The helicopter flew over a stretch of sea dotted with abandoned buildings submerged in the water, and Misato explained the sight to Shinji.
"This was the original Tokyo, but rising sea levels have swallowed it up now."
"It's hard to believe this was once the great metropolis known as the City of Flowers."
Zero fell silent.
He remembered his days in Tokyo with Dan Moroboshi in another world.
He had defeated monsters there, including Darklops, Galactron, and Birdon.
So many unforgettable experiences and friends gradually surfaced in Zero's mind.
His thoughts drifted back to a rainy day, when he and Dan had risked their lives fighting Atrocious Belial...
The place he and Geed had fought with everything they had to protect... The place that held his bonds with Dan, Riku, and the others had actually been destroyed in this world.
As an Ultra Warrior, he felt a pang of grief.
"Zero?"
With their increasing degree of fusion, Shinji felt the grief in Zero's heart.
"It's nothing. I just remembered some things from the past." Zero stopped reminiscing.
"In Dan's world, Tokyo was a metropolis with a population of thirty-seven million."
"I have a lot of unforgettable memories there. Seeing this brought them back."
Zero told Shinji about Tokyo's bustling streets, drawing him into the story.
Meanwhile, Shinji's eyes stared blankly at Tokyo below.
Ritsuko glanced at him.
"The boy must have something on his mind. He's spacing out again."
Misato shook Shinji. "Shinji, what's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing. I was just imagining how lively this place used to be."
"You couldn't imagine it even if you tried. Tokyo was nothing like Tokyo-3, especially in terms of population."
Misato was right. Tokyo-3's population was a drop in the bucket compared with that of the original Tokyo.
The helicopter landed, and the three arrived at the venue.
The man in charge began reading from his script.
"Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend the Japan Heavy Chemical Industries Association's product launch. Next..."
"More of this empty ceremony..." Zero loathed this sort of thing. When he had shared a body with Dan, he generally used these occasions to sleep.
Bored, he had Shinji pick up the JA Drone report provided at the venue and read it.
He spotted quite a few interesting details and marked them with a pen.
"The test will begin shortly. If you have any questions, you may ask them now."
"I do."
"Well, if it isn't the renowned Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. What an honor to have you here."
After receiving permission, Ritsuko began asking her questions.
"According to what you just said, is the nuclear engine installed inside the robot?"
"Yes, that is this model's primary feature. Its power supply also guarantees at least 150 days of continuous combat operations."
"Wouldn't that be a disaster if it went out of control? And it's nuclear-powered..." Zero grumbled, having fought all sorts of mechanical enemies.
He had heard warriors from other worlds talk about manufactured robots going berserk. Two of his friends-a certain warrior renowned for compassion and another who roamed from universe to universe-had plenty to say on that subject.
"But for a ground-combat weapon designed to engage in close combat, isn't placing the reactor inside it like that too risky? Has your company considered how to handle damage to the reactor?"
"At least it's more useful than a humanoid decisive-combat weapon that can only operate for a mere five minutes," the man in charge said confidently.
"What's wrong with five minutes? We Ultra Warriors can deal with monsters with only three..." Zero was thoroughly annoyed by that remark.
"Exactly. Zero didn't even need two minutes to defeat the Angels this time or last time," Shinji grumbled too, having witnessed Zero's abilities.
Ritsuko and the man in charge continued arguing.
Misato couldn't help sighing. "Stop arguing. You're like a pair of children." Shinji agreed beside her.
The man in charge took out a file envelope. "As far as I know, NERV's humanoid weapons contaminate their pilots' minds. On humanitarian grounds, I believe our robot is superior."
"How did they find out? Isn't that classified?!"
"Biological weapons like those even run the risk of going berserk. An uncontrollable weapon is absurd, like a hysterical woman."
Laughter rippled through the audience, leaving Ritsuko so embarrassed that she didn't know what to say.
"Rumor has it that the pilot of NERV's decisive-combat weapon is even a minor. That makes it even less credible."
Zero couldn't stand listening any longer. He wouldn't tolerate insults to Shinji.
He had Shinji give the report to Misato and ask her to tell Ritsuko to question the points he had marked.
Ritsuko looked at the marked passages in the report. Although she didn't understand how Misato knew all this, she began asking questions anyway.
"As far as I know, most of your robot technology isn't actually your own, is it?"
"The nuclear reactor technology comes from the Eagle Nation. If something goes wrong, do you know how to handle it?"
"And the unmanned-operation technology was supplied by European countries, as was the relevant high-tech equipment."
"Even the most basic steel was imported from Dragon Country."
"Does your so-called technology amount to nothing more than assembling these components? If so, this multinational patchwork robot of yours is quite a joke."
The man's expression instantly darkened. He wanted to argue, but could find no grounds to do so, because assembly was indeed all they had done.
