Once back in the real world, Lan gets a frantic call from Glyde, relaying the horrible news that Yai hasn’t come out of her bath yet!
…
Just as Lan says “so what?” Glyde mentions that there seems to be an issue with the mansion’s gas heater. Okay, that sounds like it could be a problem. After quickly conferring with Dex and Mayl via phone, all three resolve to check things out. Before going to Yai’s mansion though, jacking in to the doghouse in front of Lan’s house gets us a Full Energy Sub Chip. There’s also a scientist wandering around ACDC who’ll sell us more Sub Chips:
- Mini Energy – 50z
- Full Energy – 400z
- Unlocker – 4000z
Once we meet up with the others in front of Yai’s house, Dex resolves to just go charging in. When he doesn’t come back Lan goes in after him, only to have the door automatically lock behind him. What’s more, the hallway is full of gas. Megaman does something with the PET to allow us to see where it is, and the two determine that a hacker must be behind this. We also get an email from a worried Mayl (heh, pun) which’ll contain the Navi chip Roll R. Just like before, Roll’s chip has her attack the nearest enemy and then restore a bit of Megaman’s HP. Amusingly enough Yai has Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring hanging up in her hallway.
We can’t get to Yai’s bedroom thanks to the gas, but we can get into the bathroom at the far end of the hall. The bathtub area itself is so choked with gas that Yai can’t even be seen, while Dex is lying unconscious right on top of a floor vent. Examining the water heater’s control panel yields nothing, so it’s time to jack Megaman in and do our thing.
The Gas Computer’s gimmick is, obviously, gas. Giant gas cylinders are located at the end of narrow pathways, and the only way to pass is by either ducking in between the blast of gas they expel, or by looping around to turn off the nozzles, similar to what we had to do in the Waterworks’ network in Battle Network 1. Getting hit by the gas simply blows us back. We soon find Gutsman stuck at a dead end with quickly introduces a new element to the puzzle – using the expelled gas to propel Megaman across gaps in the path. This leads us to the control panel for the ventilation system. Activating it clears the gas from around Dex’s feet, allowing Lan to revive him. Dex thanks him for the save and leaves Lan to hold down the fort while he goes and gets to work on unlocking the front door.
At the beginning of Area 2 there’s a part where we have to let the gas blow us off course so that we can loop around and nab an HP Memory from a BMD. After doing something of a Corridor Cubbyhole Run we’re able to proceed by turning off a nozzle that’s blocking the path, and we soon find a second control panel. However, this isn’t enough to clear the gas from the bathroom. Lan wonders if they could use anything to blow away the gas manually, and Megaman has an epiphany and realizes that they could use one of the fans that Yai’s been collecting (see why we had to listen to her spiel on this?).
Some of the gas is cleared from the hallway now, enough so that Lan can reach Yai’s room. We get the Fan item by examining a display shelf. Back in the bathroom his bright idea…sort of works. Briefly. The gas just comes back after he’s done fanning, but it does clear away some of the gas in the Gas Computer…somehow. More importantly, it reveals another ventilation control panel, but a blue Navi appears before it, daring Megaman to try it. Well getting to him is simply a matter of opening a valve so that the gas can blow us straight to him. After we get a Regular UP 1, though. The Navi’s name is Airman, and his operator is the gas technician from before, Arashi
◊. Arashi reveals that his modus operandi is to hold the children of rich people for ransom by threatening to gas them. Lan and Megaman are naturally disgusted by this and initiate battle.
Airman
◊
HP: 300
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Air Blast – Airman fires a blast of air down one row for 15 damage.
- Triple Tornado – Airman launches three small tornadoes, one on each row, down the field for 10 damage. One tornado will move more quickly or slowly than the others, giving Megaman an opportunity to slip past.
- Double Tornado – Two whirlwinds are created in Megaman’s area, which then move towards him for 10 damage.
Despite the Memetic Mutation surrounding his Robot Master counterpart, Airman isn’t difficult. Nor should he be, given that he’s the first boss. Double Tornado is really his only attack that’s dangerous due to how it moves, but the amount of damage it inflicts is really just a drop in the bucket unless Megaman’s HP was somehow bled dry in the virus battles leading up to this one.
Winning gives us 1000z.
