Everyone is surprised to see ParadEmu henshin. Hiiro and Taiga henshin, but ParadEmu swats them away before leaving.
ParadEmu surprises Graphite before revealing himself by coming out of Emu’s body. Emu demands Parado tell him what he just did to him. Parado says this is what happens if Emu refuses to play with him.
Parado asks if Emu will be more willing to play if he levels up. Parado tries using Emu’s driver to henshin, but it doesn’t work. Graphite offers to kill Emu right this minute, but Parado wants to do Emu himself.
Emu wants to know why Parado wants to play so bad. Parado asks “Isn’t this what you always desired?”
Back at the CR, the couples are realizing that Parado must be the Bugster that was born out of Emu.
Parado confirms this theory with an expository explanation of how Emu as a child came up with many different games so he could have someone to play with. That someone was Parado who says he has always been by Emu’s side, watching over him.
And that’s because he really is the Bugster Emu is infected with. Because of that, Parado believes, they are fated to battle.
Parado forces himself into Emu’s body again. They henshin to Mighty Brothers XX and by doubling up, Emu and Parado are able to separate while henshined into each Mighty Brother. Emu in the usual teal and Parado with the orange.
The CR crew continue putting the pieces together saying it took 10 years for Parado to grow inside Emu’s body. And Nico realizes the M she lost to at the tournament six years ago was Parado who was inside of Emu. And Kuroto used Dr. Pac-Man to separate Emu and Parado.
So to cure Emu of his Game Syndrome, they have to kill Parado.
The boku and ore are fighting in the park, but Parado very much has the upper hand on Emu. Parado says this isn’t any fun so he tosses Emu the Gashacon Key Slasher and Gashat, but Emu isn’t using them to fight back. Parado says he created Chronicle just so they can play with each other.
Parado says Emu’s desire to play has brought about the end of humanity. Emu refuses to accept that.
While out for a stroll, Nico wants to apologize to Emu and vows to defeat Parado. At the CR, Hiiro is eager to defeat Parado, but Poppy points out that they won’t be able to do anything if Parado forces himself inside Emu again.
Poppy is grateful for Emu saving her, so now she wants to return the favor and also bring back his smile. When Hiiro mentions this all being Kuroto’s fault, Poppy gets a strange memory of young Kuroto making sure to include an infection countermeasure since the Bugsters might be too risky. The memory must be from the person Poppy infected.
As Poppy quickly leaves to find more information, Hiiro gets an emergency call about Emu and Parado playing with each other.
Hiiro, Taiga and Nico arrive to watch Parado being annoyed Emu isn’t putting up much of a fight. Parado does not appreciate having people interrupt his playtime with Emu.
Parado basically tells Emu that because they share the same genes and memories, he is the reason Emu is still alive. Parado helped Emu survive the big stress from finding out he was infected. So Parado has the power to decide Emu’s ultimate fate.
Emu wants Parado to shut up. So Parado says to show him who’s boss. That’s the only way.
Emu finally gives it his all as he and Parado take their fight to the Toei quarry.
Emu fires a Maximum Mighty Critical Finish at Parado who seems to happily take it as he dehenshins. Emu is also forced to dehenshin. Hiiro, Nico and Taiga run over to Emu.
“Get out of my body!!!”
Parado just laughs. He is nowhere near a loss. In fact, Emu’s reprogramming now means he has M’s human genes. And that means he can level up and use a human Driver to do it. He henshins using both Knockout Fighter and Perfect Puzzle to reach Level 99/Perfect Knockout.
Taiga tells Nico to take Emu to safety as he and Hiiro henshin. They try to give Parado their best, but nothing is able to even leave a scratch. Parado is able to counter every single attack they hurl at him. Parado delivers a Perfect Critical Finish at Taiga, forcing him to dehenshin. Nico runs over to make sure her boyfriend is alright.
Hiiro picks up the Level 50 Gashat and uphenshins. It’s the same story though as Parado counters all his attacks and delivers a Knockout Critical Finish to force to Hiiro dehenshin.
An enraged Emu henshins to maximum. Parado revs up a Perfect Knock Out Critical Bomber while Emu has a Maximum Critical Break. Parado wins this game of chicken and forces Emu to dehenshin. Now that they’re on the same level, Parado solely has the power to decide Emu’s fate.
Hiiro and Taiga go to pick Emu up so they can retreat. But Parado will not have the take his playmate. He seems to insert himself into Emu again. ParadEmu kick Hiiro and Taiga to the ground.
Nico confronts Parado who just laughs and says he looks forward to their rematch now six years after their first face off.
Meanwhile, Poppy digs through Kuroto’s lair and gets more memory flashes. They come in such succession that allows her to follow “young Kuroto” through backdoors and rooms. She ends up at a chest which contains the Proto Mighty Action X Gashat.
Episode Thoughts
It was a very solid episode. It basically confirmed what many people had already been speculating re: Emu and Parado’s real relationship. I guess it’s a good explanation of Parado being a creeper at Emu all the time. But moving forward, I hope we get more backstory on Parado and dig deeper into his real motivations other than “I want to play with you!”
I mentioned after the big Taiga/Nico episode that I was sad it seemed like the end of Nico’s gamer story. But it looks like they’ve got a nice little thread to play around with in Nico wanting revenge on M/Parado and not Emu anymore. Hope that finally gets Nico some good writing.
Poppy going off on her own was good. I hope that wasn’t the last we’ve seen of her memories or the person she infected originally. The ProtoDrive… I mean, Proto Gashat should be interesting to see play out.
It was great seeing everyone involved in a big way this episode. Except maybe Graphite. He definitely hasn’t gotten much to work with except for that duel promise with Taiga. But this episode helped to give the appearance of stakes being raised. Have they really? Not sure yet. But at least it felt like are starting the next arc of the season.
Elsewhere, I liked the nice music when Parado was basically owning Taiga and Hiiro. New music I think? It worked very well.
Overall this was a pretty good episode. Lots of exposition, but getting it out of the way hopefully brings us more exciting action.