Laika ran towards the light ahead of him and as he drew close to the light, he could hear the sounds of fighting growing louder.
"Netto! Enzan!" Laika shouted as he crashed through the shrubbery.
He found Netto in cross fusion fighting the remaining monsters in Ryuko's backyard with another NetNavi.
The monster lunged towards Netto. He raised his sword and thrust it into the monster. The beast was slain instantly. Netto pushed a monster off his sword to slash another one attacking his blind spot.
"Laika?"
"Netto! Get away from him!" Laika aimed his Scope Gun at the gray NetNavi.
Netto gave him a confused look. "Huh?"
Enzan ran out of Ryuko's house, "Laika don't shoot!"
But his warnings came too late.
Laika fired at the Navi. Everything was moved in slow motion. Laika, Enzan and Netto watched the laser sped towards the Navi. The Navi leaped out of the way and aimed his buster at Laika.
Laika heard Netto and Enzan yelling two different things at him at the same time.
"Don't hurt him."
"Laika, Ryuko is the real culprit. Don't let him get away."
Now it was Laika's turn to be confused.
Huh?
From the corner of Laika's eye, he saw a hand holding Enzan's PET. The PET fired a red light and hit the gray Navi on the head.
The Navi clutched his head and opened it's mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
"No!" Netto cried out in horror.
"Yes!" Ryuko shouted, pumping his fist victoriously in the air.
The Navi threw itself into a violent conversion on the ground as if he was possessed. He tossed and turned on the ground. He trembled violently as it got off the ground and pointed his shaky hand at Netto. The hand transformed into a buster and fired at Netto and missed him by a millimeter.
Netto ran up to the Navi.
Laika turned around and grabbed Ryuko's shirt collar.
"What have you done?" He growled menacing at him.
Ryuko laughed, "Trying to make it normal again by transmitting viruses into it's brain."
"What?"
"That thing," Ryuko pointed at the Navi, "is not supposed to have a conscience or any kind of human emotions. It's programmed to be a weapon of mass destruction and now it is out of control disregarding who is friend and foe."
Realization hit Laika like a ton of bricks.
"You!" Laika shouted angrily at Ryuko as he punched his face. "Are sick!"
The blow on Ryuko caused him to fall on the ground unconscious.
"Laika!"
Laika tossed Enzan his PET. Enzan caught it.
"Syncro Chip! Slot in!"
Enzan transformed into Blues and he ran over to help CF Rockman.
Netto felt stabs of pain in his heart every time he looked deep into the Navi's eyes.
The Navi opened and closed his mouth. But Netto understood what it was trying to say.
Kill me!
Netto's eyes hardened as his jaw clenched shut. He slowly shook his head.
Never!
Netto felt someone pushing him roughly out of the way. He fell on the ground. Netto looked up to see a young man wrestling to control the Navi's blaster.
"Xeon! Pull yourself together! This is not like you!" He shouted at his face.
Netto saw the Dimensional Area fading away. He realized that without Cross Fusion, it would be impossible to fight the berserk robot.
"Hey Mister! Get out of here! The Dimensional Area is fading." He shouted.
The robot pointed the blaster at itself and fired. Creating a huge hole in his chest.
"No," Netto whispered to himself, he ran up to them.
The robot slumped.
The man caught it from falling and helped the robot lie down on the grass.
The man cradled the robot in his arms. He glanced at Netto.
"You have a NetNavi, right? Plugged him in here, quick." He pointed at the spot on the Navi's head.
Netto quickly obeyed.
"Rockman exe. Transmission!"
A red beam hit the robot's head.
Rockman materialized in the cyberworld and found viruses destroying his computer brain.
"Tell him to hurry up! I don't know how much damage he can take."
"We'll do our best." Netto assured him, "Aqua Tower slot in!"
"Aqua Tower!" Rockman roared. He slapped his hand on the floor. A tower of water appeared and deleted all the viruses.
Rockman heard Netto's voice. "Is everything alright in there?"
"The damage is not serious," Rockman replied.
"Better plug him out," the man advised him. "With his core reactor damage, I'm afraid he will be shutting down soon."
"I will," Netto replied, "After we finished this first."
Later at the Hikari's summer house. Laika, Enzan, and Netto and Kageki were sitting in the living room. Dr. Hikari was in the basement with the robot while Hakura and Pride were at Grandma's house. Ryuko was under investigation by the authorities.
"Alright," Enzan said glaring at Netto. "Tell us what happened after you were kidnapped."
"I wasn't kidnapped. Z needed to go home to recharge his batteries. He couldn't leave me alone with Ryuko's pets!" Netto snapped.
"Enough!" Kageki interrupted them, "Enzan don't get mad at Netto and Netto please take deep breaths and calm down before you tell us your story."
The boys looked at each other grudgingly and nodded.
Laika blinked. He never seen Netto and Enzan stopped arguing before.
Netto calmed down.
"Well let's see," he said scratching his head.
"It all started after the fight in the clearing…"
FLASHBACK
"You!" Netto cried out in shock.
Z nodded. Netto noticed his eyes looked very sad.
"Z what are you doing here? What's wrong? And where is the Navi?"
Z held out his hand. Netto hesitated before accepting it.
Z led him to another room, that was next door to Netto's room. The other room has bare cemented walls like the other room. Except this room have a lamp hanging on the ceiling. It's glow illuminate revealed a metal table leaning against the wall, next to the table was a computer with it's monitor on.
Z let go of Netto's hand and walked up to the table. He pulled out a wired helmet attached to the computer and put it on. Then he lay down on the table and closed his eyes.
Netto watched him curiously. "What is he doing?" He whispered to Rockman.
"I dunno, sleeping?" Rockman whispered back.
The computer monitor turned on. On the screen was the dapple gray Navi.
"X!"
"I'm X," he replied, "But I am also Z."
"You are that mysterious Navi?" Netto asked.
"Yes, but I am also a robot. My real name is Project no. 19XX001XEON or Z for short. I have the ability to program myself into a NetNavi and explore the Internet if I wanted to or return to my robotic body in the real world."
"But where are we and why did you bring us here?" Netto asked.
"To answer your first question we are in a cave in the mountain next to town and secondly is to protect you."
"Why? Why do I need protection?"
Z sighed. "It's a long story."
"But I need to know."
Z remained silent. But Netto had other guesses.
"Are you the one who killed Dawn?" Netto exclaimed, pointing at him.
"I did not kill her," Z snapped angrily. "I would never do such a thing like that to her or to anyone else. If I knew she was in danger I could have done something to protect her."
"But why are you protecting me? I need to know so I can help you."
Z studied him for a long time. Netto waited.
"Fine. I will tell you everything."
