We’re getting into the endgame now, which opens with an odd scene of Protoman in Netopia’s network fighting off an army of Cutmen and Quickmen before shifting to the conference room in the Center. There we get an explanation for the above; Chaud was called off by Netopia to investigate an incident or another and found more Gospel forces, despite the fact that Megaman should’ve cleaned out their hideout in Koto Square. Apparently no one bothered to actually investigate and lock down the place after Freezeman was defeated. The Officials, ladies and gentlemen!
So the people present determine that they should let Lan and Megaman investigate the place again, but Yuuichiro protests due to Lan’s inexperience (there’s looking out for your son(s), but come on, you know better than anyone else what the two are capable of in these situations) and a compromise is reached where all City Net Battlers will be contacted. That means of course that Lan’s still gonna be the one going all the work.
And so we cut to Lan getting the email notification while his mother watches a news report on how things are still bad out there with Gospel apparently still about. So, to Koto Square, which is still deserted save for the shopkeeps and a lone Program who mentions that he sometimes hears voices. However, once we enter the area where Freezeman was, we find that it’s full of generic Black Navis, and at the back is a giant warp-thingy that’s disgorging more by the minute. Seriously, no one bothered to investigate this place again? No wonder the Officials constantly get their digital asses kicked.
Megaman attempts to destroy the warp but all his buster shots do are impact harmlessly against it. So, he and Lan decide that they should go and investigate Koto Area’s real world site, Kotobuki Town. Wait, once a major criminal syndicate hideout was discovered online no one bothered to investigate the town where the network originates from? No wonder the Officials constantly get their asses kicked.
The only caveat with Lan and Megaman’s plan is that they don’t know how to get to Kotobuki. So as usual it’s time to go hit up Yuuichiro for some answers. As usual he’s at his cubicle in the Center. He thanks Lan for the work that he’s done up until now, but admits that he wishes that he wasn’t involved this time, as it will be the final battle, and he’s sure that Gospel has something up its sleeve. Lan makes a case for himself and his father decides to reveal what is currently known about Kotobuki.
Over in the conference area. Yuuichiro reveals that Kotobuki has suddenly begun to release incredibly amounts of radiation, roughly ten thousand times the usual amount. Now science time here, radiation is generally measured in units called sieverts and millisieverts. The average amount of radiation a person’s body absorbs in a year from the sun, electronic devices, etc. comes out to about 3 millisieverts, or .003 sieverts. Ten-thousand times that is 30 sieverts. For sake of comparison, that’s thirty times the hourly radiation dosage at the Fukushima power plant following the Sendai Earthquake. There are two things that Yuuichiro and the Center staff have come up with to deal with this issue. The first is that Lan will be able to reach Kotobuki on a specially-shielded Metroline car, and the second is that he’ll be wearing a suit made out of material that’ll shield up to fifty-thousand times normal radiation dosage. Obviously this isn’t reflected on Lan’s sprite, so I’m going to assume that he’ll be wearing lead-lined clothes or something. Despite this, Yuuichiro still protests Lan’s involvement, but he insists that he wants to do this, and that it’ll be harder for him to ask anyone else. Not to mention Megaman, Hub, will still be with him. Yuuichiro relents and hands over the suit and Kotobuki Pass for the Metroline. We’re off!
But of course there’re still one or two wee little things left to do. First, going into the room where the Mother Computer is we can meet Jennifer, the generic black woman from the Netopia meeting. We can complete the trading chain by giving her the Big Bomb * in exchange for a third folder. The next thing is that there are two final jobs to tackle.
Job 17: To bug academics
The client is in Okuden and actually happens to be the bug guy from the airplane. He wants us to find a Den Beetle for him, which means one last pixel hunt. The bug is found in the area with the guardian statue, on the “edge” of the world. The bug guy gives out a Recovery 200 M as a reward.
Job 18: Return my gem!
We have to go all the way to Netopia for this job. While going through the airport it’s important to note that we can now battle Heatman V2 by challenging Mr. Match. Heatman’s chip has him project fire onto the panel immediately in front of him and the entire two columns after that. If you visit the plane (which is currently housing refugees from Kotobuki) there’s a little boy in First Class that wants to trade an Anti-Damage S for all three versions of the Shadowman chip. On the surface it’s not a very fair trade, but along with Dropdown S and any of the Shadowman chips you can make the Bodyguard Program Advance, which is far and away the most broken Program Advance in this game, I feel. Basically Shadowman hides above the field and hurls eighteen shurikens down on the enemy field in rapid succession for 100 damage each. This will decimate viruses and lock down bosses for a long time, forcing them to eat a total of eighteen-hundred damage. Very few enemies in the game can survive that.
Anyway, the request, The client is a clerk at Netopia’s jewelry store, and it seems that three of the store’s prized gems were stolen by a trio creatively called the “Three Bandit Sisters”. We’re tasked with getting them back, and we’re told that they all talk funny and that one of them is by Net Castle. Well, there’s a girl there who talks in a way that I can only describe as a valley girl sailor, and once stomping the viruses she attacks us with she returns the Yum Tear. The second thief is in the hotel room, and her speech quirk is ending her sentences with a word that rhymes with the previous one sun. I imagine that that worded out better in Japanese than in English. Beating her viruses nets us the King Stone. The last sister is at the place inside of Net Castle where we confronted Princess Pride, and she speaks normally. Beating her returns the final gem, the Twilight. Our reward is the Gold Fist Z chip.
And that’s the last of the requests. I find it kinda odd that there were only eighteen instead of an even number like twenty or something. By doing all of them we’re eligible for the final license exams, but as I said in the past I’m saving all of them for the postgame, though I’m pretty sure the S License test can be taken before then.
And to cap off Netopia is the final quiz-giver, the "Quiz King" located in the bowels of the castle's dungeon:
- Q1: What's Shadowman's element? (No Element)
- Q2: What's the virus that shoots cannonballs from its mouth? (Hardhead)
- Q3: What's the combined attack of Thunderman V3, Navi + 40 and Navi + 20? (240)
- Q4: Who is a former WWW operator? (Mr. Match)
- Q5: What's the name of Magnetman's operator Gauss's brother? (Jack Electricity)
- Q6: Of these Navis, who is vulnerable to Wood attacks? (Magnetman)
- Q7: What's the temperature of the Netopia hotel fridge? (3 degrees C)
- Q8: What's the name of the popular robot cartoon in Netopia? (Robo X)
- Q9: How many houses are there in ACDC Town? (9)
- Q10: Which virus has the highest attack power? (Swordy 3)
- Q11: What's in Den City but not in Netopia? (Metroline)
- Q12: What area can you enter the Undernet from? (Netopia 3)
- Q13: Where was Quiz? (Den Airport)
- Q14: What's Mother Computer 1's second keyword? (RIVER)
- Q15: Who's the leader of WWW? (Wily)
Answering all those nets us a Regular UP 3.
So, to Kotobuki for the final showdown with Gospel. To get there you have to try using the Marine Harbor Metroline and you’ll get a prompt asking if you want to go to Kotobuki. This is the only station that the Kotobuki Pass can be used at.
Once we’re away, the scene switches to an unfamiliar glowing room full of computer servers. One of the machines announces that Lan and Megaman are en route, causing the Gospel Admin to remark that they’re too late, because he’s already begun the process of merging together Bug Frags to create his Super Navi. He starts walking into the frame just as the image begins to fade out, and what little we can glimpse of him looks…odd, to say the least. Odd and flashy. Literally.
Things are about to get weird.
Comments
