A few hours later…
Officers Shinjoh and Rena, who had gone to Mongolia aboard GUTS Wing 1 to investigate the earthquake, returned to base.
At the same time, after being urged along by Captain Iruma, Horii, who had gone to the research division to inspect the meteorite, pushed it straight into the GUTS operations room on a cart.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Dr. Jovian Grayson, from America. From now on, I'll be working with all of you as an adviser to GUTS."
Looking at the gathered team members, Jovian greeted them with an extremely friendly smile.
"Pretty handsome guy, huh? Name's Tetsuo Shinjoh, and I just so happen to have a younger sister this year who…"
The speaker was a burly-looking young man. After sizing Jovian up from top to bottom, some dubious little matchmaking thoughts immediately popped into his head.
"All right, Shinjoh. Instead of trying to find your sister a boyfriend, maybe you should worry about yourself first."
A young man in a white lab coat with goggles perched on his nose, very short legs, and the faint air of a washed-up artsy intellectual smacked the burly man on the shoulder and teased him.
"Horii, don't judge a book by its cover. I actually do pretty well with women, okay?"
Hearing his old friend show him absolutely no respect, Shinjoh immediately lost face and punched Horii in the chest with a clenched fist.
"You? Good with women? Yeah, right. Go stand in the corner."
The chubby little Horii looked openly disdainful. He clearly thought Shinjoh's so-called popularity with women was a joke.
"Hello, I'm Masami Horii. I handle equipment adjustment for GUTS, basically the brains of the team."
"I think we'll have a lot to talk about in the future…"
Horii looked Jovian up and down with obvious curiosity. What interested him most was the fact that Jovian had lived in America. In Horii's mind, if Jovian had spent time in the most technologically advanced country on Earth, then he had to be impressive. At the very least, the technical knowledge in his head could not possibly be inferior to Horii's.
"Let's have a real talk sometime when we get the chance."
Jovian smiled modestly. In truth, he knew absolutely nothing about the black-tech of the Tiga universe, but that was not important.
"All right, he just got here. Horii, don't scare him off."
Right as Horii and Jovian were shaking hands and talking, a bright voice with a soft feminine sweetness drifted into their ears.
Under Jovian's gaze, a beautiful young woman who looked to be in her early twenties, with a sweet face and lovely features, stepped forward and pushed Horii aside to stand in front of him.
"Hello, I'm Rena Yanase."
"It's nice to meet you."
She wore a sweet smile as she reached out her hand to Jovian.
"Hello, my name is Jovian Grayson."
Still smiling, Jovian gently took the soft hand of the beautiful young woman named Rena Yanase.
He had to admit, Rena, not yet remade into some exaggerated American ideal, was first-rate in both looks and temperament.
That made Jovian look at her a few more times. He was wondering whether Rena Yanase might make a suitable human host for Marie…
"Hey, hey, hey!"
"The second you see a handsome guy, you forget your teammates!"
"You're seriously the kind of person who ditches friends for a pretty face."
After being shoved aside by Rena, Horii looked thoroughly dissatisfied. He felt like his pride had just been beaten half to death.
Back in his younger days, Horii had been called one of the prettier sights in all of TPC too. Not that he had ever actually had younger days…
"Ahem…"
"All right, that's enough. This isn't a place for flirting."
"Get serious."
Seeing that Jovian and Rena were still holding hands and gazing at each other so intently, Munakata gave a light cough and reminded them both.
"Uh, right…"
Hearing that, Rena immediately let go of Jovian's hand and looked off to the side, her face flushing red.
Iruma, who had been watching the group the whole time, could not help mourning Daigo in silence for a few seconds.
Poor Daigo. Not only had he been squeezed out of GUTS for the time being, it also looked like somebody might have swooped in and stolen his girl.
What Iruma did not realize, however, was that Jovian was only considering whether Rena's body would make a good vessel, whether it could withstand Marie's enormous power of light…
Not everyone was suited to becoming the human host of a being of light. A light on Tiga's level could only be borne by someone who had the power of Ultra-Ancient genes in their body. For ordinary humans without the genes of the Ultra-Ancient civilization, that kind of power was practically poison. A short time might be manageable, but over a longer period it would place an enormous burden on the host's body and gradually weaken their constitution.
And the light within Marie was even greater than that of Tiga's normal form…
So Jovian had to choose Marie's human host carefully…
But his completely unintentional behavior made everyone else think he had taken a liking to Rena…
"Rena, Shinjoh, report your findings."
Iruma could not help interrupting the way Jovian and Rena were still looking at each other so intently, even after letting go of each other's hands.
"Yes, ma'am!"
The instant Iruma said her name, Rena straightened up, looked at her respectfully, and snapped fully into work mode.
"We encountered a mysterious giant life-form in Mongolia!"
"We recorded footage of the creature with GUTS Wing 1's onboard camera system, and it's already been transmitted to the terminal."
