Returning to the series is Leon Toros, who joins up with Naomi in his new Zoid, the red Blade Liger.
The Red Rival - Leon Toros Returns
The Red Rival - Leon Toros Returns is episode 16 from the anime series Zoids: New Century based on TOMY's Zoids model franchise.
Overview
The episode begins with Naomi battling in her Gunsniper, her opponent being some Backdraft Rev Raptors. While initially sucessful, her shots veer off-course and Polta manages to best her Zoid in close range combat. She is saved from defeat by the appearance of a red Blade Liger, piloted by the ex-Blitz team member, Leon Toros, who teams up with her. Later, The Blitz team are presented with a challenge from Naomi. They discuss the fact that they hadn't fought her for a long time and eventually accept. They are surprised that the battle has no limitations on arsenals, and decide to send Bit and Leena in. Harry shows up and offers to help, but is completely ignored.
The Blitz team head off to the battlefield, knocking Harry out of the way as they go, and send out the Liger Zero and Gunsniper. They initially assume that Naomi was camping out at a good vantage point, and had recruited some novice to fight with her, but both of these end up to be false, ad Naomi reveals herself to Leena and Leon introduces himself and his Zoid, the red Blade Liger. Naomi takes shots at Leena, though she misses, while Bit and Leon engage in close range combat. Bit attempts to jump ontop of Leon, but his pounce is countered by an uppercut from Leon, who pounces on Bit. Bit manages to regain his footing but is dealt further damage as Leon uses his Liger's blades to parry Bit's Laser Claws. In the meantime, Naomi snipes Leena (after moving to a different vantage point), making it two on one, although Naomi decides to keep it as a duel between Ligers and does not intervene. Once again, Bit attacks and is parried again, although this time he manages to scratch the Blade Liger.
Before the battle can continue, Polta arrives and storms the battlefield with a squad of over thirty Rev Raptors. Leon charges and takes out many of them while Bit rearms with the Schneider. The two destroy all of Polta's men, while Naomi compensates for the Backdraft's magnetic poles and takes out Polta himself. In the end, the battle is cancelled due the Judge's incapacitation, so Leon and Naomi leave without concluding their fight.
Characters
- Introduced character(s): NIL
- Introduced opponent(s): NIL
- Featured characters: Leon Toros
- Featured teams: Blitz Team, Fluegel Team, Champ Team
Zoids
Trivia
- As a homage to Zoids: Chaotic Century and Guardian Force, many of the scenes in this episode feature recycled footage from the previous two series.
- In passing, Leena mentions "Britain", which is an Earth country, not a Zi country. Given that this is just a throwaway line, inferences drawn from it about the people of Zi knowing of Earth are entirely speculative.
- This episode references a previous trip to Romeo City, which is where both the Blitz Team and Naomi were headed in episode 7 before both were sidetracked by a criminal gang.
- In episode 1, when Bit first saw the Liger Zero, he commented it was "nothing like the Blade Liger", implying that he had some knowledge of the Blade Liger. However, when Bit sees Leon's new Blade Liger for the first time in this episode, he near-immediately says, "What's that?"
See also:Zoids: New Century