"You... do you know something?" Ultraman Zero asked hesitatingly.
Aria shook her head. "I've only seen it. As for what the future holds... believe in yourself, and believe in me." We will all have a bright future, including this universe.
"So..." Aria looked smilingly at Ultraman Zero and Nao. "Let's go find the Shield of Baradhi together."
"Alright!"
Emerana also stepped forward. "I'm coming with you."
"I cannot agree to this. Protecting the Princess's safety is my mission!" Jean-bot protested.
Emerana looked at Jean-bot and pleaded, "Listen to me, please let me help my three friends."
The group exchanged glances, arguing back and forth, until Jean-bot finally yielded with a helpless sigh.
"Royal Spaceship, thank you." Emerana smiled gratefully at Jean-bot.
"Well, I suppose this is the only way now," Jean-bot said with a hint of resignation.
"That's great!" Nao cheered.
"But where are we supposed to look?" Ultraman Zero turned to Aria and asked, "Seiya, point the way?"
Aria shook her head and looked at Nao. "Nao, where do you think we should look?"
Without a moment's hesitation, Nao replied, "I think to answer that question, we should ask the Flame Pirates."
The Flame Pirates were a group of freedom-loving outlaws who roamed the universe as they pleased, defying the Belial Army and fighting them for control of the Emerallad Ore. They were the elusive Pirate Triad.
"They're here!" Nao leaned over the back of the pilot's seat, watching the opposing spaceship with excitement.
That ship was called the Vanguard.
A voice rang out from within the vessel: "I am a warrior burning with passion, call me Glenfire, ha-ha-ha—"
The owner of the voice was the Vanguard's guard—Glenfire.
"Ha! Captain," he jerked his head toward the ship, signaling the people inside.
Several figures emerged from the opposite spacecraft: "We are the Pirate Triad, garu!"
"Giru!"
"Guru!"
A burst of cheers followed.
"A strange fellow has appeared in our territorial waters!" the middle man pointed at Aria and the others' spaceship.
"It doesn't look like the Belial Army."
"And they just barged in without even saying hello."
"Where did you punks come from?" Glenfire pointed a finger. "Want me to roast you into shish kebabs?" He ran his hands over his head, and a cluster of flames burst into life above it. "Get lost right now, or don't blame me for being unpolished!"
"Shish kebabs?" Jean-bot said angrily. "Utterly insolent!"
Emerana stood up. "Don't be rash, let's just say hello first."
"Well, he *is* being pretty insolent," Aria pouted. To think he said he'd roast her into a shish kebab? Not even her Uncle Saga had ever said that to her.
Beside her, Ultraman Zero sighed helplessly. "Fine, fine, leave this to me."
Ultraman Zero walked back a few steps, then straightened his arm and drew his transformation glasses from the Ultra Bracelet.
A flash of light crossed the room, and Ultraman Zero flew out of the spaceship, returning to his true form.
Aria watched him, her eyes rolling thoughtfully before she also returned to her true form and flew out of the spacecraft to stand beside Ultraman Zero.
Aria's form was softer and more delicate than Ultraman Zero's; her two head slugs were slimmer and longer, resembling braids on her head, and the patterns on her body were more intricate and beautiful than his.
Yet undeniably, aside from their gender, their appearances bore a striking resemblance. Anyone could tell at a glance that these two were definitely related.
"You guys are Darklops from Belial's lackeys, aren't you?!" Glenfire demanded harshly.
"Not even close!" the two Ultras retorted in unison, then exchanged a glance.
"I am Zero, Ultraman Zero!" Ultraman Zero extended a hand, pointing a thumb at his chest as he proudly introduced himself.
Aria crossed her arms over her chest. "I am Seiya, Ultraman Seiya."
At that moment, Ultraman Zero turned back to nod at the two inside the spaceship, but Glenfire suddenly threw a punch straight at him.
Aria reached out to help Ultraman Zero block the attack, then whipped her arm around, hurling a blade of light toward Glenfire.
Uncle Saga had said that if the opponent made the first move against her, they were her enemy. And Big Dad had also said that one must never show mercy to an enemy!
Successive light blades rained down on Glenfire. Before Ultraman Zero beside her even had time to stop her, Glenfire had already taken several direct hits.
He crashed down onto a nearby asteroid, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
"Seiya?!" Ultraman Zero hurried to hold back Aria's hand as she prepared to attack again.
Glenfire scrambled up in a disheveled state, his fists wreathed in flames, and charged at them once more.
"Take this, Flame Punch!"
Ultraman Zero groaned as he pulled Aria aside to dodge. "Why are you so hot-headed?! Can't you let people finish talking?!"
"Hmph, I only talk to opponents I acknowledge!" Glenfire twisted his neck, extending a hand to beckon Ultraman Zero and Aria. "Come on!"
"Tsk," Aria patted Ultraman Zero's hand. "Look at him provoking us."
Ultraman Zero let go and rolled his shoulders. "Looks like we can't avoid a fight."
The two exchanged a glance and threw simultaneous punches straight at Glenfire.
