Following the events in the Bermuda Maze Geo wakes up in his bed and has to have Luna fill him in on what happened, and the short of it is that he managed to bring Sonia back to Echo Ridge and then pass out. He was pretty banged up as-is, but apparently her had to be admitted into the hospital. The news doesn't get any better with Zack calling to tell Geo to turn on the TV, and we go downstairs to find that Vega's pulled a Do Not Adjust Your Set to inform the world of her grand plans to establish her Neo Mu Empire, a rule where the intelligent and gifted lord over the common rabble. Yeah, this was what I was referring to as quaint way back in my liveblog of Battle Network 1 a year ago (dang, it's really been a year?). It's the 23rd century and you go for the TV option? After that's over with Sonia calls us, urging us to stop Vega's plans and somehow she knows that Vega's taking the OOPArt to the center of the Bermuda Maze. It's here that Geo wonders if they still have it's power, but Omega says that he can still hear the Zerkers' voices, so I guess we do. Convenient.
Outside everyone's commenting on the broadcast, and as soon as we hit the Sky Wave the scene leaps to the center of the Bermuda Maze where our villains seem to have brought their satellite base down into the fog. Vega, Hollow, and Hyde are standing atop it and the OOPArt's floating in the air before them. Vega explains to Hyde how the OOPArt will unseal Mu, and that's simply because it's a powerful mass of EM waves, which Mu uses as energy. A light shines from it and pierces the Mu emblem on the platform where we fought Hollow and Rogue last.
Mercifully, the game's not going to make us traverse the maze again just yet. As soon as we enter we're confronted by Dark Phantom, who immediately drops us into the Un-Dimension yet again. Several forced battles against G viruses later we're able to get out, and find ourselves all the way back in Wilshire Hills. Just in time for the game to show the (top-shaped) continent of Mu rising out of the ocean and into the sky. Vega addresses the world again, apparently through telepathy or something this time, and provides a demonstration of Mu's power by having it fire a giant laser into the ocean, creating a very Dragon Ball Z-esque hole in ground. No biggie, it's not strong enough to destroy the planet, not even in five minutes. Vega claims that this is just a taste, and tomorrow everyone will face the full brunt of Mu. There's nothing left to do but go to bed.
Once we do we go back to the Un-Dimension to see that Solo's there, recovering from his defeat earlier. Hollow warps in to kindly inform him that Vega no longer has a use for him, and so summons some Murian Warriors to handle him. Never try to eliminate guys with mere mooks is the lesson here, as Solo easily destroys them once he Wave Changes and he even manages to strike Hollow. Part of Hollow's mantle breaks off, revealing the face of a morose-looking man. His face exposed, he flees.
Checking in on the rest of the villains, Hyde and Vega are seen standing in front of a monolithic statue that Vega identifies as Le Mu, the creator of all EM waves. Well, all EM waves on Earth at least, as she's not aware of the FM/AM-ians. Incidentally, Le Mu's Japanese name was Ra Mu, a reference to Ra Moon from Super Adventure Rockman, so I have no idea why the localization team made it French. Vega tells the statue to show its power, and it obliges by spawning an entire army of Murian Warriors and copies of the four Murian EM beings we've seen so far. Vega brags that Le Mu's power is endless.
By noon the next day Geo and Omega are pretty sure that they'll be able to see Mu up in the sky by now, and Zack phones in with the traditional endgame exposition dump. Well, it isn't so much a “dump” as a “drop” really. He's done some research on Vega, and we finally learn something about her: she is, or was, a renowned scientist like every other Big Bad save Sean and Cepheus, and her claim to fame is that she's the inventor of the theory behind Matter Waves. But one day she vanished, along with a whole load of priceless relics, obviously referring back to that line she dropped an update ago. That's all he knows, hence the exposition “drop” and as Zack hangs up the earth shakes, heralding Mu's reappearance.
Heading outside we see that Mu has permanently taken up residence on the top screen's sky display. Vega once again addresses the world, politely informing them that they are about to be conquered by the Neo Mu Empire. However, there is an out: those who show some kind of promise or talent will be able to become citizens of the Neo Mu Empire and have their rights restored. Basically her ideal world is one controlled by a meritocracy. An army of Phantoms, Yetis, Plesios, and Condors spawn in Echo Ridge and immediately start menacing the townspeople, throwing them into a panic. They're all visible to the naked eye somehow.
So we pulse in and Geo easily destroys a few as just like the FM-ians the Murian EM beings are pretty weak without hosts. However it becomes clear that there's a greater threat that the EM beings: people begin arguing with each other over which one of them deserves to get into Mu, and Geo notices that all of their Link Power readings have dropped down to zero. He and Omega piece together that this must be the Precursor to Ruin that was discussed back in the museum, and then a bunch more EM beings spawn. There really is no end to them. Our next move is to head over to Luna's house, where the others are holed up.
There they finally piece together that all of the strange UMA incidents can be traced back to Mu, and that the whole world is now in chaos. Dying Like Animals indeed. Sonia staggers over to the group to expound on the Precursor to Ruin for a bit, and Geo declares that he'll shut down Mu. Everyone goes through the usual “good luck/you better come back” routine, and Sonia's apparently still worried about Hollow, for she tells Geo to be careful when facing him, because she learned during her time with the group that he's Vega's only Brother. What, can he equip Link Abilities too or something? Oh, then we get an email from Boreal, who's probably feeling very left out by now. He also talks about Vega's past as a scientist and then attaches to the email our second Giga card of the game: Avalanche. This is the same as Yeti Blizzard's attack, only it'll freeze whatever it strikes so it's great for setting up on enemies while dealing big damage. Saurian gets Phantom Slash, another multi-hitting card featuring Dark Phantom twirling around to strike all adjacent enemies, while Ninja as Torrent Wave which is less exploitable but still useful if there are any obstacles on the field.
With all of that taken care of it's finally time to reach Mu. The EM beings are still menacing people, and they'll be all over the overworld for the rest of the game. Unlike Wily's Copybot army in Battle Network 6 there's no option to destroy them. To get to Mu we have to go back to Bermuda Maze. Thankfully you don't have to solve all those riddles and whatnot again, as there's a Guide Hertz at the entrance who'll give directions through to where we fought Hollow in the form of “up right down right” and so forth. There's another one who's selling stuff:
- HP Memory 20 – 7000z
- HP Memory 20 – 12000z
- HP Memory 20 – 17000z
- Ice Grenade – 6000z
- Recovery 150 – 7000z
- Atomic Mine 2 – 12000z
- Poison Apple – 15000z
- Spirit Fury – 17000z
We don't have to go all the way to the end of the maze. We'll eventually encounter a Guide Hertz who'll point us in the direction of Mu. And the end of this path is a teleporter leading out of the maze and a Guide Hertz who's selling Dyna Energies. It's a good idea to keep a few since we'll be spending the entirely of our time in Mu in wave form, so there's no way to recover HP by simply pulsing out of the Wave World – we'll end up back in Echo Ridge if we do. We'll begin our conquest of Mu next time.
Virus Listing
- Gooey
- Slime monsters with fountain spouts on their heads. They move low to the ground, out of reach, before erupting forth and shooting a deluge of water at Geo.
