As was the case around this time, school was beginning. For some schools, it would start sooner; for other schools (including colleges), it would be later. As usual, there was some news that made the 'going-back-into-school' less odious.
---
While the Set lookalike contest held the most news/attention from New Zerzura, there was another discovery that made big news.
While Adam and Sylvia were enjoying their date, Little Tommy was enjoying playing in the sand, quite literally. In an unexpected twist, his plastic shovel hit what he initially thought was a large rock. To his surprise, as well as everyone else's, it was determined to be a large iron meteorite. Because he had a big hand in finding it, Tommy got to keep a small chunk of it, which he said he was definitely going to bring to school for show-and-tell. One, somewhat larger, chunk would be going to a museum, while the rest of it was going to be made into a "sword worthy of the Pharaohs", since it was now known that, before ironworking technology became more widespread, ancient people regularly sought out meteorites to make early "iron weapons".
---
The latest episode of "When Worlds Collide" was also the Season 2 Finale. While the Dwarves were busy cataloguing the recovered treasure, and separating it out for each participant, when they were ambushed by two men in strange armor and black robes. One was dressed like a medieval knight, while the other was dressed like a Japanese Samurai. According to what they said, they were the ones responsible for bringing Ancalagon back to life using the spirit stones. After admitting it, they attacked, with the black knight going for Arthur while the "black samurai" went for Hide.
Unfortunately, the "black samurai" had brought four demons with him, which were more like ninjas than normal Japanese demons. Fortunately, none of them were able to withstand the magic of Sohayamaru and the "black samurai" was forced to retreat. The black knight got hit with a, rather hilarious, turn of misfortune. When Arthur stabbed him with a Japanese Crescent Cross Spear that Ieyasu had given him as a gift, the black knight tried to pull it through him to get to Arthur, only to get stuck at the cross bar, and he also was forced to retreat, though that was because of the same silvery light that had exposed Ancalagon's vulnerable spot which was now shining in the cavern holding the dragon hoard.
The silvery light actually came from Earendil, who had slain Ancalagon the first time, and had accompanied William as he came to deliver his report on the death of the dragon. As repayment for killing the dragon, Earendil offered to fly everyone home on his magic flying ship. The dwarves, however, were more concerned that the dragon had really been a construct made out of spirit stones, and decided to do their own, more practical, research on the spirit stones.
After they landed back in Japan (after a brief comedic moment of Toshiie getting motion sickness during the flight), William was able to deliver his report to Lord Ieyasu. Ieyasu was shocked to learn that the evil dragon had actually been a construct made from spirit stones but was more concerned that someone was able to create such a thing. Resolving to deal with it later, Ieyasu invited Earendil, as well as Arthur and his knights and the French Musketeers to take part in the Obon Festival, which he accepted.
Just as the festivities were about to begin, a beautiful full moon rose high enough over the mountains to be seen. However, a large monster roar accompanied the moon's appearance. At that, a pure white wolf rushed out of the underbrush just as eight elemental symbols appeared: fire, water, earth, wind, light, darkness, lightning, and poison. Those sigils eventually merged into a magical arrow decorated with blue tassels and white ribbons, which flew and struck the palace. At that, one visiting elder revealed what this meant:
"The Full Moon on Obon ushers in the Yamato-no-Orochi. His chosen sacrifice is revealed by an arrow decorated in white." In this case, it was Lord Ieyasu's granddaughter. Both Hide and William resolved to defeat Orochi, because William had fought against him before while pursuing Kelley and Hide intended to try Sohayamaru's strength against such a formidable opponent. Lord Ieyasu more than understood, and officially gave both of them the "mission" to subdue the Yamato-no-Orochi.
At this, the screen froze and To Be Continued... appeared, signaling more to come.
---
Speaking of Obon, Heiya Island was also celebrating Obon, not just as a tribute to the Ancestors, but also as a kind of "end of summer" celebration. The Quasi-Raccoon Cuties' coverage of the event had the usual amount of information and laughs, as well as their explanations of what certain traditions meant.