Camearra moved with fluid grace, positioning herself to block every potential escape route as Saki frantically searched for a way past her. Despite her desperate attempts to find an opening, the girl found herself effectively trapped by someone who seemed to anticipate her every movement.
"Please, let me go," Saki pleaded, her voice carrying the kind of exhausted desperation that came from running out of options. "I'm not trying to hurt anyone—I just need to get somewhere."
Though she possessed knowledge and abilities far beyond those of ordinary humans, Saki's physical capabilities were entirely mundane. She could sense, however, that the woman standing before her was something extraordinary—even in human form, Camearra radiated a presence that spoke of power beyond normal comprehension.
Camearra simply shook her head with gentle finality. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that. You're someone Daigo has been searching for."
"Camearra!" Daigo's breathless voice reached them as he jogged up the street, his relief evident as he spotted both women. "Thank you for stopping her."
"It's nothing, Daigo," Camearra replied, her tone carrying the warmth reserved exclusively for him. "You know I'm willing to help you with anything."
The declaration hung in the evening air with startling intensity, making Daigo pause mid-step. Having someone love him with such absolute devotion was both deeply moving and profoundly overwhelming—a responsibility he wasn't sure he knew how to handle.
"Saki," he said gently, focusing on the immediate situation to avoid confronting those more complex emotions, "Why did you run away from headquarters? No one was going to hurt you there."
Saki remained silent for a long moment, her dark eyes studying his face as if trying to measure his trustworthiness. Finally, she spoke in barely more than a whisper.
"It's Machina. Machina came here to take me home. I was trying to reach our meeting place."
"Machina—you mean the silver creature?" Understanding dawned in Daigo's expression. "That's what it was looking for during the battle today. It wasn't attacking randomly—it was searching for you."
"Then why didn't you tell us?" Daigo's voice carried genuine confusion rather than accusation. "If you'd explained the situation, we could have helped arrange a meeting. TPC doesn't want to keep families apart."
But Saki shook her head with sad certainty. "I only trust you, Daigo. Not the others."
Her words carried the weight of bitter experience. Though she'd been treated well enough at TPC headquarters, she'd felt the calculating gazes of those who saw her more as a resource to be studied than as a person deserving compassion. If they learned she could summon and control something as powerful as Machina, she'd become a prisoner rather than a guest.
"Saki, I could report your situation to headquarters," Daigo offered diplomatically. "If I explain the circumstances, I'm sure they'd be willing to—"
"No!" Saki's hand shot out to stop him as he reached for his PDI communicator. "Please, Daigo, don't contact them."
Her panic was so genuine that Daigo hesitated, his hand frozen halfway to his device.
"She doesn't trust anyone from TPC," Camearra interjected quietly. "Only you."
The observation came from someone who understood isolation and suspicion intimately. Camearra recognized the defensive wariness in Saki's posture, the way she held herself ready to flee at the first sign of betrayal. After thirty million years of imprisonment and cosmic-scale conflicts, she knew what it felt like to be surrounded by those who might view her as a threat rather than an individual.
"But if I take you to Machina without clearance from headquarters..." Daigo's voice trailed off as he considered the complications. The entire area around the creature's landing site had been cordoned off as a restricted zone. Even as a GUTS member, he couldn't simply bring civilians into an active threat area—especially not someone who'd escaped from their custody.
"Daigo," Camearra said softly, taking his hand and looking directly into his eyes, "have you forgotten? You're not just human."
The words hit him like a physical blow. Was she really going to reveal his secret identity in front of Saki?
"Daigo," Saki said before he could voice his concerns, reaching out to touch the center of his chest where his transformation device rested hidden beneath his uniform, "I can see the light inside you."
Her touch was gentle but deliberate, leaving no doubt about what she was referring to. The Divine Light Rod's presence was apparently as visible to her as if he'd been carrying a torch.
"You... knew from the beginning?" Daigo asked, his voice carrying a mixture of surprise and resignation.
"I recognized you the first time I saw you," Saki confirmed with a sad smile. "You were that lost little boy from the beach all those years ago. But more than that—I could sense what you'd become."
With his cover already blown, Daigo saw no point in maintaining pretense. He reached beneath his jacket and withdrew the Divine Light Rod, its crystalline surface catching the streetlight with inner radiance.
"Then I'll take you home," he said simply.
The transformation light erupted around him with familiar warmth, reality bending as human form gave way to something far grander. When the radiance faded, Ultraman Tiga knelt on the quiet street, his massive form somehow managing not to disturb the surrounding buildings despite his size.
