Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T Episode 06

The Battle Begins (開戦) is the 6th episode of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun T. It was broadcast on February 14th 2020.

Synopsis
Baba Yoshio continues to mock the resolve of Wannai Kinuho and Awatsuki Maaya as he continues to target the unconscious Kongou Mitsuko. With Kinuho using the nearby water to push away the Type: Great Dane robots, Maaya urges Saten Ruiko to bring Kongou to safety, using her ability to make their unconscious friend lighter. Ruiko begins her sprint away from the battlefield, with Baba unable to catch up due to the two Tokiwadai girls in front of him. With one of his Type: Mosquito robots in Kongou's hair to serve as a contingency plan, he then prepares to engage Kinuho and Maaya in combat.

Saten is able to carry Kongou onto a bench outside of the open grounds. As she contacts Anti-Skill, Kinuho and Maaya continue repelling the Type: Great Danes using their abilities. Baba once again receives a call from his usual contact, and he turns down on any attempts for reinforcement, aware that the girl on the line wants to steal his accomplishment. Upon identifying the abilities of the two Tokiwadai girls, Baba decides to lure the girls into a deal: the information they have regarding Misaka Mikoto's "sister" in exchange for a Type: Mosquito robot. This, however, immediately fails. Baba then changes the deal; he forces the two Tokiwadai girls to choose between two nanodevice cases, one of which having the Type: Mosquito robot. Not knowing which one is empty, Maaya chases a Type: Great Dane robot carrying one of the cases while Baba proceeds to make his escape with the other, pinning down Kinuho with three of his remaining Type: Great Dane robots.

As Kuroko begins to act in denial to the "uneasy feeling" she feels whenever she thinks of the Ace of Tokiwadai, Mikoto is still restrained by the presence of two of the members of Shokuhou Misaki's clique who wait for the next bus to arrive. As she thinks about her next move, an ambulance carrying Saten arrives at the nearby hospital, and there, she sees Kongou at a terrible state.

Saten recalls the events that happened earlier, and Mikoto slowly realizes that the current situation is more than just a minor conflict between cliques. As she picks up a shorted mosquito robot from Kongou's hair, Mikoto leaves the hospital, with the two clique members unable to stop her advance.

Kinuho continues her steady pursuit of Baba, unaware that her enemy has been carefully analyzing her ability, including any vulnerabilities. Soon, after the seemingly endless assault of the Type: Great Dane robots, Kinuho has ran out of water, forcing her to prepare her knowledge in hand-to-hand combat against four Type: Great Danes Baba has as his reserve units. Baba gloats about breaking down the specifications of her abilities and mocks her helplessness without the presence of water nearby. Kinuho, however, reveals that he has misjudged her limits, and has been hiding a clump of water from the intricate underground flood drains nearby. She then uses this to encase Baba's head in water.

Panicked about the possibility of drowning, Baba is forced to use his Type: Great Dane robots to absorb the water around his head. In turn, Kinuho uses this absorbed water to destroy all four of Baba's reserve units. Without any offense against Kinuho, Baba is compelled to use the last Type: Mosquito robot he has to incapacitate Kinuho. However, as he bluffs his way into deploying the robot, he notices that the Type: Mosquito unit has dropped to the ground, unable to fly. To his shock, Maaya appears by Kinuho's side after destroying the Type: Great Dane Baba used to lure the former from the battlefield.

After obtaining the last nanodevice case from his hand, Baba pleads to the two girls to spare his life. Kinuho then slaps Baba's face, scolding him about his lack of trust and warning him of the repercussions of this lack of trust. A humiliated Baba then runs away to a nearby container port, where one of the trucks contains a much larger robot from his arsenal—Type: Mantis. Although admitting that the larger robot would stand out too much, Baba is too focused on destroying the two girls physically, mentally and socially.

Moments later, as Baba prepares to set up Type: Mantis, he notices GPS readings from one of his Type: Mosquito robots nearby. To his shock, the reading comes from Misaka Mikoto. Baba deludes himself that the girl in front of his Type: Mantis is not the Original and prepares to engage. However, the immediate dismantling of his Type: Mantis revealed to Baba that the one he is dealing with is the third-ranked Level 5. Mikoto uses the communications equipment she spared from the robot to contact Baba from inside his control center. Although she had locked in Baba and had taken over his systems, Mikoto assures him that he will be spared, knowing that he may be acting under the influence of other people. However, she also warns him that he will be dealt with as soon as she sees any of his robots near her friends.

With all of his robots destroyed, Baba sends a message to her usual contact about his plan to go on hiding for the meantime. Although disappointed about the turn of events, MEMBER affiliates Kouzaku Mitori and Xochitl talk about the next course of action. Mitori decides to head out despite Xochitl's warning of Mikoto's strength, and thinks that the next day would be enough to finish the job.

Characters
By order of appearance:
 * Kongou Mitsuko
 * Saten Ruiko
 * Wannai Kinuho
 * Awatsuki Maaya
 * Baba Yoshio
 * Kouzaku Mitori
 * Uiharu Kazari
 * Shirai Kuroko
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Xochitl

Abilities

 * Hydro Hand - Wannai Kinuho, Level 3
 * Float Dial - Awatsuki Maaya, Level 3
 * Electromaster (Railgun-variant) - Misaka Mikoto, Level 5

Locations

 * Academy City

Referbacks

 * "Heatstrokes" being a common event in the Daihaseisai may be a reference to key cases of unconsciousness during the sporting event, especially that of Fukiyose Seiri.