The next day starts bright and early with a reminder from Megaman that we’re going to be helping Mayl today. Upon arriving at her house Lan sees that Ms. Mari is also visiting, curious about this Bubble Wash device. The Bubble Wash is revealed to be a networked dishwasher, one that can be used even when the owner is away from home. Um, okay…? Everyone treats that like it’s some big, revolutionary thing, but I’d imagine remote-control appliances to be something that the people of this fictional society should take for granted.
Well, before the subject can be dealt with any further Higsby bursts into the house, seemingly to break her knees since she has to pay him back for some chip or another. He doesn’t want money though, he wants her to run an errand for him. Mayl protests that today’s not a good day for her since she’s expecting a delivery but Higsby has none of that. As he says, he’s normally mild-mannered, but not when battle chips are concerned. Like the good friend she is Mayl instead volunteers Lan to run the errand in her stead. Even Ms. Mari thinks that that’s a good idea, and since Higsby has inherited his anime counterpart’s crush on her, he’s going to take this to heart. The Job Train never ends!
Fortunately, our task is simple: find a Wind *. Well, those are dropped by Wind Box viruses, and those can be found in Yoka 1, so off we go. Yoka Area is one of the more complex areas of the Net, thanks to the addition of small, miniature pathways that permeate the place. Megaman can’t cross these, putting a damper on our explorations for the moment. Once we get the desired chip and return it to Higsby Mayl’s doorbell rings. It seems the delivery is here. After it’s set up in the kitchen, Lan notes that you can’t jack in to the Bubble Wash even though it’s connected to the Net. Mayl replies that that’s probably just a waterproofing measure. Higsby notes that both Mayl and Ms. Mari are like how he gets when he gets his hands on a rare chip, and Lan understandably doesn’t really care one way or the other about the thing.
So the Bubble Wash takes it upon itself to make him care. Upon hearing a scream from the kitchen, Lan and Higsby run over to see that Mayl and Ms. Mari are trapped inside of giant bubbles. Uh huh. I knew that thing was trouble! The bubbles are apparently indestructible, as not even Higsby’s poor-man’s karate can burst them. Oh, and they’ll explode too, says the WWW-addressed email that everyone receives. Megaman says that the one causing this must be online, so we have to access the Net via the PC in Mayl’s room.
Once in ACDC 1, Megaman confronts the culprit behind this truly heinous act: the hapless, portly diver Navi Bubbleman
◊. Bubbleman is supposed to be the game’s inept comic relief, and he doesn’t have an operator. His motive for sabotaging the Bubble Washes, he reveals, is basically to show up everyone who’s ever mocked him. Megaman’s ready to throw down, but Bubbleman escapes by pulling the “look behind you!” trick. Mayl will then send an email containing both Mayl Code and Roll V2 R.
Luckily, Bubbleman has left a trail of soap suds to follow. Following them ultimately leads to Yoka 1, to one of the impassible narrow pathways littered throughout the area. Bubbleman taunts Megaman for being unable to cross it (he could because he’s “as light as foam”). Megaman remembers Ms. Mari’s lecture on compression from the other day, though. The two decide to head for SciLab. On the way it’s shown that Mayl’s Bubble Wash isn’t the only one that’s been sabotaged, every single one in Den City has gone haywire, trapping people in the exploding bubbles.
The trip to SciLab turns out to largely be a bust, since Yuuichiro happens to be away on a business trip. One of the scientists does give Lan Press Data, but it’s ironically too big to fit within the Navi Customizer, and no one has the time or the ability to modify it. Lan tries asking Higsby, but not only has he never heard of the Navi Customizer, but he’s nowhere near good enough to pull it off. In panic, Lan hurries out of Mayl’s house and bumps into a bearded man outside who’s curious as to what’s happening. After explaining his predicament, the man offers to take a look at Lan’s PET and Press Data. Surprisingly, he’s able to make the necessary modifications, turning Press Data into the Navi Customizer program Press. He takes his leave before Lan can ask his name, and Megaman comments that he was probably just as skilled as Yuuichiro. Just who was he?
With the Press program installed, Megaman will now shrink down when crossing the narrow pathways, enabling him to safely traverse them. It is pretty annoying how one has to reinstall it every single time they want to cross these areas since the program is completely useless and just takes up space in battle. On the plus side though, we can now explore the areas of Yoka that we couldn’t before, and many of the shorter paths lead to minor goodies to snag. One of them in Yoka 2 leads to a separate area of Yoka 1 that has a merchant who will sell chips for Bug Frags:
- Lava Stage A – 35 frags
- Guts Straight P – 50 frags
- Black Bomb 3 G – 90 frags
- Variable Sword C – 90 frags
- Step Cross T – 95 frags
- Guts Impact I – 100 frags
Some of those look rather pricey, but it’s really not difficult to get Bug Frags in this game. At the moment I have a little over two-hundred and I haven’t even gone out of my way to farm them. Later games are not so generous, unfortunately.
Bubbleman’s at the back of Yoka 1, but when he sees us approaching he sets up another indestructible bubble to block our way. To taunt Megaman further, he gives a needle, the only thing that can penetrate his bubbles, to three Heel Navi underlings dubbed the oh-so-threatening Bubble Brigade. The three immediately hightail it, meaning that there’s even more running around in our future.
Virus Listing
- Slimer
- These happy-looking slime balls hop from panel to panel, and they're able to leap onto Megaman's side of the field, claiming his panels for their own. The chip they drop, Meta Gel, is essentially an Area Grab that actually deals damage to the enemy.
