Zero and Shinji left the space within Space Garrison headquarters and returned to their room.
Shinji had a new question.
"Zero, what's your relationship with those two Ultramen called Father of Ultra and Mother of Ultra? Could they be..."
"Ahem, here's how it works."
"In the Land of Light, if we aren't related by blood, we usually call each other brothers and sisters."
"Father of Ultra and Mother of Ultra are our most respected elders in the Land of Light. Father of Ultra led the Land of Light in establishing the Space Garrison and made tremendous contributions to peace in the universe."
"Mother of Ultra leads the Silver Cross Army and has saved countless warriors."
"That's why they were given the honorary titles of Father and Mother."
"Also, among the Ultra Brothers, the most highly respected warriors in the Land of Light today, only my sixth uncle, Taro, is their biological son. The others are all their adopted sons."
"My father, Ultraseven, is also their adopted son, the third oldest."
"Mother of Ultra raised me, too."
"Then who's your mother, Zero?"
Shinji was very curious. Why had Mother of Ultra raised Zero? What was his family like?
Zero fell silent, and Shinji realized he seemed to have asked something he shouldn't have.
"Sorry, Zero. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to..."
Zero smiled, at peace with it.
"It's fine. I might as well tell you. It's not something I have to keep secret."
"I came to terms with it a long time ago, anyway."
"Shinji, I'm actually not a pure-blooded Ultraman. My mother was a human from Earth."
"Huh?!" Shinji could hardly believe it.
Zero's mother had actually been human.
"Nearly six thousand years ago, my father, Ultraseven, came to the Earth in our world as a planetary observer to chart its orbit and fight aliens invading Earth."
"To conceal his identity, he joined the Earth Defense Force of that time-the Ultra Guard (UG)."
"Living with them day after day and fighting at their side, my father came to love humanity deeply."
"He also fell in love with a human woman in the Ultra Guard named Anne Yuri."
"She was my mother."
"Later, my father nearly exhausted all his energy in a battle and was badly wounded. After saying goodbye to my mother, he returned to the Land of Light for treatment."
"I was born before he returned to Earth."
"My father's human name was Dan Moroboshi, so my mother named me Shin Moroboshi."
"Later, my father returned to Earth and stayed with my mother and me."
"But..." The light gradually faded from Zero's eyes as he recalled the saddest part.
"The difference between the lifespans of humans and the Ultra Race is enormous."
"A hundred years might be no more than a grain of sand to our Ultra Race, but to humans, it's an entire lifetime."
"I've forgotten how old I was when my mother passed away..."
"I couldn't remember anything back then. Still too young to understand, I was taken back to the Land of Light by my father, underwent ultra evolution, and became an Ultraman."
"More than five thousand nine hundred years have separated me from my mother now..."
"In the past, I couldn't even remember what she looked like..."
"Sigh. I might as well tell you about my father, too."
"I used to have no idea who my parents were."
"Mother of Ultra told me my parents had died in the line of duty long ago, but she simply wouldn't tell me their names. Later, when I went to the Martyrs' Cemetery in the Land of Light, I couldn't find any names that seemed to belong to them."
"So for a while, I thought my father was a bastard like that old man."
"I even thought my parents had abandoned me because I wasn't strong enough."
"The desire to gain power and prove myself kept driving me."
"In the end, I almost made a terrible mistake. I reached for the Plasma Spark Tower in the Land of Light, trying to gain power by touching it so I could protect the Land of Light with my own strength."
"Luckily, Ultraseven knocked me to the ground, and I was arrested."
"For breaking the laws of the Land of Light, I was exiled. My master, Ultraman Leo, took me to the barren planet K76 for special training."
"There, I put on Training Armor forged by a mysterious warrior. It restrained my power and made me think about what strength really meant."
In the end, I finally understood the meaning of strength.
"Power sought for yourself is fragile, but power used for others can make you hundreds of times stronger."
"That's what makes an Ultra Warrior strong."
"Once I understood strength, our King told me that my father was Ultraseven."
"One reason he hadn't acknowledged me as his son was that he was suspected of having taken part in a conflict between humans and an indigenous people to protect lives, making him a controversial warrior. On top of that, I was half Ultraman and half human."
"That was extremely unfavorable for the Land of Light, for me, and for the humans in our universe."
"But the more important reason was that he didn't want me to live in his shadow. He wanted me to be free of the title 'Ultraseven's son,' to face myself starting from zero and live my own life."
"That's where my name, Zero, came from."
"But he had always been quietly watching over me and protecting me. Back then, I just thought it was the normal concern an older warrior showed a younger one."
"Then came the news that the traitor Belial had stolen the Land of Light's Plasma Spark Tower. My master and I immediately went to help."
"I found the stolen Plasma Spark Tower and earned its recognition. It gave me power, and I defeated Belial."
"That was the scene you saw in your dream."
"In the end, I proved myself. I proved that being of mixed blood made me no different from any other Ultraman."
"I saved the Land of Light and became a hero."
"Ultraseven and I acknowledged each other as father and son. He told me about my mother and showed me what she looked like."
"It turned out my parents had never abandoned me..."
"Waaah..."
Zero's thoughts were interrupted again as he immersed himself in his memories. He looked at Shinji and found that Shinji had pulled the blanket over his head and was sobbing his heart out.
Zero's sad story had moved him deeply.
"Shinji... it's all right." Zero used telekinesis to hug him.
"It's been five thousand years. I stopped being sad about it long ago."
"Besides, Mother of Ultra and Father of Ultra treated me very well in the Land of Light, just like their own child."
"No one dwelled on the fact that I didn't have parents. Everyone cared about me."
Zero was right. The utopia that was the Land of Light would never make life difficult for children like him. Instead, it would give them extra care.
Sniffling, Shinji lifted the blanket. He was still sobbing, his eyes red and two clear tear tracks running down his face.
"You had it so much worse than me, Zero," Shinji murmured, his voice filled with endless sorrow and sympathy.
To Shinji, more than five thousand years was an unimaginably long torment. Had it been him, the crushing weight of time would probably have suffocated him long ago.
Yet when Zero spoke of it, it all seemed insignificant.
"That's why I want you to see your mother again as soon as possible, Shinji."
"I don't want my tragedy to happen to another child, especially one as kind and gentle as you." Zero looked tenderly at Shinji.
"You're a young man, Shinji. Don't cry anymore."
"Okay." Shinji wiped away his tears.
"Get some rest, Shinji. You still have school tomorrow."
Before going to sleep, Shinji said to Zero,
"In the future, I'll become as strong as you, Zero, and protect everyone."
Zero stroked Shinji's head. "I know I chose well. I believe in you."
Shinji drifted off to sleep, and Zero watched him with quiet satisfaction.
"Shinji's become a young man. That's wonderful."
The next morning, Shinji ran toward school while shouting the Five Ultra Oaths.
By then, the boy had decided to gain the strength to protect the lights of every home, just like Zero.
(Note!) The following are this book's original setting details.
In this book, the interval between Ultra Galaxy Legend and the Mebius finale has been shortened to nearly 5,900 years. More than a decade has passed in the main universe since Ultra Galaxy Legend for Zero, which is why it says nearly six thousand years ago here.
Zero has blue on his body because Ultraman and human genes are relatively similar. If Anne had evolved, she would most likely have become a blue Ultraman, which is why Zero is both red and blue.
(Please go easy on me, dear readers.)
Before you continue