Originally, Joey had thought Galactus turning back meant he wanted to bury the hatchet and help deal with the rampaging Giant Doomsday.
Joey had even been mentally preparing a heartfelt speech afterward about the power of family getting everyone together and have good old chicken nuggets together.
Instead, the old man simply ran.
In fact, judging from his actions, Galactus had only turned back to retrieve his newly appointed Herald. The abandoned, utterly worthless loss-maker, Loki.
Normally, if you got your boss beaten half to death while he was eating and even smashed his dinner bowl in the process, you'd probably be optimized on the spot.
Yet Galactus still refused to abandon Loki.
Joey honestly couldn't decide whether that made Galactus loyal... or heartlessly pragmatic.
Though, thinking about it, it made sense. Having a Herald search for food was still far more efficient than dragging his own colossal body across the universe on an energy-deficit hunting trip.
"That little bastard!"
Galacta's bargain-bin excuse for a father was way too irresponsible!
"Who's Galacta?!" a certain parasite suddenly asked.
At the moment, the three of them were sharing a unified consciousness. Combined with Joey's mind being stretched to its limit during the battle against Doomsday, the occasional memory leak was inevitable.
Even while cursing Galactus's entire family line, Joey still found time to answer little Galacta's question.
"You! Don't tell me you don't know you're the daughter of Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds?"
Judging by the lifespan and developmental stages of a cosmic entity like Galactus, the current tapeworm-form Galacta could at best be considered an embryo.
It was likely only because she had come into contact with an intelligent lifeform like Joey that her consciousness had awakened prematurely.
Besides...
It seemed that no matter which universe they came from, parents all handled the question "Where did I come from?" the exact same way—with vague half-truths and outright dodging.
Hippolyta had done the same to Diana.
Galactus apparently wasn't any better.
Even after gaining a humanoid body and a distinct personality, Galacta had never realized that her true form was literally a tapeworm.
So it wasn't surprising that the current Galacta had absolutely no self-awareness.
"I thought my name was... Gali or something. And... who's Galactus?"
"...Forget I said anything—look out!"
Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth, the berserk giant lunged once more.
Its claws shot straight toward Ultraman's Color Timer, which had already begun flashing a warning red.
Joey answered with a backward kick that sent the monster stumbling away, forcing open some distance between them.
But that did nothing to suppress the creature's overwhelming desire to attack.
Within the giant's twisted, blood-red compound eyes, Joey could clearly see a single, all-consuming hunger—
The desire to devour everything.
[This is bad.]
"No kidding."
Bearing the constant pressure of defending himself, Joey actually began recovering that strangely familiar feeling.
"When I first arrived in this universe..."
"I honestly thought it'd be a nice little vacation."
Back then, Joey had figured that the nearest crisis would simply be Loki—the self-proclaimed Prince of Asgard pulling his usual tricks by opening a portal and unloading a truckload of Chitauri to redecorate New York City.
To Joey, the Chitauri were nothing more than the universe's most pathetic army.
No matter how many came, they were just insects waiting to be crushed.
Who could've guessed...
Loki would somehow end up bringing Galactus into the picture?
Then everything spiraled out of control at terrifying speed.
Compared to the disaster unfolding now, even the Inheritors felt downright friendly.
Both Joey and the First Generation Ultraman could feel their strength steadily fading as the sun continued sinking toward the horizon.
A quick victory was obviously the ideal solution.
The problem was...
They had the solution.
They just had no way to achieve it.
The berserk giant's attacks were simply too lethal.
A direct hit meant instant death.
Even grazing one of its blows would leave them gravely wounded.
Right now, they were surviving solely because their comparatively smaller, more agile bodies allowed them to keep dancing around their overwhelmingly powerful opponent.
But once the last rays of sunlight disappeared from New York...
The situation would likely spiral completely out of control.
Perhaps they wouldn't even make it to complete sunset.
Joey had already noticed the berserk giant's purple exoskeleton gradually peeling away, replaced instead by a much lighter white membrane of living light.
