LAP 07
Michael Chain's Trap

While waiting for a coffee at Falcon House, Ryu listens in to a news broadcast reporting the disappearance of yet another F-Zero pilot, the third one so far. His coffee is delivered by Dream, a new employee at the café; she's a huge fan of Ryu and watches all his races with her boyfriend. She wishes him the best for the Mute City Grand Prix, though Burt tells him to be cautious, what with all the kidnappings.

Ryu does superb during the Grand Prix and is in first place, closely followed by the King Meteor, piloted by Super Arrow. Determined to win, Super Arrow begins spinning his machine, preparing to ram the Dragon Bird right in the rear...

He spots this just in time and boosts ahead, leaving the King Meteor to crash right into a wall. He stills makes second place, while the crowd goes wild for Ryu's victory, Dream and her boyfriend among them.
The Platoon gather to celebrate, and notice he pushed himself extra hard this race, and they want to know why. Jack believes he was trying to impress some hot babe, while EAD thinks it was nothing more than determination. Dr. Stewart theorises he wanted to goad out whoever's been kidnapping racers. "If he comes out, so be it", Ryu answers, and takes off.

On the highway home, Dream and her boyfriend pass Ryu in their expensive vintage car, but are surrounded by a swarm of uncouth hooligans just as they take the exit. They lead the two of them to the lakeside park and begin banging up their car, dragging the two of them out to rough them up. However, a heroic figure appears just in time...

It's Super Arrow!

He is the representative of justice and all things good, and he is here to kick their keisters! His dramatic entrance is dampened slightly when he falls off the car roof and onto his bum, requiring his wife Mrs. Arrow to tell him what a great hero he is to boost his confidence. The punks decide these two will be more fun beating the snot out of, and the supposed heroes scream in fright.

It's a good thing Ryu was following after, or else there'd be no one to save these weirdos. They might have some nasty looking steel pipes, but Ryu has the skills to dodge all of their attacks and down each of them in a single blow...

... and once everyone's tush has scraped the tarmac, the punks deem it wise to make a run for it. Super Arrow's owl critiques his master's skills, while Dream thanks Ryu and introduces him to Torukamu, her boyfriend.
Ryu tells this to the guys back at headquarters, and knowing they're racers, Torukamu has invited them all to dinner at his place; they're honoured, though Lucy is the only one to accept. Super Arrow and Mrs. Arrow are invited as well, so it'll still be a decent crowd.

Torukamu's place is mighty swank indeed, an elaborate mansion staffed by its own servants. He tells them he only met Dream a mere ten days ago: he had been injured and left for dead on the streets of Mute City, when Dream appeared to revive him. She stayed with him by his hospital bed, and the two have been together since.

Lucy and Mrs. Arrow are keen to hear Dream's side of it - is she in it for the money? She says no; she wishes only to be with the man she loves, and she needs no other reason.
Meanwhile, Jody pays a visit to director Tanaka, who's hyperventilating over his impending report to the chief on the missing pilots. He's buzzed to come in, and that's when he really goes to pieces...

He composes himself just before entering the door, only to end up giving his report to a bust of the chief. His chief points him to a visitor, the president of the Catherine Consortium, whose daughter came to Mute City three weeks ago to meet her boyfriend, but hasn't been seen since. What's worse, she isn't marrying the man he's chosen for her! He hands him a photograph in the hopes of tracking her down.

Back at the mansion, Torukamu invites everyone to the other room to show them something, though Dream is excluded. Super Arrow, being a world class detective, believes it to be a gift for Dream... but it is instead a dank basement with a couple of sofas. The racers pile onto them, expecting something exciting.

They're instead trapped behind a laser grid, walling them in! Torukamu finally owns up: he's the one who's been kidnapping racers (the last three dopes are over there btw), but it was because the leader of the Bloody Chain asked him to.

He had wanted out of their gang out of concern for Dream, but Michael Chain had one last errand for him... and this was it. Having done that, he's free to marry Dream and live in this swank-ass house without fear! Ryu and company tell him he's an idiot for believing that, he's only landed his sweetheart in grave peril. Torukamu scoffs and is like, just you watch, I'm gonna go up there and my girlfriend's gonna be just fine. You'll see!
He returns to the dining room and finds Dream being held hostage.

His servants are in with the Bloody Chain, and were holding Dream to ensure Torukamu did his part. Showing them his accomplishment, he unties Dream and the two embrace, both more than a little frightened. Following up on the chief's order, the Galaxy Mobile Platoon begin trawling the city to find the man's daughter. Jack visits the Falcon House after closing hours and finds Burt, asking him if he's seen the girl in the photo. He glares hard at it.

