Dekarobo takes heavy steps through the city streets. It tilts its head up. They've got a bead on something falling from the sky. They know the trajectory. Sen leads the speculation on what it might be, followed by Umeko, then Jasmine, then Hoji says "It's coming." Sure enough, a bright light leaving a thick vapor-trail falls through the atomosphere. "Okay we found it!" delights Ban. And the Dekarobo takes to the air in a rolling leap, snatching the falling light out of the sky. When they open the hand and stare down Ban asks, "What is it?" For in their hand is a delicate, sweet chest, white with red, green and yellow elegant designs.

They set in on cement and gather around it. It's not a small thing, in fact it is about half the size of a small car. Hoji holds out his badge to take a reading. "Well, there's no radiation," he confirms, pocketing his badge again. Ban cheerfully says, "I guess it's not a threat, then, eh buddy?" Stubborn and annoyed, Hoji snaps "And what makes you think that?" After all, how can they possibly know. Umeko, whose hair has presumably been rinsed for now it is dry and pulled back sweetly, comments on how pretty the case is. "It was sent from space!" Jasmine sort of looks wry. "I envy that. Your personality." Umeko grins and flashes her the peace sign. "Thanks!" But Sen, who stands behind them and has been considering, says "No... it could be a bomb." "Eh?!" they all yelp. Just then the big box shimmers with rainbow light. It starts to make a rapid beeping sound, and they all agree with Sen's assessment. The panicked five spin and make a dash for it. The boys bolt ahead of the girls while Umeko says "Oh this is just great!!" But then, as no explosion happens, they all slide to a stony halt and turn around. A lid pops off the box and lands the opposite side. "Eh?" they all wonder. They start forward semi-cautiously, craning their necks to try and look in the box without getting too close. "It's not a bomb..?" Ban says hopefully. They hem and haw, then finally the group closes on it.

They all peer over the sides and what do they find? An infant. A very large infant. Pale green, velvet fuzz. Eyelids of soft pink, a yellow beak filled with a purple pacifier. Orange and white things on either side of the head. Five fuzzy fingers on each little gray-padded hand. The baby sleeps. "Well!" comments Jasmine, leaning her face on her hand. "An alien?" wonders Umeko. Hoji has his badge out and is again taking readings. He confirms the species. "But that's one big baby!" complains Umeko. And the baby is beginning to wake. It opens enormous, deep blue eyes. "Oh!" gasps Sen. "It's awake!" Ban tries a little peek-a-boo. Hoji demands "Where are you from? What's your name?" which causes Jasmine to give him quite a look. "Hoji, it's a baby." And a thoughtful Umeko finds the enormous baby looking straight at her when it starts to wiggle excitedly and says "Mama!" It sits up unsteadily and turns to her, then with joy hugs the protesting girl. Oh, it has a little tail! "Mama?!" the others all squawk. Jasmine explains quietly that this type tends to cluster, or crunch together like this. The boys as one exchange glances and say "But Mama means you know, Mama right?" The baby, meanwhile, is trying to climb out of what is apparently its crib and ends up falling on top of Umeko. "Ah," the boys all say, staring.

At the Dekabase, Doggie Kruger is reviewing the data they'd brought in on the baby's crib, seeing it in hologram. He seems to be saying it'll return to space and yes, it is a cradle. Umeko stands, seeming to endure the baby's attention. It is an Okarna, named Eimii. Ban and the others turn and he asks "So what is it doing here?" Well, it seems Kruger's had contact with the Special Police on Okarna, but there've been no reports of missing babies. And Eimii keeps its arms around Umeko, who looks suddenly saddened and asks, "Is she abandoned, then?" Well, it's too early to be sure. She has been sent here, after all. So he assigns the Dekaranger the job of looking after Eimii. The other four all salute enthusiastically. However, it looks like they'll need to look after Umeko, for the baby seems to be trying to injest her. They dash over to get her free at least enough to breathe. They pull her loose, poor face full of slobber. The baby falls over, rolling onto her back and then back up. Sen sighs dramatically. "Babies'll stick anything in their mouths," he notes. "I was so surprised!" Umeko whimpers and goes on, only to realize her face is thick with liquid and to look in horror at the shiny stuff she's wiped off with her hand. "Eyuch, slobber!" Jasmine covers her mouth and Sen, with her, fights to hold back a burst of laughter. Kruger helpfully offers a handkerchief for Sen to give Umeko to wipe the slobber off. "Mama!" Eimii calls, and starts crawling towards Umeko. In a moment, she's there and pulling the girl close, while Umeko protests. Hoji tries to distract the baby, but Eimii doesn't even notice. Jasmine suddenly brightens up, "It's you, Umeko!" Umeko looks with desperate gaze to her. "What?" But then Jasmine only folds her arms and says, "Maybe." The men all stare at her suspiciously and she catches on, "Now wait a minute!" As she struggles and adds what might be "Don't lick me!" to the baby, and keeps trying to say "No licking! (maybe)" While the others watch non-plussed. Finally, the baby stops and lets her go with an uncertain "Mama..?" "Right," she says. And then the baby suddenly stops. Completely. It sits motionless and the startled group all gape and peer closely at it. Then Eimii's eyelids lower slowly, her eyes filling with thick tears. Jasmine, with the wisdom of experience, covers her ears as the baby gets to her feet and lets out a wail. The wail is powerful, a soundwave that sends the people stumbling, hands over their ears frantically, and sets all the machines in the room sparking with overload. The others writhe on the floor while Jasmine inches away carefully navigating the soundwaves. As the baby goes on wailing, Kruger frantically begs Umeko to do something. "Why ME?!" she protests. The wail goes on, and even reaches what appear to be tofu in vats.

Ah. Of course. Umeko has taken the baby, trying to get her some food. A very unhappy cook hands her a huge pot while the baby screams and cries. Umeko pulls the pacifier from Eimii's mouth and hands her the bot. It appears to be full of milk. Eimii goes silent immediately and drinks up the pot, while the cook still cringes and Umeko sighs her relief. She turns and asks "Sir, are your ears all right?" thus missing Eimii's sudden growth spurt. "Okay," the man whimpers. "Oh, thank goodness," Umeko says, cradling the pacifier. A sudden sound behind her and she turns. Eimii has expanded, and drops the now tiny-seeming vat to the floor. She is now as tall as a Mac Truck. She wipes her face clean and pats her stomach while Umeko stares up, seeming too surprised to really react. Umeko rubs her eyes, sure she's seeing things, not noticing when a fuzzy green hand, bigger than her head, swings down to take the pacifier. But when she looks up, Eimii is back to the size Umeko is familiar with. "What in..?" puzzles Umeko. But the eager baby trots past her. Bouncing and happy, Eimii is out on the street and Umeko starts to race after her, but the cook/shopkeeper grabs her arm quickly. "Money, money!" he protests. "How much is it?" she asks quickly. "Eh, my wallet - Eimii, wait up!" she is all at sixes and sevens.

The Iigaroid reports to his master. They succeeded in destroying the spaceship, but there was a little problem with an escape capsule. Agent Aburera has a little bit to say about the Battsuroids. He also speaks of the Dekaranger, a statement which puzzles the Iigaroid. "You'll have more power soon!" snaps Aburera, not willing to go into detail.

Umeko runs along, trying to catch up with Eimii, who has quite accidently wandered off. "Eimii!" she keeps calling. Finally, the baby hears her and calls back from a street above her, "Mama!" Relieved, Umeko starts forward when Eimii, leaning too far over the barrier, topples over it and starts to fall towards the road below. Umeko bolts to save her, transferring into armor as fast as she can. She catches Eimii and the leap carries them both back to the road the baby had tumbled from. Umeko lands painfully onher shoulder. Eimii is unaware of the danger she was in, and happily runs off. As Umeko recovers, she hears a man's protesting voice. Well, it seems there's some guy out here painting, and Eimii has grabbed his brush and taken a swipe at his face. He now sports a streak of red from his left ear to his lower lip. Another painter is getting ready to bellow at the giant baby, which takes a swipe at him as Umeko, now in her regular clothes, catches up. She sternly scolds Eimii, telling her no. "Now you stop it!" she scolds. The second man seems to have gotten an eyeful, and is dancing around in pain. Umeko ends up with the paintbrush pressed against her cheek. The baby looks surprised at the huge red splotch on the now-furious Umeko's cheek. And now Umeko forces the hand with the brush down and says very sternly, "Eimii, that's enough of this!!" The baby, very uncertain, hesitantly swipes the brush down Umeko's face, forehead to chin. Umeko continues babysitting. She's brought Eimii to a park, where the baby marvels at a flower-sculpture. Eimii pats the tight, manicured bushes. And then a human baby protests somewhere. Umeko, weary but at least clean now, turns her head and sees a happy mother gently settling her protesting baby, presumbably to change the little one's diapers. The mother speaks tenderly baby-talk about how she's changing it now, and really quickly. "Oh, sorry, you're feeling bad!" she says affectionately. The baby, unfortunately, pees in his mommy's face. Umeko sympathetically covers her with a hanky. "Oh, look at that!" the mother admires her little boy. "Oh, you're so healthy!" she marvels. Without a beat, she's wiping her face and continuing with the diaper change. Umeko comes over to her. "This must be so difficult," she says, bending to watch. Eimii is playing in front of the bushes. When she comments on babies, the mother laughingly reassures her, both unaware that Eimii is heading their way. The mother talks about how sometimes children are so self-centered and such little monsters, laughing for it's perfectly normal. "Yeah, I guess that's true," Umeko says, straightening up to look at her own larger monster windmilling to stay standing. The mother adds with a warm smile that this is certainly a job. "Huh?" asks Umeko. "How old is your baby?" the mother asks. Uncertainly, Umeko grapples with an answer. "Um, maybe... born... um..." "Maybe?" wonders the mother. "How can I explain..." stutters Umeko. Eimii chooses that moment to glomp her. "Mama!" "Ouch!" Umeko protests as her hair is pulled. The startled mother looks up and, with a soft shriek, gathers her son quickly and bolts from the area.

Umeko tidies her hair while sitting beside Eimii. "Well, a baby is work..." she repeats. She glances at Eimii, whose eyelids are at half-mast. "Yeah, that's true," she comments. Just then, Eimii topples against her, fast asleep. Unfortunately she has no leverage and ends up pinned to the park bench. "You're heavy!" Eimii is so cute, and Umeko decides to just grin and bear it, lacing her fingers together behind her head. "You're sure sweet when you sleep." "Poor little thing to be all alone. I don't know if we'll ever find your poppa and momma." She gently strokes Eimii's head. After the baby mutters "Mama," Umeko says around a lump in her throat, "Well, I'll look after you." The peace is interrupted by shouting and Umeko turns her head. The other Dekaranger tear over and as Ban shouts she shushes him, pointing out that Eimii's asleep and shouldn't be disturbed. Ban kneels down and tells her happily they've found a place for Eimii. The other boys kneel down and clarify when she is uncertain. They've found foster care for Eimii. Jasmine smiles tenderly. Sen adds about how difficult watching the child must have been. "No good," Umeko says firmly, staring at Eimii. "EH?!" the other four yelp in surprise. And Umeko turns her gaze sternly to them. "This child is MY responsibility!" It takes them a second to process what she's saying and they they all yelp again, "EEEH?!" The noise startles Eimii, who stirs and then Ban is grabbing for Hoji to silence him while Jasmine and Sen leap back. "She's just so cute," Umeko says softly, her stroking fingers have already put Eimii back to contented sleep. Ban sighs and leans his weight on Hoji's shoulder. Understanding dawns for Jasmine, who tries to reason with her teammate. "You know, it's not like you can nurse her." A little shocked by her blatancy, the boys stagger. But before they can say anything there is a blast right around them and Umeko gapes.

The Iigaroid has found them. Even Eimii is awake an on her feet with a whimper as he stalks towards them. "A second Iigaroid," comments Jasmine coldly. Ban is ready to bluster, but the Iigaroid has other things on his mind. "Give her to me," he says. "She is ours." Umeko plants herself in front of the baby. "And just what are you planning to do with Eimii?!" she demands. He answers calmly that their power can be quite useful in, say, demolition. War. While he speaks, a very uneasy Eimii clutches at her "mother". The Iigariod calls in a troop of Anaroids to run interference for him while he goes for the baby. But Umeko has no intention of letting them have her. She stays with Eimii as her teammates charge forward to fight the Anaroids. The kids are fast and strong, but their enemies are many, and some get through to Umeko, who fights them off furiously while Eimii stands uncomprehending. Umeko changes into her armor, the others with her. They are doing all the better now, but will it be enough? Ban fights the Iigaroid. It is, as the other, fast and strong, but they've had some experience now. Hoji calls Umeko to take Eimii, and she runs off. But the confused baby sinks to her knees and it is up to both Umeko and Ban to keep her moving away from the battle. Hoji and Sen try to pin the Iigaroid. He cuts them down and charges after the baby. The Anaroids jump them to stop them from following.

A man gets out of his white convertible. He wears a pale, green sweater over a plaid shirt and white slacks. He's the kind who thinks he's really cool. He struts and brushes sweat from his eyes. Suddenly, a blur of red leaps in front of the car. With a quick "I'm a police officer, the Space division!" and not much further explanation, Ban is jumping into the driver's seat while Umeko ushers Eimii into the back. "We have to use you car, please!" Ban explains even as he's already driving away. "I'm sorry!" he shouts back, while the car's owner stares, dumbfounded. Eimii waves and the shocked man waves back. He never notices the Iigaroid leaping onto a parked motorcycle behind him and revving up the engine. Ban takes the car around a corner, Eimii still waving. Umeko looks back and sees their pursuer. When she turns to Ban, he tells her to switch with him. She takes over the driving and he pulls out his blaster. He stands next to Eimii and fires as the Iigaroid bears down on them. He's firing with both guns, but his target is elusive. Eimii claps her hands, enjoying the excitement. "Eimii, you're so good!" comments Umeko, "You don't understand a thing!" The Iigaroid jumps his motorcycle, managing to almost land on the tail of the car. He's so close, and ready to do some blasting of his own. "I couldn't hit him!" yelps Ban. So close, and still he can't, for the Iigaroid is tough and with a blade deflects the blasts coming at his head. He manages to stab Ban, who falls painfully against Eimii. "Ban!" cries Umeko. But she keeps driving. She weaves, trying to clip the Iigaroid, who falls back. He gasps as he nearly loses control of the bike, but regains it only to have Ban take advantage of the shake and leap from the car over him, firing. His blade falls from his hand. And this time it's done. The poor Iigaroid and motorcycle blow up. Umeko and Eimii cheer. But then, Eimii's pacifier falls to the road and the baby leans over, trying to reach for it. "What's happened?" wonders Umeko.

