Part 97: The final dungeon.

That settles that. As far as we have to be concerned, this mostly worked out alright.



Can we get some sort of concrete answer this time?



Sigh. It's getting a bit absurd at this point.



Oh well, at least she's nice about it.



Leaving the school building, Mick and Tab worry about what's going to happen to the Expo now that the Mayor's been arrested. As you can see, a small parade of CopyBot Navis reassures them.



Once we arrive back home, Lan gets an email. The Expo Executive Committee is inviting Lan to a Preview Gala to come see the Expo before it opens. Presumably because he got cheated out of the Operator Navi position by Cain.



We also get to invite friends, which mean that Mick, Tab, and Iris are coming along.



Sigh. This was inevitable.



Chaud might be able to be convinced if it was justified as scouting or something. It's funny how Lan's become used to the cliches and standards of this series, much like that "I'm used to random things happening now!" line in the ElecCross scenario.



That night, after the usual end-of-scenario save, MegaMan hears a loud roar. We've officially entered the endgame, you know what foreshadowing like this always means.



Because this consists entirely of multiple people saying "Okay, Lan, sounds good!", I'll be chopping this out mostly.



Iris' reaction, on the other hand, was something absolutely nobody saw coming. Why, ellipses, those are something Iris has never used before!



Likewise, ProtoMan and Chaud are suspicious of the Expo because the Mayor was involved in it.



One week later...



The ACDC trio has the nerve to invade and shout Lan awake the morning of the Expo preview. They soon leave, fortunately, but that just means we have to spend time with them, which is something that never ends well.



Blah blah introductions nobody cares about. As expected, Chaud is nowhere to be seen.



We finally get to enter the Expo site that's been blocked off from being accessible for the whole game. The entrance, if you've forgotten, is right next to Cyber Academy.

The music that plays upon entry, however, signifies that this place is more than it seems. We're actually in the final area of the game, if all the buildup hadn't made it obvious. And the song being titled "Secret Base".



Upon entry, we're greeted by a Navi in a CopyBot who gives everyone a StampCard and tells them to get a stamp from each of the main exhibitions. Each area we've visited in the game is represented, and it's been mentioned before what they were doing for the Expo, but I'll recap:

Seaside: Water Purification
Green: Climate Change and Pollution
Sky: Weather Control



After we've gotten them all, we go to the Central pavilion, the theme being of course CopyBots. However, there's a bit of a musical oddity here.



You can jack into the statue the CopyBot Navi was standing in front of. While the M-Cannon * is nice...



Jacking back out replaces the background music with the Sky Town theme. Which is a heck of a lot more cheery than the ominous end-of-game music that was playing before, needless to say!



The only thing really noteworthy about the pavilions is the tree right here.



Checking things out tends to yield similar messages. A lot of the Expo content is really dull and seems like it was put together just for the sake of having something to show.



Anyway, after getting all the stamps, it's time to enter the main Central pavilion. Single-file line, children!



Team Rocket is spying on the group, but they get spotted quickly and retreat.



The Central pavilion is simple enough: dozens and dozens of CopyBots. Even Lan is getting disturbed by this point.



And he isn't the only one. Geeze, it's like one of those old Chinese terracotta armies or something.



The group is interrupted, three guesses by who.



Finally, after 3 games of absence, Wily and Lan meet again.




You might recognize this area as the one Baryl and the rest of WWW spoke at. More importantly is the hilarious realization that comes with this.



The Expo is front for WWW's activities. But that means that Wily was the one who designed all the goofy, stupid facade elements. The tree, the educational tidbits, all of it was Wily.



It was all funded by Cain, you see, under the guise of Expo development.



Wily goes on to reveal that he only has two missing pieces left.



That was a given.



Even Lan is thirsty for some concrete exposition at this point. We've gone the whole game with people keeping secrets, enough already!



Surprise. No, the mysterious girl who's been helping us the whole game is a key to the villain's plot? I would have never seen this coming. What a shocking plot revelation.



Who's going to force her, a withered old man like Wily?



