After Emilio and Shun have finished beating the stuffing out of each other, the Ignauts hold a meeting about what the their group plans to do next.

The main issue is that most of the lords in the nearby area are supportive of King Delzaine, and so the consensus is that the Ignauts have to search north for the lords who have been forced away by Delzaine. They need as many supporters as they can to help their cause. Emilio is able to help by supplying some information, namely that the Royal Guard is 80,000 men strong, more than Demetrio had originally anticipated. Demetrio’s solution is to seek out the Zoozian vlcsnap-00006people and ask for their support. Shun is also able to help by tipping off Demetrio that Delzaine plans to head to Babylon.

Afterwards Louise finally takes the boys to have their wounds bandaged up. The boys fume about having to share the same small space, and they continue to bicker when left alone. Louise finally shows up with the medicine and goes to work. While she’s fixing their wounds, she reveals a little of the backstory between the people of Endora (Endras) and the Zoozians, and also mentions that she’s half Zoozian.

Shun asks Louise about Demetrio, and we get a flashback showing that when he was younger, one of Demetrio’s closest friends was a Zoozian. His name was Lucio, and he taught Demetrio about things like courage and how to fight with a weapon. They grew up together, but when Demetrio was 14, the boys intervened in a situation in town where a Zoozian was being lashed with a whip, and the result was Lucio being stomped to death by some townspeople.

It’s clear that Demetrio sees a lot of himself and Lucio in Shun and Emilio, especially when they are fighting. “Argue and fight until you see eye to eye,” is Demetrio’s catchphrase for this episode. He plans to leave the boys to fight out their differences until they start to get along, but this is the fifth episode already so I hope to god that this bickering isn’t going to last another five episodes, or I’m going to have some problems.

As the boys lay in their sleeping bags that night, each is focused only on his own problems. Shun wants to get to Babylon asap, and Emilio just wants to see his father dead. In the morning when Emilio wakes up, Shun has already left to find Eljuia. He hopes to trick the Ignaut into seeing his future again by putting him into false danger by dumping a load of acorns on his head, or falling into a leaf-covered pit. Yes really, and if you facepalmed when you watched that part of the episode, trust me you weren’t the only one. Eljuia tricks Shun into looking for an Endora bluebird, it’ll be able to help him get back home. Shun falls into the pit in his excitement, but gets up quickly and runs off to find the bird. Which doesn’t exist, of course.

vlcsnap-00022Elsewhere in the forest King Delzaine’s cronies are looking for Shun and Emilio. Their aquatic leader affirms that they can hurt the boy (Shun) if they like, but they are not to harm the prince. Suddenly Shun comes running their way, so they dash into hiding. The lion creature steps out to battle Shun, while the other three head towards the Ignauts’ camp. Emilio is out in the forest looking for Shun, and when he sees some birds take off in flight he knows that it’s Shun.

Emilio shows up in the nick of time to save Shun from one of the lion’s attacks, and they decide to team up to take him down. At the Ignauts’ camp, the aquatic-looking dude goes one-on-one with Demetrio while the other two rough up the other members.

Shun steps in to save Emilio after an attack from the lion creature knocks his weapon away, but when he’s cornered his Warp Relic transforms into a more powerful version. Their determination renewed, Shun and Emilio strike at the lion creature together and beat him back. The two guys rush back to the Ignauts’ camp where they find Demetrio, Louise and Felix facing off against Delzaine’s cronies. Right as Emilio and Shun arrive, the crystal hanging high in the sky starts to shine with an overwhelming brightness. What could this mean?

My thoughts: I actually liked the underlying theme of the episode, which to me was acceptance and tolerance of people who are different than oneself. More than once the discrimination and hostility against Zoozians is mentioned (and in Demetrio’s flashback we see how such prejudice can be so extreme that it can even result in death), with some of the Ignauts gently pointing out that first impressions can be deceiving and there is no reason for those emotions. This construct can be applied to modern day groups of people – ethnic and cultural minorities, persons with HIV/AIDS, LGBTTQIA persons, and so on.

I really, really hope that now that Shun and Emilio will start fighting less. They’ve helped each other, been in battle together, etc etc. Can they just bury the hatchet and move on?