Ultraman Zero looked at the place where the wormhole used to be.

"Here.." he pointed it out to the rest of the Ultra-Garrison squad. Ultraman 80, a veteran warrior stepped forward and examined the negative energy that the area was radiating.

"Amazing. These readings are off the chart. This is unlike anything that I have ever seen before."

"Does that mean we can't find X?" Ultraman Zero asked his senior. "Damn… I should never have left X alone. I knew how much of a loose cannon he was."

Ultraman Zero felt a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It wasn't your fault," Ultra-seven smiled at his son. "We will definitely find X. X is an Ultraman himself. He will be able to handle any threat he faces. He had you as a teacher after all."

Ultraman Zero looked back at the rest of the Ultramen who were nodding in agreement.

"I will cross over to ask Ginga and Victory to ask if they have seen anything." Ultraman Taro added as he stepped forward. "Don't worry."

"Thank you. That X is definately going to get it from me when he returns." Ultraman Zero gave a thumbs to Ultraman Taro before returning to examine the energies with Ultraman 80.

"Please be safe, X."

Shinji sat on the sofa, tired out by the continuous sync tests that he had been put up for. It had been a few days since the last attack by the Angels. Misato was attending a meeting and Asuka was still taking her long shower in the bathroom, so he had the living room to himself for a while.

He switched on the television and the channel he was tuned into was showing a debate on the Silver Giant that had been protecting their city. During the last fight, most of the EVA pilots had been unable to reach the base in time, so only Mari, the latest addition to the EVA team had been on the battlefield with Ultraman.

Shinji pulled his knees close and hugged them as he watched the debate.

"Who is this giant? This silver giant has been protecting our city from the Angels and yet nobody knows anything about it. How do we know if it's really protecting us?"

"This giant is obviously God trying to protect us. He has heard our prayer and obviously sent down an Angel to help us!"

"But where did he come from? He hasn't tried to contact us in any way. Or at least not that we know of. How can we trust him? He could turn on us at any point in time."

Shinji thought back about the times that Ultraman had saved him. He saw the footage where he had tried to shield Mari from the ensuing blast from the Angel's explosion. Surely, Ultraman was on their side?

"I don't trust him." Shinji turned back and found Asuka drying her hair with a towel as she stepped behind the sofa. "We aren't even sure if it's a him at this point. It's obviously not of Earthly origin. Nothing of Alien Origin could care so much about Justice that it would want to save the human race without an ulterior motive."

"But.. it saved Mari and me…" Shinji protested.

"Anta Baka? That's how he wins you idiots over to his side. And when all of you are completely taken by him, that's when he will strike."

"Is that so.." Shinji wasn't so convinced.

"Now, hurry up and go to bed. I don't want to be on the losing team tomorrow for sports day just because some idiot didn't get enough sleep."

Shinji nodded and got off the couch. He turned off the television and went into his bedroom, still wondering about Ultraman's intentions.

X positioned himself at the starting line, amongst the other competitors.

"Gambate!" X looked to the side and saw Hikari and his classmates cheering him on. He nodded and smiled at them. It was the school's sports day and he had been selected to participate in the 100m event.

Yet, he couldn't really participate fully, could he? He was an Ultraman, after all. Without putting much effort, he should be able to win the race.

"On your mark… Get set…. GO!" the teacher fired the gun, signalling the start of the race.

X sprinted off to a good start as he heard his classmates cheer him on. It would really break his heart to see their disappointed faces as he had to lose on purpose. But it would not be fair to the rest should he really put in the effort.

Suddenly, the ground shook violently and X lost his balance, falling to the ground. When he looked up, his school was reduced to rubble. Everyone started to scream and run away from X as they pointed at something behind him.

X turned around, only to face his worst nightmare, the alien Zetton. It was a humanoid beetle-like monster that was the stuff of legends as it had beaten the Original Ultraman in his prime.

"Zetton... How?" X looked around and ran towards Zetton. Once he was close enough, he stared Zetton down as the alien seemed to be waiting for him to transform into his true form. He looked around and checked that the coast was clear.

Pulling out the XDevisor, he transformed into Ultraman X. X got into an attacking stance and immediately charged Zetton. Debris flew up into the air as he dashed towards Zetton. Leaping into the air, he unleashed a flying kick at Zetton but it barely fazed him.

X tried every physical attack that he knew. A Chop. Several Punches and A Roundhouse kick all proved to be ineffective as Zetton deflected all of them. Then, Zetton went on the offensive. With a single strike, Zetton threw X off balance and several blocks away.

A distance away, X fired a buzz-saw like energy ring at Zetton who simply erected his signature crystal like shield against the attack. The Energy ring shattered into pieces and X gritted his teeth.

X had heard stories about the alien Zetton and how he was one of the most powerful type of Aliens that an Ultraman could face. Many Ultramen that were far stronger than him have fallen before the mighty Zetton. How was he supposed to stand a chance?

Zetton started firing several fireballs from its mouth in rapid succession. X cartwheeled away, dodging all of the fireballs.

Then, X was shot in the back by an unknown energy beam, causing him to fall forward. X quickly recovered, before turning his back on Zetton and facing his firer.