Is it connected with the information Swan has just given Kruger, which he repeats in shock. "Eimii's going to grow giant?" It seems there are conditions under which just such a thing will happen, possibly having something to do with being away from her homeworld. Swan tells him Eimii will reach a hundred and fifty meters tall. He gasps. "Will that make her a monster?"

Eimii, her pacifier lost, suddenly begins to balloon. Umeko gapes in shock as it happens. "Hold on!" she cries. And Hoji fights the Anaroid until his attention is drawn to the pale, green giant baby toddling through the city. "Eimii?!" he gasps in shock. Sen and Jasmine gather at his side to stare. Umeko tumbles from the car and gets to her feet. "What is going on?!" she cries. "Why has she grown giant?" The baby, unaware that something awful is goiing on, has picked up a couple of cars to play with. She tries to stick one in her mouth. Umeko yelps from below that she has to stop, as Ban comes to her side. He calls out the Dekamachines. All are unaware that the Iigaroid is not destroyed. His clawed hand twitches. With a groan, he starts to get moving again.

The five DekaMachines roll in. Their pilots board and form Dekarobo. From inside Umeko calls, "Eimii!" The baby turns. "You have to put those down!" The baby looks at what she holds, then uncertainly steps forward, holding them out to the Dekarobo. "Oh, don't give them to me!" Umeko cries. Eimii stops, confused. "Oh, what can I do?" wails Umeko. But Swan speaks to her, telling her they have to make Eimii get small again. But what will do it? Ban has no clue. Umeko suddenly remembers when she'd thought she was imagining Eimii huge in front of her. Eimii had taken the pacifier, and suddenly was back to normal. "I've got it!" Umeko cries. But there is a distant roar, and then the Dekarobo gets blasted. They turn and find themselves facing a semi-familiar foe. Devil Capture, number 3. "You'll give her to me," says its pilot, the Iigaroid. They, naturally, have no intention of so doing. "Well, there's Iigaroid number 2 again," comments Jasmine dismissively. Heh, but he's got a way to deal with the baby. A giant tranquilizer dart he's ready to fire. "That's MY child!" Umeko snarls. She controls the Dekarobo and sends it at him. Foot first, they hit Devil Capture. Rather pissed, the Iigaroid gets its mecha back up. But the fury of a pseudo-mother is not easy to block. She trashes him, pretty much on her own. Her teammates pretty much just get to watch. They are suitably impressed. Then Umeko tells them to watch Eimii. She's going to get "the thing". Startled, Sen asks "What thing?" "The thing that'll make Eimii small again!" she tells him, and is gone before anyone can ask further questions. "I know I'm right!" Eimii sees her way down there and with a cry of "Mama!" starts off unsteadily after her. But a mis-step sends Eimii falling on her behind. And they know what's going to happen even before she starts to wail. She gets back to her feet, eyes filling with great tears and the sniffles start, then she cries. And the shockwave rolls out, devastating the city. Umeko is knocked flying. She clings to a tree to keep from being blown away. The Dekarobo is staggered, and Ban shouts that he will search. She must quiet Eimii. "Right!" And Umeko calls to her baby, "It's okay! You're not hurt, not hurt!" she calls above the gale, her tones soothing. "Mama will sing you a lullaby." Eimii continues sniffling and crying while Umeko starts, "Go to sleep - " she is cut off by a stray branch that knocks her back. She clings to the tree again, fighting the gale and starts to sing again. Her voice somehow winds through the wind and wailing to reach Eimii's ears. Ban finally finds the pacifier and gathers it up. He tears back to the struggle. Eimii is slowly quieting down, but then danger isn't over until she finally really hears Umeko singing, and reaches down to pickher tiny mother up. "Eimii, go to sleep. You're a good girl." So she is. She does, tired and worn from crying. "She did it," Hoji gasps in relief. "A mother is really strong," Jasmine admires. Sen has a comment too, but can watch as Ban arrives with the pacifier and throws it up to Umeko, who tosses into Eimii's mouth. And though the baby becomes small, human-sized, again Umeko finds herself pinned under the fuzzy body. "Oh, you're heavy!" she protests. But then she looks at Eimii and forgets the discomfort. "But you're so cute." She strokes Eimii's head.

Umeko teaches Eimii a children's song, singing for her while the enormous baby claps. Ban watches in amazed delight. "It's like they really ARE mother and child!" he tells the others, who are all watching with smiles. "You're really something, Umeko," Hoji comments. And then Kruger takes a call. "Yes." He gets up and strides towards the pair. "Umeko..." "Yes?" she says, breaking away from Eimii. He hesitates, then says "We've found Eimii's parents." It seems they will be retrieving their lost little girl. Umeko just stares, her face white. He goes on to tell her that they've been in a state ever since their daughter disappeared. He bows apologetically to her. The others are all silent, for they know she's bonded with the baby. Umeko swallows. "I see," she finally says. And she turns to Eimii, who sees the seriousness without comprehending and wonders. Umeko pulls a smile and says cheerily, "Isn't it great, Eimii? You'll get to be with your Papa and Mama!" Kruger sighs and nods. Umeko hugs Eimii and repeats, "It's great, yeah?" And Eimii hugs her tight back and closes her eyes.

Umeko watches the rocket carrying Eimii back to her family. The others stand support. "She's gone," comments Jasmine softly. Tears are on Umeko's face and she nods with a small agreeing sound. And then she hears a voice of happy praise. There is a mother with one young son and another younger, in a stroller. The woman is prasing her baby, whose brother strokes his hair and calls him "Nao-kun." And Umeko smiles, warming to the sight. She wipes at her tears with a pained laugh and looks up again. The rocket is gone and the pain of loss is not too much under the joy of returning Eimii to her true home.

Today the kids are explaining about Dekarobo. Ban starts, telling us to witness this great stuff. Hoji is next telling us about the Gyro Wrapper, used for arrest and teleportation of prisoners. Jasmine talks about the Judgement Sword and it's slashing power. Sen mentions the Catch Rope they can fire from the Signal Cannon and how convenient it is since they can also use it to pour fire-retardent on blazes. Umeko mentions its Justice Flasher function. Swan and Kruger finish the list.

Episode. 13 High Noon Dogfight
Swan, wandering the outer world, ends up kidnapped and held hostage by an Alienizer! Doggi Kruger, wearing round sunglasses, seems to be blown up. Ban, Hoji, Sen, Jasmine, and Umeko shout with rage. The Dekarobo is in use, Judgement Sword out. Swan cries, "Doogie!" And her friend has his badge out, enraged and ready to... Deka Master, suit number 100 has appeared! Now, just in case anyone hasn't caught on what with the rumors flying, that is Doggie Kruger.

Deka Base. Doggie Kruger is working at his desk on a crime file. The image is of a pale, green alien face, long sharply pointed ears and half-slitted red eyes. And suddenly, the red-lit gauge goes black and Kruger utters a startled gasp. Swan wanders over and says sympathetically, "Thinking about that again?" When he sits motionless, she expands on the question. "That guy that you learned was the culprit." He sighs and leans back, muzzle lifted towards the ceiling and speaks of his work. It sounds vaguely like he's questioning his judgement on not killing rather than arresting. She counters, scolding him that, after all, he is the watchdog of Hell. He turns, startled, towards her, but it's already too late. The five Dekaranger all perk up and turn their full attention to this end of the room. "Watchdog of Hell?" they chorus hopefully. Swan casts them a startled glance. "Oh, didn't you know?" When they all look eagerly at her (and Ban hands the gun he was holding over to Sen), she strides over behind Kruger and sets her hand on his shoulder. She begins to tell them a story about his youth, and how they called him the Watchdog of Hell. "Is that true, Boss?" Ban begs as they all skip over to his desk eagerly. "It was just a nickname," he tells them sheepishly. "And that was a long time ago." He looks down at his desk, and Swan sighs at the back of his head. Then she rolls her eyes and says in a soft voice, "I think I'm going to buy some Camomile Herb Tea." When he raises his gaze to her in confusion she says calmly, "To help you relax, Doogie." Off she heads. The rest of the group swings to follow her progress, looking put-out that the story is not going to continue.

Swan walks out in the slightly overcast day, on a path between trees just beginning to gain their spring leaves. She hums contentedly as she strides along and never notices the dark-clad figure sliding out from behind some trees she's already passed. There is more than one, faces obscured by deep hoods. They trail behind her. And, for reasons unknown, Murphy reacts back at the base, going into active mode, he races out onto the streets. Even as he runs, the ground shakes and startled people going about their business are staggered in the park. And suddenly, right in the midst of strollers, an enormous white pillar stabs up out of the ground. Doogie quickly sends the kids out. "Roger!" they respond to his order. Swan, hearing all the commotion, stands on her tiptoes to get a good look at them leaving the base. And then a hand clad in black leather claps over her mouth. She struggles against an iron hold. Then another figure has her from the front. Someone else watches from behind cover, and utters a soft snicker of pleased approval. Then there is the sound of an electronic dog barking. Murphy has arrived! The mechanical canine tears in and forces the two dark figures away from Swan. One is an Anaroid. Its body crackles and pops, then lies still. Murphy stands protectively in front of an approving Swan. She says his name with relief. It isn't over yet, however. Out of shelter steps the enemy, toes clad in long, spiked boots. He laughs and Murphy barks. He is pleased to see the dog, who prepares to attack.

A new mecha rises fron the ground. Cyclopsian design, it is dubbed Terrible Terror. Possibly. A Battsuroid is in the command chair. The hands of Terrible Terror each have four drills, exactly like the top of the column sticking out of Earth. He turns and stalks at it. He pulls it the rest of the way out, turns it over and stabs it through the road, deep into the ground. The colored triangles all over its side glow brightly from the top up, all the way to the blue. "This is as far as you get!" crows Ban as he comes into the area. Terrible Terror moves into a defense position in front of the column. Umeko arrives and puts up her signal, ordering it to stop. The scowling face blinks, but predictably the mecha charges forward. Jasmine comments wryly, "That never works," and sends her vehicle into the fray. She rams the mecha's foot. It just kicks her car into a roll and she gasps. "Jasmine!" Sen cries. Then he calls out the Signal Cannon and fires up at the robot. Sparks fly as it is hit. Ban has put the blade tip on and his car is rolling on its right-hand wheels to cut. Terrible Terror whirls and catches the big blade in one enormous hand. It heaves, sending the vehicle tumbling while Ban utters a shocked cry. Then the mecha dives down, so when Hoji fires the Gyro Blaster, there is nothing to hit. Ban manages to stop his careening car and shouts that the bad guy can't get away. Hoji calls on Umeko, who counters that she doesn't know where it went yet. However, another of the drill-headed columns punctures its way out of the ground. Terrible Terror comes out beside it. A signal from home tells them where, and Umeko takes to the water to cross the bay. But TT has already yanked the column up and slams it into the ground. It's gone before they can stop it, and does another. Jasmine catches up there and tries using her Light Flash, but again TT dives underground. Jasmine groans and holds her head in frustration. At the fourth column, Sen tries the capture cable, but even as it whirls around, the TT dives down and is gone before it can be caught. Sen hits his helmet in frustration. "Gone again." And the columns stand, scattered across the city. Ban cannot catch it when he tries. One column pops out of the runway at an airport. The huge hole made by TT coming through is now a dangerous obstacle. Hoji, in the Gyro Copter, takes note of all of this. He's going to pull one up with the magnet capture device. "WAIT!" Kruger shouts urgently. "You pull that thing up and it'll blow!" "WHAT?!" yelps Hoji.

Back at the Base, they all stare at an image of one of the columns while Kruger explains. He's had to deal with this sort of problem before. Sen worries and Umeko asks what they can do, then. He tells what happened, or what will happen, if they use the robot to pull out a column. It would take out a considerable chunk of the city for about 215 kilometers around. Vaporized. Ban hops up, anxious and worrying. There are six of these things. There certainly are. Kruger calls up a holographic display. They are set up in a pentagon all around the city. A straight line between each one shows they are spaced precisely equal distances apart. One could put six identical triangles in there. Or perhaps their power will pool upon that center point. Kruger explains that with the last tower in place, there will be an enormous earthquake. But if they can pinpoint the main tower.... Ban hops up with his badge, the others on his heels. They are ready and raring to go. But then the doors slide open and they all turn to see who's coming in. To their shock it is the dog. "Murphy?" questions Umeko. He comes in slowly, power low and moving perhaps on will alone. He carries something in his mouth. He finally falls, smoke rising from his joints. "Murphy!" cries Umeko. She, Sen and Hoji leap over to him anxiously. "Murphy, what happened?" she asks. He raises his head. A silver metal ball is in his mouth. He whines and lets it fall as she calls his name again. It rolls forward, then leans on one little leg and puts out a beam of white light. The image that plays along their wall is of the villain of the week who is, it seems, only interested in Doggie Kruger. And Kruger knows him, too. This enemy is Ben G, of Kajimeri Star. "I thought it was you!" snarls Kruger. And we are taken into memory. He drives a mighty police vehicle, lights a-whirl, sirens crying. He is young and bold, tracking an enemy down another world's freeway, as Ban had been doing when we first met him. The then slender-faces, pointy-eared green-skinned Alienizer had been unable to escape. Kruger rode up his tailpipe and rammed him. He'd lost control and let out a cry as his car careened into an enormous boulder and crashed. An enormous fireball to light the night. Kruger had gone into the flames and dragged him to safety. But he'd fallen, bleeding and burning. When Kruger looked down at his scorched face he'd snarled "I'll get you for this!" His face as it is now looms on the wall, cracked and burned, mechanical parts grafted on. Kruger is shocked to find him like this, shoving past his gaping team. And the angry Ben G points out that he's got something Kruger wants. Turning to allow the camera to see past him, he shows the unconscious Swan bound to a chair. "Swan!" gasps Kruger. The others do not say her name, but they all gasp in shock, too. Well, except for Umeko who actually says "That's Swan!" But Ben G isn't finished yet. "Look, Doggie Kruger!" Around Swan's waist he has bound, beneath the heavy chain, perhaps a dozen sticks of dynamite. Well, at least it'll be quick! Ben G comes forward with one stick of dynamite which he lights, alarming the Deka group. He tells them at 3 this will go off. "That's in two hours!" Ban gasps hoarsely. "We're at .739," Ben G announces calmly. "In this trailer." An image appears within the image of the trailer in question (also known in standard English as a "truck") "If you want to save this woman, you'd better come soon!" And he cuts off communication. The five Dekaranger stand, mouths hanging open. Jasmine says "Boss!" and Hoji is quick to offer to go, but he tells them no. "You have to fight the monster." "But..!" wails Umeko, and Ban gets in there to say determinedly that they want to help Swan. "You can't. I'm the one he's challenged." They all try to override his decision anxiously. But when Ban says, "Boss you have to stay here!" Kruger seems to lose his temper. He graps Ban by the collar and pulls him nose to nose. "Don't underestimate me," he growls. The others gasp nervously. "There are five or you and five must do it," he snarls, releasing Ban. He turns and looks to them all. "Dekaranger, go!" Nervous, they salute. "Roger!" and run out. He growls low and snarls a soft, "No forgiveness!"

