A very wealthy woman and her pet poodle, Sebastian, seem to be going for an early morning stroll by a lake only for the dog to become very irritated at something in the lake. He dives into the lake only to disappear while the owner screams for her pet as an eerie island hovers in the distance.

Back in town, Lina and Gourry have a good old fashioned eating contest to see who pays for lunch while everyone in the tavern cheers them on. Except for Amelia and Zelgadis that is who are ashamed to be in their presence while Zel notes that they seem oblivious to the fact that they’re both basically wanted criminals. Just as Lina is about to claim victory a set of handcuffs fly out of nowhere. Our “good friend” Wiser is back to arrest Lina, seemingly oblivious of the fact that she was completely innocent before. Wiser flashes the wanted poster and mentions Lina’s name which puts the entire tavern in a panic as they flee the premises, screaming about rumors even worse than usual. Wiser admits he’s been spreading the “rumors” but doesn’t seem to care as he’s ready to arrest her, this time for serial pet abduction.

Everyone is completely stunned by this while Gourry, totally ignoring the situation, claims victory in the eating contest much to Lina’s shock. Lina angrily claims her innocence yet again while Wiser simply states he’s doing his duty. Zel mentions that this might be another frame job like with Pokota but Wiser claims he has proof this time. The proof? Yep. That she’s Lina Inverse. Lina decides to answer that charge by launching Wiser into the stratosphere forgetting that she’s also attached to him via the handcuffs as she joins him in the sky.

Wiser describes the situation as many rich people have had their pets go missing. Lina doesn’t really care while Amelia shows her sympathy. Wiser claims she has no heart and doesn’t understand the owners’ feelings. Lina still refuses to care, more worried about her own situation but Wiser lets slip that the owners are offering a huge reward. That spurs Lina into action and claims to “clear her name” although she’s obviously only after the reward. Wiser jokes that there’s no way she can do it since she’s obviously the culprit. Lina remains undaunted, at least until Gourry reminds her to pay the bill for lunch.

Lina and her party decide to do some legwork and ask in town about the abductions but everyone totally ignores them and refuses to answer any questions. Everyone admits this is quite suspicious and that there may be some conspiracy afoot while Wiser feigns innocence and claims he’s not wasting his time asking questions since he’s got the culprit already in handcuffs. Before Lina can give him yet another piece of her mind, Gourry points out some animal footprints that go off in the distance, leading to the lake. Amelia mentions that she’s heard that ships that go out into the lake go missing and they decide to check it out, despite Wiser’s stubbornness.

The weather immediately gets foggy as they take a boat out to the middle of the lake, heading for the mysterious island and the strange structure on it. Wiser panics, thinking that the entire thing is a trick for Lina to try to kill him for arresting her. Lina just ignores him as a sound startles them. They all turn to see Gourry fishing, much to their relief. Another sound shocks them and they chastise Gourry only to find out it wasn’t him that time. A huge jellyfish monster shows itself and attacks the boat. Lina is about to blast it before Wiser interrupts, claiming the monster is Lina’s and she’s trying to trick him. The distraction is long enough for the monster to destroy the boat as everyone casts magic to escape. Lina, holding Gourry and Wiser, decides they won’t get away without a distraction of their own and she casts Gourry at the monster. Leaving him to his fate, she quietly “mourns” his sacrifice as the others head toward the island.

No sooner than they reach the island than they’re attacked again, this time by Lesser Demons. Amelia goes off into one of her patented speeches of justice only for Lina, dragging Wiser, to escape while Amelia and Zelgadis are left behind to watch their backs very much under protest while we get a quick glimpse of the culprit and his laboratory.

Fending off a straggler demon, Lina and Wiser make it to the laboratory and break in. They’re ambushed by more monsters but Lina makes fairly quick work of them. Lina asks Wiser if he understands the situation now but Wiser proclaims that the entire situation is Lina’s bid for world domination and Lina decides she’s had enough and swings Wiser in anger, managing to free herself from the handcuffs and slam him into a door leading to the inner laboratory. Lina quickly faces off against the robed villain and correctly guesses that the entire situation is of his doing, experimenting on the missing pets to create chimeras. Lina shows the culprit to Wiser only to discover he’s out cold. After a quick exchange, the villain lets loose some of his stolen pet chimeras, claiming that they’re innocent pets so Lina would have a problem attacking them. Obviously he doesn’t know Lina. Lina blasts then but stops short of killing them, seeing as she needs to collect that reward. Robed Bad Guy quickly composes himself and unleashes his greatest monster, Death Chimera Taro. Lina tries to dispatch this one but it has a defensive spell protecting him from magic so things won’t be quite so easy.

Back outside, Zel and Amelia finish off the Lesser Demons only to be suddenly shocked by a giant creature. Lina is still having trouble only for the wall to come down and the giant jellyfish to burst in. Mr. Robed Bad Guy is surprised to see it there but claims that since the monster is in his power, both it and Taro will crush Lina. However it quickly attacks the villain and swats the Death Chimera. It turns out that the jellyfish creature is being controlled by Gourry who befriended it after being tossed by Lina who claims that they became friends because they’re both jellyfish brains. They also picked up Zel and Amelia much to their disappointment as they come out of its mouth covered in sticky saliva. The robed scientist tries to sneak off, only to be confronted by Wiser who claims to have seen his crimes and arrest him. The scientist laughs, claiming that he can’t be arrested as he’s being backed by a Ruvinagald prince. Wiser still arrests him despite his protests.

Back outside, Lina is impressed with Wiser’s deception. She claims that Wiser couldn’t act against a Ruvinagald prince normally much less arrest him but if he “stumbled” upon the operation while in the midst of another investigation he could get around such problems. Like chasing Lina Inverse, for instance. Wiser smiles but claims he has no idea what she’s talking about while Lina has to finally give him some credit. Gourry is happily sharing his new friend with Zel and Amelia, again under much protest, and the pets are returned to their owners although not QUITE in the same form they were before.

Thoughts:
Well if Wiser is on the up and up, I have to say I’m just as surprised as Lina was. I was expecting a totally bumbling goofball to act as a running gag/comic relief throughout the series and during the episode I was actually considering that he may have had some sinister reason for blindly trying to arrest Lina. Possibly with his working for Ruvinagald and trying to keep her out of the way for some reason. But it looks like he’s a lot more clever than anyone gave him credit for and he might actually prove to be a welcome and useful companion in Lina’s current adventures provided he sticks around and that arresting this scientist wasn’t his only real purpose. We’ll have to see as the next episode brings back Pokota and possibly another magic tank but no Wiser in sight. Well, until then!

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