Following the battle on Dream Island Geo's returned to his shut-in ways, once more refusing to go to school. When Omega tells him to man up one morning Geo retorts that he has no idea what it's like to be stabbed in the back and states that he can't trust anyone anymore and that he shouldn't have even bothered getting close to anyone. My, how jaded for an eleven year old.
Hm, the introverted loner who fights aliens finally meets a kind, inspiring boy that he finally forms a bond with, only to learn that he's actually with the aliens too and must fight him, resulting in him spiraling back down into depression... Where have I seen that before?
Omega is understandably less-than-amused and tells Geo to put on his Visualizer. Face-to-face, he tells him in no uncertain terms that while he thought that he's become a better person since they met, if he's going to wallow in self-pity like some kind of martyr he's going to bail. Omega finishes by saying that something bad's going to happen to the planet soon, and when that happens he better hide. Having said his piece, the alien vanishes, and the only thing Geo can do is wonder why this sort of thing keeps happening only to him. A shame there's no mirror in his room.
Now that he's driven off one of his friends it's time to do the full set. Luna and her posse show up to ask why he and Pat stopped coming to school, as does Sonia to see what's wrong, leading to an amusing bit where Bud and Zack are caught off guard by Geo not only being Brothers with Luna, but also with Sonia Strumm, and Sonia and Luna being on casual terms with each other. While Geo's regressed, Luna hasn't as she isn't interested in forcing him to class anymore, just wanting to know what the matter is and what they can do to help. His answer is to leave him alone and they decide that, well, maybe they should back off for now. Everyone leaves him alone in his room, though Sonia does whisper that she saw Omega flying away just now.
Without Omega around we can't really do anything, so the only recourse is to hit R and head to Vista Point like Geo says. There he encounters Sonia and Luna again, as they've figured that's where he'd head. Geo's not in the mood to listen to them talk about the bonds Brotherbands form, says that he never should've made friends to begin with, and to illustrate his point he deletes both of their Brotherband data from his Transer. Luna calls him a coward and storms off while Sonia says that you can't cut your relationships just like that and leaves him to go look for Omega. Geo's got nothing to say for himself.
So not only are the characters pissed at Geo for wallowing in a pile of wangst, but the player is too, because deleting the Brotherbands removes the Link Abilities and the HP bonuses, so my HP's dropped from 790 to 680. That's still a lot, but it's annoying all the same.
The next day Geo's alone at home after his mom goes to Time Square with some of her friends, and we receive an email from Boreal, whom we haven't seen for a while. It's a request to come to the lab at AMAKEN, as there's something he wants to talk about. The news turns out to be quite surprising: they've picked up a signal being broadcast from Peace, the vanished space station, and it appears to be on a course bearing towards Earth! Possible news on his dad is enough to briefly raise Geo's spirits, but Copper's there too to warn him that the station appears to be absolutely inundated with Z-waves, so he shouldn't get his hopes up.
As they're talking a new transmission comes through and it's very short and very hostile: audio of the FM King publicly declaring war on Earth. And as soon as he's finished the room starts shaking, Copper exclaims that the Z-wave level is skyrocketing, and all of a sudden everyone's able to see the wave roads in the lab with their naked eyes thanks to a massive black ball of the stuff. It's power is enough to lift everyone off the ground as it starts to convert them into waves. But luckily Copper's Transer has a second anti-Z-wave function built in to it, the Z-Wave Neutralizer, and it does just that. With everyone safe Copper leaves so that he can recharge the Neutralizer at the Satella Police precinct while Boreal goes over to his computer to discover that the same thing is currently happening all over the world.
