Episode 31: From Ultraseven to Ultraman Ace
(featuring Tapir Terrible-Monster Bakutari)
Hokuto and Dan (yes he's a series regular now) are out jogging when they spot a black comet. Dan sees it as a sign a Terrible-Monster will appear. Hokuto tells him to hurry to get read for school. The boy is right of course. Even though it does take 3 days. TAC is discussing how this comet seems to have no substance but is just a shadow when Konno suddenly notices there is a little girl in the room. She asks to speak to Hokuto. He denies know her but she says he promised to help her anytime. Mikawa claiims its against the rules for a TAC member to break a promise to a child. She wants Hokuto to help her with "Baku-chan and Uncle Baku". When the captain asks how she got to their base, she explains how she hid in their food delivery truck. Hokuto has to drive the girl to the zoo. Baku-chan is a tapir and Uncle Baku a man who feeds and talks to it. Suddenly the tapir vanishes from the zoo and Terrible-Monster Bakutari appears in town. TAC goes into action without the "vactioning" Hokuto who is not yet aware of the Terrible-Monsterm only that Baku-chan has vanished. Since Uncle Baku is not dressed in purple he cannot be a revived Yapool. As TAC jets are shooting at the Terrible-Monster it vanishes. The tapir reappears at the zoo but with a burn on its shoulder. Hokuto and the girl, Mio, take Uncle Baku to his home. Gossiping women see the TAC car (Hokuto is not in uniform) and assume the man has done something wrong and TAC is investigating. The man is obssessed with tapirs beause he believes they eat dreams and as child he asked one to eat his nightmares so he could sleep at night. Mio believe the same thing. The man who claims to be able to communicate with tapirs says Baku-chan has been crying and saying its not going to be itself and it has a fever. Hokuto realizes it started having a fever the day the strange comet passed the earth. At TAC HQ, Kaji says the monster they fought is an ordinary animal effected by energy from another dimenision. TAC goes on full alert. Hokuto and Mikawa are on patrol in TAC Panther. Apparently he did not tell everyone about the tapir, just her because he thinks its possible it was hiding under a patch of straw. But he decices to go to the zoo to check up on the tapir. At the zoo Baku-chan no longer recognizes Unlce Baku or Mio and walks way from them befor disappearing again. When the Terrible-Monster appears again the zookeeper recognizes the bandage he put on the tapir as being on it. The Terrible-Monster sprays acid which melts a building two TAC Space are attacking the Terrible-Monster. At Mio's prompting Uncle tries to call out to Baku-chan to revert to its normal. harlmess self. After Hokuto get the TAC jets to stop firing at it the Terrible-Monster vanishes, apparently responding to Uncle's call. The tapir is back at the zoo.
Tac calls a "counter-tapir meeting" with commander-in-chief, police chief. zoologists and other experts. Naturally the military response is to disreguard TAC's advice an order the tapir to be killed before it can be trasformed again. And they have to make a big show about, boxing up the poor creature carrying to a field for a public "execution". Mio pronounces he hatred of Hokuto, she asked him to save Baku-chan and he did not. Uncle Baku comes running warning it will be a disaster to shoot. The execution squad fires and should have been prodicted is the tapir becomes the Terrible-Monster and after killing the gunmen goes on a rampage. Adding fire from its paws to its acid spray from its head. Enraged the Terrible-Monster will not listen to Uncle and nearly kills him and Mio. Hokuto fakes being wounded to get Mikawa out of the way by sending her to rescue them while he henshins. After beating on each other Ace is about to kill Bakutari when an Ultra Sign appears and a voice announces "Ace, you mustn't kill Bakutari". Ace picks up Bakutari and hurls the monster into space, where Ultra Seven (cue Ultra Seven song) shoots it with a green beam, turning it back into the tapir. Ace catches the now tiny creature and returns it to Earth. At the zoo Uncle Baku tells Hokutu that the tapir is back to normal, no fever. Mio thanks, Hokuto who says he should thank Ace. Dan says things happened as he predicted because "I am the 6th Ultraman Brother".
>Preview of next episode<. "See you next week".
