Part 18: The Beginning Of The End

After regaining consciousness, Geo shoots straight out of bed.



This scares the hell out of Luna, but she quickly regains composure.

Prez? What am I doing here?

You don't remember? You came back to Echo Ridge all beat up. Then you passed out and have been out since then.

How the hell did Geo get all the way from the center of Bermuda to Echo Ridge?

Now I remember! Sonia! Where is she?

She carried you here...

Oh.



She was in worse shape than you.

Oh.

She's in the hospital!? Is she OK?

......

Tell me!

She's in critical condition...

No...!

Luna sent Zack and Bud to the hospital to report on Sonia's condition, and she expects to hear from them soon.



And what do you know. Luna picks up, and Bud's on the line.

Bud! How's Sonia? Is she OK?

Geo! You're awake! That's good. We're on our way to see Sonia now.

Oh...

Zack intercepts the call.

You two need to turn on the TV right now! You're not gonna believe what's happening!

Geo doesn't like the sound of that, but Luna and Mega's curiosities have been piqued.



But before I do that, let's look at my abilities. Remember, Hyde stole the OOPArt, so I obviously can't Tribe On anymo-



Oh, okay.



You don't know how worried I was!

You should thank your friends for looking after you. One of them watched over you day and night without rest.

Uh, okay Luna. I'm not sure if that's sweet or creepy.

Anyways, the TV.



I am Vega. Also known as the future ruler of Earth!

Geo recognizes Hyde's boss's name. Meanwhile Luna tries to change the channel, only to find the speech is all over the airwaves.

Of course, I don't mean to just step into the role. I know you won't just fall into line and do as I say from the get go.

So I will convince you that resistance is futile with a little demonstration that even the most simple of you can understand.



Vega laughs that when the miserable denizens of the world behold her power, they'll lose all hope of fighting back. With that, the broadcast ends.

Called it! She's trying to bring back Mu.

......

Geo gets a call from Bud, and immediately snaps out of his pondering to ask about Sonia.

Well... She's still in pretty bad shape, but she says she's gotta talk to you.

G... Geo...

Sonia!! Are you OK?

Sonia shakily reassures Geo that she's fine, and pleads for him to listen to her.

If Vega is able to bring back Mu...



Sonia begs Geo to stop Vega, as he's the only one who can.

OK! You've told me what you had to say! Don't talk anymore! You need to rest!

I think... She took the OOPArt... deep inside the Bermuda Maze...

How do you know that?

You have to stop her... MegaMan... You're... my hero...

And what's with her calling Geo by his secret identity? That's Luna's shtick.



Oh well, hopefully Sonia giving away Geo's dual life in a public hospital (where she is almost certainly being monitored since she's a famous idol) won't be a problem.

Sonia? Sonia! Sonia! Answer me!

Guys! Bud! Zack! What's going on?

Bud yelps that Sonia fainted.

!!

Hang on, Sonia! We'll get you some help!

Zack starts calling for medical assistance, and the call ends. Luna resolves to go to the hospital as well.

I can't be with her, so stay by her side for me.

Geo...

Luna agrees, but also demands Geo to come back safe.



And then she leaves before he even answers.

Bermuda Maze... We gotta hurry, Mega.

Yeah. I finally get to go buck wild on someone again!

You sure do!

At this point it hits Geo that they've lost the OOPArt. The two ponder what to do now that they can't Tribe On, but eventually Mega decides that they'll be fine.

I wish I shared your confidence.

I can still hear the voice inside me. The voice of Saurian... We may have lost the OOPArt, but we still got its power!

How convenient. Geo muses that if that's true, the OOPArt's more of a curse than a blessing.

Well, if it makes me strong, then it's my type of curse!

Um... OK...

Why are you so scared? It's my curse and I'm cool with it!

Now then, off to Bermuda.

Not.



The broadcast was worldwide, so all NPCs everywhere have changed dialogue.

Music: Atmosphere of Unrest

Also this is constantly on loop in the real world.



I took the time to catch up on all the sidequests I've missed, so that's why this update took so long.



As soon as you go on the SKy Wave, another cutscene starts.

The OOPArt will bring the continent of Mu before us!

How can you use the OOPArt to unleash Mu?

Vega answers that Mu runs on EM waves. So to restore the continent, all they need is a powerful EM battery.



