S4E25: Noises in the Dark

'With an alliance between the evil Dr. X and Captain Hood all but confirmed, the Sayan Squad and the other survivors of the Vulture's'' plummmet to Paa desperately want to invade Dark Side to escape the planet. However, there is one major obstacle standing in their way: Mr. Owl, their rescuer. Though he has all the information one could possibly know on Dark Side, he refuses to inform the Sayan Squad until they assist him with a different plan...'''

Plot Summary
"Dinner" was held at the War Fortress III, where Mr. Owl made good on his promise that they would eat "imagination." In other words, as he revealed, there was no food available and Owl had in fact given up on finding any. This led to questions regarding how he had survived all this time, to which he responded he reacting to hunger "like a normal human." That is, simply being down for a few days until his body was regenerated. He was informed that this was, in fact, not normal at all, much to his surprise. He then proceeded to tear off his own head and asked if that wasn't normal, either.

The reactions ranged from pure shock to terror to disgust, and everyone begged and pleaded with Owl to put his head back on. He did so, still expressing surprise that being capable of such a thing was abnormal. He commented that his "experiments" may have "done more to [his] makeup" than he thought. Kanako demanded that he never tear off his own head again, to which Owl asked if he could if his head was in danger, revealing that he would die if not.

Olyn pushed to just start the mission already, which Owl agreed to. Arachnos once more attempted to suggest assaulting Dark Side directly, and Owl once more rejected the idea. He asked for volunteers, to which most of the Sayan Squad accepted to, minus G Squadron. Most of the Vulture's crew remained behind, and were directed by Owl to an unused medical lab to care for their wounds. Ketsueki also agreed to go, leading Saiyo to ask to come with as she didn't trust being in Owl's fortress. She was shot down by Terminos, who didn't want her going berzerk on the equipment. Ketsueki defended her, saying that he'd rather not leave Saiyo in the fortress, either. He said he would be more comfortable if she was with them where they could deal with any immediate danger. Terminos relented, and she was allowed to come along. Jack then also threw in his hand to watch over his sister.

Arachnos requested Saiyo to "mount him," much to the shock of everyone (and apparant anger of Jack and Ketsueki), save for Saiyo herself. She instead cheerfully accepted, claiming to have always wanted to ride a horse. Arachnos galloped around the main lobby, with Saiyo gleefully riding along. Jack observed, expressing mild surprise that she was enjoying herself so much. He said it had been a long time since he'd seen his sister so genuinely happy before. He then concluded that she must have been going insane, and that he probably was too.

Owl led them outside, saying their destination was on the other side of the city the survivors had hid out in immediately following their crash. However, since the city was a nest for Dr. X's shadow beasts, they would have to go around. The journey took several hours. Along the way, Saiyo inquired about the Earth of that universe, and was confused when Owl said that he was born and raised on Paa. Owl revealed that Paa was in fact a colony world, one that was settled on several centuries prior. He also said there were some old stories that said the colony ship that brought humans to Paa was the last one, just barely escaping an alien empire as it took over Earth. He never gave the stories much weight, but did reveal that if they were true, it would explain why it was considered illegal to make contact with Earth. He said that whenever he left Paa to explore the galaxy, he would have to be careful around Earth. The Sayan Squad began to wonder if the alien empire in question was the Cimorians, though since the takeover was said to have been "several centuries ago," it was unlikely that they would still control Earth. Ketsueki commented that they should ask Amadeus once they returned to the Fortress.

Upon arriving at the old lab, they found nothing but dry cracked ground. Owl had begun to search for the entrance, uncovering a hatch buried in the dust. This caused a massive machine infused with shadow magic to rise up from the ground, described as the size of a hotel. Owl reiterated that this was why he requested the Sayan Squad's help on this mission. He knew that Dr. X had left some kind of guard, and without the assistance of his fortress Owl couldn't take it on by himself. Thus the battle began. First, the Sayan Squad had to attack the runes that held the shadowy shawl that protected the machine. Once the runes were destroyed, the robot collapsed. Owl warned the Sayan Squad that this was only a taste of what they'd find at Dark Side, so in the end if their mission here was successful, they would end up saving more time in the long run. The point was conceded, much to their fear of Mr. Owl actually making sense.

The Colossus got up again, surprising the Sayan Squad. Owl claimed all they did was damage the protection; the robot still needed to be dealt with. The Colossus split its head and body apart, attacking the group from two sides. One attack left much fo the Squad frozen, burned, or shocked. Arachnos was one of the latter, Saiyo still on his back. She had begun to act strange, sitting up perfectly straight and staring right ahead. When she and Arachnos were shocked, she didn't seem to react to the pain, though her eyes had begun to glow the faintest ting of red. Fearing that her augments were about to activate, the Sayan Squad prepared for the worst. Instead, Saiyo reported the weakness of the Colossus was through the head's eye sockets, punctuating her conclusion by imitating a gun firing. Immediately thereafter she fell unconscious.

Once the head was destroyed by following her advice, Saiyo was once more bombarded by questions. She said she only remembered up to being shocked, but when told she yet again reported the enemy's weakness, Saiyo became quiet and uncomfortable. She dismounted Arachnos, and asked to be alone. She refused to explain what happened, and Jack was unable to, still as confused as everyone else.

Meanwhile, Owl managed to open the hatch to his lab, explaining that he had Storm lock it so that Dr. X couldn't guess the passcode. The Sayan Squad followed him inside, but Saiyo refused to go down. She told the others not to worry about her, and trhat she just wanted to be left alone. She promised to head down to the lab if anything dangerous appeared. They relented, save for Ketsueki. AS the others went down, he said he would stay behind and keep watch. He let Saiyo have her space, but claimed he didn't like the idea of her being up on the surface by herself. She accepted, and the two remained on the surface.

