The Rainbow Monster! Demaaga Saves the Day?
By @styleminussubstance
For @ultrafightvictory (Pan)
I hope that you enjoy this! I had had an idea kicking around for a bit even before this, and I did what I could to make it interesting.
Daichi took a deep breath of the clear mountain air, enjoying the cool, crisp breeze from the side of the mountain. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t be allowed to utilize XIO resources for such a trip, but he had multiple good reasons to be out in the cool forests of Hokkaido. One was to investigate old rumors of a “guardian deity” that had recently returned to prominence. The other was the spark doll in his coat. While Gomora was getting tuned to upgrade Cyber Gomora, Daichi had elected to get to know some of the other spark dolls XIO Japan had, and as such was accompanied by the “older” of the Demaaga twins. It had been a surprisingly easy sell- with the threat of Greeza gone, and the subsequent elimination of Dark Thunder Energy, the majority of the Ultra Flares had faded, making Spark Doll manifestation a thing of the past in most cases. He opened his jacket up, letting the miniaturized monster take a look out into the cool evening air.
“Alright, buddy. So, the way I figure it, we can hike up the mountain, and let you bask near the rim of the volcano, get some good heat in you. Sound good?” The doll trembled, its horned head poking out and emitting a quiet trill.
“Gao Diction: Loading,” chirped the X Deviser, translating the kaiju’s thoughts. “Agreement, concern, confusion.”
“Seems the poor guy’s confused as to why you’re doing this, eh Daichi?” Daichi grinned sheepishly, looking down at the screen of his X Deviser, where the icon of his partner flashed mirthfully.
“I think I got it, X.” He gently put Demaaga down on a boulder, sitting down so he could look it in the eye. “I know our history isn’t exactly the greatest, but believe it or not, you’re important to me.” He smiled, eyes crinkling with easy kindness. “If I had never met you, I’d have never met X, and I’d have never been able to save the other kaiju. Trust me, alright? I owe you a lot, and I’d like to be friends.” There was a pregnant pause, as if Daichi was waiting for the spark doll to actually vocalize a response. Eventually, Demaaga turned away, and the young scientist could swear he saw a little blush on the kaiju’s face, eliciting a chuckle out of him and X.
“Alright, you two, let’s start the hike,” X chided, a laugh in his tone. “Maybe if we’re lucky, we won’t have an incident, like literally every time we leave the base.
—–
Surprisingly, the walk up the mountain was actually quite quiet, Daichi allowing Demaaga to ride on his shoulder and look through the forested path. The kaiju was restless- or rather, excited, constantly nearly slipping off and needing to be caught by Daichi. As the 3 made it up towards the top of the smoking mountain, a breeze picked up, sending the smoke away from them and showing off the darkening blue sky, and the moon. Finding a roughly flat outcropping of rocks, Daichi sat down and placed the X Devizer and Demaaga next to her, Demaaga chirped excitedly, hopping animatedly despite its stiff nature. Daichi smiled at the scene, looking out at the sky. “Are you enjoying yourself, then?” He gently activates Gao Diction again.
“Comfort, appreciati-shock, unease.” Daichi blinks in confusion at the sudden change in the readout, looking out into the night sky. The cloudless blue night had warped into a strange, rainbow pattern, like stained glass. The forest went quiet suddenly as a horned head burst out of the rainbow sky, letting out a bellowing roar that rattled Daichi’s teeth. Reacting quickly, he pulled his X Deviser up to his mouth. “Attention! Type G sighted!”
—–
Back in Tokyo, XIO headquarters lit up with activity, hands rushing to consoles that hadn’t needed use in weeks. Captain Kamiki strode onto the bridge, a slightly perturbed look on his face.
“Trouble seems to follow you, doesn’t it, Daichi…?” he muttered, before turning back. “Do we have a match in the database?” Chiaki hopped up, clearing her throat.
“W-we do, so! Daichi’s account matches up with an old Hokkaido legend. A guardian deity known as Silvergon.”
“Silvergon,” Kamiki said. “I need details, something other than a name.”
“Legend states that it dwells within a rainbow, which might explain the atmospheric distortion Daichi reported. Other than that, all we’ve got to go on is “bemoan his terrible strength, and hide to weather a thousand storms.”