And the OOPArt qualifies. You'd think there'd be some kind of compatibility issue between dinosaur and Murian tech, but nope.





The game cuts to MegaMan.

...? What was that sound?

She's getting closer to bringing back Mu... We're running out of time, kid!

I proceeded to completely ignore Omega and get back to sidequesting.



Along the way I found my first Golden Mystery Wave. Every time you pulse in, one of these will spawn somewhere in the wide EM world. They usually have very good drops,



but I've never been very lucky with them.



I'm honestly impressed with how the designers managed to give almost every NPC in the game a sidequest.



And if you look real closely, you can even find some familiar faces from the first game! This asshole, for instance, used to be Geo's principal. His shitty teaching methods led to one of the teachers fusing with an FM-ian and going nuts.



And this guy... you know what, it's probably best not to mention Iver Gatte.



I also took the opportunity to clean up the bosses I hadn't beaten yet. Ophiuca's back where I first fought her,



Terra Condor's a little to the right of the end of the Whazzap Ruins,



and Cancer Bubble SP's ready for battle in the usual spot. I kick his ass in, and since he's a SP boss



the game records my time. The lower the time, the stronger that boss's SP card will be, with damage maxing out below 10 seconds.

While a six second battle is pretty fast, it's nothing compared to my Brother's sub second battles (which the game also counts, so all of my SP cards are already at max power). And believe it or not, those times are completely legitimate!



The secret is Legend Cards, those things I used way back in the second update. If you have a powerful enough Best Combo, you can delete a boss as soon as the battle starts. The reason why those times aren't just straight zeroes is because it takes a bit for a boss to blow up.

Now that I can fight Cancer Bubble SP on demand, I'll go over how to craft Best Combos.



The first step is to read this e-mail. If I don't, the game will assume I still haven't gotten my Tribe yet! You'd think they'd program that flag to trigger when I did the Tribe On tutorial, but eh.



Second, I need to look at my folder and plan out what cards I want to use. Generally paralyzing, bubbling, or freezing cards are recommended for reasons you shall see soon.



Step 3: Battle either an EX or SP boss.



And finally, either reload or stall until you get a good hand.

In order for LM Shin to "recognize" a Best Combo, MegaMan must do over 300 damage in one turn to the boss. This is easy enough (hell you'll probably do it by accident), but there's an important corollary: the boss must not move. If you want a really long combo, you'll need to make good use of status ailments to keep a boss in place.



Also only Standard and Mega cards will be accepted, so there's no point trying to fit in Gigas.



Normally starting with Leo Kingdom SP would be stupid since it'll make Cancer Bubble flinch, but that's what Charge Paralyze is for. As long as you have that ability (or even just a Paralyze Stage card), you can start your Best Combo with anything.



Once the battle's over, LM Shin will chime in.



And voila, your combo is recorded. Up to seven combos can be stored at a time, and they can be named whatever you like. You even get the option to change what your character says when the Legend Card is used.



Every time you Brother with someone in real life, you'll give them a free copy of your Best Combo. This is very abusable.



Anyways, back to the combo. This one's okay, but it's possible to go way further. Remember that landing a Counter hit gives you a new Card; if everything goes perfectly, you can get up to seven cards in a single combo. I wouldn't recommend being in Tribe King if you want to do that, though, since you need the boss to actually survive the first six hits.



Not that Best Combos have to be offensive. Any standard card will be accepted, so long as the boss doesn't move. So if I were to hit a boss with a decently strong Mega card, then spam Recoveries and Invisible while they were flinching, I'd get a Best Combo that heals and protects me.



Finally, if you're curious the strongest Best Combo in a normal game is six Muramasas. This is only possible through a) having six Brothers who each have Muramasa as a favorite, b) being in a Tribe that can use Train Combo, c) being incredibly lucky, and d) fighting a SP boss with more than 2500 HP. It's a massive pain in the ass to pull off, but 3000 damage on demand is incredible. Especially since that's the exact amount of health the strongest SP boss has.

But that's in a normal game. Given Hard Mode's HP buff, it's theoretically possible for me to make an even stronger combo. But fuck that, if I wanted an instant win button I'd just use Tribe King.



And speaking of Tribe King, let's see how I measure up against a DX boss now that I'm using it.


