●●●! I have to get her!" he exclaimed, running off to roughly where he and Medus sent her earlier. He was fortunate enough to find the girl after calling out to her; she had taken some cover during the battle and was visibly quite shaken, but alive and as well as can be. One was just as glad as the other to be finally reunited, and shared a hug to comfort each other before returning to the hospital, having to walk and be pushed all the way until they managed to hitch a ride with a good Samaritan.

Meanwhile, the silver-haired woman found herself in the middle of the wreckage where Elegia's body exploded, where no human would want to be at the time. Ignoring all the smells and sounds, she closed her eyes and held her right hand upwards. Silver glyphs surrounded a silver circle that let out silver particles into the air, globules that were each roughly the size of a human eyeball. They floated up and combined themselves with the invisible essence of the deceased monster, becoming red as they did. They floated down back into the circle, coalescing in a light that erupted out and revealed a red, palm-sized rough-cut stone with the outline of Elegia carved into it. She opened her eyes once the ritual was over, and walked away from the scene.

"Is this all there is to the strength of a Coloured?" she asked herself, in both disappointment and agitation at the Ultraman's performance, for she knew what was about to come for this world. She knew that he doesn't have what it takes to stand up to it.

## Chapter 4

***By*** the time night fell, most things had gone back to normal at the hospital where Jackson worked. He was as busy as ever, having to help relocate and settle in the patients back to their rooms and quarters. Once all was said and done, he went back to that girl he spent the morning with to check up on how she was doing, after having to face a monster attack and a car crash and then isolation, as if her case wasn't already bad enough as it was.

He entered the room and saw a pair of adults with her. One was a male who Jackson recognised as the girl's legal guardian, a somewhat young man of Caucasian descent, who had brown hair shaved on the sides and done up on top to hide the receding hairline. He was by the girl's side, having a conversation saying things like "I'll always be there for you" and whatnot with the girl reciprocating. Another one who came with him was a literally starry-eyed lady with blonde hair let loose, carrying a handbag over the shoulder; she had to be his girlfriend or something. They looked like a family, even if Jackson knew they weren't one by blood. Not wanting to interrupt the moment, he left with a satisfied smile on his face hidden behind his mask.

"That's what we did today, Jackson. We protected these people's lives together." Medus claimed. He had been quiet ever since the end of the battle, so hearing his voice out of nowhere startled Jackson slightly. Having shared the experience of the battle with him, he figured that Medus must have been tired and didn't to bother the Ultra even if he knew how.

"Yeah, we did...so thanks for all that." he said aloud quite proudly, not knowing that this all worked on telepathy. He even said it when passing by two gossiping staff, giving him awkward glares as he passed but he did not pick that up.

"Shhhh! Just think it! No need to say it!" Medus ranted, afraid he might let something slip again.

"Aww come on. At least give me a heads up on that $#!+, you'll embarrass me here!" Jackson replied, tired. He was on his way to the break room to get some rest.

"But remember this, our mission is far from over and so is our partnership. There'll be many more challenges for us to face, and we have to root out the cause of this monster crisis eventually...we cannot rest easy until the threat has been eliminated" Medus warned him.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it..." Jackson replied, with his body feeling sluggish as he flopped down on a chair in the break room. It was getting hard to keep his eyes open after all that he went through.

"And then there's that silver lady too...I don't know what she is. And the augment she spoke of too, someone might be involved in all this. I think we might have to contact my superiors soon and report back. Things are getting fishy..." Medus said with a glum tone, clearly worrying about the stacking unknowns he was never told of or expected.

"You and I are going to have a loooong talk about all this Ultraman-ing stuff before anything else goes on." Jackson replied, before he started to nod off to sleep. This prompted Medus to give him a 'brief' history of the Ultras, and his own personal life, which was not exactly what Jackson was asking for...

"We Ultras come from the Land of Light in Nebula M78, transformed into our current forms by the Differator Rays emitted by the Plasma Spark that our ancestors built during the last days of our sun's lifespan and afterwards we gained the form of Giants of Light that dedicated our newfound superhuman powers to protecting the peace of the universe after the Great Ultra War with the Dark Emperor that resulted in the founding of the Inter Galactic Defense Force by Ultraman Ken also known as Father of Ultra...