Part 39: Go Team Colonel!
Yeah, the rest of the team kind of needs to show up first.
KnightMan and ShadowMan teleport in. Let's just ignore what that would mean for the whole game. And let's also try not to imagine what one of ShadowMan's "previous commitments" might be.
Right, there's your introduction! Get it? Got it? Good.
Oh yes. The Power teammate in either version lives up to the sheer firepower they've been built up to have.
Remember: Only Colonel, Baryl, and Lan know about Dark MegaMan. Soooo...
Yeah, guys, there's kind of something funny about that.
Surprise!
What's worse is how thick the DarkPanels are here. Yow, look at that density. And with Order Points at a premium, something KnightMan even voices worry over, this could be a long haul.
Fortunately, liberating gigantic areas of DarkPanels at a time is the specialty of the Power teammate! Although, using their special actions will destroy anything inside ItemPanels, though thankfully BarrierKeys are exempt to this.
Well, let's get things started! Yeah, TomahawkSwing has the exact same range it does in battle. Being an even square, the newly opened area is also pretty advantageous in that no chances to be surrounded exist in any of the panels it opens up. Like all Order Point actions, however, it can't liberate panels that have an enemy standing on it or DarkHoles. However, this can be turned into a potent advantage, but more on that later.
TomahawkMan is awesome, but I honestly prefer Team ProtoMan's NapalmMan.
All shall BURN.
The Napalm action, as you can see, sacrifices the dependability and relative safety of TomahawkSwing for sheer range. It's the riskier, but in my opinion, more rewarding option. That DarkHole is blocking the last panel of the action, it should end in a + shape. This means that any battle made in the area liberated by Napalm will be under surrounded conditions. It's perfect for players like me who sacrifice defense for offense regularly.
Not that NapalmMan is going to hog the glory this time around. ShadowMan has his work cut out for him here.
The first BarrierKey, thankfully, is exposed in the open, making grabbing it on the first turn simple. Mind you, that's only if you know where it is. The BarrierKeys were in obvious locations last time, from here on out they get more and more tricky to find. Using the in-game ability to save once per phase is pretty much crucial if you want to get a good time.
NapalmMan opened the way, but like I said, Napalm forces surrounded conditions for any fight in the newly liberated area. However, as has been demonstrated repeatedly...
This is KnightMan's specialty. This update is pretty much a showcase of why everyone on the team is awesome, I'm very happy with it.
Colonel gets some very satisfying revenge. BlizzardMan's chip does nasty things to BomBoys, given how they oh-so-helpfully create an obstacle right in front of themselves. Gyahahaha!
Team Colonel is a well-oiled machine, that was all accomplished in a single phase of the mission.
One of the advantages ShadowMan has is that his exclusive chip, SplitUp, comes in S-code. So, fitting with the folder, this means that 1-turn liberations are easy with him, netting us the second BarrierKey in one phase rather than two.
This TinHawk2 moved into a perfect position for KnightMan to take advantage of.
It should be obvious, but in case it isn't, the team Navis get stronger naturally each Liberation Mission. More HP, but also more damage to their exclusive chips and charge shots. KnightMan's Royal Wrecking Ball can crush just about any non-boss enemy in one or two swings.
The space opened up by the 1-turn liberation enables NapalmMan to blast a way to the next DarkHole easily.
Order Points are still valuable, so it's a good thing this mission has plenty of BonusPanels. No luck on this one though, Colonel's HP was nearly full anyway.
Oh well, that just makes getting rid of this DarkHole easier.
Next phase comes along, and KnightMan of course gets the DarkHole with surrounded conditions.
It's at that point I start looking around for something productive for ShadowMan to be doing now that both BarrierKeys have been found. As it turns out, this mission has an abundance of BonusPanels just sitting out in the open where he can reach, and I get luckier with the roulette this time!
The side area where the BarrierKeys were has a DarkHole in the middle, however, so time for a bit of sidetracking. TomahawkMan is the more balanced of the two Power teammates, NapalmMan has more raw firepower, but is lacking in defense. This is particularly bad in this Liberation Mission, aqua-element viruses and sea panels are abundant. That was a close one!
KnightMan spent this phase liberating that DarkHole, so Colonel fills in for this situation.
With that DarkHole taken care of, ShadowMan moves onwards. He can't accomplish anything particularly decisive, but enabling the Napalm command from this angle next phase will make getting to that DarkHole easier.
Man, I wasn't even trying to get that one. It's a good thing I did though, see that new DarkGuardian? That's a Bladia, and they can do terrible things.
They can create DarkPanels to stand on, and they're the only thing in the game that can do so.
They're also pretty threatening physically too.
Man, that was the most crucial point of this Liberation Mission. If NapalmMan had been downed and paralyzed for a phase or two, that'd have been a disaster.
KNIGHTMAN SMASH PUNY DARKHOLE.
This is a tough one even for KnightMan, actually.
Bladia: Attacking them with non-breaking attacks normally won't work, as they'll block the attack with their swords. They're thankfully immobile, though after every attack they make, they'll teleport elsewhere. Always in the back row, however, and in a surrounded situation like this, they can also teleport to the other side. To actually attack, they'll swing their swords and create a burst of energy on a column of your panels, cracking all of them. With surrounded circumstances, that gives you only a small time before you'll be locked down. Dangerous enemies.
