"Whoooosh!"
"BOOM!"
Ryan Vale snapped awake to the sound of something roaring nearby.
Not just roaring.
Something huge.
The noise rolled across the ocean like thunder. Waves slammed into rocks again and again. The air shook with every impact.
Ryan's skin prickled.
"What the hell…?"
He opened his eyes.
He was lying on top of a wet rock.
Cold water soaked his clothes. His head throbbed. His ears rang from the noise around him.
Ryan pushed his wet hair out of his face and looked around.
Dark clouds covered the sky. Thick. Heavy. Ready to burst.
Lightning flashed inside the clouds like something alive.
"Where am I…?"
The last thing he remembered was sitting in a movie theater watching Jurassic World.
Now he was on some island in the middle of a storm.
Ryan swallowed.
"No way…"
Before he could finish the thought, a sharp ringing sound exploded in his ears.
Then something hit him.
Hard.
The force knocked him straight into the ocean.
Cold water swallowed him instantly.
Ryan fought the panic and kicked upward. His head burst through the surface and he gasped for air.
"Damn it… I almost died!"
His heart hammered in his chest.
He grabbed the rock again and tried to climb back up.
Then he heard it.
A low growl.
Long. Deep.
It vibrated through the air and straight into his bones.
Ryan froze.
The sound reminded him of a T-Rex from Jurassic Park. That same feeling of predator and prey.
Except this was worse.
Much worse.
Ryan slowly turned his head.
His eyes widened.
Out on the ocean, three giant creatures were fighting.
The waves around them rose like mountains.
Two of the monsters looked a little like dinosaurs. Massive bodies. Huge jaws. Their roars shook the sea itself.
But the third figure—
Ryan's brain almost stopped working.
A tall red giant stood between the monsters.
Silver helmet.
Glowing eyes.
A body built like a living statue.
Ryan whispered the name without thinking.
"Seven…"
It was him.
Ultraman Seven.
The hero looked exactly like the one Ryan remembered from TV.
"Wait… Ultraman is real?"
Since childhood, Ryan had dreamed of seeing an Ultraman with his own eyes.
He just never expected it to happen like this.
While freezing in the ocean.
Ryan wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.
Cold water drained his body heat. His legs were already going numb.
And those two monsters…
Every time they growled, Ryan felt like something was squeezing his chest.
He could barely breathe.
BOOM!
The monsters attacked.
After circling each other for a while, both creatures charged Ultraman Seven at the same time.
Their massive bodies churned the ocean like a blender.
The collision created a storm of wind.
Waves exploded outward.
Several meters high.
Straight toward Ryan.
"Oh no—"
Ryan swam behind the rock as fast as he could.
Too slow.
The wave hit him.
For a moment, Ryan thought his body might tear apart.
He coughed blood as the impact sent him spinning underwater.
"I'm dead…"
Ryan closed his eyes.
He had landed in some strange world and was about to die in the first ten minutes.
Great.
Then something warm touched him.
Ryan opened his eyes again.
Light surrounded him.
Soft.
Gentle.
Countless glowing particles floated through the water like tiny stars.
Some of them drifted into his body.
"Light…?"
Ryan stared in shock.
"Are you… saving me?"
The particles danced around him like playful spirits.
For a moment he had a ridiculous thought.
Did I just turn into an Ultraman?
Ryan reached out to grab the light.
The particles suddenly flowed away like a tide.
Then he felt something lift him.
A huge hand.
Ryan turned slowly.
Two giant glowing eyes looked down at him.
They shone like lanterns in the dark sea.
The light inside them felt calm.
Hopeful.
Ryan's heart jumped.
"Ultraman… Seven."
Seven had saved him.
Even in the storm and darkness, the giant hero stood like a pillar holding the world together.
Ryan couldn't help thinking:
If only I could become an Ultraman too…
"Thank you," Ryan said weakly.
That was all he managed before exhaustion swallowed him.
Everything went black.
Ryan dreamed.
In the dream he became an Ultraman.
He flew across the universe.
He fought giant monsters.
He saw countless worlds.
In the end, he became a legendary warrior in the Land of Light.
Then—
"Hey! Wake up!"
Someone was shaking him.
Ryan groaned.
"Don't bother me… I'm the strongest…"
"Wake up, you coward! You fainted from fear!"
Ryan blinked.
That voice was a girl's.
