Mega Man Zero 2/Train: Panter Flauclaws

For this mission, Elpizo has received word that Neo Arcadia is moving important goods. Elpizo wants Zero to board an enemy transport train bound for Neo Arcadia and seize the load of supplies. These supplies would prove very useful for "Operation Righteous Strike," since Elpizo is moving many of his troops.

Out of all the missions, this one is the most straightforward of them all; make your way to the freight car and seize the supplies. You must keep any from being taken, or you'll get docked at the end of this mission.

Train
Right away, you'll board this train in motion, unlike the one in the last game. Just like the first, never fall off the train cars, or else you'll lose a life.

The First Train
As you transfer to the train, head left from where you appear and drop down pver the side of the engine to find a Cyber-Elf box resting on the cowcatcher with Cyber-Elf Emick inside.

First Engine Car
Although getting across the train isn't too confusing, as soon as you move across the first engine car, you'll be greeted by one of the persistent Carryarms from the last game, which still fly in to drop off another very annoying enemy, Spikings, steel wheels covered in spikes, which also roll across the cars without being dropped by Carryarms. The two almost always appear on the upper paths of the train cars. Memorize where these annoyances appear, as they can chip away your health if you blindly dash down the train. The first car has only one incoming Carryarm. Try to charge up your Z-Saber as they sweep in to destroy the pairs they come. Dashing underneath the Carryarm on this car is risky, but possible. Destroying Carryarms isn't worthwhile, but destroy ten Spikings, and you get Cyber-Elf Biraero.

The only real danger of ths level comes as you try to jump across train cars. Towering checkpoint gates usually pass over the tracks to clear incoming trains of any unwanted objects. These are signaled by two gates with yellow flashers, then one with red flashers. After these go by, jump, because a huge, electrified gate will sweep over the cars, doing severe damage if it hits you. However, they do clear away any enemies on the train car roofs at the time, which can make it easier to get across. You can avoid these by diving into the open chambers of certain train cars.

As you jump from car to car, mind the couplings, as you'll get steamrolled if you fall through the gaps, unless you negated the instant death effect with Putick.

Car #2
When you jump onto even-numbered cars on the train, you can go either up onto the roofs of the next train car ahead or down into the chambers of it. For these cars, it's faster and more prefeable to go down, as the upper paths are usually overrun by enemies, but beware of the incoming Spiking below if you go down. If you didn't defeat Phoenix Magnion, there will also be Pantheon Guardians patrolling the lower chamber, as well as many other train cars.

Car #3
When you jump onto odd-numbered cars on the train, you can only go up. This car has one Spiking that appears, followed by a Carryarm. There will be two Pantheons as well if the troops aren't limited.

Car #4
Again, your best bet is to head down, but multiple Spikings will come after you, including one dropping down from behind. However, the lower chamber leads to a Life Energy Capsule that refills 8 HP.

Car #5
Crossing up here is just like the third train car, except the Spiking appears immediately, and then you'll encounter the Carryarm further down.

Car #6
Yet again, go down. There are still more Spikings, but this time, you'll find Energy Crystals to make it worth your while, as they help you raise Cyber-Elves.

Second Engine Car
This train car is suprisingly devoid of enemies, and the checkpoint gate is the only danger here. However, there's a reason for the lack of enemies here. The seventh car is actually the engine of another train following close behind the one you need to board for security purposes. This can be tricky jumping from either the engine face or cowcatcher, as Spikings and checkpoints can hinder a safe jump. Fortunately, you can make use of a Life Energy Capsule before jumping.

The Second Train
Now that you've boarded the train carrying the supplies, you'll find reinforced groups of enemies await you.

First Engine Car
Right away, a Carryarm will come by, so look out. As you head further, you'll encounter a new enemy, Yadokargo. These hermit-crab Mechaniloids can't be harmed by Buster shots while covered by their shells, and they try to send bullets of their own back. Slice through their shells with a charged Z-Saber to take them down in one hit. If you hit them with a weak strike, it will remove their shells, allowing you to inflict damage with your Buster, but they'll flee in terror and rapidly open fire while doing so. Destroy four to get Cyber-Elf M-orapp.

Car #2
It's actually best to go up this time, as no enemies will be there besides Pantheon Guardians if the troops aren't limited. The lower path has Yadokargos hugging the ceiling that drop to attack, along with ones already on the floor.

Car #3
This car only has a few Spikings rolling down it. Aside from the first one that appears, it's easy to get past them.

"Sub-Boss:" Carryarm Group
After getting across the third car, you'll finally reach the freight car. The operator will alert you that enemy Mechaniloids are arriving to ship the supplies on the train away, and you need to stop them.

