Chapter Text
Leito Igaguri’s days were typically all quite similar. Wake up in the morning, greet his wonderful wife Lumina, see his darling daughter Mayu, eat breakfast, go to work, work, go home, see his family again, eat dinner, go to bed. There was very rarely any deviation from this schedule, and when there was, it was often him staying late at work, or otherwise minor changes.
Because Leito was a normal man who worked a normal salary job. Or something like that is at least what he tells himself, and most days, he believes it. Most days, it’s easy to believe.
Today was one of those days and one of those exceptions to his regular schedule. It had all started out normal enough, of course, save for him staying later at work, until he made his way home from work. It was the same route he always took, one that he almost certainly knew by heart now. Things had been normal.
Until a roar resonated through the city.
Confused, Leito whipped his head in the direction of the roar, only to reel back when his eyes landed on the source. A large monster, easily as tall as the buildings of the city, if not taller, with horns and strange markings. Frightened, Leito stumbled back, searching for appropriate cover in case the monster came his way. Once he was tucked under some stairs at an observatory – the very same observatory he was left at as a child, he finally had a moment to spare to ponder this strange occurrence.
In all of Leito’s life, there had never been a monster like this. If he recalled correctly, the last time there had been a giant monster – a kaiju – anywhere in the world had been before he was even born. Before the Crisis Impact. Ever since, there hadn’t been any kaiju.
Until now, it seemed.
He was sure in the coming months, there would be all sorts of reporting on the news, research done by those with actual qualifications trying to determine why all of the sudden a kaiju had appeared. Whatever factor might have changed to cause this, Leito wasn’t really in the position to care, in that moment. Because there was a giant monster in the city and that was, frankly, rather terrifying. He didn’t think that was an unreasonable reaction.
Besides, he had Lumina and Mayu to get home to. The last thing he needed was to be caught unaware and get injured – or worse, die. No, no way. Leito was staying right here. Unless the kaiju came his way, then he’d probably flee in the opposite direction, no matter how much it took him off the route home.
A buzzing reached his ears, the mechanical kind, not the insect kind. Leito looked around, trying to find its source, eyes eventually landing on a strange spherical device. Now that it was closer, the sound was really more of a wave, like when you shook paper just right… It floated there, for a moment, so Leito hesitantly reached a finger out, brushing against it-
“Ow!” Even though it was only a slight prick, it was certainly enough to cause his finger to bleed.
“B Factor confirmed,” A woman’s voice rang out from the orb, “Updating base from sleep mode to standard mode.”
Leito tilted his head, even more confused and worried about just what this sphere was. “Huh?”
A few feet away, a strange cylinder appeared, doors opening and looking somewhat like an elevator. Leito had no clue where it came from. Or why. Or what the orb was talking about when it said something about a “B Factor” or “base”.
The orb moved closer to the elevator, “Please enter the elevator, master.”
It took Leito a moment to process its words. “What? No, no!” He waved her arms, like it might shoo the orb away. “I’m not going in there! And what’s that master thing about, too?”
With a movement that felt a little bit like the orb was trying to enter the elevator, the orb did not answer Leito’s questions. Instead, it simply repeated, “Please enter the elevator.”
Now, Leito was a sane man – at least he liked to think he was. He had made it through his thirty years of life primarily by keeping his head down, when the situation allowed it. This was not one of those situations, certainly, but there wasn’t a person on Earth who’d think that it wasn’t at least a little bit dangerous to follow the instructions of a random floating orb. Especially not on an elevator with only one way to go – down. If it got stuck, no one would even be able to rescue him!
For a moment, he’s reminded of one of the TV shows Mayu had spoken about watching when she’d had a playdate with one of her friends from preschool. Something about a locker in a school storage room leading to a space base? He couldn’t recall what, precisely, nor was it entirely important, given the circumstances – he simply felt, briefly, that maybe this elevator was something like that. Then he remembered that no one on Earth had a power like that.
