The final leg of the postgame Astro Waves is the Planet FM Astro Wave. We can see Planet FM in the background as well as the barrier that the Satellite Admins mentioned (though it looks more like a ribbon loosely wound around the planet). And in the distance is the black hole, which predicably looks more like a swirling black vortex than a light-warping point. Here we're greeted by King Cepheus
◊ himself. His pledge to better himself seems to be holding true, Omega observes. Cepheus explains that it looks like they only have one day left before the black hole swallows his planet, and their every attempt to stop it has failed because, well, black hole. He feels that their situation is hopeless and that there's no choice but to evacuate his people and abandon the planet. Geo says that he'll defeat Sirius within the day, but recommends the evacuation continue just in case. Cepheus thanks him as a Brother and leaves, then Geo tells his partner that it's time to rock. But what about the blues every once in a while? says his partner.
Moon Destroyer R and Taurus Fire R are the ones who've set up this area's security door. Finding their transmission devices is a very annoying task since as the wave road's longer than the ones on the Outer Astro Wave there's even more empty space to cover. The Mystery Data's pretty good though, and in the novelty department there's an Astro Hertz who sells the Humor Buster ability. Equip it and the Mega Buster makes barking noises when fired.
Moon Destroyer R is inside the Real Wave tree on the school roof. He recognizes Omega as an AM-ian and tries taunting him by claiming that Sirius had thought about adding Planet AM to his collection alongside Planet FM, but since it was destroyed in the past it's looking mighty shabby. Omega gets pissed at the joker and it's time to stuff a sock in him.
Moon Destroyer R
HP: 2500
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Crescent Spin – Moon Destroyer spins from one side of the field to the other unleashing boomerangs down each column that inflict confusion and deal 200 damage per hit.
- Comet Pitcher – Moon Destroyer throws a meteor at Geo's current panel, dealing 250 damage and breaking the panel.
- Moon Reflex – Moon Destroyer does a spinning kick that strikes Geo's row as he passes by and then follows up with an axe kick on his current panel for 250 damage per hit.
- Crescent Flurry – Moon Destroyer shoots a volley of boomerangs at Geo for 40 damage per hit.
He's got a new attack and an addition on an old one but he's still not hard in the least.
Taurus Fire R is within the analysis machine at Dealer's hideout. He tries to pretend that he's Bud but Geo doesn't buy it and he slips up by referring to Luna by name instead of “Prez” anyway.
Taurus Fire R
HP: 3200
Element: Fire
Attacks:
- Ox Tackle – Taurus Fire charges down one column for 300 Fire damage.
- Fire Breath – Taurus Fire breathes flame down one column for 250 Fire damage.
- Anger Punch – Taurus Fire appears in front of Geo and punches him for 300 damage.
- Berserk Punch – Taurus Fire flashes red and starts rapidly moving around the field, punching panels at random for 300 Fire damage.
Shades of Taurus Fire IF. I dunno, Berserk Punch is his only really dangerous attack, and you can knock him out of it. I S-ranked his Omega form (3800 HP) back during the part where we were collecting the access keys for Dealer's base, so this guy's really nothing special now that I have better cards and more HP at my disposal.
With those two turn to space dust we can venture onward to FM Astro Wave 2, which happened to be the first area where I ran into Acid Ace V3 (Acid Ace B counted as his V2 form). This area's very winding, but there are plenty of dash panels around here that help cut down on travel time. The security door here is only tied to a single R boss this time: Queen Virgo R. Her transmission device is thankfully on the wave road and not floating out in outer space, and her location is inside the animatronic of the Spimo character back in Spica Mall. Where Queen Tia was stoic and curt, Queen Virgo R is cackley, cruel, and seems to derive orgasmic pleasure from tearing her opponents limb from limb. Omega says that she's pretty much just Virgo now.
Queen Virgo R
HP: 2900
Element: Aqua
Attacks:
- Rain Shower – Queen Virgo raises her staff and calls a deluge down on random panels for 200 Aqua damage per hit.
- Hydro Dragon – Queen Virgo creates a destructible water dragon that moves down the field in an oscillating pattern, dealing a total of 240 Aqua damage and trapping Geo inside a bubble.
- Holy Light – Queen Virgo appears in front of Geo and hits his row with revolving beams of light for a total of 320 damage.
- Aqua Shield – A wall of water surrounds Queen Virgo to protect her when aligned with Geo. When struck it unleashes a shockwave down one column for 200 Aqua damage.
- Tag-Out – Jack Corvus appears and throws a barrage of purple fireballs at Geo that deal 250 Fire damage per hit and crack panels.
Lots of big numbers being thrown around here. Rain Shower's really fast now, so knocking her out of the attack is more crucial than it ever was. You really want to finish her off before she gets a chance to pull off Tag-Out.
We can now advance a little further in FM Planet Astro Wave 2. Along the way is a security that only opens if we've gotten Star Chance three times at the ten-card SP Traders that have now been set up at WAZA. Star Chance is a new random Card Trader mechanic that asks you to put up one of the cards you just got from the trader in exchange for getting either a rarer card, or something that's garbage. You don't actually have to “win” these things for the door to accept them, and behind it's a Silver Meteor.
