Endride – Episode 4 [Ignauts]

When we left our two leads, they had been cornered by a group of individuals known as Ignauts. As far as I can tell they’re rebels. Emilio asks the Ignauts’ leader, Demetrio, if he’ll help him kill Prince Delzaine. Demetrio turns Emilio down when the prince is unable to come up with an answer to Demetrio’s question “What happens after you kill the king?”, and after an angry confrontation, Demetrio tells Emilio that he’s a stupid prince for not thinking his plan all the way through.

Shun gets pissed off and attempts to attack Demetrio, who turns his non-Warp Relic bladed weapon into a lasso and strings Shun up in a tree. Demetrio tells Emilio that he won’t help him, but Shun interjects that Emilio will prove himself to Demetrio that he would make a good replacement king, if that’s what Demetrio is looking for. This wins Demetrio over; he allows the boys to come with the Ignauts, on the condition that they do everything he says. If Emilio is able to impress Demetrio, then Demetrio will help Emilio with his plan to kill his father the king.

The Ignauts take Shun and Emilio back to their base, where the boys have to wait inside an empty shelter for awhile. Inside they bicker and fight as usual, until Shun gets momentarily serious and asks Emilio if he really plans to kill his father, which of course he does. Then the silver-haired man named Felix comes to take them to their first task: washing laundry in the river.

Meanwhile Pascal has reached his destination, and he appears to know the man who runs the bakery. It turns out they were colleagues together at the Royal Laboratory (at least as far as I can tell). They sit down for a drink together, and discuss King Delzaine’s plan to restore Babel.  Pascal’s former colleague also tells him about a phenomenon where the number of Warp Particles in Endora are decreasing for some mysterious reason, but it is not a serious issue yet. Lastly the baker gives away Emilio’s deep secret: he’s a wanted man because he tried to kill the king, something Emilio had not yet been ready to reveal to Pascal.

Back at the river, Shun is super enthusiastic about washing laundry. Emilio is much more reluctant though, and the others tease him for not being used to doing laundry because he’s a prince. Demetrio, Louise and Eljuia show up and explain that in the Ignauts everyone is an equal, regardless of their social standing or where they’re from.

While they’re washing all the laundry, Shun strikes up a conversation with Eljuia. Eljuia stands up but slips and falls into the river. The others fish him out, but it struck me as odd how they nonchalantly have a conversation while he’s lying on the ground clearly not breathing. Shun’s the only one who seems to be really concerned. Felix strikes Eljuia’s chest to get him breathing again, and he is revived.

However something is clearly bothering Eljuia. Louise explains that whenever Eljuia is in a dangerous or emotional situation, he can see the future. Emilio is skeptical of Eljuia’s ability, but Shun is excited and asks the long-haired man what he saw. Eljuia reveals that he saw Shun in his world; Shun is thrilled and interprets this as a sign that he will eventually be going home. But Eljuia doesn’t reveal the expression he saw on Shun’s face when he saw into the future…

At Pascal’s hideout, Alicia is waiting for the boys to return, but it’s Pascal who comes back first. He theorizes that the boys have headed towards Babylon, so they reboard Pascal’s jet and use Falarion’s keep sense of smell to follow Shun and Emilio.

The sun starts to fall on the Ignaut’s base camp as Shun is finishing hanging the laundry. Emilio shows up behind him, and the two start to fight again. This time however, the boys get physical as they start to beat the crap out of each other. Each gets bloodier and more bruised until they finally move to make their final blow, but each misses the other and they fall to the ground exhausted.

My thoughts: God I hope this is the end of their fighting. Like sexual tension, the animosity between them has been building towards this climax of a fight, and hopefully this will be the catalyst for a new start between them.

I’m noticing that some of the dialogue is getting really repetitive. I can see why, as not all characters are in the loop and some information bears repeating, but things like Pascal explaining yet again to someone about how he sabotaged Babel under King Delzaine’s nose is getting slightly annoying.

I really like the Ignauts, especially Demetrio and Felix, so this is my favourite episode so far.