LAP 06
Kate Alen the Diva

In the dead of night, an F-Zero pilot finishes up on a bit of carefree driving and is hit by a spotlight once she exits her machine. This is the famous singer, Kate Alen, and Jody Summer has been asked by her manager Gordon to protect her after she began receiving threats. Kate tries to brush it off as her manager being a worrywort, and being the work of nothing but overenthusiastic fans.

Jody tells her why this is serious: the threats are from Zoda, wanting her to win prize money for him, but she's refused. Darn right she refused, Kate Alen works for no one! Jody leaves, saying the Galaxy Mobile Platoon will arrange protection for her before she goes; Kate is miffed. She hates having decisions made for her.

The next morning, Ryu and EAD are visiting where Kate Alen's next concert will be held and find Gordon, a diminuitive little creature in a smashing suit. He's impressed the Galaxy Mobile Platoon responded so quickly; being tight with director Tanaka obviously has benefits. The two are led to Kate's dressing room to serve as her bodyguards. For so-called policemen they're quite unusual looking, and she asks to know what department they're from; that's classified information. She's unhappy with the situation, but she doesn't fight it. She's got a show to perform.

She sings to a packed audience, but the Platoon are too busy securing the area to appreciate it; Jody sits in the parking lot while the rest are keeping an eye on the crowd. Ryu and EAD have the backstage covered, though the robot is sitting watching Kate perform from behind the curtain. He's concerned the robot has dozed off, but he's simply enjoying the song. Ryu admits he never liked it, feeling it's lacking soul.

After the show Kate and her bodyguards return to her mansion, though the singer tries to sneak out for a spin in her F-Zero machine. Ryu and EAD forbid it, but Jody appears to call them off, letting Kate know that she's their superior. She demands to know what police department they work for, but she's told she doesn't need to know that, and not to worry about it. EAD moves aside and Kate is allowed to leave.

Kate takes the highway overlooking the city, with the whole Platoon following closely after her. EAD wishes to know why she was allowed to leave, but Jody tells him just to follow his orders.
The singer leaves the city and enters the beach, rolling down her windscreen to enjoy the fresh air...

... only for armoured gun-pods to appear from over the dune! Bio Rex and Octoman open fire on the Super Piranha, but EAD guards Kate's machine with his the hull of his Great Star. They quickly veer off, pursued by the rest of the Platoon...

... while EAD attends to Kate, whose machine is wedged in the sand. He takes her back to her mansion, where she has a chance to express how scared she was. The others can track down her attackers, but EAD's number one duty is her safety. Kate is touched by the robot's loyalty, and rewards him with a peck on the cheek. A bit flushed, EAD leaves to return to his post.

As he makes his way to the front garden, an unseen assailant suddenly sticks him full of volts, knocking him offline! Ryu returns just in time to hear Kate scream, and he and Gordon find her cowering in the living room; someone was here, she cries. The two follow the open window to the garden and find an awful sight...

EAD lying in pieces!

Come morning, the robot's body is returned to base and patched up by Clash. The good news is he was merely dismantled with no signs of damage; rebuilding him wasn't an issue. The bad news: EAD's memory core is missing.

Everything he sees and hears is recorded in there, a lot of it confidential; there's no way it should fall into the hands of outsiders. While Stewart mulls over why EAD was attacked when Kate should have been the target, Jody considers that whoever assaulted EAD was looking specifically for information on who they are. And they know one person who's been desperate to find out.

Ryu enters Kate's room to find her studying the memory core. She returns it, glad she finally knows who these people are: they're that police division who try to prevent Zoda winning F-Zero prize money. Ryu is miffed. EAD risked his life for her, and this is how she repays him? She thinks he's getting a little upset over a simple robot, and makes her leave; she and Gordon have work to do.
Meanwhile, Jack is upset he wasn't the one to confront Kate; he could've gotten her autograph! Better luck next time, says Lucy.

Before Kate's next show, she finds EAD sitting backstage at his usual post. She asks if he remembers what she did to him, and if he's upset over it. EAD shakes his head without a hint of malice. This frustrates her, but Gordon tries to rush her to the stage - the fans are waiting! She grumbles that she hates singing, and EAD asks her why: he thinks she's a magnificent singer. Kate claims robots wouldn't understand, before making her way to the stage.

