The Boys of Earth

The Boys of Earth (邂逅の二人) is the seventh episode of ALDNOAH.ZERO, it first aired in Japan on August 16, 2014.

Synopsis
Lord Saazbaum decides to hold back on chasing Slaine, and instead tracks as he flees to Earth. Meanwhile Inaho and friends have arrived at Tanegashima, a mysterious location.

Plot
Act One Slaine interrogates a Martian soldier at gunpoint in the elevator. He asks if the Kataphakt that defeated Sir Vlad was orange or not. The soldier only replies with racism. Slaine shoots him in the leg and asks if he saw it happen as it was he who piloted the Sky Carrier that carried the Argyre to the Wadatsumi.

It was indeed an orange Kataphrakt. Slaine hijacks the soldier's Sky Carrier because it has data on the Wadatsumi, the ship carrying the orange Kataphrakt that defeated two Orbital Knights. Sir Vlad and Sir Trillram, not only that, Princess Asseylum was with the orange Kataphrakt when Sir Trillram was defeated. Later, the Wadatsumi struggles to overcome the Hellas until Slaine intervenes in his Sky Carrier.

Count Cruhteo observes the fight at Tanegashima from his Landing Castle. He orders a Sky Carrier to be prepared for his Kataphakt, the Tharsis. But Saazbaum interrupts him on screen. He wishes to find out where Slaine is going and rhetorically asks Cruhteo why Slaine used the Audience Chamber.

Slaine's Sky Carrier continues to assist the Wadatsumi in defeating the Hellas. Warrant Officer Kaizuka believes they are merely fighting on who gets to make the kill. However, Inaho thinks that even if the enemy of one's enemy isn't one's friend, he may still be useful.

Slaine temporarily falls unconscious, and his Sky Carrier falls vertically; however, Inaho fires a shot from his gun and destroys the fist Botis and wakes Slaine up. Lt. Marito struggles to overcome his fears.

Inko cannot land as shot on either of the two incoming fists. Inaho requests that the bridge opens the well dock where Seylum, Eddelrittuo, and the refugees are.

Inaho tells the refugees to cover their ears as he shoots a shell. It bounces off the ship's deck, and the echoing effect caused by the well dock amplifies the sound wave enough to knock away the incoming fists.

The crew discovers a hidden dock on the coast of Tanegashima. Captain Magbaredge orders Nina and Shigo to take the ship into the dock. Inaho makes a jump from the dock and runs off into the hidden dock. The Wadatsumi seals off the entrance to the dock while the Mustang Platoon guards it.

Act Two Castle Saazbaum will soon enter the detection area. Once they are over the Japanese archipelago, they will scan for the Sky Carrier stolen by Slaine. When Saazbaum learns that the Sky Carrier is above Tanegashima fighting Femieanne's Hellas, he appears to be angered over the battle's location.

The crew and refugees get off the Wadatsumi. Calm opens up the cockpit of Lt. Marito's KG-7, he has fallen asleep. Soma directs everyone out of the ship and tells them to not breathe in the smoke. Nina asks Kisaki and Yutaro the status of the Mustang Platoon. They say their Kohai that they are still fighting out there, suing themselves as decoys to give the Wadatsumi time to escape.

Inaho's plan is to let the Hellas fire at the cliff and take advantage of the fact that it must fire from a distance to accelerate enough to fire through the rock. At a great range, nudging the fist with sound waves even by a small angle will throw it off course. However, the Hellas also tries to hit the Kataphrakts and the cliff; one heads towards Inko's KG-7, but luckily, Slaine's Sky Carrier hits it, thus allowing Inaho's plan to proceed.

Femieanne tries to rocket punch the Sky Carrier, but Warrant Officer Kaizuka knocks the fist off its course. Inaho suddenly suggests to his comrades to directly attack the Hellas, despite him saying that they are no match. Inaho now believes it may be all bark and no bite. He asks Inko for her handgun.

Shigo and another sailor tell the Captain what blocks of the ship have been evacuated. As they leave, the Captain salutes her ship. The bridge crew has no word from the Mustang platoon, all they can do is pray. XO Mizusaki, who is supposed to be leading the refugees away under Captain's orders, informs the Captain and Shigo, has made a discovery inside the cliff.

Seylum and Eddelrittuo sit with the refugees. Seylum wonders if all of this is her fault, happening because she came to Earth. She says that if she had never come to Earth, that there'd be no assassination or war. Rayet agrees with her because of the people of Earth, all Martians are the enemy, Eddelrittuo gets offended.

