Chapter Text
Another day, another shift for poor Pizza Cookie. She woke up at 10 am after a rousing 3 hours of sleep, a little less than her usual 5. Her shift that day was.. off. Her boss seemed different for one thing. Parmesan Rind was more quick to anger and jaded than she usually was.
Parmesan Rind grumbled. A sandwich shop had opened the other day across the street, and it had taken a bite out of the pizzeria’s numbers, even after just a short time being open.
“Pizza Cookie! Go scout the competition!” Parmesan Rind demanded.
“What do I get out of this?” Pizza inquired.
“You get to keep your job and get a raise of ¢7!”
“Works for me.” Pizza Cookie said, exiting the shop and taking a short walk over to the sandwich shop, which was quaint, seemingly family owned.
A girl, around Pizza’s age, greeted her. The girl had short red hair done in two small pigtails.
“Welcome to Cosmic Sandwich, what can I do for you?” The girl’s voice was higher pitched, yet not ear-grating, like soft butter spread upon a grilled cheese. Her tone was chipper. Excessively so, Pizza thought, yet she wanted to keep listening to her. She tabled that potentially romantic thought for later however, she was there for official business after all!
“Can I get a BLT for here?”
“Sure thing! I’ll have it out in a jiff!”
Pizza looked behind the counter, more out of curiosity rather than anything malicious. She was too tired to actually snoop around for her boss, plus she was hungry since she skipped breakfast for the 6th time this month.
What she didn’t see was more interesting than what she did, namely that there didn’t seem to be any other workers.
“So, are you the only staff here?”
“Well, there’s my folks, but other than them, it’s mostly me!”
“That’s fun. What’s your name?” Pizza absentmindedly inquired.
“Sandwich Cookie! And speaking of sandwiches, here’s your BLT!” Sandwich said, plopping a brown paper bag onto the counter, which Pizza grabbed, sitting down at one of the unsurprisingly few empty tables and took a bite.
That first bite triggered something in Pizza’s brain, because it was the best bite of food she had eaten since starting college. The soft and spongy bread, the crisp, fresh lettuce, the acidic and almost spicy tomato, the meaty and crisp bacon, and some sort of amazing sauce all combined to create one of the best sandwiches Pizza had ever had bar none. If she had any less self control, she damn well would’ve cried tears of joy right there.
However, Pizza knew she had to get back to her job. Before she knew it (and before she wanted it to be over), the sandwich was gone, and Pizza strolled back across the street to her actual job.
Immediately upon entering the pizza shop, she was pulled into the back by Parmesan Rind Cookie.
“WHY DID YOU WASTE SO MUCH TIME! THIS IS COMING OUT OF YOUR PAYCHECK PIZZA!” Parmesan Rind screamed, getting right into her employee’s face. “NOW GET BACK TO WORK!”
On the outside, Pizza simply nodded and went along with her day. But when she got back to her dorm, she cried. She cried about her boss yelling at her, she cried about not being able to see her family, she cried about failing her classes, she cried about her lack of friends, and she cried about that girl and the sandwich. She felt like was alone in the world, and she hated it.
Suddenly, she could feel the ground shake beneath her, and what sounded like a bird screeching. She rushed outside to see what indeed looked like a giant bird monster, and a giant silver, black, and red being fighting it. Unfortunately, it seemed like the bird was winning, with the giant being knocked down, a loud beeping sound coming from the giant’s chest. The giant looked like it was fading, and frantically reached out it’s hand for a person, landing on Pizza.
Pizza braced for impact, and found herself in a blue and black void.
“I see my host unification process worked.” A voice said, revealing itself to be the giant that collapsed.
“Who are you? Where am I? Am I dead?” Pizza rapidly asked, breathing fast and shallow.
“I am Ultraman Orb, this is my Inner Space, and you are not dead. In fact, you can save my life. Just take these.” Orb calmly said, handing Pizza a large ring-like device and a set of cards.
“Take the first two cards and put them through the device’s ring one at a time, and I shall do the rest.”
“If you say so…” Pizza complied, taking the first card, Ultraman, and putting it through the device, a projection of the original Ultraman appearing on the right side of Pizza Cookie.
“Ultraman-San!”
“Who?”
“Do not worry about that, just put the second card through!”
Pizza mentally shrugged and put the second card, Ultraman Tiga, through the devices ring, a projection of Tiga appearing on Pizza’s left side.
“Tiga-San!”
“Please let us borrow, the power of your lights!”
Pizza instinctually pressed the button on the handle of the device, initiating the rise sequence.
“Fusion Up! Ultraman Orb, Spacium Zeperion!” The device announced as Orb reappeared in the city, standing tall.
“WOAH WOAH WOAH WHY AM I SO HIGH UP AND WHY AM I GOING TO FIGHT THAT BIRD?!” Pizza exclaimed, panicking like mad while still inside the Inner Space.
“Let me take care of the heavy lifting! You just cover my mistakes!” Orb commanded, taking the lead against the Lord Monster of Wind, Maga-Basser. He punched at the bird Lord Monster, with the Kaiju retaliating with a bite to his arm
“Maga-Basser is weakened from the rest of the fight! You just need to help me finish it off! Raise your left arm, then throw your right arm straight to the side! Put them in a cross position, and I’ll do the rest!” Orb said
Pizza mentally cursed herself for getting herself into this mess before complying, posing her arms in the way Orb instructed.
“Sparion Beam!” Orb announced as a purple energy beam shot from his crossed arms, destroying Maga-Basser, and leaving behind a card of Ultraman Mebius.
Pizza powered herself down, Orbs spirit projecting itself beside her.
“You have a lot of explaining to do!” Pizza said.
Elsewhere, in the back of the Notorious Ray’s pizzeria, Parmesan Rind Cookie stood, clutching a faded card of Maga-Basser and a dark version of the device Pizza and Orb used. By her side is a copper-armored spirit.
“So… You’ve finally arrived again. Welcome back, my dear Orb.” The copper spirit said, letting out an evil laugh.