We're almost at the endgame now. It kicks off with Regal pulling a Do Not Adjust Your Set on Electopia, still a rather quaint thing to pull in a society of instantaneous electronic mass communication. He announces that his experiment is about to begin and that everyone will soon be free, yada yada. Lan starts to hurry out the door when his mom calls him back to give him a amulet that she found of Tadashi's. Sure, thanks.
When Lan does get out the door, the effects of Regal's experiment become apparent: all of the townspeople of ACDC start acting like assholes to each other. Like, one man steals another woman's PET, two kids get into a fight, and a couple other people just go berserk and start yelling to the wind. The game doesn't give us any time to wonder what exactly is going on before Lan gets an email from an anonymous sender, addressed to all Team Colonel members. It tells him about the microservers that Nebula's planted that're emitting these weird anger rays with instructions to destroy them. And no, it's never revealed who sent this mail.
Welp, this is Dr. Regal's plan in miniature. I imagine if this game had been written in the same sort of style as the early Battle Network games the populace would be breaking out in the rioting and general mayhem that you'd expect if everyone suddenly came down with a Hate Plague. Not in the world of Battle Network 4 and 5! Here the manifestation of people's evil is in the realm of petty thievery and knocking over trashcans for kicks. No, seriously, at SciLab there's one person trying to deface a mural of birds because they make her angry. And Regal wants to rule over this? Even if this Soul Net gizmo doesn't make people rise above mild hooliganism, it's still introducing anarchy, which by definition you cannot rule over. This plan man...in theory it's sound, in practice...leave your brain at the door, I guess.
Oh, and if you jack in you'll see that these microservers are also affecting Navis and Programs. Why Lan isn't affected is explained at the end of the game (it's no surprise, so I'll say right-out that it's due to the amulet he just got), but why Megaman isn't affected is a plot hole.
Back to the game now. For now we have to take out the microserver that's hidden in ACDC. It's in a device that can be jacked in to, so in this case it's the fake tree behind the Metroline station. Getting in is easy enough, but when Megaman approaches the pod-shaped device within Numberman jacks in and stops him. See, he and Higsby are being affected by the microservers too, and they just can't stand Lan's goody two-shoes nature. So obviously the best course of action is to fight. What else would we do?
Numberman Alpha
HP: 900
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Number Ball - Numberman creates three balls on each panel in the column in front of him, and sends them down the field. These balls can be destroyed, and each one has a number on it indicating its HP. They deal 60 damage.
- Dice Bomb – Numberman throws a destructible die three panels ahead that explodes a 3 x 3 area. Damage is thirty times the number the die lands on.
- Number Trap – Numberman sets a hidden switch in Megaman's area that produces the following effects when stepped on:
- Area Grab – Numberman steals the rightmost column of Megaman's area.
- Time Bomb 1 – A three-second time bomb is placed on Megaman's side of the field that explodes his area for 50 damage.
- Number Eraser – A giant eraser falls on a 2 x 2 area for 90 damage.
Number Ball can cause some problems since it's faster and its HP values are higher. Um, that's about it.
Megaman destroys the microserver after the battle, breaking the spell over ACDC. Those afflicted with the rays apparently incur memory loss since Higsby says that he can't remember anything after getting close to the server. For some reason we have to go to Baryl before we can leave to take down the other hidden microservers instead of getting a move on ourselves. Despite being told that the microservers are all over Electopia all we need to do is take out the ones in Den City thanks to Gameplay and Story Segregation. There's one microserver in every real world location that we can visit save for Oran Isle since no one lives there.
Oh yeah, Toadman's now been added to the Party Battle System. His support ability can revive a Navi once per battle when they get deleted. His combo attack is called Gaeru Otoshi (Frog Trap) and it has a whole of those frog projectiles from his Croaking Frog attack rain down on the field.
Our first stop is SciLab, where Electopia's scientific forefront has been paralyzed due to...people getting in to arguments over work habits and one guy complaining about low pay. The microserver here is in the information terminal in the lobby, and inside it Knightman is waiting for us. He helpfully tells us that he's not our teammate at the moment, right now he's a literal Blood Knight.