Upon learning that there's another Z-wave incident occurring in Time Square Geo hurries over there as he's worried for his mom and indeed finds another giant Z-wave ball affecting the shoppers in the plaza, Hope included. It's only now that Geo remembers that he can't Wave Change at the moment, so some Jammers appear and after revealing that they intend to feed the people who're being converted into waves to Andromeda decide to test out their new ability to interact with the real world by beating up Geo some. He's saved by the Satellite Admins (does that count as an almost literal Deus ex Machina?) who clear away the Jammers and the Z-waves in one fell swoop. Once again they tell Geo that he and Omega are the only ones who can stand up to this crisis, and they have to basically re-teach Geo the character development that he's tried his hardest to toss: his experiences with Omega have taught him courage and the alien sympathy.
As a parting gift we're given the second Giga card of the game: Dragon Sky GX. All three versions of this card has the respective Satellite Admin appear and pretty much nuke the back 3 x 3 area of the field with a very powerful attack. Dragon Sky GX, for instance, has him appear and generate a massive Wood cyclone. Personally I feel that this one is the best of the three since not only is is a multi-hitter (can't say no to 600 damage with a single Attack + 10) but its wind attribute automatically removes barrier and auras which definitely comes in handy for a battle later on in the game. Leo Kingdom GX is basically the same only Fire and no attribute, while Pegasus Magic GX deals a single hit that freezes whatever got hit.
We're told to leave the affected people to the Satella Police and go find Omega, which we can thanks to receiving a new HELP signal. It turns out to be coming from the Dream Island scrapyard, where we fought Gemini Spark, but there's a Jammer standing guard at the exit to the second area. Luckily Geo finds the pitching machine from earlier in the game (that boy was talking about junking it, if I remember right) so using it and Pitcherman to bean the Jammer is the solution here. You'd think the Jammer's armor would be harder than Copper's head, but I guess not.
In the deepest part of the scrapyard we find Omega and Harp Note down on the ground at the mercy of the five FM-ians, having been restored by the FM King. Well, they're data too so it makes sense but in the context of them being lifeforms I suppose it's like cloning for them. All together they were strong enough to defeat the two, though Libra and Ophiuca claim that Omega's lost his fangs since coming to Earth as he tried to take hits for Lyra. They finally retrieve the Andromeda Key (which does look exactly like an ornate key) and after reminiscing a bit on Planet AM's destruction Gemini prepares to finish off Omega. But Geo rushes in to take the blow (and I thought we had a protagonist who didn't go around getting himself electrocuted willy-nilly), apologizing all the while and having made up the two Wave Change into Megaman just in time for the disembodied voice of the FM King to recall his warriors.
But they do leave behind a giant Jammer to contend with.
Defeating it takes Dream Island's Z-wave ball down with it. With the danger past, Omega and Lyra get into a little pissing match over who saved whom until their partners tell them to knock it off and Geo apologizes to Sonia for cutting their Brotherband. Even though she says that cutting it really hurt her Sonia agrees to reform it, reminding him again that you can't erase your bonds that easily. So Brotherband #1 reformed, now we have to go and see about Brotherband #2.
Now that we can Wave Change again we can find Gemini Spark EX at one of the dead ends on the park's wave road. Their card attack comes in two parts: first Spark White fires his fist down one row, then Spark Black attacks the nearest enemy with Elec Sword, paralyzing it.
Luna's in front of Big Wave with Zack and Bud, whom she promptly dismisses. She's still mad at him, but just as she starts laying in to Geo another Z-wave ball appears in town and a group of Jammers snatch up her the other two boys. Geo transforming into Megaman frightens them enough to split, and after a short, thankfully automated chase scene we get to fight all three of them at once. Though these Jammer 3's aren't in G form like the last one, the battle's pretty tough because their combined rate of attack is quite high and they've got 2400 HP between them. After taking them down Geo destroys the Z-wave ball, and then the scene cuts to the real world where Geo's asking everyone if they're okay. They are, though Bud and Zack are stunned that Geo's been Megaman this whole time. But it's a good kind of stunned, for Bud apologizes for treating him like dirt all the time and Zack says that he's honored to be friends with him.