Watch the slaughter!



Every time I beat a new DX boss, LM Shin will tell me how many more I have left. If I beat all 14 he'll give me a special wallpaper.



Getting back to the original tangent, in the end I did 20 sidequests. I got 140 HP (80 from Big Wave), a bunch of useless cards, a Blank Card,



and a bunch of pointless key items.



Some of these things have Cipher Codes on them, which would be handy if I hadn't used them all in the first update.

Alright I guess I should get back to the plot.



Hyde greets Geo at the entrance of Bermuda Maze.

You won't be making any changes to this script!

Look out, kid!



Geo quickly sidesteps a hole to the Un-Dimension,

Heh, heh! Too slow!



but then gets caught by another.



Let's not ask how Hyde can do this without either that eyeball or the ~Power of Loneliness~. That would take away from the fact that Hyde, this game's established loser, is suddenly on a winning streak for no real reason besides plot convenience.



Viruses attack before Geo can finish his sentence.



There are four battles total, and I nuked every single one with Dragon Sky GX. What odd luck.

Crikey! That guy and his scripts... He really did a number on us.

We don't have time for this! We gotta find that exit!



Easier said than done since the whole place is just a purple void. There aren't even anymore museum artifacts to serve as landmarks.



Eventually I find the exit _{and get a random encounter on this exact step}.



Mega's surprised they got sent all the way back to Electopia.

Dang! That trap really nailed us good.

Suddenly the earth starts shaking.



Mu has risen.



Cue reaction shots from around the world.



And by that, I mean just Grizzly Hills and Whazzap because who cares about everywhere else.

Allow me to greet you... with the full power of Mu!



Where is that laser even coming from?



How is it going straight down if it's being fired from Mu?



These are the questions that keep me up at night.



Oh and somehow it rips a hole in the ocean. Do yourself a favor and ignore the absurd amount of consequences something like this would have.



Back at Wilshire, Super Grandma and her sidekick Engineer get ready to take off and confront Mu.

Or they're just panicking since there's a giant earthquake going on. One of those.

This is the legendary power of Mu you feel! I should inform you... This is but a taste of the power of Mu!

I will unleash the full power of Mu, but that still requires some time...

I should mention the screen is still shaking for this entire speech. I guess Vega has a really strong voice.

But by tomorrow morning, you too will know the full extent of Mu's power!

Also would it kill the translators to check up a thesaurus? There are other ways to say "power".



Mega sighs they can't do anything but wait until tomorrow.

Tomorrow, when we see Mu, that'll be our chance. For now, we wait.



All of the NPCs have changed dialogue again.



of the world!

Darn, I thought he'd say more.



It's not safe outside...

Nothing to do now but take a nap.



Oh for fuck's sake.

Never thought he'd be able to hurt me...

Hollow warps in. Solo asks what he wants.

I have a message for you from Lady Vega...

......

"You have done exceptionally well for us, Solo. Now it is time that you rest..."



Solo gets up.

......So she wants the whole thing for herself.



The Murians politely wait for Solo to Wave Change.

Do not even try it... You are too injured to put up a fight... If you don't resist, I promise to finish you quickly...

Ha...

...?



No mere boss can handle an ego of that magnitude.



And with one of Bud's mighty booshes,



Rogue somehow destroys all four Murians at once.

...!

It's over, Hollow!



Rogue zooms towards Hollow, though you wouldn't know it from this shot.



You... You're...



Exposed, Hollow flees.





"Le Mu"...



Vega doesn't know about the existence of AM/FM-ians, so no this isn't an "all EM life began from Earth" twist.

All EM waves...? What do you mean, Lady Vega?

Vega explains that Le Mu existed before the Wave World was formed. As such, it was what created the Wave World, and all EM waves on Earth for that matter.

That means...! That means that all EM beings are Le Mu's children...!

That's an odd conclusion to jump to.

Yes... And now Le Mu is ours to control. With Le Mu, no one can stand against us!

Vega calls to Le Mu, and demands it to display its power.



It obliges. For the rest of the cutscene, Mu EM beings are constantly being formed and heading out.

Multiple EM beings...! What awesome power!

Ha, ha, ha...



------


Concept art of Mu.


Concept art of Vega's hideout and that nonsensical ocean hole.