Knightman Alpha
HP: 900
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Kingdom Crusher – Knightman shoots his flail down one row for 60 damage.
- Broken Wall – Knightman fires his mace into the air, causing rubble to randomly fall on to Megaman's area for 60 damage per hit.
- Royal Wrecking Ball – Knightman swings his flail in an arc that hits all panels surrounding him for 80 damage.
- Leap – Knightman leaps one panel forward, cracking random panels on the field when he lands.
- Stone Body – When colored gray Knightman blocks all non-breaking attacks.
- Panel Grab – If Knightman has no more room left to move forward, he will steal the panel immediately in front of him.
Knight Soul plus a handful of Quakes wraps this one up nicely.
After Knightman jacks out and Megaman destroys the server Pride comes to her senses and apologizes for letting Knightman go out of control. Basically after getting the email all of the Team Colonel members split up to look for the servers and some ended up falling under their influence. Our next stop is the Queen Bohemia, where as soon as we get on deck a cut scene starts up showing Lan and Dingo at the Net Battle machine. Dingo wants to finally have that Net Battle, so we're forced to oblige.
Tomahawkman Alpha
HP: 900
Element: Wood
Attacks:
- Tomahawk Air Raid – Tomahawkman throws his tomahawk like a boomerang for 60 damage.
- Tomahawk Swing – Tomahawkman swings his axe in a 2 x 3 range for 70 Wood damage.
- Tomahawk Rolling – Tomahawkman jumps on top of his totem pole, curls into a ball, and slams into one panel, cracking it and unleashing a shockwave that hits the next column for 120 damage.
- Totem Pole – Different effects will manifest depending on which face is shown:
- If the red face is visible meteors will randomly fall on Colonel's area for 40 Fire damage per hit.
- If the yellow face is visible Tomahawkman will regenerate HP.
- If the green face is visible Tomahawkman will be invulnerable.
His immunity to paralysis and his invincibility buff is still annoying, but my strategy of forcing his back to the totem pole with Drill Arms still works well enough.
The server here is conveniently inside the Net Battle machine, so taking it out comes next. Next stop is Gargoyle Castle, where the final microserver is located at the end of the Gargoyle Computer. Fittingly, the teammate that we have to beat here is Shadowman.
Shadowman Alpha
HP: 700
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Fire no Jutsu – Shadowman sends a wave of fire down one row for 60 Fire damage. If any copies are on the field they will use the attack simultaneously.
- Kawarimi – Shadowman jumps into the air and throws two shurikens at Megaman for 60 damage each.
- Kage no Bunshin – Shadowman creates two copies of himself. The copies can be destroyed.
- Image Slash – One of Shadowman's clones appears in front of Megaman and slashes him for 60 damage.
- Back Stab – Shadowman appears behind Megaman and slashes him for 60 damage.
Ah, now he's starting to fight like the Shadowman from the earlier games. Too bad for him I got the Infinite Vulcan 3 Program Advance out pretty early.
After the battle Shadowman destroys the server himself. Apparently he and Dark were never under the server's influence, they just wanted to fight Lan and Megaman...because. With all the servers destroyed Baryl calls us to say...that all the servers have been destroyed. But the transmitter that was sending them the signal is still active, somewhere in the Undernet. Also, Colonel's apparently there too. Baryl tells Lan not to hesitate to delete him if necessary, but Lan turns around and says that he'll drag Colonel back to their side by the neck if he has to.
While we travel 'cross the cyber-land, the Toadman Alpha copy is sitting at the back of Undernet 3. Toadman's chip has him use Shocking Song just like in Battle Network 2, though it's not as powerful and there are sadly no poorly set-up Aqua Navis to use it on this time. Toadman Beta is in End Area 4.
By theway, I'm finding the back of the Undernet to be a great place to grind for zenny and Bug Frags, as the in-battle Mystery Data has a good chance of dropping 3000z or three frags at a time, and it's a pretty common occurrence.
