Author's notes (please read!): This is not supose to be disgusting. It is suppose to be cute and funny. My apologies for misplaced vocabulary.

Netto groggily woke up. At first, he wondered why the painting on his ceiling looks different. Then he remembered what happened. He sat up in his bed and looked around him.

He found himself sitting on the top bunk bed. Looking down he saw Laika sleeping on the rollaway bed across him. Netto gripped the rail of the top bunk and peered at the bottom bunk to see Enzan sleeping.

"Netto kun!"

Netto looked up to see his PET in a charger next to his pillow.

Rockman looked relived.

"Netto kun, you are awake! That's great."

"Yeah," Netto sat up and looked at his brother. "Rockman, what happen and how did I get here?"

The blue navi sighed. "It's a long story." Rockman told Netto what happened after the monster attack them and Laika and Pride found him and the PETs. "Then we came back here." Rockman simply said. "We agreed not to tell anyone about the monster."

"Did Mama and Papa know?" Netto asked him.

Rockman shook his head no.

"Pride told them you grew tired from the hike and Laika had to carry you all the way here on his back."

Netto's stomach rumbled. Rockman grinned at him. "I guess after all that excitement made you hungry, right?"

Netto laughed sheepishly. He grabbed the PET and hopped off the top bunk. He opened the door and went down the hallway into the kitchen.

Hakura and Hikari are already up. Hikari was sitting at the table reading the newspaper in his blue bathrobe, and blue striped pajamas and blue slippers. Hakura wore a long white bathrobe and fuzzy pink slippers. She was standing over the kitchen counter stirring the pancake batter. She looked up to smile at her children.

"Morning boys."

"Morning Mama," they answered her.

"Breakfast will be ready soon; could you go and wake up the others? Pride is already up and she is taking a shower."

"OK," Netto said turning around to wake the other two up.

"Uh," Rockman said hesitantly, "Netto kun, maybe you should…"

Netto threw the door open and jumped on Enzan who is still sleeping in his bed.

"HEY ENZAN TIME TO WAKE UP!"

Enzan groaned as he rolled over and pulled the pillow over his head.

"Umf! Go away."

"Aw c'mon Enzan," Netto scowled at him, "Mama is making breakfast and we have a mystery at our hands."

Enzan burrowed himself into his pillow deeper.

Netto continued to bounce on him as he chanted, "Time to wake up. Time to wake up."

Rockman snickered at the scene before him. Blues woke up, at first he was confused then he understood what is happening and he smiled.

Enzan growled under his breath. He grabbed his pillow and bonked it on his friend's head. "I'm up, I'm up," he said pushing Netto off of him. Netto sat back allowing Enzan to sit up in his bed; he grabbed his towel hanging on a rail and marched off to the bathroom.

Pride appeared at the doorway wearing a lavender bathrobe, and a towel wrapped around her head. She looked at Netto. She grinned at him. "Getting everyone up?" she asked him in a slight teasing tone.

"Yep."

"Need some help?"

"Uh-huh."

Then both of them threw themselves at Laika's bed and started bouncing on him.

"Time to wake up!" They yelled at him. "Time to wake up!"

Laika's eyes popped opened wide, he stared at them in bewilderment. Then Pride grabbed Laika's hand and Netto grabbed his other hand. Together they pulled him out from bed.

"Come on Laika, we have a new day ahead of us and a mystery to solve," Pride said, laughing.

"Yeah," Netto chimed in.

Laika allowed them to pull him out of bed and drag him to the door. Netto dropped his hand and ran back to his bed and grabbed Searchman and Blue's PET.

By the time he came in the kitchen, everyone is there waiting for him. Netto place the PETs in the chargers and plopped himself between his father and Enzan and pour syrup on his pancakes.

"So what are you guys planning to do to day?" Hikari asked.

"We are going to visit Grandma's store," Pride answered him. "She told us it's not far away from us. And after that, we are going to visit the library."

"Hmm," Hikari said sipping his coffee, "That sounds like a good plan. Hakura and I are planning to explore this place."

After everyone finished breakfast and helped wash the dishes. The Netbattlers went back to their rooms to change and walked out the door. Before they leave, Hakura, grabbed Netto and gave him a hug and kiss.

