After the theft of the Cybeast things settle down a bit in Central Town, leading to a scene in Cyber Academy where a new bulletin captures the attention of the students. In preparation for the Expo, the city is looking for a Navi to serve as the event's public face, the Operator Navi, and there's a contest starting today to select one. The Expo's going to consist of several pavilions of exhibits from each part of Cyber City, and the Operator Navi's job will be to guide people around and whatnot. Lan and Mick have a bit of a dumb-off over what a pavilion is before hurrying off to head home (as the contest is starting at Central Area's Net Cafe) when someone shouts at them for running in the halls.
The person is a woman named Pat Fahran
◊, who happens to be the operator of the game's second Link Navi. Lan asks if she's someone's older sister, no doubt catching on to the fact that she'd probably be a Cool Big Sis type of character if she was more important (and indeed, in the anime where she was a more important character that was her role) but she says that she's actually the school's Home Ec teacher, and a chef. There's not really much point to this scene other than “look out for this character later.”
If we visit Aster Land at this point we can see that Tab has started up the Chip Ordering Service, much earlier than Higsby would have. Once we jack in we'll see that there are a few new mails from ACDC. Mayl has sent us the Roll 2 R chip (for some reason Roll's chips do not follow the EX-SP pattern).
So with that out of the way it's off to the Net Cafe, where the two Navis officiating tell us that the first round (of course there are multiple rounds) is a test of intelligence. One of them gives us the hint of “cyberseal” and the Navi with her gives us the additional hint of looking in Seaside Area. Well, it turns out that we have to go to the Seaside Aquarium's homepage, as its wallpaper depicts seals balancing balls on their noses. The next hints are “a fish that cannot swim” and “a fish that cannot swim floats in oil.” While we're here we can speak with a Program to open a link to Lan's homepage.
That hint would've stumped me had it not been for the part about the oil. It's off to Seaside Town to jack in to the fish stick shop's fryer, where we get our final clue “I'm always looking at the crayfish” with the addendum that there aren't any crayfish at the aquarium. Well if you've been examining everything like an obsessive compulsive, you'd know that the fish tanks in Lan's classroom contain crayfish. Looking at them right now is a boy,but he's not the solution. Instead, the solution is to go into a corner of the classroom and jack in to a security camera on the wall. Inside are BMDs with 3000z and the Jungle program, along with the two officiating Navis. So we pass round 1 of the contest and are given an HP Memory and the Expo Folder which serves as our second in-game folder.
During this interlude, Circusman EX is found in Central Area 3, on one of the little alcoves bordering the giant chasm. His chip has him use Gloom Cage three panels ahead, dealing damage and blinding enemies.
As soon as we jack out Lan gets an email from the aquarium director. It seems that Blackbeard is being put on trial (the Battle Network world actually as a judicial system?! Could've fooled me!) and Lan needs to be present as a witness. We're told that the trial is being held at Green Town's courthouse, which we can reach via the LevBus. Lan's pretty rarin' to go, since being at a trial is a perfect excuse for putting off work.
As the name implies, Green Town is full of greenery. Grass, trees, flowers, it's all there. Heck, judging by the size of some of the trees it's like it was built in the middle of a redwood forest. Apparently there's even some genetic engineering going on with the plants according to some of the NPCs. We can jack in to a statue that's near a flower shop for a Regular UP 2 and 2400z. The usual Sub Chip dealer:
- Locate Enemy – 7000z
- Sneak Run – 500z
- Untrap – 800z
The courthouse can't be missed as it's the largest (and practically only) building around. As Lan admires the place, a voice tells him to freeze. A rather suspicious-looking person wearing a cap and parka ensemble to hide their identity walks up to him and orders him to stop. Lan has no idea who this guy is or how they know him, but says that he's not going to listen to some stranger and enters the building anyway. Well that was strange.