In fact, once Geo and Luna reform their Brotherband, Bud bashfully asks if they can be Brothers as well, both because he looks up to Megaman and because he wants to make up for picking on Geo all the time. Geo accepts with minimal hesitation, and Bud's Brotherband bestows a decent HP bonus and the old program/ability Super Armor, which prevents us from recoiling when hit by an attack in battle. Bud tells Geo his secret's safe with him, while Zack admits that while he wants to be Brothers too, he doesn't feel like he can right now because...I dunno. He's still Brotherband-able though, but not until we hit the postgame.
So with our friendships mended it's time to see about the FM-ians. Omega says that they're probably on Peace (I forgot to mention it before, but Planet FM was the planet the astronauts were trying to contact when they vanished), and that necessitates a trip into outer space. So, to Boreal's.
Geo asks him if it would be possible to transmit something to the station, and Boreal says that while it's doable it would be very difficult since they don't know exactly where in space it is. But he does remember the thing about a piece of the station being found in the ocean, and suggests using its transmitter to do the job. The only problem is, no one knows where the debris is now, as the director of NAZA took that information with him when he left the agency.
So now we have to find this guy, and our only clue is that he's an old man. The old man in question is actually the one in Echo Ridge, the Iver Gatte guy, and his name pun permeates his whole character. All this commotion is reminding him of the tragedy three years ago according to his Transer message, and he wants nothing more than to lie down with his favorite tropical tea and forget about it. As the invisible hand of Battle Network dictates, we must bring him this tea to get him to spill the beans, and only one in town with that brand is apparently Ken Suther of Big Wave. The card shop owner reluctantly agrees to part with some for 3000z once he hears what it's for, and going by how he describes the drink there's no doubt that this “tea” was originally supposed to be liquor.
Once Geo strikes up a conversation with the old man, tells him that he's Kelvin's son, and shows him the “tea” he divulges what he knows, which isn't much because he used some kind of “ancient technique” to wipe the knowledge of where he had the station piece hidden from his mind because he was frightened when he heard that the FM-ians were coming to Earth, as they could use the transmitters aboard Peace to reach the section on Earth. What little he does remember though, is that just in case he hid some data on the location as backup somewhere in AMAKEN. Long story short, it's back to AMAKEN for us, where the data's inside a hidden cyberworld within the space colony exhibit at the museum, along with an HP Memory 10. The NAZA Data reveals that it's hidden underneath the mountains of junk deep inside the dump, so once again it's back to Dream Island.
What we have to do is use Shovelman to make a backhoe that's resting near the old radio tower scoop out some trash in order to reveal a hidden door. Through it and down some stairs is an enormous chamber, and at its center is indeed a broken-off chunk of Peace, complete with busted control panels and transmission equipment. I'm...not going to bother pondering the logistics of how the NAZA director managed to hid this thing down here as it's the size of a small house.
As Geo's poking around the place he's confronted by Boreal, who says he got a call from the director telling him what Geo's up to. He says that while he can probably fix the transmission up he tells Geo that he has to be realistic – there's nothing he can do against Planet FM. Well it's about time to break Geo's alter ego open, with the instrument being yet another Z-wave ball, this time accompanied by Gemini. There's not much talk to be had here, Gemini zaps the two humans and tries goading Geo into transforming, apparently Wave Changing is not an example of Transformation Is a Free Action. Gemini tries attacking again, and gets held off by Pat, who comes out of absolutely nowhere to block the FM-ian and giving Geo the split second he needs to transform into Megaman. Seeing this Gemini declares that he's through playing around, zaps his former host as well, and then transforms into Gemini Spark all on his own, thanks to the memory data left inside of him from his time with Pat, apparently. The boss rematches start a little early this time.
Gemini Spark
HP: 1500
Element: Elec
Attacks:
- Rocket Knuckle – Gemini Spark fires one of their oversized arms down one column for 60 Elec damage.
- Elec Sword – One of the Sparks slashes the panel in front of them with a sword that deals 60 Elec damage and paralyzes Geo.
- Gemini Thunder – Both Sparks leap onto the field's center panel and fire a massive blast of electricity into Geo's row that deals 90 Elec damage.
