Rush Zone S2 E15 "There's Snow Place Like Home"

## Plot

Like Marty before him, Ish is having a nightmare. He's in San Diego on a beach at night. Suddenly, Ash and Ricky come out of a portal in Guardian mode and attack him. They *are* the two teammates who have been under mind control before. Ironic, come next season. He can't transform. Ricky and Ash tell him that he's been replaced and move in for the finishing blow, despite his protests. Then he wakes up at 2:00 in the morning. He realizes that it was just a nightmare, but notes that it felt so real. People do actually have dreams that feel incredibly real sometimes, even if the dream situation itself isn't realistic. I've had a few dreams like that, and they certainly *feel* like nightmares, even though most of them are more surreal than scary. It turns out that Drop Kick is watching his dreams. With the data he's collected, he'll soon be able to manipulate the dreams too, using the Colts' Megacore. Suddenly, Wildcard comes in, saying that he was disturbed by a power surge, no doubt caused by Drop Kick's late night activities. Drop Kick pretends to be looking for a new target, and chooses the San Diego Chargers. Wildcard tells him to prepare the new EEL, and says that he'll be monitoring Drop Kick very closely. Ricky and Ash are excused to go to San Diego for their vacation by RZ. While they're gone, he'll be undergoing internal repairs. Wildcard's previous attack did more damage than they originally thought. In case an emergency happens, the others will be able to reach them through their NFL-Rs. While driving on the road, someone's car spins out of control. There's ice on the ground, despite the fact that it never snows in southern California. Then an avalanche and a blizzard of snow comes. Mr. Reynolds surprised Ash and Ricky by getting them tickets to see the Chargers training camp. Then they meet Antonio Gates, a tight end for the Chargers. And Nick Hardwick, center. And Phillip Rivers, quarterback. They're about to get a picture, but it starts snowing. The Chargers' Rusher, Bolt, talks to Ash and Ricky. Hey, Bolt! Good to see him again. The team received a threat a little while ago. Wildcard wants them to leave their megacore on the 50 yard line of their stadium by noon tomorrow, or southern California will be buried in snow. If any of the Guardians try to interfere, the deal is off. Ash contacts the others to see if they can reach RZ. They need a password though. Marty looks through some hidden files to see if there's a password in one of them. Instead, he finds a video clip of Warren as a child, playing catch with Drop Kick. He throws the football, but accidentally knocks over and breaks a statue. Richard Zimmer comes outside and demands to know what's going on. Warren says it's Sidekick's fault. He claims that he was too rough and pushed him, and Warren knocked the statue over trying to get away from him. That is a load of bull. Is it any wonder that Warren turned into a supervillain if he was a pathological liar at such a young age? And no wonder Drop Kick resents him so much! Like Marty, I *almost* feel bad for the guy. Troy thinks that machines don't have feelings, but RZ reminds him that some do. He's back online. Zimmer wrote a program so that Drop Kick could never harm Warren. I don't think that was a particularly successful program. The guys head to San Diego. They meet up with the others and fight off some arriving BlitzBotz. Ish tells Wildcard through a camera that he'll never get the Chargers' Megacore. Wildcard decides that if he can't have it, no one will, and activates a bomb inside the BlitzBot. Everyone's okay though. RZ has located the source of the storm: A Freeze BliztBot on a mountain. Ash's dad used to take her camping there, so she knows the area really well. Ish tells her to take the others and stop the robot. He heads off with Bolt to do something else. It turns out that Drop Kick used the opportunity to steal the Kansas City Chiefs' Megacore. Oh, that is bad. I should've known when those two analyst guys mentioned Kansas City! Wildcard came to the stadium to get the megacore, which Ish has, and the two fight. The others defeat the BlitzBot. Ish and Bolt use their powers on the megacore to melt the snow and ice. I bet my mom wishes she had that power. Naturally, Wildcard escapes again. An analyst reports on the megacore in Kansas City being stolen. The guys admit that they were a little jealous of Ricky for getting to go to San Diego. Marty wonders that if Warren had faced his feelings head on, then he might not have become a supervillain. Warren and Sidekick were jealous of each other. Back at the HoK, RZ is watching a different video clip of himself and Warren, and clearly feels upset.

## Review

I love all of the overarching plot threads, especially on the villains' side. Speaking of the villains, they're way more complex and grey than we originally thought, and so is their story. I do love how hammy and evil Wildcard can be though, like when he says that he's getting rid of San Diego because he's allergic to sunshine. Although, given that his exosuit has been grafted onto him for over a decade, he could very well be telling the truth about that one. I do have to wonder how everyone is doing with two megacores gone now. Surely they'd be affected, right? We don't hear anything about it at all, other than the megacores themselves being stolen.