S4E16: The Gathering Storm

'''Now officially with RAG, their work continues. On a world filled with mental giants, the Sayan Squad is called upon to investigate a strange "mental illness" that, defying all logic, appears to be contagious...'''

Plot Summary
Yeshaida, on orders from Amadeus, told everyone in the Sayan Squad to report to the Lesser Briefing Room, as a new mission awaited them. After bringing in Kanako, he moved on to the Arachni who were hard at work in the research lab. He told Arachnos to notify Oneiros and Terminos, who would then alert Olyn in turn. Meanwhile, Kanako arrived to find Ketsueki, Jack, and Saiyo already there. The latter two of which seemed to still be half-asleep, implied to be due to an argument the two had had.

Once everyone had gathered, Amadeus himself showed up, carrying a coffee mug strangely saying "World's Best Coach." When questioned, he only said that the Rebellion uses what they can. With everyone accounted for (and Saiyo being groomed by Olyn), the briefing began. Amadeus showed another Earth designated M573, a world where psychic powers and modern technology are dominant. Normally, this world would be ignored by the Rebellion, but for reasons they had not quite understood, The General had appeared to have taken an interest in the world. Numerous times his forces had been detected intercepting signals from the planet, and so RAG decided to monitor it. While doing so, they came across an interesting news report of their own. A strange "outbreak" of a "mental illness" had begun to plague the planet, causing people to "see monsters." The implications of this clear, Amadeus ordered the Sayan Squad to investigate Earth M573, confirm a Sayan presence, and if so, eliminate it.

Within an hour, the Vulture was descending upon M573, and landed atop a forested hill, several miles from the city of Arquat. Because the Rebel presence on this planet was incredibly minimal, so minimal inf act that the world was generally unaware of their presence, once more stealth was prioritized. This meant that, once again, the Sayan Squad would have to walk to their destination. However, further complicating the issue were the obviously non-human members of the team. Namely, Arachnos and three members of G Squadron. The Anathemites could shapeshift and elven ears could easily enough be hidden with a hood, but multicolored horses and blue humanoids were unable to be hidden. As such, they would remain behind with the Vulture while the rest of the team went on to investigate. To assist them, Amadeus gave them falsified government credentials in order to allow them to ask questions. With that, the Sayan Squad departed the Vulture, but not before Amadeus turned one of Ketsueki's complaints back at him.

They discovered that the place and time they landed on the planet was in the middle of summer, something which Saiyo seemed to enjoy greatly. In her own words, she had spent too much time cooped up in a cold space station, after which Kanako reminded her of the prison cell. This instantly killed her mood, and even invoked a traumatic memory as she began talking about an operating table. Jack and several other members of the team scolded Kanako harshly for it, and the rest of the journey was made in silence. Upon reaching Arquat, the group was hit with intense light and heat made from the sunlight reflecting off the bright buildings and reflective windows. The gift of sunglasses was bestowed upon those who lacked them by the Anathemites, as well as a pair of shoes for the barefoot Saiyo (the hot concrete of which also brought her back to normal).

The Sayan Squad explored the city, and noted that the populace seemed to be on edge. They were seen frequently checking the sky and overall appeared nervous and uneasy. The Sayan Squad could see nothing in the sky, but did note it as odd. Later, at a downtown intersection, Saiyo pointed out a tall, black tower far in the distance. Its design was remarkably different from the urban buildings around them, reaching high into the sky with its dark-colored form. The Sayan Squad appeared unnerved by the fact that nobody in Arquat seemed to care about the tower, and decided to investigate. The tower, as it was eventually revealed, was never in Arquat. It was in fact several miles outside of the city, it was just so massive that it could be seen clearly from within the city itself. A military perimeter had formed around the tower, and armed MPs were stationed at the gates.