And so the Dekarobo stands, Signal Canon at ready. Ban rallies them and they all anxiously respond to his encouragement, as they aim the canon downwards. And where they aim there is another column pushing up, shaking the ground. This one is darker, I think, that the others. "It's the main tower!" says perhaps Hoji anxiously. And Terrible Terror is also coming up out of the ground to defend it. "He's come!" shouts Hoji. TT takes a step towards the tower, to pick it up and turn it over, ram it deep into the ground as before. But Hoji calls out "Catch Rope!" and the mecha is bound in the whirling, yellow restraint. It staggers away from the angles, black tower. They place themselves between the two and Umeko calls challenge as they stalk in, swinging the Judgement Sword and driving TT back until it fetches up against a stought skyscraper. "This is as far as you go!" snarls Jasmine. They're about to put the cuffs on TT, but a defensive tentacle whips out from its back and slaps the cuffs from their hands. That same drilled-tentacle punches through Deka Robo's abdomen. Explosions rock them, and the kids themselves cry out as feedback snaps painfully through them. Presumably. While they are staggered, TT bursts the yellow bonds from its body. It slashes at them with the long drill-claws on its right hand and they fall. The Signal Canon lands ahead of them on the empty streets. One of our kids points out that TT is headed for the main tower. Ban has no intention of letting that happen and he gets Deka Robo upright, while Hoji calls for a Gyro attack. Still half-prone, the Deka Robo starts firing. TT is caught in the blasts and its forward progress is stymied. It turns to find they've gotten back to their feet and hold the Judgement Sword at ready. Ban snarls, "For Boss, Swan and puppies! (that last is creative license)" And they charge forward.

Swan wakes in a dark room. She does not try to move, only looks around to get her bearings and find out what's going on. It takes her a startled moment to realize how she's bound, and to see the dynamite belt around her waist. Understandably, she becomes frightened and starts struggling. For she can see, perhaps, the long fuse burning towards her. "Doogie!" she breathes in terrified pleading. To the sun-baked place he comes. Brilliant blue, wearing heavy sunglasses. Ben G sees him coming on the monitors and straightens up, breath hissing through the teeth in his ruined face. As Kruger approaches, Ben G flexes his clawed, mechanical hand. He forcibly uncurls the fingers of his still living right hand. Kruger stops and stands, waiting. The truck rolls down an incline. It finally stops on a narrow road overlooking the flat plain where Kruger stands. Suddenly, lightning plunges down and strikes near Kruger, raising a cloud of dust. When it clears, Ben G stands across the ways from our hero, cackling. When Kruger demands to know why he's doing this, how he speaks and what he says makes it clear that he's really, seriously not in his right mind. However, he does list all of his horrid scars as one reason. Kruger tells him off for it, and we see that the outfit has quite a selection of sharp teeth in the mouth (Kruger, I mean). Ben G is not overly capable of being reasoned with. He calls in the Anaroids, a small army of them. By gracious, perhaps a hundred! And far overhead stands Agent Aburera, who theorizes that here we will see the end of Doggie Kruger. "Well, me versus a hundred," comments Kruger. "This ought to be good." He tosses off his sunglasses, letting them fly, and pulls out his badge. "Emergency, Deka Master!" he shouts as he poses. And from the Dekabase come the signal which removes Kruger's overcoat revealing a muscular blue fuzzy torso (dang, I'd rather have a human body to gawp at) which is rapidly covered with black, blue-silver and red armor. Pointed ears spout from the oval helmet. The chest bears the number 100. PUns, darlings, puns. He challenges, moves into displa positions, and he's got a really cool blade, too. He channels power through it. The Anaroid charge him, and he chardes them. A count for each one he hits, and we rapidly go from 100 down to 50, 43, 30... he explodes some, simply cuts through others. And soon, there are none left.

Meanwhile, our heroes still grapple with Terrible Terror, refusing to be defeated. It lets loose a stream of missiles at them, and they charge through, shouting that they will beat the Alienizer.

Kruger fights Ben G, who is considerably tougher, I guess, than 100 Anaroids. Ben G forces him back, then charges at him. Kruger gets as good as he gets, until, back to the enemy, he's still got him pinned with the blade at his throat. A speech, then, which only gets a mocking response from Ben G about "That woman can't get away." For at that moment, a ring of explosions rock the truck. The wall pops out, leaving a ragged round opening. The sudden bright sunlight makes Swan cry out in fright. Kruger calls her name. Distracted as he was, this gives Ben G a chance to brain him upside the head. "Doogie!" cries Swan, worried for him. He lands rolling. Back on his feet, he isn't doing as well for the moment, as Ben G has shaken him. He gets knocked back, suffering a painful strike to his right shoulder. Swan struggles against her bonds as the fuse gets ever shorter. Ben G mocks Kruger. Finally, he pins our hero in a wrestler's hold. But Kruger gets loose, only to be struck painfully down. Ben G laughs and mocks him, then hits him with a dozen or so missiles off the pack on his back. Kruger falls over the edge of a low cliff. Agent Aburera, watching all from safety, says "It's Doggie Kruger's end." Pleased, he heads off with a swirl of his cape. One should really not count a hero out before he's down. Or down farther. For when Ben G leaps again to attack, this time Kruger catches him coming in and slashes. He rolls out of the path of return strikes. This battle is lovingly framed in the hole in the side of the truck. Swan wishes she could enjoy the fight, but there's the little matter of her impending death. She cries his name worriedly. Ben G gets Kruger down again, stamping on his chest. "You can't even save one woman!" he snarls happily. In traditional Sentai-style, this battle is mirrored by the on the Dekaranger are engaged in. They're getting his pretty badly by Terrible Terror. Doggie Kruger is sent flying into some big cement pipes, allowing Ben G to mock him. "Hey, why haven't those five of your come yet, huh?" he laughs. He charges at Kruger as our hero gets painfully to his feet. And Kruger is now pinned on his back against a pipe. "You're powerless," sneers Ben G, and tosses him flying. Kruger lands and rolls in a shallow puddle, his enemy taunting him again. But in a rage beyond pain, Kruger asks "Do you think this is all I've got?" He gets to his feet, still steaming from the last shot. He does not mock, only states facts about how he will win. Ben G snarls back how is he going to manage that and still save the woman. Swan watches whitely as Kruger's attention shifts her way. But it is only for a moment. Ben G responds by reconfiguring his mechanical hand into a canon. He has Kruger square in his sites. He utters a small, mocking snort. Swan stares in horror.

And Ban screams a wild challenge in the cockpit. They all scream with him. Like Kruger, they race to battle. Swan sees him running straight into the barrel and can't bear to watch. Ben G fires, the missile coming at Kruger. Only at the last bare instant, Kruger meets it with the flat of his blade. The missile is caught there, and he sends it careening very deliberately away towards the fuse very nearly at its end. The missile does as he'd intended, cutting the fuse apart. The burning end falls harmlessly to the floor. Swan gasps in relief. There was barely an inch left. "WHAT IN?!" screeches Ben G. "Why you filthy..!" And our kids are starting to make progress against the Terrible Terror, too. They slice through it with the Judgement Sword. It tries to drill them with the point on its head but, still screaming with rage and determination, they meet the drill with the tip of the Judgement Sword. The drill tears apart on it. And now they cut it the rest of the way apart, and it falls. And they stand proudly. And Kruger races through fire to beat and sllice at Ben G, powerful and unable to be stopped. "For world peace!" he snarls. Eventually, Ben G falls. And about that time, the five Dekaranger arrive to this rather startling sight. He sees them over where they stand and says with quiet pride, "I told you the five of them would come." They gape in shock, and Hoji wonders, "Boss?" "Eh?" gasps Umeko. "No way!" says Ban. "But if..." starts Sen. "It's Boss," Jasmine confirms. Kruger isn't done, though. Even as Ben G gets to his feet, Kruger's pulling out his badge. It is time, now that they've got him, to pass Jugement. The little machine weighs the crimes he's committed, and judges him deserving of deletion. Another word for death. And in a roar of fire, a sea of flame surrounds them. Kruger destroys Ben G, who falls screaming in agony. And when he blows up, Swan flinches at the fire, but nods her pride and relief. Kruger finishes off his routine with a little speech about fighting and being the one to wipe out the darkness in the universe, etc. His team is ecstatic. Ban literally crows for joy. "Boss, you're great!" he cries. "You're so cool!" Umeko calls. Jasmine nods and "Nnn"s her agreement. Hoji gives a pleased shrug of his shoulders and says in awe, "Super cool." Sen, about to add his agreement, suddenly remembers, "What about Swan?" They all look around anxiously. Then Ban yelps and points. While they've been stuttering with amazement, Kruger went off to collect the damsel in distress. He is carrying her towards them in his arms, and she is content to sling her arms around his broad shoulders. "You all right, Swan?" he asks her softly. "I'm just fine," she assures him happily. "I was just worried about you," and he apologizes for that. She teases that she believed in him, and swats his shoulder affectionately. The narrator points out that Deka Master is sure strong and the Dekaranger will keep up the good work. Swan brushes her forehead against the side of Kruger's mask in a sign of deep caring, while the Dekaranger bound over to join them. Kruger sets her on her feet for that part. And so they return, a group of happy seven, Ban bouncing against Kruger.

Swan has repaired Murphy and thanks him for coming to her rescue. He whines happily, machine eyes bright. Hoji says something and the indignant dog barks at him. When Umeko points out which is stronger and Swan agrees with her, slightly insulted Hoji stomps away. And a barking Murphy charges after him causing him to yelp, "I'm sorry!" while the women giggle.

Episode. 14 Please, Boss
A crowd of police cars. Deka Master battling the other rangers. A strange, catlike alien with long fangs and claws. Kruger watching from above as the Dekaranger struggle to defeat this one. "Why won't you help us?!" snarls a furious Ban. "I leave it to you," he counters. "I hate you!" screams Ban. The five in their armor challenge him while he wears none. They fight in the dark night.

Night at the Dekabase today means... well, it means the five armored Dekaranger stand in challenge positions in a darkened roadway, a short distance from their opponent... Kruger! The narrator tells us this is the Dekabase Training Center. Now that the five know their boss becomes Deka Master... well.... "Okay," Swan says from the shelter of the control room. She pushes the power button, and a shuttered door closes over her window as she waves goodbye. The room they are in changes appearance. They seem to be out in the middle of a sunlit city. Hoji and Sen charge to Kruger's left, Jasmine and Umeko to his right, while Ban stands challengingly in front, gun raised. Kruger responds by whipping out his badge and calling for transformation. In a moment, he is in his armor. He calls on them to attack. They shift position. Ban happily announces he's first, draws his other gun as well and leaps to attack. Responding, Kruger draws his blade and knocks the bullets out of the air. Ban lands with an awed, "Fantastic!" Kruger seems to be explaining that Ban telegraphs his moves with his chest. "We're next!" calls Hoji. He and Sen get ready to attack. Kruger watches them charge in. He blocks them with his blade, knocking them away. They circle around him, but Hoji gets in too close and Kruger knocks him back. Hoji turns and calls Sen, who springboards off his hands trying to land on Kruger. But the boss was ready and pins him, towing him around while slashing to keep Hoji back. In a moment, he has his blade at Hoji's throat. He gives each of the helpless men a bit of advice. They both agree enthusiastically. When he lets them go and moves on, Hoji rubs the back of his neck and looks to Sen, "Well, that's to be expected, innit?" Sen responds with a sheepish pun. The girls politely ask for Kruger's favor, then charge in. Umeko take the first stab, they use their thin blades like fencing blades. They're pretty good, really, driving him back they balance with each other. One after the other, until they get on opposite sides of him to fight. He leaps over Umeko's strike, catches their simultaneous one with his blade, and knocks them tumbling back in opposite directions. They land painfully and, ever the gentleman, he helps Umeko back to her feet. He has advice, the first bit is for Jasmine, then a seperate bit for Umeko. They accept it gratefully. Though they respond with enthusiasm, when he moves away from them Jasmine complains, "He beat me." Umeko, however, is trying to figure out what he'd been talking about. However, there isn't that sort of time. He wants all five of them to attack at once. They respond enthusiastically. Ban happily calls for a certain type of attack, and they move dizzyingly to obey. The girls hit, then Sen and Hoji, then Ban. He seems to knock them all back, until we find they've spaced themselves all around him. They all fire at once on him. But he's not there! He's lept from the central point and comes down in a speedy flash to strike at them faster than the eye can follow. A last hit knocks Ban flat on his back. Swan, watching all this, laughs warmly. She shuts down the simulation and they are once again in the dark room. Jasmine, looking shocked, hauls out her badge. "Oh man! He beat all five of us in only thirty seconds!" She looks up, somewhat offended. "That's way too fast." Umeko adds, "I couldn't even see him!" Kruger chooses that time to shut down his armor. "That wasn't it," he tries to counter. Sen, however, is still shaken. "I was so careful, but he still beat me." And Hoji is all aglow with admiration. "Cool, Boss!" he praises. They are rather a sight, sprawled in a ring around him. He explains that they really have to work on their timing, as a team of five. Even as he speaks, the others get to their feet. Except Ban, who's been lying flat on his back. Now he wriggles and hops upright in a sweep. "You were great, you were so great, Boss!" he enthuses, clapping his hands on Kruger's shoulders and writhing with joy. "Why didn't you tell us you could transform?" He is so happy that they have the boss there, with him around they don't have to worry. The world, the future, is surely safe. "Right, guys?" he asks. They all nod and make happy agreeing noises. "Uh, no," Kruger says. He goes on that it's all up to them to transform and fight. Ban, oh heck, all of them, don't really register what he's saying. Suddenly there is a signal on Kruger's badge. He opens it, "It's me," and someone speaks rapidly. It seems there's another Alienizer that's been spotted wandering about in the Metropolis. He sends them off and they go with the usual salutes and "Roger!"

