Our endgame begins with Lan finding himself in a strange, unfamiliar void which he eventually recognizes as the Cyberworld. Megaman appears to tell Lan that he called him here to say goodbye. He says that he’s been glad to have been able to be his Navi and thanks him before leaving. Lan shouts after him for answers and tries to follow, but finds that he cannot move. The only thing he can do is hopelessly call out Hub’s name.
Of course this turns out to be a nightmare that Lan wakes up from. After getting dressed he notices that something seems to be going on outside and Megaman tells him that it appears that Electopia’s army has put Den City under martial law following Alpha’s theft. Lan says that he has to do something so make up for failing to get it back, but Megaman says that they best thing for them to do at the moment is to just do to school.
Once outside we can see that ACDC is full of Officials and army personnel urging people to stay inside. They’ve even got tanks on hand, albeit tanks that look more like squat, quadruped robots. Mayl is standing in the park, and upon talking to her she expresses her unease at the situation and gives us the Roll V3 R chip. ACDC Elementary turns out to be closed, and we can’t use the Metroline either at the moment so there’s not much to do. After talking to everyone Lan gets an email from SciLab inviting him to take part in a meeting to discuss the WWW’s threat, but first we have to head to SciLab Square on the Net and meet with Protoman, as he’ll give us a pass that will allow us to use the subway.
Once at SciLab we have to go to Yuuichiro’s lab and speak with Chaud in order to get the meeting started. It’s time for the routine endgame exposition dump, provided by an Official. He tells the people assembled that Alpha was created by SciLab a decade ago. Alpha is the Internet itself.
Strictly speaking, it’s actually the prototype Internet (hence its name). In an astounding display of negligence on SciLab’s part, Alpha was riddled with bugs, causing it to gain a degree of self-awareness, like that of a primitive amoeba. Well I guess there is precedent for bugs doing that given Gospel from the previous game. All devices in SciLab that were connected to Alpha malfunctioned at once, but the staff thought that the source of the trouble was due to a different project, an “Auto Navi.” They were proven wrong when, several months later, all electronic devices connected online were destroyed. Alpha had managed to absorb the programs of everything hooked up to it, grinding Net society to a complete halt for six months until it was captured and sealed away. This event later became known as the Alpha Revolt.
So in short, the Internet turned into a giant blob within Cyberspace, and SciLab presumably built an entirely new network in order to contain it and seal it away. I mean, I guess if Alpha had absorbed everything they wouldn’t be able to just pull the plug on it, though why they couldn’t do so after making the new network is anyone’s guess. Again, what could possibly go wrong? Still, I guess I should cut them a little slack since this was the first time they attempting such a thing. The Official concludes by saying that if Alpha came back today, the effects would be catastrophic since many more devices are online compared to ten years ago.
As an aside, this backstory is pretty much identical to the one for Pharaohman in the anime. Basically he was used as a medium to process all data online, but he went crazy thanks to getting infected by a bug and was sealed away. I don’t know whether the anime took cues from the game, or if it came up with the concept first and the game writers decided to expand on the concept.
The meeting is cut short by a new set of alarms beginning to blare: all of the Auto Tanks on patrol in Den City have suddenly gone out of control. Everyone present leaves to go deal with this incident, and Lan says that he has to go back to ACDC since there were tanks stationed there too. Though once he gets there only one of them seems to be acting strangely, but it’s his friends who’re being threatened by it. Once they leave the tank opens fire on Lan but somehow he doesn’t get hit and is able to slip through and jack in.
Inside the tank’s computer is a Regular UP 2 and an HP Memory, while on the overworld is the virus that’s causing the tank to malfunction. It looks like a blue slime and it’s identified in battle only as ????. After the battle Megaman comments that the virus seemed to be trying to absorb him, when they usually just try to outright destroy Navis and programs. The true nature of the threat becomes clear when an Official comes up to Lan to check on him and receives a call from HQ saying that these things have broken into army systems all over the world. They’re known as Alpha Bugs, and since they’re loose it must mean that Wily has begun to decode Alpha itself. Looks like he’s going for a repeat of his Life Virus plan. The Official heads off to go deal with the threat elsewhere, and Lan gets a phone call from Haruka telling him that his father has suddenly disappeared from the hospital. Well that isn’t good news.