Thinking back to the enormous life-form they had seen on the Mongolian grasslands, Rena spoke with lingering unease.
"A giant life-form…"
"Yazumi, put their footage up on the screen."
After hearing Rena's report, Iruma's brows tightened and she issued the order to Yazumi.
"Right away, Captain Iruma…"
"I've already got it on screen."
Yazumi lowered his head and worked rapidly at the keyboard.
A moment later, the monster captured by Rena and the others was projected onto the monitor.
Roar!!
In the recording, a gigantic monster with a vaguely dinosaur-like appearance, walking upright on two legs, burst out of the earth and roared at the aircraft.
"What is that thing?"
"From this angle, that beast has to be at least fifty meters tall, maybe even taller…"
Horii stepped in front of the screen and looked the roaring monster over from top to bottom. Just from a quick visual assessment of Golza's body, he was already able to make a rough estimate of its height.
"A fifty-meter monster? That would make it more than twice the size of the largest known living creature humanity has ever found, the blue whale. That's a little ridiculous, isn't it?"
Horii's words stunned everyone in the room. They had not expected the monster in the footage to be so enormous.
"At the same time this mysterious giant beast appeared in Mongolia, another giant monster showed up on Easter Island."
"According to eyewitnesses, unlike the one in our footage, that monster had wings and could fly."
Yazumi added that information at once.
"It can fly and tunnel underground?"
"Man, these two mystery beasts are something else."
Horii shook his head, marveling at the overwhelming power of Golza and Melba. It was strength that completely surpassed humanity.
"Earth is suddenly starting to feel unfamiliar…"
Iruma seemed to sense something. She let out a soft sigh, feeling unsettled by the appearance of the mysterious monsters and the frequent crustal changes Earth had been experiencing lately.
"Horii, put the monster matter aside for the moment. Tell us about the meteorite."
"I have a feeling it's the key to understanding what's been happening to Earth lately, and those two strange monsters too."
After sighing, Iruma turned to Horii and asked about the meteorite.
She had a strong sense that the meteorite they recovered was connected to everything strange that had been happening on Earth.
"Of course. That's exactly what I think too, which is why I brought it here directly."
"Because based on my findings, this meteorite is hiding a major secret."
At that point Horii suddenly stopped speaking and looked around the room with a grin, obviously trying to build suspense.
"All right, Horii, stop dragging it out and tell us what's going on with the meteorite already."
What Shinjoh hated most was Horii's habit of taking forever to get to the point. As an ace pilot, he simply could not stand it. Speed was life, all right?
"Heh…"
Facing Shinjoh's impatience, Horii only gave a cold little laugh before continuing.
"Based on mineral analysis and research, this meteorite…"
"…actually came from Earth itself. Just not the Earth we know now, but the Earth from tens of thousands of years ago. In other words, this meteorite is not some foreign object that invaded from outside. It used to be one with our planet countless years ago. We just don't know what caused it to fly up into space and spend tens of thousands of years out there before finally falling back down to Earth."
Horii explained the meteorite's origin.
"What is that even supposed to mean? You're telling me a rock from Earth grew wings and flew into space by itself? Come on, that's ridiculous."
Shinjoh looked completely unconvinced. He felt like Horii was messing with him again. He might not have been a genius, but he was not stupid.
"You…"
Horii glared at Shinjoh. He had only just undercut Shinjoh earlier, and now Shinjoh had returned the favor without giving him a shred of face.
"It could have been caused by a massive volcanic eruption. If some gigantic supervolcano erupted tens of thousands of years ago, then it's not impossible that material from Earth could have been blasted into outer space."
Jovian had no interest in wasting time on this issue, so he explained for Horii why a rock from Earth could wind up in space. And he was not making it up, either. He had an example. Right, Lord Kars drifting around in space?
"Exactly, that's it, just like Jovian said. Three million years ago, this meteorite was blasted skyward by an earth-shattering volcanic explosion…"
Horii's eyes lit up after hearing Jovian's explanation, and he immediately gave him a thumbs-up. What an explanation. Perfect. Why had he not thought of that himself?
But the moment after giving Jovian that thumbs-up, Horii suddenly remembered something. How the meteorite got from Earth into space was not the important part at all. The important part was what was inside it.
"No, no, we got sidetracked. This is the real point." Horii waved his hands and forcefully dragged the conversation back on track. "The important thing about this meteorite is not how it got from Earth into space. The real point is that there seems to be something inside it, and we need to extract whatever's in there."
"There's something inside the meteorite?!"
Everyone in the room froze.
At that same moment, the tightly shut door to the GUTS room slid open, and a beautiful female doctor in a white lab coat walked in with graceful hips and dignified, elegant looks.
"Dr. Kashimura, you're here."
Horii smiled when he saw the late-arriving Kashimura.
"Mm."