Torukamu opens up to his love, telling her the lengths he's gone to and how he wishes to spend all his days with her. Dream is shocked and a little disgusted with this. Shee doesn't care for his great mansion or his fat wallet, she loves him for how kindly he's treated her, and if this is the sort of thing he does to keep his riches, she wants nothing to do with him.
Down below, the kidnapped racers try to figure out how to escape their prison. Ryu suggests Super Arrow use his owl to fly through the lasers. That's a great idea!

It flies straight into the lasers.

Take two!

They both fly into the lasers.

Outside, the Bloody Chain members of the household guard the exits, waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive.
Super Arrow suddenly has a totally kickass sword, so brilliant and sharp its blade can slice right through the lasers, destroying them! Everyone is saved! His wife loves him! He's won the respect and admiration of others!

Unfortunately, it was just a dream. Getting electrocuted gets very exhausting, you know.

A secret wall opens up in the basement and Dream and Torukamu enter, disabling the laser grid. Two gangsters enter from the staircase, but Torukamu blocks their passage, calling for the racers to make their escape! This noble gesture is nullified when Ryu just sucker punches them anyway. The group exit the building...

... only to find an imposing figure waiting for them: Michael Chain! He's most upset with his underling's betrayal, and confesses he's been shanghai-ing racers so the prize money will be easier to acquire; but if they've escaped, he might as well give them seven lashings with his chain. Ryu dodges his swings, the chain tearing through the mansion's pillars...

... but a smack to the gob sends him to the ground. He quickly rises, now packing heat and preparing to pump them full of lead. Super Arrow sics his owl on him, blinding Chain long enough for Ryu to deliver a flying kick to his chin.

Defeated, Michael and the Bloody Chain make their getaway, vowing to reclaim the debt someday.
Torukamu collapses to his knees: he's lost everything he owns, and everything he loves. Dream is still there for him, though, and believes if they work hard to earn what they need, the two of them will still have a future. A future where they can spend all their days together. That's enough to give him the strength to embrace her once more.

But hang on, there's still that business with president of the Catherine Consortium! It's a total non-issue though: he shows up, happy to have found her daughter, but Dream says she's marrying Torukamu. Fair enough, no argument there. The two go and get married. "Sometimes dreams do come true" Ryu comments, probably in an attempt to give this half-baked subplot some relevance.

Burt's F-Zero Classroom: Burt tells us a little about the Galaxy Mobile Platoon: it's a subdivision of the Galaxy Police, and serves to stop crime without the public knowing of its existence, though their specialty is in F-Zero races.

4Kids broadcast: This episode's title got a pretty direction translation as The Trap Of Michael Chain, but the rest of the episode... hoo boy, quite a bit has changed!

A racing scene is spliced in before the opening at Falcon House, showing a race on planet Bran won by "Asherton Zona", whose name comes up in the broadcast about the missing racers. The shot of the three captured pilots is cut, and their release is only mentioned in narration at the end.

Torukamu is renamed Truman, and his backstory has changed. The flashback with Michael Chain is implied to be their first encounter, and he tracked Truman down because of his ties with Ryu and company. All talk of his debt to the gang is dropped, and his lament at the end is changed to fearing being disowned by his family once they hear about this ordeal.
He also explains how he was injured when Dream found him; his car skid and flipped over. I admit I only mention this because the flashback footage is so blurry I can barely even tell there's a car in the image!

The Bloody Chain gang are named the "Space Racer Clan". Michael Chain's gun is also painted a fluorescent orange.

The subplot with Dream's father is dropped entirely. Mr. Catherine is instead referred to as the Mute City mayor, and he comes to Tanaka and the chief fearing Rick and Lucy have been kidnapped, since their machines are missing and they haven't shown up to work.

Communications between Rick and the Platoon are added to his race with the King Meteor, seemingly for no reason other than Jody to call Super Arrow "a loose cannon." The footage is edited so Super Arrow's spinning isn't an attack, but instead an unintentional spinout.

Super Arrow's fantasy has a faded white border around it to imply it's a dream before the reveal.

Rick refers to Super Arrow's owl as a robot, and apparently its name is... Zuck? All its dialogue is overlaid atop of shreddin' electric guitar, for some reason.

The dub has an absolute ball with Super Arrow, making constant changes to the script just to have a laugh at his expense. You could argue it breaks character for the likes of Dr. Stewart and Mrs. Arrow... but it's worth it just for Super Arrow's reason to want out of Truman's cell.

The ending is replaced entirely with a splitscreen of race footage and shots from the wedding while Rick gives a resolution through narration: the captured pilots were released, Dream and Truman got married a few months later, and they spent their honeymoon at the F-Zero races, editing a shot of them to be in a gown and suit.

The eyecatch for Super Arrow mistakenly has the King Meteor sporting "09" as its machine number. Later eyecatches fix this so it says "20" like it should.

If Heian-794's F-Zero Climax translation is to be believed, Torukamu's name should actually be spelt "Truecome." If that's the case, somebody should throw this episode's writer down a well.