Enzan smiled smugly at Netto as he blushed in embarrassment.

"Aw, Mama," Netto protested, "not in front of them." Hakura grinned at him, she grabbed Enzan in a bear hug and kissed him like the way she did to Netto.

"Bye everyone and have a good time," she called after them, waving.

"Bye Mama," Rockman and Netto called back.

"So where are we going?" Searchman asked Laika.

"We are going back to the hiking trail," Enzan answered for Laika, "and see if we could find any clues about what happened last night."

"Why can't you ask the Navis?" Netto asked him, "They saw it too."

"They can't see it from their PETs," Enzan replied, "and that information is not very helpful."

Netto frowned, "I wish we knew what it looks like, so we could find out."

They were about to pass Ryuko's house. Netto stopped.

"Hey Laika?"

"Hn?"

"Should we invite Ryuko to come with us?"

"No," Laika said shortly, "and I don't want him with us either."

"But Laika, he probably knows this area better than us," Pride protested.

"Humph!"

Netto noticed his pretty friend look startled and a little hurt by his other friend's rudeness. "Don't worry Pride, Laika is Sharro's best soldier, and I bet he and Searchman know what they are doing. Right Rockman?" Netto said cheerily.

"Yeah!" Rockman said, picking up his brother's hint.

"Hey guys, since this trail actually leads to the hiking trail where the monster lives. I bet we could get there first."

"Wha-?" Laika asked startled.

Netto began to run. "Last one is a rotten egg!"

"Netto wait! Grr, mataio!" Laika called after him. He ran after the boy.

Pride laughed out loud in delight. "Come on Enzan, let's catch up with them. After all, you do look like an egg." She giggled and ran after Laika.

Blues turned around inside his PET and tried hard not to laugh at Enzan's shocked look on his face. "I object that!" He shouted as he ran after her.

Despite how different the forest looks in the day time. Netto still remember the trail very well. He heard Laika running after him, and he didn't look back. Knowing what would happen if he did then he would fall and trip.

Seeing the trail splitting up ahead of him. Netto knew he is almost there. Suddenly, someone tackled him down to the ground.

Netto look up to see Laika sitting on top of him.

"Baka Netto!" Laika scolded him, "Why did you run like that?"

Netto blinked at his friend.

"If you arrived there first, you would ruin the monster's trail and we would lost the opportunity in answering the mystery."

"Sorry Laika."

His friend scowled at him, "Next time use your head."

They followed the trail where the monster was seen last night. Netto showed him the area where the monster attacked him and his friends. Laika examined a nearby tree as Netto investigated the area. Pride and Enzan caught up with them.

Enzan joined Netto's search while Pride walked up to Laika. "What are you looking at?"

Laika pointed at the tree. "See these parallel lines? Those are claw marks."

Pride examined the markings on the tree. "Do you think it belongs to a grizzly bear?" she asked after counting the lines.

Laika shook his head, "Bears don't live in this area. Searchman take a picture of this."

"Hai, Laika san."

Laika stood up. He looked around for his friends and spotted them. "Hoi Netto! Enzan! Did you found anything yet?"

Netto cupped his hands over his mouth. "No."

"Let's go to town and talk about it," Laika said. "There is something about this place that does not seem right."

They followed the dirt road that led them to town. By the time they reached the center of the town. They discovered that they have a new problem.

"Which way do we go?" Pride asked.

"Dunno," Netto answered looking around.

"Netto, you did ask Grandma where her store is?" Enzan said edgily.

"Um," Netto said scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Enzan groaned, "You didn't."

"Sorry Enzan. Hey!" Netto said pointing at someone, "Let's ask that guy. Maybe he knows where it is."

"Uh hey Netto wait!" Laika called after him. He reached out to grab him, but he missed. Netto ran towards the boy.

"Hey! Wait!"

The boy jerked his head up and stare at him in surprise.

Netto paused in front of him. "Excuse me, but could you please tell me where Grandma's store is?"

The boy pointed at himself and cocked his head.

Netto nodded, "Yes, do you know where it is?"

The boy's green eyes never left Netto's brown eyes as he pointed at a certain direction.

"Thank you," Netto said flashing at him a smile of gratitude.