He is tall, slightly fuzzy, with fangs a claws. A feline-type with enormous eyes. He is just about where he wants to be when the Dekaranger rainbow arrives. They challenge him him, calling him an Alienizer. He responds with equal observation, "Oh, you're this star's Special Police, eh?" Blah blah, I am so and so yadda yadda. Jasmine hauls out her badge to identify him. "Crystal Star, Farly." He's guilty of multiple murders. And he's taken out quite a number of Special Police. This alarms them, understandably. He laughs as she reads about him. So Ban starts firing, but his natural armor is proof against the bullets. So the five charge as a group, and he pretty much makes short work of them, at once point tossing Umeko into Ban's arms. A moment later it is Ban who take the main force of a blast from him. As they all tumble, it occurs to the boy they do have an ace in the hole. He quickly signals the base calling, "Boss, we need you!" But there is no answer, and their enemy is bearing down on them. After several increasingly frantic cries of "Boss!" Ban begs, "Can't you hear?" Yes, he can. He is sitting in his office, the badge open, listening. Then he closes it, and Ban's badge registers the cutting off of his communication. "Hey, no way!" Ban says in shock. But while they wasted their time with that, Farly has closed on them and sends out a powerful blast. The five are tumbled most painfully. Trying to pull himself together Ban snarls in confusion, "Why? Why didn't Boss come to help?!" But Farly has decided to take one of them forever, and he charges the fallen heroes. Just as they are struggling to somehow get their feet under them, dawn breaks. Light streams across the city in waves. The bright brilliance of dawn engulfs Farly, who reacts with cries of protest and covers his eyes as best he can. "NOW!" Hoji shouts and starts firing. Sen also fires, and something goes flying into the air. Furious, but because of the light he has no choice. Farly flees for cover. Ban fires after him, but he is gone, and they still cannot get back to their feet. "Well, that helped," he pants. Something lands on the ground. It looks like a bracelet. It's over, and Doggie Kruger sits at the base and utters a grim growl.

Bright day. The recovered, slightly sullen heroes return to their vehicles when they are signalled. "This is Hoji," answers our boy. He goes on to explain about Farly and what had happened when Ban yanks the badge from his hand. He has a lot to complain about to Boss, who eventually just cuts him off, wanting the report on the enemy. "Boss!!" demands Ban. With a final word about them going to investigate further, Kruger cuts communication. Sen sets his fingers gently on Ban's shoulder. "There now," he says soothingly. Hoji seems to tolerate Ban's tendency to hang on his shoulder, the girls are left out of this leaning thing. As one they say "Roger."

They search the grounds of the university Farly had been wandering into. Ban lolls next to a fountain and accosts passing girls. Sen checks in at one place. Hoji jogs up steps into one building towards men in white lab coats. Umeko interviews a young student. Jasmine talks to two researchers in white. Hoji, of course, seems to find the suspect place. He stands tall, talking to one delicate young researcher. They all gather together in front of the university and confirm that none of them have really found anything yet. "This is difficult," Hoji says with some apology. For they need Jasmine to do something. And Umeko holds out what seems to be the bracelet they'd shot off of Farly, saying her friend's name. "Can you do it?" "I'll try and see," Jasmine replies calmly, removing her right glove. Umeko sets the object in her palm and Jasmine closes her eyes.

Particles in whitish snow. A bright, more solid cube of light falls slowly in her mind's eye. It hits an invisible surface and rebounds with a sharp sound, it's hard. It shines so brightly.... The vision is over, she opens her eyes. Hoji puzzles out the clues. "Falling?" he asks. Umeko adds, "Hard and shiny..?" Her eyes brighten. "It's the light of the bullet train!" Hoji eyes her doubtfully, then decides to say nothing. He turns around and asks, "What do you think, Sen-chan?" Sen is not there. Startled, Hoji looks about and down, right and left. Then from a bit away Sen crows, "That's it!" and they see him finally, nearly camoflaged by his uniform against the side of a tree, where he'd upended himself in order to think. He bounces over to them and says firmly, "It's a meteorite." Of course! Because Sen is a bright boy with a remarkable ability to figure things out.

So they head back into the university and find where there is indeed a meteor. Or rather, a honking big black crystal from a meteor. It's in a clear case set on shimmery, silver cloth. "Lunar Metal?" asks Hoji, after things have been explained to them by the professor. "Yes," he confirms. They've been studying this crystal for some time now. It has some really special properties. "Special properties?" inquires Hoji, looking for more information. The scientist eyes them speculatively, not sure how much he wants to divulge. But he decides a demonstration is in order suddenly, and with an unholy spark in his eye, chooses Umeko. "Could you take this in your hands, please?" Umeko looks like she's really intrigued. She leans forward, takes a good look at the gem for he's opened the box. She glances around at the others smugly, then reaches for it. She takes it from the box and closes it between her two hands. Immediately she is plunged into darkness. Frightened, she yelps, "What's going on? Why'd it get dark all of a sudden?!" She stumbles forwards. It isn't just her perception. The others gape at the black, Umeko shaped blurry mass moving about the room. She panics until she throws the crystal and it goes flying, she is restored to normal because she never really changed. The scientist, who might get a kick out of scaring the bejeebers out of pretty young girls, manages to catch it safely in its box. Umeko can see herself again and she breaths out a sigh of relief. "I'm back!" The other men working on this project barely glance up. "What a relief!" she sighs when she gets up and turns to face the others again. "What was that?" Hoji asks for more information. Well, that's one of the interesting properties of this Lunar Metal, of course. Just one of the things they've learned about it. Now particularly pleased with being used as a demonstration, Umeko pouts and rubs her head. As he continues to explain, Ban seems to be dozing off on his feet. The professor realizes he's lost them and chuckles. "Ah, I talked too fast." He points out that it was only the person holding it who would be plunged into darkness. Which is funny, because the light goes on in Sen's brain at that. He snatches the box from the professor. "That's why that enemy wants it." Hoji looks slightly exasperated and takes the box from his hands, explaining sternly to the doctor that the enemy is coming for this crystal. He wants to take it away. "Oh, now wait just a bit, please!" the professor demands anxiously. "Can't you leave it here another day? No, only half a day?" Jasmine and Hoji exchange anxious glances, but he pleads well. They need it. They need to complete their studies of it. Sen, for some reason, is wiggling his right index finger as the man pleads. They give in with reluctant sighs. So the stone remains. Hoji hovers in the lab. Sen stands guard outside in the hall. Jasmine and Umeko are posted outside the building. But where's Ban? Well....

Ban has returned to Deka Base, spitting mad. He has come to complain that they really need more assistance from Kruger, who is quite fortunate to have Swan completely on his side. "Think so, do you?" Kruger says coolly. "NATURALLY!" snarls Ban. He tries reasoning, "If we're in a pinch, you've got to help out!" Kruger points out the question of whether or not he thinks they're really in a pinch, but Ban doesn't want to hear that. So Kruger, actually sounding amused, says he'll come if they really need him. "You mean it?" Ban demands stubbornly. "Then I believe you!" And he whirls and races out of the room. Swan watches him go anxiously and then asks Kruger nervously, "Is that good? I mean telling him that..." "It's all right," he answers her softly. "For now."

Hoji steps out to join Sen in the hall. "Naturally he won't show up during the day," he says in relief. Sen nods agreement but adds, "Doesn't mean we should let our guard down." Weary, Hoji leans against the wall and wonders aloud about things. Sen utters an inquiring noise. "About the Boss," Hoji clarifies. He considers that perhaps Kruger can't transform much. Sen puts that to thought, but Hoji continues. He's seen this before, years ago. He's seen Kruger fight. Sen considers that, too. Outside, Jasmine raises the question with Umeko. She says she wants to fight at Kruger's side. So does Umeko. And then there is a whistle of a rocket through the air. The ground shakes violently upon impact. "What was that?!" gasps Umeko. Well, it's a honking big robot-mecha coming up in the city. It is Devil Capture #4. It approaches the university, and everyone who sees it coming races for cover. Jasmine and Umeko take note of it wryly. Hoji is already calling for their machines. As Devil Capture bears down on the university, a terrified scientist gapes at it through the slatted window and rushes to the main professor, urging him to head for shelter. They all clear out, leaving behind their experiments. Leaving behind the Lunar Metal.

Ban rolls in with his vehicle, and they assemble the Dekaranger Robo. Ban gleefully tells the others that Boss has promised if they're in a pinch, he'll come and help. They've nothing to worry about. So they go into battle, driving the Devil Capture back. Hoji sets them to searching for the cockpit. Umeko does the scan and receives quite a shock, for a Battsuroid is in there. And it occurs to them if there is a Battsuroid in there, then Farly must be... IN the university. And sure enough, he is. Heavily cloaked in black, he heeds his tracking device as it leads him straight to the Lunar Metal. Our heroes are driven back by fire from the DC and knocked down. Farly is in the room, opening the Lunar Metal's case. He throws his heavy cloak aside. And he EATS the stone whole! The room is plunged into blackness. White smoke rises from his joints and he rumbles with pleasure. His eyes glow brightly. For him, the world is a dark and comfortable place. "I am changed!" he roars. "I can be out under the sun or the moon!" And nothing can stop him. Our heroes enthusiastically fight the Devil Capture and soon fire the Justice Flasher, dropping the mecha in a rain of fireworks. Jasmine urges they hurry back to the university, but they are already too late. As they run, they find Farly leaping to meet them, no longer held back by the bright sun. He slashes through them and they fall. He mocks them as they come to the realization that he's free. And when Hoji asks about the Lunar Metal, he says they can see. He sends out tentacles and catches Hoji and Ban, does a little bit of toss-the-ranger, a popular villain game. Eventually he tosses them over his shoulders and twitches them loose of his tentacles. Shaken, Ban comments that he's gotten more powerful. He is certainly gleeful about that. Sen leaps in to attack, but is batted aside by the amused Farly. He lands betwen the girls, who charge in. But Farly takes them down one and two then all. Unnerved, Ban mutters, "Oh man, if it's just us we can't..." On top of a building nearby stands Doggie Kruger, watching the whole thing. They see him up there, and at one call out "Boss!" hopefully. Ban cheerfully tells Farly, "Now that the Boss is here, you're gonna get it!" Farly is suitably unimpresssed. He's pulled out a long spear and is getting ready to use it on the kids. He tells them he'll wipe them out, and blasts. Down they go. Above, Kruger folds his arms and growls angrily. The battered five are pulling themselves back to their feet, confused because he hasn't intervened. "Why? Why won't you come?" complains Ban. Of course, while they're paying attention to Kruger, they aren't paying attention to Farly. He has no problem. He attacks, knocking them back down and getting Ban in a choke hold. They look pleadingly to Kruger, calling him with broken-hearted tones. Ban, strugglng feebly because his attention is elsewhere, snarls "You said you'd help us if we were in a pinch, but all you're doing is watching!" Furious, he kicks Farly in the face and breaks free. He starts firing both guns point blank into Farly's face. Startled now, Farly is forced back and falls painfully. Ban takes that moment to race towards the building Kruger is standing on so he can yell, "Come on!" and Kruger only replies that he isn't going to. "WHY?!" yells Ban. Kruger counters, "If you're defeated already, what're you going to do?" Startled, they gape at Kruger. Ban, though, is furious. "Boss! I HATE YOU!" And he charges back to the others, calling them to fight. They get up, spirited again and when he suggests Formation XP, Umeko asks if that will be too weak. But Sen is willing to try. Jasmine is all for it, something about dynamite. Hoji is of one mind with the others. And now the furious group charges Farly, who finds their combined attack actually more than he can handle, and he starts to get scared. He fires on the lead four, not realizing they are merely holding the line so that Ban, with his guns set to their most powerful, is preparing to leap in and take him out. They all fire at once and he is stopped, stunned and pinned long enough for Ban to haul out his badge. The badge weighs all the deeds he's been convicted of and declares him a delete. So they call for Murphy, who joins them in canon form to finish Farly off. And that's the end of that Alienizer. Kruger nods his satisfaction and starts to turn away. Ban, below, is practically singing with pride. "The mission is complete!" he crows. Then he gets furious again and snarls, "Hey, but this is not complete yet! BOSS!" And he turns angrily and charges off. The others startle and race after him, Umeko also calling for Kruger.

Out of their armor they catch up with him walking along towards the campus fountain. Ban snaps, "What'd you think of that, Boss?!" as he stumbles to a halt behind their tall commander. Kruger stops. Ban stands stiff and angry, hoarsely saying, "You said you'd come help us out if we were in a pinch!" Kruger doesn't even look at him, only asks "Were you in a pinch?" Startled, the other four blink. He turns and takes off his glasses, tilting his head with slight amusement. "You beat him, didn't you?" he points out. They stand staring at him, minds blank. "So you really weren't in a pinch," he clarifies when the silence stretches a tad too long. Slowly, expressions of sheepish realization cross their faces. He turns away and asks them softly, "You hate evil. You love justice. Those are the kind of people I chose, isn't this that kind of team... Ban?" he turns to the boy, who is shaken out of his shame. "That's the team we are!" Ban replies firmly. The others all utter their agreement. Kruger nods proudly. "You're not a team that needs help for just anything?" Having finally woken up from their uncertainties, each of them declares their determination to not be weak. Pep talk finally concluded, Kruger declares this mission complete. Back at the base, Swan is relieved to hear it. Agent Aburera, on the other hand, is not so pleased in his tunnel where he frequently scares the bats.

