Mega Man Zero 2/Forest of Notus: Burble Hekelot

Items to collect
Elves to obtain (8):
 * [[File:MMZ Animal Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Kelon
 * [[File:MMZ Hacker Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Iterex
 * [[File:MMZ Animal Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Birhang
 * [[File:MMZ Hacker Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Hafmarmn
 * [[File:MMZ Nurse Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Mappie
 * [[File:MMZ Nurse Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Mitick
 * [[File:MMZ Nurse Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Tomilar
 * [[File:MMZ Hacker Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Cloctell

Other items:
 * [[File:MMZ2-4 Hidden Subtank.png]]  Hidden Sub Tank #2
 * EX Skill: [[File:MMZ2 Energy Chain Icon.png]] Energy Chain (A or S-Rank only)

In the Resistance Base, after completing mission:
 * [[File:MMZ Hacker Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Anurray

Mission requirements

 * Clear Time Limit: 4:10
 * Enemies Killed: 41

For this mission, Ciel wants Zero to investigate the ruins of the lost civilization of Notus. This area is completely forbidden from anyone, even Neo Arcadians, so it must hold an important secret, one that Elpizo has been hunting.

Elpizo gone mad
As soon as Zero transfers to the Forest of Notus, he discovers Elpizo is already there, with the Baby Elves, Crea and Prea. Elpizo gives Zero a cheery greeting and asks if he's looking for him, but Zero skips the formalities and demands that he return to the base immediately, wondering what he plans to do on his own. That's when Elpizo says something that's shows he's gone out of his right mind...

Elpizo suddenly reveals his secret; he's looking for an object that will make him invincible. After seeing the Baby Elves, he learned it was none other than the terrifyingly powerful Dark Elf. Out of pure excitement of his plan, he goes on, saying the he knows the Dark Elf can't be a myth. He believes the key to unlock it seal is around the forest, and confidently challenges Zero to beat him to it, rushing out of sight.

Ciel notices Zero has found Elpizo. Deeply concerned, she requests Zero to take care of him, and the mission begins...

Getting through the forest
The Forest of Notus is nearly identical to the Forest of Dysis. However, it lacks the obscene degree of traps to get through. It's almost completely linear, and has many, yet challenging Cyber-Elves in hiding, along with an aformentioned Sub Tank somewhere.

As you begin going deeper into the forest, you'll find many Saranets buzzing around to annoy you like before. There is also a new enemy, Caterpull, slinking around in the trees, similar in appearance to the Pokémon Caterpie. This enemy is puny and practically harmless, and you can only suffer contact damage. In spite of this, the Buster isn't very good at hitting them. Stick to the Z-Saber here. The real annoyance is when they fall from the foliage above. When leaves start falling from above, a Caterpull is about to drop down. You'll lose this warning if you burn the foliage with the Fire Chip, but you can memorize where they drop from.

After passing the first group of Caterpulls, you'll encounter another new enemy, the Shurubon. Like the Up-n-downs of the Classic series, they fly up and down pits and serve as an obstacle. Just blast one to get by, before another takes its place.

Keep going forward, and you'll find the Molegules are also present in this forest as well. Make sure to get rid of each one you see so they can't tunnel under you.

Shurubons are also prevalent in groups further on. Take it easy as you go past so you don't mess up the timing destroying them and get two tricker ones in their place.

When you get past the large amount of enemies in the forest, you'll encounter a repeat of the Chain Rod-aided swinging on surveilance cameras. The first pit just has a couple Pantheon Warriors and a Z-Panel, not a death drop. You can still make it over by swinging on the first camera, dropping a little forward, and quickly hooking onto the next.

The second canyon requires a little less effort. You can swing over on the camera, or try to jump over to the other side and wall-jump back up.

The ruins of Notus
This should already look familiar to you. On the other side of the canyons lies the ruins section of the forest. This area isn't much to fear beside enemies in bad places, and the occasional risk of spikes later on, but. The only enemies that await are Pantheon Hammers and a few stray Securipiders. The pathway in the first area is just filled with enemies, and can be figured out by just going forward.

The next part of this guide deals with the collection of several Cyber-Elves. Skip ahead if you aren't interested.

The first section of the ruins has a few blocks like the kind you would pull on with the Chain Rod, but these are destructible instead. There are few hidden rewards, but also enemies, where these blocks hide paths above and below.

Regardless of whether or not you stop to get Elves along the way, you'll discover a shutter that leads to a returning sub-boss...