“Lovely, so we have nothing. Daichi, the reserve Musketty’s half-disassembled for repairs- we got caught with our pants down. I’d say you’re on your own, but we both know that’s not true.”
—–
Daichi couldn’t help but smile at the captain’s attempt at a joke, as he held the X Deviser aloft. “You heard him, partner! X!” Daichi is consumed in streams of geometric light, his form subsumed by the titanic shape of Ultraman X. As the giant of light struck a combat pose, Silvergon tore its way out of the rainbow aether, its stony hide flexing as it stared down its enemy, teeth curling threateningly.
“Doesn’t look like he’s going to come quietly, eh?” X joked, circling the beast warily.
“They never do,” Daichi retorted. The Ultraman rushed the massive beast, attempting to knock it off balance. This proved to be a mistake, and the rough equivalent of running as fast as one could into a brick wall. X grunted in pain as he fell back, clutching his shoulder in agony. “Agh… It’s so durable. Let me load Cyber Gomora…” Daichi pressed the button on his X Deviser to summon the Cyber Card… only for nothing to happen. “W-what? What’s going on?”
—–
“Dr. Gourmand! Wake up! You’re drooling on the main computer!” Rui and Mamoru pulled at the sleeping Fantonian with all their might, but they couldn’t get him to budge.
“We shouldn’t have let him eat his yoghurt noodles in the middle of a tune-up… It always knocks him out!” Mamoru despaired, tugging until he nearly slips.
“What if Daichi needs to use a MonsArmor?!” Rui says, gulping and looking up. “Be safe, X…”
—–
X grunted as he was flung into the mountain, writhing in pain as the rock dug into his hide. Looking down at his chest, he stifles a curse as his color timer turns red and begins to flash.
“We’re getting pounded here! You still can’t access the MonsArmor?” Daichi shook his head, stumbling as he futilely tried to summon a cyber card. “Heh… Can’t believe we beat Greeza just to get taken down here…” X reached up unsteadily… only for a shockingly familiar hand to grab hold and help him to his feet.
“D-Demaaga?!” Daichi cried out in shock as the iron kaiju took a combat position next to him, roaring as its golden horn glowed brightly. “You… You want to fight with us?” Demaaga’s only response was another roar, but Daichi didn’t need Gao Diction to tell him that that was a yes. Silvergon paced around, before letting out a bellow and charging at X. This time, however, Demaaga was there to run interference, Silvergon’s stony hide being matched by the iron thickness of the reptilian kaiju’s scales, stopping it in its tracks. Demaaga quickly coiled its tail around the other kaiju, locking arms with it and smashing its horn against Silvergon’s ramlike head.
“Alright, it’s stuck. Should we use the Xanadium Beam?” X asked. Daichi gulped.
“If we do, we could hit Demaaga…”
“I think it knows that! We need to make a choice- it’s getting overpowered!” Sure enough, Silvergon was flexing and struggling, and Demaaga was starting to lose his grip. It looked up, desperation in its eyes, as if telling Daichi that it was alright.
“Demaaga…” Daichi muttered, biting back tears, “I won’t forget this… Thank you. Do it, X.” The Ultraman’s flashing color timer suddenly began to gleam a solid gold, as power begins flowing through his body. Sweeping his leg back, he gathered all that he could…
“XANADIUM BEAM!” X crossed his arms, a beam of mysterious light surging forth and enveloping the two kaiju. Demaaga closed its eyes, at peace, as an explosion overtook them, before compressing back into two spark dolls. Quickly running over, X absorbed the two, Daichi catching them, before the giant of light disappeared, returning Daichi to the ground and X to his home in the Devicer. Stumbling over to the rock, the young scientist held the miniaturized kaiju close to his chest, sobbing gently.
“I’m… I’m sorry I had to do that, Demaaga. Thank you… Thank you so much.”
He sat there for a few hours yet, watching the moon rise in front of him, Demaaga and Silvergon on his lap. He said nothing as he drove back, and barely responded to the congratulations of the staff members as he trudged to the lab.
“Doctor Gourmand? I want to start working on Cyber Demaaga immediately.”