The next instant, Glenfire crashed directly into a nearby asteroid, blasting out a giant crater.
"Damn it!" Glenfire struggled to his feet, clutching his arm. "That hurts!"
Ultraman Zero and Aria both touched down, standing before Glenfire. Ultraman Zero stretched his body, then mimicked Glenfire's earlier gesture, extending a hand to beckon him. "Come on!"
"Damn it!" Glenfire slammed a hand into the ground and stood back up. "You dare copy me?!"
With both hands blazing with flames, he charged straight at them. "Eat this!"
The three of them became a tangled mass of combat, though it was mostly Aria and Ultraman Zero beating up Glenfire.
Aria flicked her wrist casually. Please, her hand-to-hand combat was taught by Uncle Saga; trying to match her in a brawl was just a death wish.
The pirates inside the Vanguard were kicking back to watch the show.
"Haven't been this excited in ages!"
"That is one hell of a fight!"
"All three of them are amazing!"
Glenfire crawled up from the ground once more, lifting a hand to massage the back of his neck as he asked, "Who the heck are you people anyway?"
"So you're finally ready to listen to us?" Ultraman Zero cracked his knuckles.
Glenfire raised his fists and charged again.
This time, Aria didn't charge in alongside Ultraman Zero; she simply crossed her arms and stood off to the side to watch.
Glenfire and Ultraman Zero fought and talked at the same time.
"We're looking for the Shield of Baradhi," Ultraman Zero said, dodging an incoming punch.
"What? You said the Shield of Baradhi?" Glenfire froze for a moment, then lowered his fists.
"To defeat Belial, please tell me where it is?" Ultraman Zero also dropped his hands, looking at Glenfire with a serious expression.
"The Shield of Baradhi—it's useless without finding the fragments that break the seal." Glenfire reached out, clenching his fist in front of Ultraman Zero before giving a dismissive wave of his arm. "Even if I tell you, there's no hope at all!"
"The hope you're talking about is right over there," Aria spoke up, her gaze shifting toward Nao's location. The fragments to break the seal were right there.
Ultraman Zero nodded in realization. As expected, she really did know something.
At that moment, countless pinpricks of light suddenly lit up the distant space, and warships appeared one after another.
"Hello there~ Flame Pirates," an alien from the dark universe stood atop the lead warship, one hand behind his back and the other raised in front, as if waving to the crowd. "I am Dark Gone, Dark Staff Officer of the Belial Galactic Empire!"
Then he swept his arm through the air. "You've got some nerve defying my army! Attack!"
At Dark Gone's command, countless warships and dark mechanical soldiers swarmed forward.
Glenfire leaped up onto the Vanguard. "Hey! Captain, we've got a massive problem!"
"The Flame Pirates—"
"Never run away!"
"Prepare for battle!"
"Figures, heheh," Glenfire ran a hand through his hair as the flames flared and then died out. "Then I'll take the vanguard!"
"You don't need to go!" Garu looked at Glenfire with a stern expression. "One thing I've always believed is—the moment you truly shine is just a second away!"
"What... what are you talking about?!" Glenfire raised a hand in shock and pointed at Garu, as if questioning whether the man had lost his mind.
Yet Garu looked at him with steady eyes. "Go with them, and go tell them where the Shield of Baradhi is!"
"Wait!" Glenfire raised both hands, trying to halt this seemingly absurd notion. "Wait a minute!"
However, Garu simply waved at him with a smile. "Take good care of yourselves~"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Vanguard surged forward toward the countless warships, leaving Glenfire stranded behind.
"Hey! Captain, get back here!!!" Glenfire cried out in near-despair.
Then his hands dropped to his sides as he began to ponder the captain's parting words.
The moment to truly shine, a second away?
"Idiot!" Aria grabbed him straight by the back of the neck and hoisted him along. "What time do you think you have to stand around daydreaming?!"
Aria gave a casual toss, flinging Glenfire right beside Ultraman Zero. Just then, the war between Belial's dark army and the Flame Pirates officially began.
Countless beams of light illuminated the cosmos, and the exploding sparks of the robots looked precisely like the most brilliant fireworks in this world.
Aria and her companions also joined the fray, protecting their allies' warships on one hand while dealing with the overwhelming tide of dark mechanical soldiers on the other.
Aria whipped out wave after wave of light blades, her beam attacks striking the dark machines without pause. It was as if she had no cooldowns and no energy costs, leaving Ultraman Zero utterly dumbfounded.
"Wait, don't you even need to charge up? Do you have no cooldowns at all?"
Aria took a brief moment to process what he meant by those words, then nodded affirmatively.
She used to have them, but after Delasion's intensive training, all charging times and cooldowns were gone. Delasion-brand special training—you're worth it!
She had no idea which genius had given Aunt Delasion the inspiration to ram her with the Giga Enda!
Though Uncle Pig had mentioned this was borrowed from the Land of Light, so just who was the madman who invented this kind of training method?!
That was practically designed to murder an Ultra!