A new day dawns and Lan’s overslept again, but he’s able to get to homeroom on time, barely. Yai’s back from the hospital, but now Dex is missing. When Ms. Mari starts class Lan asks if he’s coming in today, and she reluctantly reveals that Dex is actually moving away. Shocked that Dex never told any of his friends about something as important as this, Lan and Megaman decide to run from the classroom and try to catch Dex at his house, if he’s still there.
Dex’s door is locked when Lan arrives and in frustration Lan curses Dex for not telling anyone about this. Megaman says that they should get back to school, when Dex himself walks right out of his front door. Lan asks him if he was just going to leave, and his friend apologizes for keeping everyone in the dark, claiming that whenever he tried to tell them, like at the hospital or at the park, he just couldn’t bring himself to. Apparently he’s moving overseas to live with his father and Chisao. At this the entire rest of 5-A show up to see Dex off. Everyone wishes him luck and promises to keep in touch, and Dex promises that he’ll become the best Net Battler in Netopia before thanking everyone, saying goodbye, and heading off to the Metroline Station. Lan again resolves to train hard so that he won’t lose to Dex in the future.
Well that won’t take long. Obviously Dex isn’t gone for good. I mean, how else will we be able to get the rest of the Gutsman chips?
After school Lan wonders what they should do when he gets an email from Mamoru at the hospital, asking if they can talk again. Lan and Megaman decide why not, so it’s off to Beach Street. As an aside, Tora is now free to Net Battle in the lobby of the TV station. Kingman’s chip basically has him jump three panels ahead and use his Checkmate attack, though it doesn’t instantly delete enemies.
Mamoru’s at the beach in front of the hospital again, and this time the two end up talking about the sea. Mamoru eventually reveals that he’s been hospitalized almost all his life thanks to a heart condition he has called HBD. In an effort to pull away from that rather grim topic, Lan asks Mamoru if there’s any specific battle chip that he wants, and says that he’ll go get it for him. There is such a chip apparently, the rare Ice Ball M. Mamoru gets really excited over the prospect that he starts having cardiac trouble, but Megaman is at least able to help Mamoru a little by having him stabilize his breathing while Lan runs to go call a doctor. Lan asks how Megaman knows what to do, and he reveals that HBD was the very same heart condition that he had as Hub Hikari, the one that ultimately killed him.
After Mamoru is taken away by the staff into the ER, a nurse tells Lan that while Mamoru’s okay for now he could still be in danger if he suffers another attack. The nurse says that while it is possible now to treat HBD, it involves a rather risky surgical procedure that Mamoru refuses to undergo. He’s been operated on three times already, she explains, yet is still sick, making him lose faith in the chances of being cured. Understandably fired up, Megaman says that as his friends, they should find a way to change his mind. They decide that maybe if they can find the Ice Ball M chip and give it to him that may help him regain hope.
The Ice Ball chip is dropped by a variant of the Hardhead virus called a Coldhead. Coldheads are only found on Hades Isle but they don’t just show up. They’ll only appear if Megaman has the Fish program bought at Beach Square installed on his Navi Customizer. This little mini-scenario is basically a small tutorial that certain viruses only show up when one of the four element-attractor programs are active. Fortunately, once the program is installed it doesn’t take long for a Coldhead to appear, and they’re pretty cooperative as far as dropping the chip goes.
Mamoru’s been moved back to his hospital room now, and he’s feeling better now. Lan asks him why he won’t have surgery, and Mamoru repeats that the nurse said, that surgery won’t change anything, even when Lan tells him that there’s a new procedure that can treat HBD. Getting fed up with his friend’s defeatist attitude, Lan tells him of how his twin brother Hub died from HBD because he was too young to undergo surgery, and how if even there’s a 1% chance that he’ll get better, he has to take it. This sways Mamoru, and he decides that he’ll undergo the procedure, both for his sake and for that of Hub. Lan wishes him well and gives him the Ice Ball chip as a good luck charm. So with Mamoru’s spirits raised it’s time to go home.
Soundtrack
- Wiping Tears
- The game's sadness theme, which will get plenty of play later on.