Upon reaching Yuuichiro’s hospital room we find Haruka frantic with worry, and Megaman suggests searching the room for any clues that he may have left behind. Examining the room’s bed yields an envelope containing a card key and a note from Yuuichiro, which says that he’s gone looking for Alpha. Lan reasons that he’d have to have gone somewhere with the equipment necessary to search, and Haruka gives him some of Yuuichiro’s medication since he’s still suffering from the effects of the SciLab fire (speaking of, just aspirin?).
SciLab seems to be the safest bet, and there is one room in there that we haven’t been able to enter yet. In Yuuichiro’s lab there’s a side door that’s remained locked throughout the entire game, but with the card key we’re able to get through. Beyond it is Yuuichiro’s rather spacious office, and the man himself is at his desk. Lan insists that he has to get back to the hospital, but his father that he can’t do that with Alpha in the hands of the WWW. He explains that he’s tracking the path of Alpha Bug attacks in an effort to locate the WWW’s base. Lan says that he should leave Alpha’s deletion up to the Officials, but Yuuichiro that he has to do it himself. Not because Alpha is a SciLab creation, but because Tadashi Hikari, his father and Lan’s grandfather, created it. This comes as a surprise to Lan, but really it’s not too surprising when you think about it, since Tadashi was the creator of the Cyberworld, after all. He explains that as a failsafe, Tadashi created a program named Guardian and installed it into Alpha. As long as Guardian exists, Alpha won’t be able to fully resurrect itself, so this is the only time it can be destroyed.
At this point the computer on his desk finishes its analysis, but as he goes to check it Yuuichiro is overcome with pain. So Lan gives him the aspirin, allowing him to recover enough to check the results. The WWW’s base is out at sea, it seems, in a patch of turbulent ocean known as the Demon Waters. The only way to approach it would be by boat, but the boat would have to have an incredibly powerful engine to make it through. Lan says that he’ll delete Alpha for him, and his father tells him to think of it as his and Megaman’s battle instead.
So, where do we find a boat? The smart thing to do would be ask Chaud. He’s an Official, he can surely have some strings pulled so they could provide us with something. Or we could have Yuuichiro do much the same. The man has to have enormous clout, right? Nope, we instead have to go and find a boat that already exists in the overworld, and the only one is the DNN ferry on Beach Street. Megaman expresses his doubts as to the thing’s seaworthiness, so they decide to go look for someone to provide a better engine. The solution is to go and talk to Yai back in ACDC. Despite Lan trying to keep his intentions secret she immediately susses out what’s going on and says that she’ll arrange for an engine to be installed tomorrow, but she’s certainly not happy about Lan trying to go off on his own in such a dangerous time. And so, that’s it, time to go to bed.
The scene switches to Wily addressing Rei, Sunayama (who apparently broke out of jail during the Flameman incident), Anetta, and Mr. Match. With the process to free Alpha underway, he tells them that their new orders are to protect it. Rei mentions that he wasn’t able to find Inukai, and Wily replies that he had him eliminated since he failed in his mission to get the Forbidden Program. Wily then turns to the monitor behind him and begins to address the world, telling them that the coming assault on the world’s military systems will envelop the world in a massive war, bringing Net society down. Destruction is the only thing left in the world’s future.
Lan doesn’t have any more nightmares and is up early the following morning. He gets an email from Yuuichiro, providing him with a program simply called Alpha. He says that this will allow him to see Alpha lurking in the Cyberworld, though this is only used during the upcoming dungeon.
Upon approaching the boat at Beach Street Lan’s confronted by all of his friends, obviously displeased at him trying to keep them out of danger. Of course they don’t listen to any of Lan’s protests, and Dex says that he needs to trust in their abilities more. Coming from Dex, who finally managed to make a non-sucky Gutsman, that’s good enough for me. Of course, not everyone can go, as Chaud says that only the best Net Battlers of the group should go to the WWW base. So in the end it’s decided that Chaud, Dex, and Tora shall accompany Lan on the trip. They shove off and get underway.
Virus Listing
- Alpha Bug
- Alpha Bug viruses are similar to the Scuttle family in concept, being the spawn of Alpha. They attack by leaping into the air and latching on to Megaman, draining away his HP. They rapidly regenerate their own HP, and do not drop battle chips.
