Axess: Bubble Trouble

Plot Synopsis
Ms. Mari's class is having a field trip to the waterworks and, once again, Lan is running late. Him and MegaMan are arguing back and forth about the situation, as Lan is being whiny, and MegaMan is being a bit smug. When Lan arrives, and emergency goes off and Lan gets a call from Mr. Famous, his Net Savior handler. Mr. Famous wants Lan to investigate the water works, so Lan jacks MegaMan in as they continue their little spat between each other.

Messing up the network is BubbleMan, another Darkloid. MegaMan is too much for him, so BubbleMan gets a dimensional area setup to go after Lan. Lan goes for the Cross-Fuse but MegaMan tries to stop him. Too far into it, Lan is cross-fused, but without his battlechips! "Why didn't you tell me before hand MegaMan!?" "I tried to!" They continue to argue as Lan fights BubbleMan with his Mega-Buster, but it's not being all that effective. BubbleMan loses interest in the fight, as Lan tries to destroy the dimensional area generators. Unfortunately, Lan's punching and shooting have no effect. "Lan, you're going to have to think of something else, it's not working!" "Then I'll make it work!" "Listen to me!" "BE QUIET!"

Overcome with anger and frustration, Lan's yelling at MegaMan causes the cross-fusion to break. MegaMan falls behind some sort of firewall, and the second time they try and cross-fuse, it fails. Even after MegaMan makes it through the firewall back into the PET, they still can't cross-fuse and MegaMan tries diagnosing the problem. They're running out of time though, as BubbleMan is tearing up the water works. Needing to stall for time, Lan tries to stop BubbleMan with his bare hands, but that of course proves to be futile.

"I can't figure out whats wrong Lan, I've tried everything!" "You're going to just have to try harder, and fast!" Just then, it suddenly dawns on Lan that MegaMan is always in the position Lan is in right now in combat. So Lan decides that if MegaMan needs more time, Lan is going to stall as long as he can. MegaMan looks on Lan, amazed that he keeps fighting despite being defenseless. BubbleMan is sick of Lan's interference so he blast a bubble at him filled with an explosive!

Just as the explosive hits, MegaMan screams Lan's name, and the cross-fusion finally restores itself, saving Lan in the nick of time from the impact. With the cross-fusion intact, Lan defeats BubbleMan and saves the day. Later, they determine that their friendship is what causes the cross-fusion to stabilize, and when they don't get along it doesn't work right. Lan then promises to listen to MegaMan more often.

Critique
If there's any episode of Axess I genuinely think is really good, it's this episode. The plot is pieced together very nicely and the build up to the cross-fusion breaking feels well paced. Seeing Lan in this episode try to take on BubbleMan by himself is great, and for once it comes off as actual bravery, rather than near suicidal insanity. The role-reversal with Lan and MegaMan is what makes this episode work, and it touches greatly on the partnership angle that I wrote about a few reviews ago. It's a shame the show really drops this angle as the series progresses.

BubbleMan is probably the best new character out of Axess, a bit of a precursor to Cancer Bubble, although I personally find Cancer more endearing. But if you're looking for a pathetic villain with a speech impediment, Bubble's your man.

Not everything is fantastic this episode, and this is the episode where the dimensional area generators start sliding up out of solid concrete without so much as cracking the ground, and that just looks shitty. That's really the only small complaint of an otherwise fantastic episode though.

Rating: Thumbs up!