Sub-Boss: Pinofeel
Pinofeel is back again, broving just as troublesome as before. The attacks haven't changed from the Forest of Dysis, but this one is positioned on the opposite side of the room. If you remembered the strategy to beating it, you'll be in good shape. Plus, you also have the Ice Chip on hand. However, there's an added layer of difficulty: spikes on the ceiling. Keep your jumps low, especially when Pinofeel floods the room. You certainly don't want to give yourself a lethal concussion.

Destroying this Pinofeel will yield a passage underneath its spiked jaw as it falls apart. Sadly, unlike the first, this Pinofeel gives out no reward upon defeat, and no hidden room can be found through exploring its remains.

The ruins: second area
It's already bright and clear that these ruins don't take too kindly to unwanted guests. You'll see for yourself when the amount of obstacles in your way goes up as you head into the second part of the corridors. Stubborn enemies are all over the place. It's up to you to put them in their place as you continue onward. You're also red hot upon the location of another Sub-Tank...

Daunting obstacles
The number of enemies will shoot up as you go further in, meaning they're protecting something nearby.

A few items, such as a Life Energy Capsule off to the left, can be pulled over to you with the Chain Rod. Other items, like E-Crystals can reached by yanking out moveable blocks or destroying the cracked ones.

Only one place in the ruins is dangerous enough to get you. A section of spikes covers the ceiling by some Toitanks. Dash under them instead of jumping. The Toitanks will start appearing a lot more when you go beyond the spikes.

Heading up the final part of the ruins will take you to a Life Energy Capsule that will completely refill all of your health, or that of a Sub Tank. This is great to fill up the one you may have just got.

The very last obstacles in the ruins are a Panthron Hammer, and then a long hallway of Securipiders before reaching the boss. A quiet end to a tedious level, is it not?

After passing through the shutter door, Zero will meet up with Elpizo again, but too late. Elpizo has found the key already, but gives his regards to Zero for almost beating him to it, and unlocks a shutter on the far side of the room.

However, before Zero can follow him, Burble Hekelot emerges into the room. He, too, has come too late, and frantically tells Zero to stop. In between several croaks, he states no one is allowed in the next room, by order of Harpuia. Unfortunately for Burble, he doesn't realize Elpizo has done just that. He merely thinks it's a false alarm caused by a sensor that needs replacing, then proceeds to subdue Zero... after taunting him with his sticky tongue.

Boss: Burble Hekelot
Burble Hekelot is a trickster who likes to annoy his opponents. This Mutos Reploid isn't so much savage as he is childish, but the fight with him can be quite drawn out if he has his way. He has no elemental weakness, limiting the amount of damage he'll incur to a minimum. Focus on Z-Saber attacks to whittle his health down hard and fast. Burble Hekelot knows he's at a physical disadvantage, so he's going to prey on you from afar, where he can hit you with long-range attacks as he buys time to power up his pint-sized body.

Burble Hekelot stays true to his amphibian nature by being a slippery foe, hopping about and clutching to walls with his sticky appendages.

In his normal state, Burble may jump to the ceiling and hang from it, randomly outstreching his legs to attack you. Hit him with a charged attack to knock him to the ground. Burble sometimes stops to taunt you with his tongue, and when he does, it's able to swat away bullets like flies.

Burble can grow bigger if he eats Caterpulls, caterpillar Mechaniloids, feasting off their energy and packing it inside his body. As he stores more energy, his body swells up like a balloon to accommodate the excess amounts. It also makes him strong enough to harness more powerful attacks that would normally drain him. However, if you can keep him from wolfing down these bugs, you maintain the advantage in the boss fight. Hekelot is a very weak Reploid without any power enhancements.

Hekelot will constantly try to hop onto a wall, then shake it down to make three Caterpulls fall into the room, one of which is a special gold color, similar to the the special Shiny Caterpie in Pokémon. You can burn the canopy in this room with the Fire Chip to see better, but that removes the giveaway from the falling leaves as to where the Caterpulls will land. You want to destroy the golden Caterpull first, then get the other two. The gold Caterpull is the one Hekelot targets first, since it contains the most energy to power him up.

If Hekelot swallows a Caterpull with his tongue, he will swell up into a moderately bloated state. He then gains the ability to launch seeker missles from his back, and hops around a lot more compared to his normal state, since he's become too bulky to spring up to the top of the room. Attack him once to get him back to normal, but his bloated body will cushion the blow and stop him from taking damage. However, once's he returns to his original shrimpy size, you can actively damage him again.

If Hekelot swallows another Caterpull after swelling up once, his body expands to its maximum size. Likewise, his croaking becomes much deeper and unsettling. Should Hekelot scarf down the gold Caterpull, it gives him enough energy to assume this form instantly. Now incredibly rotund, he can spit out several bubbles that impede your movement if they get stuck to you. Shake the bubbles off by tapping the D-pad as if you were going to dash. The rapid movements Zero makes will eventually jostle the bubbles loose.

