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Seal Of The Brothers: Van, riding the guymelef Escaflowne in its dragon mode, leads his Zaibach pursuers away from the airship Crusade in which Hitomi, Allen, etc. are escaping. He lands Escaflowne, transforming it to battle-knight mode. Unfortunately he cannot see his camouflaged enemy at all, only the foot prints of their robot suits. The Zaibach attack. Dilandau's guymelef repeatedly strikes Escaflowne, while Van, unable to see anything, cannot retaliate effectively. Folken gives instructions to Dilandau by radio, and the captured Escaflowne is brought to the Zaibach base. Folken opens Escaflowne by putting his hand into the control jewel on the guymelef's breast. A dazed Van falls out at the feet of Folken and Dilandau. Dilandau recollects his previous meeting with Van at Allen's castle. Allen's men work to repair the wing of the Crusade which was damaged in the fighting. Hitomi is anxious about Van. She tries to convince a sceptical Allan of her divining powers. Eventually she tells Allan some facts about his family, which convinces him she has some ability. He produces a map and asks Hitomi to use it to find Van's location. Van is in a cell. Folken enters, and we learn that Folken is Van's older brother, whom he has not seen for ten years. An answer eludes Hitomi till Merle gets Hitomi, Allan and herself to link hands holding the pendant. Almost at once they locate the map position where Van is held. The Crusade finds a great hole, half screened by floating rocks, and descends rapidly, half out of control. They throw out anchors and board the Zaibach flying fort. The attack meets with little resistance. Allan takes a prisoner and forces him to disclose Van's whereabouts. Hitomi senses that Van is in danger, and leaps across the wide gap to the Zaibach fortress. Van, free, heads for Escaflowne, but is confronted by an armed Dilandau. Folken, standing higher up in the structure, throws his brother a sword. Van is unsighted, and only survives a murderous rush from Dilandau because of Hitomi's shouted warning. Dilandau receives a cut on the face. Evidently everybody makes it back to the Crusade, and, though we don't see this, Van has recovered Escaflowne. They thank Hitomi for her key role in the action. Capitol Of Intrigue: The Crusade is cruising. Van looks at his newly acquired sword and wonders about his brother. They arrive at a city with many canals, by the sea. This is the capital of Astoria. On landing, they are greeted by Princess Millerna. Allen introduces his companions, Van of Fanelia, Merle, Hitomi. Hitomi starts to say that she comes from the Mystic Moon, but Merle steps on Hitomi's foot. Allen visits the Court, but gets a rather cool reception, no doubt because Folken is there, representing the Zaibach Empire. Hitomi gets a new long dress. She asks if it looks OK. The ladies assure her that it is, and offer to dispose of her old school uniform, but Hitomi snatches it back. At the landing site, Astoria soldiers appear and arrest the crew, and cut the ropes securing the covers on the guymelef Escaflowne, revealing the giant guymelef. Hitomi is taken for an excursion to the market, where she is astonished to see people with fish and animal heads. On a junk stall she spots, amazingly, a CD from Earth. She takes a portable CD player out of her bag and plugs it in, and hears some romantic music from Earth... Hitomi's thoughts of home are interrupted by an urgent premonition that Van is in danger. She dashes off. "Strange girl!" says one of the ladies. Merle trails after, a general hindrance as usual. Hitomi pauses to rip off the bottom of her skirt so she can run faster. Van meanwhile has spotted his brother and is following him. Folken stops on a bridge on the other side of which a dark coach has drawn up. Van approaches and the two brothers argue. Van is accusing Folken of the obvious sins. "That Folken is dead," says Folken. Dilandau is observing all this from a Zaibach flying fort, and gets into one of the robot suits. He extends a metal tentacle in a long-range attack. Hitomi reaches the bridge just in time to warn Van as the metal tentacle slams down. Hitomi falls on top of Van. Folken says that the attack wasn't his fault. Dilandau's mecha, plainly overstressed, blows up around him. Folken departs in the carriage, as Merle and some Astoria soldiers arrive. The soldiers ask Van if he is Van of Fanelia. In an arena, Van in Escaflowne is obliged to take part in a tournament against three local mecha. Hitomi, Allen, Merle, and the king are watching. The king and his adviser remark that Van is the one to watch. Hitomi thinks of her earlier premonition that Van was in danger and wonders if this applied to the current situation instead. |
