"Nothing Like You"

Itsuki and Hope pretend to be romantically invested in one another.

**"Nothing Like You"** is the second episode of Interstellar Ranger Commence, preceded by "Training".

## Plot

The ending of Hope’s final call with Richie and Naomi kicks off the start of the episode. After the call, Hope marches to the academy turf field to confront Itsuki. She proudly proclaims her new dream; to defeat the smug class rep and discover her place in the academy. Itsuki once again clamps his hand over his mouth as he begins to envision Hope as his younger self.

After the opening credits, the class begins training with Professor Strong, who has brought them inside a massive, holographic environment simulator called the Dome. After Hope and Itsuki arrive late, he sternly reminds the class to manage their time wisely as their final exam to becoming altered Rangers approaches. The episode seamlessly transitions into a montage sequence of the Cosmos Academy students keeping busy in classes, training in new locations, or just goofing off. Alex and Hope are paired up once more for an assignment. Their mission; to observe and document extraterrestrial life they may encounter on foreign planets. According to Strong, this is a Ranger’s main purpose, though brute strength, combative skill, extensive knowledge of weaponry, and teamwork amongst comrades are necessary when dealing with galactic threats. Hope once again tries to pry into Alex and Arthur's sibling rivalry. While Alex simply wants peace between them, the hot head will do anything in his power to try and take him down. Their brief discussion over Arthur's intolerable behavior is interrupted as an alien worm creature emerges from the ground and the two focus back on their mission.

An even larger mission is suddenly put into effect when Professor Strong splits the class into two teams with a single goal at hand; to eliminate the opposing team. Itsuki is assigned to lead one team as Chris Myrthil is assigned to lead the other. The artificial dome then emulates a hot, desert ghost town, a test to see how the Rangers will handle their weapons in extreme temperatures. After some banter from both teams, during which Hope briefly has to takes charge due to Chris's incompetence as a leader, Arthur lunges out of his hiding spot to initiate the first attack. As the Rangers fight, Carmen runs off from her team to isolate Hope in an empty hideaway. Itsuki has apparently been keeping her up to date on every conversation he's had with Hope; from her originally wanting to follow her father's dream to now wanting to take down Itsuki himself. Carmen has become progressively more infuriated with Hope each passing day, while Hope simply wants the two to be friends. Carmen doesn't buy her sympathy and continues to attack her. Hope repeatedly counters her assault, even copying one of Itsuki's moves from one of their sparring sessions, and manages to scare Carmen away. Meanwhile on the battlefield, Itsuki hides away and manages to take out almost all of Chris's team members, including Hope while she was distracted defending Alex from his brother. As she struggles to stand, Itsuki once again envisions her as his child self, pushing to get up after defeat. A clenched fist and authoritative presence stands before him in the vision.

Back in the watch room, Professor Strong scolds the class for disobeying instructions and devaluing the importance of teamwork. He is especially disappointed in Itsuki's performance as leader. Itsuki takes his words to heart while out on a park date with Carmen, who's more fixated on weakening Hope's spirit. She encourages Itsuki to train her even harder, noticing she is becoming stronger both in body and mind and perceiving her as using what he taught her against them. She is also aware of Hope's failing grade in Kimball's Public Relations class, something she gloats. As Sebastian and Alex walk by, Carmen pushes for Itsuki to go to the gym with them. Itsuki worries the guys don't like him while Carmen encourages him to just be nice.

Over in Hope's dorm, Jazz and Maria are in the middle of hatching a plan to steal handles. Jazz assures her friends she isn't obsessed with guns and explosions, but simply wants to tinker with the academy's weaponry in order to engineer more powerful equipment, claiming she wants to impress Professor Strong by demonstrating her talents. While Maria admires the creativity, Jazz tries to hide the fact that she does indeed want to use dangerously lethal force. Hope agrees to the plan and the three sneak into an air duct that leads them directly to the weapons vault. Much to Maria's disgust that they are sneaking through a moldy vent of all places, she quickly becomes distracted by the location they are hovering above; the boy's gymnasium.

Itsuki and Alex leave for the locker room after Arthur angrily confronts the class rep over abandoning his teammates during training. Making conversation over how the class will soon be allowed to touch the Orb and become altered by it when they pass their final exam, Alex then brings up the Azul Force, which his family has been keeping for generations and Itsuki is set to inherit from his father. Alex mentions that some believe the Orb is sentient and will only grant the Azul Force to a Ranger that possesses a "good heart". He openly wonders if Itsuki will not be able to earn the ability, citing his cruel treatment towards Hope and surmising that he’s projecting his own insecurities onto her. Itsuki grows defensive at Alex's confrontation and sullenly declines his offer of having someone to talk to, even dismissing Alex when he tells him he isn't alone. After Alex leaves, Hope suddenly falls from the vent and lands in front of Itsuki, who appears to act much more disappointed than shocked or embarrassed.

Itsuki easily reads past Hope's lies and demands to know why she was in the vents. He then catches Jazz and Maria sneaking off with a bag of weapons, remembering how excited Jazz was to use handles (and possibly unauthorized lethal force). A security officer suddenly catches Hope and Itsuki near the weapons room, hearing a report that two students had snuck into said room to steal weapons. Not wanting Jazz and Maria to get in trouble, Itsuki takes the blame, with Hope chiming along. The guard is about to report them when he suddenly recognizes Itsuki as General Reo's son. As a fan of the famous general, Itsuki proposes to let the guard have a call with his father if he lets them off the hook. The guard then begins to wonder why the two were in the weapons room if they have no weapons on them, leading Hope and Itsuki to pretend to be secretive lovers. After the giddy security guard walks away, the two laugh over the awkward scenario. Hope then asks Itsuki why he let Jazz and Maria go. Itsuki remembers Carmen's words and believes he should be nicer to others, yet still refuses to make an exception for Hope. Hope then scolds Itsuki for being a hypocrite, how he had called her out for following her father's dream when he is essentially doing the exact same thing. She then calls him out for only being giving his position as class rep and being next in line for The Azul Force due to nepotism, all the while being an ineffective leader and an overall cruel, selfish person. Despite liking his laugh earlier, she ruefully dismisses the idea of Itsuki ever changing before storming off, leaving a mortified Itsuki behind.

In a post-credit scene, Shi stares at images of Interstellar Force Headquarters on a screen in a vacant room before vaguely saying "Only a few more weeks".

## Major Characters

* Hope Griffin
* Itsuki Reo
* Jazz Owens
* Maria Long
* Carmen Avilas
* Alex Stepanov
* Arthur Stepanov

## Minor Characters

* Sebastian Rojas
* Professor Parth Strong
* Unnamed Security Officer
* Chris Myrthil
* Amai Higashi
* Jeff Willams
* Kayleen Huo
* Shi (end credits)
* Professor Maya Kimball (mentioned)
* General Reo (mentioned)
* Naomi Amador (recap)
* Richie Webber (recap)

## Trivia

* As with Itsuki's class notes in the previous episode, two mentions are made of the Drey, revealed to be a species from a planet called Dreyvan. The first is used to describe Drey-based ingredients used for cooking during Hope's Home Economics class, while the second comes from a security guard that confronts Hope and Itsuki before recognizing Itsuki as General Reo's son before referring to his father's victory on Dreyvan. It's implied General Reo's victory are what earned humanity access to resources from the planet.