Once inside the courthouse's lobby Lan ends up tripping the security and getting a swam of guard robots on him again. This time though, the aquarium director comes to his aid. Despite its peaceful and verdant exterior, Green Town takes its numerous laws and ordinances very, very seriously. The director explains that he forgot to add Lan onto the courthouse's visitor list, and the robots withdraw. Apparently to get authorization we need to go to Green Area 2's Net Cafe, and we can access the courthouse's homepage from a stone tablet located just across the lobby. The director gives us the Cyber Broad Axe item, which is used to chop down the tree between Green Area 1 and Central Area 3.
There happens to be a BMD with an HP Memory along with another Sub Chip merchant on the homepage:
- Full Energy – 1000z
- Unlocker – 4000z
- Untrap – 800z
Right outside is a program dealer:
- HP Memory – 4800z
- HP Memory – 8400z
- Custom + 1 – 4600z
- Mega Folder + 1 – 3000z
- Float Shoes – 3800z
- Chip Shuffle – 6600z
- Attack + 1 – 2000z
- HP + 200 – 4200z
Surprisingly cheap prices. The Chip Shuffle program is the return of Search Soul's shuffle feature.
Continuing with Green Town's nature theme, Green Area is filled with grass panels and Wood viruses, so it's a great place for Heat Cross. The pathways are likened by a Navi to a tree, with open platforms for the leaves and winding, compact pathways as the roots. The way to Green Area 2 is blocked off by a security door that asks us the punishment for breaking Green Town Ordinance #182, that is, hitting a Program on its head. Megaman's baffled at that actually being a law, and thus cannot answer. In order to get the answer we have to return to the homepage and talk with a group of Navis who are studying for the bar exam. After paying them 1000z (“If you think of how much you'd make as a lawyer, it's really a bargain!”) they'll reveal the answer, “something infuriating.” Green Town is weird like that. We're able to get through now, and navigate through the maze-like pathways of Green Area 2 to find the Net Cafe where we can get Authorization Data. With this Lan can pass through the lobby's security scanner and continue on with the plot.
The director is currently speaking with the prosecuting attorney for this case, Prosecutor Ito
◊. He's a pretty gracious fellow, and he already knows all about Lan as he had to run a background check on him for the trial. He also appears to be an admirer of Yuuichiro. Ito suggests that Lan should look around the courtroom and check out the system there. He says that it'll be surprising.
And indeed it is. Instead of a judge, the courtroom has a giant tree planted in the middle of the room. This “Judge Tree” has a giant monitor attached to it and a gavel mechanism installed, so it's like a cyborg tree. Man oh man, where do I even begin with this? The idea is that its system can make unbiased, just decisions without fail, but on the other hand...it's still a friggin' tree! Green Town isn't exactly indicative of the Battle Network world's overall judicial system, but it would go a long way towards explaining some of the craziness that seems to habitually partake in.
Lan is naturally curious at the idea that the Judge Tree can interact with people and tries to get its attention. He is soundly ignored, so he goes over to the railing separating people from the tree and bangs on the trunk. This certainly gets someone's attention, for a bunch of security robots appear in a flash, armed with electrified arms, to arrest him for trying to “cause harm” to the Judge Tree. Before they can arrest him Lan's bacon is pulled out of the fire by the shady guy from outside, who jacks in and immediately shuts the robots down. He tells Lan that his skills are slow and that he's completely ignorant of what's been going on around him since Megaman absorbed Gregar. For example, what just happened now was a set-up.
After the guy threatens to delete Megaman Ito rushes into the room to see what's going on. After seeing that Lan and the Tree are okay he turns his attention to the other guy, saying that he could have him placed under arrest for being here unauthorized. The guy brushes him off, saying that while he “could” have been the one to harm the Judge Tree, it's “troubled” enough as it is and then leaves.
After this incident Blackbeard's trial starts. This is when the Judge Tree “awakens”, the monitor displaying the image of a judge and the gavel banging to call thing to order. Notably, Blackbeard does not appear to have an attorney (maybe he decided to represent himself?) and the only part of the trial that we actually see is Lan testifying about how Blackbeard tried to take Mick hostage after his Navi was defeated. After hearing this the Tree finds Blackbeard guilty and sentences him to the “Punishment Room” for an indefinite amount of time. It's only then that Blackbeard shows any life, suddenly finding his voice and shouting that this “wasn't the deal” as he's hauled off. Ito simply chalks this up to the weight of his crimes finally catching up to him.