Hop to the top of the supply stack and get ready. A massive number of Carryarms will appear to grab the supplies. You can't let any get away with supplies, or you'll lose 2 Mission Objective points for each of the ten crates they snag. Slash them as they come with your Z-Saber. They always appear in the same order; one that drops down above you, another that drops down in front of you, and finally, one that comes in from the direction you're facing. Try not to get roughed up by them, because you'll be in big trouble if you lose enough health. You'll probably rack up enough enemy kills to satisfy part of the mission, but you'll have to wait through precisely 32 of them before they finally stop coming (provided they don't cart of all the crates). They won't return after this mission, because there won't be any crates left to protect.

Car #4
Compared to the Carryarms just now, there's not many enemies here. Just watch out for the Pantheon Guardians if the Power Room is still active, and the Spiking nontheless.

You might be tempted to jump immediately here, but you'll miss something if you do. On the narrow walkway at the end of this train car rests a Cyber-Elf box, with Cyber-Elf Clockle inside.

Car #5
Go down once again, but beware of the Spikings as always, especially the one coming from behind. You'll find another Life Energy Capsule to refill your health, which you definitely will need for either your health or the Sub Tank you might have, as the engine car you're about to jump onto next has no enemies, but your prescence on the train has been discovered...

When you reach the edge of the train engine, the view will shift to the front of the trains. Zero will notice that a blue train has pulled up beside the red one, and none other than Panter Flauclaws is riding it. Panter asks Zero if he knows he's in Master Harpuia's territory, but then realizes he's a "minion" of the Resistance, and is here to stop him...

Boss: Panter Flauclaws
Panter Flauclaws is actually a huge difference compared to Hyleg Ourobockle in difficulty. He is incredibly agile, and has a deadly arsenal of abilities to fight with. Being a Thunder-element boss, he's weak to ice, and freezes on contact with Ice-based attacks. However, if you just defeated Hyleg, he can be downright vicious. A full Sub Tank is crucial for this boss fight.

The battle against Panter Flauclaws takes place on the two trains. They will weave back and forth on the tracks, which can be a confusing battlefield. If you fall over the edges of either trains, you'll die without Putick's ability, or you'll die immediately if you try to slide inbetween the trains to evade Panter and they squeeze in on you.

Panter will try a variety of clever moves, and he's not got a specific pattern, so keep an eye on him.

His simplest, but one of his nastier attacks, is throwing two pink blasts of electricity toward you. Simply dash over them to avoid harm.

If you try to stay away from the train Panter stands on, he will try far-range attacks. He can jump into the sky and unleash diagonal kicks at you if you get very far out of range. Dash forward to dodge this brutal attack.

Panter may occasionally stand still, just to fake you out and throw two pink boomerangs at you that spin around him like shields. To dodge, stay a far distance away, as they're short ranged. If he's too close to do it properly, dash over him if you must.

Panter also uses them to keep you away, throwing out three that block your attacks and keep you at bay. Just wait until they come back to him to attack.

Panter's stronger attacks are green. These are very dangerous attacks, because Panther relies on them a lot, and they do fierce amounts of damage. Panther might throw three green boomerangs as he leaps over the trains, two on one side, one on the other. Where only one flies is a small gap. you have to be in the right place at the right time to avoid getting hit, and it's considerably tricky to dash between the space between the boomerangs and dodge them. Due to the difficult timing to avoid it, this is perhaps the worst attack he has.

EX Skill: Tail Spark
When facing him at A-Rank or above, Panter Flauclaws has a very devious EX Skill. He will charge up a pair of green electric sparks, crouch down, and flood the train he's on with an electric charge that crawls down the whole engine. Jump to the other train if he unleashes this attack, and stay well away from him. He's practically invincible during his attack, so just wait it out.

Aside from Panter's agility, you can still predict how to dodge his attacks fairly well, and with the Ice Chip equipped, you've already got him beat.

When Panter Flauclaws is defeated, he's stunned at his loss. He feels shame over not living up to Harpuia's expectations as he dies.

Since Panter Flauclaws is an element boss, you'll recieve an Element Chip for your victory. Being a Thunder-element boss, you'll get the Thunder Chip . It's just like the one you got from beating Aztec Falcon, but Zero wore that one out long ago. You'll be able to charge up Thunder-element attacks that shock and stun enemies like before, and, once again, Fire-element bosses are especially weak to it.

However, beating Panter at the all-important A-Rank or higher will also score you the EX Skill Spark Shot. Equip this, and instead of a normal Thunder Charge Shot, Zero will fire a powerful energy spark from his Buster. Unlike the normal charged attack, when this one strikes an enemy, it doesn't just stun them or rip through them; it splits into two smaller sparks that damage even more enemies in the way. This EX Skill will be especially useful to have in later battles.

When Zero returns to base, Elpizo announces his men now have enough supplies for an all-out attack on Neo Arcadia.

With Hyleg Ourobockle and Panter Flauclaws gone, Phoenix Magnion and Poler Kamrous remain. Since Phoenix Magnion is a Fire-element boss, the Thunder Chip is key to defeating him. It's time to stare down the most menacing of the four bosses in this group. Fill up your Sub Tank and prepare to head to the Power Room.