A slow smile spread across the boy's face. He nodded.

Netto turned around and ran back to his friends.

They found Grandma's store and opened the door. The little bell tinkled as the Netbattlers entered the store. Unlike the gas station it is smaller and homier.

"Netto kun! Rockman kun!" Chebo cried out. The dogs barked excitedly as they ran up to greet them and, to Enzan's dismay, started jumping and licking them. Piper rubbed herself against everyone's legs purring.

Grandma smiled at them from the counter. "Hello everyone," she greeted them warmly, "How are you?"

"We are fine Grandma," Netto answered. "And guess what? We get to meet the scientist an' his name is Ryuko."

"You did? That is wonderful! Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah we…" Enzan elbowed him hard. "We get to see other animals he kept and we went hiking with him," Netto finished.

"Wow that sounds like you have a lot of fun. Would you like some cookies and soda? They are fresh from the oven."

"Un," everyone said with a nod. They found a booth to sit and waited for their snack.

"Netto, last night when you were taken, did you see the monster?" Laika asked him.

Netto thought very hard. "No, but it was big," he finally said. Enzan stared at the table, "Last night was a full moon and we could see the path fine, but we didn't see the monster. I think it ambushed us."

"I ask our Navis last night," Pride added. "They couldn't tell us about the monster either and I think it dropped the PETs on the run."

"But there is something else," Laika said frowning, "When we went out to look for you and the PETs. The monster did not attack us."

"You saw it too?" Netto asked.

"We saw something," Laika said, "The question is why it did not attack us when it has the chance to? It makes no sense."

"Maybe it is because it knows you are the only person that has a PET and you could be dangerous," suggested Enzan. "That monster was smart enough to take away ours."

"But how did it know that? Animals don't know anything about technology."

"It could be a man," Pride said, "But a man is not that strong enough to attack all three of us at once."

"Then what is it?"

"Why don't we ask Papa? He may have some ideas," Netto suggested.

"That we could," Enzan agreed, "He may know something about this."

Grandma came over to their table with a steaming plate of cookies.

"Here it is. Enjoy!"

"Thank you we will," Pride said.

As they ate Netto said, "Hey Enzan. There's an arena over there. Let's Netbattle, I bet Rockman and I can beat you and Blues."

Enzan smirked, "Yeah right."

"You guys go ahead," Laika said, "Pride and I will stay here."

"Hai."

The boys got up and walked over to the machine and took out their PETs.

"Rockman! Transmission!"

"Blues! Transmission!"

Red and blue beams of light shot out from the PETs and hit the machine. In the arena the Navies appeared in their battle stance.

As the boys' concentrated on their duel. A boy came into the shop. The bell tinkled a little as he opened the door quietly. He looked around the store. The animals who normally welcome the customers were nowhere in sight. He walked over to the arena and watched the Navies with interest.

Laika recognized him as the boy they had met earlier, he examined the boy carefully. He apparently looks seventeen or eighteen years old and his navy hair is short and unkempt. Laika noticed that his clothes are a little big for him they are old and worn out. The boy timidly tapped Netto on the shoulder and pointed at Rockman.

"Hn? Oh that's Rockman, he is my Navi."

The boy looked at him in confusion.

"Navi, a computer program that navigates in the internet," Netto explained to him. "I'm an operator because I have a PET or PErsonal Terminal."

The boy pointed at the arena.

"This is called Netbattle. A battle between two Navies and Operators. See?" Netto said as he slipped a computer chip into his PET and Rockman's arm turned into a buster. Rockman aimed his buster at Blues and fired. Blues dodged his attack and slashed back with his sword.

"Do you have a PET?" Netto asked him. The boy shook his head no.

"Oh," Netto said trying hard not to sound disappointed. He wanted to meet an opponent to Netbattle.

"Do you want to meet my Navi?"

The boy nodded.

Netto withdrew Rockman from the fight. Rockman appeared on the screen. "Netto-kun why did you stop me from fighting? We are this close!"

"Sorry about that. There is someone here to meet you," Netto said. He held up his PET for the boy to see.

"Hello," Rockman said, waving from his screen. "My name is Rockman exe."

The boy smiled at him.

