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DD II Shrine

RPM
Episode written by Phil Harnage

     The episode opens at night in Metro City.  Someone's shadow is seen walking through a dark alley, and this unseen person is heard breathing heavy as well.
     The camera then cuts to Billy and Jimmy, who are driving around the city in the Dragon Cruiser.  Billy remarks that it's awfully calm tonight, but Jimmy notes that it's the calm before the storm.  There's apparently a new crime wave getting out of hand.  Jimmy then points at a large blue mutant who is tearing open steal doors with his bear hands and howling like a wolf.
     Billy and Jimmy give chase to the mutant and announce that they're special deputies.  However, the mutant doesn't even seem to notice the brothers and attempts to rip open a vault door - unsuccessfully.  The mutant then pulls out a small, spherical glass vial with a black liquid inside it.  He crushes it in his hands, releasing some sort of vapor.  The mutant then bulks up even more.  Jimmy notes that this mutant is just a teenager.
     Pumped up on this apparent drug, the teenager rips the vault door from its hinges and tosses it aside.  Billy and Jimmy attempt to grab the teenager, only to be thrown aside as well.  The brothers then draw their swords and transform into the Double Dragons.  Billy again tries to stop the mutant, only to be tossed aside again.  As the mutant picks up the vault door to toss at Jimmy, Jimmy blasts it out of his hands with his sword.  The Dragons and the mutant have a short fight, and Jimmy trips the mutant by tossing some diamonds on the floor (the mutant was trying to steal them).  This causes the mutant to land inside the vault, and the Dragons quickly place the vault door back in place and seal it around its edges using their Dragon Swords' energy beams like welders.  Billy says that no one is that strong, not even a mutant.  He's clearly on something.
     The camera cuts to the Shadow Master, who is holding a similar glass vial in his hand and talking to Ice Pick.  He calls the substance RPM and essentially applauds Ice Pick for creating a "most delightful confection."  Ice Pick then says that the new RPM factory is up and running.  The Shadow Master then laments that the old Undertown factory was destroyed by the Double Dragons (RPM was actually shown being boxed by slave workers in one of prior episodes, Undertown, but it was never specifically referenced at the time).  The Shadow Master then tells Ice Pick that this will not happen again.  Ice Pick says that even as they speak, his plan is in motion.
     Out in front of the Dragon Dojo, Daj is seen emerging from a manhole cover.  Inside the Dojo, Vortex is seen practicing on a wooden dummy with white hair on it that is meant to resemble the Shadow Master.  When Vortex hears a knock at the door, he rudely answers it and demands to know what the "mutant" wants.  When Daj kindly asks to see the Dragon Masters, Vortex tells him to come back in the morning, and almost tells him not to come back at all when Billy walks in.  Billy tells Vortex to let Daj in because he's a friend, and Vortex steps aside, apparently peeved.  Billy senses that something is strange about Vortex.
     Daj tells Billy that Ice Pick has built a new drug factory in Undertown to manufacture something called RPM.  Vortex then butts into the conversation and tells them that RPM makes you stronger.  In fact, he's taking it.  Over Billy's immediate objection, Vortex then cracks open a vial of RPM and goes into a craze, howling and doing flips all over the Dojo.  He destroys the wooden dummy he was practicing on with a single blow.
     Daj tells Billy that it gives you super strength, at first, but then it changes your personality, making you angry and paranoid.  Vortex overhears this and demands to know what Daj just said.  He picks up half of the dummy he just destroyed and gets ready to toss it at Daj, but Billy intervenes and tells Vortex he's not acting like himself.  Vortex regains his control and apologizes, and Billy tells Vortex they'll pull him out of it.
     Jimmy then appears and tells everyone that the mutant kid was hooked on a new drug called RPM.  However, Billy is already aware of the drug and tells Jimmy that Vortex is hooked on it too.
     The scene then cuts to the underground, but it's apparently a flashback.  Daj is narrating and explaining that there's a black fungus in the underground which his people chew for energy.  However, the Shadow Master discovered it and increased its potency 100 times over to create RPM.
     The camera then cuts to the underground, except now it's current time.  Daj was apparently explaining RPM's creation to Billy while they were walking toward the new factory.  As the two are standing outside the factory, Daj remarks that it's dangerous for Billy to be there without Jimmy.  But Billy says he only wants to take a look and Jimmy has to keep an eye on Vortex anyway since he's recovering from an addiction.  But Daj notes that is exactly the problem - the workers in the factory become addicted to the drug and soon start to work just to get more.  Others go above ground and steal for the drug.
     Ice Pick then overhears Billy and Daj's conversation through a mechanical rat he's controlling remotely.  As Billy begins heading toward the factory (over Daj's objections), Ice Pick radios for Jawbreaker to move into position.  Jawbreaker then bursts out of the ground and grabs Daj, who is unable to fend the Shadow Warrior off.  Billy then jumps into the back of some cargo truck that is headed into the factory.
     Inside the factory, we see the cargo truck dumping bags of black fungus into a large vat of liquid.  A mutant worker is then seen working on a nearby assembly line when he grabs a single black fungus and eats it.  The large, mutant foreman from the prior Undertown episode then emerges and pulls out a whip.  He's getting ready to punish the worker for eating the black fungus without his permission.  However, Billy intervenes and tosses the foreman aside.  But as he's about to fight the foreman, Ice Pick, Sickle and Jawbreaker arrive.  Billy is able to fight off all four of his attackers, but as he draws his sword, the Shadow Master appears and blasts it out of his hand.  He's seen holding Daj and telling the Shadow Warriors to grab Billy.
