黙示戦隊スカイファイター
Apocalypse Sentai Skyfighter

Fear Itself!

Part 2 of 2. The Skyfighters must find a way to confront their fears... and confront the evil mastermind behind their hallucinatory attacks, Fear Sensei!

Summary

The cliffhanger repeats, with Davis standing in a fiery cave, Oji and Fear Sensei in front of him. Fear Sensei taunts him, asking how he can be sure Oji isn't just another of his illusions. Davis says he can't tell. Oji snaps him out of it, asking if Davis is afraid of him; realizing he's right, Davis's confidence returns, and he attacks Fear Sensei. The images disappear, revealing Oji and Davis to be alone in the Skyfighter base. Oji tells him that he knows where Fear Sensei is holding up; the only thing they can do is a full out attack. Davis heads out, while Oji tries to contact the rest by radio.

Kari receives Oji's message while standing lost in the street, an unnatural looking thunderstorm raging. In the distance, an impossible, monstrous tower looms far above the rest of the city; he tells her to head towards it. As she heads through the storm, she bumps into Alex fighting a group of Fangwings and becoming overwhelmed, seemingly struck down. But as she charges them, Oji tells her over the radio that Alex is several blocks to the north, and reassures her that whatever she's seeing isn't real. Horrified, she continues on.

Inside the tower, Errol comes face to face with Fear Sensei, transforming. Sensei uses his fear attack on him, knocking him back and overwhelming him with the voices of his teammates haunting him, but he steps forward all the same and attacks, to Sensei's shock. Meanwhile, Davis comes across Sam in front of her school, broken down and crying. Unable to believe it's really her, he contacts Oji to confirm: it is. In her perspective, she's sitting in front of a demolished school, crying that it's all her fault, she was out of control. Davis talks her into some sense, and they continue onwards.

To Kari's relief, she bumps into Alex, both extremely emotional as they reunite. They hold hands as they continue forwards, walking through a precession of Fangwings and people dressed in black. In front of the building they both see a single tombstone. From Alex's perspective, it has Kari's name on it, with that year as her date of death. Both scared, they force themselves to walk past. Alex asks what she just saw; Kari lies, saying it was spiders. In fact, it said the same thing, but with Alex's name. Alex tells her that he saw the same thing.

Inside, Skyfighter Green is still putting up a fight with Fear Sensei. He demands to know why his powers don't seem to be working on him. Green explains that he hasn't been confronted with anything he hasn't seen yet; he's always afraid, but he won't let that weaken him. Just as he admits that he doesn't know whether or not the others will be alright, all four burst in, transforming. After a speech by Davis about how they'll confront their fears together, they defeat Fear Sensei. He vanishes, leaving no trace, and the Skyfighters leave all clearly shaken. Oji cheers them up over the radio, pointing out that they're stronger for the ordeal.

Quotes

Davis: "I don't know! He looks real, but..."
Oji: "Davis, listen to me. He's still making you hallucinate, I can tell. Answer this: are you afraid of me?"
Davis: "No... no, I'm not."
Oji: "Then why would he make me appear?"

Sam: "I lost it. I lost it."
Davis: "You lost what? Sam, what could've happened that you'd break down like this...?"
Sam: "Control! Don't you see? That's all my fault... I was just so angry, I lost control, and now... a lot of people are hurt. I lost control of myself, Davis!"
Davis: "I promise, it's just an illusion. It didn't really happen."
Sam: "Of course it's an illusion! What do you think I am, stupid? But it could've happened! Sometimes, in the heat of things, I get angry, and... it's not real, Davis, but it could have been!"
Davis: "Sam, I need you to focus. I really need you right now, and I definitely need that righteous rage of yours, or we're not going anywhere. He'll have gotten the best of us."
Sam: "But what if I really do lose control? I get so close, sometimes, so close it scares me..."
Davis: "That's what we're here for. Do you believe in us?"
Sam: "...yeah."
Davis: "Then trust me. Right now, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I need you to be angry. I need you to be furious. I need you to kick the ass of the monster that's doing this to us, and I have absolutely the highest faith in you. We all do. I know I can count on you."
Sam: "Then... [ Wipes her face, standing up. ] I'd better not let you down, then."

Alex: "I... I think I was just forced to see my greatest fear there. Are you alright? What did you see?"
Kari: "I'm... I'm fine. It was just, um, spiders. You know how much they scare me. It was a giant spider."
[ Behind her, a tombstone says "ALEXANDER HOSHIKAWA, 1978-1997". ]
Alex: "Yeah... same here. Just spiders."

Fear Sensei: "Why? Why do my powers have no effect on you?! You're supposed to be faced with your greatest fears!"
Errol: "You know what I hear? All I hear is everyone telling me that I've let them down, and that the world is going to be destroyed and there's nothing we can do about it, and that beneath all my swagger I'm just a helpless boy struggling against impossible odds that nobody really has any confidence in. Oh, I hear it alright, you've definitely got me faced with the thing that scares me the most."
Fear Sensei: "Then how can you still fight?"
Errol: "What, you think that's new? You really think that it takes someone like you to scare me? I don't need you to show me what I'm afraid of, I see it all the time! All I hear right now is the same voice of fear and doubt that I've heard for every minute of my life. And if you think for a second, for even one second, that that makes me want to do anything but fight just a little bit harder to prove myself wrong, to prove that I'm not helpless, to hold out even the slimmest bit of hope that the others are going to burst through that door, then you, my friend, have made a terrible misjudgement!"

Comments

• Once again, Errol gets the most ridiculous, rambly speeches.
• Up until this point, it was ambiguous what year the series took place in, but the tombstone makes it pretty firmly set in 1997, the present day.
• Fear Sensei turns out to be way more than just a monster of the day for this two-parter.
• Sam's fears are shown differently every time he shows up. Inconsistent much?