Enzan's boatmate had attacked almost as soon as he was awake, and Blues had wasted no time soundly defeating the other Navi. From there, they'd run across nothing but forest. Enzan was sure that the island wasn't so big that they could be wandering for much longer. They had to hit the other end soon, at least by the end of the day.

He nearly wrote off the rustle in the bushes to his left before he remembered that they were in a Dimensional Area. Nothing, wind included, could get in or out.

Next to him, Blues had come to the same conclusion he had. "Something's hiding from us." A sudden movement in the treetops prompted Blues to spring out of the way, and with seconds to spare-a razor-sharp kunai embedded itself into the tree behind the Navi, with enough force to leave a long crack in the trunk.

Enzan didn't waste any time. "Find cover," he ordered. Before he could follow his own advice, he noticed someone else fast asleep a little ways away. He hadn't expected to see Midorikawa Kero as a contestant-if she wasn't going someplace safer for a nap, she had to be one-but it didn't matter who she was. If someone was throwing knives around, she needed to be awake. Enzan strode over to her and shook her shoulder. "Midorikawa-san-!"

"No, no!" she interrupted. "Hhero-hhan," she yawned, waving her hand as if to brush away the other name.

He heard the next kunai slicing through the branches before he saw it. "Move!"

"Why should-" She looked up just in time for them to both see the kunai flashing through the air and screamed. Enzan pulled the panicking Kero to her feet, yanking her behind the tree with him. "Hey, thanks!" she said. There was another silvery flash, another scream from Kero; but this time, Blues brought his sword up, and the kunai rammed into the reddish blade before falling harmlessly to the ground.

Though Kero was looking wildly from one side to another, her Navi was keeping it together a little more. "Kero, kero~" he sang, sending out musical notes at one kunai while Blues deflected another.

"Okay," she muttered. "Reflector!"

"Wait," Enzan said. "Whoever's firing is too fast to be hit by his own attack. He'll see it coming."

She glared at him. "You want me to sit here and do nothing? Like I was saying, Reflector, slot-in!" The hard hat fell down, covering Blues as well as Toadman. The kunai that had been flying at them zinged back into the trees, only to be replaced by one that came from the other side.

"Darn it! Too fast!" Kero said. Enzan sighed.

"Blues!"

A white faceplate slid over Blues' nose and mouth as he prepared to pick up speed. "Roger," he said. His next jump took him into the trees. Toadman no longer had anything to worry about. There was plenty of loud rustling coming from overhead, and the frog-like Navi and his Operator certainly got showered with leaves, but any kunais usually flew from one clump of trees to another. There was a yell from above, and a green-helmeted Navi crashed down. His serious expression was backed up by the clawed hands attached to his overly long arms.

It took a moment for Enzan to remember where he'd seen a similar Navi before: Slashman in Beyondard, all those years ago. "Must be our world's version," he said to himself.

Kero looked over, curious but clueless. "What do you-" With a yell, Slashman charged. Blues was there to stop him, parrying Slashman's claws with his default sword. "Never mind. Toadman, get him!" This time, Kero knew what she was doing. Toadman's musical notes froze Slashman to the spot. Now that he was no longer a nebulous threat, Kero seemed to feel free to glare at the Navi. "Why're you attacking Enzan-kun? It's not like you'll get any further in the tournament by beating him!"

"It was an accident." Enzan was unsurprised to see his world's version of Phakchi step out from the forest. "I'll call off Slashman as long as you hand over your key!"

"Key?"

Next to Enzan, Kero gasped, "Oh! Oh, no!" Abruptly, she smirked. "But it doesn't work that way!" Her index finger held aloft, she recited, "When a Netbattle is initiated, a barrier drops down a few kilometers from the start of the Netbattle, trapping the fighters in a Point of Convocation so passers-by don't get sucked into the fight. We're stuck in this area until either you win or Enzan-kun and I do!"