"You…" The Purple EVA-01 stood a distance away with a smoking rifle in his hand. "Why? We are on the same side."

Just as X was about to stand up, he was immediately punched in the face by yet another arm. It was the orange EVA-00 that he had faced earlier when he first arrived on Earth.

Zetton, EVA-01 and EVA-00 all surrounded X in a triangle.

"Why did you lie to us? I thought you were our friend!" X heard Shinji say. "What have you done with our friend?"

"Eh?"

"Aida Kensuke.." Rei's monotonous voice spoke. "Where did you hide him?"

"Kensuke?"

It was Zetton's turn to speak this time. Except instead of the usual scaly voice he expected, he heard Asuka's voice hiss. "Monster.."

"Wait…" X lifted his hands up to try and stop them from doing anything else. "I .."

"FIRE!" The two EVAs and Zetton fired on X, leaving him no time to react. X received the brunt of the blow, falling to his knees as his colour timer began to blink.

"A monster like you should not be allowed to live." Zetton stepped closer to X and gripped him by the neck and tossed him into the air, causing him to land on the school building, crushing it in the process.

X got up from the rubble as he heard a scream. All his classmates all lay on the floor, unconscious, crushed by the debris.

X reached out towards them, shaking his head. "NO!"

X looked angrily towards Zetton. "You are going to pay for this!" Lifting his hand up into the air, He gathered energy for his strongest attack, the Zanadium Ray. In the midst of this, X felt a set of teeth chomp down his shoulder. It was the previous Angel that he had fought.

"One more?"

EVA-01 leapt and landed in front of X who was struggling to get free of the Angel's grip. EVA-01 wrapped his fingers around X's neck and squeezed tightly.

"MONSTER!" That was the last thing X heard.

X screamed and woke up in cold sweat. Pain radiated from his wound as he tried to control his breathing once more. X grimaced as he touched the bandages on his chest.

"A dream?" X looked out the window and realised that it was still the wee hours of the morning. He recalled the news channel programme that he had been watching before he fell asleep.

The previous fight against the Angel had left him with some scars; most of which had not healed fully yet even though he was discharged from the hospital. Due to Kensuke having no parents in the country currently, he was to stay with his best friend, Toji for the time being.

So here he was sleeping on the couch of the Toji Household. The news channel program had portrayed what the humans have thought about him. Most had been sceptical about his intentions. Some had even questioned his abilities to fight after sawing him nearly getting defeated by the previous Angel.

"Can I really save them?"

"Kensuke nii-chan?" Sakura Suzuhara, Toji's sister rubbed her eyes as she walked out of her room sleepily. "What's wrong? Do I need to get Onii-chan?"

Sakura was one of the first humans that X had saved when he first arrived on this Earth, along with Kensuke. Whilst fighting Shachiel, he had placed the both of them in his colour timer to free his hands to continue the fight.

Sakura walked over to his side, her hand still holding onto a stuffed toy..

"Ah… Don't worry, it's just another nightmare." X patted her head and smiled. "Go on back to sleep."

Sakura thought about it for a while before looking at X. "Wait here." Sakura ran into her room, appearing a while later with a futon in her hands. "I will sleep here with Kensuke Nii-chan until he falls asleep."

"Huh?" X was taken aback by this response. "It's …"

"Kensuke Nii-chan protected me when the monster came so, it's my turn to help you." Sakura smiled whilist laying down her futon on the floor next to X's futon.

"Ah… haha." X laughed as he thought back about the first time he met them. The two of them had indeed been together when he found them under some debris.

"Anyway, Ultraman will save us just like he did the last time." Sakura smiled at X.

"Last time?" X remembered his first fight on this Earth and smiled. "Ah. Yeah. Ultraman will definitely save all of you."

"And if Ultraman needs help this time, I will help him." Sakura said confidently as she pulled out a little toy from her pocket and handed it to X.

"This is…"

"Huh? Kensuke nii-san doesn't know? This is a Digivice." Sakura explained. "It's from the show Digimon! It's really popular now! How can you not know?"

"Digimon?" X was puzzled. The item he held in his hand was clearly a toy; there was no secret contraption within it.

"Yeah! Digimon! In the show, the children were paired up with their partner digimon to save the world. Just like them, Kensuke Nii-san and me were chosen to be Ultraman's partners because we were the first to see him." Sakura said with a smile. "I was really scared when the Angels came. They always came to haunt me in my nightmare. But, Onii- chan gave me this and said that I was special. Ultraman and Onii-chan will definitely protect all of us. That's why I have to help him too."

"I have to help him Digivolve and become even stronger to defeat all those bad angels." Sakura stood up and lifted both her hands into the air.

X laughed and patted Sakura's head. "You are right. Ultraman will definitely protect all of you. But now, we have a big day tomorrow. We have to get some rest."

And so, X drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face as he held the hand of a little girl who had complete faith in him to defend the planet.

A/N : So this chapter has sort of become a filler of sorts. To bridge the past arc and the next. In other news, Ultraman X has been officially broadcast! So that's some big news. I will be using elements of the show and incorporating them into this story so keep a lookout for them.