Episode 14: "Guess? Guess Again! The Fairy Princess"
Screenshot Gallery
Ah, fighting class! About time. These girls
could USE some combat training, if how they did during the "Test of Dexterity"
in Heaven is any indication... AAAAA! And it seems that class...isn't going so
well... "Get this thing off me!" It appears that this
bird that just landed on Grenda's shoulder is actually made out of _stone_, or
something. What, is it a "rock dove" that's LITERALLY made out of rock? When
did we get to Xanth all of a sudden...? (Or maybe it isn't that sudden...) "Didn't I tell you?" Geez, now the Queen's
Forgetfullness Disease is _spreading_! :P The Principal explains the test right before
they're going to do it. Actually, I'm a bit confused as to WHAT the test of
the Power of Light was supposed to _be_. When I first saw this episode, I just
assumed they must've been after another Crystal Flower in the forest, but they
didn't get one--and at the end, the Test itself consisted of just standing
around the pentagram dealie and letting the Tiara see into each of their hearts.
So WHY the flipping phrack did they have to go endanger themselves in the forest?!
There was no purpose to it! Other than to introduce Beth of course, but _sheesh_... You don't get out much, do you, Kokoru? She's been going
to this school for half a year and never bothered to look behind it? Odd... AVAST! REEF THE TOPS'LS! No, just kidding...it's just
a nice shot of the four girls on their little boat trip. (I just saw the "new"
(December 2003) Horatio Hornblower TV-movie recently, can you tell? ;)) And so they immediately get lost. Anybody remember where
we parked-er, docked...? There's something out there... What is it about this shot
that makes me think raptors are gonna close in on 'em from all four directions? EEEK! Hey, didn't this happen to her, just, like, _yesterday_...? "I'll save you!" A worried Yuushi rushes over as something
cuts the rope that was holding Kokoru in the air and she (Kokoru, duh) starts to fall. But before
Yuushi can get there... ...somebody ELSE rescues her instead. Here we get our first good look at
the rescuer. "Thank you!" Polite as always, Kokoru makes sure to properly thank her
saviour. I must say, however, that _I_ always find it a good idea to be polite to ANYbody who can
defy gravity and leap off of trees like that... And we have...our Fairy person! The new person introduces herself. "You're a girl?!" Heh. Ya know, what with Beth's rather deep voice,
kinda tall (for these guys) height, tomboyish clothes, and short hair, I was _wondering_ if we were going to
have another "Haruka" type on our hands, here... You just can't get good help these days. Beth complains about her servant. I HATE cute... Berubel introduces herself. By the way, I think now would be a good time
to put forth my theory about "Engrish" and the translations of these names...Berubel...it instantly struck me that
maybe the "eru" part is their attempt at saying an "l", in which case her name would be: BLUEBELL!--a _very_ proper
name for a fairy. Following that pattern, I think that Erumina's name just might be _Lumina_-tres appropriate for the
Princess of _Light_, (so to speak), eh? and Grenda just might be the ordinary name GLENDA. I could be wrong, and in fact
I _like_ "Grenda" better as a name; it's different, and it fits her better than the more gentle, ordinary-sounding "Glenda".
