On the other side.
By a river outside a hotel at the foot of Mount Fuji.
While the onmyoji were dumbfounded by the witch revealing the existence of an alien.
At this moment.
Zhang Wei sat by the river, tending a bonfire, roasting freshly caught fish. As if sensing something, he looked up towards the opposite bank.
It could be seen.
On the river ahead, a dark figure stood. In the dappled moonlight filtering through the leaves, its silhouette was faintly visible. It was an alien, appearing from the woods on the opposite bank, and it let out a soft call towards Zhang Wei.
"Are you finished? That slippery ghost?"
Zhang Wei, chewing on fish, asked.
"Roar."
The alien tilted its head, a clear nod of affirmation. Its long, dark head reflected a cold, dark sheen under the moon.
Seeing this.
Zhang Wei bared a row of white teeth and said,
"You've worked hard. You can come back now."
As his words fell.
The alien let out a cry, and the next moment, it leaped towards Zhang Wei on the opposite bank, accompanied by a system notification in Zhang Wei's mind.
[System points recovered from alien figurine...]
The alien traced an arc in the air. Its one-meter-tall body instantly shrunk to the size of half a palm, becoming a chibi alien figurine. It had a base resembling a hot spring, depicting it soaking in a bath, incredibly cute and stylized.
*Snap!*
Zhang Wei casually raised his hand, opening his five fingers. Without even standing or moving, the alien figurine landed precisely in his palm.
Following this.
Zhang Wei took a bite of the roasted fish and looked in a certain direction, muttering,
"This side is done. Groudon's side is also finished. Just in time, the other side is about to begin as well. The system points can be allocated."
...
At the same time.
In Sakura Country, a military base.
This was the military base closest to Tokyo, housing the Maritime Self-Defense Force that protected Tokyo.
At this moment.
Although it was night, the base was not resting. A patrol fighter jet was preparing for takeoff on the tarmac, for routine night training and maritime patrol.
"Today, it's all on me. I'll be back in the shortest time possible. You're buying dinner, Kato, hahaha."
The speaker was a Maritime Self-Defense Force pilot, the pilot for this patrol.
In this era of peace, military bases were essentially for practice, practice, and more practice. Because of this, pilots often liked to bet on their skills when they had nothing else to do. This time was no exception, betting on their speed to complete the patrol in the shortest time.
"Get real. Don't act all high and mighty just because you recently won the Ace Pilot award. If you can match my time, then I'll admit you're good."
As the words "admit you're good" were spoken.
For girls, this might not mean much, but for men, being told "you're good" by another man in a bet was the highest honor. For example, "If you can reach that leaf, you're good," or "If you can pass the blue, you're good." This was the ultimate stake between men.
"Then just watch."
The pilot responded directly, then boarded the patrol fighter and took off.
It could be seen.
His skills were indeed remarkable.
The patrol fighter took off, its pilot skillfully steering the aircraft straight into the high sky, heading towards the patrolling sea. Its speed was so great that it drew a white streak across the night sky.
Before long.
He reached the coastal area of Sakura Valley. Checking the time on the patrol fighter's display, he smirked and then activated his communicator:
"Calling Fruit, I have reached the coastal edge, over."
Although it was a routine patrol, to prevent their communication information from being intercepted and their patrol timing from being known by interested parties, countries used various strange codenames when calling their bases, to avoid their communication details being discovered.
"Calling Twelve, your coordinates have been received. Nice job, you're a bit faster than me, but you still have to return. On your return route, thirty miles ahead, a thunderstorm and strong winds have been detected. It's recommended you detour, over."
"Thunderstorm? You're kidding me. The weather was fine when I passed by earlier. You're not trying to trick me, are you? To make me detour and delay my time, over."
The pilot thought for a moment and finally decided to push through. He knew that the area he had just passed was clear skies before he arrived, so how could a thunderstorm form in just a few minutes? It was clearly a ploy.
Thinking of this.
The pilot chuckled and said,
"You're too green to trick me, Kato. You have to buy this meal."
Then.
Ignoring the words from the communicator, he moved the control stick and flew straight ahead, quickly reaching thirty miles ahead.
As expected.
This area was clear skies, with not a single cloud in sight, clearly revealing the starry night sky:
"Haha, I knew it. Kato was just trying to trick me. Where is this thun—"
*BOOM!!!*
A deafening roar suddenly erupted, interrupting his words. At the same moment, a dazzling beam of light burst forth from the sound source in the distance to his left.
"Damn, is there really a thunderstorm? Huh? What is that?"
Startled by the sudden anomaly, the pilot flinched, thinking there was indeed a thunderstorm, and quickly looked to the left of the cockpit.
Upon looking.
His pupils contracted sharply.
In the night sky to the distant left, a blinding light was blooming, but it wasn't the light of a thunderstorm, but the fire of a collision. Upon closer inspection, there were two figures in that area. One was a monster like a bird, predominantly dark red, with alternating white and black spots on its body, possessing a large tail and wings.
The other was like a giant, its entire body a mix of red, blue, and silver. It had a blue lamp on its chest.
The firelight was emitted by these two figures.
The strange bird shot golden beams from its eyes, while the giant, with its hands crossed in front of its chest, fired colorful beams.
As the scene in the night sky in the distance became clear.
The pilot was stunned, his eyes bulging almost to the point of explosion. He instinctively cried out,
"My god, are you kidding me? Isn't that Tiga Ultraman?! And that looks like... the super-ancient monster Melba?"
In his words.
He even thought he was hallucinating.
But as the monster Melba fired another beam, and Tiga Ultraman also fired the Zepellion beam, both aiming at a spot in the sky, they unleashed a blast of air that created a gust of wind, affecting his location and almost flipping his patrol fighter.
Fortunately, the pilot was worthy of being an ace pilot. He stabilized the patrol fighter in time. After being tossed around several times, he finally steadied the aircraft.
In response.
The pilot had no time to dwell on his near-death experience. After stabilizing the patrol fighter, he looked at Tiga Ultraman and the monster Melba with unparalleled shock, muttering,
"It's not a hallucination?"
As an ace pilot, he knew very well what strong winds in the air were like, and even more so, he knew that being flipped over by the blast wave was definitely not just strong winds. This meant that he was indeed flipped over by the blast wave, so wasn't it possible that... what he saw wasn't a hallucination? After all, hallucinations wouldn't flip your plane.
Just then.
A voice came through the communicator:
"Calling Twelve, what are you doing? Radar shows you flying into the thunderstorm area. Are you crazy? You don't really think I was tricking you, do you? I'm not kidding, quickly detour out of the thunderstorm area, over."
...