Fighbird Ep. 24: The Dreaded Space Plant!

Yoshiko receives multiple reports of people suffering from hay fever around the Asahira Highlands, but she notes that the cedar flower isn’t in season so she decides to investigate. At a children’s camp, the female supervisors thank Katori for coming because there were no other males to help them. Kenta tries to impress his friends with knowledge about cooking rice over a camp fire, but Haruka reveals that he only just learned it from Hiroshi this morning. They accidentally knock the rice container into the fire but Katori picks it up easily, much to everyone’s shock. After lunch, Kenta and his friends decide to explore the forest. Elsewhere, Yoshiko finishes examining a patient and decides to check out the nearby plant life to find the cause of the fevers. Kenta and his friends stumble upon a suspicious sign warning people to keep out because of construction work but decide to ignore it and go further. They eventually reach a field of strange looking flowers surrounding a large machine. Kenta spots Shura and some Teshitas approaching the machine and has his friends hide in the field. Shura reveals that the machine is helping the devil flowers grow quickly. Kenta’s friend sneezes and blows their cover, forcing them to come out with their hands up at gunpoint. Shura says that he’ll use them for his experiment and explains that when the devil flowers ripen and bear fruit they scatter their seeds into the air which attach to human flesh and then root themselves in the host’s brain, turning them into mindless slaves. Back at the camp, Katori receives a distress signal from Wrister and heads out to rescue Kenta and his friends.

Shura has the kids tied to a tree but Kenta frees himself using Wrister and starts untying his friends. Yoshiko doesn’t have much luck discovering the cause of the fevers but she spots Katori and Haruka running through the forest and figures something is up. Katori reaches the flower field quickly recognizes the devil flowers. He dispatches the Teshitas while Yoshiko watches from afar. Kenta has his friends escape while he runs up to Katori and Haruka to explain the situation. Shura shows up and proclaims that they won’t ruin his plan this time. Katori berates Shura for trying to use the devil flowers on a beautiful planet like Earth and the latter retorts that of course an alien like him would know what they are. As Yoshiko watches on in surprise, Shura dismisses Katori’s claim that everything on Earth is full of life and says that that’s all the more a reason to enslave the planet. He takes off in the large machine and transforms it into a giant mechanical flower. Katori summons the Fire Jet and combines into Fighbird. He attacks Shura with his Dyna Buster but the latter rolls around and knocks him down. Shura ensnares Fighbird with tentacles and shocks him while still causing the devil flowers to bloom. However, the Guard team arrives and frees Fighbird. They quickly combine into Super Guardion but Shura says it’s too late and starts blowing the seeds into the air. The Space Police dodge another blast from Shura and Super Guardion uses his Wing Tornado to freeze all the seeds. Fighbird tries to attack Shura with his Sun Slicer but misses and the latter retaliates with a barrage of fire. Super Guardion manages to break through and smash one of the mechanical flower’s petals, immobilizing Shura and allowing Fighbird to finish the flower off. That night, Yoshiko joins everyone else singing around the camp fire. Haruka and Kenta nervously ask her if she saw anything. Yoshiko replies that she saw how much Katori loves the Earth but assures them that she will keep his secret.