And Erumina sounds much prettier than Lumina, especially when Erumina is said with a rolled r. But I DO wonder about the fairy's
name..."Bluebell" would fit her _really_ well... Listen to the demon! Grenda gets it. And by the way...she's _our_ rival? When exactly did these four
other _rivals_ become an "our"? ;) Pleased to meet you. Yuushi shakes hands with the new Candidate anyway. "The fifth... That's right, Erumina--now all five slots are filled. Human (Yuushi), Spirit (Kokoru), Hell (Grenda),
Heaven (Erumina), and now...Fairy--Beth. (Although they were calling it "Elfland" before. Guess the translators changed their minds. Dumb
question--why does the Princess of Elfland or whatever NOT have pointed ears...? She should be more alien-looking than she is. My opinion.) Why does he always get roped into this kind of thing...? Cube scratches Drago-Sama's back. Let's face it--between
this and the time he was "massaging" Satan's back (by leaping up and down on it), this guy is basically everybody's physical therapist... (Sounds good
ta me!) "How long do I have to keep doing this?" I love when he gets rebellious about his orders and complains... Drago-Sama is worried. Yeah, I'd be worried too, if a friend of mine had been sent off into a creepy dark forest
full of bad guys for like, no actual discernible reason... The dragon makes a request. And we've set the stage for Cube to show up later. Well, that, and it's a really
pretty shot of him that I just had to grab. So sue me. :P That's a good question...why HAVEN'T we seen you around before? Beth explains why she hasn't been coming to classes. "EEEW, YUCK! BUGS!" (shakes head) You know, the "helpeless screaming squeamish female" thing got old, like, several
centuries ago, Kokoru...I mean, I wouldn't LIKE it if a caterpillar landed on me, but I wouldn't actually _freak_ unless it was something that bit or
stung and/or was poisonous. I'm with Beth on this one. After "rescuing" her from the caterpillar, Beth mocks Kokoru a bit. (evil witch voice) Poppiees....Poppies will put her to SLEEP! is what I instantly thought, when Berubel did her little
dance-spell to summon this flower, which would purportedly make Kokoru "feel better". No, I hadn't seen the episode before when I thought that, I just
have a naturally suspicious mind... I don't like that look... Beth seems to be watching Kokoru's reaction to the flower a little TOO closely... Whoah, good stuff, man! Sure enough, Kokoru soon clonks out. Silly-Break! This bumper completely features Cube (about time) and starts off with him tossing
a coin into the pentagram to do his conjuring magic, as usual. However... it turns out that none of the items the hands offer him is what he wants, and he gets more and more bored, until he
sits down, and then _lies_ down and yawns (seen here), and then, finally, the hands get sick of him and a BIG one comes out and SQUASHES him! I didn't show
that, though. ;) Erumina figures out something is wrong... as she finds a feather (of her own; don'tcha just like these _alien_ characters? Heh)
that she put into a tree that they passed...only a little bit ago. Obviously they must be travelling in circles. No sooner thought than done. The _instant_ Erumina figures out they're lost, she pops out her wings and tries to fly above the
forest canopy to get proper bearings. Grenda summons her broomstick from a dark portal thingie and (reluctantly) takes Yuushi along as well. Blown away! The same "strange wind" that made Cube and Drago-Sama worry earlier is much stronger here, and it blows everybody WAY
off course within seconds. "Oh, no! They're coming! Not good!" A nice shot of Berubel hiding behind a tree, as she watches the three girls come barrelling
down out of the sky towards her. Boy, Grenda doesn't mess around, does she? The second they catch Berubel (in a butterfly net, ha!) Grenda starts SQUEEZING her and
making rather nasty threats. Not that I blame her, but... She cuts right to the chase. Notice Angel-Girl isn't exactly squeaming about interrogating prisoners under threat of pain,
either. (I tells ya, she reminds me of Seven of Nine sometimes...efficient and "perfect", yes, but also with a rather large cold and merciless streak!) Already said too much. Oops! You might as well just keep your mouth entirely _closed_, Berubel... "We'll SQUEEZE the truth out of ya!" And notice that _all three_ girls, including Yuushi, have equally mean looks on their faces.
