EP03: Night Ride to Vengeance

FADE IN:

The apartment on the eighth and top floor of Hirohito Towers, the tallest building in Neo-Tokyo is a mess. It's been trashed in a violent and one-sided hand-to-hand battle. Six gang members wearing bike leathers and samurai helmets with full face mask have hold of Tokugawa Ryouken and are using him as a battering ram to break the glass window which looks over the city and the street eight storeys below. Smash! Smash! On the third attempt, the window shatter and Ryouken goes flying into the night sky arms flailing. He pulls his GodHammer from the holster in the small of his back and takes aim at an electricty transformer hoping to grab a cable and swing to safety. He missing the cable but succeeds in shorting out the transformer. All the lights in this city block go out. Now he's falling through blackness. Smashing into the tangled web of clothes lines saves him for a second until he realises that his weight is pulling the lines from their mounting on the building wall. He plunges the rest of the distance to the ground, landing in a garbage truck filled with mouldy cabbage and half-eaten pork rolls.

CUT TO:

Chuji and Tedaka Shingen, his friend from 'the old days,' walk the night streets deep in philosophical discussion. Chuji senses the bike behind him - he hears the drawn blade. The biker rides them down. The rider wears black leathers and a full samurai helmet with face plate. Above him flies a sashimono, the traditional three metre tall banner worn samurai to identify themselves. The design of this sashimon is the Tokugawa kamon in reversed colours - a pink clover leaf on black background. Before Chuji can push Tedaka out of the way, the sword-wielding biker slices his head off. Chuji knocks the sword from the biker's hand which goes flying and embeds itself into an awning post. Chuji flips onto the bike and plants his foot into the biker's samurai helmet. The biker almost loses control and Chuji jumps for safety expecting the bike to crash. The rider recovers and disappears into the night. Chuji takes the sword and, kneeling before his dead friend, swears revenge.

CUT TO:

Renshi, Yukishen and Hinemuri walk through the markets examining the wares available. As they walk past a militia check point, an APC with anti-riot "sticky foam" cannon and a squad of troopers, they are bailed up by a young militia lieutenant.

"What do you know of the Sashimon Gang who are causing trouble in the city? They obviously have grudge against you. We know you were involved in a brawl in the Neon Dragon niteclub. Who have you upset lately?"

While Renshi and Hinemuri protest their innocence, Yukishen takes a different tack.

"Haven't I seen you somewhere before. Weren't you at the Golden Lotus dance bar Friday night? I'm sure I danced with you. What do you know of the Sashimono Gang."

Before he knows what hit him, the militiia lieutenant finds himself spilling all he knows about the gang. They are not an ordinary gang into running wild and petty (almost tolerated) crimes. They don't hang out with other gangs and cannot be found in the usual gang hangouts. It seems that they were formed with the express purpose of hunting members of Clan Tokugawa and killing them. Such a group is focused and deadly. So far, the militia know of one street murder and one attempted murder and violent sabotage of a city block. The Shogun cannot allow such a danger to wander the city unchecked.

MONTAGE:

Hinemuri's contacts confirm the lieutenant's information. The gang is not part of the normal youth or underworld scene. From the little the regular gangs know, they Sashimono Gang have sworn vengeance on Clan Tokugawa for some undisclosed wrong. They seem very serious about it. Renshi asks around and discovers that the Gang is unknown in the underground music scene. Yukishen again sees things differently. She starts watching members of Clan Tokugawa to see where the Sashimono Gang is getting its information about the location of its victims.

They discuss the situation and decide that if they cannot easily find the Sashimono Gang, they can easily bring the gang to them. Renshi starts putting out the word at the local bars that he'll race a champion of the Sashimono Gang if only they were brave enough to show their faces rather than skulking in the shadows and attacking while no one's looking. Hinemuri frequents the illegal gambling houses laying bets on Renshi's upcoming race, watching carefully for who takes an inordinate interest in the event. Yukishen follows a messenger who, after picking up a message from from Yokugawa Sanzo's cousin on the evening of the race, makes his way into the back street of the city to Yamomoto's Moto-Workshop.

As the rest of the team prepare for the race and take positions along the track, Yukishen puts under surveillance the shop foreman who received the messase. He makes a phone call then calls out to the lads in the workshop. Shortly thereafter, four bikers ride out of the workshop wearing black bike leather, full samurai helmets with face masks and pink clover on black sashimono flying above them.

CUT TO:

Renshi sits astride his bike on the starting line waiting. After a few minutes, a black rider in full-face samurai helmet with a sashimono rising above him rolls up next to Renshi. They gun their engines, daring each other to jump first. Renshi takes off. They race!

He leads the Samurai Biker on a winding trail through the darkened night-time streets to the defensive wall surrounding the city. They ride along the base of the wall over pipes, loading docks and other obstacles. But Renshi cannot lose the Samurai Rider who slowly gains on him. Renshi draws his sword and slices through a gas main which explodes on a huge ball of orange fire against the night sky. The Samurai Rider races through the flames still on Renshi's tail.

Meanwhile, back at the start line, ten Sashimono Gang members, attired similarly to their racing leader, draw their weapons and prepare to follow him. Their only goal can be to attack Renshi to ensure that he loses the race and possibly his life!

Hinemuri, Ryouken and Chuji attack the bikers, throwing them through the plate-glass fronts of stores and fast food diners. Guns and swords drawn the two forces clash in a fairly even fight until Yukishen, running from the Moto-Workshop, reaches the street battlefield and attacks the bikers from the rear. Chuji discovers one of the Sashimon Gang has the imprint of his sandled foot in his helmet. This must be the man who killed Tedaka Shingen. Chuji, bare-handed, beats the armed and armoured biker until he falls to the ground and moves no more.

Renshi diverts his opponent through the construction site and into the huge concrete pipes ready to be craned into place. Renshi throws his knife at the biker behind him. He knows the knife sticks somewhere in the bike for he doesn't hear it clatter in the pipe. The action, however, throws him off-balance and he slides out the end of the pipe as the Samurai Biker leaps the sliding Renshi and crashes in to three militia APCs as they snap on their spotlights. Blinded by the sudden light, Renshi can only obey the order to put up his hands. The Samurai Biker is revealed as Fujiwara Kenada!

The rest of the team hear the approaching militia sirens and rumble of armoured vehicles and scram leaving the bikers lying amid the ruins of the street. They escape just as the tank tracks on the militia's APCs roll over the broken shop fronts and other debris.

They next day, those of the team not already in custody are summoned to the damiyo's private office. Inside, taking sake with Tokugawa Ieyasu is the Shogun General Meiji. Ieyasu tells tham that they have brought dishonour upon their clan by their actions last night. Fighting in the streets cannot be tolerated in a civilised society. It 3was exactly such patterns of thought which lead to the nuclear war which nearly destroyed humanity.

"As a result," the damiyo intones gravely. "I have negotiated a settlement with Shogun General Meiji which keeps Clan honour as intact as possible. Clan Tokugawa has paid for all the damage you caused last night and for your crimes against the peace of civil society, the Shogun deems it an acceptable punishment for you to accompany Clam Momoyama on an expedition to the Wastelands."

Shogun General Meiji speaks into his radio and a moment later militia troopers enter the office to accompany the prisoners away.

ROLL CREDITS:

The Shen twins dance to a Jap-pop sound track on the left and right of the credits rolling up the centre of the TV screen over a montage showing highlights of the race: Renshi cutting the gas pipes supplying that quarter of the city, Ryougen taking on four sword wielding bikers, Hinemuri taking down Sashimono with a shotgun and Chuji planting his foot on a biker's head.

Return to top