Mega Man Zero 2/Bombardment Aircraft

The mission starts off with the Resistance shuttle Zero boarded already flying over the incoming Neo Arcadian forces. After Zero requests to fly lower, the pilot warns him they can't go any lower, or they'll be detected by their radar. Ciel tells Zero to let her know when to transfer over to the bombardment aircraft by activating the portable Trans-server when he reaches the bomb. Zero, already on top of the shuttle, makes a leap of faith into the clouds and lands on one of the attack ships below. From here, the mission begins.

This mission is, by far, the absolute worst in the game in terms of difficulty. There are countless places to mess up, cheap shots by the enemies, and an enormous amount of dangers that can easily destroy a good ranking. With risks galore, to get through this mission with 100 points is a total nightmare. Once again, the hidden Sub Tank is a must.

A Madman's Gamble
As soon as the mission officially commences, you're already in the maw of danger. Below is a drop of doom, and you'll have to dash-jump across many Tentolancers, the airship squadron approaching the Resistance Base to move onward. They weave back and forth, so you may be stuck waiting for them to get close enough, but that isn't the real problem. Each one has plasma guns on the side that fire intermittently, and they are positioned in just a way that can make it impossible to avoid damage. Trying to wall-jump up their backsides is also a nasty risk.

Worse, Pantheon Guardians await on several Tentolancers further ahead in the fleet to take cheap shots at you, and you need to quickly destroy them with charged Buster shots before they open fire. There is a very good chance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the knockback effect has sinister consequences in mid-air, namely, cheap death.

As you cross Tentolancers, you can get lucky and land on some below to avoid losing a life, but it's still trouble getting further ahead.

Eventually, the Tentolancers will catch up with the bombardment aircraft, and then you'll be able to jump onto reliable ground without the risk of dying. Waiting for them to catch up may hurt the time constraint of the Mission Report, so it's imperative to keep moving. If you landed a little ways below on the wings of the ship, you can find some Life Energy before advancing ahead.

Sure enough, the lack of enemies was just a front to get you caught in a trap. Zero was expected by Neo Arcadia to come after the attack force, and now a customized red Tentolancer has arrived to attack him back!

Sub Boss: Tentolancer
Unlike the other green Tentolancers, this one is specially designed to be the leader of the fleet. It is much more merciless towards enemies, and has a few additional weapons in its arsenal. This one wasn't programmed with the objective of attacking the base, but the personal destruction of Zero.

Right away, the Tentolancer will unload two seeker missles at you. You need to be precise to either dodge or destroy them, and they hurt a lot. You can destroy them quickly with Charge shots or the Shield Boomerang if thrown accurately.

After shooting its missles, the Tentolancer will fly offscreen and then sweep over above, dropping explosive charges nearly everywhere. You need to dash right to the edge of the screen where the Tentolancer was to dodge them all. The Tentolancer will reappear on the other side of the screen afterward, and will keep going back and forth as it attacks with missles. It's weak to the Ice Chip, and simply hitting it will damage it. Fortunately, it takes only a few charged attacks from any weapon to send this Tentolancer out of the sky in a smoldering heap. As a final insult, you get no Cyber-Elf.

Entering the Aircraft
Once the Tentolancer is defeated, it's just a quick dash past a few Pantheon Guardians, made easy with the Buster. You'll soon reach the other side of the bombardment aircraft, and the hatch that leads down inside. Climb down the ladder to find some helpful items, but then you'll encounter some not-so-helpful obstacles...

Static Barriers
The bombardment aircraft is heavily protected from the inside by electric barricades, each of which will do serious damage if you touch them even once (possibly fatal with the Proto Form). The only way around these is to knock out their power generator grid through one generator (the electrified metal cylinders). Since it's a series circuit, all you have to do is attack one enough to temporarily make it shut off to prevent a surge. However, it will turn back on after recovering from your assault, causing the barriers to reactivate. You can buy more time t get past the barriers with the Ice Chip, which freezes them and the destroys them while you can run further ahead. As usual, the items are there to tempt you into danger.

After blasting the first generator, you should have enough time to get through over to the next generator in line and keep moving.

You'll also be greeted by several Signaloids, positioned to trip you up every few inches. No matter what attacks they use, dodging isn't easy. Switching elements will stop them from switching attacks (see Enemies for an explanation).

