HomeEpisode 7 - The Unseen Enemy
The downtown TV screen of before is showing Doctor Pierce, being interviewed about Fuzors. Not only have they made Zoids smitier, delivering a more "powerful and entertaining battle", he says, the interest in them has reached a level where not using them is unthinkable.
A man in the crowd scoffs at this, taking advantage of the nighttime setting to stay in shadows and play dramatic music. "That's what you think, Doc. There's nobody who can beat me...and that goes for the Fuzors. They don't have a chance!" He cackles, showing off a weird star-shaped mark on one cheek. Raven, he is not (and that's a good thing).
Title screen leads into a desert the next day, populated by our wannabe doom munchkin buddies, Rattle and Malloy. They're running battle sim number 265, which is against some Guysacks using last ep's animation. Maybe that's how the raiders got ahold of so many-buying them secondhand from pilots who blew them up for kicks. They combine, bounce the Guysacks off the shield (chitter-SQUEAK!), and blast them to bits in 27.07 seconds-a new record.
Proximity alert, says the console, showing a dot on the radar right on top of them. Rattle shoots, but the dot vanishes and there's nothing there. Malloy (the one in brown, people-the Spiner pilot) thinks there's something wrong with the radar, but the dot's pilot (our buddy from before) taunts them. They yell at him to show himself, but he's no fool-he starts slamming the Spiner around from every which way. We see brief Helcat-style flashes of stealth, but it's obvious this isn't visible to Rattle and Malloy, even with the fancy sensors that Spiner's packing. They try using the Killer Dome's spinnylasers to shoot all around them, kicking up dust that has no effect on the stealth, leading them to think for a moment the stealth Zoid's been blasted.
It hasn't-another body slam and the Spiner goes down on its side in pain, struggling to get up. Rrrow, comments the stealth Zoid, and those that didn't recognize its shape before get a good for-the-viewers shot now as it gets to shooting the Spiner, tearing up its belly and leaving it trashed. It's a Saber Tiger. A blinding yellow Saber Tiger. Kicking a Killer Spiner's arse.
Somewhere, all the fanboys whine while the Tigers laugh.
(A lot of people count this as proof the Spiner pilots are idiots, same with the PKB later. I counter that with Helcats and Shadow Foxes out there, they know about that kind of stealth and are expecting to pick it up on sensors, what with Spiners and Gorheckses being all electronic warfare-y. But they don't see any sign of the Holokitty, except when the pilot's messing with them. Thus, Holotech = beyond NJR-level sensors, and Gummie's ranting about invisible Zoids being impossible includes not visible on sensors.)
The PKB lot are trailed be reporters, asking if there really is an invisible Zoid hunting down the Fuzors and a thousand other questions. Gummie's only response is an increasingly annoyed NO COMMENT, until he finally gets to the PKB headquarters and can shoo them off. As far as he's concerned, this whole invisible Zoid thing is impossible, but Ciao and Deed don't have any good news for him. Deed says it is possible, even if it doesn't make any sense. Gummi replies they can't just sit around on their thumbs, and that not only is he canceling Zoid battles until they can track the guy down, nobody's going anywhere until the case is solved.
Does anyone else see the problem with this statement? Beyond the thumbs thing.
Back at Mach Storm, Sweet is typing things and RD is reading a comic book-Zoids Max!, with a Shield Liger on front-so much for them not being in Fuzors. Dan says RD's been offered a job helping out Doc Pierce's investigation of the invisiZoid, but RD isn't too interested once he hears he won't get to actually fight it. Matt apparently is a Doc Pierce fanboy too, bouncing around and wanting his autograph. RD claim's he's busy, but Sweet points out that reading comics isn't busy and they need the money, since there's no Zoid battles on right now.
Sigma shows up, gloating that he's got a job for the team and Haldo asked specifically for him, nyah nyah. Hop sends him off, warning him about the stealth Zoid. No worries, Sigma says. "Boldguard and I are tight. We look out for each other." He walks off, humming cheerfully.
I pick up my DOOMED! stamp (the one I normally reserve for Empire-y bodyguards), and aim it at his forehead...
Dan introduces RD to Doc Pierce, who is a bit more interested in meeting him than is sane, going on about RD's father again. Foreshadowing, foreshadowing, but to what? Doc Pierce drags RD off to the latest Stealthzoidy crime scene, which is surrounded by cool-looking PKB Sinkers. It seems it had a couple Blade Ligers for lunch, slamming them into walls and smiting them good as they were on their way home from a fight. Dan points out that doesn't mean Stealthzoidy is more powerful than Blade Ligers-brains over brawn, after all. RD thinks it had to be a Zi Fighter, with how the ambush was plotted out, and that money was a motive since battle Zoids were the ones munched.
Doc Pierce, standing amid a bunch of weird twiddly things taking readings, agrees. He adds that the guy probably has a big ego to feed: he wants to prove himself the strongest, and he wants to fight where there are no rules since you can't evaluate a Zoid's "ultimate power" just through Zoid battles alone. (Somewhere, the versus fanboys join the Dark Spiner ones, as Tilly watches spinny things on the equipment go round and round.) One of Doc Pierce's gizmos goes off, apparently having found a clue. Jinkies!
Turns out Sigma's important mission was reorganizing Haldo's warehouse, which he's a bit peeved about. Haldo tells him to stop whining...and then asks him if he can open a can of something pink.
Out in the conveniently placed waterways, a trail of footprints approaches Sigma, Haldo, and the pink can in an ominous fashion. Star-mark-dude laughs ominously-they won't even know what hit 'em.