     Before they can grab him, however, Billy does a flying side kick, freeing Daj from the Shadow Master's grip.  Billy then tells Daj to take his sword and run, which he does.  The Shadow Master tells the Shadow Warriors to catch Daj, but as they chase him outside, Daj uses his mutant ability to summon crocodiles to help him get away.  Ice Pick then gives up and tells the other Shadow Warriors to forget about Daj because they only need Billy.
     Back inside the factory, Billy is being held inside a large cage.  The Shadow Master says that the cage's bars are made of unbreakable titanium steel.  The foreman then presses a remote control that lowers a glass cover over the cage.  The cage quickly becomes filled with RPM gas.  Billy's face starts to become distorted as he coughs and tries to fight the drug.
     Back above ground, Jimmy and Vortex are seen wearing disguises in a bad part of Metro City.  Vortex is taking Jimmy to the place where he got RPM.  Vortex is shaking and just about going into relapse from a lack of RPM, but Jimmy tells him to fight it.  The two then walk into a fake fast-food place selling the drug.  Jimmy pulls out a badge and says he's closing down the place, but Trigger Happy emerges and tries to blast the Dragons.  The Dragons dodge the blast and dispatch a group of mutants who try to attack them.  The mutants then break open vials of RPM to increase their strength, and Jimmy says that brains, not brawn, are the only thing that will cut it against these guys.
     Vortex then gets tossed into a shelf containing vials of RPM, and the shelf breaks, dropping a bunch of unopened vials on him.  Jimmy manages to fight off his attacker only to spot Vortex holding an unopened vial of RPM in his hand.  Jimmy tells Vortex not to do it, and Vortex trembles as he tries to fight off his urge.  Trigger Happy then tries to get a cheap shot on Jimmy, but Jimmy deflects it with his sword.  Vortex then tosses the RPM vial aside and leaps next to Jimmy, deflecting another blast from Trigger Happy.  This blast then hits something in the building, causing an explosion.  Everybody runs out and Trigger Happy jumps into a pool of water to put out a fire that caught on his butt.
     As Jimmy and Vortex laugh at Trigger Happy, Jimmy gets a bad a feeling from Billy.  At first, he felt a burst of energy, but now he's feeling some awful need.  Just then, Daj emerges on a crocodile and tells Jimmy that the Shadow Master has captured Billy.
     Back in the underground, Billy is trying to fight off the drug's effects while the Shadow Warriors watch and mock him.  The Shadow Master says that he has never given someone such a strong dose before.  The Shadow Master tells Ice Pick to increase the dosage, but he must make Billy beg for it.  Ice Pick approaches the cage and holds a vial of RPM out to taunt Billy.  At first Billy resists, but then he bends the cage's bars and grabs Ice Pick by the throat, taking the vial away from him.  Billy then breaks open the vial in his hand, and Ice Pick asks the Shadow Master if the bars were supposed to be unbreakable.  The Shadow Master says that they're supposed to be.  Imagine an entire army of Shadow Warriors on RPM.
     Just then, Jimmy and Daj burst in on a large crocodile and scare away the low-level Shadow Warriors.  Jimmy tosses Billy his sword, but they can't transform because the drug has put Billy out of balance.  Billy then pries the bars open with his bare hands, and the three escape on the crocodile.  The Shadow Master then says that they won't matter once his unstoppable army crushes Metro City.
     Back inside the Dragon Dojo, Billy is kneeling before an altar and saying that his body is polluted and he does not deserve to be a Dragon.  But Vortex steps in and says he at least had no choice.  Vortex should have known better.  Jimmy then hands everyone a stick and says they're going to sweat it out and beat it.  A short training montage ensues with Billy and Vortex eventually reverting back to normal.  Billy, Jimmy and Vortex then transform, and the brothers grab the Dragon Claws from the nearby chest.
     The camera cuts to the underground where workers are outside the factory picking black fungus.  The brothers activate their Dragon Claw armor and begin blasting the fungus so that it will never grow back.  The Dragons and Daj then head for the factory.
     At the factory, the Shadow Master is addressing an army of "Blade" Shadow Warriors when Ice Pick notes that the mechanical rats have all gone out.  The Shadow Master then tells Ice Pick to distribute RPM to the army.  Before the Shadow Master can distribute the drug, the Dragons and Daj attack.  Daj calls forth a bunch of animals to attack, and the Dragons exchange blasts with the Shadow Master.  The Shadow Master then holds out a vial of RPM and attempts to entice Billy, but Billy rejects it and blasts the Shadow Master.  The brothers then blast the remaining canisters of RPM and the factory explodes as everyone flees.
     Back inside the Dragon Dojo, Jimmy is seen taking a small pill when Billy almost stops him.  However, Jimmy explains it's the same old vitamins he always takes.  Jimmy then says that helping them get off drugs was the best thing he ever did.
     Epilogue Message: Vortex and Billy are addressing young Dragons.  Vortex says that people will tell them how drugs won't get them hooked and how nothing bad will happen.  Billy says don't believe them; drugs are dangerous.  They've been there.

     Dojo Master's review: This episode represents the last episode where the brothers use the Dragon claws.  However, it's kind of strange because the Shadow Khan isn't in this episode and the Shadow Master doesn't have any special armor.  We've already had a drug episode before (The Price of Oblivion), so this one was redundant.  For those who are confused about the order of this episode, it's supposed to take place after Undertown and Superhighway Warriors.  That's why there's all this talk about a new factory and whatnot.
     It was nice to see Jimmy act as the good brother once again and to see Billy placed in a scenario you never thought he's be in - taking drugs.  However, overall the episode is just mediocre, and Billy really looks weird when he's deformed by RPM.  It's also strange to see Vortex behaving so rudely, although it's explained.  This is the last decent episode of season two.  It is going to get really, really bad after this.  I mean to the point that you can't believe it's the Double Dragon cartoon anymore.

Rating: B-