Shinji found an open patch of ground, undid his transformation, and took off the glasses.
At the same time, he was surprised to discover a bracelet on his left wrist.
"Huh? Isn't this the Palaj Bracelet we fixed earlier? What's it doing on my wrist?"
"This bracelet is bound to me, so naturally, it also binds itself to whoever I'm possessing."
"Here, Shinji, hold my Ultra Glasses over the bracelet."
Shinji did as instructed and was surprised to see the glasses sucked into the bracelet.
"From now on, you can store the glasses in the bracelet and take them out whenever you want."
"That's so convenient!" Shinji was delighted as he looked at the exquisite bracelet on his wrist.
"Hey! Zero!" a young voice called out. Haruki and another young man came running over.
The young man gave Shinji a surprised look.
"You really are a handsome kid, just like Haruki said."
He smiled and held out his hand to Shinji. "Hi, I'm Riku Asakura. I was Geed, the Ultraman you saw earlier!"
"Hi, I'm Shinji Ikari. Right now, I'm Ultraman Zero." Shinji shook his hand.
Riku looked at Zero's spectral form and grinned.
"So, what happened this time, Zero?"
Zero pursed his lips. "What else? Pretty much the same thing that happened with Dan."
"Looks like you're a brave young man, too," Riku praised him.
"I just did what I should," Shinji replied with a smile. He was still feeling quite confident.
"Oh, and that coat of yours really reminds me of Gai Kurenai!" Gai Kurenai had left a strong impression on Riku, so Shinji's coat naturally brought that Wanderer to mind.
"We've been using your medal to fight all this time. Thank you so much!"
After seeing Zero's spectral form, Haruki bowed to thank him.
Zero smiled and made his signature gesture.
"Don't mention it. I'm just glad I could help!"
"Are you leaving, Zero?" Riku asked.
"Hmm... I'd like to stay here for a day. I want to let Shinji see another world, too."
"After all, his own world isn't exactly a nice place."
Haruki had an idea. "Shinji, would you like to visit STORAGE? It's the defense organization I belong to."
"Our captain's really friendly, too."
"Yeah, they're pretty hospitable, and..." Riku glanced at Haruki and swallowed the rest of his sentence.
"Sure. It'll be a good chance to see how it differs from Xio and NERV." Zero was also rather curious about this world's defense organization.
Once Haruki turned away, Riku quickly leaned close to Shinji to whisper to Zero.
"Their captain is Jugglus Juggler! But he doesn't seem to want his team to know, so we'd better not tell Haruki."
"Jugglus Juggler?!" Zero shuddered.
Although they had fought side by side, he had never spoken to him directly.
But considering how he had once fallen into darkness and made Gai Kurenai's life miserable before finally turning over a new leaf, not to mention spending all the money in Dan's wallet to buy information, Zero didn't have a particularly good impression of Jugglus Juggler's character.
"What kind of person is this Jugglus Juggler?" Shinji asked Zero in a lowered voice.
"All I can say is that he's quite a character. Even I can't figure him out," Zero said glumly.
"Someone even you can't figure out, big brother Zero..." Shinji fell silent, too.
As they walked, they came face-to-face with Jugglus Juggler in his STORAGE uniform.
"Captain Hebikura, what brings you here?"
"Me? I was worried about you, so I came to check. Oh, looks like you got rescued, Riku."
Zero looked at Hebikura and recognized him immediately.
"It'd be stranger if I didn't recognize Jugglus Juggler with that face!"
Although they had only met once before, and it had been a long time, he would never forget Jugglus Juggler's face.
Jugglus Juggler turned to Haruki and told him to meet up with Yoko before heading back. Haruki obeyed and left.
Once Haruki was gone, Jugglus Juggler looked at Shinji with a mischievous grin.
"Hello, Zero. This is our first proper introduction, isn't it?"
Zero snorted irritably. "Hmph. I never thought you'd become STORAGE's captain."
Jugglus Juggler folded his arms, still smiling. "What's so strange about that? People change. Besides, I'm protecting this world, just like last time."
Shinji stood nervously to one side. He could clearly feel that Zero wasn't being very friendly toward Jugglus Juggler.
Jugglus Juggler looked at Shinji. "So this is the boy you're possessing now? He looks pretty lively. Handsome, too."
Zero's spectral form moved in front of Shinji. "I'm warning you, don't get any funny ideas."
Jugglus Juggler spread his hands. "What funny ideas could I possibly have? I just think this kid's pretty interesting."
Riku couldn't understand why Zero was treating Jugglus Juggler like this. As far as he remembered, Jugglus Juggler was, at most, a somewhat odd senior.
"Forget it. Just tell us about STORAGE."
When Zero learned that STORAGE fought monsters using giant robots called Special Airborne Armors, his interest immediately flared.
"Oh! Shinji's world has similar giant robots called Evas. They fight monsters called Angels, and Shinji's even the pilot of Eva Unit-01!"
"They belong to an organization called NERV."
Wait. Jugglus Juggler found that a little hard to believe and asked Shinji, "How old are you?"
"Fourteen."
"They're even more ruthless than I am, making a fourteen-year-old kid do something like that..." Even Jugglus Juggler found it hard to accept.
"That's why I'm here to protect Shinji," Zero said confidently.
"So, let us take a look at your big robots. Maybe it'll help us improve NERV's robots!"
Zero revealed his real motive.
"All right, all right. I'll make the arrangements when we get back."
"I never thought I'd see the day you asked me for a favor, Zero."
Jugglus Juggler brought Shinji into the base's hangar. Whenever they ran into anyone along the way, he simply said Shinji was a kid visiting the base.
When Zero saw the two large Special Airborne Armors before him, he was a little speechless.
"Aren't these my dad's capsule monsters-Ultraseven Plus and Windom?"
Still, their mechanical designs really did lend themselves to robots like these.
"They're entirely mechanical, right? Not biological weapons?" Zero recalled the Evas encased in restraints.
"Of course they're entirely mechanical," Jugglus Juggler said proudly.
Although they could only operate for three minutes, they could still hold their own against monsters.
Shinji looked at the Special Airborne Armors before him. Though he couldn't make out a humanoid shape, they still struck him as very powerful.
"Haruki's a new pilot, too. He pilots this Ultraseven Plus."
"Ah, hahaha! Doesn't that make Z Special Airborne Armor Z?!" Zero clutched his stomach, laughing.
Jugglus Juggler glanced at Shinji and gave a wicked smile.
"Then, Zero, wouldn't you count as that world's"
"EVA: Unit Zero?"
"Shut up!"
"That thing's twenty thousand years too early to compare itself to me!" Zero shot back at Jugglus Juggler angrily.
Before you continue