By Jiron pilots the Xabungle across a wasteland. He looks at the horizon with binoculars. The Sand Rats soon arrive behind him and Blume spots a lizard, which Jiron chases, hoping for it to be food. The lizard instead bites him. Rag thinks Grocky’s group won’t give up trying to take over Carrying Cargo’s territory. They hear blasts around the Iron Gear in the distance. Jiron asks where the enemy is upon their arrival but it is just men performing a test of firing cannons for part of Carrying’s funeral. Everyone is gathered around a large hole in the ground where Carrying’s body is put into. Kid Horla says he will take care of things, and puts his hand on the shoulder of an uncomfortable Elchi. Plopopieff has his dancers do a dance which everyone claps to. Jiron spots a light; it is Timp, watching from a cliff in the distance. He thinks they are just imitating the Innocent. He thinks he should put pressure back on Grocky and heads back to his Walker Machine. He comes across spies, who realize Grocky’s doubled the size of his men. Upon killing them he tells Grocky that Carrying’s group only has one Breaker, Horla. He convinces the hesitant Grocky that things will go fine this time. A funeral feast for Carrying is held on the deck of the Iron Gear. Horla tells Elchi they need to seek revenge within the three day window. She just wants to settle by the sea and promote culture. Horla seeks the transporter’s license that Elchi now possesses and wants her to marry him, but she just slaps him and says such barbaric actions is holding things back. Horla laughs and then points a gun at her, saying he is now boss and will attack Grocky. He wants her to hand over the license, but Jiron attacks him. The two fight, with Horla eventually able to push Jiron down some stairs. Jiron is able to recover, and Horla goes into his Promeus. Jiron gets in the Xabungle and Horla fires at him. The two fight, but Jiron is able to damage the Promeus by throwing sand at its cockpit and shooting off two of its limbs. Horla says he surrenders, and flees.
Horla heads through the desert in his damaged Walker Machine, humiliated by his defeat against Jiron. Elchi announces to everyone on the Iron Gear that they can also leave if they want and she has no plan on seeking revenge or fighting Grocky. Jiron and the Sand Rats still think he’ll come attack them and she says she’ll leave that to their care. Jiron still seeks to go after Timp. Meanwhile Grocky’s ship spots a Walker Machine in the distance and attacks, but stops once it is revealed to be Horla, with a white flag. Horla talks to them, seeking to be hired by Grocky, who turns him down. Timp think it is a waste for people with no desire to fight to have the Iron Gear and that Grocky should try to get his hands on it. That night Jiron eats a cooked lizard by a fire, saying it looks like Timp. Timp and forces of Grocky approach the Iron Gear and attack. Rag and Chill wake up and get dressed. Grocky is upset that someone has already started firing, and orders his men to attack. Jiron pees on a cactus but hears the attack off in the distance. Grocky orders his men to get closer to the Iron Gear so they can seize it. Timp blows up the cockpit of one of Grocky’s Walker Machines that is opening a hole in the Iron Gear, revealing that he wants both sides to be powerless after the fight. Rag and Dyke are unable to fire a shell that was insufficiently loaded on the Iron Gear. Rag confronts Elchi on the bridge, and Elchi says they can abandon the Iron Gear. Rag says Grocky will still kill them if they do this. The two continue to argue. Blume spots Jiron returning. Jiron immediately destroys two Walker Machines by throwing one into another. He then topples another, grabs its cannon and uses it to fire on other Walker Machines. Jiron heads back into the Iron Gear, mad that they are not doing enough. He says they should change the Iron Gear into its Walker Machine form and Elchi orders Kotsett to do so, which he does. Grocky’s men are scared, as is he when he sees it, ordering them to fire. The Iron Gear smashes its way through the cliff with its fist and fires on the retreating Grocky. Timp watches from nearby, thinking the Innocent gave them too much. After the battle they are happy at their victory but Jiron is hesitant at their ability to defeat Grocky. Kotsett says he wasted too much ammo and waited too long to come, telling Elchi to cut his salary. Jiron and the Sand Rats act bewildered at him even being paid.
A pretty decent episode, showing us the aftermath of Carrying’s death. Elchi seems to hold together pretty well and in stark contrast to Jiron isn’t seeking any revenge on her father’s death. Her and Rag getting into an argument reminds me of the Amu and Leccee dynamic we’ll get a couple of years later in Heavy Metal L.Gaim. Horla’s short lived attempt to take charge, including his desire to marry Elchi blows up in his face, forcing his retreat. His loyalty is shown to be minimal as he immediately tries to go work for Grocky, who he was saying they should get revenge on just a little bit earlier. Timp shows himself as quite the schemer, wanting both forces to weaken each other in the battle. The comedic scenes are turned up quite a bit here, including the dancing sequence at Carrying’s funeral, the eating of lizards, and to top it all, a scene of Jiron peeing on a cactus. Quite the contrast to the dourness of Ideon, which Tomino was working on just a year before. It was also fun to see some rather unique fighting methods from the Xabungle, including Jiron throwing sand at the Promeus’s cockpit, and later tearing off an enemy’s weapon, holding it on the Xabungle’s hands and running into it to fire. Can’t recall ever seeing strategies like this in another Tomino anime.
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