Episode 14 Synopsis
The Omen
(Original Airdate: April 30, 2000)
Kuuga and Me Biran Gi continue to battle, while Kuuga is still plagued by the images. This enables Me Biran Gi to get a mouthful of Kuuga's chest armor, but Kuuga punches him away. After a short staredown Kuuga strikes the "henshin" pose and transforms into his Titan form. He begins a steady stride at Me Biran Gi, who attempts a punch. Kuuga ducks it easily. Me Biran Gi continues to attack, but Kuuga is unaffected. The battle works back onto land. Me Biran Gi manages to grab a mouthful of Kuuga's arm, at which moment Ichijou calls to him, leveling his rifle at Me Biran Gi. He fires, and the artillery strikes Me Biran Gi in the chest, and he begins to smoke. Foiled, he curses and dives back into the water. Kuuga staggers, holding his arm. Ichijou calls out, and Yuusuke stumbles into the shallows. "Godai, are you alright?" "That was too close," he replies, looking into the river.
Opening credits
Tsubaki is looking at Yuusuke's bite mark. "The injury doesn't look too serious," says Tsubaki, for which Yuusuke is quite relieved. "Even so," he says, "there's something that bugs me. While I was fighting No. 23, I kept seeing all these strange images flashing through my mind. It was kind of like when I first encounter the belt up in Nagano." Tsubaki thinks they may have to take another look. Ichijou arrives and reports on Chouno's condition, and says he needs to figure out how to beat this thing. Yuusuke requests to go and meet Chouno. "Why?" asks Tsubaki. "I don't know for sure, but maybe we'll hit it off." "Sure. He's in room 235." Yuusuke heads off, and Ichijou and Tsubaki look pensively at one another.
Chouno lies quietly in his hospital room.
Nana asks Oya-san to sample another batch of cookies, which she hopes to impress Yuusuke with. Oya-san gives a taste, but says they're no good. In fact, he says they're bad. So bad, in fact, they're as bad as Mt. Everest is tall. Nana is crestfallen. "It can't be," she cries. As she falls into the stool dejected, Oya-san starts sneaking the box away, turns, and tears into the goodies with gluttonous enthusiasm. Nana looks up and sees him, and realizes he was lying just to get the sweets for himself. She screams at him to give them back, but by the time she's able to jump up on the counter and get her hands on the box, Oya-san has managed to get a bite out of every single cookie. Nana slaps at him, upset at her being deceived and at the fact Yuusuke won't be getting any cookies.
Sakurako answers a call from Jean, who tells her about the objects in Nagano. "Don't get all worked up, but I have something big to tell you," he says. "Don't tell me you saw a bear," she kids. "No, nothing like that. Those pieces of stone we found fit together into some strange structure, but we don't know what it's supposed to be. The funny thing is, the pieces seem to have worked themselves into position of their own accord." Sakurako listens intently, looking very concerned. The green stone is shown located at the top center of the structure.
Tsubaki is performing an autopsy with Ichijou in attendance. Ichijou is still pondering Chouno's relation to the goings-on regarding the Grongi. Tsubaki remarks that even the bones of the victim were cut through. Ichijou notices a shallow cut on the corpse's wrist. "That's the only cut not made by No. 23. I think it happened before he was attacked," says Tsubaki. Ichijou receives a page over the intercom to come to the main desk to take a phone call.
Sakurai, at the site of the earlier carnage by the river, reports to Ichijou that at the time of the attack the worker was at the water's edge, and had apparently cut himself just prior to being attacked. Sakurai believes that No. 23 targeted his victim after scenting the blood.