Terminos tried to approach two of the guards to inquire for information, but was stopped by Ketsueki before he could say he was from "out of town." Ketsueki forcefully silenced the ex-spider, and played the group off as rowdy students on a dare. The guards asked if they were ZED students, to which Ketsueki confirmed. One of the MPs then told him that if they saw the "demon" they'd tell the school. With that, the conversation ended and Ketsueki dragged Terminos back to the rest of the squad members. Ketsueki explained that a tower so massive could not not be public knowledge, and if it wasn't, then that meant its information was trying to be suppressed. In either case, a bad move to announce oneself as "being out of town."

Still, the Sayan Squad found themselves at an impasse with no clear goal or any workable information. Saiyo suggested they visit a library ot gain information, which they do. While inside the library, Kanako discovers a newspaper article talking about a "mysterious floating object." This article came with a picture of The General's Head floating above the city of Arquat. It went on to explain how the ship just appeared in the sky for a few minutes and then disappeared, completely baffling the scientists. However, when asked if there was any relation to the "epidemic" of mental illness, there was no comment. Another article on the latter concept was also in the paper, stating that several patients had been transferred from a mental hospital to the Arquat Neurological Center under "mysterious circumstances." Doctors would not comment on the transfer, but did close down an entire wing of the hospital to the public, even moving patients that were already there to another wing. With no other leads to go on, the Sayan Squad moved out for the ANC.

When they got to the ANC, evening had begun to set in. A lone guard was standing at the front gate, and denied them entry on account of being civilians. With Vate's prompting, Ketsueki boldly and confidently proclaimed he was a federal investigator, and showed the MP his documents. The officer accepted the papers as legitimate, and let the team through. Inside the hospital, the investigators met one Dr. Hurtz, who elaborated on the patients. Three patients were brought over from the mental hospital after brain scans revealed an anomaly that they wanted verified. Many tests were run with different machines but all the results were the same: the victims' brains had been re-wired to expose the senses to whatever the afflicted feared most. This confused and worried the doctors, as no microorganism should be capable of that. Whatever was causing this had to be intelligent. The doctors had also found a strange blood-like substance in the ears of the victims, but they could find no terrestrial matches for the samples.

Unbeknownst to him, Dr. Hurtz had himself confirmed the presence of a Sayan on Earth M573. After requesting to keep a sample, questions were asked about the cause. Dr. Hurtz personally suspected that it was the "strange floating object," believing it to be a ship from space. Though he noted that a few others believed it was the "demon." He also mentioned that the first known victims of the disease, as well as the majority of them, were all students of "the ZED," and that, as a result, the government was considering shutting Arquat's ZED down.

Thanking the doctor, the Sayan Squad departed to investigate the ZED. Before they left, Dr. Hurtz warned them to keep all the information locked down. After all, they considered the brain the cores of their being, and if word got out that something foreign was rewriting them, there would be mass panic. More importantly, he warned, they needed those students "in case of another storm."

As night fell, the Sayan Squad contacted Amadeus in the meantime, and brought him up to speed. Amadeus informed the group that Earth M573 believed in a prophecy that claimed their world would be destroyed by a demon, and that the world governments took it seriously enough to organize special schools ot train individuals to hunt down and destroy the demon before it could come. Whatever the demon was, it was attached to the Black Tower, thus explaining the heavy military presence. The team determined that the tower was irrelevant to them, and continued on to the school. They took note of the weather, which was beginning to cloud over. A vortex had also slowly begun forming above the Black Tower, as well.

At the ZED, the Sayan Squad instantly saw their target, casually moving across the ground like a "boneless, bloodied chicken" among students going to their night classes. Their attempts to follow it, however, were impeded by a large man in a suit, who claimed to be the Dean. For him, their documentation wasn't enough; he felt he would have received a call if the government was going to investigate the school. He wasn't willing to risk the safety of his students otherwise. Thinking quickly to buy time, Ketsueki claimed that they must have left a message, and to check again. As the Dean left, the team hastily tried to think up a way to get into the building and kill the Sayan without mentally scarring everyone who attended the academy. A satisfactory answer was never reached, though Saiyo claimed to have gotten an "idea."

