Even the most poisonous snake in the world...
dies if you smash its head.
Rather than wasting time on petty battles...
we should target the enemy command post.
Command post?
Sure. Good point!
And we'll be more effective if we split up. First, Ryo...
You're Battalion One.
Above all else, the enemy is after you and your Arms...Jabberwock.
Many will be after you. And that's why...
Kei, Yugo: Stick with him.
For Ryo to manifest his power, your support will be essential.
I'm counting on you both.
Okay. I understand.
Aw, man...what a pain!
Battalion Two is Hayato and Juzo.
Roger that.
...Plus, Al and Carol.
What!? You mean I have to babysit!?
Just because you're childish...!
You treat everyone else like one.
They're not just any children. I need your help, Hayato.
Battalion Three: Me, and Takeshi.
Something's up, though, so I'm changing strategy.
I'm depending on you.
For this, your strengths are essential.
Got that, everyone?
Goal 1 is locating the command post.
Yugo...
Use your telepathy to keep everyone in constant contact.
Sure.
Right.
Let's not waste any more time.
Before the enemy's onto us, we'll scatter.
Wow, birthday present, huh? You happy?
Today I'm seven years old. And we're having a party at home.
My mama's making me all my favorite stuff to eat.
Seven years old, wow. Happy Birthday, kid.
Thanks!
If we're in time, that is. The party's at seven...
It's the lights, they're weird.
Something wrong, maybe? They're all red, a while now.
Also...the radio's stopped comin' in. I can't call back the company.
We need to get home soon, Papa, or Mama'll be...
Near Main Street.
Awful.
Misa, can you hear it?
Yes, and we can see it, too.
It's begun.
No doubt, this is it...Snark Hunt.
How cruel...
They froze the traffic lights, sticking dozens of people in place.
Misa, this "Snark Hunt "... what kind of strategy is it?
It was back in the '80s, wasn't it...?
Yes, 1987. Middle East, tiny nation of Targus Republic...
The ruling regime used it to install people taken during the revolution.
Playing on human fears, they wore away the people's dignity...
an evil psychology, indeed.
The revolutionary gov't, which the people ought to have welcomed...
was instead destroyed by them.
The advisor behind the "Snark Hunt "...
was one Colonel Gauss Gall...
a military psychological tactician.
He was over 80 even then, and surely would be retired by now...
Time at last.
A declaration of war!
Stop making excuses!
Dispatch the entire force, I said!
Inspector Kabuto, you've no right to order me, for one thing.
We need first wait for the media, to get back on air.
Without information, how can we...?
By using your eyes and your ears, how's that!?
Huh!? Huh!??
Wh What are you...
Look, I know! Your eyes and ears, they're controlled by the Egregori.
I know the higher ups have left you to try and hide what's happening.
I I don't know what you... How did
Fine! Act dumb!
But this goes beyond any promotion for your sad little career, and...
Kabuto, the TV's back on!
The networks, they back?
No, cable only.
The mayor's on the news, but...
something's wrong.
... To, ah, all citizens of Aisora City...
A At the moment, the city is...
cut off, from outside contact.
An unknown military force has, ah...
taken over the city, still...ah...
your safety is guaranteed.
Proof of that safety is...that, uh...
How was that? I
Citizens of Aisora City...
THERE'S your proof!
Whether you live, or die...
kindly remember that it is WE who control your destiny.
My name is Gauss... Colonel Gauss Gall, if you please.
Gauss...
Our business here is simple, really...
Merely turn over these nine by midnight.
If our demands are not met by the time limit we've set...
we commence our offensive against the city...
with orders to kill everyone in sight.
But that's dirty!
They're making the whole city into our enemy.
So this...is a "Snark Hunt. "
As proof of our sincerity, here's one more thing.
At the bomb site, a number of people equal to our wanted list...
will be publicly executed.
Papa!
Papa...!!
The smell of gunpowder and blood...
the "burn " in the air of a battlefield...
so rejuvenating!
I'm coming alive...
one by one, all my old cells.
Truly, the Egregori is sublime!
They've given me a young body and all the tools of war I need...
to implement my ideal strategy!
Damn them... I can't take this. I'm gonna go out there and...!!
Stop it, idiot!
Go now and you fall into their trap.
Let go! Calm down! what are you, a kid!?
Let go! and stay outta
Hayato...they speak the truth.
If they discover their strategy works to our benefit...
even more will die.
Get it!?
Endure! Hayato, you must learn to endure!!
G Granpa...
Stop, please!
Papa!
Take me... I'll take her place!
Let Aya...let my daughter go!
P...Papa...!!
Stop, don't move.
Not unless... you wanna join your Papa.
You bastards...
What you've done...isn't it enough!?
I can't stand it!!
If you're gonna shoot, aim for me!
I, Hayato Shingu, will send you straight to hell!
Hang on, little girl... I'll take revenge for you.
N No...
No o o!!
Hey...
Look at his arm.
Not a strap on, is it.
Is he even human?
Citizens of Aisora City!
He is one of the nine we seek... Hayato Shingu!
As you can see, he's no normal human being.
He hides a dangerous weapon in his body...
created via genetic manipulation...
a human weapon!
"Arms" is what they're called. They are extremely dangerous.
