Part 84: Sausage.

Vic proceeds to vanish courtesy of a smoke bomb, to Lan's dismay.



By the way, looking away from Colonel? Bad idea.



Colonel slashes at Lan for his mistake.



Former comradeship out the window entirely.



Honestly, this isn't as bad as the 30,000 foot drop would have been.



Mercy?



Of course not, Colonel doesn't have any of that. But what he does have, at the moment, is copious amounts of surprise. At long last, the MMX pair meet.



Iris has nothing to say to Colonel.



Clearly, the point is that Colonel would have to go through Iris to get at Lan. And guess what, Colonel can't or won't go that far. As just about everyone can guess, there's something special about Iris.



Colonel proceeds to exit. They got the Force Program, after all.



Young lady, you've got some 'splaining to do.



The foreground and sprite layers proceed to shake back and forth as usual to denote tremors. Oh, right, Sky Town needed that Force Program to stay airborne!



We'll get an explanation out of you sooner or later, Iris, but now is not the time!



What, you guys thought that they'd be dumb enough to make a flying weather control facility without some means of backup safety? This is MMBN6!



Ah, good, we can get out of this flying deathtrap that way. Alright Iris, time for you to at least tell us how you and Colonel-







A few days later, two certain villains have escaped from the Green Town punishment room. Yup, time for a villain cut! A long one this time.



Ito and Blackbeard have broken free and have returned to the WWW for some reason. Baryl's right, that is pretty shameless. Are they expecting a welcome?



Yuika and Vic show up as well to make fun of the two.



Baryl's quick to point out that they're all a bunch of idiots.




That'd be Yuika. Who, considering the importance of the Cybeasts in the game, is arguably the one who screwed up the most.




Yeah, Baryl's a bastion of competence, surrounded by morons.



And he is not afraid to point that out. Missing Team Colonel, perhaps, Baryl? At least we could get jobs done, you traitorous swine!



I don't think anyone (besides the audience and myself) would like to see what he'd do to them.



So, the entire WWW (brigade of failures) will be going after MegaMan directly.



Disturbances are like MegaMan magnets, any trouble just sort of prompts him to appear. That's what it must look like from everyone else's perspective.



This is an important mission, even more so than anything previous.



So Baryl's calling in for some additional support.



Who could it be? An enemy from a previous game?



Who was it who Mick saw in private before BlastMan mysteriously showed up in his PET? Who was it who always seemed to be around when anything happened at the school? How could Ito have gotten into the school after dark, without an ID card?

Hi Mr. Mach. At least you got subtle foreshadowing, I don't think anybody expected to see you.



That said, Mr. Mach isn't exactly nefarious and smug about his WWW membership.




Wario is quick to tease him, even.



You can just feel the contempt in Baryl's text. "Will you idiots shut up and take this seriously?"



Baryl's a team leader by training, if not habit, gosh darnit.



I forget what the point of splitting up into teams is.



You know, come to think of it, none of the WWW Navis are particularly strong at all.



CircusMan manages to be annoying and terrifying, though.



With that, Baryl leaves.



That's because you've all been outsmarted by a 6th grader in sequential order. You ARE a bunch of idiots!



None of them are particularly happy with being talked down to.



Through this whole exchange, Mr. Mach doesn't say a word. He doesn't get along with the rest of the WWW.



Well, he was kind of busy with the whole "getting rid of Nebula" operation.



Oh, right, he's BARYL. Manly, competent, and very, very powerful. The same applies to Colonel.



And with this, Vic instigates a revolt within the WWW.



The others agree quickly. Being condescending and snarky towards one's evil underlings doesn't exactly foster loyalty.



In fact, Yuika knows a certain someone who's willing to support them while they backstab the WWW.



The financial benefactor behind the WWW, as a matter of fact.



Mr. Mach continues to say nothing.



At long last, we see Dr. Wily. The last time we saw him and Baryl together, Mt. Belenus/Fuji was erupting around them and Regal was getting his brain scrubbed with a Brillo pad.



All Baryl has to say is that the Force Program is in their hands.



I missed the screenshot for some reason, but Baryl asks about what to do with their "benefactor".



Dr. Wily is fully aware of how the benefactor intends to try and stab him in the back.