When the Dean returned, Saiyo began to behave like Ketsueki, only intensified. She first opened by saying their message was probably lost in the "ocean" of complaints by parents. When a minor twitch in the Dean's face told Saiyo she was correct about the second part, she continued her attack. She not-so-subtly suggested that she might be looking to enroll in the school as a government plant, and that if she doesn't get her data, their ZED would be shut down. Displeased but nevertheless relenting, the Dean agreed to at least give them all a tour of the campus. He said that as a condition the group would not be allowed out of his sight and that Saiyo couldn't actually enroll without more proper authentication, but these terms were agreed to.

The Dean introduced himself as Dean Frederick, and proceeded with a truncated tour. To keep the Dean busy, Saiyo kept asking him questions while the rest of the Sayan Squad kept an eye out for the Sayan. They couldn't find it by the time a thunderous roar shook the entire building. The Dean ordered seniors to the roof and everyone else to the basement, including his tour group, and then left. The Sayan Squad took advantage of their freedom, and discovered that the Sayan was hiding in the basement with other students and teachers. They could not get at the Sayan now, so instead went to the roof to see what was happening.

On the roofs, the senior students had all lined up and were readying physical manifestations of their mental power. In the distance the Black Tower was completely lit up. Up above, the sky was a swirling black vortex, with clouds so thick the lightning appeared to only be like dots as it danced between them. The students prepared themselves as a large amorphous object dropped out of the vortex, claiming that the "Dragon" had arrived. Said "Dragon" then began to attack, and the students sent forth their mental projections to try and resist the assault.

The "Dragon" was, in actuality, a shape-changing robot, capable of manipulating its gelatinous outer shell into any form it wanted. It was also very deadly, and set several of the campus buildings on fire, threatening the lives of both the students defending against the machine and the students and staff trying to survive in the basement. Not willing to stand by while children were killed, the Sayan Squad engaged the Dragon. Vate called in the Mimics, which brought with them the missing pilots as well as Executioner. Amadeus felt the secrecy was not more important than saving lives, and especially so now that The General had made himself known.

The "Dragon" started to focus exclusively on the Sayan Squad, who were equipped with better technology and more actual combat experience. It showed that it was capable of absorbing attacks and copying them just as well. Its weak point was its core, which was always protected by a transparent covering. Whenever it changed shape, so too did the core. Eventually the Sayan Squad managed to shatter the protective casing, but before they had a chance to attack the core itself, the "Dragon" retreated.

With the Dragon gone, the Sayan Squad immediately set about helping to contain the fires and rescue the people still trapped, fully aware that they would have a lot of questions to answer now that they were all in the open...

Soundtrack

 * 1) Opening Theme - Main Theme (Sonic: Time Attacked)
 * 2) Briefing - Main Theme -Reprise- (Star Wars: Rogue Squadron)
 * 3) Arquat - Tidal Tempest (Good Future Remix) (Sonic CD; Japanese version)
 * 4) Military Guard - Restricted Area (Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition)
 * 5) The General's Head - Babel Tower (Rockman ZX Advent)
 * 6) Sayan Presence - Nightmare (Nox Arcana)
 * 7) ZED - Snow Town Raynu (Grandia)
 * 8) The "Dragon" - Boss (Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit (Sega Master System version))) (Sonic Zeta Overdrive remix)
 * 9) Face the "Dragon" - Final Battle Part 1 (Mega Man Powered Up)
 * 10) Ending theme - Dream a Dream (Pop It Don't Drop It)

Trivia

 * Earth M573 is based on another unfinished story concept of SDM's, known only by its working title "Z Academy." The storyline draws most inspiration from the video game Live A Live, particularly the "King of Demons" chapter.
 * The sequence with the Black Tower guards was not originally intended to happen, and SDM had to alter the next several scenes to accommodate its existence.
 * The recording for this episode was lost.
 * This episode was uncharacteristically long for a non-climax episode, clocking in at around seven hours.
 * The above may be the reason the footage was unable to be saved.