They are why we are here!
Well, citizens!?
Hand over these nine enemies of your city to us!
Hayato...
Run! NOW!
Bastard! This is all 'cause of you!!
Get out!
Yeah!
Get out of our town!
But... You're wrong! I... I only...
Hey! If we hand him over, nothin'll happen to us, right!?
Those are our orders, all right.
Okay, then!
Let's get him, yeah!
Get him!!
Get him! Get him!
And don't be afraid, either!!
Stop...
Stop...!
So, Gauss... How many plants do you have there?
Less than you'd think.
If one acts, three follow.
If three act, a dozen follow.
Fear and anger...
By use of these two emotions alone...
It's so easy, pulling their strings.
They're like a pack of rats, really.
And that makes the Red Caps the sly cat...
motivating the rats to round up for him the "Arms. "
Wait, damn you!
Stop... Stop, please.
I don't want to fight you.
Outta the way! Leave 'im to us!!
Stop!
Twist!
Hurry, get in!
I'm gonna punch it... everyone hang on!
Whoa, whoa! Can you even drive!?
'Course I can! This thing's like a toy to me...
Toy, right!! You can't even reach the brake!!
At least he lost the pursuers.
Gonna get tougher from here on in, though.
Damn you anyway! I knew you were stupid...
but not that stupid!!
Now we're all outcasts for sure!
Can't be helped...
That she got scared.
Look...
even before I met Takatsuki and Takeshi...
I was fighting the Egregori.
I'd seek them out, then smash 'em to bits.
To take revenge for my father.
That's why... I wanted to be strong.
Jabberwock...
How I envied Takatsuki.
If it could get me vengeance, I wanted that power.
How I wanted it.
I saw, too...
how much Takatsuki suffered for it.
That girl's eyes...
She watched me wield my Arms.
She saw right through me...
my hate filled heart...
right through.
I...
Hayato. It hurts, knowing how you feel.
But if your heart were so hateful, you couldn't shed such tears.
How you've changed, huh?
Not that long ago, personal revenge was your only concern.
Imagine! you! acting for others.
If you ask me, you're doing just fine, Hayato.
Yeah... Maybe so. And this is no time for self pity.
Takatsuki, hey. Answer if you can hear.
Hayato! Where are you!?
Takatsuki, I'll be the decoy to lure out the troops.
Use that time to find the command post.
But...if you do that, you...
Pft! who cares.
If we keep hiding, they'll just...
I never want to see that again. Not EVER.
You've chosen a tough road, Hayato.
Don't I know it.
But the choice is mine. I'm gonna do it...enjoy it, even.
Sounds like they've arrived.
Speaking of which... Old Man, I leave the babysitting to you.
Hey, hey.
What's the rush? In such a hurry to die?
I'm not ready to let go quite yet. You're my one and only heir...
"Okay, I'm off... " What kind of parting is that?
Puh leeze. He really is stupid.
The more decoys, the better.
My psychokinesis will help, too.
You guys...
'Sides, with that brain of yours, they'll catch you in no time.
Come on! Now who's the stupid one!?
Competing with me for most hated person in town??
Let's go, then...
We'll launch the biggest game of tag Japan's ever seen!
Find him!
Where is he!?
Find him! He must be near.
Over here! You wanna die, here I am!
There! And he's alone!!
Everyone, after him!
Twist!
Why, you!
Idiots! You're doing just what they want.
Maybe a Shingu style ass whuppin' will open your eyes.
Move! Move!
Jerk! Turning our own tools against us...
He e e re, kitty kitty.
Dear, dear. Hardly subtle, are they.
We'd best get going too, Takeshi.
But...
Yes? What is it.
Why'd you pick me?
My Arms extends very little.
I'll only slow you down...
No way, not a chance.
Estimated enemy forces...
battlefield analysis...
responsiveness as battle goes on...
all these things, I considered...
ranking "best order."
In other words, what I need is you.
Our particular mission is to find something...
something only you can find.
Such as?
Such as...most likely, over there.
Aisora Tower...highest and most centrally located building in town.
Inside is a hotel and shopping center.
There's sure to be a bomb, planted by the enemy.
That's what we must find.
B Bomb!? No way.
Way.
Given the enemy's true objective, it's too perfect a location not to.
True objective?
In 1987...
during the Snark Hunt conducted by Col. Gauss Gall...
there was a second phase.
That's right.
In order to quell any future revolutionary overthrow...
every citizen in town was annihilated...
leaving only buildings and structures intact.
Only living things were incinerated.
An ultimate weapon.
Using it, the population could be rebuilt from zero.
And now...
in order to hide the truth of what happened in this city, they...
But that's...
This particular bomb is most effective in high altitudes.
No way.
I can't.
I'm too scared for...
I It's impossible.
Takatsuki, Hayato... I'm not like them.
I don't have their courage.
True. You're not like them.
The way you fight.
The reason you fight.
It's why I picked you!
"Courage..." Yeah, right.
I don't have it either.
Then again...
to see my son, or other innocents...
killed, and not lift a finger...!
Not when...
when I...
love Ryo, and everyone else.
It's how I've always fought, personally.
I...
Duck!
Well? Shall we, Takeshi?
Watch me bring it forth...
your true power!