Yu Zhou stared silently at Charija, who was clutching a handful of capsules.
He already had a bad feeling about what that guy was about to do.
"Go, Capsule!"
Charija shouted, tossing one of them.
The capsule flew toward the Five King—but before it could even land, the monster swatted it away with one massive hand, sending it spinning off into the distance.
"Again!"
Unwilling to give up, Charija hurled another one.
But this time, the Five King had already learned its lesson.
Having been tricked twice before, it was on guard now—
and once again, it batted the capsule away like a fly.
"Charija, maybe you should—"
Yu Zhou started to suggest that Charija wait until he'd weakened the monster first, but Charija cut him off mid-sentence.
"I don't believe this! I will catch you!"
With a loud roar, Charija swung his arm. A gun-like device appeared in his hand.
He quickly loaded the remaining capsules into it, took aim at the Five King—
—and pulled the trigger.
"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!"
Capsules shot out like bullets, raining down wildly on the monster.
Yu Zhou fell into speechless silence.
Dyna (Asuka) stood frozen.
The Five King… was utterly dumbfounded.
"ROAAAR!"
Naturally, the Five King wasn't about to just stand there.
It flapped its massive wings and shot into the air, easily dodging the storm of capsule bullets.
As a powerful and dignified monster, it had no intention of ever being sucked into one of those weird capsules again.
"After it!"
Charija, sitting astride Zoiger's back, levelled his gun and shouted the order.
Having been raised by Charija since birth, Zoiger was fiercely loyal.
It spread its wings and launched itself into the sky, chasing after the fleeing Five King.
But as it flew, Zoiger couldn't help noticing something strange—
the wings on that big monster ahead of it looked… oddly familiar.
Tilting its head, it glanced at its own wings.
Wait a second—
they were exactly the same!
Could it be… that one day, it would evolve into something like that too?!
The thought filled Zoiger with excitement.
It flapped its wings harder in glee—
almost shaking Charija off its back in the process.
Yu Zhou hadn't expected Charija to actually force the Five King to retreat.
And Asuka certainly hadn't either—he never imagined his senior's friend could be that powerful.
The two Ultramen exchanged a glance, then turned their eyes toward the fake Tiga standing before them.
Although this imitation looked almost identical to the real Tiga, there were still noticeable differences.
For one thing, the real Tiga could freely switch between forms—
but this fake one couldn't.
Even with its colour timer destroyed, the fake Tiga still stood firm, raising its arms into a fighting stance toward Yu Zhou and Asuka.
To be honest, Yu Zhou found it a bit of a shame.
After all, this fake Tiga had originally been created based on his own in-game Tiga character model.
And judging from the Five King 's behaviour earlier, monsters born from game data seemed to possess their own awareness.
Perhaps… this fake Tiga also had some trace of consciousness?
"Hey, can you talk?"
Yu Zhou tried asking tentatively.
"Cha!"
The fake Tiga merely raised its arms higher, shouting a battle cry as if to say, Let's fight!
Yu Zhou: "…"
Asuka: "…"
Asuka didn't understand why Yu Zhou was trying to talk to it—
but seeing that the fake Tiga clearly wanted to fight, he instinctively raised his hands too, ready to charge.
"Wait, Asuka."
Yu Zhou extended a hand, stopping his overeager junior before he could rush in again.
"What is it, Senior?"
Asuka tilted his head in confusion.
To him, this fake Tiga clearly had no mind of its own—it was just a mindless puppet.
No way to communicate with something like that.
Of course, Yu Zhou knew that as well.
Apparently, the Alien Cien had only used Tiga's game data to create a puppet, not a truly sentient being like the Five King.
"In that case, this should be easier to handle."
Yu Zhou raised his hand and began to gather golden light.
"You're going straight for a finisher? Alright, I'll join you!"
Seeing the glow, Asuka immediately charged up his own beam attack, ready to fire alongside him.
Yu Zhou: "???"
Before Asuka could unleash it, Yu Zhou quickly stopped him with one hand.
He wasn't firing a finisher—he was casting a purification beam!
Was Asuka seriously about to purify someone through physical destruction?!
"Senior?"
Asuka scratched his Ultraman head when Yu Zhou interrupted him, looking puzzled.
"I'm going to purify him," Yu Zhou explained with a sigh.
"Ohhh!"
Asuka finally understood, stepping back obediently to watch.
Golden light coiled gently around the fake Tiga, slowly seeping into its body.
Gradually, its blood-red eyes faded back into a pale white.
Its battle stance lowered, its posture relaxed—it seemed calmer now.
"Cha…?"
The fake Tiga blinked, looking around in confusion.
Left, right—completely lost.
Then, it simply placed both hands on its hips and stood still, gazing off into the distance.
"This fake Tiga's basically a puppet—no self-awareness," Yu Zhou explained to Asuka.
"It only reacts to simple commands."
"Then, Senior, what do you plan to do with him?"
Asuka tilted his head again, still curious why Yu Zhou went through the trouble of purifying it instead of destroying it.
"First, let's fix him."
Yu Zhou stepped closer to the silent fake Tiga, placed a hand over its shattered colour timer, and began to emit a rainbow-colored glow.
The timer was badly damaged—it took him quite a while to fully repair it.
"Senior… you can do everything," Asuka said in awe.
Yu Zhou really did seem capable of anything—there was nothing he couldn't handle.
"There. That's better."
Yu Zhou stepped back a few paces, inspecting the fake Tiga with satisfaction.
Then he reached out, summoning one of the capsules Charija had dropped earlier.
"Go."
With a flick of his wrist, he tossed it.
The capsule struck the fake Tiga—
and immediately absorbed it in a streak of light.
After trembling a few times midair, the capsule stilled and dropped neatly into Yu Zhou's palm.
"Senior… you mean—you captured the fake Tiga for yourself?"
Asuka came closer, staring in amazement at the tiny capsule in Yu Zhou's hand.
Yu Zhou nodded. "Yeah. Let's give him a name.
No need to keep calling him 'Fake Tiga'."
"Can I name him? I'd be honoured!"
Asuka's eyes sparkled with excitement—
he loved naming things.
"Let's call him… Senior No. 2!"
Yu Zhou: "…"
Clearly, letting Asuka name things was a mistake.
Then again, Yu Zhou's own naming skills weren't great either—
like that "Ultimate Light Pot" he came up with earlier… not exactly elegant, but it worked!
"How about… you try again, Asuka?" Yu Zhou suggested gently.
"Hmm…"
Asuka rubbed his Ultra-chin in deep thought.
"How about… Dika?"
"Dika???"
Yu Zhou blinked.
Why did that name sound like it came straight out of a Taiwanese dub…?