The Steel Rock

Rocks of Steel (鋼鉄の岩) is the 18th episode of the Rockman.EXE Beast anime. It originally aired on February 11, 2006 in Japan.

Summary
The episode begins with the sound of someone digging inside a deep tunnel. Meanwhile, Maylu and Chaud had been walking for hours trying to get to the nearest town. At this point, Maylu was already exhausted and couldn't take another step. Nearby, they saw a truck and Chaud decides to investigate it. Around the area, he saw several holes but the ground he is on collapse and he fell into one. Just then, Moliarty and Mr. Press returns and after almost burying Chaud inside the hole, the two men gives the children a ride to the nearest town where they had a job waiting for them. Moliarty and Mr. Press are expert hole diggers. With their Navis, GroundMan and DustMan respectively, they are able to dig up a hot spring for the townsfolk with ease.

While having lunch with the children, Moliarty and Mr. Press are greeted by a rich woman named Ms. Millions. While Maylu is in awe to see the diamonds the woman is wearing, Chaud immediately realize that the jewels are fake. Ms. Millions are impressed with Moliarty and Mr. Press digging skills and hires them to help her in a treasure hunting excavation that was rendered difficult as the tunnel she has been trying to dig was blocked by two large rocks named Rocks of Steel. The two men agree for the job and Maylu tags along with them. As they left the restaurant, Chaud overheard several patrons talking about Ms. Millions.

At the tunnel, Mr. Press uses his device to scan the first Rock of Steel and was shocked to see how dense it is. Ms. Millions explain that she and her team has been digging for three years and they had only dug one meter since then. GroundMan and DustMan attempts to drill through the rock but they had already used most of their energy for their previous job and is unable to maintained sustained too long. With Ms. Millions' permission, they are allowed to continue their job the next day. Outside the tunnels, Chaud overheard a man talking about Ms. Millions latest attempt to dig the Rocks of Steel. The man explains to him that Ms. Millions is not looking for treasure but is trying to dig a tunnel to her village on the other side of the mountains. After the Great Change, her village was cut off from the outside world by the mountains and it takes half a day to reach the town they are currently in. The villagers decided to dig a tunnel through the mountains but the Rocks of Steel prove difficult to drill through. Eventually, all except Ms. Millions have given up. For the past few years, Ms. Millions had been trying to dig the tunnel, spending her entire fortune on giant drilling machines until she went bankrupt.

The next day, Maylu join the two men in the tunnel and ask whether they see Chaud, after finding him missing since the previous night though they did admit that they didn't see him. The excavation continue with Mr. Press attaching GroundMan's drills with stronger attachments. With his new upgrade, GroundMan is able to drill through the first Rock of Steel with ease. Ms. Millions thanked two men for giving hope to her. As the drilling continues, GroundMan accidentally release a hidden stream within the mountains. Maylu sends in Roll and with the use of an Ice Wave chip, she freezes the water before any accident can occur. After digging for sometime, they accidentally awaken a giant Mettaur sleeping within the mountains. Ms. Millions decides to call the excavation off as she doesn't want anyone to get hurt for her. She reveals her true intentions for hiring them but even so, Moliarty and Mr. Press are still determine to see their job finish, even if their client is unable to pay them. GroundMan and DustMan make short work of the giant Mettaur and kick it out of the tunnel. Upon realizing that the team had already dug that deep, the townsfolk believe that Ms. Millions might be able to succeed this time.

Very soon, the team reach the other Rock of Steel but this one was even harder than the first one. Even with their operators help, the task was still difficult. Roll also try to help GroundMan and DustMan by pushing them. Eventually, all the digging equipments they had are broken and the Navis loses too much HP to remain sustained. Ms. Millions still refuse to give up and continue digging even with her bare hands. After Moliarty stopped her, Ms. Millions started crying, believing that all hopes for her village are gone. Suddenly, the team hears the sounds of digging coming from the other side of the the Rock of Steel. A hole was made and Ms. Millions saw her friends from her village had also been digging. It was revealed that Chuad had travel to the village the previous night and convince the villagers to continue digging the tunnel after telling them that Ms. Millions had never give up even after many years had passed. This inspires them to help Ms. Millions and continue digging the tunnel. With her task finally complete, Ms. Millions can finally see that her late husband is able to rest peacefully.

The next day, Moliatry and Mr. Press bid Maylu and Chaud farewell after dropping them off. As the children continue their journey, Maylu express her disappointment that they isn't any treasure and talks how kind the two men are for completing a job without getting paid. Chaud however notify her that there is a treasure and Maylu figure out that he mean the villagers smile. Suddenly, Maylu realize that Chaud disappears and begin calling out for him, not noticing that he fell into another hole.

Characters

 * Maylu
 * Roll
 * Chaud
 * Moliarty
 * GroundMan
 * Mr. Press
 * DustMan
 * Ms. Millions

Trivia

 * This episode marks the only time in the entire series that Lan and MegaMan are absent.
 * Chaud didn't seem to be surprised to see a Beyondard version of Ms. Millions even though he had previously met the Ms. Millions of his world.

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