Ikeda heard the explosion and icy dread thrust itself through her body as she saw the front half of MEU engulfed in flames. Behind her, Amano Ai screamed and gasped.

"Oh god!!! NO!!!" Ai shrieked, as she flung herself into the readied Melissa and Began to drive into the middle of the rioters.

Ikeda had already taken off, however, rage pulsing through her. She didn't care about the insane young men and women who noticed her uniform, pulled at her jacket, pushed her to the ground and threw objects at her when she got back up again. She had to get into the building.

Ai, meanwhile, had pulled the Melissa up and was suddenly bombarded by furious rioters. They leapt onto the car, attempted to push it over, break the windows, and Ai screamed bloody murder, readying the weapons.

"Commander, forgive me!", she cried, blasting the people off of the vehicle, and stunning everyone else in about a 20 foot radius. She saw Ikeda through the smoke and the bodies being flung around, and was appalled when she realized Ikeda was climbing over the wreckage of the concrete wall into the building.

Inside, Ikeda immediately transformed, and she used her enhanced Ultra vision to identify the bodies strewn about.

She turned over one male figure, and gasped in horror to see the bloody, scorched face of an MEU cadet. "Oh god.. who?" She whispered, but she didn't have the time to do a thorough check. Her main priority was finding those still alive.

And then, she suddenly looked up, and through the smoke and debris she saw a figure, standing in the midst of the flames as though it was completely unaware of its surroundings.

The figure emerged from the smoke. It was covered in black and red, and had large, round blue, glasslike eyes. Its figure was sleek and it gave the impression of being almost alien in its movements.

Theresa's eyes narrowed, and the figure approached her. "So, what do you think of what I've done with the place?" he asked.

"You need not concern yourself with that. The important thing is it's only your pathetic organization's flunkies that have paid the price so far. Sort of a shame for you, though, since I was always under the impression that your job as an Ultra was to protect these worthless humans."

"Not single-handedly, no. Had it been up to me, I assure you the damage would have been much more severe. This was merely a little attention-getting device. Did it work, Theresa? Have I got your attention?"

"Anyway, all you should concern yourself with is your own life. Hinotama is not to be dismissed so quickly. Make sure you tell your captain that."

"Hinotama?!?" Theresa exclaimed, charging at him. She clasped his throat in her hand, slamming him up against a piece of the concrete wall. In the light of day, she saw his features, and he was unmistakably an Ultra as well.

In one swift movement, Theresa had her Heroine Ray aimed at him. "You're a fellow Ultra.. that's obvious. Why in the hell would you.. CHOOSE to work for her?"

He chuckled, crossing his arms. "Go ahead, kill me. I'm not saying a damn word. Anyway, it wouldn't be the first Ultra you've killed."

"It's all of us, every one. We don't need silly monsters or mutants to achieve our objective." He stood up and casually brushed himself off. "Don't you know? We're invincible, remember? Ultraman is invincible. The only one who could possibly beat him is.. himself!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's true. So, the question is; is it enough of a moral taboo that you and your captain will be unable to go through with killing any more of us? Hmm? Interesting, when you think about it."

He cocked his head. "Anyway, I guess i'll be going. Have fun cleaning up." He went to turn away, but Theresa lunged at him.

"Ultra or not.. you.. you're heartless!!!! Hinotama is insane! She's completely insane!" She screamed, as she held him in a chokehold.

He grunted and threw her to the ground without any great deal of effort. "Come now, Theresa. Your rage will really get the better of you one day."

She threw herself to her feet. "I don't give a damn if you're an Ultra or not. You're a TRAITOR!!" She flew at him, and they engaged in physical battle for several seconds.

"Look! I didn't come here to talk politics. If you force me to kill you, you can damn well bet I won't hesitate." he snarled.

"That won't be a problem you'll need to concern yourself with." Theresa growled back, and their combat became even more fierce. As they stepped over dead bodies, barely dodged fires and debris, the people outside were slowly retreating, fleeing for their own lives.

But one young woman was approaching, not retreating, and her heart pounded in her chest. In the collective panic of those fleeing, not one of them recognized Hayagane Mikono, the very cause of their original rioting.

She saw, deep inside the building, a battle. And although her fear nearly paralyzed her, she kept on running, racing, unaware of anything except her own body, feeling so strong. She felt.. invincible.

And the next thing she knew, she had darted right over a stalled vehicle, the one with Ai inside, shaking with fear; and was inside the building, leaping onto the shoulders of the enemy Ultra.

He slammed her to the ground immediately, and she suddenly lost her feeling of invinciblilty. As the world spinned above her, she saw Ultra Theresa run over to her.

Mikono looked at her with confusion. "I.. I thought I was an Ultra, like you. Oh, Ikeda-san, I felt so much power! The doctor was going to remove it but I couldn't let him.. I was invincible! Owww.. but now it's gone.." She looked around.

Mikono looked down in shame. "I was scared, Ikeda-san. Kakei-san wanted to go help you fight but I was too scared.. " But then she looked up with happiness. "But I'm here now! And.. I want to accept my destiny. If.. if you'll let me."

Theresa was speechless, but the enemy Ultra broke the silence with a crazed laugh. "What is this, some sort of joke? Mikono Hayagane, the very idol singer that caused all these riots? Here, to try to help? I can kill you with one blast!"

With that, he released a powerful beam. Theresa's eyes widened, and she frantically looked at Mikono, who screamed.

No time! Theresa thought, as she shoved Mikono to the ground and took the hit herself. She screamed with pain, and collapsed on top of Mikono.

"How? How do I...?" She began, but suddenly, she felt a crippling pain, and to her horror, she saw what looked like the head of a guitar coming from right under her color timer.

"I'll help you this once, Mikono... you can do it." Theresa said, and she held out her hands, grasping the object.

"Wh.. what are you doing?!" Mikono screamed, but before she knew what was happening, Theresa was pulling something out of her body. It became clearly a guitar; green marble-like material, glowing with power. As she pulled, Mikono felt as if her entire soul was being wrenched out, and she saw the green-tinted blood pouring out onto the floor.

And then, Mikono fell backwards and the guitar began levitating above her. The weakness she felt was overpowering, but Ikeda forced the neck of the guitar into her hands.

"Mikono, if you don't transform now you'll bleed out in less than a minute!" She closed Mikono's weak hands around the guitar. "All you have to do is say "Chibi 85 go. Just say it!"

Suddenly, she was surrounded by beautiful green light, and she began to float off the floor. The light swirled around her, and suddenly she opened her eyes. She took the guitar in her hand as if it was weightless, and spun around with it as her body changed. Her short black hair froze in six curves around her head, and then became green. Her body took on patterns of sharp curves and color swirls, and finally her face became a stylized Ultra mask. Her black eyes lit up and she posed dramatically with the guitar as sparks flew behind her.

Theresa looked up and smiled. "The ball's in your court now, Chibi..." She whispered, and collapsed as the green angel landed in front of her.