Phakchi frowned. This was clearly not part of the plan. "Fine," she finally said. "That'll be no problem!" Slashman suddenly sprang forward, freed of his paralysis, but Blues's sword met his opponent's claws with an ear-rattling shriek. The two Navis were evenly matched, but Slashman had the advantage of two clawed arms versus Blues' one sword. The silver-haired Navi was forced to duck under Slashman's attacking arm and to his enemy's backside, where he wasted no time bringing his sword downward. But Slashman was hardly unprepared; he simply turned while bringing both arms slashing upward, leaving Blues to block with the flat of his sword.

"Long Sword, slot-in!" Enzan hadn't had to bother. Toadman was spitting another melody at Slashman, forcing the clawed Navi to abandon Blues so he could evade. After that assist from her Navi, Enzan glanced over at Kero. She was watching the Netbattle silently, eyes wide. Before he could tell her to snap out of it, a battle cry from Slashman returned his attention to the fight. He flinched out of instinct; not far from them, Toadman had flown into a tree, sending up splinters and dirt. Slashman was advancing on the frog-like Navi, one arm's massive claws ready to rip three new holes in Toadman's white-armored torso.

That jolted Kero back into action. "I don't think so! Silver Fist, slot-in!" Slashman was almost too close to dodge, barely twisting out of the way of Toadman's silver-plated hand. Blues wasted no time in taking advantage of his enemy's being off-balance, swiping sideways with his Long Sword. It was another near miss for Slashman, but Toadman turned it into a clean hit to the gut with his next punch. Blues darted out of the way as his opponent went staggering back. "Gotcha!"

Slashman shook his head quickly and straightened. Out of the corner of his eye, Enzan noticed Phakchi slotting something in. It was the only warning he had before her Navi vanished. There was a startlingly close thud as Slashman landed only meters away and sprang toward Blues, who whirled around and blocked the attack. Kero stared in amazement, and Enzan could see why; Slashman's height and those sharp claws were even more intimidating up close. Slashman wasn't going for huge, powerful swipes anymore, instead attacking with quick jabs. Blues ducked and weaved around every hit, but he had no opportunities to attack. And his evasiveness wouldn't last forever, either. Slashman was forcing him backward. He had to be hoping to corner Blues against a tree, where the red Navi could easily find himself attached to the tree through claws in his gut.

Enzan had no intention of letting that happen. He slotted in a Kawarimi. As Slashman first clipped the dummy and then ripped it open surprisingly fast, Blues silently reappeared above him, default sword pointed straight at the dark-haired Navi's head. The Kawarimi collapsed into its doll form. Slashman whirled around. Blues' sword dug into one arm, hardly the finishing blow it might've been. The ruse was up, so there was no need for surprise now. "Samurai Sword, slot-in!" Enzan didn't expect much to happen for either side from this move. He already knew that a sword-to-claw fight between Blues and Slashman would end in a stalemate. He needed a better plan. Perhaps one that involved Toadman's paralyzing attacks; and for that matter, why hadn't Enzan been seeing any for the past minute?

As expected, Blues and Slashman's weapons met. They stayed locked in that position, though Blues was slowly starting to gain ground. Before Slashman could be forced backward, he detached himself, ducking the two swords that sailed at his chest, and vanished in another Area Steal. It was during that pause that Enzan looked over to see Kero watching the battle in a similar daze to the one he'd left her in. That, he and Slashman realized at the same time, made her a perfectly good target in a Dimensional Area. He grabbed her wrist and yanked her out of the way just as their clawed attacker took a swipe at her head. "You can't run from me!" Slashman yelled, pivoting to face them. Enzan sprinted toward the nearest tree and cover, Kero a heavy-and now screaming-weight tugging at his arm. They ducked behind a thick tree trunk before Kero held out a hand, coming to a halt to catch her breath. Reluctantly, Enzan stopped as well.

"They're so close," Kero said, fascinated. "I've always heard about it, but I never-" Slashman was bearing down on top of them, leaving her sentence to trail off.