"I think we should proceed to the test. No amount of talk can settle things as well as an actual demonstration," another administrator interjected to smooth things over.
On the way, Misato quietly asked Shinji how he had noticed all that.
"I was just interested," Shinji said, pretending to know his stuff.
Zero said disdainfully, "I just don't feel like studying. That doesn't mean I can't learn."
"That certainly felt good. By the way, Misato, those questions you wrote down really did impress me."
"Actually, that was..."
"Yes, Miss Misato, how did you know all that?" Shinji played along.
With her explanation cut off, Misato could only laugh awkwardly.
"Begin the JA test!"
A building split down the middle, revealing a robot tens of meters tall inside.
Most of its body was pale yellow, while its shoulders and head were red.
-the JA Drone.
"Does that thing even have a head? It's so ugly..."
"Begin the test! Activate all power systems!"
"Coolant circulation normal. All control systems active!"
"Begin walking."
"Walking. Advancing at low speed."
"My Ultra sixth sense tells me this thing is definitely going to have problems." Zero had a premonition.
The drone began walking.
Suddenly, the screen in front of a technician turned red. The man in charge noticed it too.
"Open the valve and inject the moderator."
"It's no use. The pump output isn't increasing."
"Send the stop signal, now!"
"It won't stop!"
JA continued forward, stomping the observation room in front of it clean in two.
"Me and my big mouth..." Zero groaned.
"At this rate, the core will melt down! It could cause a radiation leak!"
Hearing the technician's words, Zero decided not to wait any longer.
"Shinji, head for the restroom!"
"Okay? Huh? Why the restroom?"
"There aren't any cameras in there. Nobody will see us transform."
Zero had always made a habit of checking maps and camera locations, and he was delighted to discover that no cameras covered the restroom.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Shinji rushed into the restroom along the route Zero gave him.
"Let's go, Shinji!"
Shinji flicked his trench coat aside, pulled out the glasses, and snapped them onto his face.
"Yeah!"
Starting from his face, Shinji's body transformed into Zero, then became a streak of light that flew outside.
"Find a way to stop it!"
"The probability of it stopping on its own is only 0.000002%! It would take a miracle."
"Rather than waiting for a miracle, we should..."
Before Misato could finish, a light appeared in front of JA.
A miracle had appeared before their eyes.
The light formed Zero, who slammed down onto the ground in style, sending dust flying everywhere.
"It's the giant! The giant's here again!" Misato exclaimed.
"The... giant." Everyone present stared at Zero in disbelief.
"I'm Zero, Ze-"
Before Zero could finish his pose or introduction, JA marched into him and knocked him aside while he was still off balance, leaving him in a sorry state.
"Even Galactron had better manners!" Zero shouted angrily as he got up.
Ginga had once complained to him about how embarrassing it was to get kicked away right after transforming. He hadn't thought much of it at the time.
Now he knew exactly how embarrassing it was.
"That was embarrassing..." Even Shinji couldn't help looking displeased.
Zero charged forward and grabbed the railing on JA's back, bringing it to a temporary halt.
The drone continued struggling, ignoring Zero.
"I'll chop your control core apart!"
Zero raised his hand for a chopping strike. He had already located JA's control core with his Ultra X-ray vision.
Misato was frantic. That blow from Zero would definitely cause a radiation leak.
She could only hope the giant understood human speech!
She stood in front of an electronic megaphone and shouted at Zero at the top of her lungs:
"Stop! That will make the robot in front of you leak radiation! It'll kill us!"
"To keep the giant from misunderstanding complicated terms, she used simple, plain language."
"Huh?! Good thing I didn't bring my hand down!"
Zero jumped in front of JA to block its advance while establishing telepathic contact with Misato.
"How do I stop this thing?"
"Huh?"
"Long story short, I'm the giant in front of you. Hurry up and tell me how to stop it! Give me something quick and direct!"
Without hesitation, Misato asked the man in charge, "Is there any simple way to stop it?"
"Only if you can push in the reactor control rods beside the control core, but that's practically impossible for a human..."
"That's enough!" Misato shouted the method through the megaphone, also telling Zero how to get inside.
"It's that simple?!"
Zero began shrinking.
"The giant disappeared!"
Zero flew to the hatch on JA's back, fired an Emerium Beam from his forehead lamp to blast it open, and flew inside.
The interior was flooded with radiation. A human without protective equipment would die within seconds, but to an Ultraman, it was nothing.
Zero reached the control rods and swept out his hand, using Ultra Psychokinesis.
All the control rods slid into place.
The control rods on top of JA's head retracted as well, and it collapsed to the ground.
"The JA Drone has stopped!"
The man in charge breathed a sigh of relief.
Zero grew to giant size again, gave everyone present a thumbs-up, and flew into the sky.
"Phew... Whatever else happened, we owe the giant our thanks this time." Misato sighed in relief.
Before you continue