You need to shrink Burble Hekelot back down to size if he transforms twice, as he will also gain the ability to curl into a ball. His body hide will become tough enough to shake off any attack without being harmed as he starts rolling up the side of the wall you're nearest to. He can repeatedly drop down from the other side, than circle back up the wall, as many as two times, forcing you to wall-jump out of his way. When he finishes his attack, he will attempt to sack you with a body slam. Unless you dash away, that frog's going to lay into you. Afterward, Burble will uncoil out of ball form, giving you the chance to shrink him again.

EX Skill: Energy Tongue
When you fight him while carrying an A-Rank and up, Burble Hekelot uses his Energy Tongue attack, his revolting EX Skill: one he will exploit very often. At any given time on the ground, especially after being hit, Hekelot is prone to use it. He will jump twice, then launch his sticky, energy-sapping tongue at you. It's so long, you'll need to jump onto the walls of the room to stay out of its range. If you get caught by Hekelot's tongue, he'll wrap it around you and proceed to leech your health away, slowly healing himself. The only way out his firm grip is by mashing buttons quickly to struggle free. Worse, Hekelot uses the energy he steals from you to make himself swell up one size bigger after you break free or he retracts his tongue. However, the obnoxious frog will feel the need to taunt you rather than protect himself, leaving him wide open to a retaliatory Shield Boomerang or Z-Saber attack.

Burble Hekelot's tricks can draw out the boss fight a little longer than intended, but they aren't much more than minor nuisances. In fact, some of the things he does are downright amusing. Keep hitting him hard and fast before he can cause any real trouble for you, and this battle should be a cinch without any problems towards meeting the time constraint of the mission.

Awestruck with both pain and shock, all Burble can do upon defeat is wonder how he can apologize to Harpuia for his failure, and then the foul frog croaks. Pun intended.

If you defeated Burble Hekelot at A-Rank, you'll receive the EX Skill Energy Chain. This EX Skill is a livesaver, literally. Latch onto an enemy with the Chain Rod and hold. After a few seconds, Zero starts leeching away the enemy's HP to restore his own until the energy drain finally destroys them. If Zero's HP is full, this will fill his Sub Tanks. It absorbs HP one point at time, but does a grand favor in restoring HP right before fights against very hard bosses, such as the upcoming ones.

Cyber-elves walkthrough

 * 1) Defeat 5 Caterpull for [[File:MMZ Animal Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Kelon, the frog Animal Elf. This elf will slow down the speed you slide down walls, giving you more time to react to danger below.
 * 2) Burn the foliage where the first tree is, and you'll uncover a hidden area of platforms. You'll get some E-Crystals and be able to reach a Cyber-Elf Box, holding [[File:MMZ Hacker Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Iterex. There is also a second hidden path on the right of the first tree with more E-Crystals and Life Energy.
 * 3) Destroy 6 Shurubons for [[File:MMZ Animal Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Birhang.
 * 4) Along with this, the mother-of-all annoying Cyber-Elves lurks in hiding here. Fair warning: for the sake of keeping a good rank, do not attempt to get it in-mission. As you may have noticed, there are many other cameras hovering around. When you get up the second canyon, try to dash-jump over onto the top of the one above nearby. It will require a lot of practice to get the timing right. Your best bet is to dash right at the very edge to make it. From here, dash-jump across the cameras to the left, or use the Chain Rod on the ones above to cross over to them.
 * 5) * Eventually, you'll get to the last camera. From here, you must dash jump off, and you'll be in range of a Cyber-Elf Box on a camera high above. Try and clip the box, not the camera, with the Chain Rod from a upward diagonal angle, to bust it open. If you got the impeccable timing just right, you'll succeed, and you can wait for the elf to come down to you. The other method requires sacrifice of a bee-type Animal Elf. It may bust it open for you if you hang from the camera there.
 * 6) * If you really lucked out, you can obtain [[File:MMZ Hacker Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Hafmarmn. This Elf can instantly half the HP of any boss in the game. It requires far more effort to get this Elf beyond any other in the game, so cross your fingers before trying to get it.
 * 7) Right before you enter the ruins, there is a deceiving step in front of you. If you run all the way to the end instead of jumping up, you'll drop into a secret passage and discover a Cyber Elf Box, with [[File:MMZ Nurse Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Mappie inside, one of the four Cyber-Elves that adds four more bars of health to your HP. A few hard-to-get rewards await above the entrance, too.
 * 8) About midway in the lower corridor of the ruins should be a moveable block. Near it, wall-jump up a little ways. You should catch sight of the Elf, but this one's out of reach. You need to pull the block with the Chain Rod so you can hook onto the uppermost corner of this wall with Rod, using the height boost of the block. Pull up on the Rod and wall-jump up to find a secret passage. Inside, you can claim [[File:MMZ Nurse Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Mitick . There's also a second way, a path above that leads to the Elf, but has spikes to cross. It requires a careful jump or proper Chain Rod swing to cross properly, but isn't worth the trouble.
 * 9) Past a number of enemies, there is a part of the ruins where you have to get by a Securipider and Pantheon Hammer to climb up. Behind the Pantheon Hammer is a secret passage, containing some unseen E-Crystals, and it spits you out at a Cyber-Elf Box, which has [[File:MMZ Nurse Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Tomilar inside.
 * 10) You'll eventually get to a place where destructible blocks provide a lift up, but directly below them, two cover up a secret passageway. Use the Buster to destrow the upper block so you can clear the spikes with the lower block. Don't jump over them just yet; instead, stand on the block and pull out the moveable block from the wall, via Chain Rod, then make your jump into the gap where it dropped. It will provide you a safe place on top of spikes by a Cyber-Elf Box. Dash over to the Elf from the block without jumping, and you should make it over the spikes between it. Inside the box is [[File:MMZ Hacker Elf Icon.png]] Cyber-Elf Cloctell. This Elf's ability has been revamped from increasing time limits. Now, it will speed up the charge time of Zero's weapons during one mission.