"Get back!" Enzan yelled, pointing her toward a nearby tree. Kero's weight disappeared from his arm just as Slashman's claws swiped across. He dove to the side, hoping his plan had worked. The ground was so slippery with leaves here, there was no way he'd manage to get up quickly without falling on his face. As he got to his knees, he heard a yell of frustration. Slashman had buried a hand deep into the tree, the resulting crack in the trunk nearly stretching its entire length. Kero had taken a few steps backward, which was smart, as Blues had caught up with them. "Let's turn this around! Battlechip: Wide Blade!" The red-armored Navi darted between reporter and enemy and struck at Slashman, who blocked with one hand and wrenched the other free.

"Another sword? What do you plan on doing with that?" Slashman asked.

"Stalling," Blues said. Slashman whirled around and froze that way as Toadman's musical notes hit him.

The opportunity wasn't one Enzan would pass up. "Z-Saber!"

"Okay, here we go, Toadman! Battlechip: Mega Cannon! Slot-in!"

With their opponent fixed to the spot, there was no way he could avoid the two attacks that pounded into him. Slashman staggered back, weakened but not defeated. "Still want more, kero?" Toadman asked, raising the red cannon on his arm.

But it was too soon for him to be cocky. Before he knew it, Slashman was behind him. "Close quarters are no place for big, heavy guns," he chided, raising his claws to strike. Blues wasted no time in slipping between the green-armored Navi and his prey, raising his default sword to first block, then push Slashman's arm back.

"Wide Sword, slot-in!" Enzan sent his Navi the Battlechip as a way to protect himself from Slashman's second arm, which was coming up to attempt to dig into Blues's gut. The red-armored Navi blocked just in time, pushing away both arms with both swords before bringing them upward in a dual-edged slice that sent Slashman skidding backward.

For all her faults, Kero knew an opportunity when she saw one. "Fire!" she cheered.

Enzan drew out a Battlechip. "Neo Variable!"

With a yell of, "Sonic Boom!" Blues added a bright wave of energy to the damage Slashman was taking from Toadman's Mega Cannon. The Navi screamed as it hit him, his body freezing and morphing into the words 'LOG OUT'.

"Argh!" Phakchi gritted her teeth. "Well, I don't see any reason to stick around," she muttered.

"Good!" Kero shouted with an unabashed grin as Phakchi began her retreat through the forest.

"Shouldn't we go after her?" Enzan asked. "With the viruses around-"

"Mm-mm," Kero interrupted. "There're special Navis, the Midis and Technos, who do the backstage work. They've probably picked her up by now-there's a sensor that runs the Points of Convocation, so they know whenever a Netbattle starts here." She grabbed Enzan by the wrist and started walking as she continued, "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm sick and tired of tramping around this stupid forest. In return for your saving my butt, I think I'll show you something useful." Before Enzan could ask what that something was, the reporter began, "To get to the final rounds, like that lady was after, you need to find these cards that let you into your rooms at the Castillo de Jalero in the island's center-keys for short." They were heading off the paths and into the heavier brush, but that didn't stop Kero from continuing, "Scialto-san, who's in charge of this thing, hired someone to create challenges the contestants would have to go through to get these things. I don't know how much Black asked for, but one of the Midi-chan Navis said it was a lot. I think he's why we both got kicked out into the tournament-I saw his Navi running some simulation fights, and he's really good. Like, amazingly good. I wouldn't be surprised if he won the whole thing! But he's also got a big secret. I don't know what it is yet, but I know where there's a story! And the Castillo Navis think so, too. He's shady, really shady."

Kero rubbed her hands together and beamed, occasionally darting glances in his direction. Rather than leave her hanging, Enzan prompted, "Really?"

"Yeah-nobody's sure how Scialto-san heard about him, one minute he wasn't here and the next, there he was. Toadman and I looked him up before we got here, and he didn't have a registered PET until a little over half a year ago. Isn't that usually the case with fugitives and criminals?" she asked eagerly. Enzan almost expected her to whip out a notebook and start scribbling down notes on the story she was obviously bringing to a boil in her head.

