At that moment, Vice-Captain Nagi Saijo, her expression cold and stern, spoke up:
"Captain, your injuries are severe. You cannot deploy so easily in the future."
"The person chosen to replace you on the front lines must be selected carefully. The Defense Team heads into battlefields of bloodshed and sacrifice. We have no need for decorative pillows."
Mamoru Shirogane had wanted to say, "Trust that he is a comrade you can safely entrust your back to," but after thinking it over, he decided he could not judge based on intuition alone. He changed his words. "Let time give us the answer."
Just as he finished speaking, the door opened and Team Member Emi walked in.
Shock still lingered on her face. "I think I saw that Team Member Qi Ming you all said was 'only good-looking.' He was running in the gym, and a whole crowd had gathered around to watch him."
"Running?" Kishida scoffed. "What kind of training is that? So he can run faster when he needs to flee in battle?"
"That's not the point." Emi raised her voice. "The point is, he's not just ordinarily handsome. Can he evacuate civilians during an earthquake? Normal girls would probably have trouble even walking after seeing him."
Yamanaka asked, "Does that include you?"
Emi immediately denied it. "Not me."
After a moment of cautious, rational consideration, Nagi Saijo said, "That is indeed a problem."
"I'll go talk to him." Leaning on his cane, Mamoru Shirogane headed for the gym just as Qi Ming finished his daily workout.
Mamoru Shirogane asked, "How does it feel? Are you getting used to living here?"
Qi Ming sighed. "Actually, I really wanted to numb myself with the mindset that 'this is a dreamlike journey, and when I wake from the dream, I'll find myself back where I started.' But the changes in my body tell me that everything is real."
Mamoru Shirogane asked, "Changes?"
Qi Ming said, "That was my twenty-fifth lap just now, but I'm not tired at all. And I'm much faster than I used to be."
Mamoru Shirogane was startled. One lap around the gym was four hundred meters. Twenty-five laps meant Qi Ming had just run ten kilometers!
Qi Ming said that he used to imitate an anime character and, with scientifically proper form, do one hundred pull-ups, one hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, and then run ten kilometers every day.
Unless something unusual came up, he always stuck with it. Though exhausting, finishing it gave him a sense of satisfaction.
But now, he did not feel tired in the slightest. It felt as though inexhaustible strength surged through the meridians of his body.
Looking at the Arbitrary Key on his right wrist, he could not help recalling Hideki Go's words from "Jack Ultraman"—"Ultraman's power is taking effect within me."
"This is a good thing." Mamoru Shirogane was pleased. He told Qi Ming that it was time to join the team for flight training.
Qi Ming asked, "Flight training? Flying Falcon 1?"
He had flown a relatively simple water rescue aircraft in Britain before, but fighter jets were obviously far more complicated and would require much more time to learn. He did not think it was necessary.
"Could we simplify the process of monster appears—then I fly a fighter jet to intercept it—the fighter gets shot down—then I transform into Ultraman at the critical moment? Couldn't we just skip straight to the final step?" Qi Ming planned to join the ground forces, where transforming would be more convenient.
Mamoru Shirogane said awkwardly, "But the other team members will think you're avoiding responsibility. They'll have objections."
Qi Ming said, "Their opinions are irrelevant. If they truly want to preserve peace, they should devote their energy to more important matters."
He asked, "Captain, you're injured and can't transform now. Why not have your brothers from the Land of Light come help?"
In "Ultraman Mebius," Taro came over to take over for Mebius when his abilities were "currently insufficient."
In "Taro Ultraman," you Ultra Six Brothers even had time to come to Earth for barbecue.
You're so crippled that you can't fight anymore. Would it really be impossible to send an Ultra brother over to relieve you or assist with defense?
Mamoru Shirogane said awkwardly, "My companions from my homeland are also fighting for justice elsewhere. Besides, I came to Earth in the capacity of a 'planetary observer,' and some of the things I've done here would be difficult to explain to them."
The other Ultra brothers were too busy to spare the time? But when I saw you all gathering on Earth for barbecue in "Taro Ultraman," you seemed pretty relaxed.
Still, Qi Ming could understand. This world was full of demons and monsters. Perhaps the Land of Light was also busy confronting dangers throughout the universe.
Qi Ming had many questions he wanted to discuss properly with Mamoru Shirogane. For example, where were his capsule monsters? Had they charged into a toilet with Zi-O Rabbit?
And there were too many vermin in their team. Should they clean house? How was the assembly work on Tiga's stone statue progressing...
The next moment, the alarm sounded. An emergency had occurred, and every Defense Team member immediately headed to the Command Room to assemble.
Before you continue