Down in the lab, Owl had difficulties finding the light switch. Once he found it, the Sayan Squad found a broken down and disued lab that was flaling apart at the seams. Thankfully, Owl revealed that this was in fact not the way it was supposed to be. He said he kept his lab clean. He also said he was a good boy for remembering to turn off the lights when he left, since it meant the isolated generator could still provide power. However, he did say there was no more fuel left, so they would have only a few hours to do what they needed to. Making his way through the lab, Owl expressed joy over finding a small object, and then stuck it in his pocket. On the other side of the room was another door, through which were the original pods Owl used to separate X from himself. By looking at them, Owl saw that they were broken but not beyond repair. He set to work on fixing them, saying it would take several hours at most.

Back on the surface, Ketsueki and Saiyo observed the lights of the Head inbound. Panicking, they both entered the lab to warn the others. Ketsueki had also taken the time to hide his Mimic where the Head wouldn't see it. The battle against X's Colossus seemed to have attracted the Head to investigate, and time became pressuringly short. Owl continued to work diligently on the pods, ignoring the situation. When Kanako attempted to forcibly pull him away, Owl expressed genunie rage, shouting that he would "fix" things. The others tried arguing with him, saying that he couldn't "fix" The General's Head, and that there were much bigger problems than the pods. Owl refuted all arguments by repeatedly shouting he would "fix" everything.

A bright flash later, the Sayan Squad found themselves back at the War Fortress III, in the lobby. Owl, all traces of his earlier rage gone, commented that he must have "accidentally" built a teleported out of the pods. Ketsueki caleld him out on this, saying there was no way he could "accidentally" build a teleporter that sent them exactly where they needed to go at the right time. He then went on to claim that Owl must be faking his seeming awkwardness, and that in reality he was a genius. Mr. Owl shrugged, claiming he had no idea what Ketsueki was talking about.

Despite their rescue, the mission was deemed a failure. They were unable to fix the pods in time, and Owl said that the telportation probably drained all remaining power from the lab. He then went on to say it wasn't a total loss however, pulling out the object from before, revealing it to be....a spoon. He called it a weapon, and that its usage involved hitting people with it. Ketsueki immediately retracted his earlier statement, just as Amadeus and the others arrived.

They reported their failure and subsequent teleportation to the Commander, and then Owl asked if they were good to fight. He said a deal was a deal, and now they would try to take on Dark Side as promised. He gave everyone a few hours to prepare for the attack. Immediately, the War Fortress III's proximity alarm went off. Owl noted it was strange as Dr. X wasn't known to attack twice in the same day. The base then suffered a heavy attack, and the barking dogs became an actual siren. Tthe Head had arrived. This got Owl to recognize the danger of the situation, and put the Fortress into lockdown. Owl ordered Amadeus and the others to go to the basement, giving them a new passcode. He then had the Sayan Squad prepare for battle. Their goal was to hold off the Head until an unknown point.

Captain Hood kept asking to see the Sayan Squad, and finally got his wish as Owl opened the door and stepped into the open, Hood's targets in tow...

Soundtrack

 * 1) Opening Theme - Dream a Dream (Pop It Don't Drop It edit)
 * 2) Dinner is Served? - Torvus Bog subterranean theme (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes)
 * 3) Back into the Darkness - Dark Agon Wastes (Metroid Prime 2: Echoes)
 * 4) The Red Empire - Gravity (Megaman Zero 2) (Sega Genesis Remix)
 * 5) The Colossus Rises - Inner Sanctum (Gex: Enter the Gecko)
 * 6) Vs. Shadow-Mecha Colossus phase 1 - Wily Machine 10 (Megaman 10) (Arranged V2)
 * 7) Vs. Shadow-Mecha Colossus phase 2 - Wily Capsule (Megaman 4) (Epic Version remix) (Megaman 7 Remake)
 * 8) The Lab - Wily Stage 1 (Megaman 7)
 * 9) Inbound - Twilit Bloat (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
 * 10) Accidental Rescue? - Anything But Tangerines (Earthworm Jim 2)
 * 11) Cornered - On the Edge! (Remastered Tracks Rockman Zero Physis)
 * 12) Ending Theme - Dream a Dream (Pop It Don't Drop It edit)

Trivia

 * This episode was an interrupted broadcast.
 * This is the first episode to open and end with Dream a Dream, as promised by SDM to reflect Owl's presence.
 * In this episode, Mr. Owl's ability to detach his head was shown off, something SDM originally wanted to do in the previous. This ability of Owl's is one his character actually had in the past, but for his reappearance here it was reworked to be slightly less overpwoered by needing time for the body to regenerate.
 * Originally this ability was used to divert "glomp" attempts.
 * SDM notably had difficulty selecting a song for Paa's backstory scene, not helped by him giving only a vague request for "a theme to suit an empire." Ultimately, he gave up and used the song shown here.
 * Similarly to the Super Smasher, the first half of the fight against the Shadow/Mecha Colossus was based on Dr. Wily's Wily Machines from the Mega Man franchise. Unlike the Smasher, however, which changed shape to take on their forms, the Colossus was a fusion of several Machines into one.
 * Likewise, the second half of the fight was modeled after the Wily Capsule battles, most notably Mega Man 7's. It even used that boss's signature move, which is known to be difficult.
 * This episode featured the second instance of Saiyo suddenly knowing an enemy's weakness.
 * A conversation between Mr. Owl and Jack after entering the lab references the popular video/parody "MY BRAND" by MegaGFilms, itself based off a commercial for 1-800-CONTACTS.
 * This episode featured the first time Mr. Owl ever showed anger.