KnightMan is still KnightMan, however, and demolishes everything with minimal effort. Dark MegaMan is vulnerable now, time for the assault!
Only Colonel and ShadowMan haven't moved this phase, however, so we can't make much headway yet. Still, I can do some setup here.
Wait, crap, this was poorly thought out. I intended to revert NapalmMan to TomahawkMan and then use TomahawkSwing from the side to leave Dark MegaMan vulnerable. You see, because of the LifeSword range of the attack, and how it doesn't affect any panels an enemy is on...here, I'll diagram it.
pre:
[ ][D][D][D] [T][D][E][D] [ ][D][D][D] D: DarkPanels T: TomahawkMan E: Enemy [ ][X][X][D] [T][X][E][D] [ ][X][X][D] X: TomahawkSwing [ ][ ][ ][D] [T][ ][E][D] [ ][ ][ ][D]
Oh crap. Good thing only Colonel was in range. The MegaBuster is the most dangerous DarkLoid field attack in terms of damage, it'll deal 3 hits of 50 to everybody in range. And because it targets multiple Navis at once, KnightMan can only protect one of them.
Back to TomahawkMan. I didn't show NapalmMan in-battle at all, but I'll give a synopsis. His chip is the NapalmBomb, which behaves like the old BigBomb chips in that it damages everything in a 3x3 area 3 panels ahead. Uniquely, he doesn't have a charged shot. Instead, he has the NapalmBuster, which is like an infinite Vulcan chip in that it constantly fires as long as the button is held down and deals 5 damage per shot. This rips things fucking apart.
Anyway, back to TomahawkMan, who can thankfully still pull off the plan.
Poor TomahawkMan. He's awesome, but just so overshadowed by NapalmMan given my playstyle. And given my folder, he didn't actually get to use his charge attack or exclusive chip the whole mission!
TomahawkMan's charge shot is the boomerang throw of his tomahawk seen in the battle against him, and his exclusive chip is of course the TomahawkSwing. Being grass element, he also recovers HP on grass panels.
That leaves Colonel and KnightMan left to attack Dark MegaMan this phase. After the embarrassing trainwreck that was CloudMan, will Dark MegaMan be a similar threat? He is, after all, the DS spawned by my playing style. All the chips I've been using are pretty dangerous.
Sadly for him, he's the Anti-CloudMan and I completely humiliate and steamroll the poor bastard. God damn it all, the DS fights are the highlight battles of MMBN4 and 5, why do mine suck so hard!? I even deliberately held back from slaughtering him with LeaderRaid and toyed with him.
And here I was worried that my level of skill had decreased since MMBN3's romhack challenges.
Ooh, and the reward is worth it too! Obviously, we can't get a MegaMan chip.
Considering how the game plays Dark MegaMan up to be so powerful, the actual way the battle against him went makes that kind of hilarious.
Lan calls MegaMan back to his senses.
Oh give it a rest, "DarkMega", GutsMan could have beaten you.
I just realized, as the defensive powerhouse, shouldn't KnightMan be in front? Anyway, MegaMan's still in there, somehow, somewhere.
Yeah, that's evidently been working well so far after all.
He's gone DarkSuperSaiyen! Or given this series and the asinine 8-letter limit, DrkSpSn! Er, wait, that isn't a DarkAura, is it?
Die, spawn of Nebula, you don't belong in this world! Your words are as empty as your skull!
Well, Team Colonel has kind of just been standing there, though it's understandable they'd be reluctant.
You know, jokes aside, this is kind of something to worry about. That field attack MegaBuster is deadly. Ironic, given how useless its always been on the overworld in the series.
Aw, how sweet.
Or not. So much for that.
Wait, shit, seriously? We just beat him, and DarkCannon functioned like Muramasa, so his HP must be pretty low. Fuck! Not good, not good!
Okay, I can try all I want to not avoid killing the mood of the cutscene, but get fucking on with it already! This update practically has a 60:40 Liberation Mission to Cutscene Detail ratio! Edit: Or would have. I decided to cut it and save the next several cutscenes for the next update.
They've been pretty quiet, actually....
4....3....2...
There. It's over. The inept DarkMega is gone, we have MegaMan back, and Team Colonel is all sorts of asskicking awesome. Happy end.
Incidentally, sleepyheadedness is to blame for delayed updates more times than not...
Lan thanks Colonel, who waves it off, as MegaMan is returned to the PET and Colonel is no longer our Navi.
Colonel's actually somewhat disappointed in himself. By not deleting MegaMan, he placed the team in serious potential danger. Oh, Colonel, don't be that way! DarkMega was a pussbag like MegaManDS was.
The team doesn't hold it against him at all, quite the opposite in fact.
Team Colonel is a pretty good bunch, don't you agree? They're a squad of coordinated destruction and whupass.
And yeah, TomahawkSoul, just like the end of every Liberation Mission, even though MegaMan isn't even here!
Comrades in arms, friendship forged in the heat of battle!
Team Colonel!