Episode 13 Synopsis
Suspicion
(Original Airdate: April 23, 2000)
Sakurako is working on her research at Jonan University. After an all-night stint at the terminal, she receives a phone call from Jean in Nagano. He is surprised to find her in so early. She kids him about being scared of the bears there. He has found some stone pieces with the same kind of writing as the other artifacts. He sends scans of the materials over the phone line from his laptop to her computer.
Opening Credits
At the Porepore, Oya-san is taste-testing some of Nana's cookies, which he discovers to be delicious. He says something that puzzles her, (evidenced by the close-up on her face) and from this he deduces that he needs to explain himself. But as he begins his explanation, Nana heads for the door.
Yuusuke is painting the Kuuga symbol on the front of the Trychaser when Nana appears, cookies in hand. She asks what he's doing. "I was painting the Kuuga symbol on my bike, but I made a mistake." (His hand jerked when Nana called to him, but he doesn't tell her that.) "Kuuga?" she asks. He nods 'yes.' She's unsure. "Don't they have baseball and ballet there?" she asks (I think). Yuusuke ponders for a moment. "No, that's Cuba." She's still a bit puzzled, but moves on to important business, bringing out the cookies she made for him. He takes a bite. "Delicious!" "Really?" Nana's very pleased. Yuusuke says something around his mouthful of cookies, but Nana doesn't get it (implied by another close-up on her face). "I'll take these over for Sakurako," he proposes, which disappoints young Nana (another close-up, which is okay, 'cause she's pretty cute [but she's only 17, so don't get any ideas]).
At the police station Ichijou and the other detectives are in a briefing. The chief and Ichijou fill the others in on the apparent weakness of the unidentified lifeforms (I've been mistakenly calling them "mysterious lifeforms"). From what I can gather, the labs have put together ammunition that will take advantage of this and when fired into the unidentified lifeforms will destroy their cells and destroy them.
In an unidentified hothouse the Grongis have gathered. Me Biran Gi is holding a new tally sheet that looks like an abacus with a frame shaped like a Grongi belt buckle. He counts off a few beads, and looks rather pleased. Rose speaks deliberately: "180 people by the 2nd (of the month)." Me Biran Gi transforms to Grongi form and Rose activates his belt. He heads out and hands the abacus to Xu Gouma Gu, who then whines something to Rose, but is ignored. MeGalmeLe and MeGarimaBa stand up and turn to their Grongi forms, and MeGalmeLe knocks Xu Gouma Gu to the floor. "We're not playing games anymore," he says. "Our time is at hand."
Yuusuke is visiting Sakurako at the university, where she is going over the new writings Jean has sent her. As she is explaining to him what she's found, he listens attentively, except when he reaches in front of her to grab more cookies. After some typing (and slapping Yuusuke's hand off the cookies) she is able to pull up some matching symbols on the screen. "Do you know what they mean?" asks Yuusuke. "Not yet," she replies with a sigh. "I wish I had two bodies," she says, quite exhausted. "Two, huh," says Yuusuke, holding up two empty vitamin drink bottles. A knock on the door, and Ichijou arrives. "Did you get a chance to look at those images from yesterday," he asks. "I'll bring them up," she replies, and heads over to the terminal. She punches up the scans of the different Grongi tattoos, which Yuusuke recognizes. Ichijou requests her continued help, but her less-than-enthusiastic response causes Ichijou to apologize. He then realizes how tired she is. Yuusuke tells him not to worry, that they'll get on it. "I'll do my best," says Sakurako, holding up the vitamin bottles.
A tour boat in Arakawa, Edo ward, runs into something unexpected. One of the pilots gets out to check the front of the boat when suddenly he is pulled into the water. The other pilot is surprised. Surprise turns to fear as Me Biran Gi jumps up onto the prow of the boat and heads for the bridge, with some serious carnage in mind.
The passengers are enjoying their outing when the cabin door falls open, revealing a disturbing sight: the prone body of the second pilot, followed shortly by Me Biran Gi with a bloody mouth. The passengers panic, incited by one girl's screams. As they run for the back exit Me Biran Gi tears and slashes, leaving dead and dying passengers in his wake. Some manage to get up on deck, but are unable to escape. The deck is left strewn with bodies, accompanied by the disgusting chewing sounds of Me Biran Gi (he's derived from a piranha, which explains his tendency to eat everything). Work done, he hits the river and disappears.
As the carnage is going on a young man is watching unmoving on the shore. A cop on a bike happens by and asks what's going on. The cop looks over to see the tour boat drifting aimlessly and covered with blood and bodies. He turns back to the man. "Did you see what happened?" The man doesn't reply, but shuts his eyes. The cop sees a strange tattoo on the man's neck, and makes a connection. "Did you do that?" he inquires, unsnapping the holster on his gun. The man only stares at him.
Ichijou is at a stop light when a car pulls up next to him and honks its horn. It's Tsubaki, new girlfriend in tow, listening to Steely Dan's 'Josie.' "Let me introduce you to Inamori Reiko," he says, and the two exchange hellos. Tsubaki jibes Ichijou about his girlfriend, to which Ichijou cannot respond, being in unfamiliar company. The radio beeps, saving some embarrassment for Ichijou. It's Sugita. "Get back here. I think we've got one of the unidentified lifeforms in custody." "Be right there," says Ichijou, and excuses himself to Tsubaki and Reiko. He hits the siren and is outta there. "He's quite the busy man," says Tsubaki.
