At long last the final round of the Operator Navi selection contest is underway. Lan and the few remaining competitors have gathered in Central Town's plaza, where things start off with Mayor Cain arriving to give a short speech wishing them good luck. The hooded guy from Green Town is present; apparently he's supposed to be the mayor's bodyguard. When he's finished an official explains the final round: there's a moonstone gem hidden in the Undernet, and whoever retrieves it will become the Operator Navi. That's easy enough.
So before we get underway, there are two things to check out. The first is that Mr. Famous
◊ has appeared inside Aster Land. We can't battle him in this game, instead he's here to sell us some battle chips:
- Slow Gauge * - 5800z
- Anti-Recovery A – 6900z
- Bug Bomb G – 8000z
- Anti-Navi L – 9200z
- Element Trap S – 10600z
- Uninstall L – 12000z
All these chips are geared towards linked play. Element Trap, incidentally, replaces the Anti-Fire/Water/Elec/Wood chips.
The next feature is something I haven't gotten around to talking about yet. There's now a Punk Navi inside one of the blackboards at Cyber Academy that'll sell us an item called a Battler Card. This card allows us to partake in a minigame called the Virus Battler. From this point forth there's a chance that we'll encounter “Rare” virus forms in battle. When defeated they'll be added to a stock and we can use them to battle other viruses in fights hosted by differently-colored Programs located around Cyberworld. These battles are on a timer, and are entirely automated, so all you have to do is set up your virus of choice and watch them go at it, so there's a lot of luck involved. The ultimate prize for winning is I believe the Super Vulcan chip, though you can also get it through the Number Trader. The Virus Battler isn't something that I've messed with a whole lot, but it's interesting and probably worth checking out if the player's interested.
Off to Sky Area, then the Undernet. Elementman EX is found near the Net Cafe, and his chip plays a roulette and then fires off whichever elemental attack corresponds to his color. As soon as we enter the Undernet there's a Punk Navi who'll begrudgingly tell us that Undernet 2 is known for “skygazing” though I'm not entirely sure the hint was needed as the Undernet is positively tiny in this game, consisting of only three areas, Undernet Zero included. Thus, this scenario is artificially prolonged by a security door blocking the way to Undernet 2, and a Punk Navi nearby tells us that the Navi and operator who had the password got themselves busted. I believe I mentioned something to this effect when I was playing the very first game, but it's funny how access to certain areas of the public Net can be controlled by just one person.
Regardless, we have to track this person down. The Punk Navi said that they're probably rotting away in the Punishment Room, but when we go there and speak to the jailer he says that the person in question has already been released. They're doing community service...by working at a “shop by the sea.”
So it's off to Seaside Town, and this transparent bit of padding is slightly redeemed in my eyes when it's discovered that the person with the password is the waitress who's working at the stuffed toy shop. She denies knowing anything about the Undernet at first, but after some prodding she admits to being a former “rebel” and gives us the password, “moneyhats”, a piece of terminology I've seen the gaming community throw around a lot in the years since this game came out.
All the way back to the Undernet, and when we enter Undernet 2 Megaman is immediately set-upon by more of those Cybeast cultists from earlier, apparently having been tipped off by their head priest. They try to cast their UUUU LAAA spell on him again, but a train Navi comes to our rescue and runs them all over. The Navi introduces himself as another contestant in the Operator Navi contest, Chargeman
◊, Megaman and Lan thank him, they wish each other luck, and go on their separate ways.
Undernet 2's got a lot of conveyor panels to make navigating the area tougher than it should be. As I said before, this is as deep as the Undernet goes in this game, which is a bit of a disappointment, but what can you do? At the very back of the area, should you go that far, is a large raised platform where there's a BBS and a security door that asks for the “beast's seal” and one-hundred S, indicating that it's the way to the postgame area. This is the most simplistic postgame area entrance since the very first game. Down here there's a Bug Frag merchant who's selling programs:
- Sneak Run – 20 frags
- Super Armor – 35 frags
- Reflect – 48 frags
- Collect – 62 frags
- HP + 400 – 76 frags
- Giga Folder + 1 – 100 frags
Why does Collect have to be so expensive? Why are all the items I have to buy with Bug Frags in this game so expensive?
On the area's east side we can find another security door that asks for the number of torches in the area. It's twelve, and the exit being guarded leads to another section of Undernet Zero. Aside from a few more elemental gates, the only thing of interest in this sector is a chip merchant:
- Barrier 200 K – 11200z
- Gun del Sol 3 N – 12000z
- Air Spin 3 T – 12900z
- Sanctuary Z – 15200z
- Time Bomb 3 L – 15200z
- Life Aura U – 22400z
Back to Undernet 2 and the contest, a host of Punk Navis can be seen staring off into space on the area's east side. These guys are the “skygazers” mentioned earlier, though there's not really much to look at. I guess it's the same principle as the claims that you can see things through TV static if you squint. The moonstone can be seen drifting in the air just a little ways off of the path, and there just so happens to be an invisible pathway leading right to it. As soon as Megaman obtains the moonstone the contest automatically ends and the scene goes back to the Central Town plaza where Cain officially names Megaman the Operator Navi of the Cyber City Expo, which will not only involve guiding people around the expo itself, but also media appearances on television, advertisements, and what-have-you. We're also given an HP Memory as an additional prize.
After this we're allowed to speak with the contestants who didn't make it, including two unique characters who happen to be the final two Link Navi operators. The first is Chargeman's operator, Al Ferry
◊, a train conductor who wanted to become the Operator Navi in order to obtain the clout to build a new railroad through Cyber City. The second is a gloomy young man who says that the only reason he lost is because this wasn't a “delete all adversaries” competition, as he's a Navi deleter. Er, better give that guy a wide berth for now. In fact, it's time to turn in for the day.
Once we go to bed the scene changes to Cain getting a phone call in his office, about what happened in the Undernet during the test. Surprise (or not)! Cain's the head of the Cybeast cult! After telling the goon on the other end that he better start showing results, he gets another call from one of the rebellious WWW members. Surprise (or not)! Cain's the WWW's backer! He tells whoever he's speaking to that he'll be sending them a valuable piece of electronics soon...
Virus Listing
- Dark Mech
- Dark Mechs look a lot like the Alpha Bugs from Battle Network 3, only armored and with blades for arms. Their method of attack is to first fire a ball of electricity that tracks Megaman like a ratton, and upon being stunned by it they will zip over to Megaman and slash him with their swords.
- Haunted Candle
- Haunted Candles don't move, but they can be deadly as they light a 2 x 2 section of the field on fire. Hitting them with a Wind attack will snuff out their flame, rendering them harmless, but hitting them with a Fire attack will reignite their wick.
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