The final R door is just up ahead, restricted by Jack Corvus R who's inside the main computer at the WAZA command center. Just like how Queen Virgo R took after Virgo, he takes after Corvus, complete with his taunting of Omega. I have to wonder though if part of this conversation was lost in translation, as there's some random non sequitor on “special moves.”
Jack Corvus R
HP: 3100
Element: Fire
Attacks:
- Grave Claw – Flaming claws fly down each column for 200 Fire damage.
- Corvus Wing – Jack Corvus appears in front of Geo and repeatedly slashes him with his wings, dealing 250 Fire damage and inflicting an HP drain bug.
- Crow's Flight – Jack Corvus swoops down a diagonal section of field for 300 Fire damage.
- Wicked Flame – Jack Corvus throws a barrage of purple fireballs at Geo that deal 250 Fire damage per hit and crack panels.
- Tag-Out – Queen Virgo appears and creates a destructible water dragon that moves down the field in an oscillating pattern, dealing a total of 240 Aqua damage and trapping Geo inside of a bubble.
Thirty-one hundred's a sorta weird HP total. This guy's fairly difficult because he's so fast and there're a million things flying at you during the battle. I prefer using the Beast Slap series to sucker-punch him when he's trying to use Corvus Wing, and of course it's imperative to knock him out of Wicked Flame.
The final section of Planet FM's Astro Wave is made up of a bunch of wave road “islands” that are connected by numerous dash panels. Many of the Astro Hertzes here wax poetic on the black hole which, since we're pretty much right on top of it, appears quite large in the background. Scattered throughout the area are two achievement security doors, the only one of which I can currently open (need at least twenty Mega cards) guards an HP Memory 10.
You'll now the entrance to the Black Hole Server when you see it by the ACCESS tab, which is purple instead of the usual blue. Geo starts to head over to it, but a new set of figures appear to stand in his way: Rogue and Laplace. He claims to be here to fight Sirius too and Geo, either having learned nothing from all his interactions with him or just being endlessly optimistic, says that they should team up. Rogue is of course not interested in teaming up, he's interested in fighting Geo despite their common goal. He says he's waiting to stop Sirius...two days from now.
His explanation for his reverse Ozymandias is the shoehorn required to get him involved in the postgame events: Sirius has inside of his body a block of Murian metal that he wants to combine with Laplace to power up his sword. The thing is, for some reason it rises in and out of his body on a regular basis in the shape of a crest, and the next time it rises is within two days. Delete Sirius at any other time, and the metal will be lost with him. Perhaps while we've been plugging away Rogue's been fighting R versions of the UMAs? It's as sensible an explanation as any for how he knows all of this.
Of course, if we wait two days the black hole will swallow Planet FM, so this is basically a battle to determine whose bonds are stronger: Geo's with Cepheus, or Rogue's with Mu. Geo makes a little speech about how he's learned from his dad, Ace, and even Rogue the importance of being decisive, and that Rogue's resistance to form bonds or care about the people of today shows how much he treasures his heritage and how far he'll go to protect that bond. Rogue insists that no, he's going to delete Megaman because it's fun, but some unintelligible retort from Laplace and his partner snapping at him to shut up seems to indicate that Geo's hit the mark. He calms down and says that this will be a fight of honor, and the latest battle in their feud gets underway.
Rogue Z
HP: 2500
Element: Normal
Attacks:
- Rogue Arts – Rogue attacks Geo with a series of punches and ends with a flipkick that deals 60 damage per hit.
- Rogue Burst – Rogue fires off shockwaves down all three columns for 250 damage.
- Rogue Knuckle – Rogue randomly fires a volley of energy fists down the field that inflict confusion and deal 120 damage per hit.
- Laplace Slash – Rogue slashes a 3 x 2 area with his sword, unleashing a multi-hitting sword slash for a total of 300 damage.
- Rogue Break – Rogue jumps into the air and comes down with a sword strike that hits and breaks the two panels in front of him for 300 damage.
- Blade Wrath – Rogue's sword spins twice through a diagonal swath of field for 100 damage per hit before he comes down with a sword strike that hits and cracks a 3 x 2 area for 300 damage.
- Mu Rejection – An automatic barrier will block one hit and then regenerate.
He's got most of his arsenal from Star Force 2 back now and this battle's...pretty fun actually. He's fast and hard-hitting, but not to the bullshit extent that his SX form was. There doesn't seem to be all that much rhyme or reason for when his barrier regenerates, so bustering it away or spamming multi-hitting cards like Mad Vulcan 3 is my preferred strategy, and he does leave himself open to countering at several moments. Just stay on your toes and avoid getting locked down by Laplace Slash and things'll go fine.
After the battle Rogue, displaying a surprising level of grace, simply states that we won. Words could never bring them together, he says, Geo just has the strength to protect his bonds. He says “Later.” and pulses out. Now we can open that other achievement door that contains the Humor Buster 2 ability. Instead of barking, the Mega Buster meows. Maybe deep down, Solo does have a sense of humor. A trollish one, but one nonetheless.
And with that, nothing is stopping us from accessing the Black Hole Server. On to the postgame area at last!
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