No, Wily's massive robot army. It's all come full circle here!



CopyBots proceed to surround and abduct the cast.



Lan somehow manages to be the only one left. With, appropriately, 8 robots surrounding him, Lan doesn't have much hope of accomplishing anything here.



Cue heroic rescue by CopyBot ProtoMan. Much like with Colonel, CopyBots having a weapon lock doesn't do much if your arm is a sword. Not that that plot point ever made much sense anyway. As one goon pointed out though, it was Mr. Mach, a WWW agent, who told us that though. It very well could be completely false.



For once, we've got appropriate levels of recognition here. Wily knows Lan is the biggest threat to his operations, Chaud is just that one Official who keeps tagging along.



Even with ProtoMan, this many CopyBot Navis is going to be problem. Facing off against a robot army is a bit out of our scope. Retreat!



Wily's army pours out of the Expo and into the surrounding city, all hunting for Lan!



Taking refuge at the school, Lan and Chaud try to come up with a plan. Being used to solving things online and not dealing with an army of robots, they don't get anywhere.



Several Navis manage to track them down, calling others to swarm in as well.



Do not mess with Mr. Mach. And especially don't mess with his cherished students.



Mr. Mach can only take on so many Navis, but he'll manage to get a path clear for us.



Mr. Mach just wants his old friend/mentor to come back to being a good guy.




This is how the Mayor communicated in person with WWW without being caught.



Or we could just take the stairs.



Perfect timing, blink animation. Chaud always was the sort to keep his calm during any situation.



The CopyBots have caught up with them, however, so there's no time to be making jokes at Lan's expense.



MegaMan's the one who can stop Dr. Wily best, after all.



For the rest of the game, even after we get to the postgame, there will be stationary CopyBot Navi NPCs all over the real world. If you talk to any of them, they'll initiate a fight.



SP viruses, the usual.



So yes, even what you'd expect to be a physical fight somehow involves a virus battle. This somehow damages the CopyBot, and it will no longer be an issue.



Arriving at Cain's office, the bookcase is of course the secret trigger to open the hidden passageway.



Endgame time. This isn't the point of no return, but it does fling you headfirst into the final dungeon.



Meanwhile, with Lan's captive friends, Dex asks Mick how CopyBots work.



I glossed over it, so you won't recognize this area, but this is the Seaside pavilion.



Team Rocket! They've actually managed to beat us here, imagine that.



Ito's messing with the computer, which only means one thing. We'll have to jack into the pavilion, obviously.



Lan would be able to give chase over the pavilion decorations because they form a secret walkway.



Thanks to Ito's meddling, however, they move out of alignment, making passage impossible.



The final dungeon of the whole series. Let's begin.



Depending on how you look at it, it's either a climactic 'final exam' of the game that tests you on everything you've done so far, or it's a lazy cop-out that meant Capcom didn't have to think of a new gimmick.

Either way, the music that plays here, Two of Braves, is fantastic. The end-of-game areas have always had amazing music, and MMBN6 ends the tradition on a high note.



Besides this one-off gag, there's nothing notable here about PavilionComp 1. It's the same thing as the Aquarium, i.e., annoying to a varying degree.



Following the road once the pathway is fixed, we arrive in the Green pavilion.



Once again, Ito messes up the computer so we can't pursue immediately.



From here on out, the PavilionComps will have Team Rockets' Navis waiting for us at the end. It ain't a MegaMan game without a boss rush!



It's the JudgeTree again! Once again, you can press L to look around.



I think the puzzles here are easier than the ones in the actual JudgeTree.



I forget what was in that BMD, I think it was just a chip.



With only three of these "puzzles", PavilionComp2 is very short.



Waiting at the end is JudgeMan EX.



He is promptly and utterly defeated.



Poor Ito mourns for his deleted Navi as we arrive at the Sky pavilion.



Meanwhile, Vic finishes messing up the Mr. Weather replica and causes the cloud platforms to move out of the way. Let's just assume they're cloud-shaped and made of plastic or something.



