By Redlone watches a simulation showing that if he taps all of Earth’s planet energy reservoirs at once, the energy would go critical and erupt. He can then absorb all the energy using the Planet Energy Extractor aboard his ship. Redlone’s assistant points out a candidate location for one of the reservoirs in the South Pacific, and Redlone states that it’s time to begin their real mission on Earth. Tsukushi sweeps the area in front of the restaurant and notices a car dropping off Koichiro. Seiji comes back home from school and panics when he sees his father’s shoes inside because the house is a complete mess. He finds Koichiro lying on the couch and asks when he came back to Japan. Koichiro replies that he’s been back since yesterday afternoon but was in conferences until now. Koichiro tells Seiji to stop cleaning and join him in a kendo match. After outmatching Seiji with superior skills and bad puns, Koichiro receives a call from Misuzu and tells her that he’ll only be staying for one night then returning to Australia. Seiji asks if Koichiro can take more time off, and the latter suggests they play a video game together. Having never played video games before, Koichiro repeatedly gets game overs before announcing that he must go. He tells Seiji to take care of his mother and watch over the house before flashing him a V sign from the cab. Redlone lands on the island where the reservoir is located and his assistant shows him their first frontline drilling base, as well as the drilling machine that uses supersonic vibrations to stimulate planet energy. Koichiro meets Misuzu at the airport and tells her that he did some bonding with Seiji. Misuzu worries that Seiji is growing up too fast and thanks Koichiro for coming. She sees Koichiro off and goes back to work. Redlone has the drilling machine tested but the machine malfunctions and shoots out energy beams before exploding and destroying the base. One of the beams hits the passenger jet that Koichiro is on and causes it to crash onto the island. Redlone barely makes it out of the exploding base and is furious with his assistant. Hikaru cleans up Seiji’s house and scolds him for leaving it in such a sorry state. Seiji then receives a phone call from Misuzu who informs him that Koichiro’s plane went missing. Hikaru goes to inform her parents while Seiji quickly scrambles the Sabers to look for the plane and reveals to Da-Garn that his father was on it. Jet Saber finds the plane on an island in the Bonin Archipelago, and Seiji quickly rushes to the location in the Da-Garn Jet.
Seiji arrives with Da-Garn at the island but finds that the passenger jet is completely empty. The rest of the Sabers arrive and report that they found the remains of a destroyed base on the island. Seiji finds a lot of footprints leading away from the plane’s emergency slide and into the jungle. Redlone orders his soldiers to quickly finish the combat trooper Erbenbroy because the Earth robots will arrive soon. His assistant says that they weren’t expecting a deployment so soon and Redlone reminds him that this situation is his fault. Redlone says that he will personally pilot Erbenbroy and use the hostages to take out the Earth robots. Seiji finds the second base and distracts the guards by throwing a rock before sneaking inside. He finds the passengers inside under guard and tries to look for Koichiro. Seiji reaches one of the flight attendants and asks about their situation. The attendant points out a few injured passengers being tended to by Koichiro and says that Koichiro saved their lives by piloting the passenger jet and making an emergency landing on the island. She says that they were then immediately surrounded by the robot soldiers and captured but Seiji sneaks off before she can finish. Seiji silently tells his father that he’s proud of him and that this time he will save him. Erbenbroy is completed and Redlone orders an immediate deployment, but is interrupted by an explosion and one of his soldiers informing him that the Earth robots have attacked. Redlone orders the hostages to be brought to him but the soldier says that they can’t. Outside, while Da-Garn attacks Redlone’s ship, the Sabers have managed to load the hostages onto Jumbo Saber and escape after destroying the guards. Redlone deploys in Erbenbroy and blocks Da-Garn’s magnum shots. Redlone says that he won’t be defeated by such weak weapons and starts aggressively attacking Da-Garn. Seiji summons the Da-Garn Jet to stun Redlone long enough for Da-Garn to combine into Da-Garn X. Da-Garn X pulls out his Da-Garn Blade and engages in a fierce sword fight with Redlone. However, Erbenbroy easily blocks the Da-Garn Blade and knocks it out of Da-Garn X’s hands. Redlone shoots a powerful beam from Erbenbroy’s shield and knocks Da-Garn X down. Da-Garn X dodges the second shot and tries to retaliate but Redlone knocks him down again. Redlone moves in for the kill and Seiji frantically asks Da-Garn X if he has any other weapons. Da-Garn X says that he has one but before he can explain what it is Seiji quickly orders him to use it. Da-Garn X gets up and fires the Breast Earth Buster, a massive energy beam that vaporizes Erbenbroy and shoots out beyond the moon. Redlone barely ejects in time but his escape craft is damaged and crashes nearby. The attack completely exhausts Da-Garn X’s energy and he collapses. Da-Garn X spots Redlone and Seiji chases after him. He asks Redlone if he’s the one invading Earth and the latter introduces himself and says he’s come to take the planet’s life. Seiji reveals that he’s the commander of the Brave Fighters and Redlone laughs at this, saying that Seiji is a mere boy. Redlone says that he will finish off Seiji here and pulls out his beam saber. Seiji tries to attack him with a stick but Redlone effortlessly slices it in two. Redlone tries to finish Seiji off but Jet Saber and Shuttle Saber return and open fire on him. Redlone runs to his ship and manages to ride an escape pod into space before the Sabers destroy the ship along with his assistant. Back home, Hikaru scolds Seiji for running off and making her worry. Seiji asks what she’s still doing in his house and Hikaru replies that Misuzu asked her to clean the second floor. She also confesses that she broke Seiji’s favorite Formula One car model kit while cleaning his room and Seiji can barely contain his horror.
This episode finally introduces us to Seiji’s father Koichiro, who we discover is a very competent military man, a somewhat caring husband but a very awkward and eccentric father. The episode was so focused on giving Koichiro screen time that the Brave Fighters are completely absent for the first half of it. On the other end, Redlone finally steps up the invasion plans and reveals himself to Seiji as well as what he’s come to do on Earth. No fancy conquest schemes, just plain old planetary destruction. What he needs this planet energy for is still a mystery however, but it didn’t take long for him to get into the action personally after the repeated defeat of his combat troopers. He certainly had Da-Garn X on the ropes if it wasn’t for the latter’s ridiculously powerful new attack. On a lighter note, Redlone’s soldiers are the most incompetent hostage takers I’ve ever seen. How do you manage to lose dozens of hostages twice in a row before you even get to use them for leverage against the heroes? It’s also rather amusing to see that for all of Redlone’s arrogance, he ends up using an escape pod twice in one episode.
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