The beautiful doctor named Kashimura gave Horii a slight nod in greeting, then walked unhurriedly to the meteorite and pulled something like a ballpoint pen from her pocket.
Then, to the astonishment of everyone watching, she used the laser pen to cut the meteorite open.
"This meteorite is artificial."
The instant she sliced it open, Kashimura concluded that the meteorite in their hands had been man-made.
"Artificial?"
Horii and Shinjoh exchanged a look, then stepped to either side of the split meteorite and pried it apart with both hands.
Crack.
With a light snap, the meteorite broke open completely, revealing a machine inside with a metallic sheen.
"This is…"
Everyone stared at the metallic device in shock. Its smooth, elegant, perfectly ordered surface was practically a work of art. Even the finest workshops of the twenty-first century would have struggled to polish an instrument to that kind of flawless finish…
"How amazing…"
Rena, staring at the machine, instinctively reached out and touched it.
"Don't just touch things. What if there's a problem…"
Horii instinctively pulled the impulsive Rena back.
But the moment she touched it, the device had already activated.
As a burst of electrical noise filled the air, the room dimmed slightly. A section of the machine's smooth surface opened up, revealing something like a camera lens, and then a 3D image projected itself before the members of GUTS.
A white-haired woman appeared in the image, speaking words no one there could understand.
"Use the voice translator."
Already getting impatient because he was waiting for the famous scene, Jovian reminded the flustered team.
"Ah, right…"
Thanks to Jovian's reminder, Horii immediately grabbed the translator, hurried to the computer, and started trying to interpret the words being spoken by the ancient machine's projection.
"Everyone, I am Yuzare, leader of the Terran Defense Team. When this meteorite falls, great upheaval will soon come to Earth. The earth-shaking monster Golza and the sky-rending monster Melba will awaken. If you wish to stop them, you must find the pyramid. Within it lie the bodies of the giants who once served as Earth's guardian gods. Awaken the giants inside the pyramid, and they will protect Earth once more! The only way to awaken the giant is…"
At that point, the miraculous 3D projection vanished completely.
"The only way to do what?!"
Horii's mouth dropped open as he stared at what had just happened. His brain felt like it had short-circuited. He simply could not keep up with the machine.
"Yazumi, locate the pyramid."
Jovian folded his arms across his chest and issued the order to Yazumi.
"What? You actually believe what that thing said?"
Horii stared at Jovian in disbelief. To him, the machine was obviously spouting nonsense.
Yazumi hesitated too, instinctively turning to look at Iruma.
Iruma met his gaze and gave a slight nod.
"Understood!"
With the captain's approval, Yazumi started hammering at the keyboard, analyzing where the pyramid the machine mentioned might be.
Under his fingers, the computer display shifted rapidly, moving from a global map to Japan, and finally narrowing down to a small island somewhere off the country's northeast coast.
"You've got to be kidding me. How could an island like that possibly hide a fifty or sixty meter giant inside a pyramid without satellites noticing?"
Horii shook his head over and over, unable to accept it. A man of science, he simply did not believe a word the machine had said. To him, this all looked more like some elaborate human prank, or a tool big corporations were using to mislead them for profit.
"If a civilization from thirty million years ago existed with technology advanced enough to predict the future, launch its equipment into space disguised as a meteorite, and have it land at the exact place and exact time it needed to, then hiding a giant pyramid on an island off northeastern Japan, one capable of concealing a sixty-meter giant, isn't impossible at all, is it?"
Jovian immediately shut Horii down with a forceful rebuttal.
"Well…"
Horii faltered. As much as he hated to admit it, what Jovian said was possible.
"I recommend that we launch immediately for the island Yazumi identified. Conduct a full search of the island, find the pyramid, awaken the giant inside it, and let that giant defeat the invading monsters."
Ignoring Horii completely, Jovian turned to Iruma.
Iruma looked into Jovian's unwavering eyes and thought for a moment.
"All right. Everyone, move out!"
Iruma made the decision quickly. What convinced her was her intuition. Instinctively, she felt Jovian was right.
"Hmph."
After hearing Iruma's order, Jovian smiled and walked out of the room on his own. He was completely immersed in the role he was playing.
"Hey, wait up…"
"Do you even know where the aircraft are?"
Horii blinked at Jovian's departing figure, then hurried after him.
"Move out!"
Looking at Jovian and Horii leaving, Munakata gave the sortie order to the rest of the team.
Not long afterward…
GUTS Wing 1 and GUTS Wing 2, carrying the full GUTS team, successfully launched from base and flew toward the location Yazumi had identified, the place said to contain the pyramid and the legendary giant inside it…
"Now the fun part of the story begins."
Sitting inside the aircraft, Jovian looked forward to what came next. He was wondering whether, if he took over Tiga's body directly, he would turn into Dark Tiga on the spot. If that happened, then he could consider waking Camearra ahead of schedule.
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