"Whew, it's finally over..." Watching all three battlefields fall silent, Zero returned control of the body to Shinji, then became a tiny phantom and sat on his shoulder.
"I can't go on..." Gray shadows reappeared around Shinji's eyes, and he slumped into a chair.
Forcing Ultra Psychokinesis to alter the falling Super C.O.V.'s trajectory had consumed an enormous amount of stamina. Shinji was already exhausted, and Zero was hardly any better off.
"Why have you gotten so small?" Misato asked curiously as she looked at the tiny Zero.
"Well... that's a long story. Basically, it's related to why I couldn't transform and fight this time..." Zero swung his legs on Shinji's shoulder.
"You don't even have enough energy left to maintain a human-sized phantom?" Ritsuko guessed, looking at Little Zero on Shinji's shoulder with deep concern.
"Hey, Little Zero, you saw me fight, right?" Guren appeared on the screen, having returned to human form, and spoke with forced nonchalance.
With his leg injured, Guren had found a wooden stick somewhere and was using it as a crutch.
Seeing Guren's injured leg, Zero felt both heartache and regret.
"If only I could have gone to help you, Guren... then you wouldn't have..."
Zero had never been able to bear seeing his companions hurt, especially now, when there was nothing he could do.
"No! Zero decided not to transform because he was worried about my body," Shinji immediately protested.
Seeing Zero and Shinji blame themselves like that infuriated Guren. Clenching his fist, he shouted at Zero, "What's gotten into you, Little Zero? Have you forgotten everything I told you?"
"Just you wait! I'll deal with you when I get back!"
"All right, all right. We finally won the battle, so stop arguing," Mirror Knight said, trying to smooth things over after returning