His vision cleared.
A teenage girl stood over him, arms crossed and clearly annoyed.
Next to her was a middle-aged man wearing a raincoat.
"Ayumi, don't say things like that," the man said.
"Hmph. If we hadn't saved him, the giant would've finished those monsters already!"
Ryan slowly sat up.
So it was a dream after all.
The girl looked about his age. The man beside her seemed tired, like he had just come in from the storm.
"You're awake," the man said kindly. "Here. Drink some hot water."
Ryan took the cup.
Warmth spread through his hands.
As he drank, his mind started piecing things together.
Ultraman Seven had saved him.
After that… everything went dark.
Ryan looked outside.
The sky was still gray, and far away he could still see flashes from the battle.
So the fight wasn't over earlier.
These people must have carried him away from the coast.
Ryan looked at the man with gratitude.
"Thank you."
The man laughed.
"I didn't do much. If you want to thank someone, thank the giant."
Ryan nodded.
"You're lucky to be alive," the man added.
Ryan didn't want to keep talking about that.
Instead he asked, "Where am I?"
"You're safe here," the man replied.
Ryan hesitated.
That wasn't what he meant. He wanted to know what this place was called.
But explaining how he got here would be impossible.
"Dad, he's awake now," the girl said, tugging the man's sleeve. "Let's go."
They stepped outside.
Ryan sighed in relief.
He looked around the room.
Tatami mats.
Sliding doors.
Traditional furniture.
Ryan had watched plenty of anime.
Even without visiting Japan, he knew what this place looked like.
"Japan…?"
But something bothered him.
Why could he understand them?
Thinking back carefully, Ryan realized something strange.
They definitely weren't speaking Chinese.
Yet he understood every word.
Ryan frowned.
"...Weird."
He picked up a newspaper on the table.
The text was Japanese.
But he could read it.
As if the language had been planted directly into his memory.
Ryan's heart tightened.
"Did I enter some kind of infinite world?"
He checked the date.
1974.
Ryan blinked.
But there were no mission prompts.
No mysterious system.
No tasks.
Maybe the clues were in the newspaper?
He flipped through the pages.
Mostly normal news.
A few mentions of monsters and Ultraman.
Nothing else.
Ryan tossed the paper aside.
"Guess I'll figure it out later."
He stepped outside.
Right then, a strange fighter jet landed on the other side of the island.
Ryan squinted.
"What is that?"
"Dad!" the girl shouted excitedly. "It's the MAC team! Let's go!"
"Hey, Ayumi—!"
Ryan followed them.
MAC team?
That name sounded familiar.
Then it clicked.
MAC.
Monster Attack Crew.
The defense team from Ultraman Leo.
Ryan's mood sank immediately.
The MAC team was famous for two things.
Terrible combat results.
And an absurdly high death rate.
If they were here…
Then this world was probably the Ultraman Leo universe.
And that meant danger.
Lots of it.
Ryan loved Ultraman.
But he also knew something important about Ultraman Leo.
People died here.
A lot.
When they reached the beach, the storm had already faded.
The waves were calmer.
The sky had cleared.
It almost looked like the earlier battle had never happened.
On the sand lay a man wearing a strange uniform.
Several MAC members surrounded him.
Ryan stared.
The man's leg looked badly injured.
Something about him felt familiar.
Did the battle end?
Where was Ultraman Seven?
The soldiers helped the injured man sit up.
Ryan's eyes widened.
"Wait…!"
He almost shouted.
That face.
He knew it.
Moroboshi Dan.
Ultraman Seven's human form.
Ryan finally understood.
So this is Black Tide Island.
But something was missing.
Where was Leo?
Ryan looked around.
Nothing unusual.
No sign of Ultraman Leo anywhere.
"Captain!"
MAC team members supported Moroboshi Dan as they moved toward the aircraft.
His face looked grim.
The monsters weren't defeated.
They had only retreated.
And worse…
He could no longer transform.
Ultraman Seven was finished.
During the battle, Dan had driven the monsters away.
But his right leg had been broken.
His transformation ability was gone.
Dan looked toward the shore.
A boy stood on a rock in the distance.
The sunset painted the ocean red as the wind blew through the boy's hair.
That kid…
Dan narrowed his eyes.
For some reason, he sensed something from the boy.
A faint trace of light.
Hope.
But the boy looked like nothing more than an ordinary human.