Pumpkin Scissors – 07

Summary:
The Pumpkin Scissors team is sent on a mission after receiving an anonymous tip, but it is on a day that Alice has off. As the guys learn from Stekkin, Alice is actually meeting with her fiancé. For now, she’s at home getting dressed under the watch of her two sisters who object to her wearing her dress uniform. They convince her to don a more appropriate dress, and take off the keepsake from her mother from around her neck, though Alice insists on bringing her treasured sword instead. Schultz, the man who’s escorting her to the party, loves how she looks and suggests that they go for a stroll beforehand. Alice isn’t too enthusiastic, but her sisters send her on her way in Schultz’s carriage. While he is talking with her about their future together, Oreld is meanwhile going over their mission with the Machs, Oland, and Mercury-go. It seems that aid supplies haven’t been getting to local population even though they know that the local lord has been receiving them. As they are driving along, they see a food distribution center and all the people lined up there.
Arriving at the lord’s mansion, the group finds all the doors closed to them, so Oreld decides to pick the front gate. Inside, Mercury-go sniffs something and takes off running towards some supplies. This is the missing aid, but the bad smell reveals that it’s rotting. Bullets suddenly start whizzing by, courtesy the guards in a nearby tower, so the group takes cover behind some crates. Machs finds it strange that the interval between shots at them is so short, which means that the enemy can’t be using bolt-action rifles. Instead, he thinks that they must have automatic ones, but Oreld knows that those are still in the experimental stages of development. Pinned down, the guys decide to send Mercury-go with a message asking for help. The standoff lasts until late into the afternoon when one of the lord’s men has an accident with his gun. Oland decides to take this opportunity to launch an attack against the tower, so he sends Oreld and Machs inside after the lord. As he remembers all those people lined up for food at the distribution center earlier, Oland opens his lantern.
By chance, Alice sees Mercury-go running by as she’s out with Schultz, so she calls to the dog. Realizing what’s going on based on the message, she takes Schultz’s carriage and rushes off. The sun has set by the time she crashes through the lord’s front gates, right as Oland is taking bullets wounds and getting ready to shoot at the tower. With the carriage for cover, Oland fires several shots aimed at bringing down the tower though the pillars that hold it up. He succeeds at making the lord and his two guards flee before the roof collapses on them, and those three men are then captured by Oreld and Machs. It is during the subsequent interrogation that Alice learns that the lord was given the guns by a mysterious someone whose identity he doesn’t know. Examining the weapons, Oreld sees no indication anywhere of the manufacturer. After they hand over the lord to the police, Machs points out that there might be a connection the Wolkins and the tank from before.
Outside the residence, Oreld notices that Schultz is approaching them on foot, having run the entire way. The guys assume that Schultz is the fiancé, but then another carriage rolls up to them and another guy gets out. Alice recognizes this person as Leonir and he claims that he’s here because wherever she goes is where he goes. Unsure who this man is, Oland, Oreld, and Machs are shocked to learn that he’s Alice’s real fiancé, Leonir Taylor. He sees that her job here is done and extends his arm to escort her to the party. Alice is reluctant to go because of her now dirty dress, but Leonir claims that he’s proud of the her who fights. This causes Alice to blush and take his arm. During the carriage ride, Leonir talks of the lord that Alice was just dealing with as if he knows what was going on. But as it turns out, he does indeed know all about it because he was the one who originally left the group the anonymous tip in the first place.

Preview

Well I hated Schultz as soon as he opened his mouth and started speaking – his voice is just so annoying. Fortunately, he’s not Alice’s actual fiancé as we’re led to believe for most of the episode, which hopefully means that we’ll never see or hear from him again. The real fiancé Leonir doesn’t appear until the end, and he’s much more suave, but I can’t help but feel that he’s evil in some way. He gives off all those sinister-guy-who-plots-in-the-background vibes. Aside from him though, they also seem to be linking these stories with each other through the experimental technology that being mysteriously provided. That’s at least something in terms of overall plot, but I’m still waiting for a major episode that doesn’t feel like case-of-the-week (which is admittedly better than tank-of-the-week).
Next time, the group heads on a snowy mission.