Another roar from that monster in the distance broke Leito from his thoughts. Right, he was cowering under the stairs to an observatory, waiting for a kaiju to leave, and there was a weird orb that was trying to get him to a secondary location. He shifted, sticking his had out from under the stairs, looking around. The kaiju had moved further away now, far enough that Leito didn’t think he’d really be in any danger.
He removes himself from his hiding spot, then returned his attention to the orb. “N-no thank you,” He replied to its ushering, “I’m going to go home now.”
For a moment, the orb simply floated there silently. Then, it finally responded, “You must come to the base,” It moved, floating around so it was behind him. Leito turned to follow, not quite wanting to take his eyes off the orb when it was so close to him. The orb then pushed against him with surprising force, causing him to take several steps back in an effort to make space, moving him closer to the elevator in the process. “It’s important.”
“I really need to get home,” Leito attempting to protest as the orb once again moved closer, continuing to push him towards the elevator. “That’s also very important!”
The orb gave him one last push, sending him tumbling through the elevator doors and into the elevator. It takes him a moment to reorient himself, now sat on the floor of the elevator. In that time, the orb flies in and joins him and the doors shut.
It seemed he was going to find out what all this “base” business was whether he wanted to or not. Hopefully he wasn’t getting kidnapped, that would really upset Mayu…
When the doors finally opened again, he sees… a room, of a kind, with metal walls. In the back center was a sort of cylindrical podium with another orb above it, this one suspended to the ceiling. The elevator disappeared around them, just like it had seemingly magically appeared above ground. With no walls to hide behind, Leito looked around. There wasn’t much more in the room, nothing to really indicate the purpose.
Nervously, Leito asked, “What… what is this place?”
“This is the command center of the base,” The orb replied, “Located five hundred meters beneath the observatory. I’ve transferred control of the base to you, master.” The orb flew over to the larger orb.
“To me?” He couldn’t help the way his whole body jumped at the statement. “You- you must have me confused for someone… important!”
Just as informative as before, the orb assured him, “There is no confusion nor mistake. The DNA test on your blood sample is complete.”
While the blood sample Leito could understand, it must have gotten that from the prick on his finger earlier, that had only been a few minutes ago. “DNA test? When- when did you even…?”
The orb does not answer that question. Instead, it said, “There are items for you.” On the podium before the larger orb, several items appeared, just as the elevator had. Leito wasn’t sure what any of them were, though there appeared to be four capsules of some kind, sitting upright. “This is the Riser you will use for Fusion Rising.”
Leito does not approach the podium. In fact, his feet stay firmly planted on the floor where he is currently standing. Ideally, he’d like to run away, run all the way home to Lumina and Mayu. Given he was, supposedly, five hundred meters underground and the elevator had disappeared, that wasn’t the most feasible right now. Still, he wasn’t going to touch any items that had magically appeared somewhere! That’s how you get involved in one of those magical girl mangas Lumina liked to read.
“Fusion Rising…?” Leito echoed. There was that, too. He didn’t know what ‘Fusion Rising’ was or why he’d need to do it. He didn’t really want to do it, either. He had enough to do at work and helping Lumina raise Mayu when he was home. He didn’t need to worry about another responsibility.
The orb fell, gently landing on the table beside the items that had appeared. Now, the larger orb, the one suspended from the ceiling, lit up, the voice now coming from it. “It is how you will access your original form and power.”
At the idea of that, Leito reeled back, taking a couple steps further away. “What? Original form…?” He shook his head rapidly, “No way! What are you talking about?”
“This is your destiny,”
“D-destiny? No, I’m just… a normal man.” Maybe if Leito said it enough, it would be true.
Leito Igaguri was a normal man.
Despite that, the orb’s next words hit him like a punch to the gut. “You are not a native of this planet.”
The thing was, Leito Igaguri was not a normal man. He never had been even a normal teen, or a normal boy, not even a normal baby. He’d been abandoned as a baby, on the steps of the very observatory he was now underneath. And he’d always been strange. He could lift too much, jump too high, and run just a bit too fast for anyone to not find it strange.
Lumina, angel that she was, never cared. For as long as they’d known each other, she’d never cared that he was strange in a way that seemed just a bit… well, in retrospect, inhuman.