"And I'm Hikari Netto," Netto added, offering his hand out to him. The boy shook his hand. "What is your name?"

The boy drew a Z in the air.

"Z can you talk?"

Z shook his head no.

"Hey Z do you want to meet my friends?"

Z hesitated. But Enzan walked up to them. "Hey Netto who is your new friend?" He asked him casually.

"This is Z," Netto answered him, "But he couldn't talk and he never seen a Navi or a PET before."

"Oh, my name is Ijuin Enzan and this is Blues."

The red navi nodded at him politely.

Z smiled at them in acknowledgment.

"Come on Z, let's go meet the others."

They walked over to their table and introductions were made. Z smiled shyly at everyone.

Trying to make a conversation; Pride asked, "So Z where do you come from?"

Z waved his hand in a half circle.

"You live around here?"

Z nodded.

"Netto its obvious he knows his way around here," Enzan said. "At least he showed us where Grandma's store is."

Netto glared at him but didn't say anything.

"We are going to the library; could you show us how to get there?"

Z raised an eyebrow and nodded again.

After they finished their snack. Before they left the store, Enzan tried to pay Grandma for the food. But she refused to accept any money. Insisting that it is on the house.

Then they went to the library. The Netbattlers transmitted their Navies into the library's computer as they look through old files and records in order to find information about the monster.

The Navis agreed to split up and meet again at a certain time and place. Rockman wandered through the library's internet, scanning the area. He found what he is looking for and began to analyze the data. He heard a soft ahem. He turned around to see a dapple gray Navi that is about Searchman's height. The Navi has a blue visor from his helmet that concealed his eyes and dark gray chest armor, shoulder guards, knee high boots and elbow high gloves. On his breast and over his ears are his emblem; a circle divided into four sections in form of an X with two colors; gold and white.

"Do you need any help?" The Navi asked him.

"No thanks," Rockman replied. "I'm fine. What is your name? I'm Rockman exe." He offered his hand to the Navi. The Navi accepted his hand, "I-I'm X exe."

"Do you have an Operator?"

"Yes, her name is Dee," X said.

"Rockman."

Rockman turned to see Blues and Searchman walking towards him. "Searchman found something."

"Yes, but we must see our Net Ops in order to tell them," Searchman added.

"OK," Rockman said, he turned around to look back at X, but to his surprise the Navi disappeared.

"Huh? Where did he go?"

The red Navi shrugged indifferently, "He left."

Rockman blinked in surprise, "You saw him too?"

"Yes."

"Me too, if you were referring to the gray Navi. Let's go or else the others will worry."

As the Navis walk away. High above them standing on top of one of the towers, a Navi was watching them.

"OK," Enzan said, "What have you found out?"

Searchman cleared his throat. 'This article said a girl was killed by a wild monster. Her name was Dawn Threader, age 12 years old. Her body was found on the hiking trail at the same place where Netto, Enzan and Pride were on."

Netto heard Laika hissed under his breath.

"The authorities did not know what kind of animal that did this," continued Searchman, "they said her body was beyond recognition."

"What happened after that?" Netto asked.

"They looked for the creature, but couldn't find it."

"Does she have any family members?" Pride asked him.

"A mother, father and a younger brother," Searchman replied. "But they moved after her funeral."

"How sad," Pride said softly.

"Yeah, sad," Netto agreed, "and bad. We still don't know anything about this monster or what it looks like."

"Except that it has long claws," Laika said. "Searchman, take note of this." "Hai Laika san." Laika ticked the facts off his fingers. "We know it has large claws, the victim's name and age, when she died, the creature still exists because we saw it last night. It tried to take Netto and Enzan, and finally it is intelligent."

Enzan frowned, he propped his head against his hands. "The monster could be a human if it has that kind of intelligence," he said. "So that could mean that we have two suspects; Grandma and Ryuko. Because they have knowledge about the monster and the murder."

Z, who has been sitting quietly and listening to their conversation, rapped the table with his knuckles to get their attention. Enzan looked at him questioningly. "What?"

Z shook his head no.

Netto caught on what he is trying to say. "You mean this whole town knows about the monster?"

Z nodded.

"Even you?"

More nodding.

Netto sighed in defeat. He flopped down on the table, "Great," he groaned, "another dead end."