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Judgment Day
Episode written by Mike O'Mahoney

     The episode opens inside of a surveillance truck sitting on the side of the road.  Numerous police officers, including Commissioner (he's later called "Captain" in the courtroom) Tayes, are viewing traffic from the television screens inside surveillance truck.  Tayes can be heard whispering, "Here he comes.  Get ready."  He's referring to Jimmy, who is spotted cruising through traffic on his Dragon Cycle.  The police dispatcher sends out a report for all units to converge on Radica Prison for a Shadow sighting.  Jimmy hears the dispatch through his CB radio heads for the prison.
     Back inside the surveillance truck, Tayes begins executing his master plan.  He drastically reduces the digital speed limit sign on the road Jimmy is driving on and turns the camera toward Jimmy.  He then sets up a detour sign causing Jimmy to turn abruptly.  As Jimmy is driving through an intersection, Tayes then switches the light quickly from green to red before Jimmy can respond.  
     Down the road, Tayes orders a huge group of officers to create a massive road block and arrest Jimmy.  Jimmy rolls into the road block but has to ditch the bike to stop in time.  Tayes has one of the officers fire a warning shot at Jimmy, and he draws his sword to protect himself.  Jimmy is confused and angry, and he reminds the officers that he is a special deputy.  Tayes orders Jimmy to drop his weapon and Jimmy complies, realizing he's far outnumbered and facing fellow police officers.  Jimmy is hauled away and Tayes attempts to take Jimmy's sword.  The only problem is that Tayes can't pick it up.  When he tries, it knocks him back with a strong blast of energy, the same way it occurs with Shadow Warriors.  Tayes then orders another officer to grab the weapon, and the officer has no trouble doing so.
     Inside a courtroom, Jimmy is facing the numerous charges which have been set up against him.  Tayes is using his edited footage to show Jimmy committing traffic violations and other crimes.  Billy and Marian are present and watching the trial.  Marian tells Billy not to worry because Judge Rhodes is "very fair."  But when Jimmy tries to respond to the judge's question of how he pleads, the judge snaps and threatens him with contempt.  The judge then tells the bailiffs to gag Jimmy if he speaks again.  Marian tries to jump to Jimmy's defense, but the judge shuts her down as well by threatening her with a contempt citation.  The judge then enters a guilty plea without Jimmy's consent and sentences him to one year at Radica.  However, Jimmy says "You call this justice?" and the judge adds an additional two years for contempt.  Billy is shocked by this supposedly "fair" judge.
     Inside the Shadow Dojo, a shackled Judge Rhodes is watching a news report covering the case.  He's angry at the Shadow Master, whose fiendish plan is exploiting the criminal system.  The Shadow Master chastises the judge and rambles on about another plan to take over Metro City.
     Back at Radica, Jimmy is being escorted to cell block D.  It's reserved for mutants and hard cases, but somehow Jimmy is being placed there.  Jimmy watches the peculiar guards, who are very cautious as they unshackle him to throw him into his cell.  They're not worried about Jimmy though.  It's his new roommate, Fireball, who they're afriad of.  
     Jimmy immediately prepares for a confrontation, but Fireball is not violent.  Jimmy watches as Fireball blasts bugs on the floor by shooting lasers from his eyes.  Whenever Fireball gets angry, he creates fires, so he meditates to control himself.  Jimmy joins him in the meditation and afterwards, he hears a distinct growling.  Fireball says that it's Hannibal, but he doesn't elaborate any further.  Jimmy then hears a clanking noise ringing through the pipes.  Fireball explains that it's the prison grapevine.  He translates the message to Jimmy, telling him that the prisoners are going to take down a guy who used to be called Shadow Boss in the exercise yard tomorrow morning.
     At the police station, Marian recovers Jimmy's sword.  Billy is getting bad vibrations from Jimmy and he knows they have to break him out soon.  They spot Tayes walking out of the building and follow him incognito.  Marian watches Tayes as he meets up with Countdown in a remote alley.  Countdown is seen paying off Tayes for arresting Jimmy.  However, Marian intervenes and attacks Countdown.  Countdown fights back, but is hopelessly overpowered when Billy jumps into the fight.  Tayes manages to escape.
     Back in the prison cell, Fireball is explaining his story.  He was born with this unusual power and the only group he could find support from was a gang.  He was involved in a gang fight and almost killed a little girl by accident.  He regrets it now though.  
     The prison bell rings and it's exercise time.  As they're walking out to the yard, Jimmy tells Fireball not to get involved.  But it doesn't appear that he will.  A limousine suddenly pulls into the prison and Tayes emerges from the sunroof with a megaphone.  He notifies all the guards to report to the ready room.  When the guards disappear, the Shadow Master steps out of the limo, followed by Judge Rhodes.  The prisoners form a circle around Jimmy and Hannibal arrives.  Hannibal is a giant dog-human mutant and it's going to tear Jimmy apart.
     Meanwhile, underground, Billy and Marian are racing through the sewers in the Dragon Cruiser with Countdown chained to the hood.  With a little "sloppy" driving, Billy manages to convince Countdown to tell him when they're directly underneath the prison.  Billy's birthmark starts glowing and sure enough, they're directly under Jimmy.  Billy lets Countdown go since he doesn't have time to arrest him, and he uses the Dragon Cruiser's cannon to blast through the ceiling.  It's not powerful enough to break through reinforced titanium though, so he uses the Dragon Swords to get the job done.  
     Above ground, Jimmy is outnumbered and about to be pulverized by Hannibal.  The Shadow Master actually offers Jimmy the chance to rejoin him, but Jimmy isn't that dumb.  Lucky for him, Fireball can't stand seeing an unfair fight, and he intervenes, blasting Hannibal and the rest of the prisoners.  Jimmy detects Billy nearby, and he has Fireball blast the ground.  The combined firepower drills a hole through the ground, allowing Billy and Marian to emerge.  Billy hands Jimmy his sword and they jump into the hole to transform out of sight.  They jump back out afterwards and keep the Shadow Master occupied.
     Marian tackles Tayes and handcuffs him when Judge Rhodes grabs a hold of her.  She inadvertently hits him in the face, knocking off a mask and revealing Sickle underneath.  Sickle attacks her, but Fireball blasts him, eliminating that threat.  Marian grabs the megaphone and alerts the guards to suppress the riot in the exercise yard.  She tries to get Tayes to tell her where the judge is, but he won't speak.  After a little coaxing from Fireball, Tayes tells her that Rhodes is in the limo.  It's locked, but Fireball's talents also extend to the locksmith trade.  
     As the guards arrive, the Shadow Master flees, leaving Tayes behind.  The judge is going to see that Tayes does hard time, and realizing that Jimmy was framed, he drops the charges against him.  He also releases Fireball into the custody of the Dragon Dojo to serve out his parole.  Back at the Dragon Dojo, the brothers reveal their identity and Fireball hopes that he can one day become a Dragon Warrior.

     Dojo Master's review: This was another mediocre episode.  I find it a little strange that they had a guy who shoots flames from his eyes (well, lasers that cause flames).  But then again, look at the cartoon.  It should be obvious by now that the writers have done very little to make the Double Dragons secret identity believable.  They simply jump into a hole, transform, and jump back out.  This episode isn't very original either.  It follows the basic premise of Dragon Hunt, except this time somebody actually goes to jail.  I at least like how they chained Countdown to the hood of the car and raced through the sewers.  And the interaction between Jimmy and Fireball was pretty neat too.

Rating: B