Break
At the police station Ichijou stands to the side as Sugita waits for answers from the young man with the suspicious tattoos. Sugita grills him on his knowledge of the unidentified lifeforms, but the young man's attitude doesn't sit well with Sugita. "How do you know so much about these things?" shouts Sugita, to which the young man responds somewhat defiantly that he's on the humans' side. Ichijou retrieves a switchblade from the man's belongings. "Why do you carry this around?" he asks. No answer. Sakurai comes in and fills the other two detectives in on the man's identity. Sakurai managed to get a hold of the man's sister through a card in the man's wallet. She identified him as Junichi Chouno, a sort of drifter who, although he has a clean record, moves from job to job with no clear sense of purpose. Chouno asks the detectives what reason there is for detaining the unidentified lifeform named Chouno, to which Sugita can only sigh.
Sakurako is working in her office, accompanied by Yuusuke, when the phone rings. She doesn't pick up, and Yuusuke gives her a questioning look. "It's probably for you," she says. He checks the phone and sees Ichijou's name. "Yes?" he asks. "Can you meet me?" says Ichijou. "Sure," replies Yuusuke, and Ichijou hangs up, who then calls Tsubaki, who is on his way into a Shibuya restaurant with Reiko. Ichijou tells him he needs Tsubaki to examine someone. "This is really bad timing," replies Tsubaki.
Sakurako is working in her office, accompanied by Yuusuke, when the phone rings. She doesn't pick up, and Yuusuke gives her a questioning look. "It's probably for you," she says. He checks the phone and sees Ichijou's name. "Yes?" he asks. "Can you meet me?" says Ichijou. "Sure," replies Yuusuke, and Ichijou hangs up, who then calls Tsubaki, who is on his way into a Shibuya restaurant with Reiko. Ichijou tells him he needs Tsubaki to examine someone. "This is really bad timing," replies Tsubaki.
At the lab in Taito Ward Ichijou is waiting as Yuusuke arrives, followed shortly by a visibly perturbed Tsubaki. "This better be important," Tsubaki snarls. Ichijou says it is.
In the lab Chouno is being X-rayed, but the initial results don't yield anything that matches the information on the other unidentified lifeforms. Yuusuke wonders why Chouno was not afraid of the unidentified lifeform earlier. Ichijou shows him the switchblade. Just then Tsubaki sees something of interest on the screen. It's a shot of Chouno's intestines, and something appears to be wrong.
At a construction site by a river in 3 fishermen are out angling. One of them seems to have caught something, but two of them together can't reel it in, for which their friend jibes them good-naturedly. Off to their side Me Biran Gi approaches. The fishermen spot him and panic, tipping the boat and falling into the water. Me Biran Gi closes, but lucky for the fishermen a construction worker who is standing in the water cuts his hand on a steel beam, and the blood drips into the water. Catching the scent, Me Biran Gi turns and heads for the shore. The construction worker turns in time to see sharp teeth closing on him.
At the lab Tsubaki, Ichijou, and Yuusuke are going over the results of the test. They have found that Chouno is suffering from some sort of illness, and though Chouno is not in pain, the illness is progressing rapidly. Just then a call comes in, and Tsubaki answers, then hands the phone to Ichijou. "It's for you." Ichijou listens for a moment, responds affirmatively to an unheard remark, and hangs up. Turning to Yuusuke, he says that No. 23 is wreaking havoc. "Let's go," says Yuusuke, and the two leave Tsubaki in the lab.
Sakurako is standing up for a stretch when the phone rings. It's Jean. Sakurako immediately apologizes for her lack of progress, but that's not why he's called. They've made a rather remarkable find at the site in Nagano: an opalescent green sphere set into some sort of stone frame. It's unlike anything else they've encountered at the site. Sakurako looks very concerned.
Out of the water, Me Biran Gi is clobbering everyone in site, cops, suits, workers, and whoever comes within fin's reach. "Gozezebagin gegedobindaza," he snarls. Yuusuke arrives on the Trychaser, knocking Me Biran Gi off his next victim and into the water. Ichijou arrives immediately after, and checks on the cop. Yuusuke hops off the bike and quickly transforms, and the battle begins. Kuuga and Me Biran Gi toss each other around at the expense of the architectural integrity of virtually everything standing in the area. Me Biran Gi kicks into high-speed mode, eluding Kuuga's attempted punches while landing some shots of his own (sort of a Grongi drive-by). Kuuga is knocked into a shack, which starts collapsing on him. Me Biran Gi jumps on the shack, but Kuuga scrambles out just in time, barely escaping Me Biran Gi's wrist blade. He continues knocking Kuuga around, but Kuuga ducks and weaves and evens the battle up again.
In Nagano Jean and Mika are puzzled over the curious find they've made, which is composed of the green stone item, along with several other carved stone items.
Kuuga and Me Biran Gi battle into the water. The mysterious green stone begins to glow, and suddenly Kuuga is plagued with images of ancient battles, and some unidentified flying figure that resembles nothing so much as a stylized rhinoceros beetle. The images distract Kuuga from the battle, allowing Me Biran Gi to get a blade shot in on Kuuga, slicing the front of Kuuga's armor diagonally from left to right. The battle goes on, but Kuuga is quickly becoming bewildered. "What on earth is happening…?"
End of episode
Questions, comments, criticisms, corrections