The Platoon are summoned to her dressing room afterwards and told she doesn't wish to be protected anymore. They're not protecting her for her own safety, they're using her as bait to lure out Zoda, and that criminal wants to use her to win prize money - she's sick of being used!

EAD tries to calm her down, but she storms out. Gordon is particularly upset by this; Kate was an innocent girl with a real passion for singing when her career began, but the manipulative side of show business left her distrustful of others and bitter of her talents. For all her fame, she must feel incredibly lonely.
A crew member suddenly bursts into the room; Kate's machine has left the parking garage!

The Platoon split up to look for her, covering her mansion, the seashore and the race track. Kate, meanwhile, feels like a weight has lifted from her shoulders; she's free to go anywhere and do anything. Unfortunately, a familiar vehicle slows down in front of her...

... Zoda's Death Anchor! He tries once more to offer her to work for him, but she boosts ahead, saying he can use her if he beats her. Her path is soon blocked by Octoman and Bio Rex...

... who quickly put her machine out of commission. The Super Piranha in flames, Zoda asks her one last time: will she work for him? She refuses once more; she'd never work for criminal scum like him. Well, if there's no chance of convincing her...

... then there's no loss in killing her!

Before Zoda can stab her, Kate is pulled to the ground: EAD to the rescue! Jody and Ryu pull up and try to arrest him, but Zoda zips away with the two in pursuit. Kate is confused; if Zoda is their target, then when why is EAD staying behind with her? As a robot, he may be a tool to be used by others, but he himself would never treat anyone that way. Kate is touched, and takes his hand...

... but EAD falls to the ground, a huge gash in his back from Zoda's knife.
The Dragon Bird and White Cat are hot on Zoda's tail, until he boosts away, Octoman and Bio Rex arriving to stop them from pursuing.

Zoda laps around to where he left the Super Piranha, and prepares to squash Kate into roadkill. EAD rises to his feet once more; he made a promise to protect her, and he'll do everything to accomplish that, even if it destroys him. The robot braces for impact...

...and grabs the front of the Death Anchor, his feet burying into the ground. The machine's motor is going full pelt, and the robot's body is cracking beneath the strain, but neither are going anywhere. Kate cries out his name, but EAD needs a way to stop this thing.

Pushing his strength to the limit, he lifts the Death Anchor up off the ground and topples backwards with a horrible crunch. His machine merely bruised, Zoda scoffs and drives off, while Ryu and Jody stop at the scene...

... to find nothing left of their robot friend.

Amidst the debris, it almost looks like his memory core survived the impact... but it too shatters the moment it's touched. Ryu is furious; this is how far EAD went to protect her, but Kate is finally aware. She lifts a fragment in her hands as tears roll down her cheeks. "What a foolish robot."

Clash has done his best to restore the robot's body, but with the memory core completely unsalvageable, EAD will be back to factory settings. Awakening again, EAD introduces himself to the Platoon as if for the first time.
Kate finishes up her latest performances and returns backstage, almost expecting to find the robot waiting for her.

Gordon invites her out again for an encore, and she agrees: she'll sing EAD's favourite song.
Watching the show on the screen, Ryu asks the robot if he remembers anything. What's to remember? It's a good song, he says. Ryu finally agrees; he feels Kate's finally got the soul back in her singing.

Burt's Classroom: Besides what we learnt from the episode, Kate Alen is a skilled F-Zero racer, and sings a song for the start of each race.

4Kids broadcast: This episode was titled Dangerous Diva. Due to some shuffling around this was the 13th episode to air.

Gordon elaborates on his relationship with Tanaka: "I get him concert tickets and he fixes my parking tickets."

Zoda's knife is given a lime green glow to make it an energy knife...

... and for some reason, the barrels of Rick and Jody's guns are painted red. They already shoot lasers, so what's the point?

(click to enlarge!)
The data text on the memory core appears to be ganked from several unrelated news stories. This won't be the last time we'll see this throughout the series!

I hope you enjoyed EAD's highlight episode! He will proceed to do absolutely nothing of worth for the remainder of the series.