Swan sets a cup of hot tea in front of Kruger and smiles warmly at him. She is pleased that everyone's all right now and they are agreed that the kids have to have self-confidence. Kruger points out they'll need all they can get, and Swan clarifies that's because the Alienizer are only going to get stronger. He agrees she's got that right. She looks very worried. Suddenly, the five are gathered before his desk and Ban cheerfully speaks for them, announcing, "Boss, we've all made a decision!" And without explanation, he finds that Sen and Umeko are headed in opposite directions in front of his desk, stretching a police barrier-line between them. "What the?" he asks. Hoji clarifies, telling him that he's not to cross that line, um, please. Umeko bounces back with Sen and tells him he must leave everything to them. They all agree, nodding fiercely and grinning. Sen adds that they'll really keep on trying their best from now on. Jasmine smirks and says but he has to stay behind that line. Kruger decides that they're going a bit far, here. When he gets up to protest, a laughing Swan pushes him back down in his chair. She teasingly points out he can leave it to them now. They all nod agreement, and then Ban leads a sudden charge. They bound under to join him in taping Kruger to his chair and his shout of protest shakes the whole base.

Sen pops up behind Kruger's desk to tell us this week's topic is Deka Master! Jasmine then pops up beside him, as Kruger is the Deka Master armor is show on the screen above their heads. Jasmine points out he's go the special Master License. Hoji pops up next to say "Unbelievable!" in English. He mentions the D-Sword Vega. Ban and Umeko pop in on either side, squeezing in to the now too-small area behind the desk. Curious about one thing, Ban turns his head to the screen and asks, "Say Boss, doesn't that mask hurt your nose?" This question brings Kruger up short. "Um, well, uh..." he hesitates, scratching the top of his helmet self-consciously.

Episode. 15 Android Girl
Riding a rollercoaster, and Sen is next to a quiet girl dressed in black, white and orange, who sits expressionlessly through the ride. Ban is seated behind her, having the time of his life. A clown hands the girl a balloon from a selection of several, where she sits beside Sen. "Ichi tasu ichi was ni," says Sen, grinning fit to bear. An alienizer has the girl by the throat, and she looks most frightened. There is a mighty mecha to battle, and the kids are getting a bit thrashed. The girl falls inside Dekabase, and Sen in armor tries to protect her. Swan is operating a periscope. And the Dekabase moves into a new configuration: Dekabase Crawler. Sen offers the girl a white daisy. The Dekabase Crawler rumbles at pretty good speed through the city. Battles with Anaroids.

Not into their armor, but into the smaller cars they use normally. Umeko with Sen, Hoji on his motorcycle, Jasmine with Ban. The background voice tells them to insert their SP License, which they do and those activate the vehicles. Out the vehicles go, Hoji in the lead, past worried officers standing guard and out into the dark night. Kruger watches them go on the monitors and growls low in his throat, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

The Dekaranger are in the blackout zone, carrying flashlights. They've found a place where there is light, from whatever crashed or landed here. "Over here!" Ban cries unnecessarily. "Ah," agrees Hoji. They run. Sparks fly, electricity crackles from broken power lines. This is no safe place, that's certain. "Pretty bad," comments Hoji as they pause to consider the destruction with wide eyes. On they go. Jasmine sounds impressed when she says, "The Network is really messed up." Sen contemplates the ripped and tangled mess and says quietly, "It's almost as if something ate..." he trails off. Ban, finding that absurb, demands clarification. Distracted, they don't know someone is approaching. Someone in white boots with orange trim, black leggings. But then they hear footsteps and look up alertly. They turn and aim their flashlights towards the sound. A female ace, black hair perfectly trimmed. Her expression is still. Sen sees her and gasps softly. She turns to face them and she is quite pretty. Ban, at Sen's side, says "It's a girl!" Hoji stands stiffly, eyes narrowed. "What's she doing here?" But Sen steps forward. "Miss, are you all right?" he asks gently. The others trail behind him. He bends down a little, for she is small. "Why are you here?" She stares silently at him. Umeko suddenly brightens and suggests with a warm smile, "Did you get lost from the subway?" Annoyed, Hoji snaps "That's ridiculous. The subway's fifty meters away." He eyes the girl. "This is strange." Ban coughs into his closed fist, eyes alight. "Well, Ban Akaza knows all about girls!" He starts forward to flirt with her, but Sen straightens up and turns to put a restraining hand on his shoulder. Ban stubbornly sticks his lip out but does obey the implied command. Sen moves to Jasmine and says her name in request. She knows what he wants, and pulls the glove off of her left hand. She steps forward and gently takes the girl's limp hand in her. The girl stares expressionlessly down at their hands, then raises her gaze to Jasmine's face. "Strange," says Jasmine, surprised. Sen bends down next to her. "What?" "I'm not reading anything." She looks up, studying the girl worriedly even as she puts her glove back on. "There's nothing to read." Ban tilts his head and asks tentatively, "You mean... she doesn't have any feelings?" The girl lifts her empty gaze to look at him. Absorbed as they are, they do not notice a gun aimed at them until the blasts start. Then they yelp and dive for cover. Ban looks up most quickly, to see a heavy, armored alien who demands "Give that back to me." The girl, who had ducked with them, turns and stares, mouth open in blank puzzlement. But suddenly a blur of black moves in front of her. Sen, standing guard. "You're the one who destroyed the Network." The alien comes down the stares. "The Network, is that what you think?" and he laughs. He is Meteusu, of Titan Star. "I'm of space, boy. And this world can die or all I care!" with that he is firing and Sen gasps in shock at his speed. He dives to protect the girl, while his four companions leap between them and the enemy, changing into their armor, which fortunately absorbs most of blasts. Sen has also changed, but a shot hits him square in the back and he cries out in pain, arms protectively around the girl who at last says something. "I'm scared!" "Eh?" Sen gasps. The other four are back on their feet, pulling out their weapons to fire back. Sen twists around to help. They all fire at Meteusu. The shots impact, sending up a shower of sparks and staggering him painfully. He falls to one knee, but quickly recovers with a hiss of annoyance. He fires up, bringing the ceiling down on them. They all dive to cup their bodies over the girl. It's over quickly, but a furious Ban notes that Meteusu is gone. Sen is closest to the girl, who cringes, hands over her ears.

The sun comes up. At Dekabase, Swan is putting the girl into what appears to be something vaguely like a CAT Scan machine. The readout opens, the five Dekaranger watch anxiously from the room beyond. Swan joins them and presses the start button. The first thing they see is that under the human skin is machinery. Swan straightens up, not really surprised. The Dekaranger are stunned, though. Jasmine looks appalled. Swan says calmly, "This girl is a highly sophisticated android." "I see," Sen says shakily. "So she's not human," murmurs Hoji. The gurney is retracting from the scanning machine now, and Swan says sadly something about her programming. "So that's why there was nothing there," Jasmine comments quietly. Swan looks very worried and says they're going to have to dismantle her. But Sen stares at the girl, at her silent stillness, and is troubled.

They've called up data on the Titarnian, MetiUsSl. "He uses dangerous weapons," Kruger tells the kids. "He's known to be brutal." Angry and confused, Umeko seeks agreement that MetiUsSl is the one who took down the Network System. "But he didn't admit that he did it." He looks questioningly at Jasmine, who agrees and points out that MetiUsSl was following the android. Hoji says sternly, "Boss, we have to dismantle it and find out what it's for." Kruger rubs at his chin thoughtfully and makes an agreeing noise. "Please wait," Sen says suddenly. Startled, Kruger looks at him. Sen, deadly serious, tells him "She's no ordinary machine." The others all gape at him, startled. "I think she's beginning to develop emotions." For he remembers all too well how she'd huddled in his arms and said the one word meaning "I'm scared." He tells them they mustn't dismantle her before they know what she really is. Hoji snaps sternly, "Sen-chan, you're too soft. That's an android! If you're a pro, you have to keep your cool." But Sen turns a quiet, determined gaze to him and counters, "I have more than enough of that." When Hoji returns his gaze with mute astonishment, he continues that they should find out more about her programming first. They have to know, they can't be as cold as machines themselves. Hoji bridles at that and moves aggressively, but the alert Umeko pushes between them. "Now, now. That's enough, you two." Kruger is putting his trust in Sen's judgement, though. Sen thanks him and heads out the door. Hoji is practicaly irate. "Boss!" he snaps demandingly. Kruger simply tells him they'll determine the danger, and calls upon an eager Ban to go do something. Ban salutes and bounds off eagerly. Jasmine, Umeko and Hoji he puts on MetiUsSl duty. "Find out where he's hiding." They salute, too. "Roger!"

Outside, the trees are high and green with mid-spring leaves. Crows call. Under the tree, a very annoyed Agent Aburera opens all three of his eyes. He turns and says sternly, "What are you looking for, MetiUsSl?" Well, well. Look who's here. And seems to have been trying to sneak up on Aburera. MetiUsSl stands proud and says he's here about his mighty machine monster, Gigasu. He pulls out a device and hits the button on it. A 3-D hologram of the somethin oval like an egg appears over his hand. The data that comes up with it impresses Aburera, who comes over for a better look. He knows about this monster machine. All tentacles and claws, horns and mighty metal. And MetiUsSl is very interested in letting it loose on Planet Earth. But there's something he has to have before he can activate it. "And where is this thing?" Aburera asks him, interested. MetiUsSl turns to him. "In the Deka Base." "WHAT?!" gasps the startled Agent. MetiUsSl can't help but snort. So, he's sought out Agent Aburera to help him retrieve his prize from the Deka Base. "You're really asking too much." "Give me your power," MetiUsSl tells him, and brins out a handfull of paper cash, probably representing an appalling amount of alien currency. Well, money talks. Aburera consents to help him, reaching out and taking the money. He will give something powerful to this effort. "Gonna be fun," agrees MetiUsSl. And the two go their seperate ways.

They are at Deka Base, though outside the building. The girl stands, probably puzzled. "This is a flower," says Sen, and holds one up. A small, white petaled flower with yellow pips. The girl turns to look at it. "Do you understand?" he asks her softly. "It's a flower." He holds it out to her with a warm smile. "Flower," she repeats, head tilted slightly and gaze focused. "It's pretty, isn't it?" he asks her. They are on the roof. Ban comes nearby, trying to look nonchalant. He sticks his hands in his back pockets and wonders at the scene. Sen moves over to the girl's side and points upwards. "And that's the sky." He turns her and says, "Clouds," happily. The clouds are thick and billowy in that direction. The wind changes their configuration slowly. Sen steps away from her to point something else out, "A bird." She turns her gaze to see. There are several birds, possibly pigeons, coasting on the air. He turns, smiling, to her. "And then there's me. Sen." He hooks a thumb at his head. "Sen," she repeats. "That's right," he tells her. And then she raises her finger and points at her throat, gazing at him in question. Understanding immediately, he says, "Oh, you want to know but we don't... hmm." He thinks about it as she gazes at him. Then he brightens up. "I know! There's a word for flowers that means beautiful. Flora!" he says victoriously, and holds the flower towards her. "Flora?" she repeats uncertainly. He nods with a sound of agreement. "You are Flora." And he offers her the flower. Not really certain, but accepting, she takes the flower by the end of its stem. "Flora," she repeats. This is about enough for Ban. He strides forward, still keeping his hands behind his back. "Sen-chan," he says reprovingly, "What are you trying to do?" Sen, aware of Ban's likely thoughts, looks kindly at him. "Flora was, just for a moment, a frightened girl." He turns his gaze on her, where she studies the flower. "She has feelings inside somewhere." Ban makes an uncertain agreeable noise. Sen continues, "If she can discover her feelings, then she can learn to live." And he moves and address more her, saying that Flora can learn to enjoy the world. He tells her that perhaps she can stay. Not really understanding him, she returns her gaze to contemplating the flower he'd given her. Ban is willing to go along with this until it occurs to him, "What if she doesn't like it?" he asks Sen anxiously. Sen rubs his head and agrees. "We have to go someplace that's more fun." He takes her hand in his and lopes away, her running to keep up. "Someplace really great!" Ban shouts, "Hey, wait for me!"