With Airman defeated Arashi curses and vows that they’ll meet again, since his group is “the strongest”. Lan and Megaman have more important things to worry about though, such as activating the control panel and saving Yai. So we cut to Yai’s bedroom, after the others had retrieved her and put her to bed. After a bog-standard “you saw me naked, didn’t you!” joke once things are explained, everyone has a good laugh.
We then cut to Arashi in a Metroline Station, contacting someone on his PET. His mysterious silhouette-mugshot contact is less than pleased with his extortion scheme’s failure, and reveals that the netmafia, Gospel, has no more need of him. Arashi thinks he’s being overdramatic, but then notices the suitcase ticking away in a corner…
We’re then given control of Lan again. We’re supposed to head home and go to sleep to end this chapter, but we might as well ransack our friends’ homes for goodies while we’re still up and about. Examining Yai asleep in her bed gives us the Yai Code item, which she was apparently going to give to us anyway, and inside the telephone is a Regular UP 1 and 1000z. Jacking in to Yai’s laptop lets us access her homepage, which contains an HP Memory.
Dex’s house is just as messy as ever. We can jack in to the GBA lying on his table for a Mini Bomb *. His homepage is located through his PC, and he’s got a Bug Frag, Guts Punch B, and 800z stashed away inside. Talking to the man himself lets us battle Gutsman.
Gutsman
HP: 300
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Shockwave – Gutsman smashes the ground, unleashing a shockwave that travels down one row for 10 damage.
- Guts Hammer – Gutsman smashes the ground, cracking one row of panels.
- Guts Punch – Gutsman moves up to his front column and punches the panel in front of him, knocking the target back a panel for 20 damage.
Gutsman may move a little faster than he did in Battle Network 1, but other than that he hasn’t changed a bit. Once again, deliberately breaking one of the cracked panels is all one needs to do to completely neuter his attacks.
Winning gives us Gutsman G. Gutsman’s chip has him use a shockwave attack that covers the entire field before him and cracks all of those panels as well.
It’s worth noting that at the moment I now have all the ingredients for my first Program Advance. By selecting Guard *, Dash Attack G, and Gutsman G I can activate Guts Shoot, which has Gutsman hurl Megaman down one row and dealing a flat 400 damage to the first enemy he hits. Basic, but powerful. After the battle Dex gives us Dex Code.
The only place where we can jack in to in Mayl’s house at the moment is the PC in her room, which brings us to her homepage. There’s a Mini Energy in there.
And that’s all there is to do. Time to hit the sack.
Virus Listing
- Fishy
- These viruses rocket down the row when they align with Megaman. It's evolved form, Fishy 2, is Fire element and leaves a burning trail in its wake, making it much more deadly than a normal virus.
- Beetank
- These viruses trundle up and down one column, periodically firing bombs into Megaman's fields. The basic form damages a column's worth of panels, but its second form explodes a plus-shaped area, and the final form a 3 x 3 area.
- Wind Box
- Wind Box's are immobile, and do nothing but constantly blow wind that forces Megaman to his back column.
- Swordy
- These knights have two attack patterns - close range and long range. If Megaman is in the column in front of them, they will swing their sword in a Wide Sword-range slash. If Megaman is not directly in front of them, they will attack with a slash that has a range of two horizontal. Should Megaman persist in dodging their attacks, they will use the Area Grab chip to close in on him. Swordys are Normal element, while Swordy 2's and Swordy 3's are Fire and Aqua respectively.
- Spooky
- Similar to Boos, these ghost viruses are incredibly bashful, moving away from Megaman whenever he aligns with them. Eventually they'll warp directly in front of Megaman and try to stick him with their tongue. If you don't delete them quickly they'll heal themselves with Recovery chips. Or heal other viruses with them.
- Flappy
- These viruses will quickly flit from panel to panel before appearing above Megaman in the form of a giant metal weight and crashing down, cracking the panel below. Later versions can damage additional panels.
Soundtrack
- Suspicious Mood (Battle Network 2 ver.)
- A little more weightier than the version that appeared in the first game.
- Incident Occurrence! (Battle Network 2 ver.)
- Frantic as usual.
- Smokey Field
- The Gas Computer's music. Uh, game? That ain't smoke. You still wouldn't want to breathe it, though.
- Pressure
- This plays whenever Megaman's confronting an enemy Navi. Basically it's the pre-boss theme.
- Battle Spirit
- This game's boss battle theme. I like how it's relatively low-key compared to the other boss themes in the series.
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