After the trial Lan and Ito talk a bit, and Ito says that he was the one who actually came up with the idea for the Judge Tree, as part of his dream to create a crime-free society. He excuses himself so that he can go prepare for another trial, leaving Lan in a state of admiration for the man. Megaman says that if he wants to be like Ito, he should go home and finally do his homework.
That's going to have to wait, because after this scene we get an email from Pat Fahran telling us that she's set up shop here in Green Town. So time for our second Cross.
Fahran's outside the courthouse at a bench set up on one of Green Town's massive tree stumps. Since she's a chef, her scenario will revolve around cooking, cybercooking that is. Like Flave's scenario in Battle Network 4 this will involve cutting stuff, but we won't be using a cooking machine to do so. No, this time we will be taking control of Fahran's Navi, Slashman
◊, to do the cutting for us. Slashman's charge attack has him create several kunais and send them flying down the field while his chip, Rolling Slash S, has him spin around the field like a boomerang. He can remove the trees and whirlwinds found on the Net.
Here's how it'll work. Scattered around Green Area are cybervegetables: radishes, carrots, etc. When examining one a QTE will pop up and we'll have a few seconds to input it so that Slashman will cut the ingredients down to size. Doing so correctly gives you grams of food, and there's a quota for each type of ingredient. The fewer misses you have, the more grams you get. Pretty simple. A little less mindless than the cooking machine minigame, but not by much. Next up is the battle.
Slashman
HP: 800
Element: Sword
Attacks:
- Triple Edge – Slashman creates several kunais and sends them flying down the field for 30 Sword damage.
- Wide Slash – Slashman slashes the column in front of him for 30 Sword damage.
- Rolling Slash – Slashman spins around the perimeter of the field like a boomerang, homing in on Megaman's column for 60 Sword damage.
Our first boss with attacks belonging to the new elemental wheel. Only it doesn't matter at all since there isn't a Wind Cross in the game. Slashman's a little speedy, so trying to hit him with say, Machine Guns requires better timing than mindlessly pressing the A button. Keeping him pinned down with White Capsules is a good idea.
Winning gives us Slashman S, which has him create and shoot kunais on every panel Megaman owns before spinning through the enemy.
With that done, Slashman becomes a Link Navi (accessible from the cookbook on the bench) and we get our next Cross.
- Megaman becomes Sword-element
- Charge Shot becomes a column-wide slash that centers in on the nearest enemy within the 2 x 3 area before Megaman
- Sword chips are powered up by fifty
- Sword chips (including ones like Aqua Sword that are swords but not Sword-element) can be charged up to project the slash as an air slash
Slash Cross's charge attack pretty much trivializes the game if you abuse it as it's decently powerful and has a pretty good range. Slash Beast's
◊ special attack has Megaman lunge forward and dish out an X-shaped slash three panels ahead, with the two slashes overlapping at the center for increased damage.
We're finished with Green Town for the moment. When Lan returns to Central Town he encounters his father leaving the school. They talk about the trial a little bit and then go home together. Good night.
Virus Listing
- Cragger
- These chunky golem viruses remain still and attack by having their fists slam into Megaman's current columns, dealing Break damage as well as breaking said panels. Their defenses are tough, taking reduced damage from all attacks, but a Break attack of your own will instantly delete them.
- Bomb Corn
- These viruses are living ears of corn that spit explosive kernels onto Megaman's field. The affected panels become covered in grass.
- Honey Bomber
- Giant bees with hives in place of abdomens (think the Pokemon Vespiquen). If struck a swarm of bees will fly out of the hive and deal heavy cumulative damage to anything in their way.
Soundtrack
- Green Town
- Don't let this austere-sounding track fool you, this town is loony!
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