Part 79: Chop Chop, let's move it!
A day after the previous update, Mr. Mach bids the class to go home.
Mick sits at his desk sulking. Did he get caught pulling another prank or something?
No, it's because of his Navi not only getting MegaMan in danger, but both of them being unable to help with the ensuing fallout. We established back in the BlastMan incident and the Aquarium that Mick does actually have a conscience.
Lan tries to cheer Mick up, noting that he couldn't do anything as well. Except for go operate TenguMan to help, that is. Just a minor thing.
Tab has absolutely no idea what happened, and is rather annoyed when both Lan and Mick completely ignore him. I don't think Tab even knows about Falzar being in MegaMan either.
As they leave, rain begins to fall. Even though, judging from Lan's reaction, it was supposed to be sunny.
Followed by snow and a rapid temperature drop. Oh good lord no, don't tell me Chillsky is out of the NetFrican prison or something!
Whew. Someone futzing with the weather I can handle. Someone from MMBN4 making a return is something else.
Mick takes off for home and advises Lan to do the same. I'm pleasantly surprised that they actually made wind graphics for this cutscene and didn't just have wooshing sound effects playing.
Iris is being enigmatic and cute, at least some things are constant.
Nice one, blink animation. Lan is supposed to be just informing her about that, but it looks like he expects her to do something about it.
Besides, this is Battle Network. If anyone's going to be problem solving, it's Lan.
Sky Town is sending out an emergency bulletin, noting that maintenance crew are already trying to fix the issue.
And Iris has somehow teleported up to Sky Town. She's on TV!
We have to go help her! It's Iris, for crying out loud! Absolutely nothing is going to get in our way or stop us from saving her for even a single second!
Oooh, TomahawkCross!
From Teammate to Teacher. Honestly, considering how Mr. Match is in Gregar version, this isn't all that odd.
Shuko taught us to flow like water. Master Feng-Tian taught us to move like and understand the wind.
Dingo's going to teach us how to chop things up really well.
TomahawkMan is as jovial as ever, as you can see.
It's a surprise. All he'll say is that there are 4 totem poles and each of them has a trial for us.
The first one is...impossible to miss, to say the least.
A specially modified battle awaits us at each totem pole. The B button triggers an instant TomahawkSwing, so you know that this is going to be fun and destructive.
Yup. The goal is to cut down 30 totem poles, there's no time limit.
However, the totem poles themselves have a "fuse" of sorts. They can grow up to 3 units high.
If they get that high, after a brief delay, TomahawkMan gets struck by lightning.
Translation: Chop the eagle statues to clear the field instantly.
Much like in MMBN5's "surrounded" Liberation Mission conditions, you use the L and R buttons to turn around.
Oooh, we get the entire field to ourselves! Man, how hectic would this game be if the battle engine was always in this sort of mode?
The first test includes only the slow-growing white totem poles. I wind up filling the bar up and chopping the 30 totems down without even needing to use the eagle.
The next trial requires 50 totems to be chopped.
Gold totems grow at a faster rate. Honestly, given the nature of this minigame, this update is going to go by very, very quickly.
70 totems. For some reason, this trial-giver speaks in a more archaic way than the previous two.
Even with the eagle's help, the green totems that grow here are fast enough that poor TomahawkMan gets zapped a few times.
The cybercaffeine addiction spreads...
I haven't been specific about where these guys are because they're really, really easy to find. You start at the back of SkyArea2, just walk to the NetCafe in SkyArea1 and you'll find all of them.
I took a recording of the last trial, unlike the others.
Yeah, we can see the established pattern by now, thanks.
TomahawkSwing: Same as last game. Wood-element chopping attack in a 2x6 LifeSword range.
Breegull Bash: TomahawkMan grabs his feathered companion and smashes it into the ground, creating a panel-destroying shockwave that moves quite fast.
Axemerang: You might have noticed that his attacks have a big honking blind spot in the back column. Linger back there for more than a few seconds and TomahawkMan will chuck an axe down the whole thing.
Surprisingly, TomahawkCross is a new design, not TomahawkSoul from the last game recycled. I approve of this show of effort!
And because this was a short update due to how the scenario was so minigame-heavy, here's the fight against the Gregar equivalent.
ElecMan wins the award for Longest Series Hiatus, if you don't count the Japan-only 4.5 game. The last time he was around in the main series was towards the end of MMBN1. Incidentally, he was at the end of the most diabolically evil and annoying dungeon in the series, the infamous Power Plant level.
He has a grudge against MegaMan, but guess what, I reciprocate it because that dungeon is just...horrible. I suppose pounding him into the floor would be more of a statement of such if I hadn't been doing that to every boss.