A Battle Fought Alone
| |||||||||||||
| "A Battle Fought Alone" 一人ぼっちの戦い
(Hitoribotchi no Takakai) | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Kodansha | ||||||||||||
| Published in | Comic Bom Bom | ||||||||||||
| First published | July 1999 | ||||||||||||
| Cover date | August 1999 | ||||||||||||
| Script | Shōji Imaki | ||||||||||||
| Artist | Shōji Imaki | ||||||||||||
| Continuity | Beast Wars | ||||||||||||
Preparing to enter the mouth of the giant serpent!
Synopsis
In Dinosaur, Magmatron now had to separate himself into the three dinosaurs, staying in the healing chamber due to the wounds in the last battle with Big Convoy. He ordered his henchmen to go to the planet Jörmungandr to retrieve another capsule.
Meanwhile, the Maximal detected there was another capsule located on the planet Jörmungandr as well. Before setting out to the planet, Big Convoy ordered Longrack in charge of the Gung Ho. Longrack felt depressed becuase he thought the instructor considered that he was not good at fight. Big Convoy told him that he was chosen because he had potential leadership. Big's words cheered Longrack, making him happy and willing to take command. However, now it was Break's turn to feel depressed because he thought he was not favored by the instructor. After leaving the bridge, Big Convoy told Break that he was chosen to the field mission because of his courage. Break became very happy and high-spirited upon hearing this.
When the field team approached the Jörmungandr, there was no sign of its existence until the planet showed up from behind, freaking Break, and possibly Stampy, out. It turned out that Jörmungandr was a comet-like planet with the shape of a serpent's head, roaming across the galaxy, as introduced by Cohrada]. Cohrada then guided the other members into the planet from the serpent's mouth. After landing on the planet's surface, Cohrada told them other information about the planet. Break was wondering how he knew so much and Cohara revealed that Jörmungandr was his home planet. Cohrada told them about the mythology of Scuba Geso Mongō the Squid God, who turned all the native cobra into Transformers. When Break asked Cohrada where were his family, Cohrada said they were all dead.
Meanwhile, on the Gung Ho, Longrack was role-playing as the commander and spotted by Heinrad, who was curious about what the giraffe was doing. Longrack explained that he was simulating what would happen if he became a commander, a rank he desired to be. He further told Heinrad that his desire to be a commander because all of his family members were once Convoys. Just as he was having his moment, two intruders broke in: the Predacon Hydra and Hardhead. Hardhead accidentally cut open Hydra's chest while threatening the Maximals. Hydra demanded an apology, Hardhead committed seppuku. Just as Longrack was wondering their action, Hydra claimed their mission had accomplished — planting a bomb aboard the ship.
Back to Jörmungandr, Cohrada told the others that he witness his father were brutally killed along with other inhabitants during a massacre by an unknown legion of monsters when he was a child. He said he joined the Maximals because he wanted to avenge for his people's death. After learning Cohrada's past, Break felt sorry for him and decided not to call him "Reptilian guy" again. However, the Maximals were soon attacked by the Predacons.
On Gung Ho, Longrack finally found the bomb. NAVI asked if he can defuse it, Longrack was confident, claiming it was no problem as long as he had the manual. He began to defuse the bomb step by step with the help of the manual until the last step — cutting the black or white wire. He became depress, panic, and diffidence. NAVI was mad and scolded him. Not knowing what to do, the spirits of Longrack's father and ancestors suddenly showed up, hinting him to cut the white wire by telling him the family didn't need any white flag.
In the battle on Jörmungandr, while others were fighting, Dead End was happy that he finally met the legendary Big Convoy and asked if he had the honor to fight the one-man army. Big Convoy gave him a positive answer by throwing his Big Cannon away and flipped out his tonfas from the fore arms. The two then had a fierce close quarters combat that both of them enjoyed very much until the Predacon second-in-command Guiledart ordered Saberback shoot both Big Convoy and Dead End so they wouldn't waste the times. Initially, Guiledart was happy because he thought Big Convoy was dead until he was horrified by the raged Big Convoy, who had only few flesh wound and was mad about that his joy was interrupted. Big Convoy quickly picked up the Big Cannon and fired at the Predacon, blowing him into pieces. However, the blast also broke a hole on the planet wall, causing all of them being sucked out to the space. Before being sucked out, Dead End grabbed Big Convoy's shoulder, telling the Maximal that he had a great time to fight with him, so he had no regret. Soon afterward, Saberback used his vine to grab the Big Cannon, while Break was being sucked out into the space. Big Convoy subconsciously chose to let the Big Cannon go and save Break. Due to the powerful suction, Scuba's statue crumbled down into pieces and revealed the capsule hidden inside. The capsule was sucked onto the wall just to plug the hole, stopping the suction.
