April Fools, guys, I managed to complete this chapter today. So have fun and enjoy.
— X —
Omni-Man and Ultraman flew side by side. They had just dropped Debbie back home and were now heading out to fight crime together, as father and son heroes.
"Why Ultraman?" Omni-Man asked. There was a hero named Ultra, a woman with a lot of controversy, and he wondered why Mark had chosen a name so close to that.
"Why do you say it like the name leaves a bad taste?" Mark was confused, clueless about the hero world in Invincible.
"Because it does have a bad reputation. You don't know?" Omni-Man was surprised, since Mark had always been an avid superhero fan.
"Really? I didn't know that," Mark replied, genuinely surprised that Ultraman had negative associations.
"There's a heroine named Ultra. From what I remember, someone managed to sleep with her and announced it to the media," Omni-Man explained.
"Well, that's Ultra, not Ultraman," Mark replied with a slight smile.
Omni-Man smiled and shook his head. Then his beeper rang. He pulled it out and saw a signal from Japan.
"There's a kaiju attack in Japan. Let's go," Omni-Man said as he sped up.
Ultraman followed behind Omni-Man but struggled to keep up, Omni-Man was fast. Omni-Man arrived first. By the time Ultraman got there, Omni-Man was already busy fighting the kaiju.
'That looks a little close to Godzilla,' Ultraman thought. Then he saw people, civilians running in panic, even with other heroes helping them.
Without thinking, he helped evacuate the nearby people from the area. He sometimes carried one or two people at a time, moving as fast as he could.
He also noticed Omni-Man being careful, pushing the kaiju away from the city. But Ultraman was confused, why didn't Omni-Man just lift the creature up and throw it? Shaking his head, he focused on saving and evacuating as many people as possible.
Only a flash of silver and red could be seen across the city, saving people, while Omni-Man pushed the kaiju back toward the nearest body of water. When the kaiju was close enough, Omni-Man flew away from it, then flew straight back and ended it with a single punch, sending the creature flying into the sea.
Omni-Man stared at the kaiju. The kaiju stared back in anger but quickly swam away, fleeing from Omni-Man. The people quickly clapped for Omni-Man, cheering for saving the day.
Meanwhile, Ultraman was helping anyone else affected by the crisis. He was busy removing debris and crushing it to pieces just to check for survivors.
But during one of those searches, he saw a man's body, stabbed through with a metal rod. He could see the man's insides. Sadly, the man was already dead. Ultraman wanted to vomit. He quickly pulled his mask up, exposing only his mouth, flew to a corner, and began puking.
He coughed, unable to handle what he'd just seen. In the back of his mind, worry crept in.
'And my dad is going to show me what he can do to a human later, when he shows his true colors.'
Then Omni-Man patted Ultraman on the back and asked in a concerned tone, "Are you okay?"
"I'm... fine."
Ultraman took a deep breath, but the smell of his own vomit bothered him, so he flew to a nearby bathroom and washed his mouth. Omni-Man followed, surprised that Ultraman had gone to clean up.
Ultraman pulled his mask back down and said, "Omni-Man, I think I'm going to stay here for a while and help the people."
Omni-Man looked at him. Seeing that Ultraman needed rest, he decided to let him stay. "Alright. See you back home."
With that, Omni-Man flew away from Japan. Ultraman sat on a bench for a while, the image of the dead man replaying in his mind.
'Even cartel videos didn't affect me this much. I guess it's different when it's right in front of you.'
Ultraman wanted to remove his mask but remembered his secret identity. He only lifted half of it and took a deep breath. His hands were slightly shaking.
Then a group of kids approached him, smiling and waving. The bravest one said, "こんにちは!よろしくね!(Hello! Nice to meet you!)"
Ultraman pulled his mask down and raised his hand slightly awkwardly. He had to speak Japanese now, compared to English, though Japanese had been taught as a second language in his past life's school. He'd been doing well keeping his birth language to himself.
"ねえねえ,あなたのヒーロー名,教えて!(Hey hey, tell us your hero name!)" another kid asked, curious.
From what he heard, he could guess what they were asking. He only knew this thanks to his unemployed self watching anime.
"ウルトラマン (Ultraman)," Ultraman replied.
"かっこいいー!(Cooool!)" All the kids were excited by the name. Then one asked, "何ができるの?(What can you do?)"
Ultraman floated up into the air. The kids clapped excitedly and started talking among themselves about how cool it would be to have powers and become a hero.
Seeing these kids, he remembered the responsibility of being a hero, and what he planned to do.
'I guess I did laugh at the original Mark for not doing his job when someone close to him was dying.' Ultraman smiled at the thought. 'I won't be like that. At least, as long as I can help, I will help.'
"ありがとうな (Thanks)," Ultraman said to them, then waved. "また会おう (Let's meet again)."
"Ehhh..." The kids were a little sad to see Ultraman leaving, but they all replied, "うん,またね!バイバイ!(Yeah, see you later! Bye-bye!)"
With that, Ultraman flew back to the area the kaiju had attacked. He took a deep breath and began helping clear the rubble and debris, doing as much as he could.
After he finished helping, he looked at the destruction left by the kaiju. In his mind, he began imagining the future fight against his father, all alone, with no one to rely on.
'I need to get stronger faster. But I can't always be here to protect people.'
As he wrestled with these conflicting thoughts, he remembered something from the Invincible series, something he'd vaguely watched. During an invasion, Omni-Man was kidnapped and experienced far longer time on another planet.
'I think I've found my hyperbolic time chamber.'