He let out a shaky breath, finally approaching the items and the orb. Hesitantly, carefully, he picked up a red device. The Riser, maybe? “I… why would I need to access this… original form?”
“That is for you to determine,” The orb replied.
Prior to just a few minutes ago, Leito knew nothing about his origin. He had simply assumed he was an orphan and whoever had left him couldn’t be bothered to find an orphanage to leave him at. Now, though… this orb somehow knew something about where he came from. What he was.
He then looked up at the orb again, “What… even are you?”
“I am the Report Management System for this base,” The orb replied.
“Report… management…” Leito frowned, technically it was an answer, but calling this orb the Report Management System would get old fast. At work, they typically shortened the names of programs and such that were too long to easily be spoken in a timely manner. “Rem then.”
A pause, then Rem replied, “Very well,”
Leito reached for the other objects on the table and it’s in doing so that he caught a glimpse of his watch. He was going to be so late getting home… how could he even consider spending another moment more here? Wherever he came from, whatever he was, wasn’t nearly as important as getting home to his family!
“I need to get going!” He yelped.
Behind him, the elevator appeared again. Though he wanted to rush straight for it, he hesitated. He didn’t think he really needed to see his original form, whatever that may be. Despite that, he shoved the items Rem had provided into his pockets, determining they would be a problem for another time.
As he hurried towards the elevator, Rem told him, “If you are ever in need of my assistance, I will provide it.”
---
By the time Leito had gotten home, the kaiju had made its way out of the city, to Leito’s relief. Despite that, he wasn’t entirely at ease with it – apparently no one could figure out where it went, some even saying it disappeared! A few hours ago, Leito wouldn’t have believed something like that could happen at all, but a few hours ago, Leito hadn’t thought a kaiju even could appear, and he’d thought he was at least of Earth.
Neither of those things were true and he knew that for a fact.
While it was possible that Rem wasn’t entirely truthful about him being from somewhere other than Earth, it made too much sense. Even if he didn’t know how he made it to Earth or why. What he really was. In theory Rem held those answers… or the device she’d given him did. But those, right now, weren’t very high in Leito’s concern.
Despite the hour, the news played, telling everyone how this was the first kaiju to appear since before the Crisis Impact. That it was sudden and strange, that no one knew why. The report then transitioned into the discovery of an illustration from years ago of the Crisis Impact. It depicted a large being, humanoid but with sharp teeth and claws, a black body with red markings and jagged red eyes. The sort of thing that probably would have terrified Leito as a child.
“A kaiju after thirty years…” Lumina commented, walking over the table where Leito sat, peering over at the TV screen. “Mom and dad used to tell me stories about them. Stories from before the Crisis Impact.”
Leito glanced up at her, “It’s… a bit scary, don’t you think?”
“With how suddenly it appeared,” She replied, looking away from the TV to look at Leito, “I’m certainly worried, at least. When the monster appeared, earlier, and then you were late getting home… I was so worried you’d gotten hurt.”
Though he glanced away from her, mind wandering to his meeting with Rem, he forced himself to keep looking at her and smile. “I’m alright, I made sure to find somewhere safe. Thankfully, the kaiju didn’t come all that close.”
At that, Lumina simply hummed, clearly pleased at his safety. That, of course, made Leito quite happy. Lumina was so good to him, loved him so much despite how strange he was. Despite the fact he wasn’t even from Earth. Not that she knew that, but he can’t help but wonder if the thought might have crossed her mind at some point.
Quiet but hurried footfalls steal both Leito and Lumina’s attention away from the TV. Mayu hurried into the room, lighting up with she saw Leito. “Daddy!” Soon Leito had her in his arms, held in a warm hug.
“Mayu! Did we wake you up?” He smiled softly, relishing in her warmth.
Instead of answering, she simply said, “I missed daddy.”
What did Leito do to deserve such a wonderful daughter? If it were possible, everything Mayu did would make him love her more.
“I missed you too, but it’s time for you to get back to bed.” He gave her a gentle pat on the head.