Somewhere along the river, in a parking lot, Me Biran Gi, in human form, is crouched over in pain on a set of metal stairs. Rose, Me Garima Ba, Xu Gouma Gu, and MeGalmeLe approach, obviously displeased. Another figure passes between Me Biran Gi and the rest, and heads back toward an empty truck. Xu Gouma Gu crouches down in Me Biran Gi's face. "So you screwed up, eh…" Me Biran Gi shoves him away, but he can't escape Me Garima Ba's scolding. He starts up the stairs. The other figure is sitting in the truck as this is going on. As Me Biran Gi charges up the stairs, the "Backing Up" voice message issues from the truck, and it begins to back up toward some parked cars. The radio is playing "Blue Velvet," and the figure is childishly gleeful playing with his new toy. This new Grongi is Me Gyarido Gi. The other Grongis look back at him, rather displeased. The truck slams into a car and grinds to a halt. Me Gyarido Gi notices a "Safety First" arm banner on the dash. He picks it up, examines it, and then pins it to his bare arm. (Needle-haters will want to turn away for this move.)
Yuusuke is waiting in Chouno's room when he begins to stir. "Are you awake now?" asks Yuusuke. "I'm here with the detectives." Chouno just looks away, then starts up in bed and begins scrounging around the bed table. "What are you looking for?" asks Yuusuke, but Chouno remains silent. "Can I ask you something?" asks Yuusuke, wondering what it was about the unidentified lifeforms that frightens Chouno. Yuusuke says he knows what it means to be frightened, to which Chouno responds that no other human could possibly know what he's feeling. "You're right," agrees Yuusuke, "nobody can, but they can reasonably sympathize." "I don't need your sympathy," retorts Chouno, and turns away again. Yuusuke is at a loss. He walks over to the window, then turns. "Chouno," he says, "are you alive?" A long pause. "As long as you are alive, I believe you must do whatever you find interesting and worthwhile. Don't you agree?" "I don't know what you're talking about!" snaps Chouno, who storms over to his locker and begins removing his things and readies himself to leave. Just then Tsubaki and Ichijou come in. "You're in no shape to leave now," says Tsubaki. Ichijou calls Yuusuke outside.
Ichijou tells Yuusuke about the discovery that Me Biran Gi tracked his victims by scent, and then outlines a plan about how to lure the creature out and attack it.
Chouno is ready to leave, and is headed for the door when Tsubaki tells him that he's got information on Chouno's sickness. If Chouno doesn't get treatment, the sickness will kill him. Chouno responds by saying that it makes no difference if the sickness kills him or the disease kills him, because everyone dies in the end. "Is death so bad?" Chouno shouts. Tsubaki walks over and says, "Come with me…"
Break
In the autopsy room Tsubaki shows Chouno the corpse of the first victim, and Chouno chokes back a gag. Tsubaki says that if nothing is done to stop the unidentified lifeforms, many more people will suffer this fate. "Is this how you want to die?" He chides Chouno for be thoughtless, and says he will not stand idly by and let the unidentified lifeforms continue their murderous ways. He offers Chouno his switchblade back, and Chouno remains immobile, still sickened by the sight of the corpse. "You have a reason not to die…" says Tsubaki.
Me Biran Gi glares into the river, then charges off.
Chouno walks down the hospital hall, pondering. Suddenly, he charges down the hall.
In Nagano the police are loading the stone structure into a truck to transport it back to Tokyo for examination. Jean and Mika are speaking with Kameyama, who promises to look after the materials and ensures their safe arrival at the designated destination. Jean asks Kameyama if it's alright if he and Mika ride in the car with him, but Kameyama is hesitant about allowing civilians to ride in a police vehicle.
On a jetty in the Arakawa River in Edo ward, Ichijou and Sakurai finish loading some pheromone solutions onto a boat. "Are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?" inquires Sakurai. "I'll be fine," says Ichijou. Yuusuke, on the riverbank, watches expectantly. Ichijou and Yuusuke head out simultaneously.
Later the Nagano team has stop for refreshments, and Kameyama is left to watch the truck while the others grab something to drink. Just then the cases in the back of the truck begin to jump and clatter, and the green stone begins to glow.
