Our latest chapter of the story opens with Lan receiving an email from his father while hanging out in ACDC’s park. There will be a function and dinner party at the Government Complex tonight, and Yuuichiro is inviting his family to attend. We’ll finally be able to meet the man himself instead of just reading his emails. And we’ll also be heading into the most frustrating, annoying dungeon in the series. Not looking forward to that.
So, before we go into that particular lion’s den, there’s some stuff that we should check out. First, going to Yai’s mansion and talking to her will have her give us 10000z as thanks for her birthday present. Talking to a man standing by ACDC’s east end will send us on a sidequest to go find a robber who’s taken all of the cash from his bank account. The thief (or at least his Navi) is in Internet Area 2 where we first fought Stoneman. After beating the two Cold Bear 3’s he sics on us, returning to the man will net us another 10000z as a reward.
Finally, we should explore Internet Area 4 now that we have /Miyu. It connects from Internet Area 2 down the right path starting from the entrance. Once there, following the main path eventually leads to Miyu’s access point, which will be important for a handy shortcut for a part coming up in a bit. Nearby is a merchant with the following for sale:
- HP Memory – 6000z
- HP Memory – 8000z
- HP Memory – 10000z
- HP Memory – 12000z
- HP Memory – 15000z
- Heat Armor – 20000z
- Ice Cube I – 3000z
- Cloudier A – 5000z
The exit to the area’s marked off with a giant W and we can’t access it all, so there ends our explorations for the time being. We move the plot along by talking to Haruka. As she goes off to get ready, Lan says that he’ll go on ahead to Sci Lab. So off we go.
Outside the Government Complex, a new food stand has been added. This one sells fish, and is run by a somewhat dumpy-looking fellow named Masa
◊. In the anime he was a secret agent alongside Sal and Miyu who posed as a fish vendor but in the games…he’s just a fish vendor. Regardless, we can still Net Battle him.
Sharkman
◊
HP: 700
Element: Aqua
Attacks:
- Fin Cutter – Upon aligning with Megaman, one of the three fins turns silver and dashes down the row for 120 Aqua damage.
- Aqua Tower – Sharkman sends a stream of geysers towards Megaman for 80 Aqua damage.
If I had to choose one boss from the entire Battle Network series to designate as a Goddamned Boss, it would be Sharkman. Sharkman hides “underwater” with only his dorsal fin showing on the field. He’ll only surface once his fin is attacked. Doesn’t sound too bad, right? Well he’s got two other fins added to the mix, and there’s no indication at all of which one’s really Sharkman himself until they’re attacked. If you hit Sharkman he’ll surface like I mentioned above. If you hit the wrong one your attack is blocked. All this time Fin Cutters are coming at you nonstop, and they hurt. Between the constantly barrage of Fin Cutters and trying to suss out the real Sharkman with buster shots, this is not a fun boss.
Winning gives us 3000z.
After the battle Masa gives us an HP Memory. Jacking in to his stand gives us @Masa (his access point is the one at the far end of Internet Area 3) and nothing else since Megaman can’t decode the GMD in there for some reason. We can also refight Woodman now for his Navi chip. Woodman W is a lot like Gutsman’s chip in that it attacks the whole field before Woodman with wooden spears, and despite the fact that it shouldn’t hit broken panels…it still does, just with invisible spears. Hooray for Good Bad Bugs.
There’re some things we have to do in the Waterworks. In the lobby there’s a man who’ll trade a Buster Punch C for a Howitzer H which is dropped by the Hardhead virus. Taking to an employee by the vending machines gives us reason to jack in and drive off a Navi who’s stealing money from the machine. Completing this sidequest gives us a Repair G. This sets off a small trading chain that begins with a woman upstairs who’ll trade a Hammer M for that chip. If we talk to Froid he’ll give us the WWW PIN item, which will allow us to open the skull doors scattered throughout the Internet and take the items they’re guarding. We can also freely battle Iceman now. His Navi chip is basically identical to Woodman’s, only Aqua element instead of Wood, and without the bug. The last thing to do before going on with the plot is to access Internet Area 3 via Yuuichiro’s PC, grab the Fighter Sword B hidden behind the skull door nearby, and open up Masa’s access point.
Continuing on with the plot, we meet Chaud in the SciLab lobby. He pretty much instantly blows Lan off and walks away. Soon enough he meets his parents, and after a “women take forever to pretty up” joke we’re instantly taken to the floor of the restaurant underground where the party is being held. It’s normally accessible through the SciLab lobby elevator. Once in the ballroom, Yuuchiro starts to ask Lan something pertaining to Megaman, but before he can finish he’s called away by the PA. So much for a family dinner, Lan says. After this we can walk around and talk to everyone. The two highlights are Chaud being as jerkish as ever, and a scientist’s mortification when he realizes that that “hot thang in the dress” is actually Lan’s mother. Heh. Jacking in to a PET display yields an HP Memory.
Once we’ve done that, it’s time for the evening’s speaker to arrive up on stage and it’s…Count Zap?! He informs the party that the WWW has taken over the power plant below, and promptly has his Navi, Elecman, cut the power, throwing the assembly into panic. They’re underground, you see, so with no power to run the air vents everyone will eventually suffocate. Count Zap (who amusingly can still be made out in the darkness thanks to the lights sown in to his suit) tells everyone to enjoy their last breaths before taking his leave. Once Lan’s eyes adjust to the dark, it falls to him to check out the generator on the floor below. The elevator isn’t working, so our only option is to use the dust chute used for burnable garbage to get below. Setting aside the lack of an emergency stairwell, while I know the Japanese just love burning garbage even when they shouldn’t, I could’ve sworn that an NPC said that the power plant ran on hydroelectricity? Ah well.
Downstairs the room to the generator itself is locked, but a scientist is able to get the door to the control room open. Lan attempts to jack in to the main console, but the scientist stops him. Since the power’s out, he explains, the energy sent from Lan’s PET to Megaman will be cut off within Cyberworld. I haven’t mentioned it up until now, but this game uses After-Combat Recovery, and is the only game in the series to do so. If we jack in now, Megaman won’t be healed after battle, and it will only be a matter of time until he gets deleted, the scientist argues. Lan thinks it’s too dangerous, but Megaman reasonably argues that if they don’t defeat the WWW Navi everyone underground, Lan and his mother included, will die. And besides, he has trust in Lan’s skills. Lan agrees, and after bypassing some of the generator’s protection, he jacks in.
Virus Listing
- Iron Shield
- Armadillo viruses that constantly bombard Megaman's field with bomb while using a riot shield to protect themselves from head-on attacks. After a certain amount of damage is done to the shield though, the virus will temporarily raise it, exposing its body to attack.
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