She doesn’t even complain, though maybe that has something to do with the way her eyes are fixed on the TV. Finally, when she does speak, she said, “There was a big monster… but when monsters show up, a hero’s supposed to show up too. To protect everyone.”
That was probably what happened in the TV shows Mayu watched. Probably what happened in the games she played with her friends at preschool. But that wasn’t what happened today. It wouldn’t be what happened the next time a monster showed up – because Leito wasn’t stupid, if one monster had showed up then surely another would, sooner or later. Hopefully far away from him and his family.
---
It was only a bit after Leito had gotten home, the next day, when the same monster as the day before appeared. It was in a different spot, but thankfully still far away from their apartment. Nothing to worry about, for them at least. He did feel bad for all of those who might be caught up in the attack… but there wasn’t much to be done. Even before the Crisis Impact, management of kaiju attacks had always been difficult. At least, that’s what the history books said.
That’s what the anchor on the news said, as the report of the kaiju’s reappearance was broadcast.
Mayu had several of her stuffed animals strewn in the corner, having them talk with both each other and herself. She liked this game, where she pretended that her stuffed animals were her partners on adventures and would talk to her. After a declaration that she would go get “Ms. Birdy” to join on their adventure, she hurried over to a shelf, where a stuffed bird sat. She picked up the bird and then stared at the shelf.
When she reached up to grab something else, she asked, “What’s this?”
Turning his full attention towards Mayu, Leito sees she’s now holding that red device Rem had given him – the Riser. He vaguely recalled having set it and the other items Rem had given him down on that shelf the night before. “Oh, Mayu, those are…” he doesn’t really know what to tell her.
Her head turns towards him, setting the Riser back on the shelf. Cheerfully, she said, “They look like something someone would use to transform into a hero!”
Whatever he meant to say next caught in his throat, even as Mayu moved on, bringing her stuffed bird to join the other stuffed animals. Leito tried to chase what she had said from his mind. He wasn’t a hero after all. He wasn’t sure what he was.
The news broadcast droned on, the anchor reporting on the movements of the kaiju. “The area has been evacuated, as have the surrounding areas, but if the monster continues its course, more will have to be evacuated.” The anchor spoke, hurriedly and worriedly, “As it is, it’s already predicted that thousands will be displaced between this attack and last night’s.”
Leito took a deep breath. It wasn’t his problem. He wasn’t a hero.
His eyes landed on the Riser once more, Rem’s words echoing in his mind. “It is how you will access your original form and power.”
Just what kind of power did Leito actually possess? He didn’t know, but… maybe Rem did. She seemed to know a lot about him. Maybe, he even had enough power to stop a kaiju? It was a silly idea, but now that it had infiltrated his mind, he couldn’t get it to leave.
Silently, he stood, grabbing the Riser and other items from the shelf and shoving them in his pockets. “Lumina, I just remembered I have a, uh… an errand I need to run.” He called out.
She peeked over from the kitchen, “An errand?”
He nodded, “Yes. I’ll be back in a bit!” He hurried over to the door, pulling on his shoes and waving goodbye as Mayu returned the farewell in kind.
The city blurred by as he ran towards the observatory, the streets nearly dead as no one dared to venture out when there was a kaiju around, even if it were further away from this area than the night before. The observatory came into view and it was only then that Leito didn’t really know how he was going to get into that command center again. The elevator has simply appeared, before, perhaps on Rem’s command.
Then he noticed the smaller orb, the one that had pricked him and led him into the elevator. “Rem!” He called, prompting the orb to move further into his sight. It’s then that the elevator appeared and this time, Leito doesn’t hesitate to enter. Rem’s orb followed him. As the elevator descended, he pulled out the Riser. “You said that this would let me access my original form and its power, right?”
“Affirmative,” Rem replied and a moment later the elevator stopped, doors opening and allowing Leito to once again enter the room from the night before. Rem’s orb flew over to her larger orb, just as before.
“What kind of power? Enough to- to stop a kaiju?” Some part of Leito couldn’t entirely believe he was asking.
Once more, Rem answered, “Affirmative,” she then added, “You possess the DNA of an Ultraman.”
