"Found it!"
At last, persistence paid off. After rummaging for a while, Yu Zhou pulled out a gun.
It was the same weapon he had seized long ago during his first battle against a Dada in the Ultraman Geed world. This peculiar gun had the power to shrink objects—strikingly similar to the Crow People's weapon from Ultraman Tiga.
Back then, in order to save a little girl named Ellie who could breathe fire, Yu Zhou had wrested the gun away from a Dada and used it to shrink the alien, sealing it into a glass container. Though Ellie's flames destroyed the Dada within, it later managed to revive.
"Even without the container, this should still work."
Yu Zhou levelled the weapon at Achilles' stone statue within the pyramid and fired a beam.
Truthfully, he wasn't certain whether the gun would work on the giants' statues. But since the Crow People's gun in Tiga had once reduced Tiga himself in size, surely shrinking a mere statue wouldn't be an issue.
And indeed—it worked. The beam struck Achilles' stone form, and in blatant defiance of energy conservation, the massive figure dwindled until it stood no taller than an ordinary human.
"It works!"
Yu Zhou's eyes lit up with delight. The plan was a success.
Using the same method, he shrank Hercule's statue as well. He then walked forward, drew out a spatial ring, and stored both miniaturized statues inside.
To his surprise, the process was effortless. He had expected the Giants of Light's remains to possess some special quality, given that they were once the vessels of Ultra beings. But without the soul, without light within them, they were truly just statues.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have been so easily destroyed by Golza and Melba in the future.
With the originals safely collected, Yu Zhou approached the replicas he had crafted earlier. Producing his Spark Lens, he pressed the trigger and transformed into Tiga.
The weight of the replacement statues wasn't overwhelming; with ease, Yu Zhou lifted them into place. Then he stepped back, raised his hands, and released a stream of light particles above the three statues.
Guided by his will, the light drifted downward, gradually taking shape until the pyramid reformed around them.
As for burying the pyramid back within the mountain—well, that was trickier.
Cancelling his transformation, Yu Zhou descended to the others.
"Izare, I've repaired the pyramid. As for concealing it again, that will be up to you."
The red-robed witch inclined her head. "Understood." She had the authority in the village and knowledge of sorcery—such tasks fell within her role.
In just a short time, Yu Zhou had achieved his goals: repairing the pyramid, and secretly claiming Achilles and Hercule's true statues into his ring.
With the task complete, he felt no need to linger in this era.
"I'll return to the future now. Until we meet again."
"Uncle Yu Zhou, take me with you!"
Tsubasa called out quickly, alarmed at the thought of being left behind. So, Uncle Yu Zhou really did have a way home! If he didn't go now, who knew when he could ever leave this time?
Yu Zhou blinked at the boy's plea. In the original storyline, Tsubasa had indeed returned to his own time eventually, but how exactly had never been explained.
Logically, the training machine Tsubasa used shouldn't have been capable of time travel. His return had always been something of a mystery.
Still, Yu Zhou saw no reason to refuse. This was his nephew from the future. If he didn't bring him back, no one else could.
"Come with me then, Tsubasa." Yu Zhou smiled and waved him over. "Oh, and you came here in a training machine, didn't you? That won't be making the trip back."
"That's fine! As long as I can return home!" Tsubasa' eyes shone with excitement. His father had crashed enough of those machines already—one more wouldn't matter.
"In that case, everyone—farewell!"
Yu Zhou and Tsubasa waved to the villagers before heading into the mountains.
The villagers, in turn, waved back with gratitude. Without the two of them, their home would surely have perished. Strictly speaking, Yu Zhou and Tsubasa were their saviors.
"Uncle Yu Zhou, why are we going into the mountains? Is the time tunnel hidden there?" Tsubasa asked curiously as they walked.
"Something like that," Yu Zhou nodded. After his battle with Degouf, Charija had returned to the mountain summit with his black umbrella.
Summoning his flyer, Yu Zhou let Tsubasa hop on, and together they soared up the slope.
At the peak, they found Charija seated casually on the ground—soda in one hand, a bag of chips in the other.
"All set? Then let's go," he said, unfazed even by the sight of Yu Zhou bringing someone along. He simply stood, set down his suitcase, and began adjusting it.
"Wait, Charija," Yu Zhou interrupted quickly. "First, we need to make a stop—twenty years ahead in Tsubasa' original timeline. I have to send him back."
"Huh?"
The one shocked wasn't Charija—it was Tsubasa.
"Uncle Yu Zhou… you're not from my time?"
He stared in disbelief. He had assumed Yu Zhou had come from his own era to find him. But now Yu Zhou was saying he would return him to twenty years later than his point of origin.
That meant Uncle Yu Zhou had come from twenty years before his own time! Back then, Tsubasa hadn't even been born yet!
"Nope," Yu Zhou said with a shake of his head. "But that won't stop us from sending you back where you belong."
Charija didn't argue. Without hesitation, he adjusted the settings as Yu Zhou asked.
Yu Zhou still had unused time-travel allowances—one more trip wouldn't hurt.
"Then let's depart!"
As Charija announced, Yu Zhou grasped Tsubasa' hand, and together they approached the suitcase.
White concentric rings of light burst outward, forming a wormhole that swallowed the three of them—and the suitcase—whole.
(To be continued)