This leaves Vic within Lan's reach, at least.



Though, he just uses a smoke bomb and teleports up with the others. Vic is a ninja.



Ride the cloud, grab the rainbow data, circle around the typhoon. Same as before. Worth noting that there are a lot of viruses in this area that drop excellent chips, like ElecMechs and ScareCrow2s.



Pyrotechnics follow.



Onto PavilionComp4.



Ito and Vic work on trying to get the Door of No Return open unsuccessfully, meanwhile.



PavilionComp4 is a spin on the original SecurityBot computer as well as the EvilSpirit puzzles.



This means that all this time, we could defeat Evil Spirits without using those asinine SoulWeapons!



Standing in for BlastMan's fire wave attacks are hordes of Evil Spirits that fly across the screen in the same way. They're a lot harder to dodge than BlastMan's fire was.



Defeating the Evil Spirits is just a question of fighting SP viruses.



I run into an amusing thing during the CircusMan EX fight, however. Using GroundCross' PopUp Drill attack while CircusMan uses his Tent Rape attack will cause CircusMan to close his cage down over absolutely nothing at all, whacking away at thin air.



Finally rid of the stupid evil clown! And on top of that, that's the final dungeon complete! Talk about a sense of accomplishment.



Jacking out, Lan confronts Team Rocket.



And now for something that we should all rejoice at.



For the first time in the series, at the very end of the final game, villains think of just ganging up on Lan and beating him up. No NetBattles, no MegaMan, just a bunch of adults whaling on the stupid 6th grader protagonist.



As entertaining and satisfying as that is, it spells trouble because we've come this far and they intend to stop us.



WHY DO THE NPCS ALWAYS TALK IN ALL CAPS ANYWAY?



So, what could make this situation even worse?



GutsMan, Roll, and Glide showing up. Still, they manage to bludgeon the CopyBots into oblivion, and I have to admit, GutsMan has a very large advantage while in a CopyBot over pretty much any other Navi.



That settles what happened to those three, what about Iris, Mick, and Tab? Dex replies that Dr. Wily took Iris somewhere unknown.



As for Mick and Tab, they're doing fine.



Congratulations, Dex, for finally having an amusing line. This means that Mick and Tab's Navis are even weaker than GutsMan, Roll, and Glide. That's just depressing.



Fortunately, Chaud and ProtoMan have caught up, so heroism and exploding robots ensue.



These are much more favorable odds, especially considering the CopyBot Navis providing backup as well.



Yuika tries a pathetic last-ditch attempt to lie her way out of the situation.



Vic and Ito are not amused.



Naturally, Chaud isn't an idiot, so that falls flat immediately.



Team Rocket proceeds to hurl themselves off the strange indoor cliff to escape. Seriously, why is that pit even there.



Point of No Return ahead!



Happily, we get to finish off the series without any of Lan's friends, not even Chaud. We're going it solo.



Yup! Screw you guys, every last one of you except Chaud.




Jokes aside, the actual reason for Lan making them go away is because bringing the two Cybeasts together could have massively destructive results.



Instead, they get the job of evacuating people from Central Town.



Always the voice of reason, Chaud supports this entirely.



And then, for the first and only time in the series, shows actual concern for Lan's well-being.



Everyone leaves and wishes Lan good luck. It's all building up to the ultimate climax of the series.



So let me ruin the moment utterly by disabling that same fucking background layer again by accident. Christ, this is the third time! One emulator restart later, because I'm stupid and forgot where people told me the option to fix that is...



Oh, begone already!



...All that buildup and they forgot that they can't even get the stupid door open.



Great, it all ends with a Find-The-NPC mission.



Oh, right, Baryl's never the sort to force the player into that.



Is he still going to fight against us?



Nope.



So, as the thread voted, I'll be going through this door and beating the final boss, but I'll skip over the epilogue for the time being and cut directly to the postgame. That way, the end of the series is the end of the LP as well, and besides, the very final boss of the game can only be fought after doing absolutely everything else anyway.