Yikes! But when it concerns a friend, then it's important enough to be worth getting a little "dark" over. The girl in the bubble. Meanwhile, Kokoru wakes up to find herself in a weird bubble-like thing, floating over a small pond. ZAP! Geez, girl, didn't anybody ever tell you _not_ to touch force-fields...? Beth states her terms. "You throw me the idol, I throw you the whip", huh, I don't THINK so... Defiant! Kokoru gives Beth the only answer a heroine worth her salt CAN give. (Although I wish she said it in a more forceful
_way_..."No way..." said quietly and vaguely doesn't quite do the trick. It should be more like "NEVER!! I'll rot in here for a thousand years before I'd give in
to YOUR demands!!" or something like that. Hey, ya gotta do these things _right_...) Here comes the cavalry! Yuushi, Grenda and Erumina--to the rescue! Damn! This throws a little monkey-wrench into Beth's plans. "Spirits of water, heed my call..." That energy-gathering thing sure looks ominous... GET OUTTA HERE! A shot from the chase scene, which was so fast and hectic it was hard to take really _good_ shots of. Water dragons! That is to say, elemental dragon/serpent things, made _out of_ water. Hey, Chaos! I think your relatives are here... SERVANTS TO THE RESCUE! Huzzah! It's not only Cube, but he brought Gaga, Chow, Barizan, _and_ Jing with him! "CUBE!!" yells Yuushi. Nice to see he's properly appreciated _some_times, at least... Barizan the knight! Barizan fights the dragons with a heated-up shield. How did it get heated up? Easy--Jing breathed fire on
it. That's right--Jing was actually _useful_ in this episode! (Gasp! Well, he HAS done practically nothing but be the obligatory "cute little animal sidekick,
suitable for greeting cards" up until now...sorry, but I've just never liked him much. He "cuted up" the first episode so much that I almost thought the show was going
to be TOO kiddie for me and almost didn't keep watching it...but the episode got better after that, what with breaking into the castle and everything, so it's okay.) Chow asks the others to help his Mistress as a proper servant should. Let these guys fight--go rescue Kokoru! Which was, after all, the main
point of Yuushi, Grenda, and Erumina showing up here in the first place... YOU SHALL NOT PASS! Gaga holds the line against the water-dragons, all brave and everything... ...for a second... anyway, until suddenly his hip goes out. He's proud of having been in service for 1,004 years...but it seems there are
_disadvantages_ to that, as well! (Even by demon terms, I guess he's getting a bit elderly...) Then Cube, the little upstart punk _kid_ servant, just HAS to make a
remark about Gaga's age. Bwahaha. (Well, it's not that I approve of making fun of old people in real life...what I approve of, is Cube getting angrier, more sarcastic, more
rebellious, and less subservient--I like his talking back to Gaga (even when mean or uncalled for) because it shows he (Cube) is becoming more his own PERSON. Just thought I should
clear that up.) The dragons attack just one more time, but then they suddenly...fall apart, into seperate droplets of water. What could be causing this
temporary reprieve...? The sorcoress lost concentration on the spell, that's what. Beth is totally exhausted and can't keep the water-dragons going any
longer--evidently it takes real energy to do a spell like that, and I'm not surprised. "This is NOT a game to me!" Beth explains why she's so totally ruthless, why she's willing to do ANYthing to get the Tiara. But you need a _good
heart_ to get the Tiara, as Kokoru points out...is acting like this really a good idea, if you want to become the Platina Princess? (As for what Beth's actually saying
here, two of the other candidates aren't _playing_ at being a Princess at all, they ARE princesses, but I get what she means...) "Are you all right?" Kokoru's bubble breaks open and she is dumped into the water--thank goodness it wasn't very deep. Back at the Academy the Queen says that now is the time for the Test of Light. (Which means that the expedition in the forest was NOT
part of it and was totally useless unless it was for "strengthening their hearts", but we've already DONE plenty of that before and..never mind, I'm rambling again...) Yuushi is tested by the light, which strikes her pendant and sees into her heart. (The others got zapped similarly, but since there wasn't
any good GROUP shot of it happening and it would be tiresome to show seperate pictures of all four (four, yes, Beth didn't come, of course) I chose to do only one of the
_title_ character.) ALL of them?! Erumina has figured out what _really_ unites the five candidates...what they all have in common. The main question, however, is
what it has always been--WHY? (And can the person who gets the Tiara break _all_ the curses once she has it on, or will the Tiara's powers work only on the person who
_wears_ it...?) A nice shot of the Eternal Tiara itself. Since this thing is the object of all these quests and part-time jobs and classes, I thought I should SHOW
it at some point... Step forward into the future. The FIVE candidates, yes, including Beth--all wearing school uniforms, and all standing together (from the
end credits). Shades of things to come...?
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