Predictably, the transmitter (which looks oddly like an electrical transformer) is at the very deepest part of the Net, Undernet 4. Colonel's there, just as Baryl said, to inform us that we're too late, Nebula's already gotten all the data they need from Regal's microserver experiment. With one slash of his sword he destroys the transmitter himself and then proceeds to smack Megaman to the ground when he insists that he's going to bring him back. Like with all dark power-powered adversaries it's Cutscene Power to the Max with him.
It looks like Megaman's about to suffer a cutscene power-fueled beatdown when a sound rings out, stunning Colonel. Is it an angelic choir, a tolling bell, or something else suitably holy and anti-darkness? No, it's...Toadman's croaking. Outta nowhere arrives both Toadman and Protoman
◊, putting in his first appearance since the beginning of Battle Network 4. In Team Protoman, it is instead Colonel who shows up with Meddy. Since Megaman and Protoman don't need to be introduced to each other I can cut right to the chase: Protoman's here because he has a plan to free Colonel from the darkness. (I'm going to go ahead and assume that Chaud was supposed to be the one who sent that anonymous email)
His plan is very, very simple. Basically Toadman's going to keep up his healing croaking until the darkness, manifesting itself as one of the three-eyed specters of purple flames from the anime, leaves Colonel. Then, Protoman will cut him down. Finally, Megaman destroys the flame himself. Man, if it was this easy we could've done this back at the liberation mission ourselves! Anyway, though he's still groggy, Colonel's back to normal and we get the final Soul of the game, Colonel Soul.
- Activated by sacrificing Obstacle-attribute chips
- Charge Shot becomes Screen Divide
- Obstacles on the field will turn into soldiers and attack if enemies step near them
- The Arm Change option appears on the Custom Screen, giving Megaman the ability to select a Normal-attribute weapon-based chip to use as his charge attack
Colonel Soul is really a Soul that you'd want to use in-game rather than competitively. I've never used it since I don't use any Obstacle chips.
Megaman thanks Protoman for his help and asks if he'll join the team. Protoman predicably turns him down, tells Megaman to stay alert, and jacks out. That's all we'll be hearing from him, and Chaud doesn't even get a single line or appearance. See you guys in Battle Network 6.
Cut to Mission Control where the mood's a lot more positive than it was the last time the team was assembled here. Baryl reveals that thanks to some leftover data in Colonel's access log they now know the location of Nebula's base. So tomorrow, he says, the final operation against them will commence. We're told to gather in front of Higsby's at ten, and are dismissed.
But the day isn't over yet. When Lan gets home Haruka gives him something she found while cleaning out some of Tadashi's old documents: a disk of some sort. Megaman analyses it and comes up with the text “Net, SciLab, 3, center, straight, 27, turn and go 4. Turn again, go 4 and then check... Hikari data, reaction...”. That sounds like another Vision Burst to investigate to me.
As so helpfully laid out in the disk, we have to go alllll the way to the very, very back of SciLab 3. There, Megaman will comment that his Navi emblem is glowing, and a Vision Burst door appears before him. This one leads to SciLab in the past, specifically the same room that we saw at the very beginning of the game, the same one from inside of Alpha. The two people present are none other than a younger Tadashi Hikari
◊ and Dr. Wily
◊, back when they both worked at SciLab together. Finally we get to hear the full conversation from the beginning of the game. Soul Net is revealed to have been co-developed by the two scientists, and it's aim is to basically connect people's souls together, in order to form a word free from strife. Erm, okay, sure. I guess what they're going for is something like Gaia from Isaac Asimov's Foundation series? In the end, the two weren't able to complete Soul Net, so they're leaving it up to their respective sons, Yuuichiro and Regal. Tadashi has all of the concepts and research recorded in the Hikari Report, while Wily says that he'll pass on the design for Soul Server to Regal. An announcement over the PA calls Wily away, and Tadashi soon follows. Lan takes exception to Regal trying to ruin his grandfather's dream and jacks Megaman out. Time to go to bed and prepare for the final battle tomorrow.
