Following the conclusion of the Queen Virgo/Luna scenario we open with the guys talking about Dealer's attack on WAZA inside their classroom. Geo and Zack eventually start thinking that something weird's going on with Bud because he hasn't talked about food or mentioned being hungry at all lately. They all act out a sketch where Zack uses his “peerless” detective skills to deduce that Bud's on a diet, which he plays along with just so he can get away from the two. Luna walks over to say that it should really be no secret what Bud's really been up to given what tomorrow is. The boys are clueless, and Omega gets fed up with them and tells them to check their Purposes. Tomorrow's the student body election that was mentioned at the start of the game, and the guys but Bud had (understandably) completely forgotten about it. She's not angry at them though, but does say that it's time for one last campaign run before the big day. Geo's still not convinced that they've uncovered Bud's secret though...
So our goal is simply to greet people as part of Team Luna 4 Prez and since Zack says that he'll take the students all we have to do is talk to the few faculty members who're around the school. During this part we get an email notification from Spica Mall saying that their candy shop is finally open and now that we have the WAZA Key we can unlock the Cyber Core for the trophy case in the front foyer for 1700z. Back in our classroom there's a Noise Wave to find in the teacher's desk, and it contains the Rapid-Fire Claw WE and an HP + 100.
Echo Ridge Job 6: Trish Trig
Quiz time:
- Q1: Gearoid ran the 400 meter relay for his track team. He ran his hardest, and was able to squeeze past the person in second place. What place did Gearoid finish in? (2)
- Q2: A hotdog eating contest was held with ten people. Ben finished the contest 6th from the bottom. What place did Ben finish in? (5)
- Q3: A marathon with ten people was held on a track around a playing field. Greg just managed to pass the person in last place right before the finish line. Greg was the only person to pass the runner in last place. What place did Greg finish in? (1)
That was certainly different from past quizzes. We become Brothers with the girl afterwards.
When we talk the final teacher (Mr. Shepar) it's suggested that we go out onto the roof to meet the new gardener. It turns out that the gardener is another familiar face from Star Force 1 – Damian Wolfe
◊ and his FM-ian partner Wolf
◊ (he actually gets a speaking role this time). Damian says that he's having some trouble with the sprinklers and when he says that he's thinking of Wave Changing and examining the Cyber Core himself Geo hastily says that he'll take care of it, being wary of how hot-blooded he gets in his wave form. Inside we find a reddish haze of Noise that Omega describes as being halfway solidified into Crimson. After deleting it (through a virus battle of course) Geo pulses out, but once he's gone the Noise just returns...
Then the scene rewinds to several days ago to show Jack confronting King about his sister. King claims that he is thinking of what to do about her but at the same time is going forward with the next step of his plan, which appears to be working out a way to materialize Noise in the real world with Real Waves. Jack says fine then, he'll do whatever he needs to, but King instead defers to Joker, saying that Jack has been too hot-headed recently to trust with such a delicate operation. Jack walks away, muttering that King probably doesn't even care that Tia's been captured. So, he swears to save her himself, and get revenge on Megaman in the process.
Back to the present, despite the Noise we just saw returning there are no more problems with the sprinkler. We can freely battle Damian now, as even though he's been registered as Transcode 011 he still gets the urge to run wild whenever he sees Meteor G.
Wolf Woods
◊
HP: 1200
Element: Wood
Attacks:
- Wide Claw – Wolf Woods slashes the row in front of him for 40 Wood damage.
- Air Wide Claw – Wolf Woods unleashes a three-panel-wide air slash that deals 40 Wood damage.
- Upper Claw – Wolf Woods attacks the panel in front of him with an uppercut slash for 40 Wood damage.
- Howling Wolves – Wolves are summoned to bound down a two-column range for 30 Wood damage per hit.
I had a noticeably easier time with him than I did in the first game. He's not quite as fast and he no longer has that full moon berserk gimmick. Not to mention my card selection is better than it was back then, for example I have three Dance Fire 2's in my folder that I got from illegal data and each one of them deal significant damage.
Winning gives us the Wolf Woods card which has him attack the nearest enemy row with both Upper Claw and Wide Claw, so proper positioning will have him land two hits instead of just one.
After that (unlike with Tom we can't fight Wolf Woods V2 right away) we have to go back to report to Luna where next she wants to do some speech practice. However we get an email at that point from Ace asking us to meet him inside the main computer at WAZA, so Luna dismisses us and we're free to poke around a little before heading to our destination. For starters, we can unlock two Cyber Cores in Echo Ridge with the WAZA Key: the Wave Liner stop and Luna's condo for a mere Unlocker and HP + 50. Big Wave's added some new cards to its regular stock too:
- Typhoon Dance – 4000z
- Bombalizer – 4500z
- Thunder Head 1 – 7000z
- Million Kick – 50000z
Our first Giga card, Million Kick has Geo launch a barrage of kicks at one enemy. He can be knocked out of the attack, unfortunately. The card in Red Joker is Buster MAX which maxes out all three Mega Buster stats.