Oh, boy! Oh my GOSH, they're riding the new rollercoaster at Korakuen! That thing is enormous. I haven't dared try it yet. The near straight drop to the up-curve, wow, vertigo here. Sen is having a great time. The girl, well she doesn't know how to. Ban, in the seat behind them, he's also enjoying it. They hurtle around curves, through artsy holes in walls. The girl blinks and allows her body to tilt with every turn. And after that, or possibly other things, Ban is staggering along, dizzy. He sinks down against a wall, protesting all this. Nearby, Sen sits with Flora, talking to her. "Did you enjoy any of that?" "I did enjoy it," she answers. With a small smile he tells her, "When you enjoy something, you laugh, Flora." "Laugh?" she asks. "Yup." he confirms, eyes dancing. "When you feel good, you laugh. When you feel sad, you cry." He considers and adds, "You can't really see how someone feels just in their eyes. But you can see it all in their heart." She thinks about what he says, then tells him, "But... I don't know how to laugh." "Ah! Then do what I do," he says affectionately. She stares at him, now. He starts, voice tangled with lauhter, "One plus one is..." at her lack of comprehension, he clarifies. "One plus one is... two, yes?" He has both his index fingers up, side by side. She nods agreement, not understanding as I am not. Then he uses his face, "Ichi tasu ichi wa NI" Ni, causing lips to move into a small, wide smile. She follows suit, and it leads to expression on her face for the first time, warmth and light in a smile moved into as naturally as I breathe. Sen chuckles and says, "You can laugh!" Ban turns his head and stares in impressed amazement at the transformation of the girl. Sen adds, "So soon everyone will no you're no normal machine. You have feelings, just like humans." The smile fades as she tries to understand. "Feelings, just like humans." She turns her head and looks around. There is a clown nearby, bouncing along with a bunch of balloon and looking a bit scary in the way they sometimes do. But he swirls in and kneels in front of her, offering her a green balloon. She takes it and says, "Ichi tasu ichi wa ni," which brings her face again to that natural smile she's learned to express happiness with. Sen sighs in relief, and the clown cocks its head and smiles back at her, then releases the balloons (I saw this coming, didn't you?). They float up, a multi-colored cloud. Flora follows their flight in wonder. But then the clown's expression turns threatening and hand tenses into grabbing position and closes on her neck. "Sen!" she cries in fright. As the clown drags her off the bench, Sen leaps in pursuit. "Flora!" The clown breathes out fire and the illusion is gone. MetiUsSl is here. He pins Flora against his body as Sen, the other Dekaranger racing to him, leaps forward. Hoji shouts, "Wait, MetiUsSl!" and aims his weapon to fire. "Let Flora go!" Sen demands furiously. "Flora?" wonders MetiUsSl. "This is a machine I made. Metia." "Metia?" asks Sen. "Metia will operate my Machine Monster Gigasu," he tells them. Oh, that's subtle. "Machine monster?" gasps Umeko. "Gigasu?" repeats Jasmine. "Once the programs are installed from this one," MetiUsSl clarifies. Gigasu will go active. Or something. He hangs onto Flora, who struggles uncertainly and looks to Sen for help. MetiUsSl continues to explain what's going to happen, while the Dekaranger stand dumbfounded, possibly by his brazenness. It seems he intends to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth. And this machine he made is a force of darkness. He laughs evilly. The girl says, "Sen, I - " but Sen knows her and snarls at MetiUsSl, "You're wrong! Flora, you're not dark and evil!" Ban is on his side. "Yeah! I've seen you smile!" Sen addds sternly, "And I'll watch out for you!" He has out his license and leads the others in the change into armor. MetiUsSl is unimpressed. He calls in the Anaroids and sets them at the Dekaranger, who are determined to fight their way through. MetiUsSl drags Flora away, but Sen hears her call his name, and he quickly neutralizes the Anaroid he's fighting and first his D-Blaster on MetiUsSl, halting and blasting him away from Flora. Sen leaps the distance between and the two go at it. He kicks MetiUsSl against a heavy mesh fence. The enemy rolls back up to fight. Sen leaps to where a terrified Flora huddles. "You all right? Flora?" he begs. She raises her gaze to his and says a tremulous, "Ichi tasu ich wa ni," and though the smile is not so free, it is there for him. He is relieved by her courage and pulls her to her feet, telling her now this place is dangerous. He scoops her up into his arms and takes off with her. MetiUsSl, recovering, sees them go and is furious. "You'll rue this day!" he snarls. He pulls out a beeping device and says into it, "I need you, Agent Aburera."

Sen, being Sen, has brouht Flora back to Deka Base. He tears into the main room. "Boss!" he calls. "Flora wants asylum!" He sets her down. A very startled Kruger comes over and stares at her with a thoughtul hmm. Sen goes on, "Flora doesn't want to be used for nefarious purposes! She has feelings." Flora looks uncertainly down at her feet. Accepting Sen's words, Kruger says "I understand. She'll be safe here. No one will get at her." Sen thanks him from the heart and turns to Flora. "It's all right now," he tells her breathlessly. But alarms start going off and he gasps, turning to check the readouts. "Warning" they read. He quickly calls up the data to see. A red dot pinpoints a spot in Tokyo. "What the...?" Sen wonders. "A giant monster?"

MetiUsSl wants the others out of his way, and he is good with his gun. He shoots the four of them down. Their suits protect them from serious injury, but still the impact throws them over the edge of the road to the street below. Ban is most upset with it, but MetiUsSl that unless there are five of them, they really don't put up enough of a fight. "Ah! It's come!" he suddenly crows. For the ground shudders violently beneath them. Something white, orange, gold and red rises. A mighty battle-machine. This is the Cannon Gladiator. It radiates menace where it stands. It holds a blade with eyes designed into the surface. And MetiUsSl tells him, "I need you to do this. Don't worry about THESE. Hit the Deka Base." The Battsuroid inside understands and accepts those orders. He turns the mighty machind and starts firing on the Deka Base. Inside, Flora is staggered as the entire building shakes. Sen leaps over her protectively, calling her name. Kruger looks out the window. "The base is under attack!" he notes. It's no weak building, either. The shots are impacting, but not breaking through. MetiUsSl smugly notes that it will get through and he'll get Metia back. The other four Dekaranger, standing below him, stare and Ban uses his license to signal home. "Swan, send out the Deka Machines." "I can't," she wearily tells him. "I can't open the gates while he's firing." But she is working on another solution. To move the base itself. Kruger signals her. "Are you finished yet?" he asks anxiously. Well, her readouts are starting to give her okay messages. "Yes, I think we can finally do it now," she pants, eyes hollow. She gets up and moves across the room to reach up for something she has to stand on her toes to get. "But if we can't, this is the end of the line." She pulls down what seems to be a periscope control. Kruger tells her frantically, "I need you to do this." She utters a pained sigh in response. "You know this isn't what I came here for!" The periscope is in detect mode, Cannon Gladiator square in its sites. "Base Beam!" says Swan, and pushes a button. Even as the fires are rolling away from their enemy's last shot, out goes a beam of blue-white light at the mecha. It impacts, staggering mecha and the pilot inside. MetiUsSl is philosophical about it. They may be able to fight back, but they can't escape. Escape is not really on their minds, though. Buying time to launch is. Swan pushes the periscope back up and sits down, telling the others not to be too surprised. She calls for the Dekabase Crawler, and pushes a button then moves the joystick. A shriek of metal, sounds vaguely like a train whistle, and the base starts to shift. Huge treads pull out from the sides. The entire top half of the base swings forward, powered by just underneath. It settles in front of the rest of the supposed building, and a powerul pair of enormous multi-cannons raises from what was the lower half. "Launch!" calls Swan and moves the control. Heaven save any can that wasn't properly parked. For the base trundles forward. The entire thing is mobile (obviously not the basement, if there was one). MetiUsSl gasps in shock. Ban is equally stunned. "The Deka Base can MOVE?!" Hoji, too stunned to think about it, touches Ban's shoulder reassuringly. "It's great!" he says in awe. Jasmine says musedly, "So treads were hidden inside the building." "Fantastic!" cries Jasmine. But then a signal from her License gets her attention. "Boss?" "This is the Deka Base Crawler," he tells her. The Battsuroid in the Cannon Gladiator is slowly recovering from this shock. He starts firing wildly at the enormous base bearing down on him. "Crawler Beam!" calls Swan, and she pushes a button. From the enormous cannon-seeming bays in the back half of the base come blasts of green-white light. They are devastating to the Cannon Gladiator, which falls. The base halts. Flora, huddled in Sen's arms, looks up when Kruger pulls her into his. "Sen, go now!" "Roger!" Sen cries and dashes out to the tunnel to the launch bay. All the tunnels go down, but only Sen is aboard his machine and can use his license to activate it. No problem, though. Swan is ready to launch them all. The base opens up to release the machines. Out they roll! Or fly, in the Gyro's case. The other four Dekaranger board their vehicles and they form the Deka Robo. They make pretty short work of the Cannon Gladiator, facing it blade to blade after a softening shot. They end up wrestling, Sen and the Battsuroid as close to being of one mind in this fight as they can be. But a high leap and slash down, and the Gladiator is damaged, then they take it down with the Signal Cannon. Tough machine, thoughl Just when they are contratulating themselves, the ground shakes viciously. Suddenly, enormous metal tentacles pop out of the ground around the Cannon Gladiator. They bend down as if to consider it, then wrap around it and pull it under the surface. Boy, the land under Tokyo must now be riddled with enormous tunnels. Sen gasps, "What is going on now?" for the air is filled with dirt kicked up by whatever is under there. MetiUsSl smirks in the distance. "You can't hide." he comments. For his Gigasu is waking. Flora shudders and hides her face against Kruger's side. He keeps a comforting arm around her. The Narrator tells us, "Well, they've defeated the monster machine, but the battle with Gigasu appears to have only begun. Can Sen protect the android, Flora? Don't be defeated! Fight on, Dekaranger!" We see the new triangle. The looming threat of MetiUsSl. The innocent face of Flora. Sen between them, determined.

Today the kids are introducing little things about their uniforms. Such as the velcro-attached lumps on their shoulders that fold out to be useful gloves. Hojo pulls off his jacket to reveal that they all have these nifty t-shirts (I can see the merchandising already). Ban is starting to say "and underwear!" pulling at his slacks, but the others dive in front of him and tells us quickly, "There aren't any!" But Ban has on red boxers, on which he has used fabric paint to write SPD #1 Ban.

Episode. 16 Giant Destroyer
A terrified Flora is cornered in an underground lot by MetiUsSl, she falls. In the woods, Sen approaches with a tender smile. An annoyed MetiUsSl is trying to keep him away from Flora. But Sen keeps going forward, hand outstretched while the others worry for him, and the firing starts. MetiUsSl is trying to force Flora to do what he built her for. Kruger will go Deka Master to join the battle, and more. They will form the DekaBase Robo. The six of them will stand togeter in the cockpit. Well, Deka Master gets to sit. Outside his armor, Kruger will go up against MetiUsSl in hand-to-hand combat. And my, the DekaBase Robo is leaving holes where it steps. Heavy thing. Will Flora survive?!

Our villain is gloating over the enormous thing he created that will lay waste to this planet. At the Dekabase, our group is gathered at their table with Doggie Kruger. They discuss their enemy and his creation, the destruction it committed eating up so much of the Network. They are angry. Kruger is concerned with the connection between it and Flora. Sen points out that Flora isn't a machine, really. Hoji asks about what will happen if the enemy gets the proper programming installed using her, which causes Sen an uneasy flinch. His shoulders sag. Kruger's solution worries Sen, until he says something reassuring.

Flora sleeps, dreams of the monster at which's command center she was immobilized. Nightmare or fire. Sen sees her, hears the distress in her whimpers. He dashes into her room to call her awake and her eyes snap open. "Sen, I'm scared! What if I'm bad?" She shivers in his arms and he settles at her side to reassure her. "But that's what I was made for," she points out miserably. He counters gently that even so, she has a soul born inside of her. "Can I stay here?" He reassures her she can. She adds that she's worried about him, and he smiles comfortingly. Something about for everyone's joy. She wonders if she can't go if he's not there? He tells her it's all right, and the Dekaranger will always watch out. He tells her to rest and pushes her back down, tucking the blankets around her shoulders while she stares at him, wide-eyed.

She can hear it, the monster she's a part of. Kruger and Swan are consulting. Swan is concerned if they can reprogram and again work on the Dekabase, beyond the Crawler. They talk about "That android," and the potential threat she poses to Earth, unaware that she is listening out the door with very sensitive ears. She straightens, eyes downcast. "The fate I..." she hesitantly murmers. She thinks about what Sen had said, protecting people's joys. Her thoughts are interrupted by a stray guard who blusters at her, demanding to know what she's doing here. When she doesn't answer right away and only stares at him, he steps forward intimidatingly, which triggers a protection response. Her eyes flare with light. The man is blinded, staggering with a shocked cry. The sounds he makes attracts the attention of those inside the room and Kruger leaps to check, the door sliding up to reveal the man crumpled in the corridor beyond. "What happened? Are you all right?" Kruger bends down, trying to help the man. "What happened?"

Well, the news must spread. A sinal to the five patrolling Dekaranger, or rather to Sen. Kruger calls urgently, "Sen! Flora has disappeared from Deka Base!" Sen slams on the brakes, causing both he and Umeko to jerk against their seatbelts. "Why?" Sen almost hisses. Kruger anxiously explains their theory that she will combine with Gigasu. They'll have to destroy her. "Flora!" Sen whispers, frantically unbuckling himself and starting out of the car. "What are you doing?" Umeko quickly goes after him. The others follow but he isn't going far. Only against the side of a building where he stands on his hands to think. The others watch intently. He remembers how she'd looked at him and said "I'm worried about Sen." "Of course!" he gasps. Tumbling back to his feet, he races to the car calling back to their anxious shouts of his name, "Umeko, call Murphy!" They all board their vehicles.

Flora has gone to meet her maker, in the literal sense, and demand to know why she exists. "Metia!" He explains that she's to control Gigasu. She intends to obey, or so it seems. At that moment, the Dekaranger catch up with her, Murphy leading them. "You can't go!" Sen tells her. She gasps his name. But her maker tells them they are too late. She steps forward, out from under his arm, to tell them that she has to control Gigasu. "WHY?!" shouts Ban. And something else. Hoji takes a bead on her. "I don't want to, but there's no choice," he says gravely. Umeko tells Flora they feel for her. And Sen steps forward, speaking to her from his heart. He says he knows she intends to prevent Gigasu, stop it. They all gasp, including her maker. He tries to tell her she can't and doesn't have to take that risk. She counters that there are people to watch out for. He tries to convince her that they, the Dekaranger, will be able to do it. She doesn't have to get herself destroyed. His determination reaches her. He holds out his hand for her to come to him. "Come with me!" Furious, her maker fires on him. Sen doesn't even blink as the blast hits, but when the smoke begins to clear we see him in his armor, walking steadily forward to the girl he's taking care of. The maker is stunned and fires repeatedly at him, until Sen gets in his face and punches him. The others, who did not change into armor, gather round as he tells Flora to please go hide somewhere safe. She obediently dashes off. The others move into their armor to join the battle against the furious enemy. Sen has his badge out and passes judgement. Trapped in its field, he is judged to be executed, and they call Murphy. But he tells counters with a speech probably about "You ain't taking me!" and pulls out a device which he sets up. He's killed himself. "Flora!" calls Sen. He finds her and she apologizes to him, but to their shock it isn't over. For something is going on above the trees. The sky turns black. Lightning flies from the ground to the clouds above. The mighty steel arms of the Gigasu rip out of the ground beneath Tokyo! Soon, the whole enormous mecha rises. The heroes arrive and gape at it. Hoji says in case no one's figured it out, "That's Gigasu." Well, they are full of oats and intend to fight it with the help of the Dekabase.