As you head past the second Generator, a few Panel Cannons await, but can't do much if you dash quickly.

Upper Path: Optional
You can chose to dash down the lower path of the room, or you can go up. If you don't want to, skip to Lower Path.

Going up requires you to shoot a generator and knock out the barriers, then dash up to the other side of the room and wall-jump to an upper path before it turns back on. You don't have to, but this area won't be available for a while after the mission (until the Crystal Cave is completed). Up above is an Z-Panel, and in the next room is a sub-boss.

Optional Sub Boss: Golem Type E
By now, this enemy should be a piece of cake and requires no explanation. Just beat it with Ice-element attacks. The only difference is it's on the left side of the room this time, so its attack patterns are swapped.

Cyber-Elf Sub Tank #2
The next room wil reward you with Cyber-Elf Peatan. This is one of two Cyber-Elves that will transform into a Sub Tank upon use. Suprisingly, it's found in the area right after the other, Estan.

If you drop down the shaft in this room, there will be several Tentolancers docked in waiting, shooting anyway. (Note: they aren't present after the aircraft crashes).

The shutter out of this room is located at the far edge, which is where you should control your fall to land so you don't die. You'll get free health, and end up right where the lower path ends.

Lower Path
Going the normal route will lead to a Signaloid that will attack right away. Destroy it, and climb slowly down the ladder. You'll have to knock out a generator to get a pair of barriers out of your way, and then drop down the ladder. Right before these is a small area with a Cyber-Elf Box containing Cyber-Elf Stockel. Getting it might mean going back to hit the generator, and if you took the upper path, ignore it for now unless you're willing to take a hit from the barrier.

Heavily-Guarded Strech
The area ahead is filled to the brim with Signaloids, electric barriers, and even Pantheon Hammers that require delicate trickery (or the Laser Shot) to destroy without taking damage.

The first part requires some coordination. You need to eliminate the Signaloid, then climb up the ladder and knock out the generator. Lure the Pantheon Hammer into an attack an just dash jump over him and quickly cross over to the other area below where the other Signaloid and generator is. Do not have the Ice Chip equipped, because the Signaloid can corner you with its snowflake blasts. With luck, you'll avoid the barriers and be able to shut off the next generator and continue further.

The second part gets a lot more frustrating, and needs careful timing. Try not to waste time on the Signaloid and get through the first two barriers and where a Pantheon Hammer is inbetween the gates. Just as he attacks with his mace, wall-jump up above him and nail him with the Z-Saber. The barriers will most likely reactivate before you can get past the Pantheon, but there's another generator just out of sight. Creep up to the barrier on the right to see it, and you can shoot it. Now, simply race through the final three and down to the end of the room before the last one clips you.

Right before you drop past the last barrier, you can jump up the side of wall and aim Buster Shots to the other end of the room and follow them, hoping they hit a generator by aCyber-Elf Box above. Wall-jump up here to get Cyber-Elf Reloppe. You can shoot the generator right before the barriers as soon as you get next to it to buy extra time, and then clip this barrier with the saber to get down safely.

Once you get down below, you'll see a Life Energy Capsule to refill HP or the Sub Tank before you drop down the shutter.

From here, go straight to the door on the right, as the left is locked.

90 Seconds of Havoc
Zero will rush into the cockpit of the aircraft, the room containing the bomb, and will send Ciel to the aircraft with the portable Trans-Server. Ciel warns Zero she needs ninety seconds to figure out how to defuse it, and needs him to cover her...

The next 90 seconds are insane. You will be attacked by a multitude of Pantheon Hoppers creeping up to leap at Ciel, and Pluggers, plug Mechaniloids that will constantly warp into the room and rotate, firing bullets absolutely everywhere. Needless to say, this part requires use of the Shield Boomerang to counter all the bullets. After a Plugger shoots for a few seconds, it will charge to you. You can destroy them by simply clipping them with the shield, not throwing it, which will allow you to protect Ciel. The Pluggers only appear during this point of the game, and give no Cyber-Elf.