That caused Leito to pause. An Ultraman? What even was that? “Ultraman…?” He reached into his pocket once more, pulling out one of the capsules. It had a silver and red humanoid on it. Was this… an Ultraman?
Perhaps Rem had figured out what Leito was thinking, as he clipped what appeared to be a holster for the capsules onto his belt, with the two capsules, as she holographic screens appeared, displaying footage of the kaiju, along with a map of the city and details about the monster.
The camera footage was about level with the monster’s head and fairly close up, odd as any news reports would be from much further away. No one would risk getting that close to a kaiju. “Where is this footage coming from?”
“The spherical device I used to approach you initially, known as a U-Tom.” Rem replied. “Will you take the elevator to the location of the monster, master?”
“The elevator?” Leito blinked, trying to figure out how something that should only go up and down would somehow bring him to a monster that was not right above him. Then again, it was an elevator that could seemingly appear and disappear. “Can it… do that?”
Once more, Rem answered, “Affirmative, as I have the coordinates of the kaiju’s location.” She then continued, “You can use the Riser to remain in contact with me.”
Leito swallowed, “R-right.”
The elevator appeared once again and it suddenly hit Leito what he was going to do. He was going to try to fight a kaiju. Which was, frankly, a little crazy. He was just an office worker, he never got into fights! This wasn’t what he was meant for!
Then Mayu’s words the night before come to mind, “When monsters show up, a hero’s supposed to show up too. To protect everyone.”
He didn’t fancy himself a hero, not at all. But no hero had shown up to save the day, no one else seemed to have the power to. The real world wasn’t like Mayu’s shows, but… maybe Leito could make it just a little more that way. Maybe someone would arrive and save the day. It just so happened that someone may very well have to be him.
Taking a deep breath, Leito stepped into the elevator. When the doors opened again, he was in the city, the monster not that far away. His hand reached down to the device on his belt, one that looked as though it could fit those two capsules in it.
Rem’s voice rang out, “Master, can you hear me?”
“Uh, yes. And, um, Leito’s fine.” It was getting a bit strange listening to her call him ‘master’.
“Acknowledged,” Was Rem’s quick response. “The monster’s direction of movement has changed. It is now approaching a part of the city that hasn’t yet evacuated.”
A place where many lives would be in danger, if the monster reached there. “That’s… bad.” Leito replied.
“I will walk you through the process to access your original form,” Rem told him. Right, he’d come all the way here and hadn’t even asked her how he could do it, or what the Riser had to do with it. “Firstly, please state your post Fusion Rise designation.”
Post Fusion Rise designation? Oh, he was really going to have to come up with some kind of superhero name. How embarrassing, here he was, thirty years old and… well, it wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about cool superhero names when he was a child. Not that they were really that cool and it sounded like he might be stuck with whatever he chose, so he should really think this through.
There just. Wasn’t really time to think it through, so he blurted out the first that came to mind. “Geed!” He declared, “Uh, Ultraman Geed.” He supposed that would make his Riser the Geed Riser, now, but he hardly had any time to think about the knock on effects of him choosing a name.
“Acknowledged, now activate the Ultra Capsules, place them in the loader, and scan the loader with the Riser.” Rem instructed. So taking the device Leito was using to communicate with her, Leito grabbed the first capsule and activated it, then slotted it into the device. He did the same with the other capsule, before using the Riser to scan them, as Rem had instructed.
Fusion Rise!
A voice rang out from the Riser, that meant he must have been doing something right. Leito took this last second to really comprehend what he was doing and then held the Riser against his chest, pressing the button in the handle. He could do this.
Ultraman! Ultraman Belial!
Ultraman Geed Primitive!
Energy flung Leito up into the air, his body growing. Growing and growing, until the point his feet landed on the ground and he realized that the buildings around him now only reached around his shoulders or so. He glanced down at his hands, now silver. On his chest, he can see a bright blue protrusion, only slightly raised.
The monster turned its sights to him. Leito hadn’t actually thought this far ahead, not in any meaningful way. Right, well… he really only had one course of action left, at this point.