Pierce, Ciao, Gummi, Dan, and RD are having some kind of plotting session. Gummi isn't too happy RD's there, but Pierce says he's his temporary assistant, sending Gummi into a muttering fit that sounds like gibberish containing the words "beans" and "brackets". That can't be healthy. Moving on, Pierce has figured out what critter Stealthzoidy is-a Zaber Fang! It spins around as a happy CGI rendering, everyone staring in surprise.
Back to Sigma, whose Boldguard is towing a container full of Haldo's junk. Haldo says there's a nice cold soda waiting for Sigma when he's done. The pink seems to be of the strawberry bubbly variety, very tasty for Stealthzoidies on the prowl.
Warning, proximity alert, says the computer. Sigma looks down, seeing a dot on the radar dead on top of him...
Doc Pierce, meanwhile, tells just how the Kitty is special: it's Holotech, a very rare type of armor that can screw with visibility something awful. RD acts confused for the benefit of the viewers, a time-honored tradition handed down from Doctor Who companions, just to make sure this is explained fully. Deed busts in on their staring at the spinny CGI kitty, telling them it's struck again...
Back to Sigma again, as Boldguard is tossed into walls, containers, everything in the hangar that is ouch. "It's got to be the invisible Zoid!" he says, as the vague outline of a Holokitty paw backhands the Boldguard and rolls it onto its back. "Piece of cake..." star-dude gloats, Holokitty shimmering briefly into existence to bare neon pink charged sabres. BITE goes kitty, ouch goes Boldguard, looking rather dead as the scene fades out.
The PKB and their cool Sinkers get there too late, of course, RD with them. He asks Sigma if he's okay and if he saw the stealth Zoid. The wonkiness of this question goes right over the normally sarcastic Sigma's head. Boldguard's been chomped all the way down to the core system, he says-they'll never be able to fight again, and Boldguard's scarp. RD tries to cheer Sigma up-doesn't he want to get even?, but he bites RD's head off and walks off, angry. He had his chance, he says-and he blew it.
Later on, Mach Storm watches the news while Hop pokes the finances-it's all bad news. No money for a new Zoid, no battles, and Sigma's off angsting. But it seems star-dude has decided to call the news just to taunt everybody. His motive, he says, against a backdrop of sinister neon signs (including one that I swear says "BEER" in a fancy curly font), is to prove he's the top Zi Fighter on the planet. "I want to show all Zi Fighters, the Peacekeeping Bureau...oh yeah. And I want to show her."
He won't tell who her is, but the camera finds Amy, who otherwise hasn't done anything this episode. He then challenges the PKB-meet me in the arena tomorrow at noon. His voice print matches the dude from past assaults, Deed says, and Gummi roars to get Doctor Pierce on the line. They need something to unmask that cat, and pronto.
Pierce comes up with a plan overnight: exposing the Holokitty by hitting it with a different type of light that'll make it so it can't do its refracty thing. And so, armed with their technobabble, Deed, Ciao, and RD head out for the arena-"so whoever you are, we're comin' to get you.". I have to wonder where Gummie's Giga is through all this, considering Star-dude called for the PKB's most powerful Zoids. Gorhecks makes sense-its fins are even smitier sensor-wise than Dark Spiner's.
We finally see the dude's face as he cackles-he's got bluegreen eyes and sane dirty blond hair, not what you'd expect from a villain. "You'll see, Amy," he gloats. "I'm gonna come along and sweep you off your feet..."
We cut to Amy for a second, staring at the ceiling. "Oh, Keith..." she mumbles, finally putting a name to Star-dude and making him a lot easier to type about. As a side note, I love the guy who does the voice for Keith in the dub. He's all intelligentarrogantunhinged, not just Generic Evil.
It's noon. Bells ring. The camera angles go fun for the rest of this scene, swooping from Zoid to Zoid in a mildly dizzying manner at points.
"Sorry I'm late," Keith says to the PKB crew. "Let the games begin."
Proximity alert, say the computers, picking up a dot right on top of everybody.
Gummi turns on the lights, bringing the Holokitty into view. "Nyarow-ROW!" it comments, sounding distinctly cougar. RD charges-now the pilot's gonna pay big time for what he did to Sigma! But Holokitty vanishes again, ignoring RD's request for it to "come out!" (of where?). Seems it can adapt a lot faster than anyone thought, and now they're left chasing an invisible cat that only appears on radar when it wants under doomy red lights. The Zero and PKB crew's Zoids look around nervously as Keith smites first Gorhecks then Aro Saurer, then appears at the top of the arena. Isn't it time for RD to call his "Zi partner"?, he taunts, making those words sound...dirty.
RD says it's not worth calling on the Fire Phoenix to smite a creep like him and boosts forward, slamming claws down on the Holokitty only to hit empty air. It reappears at the bottom of the arena, Keith mocking RD as he again jumps and smites nothing. The Holokitty appears for real this time, blasting the Zero in the side, and RD goes down. Keith shows off his Zoid for a second, laughing at the inept PKB group before vanishing to points unknown.
"You did your best, RD," Sigma says, watching the battle on TV downtown. "But I guess that stealth Zoid was even too much for you..."
And we have CLIFFHANGER!
(This was one of the only episodes I got to see "live", leaving me waiting until I finally got the DVDs to see the second part. Nice timing, eh?)
Previously: Ambush in the Wasteland
Next up: Blue Lightening
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