"Sometimes, yes. It depends." Enzan knew that Black was a part of Nova, and that meant that the two would probably end up fighting each other somewhere down the line. Meiru's description of him had been so overwhelmingly negative that Enzan had to think she was overreacting; a second opinion would be useful. "What was he like? Appearance, personality..."

"I didn't see him much; that Navi did most of the legwork for him. He seemed pretty quiet to me, when I did see him. Just did his job and that was that. He had this bright blue false eye, like-" She formed a circle with her finger and thumb and held it over her left eye. "The other one didn't stand out next to it, and like I said, he stayed away from everyone else. He was pretty short for a guy, though-barely taller than me, if he was taller!-and skinny. It's hard to tell how skinny, 'cause he wears really baggy clothes, but his face-it's creepy, like, beyond skinny. He's sort of mousy, all in all, especially with all that brown hair. Someone needs to introduce him to a hairbrush! Anyway, does that sound like anyone you're looking for?"

Enzan shrugged. "Not me-I've missed all of Nova's crimes. The Net Saviors of Ameroupe needed my help with a case they're working on, so I've been there for a few months. I remember Meiru mentioning someone like him, though."

"Oh. Hey, if you're not working on it, why didn't you stop me?"

"You seemed pretty eager to tell me." From Kero's perspective, Black sounded totally different from how Meiru had described him. That was odd; Enzan had a feeling he'd have to wait until he was face-to-face with Black before he really knew what was going on there.

Kero sighed. "Anyway, we're almost here. Just after this clump of bushes here..." At first glance, the clearing looked just like any other, full of tall grass and the occasional flower. "Now, don't tell me you can't see anything! You're not supposed to. The contestants aren't supposed to know unless-"

"There's a black switch right over there."

Kero huffed, "I was getting to that!" As she pulled on it, she explained, "The guy who set this up has had this island in his family for decades-some of 'em used it for vacations, but it was supposed to be for botanical research and experimentation. It's got all kinds of cool stuff hanging around if you look closely enough, but the most important thing is this!" The switch suddenly wrenched sideways, and the ground swung up to reveal a stone hallway, lit by bare bulbs on either side. "The botany guys didn't want to trek back through the forest to the Castillo, so they made these tunnels. Scialto-san said they're called the Catacombs for the tournament, but he likes giving stuff prissy names anyway. I just call 'em tunnels." There was a ladder on the side, which the four made use of. "There're Navis filming down here, but they won't try to fight you. There's also a key that-a-way-" she pointed to the southeast and continued, "-but I wouldn't go after it if I were you. Bad, bad idea."

"Oh?" Now, Enzan was a lot more interested. "Why's that?"

"It's the hardest one. I don't know exactly what the challenge is, but the Castillo Navis say they won't go near that part of the tunnels."

The more he heard, the more it sounded like a safe bet that nobody else would have gotten to the key. "So some kind of virus is down there."

"Yeah, actually, they say-" Kero turned and saw that Enzan wasn't just curious about it. "Oh, no. If you go there, you're toast, I'm not kidding! I've seen what that thing does, it-that convinced you for sure, didn't it?"

"It doesn't sound like anyone else is about to beat it," Enzan said. More importantly, the sooner he was in the Castillo, the sooner he wasn't wasting time in the forest. Not only was it not getting him into the second round, it wasn't conductive to seriously thinking about the problems outside the Dimensional Area.

"I see, this is because you like a challenge or something. Well, okay. Farewell, Enzan-kun. There's an entrance to the Castillo down here if you make it. It was nice knowing you." Shaking her head, she set off in the opposite direction, Toadman hopping after her.

"A bit melodramatic, wasn't she?"

"Isn't she always?" Blues gestured to the tunnel that would take them closer to the southeast challenge. "After you, Enzan-sama."