As Yuusuke cruises the riverbank, Ichijou heads down the river, pouring pheromones into the water. Me Biran Gi has caught the scent, and is in pursuit.
In a taxi, a report comes on the radio about the prolonged absence of activity by unidentified lifeform No. 23. The driver is irritated. "Unidentified, my foot." And asks where to go next. Chouno, in the back seat, says he'll get out here.
Sakurako, back at Jonan (sometimes she never leaves that place), has made a puzzling discovery. The cipher she's been examining breaks out as "a beetle-looking (mushi no sugata o) KATA DORISHI". "What does it mean?" she wonders.
Jean and the others have returned, sodas in hand. "Thanks," says Kameyama. "You're welcome," replies Jean in English. Then he looks up to see the truck shaking rather violently. Again in English, he says what I believe is "What's that?" (Okay, here's what I'm puzzling over. The actor, Serge Vashirov, is Romanian. His name in the show in Jean-Michel Sorel(sp?), a French name, but his Japanese is splashed with accented English. I don't know if it's British or French accent. This leads to the above confusion. He says "what" for sure, but the second word is garbled or mispronounced. Maybe this makes him more foreign for the viewing audience. If anyone can help clear this up, let me know.) Then, in Japanese, he says to Kameyama, "behind you," pointing at the shaking truck. Kameyama gets out of the car to see the truck shake, then fall still. After some crashing sounds, a strange flying object bursts out of the cargo area, shoots rapidly into the sky, then swoops down on Jean and Kameyama, barely missing them before flying off towards Tokyo.
Ichijou continues down the river. Yuusuke, pacing him on the bank, begins to feel the sensations he felt earlier when fighting Me Biran Gi.
Kameyama and Jean examine the truck to find the entire cargo area demolished.
Ichijou receives a call on the phone, and it's Kameyama telling him that something miraculous just happened to him. He's pretty hyper, and Ichijou tells him to calm down. Just then the boat is rocked, and Ichijou turns to see Me Biran Gi boarding aft. He grabs his rifle.
Yuusuke, seeing this, cuts the bike down onto the embankment. At the riverbank he calls for the belt, transforming into Kuuga's Dragon form while still in motion, then leaps from the bike clear onto the boat in the middle of the river. In doing so he interrupts Me Biran Gi's attack on Ichijou, who is knocked into the water. Kuuga and Me Biran Gi follow in short order, and fight briefly, then disappear under the surface. At that moment Chouno arrives on the riverbank. As he looks at the water Me Biran Gi leaps out onto the bank in front of him. There is a brief staredown. "What am I to you?" questions Chouno, to which Me Biran Gi replies, "The prize." Me Biran Gi then attacks Chouno, knocking him around and cutting his cheek. As Me Biran Gi is preparing for the lethal bite, Kuuga leaps out and knocks him away. The two battle as Chouno takes cover. The fight returns to the shallow water, with neither side gaining an advantage. Kuuga leaps onto the bank. Me Biran Gi takes a swing at Kuuga, who ducks, and Me Biran Gi's wrist-blade slices off a nice long piece of riverweed, which goes sailing into Kuuga's hands. (Yeah, you know what's coming now.) Kuuga does a few flashy moves, then calls on the Dragon power to transform the reed into the Dragon Rod. Kuuga proceeds to open a can on Me Biran Gi, knocking him around. Kuuga leaps and stabs the rod into Me Biran Gi's chest, who staggers back. His chest glows yellow, and he promptly explodes. Chouno watches in amazement. Kuuga becomes Yuusuke, who turns and looks at Chouno. "Godai," calls Ichijou from the bank. "Oh, Ichijou-san," chuckles Yuusuke. Chouno is overwhelmed… "He helped me." Then he runs off, with Ichijou and Yuusuke looking after him.
Later that evening the mysterious object that exploded out of the back of the truck cruises purposefully over the treetops, bound for an unknown destination.
End of episode
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