Beneath his feet, the road felt strangely soft, like walking in packed sand. He shifted, watching as the monster slowly made its way towards him. Then he leapt forward, flinging himself towards the kaiju. He slammed into it – and that hurt a bit, though he could ignore it – reaching to try to grapple for some kind of purchase on its body.
The monster shook, knocking him off and tumbling into the nearby water. At this size, the ocean was oddly shallow, even though he knew it was meters deep. He pulled himself to stand again, turning to face the monster. It let out a roar than rushed at him. Holding his arms out, he tried to grab the large horns that jutted out from the sides of its head, only for his hands to slip and the head to make contact with his chest.
Leito fell into the water once more, the blue thing on his chest changing to now flash red, emitting a beeping sound. “Ugh… this monster’s… strong.” He muttered. It was that or he was really weak which… could probably still be the case.
“Your time limit is approaching,” Rem informed him, the first she’d spoken since Leito had transformed. “On this planet, you can only maintain your original form for three minutes. After, you will not be able to transform again for another twenty hours.”
Twenty hours? That meant that, in order to keep this monster from doing any more damage… this was Leito’s only chance. As he pulled himself up, the monster stomped towards the part of the city that was still evacuating. All those civilians who were still fleeing…
“I have to do something.” He didn’t want Mayu to see the news and hear that the hero, whether she knew it was her father or not, hadn’t been able to save those who hadn’t evacuated yet.
“Then will you fire your beam of photon energy?”
“My what?” Leito then shook his head. He could ask for further details later. “How do I do that?”
The answer Rem gave was less than helpful. “You should know how to do that.”
“That’s not-“ Before Leito can finish his protest, something stopped him. A sudden realization that had come from seemingly nowhere. “I… I think I know?” He couldn’t explain how, but somehow, he felt certain of it. He knew how to fire his beam of… light or whatever.
He leapt up and over the monster, placing himself between the monster and the evacuees. In response, red energy gathered at the monster’s horns and the protrusions on its back, body glowing as energy crackled. As the monster began to run at him, Leito crossed his wrists, then raised them above his head before pulling them apart. He could feel energy gathering from the rest of his body, focusing into one location.
It crackled in his hands before he crossed his arms at the wrists and a beam of energy burst forth, straight at the monster. Then the monster exploded in a cloud of smoke.
Somehow, Leito had done it! Somehow he’d defeated a kaiju! It was a surreal realization, but there was no denying it had worked. Somehow.
“That was your Wrecking Burst,” Rem informed him. It was the last thing he heard before the energy around Leito dispersed, landing him gently on the ground where he’d been standing before, though now back to being human in appearance.
The elevator appeared and Leito let Rem bring him back to the underground base. It was closer to home than where the monster was, and besides… there was still something Leito wanted to ask, now that the monster was gone. Now that he’d seen just what he really was.
“Rem…” He began, taking a deep breath, “You- you say I have the DNA of an Ultraman… just who?” He’d seen enough of his body, in the brief moments he had in the fight. The red and the striking black markings. Not unlike…
“Ultraman Belial,” Rem answered, a screen appearing with the picture of what could only be the being who caused the Crisis Impact. And taking a closer look at the other capsule Leito had used to transform… it was the same one that was on that capsule, too.
Leito’s throat dried.
---
It’s dark by the time Leito gets home, but not so late that he expects even Mayu to be in bed. He should come up with an explanation, something to tell Lumina, at least. Yet in the wake of everything, he can’t quite find an answer.
The TV is still on, still on the news. Mayu runs to him when he comes home, “Daddy!” She gives him a big hug. The Geed Riser feels heavy in his pocket.
“I’m back!” Leito called out. He’d probably missed dinner. He felt bad about it.
“Welcome home,” Lumina greeted him with a smile.
Mayu extracted herself from his arms and pointed at the TV, “Look! A hero appeared to protect everyone from the monster!”
The news was pointing out how Geed – how Leito – looked like Belial. Mayu, clearly, didn’t pay that any head, instead focusing simply on Geed’s actions.
Leito swallowed, then replied, “Yeah, a- a hero.”