Back on the Gung Ho, Longrack misinterpreted the hint given by the ancestors and cut the black line — the wrong one. As the bomb started to detonate, Heinrad showed a different facial expression and froze time, reversing it back to the moment when Longrack tried to cut the wrong wire. Heinrad placed Longrack's hand on the correct wire and started time again. Thus, the bomb was successfully defused. Longrack was so happy that his tear started to burst out. NAVI was wondering why the white wire was cut because she remembered Longrack was originally going to cut the black one. No one noticed the poker-faced Heinrad, who stood aside with his eyes wide open as usual.
When heading back to Gung Ho, Big Convoy was trouble about why he chose to save Break and let his Big Cannon go, unaware of the growing bond between he and his trainees. Break thought it was his fault making Big Convoy loose the weapon.
On the Dinosaur, D-NAVI told Magmatron that his second-in-command and the main force were completely destroyed in the battle on the planet Jörmungandr. The Black Ball — which should have been with the Maximals onboard Gung Ho — showed up from nowhere, offering the soldiers that Magmatron needed. Soon, the Blendtrons emerged from the Black Ball with roars.
Later on the Gung Ho, Longrack, now pleased with himself, happily boasted how he saved the day on the ship to the field team members. Later on that day, Stampy walked by Heinrad's room and heard something. He peeped in on Heinrad out of curiosity and saw him looking serious, talking to someone mysterious on his communication screen. Heinrad told his master he'd used his power due to the emergency, but stated there was no possibility that his identity had been blown. Stampy was frightened upon seeing the scene.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
Quotes
"Instructor Big Convoy is really good at handling us."
- —Stampy comments on Big Convoy after seeing how he handle Break and Longrack.
"Uh... why are you here again?"
- —Longrack, troubled and confused, upon seeing Hydra and Hardhead's idiotic action.
"Can you defuse the bomb?"
"Not a problem!! — as long as I have this"
- —Longrack tells NAVI that he is confident that he can defuse the bomb because he has the manual.
"Oh no, the manual doesn't say what to do about this"
- —Longrack is panic because he doesn't know what to do if the manual doesn't provide solutions.
"Listen Longrack, our family don't need any white flag!"
- —The spirits of Longrack's ancestors give him hint that he should cut the white wire.
"I see! So all I need to do is cut the black wire!"
- —Longrack just proves that how dumb he is.
"Um? Didn't he just say he would cut the black wire? Well, never mid."
- —NAVI feels confused after Heirad secretly helped Longrack.
"You just ruined the joy that I haven't had for a long time."
- —Big Convoy is extremely raged towards Guiledart.
"Now I don't have any regret in my whole life!"
- —Dead End tells Big Convoy that he is happy to have a fight with him.
"I never trust anyone except for my Big Cannon, who had accompanied for my whole life. Together, we went through many battles. Then why, why I chose to save this lad I just met instead of Big Cannon."
- —Big Convoy is trouble about why he let his Big Cannon go, unaware of the growing bond between he and his trainees.
Notes
- The issue reveals Cohrada's past, Longrack's family, and whereabouts of Bighorn, Scuba, and Tasmania Kid .
- Judging by the way how Big Convoy handles Break and Longrack, it prove he is not only good at fight, but also being a teacher.
- It is possible that Scuba arrived the planet Jörmungandr with an Angolmois capsule and used the energy to turn the native cobra into Transformers.
- It is reveal what on Cohrada's head is his father's hat.
- Longrack's father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and his ancestors have facial hairs.
- Big Convoy's body is able to sustain Saberback's blast since he has only few flesh wound, while Dead End gets severe wound, even lost an arm, after being shot by Saberback.
- Big Convoy's body is too heavy to be sucked out into the space.
- The Black Ball's true color is revealed, however, his true identity is yet unknown.
- The person whom Heinrad talks to in the last pages is later revealed to be the Ruler of Time and Space, Heinrad's head supervisor.
Continuity notes
- Stampy was frightened upon seeing Heinrad talking to a mysterious figure with serious tone, but Stampy's concern toward this was never mentioned again in later issues.
Real-word references
- Jörmungandr takes its name from Jörmungandr, the "World Serpent" from Norse mythology.
- Bighorn is worshiped by the Peguin-formers in a matter similar to the Japanese Buddhism.
- Hardhead is depicted as a samurai-like character and commits seppuku.
- The Blendtrons are depicted in a way similar to the Lovecraftian mythology.
Trivia
- Big Convoy only orders Longrack to stay on the ship. It's unknown how or why he forget to ordered Heinrad what to do.
- Longrack and Heinrad never transform into robot mode in this issue — yes, Longrack defuses the bomb with tools in his beast mode. We don't know how he manage to hold the tools with giraffe's limbs.
- Longrack is depict as a student with a good grade in the Beast Wars Neo manga. However, when facing a problem, he has to look it up in a manual. What king of a good student is he?
- Hydra is depicted bleeding to death.
- How the Black Ball suddenly shows up in Dinosaur is unknown.