Realizing that Galactus had retreated, the creature abandoned the heavy armor designed to withstand cosmic energy bombardment and evolved into a lighter, living shell one that was far harder for a Giant of Light to pierce.
The red glow of Ultraman's Color Timer flashed faster and faster.
Doomsday was still evolving with terrifying precision.
Even if it couldn't kill the separated bodies of Joey and Lipiah's Ultraman immediately, that was becoming little more than a matter of time.
[Its defenses have dropped. Is there any chance we can kill it?]
Whoosh!
Without a word, Joey raised his hand and hurled an Ultra Slash.
The spinning energy blade streaked through the air and struck the berserk giant...
...only to vanish on contact.
Like snow melting beneath the sun.
Like a stone sinking into the sea.
Experiment complete.
Joey reached his conclusion.
"I don't think so."
He couldn't win in close combat.
Energy attacks were useless.
As the realization of just how hopeless the situation had become sank in, Joey was suddenly overwhelmed by an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.
Wait...
I've seen this episode before.
Don't tell me we're about to get The Death of Superman 2.
If that happened...
The consequences would be unimaginable.
Joey didn't even dare think about what would happen to this universe—to Earth—if he fell here.
Unlike Superman, neither Joey nor the First Generation Ultraman had any way of taking Doomsday down with them.
And afterward...
There certainly wasn't going to be some miraculous Science Patrol super missile descending from the heavens to clean up the mess after their defeat.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, Joey noticed the sky suddenly growing dark.
The sunlight vanished.
An overwhelming shadow settled over his heart, darker even than the approaching night itself.
Then—
BOOM!!
Only then did Joey realize it wasn't because the sun had completely dipped below the horizon.
Mjolnir, overflowing with divine power, had summoned a raging storm.
Thunder rolled across the heavens.
Thor—who had earlier been swatted away with a single slap—had returned.
And beside him...
The Silver Surfer.
Standing atop his cosmic surfboard, the Son of Odin rode forward with the Silver Surfer amplifying his speed to its absolute limit.
"Feel my—!"
As thunder echoed throughout the Nine Realms, Thor hurled Gungnir, the Spear of Destiny, with enough force to pierce the stars.
"Wrath!"
Empowered by the combined energies of both warriors, the divine spear carved through space, dragging behind it an enormous spectral lance woven from countless glowing Rune symbols.
It pierced straight through the giant's neck and spine.
Unable to dodge, the berserk giant was nailed firmly to the earth.
The storm clouds dispersed.
The thunder faded.
And once more, the dying light of the half-set sun illuminated the battlefield.
"We got it!"
Moments earlier, Thor had looked every bit the future All-Father.
Now, seeing the berserk giant seemingly lifeless and pinned to the ground, every trace of regal dignity instantly vanished.
Swinging Mjolnir around excitedly, he looked everywhere.
"...Where did Galactus go?"
Finding no trace of the Devourer of Worlds, Thor's dissatisfaction immediately boiled over.
"If he's not here, then what was the point of all the trouble I went through dragging this thing back?!"
Strapped across Thor's back was an enormous object resembling a thick half-circle shield.
Long protrusions extended from both ends.
To an ordinary person, it was nearly impossible to guess what the object actually was.
But from Joey's current gigantic perspective...
He recognized it instantly.
It looked exactly like an old-fashioned cigarette lighter.
Combined with the overwhelming waves of cosmic energy radiating from it...
Its identity became obvious.
Joey had been desperately wondering what could possibly destroy a Doomsday monster capable of endlessly adapting.
And then Thor and the Silver Surfer had apparently gone and robbed Galactus's home, bringing back this.
Talk about perfect timing.
Just when the cart reached the mountain, the road appeared.
Just when sleepiness struck, someone handed over a pillow.
"Yes..."
"That's exactly it!"
One of Galactus's greatest artifacts.
The Ultimate Nullifier.
A weapon capable of erasing any existence from reality itself.
With it...
Joey could finally defeat any Doomsday monster.