Hidden Sub Tank #2
Not too far away from the upper area of the ruins, the path diverts to the right. There is a destructible block protecting some E-Crystals, but that's not the real prize; you are hot on the trail of another Sub Tank! Don't destroy the block. As you can see, spikes tip the wall just above it, and you need that block to successfuly dash-jump over them, Alternatively, you can use it to get a boost so you can stick the Chain Rod into the ceiling and clear the spikes with a cautious swing.

Complimenting the challenge of getting to the Sub Tank, reaching it is a puzzle in itself. Above spikes, three destructible blocks are stacked in a perplexing manner. Jump onto the first one. From here, destroy the other two with the Chain Rod. You'll cheat yourself out of the Sub Tank by destroying the first block, and you'd have to return here later.

Behind the third block awaits another block that has to be dislodged to get to the Sub Tank. The only way to completely tear it out of the wall is by using the Chain Rod, which is only in range to do that while you're standing atop the one block you left intact. Behind the block, you can claim your well-deserved award, the  Sub Tank. This is the other hidden Sub Tank, and you'll get no penalty for having it on your person. If you have both Sub Tanks, including the one from the Dysis Ruins, the game's difficulty won't be nearly as imposing. Remember that you should do whatever possible to avoid taking damage on a mission, since it deducts from your final score upon its completion. If you have the proper skills to stay unharmed, you won't need to tap into the Sub Tanks later.

The seal weakens
With Burble Hekelot gone, you can go through the same door Elpizo did. Inside, you'll find him, a giant glowing eye, and the Baby Elves subduing what appears to be X's spirit. Elpizo has broken the seal X has at the Forest of Notus, slightly peeling open the seal of the Dark Elf itself. Elpizo is delighted with the results, knowing he can become strong, if not stronger, than Zero. He defends himself by saying he won't use his power for evil, but for peace, and Ciel. The Baby Elves let out a cry for their mother, then they, and Elpizo, transport out.

X apologizes to Zero for underestimating how strong Elpizo and the Baby Elves really became. He goes on to say he isn't ready to deal with them while protecting the Dark Elf. Zero promises to deal with them, while X warns him they don't have much time left. The Dark Elf is responding to her children as they speak.

X leaves the Forest of Notus to deal with Elpizo directly, while Zero has the operators transfer him back.

When Zero returns to base, Ciel expresses dismay on what Elpizo schemes to do, and she's against his idea to use power to bring peace. She pleads Zero to stop him even more.

Andrew's Questions
When you take a break, you should explore the Resistance Base again. There's another opportunity to get a Cyber-Elf in the base, but only after at least one of the new missions is completed, and before completing all four.

Go speak to Andrew. If you listened to his story about once being a worker, you should remember his recollection of the past and be able to answer all his questions properly:


 * Where did I work?
 * BREAD FACTORY


 * Can you name the location of the factory?
 * NEAR A CREEK


 * Can you name the bread that sold the best in our factory?
 * BUNS WITH CREAM


 * Then, when did I feel happiest?
 * PEOPLE SMILING

Answer all the questions right, and Andrew will tell you the smiles of people represent peace. His gratitude for listening to his story will be in the form of a gift, Cyber-Elf Anurray, last of the four Cyber-Elves that can boost your rank to A.