Extending one enormous hand toward Saki, Tiga waited patiently for her to accept his offer.
"Go ahead," Camearra encouraged, her voice carrying understanding and acceptance. "He wants to help you."
"Thank you," Saki said, looking up at Camearra with genuine gratitude. "I know you're a good person, even if others might not understand."
The comment carried layers of meaning that only Camearra fully grasped. As Saki climbed carefully onto Tiga's palm, she added through their telepathic connection: Machina will only emerge in the presence of light. The darkness makes him afraid.
Understanding immediately, Tiga rose to his full height and nodded once to Camearra before turning toward Tokyo Bay. His footsteps were careful and measured, each movement calculated to avoid disturbing the human city around them while maintaining his passenger's safety.
As he disappeared into the night sky, Camearra whispered to herself in words too soft for anyone else to hear: "Good person... could I be one too?"
The perimeter guards around Machina's landing site could only watch in bewilderment as Ultraman Tiga approached their restricted zone. In one hand, he carefully cradled something too small to identify from ground level; with the other, he gently lifted the dormant alien creature that had resisted their most powerful weapons.
In TPC's command center, Captain Megumi Iruma and Yazumi watched the unprecedented scene unfold on their main display screen.
"Captain, why did Tiga suddenly appear?" Yazumi asked, his voice carrying the confusion felt by everyone monitoring the situation.
"Look at his other hand, Yazumi," Megumi replied thoughtfully. "The answer should be there."
Indeed, while one massive hand supported Machina's silver form, the other remained carefully cupped as if protecting something precious.
With surprising gentleness for beings of such enormous scale, Tiga carried both his charges beyond Earth's atmosphere and into the clarity of space. There, bathed in unfiltered sunlight, Machina began to stir from its defensive shell.
The creature's awakening was like watching a metallic flower bloom in reverse—segments that had been seamlessly fused now separated to reveal the living being within. Machina emerged with obvious relief, its form more graceful and less threatening now that it wasn't operating in defensive mode.
"Machina!" Saki's cry of joy echoed through the vacuum as Tiga opened his protective hand, revealing her surrounded by a shimmering energy field that allowed her to survive in space.
The reunion was immediate and overwhelming. Machina's response was a harmonious sound that conveyed pure happiness—the voice of someone who'd feared they'd lost everything suddenly discovering that hope remained.
"Machina, let's go home!" Saki called out, her voice carrying across the cosmos through means that transcended mere sound waves.
With infinite care, Machina extended its hands toward Tiga, who gently transferred his small passenger to her companion's protection. The creature held Saki like the most precious treasure in the universe, drawing her close to its chest where she would be safe during their journey to wherever home might be.
"Thank you, Daigo!" Saki's voice reached across space one final time as Machina's protective shell began to reform around them both. Her wave was visible through the closing segments, a gesture of gratitude that encompassed far more than words could express.
Tiga nodded once, a gesture of acknowledgment between beings who understood what it meant to be different, to be powerful, and to bear responsibility for protecting those who couldn't protect themselves.
As Machina's transformation completed, the reunited travelers began to spin slowly, gathering momentum for their departure from Earth's solar system. Within moments, they had accelerated beyond visible range, carrying their happiness toward whatever distant world had sent them searching for each other.
Tiga remained motionless for a moment, watching the point where they'd disappeared among the stars. Then he, too, prepared to return home.
"Daigo," Saki's voice reached him one final time, transmitted across impossible distances through methods that defied physics, "to us aliens, you shine as bright and warm as the sun itself."
The words stopped him mid-turn, their weight settling over him like a benediction. For someone who'd spent so much time wondering whether his actions truly made a difference, the acknowledgment carried profound meaning.
Then Ultraman Tiga dissolved into light, streaming back toward Earth where Camearra waited and where humanity continued to need protection from threats both seen and unseen.
In the command center, Yazumi stared at the empty display screen with obvious fascination.
"Captain, how did Saki manage to contact Tiga? Did she somehow escape from our base specifically to find him? Is there some special communication method we don't know about?"
The questions tumbled out with the enthusiasm of someone desperate to understand the mechanics behind miracles.
"Maybe," Megumi Iruma replied with a knowing smile, "Tiga found her instead."
She rose from her command chair and headed for the exit, leaving Yazumi to ponder the implications of a world where giants of light moved according to their own moral imperatives rather than human chains of command.