A big, round body on eight legs, like an enormous Daddy-Longlegs (where did who come up with that name for those spiders?). The Machine Monster Giigasu. And from the ends of those legs fire powerful repeating cannons. Its body seems to be one enormous mouth. The city goes up in flames. Sen tells the girl they will defeat Gigasu, and to go to safety. They call in the Deka Machines. I notice a severe reduction in CG since ye Gaoranger. They form together, using the more traditional actual models. "Build up, Dekaranger Robo!" "Have at you, Gigasu!" shouts Ban. I did mention Gigasu is huge? Really huge? Like at a minimun three times the size of Deka Robo, and that's not including the legs. CG comes into play for Gigasu, and for the flying leap Hoji sends the Deka Robo into to avoid getting blasted and to fire on it. Gigasu closes its arms around its head, preventing any of their shots from hitting a weak point. They land and Sen gasps that this didn't work.

"Sen!" Flora is distressed from him where she hides. Unfortunately, she has more to be distressed about. Her maker appears out of the woodwork. Laughing, he bears down on her. "How..? I thought you were - " she gasps. He snickers and holds up the device that had supposedly killed him. It was all a sneakly ploy. The device had generated a 3-D hologram of his body. The Dekaranger were suckered, and he has come for her.

Speaking of whom. They are dismayed, and when Umeko whimpers as the great arms sweep at them, Ban tells her to pipe down and puts the Deka Robo into a skyward leap. They slash at one o the tentacles, only to lose the Judgement Blade. "How the?!" yelps Ban. "We can't use the sword now!" gasps Sen. Jasmine whaps the top of her helmet. "Well, this sucks."

Flora flees her maker, into an underground parking lot. He pursues. He has a battle-program to install. She loses her footing and all as he bears down on her. He's rather peeved at how human she's become. He grabs her throat, intending fully to take control of her when he's beaten away. Doggie Kruger has come to the rescue. Flora scrambles to her feet and clutches at Kruger's coat, cringing behind him. Kruger points out calmly that he'd promised Sen to watch out for her. Her maker is quite peeved. Probably all the more when Kruger transforms into the Deka Master armor. 100 is his number. He brings out his blade and uses it to cut all of the bullets fired by his enemy from the air. The enemy tries to bargain, only to realize the skill of Kruger, who has made the bullets fired all land harmlessly on the cement in an x-pattern. Kruger says he can't be bargained with, and will delete this criminal. He sweeps his blade down and swips, a roar of flame surrounding him, and bisects the enemy. "You all right, Flora?" he asks her. She uncurls and asks about Sen. He tells her not to worry.

I'd be worried. They're getting trashed out there. They will not give up, but are not sure what to do. And also are in danger of getting chomped. But Swan reconfigures to Dekabase Crawler and sends the enormous machine into battle. It bears down on the uneven, blasting shots that force Gigasu back. In his armor, Kruger calls upon the other three. And since they didn't expect it, they aren't really ready for what he's telling them to do. "Another secret?" wonders Ban. Swan has all the people in the base moving to safety spots for the transformation of the base. When all is clear, the base stands up. Literally. Their command room becomes the control center for the immense machine, and Kruger calls them to get a move on and this is really hilarious when one sees it, honestly. Dekarobo stands back to the double-sized mecha. The giant puts its fingers in the robot's back, our heroes head inside through the fingers. They are stunned to join Kruger in the cockpit, gawking a bit, but recovering to help. They pinpoint Gigasu and walk forward, destroying much under their feet because they're so darned heavy, firing with the Knee-Brace Beam. "Finger Missile!" is next. Gigasu is getting pretty cut up. They call out the complete power of the base to shoot Gigasu to pieces. It's over. The city smokes around them. And Flora is now here, and being send somewhere safe, to learn to live. She thanks them. Hoji and Ban are in agreement about missing her and liking her, and the girls ask her to remember to contact them. Flora looks unhappy then and Sen wonders why. She points out that she'll miss him, but as an android, she cannot shed tears. He chuckles at that. He tells her at the very least she can laugh. "Ichi tasu ichi wa - " he invites her. "Ni," she smiles joyfully. Kruger leads her off, she will go into space to join the Space Police. They watch her go proudly.

The kids introduce us to the surprising development of the Dekabase Crawler which becomes the DekaBase Robo in a transformation not conducive to either standing, or taking a bath.

Episode. 17 Twinkamu Angel
An Umeko adventure. She decides to change, dumping the little-girl ponytail for a rightfully sexy body language, stunning the three boys who are eating. Jasmine eyes her doubtully. It appears there is drinking involved, out of some metallic goard-like thingy. It leaves her weaving and staggering, and Jasmine seriously worried about her friend's sanity. Both women are on a stage, wearing gorgeous Chinese dresses. It seems there's some Chinese (maybe) guy thumbs-upping them.He may prove to be an enemy, likely as anything.

The two criminals bolt for their cars. Ban shrieks and leaps out of hiding, the others fast behind. They catch up with Umeko who wails a "I'm really sorry!" over her shoulder. They don't waste time on that, though, changing into armor they are able to catch Circlebar, Ban with guns at ready. The Battsuroid, however, burns rubber. Jasmine seems to have disappeared and Umeko wails as the car rounds a pile of gravel and dirt. "Dang he's gone!" grumps Ban, unable to get a shot off. "Oh, this is all my fault!" Umeko babbles, clutching her helmeted head. Ban suddenly notices, "Eh, where's Jasmine?" They blink and look around, but none are in a position to see that Jasmine has positioned herself in the perfect place to... leap down a clifflet and land on top of the escape car! The Battsuroid tries his best to shake her off, plowing through barrels, standing puddles of water, across the gravel... Jasmine, however, isn't that easy to get rid of. She manages to reach down and open the passenger door and comes in kicking. This makes it pretty hard for the Battsuroid to drive, naturally. She manages to get ahold of the cannister of spice, then realizes the car is on a collision course with the bottom of a cliff. She leaps away just in time. The Battsuroid is destroyed in the crash. Jasmine goes rolling down a gravel-hill with the case safely in hand. She opens it to reveal the spice jar safe and sound.

Kyoto, capital before Tokyo. Contrast of ancient buildings alongside modern city streets. The Golden Pavillion and tourists abound. In the period neighborhoods, women dressed like old-fashioned Geisha walk together. Tourists cross bridges designed in the old way. And the Dekaranger arrive with sirens blaring.

Some parts of the city look very modern. Bullet trains pass by on raised tracks. High-rise buildings, smog layering thick. Until we find the new arrival. A male being with golden eyes buried in a samurai-style helmet. "Where am I?" he asks in Japanese that has long gone out of fashion, staring at the city. The kanji he's seen says Kyoto, but the concrete streets thick with traffic and people wearing strange clothing makes him doubt his senses. "This must be wrong!" he protests. He steps uncertainly across a manhole cover and peers around a post. He is Beetonin of Zoina Star. His worried wanderings take him to old, familiar pavillions with entrances which house carvings of the gods of Japan. He is grumbling that he can't find anything familiar. Suddenly, a gaggle of highschool girls rush him, chattering and he can't deal. "Pipe down!" he protests angrily and gets them to give him a few feet of space. "The girls of today are so aggressive!" When he tries to get them to explain something with dignity, the girls are just so excited. They think he looks really cool. They think, if fact, that he's part of the people who hang about the period neighborhoods to make it all look real. One girl tries to take his helmet off, which does not sit well at all with him. "Stop that! Let go!" he shouts, holding it down. "He looks like a real alien!" delights one girl. And they are of one mind, pulling out their cellphones to snap pictures eagerly. But he's had enough and draws his sword. In one swipe he cuts a cellphone in half. Aware, now, that he's not stable, the girls shriek as a group and make a run for it. When confused Beetonin takes a step after them, he hears a voice shout "HOLD IT!" Startled, he looks up. Atop the nearby old building stand the rainbow. Blue, Yellow, Red, Pink and Green. "What're you?" he yells accusingly. They go into their spiel *snore*. But he still seems unaware of their significance. In face, he calls them invaders. "Invaders? Us?" yelps a startled Ban. They all pause and stare, confused. Then he announces that he's going to pass judgement on them,and charges. More than a little confused, they aren't exactly ready when he strikes and all five end up tumbling. Ban gets hit a few times because of his habit of bouncing back quickly. Soon, however, he falls and the others gather protectively in front of him, then charge Beetonin. He still is able to take them on, slashing with his blade. They fall, rolling back to the anxious Ban. But then, to Ban's shock, the alien

Episode. 19 Fake Blue

"WHAT?!" gasps Kruger as the news comes in. He is already on his feet, warning the others that at .251B a bomb's gone off. The kids have gathered at the table and get to their feet, stricken. And then a high-pitched giggle comes out of the speakers. "Who's that?" challenges Ban. The shrill, childish voice from the speakers asks if the space police are healthy. "Who the heck are you?!" Ban snaps. A green-faced alien, but they don't see him, only we do. It is speaking through a microphone headset. It has a large head and faceted, yellow eyes. "How did you like the Opening Event?" it, probably male, asks them. Ban, understandably bewildered, goes "Huh?" But Hoji's caught on already. "You're the one who set off that bomb!" "Yep, you got it!" crows the alien. And then he introduces himself. "My name is Baizoku." And a lot of self-praising. Stunned, Kruger repeats his name. "You know this guy?" Umeko asks. He steps closer and explains grimly that, oh yes. This fellow gets around. It seems harassing the Special Police is a favorite pasttime of his. As Kruger finishes his explanation, Baizoku crows with delight, "Yay! I'm famous! I'm so pleased!" Ban snarls back at him, "Stop thinking that!" Sen steps over to the computer screen to see if he can find anything out. But Baizoku isn't finished yet. "Hey, today I want to play a game with your world!" "Game?" Umeko repeats, astounded. Jasmine asks, "What do you mean?" He answers, "The name of the game is 'Search for the bomb!', heh!" Where ever he is, we see a bomb on the viewscreen beside him. And the bomb, he says, is big enough to blow this whole planet. At that they gasp in horror. "What?!" escapes Hoji's lips. Baizoku explains they have to pick one of their number, and he will set up the challenge and the time limit, or timer, or such like. He'll give them hints on how to find them bomb, and they can all try to decipher the clues. If they play his little game. But if they don't, if they can't, then the bomb will go off and the Earth will be destroyed. They are all gnashing their teeth, but Hoji lunges forward towards the speaker. "Don't play with us!" he snarls. But he is playing, for he tells them they have thirty minutes to get to certain coordinates. And Hoji turns wild, desperate eyes to Sen who, unfortunately, was unable to get a fix on Baizoku's location. The others are muttering about the terms, Kruger noting that there can be only one actual player. "Boss," Hoji says firmly, "I'll go." But Kruger mutters softly, "No, I think not." He turns and says sharply, "Ban, you go." Ban accepts immediately. Hoji, though, nearly chokes. He tries reasoning that surely Ban can't do it because he's weak in... Ban pushes him back saying, "What do you mean, buddy?" with indignation, but Hoji's gaze is fized on Kruger, who isn't interested in arguing. He asks Hoji to believe, and the young man reluctantly accepts that verdict. "Go, Ban," Kruger says again. Eyes burning, Ban nods and stands tall. "Leave it to me." He gives the group a pep talk about their plan of action. They salute, and the game is afoot.

Ban drives his car as near as he can get to where he's been told to go. He jogs out and stares around, craning his neck. He sees on a distant grassy area an odd, gray shape, beeping. 1.84 says the number on it. "There it is!" Ban crows smugly, and darts towards it. He gets to the thing and presses the disarm button. It stops at 1.76. Ban sighs. Then out from the side a thin white card with a white symbol on it is ejected. He takes it out curiously. The symbol proves to be the number 8. Ban pulls out his badge to snap a picture of it. But before he quite finishes, there is a very loud ringing sound that makes him jump and gasp. Beside the silver box is a purple cellphone. He answers it quickly. The alien giggles in his ear, pleased he picked up the phone. "What's this paper?" Ban demands. "Oh, that's a hint," Baizoku tells him. Back at the base, the picture he'd snapped appears on their computer screens. "8?" wonders Umeko, Sen peering over her shoulder, then closing his eyes to think. Umeko happily suggests that it's a person's name, or something about insects and 8. Hoji stares angrily at the image while Sen straightens up and turns to him. "I think it's a number for a location." Hoji hits upon that as likely true. .800 or something, a clue to the location of the world-destroying bomb. Then Sen says ever so quietly, "But that's too easy a hint..." and leans down to think some more. Ban jogs along, looking around. Jasmine peers out from behind a column and calls softly, "Over here, Ban." He says her name in relief and jogs over to her. "Please!" he asks, and offers her the cellphone and card. She quickly slips off her right glove to sense it clearly. She reaches out, but just before her hand can touch either object, someone starts firing on them, driving them apart. The phone rings and Ban quickly answers it. Baizoku scolds, "I told you only one player can do it..." (My goodness! I think he's inside the phone itself! Really? Really?) He can see Ban in the vewscreen, clear and large. And he tells them since they tried to break the rules, the bomb will go off all the sooner. Ban nearly shrieks a protest, his voice distorted. Er, or rather elsewise... Baizoku tells Ban he can't transform, and he can't use a car. "EH?!" protests Ban. And he has 20 or 25 minutes to get to the next coordinates. Ban, having no other choice, uses his badge to find out where that is. Then he tosses the badge in his pocket, hangs the cellphone around his neck, and dashes off.