Didn't I just fight this guy? I already beat his EX form earlier in the update, so I have nothing new to say for this battle.
With Gemini gone for good this time Pat manages to say that though he doesn't think that this makes up for what he did he still wishes to be Brothers with Geo. He's going to be wishing a long time sadly, because they never do thanks to Pat pretty much dropping off the face of the series after this game. Anyway, Boreal arranges for Pat to be taken to AMAKEN and afterwards hears everything about Omega-Xis, the FM-ians, and Andromeda from Geo. Like the others he's quite surprised to learn that he's Megaman, but he says that he still can't let Geo go off into space. What if something happened to him out there? How would he be able to face Hope then? Geo changes his mind by uttering another one of Kelvin's quotes about not giving up and claims that he's not afraid of losing people anymore and that he'll fight to protect them and all that shonen jazz. So Boreal tells him to give him a day to fix the transmitter but has him make one more promise: come back alive.
Let's take care of the remaining available jobs before continuing on.
Dream Island Job 4: John Forman
A worker at the dump is having trouble with the Sorter Bot he's working on, as it's overheating. The solution? Use Thermoman to cool it down and fix its cooling fan. We're paid with an HP Memory 10.
Dream Island Job 5: Mead Greene
This job simply involves using Shovelman to help the old man at the park clean up some garbage. Another HP Memory 10 is the reward.
Echo Ridge Job 14: Blair Loude
This is Echo Elementary's principal, pacing the first floor. It seems that he has a hidden passion for singing, and is in the middle of composing a new school song. So all this job requires is selecting the best lyrics to help him finish, and the reward is an Ice Meteor 1.
Echo Ridge Job 15: Teresa Tudor
One of the teachers is concerned because the AC in her classroom is malfunctioning, plunging the room to arctic temperatures. Luckily we have Thermoman with us, who can heat up the room and earn us an Ice Meteor 2.
Echo Ridge Job 16: Will Knappe
This student's constantly dozing off in class, and the culprit is a Hertz who's taken after the principal in singing. Getting him to stop singing his hypnotic music cures the boy of his drowsiness and earns us a Power Song.
Echo Ridge Job 17: Barry Square
This teacher is lamenting that he isn't all that popular with his students and wants to know Mr. Shepar's secret. Of course instead of asking him straight-up we have to instead go into his Transer to learn his key to success: look at things from the student's point of view. Good advice. We report back and get a Trip Song.
Echo Ridge Job 18: Nadia Cleane
This is the last of the “talk to people with the correct Navi” jobs, entailing giving a girl who's terrible at cleaning duty advice with Shovelman. We're given the Green Burst card.
Echo Ridge Job 19: Dee Jay
Whenever this boy tries using any of the studio's equipment he gets a ton of interference. Pulsing in to the Wave World shows that the culprits are three wave balls and removing all of them earns us a Plasma Gun 2.
Echo Ridge Job 20: Mitch Shepar
Our teacher's in a bit of a bind as he has to work late on the day that he'd promised one of his kids that he'd buy them a Mowa Mowa action figure. Well I'm happy to help him out, so once Mr. Shepar gives us the money it's off to the roof of Nacys to buy the figure from a salesman. Mr. Shepar rewards us with an HP Memory 10.
Okay, that's the last of the regular-game jobs. Once we go to bed the scene shifts to somewhere in outer space where the remaining FM-ians are reporting Gemini deletion to the FM King, who seems to be sitting just off-camera. He's not too bothered though, as he says that it was Gemini's own fault and that he's about to lift the seal on Andromeda. His warriors' next task will be to defend it until it fully awakens, thus setting the stage for the final dungeon.
Virus Listing
- Eyez
- As you might figure from the name, these viruses look like floating eyeballs. They drift around the field and attack by locking on to Geo's row and zapping it. They're armored, so they can only be damaged when they're fully facing Geo's way.
I took the title of this update from the name of the first ending song from the Battle Network anime. The pun worked pretty well.
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