The bridge crew sees that there is a Martian Kataphrakt inside the cliff. Calm arrives with Lt. Marito. The lieutenant says that this is a crater; there wasn't just one meteor that fell there. One hit the shore and formed the bay, and the other ended up there. The machine is the "demon" Lt. Marito's unit saw 15 years ago. Lt. Marito had figured it had been annihilated in the damage of Heaven's Fall. Seylum and Eddelrittuo also come to see the Kataphrakt. Calm asks if this discovery implies that Lt. Marito's Tanegashima Report was buried to keep this a secret. Nina points down, there is more to this discovery than meets the eye.

Inaho raises the hand of his KG-6 to Slaine's Sky Carrier. Inaho believes that the Hellas (which he calls "Ashura") has no other weapons because it hasn't budged. Slaine lowers the altitude of his Sky Carrier and the KG-6 hops on to the Sky Carrier's platform. Inaho opens an audio-only channel with Slaine and asks what he is armed with.

Slaine replies with 20 howitzer rounds, whereas Inaho only has 9 HE rounds. Warrant Officer Kaizuka tells Inaho that the Sky Carrier's pilot is a Martian, but Inaho dismisses his sister.

Slaine explains that the Hellas' fists increase their hardness by becoming a single, giant molecule. No bullet can destroy them but Inaho reminds him that one of the fists was destroyed; the molecular structure reverts when the fingers move. Inaho asks Slaine to patch him into the signal from Slaine's stabilizers; despite using a different standard, Inaho says he can convert it. They proceed with the plan with Inaho calling Slaine/his Sky Carrier "Bat". The fist Marax opens its hand to grasp the KG-6 allowing the KG-6 to destroy it. With Inaho's hypothesis proven.

Femieanne fires two more fists at the duo. Warrant Officer Kaizuka tells Inko that they are moving up as she has faith that her brother's crazy stunts are the right move. As two fists home in on the Sky Carrier, the KG-6 fires cables at each of the fists. The jerking movement of one of the fingers makes the fists vulnerable and thus on explodes when it crashes into the other. Inaho tells Slaine to get directly behind the remaining fist so he can fire at the only place with no armor, the tails which expose the engines. The Sky Carrier drags along two more fists. In position, Yuki and Inko fire at the tails and destroy them.

Just as it appears the Hellas has no weapons left, Femieanne transforms her Kataphrakt. She ignites its rockets, flying upwards. The platoon struggles to fire at the Hellas. Not even Slaine knows what it is. The Hellas as gained distance, and it is accelerating towards the platoon, as Slaine observes. Inaho cannot use his rifle to throw it off its trajectory, and Slaine is too heavy to dodge it. Inaho informs Slaine, aka Bat, that it's almost on them to which Slaine tells Inaho, aka Orange, to keep quiet. Slaine stalls out to loose altitude and dodges the Hellas anyway.

Femieanne comes in for the second try; Inaho aims his rifle, but missiles suddenly come from the cliffs of Tanegashima. The cliff crumbles as a ginormous flying ship comes out of it. It is the battleship Deucalion, and Princess Asseylum (out of her disguise) appears on the bridge with the crew of the Wadatsumi. Slaine has finally found his friend.

The Hellas heads directly for the bridge, but it is shot down by the Sky Carrier and KG-7. The Hellas transforms as it lands to prevent further damage, but the Deucalion runs over the Hellas as it lands.

Femieanne is still alive but not for long as Rayet, in a KG-7, fires a shot from the hull door of the Deucalion, she says that all Martians will pay for her father's death. Inaho asks why Slaine is looking for the Princess, unaware of the plans of and betrayals within the Vers Empire. Slaine demands that Inaho take him to see the Princess, but Inaho requests that Slaine answer his question first.

Slaine aims the Sky Carrier's guns towards the KG-6 and asks if they are exploiting the Princess. Inaho, unaware of Slaine's intentions, asks if he would have a problem if they exploited the Princess.

The KG-6 shoots down the Sky Carrier, it fires a cable and thrusters to land safely. Slaine asks Inaho if he is the enemy. Inaho confirms it right after the Sky Carrier hits the water.

Songs

 * heavenly blue (OP)
 * BRE@TH//LESS
 * Keep on Keeping on
 * aLIEz

Trivia

 * When Slaine was flying in the air, he was not wearing a G-suit or a proper pilot flight suit. He was almost knocked out from the G-Force because of this, which can cause G-LOC.


 * The Kataphrakt of Countess Femieanne is called 'Hellas'. This is the name of Greece in Ancient Greek. It is also the name of the Hellas Quadrangle that contains the Hellas Basin, Hellas Planitia and Hellas Montes.


 * The six Arms of that Kataphrakt are apparently named after the names of demon counts mentioned in the Lesser Key of Solomon a writing focused on demonology (Botis, Marax(or Morax), Ronove, Halphas, Raum, and Vine)