The poor sap has no idea who he's dealing with. Wily is the ultimate manipulator in this series, just look at MMBN3.



Baryl points out that there's an issue with funding if they do that. Ever the pragmatist.



Wily never really needed said "benefactor", though. More money didn't exactly hurt, and hell, Wily just flat out enjoys manipulating people. Seriously, he really enjoys what he does. He's been laughing maniacally the whole cutscene.



This "Control Panel" isn't very obvious about what it is. All in due time.



Well, there's been a ton of foreshadowing and the dramatic reveal of Mr. Mach being a WWW operator, so it's been a productive cutscene at least.



And it just isn't a Wily cutscene without him bursting into a fit of evil laughter.



They even gave him a new sprite for the sole purpose of expressing how much he's enjoying himself.



While Wily laughs himself hoarse, let's cut back to what Lan's up to.



The final round of the Operator Navi selection test is beginning!



Hey, it's been a while since we saw Mayor Cain.



And look, Shady's with him!



Blah blah generic speech blah.



Lan certainly remembers Shady from Green Town.



A specific "thing" is kind of an oxymoron, but go for it.



We're going after the allegedly legendary MoonStone!



The only thing anyone knows about where it is is that it's somewhere in the Undernet. Oh boy, we get to visit the happy place again!



Whoever finds it and brings it back will be the Operator Navi and the winner of the selection competition.



And we're off! But first off, Mr. Famous has appeared at AsterLand! Since the Create-A-Navi contest winners all became WWW Navis, he's started selling chips that cater to Vs. battles between players. BugBomb and other chips that work best when fighting a human opponent, essentially.



On the way to the Undernet, I run into a RareFighterPlane. Another virus for my collection! I still like the Scuttle family from MMBN3 the best. A shame they don't appear in this game.



Right as we get in, this rather helpful PunkNavi directs us to Undernet2.



Agh, right, forgot about that.



Oh great, we'll never find them!



Unless...where do all criminals who get caught wind up?



Well, the criminal who was caught actually reformed.



To Seaside Town!



Oh, you've got to be joking!



Talk to her a few times, and she gets more and more fidgety about the Undernet.



Lan even apologizes for it.



Look, we don't mean to bring up any bad memories, we just need a password.



Weird password you've got there. Well, either way, we've got what we need!



Weeee!



New viruses! New chips! Oh, how I love the Undernet!



MegaMan gets accosted the second he walks in.



Looks like they were expecting us!



They're more of those Cybeast-worshipping CultNavis!



The chanting begins...



This time, Falzar doesn't even get the chance to break out.



It's DustMan! No, we haven't met him before, don't feel as though you should recognize him.



Bunch of stupid failures. They don't even get names or "CultNavi" sprites.



DustMan's operator pipes up. This guy you might recognize from the last Operator Navi test. And, well, the previous cutscene where he was standing next to Lan.



These Navis staring off into space here is a clue for where the MoonStone is. But before that, time for some exploration fun.



Aren't I a lucky boy?



In the upper-right corner of the area, there's the last way you can get into Undernet Zero. But...nah, I don't feel like going around counting the torches.



BRUTE FORCE SOLVES EVERYTHING! The answer is...er, at least 12, I remember that much.



The only thing of note on this side of Undernet Zero is a chip merchant with postgame-level chips like Sanctuary S and LifeAura U. As well as this PunkNavi, who's babbling a NaviCust compression code by the look of it.



Anyway, those red PunkNavis who were staring off into space were actually a clue. There's an invisible path right here.



And with that, we win!



The other competitors are a bit disappointed, but not angry.



Although Mr. Press is more like Mr. Depressed at the moment.



Oh, by the way, since MegaMan's now recognized as the best Navi in Cyber City, he's not only going to be the Operator Navi, but he'll be used in Expo advertisements. Commercials, posters, etc. They might even make MegaMan-brand snacks and souvenirs.

Ah, blessed glory.



That's all for today, but there's a few last things to see to once the cutscene's over.



First off, Mr. Press preaches the importance of recycling.



He's also one of the two last Crosses in the game! We'll be getting DustCross from him.



Likewise, Mr...uh. I don't think we've ever been told this guy's name, actually.