Next, let's head over to Spica Mall to check out that candy shop. It's a small place packed wall-to-wall with sweets and treats of all kinds, including the Mega Snack candy bars that Ace is always eating (they come in such mouthwatering flavors as pepperoni, teriyaki burger, and jalapeno chocolate). More pertinent to our interests is a Penta-Trader and the fact that we can buy cards from the clerk:
- Small Energy – 100z
- Large Energy – 200z
- Dyna Energy – 800z
- Super Barrier – 6000z
- Double Stone – 3000z
- Recovery 120 – 2400z
- Anti-Sword – 4800z
Back out in the mall we can now access the Cyber Core for the dentist's office (inside which is a Synch Hook 2 and 1300z) which has a teleporter that lets us get to the candy shop's wave road. There's another Cyber Core there inside its gumball machine that contains an HP Memory 20.
Spica Mall Job 1: Kard Kolek
This worker's looking for a Flash Strike 2. In return for the card, we're given the Hypno Eye WE, which has a chance of confusing enemies.
Next stop on our “unlocking Cyber Core” spree is a Real Wave prop on the WBG Studio grounds. All that's in there though is a Search Eye, which makes me believe that the items inside these Cores weren't scaled to take into account the point of the game where you can first access them. Hmph. Anyway, for some reason we still can't take the Wave Liner to WAZA directly, so we still have to take the Astro Wave there. Dark Phantom V2's found on a dead-end near the exit to Alohaha in the second area. His V3 form is found pretty much anywhere on the Astro Wave and WAZA.
WAZA Job 1: Vidy Otaku
This officer (no relation to Viddy Narcy I hope) says that there's a problem with the camera inside Alohaha Beach's dragon statue. Instead of monitoring the swimmers' safety, it's just been taking pictures of women in bikinis. Well at least it's still doing its job...yeah... Well, heading over there ourselves shows that there's a Mal Wizard messing around inside the Cyber Core and beating him earns us an HP Memory 20 from the client.
Okay, now let's head over to the main computer (Queen Virgo V2 is at a dead-end right near the command center's Wave Station, and her V3 form can also be found prowling the Astro Wave and WAZA). When Geo reaches the server all the way at the back there's no one there, but suddenly we're attacked!
Acid Ace
HP: 800
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Lock-On Sword – Acid Ace locks on to Geo and slashes his panel up to two times with a sword, dealing 60 damage per hit and breaking it.
- Ground Wave – Acid Ace unleashes a homing shockwave down the field towards Geo for 40 damage.
- Buzz Saw – Acid Ace shoots a bladed disk down one column for 40 damage. It'll take a right-angle turn to hit Geo.
- Dance Fire – Acid Ace shoots a flamethrower down one column for 40 Fire damage.
- Wide Wave – Acid Ace shoots a three-panel-wide blast of water down the field for 40 Aqua damage.
- Stealth Laser – Acid Ace shoots a volley of shots down one column for a total of 30 Elec damage.
- Squall – Acid Ace generates a tornado on one of Geo's panels for a total of 60 Wood damage.
Guess who? This isn't exactly a “real” boss fight (for one Acid Ace doesn't do the usual exploding routine when you deplete his HP) but it's enough to keep you on your toes all the same. Acid Ace's wide arsenal can revert you out of any Noise Change and he's very good at chaining his attacks together since most of them either pierce Mercy Invincibility or don't induce it. He doesn't have much HP at all (probably a reflection of how he apparently can't maintain the fusion for all that long) but he is very good at keeping you locked down.
A neat thing about his sword is that the blade is emitted from his handgun, just like the Z-Saber does in the Megaman Zero series.
Afterwards Ace reveals that this was basically the test he's been wanting to put Geo through, and a surprise sneak attack makes the perfect atmosphere, right? Geo asks what the test was really for and then sees that Sonia and Bud are here inside the computer too. Ace reintroduces Geo to the others as the newest member of the Satella Police Commandos. The scene changes to the group meeting with Goodall and the WAZA chief in the real world where it's explained that Ace's job has been to form a special commando team to fight back against Dealer made up of the four Wave Changers. The secret Bud had been trying to keep was that he was training with Ace in order to master his Taurus Fire form. The chief mentions Ace having his eye on a fifth individual too, but they're having a devil of a time recruiting him. After getting confirmation from Geo, Sonia, Bud, and their EM partners that they're ready to dedicate themselves to this endeavor the four and Ace form a new Team: SP Commandos with the Purpose of “Foil Dealer Plan” (Ace wanted it to be “Crush Dealer” but the other human members objected). We also form a Brotherband with Ace and receive a whopping 100 points of Link Power.
Hm, longish dark hair, elite law enforcement member, one-time member of the local evil organization, team leader...Ace is pretty much a younger, more cheerful Baryl.
After the Brotherbands are formed and the heroic music dies down Goodall says that Dealer isn't their only concern and chides Ace for keeping secrets from the kids. Ace insists that the secret's no big deal but eventually relents and says that there's a chance the world will be destroyed. No big deal, right? The others are shocked at this being casually dropped in their laps and Goodal again chides Ace this time for being grandiose. She explains that Boreal recently managed to figure out what was up with Meteor G. It's not an asteroid, strictly speaking, but rather a massive coalescence of Noise that's being steadily drawn towards Earth by Crimson. If it hits Earth it likely won't destroy it outright, but the massive amount of Noise that would be released worldwide would destroy all EM technology and knock civilization back down into the dark ages.
Ace decides to end the meeting on that rather foreboding note, and as he does a report comes in that viruses are materializing all over Echo Ridge. Well, looks like it's time for the SP Commandos' first assignment!
