Merowlink Stage 6: Prison

At night, an inmate attempts to escape from an island military prison. He jumps over the wall and uses a makeshift raft to row toward land. Prison commander Vance is informed of the escape, and he’s angered that it disturbed his sleep. Outside, the guards shine spotlights on the escapee. Vance uses a sniper rifle to slowly and sadistically shoot the escapee all over his body. The next morning, a helicopter flies to the prison carrying a load of new inmates, including Merowlink. During the war, the prison served as a jijirium excavation site, but it was abandoned after most of the jijirium had been mined. Once a year, a low tide reveals the flower road, which connects the prison to the mainland. Merowlink and the other inmates are stripped naked at the prison entrance and examined by Vance’s second-in-command, Shisatsu. As the body of the escapee is carried by, Shisatsu tells them to behave if they don’t want to end up like that. Later, Shisatsu goes to Vance’s office and gives him the files on all the new prisoners. Vance tosses it on his desk, and he’s shocked when the booklet flips to Merowlink’s file. He tells Shisatsu to get as much information as he can on Merowlink immediately. Vance knows that Merowlink has been killing people involved with Plan Bang Doll, and he wonders why Merowlink has come. Deep inside the prison, inmates mine jijirium. Several inmates discuss escape with a man named Vecker. Vecker thinks they’ll have a chance to escape soon when the flower road appears. Shisatsu enters the mine and orders all the new inmates to form a line. Vance examines the prisoners and runs over to Merowlink when he sees him. He declares to everyone that Merowlink is different from them because he’s a good fighter. He tells Merowlink to make himself comfortable, and Merowlink shows him two dog tags on his neck. Vance takes one of them to remember the hero of Plan Bang Doll. He then hugs Merowlink and kisses him on the neck. Later that night, Merowlink sleeps and is woken up by Vecker and several other inmates. Vecker kicks Merowlink in the crotch and says that he seems to be a good friend of Vance’s. Another inmate plugs Merowlink’s mouth and beats him with a folding chair. Vecker grabs a fork and stabs Merowlink’s foot with it. Later, Vecker and his men examine a wall, and he says the flower road will appear tomorrow. The next morning, Vance asks Shisatsu to bring Merowlink to him, after he’s been “questioned.”

In an interrogation room, Merowlink is hung by his handcuffs and injected with truth serum. Vance beats Merowlink and demands to know who he’s working for, but Merowlink doesn’t say anything. Vance tells the doctor to give Merowlink another injection, but the doctor objects and says that’s dangerous. Vance grabs the needle and injects Merowlink himself. He continues to beat Merowlink, but the doctor asks him to stop because Merowlink’s unconscious. Elsewhere, Vecker and his men plant explosives for their escape. Outside the prison, a busload of performing girls, including Lulucy, drive over the flower road. A guard asks Lulucy if she’s a dancer, but she tells him she’s doing magic. The guard tells her that’s good because Vance doesn’t like girls with flat chests. The guard opens the magic box, but Lulucy jumps into it and asks what kind of pose a man likes. The guard leaves, and Lulucy closes the box, which contains Merowlink’s rifle. After the first dancer performs, Lulucy comes on episode and wonders where Merowlink is. She opens the empty magic box, and a flock of pigeons fly out. She opens it again, and several rabbits jump out. The hooting audience demand that she bring them a naked girl next, but instead she pulls out Merowlink’s rifle. At the same time, an explosion goes off. Outside the prison, Vecker and his men run toward the flower road. Vance sees that Merowlink has escaped and orders the guards to put all the inmates back in their cages. He then launches in his Riot Dog to chase the escapees. The guards attempt to round up the prisoners, but the prisoners begin to riot. Merowlink grabs his rifle and apologizes to Lulucy for being late. On the flower road, Vance kills Vecker and his men with his rifle. He examines the bodies and sees Merowlink wasn’t with them. On the other end of the flower road, Merowlink fires his rifle at the Riot Dog. Vance blocks with his arm shield, and Merowlink runs toward him. Vance fires at Merowlink and misses. He charges toward Merowlink, but his Riot Dog has trouble moving because the flower road is sinking back into the water. Merowlink jumps into the water, and Vance fires into the water. He thinks he’s killed Merowlink, but Merowlink jumps out of the water and rams the pile banker through the Riot Dog’s cockpit. Lulucy then drives by on the bus and tells Merowlink to get on. Keik flies over the prison in a helicopter, but he realizes that Merowlink has already finished Vance off.