Above all, you must not let Ciel get hit, not even once. Every time she's injured, you'll lose 2 points for the Mission Objective, and if she gets hit 10 times, it will do her in, and you'll have to redo this part of the mission at the cost of a life. his can be considerably hard to do, as you have to keep stopping Pluggers from attacking, and ward off the slowly-approaching Pantheon Hoppers, which are too low to hit with Buster Shots until they attack, and are only thrown back by reflected bullets.

Ciel will ocassionally inform you of how much progress she's made defusing the bomb, but you're still in hot water until the 90 seconds are up. When that time expires, she'll have successfully defused the bomb, confirmed bt the operators. At that point, the enemies will quit spawning, but you'll have to destroy whichever are still left in the room.

After doing so, an operator will confirm the position is secure, and commence a transfer. Zero has Ciel go on ahead, but before he can, the ship suddenly lurches into high gear and starts plumetting out of the sky. The air turbulence interferes with Zero's transfer and keeps it from working. Ciel tells him the storage has a broken area where he can escape.

The Storage
Now, you must go back and go through the now-open left shutter door (Note: after leaving the cockpit room, it will be closed off for the rest of the game). This will take you to storage, filled with crates and Pantheon Hammers, blocking your exit. Destroying any of the crates will supply you with a plethora of items.

Heading left on the upper section of the storage will eventually lead to a Cyber-Elf Box on top of the crate in the upper-left corner of the room, with Cyber-Elf Aterner, one of the four Cyber-Elves that can boost your rank to A.

The lower part of the storage leads to the broken section of the ship where you can escape (and where you transfer out if you return to the aircraft). Ciel will tell Zero their aircraft is waiting for him down below, and it's safe to jump. Go ahead and do so.

As you drop from the falling aircraft, charge up your weapon. You'll land on top of the shuttle Zero took to get to the aircraft before, but someone else arrives, ready to fight him. It's Herculious Anchortus's younger brother, Kuwagust Anchus, hungry for revenge, having looked up to his sibling. He knows the bomb was disarmed, but says he can complete the mission if he turns the aircraft into a "flaming arrow" and crashes it into the Resistance Base.

With his devious motive, out of the way, it's time to fight!

Boss: Kuwagust Anchus
Just like his brother, Kuwagust Anchus is a Thunder-Element boss, but his lightning is purple. He has a strategy of drawing in his opponents and coming in for a kill, and at times he can be extremely dangerous. Equip the Ice Chip, and beware his wrath.

Like Herculious, Kuwasgust shares some devilish abilities of his sibling, having been created from the same data as him. Kuwagust makes use of his back thrusters for a fierce ram attack. If you get hit, Kuwagust will catch you with his pincers and create an explosion that rips out a chunk of your HP. You'll need to dash under him as he approaches to avoid him. You can still hit him if you're good with your weapons.

Kuwagust also makes use of his four attack claws as lasers. He will spread thim out in a random formation, then fire all of them at once, leaving a small gap you can dash-jump through to avoid the shots.

Kuwagust's main weapon, his giant pincers, and primary method of attack, is much more malicious using them for his worst attacks. He will spin them around and create a vortex that will draw you over to him. If you get caught, he will snare you with his pincers and bite you over and over, requiring button-mashing to get out. You can either repeatedly dash-jump out of the vortex to avoid the pull of it, or shoot him in the face with an Ice-element Charge Shot to stop his attack.

EX Skill: Spinning Blade
Kuwagust Anchus has a menacing EX Skill, provided you keep your rank up. For this attack, Kuwagust will spin his pincers in reverse, making a vortex that actually pushes you away, and then charge in for a brutal attack, leaving a trail of sparks behind. There is absolutely no way to dodge it, but you can deflect the attack with quickly-fired Buster Shots and make him pull up at the last minute.

Kuwagust is quite a contender in battle, and you might need the Sub Tank if you can't dodge his attacks, and this is only worsened by the Proto Form. You can beat him if you take your time and keep hitting him.

When finally defeated, Kuwagust will apologize to his brother for not being able to avenge him, then joins him in death.

If you kept your rank at at least A, you'll get the EX Skill Sengatostsu, translated as 'Spinning Fang Thrust. If you use the Z-Saber while dashing, Zero thrusts its forward, spearing any enemy in reach if they have no shield. If the Thunder chip is equipped, the attack becomes a Thunder element and turns into a sharper, electrified blade.