"Where can the villain be?" frets Sen, back at the base. "He has to be close to know what's going on so well," he tells Hoji. "Right. He knew Jasmine was there!" Hoji leaps up and starts trying to get a fix. And Ban runs across the city, long legs eating up the cement walkways. Across bridge footpaths over train tracks. Across amazingly empty streets where he jobs nervously in place waiting for the lights to change and checks the time on the cellphone he carries. Across he dashes. And elsewhere, Hoji rides his motorcycle to investigate. They've gone ahead to the first location where Ban met Jasmine. They consider the building, tall and clean. And suddenly they are fired upon by something up on the roof. They dive for cover. Hoji tells Umeko to go. They dash across the front. And Ban, panting, notes where he is in relation to where he's going. His lungs burn. He's found it. This is a sports stadium, and the ground is wide and green. "I'm here!" he bellows. But there is no response. So he jogs along the empty stands. "Where, where, where..." the cellphone beeps. "Oh man, there's no time!" but he doesn't stop.

Umeko and Hoji run up the stairs of the other building. They run into Anaroids as they get close to the roof. They change into their armor immediately. And Ban searches among the seats. He screams in fury from the top of the stands. Then he suddenly gets an idea. He's going to try Sen's thinking pose. Upside down he leans his weight against a pillar, the blood rushing to his head. But all he gets is a headache and he rolls back to his behind with a frustrated cry. "I'm not Sen, I just don't understand!" he pants. On his feet he dashes. A signal from the cellphone tells him there are only two minutes left. He keeps trying, determined. And his cohorts fight past the Anaroids on the stairs. They reach the door and position themselves carefully. "Ban, you can stop running," Hoji says with relief. He opens the door. They are fired on as they come through and dive in opposite directions. Hoji fires... at an automatic machine. There is nothing there. And the machine pops out a little green ball with a pink tongue sticking out and the message plays "Too bad!" for them. They sigh in exasperation, seeing a camera on the side. Baizoku is amused to be able to look at them from the little thing. He laughs. Umeko shouts a scolding into the lens. Hoji is frustrated and tired. "We were wrong."

Ban slips and falls, rolling painfully down the stairs of the stadium until he finally fetches up against a barrier. Battered and bruised he protests the pain, only to find that his fall has taken him straight to the machine. .08 .07 He manages to hit the button at .03. Face damp with sweat, he sighs and grins in relief. And this machine spews out another white paper, this time with a triangle outlined in blue. "A triangle?" wonders Ban, staring at it. Then the cellphone hanging around his neck rings and he answers it. Baizoku tells him that he's not going to get to have help from his friends any more. "My friends?" Ban asks, dragging himself up gripping one of the chairs. "They can't find me," Baizoku says calmly, then gives him the next coordinates. Ban uses his badge to get a fix on them, and when seeing it says in fury, "Hey, just a minute! That's really, really far away! I can't possibly get there in only 20 minutes!" "Oh, you can if you run..." Ban hisses in fury and clambers to his feet. A grunt of frustration and he's off. And, back at the base, Sen and Jasmine have only the picture he'd snapped of the triangle to work from. "I knew this wasn't that easy," murmers Sen. "Do you have any ideas yet?" Jasmine asks him. "No. Not yet," he answers, and moves fretfully away. Kruger sits at his desk, deep in thought. Sen upends himself to think. And Kruger says they have to leave it to Ban. For he is probably the most athletic of the group. And he tears across the city, down steps, dangerously tired. Sweat stings his eyes and he blinks. His run takes him to the front of a Red Lobster restaurant (yes, they have those in Japan). He runs inside. "Space police," he pants, holding out his badge. The people in the restaurant seem to take no notice of him. He's panting out worried commands to them, voice ragged, and they start to react nervously. The manager quickly tries to keep him from causing a panic, pulling him aside. "I'm not a customer! I'm here to protect people," rasps Ban. And he starts searching. Under tables he glances, making startled young women very nervous. In the lobster tank, around corners, and he finally finds it hidden underneath a potted plant at .10 seconds. He stops it at .08. The next clue is a green M. "M?" he wonders. But the cellphone rings and he answers it. "Oh well done!" crows Baizoku. "I'm really impressed! So now your work begins!" "Begins?" echoes Ban feebly. The restaurant manager, thankfully ignorant of what's happening, eyes his watch and the patrons all eye Ban nervously. "What are you talking about?" Ban asks. "What, you don't remember?" Ban counters him quietly, not wanting to cause a panic in the unsuspecting populace ("Hi, folks. The world is going to be destroyed by a bomb is I don't win these challenges some madman has for me, just take it easy.") Baizoku has more interesting things to send him on. Ban loses his temper and shouts into the phone, then raises it in a very real desire to smash it to pieces. "CUT IT OUT!" shrieks Baizoku. "Eh?" the real fright in his voice catches Ban's attention. Having managed to stop him, Baizoku calms quickly and even praises the furious Ban. .605P is the next place to go. The last place. And he has again only twenty minutes. He runs off.

In the base, the others fret and worry. Sen remains upside down, working the problem. Umeko pounds her fist on the table. Swan comes in with tea for all of them. They accept it, Hoji first to thank her. Umeko, however, doesn't seem to notice it and remains scowling. Swan comes to her, putting down a mirror in front of her face so she can see her own expression. "What a scary face you're wearing," Swan says. "You should relax or (your face will freeze that way)." Umeko stares at her scrunched up face and quickly realize how she looks, starts to rub the skin smooth. Something in what Swan's said has caught Sen's attention, though. Just as Umeko whimpers, "I don't want my face to look like that!" Sen crows, "I got it!" But he's been upended for quite some time now, and falls over on his side rather than curling to his feet gracefully. Umeko and the others rush over to him, Hoji carefully touching his shoulder while the girls kneel next to him. Umeko waves her hand, trying to fan cooling air onto his red face. "You okay?" she asks. "I figured it out," he groans.

Ban races under the great cement rises of two roadways. His vision is starting to blur, he's run so hard. There is a river ahead, and he must ford it. He hops down the bank and drags his feet in great steps through the water. He falls and gets back up, dragging himself across and breaking out of the water, soaking wet. He bolts ahead.

The others have the luxury of driving there, thank heavens. Hoji calls through his microphone, "Sen-chan, are you sure this is the place?" "I'm sure," confirms Sen. "Besides, it's just like Umeko's scary face." He grins teasingly at her and she glares, furious. "What do you mean by that?" "I see," Jasmine muses from the other car. Sure enough, they are being fired upon, artillery that raises huge clouds of dark gray dust all around their vehicles. They screech to a halt, and find themselves facing not Anaroids this time, but four Batturoids who rush at them. They change into their armor to fight.

Ban has reached the next point, a temple gate in the mountains (twenty minutes?) The timbers are old and blackened by the years. Or maybe by a fire... Except for a couple of shiny signs. Ban races inside. Oh no! "EEEH?" he shrieks. For he finds himself at the bottom of a long flight of stone stairs. A very, very long flight. I think he might just explode himself. Who needs a bomb? Heh. Furious with Baizoku. he tears off his jacket and ties the sleeves around his waist. With a determined scream, he races up the stairs.

The others battle the Battsuroids, and are getting the crap beat out of them. Ban falls on the stairs, but gets back up and keeps going. The Battsuroids geta fix on the fallen four and try to fire a canon on them, but Kruger has arrived in the Deka Master armor to deflect the missile and send it back at those who fired it. They are relieved to see him. "Leave them to me," he says. "You take care of the bomb." They are happy to oblige, and off they race. The Battsuroids are happy, too, glaring (presumably) down at him they prepare to fight. "Oh, you evil things," Kruger comments coolly, "I'll take care of you myself." And two of them leap down at him. He fights them, a match even for their power. Ban falls again on the stairs, and my he's going to be pretty scraped and bruised... poor kid. But he keeps going, crawling up. One Battsuroid is destroyed. Two others fire on Kruger, but he is proof against their shot, and destroys them. Ban reaches the top of the stairs and looks around. He sees the box under the temple cauldron filled with sand so one can stick incense in to burn as a prayer to the gods. It is at .11. Ban manages to get up for a mad staggering scramble to the box. He hits it at .01. "I did it!" he pants. And another white paper is spit out... but this time it is folded, and there is nothing on it. "What is this?" Ban protests. "There's nothing written on here!" Then the phone rings again and he quickly answers it. "That's the last hint!" Baizoku tells him. "Eh?" he asks. "Don't you understand?" Baizoku asks. Ban, eyes wild with exhaustion and fury, demands an explanation. This isn't really helping. Baizokus tells him that he's had plenty of hints. "So, where's the bomb? You've got one minute." "WHAT?!" And when Ban is about ready to throw a hissy-fit, Baizoku points out that he is the one in control of the game, not Ban. So, Ban takes a look at the clues, laying them out in front of him. A red 8. A blue triangle. A green M. A folded, blank paper. He tugs at his lip, nothing comes to mind and he's pretty much ready to tear out his hair. "I don't GET IT!" he screams at the sky. Baizoku laughs through the phone. The temple sits behind him, and he tries rearranging the cards. "There's no time!" Baizoku laughingly tells him. "I'd find the answer with you!" And there's so little time left... Baizoku holds the remote in his hand, waiting eagerly. Ban gathers the cards in his hand and stares balefully at them, willing them to make sense. Baizoku is tightening the screws. Six seconds left. 0. Oh no! "Time's up!" Baizoku says cheerfully. Ban utters a scream. "Well, it's been fun!" Baizoku says, about to press the button. "DON'T DO IT!!" shrieks Ban. Baizoku presses the button, and Ban curls up in anticipation of an explosion that... that... doesn't come. "Eh?" Baizoku says in surprise. Ban uncurls and looks around. The world still surrounds him. Birds sing in the trees. Baizoku is very confused and surprised. "What's going on?" he protests. And a signal on his screen shows that the bomb has been released. "Hey, no way!" he cries. Ban hears him and looks at the cellphone hopefully. At that moment, the other four arrive where he is. "Ban!" calls Umeko. They race over to him, still in their armor. "Guys!" he says in surprise, getting up. Changing out of his armor, Sen sets a reassuring hand on Ban's shoulder. "We stopped the bomb, Ban." "How'd you figure out the secret point?" yelps Baizoku from the phone. Sen smirks at him. "You didn't even see the last hint!" Sen nods proudly, barely containing a laugh. Ban wants to know, too. Sen shows him. He folds the cards in half and holds them up. The coordinates were .371 and he'd caught it because of Umeko's reflection in the mirror. He'd seen the 8 also reflected. "You are so great, Sen-chan!" crows Ban, and Sen is happy to accept the praise. Baizoku has to whimper his congratulations. But now he has another challenge for them. Figuring out where he is. But it is Ban who says, "Oh, I know where you are." "Oh? So where am I?" Baizoku says somewhat unsteadily. "You always knew just where I was and what I was doing," Ban points out. "You always saw, and said you were always with me." He clasps the cellphone tight between his hands, pacing restlessly forward. The others listen, for they don't know, yet. "You went everywhere with me," Ban says and then points at the phone and snarls, "You're HERE!" The others all gape and take a step forward. Leaves fall beyond them. Hoji and Jasmine exchange nervous smiles, thinking he's lost his mind. Hoji steps forward and tries, "Listen to yourself, Ban." Umeko agrees, "Yeah, doesn't that seem silly?" Jasmine voices her doubts. Baizoku sounds badly shaken. "What kind of a joke is that?" "Oh, it's no joke," Ban says firmly. And he snarls something and then starts to try to tear apart the cellphone. The others squawk anxiously. But soon he manages to tear off the cover and we see that he is, indeed, correct. For the cellphone is really a tiny ship, and inside is Baizoku, who is really a very small alien. The others all gape over Ban's shoulders. Even Sen hadn't guessed. "Oh," says Jasmine. You're a Gerumar." Yes, Baizu Goa of Gerumar Star. Only a few centimeters tall, finds himself looking up the barrel of what is in truth a very small gun. "Wow, Ban you did great!" Umeko praises him. Sen's mouth is still hanging open, and Umeko points out gaily that even he hadn't gotten it. But Baizu Goa has no intention of sticking around, and he presses a control device in his little ship. The ground quakes and shakes, and out of it rises the Canon Gladiator 2. Ban is surprised, but moreso when an electric shock forces him to release Baizu Goa's craft, which then flies off to go inside the mighty mecha. So Ban calls for the Deka Machines, and they board their mecha happily. Forming Deka Robo immediately, they face Baizu Goa in his, and fight in the middle of the city. They rapidly cut through Baizu Goa's guard and soon pull out the badge to pass judgement on the trapped little alien. He is delete. He does not accept that, but unfortunately for him, he has no chance of escape. This time he is destroyed. "Mission Complete!" crows Ban. Then, exhausted, he slumps down in his cockpit. "So tired...."

Back at base, our heroes are playing with folding papers to make clues. The ones Baizu Goa had given them lay atop the table. The four of them chatter about this challenge. Ban is conspicious in his absence. Sen is shaking his head. He'd gotten the clues, but never once twigged to where Baizu Goa was. Hoji reassures him that they hadn't caught on, either. "No one else could have." Swan, standing with Kruger, smiles affectionately in their direction. She exchanges proud remarks with him. Suddenly Jasmine asks, "So where is Ban?" Just then, the doors slide open. Ban, panting and holding his side, calls Umeko for help. Murphy barks in the corridor. Ban bolts, and a moment later Murphy tears after him. He evades and comes around to shout, "I spilled Murphy's oil!" and we see that the oil is, indeed, all over the floor next to Murphy's bowl. The angry dog is chasing Ban. The others all gape. Ban races down the corridor, Murphy in pursuit. Other people working in the building give the chase a wide berth. "Help!" yelps Ban, grabbing one white-clad man before dashing on. The others head out into the hall to watch, grinning. Ban stumbles and Murphy catches up, to take a chunk out of his britches. Ban shouts with pain and leaps, the dog clinging to his backside.

This week, the other four are there to talk about Ban's running. They have small models of the cars and the Pat Striker to compare speeds. "Keep going, Ban!" Umeko says cheerfully. From the screen he yells, "I'm only running for this explanation!!" but he is being left behind by the camera. "Bye-bye!" they all wave.

Episode. 21 Mad Brothers
A Jasmine adventure. A female Alienizer. This alien is going to seduce Jasmine! It looks like the aliens are a group of three, family if the title of this episode is any indication. And one of them, a heavily built, green fellow, will go up against Deka Master. Another one, either in mecha or giant form, will beat down the Deka Robo. And Jasmine will stand and throw herself in the face of danger to stop that one. Obviously the female.